Eury Perez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Touted young Marlins righty Eury Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season, president of baseball operations Peter Bendix announced to reporters this morning (X link via Christina De Nicola of MLB.com). He’ll have the surgery on Monday.
Perez made his big league debut last season at just 20 years of age. He didn’t show his youth, bursting onto the MLB scene with 91 1/3 innings of 3.15 ERA ball. The towering 6’8″, 220-pound righty fanned a hearty 28.9% of his opponents against a solid 8.3% walk rate. Opponents batted under .200 on each of Perez’s slider, curveball and changeup. He averaged 97.4 mph on his heater and turned in a gaudy 15.7% swinging-strike rate that checked in third among all big league pitchers (min. 90 innings) — trailing only Spencer Strider and Tyler Glasnow.
Everything looked to be falling into place for Perez to emerge into stardom. That may still be the case, but he’ll now have a 14- to 16-month recovery period — and given his importance to the franchise’s long-term outlook, it stands to reason that the Marlins will err on the side of caution.
Perez was initially diagnosed with elbow inflammation during spring training. Surgery was not recommended following his original MRI in mid-March. But inflammation and swelling can at times be significant enough to mask underlying structural damage. Whether that’s the case here or whether Perez suffered the ligament damage in a subsequent bullpen session isn’t clear and might ultimately never be known.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald tweets that Perez threw a scheduled bullpen session on Tuesday and felt tightness in his elbow while also experiencing a drop in velocity. That led to a follow-up wave of imaging which revealed the ligament tear and prompted the surgery recommendation. Perez will now spend the 2024 season on the major league 60-day IL, accruing big league pay and big league service time. He’s under club control through the 2029 season.
The Marlins’ once-vaunted collection of young starting pitching has seen its share of setbacks, and that enviable stock is now running thin. Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young winner, underwent Tommy John surgery last October and will miss the 2024 season. Pablo Lopez was traded to the Twins in the Jan. 2023 Luis Arraez swap. Lefty Jake Eder was traded to the White Sox last summer in a deal bringing slugger Jake Burger back to Miami. Max Meyer (Tommy John surgery), Sixto Sanchez (shoulder surgery), Dax Fulton (internal brace surgery) have all had major injury setbacks. Left-hander Braxton Garrett and righty Edward Cabrera, both expected to open the 2024 season in the rotation, instead landed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder impingements.
Given that gobsmacking slate of injuries, the Marlins have opened the season with a patchwork group of starters. Hometown kid Jesus Luzardo has stepped up as the staff ace, and he’s been followed by Trevor Rogers, Ryan Weathers and reliever-turned-starter A.J. Puk. Meyer is recovered from his 2022 Tommy John procedure and has stepped into the rotation early on. He’ll presumably be on an innings limit, but the former No. 3 overall pick has long been a highly touted prospect himself.
Between the current starting five, Garrett and Cabrera, the Marlins still have enough talent to piece together a strong rotation. The depth has been severely compromised, however, and it’s arguable that Perez was their most talented healthy arm heading into the season — or at least the second-most talented, behind Luzardo. For a Marlins team that has begun the season in a catastrophic 0-7 slump, word of Perez’s injury only furthers the sense of dread surrounding the club at the moment.
Marlins Designate Kent Emanuel For Assignment, Select Matt Andriese
The Marlins announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Matt Andriese from Triple-A Jacksonville and designated lefty Kent Emanuel for assignment in a corresponding move. Miami also optioned infielder Jonah Bride to Jacksonville, opening an active roster spot for infielder Emmanuel Rivera, whom they acquired from the D-backs on Tuesday.
Emanuel, 31, was selected to the roster himself earlier this week when Miami designated right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez for assignment. Like Gutierrez, he worked one long relief outing — three innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, two strikeouts — to help spare an overworked bullpen and will now be designated for assignment in favor of a fresh arm.
Emanuel has just 20 2/3 innings of MLB experience under his belt, including this recent brief stay with the Fish. The former third-rounder (Astros, 2013) has a 3.92 ERA and 15-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time. Emanuel pitched well at the Triple-A level in 2019 and 2022 but struggled there with the Pirates organization in 2023. He’s in his final minor league option year, so a new club could acquire him and send him to Triple-A without needing to worry about first passing him through waivers.
The 34-year-old Andriese will be making his first big league appearance since 2021 if and when he takes the ball for the Marlins. Like Emanuel and Gutierrez before him, he could be in for a short stay on Miami’s roster, as the overworked bullpen for a winless Marlins club could find itself in need of a fresh arm yet again in the near future. And, if Andriese enters the game, it’ll likely be in a multi-inning relief setting, which will render him unavailable in the short-term.
