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Archives for August 2019

AL Notes: Rangers, Montero, Kiermaier, Alberto, White Sox

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Amidst a pitching staff that has continually shuffled through under-the-radar options, the Rangers have been impressed by Rafael Montero, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. A reclamation project who didn’t pitch in 2018 thanks to Tommy John srugery, Montero made a name for himself as a promising prospect in the Mets’ farm system. However, the New York organization relinquished the righty when he opted for free agency in lieu of an outright assignment. After cutting his teeth as a starting pitcher for years, the 28-year-old has transitioned to a bullpen role in Texas, where he has excelled for a team that has constructed a bullpen out of dozens of cast-offs and scrap parts. Appearing in 10 games since coming up in late July, Montero has compiled a 1.08 ERA while striking out 19 batters in 16 2/3 innings of work. He, along with the likes of Emmanuel Clase and Jonathan Hernandez, has been a second-half revelation for a team that employs an increasingly youthful bullpen after dealing Chris Martin and losing Jesse Chavez to injury. Factor in Jose Leclerc, and the Rangers may indeed have discovered some foundational bullpen pieces.

Here are all the latest updates from around the American League…

  • Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier exited Sunday’s game prematurely after crashing into the outfield wall while attempting to catch a DJ Stewart fly ball. After the game, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times offered an encouraging update on the defensive virtuoso, Tweeting that X-rays indicated no broken bones, and that Kiermaier sustained a left ribcage contusion in the collision. It seems to be a minor injury for the Rays and their center fielder, who expects to be back in the lineup after an off day tomorrow. For the time being, it appears that Kiermaier has avoided a stint on the injured list, which would have been his second this season after a thumb sprain in July.
  • In the same game, the Orioles’ Hanser Alberto sustained a knee to the head while attempting to take second base on a ball in the dirt. Manager Brandon Hyde did deliver some promising news, telling reporters (including Joe Trezza of MLB.com) that there was no evidence that the Orioles’ leading hitter suffered a concussion. Rather, it looks to be a head contusion and a cervical neck strain for Alberto. While it looks that the worst-case scenario has been avoided, it’s yet unclear what the diagnosis means for Alberto, with a recovery timeline unknown.
  • More injury news coming from Chicago, where White Sox utilityman Leury Garcia also underwent X-rays after leaving today’s game following a hit by pitch. He was struck in the lower left leg while trying to bunt against the Rangers’ Emmanuel Clase. After the game, Scott Merkin of MLB.com reported that X-rays came back negative and that Garcia’s injuries did not extend beyond a left shin contusion. He’ll be day-to-day for the South Siders, who will have an off day tomorrow before hosting the Twins for a three-game set.

Rangers Outright Shane Carle

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On Sunday the Rangers announced that right-handed pitcher Shane Carle has been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. He had been designated for assignment on Friday.

Carle, 27, will remain in the Texas organization, though he’ll no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Since he was acquired from the Braves, he has pitched out of the Triple-A bullpen and has yet to appear in a Major League game for the Rangers.

After a 2018 season in which Carle posted a 2.86 ERA for Atlanta, he fell out of the organization’s good graces after he regressed to a 9.64 mark in six games this year. During his career year in 2018, Carle was an interesting case, tallying relatively few strikeouts (6.1 K/9) compared to high walk totals. His 1.59 K:BB ratio alone may have been interpreted as a red flag that his sub-3.00 ERA wouldn’t hold up in the long run. However, his value came from an extreme groundball tendency that greatly limited home runs, as he allowed just two round-trippers in 63 innings of work. Despite the unspectacular strikeout and walk numbers, that ability to keep the ball in the yard contributed to a 3.54 FIP. While still a notch below his ERA, that’s a solid mark that is usually enough to hold a spot in a Major League bullpen.

