Minor League Transactions - 2015 Regular Season

[WV Brew]

Mitch Meyer went on the DL for the TimberRattlers. So there's your move to open space.

[agent39]

manny barreda resigned w brewers today headed to brevard. mexico was a bad experience which shall be a bp column

[Mass Haas]

More Sky Sox / Helena paper roster taxi squad shuffling Sunday:

 

RHP Tim Dillard active again, OF Bryan Petersen takes a back seat on the phantom Montana shuffle

 

***

 

There are 14 active pitchers now on the Sky Sox 25-man roster, and another five on the DL (RHP's Johnny Hellweg, Chris Leroux and John Ely, LHP's Jarret Martin and Brent Leach).

[Mass Haas]

There are 14 active pitchers now on the Sky Sox 25-man roster

 

So much for that, with the Scooter Gennett for Corey Knebel swap.

 

Gennett's playing time will only affect veterans such as Pete Orr and Donnie Murphy. OF/2B Matt Long remains as one of only four OF choices.

[Mass Haas]

Dave Walkovic announced that Chris Leroux was sold to the Phillies today.

 

The need for pitching reinforcements at the Triple A level led the Phillies to acquire veteran right-hander Chris Leroux from Milwaukee in a cash deal on Monday.

 

That's the first trade between the clubs since this one nearly nine years ago:

 

Phillies (07/28/06) -- Acquired 3B David Bell in exchange for LHP Wilfrido Laureano

 

Leroux had been placed on the Sky Sox DL on 5/10 and was eligible to be activated.

[Mass Haas]

More Sky Sox / Helena paper roster taxi squad shuffling Sunday:

 

RHP Tim Dillard active again, OF Bryan Petersen takes a back seat on the phantom Montana shuffle.

 

That was before Sunday's game. Then Petersen was re-transferred back to the active Sky Sox roster within 24 hours.

 

But Colorado Springs will again need to make a move when Scooter Gennett's arrival is official, otherwise the roster will be 26.

[Mass Haas]

manny barreda resigned w brewers today headed to brevard. mexico was a bad experience which shall be a bp column

 

The Brewers made this signing official today, with 26-year-old RHP Manny Barreda taking the roster spot of RHP Scott Lieser, placed on the Manatee 7-day DL with an unnamed injury.

[Mass Haas]

Catcher Joey Paciorek, a longtime farmhand including 2014, has signed with the St. Paul Saints of the independent American Association.

[Mass Haas]

Sky Sox OF Bryan Petersen back on the Helena paper roster upon Scooter Gennett's activation at AAA.

 

***

 

As many of you saw, RHP Jim Henderson still on the Sky Sox roster, but outrighted off the Brewers' 40-man (cleared waivers).

[FVBrewerFan]

I must have missed this somewhere along the line. Where is Johnny Davis? Also, any update on Michael Ratterree?

[WV Brew]

Johnny Davis is having knee surgery and is out for the year. Ratterree has, I think, a broken wrist. Not sure when or if he will be back this year.

[FVBrewerFan]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[Mass Haas]

Ratterree has, I think, a broken wrist. Not sure when or if he will be back this year.

 

From way back on April 8th via Adam McCalvy --

 

One of last season's Timber Rattlers, right fielder Michael Ratterree, will spend the first two weeks of Class A Advanced Brevard County's season on the disabled list, Gord Ash said. He suffered a slight right wrist fracture on a hit-by-pitch in Spring Training.

 

Unless there was a new different injury, that was no slight wrist fracture.

[Mass Haas]

From Thursday --

 

Col. Springs Top of the 2nd

 

Matt Clark called out on strikes.

Ben Guez grounds out, pitcher Nick Tropeano to first baseman Efren Navarro.

Matt Long grounds out, pitcher Nick Tropeano to first baseman Efren Navarro.

 

Salt Lake Bottom of the 2nd

 

Defensive Substitution: Chris Nelson replaces right fielder Ben Guez, batting 5th, playing third base.

Defensive switch from third base to right field for Pete Orr.

 

***

 

Guez (and his .914 OPS) lands on the Sky Sox DL, Bryan Petersen back on the active roster.

 

We hope to learn more, probably leg-related, but we can't rule out oblique or other possibilities...

