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Archives for September 2017

NL Notes: Mets, Solarte, Ichiro

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Former White Sox manager Robin Ventura and current Mets hitting coach Kevin Long are the favorites to replace Terry Collins as the Mets’ manager, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. Collins, of course, still has the job, but is widely expected not to be retained when the season ends, and the Mets have reportedly already begun the process of reaching out to replacements. Ventura, Long, and other rumored candidates (including Alex Cora, Bob Geren and Chip Hale) have ties to the Mets. Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo is another potential candidate. Here’s more from the NL.

  • Infielder Yangervis Solarte acknowledges that the Padres could trade him, but says he wants to stay in San Diego, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. “If they want to trade me, what am I going to do? If I’m playing all these positions, I know there’s going to be teams that have interest in that versatility,” he says. “I want to stay here, I want to be here, but if they decide to trade me, I would just be thankful for the opportunity they’ve given me.” The 30-year-old Solarte has batted .255/.315/.419 while playing all four infield positions this season. He’s under contract for $4MM for 2018, and he has $750K buyouts on relatively cheap team options for both 2019 and 2020. His versatility, and the flexibility his team will have with his contract, could make him an attractive trade target this winter.
  • Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki wants to play until he’s “at least 50,” he tells Tim Healey of the Sun Sentinel through an interpreter. Ichiro adds that he would like to play for the Marlins again next season. The team has a $2MM option on him for 2018. Ichiro will be 44 next month and struggled badly in April and May, but he recovered to post a .396 OBP in the second half and ended up with a .259/.322/.337 line over 212 plate appearances. With the Marlins having three very capable (and healthy) starting outfielders, Ichiro’s chances to play were somewhat limited this year, although manager Don Mattingly tells Healey that Ichiro could play more in 2018 — particularly, Healey notes, if trades clear more space in the outfield.

R.A. Dickey Considering Retiring After Season

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Veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is considering retiring at the end of the season, he tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’ll just be a family decision,” he says. “We have made no official decision at all, but we certainly have had conversations around both coming back or retiring.”

The Braves have an $8MM option or a $500K buyout on Dickey for 2018, but it appears Dickey’s decision will be somewhat independent of the Braves’ decision about whether to pick up that option. (The Braves’ plans aren’t yet clear, although 69% of MLBTR readers feel the Braves should exercise the option after a season in which Dickey ate 190 innings and was generally productive.) GM John Coppolella previously alluded to the fact that Dickey could retire despite the option, and Dickey tells O’Brien he could consider playing elsewhere if the Braves do not retain him (although it would have to be the “perfect spot,” naming Cincinnati and St. Louis as other cities that are reasonably close to his offseason home in Tennessee).

Dickey declined the opportunity to pitch for the Braves in their season finale tomorrow, which means he’ll finish the season with 400 career appearances and 300 career starts — good round numbers to finish his career on, he points out. He has a 4.04 career ERA with 120 wins and the 2012 NL Cy Young award to his credit. He’ll turn 43 next month.

Mets Have Already Reached Out To Potential Replacements For Terry Collins

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That the Mets don’t plan to retain manager Terry Collins next season is baseball’s worst-kept secret. Today, Adam Rubin tweets a new wrinkle to the story — the team has already been in touch with potential replacements, he reports.

It’s unclear who the Mets have contacted, although there have already been reports linking them to Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo, as well as former or current Mets Robin Ventura, Alex Cora, Kevin Long, Bob Geren, and Chip Hale. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and GM Sandy Alderson have reportedly attempted to fire Collins at various points over his seven-year stint at the Mets’ manager, only to be blocked by owner Fred Wilpon. It now appears that Fred Wilpon will not intervene to save Collins’ job. Via Newsday’s Marc Carig, the Mets’ front office takes issue with Collins’ leadership style, as well as his use of relievers like Jeurys Familia, Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed to pitch on consecutive days.

