Rangers
Minor Moves: Joe Benson, Angel Sanchez
We’ll track today’s minor moves right here: The Rangers have claimed outfielder Joe Benson from the Twins, tweets MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. Apart from a brief call-up in 2011, Benson has spent his entire career in the minors. Thus far, he has struggled to a .192/.256/.285 line in 164 plate appearances for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. The claim enabled the Twins to free a 40-man roster spot for pitcher PJ. Walters to take the rotation spot of the scuffling Vance Worley. Infielder Angel Sanchez, a Rule 5 pick who was waived on Thursday by the White Sox, cleared waivers and was offered back to the Angels, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. With a roster crunch at the major league and Triple-A level, however, DiGiovanna reports that the Angels declined to take Sanchez back.
Grimm uses homers, ‘break’ to top Mariners
Jeff Baker and Lance Berkman hit their first home runs in two weeks and Justin Grimm navigated a shaky start to lead the Rangers to a 9-5 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field on Friday night.
Quick Hits: Beltran, D’Backs, Draft, Cashner
Epifanio “Epi” Guerrero, one of the key figures in the history of Dominican baseball, passed today at age 71. Guerrero signed a number of the sport’s most notable Dominican talents (including Cesar Cedeno, Tony Fernandez and Carlos Delgado) while working in the Astros, Yankees, Blue Jays and Brewers organizations as a scout and coach during a career that began in 1965. Guerrero was one of the first scouts to be involved in the development of the baseball academy system that gave countless young Dominican prospects chances at a professional career. We here at MLBTR extend our condolences to Guerrero’s friends and family on his passing. Here are some news items from around the baseball world… While it has been assumed that the Cardinals will part ways with Carlos Beltran after this season, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thinks both Beltran and the Cardinals could benefit from Beltran re-signing a short-term contract, provided the veteran was willing to take a hometown discount. While Miklasz has a point that Beltran is a surer thing to produce for a contender than youngsters like Oscar Taveras or Matt Adams, I would be surprised if Beltran returned to St. Louis in 2014. If the Cards were confident enough in their young talent to let Albert Pujols and Kyle Lohse go, they’re confident enough to do with the same with Beltran.
Quick Hits: Beltran, D’Backs, Montero, Draft, Cashner
Epifanio “Epi” Guerrero, one of the key figures in the history of Dominican baseball, passed today at age 71. Guerrero signed a number of notable international talents (including Cesar Cedeno, Carlos Delgado and Tony Fernandez) while working in the Astros, Yankees, Blue Jays and Brewers organizations as a scout and coach during a career that began in 1965. Guerrero was one of the first scouts to be involved in the development of the academy system that gave countless young Dominican prospects chances at a professional career. We here at MLBTR extend our condolences to Guerrero’s friends and family on his passing. Here are some news items from around the baseball world… While it has been assumed that the Cardinals will part ways with Carlos Beltran after this season, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thinks both Beltran and the Cardinals could benefit from Beltran re-signing a short-term contract, provided the veteran was willing to take a hometown discount. While Miklasz has a point that Beltran is a surer thing to produce for a contender than youngsters like Oscar Taveras or Matt Adams, I would be surprised if Beltran returned to St. Louis in 2014. If the Cards were confident enough in their young talent to let Albert Pujols and Kyle Lohse go, they’ll do with the same with Beltran. The Diamondbacks may not need to make any major moves before the trade deadline, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes. The Snakes have depth at several positions and further reinforcements are coming as some injured players return from the disabled list. The only possible area of need could be at closer given J.J. Putz’s elbow problems but GM Kevin Towers is “100% confident” that Putz will recover. The Mariners talked with Jesus Montero about a long-term contract before he was linked to the Biogenesis scandal, but nothing came of those conversations, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. Earlier today, the M’s demoted the 23-year-old to Triple-A. If MLB announces that an international draft will take place in 2014, Baseball America’s Ben Badler notes that teams like the Rangers, Yankees, Cardinals or Reds (who are likely to pick near the end of that draft’s first round) could be wise to exceed the spending cap on international prospects this year. Such teams would lose their 2014 or ’15 international draft first-rounder for going over the cap, but it could be worth it to get a jump on the non-North American talent market. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo profiles some of the top corner infielders in the upcoming amateur draft, a list led by University of San Diego third baseman Kris Bryant
