Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Angels Re-Sign Adam Cimber To Minor League Deal

By Mark Polishuk | August 4, 2024 at 10:31pm CDT

Less than two weeks after the Angels released Adam Cimber, the two sides have reunited on a minor league contract, according to the righty’s MLB.com profile page. Los Angeles signed Cimber to a one-year, $1.65MM free agent deal last winter, but was designated for assignment and then released in July while he was still on the 15-day injured list recovering from right shoulder inflammation.

It seems as though there might’ve been a handshake agreement on that initial DFA and release, as it freed up a 40-man roster spot for the Angels and came at no financial cost to Cimber since the team was still on the hook for the remainder of his 2024 salary. Cimber has enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, so after some time to explore his options on the open market, he has now circled back to Anaheim. On this new minor league deal, Cimber could continue to rehab or just return right to game action at Triple-A Salt Lake in something of an unofficial minor league rehab assignment.

Shoulder injuries have both limited Cimber’s participation in the last two MLB seasons, and impacted his performance to the tune of a 7.20 ERA over 45 innings in 50 appearances since Opening Day 2023. Cimber’s 149 appearances led all big league pitchers over the 2021-22 seasons, so it could be that this heavy workload finally caught up to the veteran right-hander. The Blue Jays non-tendered Cimber last offseason and the Angels inked him to that $1.65MM deal that has yet to yield many dividends.

These two rough seasons have come on the heels of five solid years of performance in 2018-22, as Cimber had a 3.20 ERA in 278 2/3 innings with San Diego, Cleveland, Miami, and Toronto. If he can get healthy, return to the majors, and get back to anything like his old form, Cimber might have an outside shot at another low-cost guaranteed big league deal this winter.

California Notes: Ramos, Detmers, Edwards

By Mark Polishuk | August 4, 2024 at 9:51pm CDT

Heliot Ramos has been battling a right thumb injury for the last week, telling reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle) that the discomfort has factored into his lack of production over the Giants’ last few days. The thumb issue forced him to make an early exit from the Giants’ 6-4 loss to the Reds on Saturday and Ramos also didn’t play in today’s game. The outfielder is day to day for now, though since the Giants’ next off-day isn’t until August 16, the club might be forced into a 10-day injured list placement for Ramos if the swelling doesn’t come down.

A longtime staple of top-100 prospect lists, Ramos didn’t show much in limited MLB action in 2022-23, but he has fully broken out after San Francisco called him back up to the Show in early May. Ramos is hitting .285/.344/.491 with 15 home runs in 320 plate appearances, and this production earned him a spot on the NL All-Star roster. Ramos’ emergence has helped keep the Giants in the playoff race, so missing him for any amount of time (IL placement or not) is a blow to the lineup.

More from three of the Golden State’s teams…

Reid Detmers posted a 6.19 ERA over his first nine Triple-A outings since he was optioned to the majors at the start of June, and the tough stretch continued when he allowed six runs in 3 2/3 IP in a start today with Triple-A Salt Lake. Prior to today’s game, Angels pitching coach Barry Enright told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he felt Detmers’ slider and his mentality on the mound had been showing improvement, but it isn’t yet known if Detmers’ latest result might lead to at least one more tune-up outing rather than a promotion back to the majors. Detmers also had a 6.14 ERA in 63 big league innings this season, after solid results in 2022-23 had seemingly established him as a key piece of the Angels’ rotation. As Fletcher notes, if the Angels didn’t call Detmers back up until August 20, the team would lock in an extra year of control over Detmers. The southpaw therefore wouldn’t have enough MLB service time to qualify for free agency until after the 2028 season. While this is certainly a factor in whatever decision Los Angeles makes about Detmers’ development, it can be argued that the Angels have justifiable reason to keep Detmers in the minors, given his struggles.
The Padres signed Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league contract last month, and Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the veteran reliever is taking a new step in his career by working as a starting pitcher. The right-hander has a 4.91 ERA over 22 innings and six starts, throwing at least four innings and 80 pitches in each of his last three games. Edwards began his minor league career as a starter, but he started just one minor league game from 2015-23, and never started any of his 295 career games or rarely even went beyond a single inning of work. As he approaches his 33rd birthday in September, Edwards’ ability to now work as a starter (or at least as a bulk pitcher or long reliever) could add a new wrinkle to his career, and provide the Padres with some unexpected rotation depth.

