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White Sox Designate Shane Drohan For Assignment

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning, including that they’ve activated left-hander Shane Drohan from the 60-day injured list and designated him for assignment. In a separate move, the club selected the contract of left-hander Sammy Peralta. The club optioned right-hander Nick Nastrini to make room on the active roster. Chicago’s 40-man roster stands at 39.

Drohan, 25, joined the White Sox organization over the offseason when he was selected from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft. Chicago will have one week to either trade or waive Drohan, and if he clears waivers they must offer him back to Boston for $50K. If he lands with a new organization by trade or on waivers, Drohan’s Rule 5 obligations will carry over to that new club. Drohan underwent shoulder surgery back in February but began a rehab assignment on May 10. The 30-day window for Drohan’s rehab assignment ended today, meaning that he had to be activated from the IL and either placed on Chicago’s active roster in compliance with Rule 5 restrictions or designated for assignment.

The White Sox evidently chose to part ways with Drohan, and given his struggles during his rehab assignment it’s not hard to see why. In 9 1/3 innings of work over ten appearances spread across three levels of the minors, Drohan struggled to an 8.68 ERA with a 17.4% walk rate despite an excellent 32.6% strikeout rate. Those results worsened when he departed complex ball, as he yielded a 9.53 ERA with identical 20.7% strikeout and walk rates in seven appearances split between High-A and Triple-A. Even for a 17-48 club like Chicago, it’s difficult to justify dedicating an active roster spot to a player facing struggles that deep against minor league hitters.

Prior to the aforementioned shoulder surgery, Drohan had the look of an interesting pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization. The lefty dominated Double-A pitching to the tune of a 1.32 ERA with a 28.1% strikeout rate across six starts last year before being promoted to the Triple-A level. Drohan hit a wall during his time at Triple-A, however, as he walked 14.9% of batters faced across his 21 appearances (19 starts) while yielding a 6.47 ERA in 89 innings of work.

Those struggles were seemingly enough to convince Boston to leave Drohan off their 40-man roster this winter, although Chicago evidently believed that a move to short relief could help with Drohan’s control problems enough to make him a viable big leaguer. Should he wind up returning to Boston, it’s possible the Red Sox will keep Drohan in his new short relief role or perhaps look to stretch him back out as a potential depth option for the big league club in the event he manages to sort out his control issues.

As for Peralta, the lefty’s contract was first selected to the club’s roster back in May of 2023. He performed decently in a middle relief role for the club last year, with a 4.05 ERA and 4.41 FIP in 20 innings of work. Peralta’s lackluster minor league numbers and worrisome big league peripherals were enough to make him expendable for the White Sox as they sorted through their Opening Day roster crunch, and he was designated for assignment to make room for right-hander Jordan Leasure on the 40-man roster. That led to him being claimed off waivers by the Mariners, who then designated Peralta themselves to make room for righty Eduardo Salazar.

The White Sox then claimed him off waivers from Seattle to return him to the organization, only to designate him for a third time in two months in order to make room for righty Jake Woodford on 40-man roster. Peralta then finally cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minors in late May, but he spent less than two weeks there before being selected back to the roster today. Peralta’s rollercoaster first two months of the season have led him to a familiar role: that of a fill-in relief option who can pitch from the left side. The lefty struggled badly during his time in the Mariners organization but has 3 2/3 scoreless innings of work at the Triple-A level for the White Sox this year. He’ll hope to take that success into the majors with him as he joins the club’s bullpen alongside fellow lefties Tanner Banks, Jared Shuster, and Tim Hill.

As for Nastrini, the right-hander was a key component of the return for right-handers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly after Chicago traded them to the Dodgers last summer. Nastrini has made six starts at the big league level so far this season and has generally struggled badly, with a 8.39 ERA and 7.92 FIP in just 24 2/3 innings of work. While he held the Red Sox to just one run over 4 1/3 innings last night, he walked five of the 19 batters he faced. That performance at the big league level has clearly indicated to the Sox that the 24-year-old needs more time in the minors before he can contribute on the south side on a more permanent basis.

Cubs Have Reportedly “Privately Discussed” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Trade

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If the Blue Jays make star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. available this summer, it appears that the Cubs would be among the suitors for his services. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported this morning that Chicago’s brass have “privately discussed” the possibility of pursuing Guerrero ahead of the trade deadline next month.

