June / July Transaction Thread -- Latest: Huntsville Times w/Injury Details

[rousieboy]

No love for Hand?

 

Is this a violation...or are we talking about Donovan?

[Mass Haas]

Adam McCalvy of MLB.com indicated that LHP Randy Choate's injury rehab has been moved from Brevard County to Nashville.

[Mass Haas]

From the Tennessean:

Sounds reliever Jason Shiell was reassigned to Double-A Huntsville prior to Thursday's game. Shiell was 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA in 21 appearances, and opponents were hitting .333 against him.

[dadofandrew]

Jason must wake up everyday and wonder if this is the day he gets released.

[And That]

Jason must wake up everyday and wonder if this is the day he gets released.

Charming.

 

[Mass Haas]

RHP Dave Johnson has been activated from the Huntsville disabled list.

 

To make room, RHP Josh Wahpepah has been returned to high-A Brevard County. Thought Josh was finally past that point in his career with the recent AA promotion, but the numbers game looms large in this business.

 

By our count, Brevard County will need to make a correpsonding move prior to this evening's game, but we've miscalculated before, and will again.

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have released their 9th round pick out of TCU from the 2006 draft, RHP Shawn Ferguson.

Ferguson was pitching in relief at Brevard County, and although he had been a ground ball machine this year and last, he had posted a 6.31 ERA in 26 appearances in '08, allowing 49 hits and 20 walks in just 35.2 innings.

 

Ferguson will be 26 years old in January -- you need to make that quick impression when drafted at 24.

 

Taking Ferguson's spot at Brevard County is RHP John Axford, activated from the disabled list.

 

Josh Wahpepah's placement in Brevard may not be official as of yet, so the other necessary roster move is on hold for now as well. We have no reason to believe, based on the earlier Huntsville update, that Wahpepah is not returning to Brevard.

[Mass Haas]

Link

 

Cate to Brewers!

Milwaukee Brewers Purchase Contract of LHP Troy Cate from Orange County Flyers

 

Third Flyer to be Acquired by an MLB Team This Year

 

(Dublin, CA. June 23, 2008) The independent Golden Baseball League (GBL) announced today that LHP Troy Cate of the Orange County Flyers has had his contract purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers. He is the third member of the 2008 Flyers to be acquired by a major league club, following RHP Reed Dickert in January (Brewers) and C Chad Miller in Arpil (Angels).

 

Off to a spectacular early season with Orange County, Cate was 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA in three starts as he struck out 18 and walked only 1 in 16 innings pitched. With batters in the veteran-laden GBL hitting a measly .096 aganist the lefty, he was generating interest from many major league teams while playing in the scout-heavy southern California area for Flyer's Baseball Hall of Fame Manager Gary Carter. The Brewers moved quickly after his last outing where he pitched one-hit ball over 6.2 innings.

 

Cate, 27, was a sixth round draft pick by the Seattle Marriners out of Ricks College in Idaho in the 2002 amateur draft. He excelled in the minors, being named a Northwest League All-Star in 2002, reaching as high as AAA in his second year in 2003 and finally breaking into the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals last year in 2007 as he pitched in 14 MLB games and posted an ERA of just 3.38. Acquired by the Oakland A's in the off-season he had an uncharacterisitc slow start in AAA Sacramento to begin this year and was cut loose by Oakland. Joining the Flyers just after the season began he has been sensational and one of the top pitchers in the GBL..

 

Cate is the 13th GBL player to be purchased by a major league organization in 2008.

 

Troy Cate's Career Statistics prior to his indy league stint

All the pitching secondary numbers and such indicate this was a worthwhile pickup...

 

From the link above --

 

Cate will be assigned to the Nashville Sounds (AAA) team for the Brewers. He has already reported to the Sounds.

 

No confirmation from Nashville on this as of yet, nor of any corresponding roster move -- should be forthcoming, though.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_446452.jpg

[Mass Haas]

To make room for RHP Josh Wahpepah (back from Huntsville) on the Brevard County roster, INF Kenny Holmberg has been placed on the seven-day DL retroactive to June 23rd. He left a recent game after an HBP.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Press Release:

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced the promotion of Stars' RHP Joe Bateman to Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers have also assigned Nashville's RHP Steve Bray to Huntsville. Bray went 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 29 games with Huntsville in 2006 before being promoted to Nashville.

 

Certainly not what many of us envisioned for Bray prior to spring training. Bateman's been solid all year, with ironically, one of his lesser outings being his most recent, on Tuesday of this week. This is the 28-year-old Bateman's first promotion to AAA, after six seasons in the Giants' system.

[Mass Haas]

Again from Huntsville:

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced that Stars' LHP Derek Miller and RHP Robert Hinton have been placed on the Disabled List. Miller's placement on the DL is retroactive to June 25th and Hinton's is retroactive to June 24th.

 

Taking their places on the Stars' roster will be RHP Nic Ungs and LHP Troy Cate. Ungs will be active for Thursday's game against the Carolina Mudcats. Cate will join the team tomorrow, and be active for Friday's game.