Rockies Sign Chasen Shreve To Minors Contract

By Mark Polishuk | August 4, 2024 at 8:31pm CDT

The Rockies have signed Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract, as per the left-hander’s MLB.com profile page. Shreve was released from his previous minors deal with the Yankees just last Thursday, and he has now quickly landed with the ninth different big league organization of his 15-year pro career.

Shreve has seen action with seven of those teams at the Major League level, with 174 2/3 of his 356 career big league innings coming in two earlier stints with the Yankees. Minors deals with the Rangers and Yankees in 2024 didn’t lead to any time in the majors for the 34-year-old, so Shreve will look to crack the Rockies’ roster and officially appear in a game to lock in what would be an 11th MLB campaign.

For such a journeyman’s resume, Shreve has some solid results in the form of a career 3.97 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate. His most recent two seasons have been quite shaky, however, as Shreve had a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 frames with the Mets in 2022 and then a 4.63 ERA in 44 2/3 combined innings with the Tigers and Reds last year. A combined 3.64 SIERA over the 2022-23 seasons perhaps paints a better view of Shreve’s performance, as an uncharacteristically high homer rate in 2022 particularly hurt his numbers.

Shreve has looked sharp in his time at Triple-A this year, posting a 1.89 ERA in 33 1/3 total innings for the Rangers’ and Yankees’ top affiliates. His ability to pitch that well in the Pacific Coast League (with Triple-A Sugar Land) provides some hope that he can keep it up in another hitter-friendly environment in Albuquerque. It might not be long before Shreve is back in the majors, as the Rockies’ woeful bullpen needs all the help it can get, and the club doesn’t have a single left-hander in its relief corps.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Mark Polishuk | August 4, 2024 at 7:10pm CDT

Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat

AL West Notes: Carter, Rendon, Wilson, Astros

By Mark Polishuk | August 4, 2024 at 4:24pm CDT

Rangers GM Chris Young stated earlier this week that Evan Carter’s recurring back problems would likely end his 2024 season, and Carter confirmed as much when speaking with Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and other reporters today. Carter said he doesn’t think surgery will be required to address the lumbar strain in his back, and he should have a normal offseason and a regular path to the start of Spring Training once he begins swinging in 9-10 weeks.

Carter’s official rookie season will now end with 45 games played, and a .188/.272/.361 slash line over 162 plate appearances. It was a tough follow-up to Carter’s incredible run in 2023 after his late-season MLB debut, but hopefully a full offseason of rest and recovery can help him move past the back problems that ruined his year.

Astros Outright Rafael Montero To Triple-A

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 1:50pm CDT

The Astros announced that Rafael Montero has been outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land after clearing waivers. Montero was designated for assignment earlier this week, and since Montero had more than enough MLB service time to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency, today’s move indicates that the veteran righty voluntarily accepted the move down to the minor leagues.

Montero’s decision is akin to Jose Abreu also agreeing to be optioned to the minors earlier this season, though that transaction was just a straight demotion and not a DFA. Unfortunately for the Astros, there is further similarity in that both Abreu and Montero are well-paid veterans who have struggled badly since Opening Day 2023, leaving the Astros with a big chunk of essentially dead money on their payroll.

Initially coming to Houston in a trade with the Mariners in July 2021, Montero emerged as a force out of the Astros bullpen in 2022. Montero posted a 2.37 ERA in 68 1/3 innings for the World Series champions, serving as an ace setup man for closer Ryan Pressly and picking up some saves himself when Pressly was on the injured list. This big performance came in a contract year for Montero, and it paid off in the form of a three-year, $34.5MM free agent deal to return to the Astros.

