Diamondbacks DFA Cody Hall
The Diamondbacks have designated right-hander Cody Hall for assignment, per a team announcement. Arizona designated Hall to make room for outfielder Michael Bourn, whom it recalled from the minors earlier today.
Hall joined the Diamondbacks over the winter after they acquired him from the NL West rival Giants, but he didn’t appear in any games with the D-backs before his designation. Hall instead threw 14 2/3 innings for Triple-A Reno and struggled mightily, allowing 13 earned runs on 23 hits and seven walks. This season’s disastrous showing aside, the 28-year-old has enjoyed a successful minor league career. Across 269 innings, Hall has put up a 2.91 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.
Diamondbacks Place David Peralta On DL, Select Contract Of Michael Bourn
The Diamondbacks have placed outfielder David Peralta on the 15-day disabled list with right wrist inflammation and selected the contract of Michael Bourn from Double-A Mobile, the team announced.
Bourn, whom the Blue Jays released Monday, quickly latched on with the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal and racked up 23 plate appearances in Mobile prior to today’s promotion. The Braves previously released Bourn last month after they couldn’t find a trade partner for the two-time All-Star.
Bourn owns a career .266/.331/.356 batting line in 4,910 major league plate appearances. In his prime, he was a respectable hitter who served as both a significant asset on the bases (326 career steals) and in the outfield. The 33-year-old hasn’t been particularly productive over the last three seasons, however, since inking a $48MM contract with the Indians in February 2013.
Before landing on the DL, Peralta hit a respectable .260/.321/.439 with three homers in 134 PAs. He had established himself as a greater offensive threat during the previous two campaigns, combining to hit .301/.351/.492 in 865 trips to the plate.
NL West Notes: Bloomquist, Rodney, Rockies, Giants
The Diamondbacks announced on Tuesday that they’ve hired Willie Bloomquist as a special assistant to president and CEO Derrick Hall, where he’ll contribute both to the business and baseball operations side of the organization. In his new role, Bloomquist, who announced his retirement as a player earlier this spring, will attend community events, meeti with corporate partners, interact with season ticket-holders, assist in Spring Training workouts and visit with the club’s Minor League affiliates over the course of the season. Bloomquist expressed excitement over once again being part of the D-backs organization, stating in a press release: “In my 14 seasons in MLB, this is where I feel I played my best baseball and made some of my fondest memories as a player. With the leadership this organization has in place, I am excited for what the future holds and am eager to do my part in helping make this a championship caliber organization and fulfill the goal of being World Series champions.” In parts of 14 MLB seasons, Bloomquist batted .269/.316/.342 and logged at least 200 innings at every position except catcher and pitcher.
Elsewhere in the NL West…
- Padres bullpen coach Doug Bochtler, who helped former teammate Trevor Hoffman and former AL Cy Young winner Johan Santana refine their changeups, calls Fernando Rodney‘s changeup one of the best he’s ever seen, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune. While Rodney struggled tremendously in 2015, he’s off to an excellent start in 2016, displaying the same 96 mph heat he’s long been known for and showing renewed dominance with his changeup, yielding just a .080 average and generating a career-best 28.7 percent swinging-strike rate with the pitch. Rodney’s deal comes with just a $1.6MM base salary but allows him to earn up to $5MM this season based on appearances and games finished, Lin writes, and whatever incentives he earns in 2016 are tacked onto the value of next season’s club option (which has a $2MM base).
- Nick Groke of the Denver Post spoke to Rockies farm director Zach Wilson, who said that the club doesn’t have a timeline for the promotion of some of its most promising young arms. As Groke writes, the club has, in the past, rushed pitchers such as Eddie Butler to the Majors out of necessity, but there’s no plan to repeat that mistake with the likes of right-hander Jeff Hoffman, left-hander Kyle Freeland and others. Groke provides a rundown of seven of the organization’s top minor league arms, with quotes from Wilson on many of them.
- The Giants aren’t close to shaking up their rotation yet, writes Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. While both Matt Cain and Jake Peavy have struggled tremendously this season, Schulman writes that club officials believe the experience of Peavy and Cain still gives them the best chance to win. However, Schulman also notes that there are some internal steps being taken that could eventually lead to rotation shuffling if neither starter can prove to be competitive on a regular basis; right-hander Joan Gregorio and left-hander Andrew Suarez have each been promoted (to Triple-A and Double-A, respectively), while 2014 first-rounder Tyler Beede has impressed thus far at Double-A. The Giants would like to see Chris Heston, who made 95 pitches in his latest outing, deliver consecutive starts in the vicinity of 100 pitches before considering him as a rotation option, Schulman adds. It’s worth noting, too, that while Peavy was again hit hard last night, Cain just minutes ago completed the eighth inning of an excellent start (two runs, six hits, no walks, seven strikeouts) against a very strong Blue Jays lineup.
