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Dodgers Mulling Roster Options

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9:01pm: Pazos might not receive a promotion after all. Manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers are still deciding on their options, Toribio tweets.

4:45pm: The Dodgers have selected the contract of left-hander James Pazos, Juan Toribio of MLB.com relays. He’ll replace fellow southpaw Mike Kickham, whom the Dodgers designated for assignment Monday.

Pazos, 29, joined the Dodgers on a minor league contract over the winter after spending the previous two seasons with the National League West rival Rockies. He ended up throwing only 15 2/3 innings with Colorado, including 5 1/3 last year. Pazos was beaten up over his small sample of work in 2020, when he surrendered 10 earned runs on 10 hits (three homers) and five walks. He also saw his average fastball velocity drop from 94 mph-plus to 92.1.

Prior to his recent struggles, Pazos looked as if he was on track to carve out a successful big league career. During a 103 2/3-inning stretch with the Mariners from 2017-18, Pazos pitched to a 3.39 ERA/3.61 SIERA with a 24.4 percent strikeout rate, an 8.6 percent walk rate and a grounder percentage of 48.1.

COVID Notes: 5/3/21

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The latest cronavirus updates from around the majors…

  • The Angels announced that they have placed right-hander Mike Mayers on the injured list and recalled lefty Patrick Sandoval. No reason was given for Mayers’ IL placement, but the team expects him to return in the next few days, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report. That information implies Mayers’ absence is related to COVID-19. The 29-year-old Mayers broke out as part of the Angels’ bullpen in 2020 and has continued his effectiveness this season with 14 1/3 innings of 2.51 ERA/3.63 SIERA pitching and 18 strikeouts against six walks.

Brewers Activate Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain; Option Tyrone Taylor, Keston Hiura

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4:17pm: Yelich and Cain are indeed in Monday’s lineup, the Brewers announced. The team optioned Taylor and infielder Keston Hiura to its alternate site in corresponding moves. Taylor’s one of the odd men out despite a fantastic .323/.400/.581 line with a pair of homers in 35 trips to the plate. Hiura has endured an awful start, though, with a .152/.247/.266 mark, 32 strikeouts and one HR over 89 PA. So far, it has been the second consecutive adverse season for Hiura, who burst on the scene as a rookie in 2019 but hasn’t come close to replicating his output from then.

Hiura has gotten the lion’s share of playing time at first base this year for Milwaukee, which has also utilized Daniel Vogelbach at the position. Vogelbach and McKinney will now split time there. Manager Craig Counsell expressed optimism that Hiura “can be our primary first baseman,” though he admitted the Brewers “need more offense” from that spot, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays.

4:03pm: Brewers outfielders Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain will return from the 10-day injured list Monday as the first-place club begins a series against the Phillies, Robert Murray of FanSided reports.

This will be the first action since April 11 for Yelich, who has been down with a back ailment. The Brewers were optimistic Yelich wouldn’t be out for long, evidenced by the fact that they didn’t place him on the IL until April 17 (retroactive to the 14th). Now that the former MVP is coming back from a three-week absence, he’ll try to build on the highly  productive .333/.459/.367 line he logged in 37 plate appearances to start the season. However, the two-time 30-plus-home run hitter hasn’t left the yard yet in 2021.

The Brewers received very strong numbers from the left field combination of Tyrone Taylor and Billy McKinney during Yelich’s absence. The same hasn’t been true in center, where Jackie Bradley Jr. has struggled in his first year with the Brewers. Bradley divided his time between center and right to open the year, but he has played the former spot almost every day since Cain went on the IL on April 14 with a strained left quad. As is the case with Bradley, Cain has come out of the gates slowly in 2021. He batted an underwhelming .154/.214/.423 in 28 PA prior to his trip to the IL.

Phillies Place Roman Quinn On COVID IL; Reinstate Didi Gregorius

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MAY 1: The Phillies announced that Gregorius has been reinstated from the IL and Marchan was optioned back to the alternate site. Additionally, outfielder Roman Quinn has now been placed on the COVID IL, while fellow outfielder Mickey Moniak was recalled in a corresponding roster move.

APRIL 30: The Phillies have placed shortstop Didi Gregorius on the COVID-19 injured list and recalled catcher Rafael Marchan from their alternate site, according to a team announcement.

There’s no word on how much time the 31-year-old Gregorius will miss. Regardless, this news adds to a rough start to 2021 for Gregorius, whom the Phillies re-signed to a two-year, $28MM guarantee in free agency. Across 83 plate appearances, Gregorius has batted .250/.277/.355 with two home runs – down quite a bit from the .284/.339/.488 line he logged in 2020. With Gregorius out, the Phillies will start Nick Maton at short Friday.

