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Yankees Sign Sal Romano To Minors Contract

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The Yankees have signed righty Sal Romano to a minor league contract.  Conor Foley of The Scranton Times-Tribune (Twitter link) was the first to report that Romano was working out today with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.

Romano is back with the Yankees less than three weeks after being designated for assignment by New York and then claimed off waivers by the Brewers.  Romano pitched in just one game for Milwaukee before being designated again, and he chose to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Brewers’ Triple-A club.

This makes it four uniform changes in less than three months for Romano, who began the season with the Reds before declining another outright assignment to catch on with the Yankees on his previous minor league deal.  Romano is out of minor league options, so he could face yet another round of DFA limbo should New York recall him to the big leagues and then again cut ties to make roster space for another player.

Amidst all the movement, Romano has a 5.63 ERA over 24 total innings in 2021 (one with the Brewers, 2 1/3 IP with the Yankees, and 20 2/3 with the Reds).  A veteran of five Major League seasons, Romano has a 5.18 ERA over 274 1/3 career innings, all with Cincinnati prior to 2021.

Marlins Designate Shawn Morimando, Place Zach Pop On 10-Day Injured List

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The Marlins have designated left-hander Shawn Morimando for assignment and placed righty Zach Pop on the 10-day injured list.  Right-hander Jorge Guzman and left-hander Sean Guenther were called up from Triple-A to take the two spots on the active roster.  (MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola was among those to report the moves.)

Pop has been sidelined with soreness in the middle finger of his throwing hand, interrupting a very respectable rookie season for the 24-year-old.  Over his first 43 1/3 innings in the majors, Pop has a 4.36 ERA/4.05 SIERA, plus a 58.1% grounder rate that has continued his reputation from the minors as a groundball specialist.  The Marlins landed Pop via the Rule 5 Draft (acquiring the right-hander from the Diamondbacks after Arizona drafted him out of the Orioles’ organization), and Pop has certainly pitched well enough to remain on the MLB roster for the entire season, so Miami will retain his rights going forward.

This is the second time the Marlins have DFA’ed Morimando this season, with the first designation resulting in an outright assignment to Triple-A for the southpaw.  After making his big league debut with Cleveland in 2016, Morimando didn’t receive another MLB opportunity until this season, when he posted a 9.58 ERA over 10 1/3 innings for the Marlins.

Cubs Place Adbert Alzolay On 10-Day Injured List

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The Cubs have placed right-hander Adbert Alzolay on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain.  Righty Trevor Megill was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Alzolay left his start last night in the second inning due to the injury, adding to a disastrous inning for the Cubs that saw the Marlins score 11 runs en route to a 14-10 victory.  Alzolay was charged with six of those runs over his 1 1/3 innings of work, his worst performance in what has been an inconsistent season for the 26-year-old.  Alzolay has a 5.16 ERA over 106 1/3 frames in 2021, as above-average walk and strikeouts rates haven’t been enough to counter a lot of hard contact from opposing batters against Alzolay’s offerings.

After posting a 2.95 ERA over a small sample size of 21 1/3 innings last season, Alzolay was seen as a candidate to step forward and establish himself as a regular member of Chicago’s rotation.  Given how the Cubs have dealt much of their veteran pitching beyond Kyle Hendricks, Alzolay is still a candidate for the 2022 staff almost by default.  Once he returns from the IL, Alzolay will get the rest of this season to make his case heading into Spring Training and ahead of whatever pitching additions the Cubs could make this winter.

Nationals Claim Patrick Murphy Off Waivers From Blue Jays, Release Rene Rivera

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The Nationals have claimed Patrick Murphy off waivers from the Blue Jays, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Murphy was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays earlier in the week. Additionally, the club has released Rene Rivera, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com.

Murphy worked as a starter in the minors through the 2019 season. At Double-A that year, he logged 84 innings with an ERA of 4.71. In 2020, with the minor league season wiped out, he was only able to get actual game action in the big leagues, pitching six innings out of Toronto’s bullpen, allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks.

A consistent issue with Murphy has been injuries, which continued this year. He was placed on the 60-day IL back in February and began a rehab assignment in late May. Since that time, he bounced between the majors and minors, being optioned three times. He’s dominated Triple-A hitters in 14 2/3 scoreless innings, with a strikeout rate of 29.3%. Though that also came with a concerning walk rate of 13.8%. At the big league level, he has a 4.82 ERA, but in a small sample size of just 9 1/3 innings. The 26-year-old is in his last option year, meaning Washington can keep him in the minors for the remainder of the season. But once the 2022 season begins, they would have to either keep him in the majors or designate him for assignment again.

