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Archives for April 2015

Indians Designate Jerry Sands

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The Indians have designated outfielder Jerry Sands for assignment, the club announced. Righty Ryan Webb had his contract purchased as Cleveland looks for solutions to its pitching difficulties.

Sands, 27, has taken 25 trips to the plate this year and produced eight base hits and two walks, good for a short-sample .400 on-base percentage. He has not received much opportunity at the big league level since a solid-enough run at age 23 with the Dodgers (.253/.338/.389 in 227 plate appearances). But in parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level, Sands has slashed a useful .264/.346/.483.

Nationals Agree To Minors Deal With Jose Valverde

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The Nationals have reached agreement on a minor league deal with righty Jose Valverde, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported (Twitter links) that an arrangement was in the works.

The veteran reliever spent the spring with the Padres, working to a 4.15 ERA over 8 2/3 innings while striking out eight and walking only one batter. But with San Diego carrying a loaded pen that was not due to include him, Valverde opted out of his deal.

Valverde enjoyed a long run of success as a closer earlier in his career, but has struggled to get outs over the past two seasons. Between his time with the Tigers in 2013 and his run with the Mets last year, Valverde has tossed 40 frames of 5.63 ERA ball. He has posted 9.5 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in that stretch, but has been victimized by the long ball.

Metrics suggest he has been a bit unlucky as well, though only SIERA sees his work as being above average across 2013-14. All said, the Nats will presumably look to get what they can out of the 37-year-old as they seek to deal with performance issues and injuries to Craig Stammen and Casey Janssen.

Amateur Notes: Cuba, Draft

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The latest notes on various segments of the amateur market:

  • Baseball America’s Ben Badler has released a new ranking of the top twenty Cuban prospects who still reside on the island (1-10; 11-20). The veterans at the top of the list — Yulieski Gourriel, Alfredo Despaigne, and Jose Fernandez — will be familiar to anyone who has followed player movement out of Cuba. Slotting in after that group are a series of younger players, including Yulieski’s brother Lourdes Gourriel and teenage outfielders Victor Mesa, Jorge Ona, and Julio Pablo Martinez.
  • As MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo explains, this year’s top 100 draft prospect list is heavily influenced by injuries to several top players. There is uncertainty in terms of talent as well, reaching all the way to the top of the class, which is currently led by middle infielders Brendan Rogers and Dansby Swanson along with righty Dillon Tate. What may be lacking in terms of upper echelon ability is made up for, perhaps, in depth. Given those facts, and the role of bonus pools in draft strategy, it could be rather an interesting selection season.
  • If you are already well-acquainted with those players expected to be chosen in the coming summer, then be sure to check out this early 2016-17 draft preview from Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs. Towering Oklahoma righty Alec Hansen tops his current list.

Prospect Timeline Notes: Lindor, Correa, Franco

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ESPN.com’s Keith Law ranked the top 25 big leaguers (non-rookies) who have yet to begin playing their age-25 season (Insider piece). I won’t bore you with the obvious top choice, and many of the names are obviously to be expected. Only one pitcher (Gerrit Cole) made it into Law’s top ten, though plenty more appear further down the line. Perhaps the most interesting slot is #6, which features the increasingly hard-to-ignore Nolan Arenado.

Which of the next crop of prospects will similarly make that leap from tearing up the minors to producing at the big league level? That remains to be seen, of course, but some may soon get a chance to begin proving themselves. Here’s the latest on promotion timelines for some of the game’s top prospects:

  • The Indians are happy with how young shortstop Francisco Lindor has progressed at Triple-A but are not planning to be aggressive with moving him up, T.J. Zuppe of 92.3 The Fan reported recently. GM Chris Antonetti says that Lindor’s timeline “hasn’t changed from what we talked about in Spring Training,” and also noted that the club still believes in Jose Ramirez. MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince recently advocated for a move up for Lindor, citing the struggles of Ramirez and the club as a whole, but it should be remembered that he is just 21 years old and has yet to dominate (offensively, anyway) at any minor league level.
  • Another highly-touted shortstop, Carlos Correa of the Astros, now has a clear path to the big leagues after a significant injury to major league starter Jed Lowrie. But as Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports, the 20-year-old’s incredible start at Double-A is probably not enough to force a promotion at this point. Things may have been different had Correa not missed significant time last season with a broken leg, but GM Jeff Luhnow indicated that the club does not want to rush him through the upper minors. “He’s definitely a special player, so his time will come faster than it would for other guys,” said Luhnow. “But having —he’s got 70 at-bats above Class A, and we feel like he needs some more. But how many more, I don’t know. And it’ll be a different number for him than it would be for someone else.”
  • We’ve heard recently that the Phillies are in no rush to move up top prospect Maikel Franco. But the team just began working out incumbent third baseman Cody Asche in the outfield, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports, which could be an indication that preparations are being made for Franco to slot in at the hot corner. The 22-year-old had a rough introduction to the big leagues last year — which not only showed the need for further development, but means that a promotion before May 15 (per Salisbury’s calculation) would cost the club a season of control. Franco is off to a strong .333/.371/.512 start in his first 89 plate appearances at Triple-A this year.

