Archives for July 2017

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: D-backs, Yanks, Sox, Kershaw, Jays, Braves, Cards

By Connor Byrne | July 23, 2017 at 9:19am CDT

This week in baseball blogs:

Inside the ’Zona reacts to the Diamondbacks’ acquisition of outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Tigers.
Bronx Bomber Ball lists seven reasons why the Yankees made out great in this week’s trade with the White Sox.
MLB Sweet Spot breaks down the pros and cons of the Red Sox missing out on third baseman Todd Frazier, who went to the Yankees in their deal with the White Sox.
The K Zone delves into the postseason struggles of Clayton Kershaw.
Jays Journal contends that Toronto would net a major haul if it were to trade closer Roberto Osuna.
Minor League Ball profiles highly touted Braves outfield prospect Ronald Acuna.
The Intrepid STL studies the recent brilliance of Cardinals righty Michael Wacha.
Motor City Bengals advises the Tigers not to tear it down.
Camden Depot wonders what kind of market there would be for third baseman Manny Machado if the Orioles were to shop him prior to the trade deadline.
A’s Farm interviews young Athletics Matt Chapman, Bruce Maxwell and Jaycob Brugman.
Notes From The Sally scouts Red Sox pitching prospect Jay Groome.
Clubhouse Corner focuses on the majors’ declining stars and those who are emerging.
Sports Talk Philly compares the Hall of Fame cases of second basemen Robinson Cano and Chase Utley.
The Sports Tank recaps Pablo Sandoval’s disastrous Red Sox tenure.
The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2, 3) checks in on potential starting pitcher acquisitions for the Yankees, asks where the Athletics will trade first baseman Yonder Alonso, and examines Astros righty Brad Peacock’s success as a starter this year.
DiNardo’s Dugout discusses the the Chicago teams’ Jose Quintana trade and previews the trade deadline from an American League point of view.
Everything Bluebirds doesn’t want the Blue Jays to trade Marcus Stroman.
Purple Row speaks with Rockies director of pitching operations Mark Wiley.
Pirates Breakdown names three starting pitchers the Bucs should pursue.
Call to the Pen runs down the pros and cons of potential Phillies trades.
BP Toronto takes a realistic look at the trade deadline from a Blue Jays perspective.
Infield Shift writes that former general manager Frank Wren’s legacy is still alive with the Braves.
The Point of Pittsburgh regards the Dodgers as a logical fit for first baseman/outfielder John Jaso and reliever Tony Watson.
Jays From the Couch looks at Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez’s trade candidacy.
MetsMind analyzes reliever Paul Sewald’s rookie campaign.
The Redbird Daily expects serious regression from Cardinals reliever John Brebbia.
Pinstriped Prospects has a scouting report on Yankees Single-A outfielder Pablo Olivares.
Two Strike Approach: A Baseball Podcast talks with Justin Volman, the CEO of the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network.
Rotisserie Duck offers some humorous baseball quotes.

Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com.

Brewers Designate Rob Scahill

By Connor Byrne | July 23, 2017 at 8:20am CDT

The Brewers have designated reliever Rob Scahill for assignment, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). His 25-man roster spot will go to right-hander Wily Peralta, who’s returning from the 10-day disabled list.

This is the second time this year that the Brewers have designated Scahill, whom they previously jettisoned from their 40-man roster on June 13. The right-hander returned to Milwaukee in early July, but he has since allowed four earned runs in just 4 2/3 innings. Nearly all of that damage came in one appearance – a loss to the Pirates last Sunday in which he yielded three earned runs without recording an out – though Scahill’s overall numbers still don’t inspire confidence. Across 22 1/3 innings, the 30-year-old has cancelled out a terrific ground-ball rate (54.1 percent) with subpar strikeout and walk marks (4.03 per nine for both), helping lead to a 4.43 ERA/5.75 FIP.

To his credit, Scahill isn’t far removed from successfully preventing runs at the major league level. As a member of the Pirates from 2015-16, he pitched to a 3.26 ERA over 47 innings. Pittsburgh designated Scahill last July, though, and he ended up with the Brewers as a waiver claim. That worked out well initially for both Milwaukee and Scahill, who posted a 2.45 ERA with 14 strikeouts and three walks in 18 1/3 frames as a Brewer in 2016.

Quick Hits: Stanton, Yankees, Rays, Tribe, Cubs

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 10:58pm CDT

The Yankees have contacted the Marlins about right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag. Don’t go penciling Stanton and Aaron Judge into the same lineup yet, though, as it seems this was just a case of due diligence on the Yankees’ part. They called the Marlins about Stanton “weeks ago” and haven’t picked up talks since, per Heyman, who reported Friday that the Fish probably won’t seriously market the slugger this summer. As has been pointed out on many occasions, the $295MM left on Stanton’s contract after this season, an opt-out at the conclusion of the 2020 campaign and his ability to block a trade to the majors’ other 29 teams are all notable impediments in the way of a potential deal anywhere.

