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Archives for April 2016

Diamondbacks Designate Matt Buschmann

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The Diamondbacks have designated righty Matt Buschmann for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot was needed for southpaw Edwin Escobar, who was just claimed off waivers.

Buschmann, 32, had already been optioned back to Triple-A after making his MLB debut earlier in the year. He threw well in three appearances, allowing only one earned run on three hits and an intentional walk over 4 1/3 innings while retiring three via the strikeout.

The Triple-A level represents familiar territory for the minor league veteran. Buschmann has racked up 598 1/3 frames there over parts of eight seasons, most of them as a starter, working to a 5.08 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9.

Diamondbacks Claim Edwin Escobar From Red Sox

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The Red Sox announced on Friday that recently designated-for-assignment left-hander Edwin Escobar has been claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks.

The 24-year-old Escobar came to the Red Sox alongside right-hander Heath Hembree in the 2014 trade that sent right-hander Jake Peavy to the Giants. Once rated among baseball’s Top 100 prospects by both Baseball America and MLB.com, Escobar’s star has faded since being acquired by the Sox. He worked to a 5.07 ERA in 49 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level last season and, most troubling of all, walked more batters (25) than he struck out (24). Escobar was also homer-prone with Pawtucket last season, surrendering eight long balls in those 49 2/3 frames. His control problems continued this past offseason in the Venezuelan Winter League, when he issued 19 free passes against just nine strikeouts in 27 innings of work.

The D-backs will hope that they can restore Escobar’s control and, in turn, see his production return to its lofty 2013 heights. That season, in 128 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, Escobar posted a 2.80 ERA with excellent averages of 10.2 strikeouts and 2.1 walks per nine innings pitched.

Indians Designate Ross Detwiler, Activate Tommy Hunter

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The Indians announced on Friday that they’ve activated right-hander Tommy Hunter off the disabled list and designated lefty Ross Detwiler for assignment in order to clear a spot on the active roster.

Detwiler, 30, signed a minor league deal with Cleveland and made the club out of Spring Training but has struggled in the early stages of the ’16 campaign, allowing three runs on three hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Once a solid fifth starter for the Nationals, Detwiler was shifted to the bullpen in 2014, where he provided Washington with 63 innings of 4.00 ERA ball. That marked his last somewhat productive season in the Majors, though, as Detwiler was traded to the Rangers in the 2014-15 offseason and posted an unsightly 7.25 ERA in 58 1/3 innings split between the Rangers and the Braves.

Hunter, 29, signed with Cleveland this past offseason. While he originally had a reported two-year offer in the $11-12MM range agreed upon with the Yankees, New York backed out due to medical concerns, and Hunter would ultimately sign for a year and $2MM with the Indians. Hunter landed on the DL to open the season due to a groin injury and some lingering effects from offseason hernia surgery, but reports indicated that neither was the cause for New York’s apparent trepidation.

Hunter solidified himself as a reliable middle-relief/setup arm with a pair of strong seasons in Baltimore from 2013-14 (2.88 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 in 147 innings), but he was somewhat surprisingly traded from the Orioles to the Cubs last summer despite the fact that he’d again posted solid numbers and the Orioles made other win-now moves (i.e. acquiring Gerardo Parra from the Brewers). Hunter struggled with the Cubs, surrendering 10 runs on 20 hits and three walks with 15 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings. He’ll look to return to his 2013-14 form now as a member of a Cleveland ’pen that has seen its share of struggles (most notably among closer Cody Allen and setup man Bryan Shaw). With a nice showing in Cleveland, Hunter could work his way back toward the multi-year deal that so narrowly eluded him this past winter.

Braves Notes: Gonzalez, Norris, Inciarte, Smith

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While the Braves were never expected to be a contender in 2016, the club’s 5-17 start is nonetheless a disappointment to a front office that expected to see some improvement over last year’s 67 wins, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. “We’re obviously disappointed in the way this season has gone,” GM John Coppolella tells Rosenthal. “We’re not going to make excuses. We know we need to play better.” Notably, Rosenthal writes that it’s “difficult to imagine” manager Fredi Gonzalez surviving the club’s upcoming eight-game road trip, though he notes that it’s unlikely that any other manager could extract positive results from the current roster, especially with Ender Inciarte on the shelf and Freddie Freeman struggling so greatly. Were Gonzalez to be dismissed, Rosenthal lists first base coach Terry Pendleton and bullpen coach Eddie Perez as candidates to replace him on an interim basis. The Braves extended Gonzalez and the rest of the coaching staff through the end of the 2016 season last July.

