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Rangers Reportedly “Entertaining” Offers For Lance Lynn

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The Rangers began 2020 with playoff aspirations, but almost halfway through the campaign, it appears they’ll fall short of their goal. Texas will enter Tuesday’s action a dismal 11-17, 3 1/2 games out of wild-card position and well on its way to a fourth straight season without a playoff berth. Consequently, the Rangers could end up as sellers prior to the Aug. 31 trade deadline. If that’s the case, they may have one of the game’s most appealing trade chips in right-hander Lance Lynn. Although he still has another year of control left after this one, the Rangers are at least “entertaining” offers for Lynn, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link).

Of course, just because the Rangers are willing to listen to teams’ proposals for Lynn doesn’t mean they’re ready to move him. However, there’s a case the Rangers should sell high on Lynn, a former Cardinal, Twin and Yankee who has been brilliant in Texas.

Since signing a three-year, $30MM contract with the Rangers before 2019, Lynn has pitched to a 3.30 ERA/3.17 FIP over 253 2/3 innings. Lynn was an American League Cy Young contender during his first season in Texas, and it appears he’ll be in the thick of the race this year. Through a major league-leading 45 1/3 innings in 2020, Lynn has recorded a 1.59 ERA/3.35 FIP with 9.93 K/9 and 2.78 BB/9.

With only a few weeks left in the regular season, teams may be loath to surrender significant value for most players available around the deadline, as the majority are pending free agents who aren’t vying for major awards. But Lynn’s a Cy Young hopeful who would be able to help a team this year and next, when he’ll be due an affordable $8MM salary, so the Rangers should be in position to land a quality haul for the 33-year-old if they do part with him in the next several days.

Yonny Chirinos Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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AUG. 25: Chirinos underwent successful surgery Tuesday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets.

AUG. 21, 2:22pm: Rays skipper Kevin Cash confirmed to reporters that Chirinos will require Tommy John surgery and likely miss all of the 2021 season as well (Twitter links via Topkin).

1:10pm: Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos landed on the IL this week due to an elbow strain, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times now reports (via Twitter) that the right-hander’s injury is not only a season-ender but will likely require Tommy John surgery. It’s a tough blow to the same first-place Rays pitching staff that just lost Brendan McKay to shoulder surgery and has been without Charlie Morton for two weeks due to shoulder inflammation. Longtime top prospect Brent Honeywell recently underwent another surgery as well.

Chirinos has quietly emerged as an important contributor for the Rays in recent seasons, pitching to a combined 3.65 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.23 HR/9 and a 42.8 percent ground-ball rate. That showing was expected to cement him as a member of the Rays’ starting rotation in 2020, but he’s been limited to 11 1/3 innings by a pair of IL placements due to elbow troubles.

Given the timing of the injury, it’s quite possible that Chirinos will miss the entirety of the 2021 season as well. Tommy John surgery typically requires a minimum of 12 months to recover — quite often closer to 14 months. Perhaps with a speedy recovery, he’ll emerge as a bullpen option for the Rays late next year, but getting any contribution from him at all in ’21 would be a bonus and should not be considered a given.

Fortunately for the Rays, they have their typical brand of enviable starting pitching depth from which they can draw. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Ryan Yarbrough and Trevor Richards are currently making starts with Chirinos, Morton and McKay on the shelf, the the team has several other potential options to which they can turn. Former top prospect Anthony Banda is back from his own Tommy John procedure and working in long relief at the moment. Either he or fellow southpaw Jalen Beeks could conceivably be stretched out to help patch things over. At the alternate training site, well-regarded prospects Shane Baz and Shane McClanahan loom as options as well.

Of course, with the Rays in first place and the Aug. 31 trade deadline looming, the possibility off augmenting the staff with someone not currently in the organization can’t be ruled out. The Rays are considered to have the best minor league system in baseball, so they should have no trouble putting together an alluring package for any of the names that figure to be available. Speculatively speaking, that list could include the likes of Lance Lynn, Dylan Bundy, Taijuan Walker and Kevin Gausman, among numerous others.