Andriese appeared in the big leagues in every season from 2015-21, logging 509 innings of 4.63 ERA ball along the way. The bulk of that work came with the Rays, for whom he pitched 339 innings with a 4.30 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate from 2015-19. Andriese spent the 2022 season with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants. He was with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate last year but never got a look in the majors.
White Sox Designate Jose Rodriguez For Assignment
The White Sox have designated infielder Jose Rodriguez for assignment, as first reported by Francys Romero. Romero suggests that Rodriguez will be put on waivers, though Sox Machine’s James Fegan indicates that the organization will first seek a potential trade partner. Presumably, Rodriguez’s DFA will clear the way for right-hander Mike Clevinger to return to the Sox. Clevinger agreed to a one-year deal to return to Chicago earlier in the week.
Rodriguez, 22, appeared in one game with the White Sox in 2023 — his lone MLB appearance. He entered that game as a pinch-runner and came around to score, but he’s still awaiting his first major league plate appearance. He split the 2023 season between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte, batting a combined .262/.292/.437 with 21 home runs, 19 doubles, 31 steals (in 40 tries), a 21.9% strikeout rate and just a 4.1% walk rate.
Baseball America ranked Rodriguez ninth among White Sox farmhands heading into the 2023 season — a solid review on the back of a 2022 campaign in which he hit .280/.340/.430 in a full season of Double-A ball. His stock has dropped off considerably since that time, due in no small part to last year’s pedestrian offensive output and anemic walk rate. He’s regarded as a capable defender up the middle, though BA notes that he can at times be “too nonchalant” on defense, leading to some avoidable miscues.
Rodriguez is in the second of his three minor league option years. He’s played primarily in the middle infield but also has 184 innings of experience at third base. He’s a right-handed hitter with above-average speed, at least average power and some defensive versatility. All of that could hold appeal to another club seeking infield depth, even if there are still some refinements that need to be made in his free-swinging approach. The Sox will have a week to trade Rodriguez or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Athletics Outright Adrian Martinez
Right-hander Adrian Martinez went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Athletics and has been assigned outright to their Triple-A affiliate, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’s his first career outright, and he has under three years of service time, so Martinez cannot reject the assignment.
Acquired alongside Euribiel Angeles in the trade sending lefty Sean Manaea to the Padres, the now-27-year-old Martinez has pitched 112 2/3 innings for Oakland over the past two seasons. He worked exclusively as a starter in 2022 and primarily out of the bullpen in 2023, turning in a below-average but passable 20% strikeout rate against a sharp 7.6% walk rate.
However, even playing his home games in the Athletics’ cavernous home setting, Martinez has been far too susceptible to home runs; opponents have tagged him for 21 long balls in the big leagues — an average of 1.68 round-trippers per nine innings pitched. A .321 average on balls in play hasn’t helped his cause, but the home runs are the primary reason for his 5.51 ERA. Fielding-independent metrics are a bit more bullish, due largely to that solid K-BB profile. SIERA pegs Martinez at a much more respectable 4.25 mark.
Martinez averages 93.9 mph on a sinker he throws at a 54% clip, but despite that being his primary offering, he’s been more of a fly-ball pitcher. That two-seamer has only generated grounders at a 41.5% rate, and both of his secondary offerings — a slider (82.6 mph average) and changeup (83.5 mph) — skew more heavily toward airborne contact. The right-hander posted strong minor league numbers with the Padres organization in 2019 and 2021, but his production has taken a sharp decline since being traded to Oakland.
Martinez worked as a starter in Triple-A last year, but he was a reliever in the big leagues and made his first appearance of the 2024 season out of the ‘pen in Las Vegas. It seems he’ll look to get back on track in a relief role.
Mets To Sign Julio Teheran
1:23pm: It’s a one-year, $2.5MM deal for Teheran that comes with an additional $450K available in incentives, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. With six days of the season already elapsed, that’d come out to $2.419MM in prorated, guaranteed money for Teheran (assuming the deal becomes official today). The Mets are in the fourth and final tier of luxury penalization and are in their third straight year of penalization, meaning they’re paying a 110% tax on any dollars spent. That’s about $2.661MM in taxes, bringing the total tab on Teheran to about $5.08MM for the Mets.
12:50pm: The Mets have agreed to a deal with free agent righty Julio Teheran, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Mato Sports Management client opted out of a minor league deal with the Orioles late in camp and has been exploring the market for new opportunities. It’s a big league deal for Teheran, per SNY’s Andy Martino, who reported earlier in the week that the Mets were in talks with the veteran right-hander.
