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Giants Place Joe Panik On Release Waivers

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The Giants announced today that they have placed second baseman Joe Panik on unconditional relief waivers. He had been designated for assignment recently.

This was the likely outcome of the situation once Panik hit DFA limbo. He’d have had the right to elect free agency had he been outrighted. It seems most likely that Panik will end up on the open market. A claiming team would have to take on the remainder of his $3.8MM salary. Instead, they can wait and pay him only for a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary.

Either way, Panik will be eligible for arbitration one final time in the 2020 season. It’s unlikely he’ll be tendered, but perhaps that’s still possible if he catches on elsewhere and turns things around down the stretch.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Didi Gregorius

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The Xander Bogaerts extension was quite surprising when signed and has only increased in value to the Red Sox since. That deal gave the Yankees’ chief nemesis extended control over a core asset. It also removed the chief potential market rival for New York shortstop Didi Gregorius.

Gregorius will presumably be basking in the glow of a long-term deal when he celebrates his thirtieth birthday at the outset of Spring Training next year. He enjoys a rather favorable free-agent outlook from a structural standpoint, though he’ll likely have to decline a qualifying offer (and take on the drag of draft compensation) to get there. Just scan the list of pending free agents and you’ll see why Gregorius is still sitting pretty despite his somewhat tepid initial showing this year.

There’s some slight possibility Elvis Andrus will opt out of his deal with the Rangers, but the smart money says he’ll stay put in Texas. Veterans like Freddy Galvis, Jose Iglesias, and Jordy Mercer will be seen only as bench or second-division fill-in options. There’s competition on the left side of the infield more generally, with Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson hitting the open market, and there are some other solid options capable of playing third or second base. But teams intent on signing a quality regular shortstop have nowhere else to turn.

The circumstances are ripe for Sir Didi to maximize his value. But the fundamentals will still drive the bidding. Gregorius has still only played about a quarter of a season’s worth of games this year, having missed the early portion of the season due to Tommy John surgery, but he’s also now nearly halfway through his platform presentation. Let’s see where things stand …

In his first three seasons in New York, Gregorius hit at a roughly league-average .276/.313/.432 clip while averaging 18 long balls annually. His power and output was trending northward, but didn’t fully arrive until a breakout 2018 campaign in which he slashed a robust .268/.335/.494, swatted 27 dingers, and posted a much-improved 69:48 K/BB ratio over 569 trips to the plate.

The difference in the offensive output is significant, obviously. Gregorius is generally perceived and graded as a solid fielder and quality baserunner. With even league-average hitting mixed in, he’s arguably a 3 WAR true-talent player. But with the 121 wRC+ performance he put up last year? Now you’re looking at a guy that’s pushing 5 WAR in a good and healthy season.

We’ve seen signs of both ends of the range for Gregorius thus far in 2019. The overall output sits right in range of league average, with a familiar blend of good pop and middling on-base skills. He’s averaging the same above-average sprint speed as usual and has mostly graded in range of average in the field — not that metrics are particularly telling with just over 300 innings as a sample.

Unsurprisingly, Gregorius has chased both high four-seamers (as he has long been wont to do) and low offspeed offerings (ditto). Pitchers have long attacked him in this manner — and for good reason. Chasing lots of pitches out of the zone has been a part of the Gregorius way since he landed with the Yankees. But he’s doing so now at heretofore unseen levels: 42.2%, up from 36.2% last year. Gregorius is also swinging and missing more now (11.1%) than he did in 2018 (9.2%).

As a result, there has been a notable and somewhat concerning backslide in the plate discipline department. That’s where Gregorius really thrived in 2018, driving his career year. Last season: 12.1% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate. Thus far in 2019: 13.5% strikeout rate, 4.5% walk rate.

But let’s slow down. Gregorius was coming back in the middle of the season after his long rehab effort. And he has already shown notable mid-season plate-discipline improvement. Through his first 22 games, Gregorius maintained a .298 on-base percentage. In his next 20? Um, also a .298 OBP. But he’s getting there in a different way. Gregorius went down on strikes 17 times while drawing just three walks in the first period. In the past twenty contests he has seven strikeouts and five free passes. While his BABIP has taken a downturn in period #2, that’s all but assuredly happenstance (not least of which since his slugging percentage is up to .500, suggesting he’s having little trouble putting the barrel on the ball).