Reds Select Jesse Biddle

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The Reds have selected left-hander Jesse Biddle’s contract, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic tweets. The team also placed right-hander Anthony DeSclafani on the paternity list and put infielder Jose Garcia on its taxi squad.

Biddle was a Reds offseason minor league signing who divided 2018-19 among the Braves, Mariners and Rangers. His career began quite well during his first year, in which Biddle tossed 63 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA/3.88 FIP ball with 9.47 K/9, 4.38 BB/9 and a 55.6 percent groundball rate. But things went south last year for Biddle, who could only muster an 8.36 ERA/6.46 FIP in 28 innings, owing largely to a horrid 7.07 BB/9 and an almost 10 percent drop in grounder rate.

The 28-year-old Biddle will now join a Reds bullpen that, like the team itself, has underwhelmed this season. Reds relievers will go into Tuesday 26th in the majors in ERA and 23rd in FIP.

Braves Activate Nick Markakis, Option Cristian Pache

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The Braves have activated outfielder Nick Markakis from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Cristian Pache, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets.

Markakis is back after missing week of action because he may have come into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. That interrupted an excellent start to the season for Markakis, who has slashed .353/.421/.616 in 38 plate appearances. He’ll now rejoin the just-reinstated Ronald Acuna Jr., Marcell Ozuna and Ender Inciarte as the Braves’ top outfield options.

Pache, whom the Braves promoted the same day Markakis landed on the IL, only totaled four plate appearances in his first major league experience. But as a 21-year-old who ranks among the sport’s premier prospects, it shouldn’t be long before Pache gets a legitimate chance to prove himself in the majors.

Cubs Activate Jose Quintana, Tyler Chatwood

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The Cubs announced that they have activated left-hander Jose Quintana and righty Tyler Chatwood from the injured list. The club optioned righty Jason Adam and outfielder Ian Miller to its alternate site in corresponding moves.

Quintana hasn’t pitched this season after undergoing left thumb surgery in early July, though he’s known for consistently providing solid production over a large number of innings. The 31-year-old will head into this season with a 3.72 ERA/3,65 FIP in 1,485 innings divided between Chicago’s two teams. While 246 of Quintana’s lifetime 250 appearances have come as a starter, he seems likely to function as a reliever this year, at least in the early going.

Chatwood, meanwhile, will rejoin the Cubs’ rotation after missing a couple weeks with a back strain. The former Rockie has largely been a disappointment since he signed a three-year, $38MM contract with the Cubs before 2018, but his platform season has brought some encouraging signs. Chatwood’s 5.40 ERA through 15 innings is unsightly, though he has turned in two very good starts versus one clunker this season. He has so far logged an excellent 13.8 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9, and put up a 2.60 FIP/2.71 xFIP/2.91 SIERA.

The Cubs will give Chatwood another chance to hang on to a rotation spot alongside Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Alec Mills. However, if he flops upon his return, Quintana could move back into their starting five.

Yankees Activate Aaron Judge, Place Luis Avilan On 10-Day IL, Recall Andujar/Kriske

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Slugger Aaron Judge will make his return to the Yankees tonight, as the club announced that Judge has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.  Lefty Luis Avilan, however, has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to August 22) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Miguel Andujar and righty Brooks Kriske have been called up from the Yankees’ alternate training site.

Judge returns after a minimum 10-day absence due to a mild calf strain — one so seemingly minor, in fact, that Judge said he’d been lobbying the team to not place him on the IL whatsoever.  Still, the Yankees showed some caution with the star right fielder, and he’ll now add his considerable pop to a lineup that is still missing Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres.  Judge has been nothing less than spectacular over his 68 plate appearances this season, hitting .290/.343/.758 with nine home runs.

