Archives for July 2016

White Sox Activate Justin Morneau

By Steve Adams | July 15, 2016 at 12:32pm CDT

The White Sox have activated first baseman/designated hitter Justin Morneau from the disabled list and optioned outfielder Jason Coats to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Morneau, 35, signed a one-year Major League deal with the Sox earlier this summer. He sat out the early portion of the season whilst recovering from offseason elbow surgery but has since completed a rehab assignment with the Sox, who will hope that he can add some left-handed pop to the middle of their lineup. In that sense, Morneau will fill the role that Adam LaRoche was expected to occupy when he signed prior to the 2015 season, though his pro-rated $1MM salary obviously comes at a fraction of the salary LaRoche forfeited when he retired in Spring Training.

It’s now been a decade since Morneau was named the American League MVP, but he had a pair of productive, albeit injury-shortened seasons with the Rockies in 2014-15. With Colorado, Morneau captured the National League batting title in 2014, and he hit a combined .316/.363/.487 in 184 games as a member of the Rockies. Playing his home games in Coors Field added those numbers, to be sure, but Morneau was as difficult to strike out as ever with the Rox — his 15.2 percent career strikeout rate is considerably lower than most power hitters — and was quite productive even on the road in 2014, suggesting that there’s still life left in his bat.

Health, of course, has been an issue for Morneau, who had what was shaping up to be his best season cut short in June 2010 when he suffered a concussion that plagued him for several years to come. He’s also undergone neck surgery and further concussions since taking a career-altering knee to the head while sliding into second base back in that 2010 season.

Morneau played in just eight games on his rehab assignment with the Sox, so there’s certainly a chance that he’ll be rusty out of the gate. However, the Sox have utilized Avisail Garcia as their primary designated hitter this season, and the once-promising outfielder has continued his big league struggles with a .232/.301/.332 batting line in 276 plate appearances. The ChiSox will hope that their former division rival can inject some life into that spot in the lineup as the club looks to remain in the race for the American League Central title or a Wild Card spot. Chicago currently trails Cleveland by seven games in the Central and is 4.5 games back from a Wild Card spot.

Royals Release Joe Beimel

By Steve Adams | July 15, 2016 at 11:24am CDT

The Royals have released veteran left-handed reliever Joe Beimel from their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link). Beimel had signed a minors pact with Kansas City in late May.

Beimel posted a 4.30 ERA in 14 2/3 innings with Omaha, issuing eight walks against six strikeouts in his fairly brief stint with the Royals. Prior to that, he had reportedly agreed to a minor league deal with the Marlins, but Miami axed the agreement based on issues that popped up when Beimel was taking his physical.

The 39-year-old Beimel spent the 2014-15 seasons with the Mariners, where he posted a 3.12 ERA in 92 1/3 innings. He saw quite a bit of his work come against left-handed batters and held them to a paltry .226/.281/.381 batting line in that two year stretch. His struggles against righties were notable, however, as he walked more right-handed hitters than he struck out in that time. He’s best-suited as a lefty specialist, though he actually struggled with lefties in 2015 and yielded a .796 OPS against them in his brief sample of 29 minor league plate appearances this year.

Check Out BaseballIC.com

By Tim Dierkes | July 15, 2016 at 11:00am CDT

This is a sponsored post from Corey Dawkins of Baseball Injury Consultants.

“Clayton Kershaw had a 4.3% chance of getting injured last night when he pitched, but only a 0.7% chance of being hurt if he took the mound today instead.”

This fictitious example highlights one goal of my company, Baseball Injury Consultants, in the medical management of professional baseball players. We are trying to take the seasonal risk assessment to a daily, and then a pitch by pitch, basis among other things. We have seen pre-season risk assessments for years, but how useful is that information other than at the start of the season? Once the season begins, it doesn’t factor in any new information that comes in during that year. What if the Red Sox had a hard number to assess the risk of keeping Blake Swihart in left field on the day the wind was coming in from right field, pushing the ball closer to the cement wall on which he sprained his ankle?

