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Brewers Place Elvis Peguero On Injured List

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The Brewers announced that they have recalled right-hander J.B. Bukauskas and reinstated righty Julio Teheran from the 15-day injured list. In corresponding moves, righty Colin Rea was optioned while righty Elvis Peguero was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 17, with right elbow effusion. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com relayed the news prior to the official announcement.

Peguero, 26, got some brief major league looks with the Angels in 2021 and 2022 before coming to the Brewers in the offseason trade that sent outfielder Hunter Renfroe to the Halos. Peguero was optioned to the minors at the start of the year but was recalled a couple of weeks into the campaign and has emerged as a key piece of the Milwaukee bullpen.

Over 59 appearances this year, he’s logged 61 1/3 innings with a 3.38 earned run average. Neither his 21.4% strikeout rate nor his 10.3% walk rate are especially strong, but he’s gotten grounders on 56% of balls in play. His strong results have allowed him to move into a higher-leverage role, earning 21 holds and one save this year.

He won’t be eligible to return during the regular season, even with the move being backdated, since there’s only 11 days left after today. But the Brewers are a virtual lock for the postseason, currently holding a six-game lead over the Cubs in the Central. That perhaps give Peguero a window to return in October, though that’s only if his health cooperates. Manager Craig Counsell tells McCalvy that they anticipate Peguero being ready for the Wild Card series, which suggests he could be in line for a minimum stint on the IL.

Even if he’s unable to return this year, he seems to have set himself up for a role on next year’s club. He surpassed one year of major league service here in 2023 and can potentially be retained by the Brewers for five more seasons before qualifying for free agency.

Brewers’ J.C. Mejía Given 162-Game Suspension After Positive PED Test

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Major League Baseball announced that right-hander J.C. Mejía of the Brewers has been given a suspension of 162 games following a positive test for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The suspension goes into effect immediately. Mejía was given an 80-game suspension last year, also due to a positive test for Stanozolol.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold issued a statement on the matter, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The Milwaukee Brewers fully support MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and share in the goal of eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game.”

Mejía, now 27, was acquired from Cleveland after the 2021 campaign. He made two appearances for the Brewers last year before getting his 80-game suspension in May. After serving that suspension, he was outrighted off the club’s roster in August. He was selected back to the big league club this July and made nine appearances before landing on the injured list in August due to right shoulder inflammation. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list last week when the club selected Josh Donaldson.

It already seemed like Mejía’s 2023 was over but he’s now slated to miss effectively all of 2024 as well. He’ll be placed on the restricted list and won’t be paid or accrue service time as long as he is on there. That won’t immediately open up a roster spot for the Brewers since Mejía was already on the 60-day IL, but he won’t need to be added back to the roster over the winter like other players on the IL.

Cardinals Place Alec Burleson On Injured List With Thumb Fracture

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Cardinals outfielder Alec Burleson left yesterday’s game with a left thumb fracture, per John Denton of MLB.com. He jammed it into the third base bag on a head-first slide and initially stayed in the game but subsequently headed for an X-ray which revealed the fracture. The club today placed Burleson on the 10-day injured list, recalling catcher Ivan Herrera in a corresponding move.

The details on his expected absence haven’t been announced, but Denton reports that Burleson is likely done for the year, which is hardly surprising given the nature of the injury and the short amount of time left in the season. The Cardinals are buried in the standings with just over a week left to play, giving them little incentive to rush an injured player back out onto the field.

If his season is indeed done, Burleson will finish the year with eight home runs in 347 plate appearances. He only walked in 6.6% of those trips to the plate but his 13% strikeout rate is well below league average. The overall batting line of .244/.300/.390 amounts to a wRC+ of 89, indicating his production was 11% below league average.

It’s possible there’s a bit of bad luck in there, given his .261 batting average on balls in play and 60th percentile average exit velocity. But his barrel rate was only 5.9% this year, which is in the 24th percentile of qualified hitters, indicating he hasn’t been squaring the ball up with enough frequency. Given that he’s not a strong defender, he’ll have to produce better offensive results going forward, but he’s still just 24 years old and could still have room to grow.

