Yonny Chirinos Expected To Miss One Month; Nathan Eovaldi Progressing
Rays righty Yonny Chirinos is expected to be sidelined for about a month after a full examination of his elbow, per a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Meanwhile, fellow right-hander Nathan Eovaldi appears to be making good progress from elbow surgery.
Chirinos had already been put on the 10-day DL; at the time of the placement, though, it was not clear how long he would miss. While it’s certainly sub-optimal for the Tampa Bay organization to lose him at all, Topkin writes that the Rays were left feeling fortunate with the prognosis.
Elbow issues for young pitchers obviously tend to set off alarm bells. In this case, though, the medical opinion is that Chirinos is not dealing with any “structural damage,” per the report. Still, it seems the club has charted a cautious course for the rookie hurler, who has impressed (3.71 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9) in his first 26 2/3 MLB innings.
The loss of Chirinos is balanced somewhat by the optimism on Eovaldi, who required work to address bone chips after nearly making it all the way back from Tommy John surgery. But he won’t be available right away, and the Rays would obviously prefer to be able to call upon both pitchers, particularly with the ballclub showing some life after a rough opening few weeks.
Eovaldi is aiming to make it back up to the majors after about three weeks of work on the minor-league mound, with a target of the Rays’ series against the Red Sox beginning May 22nd. He is already pumping upper-nineties heat, Topkin reports (Twitter links), and will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow. Eovaldi’s anticipated timeline reflects the fact that he needs to ramp fully back up after going down just before the start of the season.
Mets To Sign Cody Asche
The Mets have struck a minor-league deal with infielder/outfielder Cody Asche, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (via Twitter). He’ll head to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Asche, who spent camp with the Royals, landed with the Yankees via trade at the start of April. But he was released recently by the Yanks after a brutal start to the Triple-A season. Asche put up a .169/.258/.237 slash with 21 strikeouts in 66 trips to the plate with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
A veteran of five MLB campaigns, the former Phillies third baseman and outfielder appeared only briefly in the majors last year with the White Sox. He carries a lifetime .234/.293/.376 bating line in 1,349 trips tot he plate in the majors.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Harvey, Phils, Cubs, More
Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.
Early Returns On Minor-League Signings: Starting Pitchers
We checked in yesterday on the position players that have carved out major roles despite signing minor-league deals over the winter. Today, we’ll turn to the hurlers, where it’s generally more difficult — but hardly impossible — to find serviceable assets in the rotation than in the bullpen.
These pitchers have to this point filled rotation slots with their organizations despite inking non-roster deals entering the season (presented by order of innings pitched):
- Tyson Ross, Padres: Thus far, Ross has been a jackpot signing for the Pads. He won’t be cheap if he keeps performing, as his deal includes a base salary of $1.75MM with another $4.25MM in potential incentives, but that’s still plenty reasonable given what Ross has shown thus far. The 31-year-old has rediscovered much of his pre-injury ability to miss bats and currently owns a 3.28 ERA with 10.1 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, and a 47.3% groundball rate through 35 2/3 innings. Oh, and he very nearly threw a no-hitter.
- Bartolo Colon, Rangers: The ageless wonder was just named the Rangers’ player of the month, if you’re looking for a concise explanation of how things are going for both player and team. He’s allowing less than a walk per nine while carrying a .225 BABIP-against. That’s not really sustainable, but while Statcast suggests some good fortune, it also indicates that Colon is legitimately drawing poor contact (.251 wOBA vs. .326 xwOB).
- Derek Holland, Giants: Though he’s coughing up 5.76 earned runs per nine and has only averaged five innings in his five outings, Holland is filling an important need for the Giants and has probably thrown better than the results. He owns a 25:11 K/BB ratio, after all, and fielding-independent pitching metrics value him as a more serviceable hurler thus far (4.57 FIP, 4.61 xFIP, 4.33 SIERA). Holland can earn up to $4MM if he reaches all his incentives.
- Jeremy Hellickson, Nationals: After signing late and getting up to speed, Hellickson has stepped into the Nats rotation and been a useful fifth starter. He’s not getting many strikeouts, and his FIP numbers look more like Holland’s, but he has worked to a 4.11 ERA over 15 1/3 innings. Unless injury or a trade acquisition intervened, Hellickson will have a chance to maintain his role. He’s earning $2MM with another $4MM possible via incentive pay.
- Anibal Sanchez, Braves: Sanchez spent camp with the Twins after agreeing to a non-guaranteed MLB deal. He collected the portion that was guaranteed when he was released late in camp and shortly thereafter joined the Braves on a minors arrangement. While he’s currently working back from the DL, and will need to hold off impressive youngster Mike Soroka and others, Sanchez has been rather impressive in Atlanta. He has allowed just two earned runs in 14 innings while recording 14 strikeouts and six walks, with a swinging-strike rate (11.2%) that sits near his career peak.
