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Archives for June 2022

Twins Place Sonny Gray On Injured List

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The Twins announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 15-day injured list due to a right pectoral strain. The move is retroactive to May 30, so Gray will be eligible to return on June 14. Right-hander Yennier Cano is up from Triple-A St. Paul to take Gray’s spot on the active roster.

It’s the second IL stint of the season for Gray, who also missed time during the first month of the year due to a hamstring strain. He’s been excellent when on the mound, registering a 2.41 ERA with a 29.8% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate — both strong marks that are well better than league average. Gray has thus far managed just 33 2/3 innings, however, which is surely less than the Twins envisioned when acquiring him in a March trade with the Reds that sent prospect Chase Petty to Cincinnati.

Gray joins Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack, Josh Winder, Kenta Maeda and Randy Dobnak on a crowded Twins injured list and leaves the Twins with a current rotation mix of Dylan Bundy, Devin Smeltzer, Bailey Ober and Chris Archer. It’s not a group that’s going to jump off the page at first glance, but the Twins rank sixth in the Majors with a 3.34 ERA and third with a 3.38 FIP their starting staff.

Minnesota has gotten solid performances from Bundy (aside from one disastrous outing), Ober, Archer and Smeltzer in particular as of late. Still, Gray and Ryan are the clear top options on the Twins’ staff, so being without both righties is problematic. Ryan is currently on the Covid-related IL and working toward a return. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters today that Ryan is “a tick behind” outfielder Gilberto Celestino, who’s also on the Covid list but has now received two negative tests and is meeting the team in Toronto tomorrow (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). The Twins are currently deciding whether he’ll need a rehab start.

Strong as Minnesota’s starters have been to begin the season, it still wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Twins venture out into the trade market to further bolster the staff in the next two months. The Twins, eight games over .500, currently lead their division by five games and sport the fourth-best run differential (+29) in the American League.

Padres To Release Robinson Cano, Select Nomar Mazara

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The Padres are set to select the contract of outfielder Nomar Mazara, tweets Robert Murray of FanSided. The former Rangers top prospect-turned-journeyman inked a minor league pact with San Diego over the winter. The move comes in conjunction with the “imminent” release of floundering second baseman/designated hitter Robinson Cano, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter link). Murray and Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported last night that Cano was likely to opt for free agency after declining to be optioned to Triple-A (as any player with five-plus years of Major League service can do). Whether he’ll be formally released or elect free agency is largely a moot point; the outcome is the same.

Mazara, now 27 years old, never developed into the perennial power-hitting threat many anticipated when he was a consensus top-100 prospect in 2015-16. He showed plenty of promise when he swatted 20 home runs as a 21-year-old rookie with the Rangers in 2016, but Mazara was essentially a league-average hitter with below-average offense for the first four years of his career in Texas.

A trade to the White Sox produced dismal results, as he hit just .228/.295/.294 in 42 games with Chicago the following season. Mazara signed with the Tigers after being non-tendered by the Sox, but he hit just .212/.276/.321 in 50 games with Detroit last season.

All in all, Mazara has been about 12% worse than league-average with the bat in his big league career, by measure of wRC+, but he’s having a monster season in Triple-A. Through his first 152 plate appearances this season, Mazara is hitting .367/.454/.641 with seven homers, 14 doubles, a huge 13.8% walk rate and a lower-than-average 19.1% strikeout rate.

Cano’s time with the Padres will prove to be brief, as he only signed with San Diego on May 13. However, the Padres’ hopes that the eight-time All-Star could right the ship following a .195/.233/.268 showing with the Mets didn’t pan out. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Cano turned in a calamitous .091/.118/.091 output in 34 plate appearances. Overall, Cano has gone 3-for-33 (all singles) with one walk and 10 strikeouts in a Padres uniform.

The swan dive in Cano’s production comes on the heels of a season-long absence in 2021 due to the second positive PED test of his 17-year Major League career. Given that context and the fact that he’ll turn 40 in October, it’s perhaps not much of a surprise that Cano has struggled in 2022, although the extent of his woes at the plate are nonetheless jarring.

