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Archives for June 2016

Brewers Designate Alex Presley

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The Brewers have designated outfielder Alex Presley for assignment, per a club announcement. Taking his place on the roster is utilityman Jake Elmore, whose contract was purchased by Milwaukee.

[Related: Updated Brewers Depth Chart]

Presley, 30, has bounced around quite a bit in recent years. He got a chance with the Brewers, but was only able to post a .198/.271/.293 batting line in 129 plate appearances. Presley showed promise earlier in his career with the Pirates, but has never been able to sustain success at the major league level.

As for Elmore, 29, this represents his fifth-straight season of action in the majors, each of which have come with different organizations. He’s just a lifetime .215/.277/.288 hitter but is valued for his defensive versatility and contact ability. Elmore was hitting .320/.428/.380 over 182 Triple-A plate appearances on the year, with 26 walks against 19 K’s.

Padres Claim Paul Clemens

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The Padres have claimed righty Paul Clemens, Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com reports on Twitter. The 28-year-old was evidently placed on waivers by the Marlins, for whom he had been pitching.

Clemens made two starts for Miami this year, throwing ten innings over which he allowed seven earned earns on 11 hits and eight walks against six strikeouts. He had spent most of the year at Triple-A, pitching to a 4.30 ERA with 7.9 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 over 75 1/3 frames.

Nationals Release Taylor Jordan

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The Nationals have released righty Taylor Jordan, as MLB.com’s Bill Ladson tweets. His 40-man spot will go to top prospect Lucas Giolito, who’ll make his debut tonight.

[Related: Updated Nationals Depth Chart]

Jordan had been shelved after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery. While that made a 60-day DL placement appear to be a viable strategy for freeing a roster spot, the club evidently decided it was time to cut ties altogether.

That’s a disappointing outcome given the promise that Jordan showed back in 2013, when he posted a 3.66 ERA over 51 2/3 innings. Over those nine starts, he ran up a 57.5% groundball rate and 5.1 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9.

Jordan was able to post over 100 solid frames last year at Triple-A, and was off to a nice start in three outings in 2016. Then came the diagnosis of another ulnar collateral ligament tear, with Jordan undergoing surgery in late May.

AL East Notes: Judge, Silverman, Rays, Red Sox

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Yankees GM Brian Cashman suggested that outfielder Aaron Judge is not on the cusp of a promotion despite his recent hot streak, as ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand reports. As Jason Martinez of MLBTR/MLBDepthCharts wrote just yesterday, Judge has improved both his plate discipline and his power of late. While Cashman said that the young slugger has been impressive at Triple-A, he left Marchand with the impression that Judge’s time has yet to come.

Here’s more from the AL East:

  • Rays GM Matthew Silverman says that he’s not yet ready to throw in the towel this year despite sitting 13 games out of the AL East lead, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The executive did note that he is “very dissatisfied” with the club’s performance thus far, however, and certainly did not rule out a sell-off over the coming weeks. “There’s going to be time to cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “Right now, there’s a lot of baseball to be played between now and the deadline. There’s a lot of grit in this clubhouse. We’re going to support that club and see if we can turn this thing around.” A run of success can always change perceptions in relatively short order, but the trouble for Tampa Bay is that it needs to climb over four other teams — all of which could well be willing and able to add pieces at the deadline.
  • If and when the Rays do move assets, it’s likely they won’t send them to any of the four other teams in the division, Silverman tells Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. Tampa Bay’s top baseball decisionmaker acknowledged that he has at least some bias against intra-division swaps. “Personally, we’d prefer not to,” he said. “It’s a lot less fun to have to sit there and watch a player 19 times a year, but at the same time, we can’t cut off all avenues. We have to be open, but if the return is about the same, I would give the nod away from the division.”
  • The Red Sox have an increasing number of holes to address, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. With varying degrees of need in the rotation and pen, out in left field and behind the plate, Boston faces a complicated deadline. Speier notes that the Craig Kimbrel deal cost the club several very useful pieces of trade bait, leaving the organization with a tough call on how willing it is to deal from its group of highly-touted top prospects.

Latest On Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, C.J. Wilson

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Angels starters Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney are receiving mixed results from their stem-cell therapy treatments, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports. It’s ultimately too soon to know whether either or both will require Tommy John surgery, per GM Billy Eppler, but they have progressed somewhat differently to this point.

The right-handed Richards has experienced some “progressive healing” in his UCL, whereas Heaney’s left elbow has not. Richards is set for his next follow-up in six weeks, with Heaney getting looked at sooner, but Gonzalez suggests there’s not much hope that either will return in 2016 even in the best case scenario.

Eppler made clear that the decisions about the TJ procedure will be made before this season ends. That would ensure that the pitchers can undertake a full recovery timeline and return for the 2018 season. Ultimately, per Eppler, the starters will need to build up to “competitively throwing pitches of consequence” before a final determination can be made.

Needless to say, the progress of these two pitchers is critical to the team’s plans. Coming into the year, they were expected to front the staff for years to come. Even if it’s unrealistic to expect any significant contribution this year, the question remains whether either will be available in 2017.

