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Cardinals Sign Chance Sisco To Minor League Contract

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The Cardinals signed catcher Chance Sisco to a minor league deal last week, as initially noted on Sisco’s MLB.com profile page.  Sisco has already been on the field with Triple-A Memphis, which marked his first action in affiliated ball since he played with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in 2022.

Formerly a top-100 prospect during his days in the Orioles’ farm system, Sisco had a few flashes of that potential over four-plus MLB seasons in Baltimore from 2017-21, but he ended his O’s tenure with a .199/.319/.339 slash line over 598 plate appearances.  After the Mets claimed Sisco off the Orioles’ waiver wire in June 2021, the catcher appeared in five games with New York and he hasn’t since been back in the big leagues.

Following his 2022 season in the Twins’ farm system, Sisco played in the Mexican League in 2023, and has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.  He has a whopping .274/.416/.609 slash line over his 399 PA with the Ducks, and that production helped land a spot on the Memphis roster.

Sisco gives the Cardinals a bit of extra catching depth while Willson Contreras is on the 10-day injured list.  Contreras fractured his middle finger after being hit by a pitch on August 24, but the fracture wasn’t serious enough to require surgery, so he is tentatively slated to return around the middle of September.  Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages are handling catching duties in the interim, and Sisco brings a bit of added experience at the Triple-A level.

AL West Notes: Blanco, Scherzer, Soriano

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The Astros have been using a six-man rotation for the last couple of weeks, in order to both ease Justin Verlander’s return from the 15-day injured list and to help manage the innings of Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti.  With the team preparing to move back to the traditional five-man staff, GM Dana Brown said on his weekend radio show (hat tip to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) that Blanco will probably be the pitcher moved into relief work.  The right-hander had a 4.98 ERA in his last seven starts and 34 1/3 prior to today’s start, when he looked sharp in tossing five shutout innings in the Astros’ 7-2 win over the Royals.

Blanco’s unexpected emergence has been a revelation for a Houston team hit hard by rotation injuries earlier this season.  He threw a no-hitter against the Blue Jays in his very first start of 2024, setting the tone for a year that has seen him post a 3.03 ERA over 148 1/3 innings.  The concern is that Blanco has already topped his previous high of 125 1/3 innings across the majors and minors in 2023, and Houston naturally wants to keep him fresh for the playoffs.  The Astros’ rotation has been so dominant in recent weeks that they can afford to lose Blanco’s production, and there’s plenty of upside to using Blanco as a bullpen weapon down the stretch and into October.

More items from around the AL West….

  • It has been over a month since Max Scherzer last pitched, as he was dealing with right shoulder fatigue and then had a Double-A rehab start on August 23 canceled for unspecified reasons.  Scherzer discussed the situation with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters this weekend, saying he was hampered by a nerve problem in his triceps area, but it wasn’t actual nerve damage, as tests revealed.  A change to Scherzer’s throwing motion might’ve “solved this,” as “there was something mechanically going on with my elbow and elbow retraction that was making that radial nerve of my tricep get irritated,” Scherzer said.  “Yesterday, I got on the mound to do a full bullpen and no issue….Structurally, I’m fine.  Strength, I’m fine.  I don’t have an injury here.  This was just a nerve irritation.”  Scherzer is now hopeful that he’ll be able to properly resume his rehab program within the week, and he believes he’ll return to the Rangers rotation before the season is over.
  • Jose Soriano was placed on the 15-day injured list on August 17, but he won’t be activated when first eligible.  It isn’t yet clear if Soriano will return at all in 2024, as Angels GM Perry Minasian told the media (including MLB.com) that the team is considering shutting Soriano down.  The right-hander was sent to the IL due to arm fatigue, which isn’t unexpected given that Soriano has thrown a career-high 113 innings this season.  His previous high was 82 1/3 innings in the minors in 2019, before two separate Tommy John surgeries put Soriano on the shelf for almost three full years.  He made his big league debut as a reliever in 2023 and moved into the rotation this season, posting a very respectable 3.42 ERA across his 113 frames.  With some solid results already in the books, the Angels might opt to just let Soriano get a head start on his 2025 preparations rather than ramp him back up for another outing or two this season.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. To Undergo MRI On Left Calf