Of course, such a deal would be predicated on Toronto actually making Guerrero available. Toronto is tied for fifth place in the AL East with a 31-33 record but currently sits just two games out of the final AL Wild Card spot, making a postseason push more than feasible in the event that the Jays manage to turn things around. Even if they don’t manage to climb back into contention, club GM Ross Atkins recently took to the radio to emphasize that trading either Guerrero or fellow star infielder Bo Bichette “doesn’t make any sense” for the Blue Jays to consider. This sort of deal would also surely require the Cubs themselves to turn things around prior to the trade deadline. While Chicago is just one game out of an NL Wild Card spot at the moment, their 31-34 record puts them mere percentage points ahead of the Cardinals for last place in a crowded NL Central division after a brutal skid that has seen them go 7-17 over their last 24 games.

All those caveats make it appear unlikely that a deal between the Jays and the Cubs will actually come together, although it’s worth noting that things can certainly change with nearly two months to go until deadline day. The idea that the two sides could come together on a Guerrero deal certainly has some logic to it, even as plenty of roadblocks remain in the way of a trade occurring. Reporting from ESPN’s Jeff Passan earlier this week indicated that the Jays are unlikely to set a course for their trade deadline strategy until after the All Star break, while Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently made note of the fact that the club has struggled with power production this season and indicated that he could look to address that issue ahead of the deadline.

If the Cubs are looking for power, Guerrero would certainly provide it. A three-time All Star in the midst of his age-25 season, the slugger has slashed a combined .284/.364/.498 with 113 home runs in 541 games since his breakout 2021 season where he led the majors with 48 long balls and finished second to Shohei Ohtani in AL MVP voting. In addition to his impactful offensive ability, Guerrero could be a particularly attractive trade candidate for Chicago due to his remaining team control. Most other speculative trade candidates who could add some thump to a lineup, such as Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Christian Walker, are set to become free agents after the 2024 campaign. Guerrero, on the other hand, is currently slated to hit free agency after 2025. That would not only give Chicago an additional full season of team control over Guerrero’s services, but also give them the opportunity to extend him a Qualifying Offer in the event he departs in free agency.

Guerrero has almost exclusively appeared at first base and DH in recent years, where the Cubs have relied primarily on Michael Busch and Mike Tauchman this season. While the pair have been perhaps the Cubs’ most effective hitters this year, neither player figures to get in the way of a trade for a player of Guerrero’s caliber. Busch has cooled off somewhat after a hot start to the year in April and is striking out a 33.8% clip on the season, while Tauchman turns 34 in December and is unlikely to be viewed as a long-term piece even in spite of his excellent play with the Cubs over the past year. For an impact talent like Guerrero, the Cubs would surely be willing to push Tauchman into more of a fourth outfielder role while still allowing him to draw some starts on days where Busch sits. It’s even possible that the Cubs could look to free up more playing time by getting Guerrero occasional time at third base, as the Blue Jays have started to do for the first time since moving him off the position back in 2019.

Guerrero offers little in terms of defensive value at the hot corner, but the Cubs’s options at third are hardly defensively robust in their own right. Christopher Morel has gotten the lion’s share of playing time at the position this year but has received terrible ratings from defensive metrics. His -11 Outs Above Average is dead last among all qualified fielders this year according to Statcast, while his -8 Defensive Runs Saved is tied for last among all qualified infielders according to Fielding Bible. Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and David Bote have all also seen occasional time at the hot corner for the Cubs this year, but none of them profile as quality defenders at the position themselves. If the Cubs share in Toronto’s willingness to give Guerrero even occasional starts at third base, that could allow manager Craig Counsell plenty of room to mix and match as he juggles Guerrero, Morel, Busch, and Cody Bellinger between the infield corners while also utilizing Bellinger alongside Tauchman, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the club’s outfield mix.

Hank Foiles Passes Away

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Former All Star catcher Hank Foiles passed away late last month at the age of 94, as noted by various sources including Jami Frankenberry of The Virginian-Pilot. An veteran of 11 major league seasons, Foiles played for the Reds, Indians, Pirates, Athletics, Tigers, Orioles, and Angels throughout his time in the big leagues.

