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Padres Claim Gary Sanchez Off Waivers From Mets
The Padres have acquired catcher Gary Sanchez, according to reporter Miriam Luz (Twitter link). Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune adds that Sanchez was picked up on a waiver claim, after the backstop was designated for assignment by the Mets last week.
Today’s waiver claim continues a whirlwind of movement for Sanchez, who went through the entire offseason without landing a free agent deal but will now be joining his third different organization in less than two months. Sanchez inked a minor league contract with the Giants just after Opening Day, but then exercised his opt-out clause in early May when San Francisco didn’t add him to its active roster. Sanchez quickly landed with the Mets on another minors deal that ended up locking in a prorated $1.5MM guarantee for the catcher when the Amazins selected him to their 26-man roster just before his next opt-out date on May 19.
However, Sanchez’s time in Queens was brief, as he appeared in only three games before the Mets DFA’ed him. As per the waiver claim, San Diego is now responsible for the roughly $1.1MM owed to Sanchez in remaining salary, and it was a price the Padres felt was worthwhile given the team’s catching woes.
Heading into today’s action, the Padres ranked 26th of 30 teams in catcher bWAR, as San Diego’s backstop had combined for a sub-replacement level -0.2 total. Austin Nola suffered a fractured nose late in Spring Training, which may have contributed to his dismal .131/.252/.182 slash line over 118 plate appearances this season. Luis Campusano only made 22 trips to the plate before hitting the injured list with a thumb injury that required surgery, so he won’t be a factor until around the middle of July. Rookie Brett Sullivan hasn’t hit much in his first 21 MLB games.
The Padres inked Kevin Plawecki to a minor league deal nine days ago, and now they’ve further bolstered their catching depth with Sanchez. Considering how little the Padres have gotten from the catcher position, it can be argued that Sanchez almost has to be some level of upgrade, as even the subpar .205/.282/.377 slash line he posted over 471 PA with the Twins in 2022 would be a step up for San Diego. It would seem like Sanchez will get at least six weeks to show the Padres what he can do, as the team might again re-evaluate its catching position when Campusano gets back, and San Diego also figures to check out more catching options prior to the trade deadline.
Once perhaps baseball’s best-hitting catcher in his prime years with the Yankees, Sanchez has hit only .195/.287/.392 in 1096 PA since the start of the 2020 season, translating to an 89 wRC+. His oft-criticized defensive issues (not to mention the hitting dropoff) led to an increasing lack of playing time with the Yankees, and ultimately led to New York moving him to the Twins as part of their five-player blockbuster trade in March 2022. While Sanchez’s glovework seemed to improve a bit in Minnesota, the Twins still let him walk in free agency, and the uncertainty surrounding Sanchez led to his long winter in free agency. The Brewers and Angels were two of the teams linked to his market before the Giants finally made the signing.
White Sox Place Jimmy Lambert On 15-Day Injured List
White Sox GM Rick Hahn told reporters (including The Athletic’s James Fegan) that right-hander Jimmy Lambert has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right ankle inflammation. Lambert’s IL placement is retroactive to May 28, and it opens a roster space for Liam Hendriks, who is making his return from the 15-day IL today.
The injury adds to what has already been a tough year for Lambert, who has a 5.91 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. Lambert’s 23.8% strikeout rate is slightly above the league average, but he has been allowing a lot of hard contact and heavy damage — his 15.9% barrel rate is among the lowest in baseball, and Lambert has given up six homers over his 21 1/3 frames. A 12.9% walk rate also hasn’t helped Lambert’s cause.
Now in his fourth MLB season, Lambert seemed to be turning a corner after the White Sox made him a full-time reliever in 2022, as he delivered a 3.26 ERA over 47 innings. While walks were still an issue for Lambert last season, he did a much better job of keeping the ball in the park, with only four homers allowed.
Lambert is one of several White Sox relievers who have struggled this year, as only the woeful A’s have a higher bullpen ERA than the 5.17 number posted by Chicago’s relief corps. Beyond the obvious emotional impact of Hendriks’ return, the three-time All-Star should provide some instant help to the bullpen. For more on Hendriks’ cancer diagnosis and recovery over the last five months, ESPN’s Jeff Passan detailed Hendriks’ story in a feature piece earlier today.
