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Royals To Reinstate Jorge Bonifacio

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The Royals will reinstate outfielder Jorge Bonifacio from the restricted list tomorrow, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. He’d been serving an 80-game PED suspension and will need to be added back to the 40-man and 25-man roster once activated. The corresponding move, according to Flanagan, will likely involve Ryan Goins. Indeed, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic tweets that Goins was “making the rounds” and shaking his teammates’ hands in the clubhouse after today’s game.

Bonifacio, 25, will likely be given an opportunity to receive regular work in the outfield. The former top prospect had a solid debut in 2017, hitting .255/.320/.432 with 17 homers, 15 doubles and a triple in 422 plate appearances. He logged 743 innings in right field for Kansas City last season, plus another 57 in left and eight in center. Defensive Runs Saved (-3) and Outs Above Average (-4) both pegged him as a slightly below-average defender, while Ultimate Zone Rating (+1.1) viewed him a bit more favorably.

Bonifacio has been able to begin gearing up for his return in the minors over the past two weeks, logging a dozen games with Triple-A Omaha and hitting quite well. Through 54 plate appearances, he’s batting .404/.481/.553 with five doubles and a triple.

The suspension for Bonifacio will prove costly if he is ultimately able to cement himself as a big league regular. He didn’t accrue Major League service time for the 80 games he missed, and by the time he’ll be activated from the disabled list, there won’t be enough days remaining in the season for him to reach a second full year of MLB service. As such, the suspension will push his eligibility for both arbitration and free agency back by a full year. Bonifacio would have been arb-eligible following the 2019 season and qualified as a free agent following the 2022 season. Instead, he’ll now have to wait until after the 2020 season for arbitration and won’t be a free agent until the completion of the 2023 season.

Goins, meanwhile, is out of minor league options, so the Royals can’t send him to the minors unless he first clears waivers. That makes it seem likely that he’ll be designated for assignment tomorrow, though the club could also opt to trade or release him as a means of opening a roster spot for Bonifacio. The 30-year-old Goins has given Kansas City has given the Royals quality defense through 224 innings at second base and has seen brief action at third base and shortstop as well. But, Goins has also struggled to the tune of a .226/.252/.313 batting line in 120 trips to the plate.

Red Sox Sign Brandon Phillips

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4:55pm: Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski tells MLB.com’s Ian Browne that Phillips will spend some time at the team’s spring complex in Florida getting into playing shape before reporting to Triple-A Pawtucket (Twitter links). Notably, the organization doesn’t view him solely as a second baseman, as Dombrowski notes that Phillips “can play a number of positions.” Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, meanwhile, tweets that Phillips will actually be playing third base in Pawtucket when he gets there.

3:45pm: The Red Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve agreed to a minor league contract with veteran infielder Brandon Phillips. The longtime Reds second baseman had not signed with a team since the end of the 2017 season, so he’ll assuredly require some time to ramp up in the minors before he can be considered an option to join the big league club. Phillips is represented by ACES.

Brandon Phillips | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Second base has been an issue for the Red Sox all season, as they’ve been without Dustin Pedroia nearly all year following offseason knee surgery. Pedroia did return briefly, suiting up for three games before landing back on the DL with inflammation and discomfort in his surgically repaired knee. Eduardo Nunez has shouldered the bulk of the workload at second base this season in lieu of Pedroia, but he’s struggled mightily, hitting just .253/.284/.350 through 272 plate appearances to date.

Phillips, who’ll turn 37 tomorrow, isn’t the player he was during his peak, when he hit .280/.330/.449 with outstanding defense and above-average baserunning from 2007-12. That said, the three-time All-Star still posted a quite respectable .285/.319/.416 slash in 604 plate appearances between the Braves and Angels last season, delivering 13 homers and 11 steals.

Phillips is a four-time Gold Glover, but his defensive ratings dipped in 2016-17, with both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved providing a negative valuation of his glovework. He’s also been inefficient on the bases, as evidenced by a 25-for-41 success rate (61 percent) in stolen-base attempts over the past two seasons. Still, he’ll bring some valuable depth to an area of weakness for a Red Sox club that still doesn’t know when, or perhaps even if, Pedroia will return to the Major League roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Select Tanner Anderson, Place Sean Rodriguez On DL

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The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Tanner Anderson from Triple-A Indianapolis and placed infielder/outfielder Sean Rodriguez on the 10-day DL with a strained right quadriceps. Right-hander A.J. Schugel was moved from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot.