We have moonshot goals because, despite great strides in the treatment of baseball injuries, the number of professional baseball injuries is only getting worse. It is not for a lack of trying or lack of talent. It just has not been put together yet. However, it is not impossible. Something has to be done because reducing injuries will, of course, make a difference in their athletic careers, but also improve the quality of life 20 years later.

We start by collecting daily injury and performance data on all professional baseball players, giving the capability to provide customized reports and for any sector, industry, company, team, individual researcher or fan. This can include baseball operations, daily fantasy baseball players, season-long fantasy baseball players, medical researchers, biomedical device manufacturers, or insurance entities to name a few.

We track as much information as we can find, from injury details to weather information to performance data, knowing that any piece of information might be the one that solves the puzzle.
Since someone checks the information before importing into the databases every morning, we fill the information void left over from automated scripts scraping news or transaction sites that don’t categorize injuries according to accepted medical terminology and/or don’t update the original listing. For example, here’s a graph of MLB Tommy John surgeries by year.

So once we get validated information into the database and onto our website, you can find the information in ways you will not find anywhere else. If you are a casual fan or want a snapshot of MLB, you can check out our “Quick Look” page for summary information and the records I have updated within the last seven days. In the three bar/column graphs, you can hover over individual sections to find greater detail about that particular item.

You can search and find summary team data on the “Teams” page.

You can also find search for players by name, browse by last name or find players by position on the “Players” main page.

Then once we find the player we want, we can go to the individual page for details at a level you will not find anywhere else. Similar to the “Quick Look” page, you can hover over the columns to find the exact categories and measured levels.

On the “Custom Search” page, you can find information in countless combinations.

We’re not stopping with just putting the information on the website. We have plans to create and put a model on the website that estimates how productive a player will be for daily fantasy leagues, based on an injury two or three days ago, such as a bruised hand. The website will also have an educational section for evidence-based injury analysis.

However, our biggest moonshot goal is to create individualized risk assessment models, drilling down information to the pitch by pitch level. This would give on-field managers and baseball operations something they never had before. What if they knew that a bruised bottom hand for a hitter affects his power by a certain percentage? What if the risk of throwing a slider on pitch number 103 more than quadrupled the risk not just immediately, but three weeks down the line as well?

These are the goals we are shooting for and hope to raise enough capital to do so soon. We look forward to you creating an account on Baseball Injury Consultants and checking out what we have to offer as well as improving the site.

Marlins, First-Rounder Braxton Garrett Agree To Deal

By Steve Adams | July 15, 2016 at 9:57am CDT

9:57am: Garrett’s bonus is $4,145,900, according to Callis (Twitter link). That’s the maximum amount of money the team was able to pay without being hit with a luxury tax, he notes in a followup tweet.

8:50am: The Marlins and first-round pick Braxton Garrett, the lone remaining unsigned first-rounder, have agreed to terms, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Garrett, he adds, is in Miami right now to take his physical with the club. The deal comes in just under the wire, as the deadline to sign 2016 draftees is today at 5pm ET.

Garrett, a high school left-hander from Alabama, rated third among this year’s draft prospects in the eyes of ESPN’s Keith Law, while MLB.com (link) and Baseball America (link) each rated him 10th on their respective rankings. Law wrote that Garrett already has an average fastball that he commands well in addition to a plus curveball. BA praises not only his plus curve but also a changeup that shows “excellent promise,” noting that he could ultimately end up with three above-average pitches. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com agree that the changeup could develop into a plus offering and add that Garrett has the upside of a No. 2 starter in the Majors.

Specific terms of Garrett’s agreement remain unclear at this juncture, though his No. 7 overall slot came with a $3,756,300 value. Assuming all goes well on Garrett’s physical, the Marlins will have signed all of their picks within the top 10 rounds of the draft.

