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Archives for June 2023

Tanner Houck To Undergo Surgery To Address Facial Fracture

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Red Sox starter Tanner Houck will undergo surgery that inserts a plate in his face next week, manager Alex Cora told the Boston beat (via Ian Browne of MLB.com). The right-hander was diagnosed with a fracture after being struck in the face by a comebacker during his start against the Yankees last Friday.

While the surgery seems like an ominous development, Cora called it “the best news we could get” (link via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Boston has declined to provide a timetable for Houck’s return, though Speier writes the team is confident he will pitch again this season. They placed Houck on the 15-day injured list over the weekend.

Before last week’s scary incident, the right-hander had gotten mixed results in 13 outings. He owns a middling 5.05 ERA over 67 2/3 innings. Houck’s underlying marks were better than the run prevention figure. His 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk percentage are around average for a starting pitcher, while his 49.7% grounder rate is quite strong.

As has been the case throughout his career, platoon splits tell a significant story. Left-handed batters have teed off for eight home runs with a .262/.312/.500 showing in 145 trips to the plate. Houck has absolutely dominated righty opponents, holding them to a .224/.300/.272 line with just one homer over 140 plate appearances.

The Sox have stayed committed to using Houck in the rotation after shuttling him between the starting staff and the bullpen in prior seasons. He and Garrett Whitlock both made the move to full-time starting this year, eventually bumping Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta to relief in the process. James Paxton and Brayan Bello have secured rotation spots, while Kutter Crawford was moved to the starting staff when Chris Sale landed on the injured list a few weeks ago. Boston has yet to announce who’ll take Houck’s scheduled start against the Twins on Thursday afternoon.

Triston McKenzie Shut Down For Several Weeks With UCL Sprain

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The Guardians placed starter Triston McKenzie on the 15-day injured list over the weekend. Cleveland announced the injury as an elbow sprain and indicated there was some concern about his UCL.

That hinted at a potential long-term absence, which unfortunately will come to pass. McKenzie told reporters this afternoon he’ll be shut down from throwing entirely for around a month with a UCL sprain (relayed by Zack Meisel of the Athletic). He’ll be reevaluated a few weeks from now to determine whether he can begin a throwing program.

Even in a best-case scenario that sees McKenzie cleared to start throwing around the All-Star Break, he’ll need multiple weeks to get back to game shape. The Guardians are sure to proceed cautiously with concern about his elbow ligament. It seems hard to envision McKenzie getting back on the Progressive Field mound before August given that timeline, though the club hasn’t provided any specifics beyond the righty’s shutdown period.

It’s the second significant injury of what has been a frustrating season. McKenzie strained the teres major muscle in his throwing shoulder at the end of Spring Training. That kept him from making his debut until June 4. Two starts later, he lands back on the shelf with another notable arm injury.

Getting almost nothing out of McKenzie thus far is one of the reasons for Cleveland’s underwhelming start to the season. The Guardians are 33-38, well off last year’s 92-win pace. A bleak AL Central picture still has Cleveland in the thick of the division race but the team’s early performance hasn’t been inspiring. McKenzie was among the better pitchers in the league last year, working to a 2.96 ERA over a career-high 191 1/3 innings.

As they do with regularity, Cleveland has developed a few highly-regarded young arms into productive MLB pitchers this season. Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen have performed well as rookies. They join Shane Bieber, who’s pitching below his peak level but still effectively, at the top of the staff. Top prospect Gavin Williams is poised to make his big league debut in McKenzie’s stead tomorrow, while veteran righty Aaron Civale rounds out the current group.

Rangers Re-Sign Ian Kennedy To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have brought back Ian Kennedy on a minor league contract, the club informed reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). He’ll join their top farm team in Round Rock tomorrow.

Kennedy spent a month on the open market after being designated for assignment by Texas in early May. He’d cracked the Opening Day roster after an offseason minor league deal, marking his second stint in Arlington. While Kennedy was an excellent high-leverage arm for the Rangers back in 2021, he had less inspiring results this time around. Despite a quality 13:3 strikeout-to-walk tally through ten innings, he surrendered ten runs on 11 hits.

The 17-year MLB veteran has had a couple strong seasons since moving to the bullpen four years back. He has struggled going back to the start of the 2022 campaign, posting a 5.36 ERA through 50 1/3 frames for the Diamondbacks last season. Aside from injury rehab stints, Kennedy hasn’t pitched in Triple-A since 2009.