This season, though, Carle’s carrying skill vanished entirely while his shortcomings were exaggerated. In just six games of work with the Braves, Carle surrendered more home runs (3) than the entire season prior. While his strikeouts remained essentially unchanged, his walks ballooned to untenable levels, conceding nine bases on balls in 9 1/3 innings. That was enough to earn him a demotion to the minors, though his performance didn’t quite return to ideal levels.

Blue Jays Announce Flurry Of Roster Moves

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The Blue Jays made a series of rsoter moves on Sunday, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The club has optioned pitchers Brock Stewart and Justin Shafer, allowing for the activation of Clay Buchholz from the injured list and Ken Giles from the paternity list. In addition, right-hander Nick Kingham has been designated for assignment.

Buchholz last pitched for the Jays on May 5, before a shoulder strain forced him onto the 60-day injured list and kept him out of commission for more more than three months. After completing a rehab assignment in which he made three starts, the veteran will rejoin the Toronto rotation in time to start Sunday’s game. He’ll certainly face some restrictions in his workload as he works back into Major League action; his pitch count maxed out at 67 during his rehab.

After a resurgent season in Arizona last year, Buchholz hasn’t gotten much of a chance to ingratiate himself to the Toronto organization, having made just five starts with his new club. However, that five-game sample hasn’t given the Blue Jays much to be optimistic about, as Buchholz has managed to strike out just 4.4 batters per nine innings, fueling an unimpressive 5.67 FIP. Regardless, he’ll have just over a month to straighten things out and make good on the $3MM contract he earned last winter.

Giles, meanwhile, will return to the Toronto bullpen after a few days away from the game. He’s been far and away the Jays’ most reliable pitcher, enjoying his best season since he was traded out of Philadelphia. In 40 innings this year, he’s posted a 1.80 ERA while striking out batters at a career-best rate. While the 29-year-old, who can be a free agent after next season, may not be a part of the promising Blue Jays’ future plans, he certainly provides a boon to a club that has turned some heads with its young core.

27-year-old Kingham has been on the injured list since early August owing to a strained oblique, and will now be removed from Toronto’s 40-man in favor of Buchholz. While he could remain in the organization, he’ll first need to pass through waivers. He’s already done that once this year, when the Pirates designated him and later traded him to the Blue Jays. Despite his outwardly impressive 3.00 ERA in Toronto, most indicators suggest that Kingham’s performance is roughly in line with the poor numbers that earned him a ticket out of Pittsburgh.

After more than three seasons bouncing between the ranks of the Dodgers organization, Stewart now finds himself doing more of the same, only now with Toronto. Since joining the Jays, he’s already been optioned several times, though he’s shown himself to be a serviceable long-man for the starter-thin Blue Jays. Shafer, for his part, has been a solid bullpen choice for a Toronto organization that has shuttled seemingly dozens of relievers into and out of the Major League bullpen. The 26-year-old has struck out 29 batters in 31 innings, though he has had trouble keeping the walks in check, surrendering 22 free passes for an average of 6.4 per nine innings pitched.

 

NL Injury Updates: Ray, Swanson, Lopez, Jeffress, Cubs, Rockies

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We’ll run through a boatload of injury updates from the Senior Circuit as Sunday’s games kick off.

