Jordan Pacheco On Outright Waivers
JUNE 10: Pacheco is currently on outright waivers and will learn his fate in the next 48 hours, reports MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). Any team will have the option to claim him (in order of reverse record starting with the NL and then moving to the AL). If not, the Rockies will be able to assign him outright to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
JUNE 4: The Rockies have designated catcher/infielder Jordan Pacheco for assignment, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post (via Twitter). Fellow backstop Michael McKenry will take his roster spot, while the club will also promote infielder Ryan Wheeler with star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez hitting the DL.
Pacheco, 28, has been a mainstay on the Colorado roster for much of the last two seasons, largely due to his defensive flexibility. He saw plenty of time at third in 2012, starting 80 times there and 35 times across the diamond, but last year played mostly at first while also shifting behind the dish at times. Entering 2014 as the reserve backstop, Pacheco has been limited to just 175 1/3 innings in the field thus far, and has taken only one start at a different position.
On the offensive side of the ledger, Pacheco has been unable to follow up on his solid 2012 campaign (.309/.341/.421 in 505 plate appearances). He struggled to a .588 OPS last year, and has slashed .236/.300/.347 through 80 plate appearances in 2014. Of course, all of those numbers reflect time spent at Coors Field; Pacheco’s lifetime wRC+ stands at just 76.
Pirates Promote Gregory Polanco
June 10: The Pirates have officially announced Polanco’s promotion via press release.
June 9: The Pirates have announced that Polanco will be called up prior to tomorrow’s game. A roster opening will be created with Neil Walker going to the 15-day DL after undergoing an appendectomy this evening.
Polanco also tweeted the news from his personal Twitter account. If he is activated tomorrow, Polanco could reach 111 days of MLB service this year, which would make him an unlikely Super Two candidate down the line.
June 4, 7:17pm: A Pirates official says that Polanco will not be called up Friday, specifying that sources saying otherwise are incorrect, according to Dan Zangrilli of 93.7 The Fan (via Twitter; hat tip to Biertempfel).
6:20pm: Two high-ranking club officials say there are no plans to promote Polanco for Friday, reports Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review (via Twitter).
5:46pm: The Pirates will make the much-anticipated promotion of top outfield prospect Gregory Polanco in time to activate him for Friday’s game, reports Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports also reports that Polanco is set to join the Pirates on Friday, via Twitter.
Polanco, 22, entered the season as a consensus top-25 prospect league-wide — if not better. Baseball America pushed the toolsy Dominican into the top ten, while ESPN.com’s Keith Law and MLB.com both rated him inside of the top 15. Of course, that was before Polanco went on a rampage in his first real stint Triple-A this year, putting up a .351/.410/.547 line with 6 home runs and 14 steals and leading Law to move him up to the 3rd overall slot among current prospects.
Polanco is far from a bat-first prospect. Indeed, Law says that he features plus-plus defense at the center field position and gets a 70 grade on the basepaths. That is especially notable given that Polanco checks in at a robust 6’4 tall and 220 pounds.
Of course, Polanco is not likely to get a chance to play center in Pittsburgh, which already features a solid defender in Andrew McCutchen at that spot. Instead, like fellow outstanding youngster Starling Marte, he figures to slot in as one of the best corner outfield defenders in the game, combining with McCutchen for perhaps the game’s most exciting trio. The hope is that Polanco can provide an immediate upgrade in right for a team that has received precisely replacement-level production from the spot this year, even taking into account the unexpected outburst from Josh Harrison.
The call-up brings to an end the somewhat controversial stretch of time that Polanco spent at the highest minor league level this year. Many called for an earlier promotion, citing the Bucs’ struggles in right field and the fact that Pittsburgh reportedly offered Polanco a seven-year, $25MM contract extension before he even suited up for the big club. While it would be foolish to deny that Super Two considerations played a role, of course, it is worth bearing in mind that Polanco had taken all of nine plate appearances at the Triple-A level prior to this season, and had only posted a .762 OPS through 286 trips to the plate at Double-A.
Assuming that Polanco is officially added to the active MLB roster on Friday, he would stand to accumulate as many as 115 days of service this year. That is not likely to put him line for Super Two status, which has required anywhere from 2.122 to 2.146 days of service in recent years.
