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Archives for August 2021

Padres Designate Jorge Mateo For Assignment

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The Padres announced this afternoon they’ve designated outfielder Jorge Mateo for assignment. The move clears active roster space for left-hander Matt Strahm, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

San Diego acquired Mateo from the A’s last June. The former top prospect was out of minor league options, so the Padres had to keep him on the big league club (or injured list) in order to retain his long-term rights. The Friars have kept Mateo on the active roster over the past two seasons, although they’ve never seemed especially eager to give him regular playing time. The 26-year-old has tallied just 121 plate appearances over 79 games, serving mostly as a late-game pinch hitter, pinch runner or defensive replacement.

Mateo’s lack of roster flexibility made him something of an odd fit on a win-now Padres club. He hasn’t shown enough in his limited playing time to force his way into a more regular role, hitting .195/.235/.310 with terrible strikeout and walk rates (31.4% and 2.5%, respectively). That said, the Padres’ front office clearly remained intrigued by his physical gifts and one-time prospect status.

It’s certainly not inconceivable another club will give Mateo a look. He’ll be placed on waivers, and it’s possible a less immediate contender could place a claim and give him more consistent reps than San Diego could offer. Of course, any claiming team would also have to keep Mateo on the big league club or again expose him to waivers.

Strahm hasn’t pitched all season. The 29-year-old has missed the entire campaign recovering from right knee surgery. Last year, he worked 20 2/3 innings of 2.61 ERA/4.24 SIERA ball over nineteen appearances. Strahm will join Drew Pomeranz and Tim Hill as left-handed bullpen options for manager Jayce Tingler.

Tigers’ President: Team Could Pursue “High-Impact” Players This Offseason

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Tigers president/CEO Christopher Ilitch spoke with reporters (including Chris McCosky of The Detroit News and Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press) this afternoon. Most notably, Ilitch addressed the upcoming offseason and suggested the Tigers could pursue some bigger-ticket acquisitions as they near the end of their rebuild.

“(General manager Al Avila) and his team are very focused on continuing to improve our team. We see the long-term efforts put forth by his team and we see the emergence of a young core,” Ilitch said. “And I think Al feels we need to continue to improve our ballclub in a high, impactful way. I very much support the approach he and his team have taken — building a young core of talent and now having the desire to bring in high-impact players to fill that out. I’m very supportive of that.”

Those comments seem to suggest ownership would be willing to sign off on a significant free agent investment, and Ilitch said that kind of move “undoubtedly … could happen this winter.” Unsurprisingly, he didn’t mention any specific targets on the upcoming market, but Ilitch did express a general desire to “be strong up the middle.”

There’s a rather straightforward line to be drawn between Ilitch’s comments and the upcoming star-studded free agent shortstop class. Each of Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Javier Báez is slated to hit the open market. Seager and Correa (who will each be 27 by the start of the offseason) do so as particularly young free agents, while both Story and Báez will turn 29 this winter. That youth could be appealing to a Tigers club that’ll just be entering their competitive window next season and might still be one year away from making a true push for the top of the AL Central. (It’s also particularly easy to connect Correa as a speculative candidate of the Tigers, given his overlapping time in Houston with Detroit manager A.J. Hinch).

As Ilitch alluded to, the Tigers have played fairly well after a dismal start to the year. Detroit began this season 9-24, killing any faint hopes they had at staying in contention almost immediately. But they’ve quietly gone 42-33 since bottoming out on May 7. With three months of productive play — including good work from controllable players like Casey Mize, Matthew Boyd, Akil Baddoo, Eric Haase, Jeimer Candelario and Robbie Grossman — some optimism for 2022 and beyond isn’t unwarranted. That’s particularly true with highly-touted young players like Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson all at or approaching the big league level.

From a financial perspective, the Detroit organization shouldn’t have issue being aggressive over the coming offseasons. The Tigers entered the 2021 season with just an $80.8MM payroll, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Only Miguel Cabrera ($32MM) and Grossman ($5MM) have guaranteed deals on the books for next season.

Obviously, arbitration raises will add to that tally, but the fact remains that the organization should have ample spending capacity. This is a franchise that pushed payroll up near the $200MM mark at its 2016-17 peak and had spent in excess of $100MM on players every year between 2007-2020 (prior to prorating) before snapping that streak this season.

Granted, much of that spending was greenlit by Mike Ilitch, who passed away in February 2017. We have yet to see Chris Ilitch spend at his father’s level, but the franchise has been mired in a rebuild for essentially all of the younger Ilitch’s ownership tenure. It’s possible, then, that Chris Ilitch’s comparative frugality has been more a reflection of the lack of big league talent within the past few seasons than any sort of unwillingness on his part to sign off on higher than average payrolls.