Foiles started his professional career at the age of 19 as a member of the Yankees organization back in 1948, but he didn’t make his big league debut for several years. He was selected in the 1951 Rule 5 draft by the Reds but didn’t make his big league debut with the club until 1953. He appeared in just 12 games at the big league level that season between Cincinnati and Cleveland and collected three hits across his first 20 major league at-bats. Foiles wouldn’t play at the big league level in 1954 but split time with Hal Naragon as the backup to five-time All Star Jim Hegan in 1955. In 132 plate appearances that year, Foiles hit .261 with a solid .354 on-base percentage.

Foiles would appear in just one more game with Cleveland before being traded to Pittsburgh during the 1956 season. Although he had a down season at the plate during his first year with the club, his years in Pittsburgh would prove to be the most significant of his career as he earned the everyday catching job for the Pirates in 1957 and 1958. Foiles made the lone All Star appearance of his career in 1957 when he combined his glove-first profile with above average offense to slash .270/.352/.431 in 109 games.

On the 1957 NL All Star team, he joined legends of the game such as Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, and Henry Aaron opposite AL legends like Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. Foiles pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with Willie Mays on third base and drew a wild pitch to score Mays and bring the NL within two before delivering a single against longtime White Sox ace Billy Pierce. Foiles later scored from second on a single by Ernie Banks, though the NL would go on to lose the game 6-5.

Foiles would remain in Pittsburgh for two more seasons following his All Star season, and though his offense took step backward with a .209/.314/.355 line between the next two campaigns, he nonetheless made 157 appearances and 402 trips to the plate across those two seasons. 1960 saw Foiles change organizations multiple times, as he was traded from the Pirates to the then-Kansas City Athletics during the 1959-60 offseason but appeared in just six games with the club before being returned to the Pirates. He was then traded to Cleveland to act as their back-up catcher before a late July deal sent him to the Tigers. He finished the 1960 season in Detroit but was selected in the Rule V Draft for the second time that November, putting him in five different organizations over the course of one calendar year.

Over the next two years, Foiles would find his groove at the plate again as a back-up catcher for the Orioles and Reds with a combined slash line of .275/.338/.482 across 43 games. Foiles found himself on the move again in 1963 when he joined the Angels, and he appeared in 45 games for the club over the next two seasons with a roughly league average slash line of .216/.289/.386. He played his final game in the big leagues just a month before his 35th birthday on May 2, 1964. A career .243/.321/.392 hitter who appeared in 608 big league games, Foiles tallied 353 hits, 46 home runs, and 166 RBI during a solid major league career.

We at MLBTR offer our condolences to the Foiles family and to his friends, fans, and others who are mourning him around the game.

Braves Select Hurston Waldrep

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TODAY: The Braves officially announced the selection of Waldrep’s contract this morning. Right-hander Daysbel Hernandez was optioned to the minors and Acuna was placed on the 60-day injured list in corresponding moves.

June 8: The Braves are calling up top pitching prospect Hurston Waldrep, according to multiple reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman).  Waldrep will make his Major League debut on Sunday in a start against the Nationals, as Atlanta is giving Max Fried extra rest by pushing his next outing to Tuesday.  A 40-man roster space will have be opened to accommodate Waldrep, though that could be easily accomplished by moving Ronald Acuna Jr. or Spencer Strider to the 60-day IL.

The move represents another aggressive promotion from the Braves, as it was less than a year ago that Waldrep was selected with the 24th overall pick of the 2023 draft.  There was even some speculation that Waldrep was being considered for his MLB debut near the end of last season to give the Braves an extra high-powered bullpen arm for the playoffs, though the club opted against moving quite so quickly with the right-hander’s development.  Even still, Waldrep has only 84 2/3 pro innings under his belt, and just two starts at the Triple-A level.  Waldrep recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings with Triple-A Gwinnett last Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk in his first Triple-A outing of 2024.

This was enough to convince the Braves that Waldrep is ready for the Show, and the 22-year-old will now get an opportunity in what has become a revolving door of a fifth starter’s position.  Atlanta’s top four of Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, Charlie Morton, and Chris Sale has been very solid, but since Strider underwent season-ending elbow surgery, six other pitchers have gotten starts in Strider’s place.  None have achieved much success, so Waldrep might well get an extended look if he shows he can hang against big league hitters.