Homer Bailey On DL With Potentially Serious Elbow Injury

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APRIL 29: The Reds have moved Bailey to the 60-day DL, per a club announcement.

APRIL 28: One alternative to surgery for Bailey is a platelet-rich plasma injection, writes Fay. Price mentioned the possibility when discussing Bailey’s status with reporters today. As Fay notes, right-hander Carlos Contreras, who was called up to the Majors to replace Bailey, avoided Tommy John surgery in 2010 by undergoing a PRP.

APRIL 27: Reds starter Homer Bailey was placed on the DL today with what the club is calling a right elbow ligament sprain. Manager Bryan Price indicated that the injury could be serious, as John Fay and C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer were among those to report (Twitter links).

Price did not offer a precise diagnosis or timetable, but did not express much optimism. “He certainly won’t be pitching here in the near future,” said Price. He added: “It’s messy and unbelievably unfortunate both for him as an individual and for our ball club.”

Bailey suffered a torn flexor mass tendon late last year, undergoing surgery in early September. The right-hander rehabbed and returned after missing just a few starts to open 2015, but it now seems that return may be short-lived.

In his two outings this year, Bailey lasted 11 1/3 innings but compiled just three strikeouts against four walks while permitting seven earned runs to cross the plate. An even more troubling trend from the early going is a marked velocity decline. Bailey had thrown his fastball at an average rate of just over 94 mph over each of the last two seasons, but was clocking a mean offering of just 91 mph in 2015.

The news is deeply concerning for a Cincinnati club that already has its share of short-term and long-term issues. Bailey was one of several pitchers nearing free agency when the team locked him up to a six-year, $105MM deal before last season.

Bailey earned that payday with two straight 200+ inning seasons, including a strong 2013 performance. He threw well enough last year, even if he did not continue to progress, before going down to injury.

All involved certainly hoped for a quick return to form this season, but that seems increasingly out of reach. Beyond the present season, the Reds are obligated to pay Bailey $86MM from 2016-19 (including the buyout on a 2020 mutual option) under the backloaded deal structure that was agreed to.

Phillies Willing To Pay Some Of Hamels’ Contract In Trade

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An incalculable amount of ink has been dedicated to the Cole Hamels saga and whether or not Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is asking too much in trade talks, but the GM himself added another layer to the story Tuesday in telling USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that the Phillies would pay down some of Hamels’ contract in a trade.

“We are very open-minded,” Amaro told Nightengale. “We’re not afraid to subsidize contracts. We never told a club that we would not absolutely subsidize his contract. That is not a realistic way to do business. If there’s a deal to be made, and we have to subsidize part of it, we’ll do it.”

As recently as Spring Training, reports indicated that the Phillies were looking to add multiple top prospects and get an acquiring club to take on the entirety of Hamels’ four years and $96MM. (His contract also has a $20MM club option that can vest at $24MM based on innings pitched.)

Amaro again took a patient approach when discussing the Hamels situation, noting that it’s understandable if teams want to assess their internal options before making a more drastic move to acquire someone from another organization. “It’s no secret that one team lost an ace and two or three teams have lost very important starters,” said Amaro. “Some teams want to move quickly. Other teams want to ride things out. I think all of us would rather do deals only after exhausting their own internal possibilities and go from there.”

The Cardinals’ recent loss of Adam Wainwright has fueled quite a bit of Hamels-to-St. Louis speculation, and Nightengale also touched base with Cards GM John Mozeliak to discuss Hamels. Mozeliak noted that the team will certainly do its due diligence on trade candidates. Asked if the team could make a deal without including Carlos Martinez, a key member of the 2015 rotation, Mozeliak replied, “There’s probably always a deal worth making.”

