Archives for 2016

Rangers’ Jon Daniels On Carlos Gomez Signing

By Connor Byrne | August 21, 2016 at 10:14am CDT

10:14am: Manager Jeff Banister revealed Sunday that Gomez will be the Rangers’ everyday left fielder when he joins the team, tweets Wilson. Profar and DeShields have been platooning there recently.

9:12am: Newly signed Rangers outfielder Carlos Gomez will report to Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday, but he could join the big league team as early as Thursday, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Unsurprisingly, Rangers president and general manager Jon Daniels would like Gomez to debut with the first-place club in short order.

“We signed him with the hope that he can help us in the big leagues,” Daniels told Wilson. “Probably sooner than later given where we are on the calendar. We want to take a look at it before too much time passes.”

The 73-51 Rangers, who have a six-game lead in the American League West and own the AL’s best record, haven’t yet decided how often they’ll play Gomez or which position he’ll fill. One place he won’t line up is center field, Daniels said. While center is Gomez’s natural position and where he has spent nearly his entire major league career since debuting with the Mets in 2007, Texas has a better option on its roster in Ian Desmond.

Desmond has solidified the Rangers’ outfield up the middle, but they aren’t as well off in the corners – especially given the loss of right fielder Shin-Soo Choo to a fractured forearm earlier this week. Without Choo around, Jurickson Profar, Nomar Mazara, Ryan Rua, Delino DeShields Jr. and Drew Stubbs are the Rangers’ current choices, as their depth chart shows.

Like Gomez, Rua, DeShields and Stubbs are all right-handed hitters. The only one who has fared nicely versus lefties this year is Rua, though the 31-year-old Stubbs does own a .274/.349/.445 line against them in 932 career plate appearances. Historically, Gomez has performed similarly against both left- and right-handers, and that has continued this season. Unfortunately, though, that’s no longer a positive for the erstwhile star, whom lefties have held to a .221/.275/.326 line and righties have limited to a .205/.271/.320 output in 2016. As evidenced by those numbers, and the fact that the wild-card contending Astros released him amid a playoff race, Gomez no longer looks like any kind of a solution. However, Daniels felt Gomez was worth taking a flyer on for the prorated league minimum of $110K.

“The way we’re looking at it is he’s an extremely talented player who is having a down year,” Daniels stated. “He’s 30 years old; he’s still in his physical prime. Sometimes trades don’t work out the way the acquiring club intends. We’re taking a chance on him thinking he’s better than his most recent performance.”

Gomez, of course, was among the majors’ premier all-around players from 2013-14, when the ex-Brewer combined for 13.1 fWAR in 1,234 PAs and slashed .284/.347/.491 with 47 home runs and 74 stolen bases. Gomez’s career went into a tailspin when Houston acquired him last summer. Now, the Rangers are left to hope that a change of scenery serves him well.

MLBTR Originals

By Connor Byrne | August 21, 2016 at 8:54am CDT

Here’s a recap of the original analysis MLBTR offered over the last week:

With the Astros having released center fielder Carlos Gomez, Steve Adams broke down eight potential fits for the former star. The Rangers, whom Steve included, have since signed Gomez.
Jeff Todd looked at eight midseason prospect call-ups who are impacting the postseason race.
Mark Polishuk forecast the upcoming offseason’s qualifying offer market, concluding that at least 11 players are locks to receive a QO. There are also plenty of other players who could also be in the mix, as Mark detailed.
Jason Martinez examined the 10 American League playoff contenders’ needs in the wake of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.
In this week’s “Knocking Down the Door,” Jason listed four pitching prospects and two young infielders who are making cases for promotions.
Despite being in first place, the Indians could certainly stand to upgrade at catcher. With that in mind, Steve polled readers on which path they should take at the position.
I ranked the five best rookies in each league (AL, NL) as the end of the regular season draws closer.
Finally, Jeff focused on the performance and potential offseason earning power of Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, an impending free agent.

Rangers Sign Carlos Gomez

By charliewilmoth | August 20, 2016 at 11:07pm CDT

The Rangers have officially announced that they’ve signed veteran outfielder Carlos Gomez to a minor league deal, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman was first to report (Twitter links). Gomez is expected to play a few games in the minors before being called up. The Astros requested release waivers on Gomez yesterday after previously designating him for assignment. The Astros will be responsible for most of what remains of his $9MM 2016 salary.

The Rangers might have had interest in Gomez in part because of Shin-Soo Choo’s recent forearm fracture. They currently have infielder Jurickson Profar listed as their starter in left field, alongside Ian Desmond in center and Nomar Mazara in right. Few would dispute that the 23-year-old Profar is an interesting player, but he has only a handful of games of professional experience in the outfield and might be best utilized elsewhere.

