John Bowker

Minor Moves: John Bowker

By Jeff Todd | June 11, 2015 at 5:58pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

The Giants dealt first baseman/outfielder John Bowker to the Pirates earlier in the week, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. Bowker came to the San Francisco organization over the offseason after a run in Japan. The 31-year-old former big leaguer has hit .263/.304/.372 in his 148 plate appearances at Triple-A. Pittsburgh sent cash or a PTBNL in the deal, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).

Minor Moves: Quintero, Bowker

By charliewilmoth | January 24, 2015 at 1:30pm CDT

Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball:

The Red Sox have signed catcher Humberto Quintero to a minor-league deal, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy writes. Quintero spent last season in the Mariners system, batting .290/.311/.425 for Triple-A Tacoma and picking up a few plate appearances at the big-league level to appear in the Majors for the 12th straight season. The 35-year-old has a long history as a big-league backup, although it might be tough for him to find playing time in Boston, with Christian Vazquez, Ryan Hanigan and Blake Swihart all on the Red Sox’ 40-man roster.
The Giants have signed 1B/OF John Bowker, Eddy writes. The 31-year-old Bowker spent most of the past three seasons in Japan, hitting .248/.291/.411 in 230 plate appearances with Rakuten in 2014. Bowker was the Giants’ third-round pick in 2004, and he played parts of three seasons in San Francisco before being traded to the Pirates and then the Phillies.

Quick Hits: Ramirez, Lewis, Damon, Pinto, Bowker

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 11, 2012 at 11:05pm CDT

The latest links from around MLB as rumors about Prince Fielder and the Nationals continue to swirl…

Manny Ramirez told ESPN's Pedro Gomez that he can be a role model if an MLB team gives him a chance. "I want to show people that Manny can change, that he can do the right thing," Ramirez said.
Colby Lewis told Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he and the Rangers have had some talks about an extension (Twitter link). Lewis is set to hit free agency after the 2012 season, when he'll earn $3.25MM.
Johnny Damon expressed some frustration with the Rays, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. "It's an unhappy day,'' Damon said after hearing that Luke Scott had agreed to terms with Tampa Bay. "Didn't realize the DH and 1B brought the offense down [in 2011]. Thought we would've had an offer.''
Renyel Pinto signed with the Softbank Hawks for $910K plus incentives, according to this Sponichi report relayed by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker.
More from Newman, who passes along another Sponichi report that has the Yomiuri Giants working on a deal with outfielder John Bowker. The Phillies granted Bowker his release earlier in the week.

Phillies Release John Bowker

By Tim Dierkes | January 10, 2012 at 2:37pm CDT

The Phillies released outfielder John Bowker to allow him to pursue an opportunity in Japan, according to a press release. The team's 40-man roster count now stands at 39.

Bowker, 28, was acquired by the Phillies from the Pirates in August. The former third-round pick hit .306/.348/.482 in 451 Triple-A plate appearances last year, his fourth extended stint at the level.

Phillies Acquire John Bowker

By Tim Dierkes | August 31, 2011 at 9:19am CDT

WEDNESDAY: The Phillies announced the trade. They are sending a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Pirates for Bowker, and Jose Contreras goes to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

TUESDAY: The Phillies acquired outfielder John Bowker from the Pirates, reports Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly. Bowker is expected to join the Phillies for Wednesday's game in Cincinnati. Salisbury says reliever Michael Schwimer was sent to Triple-A to create a spot on the active roster, though the Phillies will still need to open a 40-man spot.

Bowker, a 28-year-old left-handed hitter, has spent most of the year at Triple-A, where he's hit .308/.351/.487 in 445 plate appearances while playing the outfield corners and first base. The Pirates acquired Bowker from the Giants at last year's trade deadline in the Javier Lopez deal, designated him for assignment in April of this year, and outrighted him to Triple-A a few days later.

Bowker, a third-round pick in 2004, is one of eight players in Giants history to homer in his big league debut. He played college ball at Long Beach State, where he was a teammate of Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Vargas.

Outrighted: Boggs, Bowker, Alan Johnson

By Tim Dierkes | May 4, 2011 at 6:52pm CDT

Today's notes on recently-outrighted players:

The Brewers sent Brandon Boggs outright to Triple-A to create roster space for Zack Greinke, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). Boggs has three days to choose between Triple-A and free agency.
Pirates outfielder John Bowker cleared waivers and was assigned to the team's Triple-A affiliate, according to their Twitter account. Bowker had been designated to clear a spot for waiver claim Xavier Paul.
Same goes for Rockies' righty Alan Johnson, according to the Pacific Coast League's transactions page. The Rockies had designated Johnson for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Alfredo Amezaga. Johnson made his MLB debut for the Rockies this year, when he started on April 17th.

