Looking Back at the 1992 Expansion Draft (Part 2)
This is the second of a three-part series looking back at the 1992 MLB Expansion Draft. Click here to read Part 1; click here to read Part 3.
It’s one of those sayings managers have when they address their players every spring: “Play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. And play for the other organizations out there. You never know who’s going to be watching you.”
While players might hear that speech but not really listen to it, that axiom tangibly meant something 25 seasons ago.
Two organizations – the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins – were out there in force. Their scouts were doing their player evaluations at the major league and minor league levels. They were doing their homework. They were doing their prep work. They were looking for any reason to have interest in a player – or not have interest at all.
This is the 25th anniversary of the one full year that the Rockies and Marlins spent scouting and preparing for the November 17, 1992, Major League Baseball expansion draft – when the two organizations would be selecting players from the existing 26 major league clubs. A total of 72 players would be chosen – since 50 more major league jobs were becoming available for the 1993 season.
Hundreds of players were auditioning for major league jobs. The truth is … most did not realize it. And when their names were called on expansion draft day, they were stunned.
– – –
On paper, the Marlins and the Rockies had just under 14 months to get ready for the expansion draft – from the time their general managers were hired to the day they arrived in New York City for the initial building of their first big league rosters.
“I found the whole process to be exhilarating … that all the work we had accomplished was ready to move forward,” said Dave Dombrowski, the first general manager in Florida Marlins history. “Our goal was … you want to start an expansion team. You want to get players on board. But ultimately, you’re trying to build a world championship. We knew it would be a while down the road.
“But we were now in the position where finally you were going to have a chance to start adding some players – and all that work that had taken place would come to fruition. So I found it a very exciting time.”
While the Marlins went into the expansion draft knowing they had some money to spend, Colorado Rockies general manager Bob Gebhard and his organization were operating under a tight budget.
“We went into New York with our small group of people who we felt were going to help us make the right selections,” Gebhard said. “But the unknowns were who was going to be available – and could we afford them?
“We felt that we were going to draw some people in Denver. But one of the things the owners brought to my attention is they really thought we needed to win some ball games right away. We were competing in a football city, we were the new team in town, and we really needed to be competitive. We certainly didn’t want to lose 100 games that first year. So we were trying to pick carefully so that, No. 1, we had a team that was affordable, and No. 2, that we had a team that could compete in the 1993 season. We were trying to do both. It was difficult knowing that we didn’t have a lot of money to spend.”
– – –
How would the two teams be put together?
The rules were pretty simple – and pretty complex. All players in the 26 existing organizations were eligible to be drafted, except those with no prior major league experience who had less than three years of service if signed at age 19 or older – or less than four years of service if signed at age 18 or younger.
Cutting to the chase, any “under contract” player who had big league service time was in play if he wasn’t protected. From the minor league side, in layman’s terms, it all depended on when you were drafted – but the drafts of 1990, 1991 and 1992 were off limits. If you were a college kid selected in the 1989 draft with no big league time – you were eligible if an organization didn’t protect you. As an example, Trevor Hoffman, Cincinnati’s 11th-round pick that year, was not on the Reds’ protected list – leaving him available to be selected. If you were a high school kid chosen in the 1988 draft without major league experience (for instance, Yankees minor leaguer Carl Everett), or an undrafted young international player signed that year (the Cubs’ Pedro Castellano), you too were eligible if left unprotected.
What constituted a protected player? Major league teams were able to protect 15 players prior to the draft. Players with 10/5 rights (10 years of major league service, the last five with the same team) and players with no-trade clauses in their contracts had to be protected unless they waived those rights.
The procedure for the three-round expansion draft:
- Before the draft, a coin flip determined which team selected first in the first round and second in rounds two and three – or second in the first round and first in rounds two and three. The Rockies won the coin flip and opted to choose first.
