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A’s Activate Lou Trivino From Injured List

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The Athletics announced this afternoon they’ve activated reliever Lou Trivino from the COVID-19 injured list. Infield prospect Nick Allen, who was promoted as a designated COVID substitute when Trivino went on the IL, has been returned to Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move. (Martín Gallegos of MLB.com suggested last night that both moves were likely).

Trivino made four appearances before landing on the IL. He was a workhorse last year, tossing 73 2/3 innings of 3.18 ERA ball while collecting 22 saves. He’ll presumably step back into the ninth inning mix now that he’s again healthy. Trivino, who is making $3MM this season and controllable through 2024 via arbitration, could find himself as a midseason trade candidate if the A’s fall out of contention.

Allen, one of the better prospects in the Oakland system, made his first eight MLB appearances. He collected four hits and a pair of walks in 19 at-bats and will now head back to Las Vegas. The A’s had selected Allen onto their 40-man roster last November to keep him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft. He’ll continue to occupy a spot on the 40-man.

That isn’t the case for Drew Jackson, whom the club also reinstated from the COVID-19 IL and returned to Las Vegas. Jackson was also brought up as a COVID substitute last month, but unlike Allen, he wasn’t previously on the 40-man roster. The 28-year-old quickly contracted the virus himself and landed on the IL after appearing in just three games. Now that he’s healthy, he’ll lose his 40-man spot and head back to Las Vegas. The A’s 40-man roster is full, although they’ll need to create a vacancy for Ramón Laureano if he returns from his suspension when first eligible on May 8.

Reds Place Joey Votto On Injured List, Activate Tyler Stephenson

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5:26pm: Votto has not tested positive; he self-reported symptoms, according to manager David Bell (via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). He is day-to-day.

3:37pm: The Reds announced they’ve placed Joey Votto on the COVID-19 injured list. Catcher Tyler Stephenson was reinstated from the IL to take his spot on the active roster. Cincinnati also recalled infielder Alejo López from Triple-A Louisville while optioning backstop Mark Kolozsvary.

The team didn’t specify whether Votto’s IL placement is reflective of a positive COVID test, virus-like symptoms, or exposure to someone who tested positive. Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician). If Votto is “merely” dealing with symptoms, he could return in shorter order. Players who test negative can return once their symptoms dissipate, so long as they’re cleared by the joint committee and the team doctor.

Stephenson returns after a two-week absence. The talented young catcher was injured in a collision with Padres first baseman Luke Voit at home plate during a game on April 19. Stephenson suffered a concussion, leaving the Reds to rely on an Aramis Garcia – Kolozsvary pairing behind the dish. It marked another blow to a Reds’ lineup that has been anemic through the season’s first month. Stephenson had been off to an impressive .267/.378/.467 start even as the club languished at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories.

Votto has been part of that miserable month, as he’d been off to a terrible start. Through 22 games, the six-time All-Star is hitting just .122/.278/.135 with a lofty 32.2% strikeout rate.

Nationals Place Anibal Sanchez On 60-Day Injured List

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The Nationals announced the transfer of starting pitcher Aníbal Sánchez from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for utilityman Dee Strange-Gordon, who has been reinstated from the COVID-19 IL. Infielder Lucius Fox was optioned to Triple-A Rochester to open active roster space.

Sánchez signed a minor league deal during Spring Training, making a comeback after he sat out the 2021 campaign. Washington selected him onto the major league roster shortly before Opening Day. The veteran righty locked in a $2MM base salary by making the team and seemed as if he’d be part of the season-opening rotation. Unfortunately, he experienced some neck soreness that caused his start to be delayed.

Eventually, the team placed Sánchez on the IL with a cervical neck impingement. There was no indication he’d need an extended absence, but that apparently proves the case. Sánchez’s original IL placement was backdated to April 8, meaning he’ll be eligible to return during the first week of June. Whether the 38-year-old will be ready for his first appearance in two years at that point isn’t clear.

Strange-Gordon has been out since mid-April. The veteran speedster also cracked the Opening Day roster after signing a minors deal; he has taken three plate appearances in four games.

Miguel Sano To Undergo Surgery To Repair Torn Meniscus In Knee

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Twins first baseman Miguel Sanó is undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his injured left knee, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic). There is no timetable for his return, although Joe Trezza of MLB.com tweeted yesterday that Sanó would be expected back this season even if he were to go under the knife.

It’s a disappointing development for the burly slugger, who turns 29 next week. Sanó apparently tweaked his knee during a win over the Tigers on Tuesday. That kept him out of the lineup until Saturday; Sanó tried to play through the injury during that contest against the Rays, but he was removed mid-game because of continued soreness. The team placed him on the injured list yesterday with what they termed a sprain, and the meniscus tear represents further bad news.

