Nick Tropeano To Undergo Tommy John Surgery; Garrett Richards Still Holding Off
The Angels received mix news on the pitching injury front today, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report (Twitter links). Righty Nick Tropeano will undergo Tommy John surgery, as had been expected, while fellow right-hander Garrett Richards continues to show enough positive progress that he’ll hold off on having the same procedure.
Tropeano was recently diagnosed with a fairly significant tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. While there was at least some thought given to a PRP and stem cell treatment similar to that undertaken by both Richards and lefty Andrew Heaney, the decision was made in fairly short order to go ahead with a UCL replacement (as ultimately proved necessary for Heaney).
The surgery puts an end to what had been a promising campaign for the 25-year-old. He recorded solid results in 2015, but opened the year at Triple-A. Upon returning to the majors, Tropeano posted 68 1/3 innings of 3.56 ERA pitching, with 9.0 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. ERA estimators weren’t as high on his performance — he was homer-prone and benefited from a 91.1% strand rate — but he was generating a strong 12.5% swinging strike rate and seemed well on his way to locking up a rotation spot for some time to come. Instead, one of his seasons of near-league-minimum salary will be spent on the DL, with the hope being that Tropeano can return for 2018 — at which time he’ll have 2.068 years of service.
Richards, on the other hand, has continued to exhibit sufficient healing that a non-surgical path remains viable. He won’t return to the majors this year, but is expected to attempt to build up to pitch up after the year — perhaps in the Arizona Fall League or winter ball. A final decision on the surgery will await the results of his efforts to throw in full game action.
Los Angeles has been hit hard with the TJ bug this year, though at least Richards holds out some hope of pitching in 2017. If he does end up having the procedure later in the year, his 2018 campaign would then come under some question — leading to a tough call as to whether the Halos ought to tender him an arb contract for the two seasons to come. Those are the team’s final two years of control over the 28-year-old, and they won’t come cheap since Richards is earning $6.425MM this year.
Mets To Place Yoenis Cespedes On 15-Day DL
The Mets will place outfielder Yoenis Cespedes on the 15-day DL, manager Terry Collins told reporters including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tonight (Twitter link). The star slugger has been playing through a quad issue, but hope that extended rest will help him get back to full capacity.
Cespedes appeared in tonight’s action, but felt added discomfort while at the plate, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). He has been quite productive despite the lingering injury. The concern, it seems, was that the club would need to allot frequent rest and limit Cespedes’s exposure to center field just to manage the problem, which would ultimately fail to address it while leaving him at risk of exacerbating things.
It’s still a tough blow to a New York organization that fell to 55 and 52 with tonight’s loss, putting them 8.5 games out of the NL East. While the recent addition of Jay Bruce ought to help offset the loss of offensive productivity, the hope had been that he’d be adding to the middle of the lineup. Brandon Nimmo will return from Triple-A to round out the roster.
AL Notes: Twins, Hill, Indians, Norris, Rangers
While details are non-existent, Twins general manager Rob Antony dropped an intriguing note to reporters including Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Twitter link). Minnesota nearly swung a three-team trade before the deadline, the newly-minted interim GM said. That’s certainly fun to ponder, though it’s awfully difficult to assess what kind of scenario might have materialized with so many moving parts. (Don’t let that stop you from trying in the comments!)
Here’s more from the American League:
- Before he was traded by the Athletics to the Dodgers, southpaw Rich Hill was seeking around $28MM over two years in the extension talks between the sides, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s certainly an interesting number to ponder: it’s shockingly high for a player of Hill’s background, but is rather cheap compared with the cost of top-end starting pitching on the open market, particularly given the dearth of arms coming this winter. Despite the risk, Hill has pitched at an extremely high level when healthy, and the guess here is that plenty of teams would be happy to take that chance for less than the expected annual rate of a qualifying offer (which is expected to be $16.7MM). Last fall, Marco Estrada commanded $26MM over two years in a deal struck while he pondered a QO, providing something of a comparable, though Hill is older and probably should come with wider band of reasonable performance expectations. Regardless whether that was a reasonable request for a raise over Hill’s current $6MM salary — which he landed despite only a four-start audition late last year — it provides some insight into the thinking of an interesting pending free agent. (Notably, the trade also means that Hill won’t be eligible to receive a qualifying offer.)
