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Athletics Outright Raul Alcantara

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The Athletics have outrighted right-hander Raul Alcantara to Triple-A, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. The out-of-options reliever will have the right to reject the assignment, having already been outrighted previously.

Alcantara, 25, had been in competition to take the club’s last bullpen slot. Instead, he’ll end up in the upper minors — either with the Oakland organization or, if he chooses, another team.

The results at the MLB level have been lacking for Alcantara, who has been knocked around in 46 1/3 total big league frames and surrendered six earned runs while recording just two strikeouts in his 8 2/3 innings this spring. But he has impressed in his time at Triple-A in the past two campaigns, working to a 1.82 ERA in 79 1/3 innings with 6.1 K/9 against 1.1 BB/9.

Nathan Eovaldi To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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1:02pm: Eovaldi will indeed undergo surgery, the team announced. He might require a rehab timeline of six to eight weeks, Topkin suggests on Twitter.

Eovaldi will be replaced for the time being by righty Austin Pruitt.

12:12pm: The Rays have suffered a tough blow on the eve of Opening Day, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that righty Nathan Eovaldi will be down to open the season. “Loose bodies” in Eovaldi’s elbow will likely require surgery, per the report.

A potential timeline is not yet clear at this point, though Topkin suggests that Eovaldi is still expected to be a candidate to pitch for the organization at some point in the 2018 season. A two-time Tommy John recipient, Eovaldi does not appear to be at risk of that kind of consequential procedure. But it’s obviously concerning to hear that he may well end up under the knife yet again.

Eovaldi, 28, had joined the organization on a two-year, $4MM deal that allowed him to rehab in 2017. The hope all along was that he’d bounce back in the coming season, and his anticipated presence became a key facet of the team’s plans as he progressed. Instead, he’ll now join prospects Jose De Leon and Brent Honeywell — both of whom underwent TJ procedures this spring — on the shelf. The Rays traded away Jake Odorizzi earlier in the winter, further paring back the organization’s depth.

Tampa Bay has been plotting an interesting approach to their pitching staff, with intentions of using four starters and then filling the fifth starter’s role with a mix of relievers. Whether or not that’ll still be the plan remains to be seen. Clearly, though, the depth will be pressed. The three remaining starters — Chris Archer, Blake Snell, and Jake Faria — will need to be supplemented, with Matt Andriese seeming a likely candidate. That’ll still mean finding another reliever capable of giving some length, with recent trade acquisition Anthony Banda among the 40-man options that had been slated to open the year on optional assignment.

Needless to say, it’s brutal news for Eovaldi, who was on the cusp of launching his comeback. He had recorded a 14:1 K/BB ratio and allowed only six earned runs in 16 2/3 innings this spring. The six-year MLB veteran has long tantalized with his skill, including an upper-nineties heater, but has never quite fully turned the corner at the game’s highest level. In 739 career innings, Eovaldi owns a 4.21 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9.

Nationals Sign Carlos Torres

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March 31st: Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports tweets that Torres will earn $1.5MM if called up to the majors, with $1MM available in incentives. Beginning May 15th, Torres can request his release every 15 days if he is not on the Nats roster.

March 28th: The Nationals have signed right-handed reliever Carlos Torres to a minor league contract, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The deal includes multiple opt-out dates for Torres, Cotillo adds.

[RELATED: Nationals Depth Chart]

The 35-year-old Torres only spent a few days on the open market after Cleveland released him Saturday. Torres joined the Tribe on a minors pact in the offseason, and he then yielded seven earned runs on 14 hits and six walks (with nine strikeouts) in 10 1/3 spring innings. That subpar performance, not to mention the Indians’ impressive cast of relievers, sealed his fate with them.

While Torres struggled during his brief stint with the Indians, he has been a useful major leaguer during his career. Since debuting in 2009, Torres has seen action with four teams (the White Sox, Rockies, Mets and Brewers) and pitched to a 4.00 ERA/4.17 FIP across 491 innings. Torres has been quite durable along the way, having logged at least 70 innings in four of the previous five seasons. He racked up 72 2/3 frames of 4.21 ERA/4.89 FIP pitching last year in Milwaukee, where he notched 6.94 K/9, 4.09 BB/9 and a 45.7 percent groundball rate.

