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Jeremy Bleich

Twins Acquire Jeremy Bleich

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The Twins have acquired left-hander Jeremy Bleich from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations, as tweeted by Nate Rowan, the director of communications for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester.  Bleich will be assigned to Rochester.

Bleich signed a minors deal with Boston in April, and has posted an 0.71 ERA in 12 2/3 innings at low-A ball along with a 5.59 ERA over 19 1/3 frames for Triple-A Pawtucket.  These represent the latest stops in an 11-year pro career for Bleich, who was originally selected 44th overall by the Yankees in the 2008 draft.  Minnesota will be the seventh different organization Bleich has called home, and his long resume includes a cup of coffee in the majors, appearing in two games (and pitching a total of one-third of an inning) for the Athletics just last season.

The 32-year-old Bleich has a 3.87 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 2.08 K/BB rate over 641 1/3 career innings in the minors.  He has started 72 of his 271 career games, though the lefty has worked largely out of the bullpen for the last five years.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/19/19

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We’ll track Friday’s minor moves from around the league here…

  • The Red Sox picked up left-handed reliever Jeremy Bleich on a minor league contract, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo writes. The 31-year-old made his MLB debut last season with the A’s but totaled just one-third of an inning, allowing a pair of runs in the process. Brief as it was, that MLB debut surely meant the world to the longtime Yankee farmhand, who grinded through a decade in the minors and pitched in independent ball before reaching the game’s top level. Bleich enjoyed a strong year with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate last season, pitching 51 1/3 innings with 8.4 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 with a 53.1 percent ground-ball rate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He spent Spring Training with the Phillies but was cut loose when he didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. Given the uncertain state of the Boston ’pen, it’s possible that Bleich will earn a second big league opportunity at some point in 2019.
  • Catcher Stuart Turner has returned to the Reds on a minor league contract, as first noted by Roster Roundup (Twitter link). Cincinnati selected Turner, a former third-round pick by the Twins, in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft and carried him on the MLB roster for the entire 2017 season. He was heavily shielded from facing big league pitching, however, and hit just .134/.182/.244 with a pair of homers in 89 plate appearances. The Reds outrighted to Triple-A early in 2018, and he struggled to a .200/.265/.213 slash there in just 22 games during an injury-shortened season. Turner has never hit much but owns a 32 percent caught-stealing rate as a pro, and scouting reports have long pegged him as an above-average defender and receiver. That surely holds value to the Reds, if only to give the organization’s young pitchers in the upper minors a quality battery mate.

Phillies Release Trevor Plouffe, Gregorio Petit

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The Phillies announced Thursday that they’ve released four non-roster invitees to Spring Training: infielders Trevor Plouffe and Gregorio Petit as well as left-handers Edward Paredes and Jeremy Bleich. The Phils also optioned lefty James Pazos and right-hander Drew Anderson to Triple-A.

Plouffe, 32, was the Twins’ primary third baseman from 2013-16 and provided a solid bat with some pop for them during that time. However, he’s struggled with the A’s, Rays and Phillies across the past two seasons, hitting a combined .200/.271/.325 with 10 homers in 325 trips to the plate. He’s picked up some experience playing first base in recent years and has traditionally been a strong right-handed bat against left-handed opponents. In 27 spring plate appearances, Plouffe collected five hits (two homers, two doubles) and drew four walks.

Petit is a more versatile infielder, capable of playing both middle-infield slots, but he doesn’t have near the track record that Plouffe carries. Another former Twins/A’s infielder, the 34-year-old Petit is a career .249/.294/.342 hitter in 493 plate appearances. He went 4-for-15 with the Phils in his limited time in camp.

Paredes, 32, appeared briefly with the Dodgers in both 2017 and 2018, pitching a combined 16 innings with a 4.50 ERA but an outstanding 19-to-2 K/BB ratio. He’s been an extreme fly-ball pitcher in Triple-A and particularly in his limited big league time. Paredes was lights-out in camp, tossing 6 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run while recording an 11-to-2 K/BB ratio.

Bleich made his big league debut last season at the age of 31, though he faced only four batters (retiring one of them). A supplemental first-round pick by the Yankees back in 2008, Bleich is a 10-year minor league veteran with a career 3.64 ERA at the Triple-A level. In nine spring innings, Bleich allowed three runs on six hits and seven walks with 11 strikeouts.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/21/18

