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Rangers Sign Nick Tropeano To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced this evening they’ve signed Nick Tropeano to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training. The right-hander elected minor league free agency at the end of the season after an August minors deal with the Dodgers didn’t result in a big league opportunity.

While Tropeano didn’t suit up in the majors with L.A., he did log some time at the highest level with both the Giants and Mets earlier in the season. He allowed just three runs in eight innings but only punched out two batters in that time. That marked a step back from Tropeano’s quality work in a small sample the year before, when he fanned 28.8% of batters faced and generated swinging strikes at a very strong 14.9% clip across 15 frames with the Pirates.

Tropeano has appeared in seven of the past eight MLB seasons. A starter with the Astros and Angels earlier in his career, he’s come out of the bullpen for 14 of his 15 big league outings since the start of 2019. Tropeano has continued to start a fair number of his minor league appearances, though, so he could serve in either capacity as a depth option with Texas next season. He worked 46 1/3 innings over 17 Triple-A outings (nine starts) last season, posting a 3.69 ERA with a decent 24.4% strikeout percentage but an elevated 11.5% walk rate.

Texas also announced a minor league deal with third baseman Josh Sale. The left-handed hitter was a first-round draftee of the Rays back in 2010, and he ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects entering the following season. Sale never made it past the High-A level in the Tampa Bay farm system, as he was released in 2014 after hitting only .238/.332/.381 in the low minors.

Out of professional baseball for the next seven years, Sale returned with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the independent Atlantic League last season. Now 30 years old, he popped 34 home runs over 498 plate appearances and hit .284/.394/.593 with Gastonia, impressing the Rangers enough to earn a new opportunity in affiliated ball.

Minor Moves: Hill, Gillies, Sale, Tigers, Dbacks, Dodgers

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league:

  • Veteran southpaw Rich Hill has agreed to a minor league deal with the Nationals, the club announced. Hill, who has appeared in parts of ten MLB seasons, will receive an invite to big league camp. Soon to turn 35, Hill has long been effective against lefties but rather susceptible to opposite-handed bats, with good strikeout numbers in recent years offset by a hefty accumulation of free passes.
  • Former top Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies has signed a minor league deal with the Padres, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets. Philadelphia released Gillies over the summer while he was in the midst of a tough .214/.270/.289 run at Triple-A. Now 26, the center fielder was a part of the 2009 deal that sent Cliff Lee to the Mariners.
  • The Rays have released former first-round pick Josh Sale, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy tweets. The outfielder hit .238/.313/.344 in 361 plate appearances for Class A+ Charlotte in 2014 before being suspended in August for drug use. He also received a 50-game suspension for drug use in 2012 and was suspended by the Rays in 2013 following an incident at a strip club.
  • The Tigers have signed righties Ryan Perry and Ross Seaton and first baseman Bobby Borchering to minor-league deals, Eddy tweets. Detroit drafted Perry, 28, in the first round in 2008, and he pitched for three seasons in their bullpen from 2009-2011. He also appeared with the Nationals in 2012 before struggling in Washington’s minor-league system in 2013 and 2014. The 25-year-old Seaton was a third-round pick of the Astros in 2008. He got through the lower levels of Houston’s system fairly quickly despite low strikeout rates, but struggled to establish himself in the Astros’ Triple-A rotation. Borchering, 24, was the 16th overall pick in the 2009 draft, and he headed from the Diamondbacks to the Astros in 2012 in the trade that sent Chris Johnson to the desert. He struggled that year at the Double-A level and hasn’t yet made it back yet, hitting .238/.324/.333 in 71 plate appearances at Class A+ Lancaster last season.
  • The Diamondbacks have signed lefties Erick Threets and Trevor Reckling, Eddy tweets. Threets, 33, appeared in parts of three seasons with the Giants and White Sox from 2007 through 2010. He pitched in Mexico last season and last appeared in affiliated ball when he posted a 2.79 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in a 2012 season spent in Triple-A with the Athletics and Dodgers organizations. Reckling, a former Angels draftee, pitched in independent ball in 2013 and did not pitch in 2014.
  • The Dodgers have signed outfielder Travis Witherspoon, Eddy tweets. The athletic Witherspoon was once on the 40-man rosters of the Angels and Mariners. The 25-year-old hit .252/.338/.448 in the friendly hitting environment of Class A+ High Desert in 2014, mostly playing center field.

Minor Moves: Hill, O’Sullivan, Sale, Daley, Gimenez, Thomas

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Here are today’s minor moves …

  • The Tigers inked right-hander Shawn Hill to a minor league deal today, as James Wagner of the Toledo Blade reports on Twitter. Hill, 33, has seen mostly scattered MLB action since taking 28 starts for the Nationals over the 2007-08 seasons. He has a 4.87 ERA through 105 1/3 innings (4.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9) in the upper minors this year with the White Sox and Blue Jays organizations.
  • The Phillies have outrighted Sean O’Sullivan to Triple-A, according to the International League transactions page. The righty accepted a previous outright assignment earlier this year, but will once again have the right to elect free agency instead.
  • Rays prospect Josh Sale has been hit with a 50-game suspension for recreational drug use, MLB announced today. This is hardly the first brush with trouble for the 23-year-old former first-round pick, who came into the 2013 season rated Tampa’s 24th-best prospect by Baseball America. After a previous drug-related suspension, Sale missed all of last year when the team banned him for inappropriate conduct. He had slashed .238/.313/.344 over 361 plate appearances on the year at the High-A level.
  • After reporting earlier today that Matt Daley has accepted an outright assignment from the Yankees, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Daley has actually been optioned by the club. The righty still occupies a 40-man spot.
  • Catcher Chris Gimenez has accepted an outright assignment from the Rangers rather than electing free agency, tweets John Blake, the club’s executive VP of communications. The 31-year-old was designated for assignment five days ago, and apparently has not found a better opportunity with another organization.
  • The Phillies have released outfielder Clete Thomas, Cotillo tweets. The 30-year-old has seen 794 MLB plate appearances in parts of four seasons, but had not been elevated by Philadelphia this season. Over 226 minor league plate appearances, he carries a .247/.345/.335 slash.

