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Archives for May 2019

Blue Jays Designate Ryan Feierabend For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced Friday that they’ve designated lefty Ryan Feierabend for assignment and optioned both Billy McKinney and Richard Urena to Triple-A Buffalo. Those moves pave the way for the previously reported promotion of prospect Cavan Biggio, the addition of Zac Rosscup (claimed yesterday from the Mariners) to the active roster and the return of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Toronto also placed righty Elvis Luciano on the bereavement list and recalled lefty Thomas Pannone in his place.

It was a brief return to the Majors for Feierabend, who is looking to resurrect his big league career as knuckleballer. The two games in which he appeared were his first in the Majors since he made six appearances for the Rangers in 2014. Prior to that, he’d been out of the big leagues since 2008.

The 33-year-old Feierabend enjoyed a four-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization in that 2014-18 gap between MLB stints. If he passes through waivers, he could very well return to the Jays’ Triple-A club and work toward another look. He began throwing a knuckler while pitching overseas and was reasonably sharp in 16 2/3 innings with Buffalo before being promoted earlier this week (2.70 ERA, 13 strikeouts, six walks).

Blue Jays Promote Cavan Biggio

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May 24: The Blue Jays have made Biggio’s promotion official.

May 23: The Blue Jays will promote infield/corner outfield prospect Cavan Biggio, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be joined in the majors by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Cavan Biggio

With a need for two roster spots, the Toronto organization will send down two players. Outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena will be optioned out.

It’s fun to see Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. share a MLB roster. They’ll likely be joined before too long by fellow top prospect Bo Bichette, at which time the Jays will be in position to compile a fearsome father-son softball team. (For the record, Cavan’s dad out-WAR’ed Vlad’s dad. Both are recent Hall of Fame inductees.)

If that trio can do anything to the 2020’s like their dads did to the 1990’s and 2000’s, it’ll make for heady times in Toronto. For now, the focus is on finishing off the development of these talented youngsters.

Biggio is the least hyped of the group, though he has already exceeded the expectations placed on him as a fifth-round draft pick. Entering the present season, he graded out as one of the ten or so best prospects in the Blue Jays system, but wasn’t considered an elite youngster on a leaguewide scale.

Notably, however, the 24-year-old has increased his offensive output at each step up the minor-league ladder. Through 168 plate appearances at Triple-A, he owns a robust .306/.440/.507 batting line with six home runs.

Having put the ball over the fence 26 times last year at Double-A, Biggio obviously possessed more power than might have been expected. He’s now combining that with the plate discipline that had long been his calling card — and doing so at the highest level of the minors. Biggio has ramped his walk rate all the way up to 19.0% while dropping his strikeout rate to 16.7% thus far in 2019.

Though he has primarily appeared at second base in the minors, Biggio also has experience at third, first, and the corner outfield. He and Gurriel could both appear at multiple positions in the big leagues. The latter was introduced to the outfield (where he has some prior experience in Cuba) after being optioned down due to his struggles at the plate and some yips that arose at second base.

Padres Promote Josh Naylor

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May 24: The Padres announced that Naylor’s contract has been selected from Triple-A El Paso. Outfielder Alex Dickerson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot, while lefty Aaron Loup’s transfer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL opens a spot on the 40-man roster.

May 23: The Padres are planning to promote outfield prospect Josh Naylor, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known.

This decision adds to the interest in tomorrow’s matchup in Toronto, which will already feature just-promoted Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio. As Lin notes, Naylor is a Toronto-area native, hailing from neighboring Mississauga. Still another Ontarian, Cal Quantrill, will start Saturday’s game for the Friars.

Naylor was taken with the 12th overall pick of the 2015 draft by the Marlins. He ended up being shipped to San Diego in the partially undone 2016 trade — a transaction that came close on the heels of another swap in which the Friars picked the pocket of the Miami organization.

Primarily a first baseman to begin his professional career, Naylor has been shifted to a corner outfield role more recently in a bid to find a home for his bat. He’s still learning his way around the outfield grass, but has continued to ramp up his productivity at the plate while moving into the upper ranks of the Friars farm.

Naylor received at least one top-100 leaguewide prospect grade entering the present season, with Baseball America slotting him in at #99, and he has certainly boosted his stock since. So far this year, Naylor carries a .299/.378/.538 batting line through 209 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has swatted ten home runs and walked as many times as he has struck out (24 apiece), making for a nicely balanced offensive profile.