Injury Notes: Young, Peralta, Canha, Hendriks
Royals right-hander Chris Young is leaving the team to travel back to Kansas City, where he’ll receive an MRI on his right forearm, tweets MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Via Flanagan (link), Young says that he’s felt some soreness in his forearm since Spring Training ended. However, he adds that the club’s medical staff has informed him that the “serious stuff checks out OK,” though it remains to be seen what the MRI will reveal. Young’s fastball velocity is actually up from previous seasons, but the increased zip hasn’t done him any favors; the 6’10” righty has been roughed up to the tune of a 6.68 ERA in 32 1/3 innings this season and has been astonishingly homer-prone, serving up 13 long balls in that time.
A couple more injury situations around the league that merit keeping an eye on…
- Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta is meeting with hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan in Phoenix on Thursday this week, he tell Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Peralta was hit by a pitch on the right wrist/forearm area last week and was out of Arizona’s lineup both Sunday and Monday, though he did pinch-hit in Sunday’s contest. He’s out of the lineup again tonight, Piecoro notes, and it seems reasonable to expect that he’ll be sidelined at least until he meets with Sheridan later this week. The 28-year-old indy league reclamation has been a revelation with the D-backs since first working his way onto the big league club in 2014, hitting a combined .295/.347/.485 in 999 plate appearances. This season, he’s batting .260/.321/.439 with three homers.
- Athletics first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha is heading back to the Bay Area tomorrow and will undergo an MRI on his left hip, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Canha says he feels fine when running, but hitting is currently “excruciating,” adding that he can’t get any rotation in his hips and as such cannot swing very hard at the moment. “You don’t want to hope for something bad like a labrum tear to come up but at the same time, I want an answer about what’s wrong so we can pinpoint the problem,” said the 27-year-old. Canha has gotten off to a dreadful start to the season, hitting .122/.140/.341 in 44 plate appearances , though the hip troubles certainly help to explain the downturn in his productivity. He was placed on the disabled list today.
- MLB.com’s Jane Lee writes that right-hander Liam Hendriks, also placed on the DL by the Athletics today, will receive an MRI on his right elbow as well. Hendriks explained that he’s having difficulty getting full extension on his arm and has periodically experienced pain in the elbow since undergoing surgery to remove bone chips a few years ago.
Padres Claim Keith Hessler From Diamondbacks
5:40pm: Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets that Hessler will report to the Padres tomorrow and serve as the club’s 26th man for Wednesday’s double-header.
4:03pm: The Padres announced today that they have claimed left-hander Keith Hessler off waivers from the Diamondbacks. Arizona had designated Hessler for assignment back on April 30 in order to clear room on the roster for lefty Zac Curtis, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.
The 27-year-old Hessler has appeared in 20 games for the D-backs over the past two seasons but struggled, yielding 14 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings. He’s struggled in similarly limited exposure to the Triple-A level as well (5.32 ERA in 22 innings), but overall he enjoyed a strong season in the minors last year, working to a combined 2.14 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 across three levels. Lefties batted just .195/.246/.322 against Hessler between the Majors and Minors in 2015.
Diamondbacks Sign Michael Bourn
The Diamondbacks have signed center fielder Michael Bourn to a minor league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll be assigned to Double-A to start with Arizona.
Bourn, 33, was cut loose by the Blue Jays over the weekend after previously receiving his release from the Braves. The veteran will only cost his new team a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary, as the final year of his free agent contract with the Indians remains on Atlanta’s payroll.
It’s been quite some time since Bourn was a productive regular, but the D-Backs will hope there’s still a renaissance left. Arizona has struggled to fill in for injured star A.J. Pollock, who left a massive void in center field and isn’t expected back any time soon.
At his best, Bourn was a major threat on the bases, excellent defender, and good-enough hitter who conveyed plenty of overall value. But he’s mostly been injured and/or ineffective since going to Cleveland after a strong 2012 walk year.
Bourn will still need to earn another major league opportunity, and has to climb the ladder a bit after playing only at the High-A level in the Toronto organization. In his 41 plate appearances there, he put up a solid but hardly exciting .257/.366/.371 batting line and swiped one base in a single attempt.