Once Cano becomes a free agent, he’ll be free to sign with any club that has interest, though it’s difficult to fathom another team putting him directly on the big league roster. Should Cano wish to continue playing, he’d likely have to ink a minor league deal, but his apparent refusal to accept an assignment to Triple-A El Paso with the Padres calls into question whether he’ll be willing to go that route. The Mets still owe Cano $21.25MM for the 2023 season, while the Mariners (who originally signed him a decade-long, $240MM contract prior to the 2014 season) are kicking in $3.75MM as part of the trade that shipped him from Seattle to Queens.

Robinson Cano Expected To Lose Roster Spot With Padres; Reportedly Likely To Elect Free Agency

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The Padres are likely to request that second baseman Robinson Canó accept an optional assignment to Triple-A El Paso, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Heyman suggests the eight-time All-Star would refuse to go to the minor leagues, as is his right as a player with five-plus years of MLB service time.

If San Diego follows through with removing Canó from the active roster, he’d have the right to elect free agency. That seems to be the likeliest outcome, which would end his time in San Diego after just 11 games. Robert Murray of FanSided first tweeted there was “growing chatter” that Canó’s time in the organization could be coming to a close.

The Friars just signed Canó to a big league deal last month, finalizing agreement on May 13. That came on the heels of the Mets designating the five-time Silver Slugger winner for assignment and releasing him, one year removed from a 162-game PED suspension. In so doing, New York ate the approximate $37.6MM remaining in guaranteed commitments on his contract through 2023. The Padres, pressed right against the base competitive balance tax threshold and looking for affordable offensive help, rolled the dice on Canó for just the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary.

Canó had started awfully with the Mets, hitting .195/.233/.268 through 12 games. That came with a massive spike in strikeouts and ground-balls relative to his earlier work, and he saw a significant drop in his free passes. San Diego chalked that up to the minuscule sample and hoped Canó would rediscover better form at the plate, but that hasn’t happened in the past couple weeks.

Through 33 plate appearances, the lefty-swinger is hitting just .094/.121/.094. He’s drawn one walk against ten strikeouts and has yet to tally an extra-base hit. The alarming strikeout, grounder and walk numbers have all gotten worse relative to his early-season numbers with the Mets. It seems the continuation of those struggles will lead the Padres to make a quick trigger in letting Canó go not long after bringing him aboard.

At 30-20, the Friars are 3 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. They’re firmly in Wild Card position at the moment and surely have their sights set on taking the division, so they can ill afford to continue devoting Canó at-bats while he’s struggling to this extent. With no way to send him to the minors without his consent, they’re reportedly willing to watch him depart the organization entirely.

Canó has seen occasional starts at second base, freeing up Jake Cronenworth to bounce around the diamond a bit more. If the Friars indeed grant Canó his release, Cronenworth would likely head back to the keystone on a more or less everyday basis. Eric Hosmer, Ha-Seong Kim, and Manny Machado make up the remainder of the typical starting infield. The team is hoping star shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. can make his return either later this month or in early July.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old Canó would head back to the open market and explore other options. The Mets will continue to pay all of his salary (minus the league minimum for any time he spends on another MLB roster), so there’d be no financial risk for a team in adding him. The bigger question is whether he’s still capable of performing well enough to warrant an active roster spot.

Dan Winkler, Nick Tropeano Opt Out Of Deals With Rangers

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Right-handers Dan Winkler and Nick Tropeano have opted out of their respective minor league contracts with the Rangers, reports Levi Weaver of the Athletic (Twitter link). Texas opted against selecting either onto the 40-man roster, so they’ll return to the open market.

Winkler signed his non-roster pact shortly after the lockout was lifted in March. The 32-year-old had pitched in the majors each season from 2015-21, including a 47-game stint with the Cubs last year. Winkler had a strong run of success early in his career with the Braves, but he’s struggled of late as he’s increasingly battled control concerns. Last season, he had a 5.22 ERA for the North Siders, walking 15.8% of opponents.

