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Yordan Alvarez, Jose Urquidy, Cionel Perez Cleared To Resume Training

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The Astros finally got a roster break today. Young slugger Yordan Alvarez, righty Jose Urquidy, and southpaw Cionel Perez have all been cleared to resume training with the club, as Jake Kaplan of The Athletic was among those to cover on Twitter.

While they’re now able to get back to action, the trio will obviously not be ready to jump right onto the active roster. All will report to the team’s alternative training site to get back up to full speed.

It’s especially encouraging to see Alvarez, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, returning to action. He had previously dealt with some knee issues, but the young slugger has now had ample rest.

The ’Stros will also be anxious to get Urquidy back. He emerged late last year as a key piece of the rotation. Perez has struggled with the long ball in his own MLB opportunities, but remains a potentially useful swingman.

Cubs Sign Ryan LaMarre

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The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve signed outfielder Ryan LaMarre to a minor league deal. Chicago also confirmed its previously reported minor league deal with infielder Derek Dietrich and added 2020 draftee Burl Carraway to its 60-man player pool. All three players will head to the team’s alternate training site in South Bend.

LaMarre, 31, has spent time in the Majors in each of the past five seasons, most recently with the Twins in 2018-19. The 2010 second-rounder, who is a career .236/.286/.338 hitter in 246 trips to the plate, had recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Rays. He’s capable of playing all three outfield positions and carries a solid .281/.349/.415 batting line in parts of seven seasons at the Triple-A level.

Carraway, selected in the second round out of Dallas Baptist University, is seen as a pure bullpen prospect with a powerful fastball/curve combination. He misses bats with ease but also has struggled with his control. He was widely regarded as a top-100 prospect in this year’s draft and could rise to the Majors quickly — although a 2020 debut would nevertheless register as a surprise.

Blue Jays To Play Home Games In Buffalo

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The Blue Jays will play their home games for the 2020 season at their Triple-A site in Buffalo, reports Dan Connolly of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Jays have been searching for a home site since government regulations in Canada ruled out Toronto’s Rogers Centre. They thought they’d reached a deal with the Pirates to utilize Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health quashed that plan. The Blue Jays also explored the possibility of playing at Camden Yards in Baltimore, which the Orioles reportedly approved, but that arrangement was also pending government approval in Maryland.

All the while, the Jays have reportedly been working to upgrade their facilities at Buffalo’s Sahen Field, bringing the clubhouses lighting up to par with MLB standards (or at least as close as possible). The organization’s strong preference has been to play its home games at a Major League facility, but it seems they’ll instead settle in a familiar setting for many of the club’s young players.

The Jays have since officially confirmed the report, issuing a statement which indicates they’ll stage the “majority” of its 2020 home games in Buffalo. Said president and CEO Mark Shapiro within the release:

“This process has no doubt tested our team’s resilience, but our players and staff refuse to make excuses – we are determined to take the field on Opening Day today, and for the coming months, with the same intensity and competitiveness that our fans expect.”

Travis d’Arnaud, Tyler Flowers Unavailable For Braves’ Opener

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The Braves will be without both of their top two catchers for today’s opener, manager Brian Snitker announced to reporters (Twitter link via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Both Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Flowers are exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19, and while both have tested negative, they’re back in Atlanta rather than with the club in New York. Alex Jackson, who was on the team’s taxi squad, will get the starting nod behind the plate. Catcher William Contreras, also on the 40-man roster and in the 60-man player pool, will likely be brought up as the backup.

It’s a sudden depletion of the Braves’ catching depth and a stark reminder of how quickly a club’s depth can be compromised in a strange 2020 season. Jackson will be unexpectedly thrust into a starting role for at least today — the timeline for d’Arnaud and Flowers to return can’t be known just yet — despite having just four MLB games under his belt. The former No. 6 overall draft pick carries plenty of power but has also had longstanding issues making contact (career 30 percent strikeout rate in the minors — 34 percent in Triple-A). His defense, too, has been an ongoing question that has resulted in Jackson at times getting looks in the corner outfield.

Contreras, the younger brother of Cubs star Willson Contreras, has never appeared in a Triple-A game — let alone in the big leagues. He’s a well-regarded catching prospect, but his .255/.315/.354 output at the plate between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2019 was a notable step back from 2018’s .285/.347/.436.

Both d’Arnaud and Flowers will technically be placed on the Covid-19 IL as a means of facilitating the promotion of Jackson and Contreras. Unlike other injured lists, however, there’s no minimum stay on the Covid-19 IL. It remains to be seen just when d’Arnaud and Flowers will be cleared to return, though the hope is that both catcher’s symptoms will be abate in short order.