Orioles Return Rule 5 Pick Jose Mesa Jr. To Yankees

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The Orioles announced today that Rule 5 pick Jose Mesa Jr. has been returned to the Yankees organization. He’ll report to Triple-A.

Mesa, a 24-year-old righty, had recently been designated for assignment. Having cleared waivers, he’ll head back to the organization that selected him in the 24th round of the 2012 draft.

Baltimore had considered Mesa for a bullpen spot along with two other Rule 5 pitchers, but elected against keeping him. Now, he’ll wait for an opportunity in a loaded New York pen.

Mesa did not turn in a compelling showing this spring, but has shown his share of promise in the minors. Last year, he pitched to a 1.93 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 84 innings over 29 appearances — including eight starts — at the High-A and Double-A levels.

Tigers Sign Jairo Labourt

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The Tigers have signed lefty Jairo Labourt to a minor-league deal. He had bounced around the waiver wire this spring and will end up back where he started, in the Detroit organization.

Labourt, 24, has long struggled with free passes, doesn’t excel particularly at generating swings and misses, and doesn’t draw a noteworthy volume of grounders. But he has traditionally succeeded in the minors at generating a hefty volume of infield fly balls while also allowing few home runs.

Whether or not those skills will really translate to the majors is, of course, an open question. Labourt did reach the bigs briefly last year with the Tigers, allowing seven walks and throwing five wild pitches in his six innings. But he also turned in 66 1/3 solid innings over three minor-league levels, working to a 2.17 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.

Angels Select Shohei Ohtani, Designate Carlos Perez

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The Angels have selected the contract of pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani, per a club announcement. To create a 40-man spot, the organization designated catcher Carlos Perez for assignment.

Los Angeles also made a few other calls on players in time for its Opening Day roster. Reliever Felix Pena was optioned, leaving Rule 5 pick Luke Bard and Noe Ramirez to make the club, while veteran first baseman/DH Chris Carter was informed he will not be on the active roster to open the year.

The 23-year-old Ohtani, Japan’s biggest superstar, came into camp seen as something of a savior for the Halos. But he ended the spring facing questions as to whether he ought to begin the year in the majors.

While Ohtani showed the tools on the mound that generated so much hype, the results were mixed. Indeed, he only took the ball twice in Cactus League action, spending most of his time on the hill in minor-league games. Ohtani did see 32 plate appearances as he seeks to adjust to MLB pitching, but managed only three hits.

Nevertheless, the Angels will allow Ohtani to test his talent at the game’s highest level. That, obviously, was the plan when they wooed him to L.A., beating out more or less every other MLB team in pursuit of a player who most viewed as the best in the world outside of North America. Of course, if things don’t work out from the get-go, it’s always possible that Ohtani could end up being optioned at some point.

The move will potentially cost the team the 27-year-old Perez, who is out of options. He had been a significant contributor in 2015 and 2016, but a slide at the plate in the latter of those two yeas let him on the outside looking in last season. Perez ended up appearing in just 11 games in the 2017 season, though he did impress (.352/.423/.502 with 32 walks against 38 strikeouts) in his 300 Triple-A plate appearances. While the bat still seems rather intriguing, Perez’s defensive work has been the subject of some critique from the Angels organization.

Quick Hits: Lindor, Bauer, Rangers, Ichiro, Bae, Boxberger

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It doesn’t look like the Indians will reach any extensions with Francisco Lindor or Trevor Bauer before the season begins, though the team did at least explore the possibility of long-term deals with both players, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes.  It isn’t any surprise that the Tribe looked into gaining some cost certainty on either man even though Bauer is already controlled through the 2020 season and Lindor through 2021.  In the latter’s case, Lindor is still a year away from salary arbitration, though one wonders if Lindor may feel confident enough in his abilities to forego guaranteed money now and wait until free agency to chase an even bigger contract.  He already turned down an extension offer reportedly worth around $100MM last offseason, and his stock has only risen after a superb 2017 campaign.

