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Dodgers Claim Jake Jewell, Ryan Meisinger From Cubs

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The Dodgers have claimed right-handers Jake Jewell and Ryan Meisinger off waivers from the Cubs.  Both pitchers were designated for assignment over the weekend.

Jewell and Meisinger become the latest names to join a Dodgers bullpen that has been increasingly shuffled by injuries.  Of the current roster mix, Phil Bickford, Shane Greene, and Evan Phillips have also been acquired just within the last few months, with Greene and Phillips both also joining the club in August.  Since today is the last day for teams to acquire players who can eligible for postseason play, L.A. is exploring all avenues to find pitchers who could very end up providing some important innings some October.

Both Jewell and Meisinger are looking for a fresh start after brief and rocky tenures with the Cubs.  The duo signed minor league deals with Chicago during the offseason, and the Cubs selected Jewell to the big league roster on July 29 and Meisinger on August 12.

Jewell ended up posting a 9.90 ERA over 10 innings in Wrigleyville, allowing five home runs in that small sample size.  Over 38 1/3 career innings with the Angels and Cubs, Jewell has a 7.75 ERA and below-average strikeout and walk rates, though he has induced grounders at a 56.6% rate.  Jewell has consistently posted high groundball rates throughout his seven pro seasons (all in the Angels organization prior to 2021) but consistent results have been hard to come by.  His Triple-A numbers did improve to some extent after he was converted to full-time relief work in 2018.

Meisinger’s MLB resume isn’t dissimilar, as has surrendered a lot of homers en route to a 7.26 ERA over 31 career innings with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Orioles since the start of the 2018 season.  Walks have been Meisinger’s biggest issue at the big league level and at Triple-A Iowa this year, though his six years in the minors have shown some promise as a reliever.  Meisinger has a 2.68 ERA and 29.8% strikeout rate over 272 innings in the minor leagues, starting only three of his 171 appearances.

Rays Sign Aaron Slegers To Two-Year Minor League Deal

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The Rays have signed right-hander Aaron Slegers to a minor league contract that runs through the 2022 season.  The deal contains an invitation for Slegers to attend the team’s big league Spring Training camp.

The signing reunites Slegers and the Rays after the righty pitched for Tampa Bay during the 2019-20 seasons.  The Rays dealt Slegers to the Angels last February, and he struggled to a 6.97 ERA over 31 innings out of the Los Angeles bullpen.  The Halos outrighted Slegers off their 40-man roster earlier this week but he elected to become a free agent rather than remain in the Angels organization.

Slegers has a 5.46 ERA over 89 career MLB innings with the Twins, Rays, and Angels, but he achieved success over his two years in Tampa, with a 3.41 ERA over 29 frames (26 of those coming during the 2020 season).  Slegers’ resume includes one start and one appearance as a bulk pitcher, though he mostly worked as a multi-inning reliever over his previous stint with the Rays.

For his career, Slegers has only a 15.3% strikeout rate, as he has relied on a 51% grounder rate to deliver outs.  Home runs have been a consistent problem for Slegers apart from his 2020 season — he only allowed one homer in 26 innings last year, and 13 homers in the other 63 frames of his big league career.  The long ball was a particular issue for Slegers with the Angels, with six homers allowed in his 31 innings in an Anaheim uniform.

The two-year contract indicates that the Rays see enough in Slegers to give him a bit of added security heading into the offseason, not that there is exactly much time remaining in the 2021 campaign.  While Slegers hasn’t pitched well this year, he can’t be ruled out as a candidate for any sort of usage for the rest of this year or even into the postseason, given how flexible the Rays are with their arms.  Slegers saw action in three of Tampa Bay’s playoff games last October, with a 1.80 ERA over five total innings in the ALDS and ALCS.

Twins To Select Joe Ryan’s Contract

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The Twins will select the contract of right-hander Joe Ryan when rosters expand to 28 players on Wednesday, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson reports (via Twitter).  Minnesota created space on the 40-man roster last night by passing reliever Edgar Garcia through outright waivers.

Ryan and fellow righty pitching prospect Drew Strotman were acquired from the Rays in the Nelson Cruz trade last month.  MLB Pipeline ranks Ryan as the sixth-best prospect in Minnesota’s farm system, saying he “has all the makings of a mid-rotation big league starter” if he can develop secondary pitches to properly support his outstanding four-seam fastball.

