Cardinals To Promote Oscar Taveras
The Cardinals have informed top prospect Oscar Taveras that he will be elevated to the big league club for the first time, reports Dionisio Soldevila of ESPNDeportes (Twitter links). Taveras, 21, has risen steadily through the organization’s system since being signed as an international free agent in 2008.
Taveras, who hits and throws from the left side, has been a consensus top-five prospect league-wide entering each of the last two seasons. Entering 2014, MLB.com has him in the second slot, Baseball America ranked him third, and ESPN.com’s Keith Law placed him in the fifth slot to open the year, but just bumped him up to fourth. Regardless of precisely where he falls on that list, all agree that Taveras has impact talent who projects to hit for average and power at the MLB level.
Indeed, the minor league results have generally been there for the 6’2″ Dominican. Taveras entered 2013 after shredding the High-A and Double-A levels over consecutive seasons (at age 19 and 20, respectively). But he missed much of last season due to ankle issues, which slowed his start and may have delayed his ascension to the bigs. Nevertheless, through 395 Triple-A plate appearances over this year and last, he has posted a .316/.358/.495 triple-slash. While adding 12 home runs and six steals over that stretch, Taveras has struck out just 47 times (good for a strong 11.9% strikeout rate).
We just looked at the Cardinals’ glut of outfielding options (courtesy of Bernie Miklasz). GM John Mozeliak made clear that he was not interested in burning service time for his prized prospect unless he was going to play regularly. If that is to be the case, the obvious question becomes where that playing time will come from. Though Taveras has spent much of his minor league career at center field, most evaluators agree that he is better suited for right field, where he brings a big arm to the table. Currently, St. Louis runs out two highly-paid veterans — Matt Holliday and Allen Craig — to its corner outfield spots.
One solution, of course, would be to open a spot for Taveras by shifting Craig to first, which is currently manned by Matt Adams. Indeed, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that Adams may be headed for a DL stint. If that proves to be the case, it could be that this promotion does not represent a plan to integrate Taveras into the lineup permanently.
On the other hand, of course, he clearly has the talent to play himself into a regular role. Having entered the year with no service time, Taveras could still pick up enough days on the MLB roster to position himself for Super Two status. Assuming that he is officially added to the active roster tomorrow, Taveras could accrue as many as 121 days of service in 2014. Over the last five seasons, the Super Two cutoff has never fallen below 2.122 days of service. Whether or not Taveras is able to earn a fourth year of arbitration, the Cardinals will control his rights through at least 2020.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Photos.
Cardinals Could Deal From Outfield Surplus
While the Cardinals’ compilation of outfield talent is enviable, it nonetheless presents real difficulties to the team’s front office, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in a piece that is well worth a full read. Indeed, that is precisely how GM John Mozeliak described things. “When you look at depth in baseball, it’s a good problem to have,” he said. “But I think we’re starting to get to the point where it might become a problem. So even though it’s a nice thing to have true depth in your system, at some point you’ve got to be able to play the depth.”
The club’s big league outfielders are off to a somewhat underwhelming start, combining for just a 95 wRC+. A group of four primary options — Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, Peter Bourjos, and Jon Jay — is responsible for most of that line. Meanwhile, a trio of well-regarded younger options has gathered at Triple-A, with top prospects Oscar Taveras and Stephen Piscotty joined by offseason trade acquisition Randal Grichuk (whose big numbers in his first Triple-A campaign make the Bourjos and Grichuk for David Freese and Fernando Salas deal look even better for St. Louis.)
While adding one of those names to the MLB outfield mix is surely tempting, Miklasz explains that the scenarios for doing so all come with complications. “You look at how we’re constituted at the major league level,” Mozeliak said, “and it’s difficult trying to find major league at-bats for Taveras, Grichuk, and, not too far down the road, Piscotty.” (Grichuk was actually brought back up today for his second run with the big club, though that move likely relates to the team’s need for a DH for a lengthy run of road match-ups against American League clubs.)