  • Diamondbacks southpaw Robbie Ray has been activated from the 10-day injured list, the team announced. The club optioned right-hander Joel Paymaps in a corresponding 25-man move. Ray is back after just ten days away with back spasms to make his 27th start of the season against Milwaukee on Sunday. As always, he’s combined a huge strikeout rate (31.1%) with a few too many walks and longballs to be a true ace, settling in with a solid but not elite 3.99 ERA in 2019.
  • Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson completed another rehab game without issue and should be activated from the 10-day injured list tomorrow, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The former first overall pick will be a welcome upgrade over the combination of Charlie Culberson and Adeiny Hechavarría, who make up Atlanta’s current shortstop mix. Swanson’s got a solid .265/.330/.468 slash (102 wRC+) for the NL East leaders.
  • Marlins right-hander Pablo López is also slated to return to the big leagues tomorrow, tweets Venezuelan baseball writer Daniel Álvarez-Montes (later confirmed by MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro). The 23 year-old was off and running on cementing himself as a part of the Fish’s long-term rotation plans when he went down with a shoulder strain that ultimately cost him two months. On the season, López has logged 76.2 innings with a 4.23 ERA, albeit with more promising strikeout (23.3%) and walk (5.7%) rates.
  • In less fortunate news, the Brewers placed right-handed reliever Jeremy Jeffress on the 10-day injured list today with a strained left hip. They’ve recalled fireballing 29 year-old righty Ray Black in his place. Jeffress has had a difficult second half, pitching to a 7.56 ERA in 16.2 innings since the All-Star Break. It’ll be Black’s second MLB stint in Milwaukee since they acquired him and Drew Pomeranz at the deadline for notable infield prospect Mauricio Dubón.
  • The Cubs placed left-handed reliever Derek Holland on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist contusion. He sustained the injury when he was struck by a comebacker. Infielder David Bote is back from Triple-A Iowa to replace Holland on the active roster. Bote’s presence was needed to deepen the Cubs’ bench in the absence of star first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who’s day-to-day, tweets Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Rizzo left yesterday’s game with back tightness, the club announced.
  • Finally, updates on a couple injured Rockies, courtesy of Thomas Harding of MLB.com (Twitter links): veteran right-hander Chad Bettis confirmed he’ll undergo season-ending surgery to correct a right hip impingement, marking the end of a year in which Bettis pitched to a 6.06 ERA. On the other hand, left-hander Kyle Freeland is working through a throwing program in hopes of mounting a late-season comeback from a groin strain, says Harding. Freeland’s 6.98 ERA is one of the chief reasons the Rockies have slumped to a 58-72 record in a year in which they hoped to contend.

Rangers Considering Cutting Rougned Odor’s Playing Time

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While it seems no such move is imminent, the Rangers are at least contemplating cutting into the playing time of second baseman Rougned Odor, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 25 year-old is amidst his second dreadful season in three years.

Among qualified hitters, only Orlando Arcia has been less productive in the batters’ box than Odor, whose .197/.273/.406 slash (67 wRC+) is a far cry from the passable production he logged just last season. As the slash line indicates, Odor hasn’t had trouble hitting for power, as he’s bopped 21 home runs and posted a strong .209 ISO. Rather, he’s just given away way too many plate appearances, whether via strikeout (31.6%) or pop-up (15.6% IFFB). Odor ranks in the top ten leaguewide in both categories, with only Domingo Santana more strikeout-prone among qualifiers.

Given that lackluster performance and Odor’s similarly abysmal 2017 numbers, the organization’s patience is wearing thin. General manager Jon Daniels candidly acknowledged to Grant that “big ups and downs don’t work from a team standpoint, not when you are in the lineup every day,” and pointed out the organization has “some guys who overlap from a positional standpoint.”

Daniels clarified that his comments weren’t meant to be punitive or to put extra pressure on Odor, who both GM and manager Chris Woodward stressed has remained extremely diligent in trying to work out of the rut. That said, it’s impossible to continue to run out a player who makes as many outs as Odor has been making, and Texas does indeed have other interesting, if flawed, options.

As Grant notes, the Rangers swung a July deal with the Rays to acquire rookie second baseman Nick Solak. Amazingly, Solak’s only less than a year younger than Odor, who has been a big league mainstay for half a decade, but the rookie projects as a better hitter moving forward. Texas also has veteran Danny Santana, who has seen quite a bit of action at first base this year but profiles better at the keystone.

Whether either of those players is good enough to unseat Odor remains to be seen. Solak is a well-regarded hitting prospect but comes with a spotty at best defensive reputation, while Santana’s already 28, has a mediocre track record and has been quite BABIP-reliant in 2019. Utility prospect Eli White, meanwhile, is expected to be out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury in Triple-A.

