2022 Minor League Transaction Thread

[Jim Goulart]

Ugh -

 

[Ro Mueller]

- RHP Jason Alexander's contract selected by MLB Brewers from AAA Nashville (Alexander's MLB debut!)
- RHP Luke Barker optioned to AAA Nashville from MLB Brewers (but Barker still hasn't made his MLB debut - not fair!!!)

[Ro Mueller]

- 1B Ernesto Martinez transferred from High-A Wisconsin's 7-day injured list to 60-day injured list
- RHP Jhoan Cruz transferred from Low-A Carolina's 7-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Ces actualités me rendent triste.

[Joseph Zarr]

23 minutes ago, damuelle said:

- 1B Ernesto Martinez transferred from High-A Wisconsin's 7-day injured list to 60-day injured list
- RHP Jhoan Cruz transferred from Low-A Carolina's 7-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Ces actualités me rend triste.

Yeah...lots of really yucky 60-Day and Full-Season things happening in a certain I and L place. NOT a fan...at all. Ugh.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

1 hour ago, damuelle said:

- RHP Jhoan Cruz transferred from Low-A Carolina's 7-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Unlike in past seasons when 60-day signaled that a player was out for the season that is no longer the case.  I spoke with Jhoan this morning and, although his throwing program was delayed by about a month, he is scheduled to begin throwing next week and he hopes to return by late July/early August at the latest.  I have yet to speak with Ernesto, but at the time of his injury it was just a sprained wrist.  I’ll update when I speak with him about if anything has changed.

[CheeseheadInQC]

4 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

Unlike in past seasons when 60-day signaled that a player was out for the season that is no longer the case.  I spoke with Jhoan this morning and, although his throwing program was delayed by about a month, he is scheduled to begin throwing next week and he hopes to return by late July/early August at the latest.  I have yet to speak with Ernesto, but at the time of his injury it was just a sprained wrist.  I’ll update when I speak with him about if anything has changed.

Is this because of the overall organization roster limit? Do players on the 60-day IL not count toward it? It just doesn’t seem like a coincidence these moves happened shortly before the complex leagues get going.

[Joseph Zarr]

27 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

Unlike in past seasons when 60-day signaled that a player was out for the season that is no longer the case.  I spoke with Jhoan this morning and, although his throwing program was delayed by about a month, he is scheduled to begin throwing next week and he hopes to return by late July/early August at the latest.  I have yet to speak with Ernesto, but at the time of his injury it was just a sprained wrist.  I’ll update when I speak with him about if anything has changed.

The Ernesto one is curious considering, as you say, it was originally a sprained wrist. Though, sprains can definitely be tricky and every athlete's body is obviously different. I had been wondering about the lack of chatter previous to Freddy Zamora's season-long absence. Do you have any knowledge there? That one was literally: he's out of the line-up and now he's done. I'm almost wondering if it's shoulder related given what I was seeing in the field.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

17 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Is this because of the overall organization roster limit? Do players on the 60-day IL not count toward it? It just doesn’t seem like a coincidence these moves happened shortly before the complex leagues get going.

From my understanding, and I may be wrong, 60-day and full-season injured do not count towards the roster limit set for stateside players and at the individual levels, however, they are still counted in the total organizational roster number.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

18 minutes ago, Julio Muchacho said:

The Ernesto one is curious considering, as you say, it was originally a sprained wrist. Though, sprains can definitely be tricky and every athlete's body is obviously different. I had been wondering about the lack of chatter previous to Freddy Zamora's season-long absence. Do you have any knowledge there? That one was literally: he's out of the line-up and now he's done. I'm almost wondering if it's shoulder related given what I was seeing in the field.

Zamora is one of those guys that is difficult to reach typically.  I am supposed to talk with a member of the Shuckers coaching staff this afternoon and I will ask about him once again.

[Ro Mueller]

- OF Arbert Cipion assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina
- INF Jose Acosta (recently acquired from Texas Rangers for cash considerations) assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina

[ARobsBrewCrew]

50 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

Zamora is one of those guys that is difficult to reach typically.  I am supposed to talk with a member of the Shuckers coaching staff this afternoon and I will ask about him once again.

I will preface this by saying that, for those that don’t know, the team policy for injuries and transactions is that, until the organization deems that information should be released either through a press release or the media (i.e. Adam McCalvy), only the player can speak about their situation.  As I expected, the coach I spoke with, JJ Reimer, told me he can’t speak on the matter and only Freddy can address his injury.  For that reason, given how guarded he typically is about speaking with those outside the organization, we likely will not know what happened until the team publicly addresses the injury.