More out of Atlanta…

  • Right-hander Bud Norris could be dropped from the rotation before his next start, writes David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While Norris was solid in his first start of the season, he’s lasted a combined 15 2/3 innings over four subsequent turns, pitching to a 10.91 ERA in that span. O’Brien writes that manager Fredi Gonzalez was noncommittal when asked if Norris would take the hill upon his next scheduled trip.  “We’re still hashing through that and talking though that kind of stuff to see what’s best for him, and what’s best for us,” said Gonzalez of Norris, who inked a one-year, $2.5MM deal this winter. “But I think the No. 1 priority is to get him fixed.” O’Brien adds that right-hander Mike Foltynewicz could be recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to step into the starting five in place of Norris. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, meanwhile, also lists right-hander Tyrell Jenkins as an option, noting that he’d be on just one extra day of rest were he to start in Norris’ place as opposed to the three extra days that Foltynewicz would require to align with that scheduling (links to Twitter). Both Bowman and O’Brien have tweeted that Norris is available out of the bullpen today, so it seems that his time in the rotation could indeed be over, for now.
  • The Braves are expecting Inciarte to return to the active roster no later than next week’s homestand and possibly as early as their series against the Mets in New York next week, tweets O’Brien. Inciarte has played in only three games for Atlanta this season due to a strained left hamstring.
  • Recently recalled outfield prospect Mallex Smith chatted with David Laurila of Fangraphs about his experience finding out that he was promoted to the Major Leagues and balancing the excitement with the recognition that a good deal of work remains. Smith notes that he grew up primarily playing football, as very few in his area played baseball as a child, and he also discusses his biggest strengths on the field. It’s been speculated that Smith could return to the minors when Inciarte is healthy, though as Bowman wrote last weekend, Gonzalez would like to see Smith remain with the big league club. The 22-year-old hasn’t hit much to date, though, batting just .188/.278/.292 in 54 plate appearances since being recalled to fill Inciarte’s spot on the roster.

Huston Street Placed On DL With Oblique Strain

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APRIL 29: Street has indeed been placed on the disabled list, the club announced. No timeline for his return was provided, and a corresponding roster move will be made today.

APRIL 28: Angels closer Huston Street was unavailable during last night’s game, and he revealed to reporters following the contest that he suffered a strained oblique muscle while playing catch on the outfield grass earlier in the evening (via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). Street said that his best guess is that the injury will force him to the disabled list.

Street didn’t give a specific timeline for his recovery, but it’s fair to expect Street to miss anywhere from three to six weeks with the issue based on similar injuries to other players in the past. As MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez notes, teammate Mike Morin missed six weeks with an oblique strain last season, though Matt Shoemaker’s three-week absence in 2014 represents an example of someone coming in on the lower end of that spectrum. More recently, the Royals were without Jarrod Dyson for nearly seven weeks due to a Grade II oblique strain. The Angels haven’t announced the specific nature of the strain, though DiGiovanna and Gonzalez note that the injury was confirmed by a post-game MRI. Street said he’ll first take 72 hours to rest the injury before doctors determine a specific timeline

Right-hander Joe Smith stepped up in Street’s absence last night, nailing down a save with a scoreless ninth inning. He allowed just one hit and needed only eight pitches to tally his first save of the season. Smith is the clear top setup man in manager Mike Scioscia’s bullpen and also accumulated 20 saves from 2014-15 during times when Street was unavailable for injury or other reasons, so he’s the obvious choice to occupy the ninth inning while Street is on the shelf. Smith has had some difficulty with his control early in the season, which has perhaps contributed to an early diminished strikeout rate. While the struggles may not be immediately apparent when looking at his numbers — Smith has issued just one walk this season, and it was intentional — he’s hit four batters and thrown a first-pitch strike to a career-worst 49 percent of the batters he’s faced this season. Notably, he start off two of the three batters he faced last night with a strike, and he was at 64.5 percent in that regard from 2014-15, so the issue is probably not much to get concerned about.

Street is in the first season of a two-year, $18MM extension to which he agreed prior to the 2015 season. He’s making $8MM this season and $9MM in 2017, and the Angels hold a $10MM option (with a $1MM buyout) on the 2018 campaign. Smith, meanwhile, is in the final season of a three-year, $15.75MM contract that has worked out quite well for the Halos. In his two-plus seasons in Anaheim, he’s given the Angels 152 innings of 2.66 ERA ball, averaging 7.7 strikeouts and 2.1 walks per nine innings to go along with a robust 54.6 percent ground-ball rate. While the month or so worth of saves won’t dramatically alter Smith’s free-agent stock this coming winter, the fact that he could hit the market with 20 to 30 saves under his belt over the previous three seasons could give him a mild bump in terms of earning capacity.

