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Archives for May 2024

Giants Place Patrick Bailey On 7-Day Concussion IL

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The Giants placed catcher Patrick Bailey on the seven-day injured list for concussion-related symptoms.  Blake Sabol was called up from Triple-A to take Bailey’s spot on the active roster.

Alec Bohm fouled a ball off Bailey’s mask in the first inning of San Francisco’s 4-3 loss to the Phillies yesterday.  (In a costly game for both teams, Trea Turner also suffered a hamstring strain that has resulted in an IL trip.)  Bailey tried to stay in the game but in the next inning, he left the field and was replaced by Tom Murphy behind the plate.  The Giants didn’t immediately place Bailey in concussion protocol, but the catcher did receive treatment and was announced as suffering from blurred vision.

The specialized seven-day version of the IL allows players and teams a little extra flexibility when dealing with potential concussions.  If a player passes tests, he only has to miss seven days instead of the standard 10 days, and a team is likewise not left short-handed on its roster if a player is going day-to-day while dealing with any lingering symptoms.  It also removes any inclination for the player to try and play through the symptoms, which carries increased danger given the nature of head-related injury.

In the best-case scenario, Bailey would be back in the Giants’ lineup in seven days’ time, though the team might be a little more careful with its franchise catcher given his past concussion history.  As MLB.com’s Maria Guardado notes, Bailey has been playing wearing a Q-collar device for extra safety since he went on the seven-day IL last September, though he was able to return from that stint in a minimal amount of time.

After making his MLB debut last season, Bailey’s excellent defense established him as San Francisco’s catcher of the future, and he has taken some big steps forward at the plate in 2024.  Bailey had a modest .233/.285/.359 slash line and seven homers over 353 plate appearances in 2023, but he has hit .278/.344/.456 with three home runs in his first 91 PA this season.  With the Statcast numbers largely backing up this breakout, Bailey’s absence is an even bigger blow to a Giants lineup that is lacking in consistent production.

The combination of Murphy and Sabol will hold the fort at catcher until Bailey is back.  Murphy has posted some very good numbers in limited or part-time duty with the Mariners but his bat has been cold so far in 2024, while Sabol is now set to receive his first MLB playing time of 2024.  Sabol was a Rule 5 pick in 2022, and he spent the entire 2023 season on San Francisco’s roster playing as a part-time catcher and left fielder.  Sabol hit .235/.301/.394 with 13 home runs in 344 PA during his rookie season.

Reds Release Mike Ford

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1:35PM: The Reds officially announced Ford’s release.

TODAY, 8:18AM: The Reds will release Ford, Jon Heyman reports (via X).

MAY 1: First baseman Mike Ford has exercised an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Reds, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The team will now have 48 hours to decide whether to select Ford to the big league roster or grant him his release.

The 31-year-old Ford had a massive spring training performance with Cincinnati and has carried that over into the regular season in Triple-A Louisville. The slugger mashed at a ridiculous .455/.486/.727 clip and belted three homers in 31 spring plate appearances. He’s now hitting .297/.381/.538 with six homers for the Bats and has drawn walks at a hearty 11.4% clip against a manageable 19.4% strikeout rate.

Ford’s strong spring and Triple-A production come on the heels of a nice performance with the 2023 Mariners. He hit just .228 but reached base at a .323 clip and slugged .475 in 251 trips to the plate. The longtime Yankees farmhand circled the bases on 16 home runs last year and also smacked six doubles. His 9.6% walk rate was better than league-average, but his 32.3% strikeout rate was well north of average and a notable red flag.

Ford has long had plus power and questionable contact rates. That makes this year’s small sample in Triple-A worthy of some skepticism but also intriguing for the Reds or any other team seeking a low-cost source of lefty power — be it off the bench or in a more prominent first base/designated hitter role. Ford hasn’t been allowed to face lefties much in his career but torched them in 24 plate appearances last year and has actually fared better against fellow southpaws in his career at large. It’s only 108 plate appearances, but he’s a .268/.343/.577 hitter versus lefties compared to .200/.303/.389 against righties (in a much larger sample of 611 plate appearances).

For the Reds, there could be some temptation to bring Ford to the big league roster. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has made 25 starts at first base but is batting only .196/.222/.314 with a 28.7% strikeout rate and just a 2.8% walk rate in 108 plate appearances. The former top prospect had a nice debut showing in 2023 (.270/.328/.477 in 241 plate appearances) but has been 57% worse than average at the plate in ’24, by measure of wRC+.

