Archives for June 2015

Marlins Have Had Internal Discussions About Re-Signing Ichiro

By Steve Adams | June 18, 2015 at 8:45am CDT

The Marlins have had internal discussions about bringing Ichiro Suzuki back into the fold for the 2016 season, manager Dan Jennings told Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). Jennings offered high praise for the 41-year-old Ichiro, calling him the “most prepared player” he’s been around and citing him as a good example for the club’s younger players.

From a purely offensive standpoint, Ichiro has hit well enough to remain a viable fourth outfielder. His overall production is about 10 percent below the league average due to a lack of power, but he’s hitting .289 with a .342 on-base percentage and a .338 slugging percentage.

In terms of defense and baserunning, however — two areas that were once arguably his greatest strengths — Ichiro has struggled. He’s 6-for-10 in stolen base attempts this year and rates out at one run below average on the basepaths, per Fangraphs. Both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved feel that Ichiro is overmatched even in the corners at this point of his career, as DRS has him at -7 runs total (all three outfield spots combined), while UZR is a somewhat more favorable -2.6 (though that’s -15.2 when pro-rated to 150 games).

The net result of his play to this point has been sub-replacement level per both rWAR and fWAR, although there are certainly some marketing considerations that have to be considered in regards to Ichiro as well. In addition to his international popularity, the future Hall of Famer will likely be chasing his 3,000th Major League hit in earnest next season. Currently 115 hits shy with 2,885 already in the books, Ichiro’s current pace would leave him with 2,949 hits in his career at season’s end. Even if he falls shy of that mark, he’ll almost certainly be within 80-100 hits of 3,000, barring some form of injury.

It’s not known to what extent Ichiro reciprocates the Marlins’ interest, although he spoke late in Spring Training about feeling an immediate sense of loyalty to the Marlins after their offseason interest in him at this late stage in his career.

Phillies Notes: MacPhail, Sandberg, Nola, Lee

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 10:03pm CDT

The Phillies’ pursuit of longtime baseball exec Andy MacPhail for a position in their front office is “quite real,” a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. (CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury first reported Philadelphia’s interest in MacPhail.) Rosenthal writes that adding MacPhail could create an interesting scenario, as it would potentially put MacPhail, who served as the Cubs’ president when Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the Hall of Fame, in position to fire Sandberg as the Phillies’ manager. Rosenthal writes that many within the industry feel that Sandberg is overmatched, but he adds that if current president Pat Gillick were going to dismiss Sandberg, he’d probably have done so by now. As such, the decision may fall to Gillick’s successor, who could make the move himself or hire a new general manager to do so.

A few more notes on a Phillies team that seems destined for change on the roster, in the front office and in the dugout in the coming months…

GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters, including MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, that he’s “fully supportive” of Sandberg and expects him to finish out the 2015 season as the team’s manager. Sandberg added that he’s not concerned about potentially being on the hot seat, telling reporters, “I worry about the game today and what has to be done today. That’s the focus and the mindset for me.”
The Phillies placed Jerome Williams on the disabled list and have yet to announce a starter for Sunday’s contest, but Salisbury writes that it won’t be top prospect Aaron Nola. The No. 7 pick in the 2014 draft, Nola is slated to make his Triple-A debut tomorrow evening and will continue on that schedule. “We have to do what’s right for Aaron Nola and his development and that’s not going to change,” Amaro said of Nola. “And he’s going to be in the big leagues at some point this year. I don’t think there’s any question about that, if he continues to progress the way he’s progressed so far.”
Within that piece, Salisbury also provides an update on the injured Cliff Lee. Following an exam on Tuesday of this week, it was recommended that Lee hold off from throwing for another three to four weeks. Amaro said that in about a month’s time, the team will have a clearer image of Lee’s future. The former Cy Young winner has been resting a small tear in his flexor tendon in an attempt to avoid a surgical repair that would come with a nine-month recovery timeline.

AL Central Notes: Buxton, Sox, V-Mart, Tigers, Young

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 9:03pm CDT

Speaking about the team’s recent promotion of top prospect Byron Buxton, Twins GM Terry Ryan told Kris Atteberry of Twins Radio (audio link): “We brought up Buxton because he’s the best one we had available at the time. We have a few guys down there that we considered, but they aren’t as good as Buxton, so we brought up Byron to give him a shot. … I’m hoping that things go well enough that we don’t have to worry about it.” Based on Ryan’s comments, it seems that Buxton will have the opportunity to play his way into a regular role moving forward. A productive Buxton would certainly increase Minnesota’s chances of remaining in the hunt for the division and could also eliminate a potential area of need in trades — an upgrade in the outfield.

