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Braves Select Bryse Wilson, Designate Ryan Flaherty, Outright Chad Bell

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The Braves have selected the contract of right-hander Bryse Wilson from Triple-A Gwinnett, tweets David O’Brien of The Athletic. The Braves have since announced that he’ll start tonight’s game in place of Kevin Gausman, who, along with the rest of the Atlanta rotation, has had his start pushed back a day (Twitter link via O’Brien).

While the Braves only needed to make a 25-man roster move to accommodate Wilson’s promotion, they announced pair of corresponding 40-man moves: infielder Ryan Flaherty has been designated for assignment, while left-hander Chad Bell has been outrighted off the 40-man roster.

Wilson, 20, opened the 2018 season at Class-A Advanced but has skyrocketed through Atlanta’s system, topping out in Triple-A recently. The hard-throwing righty was the organization’s fourth-round pick in 2016 and currently ranks 13th in a deep Braves farm system, per the midseason prospect update from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.

Wilson’s meteoric rise to the Majors began with 26 2/3 innings of 0.34 ERA ball in High-A to open the season. Those five starts earned him a promotion to Double-A Mississippi, where he posted a 3.97 ERA through 77 innings but turned in a much more impressive 2.77 FIP / 3.33 xFIP on the strength of 10.4 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.35 HR/9 and a 44 percent ground-ball rate. He’s only made three starts in Triple-A so far, and while he had mixed results in his first two outings, his dominance against the Reds’ top affiliate last week landed him second on Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet this week. BA’s J.J. Cooper noted that Wilson threw eight innings of one-hit ball without issuing a walk, facing the minimum number of hitters and racking up 13 strikeouts.

Remarkably, Wilson will join Mike Soroka, Kolby Allard and Ronald Acuna as prospects to debut in Atlanta before their 20th birthday this season. He draws praise for a fastball that sits 93-95 mph and can touch 97 mph with plenty of sink, as well as a slider and changeup that each have average or better potential.

Flaherty, 32, opened the season on a blistering hot streak for the Braves, but that was clearly unlikely to be sustained. The longtime Orioles utilityman managed a .315/.411/.435 slash through his first 107 plate appearance, but that production was buoyed by a .397 BABIP that was inevitably bound to regress. That has indeed been the case, as Flaherty has stumbled to catastrophic levels, going just 5-for-61 since mid-May while seeing his playing time evaporate.

Bell, meanwhile, has a 5.44 ERA In 41 1/3 innings for the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate after being claimed off waivers back in mid-May. Bell hasn’t had any issues missing bats (9.4 K/9), nor has he been especially generous in terms of yielding walks (2.6 BB/9) or home runs (0.65 HR/9). He has, however, been plagued by a .385 BABIP and a 64.7 percent strand rate. While fielding-independent pitching metrics are generally bullish on his work in Gwinnett, he went unclaimed on waivers and will remain with the Braves without occupying a 40-man spot.

Quick Hits: Contender Schedules, Pazos, Weaver, Mets, Giants

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With several divisions throughout Major League Baseball still up for grabs and numerous contenders still in the hunt for the Wild Card, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports runs through the strength of the rest-of-season schedule for each of the 14 teams with realistic hopes of securing a postseason bid. The Diamondbacks draw the unwelcome distinction of facing the toughest schedule of any team in baseball between now and season’s end, Passan notes, pointing out that from Sept. 6-26 they’ll play 20 games in 20 days against a grouping of teams with a combined .560 winning percentage. The Indians, meanwhile, land on the other end of the spectrum. Despite the fact that they have seven games against the Red Sox remaining, the rest of their schedule is more or less a romp through the hapless AL Central, with 10 games against the Royals and six against the White Sox highlighting what should be an easy path to the AL Central crown.

