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Archives for September 2019

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/9/19

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We’ll track Monday’s minor moves from around the game here…

  • Cubs outfielder Mark Zagunis has been outrighted off the 40-man roster, per the league transactions log at MLB.com. Zagunis, 26, was designated for assignment last weekend and went unclaimed on outright waivers. Once considered to be among the organization’s better prospects, Zagunis has had an ugly season in 2019. While his .294/.361/.475 batting line through 285 plate appearances in Triple-A appears sound, that was actually barely above the league average in this year’s explosive offensive environment (102 wRC+). Beyond that, Zagunis punched out in a third of his plate appearances and saw his offensive production buoyed by a .439 average on balls in play, suggesting that he’s highly unlikely to maintain that level of offense. A third-round pick in 2014, Zagunis has now appeared in parts of four Triple-A seasons and has typically handled himself well, but he’s a .200/.313/.273 hitter in a tiny sample of 64 Major League plate appearances and has fallen considerably down the organizational depth chart in the outfield.

Mariners To Promote Kyle Lewis

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The Mariners are set to promote outfield prospect Kyle Lewis for his MLB debut, as was first made apparent in a congratulatory tweet from his his college team at Mercer. Seattle has multiple open spots on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary.

Lewis, 24, was the No. 11 overall pick in the 2016 draft but has seen his development slowed by a disastrous knee injury that occurred just months after he was drafted. While playing for Seattle’s short-season Class-A affiliate in July 2016, Lewis tore the ACL, medial meniscus and lateral meniscus in his right knee in a grisly home plate collision. He suited up for only a combined 79 games in his first two professional seasons, and he underwent a second knee surgery — an arthroscopic procedure — shortly before the 2018 season began.

At the time of the draft, Lewis was seen as one of the top college bats available, and it was something of a surprise to see him make it to the Mariners with the No. 11 pick. The organization surely hoped him capable of being a quick mover through the minor league ranks, but the knee injury and lingering complications threw a wrench into any plans to fast-track him to the big leagues. Even in spite of his injury, Lewis ranked among the game’s Top 100 prospects prior to both the 2017 and 2018 seasons, per Baseball America and MLB.com, but a lackluster showing in Double-A last season (.220/.309/.371) caused his stock to dip.

Lewis may not have completely resurrected his prospect status, but he’s certainly performed better in his second trip through Double-A in 2019. He’s been healthy enough to log a career-high 517 plate appearances, batting .263/.342/.398 along the way. The power numbers aren’t where the club would hope, but even that modest line was nine percent better than that of a league-average hitter in the Texas League, by measure of wRC+.

MLB.com lists Lewis tenth among Mariners farmhands at this point, writing that he has an “arm that fits in right field and enough range to stay there.” Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen ranked Lewis eighth in the Mariners’ considerably improved farm system, noting that he looked more “explosive” in Spring Training than he had in seasons past due to improved health in his knee. They tabbed him as a potential middle-of-the-order hitter with impressive raw power but also some strikeout concerns. This season’s 29.4 percent strikeout rate in Arkansas presumably didn’t do anything to curb those concerns.

Looking ahead, the Mariners have several more established outfield options immediately atop their depth chart, though both Mitch Haniger and Domingo Santana are currently injured. They’re controlled for next year, though, as is Mallex Smith. If that trio is healthy and all still on the Mariners’ roster — never a sure thing with perhaps the game’s most active general manager, Jerry Dipoto, at the helm — they’d likely be in line for the bulk of the outfield reps in 2020. Other options on the 40-man roster include Jake Fraley, Braden Bishop and Keon Broxton, although the latter of that group seems likely to come off the 40-man roster this winter given his struggles with three different organizations.

It’s possible that a role for Lewis could be opened up with some offseason maneuvering, but it’s equally or more likely that he’ll head to Triple-A Tacoma to begin the 2020 season.