The 22-year-old Marchan made a brief MLB debut in 2020, and though FanGraphs ranks him as the Phillies’ No. 6 prospect, he’ll have a tough time carving out a regular role with them. Marchan is stuck behind starting catcher J.T. Realmuto, an elite player at his position and the recipient of a five-year, $115.5MM guarantee during the winter.

Latest On Matthew Boyd

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MAY 1: It seems Boyd will avoid an IL stint. Hinch told reporters (including Jason Beck of MLB.com) that while the lefty won’t start in Boston, he is expected to pitch during next weekend’s series against the Twins.

APRIL 30: Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is hopeful that Boyd will only miss one start – a scheduled outing against Boston on Wednesday – though he’s unsure whether the lefty will go on the IL, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic relays.

APRIL 29: Tigers southpaw Matthew Boyd exited his start against the White Sox on Thursday with left knee tendinitis, according to the team. Boyd departed in the second inning after allowing two earned runs on three hits and a walk, and the club then replaced him with right-hander Michael Fulmer.

Until Thursday, this season had been going smoothly for Boyd, who has offered much better results than he did in 2020. After emerging as a coveted trade chip in 2019, Boyd’s value took a hit last year, during which he recorded the majors’ worst ERA (6.71) over 60 1/3 innings. He also saw his strikeout rate fall by 8.1 percent from the previous season, while his walk rate increased by almost 2 percent.

Strikeouts have been even harder to come by this year for Boyd, who has fanned batters at a lowly 17.3 percent clip. He has made up for that to some degree with a terrific 5.o percent walk rate, though, helping him to a 2.27 ERA across 35 2/3 innings. Before Thursday, Boyd hadn’t gone fewer than 5 2/3 frames in any of his starts, nor has he allowed more than three earned runs in any of his six appearances. Boyd’s fielding-independent metrics have been a mixed bag (2.95 FIP, 4.60 SIERA, 4.93 xFIP), but he ranks comfortably above average in such Statcast categories as average exit velocity against, hard-hit rate, expected weighted on-base average and expected ERA, to name a few.

It’s unclear whether Boyd will be able to build on his impressive start in the near future, as this injury could require a stint on the 10-day IL. But if Boyd’s healthy and effective leading up to the July 30 trade deadline, it’s possible he’ll resurface on the rumor mill. At 8-17, the Tigers look as if they’re well on their way to another non-contending season, and Boyd is only under club control through 2022.

Blue Jays Designate Tanner Roark For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated right-hander Tanner Roark for assignment, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was among those to report. They reinstated outfielder Teoscar Hernandez from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Jonathan Davis in corresponding moves.

This certainly isn’t the outcome Toronto expected when it signed Roark to a two-year, $24MM guarantee entering the 2020 season, but the deal will go down as a major mistake for the club. When the former National and Red joined the Blue Jays, he had five seasons of 165-plus innings on his resume and was at least a useful back-of-the-rotation starter. But Roark has been a liability as a member of the Jays, with whom he has recorded a horrific 6.75 ERA/5.26 SIERA with an 18.3 percent strikeout percentage and a 10.0 walk percentage in 54 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old has also seen his average fastball drop from the 92 mph range to below 91 since he signed with Toronto.

Roark threw just seven innings and made one start over three appearances this year for Toronto, and that small workload is damning when considering the injuries the team has dealt with in its rotation. The Jays will now have a week to trade Roark, pass him through waivers or release him. It seems likely they’ll wind up releasing Roark, who carries no appeal on a $12MM salary.

Hernandez, who hasn’t played since April 8, tested positive for COVID on April 13. He went an underwhelming 6-for-29 (five singles and a home run) with 14 strikeouts against no walks before going on the IL, though Hernandez was one of the majors’ top hitters a season ago. The Blue Jays have gone without Hernandez and center fielder/designated hitter George Springer for the vast majority of the season, but both are now back in their lineup.

Quick Hits: Zimmermann, Voit, Dodgers, Red Sox

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Veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann was on the brink of calling it a career Thursday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes, but he changed his mind when the Brewers selected his contract. “I think I was retired for about two hours,” said Zimmermann, a Wisconsin native whom the Brewers promoted as a result of recent injured list placements for fellow pitchers Corbin Burnes, Brett Anderson, Zack Godley and Josh Lindblom. Now that Zimmermann will continue on, the former Nationals star will try to get his career back on track after a subpar run with the Tigers from 2016-20.