Pittsburgh stands to control Polanco through the 2020 season, and will likely not have to go through arbitration with him until 2018. The rest of the above-mentioned outfielders are controlled long-term as well: McCutchen has had his salary guaranteed through 2017 with a club option for another year, while Marte is under contract through 2019 with two more team options to follow. Given the team’s already-aggressive stance with regard to Polanco, and successful negotiations with his outfield mates, it would not be surprising to see the team look for another chance at a deal in the future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Royals To Sign Chase Vallot
The Royals have an agreement in place with competitive balance round A choice Chase Vallot, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). Vallot was taken with the 40th overall slot, which carries a slot value of $1.42MM.
Bonus terms remain unreported for Vallot, a Louisiana high school catcher who had been committed to Mississippi State. Ranking him 49th overall among draft prospects, MLB.com writes that Vallot has a power bat and arm. He could still stick behind the dish, but could ultimately transition to first base or the outfield. Baseball America similarly placed him as the 47th overall draft-eligible player, while ESPN.com’s Keith Law saw him as the 33rd best player available.
Kansas City agreed to an at-slot deal with third-rounder Erik Skoglund yesterday, after adding its fourth through sixth-round picks the day before. The team’s top two choices, lefties Brandon Finnegan and Foster Griffin, and second-round righty Scott Blewett have yet to agree to terms.
NL Notes: Polanco, Sellers, CarGo, Cuddyer, Matzek, Draft
The rise of Pirates call-up Gregory Polanco from a virtually unknown international signee to a top prospect has been quite rare in recent history, writes Alex Speier in an ESPN Insider piece. Slowly but surely, the 22-year-old tightened his skills to match his raw tools, and his now-obvious upside emerged.
Here’s more from the National League:
- While Polanco is undoubtedly an exciting addition for the Pirates, the team should nevertheless be prepared to sell over the summer, opines Paul Swydan of ESPN.com (Insider link). Russell Martin and Francisco Liriano are among the pieces that the team could consider moving, he says. Meanwhile, the Mets and Padres are other NL clubs that Swydan says should look to move pieces.
- While Swydan does not discuss their situation, the Phillies also seem like possible sellers, though it is hard to know the club’s thinking. Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com discusses the trade-worthiness of several of the team’s possible deadline chips.
- The Mets‘ struggles this year are bad enough that they have shifted the team’s seemingly promising trajectory, writes Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. The team’s key cog, third baseman David Wright, says that he remains committed to the Mets and has no desire to be dealt. (Of course, that seems a rather unlikely outcome regardless.) “I knew that when I signed my extension, I knew that things were not going to be easy,” he said. “If I wanted the easy way out, I would have signed somewhere else. The challenge of it, the loyalty to the organization, the direction I think we’re going, yes, we’ve gone through some rough stretches … but that is the process.”
- The Rockies, who dropped their ninth of ten games tonight, are now dealing with another spate of bad injury news. In addition to placing recent top prospect call-up Eddie Butler on the 15-day DL after his first big league start, the team learned today that it will be without two key veterans for some time. Star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez will undergo exploratory surgery on the left index finger that has bothered him this year, reports Nick Groke of the Denver Post (via Twitter). And right fielder Michael Cuddyer has suffered a fracture of the glenoid socket in his right shoulder, which will keep him out for at least six to eight weeks, as Cody Ulm of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Now well off the pace in the NL West, the Rockies would need a quick turnaround to position themselves as contenders as the trade deadline approaches.
- In need of arms, the Rockies will call up 23-year-old lefty Tyler Matzek to start on Wednesday against the Braves, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. Once a top-25 prospect league-wide and the 11th overall choice in the 2009 draft, Matzek has climbed through the minors even as his prospect shine has dimmed somewhat. After opening the year rated 12th among Colorado prospects by Baseball America, which noted that struggles with consistency and command could push him to the bullpen, Matzek has worked to a 4.05 ERA in his first 66 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. More importantly, perhaps, he has worked to a career-best 4.2 BB/9 at Colorado Springs while also racking up 8.2 K/9.
- ESPN.com’s Keith Law has posted his round-up (Insider link) of the draft haul from National League clubs. He says that the Diamondbacks brought back an impressive haul across the board, and casts some doubt on some of the Cubs‘ early-round selections while noting that the team went after high-upside arms further down.
