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Taylor Motter Accepts Outright Assignment

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Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat). He remains in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

St. Louis had designated Motter for assignment last weekend. He cleared waivers on Monday but had the right to test free agency as a player who has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. After some time to consider the decision, he’ll stick in the system and try to play his way back onto the big league roster.

Motter signed a minor league deal with St. Louis last offseason. He’s twice gotten onto the MLB roster but been DFA rather quickly both times. Over his two stints, he’s played in eight games and tallied a .200/.273/.300 batting line through 22 trips to the plate. That brings his career slash to .191/.263/.309 in 169 major league contests. The right-handed hitter is far more accomplished at the Triple-A level. He’s a .262/.352/.482 hitter in more than 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of six seasons.

Among the reasons for Motter’s initial stint on the MLB roster was a season-opening injured list stay for Paul DeJong. The Cards reinstated DeJong a couple weeks ago and have seen their one-time starting shortstop get off to a scorching start in a utility role. Through 12 games, DeJong has already picked up three homers and sports a .350/.409/.650 line overall.

That’s miles better than the .182/.269/.352 slash DeJong had mustered from 2021-22. While it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, he’s obviously off to a much stronger start than anticipated, a particularly welcome development in the final guaranteed season of his contract.

A Cash Transaction Paying Off For The Giants

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It has been a middling start for the Giants, who fell to 16-20 with a loss to the Nationals this evening. San Francisco’s lineup has been a mediocre group overall, largely thanks to slow starts from Michael Conforto, David Villar and Brandon Crawford.

Despite the bland overall results, the Giants are getting strong contributions from a handful of players acquired in minor trades. LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis and Mike Yastrzemski all landed in the organization via small or buy-low deals. That’s also true of the player who has been arguably the team’s most valuable contributor in 2023: middle infielder Thairo Estrada.

Estrada began his professional career a little more than a decade ago. He signed with the Yankees as an amateur out of Venezuela. While he was never an elite prospect, the 5’10” infielder appeared among the organization’s top 30 minor league talents at Baseball America every year between 2014-19. Estrada had been an effective hitter up through Double-A but he lost the bulk of the 2018 season after being shot in the leg during a robbery attempt the preceding offseason. He required a pair of surgeries, and while he returned to play the majority of the ’19 campaign, his offensive numbers in Triple-A dropped.

The Yankees played Estrada sparingly at the big league level between 2019-20. Relegated to a depth role on a roster with DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres, he appeared in 61 games in pinstripes. New York designated him for assignment during the first week of the 2021 season upon trading for Rougned Odor to serve as a depth infielder. The Giants jumped the waiver order, acquiring Estrada for cash five days later.

Getting any kind of contributions from a player added for that kind of minimal cost would have counted as a win. Estrada has far exceeded what the Giants themselves likely had anticipated. He was on and off the active roster in 2021, hitting .273/.333/.479 in 52 big league contests. By last season, he’d established himself as the primary second baseman. Estrada held that job with another above-average showing, putting together a .260/.322/.400 line with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases through a personal-high 541 plate appearances.

San Francisco tabbed Estrada as its Opening Day second baseman for a second consecutive season. He’s responded with a torrid start, carrying a .338/.388/.522 slash over 38 games. He’s already connected on six home runs and seven doubles, and he’s swiped 10 bags in 12 attempts. Estrada has split his defensive work almost evenly between the two middle infield spots, moving to shortstop lately after Crawford hit the injured list. Public metrics suggest he’s better suited for second base, where he figures to return once Crawford is healthy.

Estrada isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace. He’s running a .396 batting average on balls in play in spite of a modest 31.8% hard contact rate. As a few more batted balls find gloves, his offense will take a step back. Even with some regression, Estrada looks to have established himself as a slightly above-average hitter. He’s now up to 820 plate appearances of .277/.336/.435 batting since landing in San Francisco. He puts the ball in play to compensate for middling walk totals and has solid if unexceptional power.

Combine that offense with quality baserunning and the ability to play up the middle and Estrada looks like a well-rounded everyday option who’s currently playing at an All-Star level. The Giants have already gotten far more out of Estrada than teams get in the vast majority of transactions for players who’d been in DFA limbo.