Service time is also an issue that the club will weigh in the balance. As Mozeliak explains, “you’re not going to start somebody’s [service] clock and then have them sit.” All three outfield prospects entered the year without MLB service to their credit, and only Grichuk has begun a tally thus far. It is worth bearing in mind also that all four of the team’s regular big league outfielders are under contract (Holliday, Craig) or control through arbitration (Bourjos, Jay) through at least 2016.
Looking ahead to the summer, more decisive action will likely prove necessary, says Miklasz. The Cards’ GM certainly left the impression that a trade deadline move could be explored, using interesting terms to describe his thinking. “[W]e are going to have to look at what our arbitrage possibilities are with this,” said Mozeliak. “And we will have to explore what that looks like between now and the end of July.” As Miklasz explains, a bold maneuver would not be surprising, though what form it might take — dealing away a prospect, a veteran, or even first baseman Matt Adams (while shifting Craig back to the infield) — is still anybody’s guess.
Pirates Place Wandy Rodriguez On Release Waivers
MAY 30: The Pirates have placed Rodriguez on unconditional release waivers, reports Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (via Twitter).
MAY 22: The Pirates announced that they have re-instated Russell Martin from the 15-day disabled list and designated left-hander Wandy Rodriguez for assignment.
The DFA marks a somewhat surprising end to what has been an injury-riddled Pirates tenure for Rodriguez. Acquired from the Astros in 2012 (in exchange for Colton Cain, Rudy Owens and Robbie Grossman), Rodriguez totaled just 164 1/3 innings in parts of three seasons with Pittsburgh.
Rodriguez was healthy and effective for the Bucs after the acquisition in 2012, pitching to a 3.72 ERA in 75 innings. However, a forearm strain limited him to just 62 2/3 innings last season, and right knee inflammation cost him three weeks earlier this season. Still, with the exception of 2014, the veteran southpaw has pitched well when healthy.
This season, he’s registered a 6.75 ERA with a 20-to-8 K/BB ratio and a whopping 10 homers in 26 2/3 innings. Never one to throw particularly hard, Rodriguez’s average fastball velocity is a career-worst 88.3 mph this season. Still, given his $13MM salary ($5.5MM of which is being paid by Houston) and the fact that the Pirates have previously bought low on pitchers with potentially fluky homer-to-flyball ratios (A.J. Burnett, Mark Melancon and, to a lesser extent, Francisco Liriano), it’s a bit surprising that Rodriguez was the odd man out.
Pittsburgh will have 10 days to trade, outright or release Rodriguez, though his salary and recent injury problems make it highly unlikely that someone would claim him on waivers. A trade is unlikely for the same reason, unless the Pirates were to kick in some cash. Rodriguez is earning $13MM in 2014 — $5.5MM of which is being covered by the Astros. In other words, with more than a quarter of the season gone, Pittsburgh is eating roughly $5.33MM worth of salary, which is a sizable chunk of its $72MM Opening Day payroll.
Rougned Odor Changes Representation
Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor, who is in the midst of his first MLB stint at age 20, has switched agencies, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). The Venezuelan has returned to Beverly Hills Sports Council after spending time under the representation of Relativity Baseball.
Odor is one of the game’s better-regarded middle infield prospects, appearing consistently on top-100 prospect lists and rating as high as 42nd overall (by Baseball America). He is off to a solid start in his first big league action, especially given his young age and the expectation that he would take somewhat longer to reach the game’s highest level. Through 55 plate appearances, Odor has posted a league-average 100 OPS+ (.275/.283/.451) with one long ball. (He has, however, been thrown out on three steal attempts without successfully swiping a bag.)
If Odor plays his way into a permanent role on the big league club, he would stand to add 143 days of service this year and be well-positioned to achieve Super Two status. Of course, he will face significant competition for a place on the active roster both this year and into the future, with youthful middle infielders Jurickson Profar and Luis Sardinas also in the mix along with incumbent shortstop Elvis Andrus.
