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Archives for August 2023

Prosecutors In Dominican Republic Evaluating Allegations Against Wander Franco

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Prosecutors in Peravia, Dominican Republic have opened an investigation into the social media allegations against Wander Franco, a prosecuting attorney told the Associated Press. The country’s National Agency for Boys, Girls, Adolescents and Family and Gender Violence Unit is handling the case.

According to the attorney’s office, they’ve yet to have any contact with U.S. officials or anyone from MLB. It’s unclear if/when prosecutors will speak with MLB officials, though they informed the AP they could provide more information on the investigation’s status at some point next week.

Social media posts over the weekend alleged that Franco had been engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a minor. After the posts garnered widespread public attention on Sunday afternoon, the Rays and Franco mutually agreed he’d be placed on the restricted list. Evan Drellich and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic wrote Monday evening that the star shortstop had pledged his innocence to Tampa Bay teammates but conceded his presence around the club would be a distraction. Franco also denied the allegations in a since-removed Instagram Live video on Sunday evening.

Franco does not count against the Rays’ roster while on the restricted list, though he and the team agreed he’d still collect his salary. Rookie Osleivis Basabe has started at shortstop in each of Tampa Bay’s three games since then.

Rockies Release Fernando Abad

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The Rockies have released veteran reliever Fernando Abad, according to his transaction page on MiLB.com. This is the second time he has been released by Colorado this season.

Since making his debut in 2010, Abad has pitched for the Astros, Nationals, Athletics, Twins, Red Sox, Giants, Orioles, and Rockies. From 2013-17, he was one of the more reliable middle relievers in the game, pitching to a 3.13 ERA and 3.75 SIERA in 275 games. Unfortunately, things began to go downhill in 2018. He sat out the season after being given an 80-game suspension for failing a PED test, and while he was back in 2019, he never quite returned to form. From 2019-21, he posted a 4.99 ERA and 4.66 SIERA in 37 games.

The southpaw seemed to have turned things around at the start of the 2023 season. Pitching for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes on a minor league deal, he put up a 1.69 ERA in his first 13 games, striking out 20 and walking only two. He earned a promotion to the big league club in May, but there he struggled in three appearances. His turnaround was short-lived, and he was designated for assignment less than a week after his promotion.

Abad signed another minor league deal with the Rockies shortly thereafter and returned to play for the Isotopes in June. He looked every bit as good as before, striking out eight batters in eight games with a 0.93 ERA. The Rockies promoted him again, yet still he struggled to find a role in the major leagues. He was designated for assignment in mid-July, and this time around, he failed to recapture his magic at Triple-A. In 4 2/3 innings of work, he gave up nine runs on ten hits, ultimately prompting his release.

As a free agent, Abad has the opportunity to sign with a new club, perhaps before the September 1 deadline for postseason eligibility. While he has struggled to stick in the majors for the past few years, he could provide an option for a team in need of left-handed depth.

Rays Designate Ryan Thompson for Assignment, Select Hector Perez

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3:55pm: Thompson had been on the minor league injured list with a minor elbow issue, tweets MLBTR’s Steve Adams, but was given a clean bill of health after a recent MRI was reviewed by team doctors and a third-party doctor. He threw a bullpen session this morning.

12:50pm: After placing right-handed reliever Kevin Kelly on the 15-day injured list with an ankle sprain, the Rays have selected Hector Perez from Triple-A Durham to take his place in the bullpen, as first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In a corresponding move, the team has designated Ryan Thompson for assignment to make room for Perez on the 40-man roster.

Kelly was drafted by the Guardians in 2019, and the Rockies picked him up in the Rule 5 draft this past December. Colorado flipped him to Tampa Bay the same day. He has performed well for the Rays this season, pitching to a 3.48 ERA and 3.89 SIERA in 48 games out of the bullpen, although he has shown signs of tiring since the All-Star break. The rookie is already nearing his career-high in innings pitched. It is unclear how severe Kelly’s ankle injury is, but he will not be eligible to return until August 31.

