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Archives for August 2018

NL Notes: Panik, Shildt, Holliday

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The latest from the National League…

  • With Giants second baseman Joe Panik losing his grip on an everyday role, he may be in his last season with the club, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle observes. Panik will earn approximately $5MM in arbitration next year (his penultimate season of team control), estimates Schulman, who writes that the team could either trade or non-tender him over the winter. A Giant since they selected him 29th overall in 2011, Panik isn’t worried about his future, but he may need a strong finish this year to continue with the club. “I do understand the business side of it,” Panik said. “At the same time, “I haven’t even thought that far, and you really can’t, honestly. If you’re thinking that far ahead, you’re not going to be able to take care of business today.” Although Panik has been a solid major leaguer since debuting in 2014, the 27-year-old has hit an unappealing .242/.303/.347 (78 wRC+) in 262 plate appearances this season.
  • It’s unknown whether Cardinals interim manager Mike Shildt will return as the team’s full-time skipper in 2019, but he has earned a fan in chairman Bill Dewitt Jr. since taking over the fired Mike Matheny on July 14. “He’s done everything that we could possibly ask for,” DeWitt said (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). “I think he communicates with his staff, communicates well with players, has a good baseball-mind. Strategically — hard to criticize what he’s done. He’s a very good manager. Has been coming up through the ranks. Just a very solid baseball man.” It’s difficult to quantify the performance of a manager, but it’s nonetheless worth noting that the Shildt-led Cardinals have rallied to post a 21-10 mark and now find themselves in possession of the NL’s second wild-card spot.
  • Rockies veteran first baseman/outfielder Matt Holliday, 38, is making a case for a promotion to the majors, Thomas Harding of MLB.com writes. Holliday, who sat on the unemployment line until Colorado signed him to a minor league deal on July 28, has slashed a tremendous .370/.473/.652 in 55 PAs with its top minors affiliate in Albuquerque. Rockies manager Bud Black has taken notice, saying: “He’s checking off some boxes. The thing that we’re happy about is the physical side. Mentally, Matt’s been a longtime player. You get back up to speed real quick. That didn’t take long, I’m sure. But the confidence that when he faces all sorts of pitching — there’s a difference between big league pitching and minor league pitching, but he’s been able to face a lot of different styles of pitching in Triple-A — will continue to get him closer to coming to us.” If the Rockies were to promote Holliday, he’d be in line for his second stint as a member of the club, with which he began his career and thrived from 2004-08.

Injury Updates: Altuve, Nationals, Red Sox, Brewers

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Here’s the latest key injury news from around Major League Baseball:

  • Astros second baseman and reigning American League MVP Jose Altuve will play a rehab game at the Triple-A level on Sunday, and it’s possible he’ll be back in the majors Monday, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Right knee soreness has kept Altuve out of action since July 25, and the Astros have gone just 7-12 without him and fallen out of sole possession of first place in the AL West. They lost to the Athletics on Saturday, putting the two teams in a first-place tie atop the division.
  • There is a chance that starter Stephen Strasburg and reliever Kelvin Herrera will rejoin the Nationals during their next series against the division-rival Phillies, which begins Aug. 21, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com writes. Strasburg has been out since July 20 with a pinched nerve in his neck, while Herrera hasn’t pitched since Aug. 7 because of a right rotator cuff impingement. Starter Jeremy Hellickson and reliever Ryan Madson have joined those two on the DL this week, making it all the more important for the disappointing Nats to get back both Strasburg and Herrera as they try to make up a seven-game deficit in the National League East.
  • Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright, out since June 26 with left knee inflammation, is closing in on a rehab assignment, manager Alex Cora told Christopher Smith of MassLive.com and other reporters. Wright will work out of Boston’s bullpen when he does return, Cora added. The 33-year-old Wright has served as a reliever in six of 10 appearances this season and registered a 3.38 ERA/4.49 FIP with 6.98 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and a 53.2 percent groundball rate in 40 innings.
  • While Brewers GM David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell indicated Wednesday that Jimmy Nelson probably won’t pitch this year, the righty said Saturday that he still hopes to return in 2018 (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). “I’m still doing everything in my power,” said Nelson, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since Sept. 8, 2017, because of shoulder problems. Nelson’s absence has robbed the Brewers of someone who was seemingly turning into a front-line starter before he went down, but they’ve still managed a 68-56 record and a half-game lead on a wild-card spot without him this season.