[Related: Pittsburgh Pirates depth chart]

Anderson, 25, was the Pirates’ 20th-round pick back in the 2015 draft. While he’s never been considered to be among the organization’s very best prospects, he’s steadily risen through the ranks and been a steadily above-average performer along the way. This season in Triple-A has been no exception, as he’s worked to a tidy 2.34 ERA through 34 2/3 innings of relief work.

Anderson has never posted especially impressive strikeout numbers and is averaging just 6.2 whiffs per nine innings pitched in 2018. However, he’s long demonstrated outstanding control and has posted a ground-ball rate of at least 61.3 percent at each minor league stop. The Pirates shifted Anderson from the rotation to a relief role last season, and he’ll carry a gaudy 65.7 percent grounder rate with him to the Pittsburgh bullpen.

As for Rodriguez, the 33-year-old has struggled immensely at the dish in each of the past two seasons. Signed by the Braves a two-year contract in November 2016, Rodriguez suffered a shoulder injury in a car accident later that offseason and wound up missing a significant chunk of the 2017 season. He was traded back to the Pirates last summer, but the early struggles he had in Atlanta carried over to his return trip to the Buccos. Over the past two seasons, Rodriguez is hitting .157/.273/.285 in 290 plate appearances.

Marlins To Promote Sandy Alcantara

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The Marlins announced today that right-hander Sandy Alcantara will be recalled from Triple-A New Orleans to start Friday’s game against the Mets. The 22-year-old righty is considered to be among the organization’s top overall prospects and was the centerpiece in the offseason trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis.

Alcantara is off to a solid start to the season, having pitched to a 3.71 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.64 HR/9 and a 50.8 percent ground-ball rate. Alcantara entered the season generally regarded as one of baseball’s top 100 prospects, and he currently ranks 59th at Baseball America, 92nd at MLB.com and 110th at Fangraphs. He’ll instantly rank among the hardest-throwing starters in the game when he joins the Miami rotation, as his fastball receives a 70-grade on most scouting reports, and he averaged 98.3 mph on his heater in a brief cup of coffee with the Cardinals last season (8 1/3 innings).

[Related: Miami Marlins depth chart]

The organizational hope is that Alcantara will be able to serve as an anchor in the rotation for years to come. He’ll step into the starting five in place of lefty Caleb Smith, who looked to be establishing himself as a viable long-term option for the Fish prior to suffering a Grade 3 lat strain that will put an unfortunate end to his season. For the time being, then, Alcantara will join Dan Straily, Wei-Yin Chen, Trevor Richards and Rule 5 pick Elieser Hernandez in the rotation.

Alcantara did accrue 31 days of Major League service time in 2017, but even if he sticks in the rotation and isn’t optioned back to New Orleans, he’ll still finish the season shy of the 172 days needed to qualify for a full year of service time. As such, he’s controllable through at least the 2023 season for Miami, though the timing of his promotion will likely put him on the cusp of Super Two stats a couple of years from now is his ascension to the Majors does indeed prove to be permanent.

Latest On Shohei Ohtani

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Angels GM Billy Eppler said today that he anticipates star pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani to return as a hitter regardless of his status on the mound, Jim Duquette of Sirius XM Radio tweets (with some audio available on Twitter as well). Ohtani, who had taken the majors by storm this year after coming over from Japan, was diagnosed earlier this month with a grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Ohtani is set to be evaluated tomorrow after resting for several weeks following a platelet-rich plasma injection. But the medical review will not be necessary to determine his availability to resume hitting. As Eppler explains, if Ohtani “was only a DH … he would’ve been cleared right away.”

Rather, the focus at present is on ensuring that Ohtani has the best possible chance of returning to the mound without requiring Tommy John surgery. Whether or not he’ll even be able to try to accomplish that this season remains to be seen. But it seems there was a concern that allowing him to hit right away could jeopardize the ligament.