Reds Finalize Opening Day Roster

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The Reds announced this morning that they’ve filled the final two spots on their 30-man roster by selecting the contracts of infielders Christian Colon and Matt Davidson. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Justin Shafer and left-hander Josh D. Smith were designated for assignment.

Colon, 31, returns for a second season with the Cincinnati organization. The former No. 4 overall draft pick (Royals, 2010) spent the bulk of the 2019 season with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville, hitting .300/.372/.443. He joined the big league club late in the year but only tallied eight plate appearances. Colon has played second base, third base and shortstop in the Majors, but he’s never justified that lofty draft status. In 150 big league games, he’s a .256/.321/.318 hitter.

The 29-year-old Davidson was a top pick himself in 2009 (No. 35 to the White Sox) and long rated as one of MLB’s top 100 prospects. Strikeout issues have long plagued the slugger, however, and in parts of four big league seasons he’s a .226/.295/.435 hitter with 49 home runs and a 34.5 percent strikeout rate. Davidson, who hit .264/.339/.527 with the Rangers’ Triple-A club in 2019, was at one point experimenting with a role as a two-way player. However, he’s only tossed three professional innings, and the Reds listed him as a pure infielder.

Both Colon and Davidson will give the Reds some infield depth off the bench, but they’ll likely take a back seat to Josh VanMeter and perhaps Kyle Farmer in that regard.

Shafer, meanwhile, has been designated for assignment by his second team in eight months. The Blue Jays designated him last November after a shaky showing in his first 48 MLB frames. Shafer turned in a solid 3.75 ERA in that span, but he also walked 32 batters and plunked another two in that time. His 5.52 FIP paints a much less favorable picture. Shafer has excelled in both Double-A and Triple-A, and he still has a pair of minor league option remaining — all of which likely appealed to the Reds when they acquired him (for cash) shortly after his original DFA. Cincinnati will have a week to trade Shafer, release him, or try to pass him through outright waivers.

Smith, 30, made his MLB debut last season but struggled to a 6.39 ERA in 12 2/3 innings between Cleveland and Miami. He’s worked 164 frames across four Triple-A seasons and carries a 3.02 ERA, 9.9 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in that time. The Reds claimed him off waivers from the Marlins this past offseason.

Nationals Name Austin Voth Fifth Starter

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The Nationals have named right-hander Austin Voth the fifth starter in their rotation, manager Dave Martinez told reporters yesterday (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli). Right-hander Erick Fedde, who’d been his primary competition after Joe Ross opted out of the 2020 season, will head to the bullpen.

In many ways, this has been a long time coming for the 28-year-old Voth, who has appeared on the cusp of a bigger role with the team for several years. Back in 2016, Voth spent his age-24 season in Triple-A and racked up 157 innings with a 3.15 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.63 HR/9 and a 49.7 percent ground-ball rate. He looked MLB-ready at the time — or at least in line for a legitimate audition — but the Nats entered 2017 with a full rotation. Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark were all established arms, and the aforementioned Ross had just turned in 105 MLB frames of 3.43 ERA ball. Voth headed back to Triple-A, where he struggled through an injury-plagued season.

A year later, Voth was working on rebuilding his stock in Triple-A and pitched reasonably well — but offseason signee Jeremy Hellickson was pitching better as the fifth starter at the MLB level. The 2019 season brought Voth his first extended look in the big leagues, and the righty gave the Nationals 43 1/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA, 9.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.03 HR/9 in a quietly strong rookie effort.

Back in April, I took a look at some of the underlying numbers in that impressive eight-start run for Voth, noting that his curveball was an overwhelmingly effective pitch that featured top-of-the-scale spin rate. The hard-hit rate yielded by Voth and his opponents’ expected batting average, slugging percentage and weighted on-base average all pointed to someone who has the potential to be far more than a run-of-the-mill fifth starter.

The 27-year-old Fedde, meanwhile, will look to settle in as a full-time reliever it seems. The former first-round pick has made 26 starts in the big leagues but just nine bullpen appearances. Fedde’s average fastball as a starter last year was 92.1 mph, but that jumped to 93.3 mph when he spent the month of September in the bullpen working in shorter stints. Fedde has yet to find much success above the Double-A level, but he’s also worked primarily out of the rotation, with nearly 80 percent of his professional appearances being starts. He does possess strong K/BB numbers in the minors in addition to strong ground-ball rates, so perhaps airing it out in shorter stints and narrowing his pitch selection will help him to tap into his potential.

