Mets Acquire Tyler White From Twins
The acquired journeyman first baseman Tyler White from the Twins this week, per the team’s transaction log. He made his debut with the Mets’ Triple-A club in Syracuse today, going 0-for-4. A return wasn’t specified, though minor veteran swaps of this nature typically send cash back the other direction.
White, 32, has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors, most of it coming with the Astros from 2016-19. His best output came in 2018, when he logged 237 plate appearances and posted a huge .276/.354/.533 slash with a career-high 12 home runs, a 10.1% walk rate and a 20.7% strikeout rate. White struggled badly in a career-high 279 plate appearances the following season, however, and didn’t fare any better during a brief 2020 stint with the Korea Baseball Organization’s SK Wyverns (now the SSG Landers), going 3-for-22 in a sample of just nine games.
Since returning to North American ball in 2021, White has bounced between the Triple-A clubs for the Blue Jays, Brewers, Braves and Twins before landing with the Mets this week. He had a strong year with the Jays’ Buffalo affiliate in ’21 but a lackluster showing between Gwinnett and Nashville last year. In 16 games with the Twins’ top affiliate in St. Paul, he hit .259/.386/.414 with 11 walks against 13 strikeouts through 70 plate appearances.
White has experience at both infield corners but is primarily a first baseman at this point. He’s a career .290/.395/.498 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A seasons but a .236/.316/.409 in parts of four big league seasons. He’ll give the Mets a righty-hitting bat with a productive Triple-A track record to stash in the upper minors, but with Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Eduardo Escobar and Daniel Vogelbach all in the corner infield/designated hitter mix at the MLB level, there’s no clear path to the bigs for White at the moment.
Padres Re-Sign Jose Iglesias To Minor League Deal
Just days after veteran infielder Jose Iglesias triggered an out clause in his minor league deal with the Padres and was granted his release, he’s re-signed with San Diego on a new minor league pact, the team’s Triple-A El Paso affiliate announced last night. Iglesias was back in the lineup with the Chihuahuas last night, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles.
It’s a quick turnaround, though these scenarios aren’t exactly uncommon in baseball. Iglesias presumably took a few days to survey interest around the league and gauge the market for big league opportunities before returning to the Padres’ affiliate he’s already spent the season calling home. Quick re-signings like this can also grant the opportunity for new terms (e.g. additional opt-out dates) to be written into the new contract that wouldn’t have existed had the player simply foregone the out clause in the first place.
The 33-year-old is out to a solid start in Triple-A this season, slashing .293/.350/.446 with a homer, nine doubles and a triple in 103 trips to the plate. He’s walked at an 8.7% clip against a 14.6% strikeout rate that’s well south of league-average (but also a bit elevated from last year’s 12% mark in the big leagues).
Iglesias spent the 2022 season with the Rockies, batting .292/.328/.380 as their primary shortstop. That’s about par for the course for Iglesias. Over the past several seasons, he’s maintained strong batting averages thanks to minimal strikeout rates but has been largely unable to supplement that average thanks to some of the lowest walk rates in baseball and minimal power output. Dating back to 2018, he’s batted .287/.322/.404, with a disproportionate amount of his extra-base hits coming in an anomalous 2020 campaign (three homers, 17 doubles in just 150 plate appearances).
Once touted as one of the game’s elite defenders at shortstop, Iglesias has seen his glovework slip in recent seasons — at least in the eyes of most defensive metrics. He hasn’t posted a positive mark in Outs Above Average since 2020 or in Defensive Runs Saved since 2019. He made a career-high 16 errors at shortstop in 2021 despite logging what was then his lightest workload at the position in a full 162-game season. Last year’s eight errors in 975 frames was an improvement over 2021, but Iglesias averaged eight errors in a considerably larger 1105 innings per year at short from 2015-19. He’s been well below average in terms of arm strength in each of the past three seasons, per Statcast, ranking 74th among 100 shortstops with an average 81.5 mph on his throws to first base (league average is 85.3 mph).
Even with Manny Machado sidelined due to a fractured hand, the Padres are deep in infield options on the big league roster. Xander Bogaerts and Ha-Seong Kim are holding the left side of the infield down, while Jake Cronenworth and Rougned Odor handle the right side. Odor hasn’t hit much this season, but he’s been on a well-timed hot streak over the past two weeks. Of course, Fernando Tatis Jr. is plenty familiar with playing the infield if needed there, though he’s taken quite well to right field (8 DRS, 4 OAA).