In the power department, Gregorius is carrying the same dozen-plus-percent HR/FB rate and steep average launch angle (17.1 degrees, currently) we’ve become accustomed to. Statcast doesn’t love Gregorius’s batted-ball profile any more than it has in recent seasons, but it also still shows that he isn’t exactly getting by on cheap dingers. While he isn’t making consistently loud contact, with an 87.0 mph average exit velo and .294 xwOBA, he can put a charge in a ball. Gregorius’s eight long balls this year have left the yard at an average 101.1 mph velocity and 28.1 degree launch angle.

All things considered, it seems Gregorius is at worst much the same player he was before his uptick last year. Depending upon how one grades his anticipated future glovework, it’s quite possible to believe he’s a solid 3.5 WAR shortstop who is worthy of being installed as an everyday option for the next several seasons. Given his showing at the plate over the past three weeks, it also seems possible that he’ll end the present season looking more like his 2018 self — the best version we’ve yet seen of Didi.

Either way, we already have a pretty good hint as to one element of Gregorius’s market valuation. The Yanks tendered him a contract last winter, ultimately agreeing to a substantial $11.75MM payday, despite knowing in advance that Gregorius would miss a significant amount of time and face some rehab uncertainty. Gregorius won’t challenge Bogaerts (even at the reduced rate he settled for) in terms of annual salary or years, but the Yankees shortstop is in position — especially with a strong finish — to line up a strong three or four-year pact at a relatively hefty AAV.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Angels Acquire Drew Hutchison

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The Angels have acquired right-hander Drew Hutchison from the Twins, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. Cash considerations went in return, per Morrie Silver of the Rochester Red Wings (via Twitter).

Hutchison, who’ll soon turn 29, will add to the depth for an Angels organization that has had to work to keep its MLB staff afloat. The staff has been taxed again recently by more injuries.

Conditions are tough for hurlers in the International League, where Hutchison has pitched all year long. He owns a 5.55 ERA in 108 2/3 frames, with 9.4 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9. Through 460 1/3 career innings at the game’s highest level, Hutchison carries a 5.10 ERA.

Marlins Select Contract Of Deven Marrero

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The Marlins announced today that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Deven Marrero. He’ll take the roster spot of fellow infielder Miguel Rojas, who is heading to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain.

Marrero, 29, is a former first-round pick who has yet to show he has the stick to hang in the big leagues. The shortstop owns a .197/.250/.283 slash line through 343 plate appearances at the game’s highest level.

There has been a notable change for Marrero this year at Triple-A, where he has cracked 14 long balls in 380 plate appearances after never previously finishing a season with even a double-digit tally. Of course, that’s the sort of thing we’ve seen from quite a few other players in the homer-friendly International League, so it’s hard to put too much stock in this particular development.

Have The Yankees Found A Keeper In Mike Tauchman?

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The story of this Yankees season hasn’t been one of larger-than-life stars (though some of those have played significant roles as well). It’s one of savvy organizational decisionmaking and depth, of unheralded players stepping up when called to the big stage. A future team biographer might well frame them The 2019 Yankees: Humble Savages. It’s all enough to make even the staunchest fan of an Evil Empire rival start rooting for the New York leviathan. (No? Okay, okay, just checking.)

But what does it all mean? We can and should tip our caps to GM Brian Cashman and his front office, for starters. There are a whole lot of well-conceived individual decisions snowballing here, involving smart roster management, wise player acquisition and development, and deft deployment of talent. Overcoming the injuries — the roster is still riddled with them — has been an impressive feat.

Still, at some point the club is going to pick a 25-man postseason roster. And then there’ll be the eventual wave of 40-man roster culling at the end of the campaign. Fringe roster members — even those that factored prominently this year — can and will be traded or decommissioned to suit the needs of the Yankees machine.

Which leads us to wonder about those heart-and-soul types, those scrappy unknowns who have given so much to this year’s Yanks. Which of them has earned a place in the future plans of the vaunted franchise — or at least a ticket out of town to a greater opportunity elsewhere? And which may ultimately look back on this time not as the start of a long and prosperous Yankees career, but as a blissful-but-fleeting moment when it all came together?