White Sox To Promote Carson Fulmer

By Steve Adams | July 15, 2016 at 9:36am CDT

The White Sox are promoting right-hander Carson Fulmer to the Majors today to work out of their bullpen, according to Dave Williams of Barstool Sports (links to Twitter). MLBPipeline.com’s Jesse Burkhart first tweeted that Fulmer was likely heading to the Majors. Fulmer will inherit the 40-man roster spot that was vacated by yesterday’s outright of right-hander Scott Carroll.

The Sox selected Fulmer, 22, out of Vanderbilt with the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft. He dominated in 23 innings between Chicago’s Rookie League affiliate and Class-A Advanced affiliate in 2015 following the draft, but the 2016 season hasn’t gone quite as smoothly. Fulmer currently has a 4.76 ERA with 90 strikeouts against 51 walks in 87 innings for Chicago’s Double-A affiliate, though he’s pitched considerably better as of late. Over his past seven starts, Fulmer has a 3.51 ERA with a 54-to-17 K/BB ratio in 41 innings, and he’s yielded just two runs in his past 19 innings.

Fulmer entered the season as a consensus Top 100 prospect, and he’s currently 33rd on MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects list and 73rd on Baseball America’s midseason update of its Top 100 prospects. Some pundits at the time of the draft wrote that Fulmer projected as a future reliever, and that’s still a consideration for a number of scouts, though the Sox will presumably give Fulmer a chance to stick in the rotation down the road. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reference Fulmer’s 93-97 mph fastball in their scouting report (which could play up in a short-relief role) and call his curveball a plus offering as well while noting that his changeup gives him potential for a third plus pitch. Fulmer, however, is slight in frame, as he’s listed at 6’0″ and 195 pounds. ESPN’s Keith Law has written on a number of occasions that Fulmer profiles best at the back of a bullpen due to that lack of size, a high-effort delivery and a lack of command.

Via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune, manager Robin Ventura suggested the possibility of utilizing Fulmer in a relief role last week. “You’re trying to see if a kid can do it, and we did it with Carlos (Rodon) a little bit and Chris (Sale) has done it,” Ventura told the Tribune. “You bring ’em up here and you bring ’em through out of the bullpen and see if you can lighten their load a little bit and then see how they handle it.”

Fulmer’s long-term role with the Sox remains undetermined, but if he’s in the Majors to stay he’ll fall well shy of Super Two status, as the most service time he could accrue in 2016 would be 79 days. He’ll be arbitration eligible following the 2019 season and controllable through the 2022 season if he does not return to the minor leagues from this point forth, though obviously a demotion could further delay his path to arbitration and free agency.

Red Sox Acquire Drew Pomeranz For Anderson Espinoza

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2016 at 11:25pm CDT

The Red Sox and Padres have begun the second half of the season with some fireworks, announcing on Thursday night that Boston has acquired left-hander Drew Pomeranz in exchange for top right-handed pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza, who is widely considered to be one of the 20 best prospects in all of Major League Baseball. Infielder Josh Rutledge moves to the 60-day DL for Boston in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for its new starter.

The Padres acquired Pomeranz, 27, from the A’s this winter for the now-bargain price of Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski. After talking his way into the rotation mix in Spring Training, Pomeranz has broken out as the ace of the San Diego staff and fulfilled a good deal of the potential that pundits believed him to possess when he was selected fifth overall by the Indians back in 2010. In 102 innings this season, the first-time All-Star has posted a 2.47 ERA with 10.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate. He’ll immediately slot into the middle of the Boston rotation and can be controlled for another two seasons beyond the 2016 campaign via the arbitration process. Not only does he have two years of club control left, he’s earning just $1.35MM in 2016, which will help to suppress his future arbitration salaries despite this season’s breakout.