Here’s more from around the baseball world as we enter the offseason’s final day…

  • The Rangers seems to be done their offseason shopping, as GM Jon Daniels stated to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters.  “I couldn’t be more clear, I don’t expect any more significant acquisitions.  There is not a lot going on from our standpoint in the free-agent market,” Daniels said.  This also seems to include a pursuit of Greg Holland, as Daniels reiterated that Texas plans to be flexible with the ninth-inning role and allow a closer to emerge from several candidates.  Adrian Beltre, for one, still feels that a more established arm is needed, as he feels the end-game plan is “an area that’s going to be a question mark. Normally, when you have really good teams, you have [a closer.]  You have closers out there in the free-agent market. … Ideally for me, you get a closer, put him in there and use him.”
  • Ichiro Suzuki may begin the season on the DL to give him more time to fully recover from a right calf strain, with Mariners manager Scott Servais telling the Associated Press and other media that a decision will be made tomorrow when the team sees how Suzuki is feeling after playing seven innings today.  Utilityman Taylor Motter looks to make the Opening Day roster if Ichiro isn’t available.
  • The Pirates’ interest in Korean shortstop prospect Ji-Hwan Bae dates back almost two years, Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, and the team was finally able to land the 18-year-old after he was made a free agent following the Braves’ international signing scandal.  Given a second chance at the signing, Pittsburgh again made a push, and Bae said (via an interpreter) that he chose them over other suitors because the “Pirates were the most active team approaching” about a contract.  The Pirates thought enough of Bae to give him $1.25MM, the second-largest bonus the franchise has ever given to an international prospect, and GM Neal Huntington feels Bae can stick at shortstop over the long term.
  • Brad Boxberger has been named the Diamondbacks’ closer, the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and others reported.  Boxberger posted a league-best 41 saves in his first season as the Rays’ closer back in 2015, though injuries both cost him the job and limited him to 53 2/3 total innings in 2016-17.  Now healthy, Boxberger could again blossom into an effective late-game weapon for Arizona, though Piecoro notes that the larger factor in the Diamondbacks’ decision might’ve been the team’s preference to keep Archie Bradley as a fireman rather than in a strict ninth-inning role.  For updates on every team’s closing situation, be sure to follow MLBTR’s sister Twitter feed @CloserNews.

East Notes: Britton, Ngoepe, Tulo, Brentz, Fuld

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Zach Britton appears to be making good progress in his recovery from Achilles tendon surgery, and some in the Orioles organization think the closer could return to action by early June, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes.  An even quicker return isn’t out of the question, though Britton’s 60-day DL placement means that May 28 is the absolute earliest he can get back on the field, and the O’s might not want to rush him unless they’re absolutely certain Britton is ready to go.

Here are some more items from both the AL and NL East divisions…

  • Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi (Twitter links) and other reporters that infielder Gift Ngoepe will break camp with the team.  Veteran Danny Espinosa was recently signed to a minor league deal to provide some competition for the utility field job, though it appears Ngoepe will head north to begin the season.  He’ll provide backup at shortstop behind Aledmys Diaz, who is himself filling in at the position for the injured Troy Tulowitzki.  Gibbons also said that more roster moves will be in the works tomorrow, as the Jays need to clear 40-man roster spots for John Axford and Tyler Clippard.
  • One of those 40-man spots could be opened up if Tulowitzki is moved to the 60-day DL, as the Blue Jays veteran continues to be plagued by bone spurs in his right ankle.  Davidi reports that Tulowitzki is visiting with an ankle specialist tomorrow to determine the next course of action, and surgery could be a possibility.
  • The Mets don’t have another trade in the works involving Bryce Brentz, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports, so it looks like they will try to keep the outfielder in the organization.  Brentz was claimed off waivers from the Pirates on Monday and would have to pass through waivers again before the Mets could send him down to Triple-A, as Brentz is out of minor league options.  New York already has a crowded outfield picture that includes Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Juan Lagares, and Brandon Nimmo, plus Phillip Evans and Jose Reyes capable of corner outfield work and Michael Conforto expected back from the DL early in the season.
  • Sam Fuld’s status as a former player and a newly-minted member of the Phillies analytics department makes him an ideal conduit for bridging the gap between advances metrics and everyday baseball use, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Daily News writes.  “Players are told to do something from someone that doesn’t quite have playing experience at a high level and it can be frustrating when you’re told to do something that is really, really difficult,” Fuld said.  “It’s taken for granted sometimes. Hopefully I can relate.”  Rhys Hoskins, for one, has already taken to Fuld’s advice, such as using a “cheat sheet” to determine specific batter-by-batter positioning while in the outfield.