The club is facing an interesting winter, as they are hoping to add three starting pitchers for next year’s rotation. Some of that work may be done via free agency, but they will also have to consider trading someone from their crowded position player mix. Burleson is part of an outfield mix picture could include Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Tyler O’Neill, Tommy Edman, Dylan Carlson, Brendan Donovan, Richie Palacios and Juan Yepez. Some of those players can also play the infield, but the Cards have Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt at the corners as Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman are also options for the middle infield.

That’s more players than jobs, which should push the front office to have many discussions in the coming months about which of these guys can be exchanged for pitching. Burleson drew some interest from other clubs at the deadline but ultimately stayed with the Cardinals. Perhaps those talks will pick up again but Burleson also still has a full slate of options, meaning the club could consider keeping him around as depth.

In other Cardinals’ news, manager Oli Marmol says Adam Wainwright won’t start during this weekend’s series in San Diego, per Denton. The 42-year-old righty recorded his 200th career win on Monday and would have been on schedule to pitch this weekend but Marmol said, if Wainwright makes another start, it will be in front of the home crowd. “We’re going to sit down. … We’ve started that conversation and we’ve decided that he will not take the start in San Diego,” Marmol said. “We’ll walk through what it looks like to finish the season, but we’ve yet to make the decision.”

Wainwright is retiring at season’s end and the club is playing out the string on a lost season. Since he’s also finished his personal mission of getting that 200th victory, it’s possible he’ll start winding down with that special night on Monday as his final game, but he may also make one more appearance in St. Louis. After the series in San Diego this weekend, the Cards head to Milwaukee before wrapping up the season at home against the Reds.

Blue Jays Select Cam Eden, Designate Mason McCoy For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Cam Eden. Infielder Ernie Clement has been optioned in a corresponding active roster move with infielder Mason McCoy designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot.

Eden, 25, was a sixth-round selection of the Jays back in 2019 and has been working his way up the minor league ladder since then. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A, hitting .257/.354/.333 in 460 plate appearances. That only amounts to a wRC+ of 81 but the Jays are likely interested in Eden as a speed-and-defense option off the bench, as he has stolen 53 bases in 57 attempts this year. He’s lined up at all three outfield spots but primarily in center field.

At the end of August, the Jays recalled Clement and selected McCoy as shortstop Bo Bichette went on the injured list with a quad strain. Bichette returned a couple of weeks ago, which bumped McCoy back to the minors and Clement to the bench. With Bichette back in the lineup on a regular basis and Santiago Espinal able to serve as a backup infielder, it seems the Jays decided Clement’s spot would be better utilized by having Eden on hand for his wheels.

As mentioned, the 28-year-old McCoy was brought up to cover for Bichette’s injury. He’s considered a glove-first infielder and was put into six games by the Jays but only was allowed one plate appearance, in which he struck out. He was acquired from the Mariners in a July trade that sent right-hander Trent Thornton the other way. In between the two organizations, McCoy has hit .221/.321/.372 in the minors this year for a wRC+ of 69 while playing second base, third base, shortstop and even a bit of left field.

The Jays will place him on waivers in the coming days. He still has a full slate of options and just a few days of service time, meaning he could be of interest for a club looking for some versatile depth, though he wouldn’t be postseason eligible on any club that puts in a claim since it’s after September 1. If he clears waivers, he will stick with the Jays as non-roster depth but would qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end.

Marlins Designate Chi Chi González For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated right-hander Chi Chi González for assignment, per Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. His active roster spot will go to left-hander Matt Moore, who was claimed off waivers from the Guardians yesterday.

González, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason has been called upon a couple of times this year to help out a beleaguered bullpen. He was selected to the roster in May and was designated for assignment just over a week later after making two appearances. He cleared waivers and stayed with the organization, returning to the big leagues just a few days ago. He pitched an inning against Atlanta on Sunday, allowing two earned runs, and has now been bumped off the roster again.