Nightengale lists the Cardinals, Red Sox, Dodgers and Blue Jays as teams that could desperately use Hamels in their rotation. The Blue Jays wouldn’t seem to have the payroll capacity to add Hamels’ contract, but perhaps with enough money being paid down, something could be worked out. And for what it’s worth, Amaro did mention Toronto GM when making a tongue-in-cheek comment about his stress levels regarding the Hamels negotiations, stating: “I guarantee I’ll get more grey hairs from my daughter [taking her driving test] than any trade talks with Mozeliak, Anthopoulos and Cherington.” Nightengale adds that Amaro had talks regarding Hamels with a team as recently as Tuesday morning, and “some desperation” began to creep into those talks.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports took a lengthy look at the market for Hamels earlier today, noting that the Phillies do indeed covet Martinez, though it’s unclear if they’ve formally asked for Martinez in trade negotiations with the Redbirds. Per Heyman, the Phillies are also taken with Jorge Alfaro and Nomar Mazara of the Rangers as well as Luis Severino and Aaron Judge of the Yankees. Despite a brutal month for the Red Sox’ rotation, there’s been no change to their refusal to part with Mookie Betts or Blake Swihart, and the Dodgers similarly won’t part with any of Joc Pederson, Corey Seager or Julio Urias, even with injuries ravaging their own rotation.

One rival exec noted to Heyman that, “A few things have lined up in the Phillies’ favor. There’s a little bit of a crescendo. And now is the time to act.” However, a GM explained to Heyman that he’d be more inclined to part with significant pieces to add someone controllable like Seattle’s Taijuan Walker than an aging star like Hamels. (That comment, for what it’s worth, was made prior to Amaro’s comments to Nightengale about absorbing some of the money on Hamels’ contract.)

It strikes me as unlikely that a deal would come together in the near future, but the early rash of pitching injuries, which grew with tonight’s news that Masahiro Tanaka is lost for at least a month, has likely increased the demand for Hamels. Though Amaro’s refusal to budge has drawn a great deal of criticism, it’s certainly easy to make the claim that he’s in a better spot to trade Hamels than he was late in the offseason.

D-Backs, Rays, Royals Among Clubs Discussing Saltalamacchia

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10:50pm: Heyman adds, via Twitter, that the Orioles are not in the mix for Saltalamacchia.

10:05pm: The Diamondbacks, Rays and Royals are all discussing Saltalamacchia, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. It’s unclear if Kansas City’s interest has picked up at all between McCullough’s report and this latest update, though the Rays and certainly the D-Backs would seem to have a bigger need behind the dish. Like MacPherson yesterday, Heyman hears that the Red Sox aren’t in the mix.

4:14pm: The Royals have some interest in Saltalamacchia, but their interest is said to be very preliminary, according to Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). As McCullough notes, GM Dayton Moore was the Braves’ director of player development when Atlanta drafted Saltalamacchia.

APRIL 28, 3:12pm: The Angels are not currently involved in trade talks while the Mariners are weighing internally whether to pursue him, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). 

APRIL 27: The Marlins have already had contact with five teams regarding Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. GM Dan Jennings says that he expects to find a deal for the just-designated backstop.

Among the potential landing spots are the Red Sox, Indians, Mariners, and Diamondbacks, one source tells ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). According to other reports, however, Boston is “unlikely” to be interested in adding the 29-year-old, as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal tweets, even if it were able to add him for just the league minimum.

Saltalamacchia thrived in Boston, slashing a combined .243/.307/.455 during his four seasons there. Since earning a large free agent payday to join the Marlins last year, Saltalamacchia owns a fairly disapointing .209/.310/.351 line at the plate. That output, while still not bad for a catcher, was not enough to outweigh his lightly-regarded defensive work.

Nevertheless, Salty remains an interesting option for teams looking for a backup or injury replacement (as the above list would indicate). The switch hitter has been much more productive historically against right-handed pitching (.775 career OPS) and makes for a natural platoon mate for any right-handed swinging backstop.

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Wainwright, Hamels, Cingrani

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There’s a belief in the industry that the 4-16 Brewers could begin selling off pieces in the near future if they don’t turn their season around, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Heyman hears that veteran right-handers Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza could both be in play. Lohse, 36, is a free agent at the end of the year and is owed $11MM in 2015. The 31-year-old Garza has quite a bit more remaining on his deal, as he’s in just the second year of a four-year contract. Garza is owed $12.5MM in 2015 and will earn that same sum in both 2016 and 2017 as well. His contract also contains a $13MM vesting option that becomes a $5MM club option if it does not vest.