Brewers Notes: Santana, Attanasio, Pitching

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Despite a lackluster Spring Training performance, Domingo Santana doesn’t believe he was distracted by the trade speculation that followed him all winter, the outfielder tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Though he said he didn’t worry about the rumors because they were out of his control, Santana admitted that “it would have been hard to get traded. I’m really attached to this group of people here. Even the staff, they have been really good to me since Day 1.”  Since Santana didn’t get dealt, he now faces some type of reduction in playing time with Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain moving into everyday outfield roles and Ryan Braun also in the mix for left field or a first base timeshare with Eric Thames.  It remains to be seen how the Brew Crew will juggle all of these players, though it also isn’t out of the question that a trade could still solve this logjam.

Some more from the Brewers’ camp…

  • In an appearance on the “Power Alley” show on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link), Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said that the team exhibited “a little bit of discipline in some of our signings” during the winter in order to save some resources for potential trade deadline pickups.  “Some of the decisions we made in the offseason here were more keeping our powder dry for midseason acquisitions,” Attanasio said.  The team will already go into 2018 with an estimated payroll of almost $93.5MM, as opposed to just over $70MM at the end of last season, with the Cain and Yelich salaries representing the biggest new outlays.
  • It could be that the Brewers explore adding a pitcher at midseason, though in another piece from Haudricourt, Brewers GM David Stearns discussed how the Brew Crew simply weren’t comfortable spending at the levels necessary to land a major free agent arm like Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta, or Alex Cobb.  Stearns feels his team already has some good pitching on hand, which he realizes runs counter to criticism from pundits and fans that the Brewers still need rotation help.  “We’re flying against what the common perception is of our team.  We understand that.  We’ve also done that a lot since I’ve been here,” Stearns said.  “Look, we’re wrong plenty. But we’re as wrong on the conventional moves as we are on the unconventional moves.  We have to do what we think is right and not necessarily do what convention says….We might not necessarily agree with conventional wisdom on some players.  If someone is willing to pay more than you, then you’re not going to get the player.  When we’re willing to be the high bidder, as we were with Lorenzo Cain, you get the player.”

Athletics Prospect A.J. Puk Recommended For Tommy John Surgery

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8:34PM: As per a statement released by the A’s, Dr. James Andrews has recommended that Puk undergo Tommy John surgery to correct UCL damage in his throwing elbow.  Andrews provided the second opinion after Dr. Doug Freedberg made an initial diagnosis.  The procedure would put Puk out of action for an estimated 12-15 months, and it seems likely that Oakland would err on the longer side of that timeline for precautionary reasons.

6:28PM: A’s manager Bob Melvin confirmed that Puk is getting a second opinion but didn’t provide details on the specifics of the injury, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets.

5:45PM: Athletics left-handed pitching prospect A.J. Puk was shut down last week due to biceps soreness, and now there are concerns that Puk may have a ligament problem in his throwing elbow, according to FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman.  Puk “was thought to be” looking for second opinions after initial meetings with doctors since his shutdown, which would hint at a larger issue.  Another possible ominous sign, as noted by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link), is that the A’s themselves have yet to go on record about Puk’s injury, not even to confirm the initial diagnosis.

The worst-case scenario for ligament issues, of course, would be Tommy John surgery, which would sideline Puk until midway through the 2019 season.  The A’s have already lost Jharel Cotton to TJ surgery this spring and Paul Blackburn has also been sidelined with a forearm strain, though Puk going on the shelf would represent a big setback for both the club and for one of the game’s best prospects.

Puk entered the spring as the consensus pick as Oakland’s top minor leaguer, with ESPN.com’s Keith Law ranking the southpaw 13th on his list of the top 100 prospects in baseball.  (Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and Fangraphs all had Puk 30th, while MLB.com ranked him just behind at 32nd on their top-100 lists.)  Puk only added to his stature with a strong showing in Oakland’s spring camp, though a rough performance in his final appearance led to the shutdown, and Heyman observes that Puk’s velocity had dropped over his last two outings.

Drafted sixth overall in 2016, Puk had already reached Double-A last season and it was expected he would make his MLB debut at some point this season.  After his good start in spring camp, there was even some chatter that the A’s would give him an aggressive promotion right to the big leagues, though obviously now the team will be as careful in possible in getting Puk back onto a mound at all, if possible.

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