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Cubs Place Nico Hoerner On Injured List

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The Cubs announced they’ve placed second baseman Nico Hoerner on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 9, due to a left hamstring strain. Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also reinstated reliever Brandon Hughes from the IL and optioned swingman Javier Assad to Iowa.

Hoerner has gotten off to a nice start to the year. After signing a three-year extension in Spring Training, the 25-year-old infielder has put together a .303/.348/.395 line over 164 plate appearances. He’s already stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts and has kept his strikeout rate to a customarily excellent 10.4% clip. The Stanford product has gotten typically strong reviews from public metrics for his defense at second base.

The Cubs have deployed Hoerner at the top of the lineup. Since he came up with the hamstring issue a few days ago, Nick Madrigal and Christopher Morel have gotten some looks at second base and in the leadoff spot. That’ll continue for at least the next week, with Mastrobuoni also again in the picture after hitting .291/.494/.455 over 18 games in Iowa.

Hughes, 27, figures to return to a high-leverage role out of the bullpen. The southpaw was excellent as a rookie last year, tossing 57 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball with a strong 28.5% strikeout rate. He’d seen some time in the ninth inning by year’s end and picked up eight saves. He’s twice gone on the IL because of left knee inflammation thus far in 2023, though, limiting him to five MLB appearances.

Pirates Outright Chase De Jong

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Pirates reliever Chase De Jong has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He’s gone unclaimed on waivers multiple times in his career, giving him the right to elect minor league free agency.

De Jong has spent parts of three seasons with Pittsburgh. He started nine games with middling results in 2021 but found more success upon moving to the bullpen last year. De Jong threw 71 2/3 innings over 42 appearances for the Bucs, compiling a 2.64 ERA. It was mostly low-leverage work and De Jong’s peripherals weren’t aligned with his strong run prevention.

The right-hander struck out a below-average 20.1% of batters faced while walking 10.2% of opponents. De Jong’s run prevention and ability to work multiple innings nevertheless secured his 40-man roster spot throughout the winter. The Bucs kept the out-of-options De Jong in their season-opening bullpen, but he lost his roster spot with a slow start. Through 9 1/3 frames, he’s allowed 11 runs on 13 hits and five walks. De Jong’s swinging strike rate fell from a serviceable 10.5% rate to a modest 5.2% clip.

De Jong will now decide whether to report to Indianapolis or scour the market for other opportunities. He’d likely be limited to minor league offers as a free agent but could look elsewhere for clearer paths back to the MLB roster and/or a potential opt-out date in a non-roster contract. De Jong has pitched parts of seven seasons in Triple-A, working to a 5.59 ERA with a 19.3% strikeout percentage over 211 innings.

Orioles’ Terrin Vavra Taking Catching Drills To Expand Versatility

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The Orioles recalled utility player Terrin Vavra from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the week. Vavra has MLB experience at second base and in both corner outfield spots, so it was clear he’d add some defensive flexibility to the Baltimore bench, but he’s expanding his versatility in an interesting way.

As Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes, the Orioles have experimented with Vavra as a possible emergency catcher. He appeared behind the plate twice with Norolk during his most recent optional assignment, logging four combined innings. Vavra didn’t start any games — the Tides deployed him only in mop-up work — but it’s possible he eventually logs time behind the dish a little more frequently.

Kubatko notes the O’s have considered giving Vavra some catching time since last year. He did some work there in Spring Training drills and the Minnesota product tells Kubatko he’d caught some offseason bullpen sessions from Dodger reliever J.P. Feyereisen (who lives near Vavra over the winter). The four innings with the Tides marked his first game action behind the dish since high school, however.

The O’s aren’t going to throw Vavra into an important catching role out of the gate. Baltimore has one of the sport’s top backstops in Adley Rutschman, while veteran James McCann is on hand as the backup. The O’s don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster, though Luis Torrens is presently in DFA limbo. Manager Brandon Hyde confirmed it’d take an emergency situation, presumably injury substitutions from the top two backstops, for Vavra to log any MLB time there in the short term. The 25-year-old is clearly amenable to working on the position in an effort to increase his value off the bench over the longer haul.