All things considered, it seems Odor will get a little more run in Arlington. He’s starting again today, for one, and Texas’ brass continued to express optimism in his nascent ability, presumably referring to his raw power. Odor does still sport an 85th percentile hard contact rate and has 127 home runs (and counting) through his age-25 season. There are clearly still things to like about him as a player.

Nevertheless, Odor’s through over 3,000 career plate appearances with a subpar .241/.292/.435 slash (87 wRC+). He’s due another $36MM guaranteed through 2022 (with a 2023 club option) on the six-year extension he inked in March 2017, a deal that looks questionable for the team in hindsight. That price tag, while not crippling, could make an offseason trade difficult, so Texas has little recourse but to keep him on the roster. If they’re to keep running him out onto the field, though, he’ll need to tighten up his plate approach sooner rather than later.

Indians Place Jose Ramirez On 10-Day Injured List

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10:08 am: As is typical with fractured hamates, Ramírez needs to undergo surgery, tweets Zack Meisel of the Athletic. He’ll undergo the procedure tomorrow, at which point there’ll be a further update on his recovery timetable.

8:54 am: The Indians announced today they’ve placed José Ramírez on the 10-day injured list with a fractured hamate bone in his right hand. Yu Chang has been recalled from Triple-A Coulmbus to take his place on the 25-man roster.

It’s dreadful news for a Cleveland club in the thick of the postseason mix. The Indians sit two and a half back of the Twins in the AL Central and are just one game clear of the Rays and A’s in a tight wild card race. They’ll now have to make that push without their second-best player.

The 26 year-old Ramírez got off to a stunningly bad start in 2019, but he’d really started to come along the past few months. Since June 1 (an admittedly arbitrary cutoff date), Ramírez had hit .286/.332/.571 with 16 home runs in 292 plate appearances. Even that hot streak wasn’t quite at the superstar levels Ramírez had shown the past two seasons, but he again looked like an impact bat who continues to dazzle both on the basepaths and defensively. Unfortunately, an apparently long-simmering wrist discomfort came to a head yesterday, when Ramírez left the game in the first inning after a painful swing.

The Indians didn’t announce a timetable for Ramírez’s return, although we’ve seen recent hamate fractures come with an initial four to six week timeline. Cubs catcher Víctor Caratini missed four weeks with a hamate fracture back in April, while Rangers’ outfielder Joey Gallo has yet to return from a July 25 injury of his own. To be clear, though, there’s no indication as of yet whether Ramírez’s injury is equally, more, or less severe than those sustained by Caratini and Gallo.

With Ramírez down, the Indians will again turn to the 24 year-old Chang. The Taiwanese infielder gets solid-average tools grades across the board from scouts, and ranks as Cleveland’s #10 farmhand at Fangraphs. Chang impressed last year in the Arizona Fall League, but he’s been a bit underwhelming this season at Columbus. In 282 plate appearances as a Clipper, he’s slashed .254/.323/.429 with nine home runs, failing to take advantage of the introduction of the MLB baseball to Triple-A the way some other hitters have. He’ll nevertheless give the Indians a capable defensive option on the dirt.

This will be Chang’s second MLB promotion. He was up for two games while Ramírez was on paternity leave in late June. He and Mike Freeman, who replaced the injured star yesterday, each started one game at the hot corner in Ramírez’s absence then, so it’ll be interesting to see how Terry Francona juggles playing time down the stretch.

Edwin Diaz Likely To Avoid Injured List With Trapezius Injury

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Sunday: Manager Mickey Callaway told reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, today that Díaz is “slightly improved.” He’s unavailable for today’s series finale against Atlanta, but he should avoid a trip to the injured list.

Saturday: After Mets closer Edwin Diaz was removed from tonight’s 9-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves, manager Mickey Callaway indicated post-game that the embattled pitcher was dealing with “trap” tightness. When asked by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com if Diaz’s ailment was serious enough to necessitate a trip to the injured list, Callaway could only offer that it was “really hard to say” (link).