- In the first round, the Rockies and the Marlins alternated turns, with each of the existing 26 teams losing one player. In theory, both teams were alternately selecting who they considered to be the 16th-best player on every other team’s roster. At the conclusion of the round, both Colorado and Florida would have selected 13 players each.
- Prior to the second round, the existing National League teams were able to pull back an additional three players, while American League teams were able to protect four more. The second round proceeded in the same manner as the first, with each existing major league organization losing a second player. At this point, both expansion teams would have selected 26 players each.
- Prior to the third round, the N.L. teams once again were able to protect three more players, while the A.L. teams were able to protect four. During the third round, 20 total players were selected – with each N.L. team losing one player and eight A.L. clubs losing a player. At the conclusion of the round, both the Marlins and the Rockies would have made 36 selections.
Not only were the Rockies and Marlins drafting players, they literally were playing a dice game. If you wanted a player from a specific team, and the other expansion club drafted a player from that club, then you likely lost out on an opportunity. You had to roll the dice when making your selections.
– – –
The Rockies’ trip to New York became eventful before the big event.
After his arrival in the Big Apple, Gebhard was able to engineer a franchise-shaking move before the team had any players on its roster.
“Jim Bronner, the agent for Andres Galarraga, called me and said, ‘I’ve got a first baseman for you.’ And he told me it was Andres,” Gebhard said. Galarraga, a veteran of seven seasons in Montreal and one in St. Louis, had an All-Star appearance, one Silver Slugger Award and two Gold Gloves on his resume. “I told him, ‘You know, I have a very limited budget. I’ve been told I have $8 million to spend on a 40-man roster, so I have to be careful who I make commitments to – because this would be a salary hit.’ So we negotiated a contract for $500,000.
“The day before the draft, we signed Andres Galarraga.”
The 32-year-old Galarraga would go on to hit a National League-best .370 in 1993 and become an early builder of the Rockies’ “Blake Street Bombers” identity that Don Baylor wanted to establish. Galarraga spent five years in a Rockies uniform – finishing in the N.L. Top 10 in Most Valuable Player voting four times.
A second aggressive right-handed offensive presence that Gebhard coveted was Dante Bichette – who had fallen out of favor in Milwaukee.
Gebhard also had an affinity for Milwaukee’s Darren Holmes, a right-handed reliever who had experienced some success in 1992 (2.55 ERA and 6 saves in 41 games) – but was not protected by the Brewers.
The question for Gebhard was … could he get both players? The Rockies believed that if they took one, the other would either be protected after the first round – or selected by the Marlins early in the second round.
“We decided we needed pitchers who could pitch in Denver, so we were going to take Darren Holmes early in the draft,” Gebhard said. “But we had also zeroed in on Dante Bichette. It was a little bit of a mystery how we could get him.”
As fate would have it, “the morning of the draft, I went downstairs for coffee and ran into (Milwaukee GM) Sal Bando,” Gebhard said. “We had some discussions, and then I asked him, ‘What are you looking for?’ He said he needed a left-handed DH, and I asked him if he had any interest in (Texas’ Kevin) Reimer. He said, ‘Absolutely.’ So I asked him, ‘What if we draft him, and after the first round, you pull Dante Bichette back so we didn’t lose him to Florida? We can announce the trade after the draft.’ And he said, ‘That’s a deal.’ That’s how we got Dante Bichette.
“All of a sudden we had the big first baseman in Galarraga and now we had Bichette. We had the makings of a middle of the lineup with two power hitters. The rest of it just sort of fell into place.”
Bichette went on to play seven years for the Rockies, going to the All-Star Game four times. Holmes showed he could keep the ball in the park, surrendering only 34 homers in 263 games during his five years in a Colorado uniform.
Tigers Activate J.D. Martinez From DL
10:38pm: The Tigers have now announced that Martinez has been activated and that Adduci has been placed on the 10-day DL.
