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Archives for April 2017

Garrett Richards Headed To 10-Day DL

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Angels righty Garrett Richards is headed to the 10-day DL with a biceps strain, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to tweet. Reliever Mike Morin has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

An MRI did show that Richards has not suffered an elbow injury, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter, but “irritation” in the biceps muscle will nevertheless force him to take a rest. The move was backdated to yesterday, when Richards left his first outing of the season early with the injury.

Indications immediately after the game were that it wasn’t terribly concerning, and today’s news does not seem to change the prognosis. That said, any arm issues will receive added attention in Richards’s case given that he’s returning after treating and rehabbing a partially torn UCL.

While the non-surgical course allowed Richards to return much quicker than he would have, it seems reasonable to anticipate that the organization will handle him with added care. He was throwing rather well yesterday before the bicep flared up. Over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, he sat in the 96-97 mph range with his fastball and allowed three hits and a walk while striking out for batters.

Orioles Acquire Miguel Castro, Designate Joe Gunkel

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The Orioles have acquired righty Miguel Castro from the Rockies, per a club announcement. A player to be named or cash will head back in return. To clear a 40-man spot, Baltimore designated righty Joe Gunkel for assignment.

The 22-year-old Castro has long been seen as an intriguing talent, but was designated recently by the Rockies. He made it to the majors in his age-20 season, then was dealt to Colorado as part of the deal that sent franchise star Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays.

While the Rox plugged Castro into the MLB pen in each of his two seasons with the organization, where he showed a 96 mph fastball, the results simply haven’t been there since he arrived. All told, he owns a 6.12 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 through 32 1/3 frames in the majors. Castro was also bombed in the minors last year and during his spring action in 2017.

Adding Castro may mean losing Gunkel, a 25-year-old starter. He spent most of last year at Triple-A, where he worked to a 4.08 ERA with 6.0 K/9 against a meager 1.1 BB/9. Gunkel went to Baltimore in the trade that sent Alejandro De Aza to the Red Sox in June of 2015.

Rays Release Cory Rasmus

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The Rays have released right-handed reliever Cory Rasmus, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). As Topkin notes, Rasmus was limited by injury this spring after inking a minors deal with the organization over the winter.

Rasmus had followed his brother Colby to Tampa Bay in hopes that the two might appear on the same major league roster for the first time. (They have previously squared off in game action.) But the pitching member of the family appeared in just one spring game.

Over parts of four seasons in the majors, Rasmus has thrown 123 innings of 4.17 ERA ball — mostly for the Angels. Though he has shown some swing-and-miss ability, with 8.9 K/9 for his career, Rasmus has also issued 4.2 free passes per nine innings and has proven susceptible to the long ball (lifetime 1.3 HR/9). He also struggled quite a bit last year, recording a 5.84 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 16 walks in his 24 2/3 frames while battling groin issues — just as he did this spring.

Braves Considering Ryan Raburn

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The Braves, who added Ryan Howard on a minor league deal yesterday, have also had some discussions about signing veteran Ryan Raburn, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick.

Atlanta is seeking bench upgrades, Crasnick notes, and Raburn would give the club a corner outfield option with a long history of mashing left-handed pitching. A former infielder, Raburn hasn’t played any second base since 2013 or any third base since 2011, though the Rockies did use him briefly (23 innings) at first base last season. He’s a career .261/.341/.487 hitter against left-handed opponents.

The 35-year-old Raburn (36 next weekend) struggled through a poor 2016 campaign despite playing most of his games in the hitter-friendly Coors Field. In 256 plate appearances, the veteran slashed just .220/.309/.404 with nine home runs. Though his average against lefties was lower than usual (.229), Raburn still got on base (.356) and showed plenty of pop (.479 slugging, .250 ISO) against left-handed opponents though.

For the Braves, Raburn could serve to occasionally spell Nick Markakis in right field when opponents throw a left-handed starter. He could also serve as a late pinch-hitting option and see occasional time at first base in the event that Freddie Freeman needs a breather. As it stands, Anthony Recker is the only member of the Braves’ bench that has ever made even one appearance at first base, and his experience there is limited to a minuscule total of 18 Major League innings.

Dodgers Place Rich Hill On 10-Day DL Due To Blister

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The Dodgers announced today that they’ve placed left-hander Rich Hill on the 10-day disabled list due to a blister on his left middle finger. Righty Josh Fields has been recalled from Triple-A to fill Hill’s spot on the roster.