While Judge is returning, Avilan becomes the latest Yankee to hit the IL.  The southpaw has a 4.32 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.80 K/BB rate over 8 1/3 relief innings this season, his first in the pinstripes after inking a minor league deal with New York last winter.  It stands to reason that Avilan’s shoulder issue might have been the reason for his struggles in his most recent outing, as he allowed three hits and two earned runs over just one-third of an inning against the Rays last Thursday.

This will be the third separate time that Andujar has been up with the Yankees this season, and he has only a .232 OPS over 22 plate appearances.  It will be interesting to see how Andujar will be deployed during this stint on the active roster, as while he has been learning first base and the outfield, he could conceivably return to his old position at third base.  That would allow the Yankees some flexibility in potentially moving Gio Urshela to the middle infield with Torres and LeMahieu out, as manager Aaron Boone has indicated that he would be open to using Urshela away from third base on a limited basis.

Kriske is back up with the Yankees for the second time this season.  The 26-year-old made his Major League debut this year, and has a 6.75 ERA over his first 1 1/3 innings in the Show.

Trade Deadline Notes: Royals, Moore, Rays, BoSox, Angels, Eppler, Orioles

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Trevor Rosenthal and other Royals relievers are already drawing interest from trade suitors, though GM Dayton Moore hasn’t ruled out being a deadline buyer.  “We wouldn’t hesitate to add to this team,” Moore told Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star.  “This team is talented enough to be one of eight teams representing the American League in the playoffs….So I’m not even beginning to think about dismantling or moving players that help us win at this point.  I believe that this group of players is extremely talented and very much capable of being a playoff team.”

The Royals are last in the AL Central with an 11-18 record, and they sit four games back of the Blue Jays for the last AL wild card slot.  While they’d have to leapfrog a lot of teams to cross the postseason line, even one brief winning streak could greatly improve Kansas City’s chances in the shortened season.  As Worthy notes, the Royals haven’t yet had their entire ideal roster together at one time, as multiple key players have been sidelined due to injuries and COVID-19.  It doesn’t seem likely that K.C. will make any kind of big deadline push, though those expecting a mini-fire sale might also be disappointed.

More trade buzz from around the league…

  • There is no doubt that the Rays are planning on being deadline buyers, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that “other teams say the Rays are being very aggressive in” trade talks.  It stands to reason that Tampa Bay is targeting pitching given all of their injured arms, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rays swing some creative deals to address multiple needs.  In July 2019, for instance, Tampa landed Nick Anderson, Trevor Richards, Eric Sogard, and Jesus Aguilar in separate deals with the Marlins, Blue Jays, and Brewers respectively, while five other lower-level trades were also consummated.
  • The Red Sox are willing to include some money to accommodate trades, Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal writes (subscription required).  We’ve already seen the Sox kick in $815K to the Phillies as part of the Brandon Workman/Heath Hembree trade last weekend, and McAdam speculates that Boston could potentially eat larger sums for higher-paid players like J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, or Christian Vazquez in order to land a better prospect return.
  • Though the Angels’ 9-21 record is the worst in the American League, their approach at the trade deadline could be impacted by front office uncertainty, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman said in an appearance on the MLB Network (video link).  “There is probably not a general manager on thinner ice…right now than Billy Eppler,” Sherman notes, as the Halos are looking at their fifth straight losing season in Eppler’s five-year tenure.  Since Eppler’s contract is up after the season, Sherman wonders if the GM would have the green light to trade anything beyond rental players.  Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney, for instance, would draw a lot of trade interest if shopped, though both pitchers are also arbitration-controlled through 2021 and the Angels plan to contend next season.
  • The Orioles have a .500 record and are in the mix for a playoff berth, though both The Athletic’s Dan Connolly and the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli figure that the team isn’t likely to make any splashy rental acquisitions.  As Connolly puts it, “general manager Mike Elias is focused on his big-picture plan and he’s not going to alter that for the immediate gratification of a seventh or eighth seed in a short season.”  Meoli, meanwhile, wonders if the O’s will be particularly active either as a buyer or seller at the deadline, noting that Elias didn’t swing many significant deals at the 2019 trade deadline and instead waited until the offseason to move the likes of Bundy and Jonathan Villar.  Between many teams’ uncertain financial situations and the lack of many defined buyers or sellers, there might even more reason this year for the Orioles to hold off until the winter.