Sanó had gotten off to a rough start even before the injury. He’s hitting just .093/.231/.148 in 17 games. He’s striking out at a 32.3% clip that’s nearly ten percentage points higher than the league mark, but that’s par for the course for him. More significant is that he had just one extra-base hit (a home run) over 65 trips to the plate. Yet he’d barreled up five balls and was still consistently hitting the ball hard, according to Statcast. That seemed to indicate Sanó would find more power production as the weather improved, but that’ll be put on hold for an indeterminate amount of time.

Throughout his seven-plus years in Minnesota, Sanó has been an up-and-down performer. He’s shown the ability to serve as a middle-of-the-order masher at times, including a 34-homer season in 105 games for the 2019 team branded as the “bomba squad.” Yet he’s also had his share of ruts as the strikeouts have mounted. His 2021 campaign was something of a microcosm of his overall tenure. He limped to a .196/.279/.426 line through the season’s first half before quietly turning in a .250/.343/.504 performance after the All-Star Break.

Sanó is playing this season on a $10.58MM salary. Minnesota has a $14MM option on his services for 2023 (with a $2.75MM buyout). Sanó needs a strong showing at the plate to convince the front office to pick up that tab. Between his slow start and injury absence, that looks to be trending towards a buyout, although the club will evaluate his recovery and post-surgery production before making that call.

Without Sanó, it seems the Twins will move forward with a combination of Luis Arraez and top prospect Jose Miranda at first base. Arraez has more experience at each of second base, third base and in left field, but he’s not a particularly strong defender at any of those spots. His contact-oriented approach makes for an atypical fit at first base (and a complete 180° turn from the shape of Sanó’s production), but Arraez has been an above-average offensive player throughout his career. Miranda was called up for his big league debut when Sanó went on the IL; he can also play multiple positions but is regarded as a bat-first infielder himself.

What Do Our Subscribers Actually Get?

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One thing I learned from our survey a few weeks ago is that some MLBTR readers are not clear on what is actually being offered in our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription service.

Aside from the eradication of ads from the website and the app, a paid subscription includes exclusive articles delivered to your inbox every week from Steve Adams and Anthony Franco.  Maybe you’re just here for the headlines or the comment section, in which case this subscription service isn’t for you.  But if you’re into high quality analysis of MLB trades and free agency, no one on the planet does it better than Steve and Anthony.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because the subscription service also offers top-notch fantasy baseball advice from Brad Johnson, my MLB mailbag, and a weekly live chat with Anthony.

Here’s a taste of some of the content we sent to subscribers’ inboxes in April.  If you feel that this sort of analysis might be worthwhile, please consider trying out Trade Rumors Front Office for a month for $2.99.

Recently from Steve Adams

The Strangest Thing About the Athletics

Excerpt:

Why on Earth have the Athletics completely eschewed long-term extensions for any of their young players?

The pressing issue is one of why the A’s aren’t regularly making efforts to sign players with less than a year of service, or one to two years of service, to long-term contracts that buy out their arbitration seasons and a free-agent year or two at an affordable rate. Contracts of that nature have been a hallmark of the Indians/Guardians franchise since the 1990s and have been the primary reason Cleveland has maintained a competitive presence in the American League Central despite routinely running payrolls south of $100MM. It’s the reason the Pirates were able to hang onto Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and now, Hayes, as long as they were. The Rays, another small-market, low-payroll club are also perennially active in this regard. Ditto the Marlins, who, even setting aside the Giancarlo Stanton mega-deal, have been active in this market.

Recently from Anthony Franco

It’s Time For The Royals To Bring Up Two More Top Prospects (from April 13)

Excerpt:

A lot has to go right for K.C. to contend in 2022, as mentioned. Much of that involves young players stepping up and playing towards the higher end of their possible outcomes. There’s more variance with prospects, but with the odds against them anyhow, the Royals should be willing to gamble on upside. In addition to perhaps making them better in 2022, getting an extended look at Pratto and Melendez now gives the front office a stronger indication of whether they can be relied upon as important pieces in 2023 — a year when the Royals will absolutely expect to contend.

At some point, Pratto and Melendez are sure to make their major league debuts. It’s not as if the Royals have tanked their chances by playing Santana and Dozier for a week. Calling them up and bumping the veterans to the bench (and O’Hearn off the roster, in all likelihood) just feels like a move that’s overdue.