He has spent this season with the Rangers’ top affiliate in Round Rock, making 16 appearances. Over 18 innings, he has a 3.50 ERA with an excellent 32.1% strikeout rate. He’s partially offset that with a much too high 16% walk percentage, however, and those strike-throwing shortcomings were enough the Rangers decided to let Winkler test free agency rather than get a look in the MLB bullpen.

It’s been a fairly similar story for Tropeano, who signed his deal in January. A starting pitcher with the Astros and Angels early in his career, he’s worked out of the bullpen for the Angels, Pirates and Mets over the past few seasons. Tropeano had a nice seven-game run with Pittsburgh during the abbreviated 2020 campaign, but he only got five MLB appearances last year.

Working in long relief for Round Rock, the 31-year-old tallied 20 2/3 frames across 12 outings. He had a 3.05 ERA, but that was obscured by underwhelming peripherals. Tropeano doled out free passes to nearly a fifth of the batters he faced while striking out a league average 23.6% of opponents. The former fifth-round pick will try to iron out his control woes in a new environment.

Orioles Acquire Yaqui Rivera From Marlins

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The Orioles announced they’ve acquired minor league right-hander Yaqui Rivera from the Marlins. He’s the player to be named later in the April deal that sent relievers Cole Sulser and Tanner Scott to South Florida.

Rivera, 18, was a recent signee of Miami’s out of the Dominican Republic. He made his professional debut last season with a few outings in complex ball and nine starts in the Dominican Summer League. Rivera, who has never appeared on an organizational prospects list at FanGraphs or Baseball America, missed some bats but also had an elevated walk rate — unsurprising tendencies for a pitcher so young.

The 6’2″ hurler is one of three young players the O’s added to the organization in the deal. Baltimore also picked up left-hander Antonio Velez, who has struggled with home runs over his first eight outings in Double-A this year, and low minors outfielder Kevin Guerrero. The 25-year-old Velez is certainly the most likely of the trio to make any kind of near-term impact in spite of his early struggles in Bowie; Guerrero and Rivera are long-term developmental fliers.

Sulser and Scott have each stepped into the big league bullpen in Miami, with the former assuming some high-leverage opportunities. It’s been a fairly similar start to the season for both, who each have quality swing-and-miss numbers but have struggled with control. Sulser owns a 4.50 ERA through 18 innings, and he’s seen his fastball velocity drop nearly two ticks on average relative to last season. Scott remains among the harder left-handed throwers in the game, but he’s dealt with strike-throwing issues throughout his career. He has a 5.40 ERA in 18 1/3 frames with the Fish.

Health Notes: Kershaw, Lewis, Barnes

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Clayton Kershaw threw a 30-35 pitch bullpen session this afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). It marked the star southpaw’s second bullpen work of the week, as he also tossed 35 pitches on Memorial Day. The team will monitor how Kershaw feels over the coming days, but it’s possible he heads out on a minor league rehab assignment as soon as this weekend.

Kershaw has been on the injured list since May 13 after experiencing some inflammation in the SI joint of his right hip area. The team initially expressed hope he’d be back after a minimal 15-day stint, although that proved untenable once the three-time Cy Young award winner experienced continued soreness. Now that he’s back on a mound and potentially nearing a rehab assignment, however, it seems as if he could be back at Dodger Stadium by the middle of the month. Before the injury, Kershaw had been characteristically excellent, posting a 1.80 ERA through five starts.