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes that right-handers Al Alburquerque and Cam Bedrosian are the likeliest candidates to be recalled from Triple-A if and when Street is officially placed on the disabled list.

Dee Gordon Receives 80-Game PED Suspension

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10:39am: Gordon tested positive for the pair of substances in Spring Training, a league source tells ESPN’s Jayson Stark.

12:20am: In a stunning development, Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon has been hit with an eighty-game suspension for PEDs, according to a league announcement. He tested positive for the banned substances exogenous testosterone and clostebol.

Needless to say, the news represents a sudden turnaround for a player who had risen to become one of the game’s more celebrated personalities. Gordon, the 28-year-old son of longtime major leaguer Tom Gordon and brother of Twins’ prospect Nick Gordon, inked a five-year, $50MM extension with the Marlins over the winter after an excellent 2015 season.

Mar 18, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Miami Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon (9) works out prior to the game against the Atlanta Braves at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Gordon will sacrifice about half of his $3MM salary for the present season under that contract. He’ll also obviously miss out on a chance to defend his National League batting and stolen base titles from a year ago. And if Miami manages to right the ship — an even taller order now with Gordon out — he won’t be eligible for postseason play.

It seems likely that the Fish will turn to Derek Dietrich to occupy at least a good portion of the time at the keystone. He has plenty of experience there, though he’s not much of a fielder. The left-handed-swinging 26-year-old is a promising hitter, though. Alternatively, the club could utilize Martin Prado at second while deploying Dietrich and/or Chris Johnson at third base.

Regardless, the overall mix is substantially weakened. Gordon was off to a slow start this year, but he doesn’t need to keep up quite his 2015 pace to be of value. He had already enjoyed a breakout in the season prior before being dealt by the Dodgers, but Gordon stepped up even further in his first year in Miami with a .333/.359/.418 slash, 58 stolen bases, and highly-regarded glovework.

To be sure, Gordon is not the lumbering slugger who is traditionally associated with performance enhancing drugs. But this represents the latest reminder that such substances aren’t reserved for bulking up; they can also improve athletic performance in other ways and, especially, aid in injury recovery.

Quite unlike the situation facing the Blue Jays with regard to Chris Colabello, who was also just suspended, the Marlins are committed to Gordon via the aforementioned contract. Miami will simply need to hope that he’s able to repair his image and maintain his performance on the field upon his return.

That’s the message given by club president David Samson, who said the organization was disappointed but would welcome Gordon back when his suspension ends. (Video via the Miami Herald.) The Marlins did not learn about the suspension until today, per Samson. Miami has obviously have placed high expectations on Gordon to “do whatever is necessary to make it up to our fans, to his teammates, and to this organization.”

Gordon apparently decided to drop his appeal at this time, making the suspension effective after tonight’s game, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets. (Notably, Gordon just finished helping the club to a four-game sweep of his former team.) It’s still not clear precisely when the positive test occurred, though it’s certainly possible that — as with Colabello — it took place at some point during Spring Training.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Orioles Sign Wandy Rodriguez To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran left-hander Wandy Rodriguez, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com first reported (links to Connolly on Twitter). The 37-year-old Wasserman Media Group client will head to the extended Spring Training at the Orioles’ facility in Sarasota, Fla., according to Connolly. The O’s announced the deal minutes later.

Rodriguez was in Spring Training with the Astros this season but didn’t make the club. He had an offer to pitch for Houston’s Triple-A affiliate but elected to once again enter the open market, where he’s now found a new home with the O’s. Rodriguez spent half the season with the Rangers in 2015, pitching quite well from April through June after winning the fifth spot in Texas’ injury-depleted rotation. Rodriguez turned in a 3.20 ERA with a 50-to-23 K/BB ratio through his first 11 starts as a Ranger before melting down and yielding 24 runs over his next 21 2/3 innings. That dismal stretch led to a DFA and a subsequent release.

Rodriguez will presumably provide Baltimore with some rotation depth at the Triple-A level once he gets up to speed in extended Spring Training. Yovani Gallardo has already landed on the DL with a shoulder problem, and Kevin Gausman spent the early portion of the season on the disabled list as well. It’s also worth noting that Baltimore’s rotation depth took a hit when the club released Miguel Gonzalez late in March. In addition to the injured Gallardo and the aforementioned Gausman, the O’s have Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Mike Wright in their rotation, as well as right-handers Tyler Wilson and Vance Worley in the bullpen, each of whom has starting experience. The O’s also have Odrisamer Despaigne and David Hale at the Triple-A level, so Rodriguez is a ways down the depth chart for the time being. In parts of 11 big league seasons, Rodriguez has a career 4.10 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 1557 1/3 innings.