Designated hitter/outfielder Nick Martini has also cooled after a blistering start to the season; he homered twice in the season opener and slashed .290/.303/.677 through his first 33 plate appearances but has just five hits in 46 subsequent plate appearances. Martini has a minor league option remaining but could be a DFA candidate, given his journeyman status. Encarnacion-Strand has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining, if Cincinnati wants to give him a breather in Louisville to get back on track. Speculatively speaking, swapping out Ford for either of Martini or Encarnacion-Strand makes some sense in the short term.

Braves Place Pierce Johnson On 15-Day Injured List

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The Braves placed right-hander Pierce Johnson on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing elbow.  Johnson’s placement is backdated to May 1.  Atlanta also announced that Jackson Stephens’ contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett, and that to create 40-man roster space for Stephens, left-hander Angel Perdomo was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Acquired from the Rockies prior to last season’s trade deadline, Johnson posted an 0.76 ERA over 23 2/3 innings for the remainder of the 2023 season, with a 36% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate to go along with that tiny ERA.  Given those hugely impressive numbers, it isn’t surprising that the Braves moved to extend Johnson before he hit free agency, locking up the righty to a two-year, $14.25MM contract last October before Johnson hit the open market.

Johnson’s numbers haven’t been quite as outstanding in 2024, yet with a 3.00 ERA, 32% strikeout rate, and a 58.6% grounder rate, there’s still plenty to like about his performance.  His walk rate has ticked back up to 10 percent, which is of some concern given how control has sometimes been a struggle for Johnson throughout his seven MLB seasons.

For now, however, the bigger concern is just getting Johnson back onto the field, though there isn’t yet any indication that his elbow problem is anything more than soreness.  Johnson (who turns 33 next week) did miss most of the 2022 season due to forearm tendinitis, so his recent injury history does have a prominent arm-related issue.

The Braves’ deep bullpen should provide enough cover to withstand a relatively short absence for Johnson, but in the meantime, Stephens should receive his first MLB action of the 2024 season.  The right-hander posted a 4.83 ERA for the Reds over 63 1/3 innings in 2018-2019 and a 3.56 ERA for the Braves in 65 2/3 frames in 2022-23, and spent the three seasons in between pitching in the minors, the Mexican League, and sitting out due to the canceled 2020 minor league season.

Stephens is out of minor league options, so he has been a frequent visitor to DFA limbo over the last year as the Braves had to continually designate him for assignment and then outright him in order to remove Stephens from the 40-man roster.  While Stephens has used his right to elect free agency rather than just accept the outright assignments, he has then re-signed with Atlanta on a new contract.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see this scenario play out again if Stephens’ latest stint on the 26-man is relatively short-lived, either due to Johnson’s quick return or if Atlanta cycles another fresh arm into the bullpen and Stephens is against the odd man out.

Perdomo underwent Tommy John surgery last October, so he was already slated to miss the entirety of the 2024 season.  Surgery notwithstanding, the Braves claimed him off waivers from the Pirates last November (ironically, with Stephens getting outrighted as the corresponding move), cut Perdomo prior to the non-tender deadline, and re-signed him to a split contract in December.  Since Perdomo is controlled through the 2028 season, the Braves are making a long-term bet on a reliever who had some pretty solid numbers for Pittsburgh in 2023.

GM Bill Schmidt Discusses Rockies’ Tough Start

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The Rockies are 8-24 over the season’s first 32 games, ahead of only the White Sox (6-26) in the overall league standings.  Even with five months remaining on the schedule, a turn-around doesn’t seem too likely, as Colorado did very little to improve last season’s 103-loss roster and was widely expected to again post one of baseball’s worst records.

Even amidst this dire beginning to the season, general manager Bill Schmidt still believes that “good things are going to happen” at Coors Field.  In an interview with Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, Schmidt discussed several topics related to the Rockies’ poor start, but cited “the inconsistency of our offense” as the main problem.

“We have been in a lot of games, but we haven’t figured out how to win those games….But at the end of the day, we haven’t gotten the big hit to put us ahead, to get us back into the game, to win a game.  For me, it comes back to our offense and our lack of execution,” Schmidt said.  When asked by Saunders whether the Rockies’ approach to hitting was an issue, Schmidt said “it’s not about our strategy….Our guys care, and they are trying hard, but they have to be more disciplined.  [Hitting coach Hensley Meulens] and those guys talk about that all the time. They talk about the strike zone and being patient.  The work ethic is great.  Guys are trying, but at the end of the day, guys aren’t getting it done.”

