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Mets Notes: Wright, Smith, International Signing

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Seven-time All-Star David Wright has no quit in him. The 35-year-old has been rehabbing with the St. Lucie Mets since August 12th, and Marc Carig of The Athletic details his grueling push for a return to the majors against all odds. After undergoing three different surgeries in the past 26 months, Wright’s day involves painstaking attention to detail in his pre-game routine, and his overall rehabbing process has included broader-scale challenges up to and including completely relearning how to play catch. The Mets’ captain, however, has chosen to embark on this arduous journey back to the majors in part because (as Carig says) “even in the face of long odds, the fear of regret is a powerful motivator.” In Wright’s own words, “I guess it’s stubbornness on my part, wanting to give this another try and do this on my terms.” Carig’s piece is a length read that does an excellent job of providing insight into Wright’s struggles and perseverance.

Some other recent notes out of Queens…

  • The Mets are making a mistake by not giving Dominic Smith an extended audition, David Lennon of Newsday writes, suggesting that the club appears to be entering the “evaluation period of this lost season, to see who should stick in 2019 and beyond.” If that’s true, Lennon writes, then the club ought to be giving Smith more playing time to see if he can develop into an everyday first baseman. The “jerking around of Smith” in an effort to give Wilmer Flores reps at first and make him more versatile doesn’t compute with Lennon. After all, the kid isn’t too far removed from being the 11th-overall pick in the 2013 draft, and it’s far too early to consider him a failed prospect. Since Lennon wrote his piece, the Mets have gone so far as to option Smith to Triple-A in favor of giving veteran Jay Bruce reps first.
  • The newest member of the Mets organization is Dominican shortstop Willian Lugo, whom the club recently signed for $475K (h/t Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com). Notably, the club was able to bring on board in part due to the international bonus pool money they acquired as part of the trade that sent Jeurys Familia to the Athletics. Lugo did not rank among Baseball America’s list of the top 50 international prospects of the 2018-2019 signing period.

Manager Notes: Baker, Mattingly, Showalter

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In a lengthy interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Dusty Baker lends some of his thoughts on managing, the state of the game, labor relations, racism and a number of other topics. Some of the highlights are his explanation as to what he meant by “Dusty don’t like walks”, his thoughts on the racist Trea Turner tweets, and most notably, and his relative disinterest in returning to a management position at any point down the line. Baker feels as though the fans and Chicago ownership turned on him at the end of his tenure there, and he also felt as though he couldn’t make the fans in Cincinnati happy, claiming that even when he won, his “mode of thinking” was criticized. The interview lends some great insight into Baker’s career and his personality.

A pair of other management-related notes…

  • In a scathing critique of his players, manager Don Mattingly called the Marlins’ latest loss “unacceptable” while accusing his team of “playing scared.” Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has the full details on Mattingly’s outburst, which seems extreme on the surface but is understandable considering the sloppy play of his players during last night’s 8-2 loss to the Nationals. Spencer lists Jarlin Garcia’s errant pickoff throw, Magneuris Sierra’s lazy chase-down of a Bryce Harper single that he allowed to become a double, and a pathetic offensive showing against Max Scherzer. “You just can’t play like that here. When you’re playing non-aggressive and always being on your heels, it’s just not a way to play. And it’s one of the things we won’t keep watching.”
  • While the GM-manager tandem of Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter has been a reasonably successful staple of the Orioles franchise for a number of years, Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports believes it unlikely that ownership will keep both for the 2019 season. Heyman further speculates that Duquette is the likelier of the two to stick around beyond this year, citing the sheer number of dollars Duquette saved the club with this season’s deadline trades (and the fifteen players acquired). That means Heyman sees the end of the Buck Showalter era as a likelihood this coming winter.

Orioles Claim John Andreoli

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The Orioles claimed outfielder John Andreoli off waivers from the Mariners, the club has announced. Andreoli had been designated for assignment yesterday. Baltimore has sent him to Triple-A Norfolk.

Andreoli is quite an interesting player. The 28-year-old enjoyed a solid season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, hitting .287 with a .397 on-base percentage across 388 plate appearances. The disclaimer is that an unsustainable .381 BABIP is largely to thank for that, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see those figures drop by 50 points apiece if he regresses to the mean. In addition, the former 17th-rounder has exhibited very little power; he sports an ISO of just .114. He made his major league debut this season, notching a hit and a walk in six plate appearances prior to being designated for assignment yesterday.