If that’s the case, as Ilitch implied today, the offseason possibilities are numerous. The core of the potential next competitive Tigers team is at or near the big league level. The time to supplement that young talent with notable outside acquisitions is approaching, and it seems the Tigers could kickstart that effort in the coming months.

Nationals Select Javy Guerra

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The Nationals announced they’ve selected the contract of reliever Javy Guerra and recalled catcher Riley Adams from Triple-A Rochester. Righty Wander Suero was optioned to Triple-A, while catcher René Rivera landed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 2, with a right elbow contusion. Washington already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster arising out of last week’s series of trades.

Guerra will be making his season debut when he gets into a game, marking the eleventh consecutive year in which he’s picked up some big league time. Guerra saw action with the Nats in each of 2019-20, tossing 69 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA/4.55 FIP ball. The veteran righty has only struck out 18.5% of opponents over that stretch, but he’s been stingy with walks, doling out free passes at just a 6.4% clip.

The Nationals signed Rivera to a major league contract in mid-July, but he’s only picked up 15 plate appearances over the past couple weeks. While he’s out, he’ll be replaced by the 25-year-old Adams, who came over from the Blue Jays in exchange for Brad Hand in advance of last week’s trade deadline.

Latest On Charges Against Marcell Ozuna

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The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has elected not to proceed with the felony aggravated assault strangulation charge brought against Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna in May, according to reports from Fox 5 Atlanta and Alexis Stevens and Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Prosecutors are proceeding with a pair of misdemeanor charges — family violence battery and simple assault. Both charges carry sentences of up to one year in jail time.

Ozuna was arrested on May 29 after allegedly striking his wife Genesis and holding her against a wall by her neck. At the time, an officer alleged he saw Ozuna choking his wife — the impetus for the felony strangulation charge — but prosecutors have reportedly elected not to pursue that charge upon review of police body camera footage. Had Ozuna been convicted on that count, he would have faced up to twenty years in prison.

Shortly after his arrest, Ozuna was reportedly released on a $20,000 bond with a court order to avoid contact with his wife. It is unclear when he’s next expected back in court to answer for the two charges that remain against him.

Regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings, Major League Baseball has the authority to impose discipline against Ozuna under the terms of the MLB – MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence Policy. For the moment, Ozuna remains on the 10-day injured list after dislocating a pair of fingers on his left hand on May 26.

Where Do The Cubs Go From Here?

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Last week’s trades of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant were painful for Cubs fans.  Rizzo had been a Cub for 9.5 years.  Baez was drafted by the Cubs and his tenure lasted a decade.  Bryant was with the team for eight years after being drafted.  By 3pm Friday, all three were in different uniforms.  We can debate separately why it came to this, but today the question is, where do the Cubs go from here?

Let’s take stock of what the Cubs currently have at each position.

Catcher

Willson Contreras, 29, is under team control through 2022.  As Contreras put it recently, “This is the only team I’ve played for, and if they want to rebuild around me, I’m happy to talk.”  Given GM Jed Hoyer’s frustration in failing to lock up Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant, the Cubs may not necessarily be able to match up with Contreras, in which case an offseason trade would make sense.

22-year-old Miguel Amaya, the heir apparent, currently sports an odd Double-A batting line of .215/.406/.304.  FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen recently downgraded Amaya to a 45 grade, on account of a relative lack of power.  He hasn’t played since June 3rd due to an injury.

There are no franchise catchers in the 2021-22 free agent class, so the Cubs have all of 2022 to figure out if their future starter behind the dish will be Contreras, Amaya, or neither.

First Base

Rizzo was a mainstay at first base for the Cubs since 2012, but he was traded to the Yankees last Thursday.  Last March, Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported the Cubs offered him a five-year, $70MM extension.  Technically, the Cubs could bring Rizzo back in the offseason, but that will probably only happen if he finds the open market terribly disappointing.  And even in that case, he may prefer to play for a team with a better shot at reaching the playoffs.

In Rizzo’s absence, Patrick Wisdom has been playing first base for the Cubs.  Wisdom, who turns 30 later this month, owns a 142 wRC+ in 186 plate appearances this year.  More time will be needed to determine whether Wisdom is a valuable late bloomer, or if he’s a journeyman having a good couple of months.  Wisdom is nowhere near free agency and won’t even be arbitration eligible until after 2023, so the Cubs can afford to give him regular playing time in 2022.  He’s played more third than first base, so that could be his ultimate spot.  The Cubs could also take a look some point at Alfonso Rivas, who has a 130 wRC+ at Triple-A despite modest power.