Here’s more from the NL Central…

  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak spoke with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how the club will handle the loss of Adam Wainwright. While the short-term fix will be to rely on internal options, Mozeliak acknowledged that the bulk of innings the team expects from Wainwright might eventually lead him to look outside the organization. As Goold notes, a desire to limit the innings of young pitchers Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha only further adds uncertainty to how the team will replace those innings. Goold notes that the team has spoken to the Phillies about Cole Hamels in the past but found the asking price unreasonable. Whatever route the team winds up taking to overcome this roadblock, Mozeliak has stated that he has the flexibility to add significant payroll this season if necessary, Goold reminds.
  • Reds skipper Bryan Price explained to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com why Tony Cingrani isn’t viewed as an option to step into the rotation even after a potentially season-ending injury to Homer Bailey. “I made the decision – I was involved, a big supporter of putting him in the bullpen – not because that’s what we needed for this club at the time,” said Price. “What I felt was it was where he was best suited coming off a year of a lot of injury and shoulder concerns and the limited development of his off-speed pitches.” Price added that he certainly isn’t ruling out the possibility of Cingrani proving him wrong and one day being an excellent starting pitcher, but for the time being, he appears locked into the Cincinnati bullpen.

Tanaka Out At Least A Month Due To Forearm Strain

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The Yankees announced tonight that they have placed right-hander Masahiro Tanaka on the disabled list after an MRI revealed a “mild right forearm strain” and tendinitis in his right wrist. Jack Curry of the YES Network tweets that GM Brian Cashman told reporters that Tanaka will, conservatively, be sidelined for at least a month (Twitter link). For the time being, Tanaka will be shut down from throwing for the next seven to 10 days.

Tanaka tells reporters, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link), that “nothing really big came up from the MRI,” and he feels he can come back strong. However, while there’s been nothing to suggest that he has further torn his ulnar collateral ligament, forearm strains are indeed often a precursor to Tommy John surgery.

Tanaka was sidelined from July 8 through Sept. 21 last season due to a small tear in the UCL of his right elbow. However, he was able to return from the injury without undergoing Tommy John. While his final outing of the season was one he’d like to forget — seven runs in 1 2/3 innings — Tanaka has looked generally excellent to begin the 2015 season, reeling off 22 1/3 innings of a 3.22 ERA with a 24-to-7 K/BB ratio.

The Yankees will once again hope that Tanaka can dodge the Tommy John bullet, but a significant injury to their ace would again overexpose an already thin rotation. Nathan Eovaldi and CC Sabathia have both struggled to varying extents, while Ivan Nova is recovering from his own Tommy John, and Chris Capuano has yet to take the hill after opening the season on the DL.

As it stands, Sabathia, Eovaldi, Michael Pineda and Adam Warren will continue to round out the rotation, as Capuano inches closer to what the team hopes will be a May return. However, it’s not difficult to envision a long-term injury to Tanaka prompting the Yankees to seek a replacement from outside the organization to help steady their rotation in what looks to be a highly competitive American League East.

Jed Lowrie To Undergo Thumb Surgery

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7:50pm: Via the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich, GM Jeff Luhnow says that the specific injury to Lowrie is a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb (Twitter link). That’s not to be confused with the elbow ligament of the same name which is the cause for Tommy John surgery. A torn UCL in the thumb is the same injury for which Dustin Pedroia underwent surgery in the 2013-14 offseason.

7:25pm: Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie will be out until after the All-Star break following surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, the team announced tonight.

Jonathan Villar has been recalled from Triple-A to take Lowrie’s spot on the 25-man roster, but the loss of Lowrie is a significant one for an Astros team that is off to a hot start and currently sits atop the AL West. Fresh off inking a three-year, $23MM contract (plus a club option) to return to Houston this offseason, Lowrie was hitting an exceptional .300/.432/.567 with four home runs. While that level of production was of course not sustainable, Lowrie was set to be relied upon as a key contributor near the top of or in the middle of the Astros’ lineup.

Villar is the player that Lowrie was signed to replace, after his 2014 shot to cement himself as Houston’s everyday shortstop fell short. Villar’s blistering speed wasn’t enough to to outweigh his lack of on-base skills, as the switch-hitter batted just .209/.267/.354 in 289 plate appearances last year.

The long-term injury to Lowrie will naturally lead to speculation among Astros fans and those throughout the league as to whether or not top prospect Carlos Correa is an option to replace him. The 20-year-old is off to a blistering start at Double-A Corpus Christi, hitting .382/.440/.735 with four homers through Monday. A consensus Top 5 prospect and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, Correa is one of the most promising Minor Leaguers in the game. However, he’s also played fewer than 20 games above Class-A Advanced, so promoting him at this juncture or in the near future would be a highly aggressive move and seems unlikely.

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