Free Agent Notes: Lincecum, Nathan, Oviedo
Fielding questions about the Orioles‘ interest in Tim Lincecum, executive VP Dan Duquette downplayed that likelihood and provided some hints as to the market’s development, as Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports. In Duquette’s view, Lincecum is likely to sign with a west coast club and is likely to get a shot at a rotation. “He’s going to sign with a club that needs a starter,” said the O’s top baseball decisionmaker. “That’s what he wants to do, and I’m confident he’s going to get that opportunity.”
- The Diamondbacks are a theoretical suitor with a geographic match, but the club does not appear likely to get involved on Lincecum, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. While GM Dave Stewart says that the organization had scouts on hand for the showcase, he went on to say, “I don’t see us going any steps further.” Lincecum appears to be drawing fairly wide interest, but it’s still not clear which team will make him a handshake agreement of a starting role. We had heard that the 31-year-old could reach a decision over the weekend after his showcase on Friday, but that obviously didn’t happen.
- Last we checked in, veteran reliever Joe Nathan was still set on a comeback, and Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets an update. Nathan, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, is beginning a throwing program. There’s apparently at least some hope that he’ll be ready for game action by July 1st, though it would be pretty surprising to see him in the majors anywhere near that soon if he’s only now ramping up.
- Cuban righty Johan Oviedo is opening some eyes, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets. An 18-year-old with a big frame, Oviedo is said to be working in the mid-nineties with his fastball, though of course scouts will be looking for quite a bit more than just that. He’s eligible to sign, but will be subject to bonus pool restrictions.
- Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star provides an interesting look at the question of how the talent flow from Cuba to the majors may impact the game on the island. At present, stakeholders on the island merely watch as their best players depart, receiving no compensation. It’s certainly fair to raise doubts about the long-term impacts of that set of incentives, to say nothing of the other issues that have arisen in player movement out of Cuba. Of course, all indications are that a new system will be installed, but it remains to be seen how it’ll be structured.
Angels, ChiSox, D’Backs, Giants Showing Early Interest In Tim Lincecum
The Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants and White Sox are the four teams who have been the quickest to show interest in Tim Lincecum, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports. The Padres are also expected to join the hunt to sign the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Given that the majority of MLB teams had scouts in attendance at Lincecum’s showcase on Friday, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more clubs emerge.
Lincecum has long been considered as a possibility to return to the Giants and there is mutual interest between the two sides, though it’s still unclear whether the club is adamant about using Lincecum only as a reliever or (as he prefers) as a starting pitcher. The Padres and Angels have also been linked to Lincecum, and given how both teams have been plagued by rotation injuries this season, they seem likely to be more open to using Lincecum as a starter.
The White Sox are a logical suitor for Lincecum given the club’s desire for rotation depth in the wake of John Danks‘ release. Erik Johnson, Miguel Gonzalez, Jacob Turner and Chris Beck are all on hand as fifth starter options for Chicago, though Lincecum offers much more upside if he can even partially resemble his old Cy Young form. While Lincecum could be intrigued by the idea of joining the first-place Pale Hose, geography could be an issue if (as the Orioles’ Dan Duquette noted this morning) Lincecum indeed prefers to pitch for a team “west of the Mississippi.”
The D’Backs are a new name in the Lincecum sweepstakes. Arizona starters entered today’s action with a 5.41 ERA, the second-highest rotation ERA of any club in baseball. Zack Greinke sports a 5.15 ERA (though advanced metrics indicate that he has been unlucky), Shelby Miller has pitched very poorly and none of Patrick Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa and Robbie Ray have looked much more than average. Pitching at Chase Field could be something of a hard sell for Lincecum given that he would likely prefer to rebuild his value in a less hitter-friendly ballpark; he has a 4.72 ERA in 76 1/3 career innings at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks.
Quick Hits: Pohlad, La Russa, Lohse, CBA
The Twins‘ miserable start to the season is the result of a “total system failure” rather than any individual’s performance, club owner Jim Pohlad tells Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Pohlad says that GM Terry Ryan “is the right guy” to run the baseball operations department, while skipper Paul Molitor “has our total support.” The owner rejected the idea that more money would have done much good, saying: “I don’t believe that the money thing has been a constraint on the team’s success.” And he doesn’t seem to believe that the choices made with the funding were ill-considered. “We’ve been at this for a little while … the owner can’t do a whole lot,” he explained. “But what could Terry do? Or what could Paul do? I just don’t know at this point. It’s just a total system failure, so to speak.”