Recently from Brad Johnson

Fantasy Baseball: 10 Widely Available Hot Performers

Excerpt:

Miles Mikolas, SP, STL (44% owned in fantasy leagues)

The five pitchers I’ve identified share several characteristics. Mikolas was a reliable core performer during his 2018-19 peak. Injuries cancelled his 2020 campaign and interrupted his 2021 season. The right-hander has produced strong results in three starts despite a couple red flags. In particular, he has a career-worst swinging strike rate, and he isn’t inducing enough ground balls. On the plus side, he remains one of the best pitchers in the league at generating called strikes. Among qualified pitchers, he ranks ninth in the league in called strike rate – and this is typical of him. If you see analysts predicting a complete collapse, this is the point of data they’re probably missing. That said, we should definitely expect closer to a 3.50-4.00 ERA going forward. He benefits from soft competition in the NL Central.

Recently from Tim Dierkes

MLB Mailbag: deGrom, Yankees, Jays Catching, Dalbec, Mets

Excerpt:

Scott asks:

What’s the chance the Mets don’t re-sign DeGrom after he opts out? Assuming they do sign him, what does that contract look like?

At this moment, I assume that deGrom expects to return in late May or early June and still plans to opt out. He signed his contract three years ago, and so much has changed since then: the Mets’ ownership, the new CBA, other pitchers’ contracts, his abilities, and his injury record.

The Mets’ CBT payroll goes down to $202MM for 2023 and about $128MM for ‘24, though that doesn’t include arbitration eligible players like Pete Alonso. I think Steve Cohen will make a serious effort to sign deGrom and has the inside track, but I also think there are scenarios where he decides to spend that money differently.

It’s difficult to compare Max Scherzer and deGrom, because Scherzer did not sign with deGrom’s health question marks. And even if deGrom returns in late May and doesn’t miss a start after that, it’d be a stretch to say that all concern about his future ability to stay healthy is gone. On the other hand, Scherzer signed for his age 37-39 seasons, which is inherently a health risk of its own.

If deGrom returns around June and stays healthy for the rest of the season, as his agent I’m setting out looking for a new AAV record and as many years as possible. Best pitcher in baseball, five months of good health, that’s the expectation. So we’re talking an AAV north of $43.3MM.

The new contract would start with deGrom’s age-35 season. We haven’t really seen a comparable contract start at that age. Even Hyun Jin Ryu starting at 33 was an outlier; it’s often 30-31. Then we have kind of the “old ace” contracts, like Scherzer’s deal or Justin Verlander getting a deal for age 37-38 and another one at age 39 (and 40 under certain conditions). DeGrom isn’t old like them, either.

Bottom line: something like $180MM over four years makes sense to me, if deGrom returns within six weeks or so and stays healthy and dominant. If his return from injury does not go perfectly, then the details and timing will determine the contract.

 

I’ll leave you with a real quote from a subscriber named Jason (you can read more here):

“The subscription service is well worth the price. The content and depth of analysis the writers provide on a plethora of issues is fascinating and eye opening. Adding the fantasy component too is a godsend for us fantasy junkies. It’s also wonderful to get to participate in the private chats and more often than not get my questions answered with responses that demonstrate great attention to detail and insight. I highly recommend the subscription. If you like baseball, you’ll love this service!”

Subscribe to Trade Rumors Front Office today!

Cubs Select Robert Gsellman

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The Cubs are selecting righty Robert Gsellman onto the big league roster, as Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune was among those to relay (on Twitter). Drew Smyly, who had been scheduled to start this evening’s game against the White Sox, has been placed on the bereavement list to open active roster space. Southpaw Locke St. John has been designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man roster move.

Gsellman inked a minor league deal with Chicago during Spring Training. He’d been non-tendered by the Mets, with whom he had spent his entire career. The Southern California native broke into the majors late in the 2016 season and flashed some potential as a starter during his rookie campaign. He struggled over 119 2/3 innings the following year, though, and he spent the next few seasons working out of the bullpen.

In the four years since moving to relief, Gsellman has tossed 186 1/3 innings of 4.73 ERA ball. His 19.2% strikeout rate was below-average, but he had a solid 8.1% walk percentage and induced ground-balls at an above-average 47% clip. Gsellman missed a good portion of last season because of a lat injury, and his strikeout rate dipped to 14.3% in 28 2/3 frames.

Assigned to Triple-A Iowa to start this season, Gsellman has started four of his five appearances. He’s tossed 15 1/3 innings with a tiny 1.17 ERA, albeit again with subpar swing-and-miss numbers. The Cubs will hope that Gsellman’s ground-ball approach can carry over against big league hitters. He’ll give them a multi-inning arm for an impromptu bullpen game tonight in Smyly’s absence, which will be opened by Scott Effross.

Chicago selected St. John onto the 40-man roster last month. He made one appearance, tossing two innings of three-run ball against Milwaukee on Saturday before being optioned out. The 29-year-old has tossed seven innings with Iowa, allowing four runs. He has fanned eight but also issued six walks and hit a trio of batters. The Cubs will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

In other news, starting pitcher Wade Miley is set to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Thursday, tweets Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Claimed off waivers from the Reds over the offseason, the veteran southpaw has yet to make his team debut on account of inflammation in his throwing elbow.