Rays Release Chris Muller
The Rays announced that right-hander Chris Muller has been placed on release waivers. Muller was designated for assignment yesterday, and appears to have quickly cleared the DFA waiver process.
Tampa Bay added Muller to its 40-man roster on May 12 when the 27-year-old received his first call-up to the big leagues, though he didn’t officially appear in a game before he was optioned back to Triple-A a few days later. Now, the Rays have moved on completely from a player they initially selected as a 17th-round pick in the 2017 draft. Muller has spent his whole pro career in the Rays’ farm system, apart from a brief stint in independent ball during the canceled 2020 minor league season.
Working as a reliever in all but two of his 133 career games in the minors, Muller has consistently produced a lot of strikeouts (29.8% career K%) but also a lot of free passes (12.25% walk rate) in 180 1/3 career innings. His control problems have worsened as he has risen up the minor league ladder, contributing to his 4.92 ERA over 78 2/3 career frames at Triple-A. Muller has pitched only at Triple-A Durham over the last two seasons, and his most recent outing saw him surrender four runs over two innings on May 19 against the Nashville Sounds.
Rays Place Pete Fairbanks On 15-Day Injured List
The Rays placed right-hander Pete Fairbanks on the 15-day injured list prior to today’s game, with a retroactive placement date of May 28. Fairbanks is dealing with left hip inflammation, which prevented his planned outing in yesterday’s game with the Dodgers. Trevor Kelley was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, as while Kelley was only just optioned to Durham yesterday, he is able to make a quick return to the majors due to the injury situation.
Fairbanks was warming up in the bullpen yesterday when “his hip locked up,” as manager Kevin Cash described the situation to reporters. Speaking to the media again today, Cash said Fairbanks will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the problem.
Injuries have unfortunately been pretty common for Fairbanks throughout his pro career, two Tommy John surgeries before he even made his MLB debut in 2019. He was limited to 71 appearances in 2021-22 due to shoulder problems and a lat strain, with the injuries cumulatively keeping on the IL for roughly five months. Fairbanks also missed two weeks earlier this month due to a minor forearm strain, and his ongoing battle with Raynaud’s disease has sometimes caused him to miss a few games here and there due to numbness or a cold feeling in his fingers.
Despite this checkered health history, Tampa Bay still felt comfortable enough to sign Fairbanks to a three-year, $12MM contract extension this past winter because the righty has often looked like a frontline relief arm when healthy. Over 105 innings since the start of the 2020 season, Fairbanks has a 2.57 ERA, 32.4% strikeout rate, and 9.7% walk rate, as well as increasingly good soft-contact numbers. A hard thrower who averaged 99mph on his fastball last season, Fairbanks’ velo was down a bit to 97.8mph this season, though his forearm problem might have had something to do with that minor drop.
Losing Fairbanks for at least 15 days won’t help a Tampa bullpen that has been pretty ordinary this season, despite the Rays’ overall success. Injuries have somewhat thinned the Rays’ seemingly inexhaustible pitching depth at the Major and minor league levels, so Tampa Bay might be on the lookout for relief pitching heading into the trade deadline.
White Sox To Activate Liam Hendriks From Injured List
Liam Hendriks is officially returning to the majors, as the White Sox announced (via a welcome-back video on their team Twitter feed) that the closer will be activated from the 15-day injured list on Monday prior to their game with the Angels. Hendriks revealed in January that he was starting treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but after finishing that treatment in early April, he thankfully announced a cancer-free diagnosis just over a month ago.
Hendriks threw six Triple-A rehab outings earlier this month, and has also been throwing bullpens and live BP sessions to continue building up his arm strength. Reports surfaced yesterday that Hendriks seemed to be nearing his return date, and the decision was made that the closer was ready to again face Major League hitters.