Bringing Naylor up is going to require both 40-man and active roster space. It’s fair to wonder whether the time is up for Alex Dickerson, who returned this year from a lengthy run of poor injury luck. He devastated Triple-A pitching but has managed just three singles while going down seven times on strikes in his 19 MLB plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign Ervin Santana

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The Mets announced Friday that they’ve agreed to terms with right-hander Ervin Santana on a minor league contract. The deal is still pending a physical. Assuming he passes that test, he’d head to Port St. Lucie to begin building his arm strength back up.

Santana, 36, missed nearly all of the 2018 season after undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right middle finger just prior to Spring Training, and the Twins declined a $14MM option on him last November. He signed a minor league pact with the White Sox this offseason but was released after just three unsuccessful starts with the team.

Despite the poor showing in 2018-19, Santana was a consistently and perhaps quietly effective mainstay in the Twins’ rotation in the preceding three seasons. From 2015-17, he pitched to a 3.47 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 and even was named to the American League All-Star team in 2017. That year, he racked up 211 1/3 innings, tossed five complete games (three shutouts) and finished out the season with a strong 3.28 earned run average.

The Mets’ rotation hasn’t performed as well as hoped in 2019, and while no one would reasonably expect Santana to return to his 2017 levels, he could eventually push Jason Vargas for the fifth spot in the rotation. He’s gone more than a month without pitching since being cut loose by the ChiSox, so he’ll need some time to build up, though. If nothing else, he’ll eventually serve as a depth option in the event of an injury at the big league level. New York has been using Wilmer Font in that role but has received just 10 1/3 innings of 7.84 ERA ball in three starts since trading a low-level minor leaguer for him.

Corey Dickerson To Begin Rehab Assignment

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The Pirates have been without Corey Dickerson since April 4 due to a shoulder strain, but the outfielder is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate this evening, per a team announcement.

It’s certainly welcome news for the Pirates, although the Pittsburgh outfield has been surprisingly productive even without Dickerson’s bat in the middle of the lineup. Melky Cabrera, signed to a minor league contract in the offseason, has given the Bucs a surprisingly strong .333/.370/.464 slash with three homers and nine doubles in 147 trips to the plate. In the other outfield corner, Gregory Polanco has turned in a similarly strong .278/.343/.522 slash and belted five long balls in 99 plate appearances since his own return from the injured list. Even rookie Bryan Reynolds has been brilliant since debuting earlier this season. In 89 plate appearances, the switch-hitter has a .321/.382/.568 slash with four homers and eight walks against 19 strikeouts.

If there’s been any weak spot in the outfield, it’s been in center, where Starling Marte has hit just .244/.275/.415 in 172 plate appearances. Marte is still hitting for power, playing solid defense and providing value on the basepaths, but he’s drawn only three walks all year. The decline in on-base skills hasn’t been accompanied by an uptick in strikeouts, but Marte’s apparent impatience at the dish, paired with some poor luck on balls in play, has weighed down his overall output.

It’s not clear how long Dickerson will need on his rehab assignment, but the strong production the Pirates have received in the corners suggests they won’t feel an urgency to rush him back. How he’ll fit into the lineup is a greater question. Dickerson, 30, slashed .300/.330/.474 in 533 plate appearances last season and will presumably be a prominent figure in the outfield once he’s at full strength. Cabrera seems likeliest for a reduced role, given that he’s playing on a minor league deal and his offense has slipped a bit over the past couple of weeks anyhow. Regardless of how the playing time shakes out, the Pirates will file it under the “good problem to have” category. Dickerson’s return will only deepen the outfield/bench mix for a Pirates club that, at 25-22, sits 3.5 games back in the NL Central and just one game back in the Wild Card race.

For Dickerson himself, a productive return will be of particular importance. He entered the season with five-plus years of Major League service time and is slated to become a free agent for the first time in his career this coming offseason.

Royals Assign Drew Storen To Double-A

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Drew Storen’s comeback bid took another step forward this week, as the Royals have assigned him to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, per Paul Boyd of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Twitter link). Storen, who signed a minor league contract back in February, opened the season building up arm strength in extended Spring Training with the Royals.