Red Sox Part Ways With Dave Dombrowski

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Sept. 9: The Red Sox have issued a press release on the shakeup, announcing that a search for a new baseball operations leader will commence “immediately.”

“Four years ago, we were faced with a critical decision about the direction of the franchise,” principal owner John Henry stated within the release. “We were extraordinarily fortunate to be able to bring Dave in to lead baseball operations. With a World Series Championship and three consecutive American League East titles, he has cemented what was already a Hall of Fame career.”

Sept. 8: In a shocking development, the Red Sox announced that they have parted ways with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.  Assistant GMs Eddie Romero, Zack Scott, and Brian O’Halloran, and senior VP of Major League and minor league operations Raquel Ferreira will take over as the heads of the baseball ops department for the remainder of the season (MLB.com’s Ian Browne was among those to report the news of the assistant GMs in the interim roles, while Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported Ferreira’s involvement.)

It was just last fall that the Red Sox captured a World Series championship with one of the best teams in recent baseball history, winning 108 regular-season games and then rolling through the playoffs with an 11-3 record.  It marked the club’s first title since Dombrowski took over the job in August 2015, and his second World Series in over three decades as one of the game’s most respected front office bosses.  Dombrowski also put together the Marlins team that won the 1997 Series, and his resume also includes two American League pennants with the Tigers in 2006 and 2012.

With such a track record of both past and recent success, it’s hard to believe that Dombrowski is so suddenly out of a job, though there had been some whispers that ownership took a dim view of Boston’s underachievement in 2019.  Tonight’s loss to the Yankees dropped the Sox 17.5 games out of first place in the AL East, and eight games behind the Athletics for the last AL wild card slot, making a postseason return all but impossible.

Multiple issues surrounded the 2019 Red Sox, which were seemingly enough for upper management to decide that a change was needed.  For one, the team exceeded the upper level of the luxury tax ($237MM) in 2018, and are again in position to exceed the new upper threshold of $246MM this season.  As per Roster Resource, the Red Sox have a projected luxury tax number of over $257.7MM, putting them in line to face another maximum penalty — a 75 percent tax on the overage, as well as a drop of ten spots for their highest pick of the 2020 draft.  (MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explored some of the financial ramifications for the Red Sox and the Competitive Balance Tax back in February.)

This cash crunch left the team unable to truly add new pieces to the roster, particularly a bullpen that seemed thin after Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly departed in free agency.  Still, Boston’s offseason focus largely centered around re-signing key members of their 2018 roster (Nathan Eovaldi and Steve Pearce), while also extending Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts, both of whom would have been free agents after the 2019 campaign.

Unfortunately for the Sox, a large chunk of their 2019 expenditures went for naught.  Eovaldi (signed to a four-year, $68MM deal) and Pearce (one-year, $6.25MM) have both been ineffective or injured for much of the year, with Eovaldi shifted into bullpen work rather than his expected role in the starting rotation.  Sale has endured a career-worst season after signing a five-year, $145MM extension that runs through the 2024 season (unless Sale opts out after 2022, which seems unlikely at this point).

Past Dombrowski acquisitions have also started to show their age this year.  Eduardo Nunez and Mitch Moreland have combined for -0.4 fWAR at a combined cost of $11.5MM.  David Price has put up generally good numbers since signing his seven-year, $217MM contract in the 2015-16 offseason, but his production hasn’t matched the big expectations that came with what is still the biggest deal ever handed to a pitcher in terms of total dollars.

If this analysis of Dombrowski’s misfires seems too centered around the results of the 2019 season, there’s really no other way to explain his firing, since at this time last year the baseball world was praising Dombrowski’s creation of a super-team.  (Beyond the 2018 Series, Boston also won AL East titles in both 2016 and 2017.)  Known for bold trades of prospects for star talent, it was Dombrowski who brought Sale and Kimbrel to Boston in major deals with the White Sox and Padres, respectively.  The extensions for Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez both look like big pluses, and the J.D. Martinez signing was a major win.

