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Archives for June 2023

Nevada Senate, Assembly Approve A’s Stadium Plan

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JUNE 14, 8:02pm: The Senate has concurred with the Assembly’s amendments, tweets Howard Stutz of the Nevada Independent. The bill is officially headed to Lombardo’s desk for ratification.

JUNE 14, 7:19pm: The State Assembly passed the proposal by a 25-15 vote after making a few minor amendments, Mueller relays (Twitter link). Those changes will have to be agreed upon by the State Senate, though that’s not expected to be an issue.

If/when the Senate concurs with the Assembly’s amendments, the bill can officially go to Lombardo for ratification. At that point, the A’s will be able to formally ask MLB for approval to relocate.

JUNE 13: On Tuesday afternoon, the Nevada State Senate voted 13-8 in favor of the A’s proposal for roughly $380MM in public funding to construct a stadium in Las Vegas. Jacob Solis, Sean Golonka and Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent were among those to cover the news.

It’s a notable hurdle cleared for A’s ownership. The bill will be put in front of the state assembly tomorrow afternoon. If approved by the assembly, it’d go to Governor Joe Lombardo’s office for ratification. Lombardo has been a strong supporter of the legislation and would be expected to ratify. At that point, the A’s could formally apply MLB for relocation.

MLB’s owners are conducting a quarterly meeting in New York this week. However, the A’s stadium situation has not been put on the docket. Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that no vote on relocation is likely to take place this week even if the bill clears the assembly and governor’s office within the next few days. Nightengale notes that such a vote would likely take place before next month’s All-Star Break, though.

There’s little question about the A’s finding support from Lombardo or MLB. Commissioner Rob Manfred has publicly backed the franchise’s efforts, agreeing to waive the relocation fee to facilitate the move. (As Joe Garofoli and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle write, a pair of Bay Area representatives announced the introduction of a bill this morning that would require a departing franchise to pay a decade’s worth of local and state taxes to their former location. However, there’s little expectation of that measure gaining legitimate traction in Congress.)

Assuming the A’s get approval from the Nevada assembly, it’s highly likely their relocation plan will be successful. Their efforts had slowed in the past few weeks, as their push for public funding hit an initial snag in the state senate. As Golonka, Mueller and Solis wrote this morning, the bill’s proponents made some alterations to the franchise’s community benefits agreement that evidently tipped enough voters in favor of the proposal.

White Sox Outright Billy Hamilton

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The White Sox have outrighted outfielder Billy Hamilton off the 40-man roster, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. Chicago hadn’t previously announced he was designated for assignment; the move drops the club’s 40-man count to 38.

Hamilton made three appearances, all as a pinch-runner, after the Sox selected his contract in early May. He strained his left hamstring a few days after being called up and landed on the 10-day injured list. Hamilton started a rehab stint with Triple-A Charlotte last week. He has well over five years of major league service, so the Sox would’ve had to carry him on the MLB roster or put him on waivers once he was ready to return.

They’ve chosen the latter course of action. The outright suggests Hamilton already went unclaimed. Players with three-plus years of service have the ability to decline an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency. The team hasn’t announced whether he’ll do so. If he were to stay in the organization, he’d return to Charlotte, where he has a .158/.294/.228 line in 69 trips to the plate.

Hamilton has settled into a journeyman role late in his career. The speedster was an everyday player for the Reds for a half-decade but has appeared for seven different clubs (including two separate stints with the White Sox) going back to the start of the 2019 campaign. While he has a .205/.262/.288 slash in 549 MLB plate appearances over the last five years, he’s stolen 49 bases on 58 attempts during that stretch.

Dodgers Designate Adam Kolarek For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that left-hander Adam Kolarek has been designated for assignment.  The move opens an active roster spot for Shelby Miller, who has been activated from the bereavement list.

Kolarek signed a minors contract with Los Angeles back in December, and his contract was selected to the active roster earlier this week.  While a brief stint in the majors, Kolarek did at least appear in one game, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings during the Dodgers’ 7-3 loss to the Phillies on June 11.

That made it seven MLB seasons for Kolarek, and his second stint in Dodger Blue could be coming to an end.  The southpaw previously pitched for L.A. during the 2019-20 seasons, posting an eye-popping 0.84 ERA over 32 total innings over the two seasons and earning a World Series ring for his part in the Dodgers’ 2020 championship run.