He’s likely to remain a contributor — albeit not quite at his early-season level — for the next few seasons. Estrada is making just $2.25MM in his first of four years of arbitration eligibility. The Giants can keep him around via that process through 2026. It’s rare for teams to retain players whom they’d added in a cash transaction for multiple seasons but Estrada has played his way into an important role in the Bay Area.

AL Notes: Rodon, Walsh, Brantley, Martin

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The Yankees have been without Carlos Rodón to this point. New York’s big offseason acquisition was sidelined by a minor forearm strain in Spring Training and subsequently bothered by back issues. The back has kept him out of action and raised particular concern last week when Rodón told reporters that doctors had called his injury a “chronic” problem.

While that cast plenty of uncertainty as to when the star southpaw would be able to take the mound, it’s possible he starts ramping up in the coming days. Chris Kirschner of the Athletic tweeted yesterday that Rodón will work out on Friday after receiving a cortisone injection. It’s possible he progresses back to mound work as soon as this weekend, which would enable him to begin building strength via a throwing program.

The Yankees have also been without Frankie Montas and Luis Severino due to injuries. Montas is going to be out until late in the year, but Severino threw 3 1/3 innings for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre to start a rehab assignment this afternoon. Those injuries have forced the Yankees to rely on the likes of Domingo Germán, Jhony Brito and Clarke Schmidt out of the rotation to middling results.

Checking in on some other injury situations around the AL:

  • Jared Walsh will head on a rehab stint with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake this weekend, the team informed reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic). He’ll play at least three games with the Bees before the Halos determine whether he’s ready for his first MLB action of the season. Walsh lost the first six weeks to insomnia and recurring headaches. Now that he’s put that behind him, he’ll try to get on track offensively. An All-Star in 2021, the lefty-swinging first baseman slumped to a .215/.269/.374 showing last year before his season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome. The Angels have divided first base reps almost evenly between Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela and Jake Lamb. The left-handed hitting Lamb has struggled in the early going and could be the odd man out once Walsh is ready to return.
  • Michael Brantley has yet to make his season debut for the Astros. Over the weekend, Houston had hinted he could be back for their three-game set in Anaheim to start the week. That didn’t happen and manager Dusty Baker said today the veteran outfielder departed the team to go for some testing (via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). The Astros were customarily reluctant to divulge specifics, but it’s no longer entirely clear when they expect Brantley to be ready for activation. He’d been ramping up from last year’s season-ending shoulder surgery and had played in nine rehab games with Triple-A Sugar Land through last Saturday.
  • The White Sox placed right-hander Davis Martin on the minor league injured list last week. Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets that Martin has a forearm strain in his throwing arm. The issue’s severity isn’t clear, though forearm strains can sometimes be precursors for more serious injuries. At the very least, it seems he’ll be out of the short-term mix should the team need to tap into its rotation depth. Martin started nine of 14 MLB games last year, working to a 4.83 ERA across 63 1/3 innings. He entered 2023 as the #6 starter on the depth chart. Martin had been pitching well for Charlotte, allowing only five runs with 20 strikeouts and seven walks over 16 innings. Chicago has avoided rotation injuries at the big league level; the group of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger has taken all 38 starts thus far.

Sixto Sanchez Experienced Minor Shoulder Soreness, Marlins Targeting Second-Half Return

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The Marlins have been without Sixto Sánchez for nearly three years. The one-time top prospect and headliner of the J.T. Realmuto trade has had his career thrown off track by injuries. Shoulder problems have been the main concern, as Sánchez has twice undergone shoulder surgery since July 2021.

That extended layoff has left Sánchez without a particularly clear recovery timetable. While he’d expressed some optimism at the start of the offseason he’d be ready for Spring Training, it became apparent by February a midseason return was the best-case scenario. That has seemingly been pushed back a little further, as the team informed reporters that Sánchez experienced some shoulder soreness following an extended Spring Training outing last week (via MLB.com injury tracker).

This particular issue doesn’t seem all that worrisome. Sánchez has already returned to playing catch this week, according to MLB.com. It’s nevertheless a subpar development for a pitcher who is hoping to get back into affiliated games this year. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald write the organization views August or September as a viable target date for Sánchez’s return to minor league games. It’s clear he’s not an option in the immediate future and at least raises some question about whether the 24-year-old will be able to pitch in an MLB game this season.

Given Sánchez’s repeated setbacks, it’s not surprising Jackson and Mish report that Miami no longer views him as an integral part of their long-term pitching plans. Sánchez is still young and controllable for six seasons but he’ll go almost three years between regular season appearances. Even once he’s able to return, there’s no guarantee he’ll do so with high-octane stuff.

