Mets Select Jerad Eickhoff
The Mets are selecting the contract of right-hander Jerad Eickhoff, the team informed reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). Righty Nick Tropeano has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to create active roster space. A 40-man roster move has yet to be announced.
Eickhoff was previously selected to the big leagues last month. He was designated for assignment not long after and passed through outright waivers. After electing free agency, Eickhoff quickly re-signed with New York on a minor league deal and made it back to the majors.
The 31-year-old has made two starts for the Mets this season, tossing ten innings 0f five-run ball with six strikeouts and four walks. That was his first big league action since his 2015-19 run with the division-rival Phillies. He initially looked like a solid back-of-the-rotation starter, but his results with the Phils tailed off over the last few seasons.
Eickhoff has spent the majority of 2021 at Syracuse. He’s tossed 46 frames with the Mets’ top minor league affiliate, working to a 5.09 ERA with decent strikeout and walk percentages (22.4% and 6.8%, respectively) but an elevated home run rate (2.15 HR/9).
Red Sox Sign Matt Barnes To Two-Year Extension
The Red Sox announced they’ve agreed to a two-year contract extension with closer Matt Barnes. The deal also contains a club option covering the 2024 campaign.
Barnes will play out the remainder of this season on the $4.5MM deal he signed last winter to avoid arbitration. He’ll receive a $1.75MM signing bonus, followed by successive salaries of $7.25MM and $7.5MM in 2022 and 2023. The option is priced at $8MM (with a $2.25MM buyout) and can escalate by a maximum of $2MM based upon Barnes’ games finished totals over the coming years. Overall, it’s an $18.75MM guarantee for the ISE Baseball client that can max out at $26.5MM if he hits all the escalators and the Red Sox exercise the option. The average annual value (calculated for luxury tax purposes) checks in at $9.375MM.
The extension removes arguably the top impending free agent reliever from next winter’s market. Barnes has generally been a solid late-inning arm, but he’s taken his game to a new level in 2021. The right-hander has worked to a sterling 2.68 ERA across 37 innings, and his peripherals are even more impressive.
Barnes has always been a premier strikeout pitcher, but his 44.6% strikeout percentage is easily a career-high. He’s walking opponents at a 7.2% clip, which would also be a personal best if he sustains it over a full season. The right-hander is throwing first-pitch strikes at a career-best rate, positioning himself well to coax hitters to chase pitches outside the zone deeper into plate appearances. That’s particularly critical for Barnes, who struggled with free passes from 2018-20.
Altogether, Barnes has been among the top late-inning arms in the league this season. Among relievers with at least twenty innings pitched, only Josh Hader and Craig Kimbrel have higher strikeout rates. Liam Hendriks and Kimbrel are the only pitchers with better strikeout/walk rate differentials than Barnes’ 37.4 percentage-point gap. Hendriks is the only reliever with a better SIERA than Barnes’ 1.73 mark, and the Red Sox righty’s 16.3% swinging strike rate is among the top 15. Barnes has deservedly earned his first career All-Star nod in 2021.
That level of dominance makes it a bit surprising he agreed to a two-year extension just a few months before reaching free agency for the first time. Hendriks, last winter’s top free agent reliever, landed a four-year, $54MM deal from the White Sox despite being a few months older than Barnes will be this offseason. Hendriks was coming off a two-year run of excellence, while Barnes has only been pitching at an elite level for a few months following a career of solid but not incredible production. It would’ve been a surprise to see Barnes match Hendriks’ deal because of that slightly lesser track record, but he still seemed a strong candidate to secure a three-year pact on the open market.
Of course, a player’s desire to reach free agency and search for the loftiest guarantee varies person-to-person. Barnes is a New England native who attended college at the University of Connecticut. He’s been a member of the Red Sox organization since he was selected in the first round a decade ago, and he’s spoken about his amenability to locking in a long-term deal a few times over the past eight months. Barnes’ affinity for the organization no doubt played a significant role in his passing up an opportunity to hear from other clubs this winter.
It’s easy to see the appeal for the Red Sox. They’ll lock in a key component of their bullpen for at least two more seasons, with the potential to keep him in the fold for a third year. If Barnes can sustain most or all of his current breakout form, they’d have an elite back-end option for manager Alex Cora at bargain prices. Even if Barnes regresses and pitches at his previous levels, the terms of the extension wouldn’t look all that unreasonable. It’s an affordable opportunity for the Red Sox to keep around a long-tenured, productive member of the organization who looks to have taken his game to new heights this year.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reported that the sides were nearing agreement on a two-year deal with a 2024 option. Speier was also first to report the financial breakdown.
