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Archives for May 2018

West Injury Notes: Dodgers, Lamb, Springer, Pence

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Barring setbacks, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner and infielder Logan Forsythe are slated to come off the disabled list Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters Saturday. They’re among a host of important Dodgers who have missed time this year during the reigning NL champs’ stunningly awful start (16-22), and Turner’s absence has been especially damaging. The superstar hasn’t played this season on account of the broken left wrist he suffered in late March. Forsythe, meanwhile, has been out since mid-April with right shoulder inflammation. He came out of the gates slowly before then, hitting just .174/.224/.283 in 49 plate appearances.

  • Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb will begin a rehab assignment at the Single-A level on Sunday, per an announcement from Arizona. Lamb has missed nearly the entire season to this point, having gone on the DL on April 3 with shoulder and elbow issues. The 24-15 Diamondbacks have still raced to the NL’s best record, though, in part because fill-in third baseman Daniel Descalso has slashed a terrific .263/.357/.516 with four home runs in 115 PAs.
  • Astros outfielder George Springer is dealing with a left elbow contusion, which kept him out of the lineup Saturday, but manager A.J. Hinch expects him to avoid a DL stint (via Christian Boutwell of MLB.com). Springer suffered the injury Friday when Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels hit him with a 92 mph fastball. The reigning World Series MVP has perhaps been the Astros’ best offensive player in the early going, having slashed .296/.363/.506 with eight homers in 182 PAs.
  • The Giants aren’t going to bring left fielder Hunter Pence off the DL during the upcoming week unless they’re convinced he’ll provide a boost to their offense, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes. The 35-year-old Pence was unable to help San Francisco before going on the DL three-plus weeks ago with a thumb issue, as he hit .172/.197/.190 and posted a minus-1 wRC+ across 61 trips to the plate. Now, thanks to his early season woes and manager Bruce Bochy’s desire to carry an extra pitcher, Pence’s return may be delayed.

Central Notes: Abreu, Twins, Cardinals, Tigers, Royals

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Even though the White Sox own the majors’ worst record (9-26), first baseman Jose Abreu tells Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he supports Chicago’s rebuilding effort and would like to remain with the team for the rest of his career. “Of course, there is not any doubt about it,” the 31-year-old said through an interpreter. “My mom and dad, they taught me to always be grateful, and I’m really grateful for this organization because of all the things they have done for me and the opportunities they gave me.” The White Sox are the only major league franchise Abreu has known since emigrating from Cuba in 2013 for a six-year, $68MM guarantee. Since then, not only has Abreu delivered positive on-field results for the Sox, but he has emerged as a key leader for the young team, according to vice president Ken Williams. “He’s like having an extra coach on hand,” said Williams. “I cannot overstate the quality person that he is. I hope he really hears and understands how we feel about him.” If the White Sox continue to elect against trading Abreu, they’ll soon have a decision to make on whether to extend him. Although Abreu only has one more year of arbitration eligibility left after the current season, Merkin suggests there haven’t been contract talks between him and the club.

More from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Twins right-hander Ervin Santana seems to be progressing toward his 2018 debut. Santana, out since undergoing finger surgery in February, is slated to make his first rehab start May 26, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. It’ll be a four-inning, 60-pitch appearance for Santana. Before that, he’ll throw live batting practice Monday and then make an extended spring training start May 21. Meanwhile, catcher Jason Castro will head to Colorado for a second opinion on his injured right knee, Berardino adds. Castro went on the disabled list last weekend with a torn meniscus.
  • The Cardinals have activated left-handed reliever Brett Cecil from the disabled list and placed fellow southpaw Tyler Lyons on the DL with a mild back strain, per Joe Trezza of MLB.com. Cecil only made one appearance this year, on Opening Day (March 29), before landing on the shelf with shoulder soreness. Cecil, who’s in the second season of the four-year, $30.5MM deal he signed with the Cards in November 2016, logged a 3.88 ERA with 8.82 K/9 against 2.14 BB/9 across 67 1/3 innings in 2017. Lyons was also an effective piece of the Redbirds’ bullpen last year, though he began this season with an ugly ERA (6.17) in 11 2/3 frames prior to his DL placement.
  • Veteran reliever Louis Coleman is back in the majors after the Tigers selected his contract Saturday, though he may not be in this position if not for his college coach, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com relays. A “frustrated” Coleman was unable to find a job in the offseason until he spoke with Paul Mainieri, whom he played under at LSU, a couple weeks before spring training began. Mainieri then called his friend, Tigers general manager Al Avila, who signed Coleman to a minors pact Feb. 23. “I guess they had an opening (in spring training), I don’t know. But if it wasn’t for coach and Al, I don’t know if we’d be standing here,” said the 32-year-old Coleman, who recorded a 2.40 ERA in 15 Triple-A innings before his promotion.
  • Royals minor league outfielder Bubba Starling could miss upward of a month with an oblique strain, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic tweets. As Dodd notes, oblique strains have been a consistent problem for Starling, a former top prospect who still hasn’t gotten to the majors since the Royals chose him fifth overall in the 2011 draft. The 25-year-old struggled to produce at Triple-A this season before his injury, evidenced by a .257/.350/.314 line and no home runs in 41 plate appearances, though he did draw five walks against just six strikeouts.