He’ll look to make his stay in Round Rock brief by recapturing a spot in the Texas bullpen. Rangers relievers rank 22nd in MLB with a 4.31 ERA on the year, though they’ve posted a serviceable 3.92 mark within the past month.

Dodgers Sign David Dahl To Minor League Contract

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Veteran outfielder David Dahl has signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, according to Triple-A communications director Alex Freedman (Twitter link). He’s joining their top affiliate in Oklahoma City.

It’s the third career NL West organization for Dahl. He’s best known for his time with the Rockies, where he flashed middle-of-the-order potential and was nominated to the 2019 All-Star Game. Injuries derailed his Colorado tenure, though, and Dahl hasn’t gotten much of a big league look since hitting .210/.247/.322 in 63 games for the 2021 Rangers.

After splitting the ’22 campaign between a handful of Triple-A clubs, Dahl returned to the majors this season. He broke camp with the Padres after an offseason non-roster contract. He got into four MLB games before a quad strain sent him to the injured list. After he returned, he was optioned to Triple-A. Dahl hit .265/.342/.382 in 17 games there before being designated for assignment two weeks ago.

Upon clearing waivers, Dahl tested minor league free agency. He finds a new landing spot with the Dodgers, where he’ll try to hit his way back to the big league level. Los Angeles has Jason Heyward and rookie Jonny DeLuca backing up their starting outfield of Mookie Betts, James Outman and David Peralta for the moment. Dahl joins Kole Calhoun as a veteran depth option in Triple-A. Steven Duggar is also on the OKC roster but he has been on the injured list since June 9.

Dodgers Designate Andre Jackson For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced they’ve designated right-hander Andre Jackson for assignment. His 40-man roster spot will go to righty Ryan Brasier, whose promotion was reported earlier. Left-hander Bryan Hudson was optioned to open a spot for Brasier on the active roster.

Jackson has spent his entire career in the L.A. organization. Originally selected in the 12th round of the 2017 draft, he made it onto the 40-man roster after the 2020 campaign. Jackson debuted the following summer and has bounced on and off the active roster for the past three seasons.

He’s worked in multi-inning relief at the big league level, tossing 39 frames over 14 outings. A personal-high 17 2/3 of those innings have come this season. Jackson has allowed 13 runs in that limited look, thanks largely to five homers. The longball has largely overshadowed a quality 16:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

A starter for the bulk of his minor league tenure, Jackson has also worked in long relief in Triple-A this season. He’s logged 27 2/3 innings across 11 outings, pitching to a 5.86 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He has a quality 25.8% strikeout rate at the top minor league level, but he’s walked over 14% of batters faced there. Strike-throwing has been the question throughout his career, as Jackson has handed out free passes at a 12.7% clip over five minor league seasons.

The 6’3″ righty clearly has intriguing raw stuff, though. He’s punched out over a quarter of opponents in the minors. His fastball sat north of 95 MPH on average during his MLB time this season, while prospect evaluators have long praised his changeup. He seems likely to draw some interest via minor trade or on the waiver wire within the next week. Jackson is in his final minor league option season, so an acquiring team could keep him in Triple-A for the remainder of the year.

Padres Designate Nabil Crismatt For Assignment

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The Padres announced that right-hander Seth Lugo has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Nabil Crismatt designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Crismatt, 28, began his major league career with the Cardinals in 2020. He only appeared in six games that season and was outrighted off the roster at season’s end. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres prior to the 2021 season and has been with them since. He made the club’s Opening Day roster that year and has served as an up-and-down arm for the club in recent years, often throwing multiple innings out of the bullpen while also getting frequently optioned to the minors.

Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 148 2/3 innings over 95 appearances. He posted a combined 3.39 ERA over those two campaigns, striking out 21.6% of opponents while walking 7.3% and getting ground balls on 50.6% of balls in play.

He had exhausted his option years at that point and is now out of options here in 2023. This year, he made six appearances and struggled badly with a 10.80 ERA before landing on the injured list due to a hip strain. He returned from the IL a few days ago and tossed a scoreless inning on Friday. That dropped his ERA to 9.82 but he has now been squeezed off the roster.

The Padres will now have a week to trade Crismatt or pass him through waivers. His results have obviously been poor so far this year but it’s a small sample size and perhaps at least partially explained by the hip injury. He might garner interest based on his work in other seasons. Since he has a previous career outright, he would have the right reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.