Reactions To And Effects Of Dee Gordon’s Suspension

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What was a rather quiet news Thursday in terms of baseball news culminated with a bombshell, as the league announced at 1:17am Friday morning that reigning NL batting champion and two-time All-Star Dee Gordon has been suspended 80 games for the use of banned substances exogenous testosterone and clostebol. The news was clearly difficult to swallow not only for Gordon’s Marlins but also for the Dodgers, who suffered a four-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins due in no small part to Gordon’s game-tying hit in last night’s series finale. Gordon signed a five-year, $50MM contract extension this winter and is arguably the highest-profile player to be hit with a PED suspension since the 2013 Biogenesis scandal saw the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun serve penalties. This morning, Gordon issued the following statement, via press release:

“Though I did not do so knowingly, I have been informed that test results showed I ingested something that contained prohibited substances. The hardest part about this is feeling that I have let down my teammates, the organization, and the fans. I have been careful to avoid products that could contain something banned by MLB and the 20+ tests that I have taken and passed throughout my career prove this.  I made a mistake and I accept the consequences.”

Here are some early reactions from around the game (though there surely will be more to follow over the weekend)…

  • The Gordon suspension will fuel the fire for debates about greater penalties for first-time offenders, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal penned a column just a week ago in which players such as Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Matt Holliday and Clayton Kershaw all voiced an openness, if not a desire for stronger testing within the game. With the current collective bargaining agreement slated to expire on Dec. 1, the question will arise from recent suspensions of Gordon, Chris Colabello (and, last season, Ervin Santana) is whether there are enough players that have reached their breaking point on PED usage to push the MLBPA to concede to more extreme punishment. Holliday suggested to Rosenthal a two-year ban, though Rosenthal himself wonders if at a certain point the MLBPA will cave and allow some or all of a player’s long-term contract to be voided by PED usage. That, of course, would create plenty of other potential controversy, particularly if, for instance, a player on a decidedly poor contract (from the club’s vantage point) were to test positive for PEDs and then claim to have never taken a banned substance.
  • Asked about losing Gordon for 80 games following such a high point (sweeping the Dodgers in L.A.), manager Don Mattingly offered the following comments (video link via Andre Fernandez of the Miami Herald): “Obviously two different ends of the spectrum for us as a team. You would expect our guys to be in there, excited, and then we get this news, so not quite the feeling… but, from there, we’ll support Dee. These guys love Dee. I feel like he’s one of my kids, to be honest with you. I’ve known him for so long, and I love him, and we’re going to move forward. … Definitely shocked and surprised. From there, it just happened so fast, it’s one of those situations where you love your kids, and that’s Dee, for me. That’s one of mine. … As a ball club, it’s a different scene. The story is, we have to move forward. And that’s what happens in professional sports: stuff happens, and you move forward, and you’ve got to find a way to get around it.”
  • Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that Derek Dietrich is the most logical alternative for the Marlins with Gordon out for half the season. The club could consider moving Martin Prado back to second base and playing Chris Johnson (or Dietrich) at third base, and there’s an argument to go with the defensive-minded Miguel Rojas at second base as well. However, Dietrich has made nearly half of his Major League starts as a second baseman, and while he’s not a plus defender like Gordon or Rojas, he’s batted a very solid .263/.352/.471 in 321 plate appearances dating back to last season (albeit with the benefit of some fairly heavy platooning to shield him from left-handed pitching).
  • Gordon’s suspension is a reminder that there’s no way to reasonably predict who could be using performance enhancing drugs, writes Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, referencing Gordon’s 171-pound frame. Passan also notes that continued suspensions even in the face of increased testing and stronger penalties for first-time offenders lead to collateral damage like Stephen A. Smith’s recent, baseless comments on Jake Arrieta, which can blame the irresponsible speculation on the mere fact that others in the game continue to cheat the system (or at least attempt to do so). Passan opines that regardless of how much pressure is placed on the MLBPA to consider allowing teams to void multi-year deals for PED offenders, the Players Association “understands that’s the sort of Pandora’s Box nobody dare open.”
  • ESPN’s Buster Olney writes that Gordon’s suspension serves only as further proof that the potential reward for using PEDs far outweighs the risks. The Marlins don’t know if Gordon was using PEDs during his breakout 2014 with the Dodgers, nor do they know if banned substances contributed to Gordon’s brilliant followup in 2015, when he hit .333/.359/.418 to lead the league in hitting (and also led the NL with 58 steals). The team will owe Gordon roughly $48MM despite the suspension, which will cost him about $1.63MM worth of pay this season. The discrepancy between those two sums is only magnified when juxtaposed with Olney’s stories of his interactions with Gordon early in his career, when he was struggling simply to stay in the Major Leagues after being relegated to the bench and changing positions. That’s not to say that Gordon used PEDs during that time — we have no way of knowing that, and he’s passed dozens of tests prior to his recent transgression — but players in similar situations can certainly look to Gordon’s situation and see the temptation of banned substances.