Things have gone south for Montero since that deal was signed, as the right-hander has a 4.94 ERA over 105 2/3 since the start of the 2023 campaign. Opposing batters have been making a ton more hard contact against Montero’s offerings, and his strikeout rate has also plummeted even from 2023 to 2024. Montero’s 26.5K% in 2023 was still quite respectable, but his 14K% this year ranks only in the third percentile of all pitchers.

With Montero showing little sign of improvement, the Astros made the decision to finally designate him, and surely no club was going to make a waiver claim and therefore inherit the rest of the struggling reliever’s contract. Montero’s service time would’ve allowed him to retain all of that salary even if he had chosen to become a free agent, but he’ll instead head to Triple-A to see if he can get himself back on track. Since Montero is off the 40-man roster and is getting paid anyway, there’s no downside for the Astros or for the pitcher in taking this sojourn in the minors, as all parties will benefit if Montero can regain some form and re-emerge as a viable option in Houston’s pen. If things don’t turn around for Montero in Sugar Land, the Astros could just release him, as they ultimately did with Abreu.

Marlins Claim Derek Hill

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 1:38pm CDT

The Marlins announced that they have claimed outfielder Derek Hill off waivers from the Giants. Hill was just designated for assignment yesterday, so he’ll quickly turn around and join his third different organization within the last two weeks.

The Giants themselves just claimed Hill on a waiver claim on July 23, after the Rangers put the outfielder on DFA waivers. Hill’s brief stint in San Francisco included 13 plate appearances over five games, and for the 2024 season as a whole, Hill has hit .255/.293/.455 with three home runs in 58 plate appearances with the Rangers and Giants. His time in Texas was technically two separate stints, as after he elected free agency after being outrighted off the Rangers’ roster earlier this season, he rejoined the team on another minor league contract.

Hill is out of minor league options, and thus the Marlins would also have to designate him for assignment if the Fish ever want to move Hill off the active roster and try to move him to the minors. This is certainly a possibility given the ever-churning Miami roster, but since the Marlins have plenty of holes to fill in the wake of their trade deadline selloff, Hill might have some opportunity to stick around in a depth role.

Hill has appeared in each of the last five Major League seasons, with a .233/.281/.337 slash line over 362 career PA in the Show. His plus speed and ability to handle all three outfield positions has translated to all levels, and Hill has much more impressive hitting numbers against Triple-A pitching.

Orioles Outright Matt Krook

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 1:22pm CDT

The Orioles announced yesterday that left-hander Matt Krook was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk after clearing waivers. Baltimore designated Krook for assignment earlier this week to open up some 40-man roster space in the wake of the team’s slate of trade deadline moves.

Acquired from the Yankees in a cash trade last February, Krook’s time in Baltimore has included a single Major League appearance — one inning pitched in the Orioles’ 11-2 loss to the Rangers on June 30, as Krook was charged with two earned runs in his lone frame of work. The southpaw has otherwise spent the season in Norfolk, posting a 4.11 ERA and a very solid 27% strikeout rate over 35 relief innings, but a big 16.4% walk rate has undermined Krook’s results.

Control problems have long plagued Krook, as he has a 14.6% walk rate in his 569 2/3 career minor league innings. Despite all the free passes, Krook’s ERA in the minors is still a respectable 4.03, since he misses a lot of bats and does an outstanding job of avoiding home runs and keeping the ball on the ground.

The move to full-time relief pitching in New York’s farm system last season only improved Krook’s overall numbers apart from continued issues with walks. Krook’s time with the Yankees did pay off in the form of his big league debut last season, though he was tagged for a 24.75 ERA in four innings over four appearances.

This was the first time Krook has been outrighted off a 40-man roster, and he is obviously far short of five seasons of MLB service time. As a result, Krook had to accept the outright assignment and couldn’t opt for free agency. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if another team had been interested enough for a waiver claim, but for now Krook will remain as a depth option for the Orioles at Triple-A.