Put otherwise, in the words of the fans of rival clubs (I can only presume): are you serious with this Mike Tauchman guy?

Tauchman landed with the Yanks late in camp when it became clear he wasn’t needed in Colorado. He was already 28 years of age and had only just tasted the majors. All it cost the Yankees was a decent but hardly overwhelming reliever prospect who wouldn’t tie up a 40-man spot for the Rockies.

You know what happened next. It didn’t occur right away, as Tauchman didn’t thrive in his first fill-in work in New York earlier this year. But he has been ablaze since being recalled just after the All-Star break and is currently enjoying something like near-regular playing time in the absence of Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton, and Edwin Encarnacion.

Tauchman’s numbers of late have indeed been ridiculous. He has strode to the dish with bat in hand seventy times over a twenty-game span, driving in twenty runs along the way. Five of those plate appearances have ended in home runs. There are 28 base knocks and six walks. Tauchman has thrown in a pair of steals for good measure.

When you add up all of Tauchman’s contributions this year, he sits at a .299/.371/.563 slash line with ten long balls over 194 MLB plate appearances. That’s a 143 wRC+ — quite good! It’s only fair to note that defensive metrics are also fans of his glovework in left field, boosting him to an eye-popping 2.0 fWAR over just sixty games of action.

There was a reason the Yanks targeted Tauchman in the first place. He had struggled in two brief runs with the Rox, but that’s easy to dismiss. Heck, now that we can put it all in context … was this the inevitable rise of an excellent hitter? Tauchman devastated Triple-A pitching at Albuquerque for two-straight seasons, posting consecutive .331/.386/.555 and .323/.408/.571 batting lines. Even with league context, those were strong numbers. Tauchman’s numbers this year with the top New York affiliate are also strong: .274/.386/.505 with as many walks as strikeouts (16 apiece).

All good so far. But what does a look under the hood show us? There’s not much of particular interest in the K/BB department. Tauchman is walking at a 10.3% clip, which is slightly above-average these days. He’s also going down on strikes at a 27.3% rate. That’s rather elevated, though not to the point of being a major concern in and of itself. Tauchman’s 9.8% swinging-strike rate isn’t alarming and he has a high-contact history in the minors, having typically sat in the fifteen-percent K-rate range. He’s also carrying a meager 22.8% chase rate, so he’s obviously seeing the ball well at the moment.

It’s somewhat intriguing to wonder about a version of Tauchman that maintains the power — he owns a hefty .264 ISO — while drawing down the strikeouts closer to his upper-minors levels. But that probably isn’t realistic. True, he has done it before, but never to this extent … and only in high-powered offensive environments against sub-MLB pitching.

The biggest red flags come when you look at the contact outputs. Tauchman is carrying a .378 batting average on balls in play — an obviously unsustainable number, but one that can reflect the fact that a player is absolutely stinging the baseball.

That’s not really the case here. Tauchman does have a strong 9.2% barrel rate, but he’s carrying an unremarkable 88.5 mph exit velocity. Statcast credits him only with a .316 xwOBA, vastly lagging his .384 wOBA and suggesting that there has been no shortage of good fortune in outcomes. Indeed, Tauchman’s ten long balls have flown an average distance of only 384 feet — a Sogardian level that doesn’t exactly portend an ability to sustain a whopping 27.0% HR/FB rate.

Odds are, Tauchman’s hot streak will subside. This probably isn’t a true breakout; it’s not the result of some major change to mechanics or approach that might support a sustainable power boost. But that doesn’t mean Tauchman is destined to be dumped at season’s end. It’s possible he’ll feel the roster crunch and end up elsewhere — notably, he’ll be out of options next year — but it isn’t too hard to imagine the Yanks giving him an ongoing role. Tauchman has an excellent hit tool and at-least-decent pop. He comes with loads of minor-league experience in center field and (as noted) has graded quite well this year with the glove. There’s a potential path to a left-handed-hitting fourth outfielder role that’d fit the roster quite nicely… depending upon how things turn out with long-time Yankees stalwart and pending free agent Brett Gardner, who has enjoyed a renaissance year at the plate thus far.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Previewing Club Option Decisions: Relievers