Manager Notes: Baker, Mattingly, Showalter

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In a lengthy interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Dusty Baker lends some of his thoughts on managing, the state of the game, labor relations, racism and a number of other topics. Some of the highlights are his explanation as to what he meant by “Dusty don’t like walks”, his thoughts on the racist Trea Turner tweets, and most notably, and his relative disinterest in returning to a management position at any point down the line. Baker feels as though the fans and Chicago ownership turned on him at the end of his tenure there, and he also felt as though he couldn’t make the fans in Cincinnati happy, claiming that even when he won, his “mode of thinking” was criticized. The interview lends some great insight into Baker’s career and his personality.

A pair of other management-related notes…

  • In a scathing critique of his players, manager Don Mattingly called the Marlins’ latest loss “unacceptable” while accusing his team of “playing scared.” Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has the full details on Mattingly’s outburst, which seems extreme on the surface but is understandable considering the sloppy play of his players during last night’s 8-2 loss to the Nationals. Spencer lists Jarlin Garcia’s errant pickoff throw, Magneuris Sierra’s lazy chase-down of a Bryce Harper single that he allowed to become a double, and a pathetic offensive showing against Max Scherzer. “You just can’t play like that here. When you’re playing non-aggressive and always being on your heels, it’s just not a way to play. And it’s one of the things we won’t keep watching.”
  • While the GM-manager tandem of Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter has been a reasonably successful staple of the Orioles franchise for a number of years, Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports believes it unlikely that ownership will keep both for the 2019 season. Heyman further speculates that Duquette is the likelier of the two to stick around beyond this year, citing the sheer number of dollars Duquette saved the club with this season’s deadline trades (and the fifteen players acquired). That means Heyman sees the end of the Buck Showalter era as a likelihood this coming winter.

Tigers Acquire Nolan Blackwood From Athletics

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4:24pm: Detroit hasn’t decided yet whether it’ll take the other PTBNL or cash to complete the trade, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

3:48pm: The Tigers have acquired right-hander Nolan Blackwood from the Athletics, per an announcement from Detroit. Blackwood’s one of the two players to be named later in the teams’ Mike Fiers trade from earlier this month.

The 23-year-old Blackwood had been with the A’s since they used a 14th-round pick on him in 2016. He ended up ascending to the Double-A level this year with Oakland, pitching to a 4.08 ERA/3.51 FIP with 8.15 K/9, 2.72 BB/9 and an excellent 62.5 percent groundball rate in 53 innings (39 appearances). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked Blackwood as the A’s 30th-best prospect prior to his departure from the organization, noting that the 6-foot-5 sidearmer has quality stuff, including a 91 to 93 mph fastball with “heavy sink,” and “tremendous deception.”

Fiers, meanwhile, has been terrific for the A’s thus far, having thrown 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball with 13 strikeouts against zero walks in two starts since the surging AL West title contenders added him on Aug. 6. But with the Tigers in a rebuild and well out of contention, it didn’t make sense for them to keep the 33-year-old Fiers through the season. Now, at Fiers’ expense, Detroit has picked up at least one promising prospect in Blackwood. He’ll join a Tigers farm system that Baseball America ranks as the majors’ 14th-best group (subscription required).

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/18/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Royals have selected right-hander Jake Newberry’s contract from Triple-A Omaha and optioned fellow righty Jason Adam, per a team announcement. Meanwhile, righty Blaine Boyer is now a free agent after clearing waivers, Maria Torres of the Kansas City Star tweets. The 23-year-old Newberry is in line to make his major league debut long after joining the Royals as a 37th-round pick in 2012. Newberry has dominated at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season, with a combined 1.63 ERA and 9.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 49 2/3 innings. Boyer, whom KC released Wednesday, has logged a godawful 12.05 ERA with 3.7 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 in 21 2/3 major league frames this year.
  • The Angels announced that righty Akeel Morris has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 25-year-old Morris, whom the Angels designated for assignment on Wednesday, has struggled at both the Triple-A and major league levels in 2018. He owns an ERA near 6.00 in a combined 53 2/3 innings between Salt Lake and Anaheim, with the majority of his work (39 2/3 frames) coming with the former.
  • The Braves have outrighted righty Chase Whitley to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets. Whitley, 29, has thrown just one inning this year with the Braves. The former Yankee and Ray has recorded a 4.56 ERA/4.01 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.31 BB/9 in 167 2/3 major league innings.