Dodgers Select Contract Of Pat Venditte

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The Dodgers have selected the contract of ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte from Triple-A Oklahoma City, per a team announcement. They sent right-hander Brock Stewart to OKC in a corresponding move.

Venditte earned his promotion with a stellar start this year in the minors, where he has pitched to a 1.53 ERA with 9.68 K/9, 3.06 BB/9 and a 50 percent groundball rate over 17 2/3 innings. The 32-year-old is now set for his first major league action since 2016, when he combined for 22 frames of 5.73 ERA ball between Seattle and Toronto. Venditte, who previously debuted with Oakland in 2015, has logged 50 2/3 innings in the majors and recorded a 4.97 ERA with 7.46 K/9, 4.09 BB/9 and a 36.2 percent grounder mark.

While Venditte clearly hasn’t posted great stats in the majors, the fact that he’s able to pitch from both sides makes him a standout. It’s worth noting that Venditte has been far more successful as a southpaw than as a right-hander, having held lefty-swingers to a .179/.242/.366 line and given up a .277/.380/.523 slash to righties.

Padres Designate Chase Headley

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The Padres have designated third baseman Chase Headley for assignment, according to a team announcement. San Diego recalled infielder Cory Spangenberg from Triple-A to take Headley’s 25-man roster spot.

With a .115/.233/.135 line in 60 plate appearances, Headley got off to a terrible start prior to his designation. Between his own struggles and the success of fellow third baseman Christian Villanueva, the 34-year-old Headley was unable to return to a regular role in San Diego – which he held with both the Padres and Yankees from 2008-17. Headley was a quality starter throughout that run, especially during a 31-home run, 7.2-fWAR season with the Padres in 2012.

The switch-hitting Headley chipped in a decent season last year in New York, where he slashed .273/.352/.406 with 1.9 fWAR in 586 PAs and helped the Yankees to the ALCS. But the Yankees then shipped Headley to the Padres in a salary-dumping trade over the winter, when the Pads dealt outfielder Jabari Blash, agreed to take on Headley’s $13MM salary and acquired right-hander Bryan Mitchell.

The hope was that Headley would continue to serve as a capable veteran in his second go-round with the Padres, but the deal was more about Mitchell from the rebuilding team’s point of view. Unfortunately for the Padres, however, the 27-year-old Mitchell hasn’t been a worthwhile pickup to this point. Mitchell has been among the worst pitchers in the majors during the first month-plus of the season, in fact, having recorded 37 2/3 innings (eight appearances, seven starts) of 6.21 ERA/6.66 FIP ball and posted disastrous strikeout and walk rates (4.3 K/9, 6.93 BB/9).

A turnaround could perhaps still be in the offing for Mitchell, but it doesn’t appear one will come for Headley in a Padres uniform. Unless the Padres are able to deal him elsewhere for another team’s unwanted salary within the next week, it seems likely Headley will clear waivers and become a free agent. At that point, a club would be able to add a potentially helpful piece for the prorated league minimum.

White Sox Sign Johnny Giavotella

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The White Sox have signed free-agent second baseman Johnny Giavotella, according to an announcement from Birmingham, their Double-A affiliate. Giavotella will begin his White Sox tenure in Birmingham.