It’s been nearly 21 months since Storen set foot on a Major League mound. The longtime Nationals reliever spent the 2017 season with the Reds but made his final appearance on Sept. 1 that year, learning two weeks later that he would require Tommy John surgery. The timing of that procedure unsurprisingly wiped out his entire 2018 season and relegated interest in him to minor league offerings this past winter.

At his best, Storen sat near 95 mph with his fastball and demonstrated above-average swinging-strike, ground-ball and walk rates while serving as the Nationals’ closer. A former first-round draft pick, the now-31-year-old Storen owns a career 3.45 ERA with 99 saves, 8.5 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.78 HR/9 and a 46.1 percent ground-ball rate. His results dropped off in 2016-17 in a pair of mediocre seasons split between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Reds, as his fastball experienced a precipitous decline (90.2 mph average in 2017).

It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on Storen’s progress and velocity as he begins to work at the minor league level. There’s ample space in the Kansas City bullpen should he either restore some of that lost life on his heater or simply demonstrate an ability to work with a diminished fastball. Despite strong showings from Scott Barlow, Jake Diekman and a revitalized Ian Kennedy, Royals relievers as a collective unit rank 25th in the Majors in ERA (4.98), 22nd in FIP (4.58) and 18th in xFIP (4.55).

Diamondbacks To Promote Kevin Cron

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The Diamondbacks are promoting corner infield prospect Kevin Cron to the Majors, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports (Twitter link). The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro had previously reported that the move was “on the verge” of happening.

Kevin Cron | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Cron, 26, is the younger brother of Twins first baseman C.J. Cron. While he wasn’t a first-round pick like his older brother and didn’t even check in among the Top 30 prospects in Arizona’s system on the preseason rankings of MLB.com, Baseball America or Fangraphs, it’s become increasingly difficult to ignore the ludicrous numbers he’s posted with Triple-A Reno. It’s well known that the Pacific Coast League (Reno in particular) is a hitters’ haven, but belting 21 homers in 199 plate appearances is worthy of attention regardless of environment. Those 21 long balls lead all of Minor League Baseball.

The younger Cron brother has long been a productive hitter, but his offensive game has skyrocketed to new levels this season. Beyond the ridiculous home run count, he’s upped his walk rate from 8.2 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent in 2019 while simultaneously cutting his strikeout rate from 22.8 percent to 16.6 percent. The result is a .339/.437/.800 batting line that looks like it was plucked straight out of a video game. Carrying that output over to the big league level, of course, is an entirely new task, but given the struggles that the Diamondbacks have had in scoring runs over the past couple of weeks, it’s understandable that they’ve decided to see if Cron is up to the challenge.

Arizona’s offense jumped out to a hot start in 2019, buoyed by strong early showings from Adam Jones, Christian Walker, Ketel Marte and others. Those three bats have fallen cold in recent weeks, however, as has the D-backs’ offense as a whole. Since racking up 26 runs in a three-game series in Colorado early in May, the Diamondbacks have scored 59 runs in 16 games — a much more pedestrian average of about 3.6 runs per contest. They’ve scored just 12 runs in total over the course of a current five-game losing streak that dropped them from possession of an NL Wild Card spot to a 2.5-game deficit in said race.

Cron can step in and give the struggling Walker (.148/.223/.259 in 60 PAs since that Colorado series) a breather at first base. He also has 600 innings of experience at third base, so he could slot in there on occasion and allow the versatile Eduardo Escobar to play shortstop or second base for a day — or simply give Escobar himself a break. The D-backs don’t have any interleague series on the schedule until June 7, but if Cron sticks on the roster they’ll have a DH spot to work with for a three-game set in Toronto that weekend as well.

Neil Ramirez Accepts Outright Assignment With Indians

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Reliever Neil Ramirez will remain in the Indians organization after he cleared outright waivers but accepted an assignment to Triple-A. The club announced the move.

Ramirez avoided arbitration with the Indians over the offseason, striking a $1MM deal. That contract helps explain why he would agree to stick around rather than heading out in search of a better opportunity. With more than three but less than five years of service, he can choose free agency but would have to give up the remaining guarantee to do so.

Of course, it’s also true that the Cleveland organization helped Ramirez revive what had been a moribund career. He had bounced around quite a bit before settling in with the Indians and throwing 41 2/3 innings of 4.54 ERA ball last year.