AL West Notes: Angels, Mariners, Cotts
The Angels are the only AL West team playing today, with Joe Blanton facing Ervin Santana and the Royals in Kansas City. Having won their last four games, the Halos have climbed to a 19-27 record. They’ll need to play .612 ball moving forward to have a shot at 90 wins and the playoffs. The latest out of their division: Angels righty Jered Weaver had a successful extended spring training start yesterday, reports Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times
AL West Notes: Angels, Jesus Montero, Cotts
The Angels are the only AL West team playing today, with Joe Blanton facing Ervin Santana and the Royals in Kansas City. Having won their last four games, the Halos have climbed to a 19-27 record. They’ll need to play .612 ball moving forward to have a shot at 90 wins and the playoffs. The latest out of their division: Angels righty Jered Weaver had a successful extended spring training start yesterday, reports Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times
Cafardo on Tanaka, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Phillies
Through a quarter of the season, the Indians have emerged as last offseason’s biggest winners, while the Blue Jays rank as the biggest losers, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Other teams (such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, and Royals) received “thumbs up”, but the Indians’ additions of Mark Reynolds, Jason Giambi, Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Rich Hill, Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles have been enough for the club to stay on top of both Cafardo’s list and the AL Central. Here’s more from today’s column.. The Red Sox are one of a few teams closely watching Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka. The Rangers, Yankees, and A’s also appear to have some level of interest in the 24-year-old phenom, who pitches for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Rangers’ Wolf wins in first big league start
Ross Wolf emerged from Minor League oblivion to rescue the Rangers’ rotation and earn his first Major League victory. The 30-year-old righty allowed just one run in five innings and the Rangers held on to a 3-1 win over the Athletics on Wednesday afternoon at the Ballpark in Arlington.
Draft Notes: Astros, Appel, Gray, Cubs, Harvey
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo was asked on Twitter where high school outfielder Clint Frazier, whom many expect to go in the Top 10 of the MLB Draft, ranks in comparison to high school talents from previous drafts. Mayo notes that it’s hard to ignore hindsight and view players in the same light as he did when they were amateurs, but he ranked Frazier as the eighth-best talent among 36 high school hitters selected in the first round dating back to 2009. Here’s more on the draft… The Astros have six players on their draft board but Frazier looks to be edging out Austin Meadows, leaving them with Frazier, Mark Appel, Jonathan Gray, Kris Bryant and Colin Moran, according to Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle. Bryant and Frazier are seen as dark horses if the team decides Appel and Gray aren’t worth the money they’re asking. Should Scott Boras and Appel highball the Astros, money will become an issue. Smith notes that it’s very close between Appel and Gray, adding that Gray has ties to the Astros and is open to negotiating (All links to Smith’s Twitter account)
Derek Lowe Clears Waivers
WEDNESDAY: Lowe has cleared waivers and now must decide whether to accept an assignment to Triple-A or become a free agent, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (on Twitter). MONDAY: The Rangers designated righty Derek Lowe to open a spot on the active roster for Josh Lindblom, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Rangers now have 38 players on their 40-man roster. Lowe, 39, posted a 9.00 ERA, 5.5 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 2.08 HR/9, and 55.8% groundball rate in 13 relief innings this year. He had signed a minor league deal in March and made the team out of Spring Training, receiving a $1.25MM salary. That salary should prevent a waiver claim, and result in Lowe becoming a free agent via release. At that point, a team could sign him for the league minimum $490K with the Rangers picking up the rest of the tab. Lowe has pitched over 2,600 innings in his big league career with the Mariners, Red Sox, Dodgers, Braves, Indians, Yankees, and Rangers, and has had success as both a reliever and a starter. His 176 wins rank him 11th all-time among those born in Michigan, and his 86 saves rank tenth.