Tigers To Promote Reese Olson
The Tigers will promote pitching prospect Reese Olson to make his Major League debut prior to Friday’s game against the White Sox, manager A.J. Hinch announced to the team’s beat this morning (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press). He’ll step into the vacated rotation spot of lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, who’s on the injured list due to a ruptured pulley in his left index finger.
Olson, 23, came to the Tigers by way of a 2021 trade that sent lefty Daniel Norris to the Brewers. He entered the season ranked 11th among Detroit farmhands at Baseball America and 12th on Keith Law’s list over at The Athletic. BA’s report credits him with four average or better offerings — headlined by his changeup — but inconsistent command. Law notes that Olson’s velocity fluctuates at times as well, with his fastball sitting 93-95 mph some days but in the lower 90s on others. There’s starter potential if he can more consistently locate his fastball and throw it at the higher end of its velocity range, but just about any scouting report on Olson will peg him as a viable multi-inning bullpen option at the very least.
The 2023 season started out in brutal fashion for Olson, who was tagged for 17 earned runs through his first 8 2/3 innings across four starts. He’s since righted the ship, pitching to a 3.00 ERA with 32 punchouts against a more problematic 15 walks through his past 27 frames. The right-hander’s most recent start saw him hold the Nationals’ Triple-A club to one run on four hits and no walks with a hefty 10 strikeouts through five innings pitched.
Given that Rodriguez is being shut down for at least a week before he’ll even be reevaluated, it seems quite likely that Olson will be afforded the opportunity to make several starts in his first look at the big league level. He’ll step into a rotation that currently includes veterans Matthew Boyd and Michael Lorenzen, as well as a pair of former top prospects still hoping to establish themselves: Alex Faedo and Joey Wentz.
There’s enough uncertainty at the back of the rotation that with a strong start to his MLB career, Olson could claim a long-term spot in the rotation even when Rodriguez returns. Faedo has pitched to a 5.54 ERA in his first 26 innings — a nearly identical mark to the 5.53 mark he turned in through 52 2/3 frames a year ago in his MLB debut. Wentz’s struggles have been even more pronounced, as he’s currently lugging a 7.80 ERA through his first 10 starts this season (42 2/3 innings).
Even if he’s in the big leagues to stay, Olson won’t be able to accrue enough service time in 2023 to reach a full year. The Tigers would still control him through at least the 2029 season, although future optional assignments could push that timeline to free agency back even further. Detroit will need to make a 26-man roster move to formally recall Olson from the minors, but he’s already on the 40-man roster, so they won’t need to make a move in that regard.
Tigers Place Riley Greene On Injured List Due To Stress Reaction In Fibula
10:00am: The Tigers have formally announced Greene’s placement on the injured list and the selection of Marisnick’s contract. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Marisnick, Detroit transferred righty Trey Wingenter from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Wingenter has already missed five weeks due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. The move to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset his IL requirements, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement late next month.
9:30am: The Tigers have placed center fielder Riley Greene on the 10-day injured list with a stress fracture in his left fibula, tweets Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Greene exited last night’s game with discomfort in his lower leg, and a subsequent MRI revealed the injury. There’s no firm timetable on his recovery just yet, as he’s headed for a second opinion, but the injury figures to sideline him well beyond that 10-day minimum.
Just hours before Greene suffered the injury, the Tigers had acquired veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick from the White Sox in exchange for cash. Manager AJ Hinch said after last night’s game that the plan had been to select Marisnick’s contract anyhow, but the injury to Greene makes Marisnick’s acquisition all the more important, as the slick-fielding and fleet-footed veteran can provide Detroit with an alternative in center field.
Greene’s injury comes just as the 22-year-old former top prospect looked to be breaking out and reaching his potential. Drafted with the fifth overall selection back in 2019, Greene entered the 2022 season ranked among the sport’s ten best prospects on most publications but delivered a fairly tepid .253/.321/.362 batting line in 93 games as a 21-year-old rookie. This season, he’s slashing .296/.362/.443 with five home runs, nine doubles, three triples and six steals (in six attempts).
The past month, in particular, has been a torrid one for Greene. He’s hitting .365/.435/.573 since the calendar flipped to May, and while he won’t sustain this month’s sky-high .485 average on balls in play, there are plenty of positives amid the hot streak. Greene fanned in 31.1% of his plate appearances in March/April but cut that to 25% in May. His walk rate jumped from 7.8% to 11.1% as he’s cut five percentage points off his chase rate on pitches off the plate.
After averaging a pedestrian 89.4 mph off the bat with an overall 38.6% hard-hit rate in the season’s first month, Greene erupted with a 94.1 mph average exit velocity and 55.1% hard-hit rate in May. Even assuming some regression of that BABIP, Greene has cut back on his chases, struck out less, walked more and radically improved the quality of his batted-ball profile during his recent hot streak.
