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Yankees Sign Jordy Mercer To Minors Contract

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The Yankees announced infielder Jordy Mercer has been signed to a minor league contract and assigned to the club’s alternate training site.  Mercer and minor league catcher Wynston Sawyer have both been added to New York’s 60-man player pool, with Sawyer joining Mercer at the alternate camp.

Mercer appeared in three games for the Tigers this season before deciding to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment on August 6.  He’ll now join a Yankees team in need of some second base depth since DJ LeMahieu’s is expected to spend two or three weeks on the injured list due to a sprained left thumb.  Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada are New York’s current second base options on the active roster, and it isn’t out of the question that Mercer could also serve as a backup shortstop to Gleyber Torres.

Best known for his long stint as the Pirates’ starting shortstop, Mercer has a .257/.315/.387 slash line over 3276 career MLB plate appearances with Pittsburgh and Detroit.  Fielding metrics have taken a dim view of Mercer’s shortstop glovework in recent years, though that could be a moot point if he ends up playing second base for the Yankees.  (For what it’s worth, Mercer has a +4.4 UZR/150 and +3 Defensive Runs Saved as a second baseman, though only over 286 2/3 career innings at the position.)

Padres Promote Adrian Morejon

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As expected, the Padres have called up left-hander Adrian Morejon from their alternate training site.  The team made this announcement in advance of Morejon’s scheduled start against the Rangers this afternoon.  Righty Luis Perdomo was optioned to the alternate training site to create roster space.

This will be Morejon’s second stint in the big leagues, and there isn’t really anywhere to go but up after he posted a 10.13 ERA through eight innings and five appearances (two of them starts) in 2019.  A bothersome shoulder may have been partially to blame for Morejon’s issues, as he was sent to the injured list last August and was eventually shut down for the season.

Of course, Morejon is hardly the only player to have an underwhelming MLB debut, and the southpaw is still considered one of the sport’s more intriguing pitching prospects.  He has been a staple of top-100 prospects lists for the last few years, with Keith Law (72nd), Baseball Prospectus (75th) and Baseball America (89th) all including Morejon on their pre-2020 rankings.  Morejon was the headliner of the Padres’ spending splurge in the 2016-17 international signing period, as the Cuba native signed for an eye-opening $11MM bonus.

It wasn’t too long ago that Perdomo was holding down a spot in San Diego’s rotation, as the right-hander amassed 310 1/3 innings for the Friars in 2016-17, starting 49 of 64 games.  Injuries hampered the groundball specialist in 2018, however, and Perdomo has been since used primarily as a reliever while yo-yoing between the majors and Triple-A.  Perdomo did post a solid 4.00 ERA, 3.06 K/BB rate, 60.6% grounder rate, and 6.9 K/9 over 72 innings in 2019, though he had had a rougher go of things this season (8.10 ERA over 10 innings).

Royals To Promote Matt Harvey

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1:40PM: Harvey will start the second game of the Royals’ doubleheader with the Reds tomorrow, the team announced.

11:28AM: Cue the inevitable “The Dark Knight Rises In K.C.” headlines.  The Royals are calling right-hander Matt Harvey up to the Major League roster, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).  Harvey inked a minor league deal with Kansas City in late July and is now on track to earn the prorated portion of a $575K salary upon reaching the majors.

It isn’t known when Harvey could take the hill for K.C., given that the team’s schedule is somewhat in flux due to the rescheduling of games in their current series with the Reds.  With Jakob Junis recently placed on the 10-day injured list and Mike Montgomery’s return potentially in question due to his placement on the 45-day IL, however, there is certainly opportunity for Harvey to find some innings in the rotation.

Harvey last appeared in a Major League game on July 18, 2019, the final outing of a rough tenure with the Angels that saw the former All-Star post a 7.09 ERA over 59 2/3 frames.  After bursting onto the scene with the Mets earlier this decade, Harvey began to develop shoulder issues in 2016 that eventually led to thoracic outlet surgery, and the righty simply hasn’t looked the same since.

Since the start of the 2017 season, Harvey has a 5.89 ERA over 307 1/3 MLB innings.  Between the end of his tenure in New York and his tough year in Anaheim, Harvey did perform decently well (4.50 ERA, 3.96 K/BB rate, 7.8 K/9) over a 128-inning stint with the Reds in 2018.  Most recently, there were positive reports on Harvey at the Royals’ alternate training site, as GM Dayton Moore said he liked what he had seen from the 31-year-old’s work.