Waldrep was a consensus top-100 pick on preseason prospect rankings, with Baseball Prospectus (30th) and Baseball America (49th) the most bullish about his potential.  (He was ranked 77th by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, 80th by The Athletic’s Keith Law had him 80th, and 90th by MLB Pipeline, though Waldrep is now 72nd on Pipeline’s updated in-season list.)  There is universal acclaim for Waldrep’s splitter, which has upper-80s velocity and “completely falls off the table,” in the words of BA’s scouting report, leading to “ugly swings against hitters unable to hold back.”  Beyond this signature pitch is a fastball that regularly sits in the mid-90s and can hit as high as 99mph, and he also has a plus slider.

Controlling this arsenal has always been something of an adventure for Waldrep, so perhaps the most intriguing number on his 2024 stat line is his 7.56% walk rate over 55 1/3 total innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  That is already a big upgrade from the 13% walk rate he posted in his first 29 1/3 pro innings in 2023, and if this improved command can continue in the majors, Waldrep has front-of-the-rotation potential.  At the very least, Waldrep might profile as an elite closer down the road if he can’t stick as a starter, but naturally Atlanta will give him plenty of looks in the rotation before deciding on that step.

The obvious comparison here is with the hard-throwing Strider, and Strider might well have matched Waldrep’s first-round pedigree if he hadn’t undergone a Tommy John surgery in college.  Of course, it would be asking an awful lot of Waldrep to match Strider’s meteoric rise to big league stardom, and if Waldrep is “only” a decent rotation arm in his first taste of the majors, that is still a huge achievement for a pitcher just a year removed from the University of Florida.

If Waldrep can stay on the Major League roster for this season and beyond, he’ll be in good position to earn an extra year of arbitration eligibility as a Super Two player.  As per the Prospect Promotion Incentive qualification system, Waldrep can earn a full year of MLB service time if he finishes first or second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, though Waldrep would have to be truly exceptional to overtake the likes of Shota Imanaga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, or others who have excelled in the majors for the entire 2024 campaign.

Cardinals Notes: Contreras, Matz, Rotation, Hence

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Cardinals fans received some excellent news recently as injured catcher Willson Contreras told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) yesterday that he’s been cleared to resume baseball activity after a CT scan revealed good news regarding his surgically-repaired forearm. Contreras has already caught a bullpen for right-hander Andre Pallante and today he resumed hitting. Contreras indicated that he hopes to return to big league action by the end of the month, telling reporters that “it won’t be July” when he returns.

It’s an incredibly impressive turnaround for Contreras, who was initially expected to miss ten weeks of action after a swing of the bat from J.D. Martinez collided with his forearm back in May. Instead, he was cleared to resume baseball activities just one month to the day after sustaining the injury, and appears to be ramping up fairly quickly. A return before the end of June would place Contreras’s return at just six or seven weeks after the injury, though manager Oli Marmol pumped the brakes on talk of a quick return in conversation with reporters (including those at MLB.com). Marmol noted that the club will monitor how Contreras progresses over the coming weeks and lean on the team’s medical staff as they determine a more specific timeline for his return.

Whenever Contreras ultimately returns, he figures to be a huge asset to the Cardinals. The 32-year-old slugger was slashing an incredible .280/.398/.551 with a 171 wRC+ in 128 trips to the plate at the time of his injury and stood out as the hitter leading a scuffling Cardinals team that fell to a 15-21 record on the day of Contreras’s injury. While their catcher has been on the mend, St. Louis has surged back towards .500 and now sports a 30-33 record that places them just one game back of the final NL Wild Card spot. If St. Louis can manage to hang around the Wild Card race over the next few weeks and Contreras picks up where he left off upon his return, the catcher could help to further transform their offense as they look to establish themselves as contenders ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.

Contreras isn’t the only player progressing towards a return for the Cardinals this month, as veteran southpaw Steven Matz is scheduled to make his second rehab start on Tuesday at the Double-A level as he works his way back from a lower back strain that sidelined him at the end of April. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Matz is slated to throw 40 pitches during his next rehab start, meaning that there still figures to be quite a ways to go until he returns to the big league club. The Cardinals are reportedly planning on stretching Matz out into the 75-80 pitch range before he comes off the IL and steps back into the club’s big league rotation, a goal that will likely keep him on the shelf until sometime near the end of the month if he continues building up at his current pace.

