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East Notes: Means, Mets, Yankees, Strasburg

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The Mets made an attempt to acquire left-hander John Means from the Orioles during the offseason, but Baltimore rebuffed New York, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The Mets surely weren’t alone in trying to acquire Means, who’s making a minimal salary this year and still has three years of arbitration control remaining. Means proved himself as a capable mid- to back-of-the-rotation starter from 2019-20, but he has taken his game to an entirely different level this season. The 28-year-old has pitched to a microscopic 1.21 ERA with impressive strikeout and walk percentages of 28.0 and 5.3, respectively, over 52 innings. This has been a May to remember for Means, who no-hit the Mariners on the 5th and then tossed six scoreless innings against the team that wanted him, the Mets, this past Tuesday.

Here’s more on the Mets and a couple other East Coast clubs:

  • The Yankees announced Friday that designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with tightness in his left quad. The issue sidelined Stanton on Friday, and he’s now “day to day, hopefully nothing more than that,” manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and other reporters. Stanton endured a pair of injury-ruined seasons from 2019-20, in which he played in 41 of a possible 222 games, but has mostly stayed healthy this year. The 31-year-old slugger has been in excellent form with a .282/.347/.534 line and nine home runs in 144 plate appearances.
  • Sticking with the Yankees, right-hander Luis Severino is at the “start of spring training mode” as he works his way back from February 2020 Tommy John surgery, Boone said Friday (via Marly Rivera of ESPN). Severino threw 23 pitches of live batting practice Friday and averaged between 96 and 97 mph. The 27-year-old was one of the game’s elite starters from 2017-18, leading the Yankees to sign him to a four-year, $40MM extension, though he totaled only 12 innings in 2019 as a result of shoulder problems and hasn’t pitched since. To its credit, New York’s rotation has done well this year without Severino; nevertheless, the team will surely be glad to welcome him back if he’s healthy.
  • Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg will make a Triple-A rehab start on Sunday, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com tweets. Manager Dave Martinez said the hope is that Strasburg will go five innings and throw 75 to 80 pitches. Washington has barely gotten anything in 2021 from Strasburg, who’s in the second season of a seven-year, $245MM contract, as a result of shoulder inflammation. This is the second straight injury-limited year for the former World Series MVP, who has totaled just 15 innings since 2020.
  • Mets third baseman J.D. Davis and reliever Seth Lugo will soon begin rehab assignments at the Triple-A level, Bill Ladson of MLB.com writes. While the Mets hoped Davis would exit the 10-day injured list Saturday, he’s still not ready to come back since suffering a left hand sprain on May 1. The club has gone all season without Lugo, who underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow in February. Lugo started in seven of 16 appearances last season, but he’ll return to a relief role when he rejoins the Mets, per manager Luis Rojas.

Cubs Activate Ian Happ, Designate Ildemaro Vargas

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The Cubs have activated outfielder Ian Happ from the 10-day injured list and designated infielder Ildemaro Vargas for assignment, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets.

Happ is returning after spending the minimum amount of time on the IL with a rib contusion. Before that, Happ got off to an uncharacteristically slow start with the bat, evidenced by a .167/.307/.250 line with two home runs in 109 plate appearances. Happ’s strikeout, groundball and fly ball rates have all trended in the wrong direction, which helps explain his poor production, though he has dealt with some bad fortune. The 26-year-old’s .245 batting average on balls in play is easily a career low, and he’s well above average in such Statcast categories as hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity.

This is the second time since the end of March that the Cubs have designated Vargas, who has appeared in nine of their games and taken 24 trips to the plate this season. The 29-year-old has batted .143/.250/.238 with no home runs.

Twins To Place Jake Cave On 60-Day IL, Select Rob Refsnyder

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The Twins will place outfielder Jake Cave on the 60-day injured list with a fracture in his back and select the contract of infielder/outfielder Rob Refsnyder, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

The 60-day placement means Cave won’t return until at least the middle of July, which is a blow to the Twins’ outfield depth. Cave has played all three outfield positions this year and has totaled the team’s second-most appearances in center field after starter Byron Buxton, who is on the injured list with a strained hip. Fellow outfielder Alex Kirilloff, meanwhile, has been out of commission for almost all of May with a sprained wrist, and Kyle Garlick is playing through a groin injury.

While Cave has offered defensive flexibility, his offensive production has left much to be desired dating back to last season. He was a valuable offensive contributor for the Twins from 2018-19, during which he combined for a .262/.329/.466 line with 21 home runs in 537 plate appearances. But Cave had trouble at the plate last year and has put up a career-worst .167/.239/.262 line with one long ball and 35 strikeouts in 93 PA this season.