Perez made his MLB debut for the Blue Jays in 2020, pitching in a single game. He has not pitched in a major league game since; he had his contract selected by the Rays earlier this season but was DFA’d without appearing in a game. He came to Tampa Bay this winter in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. In 53 innings at Triple-A, he has a 4.08 ERA. His 30% strikeout rate is impressive, but his 13% walk rate is a cause for concern.

Thompson also came to the Rays organization in the minor league portion of a Rule 5 draft, back in 2018. He was a solid bullpen piece from 2020-22, appearing in 108 games with a 3.50 ERA and 3.42 SIERA. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been nearly as effective in 2023. He has bounced back and forth between the Rays and Durham Bulls, and while his 3.26 ERA and 30.4% strikeout rate in Triple-A are impressive, his 6.11 ERA in 17 2/3 major league innings is not.

Thompson has been on the minor league injured list since August 6, so he cannot be placed on outright waivers. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Rays will have to put him on release waivers in the coming days. He’s being paid a $1MM salary in 2023 and still has about $247K of that sum left on his deal. A new team would take on that money upon claiming him but would also gain an additional three years of club control over the right-hander.

Mariners Select Brian O’Keefe

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The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Brian O’Keefe. He will take the active roster spot of fellow backstop Tom Murphy, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain, retroactive to August 14. The club already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster.

O’Keefe, 30, gets called to join the Mariners for the second time in his career. He was selected in late September last year, getting into two games before being non-tendered in the offseason and re-signing on a minor league pact. He’s spent all of this year with Triple-A Tacoma in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Despite hitting 22 home runs and drawing walks in 11.1% of his plate appearances, his .240/.325/.511 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of just 91.

He will slide into the backup role behind starter Cal Raleigh, taking the place of Murphy, who has an uncertain timeline but will be officially out for more than a week. Murphy has generally been an above-average hitter in his career but health has been an impediment. He’s never reached 100 games played in a season and was limited by a dislocated shoulder to just 14 contests last year. He’s played 47 games this year, hitting a huge .290/.335/.538 for a wRC+ of 142, but will now have to put that strong season on pause.

Dating back to his debut in 2015, Murphy is a career .244/.313/.456 hitter, which translates to a wRC+ of 106. Despite almost a decade in the bigs at this point, he’s played just 315 games but has generally succeeded when on the field. He’s set to reach free agency at season’s end.

Royals Select John McMillon

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The Royals announced that they have selected right-hander John McMillon. In corresponding moves, right-hander Nick Wittgren was optioned to Triple-A while righty Brad Keller was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

McMillon, 25, was signed by the Royals in 2020 as an undrafted free agent. Since then, he’s climbed the minor league ranks by racking up huge strikeout totals, but also demonstrating a clear lack of control. He spent last year in Single-A, tossing 31 innings at that level with a 6.10 earned run average. He struck out 30.8% of batters faced but also walked an eye-popping 26%.

Here in 2023, he’s already covered three levels, going from Single-A to High-A and Double-A. He’s thrown a combined 51 1/3 frames between those stops with a 2.10 ERA. The 12.4% walk rate is still on the high side but a massive improvement over last year. He hasn’t lost any strikeout stuff either, punching out 45.3% of opponents.

With those extremes in his performance, there’s naturally some variation in the evaluations on his abilities. FanGraphs ranked him the #11 prospect in the system last month while Baseball America recently pegged him at #29. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs highlights McMillon’s fastball and slider, giving both pitches a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, adding that the righty could be an elite reliever right now with better control.

The Royals are well out of contention with a record of 39-82, second-worst in baseball with only the A’s beneath them. They can use the remainder of the season to give McMillon a shot at getting big league hitters out, skipping him over Triple-A, at least for the time being.

As for Keller, his transfer is largely a formality since he’s already been on the IL longer than 60 days, landing there back on May 19 due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. He started a rehab assignment in June but his discomfort eventually returned, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He started another rehab assignment earlier this week but will have to ramp up and stay healthy before he’s likely to be activated. He’s set to become a free agent at the end of the season.

Mets Designate Edwin Uceta For Assignment

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The Mets announced Wednesday that right-hander Edwin Uceta has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow righty Dennis Santana, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Syracuse. Right-hander Jose Butto was optioned to Syracuse in a corresponding 26-man roster move.

