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Archives for September 2015

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Two recently-designated Padres lefties have cleared waivers and received outright assignments, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). Caleb Thielbar and Chris Rearick will both remain in the San Diego organization. The 28-year-old Thielbar has not received many innings at the big league level after two strong campaigns with the Twins. And Rearick will, it appears, end up back where he started before a recent flurry of claims, DFAs, and outrights.
  • Another left-handed reliever, James Russell of the Cubs, has also been outrighted, per MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat (via Twitter). Russell’s return to Chicago has not gone quite as well as hoped, as he’s worked to a 5.29 ERA in 34 frames with 5.3 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9.
  • The Yankees announced today that they have outrighted infielder Cole Figueroa to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yanks designated Figueroa, 28, for assignment earlier this week to make room for a series of September call-ups. He went 2-for-8 in a pair of games with New York at the big league level in 2015 but has spent most of the season at Scranton, where he’s batted .291/.361/.368 in 492 PAs. Figueroa can elect minor league free agency this winter.

East Notes: Bradley, Bour, Sabathia

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The Red Sox’ patience with Jackie Bradley Jr. is finally paying dividends, as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes. As Bradford explains, it’s not just about the results on the field. Bradley has, of course, been producing at a remarkable rate since his most recent call-up, but he’s also presented a different kind of demeanor, coachability, and comfort. Always a highly-regarded defender and a consistent offensive producer in the minors, Bradley seems to be putting it all together at the big league level in his age-25 season.

A few more notes out of the game’s eastern divisions …

  • The Marlins are giving an extended look at first baseman Justin Bour to see if he could play an expanded role in the future, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes in a fan Q&A. The left-handed-hitting Bour is getting more plate appearances against southpaws at present. He owns a strong .252/.321/.449 slash with 15 home runs over 336 plate appearances, though he really has yet to be exposed to left-handed pitching at all to date. Another matter that could need addressing is the fact that defensive metrics are not fans of his efforts with the glove thus far.
  • Yankees lefty CC Sabathia says he’s feeling good about his progress as he works to return to the mound, as George A. King III of the New York Post reports. “No pain, I’m excited,” Sabathia said of this right knee. GM Brian Cashman said recently that Sabathia will be utilized as a starter when he is activated. There had been some indication that the club was considering utilizing the high-priced former ace in a relief role.

Tim Lincecum Undergoes Season-Ending Hip Surgery

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7:04pm: Club trainer Dave Groeschner says that Lincecum is expected to require about five months to recover from the procedure, as Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports (Twitter links). Lincecum underwent both a labrum repair and a shaving of bone to address an impingement. “The doctor was pretty confident this will help him, and help him return to pitching next season,” said Groeschner.

11:43am: Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum underwent season-ending hip surgery this morning, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Giants GM Bobby Evans said Thursday in a KNBR radio appearance that Lincecum is out for the season, though he did not definitively mention Lincecum’s surgical procedure (hat tip: Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle). Said Evans:

“He won’t be able to come back this season. That’s evident. He went to Colorado to see a specialist and get a second opinion and get an evaluation with the prospect that he will have surgery. The next step for him is to do everything he can and get back and get well, but it’s going to take him out for the season. What that leads to in terms of his progression healthwise will dictate what opportunities he has with us or elsewhere.”

As Schulman notes, the injury may very well bring to a close Lincecum’s historic career as a member of the Giants.

Selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2006 draft, Lincecum debuted in 2007 as a hard-throwing 23-year-old, tossing 146 1/3 innings of 4.00 ERA ball and averaging better than a strikeout per inning with initially shaky control. The control woes quickly dissipated, however, as Lincecum won consecutive Cy Young Awards in his next two seasons. From 2008-11, there were few pitchers in the game that were decisively better than “The Freak,” whose unorthodox delivery and dominant results won the hearts of Giants fans. Over that four-year stretch, Lincecum posted a 2.81 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 881 2/3 innings, earning All-Star honors each year.

Since that time, though, Lincecum’s career has gone in the opposite direction. He’s lost the mid-90s fastball that he had in his early to mid-20s, and he averaged just 87.2 mph on his vastly diminished heater this year. Lincecum inked a two-year, $35MM extension after the 2013 season despite marginal bottom-line results (sabermetric stats pegged him in a more optimistic light), but he hasn’t lived up to that deal. In the end, he’ll have pitched just 232 innings with a 4.54 ERA to show for it under that contract.