Over those two stints, he has thrown 3 2/3 innings in the majors this year with a 7.36 ERA, as well as a 6.07 ERA in 121 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. For his career, he’s tossed 288 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 5.68 ERA, 13.5% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate.

The Marlins will place the righty on waivers in the coming days. Players with over three years of service or a previous career outright can elect free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment. González qualifies on both counts but may elect to stick with the Fish in the event that he clears, since that’s what he chose back in May and there’s so little time left in the season.

Marlins Claim Matt Moore From Guardians

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3:09pm: The Marlins have recalled Tommy Nance from Triple-A and placed him on the 60-day injured list, thus opening up a 40-man roster spot for Matt Moore, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. The 32-year-old Nance last appeared for Triple-A Jacksonville on September 6, and he has not appeared in a major league game since last October.

1:35pm: The Marlins have claimed left-hander Matt Moore off waivers from the Guardians, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s the second waiver claim in recent weeks for Moore, who just went from the Angels to the Guardians at the end of August. He won’t be eligible to play in the postseason for the Marlins but will give their bullpen a boost for the final weeks of the regular season.

Moore, 34, has had an up-and-down career as a starting pitching but recently underwent a bullpen renaissance. He posted a 1.95 earned run average with the Rangers last year and parlayed that into a one-year, $7.55MM contract with the Angels. His ERA has ticked up a bit this year, but is still quite good at 2.77. He’s striking out 28.5% of opponents and walking just 7%.

He’s now set to join his third club of the year, which says more about his teams than anything he is doing. The Angels hovered around contention through the summer and decided to go for it at the deadline, holding onto Shohei Ohtani as well as giving up prospects for players like Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and others. But they then suffered a miserable August, losing both games and players. They fell back in the standings as Mike Trout was unable to get healthy in the wake of his hamate surgery, while Ohtani suffered a tear of his ulnar collateral ligament that kept him from pitching.

Ohtani would also suffer an oblique injury in September that stopped him from hitting as well, but that was after the club had already waved the white flag on the season, putting six players on waivers at the end of August. Since the trade deadline had already passed and each player was an impending free agent, the Angels were hoping other clubs would grab them and take on their contracts, allowing the club to save some money and dip under the luxury tax.

Moore was one of those players and he was claimed by the Guardians along with Giolito and López. It was a bit of a surprising landing spot, as that club has generally shied away from significant spending and were sporting a record of 64-70 at the time. But in the weak American League Central, they were actually only five games back of the division-leading Twins and decided to take a shot. By grabbing those three pitchers, they added roughly $3.727MM to their payroll but hopefully increased their odds of chasing down Minnesota.

But it now seems that they are following the Angels and waving their own white flag, having fallen to seven games back of the Twins with now less than two weeks left to play. It wasn’t known prior to this report that Moore was on waivers, but it seems the Guards put him on the wire with the hope of shaving off some of that money they took on. Moore is still owed about $529K for the remainder of the season.

It seems the Marlins consider that to be an acceptable expense for a handful of games from Moore. Since he is being acquired after the September 1 cutoff date, he won’t be able to pitch for them in the postseason, making this a very temporary bullpen upgrade. But unlike the Angels and Guardians, their season is still very much alive. The National League Wild Card race is extremely tight right now, with the Phillies in the top spot but a tangled mess beneath them. The Diamondbacks, Cubs, Reds and Marlins are all within one game of each other, with the Giants just a game and a half back of that pack. While all those clubs want to win, the Marlins are arguably the most motivated. Leaving aside the shortened 2020 season, they haven’t finished above .500 since 2009 and haven’t been in the playoffs since 2003.

Miami’s relievers have a collective ERA of 4.19 on the year, which places them 18th. It’s also been a bit worse of late, with a 4.45 ERA since the start of August. Adding in Moore will hopefully give the group a bit of a boost, though it’s not really about his left-handedness. The club already has four strong southpaw options in the bullpen but the Marlins seem to have decided they are willing to put some cash on the barrel in the hopes of squeezing out any possible upgrade, with the importance of each game magnified down the stretch.

