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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/18/19

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Rangers have released infielder Chase d’Arnaud, according to the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. Despite playing in the hitter-friendly PCL this season, the 32-year-old d’Arnaud posted a horrid .164/.275/.316 line (47 wRC+) in 178 plate appearances with the Rangers’ Triple-A club before his release. The major league journeyman and brother of Rays catcher Travis d’Arnaud is a .222/.273/.316 hitter (59 wRC+) in 599 PA at the game’s top level.

Andrelton Simmons To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Injured Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons will begin a rehab assignment at the Rookie level on Tuesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic tweets. A Grade 3 left ankle sprain has kept Simmons out of action since May 20.

Simmons will have up to 20 days to rehab, meaning he’s on track to return by early July, if not sooner. The fact that Simmons should come back within a month and a half of suffering such a serious injury is a boon to the Angels. Simmons is no doubt one of their premier players, having totaled at least 5.0 fWAR in each of the previous two seasons.

A 29-year-old defensive maven, Simmons came out of the gates this season with a .298/.323/.415 slash (100 wRC+), three home runs, five steals and 1.3 fWAR in 195 plate appearances before his ankle injury. The Angels boast the lowest strikeout rate in the game (16.9 percent) thanks in part to Simmons, who has gone down on strikes a measly 7.7 percent of the time in 2019.

Sans Simmons, the Angels have deployed David Fletcher, Zack Cozart (also now on the IL) and Wilfredo Tovar at short. Tovar has been the Angels’ full-time starter at the position since they selected him from Triple-A Salt Lake on June 7, though the ex-Met hasn’t hit during his first big league action since 2014.

The Angels, to their credit, have hung around the AL wild-card race even without Simmons. At 36-37, they sit 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. The club just got back another major reinforcement Monday in left fielder Justin Upton, who had missed the entire season because of a toe injury. Simmons, Fletcher, Upton, Shohei Ohtani, Kole Calhoun and Tommy La Stella, among others, should make for an impressive-looking set of complements to Mike Trout. However, that group will have to overcome a less-than-stellar pitching staff in order for the Angels to break their four-year playoff drought in 2019.

Cubs Place Kyle Hendricks On 10-Day IL

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JUNE 18: Hendricks has a shoulder impingement, Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told Jordan Bastian of MLB.com and other reporters Tuesday. “I feel like we got ahead of it,” Hoyer said. “We’re not sure how much time he’ll miss, but we’ll try to take it slow and take the length of the season into account.”

JUNE 15: The Cubs have placed righty Kyle Hendricks on 10-Day IL with right shoulder inflammation, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Righty Rowan Wick will come up from Triple-A Iowa to take his place.

Hendricks, 29, is outpacing his peripheral marks for the fifth time in six big league season thus far in 2019. The righty’s delivered 14 starts of 3.36 ERA ball with his typical microscopic walk rate, though his grounder percentage has dropped to an easily-career-worst 41.9%.

There’s no word yet on how long the command artist will remain sidelined, or who’ll replace him in the Cubs rotation. Tyler Chatwood, the only Cub apart from the opening five of Hendricks, Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, Yu Darvish, and Jose Quintana to get a start this season, would figure to be next in line, but he’s again been shaky in ’19 after signing a 3-year, $38MM deal prior to the 2018 campaign.

Padres Designate Kazuhisa Makita

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The Padres announced that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Kazuhisa Makita for assignment. His roster spot will go to lefty Logan Allen, whom the Padres have officially selected from Triple-A El Paso.

Makita lasted just one day on the Padres’ roster, as they selected him from Double-A Amarillo on Monday. Makita didn’t appear in San Diego’s win over Milwaukee then, but he did log a solid amount of action out of the Padres’ bullpen last year.

After emigrating from Japan on a two-year, $3.8MM contract heading into the 2018 season, the submarining Makita stumbled to a 5.40 ERA/4.85 FIP with a 20.2 percent groundball rate in 35 major league innings last year. Makita did record 9.51 K/9 against 3.09 BB/9 in that span, but the Padres still booted him from their 40-man roster last offseason. The 34-year-old hasn’t been lights-out this season at the Double-A level, where he has posted a 3.82 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 37 2/3 frames.

Rockies Sign First-Rounder Michael Toglia

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The Rockies have signed first-round pick Michael Toglia, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. Toglia’s pick (No. 23) came with a $2.93MM slot value, but the team gave him $2.725MM, per Jim Callis of MLB.com and Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links).

The 20-year-old Toglia’s a first baseman from UCLA whom Callis and Jonathan Mayo ranked as the 40th-best prospect available entering the draft. They note the 6-foot-5, switch-hitting Toglia showed “huge raw power from both sides of the plate” during his tenure with the Bruins. However, it’s in question whether the 20-year-old will make enough contact to capitalize on his power going forward.

With Toglia under contract, the Rockies have now inked their top two picks of this year’s draft. They signed second-rounder Aaron Schunk for $1.1MM last week. The club entered the draft with just over $7MM to spend on its choices.

Nick Hundley Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Injured Athletics catcher Nick Hundley underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. He should return within six weeks, according to manager Bob Melvin (via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle).

