Reds Sign Logan Morrison
The Reds have signed first baseman Logan Morrison to a minor league contract, per an announcement from the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League. Morrison had played nine games with the Rockers after signing last month. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Louisville.
Morrison has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past eleven seasons. He was a quality hitter as recently as 2017, but he scuffled in 2018 and hasn’t gotten much run at the highest level since. Morrison only picked up 38 plate appearances with the Phillies in 2019, and he tallied just 28 trips to the plate last year with the Brewers.
Cincinnati obviously has first base spoken for with Joey Votto, but the club’s left-handed bench players (Shogo Akiyama, Mike Freeman and Mark Payton) haven’t hit much. That could open an opportunity for Morrison if he gets off to a strong start in Louisville.
Padres To Sign Joe Beimel
The Padres are signing reliever Joe Beimel to a minor league contract, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll be assigned to Double-A San Antonio.
It’s nothing short of remarkable that Beimel has worked his way back to affiliated ball. Now 44 years old, he first broke into the big leagues with the Pirates in 2001. Beimel appeared in the majors every year from that point through 2011 but didn’t crack a big league roster in 2012 or 2013. The southpaw returned in 2014 with the Mariners and threw 92 1/3 major league innings over the next two seasons. A 2016 minor league deal with the Royals didn’t lead to a big league opportunity, and Kansas City released him that July. Beimel hasn’t pitched in affiliated ball since then, and he hasn’t appeared on MLBTR’s pages in any capacity since March 2017. Against all odds, he’s made it back.
It’s anyone’s guess whether Beimel will prove effective enough to eventually earn a major league call. He has recently been throwing in the mid-90s, Lin notes, suggesting he’s still got plenty of arm strength despite his age and the long layoff. Scott Kazmir got back to the big leagues with the Giants last month following a five-year absence. Beimel will look to make it back after six years away. Over the course of his career, Beimel has worked to a 4.06 ERA across thirteen seasons.
Giants Outright Scott Kazmir
JUNE 11: Kazmir has cleared outright waivers, the Giants announced. It remains to be seen if he’ll accept an assignment to Triple-A Sacramento or elect free agency.
JUNE 5, 5:25 PM: Kazmir has officially been DFA’d by the Giants. Camilo Doval has been recalled to claim his roster spot, per Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com (via Twitter). Doval owns a 7.59 ERA/7.54 FIP in 13 appearances covering 10 2/3 innings on the year.
JUNE 5, 1:51 PM: The Giants have designated left-hander Scott Kazmir for assignment, The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reports. The move could end Kazmir’s comeback attempt after three appearances and seven total innings.
Kazmir last pitched in the majors with the Dodgers in 2016, and his career had seemingly drawn to a close before the southpaw announced a comeback attempt in early 2020. His efforts led to a minor league deal with San Francisco this past offseason, and Kazmir then found himself on a big league mound once more after the Giants selected his contract two weeks ago.
As one might expect, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for Kazmir after his long layoff, as he posted a 6.43 ERA over his seven innings and was tagged for three home runs. Kazmir started two of his three games, and only just returned to the Giants to start last night’s contest after spending a few days on the restricted list. Slusser reports that Kazmir stepped away from the team to mourn the death of his best friend, who passed away last Tuesday.
It’s possible another team might be intrigued by what they’ve seen in Kazmir and could make a waiver claim, though probably the likeliest outcome is that the veteran clears waivers. Assuming Kazmir is open to continuing his comeback attempt, he would likely be willing to accept an outright assignment to the minors, or the Giants could conceivably just release him if they feel he doesn’t offer much more to the team.
Logan Webb was placed back on the 10-day IL just two days ago with another shoulder issue, while Aaron Sanchez is also still sidelined recovering from biceps tightness. Sanchez had reportedly been throwing side sessions, however, so the Kazmir DFA could be a sign that the Giants are expecting Sanchez back relatively soon. San Francisco also has a chance to reset its rotation due to an off-day on Monday.