The point of the three-week layoff, per Eppler, was to make sure the area around the UCL “has plenty of time to scar and heal.” Presumably, that’s largely what will be assessed tomorrow.

Whatever the likelihood is of Ohtani returning to the bump in 2018, the Halos will surely be anxious to get his bat back in the lineup if possible. Since Ohtani went down, the Halos have gone just 5-11.

Jayson Werth To Retire

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Veteran outfielder Jayson Werth tells Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports that he will retire. He had been with the Mariners organization on a minor-league deal.

Though Werth declined to describe the situation in precisely those terms, he told Heyman: “I’m done … whatever you want to call it.” That statement does not seem to leave much room for interpretation, so it seems fair to assume that Werth will not look to return from the hamstring injury that recently put him on the shelf at Triple-A Tacoma.

Werth, 39, had signed on with the Seattle organization after wrapping up a seven-year, $126MM contract with the Nationals. That monster contract marked one of several turning points over Werth’s long professional career.

Drafted 22nd overall by the Orioles in the 1997 draft, Werth did not exactly race to the majors. And he did not stick immediately upon reaching the game’s highest level. He bounced from the Baltimore organization to the Blue Jays and then on to the Dodgers, moving from behind the dish to the outfield along the way and receiving relatively meager opportunities in the majors.

Werth posted strong numbers in a partial season of work with Los Angeles in 2004, but ended up suffering a significant wrist injury during camp in the ensuing spring. He played poorly upon returning and the issue failed to dissipate. Werth ended up missing all of the 2006 campaign and being set loose by the Dodgers.

At that point, clearly, there was a high likelihood that Werth would simply never make good on his original promise. But he drew major-league contract offers and ultimately landed with the Phillies, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explained at the time.

Needless to say, things turned up from there. Werth ended up slashing a robust .282/.380/.506 in over two thousand plate appearances over four seasons in Philadelphia, swatting 95 home runs and swiping sixty bags along the way. He was a key piece of the organization’s magical run in that span, including a 2008 World Series victory.

When free agency arrived, both team and player decided to make other plans — not that the Phillies fans ever forgave Werth for leaving. As MLBTR’s Zach Links wrote, it took an eye-popping number to convince him to head to D.C., a surprising decision for a Nationals organization that was then a perennial cellar dweller.

Werth’s first season with the Nats did not go according to plan. And he missed time with a wrist injury in the one that followed. But his play picked up quite a bit. And the tide soon turned in the division, with the Washington organization rising as the Phillies fell apart. From 2012 through 2014, Werth made good on his hefty salary, posting a cumulative .303/.394/.479 slash with 46 home runs. Unfortunately, that output — and Werth’s good health — would not last. Over the final three years of his deal with the Nationals, he managed only a .233/.322/.402 batting line in 301 games.

While postseason success wasn’t to be in D.C., Werth will be remembered well for his leadership role in an important time in the organization’s history. Now, he tells Heyman, he’ll head off to spend more time with his family — and, perhaps, take up some organic farming. Both sound like worthy pursuits, and we at MLBTR wish him the best of fortune.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Lester, deGrom, Keller, Dietrich

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There’s no denying that Jon Lester has produced top-level results for the Cubs, but his peripherals reveal some cause for concern, as Jay Jaffe of Fangraphs writes in a detailed analysis of the veteran hurler that’s well worth your time. Suffice to say that Jaffe provides ample support for his conclusion that Lester is probably due for some significant regression. Of course, there’s not much for the Cubs to do here but continue riding Lester, who would still be a productive pitcher even if he falls back to last year’s earned-run levels. But it does seem notable that Lester’s 4.33 ERA in 2017 came with better grades from ERA estimators (4.10 FIP/3.85 xFIP/4.07 SIERA) than he has received to this point in 2018 (4.08 FIP/4.46 xFIP/4.51 SIERA).