- The Indians considered a move for Padres catcher Derek Norris after their agreement to add Jonathan Lucroy was vetoed by the veteran backstop, according to Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. Talks didn’t go very far, though, as Cleveland wasn’t enticed by a reportedly high asking price. The Indians also looked at Steve Pearce, but the team’s scouts weren’t enthused by his defensive profile at third.
- The Rangers‘ efforts to strike a deal for a new ballpark are still moving along, as Robert Cadwallader of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The Arlington City Council voted unanimously to push ahead with a November ballot item seeking approval for the funding package, which has received plenty of criticism given its taxpayer-backed terms and the fact that the Rangers seemingly play in a rather acclaimed, quite youthful ballpark at present. Another vote is needed to send the matter to the voters.
Injury Notes: McCullers, Nola, Pelfrey, Tilson, Dodgers, Lindgren
As seemed likely after he departed last night’s game with elbow soreness, Astros righty Lance McCullers Jr. was placed on the 15-day DL today. Rookie Joe Musgrove will take his rotation spot, which at least does afford the club an opportunity to give him a reasonable look. That’s rather a dull silver lining, though, as McCullers has arguably been Houston’s best pitcher this year when healthy and remains a critical element of the team’s hopes this year and in the future. McCullers says that he’ll wait at least two weeks before being checked up on, at which point he could resume throwing — if he’s deemed ready. (Via Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle, on Twitter.)
[Related: Updated Astros Depth Chart]
Here are some more important injury notes from around the game:
- The Phillies have placed righty Aaron Nola on the 15-day DL after he experienced some elbow discomfort, as Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Voice writes. Though there doesn’t appear to be any grave concern, it’s also not clear that Nola will throw again in the majors this year. He’s set to be shut down for at least a week, and if it goes much longer than the team may not see the benefit in trying to ramp him back up for only a few outings.
[Related: Updated Phillies Depth Chart]
- Tigers righty Mike Pelfrey is hitting the disabled list with a back strain, as the team announced. He has thrown 115 1/3 innings of 4.76 ERA ball with 4.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 on the year. That’s really not what Detroit thought it was signing up for when it signed Pelfrey to a two-year, $16MM deal as a free agent before the season. Fortunately for the Tigers, the loss of Pelfrey coincides with an even more impactful addition: the return of slugger J.D. Martinez.
[Related: Updated Tigers Depth Chart]
- White Sox outfielder Charlie Tilson will miss the rest of the season after tearing his hamstring in his MLB debut, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago tweets. Tilson was only just acquired, in exchange for reliever Zach Duke, and moved straight to Chicago’s major league roster. After recording a hit in his first turn at the plate in the majors, he popped his hammy chasing down a fly ball and now needs surgery. Regarded as a speedy, contact-oriented player, Tilson was set for something of a showcase over the last two months of the season; instead, he’ll have to rehab and look to impress his new team next spring.
[Related: Updated White Sox Depth Chart]
- The Dodgers added two relievers to the 15-day DL, with Louis Coleman (right shoulder) and Adam Liberatore (left elbow) needing a respite. Coleman has been useful for Los Angeles, but the loss of Liberatore, in particular, is notable: he was in the midst of a surprising breakout campaign, with 33 1/3 innings of 1.62 ERA ball. Meanwhile, Los Angeles transferred Clayton Kershaw to the 60-day DL. That’s largely a formality to clear a 40-man spot, as it was already clear that he’d miss at least that much time, but the placement certainly doesn’t change the increasing perception that the game’s best pitcher may not be able to continue what had been his greatest season as a professional. Indeed, it still seems that he has yet to begin throwing.
[Related: Updated Dodgers Depth Chart]
- Yankees southpaw Jacob Lindgren is going to miss all of 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, as George A. King III of the New York Post tweets. The 23-year-old moved quickly to the majors after being drafted in 2014, and looked like an immediate and future piece of the Yankees’ relief picture. Instead, he has managed to throw only seven innings at the High-A level on the year, with more walks than strikeouts (9 to 8) in that span.