[Joseph Zarr]

43 minutes ago, damuelle said:

- OF Arbert Cipion assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina
- INF Jose Acosta (recently acquired from Texas Rangers for cash considerations) assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina

There it is. Huge congrats to Cipion. A well-deserved promotion.

[Joseph Zarr]

38 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

I will preface this by saying that, for those that don’t know, the team policy for injuries and transactions is that, until the organization deems that information should be released either through a press release or the media (i.e. Adam McCalvy), only the player can speak about their situation.  As I expected, the coach I spoke with, JJ Reimer, told me he can’t speak on the matter and only Freddy can address his injury.  For that reason, given how guarded he typically is about speaking with those outside the organization, we likely will not know what happened until the team publicly addresses the injury.

Thanks for the efforts! We shall wait and see. What a seriously tough season for Freddy. Hopefully, he comes back healthier and ready to move on from a frustrating 2022 season.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Ernesto Martinez confirmed with me that he expects to return to the lineup in the second half of the season.  

[markedman5]

 

[Ro Mueller]

This is from yesterday and was mentioned in other threads, but I'll add it here:

- C Alex Hall's contract selected by MLB Brewers from High-A Wisconsin (replacing C Omar Narvaez who went on the Covid-19 injured list)

[Ro Mueller]

22-year old OF Pablo Abreu from the Dominican Republic was signed as a highly-touted prospect for $800,000 in July 2016, posting OPS’ of .713 as a 17-year old in his debut 2017 season (principally in the Dominican Summer League) and .753 as an 18-year old at High-Rookie Helena in 2018. Performing that respectably at such a young age kept him on the Brewers’ top prospect lists, coming in at #20 in MLBPipeline’s 2019 pre-season rankings. Unfortunately for Mr. Abreu, that’s where the derailment occurred, as he was injured just 7 games into the 2019 season with Low-A Wisconsin and only made it back to the Timber Rattlers in August 2019 to play an additional 19 games.

That injury-plagued 2019 season was followed by the 2020 Covid wipeout and then a 2021 season on the injured list. As such, the last official game in which Mr. Abreu played was a 3-walk, 1-RBI contest with the Timber Rattlers in September 2019. What an unfortunate series of events. We wish Pablo Abreu far better fortune in his upcoming endeavors, whether on the diamond or elsewhere in life.

21-year old RHP Erovis Alcantara from the Dominican Republic was signed in March 2019 and debuted the same year in the Dominican Summer League, pitching 12 2/3 innings (11.37 ERA, 2.61 WHIP, 8.5 K/9 – 12 Ks vs. 24 BBs). In 2021, he pitched just 2 innings (again in the DSL) before a July injury ended his season. We trust that the best years of his life are ahead of him and wish Mr. Alcantara success in his future activities.

19-year old INF Mauro Garcia from Venezuela was signed in July 2019, but didn’t get to make his debut until the 2021 season, playing in 8 games in the DSL, where he produced a slash of .273 AVG / .333 OBP / .273 SLG in 24 plate appearances. Going into baseball retirement hopefully means he’s jet-setting into new career plans which will take him far.

18-year old C Egduard Winterdaal from Aruba was signed in January 2021 and played in 17 Dominican Summer League games last season, producing a slash of .143 AVG / .275 OBP / .167 SLG in 52 plate appearances. He also caught 6 of 29 base stealers for a 21% success rate, while yielding 7 passed balls in 109 innings behind the plate. Releases after just one season of play are hard to take. We hope Mr. Winterdaal is able to latch onto another opportunity, if that’s the path he seeks.

[Ro Mueller]

- RHP Luke Barker's contract selected by MLB Brewers from AAA Nashville
- C Alex Jackson's contract selected by MLB Brewers from AAA Nashville
- INF/OF Pablo Reyes' contract selected by MLB Brewers from AAA Nashville (replacing INF Mike Brosseau, who was placed on the MLB Brewers' 10-day injured list)

- RHP Peter Strzelecki optioned to AAA Nashville from MLB Brewers

- C Alex Hall designated for assignment, though we should expect him back with High-A Wisconsin in the near future

[Ro Mueller]

- LHP Nick Bennett assigned to AA Biloxi from AAA Nashville

[Joseph Zarr]

SO happy for Pablo Reyes. Absolutely, one of my favorite guys on the Sounds and in the organization. He's been making great contact all year. Rarely makes a mistake in the field. Always a savvy base-runner. This pleases me quite well! An underrated translator to boot. I think, perhaps, Miguel Sanchez put in the good word for his good buddy?