Andreoli is capable of playing all three outfield positions, meaning he stands a chance of working his way into Baltimore’s outfield mix next season should be perform well in September. The Orioles will lose long-time franchise icon Adam Jones to free agency this winter, and as such there’ll be a large opening in the outfield for which Andreoli could throw his hat into the ring.

Nationals Place Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy On Revocable Trade Waivers

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Per a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Nationals have placed a number of players on revocable trade waivers, including outfielder Bryce Harper and second baseman Daniel Murphy.

Of course, the mere fact that both players were placed on waivers doesn’t mean anything in and of itself. As Rosenthal himself notes, virtually every player in MLB will be placed on trade waivers at some point in August, so there’s no way to gauge the Nats’ intentions with Harper and Murphy at this time. There’s little reason not to put these players through trade waivers, actually, since there’s no risk involved on the move. If they clear, the Nationals have the ability to trade either one at any point between now and August 31st. If one is claimed, the club can either choose to work out a deal with the claiming team or simply pull the player back off waivers.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

But while the move itself doesn’t bear much in the way of consequences, the responses hereafter will certainly merit close attention, particularly in regards to Harper. Though much was made of the 25-year-old’s somewhat forgettable start to the season, he’s put the campaigns first four months firmly in the rearview mirror by batting a titanic .400/.474/.750 with five home runs so far in the month of August. As Rosenthal notes, Harper’s owed about $5MM more over the remainder of 2018, and if he’s able to continue at anything close to his current pace, he’d certainly be a tremendous asset to any contending club.

The easiest scenario to imagine involving Harper is that he’ll be claimed by a contending National League team, the two sides won’t be able to work out a deal, and the Nats will ultimately revoke the claim, keeping Harper in Washington for the remainder of the season. Trading him, after all, would firmly indicate that the organization is punting the 2018 season, and such a signal to the fans would be a public relations disaster. That disaster would be made even worse should the club experience a sudden hot streak and vault themselves within reach of a playoff spot, only to be without their best hitter.

The timing of the deal, however, has some interesting implications. At this time yesterday the club was only one game removed from a four-game losing streak, when they’d sat a full nine games back of the division-leading Braves. While they’ve won their last two games since then to put a dent in that lead, they’re still seven games behind the Braves, not to mention 6 1/2 back of the Phillies. Their Wild Card outlook isn’t any better; they’re five games back of Milwaukee for the second spot with the Cardinals, Rockies and Dodgers all ahead of them. It’s not at all outlandish to think that now might be the right time for the Nats to try and get whatever they can in return for Harper while saving $5MM in a lost season.

Murphy is the likelier of the two to clear waivers, though he’s no sure bet himself. He’s owed $4MM across the remainder of the season, but has experienced somewhat of a resurgence lately himself. The 33-year-old free agent to be has been crushing baseballs since the All-Star break, posting a .354/.386/.563 batting line with five homers and a strikeout rate in the single digits. There are plenty of contenders who might benefit from adding him to their infield, even if he hasn’t exactly impressed defensively.

Pitcher Notes: Stroman, Syndergaard, Ray, Cobb

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Somewhat overlooked in last night’s rain-shortened 7-5 loss to the Yankees was the fact that Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman experienced a resurfacing of his blister issues. Though Stroman himself didn’t speak to reporters after the game, manager John Gibbons told reporters that Stroman’s blister tore in the seventh inning of a recent dominant start against the Red Sox (h/t Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca). Gibbons also admitted that the club is considering a DL stint in order to get Stroman right again after he took 88 pitches to get through four innings last night (while giving up five earned runs).