A few other minor-league signees have taken starts, such as Miguel Gonzalez, but no others have produced useful results over a relatively sizable number of innings. That could still change, of course. Wade Miley is up for the Brewers, while Brett Anderson is slated to take the hill for Oakland tonight. A few other hurlers — Kris Medlen is a candidate to step up for the D-backs next week — could press for rotation opportunities before long.
Jordan Montgomery Out Six To Eight Weeks With Flexor Strain
4:20pm: Montgomery has been diagnosed with a flexor strain in his left arm and is expected to be out anywhere from six to eight weeks, manager Aaron Boone tells WFAN’s Mike Francesca (via WFAN’s Sweeny Murti, on Twitter). Montgomery will be shut down from throwing entirely for the next two to three weeks.
Clearly, that comes as a significant hit to the rotation. For the time being, righty Domingo German is slated to take the hill in what would’ve been Montgomery’s place this coming weekend, though the team will surely consider other options in the long run as well.
Notably, top prospect Chance Adams has gotten off to a dismal start to his Triple-A campaign in 2018, though southpaw Justus Sheffield has thrown quite well in Double-A. Both rank among the game’s best pitching prospects, though the 25-year-old German has handled himself quite well through his first 14 1/3 innings with the Yankees this season.
2:31pm: The Yankees have announced a series of roster moves driven largely by the decision to place lefty Jordan Montgomery on the 10-day DL. He is dealing with an elbow strain, per the club.
Righty David Hale, who recently re-signed with the organization, will join the active roster after his contract was purchased. To create a 40-man spot, the Yanks bumped outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to the 60-day DL. Meanwhile, outfield prospect Clint Frazier has been activated from the concussion DL and optioned to Triple-A.
The real question here involves the health of Montgomery, who is a key rotation piece. There’s not much more clarity on that question now than there was yesterday, when he left his start early owing to the elbow problem. The 25-year-old is carrying a 3.62 ERA over 27 1/3 innings on the year but has seen his K/BB numbers dip along with his average fastball velocity as compared with his 2017 debut effort.
As for Ellsbury, the move to the 60-day DL is largely procedural. He’s already been on the shelf for more than half of that time, and the transfer to the lengthier of the two disabled lists is unlikely to impact his return date, as the 60-day term is tied to his original DL placement rather than today’s move. He’ll be eligible to return to the active roster in late May, though there’s no clearly defined timetable to suggest exactly when he may be activated.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/2/18
We’ll track the day’s minor moves in this post:
- The Marlins announced that catcher Tomas Telis has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. He had been designated for assignment recently. Telis, a 26-year-old switch-hitter, was hitting just .207/.258/.241 through 31 plate appearances on the year and hasn’t shown much more than that with the bat in his limited action over the past five seasons. Additionally, infielder JT Riddle was activate from the DL and optioned to New Orleans.
Jake Arrieta On Declining Cubs’ Offer
In a chat with Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, Phillies hurler Jake Arrieta verified prior reports that Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein made a last-ditch offer before the team agreed to terms with Yu Darvish.
Arrieta, who ultimately signed with the Philadelphia organization later in the winter, tells Wittenmyer that he does not really believe that Epstein expected to get a deal done when he called with a “take it or leave it” proposal of six years and $120MM. That statement reflects previous reporting on the perceptions of both sides to that conversation.
While he emphasized that he harbors no ill will at all toward Epstein or the Cubs organization, Arrieta says that approach was a non-starter, even though he had yet to receive a formal contract offer to that point:
“[T]hey weren’t willing to negotiate at all, and that wasn’t acceptable for me,” Arrieta tells Wittenmyer. “I bet on myself just like I have my entire career and ended up getting a good deal.”
Arrieta, of course, is referring to the three-year, $75MM guarantee he took down from the Phils. He obviously preferred the higher average annual value but also emphasized in his comments that he expects to play longer than that in Philadelphia. Arrieta’s deal includes a provision that allows the Phillies to add on two years at a salary of $20MM or more (depending upon escalators) per season.
The veteran hurler certainly exuded confidence in his chat with Wittenmyer, which is well worth a full read. Among other things, he discussed his leadership efforts with the Phillies and flatly rejected the idea that there’s any concern with how he’ll age — or how his velocity will hold up — over the course of his new contract. To the contrary, Arrieta suggests his new organization will receive an exceptional player. “There’s not many like me,” he tells Wittenmyer. “… I don’t care what the situation is, I bet on myself to get the job done.”
Indians Designate Matt Belisle
The Indians have designated righty Matt Belisle for assignment, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports on Twitter. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow right-hander Ben Taylor.
Belisle, 37, cracked the Indians’ Opening Day roster but has not impressed out of the gates. He has allowed six earned runs and managed just four strikeouts in his 10 1/3 innings of work though he has maintained his typical fastball velocity (91 mph) and swinging-strike rate (9.8%).
It is not known whether the veteran hurler signed an advanced consent clause, but if so, the organization may simply have decided to cut him loose rather than promising him a salary for the remainder of the season. Belisle’s minors deal called for him to earn at a $1.5MM rate with up to $1.75MM in incentives.