Lucas Duda Suffers Setback, Could Miss Rest Of Season
Mets first baseman Lucas Duda will be fully shut down for thirty days after experiencing a “flare-up” in his back, GM Sandy Alderson told reporters including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (via Twitter). As DiComo notes, that may well mean that he won’t return by the end of the season.
The 30-year-old slugger had been expected to play a significant role this year for the defending N.L. champs. Instead, he lasted only 39 games before succumbing to a back injury that has proven more serious than initially believed. Though Duda was always expected to miss a couple of months, it had generally been assumed that he’d return at some point down the stretch.
That still may be possible, and it doesn’t appear that the team has yet ruled Duda out completely. But a month-long shutdown doesn’t leave much time at all to return to game speed, and it may not even be worth the risk to try.
After all, Duda remains a likely asset for the Mets in 2017. He’s earning $6.725MM this year in his second-to-final season of arbitration eligibility. While he’ll likely earn a slight raise on that, he hasn’t done much to drive a big increase.
Before going down, Duda contributed 145 plate appearances of .231/.297/.431 hitting with seven home runs. That is well off of the standard he had set over the prior two seasons, when Duda was good for a .249/.350/.483 combined slash and 57 total long balls.
So long as the big lefty is able to show progress before the non-tender deadline, there’s good reason to think that he’ll still represent a solid value. Duda is limited to first base, where he is an average defender, and has never really hit lefties outside of a 132 plate appearance sample in 2015. But as a reasonably youthful, established power bat, the market will likely value him above a one-year, $7MM (or less) commitment.
Viewed in that light, Duda should at least represent a plausible trade piece even if he’s not in the Mets’ plans. Really, though, it’s not clear that New York has an alternative lined up. David Wright could require time at first if and when he’s able to return, though it’s hard to imagine the team making moves in reliance on his availability. And though highly-regarded prospect Dominic Smith has finally developed some power in his first attempt at the Double-A level, he’s only 21 years old and isn’t exactly demanding a big league promotion with a .282/.343/.439 batting line.
New York had already been forced to line up a fill-in for the present season, of course, with James Loney having now seen far more time than Duda on the year. He has been quite useful, slashing .284/.336/.442 over 215 plate appearances.
Deadline Notes: Yankees, Sanchez, Peavy, Moore, Rangers, Liriano
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had a long and interesting chat the Michael Kay Show (audio link) in which he discussed his organization’s rare sale-side moves at the deadline. Carrying three ace closers, he said, was an “incredible luxury, but not a necessity,” which seemingly helped to ease his mind in parting with Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. He further explained that the organization didn’t simply decide at some point that it would undergo a sale, but instead considered each individual move on its own merit as opportunities arose. Generally, he emphasized that he looked closely at every player in every deal and suggested that the group of trades has helped position the organization for the near-future and beyond. There’s plenty more in the interview, which is well worth a full listen.
Here are few more notes coming off of the trade deadline …
- As has been expected, the Yankees will call up catcher Gary Sanchez once again, per Shane Hennigan of the Scranton Times-Tribune (via Twitter). It’s not yet clear whether he’ll just provide a temporary DH option — as he did earlier in the season — or stick for good, but Steinbrenner did note that the organization believes he’s ready for extended big league time. The owner emphasized that fans can expect to see several fresh faces down the stretch as the Yankees look to see what they have in the upper-level prospects they have been developing — not to mention those just added over the last several days.
- The Giants have moved veteran righty Jake Peavy to the bullpen to accommodate the acquisition of Matt Moore, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports. Though Peavy has worked almost exclusively in the rotation over his long career, he seemingly took the news quite well. San Francisco has liked what it has seen of late from Matt Cain, who was the other candidate to move to a relief role, and thinks that Peavy will be better able to handle the transition, skipper Bruce Bochy explained.
- Speaking of Moore, the Rangers turned their attention elsewhere given the Rays‘ asking price on the lefty, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Texas would have needed to send not only Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz — each of whom were packaged to acquire Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress — but also Jurickson Profar, per the report.
- Part of the calculus for the Blue Jays‘ acquisition of Francisco Liriano was the opportunity for him to work again with backstop Russell Martin, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca explains. Both GM Ross Atkins and manager John Gibbons noted the importance of that connection, and Martin offered glowing reports of Liriano’s stuff. As Atkins put it: “The experience of Russ and the familiarity, if we come up with a plan we should expect some correction. This is not on Russ Martin by any means, but we did see that as an added benefit.”