As always, you can find player representation information in MLBTR’s Agency Database.
NL Notes: Hanley, Samardzija, Young, Severino
It’s time to move Hanley Ramirez from shortstop to third base, writes Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Saxon notes that advanced defensive metrics paint Ramirez as the worst shortstop in the Majors, and with Juan Uribe out for weeks (if not months) and a heavy emphasis on pitching, going with the best defensive alignment makes sense. Uribe could be used in a super-utility role upon his return, with Erisbel Arruebarrena and Dee Gordon forming a solid middle-infield tandem, he argues.
Here are some more notes from the Senior Circuit…
- The landscape in the upcoming Jeff Samardzija sweepstakes is beginning to take shape, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Sun-Times. Gonzalez runs down all of the factors that could determine where Samardzija is dealt (assuming, of course, that he is indeed traded) and examines how the tight race in the AL East benefits the Cubs. An Orioles source told Gonzales last week that they feel they’re in a window to contend through 2015. He also speculates that the Red Sox might be a sleeper for Samardzija given their strong pitching and catching depth in the minors.
- Earlier in the week, Mets GM Sandy Alderson appeared on 98.7 ESPN radio to tackle some criticism he’s received for signing Chris Young for just $750K less than Nelson Cruz received from the Orioles. Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog has highlights from the talk, in which Alderson calls such talk an “unfair comparison,” given the fact that Cruz was seeking $65MM at the time and only was an option in left field. Alderson said the team was searching for an outfielder that could handle center field and provide some pop with a .240-.250 average.
- The Washington Post’s James Wagner looks at the unlikely story of Nationals prospect Pedro Severino, who almost quit baseball after being asked to become a full-time catcher and is now among the organization’s best prospects at the position. Severino caught his first game at age 15 (he had preferred third base at the time) because the team’s regular catcher failed to show up. He impressed his coaches by gunning down a base stealer, and they asked him to stay there. Four months after nearly quitting, the Nats signed him as a 16-year-old catcher for $55K. Now, Severino says, he wouldn’t dream of playing another position. Though his offensive numbers are low, the Nats coaches and front office aren’t worried, as they’ve placed him in leagues where he’s three years younger than the average player in order to challenge Severino.
Yankees May Have Interest In Kendrys Morales
FRIDAY: Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner wouldn’t rule out a pursuit of Morales when asked by George A. King III of the New York Post. “We never say never,” he told King. “We always look at all possibilities.” Steinbrenner did add that the current plan is to remain internal, but his answer was far more open-minded than the recent comments by Orioles executive VP Dan Duquette, who plainly stated that his team’s signing of Nelson Cruz closed the door on speculation regarding Morales.
King adds that while the Yankees aren’t too concerned about Teixeira’s ability to play — GM Brian Cashman termed him day to day — the outlook on Beltran is much cloudier. Cashman said it isn’t fair to speculate on Beltran either way. Beltran was able to handle a 25-swing soft toss session with hitting coach Kevin Long and is expected to try the exercise again today. Cashman said he’s hopeful that Beltran can graduate to rehab games soon, but as King notes, if the cortisone shots Beltran has received don’t do the job, he could miss more than two months with elbow surgery.
THURSDAY: The draft pick compensation that is hanging over Kendrys Morales‘ head is roughly a week away from being lifted, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears from multiple Major League sources that the Yankees are among the teams with potential interest in the switch-hitting Scott Boras client.
The Yankees are concerned about injuries to first baseman Mark Teixeira (wrist inflammation) and Carlos Beltran (bone spurs in his elbow), and they lack a true backup first baseman, which caused them to play Brian McCann at first base for the first time in his pro career yesterday.
Rosenthal notes that the Mariners continue to signal that they don’t have the financial wherewithal to sign Morales, and the Brewers, among other NL clubs are concerned with his defense at first place. That concern isn’t as big for the Yankees, as Morales would still be an upgrade over McCann or Kelly Johnson, who are the current backups to Teixeira.