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The Diamondbacks’ 14-3 rout of the Dodgers today wasn’t an entirely smooth ride for Arizona, as left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. left the game after suffering some tightness in his left calf.  The injury occurred when Gurriel was trying to beat out a grounder in the bottom of the sixth, and he was replaced in left field when the seventh inning began.  Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro) that Gurriel is day-to-day for now and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

Gurriel is hitting .274/.316/.428 with 17 home runs over 522 plate appearances this season, while posting solid defensive metrics across the board as the Diamondbacks’ everyday left fielder.  The glovework is a bit less impressive than it was in 2023, but Gurriel’s 104 wRC+ is just a shade beneath his 105 wRC+ in 592 PA a year ago.  That successful first season in Arizona and his continued hitting in the playoffs inspired the D’Backs to re-sign Gurriel in free agency last winter, bringing him back on a three-year, $42MM deal that includes a club option for 2027.

While Gurriel has been prone to pretty extreme hot-and-cold stretches at the plate, his streakiness has evened out to a pretty stable career track record.  Over the last five 162-game Major League seasons, Gurriel has averaged no less than 1.6 fWAR and no more than 2.0 fWAR, though his 1.9 fWAR through 125 games this year could get a new highwater mark.

Of course, that’s assuming this calf problem doesn’t require a stint on the 10-day injured list.  Calf injuries can be tricky to manage and anything more than minor cafe issues can tend to linger, so there will be some measure of concern in the Diamondbacks’ camp until the MRI comes back clean.

Arizona can hardly afford to lose another regular during the playoff hunt.  Today’s victory put the Snakes five games back of the Dodgers in the NL West race, and just percentage points ahead of the Padres for the top NL wild card berth.  While the D’Backs have built a little breathing room in their pursuit of at least a wild card, the team has hung in even though Ketel Marte, Christian Walker, and Gabriel Moreno are all on the 10-day IL.

The good news on the injury front is that Walker is “real close” to a return, Lovullo told Piecoro and company today.  Walker could be back at some point during the Diamondbacks’ six-game road trip that begins Tuesday in San Francisco, as the first baseman has progressed to facing live pitching in workouts at the team’s Spring Training camp.  It doesn’t appear as though Walker will need a minor league rehab assignment, even though he has been sidelined for over a month due to a left oblique strain.

Moreno’s IL stint (due to a groin strain) is also nearing the one-month mark, as Moreno hasn’t played since August 5.  Lovullo said Moreno is hitting and has resumed catching drills.  Marte is also taking live at-bats but isn’t yet running out of the batters’ box, as he continues to recover from an ankle sprain that sent him to the IL on August 18.

Orioles Release Jean Segura, Outright Nick Vespi

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Amidst an already busy day of Orioles transactions, the O’s announced two more moves, as infielder Jean Segura has been released from his minor league contract and left-hander Nick Vespi was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.

Segura signed his minors deal in August, and hit only .137/.250/.196 over 60 plate appearances in 14 games with Norfolk.  This marked Segura’s first game action of any kind since his last game as a member of the Marlins on July 31, 2023.  The Marlins traded Segura to the Guardians the next day as part of the deadline deal that brought Josh Bell to the Miami, and since Segura was only included in the trade as salary offset, Cleveland immediately released the veteran infielder.

MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko (via X) notes that Segura asked to be released and the Orioles granted the request, which could be interpreted in a few ways.  It could be that Segura wanted to pursue other opportunities if Baltimore wasn’t going to add him to the MLB roster, or it might be a hint that Segura might be considering retirement.  Because Segura didn’t play any winter ball and there wasn’t any indication that he was seeking out another playing contract in the year since the Guardians released him, his deal with the O’s could be viewed as one final attempt at reviving his playing career.

The two-year, $17MM free agent contract Segura signed with the Marlins in the 2022-23 offseason expires at the end of this season, which could also provide something of a clean break for the official end of his playing career.  It remains to be seen if Segura is indeed thinking about calling it a career, but if so, his rough results with Miami in 2023 shouldn’t obscure an otherwise very solid 12-season run in the majors that included a pair of All-Star nods.