Some other miscellaneous items for your afternoon perusal…

  • Lefty James Pazos has been among the Mariners’ best relievers over the past two seasons, but Seattle optioned him to Triple-A on Sunday. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times examines the move, citing manager Scott Servais in writing that the organization feels that Pazos is in need of some mechanical corrections to get back into top form. Specifically, Servais indicated that Pazos “hasn’t been as consistent with his fastball” over the past six weeks or so, which has gotten him into trouble at times. The Mariners don’t expect Pazos to spend much more, if any, than the 10-day minimum in the minors as he works out the kinks, but Servais notes that he’s been falling behind hitters of late due to that fastball inconsistency. The organization, per Divish, has a “very detailed” plan for Pazos to follow in what sounds to be a brief trip to Tacoma.
  • Cardinals manager Mike Shildt tells Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the decision to move right-hander Luke Weaver from the rotation to the bullpen was “not an easy one.” Weaver looked to be among the game’s more promising young starters in 2017, and he’s shown flashes of brilliance in 2018, too, but has generally been inconsistent. Weaver cites his own lack of fastball control as the root of his struggles in a harsh self-evaluation but sounds to be taking the move in stride. “This move is not a slap in the face,” says the soon-to-be 25-year-old. “It’s about … finding a way where I can help the team, wherever it is. … It’s not going to shake me.”
  • The upcoming Mets/Giants series will provide fans with a contrast between a club that has excelled in terms of building minor league depth (the Giants) and one that has failed at doing so in recent seasons (the Mets), writes Tim Britton of The Athletic (subscription required). Britton notes that in Ryan Vogelsong, Santiago Casilla, Andres Torres and several others, San Francisco has consistently found value in minor league free agency. This season alone, he observes, the Giants have three minor league signees — Derek Holland, Dereck Rodriguez, Alen Hanson — who’ve provided the team with more than a win above replacement (per Fangraphs); conversely, the Mets have had only two players over the past four seasons combined that have reached even half a win by that same measure: Rene Rivera and Jose Reyes. Britton explores the Giants’ method of aggressively approaching minor league free agency, headed by assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, in an interesting look at the stark difference between the two clubs.

2017-18 Rule 5 Draft Update

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At this point of the season, it’s reasonable to expect the remaining Rule 5 players who are on big league rosters to hold those spots for the remainder of the season. That doesn’t mean that each has necessarily impressed to the point where he’s viewed as a viable long-term option, but with rosters set to expand in a couple of weeks and this much time already invested in each player, the remaining prospects who are clinging to eligibility have likely secured themselves a look in 2019 — even if it means opening the season in the minors.

When I last checked in on this year’s Rule 5-ers back in June, there were nine players either on active MLB rosters or on the big league disabled list, with the rest of this year’s class having been returned to their original organizations. That number hasn’t changed, though the complexion of the list is a bit different, and there have been some encouraging strides among the bunch. Here’s how the class looks at present:

Active Big Leaguers

  • Victor Reyes, OF, Tigers (from D-backs): Reyes still isn’t hitting much, but the Tigers have given him much more time in the outfield as the season wears on. The 23-year-old played just nine complete games through the end of June, but since July 1, he’s logged 22 full games of action in addition to numerous partial appearances where he’s either been pinch-hit for or entered the game as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. Reyes is hitting just .244/.279/.256 through 86 PAs in July and August, so he’s not impressing at the plate in spite of the recent uptick in playing time. He is 7-for-8 in stolen base attempts and has registered solid defensive marks in the outfield. It still seems likely that he’ll be ticketed for regular work in Triple-A next season once he can be optioned.
  • Brad Keller, RHP, Royals (from D-backs): As the Kansas City Star’s Maria Torres noted over the weekend, Keller has been a rare bright spot in a largely abysmal season for the Royals. Keller posted underwhelming numbers in Double-A last season and skipped Triple-A entirely, but the Royals deserve some credit for nabbing him anyway last December. In 100 1/3 innings this year, Keller has posted a terrific 3.32 ERA. And while his 6.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 marks are underwhelming, he’s notched a strong 54.8 percent ground-ball rate. It remains to be seen if Keller can sustain his minuscule 0.45 HR/9 rate, though he’s never averaged even a homer per nine frames in the minors. Fielding-independent pitching metrics are fairly spread out on him, due in no small part to that low homer rate, but if he can settle in even as a pitcher capable of delivering an ERA in the low 4.00s over a season’s worth of starts, that’d make him a very successful pick.
  • Burch Smith, RHP, Royals (from Rays, via trade w/ Mets): Kansas City hasn’t been as successful with Smith, whose ERA sits at an ugly 6.54 through 64 2/3 innings — mostly out of the bullpen. He’s averaged 8.6 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9, and in addition to issuing too many walks, he’s been far too homer-prone (1.95 HR/9). More than 18 percent of the fly-balls against Smith have left the yard — a troubling trend for a pitcher with just a 39.4 percent ground-ball rate. Smith barely pitched from 2014-17 due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery, so the Royals may not want to give up on him in spite of the poor results. At this point, they’ve come far enough along that it could make sense to keep him around and see how he fares in the upper minors next season. He’ll be 29 in April, but he has minor league options remaining.
  • Carlos Tocci, OF, Rangers (from Phillies, via trade w/ White Sox): Tocci has been the most seldom-used player in the Majors, functioning almost exclusively as a defensive replacement for much of the season. He’s appeared in 51 games and totaled just 103 plate appearances, but the Rangers have given him a slight increase in playing time in August. This month, he’s started nine games and shown a bit of promise in that tiny sample, hitting .300/.323/.367 in 33 plate appearances — albeit with nine punchouts and just one walk. Tocci is hitting .207/.255/.250 overall, though, and appears ticketed for minor league work in 2019 even if his glove has been solid in limited work to date.
  • Elieser Hernandez, RHP, Marlins (from Astros): Hernandez, who turned 23 back in May, made the jump from High-A to the Majors and, unsurprisingly, has posted less-than-stellar results. He’s tossed 56 2/3 innings for Miami, including five starts, while working to a 5.08 ERA with 6.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.27 HR/9 and an extremely low 26.3 percent ground-ball rate. Some struggles were to be expected given the considerable jump he faced, however, and it’d be fair to say he’s at least held his own, given that he skipped both Double-A and Triple-A. He should survive the season with the rebuilding Marlins, and he’ll likely be ticketed for upper-minors work in 2019.
  • Brett Graves, RHP, Marlins (from Athletics): Graves was on the DL back in June, having missed the first two-plus months of the season with an oblique injury. Since making his big league debut, he’s posted a 6.23 ERA with 10 strikeouts against seven walks (two intentional) and three hit batters in 17 1/3 innings. The 25-year-old has primarily been a starter in the minors but has been used out of the bullpen in Miami to this point. He’s displayed good ground-ball tendencies thus far (53.6 percent) and has yet to allow a homer. Though he missed notable time this year, Graves was activated early enough that he’ll accrue the requisite 90 days on the active roster to shed his Rule 5 status this season — provided he doesn’t incur an injury before rosters expand.

On the Major League Disabled List

  • Julian Fernandez, RHP, Giants (from Rockies): Fernandez underwent Tommy John surgery back in April. He’ll accrue MLB service time while spending the season on the 60-day disabled list and will retain his Rule 5 status heading into 2019, if the Giants wish to hang onto him all offseason.
  • Pedro Araujo, RHP, Orioles (from Cubs): Araujo is the last of three Orioles picks from the 2017 Rule 5 Draft remaining on the big league roster, but he’s been on the DL since June 11 due to an elbow sprain. When he was active, he showed plenty of ability to miss bats (13.9 percent swinging-strike rate, 9.3 K/9) but also averaged 5.8 walks and a staggering 2.89 homers per nine innings pitched. It’s not clear if he’ll return this season, but if he doesn’t, he’ll retain his Rule 5 eligibility into 2019. The Orioles won’t be able to option him until he spends 90 days on the active MLB roster, and he’s a bit more than two weeks shy of that right now.
  • Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (from Twins via trade w/ Phillies): The flame-throwing Burdi missed nearly all of 2016 due to injury and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, but he’s finally on the comeback trail in a new organization. Pittsburgh sent the former Louisville standout on a rehab assignment earlier this month, and he’s pitched seven innings with an 11-to-4 K/BB ratio across three levels so far. He’s yielded five earned runs in that time, though the Bucs likely aren’t focusing heavily on bottom-line results at this point of his recovery. Burdi will have to carry over his Rule 5 eligibility into the 2019 season if the Pirates wish to retain him, but he’s a highly intriguing bullpen piece who could be worth the investment. Burdi’s heater received 80 grades on the 20-80 scale prior to surgery, and he’s been touted as a potential big league closer since his college days.