As Newsday’s David Lennon writes, Morales might seem an expensive insurance policy for the Yankees, but it’s also a potentially costly gamble to play the team’s $85MM catcher out of position. McCann, Lennon notes, indicated in the offseason that his preference was to delay any time at first base until later in his contract. He did admit to the fact that first base was less taxing on his body and a nice mental break, but he also told reporters that he was glad whenever a ball wasn’t hit to him.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that he’d be surprised if the Yankees signed Morales, as every indication he’s received from the club is that they expect Beltran and Teixeira to be back and healthy (Twitter links). In that instance, signing Morales would create a logjam of first base/DH/corner outfield types with Teixeira, Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano already on the roster.
AL Central Notes: Hughes, Iglesias, Coke, Sveum
Twins right-hander Phil Hughes chatted with Brandon Warne of the St. Paul Pioneer Press about his turnaround this season and his decision to return to the curveball he had abandoned in favor of a slider. As Warne notes, Hughes is using a three-pitch mix — four-seamer, cutter and curveball — to great effect, having compiled a 3.23 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 0.9 BB/9 en route to 1.9 fWAR through his first 61 1/3 innings as a Twin. Hughes, who has faced 175 batters since his issuing his last walk, credits improved mechanics and an emphasis on throwing strikes for his turnaround. He’ll return to Yankee Stadium for the first time this weekend, which he says he’s looking forward to. “I think human nature is you’re going to get a little more amped up for something like that,” Hughes tells Warne. “It’ll be fun.”
Here’s more on the Twins and the rest of the AL Central…
- The Twins will be present at today’s Raciel Iglesias showcase in Haiti, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (Twitter link). However, it might not be worth reading too much into that, as Sanchez also notes that the Twins “see everyone.” The New York Post’s Joel Sherman noted last night that some teams feel Iglesias can help a big league bullpen this season.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski tells Steve Kaminski of MLive.com that fans tend to “jump on situations and focus on individuals” when a team is struggling, and he doesn’t think that Phil Coke is the team’s problem at this point. Dombrowski said he feels that Coke has thrown the ball better of late, which is true to an extent, but he does still own a 5.91 ERA in the month of May (albeit, an improvement from his 8.10 mark in April). Dombrowski feels that the team’s pitching staff is well-equipped to recover from its recent rough patch.
- New Royals hitting coach Dale Sveum feels that the team is swinging at too many pitches down in the zone rather than waiting to pounce on pitches that are left up, he tells MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel. Sveum offered high praise for the man he replaced, Pedro Grifol, and talked about the difficulty of the role of hitting coach: “You’re dealing with the to do of any manager, of any coach, of any position. The hitting coach — anybody will also say — is the most difficult. Unfortunately, it’s the most transitional, too.”
Anthopoulos Confident Jays Can Add Payroll In Trades
Though the club had some very notable payroll issues in Spring Training, the Blue Jays will likely be able to take on additional payroll in summer trades if they have a need, general manager Alex Anthopoulos told reporters yesterday, including the Toronto Star’s Brendan Kennedy (Twitter links). It was fair to assume they were “at [their] number to start the year,” said Anthopoulos, but he described that number as “fluid,” and said he has “every confidence” that his club will have the necessary resources from ownership.
The fact that they had reached their preseason “number” may have significantly impacted both the AL East and the NL East, as the team was unable to top Atlanta’s one-year, $14.1MM offer to Ervin Santana, who has pitched well for the Braves to this point. Blue Jays players, at one point, were willing to defer some of their salary in order to help the team meet Santana’s asking price.
Anthopoulos’ comments are a departure from comments he made to Peter Gammons earlier in the week, in which he termed the team’s payroll as “maxed out.” At that point — just six days ago — he also hinted that the Jays preferred rental pitchers rather than paying the steep price of pursuing a pitcher that is controllable beyond the 2014 season (and would therefore come with a higher price tag). Said Anthopoulos at the time: “I think we’d probably look at something where we have a pitcher for the rest of this season. That makes sense.”