Uceta, 25, was a waiver claim out of the Pirates organization back in April. He’s missed substantial time this season after undergoing surgery to address a torn meniscus in his left knee — a June procedure that sidelined him for eight weeks. The Mets only recently reinstated him from the 60-day injured list. He’s pitched three shutout frames at the big league level this season and another 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the minors. That said, Uceta has also walked six hitters against just two strikeouts in the minors, and he issued a pair of free passes while facing a total of 11 big league hitters earlier this season.

Command has been an issue for Uceta throughout the upper minors (13.4% walk rate in 83 1/3 Triple-A innings) and in the Majors (11.9%). Broadly speaking, he’s shown good ability to spin his four-seamer and to miss bats in the upper minors, but he hasn’t yet found much success above the Double-A level. Uceta has a 4.64 ERA in 83 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level and a 5.80 mark in 40 1/3 frames between the Dodgers, D-backs and Mets in the big leagues.

The 27-year-old Santana has had better, albeit still below-average results in the Majors, working to a 5.18 ERA in 147 2/3 innings between the Dodgers, Rangers and Mets. He tossed 8 2/3 innings for the Mets earlier this season, yielding six runs in that time before being designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers. Since heading to Triple-A, he’s logged 33 innings with a 4.91 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 13.2% walk rate. Command has been an issue for Santana as well, but he throws harder than Uceta and keeps the ball on the ground far more often.

The Mets have only gotten 6 2/3 innings out of their starters over the past two games, so swapping out Butto for Santana — at the expense of Uceta’s 40-man spot — will give manager Buck Showalter a fresh arm in the event of another short start in the next couple games. Uceta will be placed on waivers or released within the next week. He’s never been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of service time, so if he goes unclaimed the Mets can retain him via outright assignment.

Rangers Release Kevin Plawecki

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The Rangers have released veteran catcher Kevin Plawecki from their Triple-A affiliate, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’ll head back to the market and perhaps latch on with a new organization seeking catching depth in advance of the Sept. 1 deadline for postseason eligibility.

Texas originally acquired Plawecki, 32, from the Padres in exchange for cash on July 28. It was a logical depth addition at the time, as Jonah Heim had just hit the injured list with a wrist strain that might have required surgery. Heim has since returned from the injured list, however, and Texas further bolstered its catching depth just days after adding Plawecki. Defensive standout Austin Hedges was acquired from the Pirates and was already on the 40-man roster. With Heim healthy enough to play and Hedges joining him and Mitch Garver as catching options on the big league roster (plus prospect Sam Huff in Triple-A), there’s no clear path to the big leagues for Plawecki.

Plawecki only appeared in 10 games with Triple-A Round Rock but hit well, batting .294/.400/.325 in 40 trips to the plate. He’s also spent time with the Triple-A affiliates for the Nats and Padres in 2023, batting a combined .272/.349/.389 in 269 trips to the plate. He’s yet to appear in the Majors this season after logging at least 24 games in each of the past eight big league seasons.

Selected by the Mets with the 35th overall pick in the 2012 draft, Plawecki is a career .235/.313/.341 hitter in 1426 plate appearances. He’s operated mostly as a backup in the big leagues, never topping 277 plate appearances in a given season. Plawecki has never excelled at controlling the running game (career 19% caught-stealing rate) but has drawn above-average marks for his framing and pitch blocking, per Statcast.

Athletics’ JJ Bleday Diagnosed With ACL Sprain

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The A’s placed outfielder JJ Bleday on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain last night, and manager Mark Kotsay further specified to reporters that an MRI revealed a sprain in Bleday’s anterior cruciate ligament (Twitter link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). A return this season is not certain.

On the one hand, the fact that Bleday isn’t headed straight for surgery, as is common with ACL injuries, is a relative silver lining. Any sprain involves some degree of stretching and/or tearing in the ligament, by definition. In that sense, it’s perhaps fortunate that Bleday escaped a more dire injury. On the other hand, even a lower-grade sprain that can be treated without resorting to surgery is still an injury of note, as evidenced by the team’s uncertainty about a return in the next six-plus weeks.