The 30-year-old Giavotella had been available since the Marlins released him May 3, which came after he batted .214/.389/.250 in 36 plate appearances with their Triple-A team. He also spent nearly all of last season at Triple-A (with the Orioles’ affiliate), where he hit a solid .306/.368/.441 in 379 PAs.

While Giavotella hasn’t been a factor in the majors lately, he did see extensive action at times with the Royals and Angels from 2011-16. In all, the righty-swinger has taken 1,344 trips to the plate at the game’s highest level and hit .255/.294/.359.

With his new organization, Giavotella will begin as minors depth for a club missing its star second baseman, Yoan Moncada, who landed on the disabled list last weekend on account of hamstring tightness. The White Sox have since turned to Jose Rondon, Leury Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez at the keystone.

Nationals Select Mark Reynolds, Ryan Zimmerman Headed For DL

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3:00pm: The Reynolds and Zimmerman moves are official, and the Nationals have also moved reliever Joaquin Benoit to the 60-day DL. The right-handed Benoit, whom the Nats signed to a one-year, $1MM deal in free agency, hasn’t pitched yet this season on account of a forearm strain.

12:39pm: Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that Mark Reynolds has been spotted in the Nationals’ clubhouse, implying that the club has selected his contract and is likely to move Ryan Zimmerman to the disabled list. Indeed, Dan Kolko of MASN tweets that Reynolds is on the lineup card for today’s game while Zimmerman’s name is absent. Washington signed Reynolds to a minors deal early in April.

Despite a reasonably good .267/.352/.487 batting line with 30 homers last season, the 34-year-old Reynolds wasn’t able to attract a suitor for a major league deal this past offseason. More mysterious is the fact that Reynolds ended up signing a minors deal with the Nationals of all teams, as they already had Matt Adams and Zimmerman and haven’t got the benefit of a DH slot in the lineup.

It appears that he’ll get a big-league opportunity for now, though it’s not clear for how long. Zimmerman reportedly suffered a back injury during Wednesday’s game, and since the move is retroactive to Thursday he’ll be able to return as soon as May 20th. That would likely leave Reynolds the odd man out, considering Adams’ torrid pace.

The 33-year-old Zimmerman enjoyed a strong bounce-back season last year, posting 3.3 fWAR while crushing 36 homers in 576 plate appearances to go along with a whopping 136 wRC+. But he’s followed that up with an uninspiring .217/.280/.409 batting line to date and will now need to rest up a bit before he gets a chance to turn those numbers around.

Brewers Select Alec Asher, Wade Miley To 60-Day DL

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The Brewers have selected the contract of 26-year-old right-hander Alec Asher from Triple-A Colorado Springs. They’ve optioned right-hander Jacob Barnes to Triple-A while transferring lefty Wade Miley to the 60-Day DL to make room for Asher on the 25- and 40-man rosters, respectively.

Asher will be making both his 2018 debut and his Brewers debut if and when he pitches for the club. While he sports a very low career K/9 (5.86) across 116 2/3 career innings, he’s also somewhat stingy with walks (2.85 BB/9). Asher’s also pitched in the majors for the Phillies and Orioles, and has spent time in the farm systems of the Dodgers and Rangers.

The news of Miley going to the 60-day DL isn’t earth-shattering. Reports yesterday surfaced saying that the lefty’s updated timetable to return from an oblique strain involved a late-June target, despite an earlier rough estimate that he’d only be out four to six weeks. Miley opened the season rehabbing a groin injury, so he’s already taking his second trip to the DL since signing a minors deal with the Brew Crew in the offseason.

Quick Hits: Undrafted Free Agents, Urshela, Aledmys

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J.J. Cooper of Baseball America recently answered a question from a Twitter fan about undrafted free agents in MLB. It turns out that there were eight undrafted free agents on MLB rosters at the start of the year, and all eight of them were right-handed pitchers. Unlike football, where there are plenty of UDFA success stories, it’s exceedingly rare for a UDFA to produce significantly at the MLB level. Some outliers include Matt Shoemaker, Miguel Gonzalez, Darren O’Day and Kirby Yates. Of the UDFA’s currently in the majors on opening day, Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez (23 years old) and Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge (28) are the only players below the age of 30. There are a few more fun facts in Cooper’s piece, making it well worth a full read.

