AL Central Notes: Hahn, Castellanos, Perez
Let’s take a look in at the AL Central, which is currently fronted by a surprising Twins club — though not due to the poor performance of the rest of the division. With the Indians streaking and the Royals and Tigers still looking like threats, to say nothing of a White Sox team that is still in the picture as well, it’s probably not too soon to call this the most competitive division in baseball.
- White Sox GM Rick Hahn says that he still expects several players to improve their play back toward their career norms, as MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports. While Hahn rightly notes that there’s still plenty of time, of course, the AL Central does not look like the easiest division to make a run at from behind. That means that Chicago will increasingly need to consider “contingency plans,” as Merkin puts it, if buying at the deadline does not make sense. “Marching orders for our scouts heading out of Spring Training were looking at our positions of need at the big league level and targeting guys to help shore those up for a stretch run,” explains Hahn. “At the same time, we have our pro scouts out at the Minor League level preparing for, should we need to go the other way, and look at more prospect-focused deals. At this point, our intent is to look to add at the Deadline and put ourselves in a better position to win.”
- Young Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos has always seemed primed to hit in the big leagues, though that remains a work in progress. While he has yet to turn things on at the dish, however, he has made a significant improvement in his glovework, as Grantland’s Ben Lindbergh examines. Castellanos acknowledges that “the game definitely got fast for [him] a little bit” at third after a long pause in his work at that position. It took a lot of work and subtle adjustments, but Lindbergh explains that Castellanos has made strides in completing more difficult plays, especially on balls hit down the line. Certainly, the overall improvement bodes well for his long-term ability to stick at third, though his bat will need to come around as well.
- Fellow infielder Hernan Perez is now on the move from the Tigers after being claimed by the Brewers yesterday. GM Dave Dombrwoski says that he had attempted to recoup some value from Perez in trade, but interest was minimal. While that gave some hope that he’d get through waivers, it didn’t prove to be the case. (Video link via MLive.com.)
Red Sox Notes: Henry, Cherington, Farrell, Ortiz
Red Sox owner John Henry had a number of interesting comments yesterday, as he addressed his ballclub’s struggles. He noted, first of all, that GM Ben Cherington and manager John Farrell are not at risk of losing their jobs, as Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets.
Here’s more from the Boston owner and other notes from the team:
- The Red Sox seem as an organization to have identified some problems in their recent moves, but it’s not yet clear that they have a new, positive vision, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald suggests in his piece on Henry. Addressing last year’s increasingly questionable series of transactions (running from the trade deadline through the winter), Henry acknowledged that it is not to soon to wonder whether the right calls had been made. “At this point, you can question that, and you should, we should question that,” Henry said. “They’re going to have to prove it on the field that we made the right decisions, and they’ll prove us right or they’ll prove us wrong.”
- Looking further into Henry’s comments, Lauber’s colleague John Tomase writes that the Red Sox seem to be late in responding to some significant developments league-wide — particularly, the expanding strike zone and increasing availability of power relief arms. “The way you win games in 2003 is different from the way you win games in 2015,” Henry said. “And we have to make those adjustments as an organization. … The strike zone is larger than it used to be, so you can’t be as patient as you used to. The game of baseball has changed a lot. The standings reflect that.” The trouble, says Tomase, is that adapting will require a fairly drastic shift in the approach of numerous key hitters — along with longer-timeline changes in organizational thinking.
- DH David Ortiz says he still does not have set plans on when he’d like to retire, Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com reports. Of course, that question has been asked with somewhat greater urgency given that the seemingly-ageless (but actually 39-year-old) slugger is off to a rough .224/.308/.379 start to the year. Ortiz dismissed those concerns with typical wit and wisdom. “A lot of people looked at me like that [six] years ago, and here I am still,” he said. “I don’t have no timetable for [retirement]. I don’t think anybody has it, either. If it happens, who cares, man, I’m just another player that comes in and comes out. Everybody’s time is up at some point. I don’t think that’s my problem, though. I’ll keep on trying like I normally do.”