Wil Myers To Undergo Left Wrist Surgery

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 7:57pm CDT

Padres outfielder Wil Myers will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his left wrist tomorrow, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune. It will likely be at least eight weeks before Myers is able to resume baseball activities, Lin adds, which seems to suggest that Myers could be sidelined through the end of August.

It’s been an injury plagued season for the 24-year-old Myers, who joined the Padres alongside Ryan Hanigan in a three-team trade that sent Joe Ross and Trea Turner to the Nationals while also sending Steven Souza, Burch Smith, Rene Rivera, Jake Bauers and Travis Ott to the Rays. Myers was tasked with playing center field despite not carrying a strong reputation even as a corner outfielder, and the results weren’t pretty, from a defensive standpoint (-9 DRS, -57 UZR/150 in 260 innings).

Myers, however, was acquired more for his bat than his glove, and he didn’t disappoint in that regard. In 159 plate appearances with the Padres this season, Myers has batted .277/.322/.459 with five homers, 10 doubles and a triple. When weighting that line to account for his home park, Myers has been about 22 percent above the league average (per wRC+ and OPS+).

Myers has missed significant time in both 2014 and 2015 with injuries to each of his wrists. A sprain and a fracture in his right wrist led to separate DL stints for Myers last season, and he’s been troubled by both inflammation and tendinitis in his left wrist this season — the same wrist that will now put him on the shelf for another two months or more. According to Lin, Myers has played through this bone spur since middle school, but it became increasingly problematic this year when a tendon near his pinkie finger became inflamed.

In Myers’ absence, the Padres will likely use a combination of Will Venable and Melvin Upton Jr. in center field, with Justin Upton and Matt Kemp handling corner outfield duties. The loss of Myers hurts the lineup, though it does allow interim manager Pat Murphy an avenue to insert a much-needed left-handed bat — Venable — into his lineup with regularity. Venable is hitting a strong .273/.331/.453 against righties this season and owns a lifetime .257/.322/.430 slash when holding the platoon advantage.

Myers did start five games at first base this season, so it shouldn’t be completely ruled out that hyper-aggressive GM A.J. Preller could pursue a trade for a center fielder, then use Myers at first base if he’s able to return in a timely fashion. Doing so could theoretically displace Yonder Alonso, who has enjoyed a .319/.406/.420 start to his season. Much of that is owed a to a .359 BABIP, however, as Alonso still offers little power, especially relative to his first base peers.

Royals Sign First-Rounder Ashe Russell

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 7:33pm CDT

The Royals announced that they have signed first-round pick Ashe Russell (Twitter link). Russell, a high school right-hander out of Indiana, agreed to terms on a bonus of $2,190,200, which is $6K over the slot value for the No. 21 overall selection, reports MLB.com’s Jim Callis (on Twitter).

Callis and MLB.com colleague Jonathan Mayo ranked Russell as the top high school arm in the draft and the 14th-best prospect overall. Baseball America ranked him 17th, while ESPN’s Keith Law had him at No. 30, and Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel rated Russell 37th.

Russell works at 92-95 mph with a slider that can be a swing-and-miss offering in the 78-82 mph range, per MLB.com’s free scouting report. Late life on his fastball helps Russell to generate a large number of ground balls, BA writes, though he’s struggled to repeat the release point on his three-quarter arm slot at times. McDaniel rates him a bit lower due to only showing two plus pitches and command that’s “just alright,” and ESPN feels that his tendency to throw across his body and lack of a plus changeup will leave him vulnerable to lefties.

Twins Release Tim Stauffer

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 6:59pm CDT

JUNE 17: The Twins have released Stauffer, reports MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link).

JUNE 10: The Twins have designated right-hander Tim Stauffer for assignment, tweets MLB.com’s Betsy Helfand. Right-handed reliever Michael Tonkin will be recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Stauffer’s spot in the bullpen for Thursday’s contest.

After a long stint of relatively successful but injury-marred seasons with the Padres, Stauffer became a free agent for the first time this past winter. He signed a one-year, $2.2MM contract with the Twins and was said to have a shot at a rotation slot in Spring Training, but the expectation was that he’d slot into the team’s bullpen, which he indeed wound up doing.