Here are a few more stray notes from around the game:
- Things haven’t been quite as ugly for the Diamondbacks, but Arizona probably had higher expectations after its major winter moves. The fault doesn’t lie at the feet of manager Chip Hale, the organization’s chief baseball officer, Tony La Russa, tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. La Russa rejected the notion that Hale’s job is at risk if Arizona can’t pull itself back together. He joined GM Dave Stewart in noting that righty Shelby Miller has been “pushing and pressing too much,” with the rest of the staff otherwise doing well enough. “There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic,” said La Russa. “We’ve got some good depth and a lot of versatility on the roster. Some of our young guys have really showed up well.”
- We’ve heard a lot of chatter about Tim Lincecum, but another veteran right-hander — Kyle Lohse — is also preparing to sign. He put on a showcase of his own today, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports on Twitter. While Lohse doesn’t have Lincecum’s relative youth or Cy Young pedigree, he has been a rather solid and durable pitcher for quite some time and remains an interesting possibility for teams in need of rotation depth, even at 37 years of age.
- Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters today that he hopes to reach a new CBA before the end of the playing season this year, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com was among those to tweet. He certainly seemed to present an optimistic view of the negotiating path that has begun between the league and union.
NL West Notes: Ross, O’Brien, Miller, Giants
While Padres ace Tyson Ross has moved onto the next phase of his rehab from shoulder inflammation and is doing stabilization exercises (with strengthening exercises around the corner), there’s still no timetable for his return, writes MLB.com’s A.J. Cassavell. Ross has yet to resume throwing, and manager Andy Green tells Cassavell that not only is there no timetable for a return to the Majors, there’s not even a timetable for when Ross will pick up a ball. Green somewhat vaguely says that Ross has reported feeling good, but the lack of definitive updates on his return continues to represent an ominous scenario for the Padres.
More from the NL West…
- The D-backs‘ lineup at the big league level is fairly crowded, especially when it comes to positions that could theoretically be manned by prospect Peter O’Brien, but manager Chip Hale said recently in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link), “If you can swing it as well as Peter has, we’ll find a place for him, if he continues to do this — force our hand.” O’Brien is indeed off to another monstrous start at the Triple-A level, hitting .340 with eight homers through his first 97 plate appearances. Of course, O’Brien has also drawn just one walk against 26 strikeouts, and the matter of where on the diamond he plays is an ongoing conundrum. Formerly a catching prospect, Arizona moved O’Brien from behind the plate early last year due to defensive questions (most notably, he developed a case of the yips even throwing the ball back to the pitcher). He’s seen time at first base and in the outfield corners, but the D-backs have Paul Goldschmidt at first base with David Peralta, Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury all serving as corner options. Defense and a lack of walks will continue to be a question for O’Brien, but he’s a .293/.333/.570 hitter with 34 homers in 154 Triple-A games, so the Snakes are understandably intrigued by his bat.
- D-backs GM Stewart also appeared on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this week with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette (audio link) to discuss Shelby Miller‘s early struggles. Said Stewart: “Shelby Miller, I think, it’s more really just he’s feeling some pressure of the trade: the players that we traded for him, trying to fit in, I think the whole ordeal has just been different for him leaving St. Louis going to Atlanta. … I think he’s feeling some of the pressure of [Arizona’s expectations to win].” Stewart says he had a conversation with Miller explaining that “there is no pressure here, on him,” instead conveying that Miller need only go out and throw as he has in the past with the Cardinals and Braves. It’s somewhat of a tough sell, in my mind, to cite the players that surrendered for Miller as a source of pressure, considering he was recently flipped for Jason Heyward. And, coming up through a competitive Cardinals organization, expectations of winning aren’t a new phenomenon for Miller, either. The 25-year-old has struggled to an 8.49 ERA with as many walks (19) as strikeouts through 23 1/3 innings this year.
- Early struggles from Matt Cain and Jake Peavy (who tied a career-worst by allowing four homers in his most recent start) have many Giants fans wondering about Tim Lincecum, but manager Bruce Bochy has continued to stand behind his struggling starters, writes Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Bochy reiterated on Wednesday what GM Bobby Evans said earlier in the week: the club has interest in Lincecum in a relief role — more specifically, a long relief role, per Bochy. Lincecum seems intent on attempting to break back into a rotation, though, making a reunion with the Giants difficult to envision. And, as Baggarly notes, Lincecum wouldn’t even be ready to join the rotation immediately, so he doesn’t represent a short-term fix for San Francisco’s ills. Moreover, it remains to be seen if Lincecum is even capable of performing as a quality big league starter on the heels of September hip surgery. While it wouldn’t take much to outperform Peavy (9.00 ERA, 4.96 FIP, 4.72 xFIP in 29 innings) or Cain (7.00 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 4.79 xFIP in 27 innings), I’d imagine that the Giants would want a more definitive upgrade were they to unseat one of their current starters with an external option.