Potential Landing Spots For Craig Kimbrel
Now that Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has more or less officially announced his intention to sell at the trade deadline, contenders looking to acquire some upgrades off the Wrigleyville roster might start with a player whose value seemed negligible heading into last season’s deadine: closer Craig Kimbrel. While the Cubs’ fortunes have dimmed in 2021, Kimbrel is enjoying a fantastic comeback season after a disappointing 2020.
Whether a front office likes traditional stats or modern analytics, Kimbrel has something for everyone. Start with big picture run prevention, and there’s nobody better in the game right now: his 0.57 ERA, 1.12 FIP, and 1.94 xFIP all rank 1st overall among qualified relievers. He’s second behind Matt Barnes by measure of SIERA. Kimbrel’s 46.2% strikeout rate is the top such mark among qualified relievers in the game. He also seems to have figured out the control problems that plagued him the past two seasons, lowering his walk rate to a very reasonable 8.6 percent. If you want to dig even deeper, Kimbrel is among the best in the game by whiff rate, chase rate, and barrel percentage.
The righty is also controllable beyond this season with a $16MM vesting option for 2022 that defaults to a club option (with a $1MM buyout) if it doesn’t vest. Kimbrel isn’t exactly cheap, as he is playing on a $16MM salary for 2021 and will still be owed roughly $5.43MM come July 30, but Hoyer can certainly make the case to other teams that Kimbrel is worth the investment.
There will be a certain class of buyer who prefers to shop in the Ryan Tepera/Andrew Chafin lot rather than pay sticker price for Kimbrel. To their point, relievers are historically fungible and fickle, and there are always relievers to be had at the trade deadline. But, bullpen arms don’t grow on trees, and there’s not a contender in the game that couldn’t find a use for Kimbrel.
In fact, it’s probably a simpler task to identify those contenders who won’t have interest in Kimbrel. The Rays, for example, already count their bullpen as a strength, and Kimbrel is a little flashy and/or expensive for their taste. The Nationals — as much as they could use him — would probably have to surrender too great a share of their limited prospect capital to get him.
The Brewers likely consider themselves set with Josh Hader, Devin Williams and Brent Suter – and it’s a little hard to fathom Chicago handing Kimbrel to the team that appears to have bested them for the division. The Reds could use him, but after shedding bullpen money last winter, it’s a little counterintuitive to think they’d be ready for an addition like Kimbrel just a few months later. Frankly, the Cubs probably don’t have a trade moratorium with their NL Central comrades (except maybe the Cardinals), but they might require a premium. The Brewers and Reds don’t have the need or inclination, respectively, to pay that tax.
The Pirates and Diamondbacks of the world won’t be calling anytime soon, and the Yankees, for all their recent trouble closing out games of late, look more likely to trade away a closer than acquire one.
The White Sox and Cubs aren’t exactly regular trade partners, but Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune suggests the crosstown rivals might be a fit for a Kimbrel deal. Putting Kimbrel in the Sox bullpen with the likes of Liam Hendriks, Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, and Aaron Bummer would certainly blow some hats off, and it would give manager Tony La Russa a strong insurance plan against almost any potential injury for a group with some injury risk. But the Southsiders gave Hendriks $54MM to close games, and it’s a little hard to fathom the active saves leader embracing second chair.
Sullivan also puts the Astros and A’s at the top of the list of suitors. Both make some sense, though the Astros might be in a similar place as the ChiSox, given Ryan Pressly‘s All-Star campaign. Oakland’s Lou Trivino has performed well in taking the bulk of closer duties since Trevor Rosenthal has been lost for the year, but Trivino could probably step back into a setup role just as easily.
Besides, the Cubs and A’s have done business before as trade partners. Most notably, Hoyer was the Cubs’ GM in July 2014 when they packaged Jeff Samardzija with Jason Hammel to net top prospect Addison Russell along with Billy McKinney and Dan Straily. Speculatively speaking, if the Cubs were serious about moving Javier Baez, the A’s could certainly use a shortstop upgrade, and the two clubs could try again to pair multiple assets together in this kind of deal, though the financial cost for even one of Kimbrel or Baez might not be palatable for the small-market Athletics.
The Phillies have the most obvious need with a 4.78 bullpen ERA and league-leading 22 blown saves. It’s not clear, however, how serious the Phillies are as contenders, currently a game under .500 and 4.5 games behind the Mets for the division and slim odds at a wild card spot. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski certainly knows Kimbrel well from his time running the Red Sox, and he was also the executive at the wheel when Boston let Kimbrel walk in free agency.
