Offseason / Spring Training Minor League Transactions

[Mass Haas]

For reference purposes, from the Major League Forum because they received big league spring training camp invites,

 

the Matt Treanor thread

 

the Kameron Loe thread

 

Our friend battlekow pointed out to us that Baseball America noted two minor league signings in their latest Transaction Update. If we find out these signings include major league camp invites, we'll link to this post on the "big board".

 

LHP Chris Waters is a 29-year-old who made 11 starts with Baltimore in 2008, and five appearances (one start) with the Orioles in '09. He was originally drafted by Atlanta in the 5th round in 2000.

 

***

 

Soon-to-be 29-year-old SS Anderson Machado hasn't made a big league appearance since 2005. He has a .224 / .333 / .335 stat line in over 3700 minor league AB's. He finished 2009 in the independent Atlantic League. At this point in the upper levels at short, Brewers' brass just wants someone to make the plays behind their pitchers. I can say Luis Cruz starting at AAA and Machado at AA.

 

Barnstormers' Machado makes the most of his opportunity

Intelligencer Journal

Lancaster New Era

Aug 11, 2009

 

In 2003, Anderson Machado accomplished his dream of making it to the major leagues. The shortstop debuted in the bigs September of that year with Philadelphia. But his biggest fan was not there to see him.

"My hero was my father," Machado said of his dad Gerardo, whom he honors with a portrait tattoo on his right bicep. "His dream was to watch me play in the major leagues. I made the major leagues two years after he died. But I know where he's at, he's always watching me. I just try to do my best and try to make him proud."

Recently, Machado has been making his dad proud in Lancaster, playing for the Barnstormers. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound switch-hitter, who wanted to be a catcher when he was a kid, has stabilized the 'Stormers defense since his arrival on July 20.

"He's been as good as advertised," Lancaster manager Tom Herr said of Machado's glove work. "The whole range of plays that top level shortstops can make for you can really change the game in your favor.

"Whitey (Herzog, Herr's manager with the St. Louis Cardinals) always used to describe Ozzie (Smith) as a guy who saves a hundred runs a year. You could equate that to a guy who drives in 100 runs a year. A run's a run. So when you have a guy like Machado out there, you're saving outs. You're saving pitches for your staff. It makes everybody's job easier."

In the middle of the 2004 season, Machado was traded by the Phillies organization to the Cincinnati Reds. He hit .268 in 17 games for Reds that season and defensively, which has been his strong suit throughout his career, he made just four errors in 63 chances.

Machado was looking forward to the next year. "They offered me the opportunity to play every day in 2005," Machado said of the Reds. But between the '04 and '05 seasons, Machado hurt his knee playing winter ball.

Instead of playing every day, he had just two at-bats for the Reds and was traded to the Colorado Rockies, where he played his final four games in the major leagues.

"I'm always thinking positive," Machado said. "Things happen. There are always ups and downs in baseball. You never know what's going to happen. I just go out there, try to do my job, do my best every single night and just wait for another opportunity."

After playing Double-A and Triple-A ball his last few seasons (including earlier this year) Machado landed in Lancaster. "I was sitting back home done for the year, and these guys offered me an opportunity," Machado said.

In 17 games for Lancaster he has hit .268 (15 for 56) with two homers, two triples, four doubles and 13 RBIs and played stellar defense.

"It's a comforting experience as a pitcher having him back there (at shortstop)," Lancaster starting pitcher Eric Ackerman said. "Myself being a contact guy, I try and keep the ball in the infield, and I rely heavily on my defense. So having him back there, everything looks routine.

"To me he's just as good back there as ('Stormer shortstop) Jason Bowers was in (Lancaster's championship season) '06, who I thought was the best shortstop in this league I've ever seen. And he makes all the plays. He makes it look easy and you just have no worries when the ball's on the ground."

Machado takes pride in his defense. "Even if I don't get a base hit, I still play my defense," Machado said. "That's my key. There are slumps in hitting. But even if I'm not getting hits, I still play my defense."

When Machado was growing up in Venezuela he had his dad taking him to the diamond, supporting him, watching his games and feeding his dream.

"I always thought when I was a little kid that I'm going to make it to be a professional baseball player," Machado said.

Now in his 13th season as a pro player, Machado has two dreams, looking both back and forward at the same time.

Machado wants to take his career back to where it was. "I love baseball," he said. "My goal is to get back to the big leagues. I'm not done yet."