After barely seeing the big leagues in 2021-22, the 33-year-old had a somewhat resurgent year with the 2023 Brewers — where current Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns previously ran baseball operations (and served in an advisory capacity last year). The former Braves top prospect tossed 71 2/3 innings with a 4.40 ERA in Milwaukee, striking out just 17.4% of his opponents but offsetting that lackluster mark with a sterling 4.5% walk rate.
Formerly one of the game’s top-ranked prospects, Teheran broke into the majors and hit the ground running in Atlanta. From 2013-14, he posted a 3.03 ERA in 63 starts. Over a seven-year period in Atlanta, spanning 2013-19, Teheran worked to an overall 3.64 ERA in 1334 innings. He’s never missed bats at an especially premium level, but Teheran has long had strong command and, at least earlier in his career, excelled at avoiding hard contact.
That said, last year’s showing in Milwaukee was the first time Teheran has had any consistent success since making 33 starts with a 3.81 ERA for the 2019 Braves. He signed a one-year deal in Anaheim prior to the 2020 season but was shelled for an ERA north of 10.00 in his 31 1/3 frames.
The Mets’ rotation has been hit hard by injuries early on. Kodai Senga suffered a shoulder strain early in spring training, leading to a nearly month-long shutdown. (He’s since resumed throwing.) That injury pushed Tylor Megill into the starting rotation, but he suffered a shoulder strain on his own in his first start of the season and is now on the injured list and in the midst of a weeklong shutdown period himself.
Presumably, given that this is a big league deal and that Teheran got some work in with Baltimore during spring training, he’ll be an option to step into the fifth rotation spot in Queens. Teheran pitched 13 1/3 official innings with the Orioles in camp, holding opponents to five runs (3.38 ERA) on nine hits — albeit with a lackluster 10-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time (17.5% strikeout rate, 12.3% walk rate). If he indeed steps onto the starting staff, Teheran will be joined by Jose Quintana, Adrian Houser, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino.
Josh Jung Out Eight To Ten Weeks Following Wrist Surgery
The Rangers announced earlier in the week that third baseman Josh Jung had suffered a fractured wrist after being hit by a pitch, but a timetable for his return hadn’t been firmly established prior to today. General manager Chris Young tells the Rangers beat that while initial x-rays created some optimism for a six-week timeline, the surgery to repair Jung’s wrist was more involved than anticipated (X link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The team is now forecasting a timeline of eight to ten weeks for his recovery.
Losing Jung for two-plus months is a severe hurdle for the reigning World Series champions to overcome. An All-Star and the fourth-place finisher in 2023’s AL Rookie of the Year voting, Jung carries a strong .271/.320/.483 slash in 534 plate appearances dating back to last season. He went 7-for-17 with a pair of homers in his first 19 plate appearances of the 2024 campaign despite missing most of spring training with a calf strain that kept him out of the lineup. On top of all that, Jung is considered a strong defender at the hot corner, making him a well-rounded, critical member of the Rangers’ everyday lineup.
Josh H. Smith got the start at third base in the Rangers’ most recent game, and it’ll be Ezequiel Duran drawing the nod there today, the team revealed in announcing its lineup. That pairing could form a platoon to cover third base in Jung’s absence — although the right-handed-hitting Duran is starting against a righty today. Texas also called up prospect Justin Foscue for his MLB debut, and while he’s a bat-first option with more experience at second base, he could factor into the mix at third base in Jung’s absence as well (though for the time being, a straightforward platoon with first baseman Jared Walsh makes good sense for the righty-hitting Foscue).
Texas has been hammered by injuries in the early stages of the season. It was already known that Jacob deGrom and offseason signee Tyler Mahle would be out for the first few months of the season owing to 2023 Tommy John surgeries, but offseason back surgery for Max Scherzer, a spring oblique strain for Nathaniel Lowe and now Jung’s fractured wrist have subtracted key contributors from the club’s roster.
The extended nature of Jung’s absence will make him a 60-day IL candidate at any point the Rangers find themselves in need of a 40-man roster spot in the days and weeks ahead. The eight-week end of the projected timetable would see Jung return just prior to Memorial Day weekend, whereas he’d be out into mid-June if he ends up needing a full ten weeks.
Brewers Notes: Megill, Uribe, Quero, Mitchell
Brewers right-hander Trevor Megill was placed on the 7-day concussion list this morning, the team announced. Right-hander JB Bukauskas is up from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot on the roster. The injury occurred in bizarre and frightening fashion, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (X link) Megill contracted food poisoning last weekend and in the aftermath felt light-headed, fainted and wound up suffering a concussion when his 6’8″ frame dropped to the ground.