Red Sox Place Chris Sale On DL

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The Red Sox announced that they’ve placed left-handed ace Chris Sale on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 15, with mild inflammation in his pitching shoulder. The club recalled righty Brandon Workman from Triple-A Pawtucket in a corresponding move.

Sale previously went to the DL on July 31 (retroactive to the 28th) with the same injury, which perhaps makes this an alarming development for Boston. However, given that the Red Sox own the American League’s best record by a comfortable 10 1/2 games, this may be a precautionary move on their part as the playoffs draw closer. The last time he hit the DL, Sale missed a limited amount of time, returning Aug. 12 to run roughshod over the toothless Orioles in a five-inning, one-hit, 12-strikeout performance.

With his latest outing factored in, Sale has pitched to a stunning 1.97 ERA/1.96 FIP with 13.5 K/9 against 2.03 BB/9 in 146 innings this season. Even though 13 other AL starters have racked up more innings than Sale, he paces the league in fWAR (6.0). The seven-time All-Star, 29, may be on his way to his first Cy Young Award, then, though an extended stay on the shelf could derail that effort.

Orioles Claim John Andreoli

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The Orioles claimed outfielder John Andreoli off waivers from the Mariners, the club has announced. Andreoli had been designated for assignment yesterday. Baltimore has sent him to Triple-A Norfolk.

Andreoli is quite an interesting player. The 28-year-old enjoyed a solid season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, hitting .287 with a .397 on-base percentage across 388 plate appearances. The disclaimer is that an unsustainable .381 BABIP is largely to thank for that, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see those figures drop by 50 points apiece if he regresses to the mean. In addition, the former 17th-rounder has exhibited very little power; he sports an ISO of just .114. He made his major league debut this season, notching a hit and a walk in six plate appearances prior to being designated for assignment yesterday.

Andreoli is capable of playing all three outfield positions, meaning he stands a chance of working his way into Baltimore’s outfield mix next season should be perform well in September. The Orioles will lose long-time franchise icon Adam Jones to free agency this winter, and as such there’ll be a large opening in the outfield for which Andreoli could throw his hat into the ring.

Nationals Place Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy On Revocable Trade Waivers

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Per a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Nationals have placed a number of players on revocable trade waivers, including outfielder Bryce Harper and second baseman Daniel Murphy.

Of course, the mere fact that both players were placed on waivers doesn’t mean anything in and of itself. As Rosenthal himself notes, virtually every player in MLB will be placed on trade waivers at some point in August, so there’s no way to gauge the Nats’ intentions with Harper and Murphy at this time. There’s little reason not to put these players through trade waivers, actually, since there’s no risk involved on the move. If they clear, the Nationals have the ability to trade either one at any point between now and August 31st. If one is claimed, the club can either choose to work out a deal with the claiming team or simply pull the player back off waivers.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

But while the move itself doesn’t bear much in the way of consequences, the responses hereafter will certainly merit close attention, particularly in regards to Harper. Though much was made of the 25-year-old’s somewhat forgettable start to the season, he’s put the campaigns first four months firmly in the rearview mirror by batting a titanic .400/.474/.750 with five home runs so far in the month of August. As Rosenthal notes, Harper’s owed about $5MM more over the remainder of 2018, and if he’s able to continue at anything close to his current pace, he’d certainly be a tremendous asset to any contending club.

The easiest scenario to imagine involving Harper is that he’ll be claimed by a contending National League team, the two sides won’t be able to work out a deal, and the Nats will ultimately revoke the claim, keeping Harper in Washington for the remainder of the season. Trading him, after all, would firmly indicate that the organization is punting the 2018 season, and such a signal to the fans would be a public relations disaster. That disaster would be made even worse should the club experience a sudden hot streak and vault themselves within reach of a playoff spot, only to be without their best hitter.

The timing of the deal, however, has some interesting implications. At this time yesterday the club was only one game removed from a four-game losing streak, when they’d sat a full nine games back of the division-leading Braves. While they’ve won their last two games since then to put a dent in that lead, they’re still seven games behind the Braves, not to mention 6 1/2 back of the Phillies. Their Wild Card outlook isn’t any better; they’re five games back of Milwaukee for the second spot with the Cardinals, Rockies and Dodgers all ahead of them. It’s not at all outlandish to think that now might be the right time for the Nats to try and get whatever they can in return for Harper while saving $5MM in a lost season.

