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NL West Notes: Padres, Hughes, Stripling, Duplantier

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The Padres’ acquisition of Phil Hughes was clearly more about acquiring the Twins’ competitive balance draft pick than the pitcher himself, and GM A.J. Preller and scouting director Mark Conner spoke to MLB.com’s A.J Cassavell about the swap. Preller told Cassavell that he’s been calling every team that received pick in the competitive balance lottery on a near-weekly basis in an attempt to acquire an additional selection — something that’s long been a priority but was magnified in 2018 after San Diego surrendered a pick to sign Eric Hosmer. “The game now is about making your money work for you,” said Preller. “…You have to figure out what’s the best bang for your buck. Having the extra pick gives you more options.”

The move was met by excitement from Conner and his scouts, who’ll now not only have an extra pick (No. 74 overall) but an additional $812,200 in their draft pool. The Padres, of course, spent considerably more than that to obtain the pick, relieving the Twins of just over $7.6MM of Hughes’ salary. While it seems a shrewd (albeit expensive) pickup of a resource with limited availability, not every organization agrees; one exec from another club told FanRag’s Jon Heyman last week that the Padres were “insane” for taking on that much of the remaining contract to obtain the pick.

More from the division…

  • Ross Stripling, who looks to be in the midst of a breakout season with the Dodgers, spoke to Pedro Moura of The Athletic about the role that data and analytics have played in his emergence (subscription required). The 28-year-old righty has turned in a ridiculous 1.68 ERA with 11.0 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.56 HR/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate in 48 1/3 innings for the Dodgers so far in 2018. Stripling’s success is derived in large part from advance scouting of opposing lineups and taking deep dives into hitters’ strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, Stripling discusses the importance of knowing the quality of contact a hitter will make against pitch types in various portions of the strike zone. “I don’t care about average,” said Stripling. “I just want to know where he pulls the ball at 100 mph. I’m a believer in limiting slug, which is basically limiting exit velocity.” Moura’s column takes a long look not only at Stripling’s sudden success, but also his amateur days, his childhood fascination with baseball statistics and his path to professional baseball.
  • The D-backs have had rotten luck with injuries at the big league level in 2018, and it’s apparently extending to the farm system as well. Zach Buchanan of The Athletic tweets that the team’s top prospect, right-hander Jon Duplantier, is dealing with biceps tendinitis and has been shut down from throwing for at least a week. The 23-year-old Duplantier has dominated in Double-A this year, working to a 2.52 ERA with 10.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9 and a 59.8 percent ground-ball rate in 35 2/3 innings. He’s currently ranked as the game’s No. 50 overall prospect over at Baseball America and No. 65 overall at MLB.com.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/3/18

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Sunday’s minor moves from around the game:

  • The Mets have assigned Scott Copeland to Double-A after the right-hander cleared waivers, The Athletic’s Tim Healey reports (Twitter link).  Copeland was designated for assignment on Friday after just a two-day stint in the majors, though he did chalk up his first MLB appearance since the 2015 season.  The 30-year-old has a 3.22 ERA over 22 1/3 IP (all as a starter) at the Double-A level this season.
  • The Diamondbacks have acquired right-handed reliever Brad Goldberg from the White Sox for cash considerations, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com and Zach Buchanan of The Athletic. Goldberg, 28, will now head to his second organization after initially joining Chicago in the 10th round of the 2013 draft. The hard thrower debuted in the majors last year with 12 innings of 8.25 ERA ball, but other than that, he has worked exclusively in the minors (including a 22 1/3-inning run at Double-A this season).  Goldberg owns a 3.07 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 91 Triple-A innings.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/1/18

