MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of today’s live chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Royals Claim Tyler Olson From Yankees
The Royals announced that they have claimed left-hander Tyler Olson off waivers from the Yankees and optioned him to Triple-A Omaha. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Olson, who had previously been designated for assignment by the Yankees, the Royals have transferred third baseman Mike Moustakas to the 60-day disabled list. (Moustakas is out for the season due to a torn ACL.)
The 26-year-old Olson pitched just 2 2/3 innings for the Yankees this season and struggled, as he’s done in his 27 1/3 innings with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season. He’s had an active calendar year on the waiver wire, beginning with the Mariners before being picked up by the Dodgers and then the Yankees prior to today’s move. Olson has a 4.74 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 81 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level in his career. The 2013 seventh-round pick out of Gonzaga began his pro career as a starter but was shifted primarily to the bullpen with the Mariners last season. He’s made three starts and eight relief appearances with the Yankees’ top minor league affiliate this year.
Nationals Place Jonathan Papelbon On Disabled List
2:30pm: Baker told reporters, including the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes (Twitter link), that Papelbon initially incurred the injury while warming up on Sunday. There’s no set timetable for his return right now, nor do the Nats have a designated closer to step into Papelbon’s place. Baker noted that he likes Shawn Kelley quite a bit (via MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman, on Twitter) but noted that the team is being careful with Kelley’s arm due to the fact that he has twice undergone Tommy John surgery in his career.
1:17pm: The Nationals have placed right-hander Jonathan Papelbon on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to yesterday, with a strained right intercostal muscle, per a team announcement. Right-hander Matt Belisle has been activated from his rehab assignment to take Papelbon’s spot on the roster. Remarkably, MLB.com’s Jamal Collier points out that this will be the first DL stint of Papelbon’s Major League career (Twitter link).
The Nats neglected to lit a specific timeline for Papelbon’s return, though Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that skipper Dusty Baker will chat with the media within the next hour, at which point further information should be available. It’s not immediately clear who will inherit the ninth inning during Papelbon’s absence, although Shawn Kelley has been far and away the team’s best short-stint reliever this season, having pitched to a 2.70 ERA with 13.1 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 23 1/3 innings. Those numbers trump even Papelbon, who currently is sporting a 3.28 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in a similar workload of 24 2/3 innings. Other considerations could be Felipe Rivero and Blake Treinen, though Rivero has struggled quite a bit of late and is sporting an ERA north of 5.00 at the moment.
[Related: Updated Washington Nationals depth chart]
While there’s no guarantee as to how long Papelbon will be out, the injury raises further questions about the back end of the club’s bullpen. It’s no secret that Papelbon’s peripheral stats have declined in recent seasons; his current strikeout rate, average fastball velocity (90.7 mph) and swinging-strike rate (9.5 percent) are each career-lows, and the aforementioned 2.9 BB/9 rate is the highest it’s been since 2010. Papelbon’s ERA remains serviceable, to be sure, but metrics like xFIP (4.74) and SIERA (4.23) paint a far less-favorable picture.
The Nationals have been oft-connected to a shutdown reliever on the trade market, with both Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller mentioned as targets the Nats hope will become available. The injury to Papelbon only figures to increase the amount of chatter surrounding their hunt for a formidable ‘pen arm — especially if he is to expected to miss more than the minimum 15-day requirement. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd pointed out last week in running down some of the top trade candidates from around the league, there figures to be a large number of relievers available this summer, whereas many other positions will be considerably more difficult to fill.
Astros Designate Juan Minaya For Assignment
The Astros announced on Tuesday that they have designated right-hander Juan Minaya for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for infielder Danny Worth, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Fresno. Worth will step into Luke Gregerson‘s 25-man roster spot for the time being, as Gregerson has been placed on the family medical emergency list.
