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Royals Place Jorge Soler On 10-Day DL, Promote Adalberto Mondesi, Select Wily Peralta’s Contract

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The Royals announced a flurry of roster moves (Twitter links) this morning, including outfielder Jorge Soler’s official placement on the 10-day DL with a left toe fracture.  Left-hander Eric Skoglund was transferred to the 60-day DL, while infielder Ramon Torres and right-hander Scott Barlow were optioned to Triple-A.  Joining the 25-man roster are infielder Adalberto Mondesi, outfielder Rosell Herrera, and righty Wily Peralta, as the Royals selected Peralta’s contract from Triple-A Omaha.

[Updated Royals depth chart at Roster Resource]

Soler is expected to miss at least six weeks of action with the injury, which was seemingly originally caused by a foul ball off his foot and then exacerbated when Soler was running on Friday night.  Soler’s production has cooled off following a huge opening six weeks, though he still had a .265/.354/.466 slash line and nine homers through 257 total plate appearances this season.  It seemed as though Soler was finally enjoying the breakout campaign long expected of him since his (not long ago) days as one of the game’s best prospects coming up in the Cubs farm system, though this DL stint is an unfortunate interruption to Soler’s season.

Speaking of top prospects, the most noteworthy of Kansas City’s corresponding moves is the promotion of Mondesi, who is back in the majors for the first time in 2018.  Mondesi was a consensus top-40 prospect prior to the 2016 season, with Baseball Prospectus rating him as high as 16th on their list of baseball’s top 100 minor leaguers, though he has shown next to nothing at the plate in two brief stints in the Show.  Mondesi has just a .181/.226/.271 slash line over 209 career PA in the majors, though he has shown more composure as a hitter at the Triple-A level.  With the usual caveat that the Pacific Coast League is very hitter-friendly, Mondesi has hit .292/.328/.527 with 19 homers over 551 Triple-A plate appearances.

Mondesi has already displayed excellent speed and strong defensive ability, so his prospect ceiling would only be further elevated if he can add value as a hitter.  He has mostly played shortstop in the minors with some time at second base, and with the Royals in rebuild mode, Mondesi could get an extended look at either position now that he’s back on the 25-man roster.  Whit Merrifield is certainly staying in the everyday lineup but can play other positions than second base, so Mondesi could displace Ryan Goins for regular time at the keystone, or potentially displace starting shortstop Alcides Escobar.  Manager Ned Yost told reporters (including The Athletic’s Rustin Dodd) that Mondesi will play four games a week for the time being, to keep Mondesi fresh after some injuries earlier in the season.

Peralta signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract (with a $3MM club option for 2019) last winter, though he has yet to appear in a big league game for the Royals after being outrighted off the 40-man roster at the end of Spring Training.  Peralta has a 4.37 ERA over 35 innings at Triple-A, posting a strong 10.0 K/9 but a troubling 5.4 BB/9.  The hard-throwing veteran is looking to rebound after a very rough 2017 season that led his being outrighted off Milwaukee’s roster last summer.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/17/18

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The latest minor league moves from around baseball…

  • The Cardinals signed left-hander Tommy Layne to a minor league deal, and Layne made his organizational debut last night with an inning of work for Double-A Springfield.  Layne posted a 7.62 ERA and 1.13 K/BB rate over 13 relief innings for the Yankees last season before being released, and he has since bounced around in the Dodgers and Red Sox farm systems on minors contracts.  Prior to his rough 2017 campaign, Layne had a solid 3.23 ERA and 8.4 K/9 (albeit against a 4.2 BB/9) over 136 2/3 career innings with the Padres, Red Sox, and Yankees, displaying some LOOGY tendencies thanks to some wide career splits.  Left-handed batters have managed just a .516 OPS against Layne in his big league career, while right-handed batters have a strong .840 OPS.

Indians Place Carlos Carrasco, Tyler Olson On 10-Day DL

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The Indians placed right-hander Carlos Carrasco and left-hander Tyler Olson on the 10-day disabled list today, as per a team press release.  Righties Shane Bieber and Evan Marshall have been recalled from Triple-A to fill the two spots on the 25-man roster, with Bieber starting today’s game against the Twins.