Dexter Fowler Granted Release From Minor League Deal With Blue Jays

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Outfielder Dexter Fowler has requested and been granted a release from his minor league contract with the Blue Jays, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (Twitter link). Toronto elected not to select him onto the big league roster, and Fowler is now a free agent.

The 36-year-old Fowler signed with the Jays during Spring Training. He didn’t appear in a game with Triple-A Buffalo until last Thursday, as he finished his recovery from the ACL tear that ended his 2021 season in April. The veteran switch-hitter only played in three games with the Bisons, collecting five hits (all singles) in 12 at-bats with a pair of walks and strikeouts apiece.

Fowler will now presumably set out in search of another MLB opportunity. A respected 14-year veteran, he’d surely at least find more minor league interest if he’s amenable to another non-roster deal. It’s not clear whether he’ll find an immediate big league job after just 15 Triple-A plate appearances, but perhaps a team dissatisfied with its internal outfield options could turn to a player with a solid .259/.358/.417 career line.

The Jays have relied on George Springer, Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Raimel Tapia and Bradley Zimmer thus far. Tapia and Zimmer have each struggled, but the Jays acquired both players via trade in recent weeks. (The Zimmer acquisition came after Fowler had signed with Toronto). Hernández has been on the injured list because of a oblique strain, but he’s set to head out on a minor league rehab assignment. It seems the Jays are content with that quintet as their outfield grouping for now.

Braves Sign Hernan Perez To Minor League Deal

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Last week, the Braves signed utilityman Hernán Pérez to a minor league contract. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he’s already made three appearances. Pérez had opened the 2022 season with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League, but he was granted his release to pursue the opportunity with Atlanta after three games.

Pérez, 31, has seen action in the majors in each of the past ten seasons. He debuted with the Tigers but logged the majority of his playing time as a fairly regular utility player with the Brewers between 2015-19. Pérez’s best season came in 2016, when he swiped 34 bases and hit 13 home runs over 430 plate appearances. His production has steadily ticked down in the years since then, however, and he’s seen only sporadic MLB time with the Cubs and Nationals over the last two years. He spent most of last season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization, hitting .273/.327/.418 in 58 games.

Even during his best days, Pérez made plenty of outs because of a very low walk rate, reflected in a .250/.280/.382 MLB slash line. For the bulk of his career, though, he’s shown solid bat-to-ball skills and plus baserunning ability. He’s also seen action at every position other than catcher, with the majority of his experience coming at third and second base. Public metrics haven’t liked Pérez’s work at shortstop or in center field, but he’s rated well in his time at second and at all four corner spots.

Atlanta’s starting infield of Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley is well-established. Orlando Arcia, a teammate of Pérez’s for a few years in Milwaukee, is the top utility option. Pérez joins Phil Gosselin and Pat Valaika as experienced, non-roster utility options with the Stripers.

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Guardians Sign Anthony Alford To Minor League Contract

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The Guardians are in agreement with outfielder Anthony Alford on a minor league deal, tweets GuardsInsider. The 27-year-old elected free agency over the weekend after being outrighted for the second time by the Pirates.

Alford was a second-round pick of the Blue Jays back in 2012. An excellent athlete with a rare combination of raw power and speed, he developed into a top prospect after posting strong numbers in the low minors. Baseball America slotted him among the game’s 100 best minor league talents entering both the 2016 and 2017 seasons, pegging him as the Jays’ most promising prospect during the first of those years.

Unfortunately, Alford has yet to produce the kind of numbers evaluators believed he’d be capable of. That’s in large part due to injuries, as he’s missed some time in each season since 2016 (including a two-week IL stint last month because of a right wrist sprain). A 2017 hamate fracture in his left hand and a fractured right elbow in 2020 have proven the most significant maladies, but Alford has also had IL stints for hamstring and back issues during his career.

When he has been on the field, the right-handed hitter has run into his share of strikeout issues. Alford has fanned in 37.9% of his 240 MLB plate appearances, resulting in a meager .209/.275/.368 line. He also has an alarming 29.2% strikeout percentage in parts of five seasons at Triple-A, where he’s a career .262/.349/.427 hitter. Between injuries and swing-and-miss concerns, he’s only played in 102 MLB games despite suiting up at the highest level in each of the past six years.

The Guardians have frequently been plagued by a lack of outfield depth in recent seasons. That hasn’t been a problem thus far in 2022, with Steven Kwan, Myles Straw and Josh Naylor off to excellent starts (and Oscar Mercado playing alright as well). Still, there’s little harm in taking a flier on a fairly young player who was once very highly-regarded and can cover all three outfield spots. Alford will head to Triple-A Columbus as non-roster depth.

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