A left-handed hitter, Vavra has tallied 31 MLB plate appearances this year. He’s up to 134 trips to the dish in his career, posting a .252/.333/.313 batting line with one home run. The former third round draftee has walked in a quality 11.2% of his plate appearances against a decent 20.1% strikeout rate.

Angels, Meibrys Viloria Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with catcher Meibrys Viloria, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. It’s their second non-roster deal of the day, as they also added reliever Reyes Moronta this morning.

It’s a sensible depth addition for Los Angeles. The Halos have been dealt a serious of injuries to their catching core. Rookie Logan O’Hoppe had his blistering start cut short by a labrum tear in his shoulder last month. He’ll miss most or all of the season. Expected backup Max Stassi opened the season on the injured list with a hip strain. Sam Blum of the Athletic wrote yesterday that Stassi has been attending to a family emergency and is without a timetable for his return.

That left the Angels counting on Matt Thaiss as their starter. They selected veteran backstop Chad Wallach from Triple-A but quickly lost him to concussion-like symptoms. The Halos then tabbed Chris Okey — a career .208/.283/.333 Triple-A hitter — as Thaiss’ backup. It’s understandable they’d look to add a player with upper level experience to the organization.

Viloria, 26, has appeared in parts of five major league seasons between the Royals, Rangers and Guardians. He’s functioned in a depth capacity for the majority of that time, tallying 280 cumulative plate appearances. He’s just a .198/.270/.279 hitter against big league pitching, but he’s been quite a bit better in Triple-A. The lefty-swinging backstop owns a .257/.395/.412 line over 430 trips at the top minor league level.

The Guardians carried Viloria on the MLB roster as their third catcher to start the season. He barely played, hitting just four times in roughly a month before being designated for assignment. Upon clearing waivers last week, he elected minor league free agency and quickly finds a new opportunity. The Halos’ injuries figure to give him a good shot at returning to the MLB roster. Viloria is out of minor league options, so if he’s promoted at any point, the Angels will have to keep him in the majors or DFA him themselves.

According to the transaction log, the Angels also optioned veteran first baseman Jake Lamb to Salt Lake. As a player with over five years of major league service, Lamb would ordinarily have the right to decline any minor league assignment in favor of free agency. However, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (on Twitter) that Lamb had agreed to a 45-day window from the start of season in which the Halos could send him down without exposing him to waivers.

That would have closed this weekend, so the Angels decide to send him down. The lefty-hitting Lamb is hitting only .216/.259/.353 through 54 plate appearances. He’ll remain on the 40-man roster but moves into a depth capacity as the Angels near the return of Jared Walsh. The 2021 All-Star will begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend as he works back from insomnia that delayed his start to the season.

Giants Place Austin Slater On Injured List

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The Giants announced this evening they’ve placed outfielder Austin Slater on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Bryce Johnson was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take his spot on the active roster.

It’s a rough break for Slater, who pulled up while running during yesterday’s loss to the Nationals. Slater had also lost the first three weeks of the season to a left hamstring strain. It’s been a tough opening to the year for the 30-year-old, who has been limited to just six starts thus far. He’d played well in that limited look, hitting .368/.455/.421 with two stolen bases through 22 trips to the plate.

The right-handed hitting Slater has been a productive role player for San Francisco for a few seasons. He’s now appeared in parts of seven campaigns and set his career high in playing time last year. Slater tallied 325 plate appearances of .264/.366/.408 hitting while starting a little less than half the club’s games in 2022. He’s taken particular advantage of favorable platoon matchups. For his career, Slater is a .291/.381/.473 hitter against left-handed pitching.

Slater’s absences have contributed to the Giants’ struggles against southpaws. San Francisco ranks just 26th in on-base percentage (.294) and 27th in slugging (.362) against left-handed pitching. Johnson adds a switch-hitter to the outfield mix but is more of a speed and defense type than a major offensive threat.