It should also be noted that if the luxury tax overage was such a big strike against Dombrowski, that wasn’t entirely his doing.  The Red Sox could have made just a minimal CBT payment if it wasn’t for the roughly $46MM in salaries paid out to Pablo Sandoval, Rusney Castillo, and Dustin Pedroia, all on contracts inked during the regime of previous general manager Ben Cherington.  Pedroia’s career is in jeopardy due to chronic knee problems, Sandoval hasn’t played for Boston in over two years, and Castillo is stuck in minor league limbo until his deal is up.

In fairness to Cherington, he was also not far removed from a World Series title (less than two seasons) when he himself was replaced by Dombrowski midway through the 2015 season.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently explored the possibility of a Dombrowski firing, and pointed out the extraordinarily high standard that seemingly any Red Sox general manager will have to meet, given that not even recent championships were enough to spare Cherington or Dombrowski.  As Rosenthal rhetorically asked, if Sox ownership is “frustrated with Dombrowski’s spending and his use of prospects as trade fodder, well, what exactly did they think they were getting? Dombrowski hasn’t broken from character in Boston, has never disguised his M.O.”

Boston’s farm system has been thinned by both Dombrowski’s trades, but perhaps moreso by the graduation of several of the top young prospects to the big leagues, so it isn’t as if the Red Sox are drastically short on premium young talent.  Rafael Devers is still a pre-arbitration player, after all, while Andrew Benintendi is only arb-eligible this winter and Eduardo Rodriguez has two arb years remaining.

Even Mookie Betts has one final year of arbitration eligibility, and while his future in Boston was already a big question, it has become of even greater import in the wake of Dombrowski’s firing.  Betts told reporters (including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald) tonight that the front office change “is proof that it’s still a business.”  While reiterating that “I love it here [in Boston],” Betts also said “it’s going to be the same answer” in regards to his plan to test the free agent market following the 2020 season.

It will be fascinating to see what direction Red Sox ownership takes in their search for a new baseball operations head.  Since John Henry’s ownership group bought the franchise, they famously promoted young executives from within (Theo Epstein and Cherington) before going in the opposite direction with Dombrowski, a veteran baseball man from outside the organization.  As Rosenthal noted in his piece, rebuilding doesn’t appear to be an option in Boston, so a new front office boss will have to creatively replenish the minor league system while still keeping the Sox in contention for another championship.

The next GM will inherit, after all, a team that is still talented — the Red Sox have a 76-67 record, and their offensive core of Betts, Bogaerts, Devers, and Martinez is as good as any in the sport.  But with Martinez potentially opting out of his deal and some major work needed for the rotation and bullpen, offseason business could explore trades of players a year removed from free agency (such as Betts or Jackie Bradley Jr.) in order to refurbish the roster.  Quite a bit of salary will also be coming off the books, so there’s a possibility the Sox could duck under the $208MM luxury tax threshold altogether and reset their penalty status.

Dombrowski was under contract though the 2020 season, and turned 63 in July.  The exec hadn’t had many public ruminations on his future, though he wishes to continue working, one would imagine several front offices would be interested in bringing him on, at least in an advisory capacity.  Or, it’s also not hard to imagine a team perhaps deciding to make a front office change now that Dombrowski is available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Cubs To Promote Nico Hoerner

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The Cubs are set to call up top infield prospect Nico Hoerner, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune suggested earlier this morning that Hoerner could be in line to get the call with both Javier Baez and Addison Russell dealing with injuries. The Cubs will need to make a 40-man roster move in order to accommodate the promotion.

Hoerner, 22, was the No. 24 overall selection in the 2018 draft and is widely considered to be among the game’s 100 best prospects. The Stanford product hit .284/.344/.399 with three home runs, 16 doubles, three triples and eight steals through 294 plate appearances in the pitcher-friendly Double-A Southern League this season. Beyond the leaguewide hitting environment, Hoerner’s production in Double-A is all the more impressive when considering that he played in just 14 games below the Double-A level before being rather aggressively promoted there by the Chicago organization. He did turn in an outstanding .337/.362/.506 showing through 94 plate appearances in last year’s Arizona Fall League as well.

