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Marlins Select Sandy Leon, Place Jorge Alfaro On Injured List

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The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that they’ve placed catcher Jorge Alfaro on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and selected the contract of veteran Sandy Leon to take his spot on the roster. Miami had an open spot on its 40-man roster already.

Alfaro, 27, has gotten out to a slow start this year, slashing .229/.250/.257 with a dozen strikeouts against just one walk in 36 trips to the plate. He was removed from last night’s game against the Orioles after beating out an infield single. Chad Wallach replaced Alfaro last night, and he’ll now share time behind the dish in Miami with Leon while Alfaro mends.

Leon, 32, has seen Major League time in parts of nine seasons but has never provided much with the bat aside from what looks to be an anomalous 2016 campaign in Boston. The veteran switch-hitter posted an out-of-the-blue .310/.369/.476 slash with a career-best seven homers in 283 plate appearances that year, but Leon has mustered just a .194/.263/.306 line in 861 trips to the plate since that time. He spent the 2020 season with the Indians organization, hitting .136/.296/.242 in 81 plate appearances.

Leon may not be much of a hitter, but he’s a well-regarded pitch framer with a career 34 percent caught-stealing rate that is well above the league average. His throwing has deteriorated in recent years, including just a 2-for-11 effort in thwarting thieves last year, but Leon is regarded as a sound defensive backstop on the whole. The Marlins have yet to provide any kind of timeline for Alfaro’s injury, so it’s unclear just how long of a window Leon will have in Miami.

Brewers Sign Dee Strange-Gordon

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April 21: The Brewers have now formally announced their minor league agreement with Strange-Gordon. He’s been assigned to their alternate training site for the time being.

April 8: The Brewers have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.

Milwaukee will be the second straight National League Central organization for Strange-Gordon, who spent time with Cincinnati during the offseason and in the spring. The Reds ended up releasing him toward the end of March, and though Strange-Gordon subsequently rejected minors offers from other teams, he’ll now settle for one a little over a week into the season.

While the 32-year-old Strange-Gordon has an accomplished resume – two All-Star bids, an NL batting title, a Gold Glove Award and three seasons with at least 58 stolen bases – the former Dodger, Marlin and Mariner has struggled recently. From 2018-20 in Seattle, Strange-Gordon batted a meek .266/.293/.343 (good for a 73 wRC+) in 1,091 trips to the plate. Strange-Gordon stole 55 bags in that span and saw time in the middle infield and multiple outfield positions, but the Mariners made the easy decision to decline his $14MM club option in favor of a $1MM buyout after last season.

Now that he’s joining the Brewers, Strange-Gordon will give the team some middle infield depth behind Kolten Wong and Luis Urias after it dealt Orlando Arcia to the Braves on Tuesday. The Brewers’ outfield boasts Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Avisail Garcia as regulars, while Daniel Robertson and Billy McKinney are on their bench.

Tigers Designate Renato Nunez For Assignment

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The Tigers announced Wednesday that they’ve designated first baseman Renato Nunez for assignment in order to open a roster spot for infielder Zack Short, who has been recalled from the team’s alternate training site. Detroit also plans to activate right-hander Spencer Turnbull from the Covid-19 list later today, as Evan Woodberry of MLive.com points out, which necessitates this morning’s 40-man move.

Many were surprised to see the Orioles cut Nunez loose over the winter rather than pay him a raise via arbitration. He’d slugged 43 long balls for Baltimore from 2019-20, including a 31-homer campaign back in 2019. However, as a below-average defender at both infield corners with contact issues and a generally sub-par OBP, Nunez went unclaimed on waivers despite his obvious power. He ultimately landed a minor league deal in Detroit and had his contract selected 10 days ago.

Nunez, 27, showed off that power by homering twice in 29 plate appearances as a Tiger, but the same OBP, strikeout and defensive concerns were present. The Tigers slotted him at DH (four games) more than first base (three), as he split his time in the field with both Harold Castro and Jonathan Schoop. Nunez punched out eight times in his 29 trips to the plate against just one walk, resulting in an overall .148/.207/.444 batting line. Nunez paired that output with a .188/.212/.344 slash in 33 spring plate appearances, which likely also played into the decision.

The Tigers will have a week to trade Nunez or attempt to pass him through outright waivers, although even if he goes unclaimed this time around, he can still opt for free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s already cleared waivers once before.

The 25-year-old Short will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game with the Tigers. Acquired from the Cubs last summer in a trade that sent Cameron Maybin to Chicago, Short is a former 17th-round pick who emerged as one of the top 30 prospects in the Cubs’ system from 2019-20, per Baseball America. He ranks 24th among Tigers farmhands right now over at MLB.com, where he’s regarded as a plus defender at multiple positions and an above-average runner with gap power. He hasn’t hit for a great average in the minors but draws tons of walks (16.4 percent), which has resulted in a .241/.377/.405 line in his minor league career.