Details From Rays’ Stadium Announcement

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It was reported yesterday that the Rays would be announcing a plan for a proposed new stadium in St. Petersburg today, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the details of the festivities.

The stadium itself will cost $1.3 billion but is part of a larger redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District site, where Tropicana Field is already located, which will cost $6.5 billion overall. Despite the announcement, the financing hasn’t quite been finalized just yet. The Rays are covering more than half of the $1.3 billion price tag for the stadium, approximately $700MM. That leaves $600MM to be covered by the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

That structure has been agreed to by the Rays, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Pinellas County administrator Barry Burton, but it still needs to be approved by the city council and the county commission. Assuming that comes to pass and everything gets rubber stamped, the Rays will sign a 30-year lease that starts with the 2028 season. The stadium will seat around 30,000 under a fixed roof, with artificial turf on the field and “operable walls to bring the outside in.”

As for the wider development, Topkin relays that it includes “14,000 parking spaces; 4,800 market rate residential units, plus 600 at affordable/work force prices and 600 for seniors; 1.4 million square feet of office and medical space; 750 hotel rooms; 750,000 square feet of retail space; a concert venue with a capacity of 3,000-4,000; and a new home for the Woodson African American Museum of Florida.” Michael Harrison of Hines, the real estate firm the Rays have partnered with, says that about 20% of the total project will be complete when the stadium opens in 2028.

Despite the stadium upgrades, there are still concerns around the location. Many have previously cited the fact that the Trop is far away from downtown Tampa and not easily accessible as one of the reasons for the club’s persistently low attendance. This new proposal would see the club stay on essentially the same site, but team president Brian Auld doesn’t seem to share those concerns. “One of the things I’ve said multiple times is we’re in the same location as we were five years ago, but I really do feel like we’re in a different city,” Auld said. “There are so many (new condos and apartment buildings) all across the city, and all across this region, that I do believe it has fundamentally changed this region’s, and this city’s, ability to support our team.” Auld added that Major League Baseball is already on board with the proposal.

As for the next steps towards making everything official, Topkin relays that the expectation is that the Pinellas County commission will vote soon, perhaps before the end of the year. The city would then follow early in 2024.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has long stated that the league wants to expand from 30 to 32 teams, but that the Athletics and Rays need to resolve their respective stadium situations before that can really be considered. The A’s have a plan in place to relocate to Las Vegas, with an ownership vote on that likely to come in November. With the Rays potentially finalizing their financing plan not too long after that, the ingredients could be place for future expansion just a few months from now.

Braves Reinstate Jesse Chavez, Designate Lucas Luetge For Assignment

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The Braves announced that right-hander Jesse Chavez has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, with left-hander Lucas Luetge designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Chavez, who turned 40 while on the IL, has been out of action since mid-June after being hit by a comebacker on his left leg. The club announced at the time that X-rays did not reveal a fracture, but it nonetheless took him over three months to rejoin the team.

The veteran signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason and cracked the Opening Day roster. He made 31 appearances prior to his injury with an earned run average of 1.55 in that time. He was helped out a bit by an 85.4% strand rate but still had excellent peripherals with a 30.8% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.  If he can get back into that form now that he’s healthy, he will strengthen the club’s bullpen just in time for the playoffs.

Luetge, 36, was acquired from the Yankees in an offseason trade and has bounced on and off the Atlanta roster this year. He was selected just yesterday and was entered into last night’s game with the club down 7-1 to the Phillies. He threw two scoreless innings to finish the contest and has now been quickly cut from the roster for a fresh arm, his third time being designated for assignment this year.

The lefty has more than three years of major league service time, which means he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. But since he has less than five years of service, doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his $1.55MM salary. Twice already this year, he has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment, which could perhaps come to pass again in the coming days. Around those transactions, he’s posted a 7.24 ERA in 13 2/3 innings at the big league level, along with an ERA of 3.91 in 23 Triple-A innings.

