White Sox Ian Hamilton Out With Shoulder Soreness
The Chicago White Sox have made a number of roster moves. Reliever Ian Hamilton has been placed on the injured list with shoulder soreness, while Leury Garcia moves to the 45-day IL. Bernardo Flores and Cheslor Cuthbert are getting the call to join the major-league team, per The Athletic’s James Fegan (via Twitter).
Garcia held a significant role in the early going for the Southsiders, but he is out until October with a torn ligament in his thumb. He started the year at second before sliding to short to cover for Tim Anderson‘s IL stint. Across 16 games, the veteran Garcia held the line with a triple slash of .271/.317/.441.
Hamilton, 25, projects for a high-leverage role in the Chicago bullpen at some point in the future, but he’ll have to stay healthy first. In four appearances this season, he allowed a pair of runs across 4 innings, though he walked 5 in that span. Hamilton had an exceptionally rough 2019, first injuring his shoulder in a car accident in March, and later taking a line drive to the jaw that ended his season in June. Listed by MLB.com as Chicago’s #18-ranked prospect, Hamilton can hit triple digits on the radar gun with a sinking fastball, but for now, an overabundance of caution is understandable given the 2019 season Hamilton endured.
Flores’ stay won’t be long, as he’s joining the White Sox as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. To see the full advantage of the roster move, the lefty Flores should have a better chance than not of seeing action out of the bullpen sometime during the twin bill. The 24-year-old has appeared in 3 games for the White Sox this season, tossing 5 innings and allowing just a pair of earned runs.
Cuthbert is a corner infielder formerly of the Kansas City Royals. This is his second call-up of the season, the first resulting in just a single at-bat. Over six seasons in KC, Cuthbert slashed .250/.300/.378 across 1,160 plate appearances.
Outrighted: Phillies, Angels
Let’s check in on a few of the latest outrights…
- Phillies hurlers Enyel De Los Santos and Trevor Kelley cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com tweets. The Phillies designated both right-handers for assignment in recent days. De Los Santos joined the Phillies in a one-for-one swap with the Padres for infielder Freddy Galvis before 2018. While De Los Santos then had a strong first season in the Phillies’ system, his stock fell last year in a rough showing divided between Triple-A and the majors. Kelley, whom the Phillies claimed off waivers from the Red Sox last winter, allowed four earned runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings this year before Philly designated him.
- The Angels outrighted Jose Rodriguez to their alternate site after he cleared waivers. Rodriguez has thrown 21 1/3 innings of 2.53 ERA ball as an Angel since 2019, but he has allowed five home runs, struck out just 13 hitters while walking 12, and logged a 6.72 FIP/6.27 xFIP.
Athletics Scratch Frankie Montas
AUG. 15: Manager Bob Melvin said Montas will throw Saturday and could start Sunday, Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News tweets.
AUG. 14: The Athletics have scratched righty Frankie Montas from his scheduled start this evening. Southpaw Jesus Luzardo will take the ball instead.
Montas is said to be dealing with upper back tightness. It’s not evident at this point how serious the injury is.
It’s disappointing to see Montas hit the shelf given his recent successes on the mound. Over twenty starts dating back to the start of the 2019 season, he owns a sparkling 2.42 over 119 frames.
Rays Add Xavier Edwards To Player Pool
The Rays added infielder Xavier Edwards to their 60-man player pool Friday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. He reported to their alternate training site.
Edwards was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2018, when the club selected him 38th overall. He’s now a top 100-caliber prospect, but the Padres traded him to the Rays last winter in a prominent deal that also saw outfielder Hunter Renfroe go to Tampa Bay. San Diego landed outfielder Tommy Pham and infielder Jake Cronenworth in return.
Edwards, who just turned 21 last week, has topped out at the High-A level as a professional. While Edwards didn’t hit any home runs during his 217-plate appearance debut there last season, he did slash .301/.349/.367 with a measly 8.8 percent strikeout rate and 14 stolen bases on 16 tries. MLB.com ranks Edwards as the Rays’ fourth-best prospect.
MLB Considering Expansion Of Player Pool
As Major League Baseball continues to adapt to the unprecedented circumstances of the 2020 season, it is considering a notable change to the present 60-man player pool system. Per Josh Norris of Baseball America, a proposal under consideration would add something like 15 more slots to each team’s alternate training site.
It doesn’t sound as if this evolution is a done deal, or even a firmly hammered out system under consideration. But developments have come far more rapidly than usual during this ad hoc, covid-addled campaign. If the league is to implement it, we’d presumably see things come together in rather short order.
As with the alternate site information sharing plan that is set to go into effect, this latest development reflects observations from the early functioning of a modified season and an effort to anticipate issues to come. First and foremost, as Norris explains, the current approach has left too few players around to participate in alternate site games. And teams would surely rather have more flexibility to get players in action, both to enhance development of younger players and to build out veteran depth.
There’s also an interesting potential trade deadline tie-in here, as with the enhanced scouting that would come from video and statistical sharing. Bigger player pools would give much greater flexibility to teams looking to structure mid-season deals. (Remember, only players in the 60-man pool may be traded.) Teams would have more room for prospects in their pools, thus making it easier to put trade candidates into play without unduly sacrificing the ability to supplement the active roster as needed.
With just over two weeks to go until an undeniably bizarre trade deadline, this could be quite the wild card. It’ll be especially interesting to see how quickly the changes are agreed upon and implemented. If teams are to wheel and deal at anything approaching their typical levels, they’ll want to have some advance notice to hash out potential agreements.
