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Phillies To Shut Down Vince Velasquez

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Right-hander Vince Velasquez’s Saturday start was his final outing of 2016, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen, who tweets that the Phillies will shut him down for the rest of the season. Velasquez made his last showing of the year count, going seven innings and allowing two earned runs with eight strikeouts and no walks in a 6-4 loss to the Braves.

The fact that the Phillies are putting an early end to the prized 24-year-old’s campaign comes as no surprise after manager Pete Mackanin revealed last week that it would happen in the near future. It turns out the time is now for Velasquez, who amassed a personal-high 131 innings of 4.12 ERA ball in his first full major league season. Velasquez also struck out 10.44 batters per nine innings, putting him in a seventh-place tie among starters who have tossed at least 120 innings, against a respectable walk rate of 3.09. Moreover, he induced infield fly balls at a 13.0 percent rate, good for a top 15 mark among starters.

Velasquez’s 2016 wasn’t without storm clouds, as he went on the disabled list in June with a right biceps strain and then, after his return, dealt with trade rumors in July. No deal came to fruition, but switching organizations wouldn’t have been anything new for Velasquez, whom the Phillies acquired from the Astros last offseason. Velasquez headlined the package Houston sent to Philadelphia for shutdown reliever Ken Giles, and it’s fair to say the rebuilding Phillies made out well in Velasquez’s first year with the club.

Padres Unlikely To Exercise Alexei Ramirez’s Option

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The Padres are unlikely to pick up their end of shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s $4MM mutual option for 2017, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Letting Ramirez go would cost the Padres $1MM in the form of a buyout, but his poor output in 2016 won’t leave the club with much choice during the offseason.

Regarding his future, Ramirez said, “I just want to finish this season well, but that’s something that’s out of my hands. It’s not in my control what happens there, so I just prepare myself, finish the season strong.”

With the Padres shifting toward a youth movement at short, where they’ve played Jose Rondon and Luis Sardinas lately, the soon-to-be 35-year-old Ramirez has begun adjusting to right field as a way to stay in the lineup against left-handed pitchers. Ramirez has hit a useful .298/.350/.404 in 123 plate appearances versus lefties this year, but his overall line of .240/.275/.331 through 440 PAs makes him a poor fit as an everyday player. Ramirez hasn’t been any better in the field, where he ranks last among shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-17) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-14.4)

This is the second subpar season in a row for Ramirez, whose eight-year tenure with the White Sox ended in forgettable fashion in 2015. At his best, Ramirez batted a combined .275/.313/.395 with 78 home runs in 3,868 trips to the plate from 2009-14, also playing no fewer than 148 games in each season, adding 105 steals and totaling 18.5 fWAR.

The Padres were surely hoping Ramirez would bounce back to his past form when they signed him to a one-year, $3MM deal last winter, which perhaps would’ve paved the way for an in-season trade, but that hasn’t been the case. As a result, the Friars were considering releasing Ramirez as of last month. While the Padres haven’t yet cut Ramirez, his time in their uniform is likely running out.

Cam Bedrosian To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

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Angels reliever Cam Bedrosian will undergo season-ending surgery Tuesday to repair a blood clot in his pitching arm, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. The surgery is unlikely to affect Bedrosian’s ability to pitch in 2017, Fletcher adds.

Bedrosian joins closer Huston Street as the second late-game option for the Halos whose season will end prematurely. Street underwent knee surgery Aug. 23, though he was far less effective this season than Bedrosian.

The 24-year-old Bedrosian landed on the disabled list Aug. 9 with finger tendinitis, leading to the discovery of a blood clot. Bedrosian had quietly established himself as a relief ace before then, logging a stunning 1.12 ERA, 11.39 K/9, 3.12 BB/9 and 49.5 percent-ground ball rate in 40 1/3 innings. His performance this year represents a massive turnaround for a right-hander who pitched to a 5.81 ERA with 5.3 BB/9 in 52 2/3 combined frames over the previous two campaigns. Part of Bedrosian’s dominance this season was thanks to an improved slider, as FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan detailed last month. If the 2010 first-rounder continues his excellence next year, he should set himself up as a long-term closer solution.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/16