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Former MLB hurler Ross Detwiler is joining the Mariners organization, per an announcement from the Atlantic League. The 32-year-old had been pitching with the York Revolution, In his nine years in the majors, Detwiler has compiled 578 innings of 4.36 ERA pitching. Detwiler isn’t the only pitcher moving from the Atlantic League to Tacoma. Righty Tyler Higgins, who was with the New Britain Bees, will be doing the same. The former Marlins farmhand has never previously pitched above the Double-A level.
  • The D-backs acquired infielder Tyler Ladendorf from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. A second-round pick of the Twins back in 2007, Ladendorf eventually reached the Majors with the A’s but hit just .123/.149/.154 in 68 plate appearances. Ladendorf appeared in just two games with the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate and went hitless in six plate appearances, but he’s a career .256/.324/.347 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A seasons.
  • The Reds acquired right-hander Tommy Bergjans from the Phillies in exchange for cash, also per Eddy. Bergjans, 25, went from the Dodgers to the Phillies in the 2016 Carlos Ruiz/A.J. Ellis trade. He struggled to a 6.57 ERA with solid control but just 7.1 K/9 and a whopping 2.37 HR/9 in 50 1/3 innings at the Double-A level last season. He’s allowed just two runs through seven innings this season but has failed to record a strikeout in that time.

Diamondbacks, Henry Owens Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks and left-hander Henry Owens have agreed to a minor league contract, tweets MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. He’d recently been released by the Dodgers.

This’ll mark the second time that the D-backs have picked up the former Red Sox top prospect, which makes sense given that Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen and AGMs Amiel Sawdaye and Jared Porter were all at one point in Boston’s front office. The D-backs claimed Owens off waivers back in December but lost him to Los Angeles a couple of weeks later when they tried to pass him through waivers themselves.

Owens, the 36th overall pick in the 2011 draft, was at one point considered to be among baseball’s best pitching prospects. He’s yet to deliver on his potential, though, as the 25-year-old has managed just a 5.19 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9 in 85 big league innings. More troubling, though, is that the lefty saw his control of the strike zone utterly evaporate in 2017 when he walked 115 batters, hit 17 more and threw 17 wild pitches in 126 Triple-A innings. Walks have long been an issue for Owens, though he’d never struggled to that extent in the past. Owens had yet to pitch in the Dodgers organization this season at the time of his release last month.

Injury Notes: Samardzija, Tigers, Pollock, Maeda, Mets

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Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija exited Tuesday’s start after just one inning due to tightness in his right shoulder, writes Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Any shoulder trouble for a pitcher, of course, is concerning to an extent, but Samardzija’s early exit comes with extra cause for worry given that his fastball was sitting at 91 mph on Tuesday, per Pavlovic. Samardzija’s velocity has been down, in general, early this season, but he’d previously averaged 92.4 mph. The injury to Samardzija is the latest blow to a Giants rotation that has yet to receive a single inning from Madison Bumgarner this season and also lost Johnny Cueto for an extended period earlier this month. In 35 2/3 innings this season, Samardzija has lumped to a 6.56 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 5.8 BB/9, 1.51 HR/9 and a 33.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Some more injury updates from around baseball…

  • Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters tonight that the team has placed left-handers Francisco Liriano and Daniel Stumpf on the disabled list due to a right hamstring strain and ulnar nerve irritation, respectively (Twitter links via Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press). It’s not clear exactly how long either is expected to miss, though the move will send one of the team’s top trade chips shelf (Liriano) while leaving Gardenhire without a left-handed option in the bullpen. Ryan Carpenter is coming up to join the team’s rotation for the time being, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck (on Twitter), while right-hander Johnny Barbato will be added to the bullpen.
  • A.J. Pollock’s fractured thumb has not yet fully healed, D-backs skipper Torey Lovullo told reporters (Twitter link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). That didn’t come as a surprise to the organization, per Lovullo, who said that Pollock’s progress is “exactly where we thought it would be.” As Piecoro indicates, the latest update suggests that Pollock’s return won’t come on the short end of his originally projected timetable of four to eight weeks. The short end of that timeline would’ve lined up Pollock for a return in mid-June, but the eight-week timeline would extend his absence closer to the All-Star break.
  • The Dodgers pulled Kenta Maeda from tonight’s start in the second inning due to a right hip strain, tweets Alanna Rizzo of SportsNetLA. The Dodgers trainers checked on Maeda on two separate occasions in the second frame, and he was pulled on the trainer’s second trip to the mound. Los Angeles is already without Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu, each of whom is on the disabled list, though Kershaw is likely to return this week. Maeda, who owns a 3.61 ERA and a 68-to-18 K/BB ratio in 52 1/3 frames this season, would represent another costly loss at a time when L.A. was hoping to see its rotation begin inching toward better health with the return of Kershaw.
  • Steven Matz exited tonight’s start with discomfort in his left middle finger, though the Mets said that x-rays have already ruled out a broken bone, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. The injury occurred when swinging in his latest at-bat, and Matz is headed for an MRI for further evaluation, tweets Tim Britton of The Athletic. The Mets already lost Noah Syndergaard to the DL earlier today, so even a brief absence for Matz would be all the more problematic. On the plus side for the Mets, right-hander Anthony Swarzak made a rehab appearance in Triple-A Las Vegas tonight and threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and one hit allowed.