Rays Acquire Sergio Romo

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 9:16pm CDT

The Rays have acquired reliever Sergio Romo and cash considerations from the Dodgers for cash or a player to be named later, per an announcement from Los Angeles.

After an excellent stint with the Giants from 2008-16, Romo drew offseason interest from the Rays before heading to LA on a one-year, $3MM deal. Staying in the National League West didn’t go well for the 34-year-old Romo, who pitched to a 6.12 ERA (with a less-than-encouraging 5.75 FIP) in 25 innings as a Dodger. He also posted a career-worst walk rate (4.32 per nine) and yielded home runs on 26.9 percent of fly balls – an enormous increase over his 13.9 percent mark from last season. As a result, the Dodgers designated Romo for assignment on Thursday.

Given his woes this year, Romo hardly looks like a cure-all for the Rays, who have been in the market for relief help leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Still, he’s a low-cost pickup who did show some promising signs as a Dodger. Romo struck out 28.7 percent of batters in LA, matching his career mark, logged a 14.8 percent swinging-strike rate that betters his lifetime figure (14.2) and helped offset a low ground-ball rate (35.4 percent) by inducing pop-ups with regularity. At 15.4 percent, Romo’s infield fly rate places him among the majors’ upper echelon when it comes to relievers.

Even with Romo on hand, it stands to reason the Rays will continue to scour the market for relief upgrades over the next week-plus. While the 51-47 club is 1.5 games up on a wild-card spot, Tampa Bay’s success hasn’t come because of its bullpen. Rays relievers entered Saturday 22nd in the majors in ERA (4.37) and 23rd in fWAR (1.4), though the now-departed duo of Danny Farquhar and Jumbo Diaz contributed heavily to those unremarkable numbers before the team jettisoned them in recent weeks. The right-handed Romo hasn’t been any better this year, and he’ll now look to bounce back among a relief corps that includes more stable righty options in Alex Colome, Chase Whitley, Brad Boxberger, Tommy Hunter and Erasmo Ramirez.

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com first reported the trade (on Twitter). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West News & Rumors: Padres, Hand, Rangers, Dodgers

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 8:41pm CDT

Reliever Brad Hand is the most sought-after trade chip the Padres have had since A.J. Preller took over as their general manager in 2014, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “Half the league or more” has called about Hand, a team source told Cassavell, which helps explain the Padres’ reportedly high asking price for the southpaw. San Diego feels as though it’s justified in seeking a significant return for Hand, per Cassavell, as the 27-year-old has been among the majors’ top relievers since breaking out last season and comes with affordable control through the 2019 campaign.

One of Hand’s teammates, second baseman/third baseman Yangervis Solarte, is also a trade candidate, but Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune doesn’t expect the Padres to move him. Rumors connecting Solarte to other clubs have mostly been speculative, tweets Lin, who notes that the 30-year-old’s injury status seems to decrease the likelihood of a trade. He has been out for over a month with a strained oblique, and a return doesn’t look imminent as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. The switch-hitting Solarte hasn’t taken right-handed batting practice yet, which could change this weekend, and will still need to go on a rehab assignment after that happens.
Rangers GM Jon Daniels told reporters Saturday that he’s unsure whether the 46-50 club will buy over the next week-plus. If they do, though, Daniels indicated that the Rangers will seek controllable starting pitching, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). Everyone wants controllable starting pitching, so that’s not surprising, but it’s clear Texas needs it more than a lot of other teams do. After all, three members of the Rangers’ rotation – Yu Darvish, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross – are scheduled to become free agents after the season.
A couple of injury updates on the Dodgers, courtesy of J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (Twitter links): First baseman Adrian Gonzalez should return before Sept. 1, but outfielder Andre Ethier likely won’t. Back problems have been ruinous to both veterans this year – Gonzalez has been out since early June, and Ethier hasn’t played at all.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Pirates, Astros, Gray, Darvish, Braves

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 7:16pm CDT

Thanks to a recent surge that has helped them climb over the .500 mark, the Pirates have ruled out trading either outfielder Andrew McCutchen or utilityman Josh Harrison prior to the deadline, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (video link). However, they’re not necessarily going into the deadline as full-blown buyers. Rather, the team could both buy and sell, as it did last year, and is willing to listen to offers for complementary players such as left-handed setup man Tony Watson, righty reliever Juan Nicasio, third baseman David Freese and first baseman/outfielder John Jaso. As for starter Gerrit Cole, the likelihood is that he’ll stay put, though the Pirates could still entertain offers for him, per Rosenthal.