This winter the Cubs could hit the market for a veteran placeholder in the mold of Brandon Belt or C.J. Cron, if they decide to play Wisdom mostly at third base in 2022.

Second Base

The Cubs were surprisingly able to land Nick Madrigal from the White Sox for Craig Kimbrel in one of their trade deadline deals.  Madrigal, 25 in March, is under team control through 2026.  He’s out for the season due to a torn hamstring, but figures to be a mainstay in the Cubs’ lineup for years.

Shortstop

In 2019, Baez settled in as the Cubs’ everyday shortstop, a year after he finished second in the MVP voting.  He was a fan favorite, but again, the Cubs couldn’t find common ground on a contract extension.  Baez was traded to the Mets, where he’ll play shortstop until Francisco Lindor returns from an injury, and then switch to second base to finish out the season alongside his friend.

Last April, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that in spring 2020, the Cubs offered Baez a contract in the range of $160-170MM.  ESPN’s Buster Olney suggested the $180MM range.  That’s not an amount I expect Baez to approach in free agency this winter, especially with significant competition at shortstop.  This is a case where the Cubs keeping the door open to a reunion could potentially matter, but like Rizzo he’d still have to experience a disappointing market first.  The lack of a collective bargaining agreement could further complicate matters.

Under the Theo Epstein regime, the Cubs were not opposed to making a free agent strike if they liked the player, even if their perceived competitive window was not yet open.  The idea worked poorly with Edwin Jackson, and well with Jon Lester.  In that sense, it wouldn’t be crazy to see the Cubs make a run at one of the jewels of the 2021-22 free agent class, Corey Seager or Carlos Correa.  Both are young enough that if 2022 and ’23 turn out to be rebuilding years for the Cubs, they’d still have a portion of the player’s prime.  The players might require a premium to enter into a rebuilding situation.

On the other hand, the Cubs’ $126MM deal for Yu Darvish will be nearly three years in the past when free agency opens, and the Ricketts family has not been flexing financial muscle in the interim.  The Cubs have only about $40MM committed to the 2022 payroll, with Jason Heyward, Kyle Hendricks, and David Bote.

Barring an unlikely major free agent signing, the Cubs’ future at shortstop involves Nico Hoerner and Ed Howard.  Hoerner figures to play the position in the immediate future.  Howard, who the Cubs drafted 16th overall out of high school last summer, might be the long-term answer.  Cristian Hernandez may be in that discussion as well, but both teenagers are several years away.

Third Base

Wisdom and Bote should be in the mix for the Cubs at the hot corner next year, with Matt Duffy headed to free agency.  Prospect Christopher Morel hasn’t done much with Double-A pitching so far this year, but if he figures it out he’ll enter the third base picture.  Even if Wisdom works out as a big league regular, the Cubs will be lacking at whichever infield corner he doesn’t play.  The free agent market doesn’t offer any exciting players, aside from Bryant.

Left Field

Ian Happ has drawn the Cubs’ left field assignment of late, though he’s having an abysmal year.  Making $4.1MM through arbitration this year, he won’t get much of a raise this winter, so the Cubs can afford another year to see if he can regain his hitting stroke.  A stopgap veteran addition would also make sense, with free agency featuring Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham, Mark Canha, and even players the Cubs have already tried like Kyle Schwarber and Joc Pederson.

Center Field

The Cubs are well-covered here, as prospect Brennen Davis was recently ranked 30th in the game by Baseball America.  Davis is playing well at Double-A this year, with a .267/.383/.515 line.  BA has suggested he may eventually move to right field, and at Double-A he’s spent more time in center but a fair bit in right.  You can safely pencil Davis in at one of those two spots – probably in late April next year once he’s done “working on his defense” (wink, wink).

Meanwhile in the Majors, with Happ struggling and Jake Marisnick traded, Rafael Ortega is attempting to win the Cubs’ regular center field job.  After a recent home run binge, the 30-year-old is up to a 144 wRC+ in 123 plate appearances.  Like Wisdom, it’s too early to say whether Ortega will establish himself as an above average big leaguer.  But the Cubs are in good position to let Ortega try for the rest of the year, and into 2022 if it goes well.

Right Field

With a 63 wRC+ this year, Jason Heyward’s offense has been reminiscent of his first year with the Cubs, when he surprisingly slumped to a 72 mark.  If his struggles persist, the Cubs are going to have better uses of the playing time.  Heyward is owed $44MM from 2022-23.  He remains the one large contract on the Cubs’ books, but only two years remain.

