Rays Designate Zack Burdi For Assignment, Select Ben Heller
The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Zack Burdi for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Ben Heller from Triple-A Durham. It’s the second time this season Burdi has been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Durham the first time around.
Burdi tossed three shutout innings during his first stint with the Rays earlier this season but was mauled for six runs (five earned) on five hits and a walk — all in one inning — during yesterday’s 20-1 drubbing at the hands of the Blue Jays. Tampa Bay needed at least one fresh arm in the ‘pen, and Burdi surely wasn’t going to be available after laboring through a six-run, 36-pitch frame.
The 28-year-old Burdi is a former first-rounder whose results have not yet aligned with his former top prospect status. That’s due largely to injury, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and then suffered a torn patellar tendon in his knee the following year. There were no minor leagues to return to in 2020, so Burdi jumped straight to the big leagues with the White Sox after pitching just 33 combined innings in 2018-19. The results weren’t good (nine runs in 7 1/3 innings) and Burdi has yet to find his footing. In 21 1/3 big league innings, he has an 8.44 ERA. The Rays will have a week to pass him through outright waivers, trade him or release him.
Heller, 31, has appeared in parts of four big league seasons. All of those came with the Yankees, who acquired him alongside Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and J.P. Feyereisen in the trade sending Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Heller has been successful in limited opportunities, pitching to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 MLB frames — albeit with worse-than-average strikeout and walk rates (21.7%, 10.9%).
Had it not been for 2018 Tommy John surgery, he might’ve had additional opportunities with the Yankees. Heller missed that entire season, was only healthy enough to throw 21 innings in 2019, and spent much of the shortened 2020 season on the injured list due to a nerve injury in his biceps.
Heller has spent the season in Durham’s bullpen, working in a multi-inning role and logging a 3.91 ERA in 23 frames spread across 16 outings. He’s fanned a strong 26.6% of his opponents against a sharp 6.4% walk rate and only allowed a pair of homers so far. Assuming he gets into a game with the Rays, it’ll be his first big league appearance since that injury-shortened 2020 campaign.
White Sox Giving Jake Burger Reps At Second Base
The White Sox will soon welcome Eloy Jimenez back to the lineup, which would potentially cut into the number of designated hitter at-bats available to breakout slugger Jake Burger. With Yoan Moncada holding down third base (Burger’s natural position) and Jimenez taking many DH at-bats in addition to some work in right field, the White Sox are getting Burger some reps at second base, manager Pedro Grifol tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The experiment is “past the exploratory stage,” per Grifol — a strong indication that Burger will indeed slot into the lineup at second base at least occasionally. Logging work in the outfield is not under consideration at this time due to Burger’s history of Achilles injuries, but he’ll be mixed in at third base, second base, first base and designated hitter.
The White Sox’ desire to keep his bat in the lineup is understandable. Despite fanning in an untenable 32.4% of his plate appearances, Burger holds a robust .257/.315/.634 batting line thanks to a hefty 10 home runs in 111 trips to the plate. Burger has seen a massive 31.3% of his fly-balls clear the fence for a home run. While it’s unlikely he can sustain quite that level of power output — Aaron Judge had a 35.6% homer-to-flyball rate in 2022 and was the only hitter in baseball to even top 26% — there’s plenty of legitimacy to Burger’s power surge. Statcast ranks him in the 85th percentile of MLB hitters in terms of average exit velocity, and he’s in the 93rd percentile for hard-hit balls and the 99th percentile for barreled balls.
Beyond a pure desire to keep Burger in the lineup, the Sox are surely motivated by the catastrophic production they’ve received from the second base position so far in 2023. Elvis Andrus, Hanser Alberto, Romy Gonzalez and Lenyn Sosa have combined to take all of the team’s at-bats at second base this season. That group has combined for an unthinkably bad .144/.188/.207 while playing the position. Chicago second basemen have posted an astonishing single-digit wRC+ of 5 — indicating that they’ve been 95% worse than an average hitter when weighting for home park and league run-scoring environment.