Schulman writes that Lincecum “surely will not get a Major League deal” from the Giants this offseason, and if that’s the case, it does seem likely that his days with San Francisco are coming to a close. Barring an exorbitant recovery timetable from this operation, it’s tough to imagine that no team would give Lincecum a big league deal, his lack of recent results notwithstanding.

Heyman wrote earlier this week that Lincecum was seeing renowned hip specialist Marc Philippon in Vail, Colo. Per Heyman’s report, surgery would most likely have Lincecum ready in time for Spring Training, and there’s a belief among some doctors that the dip in velocity is partially tied to his hip troubles.

Dodgers Designate Andy Wilkins

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The Dodgers have designated first baseman Andy Wilkins for assignment, the club announced. His 40-man spot was needed for the activation of top prospect Corey Seager, who’ll start tonight at shortstop.

Wilkins, 26, was acquired from the Blue Jays back in early May. He received a brief call-up last year with the White Sox, but has spent most of his time over the last several seasons in the upper minors. Since coming to the Los Angeles organization, Wilkins has slashed .249/.307/.472 while contributing 18 home runs at the Triple-A level.

Injury Notes: Johnson, Scribner, Blanks

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Let’s check in on a few injury situations around the league:

  • Padres righty Josh Johnson says he’s ready for a rehab assignment, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Johnson has dealt with a variety of health issues, most recently undergoing Tommy John surgery and experiencing several setbacks in his return, and is currently taking part in simulated games. The former top-of-the-rotation hurler is aiming to make it back to the big leagues this year in a relief capacity. Johnson is still just 31, though he’s now far removed from his last effective big league action — a 191 1/3-frame, 3.81 ERA campaign back in 2012. Given his age and ceiling, Johnson will once again be an interesting name to keep an eye on this coming offseason.
  • Righty Evan Scribner will miss the rest of the year for the Athletics after being diagnosed with a torn lat muscle, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Scribner, 30, was in the midst of an interesting — albeit ultimately disappointing — 2015 campaign. Though he maintains a stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9.6 K/9 against 0.6 BB/9, he’s been touched for 14 home runs (22.6% HR/9) in his 60 innings of work. He’s likely to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two after the season, as he’ll have 2.142 years of service on his clock, but could be a non-tender candidate for Oakland.
  • Another player who’ll be out the rest of the way due to surgery is Rangers outfielder Kyle Blanks, who will undergo procedures on both of his Achilles tendons, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports on Twitter. The 28-year-old has had quite a tough time staying on the field. That’s especially unfortunate since he could have a productive role on a surprising Texas club that could use his right-handed bat. Blanks slashed a strong .313/.352/.522 in 71 plate appearances earlier this year at the major league level. Signed as a minor league free agent after he was non-tendered last winter by the A’s, Blanks will actually be arb-eligible once again. He entered the season having accumulated 5.005 seasons of service, and has added just 159 more since his contract was purchased on April 29th. (Players must reach 172 days to tack on a new season, so Blanks will still be just shy of six total years of service.) Given his injury issues, of course, it seems unlikely that the Rangers will tender him a contract.

AL Central Notes: Perkins, Ramirez, Almonte, Indians

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Twins closer Glen Perkins told reporters today that he can “barely walk” due to back spasms, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter links). Perkins will not accompany the team to Houston for its weekend series and will instead remain in Minneapolis for treatment. Per the Pioneer Press’ Jace Frederick and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter links), Perkins says he is “baffled” by the recurrence of back pain, as he felt fine after recording a save on Tuesday and believed himself to be 90 to 95 percent healed. Instead, he awoke Wednesday to the realization that he could barely get out of bed. It’s not known how long Perkins will be sidelined, but the injury makes the Twins’ acquisitions of Kevin Jepsen and Neal Cotts look that much more important. That duo, along with Trevor May, who has temporarily converted to a reliever (with strong results), will figure to play a key role as the Twins hope to remain in Wild Card contention.