Quick Hits: Ruth, Slowey, Nix, Cuba
Babe Ruth pioneered many things in baseball, of course, and one lesser-known among them came in the insurance arena, as Richard Sandomir writes for the New York Times. Before the 1920 campaign, Ruth took out a disability policy of the kind that is now standard for players looking to protect themselves from injury or illness.
Here are some more stray notes from around the game:
- 31-year-old righty Kevin Slowey has joined the MLBPA as a special assistant, per a press release. He’ll assist in the union’s preparations for the coming collective bargaining negotiations. Slowey, who spent the spring in Phillies camp, has appeared in the big leagues with the Twins and Marlins. All said, he compiled 662 innings of 4.62 ERA pitching, striking out 6.7 and walking 1.5 batters per nine along the way.
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today spoke with Jacob Nix, the righty who saw his deal with the Astros fall through last year as part of the Brady Aiken fallout. Nix explains that he has tried to stay positive, but did not sugarcoat the difficulties he faced. “Last year pretty much sucked,” said Nix. “I was literally in the wrong place and the wrong time. It was a bad situation. The whole year was pretty difficult for myself and for my family.” Houston ultimately offered Nix a $620K bonus after pulling back the $1.5MM deal that had been struck, says Nightengale, but he declined. Nix was set to attend UCLA — even driving out to the campus — but ultimately ended up at the IMG Academy as eligibility issues loomed due to the NCAA’s rules (which are, in my view, remarkably unfair). While winning a grievance against the Astros that “paid him a fraction of his original signing bonus,” Nix says he also pushed his development on the mound and is now a much more complete pitcher entering this year’s draft. The whole piece is well worth a read and comes highly recommended.
- Exhibition baseball is likely heading to Cuba next year, as commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters yesterday, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). The expectation is that clubs chosen by the league will head to the neighboring island during Spring Training.
Brewers Claim Hernan Perez, Designate Elian Herrera
The Brewers have claimed infielder Hernan Perez off waivers from the Tigers, Milwaukee announced. To clear a roster spot, the club designated utilityman Elian Herrera for assignment.
Perez, 24, has seen very brief playing time at the major league level in each of the last four seasons. In 647 Triple-A plate appearances, he slashed .280/.321/.387 while adding 21 stolen bases. The Venezuelan native has split his time as a professionally evenly between shortstop and second base.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Herrera has delivered a career .249/.304/.343 slash line in 470 turns at bat in the majors, all compiled in sporadic action over 2012-15. He is a true utility player, having spent time at all three outfield spots and every infield position left of first base. Herrera has had some success at the plate at the Triple-A level, where he owns a .307/.375/.431 batting line in just over 1,000 plate appearances.
NL East Notes: Marlins, Cishek, Phils, Strasburg, Fister
Despite what the standings say, the Marlins are not yet entertaining the idea of selling, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports. The club is not interested in moving core players, says Frisaro, noting that dealing third baseman Martin Prado — who is under contract for next year as well — does not make sense, at least at present.
Here’s more from the NL East:
- Skipper Dan Jennings says that the Marlins‘ decision to option Steve Cishek was motivated by a desire to get his mechanics in order outside the big league spotlight, Frisaro reports. Noting that Cishek’s velocity has improved of late, Jennings said he expects a short minor league stint: “I don’t see this being a long-term deal at all. I think he will come back and be the same Steve Cishek we’ve known in the past.”
- The upcoming draft is an important one for a Phillies organization that is working to add as much impact talent as possible, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes. Johnny Almaraz will oversee the picking for the first time, and Salisbury suggests he’s likely to “stay away from project-type players, at least up high.” Philadelphia has struggled to produce draft talent in the not-so-distant past, but seems thus far to have hit on both of its last two picks: shortstop J.P. Crawford and righty Aaron Nola. “It’s an interesting draft,” said GM Ruben Amaro Jr. “There’s some depth. Maybe not tons of super difference makers, but there’s some good players out there.”