Carrasco is headed to the DL with what the team describes as a “right elbow contusion,” which would be a best-case scenario after Carrasco took a Joe Mauer line drive off his throwing elbow yesterday.  The 99.6mph liner forced Carrasco to leave the game, and he was scheduled to undergo x-rays this morning, though there aren’t yet any details on the results of those tests.

Cleveland has off-days this Thursday and on June 28, so it’s possible Carrasco could only miss one start if his injury isn’t serious and he spends the minimal amount of time on the DL.  The right-hander has been a big contributor to the Tribe’s rotation, posting a 4.24 ERA, 9.5 K/9, and 4.36 K/BB rate over 91 1/3 innings this season.  The ERA is a bit higher than Carrasco is used to over the last three seasons, though ERA predictors (3.40 FIP, 3.43 xFIP, 3.43 SIERA) have a more favorable view of his performance.

Olson, meanwhile, has suffered a left lat strain.  The southpaw famously didn’t allow a single run over 22 innings (20 in the regular season, two in the playoffs) for Cleveland last season, though his 2018 has been much rockier, with a 7.27 ERA over 17 1/3 frames.  Olson is still missing bats to the tune of an 11.9 K/9, however, and while his 4.15 BB/9 is problematic, he has also faced a lot of bad luck in posting that ungainly ERA.  Olson isn’t allowing a lot of hard contact (his .306 xwOBA is well below his .365 wOBA), and he has an unusually low strand rate (just 54.6%) and a very high .378 BABIP.

With Olson out, veteran Oliver Perez is the only left-hander in the Indians pen, as Andrew Miller is still sidelined with knee inflammation.  Miller has been tossing bullpens in recent days, however, and is expected to at least be starting a rehab assignment relatively soon.

Indians Designate Melky Cabrera For Assignment

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SUNDAY: The team expects to know by Monday whether or not Cabrera will accept an outright assignment, according to the Indians’ official Tribe Insider Twitter news feed.

THURSDAY: The Indians announced Thursday that they’ve activated outfielder Brandon Guyer from the disabled list and cleared a spot for him on the active roster by designating Melky Cabrera for assignment.

Signed to a minor league deal in late April, the 33-year-old Cabrera appeared in 17 games with Cleveland and tallied 66 plate appearances, though he managed just a .207/.243/.293 batting line in that small sample of work.

Cabrera, of course, was operating without the benefit of a full Spring Training during his short time with the Indians. While he did pick up 42 plate appearances in Triple-A before making his debut with the team, it’s perhaps not surprising that he exhibited a fair bit of rust at the plate. To his credit, Cabrera posted a 34.6 percent hard-hit rate, per Fangraphs, and punched out just 10 times in his 66 PAs (15.2 percent).

The switch-hitting Cabrera is only a year removed from providing roughly league-average offense at the big league level. In 666 plate appearances between the White Sox and Royals last season, Cabrera slashed .285/.324/.423 with 17 homers, 30 doubles and a pair of triples — good for a 99 OPS+ and a 98 wRC+.

While he’s long graded out as a sub-par defensive outfielder — never more so than in 2017 — he’s also been a steadily average or better producer at the plate throughout his late 20s and early 30s. From 2014-17, Cabrera racked up 2616 plate appearances between the Blue Jays, White Sox and Royals, hitting a combined .289/.333/.431 in that time (110 OPS+). So while things didn’t work out for the Melk Man in Cleveland, it’s certainly not out of the question that another team could look to pick him on a similarly low-cost investment with the hopes that he can provide some additional offense.

The Indians will have a week to trade Cabrera or run him through outright or release waivers, though a veteran player with his service time will have the option of refusing an outright assignment and again exploring free agency. He’s better-suited for an AL club who can plug him in at DH periodically, though Cabrera could also function as a bench bat and occasional outfielder in the NL.

Quick Hits: Brewers, Mariners, Ichiro, Mets, R. Hill, Rays

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Rival executives expect the Brewers to be aggressive in targeting starting pitching help this summer, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (video link). The Brewers’ rotation has been a middle-of-the-pack group to this point, as it entered Saturday 13th in the majors in ERA (3.92) and 19th in fWAR (3.8). Of course, the unit has been without its top starter from 2017, Jimmy Nelson, who’s working back from the right shoulder surgery he underwent last September and should return sometime this season. He and another starter acquired from elsewhere could help the Brewers hold on to a playoff spot, which they were unable to do a year ago during an 86-win campaign. Rosenthal also points to catcher and shortstop as positions the Brewers could upgrade, though he notes they’re “unlikely” to be in play for Manny Machado at the latter spot.