Collins has managed the Mets for seven seasons, posting a 550-582 record in that period, including 69-91 this year. His contract expires at the end of this season. Despite frequent reports about the possibility the Mets will dismiss him, he has indicated he doesn’t plan to retire.

Quick Hits: Lackey, Lynn, Nicasio, Hundley

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The Cubs’ clubhouse celebration after clinching the NL Central included some telling comments from Jon Lester, who proclaimed that John Lackey had made “probably his last regular-season start.  Here’s to one hell of a career!” before toasting his longtime teammate.  (USA Today’s Bob Nightengale has the details.)  This is the first open acknowledgement that Lackey is heading towards retirement after the season.  Lackey’s two-year, $32MM contract is up once the Cubs conclude their postseason run, and he turns 39 in October.  He struggled to a 4.56 ERA over 169 2/3 innings thanks in large part to problems with the long ball, as Lackey surrendered a league-high 36 homers and a career-high 18.3% home run rate.  Still, Lackey has enjoyed a tremendous 15 seasons in the big leagues and, coming out of the Cubs bullpen in the playoffs, he’ll look to collect his fourth World Series ring.

Here’s more from around baseball as we head into the final weekend of the regular season…

  • The Cardinals don’t expect extensions with any of their upcoming free agents before the season is over, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  This includes Lance Lynn, whose representatives haven’t had any in-depth talks with the club about a new deal.  When asked if Thursday’s start could be his last with the Cardinals, Lynn said it “certainly looks that way.”  Lynn looks to be one of the top pitchers available in this year’s free agent market, and it appears he’ll be departing a Cards rotation that will mostly be relying on promising younger arms in 2018.
  • Also from Goold’s article, he reports that the Cardinals have been in touch with Juan Nicasio about a new deal.  Nicasio came to St. Louis after a rather surprising series of transactions that saw the right-hander waived by the Pirates, claimed by the Phillies and then dealt to the Cards all within a week’s time at the end of August and in early September.  No matter the uniform, Nicasio pitched well, posting a 2.65 ERA, 3.55 K/BB rate and 71 strikeouts over 71 1/3 innings for his three teams, making a league-high 75 appearances.  The Cardinals have clearly liked what they’ve seen in their short time with Nicasio on the roster and may be trying to lock Nicasio up before he hits the open market.
  • There is mutual interest between the Giants and Nick Hundley in a new contract, though Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle observes that it might hinge on how much playing time Hundley is able to find elsewhere from a catching-needy team.  Obviously, anything more than a backup role isn’t an option in San Francisco with Buster Posey locked in as the regular catcher.  Hundley hit .246/.276/.425 over 296 PA with the Giants while becoming a big voice in the team’s clubhouse.

Managerial Notes: Mets, Phillies, Klentak, Bochy, Guillen

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David Wright and Jacob deGrom were two of several Mets players who criticized teammates for anonymously criticizing manager Terry Collins in a recent piece by Newsday’s Marc Carig.  “It was cowardly, in my opinion,” Wright told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News.  “I have been very fortunate in my career.  I haven’t had too many gripes, but when I did, I went and talked to Terry or whoever the manager is.  His door has always been open and he’s always listened.”  It seems a foregone conclusion that Collins won’t return to manage the Mets in 2018, and the manager himself didn’t want to comment on many of items in Carig’s piece, other than to take exception to the idea that his usage of Jeurys Familia contributed to the reliever’s surgery to address an arterial clot in his right shoulder.