The Dodgers have blown 17 saves, and though Kenley Jansen has looked better than expected, they’ve suffered some significant losses from their pitching staff. Their starting pitching has taken a few hits over the course of the season, most recently with Clayton Kershaw landing on the injured list. One way to counteract that depleted rotation depth would be to bolster the bullpen, and there’s no better arm available than Kimbrel.
Padres‘ GM A.J. Preller traded for Kimbrel once before, and if he thinks the Dodgers might be inquiring, he very well could be interesting in trading for him again. Preller also traded him away once before, but that was hardly an indictment of Kimbrel. The present-day Padres have suffered enough injury woes to know that there is no such thing as enough pitching depth. They are, however, leading the league with a 2.86 bullpen ERA, and Mark Melancon is a trusted veteran hand with 27 saves in 31 opportunities. It’s not their greatest need, but the Padres are all in on 2021, and as of right now, they’re staring down a one-game playoff with the Giants or Dodgers.
And why not, the Giants might throw their hats in the ring as well. Kimbrel would certainly fit with the Giants’ veteran-laden roster. He’d also offer some consistency and personality to a bullpen that currently splits closing opportunities between Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers. San Francisco’s bullpen has been good with a collective 3.42 ERA, but they have blown 16 save opportunities.
Moving back to the American League, the Blue Jays certainly qualify as a team to watch. Like the A’s, their Plan A, Kirby Yates, crumbled before the season even began, while depth options like Jordan Romano, Rafael Dolis, and Julian Merryweather have all spent time on the injured list. Even nine games out of first in the AL East, the Jays are committed to contention, and they need all the help they can get on that end.
Hoyer and the Cubs may feel the urgency to jump the trade market for Kimbrel while his value remains at this peak level. In 33 appearances covering 31 2/3 innings, Kimbrel has been worth 2.0 rWAR/1.8 fWAR. He’s converted 20 saves in 22 tries with that absolutely shimmering 0.57 ERA. Those numbers aren’t likely to get much better, and given the relatively small sample inherent to a reliever’s workload, one bad outing could suddenly make Kimbrel appear mortal again.
Bottom line, Kimbrel is one of if not the best reliever in the game right now, and he’s available. For an aggressive contender, he’s likely available now.
COVID Notes: 7/10/21
The latest on coronavirus situations from around baseball…
- Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm was removed from today’s game in the eighth inning for what manager Joe Girardi described only as reasons related to “COVID protocols.” Officials aren’t required to provide detailed information about COVID-19 situations, and Girardi just told reporters (including NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman) that “we’ll know more as time goes on. That’s all I can give you right now.” It isn’t yet known if Bohm will be placed on the actual COVID-related injury list, and such a placement isn’t necessarily a sure thing — in the event of a close contact situation or perhaps an inconclusive test result, Bohm could be cleared in time for Sunday’s game with the Red Sox. Following a very impressive 2020 rookie season, Bohm has hit a sophomore slump, hitting only .243/.298/.343 with six home runs in 329 PA this year.
- The Yankees placed right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on the COVID-related injury list prior to today’s game with the Astros. Along with the placement of Miguel Andujar on the regular 10-day IL due to a left wrist strain, New York called up right-handers Albert Abreu and Brooks Kriske from Triple-A to fill the spots on the 26-man roster. Yankees manager Aaron Boone also didn’t give specifics on Loaisiga’s status to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters, except to say that Loaisiga “feels good.” The righty has been a force out of the Yankees’ bullpen this season, posting a 2.11 ERA, 63.9% grounder rate, an outstanding 5.5% walk rate and an above-average 25.1% strikeout rate over 47 innings.
MLB Announces All-Star Replacements
10:38PM: Manny Machado has been named to the NL team as a replacement for Ronald Acuna Jr., as the Braves star will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL.
5:03PM: Molina has decided against playing in the All-Star Game, telling MLB.com’s Katie Woo and other reporters that he will use the break to rest his foot. Molina spent 11 days on the injured list due to a tendon strain in his right foot earlier this season. Omar Narvaez will take Molina’s spot on the NL team, as announced by the Brewers.
11:12AM: Major League Baseball announced the All-Star replacements today. Since the initial rosters came out on July 4th, 10 players have proven unable to participate for one reason or another. The following players have been added to the rosters for the upcoming All-Star game:
American League
- Tim Anderson, SS, Chicago White Sox
- Chris Bassitt, SP, Oakland A’s
- Whit Merrifield, 2B, Kansas City Royals
- Joey Wendle, SS, Tampa Bay Rays
The players above are taking the place of four Astros who are now listed as unable to participate: Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Carlos Correa and Ryan Pressly, who will stay home to be with his wife as they await the birth of a child.