Spencer Torkelson Is Taking Off

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The Tigers had a very concerning season in 2022. They had entered the year with their sights set on returning to contention. A young core of prospects had bubbled up to the majors and it was hoped that big free agent deals for players like Javier Báez and Eduardo Rodriguez could supplement them. Unfortunately, just about everything went wrong. All over the roster, players either underperformed or missed significant time or both. That applied to each of Báez and Rodriguez, as well as several of the younger guys.

One of those young players that had high hopes pinned on them was Spencer Torkelson. After the Tigers had a dismal 47-114 season in 2019, they secured the first overall pick in the 2020 draft and used it on Torkelson. Due to the pandemic, there were no minor leagues for him to play in that year but he nonetheless shot all the way up to #5 on Baseball America’s 2021 list of the top 100 prospects in the league. That was largely based on his tremendous performance in college. In 129 games for Arizona State, he had 54 home runs and a batting line of .337/.463/.729.

In 2021, the minor leagues were back and he shot through them. He began the year in High-A but was in Double-A by June and Triple-A by August. He hit 30 home runs in 121 games and drew walks in 14.5% of his plate appearances, showing both power and plate discipline. His combined batting line of .267/.383/.552 amounted to a wRC+ of 148.

The Tigers added him to their Opening Day roster in 2022 and it was hoped that he would be entrenched at first base for a long time to come. But he didn’t hit the ground running, or even crawling for that matter. He hit a paltry .197/.282/.295 through the middle of July, results poor enough to get him optioned down to the minors. That performance was especially concerning since his bat has long been considered his carrying tool. Without especially strong speed or defensive skills to give him a solid floor, he essentially needs to hit and clearly didn’t do that. The power potential was still in there if you looked, as his maximum exit velocity was considered to be in the 80th percentile at that time. But he wasn’t squaring it up often enough, with his hard hit rate in the 39th percentile and his barrel percentage 37th.

He played 35 Triple-A games that summer and produced around league average, before getting recalled to the big leagues when rosters expanded in September. He hit .219/.292/.385 down the stretch, which only amounted to a 94 wRC+, but was still better than the 68 wRC+ he had before his demotion.

As mentioned, the struggles of Torkelson were just one of the many things that went wrong for the club. They finished the season 66-96, nowhere near the contender status they envisioned. General manager Al Avila was fired along the way, with Scott Harris hired as president of baseball operations to replace him as they top baseball decision maker in Detroit.

Expectations were far different for 2023, both for the Tigers and Torkelson. Many had already written off the former first round pick as a bust, even though he was still just 23 years old at the start of the campaign. He didn’t do much to change those peoples’ mind in the early going of this year either, as he was hitting just .206/.266/.309 through the end of April.

But as the calendar flipped to May, more encouraging results came. From the start of that month through the end of July, he hit 13 home runs and produced a much more respectable .233/.317/.433 line for a wRC+ of 106. He has taken things to another level since the start of August, hitting 13 more home runs in his past 43 games. His slash in that time is .248/.342/.547 for a 141 wRC+. The Stork, which no one calls him but perhaps they should, has taken flight.

For the season as a whole, his batting line of .233/.315/.444 is only marginally above league average, translating to a 107 wRC+. But the Statcast data likes him a lot, with his average exit velocity in the 88th percentile, his barrel percentage 90th and his hard hit rate 93rd. His 24.7% strikeout rate is a bit above league average, but he’s also drawing walks at a strong 10.1% clip. Given that he’s gotten better as the season has gone along, perhaps he can carry that over into 2024 and have an even better year.

Although the Tigers surely would have loved for this breakout to have occurred last year, the silver lining of Torkelson’s struggles in 2022 is that it secured them an extra year of control of his services. Since he was optioned to Triple-A for about six weeks last year, he didn’t earn a full year of service time. That means he can be controlled through the 2028 season, whereas he would have been set for free agency after 2027 if he had stayed up all of last year.