10:25pm: The Tigers will get one of the most productive bats in their lineup back tonight, as they’re set to activate right fielder J.D. Martinez from the disabled list, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Detroit had been hoping to get Martinez a few more at-bats on a minor league rehab assignment, but an oblique injury to outfielder Jim Adduci instead forced the team’s hand a bit. Aducci will head to the 10-day DL as a corresponding roster move for Martinez’s reinstatement.
As Fenech points out, it’s been seven weeks to the day since Martinez suffered a lisfranc sprain in his right foot while making a sliding catch in Spring Training. The team originally projected an absence of five weeks, but Martinez required a bit more time to work up to running the bases and playing right field on a regular basis. He played the outfield on consecutive days during his abbreviated rehab stint, however, and is seemingly able to run the bases well enough to return to the lineup. Manager Brad Ausmus told Tigers reporters that Martinez is said to “feel fine moving around,” tough he noted that there could be “some residual soreness” in Martinez’s foot.
In Martinez, the Tigers will be getting back one of the American League’s premier sluggers across the past three seasons. Released by Houston late in Spring Training 2014, Martinez blossomed after inking a minor league deal with the Tigers. Since joining Detroit, he’s mashed at a .299/.357/.540 clip and slugged 83 home runs in 401 games. All of that has positioned him quite nicely as a free agent this coming offseason. While missing the first five weeks of the year certainly doesn’t do his free-agent stock any favors, Martinez remains a candidate to sign a contract worth more than $100MM in free agency this coming winter — a notion that would’ve been unfathomable when he initially signed with Detroit.
Of course, it remains to be seen how Martinez will perform on the defensive side of the ball in 2017. While both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating pegged Martinez as an above-average defender in right field back in 2015, those same metrics characterized him as one of baseball’s worst defenders in 2016. If there are any lingering limitations on his mobility in 2017 due to the lisfranc injury, that could understandably hamper his defensive play, which could, in turn, alter his perception on the free-agent market.
It’s also worth noting that the play of both Martinez and the Tigers will be worth monitoring as trade season approaches. The 17-16 Tigers are currently just a game out of first place in the AL Central, and assuming they remain in contention, the team could be content to keep Martinez and issue him a qualifying offer at season’s end. However, if the Tigers’ team performance begins to slip, then Martinez could find himself as a trade candidate.
Speculatively speaking, the 29-year-old could even find himself on the block if the Tigers are in the Wild Card hunt but appear long shots to take home an AL Central crown. The newly restructured collective bargaining agreement drastically reduced the compensation that teams will receive when free agents that decline a QO sign elsewhere; as such, the Tigers wouldn’t even be able to pocket a first-round pick as compensation in the event of a Martinez departure.
Though Martinez has yet to suit up for even a single game with the Tigers this season, he nonetheless landed at No. 6 on the most recent edition of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings. If Martinez comes out of the gates strongly, that ranking could rise, as well, especially considering the struggles of several players that previously rated ahead of him (e.g. Jake Arrieta, Johnny Cueto, Masahiro Tanaka).
Astros Notes: Trade Market, Devenski, Paulino
At 24-11, the Astros are the best team in baseball through the season’s first five and a half weeks — a blistering start that, according to GM Jeff Luhnow, will allow the team to remain patient on the summer trade market. As Luhnow explains to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, he doesn’t feel any urgency pushing him to rush into the summer trade market. “We jumped on Scott Kazmir two years ago early in the trade season, and there’s pros and cons to that,” said Luhnow. “…but other pitchers came available — namely, David Price — that had not really been available early, and so if you really want to know what the landscape looks like completely, you kind of have to wait until the end.” Luhnow tells McTaggart that he still plans to be highly active in trade talks from now through the non-waiver deadline, but the GM doesn’t sound anxious to augment his club, especially with Collin McHugh and pitching prospect David Paulino on the mend from injury. “As long as we continue to play well, there’s no urgency to solve a problem right now.”