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This is the fourth and final piece in a series previewing offseason club option decisions. This edition will focus on relievers…

Right-handers

  • Tony Barnette, Cubs ($3MM option): Barnette hasn’t been a factor this year in Chicago, where he has thrown just 1 1/3 innings. The former Ranger sat out until late June because of shoulder issues and then landed on the restricted list July 1 for personal reasons. He won’t be a Cub again in 2020, at least not for $3MM.
  • Jared Hughes, Reds ($3MM option or $250K buyout): The grounder-heavy Hughes overcame a lack of strikeouts to post ERAs ranging from 1.96 to 3.03 as a Pirate and Red from 2013-18. While Hughes has continued to induce grounders at a world-class clip this year (62.1 percent), the run prevention hasn’t been there. He owns a 4.36 ERA/4.94 FIP with 6.23 K/9, 3.53 BB/9 and a 22.2 percent home run-to-fly ball rate over 43 1/3 innings. Hughes has also seen his swinging-strike rate dip by almost 3 percent since last season. The Reds could try to upgrade over the 34-year-old, though his track record of keeping opposing teams at bay – not to mention an affordable price tag for 2020 – may save him if they decide his HR troubles are a fluke. Opponents have mustered a meager .668 OPS off Hughes this season, so clubs aren’t exactly lighting him up.
  • Jeremy Jeffress, Brewers ($4.3MM option): Jeffress, 32 next month, hasn’t come close to replicating the dream season he put together in 2018. His average fastball velocity has dipped about 2 mph (from 95.3 to 93.7), which has helped lead to a 4 percent drop in swinging-strike rate, an 8 percent fall in his strikeout rate and a 10.5 percent decline in his grounder rate. His 5.00 ERA and 3.99 FIP through 45 innings aren’t great, either. However, despite a litany of red flags, Jeffress still looks cheap enough for the Brewers to bring back.
  • Nate Jones, Rangers ($3.75MM option or $1.25MM buyout): Once among the game’s top relievers, injuries have derailed the 33-year-old Jones’ career in recent seasons. He has thrown just 10 1/3 innings in 2019 and is out for the season after undergoing right forearm surgery in May. The Rangers nonetheless took on Jones in a deadline trade with the White Sox, and they seem likely to give him a shot to make an impact next year.
  • Shawn Kelley, Rangers ($2.5MM option or $250K buyout): Meanwhile, it’ll be a bigger surprise if the Rangers don’t retain Kelley, who – despite some health issues this year – has worked to a 3.00 ERA/4.09 FIP with 8.73 K/9 and 1.36 BB/9 in 33 innings.
  • Brandon Morrow, Cubs ($12MM option or $3MM buyout): Morrow was brilliant when healthy from 2017-18, but he hasn’t pitched since last July because of elbow problems. Although Morrow expects to return sometime this season, it’s hard to believe the oft-injured 35-year-old will have enough time to show the Cubs they should invest another large sum of money in him for 2020.
  • Pat Neshek, Phillies ($7MM option or $750K buyout): Neshek has been ineffective when healthy this year and may be done for the season on account of a hamstring injury. It’ll be a shock if the Phillies pick up his option over the winter.
  • Dan Otero, Indians ($1.5MM option or $100K buyout): While he’ll be extremely affordable next season, Otero hasn’t done much this year to justify even a small investment. Out since the end of May with shoulder inflammation, the 34-year-old has recorded a 4.56 ERA/5.62 FIP with 3.8 strikeouts per nine. He also had a hard time keeping the opposition off the scoreboard in 2018.
  • Yusmeiro Petit, Athletics ($5.5MM option or $1MM buyout): Petit, 34, has been a valuable workhorse out of the A’s bullpen since he joined the team prior to 2018. Through 153 innings with the franchise, Petit has pitched to a 2.82 ERA/3.89 FIP with 7.35 K/9 and 1.41 BB/9. He’ll stick around in 2020.
  • David Phelps, Cubs ($1MM option that can increase based on appearances): Phelps, whom the Cubs acquired from the Blue Jays at the deadline, has an option that will climb to $3MM if he makes 30 appearances, $5MM at 40 and $7MM at 50. He’s currently at 20, over which he has put up a 3.86 ERA/4.61 FIP with 9.64 K/9 against 3.86 BB/9. Considering Phelps’ floating option value, it’s too soon to forecast whether he’ll return to the Cubs next year. It’ll depend how well the soon-to-be 33-year-old performs through season’s end and the amount of appearances he winds up making.
  • Adam Warren, Padres ($2.5MM option or $500K buyout): The value of Warren’s 2020 option looked more than reasonable entering the season, but the ex-Yankee, Cub and Mariner has since endured a rocky few months in San Diego. Not only has Warren been on ice for two months with a right forearm strain, but he managed an unappealing 5.34 ERA/6.91 FIP in 28 2/3 innings before hitting the shelf. It’s likely he’ll end up back on the open market over the winter.