Here’s more from their division…

  • Alexei Ramirez hopes to return to the White Sox in 2016, he tells Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “This was the team that gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues and I want to spend the rest of my career here,” said Ramirez via interpreter. Chicago holds a $10MM option with a $1MM buyout on the 33-year-old Ramirez, essentially making it a $9MM decision for the Sox. Ramirez’s .243/.273/.345 batting line would make that seem like an easy call, Ramirez has made things tougher on GM Rick Hahn and his staff by hitting .285/.324/.435 with six homers and seven steals in 53 games dating back to July 1.
  • Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com chronicles Abraham Almonte’s long journey to the Indians, including his battle with alcohol abuse along the way. Almonte admits that a shoulder injury suffered in 2010 as a minor leaguer with the Yankees led him to drinking nearly every day and candidly recounts the story of how he overcame his problems. Now with the Indians after being traded three times in three seasons, Almonte says he’s having the most fun of his career, and he’s drawing praise from teammates and coaches alike. Almonte, still just 26 years old, is hitting .274/.326/.536 with three homers and three steals in 92 plate appearances as Cleveland’s primary center fielder. His defense, characteristically, has been outstanding according to metrics such as Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved.
  • The Indians will likely promote left-hander Giovanni Soto and infielder Michael Martinez tomorrow, tweets MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. However, neither is on the team’s 40-man roster, meaning they’ll have to make a pair of 40-man moves in order to accommodate the duo. This is my speculation, but moving T.J. House to the 60-day disabled list would clear one spot, but there’s no injury-related move that could free up a second spot (unless the team decides Carlos Carrasco is done for the year), making a DFA seem probable.

Tigers Outright Josh Zeid

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The Tigers announced today that they’ve outrighted pitcher Josh Zeid off the 40-man roster in order to clear space for left-hander Kyle Lobstein, who has been activated from the 60-day disabled list (Twitter link).

Zeid, a 28-year-old right-hander, was initially a 10th-round draft pick of the Phillies back in 2009. He went from Philadelphia to Houston in the initial Hunter Pence trade (alongside Domingo Santana, Jarred Cosart and Jon Singleton) and was ultimately picked up by the Tigers on waivers from Houston.

In 65 innings at Triple-A this season, Zeid has worked to a 4.71 ERA with a 57-to-39 K/BB ratio in 65 innings. His overall Triple-A track record is better than that, however, as he has a lifetime 3.96 ERA in 127 1/3 innings there. Zeid also has a fair amount of MLB experience as well, having tallied a 5.21 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 48 1/3 innings from 2013-14 as a member of the Astros.

Dodgers To Promote Corey Seager

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10:15am: Part of the reason for Seager’s recall is that fellow shortstop option Jose Peraza is dealing with a sore hamstring that will sideline him for three to five games, leaving the team with no backup shortstop, tweets Rosenthal. Kiké Hernandez, another option, is still on the disabled list with his own hamstring injury.

9:05am: The Dodgers are calling up top infield prospect Corey Seager, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Seager is ranked by many as the game’s top overall prospect.

Corey Seager

The 21-year-old Seager is the younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager and is a former first-round pick (18th overall in 2012). Seager has steadily risen up prospect charts over the course of his pro career and currently ranks No. 1 overall per Baseball America, ESPN’s Keith Law and Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel. MLB.com ranks him second in the game, placing him behind only Minnesota’s Byron Buxton.

Seager has split the 2015 season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he has accumulated a combined .292/.343/.486 batting line with 18 homers, 36 doubles and three triples on the season. Though he’s spent much of his career at shortstop, Seager has played some third base this season, and all of the prospect rankings above mention that he seems likely to eventually transition to the hot corner due to his size (6’4″, 215 pounds). MLB.com notes that he has the arm and instincts to handle shortstop but lacks the quickness one would typically expect out of a shortstop.

For the remainder of the 2015 season, however, Seager could get looks at both shortstop and third base. Jimmy Rollins has struggled with the bat for most of the season (though he’s been better of late, slashing .262/.313/.436 over an admittedly arbitrary sample of his past 37 games), and Justin Turner is presently dealing with an injured finger. As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets, the Dodgers’ previous mentality had been that they wouldn’t promote Seager unless he had a spot to play, so perhaps Turner’s hand is worse than they’ve let on, or the team simply had a change of heart.