Traded to the A’s in February 2021, the last two seasons have been a lot rockier for Kolarek, who had a 5.74 ERA over 26 2/3 total innings in Oakland.  Kolarek elected free agency following the season, and since he has been outrighted before in his career, he can elect free agency again if he clears DFA waivers and if the Dodgers try to outright him to Triple-A.  That said, after being shuttled up and down between the majors and minors so many times in his career, Kolarek might prefer to accept an outright assignment and remain in a familiar organization rather than test the open market again.

Rays Option Jalen Beeks

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The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned lefty Jalen Beeks to Triple-A Durham. His spot on the roster will go to righty Zack Littell, who’s been reinstated from the 15-day injured list.

It’s the first time since 2019 that Beeks has been optioned to the minors. He entered the season with four years, 70 days of Major League service time and has accrued another 76 days so far in 2023. That accumulation is notable, as Beeks is now just 26 days shy of five years, at which point he’d need to give his consent to be optioned to the minors. The optional assignment isn’t likely to impact his free-agent timeline, as it’s hard to imagine Beeks won’t be back up for the remaining 26 days he needs to get to that five-year milestone.

Beeks, 30 next month, has been a key arm for the Rays over the past several seasons but struggled so far in 2023. The lefty missed the 2021 season following Tommy John surgery, but in 2020-22 he combined for 80 1/3 innings of 2.91 ERA ball with a 29% strikeout rate and a 7.9% walk rate. This year, Beeks is sitting on a grisly 5.82 ERA with a diminished 23.5% strikeout rate and an elevated 11.8% walk rate.

The Rays’ bullpen ranks 16th in the Majors with a collective 4.12 ERA, but the depth has taken a hit — particularly in terms of left-handed arms. With Beeks optioned out and both Josh Fleming and Garrett Cleavinger on the injured list, Tampa Bay is leaning on Colin Poche and recent veteran signing Jake Diekman. The 36-year-old Diekman has already performed better with the Rays than with the White Sox, who released him earlier in the season; in 10 1/3 innings he he’s allowed four runs on four hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts. Diekman has walked “just” 10.5% of his hitters as a Ray, compared to the 22.5% he walked in a similar sample with the South Siders.

Twins Acquire Taylor Floyd From Brewers

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The Twins have acquired minor league right-hander Taylor Floyd from the Brewers.  The move completes the late-April deal that sent Trevor Megill to Milwaukee, as Floyd will act the player to be named later that was owed to Minnesota.

Floyd was a 10th-round pick for the Brew Crew in the 2019 draft, and the Texas Tech product has spent his entire pro career in Milwaukee’s farm system.  Working exclusively as a reliever, Floyd has missed a lot of bats (30.68% strikeout rate) over his 147 1/3 innings in the minors, but his walk rate rose drastically when pitching at high-A and Double-A ball in 2022.  As Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen explains, an unusual offseason training quirk altered Floyd’s normal submarine delivery heading into the 2022 season, which probably accounted for his lack of control.

Longenhagen still ranked Floyd as the 39th-best prospect in the Brewers’ system even in the wake of that shaky 2022 campaign, and it seems like Floyd has stabilized things in 2023.  In 23 2/3 innings at high-A, Floyd has a 3.04 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate, and a much more palatable 7.6% walk rate.  The right-hander also has a 49.1% grounder rate, continuing his career-long trend of keeping the ball on the ground roughly around half the time.

Mets’ Drew Smith Issued 10-Game Suspension For Foreign Substance Violation

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TODAY: The league officially announced that Smith has been suspended for 10 games, and will be fined.  According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Smith won’t file an appeal, so his 10-game absence begins with tonight’s game against the Yankees.

JUNE 13: Mets reliever Drew Smith was ejected by first base umpire Bill Miller in the seventh inning of tonight’s matchup with the Yankees. Smith had been called upon to enter the game but was tossed before throwing a pitch after umpires checked him for foreign substances.

Smith is the third pitcher of the season to be ejected for foreign substances, each of whom has come from the two teams involved in tonight’s contest. Mets ace Max Scherzer was thrown out of a start in April, while Yankees starter Domingo Germán was ejected last month.

A foreign substance ejection comes with an automatic 10-game suspension. It’s likely MLB will formally levy that ban on Smith tomorrow. The righty will have the ability to appeal, though that would be heard by a league official. Neither Scherzer nor Germán pursued an appeal; both pitchers served out the suspension before returning to the roster.

Players suspended for an on-field rules violation cannot be replaced on the roster. Assuming Smith is indeed suspended, the Mets will have to play with a 25-man roster for a week and a half.

They’ll also be down one of their better high-leverage arms. The 29-year-old has a 4.18 ERA across 23 2/3 innings. He’d posted a 3.33 mark through 46 frames last year, however, and he’s striking hitters out at an above-average 27.7% clip. Smith has picked up a pair of saves and held eight more leads this year.