No Extension Negotiations Between Braves, Freddie Freeman

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First baseman Freddie Freeman has become an institution in Atlanta since his career began in 2010, but there is a chance this will be his final season with the Braves. The reigning National League Most Valuable Player is not signed beyond this season, and if he does reach the open market over the winter, he’ll be one of the game’s highest-profile free agents. As of now, Freeman and the Braves are not progressing toward a long-term contract.

Asked about extension talks with the Braves, Freeman said Tuesday (via Jeff Schultz of The Athletic), “There is no negotiations.” Freeman added that discussing a deal during the season “would be a distraction and I don’t like distractions. My main focus is the game tonight and I don’t think there’s going to be much talking any time soon.”

Freeman has already received one lucrative payday from the Braves – an eight-year, $135MM extension in February 2014. As a soon-to-be 32-year-old, Freeman won’t sign a deal that long again, but a five- to six-year contract worth $25MM or more per season doesn’t seem outlandish. One comparable could be the Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt, who inked a five-year, $130MM guarantee with the Cardinals in 2019 at the age of 31. However, that was an extension hammered out several months before Goldschmidt could have gone to free agency, meaning the Cardinals weren’t competing against anyone for his services. The Braves may not have the luxury of avoiding a multi-team bidding war for Freeman if they’re unable to lock him up before the offseason opens.

Whether with Atlanta or another club, Freeman has done enough to earn a second nine-figure deal. The four-time All-Star has batted .294/.383/.510 (139 wRC+) with 245 home runs in 6,036 plate appearances, and he has missed only four games dating back to the beginning of the 2018 season. Freeman’s currently on pace for another tremendous year, having hit .233/.387/.517 (140 wRC+) with five HRs and a 14:6 BB:K ratio in 75 plate appearances. While Freeman’s batting average is uncharacteristically low, Statcast data suggests his .188 BABIP will eventually soar closer to his lifetime mark of .339.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/20/21

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Tuesday’s minor moves from around baseball:

  • The White Sox selected right-hander Alex McRae before their game against the Indians and optioned righty Zack Burdi to their alternate site. McRae, a 10th-round pick of the Pirates in 2014, amassed 33 innings with the team from 2018-19, but he struggled to an 8.18 ERA with similarly unappealing strikeout and walk percentages of 14.6 and 12.8, respectively. The Pirates outrighted McRae after his second season in the majors, and he caught on with the White Sox on a minor league contract. The 28-year-old threw three scoreless innings for the club in 2020, but it then outrighted him before bringing him back on another minors deal.
  • The Phillies have signed left-hander Rob Kaminsky to a minors pact and added him to their player pool, per a team announcement. Kaminsky, the 28th overall pick of the Cardinals in 2013, left the St. Louis organization when the team traded him to Cleveland in a 2015 deal centering on slugger Brandon Moss. The 26-year-old rejoined the Cardinals on a minor league contract heading into last season and wound up making his MLB debut. Kaminsky allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks (three strikeouts) in 4 2/3 innings with the Cardinals, who outrighted him in September.

MLB, MLBPA Hold First CBA Talks

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Major League Baseball and the MLBPA held their first round of collective bargaining talks on Tuesday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports. The meeting took place via video conference and featured “dozens of people,” including members of player leadership, according to Passan. It was the first time MLB and the union have negotiated since the players rejected the league’s proposal for a delayed 154-game regular season on Feb. 1.

The current CBA expires on Dec. 1, and if the two sides don’t reach a deal by then, the sport could experience its first work stoppage since the 1994-95 strike. The relationship between the league and the players has taken an especially contentious turn over the past couple years, which could make it difficult to achieve labor peace by the start of December.  At the same time, both sides understand that failure to reach an agreement could cause serious damage to the $10 billion-per-year industry, Passan writes.

As negotiations continue, the union will turn some of its focus toward “spending and competitive integrity,” per Passan. Along with pushing for teams to spend more, the players would like to earn more money earlier in their careers – which could mean changes to the current service-time setup. Under today’s rules, a player must have six years of big league service time to reach free agency. With that in mind, many clubs have kept talented prospects in the minors for seemingly longer than necessary in order to gain a seventh year of control.

On the ownership side, there continues to be a desire to increase the number of playoff teams per season. More than half of the league’s teams (16 of 30) made the playoffs during the shortened 2020 campaign, but the field reverted to 10 this year after the union turned down an expanded postseason as part of the league’s 154-game proposal.

Adrian Morejon To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Padres left-hander Adrian Morejon will undergo Tommy John surgery, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. He’ll miss the rest of this season and likely a sizable portion of next year as a result.