Ryan has a combined 3.41 ERA, 4.82% walk rate, and 36.9% strikeout rate over 66 Triple-A innings with the Rays’ and Twins’ top affiliates this season, which marks Ryan’s first taste of Triple-A ball.  That impressive strikeout total has only increased over his nine innings with Triple-A St. Paul, as Ryan has an absurd 17 strikeouts during his brief time in the Twins organization.  Ryan has only thrown nine innings since joining the Twins since he was busy at this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo — the righty had a 1.74 ERA over 10 1/3 innings to help the American team win a silver medal.

With the Twins fully looking ahead to 2022, pitching is a particular need for a club that dealt Jose Berrios and J.A. Happ at the trade deadline, could lose Michael Pineda to free agency, and could quite possibly be without the injured Maeda for all of next year.  This leaves plenty of room for the 25-year-old Ryan to establish his case for a rotation spot over the next month.  Ryan’s Major League debut could potentially come as soon as Wednesday, when the Twins host the Cubs.

Rangers Sign Chase Anderson To Minors Contract

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The Rangers have inked right-hander Chase Anderson to a minor league contract, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link).  Anderson became a free agent two days ago after being released by the Phillies.

Should Anderson reach the Rangers’ active roster, Texas will owe him only the prorated portion of the minimum salary, as Philadelphia will cover the rest of the approximately $672K owed to Anderson from his guaranteed $4MM salary for the 2021 season.  That makes it a pretty low-cost investment for the Rangers, who have been auditioning younger pitchers in the rotation but might need Anderson to soak up some innings.

For Anderson, he gets a chance to salvage something from what has been a very rough two-year run for the veteran righty.  Since the start of the 2020 season, Anderson has a 6.94 ERA over 81 2/3 combined innings with the 2020 Blue Jays and the 2021 Phillies, with a garish 21 home runs allowed within that short sample size.  Anderson was still managing to strike out a respectable number (24.7% strikeout rate) of batters during his season with Toronto, yet even that ability fell off the table this year, as Anderson had only a 16.3% strikeout rate over his 48 innings with the Phils.

Reds Acquire Delino DeShields Jr.

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The Reds have acquired outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. in a trade with the Red Sox, as announced by both teams.  Boston will receive cash considerations in return, and the Reds have assigned DeShields to their Triple-A affiliate.

Since DeShields wasn’t on Boston’s 40-man roster and was playing on a minor league contract, he was eligible to be dealt after the July 30 trade deadline.  The Sox and Reds have each made similar deals this August — Cincinnati previously swapped Mallex Smith to the Blue Jays for cash, while Boston picked up right-hander Brad Peacock from the Indians just yesterday and added DeShields himself from the Rangers four weeks ago.

DeShields is still looking to appear in his first big league game of the 2021 season.  The veteran was non-tendered by Cleveland last winter and signed back on with Texas on a minor league contract, though he didn’t receive a call-up from either the Rangers or the Red Sox.  The expanded September rosters create some extra opportunity for DeShields to get a look from the Reds, especially since Jesse Winker and Nick Senzel are still on the injured list.  There is also a family connection involved, as Delino DeShields Sr. is Cincinnati’s first base coach.

With Winker expected back in a couple of weeks, the Reds will have Winker and Nick Castellanos in the corner outfield, with DeShields perhaps serving as a right-handed hitting complement to Tyler Naquin and Shogo Akiyama in center field.  Aristides Aquino and Max Schrock are also on Cincinnati’s roster, though they lack DeShields’ experience and speed.  The latter skill could be potentially very useful for DeShields to earn pinch-running opportunities for the Reds down the stretch and potentially into the postseason.

DeShields is 21-for-24 in stolen base attempts at the Triple-A level this season, and he has hit .252/.385/.366 over a combined 381 plate appearances with the Rangers and Red Sox affiliates.  While DeShields is best known for his fielding and baserunning, his offense has been much of a mixed bag, as he has hit only .246/.326/.340 over 2056 career PA in the majors.