More notes on a few pitchers around the league…

  • Packed deep in a piece by Laura Albanese of Newsday are a few notable quotes by Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard that shed some (admittedly vague) light on his struggles and seeming fall from “ace” status. Not only is Thor upset about his inability to hold baserunners (the Phillies swiped five bags off him and batterymate Kevin Plawecki last night), but he also hinted at some wider mechanical issues he’s trying to work through. “It’s something I battle every day when I go out there,” said Syndergaard. “I’m just trying to correct a lot of things that I’ve been doing wrong for a long time.”
  • Elsewhere in the National League, Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray still hasn’t been able to get back on track, as Nick Piecoro details in a piece for the Arizona Republic. After a breakout 2017 campaign, Ray’s been unable to deliver any semblance of a repeat performance this season after starting the year with diminished velocity and succumbing to an oblique injury. After walking five batters last night, Ray had the following to say about his command issues. “I just need to get back to what I do best and that’s pound the zone. I’ve got too good of stuff to be pitching around the zone. I’ve just got to attack guys and then my off-speed stuff gets better.” Interestingly, Ray felt confident while warming up yesterday and felt in complete command of his pitches. He wonders whether a “lack of focus” could be to blame.
  • Though the early returns of the Alex Cobb signing didn’t look good for the Orioles, the return to effectiveness of his change-up seems to have vaulted the right-hander back to his previous form, as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun details in this piece. He notes that Cobb’s given up just nine hits on 184 change-ups since the All-Star break. His confidence in the pitch has led to him almost doubling its usage lately, and the results have spoken for themselves. Cobb’s strung together four consecutive quality starts of late, posting a 2.08 ERA with a 54.9% ground ball rate during that span.

International Notes: Rule Changes, Japan, Latin America, Mexico,

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MLB has implemented some changes to their international signing rules and regulations, and Ben Badler of Baseball America is right on top of it with the details. Among the most notable rule changes are 1) that amateur players will now be allowed to enter team facilities earlier, specifically 18 months before they become eligible to sign, and 2) teams can pay for travel expenses earlier in the process for all international players. Badler notes that the latter change will affect recruiting in Venezuela. Also outlined in the piece are rule changes that impact international tryout players’ allotted time at team facilities, others that impact showcases, and some that relate to travel expenses. Avid followers of MLB’s international signing process ought to give the piece a full read in order to stay up to speed.

And now some other notes from around the globe…

  • While there won’t be a player of Shohei Ohtani’s caliber coming to MLB from Japan this coming offseason, one impact player could still make his way over. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi writes that left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who currently pitches for the Saitama Seibu Lions, could potentially make himself available through the posting system. There’s a widespread believe that Kikuchi could elevate himself to No. 2 starter status in the major leagues, thanks in part to a 92-94 MPH fastball that can touch 96 at times. Though he’s spent some time on the disabled list this season and seen his command diminish slightly from an otherworldly 2017 campaign, the southpaw would no doubt attract plenty of suitors on the free agent market.
  • Back to Badler, who has some details on a budding “Trainer Partnership Program” with Latin America. The movement comes as part of a broader effort to cut down on steroid use from amateur players. Recently, the league held meetings with several of the most prominent trainers in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. At least 50 have agreed to join the new program, which will serve as a way for MLB to “certify” trainers who have agreed to comply with league standards.
  • Yet a third piece from Badler details how the Cubs essentially lost their top 2017 international prospect. At the time Chicago signed right-hander Florencio Serrano for $1.2MM out of Mexico, Baseball America had him ranked as the 29th-best prospect in that international draft class. But MLB didn’t approve the contract, and actually ended up suspending the entire signing system for Mexican players owing in part to technicalities within the international signing restrictions. The piece gives some interesting insight into just how detailed the whole process is, and how even painstaking attention to technicalities can’t always subvert the spirit of the rules.

A’s Acquire Fernando Rodney

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In a stunning move seemingly out of nowhere, the Athletics announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Fernando Rodney from the Twins in exchange for minor league righty Dakota Chalmers. Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reports that the A’s will assume all of Rodney’s remaining salary (around 1.3MM).

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the transaction came as the result of a waiver claim by the Athletics, meaning Rodney never cleared revocable trade waivers. The 42-year-old was certainly a logical August trade candidate, as MLBTR’s own Connor Byrne noted this past Saturday; more recently, the Twins’ closer appeared near the top of our Top 20 August Trade Candidates, checking in at number seven. He’s a reasonably affordable option for the surging yet cost-conscious A’s.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

Rodney has long been an effective MLB reliever, and has served mainly as a closer across the past decade. His 325 career saves rank 17th all-time among relievers, and although he’s certainly shown some fluctuation in performance over the course of his lifetime, his 3.09 ERA at present would be his best in a full season since 2014 with the Mariners. The veteran has managed to strike out more than ten batters per nine innings in five of the past six campaigns and owns a solid if unspectacular 3.70 ERA (3.73 FIP) over the course of his 16-year MLB career.

