Cubs Sign Five Players To Minor-League Deals
The Cubs signed five players to minor-league contracts earlier this week. Outfielder Rafael Ortega, right-hander Jake Jewell, catcher Taylor Gushue and left-hander Jerry Vasto are all joining the organization, relays Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. (Marc Delucchi had previously reported Vasto’s signing). Additionally, outfielder Ian Miller has re-signed with Chicago, as noted by MLB.com’s transactions tracker.
The pair of outfielders are probably the most notable players involved. Miller was once a decently-regarded speed/defense prospect in the Mariners’ system. The 28-year-old has logged 18 MLB plate appearances between the Twins and Cubs over the past two seasons. Ortega has seen big league time in four seasons, picking up 447 plate appearances between the Rockies, Angels, Marlins and Braves. The 29-year-old has a career .229/.287/.290 slash line.
Jewell tossed 28.1 relief innings for the 2018-19 Angels. He got knocked around for a 6.99 ERA/6.67 FIP despite mid-90’s velocity. The 27-year-old made it into the Giants’ 60-man player pool in 2020 but didn’t see any MLB action. Similarly, Gushue got to the Nationals’ alternate training site this summer but never made the majors. The former fourth-rounder has a career .240/.309/.396 line in six minor-league seasons. Vasto, 28, pitched in six MLB games with the Rockies and Royals in 2018. He hasn’t seen any game action since, having spent all of 2019 on the minor-league injured list.
Cubs Outright Johnny Field, Jerry Vasto
The Cubs announced today that they have outrighted outfielder Johnny Field and lefty Jerry Vasto. Those moves helped free space for the team’s other minor transactions today.
Field, 26, never saw MLB action in Chicago but did receive his first 233 plate appearances in the bigs in 2018. Splitting time between the Rays and Twins, he slashed .222/.254/.403 with nine home runs while lining up at all three outfield positions.
It was a similar story for Vasto, who also debuted at 26 — but not with the Cubs. He threw a few frames for the Rockies and Royals, with most of his time coming at Triple-A. Over 38 innings at the highest level of the minors, he worked to a 3.08 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9.
Both players were claimed after the minor-league season ended by the Cubs. It seems the organization was hoping for a chance eventually to stash them in the minors and off of the 40-man roster, which will now be the case given that both cleared waivers.
Cubs Exercise Jose Quintana’s Option, Claim Jerry Vasto From Royals
The Cubs announced Wednesday that they’ve exercised their $10.5MM club option over left-hander Jose Quintana and claimed left-handed reliever Jerry Vasto off waivers from the Royals organization. It’s the first of two options that the Cubs hold on Quintana, who’ll turn 30 in January. Chicago also has an $11.5MM option on the lefty for the 2020 season.
While Quintana may not have performed at quite the level the Cubs had hoped, picking up his option was a flat no-brainer, as even in a “down” season (by his standards), he turned in 174 1/3 innings of 4.03 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and 1.29 HR/9 with a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate. Durable and largely consistent year over year, Quintana took the ball on 32 occasion for the Cubs, marking his sixth consecutive season with 32 or more games started. Even if he doesn’t return to the peak form he showed with the White Sox, having Quintana on a one-year deal with an affordable club option for the 2020 season is still quite a nice value for the Cubs.
Vasto, 26, made his MLB debut with the Rockies in 2018 but appeared in just one game and tossed only two-thirds of an inning before being traded to Kansas City in exchange for backup catcher Drew Butera. Vasto was hit hard in his first season of Triple-A duty in 2017 but has turned in considerably more promising results with Colorado’s top affiliate in 2018: a 3.16 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.73 HR/9 and a 43.5 percent ground-ball rate in 37 innings. The southpaw tossed just one scoreless inning with Kansas City’s Triple-A club before joining the Major League bullpen, where he allowed one earned run with three strikeouts and one walk in 3 2/3 innings of work.
August 31st Trade Deadline Recap
A flurry of activity came yesterday in advance of the deadline to acquire postseason-eligible players via trade. In case you weren’t able to keep track of it all, here’s a roundup of the swaps made by MLB organizations on August 31st, 2018, sorted by the team on the acquiring end of the major-leaguer involved.
AL West
- The Athletics received right-hander Cory Gearrin in a swap with the division-rival Rangers. Minor-league righties Abdiel Mendoza and Teodoro Ortega are headed back to Texas in the deal.
AL Central
- The Indians acquired Josh Donaldson from the Blue Jays. Toronto will send $2.7MM to Cleveland as well, and they’ll get back a player to be named later, the quality of which will be dependent upon how Donaldson’s health situation progresses.