Returned to Original Organization

AL Central Notes: Kopech, Eloy, Twins, Tigers

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White Sox fans will get a long-awaited first look at top pitching prospect Michael Kopech on Tuesday, and GM Rick Hahn spoke to the media today about the decision to bring the prized righty to the Majors (links to Twitter via James Fegan of The Athletic, Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times and Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Hahn said that the team feels Kopech has turned a corner recently and that the organizational hope all along has been to get a look at how he fares against big league hitters at some point during the 2018 season. Chicago made Kopech earn the promotion, but with a 59-to-4 K/BB ratio across his pat 44 innings, the control troubles he’s battled throughout the minors look to be much improved. The Sox aren’t announcing who’ll be bumped from the rotation, but Hahn said that Kopech will start every fifth day, though the team will be “flexible” and conscientious of his innings, as he’s already just eight shy of his career-high 134 frames.

As for slugging outfielder Eloy Jimenez, White Sox fans will have to wait a bit longer. Hahn said that Jimenez will “remain in [Triple-A] Charlotte at this time” and will be further evaluated in the coming weeks (Twitter link via Van Schouwen).

Here’s more from the division…

  • Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey spoke with Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about the team’s summer sale of veteran assets, acknowledging that it’s a change of course from how the organization has typically operated in the past. Falvey, GM Thad Levine and the rest of the Twins front office traded six players — Eduardo Escobar, Ryan Pressly, Zach Duke, Lance Lynn, Brian Dozier and Fernando Rodney — in under two weeks when it became apparent that their postseason hopes had all but evaporated. Falvey indicated that, having previously worked under then-GM Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, dealing away short-term assets to stockpile controllable talent was “common practice” even if it’s a “departure from the norm” for Twins fans. As Zack Meisel of The Athletic recently explored, though (subscription required), such trades helped pave the way for Cleveland’s current success; the Indians acquired each of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger in exchange for a short-term veteran upgrade.
  • Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press spoke with Tigers GM Al Avila about the team’s rebuilding process over the weekend. Though Avila has fully committed to a multi-year rebuild of the organization, he was not shy about expressing the difficulty he has in watching his club struggle — even if the results were largely expected. “This is why people try to avoid rebuilds,” said the GM. “Because the rebuilds are very, very tough on everybody’s mentality and psyche and they drive you crazy. I know it’s driven me crazy.” Still, Avila discussed the importance of finding reasons for optimism in the farm system and of the positive strides some prospects have made in 2018 as the team looks to the future. Fenech notes that a number of farmhands, Daz Cameron perhaps chief among them, have made encouraging strides in ’18. The interview is rife with quotes from Avila, who explained that the Tigers had little choice but to commit to a rebuild and vowed to fans that the ultimate payoff “will be worth it.”

Latest On Aaron Judge’s Wrist Injury

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Aug. 20: Judge said Sunday that the fracture in his hand has not yet fully healed (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). “That’s what we’re just trying to get past,” said the slugger. “I think it usually takes four to six weeks for stuff like that to heal. So we’re waiting for those six weeks.”

Aug. 15, 9:11pm: Carig reports that in spite of the discouraging news on Judge, the Yankees aren’t any likelier to acquire an outfielder in a waiver deal (subscription required). Judge’s absence, he notes, is expected to linger into the month of September, but the Yankees remain confident that he’ll return before season’s end.

6:10pm: Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in an appearance on WFAN today that Aaron Judge recently received a cortisone injection in his injured right wrist (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Marc Carig). Cashman, though, said that he doubts Judge will hit the ground running, and Carig notes that it sounds as if Judge will still be out awhile.