Central Notes: Rios, Montero, Federowicz, Contreras, Reds

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Since finishing out his contract with the Royals, veteran outfielder Alex Rios has remained conspicuously absent from the rumor mill. And with nearly a month of the season in the books, he has yet to sign. But the 35-year-old isn’t necessarily retiring, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Rios had offers to play for teams, says Heyman, but has held out for a “significant role.” Of course, it seems unlikely that such an opportunity will suddenly present itself while Rios waits at home — particularly since he slashed a meager .255/.287/.353 last year — so it may well turn out that we’ve seen the last of him in the majors.

Here are a few notes from the central divisions:

  • The Cubs have placed catcher Miguel Montero on the 15-day DL to give him a chance to rest his back. Expectations are that Montero won’t be out for long, and he says that he believes the issue stems from a chronic bulging disk, via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). Chicago has gone with Tim Federowicz to pair with David Ross for the time being. As Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com tweets, the veteran call-up is likely to get a fair bit of playing time; Ross, after all, has been a career reserve and is in his final season. The 28-year-old Federowicz didn’t see any major league action last year after a four-year run with the Dodgers, but has been off to a hot start at the plate at Triple-A-.
  • As Joe Maddon told reporters, including Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com, it wasn’t quite the right time to give top prospect Willson Contreras a shot at the major league level. Maddon cited his “overall development” as an imperative, particularly with only a short fill-in likely needed. “In your mind’s eye,” said Maddon, “if you’re putting this whole thing together, with a guy like Willson, you’re probably going to wait until the second half, hopefully, to get him involved here. Or the latter part of the season to really get him here (and) get his feet on the ground.”
  • The Reds are on the verge of getting some much-needed rotation help, writes MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. Right-handers Homer Bailey and Anthony DeSclafani are each nearing the end of their minor league rehab assignments, as is left-hander John Lamb, who tossed eight innings in a rehab outing on Wednesday. Raisel Iglesias and Brandon Finnegan figure to remain in the rotation regardless, but Alfredo Simon and Jon Moscot could find themselves on the outside looking in, Sheldon notes. With righty Robert Stephenson and left-hander Cody Reed also on the precipice of MLB readiness, the Cincinnati starting unit could see a significant amount of turnover, which could have some positive trickle-down effects into what has been a dismal bullpen so far in 2016.

West Notes: Rockies, Garcia, Hill, Gray

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The Rockies have already burned through much of their rotation depth, Nick Groke and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post write. Injuries, poor performance, and roster pressures have conspired to leave the club scrambling for arms despite seemingly entering the year with plenty of volume (to go with plenty of questions, of course). It remains to be seen whether former top prospect Eddie Butler will get a crack at a starting gig, as he’s slated for pen duty initially, but he’ll be one of several arms that the Rockies will need to contribute if the club is to stay in contention.

Here’s more from out west:

  • Dodgers right-hander Yimi Garcia still hasn’t picked up a baseball since landing on the disabled list with right biceps tendinitis this past weekend, tweets J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group. While Garcia has yet to undergo an MRI, that’ll be the next step for him if he doesn’t improve in the relatively near future. The 25-year-old Garcia has a surrendered three runs through 8 1/3 innings this season, though he’s struck out just four batters after whiffing 68 men in 56 2/3 innings last season.
  • The Athletics have been rewarded handsomely thus far for their roll of the dice on veteran journeyman Rich Hill, and ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield believes that Oakland will continue to receive good work from the lefty. As Schoenfield explains, Hill has continued to show elite swing-and-miss numbers with his fastball, which he pairs with a frequently used curve. Indeed, Hill has picked up right where he left off last year: though his walks have crept up a bit, he is striking out 12.8 batters per nine and inducing grounders on more than half of the balls put in play against him, with metrics supporting his 2.42 ERA in 26 frames.
  • Meanwhile, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney wonders whether there could be a “perfect storm” that allows the Athletics to cash in on ace Sonny Gray. It’s looking like a seller’s market, both at the deadline and next winter, and Gray could stand out. It’s far from clear whether the A’s will have strong interest in striking a trade, of course, but it’s easy to imagine widespread demand. And as Olney notes, this summer could well prove a high-water mark for the righty’s value.

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