Click here to read a transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat, moderated by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk
Reyes Moronta Suffers Season-Ending Shoulder Injury
Reyes Moronta’s season is over, as the Giants right-hander has suffered a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. (Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to report the news.) It isn’t yet known if Moronta will undergo surgery, though it is being considered.
Such an outcome isn’t unexpected given Moronta’s extreme reaction last night upon suffering the injury. After throwing a pitch to Luis Urias in the sixth inning of last night’s 4-1 Giants loss to the Padres, Moronta fell to the ground in obvious pain, and needed a few minutes to recover before leaving the field.
Depending on the severity of the tear and other details regarding the injury, surgery could potentially keep Moronta on the IL for a very lengthy time, perhaps to the extent of putting his entire 2020 season in jeopardy. Sean Manaea, Arodys Vizcaino, and Jimmy Nelson are a few recent example of pitchers who underwent similar labrum procedures, with Manaea returning to the mound just today after missing over a year, and Nelson representing more of a worst-case scenario since he missed over a season and a half of action. Again, it won’t be known if Moronta is looking at a similar timeframe given the specifics of his own tear, though obviously he, the Giants, and the doctors will explore whether or not the injury could heal without surgical intervention.
The news brings an unfortunate end to a second consecutive season of very solid work for Moronta out of the Giants’ bullpen. The hard-throwing righty posted a 2.86 ERA, 11/1 K/9, and 2.12 K/BB rate over 56 2/3 innings this season, following a 2.49 ERA over 65 frames in 2018. Walks have been a continual problem for Moronta, as his 5.2 BB/9 is one of the chief reasons advanced metrics are less impressed by his work (3.57 FIP, 4.84 xFIP, 4.30 SIERA this season), though he has done an admirable job of keeping the ball in the park during the homer-happy 2019 season — Moronta’s 6.5 % homer rate is the sixth-lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 50 innings pitched this year.
Moronta is a homegrown Giants product, signed out of the Dominican in 2010 as a 17-year-old free agent. He has worked almost exclusively as a reliever during his pro career, and was in line to assume a larger role in San Francisco’s bullpen given how the Giants already parted ways with some veteran relievers at the trade deadline, and face the potential loss of Will Smith to free agency this winter.
Mets Re-Sign Ruben Tejada
The Mets have re-signed infielder Ruben Tejada to a minor league contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Tejada won’t yet be part of the expanded September roster in New York, as he’ll report to Triple-A Syracuse for now.
It was only a brief separation between the two parties, as the Mets just released Tejada earlier this week. He’ll continue to provide backup infield depth at Triple-A, and is probably ticketed back to the big leagues before too long. The 29-year-old has appeared in six games for the Mets this season after signing his initial minors contract back in March. That six-game stint marked Tejada’s Major League appearance since 2017, as he spent 2018 with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate and didn’t receive a call-up, ending a string of eight consecutive years of MLB action.
Tejada was hitless over nine plate appearances in those six Mets games this season, but he has a very strong .330/.408/.476 slash line over 304 PA for Syracuse.
Max Muncy To Miss Time With Wrist Injury
FRIDAY: X-rays didn’t reveal a fracture, Roberts announced, though Muncy still has to undergo more tests (via Castillo).
THURSDAY: Dodgers slugger Max Muncy made an early exit from Wednesday’s 6-4 win over the Padres, as Muncy left the game after being hit in the right wrist by a Matt Strahm fastball during a fifth-inning plate appearance. Muncy is undergoing x-rays today to determine the extent of the injury, though manager Dave Roberts told the Los Angeles Times’ Jorge Castillo (Twitter links) that even if Muncy has avoided a fracture or a break, the infielder will be sidelined “until at least early next week” until he recovers from what is currently being called a right wrist contusion.