In Matz’s absence, the Cardinals have not been able to settle on a fifth starter to fill the void behind Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Miles Mikolas. The club has used both right-hander Andre Pallante and lefty Matthew Liberatore to follow up that quartet in the weeks since Matz was placed on the shelf, but the duo has combined for a 7.11 ERA across five starts in Matz’s absence. Those struggles have led Marmol to be non-committal regarding who will take the ball when the fifth spot in the rotation is due up tomorrow against the Rockies, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Marmol has noted the starter will be chosen from “options already on the roster,” indicating that they won’t look toward other alternatives beyond Pallante or Liberatore just yet.

Right-handers Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein are already on the club’s 40-man roster and could theoretically be options to fill out the club’s rotation should St. Louis eventually decide to make a change, but the pair have ERAs of 4.46 and 4.50 respectively at the Triple-A level this year with no big league experience. Cardinals fans are surely hopeful that they’ll see right-hander Tink Hence, the club’s top prospect who has dominated the Double-A level during his age-21 season this year, impact the big league team at some point this year.

Fans hoping to see Hence in St. Louis this season were dealt a scare earlier this week when he was was pulled from his most recent Double-A start after just two innings. Fortunately, MLB.com notes that Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters that Hence’s removal was due to cramping rather than any sort of serious issue and that he should be ready to make his next start for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. Through 11 starts this year, Hence has pitched to a 3.19 ERA with a 2.82 FIP in 53 2/3 innings of work while striking out a fantastic 32.4% of batters faced. It would hardly be a surprise to see those numbers earn Hence a promotion to Triple-A in the near future; after all, St. Louis promoted him from High-A to Double-A after eleven similarly excellent starts last year.

Mariners To Select Tyler Locklear

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The Mariners are set to select first baseman Tyler Locklear prior to tomorrow’s game against the Royals, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The club will have to make corresponding moves to accommodate Locklear’s addition to both the 40-man and active rosters prior to tomorrow’s game.

Locklear, 23, was Seattle’s second-round pick in the 2022 draft. The Virginia Commonwealth product has moved quickly through the minors, reaching the Double-A level in just his first full professional season before reaching Triple-A 41 games into his 2024 campaign. He’s now poised to reach the majors after just ten games at Triple-A and with only 753 minor league plate appearances under his belt. His offensive output during his limited time at the minor league level certainly appears to indicate that he may be in need of a greater challenge, as he sports a career .289/.398/.508 slash line across all levels of the minors, including above average production by measure of wRC+ at every level he’s appeared at since graduating from complex ball.

That fantastic offensive performance has led him to become one of the more well-regarded prospects in the Mariners system. Baseball America rates Locklear as Seattle’s fifth best prospect and as the #83 prospect in all of baseball. BA highlights his “borderline plus-plus” power potential and patience at the plate, both traits that were on display when Locklear hit a fantastic .291/.401/.532 (155 wRC+) in 41 games at the Double-A level this season. Locklear clubbed eight home runs in just 188 plate appearances while walking at a strong 12.2% clip. That performance was good for the fifth-best on-base percentage and third-best wRC+ among all qualified hitters 25 or younger in the Texas League this season.

Locklear’s promotion to the majors comes amid injury concerns regarding first baseman Ty France. The 29-year-old is (as relayed by Divish) expected to undergo imaging on his right heel due to lingering “tenderness” after he was hit by a pitch from Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV during yesterday’s game. France indicated that he was hopeful he would only miss a few days of action, so it’s possible that he isn’t headed for the injured list to make room for Locklear on the active roster. While both Locklear and France have experience elsewhere on the infield, each has moved to first base full time in recent seasons and appears unlikely to be a factor at the other infield spots.

Should the Mariners plan to accommodate both Locklear and France in the starting lineup on a regular basis going forward, that would likely indicate reduced playing time for Mitch Garver, who has served as both the club’s regular DH as well as a backup catcher to Cal Raleigh. The possibility of Garver seeing less playing time going forward is hardly a shocking one given his struggles at the dish this year. While he enjoyed a strong .249/.347/.479 slash line with a 128 wRC+ between the 2021 and 2023 seasons with the Mariners and Rangers, Garver’s first season in Seattle has been difficult as he’s posted a line of just .177/.288/.331 (86 wRC+) in 54 games with the club this year.