The team also currently has Ryan Rua, Delino DeShields and Drew Stubbs on its active roster (along with Carlos Beltran, who has played in the field only occasionally since the Rangers acquired him). DeShields and Stubbs have not hit particularly well this season, however. Gomez, of course, is only available because he hasn’t hit much this season either, but he does have a more established track record and a still-decent glove. Gomez’s likely role on the Rangers isn’t clear, however — he has typically played center field in his career but isn’t likely to unseat Desmond, who has been successful there. Also, he’s right-handed, as are Desmond, Rua, DeShields and Stubbs. Gomez could potentially play right field against some lefties, spelling the left-handed Mazara.

Gomez once looked likely to land a huge deal in free agency next offseason, but his career has gone way off the rails since the Brewers dealt him to Houston last year. This season, he’s batted just .210/.272/.322, leading to his release from the contending Astros. At 30, it’s surely possible Gomez has upside remaining, but the Rangers will have very limited time to realize it.

Yesterday, MLBTR’s Steve Adams named the Rangers as one of eight potential fits for Gomez. The 30-year-old Gomez had also been connected to the Giants and Marlins.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Astros To Promote Yulieski Gurriel

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 9:47pm CDT

Over a month after signing him to a five-year, $47.5MM contract, the Astros will promote infielder Yulieski Gurriel to the majors Sunday, reports Julia Morales of ROOT Sports (Twitter link).

Gurriel, one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of Cuba, hasn’t gotten off to an overly productive start in a small sample size of 95 plate appearances in America. In his first game action of the season, the 32-year-old hit .229/.293/.361 with two homers while spending minimal time at four different minor league levels. The Astros will now hope to receive something a bit closer to Gurriel’s output in 2015, when he concluded his career in Cuba by notching a hit in exactly half of his 174 at-bats. In 225 plate appearances, he drew 38 walks against a meager three strikeouts and smashed 15 home runs en route to an .874 slugging percentage.

Given their collection of infield talent, there have been plenty of questions regarding where the Astros will use Gurriel. Initially, he’ll serve as their designated hitter, according to Angel Verdejo Jr. of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). That means fellow midseason call-up Alex Bregman will continue at third base, where the highly regarded 22-year-old has spent most of his time since the club promoted him last month.

If the hot corner is where the Astros want Bregman for the long haul, it could push Gurriel to first base or even the corner outfield. First baseman Luis Valbuena suffered a setback with the strained right hamstring that has kept him out all of August, and he could miss the rest of the season, per Todd Karpavich of MLB.com. Gurriel could slot in there in the near term, then, but the Astros have a highly touted prospect who’s currently in the majors in A.J. Reed. In the outfield, Houston hasn’t gotten much production this year from anyone other than George Springer. With Colby Rasmus out until next month with an ear cyst and scheduled for free agency in the offseason, left field seems like a logical landing spot for Gurriel.

Regardless of where he plays, the Astros need the Gurriel signing to pay dividends immediately if they’re going to climb back into the American League playoff race. The Astros were surging when they recalled Bregman on July 24, but they’ve since lost 16 of 25 and are 9 1/2 games behind AL West-leading Texas and 4 1/2 out of a wild-card spot.

Matt Kemp, Mitch Moreland Clear Waivers

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 9:41pm CDT

In addition to the previously reported Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, James Shields and Scott Kazmir, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe adds Braves outfielder Matt Kemp and Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland to the list of veterans who have cleared waivers. Like the other four players, Kemp and Moreland are now eligible to be traded anywhere.

Kemp is only a few weeks into his stint with the Braves, who acquired him from the Padres in exchange for Hector Olivera on July 30. In doing so, the Braves got rid of an on- and off-field disappointment in Olivera and added Kemp on a $21.5MM salary through 2019. The Braves are on the hook for $18MM of that sum, while the Padres will pay $3.5MM of it for the duration of the deal. Undoubtedly, Atlanta would have to eat quite a bit of money to move Kemp, who hasn’t provided much all-around value since the 2012 season.

Kemp’s best asset is his bat, but he has only produced a league-average line (.259/.291/.475) despite 24 home runs in 505 plate appearances this year. At .265/.312/.443 in 648 PAs last season, Kemp wasn’t overly effective then, either. Even if the former MVP candidate and ex-Dodger experiences an offensive revival, which looks unlikely for a player whose walk rate is at a career-worst 4.8 percent, his defensive woes will continue limiting his value. Long a negative in the field, Kemp currently ranks toward the bottom of the majors in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-6), Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-7.9) and UZR/150 (minus-12.3). Thus, Kemp is likely better off as a designated hitter than an outfielder, yet the 31-year-old has played his entire career in the National League. Given his likely low to nonexistent trade value, Kemp looks primed to continue in the Senior Circuit.