Greg Deichmann, who joined the Cubs in the Andrew Chafin trade with Oakland, is a name to watch in the team’s right field mix.  He posted a .433 OBP for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators and should be in the Majors soon.  The Cubs have a slew of other outfield prospects in the system, but most of them are further away.

Starting Rotation

Kyle Hendricks continues to be the rock of the Cubs’ rotation.  The low-key veteran can be retained through 2024 if the Cubs pick up his club option.  While Hendricks could be traded this winter, the 31-year-old soft-tosser could also be part of the next Cubs contender.  Hendricks seems like he’ll age gracefully, since he’s not dependent on velocity.

Adbert Alzolay has shown enough to have a rotation spot locked down for next year.  He’s got a 4.85 ERA in 19 starts, which isn’t great, but he probably won’t continue to see a quarter of his flyballs leave the yard.  Alzolay’s struggles against left-handed hitters have been pronounced, however: 19 home runs in 196 batters faced.  Still, the bar is pretty low to be in the Cubs’ 2022 rotation.  Alec Mills will still be around next year to fill a swingman role.

Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson are being stretched out for looks in the Cubs’ rotation down the stretch.  These are not pitchers the prospect hounds get particularly excited about, but the Cubs have plenty of opportunity for anyone who can capitalize.  Prospect gurus do get excited about Brailyn Marquez, who Baseball America ranked as the 99th-best prospect in the game.  However, the 22-year-old has yet to pitch this year due to a shoulder strain. Caleb Kilian, acquired in the Bryant deal, has pitched well at Double-A, so we could see him in the Majors relatively soon.

As it stands now, the Cubs simply don’t have the pitching in-house to get through the 2022 season, let alone compete.  It’s a rotation ripe for opportunistic free agent signings, a place where guys like Dylan Bundy or James Paxton can look to get their careers back on track before getting flipped for prospects.

Bullpen

The Cubs’ bullpen has been stripped of its three highest-leverage relievers: Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera, and Andrew Chafin.  Codi Heuer, acquired in the Kimbrel deal, will take a spot.  Beyond him, I assume the Cubs will look to replicate one of their few successes of the previous offseason: the signings of Tepera and Chafin for a total of $3.55MM.  The goal will be to sign another batch of veteran relievers, coax good first halves out of them, and trade them for prospects at the deadline.

Conclusion

After all the star players were purged, the Cubs are frankly low on present talent.  For 2022, they’ve got massive holes throughout their lineup and pitching staff.  Their farm system has Davis plus various interesting players, but it’s not teeming with blue-chip prospects like the Rays, Mariners, Blue Jays, or Tigers.  Given their market size, it doesn’t seem like the Cubs should be dropping down to a bottom-10 payroll in the game.  But an analysis of the roster and farm system suggests the Cubs cannot spend their way back into contention, at least not in the 2021-22 offseason alone.  Last time it was a three-year rebuild, and to contend again with anything less will be a difficult or expensive feat.

Yankees Promote Luis Gil

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The Yankees are promoting Luis Gil to start this evening’s game against the Orioles, the team told reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). He’ll be making his major league debut. Gerrit Cole had initially been lined up to take the ball, but he’s now out of action for at least ten days after testing positive for COVID-19. Gil was already on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary.

Acquired from the Twins for Jake Cave in March 2018, Gil has since developed into one of the more promising young arms in the organization. Baseball America placed him fourth among Yankees farmhands in their recent midseason update, while FanGraphs slots him twelfth in the system. Both outlets rave about his fastball, which gets into the high-90’s and has enough life to generate plenty of swinging strikes. There’s some debate about which of his secondary offerings — a mid-80’s slider or a low-90’s changeup — will become his most effective offspeed pitch, but the general expectation is that Gil’s fastball will play at the big league level.

While there’s not much doubt about the efficacy of his raw stuff, there are still questions about Gil’s strike-throwing consistency. The right-hander has walked more than 10% of batters faced at every level of his minor league career. That’s continued this season, as the 23-year-old has doled out free passes to a huge 13.5% of opponents over 15 starts split between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

To his credit, Gil has managed a decent 4.13 ERA between the two levels. That’s largely thanks to the plus bat-missing ability he’s shown throughout his career. Gil has struck out a huge 33% of opposing hitters in his first crack at the high minors, actually a bit of a step up from his overall 30.1% mark as a professional. He has worked exclusively as a starting pitcher in recent years, although that combination of high-octane stuff and bouts of wildness might hint at a bullpen future down the line.