Braves, Jesus Aguilar Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves signed free-agent first baseman Jesus Aguilar to a minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was released by the A’s earlier this month.

Aguilar, who’ll turn 33 later this month, hit just .221/.281/.385 with five homers in 115 plate appearances for Oakland after signing a one-year, $3MM deal in the offseason. Oakland’s hope had been that Aguilar could recapture his 2017-21 form — .262/.338/.476, 93 homers in 1972 trips to the plate — and emerge as a summer trade candidate. That didn’t happen in the season’s first two months, however, and Oakland has turned first base over to impressive Rule 5 pick Ryan Noda on a full-time basis now.

During that 2017-21 peak, Aguilar was an All-Star (2017) and consistent power threat, topping out with a career-high 35 dingers back in 2018. At his best, Aguilar walked between 10-11% of his plate appearances and kept his strikeouts at or south of the league’s average rate. In 2023, he walked at a sub-par 7% clip and fanned in 27.5% of his plate appearances while delivering career-worst marks in average exit velocity (86.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (29.3%).

For the Braves, there’s little harm in bringing aboard a slugger with some track record on a no-risk deal. Atlanta is set at first base with Matt Olson and has gotten better play from designated hitter Marcell Ozuna of late, so there’s no pressing need on the big league roster. Aguilar can play some first base in Triple-A Gwinnett for the time being, and should the Braves incur an injury or simply want some additional right-handed thump off the bench, he could be an option in the event that he’s playing well.

Lance McCullers Jr. Undergoes Season-Ending Flexor Tendon Surgery

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4:16PM: Brown spoke with reporters (including Danielle Lerner) today about McCullers’ injury, and didn’t give any more specifics on when in 2024 McCullers could return.  The right-hander will begin throwing in November.

2:53PM: The Astros announced that Lance McCullers Jr. underwent forearm surgery on Tuesday, which will end the right-hander’s 2023 season.  The procedure removed a bone spur and, more significantly, repaired McCullers’ damaged right flexor tendon.

McCullers has been rehabbing a muscle strain suffered early in Spring Training.  Houston GM Dana Brown said last month that the team was looking at the All-Star break as a very rough estimate for when McCullers would be fully ready to return, but in the interim, McCullers suffered a pair of setbacks — he went from mound work to throwing off of flat ground, and was then shut down altogether due to continued soreness in his right arm.  A subsequent MRI presumably revealed the flexor tendon damage, and thus McCullers will now close the books on his 2023 campaign without a single pitch thrown.

As Brown explained in a team press release, “each time [McCullers] built himself up to an increased pitch total off the mound, the pain would come back.  It’s unfortunate, but we look forward to him being back on the mound next season.”  Perhaps noteworthy is the fact that Brown and the release’s initial paragraph didn’t specify when McCullers could be back in 2024, which would seemingly hint that the righty won’t be ready for the start of Spring Training.

This will mark the second lost season for McCullers in the last five years, as he also missed all of the 2019 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.  A flexor tendon strain suffered during the 2021 playoffs also limited McCullers to 47 2/3 innings last season, though he did return in time to make some starts down the stretch and throughout the postseason during the Astros’ World Series championship run.  The press release noted that the Spring Training injury represented a re-aggravation of that same 2021 injury, so hopefully the surgery will finally correct the issue that has plagued McCullers for the better part of two years.

Between McCullers’ procedure and Luis Garcia’s Tommy John surgery, the Astros have lost two members of their projected starting five to season-ending injuries.  Jose Urquidy has also been on the 15-day IL since the start of May due to shoulder inflammation, and while an MRI came back clean, Urquidy isn’t expected back until perhaps the All-Star break.  (On the plus side, Urquidy did tell Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle that he is hoping to throw a bullpen session in about a week’s time.)  If these injuries weren’t enough, former top prospect Forrest Whitley might also miss the rest of the season due to a lat strain.

Somewhat remarkably, Houston’s makeshift group of starters has still been one of the better rotations in baseball, in the latest testament to the organization’s minor league depth.  Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier have led the way as more experienced arms, but rookies Hunter Brown and J.P. France and swingman Brandon Bielak have all pitched well.  The latest edition of the MLBTR Podcast addressed what the Astros might do at the deadline in regards to adding starting pitching, including whether or not they might prioritize hitting over pitching in the wake of Yordan Alvarez’s oblique strain.

