Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America Prospects Blog | Minor League Transactions: Nov. 6-12

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period Nov. 6-12.

Please see the new-and-improved Minor League Free Agent Tracker to monitor player movement and see who's still available.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Eddie Bonine, RHP Garrett Mock, OF Brad Snyder
Released: LHP Mike Hampton

Mike Hampton made 14 appearances in the Diamondbacks organization in ’10, but he had been voluntarily retired since March ’11. [Edit: As noted in the comments below, Hampton will serve as pitching coach for the Angels' Double-A Arkansas club next season, a hiring that required his release from Arizona.]

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Wilmi Francisco

Chicago Cubs
Signed: RHP Blake Parker (re-signed)
Released: 1B Rebel Ridling

Chicago White Sox
Signed: RHP Ramon Troncoso
Traded: RHP Brandon Kloess to Padres for OF Blake Tekotte

Cincinnati Reds
Signed: 1B Mike Hessman, 3B Marquez Smith
Released: OF Wilfrel Estevez
Elected free agency: SS Wilson Valdez
Removed from 40-man: SS Wilson Valdez (outrighted to Triple-A)

Veteran minor league slugger Mike Hessman mashed 35 home runs for Triple-A Oklahoma City in ’12, running his total in the domestic minors to 364. He also has 14 in the big leagues and six in Japan.

Detroit Tigers
Signed: LHP Jose Alvarez

Kansas City Royals
Signed: C Manny Pina (re-signed), 1B Ian Gac, 3B Brandon Wood, OF Luis Durango, OF Jose Mogollon
Released: OF Ysmelin Alcantara
Removed from 40-man: OF Jason Bourgeois (outrighted to Triple-A)

The Rockies deployed Brandon Wood as a utility infielder at Triple-A Colorado Springs this season—43 games at third, 17 at short, 22 at second—though the three-time Angels No. 1 prospect hit just .259/.313/.409 with 10 homers in favorable hitting conditions. He's entering his age-28 season, so a big league breakthrough still is possible.

Miami Marlins
Signed: RHP Jordan Smith, 2B Chris Valaika, 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff

The Marlins relied on minor league free agent import Donovan Solano at second base and a seeming cast of thousands at third last summer after the July trades of Omar Infante and Hanley Ramirez. Extra depth like Chris Valaika and Kevin Kouzmanoff can't hurt.

Minnesota Twins
Signed: C Eric Fryer, SS Jason Christian

New York Mets
Signed: RHP Greg Burke, C Mike Nickeas (re-signed)
Released: C Tony Piazza

An ’03 12th-rounder, Tony Piazza had been on the restricted list since spring training ’07.

Oakland Athletics
Signed: C Luke Montz

Pittsburgh Pirates
Signed: RHP Ryan Reid, 1B Jeff Larish (re-signed), 3B Jared Goedert, OF Darren Ford

St. Louis Cardinals
Signed: C Rob Johnson

San Diego Padres
Signed: C Eddy Rodriguez (re-signed)
Traded: OF Blake Tekotte to White Sox for RHP Brandon Kloess

Signed by the White Sox out of the Frontier League in June ’09, Kloess sinks the ball at 90-92 mph and throws strikes, and if everything breaks right he could pick up middle-relief innings in San Diego. Still, that's not a bad return for the designated-for-assignment Blake Tekotte.

San Francisco Giants
Elected free agency: 2B Emmanuel Burriss
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: LHP Ryan Bradley

Seattle Mariners
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Seon Gi Kim

Texas Rangers
Signed: RHP Yonata Ortega, RHP Zach Simons, LHP Scott Olsen, C Juan Apodaca, OF Jim Adduci, OF Aaron Cunningham

Toronto Blue Jays
Signed: RHP Justin Germano, RHP Bobby Korecky (re-signed)

Washington Nationals
Signed: RHP Yefri Pena, 2B Will Rhymes, SS Leudys Baez, OF Ray Kruml

Hampton has signed on to be the pitching coach for double a arkansas.

Posted by qui huy | November 14, 2012 at 8:03 pm | Shortcut

Can you tell me anything about Luis Sanchez's status (SS, Toronto)? Last played in 2010, and was on the DL for 2011 but no transactions in 2012. Is he still in the system?

Posted by mark | November 14, 2012 at 9:46 pm | Shortcut

But what are the schools like in Arkansas?

Posted by NMS | November 16, 2012 at 1:25 am | Shortcut

More seriously though, it is amazing to me that a guy who made as much money in baseball as Hampton would be willing to be a minor league pitching coach. He made 125 million as a player. That has to be the most money ever made as a Major Leaguer by a guy taking a minor league coaching job.
He must really love the game.

Posted by NMS | November 16, 2012 at 1:27 am | Shortcut

Another thought,
Brandon Kloess and Blake Tekotte both left college in 2008. Kloess was an undrafted senior with an 8.89 ERA at Florida Atlantic, Tekotte was a 3rd round pick as junior at Miami. Tekotte probably got a signing bonus of almost half a million dollars. Kloess probably got a bonus a few hundred dollars.

And now, just a few years later, Kloess is worth as much as Tekotte.

Posted by NMS | November 16, 2012 at 1:35 am | Shortcut

Technically by that logic, Kloess is worth Blake Tekotte and an empty 40 man roster spot (which has essentially a $500K pricetag).
And Tekotte's signing bonus was $360K

Posted by David | November 20, 2012 at 3:37 pm | Shortcut

@David

The 40-man spot would be valued at $490,000 only if the player spent the entire 2013 season in the big leagues. Players on 40-man rosters who spend the entire season on optional assignment in the minors earn a maximum of $79,900 in salary. That's a huge step up from the standard minor league pay rate, but it's a far cry from the major league minimum.

Posted by Matt Eddy | November 22, 2012 at 12:57 pm | Shortcut