Colorado ranks 24th of 30 teams in runs scored (120), 26th in home runs (25), and 28th (78th) in wRC+.  The Rox haven’t been gotten the traditional benefit from the thin air of Coors Field, as they rank last in the majors in home wRC+, with only a 74 number.  As Schmidt noted, players like Kris Bryant, Nolan Jones, and Brendan Rodgers were expected to be key parts in the lineup but they’ve all struggled to date, and Bryant and Jones are currently on the injured list.

A lower back strain has kept Bryant out of action since mid-April, continuing the former NL MVP’s run of injuries since signing a seven-year, $182MM free agent deal with Colorado during the 2021-22 offseason.  Schmidt said that there isn’t yet a timetable for Bryant’s rehab or when he might return to the lineup, but “he’s feeling better” and “is starting to do baseball activities.”

While Schmidt isn’t wrong that the lineup hasn’t produced, for the GM to point the finger primarily at the offense overshadows the more obvious concern that the Rockies sit at or near the bottom of the league in most major pitching categories.  Schmidt did admit that “it’s not a great bullpen” but also claimed that “for the most part, the starting rotation has been OK.”  Even with a nod to the injury-depleted nature of the rotation, “OK” is a real reach considering that Colorado is 30th of 30 teams in ERA (5.79), SIERA (4.58), WHIP (1.58), and strikeout rate (16.5%).  An argument can certainly be made that the Rox might still be struggling even if they had a top-ten lineup, simply because the pitching has been so poor.  The rotation has been obviously hurt by the losses of German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela to Tommy John surgery and Kyle Freeland to an elbow strain, though that isn’t necessarily the most solid of top threes even if everyone was healthy.

Beyond just Meulens, Schmidt felt the coaching staff as a whole and manager Bud Black “are doing a very good job….because of the work ethic of the players.  Our guys are playing hard.  The effort level is there, night in and night out. That’s what I see.”  Perhaps interestingly, Schmidt didn’t address the topic of a potential contract extension for Black when Saunders asked about the seeming lack of news on the subject of the skipper’s future.

Black is in his eighth season in Colorado, and his first two seasons with the club resulted in postseason appearances.  Since then, however, the Rox haven’t posted a winning record, resulting in Black’s lackluster 484-580 overall record during his managerial tenure with the team.  Black signed one-year contract extensions in March 2022 and March 2023, but despite some reports of talks during Spring Training, no new deal was announced this year.

It could be that an extension was quietly reached but not publicly revealed, as the Rockies have tended to take something of an unique approach to managerial contracts.  With both Black and former manager Jim Tracy, the two sides operated on an unofficial year-to-year handshake deal, so it might be that the Rox didn’t see the need this time for a formal announcement of another extension.  Or, the lack of an announcement might imply that Black is having some hesitation on his own end of the deal — Black turns 67 in June, so it might not be a surprise if he is considering retirement.

As for positives, Schmidt cited the improved numbers posted by Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle, Ezequiel Tovar, and the Elias Diaz/Jacob Stallings catching combo.  Between these players, healthy and productive returns from Bryant and Jones, and just overall improved hitting, Schmidt is confident the Rockies can play some better baseball.

This type of semi-positive outlook might not be what Denver fans want to hear, but in fairness to Schmidt, it’s pretty rare that an executive in his situation would outright slam his players or his coaching staff over the 8-24 start.  This doesn’t mean that harsher criticisms aren’t taking place behind closed doors, but Schmidt publicly calling out his team could very well cause more problems than it would solve.

On the other hand, the Colorado organization (from owner Dick Monfort on down) has long been accused of having a more optimistic view of the team than their talent level would seem to warrant.  The Rox have long resisted the idea of a public rebuild, so such a course correction likely isn’t going to happen barring a big change of heart from Monfort.  As such, it’s hard to determine how exactly the Rockies are going to be able to dig themselves out of his big hole, or even show clear signs that the team is making progress back towards contention.

Padres Acquire Luis Arraez

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12:21PM: The Marlins are eating almost all of the roughly $8.5MM owed to Arraez this season, ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reports (X link).  San Diego will owe Arraez only the MLB minimum salary for the rest of 2024, so between this arrangement and moving Go’s salary, the Padres look to have actually reduced their luxury tax number with this trade.

TODAY, 9:34AM: Both teams have officially announced the trade, and the Padres will also be receiving cash considerations from the Marlins.  This will lower the Padres’ financial hit, and give them a bit more breathing room under the luxury tax threshold.

MAY 3: The Padres and Marlins have lined up on a rare May blockbuster. San Diego is reportedly acquiring two-time batting champ Luis Arraez from Miami for four players: prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, as well as reliever Woo-Suk Go.