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said at the time of the injury that it was “pretty realistic” to expect that Judge could return in three weeks’ time, but he sustained the fracture 20 days ago, so that estimate appears to have been considerably on the optimistic side. Newsday’s David Lennon tweets that Judge did run the bases and field balls in right field recently, but there’s still no timeframe for when he’ll even be cleared to swing a bat — let alone return to a game setting.

With Judge’s timeline murky and Giancarlo Stanton limited to DH duties by ongoing tightness in his left hamstring, it’s fair to wonder whether the team will pursue some additional help in the outfield before the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility. Carig noted that the Yankees “didn’t like the prices” when poking around the market for outfield help prior to the non-waiver deadline, though the circumstances surrounding Judge and Stanton could obviously create some additional urgency.

[Related: New York Yankees depth chart]

The Yankees are presently utilizing mainstays Brett Gardner in left field and Aaron Hicks in center field, but they’ve taken to deploying Neil Walker in right field. Clint Frazier remains sidelined by a concussion, while Jacoby Ellsbury’s season was brought to an end recently when he underwent hip surgery. New York currently has Shane Robinson holding down a bench spot, but certainly there looks to be room for improvement.

Notably, former Yankee Curtis Granderson recently cleared revocable trade waivers and is eligible to be moved to any team. Danny Valencia, though he hasn’t been a regular outfielder, does have nearly 750 innings of experience in right field and was released by Baltimore earlier today, making him another speculative option. Obviously, those are just two of the numerous options that Cashman and his staff can explore in the weeks leading up to that aforementioned Aug. 31 deadline.

MLB Weekend Roster Roundup: Sale, Santana, Strickland, Stroman

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(August 18th-August 19th)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

  • NEW YORK METS | Depth Chart
    • Promoted: 1B/OF Dominic Smith 
      • Smith was the 26th man for Sunday’s Little League Classic game.
  • PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES | Depth Chart
    • Promoted: C Andrew Knapp
      • Knapp was the 26th man for Sunday’s Little League Classic game.  

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

NL Notes: Dodgers, Cards, Weaver, Bucs, Newman

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The latest on a few National League teams…

  • The Dodgers are “setting a high bar” on potential reliever acquisitions this month, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal says (video link). In the end, though, Rosenthal doesn’t expect the Dodgers to make any trades for outside bullpen aid, noting that closer Kenley Jansen (on the DL since Aug. 9 with an irregular heartbeat) is among their soon-to-return reinforcements. Further, August deals are generally difficult to make, with Rosenthal reporting that “most relievers are getting claimed on revocable trade waivers, then pulled back” by their teams.
  • The Cardinals have decided to shift right-hander Luke Weaver from the rotation to the bullpen, manager Mike Shildt told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com and other reporters on Sunday. It’s not clear whether Weaver will return to the team’s starting staff in 2018, but for now, his vacated spot will go to fellow righty Daniel Poncedeleon. The 24-year-old Weaver has been subpar at preventing runs over 125 1/3 innings, as his 4.67 ERA shows, though FIP (4.14), xFIP (4.26) and SIERA (4.37) indicate he has deserved somewhat better results to this point. Poncedeleon, meanwhile, has held his own as a starter in the minors since the Cardinals drafted him in 2014. The 26-year-old made his first and only big league start July 23, when he stunningly held the Reds without a hit in a seven-inning, 116-pitch performance, and has appeared in five other games as a reliever this season. While Poncedeleon has managed to log an appealing 2.04 ERA through his first 17 2/3 major league innings, his K/9 (5.09), BB/9 (4.58), strand rate (91.6 percent), batting average on balls in play against (.133) and groundball percentage (31.9) suggest negative regression is around the corner.
  • Pirates shortstop prospect Kevin Newman earned a promotion to the majors earlier this week, but they’ve been reluctant to use him thus far in the midst of a playoff race, and he’s not a lock to start in 2019. Even though fellow Pirates shortstops Adeiny Hechavarria and Jordy Mercer are set to become free agents in the offseason, that doesn’t mean the team won’t re-sign one of them or bring in another veteran at the position. The club would like to have a vet mentor the 25-year-old Newman for “at least some of next season,” according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (subscription required), who wonders if Pittsburgh will wind up signing a pending free agent such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Freddy Galvis, Jose Iglesias or Jose Reyes over the winter. While general manager Neal Huntington admitted the Pirates are indeed “open to” the idea of a veteran-Newman tandem at short next year, he added that finding a more experienced option is “not necessarily” a must.