National League
- Walker Buehler, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Justin Turner, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Max Scherzer, SP, Washington Nationals
- Taijuan Walker, SP, New York Mets
- Freddy Peralta, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
- Yadier Molina, C, St. Louis Cardinal
The players above are taking the place of Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, Jacob deGrom of the Mets, Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. They also account for Brandon Woodruff and Kevin Gausman, All-Stars who will be unavailable for the game because they are starting games on Sunday.
Anderson, Merrifield and Molina were elected via the Player Ballot. While Molina takes Buster Posey‘s place on the roster, J.T. Realmuto will take his spot in the starting lineup.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read the transcript of the Saturday night baseball chat.
Angels Notes: Trout, Upton, Rendon, Minasian, Trades
The Angels are expecting some major reinforcements to their lineup, though the exact timing of at least two of those bats is still up in the air. GM Perry Minasian told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter links) and other reporters that the team hasn’t yet determined a start date for Mike Trout‘s minor league rehab assignment, while Justin Upton might need a rehab assignment of his own before he is activated from the 10-day injured list.
A right calf strain sent Trout to the injured list back on May 18, and a subsequent shift to the 60-day IL meant that Trout won’t be able to return until July 17 at the earliest. Given the long layoff, a rehab stint certainly seems necessary for Trout, and the exact length of the assignment will be determined by both the condition of Trout’s calf and how long it will take the superstar to get fully ramped up for big league game action. Trout has already been participating in baseball activities, so if the rehab assignment gets underway soon, it is possible he might be ready to go when first eligible to be activated from the IL a week from today.
Upton has been on the IL since June 25 due to a sore back, and he has already missed more time than expected with what was initially thought to be a fairly minor issue. The outfielder will now be sidelined through the All-Star break, though there still isn’t yet any indication that Upton won’t be eligible for reinstatement in time for the Angels’ first second-half game on July 16. (Upton could do any necessary rehab work in minor league games during the break.)
In better news for the team, Minasian said Anthony Rendon should be ready to return by the time the second half begins. Rendon was retroactively placed on the 10-day injured list on July 5 due to a left hamstring strain, so he’ll end up missing a minimal amount of time if he does indeed get activated on July 16.
Needless to say, getting Trout, Upton, and Rendon back as quickly as possible will go a long way towards determining the Angels’ fate for the 2021 season as a whole, and in the more immediate near-future of their trade deadline plans. Despite multiple key injuries and well-documented pitching and defensive problems, Los Angeles still has a 44-43 record, and is a modest 4.5 games back in the AL wild card race. No deadline addition could compare to getting Trout and the red-hot Upton (with an 1.020 OPS in 112 PA since becoming the Angels’ leadoff hitter) back in the lineup, and while Rendon has struggled with injuries and inconsistency this year, the third baseman has a superstar track record.
With this in mind, Minasian said his front office is considering adding players before the trade deadline, though the GM stopped short of using a traditional “seller” or “buyer” label to describe his team. All options appear to be under consideration, however, as Minasian said the Angels were open to acquiring rental players under contract only for the remainder of the 2021 season.
Fangraphs gives the Halos a 16.5% percent chance at reaching the playoffs, though the x-factors of Trout, Upton, and Rendon could change the equation considerably. If all three are in form upon returning from the IL, the Angels will have one of the scariest lineups in baseball, so Minasian surely has to be focusing on pitching upgrades in his trade explorations. One would imagine that the Angels might still lean towards buying at the deadline even if they’re still hanging around the .500 mark come July 30, though Minasian isn’t likely to make a full-on shopping spree if L.A. is still something of a longshot for the postseason.
Diamondbacks Place Asdrubal Cabrera On 10-Day IL
Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain, the Diamondbacks announced. Utilityman Andrew Young was called up from Triple-A to take Cabrera’s spot on Arizona’s active roster.
Cabrera is hitting .240/.332/.385 with five homers over 223 plate appearances this season, and this is already his second IL trip of the year due to his bothersome right hamstring. An earlier strain kept him out of action for three weeks in May and early June, and if this latest injury has a similar recovery timeline, it will greatly decrease Cabrera’s chances of being dealt prior to the July 30 trade deadline. Reports from earlier this week indicated that the Mets had interest in a reunion with Cabrera, who played in New York from 2016-18.
It’s certainly possible the Mets or another team might still acquire Cabrera if they’re confident he’ll be back shortly after July 30, or if he has only played in a game or two prior to the deadline. The injury factor would decrease Arizona’s return in a potential trade, though since Cabrera is a veteran rental player having a decent unspectacular season, the Diamondbacks likely weren’t expecting to net a huge return anyway. Speculatively, the D’Backs could attempt to combine Cabrera with another veteran player in a multi-player swap, so the other team gets more than just Cabrera as a potential injury question mark, and Arizona gets more value back in a prospect package.