In Richards’ case, too, difficult arbitration questions loom. He is earning $6.425MM this year in his first season of arb eligibility, and figures to command at least a slight raise after contributing 34 2/3 quality innings. If he’s out for all of next year, then, Los Angeles might be left deciding whether to pay him something on the order of $15MM for the 2018 campaign, with no guarantees of how he’d bounce back from the TJ procedure. It is worth noting that teams have acted creatively to deal with such matters; the Rockies recently extended reliever Adam Ottavino during his rehab, and the White Sox did the same with Nate Jones, with the teams capturing some upside as the players avoided uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the Halos got yet more middling news on lefty C.J. Wilson. He’s going in for another opinion as his shoulder continues to fail to respond to efforts to get back to the big leagues. “It seems like it’s not firing the way he wants it to fire,” said Eppler. It’s far from clear that the 35-year-old will appear again before his contract expires a year’s end.

Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard Both Pitching With Bone Spurs

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10:49pm: Noah Syndergaard is also pitching with a spur in his right elbow, Ackert reports. Though he denied that in his comments after his start tonight, multiple other reports suggest that it is indeed an issue, and Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the club is not acknowledging the spur at the pitcher’s preference.

Though Syndergaard was working in the triple digits in his outing against the Nationals, he seemed to be struggling with control. The big righty ultimately departed after just three innings of work having allowed a season-high five earned runs and three walks.

Syndergaard recently experienced discomfort that led to an MRI, but was given a clean bill of health. As with Matz, it seems that the spur is mostly a matter of tolerating pain and avoiding changes to mechanics that could lead to broader problems.

It’s important to emphasize that bone spurs are fairly common and aren’t necessarily major concerns if they do not cause ligament issues. And there’s no indication in his case that surgery is on the table at the moment in Syndergaard’s case. Ackert does note that the expectation is that both pitchers will ultimately require procedures — with hopes that they can be delayed until the season is over.

As for Matz, he has been battling through the issue for over a month and has been treated with a cortisone shot at some point, Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com writes. The spur is “not small” and is quite painful, and Heyman suggests that there’s at least some concern that continuing to pitch through it could contribute to a more serious injury. Matz himself is said to be uncertain at this time whether to elect surgery.

4:43pm: Mets southpaw Steven Matz has been diagnosed with a bone spur in his pitching elbow, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports on Twitter. The club is not only considering whether or not he’ll make his next start, but is assessing whether a surgical option will be pursued, per Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter link).

GM Sandy Alderson will participate in a meeting to work through the options, per Carig’s report. The possibility of a procedure is just that at present, as no decisions have been made, but it appears to be very much on the table. While there’s no concern that pitching through the pain would lead to injury, at least directly, the club is said to be concerned that the pain has impacted his performance. Ackert notes that an operation after the season is also a possibility.

In the event that Matz does go under the knife in the near-term, Carig tweets, it would likely be six weeks before he is even able to begin throwing. He’d surely require a throwing program and rehab assignment from that point forward. While a precise timeline is difficult to guess, it could certainly represent a lengthy absence.

Matz had bounced back from a rough first start to post a long string of excellent outings — nine straight, in fact, in which he did not allow more than two earned runs. But things have been somewhat uneven in his three most recent starts, and his last effort set off some alarm bells. Matz not only allowed six earned runs, but failed to record a single strikeout in 4 1/3 innings. Glancing through the excellent Brooks Baseball database, it seems that Matz’s vertical release has dropped over the course of the season, though it’s unclear whether that’s connected at all.

This news represents another red flag for a Mets pitching staff that remains one of the game’s best. But heavy usage last season has, perhaps, shown up in several areas. Jacob deGrom isn’t throwing as hard, Noah Syndergaard has had a balky elbow, and Matt Harvey just hasn’t been his dominant self. The results are still excellent, on the whole, and it surely doesn’t hurt that Bartolo Colon has been magnificent while Zack Wheeler remains on the comeback trail (though the latter has been slowed of late). At the same time, there’s certainly some cause for concern with Matz, in particular — all the more so given that he dealt with lat issues in 2015.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/27/16