Some more health situations of note:

  • The Mariners placed outfielder Kyle Lewis on the seven-day concussion injured list, retroactive to May 29, before tonight’s game against the Orioles. There’s no indication the 26-year-old is in for a long-term absence, but it’s another health setback for a player who has dealt with more than his fair share of injuries. Lewis’ previous issues have typically been related to his right knee, and he only made his season debut on May 24 after he missed the final few months of last season due to a meniscus tear and a bone bruise in the joint. To take Lewis’ spot on the active roster, infielder Abraham Toro is back from the 10-day IL. The switch-hitting Toro is off to a disappointing .179/.237/.366 start through 135 plate appearances. He missed the minimal amount of time on the shelf recovering from a left shoulder sprain.
  • The Red Sox placed reliever Matt Barnes on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 31, before this evening’s contest with the Reds. He’s dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. It’ll be a reset opportunity for Barnes, whose struggles down the stretch last season have carried over into this year. Through 20 games, the right-hander has a 7.94 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. That’s on the heels of a 6.48 ERA in the second half of 2021, an out-of-the-blue downturn for a pitcher who earned a deserved All-Star nod during a dominant first-half performance. Barnes signed a two-year, $18.75MM extension last July — a deal that looked team-friendly at the time but has gone immediately haywire. To take Barnes’ spot on the roster, fellow reliever Matt Strahm has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list following a two-day absence.

Angels Release Austin Romine

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The Angels have released catcher Austin Romine, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. Sam Blum of the Athletic tweets that the veteran backstop triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league deal. That left the Angels to decide whether to select him onto the 40-man roster or grant him his release.

Romine is one of a handful of veterans who have three automatic opt-out dates under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. Players who qualified for major league free agency at the end of last season — based on having six-plus years of big league service — who signed a minor league deal during the winter had opt-out possibilities on each of April 2 (five days before Opening Day), May 1 and June 1. Romine forewent his first two opt-out chances but triggered the final provision.

The 33-year-old will now head back out onto the open market in search of a new opportunity. As a catcher who has appeared in parts of 11 big league seasons, he shouldn’t have much trouble finding another minor league job elsewhere. A longtime backup with the Yankees, Romine has suited up with the Tigers, Cubs and Angels since leaving the Bronx. He’s a career .238/.276/.357 hitter over 437 MLB games.

Romine appeared in ten games with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake this season, hitting .273/.368/.394 with a homer in 39 trips to the plate. He also saw action in three big league contests as a designated COVID-19 substitute when the Angels lost both Max Stassi and Kurt Suzuki to the virus list last month. Romine was returned to the minors when that duo made it back onto the field, and Los Angeles will continue with the Stassi – Suzuki pairing.

Twins Sign Hunter Wood To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed right-hander Hunter Wood to a minor league contract, per Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America.

Wood, 28, spent the 2021 season in the Rangers organization but made just five big league appearances before an elbow injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season. He eventually underwent surgery that installed an internal brace to address what was termed (by the team) as a “mild” sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament. That surgery, performed in late June, came with a projected recovery timetable of “at least” eight months.

Wood has appeared in parts of four seasons between Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Texas, pitching to a combined 3.34 ERA in 91 2/3 innings with a 21.8% strikeout rate, an 8.1% walk rate and a 36.7% ground-ball rate. Of those marks, only the walk rate is better than league-average, but Wood has been excellent in terms of limiting hard contact when healthy, per Statcast (career 87.2 mph average exit velocity, 4.0% barrel rate and 29.5% hard-hit rate).

While he’s technically made 10 starts in the Majors, Wood has totaled just 17 frames during those “starts.” The Rays used him as a frequent opener from 2018-19, but Wood’s longest career outing in the big leagues is three innings, so he’ll likely continue to work in short-relief stints for the Twins once he’s fully mended from surgery and assigned to a minor league affiliate. Eventually, Wood figures to serve as bullpen depth in Triple-A, and vie for a spot in the big league bullpen when a need inevitably arises. Were he to make it back to the big leagues, Wood could be controlled for four more years beyond the current season, but he has a ways to go before that’s even a legitimate consideration.