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

  • The Nationals have outrighted outfielder Matt den Dekker to Triple-A Syracuse, the club announced. Washington designated den Dekker for assignment Friday. The 29-year-old has not fared well this season in either Syracuse or D.C., having hit .208/.290/.319 in 407 Triple-A plate appearances and .176/.282/.294 in 39 major league PAs. Den Dekker is only a year removed from providing useful depth at the big league level, though, as he batted .253/.315/.485 in 110 trips to the plate and saw time at all three outfield positions. The latter has once again been the case this season.
  • The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve selected the contract of 1B/OF Kyle Jensen from Triple-A Reno. The 28-year-old Jensen signed as a minor league free agent last winter and has had a strong season with Reno, batting .289/.350/.546 with 30 homers in 555 plate appearances. Jensen, who has previously played in the Marlins and Dodgers systems, has 178 home runs in eight career minor league seasons but has never appeared in the big leagues.
  • The Orioles have announced that they’ve outrighted lefty Kyle Lobstein to Triple-A Norfolk. The O’s traded lefty Zach Phillips to the Pirates for Lobstein earlier this week after the Bucs designated Lobstein for assignment. The Orioles then quickly designated Lobstein themselves before he could make an appearance for them. The 27-year-old has a 5.06 ERA, 5.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in parts of three seasons with the Tigers and Pirates, during which he’s served as both a starter and reliever.

Injury Notes: Wright, Cole, Bailey, Floyd

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Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright continues to deal with right shoulder issues, leading the club to scratch him from his scheduled Tuesday start in San Diego, manager John Farrell said Saturday (Twitter link via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe). Clay Buchholz is likely to replace Wright, who hurt his shoulder while pinch running in early August and will next go for a second opinion on it. Wright has endured a stint on the disabled list and two poor starts since suffering the injury, though his numbers began going downhill toward the end of June. The pristine 2.01 ERA he had through June 20 is now up to 3.33 (still a terrific number) through 156 2/3 frames.

More injury updates:

  • Pirates ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday for the first time since Aug. 24, his most recent start, and tossed 30 pitches – all of which were fastballs. “It went really well. I felt pretty good,” Cole said afterward (via Andrew Erickson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). Cole has been on the DL since Tuesday, retroactive to Aug. 25, with right elbow inflammation – which is the latest in a series of ailments that have troubled him this year. He was previously on the DL for a month earlier this summer with a right triceps muscle strain. The earliest Cole can return from his current injury is Friday. Despite an ugly four-start stretch prior to his DL placement, Cole has still notched a 3.55 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 2.53 BB/9 in 114 innings this season.
  • The Reds don’t expect the tightness Homer Bailey is dealing with in his right biceps to end his season, writes Cody Pace of MLB.com. “At this point, we’re not discussing that,” manager Bryan Price said in regards to the possibility of shutting down Bailey. “But it would be something that we would discuss. We’re not going to force this to happen. That’s not the goal. The goal is to get him healthy and not have to look back and not have to be as conservative as we have on the front end of this rehab.” Bailey, who exited his start last Sunday after just one inning, returned July 31 on the heels of missing nearly all of last season and the first four months this year because of May 2015 Tommy John surgery. Bailey’s latest injury is unrelated to his elbow, fortunately, but his comeback hasn’t gone smoothly this year. In 23 innings, the 30-year-old has allowed 17 earned runs on 35 hits, though he has amassed a prolific 27 strikeouts against seven walks. The Reds owe him $68MM through 2020.
  • The sprained right shoulder capsule that has kept Blue Jays reliever Gavin Floyd out since late June will likely end his season, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. The injury, which was initially diagnosed as a torn lat muscle, shouldn’t affect Floyd’s ability to pitch in 2017. The impending free agent turned in a respectable performance this year as part of Toronto’s bullpen, recording a 4.06 ERA, 8.31 K/9 and 2.32 BB/9 in 31 innings.

Lucas Duda Could Return In 2016

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The Mets have not ruled out a 2016 return for first baseman Lucas Duda, reports SNY. Duda has been on the shelf since late May because of a stress fracture in his lower back, and an early August setback in his recovery caused the Mets to shut him down for 30 days. The 30-year-old slugger is now back to hitting soft toss in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and could soon partake in live batting practice, per SNY.

The optimistic update on Duda comes during a week in which the Mets have lost second baseman Neil Walker and right-hander Zack Wheeler for the season with injuries, while ace righty Jacob deGrom will miss at least one start with forearm soreness. Despite injury issues and an underwhelming record (69-66), the defending National League champions are only two games behind St. Louis for the NL’s second wild-card spot.

One reason the Mets aren’t nearly as formidable as they were last year is an inability to score runs. Despite being second in the NL in homers, the Mets have totaled the third-fewest runs in their league. Duda’s replacement, James Loney, hasn’t helped matters. Loney has batted a meager .258/.302/.369 in 299 plate appearances, making him one of the least effective first basemen in the sport this year. Duda wasn’t that much more successful in his 145 pre-injury PAs (.231/.297/.431), but he did combine to hit an easily above-average .249/.349/.453 with 97 long balls in 2,340 plate trips from 2011-15.