Quick Hits: Ohtani, Cron, Dodgers, Blach

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Shohei Ohtani was originally scheduled to start today’s game against the Yankees, but the two-way star won’t be pitching due to some soreness in his right hand/wrist area.  Ohtani was hit by a Ryan Weathers pitch on Saturday and didn’t sustain any structural damage, though the Angels are being cautious with the right-hander.  “He’s fine, he’s just sore,” Angels manager Joe Maddon told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters.  “Pitching is problematic, so we’ll just have him hit until he’s ready to pitch.”

Ohtani didn’t leave the lineup after being hit on Saturday, and his batting doesn’t appear to be much affected by his hand/wrist issue.  He belted his Major League-leading 42nd home run in last night’s 8-7 win over New York, further strengthening Ohtani’s increasingly airtight bid to be the American League’s MVP.  Ohtani is now hitting .264/.362/.626 over 516 plate appearances, augmenting his huge hitting numbers with 20 stolen bases and his excellent numbers on the mound (3.00 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate over 105 innings).  While his injury doesn’t seem overly serious, it isn’t yet known when Ohtani might pitch again.

More from around baseball…

  • The Dodgers made C.J. Cron a contract offer last winter, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter).  The exact nature of the offer isn’t known, but Cron instead opted to take a minors deal with the Rockies that ended up paying him $1MM in guaranteed money once he was selected to the active roster.  As noted by Nightengale, it was a “bet on himself” type of move from Cron that has worked out well, as the first baseman has hit .275/.379/.537 with 24 homers over 428 PA.  This type of playing time would likely not have been available in Los Angeles, as Cron was able to fill Colorado’s need for an everyday first baseman.  Cron will look to convert his big season into a nice free agent contract this winter and possibly some security after playing with five different teams over the last five seasons.  Since the Rockies didn’t trade Cron at the deadline, one would imagine the club has some hopes of re-signing the veteran slugger.
  • After undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2020, left-hander Ty Blach has returned to toss 13 innings in the lower levels of the Orioles farm system.  It may be unlikely that Blach gets a call to the majors before the season is over, though the southpaw tells MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski that he is “just excited to be here and face some competition” as he continues his recovery process.  “Really thankful for the Orioles to give me this opportunity to rehab, get me into some games this year, knowing that I wasn’t going to throw many meaningful innings this season,” Blach said.  “But just to help me get out there, that’s meant a lot.  Been nice to be back in a team environment, and I feel really good.”  Baltimore initially claimed Blach off waivers from the Giants in August 2019 and then released the lefty last August, before Blach rejoined the club on a minor league deal during the offseason.

Giants Sign Wyatt Mathisen To Minor League Contract

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The Giants signed infielder Wyatt Mathisen to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s official transactions page.  Mathisen was in the lineup last night for Triple-A Sacramento, going 2-for-4 with a double in his organizational debut.

The Mariners released Mathisen on Friday, so it wasn’t a long stint in free agency.  The Giants represent Mathisen’s fourth team within the last four months, as he began the season with the Diamondbacks and was subsequently moved to the Rays and Mariners in trades.  The 27-year-old’s only big league playing time this year came in Arizona, as he had only a .445 OPS over 51 plate appearances.  Originally a second-round pick for the Pirates in the 2012 draft, Mathisen made his MLB debut last season, hitting .222/.364/.444 over 33 PA with the D’backs.

Mathisen has strong numbers (.251/.359/.474 with 37 homers in 824 PA) at the Triple-A level over his career, and given the Giants’ penchant for unlocking potential in less-heralded players, it can’t be ruled out that some of this production could translate over to the majors.  Mathisen also adds to San Francisco’s multi-positional depth, as he has played mostly third base but also has some experience at first and second base in recent years.

Maddon: Shutting Down Mike Trout “A Possibility”

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Mike Trout continues to feel soreness in his right calf, and after almost three and half months on the injured list, it remains to be seen when or if the Angels superstar might return to action in 2021.  Angels manager Joe Maddon told The Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris and other reporters that “it’s a possibility” that Trout might be shut down for the remainder of the season.

“We’re probably getting closer to having to say something like that,” Maddon said.  “But he still wants to continue to fight, and we’re going to honor his wishes.  However Mike sees this, we’re going to go with it that way.”