Second base has been a black hole in the White Sox’ lineup all season, and while Burger likely won’t be an average defender at the position — he’s considered well below average at third base — the Sox are content to trade off some defensive shortcomings to bolster their run production. That’s been a familiar refrain for the Sox in recent seasons, as they’ve regularly trotted out poor defensive alignments — e.g. Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets in the outfield — in the name of improving the offense. Of course, that approach was one of many reasons the Sox fell shy of expectations in 2022; last year’s White Sox ranked 24th in MLB with -17 Outs Above Average, 27th in Defensive Runs Saved (-35) and dead last in Ultimate Zone Rating (-40.5). Only the rebuilding Pirates and Nationals made more errors.
The organization’s hope heading into the season was for a more well-rounded, better defensive product on the field. The Sox let Jose Abreu walk in free agency, thus clearing the way for Vaughn to return to first base after he’d rated as one of the game’s worst outfielders. Andrew Benintendi was signed to shore up left field. Andrus, long a well-regarded defender at shortstop, was brought back to handle second base. Top prospect Oscar Colas isn’t seen as an elite defender but was expected to be an upgrade over the Sheets/Vaughn/Jimenez carousel in right field and was given the Opening Day nod at the position.
As it stands, however, the Sox are only a marginally improved defensive club. They’re still in the bottom third of the league in DRS, UZR and OAA. Andrus hasn’t hit a lick but has played a sound second base, so swapping him out for Burger would weaken one of the few solid spots around the field in order to help beef up a lineup that ranks 20th in runs scored, 20th in home runs, 19th in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage and 20th in slugging percentage.
Jimenez’s return and continued at-bats for Burger figure to boost some of those offensive rankings. But the White Sox, who ranked as one of the game’s best defensive teams as recently as 2020, are trending toward a third straight season on the opposite end of that spectrum.
Yankees Notes: Donaldson, Rodon
The Yankees have only gotten five games out of Josh Donaldson this season, as he’s been hobbled by a hamstring strain for the remainder of the current campaign. Manager Aaron Boone said yesterday, however, that a minor league rehab stint for Donaldson is “imminent,” which would signal a return to the lineup in the near future (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner). Whenever Donaldson is cleared to return, Boone added that expects the 37-year-old to be an everyday player.
Many Yankee fans will surely bristle at that notion. The former American League MVP has largely underwhelmed since coming to the Bronx alongside Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt in a trade that sent Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to the Twins. Donaldson hit just .222/.308/.374 in 546 plate appearances last season, though he continued to rate well on the defensive side of the game, drawing +7 marks from both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. In the five games Donaldson has played so far in 2023, he went 2-for-16 with a double, a walk and six strikeouts.
In Donaldson’s absence, DJ LeMahieu has drawn the bulk of the starts at third base. The 34-year-old LeMahieu is still a ways off his peak performance with the Yankees in 2019-20, but his .250/.320/.406 slash in 178 plate appearances this year is solid nonetheless. Of course, LeMahieu is plenty capable of playing first base and second base as well, and he also hits enough to factor in at designated hitter on days he’s not in the field. Even with Donaldson playing regularly at third base, Boone could still work LeMahieu into the lineup on a near-regular basis by rotating him through those four spots in the lineup.
While many Yankee fans have been ready to move on from Donaldson for the better part of a year, it’s understandable if the Yanks at least want to take a look at how he fares in his return from the injured list. He’s owed a $21MM salary this season and the $8MM buyout on next year’s $16MM option regardless, and as previously noted, last year’s defensive showing was strong. Donaldson also put the ball in play at an average of 90.7 mph last year and saw 43% of his batted balls leave the bat at 95-plus miles per hour.
At the same time, it’s fair to question just how long a leash Donaldson will be granted if he struggles out of the gate. The Yankees have won eight of their past ten games to boost their record to 30-20, but they’re still five games behind the division-leading Rays. They gave fellow veteran Aaron Hicks about a quarter of the season before designating him for assignment, though Hicks only tallied 76 plate appearances and appeared in 28 games during that time. Still, Hicks was signed through the 2025 season — albeit at a lower annual rate — whereas Donaldson is inked only through season’s end. The total financial commitment to both players is comparable.
Turning to another high-priced, injured veteran — Boone added that the organization’s hope is for Carlos Rodon to be able to throw off a mound at some point this week (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Rodon hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Yankees since signing his six-year deal over the winter, owing largely to a forearm strain but also to some back discomfort that popped up while he was rehabbing that initial injury.