It’s great news all around that Hendriks has been able to emerge from his health scare, and now looks to get back onto the mound for what will be his 13th MLB campaign. It remains to be seen if Hendriks will be eased into action or whether or not he’ll be immediately able to pitch at his usual elite level, but even off the field, his return is an enormous lift to the White Sox clubhouse, as Hendriks is a beloved figure both with teammates and with his peers throughout baseball. Sticking just to on-field matters, it will naturally help Chicago’s struggling bullpen to regain a top closer.
Hendriks has three All-Star appearances and two top-nine AL Cy Young finishes in the last four seasons, racking up 114 saves for the A’s and White Sox in that time. 2023 is technically the final guaranteed year of Hendriks’ three-year, $54MM free agent deal with the Sox, but the White Sox have a $15MM club option and a $15MM buyout on his services for the 2024 season, so it would appear as though Hendriks will be retained for another year.
A trade could change matters, but while the White Sox fell to 22-33 after today’s loss to the Tigers, the club has somewhat stabilized things after their dreadful 7-20 April record. No one player can turn things around for a team, but getting Hendriks back should help the Sox try to get back into contention in the weak AL Central.
Quick Hits: Astros, Santana, Pagan, Muncy, Miller
The Astros don’t have an off-day until June 12, so the team had been considering moving to a six-man rotation to help keep their starters fresh during this busy stretch of the schedule. However, manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including the Houston Chronicle’s Danielle Lerner) that the team might be forced to stick with a five-man alignment just due to a lack of available starting depth, since prospect Forrest Whitley has been placed on the Triple-A injured list due to a right lat strain. Whitley was the team’s top option for a spot start or two, and now Ronel Blanco might be the next candidate if Houston does indeed opt for a sixth starter.
Jose Urquidy and Lance McCullers Jr. aren’t expected back until around the All-Star break, while Luis Garcia’s season has already been ended by Tommy John surgery. The injury situation has left the Astros short on starting pitching, and Whitley’s lat strain has again delayed his MLB debut. Once one of the sport’s top prospects, Whitley’s minor league career has been interrupted by a 50-game PED suspension in 2018, and by a Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2021 season.
More on other injury situations that arose from today’s games…
- Carlos Santana left during the sixth inning of the Pirates’ 6-3 loss to the Mariners today due to what the Bucs described as lumbar spine muscular tightness. It would certainly seem like Santana will miss a couple of games to recovery, and a trip to the injured list is possible if his back problem doesn’t subside. Connor Joe is the likeliest candidate for first base duty in Santana’s absence, but Pittsburgh might now be facing a depth problem at first base since Ji-Man Choi isn’t eligible to return from the 60-day IL until at least mid-July.
- Twins reliever Emilio Pagan faced only one batter in today’s 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays before departing due to a left hip flexor strain. Both Pagan and manager Rocco Baldelli expressed hope that an IL stint wasn’t necessary, with Pagan telling the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda and other reporters that “hopefully we caught it early enough, that I’m good to go in a day or two. I think I’ll be ready to go tomorrow if need be.”
- Max Muncy left today’s game with a cramp in his left hamstring, and the Dodgers infielder told MLB.com and other media that he has been dealing with cramps throughout the weekend. Muncy will undergo an MRI to further examine the issue, but for now, he is day to day. Between a scorching-hot April and then a big slump for much of May, Muncy is still hitting .208/.340/.530 over 203 plate appearances this season, and he belted his 17th home run before his early exit today.
- X-rays were negative on Owen Miller’s right forearm, after the Brewers infielder was removed as a precautionary measure after being hit by a pitch in today’s game. Manager Craig Counsell told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters that Miller is day to day, and could be back for the team’s next game on Tuesday (Monday is an off-day for the Brew Crew). Miller’s hot bat has earned him more playing time, and after collecting two more hits today, Miller is slashing .330/.371/.513 over 124 PA.
AL East Notes: Fairbanks, Rizzo, Blue Jays
In the words of Rays manager Kevin Cash, Pete Fairbanks’ “hip locked up” while the reliever was getting ready to enter today’s game with the Dodgers. Instead, Fairbanks halted his warm-up and went to the dugout once the inning was over. Cash told Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that according to the team trainer, Fairbanks’ “muscles look to be okay, but we saw him walk very gingerly from the bullpen and he was in some pain.” More will be known after Fairbanks undergoes further examination.