Left-handers

  • Jake Diekman, Athletics ($5.75MM mutual option or $500K buyout): Diekman’s year, which he has divided between Kansas City and Oakland, has been a mixed bag. His 4.91 ERA and 5.32 BB/9 across 44 innings are ugly, yet he has notched a 3.49 FIP and 13.5 strikeouts per nine. The low-budget A’s may not want to invest in Diekman again next season, however, even if he exercises his half of a mutual option.
  • Sean Doolittle, Nationals ($6.5MM option or $500K buyout): The Nationals will absolutely keep Doolittle – by far their brightest light in what has been a shaky bullpen.
  • Aaron Loup, Padres ($2MM option): An elbow sprain has kept Loup out of action since April 7. If he does return this season, the 31-year-old will need a strong finish to give himself any chance to collect $2MM from the Padres in 2020.
  • Oliver Perez, Indians ($2.75MM option): Perez’s option will automatically vest at 55 appearances. He’s 10 away right now, having registered a 2.79 ERA/3.18 FIP with 10.86 K/9 and 2.48 BB/9 in 45 games and 29 innings. Barring a serious injury or a trade, he’ll be an Indian again in 2020.

Previewing Club Option Decisions: Starting Pitchers

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This is the third in a series of pieces previewing offseason club option decisions. This edition will focus on starting pitchers…