Even if the 30-year-old Rodon is able to throw off a mound without issue, a return would still be a ways down the road. The lefty would likely need multiple bullpen sessions before then facing live hitters in a simulated setting and eventually making multiple minor league rehab appearances. It’s hard to envision him completing that cycle in anything less than a month.
Mariners, Pedro Severino Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran catcher Pedro Severino, tweets Tacoma Rainiers director of communications Paul Braverman. Severino, a client of Republik Sports, opted out of a minor league deal with the Padres last week. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma and will give the Mariners some catching depth there.
The 29-year-old Severino had a strong start at the plate with the Padres’ Triple-A club, slashing .286/.400/.476 with three home runs, three doubles and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10) in his first 75 plate appearances. He even added a surprising three stolen bases, matching his career-high from any prior season.
Severino has logged Major League time in each of the past eight seasons, typically serving as a backup or the right-handed end of a catching platoon. Dating back to the 2019 season, he’s a .248/.316/.396 hitter with 29 homers, 38 doubles, an 8.6% walk rate and a 23.9% strikeout rate in 959 plate appearances (mostly with the Orioles).
As far as catchers go, Severino is a solid hitter — evidenced both by his big start to the season in El Paso and that respectable four-year run from 2019-22. However, he’s long graded out as a poor defensive backstop. Severino routinely posts below-average framing marks, and Defensive Runs Saved dings him for -18 in his 2574 career innings behind the dish. He does have a solid 28.5% caught-stealing rate in the big leagues, but his 33 passed balls from 2015-22 are the 22nd-most in MLB — despite the fact that all but one name ahead of him on the list (the now-retired Josh Phegley) have at least 600 more innings behind the plate. Statcast’s tracking of catchers’ blocking data only dates back to 2020, but Severino ranks last among big league catchers in its Blocks Above Average metric.
The Mariners are largely set behind the plate, with slugging Cal Raleigh taking the majority of the playing time and veteran Tom Murphy backing him up. In Tacoma, the Mariners have Jacob Nottingham and minor league veteran Brian O’Keefe as their primary options, though catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel has also logged a pair of games behind the plate. Bringing Severino into the mix will give them another option behind the dish and another bat to work into the lineup against left-handed pitching. In 449 big league plate appearances against southpaws, Severino is a .260/.325/.436 hitter.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Mariners Sign Marcus Walden To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with former Red Sox right-hander Marcus Walden. The signing was first announced by the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the independent Atlantic League, for whom Walden had been pitching to begin the season. Mariners director of Triple-A communications Paul Braverman tweets that Walden will join the team’s Triple-A rotation, making his first start today.
Now 34 years old, Walden pitched well in Boston from 2018-19, totaling 92 2/3 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with a 23.3% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate. That includes 78 frames of 3.81 ERA ball in a supercharged 2019 run-scoring environment that saw 58 players club at least 30 home runs. Walden was hit hard in 13 1/3 innings during the shortened 2020 campaign (14 runs in 13 1/3 innings) and hasn’t pitched in the Majors since, however. He’s had stints with the Triple-A clubs for the Red Sox, Cubs and Brewers along the way, pitching to a mid-4.00s ERA at each stop.
Over the past two seasons, Walden has spent 70 1/3 innings pitching with the Atlantic League’s Gastonia club, working to a combined 2.82 ERA. That includes 20 innings of 2.70 ball so far in 2023, though it’s perhaps his 24-to-2 K/BB ratio that’s garnered more attention (31.2% strikeout rate, 2.6% walk rate).
Seattle’s rotation took a huge hit early in the season when former AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray required Tommy John surgery, but the team’s rotation remains strong. Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert have all pitched well — Kirby, in particular — and rookie Bryce Miller has come up to the Majors and stepped seamlessly onto the starting staff. In 25 1/3 innings over his first four outings, he’s logged a sensational 1.42 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate against a 2.3% walk rate.
The fifth spot is a bit murkier. Veteran Marco Gonzales had been posting solid enough numbers for much of the season, but a recent eight-run drubbing at the hands of the Red Sox sent his ERA skyrocketing from 4.42 to 6.10. He’s now yielded eight runs in two of his past four starts (although three of those were unearned). Fellow vet Chris Flexen has struggled when he’s been asked to step into the rotation as well.
