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White Sox Sign Daniel Ponce de Leon To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox have signed right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A Charlotte as rotation depth.

Ponce de Leon has pitched in parts of four big league seasons. All of his MLB experience has come in St. Louis. A Cardinal draftee, the right-hander debuted in 2018. He remained with the Cardinals through 2021, working to a 4.33 ERA over 147 2/3 innings in a swing capacity. Ponce de Leon punched out a solid 23.2% of opposing hitters but had trouble throwing strikes consistently. He walked batters at a 12.7% clip overall and doled out free passes nearly 14% of the time in his final two seasons there.

Since being cut loose by St. Louis, the 31-year-old has bounced around the league. He signed minor league deals with four different teams last season. Ponce de Leon initially caught on with the Angels but was released in Spring Training. He bounced to the Mariners, Nationals and Tigers to close out the year. He had a tough season at the top minor league level, allowing a 6.52 ERA in 116 innings between those three affiliates. He struck out more than a quarter of opponents but walked 11.4% of batters faced and was quite homer-prone.

Rough 2022 season aside, Ponce de Leon brings a fair amount of upper level experience to the Chicago system. He misses a decent number of bats and can operate in a long relief or starting capacity if the Sox need to call upon him. They haven’t had to dip beyond their top five of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger to this point in the offseason. The depth behind that group is questionable, though, with Davis Martin, A.J. Alexy and non-roster players like Ponce de Leon and the recently outrighted Jonathan Stiever among the potential considerations.

Bryce Harper Preparing For Work At First Base

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The Phillies are likely to be without Bryce Harper for most of the first half of this season. The two-time MVP continues to rehab from last November’s Tommy John surgery. His recovery timetable isn’t entirely clear, though it seems he’s likely to be on the injured list at least until well into May.

Because the surgery was on Harper’s throwing elbow, his hitting is further along than his defense. He’s already progressed to taking batting practice but hasn’t been cleared to throw. Harper is certain to return as a designated hitter before he can play defense but the Phils are considering one course of action that potentially could allow him to don a glove sooner than anticipated.

Matt Gelb of the Athletic reports that Harper is preparing to work at first base. The primary benefit is that it may expedite his ability to take the field by reducing the amount of stress he’ll put on his throwing arm. Corner outfield work involves more high-effort throws than Harper would have to make at first base. He wouldn’t be able to entirely avoid throwing at any position, of course, but there’d be a lower frequency and reduced intensity on most throws Harper would have to make compared to the outfield.

Some increased flexibility from Harper could also address a position that has surprisingly become a weak point in the Philadelphia lineup. The Phils lost Rhys Hoskins for what appears to be the entire season after a Spring Training ACL tear. Darick Hall, Hoskins’ replacement, tore a ligament in his right thumb last week. He underwent surgery this morning, with the Phils estimating a two-month recovery timetable. That pushed utility player Kody Clemens into the lion’s share of first base reps, with Alec Bohm expected to take some playing time against left-handed pitching.

Harper has logged one third of an inning at first base in his MLB career. He’s otherwise exclusively been an outfielder as a professional. There’s risk of growing pains with any player moving to a position with which he’s completely unfamiliar, though it’s hardly uncommon for outfielders to factor in at first base on occasion. Harper has been taking some ground balls — without making overhand throws — in recent days, Gelb notes.

Regardless of how well he takes to drills, he’ll return to the lineup as a DH before he’s cleared to defend. If he’s able to factor in at first base closer to the All-Star Break (before he’d theoretically be able to play the outfield), that’d afford the front office and coaching staff some flexibility. While Harper’s at DH, the Phils are set to pencil in Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos into the corner outfield positions regularly. Barring a breakout from Clemens, they’d perhaps have perhaps been looking to the trade market for first base help.

If Harper covers that position and vacates the DH spot for one of Schwarber or Castellanos, the Phils could broaden their search for outfield upgrades. Vacating DH would also allow manager Rob Thomson more freedom to rotate regulars through the position as quasi-rest days. It’s to be determined whether Harper will find success in that role, but the seven-time All-Star is going to try to expand his defensive flexibility over the coming weeks.

Marlins, Archie Bradley Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins have signed reliever Archie Bradley to a minor league contract, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Bradley had lingered in free agency all offseason. The former seventh overall pick has played parts of eight seasons at the big league level. He moved to the bullpen full-time with the Diamondbacks in 2017, posting a 1.73 ERA over 73 innings that year. While Bradley has never quite recaptured that level of success, he allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine every season between 2018-21.