Ramirez, who turns 30 on Saturday, struggled out of the gates in 2019. His home run issues from a year ago deepened, as he allowed five in 16 2/3 innings. He’s still producing a healthy 14.3% swinging-strike rate and working in the mid-nineties with his fastball, but clearly needs to tune things up if he’s to get back to being a productive MLB reliever.

Brewers Face Decision On Jimmy Nelson

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The Brewers are deciding how to proceed with righty Jimmy Nelson after he completed his fourth rehab appearance at Triple-A today. Skipper Craig Counsell has suggested the club would reach its decision on how to utilize Nelson after today’s outing, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes on Twitter.

Nelson didn’t exactly finish with a bang. As Jerry Briggs of MiLB.com tweets, the rehabbing righty pitched fine until he was undone by a sloppy fifth inning. In total, Nelson has thrown 19 innings at Triple-A, allowing ten earned runs while compiling 22 strikeouts against nine walks. That certainly isn’t a dominant performance, but it’s encouraging to see that he has been generally effective against high-level competition.

It seems likely that Nelson will celebrate his upcoming thirtieth birthday in the majors. Though he still has time on his rehab clock — having begun his assignment on May 5th, his thirty days won’t expire until June 3rd — Counsell says the time has come for a decision after a long road back. The next pitch Nelson throws in the big leagues will be his first since late in the 2017 season, as he has been working back from labrum surgery since going down with injury late in what had been a stellar campaign.

Whether Nelson will work as a starter or reliever remains to be seen. The Milwaukee rotation isn’t desperate for reinforcement but also doesn’t have much in the way of roadblocks. Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin appear to be most at risk among the current starters, but there are reasons also to keep both in a starting capacity.

In a sense, the decision seems to be more about Nelson than it is the rest of the staff. If the club thinks he’s back to anything approaching his former self and can handle a starter’s workload (even a reduced version thereof), then there’s little doubt the space can be found. Anderson hasn’t worked deep in games and could be moved back to a long relief capacity, joining a few other converted starters in an interesting bullpen mix.

Utilizing Nelson as a reliever would be something else entirely. Whether the lack of routine would be problematic is tough to guess, but he’d obviously be tasked with throwing fewer innings after a lengthy layoff.

No matter the initial decision, the Brewers will surely keep their options open over the course of the season and beyond. Nelson is earning $3.7MM this year with one final season of arbitration eligibility still to come thereafter.

10 Low-Cost MLB Deals Paying Dividends

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We’ve spent some time looking at one-year MLB deals recently, with separate posts checking in on the highest-paid position players, starters, and relievers. More often than not, the results have been underwhelming for those players. There’s still time for turnarounds, but we’re already one quarter of the way through the full duration of those contracts.

Scan a bit further down the list in terms of dollars promised, however, and you’ll find some more promising outcomes. Indeed, quite a few players earning relative peanuts on one-year MLB contracts are turning in downright excellent results. (Note: we’re talking about deals that were guaranteed at the time of signing, not minor-league contracts.)

Here are the ten most impressive, ordered from most to least expensive:

Avisail Garcia, Rays, $3.5MM: An under-the-radar aspect of the Rays strong opening to the season has been the bargain-basement score of Garcia, who has stung the ball early on. He’s humming along at a .283/.343/.507 clip with eight long balls and three steals through 166 plate appearances. Contact quality will probably always be king for Garcia, who isn’t especially strikeout prone but doesn’t walk much. What’s he doing differently? I’m not exactly sure, but he’s barreling the baseball far more (14.3%) than ever before and is underperforming against Statcast’s expectations (.360 wOBA vs. .385 xwOBA).

Jonathan Lucroy, Angels, $3.35MM: The venerable backstop had fallen on hard times over the past two seasons. It was most noticeable at the plate, where the long-productive hitter fell into a deep hole, but the former pitch-framing posterboy also stopped winning strikes for his pitchers. The bounceback has been a rare bright spot in Anaheim, as Lucroy is slashing .265/.326/.439 and once again earning strong marks for his receiving ability behind the dish.

Adam Jones, Diamondbacks, $3MM: The esteemed veteran was all but frozen out of the free agent market this winter until the D-Backs came along with a decent offer. Jones hasn’t exactly morphed into a star, but he’s providing strong offensive output in an everyday role. Through 202 plate appearances, he’s slashing .265/.323/.476 with nine dingers, which is a rather vintage performance at the dish. That sort of production played better back when Jones was capable of playing center, but it’s good value regardless for a player who’s also a plus in the clubhouse.