The journeyman Walden isn’t likely to jump into that mix anytime soon, but he’ll join southpaw Tommy Milone as an experienced arm in Tacoma who could be called upon for a spot start or to give the ‘pen some length if the need arises. In 366 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, Walden has a 4.47 ERA.
Mariners Notes: Caballero, Wong, Moore, Bullpen
Rookie infielder Jose Caballero‘s initial call-up to the Mariners’ roster was expected to be a short-term stint to provide some depth while utilityman Sam Haggerty dealt with a concussion, but he’s parlaying that opportunity into a larger role. As Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes, he’s already made a strong impression on manager Scott Servais.
“From the day he showed up here, he was not in awe of anything,” Servais said of Caballero, going on to praise the 26-year-old’s baserunning, on-base ability and defense. “…He understands how to play and he doesn’t back off.” President of baseball ops Jerry Dipoto had similar praise, telling Corey Brock of The Athletic that Caballero “has been terrific in every way.”
Caballero has indeed impressed, surging out to a .276/.371/.431 batting line with a pair of homers, three doubles and a 6-for-6 showing on the basepaths through his first 24 games (70 plate appearances). He’s had a bit of good fortune on balls in play (.333), but even if his average took a slight step back, an 11.4% walk rate would keep his on-base percentage plenty strong.
The plate discipline hasn’t been a small-sample fluke, either; Caballero has a career 13% walk rate in the minors and has chased pitches off the plate at a lower rate than the average big leaguer thus far in his young career. Statcast also credits him with 92nd percentile sprint speed, so there’s good reason to believe he can keep swiping bags at a high rate of success.
Caballero’s immediate strong play further shines a light on the mounting struggles of veteran second baseman Kolten Wong, whose .177/.259/.208 batting line (108 plate appearances, 40 wRC+) ranks among the worst in baseball. Wong’s 20.4% strikeout rate is the worst of his career, and he’s making hard contact at career-worst levels as well (85 mph average exit velo, 24% hard-hit). Statcast ranks Wong in the fifth percentile of MLB players or lower in each of hard-hit rate, average exit velocity, barrel rate, expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and expected wOBA. His once plus sprint speed is down to the 37th percentile as well.
In the wake of such a miserable start to the season, Wong has already begun to cede time at second base to Caballero. The rookie has made five starts at second base since Wong’s name was last penciled into the starting lineup. Wong has been on the bench, but the Mariners will have to figure out how to align their infield and bench mix before long. Mariners GM Justin Hollander told reporters yesterday that utilityman Dylan Moore could be reinstated from the injured list during the team’s current homestand (Twitter link via Divish).
Moore, who over the winter signed a three-year, $8.875MM contract that bought his final arbitration seasons and one free-agent year, has yet to play in 2023 due to oblique and core injuries. He’s played in four minor league rehab games, however, and the team apparently believes he could be back on the big league roster with only a few more. The current homestand runs through May 31.
The 30-year-old Moore has had an up-and-down run with the Mariners since debuting in 2019, alternating between poor and strong showings at the plate on an every-other-year basis. He’s a career .208/.317/.384 hitter, though as evidenced by a .255/.358/.496 showing in 159 plate appearances in 2020 and a .224/.368/.385 line in 255 plate appearances last year, he has plenty of on-base ability and some pop in his bat. Moore has 35 home runs and 65 steals in 381 career games, and he’s drawn outstanding defensive ratings at second base, third base and in both outfield corners.
Seattle’s bench currently consists of backup catcher Tom Murphy, the aforementioned Haggerty (who has had minimal playing time so far) and struggling veterans Wong and AJ Pollock. Barring an injury elsewhere in the lineup, it’s likely someone from that bench group will be displaced by Moore’s return. Haggerty has minor league options remaining, and that route would preserve more depth, but he batted .256/.335/.403 last season in 201 plate appearances, showing plenty of defensive versatility himself. The Mariners will have to weigh that against the poor starts of both Wong and Pollock in determining their preferred course of action.
The Mariners are also anticipating a return to health for some important bullpen arms (Twitter links via Divish). Closer Andres Munoz and righty Penn Murfee are both expected to join the Mariners on their upcoming road trip, which runs from June 1-11. Munoz has been throwing bullpen sessions, and Murfee has responded well to a platelet-rich plasma injection. Both will need quick tune-ups on minor league rehab stints, but they’re only a matter of weeks away.