Two winters ago, the Oklahoma native inked a $3.75MM free agent deal with the Angels. His stint in Orange County didn’t go according to plan. Bradley threw 18 2/3 innings over 21 outings, allowing 13 runs (10 earned). He punched out only 19.2% of opposing hitters while generating whiffs on a well below-average 8.1% of his offerings. Bradley induced ground balls at a huge 57.1% clip but the lackluster strikeout tallies contributed to a 4.82 ERA that was his worst since moving to relief.

His season came to an unceremonious end in late June. Bradley fractured his throwing elbow when he slipped while trying to hop the dugout railing during a bench-clearing brawl. He’d been set to return at the tail end of the season but was diagnosed with a forearm strain.

On the heels of that rough platform showing, it’s not surprising Bradley had to settle for a minor league pact. He’ll surely need some time to build into game shape but could factor into the Miami bullpen during the year. The Marlins’ relief corps has struggled in the early going, allowing a 6.02 ERA that’s fourth-highest in the majors. Miami’s 38.8% grounder rate is 25th in MLB, so Bradley’s high-grounder profile could complement the group once he’s ready to go.

Giants Select Darin Ruf

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The Giants announced that they have selected infielder/outfielder Darin Ruf to their roster. Right-hander Sean Hjelle was optioned to open a spot on the active roster. The club already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster due to designating catcher Austin Wynns for assignment earlier this week.

This move completes a strange boomerang trip to New York and back for Ruf over the past nine months. He had been with the Giants since the start of the 2020 season but was flipped to the Mets at last year’s deadline. Unfortunately, he struggled badly after the move and didn’t make the club’s Opening Day roster out of spring this year. He was released and returned to the Giants on a minor league deal, now retaking a spot on the roster.

Prior to that sojourn out east, Ruf played very well for the Giants, particularly as a lefty-mashing righty. Over 2020 and 2021, he hit 21 home runs in 412 plate appearances and walked at a 14.3% rate. That led to a batting line of .272/.381/.519 and 142 wRC+. Against lefties, his line was even stronger at .275/.390/.579. Based on that performance, the Giants signed him to a two-year, $6.25MM deal going into 2022.

Last year, he dipped a bit but was still hitting .216/.328/.373 for a wRC+ of 104 at the time of the trade. But that swooned all the way to .152/.216/.197 after the deal. The Mets fortified their right-handed offense by adding Tommy Pham over the winter and cut Ruf after his struggles continued into the spring.

Now Ruf will have a chance to get back on track in a familiar environment. If it works out, it will be nice icing on the cake for the Giants, adding an extra sweet layer to a deal that already looks like a huge win for them. They got J.D. Davis and left-hander Thomas Szapucki, as well as prospects Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour in that deal. Davis is still under club control through 2024 and the others much longer. The Mets took on the remainder of Ruf’s deal and are still on the hook for it since he cleared waivers. The Giants can pay him the prorated league minimum for any time Ruf spends on the roster, which will be subtracted from what the Mets pay.

Salt Lake City Group Interested In MLB Expansion Franchise

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Big League Utah, a group led by former Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller, is interested in bringing an expansion Major League Baseball franchise to Salt Lake City, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Major League Baseball has not expanded in 25 years now, when the 1998 season saw the league grow to 30 teams with the additions of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with the latter club later dropping the demonic portion of their name. Many have wondered when the league might consider expanding again, with commissioner Rob Manfred frequently stating that the Rays and Athletics need to resolve their respective stadium situations before expansion will be legitimately on the table. Passan’s report indicates that is indeed still the priority, though all signs point to expansion being just over the horizon.

Both of those stadium situations seem to be moving towards resolutions, one way or another. The Rays have put forth a plan to redevelop the St. Petersburg Gas Plant District, with mayor Ken Welch backing the proposal. The negotiations are still ongoing but it seems like progress is being made before the club’s lease on Tropicana Field expires after the 2027 season. The A’s, meanwhile, have been in talks with the city of Oakland for a while about developing their own stadium, threatening to move to Las Vegas if nothing gets done. Manfred recently suggested that January of 2024 is an unofficial deadline for them to get something done with Oakland.