As for Rivera, this brings a very short Nationals tenure to an end. The 38-year-old journeyman catcher was released by Cleveland just over a month ago and signed on with Washington in mid-July. He was able to appear in just four games with the Nats. Between the two clubs, his slash line for the season is .232/.293/.362. He will now be free to sign with other clubs. However, Washington had placed him on the IL just last week with an elbow contusion. The severity of that injury could determine the level of interest from other teams.

Cardinals Designate Scott Hurst For Assignment

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The Cardinals have activated Brandon Waddell from the IL and designated Scott Hurst for assignment, per a club announcement. Waddell was optioned and placed on the COVID-IL in mid-July. He will remain with the Triple-A club in Memphis. Hurst’s designation was required to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. (Players on the COVID-IL do not use a roster spot.)

Hurst, a 25-year-old outfielder, had his contract selected by the club in mid-April. He got into just seven games with only five hitless plate appearances before being optioned. His Triple-A performance has been less than ideal on the season, producing a slash line of .186/.289/.270 in 251 plate appearances across 59 games.

Despite those numbers, it’s possible he could be claimed off waivers by a team with an eye on the future. He is still young, can be optioned to the minors and comes with years of team control. However, if he clears waivers, he would not have enough service time to reject an outright assignment and would stay in the Cardinals organization.

Braves Release Shane Greene

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The Braves have released Shane Greene, per Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Greene had been designated for assignment by the club earlier in the week.

The 32-year-old never really got on track this year. Despite putting up excellent numbers over 2019 and 2020, he didn’t sign with Atlanta until May, having already missed spring training and part of the regular season. He worked out in Triple-A to get himself into game shape, dealt with some back soreness and eventually got to the big league club in early June. However, the righty hasn’t been able to help the Braves much, throwing 17 innings with an ERA of 8.47, FIP of 6.77 and xFIP of 5.66. His strikeout rate of 20.5% and walk rate of 10.8% are both worse than league average.

He will now be free to sign with any team that believes he’s capable of regaining his past form. After all, he’s not far removed from a 2020 season where he threw 27 2/3 innings with an ERA of 2.60. Any club who signs him would be taking on no financial risk, as they’d only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with Atlanta on the hook for the remainder of his prorated $1.5MM contract.

 

Phillies Designate David Paulino For Assignment, Activate Bailey Falter

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The Phillies have designated David Paulino for assignment, according to the club. The roster spot was needed for Bailey Falter, who has been reinstated from the COVID-IL.

This is a very quick turnaround for Paulino, who was selected to the Philadelphia roster just two days ago. The 27-year-old righty pitched two innings against the Reds yesterday, his first MLB action since 2018, surrendering two runs on three hits. His Triple-A numbers on the year are solid, if unspectacular. He has an ERA of 4.35 over 51 2/3 innings, with a quality strikeout rate of 25.2% but an unfortunate walk rate of 10.4%.

As for Falter, the 24-year-old lefty has been on the COVID-IL since mid-July. Before that, he had been bouncing between the minors and the majors. In 30 2/3 innings at Triple-A this season, he has an excellent 1.76 ERA with a strikeout rate of 36.7% and walk rate of 6.7%. In 18 innings at the MLB level, he has a 4.50 ERA, but with a strikeout rate of 29.6% and walk rate of 1.4%, both of which are much better than average.

Red Sox Activate Chris Sale

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The Red Sox have reinstated Chris Sale from the 60-day injured list, the team has announced. A spot on the 40-man roster was opened by Marwin Gonzalez being designated for assignment yesterday. Additionally, Christian Vazquez was reinstated from the bereavement list. To make room for Sale and Vazquez, Yacksel Rios and Connor Wong have been optioned to Triple-A.

This officially ends the star lefty’s journey of over two years away from big league mounds, having last pitched August 13th of 2019. At that time, he was shut down with elbow inflammation and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2020.

Prior to this absence, he had been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball for almost a decade. For the eight seasons from 2012 to 2019, he pitched 1,535 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.05 with 1,896 strikeouts. The 42.8 fWAR he accumulated during that time was third among all pitchers in baseball, behind only Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw.

If Sale is even half as good as that elite level, he’ll provide a huge boost to a Red Sox rotation that has been floundering of late. Martin Perez and Garrett Richards have been moved to the bullpen because of their recent struggles, leaving the club with a three-man rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Eduardo Rodriguez. (Tanner Houck was recalled to start on Thursday but then optioned to Triple-A the next day.) The club has gone on a cold streak of late, surrendering the AL East lead to the Rays, but still holding onto the second AL Wild Card spot, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.