Earlier Updates

Baseball America’s Matt Eddy has posted his weekly look at minor league transactions from around the league from the past seven days. We’ll highlight a couple of the (relatively) notable names that were missed in the past week:

  • Eddy reports that the Cardinals have released southpaw Pedro Feliciano from his minor league deal. The 37-year-old, once an excellent setup man with the Mets, pitched to a 5.57 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 21 frames with Triple-A Memphis this season.
  • The Reds have released left-hander Scott Maine, Eddy reports. The former Cub was inked to a minor league deal in June after pitching well for the independent Atlantic League’s Bridgeport Bluefish, but he posted a 6.10 ERA in 10 1/3 innings with the Reds organization.
  • The Athletics have released first baseman/third baseman B.A. Vollmuth, tweets Eddy. Vollmuth, a third-rounder as recently as 2011, batted just .207/.278/.341 this season at Class A Beloit. The 24-year-old has yet to move above the Class-A Advanced level and a has a .702 OPS in his pro career.

Quick Hits: Astros, Blue Jays, Yankees, Wolf, Appel

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Blue Jays first round draft choice Marcus Stroman has been suspended for 50 games for violating the minor league drug prevention and treatment program, the team announced. Stroman, who obtained a $1.8MM bonus earlier in the summer, maintains that he “unknowingly ingested a banned stimulant that was in an over-the-counter supplement.” He wasn’t the only former first rounder suspended today. Josh Sale, who was selected 17th overall by the Rays in 2010, also obtained a 50-game suspension, according to Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune (on Twitter).

Here are Tuesday’s links…

  • “We’re continuing to assess our list of candidates,” said Astros GM Jeff Luhnow to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart about the club's managerial search. “We need someone that’s going to be good at teaching, someone good at inspiring and basically working with the front office and help us achieve our goal of becoming as competitive as possible."
  • The Yankees hadn’t placed Alex Rodriguez on waivers as of yesterday morning, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports. Though the Yankees would like to dump Rodriguez and the $114MM remaining on his contract for luxury tax purposes, Davidoff says A-Rod and the Yankees have a pretty good relationship these days.
  • ESPN officially announced an eight-year extension for the rights to broadcast MLB games. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reports that the deal is worth $700MM per year for a total of $5.6 billion. The deal also covers digital, international and radio rights.
  • Four teams showed interest in Randy Wolf when he hit the free agent market, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). The Athletics were one of the teams with serious interest in Wolf before he agreed to sign with the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (on Twitter).
  • ESPN.com's Keith Law previews the 2013 amateur draft class, suggesting it projects as one of the weakest in years. Mark Appel, the Pirates' first round selection in 2012, projects as a top talent for 2013 along with college right-hander Ryne Stanek.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

Rays Sign Josh Sale, Drew Vettleson

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The Rays agreed to sign first-round pick Josh Sale and supplementary first-rounder Drew Vettleson, according to Conor Glassey of Baseball America (Twitter link). Sale, a 19-year-old outfielder, had committed to playing at Gonzaga next season. Last year, MLB recommended a $1.467MM bonus for the 17th-overall selection, but the Rays signed Sale for $1.62MM. Vettleson, a two-way player who turned 19 last month, gets $845K.

The Rays already signed first-rounder Justin O'Conner for $1.025MM. Click here for the complete list of 2010 first-rounders to sign.

Draft Notes: O’s, Harper, Pomeranz, Grandal

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The countdown is on for MLB scouting directors. The draft is just days away, so it's time for them to rank hundreds of players. Here are the latest links on the 2010 draft:

  • The Rangers' ownership problems means the team will be focusing on easily-signable players, reports Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com.
  • Steve Gilbert of MLB.com thinks the Diamondbacks will look to add pitching after spending most of their early picks in the 2009 draft on position players.  He also doesn't think Arizona will pay above slot to sign a player.  
  • Lou Montanez, Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis tell MLB.com's Spencer Fordin what they remember about being drafted.
  • Bryce Harper may have played his last amateur game and it's not just because the draft is approaching. He received a two-game suspension after being ejected, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo has video of the ejection.
  • ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill hears that the Mets are high on Drew Pomeranz and Josh Sale. The Mets' decision could come down to players' asking prices, however.
  • ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Mets could have a shot at Manny Machado, since the clubs picking between Pittsburgh and New York haven't shown clear interest in the high school shortstop.
  • Rival scouts and executives expect the Red Sox and Blue Jays to be big spenders in the draft this year, according to Law.
  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that the Jays will not shy away from tough signs.
  • An MLB executive told Law that catcher Yasmani Grandal is looking for "Buster Posey money." Posey received a $6.2MM bonus from the Giants.
  • If you're wondering who your team might select, check out this mock draft by three Baseball America writers.
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