As they move forward and try to build a competitive club in those years, they still have many challenges. There are still question marks on the roster, including the pitching staff and the middle infield. But their first base situation looks to be in good shape, especially compared to where it was just one year ago.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rays To Announce New Stadium Deal

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The Rays are poised to make an announcement tomorrow regarding a deal to construct a new stadium in St. Petersburg, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Not all of the details have been revealed, but Topkin relays that the new stadium will be built near Tropicana Field as part of a redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District site. It is expected to have a fixed dome roof, seat around 30,000 people and open for the 2028 season, just after the club’s lease at the Trop expires after 2027. It is believed to cost around $1.2 billion, with the exact breakdown unclear at this time. Owner Stuart Sternberg previously stated that he expected the club to pay “half or more,” with other contributions coming from St. Petersburg, Pinellas County and investors who would contribute in exchange for shares of the club.

The future home of the Rays has been an ongoing issue for years now, due to various concerns with Tropicana Field. The club has considered moving from St. Petersburg to Tampa and also toyed with a more creative plan that involved splitting the home games with Montreal, though the latter plan was eventually nixed by Major League Baseball.

The move to Tampa was seen as desirable since one of the issues with the Trop is the St. Petersburg location is less accessible. But attempts to secure financing for a stadium in Tampa never gained much traction, which is what led to the Montreal plan. Once that path was cut off and the financial situation in Tampa didn’t change, the club pivoted back to St. Petersburg.

In December of last year, the Rays issued a press release about their proposed stadium, which was said to feature “more than 5,700 multifamily units, 1.4 million square feet of office, 300,000 square feet of retail, 700 hotel rooms, 600 senior living residences, a 2,500 person entertainment venue, and various civic uses.” It went on to say that it would include “more than 850 affordable and workforce housing units on-site” as well as other features.

This plan received the approval of St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch in January, though with still many steps to come. The club had to finalize the financing with the city, the county and new investors. Though those details still aren’t publicly known, it seems they have been resolved enough that the club will be able to make an announcement of a deal tomorrow.

Staying in St. Petersburg won’t solve the location issues that the Trop had, but the new facility will hopefully be an upgrade in other ways. The Trop has been seen by many around the industry as outdated and unpleasant in terms of fan experience. There were also awkward on-field issues, with the various catwalks in the roof interfering with balls in play and leading to complex ground rules unique to that field.

It’s unclear what the future holds for the Trop, but its run as the home of the Rays will seemingly come to an end after 30 years, having been the club’s only ballpark since their first season in 1998. It was actually opened in 1990, with the area hoping to attract an expansion major league baseball franchise for 1993, but they lost out to Denver and Miami. Other sports franchises used the facility at times, including the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League and the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League, before the area was finally awarded an expansion MLB franchise.

Fans of the Rays can now look forward to a new era of the club’s history, hopeful that the new facility will be a significant upgrade over the Trop, though the location concerns will persist. This news will also be significant beyond just its impact on that club, as the potential for future expansion now seems more viable than ever before.

There hasn’t been a new expansion franchise in Major League Baseball since the Rays and Diamondbacks joined the league in 1998. The issue has come up in recent years, with various groups hoping to get new clubs into places like Nashville, Portland or Salt Lake City. Despite that strong interest, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has repeatedly stated that the Athletics and Rays needed to resolve their respective stadium situations before expansion could be considered.

The A’s seem destined to relocate to Las Vegas, with owners set to vote on their proposed plan in November. Now that the Rays seem to have a new stadium plan in place, it seems the table is set for expansion discussions to pick up in earnest. A timeline for future expansion isn’t clear, but details should continue to emerge as time goes on. New franchises will lead to extra intrigue around the league, with fans able to look forward to an expansion draft. For the owners, it will also be desirable from a financial point of view as the new clubs would have to pay to join the league, with that money dispersed among the existing teams. The Rays and Diamondbacks each paid $130MM back in 1998 but it has been suggested that the next expansion club might have to pay something closer to $2 billion, given the rise of franchise valuation in the interim.

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