  • Chris Archer, RHP, Pirates ($9MM option or $1.75MM buyout): The Archer era hasn’t gone as planned for Pittsburgh since it acquired him from Tampa Bay in a July 2018 blockbuster. This year, his first full season as a Pirate, Archer has notched an awful 5.35 ERA/5.55 FIP across 107 2/3 innings. His $9MM salary for next year no longer looks like a bargain, but it’s not pricey enough for the Pirates to cut the cord.
  • Andrew Cashner, RHP, Red Sox ($10MM option): Cashner was the reigning world champion Red Sox’s headlining July acquisition, but he hasn’t helped matters during a skid that could knock the team out of contention. After pitching decently for the Orioles prior to the deal, the soon-to-be 33-year-old Cashner has yielded 18 earned runs on 31 hits and 10 walks (with 16 strikeouts) in four starts and 23 1/3 innings as a member of the Red Sox. He won’t be on their roster in 2020.
  • Derek Holland, LHP, Cubs ($6.5MM option or $500K buyout): We could technically group Holland in with the relievers, as he has spent most of the season in that capacity for the Giants and Cubs after an abysmal start to the season out of San Francisco’s rotation. Holland has been good for the Cubs since they acquired the then-designated 32-year-old, having logged 5 2/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball. As of now, though, he’s a strong bet to return to free agency over the winter.
  • Corey Kluber, RHP, Indians ($17.5MM option or $1MM buyout): The two-time Cy Young winner got off to a surprisingly rough start before suffering a forearm fracture May 1, and he hasn’t returned since. But the 33-year-old Kluber’s option should still be an easy one for the Indians to exercise.
  • Wade LeBlanc, LHP, Mariners ($5MM option or $450K buyout): While LeBlanc was a respectable source of innings for the Mariners in 2018, he’s likely pitching his way back to the free-agent market this season. The 35-year-old owns a 5.38 ERA/5.30 FIP over 92 innings divided between the M’s rotation and bullpen.
  • Martin Perez, LHP, Twins ($7MM option or $500K buyout): It was just last offseason that the Rangers declined a $7.5MM option for Perez, who has since emerged as a decent buy-low pickup for the Twins. Perez, 28, is averaging a career-high 94.1 mph on his fastball and has pitched to a 4.58 ERA/4.44 FIP with 7.76 K/9, 3.57 BB/9 and a 49.3 percent groundball rate across 116 innings. That’s acceptable production for a back-end starter, though it’s worth noting Perez’s numbers have tailed off over the past couple months. Minnesota may opt to move on as a result, which would save the team $7MM. Then again, the club could be leery of having to replace yet another starter behind ace Jose Berrios with Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda all headed for free agency.
  • Jose Quintana, LHP, Cubs ($11.5MM option or $1MM buyout): The Cubs traded two potential long-term building blocks, outfielder Eloy Jimenez and righty Dylan Cease, to the crosstown rival White Sox for Quintana back in 2017. Quintana was amid an excellent multiyear stretch then, though his effectiveness has waned since changing Chicago homes. Still, the soon-to-be 31-year-old absolutely hasn’t struggled enough for the Cubs to reject his option two seasons after giving up Jimenez and Cease. Quintana has recorded a 4.40 ERA/4.09 FIP in 122 2/3 innings this year.
  • Julio Teheran, RHP, Braves ($12MM option or $1MM buyout): This is a pretty debatable case. On one hand, Teheran’s 3.46 ERA and team-leading 130 innings are impressive. On the other, his 4.47 FIP, 5.11 SIERA, 5.25 xFIP, 4.29 BB/9 and 39.7 percent grounder rate combine to paint a much drearier picture. That said, the 28-year-old Teheran has become known for regularly outperforming underwhelming peripherals. Whether the Braves trust his ability to do it again in 2020 will determine his fate with the organization.
  • Jason Vargas, LHP, Phillies ($8MM option or $2MM buyout): Vargas was among the game’s worst starters in 2018, but he has rebounded this season to post passable back-end numbers with the Mets and Phillies. The soft-tossing 36-year-old has amassed 100 2/3 innings of 3.93 ERA/4.66 FIP pitching with 7.69 K/9, 3.58 BB/9 and a 40.7 percent grounder mark. He’s still far from a slam dunk to have his option picked up – cutting Vargas would save the Phillies $6MM – but they’ll need competent innings from somewhere in 2020. They haven’t consistently gotten enough of those this year from anyone but Aaron Nola. He and the declining Jake Arrieta will be back in Philly’s rotation next season, but questions abound otherwise.

Twins’ Brusdar Graterol Could Earn Promotion Soon

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The AL Central-leading Twins could promote well-regarded pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol to the majors as early as this month, assistant general manager Rob Antony told SKOR North. The right-hander will likely work as a reliever this year if he does come up to the bigs, Antony suggested.

The 20-year-old Graterol has missed time this season with shoulder issues, but he’s back now and has turned in encouraging results when healthy. In his first Double-A action this year, Graterol has logged a 1.89 ERA/3.26 FIP with 8.69 K/9, 3.59 BB/9 and a 52.1 percent groundball rate across 47 2/3 innings. Moreover, Baseball America (No. 34), FanGraphs (52) and MLB.com (58) all rank Graterol among the best prospects in the game.

Capable of hitting triple digits on the radar gun, Graterol could be a serious late-season weapon (perhaps a multi-inning one, per Antony) for a Twins bullpen that hasn’t been great at preventing runs this year. The unit sits a middle-of-the-pack 14th in ERA (4.45), and it has undergone major changes of late. The Twins recently rid themselves of Blake Parker, Matt Magill, Mike Morin and Adalberto Mejia – who combined for upward of 100 innings from their bullpen – and then tried to upgrade their relief corps by adding Sergio Romo and Sam Dyson prior to the trade deadline.

Romo has thrown 4 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball since Minnesota acquired him from Miami, but the Dyson pickup has surprisingly blown up in the Twins’ faces so far. After an impressive start to the season with the Giants, Dyson surrendered a total of six earned runs on six hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning in his first two appearances as a Twin. Dyson then hit the injured list with right biceps tendinitis, which he alarmingly revealed has been bothering him since mid-July.