[Mass Haas]

Ben Guez (and his .914 OPS) lands on the Sky Sox DL, Bryan Petersen back on the active roster.

 

We hope to learn more, probably leg-related, but we can't rule out oblique or other possibilities...

 

It is a leg injury for Guez, sorry no more specific...

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have placed 19-year-old Venezuelan RHP Yosmer Leal on the Arizona roster for the purpose of medical rehab. Leal has had elbow surgery (Tommy John, we presume, but not confirmed), and will miss the 2015 season. The tall (6'4", 170 lb.) Leal has two Dominican Summer League seasons under his belt. Leal has the distinction of being the only "Yosmer" to ever play professional baseball.

 

***

 

Two 2014 DSL Brewers will open the 2015 season on the 7-day DL, no word on the nature or severity of their injuries.

 

20-year-old RHP Melvin Tejada, a three-year DSL vet

 

18-year-old catcher Yoel Vasquez, who debuted late last season to get in eight August games

 

***

 

In another DSL note, RHP Axel Cordero failed to report and will go on the restricted list. Cordero, also tall (6'4") and lanky, will turn 24 in July. He made his pro debut late at age 22, and struggled badly in his 2nd pro season in 2014, as his linked stat page shows.

 

***

 

The Dominican Summer League opens this Saturday, May 30th.

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have signed 22-year-old RHP Yomelbin Almonte, a former farmhand of the Tampa Bay Rays (two years in the DSL, one year in the Florida Gulf Coast Rookie League). Almonte missed all of 2014 with an unknown injury. Click on the photo here for a nice close-up quality look. The Brewers now list Almonte at 6'1", 222, heavier than his 2013 player page notes.

 

Almonte must have one of those "big" arms, check out the BB and HBP numbers (but low K totals), on his player page linked above. He'll start 2015 with the DSL Brewers.

 

And yes, as Milwaukee collects great names, Almonte is the only "Yomelbin" to ever play pro ball.

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have signed switch-hitting 18-year-old infielder Josue Herrera, who spent last season with the Diamondbacks DSL squad (eight games at second base, two at third base). Herrera showed a good eye in his mini 45-at-bat stint, as you'll note on his player page linked above.

 

Baseball America's Ben Badler wrote this brief note in July of 2013 -- Herrera was not cheap, a $150,000 bonus. His father was the signing scout of Starling Marte, among others. Herrera may have been a necessary sign as part of a "package deal" in what Badler describes, here's the rookie stats for the more promising player the D-Banks inked.

 

Twitter provides a couple of photos.

[Mass Haas]

Helping restock a shorthanded DSL squad, the Brewers have also signed another switch-hitting infielder with prior experience, this one an older player who will turn 24 in July, Yerison Pena, with three years of .867 OPS work on his resume in the Tigers' system. The Brewers saw plenty of Pena as the two systems meet often in divisional Dominican play.

 

Look at that 2014 line with more walks than K's, 22 SB's, and an .895 OPS against kids on average 3.7 years younger. But the Tigers never saw fit to bring Pena stateside?

 

Of course, continuing a trend, Pena is the only "Yerison" to ever play pro ball.

 

This video was posted in 2014, but was likely filmed prior to the 2012 season.

 

[Mass Haas]

First of all, please look at this box score.

 

Yes, the starting pitcher in that 2012 game, southpaw Isaac Silva, fanned 15 in his seven no-hit innings. His teammate completed the no-hit gem.

 

And now the former Cardinal farmhand is a Brewer! (Well, we'll have to see if the exclamation point is warranted.)

 

Released by St. Louis after his 2nd stateside season in 2014, the Brewers will plug the now 22-year-old native Dominican back on the island, and see what they have. He'll be old for the league both in terms of age and experience.

 

You get the sense the Brewers' front office just wanted a few of these vets to help stabilize an otherwise raw squad.

[Mass Haas]

Keep in mind that the Brewers were very limited in their July 2nd signings, because basically their entire $3M+ international pool went towards SS Gilbert Lara. So much so, that Baseball America's Ben Badler sent out this tweet on April 1st along with a (paid subscription only) article link --

 

The Brewers did something I've never seen any team do in the international market -- You can read a preview at that link, though.