MLB Preparing Operations Manual For Postseason “Bubble” Format

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Major League Baseball has begun creating an operations manual outlining the procedures necessary for a neutral-site “bubble” setup for the 2020 postseason, ESPN.com’s Emily Kaplan and Jeff Passan write.  Though still in the early stages, the fact that the league is taking such preparatory steps indicates that the new staging format could very possibly happen for October’s games.

MLB’s plan would most closely resemble the NHL’s bubble format for its ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs.  Kaplan and Passan outline the NHL’s plan for those unfamiliar, detailing such aspects as COVID-19 testing, what life is like for players inside of the “bubble” (actually two areas in downtown Toronto and Edmonton that contain the arenas, hotels, and other amenities, with the entire area closed off to the public) as well the challenges of maintaining this environment while also keeping the postseason’s competitive integrity intact.

In theory, the 2020 Major League Baseball playoffs could adopt something of the same format, with two host cities — or at least host areas — staging the National League and American League’s games.  Texas and southern California are “early favorites” to be hub areas, Kaplan/Passan write, with New York and the Chicago/Milwaukee also under consideration.  One would imagine that Texas and SoCal would be favored in part because of the likelihood of better weather conditions for October baseball than the more northern cities, though Milwaukee’s Miller Park at least has a roof.  It is possible different cities could be used for different postseason rounds — Kaplan and Passan write about a scenario that would see, for instances, each league’s division series played in San Diego and Arlington, and then another city could be used for the two LCS matchups as well as the World Series.

While MLB is already in the planning stages and they do have the benefit of learning from how the NHL and NBA have already launched and maintained their bubbles for postseason play, there are still a lot of obvious complications ahead should baseball try to install such a plan for October.  For one, baseball will be heading into its playoffs directly on the heels of the regular season, while the NHL and NBA had months during the pandemic lockdown to plan and prepare for their restarts.  Both the MLB office and league owners have openly expressed concern about extending the season much beyond October due to fears of a possible second COVID-19 wave later in the year, and the mechanics of getting 16 teams (don’t forget, MLB has an expanded playoffs this year) safely into the bubble and completing enough testing to start playoff games might require some extra time.

Rays Acquire Edgar Garcia; Designate Daniel Robertson

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The Phillies have agreed to trade right-hander Edgar Garcia to the Rays in exchange for a player to be named later, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).  Tampa Bay has designated infielder Daniel Robertson for assignment to create roster space for Garcia, MLB.com’s Juan Toribio reports (Twitter link).

Philadelphia designated Garcia for assignment late last week.  The 23-year-old made his big league debut in 2019, tossing 39 innings out of the Phils’ bullpen and posting 5.77 ERA, 10.4 K/9, and 1.73 K/BB.  Homers and walks were Garcia’s biggest issue, as he allowed 11 home runs and issued 26 free passes over his 39-inning stint.

The long ball also developed as a problem for Garcia at Triple-A (1.6 HR/9), though admittedly over the small sample size of 33 2/3 career innings at the top minor league level.  For his entire minor league career, Garcia has posted some solid numbers — a 3.43 ERA, 3.27 K/BB rate, and 9.3 K/9 through 301 1/3 innings in Philadelphia’s farm system.  The Rays obviously think there’s some potential for Garcia to add their ever-revolving bullpen mix.

It wasn’t long ago that Robertson was considered to be a potential shortstop of the future in Tampa, or at least the type of multi-positional player the Rays love to deploy.  He even hit .262/.382/.415 over 340 plate appearances in 2018, though a thumb injury shortened that season and then a knee problem hampered Robertson in 2019.  With Willy Adames taking over at shortstop (with Wander Franco looming on the horizon) and Joey Wendle and Mike Brosseau emerging as utility infield answers, it seems like Robertson was simply squeezed out of a job.

Robertson has hit .231/.340/.352 with 16 home runs over 831 career MLB plate appearances, and he also has a .280/371/.411 slash line through 2389 PA in the minors.  Between these numbers, his former first-round pedigree (34th overall pick in 2012), and his ability to play left field and all over the infield, Robertson seems like a decent candidate to be plucked off the DFA wire.