In speaking with Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News about the injury, Diaz struck the tone of an athlete frustrated by near season-long turmoil: “That’s the first time it’s happened,” Diaz said. “I don’t understand why it happened. Yesterday I felt good. When I felt like I was starting to finally get it going, something like this happens.”

It’s easy to feel sympathy for the 25-year-old hurler, who has posted the worst results of his career in 2019 after being propped up as something of a savior for the beleaguered Mets bullpen. In his final pre-arb campaign, Diaz has posted a 5.55 ERA (3.33 xFIP) through 48.2 innings. Public calls to remove Diaz from closing duties have reached near-cacophony at various points this year, but Callaway, perhaps realizing that the righty maintains solid underlying peripherals (16.2% SwStr rate and 14.79 K/9 rate), has maintained faith to this point.

If Diaz does indeed miss games, Seth Lugo would seem to be the logical choice for fill-in duties as the team seeks to gain ground in the NL Wild Card race–a race in which they are only 2.0 games back from first. Lugo has already chipped in 3 saves this year and had a 2.65 ERA as recently as Aug. 14–a date on which he was drubbed for 5 runs by the Braves. Since then, Lugo has compiled five consecutive scoreless innings, dialing back this season’s ERA figure to a tidy 3.14 in 63.0 innings.

Jose Alvarado Heading Back To Injured List

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Sunday: Alvarado felt the injury after yesterday’s game, not on any specific pitch during the contest, he tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll undergo an MRI Monday, Topkin adds. The team confirmed his IL placement today, calling his injury “left elbow inflammation.”

Saturday, 9:33 pm: Topkin confirms the move, adding that infielder Joey Wendle will return to the active roster on Sunday to take Alvarado’s place (Twitter link). Specifics on Alvarado’s injury are still forthcoming. 

Saturday, 9:02 pm: Rays manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that reliever Jose Alvarado is heading for the injured list once again after the lefty complained of elbow pain following Tampa’s 7-1 loss to Baltimore today (Twitter link). Alvarado was previously activated from the injured list on Aug. 13 after missing time with an oblique strain.

The tides of injury are currently running against the Rays, who recently lost key infielder Brandon Lowe for the rest of the season. Now, this report indicates that Cash will again be without the services of one of his more imposing bullpen arms.

Though Alvarado hasn’t been battle-tested enough to be called a bullpen stalwart, his left arm features a blazing fastball that Cash has felt comfortable deploying against both same-sided and right-handed batters this year. His healthy 12.6% Swinging Strike rate hints at the effectiveness of his 98 mph sinker and his nearly untouched cutter, the latter of which has induced a .080 BA when used against opposing hitters this year. Alvarado had amassed just 3.0 scoreless innings this second-half following his return from injury, and now, ominously, comes this news of an ailing elbow. The lefty had been used as the “opener” in tonight’s game–an appearance which, possibly due to injury, saw Alvarado unleash two wild pitches en route to an ineffective .1 IP of work.

Oliver Perez’s 2020 Option Vests

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Oliver Pérez came on in the sixth inning of yesterday’s Indians game to strike out Royals first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. In the process, he locked in $2.75MM, as Zack Meisel of the Athletic points out (via Twitter).

Cleveland’s biggest signee of this past offseason, Pérez was guaranteed just $2.5MM for 2019. However, that pact came with a 2020 option that vested for $2.75MM yesterday, as the lefty appeared in his 55th game of the season. It would escalate to $3MM if he entered 60 contests.

As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted when taking inventory of every vesting option around baseball, Pérez seems likely to take home that $3MM maximum salary, with over a month remaining to get into five more games. Given his production, the club will no doubt be happy to keep cutting the checks.

