Tagged: Brad Peacock

Tigers,Astros,Blue Jays, Yankees, Mariners and Rockies news

The Tigers have sent down rookie reliever Bruce Rondon to Triple-A Toledo. Rondon was slated to be the Tigers’ closer this season. He struggled mightily this spring against big league hitters (2-1 record with 5.87 ERA and a .327 AVG against in 13 spring training games). The Tigers will start the season with a closer by committee.

Brad Peacock has been named the #4 starter in the Astros’ rotation. Peacock was acquired by the Astros as part of the Jed Lowrie trade to the A’s during the off-season. He had a 12-9 record with an ERA of 6.01 in 25 starts last season for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. Peacock had a 0-1 record with an ERA of 3.20 and a .225 AVG against in 7 spring appearances.

J.A. Happ has agreed to a two year contract extension with the Blue Jays. The extension is worth a total of 8.9 million dollars. Happ will be the #5 starter in the Blue Jays rotation. He beat out Ricky Romero for the last spot in the rotation. Happ had a spring record of 1-1 with an ERA of 1.90 in 7 appearances.

The Yankees have released 1B/OF Juan Rivera. Rivera was signed to a minor league contract during the off-season. He became expendable after the club acquired Ben Francisco and Lyle Overbay during spring training.

M’s OF/1B Michael Morse has set the club’s spring training home run record for a player. Morse hit his 9th home run of the spring in 2nd of today’s Mariners/Cubs game off Carlos Villanueva. The Mariners have set a team spring training record with 56 home runs and counting.

Rockies have signed pitcher Aaron Cook to a minor league contract. He was released by the Phillies earlier in the week. This will be Cook’s 2nd stint with the Rockies. Cook had a 72-68 record and an ERA of 4.53 in 206 starts over 10 years with the Rockies. He had a 4-11 record with an ERA of 5.65 in 18 starts for the Red Sox last season. Cook will provide depth in the minor league ranks and can be called upon if one of the major league starters struggles or has an injury.

Baseball Transactions Roundup

The A’s have traded first baseman Chris Cater, starting pitcher Brad Peacock and catcher Max Stassi to the Astros for shortstop Jed Lowrie and reliever Fernando Rodriguez. Carter had stat lines of .239/16/39/.350/.514/.864 in 67 games with the A’s and Brad Peacock did not make an appearance for the big league club. Stassi did not make an appearance for the big league club last season.

Lowrie had stat lines of .244/16/42/.331/.438/.769 in 97 games for the Astros last season. He was off to a great start in the 2012 season,but injuries limited him to under 100 games. Even though the A’s have already acquired shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima earlier in the off season, they still pulled the trigger on this deal. Lowrie will be a roving infielder. He get starts at every infield position except for first base. Rodriguez appeared in 71 games with a 2-10 record and an 5.73 ERA for the Astros last season. 

The Marlins have signed reliever Jon Rauch to a one year deal worth 1 million dollars. Rauch appeared in 73 games with a 3-7 record and an ERA of 3.59 for the Mets last season. He could be a candidate to close for the Marlins next season. Rauch has 62 career saves, achieving a career high 21 with the Twins in 2010.

The Brewers have re-signed shortstop Alex Gonzalez to a one year deal worth 1.5 million dollars. Gonzalez has stat lines of .259/4/15/.326/.457/.783 in 24 games with the Brewers last season. He appeared in only 24 games, because of a torn ACL during the season. Gonzalez will most likely be a bench player for the Brewers this season. The team already has phenom Jean Segura,who was acquired in the Zack Greinke trade last season will be manning the position.

The Pirates have signed pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Sanchez had 1-9 record with an 8.07 ERA in 15 starts between the Royals and Rockies last season. He threw a no-hitter in 2009, while achieving career bests in wins (13), ERA (3.07), starts (33), innings (193.1) and strikeouts (205) during the 2010 season. Sanchez will fight to make the starting rotation out of spring training.

The Nationals have signed Micah Owings to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Owings appeared in 6 games with a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 2.79 for the Padres last season. He had his best year in 2007 with the Diamondbacks. Owings won an NL Sliver Slugger award. He also finished 2nd in complete games and 4th in shutouts in the Nation League. He will try to find a spot in bullpen during spring training.