While Kemp is on a last-place team that has no hope of contention in 2016, Moreland is a member of a club with World Series aspirations. In 376 trips to the plate, Moreland has mimicked Kemp in swatting plenty of homers (21) while recording a batting line that’s only slightly better than league average (.251/.316/.481). Those numbers are essentially right in line with Moreland’s career, as the 30-year-old has hit .258/.319/.449 in 2,635 PAs. He’s also amid his third straight 20-plus-HR season, making him one of four Rangers who have achieved the feat this year (excluding midseason pickups Carlos Beltran and Jonathan Lucroy).

Moreland, who’s on a $5.7MM salary, is due to hit free agency in the offseason. While he could leave the Rangers then and perhaps pave the way for the Joey Gallo era, it seems unlikely to happen during a season in which first-place Texas is 73-51 and aiming for a championship.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Send Ryan Buchter To Minors

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 8:35pm CDT

The Padres optioned left-handed reliever Ryan Buchter to Triple-A El Paso on Saturday, according to Carlos Collazo of MLB.com. The 29-year-old rookie has been a highly productive part of the Friars’ bullpen this season, but they sent him down amid concerns about fatigue and a decline in spin rate. Buchter has relied almost exclusively on his fastball, which FanGraphs’ Eno Sarris wrote earlier this month has been among the best of its kind in terms of spin rate.

“We’ve pushed him hard all season. He’s got more appearances right now than he’s had at any point in time in his career,” manager Andy Green said in regards to Buchter’s demotion. “He threw 25 innings in winter ball. It’s been a long year for him.”

Prior to Thursday, Buchter had worked 11 straight scoreless appearances and, along with fellow southpaw Brad Hand, served as one of the Padres’ top relievers in 2016. He then pitched in each of San Diego’s previous two games and allowed earned runs in both outings. Buchter recorded just one out Friday and surrendered two runs on a hit and a pair of walks. Still, the offseason minor league signing has been a significant steal for the Padres, with whom he has recorded a 3.00 ERA, 11.33 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 across 54 innings. While the longtime minor leaguer is worst among all qualified relievers in ground-ball percentage (19.5), he has offset that to a degree with a quality infield fly rate (14.9 percent).

With Buchter headed back to the minors, where he pitched with a handful of different organizations from 2006-15, the Padres have recalled fellow southpaw reliever Keith Hessler to take his place in their bullpen. However, Buchter still seems to figure prominently into their plans at the major league level.

“He’s healthy. He just needs a little reprieve,” Green said of Buchter. “I think smart organizations do that from time to time. They look at a guy and recognize what he needs and get him back here and let him back into his role that he’s been dominant in for the better part of the season.”

Four Veterans Clear Waivers

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 7:50pm CDT

Braves right fielder Nick Markakis, Orioles catcher Matt Wieters, White Sox right-hander James Shields and Dodgers southpaw Scott Kazmir have each cleared trade waivers, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported Friday (Twitter link). The four players’ teams are now free to trade them to any other major league club.

The only member of the group who’s unsigned beyond this season is Wieters, who’s a starter on an Orioles team that entered Saturday in possession of an American League wild-card spot and only 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Blue Jays in the AL East. The soon-to-be 31-year-old is amid one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, having posted a .240/.294/.381 batting line with 10 home runs in 340 plate appearances. Wieters has been a roughly league-average hitter throughout his career, including last season (.267/.319/.422 in 282 PAs). Defensively, StatCorner has assigned Wieters negative pitch-framing marks five years running, while Baseball Prospectus hasn’t looked favorably on his work in that department since 2012.

The Orioles tendered a $15.8MM qualifying offer last November to Wieters, who accepted it and is once again scheduled for free agency at the conclusion of this season. Baltimore could give him another qualifying offer (if they’re still around should a new collective bargaining agreement be in place by then), but that doesn’t seem likely to happen. It’s also doubtful the contending Orioles will trade Wieters, who has upward of $3.7MM remaining on his contract, especially given fellow backstop Caleb Joseph’s ugly performance this year.