Mariners’ Offseason Trade Acquisitions Off To Slow Starts

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The Mariners mostly shied away from the free agent market on the heels of their drought-ending playoff berth. Instead, Seattle turned to trade to add to a lineup that had been a bit top-heavy in 2022. Their two most notable transactions took place within the first few weeks of the offseason: reliever Erik Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko were shipped to Toronto for slugger Teoscar Hernández, while the M’s dealt Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro to the Brewers for second baseman Kolten Wong.

Both Hernández and Wong are in their final seasons before free agency. Milwaukee had exercised a $10MM club option on Wong before trading him in what amounted to a roughly cash-neutral deal considering they took back Winker’s salary. Seattle took on a decent chunk of 2023 money to accommodate Hernández, who’d earn $14MM for his final season of arbitration eligibility (compared to the $1.25MM Swanson is making in his first of three arbitration years).

Hernández, in particular, could eventually net the club a compensatory draft choice by rejecting a qualifying offer and signing elsewhere next offseason. Yet both trades were primarily about bolstering the lineup in 2023 while avoiding the longer-term downside associated with a multi-year free agent deal.

To this point, neither player has met Seattle’s expectations. Hernández is sitting on a .215/.260/.396 batting line over 154 plate appearances. That’s nowhere close to the .283/.333/.519 line he’d compiled between 2020-22 to pick up a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP finishes. His raw slash stats always seemed likely to dip somewhat with the move from Rogers Centre to T-Mobile Park. This has been a far more significant drop-off than is solely attributable to park factors and Hernández is performing worse on the road than he is in Seattle.

Hernández has popped seven home runs, putting him on a 27-homer pace over 600 plate appearances. He’s still barreling the ball up and making hard contact when he puts the ball in play. The middle-of-the-order form he’d shown for years in Toronto still looks to be there. Yet his plate discipline has been rough thus far, resulting in a career-worst 3.2% walk rate and a massive 35.1% strikeout percentage.

Selectivity has never been Hernández’s specialty. He’s always been an aggressive hitter, one who’s willing to trade some walks for power impact. He has pushed that too far to the extreme through his first few weeks in Seattle, though, as he’s chased nearly 40% of pitches outside the strike zone. It’s the 23rd-highest rate among 204 hitters with 100+ plate appearances; Hernández was closer to league average in that regard during his last few seasons in Toronto.

Wong, meanwhile, has been one of the least effective hitters in the majors to this point. He’s yet to connect on a homer in 94 trips to the plate, posting a .195/.287/.220 line overall. He has played well through his first five games in May after carrying a .171/.263/.186 slash through the end of April. The Mariners weren’t counting on Wong to be an impact bat but surely hoped for something approximating the solid .262/.337/.439 showing he put together over two years in Milwaukee.

The lefty-hitting Wong has long been a quality, well-rounded regular. He’s typically hit around a league average level, compensating for fringe power with plus contact skills. At his peak, he’s been a Gold Glove second baseman and a plus baserunner. His typically stellar defensive marks dropped off during his last season with the Brewers, as both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him subpar grades in 2022.

Wong attributed his defensive drop to playing through leg injuries, offering some hope he’d turn things around after an offseason of rest. The early returns haven’t been promising, however. DRS has pegged Wong as an MLB-worst eight runs below average through 226 2/3 innings of second base work; Statcast has him one run worse than expected. Public defensive metrics can be wildly variable in small samples, but it’s a discouraging start for the 32-year-old’s efforts to recapture his formerly excellent form with the glove.

Without many early contributions from Hernández or Wong, Seattle’s position player group hasn’t been especially good. They’re 22nd in runs scored (157) and 25th in both on-base percentage (.302) and slugging (.372). After accounting for their pitcher-friendly ballpark, they’re 19th in offensive production as measured by wRC+. Their pitching and defense has kept them around average overall — they’re in fourth place in the AL West at 18-19 with a +14 run differential — but they’ll need more out of the lineup to earn a repeat playoff berth in an American League playoff mix that has 10 to 12 teams with realistic aspirations.