Between McCullers’ abbreviated 2022 season and now his lost 2023 season, it has been an unwelcome start to the five-year, $85MM extension the right-hander inked in March 2021.  McCullers is still owed $51MM between 2024-26, and if he is able to put his flexor problems behind him, there is plenty of time to better make good on the Astros’ investment.  Of course, it is also yet to be seen exactly how much of the 2024 season McCullers could miss, or whether or not he’ll be able to fully stay healthy given all the accumulated wear and tear on his arm in recent years.

Mets Release Tommy Hunter, Stephen Nogosek Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Nogosek has elected to become a free agent after turning down the outright assignment, according to multiple reports.

JUNE 13: The Mets have sent a pair of recently-designated relievers through waivers. Veteran righty Tommy Hunter has been released, while right-hander Stephen Nogosek was sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Hunter appeared in 14 games for the Mets this season after cracking the roster out of Spring Training. He allowed just under seven earned runs per nine innings over 23 2/3 frames. Home runs were the biggest culprit, as Hunter surrendered six longballs in 106 batters faced. He had a similarly high home run rate in 22 1/3 innings last year but found more success keeping runs off the board in 2022.

While it hasn’t been a banner season for the 36-year-old, he’s been an effective middle innings arm for the bulk of his career. Hunter has consistently shown excellent control, and this season’s 4.7% walk rate remains stellar. He’s only punched out 18.9% of opponents but had a decent 23.4% strikeout percentage a season ago. He figures to land a minor league deal elsewhere now that he’s back on the open market.

Nogosek cleared waivers after a similar start to the year. The out-of-options hurler posted a 5.61 ERA across 25 2/3 frames. He’s also allowed a half-dozen homers, though Nogosek’s strikeout and walk numbers (21.2% and 11.9%, respectively) are each above Hunter’s rates.

This is the second time the Oregon product has gone unclaimed on waivers in his career. The Mets also successfully outrighted him over the 2019-20 offseason. He’d therefore have the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency.

Mitch Haniger To Undergo Forearm Surgery

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TODAY: The Giants announced that Haniger will undergo forearm surgery tomorrow, and a more specific timeline on his recovery will be provided on Friday.  Davis will miss the next 3-10 days with a Grade 1 ankle sprain, so while an IL stint will be necessary, the infielder looks to have avoided a more serious issue.

JUNE 13: Giants outfielder Mitch Haniger fractured his right forearm during tonight’s game against the Cardinals, the club informed reporters (including Maria Guardado of MLB.com). Third baseman J.D. Davis was also diagnosed with a right ankle sprain.

Haniger was hit by a Jack Flaherty pitch on a check swing in the third inning. He immediately departed with Blake Sabol taking his spot in left field. Unfortunately, x-rays quickly revealed the fracture, which is sure to result in another lengthy stint on the injured list.

It’s horrible luck for the veteran outfielder. Haniger has had plenty of injury concerns over his career, including some fluke issues that have kept him out for extended runs. A 2019 testicular rupture sustained when he fouled a ball off himself ended up necessitating multiple core surgeries that cost him all of 2020. He returned for a full season in 2021 but missed a large chunk of last year with a high ankle sprain in his right leg.

The Giants rolled the dice on Haniger’s power upside despite his injury history. San Francisco inked him to a three-year, $43.5MM free agent guarantee with a post-2024 opt-out clause. The first season of the deal hasn’t gone as planned. Haniger opened the year on the IL after suffering a Spring Training oblique strain. He returned in late April but started slowly, hitting .230/.281/.372 over 160 trips to the plate with his new club.

Haniger is now headed back to the IL, leaving the Giants with a gap to plug in the outfield. While they could turn to Sabol or Austin Slater more frequently alongside Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski, it seems they’re considering bringing up one of their top prospects instead. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted (on Twitter), Luis Matos was pulled from tonight’s game with Triple-A Sacramento. The 21-year-old outfielder, who’s already on the Giants’ 40-man roster, is hitting .348/.415/.548 between the top two minor league levels.

Haniger’s injury isn’t the only concern from tonight’s game for San Francisco. Davis sprained his ankle while sliding into third base. He attempted to walk the injury off but moved rather gingerly and was taken out of the game. Casey Schmitt came in to replace him at the hot corner.

Davis has been one of San Francisco’s best hitters. The righty-swinging infielder is sitting on a .286/.369/.476 line with nine homers and a robust 10.9% walk rate through 245 plate appearances. If the injury sends him to the IL, Schmitt figures to take over third base. The rookie cooled offensively after a blistering start and owns a .276/.286/.405 slash over his first 32 MLB games. He’s walked just once in 119 plate appearances. Schmitt is making contact and regarded as a plus defensive third baseman, though, so he’d be a high-upside fill-in.

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