Baltimore designated Vespi for assignment last week, and he’ll now head to Triple-A after he cleared waivers and was removed from the Orioles’ 40-man roster.  This was the first time Vespi has been outrighted, and he doesn’t have enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Vespi will instead head to Norfolk, which is a familiar path for a pitcher who has often been shuttled back and forth between the majors and minors since he made his big league debut in 2022.  Vespi has looked pretty solid with a 3.88 ERA in his 53 1/3 career innings in the Show, but his lack of strikeout ability has made him somewhat of a back-of-the-bullpen arm in the Orioles’ eyes.  Vespi has already been promoted and optioned to Triple-A the maximum five times this season.

Braves Sign Tyler Matzek To Minor League Contract

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The Braves signed left-hander Tyler Matzek to a minor league contract on August 31, according to the veteran reliever’s MLB.com profile page.  Matzek was assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett today.  In signing prior to September 1, Matzek would be eligible for the Braves’ postseason roster.

Matzek is of course no stranger to playoff baseball in Atlanta, as he was a key member of the Braves’ bullpen during their World Series championship run in 2021.  He posted more solid numbers during the 2022 campaign but missed out on another playoff run due to a Tommy John surgery in October of that year.  After missing the entire 2023 season rehabbing from the surgery, Matzek returned to action this year, but had a 9.90 ERA over 10 Major League innings for the Braves.

A bout of elbow inflammation sent Matzek to the injured list in May, and he hasn’t since pitched in the big leagues.  Atlanta traded Matzek to the Giants as part of the Jorge Soler deal at the deadline, and Matzek pitched in five games with the Giants’ Triple-A squad before San Francisco released the southpaw earlier this week.

Matzek now returns to the Braves organization after just over a month away, and he’ll likely continue to work things out in Gwinnett to see if he can find his old form.  His brief time at Triple-A Sacramento didn’t bear much fruit, as Matzek had a 5.79 ERA over the small sample size of 4 2/3 innings pitched.  The Braves have a penchant for reuniting with former players and there’s no risk in adding Matzek to the Triple-A roster, plus Atlanta is already on the hook anyway for the remainder of his $1.9MM salary for the 2024 season.

Orioles Sign Adrian Houser To Minors Contract

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The Orioles announced yesterday that right-hander Adrian Houser was signed to a minor league contract.  Houser had been in the Cubs organization on a minors deal but he was released yesterday, paving the way for the righty to quickly latch on with a new team.

Because Houser joined the O’s before the September 1 cutoff date, he is eligible to be added to a playoff roster.  However, the veteran hasn’t done much this season that would seemingly merit postseason action, as Houser has a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings with the Mets as well as a subpar 10.4% walk rate and a 14.6% strikeout rate that is among the lowest in baseball.

While Houser pitched better after being moved out of New York’s rotation and into a long relief role, the Mets opted to release him at the end of July, and the Cubs didn’t feel compelled to call Houser up during his few weeks at Triple-A Iowa.  Houser was used as a starter again in Iowa and had a 3.86 ERA and 6.6% walk rate in 18 2/3 frames, but still with a 15.8K%.

Strikeouts have never been Houser’s game, as he has relied on grounders and soft contact to find success over his eight MLB seasons.  Batted-ball luck tended to weigh heavier on Houser’s bottom-line results given the nature of his approach on the mound, but he had overall decent results in seven seasons with the Brewers before he was traded to the Mets last December.

The Orioles have been hammered by rotation injuries all season, and their attempts to bolster the staff at the deadline went awry when Trevor Rogers struggled so much that he was optioned to Triple-A.  Zach Eflin was another pre-deadline pickup who was sidelined by injury, but returned from the IL today to give the O’s a rotation of Eflin, Corbin Burnes, Dean Kremer, Albert Suarez, and Cade Povich.

Houser adds some experienced rotation depth to that mix, and since Kremer left yesterday’s game with a forearm contusion, Houser might get a call to the majors sooner rather than later.  Baltimore might also look to use Houser in the bullpen, as a solid long man could bolster the pitching staff in another manner, and perhaps lead to something of a piggyback situation with Houser and another starter.

Houser is still owed around $840K of his $5.05MM salary for 2024.  The Orioles would be paying only the prorated portion of a MLB minimum salary if he joins their active roster, with the Mets covering the remainder of the owed salary.