While Pomeranz has been dominant in 2016, he doesn’t come without his risks, and chief among them is the limited workload he’s had in recent seasons. Pomeranz spent his early years in Colorado after being included in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade with Cleveland, and his innings totals were suppressed as he pitched poorly much of the time at Coors Field. Oakland deployed Pomeranz in a swingman capacity and utilized him more out of the bullpen than the rotation. Since being drafted, Pomeranz has never thrown more than 146 2/3 innings in a single season between the Majors and Minors combined. That total came all the way back in 2012 and has been followed by single-season innings totals of 112 2/3 (2013), 115 1/3 (2014) and 88 (2015). The Red Sox, however, appear undeterred by the fact that Pomeranz will be approaching uncharted waters in terms of workload as the season progresses into its final months.

The Red Sox have been tied to rotation help for more than a month, as the club’s Opening Day mix of starters has largely underwhelmed. MLBTR’s Jason Martinez noted earlier today in examining the top need of each American League contender that the rotation was far and away the Red Sox’ primary deficiency. Boston starting pitchers rank 19th in Major League Baseball with a 4.72 ERA this season, and only Steven Wright and Rick Porcello have posted earned run averages south of 4.00. David Price has righted the ship after a rocky start to the season but still is sporting a 4.34 mark on the year, while Eduardo Rodriguez has been slowed by injuries and pitched poorly even upon activation from the disabled list. Joe Kelly has been relegated to the Triple-A bullpen, and spot starts from Henry Owens and Sean O’Sullivan have been sub-par, to say the least. Excluding the work of Wright, Price and Porcello, the Red Sox have received a combined 7.22 ERA from the rest of their rotation.

From the Padres’ vantage point, the decision to move Pomeranz wasn’t a clear-cut one. We at MLBTR weighed the pros and cons of dealing Pomeranz and wound up with a split camp among our staff when debating whether the Padres should trade him (a topic that I first examined at length before polling the MLBTR staff for their individual opinions). Pomeranz is both controllable and affordable but also comes with limited innings and a pair of DL stints for shoulder and biceps issues.

While it’s possible that Pomeranz’s value will be even higher come the offseason, the Padres elected to move him now, and in doing so continued down a clear path to an extensive rebuild. Not only that, but the fact that the club focused in on the 18-year-old Espinoza when dealing a pitcher that could’ve provided significant value in both 2017 and 2018 indicates that the Padres may feel that a fairly lengthy rebuild is in order. Espinoza, who rated 14th on today’s midseason top 100 prospect update from ESPN’s Keith Law (ESPN Insider required/recommended), is currently the youngest player in the Class-A South Atlantic League but has held his own in spite of that fact. He’s totaled 76 innings and delivered a 4.38 ERA with a 72-to-27 K/BB ratio and a 48.9 percent ground-ball rate against much older competition.

Law notes in his scouting report that Espinoza sits comfortably at 94-95 mph with his heater and can touch 99, and he also features a plus changeup and curveball (with the former representing the better of the two secondary offerings). Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com note that Espinoza repeats his delivery well, which allows him to locate the ball effectively. The MLB.com duo notes that his secondary offerings are much more advanced than those of a typical teenager. Baseball America, who rated him 15th in MLB on their midseason Top 100 list, wrote in the offseason that Espinoza possesses “obvious front-of-the-rotation talent, and makeup and intelligence to maximize his ability.”

The swap represents the second significant trade completed between the Red Sox and Padres over the past nine months, as Boston also acquired Craig Kimbrel from the Friars in exchange for Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje and Logan Allen in the offseason. While San Diego GM A.J. Preller has taken his share of flak for the Padres’ ill-fated attempt at an accelerated path back to contention in the NL West, he’s now flipped a pair of assets (Kimbrel, Pomeranz) within a year of acquiring them and received significantly more in exchange than he initially surrendered.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, meanwhile, has come to Boston as advertised: unafraid to utilize a deep farm system to acquire immediate impact talent at the Major League level in the name of winning now. While the losses of players like Margot and Espinoza sting, the Red Sox likely feel compelled to capitalize on the fact that young stars such as Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley are emerging (or have emerged) as front-line talents, while aging veterans (most notably David Ortiz) are still productive and able to help the club push for a return to the postseason.

Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune first reported that Pomeranz was going to the Red Sox. Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reported (via Twitter) that Espinoza was part of the return. Lin (Twitter link) and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports/MLB.com indicated that it was a straight-up swap of those two players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heyman’s Latest: Hosmer, Corbin, O’s, Astros, Brewers, Rangers

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2016 at 10:10pm CDT

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports covers a lot of ground in his latest Inside Baseball column, beginning with a look at the Royals and the closing window of Kansas City’s core players (Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas). Hosmer is controllable through 2017, and while the Royals would love to keep him in K.C. forever, Heyman writes that Royals brass feels Hosmer and agent Scott Boras could seek $20MM+ on a 10-year deal. Those numbers may sound jarring for Hosmer, especially in light of Brandon Belt’s $79MM price tag this offseason, but a pair of GMs to whom Heyman spoke invoked contractual comparisons of Jason Heyward and Jacoby Ellsbury when looking ahead to Hosmer’s market. Hosmer will be entering his age-28 season when he hits the free-agent market, so he’ll certainly have youth on his side in addition to consistently improving performance.

Diamondbacks Option Shelby Miller To Triple-A

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2016 at 7:05pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced tonight that they have optioned struggling right-hander Shelby Miller to Triple-A Reno. Arizona did not announce a corresponding move at this time.

Just four months ago, this would’ve been an unthinkable outcome for Miller, who was coming off his finest season as a Major Leaguer. The 25-year-old posted a 3.02 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 205 innings in his lone season with the Braves after coming to Atlanta in the December 2014 Jason Heyward swap. That performance led the D-backs to part with an king’s ransom — center fielder Ender Inciarte, 2014 first-round pick Aaron Blair and 2015 No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson — to acquire Miller in a trade this summer.

However, the 2016 has been a disaster for Miller, whose 7.14 ERA is the third-highest in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched. He’s missed some time this season with a finger injury but struggled even in his return from the disabled list, posting a 7.23 ERA over his final four starts prior to the All-Star break. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets that Miller said he understands why he’s being sent down and candidly added that he was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.

Miller’s trade was among the most talked-about swaps in recent history, as many considered the price paid by the D-backs to be exorbitant in nature. However, even the most adamant detractors of the deal have been surprised by the struggles of Miller, which have played a major role in what has been a disappointing season for the Diamondbacks overall. Arizona lost center fielder A.J. Pollock, one of the game’s top all-around players, for much (if not all) of the 2016 season before Opening Day, and it watched $206.5MM starter Zack Greinke falter out of the gates as well. The D-backs have also lost right-hander Rubby De La Rosa to the disabled list for most of the season to date, and the club’s projected No. 3 starter, Patrick Corbin, has had issues of his own. While Corbin’s woes haven’t been as pronounced as those of Miller, he’s currently toting a 4.94 ERA after pitching to a 3.47 mark between his two most recent healthy seasons (2015 and 2013).

The end result for the Diamondbacks has been a 38-52 record and a last-place standing in the NL West that few would have predicted following their flashy offseason. The D-backs have reluctantly begun to operate as sellers, having already traded Brad Ziegler to the Red Sox.

Red Sox Agree To Terms With Jason Groome

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2016 at 6:45pm CDT

The Red Sox and first-round pick Jason Groome have agreed to terms on a $3.65MM signing bonus, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (via Twitter). The agreement, which is pending a physical, comes less than 24 hours before the deadline to sign 2016 draft picks.

Groome, selected at with the No. 12 overall pick, will receive $457K above his $3.192MM slot value. However, there was some trepidation as to whether he’d sign (or at least as to how much he’d sign for), as the high school lefty was reported to have an agreement in place to go to the Padres at No. 24 for a $5MM bonus. That caused teams to pass on him early in the draft — he was once looked at as a potential first overall pick and later a potential top five selection — but the Sox snagged him at No. 12 anyway despite likely knowing they would be unable to meet that price.