For the A’s, it’s the latest move to bolster an already-spectacular relief corps. Headed into the second half of July, the club already boasted three relievers with a Win Probability Added of 1.00 or higher (Blake Treinen, Lou Trivino and Yusmeiro Petit). Since then, they’ve added Jeurys Familia in a trade with the Mets, claimed Shawn Kelley off waivers from the Nationals, and plucked Mike Fiers from the paws of the Tigers. Rodney serves as the club’s fourth major bullpen addition over the course of the past month, fortifying an already-terrifying group.

That’s excellent work on the part of the club’s front office, as it’ll help mask the club’s uninspiring rotation. Sean Manaea’s currently the club’s only starter with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, in no small part due to the wreckage of torn UCLs suffered by rotation candidates this season. Daniel Gossett, Kendall Graveman, Jharel Cotton and top prospect A.J. Puk are all done for the season after requiring Tommy John surgery, leaving the club with a starting group of ragtag veterans that includes Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Edwin Jackson, each of whom has outperformed expectations. With an eye on October, it seems as though the Athletics are likely to use starters for short outings in the postseason and rely on a deep bullpen to handle the remainder of the workload.

Perhaps one of the more surprising elements of this deal is the fact that Rodney went unclaimed by the Indians, who had waiver priority over the Athletics and one of the worst bullpens in baseball. With three strong lefties in their pen and no viable right-handed options beyond Adam Cimber and struggling closer Cody Allen, Rodney would have provided a strong upgrade to the Cleveland bullpen. Likewise, the Mariners (who’re in close competition with them for a wild card spot) also passed on Rodney, allowing him to be claimed by a division rival rather than using him to patch their own relief corps.

The inclusion of Chalmers is a fascinating element of this deal, as the 21-year-old right hander has yet to accrue any significant professional resume following his selection by the A’s as the 97th overall pick in the 2015 draft. He didn’t rank among the club’s top 30 prospects in MLB Pipeline’s latest rankings, but Fangraphs considered him to within that group, ranking him 23rd in the A’s farm system. Chalmers had to step away from baseball late in 2017 for personal reasons, and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen mentioned that he’s struggled with his control since returning. Though his velocity sits in the low-to-mid-90’s, there’s some skepticism that he’ll ever develop the command necessary to work multiple innings. He won’t pitch for the remainder of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this season.

Quick Hits: Soria, Renfroe, Gordon, Stanton

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Joakim Soria suffered a mild right groin strain during the Brewers’ ninth-inning meltdown against the Padres today. Soria walked off the mound with an apparent injury after allowing a go-ahead grand slam to Hunter Renfroe. According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, the malady was later described as a mild right groin strain. There’s no official word on the severity of the injury yet, so it’s not known at this time whether Soria will need to miss any games. The right-hander came over from the White Sox just prior to the trade deadline in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers: left-hander Kodi Medeiros and right-hander Wilber Perez.

Here are a few other small items from around the league this evening…

  • Speaking of Renfroe, the Padres outfielder has been on a tear of late. Including tonight’s grand slam off Soria, Renfroe’s slugged four homers in his past four games. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune suggests that Renfroe’s performance could solidify an everyday spot in the lineup even after Wil Myers returns from the disabled list. That’s good news for the 26-year-old in the wake of today’s news that some of the young Padres outfielders are being intensely evaluated, but it’s also worth noting that Franmil Reyes also homered tonight; his third in his past four games. It will be interesting to see how the Padres address their corner outfield logjam this offseason, or if they choose to at all (Reyes and Renfroe both have minor league options remaining and can be stashed at Triple-A).
  • The Mariners moved Dee Gordon all the way down to ninth in the batting order in tonight’s game. That’s largely due to the speedster’s incredibly pedestrian offensive performance on the season. He’s hitting .280, but with just a .300 on-base and .343 slugging percentage. The biggest culprit to his lackluster showing is a paltry 1.5% walk rate that’s by far the lowest in the majors and approximately half the size of the next player on that list (Salvador Perez of the Royals). Though the plan right now seems to be for Robinson Cano to usurp some playing time from Ryon Healy when he returns from his suspension, it’s fair to wonder whether Gordon could rest in favor of Cano on occasion down the stretch, if he can’t figure out how to show more patience.
  • With his 121.7 MPH homer tonight off Rangers starter Ariel Jurado, Giancarlo Stanton broke a Statcast record. The Yankees’ headline offseason acquisition drilled the ball at a launch angle of 17 degrees, propelling it an estimated 449 feet. It’s officially the hardest-hit homer that Statcast has ever tracked. It’s part of a larger trend for Stanton, who has heated up after a somewhat average start to the season. The right-hander’s .308/.363/.561 batting line since the start of June is much more in line with what the Bombers had imagined when they took on the lion’s share of his contract from the Marlins this offseason.