Padres Sign Nick Ahmed To Minors Contract

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The Padres announced that shortstop Nick Ahmed has been signed to a minor league contract.  Ahmed chose free agency a little over a week ago, after the Dodgers designated him for assignment and he cleared waivers.

After spending his first 10 Major League seasons with the Diamondbacks, Ahmed has spent his 11th season as a member of three other NL West teams.  After the D’Backs released Ahmed last September, he caught on with the Giants on a minors contract, and played in 52 big league games before San Francisco designated Ahmed for assignment and released him in July.  Ahmed then signed a guaranteed contract with the Dodgers but was again DFA’ed a couple of weeks ago, and he chose free agency rather than an outright assignment to Triple-A.

The 34-year-old now stays in California and joins a Padres team that is missing its starting shortstop.  Ha-Seong Kim has been on the injured list since August 19 due to shoulder inflammation, and manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com and other reporters that Kim hasn’t yet been cleared to throw across the diamond.  Kim has been working out and taking part in other baseball activities at the Padres’ Spring Training complex, so he is at least making some progress even if the throws remain a question mark.

Mason McCoy and Tyler Wade have been handling the shortstop duties while Kim has been sidelined, and signing Ahmed gives the Padres more depth at the position.  Ahmed has never been a plus hitter and his offense has particularly cratered over the last two seasons, including his .232/.271/.300 slash line over 221 plate appearances this season.  But, the two-time Gold Glove winner is still a strong defender, and San Diego could at least aim to shore up the infield defense while Kim is still on the mend.

The timing of Ahmed’s signing is noteworthy, as his MLB.com profile page reveals that he inked his deal on August 31 instead of today.  This means that Ahmed is eligible to be part of a postseason roster should San Diego reach the playoffs.

Royals Claim Tommy Pham, Robbie Grossman

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The Royals are bolstering their outfield with a pair of veterans, as K.C. has claimed both Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman off waivers.  The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported (X link) that Pham was claimed off the Cardinals’ waiver wire after St. Louis designated him for assignment yesterday, and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers (via X) reported that the Royals also claimed Grossman away from the Rangers.  Texas placed Grossman on outright waivers on Thursday.

Because these additions were made before September 1, Pham and Grossman would be eligible for the Royals’ postseason roster if K.C. makes it into the playoff bracket.  Coming off a dismal 106-loss season in 2023, the Royals have already far surpassed last year’s win total by posting a 75-61 record — Kansas City is in possession of the second AL wild card berth, and sit 2.5 games behind the Guardians for first place in the AL Central.

Despite this success, the outfield has been a clear weak link for K.C. for much of the season, and the ranks got even further thinned when Hunter Renfroe was placed on the injured list last week.  Beyond losing Renfroe, the Royals’ lineup took another big hit when Vinnie Pasquantino suffered a broken thumb Thursday and will likely miss the rest of the regular season.

The Royals were one of several teams who had interest in Pham prior to the trade deadline, when Pham was a very obvious trade candidate as a veteran rental on a rebuilding White Sox team.  The Cardinals ended up with Pham and Erick Fedde as part of a three-team trade involving the Dodgers and White Sox at the deadline, as St. Louis was hoping that Pham and right-hander Erick Fedde could boost both the lineup and rotation heading into the playoff stretch.

Unfortunately for Cards Nation, no surge materialized, as the Cardinals have an 11-16 record in August.  Pham himself didn’t provide much help, hitting .206/.286/.368 over 77 plate appearances during his brief stint in a St. Louis uniform.

Since Pham both wanted more playing time and wanted to join a contender, he discussed the possibility of a release with the Cardinals, and that wish has now been fully granted with the move across Missouri to the Royals.  From the Cardinals’ perspective, parting ways with Pham both created more outfield playing time for Jordan Walker, and saved a bit of payroll.  Pham has roughly $480K remaining on his original $3MM salary for the 2024 season, and Kansas City will now foot the rest of that bill.

The switch-hitting Grossman also began his season as a member of the White Sox, but was traded in May back to the Rangers, as Texas was thin on right-handed hitting.  Grossman was a known quantity in Arlington after being a regular for the 2023 World Series team, and he posted similar numbers in his second go-around as a Ranger, batting .238/.336/.362 over 122 PA for Texas this season.