There’s certainly time for Seattle’s top offseason acquisitions to get things back on track. The M’s have by no means played themselves out of contention. Whether they make a serious run for the division and/or a Wild Card spot could be determined in large part by how quickly Hernández and Wong find their previous levels. With both players headed to the open market six months from now, their free agent outlooks are also to be determined based on their performances this summer.

Royals Receiving Trade Interest In Aroldis Chapman

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The Royals are getting early trade interest in Aroldis Chapman, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The seven-time All-Star is off to a strong start to the season.

Chapman has appeared in 14 games and tallied 12 2/3 innings out of Matt Quatraro’s bullpen. He’s allowed only five runs (four earned) and posted a 20:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 52 plate appearances. His 38.5% strikeout rate checks in eighth among the 219 relievers with 10+ innings. Chapman has gotten a swinging strike on 18.1% of his offerings — the 15th-best mark in MLB — and is holding opposing hitters to a .174/.269/.196 line overall.

The longtime star closer looks far better thus far in Kansas City than he did at the end of his Yankees’ tenure. The southpaw hit free agency last winter with his value at perhaps the lowest ebb of his career. Chapman had allowed a 4.46 ERA during his final season in the Bronx. His strikeout rate dropped below 30% for the first time in his 14-season MLB career, while last year’s 12.7% swinging strike rate was quite a bit below Chapman’s previous norms. Perhaps most worrisome was New York’s decision to leave him off its playoff rosters after Chapman spent time on the injured list with an infected tattoo and subsequently missed a team workout.

Chapman hasn’t quite returned to peak form, when his fastball was sitting in the triple digits and he was punching out just under half his opponents. He’s off to his best start in three years, though, again looking the part of a high-leverage arm. Chapman is averaging 99.3 MPH on his heater and 87.9 MPH on his slider, each figure checking in around two ticks harder than last season’s averages.

It’s still a small sample, but the early results are exactly what the Royals had envisioned when they took a buy-low flier in late January. Kansas City inked Chapman to a one-year, $3.75MM guarantee. The deal contained up to $5MM in additional performance bonuses — up to $2.5MM based on appearances, $2.5MM on games finished — but those incentives look perfectly reasonable so long as Chapman is pitching this well. The 35-year-old will receive $312,500 for every fifth appearance between 20 and 55 outings, and he’d land a matching sum for every fourth game finished between 12 and 40.

Chapman is at 14 appearances in 38 games. He’s on pace to max out the $2.5MM in appearance incentives. Kansas City has used him mostly in the middle innings while keeping Scott Barlow in the closer role. Chapman has four games finished, putting him on pace for 17. Of course, if Kansas City (or an acquiring team) installs him as their closer at any point, he’d be in better position to unlock more of those incentives. That’d be a good problem to have if Chapman is closing games effectively.

Despite the veteran reliever’s contributions, the Royals are off to a nightmarish start overall. They have an 11-27 record that has them ahead of only the A’s in the American League. A 35-year-old reliever on a one-year contract for a noncompetitive team is a straightforward trade candidate, so it’s little surprise bullpen-needy clubs are getting in touch with the K.C. front office.

While the Royals are receiving early trade interest, it’s unlikely any deal will come together in the immediate future. For one, Chapman can’t be traded without his consent until next month. Major league free agents who sign MLB contracts receive an automatic no-trade right until June 15 of the following season under the collective bargaining agreement. Even if Chapman were amenable to waiving that to join a contender within the next five weeks, it’s rare to see trades of significance hammered out this early in the season.