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Phillies have a host of new additions to the team’s list of MLB Spring Training participants. In addition to a few we’ve already featured here at MLBTR, the Philadelphia club has announced the signings of southpaw Jeremy Bleich, backstop Rob Brantly, righty Josh Martin, utilityman Matt McBride, and infielder Gregorio Petit. Every one of these players has seen MLB time except for Martin, who’ll be looking for his first crack at the bigs after compiling a seven-season minor-league stat line with the Indians organization that features a 3.33 ERA and 9.2 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
  • Likewise, the Padres have announced a haul of camp competitors. Allen Craig will come back for another go, as will Alex Dickerson. Otherwise, southpaws Ryan Bollinger and Dietrich Enns have inked with the San Diego org, along with righty Tyler Higgins. On the position-player side, infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Aderlin Rodriguez are joined by outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo. It’s the opposite situation from the one just discussed above, as all of the new additions excepting Enns — who’s compiled two MLB appearances — have yet to crack the majors.
  • A handful of new free agents are heading to the Rangers, too, per a club announcement. Lefty Jack Leathersich has seen action in a pair of MLB campaigns, but won’t get a camp invite. Fellow southpaw Miguel Del Pozo, righties, Ariel Hernandez and Phillips Valdez, and infielder Nolan Fontana will open their tenure in Texas on the MLB side of Spring Training. Hernandez and Fontana each have minimal experience in the bigs. Valdez worked to a 2.73 ERA in 135 upper-minors innings with the Nationals organization last year, with 6.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9; Del Pozo has averaged ten strikeouts per nine in his minor-league career.
  • The Red Sox have added another hurler on a minor-league pact, this time picking up righty Ryan Weber, per Michael Mayer of Metsmerizedonline.com (via Twitter). Now 28 years of age, Weber has thrown 73 2/3 innings of 5.01 ERA ball over the past four years, though the vast majority of those came in 2015 and 2016. He was rather effective last year at Triple-A in a swingman capacity, spinning 115 1/3 innings of 2.73 ERA ball with 6.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9.

Athletics Designate Chris Hatcher

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The Athletics announced today that they have designated righty Chris Hatcher for assignment. That’ll create space for just-acquired reliever Fernando Rodney.

Meanwhile, the Oakland organization has outrighted southpaw Jeremy Bleich after he cleared waivers. Bleich had recently been designated himself.

Hatcher still works in the mid-nineties with his fastball, but he carries a 4.24 ERA with even worse peripherals on the year. He’s sitting at 7.4 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9, while generating a 7.5% swinging-strike that sits well below his recent levels.

Athletics Acquire Mike Fiers

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The A’s have acquired right-hander Mike Fiers from the Tigers in exchange for cash considerations or two players to be named later, the team has announced (Twitter link).  Left-hander Jeremy Bleich has been designated for assignment to create room for Fiers on Oakland’s roster.

Fiers drew attention from multiple clubs prior to the trade deadline, with the Athletics reportedly making a strong bid to land the 33-year-old on deadline day itself.  Less than a week later, the A’s finally landed the righty to help reinforce its injury-plagued starting staff, with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reporting that Oakland put a claim on Fiers while he was on revocable trade waivers.

Mike FiersAfter being non-tendered by the Astros last winter, Fiers signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the Tigers and did a solid job of rebuilding his stock after a rough 2017 season.  Fiers posted a 3.48 ERA, 6.58 K/9, and 3.35 K/BB rate over 119 innings (21 starts) for Detroit, and has been particularly effective after a slow start to the season, as Fiers has a 2.57 ERA over his last 70 frames.

There are some red flags about his performance, however, most notably the career-low (over a full season) strikeout rate and swinging strike rate (8.3 %).  Fiers is getting away with allowing some hard contact, as evidenced by the gap between his .321 wOBA and his .345 xwOBA, and he has also benefited from an 83.1% strand rate and a .277 BABIP.  Advanced metrics such as FIP (4.66), xFIP (4.82) and SIERA (4.54) all sit over a run higher than his real-world ERA.

Even if a bit of regression is in order, Fiers will likely still represent an upgrade for an A’s rotation that has posted middling numbers over the course of the season (though they have been dominant as of late).  Fiers joins ace Sean Manaea and veterans Brett Anderson, Edwin Jackson, and Trevor Cahill in the Athletics’ starting five, and Fiers is also an option for the 2019 staff, as he is controlled via salary arbitration.  It’s worth noting that Fiers left his last start after just two innings after being hit in the shin with a line drive, though the injury isn’t thought to be particularly serious, and obviously the A’s weren’t concerned enough to hold off on making the trade.

As per Slusser, the Tigers have the option of taking money back for Fiers, or selecting two names from a list of prospects.  It’s safe to assume that none of Oakland’s top minor leaguers are on that list, though Detroit should still get some kind of decent return on their $6MM investment in Fiers in the offseason.

Bleich made his Major League debut this season, appearing in two games for the A’s though getting through just one-third of an inning.  A supplemental first-round pick (44th overall) for the Yankees in the 2008 draft, Bleich has pitched for five different organizations over 10 professional seasons and he also played for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.  Bleich has a 3.92 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 2.06 K/BB rate over 601 1/3 career minor league innings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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