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

  • Ike Davis has been outrighted to Triple-A, the Yankees announced. The first baseman was designated for assignment over the weekend after struggling in a brief stint in New York. It has been some time since Davis was an effective major league hitter, though he did hit a useful .268/.350/.437 in 163 plate appearances at the Triple-A level earlier this year with the Rangers organization.
  • Cubs catcher Tim Federowicz has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Federowicz, 28, only received 27 plate appearances with Chicago and didn’t do much with the bat. With Chicago moving to activate highly-regarded prospect Willson Contreras, and already possessing two receivers in Miguel Montero and David Ross, there was no room for Federowicz. Over 298 major league plate appearances in his career, he owns a .194/.245/.297 batting line.
  • The Cubs will select the contract of right-hander Joel Peralta and option left-hander Gerardo Concepcion back to Triple-A Iowa, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). Peralta, 40, inked a minors pact with the Cubs last week after he was designated for assignment and released by the Mariners. The veteran struggled with Seattle this season, logging a 5.40 ERA in 23 1/3 innings despite excellent K/BB numbers. Peralta yielded an alarming seven homers in his 23 1/3 frames, but he also carried a 28-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time, and his 20 percent homer-to-flyball ratio with Seattle was double that of his career rate, suggesting that there’s some regression in store. Because the Cubs’ 40-man roster was at 39 prior to the move, a corresponding 40-man move isn’t necessary.
  • The Red Sox announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Mike Miller from Triple-A Pawtucket and optioned right-hander William Cuevas in his place. Boston, like Chicago, had an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary. The 26-year-old Miller was a ninth-round pick by Boston back in 2012. He’s never hit much in the minors, and that’s been especially true at the Triple-A level, where he owns a career .233/.284/.302 slash in 448 plate appearances. As the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson points out (Twitter link), though, he’s capable of spelling Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. Bogaerts has started 57 consecutive games, so Miller can be inserted into the lineup to give him a much-needed breather. The same is, of course, true of Deven Marrero, who is already on the 40-man roster, but he was just optioned back to Triple-A on Saturday and must spend 10 days in the minors before he’s eligible to be recalled (barring an injury on the big league roster).

Sean Doolittle Drawing Interest; Giants Looking At Josh Reddick

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The Athletics have fallen 11 games under .500 and seem in position to sell, with several appealing pieces to shop. Among them are lefty reliever Sean Doolittle and outfielder Josh Reddick, both of whom have drawn interest according to recent reports.

Doolittle is getting hits from around the game, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, who also argues in the linked post that the team should hold its core pieces. That’s no surprise given Doolittle’s blistering heater, not to mention the cheap contract he’s playing under. With many contenders in need of power relievers, he’d surely be one of the more actively-pursued players on the market. In MLBTR’s latest list of the top trade candidates in baseball, Doolittle rated 9th.

Meanwhile, Reddick has received at least some internal consideration from the Giants, according to Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area. The possibility of a cross-bay match was raised earlier today by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, citing a scout. It’s not entirely clear how focused the club is on the veteran outfielder, as Stiglich says only that he’s “on a lengthy preliminary list of … potential trade targets.” San Francisco has been rumored to have interest in upgrades at a number of positions, with the corner outfield one such area.

Reddick, of course, is still working his way back from a fractured thumb, but he’s set to be activated tomorrow, per MLB.com’s Jane Lee (via Twitter). He’ll be looking to continue an impressive start to the year, in which he slashed .322/.394/.466 over 165 plate appearances. We’ve also heard ongoing talk that an extension could still be considered between the sides, though, and that would obviously take him out of trade consideration.

It remains to be seen what approach Oakland will take at the deadline. While there are signals that the organization is holding out hope for a bounceback, time is getting short. Even in a sale scenario, though, it’s possible to imagine a variety of approaches. As Rosenthal argues, a limited sell-off might see a few short-term veterans depart — Rich Hill and Danny Valencia are, perhaps, the prime candidates — with players such as Doolittle, Sonny Gray, Stephen Vogt, and even Reddick staying put. But it’s certainly possible to imagine a more dramatic rebuild.

Steve Delabar To Sign With Japan’s Hiroshima Carp

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Right-hander Steve Delabar is headed to Japan and will sign with the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Delabar was released by the Reds over the weekend.

Cincinnati cut bait on the 32-year-old veteran after he turned in eight rough innings for the club this year. He did strike out ten batters, but also walked the same number while allowing six earned runs. Delabar did show somewhat better in his 24 Triple-A frames, posting a 2.62 ERA with 9.4 K/9 but a still-troubling 6.0 BB/9.

Delabar has long shown impressive strikeout ability, as he has racked up 11.2 per nine innings in his 194 2/3 career MLB frames. And he still works at about 93 mph with his average fastball. When he keeps the walks in check, he has been a reasonably effective reliever, but Delabar last posted a sub-4.00 ERA in 2013.

Athletics Claim Nick Tepesch, Designate Eric Surkamp

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The Athletics have claimed righty Nick Tepesch off waivers from the Dodgers, per a club announcement. Oakland designated lefty Eric Surkamp to clear a roster spot.

Tepesch made a spot start for Los Angeles, marking his first major league outing since 2014. He was far from dominant, but obviously showed enough for Oakland to desire his services. Tepesch has battled through injury issues, but provided the Rangers with some good innings over 2013-14 and was carrying a 3.66 ERA at the Triple-A level on the year.

As for Surkamp, 28, it’s a been a tough go thus far in 2016. He has contributed 38 2/3 innings in nine starts, surrendering thirty earned runs on 55 hits (including eight home runs) while posting an ugly 22:21 K/BB ratio. Surkamp has been rather effective at the Triple-A level — he owns a 3.56 ERA with 8.4 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 293 1/3 career innings — but has never been able to translate that consistently to the big leagues.

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