Red Sox Notes: Devers, O’Neill, Yoshida

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Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers exited the club’s loss to the White Sox earlier today due to left knee soreness, though manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Tom Caron of NESN) following the game that the club is hopeful that the issue isn’t more serious than that. Caron also relayed comments from Devers himself about the issue. The 27-year-old noted that he would not be in the lineup for tomorrow’s series finale against Chicago but that he hoped to be back in the lineup for the start of the club’s series against the Phillies in Boston on Tuesday.

The news is yet another blow to a club that has dealt with injury woes up and down the lineup all season. Devers has generally been the one consistent offensive presence that the Red Sox have been able to rely on this year. Only Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran have appeared in more games for Boston than Devers this season, and the star third baseman has dominated to the tune of a .286/.376/.563 slash line. That’s good for a 155 wRC+, the seventh highest figure in the AL and fourth among all MLB infielders.

While the Red Sox appear to be optimistic that they’ll only be without that production for a game or two, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Devers’s knee has given him trouble this season. Cora told reporters (including those at the Associated Press) back in April that Devers had undergone an MRI on his left knee and was dealing with a bone bruise. The issue did not require a trip to the injured list but did force Devers to miss five games back in April, and if the injury proves to have worsened it wouldn’t be a shock to see Devers wind up on the IL now that it has flared up again.

With Devers now day-to-day, he finds himself in a similar position as outfielder Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill wasn’t in today’s lineup as he nurses an injured right knee that has caused him to play just three games since May 25. He was briefly placed on the 10-day injured list late last month but was activated early this week only to tweak his knee during yesterday’s loss to the White Sox. Fortunately, the AP notes that Cora told reporters today that the club hopes to avoid sending O’Neill back to the injured list due to the issue and, much like Devers, the hope is he can return to the club’s lineup on Tuesday against Philadelphia.

While O’Neill hasn’t been the offensive juggernaut that Devers has proven to be this season, he’s nonetheless been a key part of the Red Sox offense since arriving in a trade with the Cardinals over the winter. In 44 games with the club this year, the outfielder has slashed .250/.354/.500 with a 133 wRC+ and 11 homers in just 181 trips to the plate. That power production from the right side has been particularly valuable for the Red Sox as they’ve otherwise relied on lefty hitters such as Devers and Wilyer Abreu for their power production this season.

It’s unclear who would replace Devers in the lineup if he were to require a trip to the injured list, as injuries to Vaughn Grissom, Triston Casas, and Trevor Story have severely limited the club’s options around the infield. With David Hamilton handling shortstop duties and Jamie Westbrook splitting time alongside Enmanuel Valdez at the keystone, the club could be left to turn to Bobby Dalbec at the hot corner in the event of an injury to Devers, though they could also utilize Westbrook at third base and move catcher Connor Wong to second as they did to end the game this evening.

Figuring out how the club could handle the loss of O’Neill isn’t nearly as tricky, as the Worcester Red Sox announced this afternoon that outfielder and DH Masataka Yoshida has begun a rehab assignment with them. According to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, the club hopes that Yoshida will be able to rejoin the Red Sox at some point during this coming week. In the event that O’Neill were to require a return to the injured list, Yoshida could seamlessly replace O’Neill in the club’s outfield/DH mix, taking back his role as the regular DH while Duran, Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder handle the outfield.

Signed out of Japan to a five-year deal prior to the 2023 season, Yoshida has slashed .287/.339/.438 with a 109 wRC+ since his major league career began but appeared in just 24 games before being shelved due to a thumb sprain at the end of April. The 30-year-old seemed to be heating up in his final 48 trips to the plate before hitting the shelf as he slashed a solid .318/.375/.477 across 13 games. If he were to maintain a slash line in that range upon his return to action, that would surely provide the Red Sox with a major boost as they look to rebound from a skid that has left them with a 32-33 record and 1.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot.

AL East Notes: Soto, Kremer, Tiedemann

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Yankees fans received an update regarding the status of superstar outfielder Juan Soto today after he underwent imaging on his forearm yesterday. Manager Aaron Boone spoke to reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) this afternoon prior to the club’s scheduled game against the Dodgers about the young star’s status and noted that while a trip to the injured list “remains a possibility” for Soto, the club doesn’t currently anticipate one being necessary. Even so, Boone added that it could be at least “a couple” of days before Soto returns to the lineup as the club continues to be cautious about the injury.