Here’s more from the National League:

  • Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic argued recently (subscription link) that the Mets ought to try to get a long-term deal done with righty Jacob deGrom rather than shopping him this summer. Of course, such a move would be dependent upon the hurler’s own preferences, too, and may not be practicable in the middle of the season. Pursuing a new deal with deGrom would seem to imply an ongoing effort to contend in upcoming seasons, despite the organization’s recent disappointments. In that regard, Rosenthal’s related suggestion — that the team dangle co-ace Noah Syndergaard this summer instead — seems tough to square with that strategy. Syndergaard is younger, cheaper, and more controllable than deGrom. But his present value is likely lower, since he has dealt with significant injury issues of late. For a team in the Mets’ situation, a strategic choice to keep (and try to extend) deGrom would seem to support the retention of Syndergaard as well. Regardless, it’s an interesting situation. One key element in potential contract talks is deGrom’s relatively advanced age. Rosenthal’s colleague Tim Britton did a nice job breaking down a potential extension price tag in another recent subscription piece, suggesting a five-year arrangement (two arb years plus three would-be free-agent campaigns) structured in the same essential manner as Jake Arrieta’s contract with the Phillies (that is, with an opt-out provision that the team can void by adding more money to the deal). Whether there’s any interest in such a deal, on either side, really isn’t clear at this stage.
  • The Diamondbacks seem to have whiffed on righty Brad Keller, who was lost to the Royals via the Rule 5 draft and has now thrown 48 innings of 2.25 ERA ball on the year. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic examines the topic from the perspective of the Arizona organization, noting that it seems the roster flexibility was there to protect Keller had the team made him a priority. GM Mike Hazen says that the Snakes liked the 22-year-old, but faced other considerations. “We made the conscious decision not to add him because of where he was in proximity to the major-league team, where we were in the cycle, what we wanted to use our 40-man spots for, we wanted to be aggressive in the offseason in claiming guys … that were closer to the big leagues in our mind,” Hazen explained.
  • Marlins outfielder Derek Dietrich is looking increasingly like a useful trade asset, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes. The left-handed hitter has been on fire at the plate of late, running up his batting line to .303/.354/.491 in 294 plate appearances on the year. To be fair, he’s also walking less, striking out more, and carrying a heftier BABIP than usual, but Dietrich has produced a career-best 38.3% hard-hit rate this season as well. It’s also easy to forget that he has produced quite a bit in prior campaigns; indeed, he’s a 118 OPS+ hitter since the start of 2015. A substantial portion of that output came against right-handed pitching, though he has swung well against southpaws this year, his first as a true regular. Soon to turn 29, Dietrich is earning only $2.9MM in 2018 and can be controlled for two more seasons beyond the present one. He has never been regarded as a particularly good defender, but is capable of lining up in the corner outfield and infield as well as at second base — versatility that will appeal to some contenders but also to a Marlins team facing an uncertain future. All told, there are some clear limitations to Dietrich’s value, but there’s also quite a lot to like about the player.

2018 Amateur Draft Signings: 6/27/18

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We’ll use this post to track the day’s most notable signings from the first few rounds of the draft.  Scouting reports and pre-draft rankings can be found courtesy of MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law (the latter two available to subscribers only)…

  • The Cubs have convinced supplemental second-round choice Cole Roederer to forego his commitment to UCLA, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). It’ll cost the team $1.2M, well over the $775,100 value that came with the 77th overall selection. Though he did not earn any top-100 tabs, Roederer placed 161st on the Baseball America board. BA credits him with “hints of all five tools and growing power,” with solid upside but also questions surrounding his relatively small stature. Clearly, the Cubs believe in Roederer, whose over-slot bonus absorbs most of the savings the team achieved from later selections.

Braves Select Contract Of Wes Parsons, Move Mike Soroka To 60-Day DL

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10:04am: To create 40-man space, the Braves moved young righty Mike Soroka to the 60-day disabled list. That means he’ll be on the shelf for quite some time, as he only went on the DL last Friday.

Clearly, the Atlanta organization anticipated that it would need to give Soroka’s ailing shoulder a lengthy rest. He already sat for a month before inflammation again cropped up, and this time he’ll miss at least twice that time.

The prized hurler will first be eligible to return to action on August 21st. It is not yet known whether the team anticipates that Soroka will be physically ready to return at that time.

9:46am: The Braves will select the contract of righty Wes Parsons today, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to report (Twitter links). It is not yet known how the organization will clear a 40-man spot. To create space on the active roster, though, the Braves will option righty Matt Wisler.