Bleday, 25, was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft, going to the Marlins after a strong college career at Vanderbilt. The A’s acquired him in an offseason swap of former top-10 picks that had yet to fully live up to their draft and prospect pedigree, sending lefty A.J. Puk to Miami in return. Bleday came to Oakland with six full years of team control remaining, whereas Puk already had two years of MLB service and was on the cusp of reaching arbitration.

A consensus top-10 talent in that year’s draft class — ranking within the top five on multiple pre-draft rankings — Bleday demolished NCAA pitching with a .347/.465/.701 batting line and 27 home runs in 347 plate appearances during his final season with the Commodores. Outside of a 2021 stint in the Arizona Fall League, however, he’d never come close to that type of production in the professional ranks. Bleday hit .257/.311/.379 in High-A following the draft, didn’t play in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, and posted a .212/.323/.373 slash in Double-A back in 2021.

Bleday began drawing walks at a massive 16.3% clip and showing off his plus raw power with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate in 2022, but he did so while hitting .228 with a concerning 27% strikeout rate. Last season’s big league debut saw him post just a .167/.277/.309 slash, and the Marlins flipped him to Oakland in hopes of strengthening their bullpen.

Bleday’s first season with the A’s has been a bit more encouraging than his rocky debut with the Fish. This year’s .316/.429/.643 line in 119 Triple-A plate appearances is easily his best minor league production to date, and he more importantly dropped his Triple-A strikeout rate from 27% all the way down to 12.6%. The improved approach carried over to the Majors, to an extent. Bleday lopped five percentage points off his big league strikeout rate (23.2%) while narrowly improving his walk rate from 12.6% to 13.4%. He also upped his power output, his average exit velocity and his hard-hit rate. That said, his .203/.313/.373 slash still falls well shy of what the A’s had hoped to acquire when trading for him.

Even though he hasn’t exactly established himself as a clear big leaguer yet, Bleday should have ample opportunity to do so in 2024. Oakland already parted ways with Ramon Laureano, designating him for assignment and watching Cleveland claim him on waivers. Tony Kemp has logged the most time of any A’s player in left field this year, but he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Seth Brown has seen plenty of action between both outfield corners, but he’ll be a trade or non-tender candidate in the offseason after an ugly first half — he’s hitting well since the All-Star break — and with an arbitration raise looming. Brent Rooker has faded since his hot start to the season (.200/.272/349 since mid-May) and has spent more time at DH than in the outfield corners this year anyhow.

Given Bleday’s Triple-A performance this season and the improvements in his approach at the plate and power production, it stands to reason that he’ll be in the mix for a corner outfield job next spring. He’ll also have two minor league option years remaining beyond the current campaign, so the A’s can easily get him more work in Triple-A if he doesn’t grab a starting job out of the gate next year.

The Opener: Bichette, Anderson, Dodgers

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Here are three things around the baseball world we’ll be tracking today…

1. Bichette return looming?

Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was slated to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo last night, slotting in as the designated hitter, but that contest was rained out. TSN’s Scott Mitchell tweets that the plan had been for Bichette to DH on Tuesday and play shortstop Wednesday, with a Friday return in Cincinnati possible. The Jays are off tomorrow, while their Triple-A club now has games scheduled both today and tomorrow. Bichette could still DH today, play shortstop tomorrow, and technically return as soon as Friday. The Jays will evaluate Bichette following today’s DH appearance but still hope to get him into a game at shortstop before reinstating him, per Mitchell. The 25-year-old Bichette is enjoying an excellent season at the plate, hitting .321/.352/.494 with 17 home runs, but he’s been out since July 31 due to patellar tendinitis in his right knee.

2. Anderson’s suspension appeal:

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson is facing a six-game suspension following the benches-clearing brawl that began when Anderson and Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez got into a fist fight following the latter’s slide into second base. Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweets that Anderson’s appeal is scheduled for tomorrow, barring a settlement at some point today. Within the next day then, we should know whether Anderson will serve that full six-game ban or perhaps a reduced punishment. The two-time All-Star and 2019 AL batting champion is having the worst season of his career at the plate (.240/.285/.286), although in 103 plate appearances since the All-Star break he’s posted a .290/.359/.355 batting line.