[Related: Updated Houston Astros depth chart]
Minaya, 25, has pitched to a 3.91 ERA with a 19-to-10 K/BB ratio through 25 1/3 innings out of the Triple-A bullpen this season. He has yet to make it to the Major League level in his career, though he did enjoy an excellent season at Triple-A in 2015, when he logged a 2.80 ERA with 9.7 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 54 2/3 innings of work. He didn’t crack Baseball America’s list of Top 30 Astros prospects this offseason and hasn’t done so in the past, but Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com currently have him ranked 23rd among Astros farmhands. Callis and Mayo praise his 95-96 mph fastball that can touch 98 giving the pitch a 70-grade on the 20-80 scouting scale and also crediting him with a 55-grade slider. However, their report indicates that he still needs work when it comes to throwing strikes more consistently, and walks have indeed been a problem for him throughout his minor league tenure.
Worth, 30, appeared in parts of five big league seasons with the Tigers from 2010-14 and is a career .230/.293/.295 hitter at the Major League level. He’s capable of playing second base, third base and shortstop, and he’s in the midst of an outstanding season at Triple-A, where he’s batting .330/.449/.550 with eight homers through 235 trips to the plate. He can provide the ‘Stros with depth all around the infield.
Pirates Place Gerrit Cole On DL, Recall Jameson Taillon
The Pirates announced that they have placed ace Gerrit Cole on the 15-day disabled list due to a right triceps muscle sprain, as MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets. Right-hander Jameson Taillon has been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to make tonight’s start — the second big league outing of his career. Cole’s DL stint is retroactive to June 11.
Cole, 25, has worked to a 2.77 ERA this season that closely matches last season’s 2.60 mark, although his strikeout (7.2 K/9), walk (2.6 BB/9) and ground-ball (42.9 percent) rates have all trended in the wrong direction this year. He exited his most recent start after two innings due to tightness in his triceps, and the Pirates had been hopeful that he’d only miss one start, but it appears he’ll be sidelined a bit longer than that at this stage. Whether his DL stint extends beyond the minimum 15 days remains to be seen.
[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates Depth Chart]
The 24-year-old Taillon has made a dominant return to the mound in 2016 after missing the 2014-15 seasons due to injury. In 61 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season, Taillon has a 2.04 ERA with a brilliant 61-to-6 K/BB ratio, and he turned in a quality start in his first big league effort last week when he held the Mets to three runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts across six innings. He’ll tangle with the Mets once again tonight — this time on the road in New York. Taillon doesn’t appear to quite be in the Bucs’ long-term rotation plans for this season just yet, as he was optioned following his recent appearance. Cole’s health could play a role in those plans, of course, though one would also imagine that Pittsburgh will be mindful of Taillon’s innings count following a two-year layoff from taking the mound in a game setting.
Rockies To Sign Fourth Overall Pick Riley Pint
The Rockies have agreed to sign right-hander Riley Pint, whom they selected with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network and FanRag Sports (Twitter link). The prep right-hander out of Kansas City will receive a $4.8MM signing bonus, which is $458,700 less than the No. 4 slot’s value of $5,258,700 (as reported earlier this year by MLB.com’s Jim Callis).
Pint, 18, rated as the No. 2 prospect in this year’s draft in the estimation of Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com, and Baseball America rated him as the No. 2 prospect as well. ESPN’s Keith Law was a bit less optimistic, rating him 12th. Callis and Mayo note that he’s the highest prep arm to come out of Kansas state since 1983 due in large part to a fastball that sits 93-97 mph and reached as high as 102 mph this spring. BA calls Pint a “much better version of the same template” as former No. 2 overall pick Tyler Kolek, who went second to the Marlins in 2014 due largely to his own triple-digit heater. BA writes that Pint regularly hits 100 mph with sink and can flash a pair of above-average breaking pitches. Law notes that Pint will sometimes show a sharp curveball but doesn’t do so consistently, though the same is true of an above-average changeup, so there’s clearly the potential for a wide array of above-average offerings in the power-armed teenager’s future. Each report, however, mentions some concerns surrounding Pint’s delivery as well as his ability to consistently throw strikes, creating a fair amount of risk around him as well (as one would expect with any high school pitcher).