Parsons, now 25, originally joined the organization as an undrafted free agent. He has climbed the ladder steadily ever since, but really emerged last year at the Double-A level. In 103 total innings there, over ten starts and 16 relief appearances, Parsons worked to a 2.71 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 as well as a 54.2% groundball rate.

The success has continued into the 2018 campaign, with Parsons functioning almost exclusively as a starter. He has thrown 64 1/3 frames, split about evenly between Double-A and Triple-A, with a cumulative 2.10 ERA and peripherals that line up with his 2017 showing.

It seems likely that Parsons will contribute to the relief corps out of the gates. He may not be up for long, depending upon how the roster needs shake out. Now that he’s on the 40-man, though, Parsons could certainly be called upon at any moment — even in the rotation, perhaps, if that proves necessary.

Trade Candidate: Leonys Martin

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Teams in a rebuilding posture still frequently invest in some veterans, with part of the rationale being that those players can turn into trade assets in the middle of the season. For the Tigers, the most visible offseason spending took place in the rotation, with the club pouring $10MM into starting pitching (Mike Fiers and Francisco Liriano).

Detroit made just one other winter investment of consequence: a $1.75MM promise to center fielder Leonys Martin. (The deal also includes $1.25MM in available incentives, topping out at 500 plate appearances.) The club needed a solid piece in the outfield and got a 30-year-old who has generally been a useful big leaguer but had trouble holding onto a MLB roster spot last year. Needless to say, it wasn’t a highlight of the offseason.

Thus far, however, Martin has been one of the fifty or so most valuable position players in baseball. There are certainly some limits to his appeal, but he also looks to be quite a useful potential trade piece for the Tigers.

Notably, Martin was dealt to a contender in the middle of 2017 despite his struggles last year at the MLB level. He’s an up-the-middle defender who has always been an outstanding baserunner, which explains why the Cubs picked him up and ended up putting him on their postseason roster.

Now, the profile is much more interesting. Through 291 plate appearances, Martin carries a .261/.333/.444 batting line with nine home runs and seven stolen bases. His output includes a 9.3% walk rate that’s easily the best rate of his career. Martin is posting a personal-high .184 isolated slugging mark, and has done so without increasing his strikeout rate (at 22.3%, it’s almost exactly at his career mean).

That’s not exactly world-beating offensive work, but it’s above-average output from a player who is best known for his defensive and baserunning skills. UZR is more bullish on his work in center this year than is DRS, but Martin has long drawn positive (or even outstanding) grades on the outfield grass. He’s also still receiving high marks on the bases, another area he has thrived traditionally.

All things considered, if the work at the plate seems sustainable, Martin could be a notable piece for the right team. Is it?

Martin’s advancing walk rate is certainly promising. And it’s quite interesting to note that the power seems to be coming from a notable change. Entering the year, Martin had a career launch angle of just 9.4 degrees. Thus far in 2018? It stands at 17.1 degrees, which has helped drive a newly robust power output. Better still, Statcast measures indicate that Martin has actually struck the ball even better than the results suggest. He owns a .334 wOBA but is credited with an eye-popping .384 xwOBA. Martin has a career hard-hit rate of 27.6% but is sitting at 40.1% at present.

So, what’s the catch? The biggest knock on Martin, beyond the need to discount his new profile somewhat based upon his prior track record, is the fact that he still doesn’t hit lefties. He’s delivering some pop (.190 ISO) so far in 2018, but carries a meager 55 wRC+ against southpaws. The spread is much wider this year than it has been historically, but he has long been more effective when hitting with the platoon advantage.

Teams likely won’t go wild for Martin, then. But the still-developing trade market doesn’t figure to have loads of quality outfield options available. And Martin is not only affordable but controllable for 2019. His struggles last year left him just shy of reaching a new service-year threshold; he had 4.161 years entering the current campaign. That leaves one year of arbitration still to go, though his representatives will argue that the salary ought to build off of a prior high-point (he earned $4.85MM in 2017) rather than his 2018 earnings.

Of course, that extra season leaves the Tigers with some options, too. The club might prefer to hold onto Martin, who’d be a useful piece for an organization that has received somewhat better-than-expected results from its roster this year. Or, he could be dealt over the winter. The Tigers’ plans aren’t really clear just yet; the point, though, is that there are options and some leverage here for GM Al Avila.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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