All of that positive progress will grind to halt for the time being, however, as Greene will require an absence — likely of some note — while this injury mends. His placement on the injured list comes just one day after Detroit put top starter Eduardo Rodriguez and outfielder Matt Vierling on the injured list due to a pulley/tendon injury and a lower back injury, respectively. The injuries to Greene and Rodriguez, in particular, are major blows to the surprising Tigers, who have outplayed expectations and find themselves two games out of the AL Central lead and within arm’s reach (six games) of the final AL Wild Card spot.
Detroit’s outfield has been plagued by health issues all season. Greene will join Vierling, Kerry Carpenter (shoulder sprain) and Austin Meadows (anxiety) on the injured list. That likely leaves Marisnick, Akil Baddoo and utilityman Zach McKinstry as the primary outfield trio, with Tyler Nevin perhaps mixing in against some left-handed pitching in favor of the lefty-swinging McKinstry or Baddoo. The Tigers have some other outfield options on the 40-man roster — namely Parker Meadows (Austin’s younger brother). The 23-year-old has a .239/.327/.410 slash in Triple-A this year but has been rolling of late, batting .289/.353/.578 with three homers, a pair of doubles and a triple over the past two weeks.
For now, it seems Marisnick will be ticketed for a prominent role. He’s a career .228/.281/.384 hitter in 2166 plate appearances, which doesn’t inspire much optimism with regard to his potential offensive contributions, but the 32-year-old is also one of the sport’s premier outfield defenders. Dating back to his 2013 MLB debut, Marisnick ranks eight among 1044 big league outfielders with 76 Defensive Runs Saved — and all seven of the names ahead of him on the list have received greater playing time to accumulate those higher totals. His 48 Outs Above Average since Statcast debuted the statistic rank 12th among all outfielders.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Orioles Showing Interest In Aaron Hicks
The Orioles have shown “serious” interest in outfielder Aaron Hicks, whom the Yankees released last week following a DFA, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Pinstripe Strong podcast host JoezMcFly first connected the two parties (Twitter link). The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka tweets that no deal is finalized but adds that one could come together quickly. That could suggest that Hicks has yet to complete a physical, but regardless of whether things have progressed to that stage, it seems quite possible that Hicks will wind up remaining in the AL East.
The Baltimore outfield took a hit with yesterday’s injury to Cedric Mullins, who was diagnosed with an abductor/groin strain and is expected to land on the injured list. The veteran Hicks would give the O’s an alternative in the outfield, whether directly replacing Mullins in center or logging some time in left field while Austin Hays shifts up the defensive spectrum.
That’s assuming the two parties are discussing a big league deal, which certainly isn’t a given when considering the recent struggles from Hicks, who batted .188/.263/.261 in 76 plate appearances prior to his release. However, a Major League deal would only require Baltimore to pay Hicks the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. The Yankees remain on the hook for the rest of Hicks’ $10.5MM salary, as well as the $9.5MM he’s owed in both 2024 and 2025 (and the $1MM on the buyout for his 2026 club option).
Both Hays and Ryan McKenna present alternatives to Mullins in center field. Prospect Kyle Stowers could also slot in there at some point — or in left field, with Hays sliding to center — but he’s been on the minor league injured list since May 23 due to inflammation in his shoulder. He’s thus not an option in the short term. Baltimore doesn’t have many other outfield options on the 40-man roster, but the O’s do have a 40-man vacancy at the moment, as they’ve yet to fill the spot that opened when catcher Luis Torrens rejected an outright assignment a couple weeks ago.
Hicks, 33, was a solid but oft-injured member of the Yankees outfield from 2017-20, batting a combined .247/.362/.457 (123 wRC+) in 1408 trips to the plate during that time. His offensive output cratered in 2021, however, and has yet to rebound. He’s batting just .209/.315/.310 in 655 big league plate appearances since Opening Day 2021, and his formerly strong glovework has taken a dip as well. With Mullins and Stowers ailing, Hicks presents a low-cost, game-ready option.
There’s minimal risk in bringing him aboard and seeing if he can bounce back to some extent outside Bronx spotlight. If he can successfully do so, he can stick around as a low-cost depth option. If not, the O’s could move on once their incumbent outfielders get a bit healthier (or sooner, if they want to take a look at a non-roster outfielder like former first-rounder Colton Cowser or minor league veterans such as Daz Cameron and Ben DeLuzio).