Currently, Hoerner ranks 40th on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list. He also checked in 47th on the midseason re-rank at MLB.com and 51st over at Fangraphs. He’s an extremely high-contact hitter, having fanned in fewer than 10 percent of his professional plate appearances, and he draws praise for his above-average speed as well. There’s some debate as to which middle-infield position Hoerner will ultimately play at the MLB level, but the Cubs have given him quite a bit more time at shortstop early in his minor league career.

Hoerner didn’t need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter, so the Cubs are being more aggressive with his service clock than they have with previous prospects (most notably Kris Bryant). Chicago, though, saw Russell go down with a potential concussion yesterday and lost Baez to a hairline fracture in his thumb a day prior. The Cubs are 4.5 games back of the Cardinals for the NL Central lead and suddenly have a mere 1.5-game lead over the scorching Diamondbacks for the second Wild Card spot in the National League, giving them even greater reason for urgency.

It seems unlikely that Hoerner will simply be in the big leagues to stay from this point forth. He’s barely a year removed from being drafted and has yet to suit up for a single game of activity at the Triple-A level. An assignment to Iowa to begin next season would make sense, though now that he’s on the 40-man roster, Hoerner has at least put himself in a position to try to force the team’s hand and keep him in the Majors. Should he indeed play his way into a long-term spot on the roster, he’d be controllable through at least the 2025 season and become arbitration-eligible in the 2022-23 offseason. That said, it still seems likelier that he’ll get some Triple-A time next season, and he’d only need to spend about five weeks there for the Cubs to push his path to free agency back to the 2026-27 offseason.

Injury Notes: Tauchman, Moose, Laureano, Kelly

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Mike Tauchman departed during the fourth inning of Sunday night’s game with what the Yankees described as left calf tightness.  The outfielder suffered the injury while fielding a Brock Holt single, though he told reporters (including James Wagner of the New York Times) that he had recently been dealing with a sore calf and thought he was beyond the problem after a pair of pain-free games.  Tauchman will undergo an MRI on Monday in New York to determine the extent of the issue.

One of many unsung heroes who have stepped up in the wake of a cavalcade of Yankees injuries, Tauchman hit his 13th homer of the season Sunday, improving his slash line to .277/.361/.504 (128 wRC+) over 296 plate appearances.  After two seasons as a spare-parts outfielder with the Rockies, Tauchman has broken out in a major way, which would make it all the more unfortunate if a potential injured list stint were to cut into his availability for the postseason roster.  If Tauchman does have to miss time, the Yankees still have Clint Frazier and Cameron Maybin (himself just returned from a wrist injury) as left field options, and Giancarlo Stanton looms as a potential late-season reinforcement at some point in September.

More on other injury situations from around the game…

  • “I can’t take a swing without pain,” Mike Moustakas told reporters (including JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) about the deep wrist bruise that has limited him to a non-hitting role.  “I can hit flips, I can hit BP, and there’s still pain there, but that’s not what’s concerning. It’s when I swing and miss or I check swing and I have to hold my bat.”  The Brewers third baseman sat out seven games within a recent nine-game stretch while trying to recover, and has appeared in each of the club’s last two games but only as a defensive replacement.  While he is happy to help in any way possible while recovering, Moustakas is understandably eager to more fully contribute, and hopes he is getting close to feeling normal at the plate.  “When I’m in an at-bat facing a major league pitcher, you don’t want to be thinking about how bad your hand hurts when you’re trying to hit,” Moustakas said.  “You want to have a clear mind and go out there able to compete. I wasn’t able to do that the last week or so.“
  • As Ramon Laureano works his way back to full health after suffering a stress reaction in his right shin, Athletics manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Laureano will likely play in only two of every three games.  “This probably isn’t going to be an everyday proposition for him for a while,” Melvin said.  Laureano didn’t go through a rehab assignment before returning from his five-week stint on the IL, and left Saturday’s game after suffering a cramp in his right leg.
  • Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has been battling a lower-body injury, manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and other reporters.  The problem is “not a red flag for us,” Roberts said, though he noted that Kelly’s delivery is still being somewhat altered by the injury.  Kelly pitched on Saturday after sitting out the Dodgers’ previous five games.  After signing a three-year, $25MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter, Kelly badly struggled over his first two-plus months but then stabilized things, posting a 2.00 ERA over his last 27 innings (28 outings).