Murphy is the likelier of the two to clear waivers, though he’s no sure bet himself. He’s owed $4MM across the remainder of the season, but has experienced somewhat of a resurgence lately himself. The 33-year-old free agent to be has been crushing baseballs since the All-Star break, posting a .354/.386/.563 batting line with five homers and a strikeout rate in the single digits. There are plenty of contenders who might benefit from adding him to their infield, even if he hasn’t exactly impressed defensively.

Giants Activate Hunter Strickland

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SATURDAY: The club has announced the move, and transferred Pablo Sandoval to the 60-day DL to accomodate.

FRIDAY: The Giants are set to activate Hunter Strickland from the disabled list tomorrow, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). His activation will serve as the corresponding move for placing rookie right-hander Dereck Rodriguez on the 10-day disabled list yesterday. Curiously, the Giants won’t make an additional move today and will instead play a man short in Friday’s contest against the Reds.

[Related: San Francisco Giants depth chart]

Strickland has been out since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured right hand back in mid-June. It was an embarrassing injury for the right-hander, who sustained the fracture when he punched a door out of frustration following a blown save. He’s on the 60-day disabled list, so the Giants will have to make a corresponding 40-man move in order to activate him.

Left-hander Will Smith has been serving as San Francisco’s closer in Strickland’s absence, and it’s not yet clear how manager Bruce Bochy will elect to manage his bullpen roles once Strickland is activated. Smith has pitched exceptionally well this year, working to a superlative 2.01 ERA with 12.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9 and a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate. Smith is also running up a career-best 16 percent swinging-strike rate and a 40.4 percent chase rate that checks in as the third-best mark among qualified relievers in 2018.

Strickland was enjoying a strong season himself prior to the injury. In 31 2/3 frames this year, he’s posted a 2.84 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 0.57 HR/9 and a 39.6 percent ground-ball rate. Those numbers are obviously a fair sight shy of Smith’s dominance, but deploying Strickland in the ninth inning could allow Bochy to utilize Smith in higher-leverage spots earlier in the game — particularly against tough left-handed bats. While Smith has dominated righties and lefties alike, he’s been utterly overpowering against same-handed battters. Through 57 plate appearances, lefties are hitting a comically feeble .161/.175/.196 against him.

Pitcher Notes: Stroman, Syndergaard, Ray, Cobb

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Somewhat overlooked in last night’s rain-shortened 7-5 loss to the Yankees was the fact that Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman experienced a resurfacing of his blister issues. Though Stroman himself didn’t speak to reporters after the game, manager John Gibbons told reporters that Stroman’s blister tore in the seventh inning of a recent dominant start against the Red Sox (h/t Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca). Gibbons also admitted that the club is considering a DL stint in order to get Stroman right again after he took 88 pitches to get through four innings last night (while giving up five earned runs).

More notes on a few pitchers around the league…

  • Packed deep in a piece by Laura Albanese of Newsday are a few notable quotes by Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard that shed some (admittedly vague) light on his struggles and seeming fall from “ace” status. Not only is Thor upset about his inability to hold baserunners (the Phillies swiped five bags off him and batterymate Kevin Plawecki last night), but he also hinted at some wider mechanical issues he’s trying to work through. “It’s something I battle every day when I go out there,” said Syndergaard. “I’m just trying to correct a lot of things that I’ve been doing wrong for a long time.”
  • Elsewhere in the National League, Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray still hasn’t been able to get back on track, as Nick Piecoro details in a piece for the Arizona Republic. After a breakout 2017 campaign, Ray’s been unable to deliver any semblance of a repeat performance this season after starting the year with diminished velocity and succumbing to an oblique injury. After walking five batters last night, Ray had the following to say about his command issues. “I just need to get back to what I do best and that’s pound the zone. I’ve got too good of stuff to be pitching around the zone. I’ve just got to attack guys and then my off-speed stuff gets better.” Interestingly, Ray felt confident while warming up yesterday and felt in complete command of his pitches. He wonders whether a “lack of focus” could be to blame.
  • Though the early returns of the Alex Cobb signing didn’t look good for the Orioles, the return to effectiveness of his change-up seems to have vaulted the right-hander back to his previous form, as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun details in this piece. He notes that Cobb’s given up just nine hits on 184 change-ups since the All-Star break. His confidence in the pitch has led to him almost doubling its usage lately, and the results have spoken for themselves. Cobb’s strung together four consecutive quality starts of late, posting a 2.08 ERA with a 54.9% ground ball rate during that span.

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