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Phillies Claim Dylan Covey Off Waivers

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The Phillies announced that they have claimed right handed pitcher Dylan Covey off waivers from the Dodgers. To make room, the team has transferred first baseman Darick Hall to the 60-day IL. Covey had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers.

It was short stint for Covey in Dodger blue, as he was selected on Wednesday, threw four innings of relief after Dustin May was removed after just one inning with elbow pain. Covey was then DFA’d shortly after. The 31-year-old had been working at Triple-A, where he owned a 4.22 ERA over 32 innings.

The former fourth round pick by the Athletics owns a career 6.54 ERA over 268 1/3 big league innings between the White Sox, Red Sox and now Dodgers. The Phillies are in need of pitching depth as they try to recover from a five game losing run that the team is on. Through the month of May, they’re sporting an ERA of 5.36. They also saw Ranger Suarez throw just two innings last night, so had to rely heavily on their bullpen to get them through the game.

Padres Sign James Bourque To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have added right hander James Bourque on a minor league deal, per his MLB.com transaction page.

Bourque, 26, hasn’t appeared in the majors since getting a handful of innings with the Nationals back in 2020. That year, he tossed just four innings of relief, giving up three earned runs and walking five batters. He also appeared in a single game in 2019, and all told has pitched 4 2/3 big league innings for a 13.50 ERA.

A 14th round pick by the Nats back in 2014, Bourque worked as a starter initially, but after struggling to a 5.03 ERA in A-ball in 2017 he was moved into a relief role. He immediately found success there, seeing his strikeout rate surge while working to a 1.70 ERA in 53 relief innings between Single and Double-A in 2018. A major league debut would come in 2019, but as touched on, he hasn’t found success at the highest level to date.

Injuries have limited Bourque to just 8 1/3 minor league innings since being released by the Nationals at the end of the 2020 season. Those innings came during a stint in the Cubs organization in last year, when Bourque struck out 16 batters in those 8 1/3 innings, but also walked nine. He’ll head west to join the Padres and hope to find a way back onto a big league roster.

Rangers To Sign Tyler Zombro To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are signing 28-year-old right hander Tyler Zombro to a minor league deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s less than two years since Zombro was hit in the head by a 104 mph line drive while pitching for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate, which caused him to have a seizure on the mound and fractured his skull.

He did make a brief return to the mound last year at Triple-A Durham, pitching in two games before requiring thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. He was released by the Rays organization in March. Any comeback at all was a remarkable achievement for Zombro, who spent five days in the intensive care unit of Duke University Hospital undergoing brain surgery in June, 2021.

He never has made it to the big leagues, but has shown some promise as a relief pitcher in the minors. He owns a 1.87 ERA across 57 2/3 innings at Double-A, and has worked to a 5.30 ERA in a smaller sample of 18 2/3 innings in Triple-A. Triple-A is where he’ll report to for the Rangers, where he’ll look to provide the team with some bullpen depth.

 

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: The Cardinals’ Contreras U-Turn, Mitch Keller’s Breakout, The Padres

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Episode 7 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

  • The Cardinals’ U-turn on having Willson Contreras catch (4:22)
  • Mitch Keller’s breakout season with the Pirates, and whether he can be their ace moving forward (10:32)
  • When can Reds fans expect to see Elly De La Cruz in the big leagues? (17:09)
  • Eduardo Rodriguez’ form for the Tigers, and whether Detroit can contend this season (20:56)
  • The Padres’ slow start to the season (25:34)

Check out our past episodes!

Submit Your Questions For The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast!

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Each week on the MLB Trade Rumors podcast we’ll answer questions submitted by our readers. With the next episode due out Wednesday morning, we’re looking for MLBTR readers to submit their questions and we’ll pick three to answer.

If there’s anything you’d like to get our thoughts on then please send your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

You can also listen to Episode 6 on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts! On that episode, Katie Woo and I discussed the the state of the Cardinals and their handling of Willson Contreras, while Darragh Macdonald and I talked the Rays’ continued success and the sluggish start from the Astros.

Willson Contreras To Return To Catching Duties On Monday

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Willson Contreras will return to catching duties on Monday, per John Denton of MLB.com. He’ll catch Jack Flaherty’s start. The move comes almost a week after the team revealed they’d be using Contreras exclusively as a designated hitter.

“We felt really good about the progress that we’ve made and it lines up really well for him to catch on Monday with Jack (Flaherty) on the mound,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Denton).

It marks the latest twist into what’s become quite the saga for the Cardinals and their major off-season recruit. Just a week ago it was reported that the team would rely on Andrew Knizner and Tres Barrera for catching duties, as they worked through issues the team described as a “lack of confidence”.

It hasn’t taken long for that to turn around, but questions will certainly be forthcoming over the team’s handling of this, and whether it needed to be played out as publicly as it was when all it took was Contreras skipping a week or so of catching duties – roughly one trip through the team’s rotation.