The Rangers’ defense of their title has fallen far short of expectations, and thus the team put both Grossman and fellow outfielder Travis Jankowski on outright waivers to see if another team would clear a few dollars off the Rangers’ books.  Grossman has about $240K remaining of his $1.5MM base salary, so it makes for another inexpensive add for the Royals.

Grossman has continued to mash left-handed pitching and Pham has continued to post solid numbers against southpaws as well, giving Kansas City two new options to work within the lineup.  Either player could slot into Renfroe’s role as a regular right fielder who cedes some at-bats against righties to Adam Frazier, or either Pham or Grossman could spell MJ Melendez (another left-handed bat) in left field.  With the DH spot also up for grabs, it isn’t hard to imagine Pham or Grossman moving into more or less everyday roles, at least until Renfroe is able to return.

The Royals will be the ninth team Pham has suited up with at the MLB level over the course of his 11 big league seasons, while Grossman is joining his eighth team in a 12-year career in the Show.  The duo bring plenty of experience to a young Royals team, and we just need to look back to 2023 to see how Grossman and Pham (after he joined the Diamondbacks) can help out a playoff contender.

With a playoff berth hanging in the balance, general manager J.J. Picollo has now moved aggressively to try and address his team’s lineup needs before the September 1 cutoff date.  Depending on what happens in the pennant race, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Royals make other additions to try and just get into October, even if any newcomers after September 1 wouldn’t be part of any playoff rosters.

Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List Due To Bone Spur In Toe

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5:37pm: Kershaw is headed to the injured list due to the issue, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). Right-hander Ben Casparius has been recalled from the minors to take Kershaw’s roster spot, and Plunkett adds that left-hander Justin Wrobleski is set to be called up when rosters expand tomorrow to start tomorrow’s game. That could leave Wrobleski in position to take over Kershaw’s spot in the rotation relatively seamlessly.

7:55am: Clayton Kershaw threw just 27 pitches in Friday’s start before soreness in his left big toe forced the longtime Dodgers starter out of the game.  Kershaw was charged with three earned runs over one inning of work plus one batter faced in the second frame, as the left-hander left the mound after allowing a home run to Corbin Carroll.

Speaking with reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) after the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained that Kershaw’s toe discomfort was caused by a bone spur that has been lingering for multiple seasons.  “Some starts it feels fine and it’s not impeding. Today certainly it was,” Roberts said.

Given the longstanding nature of the injury, it isn’t necessarily clear whether or not Kershaw will need to be placed on the 15-day injured list.  Kershaw and Roberts both stated that some testing and evaluation will need to happen before a decision is made, and the Dodgers have some extra time to monitor the situation since Kershaw wasn’t scheduled to pitch until next Friday.  L.A. is expected to call up Justin Wrobleski for a spot start on Sunday, and the team has an off-day on Thursday, giving Kershaw more opportunity to rest.

That said, it obviously wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers opted to put Kershaw on the IL even as a precautionary measure.  Kershaw’s lengthy injury history is well-documented, and he didn’t make his 2024 debut until July 25 due to a lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery last November.  The southpaw has posted a 4.50 ERA and only an 18% strikeout rate over 30 innings, and while it isn’t a big sample size, Kershaw’s fastball velocity has dropped to 89.9 mph.

Losing Kershaw to the IL would represent yet another blow to the injury-ravaged Los Angeles rotation.  The Dodgers have still posted an 81-54 record despite having to account for multiple injured arms for the entirety of the season.  Roberts said the team is very likely to make some roster moves today to add fresh arms to a bullpen that had to cover eight innings on Friday, and some extra breathing space will come Sunday when teams expand their rosters from 26 to 28 players.

Adding just relief depth, however, might not provide much help to an L.A. team that still has plenty of questions about its starting staff as the postseason approaches.  Considering the Dodgers’ five-game lead in the NL West, it would take quite a collapse for the club to actually miss the playoffs, yet it certainly seems possible that Los Angeles could have another strong regular season undone by a lack of healthy arms in October.  In terms of reinforcements, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has started a Triple-A rehab assignment and could be back within a couple of weeks, though it isn’t yet clear when Tyler Glasnow could return from a bout of right elbow tendinitis.

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