Arraez’s tenure in Miami ends after a season and five weeks. The Fish swapped Pablo López to the Twins to acquire him over the 2022-23 offseason. Arraez played up to expectations in the first season. He flirted with .400 for a few months, and while he didn’t maintain that otherworldly pace, he cruised to a second straight batting title and helped Miami to the playoffs. Arraez finished with a .354/.393/.469 line through 617 plate appearances.

As the batting titles would suggest, Arraez has developed into perhaps the game’s best pure contact hitter. He has walked more often than he’s struck out over the course of his career. The Venezuela native has punched out in only 7.5% of his plate appearances in the big leagues. That’s down to a meager 6.4% clip going back to the start of 2022. That leads qualified hitters by more than three percentage points. Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan is the only other player to strike out less than 10% of the time in that span.

Arraez has tallied 148 plate appearances over 33 games this season. His production is down slightly, as he’s hitting .299/.347/.372 without a home run. That’s not much of a concern for San Diego. Arraez is still making contact at an elite rate. He has never been a huge power threat, topping out at 10 longballs a year ago. It’s unlikely that San Diego feels differently about Arraez than they did during Spring Training, when they reportedly made a push for both him and starter Jesús Luzardo.

Going back to the start of 2022, Arraez is a .331/.380/.437 hitter in nearly 1400 plate appearances. He has hit at the top of the lineup in Miami and should do the same with the Padres. San Diego has been using Jurickson Profar in the leadoff spot of late. While Profar’s out to a fantastic start to the season, he can slide down a few spots in a suddenly deeper lineup.

As great a hitter as Arraez is, his game isn’t without flaws. He’s at best a fringe defender at second base. Defensive Runs Saved has generally graded him around league average with the glove, though it has soured on his work in 281 innings this season. Statcast has long panned him as a defender, grading him negatively in all but one year of his career. Statcast estimates he’s been 24 runs below average in nearly 2700 career innings at the keystone.

The Twins played Arraez more frequently at first base back in 2022. He rated better there defensively, although he doesn’t have the traditional power profile expected at the position. That doesn’t seem to be much of an issue for the Padres. Incumbent first baseman Jake Cronenworth is also a hit-over-power player who began his career in the middle infield.

Arraez could see occasional reps at first and second base, but he’s likely to get the bulk of his at-bats as a designated hitter. The Friars have Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim and Manny Machado as their projected starting infield. Machado was limited to DH for a couple weeks as he recovered from last fall’s elbow surgery. He made his return to third base last Friday, and while he has continued shuffling between the hot corner and DH since then, he’ll eventually work back to everyday third base reps.

Machado’s return to third base would have left the Friars without a clear everyday option at designated hitter. Rookie Graham Pauley has gotten some reps there, but he has hit .125/.125/.313 to start his MLB career. Arraez should solidify that spot while still having enough defensive flexibility to allow manager Mike Shildt to rotate other infielders through the position when they need a break on defense.

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never shied away from pursuing star talent, so it’s not particularly surprising that they’d keep an eye on Arraez. The timing of the trade, though, is a stunner. It’s incredibly rare to see players of that caliber moved this early into a season. Perhaps the best recent comparison is the May 21, 2021 swap that sent Willy Adames and Trevor Richards from the Rays to the Brewers for Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen.

Peter Bendix was serving as Tampa Bay’s general manager (#2 in the front office hierarchy) at the time of the Adames deal. He’s now in charge of baseball operations in Miami. Bendix is evidently not averse to making a major splash at an atypical time if the opportunity presents itself.

The Marlins followed up a quiet offseason with an absolutely terrible April. They enter this weekend’s series in Oakland with a 9-24 record. Whatever slim chance they had of repeating last year’s surprising playoff berth has all but evaporated. Miami was going to be a deadline seller, so there’s sense in moving early if another team put the right offer on the table.

Miami felt that was the case with a four-player return centered around San Diego’s 2023 first-rounder. The Padres selected Head 25th overall out of an Illinois high school. A left-handed hitting center fielder, he split his first professional season between rookie ball and Low-A. Head ranked eighth among San Diego prospects at Baseball America and fifth on Keith Law’s organizational write-up at The Athletic.

Both outlets credit Head with excellent speed and the chance to be a plus defensive center fielder at his peak. BA writes that he’s likely to be a contact-oriented offensive player without a ton of power, but Law wrote that professional scouts were impressed by the bat speed he showed after being drafted. Head has spent his age-19 season at Low-A Lake Elsinore. He’s out to a relatively slow start, hitting .237/.317/.366 with a 24% strikeout rate.