Shelby Miller Set For Rehab Assignment; Latest On Ray, Pollock

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Diamondbacks right Shelby Miller is set to embark upon a rehab assignment beginning tomorrow night, as MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert writes. That’s encouraging news for both player and team, as it suggests he’s now not all that far from returning to a MLB mound.

Miller, who’s about 13 months removed from Tommy John surgery, will be looking to reestablish himself in advance of his final season of arbitration eligibility. It’s not yet known exactly how many starts he will make in the minors. Presumably, that’ll be determined in no small part by how his elbow responds. The rules allow up to thirty days for a pitcher’s rehab assignment.

Last we saw him in the majors, Miller was giving reason to believe he could put his miserable 2016 season in the rearview mirror. He turned in three strong starts to open the ensuing campaign — including a fastball velocity boost (to 95.5 mph) and swinging-strike rebound (9.6%) — only to see the elbow problem arise and cut his season short.

The Arizona organization will hope that Miller can regain that momentum on the other side of his TJ rehab. There’s clearly some interesting upside; in 2015, Miller threw 205 1/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball. Whether he has that kind of effort left in his 27-year-old right arm remains to be seen. Miller says he has “felt really good physically” but believes “there’s some room to work on some command stuff” as he prepares for his return to competitive action.

It’s notable, too, that lefty Robbie Ray has a notable date tomorrow. He’s due to have his injured oblique examined for progress. It’s even possible that he will throw a pen session if the imaging looks good. While we’ll obviously need to wait to see how the medical evaluation goes, it seems generally promising that these steps are even under contemplation at this point. Ray hit the DL about a month ago with what seemed to be a rather significant muscle injury.

The D-Backs undoubtedly miss Miller and Ray, particularly with the team presently enduring an extended slide. Every piece of talent helps, after all, even though run-prevention has been a notable strength to this point of the season. But the lagging offense is the real problem, and that’s an ongoing concern that won’t be addressed by the eventual return of those hurlers.

The player the Snakes miss most, surely, is center fielder A.J. Pollock. He’ll also be looked at tomorrow to see how his fractured thumb is healing. When that injury was announced, there was a fair bit of uncertainty in Pollock’s timeline, so the results will be of no little interest for a club that badly misses its most productive hitter through the first six weeks of the season. Pollock, too, is surely anxious to get back in action after missing so much time in recent seasons. Once he’s back, he’ll be looking to shore up his free-agent stock, which had been on the rise before he hit the DL.

Kris Medlen Retires

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Veteran right-hander Kris Medlen has retired, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic reports. He had been pitching in the minors with the Diamondbacks organization.

The 32-year-old Medlen only spent a few months with the Diamondbacks, who signed him to a minor league deal in January. He eventually worked his way back to the majors, earning a start in early May as the Diamondbacks dealt with injuries to Robbie Ray and Taijuan Walker. That May 4 outing didn’t go well for Medlen, who allowed seven earned runs on nine hits and four walks (with four strikeouts) across four frames in a loss to the reigning World Series champion Astros. Arizona then optioned Medlen to Triple-A, where he spent the final few weeks of his career.