Among strictly rental pitchers that could be available at this summer’s trade deadline are Jason Hammel, Brandon McCarthy, A.J. Burnett, Kyle Kendrick, Roberto Hernandez, Justin Masterson, Francisco Liriano, and Edinson Volquez. Obviously, the next two months of play for the Phillies, Indians and Pirates will go a long way in determining which of those arms are available. As it is right now, no team in all of baseball is more than eight games removed from a Wild Card berth in the standings. One big fish for contending teams to monitor would be James Shields, though the Royals would probably need to really tank before biting the bullet and trading their ace.
Anthopoulos himself noted that it’s too early to know who will be available (more Twitter links from Kennedy), saying that “so much can change in the next six weeks” and adding that he’s not currently involved in any trade discussions.
DraftStreet Pick’Em League: Win Share Of $2500 Payout
Looking to show off your fantasy baseball skills and get your share of a $2500 prize pool? Check out DraftStreet’s latest Pick’Em League for MLBTR readers. This one-day fantasy contest covers Friday’s games only and has an $11 buy-in.
The Pick’Em draft room contains eight tiers of players, and you simply have to pick one player from each tier. Click here to see the stats that will be used. The Pick’Em League begins is for Friday night’s games, so sign up by 6:55pm eastern time. The top 40 finishers will be paid, with the top spot earning $500.
Here’s a look at my team:
Sign up for the DraftStreet MLBTR Pick’Em League before Friday’s games start!
This is a sponsored post from DraftStreet.
NL West Notes: Withrow, Black, Billingsley, Romak, Rockies
Yet another name can be added to the long list of Tommy John victims this season, as Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times tweets that Dodgers right-hander Chris Withrow has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and Tommy John is, unsurprisingly, the recommended treatment. The 25-year-old Withrow had a 2.95 ERA in 21 1/3 innings for the Dodgers this season, averaging 11.8 K/9 but also an unsightly 7.6 BB/9. His loss only further depletes a Dodger bullpen that entered Thursday with just the 22nd-ranked bullpen ERA in the Majors at 4.03. More from the NL West…
- MLB.com’s Barry M. Bloom looks at what a stabilizing force manager Bud Black has been on the Padres since assuming the role in 2007. Bloom asked Black if his team being in a constant state of rebuilding or recovering from overwhelming injuries is taxing, to which Black replied: “It makes it tough in the short term. You hope you have some players who do find their way and become successful Major Leaguers. I mean, all of us want to win whether you’re in New York, L.A., Detroit or Texas.” As Bloom notes, Black has been a constant through three ownership groups, three GMs and multiple club presidents.
- Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley is on the comeback trail from Tommy John surgery and took a positive step in his recovery by throwing a 30-pitch simulated game today, writes MLB.com’s Earl Bloom. Manager Don Mattingly said Billingsley could either have one more simulated game or head right to a minor league rehab assignment, depending on how his arm reacts to today’s work. Billingsley’s rehab is worth keeping an eye on, as he has a $14MM club option ($3MM buyout) and could be an interesting free agent if that option isn’t exercised.
- It’s been a long road to the Majors for Dodgers outfielder Jamie Romak, writes Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. Romak, who is in his 12th minor league season since being drafted in the eighth round by the Braves back in 2003, was called up to replace Carl Crawford on the active roster when Crawford hit the DL. He called the promotion a “dream come true.”
- Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post wrote earlier in the week that the Rockies need to take action by promoting some of their highly touted Double-A Tulsa right-handers. Saunders wrote that the “Tulsa Trio” — Eddie Butler, Jon Gray and Daniel Winkler — are all near-MLB-ready and should be leveraged to give the Rox a shot at their first NL West title. He opines that the offense is good enough to win the division if the team can improve its 4.09 rotation ERA. Manager Walt Weiss told Saunders that when it comes to Butler “the development is behind him,” and he doesn’t have much to prove in the minor leagues.