Here are the latest minor moves from around the game, all from Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise credited…
- Leonys Martin is now a free agent, as he elected to hit the open market after being outrighted off the Cubs’ roster last week. The veteran outfielder is looking to rebound from a rough 2017 that saw him post just a .513 OPS over 138 PA with the Cubs and Mariners, though Martin was still an above-average defender in the outfield.
- The Royals re-signed right-hander Seth Maness to a new minor league deal. Maness elected to become a free agent last month after K.C. outrighted him off its 40-man roster. A workhorse out of the Cardinals’ bullpen in his first three seasons, Maness has been limited to just 41 1/3 IP over the last two seasons thanks to a torn UCL, though he opted for an innovative “primary repair” procedure that allowed him a much quicker return to action than the usual 12-15 month timeline for Tommy John surgery.
- Catcher Tim Federowicz chose to become a free agent after being outrighted off the Giants’ 40-man roster. Federowicz hasn’t hit much (a .558 OPS) over 318 career MLB plate appearances, though he has a very impressive .304/.374/.503 slash line over 1654 PA at the Triple-A level.
- The Braves released right-hander Armando Rivero. Atlanta chose Rivero in last year’s Rule 5 Draft but Rivero missed the entire season due to shoulder problems. The Braves outrighted Rivero off their 40-man roster last month, so the Cubs officially declined the opportunity to take the righty back. Rivero has a 2.70 ERA, 12.4 K/9 and 2.83 K/BB rate over 220 career innings in the minors, all as a reliever in Chicago’s system.
- Catcher Erik Kratz elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Yankees announced earlier this week (via Twitter). Kratz spent much of 2017 at Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate before being acquired by New York on August 31 to add some catching depth to the expanded September rosters. Kratz only appeared in four games as a Yankee, but it officially made him a veteran of six different teams over parts of eight MLB seasons. The 37-year-old has a .203/.250/.366 slash line over 649 career plate appearances in the bigs.