 

(By the way, the only other player signed by the Crew last summer was Yoel Vasquez, an 18-year-old Venezuelan catcher who signed for a pool-exempt $7,500 on July 2. Vasquez ended up playing in eight games starting on August 11th late last season.)

 

So it led us to thinking -- with so many 2014 DSL Brewers now stateside, how will the Brewers manage to field a full squad for the start of the 2015 DSL season? Will the Brewers have to share a co-op team with another organization?

 

We've learned that the Brewers will not have to share their team this summer, so there's that. And there's been an indication that while perhaps a couple of the players listed in the prior post may be sent back to the Dominican for the start of the regular season, the vast majority will remain stateside.

 

Well, we see that the Brewers have definitely relied on signing released players from other systems to help re-stock. The list continues here --

 

Milwaukee has signed 20-year-old 6'6" LHP Starling Duval, who pitched for the DSL Diamondbacks in 2014 (17 relief appearances, click the player page link for stats).

 

Hey, we're all for 6'6" 20-year-old southpaws, just line them up and roll...

[Mass Haas]

More --

 

6'4" RHP Yan De La Cruz, now listed by the Brewers at 201 pounds, has two years of DSL experience in the Phillies' organization, including 12 starts last season. De La Cruz, unlike so many other young Dominicans, has exhibited stellar control, and posted a 1.058 WHIP last year. Nice contrast from the norm...

[Mass Haas]

In the April 8th version of Matt Eddy's Minor League Transactions over at Baseball America, Matt wrote:

 

New York Yankees

 

Released: RHP Scott Baker, RHP Felix Santiago, C Roybell Herrera, C Bismar Nunez, C Daniel Vavrusa, 3B Juan Lorenzo, SS Melvin Aquino, SS Allison Reyes, OF Hector Asencio, OF Adolfo Morillo, OF Adam Silva

 

Most interesting among the Yankees’ roll of released players are a pair of Dominican amateurs signed last July 2. Outfielder Adolfo Morillo signed for $50,000 (at age 16) and catcher Bismar Nunez signed for $10,000 (at age 19) just nine months ago, but New York released both players on March 31 rather than keep them in extended spring training. Neither played a game for a Yankees affiliate.

 

***

 

We have learned that the Brewers have since jumped in and signed Morillo. Given his prior release, any financial commitment must have been very minimal.

 

Morillo is listed as a LH bat and arm, 6'0", 170 - in one link he was listed as a CF. He'll turn 18 on September 21st, so this summer will be his age 17 season.

 

And no, we don't know why he never dressed for the Yankees.

 

We posted that earlier in this thread, back in April. Now notice another name on that release list, catcher Bismar Nunez, mentioned in Eddy's note above.

 

Like Morillo, we now learn the Brewers have signed the former Yankee signee Nunez, who never played at all for the Yankees organization.

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have also signed two additional players since the media guide went to print in March. We won't know anything about them until the MiLB pages are created once the team begins play:

 

OF Marcos Pineiro

 

RHP Wuilder Rodriguez (not related, alas, to former longtime Brewer farmhand Guilder Rodriguez, who finally debuted in the majors with Texas last season)

 

Apparently there are a couple of signings pending their MLB-mandated name/age investigations.

 

Thanks to the Brewers, we now know that OF Marcos Pineiro is a 19-year-old Venezuelan (the Brewers always seem to hit on a higher success rate with Venezuelan kids, so that's a good thing). He's listed at 6'1", 175, and is a right-handed bat.

 

RHP Wuilder Rodriguez is a fellow Venezuelan, and is listed at 6'0", 189. He's making his pro debut at age 22.

[Mass Haas]

Here are the final names of new DSL Brewers not previously mentioned in this thread, making their pro debuts in 2015, certainly another Orlando Arcia-type among them (or perhaps, a Joantgel Segovia, who won a batting title in his 2014 rookie season at age 17 and will be playing stateside at age 18 this summer).

 

Infielder Javier Castillo -- a Venezuelan native, 5'11", 154, just turned 17 this past April.

 

Here's Castillo's Instagram page, which includes several photos in Brewers' gear.

 

***

 

Infielder Ignacio Otano is an 18-year-old Dominican, 6'0", 175. Otano is from a different town in the Dominican than former Brewer farmhand Leudi Otano (2011-2014).