Even though his last season didn’t go well, Medlen enjoyed an accomplished big league career. The California native went in the 10th round of the 2006 draft to the Braves, who initially used him solely out of the bullpen before he later worked as both a starter and a reliever with the club. Medlen debuted in Atlanta in 2009 and went on to turn in 512 2/3 innings of 2.95 ERA ball with the team through 2013, also notching 7.62 K/9, 2.12 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent groundball rate over 152 appearances (61 starts).

While Medlen offered high-end production in Atlanta, his arm health began to deteriorate with the club. Medlen missed the majority of the 2011 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, which proved to the first of two TJ procedures he’d undergo in his career. Medlen went back under the knife prior to the 2014 campaign, bringing about the end of his first Braves tenure.

The Royals took a flyer on Medlen in the wake of his second surgery, inking him to a two-year deal, but he wasn’t able to regain his old form in Kansas City. However, in the better of those years – 2015 – Medlen pitched to a respectable 4.01 ERA over 58 1/3 innings (15 appearances, eight starts) and was part of the Royals’ first World Series-winning team since 1985. Neither Medlen nor the Royals could replicate that success the next season, leading him to exit and reunite with the Braves on a minor league deal entering the 2017 campaign. Medlen didn’t return to the majors with the Braves, instead spending the season primarily with their Triple-A affiliate.

Unfortunately, thanks to injuries, Medlen’s career didn’t reach the heights it could have. Nevertheless, he still registered a more-than-respectable 3.33 ERA in 599 1/3 major league frames. MLBTR wishes Medlen the best in retirement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Pence, Ohtani, D-backs, Hill, A’s

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It’s possible Giants outfielder Hunter Pence has played his last game with the team, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports California observes. The Giants have to make a decision on Pence’s future within the next six days, when his minor league rehab assignment will end. In the event San Francisco releases Pence, who helped the club to two World Series titles as a younger player, it’ll have to eat the remainder of his $18.5MM salary. But if Pence gets another shot with the Giants, he’ll return having undergone some offensive adjustments with the help of private instructor Doug Latta – whose students also include Mac Williamson and the Dodgers’ Justin Turner – Pavlocic details. Pence feels “way better” after working with Latta, and has hit well in the minors since making the changes. The respected veteran got off to a rough start in the majors this year (.172/.197/.190 in 61 plate appearances) before going on the disabled list April 19 with a thumb issue.

More from the game’s West divisions…

  • The Angels expect Shohei Ohtani to make his next start during their upcoming series against the Tigers, which runs from Monday to Thursday, manager Mike Scioscia said Saturday (via Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times). Ohtani had been scheduled to start Sunday against the Yankees, but the Angels elected against that as a way to manage the phenom’s workload. The pitcher/hitter hasn’t taken the mound since last Sunday, when he cruised past the Rays to record his fifth quality start in seven attempts, but has been in the Angels’ starting lineup five times this week.
  • The free-falling Diamondbacks may welcome both lefty Robbie Ray and righty Shelby Miller back in mid-June, general manager Mike Hazen told reporters, including Kathleen Fitzgerald of AZCentral and Nick Piecoro of AZCentral. After getting off to a 24-11 start, the Diamondbacks have lost 14 of 16, perhaps thanks in part to the absences of Ray (strained oblique) and Taijuan Walker (Tommy John surgery) since late April. The D-backs’ banged-up rotation is hardly the primary reason for their slide (the club’s offense has only averaged two runs per game during its slump), but the returns of Ray and Miller should be welcome nonetheless. Along with Zack Greinke, Patrick Corbin and Zack Godley, Ray and Miller would help form a nice rotation on paper. Miller has been working back since he underwent a Tommy John procedure last May.
  • There was optimism about injured Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill earlier this week, but manager Dave Roberts suggested to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times and other reporters Saturday that his return’s not exactly imminent. Hill’s still “a ways away” from returning from his long-running blister issues, per Roberts. The 38-year-old went back on the DL last Sunday, when Roberts estimated he’d miss at least four weeks. Fortunately for the surging Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw seems to be nearing a return from his own DL stint, and Hill replacement Ross Stripling has been brilliant this season. In a win over the Padres on Friday, Stripling struck out 10 and didn’t issue any walks across 6 2/3 innings of six-hit, one-run ball (unearned).
  • The Athletics made a series of moves Saturday, sending Santiago Casilla to the DL with a strained shoulder, optioning Josh Lucas to the minors and recalling Carlos Ramirez and Chris Bassitt. The most notable member of the group is Casilla, who ranks third among A’s relievers in innings pitched this year (21 2/3). Casilla opened his age-37 season with an appealing 3.32 ERA over that span, though he also totaled too few strikeouts and too many walks (14 in each case) and benefited from a .186 batting average on balls in play.

