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Archives for May 2021

Cubs Grant Pedro Strop His Release

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Right-hander Pedro Strop has asked his release from the Cubs, who have granted the request, tweets Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. He’s still in good standing with the organization, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers adds, indicating this was an amicable parting of ways. MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets that the team remains open to bringing Strop back in the future.

Strop was away from the Cubs on a leave of absence due to personal reasons. Details surrounding that absence were not revealed, and it’s not clear at this point whether he’ll pursue an opportunity with another club. He pitched two shutout innings for the Cubs in 2021, but as of this weekend, Strop had returned to his home in the Dominican Republic.

Set to turn 36 next month, Strop has spent parts of 13 years in the Majors — eight of them with the Cubs. He came to the organization alongside Jake Arrieta in the franchise-altering deal that sent Scott Feldman to the Oriole and went on to become one of the team’s most vital relivers, pitching to a sub-3.00 ERA in his first six seasons in Chicago. Strop has tallied 375 innings in relief for the Cubs over the years and logged a 2.88 ERA while more than 28 percent of his opponents. He’s also been nails in the playoffs, logging a career 1.86 ERA in 19 1/3 postseason frames.

All told, Strop carries a lifetime 3.20 ERA through 505 2/3 big league innings split between the Cubs, Orioles, Rangers and Reds. If he indeed decides to explore other opportunities, there will no doubt be interest in him given his lengthy track record.

A’s Acquire Skye Bolt

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The Athletics announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired outfielder Skye Bolt from the Giants in exchange for cash. Bolt is a former A’s draft pick who spent his entire career with the organization until being designated for assignment back on April 1 and subsequently claimed by the Giants. His time on the other side of the Bay lasted only a month, as he was designated for assignment by the Giants as well last week. He’ll now come full circle back to his original organization, where he’s been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

The 27-year-old Bolt only appeared in two games with the Giants and struck out in his lone plate appearance with the team. He’s played in seven big league games dating back to 2019 but tallied only a dozen trips to the plate, going 1-for-11 with a walk and four punchouts.

Bolt spent the 2020 season in the Athletics’ 60-man player pool but never got the call from their alternate site to the big leagues. His last full season came in 2019 when he appeared in 89 games with Las Vegas, slashing .269/.350/.459 in 347 plate appearances. The 2015 fourth-rounder has never been considered one of the organization’s very top prospects, but his ability to play all three outfield spots and a knack for drawing walks (10.8 percent in the minors) has landed him in the middle tier of some A’s Top 30 lists. Overall, Bolt is a career .249/.335/.426 hitter in parts of five minor league seasons.

White Sox Sign Brian Goodwin

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May 5: The White Sox confirmed the deal, and assistant GM Chris Getz tells The Athletic’s James Fegan and other reporters that Goodwin will report to Triple-A in the near future (Twitter link).

May 4, 1:54pm: Goodwin will earn a $1MM salary if the White Sox add him to their 40-man roster, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.

1:21pm: The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent outfielder Brian Goodwin, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (via Twitter). It’s a natural fit for a White Sox club that just learned it’ll be without center fielder Luis Robert for the next three to four months. Goodwin is represented by MVP Sports.

The 30-year-old Goodwin had an opt-out clause in a minor league deal with the Pirates and hit the market yesterday. He’s certainly not a star, but with the exception of a disastrous 20-game stint with the Reds in 2020, which consisted of a mere 55 plate appearances, he’s been a solid hitter in the Majors. Goodwin slashed .258/.327/.469 in 166 games with the Angels from 2019-20, and he’s a career .250/.317/.455 hitter in 1124 Major League plate appearances. His sudden return to the market made this a fairly straightforward fit for a White Sox club that has lost both Robert and Eloy Jimenez for the bulk of the season — if not the entirety of it — due to injury.

The White Sox have also been without another outfielder, Adam Engel, who has yet to play this year because of a strained right hamstring. General manager Rick Hahn announced yesterday that Engel suffered a setback that will prevent him from starting a minor league rehab assignment for three weeks (Twitter link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Hahn later suggested the White Sox would look to the trade route for outfielders, and while that still may be the case, they’re turning to the open market in this instance. For now, their primary outfielders are Andrew Vaughn, Leury Garcia and Adam Eaton.

Notably, there’s already familiarity between Hahn and Goodwin, whom the White Sox chose in the 17th round of the 2009 draft. Goodwin decided not to sign with the White Sox, though, instead electing to attend the University of North Carolina. It was a wise move by Goodwin, who boosted his stock enough for the Nationals to draft him 34th overall in 2011. Ten years later, he’s headed to the Chicago organization.