Latest On Yasiel Puig, Dodgers
Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi was non-committal when asked about Yasiel Puig‘s future with the organization, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. Puig was just optioned to Triple-A, with Zaidi characterizing the move as a reflection of “the fact that we were able to get a right fielder [Josh Reddick] that we believe is an upgrade for this team right now,” leading to “a little bit of a domino effect.”
But when asked whether the talented 25-year-old would play at the big league level again for the Dodgers, Zaidi demurred. “I don’t want to handicap that situation,” he said. “It certainly is a possibility. Beyond that, it’s just speculation.” While that statement certainly doesn’t suggest anything directly, it isn’t perhaps the standard front-office line for an established major leaguer who has been demoted but remains under contract for the foreseeable future.
The GM discussed several on-field improvements that Puig could work towards in the minors, but also didn’t suggest that the decision was purely related to performance. While it isn’t fair to say that the club ran out of patience with Puig, Zaidi said, there was clearly more at work here. Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that he has had to expend added attention to keeping Puig on task, explaining that the outfielder has room to grow and needs to consistently put in the needed work at the major league level.
Puig entered the league with a big splash at just 22 years of age and continued to put up top-line offensive numbers in 2014. He started to turn down the following year, but was still an above-average hitter, and the fall-off has gotten worse thus far in 2016. Over his 303 plate appearances this year, Puig owns a meager .260/.320/.386 slash. While he has been significantly better since returning from the DL in late June, and still grades well in the outfield, the overall package is decidedly less appealing than it once was. There are also at least some long-term injury questions given Puig’s frequent hamstring issues.
Los Angeles is said to be open to dealing Puig, whose immense talent will undoubtedly draw interest — though it seems fair to say that any dealing is more likely to occur over the winter. It will certainly be interesting to see how the market values Puig if and when he is auctioned. His contract situation still rates as a positive, but it’s no longer the screaming value it once was. He’s set to earn at least $14MM over the next two years, and can be controlled for one more. Puig also has the right to opt into arbitration, though at this point that may not be the financially advisable route given his rough platform season.
Blue Jays Release, Re-Sign Blake McFarland
The Blue Jays have released and re-signed righty Blake McFarland to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. His 40-man spot was needed for the club’s moves today to accommodate their post-deadline roster adjustments.
McFarland, 28, has not appeared this year, though the precise reason why isn’t immediately apparent. Originally signed as an un-drafted free agent, he showed promise last year while working in the upper minors and was added to the 40-man roster over the winter. Over 57 2/3 innings — mostly at the Double-A level — McFarland pitched to a 2.03 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9.
How August Trades Work
Now that the August 1 trade deadline has passed, teams can still make trades, only with more restrictions than before. Here’s a look at how August trades work. This information has, of course, been shared elsewhere, most notably in an article by ESPN’s Jayson Stark from all the way back in 2004, and in greater detail at Cub Reporter. Since the rules surrounding August deals are confusing, though, they’re worth reviewing here.
- After the “trade deadline” — typically July 31st, but August 1st this year — a big-league player must pass through revocable waivers before his team can trade him without restriction. These waivers last 47 hours. If no one claims him in that period, his team can trade him anywhere.
- If a player is claimed, his team can do one of three things. It can trade the player to the claiming team, revoke the waiver request (in which case the player will remain with his original team), or simply allow the claiming team to take the player and his salary (although a player with no-trade rights can block this from happening).
- A recent example of an August trade that developed from a waiver claim was the Twins’ acquisition of Neal Cotts from the Brewers last year. Minnesota claimed Cotts and ultimately got him for a player to be named later or cash. An example of a claim that didn’t result in a trade occurred last year, when an unknown team claimed another Brewers reliever, Francisco Rodriguez. The two sides couldn’t strike a deal, so the Brewers revoked their waiver request, and K-Rod remained in Milwaukee. Examples of teams simply letting players go via revocable waivers are more rare, particularly with big-contract players. That being said, it is always possible; in 2009, the White Sox claimed Alex Rios from the Blue Jays, who simply let him go to Chicago without a trade. The White Sox were thus responsible for all of the approximately $62MM remaining on Rios’ contract.