The 35-year-old Hundley has been on the injured list with back spasms since June 8, so his knee issue is a new development. Before Hundley landed on the IL, the respected veteran got off to an underwhelming start, hitting .200/.233/.357 (55 wRC+) in 73 plate appearances. He struggled defensively in the process, according to Baseball Prospectus.

Hundley, an ex-Padre, Oriole, Rockie and Giant, joined the Athletics on a minor league deal in February. Prior to that, the A’s plan was for Josh Phegley and Chris Herrmann to comprise their two catchers at the outset of 2019. However, Herrmann underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in March, which paved the way for Hundley to earn a roster spot.

While Hundley hasn’t performed well to this point, the normally light-hitting Phegley has been surprisingly effective. He and Beau Taylor, whom the A’s selected from Triple-A Las Vegas when Hundley went down, look as if they’ll continue to handle backstop duties for Oakland for as long as Hundley’s out.

Mets Select Stephen Nogosek

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The Mets have selected the contract of right-hander Stephen Nogosek from Triple-A Syracuse, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News tweets. The team also recalled lefty Daniel Zamora from Syracuse. Those two will take over for the injured Jeurys Familia and the optioned Drew Gagnon.

Now 24, Nogosek entered pro baseball as a sixth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2016. They sent Nogosek to the Mets a little over a year later in a July 2017 trade for veteran reliever Addison Reed. Nogosek struggled with the Mets’ Double-A affiliate in 2018, but he has been almost impossible to score against in the minors this year. He owns a 0.57 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in 31 1/2 innings divided Double-A and Triple-A in 2019, and will try to carry that success to a Mets bullpen in dire need of answers.

Rockies Designate Mike Dunn

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The Rockies have designated left-handed reliever Mike Dunn for assignment, per a team announcement. His 25-man roster spot will go to infielder Pat Valaika, whom the Rockies recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque.

The 34-year-old Dunn’s DFA will conclude what has been a disastrous stint on Colorado’s 40-man roster for the longtime major leaguer. After Dunn enjoyed a mostly successful run with the Marlins from 2011-16, the Rockies signed him to a three-year, $19MM guarantee heading into the ’17 campaign. Since then, though, Dunn has limped to a 5.93 ERA/5.01 FIP with 8.89 K/9 and 5.51 BB/9 in 85 innings. Last Friday, in what may go down as his final appearance as a Rockie, Dunn allowed four earned runs on four hits (including a homer) in just a third of an inning during a loss to the Padres.

Not only has Dunn failed to produce with the Rockies, but he hasn’t stayed healthy as a member of the club. He sat out a large portion of last season with an AC joint issue that required surgery and missed time this month with an injury in the same area. The Rockies still owe Dunn upward of $4.9MM (including a $1MM buyout for 2020), but it appears they’ll have to eat that money.

Mets To Place Jeurys Familia On Injured List

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The Mets plan to place right-handed reliever Jeurys Familia on the injured list because of a shoulder issue, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets.

Alarmingly for the Mets, this is the second time in 2019 that a shoulder problem has forced Familia to the IL. They previously put him on the shelf May 1. Familia fell well short of expectations before then and continued to struggle between IL stints. So far this season, the typically dependable reliever has notched a hideous 7.81 ERA/6.10 FIP with 9.11 K/9 and 6.83 BB/9 in 27 2/3 innings.

A Met and Athletic from 2012-18, Familia posted a 2.76 ERA/2.88 FIP with 9.45 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 56.5 percent groundball rate over that 348 2/3-inning span. The success Familia enjoyed during the first several seasons of his career led the Mets to reunite with him this past winter on a three-year, $30MM contract. The move has been a disaster to this point, though, while fellow offseason relief acquisitions Edwin Diaz and Justin Wilson also haven’t lived up to expectations in 2019. Thanks in part to their woes, the Mets are four games under .500 and, for the second straight year, in possession of one of baseball’s worst bullpens.

Twins Sign Ian Krol

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The Twins have signed left-hander Ian Krol to a minor league contract, according to Nate Rowan, Triple-A Rochester’s director of communications. Krol has already joined Rochester’s roster.

The 28-year-old Krol was previously with the Reds, who inked him to a minors deal over the winter. He threw 25 1/3 innings with their Triple-A affiliate in Louisville this season and managed a subpar 5.33 ERA/4.08 FIP with 9.95 K/9, 4.26 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent groundball rate. Krol has typically prevented runs at a much better clip in Triple-A ball, having combined for a 3.35 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 across 137 innings.

Of course, the hope for the Twins is that Krol will thrive in the minors and work his way to their bullpen. Krol was a viable major leaguer as recently as 2016, when he pitched to a 3.18 ERA/2.91 FIP with 9.88 K/9, 2.29 BB/9 and a 56 percent grounder rate in 51 innings as part of the Braves’ relief corps. But Krol otherwise hasn’t experienced a ton of big league success. Also a former National, Tiger and Angel, Krol has registered a 4.50 ERA/4.43 FIP with 8.43 K/9, 3.46 BB/9 and a 45.2 percent GB mark in 190 innings at the sport’s top level.

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