It’s another tough loss for a Milwaukee bullpen that’s without closer Devin Williams for at least the next couple months. Megill, 30, was an unheralded acquisition by the Brewers last offseason who’s tossed 36 2/3 innings with a 3.44 ERA with a massive 35% strikeout rate against a solid 8.3% walk rate. With Williams sidelined, Megill, Joel Payamps and young flamethrower Abner Uribe were slated for significant late-inning work in first-year skipper Pat Murphy’s bullpen.
The Brewers didn’t provide a timetable for Megill’s return, which is plenty understandable given the nature of his injury. Concussions are difficult to predict, and the severity can vary greatly. Even ostensibly minor concussions can have lingering effects that impact a player for extended periods of time.
In Bukauskas, the Brewers will turn a bullpen spot over to a 27-year-old former top prospect whom they acquired off waivers early in the 2023 season. He pitched six shutout innings for Milwaukee last year but carries a 5.92 ERA in a tiny sample of 24 1/3 big league innings. Rough as that may look, Bukauskas also logged a 2.92 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in 37 Triple-A frames for the Brewers last year, and he fanned 16 of his 41 spring opponents (39%) en route to a 3.72 ERA. There’s plenty of uncertainty in the final few spots of the Brewer bullpen, so it stands to reason that with a strong first impression, Bukauskas could potentially carve out a role for himself. He’s controllable for another five seasons if he’s able to do so.
Megill’s injury will only further open the door for the 23-year-old Uribe to establish himself as a viable high-leverage option. He’s 3-for-3 in save opportunities on the young season and, dating back to last year’s MLB debut, carries a 1.87 ERA and 29.9% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings. Command is an issue for Uribe, who’s walked 15.3% of his opponents, plunked a hitter and unleashed six wild pitches in his young career. However, he’s also averaged 99.4 mph on his blazing sinker and induced grounders at a hearty 53.4% clip, showing clear late-inning promise.
The Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak spoke to Uribe and his teammates about the impressive young righty’s rise to meaningful late-inning work. “I live for it,” Uribe said of pitching in adrenaline-charged scenarios like the save situations he’s encountered thus far. Murphy tells Rosiak he’s been impressed with the right-hander’s demeanor despite his youth, noting that Uribe “has learned so far and really kept his emotions under control and focused on his task.”
Payamps has picked up one save in the Brewers’ first four wins of the year as well, but it seems Uribe will be the preferred option for ninth-inning work while Williams and Megill mend. Presumably, when Williams is able to return, Uribe will slide back down into a setup role. It’s always possible the command struggles will flare up and lead to a particularly rough patch, but at least this far in his young career, Uribe looks the part of a legitimate late-inning arm who can stick at the MLB level. If that’s indeed the case, Milwaukee can control him all the way through the 2029 season and he won’t be arb-eligible until after the 2026 campaign.
Elsewhere in the organization, the Brew Crew is still in the early stages of navigating a shoulder injury for touted catching prospect Jeferson Quero. The 21-year-old suffered the injury in Nashville’s season opener, and GM Matt Arnold this week announced that Quero has been diagnosed with a subluxation in his right shoulder (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). He’s had one MRI and is receiving a second opinion to determine the severity of the issue and get a clear sense of his rehab plan. The Brewers haven’t announced a timetable for his return or whether surgery might be required.
Quero is widely regarded not only as one of the Brewers’ best prospects but the best prospects in all of baseball, landing on top-100 lists at The Athletic (No. 12), ESPN (No. 32), Baseball America (No. 33), MLB.com (No. 35), Baseball Prospectus (No. 38) and FanGraphs (No. 40). The Athletic’s Keith Law calls Quero a likely plus defender behind the plate with the potential for 20-homer power during his prime years.
Quero spent the 2023 season as one of the youngest players in Double-A but more than held his own against older, more advanced competition. In 381 plate appearances, he slashed .262/.339/.440 (107 wRC+) with an impressive 10% walk rate against a lower-than-average 17.8% strikeout rate.
In better injury news, McCalvy tweets that outfielder Garrett Mitchell is on a timeline of four to six weeks to return from the fractured finger in his left hand, which is thus far healing as expected. The 25-year-old has gotten brief looks in the outfield in each of the past two seasons, posting a combined .278/.343/.452 slash (119 wRC+) with five homers and nine steals. It’s very strong production, but those numbers are also propped up by a wildly unsustainable .441 average on balls in play and mask a more ominous 38.3% strikeout rate. It’s only 141 plate appearances, but Mitchell will eventually need to significantly cut back on the strikeouts if he’s to carve out a long-term role in Milwaukee’s outfield.