Angels, Carson Fulmer Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with former top pitching prospect Carson Fulmer, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. The right-hander has been assigned to the organization’s Arizona Complex League affiliate for the time being, presumably as he builds up for an assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Fulmer, 29, was selected by the White Sox with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He’d been speculated upon as a possible No. 1 overall pick prior, and while there were some concerns about his ability to stick as a starting pitcher even at the time of the draft, most expected that he was a good bet to serve as a high-end reliever even if the rotation didn’t pan out. Baseball America called him the “surest big leaguer on the board” in the spring of his draft season, and virtually every ranking of that year’s draft class had Fulmer at least within the top 50 prospects of the class — if not the top 10.
Suffice it to say, things haven’t gone according to expectations. While Fulmer breezed through High-A in 2015 following his selection, he struggled with command in Double-A in his first full season. He nevertheless reached he big leagues just over a year after being drafted, but he was hit hard in the South Siders’ bullpen that summer, allowing 11 runs in 11 2/3 innings before being sent down for some more seasons in Triple-A.
Fulmer made 15 starts and another 21 relief appearances for the ChiSox over the next three seasons but struggled in both roles, pitching to a 6.29 ERA with 57 walks against 73 strikeouts in a total of 83 innings, exhausting all of his minor league option years along the way and leaving the win-now White Sox with little choice but to designate him for assignment in advance of the 2020 season.
Including the Angels, Fulmer has now bounced to seven teams since that DFA. He posted a 6.00 ERA between the Tigers, Orioles and Reds from 2020-21 and spent the 2022 season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate. Fulmer had a decent showing in Triple-A last year, logging a 2.86 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but still posting an ugly 14.5% walk rate in 56 2/3 frames. He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners just prior to 2023 spring training, but Seattle cut him loose at the end of camp. He’ll now land elsewhere in the AL West, as the Angels continue to cast a wide net and take looks at veteran arms in hopes of stabilizing their top-heavy bullpen.
Angels Outright Reyes Moronta
TODAY: Moronta has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to MLB.com’s transactions page. It isn’t yet known if Moronta has accepted the assignment or elected free agency.
MAY 26: The Angels announced Friday that righty Reyes Moronta has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man and active roster will go to pitching prospect Sam Bachman, whose contract has been selected — as was previously reported.
Moronta, 30, inked a minor league deal with the Halos on May 11 and was selected to the big league roster just ten days later. He appeared in two games and pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts. With the Angels aggressively seeking solutions to balance out a top-heavy bullpen, his spot will go to Bachman, whom the Angels selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 draft.
Back in 2017-19, Moronta was a high-quality setup man for the Giants, pitching to a 2.66 ERA with a 29.8% strikeout rate across 128 1/3 innings. Command was an issue, which was easy to see with one glance at a 13.6% walk rate, but Moronta’s 97.1 mph heater and a plus, low-80s slider helped him to limit the damage from those free passes.
Shoulder surgery ended Moronta’s 2019 season a few weeks early and wiped out nearly all of his 2020-21 seasons, however. He returned to toss four innings with the Giants in 2021, allowing just one run in that time but also sporting a fastball that clocked it at an average of 94.3 mph — a nearly three mile-per-hour drop. The Giants removed him from the 40-man roster in September, and Moronta cleared outright waivers and subsequently elected free agency at season’s end.
The Dodgers signed Moronta to a minor league deal once the 2021-22 lockout was lifted, and less than three weeks into the season he’d made it up to their big league bullpen. He spent the next couple months as an up-and-down arm in L.A. before ultimately being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the D-backs. Overall, his 2022 campaign ended with 37 2/3 frames of 4.30 ERA ball, a 23.6% strikeout rate and an 11.2% walk rate.
Moronta’s 95.2 mph heater this year lined up with his 95.3 mph average in 2022, but both sit about two miles per hour shy of his peak. The Angels will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. Moronta has enough big league service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, even if he goes unclaimed on waivers.
Royals Release Hunter Dozier
TODAY: The Royals announced that they have requested unconditional release waivers on Dozier.
MAY 22: The Royals announced Monday that infielder Hunter Dozier, who’s playing out the third season of a four-year contract worth a guaranteed $25MM, has been designated for assignment. His spot on the active roster will go to infielder Nicky Lopez, who is returning from the 10-day injured list.
Dozier, 31, was the No. 8 overall selection in the 2013 draft, though that was generally regarded as an underslot deal that allowed them to go over slot to sign lefty Sean Manaea 26 picks later. Dozier was still a well-regarded prospect himself, but he struggled considerably in his first few pro seasons before a breakout showing between Double-A and Triple-A in 2016. He struggled in his first two big league looks in 2016 and 2018 but looked to have a breakout campaign in 2019, when he slashed .279/.348/.522 with a career-high 26 home runs.