Cabrera has mostly played third base this season, though his ability to play all over the infield would make him an interesting bench addition for a number of contending teams. There isn’t much to like about his Statcast numbers apart from a solid walk rate, yet Cabrera has still managed a respectable 96 wRC+ in his age-35 season.
Diamondbacks Reinstate Kole Calhoun From Injured List, Designate Nick Heath
The Diamondbacks announced that outfielder Kole Calhoun has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, righty Taylor Widener was optioned to Triple-A and outfielder Nick Heath was designated for assignment. As noted by The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan, Widener’s demotion is likely just an on-paper move due to the All-Star break, and he’ll be back in Arizona’s rotation when the second half begins.
Calhoun underwent hamstring surgery in late April, which followed another surgery to fix a torn meniscus during Spring Training. After clocking only 51 plate appearances in between his two injury absences, Calhoun will now return for what could potentially be his last few weeks in an Arizona uniform.
If Calhoun can get hot at the plate and stay healthy, he’d certainly look like a decent trade chip for a D’Backs team that is open to selling. The 33-year-old isn’t a pure rental player, as there is a $9MM club option on his services for the 2022 season that carries a $2MM buyout. Owed an $8MM salary for 2021, Calhoun would have roughly $2.7MM remaining of that total if he was dealt on July 30, so between that and the $2MM buyout, it isn’t an unreasonable price for teams looking for a veteran outfield bat. (The D’Backs could also include money in a trade.)
Since joining the Diamondbacks on a two-year, $16MM free agent deal in December 2019, Calhoun has hit .239/.337/.517 with 18 home runs over 279 PA. Generally an above-average hitter over his 10 big league seasons with the Angels and D’Backs, the left-handed hitting Calhoun has pretty even splits against both right-handed and left-handed pitching. In addition, he has played solid-to-strong defense as a right fielder, highlighted by a Gold Glove back in 2015.
This is the second time Heath has been designated for assignment this season, and when the Royals DFA’ed the outfielder back in April, the D’Backs stepped in to arrange a trade that brought Heath to the desert. Originally a 16th-round pick for Kansas City in the 2016 draft, Heath has appeared in 20 games for the Diamondbacks, with just a .402 OPS over 39 plate appearances.
Nationals Place Yan Gomes On 10-Day Injured List, Designate Kyle Lobstein For Assignment
The Nationals waited until the last possible moment before today’s game to make a final decision on catcher Yan Gomes, who left yesterday’s game with an apparent oblique injury. They did, however, ultimately place him on the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). In corresponding moves, reliever Kyle Lobstein has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for catcher Jakson Reetz, who will have his contract selected as he is added to the active roster.
It’s quite the whirlwind for Reetz, who spent just three days in Triple-A, backfilling for Tres Barrera, who was promoted to the bigs after last week’s Alex Avila injury. Reetz has yet to record his first hit at the Triple-A level, but he’s up on the Major League roster anyhow, presumably backing up Barrera. Reetz hit .233/.357/.383 in 143 plate appearances with the Double-A Senators in his first action above High-A ball.
The Nationals are already relatively short-handed in the bullpen, but the sudden rash of injuries to their catching corps forces them to expose Lobstein to waivers nonetheless. Washington lost T.J. McFarland to the Cardinals when Lobstein was added to the 40-man roster last week, and the Cardinals proceeded to snipe right-hander Justin Miller a couple days after that. Lobstein doesn’t have the track record of either McFarland or Miller, but the 31-year-old southpaw could very well find himself with a new organization by the end of the week. He was hit hard in three appearances for the Nats, his first Major League action since appearing in 34 games (17 starts) for the Tigers and Pirates from 2014 to 2016. He has a 5.06 ERA/4.39 FIP over 128 career innings.
Gomes, of course, is the headliner here. The 33-year-old Brazilian backstop has been a steady presence for the Nationals since they acquired him from the Indians prior to the 2019 season. Not only did he help steer the ship in their championship season — playing every inning of the final four games of the World Series after Kurt Suzuki was injured — but he has taken on an increased load in his age-33 season, starting 68 percent of their games behind the plate this year. In his two prior seasons in Washington, Gomes handled 57 percent of the catching workload.
He’s helped carry the load offensively as well. Gomes is slashing .266/.320/.439 with eight home runs in 231 plate appearances. That’s good for 102 wRC+, an above-average mark for any position, but well above the catchers’ average of 89 wRC+.