While Head is a long-term development play, Marsee has an outside shot at getting to the big leagues in 2024. A sixth-round pick out of Central Michigan two years ago, he dramatically improved his stock with a .274/.413/.428 showing between High-A and Double-A last season. Marsee followed up with a massive performance in the Arizona Fall League. There was even some speculation he could compete for the Opening Day center field spot, but it quickly became clear that Jackson Merrill was above him in that discussion.

Marsee, 23, ranked between 10th and 12th on the respective organizational prospect lists at BA and The Athletic. He’s credited with advanced plate discipline and instincts but without a ton of power potential. Marsee has played almost exclusively center field in the minors and likely projects as a fourth outfielder. He has spent this season at Double-A San Antonio, where has slumped to a .187/.337/.333 slash through his first 22 games.

Martorella, who is also 23, was a fifth-round pick out of Cal in that 2022 draft. The left-handed hitter has a career .269/.373/.447 batting line in nearly 800 professional plate appearances. He’s out to an excellent .294/.392/.435 start with a pair of homers and six doubles through 102 trips to the plate in San Antonio. Martorella is limited to first base or designated hitter, so he’ll need to hit a lot to be a regular, but he has shown a well-rounded offensive profile in pro ball.

Rounding out the return is Go, whom the Padres just signed out of Korea last winter. San Diego inked the 25-year-old righty to a two-year, $4.5MM deal. He’s playing this season on a $1.75MM salary. He’ll make $2.25MM next year and is guaranteed a $500K buyout on a $3MM mutual option for 2026. As is the case with most players signed out of a foreign professional league, his contract stipulates that he return to free agency at the end of the deal even though he’ll be well shy of six years of MLB service.

Go has yet to pitch in the major leagues. The Padres optioned him to Double-A after he struggled in Spring Training. He has tossed 12 2/3 innings there, allowing seven runs (six earned) on 14 hits. Go has fanned 15 hitters while issuing four walks. He was a closer for the KBO’s LG Twins before making the jump to MLB. He turned in a 3.18 ERA over parts of seven KBO seasons. Go missed plenty of bats in Korea but struggled to consistently throw strikes. Scouting reports before his signing generally suggested he projected as a middle reliever at the MLB level.

It’s the first of what is likely to be a handful of trades for the Marlins over the next few months. Miami seems set to kick off at least a retool, if not a full-scale rebuild. Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, Tanner Scott and Jazz Chisholm Jr. are among a number of players whom the Fish could put on the market. It’s unlikely the Arraez trade will open the floodgates three months before the deadline, but it’s clear Miami is already willing to engage in conversations.

Making trades well in advance of the deadline would also allow the Marlins to offload a greater portion of players’ contracts. Budgetary constraints are always present for a franchise that annually runs payrolls in the bottom third of the league. Miami essentially sat out free agency until taking a $5MM flier on Tim Anderson (which hasn’t worked out) at the beginning of Spring Training.

Arraez was one of the higher-paid players on the roster. He’s making $10.6MM this season after losing an arbitration case in February — the second straight year he and the team went to a hearing. Around $8.5MM is yet to be paid. Assuming there are no cash considerations involved, they’ll offload that but assume around $1.4MM of Go’s salary. That amounts to just over $7MM in savings. The team’s estimated player payroll now sits around $92MM, as calculated by RosterResource.

The Padres absorb that money, which is no small matter for a team that spent most of the offseason cutting spending. RosterResource estimates their actual player payroll around $174MM. Their competitive balance tax number is far higher, reflecting their slate of backloaded contracts. RosterResource calculates their CBT in the $232MM range. They’re around $4.5MM below this year’s $237MM base threshold, a marker they were reluctant to cross last winter.

A team’s CBT calculation isn’t determined until the end of the season. This surely isn’t the last of the Padres’ trade activity. Their deadline direction could go in a number of ways depending on how the team performs over the next few months. It’s not even out of the question the Padres fall out of the race and put Arraez back on the trade block in July, though that’s surely not what the front office currently intends.

Even if Arraez finishes the 2024 season in San Diego, he could be a trade candidate next offseason. He’ll go through arbitration once more before hitting free agency during the 2025-26 offseason. The two-time All-Star is likely to command a salary in the $14-16MM range for his final year of club control. The Padres could ostensibly plug him in at second base and move Bogaerts back to shortstop if Kim departs as a free agent, but that’s not something with which the team will concern itself in the short term.

