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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.

Evan Longoria Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

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SATURDAY: Longoria will undergo surgery Tuesday, and he’s likely to miss six to eight weeks, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report (Twitter link).

THURSDAY: Giants third baseman Evan Longoria has been diagnosed with a fracture to the fifth metacarpal of his left hand, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll surely be headed to the DL, though that move has not yet formally taken place.

Longoria suffered the injury when he was struck by an errant pitch. It’s to his non-throwing hand, though surely will impact his ability to swing a bat. An anticipated timeline for his return isn’t yet known.

The 32-year-old has not exactly been at his best since arriving in San Francisco via trade over the winter. He has hit ten home runs in 268 plate appearances but is slashing just .247/.276/.435 while carrying a 3.7% walk rate that’s far below his career levels. Defensive metrics have not loved the glovework of Longoria, who has also already been charged with 11 errors.

That said, there are some more promising signs. Statcast numbers indicate that Longoria’s .277 batting average on balls in play reflects some poor fortune. He’s carrying only a .298 wOBA despite a more promising .340 xwOBA. And Longoria has long been a quality defender. Perhaps there was still some reason to hope, then, that he’d be capable of turning in average or better work at the plate and in the field the rest of the way.

Before he’ll have a chance to turn his season around — and help the Giants keep pace in a mercifully mediocre NL West — Longoria will need to get back to health. In the meantime, Pablo Sandoval and Alen Hanson will likely step in at the hot corner.

Quick Hits: Expansion, Gambling, Team Chemistry

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With all the expansion talk floating around MLB these days, Jayson Stark of The Athletic explores what the league might look like with 32 teams instead of 30. Though his suggestion that the postseason has the potential to expand to 16 teams seems comical, Stark does provide some useful insight into which cities could get new teams. Additionally, his dive into how divisions could realign, how the playoff format could change, and why MLB might shorten the schedule to 154 games in the process all spark some opportunity for some interesting debate. Stark’s article ends with a bold assertion that all of this is a matter of when, not if.

A couple of other interesting items…

  • MLB owners have engaged in interesting discussions on gambling in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of the federal ban on sports betting (as David Waldstein of the New York Times writes). Commissioner Rob Manfred has reportedly said that it’s vital steps be taken in order to ensure the integrity of the game, but also indicated that baseball would like a share of the profits from betting on the sport. With states now allowed to make their own decisions in regard to sports gambling, it’s interesting to note that the potential expansion for MLB could provide some incentive expansion-hopeful states to be loose with betting regulations.
  • One of baseball’s most intangible qualities may be a little more tangible than we think, according to Ben Rowen of The Atlantic. A number of research groups are embarking upon a mission to quantify team chemistry, once deemed the Holy Grail of performance analytics by Harvard Business Review. Some methods described involve collection of biometrics, advanced mathematics, and even “anthropological forrays into the clubhouse.” One particularly interesting strategy seems to be looking for places in which advanced performance metrics and player intangibles are “at odds”. The whole piece is well worth a read; it doesn’t provide much in the way of firm evidence but it certainly presents some interesting opportunities for research and offers some optimism that team chemistry could potentially be quantified and used to bring about a competitive advantage.

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