As those situations near their conclusions, the talk of expansion should only increase. A couple of groups have already positioned themselves to be in the mix for new franchises. A group in Nashville has attached familiar names like Dave Dombrowski, Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart. They recently added Don Mattingly while branding themselves as the Nashville Stars. Dombrowski and Mattingly are currently employed by the Phillies and Blue Jays, respectively, but are still connected to the Stars/Music City Baseball. There’s also the Portland Diamond Project, which has been trying to position itself for a club for many years, submitting bids for parcels of land five years ago. Passan also lists Charlotte, Montreal and Las Vegas as potential expansion locations, the latter presumably only if they don’t end up hosting the Athletics.

Those two ventures will now seemingly have some competition from this Salt Lake City group. The 79-year-old Miller owned the Utah Jazz until recently. Her husband Larry H. Miller had purchased the team in the 1980s but she took over the club, and his other business ventures, upon his death in 2009. The Miller family sold the Jazz in October of 2020. Passan reports that Big League Utah involves the Larry H. Miller Company but also former big leaguers Dale Murphy and Jeremy Guthrie, both of whom live in Utah now. The group has its sights set on building a stadium in the Rocky Mountain Power District, an area outside the downtown core of Salt Lake City.

“Salt Lake City is a major league city,” said Steve Starks, CEO of the Miller Company. “We believe that as a top-30 media market in the fastest-growing state in the country with the youngest population, that’s where our attention should be — and that we could accomplish bringing a team to the Wasatch Front.”

Utah Governor Spencer Cox also seems on board. “It would be, I think, a validation of everything that we’ve worked so hard to do,” Cox said. “We’ve proven ourselves in a sports capacity with Olympics in 2002 and coming back in 2030 or, more likely, 2034. We’ve hosted two NBA All-Star Games. We know we can do this. It would just be meaningful for people who love this sport, who care deeply about it. We’re a baseball state.”

Per Passan’s report, members of the group have already been in contact with Major League Baseball and have also toured the facilities of the Atlanta Braves. They are touting the viability of Salt Lake City as a destination based on its population, which makes it a larger media market than that of the Padres, Royals, Reds and Brewers. They also highlight a strong economy which includes an unemployment rate of just 2.4%. Starks also said local residents were surveyed about their preferences for expansion sports teams and MLB was the top choice in that polling, ahead of the NFL.

However the expansion competition ultimately plays out, it figures to be a boon to the league. For one thing, expansion tends to create millions of new dedicated fans, which is good for growing the sport. There also should be plenty of interest among current baseball fans, as expansion will need to be accompanied by a draft, with the new clubs filling their rosters by plucking players from the others. Beyond that, expansion franchises pay fees for the right to join the league, with that money divided amongst the existing clubs. The new franchises in Arizona and Tampa each paid $130MM in fees back in 1998 but Passan estimates the fee will be closer to $2 billion this time around.

Corey Seager Out At Least Four Weeks With Hamstring Strain

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The Rangers announced that shortstop Corey Seager has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. It’s a Grade 2 strain and comes with a minimum absence of four weeks, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. His roster spot goes to outfielder Leody Taveras, who has been activated from his own stint on the IL.

Seager, 29 this month, departed last night’s game in the fifth inning with some hamstring tightness. The news that he will now be out of action for a month or longer is certainly a blow to the Rangers, as Seager is one of the best players on the team. Signed to a 10-year, $325MM deal after the 2021 campaign, he played 151 games for the club last year and hit 33 home runs. His .245/.317/.455 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 117 and he provided solid shortstop defense, leading to a tally of 4.5 wins above replacement from FanGraphs. Seager was off to a scorching hot start here in 2023, hitting .359/.469/.538 through his first 11 games. He wasn’t going to be able to sustain that over a full season, but it’s nonetheless frustrating for him to be cut down in the middle of such a good stretch.

Seager will return later in the year, but the club will now have to try out some other options at shortstop in the meantime. Manager Bruce Bochy told Grant after last night’s game that the club isn’t thinking about moving Marcus Semien over, despite his lengthy experience at the position. He became a primary second baseman with the Blue Jays in 2021, in deference to Bo Bichette. He joined the Rangers in the same offseason as Seager and has stayed on the right side of the bag for the most part. It seems the Rangers would prefer he stay there.