Some more managerial notes from around baseball…

  • “In my mind, we have reached a turning point in this rebuild,” Phillies GM Matt Klentak told reporters (including PhillyVoice.com’s Ryan Lawrence) about why Pete Mackanin was moved to a front office position rather than manage the Phils next season.  “We see our roster right now is littered with young players who look to have a very, very bright future. It’s time to look forward. That’s the message today: it’s time to look forward.”  In Lawrence’s view, Klentak’s answers were somewhat indirect, especially since Mackanin was just given a contract extension in May.  Both Lawrence and Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer believe Klentak is now taking a larger role in the Phillies’ rebuild, given that several of the team’s top young talents were brought into the organization by previous (since fired) front office personnel.  Brookover figures the new skipper will be younger and more analytically-minded, and he cites Dusty Wathan as “the smart choice” for the job since Wathan is so familiar with Philadelphia’s young players.  Wathan has managed in the Phillies’ farm system for the last decade, including managing the Triple-A affiliate in 2017.
  • Sources close to Giants manager Bruce Bochy believe he’ll certainly stay on until his contract is up after the 2019 season, CSNBayArea.com’s Alex Pavlovic writes.  Despite the Giants’ dreadful season, there is no danger of Bochy being fired, and though the manager has undergone some health issues in recent years, Bochy is intent on righting the ship next year.  “I want to leave the Giants organization better than when I came here and I want to get this team back on track. This is my passion,” Bochy said.
  • Ozzie Guillen hasn’t received an interview request since being fired by Miami four years ago, but the former Marlins and White Sox manager is still hopeful of another chance at managing a big league team, he tells Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.  Fenech believes Guillen would be an interesting candidate for the Tigers job as the club embarks on a rebuilding process, though it isn’t clear whether Guillen is one of the names under consideration for the job.

Marlins Shut Wei-Yin Chen Down Due To Recurrence Of Elbow Discomfort

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TODAY: After meeting with Dr. ElAttrache, Chen received a good diagnosis and won’t require surgery, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  While Chen’s elbow ligament is inflamed, it is believed that the PRP injection he already received is the only treatment required for the time being.

TUESDAY, 7:40pm: Chen’s injury status sounds even more ominous with full context from manager Don Mattingly. As Mattingly tells Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, not only will Chen not pitch again in 2017, there’s a possibility that he won’t pitch in 2018, either. “I’m not really sure if he’s going to be able to get back next year,” said Mattingly. “We know [the tear] is there. It keeps coming back, it kind of gets extended a little bit.”

Per Healey, Chen will visit with renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache in the coming days. Certainly, given the known presence of a partial UCL tear, one would imagine that Tommy John surgery will eventually become an option (though some pitchers have managed to pitch through partial tears of the UCL and avoid going under the knife).

6:33pm: Wei-Yin Chen’s season for the Marlins is over as the result of additional concerns about the southpaw’s left elbow, tweets Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Chen will have yet another examination on the elbow, and his future is “up in the air,” per Spencer.

Chen, 32, made just five starts for the Marlins earlier this season before missing the majority of the year due to troubles in his left elbow. Chen was reportedly diagnosed with a partial tear of his left ulnar collateral ligament last summer and ultimately pitched just 123 1/3 innings in his first season with the Marlins. This year, he’s been limited even more dramatically, totaling just 33 innings between the rotation and the bullpen.

The difficulties with Chen’s elbow are particularly problematic for a low-payroll Marlins club that signed the southpaw to one of the largest free-agent deals in franchise history. Chen is just two seasons into a five-year, $80MM contract and, while the agreement contains an opt-out clause following the current season, there’s obviously no way that he’ll be forgoing the remaining $52MM he’s owed through 2020 to reenter the open market.

[Related: Miami Marlins depth chart]

With Chen’s future now looking even more uncertain, Miami faces an uphill battle in rounding out its rotation with competitive arms next year. Opening Day starter Edinson Volquez, signed through the 2018 season, underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career last month and is likely to miss most of, if not all of the 2018 season. The Marlins’ current rotation features Dan Straily, Adam Conley, Jose Urena, rookie Dillon Peters and former Padres/Orioles swingman Odrisamer Despaigne. Miami’s farm system, generally regarded as one of the weakest in the game, offers little in terms of upper-level options to step into a starting role, beyond the aforementioned Peters.