Dodgers Select Ryan Brasier

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5:50pm: The Dodgers have now made it official, selecting Brasier with left-hander Bryan Hudson optioned and right-hander Andre Jackson designated for assignment in corresponding moves.

5:30pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Ryan Brasier, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Corresponding moves will be required to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters.

Brasier, 35, was a late bloomer in major league terms. After a stint in Japan, he had his North American breakout in 2018 at the age of 30. He made 34 appearances for the Red Sox that year with a 1.60 ERA, striking out 23.4% of opponents against a 5.6% walk rate. He carried that over into the postseason with a 1.04 ERA in 8 2/3 frames, helping the Sox win the World Series.

However, his effectiveness slid in recent seasons and his career ERA now sits at 4.45. Things have looked especially bad recently, as he had a 5.78 ERA last year and an even worse mark of 7.29 this year. Those struggles led to him getting released by the Red Sox and signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers. He’s pitched three scoreless innings in Triple-A in the past week.

There are some reasons to suspect that those inflated earned run figures aren’t entirely his fault. His 56.2% strand rate and .335 batting average on balls in play last year were both on the unlucky side of league averages, leading to a 3.61 FIP and 3.12 SIERA that suggest he deserved better. It was a similar story here in 2023, with a .344 BABIP, 52.8% strand rate, 4.37 FIP and 4.58 SIERA. That being said, it’s probably oversimplifying things to simply say that he’s been unlucky. His hard hit rate, which hovered between 35 and 40% for his earlier seasons in Boston, jumped to 46.5% last year and 53% this year.

The Dodgers have faced uncharacteristic struggles on the pitching front this year as the pitching staff as a whole currently has a 4.66 ERA, a mark that places them 25th out of the 30 clubs in the league. The bullpen is an even bigger concern, with the relief corps posting a collective 5.04 ERA on the season, which puts them ahead of only the lowly Athletics in that department.

Those struggles have coincided with each of Daniel Hudson, Jimmy Nelson, Phil Bickford, Tyler Cyr, J.P. Feyereisen, Alex Reyes and Blake Treinen landing on the injured list. Some of that group could soon be available to the big league club again, as each of Hudson, Nelson and Bickford are each joining Triple-A Oklahoma City for rehab assignment, per OKC’s Broadcaster/Communications Director Alex Freeman.

But for now, the club will take a flier on a Brasier bounceback, which is essentially risk-free from a cost perspective. Since the Red Sox released him, they are still on the hook for the majority of what remains of his $2MM salary. The Dodgers will pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.

Carlos Rodón To Begin Rehab Assignment

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The Yankees announced that left-hander Carlos Rodón has been sent to Double-A Somerset to begin a rehab assignment. Additionally, outfielder Harrison Bader was activated from the injured list, taking the spot of infielder/outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera, who was optioned following Sunday night’s game.

Rodón, 30, became a Yankee this winter by signing a six-year, $162MM contract but has yet to make his regular season debut in pinstripes. He was diagnosed with a forearm strain in March and began the season on the injured list. He initially seemed set for a brief absence, as he started working his way back in April. However, he was then waylaid by some back tightness that was eventually diagnosed by doctors as being a “chronic” issue.

In early May, the lefty received a cortisone injection and has been ramping up his activities since then. He started throwing shortly after that, eventually progressing to mound work and facing live hitters. Now he’s set for the final hurdle, pitching in minor league games. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last up to 30 days, so it might still be a few weeks before he rejoins the Yankees. But it’s nonetheless a good sign that their big offseason pitching acquisition is getting closer.

Health has been a key factor in Rodón’s career. He was drafted by the White Sox with the third overall pick in 2014 and quickly became one of the top prospects in the sport. He performed well in 2015 and 2016 but then injuries started holding him back. Biceps bursitis and arthroscopic shoulder surgery made him miss big parts of his 2017 and 2018 seasons before Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2019 and 2020 campaigns.

The trajectory got much better in the years after that, as he came back in 2021 with 24 starts and a 2.37 ERA. He was eventually shut down with some shoulder fatigue in August, but it was nonetheless encouraging after so many frustrating setbacks. He became a free agent and there was still some hesitation from the open market, forcing him to settle for a two-year, $44MM deal with the Giants, though one that would allow him to opt out as long as he pitched 110 innings. He took another step forward by making 31 starts last year with a 2.88 ERA, 33.4% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 34.1% ground ball rate.