Sánchez averaged 98.5 MPH on his four-seam and 96.6 MPH on his sinker during his seven-start MLB debut back in 2020. The righty told reporters this spring he’d lost almost 50 pounds over the offseason, though, and the organization has taken its time to allow him to build his conditioning after so many stops and starts in his rehab.

The Fish could also soon face some pressure from a roster management perspective. They’ve kept him on the 40-man roster throughout his rehab. That’s a testament to his ceiling but also limits their flexibility somewhat. While they could place him on the 60-day injured list during the season, doing so would require paying him the MLB minimum salary (at which they’ve thus far balked). There is no IL over the offseason, so he’d have to count against the 40-man tally during the winter.

More pressing is that the Fish have used their option years to keep Sánchez on the minor league IL. Most players can only be optioned in three separate seasons in their careers. Exceptions are sometimes made to grant a fourth option year when a player has missed an extended chunk of action. The Marlins received a fourth option on Sánchez for 2023. There’s no such thing as a fifth option, however, so the Marlins won’t be able to send Sánchez back to the minors next season unless they first pass him through waivers.

Antonio Senzatela Leaves Start Early With Forearm Tightness

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6:38pm: Senzatela told Saunders postgame that the soreness is at the bottom of his forearm near his elbow (Twitter link). The righty is headed for further evaluation tomorrow but conceded he’s concerned about the injury.

3:09pm: An already beleaguered Rockies rotation took yet another hit Wednesday, as right-hander Antonio Senzatela departed after 2 2/3 innings due to what manager Bud Black announced after the game as right forearm tightness, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Senzatela surrendered three runs prior to his departure, with his final pitch resulting in a two-run homer by Andrew McCutchen.

Senzatela only just returned from a roughly year-long absence due to a torn ACL. Wednesday’s outing was only his second of the 2023 season. In 7 2/3 innings, he’s allowed four runs on seven hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts. Three of those seven hits have left the yard.

The Rockies are already without top starter German Marquez, whose 2023 season is over due to Tommy John surgery. They’ve also already released right-hander Jose Urena, who opened the season in the rotation after re-signing on a $3.5MM deal. Rookie right-hander Noah Davis, who’d also been auditioning for a long-term spot in the rotation, landed on the injured list in late April due to inflammation in his right elbow.

If Senzatela misses any time, the Rockies’ rotation will be down to Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Connor Seabold. Feltner has just 28 Major League starts under his belt and a career 5.90 ERA. Seabold has just 15 Major League games — only eight of them starts — and a 7.40 ERA through 45 innings. The Rockies are exceptionally thin on rotation options beyond that group. Right-hander Peter Lambert relieved Senzatela today and could be an option, but he pitched just 30 1/3 innings from 2020-22 combined due to injuries. His workload will surely be monitored in 2023.

Available options outside the organization are few and far between, though a handful of veteran arms were recently designated for assignment. The Rays designated Chase Anderson just today, while righties Luis Cessa and Chase De Jong were designated by the Reds and Pirates, respectively, yesterday. It’s hardly the most exciting group of arms, but each is at least stretched out to throw multiple innings. The free-agent market isn’t much better. Left-hander Madison Bumgarner was released by the D-backs earlier this season after looking lost on the mound through his first several turns. There are a handful of veterans of some note who remain unsigned from the offseason (e.g. Michael Pineda, Chris Archer, Mike Minor, Dallas Keuchel), but no one from that group would be ready to step right into a big league rotation.

Senzatela, 28, is in the second season of a five-year, $50.5MM contract extension. The Rockies are paying him $7.25MM in 2023 and will owe him $12MM per season from 2024-26 before deciding on a $14MM club option for the 2027 season. In 677 career innings entering play today, the right-hander carried a 4.85 ERA with a 15.3% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 50.6% ground-ball rate.

Phillies Place Jose Alvarado On Injured List

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6:29pm: The MRI showed only inflammation, no structural damage, Thomson told reporters (including Gelb). He’ll be shut down from throwing for a few days but seems to have avoided a serious injury.

12:14pm: Alvarado has already undergone an MRI and is meeting with a doctor to evaluate the results, tweets Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Gelb adds that manager Rob Thomson has acknowledged that he is “a little concerned, for sure.”