Fairbanks already spent 15 days on the injured list due to forearm inflammation earlier this season, and missed a couple of other games due to his symptoms of Raynaud’s disease, which manifests in the form of finger numbness. Injuries have been a frequent setback for Fairbanks during his pro career, but he has been a very effective reliever when healthy, as indicated by his 2.84 ERA over 117 1/3 innings since joining the Rays during the 2019 season. Tampa is 13 games into a stretch of 16 games in 16 games, and while Cash is hopeful that his bullpen can hold up until Thursday’s off-day, the club doesn’t have much room to maneuver if Fairbanks has to miss even a couple of days to recover.
More from around the AL East…
- Anthony Rizzo left today’s game for what the Yankees deemed as “precautionary reasons” due to a neck injury. During an unsuccessful attempt by Fernando Tatis Jr. to get back to first base during the sixth inning, Tatis’ hip and upper leg collided with Rizzo’s head, leaving Rizzo shaken up. He left the game and underwent concussion protocol, though manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including MLB.com’s Betelhem Ashame) after the game that Rizzo “was fine” and might even be able to return for Monday’s game.
- While other division rivals have dealt with various injuries, the Blue Jays have been among the healthier teams in baseball, which The Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm notes is something of a double-edged sword. While it’s obviously good news that the Jays have avoided any major injury concerns, the club hasn’t really capitalized on its good fortune, as Toronto’s 28-26 record puts them in last place in the competitive AL East. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the Jays will avoid the injury bug for too long, which will put a further strain on the club’s thin bench. This lack of depth has already been tested over the last few days, with Danny Jansen now on the 10-day IL and Kevin Kiermaier leaving Saturday’s game with back soreness.
Adam Morgan Retires
Left-hander Adam Morgan hasn’t played since opting out of a minor league deal with the Astros in May 2022, and The Athletic’s Matt Gelb (Twitter link) reports that the seven-year MLB veteran has retired. Morgan will call it a career after tossing 369 2/3 innings over 233 games with the Phillies and Cubs from 2015-21.
Six of those seven seasons were in Philadelphia, as Morgan was a third-round pick for the Phils in the 2011 draft. Despite a shoulder surgery that cost him the 2014 draft, he still made a pretty quick path to his MLB debut in June 2015, though he had pretty shaky results as a starter in his first two seasons. A move to the bullpen gave Morgan a niche as a multi-inning reliever, and he posted a 3.97 ERA over 133 2/3 relief innings from 2017-19.
Some other injuries hampered Morgan in 2019, and after struggling over 13 innings for Philadelphia in the shortened 2020 season, Morgan underwent a flexor tendon repair surgery in October 2020 that kept him off the mound until May 2021. This return came with the Cubs’ Triple-A team, as Morgan signed a minor league deal with Chicago that offseason after the Phillies outrighted him off their 40-man roster.
Morgan made it back to the Show for 25 1/3 innings for the Cubs in 2021, posting a 4.26 ERA in what ended up being his final big league season. For his career, the southpaw had a 4.80 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 7.2% walk rate over his 369 2/3 frames. Unsurprisingly, most of Morgan’s success came against left-handed batters, who managed only a .215/.291/.331 slash line against the hurler in 574 plate appearances.
Morgan caught on with the Astros during the 2021-22 offseason, but enacted the opt-out clause in his contract since no opportunities were emerging for him on Houston’s MLB roster. The lefty has now chosen to hang up his spikes altogether at age 33, and went back to the University of Alabama (where Morgan played college ball) to get his degree. Gelb notes that Morgan is a co-founder of Objective X-Ray, an organization devoted to providing mental health resources and financial assistance to military veterans and first responders.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Morgan on his baseball career, and wish him all the best in his post-playing days.
