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AL Notes: Rodriguez, A’s Closer, Phegley, Adcock, O’s, Wood

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Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez was cleared for his first pen session of the spring after suffering a minor knee injury in winter ball action, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. There was added concern given the trouble Rodriguez experienced with the same joint last year, but he was able to throw 40 pitches without incident today. Boston has some depth in the staff, with Rodriguez slated to compete with Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright for the final two rotation jobs, though maintaining that depth will hinge in no small part upon the ability of the 24-year-old to stay healthy throughout the coming season.

Here are a few more notes from the American League:

  • The Athletics may not go with a single closer in 2017, skipper Bob Melvin told reporters including MLB.com’s Jane Lee (Twitter link). Lefty Sean Doolittle and righty Ryan Madson have both handled the job in the recent past for Oakland, while the just-signed Santiago Casilla did the same for the cross-town Giants in recent years and John Axford also has spent plenty of time in the late innings. It’s perhaps imaginable that the less-experienced Ryan Dull could see some chances after a strong 2016.
  • There was some good health news out of Athletics camp, as catcher Josh Phegley was cleared for full duty behind the plate, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Phegley had struggled with knee inflammation after undergoing surgery, causing him to miss the second half of the 2016 season, but a change in his stance will hopefully resolve that issue. Oakland is counting on a bounceback campaign from the 29-year-old.
  • Righty Nate Adcock will not join Orioles camp as expected, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report on Twitter. The 28-year-old righty was hoping to make it back from Tommy John surgery, but now it’s unclear what his next steps will be.
  • Meanwhile, the Orioles are still on the market for lefty relief help, Kubatko also tweets. At present, the team’s top two southpaw relievers (outside of closer Zach Britton) are Donnie Hart and T.J. McFarland. With the best remaining free agents all recently leaving the board, only two southpaws (Chris Capuano and Charlie Furbush) remain available among players who qualified for MLBTR’s list of available free agents.
  • The Royals’ signing of lefty Travis Wood was due in part to the unfortunate injury suffered by southpaw Brian Flynn, with GM Dayton Moore telling Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link) that club owner Dan Glass authorizing a payroll bump to make it happen. From Wood’s perspective, the chance to compete for a starting job played a big role in his decision to sign with Kansas City, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports via Twitter.

Orioles, Sam Deduno Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have signed right-handers Sam Deduno and Nathan Adcock to minor league contracts, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.

Deduno, 32, has the lengthier Major League track record of the pair, though a significant hip injury shortened his 2015 season to just 21 innings with the Astros. Deduno opened the 2015 season in long relief with the Astros and eventually made a pair of starts, one of which went well (four innings, three hits, one run, two walks, four strikeouts) and the other of which was disastrous (4 2/3 innings, 11 hits, 10 runs, three walks four strikeouts). Deduno’s ERA never got the chance to recover from that brutal outing, as he made just two more relief appearances before landing on the disabled list and ultimately undergoing season-ending hip surgery.

Prior to last season’s 6.86 ERA, Deduno enjoyed a solid, albeit erratic three-year stretch with the Twins and Astros, pitching a combined 287 2/3 innings between the two clubs from 2012-14. In that time, the Dominican righty logged a 4.22 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a very strong 57.2 percent ground-ball rate. Control has long been an issue for Deduno, but he managed to miss just enough bats and induce enough grounders to get around that flaw and serve as a useful swingman for three seasons before his hip woes kicked in, and the O’s will hope for a return to form. He can serve as rotation and bullpen depth, though Baltimore doesn’t have a rotation spot for him at present and has multiple long relief options on the 40-man roster, so perhaps Deduno is Triple-A bound to open the season.

Adcock, 28, tossed 18 innings out of the Reds bullpen last season and struggled to a 6.00 ERA. He posted solid numbers out of the Kansas City bullpen in 2011-12 but hasn’t seen much big league time since his Royals days. Overall, Adcock has a 4.17 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 52.1 percent ground-ball rate in 123 Major League innings. He has a vastly higher 5.57 ERA in Triple-A, though most of those struggles came out of the rotation. He’s posted a 2.95 ERA over the past two seasons in Triple-A, albeit in a small sample of 45 2/3 innings.

Minor Moves: Gomes, Stewart, Wallace, Crosby

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With a rash of waiver claims today, several players made it through without being added to another club’s 40-man. The Angels announced that outfielder Shawn O’Malley cleared waivers and was released. Meanwhile, the Athletics have outrighted righty Fernando Rodriguez to Triple-A after he cleared, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Indians lefty Nick Maronde has cleared waivers, been assigned to Triple-A, and received an invite to big league camp, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter). And the Dodgers announced that outfielder/first baseman Kyle Jensen was outrighted to Triple-A.

Here are the day’s further minor moves:

  • The Rays announced that right-hander Brandon Gomes has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham. He will be invited to Major League Spring Training. The 30-year-old Gomes found himself designated for assignment last week following the Wil Myers trade.
  • Infielder Ian Stewart has joined the Nationals on a minor league pact, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. As Eddy notes, Stewart seems to be a solid match for a Nats’ roster that currently features all right-handed-hitting infielders (if you count Danny Espinosa, who currently sits atop the depth chart at second and is a much better hitter from the right side than the left). Soon to turn 30, Stewart — not unlike Espinosa himself — has failed to maintain the promise of prior MLB seasons, but has shown significant power capability in the past. Stewart will receive $800K in the bigs plus a possible $350K in incentives, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets.
  • The Padres have signed first baseman Brett Wallace to a minor league pact (via Eddy, on Twitter). Like Stewart, Wallace was once a highly-valued prospect. But the 28-year-old has yet to end an MLB campaign with an above-average hitting line, and he does not offer the kind of defensive value that lets his bat play. That said, he could still have some upside remaining and will provide San Diego with a depth piece at a position of need.
  • The Red Sox agreed to terms with lefty Casey Crosby (again, via Eddy). Per Eddy, Crosby landed amongst the Tigers’ top thirty prospects seven times. The oft-injured 26-year-old only received three big league starts in Detroit, however, and continued to have control issues after being converted to relief last year at Triple-A.
  • 28-year-old outfielder Adron Chambers will head to camp with the Cubs, Cotillo tweets. After seeing minimal playing time at the big league level from 2011-13 with the Cardinals, Chambers spent last year at the Triple-A level with the Astros and Blue Jays. Over 206 plate appearances, he slashed a rather typical .283/.351/.411 in the highest level of the minors.
  • The Reds have added several more minor league signings, also via Cotillo. In addition to the previously-reported signing of Ivan De Jesus, Cincinnati has locked up outfielder Jermaine Curtis and righty Nathan Adcock. Curtis, 27, managed only a .675 OPS at Triple-A last year for the Cardinals, and will be looking for a fresh start after spending his entire professional career in that organization. The 26-year-old Adcock has thrown 104 MLB innings over the last several years, mostly in relief, working to a 3.86 ERA in that stretch.
  • The Twins have made a series of additions, per a club announcement (via Dustin Morse, on Twitter). Among them are outfielder Wilkin Ramirez and second baseman Jose Martinez. The former is a 29-year-old who has called the Minnesota organization home since 2012. Last year, he put up a .262/.305/.368 line at the highest level of the minors. Martinez, soon to turn 29, slashed .276/.345/.372 at Triple-A last year with the A’s.
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