A bit more on the Astros…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports takes an excellent look at Astros powerhouse Chris Devenski — one of the game’s most quietly dominant relievers. Devenski, nicknamed “The Dragon” by his manager in Double-A (Houston will give away bobbleheads of Devenski riding a dragon later this season), Devenski has followed an unlikely path to his current status as one of Major League Baseball’s best bullpen weapons. The right-hander was a 25th-round pick by the White Sox back in 2011 before being dealt to Houston as a player to be named later in the 2012 trade that sent right-hander Brett Myers to Chicago. Devenski wasn’t protected from the Rule 5 Draft by the Astros following a solid-but-not-dominant 2015 season in Double-A, which Luhnow describes to Rosenthal as “a bad decision with an OK outcome.” Luhnow concedes that Houston took “too much of a risk” in leaving Devenski unprotected, though he’s surely thankful for how it worked out. In 131 1/3 MLB innings since Opening Day 2016, Devenski has a 2.12 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9. Teammates Brian McCann, Josh Reddick, Will Harris, George Springer and others all rave about Devenski’s talent and work ethic, and Rosenthal’s column (which I’d highly recommend reading in full), is stuffed with quotes effusing praise for “The Dragon.”
- Top prospect David Paulino (mentioned by Luhnow as an “important piece” in the McTaggart interview above) made his 2017 debut at Triple-A Fresno after missing five weeks with a bone bruise in his elbow, as Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle writes. Paulino finished the 2016 season in the Majors and opened the season on the Major League disabled list, so he’s technically pitching on a rehab assignment. Based on Kaplan’s writing, it doesn’t sound as if Paulino will be an immediate option for the team once his rehab clock is up; Kaplan notes that he’ll eventually be activated and formally optioned to Fresno. In the meantime, Paulino will continue accruing MLB service time.
- In light of Rosenthal’s Devenski column and Paulino’s return to the mound, I’ll also point out that Paulino was acquired as a player to be named later in a trade for a reliever; Houston nabbed Paulino, who entered the season as a consensus top 100 prospect, as a PTBNL in the 2013 trade that sent Jose Veras to the Tigers. At the time, Paulino was a 19-year-old GCL prospect that was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He’s very clearly elevated his stock, having tossed 90 innings with a flat 2.00 ERA, 10.6 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 across two minor league levels in 2016 (plus five more shutout innings in the Arizona Fall League).
Twins To Promote Jose Berrios
The Twins will promote right-hander Jose Berrios to step into the rotation this Saturday, manager Paul Molitor told reporters after tonight’s game (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger). While no longer a prospect in the technical sense of the word after pitching enough to lose his rookie eligibility last year, the 22-year-old Berrios remains one of the more promising young arms in the game.
Berrios reached the Majors around this time last season, but he struggled through multiple Major League stints in significant fashion, logging an 8.02 ERA through 58 1/3 innings. Berrios, however, was a mainstay on top 100 prospect lists following his selection with the No. 32 overall pick in the 2012 draft and has continually turned in dominant results in Triple-A.
After logging a 2.51 ERA with 10.1 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 with a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate in 111 1/3 innings there last season, Berrios has delivered 39 2/3 frames of 1.13 ERA ball with Rochester in 2017. His outstanding 39-to-8 K/BB ratio through those six starts also creates cause for optimism.
Berrios will step into a murky Twins rotation that has Ervin Santana, Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes in the top three spots, with journeyman Nick Tepesch currently holding down the fifth slot. Given the uncertainty in their starting corps, Berrios looks to have every opportunity to lock down a permanent rotation spot if he can get off to a good start this time around.
Certainly, the Twins are counting on Berrios to do just that and to help to anchor their rotation for the next several years. He’s controllable through the 2022 campaign and doesn’t stand to be eligible for arbitration until the completion of the 2019 campaign. Those timelines, of course, could change if Berrios is optioned back to the minors, but with 74 days of big league service entering the year, he needs just 98 days in the Majors to reach a full year of service time and remain on pace for those targets.