***

 

Ungs had been on the Nashville disabled list since April 30th with a right sholder injury. We had reported Cate's signing from indy ball earlier in this thread.

 

Although we don't have news on the nature of the Miller and Hinton injuries (Miller left his game this week after three scoreless innings), the fact that both injuries were back-dated bodes well. We'll see if we can learn more.

[dadofandrew]

Bray doesn't have much margin for error, as he does not throw very hard.

[battlekow]

Courtesy of a friend in Helena: Evan Frederickson just got promoted to West Virginia.

[Never Outhustled]

I wonder if Fredricksons promotion sets off a chain reaction, as WV seems to have enough starting pitchers. Will Evan Anundsen gets bumped up too?

[EbbaStClaire]

I wonder if Fredrickson's promotion is a result of a desire to have him work with a very good left handed pitching coach.

[Mass Haas]

Brevard catcher Martin Maldonado has been transferred from Brevard to Huntsville.

 

No word yet on a corresponding move for the Stars, perhaps involving their catchers Angel Salome or Carlos Corporan.

[Mass Haas]

Carlos Corporan has been promoted to AAA Nashville from Huntsville.

No official word yet, but J.R. Hopf is no longer listed on MiLB.com's Nashville roster, he may be on his way to Helena to help out there.

 

 

[DHonks]

Hopf seems to sort of be minor league fodder. That is, they like what he can do, but might be grooming him as a coach/bullpen catcher

[Mass Haas]

To make room for LHP Evan Frederickson at West Virginia, RHP Nick Tyson has been transferred to Helena.

[Mass Haas]

Baseball America indicates that the Brewers have formally placed Edgar Trejo on the 60-day DL with the knee injury he suffered in the rundown play in Helena.

 

LHP Jose Romero, who saw time in West Virginia last season, but is yet to pitch this season, is on Helena's disabled list (7-day).

 

Also --

 

Placed on restricted list: RHP Francisco Rivero, LHP Luis Ramirez, OF Ryan Jensen, OF Nelson Montes

Rivero and Montes have yet to make their pro debuts; Ramirez pitched in West Virginia last season; Jensen in Arizona. Their issues could be anything, including visa related (Jensen is from Canada). We're not necessarily going to pursue the reasons behind the placements at this time with the Brewers.

 

We believe the only players in the "land of the lost" are catchers D.J. Neyens and Matt Czimskey, who didn't make full-season squads this April. They are probably no longer with the Brewers, but we'll work on confirming that.

 

If you're aware of any others unaccounted for, please let us know. Thanks.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes:

DIFELICE REJOINS SOUNDS; HAMMOND TO D.L.: Right-hander Mark DiFelice was optioned back to the Sounds on Sunday evening when the Milwaukee Brewers announced plans to activated veteran reliever Eric Gagne from the disabled list. DiFelice, who made his Major League debut this season with Milwaukee following his May 15th call-up, posted a 3.95 ERA (6 ER / 13.2 IP) in 10 appearances with the Brewers. He held the opposition to a .236 average (13-for-55) and did not walk a batter while accumulating 16 strikeouts in the majors. DiFelice opened 2008 with the Sounds and turned in solid performances in his four PCL starts, going 3-0 with a 3.91 ERA (10 ER / 23.0 IP). He struck out 28 batters and walked just one in his 23.0 Triple-A innings while holding opponents to a .233 average.

 

To make room on the active roster, Sounds starting pitcher Steve Hammond has been placed on the disabled list.

 

CORPORAN JOINS SOUNDS; CRABBE TO D.L.: In a second set of moves today, catcher Carlos Corporan has been promoted to Nashville from Double-A Huntsville, where he opened the season by batting .265 (30-for-113) with three home runs and 15 RBIs in 34 games for the Stars. The 24-year-old backstop, who hit safely in his final five Southern League contests at a .455 clip (10-for-22), will make his career Triple-A debut upon his first appearance for the Sounds.

 

To make room on the active roster, infielder Callix Crabbe has been placed on the disabled list.

 

***

 

At this time, we have no definitive word on the nature of the Hammond and Crabbe injuries -- we'll do what we can to get the info to you soon.

[Never Outhustled]

This Hammond injury explains why his 2nd AAA was so horrible after having a good 1st start. Hopefully he didn't blow out his arm.

[Mass Haas]

This Hammond injury explains why his 2nd AAA was so horrible after having a good 1st start. Hopefully he didn't blow out his arm.

From what we can discern, Hammond may have nothing more than a bit of a dead arm, and is being placed on the DL as a precaution; likewise, Crabbe has been battling a few nicks and a week off will do him good. Can't promise we'll see Hammond back in the rotation in seven days, but he most certainly did not "blow out his arm".

[Minigoon]

David Fonseca to Helena. Did not see a corresponding move to the West Virginia Roster.

[battlekow]

I just talked to Cody Scarpetta, and he says that he'll see his first game action one week from now, next Friday, for the Baby Brewers. I'm excited to see what he can do.