Pirates Notes: Paul, Bowker, Cedeno

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 29, 2011 at 11:40am CDT

Free agent addition Kevin Correia makes his sixth start as a Pirate tonight and he carries a 3.48 ERA into Pittsburgh's contest with the Rockies and their high-powered offense. Here's the latest on the Pirates…

The Pirates expect waiver claim Xavier Paul to play all three outfield positions, according to Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Manager Clint Hurdle told Dunlap that he's confident Paul can cover lots of ground on defense, a skill the Pirates appear to value more than John Bowker's hitting ability at the moment.
Hurdle told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the Pirates didn't have much use for Bowker. "He was my third left fielder, my third right fielder, my third first baseman," Hurdle said.
Though newcomer Brandon Wood has started three consecutive games at shortstop, Hurdle told Biertempfel that Ronny Cedeno hasn't necessarily lost his job. Cedeno failed to run out a ground ball this week and has been struggling at the plate.
Earlier this morning, the Pirates returned Rule 5 pick Josh Rodriguez to the Indians.

Pirates Designate John Bowker For Assignment

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 28, 2011 at 7:44am CDT

THURSDAY: The Pirates officially announced the move this morning.

WEDNESDAY: The Pirates will designate John Bowker for assignment tomorrow morning, according to Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). The Pirates needed to clear 25-man roster space for Xavier Paul, whom the Pirates claimed off of waivers from the Dodgers yesterday.

With Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, Matt Diaz and Lyle Overbay on the roster and Paul on his way, the Pirates will cut Bowker instead of carrying another outfielder/first baseman. In 18 plate appearances this year, he has a .250/.333/.313 line, not far from his career marks of .238/.289/.391. The 2004 third-rounder has already appeared at first base and in right field, the two positions he has played most often in his four big league seasons.

Pirates Notes: Doumit, Bowker, Rodriguez, McCutchen

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 25, 2011 at 12:05pm CDT

The Pirates optioned Daniel McCutchen to Triple-A and reassigned Sean Gallagher, Tyler Yates, Wyatt Toregas and Josh Fields to minor league camp today. Here are more updates on the Pirates from Florida…

Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review hears that the Pirates will not release Ryan Doumit if they can't work out a trade (Twitter link). Though Doumit will earn $5.1MM this year, the Pirates like his bat.
GM Neal Huntington told Pat Lackey of Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke that the Pirates haven't focused on pitching in recent drafts, even though it might appear that way. The Pirates have just been selecting the players at the top of their draft board, according to Huntington. Pittsburgh picks first overall in 2011.
In a separate post, Lackey points out that John Bowker's strong spring has likely assured that Rule 5 selection Josh Rodriguez will be returned to the Indians.
Huntington told reporters this morning that the goal for McCutchen at the Major League level would be for him to pitch multiple innings as a reliever. The right-hander may return to the Triple-A rotation.

Giants Acquire Javier Lopez

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2010 at 3:35pm CDT

The Giants have acquired lefty reliever Javier Lopez from the Pirates in exchange for John Bowker and Joe Martinez.

Lopez, 33, has two impressive numbers to his name this year: a 2.79 ERA and a 60.2% groundball rate. Otherwise he's struck out few and walked many overall. His splits show that he's somewhat effective against lefties and a poor choice against righties. He signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh before the season, and is still owed $287K this season. He is under team control as an arbitration-eligible player next year.

Martinez, a 27-year-old righty, posted a 3.32 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 2.9 BB/9 with six home runs allowed in 81.3 Triple A innings this year. Baseball America ranked him 30th among Giants prospects heading into the '09 season. They called him "a groundball machine" with a "sinking 86-88 mph fastball, a true curveball and a plus changeup consistently down in the strike zone." Martinez has yet to figure things out in his 41 career Major League innings, but he has retained his ability to generate grounders.

Bowker, a 27-year-old outfielder and first baseman, hasn't done much in the Majors aside from a less-than-terrible '08 rookie season. He has managed to rake in the Pacific Coast League after multiple stints there, for what it's worth. Baseball America ranked him ninth among Giants prospects before the '08 season, saying "he has strong hands and can hit good fastballs."

Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted that Lopez was on the verge of being dealt while Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News later confirmed the deal and added details (all Twitter links).

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

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