Giants Sign Pablo Sandoval

By Jeff Todd | July 22, 2017 at 7:08pm CDT

SATURDAY, 7:08pm: Sandoval’s contract includes 2018-19 club options for the major league minimum, but he’ll become a free agent at the end of this season if he isn’t on the Giants’ roster, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links).

1:43pm: The deal is now official, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Sandoval will head to Class A+ San Jose, then on to Triple-A Sacramento.

Here’s a statement from Sandoval about his return to the Giants in which he apologies for disparaging comments he made about the organization as he was in the process of leaving.

“I have always loved and appreciated the Giants organization, my Giants teammates and the fans of San Francisco. I have so many great memories and I want to thank the organization for giving me another chance to come back here. When I left the Giants in 2014, my comments were emotional, insensitive and misguided and I truly regret and apologize for my actions. I am committed to working hard to contributing to the success of the Giants.”

8:07am: Sandoval will, in fact, sign with the Giants, Heyman writes (Twitter links). The Royals and others were in fact in consideration, but Sandoval ultimately opted to head back to San Francisco.

FRIDAY: The Royals are another team with interest in Sandoval, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link), though the third baseman is still expected to land with the Giants.

WEDNESDAY, 8:38pm: Sandoval says he’s “waiting for Friday to make a decision,” with the Giants being “one of [the] options,” per ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera.

7:17pm: The Giants have agreed to a minors deal with third baseman Pablo Sandoval, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). Sandoval was released earlier today by the Red Sox, though the deal will not be formally entered until his contract has passed through waivers — which (all but certainly) will occur on Friday, Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com tweets.

While the match had been rumored, and is rather unsurprising on paper, it’s still quite a notable reunion for a player who was once one of San Francisco’s most visible stars. Both Sandoval and the Giants have had seasons to forget thus far. The former was released by his most recent organization after a third-straight season marred by injury and underperformance. And the latter currently sits five games back of the Padres in the NL West cellar.

Sandoval, now thirty years of age, was a popular and productive player for seven seasons with the Giants. Over his 3,533 plate appearances, Sandoval slashed a robust .294/.346/.465 and compiled about twenty wins above replacement. That performance earned him a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox, who’ll pay the vast majority of the nearly $50MM remaining (less any prorated portion of the league minimum for time Sandoval spends in the majors from now through 2019).

The Giants tried to keep the affectionately nicknamed Panda, but extension talks never materialized and he spurned the organization in free agency — suggesting in comments at the time that he was happy to be moving on. But Sandoval never found his footing in Boston. His longstanding battle with weight was again an issue, and Sandoval missed all of 2016 with a shoulder injury. He got into shape and showed well this spring, but endured a DL stint for a knee problem and struggled both at the bat (.212/.269/.354) and with the glove (-6 DRS; -8.6 UZR/150 innings) over his 32 games in 2017.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Sandoval can jump start his career in the place he once thrived. First, though, he’ll have to earn his way back to the big leagues. It’s important to bear in mind that the sides won’t be committed to one another for very long even if things go well. Unless the deal provides the club with an option of some kind — and it is fair to note that Jose Reyes agreed to such terms with the Mets while the Rockies were paying his contract — then Sandoval will return to the open market at season’s end. That said, it’s possible to imagine an extended reunion if things go well, as the Giants don’t yet have a clear plan for the 2018 season at third base.

Orioles Rumors: Deadline, Schoop, Prospects

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 6:25pm CDT

Earlier this week, Orioles general manager Dan Duquette seemed poised to market some of his veterans in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, but that no longer looks like the case. Even though the Orioles are 46-50 and 4.5 games out of a wild-card spot, Duquette told reporters Saturday that they’re planning to approach the deadline as buyers. “Whatever we do [at the trade deadline], we are going to try to help the club,” he said (via Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com, on Twitter). “I still like a lot of our core players. I don’t believe all the stuff that says we have half the club on the market, because we have a lot of baseball left to be played.” Specifically, the Orioles will attempt to upgrade a rotation that entered Saturday ranked in the majors’ bottom three in ERA (5.93) and fWAR (2.0). Duquette noted that “if we can get a little bit better starting pitching or add to the pitching we can make a run at this.”