A 10-day injured list stint could be in the offing for Muncy, as if he’s in line to miss at least four or five days at minimum, the Dodgers could choose to simply put him on the IL to give him more time to fully recover. Then again, with rosters expanding on Sunday, an IL placement might not be necessary since Los Angeles will have up to 15 extra players on hand.
These looming September call-ups bring an added dimension to Muncy’s injury, as if he faces a longer-term absence, Roberts said the Dodgers “will be more aggressive” in determining their minor league promotions. The skipper didn’t provide any further details when asked the obvious follow-up of whether this could result in star prospect Gavin Lux receiving his first taste of MLB action.
Lux has been obliterating Triple-A pitching, though the Dodgers have reportedly been on the fence about promoting Lux given their depth of second base options. Muncy has received the large bulk of playing time at second base (Lux’s intended position) in recent months, though Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor are both back from the IL and utilityman Jedd Gyorko is also on hand. Since Hernandez and Taylor are both regularly required in the outfield, however, Lux could have a clearer path to regular second base time without Muncy in the mix.
After signing a minor league contract with the Dodgers in April 2017, Muncy came out of nowhere to hit 35 homers with a .973 OPS over 481 plate appearances for L.A. last season. While Muncy hasn’t quite been as spectacular in 2019 as he was in 2018, his follow-up campaign has been more than solid — .253/.375/.525 with 33 home runs over 534 PA. A broken or fractured wrist would require at least a month to heal, thus putting Muncy’s availability for the postseason in serious question and creating a big hole in the Dodgers’ powerful lineup.
Kyle Seager’s Rebound Season
Not much has gone right for the Mariners at the Major League level this season, as GM Jerry Dipoto’s ongoing plan to “re-imagine” the roster has cut a lot of payroll and brought a lot of young talent into the organization at the expense of big league wins. Only five teams have fewer victories than the 56-78 Mariners, and every single team in the four major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) has reached the postseason more recently than the M’s, who last tasted the playoffs in 2001.
With so much focus on the Mariners’ newer faces, one of the more positive development of the team’s season has been the re-emergence of a cornerstone. Thanks to hand surgery during Spring Training, Kyle Seager didn’t make his season debut until May 25, and thus the durable third baseman will appear in fewer than 154 games for the first time since his 2011 rookie season. Even in abbreviated fashion over 324 plate appearances, however, Seager looks to have reversed a very worrisome decline at the plate.
Seager hit .268/.340/.457 with 103 homers for the M’s between 2013-16, culminating in an outstanding 2016 campaign that saw him finish 12th in AL MVP voting on the basis of a .278/.359/.499 slash line and 30 home runs (all career bests) over 676 plate appearances. That great year was followed up, however, by a less-impressive 2017 and then a disastrous 2018.
After breaking his left big toe in June, Seager made an ill-fated attempt to try and play through the injury, leading to the worst full-season numbers of his career. Seager’s production went from okay in 2017 to well below-average (107 wRC+ to 84, 109 OPS + to 86) , as he managed only a .221/.273/.400 slash through 630 PA, while still swatting 22 home runs.
It would’ve been easy to just write off 2018 as a result of the toe injury, though between the earlier dropoff in 2017 and then his late start to 2019, the Mariners didn’t really know what to expect from Seager this year. While still not at his 2016 peak, Seager has nonetheless rebounded to once again become a force at the plate. He has 18 homers and a .250/.327/.503 slash line over 324 PA, fueled mostly by a recent surge (1.183 OPS over his last 132 PA) that has made Seager one of baseball’s top hitters over the last five weeks of action.
While he may not remain quite this red-hot, Seager’s production looks mostly sustainable. His .354 xwOBA actually outpaces his .350 wOBA (which has been a consistent trend for him since Statcast began measuring wOBA/xwOBA back in 2015). His exit velocity and hard-hit ball percentage are both well above league averages, and Seager’s 38.9% showing in the latter category represents a new career high. Always something of a fly-ball hitter, Seager’s improved contact has made him the latest batter to benefit from MLB’s homer-happy reality, as his 18% homer rate is by far the highest of his career. He has also shown more patience, with a 9.9% walk rate this season after a career-worst 6.0% in 2018.