If Duda comes back sometime down the stretch and shows he’s healthy, it could help him stay in a Mets uniform beyond this season. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote last week, Duda is a potential non-tender candidate for the upcoming winter. He’s currently on a $6.725MM salary and is scheduled to make one more trip through arbitration.

Season Over For Yankees’ Chad Green

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The Yankees will shut down rookie right-hander Chad Green for the season, reports Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com. Green lasted just 1 2/3 innings in his start against the Orioles on Friday and was subsequently diagnosed with a sprained right UCL and a strained flexor tendon.

While New York is losing a valuable arm in the middle of the American League wild-card race, the good news is that Green doesn’t expect to undergo Tommy John surgery.

“From what I know now, it is not worst case,” Green said.

Green now joins Nathan Eovaldi as the second Yankees starter to succumb to a season-ending elbow injury. Eovaldi underwent a Tommy John procedure last month and will miss all of next season as a result.

Along with fellow righty Luis Cessa, Green was one of two pitchers the Yankees acquired from Detroit for left-handed reliever Justin Wilson during the offseason. Green was dominant this year at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he logged a 1.52 ERA, 9.16 K/9 and 2.00 BB/9 in 94 2/3 innings. He wasn’t nearly as successful with the Yankees, though the 25-year-old still showed promise. In 12 outings, eight of which were starts, he posted a 4.73 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Either Luis Severino or Bryan Mitchell is likely to take Green’s spot in the rotation for the time being, per Marchand. One of those two will get the ball Wednesday against Toronto.

Zack Wheeler Shut Down For Remainder Of Season

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Mets righty Zack Wheeler has been shut down for the remainder of the year due to his flexor muscle strain, ESPN’s Adam Rubin writes. He will not resume throwing until he begins to prepare for Spring Training, which would seem to rule out fall and winter ball as well.

That Wheeler will miss the rest of the year is, perhaps, no surprise. Dr. James Andrews diagnosed Wheeler’s flexor strain in mid-August, and given that Wheeler had pitched just one professional inning since having Tommy John surgery in March 2015, it seemed ambitious to think he might return to the mound this season, particularly with the upcoming end to the minor league campaign potentially providing Wheeler with limited opportunities to rehab.

Wheeler, the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft, headed from the Giants to the Mets for Carlos Beltran in 2011 and continued to develop into one of the game’s better young pitchers, culminating with two productive seasons in the Mets’ rotation in 2013 and 2014. Now, though, he’s 26 and has lost two full years to injury. It remains to be seen how his latest health woes will affect him going forward, but it looks like he’ll be a question mark yet again heading into the 2017 season.

Angels Claim Ashur Tolliver From Orioles

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The Orioles have announced that they’ve lost lefty Ashur Tolliver to the Angels on a waiver claim. The O’s designated Tolliver for assignment when they acquired Kyle Lobstein last week. (Lobstein, of course, has himself already been designated for assignment and outrighted.)

The 28-year-old Tolliver made his MLB debut this season, allowing four runs, three earned, in 4 2/3 innings of relief while throwing his fastball in the 93-94 MPH range. He fared well, however, in stops at three minor league affiliates, posting a 1.94 ERA, 9.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 41 2/3 total innings. The Angels currently have Jose Alvarez and Cody Ege as lefties available out of their bullpen; Tolliver will give them another left-handed option.

Tigers Designate Donn Roach, Add Joe Mantiply To Roster

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The Tigers have announced that they’ve designated righty Donn Roach for assignment. The move clears space on the team’s roster for lefty Joe Mantiply, whose contract the team has selected from Double-A Erie.

The Tigers claimed Roach from the Mariners last month, and he made five starts for Triple-A Toledo. Between Toledo and the Mariners’ affiliate in Tacoma, Roach has posted a 3.86 ERA, 5.4 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 over 137 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season. The 26-year-old has appeared in the big leagues in each of the last three seasons, including in 5 1/3 innings in the Mariners’ bullpen this season.

The 25-year-old Mantiply was a 27th-round draft pick in 2013, but he made quick work of the lower levels of the Tigers’ system and has fared well in the high minors this season, with a 2.73 ERA, 10.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 59 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. He likely would have been a potential Rule 5 Draft selection this winter, but his addition to the Tigers’ 40-man roster protects the team from that possibility. He’ll join Justin Wilson, Kyle Ryan and Blaine Hardy as lefties in the Tigers’ bullpen.

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