The Cardinals have won four of the five matches they’ve played since shifting Contreras off catching duties, but run prevention has remained an issue through those games, with the team giving up 21 runs through that period. At the time of Contreras’ demotion, the Cards ranked 24th in starting pitching ERA, and they’ve slipped back to 26th since.

For Contreras’ part, he struggled at the plate over the past week, hitting just .192/.250/.346, but it is of course impossible to know exactly how the team’s decision affected his performance at the plate. On the season, Contreras has continued to be a strong threat with the bat, and is hitting .263/.340/.406 with three home runs so far, good for a 109 wRC+.

It’s been a challenging season so far in St Louis, with the team sitting in last place in the National League with a 14-25 record. As noted, they have been a bit better over the past week but there’s still a long way to go for them to turn their season around.

Cubs, Marcus Stroman Had Preliminary Extension Talks

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The Cubs and Marcus Stroman explored an extension this spring, reports Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times. While no deal was reached, the door seems to still be open on some sort of extension coming together this season.

Stroman is off to a fantastic start this season, working to a 2.28 ERA over his first eight starts. That sort of form makes it increasingly likely that Stroman opts out of the final year and $21MM remaining on his contract in 2024.

“I’ve been open with the front office here, been very vocal that I want to be here and I want an extension, that I don’t want to honestly make it to free agency,” Stroman told Lee. “The organization top down, how they handle the players, how they handle the families, how they operate, I love everything about it. So, I would love to be a Cub for, honestly, the rest of my career, and sign one more deal and be done.”

While it’s fairly common for players approaching free agency to declare an interest in a reunion, those comments from Stroman are particularly strong and do show a clear desire from his side to remain a Cub long term. While it’s unclear how far extension talks got during the spring, Lee adds that they haven’t reopened them so far this season.

Stroman joined the Cubs last year on a three-year, $71MM deal and has been a steady arm at the top of their rotation. Over 33 combined starts since, Stroman owns a 3.19 ERA, striking out 7.9 batters per nine innings and walking 2.6. He’s spent time on the Covid IL and also missed a little bit of time to shoulder inflammation last season, but has generally been a regular fixture in Chicago’s rotation.

Even with some regression from his quality start to the season, Stroman appears a very good shout to top the $21MM remaining on his deal. He’ll also be ineligible for a qualifying offer, further boosting his market opportunities. The starting pitching market is strong this year, with Shohei Ohtani, Julio Urias and Aaron Nola all headlining it, with the likes of Jordan Montgomery, Lucas Giolito, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all quality options. In fact, those seven players all featured on Tim Dierkes’ recent Free Agent Power Rankings. Stroman would very much fit into that mix, and would expect to do well in free agency.

As for the Cubs, they do have a fair bit of money tied up to the likes of Dansby Swanson, Jameson Taillon, Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ in 2024, with payroll commitments currently sitting at about $148MM for next season, but they’re also off to a solid start in 2023 and they’ll be expected to spend again next winter as they look to push their new core back to playoff contention.

Twins Place Max Kepler On 10-Day IL

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The Twins announced they’ve placed outfielder Max Kepler on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain. In his place, Trevor Larnach has been recalled.

It doesn’t sound like an overly serious issue for Kepler, and manager Rocco Baldelli seemed to indicate there’d be a good chance he’d be activated after the minimum number of days expired.

“It was w/ a cramp. He got an MRI & MRI seems OK. But he’s still pretty tight, & we don’t think he’s going to be able to play for a handful of days. If you can’t play for a handful of days … we’re going to IL him & get someone in here who can go,” Baldelli told reporters, including Dan Hayes of the Athletic.

Kepler’s posted a .212/.298/444 line this season with six home runs while manning right field. Larnach’s return is effectively a straight swap on the roster. He’s hit three home runs and posted a .221/.331/.356 line across 124 plate appearances this year, and should slot in as the team’s everyday right fielder with Kepler out.

Athletics Designate Spencer Patton For Assignment

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The Athletics have recalled James Kaprielian from Triple-A, the team announced. To make room, they designated relief pitcher Spencer Patton for assignment.

Patton, 35, pitched just 5 1/3 innings for Oakland this year, working to a 6.75 ERA and striking out just a single batter. He’s gone slightly better in Triple-A, where he owns a 4.32 ERA over 8 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts.

A 24th round pick all the way back in 2011, Patton debuted in 2014 for the Rangers and showed a bit of promise, giving up just a single earned run in 9 1/3 relief innings. It wasn’t to last though, and over the next couple of seasons Patton would struggle to a 7.35 ERA with the Rangers and Cubs.

Patton went to Japan in 2017, and spent the next four years with Yokohama, working to a 3.68 ERA over 205 2/3 innings of relief in Nippon baseball. That was enough for the Rangers to bring him back to the US for another crack at the majors, and Patton delivered in his first year back, providing 42 1/3 innings of solid 3.83 ERA relief in 2021. Once again though, it didn’t last and Patton’s 2022 season would bring about a decline in velocity and a drop in strikeouts, and the Rangers released him in August 2022.

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