For now, they’ll plug Arraez at the top of the lineup as they push for a playoff spot. They’ll get a few more months of production than they would’ve had they waited to make a traditional deadline move, albeit at the cost of a trio of mid-level prospects and around three-quarters of Arraez’s 2024 salary. There may not be any more huge moves in the next couple weeks, but it’s a precursor to what should be busy summers in both South Florida and Southern California.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Padres were nearing agreement on an Arraez deal for three prospects and a reliever. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic confirmed there was an Arraez trade in place. Craig Mish of SportsGrid was first to report the Marlins’ return.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Twins Notes: Stewart, Topa, Lewis

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The Twins are baseball’s hottest team, as yesterday’s 5-2 win over the Red Sox extended Minnesota’s winning streak to 11 games.  A victory today would tie the fourth-longest streak in Twins/Senators franchise history — a 17-game streak in 1912 is the organization’s overall longest winning streak, while the Twins’ 15-game streak in 1991 is their longest stretch of consecutive wins since moving to Minnesota in 1961.

While the magic of the Rally Sausage has seemingly made the Twins unstoppable, plenty of injury concerns remain, including a pair of new players joining the injured list on Friday.  In addition to Byron Buxton being sidelined with right knee inflammation, the Twins also placed right-hander Brock Stewart on the 15-day IL due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder.  Stewart’s placement is retroactive to May 2, and left-hander Kody Funderburk was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Sending Stewart to the IL was a bit of a precautionary measure, as manager Rocco Baldelli told Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other reporters.  Stewart’s shoulder has been bothering him for a week, and “this is us really trying to get ahead of something and not trying to let it get down the road where he’s missing a significant period of time,” Baldelli said.  “He’s still throwing the ball really well….But it doesn’t feel the way it needs to feel right now.”

It is understandable that the Twins would be careful given Stewart’s checkered injury history.  He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, threw only 14 minor league innings in 2022 after returning from rehab, and then missed three months of the 2023 season with elbow soreness.

After posting a 6.05 ERA over 105 2/3 MLB innings with the Dodgers and Blue Jays from 2016-19 and then not getting any big league action in the next three seasons, Stewart’s limited work with the Twins has been outstanding.  The righty posted an 0.65 ERA and 35.8% strikeout rate over 27 2/3 innings for Minnesota last season, and had an 0.68 ERA and a 32.7% K% in his first 13 1/3 frames in 2024.  Though an unsustainably high 99.5% strand rate and an uninspiring 10.6% walk rate are red flags, the 32-year-old Stewart has looked like an entirely different pitcher during his time in Minnesota, and a big bullpen weapon if he can stay healthy.

Stewart’s performance helped the Twins’ bullpen not miss a beat when Jhoan Duran and Caleb Thielbar started the season on the IL, but now that both pitchers are back in action, the relief corps will take another hit due to Stewart’s own absence.  Justin Topa has also yet to pitch in 2024 due to right knee tendinitis, and though Topa has made three Triple-A outings, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told Helfand and company that Topa will “take a little more time with the rehab assignment” before activation.

“[Topa] hasn’t felt at 100 percent yet.  He hasn’t felt like he’s really where he needs to be, but he’s progressing well,” Falvey said.  “We don’t want to rush that.  We want to make sure he’s back and feeling good and feeling like he can execute the pitches he wants to execute.”

In other injury news, Royce Lewis updated reporters (including The Athletic’s Dan Hayes) on the status of his recovery from the quad strain that has kept him out of the Twins’ lineup since he left partway through the club’s first game of the season.  Tests have revealed that the strain is healing at a usual pace, and Lewis has been able to increase his baseball activities to include some running and fielding work, as well as 80 swings in the batting cage.

As Hayes notes, the initial expectation was that it would take Lewis roughly eight weeks to return to action, though no timeline was ever fully established due to the uncertain nature of quad injuries in general, and the severity of Lewis’ strain.  While it would seem as though Lewis is making solid progress, he admitted to some frustration over “the mental challenge” of trying to work through the rehab process without having a target date in place.

“I’ve just got to keep continuing to wait,” Lewis said.  “The hardest thing is not having a timeline….When you have no idea and you feel so good, it’s the most challenging rehab I’ve ever had.”

Jose Miranda and Kyle Farmer have gotten the bulk of playing time at third base with Lewis out, and Willi Castro has also seen some action at the hot corner though he had to step into regular shortstop duty when Carlos Correa was on the IL.  Miranada has hit well while Farmer has struggled badly at the plate, and with Correa back and Castro now able to chip in more frequently at third base, the Twins should hopefully be able to make do at the position until Lewis is able to return.

White Sox Promote Bryan Ramos, Place Danny Mendick On 10-Day IL

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10:35AM: The White Sox have officially announced the transaction, with Mendick placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to May 2) due to lower back tightness.