Poll: Who Will Be The NL’s Wild Card Teams?

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MLBTR’s Connor Byrne asked this same question in a poll just over a month ago, and it was the Nationals (30%) and Mets (22%) who collected the most votes from a field of nine (eight teams and an “other” option).  As we look at the standings today, the Mets have fallen four games back of the Cubs for the second wild card slot, while Washington continues to sit in pretty good shape, with a three-game lead over Chicago for the first wild card spot and the subsequent home-field advantage in the one-game playoff.

With only three weeks of regular-season baseball remaining, let’s alter that original field to seven clubs.  This omits the “other,” and also removes the Giants (7.5 games back) and Reds (10 games back) from contention.  However, we’re also going to add the Cubs into the mix, as they were leading the NL Central at the time of the original poll and thus weren’t included.  The Cardinals have since roared out to a 4.5-game lead over Chicago in the division race, but we’re keeping St. Louis within the field if some voters feel the Cubs can re-claim the NL Central lead — the two rivals still have seven head-to-head games remaining, after all.

The Brewers also could still technically be in the NL Central mix, since they have three games left against the Cardinals but sit 6.5 behind the Redbirds in the standings.  It’s much more likely that Milwaukee’s path to the postseason will go through the wild card game, as the Brewers have gone 7-3 over their last 10 games to move two games behind Chicago.  This also ties Milwaukee with the Phillies, as the two teams have identical 74-68 records.

While the Brew Crew have been hot, however, it hasn’t matched the Diamondbacks’ roll of 11-2 over their last 13 games.  Arizona is closest on the Cubs’ heels, just 1.5 games out of that second and final position.

It makes for a very exciting September finish, and we can’t omit the possibility of some type of multi-team tie that would require a play-in game just to reach the wild card game.  Which two teams do you think will end up holding all the cards once the dust settles? (Poll link for app users)

Addison Russell Evaluated For Concussion-Like Symptoms After HBP

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In a scary moment in Milwaukee, Cubs shortstop Addison Russell exited the game after he was hit in the face by a pitch from the Brewers’ Adrian Houser. In a post-game update, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports that Russell suffered a nasal bruise on the play and is under evaluation for concussion-like symptoms.

Russell remained on the ground for several minutes after sustaining a fastball to the face. He was tended to by members of the training staff, though he ultimately remained in the game. Immediately after taking first base, he stole second and would later come around to score. However, when the Cubs took the field in the bottom half of the inning, Russell was replaced defensively.

The incident could hardly come at a worse time for the Cubs, who just yesterday received news that Javier Baez could miss the remainder of the season after suffering a hairline fracture in his thumb. Russell, the Cubs’ best shortstop option behind Baez, was set to take over for the injured Cubs star; however, the Cubs may well find themselves down another infield piece should Russell’s injury require a sustained absence.

While Russell is far from the offensive powerhouse that Baez is, he at least represents a capable backup and a defensive difference-maker at the shortstop position. However, if Russell misses time, Chicago will have to dig even deeper for a replacement shortstop. David Bote, who took over for Russell in today’s game, is perhaps the best choice; he’s played sparingly at the position in his two years of big-league experience, though he’s far from a traditional shortstop. Otherwise, it might be too much to ask one of Tony Kemp, Ian Happ, and Robel Garcia to try their hand at the position—all three have experience at the keystone but have never suited up at shortstop.