  • Yankees first baseman Luke Voit could make his 2021 debut as early as May 11, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays. In the meantime, Voit – who underwent left knee surgery in late March – will start a rehab assignment at Double-A next week. The Yankees’ offense has improved since an ice-cold start to the season, but there’s no doubt the unit is better with a healthy Voit. The 30-year-old slugger led the majors with 22 home runs over 234 plate appearances last season and slashed .277/.338/.610 (152 wRC+).
  • The Dodgers’ bullpen has gone the first month of the season without righty reliever Joe Kelly, who’s on the IL with a shoulder issue. While Kelly is finally nearing his season debut, it turns out he has been dealing with a rather severe injury that required surgery in November, he revealed to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. “We found some cysts,” Kelly said. “My shoulder hasn’t been good since the end of 2019. But during my suspension after the thing with the Astros (early August) my arm was super weak. If I was laying on a table I couldn’t lift my arm past gravity. They asked me how long it was going on for and I told them forever. I couldn’t sleep at night and it felt like fire ants were eating my arm from the inside-out.” Kelly’s shoulder troubles helped limit him to 10 frames in the 2020 regular season, though he did contribute five appearances of 3 2/3-inning, one-run ball during the Dodgers’ World Series-winning playoff run.
  • The minor league contract that utilityman Danny Santana signed with the Red Sox initially included an opt-out date for today, but the two sides have agreed to push it back to the middle of May, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. On March 15, less than two weeks after joining the Boston organization, Santana was hospitalized with a foot infection that required surgery. Santana is still working back from that and will begin a minor league rehab assignment at the High-A level next Tuesday, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/30/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Indians have selected right-handed reliever Nick Sandlin’s contract, Zack Meisel of The Athletic was among those to report. Sandlin joined the Indians as a second-round pick in 2018, but he has thrown just 50 1/3 innings in the minors since then, owing in part to a forearm strain in 2019 and the canceled minor league season in 2020. The 24-year-old submariner has been effective in the minors when healthy, having put up a 2.68 ERA with 74 strikeouts and 18 walks. MLB.com ranks Sandlin 30th in the Indians’ system, writing that “[h]e has a high floor as a multi-inning reliever and the upside of a back-of-the-rotation starter.”
  • The Pirates have released catcher Christian Kelley, Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets. Kelley had been with the Pirates since they chose him in the 11th round of the 2015 draft, but he hasn’t made it to the big leagues yet. The 27-year-old topped out at Triple-A in 2019 and hit .179/.251/.282 with five home runs in 281 plate appearances.

Giants Select Zack Littell, Designate Skye Bolt

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The Giants have selected the contract of right-hander Zack Littell, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported. In other moves, the Giants designated outfielder Skye Bolt for assignment, recalled outfielder Steven Duggar and optioned infielder Jason Vosler, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets.

Still just 25 years old, Littell joined the Giants on a minor league contract over the winter after spending parts of three seasons in the majors with the Twins, who acquired him from the Yankees in 2017. Littell totaled 63 2/3 innings in the bigs from 2018-20 and posted a 4.52 ERA/4.70 SIERA with a 17.6 percent strikeout rate, an 8.3 walk rate and a 39.2 percent groundball mark. After Littell surrendered seven earned runs on 12 hits (including five home runs) over 6 1/3 frames in 2020, the Twins outrighted him.

Bolt, 27, joined the Giants as a waiver claim from the Athletics on April 5. He wound up appearing in just two of the Giants’ games and picking up one plate appearance before they designated him. Bolt still has a minor league option remaining, and he was once a decently regarded prospect, so another team could try to acquire him via waivers or trade in the next week.

Kole Calhoun Undergoes Hamstring Surgery

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APRIL 30: Calhoun underwent surgery on his hamstring, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic tweets. He could miss six to eight weeks, general manager Mike Hazen announced (via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com).

APRIL 28: The Diamondbacks announced that they have placed outfielder Kole Calhoun and right-hander Taylor Widener on the 10-day injured list. They recalled catcher/outfielder Daulton Varsho and righty Riley Smith to fill the empty roster spots.

Calhoun suffered a left hamstring strain during the Diamondbacks’ win over the Padres on Tuesday, forcing him to leave early. This will already be the second IL stint of 2021 for Calhoun, who was unavailable to start the season after undergoing surgery on a torn right meniscus. Calhoun, who’s in the last season of a two-year, $16MM guarantee, has been one of Arizona’s top hitters since he joined the team. The ex-Angel had an impressive 2020 and has continued to fare well this season with a .292/.333/.479 line and a pair of home runs in 51 plate appearances.

Calhoun’s injury creates another opportunity for the 24-year-old Varsho, whom Baseball America ranks as the sport’s 60th-best prospect. Varsho, the 68th pick in the 2017 draft, debuted in the majors last year and batted .188/.277/.368 with three homers over 115 trips to the plate. He was far more productive during his most recent minor league action in 2019, when he slashed .301/.378/.520 with 18 HRs and 21 steals across 452 PA.

Widener’s heading to the shelf with a right groin strain, retroactive to April 25. The 26-year-old is tied for second on the Diamondbacks in starts (four) this season and has pitched to a 2.82 ERA with a 6.5 percent walk rate through 22 1/3 innings. However, Widener’s fielding-independent numbers – including a 4.52 SIERA, 4.73 FIP and 4.75 xFIP – aren’t as encouraging. Smith will start in Widener’s place Wednesday against the Padres.

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