The Rangers received offseason trade interest in lefty Mike Minor but opted to hang onto him to help anchor a thin rotation in 2019. And while USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted recently that both the Mets and Phillies are showing “strong” interest in Minor, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News cites three sources in reporting that the Texas organization hasn’t had any recent trade talks regarding the left-hander. It’s likely that the Phillies and Mets have each scouted Minor’s early outings, but other clubs have surely done the same, just as Philadelphia and New York have quite likely scouted numerous other starting pitchers.
For the Rangers, it’s difficult to envision trading Minor to the Mets, Phillies or any other team so early in the year — particularly given their own thin rotation. Minor, earning $9.5MM in both 2019 and 2020, will likely be an oft-discussed trade candidate later this summer, when a greater number of motivated buyers is willing to make an offer (and when additional replacement options have potentially emerged within the organization). At present, however, a trade of that magnitude seems unlikely.
Here’s more from the American League…
- Jake Kaplan of The Athletic explores the manner in which the Astros will manage the workload of top pitching prospect Forrest Whitley (subscription required). The highly touted righty totaled just 52 1/3 innings between the regular season and the AFL last year, owing to a 50-game drug suspension and a pair of injuries, so Houston will monitor his pitch and inning counts closely. Thus far, Whitley has been limited to five innings or 80 pitches per appearance. Houston opted to have him take the final turn in what is a six-day rotation consisting of three solo starters and three tandem pairings (one including the pairing of Whitley and Cy Sneed). While the organization has a rough idea of where they’d like Whitley’s innings count to land, president of baseball ops Jeff Luhnow suggested that it’s a context-dependent guideline rather than a hard cap. It’s plausible that he could debut as either a starter or reliever, depending on team needs. In general, Houston’s at times unorthodox approach to player development makes for a fascinating read, and that’s all the more true when the focus is placed on arguably the game’s top pitching prospect.
- The White Sox announced Thursday morning that they’ve placed right-hander Lucas Giolito on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. To replace Giolito and outfielder Daniel Palka, who was optioned to Triple-A following last night’s game, they’ve recalled righty Carson Fulmer and outfielder Ryan Cordell. Giolito tells reporters that he expects to only miss a pair of starts with the injury (Twitter link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Sun Times), but it’s still a discouraging setback for the former top prospect. The 24-year-old had an awful first full season in 2018, stumbling to a 6.13 ERA in 173 1/3 innings, but he’s shown some encouraging signs early in 2019. His fastball velocity is up nearly a mile per hour over his 2018 average, while his swinging-strike rate is up from a pedestrian 8.3 percent to a well-above-average 12.4 percent. After averaging just 6.5 K/9 in 2018, Giolito has already punched out 23 hitters in 18 2/3 frames. He still needs to improve his control, but the early improvements in velocity and missed bats are encouraging even if his ERA is still at an elevated 5.30 mark.
- Tigers outfielder Christin Stewart landed on the injured list Thursday thanks to a right quad strain, per a club announcement. Infielder/outfielder Brandon Dixon is up from Triple-A Toledo to take his spot on the roster. The 25-year-old Stewart’s bid for an everyday spot in Detroit’s long-term lineup is off to a decent start, as he’s batting .246/.346/.465 through 136 plate appearances dating back to his late-2018 debut. Stewart has drawn a free pass in 12.5 percent of his trips to the plate and smacked five homers, six doubles and two triples in his limited experience, showing off the patience and power that make him an intriguing prospect. He’s unlikely to provide much in the way of defensive value, but he has the makings of a bat-first corner outfielder or designated hitter moving forward.
I’ve never heard of Cy Sneed, but I like him on name alone.
He sounds like he should be a cartoon villain. That’s an all-time good baseball name right there.
He was acquired from the Brewers for Johnathan Villar a few years back.
If the dude isn’t rocking a handlebar mustache then it’s a serous missed marketing opportunity!
If the phillies don’t get Minor , I think they will get Bumgarner sooner or later
That’s quite the jump…
It is quite the jump but who would want to face a three headed monster of nola • arrieta • bumgarner in the playoffs?
I’ll take it.
Giolito just needs to pitch against Kansas City more often. He was looking very impressive yesterday before the injury.
Also beat KC in his first start of season. Struck out 8 in 6 2/3. Only 99 pitches.
Hopefully Mike Minor has a great year, he ended last year with us pitching pretty good. Who knows maybe he could lead a rotation into the new stadium next year. Our pitching is starting to come around for now.
I’d rather he lead us into a trade for a couple of 20 year old pitchers with upside… or Phillies pick him up and take on Choos contract and we get Nick Williams back. Basically anything that could make the future look brighter.
That sounds like a good option also
Why would the Rangers be interested in getting Nick Williams back? 4th outfielders are a dime a dozen, with no real value in baseball.
If it meant losing Choo’s last year on his contract without eating money I would be interested in seeing if Williams ever turns the corner or not.
There could be a better deal without losing Choo’s contract, but I wouldn’t think there would be a ton of good options if shedding that contract.
Maybe I’m way off base. Either teach Mazara to play first or open up a DH or at least more of an open DH situation with heavy rotation. I’d rather see just about anyone in RF than him. I also think Gallo needs to be a 3B not a LF. I know there have been mixed reports as to weather or not he is willing to play 3B.
Who would you rather have as a MLB rotation – (not trade) rangers MLB rotation (Minor, Lynn, Smyly, Shelby Miller and 5th rotation guy) or the Astros AAA affiliate (Whitley, Corbin Martin, Rogelio Armentaroes, Brady Rodgers and Framber Valdez)?