- A team has 48.5 hours to trade a claimed player, and can only negotiate with the team awarded the claim on him.
- It’s common for teams to place players on revocable waivers, and their having done so does not necessarily mean they have serious plans to trade them. As Stark points out, teams commonly use waivers of certain players purely as smokescreens to disguise which players they really are interested in trading. In fact, sometimes teams place their entire rosters on waivers.
- If more than one team claims a player, priority is determined by worst record to best record in the league of the waiving team, followed by worst record to best record in the other league. For example, if an NL team places a player on revocable waivers, the team with the NL’s worst record will get first priority on claims, followed by every other team in the NL from worst to best, followed by AL teams from worst to best.
- If a team pulls a player back from waivers once, it cannot do so again in August. So if a team places a player on waivers for a second time, those waivers will be non-revocable.
- Players not on 40-man rosters are eligible to be traded at any time without passing through waivers.
- A player on the disabled list can only pass through waivers if his minimum period of inactivity has passed and he is healthy and able to play at his accustomed level.
- Teams can still make trades in September, but players acquired after August 31 can’t play in the postseason.
Players traded last August included Cotts, Mike Napoli, Austin Jackson, Alejandro De Aza, Fernando Rodney, Marlon Byrd, Chase Utley, Will Venable, Oliver Perez, Cliff Pennington, and — who could forget — the deal that sent Chris Johnson from the Braves to the Indians for Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. There weren’t any blockbusters last year, although it’s not impossible for major deals to happen in August. The Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett in a gigantic trade in 2012, for example.
This post is adapted from a prior series of posts.
Injury Notes: Salazar, Cabrera, Gregerson, Teheran, Rosenthal, Hochevar
A trio of notable players just hit the 15-day DL, so we’ll cover them all right here:
- The Indians announced that they have placed righty Danny Salazar on the 15-day DL while he rests his prized right elbow. Fortunately, an MRI seems only to have revealed inflammation, so the hope is that Salazar won’t miss an extended period of time. And Cleveland has plenty of rotation depth on hand, including Cody Anderson and Mike Clevinger, with the latter getting the nod for the time being. Still even a relatively brief absence will have an impact; Salazar has been nothing short of outstanding, and the AL Central-leading club holding a four-game cushion in the division race.
- After already recently placing infielder Jose Reyes on the shelf, the Mets have now done the same with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. He suffered a strained patellar tendon and is headed for an MRI. The team also added just-signed outfielder Justin Ruggiano to the 15-day ranks. Cabrera’s loss is notable for an organization that was already scrambling to fill in for missing infielders. Matt Reynolds will come up for the meantime to help fill the void, but it seems there’s some real concern that the injury could require a fairly lengthy absence.
- Astros reliever Luke Gregerson is headed to the 15-day with an oblique strain, the team announced. That not only will keep him out of action for a bit, but will clear the way for Ken Giles to take over as the team’s closer with Will Harris struggling of late. Gregerson has been rather excellent this year despite himself losing the 9th-inning job previously, with ERA estimators valuing him even more highly than his 3.09 ERA.
- The Braves have added righty Julio Teheran to the DL as well. He is dealing with a lat strain that isn’t believed to be serious. Atlanta will obviously want to exercise plenty of caution in handling the injury, even if it isn’t particularly worrisome, as Teheran is a key piece of the organization’s rebuilding plans and there’s no need to rush him back.
- Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal has been given platelet-rich plasma injections in his bothersome righty shoulder, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. GM John Mozeliak says that it’s possible Rosenthal Of course, St. Louis will be looking for more than just physical improvement; it’ll also hope that he can fix his skyrocketing walk rate during a rehab stint.
- As expected, Royals righty Luke Hochevar underwent a procedure today to help deal with a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. He is expected to be out for six months, which would conceivably mean that he’ll be ready for a full spring camp if the rehab goes according to plan. It seems likely that the Royals will decline their end of a $7MM mutual option on the reliever, which would make him a free agent, though certainly it’s possible to imagine him staying with Kansas City on some kind of creative, two-year deal of the sort that the team has reached in recent years with several injured hurlers.