However, the 33-year-old Stauffer has not been able to replicate the success he found with the Padres. In 15 innings with the Twins, Stauffer has surrendered an alarming 13 runs (11 earned), issuing seven walks against just six strikeouts. Stauffer missed time this season with an intercostal strain, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that his average fastball velocity declined from 90.6 mph in 2014 to 88.7 mph in 2015.

Tonkin, 25, has been up and down with the Twins over the past three seasons. The 6’7″ hurler has ranked among the Twins’ Top 30 prospects in three offseasons, per Baseball America, but he’s yet to receive an extended look as a member of the bullpen. It would seem that this may be that opportunity for him, however. Tonkin has averaged 93.9 mph on his fastball and pitched to a 3.76 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate in 38 1/3 big league innings dating back to 2013. His Triple-A numbers are markedly better, as he’s posted a 3.22 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 in 89 1/3 innings there.

Cardinals, Mozeliak Comment On Astros Computer Breach

By Jeff Todd | June 17, 2015 at 5:53pm CDT

5:53pm: In a followup interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports, Mozeliak states, “Unequivocally, I knew nothing about this.” Nightengale notes that in order to conduct the interview, Mozeliak was required to have legal counsel conference into the call. (That lawyer, Mike Whittle, advised against responding to whether or not Mozeliak felt any sense of responsibility for the alleged actions.) “I don’t know the outcome of this, or where it’s going to go,” Mozeliak continued, “but our hope is that when everything comes to light, people will realize that it wasn’t something that was organizational-wide.”

According to Nightengale, the Cardinals were aware of the investigation months ago but had hoped that it would stay out of the media. “I was surprised it came out,” said Mozeliak. “Not that I would not want it to come out, but the way it did, and the manner it did, did catch us off guard. We are responding accordingly.”

2:12pm: The Cardinals have issued a press release regarding the FBI investigation into the involvement of club employees in a reported breach of the Astros’ internal computer system.

St. Louis says that the organization retained the St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett to conduct an investigation of the matter when it was made aware of the allegations several months back. Attorney Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney and white collar litigator with the firm, said that inquiry has yet to be completed. He explained that his firm and the organization will “avoid saying anything which would interfere with the government’s investigation” in the interim.

“These are serious allegations that don’t reflect who we are as an organization,” said club chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. “We are committed to getting to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible, and if anyone within our organization is determined to be involved in anything inappropriate, they will be held accountable.”

GM John Mozeliak also made a statement in the release, saying that “the alleged conduct has no place in our game.” Mozeliak continued: “We hold ourselves to the highest standards in every facet of our organization. It has been that way forever and is certainly true today. We are committed to finding out what happened. To the extent we can substantiate that these allegations have merit, we will take appropriate action against anyone involved.”

From the Astros’ perspective, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reported today that Houston is holding out the possibility of a civil suit against those ultimately determined to have perpetrated the impermissible computer access. “The Astros think it’s very serious,” a source told him.

That report also indicates that the FBI has looked into several addresses from which the unlawful access may have occurred, including both a house located in Jupiter, Florida (the Cardinals’ spring home) and one in a state that doesn’t host a major league club. Click here to find other recent developments as of late last evening. You can find the first post on the Cardinals’ involvement here and the original story on the leaked Astros trade notes at this link.

Twins To Sign Tyler Jay

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 4:17pm CDT

The Twins and No. 6 overall pick Tyler Jay are in agreement on a full-slot bonus of $3,889,500, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (Twitter link). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN first tweeted that Jay was at Target Field in Minneapolis and was scheduled to meet with the media shortly. Jay, a left-handed pitcher out of the University of Illinois, is represented by Scott Leventhal of All Bases Covered Sports Management.

Jay spent his college career as a relief pitcher, but he ranked near the top of the draft class because most scouts believe that he has the mix of pitches necessary to become a starting pitcher in the Majors. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs rated Jay as the sixth-best prospect in the draft, while Jay rated ninth on the lists of MLB.com (Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo) and ESPN (Keith Law). Baseball America ranked Jay as the No. 13 prospect in the draft.

McDaniel ranked Jay second among all pitchers in this year’s class, writing that he flashes three plus pitches and held his velocity well in multi-inning relief stints. McDaniel feels that Jay could feature three 60-grade (or better) pitches in the future. Law notes that Jay could end up in the middle of a big league rotation and has four pitches, though he figures to be a three-pitch guy in pro ball. MLB.com has Jay’s velocity in the 93-95 mph range and topping out at 98. Callis and Mayo prefer Jay’s slider to his curve. BA clocks Jay’s slider in the low 80s and notes that some scouts have given it “wipeout” designation.