Orioles Place Wade LeBlanc On 60-Day Injured List

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The Orioles have placed southpaw Wade LeBlanc on the 60-day injured list due to a stress reaction in his throwing elbow, the team announced.  Left-hander Keegan Akin has been called up from the team’s alternate training site in a corresponding move.

LeBlanc will see his season end after just 22 1/3 innings, including an outing last Sunday that saw him depart the mound due to injury before the first inning was over.  It was a tough stretch for LeBlanc in Baltimore, with an 8.06 ERA largely fueled by the six homers allowed during his 22 1/3 frames of work.  Home runs have been something of a constant issue for LeBlanc over his 12 big league seasons, though the problem has spiked over the last two years in particular, as LeBlanc has a 2.1 HR/9 over his last 143 2/3 MLB innings.

Baltimore signed LeBlanc to a minor league contract in the offseason, so he will earn the prorated portion of an $800K salary for reaching the Orioles’ active roster.  The O’s expected to LeBlanc to eat some innings and provide some veteran experience for their young pitching staff, though today’s news could quite possibly mark the end of LeBlanc’s tenure with the club.

Akin might be the most obvious candidate to fill LeBlanc’s spot in the rotation, though the Orioles have some time to make a decision since LeBlanc’s next turn isn’t until Saturday.  A second-round pick in the 2016 draft, the 25-year-old Akin has posted some solid innings in Baltimore’s farm system and he already made his MLB debut earlier this season (a three-inning relief outing on August 14).

Mets Place Nido, Gimenez On Injured List; Juan Lagares/Patrick Mazeika Selected

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The Mets have placed infielder Andres Gimenez and catcher Tomas Nido on the injured list, the club announced.  Outfielder Juan Lagares and catcher Patrick Mazeika will be replacing them on the active roster, as the Mets selected their contracts from the team’s alternate training site.  Catcher Ali Sanchez has also been added to the roster as the 29th player for today’s doubleheader with the Marlins.

No specific reason was given for Gimenez and Nido’s placement, though the lack of information would seem to imply COVID-19 concerns.  The Mets are returning to the field today after having four games postponed due to positive coronavirus tests from an unnamed player and coach.  Also of note, bench coach Hensley Meulens and third base coach Gary DiSarcina are not at Citi Field today, according to multiple reporters.

Gimenez, one of the Mets’ top prospects and a top-100 prospect in the sport, was something of a surprise addition to New York’s roster at the beginning of the season since he hadn’t played beyond the Double-A level (and hadn’t hit particularly well at that level.  Indeed, Gimenez looked a little overmatched in his first 62 big league plate appearances, hitting .254/.290/.339.  On the plus side, Gimenez did go a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base chances and displayed some solid glovework at shortstop, second base, and third base.

Since Sanchez will seemingly just be up for today’s two games, it looks like the Mets will give Mazeika a look as Wilson Ramos’ backup while Nido is out.  Mazeika was an eighth-round pick for the Mets in the 2015 draft, and he is poised to make his MLB debut after hitting .278/.371/.424 over 1801 career minor league plate appearances.  Like Gimenez, Mazeika hasn’t played any Triple-A ball.

Lagares will return to the Mets after signing a minor league contract back in July.  A staple of the New York outfield from 2013-19, Lagares displayed excellent glovework in his prime but injuries and a lack of consistent hitting turned the team’s four-year, $23.5MM extension into something of a misfire.  After the Mets declined their club option on Lagares for the 2020 season, he inked a minor league deal with the Padres in the offseason but elected free agency in July.

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