A couple more notes from Baltimore:

One of the few positives for the Orioles this year has been second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who has flashed improved plate discipline and slashed an excellent .303/.351/547 with 20 home runs in 388 PAs. The Orioles had interest in keeping him around for the long haul even before the season, as Duquette revealed that he discussed an extension with Schoop over the winter (Twitter link via Ghiroli). Whatever the asking price was then, it has certainly gone up between the 25-year-old’s 2017 performance and his dwindling team control. Schoop, who’s on a $3.475MM salary this season, has two more arbitration-eligible years before free agency.
The Orioles may have a couple of trade chips in left-handers Alex Wells and Tanner Scott, both of whom have drawn interest, according to Duquette (Twitter link via Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com). A team called Duquette on Friday about the 20-year-old Wells, who has logged a 2.56 ERA, 6.97 K/9 and .88 BB/9 in 102 Single-A innings this season. He ranks as the Orioles’ 28th-best prospect at MLB.com, which places Scott 10th. “Teams covet” Scott, notes Connolly; although the 23-year-old has walked 5.98 batters per nine in 52 2/3 Double-A frames this season, he has posted an 11.45 K/9 and managed a stingy 2.05 ERA.

AL East News & Rumors: Darvish, Yanks, Rays, Red Sox

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 5:52pm CDT

The Yankees had scout Brandon Duckworth in attendance to watch Texas’ game in Tampa Bay on Friday, leading to speculation that the Bombers are interested in Rangers ace Yu Darvish, writes George A. King III of the New York Post. New York is one of many potential suitors for Darvish, who struck out 12 Rays in eight innings Friday. For the Yankees, Darvish would more than make up for the loss of Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery and give the playoff hopefuls another front-line starter to join Luis Severino. However, it’s unclear whether they’d be willing to pay what figures to be a heavy price for a rental.

More on New York and a couple of its AL East rivals:

In unfortunate news for the Yankees, second baseman Starlin Castro is headed back to the disabled list with hamstring issues, tweets King. The Yankees will recall rookie Tyler Wade to take over for Castro, who first hit the DL in late June because of a Grade 1 hamstring strain. Castro came back July 15 and appeared in six of eight games before his latest DL placement. Injuries notwithstanding, the 27-year-old is in the midst of a fine season, having hit .307/.344/.472 with 12 home runs in 337 plate appearances.
The Rays are interested in acquiring reliever Pat Neshek from the Phillies, so Philadelphia is heavily scouting Tampa Bay’s farm system, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Neshek is among a host of relievers the bullpen-needy Rays have been eyeing with the deadline approaching.
While the Rays are currently looking for outside help, they have an in-house reinforcement on the way in center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who suffered a hip fracture June 8. Kiermaier is eligible to return from the DL on Aug. 9, and he expects to do just that if all goes well on a rehab assignment, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Even though Kiermaier is one of the Rays’ cornerstones, their outfield has fared nicely in his absence, with Mallex Smith and Peter Bourjos filling in well in center.
The Red Sox aren’t cutting ties with struggling righty Doug Fister, but they have demoted him from the rotation to the bullpen, per Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com. The 33-year-old Fister became the odd man out after the return of Eduardo Rodriguez, who was on the shelf with a knee injury from the beginning of June until earlier this week. Fister, whom Boston claimed off waivers from the Angels in late June, has recorded a 7.89 ERA, 7.48 K/9, 6.23 BB/9 and a 36.8 percent ground-ball rate over 21 2/3 innings and five appearances (four starts) with the Red Sox. His walk rate is significantly higher than his career mark (2.03 per nine), but the Red Sox expect positive regression in that department. “We had a chance to sit and talk a little bit earlier today and you look at the start he made in Texas where a lot of his misses were up above the strike zone,” said manager John Farrell. “He made a tangible adjustment where (Thursday), granted there were misses, but they’re below the strike zone where he has got to miss. That’s where he needs to live.”

Chi Chi Gonzalez To Have Tommy John Surgery

By charliewilmoth | July 22, 2017 at 4:59pm CDT

Rangers righty Chi Chi Gonzalez has been dealing with additional elbow pain and will have Tommy John surgery, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. He will miss not only the rest of 2017, but all of 2018 as a result.

It’s been an awful run of luck for Gonzalez, who was diagnosed with a partial UCL tear in Spring Training and has not pitched competitively in 2017. The plan at the time was for Gonzalez to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection and sit out for six weeks, thus avoiding Tommy John surgery. It appears, however, that that plan didn’t do the trick.

The 25-year-old Gonzalez was the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 draft out of Oral Roberts. He advanced through the Rangers’ system as a top prospect and made it to the Majors in 2015, posting a 3.90 ERA in 67 innings despite a very weak 4.0 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. He struggled in three big-league starts in 2016, spending most of the year in the Triple-A Round Rock rotation.

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