That Soto is expected to avoid an IL stint is surely a relief for the Yankees, as their biggest offseason acquisition has carried the club offensively alongside Aaron Judge to this point in the season. Even by his own lofty standards, the young star has gotten off to an excellent start this year with a .318/.424/.603 slash line in 290 trips to the plate since the Yankees acquired him from the Padres in a blockbuster deal that sent a multi-player packaged headlined by righty Michael King to San Diego. A significant absence by Soto would be particularly devastating for the Yankees seeing as the 25-year-old has helped to pick up the club’s offense amid struggles from key regulars like Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres.

With Soto temporarily out of action, Trent Grisham figures to receive regular starts in the outfield, taking on the center field job and kicking Judge back to his previous role as the club’s everyday right fielder. If Soto were to ultimately require a trip to the shelf, it’s possible the Yankees could turn to youngster Everson Pereira to fill out their outfield mix. The well-regarded prospect struggled in his first taste of big league action last year but has slashed a solid .265/.346/.512 at the Triple-A level this season.

More to come…

  • Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer is making progress in his rehab from a triceps strain that sent him to the injured list late last month, as manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun) earlier this afternoon. As Meyer notes, Hyde indicated that Kremer is set to throw a bullpen within the next few days, with Hyde adding that “everything is trending in the right direction” regarding his recovery. While Hyde did not place a timeline on the right-hander beginning a rehab assignment to the minor leagues, a speedy return by Kremer would surely be a huge relief to an Orioles club that will be without both Tyler Wells and John Means for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. As things stand, the club is relying on Albert Suarez, Cole Irvin, and Cade Povich to fill out the rotation behind Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish, and Grayson Rodriguez.
  • Blue Jays top pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann was thought to be on the cusp of his big league debut entering the 2024 campaign, but those plans were scuttled when he was sidelined just eight innings into his season by inflammation of the ulnar nerve in his elbow. While it’s certainly fortunate that the lefty avoided any structural damage, the injury has nonetheless left him sidelined for the majority of the season. Fortunately, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi relayed earlier today that, according to Toronto manager John Schneider, Tiedemann threw a live bullpen yesterday where “everything went well.” Schneider went on to note that the next step for Tiedemann could be a rehab game either with Single-A Dunedin or perhaps with the club’s Florida Complex League team.

Matthew Boyd Throws For Clubs

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Free agent lefty Matthew Boyd threw for representatives of 17 of MLB’s 30 clubs yesterday, as reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Boyd remains unsigned just under one year after he underwent Tommy John surgery last June, prematurely ending his 2023 campaign with the Tigers.

Boyd, now 33, has long intrigued teams thanks to his ability to post high strikeout rates as a left-handed starter. The southpaw struck out a whopping 30.2% of batters faced for Detroit in 2019 while posting roughly league average run prevention numbers (104 ERA+), but has not completed a wire-to-wire 162-game season since then thanks a variety of injuries, including both flexor tendon surgery and the aforementioned Tommy John surgery.

Those injury woes have limited him to just 163 innings of work in the majors since the start of the 2021 season, but the results were those of a decent back-of-the-rotation arm despite the injury woes: he posted a 4.36 ERA and 4.12 FIP across 40 appearances (30 starts), both of which were roughly league average figures during that period. He struck out  22.1% of batters faced while walking a slightly elevated 8.1% and allowing 10.3% of is fly balls to leave the yard for home runs. That’s generally consistent with his performance even dating back to the 2018 season, with the shortened 2020 campaign standing out as Boyd’s only performance in his past half decade of work that fell below his roughly league average standard.

That sort of back-end rotation help would surely be greatly appreciated by a number of clubs as teams around the league have found themselves ravaged by starting pitching injuries this season. It’s not clear which teams were at Boyd’s showcase, although the Astros, Giants, Padres, Red Sox, Brewers, and Diamondbacks are among the many clubs that have multiple key pieces of their expected rotation currently on the shelf. For clubs in that situation, the idea of bringing Boyd in as a potential depth option on a low-deal deal is surely appealing particularly at a time when trade season is unlikely to begin in earnest for several more weeks.