In his personal life, Machado wants to do for his son, Anderson Machado Jr., what his dad Gerardo did for him. The young Machado is a catcher and dreams of playing in the bigs like his dad.

http://images.lancasteronline.com/local_new/240870/1

 

Photo by Marty Heisey

[Mass Haas]

LHP Chris Waters was designated for assignment in November. The Braves did the same to him earlier in his career, so he must have chosen free agency this time.

 

This Rotoworld history will give you some perspective on his big league time. He made quite the debut back in 2008.

[battlekow]

Omar Aguilar was outrighted to Nashville.

[yoshii8]

The Brewers have signed Norris Hopper to a minor league deal, could be some competition for the 5th OF spot or just minor league depth.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/01/brewers-sign-norris-hopper.html

[And That]

According to McCalvy, the deal includes an invite to spring training.

[JohnBriggs12]

The Brewers have signed Norris Hopper to a minor league deal, could be some competition for the 5th OF spot or just minor league depth.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/01/brewers-sign-norris-hopper.html

If he looks anything like the Norris Hopper of 2007, he'll be more than just competition for the 5th OF spot, he'll lock it up. Why not take a flyer on him? He's hit lefties in the big leagues (.367) and almost everyone in the backup OF picture hits lefthanded. Plus he's cheap and wouldn't take money away from the pitcher search.

[Mass Haas]

Not exactly transactions, but we'll link everyone here to Tom H., who summarizes all the big league camp invites. You can comment here if you wish, but if we get off on a tangent, we may have to split the thread up.

[TheCrew07]

Heckathorn and Arnett are a bit puzzling. Heckathorn wasn't impressive and Tunnell made it point to let it be known that he through Odorizzi was a more advanced pitcher than Arnett. I would guess it's some sort of contractual thing?

[Mass Haas]

I would guess it's some sort of contractual thing?

Yes, Heckathorn's invite was announced at the time of his signing, which led us to believe Arnett had it written into his contract as well...

[battlekow]

BA reveals three releases: Mark Holliman, Greg Miller, and Jose Romero.

[Mass Haas]

BA reveals three releases: Mark Holliman, Greg Miller, and Jose Romero.

 

LHP Jose Romero was one of a very few Brewer members of a Venezuelan Summer League team shared with the Orioles (always partnered with the Orioles, huh?) back in 2005, and he posted fantastic numbers (1.72 ERA with 57 K's and 10 BB's in 47.1 IP), which had us very anxious to see him state-side. His WHIP was 1.62 for Helena in '06, and then 1.77 with West Virginia in '07, in a combined 50 relief appearances at those stops. Surgery (we believe Tommy John) sidelined him for 2008 into 2009.

 

A 2005 3rd round pick of the Cubs who the Brewers picked up in the minor league Rule 5 prior to 2009, RHP Mark Holliman debuted in the Florida State League in '06 with 26 starts, the same number of starts he made in pretty pedestrian fashion for Huntsville last season.

 

RHP Greg Miller was the Brewers' 10th round pick out of Seton Hall in 2008, and struggled in 13 games (three starts) with the Maryvale rookies in 2008. Placed on the restricted list in 2009, the Brewers (apparently acting as they rightfully should have given privacy laws) would not confirm the reason for his status given our inquiries last season. Perhaps Miller has now signed some sort of paperwork where the Brewers felt comfortable relinquishing rights to him via this release.

[JohnBriggs12]

Holliman's best bet is the Northern League or similar indy league with experienced players. He fits perfectly the profile of a lot of Northern League pitchers, some of whom pitch their way back into affiliated ball. Many were fairly high round picks or guys with some lower level success that stalled out in AA around age 25 or 26 (ie: Josh Wahpepah, now with the Kansas City T-Bones).

[Mass Haas]

Reliever Chris Smith was not claimed on waivers, and has been outrighted to Nashville. He has 48 hours to accept as detailed here.

 

EDIT: As noted on the Major League forum, Smith accepted the assignment.

[battlekow]

To make room for waiver claim Marco Estrada, Tim Dillard was designated for assignment. Discussion on the Major League forum.

[Mass Haas]

OF Luis Chirinos, who didn't turn 17 years old until August 2009, so he actually played last season's Dominican Summer League season as a 16-year-old (stats), has been dropped by the organization. It's unlikely any details will come out regarding the release.

 

The Brewers continue to stock their 2010 DSL team, which they will no longer share with the Orioles or any other organization. We have some names, but at this point, all they are, are names (none prominent based on the occsional top prospect signings that come out occasionally). No position info, no vitals. So we'll wait for the media guide in the spring along with everyone else.

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have re-signed LHP Chase Wright to a minor league contract. It does not include a big league spring training camp invite.