10:17AM: Ramos will replace Mendick, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times (via X) reports that Mendick is being placed on the 10-day injured list with a back injury.

8:35AM: The White Sox are calling up third baseman Bryan Ramos from Double-A Birmingham, according to James Fox of the FutureSox website (X link).  The corresponding 26-man roster move isn’t yet known, but Ramos has been on Chicago’s 40-man roster since November 2022.

Ramos will be bypassing the Triple-A level entirely in order to make his Major League debut whenever he makes his first appearance on the field.  It is a pretty aggressive promotion for the White Sox to make with the 22-year-old, especially since Ramos wasn’t exactly forcing the issue with a slow start against Double-A pitching — an .182/.265/.307 slash line over 98 plate appearances with Birmingham this season.  Ramos at least had better numbers in a longer sample size at Double-A in 2023, hitting .272/.369/.457 with 14 homers over 339 PA.

Injuries could be forcing Chicago’s hand, as Danny Mendick was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to tightness in his lower back.  While manager Pedro Grifol told MLB.com and other media that he didn’t think Mendick’s injury was too serious, that stance might have changed after some further testing, plus the White Sox are already short-handed at third base as it is.  With Yoan Moncada out until late July due to an adductor strain, the hot corner has been a revolving door, with Mendick, Braden Shewmake, and Lenyn Sosa all getting starts in Moncada’s absence.  Sosa is at Triple-A and infielder Zach Remillard is still in the organization after recently being outrighted off the 40-man roster, but it appears as though the White Sox will instead take a look at an up-and-coming prospect.

An international signing in July 2018, the Cuban-born Ramos posted solid numbers at A-ball in 2021, which led to his first taste of Double-A action in 2022.  He spent the bulk of the 2023 campaign back at Birmingham, though he missed close to to two months of action with a groin injury.  It could be that this missed time led the White Sox to start Ramos back at Double-A this season rather than move him to Triple-A Charlotte, and it might be that Ramos gets optioned to Charlotte rather than Birmingham if and when he is sent back down to the minors.  Depending on Mendick’s status, Ramos might just be getting a cup of coffee in the Show as roster depth for a day or two.

Then again, since the 6-26 White Sox are already looking to the future, they might take this opportunity to give Ramos some real playing time.  Moncada is in the last guaranteed year of his contract, and since it doesn’t seem like the Sox will exercise their $25MM club option on Moncada for 2025, Ramos could be viewed as an everyday candidate by Opening Day 2025….or even this season, depending on how he fares in his first looks against MLB pitching.

Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both rank Ramos as the fourth-best prospect in Chicago’s farm system, citing his power potential and hard-contact tendencies, even if breaking pitches remain a challenge.  Defensively, Ramos has a 55-grade throwing arm and has made plenty of gains with his glovework at third base.  Both scouting outlets made note of Ramos’ attitude and drive to improve, with BA’s scouting report noting that Ramos’ “makeup and work ethic…[is] described as being off the charts, and he has worked hard on firming his body since initially coming to the U.S.”

Yankees Designate Taylor Trammell For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Taylor Trammell has been designated for assignment.  The move opens up a 26-man roster spot for utilityman Jon Berti, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list after missing the last three weeks due to a groin strain.

In a little more than five weeks’ time, Trammell has been DFA’ed by three different organizations.  The Mariners designated Trammell just prior to Opening Day, and the Dodgers claimed the outfielder off waivers a few days later.  Los Angeles then returned Trammell to DFA limbo in mid-April, and Trammell found himself quickly on the move once more when the Yankees placed a claim.

Trammell is out of minor league options, hence the whirlwind of transactions as teams have had to try and sneak him through waivers in order to officially outright him off the 40-man roster.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trammell claimed again if yet another club has need for some outfield depth, so he could soon add a fourth team to his 2024 resume.

Over five games apiece with the Dodgers and Yankees, Trammell has only eight plate appearances.  (He had a walk and a hit in his two PA with New York, giving him one of the few perfect batting lines in Yankees franchise history.)  Trammell has hit only .167/.270/.363 over 359 career MLB plate appearances, which has dimmed his star after several years as a top-100 ranked prospect during his time in the minors.

The dreaded “Quad-A” label could apply here since Trammell has continued to rake at Triple-A, but between his speed and ability to play all three outfield positions, Trammell has still managed to attract attention for roster spots.  His past blue-chip prospect status has also undoubtedly helped, as some teams might think Trammell could still have a post-hype breakout in him at age 26.

