The Phillies announced that outfielder Aaron Altherr and righty Mark Leiter Jr. have been optioned to Triple-A, with corresponding roster moves coming tomorrow. It was just a season ago that Altherr looked like a breakout member of the Phils’ outfield picture, as he hit .272/.340/.516 with 19 homers over 412 plate appearances, though he has been unable to come anywhere close to that production in 2018. Altherr has been a sub-replacement level (-0.7 fWAR) player through 248 PA this season, hitting just .171/.290/.305 and subsequently losing regular playing time. He’ll look to get back on track in the minors, while his absence could put Philadelphia in the mix for a backup outfielder in its trade discussions.
Here’s more from around baseball as we’re just over a week away from the trade deadline…
- Jonathan Schoop’s time with the Orioles may be coming to an end, if recent trade rumors are any indication. The second baseman tells The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (subscription required) that he hopes he can remain in Baltimore to become a building block for the O’s as they go through a rebuild. That said, the team also didn’t engage in any extension talks with Schoop last winter in the wake of his strong 2017 season. That move may have been prescient on the Orioles’ part, as Schoop suffered through a nightmarish first three months that saw him miss time with an oblique injury and post just a .587 OPS over 266 PA. Though he has hit better in July, the Orioles would still be selling low on Schoop, so they could retain him for the rest of the season to see if he can rebuild any value in the second half. Schoop has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before hitting free agency after the 2019 campaign.
- Ervin Santana will make his season debut on Wednesday when he takes the hill for a start in Toronto, Twins skipper Paul Molitor told reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger). Santana underwent surgery on the middle finger of his throwing hand back in early February, a procedure that was thought to require only a 10-to-12 week rehab stint. Unfortunately for the right-hander, he battled continued soreness in his finger as well as a rather troubling velocity drop during his recovery process, and is only now ready to return to action. Due to that extended absence, Bollinger writes that Santana’s $14MM club option for 2019 is ” not expected to be picked up” by the Twins, though I’d suspect that the team would at least consider retaining the veteran if he shows any of his old form over the final two-plus months of the season. Santana did post excellent numbers in 2016-17, delivering a 3.32 ERA, 2.77 K/BB rate, and 7.2 K/9 over 63 starts and 392 2/3 IP for Minnesota.
- The Indians’ acquisitions of Brad Hand and Adam Cimber from the Padres in this week’s blockbuster trade likely means that the Tribe will let Cody Allen and Andrew Miller leave after the season, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. Hand is signed to a reasonable contract through at least the 2020 season while Cimber is controlled through 2023, making them better value over Allen and Miller, considering what the two veteran relievers are likely to ask for in free agency this winter. Cleveland has stretched its payroll beyond its usual mid-market comfort zone in an attempt to win a World Series, and it always seemed unlikely that the Indians would continue to heavily invest in the bullpen by re-signing Miller and/or Allen when lower-cost options could be found elsewhere.
To kill a few birds with one stone
1. Letting Miller and Allen leave this offseason is really the best thing for the Tribe. When navigating with a window that’s been open for about three to four seasons already, you have to be ready for it to slam shut at any moment to prevent having to go into a full fledged rebuild. It would be a lot easier to retool without 2 way overpriced relievers on the books. Getting those two rather expensive players off the books will be great for them as it will allow them to turn their focus to the outfield where they will lose Lonnie, Brantley and Davis and be without Zimmer early on. Wouldnt be completely surprised if they were in the Harper derby. (Young enough to give an opt-out to, or flip if it goes south).
-Shame about Altherr, thought we had something there. He’ll be arbitration eligible and probably non-tendered this fall but could be a good buy low for someone else
– Twins fans- don’t forget about Pineda.
Comparing last season with this, I wonder which one is his Altherr ego.
Props for your screen name reference to “The Ultimate Computer”
Pineda is why they’ll sell off just about every pitcher not named berrios. Lynn will be gone, his second half number will give him some consideration, possibly Gibson (terrible w/l all because of the bats, he should have 11/12 w’s) odorizzi has been stellar, but more recently pretty lately not as effective.
Also I only note odorizzi because of his first half, and his play on the field. I think the backup hurt his play a little. He had to battle every game for months. Gibson did too, but he’s used to twins never scoring and him knowing you need a shutout to win. Last year was great,but we can only beat good teams and lose against the not making playoffs team. That makes for a losing season.
lol overpriced relievers.