Offseason In Review: Minnesota Twins
The Twins idled their way through much of the offseason as the front office navigated payroll limitations before eventually making a characteristic late strike on the trade market.
Major League Contracts
- Carlos Santana, 1B: One year, $5.25MM
- Jay Jackson, RHP: One year, $1.5MM (includes buyout of 2025 club option)
- Josh Staumont, RHP: One year, $950K
2024 spend: $7.7MM
Total spend: $7.7MM
Option Decisions
- Exercised $10.5MM club option on 2B Jorge Polanco
- Exercised $10MM club option on RF Max Kepler
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired RHPs Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani, minor league OF Gabriel Gonzalez, minor league RHP Darren Bowen and cash from Mariners for 2B Jorge Polanco
- Acquired OF Manuel Margot and cash from Dodgers for minor league SS Noah Miller
- Acquired LHP Steven Okert from Marlins for INF/OF Nick Gordon
- Claimed RHP Ryan Jensen off waivers from Marlins (later outrighted to Triple-A)
- Claimed RHP Daniel Duarte off waivers from Rangers (later outrighted to Triple-A)
- Claimed OF Bubba Thompson off waivers from Yankees (later lost to Reds on waivers)
- Claimed RHP Zack Weiss off waivers from Red Sox
Notable Minor League Signings
- Jovani Moran (re-signed following non-tender), Ronny Henriquez (re-signed following non-tender), Niko Goodrum (since traded to Rays), A.J. Alexy, Beau Burrows, Joe Gunkel, Matt Bowman, Scott Blewett, Jared Solomon, Jeff Brigham, Brian O’Keefe (since released)
Notable Losses
- Sonny Gray (rejected qualifying offer), Kenta Maeda, Michael A. Taylor, Donovan Solano, Joey Gallo, Dallas Keuchel, Tyler Mahle, Emilio Pagan, Gilberto Celestino
The Twins won the American League Central and ended their historic postseason losing streak in 2023, sweeping the Blue Jays out of the American League Wild Card round before falling 3-1 to the Astros in an ALDS defeat. Fans hoped that a taste of postseason success would spur ownership to further invest in the roster, but the Twins were one of several clubs who spent the offseason in limbo with no clear picture of what would happen regarding their television broadcasts amid Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy filings.
It became clear early in the offseason that the Twins planned to cut payroll. Front office leadership was direct in suggesting as much, and The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reported that the goal was to scale payroll back from last year’s $155MM mark to somewhere in the $125-140MM range. It was a frustrating development for a fanbase that had recently seen the Twins emerge as major players in free agency, signing Carlos Correa in back-to-back offseasons.
Not only did the looming payroll reduction prevent the Twins from bringing in new talent, it also likely sealed the fate of starters Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda before the offseason began in earnest. Gray, the 2023 AL Cy Young runner-up, made the no-brainer decision to reject a qualifying offer and unsurprisingly landed a contract north of $50MM: a three-year, $75MM pact in St. Louis. Topping the $50MM mark was key for the Twins, as that ensures they’ll receive a comp pick at the end of the first round for losing Gray. Minnesota reportedly had interest in keeping Maeda, but only on a one-year deal. He inked a reasonable two-year, $24MM pact with the Tigers that perhaps the Twins would’ve been more comfortable matching under normal circumstances, but he departed with the team receiving no compensation.
The Twins’ needs entering the offseason were well known. The rotation was losing a pair of notable arms — three, really, if you count Tyler Mahle, who missed most of the season due to Tommy John surgery — and they’d be on the lookout for ways to fill those innings. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey said in early November that the club might also keep an eye out for first base options, and the Twins were also known to be looking for a right-handed-hitting outfield bat to provide insurance for oft-injured Byron Buxton in center field with Michael A. Taylor reaching free agency.
Even though their to-do list was hardly shrouded in secrecy, the Twins idled throughout the first several months of the offseason. Free agents who’d fit the team’s needs — both expensive and reasonably priced — came off the board with minimal interest reported from Minnesota. Frustration among the fanbase understandably built.
The Twins have a knack for late-offseason trades/signings of significance, though, and they once again waited until that stage of the winter to make any real moves of note. The first and most significant transaction of the entire offseason came when the Twins, after months of exploring the trade market, found a deal to their liking for stalwart infielder Jorge Polanco. The 30-year-old second baseman had been in the organization since he was 16 years old and had been a staple in the Twins’ infield since 2016.