NL West Notes: Snell, Musgrove, Muncy, Blackmon

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 12:13pm CDT

Blake Snell made some more baseball history last night when the two-time Cy Young Award winner threw a no-hitter against the Reds. The 18th no-hit game in the history of the New York/San Francisco Giants franchise, Snell’s gem saw him rack up 11 strikeouts against three walks on 114 pitches. It was also the first time Snell had ever thrown eight full innings in any of his 202 career starts, let alone a complete game.

The no-no continues what has now become one of the better pitching stretches of all time. Snell has an 0.55 ERA over his last five starts (33 IP), in what has been an incredible turn-around after an injury-plagued first half of the season. Signing with the Giants only in the midpoint of March, the lack of a proper Spring Training resulted in Snell posting a 9.51 ERA in his first 23 2/3 innings and six starts, as well a pair of trips to the injured list. It was after his latest return from the IL that Snell began his amazing five-start run, capped off with his legendary game yesterday in Cincinnati. While the Giants received plenty of trade interest in Snell prior to last Tuesday’s deadline, keeping an in-form ace will go a long way towards helping San Francisco’s chances at the playoffs.

Astros Pitching Notes: Garcia, Verlander, Murfee

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 10:45am CDT

This weekend was supposed to mark the start of Luis Garcia’s next minor league rehab assignment, but Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle) that Garcia is “feeling a little bit sore.” While Espada was quick to say that Garcia wasn’t being shut down, the team was going to take it easy with the righty-hander after he felt what Espada described as “some soreness in his elbow” following a game of catch on Thursday.

Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2023, and his first attempt at a rehab assignment lasted two outings — an inning with the Astros’ rookie ball team in late June, and then 1 1/3 innings for Double-A Corpus Christi in early July. He was then held back from any more game action due to some physical discomfort and trouble bouncing back between pitching appearances. The Astros were slowly ramping him back up, and after Garcia’s live batting practice session last Tuesday seemed to go without a hitch, plans were made for another rehab assignment.

Instead, some questions now have to be asked about when exactly Garcia will be able to properly get back onto the mound in the wake of this latest setback. Though Garcia will require a pretty lengthy rehab stint when he is able to pitch, the Astros have said Garcia could potentially return as a reliever. This would require less build-up than rehabbing to work as a starting pitcher, so Garcia could make it back a bit quicker and pitch out of Houston’s bullpen later in the season or into a potential postseason run. Garcia would therefore be able to contribute to the 2024 team in some fashion, yet with still a decent length of time remaining in the regular season, the Astros will certainly first see if Garcia can indeed get healthy and ready enough to return to his customary starting role.

Garcia established himself as a solid member of the starting five when he posted a 3.60 ERA over 312 2/3 innings in 2021-22, helping the Astros to two AL pennants in those years and the World Series title in 2022. Given the usual timeframe for Tommy John rehab, his projected return in the second half of this season gained extra import considering how the Astros have been ravaged by pitching injuries.

Justin Verlander has twice been sidelined — first with some shoulder inflammation that delayed his season debut until April 19, and then a bout of neck stiffness that has kept him off the mound since June 9. The good news is that Verlander is inching towards a return, as Espada said the star righty will face live batters during a batting practice session on Sunday. Verlander is tentatively then planned to begin a rehab assignment, with Espada specifying that Verlander will need multiple starts to build up his arm to return to starting duty.

Penn Murfee is another pitcher getting ready to face live batters, as the reliever will be throwing a live BP session at the Astros’ Spring Training complex this weekend. Murfee told Kawahara and company that the plan is for him to begin his own rehab assignment after throwing three live BP sessions.

Debuting in the majors in 2022, Murfee made a quick impression by posting a 2.99 ERA in 69 1/3 relief innings for the Mariners. He followed up that great rookie year with a 1.29 ERA in his first 14 innings of the 2023 campaign before undergoing a UCL-related surgery in June 2023, and Seattle then opted to place him on waivers at the start of the offseason. This led to Murfee going to the Mets and then the Braves on a pair of waiver claims, a new contract with the Braves after Atlanta non-tendered him, and then another waiver claim to the Astros in late March. If Murfee’s rehab goes smoothly and he is able to recapture his old form, he presents Houston with an intriguing bullpen addition for the final stretch.

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