From a service time standpoint, Seager currently would project to be a free agent after the 2021 season and would not be in line to achieve Super Two designation along the way. Of course, that assumes that the Dodgers will keep him in the Major Leagues from this point forth. Seager could certainly struggle in the Majors in his first cup of coffee, prompting further minor league time. The Dodgers could see long-term benefit from keeping him in the minors a bit longer, as delaying his 2015 debut into mid-May would buy the team an additional year of control over Seager by delaying his free agency until after the 2022 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL East Notes: Brown, Nats, Black, Murphy

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Domonic Brown’s career with the Phillies may be over, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Brown tumbled over the right field wall while trying to make a catch in last night’s game and exited the contest to be tested for concussion symptoms. He’s not traveling with the team to Boston and will instead meet with a specialist today. Brown has had concussions in the past, and if he’s determined to have one now, it could spell the end of his season and his Phillies tenure alike, as the 28-year-old former top prospect is due a raise on his $2.5MM salary this winter via the arbitration process. Brown is batting .228/.284/.349 in 63 games this season and hasn’t produced since a May surge back in 2013 that led him to an All-Star berth.

Here’s more from the NL East…

  • The Nationals added another pair of arms to a beleaguered bullpen by calling up Matt Grace and Rafael Martin, and James Wagner of the Washington Post writes that additional arms, including A.J. Cole, could be on the way. The Nats could’ve used the extra bullpen help earlier this week, but GM Mike Rizzo explained to Wagner that the team felt OK about its bullpen depth, not expecting Joe Ross to last just 2 2/3 innings in the shortest start of his career.
  • Right-hander Vic Black will be a minor league free agent this offseason after being outrighted by the Mets, but the hard-throwing reliever told NJ.com’s Mike Vorkunov that he hopes to return to the Mets. Black, 27, has been slowed by injuries this season but entered the year expected to be a big contributor in the bullpen. He’s planning to pitch in winter ball to make up for some of the lost innings from 2015. Black admits that his emotions have ranged “from angry to confused to frustrated to bewildered” but says he can’t imagine playing elsewhere: “I love the guys, I love the city and I certainly don’t want to go anywhere else. … Loyalty is a big part of who I am.”
  • Daniel Murphy exited the Mets’ Wednesday contest due to quadriceps discomfort and won’t travel with the team to Miami for its weekend series, writes MLB.com’s Jamal Collier. He’ll be examined by a specialist on today’s off-day, though the team, for now, is calling the move precautionary.

AL Central Notes: Johnson, Berrios, Floyd, Indians

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White Sox right-hander Erik Johnson’s resurgent season at Triple-A has placed the former top prospect firmly on the map for a rotation spot in 2016, GM Rick Hahn tells Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. After a 6.73 ERA in 105 2/3 innings at Triple-A last season, Johnson has turned in a 2.37 mark over 132 2/3 frames with 9.2 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. As Kane writes, Johnson will be working in relief initially, but he’s likely to make some starts later this month in what could be a preview for the 2016 season.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

  • The Twins will not call up top pitching prospect Jose Berrios this season, GM Terry Ryan told reporters, including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. The 21-year-old’s innings total is a concern to the Twins, Ryan explained, especially considering the fact that Berrios is of slighter frame than many pitchers. Berrios ranks as one of the game’s best prospects, including No. 23 on MLB.com’s Top 100, No. 7 per Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel, No. 21 per ESPN’s Keith Law and No. 19 per Baseball America.
  • The Indians activated right-hander Gavin Floyd from the DL when rosters expanded in September, and manager Terry Francona told reporters, including MLB.com’s Jamie Ross, that Floyd is healthy enough to work out of the bullpen in the season’s final month. Francona said the Indians, however, owe it to Floyd to be careful with his surgically repaired right elbow because “he’s got more career ahead of him.” Floyd signed a one-year, $4MM contract this winter and re-fractured the olecranon bone in his right elbow in Spring Training — an injury that was initially believed to have ended his season. He made his Indians debut today, though, and fired a perfect inning from the ’pen.
  • Cleveland.com’s Zack Meisel looks at some of departing Indians president Mark Shapiro’s comments from his press conference announcing his move to Toronto. Meisel breaks down Shapiro’s response to his biggest challenge with Cleveland — Shapiro diplomatically hinted at payroll constraints while noting that market size can’t be used as an excuse for lack of results — as well as Shapiro’s comments on the Michael Bourn/Nick Swisher signings.

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