Diamondbacks Place Steven Souza On 10-Day DL

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The Diamondbacks placed outfielder Steven Souza Jr. on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right pectoral.  This is the same injury that kept Souza from making his season debut until May.  Outfielder Socrates Brito has been recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Souza originally suffered the injury in the last week of Spring Training, while diving for a ball in the outfield.  This second DL placement would seem to confirm that the issue was still bothering Souza, as he didn’t look at all like himself at the plate, hitting just a .163/.234/.186 over his first 47 plate appearances for Arizona.  While no timeline was given about the DL placement, it’s fair to assume that Souza will miss more than the 10-day minimum absence to ensure that the injury is fully behind him.

[Updated D’Backs depth chart at Roster Resource]

After a breakout 2017 season (.239/.351/.459 with 30 homers over 617 PA) for Tampa Bay, Souza was traded to the D’Backs as part of the three-team deal with the Rays and Yankees that also saw Brandon Drury go to New York and pitching prospect Anthony Banda head to Tampa.  Souza was expected to be Arizona’s everyday right fielder and at least somewhat fill the offensive gap left behind by the departed J.D. Martinez, though his injury has essentially kept him from getting out of the blocks thus far in the 2018 campaign.

Injuries to Souza, A.J. Pollock, and Jake Lamb have contributed to a lack of offensive firepower for the D’Backs, not to mention protracted slumps from Paul Goldschmidt and Alex Avila.  Arizona ranks at or near the bottom of the league in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS, and the hitting drought has started to catch up with the team, as the Snakes have lost 11 of their last 12 games.  Remarkably, however, the D’Backs are still hanging onto first place in the NL West.

Brito will get his first taste of the big leagues since 2016, as the 25-year-old missed a good chunk of last year recovering from finger surgery.  Brito has only a .612 OPS over 131 PA with the Diamondbacks in 2015-16, though he isn’t far removed from being a pretty well-regarded prospect in Arizona’s farm system.  He can play all three outfield positions, and has been hitting well at Triple-A Reno, with a .323/.365/.437 slash line over 170 PA this season.

Diamondbacks Select Clay Buchholz

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SUNDAY: Arizona has officially selected Buchholz’s contract. To create space for him, the team transferred righty Randall Delgado to the 60-day DL with a strained left oblique and optioned fellow righty Jimmie Sherfy to Triple-A.

FRIDAY: The Diamondbacks will select the contract of veteran righty Clay Buchholz, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). He’ll make a start on Sunday, so presumably the roster move won’t be made official until then.

Buchholz joined the Arizona organization earlier this month after opting out of his deal with the Royals. It turned out that the Snakes needed the extra arm. With Robbie Ray on the shelf and Taijuan Walker down for the year, the club has already dipped into its system to plug in Matt Koch. The fifth spot is open to whoever can lay claim to it; fellow veteran Kris Medlen stumbled in his attempt but is among the other pitchers still on hand at Triple-A.

Like current D-Backs GM Mike Hazen, Buchholz has spent the bulk of his career with the Red Sox organization. Now 33, Buchholz was seen as an interesting bounceback candidate by the Phillies in 2017. But he was knocked around in two starts before going down with a flexor tear.

This upcoming appearance, then, will be Buchholz’s first in the majors in over a year. In five outings in the upper minors, he has worked to a 2.93 ERA with 19 strikeouts and a dozen walks over 27 2/3 innings. The Diamondbacks would obviously be thrilled if he can provide some useful innings.

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