Brewers Select Jason Alexander

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JUNE 1: Milwaukee has officially selected Alexander’s contract, optioning Luke Barker to Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move. To create 40-man roster space, they’ve transferred reliever Jake Cousins from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Cousins went on the IL on May 1 with an elbow effusion, and he’ll now be out of action through at least the end of July. It seems unlikely he’ll be back when first eligible anyhow, as he recently told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link) he received a platelet-rich plasma injection and would be shut down from throwing entirely for at least a month.

MAY 31: The Brewers are planning to start right-hander Jason Alexander tomorrow night against the Cubs, tweets Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster, so the Brew Crew will have to make a corresponding move.

Alexander, 29, is set to make his MLB debut. The younger brother of former Dodgers reliever Scott Alexander, Jason Alexander went undrafted in 2017. He signed with the Angels as a free agent, working his way as high as Triple-A but never getting onto the 40-man roster. Los Angeles released him in 2020, and he hooked on with the Marlins the following April.

The California native made just six appearances in the upper levels of the Miami farm system as he missed some time due to injury. He signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee in December and has spent the first couple months with their top affiliate in Nashville. Over nine outings (seven starts), Alexander has worked to an excellent 2.64 ERA through 47 2/3 innings. His 17.5% strikeout rate is below-average, but he’s posted a hefty 63.3% ground-ball rate and only walked 6.3% of opposing hitters.

Milwaukee has been hit by a couple key rotation injuries of late, forcing them to dip into their starting pitching depth. Both Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff have landed on the injured list, forcing Aaron Ashby into regular action alongside Corbin Burnes, Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser. The fifth spot is uncertain, with well-regarded prospect Ethan Small making a spot start yesterday during a doubleheader. Alexander will now get a chance to audition for a role himself.

Cubs Place Drew Smyly On Injured List

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The Cubs have placed starter Drew Smyly on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 31, due to a right oblique strain. Chicago reinstated righty Michael Rucker and outfielder Jason Heyward from the IL, optioning outfielder Nelson Velazquez to Triple-A Iowa in a corresponding move.

Smyly was pulled from his start against the Brewers on Monday after three innings because of oblique soreness. He’ll now head to the IL with a strain, the severity of which is yet unclear. Oblique strains often require upwards of a month of recovery time, but the grade of the strain will obviously impact how quickly the southpaw will be able to return. The Cubs haven’t yet specified a timetable.

Signed to a one-year, $5.25MM contract shortly after the lockout was lifted, Smyly has made nine starts with the North Siders. He has a solid 3.80 ERA across 42 2/3 innings, although he’s striking out a personal-worst 18.9% of opposing hitters. Smyly has compensated for the fewer punchouts with a career-low 5.6% walk rate, and he’s still generating swinging strikes on a quality 12.2% of his offerings. As he has throughout his career, Smyly has been prone to home runs, but he’s inducing ground-balls at his highest clip (47.8%).

If healthy, Smyly could be a fairly straightforward trade candidate before the August 2 deadline. He’s not going to bring back a franchise-altering return, but as a capable back-of-the-rotation rental on a noncompetitive Cubs team, Smyly would figure to draw interest. That’s contingent, of course, on his returning to health over the coming weeks and reestablishing himself on the mound.

Rucker has been out of action since May 17 with turf toe on his left foot. Heyward, meanwhile, has been down for the same amount of time while battling COVID-19 symptoms. He returns to both the active and 40-man rosters, and the Cubs needed to clear a 40-man spot for his reinstatement. They’ll do so by recalling righty Manuel Rodríguez from the minors and placing him on the big league 60-day IL.

Rodríguez, 25, made his first 20 MLB relief appearances last season. He struggled to a 6.11 ERA but averaged north of 97 MPH on his fastball. Unfortunately, he made just two April appearances with Triple-A Iowa before landing on the minor league injured list. According to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link), he’s dealing with a strain in his throwing elbow.

At the very least, Rodríguez won’t be eligible to return to the majors until August. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be healthy enough to make a late-season return. While he recuperates on the big league IL, Rodríguez will pick up major league service time and be paid at prorated portion of the $700K MLB minimum salary.

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