Quick Hits: Astros, Correa, Suzuki, Haniger, Buxton

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The Astros will move forward with a four-man rotation for the remaining 18 games of the season, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Between Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, and Wade Miley, Houston’s club features perhaps the most formidable rotation in baseball, and the team will start gearing up for postseason play by trotting out what projects to be its playoff rotation. As McTaggart notes, the schedule lines up such that the fifth spot in the rotation will only come up twice more, leaving each of the Stros’ four starters to make four more appearances while manager A.J. Hinch will have to patch together two bullpen days. Meanwhile, lefty Framber Valdez will pitch out of the bullpen for the last few weeks of the year. The young lefty has toggled between the rotation and the bullpen throughout the year, and results have been decidedly better as a reliever: he’s posted a 3.90 ERA out of the bullpen, compared to an unsightly 7.07 mark as a starter.

Here are some other notes from around the baseball landscape…

  • Also from Houston, injured Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, currently on the injured list experiencing back soreness, took batting practice at Minute Maid Park today, tweets McTaggart—the first time he’s done so since the injury. He also took ground balls on the field, indicating that the 24-year-old could embark on a rehab assignment in the next few days. However, it’s worth mentioning that the Astros’ two active minor-league affiliates could be eliminated from postseason play before Correa can join them, in which case the star shortstop would have to settle for live batting practice. All things considered, it’s a positive sign that one of the team’s cornerstones could return in time for the postseason.
  • Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki underwent an MRI Sunday morning after feeling some discomfort in his right elbow last night, per the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty. In a later update, Dougherty tweets that the MRI showed nothing more than inflammation in the elbow, leaving Suzuki day-to-day. Presumably, Suzuki will be good to go for the beginning of the Nats’ series in Minnesota. Suzuki missed Sunday’s series finale against the Braves and he will enjoy an off day Monday before kicking off a series against the Twins on Tuesday. Suzuki, who’s slugged 16 home runs this year, has combined with the Yan Gomes to form a solid catching duo for the playoff-hopeful Nationals. It seems that the Nationals got the best possible news regarding Suzuki’s elbow, which shouldn’t necessitate an extended absence for the veteran.
  • The chances of Mariners star outfielder Mitch Haniger returning this season look to be fading, tweets Greg Johns of MLB.com. The 28-year-old received a second opinion on his strained lower back, which set back his recovery from a ruptured testicle suffered earlier this year. Those injuries have limited the All-Star to just 63 games this year, a number that likely won’t budge after that second opinion yielded no new information. It seems that at this point, there would need to be a unexpected breakthrough in order for Haniger to see the field again in 2019.
  • Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, who hasn’t made a plate appearance since August 1 thanks to a left shoulder injury, may not hit again this season, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters including Dan Hayes of the Athletic. The oft-injured outfielder is set to travel to California to visit a shoulder specialist. While we’ll have to wait and see what comes of that, Buxton may be henceforth limited to a role as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive substitute. It’s an unfortunate development given Buxton’s progress as a hitter: in 2019, he’s enjoyed the best offensive season of his career, slashing .262/.314/.513 with ten home runs in just 87 games.

 

Mariners Outright Matt Carasiti

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The Mariners have outrighted right-handed pitcher Matt Carasiti to Triple-A Tacoma, per an official team release. Carasiti will no longer occupy a spot on Seattle’s 40-man roster.

The 28-year-old Carasiti has tossed 9 2/3 innings for the Mariners this year, his first season pitching in the big leagues since 2016. He’s tallied ten strikeouts against five walks, posting an overall 4.66 ERA. He’s compiled solid numbers at the Triple-A level between the Mariners and Cubs organizations, pitching to a 3.53 ERA while striking out 8.3 batters per nine innings pitched.

Presumably, the Mariners are looking to clear room on the 40-man for potential call-ups from Double-A Arkansas, where the season has not yet ended.

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