Traditionally, the Royals have been more willing than most clubs to explore early-season trades if they’re well out of contention. They dealt Carlos Santana to the Mariners in late June last season and reportedly began shopping Andrew Benintendi around the same time. Those moves came under former president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, though, and earnestly shopping veteran players in the second week of May is a different level altogether. Even with the Royals highly likely to miss the playoffs, it’s easier for them to hold Chapman for now as rival teams take more time to determine how aggressively to pursue trades for relief help.

So long as he’s healthy and still performing in four to six weeks, Chapman figures to be a very popular target. The Royals could also market Barlow, who has a season and a half of remaining arbitration control, and impending free agent southpaw Amir Garrett.

Taylor Motter Accepts Outright Assignment

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Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat). He remains in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

St. Louis had designated Motter for assignment last weekend. He cleared waivers on Monday but had the right to test free agency as a player who has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. After some time to consider the decision, he’ll stick in the system and try to play his way back onto the big league roster.

Motter signed a minor league deal with St. Louis last offseason. He’s twice gotten onto the MLB roster but been DFA rather quickly both times. Over his two stints, he’s played in eight games and tallied a .200/.273/.300 batting line through 22 trips to the plate. That brings his career slash to .191/.263/.309 in 169 major league contests. The right-handed hitter is far more accomplished at the Triple-A level. He’s a .262/.352/.482 hitter in more than 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of six seasons.

Among the reasons for Motter’s initial stint on the MLB roster was a season-opening injured list stay for Paul DeJong. The Cards reinstated DeJong a couple weeks ago and have seen their one-time starting shortstop get off to a scorching start in a utility role. Through 12 games, DeJong has already picked up three homers and sports a .350/.409/.650 line overall.

That’s miles better than the .182/.269/.352 slash DeJong had mustered from 2021-22. While it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, he’s obviously off to a much stronger start than anticipated, a particularly welcome development in the final guaranteed season of his contract.

A Cash Transaction Paying Off For The Giants

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It has been a middling start for the Giants, who fell to 16-20 with a loss to the Nationals this evening. San Francisco’s lineup has been a mediocre group overall, largely thanks to slow starts from Michael Conforto, David Villar and Brandon Crawford.

Despite the bland overall results, the Giants are getting strong contributions from a handful of players acquired in minor trades. LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis and Mike Yastrzemski all landed in the organization via small or buy-low deals. That’s also true of the player who has been arguably the team’s most valuable contributor in 2023: middle infielder Thairo Estrada.

Estrada began his professional career a little more than a decade ago. He signed with the Yankees as an amateur out of Venezuela. While he was never an elite prospect, the 5’10” infielder appeared among the organization’s top 30 minor league talents at Baseball America every year between 2014-19. Estrada had been an effective hitter up through Double-A but he lost the bulk of the 2018 season after being shot in the leg during a robbery attempt the preceding offseason. He required a pair of surgeries, and while he returned to play the majority of the ’19 campaign, his offensive numbers in Triple-A dropped.

The Yankees played Estrada sparingly at the big league level between 2019-20. Relegated to a depth role on a roster with DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres, he appeared in 61 games in pinstripes. New York designated him for assignment during the first week of the 2021 season upon trading for Rougned Odor to serve as a depth infielder. The Giants jumped the waiver order, acquiring Estrada for cash five days later.

Getting any kind of contributions from a player added for that kind of minimal cost would have counted as a win. Estrada has far exceeded what the Giants themselves likely had anticipated. He was on and off the active roster in 2021, hitting .273/.333/.479 in 52 big league contests. By last season, he’d established himself as the primary second baseman. Estrada held that job with another above-average showing, putting together a .260/.322/.400 line with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases through a personal-high 541 plate appearances.

San Francisco tabbed Estrada as its Opening Day second baseman for a second consecutive season. He’s responded with a torrid start, carrying a .338/.388/.522 slash over 38 games. He’s already connected on six home runs and seven doubles, and he’s swiped 10 bags in 12 attempts. Estrada has split his defensive work almost evenly between the two middle infield spots, moving to shortstop lately after Crawford hit the injured list. Public metrics suggest he’s better suited for second base, where he figures to return once Crawford is healthy.