Diamondbacks Notes: Buchholz, Perez, Defense

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Here’s the latest from the Diamondbacks, who are clinging to a half-game lead over the Rockies in the NL West…

  • Clay Buchholz didn’t want to sign a minor league contract last offseason, though the righty tells Fangraphs’ David Laurila that the experience ended up being “a restart” for him, leading to his eventual revival with the D’Backs.  “I swallowed my pride and did that [pitch in the minors] for a little bit. It was for the best, because it helped me get to where I’m at now,” Buchholz said.  “It feels good to be able to go out there and throw without anything going on, mentally or physically.”  Buchholz initially signed a minors deal with the Royals but was released before pitching for the big league team, only to sign another minor league contract with Arizona and emerge as a big piece of the Diamondbacks’ rotation.  In 73 innings for the D’Backs this season, Buchholz has a 2.47 ERA, 3.81 K/BB rate, and a 7.5 K/9.
  • Rookie catcher Michael Perez has made a strong first impression with the Rays after being traded from Arizona to Tampa as part of the Matt Andriese deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  The seeds of the trade were planted in the offseason when Rays scouts became impressed by Perez while examining the Diamondbacks’ system in preparation for the three-team deal that sent Steven Souza Jr. to Arizona and Brandon Drury to the Yankees.  “We were fortunate he was in a position where he was blocked by three catchers there in the big leagues….In a lot of organizations he may have had more of an opportunity than he had at the time in Arizona,” Rays pro scouting director Kevin Ibach said.
  • Excellent glovework has been an underrated part of Arizona’s success this year, as Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan notes that the Diamondbacks have the best overall defense of any team in baseball.  D’Backs pitchers and catchers rank first in the league in combined UZR and Defensive Runs Saved, while their infielders and catchers are also near the top of the list.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Urena, Folty, Machado, Harper

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This week in baseball blogs…

Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com

Twins To Recall Stephen Gonsalves

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The Twins announced that left-hander Stephen Gonsalves will come up from Triple-A Rochester on Monday to make his major league debut with a start against the White Sox. To make room for Gonsalves, the Twins optioned right-hander Tyler Duffey to Rochester.

Gonsalves, whom the Twins chose in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, has been among the game’s 100 best prospects in the past, including cracking Baseball America’s list after 2016 (No. 99) and ’17 (No. 97). None of BA, MLB.com or FanGraphs currently regard Gonsalves as a top-100 farmhand, though each outlet does place him among the Twins’ 10 best prospects.

In MLB.com’s free scouting report, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo – who rank Gonsalves fifth – compliment the 6-foot-5 hurler’s “combination of pitchability and deception” and “solid-average stuff.” Gonsalves’ repertoire includes a low-90s fastball, a quality changeup and an “average” curveball, per Callis and Mayo, who could see him eventually emerging as a capable mid-rotation starter. BA’s J.J. Cooper (subscription required) is less bullish on the other hand, writing he’s “a back-of-the-rotation starter at best,” in part because of control problems. Indeed, Gonsalves has issued 4.93 walks per nine over 100 1/3 innings in his first extensive Triple-A action this season. At the same time, Gonsalves has given up a mere 65 hits and struck out 8.52 batters per nine en route to a 2.96 ERA.

With the out-of-contention Twins looking toward 2019, Gonsalves may be in position to make a case for a spot in their rotation next year. However, barring trades, the Twins already appear to have at least six serious contenders (or, in some cases, locks) for next season’s staff in Kyle Gibson, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Fernando Romero, Adalberto Mejia and Michael Pineda. Ervin Santana could also return to the club in 2019, but it’s uncertain whether Minnesota will pick up the soon-to-be 36-year-old’s $14MM option in light of his injury and performance issues this season.

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