Twins Select Aaron Whitefield

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The Twins selected outfielder Aaron Whitefield to their Major League roster yesterday in setting their Opening Day roster, per a club announcement. The Aussie speedster will go onto the team’s 40-man roster for the first time with the move.

Whitefield, 23, was signed out of Brisbane, Australia back in 2015. He’s something of a surprise addition given that he’s only played 31 games above A-ball, isn’t considered to be among the team’s top prospects and struggled at the plate this past season. Whitefield was a late addition to the player pool, joining the group just last week. However, he’s also swiped 115 bags in 337 minor league games in addition to 64 bases in 169 games while playing winter ball in the Australian League.

Whitefield has logged the vast majority of his time as a pro in center field, so he’ll give Minnesota a backup option at all three spots — notable with Byron Buxton coming back from a minor foot injury — as well as a pinch-running specialist late in games. Whitefield is a career .238/.299/.338 hitter in the minors, so it’s unlikely he’ll see too much time at the plate. However, we’ve seen a few clubs throughout the league opt to carry what amounts to a dedicated pinch-runner/defensive replacement (e.g. Terrance Gore with the Dodgers) while rosters are still at 30 players.

Royals’ Greg Holland Earns Roster Spot

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The Royals made a few moves on Thursday, adding right-handers Greg Holland and Tyler Zuber, infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia and catcher Oscar Hernandez to their roster.

Holland is the only member of the quartet with significant major league experience, and he has thrived at times, as shown by his three All-Star nods in Kansas City from 2010-15. He threw 319 2/3 innings of 2.42 ERA/2.23 FIP ball with 12.11 K/9 and 3.52 BB/9 during that span, but August 2015 Tommy John surgery stopped Holland from contributing to the Royals’ World Series-winning run late that year and has knocked his career off course in the ensuing seasons.

Since he underwent his TJ procedure, Holland has recorded a 4.20 ERA/4.02 FIP with 10.21 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 over 139 1/3 innings as a Rockie, National, Cardinal and Diamondback. But the the former lights-out closer will get a chance to revive his career with the Royals, who signed him to a minor league contract in the offseason.

Zuber, 25, ranked as FanGraphs’ 13th-best Royals prospect in April. The 2017 sixth-round pick climbed to the Double-A level for the first time last season and pitched to a 2.42 ERA/2.95 FIP with 10.38 K/9 and 1.73 BB/9 in 26 innings. Also 25, Mejia saw a bit of major league action last year in KC, but the overwhelming majority of his work came in Triple-A, where he hit .271/.339/.382 in 556 plate appearances. Hernandez, whom the Royals signed to a minor league pact earlier this month, appeared briefly with the Diamondbacks from 2015-16. He batted a paltry .209/.274/.399 in 168 PA last season with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.

Mariners Select Jose Marmolejos, Joe Hudson, Anthony Misiewicz

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The Mariners will have a few more new faces on their roster in 2020 in outfielder Jose Marmolejos, catcher Joe Hudson and left-hander Anthony Misiewicz when their season begins Friday. The team added all three to their 40-man roster on Thursday.

Marmolejos, whom the Mariners signed to a minor league contract during the offseason, had been with the Nationals since 2011. The 27-year-old regularly posted above-average production with Washington’s minor league affiliates, including during 2019 when he hit .315/.366/.545 with 16 home runs in 382 plate appearances in Triple-A. Marmolejos hasn’t played in the majors yet, but he might get a legitimate chance to prove himself with the Mariners, who are missing their best outfielder – the injured Mitch Haniger. Marmolejos, Kyle Lewis and Mallex Smith may comprise their season-opening outfield.

The Mariners will also see what they have in Hudson, a 29-year-old whom they signed to a minors deal last winter. Hudson totaled just 13 PA with the Angels and Cardinals in the majors from 2018-19, though he has posted a useful .734 OPS in 383 PA at the Triple-A level. Hudson will back up Austin Nola in Seattle, which will open 2020 without starting catcher Tom Murphy because of a fractured metatarsal in his left foot.

Misiewicz, 25, is in his second Mariners stint. The M’s chose Mislewicz in Round 18 of the 2015 draft, traded him to Tampa Bay in 2017 and then re-acquired him from the Rays later that year. He divided last season between Double-A and Triple-A and notched a 4.59 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 over 131 1/3 innings.

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