Injury Notes: Antone, Rosenthal, Sanchez, Owings
The Reds announced Friday that they’ve placed righty Tejay Antone on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right forearm. The team is hopeful that it’ll be a minimum stint for Antone, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. Even a 10-day absence for Antone is a blow to the Reds, however, given how excellent he’s been out of the ‘pen this season. Antone looked to have put together a breakout year in 2020, but he’s taken things even further in his age-27 campaign this year. The right-hander has tallied 32 innings out of the bullpen and recorded a brilliant 1.41 ERA to go along with a 34.5 percent strikeout rate and a 9.5 percent walk rate. Antone regularly works multiple innings and has picked up three saves to go along with seven holds.
After non-tendering Archie Bradley and dumping Raisel Iglesias‘ salary in a deal with the Angels, the Reds have seen their bullpen pitch to an MLB-worst 5.88 ERA. That sky-high mark comes in spite of Antone’s dominance; the Reds’ other relievers have combined for a disastrous 6.58 ERA in 203 2/3 innings so far.
A few more notable injury situations around the league…
- The Athletics are still hopeful that Trevor Rosenthal will be able to pitch for the team this season, writes Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. Oakland currently has a mid-August target for Rosenthal, who developed thoracic outlet symptoms this spring after signing a surprising one-year, $11MM deal with the A’s. He underwent surgery prior to Opening Day, and while he’s not yet throwing, Rosenthal is progressing through a strength program. The Oakland bullpen has been a middle-of-the-pack unit so far in 2021, pitching to a 3.87 ERA with a 3.79 FIP. A’s relievers have the game’s lowest collective strikeout rate (20.5 percent) but also have one of the best walk rates (8.6 percent). Prior to their deal with Rosenthal, the A’s seemed to target relievers who were underpriced due to sub-par strikeout rates but also thrived in terms of limiting hard contact. To this point, the bullpen’s 34.5 percent hard-hit rate is the third-lowest in MLB.
- Marlins starter Sixto Sánchez has resumed his rehab program, as he’s now throwing from 60 feet, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com was among those to pass along. Sánchez, who went down with shoulder inflammation in early April, had his throwing program paused last week on account of bursitis. He’s yet to pitch this season after tossing 39 innings of 3.46 ERA/4.18 SIERA ball in 2020.
- Rockies utilityman Chris Owings is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque this weekend, manager Bud Black told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). He’s already progressed to taking batting practice. Owings, who signed a minor league deal over the winter, made the Opening Day roster and got off to a scorching start over his first seven games. Unfortunately, he suffered a left thumb injury that required surgery in mid-April, keeping him out of action for more than two months.
Mariners Activate Kendall Graveman, Justin Dunn From Injured List
The Mariners announced the activation of Kendall Graveman and Justin Dunn from the injured list. In corresponding moves, Keynan Middleton was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while Yacksel Ríos was designated for assignment.
Graveman went on the COVID-19 IL on May 23. That halted what has been a brilliant 2021 season for the right-hander. Graveman has pitched 16 2/3 scoreless innings out of the Seattle bullpen over his first 14 appearances. He’s averaging a career-high 96.9 MPH on his sinker, backed up by a slider that has been one of the game’s best swing-and-miss offerings. Graveman has punched out a very strong 29.3% of opponents against a tiny 5.2% walk rate.
It’s a big season for Graveman, who is slated to hit free agency this winter for the first time. If he can continue to perform at something approaching this level down the stretch, he’ll position himself as one of the top relievers on the market. That impending free agency also makes him one of the sport’s more interesting trade candidates in advance of this summer’s July 30 deadline. At 31-33, the Mariners have fallen into fourth place in the AL West, five games back in the race for the second wild card. There’s still time to make up ground, but the Mariners have the AL’s second-worst run differential (-58), so they’ll need to play at a significantly better level if they’re to hang around the postseason picture.
Dunn went on the 10-day IL on June 1 with right shoulder inflammation. The injury was never expected to be particularly serious, and he’ll indeed return after a minimal IL stint. Dunn, who has a 3.18 ERA/5.08 SIERA across 45 1/3 frames this season, will start tonight’s game against the Indians.
Seattle just acquired Ríos in a minor deal with the Rays last week. The 27-year-old had pitched to a 0.66 ERA with a fantastic 34.7% strikeout rate with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, piquing the interest of the Mariners front office. He’s given up three runs in as many innings since the trade, with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. The Mariners will have a week to trade Ríos or place him on outright waivers. Having previously been outrighted in his career, Ríos would have the right to elect free agency if he passes through the wire unclaimed.