There’s a tie-in to a broader matter within the baseball operations landscape. In the past decade or so, roughly the span of MLBTR’s existence, we’ve seen analytics (in the broadest sense) grow from a niche element of the roster-building meta game to a more-or-less universal, rather uniform philosophical framework. Thinking about the game critically and shrewdly applying analytical resources is the base state for the contemporary front office. Doing more and better remains the goal, but the returns are necessarily diminishing. What we’re seeing now is something else entirely: an entire new set of challenges with human dimensions; ever-changing rules regimes and economic circumstances; information gaps that technology can’t really solve.
Navigating this world to construct a winning MLB team presents a new — or at least heavily altered — challenge. Particularly for those of us who’ve observed the evolution to this point, it’ll be fun to sit back and see which executives thrive in this new era of the hot stove.
Mariners Release Patrick Wisdom
The Mariners have granted infielder Patrick Wisdom his unconditional release, Greg Johns of MLB.com relays. The club previously designated Wisdom for assignment on Aug. 10.
Wisdom joined the Mariners as a minor league signing last November, but he never took an at-bat with the club before it axed him. He’s best known as a former first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2012, when Wisdom went 52nd overall.
Wisdom had his moments in the St. Louis organization, especially during a 2018 major league debut in which he slashed .260/.362/.520 with four home runs in 58 plate appearances, but the Cardinals traded him to the Rangers prior to the ’19 campaign. Wisdom struggled to a .154/.185/.192 line with 15 strikeouts in 26 PA as a Ranger.
While his time in the majors has certainly been inconsistent, Wisdom will bring a track record of decent minors production to the next organization that signs him (if one does). He posted an .844 OPS in Triple-A ball last year and owns a .252/.328/.478 line with 82 homers in 1,674 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors.
Logan Morrison Elects Free Agency
The Brewers announced Friday that first baseman Logan Morrison cleared waivers, rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency. Milwaukee designated Morrison for assignment Aug. 10.
Morrison was an offseason minor league signing for the Brewers, who took a low-risk chance on him after a pair of rough, abbreviated seasons divided between the Twins and Phillies. The 32-year-old didn’t give the Brewers the results they were looking for this season, as he walked to the plate 28 times and only mustered a line of .120/.214/.280 (35 wRC+) with one home run.
While Morrison isn’t that far removed from a terrific 2017 Rays season in which he slashed .246/.353/.516 (131 wRC+) with 38 homers in 601 plate appearances, the 32-year-old has typically been an unspectacular contributor relative to his position. Since debuting with the Marlins in 2010, Morrison has batted .238/.323/.425 (105 wRC+) with 140 homers in 3,779 trips to the plate. That’s certainly a much better career than most MLB players could realistically hope for, but based on his recent output, it seems unlikely Morrison will reemerge as an impact player in the bigs if another organization gives him a chance.
Nationals To Promote Luis Garcia
The Nationals will promote infield prospect Luis Garcia, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). He’s expected to join the team for its game this evening.
Garcia, who just turned 20 in May, will step right into the starting lineup. He had been on the club’s taxi squad but an immediate opening arose when Starling Castro suffered a wrist injury earlier today. Castro’s outlook remains to be seen.
The Nats have not hesitated to call upon their best young talent, with generally excellent results. Garcia will now have an opportunity to take a place in a still-developing new core of position players on the D.C. roster.
Though he’s still quite young, Garcia did play a full season at the Double-A level last year. He ran into some challenges there, ultimately slashing just .257/.280/.337 over 553 plate appearances, but was markedly better in the second half.
Talent evaluators see Garcia as a potential everyday player. For now, he’ll line up at second base alongside regular shortstop Trea Turner. It remains to be seen how lengthy an opportunity Garcia will receive. No doubt that’ll depend both upon the health status of Castro and Garcia’s ability to adapt to MLB pitching.
Yankees Place Aaron Judge On IL
The Yankees have decided to place outfielder Aaron Judge on the injured list, manager Aaron Boone announced to reporters including Erik Boland of Newsday (via Twitter). He’s dealing with a mild calf strain.
Boone made clear that this is only a precautionary move. While the injury is said to be merely a grade 1 strain, if that, the team is exercising ample caution with its star slugger.
Yankees fans will be forgiven for fostering greater concern than the skipper himself let on. Judge hasn’t topped five hundred plate appearances in a season since his mammoth 2017 rookie year, owing to a series of health issues.
It’s much the same situation with fellow middle-of-the-order centerpiece Giancarlo Stanton. He’s also sidelined with what’s hoped to be a mild leg muscle issue, but comes with the same sort of worrisome background. In their absence, former top prospect Clint Frazier could get a window to prove himself.
Rangers Select Juan Nicasio; Greg Bird Elects Free Agency
The Rangers have announced a few roster moves. Righty Juan Nicasio is headed back to the majors after his contract was selected. The club will bid adieu to first baseman Greg Bird, who elected free agency after clearing outright waivers.
In other news, the team has placed backstop Robinson Chirinos on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right ankle. Fellow catcher Jose Trevino was called up to fill in behind the dish.
This makes a decade’s worth of MLB seasons for Nicasio, who’ll soon turn 34. He struggled to a 4.75 ERA in 47 1/3 frames last year with the Phillies.
Bird will head back to the drawing board after only a single game in a Rangers uniform. He never even saw a chance to swing a bat with the Texas club, having landed on the injured list shortly after his promotion.