Heyman’s Latest: Miller, Marlins, Cole, Tigers, Agency Changes
Last August, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Diamondbacks and Marlins were in talks regarding a possible Shelby Miller trade that was ultimately vetoed by D-backs owner Ken Kendrick. Roughly nine months later, FanRag’s Jon Heyman adds some more context to the story, noting that the two sides were in talks regarding right-handers Luis Castillo, Jose Urena and Austin Brice were all being discussed as potential pieces for Arizona to acquire, as was left-hander Dillon Peters (not necessarily all four, though Castillo and Urena were likely the centerpieces). One D-backs source tells Heyman the trade was never close, though Heyman cites others who agreed with Nightengale’s report, stating that Kendrick did indeed veto the deal when it was close to fruition. Miller, of course, remained with the D-backs and looked better in 2017 than he did in 2016 before suffering a torn UCL and undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Heyman’s weekly American League and National League Notes columns reveal a few more interesting hot stove items…
- Despite the fact that multiple reports suggest the bidding price for the Marlins is around $1.3 billion, some have suggested to Heyman that the team’s lack of revenue and significant financial commitments to Giancarlo Stanton, Wei-Yin Chen, Martin Prado and others will ultimately lower the sale price after a full financial examination. Heyman adds that despite prior reports, he’s been told that Alex Rodriguez was never actually offered a spot in the Tagg Romney/Tom Glavine group that is vying to purchase the Marlins. Whether A-Rod was made an offer or not, the key takeaway is that it appears he won’t be involved in the sale.
- Rival executives believe that Pirates ace Gerrit Cole could land on the trade market this summer, per Heyman. The former No. 1 overall pick would make for an extremely interesting addition to the summer trade market, though Bucs certainly needn’t feel compelled to trade him. Cole is controlled through the 2019 season and is earning a perfectly reasonable $3.8MM this season (though that number will spike in his second trip through arbitration this winter). Nonetheless, with two and a half years of club control left, Cole would fetch a significant haul of young talent if he were actually made available. It seems quite likely that the Bucs will listen on Andrew McCutchen and Tony Watson this summer (Watson, like Mark Melancon last year, is a pending free agent), but Cole would have the most significant value of the bunch.
- Even if a closer upgrade were available to the Tigers at the moment, they don’t have the money to make an addition (or at least wouldn’t be willing to spend it). Detroit recently demoted Francisco Rodriguez from the ninth inning in favor of Justin Wilson following a brutal start to the season for K-Rod, and their bullpen has once again been a weak spot. Heyman notes that GM Al Avila at one point made a trip to Triple-A Toledo and “read the riot act” to right-hander Bruce Rondon, who has responded by dropping 15 pounds. Rondon was once viewed as a potential closer of the future, but he’s yet to establish himself and has had issues with his conditioning and effort level.
- Heyman also reports a pair of agency changes, noting that Red Sox top prospect Rafael Devers is now a client of Rep 1 Baseball, while Dodgers top prospect Yadier Alvarez is now repped by Wasserman. Neither has made his MLB debut yet, though both are considered among the game’s top 25 to 50 prospects and could theoretically surface in the Majors within the next calendar year or so (Devers, who is already in Double-A, appears closer than Alvarez, who has just 18 innings in High-A). Both changes are now reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains representation info on roughly more than 2,500 Major League and Minor League players. If you see any inaccuracies or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Marlins Acquire Nick Noonan From Brewers
The Marlins have added infielder Nick Noonan to their Triple-A club, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro further tweets that Noonan was acquired from the Brewers in exchange for cash.
The addition of Noonan, 28, comes at a time when the Marlins’ infield has been ravaged by injuries. Martin Prado, Adeiny Hechavarria and Miguel Rojas have each landed on the disabled list between Monday and Wednesday this week, prompting the Fish to bring up J.T. Riddle and Stephen Lombardozzi from Triple-A. Noonan figures to receive some of the playing time that Riddle and Lombardozzi would’ve been in line for in New Orleans. With further injuries in the Majors and/or impressive play in Triple-A, he could conceivably see some big league time as well.