Blue Jays Moving Home Games To Buffalo Beginning June 1

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The Blue Jays have spent the first month-plus of the 2021 season playing their home games at their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Fla., but the team announced Wednesday that beginning June 1, they’ll move their home games to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field — the home of their Triple-A affiliate and the site of last summer’s home games. Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported on the move back to Buffalo shortly before the Jays made the formal announcement.

Per the announcement, the Blue Jays are in the process of a renovation project at Sahlen Field in order to prepare the facility for compliance with health-and-safety protocols associated with the return of fans. There are also updates being made to the field of play itself and the facilities, which include moving the bullpens off the field and behind the outfield walls, installing new batting cages beyond the right field wall, re-sodding the outfield grass, a new weight room, updated clubhouse facilities and updates to the stadium lighting. While those renovations are ongoing, they’re expected to be completed prior to June 1. The Bisons, meanwhile, are playing their home games out of Trenton, N.J. to accommodate the Blue Jays’ relocation and the ongoing renovations, Davidi points out.

The move to Sahlen Field is indefinite, as a return to Toronto is dependent on government regulations and recommendations of medical experts in Canada. For the time being, the Jays extended thanks the city of Buffalo and to Bisons ownership, expressing excitement over the ability to return to the site of their “strong 2020 campaign, this time with in-person cheers from Buffalo-area fans.”

The Jays will open Sahlen Field at 24 percent capacity and begin selling tickets the morning of May 13. You can see their full press release here (courtesy of MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, on Twitter).

Mariners, Ryan Dull Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran reliever Ryan Dull, tweets FanSided’s Robert Murray. He’ll presumably head to their Triple-A affiliate to join their bullpen.

Dull, 31, debuted with the A’s back in 2015 and had a huge 2016 season, delivering 74 1/3 innings of 2.42 ERA ball (3.33 SIERA) with what was then a well-above-average 25.2 percent strikeout rate and an excellent 5.2 percent walk rate. He’s never replicated that success, but Dull managed solid K/BB numbers and respectable fielding-independent marks in 2017-18.

A 2019 season split between the A’s, Yankees and Blue Jays, however, was an utter disaster for the righty. Dull tallied just 12 2/3 innings in the Majors that year and was slammed for 19 runs (18 earned) on 25 hits (including five homers) and seven walks with 15 strikeouts.

Dull hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since that time. He’d signed back with the Jays on a minor league deal last winter but wasn’t part of their 60-man player pool when play resumed last summer. Dull inked a deal with the Winnipeg Goldeneyes of the independent American Association back in January, but he’ll now return to affiliated ball just a couple of weeks before the American Association was set to commence its season.

Mariners relievers have been excellent this season, pitching to a collective 2.55 ERA that ranks third in the Majors, while their 3.62 FIP is good for sixth-best among MLB clubs. There won’t be an immediate spot for Dull, but he’ll give the club an experienced depth option as the organization looks to manage workloads on a generally young pitching staff after last year’s shortened schedule.

Amir Garrett Receives 7-Game Suspension

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Major League Baseball announced that it has suspended Reds left-handed reliever Amir Garrett for seven games and fined him an undisclosed amount for “inciting a benches-clearing incident” in the eighth inning of last Saturday’s game against the Cubs. Garrett is appealing the suspension.

As video shows (via MLB.com), Garrett was quite animated after striking out Chicago first baseman Anthony Rizzo. The Cubs took offense to Garrett’s action, leading the two dugouts to clear. There were no punches thrown or ejections handed out, but there was plenty of jawing – especially between Garrett and Cubs shortstop Javier Baez (whom the league fined).

After the game, Baez said he wasn’t going to allow anyone to “disrespect my teammates or my team.” And Cubs manager David Ross took a shot at Garrett’s early season performance, saying, “I think that’s just him trying to fire himself up because he’s not throwing well now.”

It has indeed been a tough start to 2021 for Garrett, who entered the season off three straight effective years and proceeded to dominate during the spring. That excellence hasn’t carried over, though, as Garrett has yielded 10 earned runs on 10 hits (including four runs) in just 8 2/3 innings. Garrett has issued more walks (eight) than strikeouts (seven) along the way.

Marlins Moves: Zastryzny, Bender

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The Marlins purchased the contract of left-hander Rob Zastryzny from the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League on Tuesday. The Ducks announced the move, adding that Zastryzny will report to the Marlins’ extended spring training site. The Marlins also selected the contract of righty Anthony Bender, as Craig Mish of SportsGrid first reported.