3. Dodgers going for 10 in a row:

Earlier this season, it looked as though the Dodgers might be dethroned in the NL West, but their recent play has once again made them a commanding favorite to win their 10th division title 11 years. They’ll send Clayton Kershaw to the mound tonight against the Brewers as they seek their 10th straight victory — the longest active win streak in Major League Baseball at the moment. Kershaw, 35, will be making just his second start since returning from a six-week stay on the injured list. He’s been his usual dominant self when healthy, pitching to a 2.51 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate in 100 1/3 innings this season. Kershaw currently ranks fourth among active pitchers in strikeouts with 2916 in his career. He trails only Max Scherzer (3340), Justin Verlander (3290) and Zack Greinke (2955) in that regard. Depending on how long Greinke’s recent placement on the IL lasts, Kershaw could move into third place on that esteemed ranking by season’s end.

Shane McClanahan To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Rays ace Shane McClanahan will require Tommy John surgery next week, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’s expected to miss the entire 2024 campaign.

It’s a devastating if not entirely unexpected development. The two-time All-Star left his start on August 2 after experiencing forearm discomfort. Tampa Bay has been exploring their options for the past couple weeks, though the club had already confirmed he was expected to miss the remainder of 2023 and that surgery was a consideration. He’s already on the 60-day injured list.

Surprising or not, it’s hard to overstate the significance of losing a pitcher of McClanahan’s caliber. The former first-round draftee debuted with 25 starts of 3.43 ERA ball two seasons ago. By his second major league season, he’d broken through as one of the game’s best pitchers. McClanahan was a legitimate Cy Young contender into August last year before a shoulder impingement cost him a couple weeks.

The absence dropped the South Florida product to sixth in Cy Young balloting, but he still finished his sophomore campaign with a 2.54 ERA through 166 1/3 frames. While his ERA took a bit of a step back this season, a 3.29 mark over 21 starts still ranks 19th among big league starters (minimum 100 innings). He’s 23rd among that same group with a 25.8% strikeout rate. McClanahan earned his second consecutive All-Star nod last month.

Tampa Bay has dealt with a brutal stretch of pitching injuries over the past few months. Top prospect Shane Baz has missed the entire year after undergoing a Tommy John procedure last September. McClanahan becomes the third member of the Rays’ season-opening starting staff to require surgery this year. Jeffrey Springs required a Tommy John procedure in April; Drew Rasmussen underwent flexor tendon surgery last month.

Even after the absences to Baz, Springs and Rasmussen, the Rays had an effective top of the rotation. McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin made for an excellent trio. With McClanahan now out of the picture, Glasnow assumes the role of staff ace. Eflin — who has dealt with knee issues throughout his career but has a 3.67 ERA through 23 starts in his first season with Tampa Bay — is the #2 option.

The early-season injuries led the Rays to acquire Aaron Civale from the Guardians at the deadline. That acquisition takes on increased importance with McClanahan out. Still, there’s little recourse beyond internal options for Tampa Bay in patching together the final two rotation spots. Taj Bradley has been up-and-down as a rookie and is on optional assignment to Triple-A. The Rays have pushed Zack Littell into the rotation and recently activated Josh Fleming from the injured list.

Tampa Bay enters play Tuesday three games back of the Orioles in the AL East. They’re still in strong playoff position, 7.5 games clear of the Mariners (the top non-playoff team in the AL). Their chances of running down Baltimore to secure a first-round bye and/or making a deep run once they get into October are obviously dealt a hit by the loss of one of the game’s best starters.

This is the second Tommy John procedure of McClanahan’s career. He missed his freshman year at USF after undergoing surgery in 2016. The Rays figure to be especially cautious with his recovery as a result, although there’s a good chance he would have missed all of ’24 even if this were his first TJS.

McClanahan has just under three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration as a Super Two player next offseason. The Rays will need to carry him on their 40-man roster during the offseason but will immediately place him back on the 60-day IL next spring. He’ll collect service time while rehabbing and remains on track to first reach free agency after the 2027 campaign.

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