- Medical analysis confirms that Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg has a strained left trapezius, James Wagner of the Washington Post reports. For now, the plan is for Strasburg to rest, with the hope that he’ll be ready to resume throwing in relatively short order.
- The Nationals have also received encouraging news on another injured right-handed starter, Doug Fister. As Wagner writes, Fister says his forearm tightness has “pretty much subsided completely.” The veteran went on to say that he has never been too concerned about the issue: “It was really just more tight than complete, utter mayhem. So I mean, it wasn’t a bad issue. It was more of just I really need a break for some reason, there’s so much tightness going on that we really need to address it.” As important as Fister is to Washington, his ability to recover and regain his effectiveness may tell even more on his free agent status. The 31-year-old has produced consistently excellent results over the last four seasons, but saw a dip in his velocity and strikeout tallies early this year.
Red Sox Notes: Offseason, Farrell, HanRam
With a 22-29 record on the books, the Red Sox may already have cause to regret several recent decisions, writes Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Whether or not the team is better set up for the long term, he says, adding Wade Miley, Justin Masterson, and Joe Kelly (as opposed to, say, keeping John Lackey and acquiring Jeff Samardzija) has not paid off in the short run. Likewise, the signings of Hanley Ramirez (who has not adapted well to the outfield) and Pablo Sandoval (who owns a .688 OPS) have not paid the dividends hoped for when the club allocated $183MM between the two veterans.
Here’s more from Boston:
- Dealing with the on-field problems is not just a baseball question, explains Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. It’s imperative for the bottom line that the club do what it can to stay in contention, which is made plausible by the fact that the rest of the divisions has been mired in mediocrity. The risk of another long season out of the race, says Bradford, is an apathetic fan base that could lose patience with the organization.
- Boston’s struggles have put manager John Farrell’s job at risk, says Christopher Gasper of the Boston Globe, even if they aren’t really his fault. The club is nearing a point where some drastic change is needed, says Gasper, and the “even-keeled and cerebral” Farrell may need to engineer a quick turnaround to keep his position. Gasper observes that, while the club’s less-than-powerful offense can hope for better luck given its league-low .269 BABIP, it has also produced a league-worst 21.1% soft contact rate (per Fangraphs).
- As if trouble on offense and in the rotation were not enough, the Globe’s Alex Speier discusses the team’s sub-par overall efforts on defense. Errors have not generally been a big problem on the whole, but advanced metrics view the Sox as one of the league’s worst defensive units. The biggest problem, says Speier, is that Ramirez has been the league’s single worst fielder by a significant margin. Remarkably, Ramirez has cost the club about one quarter of a run per game thus far, and Speier observes that there are no ready solutions (other than continuing to work toward and hope for improvement) given Boston’s current roster alignment.
- In an interview with Toucher & Rich of CBS Boston (audio link), Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe explains that Farrell is not the main issue with the Red Sox. The skipper has done what he can with the roster, says Abraham, who goes on to argue that Ramirez can’t just be shifted to first base — which might create even greater problems. Nevertheless, with the AL East underperforming, Abraham says there is reason to believe the club can stay in the hunt.
AL Notes: Gallo, Plouffe, Rondon, Mariners
The Rangers made an aggressive move in bringing up top prospect Joey Gallo, even if it promises to be short-lived, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News discusses what it means. It could be that the club truly believes that Gallo is ready, in spite of the fact that his huge power has been accompanied by a sizable strikeout rate. More likely, as GM Jon Daniels suggested, is that the big league club can not only use Gallo for the interim, but provides a good current environment for him to get his first taste of the bigs. “The deciding factor was that we are really confident in the environment, the culture and the clubhouse,” Daniels explained. “It’s a good spot for a young player. We have a lot of confidence in our staff and in the value sitting next to Adrian Beltre and Prince Fielder and learning.”
- Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe is off to a nice start, sporting a 135 wRC+ at the plate and continuing to look like at least an average defender at third after struggling earlier in his career. While Miguel Sano is waiting in the wings, he could still end up moving off of the hot corner. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN wonders (Twitter link) whether there is an extension format that would make sense for both Minnesota and Plouffe. He should be in line for a hefty raise over his $4.8MM salary, and can be controlled for the 2017 season as well, meaning that the club would likely need to plunk some really money down to get a deal done.