Infield was perhaps the Twins’ greatest organizational area of depth, though. Beyond Polanco, they were set with Correa at shortstop, Royce Lewis at third base and 2023 breakout rookie Edouard Julien at second base. Utility players Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro can play any of those three spots. The Twins had former top prospects Alex Kirilloff and Jose Miranda in the mix at first base, with Miranda also capable of playing third base. Knocking on the door to the majors were the club’s No. 2 prospect, Brooks Lee, whom they selected with the No. 8 pick in 2022, and Austin Martin — a former No. 5 overall pick acquired in the trade that sent Jose Berrios to Toronto.
Over in Seattle, infield depth was far thinner. The Mariners had targeted Polanco in the past, but the Twins weren’t keen on moving him with less MLB-caliber infield depth and with so many affordable, prime-aged years remaining on Polanco’s extension. The 2023-24 offseason was clearly a different story. Polanco’s down to two years of control on his contract. Minnesota’s infield depth is arguably at an all-time high. They were also looking to scale back payroll.
The Twins could’ve tried to structure a deal sending Polanco and prospect depth to another club for controllable young pitching, but that hasn’t been this front office’s M.O. in past trades. The Twins always seem to focus on backfilling the system even if they’re trading for a major league player, and that was the case with the Polanco swap. Reliever Justin Topa, fresh off a breakout season, gave the Twins an immediate bullpen upgrade to a setup corps already including quality relievers like Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar and Brock Stewart.
Also headed to Minnesota in that deal were veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani, top outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez, and minor league righty Darren Bowen. DeSclafani checked the Twins’ desire to add a low-cost option to compete for the fifth starter’s job in spring training. The Mariners had acquired him from the Giants earlier in the offseason, with San Francisco kicking in $6MM to help cover the right-hander’s $12MM salary. The Mariners redirected that $6MM to Minnesota and added another $2MM, leaving DeSclafani as a $4MM flier for the back of Minnesota’s rotation. (More on that in a bit.)
Prospect-wise, Gonzalez adds another well-regarded name to a deep list of Twins outfield hopefuls. Bowen is further off but gives the Twins a prospect who’s increased his stock since being selected in the 13th round of the 2020 draft. Gonzalez generally ranks within Minnesota’s top six prospects; Bowen is near the back end of their top 30. Coupled with a controllable setup man and low-cost roll of the dice in the rotation, it was a nice return for the Twins and a big upgrade to the Seattle infield. The move generally looked justifiable for both parties.
The other aspect of the trade, for the Twins, was shedding some salary. The swap was a net gain of $5.25MM in payroll space, and the Twins used that exact sum to bring longtime division foe Carlos Santana to Target Field. What initially looked like a part-time role increasingly looks like a regular job for Santana. He’ll be the primary first baseman, providing a massive defensive upgrade over former top prospect Alex Kirilloff. While Kirilloff is still on the roster, he’ll see more time at DH and perhaps in left field. He’ll still see occasional reps at first base, but the Polanco trade/Santana signing in rapid succession signaled a shift to focus on run prevention in the form of defense and bullpen arms, as the Twins likely began to accept that a more significant rotation move wasn’t going to come together.
That line of thought likely informed the remainder of the Twins’ decisions this winter, too. Righties Jay Jackson and Josh Staumont both inked one-year deals. Jackson has been an underrated arm over the past several seasons and made his first Opening Day roster at 36 years of age. Staumont looked like a potential bullpen powerhouse for the Royals at times, but his high-octane arsenal was often undercut by poor command and, more recently, injury. The Twins are hoping to get him back on track after thoracic outlet surgery. Meanwhile, out-of-options utilityman Nick Gordon was swapped out for lefty Steven Okert, who posted a 3.51 ERA, 28.9% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate in 146 innings from 2021-23. Both Topa and Okert are arb-eligible through 2026. Staumont is controlled through 2025, as is Jackson, whose deal includes an affordable $3MM club option.
Sticking with the themes of low-cost moves and run prevention, the Twins’ other primary focus was finding a right-handed hitting outfielder who could spell Byron Buxton in center and complement lefty-swinging corner outfielders Max Kepler and Matt Wallner. A reunion with Michael A. Taylor was of interest to the team, but he spent the offseason seeking either a two-year deal or a one-year pact commensurate with the $10.5MM deals signed by fellow defensive standouts Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader.
The Twins at one point looked to be a finalist for Enrique Hernandez to fill this role, but the Dodgers jumped into the mix late in his free agency, bringing the fan favorite back to Chavez Ravine in a move that made Manuel Margot redundant. The Dodgers committed $4MM to Hernandez and swung a trade with the Twins that would see Minnesota cover $4MM of Margot’s remaining $12MM. It was a cash-neutral move for the Dodgers and one that filled an immediate need for the Twins. It cost Minnesota former first-round pick Noah Miller, but Miller at this point looks the part of an all-glove infield prospect whose bat has yet to develop. Infield talent is an area of strength in Minnesota’s system, and Miller didn’t have a path to a prominent role on the team in the long run.