AL West Notes: Perez, Morton, Upton, Erasmo

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The Rangers have already told Martin Perez that they will exercise their $6MM option on the left-hander’s services, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports.  Teams have until five days after the World Series to decide on all contract options so nothing is official yet between Perez and the Rangers (we’ll have the news here on MLBTR when this move and other option decisions are finalized), though it was widely expected that Perez would be retained.  The Rangers would’ve had to pay $2.45MM in a buyout, so it was an easy call to spend the extra $3.55MM on Perez, who has delivered 3.8 fWAR and 377 2/3 innings over the last two seasons.  Texas also has club options on Perez for 2019 and 2020.

Here’s more from around the AL West…

  • Charlie Morton may call it a career after the 2018 season, the Astros right-hander told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link).  Morton turns 35 in November 2018 and has battled several injuries throughout his career, though he is wrapping up one of the most successful of his ten seasons in the big leagues.  His unique enjoyment of his Astros experience, however, is actually one of the factors in Morton’s reasoning: “The group we have here is so good….The most valuable thing you have is time, and these are the guys I’m investing that in.  I can only think of a couple other groups I was with, where I look back and say ’That was really good.  That was worth it.’  It would be a search for that feeling, when you go in a clubhouse and like being with that group.  Here, you’re doing something meaningful — with everything that’s going on in the city….This is a moment to be cherished and valued.”
  • In other Morton-related news, he made his 25th start of the season tonight, which Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle notes triggered a $625K bonus in the Astros righty’s contract.  Morton also received $625K bonuses for hitting the 15-start and 20-start thresholds, so he’ll tack an extra $1.875MM onto his $7MM base salary for the 2017 season.  Morton also has the same base salary and bonus structure in place for 2018.
  • “Winning” is the only factor that will go into Justin Upton’s decision about opting out of his contract, he tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.  Of course, Upton faces a significant financial decision if he chooses to forego the $88.5MM remaining on his contract to re-enter free agency, though Fletcher notes that Upton could prioritize playing for a contender since he has already earned over $95MM in his career.  The Angels, of course, made a run at a wild card this year and could offer Upton that chance of playing for a winner, as the club will have some money to spend on needed upgrades this winter.
  • The Mariners “didn’t know quite what we were getting” when Erasmo Ramirez was re-acquired by the Rays, Seattle manager Scott Servais tells Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune, but the right-hander has now established himself as a potential rotation candidate for the 2018 squad.  After working for several years as a swingman, Ramirez became a full-time starter after his trade to the Mariners and the results were impressive — 3.92 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 3.60 K/BB over 62 innings (11 starts).  Ramirez’s emergence is a boost to a Seattle team that is looking for healthy and reliable starting pitching this winter.

Three Needs: San Diego Padres

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Click here to read previous entries in MLBTR’s Three Needs series.

Despite another losing season, the rebuilding Padres have been better than most would’ve expected in 2017. At worst, they’ll lose 92 games — they sit at 70-89 heading into a weekend series against the last-place Giants — and they’re only four games under .500 since May 20th. The tone was set last offseason when the team signed four veteran pitchers — Trevor Cahill, Jhoulys Chacin, Clayton Richard and Craig Stammen — who went on to produce well beyond the $6.15MM it cost the team to sign each to a one-year contract.

Chacin and Richard have been positive clubhouse influences on a young team and combined for 63 starts.  (Chacin is scheduled to make his 32nd start of the season on Saturday and will likely push the duo over 375 innings on the season)  Cahill was on the disabled list twice, but he was very effective in his 11 starts as a Padre and ended up being part of a six-player pre-deadline trade with the Royals that netted San Diego a high-upside pitching prospect and one of the best hitters in the Arizona Rookie League. Stammen, who missed most of 2015 and all of 2016 due to injuries, came back strong with a 3.06 ERA in 59 appearances.