The oft-injured Hill has dealt with blisters in the past and missed time with the issue after joining the Dodgers in 2016 as well. Despite his frequent injuries and questionable durability, Hill’s elite performance since improbably resurfacing in the Majors late in the 2015 season prompted the Dodgers to ink him to a three-year, $48MM contract this offseason. Hill is only a week into that sizable contract, but he’s already demonstrated both the upside and frustration that come along with that deal. The 37-year-old tossed five innings of one-run ball with five punchouts in his season debut, and while outings of that caliber figure to be frequent when healthy, today’s news is yet another reminder that he’s long stood out as an injury risk.

The shortened 10-day term of the disabled list in the 2017 season makes it easier for the Dodgers to briefly shelve the left-hander and tap into their considerable minor league pitching depth, however. Fields will give skipper Dave Roberts another arm to help compensate for the hopefully abbreviated loss of Hill. The Dodgers have an off-day next Tuesday, as well, which could help them to manage their rotation in Hill’s absence. Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times tweets that pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said that Alex Wood could get a spot start in Hill’s place next Monday. McCullough also tweets that Roberts said lefty Julio Urias won’t be considered for next Monday’s outing, despite being slated to start in Triple-A that day.

Reds Outright Tyler Goeddel

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Just two days after being claimed off waivers by the Reds, outfielder Tyler Goeddel has cleared waiver and been outrighted to Triple-A Louisville, the Reds announced. Goeddel’s outright opens a spot on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster, which could go to right-hander Bronson Arroyo in advance of his scheduled start tomorrow (as Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes, on Twitter).

It’s not uncommon for a team to claim a player off outright waivers and quickly look to pass him through waivers a second time, which is precisely what the Reds succeeded in doing in this instance. The 26-year-old Goeddel was a Rule 5 pick by the Phillies in 2015 and skipped Triple-A entirely, spending the duration of the 2016 season in a limited role at the Major League level. The former Rays farmhand struggled in his first exposure to Major League pitchers, batting just .192/.258/.291 in 234 trips to the plate.

Goeddel, though, slashed .279/.350/.433 in Double-A in 2015 prior to his selection in the Rule 5. Originally an infielder to begin his minor league career, he’s shifted to the outfield in recent seasons and spent time at all three outfield positions in his solid 2015 season. The Phillies limited him to the corners in 2016, though that’s largely due to the fact that Odubel Herrera is locked in as their everyday center fielder. The Reds currently have Adam Duvall, Bill Hamilton and Scott Schebler lined up across the outfield, with Arismendy Alcantara and Patrick Kivlehan on the 25-man roster as backup options. But, with a solid showing in Triple-A, Goeddel could certainly work his way back onto the big league roster in a reserve capacity later this season.

Mets Have Looked At Doug Fister

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The Mets “have looked at” right-hander Doug Fister, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports in his latest NL notes roundup, but Fister is still holding out for a Major League contract, he adds. Even if he received the guaranteed deal he’s seeking, Fister would almost assuredly have to report to the minors for a tune-up after not pitching at all during Spring Training.

The Mets have seen both Steven Matz (flexor strain) and Seth Lugo (partial UCL tear) go down with injuries, thus thinning out their pitching depth. Their rotation still carries plenty of firepower, as Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler all appear healthy. Theoretically, Fister could eventually step into Wheeler’s slot, as the Mets want to limit Wheeler’s innings in 2017 after he missed each of the past two seasons due to injury. Then again, one of Matz or Lugo could claim that spot if they’re able to return to health in the relatively near future.

The 33-year-old Fister logged a lackluster 4.64 ERA with 5.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 45.3 percent ground-ball rate with the Astros last season. He’s seen his velocity dip from the 89-90 mph range to the 86-87 mph range in recent seasons, though he certainly remains a durable arm, as evidenced by the 32 starts he made last season (180 1/3 innings pitched). And given the level of talent at the top end of the New York rotation, the Mets may not need much more than someone that can reliably take the ball every fifth day.

Signing Fister to a Major League deal, though, would require the Mets to open a 40-man roster spot right now despite the fact that Fister wouldn’t be ready to step onto a big league mound for awhile. That could be accomplished by transferring one of their injured players to the 60-day DL — David Wright, Matz or Lugo are all on the 10-day DL at present — but the team may not want to close off the possibility of any of those names returning sooner than that.

Even if nothing comes to fruition between the Mets and the veteran right-hander, it seems that New York is keeping an eye out for rotation depth. Heyman notes that they also looked at former Met Mike Pelfrey following his release from the Tigers, though Pelfrey elected to ink a minor league deal with the White Sox, where he has an easier path to the big league roster. And Newsday’s Marc Carig tweeted at the time of the Lugo injury that the Mets would likely be looking for arms that they could stash in the minors.