Other items of note as the Tigers and Mariners prepare for a remarkably cold double-header…

  • The Blue Jays announced earlier today that they’ve activated infielder Gio Urshela and optioned outfielder Dalton Pompey to Triple-A Buffalo. Urshela, 26, was recently acquired for cash (or a player to be named later) after the Indians designated him for assignment earlier this month; he’d been on the DL since the start of the season. While acclaimed as somewhat of a defensive wizard, Urshela carries an anemic bat and has posted a wRC+ of just 57 throughout the course of his major-league career.
  • In other Blue Jays news, shortstop Aledmys Diaz has begun throwing, says Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. He’s expected to begin hitting later this week. Diaz left last Sunday’s game after spraining his ankle, but it doesn’t appear as though the injury will keep him sidelined for much longer than the ten-day minimum at this point. Diaz was acquired from the Cardinals this offseason in exchange for outfielder J.B. Woodman; the shortstop has hit .216/.273/.431 so far with his new club.

Injury Notes: Naquin, Graveman, Buchter, Hendriks, Vielma, Alvarez,

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The Indians have placed outfielder Tyler Naquin on the DL with a left hamstring strain, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com writes. Naquin limped into second during yesterday’s game while running out a double, and stayed in the game through the remainder of the inning. He was taken out subsequently, though, and sent to get an MRI. There’s no word yet on the severity of Naquin’s injury, nor how long he’ll be out. It’s surely a disappointing development for the Indians; Naquin’s hitting .333/.367/.453 on the year, albeit with an unsustainable .442 BABIP. In a related move, the Indians activated reliever Tyler Olson from the paternity list for today’s game.

Other injury notes from around the league…

  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle provided some injury updates on Athletics players with a pair of tweets today. Right-hander Kendall Graveman is “limping around” after taking a liner off his shin last night. While the situation is reportedly better than expected, the A’s aren’t yet certain whether they’ll need to push back Graveman’s next side session. Meanwhile, Ryan Buchter (shoulder strain) will begin a throwing program next week, and Liam Hendriks (groin strain) is scheduled to throw off a mound today.
  • In Orioles injury news, infielder Engelb Vielma is set to have surgery on his knee (according to Rich Dubroff of PressBoxonline.com). He sustained the injury after tripping over a mound while running down a fly ball in foul ground during a minors game, and while it’s not thought to be season-ending, some in the Orioles organization have loudly voiced their frustrations about the circumstances surrounding the injury. Meanwhile, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun tweets that Pedro Alvarez’ hamstring tightness will hold him out of today’s lineup, though there’s still hope that he could be called upon to hit if needed.

Tigers Select Louis Coleman, Designate Chad Bell

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The Tigers announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Louis Coleman from Triple-A Toledo, while simultaneously designating left-hander Chad Bell for assignment. The club has also recalled left-hander Ryan Carpenter to serve as the 26th man for the second game of today’s double-header.

Coleman’s certainly done enough to earn his recent promotion. The Tigers signed him to a minor-league deal late this offseason, and he’s rewarded them with 15 innings of 2.40 ERA ball at the club’s Triple-A affiliate, striking out 15 and walking five.

It’s actually somewhat curious that it took so long for Coleman to make it back to the majors. Back in 2016, the righty struggled somewhat out of the Dodgers’ pen (4.69 ERA, 4.50 BB/9). But between the Triple-A affiliates of the Reds and Diamondbacks last season, he pitched to a 2.25 ERA with an impressive 10.83 K/9, albeit still with a bloated walk rate. That he’s managed to walk only three batters per nine so far this season is encouraging, particularly for a club in rebuild mode that’s no doubt hoping to find a few diamonds in the rough.

Conversely, it’s not hard to imagine why the Tigers would be willing to part ways with the 29-year-old Bell. The lefty’s ERA and K/9 are equal on the season (8.59). Still, his FIP (3.84) gives hope that he might be able to turn things around with another club, particularly since that unsightly ERA comes in such a small sample size (7 1/3 IP). Bell’s 44.4% ground ball rate and 2.45 BB/9 are also reasons for optimism, though surely inquiring ballclubs won’t be placing too much weight on any of the above stats in a sample size under ten innings.

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