Cave’s injury will lead to another major league opportunity for the 30-year-old Refsnyder, whom the Twins signed a minor league contract in the offseason after he appeared in 15 games with the Rangers in 2020. Refsnyder has only hit .217/.305/.297 with four home runs in 457 major league PA.

Latest On Albert Pujols

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11:38am: Heyman now reports that there’s not “much traction” on a potential Cardinals-Pujols reunion.

10:01am: Legendary slugger Albert Pujols became a free agent Thursday, one week after the Angels designated him for assignment, and the first baseman is now garnering interest from a few teams. Three to four clubs are in on Pujols, Robert Murray of FanSided reports. St. Louis is part of that group, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Katie Woo of The Athletic tweeted Friday that the team has “had limited internal conversations” about a possible deal for Pujols. However, Woo added that the Cardinals had yet to contact Pujols’ camp.

While Woo suggests the Cardinals are unlikely to add Pujols, doing so would make for a compelling story. Pujols, of course, spent the first 11 seasons of his career (2001-11) in St. Louis, where he became a franchise icon and helped the team to a pair of World Series championships. On an individual level, Pujols earned nine All-Star nods, won three National League Most Valuable Player Awards and the NL Rookie of the Year, among many other accolades.

Pujols’ fruitful run with the Cardinals ended heading into the 2012 campaign, when he inked a 10-year, $254MM contract with the Angels. It was the second-largest deal in baseball history at the time, though the Angels didn’t get enough bang for their buck after taking the risk. Pujols’ production declined significantly with the Halos, and dating back to 2017, he ranks second to last among 2,278 qualified position players in fWAR (minus-3.3). During that 1,934-plate appearance span, the 41-year-old has also notched a meager 84 wRC+, which is a far cry from his exemplary lifetime mark (142).

In terms of bottom-line production, this season has been more of the same for Pujols, owner of a .198/.250/.372 line (74 wRC+) with five home runs in 92 trips to the plate. But Pujols has at least shown some encouraging signs, including a typically low strikeout rate (14.1 percent) and his highest average exit velocity since 2016 (90.5 mph). Pujols is also sporting a career-worst .176 batting average on balls in play, though that’s not necessarily shocking for someone devoid of speed. Still, if that number increases and his .270 weighted on-base average moves closer to his .347 expected wOBA, Pujols could perhaps serve as a useful bat/veteran leader for a club willing to take a chance on someone with 667 home runs on his resume.

Mets Select Jake Hager, Designate Trevor Hildenberger

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The Mets have selected the contract of infielder Jake Hager and designated right-handed reliever Trevor Hildenberger for assignment, according to Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. The team also optioned outfielder Khalil Lee to Triple-A Syracuse.

Hager was the 32nd overall pick of the Rays back in 2011, but he hasn’t played in the majors to this point. The 28-year-old has seen action in Triple-A ball in five seasons, including this one, and batted .243/.291/.373 with 22 home runs in 1,112 plate appearances at that level. He got off to a sizzling start in the minors this year en route to a promotion, slashing .405/.436/.703 with three home runs in 39 PA as a member of the Syracuse club.

Hildenberger, 30, joined the Mets in the offseason on a minor league contract. They promoted the former Twin in early April, but opposing offenses scored four runs off him on on three hits and three walks over 2 1/3 innings and two appearances. That continued a difficult run in the majors for Hildenberger, who has pitched to a 5.52 ERA in 133 2/3 frames. The Mets will have a week to trade, release or pass him through waivers.

Angels Acquire Hunter Strickland

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The Rays have traded right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to the Angels, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Tampa Bay will receive cash considerations or a player to be named later in return, per an announcement from the Angels.

The 32-year-old Strickland joined the Rays on a minor league contract over the winter, and he wound up holding his own during his short stint with the club after it promoted him in early April. Strickland bounced back from a rough two years divided among the Mariners, Nationals and Mets to log a meager 1.69 ERA (with a less spectacular 3.76 SIERA) across 16 innings and post a 24.2 percent strikeout rate against a 9.1 percent walk rate as a Ray.

Strickland will now return to California, where he spent the first five years of his career in San Francisco. Over 226 frames as a Giant from 2014-18, Strickland recorded a 2.91 ERA/3.80 SIERA with a 22.6 percent strikeout rate and an 8.4 percent walk rate. Production along those lines (or the type of numbers he put up as a Ray) would be welcome for the Angels, whose bullpen has struggled mightily during their 16-21 start. Angels relievers own both the majors’ fourth-worst ERA (5.32) and K-BB percentage (10.7).