Jay will pitch as a reliever in 2015, according to GM Terry Ryan (via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger on Twitter), though the expectation is, of course, that he will eventually move to the rotation. In response to that, Callis tweets that Jay could very well follow in the footsteps of Chris Sale and Brandon Finnegan, emerging as a late-season relief option for his club in the same season that he’s drafted. Jay will begin his career at Fort Myers in the Class-A Advanced Florida State League, per Ryan.

Rockies To Sign Brendan Rodgers

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 4:05pm CDT

The Rockies and No. 3 overall pick Brendan Rodgers have agreed to terms, reports Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (via Twitter). Rodgers will receive a $5.5MM signing bonus, which comes in about $723K shy of the No. 3 slot’s value. Rodgers will soon debut with the club’s Rookie-ball affiliate, Mayo adds.

Despite being selected third overall, Rodgers actually ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the draft in the eyes of Baseball America, Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com, and ESPN’s Keith Law. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs rated Rodgers as the No. 2 prospect in the draft, behind top overall pick Dansby Swanson and ahead of No. 2 overall pick Alex Bregman.

A high school shortstop known for his power, Rodgers was one of a handful of players in the mix to go first overall. BA describes Rodgers’ bat speed as “elite” and gives him a chance to hit 25 or more homers in the Majors one day, adding that his arm strength and hands are good enough to remain at short as long as his range does not deteriorate as he matures physically. Callis and Mayo praise his all-fields approach at the plate and liken his skill set to that of Addison Russell. Law calls Rodgers a “true shortstop” that can hit for at least average power down the line, if not more. McDaniel feels that Rodgers has been the best pure bat in the class for a full year, though he notes that Swanson just snuck ahead of him in his rankings due to a better spring.

Marco Scutaro Signs Contract To Retire As Member Of Giants

By Steve Adams | June 17, 2015 at 3:55pm CDT

The Giants have re-signed infielder Marco Scutaro to a Major League contract and immediately placed him on the 60-day DL, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). The move is a symbolic gesture that will allow Scutaro to retire as a member of the Giants organization. The 39-year-old will continue to rehab, Schulman says, but only to improve the quality of life he can have in his post-playing days.

It’s a classy move from the organization that released Scutaro this past January in order to free up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster. Scutaro’s final seasons with the Giants were slowed by a number of back injuries that limited him to 127 games in 2013 and just five games in 2014. As the Chronicle’s John Shea tweets, the Giants made this move as a gesture because they didn’t want a playoff hero’s career to end with a release.

“Playoff hero” is certainly an apt description for Scutaro, but it may actually undersell his importance to the 2012 Giants. Acquired from the division-rival Rockies in exchange for Charlie Culberson, Scutaro took San Francisco by storm in the second half of the 2012 season. He batted a Herculean .362/.385/.473 in 61 contests for the Giants down the stretch before hitting .500 (14-for-28) and taking home NLCS MVP honors. The Giants, of course, would go on to win the World Series in decisive fashion, sweeping the Tigers to take home their second championship in three years.

Scutaro’s brilliant performance led the team to re-sign him to a three-year, $20MM contract that offseason. Though the aforementioned injuries did limit his playing time in 2013, Scutaro still batted a very solid .297/.357/.369 in the 127 games he was healthy, combining that above-average production with sound defense and plus baserunning to produce more than two wins above replacement.

Originally signed by the Indians in 1994, Scutaro is a personification of the “late bloomer” in sports. He debuted with the Mets in 2002 at the age of 26 but didn’t total more than 91 plate appearances in either of his two years with New York. The A’s gave Scutaro his first semi-regular action in 2004, but he never even reached 500 plate appearances in a single season until 2008 with the Blue Jays — his age-32 season. Until that point, Scutaro had looked the part of a solid utility player rather than a starter.

Sound work with the Blue Jays in 2008-09 led the Red Sox to sign him to a two-year, $12.5MM contract with a club option for a third season. Scutaro was again very good in two seasons with Boston (.284/.343/.401), who traded him to the Rockies prior to 2012 in exchange for right-hander Clayton Mortensen.

All told, Scutaro will finish his career with a .277/.341/.388 batting line, 77 homers, 55 steals, 22.2 rWAR and 18.6 fWAR. He earned nearly $49MM, according to Baseball-Reference.com — an incredible sum for someone who had essentially been a light-hitting utility infielder through his age-31 season in the mid-2000s. We at MLBTR wish Marco the best of luck as well as health and happiness in his post-playing career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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