That seems to leave Josh H. Smith and Ezequiel Durán as the top options for taking the job for the next little bit. Since Smith is a left-handed hitter and Durán a righty, it’s possible that they form a platoon. Smith is getting the start tonight as the Rangers face the Royals with right-hander Brad Keller on the mound. Smith has just 81 games of MLB experience thus far, walking in 11.6% of his trips to the plate but not finding many hits thus far. His .197/.318/.245 batting line amounts to a 72 wRC+. He’s fared much better in the minors, however, including hitting .290/.395/.466 in Triple-A last year. Durán has 65 games under his belt and a .233/.272/.354 batting line to show for it, leading to a wRC+ of 77. He hasn’t played shortstop in the big leagues yet but has plenty of experience there in the minors.

The one sliver of good news in this is that the club is getting Taveras back. He was slated to be the club’s everyday center fielder until he was shut down in Spring Training due to an oblique strain, but he’s now back after missing just two weeks of the regular season. He hit just .261/.309/.366 last year for a wRC+ of 93 but put up six Outs Above Average in center field. Adolis García has been getting most of the time in center so far this year with Bubba Thompson and Travis Jankowski also in the mix, while Durán and Smith helped out in left. With Taveras back in the middle, García and Robbie Grossman should be able to take the corners while Durán and Smith now move to the infield.

Matt Manning Fractures Metatarsal In Foot

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April 12: The Tigers announced today that Manning has been placed on the 15-day injured list with infielder Tyler Nevin recalled to take his place on the roster.

April 11: Tigers starter Matt Manning fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during tonight’s loss to the Blue Jays, the team informed reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News). The right-hander was in a walking boot in the clubhouse.

Manning sustained the injury on his final pitch of the start. An Alejandro Kirk comebacker bounced off his foot and rolled to Spencer Torkelson at first base. Manning was able to scramble to first base to receive the throw from Torkelson and record the putout. That likely would’ve ended his start regardless, as he finished the sixth inning on 85 pitches. It wasn’t until after the game that it became clear Manning had been injured on the play.

The 25-year-old downplayed the issue after the game, stating he hoped he’d be back relatively shortly (via Jason Beck of MLB.com). It’s hard to imagine he won’t require at least a brief stint on the 15-day injured list, though, which would represent another setback in his young career. Manning lost most of the first half of the 2022 campaign to shoulder inflammation. The foot issue is a fluke incident that isn’t likely to present the same kind of overarching concern of last year’s shoulder problem, but it seems likely to cost him some time.

A former ninth overall pick, Manning has long been viewed as a potential core piece in Detroit. The Tigers anchored their rebuild around young pitching, with Manning joining Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and 2020 third overall pick Jackson Jobe as hopeful impact starters. Unfortunately, all four of those hurlers have battled significant injury issues. Mize could miss the entire season recovering from last summer’s Tommy John surgery. Skubal is on the 60-day injured list after undergoing a flexor tendon repair last August. Jobe could miss the majority of the minor league campaign due to lumbar spine inflammation.

The Tigers have turned to a starting five of Matthew Boyd, Eduardo Rodriguez, Spencer Turnbull, Manning and Joey Wentz to open the year. Righty Michael Lorenzen was signed to a free agent deal to hold down a job. He started the year on the IL with a minor groin strain but is expected to be reinstated later in the week after making a rehab start for Triple-A Toledo last Saturday. Should Manning require an IL stint, the Tigers could plug Lorenzen into his spot and keep Wentz in the starting five.

JT Brubaker Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Pirates announced that right-hander JT Brubaker underwent surgery to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, also known as Tommy John surgery. They project that he can return in 14-16 months.

As frustrating as this news is for Brubaker and the Pirates, it doesn’t come as a shock. Brubaker landed on the 15-day injured list at the start of the season with elbow discomfort and was transferred to the 60-day injured list a few days later. It was reported over a week ago that Tommy John surgery was on the table, then reported just yesterday that Brubaker was seeking a second opinion on his elbow. It seems that his fate could be avoided no longer and he finally underwent the procedure today.

This will now wipe out the entirety of his 2023 season and at least a portion of his 2024 campaign as well. It’s a frustrating setback as Brubaker was looking to build off a strong 2022 campaign. He made 28 starts for the Bucs last year with a 4.69 ERA that probably doesn’t do him justice. He struck out 22.8% of batters faced while walking just 8.4% of them and getting grounders at a 44% clip. His .334 batting average on balls in play and 66.8% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side of league average, which is why his 3.92 FIP and 3.97 SIERA came in well below his ERA.