Reds/Royals Game Postponed In Favor Of Wednesday Doubleheader

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10:19am: Major League Baseball has formally announced that tonight’s game has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader tomorrow.

10:06am: The Reds’ schedule has been in a state of limbo after Saturday’s positive Covid-19 test(s), but they appear to be trending toward a resumption of play. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that tonight’s game against the Royals will also be postponed — as was the case with the final two games of this weekend’s series versus the Pirates — but the two sides will play a doubleheader tomorrow (Twitter links). The Reds’ most recent wave of tests came back negative, and they’re en route to Kansas City right now. However, the league will take the extra step of pushing back their return one more day.

It’s a point of frustration for some fans, but MLB has seemingly become more cautious with its scheduling in the wake broad-reaching outbreaks on the Marlins and Cardinals rosters. Both of those clubs saw new positives emerge well after the initial cases were identified. Miami had new cases six days after their initial positives, and the Cardinals had new positives more than a week after their initial cases became known. Other members of the organization tested positive along the way in those outbreaks, and that has not been the case with the Reds. But the league understandably hopes to avoid a third outbreak that wipes out more than a week’s worth of games.

Pushing today’s game into a doubleheader tomorrow won’t delay either club’s schedule, assuming the organization continues to test negative tomorrow. As for the makeup games against the Pirates, there’s no set date yet, although the two teams have a pair of series left on the schedule that present ample opportunity for makeup games. Their Sept. 4-6 series in Pittsburgh is currently scheduled to be bookended by a pair of off-days, and the Sept. 14-16 series in Cincinnati is followed by a Sept. 17 off day.

White Sox Rumors: Trade Deadline, Dunning, Grandal

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At 12-11, the White Sox currently sit three games back of the Twins for the division lead. They’re one and a half games behind the Indians for second place in the American League Central. As things stand, they’d squeak into the postseason as an eight seed in MLB’s expanded 2020 playoff format, but the organization that spent $169MM in free agency and $168MM on extensions for young talent surely has its sights set a bit higher. Barring some form of collapse in the next couple weeks, the ChiSox will be looking to add pieces at this year’s deadline, but GM Rick Hahn said last night that rental players won’t be his focus (Twitter link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).

It’s an understandable outlook, given that the South Siders are only in their first season of attempting to emerge from a lengthy rebuilding process. The early returns look promising, as young players like Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson have fueled a strong offense. There’s work to be done on the pitching side yet — particularly in the rotation — but the Sox clearly aren’t interested in parting with any young talent for a one-off shot at the postseason in a bizarre 2020 campaign. Many fringe contenders could feel similarly, opting instead to focus on players who can help them at least in 2021, if not longer.

A few more notes on the ChiSox…

  • Hahn also gave strong indications yesterday that pitching prospect Dane Dunning could be called on for his MLB debut against the Tigers Wednesday (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). The GM cautioned that he prefers not to announce roster moves until the day they happen so as to avoid unforeseen circumstances necessitating a change of plans, but he followed shortly thereafter with an acknowledgement that Dunning is firmly in the mix as an option. “I know Detroit’s throwing Casey Mize, which will be fun to see,” said Hahn. “And we are certainly having conversations about one of our good young arms, like Dane Dunning, coming to make that start.” Dunning, 25, ranked among MLB’s 100 best prospects but underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and hasn’t pitched in a regular-season game since. He’s been working out and pitching in intrasquad games at the team’s alternate training site, however. The righty owns a career 2.94 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 429 minor league frames since being drafted by the Nationals with the No. 29 overall pick in 2016. The White Sox acquired him in the trade that sent Adam Eaton to D.C.
  • Yasmani Grandal exited last night’s game with stiffness in his lower back after fielding a ball in front of home plate, Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago writes. There’s no indication to this point of how much time he’s expected to miss. The Sox have a much better backup options than many other clubs in the form of James McCann, who is out to a blistering .333/.400/.583 slash with three dingers through 40 plate appearances. That said, Grandal was the centerpiece of the White Sox’s offseason free-agent spree and offers superior defensive and framing chops to McCann. Grandal is off to a slower start in terms of hitting for power but has walked in 17 percent of his plate appearances, helping him to a .346 OBP. Duber notes that he’s also been plagued by a nagging foot issue as well, so perhaps a few days down would do him some good. Grandal has been in the Sox’ lineup early every day, spending time at DH and first base when he’s not catching.