Estrada isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace. He’s running a .396 batting average on balls in play in spite of a modest 31.8% hard contact rate. As a few more batted balls find gloves, his offense will take a step back. Even with some regression, Estrada looks to have established himself as a slightly above-average hitter. He’s now up to 820 plate appearances of .277/.336/.435 batting since landing in San Francisco. He puts the ball in play to compensate for middling walk totals and has solid if unexceptional power.

Combine that offense with quality baserunning and the ability to play up the middle and Estrada looks like a well-rounded everyday option who’s currently playing at an All-Star level. The Giants have already gotten far more out of Estrada than teams get in the vast majority of transactions for players who’d been in DFA limbo.

He’s likely to remain a contributor — albeit not quite at his early-season level — for the next few seasons. Estrada is making just $2.25MM in his first of four years of arbitration eligibility. The Giants can keep him around via that process through 2026. It’s rare for teams to retain players whom they’d added in a cash transaction for multiple seasons but Estrada has played his way into an important role in the Bay Area.

AL Notes: Rodon, Walsh, Brantley, Martin

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The Yankees have been without Carlos Rodón to this point. New York’s big offseason acquisition was sidelined by a minor forearm strain in Spring Training and subsequently bothered by back issues. The back has kept him out of action and raised particular concern last week when Rodón told reporters that doctors had called his injury a “chronic” problem.

While that cast plenty of uncertainty as to when the star southpaw would be able to take the mound, it’s possible he starts ramping up in the coming days. Chris Kirschner of the Athletic tweeted yesterday that Rodón will work out on Friday after receiving a cortisone injection. It’s possible he progresses back to mound work as soon as this weekend, which would enable him to begin building strength via a throwing program.

The Yankees have also been without Frankie Montas and Luis Severino due to injuries. Montas is going to be out until late in the year, but Severino threw 3 1/3 innings for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre to start a rehab assignment this afternoon. Those injuries have forced the Yankees to rely on the likes of Domingo Germán, Jhony Brito and Clarke Schmidt out of the rotation to middling results.

Checking in on some other injury situations around the AL:

  • Jared Walsh will head on a rehab stint with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake this weekend, the team informed reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic). He’ll play at least three games with the Bees before the Halos determine whether he’s ready for his first MLB action of the season. Walsh lost the first six weeks to insomnia and recurring headaches. Now that he’s put that behind him, he’ll try to get on track offensively. An All-Star in 2021, the lefty-swinging first baseman slumped to a .215/.269/.374 showing last year before his season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome. The Angels have divided first base reps almost evenly between Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela and Jake Lamb. The left-handed hitting Lamb has struggled in the early going and could be the odd man out once Walsh is ready to return.
  • Michael Brantley has yet to make his season debut for the Astros. Over the weekend, Houston had hinted he could be back for their three-game set in Anaheim to start the week. That didn’t happen and manager Dusty Baker said today the veteran outfielder departed the team to go for some testing (via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). The Astros were customarily reluctant to divulge specifics, but it’s no longer entirely clear when they expect Brantley to be ready for activation. He’d been ramping up from last year’s season-ending shoulder surgery and had played in nine rehab games with Triple-A Sugar Land through last Saturday.
  • The White Sox placed right-hander Davis Martin on the minor league injured list last week. Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets that Martin has a forearm strain in his throwing arm. The issue’s severity isn’t clear, though forearm strains can sometimes be precursors for more serious injuries. At the very least, it seems he’ll be out of the short-term mix should the team need to tap into its rotation depth. Martin started nine of 14 MLB games last year, working to a 4.83 ERA across 63 1/3 innings. He entered 2023 as the #6 starter on the depth chart. Martin had been pitching well for Charlotte, allowing only five runs with 20 strikeouts and seven walks over 16 innings. Chicago has avoided rotation injuries at the big league level; the group of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger has taken all 38 starts thus far.

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