Orioles Sign Edwin Jackson

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April 7: Jackson passed his physical, and the Orioles have now announced the deal.

April 5: The Orioles have agreed to a minor-league deal with veteran righty Edwin Jackson, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. The agreement is still pending a physical.

It is anticipated that Jackson will head to the upper minors after a stint in extended Spring Training. He figures to take up a spot in the O’s rotation and/or relief depth charts. If Jackson does reach the majors and hits all his incentives, he could earn as much as $2.45MM, per Encina, who adds that there’s a June 1st opt-out date.

Once a solid starter, the 33-year-old Jackson has not found much success since he joined the Cubs as a free agent before the 2013 season. Since that time, he has recorded a 5.33 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 455 2/3 innings. He also showed a decline in his average fastball velocity last year, falling to 91.7 mph after typically sitting in the 93 mph range in recent years.

AL East Notes: Boxberger, Tanaka, Alvarez, Jays

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Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Rays right-hander Brad Boxberger has actually been dealing with a flexor strain — not the lat strain that sidelined him in Spring Training. Boxberger tells Topkin that he felt “a little off” when throwing in a March 22 live batting practice session that was intended to gauge his recovery from the lat strain. Boxberger went two weeks without throwing and but has been cleared to begin a throwing program. The Rays are hopeful that he’ll be able to return sometime in the month of May, though Boxberger says there’s no hard timetable on his recovery. Boxberger, the former Rays closer, opened the 2016 season on the shelf coming off hernia surgery and quickly suffered an oblique injury upon returning from the disabled list last May. Those injuries combined to limit him to just 24 1/3 innings last year, and while he was on the shelf, Alex Colome broke out and laid claim to the closer’s role in St. Petersburg.

More from the AL East…

  • Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman both tell George A. King III of the New York Post that there’s been no discussion about Masahiro Tanaka’s potential opt-out at season’s end, despite other reports suggesting the team is frustrated with his camp over the matter. “There is nothing to hold over our heads because we haven’t negotiated it,” says Cashman regarding the potential opt out at season’s end. “I have the utmost respect for [Tanaka’s agent] Casey Close and his office. I don’t know where this came from. We haven’t had any discussions of an opt-out.” Steinbrenner offers a similar sentiment to King, telling him that the team’s focus is squarely on the 2017 season. “Secondly, anyone that knows me knows that I don’t get emotional or personal about business,” says Steinbrenner. “Any decision then will be made on a solid analysis of all the relevant data, per usual.”
  • The Orioles released minor league outfielder-turned-pitcher Dariel Alvarez yesterday after it was learned that he’d require surgery (likely Tommy John), thus opening a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired left-hander Andrew Faulkner. However, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles are hopeful of re-signing Alvarez to a minor league contract and keeping him in the organization to rehab. That would allow the O’s to further pursue the pitching experiment with Alvarez — a transition that had only just begun when he incurred his elbow injury.
  • Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins tells Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi that the team is pleasantly surprised with the depth that has been stockpiled at Triple-A Buffalo. Getting Mike Bolsinger through waivers yesterday allows the Jays to pair him with Mat Latos in the Triple-A rotation, and Atkins sounded particularly pleased with the fact that they were able to win a claim on catcher Luke Maile. Atkins tells Davidi that the team didn’t expect to be able to stockpile this kind of depth after already adding Juan Graterol (also via waivers) and Mike Ohlman (minor league deal). “But the opportunity to add a piece that we feel is an already now major-league defender was something we didn’t want to pass on,” says Atkins of Maile.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/7/17

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

  • The Indians announced that they’ve re-signed left-hander Tim Cooney to a minor league contract after releasing him at the end of camp. Cooney has been placed on the minor league disabled list due to a forearm strain. Cleveland claimed Cooney off waivers from the Cardinals this offseason after he missed the 2016 campaign due to shoulder surgery, and back in late February they announced that he’d miss 10 to 12 weeks with a flexor strain. That injury notwithstanding, it’s easy to see why the Indians have interest in keeping the southpaw on board; Cooney turned in six starts (31 1/3 innings) with a 3.16 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 37.9 percent ground-ball rate as a rookie in 2015. He also sports a career 3.35 ERA in 456 2/3 minor league innings, which includes a 3.21 ERA in nearly 250 innings of Triple-A work. Baseball America ranked him second among Cardinals prospects after the 2015 season, before injuries began to take their toll.

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