Like Wieters, Kazmir is also part of a team with championship aspirations. Kazmir, who signed with the Dodgers over the winter, is owed $16MM in each of the next two seasons, but he has the ability to opt out of his deal after this year. Kazmir’s run prevention (4.41 ERA) has been a letdown in 132 2/3 innings this season, although he has recorded an outstanding K/9 (9.02) to go with a 3.32 BB/9 and a superb 15.2 percent infield fly rate. And while Kazmir has regularly dealt with injuries throughout his career, he has been one of the few consistently healthy Dodgers starters this year. As a member of a first-place team that’s in no place to be moving pitching depth, a Kazmir trade probably isn’t in the cards.

Wieters and Kazmir likely aren’t going anywhere, but the same might not be true regarding either Shields or Markakis. Shields was already involved in a trade earlier this year, when the Padres sent him to the White Sox in June. Chicago thought it was receiving a capable mid-rotation piece at the time, but the Shields acquisition has blown up in its face as the club has spiraled out of contention. In his most recent start, the 34-year-old Shields allowed six earned runs on eight hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings of a 9-0 loss to the A’s on Friday. He has now yielded an unsightly 27 earned runs in just 14 innings this month, thereby raising his ERA to 5.98 on the season and 7.62 in 69 2/3 innings with the White Sox.

A former front-of-the-rotation starter, Shields was relatively effective as recently as last season, but his K/9 has fallen precipitously since then (9.61 to 5.98), as have his swinging-strike rate (12.4 percent to 8.7) and first pitch strike percentage (60.6 percent to 54.6). Shields’ contact rate (80.1) is also at its highest level since 2010, and his homer to fly ball ratio (17 percent) is among the majors’ worst for the second straight year. Combine all those damning figures with a 2 mile per hour drop in velocity since 2014, and it’s easy to see why Shields has had such difficulty since his halcyon days with the Rays and Royals.

Considering Shields’ decline, the White Sox might have a particularly tough time finding a contender willing to gamble on a pitcher who brings little other than durability to the table. The Padres took on roughly $31MM of the $58MM remaining on his contract when they dealt him, and the White Sox are on the hook for $10MM per year through 2018.

Markakis has $10.5MM way coming his way both next season and in 2018. He’s not overly pricey, then, but Markakis hasn’t provided much on-field value to the Braves since they signed him to a four-year, $44MM deal in December 2014. The longtime Oriole has increased his power this year since a near-total outage in that department last season, though he still only has nine homers in 518 PAs. Dating back to 2015, Markakis has logged 1,204 plate trips and hit .285/.360/.384 with 12 long balls. There wasn’t a ton of chatter about Markakis prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, but the Royals and “a few” other teams reportedly checked in on him.

The Braves could have an easier time dealing one of Markakis’ teammates, fellow outfielder Jeff Francoeur – whom the Marlins have interest in, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Francoeur cleared waivers Aug. 11 and might make sense as a cheap option ($1MM salary) for any team seeking outfield depth. Miami, which was in on newly minted Ranger Carlos Gomez, fits that bill in the wake of Giancarlo Stanton’s season-ending injury.

Nick Ahmed To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 6:44pm CDT

Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed will undergo season-ending hip surgery, reports Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter link). Ahmed has been on the disabled list since July 23 with a hip impingement, an issue that sprung up in June.

The 26-year-old Ahmed, whom Atlanta chose in the second round of the 2011 draft, joined the Diamondbacks organization in a 2012 trade involving Justin Upton and has been a regular in the majors since last season. Ahmed has been a drain on Arizona’s offense during that time, though, with a .223/.271/.335 batting line in 767 plate appearances. Among hitters with at least 750 PAs dating back to 2015, Ahmed ranks last in the majors in wRC+ (57).

While Ahmed’s work at the dish has left much to be desired, his defense has been a completely different story. Advanced metrics have assigned him excellent marks over the past year-plus. He ranks 13th out of all major league position players this season in Defensive Runs Saved (12), 22nd in Ultimate Zone Rating (7.9) and 19th in UZR/150 (13.2). It was a similar situation last year for Ahmed, who was sixth, 11th and seventh in those three categories.