Of course, it’s possible that clubs will view Boyd with caution thanks to his lengthy injury history and difficult 2023 season; prior to his surgery last year, the southpaw posted a lackluster 5.45 ERA in 15 starts with Detroit. It also remains unclear how close Boyd is to being able to impact a big league pitching staff, although Heyman notes that the southpaw was throwing in the 92-93 mph range during his showcase yesterday. That’s a tick above Boyd’s career 91.8 mph fastball velocity in the majors, which would seem to indicate that he’s fairly far along on the road to recovery.

Even if he’s nearly ready to return to pitching in games, however, the lefty would surely need time to build up his pitch count in the minor leagues before he could be a realistic option to start games at the big league level. Despite those potential question marks, it would hardly be a surprise to see a pitching-hungry team take a shot on Boyd with a minor league deal in hopes of shoring up their rotation depth ahead of the second half.

Rockies To Promote Adael Amador

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6:20pm: As relayed by Harding, club manager Bud Black confirmed to reporters this evening that Rodgers is being placed on the injured list, with Amador to be recalled in a corresponding move.

2:18pm: The Rockies are set to call up infield prospect Adael Amador for his Major League debut, according to reporter Francys Romero (X link).  Amador will bypass Triple-A entirely on his way to the big leagues, and the Rox will need to make a corresponding transaction to create room for Amador on both the 26-man roster, although he is already on the club’s 40-man roster.

It’s a surprisingly aggressive move for the Rockies considering that Amador is hitting only .194/.337/.329 over 209 PA with Double-A Hartford, though he does have 22 steals in 25 attempts.  However, it isn’t entirely clear whether or not Amador will officially be added to the roster today or if he’ll be on the taxi squad, as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding writes that the Rockies are still determining whether or not Brendan Rodgers will need to visit the 10-day injured list.  Rodgers left yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury and is currently day-to-day, so it is possible Amador might not be needed if Rodgers has a very quick recovery.

If Rodgers does hit the IL, or the Rox might give the 21-year-old Amador more or less everyday work at second base if Rodgers will be sidelined for at least the next 10 days.  Given the situation, it seems like Colorado prefers using a 40-man spot on Amador rather than create a space for any of their infield options at Triple-A, none of whom have much or any experience in the majors.  While Amador’s season-long numbers leave something to be desired, he has recently been on a tear, hitting .309/.400/.655 over his last 66 plate appearances.

While a stop at Triple-A was expected first, Amador was generally seen as an advanced enough prospect to be a candidate for his MLB debut in 2024.  Amador is ranked 32nd by MLB Pipeline and 34th by Baseball America on their constantly-updated top 100 prospects lists, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel also had the infielder 33rd on his preseason top-100 ranking.  Amador was an international signing for Colorado back in 2019, and due to the pandemic, he didn’t make his proper pro debut until he played in the Arizona Complex League in 2021.

Even if the Double-A numbers haven’t quite reflected it, Amador’s switch-hitting approach at the plate has been widely praised, and he has more walks (186) than strikeouts (172) over his minor league career.  This contact has been quality contact as well from both sides of the plate, even though Amador has yet to show much power.

It’s possible more pop could come as he gets older and perhaps gains more size (though Amador isn’t a small man at 6’0″ and 200 pounds), and even if his power numbers stay below average, it’s easy to see him driving double or triples into the big outfield at Coors Field.  Amador has stolen 73 bases of an even 100 attempts in the minors, and evaluators feel he could stick at shortstop, though the Rockies have made him pretty much a full-time second baseman since Ezequiel Tovar has the shortstop position locked down for the rest of the decade.  Since Rodgers is a free agent after the 2025 season, Amador has been viewed as Colorado’s new second baseman of the future.

Service time probably won’t be a big consideration for the moment since Amador’s first stint in the majors might not last too long (if at all), so it’s too early to speculate about Super Two qualification down the road.  Still, the fact that the Rockies are calling up Amador over their Triple-A options and are at least willing to consider starting his MLB service clock indicates that the team might have a longer look in mind for Amador later in the season.  Rodgers’ health situation will impact his potential trade value heading into the deadline, but a case can be made that the Rockies could move Rodgers before July 30 and clear the way for Amador at second base for the latter half of the 2024 campaign.

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