Beyond just a healed toe, Seager also took steps to improve his diet and offseason training last winter, and the early results bode well for him to remain a valuable player heading into 2020, his age-32 season. His bounce-back performance in 2019 could also revive some trade value, though the terms of Seager’s contract will be a notable obstacle.
Signed to a seven-year, $100MM contract extension by former M’s general manager Jack Zduriencik prior to the 2015 season, Seager is still owed $19MM in 2020 and $18MM in 2021, with a $15MM club option for 2022. That club option becomes guaranteed, however, in the event of a trade, effectively making it a poison pill rival teams are unlikely to swallow for a player who will be 34 on Opening Day 2022. The Mariners have been willing to cover money in other trades of veterans over the past year, though between the contracts already dealt and Felix Hernandez’s big salary coming off the books after the season, the M’s have already significantly reduced their future financial commitments. The team has just under $87MM committed to payroll in 2020.
Even the fact that Seager can again be considered something of a trade chip, however, represents a big step forward for the third baseman given his issues over the previous two seasons. Since Hernandez is expected to depart, Seager will become the longest-tenured Mariner, and perhaps a veteran bridge to the team’s next window of competitive baseball. Dipoto has insisted that his rebuilding efforts won’t be long-lasting, so there’s still a chance that Seager’s career revival could take him into a long-awaited postseason appearance while still wearing a Mariners uniform.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
AL East Notes: Kiermaier, Holt, Pearson
Some items from around the AL East…
- The Rays would “really would like to avoid” an injured list placement for Kevin Kiermaier, manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters, though Kiermaier is still “in a significant amount of pain” following a collision with the outfield wall on Sunday. Kiermaier hasn’t taken the field since suffering the left rib cage contusion, though Cash was hopeful that the center fielder would be able to return on Friday. Kiermaier already spent ten days on the IL earlier this season due to a sprained left thumb, though 2019 has thus far been a relatively healthy season for the injury-plagued outfielder. His 109 games played is already the second-highest total of his seven-year career.
- Super-utilityman Brock Holt is enjoying the best season of his eight-year career, leaving MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo to wonder if the Red Sox will be able to affordably re-sign Holt in free agency this offseason. Despite missing over seven weeks due to shoulder and eye injuries, Holt has hit .320/.393/.455 over 206 plate appearances, playing mostly as a second baseman to help the Sox fill the void left by the injured Dustin Pedroia. Cotillo thinks the 31-year-old could find a three-year deal worth $27MM-$30MM on the open market, though “that might take a market rebound and some teams rewarding Holt for trending upward this season.” While Boston has a lot of money coming off the books this winter, the club still has roughly $159.35MM in projected salary commitments (as per Roster Resource) and that’s not counting big raises due to arbitration-eligible players like Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. Andrew Benintendi, or Eduardo Rodriguez. The Red Sox have Marco Hernandez on hand as a possible heir apparent utility infielder, should they choose to let Holt go and spend elsewhere. For his part, Holt stated last spring that he “would love to stay here for the rest of my career.”
- In a radio interview on the Fan 590’s Good Show today, Blue Jays pitching prospect Nate Pearson said that he doesn’t think he’ll be making this MLB debut this season. “[The Blue Jays] haven’t really talked to me about anything,” Pearson said. “I’m just assuming I’m going home if we don’t make the [Triple-A] playoffs and just taking some time off. That’s all I really have planned right now.” Pearson has been dominant in working his way up the Jays’ minor league ladder this season, with an overall 2.05 ERA, 10.6 K/9, and 4.75 K/BB rate in 96 2/3 combined innings at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels. This performance has elevated Pearson’s already-high prospect stock, as he placed 14th and 15th on midseason top-100 prospect lists from MLB.com and Baseball America, respectively. Since Pearson has made only two Triple-A starts and missed almost all of 2018 due to injuries, the Jays are being cautious in bringing along the prized right-hander (plus, service time considerations are likely in mind). Given Pearson’s ability, however, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Pearson in the big leagues before the halfway point of the 2020 season.