More from around baseball…

  • Although he shifted from the diamond to a front office role with the Mariners last month, Ichiro Suzuki intends to earn a roster spot with the team in 2019, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. Given that the future Hall of Famer has struggled in recent seasons (a productive 2016 with Miami notwithstanding) and will be 45 when next spring rolls around, accomplishing his goal seems like a long shot. But with the Mariners scheduled to open next season with a series against the A’s in Ichiro’s homeland of Japan, it’s worth a try.
  • Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is slated to resume his rehab on Monday, Tim Healey of Newsday tweets. Cespedes, out since mid-May with a hip strain, had been nearing a return until suffering a setback last weekend. It remains unclear when he’ll be healthy enough to rejoin the nosediving Mets, and the same goes for ace Noah Syndergaard. The righty is getting “better and better,” though, manager Mickey Callaway told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday (Twitter links). Syndergaard has been out for three weeks because of a finger injury. In better news for New York, closer Jeurys Familia will come off the DL on Sunday, DiComo relays. Familia will end up missing the minimum of 10 days after going on the shelf June 8 with right shoulder soreness.
  • Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill is set to come off the DL on Tuesday to start against the Cubs, per Kaelen Jones of MLB.com. Blister issues have bogged down Hill, who last took the mound in the majors May 19, when he exited a start after two pitches. The 38-year-old has combined for just 24 2/3 innings across six starts this season, and has managed a disappointing 6.20 ERA/6.33 FIP along the way.
  • The Rays activated shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from the disabled list on Saturday and sent infielder Christian Arroyo to the DL with a left oblique strain, Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports. Hechavarria had been out since May 17 with a right hamstring strain, while Arroyo may be in for a long absence of his own, as is often the case with oblique injuries. The 23-year-old Arroyo, whom the Rays acquired from the Giants over the winter in the teams’ Evan Longoria trade, hit .264/.339/.396 in 59 PAs before going on the DL.

Central Notes: Moustakas, Indians, Cardinals

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Although Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas is an obvious trade candidate, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears (video link) that he’s unlikely to bring back much in a deal at his current pace. As Rosenthal points out, Moustakas’ offensive output has faded as the season has progressed, and the lefty-swinger has struggled all year against same-handed pitchers, who have limited him to a .224/.253/.353 line. He’s also due around $3MM after the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. All of those factors figure to harm Moustakas’ value, Rosenthal posits. After hitting .272/.314/.521 with 38 home runs in 598 plate appearances last year, Moustakas failed to generate much interest in free agency, leading him to re-sign with the Royals for a $6.5MM guarantee in early March. Three months later, he’s slashing an unremarkable .259/.314/.474 with 13 HRs through 296 trips to the plate.

More from the league’s Central divisions…

  • The Indians are awaiting word on right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who departed his start Saturday after a 99.6 mph line drive off the bat of the Twins’ Joe Mauer struck him in the pitching elbow. Carrasco left after 1 1/3 innings with what the team called a forearm contusion, though manager Terry Francona said afterward (via Joe Noga of cleveland.com) that he’s undergoing tests on his elbow to rule out further damage. “When you look inside a pitcher’s elbow, there’s a lot going on,” Francona said. “Right now, they said it was a contusion. The hope is that’s all it is. We’ll know more by late tonight.” Saturday continued a somewhat down year for Carrasco, who allowed four earned runs to lift his ERA to 4.24 (compared to 3.29 last season), though his secondary numbers paint a far more hopeful picture.
  • Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong is on track to come off the disabled list in early July, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports. DeJong, out since suffering a fractured left hand May 17, has been cleared to resume hitting and is aiming to take batting practice during the upcoming week. Meanwhile, injured reliever Dominic Leone has “turned the corner from uncertainty to progressing in the right direction,” according to general manager Michael Girsch (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Leone now looks likely to return this year, which wasn’t the case before, Goold notes. A nerve issue in Leone’s right biceps has kept him on the shelf since May 5.
  • The Indians’ Triple-A affiliate in Columbus announced that it has placed center fielder Bradley Zimmer on the DL, retroactive to June 14, with right shoulder discomfort. The injury continues a Murphy’s Law 2018 for Zimmer, who was on the major league DL earlier this season with a rib contusion and then was demoted to Triple-A on June 5 after limping to a .226/.281/.330 line in 114 PAs. He also hasn’t posed a threat in the minors this year, albeit over a mere 28 PAs, with a .148/.179/.259 line and 11 strikeouts against one walk.