The Rockies went exceptionally heavy on college players in the 2016 draft, as Pint is one of just nine high school players the team selected out of 41 picks. Some of the savings they received on Pint could be applied to fourth-round pick Colton Welker, a prep third baseman out of Florida whom Callis and Mayo noted may require an over-slot deal due to a strong commitment to the University of Miami. Colorado entered the draft with a pool of $11,453,100 and will have $6,353,400 of that sum remaining upon the formalization of Pint’s agreement.
Cubs, Brian Matusz Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed free-agent lefty Brian Matusz to a minor league contract, reports Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). The longtime Orioles southpaw was recently traded from Baltimore to Atlanta alongside a Competitive Balance Draft Pick in a salary dump deal. The Braves immediately designated Matusz for assignment upon making the deal and released him shortly thereafter.
The 29-year-old Matusz missed significant time with an intercostal strain this season and has struggled when healthy enough to take the mound. He’s surrendered eight runs in six innings while allowing 11 hits and seven walks with just one strikeout. Those unsightly numbers aside, Matusz has a solid track record in the bullpen, where he posted a combined 3.32 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in 151 2/3 innings from 2013-15. In that time he faced 333 lefties and held them to a miserable .190/.245/.320 batting line with a 100-to-17 K/BB ratio.
While off-hand comparisons to Orioles-castoff-turned-Cubs-ace Jake Arrieta are probably unavoidable, there’s not much of a parallel here, as Matusz has already been cast aside by a second team and already has enough service time to become a free agent at season’s end, whereas Arrieta was acquired in a trade with four and a half years of club control remaining. Matusz, however, will be stretched out as a starter with Triple-A Iowa, according to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, so it appears he’ll at least be presented with an opportunity to show that he has some rotation upside remaining. Of course, the Cubs don’t have a spot in their rotation that is open at the moment — Arrieta, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel have all pitched to a 3.05 ERA or better — but Matusz could be a depth piece in the event of an injury to one of those five or a safety net should Clayton Richard‘s recent struggles in the bullpen persist.
Padres, Third-Rounder Mason Thompson Agree To Over-Slot Deal
The Padres and third-round pick Mason Thompson appear to have an agreement for a considerably over-slot deal, as MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports that the No. 85 overall pick will receive a bonus of $1.75MM (Twitter link). That’s more than double the slot value of $730,400, although as Callis notes, the high school righty out of Texas would likely have been a first-round pick had he not undergone Tommy John surgery. As such, Thompson likely required a considerably larger bonus in order to persuade him to sign as opposed to honor his commitment to the University of Texas.
Because of his injury, Thompson rated 105th on Baseball America’s Top 500 ranking of draft prospects and 109th on the Top 200 of Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com. Both scouting reports note that Thompson was able to play this spring but was limited to hitting for the most part. He was able to throw some bullpen sessions for scouts, per MLB.com’s report, and Callis/Mayo note that he looked “as athletic and projectable as ever” in them. The 6’7″, 180-pound 18-year-old was able to run his velocity up to 94 mph when at his best, and BA notes that he shows a feel for a power curveball as well as a changeup with fade and deception. Both reports note that he is teeming with upside, so if he can make a full recovery from Tommy John (which, of course, is far from a guarantee — hence the slide), the Padres may very well have made a nice value play.
San Diego entered the draft with a $12,869,200 pool due to the fact that they possessed six of the first 85 picks in the draft (the team’s three natural picks, plus a Competitive Balance pick and a pair of compensation picks for the free-agent losses of Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy), and they’ve now reached agreement with a pair of those top six picks. The team announced last night that it had reached an agreement with Stanford righty Cal Quantrill, the son of former Major Leaguer Paul Quantrill and the team’s top overall selection. Quantrill, like Thompson, is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and MLB.com felt he might have been a top-of-the-draft consideration had he been fully healthy. The Padres look to have targeted a few players that slid due to injury concerns with the hopes of landing high-upside arms at “discount” spots in the draft, as even No. 71 pick Reggie Lawson had some injury concerns that might’ve harmed his stock.