Trevor Bauer Was Subject Of Previous Protection Order

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Trevor Bauer was the subject of an ex parte temporary civil stalking protection order sought by and granted to an Ohio woman in June of 2020, according to a report by Gus Garcia-Roberts and Molly Hensley-Clancy of The Washington Post. The order was in effect until dismissed by the petitioner that July 23. According to the Post’s report:

“An Ohio woman sought the order in June 2020 after repeated threats from the then-Cincinnati Reds pitcher, according to her lawyer and records separately obtained by The Post. Photographs independently obtained by The Post also show bruises on the woman’s face and blood in her eyes, which her attorney said was caused by Bauer punching and choking her during sex without consent. Those allegations are similar to ones made by a woman in Los Angeles this summer when she applied for a temporary restraining order.”

The Post report details an alleged incident from 2017, when Bauer was with the Indians.  The authors elaborate:

“A police report obtained by The Post shows that in 2017, during an incident at Bauer’s apartment, the Ohio woman attempted to show officers photos of injuries to her eyes that she said were caused by Bauer, who played for Cleveland at the time.” The woman’s attorney tells the Post she specified to police at the time that those injuries were the alleged result of Bauer choking her without consent during sex. According to the Post, Bauer was the one who initially called police that night, telling officers the woman had assaulted him — an allegation she denied. Additionally:

“The Post also obtained copies of messages Bauer allegedly sent the woman, which her lawyers said prompted her to seek an order of protection. ’I don’t feel like spending time in jail for killing someone,’ reads one. ’And that’s what would happen if I saw you again.'” The Post also obtained photos of injuries the woman sustained, which her lawyer tells The Post she says “were from Bauer striking her without her consent during sex in 2018,” in the words of the Post writers.

The ex parte nature of the order indicates it was granted without hearing from Bauer’s side. (That’s also true of the temporary restraining order granted against Bauer in California to which the Post alluded). Ohio law allows petitioners to obtain a restraining order against individuals who have caused the petitioner to believe they “will cause physical harm to the other person or a family or household member of the other person or cause mental distress to the other person or a family or household member of the other person,” so long as the petitioner can demonstrate good cause — including, but not limited to, a threat of bodily harm. Court records don’t specify any allegations made against Bauer at that hearing.

MLB placed Bauer on paid administrative leave in July 2021 after the Pasadena Police Department began investigating the assault allegations made by the woman in California. Bauer’s administrative leave period was extended through August 20 this week, an agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association. The parties are set for a multi-day hearing (during which Bauer will have an opportunity to respond to the woman’s allegations) next week on the status of the California TRO.

Under the terms of the joint MLB-MLBPA Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, Major League Baseball has the authority to issue discipline regardless of whether criminal charges are ultimately filed.  An MLB spokesperson is quoted in the piece as saying that “MLB takes these and all allegations very seriously,” but that they can’t comment because of the ongoing investigation. The Post reports that an MLB investigator was seeking information related to the 2017 incident in early July.

Chelsea Janes, also of The Washington Post, says that the Dodgers declined to comment on whether or not they were aware of this previous allegation before signing Bauer in February of 2021.  A spokesman for the Indians told the Post the team didn’t have any knowledge of the incident in 2017.

Bauer, on his own Twitter account, addressed the allegations with a statement from himself as well as one from his representatives.  Additionally, “In a statement to The Post, Bauer’s lawyer and agent, Jon Fetterolf, and agent Rachel Luba called the allegations of physical abuse against Bauer ’categorically false.'”

For the full details, read the Washington Post article and Bauer’s response.

Rays Designate Evan Phillips For Assignment, Select Adam Conley

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The Rays have designated Evan Phillips for assignment and selected the contract of Adam Conley, per Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times.

Phillips was released by the Orioles August 2nd and then signed a minor league deal with the Rays the very next day. After getting into two games with the Durham Bulls, the righty then had his contract selected by the Rays on Thursday. He pitched three innings in Friday’s game against the Twins, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two.

As for Conley, the 31-year-old lefty spent five seasons with the Marlins from 2015 to 2019. He worked primarily as a starter for the first three seasons before transitioning to a bullpen role for the latter two. In total, he tallied 414 1/3 innings during that stretch with an ERA of 4.82. In 2020, Conley was  designated for assignment by the Marlins and outrighted without appearing in a game.

The Rays added Conley on a minor league deal back in May. In 31 Triple-A innings this year, he has an ERA of 4.35, including a spike in strikeouts but also walks. His 14.1% walk rate is higher than any previous season at any level, whereas his 26.6% strikeout rate tops all previous stops since his stint in A-ball way back in 2012.

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