Braves Sign Jonathan Lucroy

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The Braves have signed catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a minor league contract, according to David O’Brien and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Lucroy will report to Triple-A Gwinnett.

The 34-year-old Lucroy had been looking for a team since the Nationals designated him for assignment April 12, though he was choosy in selecting a club. Lucroy reportedly turned down multiple minor league offers in hopes of scoring a guaranteed deal, but that was a tough sell when considering how the former star’s career has gone since his 2010-16 heyday with the Brewers and Rangers.

Lucroy spent parts of 2017-19 with five different teams – the Rangers, Rockies, Athletics, Angels and Cubs – but didn’t experience much success outside of Colorado during that span. He combined to hit .248/.315/.350 with 18 home runs and minus-0.1 fWAR across 1,263 plate appearances in those three seasons, and his once-ballyhooed pitch-framing ability eroded at the same time. As a result, he has appeared in just six games since last year (one with the Red Sox and five with the Nationals).

Lucroy will now lend some depth to a Braves team in need of it behind the plate. Starter Travis d’Arnaud underwent surgery on a torn thumb ligament earlier this month and won’t return until at least July. Likewise, Alex Jackson has been out all month with a strained hamstring. And Tyler Flowers, whom the Braves re-signed to a minors pact May 6, decided to retire Friday. Atlanta is now down to William Contreras and Jeff Mathis as its top two options at the big league level.

Athletics Activate Chad Pinder

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The Athletics announced before their game against the Twins on Friday that they reinstated infielder/outfielder Chad Pinder from the 10-day injured list. He’s taking the roster spot of infielder Vimael Machin, whom the team optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

The Athletics have gone since April 4 without Pinder after he suffered a sprained left knee, robbing them of a versatile defender and useful offensive contributor. Dating back to his major league debut in 2016, the 29-year-old has lined up at every position but pitcher and catcher and hit .245/.302/.432 (99 wRC+) with 45 home runs in 1,138 plate appearances.

Pinder carries little experience at shortstop, though he could eventually be an option for an Oakland team that’s in serious need of a boost at the position. A’s shortstops entered Friday dead last in the majors in wRC+ (22) and fWAR (minus-0.8) across 156 PA, all of which have been taken by Machin and starter Elvis Andrus. Machin hit a miserable .050/.136/.050 without a home run in 22 trips to the plate before the A’s demoted him. Andrus, meanwhile, went into the day with a woeful .177/.224/.234 line and no home runs of his own in 134 PA.

Pirates, T.J. Rivera Agree To Minor League Deal

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Infielder T.J. Rivera has agreed to a minor league contract with the Pirates, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. The deal is pending a physical.

Rivera signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League just four days ago, but he’ll instead attempt to work his way back to the majors with the Pirates. Now 32 years old, Rivera appeared in the bigs with the Mets from 2016-17 and batted an effective .304/.335/.445 across 231 plate appearances. The Mets looked as if they had a quality piece in Rivera, but injuries helped to at least temporarily end his time in the majors during his last year with the club. He underwent Tommy John surgery then and dealt with an elbow sprain while recovering in 2018, after which the Mets released him.

On the heels of his Mets tenure, Rivera inked minors deals with the Nationals and Phillies, but he didn’t return to MLB with either team. Now, as long as Rivera passes his physical, he’ll have an opportunity to stage a comeback with Pittsburgh.

Matt Wieters Expected To Play For Team USA

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Free-agent catcher Matt Wieters is expected to play for Team USA at this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets. He could join several other notable veterans on the roster.

This is the first report centering on Wieters since he became a free agent at the end of last season. The 34-year-old spent the previous two seasons as a member of the Cardinals, with whom he backed up Yadier Molina and hit .212/.274/.399 with 11 home runs in 224 plate appearances. Defensively, the Cardinals’ version of Wieters threw out 8 of 20 would-be base thieves – good for a 40 percent rate that checks in above his solid career mark of 32 percent.

Wieters is also a former National, but he’s best known for his run with the Orioles from 2009-16. The fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft, Wieters was an uber-prospect (Baseball America’s ranked him No. 1 twice) who was dubbed “Mauer with Power.” He may not have lived up to that hype consistently, but he did make four All-Star appearances with the Orioles and hit between 22 and 23 home runs in three different seasons. Overall, Wieters has batted .249/.313/.409 (92 wRC+) with 146 home runs in 4,428 plate appearances as a major leaguer. Whether Wieters will resurface in the bigs remains to be seen, but it appears he’ll at least play competitively again this summer.

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