This offseason, expect the Padres to try this same strategy of adding inexpensive pitchers who can eat innings and possibly be flipped prior to the trade deadline.  The club could have some money to spend after clearing most of their payroll during the rebuild and they also have plenty of trade chips, both in the farm system and with an abundance of second/third base and outfield candidates.

[Related: San Diego Padres Depth Chart and Payroll Outlook]

1. Add two starting pitchers—one who can be penciled into the top of the rotation.
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Richard has already been re-signed to an extension that runs through the 2019 season.  Dinelson Lamet and Luis Perdomo will come to camp with an edge over a long list of rotation candidates that will include Travis Wood, Matt Strahm, and several others who missed the 2017 season due to injury, including Robbie Erlin, Christian Friedrich and Colin Rea. Adding a few veterans to the mix should be a priority, with at least one that can be penciled into the front of the rotation.

Re-signing Chacin (pictured) would make a lot of sense, considering that he has been one of the better pitchers at home in 2017 (9-3, 1.79 ERA, 5.4 H/9). The 29-year-old might have priced himself out of San Diego, however, and could command a deal that is well above what the Padres are willing to offer at this point. Cahill, considering how well he pitched with the Padres when healthy, would presumably welcome a return to his hometown Padres.

While Petco Park is no longer considered an extreme pitcher-friendly ballpark, pitchers who are looking for an opportunity to rebuild their value are still likely to place San Diego high on their list of potential destinations.  Several hurlers have “figured things out” under Darren Balsley’s tutelage, which is why he’s been the team’s pitching coach for 15 seasons and counting. Clay Buchholz, Derek Holland, Ubaldo Jimenez and former Padres ace Tyson Ross could all be on the team’s radar as inexpensive bounce-back candidates.

2. Find a stop-gap shortstop who is better than Erick Aybar, Alexei Ramirez and Clint Barmes. 

Filling the shortstop void has been a recurring offseason priority for this team since they traded away Khalil Greene following the 2008 season. Everth Cabrera was an NL All-Star in 2013, but he was never able to lock down the job because of inconsistency, injuries and off-the-field troubles. Thus, the team has continued to kick the can down the road in hopes that someone would eventually come along and solidify the position, which simply hasn’t happened.  Short-term answers like Aybar, Ramirez and Barmes have not produced, and no prospects have emerged as the clear shortstop of the future…until now, which makes this offseason slightly different.

Whoever is written into the lineup card as the starting shortstop on Opening Day 2018 will be keeping the spot warm for highly-regarded 18-year-old prospect Fernando Tatis Jr., who some evaluators believe could reach the big leagues by 2019. Alcides Escobar, Danny Espinosa and J.J. Hardy, all coming off of bad offensive seasons, will likely be in the mix for one-year deals. The trade market for shortstops doesn’t appear to offer many options, but the Rays’ Adeiny Hechavarria, under contract through 2018, would be a possibility while the Rangers’ Jurickson Profar would fill the team’s need for at least the next two seasons—he does not appear to have accrued enough MLB service time in 2017 to reach four years—while Tatis continues to develop in the upper minors.  (Though Profar, himself not far removed from being the game’s top prospect, could be seen as a long-term asset at another position.)

Corrections: Hechavarria is under contract through 2018. The article had initially stated that was under contract through 2019. Profar appears to have fallen short of 4.000 years of MLB service time, which keeps him under club control through 2020 instead of 2019.

3. Acquire a late-inning reliever who can step in as the closer if Brad Hand is traded.

With Stammen headed for free agency and Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter dealt to Kansas City at midseason, the Padres will likely be shopping around for late-inning bullpen help. They also have to plan around a potential trade of Hand, who received a lot of interest at the deadline.

General manager A.J. Preller held on to Hand since, presumably, teams were unwilling to meet his high asking price, and Preller isn’t likely to lower that price this offseason.  If anything, Hand’s value increased after he posted a 2.22 ERA with 18 saves, six walks and 38 strikeouts in 28.1 IP after taking over as the closer in late July. With only two years of club control remaining, the 27-year-old lefty has more value with a playoff contender in 2018. In other words, there is still a high probability that Hand is traded this winter and the Padres will have a new closer heading into the season.