Based on that strong platform, it was an easy decision for him to opt out and cash in. Since he seemed to be moving away from his injury-prone label, the Yankees took a shot on him but his health hasn’t cooperated thus far. He’s now walking a familiar road, working his way back to the mound after a significant absence.

His return would certainly be a welcome development for the Yankees, who have also been without Frankie Montas all year while Nestor Cortes posted a 5.16 ERA before landing on the injured list himself. Luis Severino is back with the team after his own IL stint but he has a 6.30 ERA through his first six starts. Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt and Domingo Germán have avoided the IL thus far, though Germán missed a couple of turns due to a sticky stuff suspension. Amid all of those challenges, the club has had to turn to depth options like Randy Vásquez and Jhony Brito on occasion.

Despite all of that shuffling, the club has managed to tread water, currently sporting a record of 39-33 that’s good enough for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. But with three teams within a game and a half and a few more clubs lurking just behind those, the importance of each game is going to be magnified going forward, making the return of a difference-maker like Rodón a potentially significant boost for the Yankees.

White Sox Claim Touki Toussaint From Guardians

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The White Sox have claimed right-hander Touki Toussaint off waivers from the Guardians, per announcements from both clubs. He had been designated for assignment by the Guards on the weekend. The Sox already had a vacancy on their 40-man and won’t need to make a corresponding move at this time.

The waiver claim serves as something of a birthday present for Toussaint, who turns 27 today. Once a first-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks and top 100 prospect during his time in the minors, he has yet to put it all together in the big leagues. He has a 5.33 ERA in 174 innings dating back to the 2018 season. His strikeout and ground ball numbers have been solid but control has been a frequent issue, with Toussaint walking 13.9% of batters faced in his career.

He qualified for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player at the end of last season, but the Angels non-tendered him instead. He signed a minor league deal with the Guardians and has been pitching in relief in Triple-A. He posted a 4.06 ERA over 20 appearances, striking out 30.2% of opponents but walking 14.5% of them. He got called up to the big leagues a few days ago to serve as an emergency starter in place of Triston McKenzie. Toussaint tossed 3 2/3 innings, allowing just two earned runs despite surrendering three hits and five walks.

The Sox have decided to use their open 40-man slot to take a shot on Toussaint despite the ongoing control problems. Since Toussaint is out of options, they will need to make a corresponding move to get him onto the active roster whenever he reports to the team.

Twins Select Oliver Ortega, Designate Kyle Garlick For Assignment

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The Twins announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Oliver Ortega. Fellow righty Louie Varland was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move while outfielder Kyle Garlick was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Ortega, 26, pitched for the Angels in each of the past two seasons, registering a combined 3.95 ERA in 35 outings between those two campaigns. He was designated for assignment in the offseason and claimed by the Twins, though the latter club passed him through outright waivers a few weeks later.

He’s been putting up good numbers in Triple-A so far this year, posting a 2.42 ERA through 22 1/3 innings. He’s struck out 31.8% of opponents while walking just 8% and getting grounders on 36% of balls in play. That strong work has got him back to the big leagues again, where he’ll provide a fresh arm for the Minnesota bullpen. He also has a couple of option years remaining, giving the club a bit of roster flexibility.

Varland has been working out of the club’s rotation, posting a 5.30 ERA over 10 starts. His option today seems to point towards the imminent return of Kenta Maeda, who has been on a rehab assignment of late. He had a rough start to the year, with an ERA of 9.00 through four starts before landing on the injured list with a triceps strain. He’ll hope to get in a better groove going forward, jumping into the rotation next to Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Bailey Ober.

As for Garlick, he has had some success in the past, primarily as a right-handed platoon specialist. He’s hit .240/.288/.510 against southpaws in his major league career, good enough for a 115 wRC+. However, he hasn’t been hitting in the majors or the minors this year. He’s hit just .210/.308/.427 in 143 Triple-A appearances for the season, including a dismal .160/.263/.300 against lefties. Those struggles surely contributed to nudging him off the roster.

The Twins will now have a week to trade Garlick or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and over three years of service time, which means he could reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service time, he would have to forfeit the remainder of his $750K salary in order to do so. That’s just barely over the $720K minimum for a major league player but it’s surely much better than what he would get in Triple-A, where the minimum salary is just $35.8K.

For any clubs weighing a claim, Garlick is in his final option year, meaning he could be kept in the minors as depth for the rest of the year. He isn’t hitting much here in 2023 but has had some past success that could appeal to another club that has some question marks in its outfield.

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