 

Wright struck out 57 AAA batters in 131.2 Nashville innings last season, so most everyone is familiar with him (career stats).

 

At this point, who knows what role he may be asked to take on (he did hold LH bats to a .220 average last season - .313 vs. righties).

 

The Brewers love lefty arms at the AAA / AA level, they always seem to stock up on them -- Halama, Capuano, Cody, Waters, Murray, and so on...

 

Baseball America should list these latest moves within their transactions within their next couple of updates.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Former UCLA Catcher Brent Dean Signs With Milwaukee Brewers

Two-year letterwinner inks free agent contract

 

LOS ANGELES - Former two-year UCLA catcher Brent Dean has signed a free agent contract with the Milwaukee Brewers this week. Dean compiled a .276 batting average in two seasons (2007-08) with the Bruins before serving as an undergraduate assistant coach with UCLA in 2009.

 

After transferring to UCLA from L.A. Harbor Junior College, Dean helped lead the Bruins to consecutive NCAA Regional appearances in 2007 and 2008, including the NCAA Super Regionals at Cal State Fullerton in 2007.

 

"I'm really excited for the opportunity to continue playing ball at the next level," Dean said. "I've been working extremely hard in the offseason, and to be able to have this chance is a dream come true."

 

As a junior in 2008, he threw out nine of 27 attempted base stealers (33.3 percent), leading UCLA's defense to the highest caught stealing rate among all Pac-10 teams (44.9 percent). Dean played in 29 games, making 26 starts, during his junior season.

 

Dean is expected to report to the Milwaukee Brewers' spring training site (Maryvale Baseball Park) in Phoenix, Ariz., at the end of the month.

 

***

 

Good luck to the young man. That's some fuzzy "faint praise" math in the caught stealing blurb, as it would appear Dean's percentage was significantly lower than some of his teammates that season (fellow catchers were 22-of-42.)

 

Born July 27, 1986, Dean will turn 24 during the 2010 season, so a full-season assignment in April isn't out of the question.

 

Here's his Player Profile page from UCLA.

[pogokat]

possible that they just brought this guy in to help with the load at spring training?

[Mass Haas]

No news on the circumstances or reasoning, but the Brewers have released 22-year-old 2008 12th round RHP Garrett Sherrill, out of Appalachian State (career stats).

 

Back in his BrewCrewBall days, battlekow ran a Q&A with Sherrill.

 

As recently as January 10th, his hometown newspaper ran a story on his comeback from rehabbing a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

 

We'll read about multiple players being released this spring, and it's likely 90% of them will be pitchers, it's just the way the numbers work each year...

[molitor fan]

I teach in the Charlotte area with a friend of Sherrills, and she stated that the release was a shock to him as well. He was told it was a numbers thing combined with the fact they did not have time to allow for him to further recover from his injury. A pretty rough glimpse into the need for prospects to make an immediate, and healthy, impact on their organization.

[DHonks]

the Brewers have drafted tons of pitchers the last 2-3 years, so it makes sense that we'll see some decently high picks being let go.

[Mass Haas]

Not exactly a transaction, but the Brewers brought 1B/3B Steffan Wilson into big league camp, good for him. (Adam's blog entry)

 

The Wilson-autographed Manatee cap I've worn quite a bit since winter 2009 just moved back to the top of my cap "rotation" http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[Mass Haas]

Back in July 2009 we posted the following:

 

From Adam McCalvy:

 

The Brewers signed former Nationals farmhand Ryan Delaughter, a right-hander pitcher, to a Minor League contract and assigned him to rookie-level Arizona.

 

Our notes:

 

Delaughter was a 5th round selection in the 2005 draft out of high school. Delaughter was a two-way star for his Texas high school team, but the Nationals saw the most promise as an OF. Scouts compared his makeup to former major leaguer Jay Buhner, as Delaughter had both amazing raw power and a cannon for an arm in the OF. After failing at the plate, he made a handful of appearances on the mound in the Nationals chain before being released by Washington.

 

***

 

UPDATE: The 23-year-old Delaughter was released this past week by the Brewers.

[battlekow]

Per Adam McCalvy, Eric Arnett and Kyle Heckathorn were returned to Minor League camp, and Alex Periard will accompany them, having been optioned to Huntsville.

[Mass Haas]

Our Brewerfan 40-man roster page has been updated to indicate that RHP Alex Periard now has one option remaining, his option for 2010 having just been exercised.

 

Periard could spend time in the minors again in 2011, but would have to be kept on the 25-man roster beginning in 2012, to avoid being exposed to waivers.