He’ll now have to go through an extensive rehab process before getting the chance to take a step forward. He finished last year with exactly three years of MLB service time, allowing him to qualify for arbitration for the first time. He and the club agreed to a $2.275MM salary for 2023 and he’ll likely be looking at a similar rate for next year. The arbitration system works to push salaries up year over year and players usually wind up at the same price point after missing an entire season. Brubaker is currently slated for two more passes through arbitration before reaching free agency after the 2025 season.

The Pirates will now be navigating the rest of the year without Brubaker in their rotation mix. That leaves them with Mitch Keller, Rich Hill, Vince Velasquez, Roansy Contreras and Johan Oviedo for now, though Hill and Velasquez are both one one-year deals. Assuming the Bucs don’t stay in the playoff race all summer, they would each be logical trade candidates, which could open opportunities for younger arms like Luis Ortiz or Quinn Priester.

Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Have Discussed Extension

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The Blue Jays and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have discussed a contract extension, though it doesn’t appear the two sides got anywhere close to a deal, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The slugger said that he would love to stay in Toronto for his entire career but that the negotiations “haven’t reached the point that there’s something serious about it.”

It’s unclear exactly when these talks took place but Guerrero said in January that extension talks had not yet taken place. That would seemingly point to the negotiations taking place during Spring Training, a fairly standard time for those kinds of conversations.

From the point of view of the Jays, it’s hardly a surprise that they have interest in securing Guerrero’s services for the future. The former top prospect has established himself as a premier hitter in the majors over the past few seasons. He hit 48 home runs in 2021 and slashed .311/.401/.601 for a wRC+ of 166. In most years, that would have been good enough for an MVP award, but Vladdy had the misfortune of having that season coincide with Shohei Ohtani’s true emergence as a two-way player. That led to Guerrero coming in second in the vote behind Ohtani.

Last year, Guerrero dipped slightly but still hit 32 home runs and put up a .274/.339/.480 batting line and 132 wRC+. He also stole eight bases and showed progress with his first base defense, winning a Gold Glove award and coming in seventh among all major league first basemen in the voting for the Fielding Bible Awards. He’s off to a roaring start here in 2023, hitting .400/.472/.556 through 11 games. All of that has coincided with a return to contention for the club, who made the expanded playoffs in 2020 and then tallied 91 and 92 victories in the subsequent two seasons.

But from the player’s point of view, there’s little reason for him to settle for anything below market value, even if his comments about wanting to stay are genuine. As the son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, who made millions of dollars in his career, the younger Guerrero likely began from a stronger financial position than many of his peers. On top of that, he was a highly touted player as a teenager, signing a bonus of $3.9MM when he was 16 years old. He’s now progressed through to his arbitration years, first qualifying last year as a Super Two player. He made $7.9MM last year and got that bumped up to $14.5MM this year. He’s slated for two more passes through arbitration before reaching free agency after 2025.

With all of that money already in the bank and plenty more on the way, Guerrero has tons of leverage. Walking away from money always carries the risk of a serious injury later diminishing one’s earning power, but Guerrero already has plenty of security and is currently slated for free agency ahead of his age-27 season. He doesn’t play a premier defensive position, but his youth and offensive abilities should still make him quite attractive as a free agent if a deal with the Blue Jays doesn’t get done.

The Blue Jays have a few contracts on the books beyond that 2025 season, which is currently lined up to be Guerrero’s last. José Berríos is on the books through 2028 while George Springer and Kevin Gausman are signed through 2026. That leaves plenty of room for a big contract for someone like Guerrero, but the Jays also have other players to consider. Third baseman Matt Chapman is a free agent at the end of this season, while shortstop Bo Bichette is in the same boat as Guerrero, set for free agency after 2025. The club has also reportedly had some talks with right-hander Alek Manoah, though those didn’t appear to gain much traction either. Manoah’s case is less urgent since he’s not slated to hit the open market until after 2027.

Although the talks with Guerrero haven’t made much progress yet, he doesn’t seem to be walking away from the table. “I’m going to take care of what I’ve got to take care of, which is on the field, and the rest I’m going to leave to my agents to work with,” he said. “I know who I am. I know my value. We’re going to keep having conversations, but all my focus every day is here on the field.”

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