The D-backs’ current shortstop, Chris Owings, doesn’t bring Ahmed’s defensive chops to the table, but he has hovered around the league-average mark offensively in two of the past three seasons (though he wasn’t nearly as effective in 2015). Owings’ current line of .283/.331/.413 (he’s also 12 of 12 on stolen base attempts) makes him a significant offensive upgrade over Ahmed.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/20/16

By charliewilmoth | August 20, 2016 at 6:12pm CDT

Saturday’s minor moves from around baseball:

The Rockies have announced that recently designated right-hander Gonzalez Germen has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado dropped Germen from its 40-man roster Aug. 12 after he had combined for 73 1/3 innings with the club since last season. More than half of those frames (40 2/3) have come this year, but Germen struggled with a 5.31 ERA, 7.08 K/9 and 5.53 BB/9. Previously with the Mets and Cubs, the 28-year-old has a 4.63 ERA, 8.06 K/9 and 5.06 BB/9 in 144 career major league innings.
In another pitching-related move, the Rockies will release lefty Jason Gurka, tweets Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Gurka, 28, has tossed 17 1/3 major league innings, all of which have come in Colorado since last year, with a 9.35 ERA, 7.27 K/9 and 2.08 BB/9.
The Braves have released righty Andrew Thurman, per Matt Eddy of Baseball America (Twitter link). The Astros took Thurman in the second round of the 2013 draft before ultimately shipping him to Atlanta in a January 2015 trade involving catcher Evan Gattis. Control problems have hampered the 24-year-old Thurman since that year, having failed to post a sub-5.00 BB/9 in stints at the High-A and Double-A levels. With Double-A Mississippi this year, Thurman threw 62 2/3 innings and compiled a 6.89 ERA, 7.47 K/9 and 6.75 BB/9.

Earlier updates:

The Orioles will sign lefty-hitting outfielder Chris Dickerson to a minor league deal and assign him to Double-A Bowie, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes. He could be called up to the Orioles in September. The Orioles are looking for outfield depth in the wake of Joey Rickard’s thumb injury. Connolly writes that they briefly considered pursuing Carlos Gomez, although that idea didn’t advance very far. The 34-year-old Dickerson played 38 games in the Blue Jays organization last season before undergoing shoulder surgery. He last appeared in the big leagues with the Indians in 2014 and has a career .257/.335/.395 line in parts of seven Major League seasons. He played for the Orioles in 2013.
The Astros have purchased the contract of lefty Eury De La Rosa from the Long Island Ducks, as Newsday’s Jordan Lauterbach seems to have been first to report (on Twitter). De La Rosa pitched yesterday for Triple-A Fresno, allowing seven runs over four innings. The 26-year-old last pitched in the big leagues with the Diamondbacks in 2014, and he has a career 4.21 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 51 1/3 innings over two Major League seasons. He pitched in the minors for three organizations in 2015 before heading to the Atlantic League.

Twins Promote Adalberto Mejia, Sign Edward Mujica

By Connor Byrne | August 20, 2016 at 5:55pm CDT

The Twins have promoted left-handed pitching prospect Adalberto Mejia from Triple-A Rochester, optioned first baseman Kennys Vargas and signed right-handed reliever Edward Mujica to a minor league deal, per a team announcement.

The 23-year-old Mejia joined the Twins organization last month in a trade for infielder Eduardo Nunez, whom it dealt to the Giants. Currently Baseball America’s 91st-ranked prospect, Mejia doesn’t have lights-out stuff, but the pundits credit him as a sturdy southpaw who limits home runs and walks and should be able to post strong results with a quality three-pitch mix. It’s unclear when he’ll get a chance to slot into the Twins’ rotation, which has been woeful this year. Entering play Saturday, Twins starters had the third-worst ERA and seventh-worst fWAR in the majors. Aside from steady veteran Ervin Santana, Minnesota’s rotation has been downright disastrous as the last-place team has stumbled to a 49-73 record.

Mejia, whom MLBPipeline.com ranks as the Twins’ 10th-best prospect, threw 19 1/3 innings with Rochester prior to his promotion and logged a 4.66 ERA that belied his excellent strikeout and walk rates of 9.31 and 1.4 per nine. In 65 Triple-A frames since last season, Mejia has posted a 4.29 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9. If he sticks with the Twins through year’s end, he’ll become eligible for arbitration after the 2019 season and will be on track to reach free agency at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign.

The well-traveled Mujica became a free agent when the Royals released him Aug. 10. The 32-year-old lasted less than a month with the Kansas City organization and threw 12 innings for its Triple-A affiliate in Omaha. While Mujica struck out an impressive 14 batters during those frames, he offset that by yielding 11 earned runs on 17 hits. Mujica was previously far stingier as a member of the Phillies’ Triple-A club earlier this season, logging a 3.04 ERA and .92 BB/9 during a 39-inning stint with Lehigh Valley.

Mujica has pitched in each of the prior 10 major league campaigns and has compiled a 3.85 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 over 546 2/3 innings. Last season, he scuffled to a combined 4.75 ERA with the Red Sox and Athletics in 47 1/3 frames.

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