Adding Groome to the system gives Boston a top-end talent to add to its minor league ranks. He rated as the top prospect in this year’s draft class in the estimation of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, while ESPN’s Keith Law rated him second overall and Baseball America ranked him as the draft’s No. 3 prospect. While there have been some negative reports on Groome’s makeup, the scouting reports on him are excellent. Law writes that Groome has the best high school curveball he’s seen since Lucas Giolito, while Callis and Mayo write that the 6’6″, 220-pounder “has everything to be a top-of-the-rotation left-handed starting pitcher,” with a 92-93 mph heater, the aforementioned curveball and a sparsely used changeup for which he shows good feel. BA agreed and praised his “sound delivery” and the necessary strength to repeat his mechanics well.

Beyond Groome, Callis reports (via Twitter) that the Sox have also reached an over-slot agreement with fifth-rounder Mike Shawaryn. The right-hander from Maryland will receive a $637,500 bonus that significantly outpaces his $375,500 slot. Shawaryn rated 77th on BA’s Top 500, 91st on Law’s Top 100 and 139th on MLB.com’s Top 200, with the various scouting reports on the Terrapin righty noting that a down season caused his stock to tumble from a potential first- or second-round pick to the middle rounds. However, the over-slot deal will convince the college junior from taking his chance at a stronger senior season that could’ve rebuilt some of his draft value.

Callis also reports (via Twitter) that Boston also inked fourth-rounder Bobby Dalbec — a third baseman out of Arizona — for a $650K bonus that tops his $501,300 slot. Dalbec came in at No. 88 on MLB.com’s Top 200 and No. 118 on BA’s Top 500.

Latest On The Pirates’ Rotation

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2016 at 4:16pm CDT

Multiple reports last week indicated that the Pirates are shopping left-hander Jon Niese, and and today Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review adds that the Bucs are trying to move Niese and/or fellow lefty Jeff Locke (Twitter link). Trading either struggling southpaw would create a permanent spot in the Pittsburgh rotation for Tyler Glasnow, whose name, as noted by Biertempfel, is not listed among the upcoming probable starters for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis.

That the Bucs would look to move Locke isn’t exactly a stunner, as the 28-year-old has been on the fringes of the rotation anyhow in recent seasons. Locke found himself in a competition with Vance Worley for a rotation spot in 2015, and, dating back to Opening Day of last season, has pitched to a combined 4.78 ERA in 269 1/3 innings (including a 5.26 mark this season). The 28-year-old is averaging career-lows in K/9 (4.7) and ground-ball rate this season (46.6 percent) and has yielded a troublesome .287/.351/.498 batting line to opposing right-handed hitters this season.

Locke isn’t teeming with upside, but a club that has been beset by injuries in the rotation could certainly do worse than him when filling out the back of the rotation. Locke did, after all, manage a 3.98 ERA in 81 starts from 2013-15, and he’s earning a reasonable $3.025MM salary in 2016. He’s controllable for another pair of seasons beyond the current campaign and doesn’t figure to be in line for a significant bump in salary due to his aforementioned 2016 struggles.

While it’s rare to see a contending club move one or even two arms from its big league rotation — especially when its ace (i.e. Gerrit Cole) is on the disabled list — Pittsburgh has a number of young, MLB-ready arms that could step into the rotation down the stretch. In addition to Glasnow, we’ve seen Jameson Taillon, Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl each make his Major League debut this season. Taillon, of course, is presently on the big league disabled list with some fatigue in his right shoulder and will eventually need to have his innings capped after not pitching in 2014-15 due to injury. However, he could return later this month, and the Bucs are also hoping to get Cole back following the All-Star break as well (he’s already begun a Triple-A rehab assignment). Vogelsong, too, could be back in late July. As such, even without Locke and Niese, Pittsburgh could conceivably have a combination of Cole, Francisco Liriano, Vogelsong, Glasnow, Kuhl, Taillon and Brault make the bulk of their starts in the final two and a half of months of the season.

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