Bryce Elder Has Been Bailing Out The Braves’ Rotation
In the umpteenth example of “you can never have enough pitching,” the Braves have been through a whirlwind of rotation concerns over the last three months. Heading into Spring Training, Atlanta seemingly had one of the better top four (Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright) alignments in the sport, with a plethora of interesting arms battling for the fifth starter’s role. Former rotation stalwart Ian Anderson was trying to bounce back from a rough 2022 season, Michael Soroka was continuing his comeback from a pair of Achilles tears, and Bryce Elder was looking to build on a quality 2022 rookie season.
As it turned out, the Braves ended up going with none of these fifth starter options, as rookies Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster ended up being the top candidates. Anderson and Elder both struggled in Spring Training and the Braves opted to take it a bit slower with Soroka’s recovery, opening the door for Shuster and Dodd.
However, injuries have shaken things up considerably since Opening Day. Wright began the season on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder soreness, but after returning and making five starts, Wright was again sidelined with shoulder issues and now won’t be available until the first week of July (at the earliest) due to his placement on the 60-day IL. Fried has also made only five starts due to an early-season hamstring strain and now his current IL stint due to a forearm strain, and is also tentatively expected to be out of action until early July. Further down the depth chart, Anderson will miss the entire 2023 campaign due to Tommy John surgery, while Kolby Allard has yet to pitch at all due to a Grade 2 oblique strain suffered in Spring Training.
Between these injury absences and the fact that Shuster and Dodd haven’t pitched well, the Braves suddenly went from having a borderline surplus of pitching depth to a possible shortage. This puts even more pressure on the remaining arms, and Strider is looking like a Cy Young Award candidate while the veteran Morton has been his typically solid self. However, the surprise of the group has been Elder, as through 10 starts and 58 1/3 innings in 2023, Elder’s minuscule 2.01 ERA leads the National League.
It isn’t like Elder has exactly come out of nowhere, as it wasn’t much beyond a year ago that Elder made his MLB debut in more or less in this same role as an early-season injury fill-in. Between those starts, other spot duty, and then a larger role later in the year as a replacement for Anderson and Jake Odorizzi, Elder ended up posting a 3.17 ERA over 54 innings in 2022.
Of the four players taken by Atlanta in the pandemic-shortened five-round 2020 draft, three (Elder, Strider, Shuster) have remarkably already reached the big leagues. Elder was the club’s fifth round pick, and his first pro season saw him go from high-A to Triple-A ball in 2021. Due to his quick path to the majors, Elder still has only 248 2/3 minor league frames under his belt, and he has a 3.55 ERA in the minors due in large part to ground-ball rates that have regularly topped 55%.
That has been Elder’s same recipe in the majors, as he has a 56.5% grounder rate in 2023. A .296 BABIP doesn’t indicate any real amount of batted-ball luck, though Elder has been fortunate that his grounder-heavy arsenal hasn’t been hampered by the below-average defensive marks that Atlanta’s infield regulars have posted over two months of the season.
Elder is neither a hard thrower (89.8mph fastball) or a big strikeout pitcher, with a modest 21.1% strikeout rate over his brief MLB career. Without many strikeouts and a lot of hard contact allowed, Elder’s ability to keep the ball on the ground has been all the more critical, as batters’ hard contact hasn’t translated into much damage. His 6.8% walk rate this season is solidly above average, and a nice improvement from his mediocre 10.1BB% in 2022.
The walk rate is a rare flash of red on an overall uninspiring Statcast card for Elder, which probably indicates that some regression is inevitable. His .295 wOBA is sigifnicantly under his .329 xwOBA, and such fielding-independent metrics as xFIP (3.58) and SIERA (3.77) both project his ERA to be well over his 2.01 mark. Still, an ERA in the 3.58-3.77 range is still pretty good, especially for a pitcher Atlanta ultimately hopes could be a fifth starter once everyone is healthy. Your average fifth starter also doesn’t normally have an elite-level pitch, which is how Elder’s slider has performed to date this season.
Between Elder’s success, Shuster’s improved results since his return from the minors, and Soroka’s impending return to the big leagues, things are looking up for Atlanta’s rotation. With at least over a month to go until Fried and Wright’s returns, it’s still far too early to say that the Braves are out of danger just yet, but missing key hurlers is less of a problem when a promising young arm like Elder steps up with a front-of-the-rotation performance.