Andrew Miller’s pitched just 14 innings this year and has had a 1.72ERA/1.83FIP/249ERA+ from 2014-2017.
He’s been worth 11.1bWAR in that time while averaging 2.8bWAR at $9M per season which is an absolute steal! He’s 34 next year but the strikeouts are still there and there’s a good chance he rebounds when he’s healthy but he’s not overpriced. Unless someone hands him $20M a year next season he’ll be worth every penny a team gives him.
I agree with you that Miller isn’t overpriced right now. He’s been worth every penny.
Unfortunately, knowing how lucrative the free agent market for relievers has been, with middle relievers getting anywhere from $5m-$9m, you can bet Millers going to get a huge contract over a few too many years.
At 35, with all of the injuries he’s dealt with this year, I wouldn’t be investing now, even with his solid statistics.
There is absolutely no way on Earth the Indians get in the Harper Derby, no way!
I agree that Allen will probably get too much money for the Indians to bring him back, but unless the price is completely unreasonable I’d still want them to bring Miller back.
There’s also no chance that they get involved with Harper. They’ll never spend the kind of money it would take to get him, and if they do I’d expect them to just give Lindor a massive extension instead.
I’d definitely rather have miller back than Allen. However, like you said I would only sign him to a reasonable contract and if that doesn’t work just sign multiple relievers to cheaper contracts.
Make the Q.O. to both, and continue to draft well
I agree with both of you. Make a QO to both and when they leave, take the picks and sign a few other guys that can help.
I want to make one thing perfectly clear.
Ervin Santana is a rental.
2018: $13.5MM salary,
2019: $14M club option becomes guaranteed with:
1) Passed physical after 2018
2) 400 IP in 2017-18
3) with 200 IP in 2018 (Not happening)
The dude is owed $13.5M, with a 2019 $14M club option. Hope he throws a no-hitter, and gets traded.
Xabial, this is exactly how I felt when Ervin Santana pitched with the Angels, when he’s hot and pitching scoreless outings trade him, Angels waited too long, in my opinion Santana is very overrated.
Saw Ervin a lot with the Angels. Yes, he blew hot-n-cold. He has matured quite a bit since then. Established himself as a legit top of the rotation starter with the Royals, Braves, and Twins.
If he’s even 85%, he starts playoff games for the Yankees.
If Ervin is even semi-healthy, the Yankees will pounce.
“with corresponding roster moves coming tomorrow.”
So, adding J.A. Happ?
The corresponding roster move for Philadelphia will be Eflin taken off the DL to make his start. As for the other? Hmm…
The Phillies will be taking Eflin off the DL to make his start on Monday.
I know the formula to find a player’s batting average or OPS, ERA, Slugging etc, can somebody please explain the formula for WAR ?
You need to specify.
Fangraphs WAR or baseball-reference WAR?
There are two different sites that calculate WAR. Each has their own formula for WAR
Like xabial says the precision calculation differs based on where you’re looking.
But it essentially boils down to a aggregate of the following (for hitters):
Hitting: Park adjusted hitting which applies proper weights to on base percentage and slugging (wRC+)
Baserunning: A combination of how many runs are added via basestealing (taking into account times caught stealing) and other baserunning factors such as “taking the extra base”
Defense: Different tools are used to gauge the value based on where you look, but they all reflect the amount of plays a player makes in certain zones vs the average player (not at all a technical explanation but it’s tough to sum up). After that, defense value is assigned based on what position the player plays (i.e., more value is given to SS vs 1B because it’s a tougher position to play).
All of these factors are weighed together and the algorithm spits out a value which shows how many wins a player adds relative to a replacement level player (i.e., a player essentially available to all teams).
Hope this helps at least a little!
Unless the Orioles plan on contending in the next 2-3 years, which is highly unlikely, they need to trade off ALL of their assets, including Schoop. The player to build around was Machado and they screwed that up by wasting their money on Davis.
Do it right and tear it all down, lose a few years and draft well. Make smart trades and set yourself up with a good young core and look to contend in 4-5 years. Of course, having said that, you need to figure out why you cannot develop pitching and address that issue quickly.
I’d be nice to see them create a solid up and coming team, with enough pieces to pull off trades and augment that with FA signings to get back to yearly contention. They need the right people in the right places and I sincerely hope that DD’s words are true and not just things he knows smart fans want to hear.
Gotta believe a healthy and effective Ervin Santana could bring back Dillion Tate. Right?