AL Injury Notes: Yordan, White Sox, Donaldson, A’s

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Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez was out of their lineup for the second straight day on Monday on account of right knee soreness, and it doesn’t seem as if a return to a regular role is imminent. While Alvarez’s MRI on Monday came back negative, he may only be a pinch hitter for the club in the near term, Alyson Footer of MLB.com writes. Alvarez’s lack of availability (he didn’t debut until Aug. 14 because of coronavirus-related problems) has been an enormous blow to a Houston team that has also dealt with several other significant health woes in the early going. The club lost yet another standout Saturday when it placed outfielder Michael Brantley on the IL with a right quad injury.

  • General manager Rick Hahn issued updates Monday on a pair of injured White Sox, second baseman Nick Madrigal and left-hander Aaron Bummer (Twitter links via James Fegan of The Athletic). The news on Madrigal is encouraging, as Hahn said the rookie has resumed “virtually all baseball activities” and remains on track to return by the end of this month after separating his shoulder Aug. 5. On the other hand, there’s no timetable for Bummer, who went to the IL on Aug. 8 with a left biceps strain. The groundball-heavy Bummer was off to a great start before then and seemed as if he was on his way to a second straight season as one of the game’s most effective relievers. Now, Bummer only has a little more than a month to return to regular-season action, and he’ll have to go through a throwing program before then.
  • Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson isn’t dealing with any issues in his recovery from a right calf strain, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. Donaldson went on the IL on Aug. 7, and it remains unclear when the big-money offseason signing will return to their lineup. The 34-year-old came out of the gates slowly prior to the injury, albeit over a mere 27 plate appearances, as he hit .182/.296/.318 with one home run. Nevertheless, The Twins have started 15-8 and sit atop the AL Central – a division they won last season.
  • Athletics right-hander Burch Smith headed to the IL over the weekend with a a forearm strain, which is always ominous for a pitcher. Manager Bob Melvin said Monday that Smith does not have any structural damage, but it’s up in the air whether he’ll pitch again in 2020, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. Smith has been part of a slew of organizations, but he finally seemed to find a home in Oakland this season before the injury. The 30-year-old has logged a 2.25 ERA/2.30 FIP with 9.75 K/9 and 0.75 BB/9 in 12 innings from the A’s bullpen.

Bo Bichette Lands On 10-Day IL With Knee Sprain

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AUG. 17: The second opinion on Bichette revealed a Grade 1 LCL sprain, Davidi tweets. It’s a “minor” injury that won’t have a long-term effect, per Davidi, but there’s no word on when Bichette will return.

AUG. 16, 8:57pm: Bichette’s injury is a “low-grade” sprain, and he is getting a second opinion on the injury, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports (Twitter links).  The fact that Bichette is getting a second opinion could tie into an earlier report from the Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley, who hears from a source that Bichette could be out until the middle of September.  More will be known tomorrow, Davidi notes, once a specialist views Bichette’s MRI results.

2:45pm: The Blue Jays have placed Bichette on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. Santiago Espinal was recalled to replace him on the active roster. Beyond the 10 days he’ll spend on the IL, a timetable for Bichette’s return is not yet known.

10:51am: Blue Jays prized shortstop Bo Bichette is headed for an MRI on his right knee, manager Charlie Montoyo announced to reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). He reported some discomfort following last night’s game against the Rays, relays Scott Mitchell of TSN (Twitter link).

There’s no indication the situation’s particularly worrisome just yet. Any absence from Bichette, though, would be a serious blow to the 7-9 Jays’ hopes of contending. Despite the team’s lackluster start, the 22-year-old Bichette has come out on fire. He’s hitting .356/.387/.678 with five home runs over his first 62 plate appearances. In the early going, he’s significantly upped his contact rate while cutting down on strikeouts. Bichette’s seemingly well on his way to the stardom he’s appeared ticketed for since emerging as an elite prospect early in his pro career.

If Bichette were to miss time, the Jays figure to turn to Joe Panik and/or Santiago Espinal at shortstop. Veteran Rubén Tejada is also in the organization’s player pool, but he’s not on the 40-man roster.

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