Morejon last appeared for the Padres on April 11, when he departed a start against the Rangers during the first inning with a left forearm strain. A Tommy John procedure looked like a realistic possibility for the 22-year-old at that point, and that’s unfortunately the route he will have to take.

Morejon, a Cuba native, signed an eyebrow-raising $11MM bonus with the Padres in 2016 and has since ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects on an annual basis. However, Morejon hasn’t yet taken on a significant workload during a professional season, having never thrown more than 65 1/3 innings in an individual year. He combined for 27 1/3 major league innings as a swingman from 2019-20 before earning a rotation spot heading into this season with 14 frames of 3.21 ERA ball and 17 strikeouts in spring training. But Morejon’s 2021 will now end after just two starts and 4 2/3 innings.

The season-long loss of Morejon is obviously a blow to the Padres’ depth, but the team is still in enviable shape in its rotation. Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Dinelson Lamet, Chris Paddack and Ryan Weathers are their top options in the majors, and elite prospect MacKenzie Gore could debut sometime this season.

Nationals Place Juan Soto On 10-Day IL

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The Nationals have placed star slugger Juan Soto on the 10-day injured list with a strained left shoulder, the team announced. They recalled outfielder Yadiel Hernandez to take Soto’s place on the roster.

The loss of Soto is yet another early season blow for the Nationals, who own a 5-9 record and the majors’ third-worst run differential (minus-22). Of course, their struggles haven’t been Soto’s fault. While the 22-year-old phenom’s .300/.410/.460 line across 61 plate appearances pales in comparison to his 2018-20 production, that only goes to show how great he has been since breaking into the majors. After all, Soto has still been 31 percent better than the league-average hitter this year, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

Tuesday’s game against St. Louis will be the first time this season that the Nationals will start someone other than Soto in right field. The role will go to Andrew Stevenson, who has hit .263/.341/.390 in 264 major league PA since he debuted in 2017. The addition of Hernandez gives the Nats another corner outfield option, though the 33-year-old is a completely unproven commodity in the majors.

Reds Place Mike Moustakas On 10-Day IL

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The Reds have placed third baseman Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 17, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer was among those to report. The team reinstated infielder Alex Blandino from the COVID-19 list in a corresponding move.

Moustakas hasn’t been in the Reds’ lineup since April 14 because of what the team has called a non-COVID-related illness. Cincinnati did, however, list him in its starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Diamondbacks before reversing course.

Moustakas, who’s in the second season of a four-year, $64MM contract, got off to a fast start this month before his illness sidelined him. The 32-year-old has slashed an excellent .289/.404/.553 with two home runs and as many walks as strikeouts (seven) in 47 plate appearances. Since Moustakas has been out, the Reds have turned to Kyle Farmer at the hot corner.

Neil Walker Announces Retirement

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Longtime major league second baseman Neil Walker has retired from baseball at the age of 35. Walker broke the news to Sweeny Murti of WFAN as a guest on the “30 for Murti” podcast.

A Pittsburgh native, Walker was a first-round pick (No. 11) of his hometown Pirates in 2004. Five years later, Walker made a 17-game big league debut, and he became both a regular and a consistently solid contributor beginning the next season. During a 3,386-plate appearance run from 2010-15, the switch-hitting Walker put up five seasons of at least 2.4 fWAR (including a career-high 4.1 in 2014, when he won a Silver Slugger Award) and batted .273/.338/.443 with 93 home runs.

Walker’s time with the Pirates concluded when they traded him to the Mets for left-hander Jon Niese prior to the 2016 campaign. The move didn’t work out at all for the Bucs, with whom Niese’s production spiraled, though Walker continued to perform well in Queens. He batted .275/.344/.462 and smacked 33 HRs over 757 PA in a Mets uniform in parts of two seasons, but with the team out of contention late in 2017, it traded him to the Brewers for the stretch run.

Walker didn’t re-sign with the Brewers, instead returning to New York n a one-year, $4MM guarantee with the Yankees. With a .219/.309/.354 line in 398 trips to the plate, Walker turned in his worst offensive season as a regular in 2018. He enjoyed somewhat of a bounce-back campaign the next season on a $2MM deal as a member of the Marlins, though he still had to settle for a minor league contract with the Phillies going into 2020. While Walker did make it to the majors for a 12th straight season, he struggled enough over 18 games that the Phillies designated him for assignment in September.

Although Walker had a less-than-ideal ending, he still enjoyed a far more successful and lucrative career than the vast majority of major leaguers. He’ll end with a .267/.338/.426 line, 149 homers and 21.6 fWAR/19.6 rWAR across 1,306 games and 5,152 trips to the plate. Walker also earned nearly $52MM in the bigs, per Baseball-Reference.com.

MLBTR congratulates Walker on an impressive career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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