Glen Perkins Receiving Another Opinion On Injured Shoulder
Twins closer Glen Perkins hasn’t pitched in a game since early April and has now suffered a pair of setbacks in his rehab, prompting him to head to Los Angeles to receive a third opinion on his shoulder from renowned orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweeted yesterday. Perkins himself joined Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN on the radio yesterday and offered a candid and fairly bleak update on his efforts to return from a left shoulder strain (links to Twitter): “I can’t throw a ball more than fifty percent off a mound without pain.” Perkins, according to Mackey, had an MRI in Minneapolis yesterday before heading out to see ElAttrache.
As 1500 ESPN’s Derek Wetmore writes, Perkins described the injury to Mackey in more detail during the interview, citing a “stabbing” sensation in his shoulder and expressing frustration that he appears to have actually taken a step backward in each of his attempts to throw a bullpen session. “I don’t have a good feeling about it but hopefully that’ll be proven wrong,” Perkins said of today’s appointment. Suffice it to say, the Twins don’t appear to be in position to get their top reliever healthy at any point in the near future. Back in April, team doctors and an outside second opinion agreed that surgery wasn’t necessary to repair Perkins’ shoulder, but the prolonged absence and multiple setbacks are unequivocal red flags. Wetmore notes that GM Terry Ryan said on Sunday that there wasn’t yet any consideration of shutting Perkins down for the season
Perkins, a former first-round pick (22nd overall in 2004), toiled as a starter for the early portion of his career before emerging as a lockdown setup man in 2011 and ultimately rising to claim the team’s closer role midway through the 2012 season. From 2011-13, he was somewhat quietly one of baseball’s best relievers, recording a 2.45 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 194 2/3 innings. Neck and back injuries have shortened each of his past two seasons, and he’s appeared in just two games in 2016. Perkins is earning $6.3MM with another $6.5MM guaranteed for the 2017 season. Minnesota also carries a $6.5MM club option on him for the 2018 season (his age-35 campaign), which comes with a $700K buyout.
Had the Twins performed up to expectations this season, perhaps there’d be cause for Perkins to attempt to rush back to the mound more aggressively, but Minnesota’s current 20-43 record and last-place standing in the AL Central gives both the team and Perkins every reason to exercise caution. Minnesota has used Kevin Jepsen at closer for the majority of the season in his absence, but while Jepsen filled in well for Perkins in 2015, he’s struggling through one of the worst seasons of his career in 2016. Minnesota has recently installed minor league signees Brandon Kintzler and Fernando Abad as a closer committee.
Trade Rumors Acquires Roster Resource
Today, we’re proud to announce an acquisition of our own! Trade Rumors has purchased the Roster Resource website, which was formerly known as MLB Depth Charts before expanding into other sports. Additionally, we’ve hired the site’s creator, Jason Martinez. Jason will continue to obsessively update depth charts and roster information quickly and accurately for all MLB, NBA, and NFL teams, and he’ll also contribute articles here at MLBTR.
The depth charts and roster information will continue to live at Roster Resource for now, though it is officially under the Trade Rumors umbrella. You’ll see us begin linking more to the Roster Resource depth charts in our posts, as we feel this information is a perfect fit for readers of MLB Trade Rumors, Hoops Rumors, and Pro Football Rumors. We are striving to bring you the best possible coverage of transaction-related news as well as depth charts and roster information you can consult for further analysis.
We’d love your feedback on Roster Resource, whether through comments on this post, replies on Twitter, or messages through our contact form. We’ve already got a number of improvements planned. Below, I’ve linked to depth charts for each of the 30 teams, which is the heart of what the site offers.
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Atlanta Braves
- Baltimore Orioles
- Boston Red Sox
- Chicago Cubs
- Chicago White Sox
- Cincinnati Reds
- Cleveland Indians
- Colorado Rockies
- Detroit Tigers
- Houston Astros
- Kansas City Royals
- Los Angeles Angels
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Miami Marlins
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Minnesota Twins
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Oakland Athletics
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- San Diego Padres
- San Francisco Giants
- Seattle Mariners
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Texas Rangers
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Washington Nationals