Mets Claim Nick Tropeano Off Waivers From Giants
The Mets announced they’ve claimed right-hander Nick Tropeano off waivers from the Giants. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Reliever Tommy Hunter was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to open 40-man roster space. The Giants designated Tropeano for assignment last week.
This marks the second time in nine months the Mets have snagged Tropeano off the waiver wire. New York claimed him from the Pirates after the conclusion of last season. Ultimately, they decided not to carry him over the winter, non-tendering him a little more than a month later. Tropeano then signed a minor league deal with the Giants and was selected to the major league roster on May 21.
The 30-year-old wound up appearing in four games with San Francisco, tossing six innings of relief. He only allowed one earned run in that time, but Tropeano also managed just a pair of strikeouts. While he didn’t punch many batters in his limited work in San Francisco, he flashed some bat-missing ability with Pittsburgh last season. Tropeano struck out a strong 28.8% of opposing hitters in 15 2/3 innings with the Pirates, allowing just a pair of runs in that time. He generated swings and misses on a strong 14.9% of his offerings in 2020, and that bat-missing ability and recent run of strong run prevention clearly holds some appeal to the Mets front office.
While Tropeano has only worked in relief at the major league level the past two seasons, he could serve as either rotation or bullpen depth for New York. He was a decent back-of-the-rotation arm for the Astros and Angels earlier in his career, and he’d started all three of his appearances with the Giants Triple-A affiliate this season (albeit without ever working into the sixth inning).
By claiming Tropeano, the Mets assume the remaining balance of his $1.1MM contract. He remains under team control via arbitration through 2022, so he could be a multi-year piece for New York if he performs well enough for the club to tender him a contract. Tropeano is in his final minor league option year, so he can be shuttled back and forth between Queens and Syracuse for the rest of this season if he sticks on the 40-man roster.
Hunter was placed on the IL on May 19 with the rather nebulous diagnosis of lower back pain. It’s not precisely clear when the team expects him to return this season, but he’ll now be out of action until at least late July. He has made four scoreless appearances in 2021.
Royals Outright Jake Newberry
JUNE 11: The Royals announced that Newberry has cleared outright waivers. The 26-year-old doesn’t have the requisite service time to elect free agency, so he’ll report to Triple-A Omaha and attempt to work his way back onto the major league roster at some point this season.
JUNE 7: The Royals have designated right-hander Jake Newberry for assignment. The move officially creates roster space for the promotion of pitching prospect Jackson Kowar, who will make his MLB debut today. Kansas City also optioned righty Jakob Junis, as was reported yesterday.
Newberry has appeared in each of the last four seasons for Kansas City, and despite some shaky advanced metrics, managed to post a 4.07 ERA over 66 1/3 relief innings for the Royals from 2018-20. Fortune turned on Newberry this season, however, as he was rocked for eight runs and a 16.62 ERA over 4 1/3 innings in 2021.
A 37th-round pick for the Royals in the 2012 draft, Newberry has worked almost exclusively as a reliever throughout his pro career, and he has posted some quality numbers in the minors. Over 406 career innings in the K.C. farm system, Newberry has a 3.24 ERA and 22.3% strikeout rate. Something of an extreme groundball pitcher earlier in his career, Newberry hasn’t translated that skill into the big leagues, with only a 34.5% grounder rate over 70 2/3 innings in the Show.
Giants Trade Matt Wisler To Rays
The Giants have traded righty Matt Wisler to the Rays in exchange for minor league left-hander Michael Plassmeyer, per a pair of team announcements. Tampa Bay has designated catcher Deivy Grullon for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Wisler. The Giants designated Wisler for assignment earlier in the week.
Wisler, 28, was long one of the game’s best pitching prospects, both with the Padres and the Braves. He never found his footing with either club, but he enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in the Twins’ bullpen during last summer’s shortened season, when he pitched to a 1.07 ERA with a 32.7 percent strikeout rate in 25 1/3 innings. Wisler walked far too many hitters last year (13.1 percent), but it was still rather surprising to see Minnesota non-tender him in spite of a very modest arbitration price. Wisler landed in San Francisco on a one-year, $1.15MM contract over the winter.