Quick Hits: Bumgarner, Strasburg, Correa, Happ

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Kerry Crowley of The Mercury News boldly calls Madison Bumgarner’s contract situation the Giants’ “elephant in the room”. Crowley wonders whether Bumgarner must be traded in order to spark a rebuild for the club, who failed to make any significant moves at the trade deadline and now sit at 57-58 on the season after struggling to the league’s worst record last year (tied with the Tigers, of course). Whether the club ultimately decides to “rebuild or remodel”, Bumgarner’s the only player on the roster whose contract might warrant teams forking over a significant prospect return; something an aging Giants team could certainly use. Crowley describes Bumgarner’s future as “uncertain” in the amidst a mediocre team with a gargantuan payroll.

More on a few interesting items from around MLB this evening…

  • The Nationals received some welcome news on Stephen Strasburg today, as the right-hander reportedly “felt good” after tossing a 42-pitch bullpen session. According to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post, he’s likely to throw another one tomorrow and could potentially embark upon a rehab assignment soon thereafter. He’s been on the DL since June 26th with a cervical nerve impingement, but on the bright side he was cleared of any structural damage in his shoulder shortly thereafter.
  • The Astros appear to be even closer to getting a valuable asset back on the field, as Carlos Correa was spotted at Minute Maid Park today, with Christian Boutwell of MLB.com among those eye witnesses. Though he was inactive for today’s game, the former Rookie of the Year shortstop believes he could be back on the field as soon as tomorrow. Correa’s having a down season by his standards, hitting .268/.352/.480 with a slightly-bloated 24.4% strikeout rate.
  • The Yankees, for their part, already got a notable player back from the DL. J.A. Happ was activated today, filling the roster spot left vacant after they optioned Chance Adams to Triple-A last night. Happ’s been on the DL with hand, foot and mouth disease for the past week plus, but will return to the rotation and attempt to provide the value the Bombers envisioned when they traded Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney in order to obtain him. Happ’s posted a 4.05 ERA through 21 starts

Red Sox Move Drew Pomeranz To Bullpen

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Manager Alex Cora announced today that Drew Pomeranz is being shifted to the bullpen, as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe was among those to tweet.

The move hardly comes as a surprise by measure of Pomeranz’ merit. After all, the lefty has walked more batters than he’s struck out in three starts since returning from his second stint on the disabled list already this season. On the whole, the 29-year-old has averaged fewer than five innings in his 11 starts on the season while pitching to an eye-popping 6.31 ERA (5.96 FIP). He currently owns a 1-5 record, and although that’s not the greatest measure of a pitcher’s talent, he also allowed at least four earned runs in four of those five losses.

The move will make room for the return of Chris Sale to the rotation when he ultimately returns from the DL this weekend, leaving Rick Porcello, David Price, Brian Johnson and the recently-acquired Nate Eovaldi to round out Boston’s starting five. Though Pomeranz certainly won’t intimidate many hitters coming out of bullpen if he continues to pitch the way he has, it’s interesting to point out that he’ll become the lone left-handed reliever that Sox have on hand. Though his overall 2018 performance has been thoroughly disastrous, a quick look at his splits show that Pomeranz has actually done a reasonable job at getting out opposing left-handed hitters. They own just a 3.61 FIP against him in a limited sample.

Of course, there’s not much in the way of a silver lining for Pomeranz himself. The timing of his struggles couldn’t be worse, as the southpaw is slated to hit free agency at season’s end and previously figured to be one of the most sought-after targets in a thin 2018-2019 free agent starting pitcher class. After some early-career struggles that led to somewhat of a journeyman adventure, Pomeranz caught fire with the Athletics in 2014 and went on to hurl 499 1/3 innings through the end of the 2017 season. During that span, he managed to consistently out-pitch his peripherals and earned a 3.24 ERA mark that bested his FIP by more than half a run. He also struck out more than a batter per inning during that time.

For now, though, it seems as though Pomeranz is destined to pitch out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season. In order to restore his free agent stock, he’ll need to pitch well enough to earn a place in Boston’s playoff rotation, and he’ll face a difficult battle in that area considering how little time he has to make that case.

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