11:07am: The Phillies announced Wednesday that closer Jose Alvarado has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his left elbow. His IL stint is retroactive to May 8. Right-hander Andrew Bellatti has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list in place of Alvarado.

The team hasn’t provided a timetable on the injury yet, but the loss of Alvarado even for a minimal stint is a notable blow to the roster. Alvarado, who signed a two-year extension prior to the season, has been one of the most dominant relievers in Major League Baseball this season. He’s fired 14 1/3 innings of 1.88 ERA ball with a sensational 46.2% strikeout rate that trails only Cincinnati’s Alexis Diaz for the MLB lead. More impressive is the fact that Alvarado, whose previous command issues are well documented, has yet to issue a walk or hit a batter so far in 2023.

With Alvarado sidelined for at least the next two weeks the Phillies will likely turn to a combination of Craig Kimbrel, Seranthony Dominguez and perhaps Gregory Soto to close down games. Alvarado leads the team with five saves but hasn’t been the sole closer anyhow, as Kimbrel has three saves of his own.

Kimbrel was tagged for three runs in his first appearance of the season before going on a dominant stretch of 10 appearances (10 2/3 innings, two runs, 14-to-4 K/BB ratio). He’s since slipped again, yielding a combined six runs in one inning during two appearances at Dodger Stadium earlier this month, which sent his ERA careening to its current 7.62 level. Dominguez saved nine games for the 2022 Phillies but currently has a 5.02 ERA and has seen his strikeout rate plummet from 29.5% to 20.5% in 2023. Soto notched 30 saves for the 2022 Tigers and is sporing a career-best 30.8% strikeout rate, but he’s also walked 13.8% of his opponents, which has contributed to a lackluster 4.50 ERA.

Suffice it to say, the Phillies certainly aren’t lacking in talented arms with closing experience. However, Alvarado was the only one of the bunch performing at an elite (or even above-average) level early in the 2023 season. They’ll hope for a quick turnaround with no long-term, lingering effects — due both to his general excellence and the nature of the contract he signed six weeks ago. Alvarado would’ve been a free agent following the 2023 season, but he signed a two-year, $18.55MM extension with a club option for a third year in 2026.

Kyle Wright Expecting To Miss Significant Time

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Braves right-hander Kyle Wright spoke to members of the media today, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, saying that he expects to remain on the injured list longer than his teammate Max Fried. He doesn’t provide a specific estimate but it’s a notable guess given that there was no previous timeline for Wright and the reported plan for Fried is to shut him down for long enough that he’ll need to completely build back up from scratch.

The club hasn’t provided any kind of specifics for what they expect for the two hurlers, but Mark Bowman of MLB.com interprets the situation by saying that the “expectation has been” that they will miss two months while O’Brien says that it appears Wright isn’t likely to be back until August.

The details are all murky at the moment but there seems to be little doubt that the club will be proceeding without two of its best starters for some significant amount of time that will likely be measured in months rather than days or weeks. The 27-year-old Wright got very limited big league action from 2018 to 2021 but had a breakout last year, posting a 3.19 ERA in 180 1/3 innings over 30 starts. He struck out 23.6% of batters faced while walking 7.2% and getting grounders at a 55.6% clip.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on that here this year, beginning the season on the injured list due to this shoulder issue. He was activated off the IL and made five starts but it’s now apparent that he wasn’t right in that time. His 93.6 mph fastball velocity was well down from last year’s 95.1 and he posted a 5.79 ERA.

Atlanta came into the season with a strong front four in its rotation, with Fried and Wright joined by Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider. The fifth spot was left open and Bryce Elder has seemingly taken the job over in recent weeks, posting a 1.74 ERA in seven starts so far this year. The club will now need to find replacements for Fried and Wright for the foreseeable future, with their depth having also taken a hit earlier this year when Ian Anderson required Tommy John surgery.

Options on the 40-man roster include lefties Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster as well as righty Michael Soroka. The two lefties have each made a few starts in the big leagues this year but Dodd has a 6.46 ERA in his three outings whereas Shuster has an 8.31 ERA in his two. Soroka has hardly pitched at all since the 2019 season, mostly due to twice tearing his achilles tendon. He’s made five Triple-A starts this year, logging 20 2/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA in a once-a-week pitching schedule.