As for Taylor, he was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox during camp. The 26-year-old has turned in an eye-opening start to the season at Triple-A. Through 10 1/3 frames, he has recorded 16 strikeouts against a single walk while generating grounders on nearly half of the balls put in play against him.
Rangers Notes: Calhoun, Daniels, Martin
The Rangers are not totally buried in the American League postseason hunt, but have already fallen eight games back of the division-leading Astros. Particularly with a variety of notable players on the DL, it’s increasingly difficult to see the Rangers contending in 2018. Here’s the latest from Texas:
- Some Rangers fans are displeased with the fact that top prospect Willie Calhoun is plying his trade at Round Rock rather than with the Rangers. GM Jon Daniels bristled at the notion that Calhoun was being held down due to service-time considerations, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. Rather, says Daniels, Calhoun is still at Triple-A because “he’s still working on his defense.” It probably does not help that Calhoun isn’t off to the best start at the plate, though nobody doubts his bat is ready for the majors. Daniels says he’s “really encouraged” by what he has heard about Calhoun’s defensive work thus far, but indicated that it will need to get up to snuff before the call is made.
- More broadly, Daniels certainly sounds like a man who’s well aware of the uphill climb facing his team this year. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports, the team’s top baseball exec acknowledges that “injuries have certainly eroded what depth there was.” That’s obviously sub-optimal, but he does say there are still benefits to the situation. “The upside is that a lot of guys are getting valuable experience they wouldn’t otherwise get,” Daniels said. “That doesn’t do a whole lot for the fans who want to see immediate returns, but long-term we’re going to benefit from experiences [young players] are getting.”
- The Rangers have placed righty Chris Martin on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’s dealing with irritation in his right forearm. Fellow right-hander Nick Gardewine will take his spot on the active roster. That represents another blow to the team’s MLB roster. Though Martin owns a 5.14 ERA on the year, that’s due mostly to the disastrous recent outing that came in advance of the DL placement. Otherwise, he has generally been effective, carrying a solid combination of 8.4 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 while showing a mid-nineties fastball.
Free Agent Stock Watch: A.J. Pollock
The expectation had been that the 2018-19 free agent class would feature superstars at a variety of areas: starting pitcher (Clayton Kershaw), closer (Craig Kimbrel), corner outfield slugger (Bryce Harper), shortstop (Manny Machado), third baseman (Josh Donaldson), and center fielder (Charlie Blackmon). But the Rockies hammered out a deal with Blackmon that will keep him in Colorado.
Perhaps it was somewhat overlooked, though, that another top-shelf, up-the-middle outfield talent was (and still is) a part of this free-agent gold mine. Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock, who is over a year younger than Blackmon, is also slated to test the open market after the 2018 campaign. And his early showing this season suggests he could step right into Blackmon’s shoes as the featured center fielder.
It’s important to emphasize that Pollock is not just some flash in the pan. He has been a MLB powerhouse before. Back in 2015, the then-27-year-old turned in a stunning campaign for the D-Backs, slashing .315/.367/.498 while driving twenty home runs, swiping 39 bags, and providing top-end glovework in center.
That output, which followed an excellent but injury-shortened 2014 effort, was valued in the range of 7 WAR. A career year? Perhaps. But nothing stood out as particularly unsustainable; Pollock carried a healthy but hardly otherworldly .338 batting average on balls in play. Ultimately, that kind of output over a full season just isn’t possible without supreme talent.
Pollock, really, was Blackmon before the bearded wonder came into his own as a power-speed force. Then came a terrible elbow injury that cost Pollock almost all of the 2016 season. He returned with a quality showing in 2017 — a league-average (park-adjusted) .266/.330/.471 slash with 14 home runs and twenty steals — but produced more as a high-quality regular than a superstar and missed nearly a third of the season with a groin injury.
At the outset of the current season, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes graded Pollock the ninth-best free agent on the upcoming market. Health, he rightly emphasized, would be a major factor in Pollock’s market. Dierkes certainly did not short Pollock’s talent in suggesting he could conceivably play his way into a deal in the range of the five-year, $80MM deal signed by Lorenzo Cain. Perhaps, though, there’s greater potential earning upside even than that for a player who has already established a lofty ceiling and who is still relatively youthful.
Thus far in 2018, after all, Pollock has had that 2015 look about him. He has already blasted ten long balls and stolen seven bags. He’s sporting an excellent .292/.356/.689 slash despite only carrying a .296 BABIP. Statcast numbers (.422 wOBA vs. .405 xwOBA) largely support his output. And the early returns from defensive metrics suggest that Pollock is still a well-above-average fielder in center — an area he shines in relation to Blackmon and perhaps even Cain, whose grades have trended more toward average in recent years.
No matter how things turn out, Pollock’s somewhat worrying history of elbow surgeries will likely weigh on his market. And the holes in his track record won’t be closed up retrospectively. Still, if Pollock can sustain a substantially above-average offensive performance over the duration of the 2018 campaign — and, of course, remain healthy along he way — he could have a free-agent case that is in many ways as compelling as the one Blackmon decided to forego.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.