Rays Select Dietrich Enns

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The Rays announced they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Dietrich Enns. Righty Chris Mazza was optioned to Triple-A Durham to open active roster space, while fellow righty Ryan Thompson was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Tampa Bay signed Enns out of independent ball last August, and he’s now in line to make his team debut a little less than a year later. The 30-year-old has two career big league appearances under his belt, both of them with the 2017 Twins. He bounced between a couple affiliated organizations and independent teams before landing with the Rays.

Assigned to Triple-A Durham, Enns pitched his way back to the big leagues for the first time in four years with a very strong season. He’s made fourteen appearances (ten starts), totaling 59 innings of 2.44 ERA ball. Enns’ peripherals back up the elite run prevention, as he’s punched out a whopping 32.3% of batters faced against a tiny 6.5% walk rate. Those numbers are even more impressive when considered against the league’s hitter-friendly environment. Enns ranks 3rd in ERA, fourth in strikeout rate, and third in strikeout/walk rate differential among the 49 Triple-A East pitchers with 50+ innings pitched this season.

Thompson landed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation on June 30. He’ll miss at least sixty days from the date of that original placement, meaning he can’t return to the majors until the end of this month. The sidearming reliever has quietly worked to a 2.38 ERA/3.17 SIERA across 34 innings this season.

Rays Sign David Freitas

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The Rays signed David Freitas to a minor league deal last week (h/t to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America). The veteran backstop signed with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization last offseason, but he was waived in late June after putting up a .259/.297/.394 line across 148 plate appearances.

Freitas has appeared in the big leagues in parts of three seasons (2017-19), tallying a cumulative .200/.268/.288 mark over 143 trips to the plate. Freitas has performed much better during a large sample of work at Triple-A. He’s appeared at the minors’ top level in seven seasons and posted a strong .326/.404/.474 slash with 23 home runs in a little under 1100 total plate appearances.

The 32-year-old has been assigned to the Florida Complex League as he works back into game shape after a month-plus layoff. Presumably, he’ll soon be assigned to Triple-A Durham, where he’ll serve as non-roster catching depth behind Mike Zunino and Francisco Mejía, the only catchers on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Outrighted: Tauchman, LaMarre, Weigel

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Last Friday’s trade deadline brought about a slew of DFAs as teams made room for newly acquired big leaguers. With the trades of players who’d been on Major League contracts no longer allowed post-deadline, most of these players will hit outright waivers and be made available to all 29 other clubs. (Others may simply be released.) That’s going to lead to a series of outright assignments for those who ultimately go unclaimed on waivers.

As a reminder, players with at least three but fewer than five years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, doing so requires forfeiture of any remaining guaranteed salary. Players with five or more years of MLB service time can reject an outright assignment and retain any guaranteed salary on their deals. Players with fewer than three years of service can also reject outright assignments if they’ve been previously outrighted at any point in their career. We’ll run through the latest crop of outright assignments in this post…

  • Outfielder Mike Tauchman went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, the Giants announced Monday night. Tauchman crossed the three-year mark in terms of Major League service time just last week, giving him the option of rejecting the assignment should he choose. The Giants made no indication that Tauchman was rejecting, though players typically have a day or two from the time of the announcement to weigh whether to accept. Tauchman, 30, has batted just .181/.284/.283 in 191 plate appearances this season. He enjoyed a big 2019 season in the Bronx, however, and carries a generally strong track record (.309/.378/.493) in parts of five Triple-A seasons. As an outrighted player with three-plus years of service, Tauchman could become a free agent at season’s end even if he does opt to remain with the organization in Triple-A.
  • The Yankees announced late last night that outfielder Ryan LaMarre went unclaimed on waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 32-year-old LaMarre has previously been outrighted, so he’ll have the option to reject the assignment should he choose, although he’s already accepted an outright assignment from the Yankees once this summer. LaMarre went 4-for-21 with a pair of homers with the Yankees’ big league club and has batted .308/.400/.479 in 135 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s a career .232/.286/.350 hitter in the Majors and a .283/.353/.420 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A seasons. LaMarre has experience at all three outfield spots but has been deployed primarily as a left fielder with the Yankees’ Triple-A club in 2021. He can be a free agent at season’s end unless added back to the roster.
  • The Brewers announced that right-hander Patrick Weigel went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. Milwaukee picked Weigel up in the April trade that sent shortstop Orlando Arcia to the Braves. He’s allowed a pair of runs in four MLB frames this year but has struggle mightily in Nashville, where he’s posted a 6.84 ERA and walked a batter per inning (20.8 percent of his total opponents) through 25 frames. Weigel lacks the service time or prior outright assignment necessary to elect free agency, so he’ll remain with the Brewers organization in Triple-A.

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