- Righty Bruce Rondon is finally nearing activation for the Tigers, which presents some welcome roster complications, as James Schmehl of MLive.com reports. Detroit will certainly hope that Rondon and his big-time stuff can help anchor the club’s pen at some point this year, but Schmehl says it’s possible he won’t head straight to the big leagues even when he’s ready physically. The three candidates for demotion — Angel Nesbitt, Alex Wilson, and Al Alburquerque — all have options, so there’s plenty of flexibility.
- While it’s not clear how much urgency there is at this point on the calendar, the Mariners are “trying” to add an arm, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune tweets in response to a reader. Seattle’s staff has produced middle-of-the-road results on the whole, but some notable struggles (Taijuan Walker and Fernando Rodney both have allowed over six earned runs per nine) and injuries (Hisashi Iwakuma and James Paxton) have opened some space for an addition.
Rays Designate Ernesto Frieri For Assignment
The Rays designated righty Ernesto Frieri for assignment after last night’s ballgame, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report on Twitter.
Frier, 29, signed a one-year, $800K deal to join the Rays this winter. He could have picked up a $50K bonus had he reached thirty appearances, with other escalators also available, but he’ll have to be content with earning his base guarantee at this point.
Frier worked to a 4.63 ERA over 23 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay, striking out 7.3 and walking 4.2 batters per nine. That K rate is a far cry from the double-digit numbers he ran up during his run as the Angels closer, and ERA estimators suggest he may be lucky that the results have not been worse.
There could be room for improvement if a team can figure out the cause for Frieri’s significant loss of fastball velocity. After averaging about 94 mph over recent years, Frier’s heater has dipped into the 91-92 mph range in 2015.
Tuffy Gosewisch Out For Year With ACL Tear
Diamondbacks catcher Tuffy Gosewisch will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a torn ACL, the club announced. The 31-year-old had already been placed on the 15-day DL.
Gosewisch earned his first opportunity at a regular role this year for Arizona. Generally a meager offensive producer in his time in the minors — most of it spent with the Phillies — Gosewisch was able to crack the lineup due to his quality glovework and the club’s lack of options behind the plate.
Through 138 plate appearances this year, Gosewisch largely matched the batting output he put up in reserve duty last year. All told, he has taken 317 turns at bat in the majors, slashing .212/.241/.285 with two home runs and two stolen bases. But Baseball Prospectus has valued him as a slightly above-average performer behind the dish.
Fellow backstop Wilson Ramos also suffered a May ACL tear back in 2012, ultimately missing the entire rest of the season. Despite missing the early part of Spring Training, he recovered in time to open the year on the active roster. Barring any setbacks, Gosewisch figures to follow approximately the same timeline.
With Gosewisch down for the rest of the year, it seems likely that mid-season signee Jarrod Saltalamacchia will do most of the receiving, with Jordan Pacheco functioning as the backup. But the door is now slightly more open for prospect Peter O’Brien, who is bludgeoning Triple-A pitching (.339/.379/.650) while he continues to work to establish himself as a viable defensive option.
Juan Gutierrez Opts Out Of Contract With Giants
Righty Juan Gutierrez has opted out of his minor league contract with the Giants, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports (Twitter links). The 31-year-old had agreed to that pact over the winter after declining an outright assignment from the club.
Gutierrez played a big role in the San Francisco pen last year, throwing 63 2/3 frames of 3.96 ERA ball. He posted 6.2 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in his most productive full season as a big leaguer. All said, Gutierrez has tossed just under 300 innings at the major league level, compiling a 4.49 career ERA.
The results have not quite been there for Gutierrez at Triple-A this year, as he has allowed 13 earned runs in his 23 2/3 innings of work. He has struck out 21 batters against eight walks, however, falling largely in line with his career marks. As Adams notes, Gutierrez still brings a mid-90s heater and has enough big league experience that he ought to draw interest from other teams.