James McCann, White Sox, $2.5MM: Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list when you look only at the top-line numbers, the younger of the two catching McCanns has been utterly on fire to open the season. He’s slashing a heretofore unheard of .340/.381/.538 in 113 plate appearances. Yeah, yeah … it’s not full-time action. And the regression warning lights are flashing, with a .421 BABIP and -.061 x/wOBA imbalance. McCann is also not getting the ravest of reviews in the framing arena. Still, at this cost, there’s no cause whatsoever for complaint. Bonus: McCann is arb eligible this fall.

Jordan Lyles, Pirates, $2.05MM: Many Pirates fans rolled their eyes and scoffed at this signing, and not without reason. It’s nice to find great value, but was Lyles really a buy-low candidate or just a cheap fill-in piece for a team that should be spending more? He has been one of the most cost-efficient starters in baseball thus far, providing 45 2/3 frames of sub-2.00 ERA ball in eight starts. His peripherals (9.3 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 43.0% GB%, 0.79 HR/9) don’t scream “ace,” but they do suggest he has been quite strong thus far. There’s good reason to think that Lyles has finally found himself after so many missed opportunities, with the Bucs benefiting.

Brian McCann, Braves, $2MM: The original behind-the-dish McCann hasn’t been flashy but has delivered everything the Braves hoped for when they brought him back to town. He’s producing right at the league average offensively through 92 plate appearances, grinding out tough at-bats by walking nearly as often as he’s striking out. The grizzled veteran is obviously valued as much or more for his ability to work with pitchers and nurture a youthful clubhouse as he is for his on-field contributions. It seems fair to say this is working out quite nicely thus far.

Neil Walker, Marlins, $2MM: If you look back at Walker’s career numbers, his rough 2018 season stands out as an outlier. Typically a steady producer at the plate, Walker looked like much the same hitter as ever but suffered from an unseasonably low .257 batting average on balls in play. This year, the BABIP gods have repaid him with a .363 mark, and his output has risen to a strong .290/.371/.427 level. Walker is helping hold down the fort for now in Miami but seems like a rather likely mid-season trade piece, as he ought to be able to help out a contending team as a multi-position infielder.

Blake Parker, Twins, $1.8MM: The Angels would take a do-over on their non-tender decision, as Parker has turned in 16 1/3 innings of 1.10 ERA ball for a bargain rate of pay. True, he’s carrying just 6.6 K/9 with 3.9 BB/9, but his strong 56.1% groundball rate is a nice base to work from. There’s really no reason to think that Parker will keep up the immaculate results, as he’s highly unlikely to carry a .195 BABIP and 96.2% strand rate all year long. Still, he has saved eight games for the streaking Twins and now seems to be a key part of the bullpen picture for a surefire postseason team. Parker is also eligible to be tendered a contract through arbitration one more time this fall.

Tim Beckham, Mariners, $1.75MM: It was a crafty move for M’s GM Jerry Dipoto to double down on the buy-low middle infielders. After acquiring J.P. Crawford, he grabbed a seat-warmer/bounceback piece in Beckham. That combination spread the bets and boosted the upside potential. It has been a hit so far, with Crawford hitting well at Triple-A and Beckham showing big thus far in the majors. Through 171 plate appearances, the former first overall pick owns a .259/.316/.506 slash with nine long balls. Regression may well be in store — Beckham is striking out at a 29.2% clip and hasn’t sustained prior breakouts — but it’s nice to have the production for the time being and he could still be flipped via trade or tendered for 2020.

Brett Anderson, Athletics, $1.5MM: You have to tip your cap to Anderson, who’s still pushing to get to the mound despite a lengthy run of injury woes. He has been able to stay active this year, turning in ten starts and 54 1/3 badly needed innings for the pitching-starved A’s, who brought him back on a late-breaking deal. Anderson isn’t exactly shoving, with a 4.14 ERA and just 4.6 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 along with a sturdy 51.9% groundball rate, but thus far he’s tamping down the long balls and doing just enough to succeed. Not convinced of the value? Just take a look at the return other teams have received on higher-priced, one-year starters.

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