Cafardo’s Latest: Machado, Cubs, Astros, Britton, A’s, Treinen, Hanley, A-Gon

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If Orioles shortstop Manny Machado becomes a free agent in the offseason, “the Cubs would be high on his list because of his friendship with Albert Almora,” Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe hears. Machado and Almora, the Cubs’ center fielder, have been close friends since childhood – something David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune detailed back in 2016. The two may end up on the same team as early as this summer, given the high likelihood the Orioles will trade Machado and the speculation linking him to the Cubs. Although, team president Theo Epstein threw cold water on Machado-to-Chicago rumors last month.

More from Cafardo…

  • The Astros are maintaining interest in Orioles reliever Zach Britton, according to Cafardo. Houston agreed to acquire Britton prior to last year’s trade deadline, but the swap fell apart thanks to medical concerns the Orioles had regarding other players in the deal. The Astros went on to win a World Series without Britton, whose value took a hit over the winter when he suffered a ruptured Achilles. The impending free agent just came off the disabled list earlier this week and, with the Orioles well out of contention, is now auditioning for other teams as the July 31 non-waiver deadline nears. With a righty-heavy bullpen, the Astros may make sense for Britton, though southpaw Tony Sipp has enjoyed a bounce-back season and their relief corps has been elite versus left-handed hitters.
  • Athletics closer Blake Treinen is “likely to be available,” Cafardo writes in a separate piece. The A’s aren’t under pressure to move Treinen, who’s controllable via arbitration through 2020 and on a cheap salary ($2.15MM) this season. But both Treinen’s team control and his excellent pitching will make him a sought-after piece if Oakland does show a willingness to move him. The 29-year-old has been a premier reliever this season over a 32-inning span, during which he has logged a 1.13 ERA with 10.41 K/9, 2.81 BB/9 and a 49.4 percent groundball rate. Treinen has also converted 14 of 16 save opportunities.
  • Free-agent first basemen Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez aren’t drawing much interest at the moment, per Cafardo. Ramirez reached the open market when the Red Sox released him June 1, while the Mets parted with Gonzalez last Sunday. Despite their accomplished track records, neither player has been all that productive at the plate since 2017, nor have they brought much value in the field or on the bases. Further, they’re each on the wrong end of the aging curve (Ramirez is 34, Gonzalez 36). With all of that considered, it’s not surprising they’re having difficulty finding work.

AL East Notes: Yanks, Torres, Gardner, Rays, Ramos, O’s

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If the Yankees are going to acquire a front-line starting pitcher this summer, it’s not going to come at the expense of rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres. General manager Brian Cashman suggested to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com and other reporters Friday that the 21-year-old Torres is untouchable. Asked if he’d consider dealing Torres, Cashman quipped, “C’mon now. I have to walk around this city.” Cashman estimates that he has talked trades with around 20 teams since June 6, though it’s no surprise that he’s uninterested in sending Torres anywhere. Torres has made good on the considerable hype he had as a minor league prospect by opening his MLB career with a .290/.345/.568 line and 13 home runs in 178 plate appearances. As a result, Torres may be the American League Rookie of the Year front-runner.