Danny Coulombe Opts Out Of Brewers Contract
Left-hander Danny Coulombe has exercised a release clause within his minor league deal with the Brewers and is now a free agent, the team announced (Twitter link). Coulombe signed with Milwaukee back in July, a few weeks after being released from a previous minors contract with the Yankees.
For the entire 2019 season, Coulombe has a cumulative 4.79 ERA over 35 2/3 relief innings at the Triple-A level, also missing a month on the injured list while with New York’s Triple-A affiliate. Despite a 15.1 K/9, Coulombe has been badly hurt by home runs, allowing nine long balls over his limited number of innings. (His walk rate also ballooned to 6.0 BB/9 when with the Yankees, though that number shrunk to a far more respectable 1.4 BB/9 over 13 frames in the Brewers’ farm system.) Home runs had generally not been much of a problem for Coulombe prior to last season, when his HR/9 spiked to 1.9 over 23 2/3 innings on the Athletics’ big league roster.
Between the homer issues and a lack of need for left-handed relief in the Brewers’ pen (Alex Claudio and Drew Pomeranz are on hand, not to mention closer Josh Hader), it’s safe to infer that Coulombe knew he wasn’t going to be called up when rosters expand on September 1, so he has left the Brewers in search of another opportunity elsewhere. There’s perhaps room for him to catch on with a team as a lefty specialist, as Coulombe has held Triple-A left-handed hitters to just a .580 OPS this season, to go along with his solid work (.631 OPS in 287 PA) against lefty swingers at the Major League level.
Coulombe has yet to appear in the majors this season after amassing 153 appearances for the Dodgers and A’s from 2014-2018. He has a career 4.27 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and 2.20 K/BB rate over 143 1/3 IP in the Show, including a workhorse year for Oakland in 2017 that saw him appear in 72 games.
Matt Harvey Won’t Opt Out Of A’s Contract, Will Try Relief Pitching
Today marks the opt-out date in Matt Harvey’s minor league contract with the Athletics, though the right-hander is going to remain in the organization, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Harvey could be changing roles, however, as the A’s have asked him to make some Triple-A relief appearances. The longtime starter is open to the idea, replaying he is “gonna give it the shot” in a text message to the Chronicle.
After an ugly 12-start stint with the Angels that resulted in a 7.09 ERA over 59 2/3 innings, Harvey was released in late July and then caught on with Oakland two weeks ago. After two solid outings for Triple-A Las Vegas, Harvey’s third start in the A’s organization wasn’t as sharp, giving him an overall 3.60 ERA, 4.50 K/BB rate, and 10.8 K/9 over 15 total innings for Las Vegas.
Harvey has started 140 of his 145 career Major League games, with four of those bullpen outings coming last season after he lost his rotation job with the Mets. It’s worth noting that when the Angels released Harvey, manager Brad Ausmus said the team didn’t explore using Harvey as a reliever since the team “didn’t think he’d take well to the role” (as per Maria Torres of the L.A. Times), which is perhaps telling given that the Angels have themselves been looking for relief help this season.
A move to the pen, however, might simply have been inevitable for a pitcher who simply hasn’t performed well since undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2016. Harvey has a 5.89 ERA over 307 1/3 innings since the start of the 2017 campaign, with only a 6.9 K/9 and an ungainly 1.8 HR/9. Slusser noted two days ago that Harvey was hoping to make a late-season rebound in Oakland’s rotation to help his free agent case this winter, and while Harvey could still market himself to starter-needy teams down the road, relief pitching is a relatively pragmatic short-term decision.