In retrospect, the Twins could’ve perhaps held onto Miller and re-signed Taylor, who wound up agreeing to a modest $4MM deal with the Pirates once camp was already underway. Taylor was seeking more money at the time the Twins acquired Margot, however. It’s possible, even, that the Twins’ pivot to an alternative solution dinged Taylor’s market enough that he dropped his price.
It’s a similar story in the rotation. At the time the Twins acquired DeSclafani, a $4MM price point for a decent bit of rotation depth was reasonable enough. DeSclafani had clear injury risk but as recently as 2021 had pitched 167 2/3 innings of 3.17 ERA ball. Even if that level of performance couldn’t be expected, he’s a career 4.20 ERA pitcher with good command, average ground-ball tendencies and only a slightly below-average strikeout rate.
Of course, we now know that DeSclafani won’t pitch for the Twins this season. He underwent flexor surgery that’ll wipe out his ’24 campaign before it begins. It’s a continuation of a maddening trend for Twins fans that have seen trade acquisitions like Sam Dyson, Chris Paddack and Tyler Mahle all injured almost immediately upon joining the Twins. Dyson had hidden his injury from the Giants prior to being dealt, but the remaining arms were all bets on talented arms with very recent injury issues that made the risk in acquiring them quite clear. While higher-profile pickups of names like Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray have borne more fruit, the DeSclafani injury only further adds to that list.
It’s all the more frustrating when two months later, the stagnant free agent market resulted in the likes of Michael Lorenzen ($4.5MM) and Mike Clevinger ($3MM) signing vastly smaller guarantees than expected. There’s no way the Twins or other clubs could’ve foreseen the market for those two — Lorenzen in particular — dipping to this point. But, if the Twins were indeed working on this tight a budget, it appears all the more questionable to make their primary depth acquisition someone who’d pitched just 118 2/3 innings in the two prior seasons and ended the ’23 campaign on the IL with a flexor strain.
With DeSclafani shelved, right-hander Louie Varland steps squarely into the rotation alongside Lopez, Paddack, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. It’s a talented group, but the depth behind it isn’t as strong. The Twins have Simeon Woods Richardson and Brent Headrick on the 40-man roster, plus top prospect David Festa not far from MLB readiness. Still, Paddack will likely be on an innings cap of some sort after throwing just 27 1/3 MLB frames from 2022-23 due to his second career Tommy John surgery. There’s a clear lack of experience at the back of the group with Varland, Woods Richardson, Headrick and Festa. Adding some some depth by way of a veteran who was released late in camp (e.g. Julio Teheran) or via adding a recent DFA casualty (e.g. Jackson Wolf, Vladimir Gutierrez, Adrian Martinez) could be prudent in the early going.
The Twins’ rotation clearly looks worse this season than last, but the club’s hope has been that healthier seasons from Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis, plus full seasons of Julien and Wallner could help to offset some of that downturn. Lewis’ early quad injury has already dashed some of those hopes, but there’s still ample time for him to top last year’s 239 plate appearances.
Minnesota’s front office isn’t necessarily shy about attempting to upgrade at the trade deadline, either, and so long as they remain in the hunt for the AL Central crown, they’ll likely be active in late July. It’d be a surprise to see the Twins fall out of the race early. While the quiet offseason showing wasn’t the follow-up fans wanted, this club still looks well-positioned to contend.
How would you grade the Twins' offseason?
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C 44% (586)
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D 32% (429)
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F 11% (151)
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B 10% (130)
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A 2% (33)
Total votes: 1,329
Rangers To Promote Justin Foscue
4:15pm: Foscue has been officially recalled with Jung placed on the 10-day injured list. Rangers general manager Chris Young said Jung will undergo surgery and could be back in six weeks, per Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today.
9:59am: The Rangers will promote infield prospect and former first-round pick Justin Foscue ahead of today’s game, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll take the roster spot of third baseman Josh Jung, who’s headed to the injured list after suffering a broken wrist yesterday when he was hit by a pitch. It’ll be Foscue’s major league debut when he first takes the field.
Foscue, 25, is a bat-first prospect with a hit-over-power skill set. His outstanding bat-to-ball skills have been on play in each of the past two seasons in the upper minors; he slashed .288/.367/.483 in 460 Double-A plate appearances in 2022 and .266/.394/.468 in 563 Triple-A plate appearances last year. Foscue struck out in only 14.3% of those Double-A plate appearances and notched an even better 12.4% strikeout rate in a 2023 season that saw him draw walks at a gaudy 15.1% rate.