  • Torres is part of the new guard with the Yankees, whose longest-tenured player, outfielder Brett Gardner, remains a quality major leaguer at the age of 34. Gardner, who debuted with the Yankees in 2008 and is controllable through 2019 on a $12.5MM club option (or a $2MM buyout), discussed his future with Kuty earlier this week. While Gardner revealed that he’s aiming to play “two or three more years,” preferably with the Yankees, he admitted he’d consider finishing his career elsewhere if they “don’t want me here anymore and I still wanted to play a couple more years.” Whether Gardner will remain a Yankee in 2019 is far from certain – they may still boast outfielders Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier without him next year, after all – but he has made a strong case to stick with the franchise. Through 269 PAs this season, Gardner has batted .258/.350/.384 with five homers and seven steals. His above-average offensive output and outstanding work in the field (14 Defensive Runs Saved, 5.9 Utimate Zone Rating) have already led to 2.0 fWAR thus far.
  • Like Gardner, Rays catcher Wilson Ramos could find himself in another uniform next season. However, the free agent-to-be informed Bill Ladson of MLB.com that he’d be content to continue in Tampa Bay, in part because it gave him a chance after he tore his left ACL and meniscus while with the Nationals in late 2016. “I’m very happy with this organization because they gave me the opportunity to have my career, especially after the knee surgery,” Ramos said. “A lot of teams were behind me before the knee surgery. After the surgery, everybody turned around and didn’t pay attention to me. But [the Rays] helped me to get better, helped me with my rehab. So I’m very excited with all the little things they have done for me. If I stay here, I’ll be happy.” The Rays guaranteed Ramos $12.5MM over two years on the heels of his injury, and while his production went backward in 2017, he has rebounded this season. The 30-year-old has slashed .282/.326/.437 with eight HRs in 227 PAs, also earning plus marks as a pitch framer. Ramos’ bounce-back efforts not only bode well for another potential trip to the open market, but they could make him an attractive trade chip in the next couple months.
  • A report Friday indicated the Orioles have interviewed former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti for a front office position, but O’s executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette shot that down Saturday. “My understanding is it’s not true,” Duquette told Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. “That’s all I can tell you.” If hired, Colletti would perhaps help replace Duquette, who’s in the last year of his contract and has reportedly lost power in the team’s front office. However, Duquette informed Connolly that he’d like to continue with the Orioles, who hired him back in 2011.

Jorge Soler Diagnosed With Fracture In Foot

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SATURDAY: The Royals don’t expect Soler to require surgery, though he’s still likely to miss at least six weeks, per Maria Torres of the Kansas City Star (Twitter links).

FRIDAY: Royals outfielder Jorge Soler has been diagnosed with a fracture of the first metatarsal of his left foot, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic is among those to report on Twitter. He evidently suffered the injury while running after putting a ball in play tonight, having previously fouled a ball off the same area recently.

The outlook on Soler isn’t clear just yet, of course, but this injury seems all but certain to cost him a decent bit of action. As Dodd notes, Jayson Werth missed nearly three months last year with a similar injury, though that’s not to say such an extended absence will be required in this case.

It’s unfortunate timing for the 26-year-old Soler, who was in the midst of a strong season after a brutal 2017 campaign. Through 254 plate appearances entering play today, he carried a .268/.358/.473 slash with nine home runs.

Needless to say, the Royals won’t be competitive this year, so it’s easy enough to weather the loss in that regard. And Soler wasn’t likely to feature as a trade candidate given his not-so-distant struggles and lengthy control rights.

Still, it’s rough news for a team that’s looking to build a new core and a player who finally seemed to be reestablishing himself. And there are financial implications as well. As we explained recently, Soler may have had cause to consider opting into arbitration at season’s end, but it now seems much more likely that he will stick with the guarantee provided in the contract he signed with the Cubs after he departed his home nation of Cuba.

Dodgers Sign Drew Hutchison

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The Dodgers have signed right-hander Drew Hutchison to a minor league deal, according to Alex Freedman, a broadcaster for their Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City. Hutchison is likely to debut for OKC on Sunday, Freedman adds.

Hutchison was previously with the Phillies, who inked him to a minors deal in the offseason. The 27-year-old did well enough in camp to earn a spot on the Phillies’ season-opening roster, but they ended up designating him for assignment in late May, and he then elected free agency. Hutchison came out of the bullpen during his Phillies tenure and pitched to a 4.64 ERA with 8.02 K/9, 5.48 BB/9 and a 50 percent groundball rate across 21 1/3 innings and 11 appearances.

While Hutchison served as a reliever in Philadelphia, he’s best known for his tenure as a starter with the Blue Jays from 2012-16. During that 76-appearance, 73-start span, Hutchison tossed 406 1/3 innings of 4.92 ERA ball and notched 8.28 K/9 against 2.84 BB/9. Toronto shipped Hutchison to Pittsburgh in an August 2016 trade, and he hasn’t been much of a factor in the majors since. Now a member of the Dodgers, he’ll once again try to work his way back via the minors.

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