Noonan, after all, has logged MLB time in each of the past two seasons (and in three of the past four). He was with the Padres in 2016 and the Giants (who drafted and developed him) in 2015 and 2013. Once considered one of the best prospects in the Giants’ farm system, Noonan has yet to capitalize on multiple promotions to the Majors, hitting .193/.239/.234 in 155 plate appearances between San Francisco and San Diego. He’s been better in Triple-A, where he’s managed a .273/.321/.371 batting line in parts of seven seasons.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/11/17
We’ll track the day’s minor moves right here…
- Former big league right-hander Barry Enright, who has been pitching for the Padres‘ Double-A affiliate, was traded to the Rockies in a minor swap, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. (Enright himself confirmed the move on Twitter). The 31-year-old hasn’t appeared in the Major since a 2013 stint with the Angels, though he’s pitched with various Triple-A clubs and in the Mexican League since that time. Enright owns a career 5.57 ERA in 148 2/3 Major League innings and a 4.86 ERA across parts of nine minor league seasons.
- The Mariners have signed infielder Danny Muno to a minor league deal and assigned them to their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, according to Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). Muno, 28, got a brief taste of the Majors with the Mets in 2015 (32 plate appearances) but hasn’t returned to the big leagues since. He opened the 2017 season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League, where he posted a .744 OPS through 13 games. Muno doesn’t have much power but has a history of getting on base in Triple-A, where he’s logged a .257/.363/.377 batting line in parts of three seasons. He’ll bring some defensive versatility to the Mariners’ Triple-A club, as he’s well-versed at second base, shortstop and third base.
Earlier Moves
- The Mariners have purchased the contract of righty Tyler Cloyd from the Somerset Patriots, the indy ball club announced. Cloyd had been throwing quite well, racking up 16 strikeouts over a dozen frames while allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and three walks. Soon to turn 30, Cloyd had struggled in two seasons of work with the Phillies and then bounced around in recent years. He returned from a stint with Korea’s Samsung Lions to join the Yankees last year on a minors deal, but missed the bulk of the season due to injury after a promising start. Over 440 2/3 total Triple-A innings, Cloyd owns a 3.49 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.
Injury Notes: Liriano, Story, Maeda, Braun, Red Sox
The Blue Jays announced that left-hander Francisco Liriano has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his left shoulder. Righty Leonel Campos has been called up from Triple-A Buffalo in a corresponding move. While Liriano becomes the third Blue Jays starter to land on the disabled list (joining J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez), Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets that the team is hopeful that Liriano won’t need to spend more than the minimum 10 days on the shelf. Right-hander Mike Bolsinger will remain in the rotation and make what would’ve been Liriano’s next scheduled start on Monday, per Nicholson-Smith.
A few more notable injury updates from around the league…
- The Rockies have placed shortstop Trevor Story on the 10-day DL due to a strained left shoulder, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. Story initially suffered the injury two nights ago in at-bat against the Cubs, though his struggles at the plate have been an ongoing issue since Opening Day. Story took Major League Baseball by storm in 2016 when he hit 27 homers through just 415 plate appearances as a rookie, though a torn ligament in his thumb cut his season short in early August. It’s possible that there are some lingering effects of that issue, as Story has batted a woeful .180/.289/.396 with a 37.5 percent strikeout rate through his first 33 games in 2017.
- The Dodgers have lost yet another starter to the disabled list, as right-hander Kenta Maeda has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to tightness in his left hamstring. Maeda, who took a shutout into the ninth inning of last night’s game, has been excellent over his past three outings (2.21 ERA, 21-to-4 K/BB ratio in 20 1/3 innings) following a rough start to the season. There’s no word on precisely how long Maeda will be sidelined just yet, though he joins Rich Hill, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Brock Stewart on the L.A. disabled list.