While Foscue doesn’t have the plus power we so often see from bat-first prospects, that doesn’t mean he’s strictly a slap hitter. He popped 15 homers in ’22 and another 18 last year. He also piled up 31 doubles in each of the past two seasons and has chipped in another five triples along the way. Foscue draws below-average grades for his speed but was able to swipe 14 bags in Triple-A last year — albeit in 21 tries (66.7% success rate).
The main knock on Foscue throughout his professional career has been his defense. He’s played primarily second base (1933 innings) but has also logged time at the hot corner (410 innings) and at first base (92 innings). He’s not regarded as a strong defender at any of those positions, however. Baseball America ranked him as the Rangers’ No. 4 prospect this season, lauding his offensive future but noting that Foscue “does not have the range, mobility or arm strength to stick up the middle or at third base.” He could eventually serve as a platoon partner for Nathaniel Lowe at first base, a part-time designated hitter and perhaps log some time in left field, but defense doesn’t appear likely to ever be a vital part of his skill set. Even if the Rangers were more bullish on his abilities at second base than rival scouts, he’s blocked at his natural position, with Marcus Semien signed through 2028.
The Rangers likely aren’t calling Foscue up simply to play sparingly. Utilityman Ezequiel Duran could also see time at third base in Jung’s absence, but both Duran and Foscue bat right-handed, so a conventional platoon isn’t likely to be deployed — at least at third base. With Lowe on the shelf, however, Foscue can be a righty complement to Jared Walsh against lefties. Beyond that, he figures to draw starts at designated hitter and third base versus right-handed pitching.
From a service time vantage point, Foscue is being recalled early enough that he’d garner a full year if he sticks on the big league roster. In that scenario, he’d be arb-eligible following the 2026 season and slated for free agency following the 2029 season. Even a short-term optional stint back in the minors at any point in the next few seasons could push his free agency back a year, though.
Given the crowded Texas infield — where a healthy Jung, Semien, Lowe and Corey Seager are all entrenched in their spots — it’s quite possible Foscue could see some time back in Triple-A, particularly if he struggles at all in his initial taste of the big leagues. If he hits from the outset, however, he could eventually move into a regular DH role who occasionally spells the Texas regulars around the infield.
Marlins Acquire Emmanuel Rivera, Designate Jacob Amaya
The Marlins announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired infielder Emmanuel Rivera from the D-backs in exchange for cash. Shortstop Jacob Amaya was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Rivera, 28 in June, is coming off a lackluster season in 2023 but seemed on the verge of a breakout in the prior two years. In 2021, while with the Royals, he first reached Triple-A and hit .286/.348/.592 in his first 63 games at that level.
In 2022, he did well at Triple-A again, hitting .307/.388/.520. He couldn’t immediately carry that over to the big leagues, hitting .243/.294/.378 in 309 plate appearances for the Royals in 2021 and 2022, translating to a wRC+ of 85. But he was traded to the Diamondbacks at the 2022 deadline for right-hander Luke Weaver and hit .227/.304/.424 for the Snakes after the deal, producing a wRC+ of 104 in that time.
In 2023, he continued mashing in Triple-A, hitting .330/.395/.598 there. In the bigs, however, he slashed .261/.314/.358 for a wRC+ of 83. He burned his last option last year and is now out of options. He stuck with the Diamondbacks through the winter but didn’t make the Opening Day roster and got squeezed off the 40-man.
For the Marlins, they will take a shot on Rivera and hope that his continually strong Triple-A production can start to filter up to the majors. He’s considered a strong defender at third, with nine Defensive Runs Saved and two Outs Above Average, with the ability to play first as well.
The Fish have Jake Burger as their regular at the hot corner but he’s not considered great with the glove, -11 DRS and -14 OAA, so Rivera could perhaps spell him in the field on occasion. Rivera has also hit .273/.327/.410 against lefties in his big league career compared to .233/.293/.364 against righties so perhaps could be used against southpaws while Burger goes to first base or the designated hitter spot. Corner outfielders Jesús Sánchez and Nick Gordon are both lefties with notable platoon splits, so perhaps they could be shielded a bit.
As for Amaya, 25, he’s long been considered a strong defender but the big question has been how much he can hit. Acquired from the Dodgers just over a year ago in the Miguel Rojas trade, he made his major league debut last year and got two singles in his first nine plate appearances. He hit .252/.345/.407 in Triple-A last year for a wRC+ 89.
He has just one minor league option remaining so it may be something of a make-or-break year for him. The Marlins will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Given his solid defensive reputation, he could appeal to clubs with questions about their shortstop depth, especially since Amaya can be kept in the minors for the rest of the season.