Blue Jays To Sign Neil Ramirez

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TODAY: The deal is done, per Scott Mitchell of TSN (via Twitter). It’s a minors pact.

YESTERDAY: The Blue Jays are closing in on a contract with free-agent reliever Neil Ramirez, according to Roster Roundup. It’s unclear whether it’ll be a major league pact for Ramirez, whom the Indians released Aug. 2.

A veteran of several organizations, the 30-year-old Ramirez cracked Cleveland’s bullpen earlier this season and struggled to a 5.40 ERA/6.57 FIP in 16 2/3 innings. Ramirez logged a solid number of strikeouts (9.72 K/9), which he has done throughout his career, though he also issued 4.86 walks per nine and posted a paltry 25.0 percent groundball rate. The right-hander wasn’t that much more successful this season as a member of the Tribe’s Triple-A team, with which he recorded a 4.91 ERA/5.11 FIP. Ramirez did, however, manage 13.81 K/9 against 3.38 BB/9 during that 29 1/3-inning span.

A deal with the Blue Jays could present a quick path back to the majors for Ramirez, as the team dealt relievers Daniel Hudson, Joe Biagini and David Phelps prior to last week’s trade deadline. Out-of-contention Toronto’s now stuck with a fairly uninspiring group of options in front of closer Ken Giles.

AL Notes: Yankees, O’s, R. Nunez, Mariners, Felix

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Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres left the team’s game Tuesday with a potential injury, per George A. King III of the New York Post. It’s the second time since Sunday that Torres had to exit with a possible ailment, as he departed the club’s game that night with what manager Aaron Boone called “a core issue.” Torres was subsequently cleared of a sports hernia – which teammate Luke Voit is dealing with – and was in the Yankees’ starting lineup Monday and Tuesday. The team’s now once again left to hold its breath that Torres will be fine. The Yankees, to their credit, have withstood one significant injury after another this year en route to an AL-best 73-39 record. Their success has come thanks in no small part to the 22-year-old Torres, who has slashed .281/.347/.505 with 23 home runs in 439 plate appearances. [UPDATE: Torres left with “core pain,” Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record was among those to report. He’ll return to New York to undergo more tests, Erik Boland of Newsday tweets.]

As for Voit, it’s still unknown whether he’ll undergo surgery, though an answer could come in the next week, Boone suggested Tuesday (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). With time running out in the season, it’s possible Voit won’t be able to return until the playoffs – and perhaps not at all – if he does go under the knife, as Ackert points out.

Here’s the latest on two other American League teams:

  • Orioles designated hitter/corner infielder Renato Nunez drew some interest prior to the trade deadline, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. The Orioles wound up keeping Nunez, a May 2018 waiver claim who has taken advantage of regular playing time this year to hit .246/.313/.486 with 25 home runs in 434 plate appearances. Nunez, 25, won’t be eligible for arbitration until after next season.
  • Mariners infielder Tim Beckham received an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs Tuesday, but his time on their roster might have been on the verge of ending even before then. Although he still has a year of arbitration eligibility remaining, Beckham was a candidate for a designation for assignment, according to the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. The Mariners could have cut Beckham to make room for outfield prospect Jake Fraley sometime soon, Divish reports. However, Fraley is dealing with a quad injury at the moment. The Mariners will need to add Fraley to their 40-man roster if they do promote him, but they have four openings right now. The club acquired Fraley from the Rays in last offseason’s Mallex Smith/Mike Zunino trade.
  • Sticking with the Mariners, injured outfielder Mitch Haniger and starter Felix Hernandez are progressing in their recoveries, Greg Johns of MLB.com explains. Haniger, out since June 7 with a ruptured testicle, is closing in on a rehab assignment, manager Scott Servais said Tuesday. And Hernandez, whom right shoulder problems have kept from the majors since May 11, will make a second rehab start Thursday. The 33-year-old King Felix may be able to return in late August, Johns notes, which could give the pending free agent and Mariners legend a chance to say goodbye to the franchise and its fans.

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