Notes On Kendrys Morales Signing
In case you missed it, the Twins finally brought an end to this year’s post-qualifying offer market, inking first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales to a deal that will pay him at a $12MM annual rate (around $7.5MM for the rest of the year). Morales will ultimately take home slightly less than Nelson Cruz takes home from the Orioles, though he’ll have to play much fewer games to earn it and will not be eligible for a qualifying offer next year. (Of course, he will also fall well shy of the $14.1MM qualifying offer that he rejected.)
Here’s the latest on the Morales signing:
- The Mariners did make an offer to Morales within the last two days, tweets Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The value of the offer was not reported. Seattle, of course, will not receive any draft compensation for losing Morales, since he waited to sign until after the first day of this year’s amateur draft.
- Yankees manager Joe Girardi says that he was not involved in any discussions about the possibility of adding Morales, reports Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “[W]e thought [Mark Teixeira‘s] injury wasn’t going to keep him out for a long period of time,” explained Girardi. “We were pretty confident that we were going to get [Carlos Beltran] back.” While New York had been said to be a possible suitor, the most recent report indicated that the team had been rebuffed when it asked agent Scott Boras to hold off on signing while the team evaluated the health of Teixeira and Beltran.
- Morales is likely to slot right into the Twins‘ MLB lineup in spite of his layoff, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He figures to provide an immediate boost to the offense, even if he’s rusty, as Minnesota has received scant production from the first base and designated hitter slots in the lineup. On the other hand, it would be surprising to see the team take at bats away from Joe Mauer, and utilizing Morales as the primary DH will mean that the team can put only one of its two most productive hitters thus far (catchers Kurt Suzuki and Josmil Pinto) in the lineup. Of course, Suzuki remains a candidate to be traded away over the summer.
- Adding Morales represents another move that increases the Twins‘ ability to compete in the short term without sacrificing long-term value, writes Dan Szymborski for ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Morales projects to be a roughly league-average DH, says Szymborski, but that sort of player would cost prospects to acquire via trade. And while the team may still have an uphill path to contention, it does sit just under .500, only five back in the AL Central and two-and-a-half out of the Wild Card. Like Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes, who were inked to long-term deals over the offseason, Morales does not require Minnesota to cough up a draft choice.
Brewers To Sign Jacob Gatewood
The Brewers have inked 41st overall choice Jacob Gatewood to a deal that includes a $1.83MM bonus, reports John Manuel of Baseball America (via Twitter). That means that Milwaukee will need to make up about $445K in savings, as the pick’s slot value is just under $1.4MM.
Gatewood’s agreement is the second over-slot deal for the Brewers. Earlier today, the club agreed to sign second-round pick Monte Harrison for $1.8MM, well over his slot value of $1.1MM. Combined, Milwaukee is now about $1.145MM over budget. While MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth noted at that time that an under-slot bonus for first-rounder Kodi Medeiros (12th overall) could make up the difference for the splurge on Harrison, the team may need to save money elsewhere to fit both slot busters.
As things stand, at-slot agreements with the team’s remaining choices from the first ten rounds would leave the club more than 15% over the $7.6MM total pool it enjoyed entering the draft. At that level of spending, Milwaukee would be penalized with the loss of their first pick in the next two Rule 4 drafts as well as a 100% tax on the overage. Needless to say, the Brewers will work hard to avoid that outcome.
Brad Johnson contributed to this post.
Padres Designate Jason Lane For Assignment
The Padres have designated lefty Jason Lane for assignment, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. His roster spot will be taken by Andrew Cashner, who is set to come off the DL to start tonight.
A veteran of six MLB seasons as an outfielder, Lane received his first big league action as a pitcher at age 37. While it took quite an effort for Lane to return to the bigs, his stay was short. He tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts and no free passes.
Of course, Lane could well find his way back to San Diego this year. He currently owns a 4.36 ERA through 11 starts at Triple-A, and even remains a threat at the plate with a .407/.484/.667 triple-slash in 31 plate appearances.
Day One Draft Reactions
With day two of the MLB amateur draft now in the books, let’s run through some reactions from around the game to the first day’s action …
- Kiley McDaniel of Scout.com breaks down the day one action, writing that he liked the hauls brought in by the Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Royals. He also discussed the Pirates‘ early-pick strategy. The team made a surprise choice of shortstop Cole Tucker with the 24th overall pick, but McDaniel explains that the team’s later picks give a fuller picture, as potential under-slot signings of Tucker and college outfielder Connor Joe (#39) could allow the team to ink prep righty Mitch Keller (#64).
