Ray’s Ramblings: Minor Movement, Thanksgiving 2015

ATHLETICS ADD LOWRIE

Jed Lowrie is headed back to the Athletics as he was desalt in exchange for RHP Brendan McCurry Thursday. The soon to be 24 year old McCurry has a 1.37 ERA and strikes out nearly 12 batters per nine over 67 minor league outings. He might be in the Astros bullpen at some point in 2016.

As for Lowrie, the 31 year old is always hurt. Always (least year it was an injured UCL in his thumb that required surgery). More on that below.

Lowrie started out well last year but then fell on hard times down to hitting .222 with nine homers and 30 RBIs over 69 games. Lowrie agreed to a 3-year, $23 million deal with the Astros before last season. "We acquired Jed to play," A’s GM David Forst said. "Exactly where, we have some time to figure that out. He's too good an offensive player not to be in there somewhere." The plan seems to be, at least for now, for the club to leave Marcus Semien at shortstop, even after his horrific defensive season last year. What will the A’s do? They have Lowrie, Semien, Brett Lawrie, Danny Valencia, Eric Sogard… etc. The plan was Semien at shortstop, Lawrie at second and Valencia at third with Sogard in support. Where does Lowrie fit into that? “He played a really good third base with Houston, he obviously can play shortstop, and we at times had talked to him when he was here about playing second. His versatility is never a bad thing to have on a club like ours,” Forst said. The A’s know the truth. There is no way that Lowrie can be counted on to play daily. In eight major league seasons he’s appeared in 100 games twice. That’s horrendous. AL-only option thy name is Lowrie.

WHITE SOX ADD CATCHER

Alex Avila signed a 1-year, $2.5 million deal to join the White Sox. He was an abysmal offensive performer last season with a .191/.339/.287 slash line. The OBP was impressive given how bad he was, but the average and slugging rates were flat out pathetic. Pitiful really. The last time he hit .250 was 2011 and he hasn’t hit more than 11 homers in four years. He really can’t hit. He’s batted .251/.358/.423 against righties, so there’s hope he could performer decently against them. Avila will share the workload with Tyler Flowers – no relation to me. Flowers has 15 homers in 342 at-bats against lefties but his slash line is lacking (.222/.280/.386). Neither is anything other than AL-only fodder.

WHITE SOX ROTATION

The White Sox will have a top-4 in the rotation in 2016 of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Carlos Rodon and John Danks. Who will take over for the soon to be departed Jeff Samardzija in the 5^th spot? Sounds like Erik Johnson will get the first shot. "As we sit here today, I think it will be an opportunity for Erik Johnson to convert on sort of the return to form he showed back in 2015 when he was International League pitcher of the year for [Triple-A] Charlotte," GM Rick Hahn said. "Obviously, he got some starts in September and continued to show the progress in Chicago he had shown in the Minor Leagues over the course of the last season.” The team needs a righty in the rotation, so hello Mr. Johnson. The youngster was awful in 2014 (6.73 ERA, 1.80 WHIP in 20 starts at Triple-A) but he was back on his game last season with a 2.32 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 132.2 innings in the minors. He then made six big league starts with a 3-1 record and 3.34 ERA for the Sox. He’s not worthy of mixed league selection on draft day but he will be a certain target in AL-only leagues.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here’s a link to a brief history of the holiday.
 

BRAVES ADD NORRIS

Bud Norris signed a 1-year, $2.5 million deal with the Braves, a year after he pitched for the Orioles and the Padres. The 30 year old stunk for both teams posting a 6.72 ERA with a 1.57 WHIP over 83 innings (11 starts). In 2014 he was 15-8 with a 3.65 ERA over 165.1 innings, and Braves hope they got that arm on the cheap and not the mess that was seen in 2015. The current plan of the Braves is to have Norris start for them in the coming season. The only time strong punchout arm also has posted a K/9 rate of about 7.60 per nine the last three years, during a time in which he hasn’t thrown 180-innings. Always thought he had the arm to be a bullpen guy. Instead, he will be a low level NL-only play in the coming season.

BROTHERS FINDS A NEW HOME

Rex Brothers, a one-time closing prospect for the Rockies, was designated for assignment last week ending his Rockies career. The club from Colorado traded Brothers to the Cubs Thursday in exchange for LHP Wander Cabrera.

Brothers appeared in just 17 games last season with a mere 4.35 K/9 mark. For a man with a 10.32 K/9 rate in his career that’s pathetic. Moreover, over his last 91 outings the lefty has walked an unconscionable 6.35 batters per nine innings. You can’t pitch in the majors doing that. His velocity was there last season, the same as always (93 mph on the heater). He just had no idea where he was throwing the ball.

Cabrera is just 18 years old. He struck out 47 batters with a 2.34 ERA over 42.1 innings last season. Years away is he.

FORMER ELITE PROSPECT STAYS

Danny Hultzen, the second overall selection in the 2011 draft, has thrown a total of eight innings the last two seasons as injury after injury to his shoulder that has limited the lefty. He had surgery in October 2013 to correct the issue. It hasn’t worked. He returned in 2015 hitting 95 mph, after sitting out the entire 2014 season recovering, but had to shut it down as his shoulder continued to be an issue. He cleared waivers and chose to stick with the Mariners this week, the only team he’s ever known, and was sent to Triple-A (he cleared waivers cause of a lack of minor league options). It’s clear that he’s never going to reach the original expectations. At this point just staying healthy for a full season would be a huge victory.

FREE AGENT

Daniel Nava has chosen free agency after he cleared waivers as he says goodbye to the Rays. He can’t hit lefties, but he’s always been effective against righties (.281/.377/.409). Someone will take advantage of that skill set, right?