The Royals’ Outfield Drought

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The Royals’ 20-13 start to the season on the heels of an active offseason that saw Kansas City spend more than $100MM on nine free agents – to say nothing of trades acquiring relievers John Schreiber and Nick Anderson – has plenty of people buzzing.

The Royals are right in the thick of things in a largely improved AL Central that looks more like a four-horse race than the perennially weak division that’s been won in a romp in each of the past three seasons (Twins in 2023, Guardians in 2022, White Sox in 2021). Every team except the again-rebuilding White Sox has a legitimate chance at postseason play as of this writing.

A frequently maligned Royals pitching staff is at the heart of Kansas City’s early run. Lefty Cole Ragans hasn’t been quite as dominant as he was following the trade to acquire him from the Rangers last year but has nonetheless looked like a quality big league starter. Brady Singer looks more like the 2022 breakout version of himself than the 2023 version that struggled to a 5.52 ERA.

Free-agent signees Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha have been a needed boon. Lugo’s strikeout rate is down, and Wacha has been more steady than great, but they’ve provided needed, competitive veteran innings. Even fifth starter Alec Marsh has been sharp, though his K-BB profile is rather worrying and he’s on the shelf at the moment after being struck by a comeback liner.

The bullpen has been sound, though free-agent additions Chris Stratton and Will Smith have both struggled. Even still, K.C. relievers are eighth in the majors with a 3.28 ERA. Like some of the starters, their lowly 18.4% strikeout rate (second-lowest in MLB) and 10.2% walk rate call into question whether that ERA can be sustained. But the early results have still contributed to a nice start.

The Royals, to no one’s surprise, are getting strong offensive commitments from perennial slugger Salvador Perez, talented young first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and emergent face-of-the-franchise shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

Put more concisely: a lot is going right in Kansas City! It’s a good time to be a Royals fan – perhaps not relative to 2014-15 but certainly relative to the eight years since that consecutive pair of World Series appearances.

If there’s one area that has to remind Royals fans of that eight-year drought, however, it’s the team’s once-again middling outfield. Kansas City outfielders are hitting .190/.254/.323 on the season. The resulting 63 wRC+ indicates they’re 37% worse than league-average at the plate as a group. That ranks last in Major League Baseball.  Let's get into the grisly details.

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Latest On Mets’ Rotation Plans

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The Mets are bringing up top pitching prospect Christian Scott for his debut against the Rays on Saturday. At least temporarily, he steps into a rotation that includes Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, José Buttó and Sean Manaea.

If Scott sticks in the rotation, right-hander Adrian Houser could be the odd man out. Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Houser will be available out of the bullpen for next week’s series against the Cardinals, which runs from Monday through Wednesday (video link via SNY). It’s not clear whether that’ll be a permanent move. The Mets are off next Thursday before playing on 13 straight days between May 10-22.

Mendoza suggested the Mets haven’t determined how they’ll proceed for that nearly two-week stretch. They could operate with a six-man rotation to give their starters an extra day of rest. If they want to go back to a five-man rotation, the decision would likely come down to optioning Scott back to Triple-A Syracuse or keeping Houser in relief. Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote last night the Mets are committed to giving Scott at least two starts — tomorrow’s outing in Tampa Bay and a home start next weekend against the Braves — before determining whether he should stick in the rotation.

Scott has had an excellent five-start run to begin his time in Triple-A. Over 25 1/3 innings, he owns a 3.20 ERA behind a massive 38.3% strikeout rate. Houser, on the other hand, has had a tough first month in Queens. Acquired alongside Tyrone Taylor in an offseason deal with Milwaukee, Houser held a rotation spot through April. He has allowed 8.14 earned runs per nine across six starts as he’s struggled to find the strike zone.

The 31-year-old righty has walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters. He has issued multiple free passes in all six appearances, including four walks over five innings in yesterday’s outing against the Cubs. Houser’s strikeout rate has dropped to a career-low 11.7%, while his 44.4% ground-ball percentage is his lowest since 2018.

Houser was a decent back-end starter for Milwaukee a year ago. In 111 1/3 innings, he turned in a 4.12 ERA with a personal-best 7.1% walk percentage. He has never gotten huge strikeout tallies, but last season’s 20% mark was far better than he has managed thus far. While Houser’s velocity hasn’t significantly changed, he clearly has yet to find his command.

That could push him into low-leverage relief if Scott hits the ground running and the Mets want to stick with a five-man starting staff. New York doesn’t have the luxury of sending Houser to the minor leagues. He has over five years of service time, so he’d have to agree to an optional assignment and would have the right to test free agency if he were outrighted off the 40-man roster.

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