Of course, as is commonly known at this point, that 2019 season saw a host of odd offensive breakouts around the league as MLB worked with a juiced baseball both in the big leagues and in Triple-A. A comical 58 players belted 30 or more home runs that season, and were it not for a three-week stay on the injured list, Dozier might very well have been a 59th.
The 2020 season saw Dozier take a step back, but his .228/.344/.392 batting line still clocked in right around league-average, per metrics like wRC+ and OPS+, after weighting for his pitcher-friendly home park and a reduced leaguewide run-scoring environment. On the whole, Dozier batted .267/.347/.492 with 32 home runs in 772 plate appearances from 2019-20 — showing the Royals enough that they felt comfortable making that four-year extension offer prior to the 2021 season.
Things went south almost immediately, and Dozier has batted just .222/.286/.384 with a 27.2% strikeout rate in 1134 plate appearances since putting pen to paper on that contract. He’s oscillated between first base, third base and right field without drawing positive defensive grades at any of the three spots. This year’s struggles have been particularly pronounced, as Dozier has limped to a .183/.253/.305 slash with a career-worst 31.9% strikeout rate in 91 trips to the plate.
The Royals will have a week to trade Dozier, pass him through waivers or release him. Given that he’s being paid $7.25MM this season and is owed both a $9MM salary in 2024 and a $1MM buyout on a 2025 club option, there’s no way he’d be claimed on waivers. The Royals could perhaps try to engineer a swap that sends Dozier elsewhere in exchange for another bad contract, though they’ve presumably looked into such scenarios (or trade scenarios where they pay the bulk of the contract) without striking up a deal.
Even if Dozier goes unclaimed on outright waivers, he has more than five years of MLB service time, meaning he could reject an outright assignment, elect free agency and still retain the remainder of his salary. It’s most common for players in similar situations to this one to wind up simply being released. One way or another, it’s likely that today’s DFA will spell the end of Dozier’s time with the Royals organization. If he ultimately does end up becoming a free agent, he’d be able to sign with any of the 29 other teams, who’d only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster/injured list. That amount would be subtracted from what the Royals owe Dozier, but they’ll remain on the hook for the vast majority of his contract regardless.
Yankees Release Aaron Hicks
The Yankees announced that veteran outfielder Aaron Hicks, whom they designated for assignment earlier this week, has now been released.
Hicks is in the fifth season of a seven-year, $70MM contract that didn’t pan out nearly as well as the Yankees hoped. The former first-round pick and top prospect hit .255/.368/.470 (128 wRC+) with 42 home runs for the Yankees from 2017-18, and he gave them a respectable .231/.350/.431 output in the 2019-20 seasons. Since that time, however, his offensive production has cratered as injuries have mounted. Hicks hit just .188/.263/.261 in 76 plate appearances this season and is a .209/.315/.310 hitter in 655 plate appearances dating back to 2021.
For all his struggles, Hicks has generally graded as an average or better left fielder in recent years. His once-excellent defense in center field has faded, but he posted a hefty 8 Defensive Runs Saved through just 413 innings in left field as recently as 2022. The switch-hitter hasn’t had success regardless of opponent in 2022-23, but Hicks had a decent showing against lefties in 2021 and has a career .247/.327/.415 batting line as a right-handed hitter facing lefties. He’s also walked in 12.5% of his 3352 Major League plate appearances, including an above-average 9.2% walk rate even in the midst of this year’s freefall at the dish.
Hicks clearly isn’t the player he was at his peak, but now that he’s been released and the Yankees are going to be stuck picking up the tab, he’d make some sense for an outfield-needy club — particularly one seeking some help against left-handed pitching. Hicks is hardly a lock to rediscover any of his former production, but it won’t cost another team much to see if escaping the Yankee Stadium spotlight and the constant scrutiny surrounding his contract and diminished play can help him rebound to at least some extent. He certainly wouldn’t be the first player to rebuild some stock after leaving the Yankees for a lower-pressure environment.
The Yankees remain on the hook for the rest of this year’s $10.5MM salary and will also owe Hicks a $9.5MM salary in each of the next two seasons, plus a $1MM buyout on a 2026 club option. Any team that wants to sign Hicks will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That sum will be subtracted from the Yankees’ obligation to Hicks, but even if Hicks catches on with a new club and sticks on the roster moving forward, the Yanks are stuck with the overwhelming majority of that contract.