Things haven’t gone as hoped with his new club. Wisler has been tagged for a 6.05 earned run average in 19 1/3 innings with the Giants, but he’s actually maintained his huge uptick in strikeouts while also refining his control (7.3 percent walk rate). A great deal of Wisler’s success in Minnesota stemmed from a remarkable use of his slider, which he threw at an almost comical 83.5 percent clip in 2020. Wisler has incredibly thrown the slider with even greater frequency so far in 2021, using his slider at a 90.3 percent rate.
Wisler give the Rays an intriguing and fairly low cost arm who can be controlled through the 2022 season if he rights the ship in his new environs. He’s the type of low-cost acquisition who seems to thrive with great frequency in the Tampa Bay ‘pen. Injuries to the Rays’ relief staff have pushed them to the trade market multiple times already in 2021. They also acquired righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen from the Brewers in a trade that sent shortstop Willy Adames to Milwaukee.
The Giants will net a nicer return than one would expect from a player who’d been designated for assignment. Plassmeyer, 24, was a fourth-rounder in 2018 who went from Seattle to Tampa Bay in the Mike Zunino trade. He ranked 30th in a perennially stacked Rays farm system at Baseball America last year, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has him 31st in the Tampa Bay system in 2021.
Plassmeyer isn’t an overpowering arm, but he’s walked just 4.6 percent of the hitters he’s faced in pro ball and has ascended to the Double-A level in 2021, making him a relatively near-term prospect. Plassmeyer’s 2019 season saw the lefty post a 1.91 ERA with a 21.2 percent strikeout rate, a 4.5 percent walk rate and a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate in 132 frames across three levels. He’s pitched to a 3.64 ERA so far in 29 2/3 frames of Double-A ball, enjoying a nice uptick in strikeouts (26.1 percent) while maintaining his typically stellar control.
Cubs Select Jose Lobaton, Designate Dakota Chalmers For Assignment
The Cubs on Friday placed catcher P.J. Higgins on the 10-day injured list due to a forearm strain and selected the contract of backstop Jose Lobaton in his place. In order to clear roster space for the well-traveled Lobaton, Chicago designated right-hander Dakota Chalmers for assignment.
Chalmers’ stay with the Cubs organization could prove exceptionally brief. The righty was claimed off waivers from the Twins just six days ago and has yet to even pitch in a game with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa.
The 24-year-old Chalmers was a third-round pick of the A’s back in 2015 and made his way to the Twins organization via a 2018 trade that sent Fernando Rodney from Minnesota to Oakland. He’s drawn praise in the past for a strong three-pitch mix (fastball, curveball, changeup) but consistently struggled to throw strikes. Chalmers, who also had Tommy John surgery in 2018, has walked or hit 19 percent of the batters he’s faced during his professional career. The Cubs will have a week to trade him or place him back on outright waivers.
Lobaton, 36, will be returning to the Majors for his first appearance since 2018. He was batting just .179 in Triple-A at the time of his promotion, albeit with much heartier marks in on-base percentage (.347) and slugging percentage (.410). The switch-hitting Lobaton has played in 413 games at the MLB level and is a career .215/.293/.319 batter in 1278 plate appearances. He’ll give the Cubs an experienced backup to Willson Contreras with both Higgins and the veteran Austin Romine on the injured list.
A’s Outright Reymin Guduan
The Athletics have assigned lefty Reymin Guduan to Triple-A Las Vegas after he cleared outright waivers, per the team’s transactions log. Oakland had designated Guduan for assignment earlier in the week upon activating him from the injured list.
Guduan, 29, missed several weeks due to a groin strain and struggled in 14 1/3 innings on the mound prior to that injury, pitching to a 6.28 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (five). His stint with the A’s bumped his career innings total up to 39, but the southpaw carries an unsightly 7.38 ERA in that span. He’s been better in parts of six Triple-A campaigns — most spent with the Astros — having pitched to a 4.45 ERA with a solid 26.1 percent strikeout rate but a bloated 12.7 percent walk rate.
This is the first time Guduan has been passed through waivers, so he doesn’t have the option to reject the outright assignment. He’ll stick with the A’s for now as a depth piece in Las Vegas and hope to work his way back to the Majors as a third left-hander to complement Jake Diekman and Jesus Luzardo — the latter of whom could eventually move back into the rotation.