- In his own wrap-up of the draft’s first day (Insider link), ESPN.com’s Keith Law says that he likes the Indians‘ work in landing Brad Zimmer, the already-inked Justus Sheffield, and Mike Papi. He also credits the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and Red Sox with strong choices. You’ll want to read the full piece for all the details, including Law’s take on teams that may have whiffed.
- Nick Faleris of Baseball Prospectus also takes a turn at explaining all of the first-round choices (1 through 17; 18 through 34). He wonders whether the Mariners will need to go above-slot to sign sixth overall pick Alex Jackson, a high-schooler committed to Oregon. As for best values, Faleris says that one candidate is high-school righty Touki Toussaint, who went 16th to the Diamondbacks.
- Assessing things from the industry perspective, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden (Insider link) says that many are high on the Twins‘ choice of shortstop Nick Gordon — son of Tom and brother of Dee — at the fifth slot. While the Brewers seem to value 12th overall choice Kodi Medeiros higher than most, leading to some questions, Bowden says that the club may have scored by adding shortstop Jacob Gatewood at 41st overall.
- A run on college seniors has led to a new record, tweets Clint Longenecker of Baseball America. According to his tally, 70 seniors have gone in the first ten rounds, easily more than the previous high of 60. Of course, the general view is that such players lack leverage, making them popular choices for teams looking to save slot money to ink younger players.
NL Notes: Dodgers, Brewers, Morales, Zimmerman, Welker
Tyler Stubblefield was stuck at low-A ball last year for the Padres at age 25. This year, writes MLB.com’s Corey Brock, he played a key role in recommending the team’s first-round draft choice, N.C. State shortstop Trea Turner, as San Diego’s area scout for eastern George and North and South Carolina.
Here’s the latest from the National League:
- It is time for the Dodgers to initiate a shake-up, opines Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider link). While the team undeniably has talented pieces, they have not fit together well, says Olney, who recommends that the team consider bringing up top prospect Joc Pederson to play center and installing the defense-first Erisbel Arruebarrena at short. Of course, those moves would have repercussions involving key veterans Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez, among others, but Olney says that dramatic action may be necessary with the club still sitting well back of the Giants in the NL West.
- The Brewers do not seem like a good fit for Kendrys Morales, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes on Twitter. McCalvy says that two key questions — Morales’s ability to handle first and the team’s ability to fit him in the payroll — make a signing unlikely.
- Ryan Zimmerman says that he is not sure that he will ever return full-time to third base for the Nationals, as Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports. “I don’t know if I’m the best option over there anymore,” he said. “I’ve always said I’ll play until someone is better than me, or I’m not the best option at that position.” It will be fascinating to see how the Nats proceed when Bryce Harper returns, which is expected to occur around the turn of the month. While the team would have several options heading into 2015 — Zimmerman could stay in left and the team could deal Denard Span, or he could move to first if Adam LaRoche leaves town — the mid-season calculus is even more complicated. It seems hard to imagine that the team would leave second base in the hands of Danny Espinosa while taking away significant at-bats from any of the other players just mentioned. It seems at least possible that the Nationals could explore some creative trade possibilities to right-size the everyday lineup.
- Pirates righty Duke Welker underwent Tommy John surgery yesterday, reports Tom Singer of MLB.com (via Twitter). The towering 28-year-old was the player to be named later in last year’s Justin Morneau deal, but later returned to Pittsburgh in exchange for lefty Kris Johnson.
Braves To Sign Second Rounder Garrett Fulenchek
The Braves have agreed to an above-slot deal with Garrett Fulenchek, the team’s second round draft choice (66th overall), reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that Fulenchek will get $1MM, higher than the bonus pool value of the pick of around $860K.
Fulenchek is a Texas high school product who emerged late and is said to have big upside if he can develop his secondary pitches and command behind a heavy sinker. Both MLB.com (which rated him the 57th-best prospect in the draft) and Baseball America (54th) placed the 6’4 right above the place he was taken. ESPN.com’s Keith Law, on the other hand, had Fulenchek in the 78th slot. He had been committed to pitch for Dallas Baptist.