The 29-year-old Zastryzny joined the Ducks back in March, but he exited before ever throwing a pitch for the team. Prior to signing with the Ducks, the former second-round pick (2013) appeared in the bigs from 2016-18 with the Cubs, who drafted him. He also had stints with the Dodgers and Orioles, though he didn’t make it to the majors with either of those organizations.

During his time in Chicago, the soft-tossing Zastryzny logged 34 2/3 innings and posted a 4.41 ERA with a 51.5 percent groundball rate, a 20.1 percent strikeout rate and a 10.4 percent walk rate. Zastryzny was tough on lefties as a Cub, holding them to a pitiful .154/.313/.154 line, but righties teed off on him for a .330/.387/.468 mark. In his most recent professional action, the 2019 campaign, Zastryzny racked up 113 frames between the Dodgers’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. He managed a 5.58 ERA with 104 strikeouts against 38 walks that year.

As for the 26-year-old Bender, he saw action in the minors with the Royals and Brewers from 2016-19. While Bender notched a rock-solid 3.30 ERA in that 239 2/3-inning stretch, he only threw 5 2/3 frames above the High-A level. Bender spent last season with the Milwaukee Milkmen of the American Association, and then Miami took a flyer on him on a minors contract over the winter.

After joining the Marlins, Bender held his own in spring training with 8 1/3 scoreless innings, flashing a 97 mph sinker and a high-spin slider, as Ely Sussman of Fish Stripes points out. Thanks to Bender’s intriguing repertoire, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks him as the Marlins’ 32nd-best prospect and writes that he could turn into one of their regular middle relievers as early as this season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/4/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • Reds left-hander Phillip Diehl cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. The Reds added Diehl as a waiver claim from the Rockies on April 14, but the Cincinnati native didn’t appear in a game with his hometown team before they designated him for assignment last weekend. The 26-year-old’s only big league experience so far came from 2019-20 as a member of the Rockies, with whom he pitched a total of 13 1/3 innings and yielded 13 earned runs on 17 hits. Diehl also struggled in Triple-A during the offensively charged 2019 minor league season, but he has registered dominant numbers at the lower levels of the minors. He amassed 40 Double-A innings from 2018-19 and put up a minuscule 0.90 ERA with 41 strikeouts, 14 walks and just 23 hits allowed.

Pirates Place Gregory Polanco On IL, Select Hunter Owen

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The Pirates have placed outfielder Gregory Polanco on the injured list and selected outfielder/infielder Hunter Owen, the team announced. The club didn’t give a reason for Polanco’s IL placement.

Polanco entered this season hoping to bounce back from two straight unproductive years, but it hasn’t happened yet. Dating back to 2019, Polanco has batted an unsightly .197/.263/.369 over 431 trips to the plate, including 90 PA of .200/.289/.350 hitting this season. Phillip Evans could handle most of the work in right field during Polanco’s absence.

This is the first big league promotion for Owen, a 25th-round pick in 2016 who worked his way to the Triple-A level in 2019. Owen struggled during his debut there, but he has performed well in the minors overall. The 27-year-old owns a .266/.341/.473 line with 55 home runs in 1,425 PA.

Rays Place Michael Wacha On 10-Day IL, Activate Collin McHugh

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The Rays announced that they’ve placed right-hander Michael Wacha on the 10-day injured list with right hamstring tightness. They’re hopeful he will only miss one appearance, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. To replace Wacha, the club reinstated righty Collin McHugh from the 10-day IL.

Wacha, a $3MM free-agent pickup who previously played for the Cardinals and Mets, has put together some good outings and some clunkers this season. During his most recent appearance this past Sunday, Wacha came out of the bullpen and gave up four earned runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings in a win over the Astros. In all, Wacha has made six appearances (four starts) and logged a 4.76 ERA with a 22.4 percent strikeout rate and a 6.9 percent walk rate across 28 1/3 innings. ERA estimators such as FIP (3.96), xFIP (3.99) and SIERA (4.05) paint a much more favorable picture of Wacha’s performance than his ERA, but he ranks near the bottom of the league in several critical Statcast categories.

A back strain forced McHugh to the IL on April 18, continuing a difficult start to the season for him. Prior to his IL placement, opposing offenses tagged the 33-year-old for eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits over 5 1/3 frames. That wasn’t what the Rays had in mind when they inked McHugh to a $1.8MM pact in free agency.

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