After all, Harvey could get himself a quicker path back to the big leagues as a reliever, given how the A’s have been short on reliable right-handed bullpen depth this season. If he acclimates well to a relief role, Harvey could even wind up pitching some important September innings for a team in the midst of a pennant race. Having a proven capability to work as a reliever would help Harvey in landing a Major League contract for next season, possibly as a full-time reliever or perhaps a swingman, whereas he would almost surely have to settle for another minors contract if he stuck with starting pitching.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/29/19
The latest minor moves from around the sport…
- Right-hander Felipe Paulino has asked to be released from his minor league contract with the Astros, as per the ALPB News Instagram page. Paulino will rejoin the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League, returning to the club after spending the last two-plus months in Houston’s farm system. The brief stint at Triple-A Round Rock didn’t go well, as Paulino posted a 9.58 ERA over 20 2/3 innings. The 35-year-old Paulino last appeared in the majors in 2014, and has since pitched in the affiliated minors, Japan, Mexico, and (for the last three years) Sugar Land.
Quick Hits: Lux, Morrison, Bogaerts
Some stray items from around the baseball world…
- It still isn’t clear if the Dodgers will call up infield prospect Gavin Lux this season, as FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link) said the team is “not ruling out” the possibility that Lux could yet make his big league debut. The potential upside is obvious, as Lux is hitting .407/.493/.747 with 12 homers over 213 Triple-A plate appearances and clearly has nothing left to prove in the minors. If Lux was called up and installed at second base, however, that would leave L.A. with a logjam of A.J. Pollock, Chris Taylor, Enrique Hernandez, and Joc Pederson between two outfield positions, as Max Muncy would then become the regular first baseman and Cody Bellinger would play every day in either center or (more likely) right field. And that’s not even counting other bench options like Matt Beaty, Jedd Gyorko, or how currently-injured players like Alex Verdugo or David Freese would fit back into the roster. Further developments (injuries, slumps, etc.) could change the situation in the coming weeks, of course, so there’s still time for the Dodgers to decide whether not to make Lux a part of their late-season and postseason plans.
- Coming off an injury-shortened 2018 season, Logan Morrison went through a quiet offseason of offers before taking a minor league deal with the Yankees in April, and then opting out on July 1 and then catching on with the Phillies on another minors contract. This has led to appearing in seven MLB games for the Phils, though Morrison tells Fangraphs’ David Laurila that he is considering playing in Japan or South Korea due to both interest in a new cultural experience for he and his family, as well as recognizing his limited future opportunities in North American baseball. “You look at rosters and know that you’re better than guys, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter because of the economic situation,” the 32-year-old Morrison said. “Having someone under control for six years is more important than them actually being good. The game has turned into where being young is a tool. If you ask baseball people, and fans who want their teams to win, that shouldn’t be the case. Unfortunately it is.” While a lack of contractual interest wasn’t surprising following Morrison’s rough 2018 campaign, he also faced a cool market in the aftermath of a 2017 season that saw him hit .246/.353/.516 and 38 homers for the Rays. That big year only led to a one-year, $6.5MM guarantee from the Twins, with a club/vesting option that could have added another season and $10MM to the contract.
- Xander Bogaerts (and his twin brother Jair) signed with the Red Sox on August 23, 2009, and in commemoration of a decade passing since that key signing, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe looked back at the circumstances that led the Sox to the superstar shortstop. The team was only starting to expand its developmental base in the Caribbean, and it was when scout Mike Lord held Boston’s first workout in Aruba that Lord met Jair, only to learn that this impressive young prospect’s brother was an even better player. Since Xander was absent from the tryout due to chicken pox, Lord arranged for a later private workout, and a film of Xander’s session quickly impressed Boston’s front office. A handshake deal was reached to sign both twins within the week, and though teams like the Yankees, Mariners, Braves, Astros, and Reds all tried to top Boston’s offer, the Bogaerts brothers stuck to their initial agreement with the Red Sox. The rest is history, as Xander has emerged as one of the game’s best players.