Kirby Yates and Phil Maton would be the top internal candidates to close if Hand is dealt. If San Diego was to add a third option with closing experience from the free agent market, Matt Belisle, Tyler Clippard, Bud Norris and Huston Street would fit the bill. Brandon Morrow, who pitched for the Padres in 2015 and 2016, would be an intriguing option to return. An impressive, injury-free season with the Dodgers, however, means that he’ll likely have plenty of interest around the league.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Hisashi Iwakuma Sidelined For Five Months After Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery

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Hisashi Iwakuma underwent arthroscopic right shoulder debridement surgery two days ago, as per an announcement from the Mariners.  The right-hander is expected to resume throwing in five months, putting him on pace to miss the first few weeks of Spring Training and likely to miss some time at the start of the season as he rebuilds his strength.

Iwakuma made just six starts for the M’s in 2017 before being sent to the disabled list with inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  What was expected to be an absence of four-to-six weeks ended up lasting the entire season, as Iwakuma suffered a setback that couldn’t be overcome despite cortisone and PRP injections.

It was already expected that Seattle wouldn’t exercise their $10MM club option on Iwakuma’s services for 2018, and the veteran righty will instead receive a $1MM buyout.  It isn’t out of the question that the Mariners re-sign Iwakuma to a smaller or even a minor league contract for next season in the aftermath of his surgery — they’re obviously more familiar with his health situation than other teams, who would naturally be wary of adding a pitcher who turns 37 in April and will probably need significant time to ramp up for action in 2018.

Never a hard-thrower or a big strikeout pitcher, Iwakuma has relied on a recipe of grounders, soft contact and a lack of walks over his six MLB seasons, all with the Mariners.  He was seemingly on the verge of signing a three-year, $45MM deal to join the Dodgers in the 2015-16 offseason before L.A. pulled out of that agreement due to a still-unknown concern with Iwakuma’s medicals.  Iwakuma returned to Seattle on a one-year contract that contained a pair of vesting option years, the first of which Iwakuma caused to vest for 2017 by easily surpassing the 162-inning threshold (he tossed 199 frames in 2016) and finishing the year injury-free.

Starting pitching is a clear need for the Mariners this offseason in the wake of all their rotation injuries this year.  James Paxton, Felix Hernandez and Mike Leake have three spots spoken for and the M’s have several young arms who could battle for at least one of the other rotation jobs, though adding a reliable veteran would greatly help stabilize the Mariners’ staff.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/29/17

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Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Dodgers have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Tim Locastro, as per a team announcement.  Outfielder O’Koyea Dickson was placed on the 60-day DL due to a shoulder injury to create space on the 40-man roster.  Manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the Dodgers are evaluating Locastro as a possible pinch-running specialist for the postseason, to the point that Locastro won’t receive any at-bats during his call-up.  Locastro, a 13th-round pick for the Blue Jays in the 2013 draft, has a solid .293/.372/.402 slash line over his 2066 career minor league PA but has shown particular aptitude on the basepaths, stealing 143 bases out of 178 attempts.
  • The Blue Jays announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Taylor Cole for the final series of the season, with righty Aaron Sanchez shifting from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll give the team an additional bit of bullpen depth for the final three games, though he’s already been removed from the 40-man once this season, so he’ll again be a candidate come off once the regular season ends. The 27-year-old Cole missed much of the regular season due to injury in the minors but threw 12 2/3 innings of scoreless ball across three levels before being promoted for his big league debut in early August. Cole was rocked for four runs on six hits in one inning of work in his lone big league appearance. He suffered a broken toe in that appearance and landed on the MLB 10-day DL before being released and re-signed to a new minor league deal once his DL stint was up.

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