[Jim Goulart]

Press release on the Brewers signing of 24-year-old LHP Justin King, who will be making his affiliated debut when he begins play -- very interesting baseball journey, and hey, we're always up for another Canuck.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Kent Hasler was promoted from High-A Wisconsin all the way up to Nashville, Tennessee. Kent definitely has the stuff that'll play at these higher levels. Good for him! 

 

 

[Jim Goulart]

Via @BrewersPD:

OF Yesbel Herrera & INF Pedro Riera have been released

Herrera was a member of the July 2nd 2019 international signing class. Given the chance to debut in 2021 in the DSL, Herrera started 14 games in the outfield, primarily in the corners, but also appeared in 11 games (ten starts) at first base. He also pitched in one game, not allowing a run while getting two outs.

The Venezuelan native only turned 19 years old last week. He struck out in 33% of his 82 age 18 at-bats, but managed to show some pop and managed a .674 OPS., so this release can be considered in the surprise category, it would seem a second season on the island would be worthwhile for the RH bat.

As for Riera, another Venezuelan who also debuted as an 18-year-old in 2021, the infielder (17 games at 3B, 13 games split at 2B/SS, one game at 1B) posted some extreme numbers. Riera fanned 40 times in 88 AB's, yet also reached 25 times by BB/HBP for a line of .170/.348/.216 (.564 OPS).

Riera signed in January of 2021, as the signing period was shifted for a Covid-impacted year,

Best wishes to both moving forward, baseball-wise and otherwise,

***

The MLB Brewers transaction page indicates that the players from their 2022 international signing period last July have been assigned to either the DSL Brewers1 or DSL Brewers2 roster. That season begins tomorrow. It appears none of this group were assigned directly to Maryvale, including the top signees listed here:

Johan Barrios, SS, Venezuela ($1,385,000)

Jhonny Severino, SS, Dominican Republic ($1.23 million)

Luis Lara, OF, Venezuela ($1.1 million)

Gery Holguin, SS, Dominican Republic ($450,000)

Fabricio Valera, OF, Venezuela ($400,000)

[Ro Mueller]

As far as the Arizona Complex League goes, I hope we'll see the likes of:

• 18-year old SS Daniel Guilarte ($1m bonus in Jan 2021, but yet to debut at any level)
• 18-year old SS Gregory Barrios ($1m bonus in Jan 2021, .550 OPS in the DSL weighed down by .239 BABIP)
• 18-year old INF Ney Serrano ($360k bonus in Jan 2021, .707 OPS in DSL)
• 18-year old C Edgardo Ordonez (signed Jan 2021, .867 OPS in DSL)
• 20-year old OF Rafael Martinez (signed July 2018, .774 OPS in DSL last year)
• 19-year old OF Diego Larez (signed July 2019, .752 OPS in DSL last year)
• 19-year old OF Eduarh Colina (signed July 2019, .741 OPS in DSL last year)

[CheeseheadInQC]

2 hours ago, damuelle said:

As far as the Arizona Complex League goes, I hope we'll see the likes of:

• 18-year old SS Daniel Guilarte ($1m bonus in Jan 2021, but yet to debut at any level)
• 18-year old SS Gregory Barrios ($1m bonus in Jan 2021, .550 OPS in the DSL weighed down by .239 BABIP)
• 18-year old INF Ney Serrano ($360k bonus in Jan 2021, .707 OPS in DSL)
• 18-year old C Edgardo Ordonez (signed Jan 2021, .867 OPS in DSL)
• 20-year old OF Rafael Martinez (signed July 2018, .774 OPS in DSL last year)
• 19-year old OF Diego Larez (signed July 2019, .752 OPS in DSL last year)
• 19-year old OF Eduarh Colina (signed July 2019, .741 OPS in DSL last year)

If the current DSL rosters are the actual ones, and enough guys have been removed to think they might be, you'll be getting your wish on all but one of these.

Like I said, no clue if they are final, but if they are, Ordonez, Jamal Zalm, Jose Gonzalez, Michael Perdomo, Kevin Briceno and Stanley Encarnacion would be among the surprises not making the move stateside.

If the rosters are correct, and assuming no more cuts, among the pitchers who finished the year in the DSL last season, the Brewers promoted all but two or three of the guys who made at least three starts and only promoted two who didn't.