Looking outside the organization doesn’t provide many enticing options. Most teams are reluctant to part with valuable players at this time of the year when it’s too early for most to raise a white flag and start selling. Some players decently designated for assignment include Chase Anderson, Luis Cessa and Chase De Jong.

Mets Select Michael Pérez

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The Mets announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Michael Pérez. He will take the roster spot of fellow backstop Tomás Nido who has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 7, due to dry eye syndrome. Right-hander Elieser Hernández was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Pérez. Tim Healey of Newsday previously reported that Pérez was with the club in Cincinnati while Mike Puma of the New York Post first reported on Nido’s IL placement.

The Mets will now be without both of their Opening Day catchers, as Omar Narváez landed on the IL after just five games due to a significant calf strain and Nido now joins him on the shelf. The injury to Narváez opened playing time for prospect Francisco Álvarez but now Nido’s absence will require the club to reach into its depth yet again.

Pérez, 30, was acquired from the Pirates in a trade last July but was outrighted by the club in October. He became a free agent in the winter but rejoined the Mets on a minor league deal and has been playing in Triple-A so far this year. In 19 games for Syracuse, he’s hit just .153/.261/.254, but with encouraging peripherals. He’s walked at a strong 13% clip and struck out in just 17.4% of his plate appearances, with that paltry batting line being weighed down by a .152 batting average on balls in play.

He’s seen part-time action in the big leagues in each of the five previous seasons, suiting up for the Rays, Pirates and Mets. He owns a career batting line of .174/.244/.301 over 591 plate appearances in the big leagues. On the defensive side of things, his framing is considered subpar but he’s been worth four Defensive Runs Saved in his career and grades out well on Statcast’s new caught stealing above average metric. He’ll figures to serve as the backup to Álvarez at least until one of Narváez or Nido get back. He still has an option year remaining and could potentially be sent back to Syracuse easily when that time comes.

As for Nido, he’s out to a terrible start this year, hitting just .118/.148/.118. Perhaps this vision issue provides some explanation for why he’s so far off his career line of .213/.250/.309. It doesn’t seem to be especially serious, as manager Buck Showalter expects him to be fine in three or four days, per Healey.

As for Hernández, he’s been on the injured list all year so far due to a right shoulder strain. He doesn’t seem especially close to a return, given that he hasn’t even begun a rehab assignment. The 60-day count begins from his initial IL placement, meaning he’ll be eligible to return in a few weeks if he’s healthy.

Red Sox Designate Zack Littell For Assignment

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The Red Sox have informed reporters, including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, that they have designated right-hander Zack Littell for assignment. His roster spot will go to left-hander James Paxton, who has been reinstated and is set to start Friday’s game.

It’s a very quick turnaround for Littell, 27, who was with the Rangers on a minor league deal until the Red Sox traded for him last week, sending cash considerations the other way and adding Littell to their roster. He made two appearances for the Sox since then, allowing three earned runs in three innings with three hits, three walks and a couple of strikeouts. He now loses his roster spot just a few days after getting it. Since he’s out of options, this was the only way to quickly get his spot open for Paxton.

Prior to that shaky showing with Boston, he had been getting solid results in the minors. In 12 innings with the Round Rock Express, he had a 2.25 ERA with a 33.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate. He has 172 2/3 innings of major league experience dating back to 2018 with a 4.17 ERA in that time, striking out 20.8% of opponents while walking 8.6% and getting grounders at a 42.6% clip.

The Sox will now have one week to trade Littell or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and could therefore reject another such assignment in favor of free agency in the event that he clears waivers.

As for Paxton, he will be appearing in a major league game for the first time in over two years. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2021 while with the Mariners, then signed a complicated deal with the Red Sox while rehabbing. He was working his way back to health last year when a lat tear scuttled those plans. The Sox then declined a two-year, $26MM option but the lefty triggered his $4MM player option. The injury parade continued in the spring, when he suffered a hamstring strain that’s kept him out of action until now.

His return will have repercussions for the club’s other pitchers since manager Alex Cora recently told reporters, including Rob Bradford of WEEI, that he doesn’t plan on using a six-man rotation going forward. For the moment, Paxton will slot into the mix alongside Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta, with Garrett Whitlock also expected to return from the IL in the near future. With seven options for five jobs, the Sox will have to pick a couple of them to either be moved to the bullpen or optioned to the minors, with those decisions seemingly still up in the air.

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