- Brewers slugger Ryan Braun is likely headed to the disabled list, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter links). Braun recently had an MRI on a strained calf and has also been dealing with some forearm discomfort, and a short trip to the DL would allow him to rest up both issues. “I can’t really run or throw,” Braun told reporters (via Haudricourt). “Hopefully, if I get [a] little bit of downtime I’ll be able to get back to full strength.” That doesn’t sound like there’s a lengthy trip in order, but it certainly does seem to suggest that a DL placement is looming.
- Carson Smith is throwing a pair of bullpen sessions this week for the Red Sox, writes WEEI’s Rob Bradford, but fellow right-hander Tyler Thornburg doesn’t appear to be that far along. Both Smith and Thornburg were acquired over the past two offseasons in an effort to help build a bridge to Craig Kimbrel, but injuries have prevented the Sox from reaping any value from either trade. ““With Tyler, we’ll still trying to get him through some more aggressive flatground work,” manager John Farrell told reporters earlier this week. “…“It’s been a little bit of a puzzle for all involved here including Tyler, because the MRI’s that he’s gone through, while showing a little bit of an impingement, hasn’t revealed anything more structural than that.”
AL West Notes: Cotton, Alonso, Paxton, Ramirez
The Athletics announced on Thursday that right-hander Jharel Cotton has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville. While Cotton has been impressive at times, he’s also allowed five or more runs in three of his starts, including a seven-run drubbing at the hands of the Angels on Tuesday. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, GM David Forst suggested that Cotton merely needs to improve his consistency and may not be long for the minors. ““Jharel has pitched better than what his overall line shows,” said the GM. “…[H]e just needs some more consistency with his performance. The bottom line is that we currently have six starters who are probably deserving of being in the big leagues; Jharel needs to continue to improve in Nashville so he’s ready when the next opportunity arises.” Cotton’s demotion will clear a spot in the rotation for lefty Sean Manaea, who is returning from shoulder troubles early next week. Manaea will be joined by Sonny Gray, Kendall Graveman, Andrew Triggs and Jesse Hahn in the starting five.
More from the AL West…
- While there’s been plenty of talk about Yonder Alonso altering his launch angle and adopting a more fly-ball-heavy approach, Athletics hitting coach Darren Bush tells Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area that Alonso hasn’t fundamentally changed his approach at the plate. Rather, Alonso has adopted a leg kick that has improved his timing and the quality of his contact. “All he’s trying to do is be in position and execute a good swing, and the by-product is the ball is going the way that it should,” says Bush. “…This year, his leg kick is just on time. He’s given himself time to read the pitch, he’s given himself time to execute his swing. … He doesn’t have a two-part swing. It’s just one fluid swing.” Alonso, once one of the game’s to overall prospects, has been a light-hitting first baseman for years but is off to a ludicrous start in 2017. To date, he’s batting .303/.389/.687 with 11 home runs and five doubles through 113 plate appearances.
- Mariners southpaw James Paxton, on the disabled list due to a forearm strain, has already been cleared by doctors to begin throwing, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Word of Paxton’s injury — particularly the ever-ominous forearm strain — was a disheartening blow the Mariners and their fans, though GM Jerry Dipoto expressed optimism that Paxton would only miss two starts at the time of the injury. While it’s not yet certain that his absence will be that brief in nature, a return to throwing just six days after landing on the DL is certainly encouraging.
- In his latest Angels mailbag, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tackles a number of topics, ranging from Yunel Escobar‘s trade candidacy to the dearth of production the Halos have received in left field. On right-hander J.C. Ramirez, Moura notes that pitching coach Charles Nagy urged Ramirez to ditch his erratic four-seam fastball for a two-seamer late last season, and the results have somewhat quietly been excellent. The hard-throwing 28-year-old has a 3.21 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 46.6 percent ground-ball rate in 47 2/3 innings dating back to last September. Moura notes that scouts to whom he’s spoken still don’t know what to make of Ramirez in the long run, but his early work as a starter in 2017 has been a bright spot for the Halos — especially as they deal with injuries elsewhere in the rotation.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: 5/11/17
Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.