As one might expect, neither Trout or the Angels want to move forward with a minor league rehab assignment while the outfielder continues to deal with lingering discomfort in his calf.  Trout hasn’t been able to get to that next step of being entirely pain-free, as his calf soreness has persisted after Trout has taken part in baseball activities for several weeks now.

The Angels are all but officially out of the playoff hunt, with a 65-67 record and 9.5 games back of a wild card berth.  It isn’t as if Trout is trying to rush back for a pennant race, though Maddon implied that Trout simply wanted to clear the hurdle of his return now rather than wait until Opening Day 2022 to appear in his next big league game.  “The biggest thing about it right now is his mental well-being, how he feels about now and going into the offseason.  That’s the most important thing, and then how it plays into next year,” Maddon said.

As much as Trout might want to return, however, Maddon noted “there’s got to be that moment where we have to start being realistic about it, where we may just have to say, ’That’s it.’ ”  Considering all the time Trout has missed, it would certainly seem like he’d need at least a week of minor league rehab games to ramp up, and the Angels might require a few days of soreness-free workouts prior to such a rehab assignment just to ensure that Trout has fully put his calf injury behind him.

That would leave late September as the most optimistic timeline for when Trout might be able to return, giving Trout perhaps a week or two of games to put a coda on what was shaping up as another huge season.  Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 over his first 146 plate appearances, with a 192 wRC+ that stood as the highest of his incredible career.  If Trout indeed doesn’t play again this year, 2021 will go down as the shortest season of his career, with only 36 games played.

NL Central Notes: Indians, Reynolds, Winker, Brach, Hayes, Escobar

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The Indians were known to be looking at outfield help in the lead-up to the trade deadline, and The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reports that Cleveland checked in on a pair of major NL Central names — the Tribe spoke to the Pirates about Bryan Reynolds, and with the Reds about Jesse Winker.  It isn’t known if any serious talks took place about potential deals, or if the Indians were just doing their due diligence and were quickly rebuffed.

The Pirates are reportedly viewing Reynolds as a building block and aren’t looking to move him (at least for anything less than a gigantic offer).  As for the Reds, it wasn’t even certain if they were going to be deadline sellers at all, even though Cincinnati had only a 39-40 record at the end of June.  However, the Reds have gone 32-21 since July 1 and now hold a 1.5-game lead over the Padres for the second NL wild card slot.  Given how Winker has developed into one of the game’s best bats, it’s safe to assume the Reds won’t be very open to offseason trade inquiries about his services, short of any “too good to be true” proposals.

More from the NL Central…

  • Speaking of Winker, the slugger has recently started some baseball activities as he continues to work his way back from an intercostal strain.  Reds manager David Bell told The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters that Winker has begun throwing and strengthening exercises, and he’ll start swinging a bat sometime this week.  Nightengale writes that Winker is “is still a couple of weeks away” from being activated from the 10-day injured list, after Winker was first placed on the IL on August 16.
  • Also from Bell’s update to reporters, Brad Brach should begin a minor league rehab assignment this week.  A right shoulder impingement sent Brach to the IL on August 8.  Brach signed a minors contract with the Reds in May, and he has posted a 5.59 ERA over 29 relief innings since joining the big league roster.
  • X-rays were negative on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ right hand after the Pirates third baseman left today’s game with a hand contusion, manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey).  Hayes was replaced at third base for the top of the eighth inning during the Bucs’ 4-3 win over the Cardinals.  Fortunately, the injury appears to just a day-to-day situation for the rookie, who has already missed two months of the season due to a wrist injury.  Over 312 plate appearances, Hayes has a modest .246/.317/.370 slash line and five home runs this year.
  • Eduardo Escobar was playing catch on the field prior to today’s Brewers game, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports (via Twitter).  Escobar was retroactively placed on the 10-day IL due to a right hamstring strain on August 23, and was given an initial recovery timeline of 10-14 days.  After being acquired in a trade with the Diamondbacks, Escobar appeared in only 21 games with his new team before being sidelined.  Escobar was Arizona’s All-Star representative this season, and he has hit .252/.307/.473 with 24 homers over 489 combined PA with the D’Backs and Brewers.

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