While he hasn’t been quite as otherworldly in 2019 as he was last season, Pérez has been more than effective, again putting up sparkling strikeout (29.3%) and walk (6.1%) rates with run prevention numbers to match (2.83 ERA). While that production has been in short stints (he’s logged just 35 innings in those 55 games), his per-batter dominance has been a boon to a bullpen that’s been the league’s best at keeping runs off the board. There’s no doubt the 38 year-old will be happy to be back next season, as he recently told Meisel he planned to continue playing regardless of his contract status.

If there’s any reason for concerns about this development, it could be that pitchers with Pérez’s skillset will be diminished by the forthcoming three-batter minimum for relief pitchers. Left-on-left specialists, particularly, seem most threatened by the rule, which is likely to kick off in 2020 and could enable opposing managers to stack their lineup with opposite-handed pinch hitters to put the pitcher at a platoon disadvantage. While Pérez handled right-handers reasonably well between 2017-2018, they’ve teed off on him this season, and pitchers as reliant on a slider as Pérez is tend to have sizable platoon splits.

That said, $2.75MM (or $3MM) remains a reasonable price to pay for a pitcher who’s been so effective in his time in Cleveland. In pursuit of a playoff spot, whether it be the AL Central or Wild Card game, expect Terry Francona to lean heavily on the wily southpaw down the stretch.

AL Notes: Benintendi, Calhoun, Rays

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As the American League wild card race gets closer by the day, we’ll take a look at some other news and notes from the Junior Circuit.

  • Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi left last night’s game against the Padres in the sixth inning with left side tightness, as relayed by Chris Cotillo of Mass Live. For now, he remains day-to-day, with manager Alex Cora telling Cotillo he’ll be evaluated on Monday’s off day. Benintendi won’t be available today, per Cora, although he was due for a maintenance day regardless, the skipper noted. The University of Arkansas product hasn’t quite emerged as the superstar many envisioned when he was one of baseball’s top prospects, but he’s no doubt a valuable and important piece of Boston’s outfield mix, boasting a solid .283/.357/.462 slash line (112 wRC+). The Sox have won seven of their last ten games, but as Rob Bradford of WEEI points out, they haven’t made up much ground in their pursuit of a Wild Card spot in recent weeks. Fangraphs gives the defending champions just a 6.4% shot of getting to the play-in game, and any long-term absence for Benintendi would only deplete those odds further. Fortunately, the club is optimistic at this point he’ll return Tuesday for the start of a series against the Rockies, per Cotillo.
  • Willie Calhoun is beginning to look like a core piece for the future, opines Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Following a slow start to his MLB career, Calhoun has mashed since this year’s All-Star break, and his .292/.333/.579 line on the season is awfully impressive, even considering Globe Life Park’s hitter-friendly tendencies (128 wRC+). Calhoun tells Grant he made a swing adjustment this offseason hoping to elevate the ball and take advantage of his cozy home environment. He’s done exactly that, pushing his average launch angle from 11.6° in 2018 to 18.4° this season. Calhoun’s not without question marks- he’s not well-regarded defensively anywhere on the diamond and his batted ball metrics don’t quite line up with his stellar results- but he’s nonetheless worked his way into the organization’s good graces, as manager Chris Woodward raved to Grant about the slugger’s improved focus and plate approach.
  • The Rays are getting some help on the injury front, rounds up Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In addition to the returns of Joey Wendle and Avisaíl García, the club is seeing some progress on the pitching side. Ace Blake Snell, out since July 22 with a left elbow injury, is on track to throw a bullpen session this week, while potential ace Tyler Glasnow just wrapped up a ’pen of his own. Glasnow, who’s hoping to return from a forearm strain as a reliever, is on track for a rehab assignment and could return during the club’s next homestand, which spans August 30 to September 8. Contributions from those two, as well as solid starter Yonny Chirinos, who’s feeling better three weeks after hitting the shelf with finger inflammation in his pitching hand, would be a boon to a club up half a game on Oakland for the AL’s final playoff spot.

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