By tanking for quiet a few years in a row they set themselves up talent wise for years to come, The Astros are a great team, they planned years in advance on many levels,example one the Ryan family owning the Round Rock franchise was a brilliant move because the Rangers contract expired and they swooped in, Scouting pitching is the top of the list. Jealous on my part because of how good the organization has become, you love em but you hate em.
“Tanking” 3 years, at most. And the Astros don’t get enough credit for player acquisitions. Charlie Morton, Gerrit Cole and Ryan Pressly, plus others, improved under Brett Strom. The top draft picks (Correa, Bregman and Kyle Tucker) are the only three players you can really attribute the benefit of “tanking”. I believe tucker was actually selected after the rangers pick (Dillon Tate lol) that year. Will Harris, Colin McHugh and Marwin Gonzalez we’re picked up off waivers/rule 5. Yordan Alvarez was acquired for a useless RP… the organization looks like it will be in contention for the next decade due to their player development and the culture established.
I give the Astros credit,somebody there is doing something right, but,It’s like Val Kilmer says it the western Wyatt Earp movie, I think I’ll hate em.
The Álvarez trade could have just as easily looked bad for the Astros. Although Fields wasn’t spectacular in his time with the Astros he turned into a solid piece of the Dodgers bullpen. I would invite you to look at his stats the past couple of years. They might surprise you. Before the trade Álvarez had never played outside of Cuba and there he barely had 200 at bats over 2 years when he was 16-17. He never showed the power he has in the Astros farm. In my opinion the Astros have the best scouts and talent evaluators in all of baseball. Sure they missed on Aiken and Appel but they were seen as top picks by most draft analysts. It’s hard choosing a player #1 overall because then you are judged on every other player in the draft class. Plus, they turned Aiken into Bregman which is a huge win. Whitley was taken 17th overall and the 8th pitcher selected in 2016. So far he looks like the best of the group. The Astros need to sign all of their talent evaluators to lifetime contracts because so far I don’t think they have really been burned on much and seem to have a steady pipeline of players in the minors to replace veterans when they move on. Not many teams can say that. The Red Sox were built that way under Cherington but now their farm is awful. The Marlins have been drafting badly for years and look how they are doing. The Orioles seem to have finally learned their lesson and are building correctly. I am not an Astros fan by any means and I couldn’t stand watching the Killer B’s years ago. But they have to be the best run team in baseball right now. With the Brewers not far behind.
I’m ride or die with the Astros, but you’re overlooking many benefits reaped from tanking. It’s not just Correa, Tucker, and Bregman. It’s also Lance McCullers. It’s also having the top waiver position for the better part of three years. It’s also the first pick in every round, not just the first round. It’s also Daz Cameron, a key piece in the deal that brought us Justin Verlander and by extension, the World Series. I have no problems with what we did. Some people do, and to them I offer a cliched yet relevant retort: Don’t hate the player, hate the game. If you dislike the system, change it.
Dude, you mentioned two additional players. Daz Cameron wasn’t even the headliner of the trade. And I believe McCullers was a competitive balance pick… I also have no problem with what the Astros did, but my point was that it was a very short period of time (that seemed like 100 years during the “tank” period). Outside of Marwin Gonzalez and Anthony gose, I cant name another rule IV draft pick. The waiver claims of Harris and McHugh were made and would have been made regardless of waiver position. And I can go on about this subject on how the Astros were built to be contenders, “tanking” accelerated the process. But the whole “tanking” notion bothers me. Take the marlins for example, they know they won’t win this year or next, why sign high priced free agents? Why not trade off Yelich and Stanton for prospects? Seems to me that it’s almost necessary to become competitive at a later time. Is it good for the game? no, probably not. The MLB should probably have a salary floor, but that’s a separate topic… as for Fields, he may have been useful for a couple years, but he was terrible for LAD in the 2017 WS and being recently DFA’d on a team that needs BP help seems like the decision to trade for him becomes a loss for the Dodgers… devo was a PTBNL, Martes was a no name when acquired, same w Paulino, Josh James and Tyler white were drafted very late. And I can go on and on…
I would say it’s a toss up, but I’d be lying.
I would really like to get Minor, but id imagine the Rangers think they cant afford to lose the only remotely healthy arm they have.
Stewart has actually looked pretty good in LF for the Tigers. He has decent speed and looks to have good range. I haven’t seen anything that would indicate he’s future DH only material. The Tigers will definitely miss his bat. This puts Gordan Beckham as the active HR leader on the Motor City Kitties. He has TWO! Might be time for a new hitting coach.
quite the opposite; Beckham’s SLG is a career high. credit to the hitting coach.
Best Wishes to Ryan Cordell. I think he’s going to be a good ballplayer.
I wish the Tigers would take a look at Derek Hill in AAA.
“In general, Houston’s at times unorthodox approach to player development makes for a fascinating read, and that’s all the more true when the focus is placed on arguably the game’s top pitching prospect.”. That could not be a more accurate statement. Unorthodox, yes, working, not sure yet. It seems many of the “prospects” after pitching in the tandem pairing have difficulty pitching more than 5 or 6 innings when reaching the major league level. The way players like Tucker, A J Reed and others are brought up, thrown into the fire, then we they are not immediate stars are left to rot on the bench is a little disturbing to me. Hours of reading stats and looking at probabilities and charts is one tool, but it doesn’t replace actually watching the game and deciding what is happening and what piece fits best. From my seats at MMP I can watch Hinch, he spends more time looking at spread sheets and charts than he does watching the game … Yes this team is good … despite Hinch and his methods.