AL East
- The Yankees took Adeiny Hechavarria off the Pirates‘ hands in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. It’s not yet known how much cash the Bucs will chip in to help pay the ~$1MM still owed to Hechavarria.
- The Yankees also pried Andrew McCutchen from the Giants. San Francisco gets infield prospect Abiatal Avelino and right-handed pitching prospect Juan De Paula.
NL West
- The Dodgers nabbed David Freese from the Pirates. Infielder Jesus Valdez will head back to Pittsburgh in exchange.
- The Dodgers dealt for Ryan Madson of the Nationals as well. Minors righty Andrew Istler will head to Washington in the trade.
- The Rockies plucked catcher Drew Butera from the Royals and will receive some salary relief in addition. MiLB lefty Jerry Vasto is going back to Colorado.
NL Central
- The Brewers struck a trade with the Nationals for Gio Gonzalez. Milwaukee will also get $250K in international bonus pool funds, while a pair of minor leaguers (first baseman KJ Harrison and shortstop Gilbert Lara) will head to the Nats.
- The Brewers also landed Curtis Granderson in a swap with the Blue Jays. The Jays will cover an unknown portion of the money still owed on Granderson’s $5MM 2018 salary, and will add outfield prospect Demi Orimoloye to their minor-league ranks.
- The busy Brewers got Xavier Cedeno from the White Sox as well, who’ll get outfielder Bryan Connell and right-hander Johan Dominguez in return.
NL East
- (No trades)
Rockies Acquire Drew Butera
The Rockies announced Friday that they’ve acquired veteran catcher Drew Butera and cash from the Royals in exchange for minor league left-hander Jerry Vasto.
Butera, 35, has been the primary backup to Kansas City mainstay Salvador Perez for the past three seasons and will bring nine years of MLB experience to the Rockies’ roster. He’s hitting .188/.259/.289 through 166 plate appearances this season and is a lifetime .201/.258/.298 batter between the Royals, Angels, Dodgers and Twins.
While he’s clearly never been much of a threat with the bat, Butera has a strong defensive reputation, even if his performance in 2018 has been more questionable in that regard. He’s prevented 30 percent of stolen-base attempts against him in his career but has seen that number plummet to 13 percent in 2018. He’s been a quality pitch-framer in the past as well, but Baseball Prospectus grades his efforts in that regard to be below average this season.
Butera inked a two-year, $3.8MM contract with the Royals prior to the 2017 season and will be a free agent following the current campaign. He’s earning $2.3MM this year and is still owed about $381K of that sum through the end of the year. He becomes the latest backup catcher to swap hands in the past 48 hours, as each of Rene Rivera, Chris Stewart, Bobby Wilson and Chris Gimenez have also changed hands with teams looking to add veteran catching help in advance of expanded September rosters.
Vasto, 26, made his MLB debut with the Rockies earlier this year but appeared in just one game and tossed only two-thirds of an inning. He was hit hard in his first season of Triple-A duty in 2017 but has turned in considerably more promising results in 2018: a 3.16 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.73 HR/9 and a 43.5 percent ground-ball rate in 37 innings. He’ll give the Royals a controllable left-handed option for their bullpen. Because his contract was only selected this season, he comes with the added bonus of having multiple minor league options remaining beyond the 2018 campaign.
Rockies Designate Jairo Diaz, Select Jerry Vasto
The Rockies have designated right-hander Jairo Diaz for assignment and selected the contract of left-hander Jerry Vasto from Triple-A, according to a team announcement. Additionally, Colorado has placed reliever Scott Oberg on the disabled list with a back strain.
The hard-throwing Diaz joined the Rockies prior to 2015 and saw action with the team that season and during the 2017 campaign, combining for a 3.75 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 4.13 BB/9 and a strong 57.3 percent groundball rate over 24 innings. But Diaz underwent Tommy John surgery in 2016, causing him to miss that season, and has only tossed 28 2/3 innings between the majors and minors since. Diaz opened 2018 with 3 2/3 frames of four-earned run ball at the Triple-A level, and he has been shelved with forearm tightness since mid-April, Nick Groke of the Denver Post tweets.
Vasto, 26, is set to make his MLB debut after initially joining Colorado as a 24th-round pick in 2014. He ascended to the Triple-A level last season and has been particularly effective this year, having logged a 1.71 ERA with 11.14 K/9, 3.43 BB/9 and a 47.9 percent grounder rate in 21 innings.