Munoz, 24, broke out as one of the best relievers in baseball in 2022 when he pitched to a 2.49 ERA with a stellar 38.7% strikeout rate against a 6% walk rate. He averaged a whopping 100.3 mph on his heater, and his 21.6% swinging-strike rate trailed only Edwin Diaz among all big league pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched.
Murfee, meanwhile, has pitched 82 1/3 innings of 2.73 ERA ball dating back to last year’s MLB debut. He’s fanned 27.9% of his opponents against an 8.3% walk rate without displaying the type of platoon splits that many fellow sidearmers tend to carry. Lefties have batted just .210/.297/.305 against Murfee, while right-handers have posted an even more dreadful .165/.232/.303 slash.
Red Sox Notes: Kluber, Bleier, Infield
Boston’s offseason signing of veteran right-hander Corey Kluber hasn’t gone nearly as well as hoped, evidenced by the 37-year-old’s 6.26 ERA through seven trips to the hill thus far. The two-time AL Cy Young winner’s 17.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate are both career-worsts, as is his 88.6 mph average fastball. Kluber is in the 21st percentile of MLB pitchers or lower in terms of strikeout rate, opponents’ average exit velocity and opponents’ hard-hit rate. His lone quality start of the season came on April 25 in Baltimore.
The Red Sox have stuck with the right-hander through his struggles, and manager Alex Cora indicated over the weekend that Kluber will make his next scheduled start on the road against the D-backs, writes Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. That’ll mean the Red Sox will continue with a six-man rotation of Chris Sale, James Paxton, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, a returning Garrett Whitlock — he’s expected to be activated from the injured list for Saturday’s start — and Kluber. However, Cora declined to commit to the permanence of that arrangement (or lack thereof). Asked if that group would continue to start for the foreseeable future, Cora replied: “For the foreseeable week, let’s put it that way.”
Whether the Sox would pull the plug on Kluber’s tenure entirely or look to move him to the bullpen, as they did with Nick Pivetta, is likely still being determined by the team’s front office. Certainly, the hope would be for Kluber to right the ship and begin to make good on the $10MM contract he signed over the winter, but there’s been little in the way of positives to foster optimism.
Boston’s bullpen, in general, has been solid this season, ranking 13th in the Majors with a 3.84 ERA. However, some cracks have begun to form over the past couple weeks. Closer Kenley Jansen has begun to struggle with his command and had a recent pair of blow-ups, while righty John Schreiber hit the injured list with a lat strain last week.
Last night, the Sox further announced that lefty Richard Bleier is headed to the injured list with shoulder inflammation. After a pair of tough outings early in the year, he’d been pitching well for about a month, working to a 2.77 ERA over a span of 13 innings from April 15 to May 15. However, Bleier was rocked for five runs (three earned) on six hits in 2 2/3 innings over his past two appearances before landing on the injured list.
The Sox didn’t provide a timetable for Bleier’s potential return. He’ll be replaced by fellow lefty Brennan Bernardino for the time being. The 31-year-old southpaw, claimed off waivers from Seattle earlier in the season, has a solid 3.65 ERA in 12 1/3 frames with the Sox since they picked him up, with a hearty 55% grounder rate and 5.6% walk rate helping to offset a tepid 18.5% strikeout rate.
Though Bleier will be out for at least two weeks, the Red Sox could soon be getting healthier in the infield. Christopher Smith of MassLive.com tweets that Yu Chang is slated to head out on a rehab assignment tomorrow, and Christian Arroyo could do the same as soon as Friday. Chang has been out for nearly a month since suffering a hamate fracture, while Arroyo’s been sidelined since early May due to a hamstring strain.
That pair’s impending return will push the Red Sox into some roster decisions, as both have been outperformed by current second baseman Enmanuel Valdez, who’s batting .270/.324/.476 with three homers and three steals in 68 plate appearances. Valdez has minor league options remaining, however, while both Chang and Arroyo are out of options. Boston has also gotten solid work in an even smaller sample from utilityman Pablo Reyes, whom they acquired from the A’s in exchange for cash 11 days ago. In 28 plate appearances, Reyes is batting .296/.321/.407 (8-for-27, three doubles, one walk, four strikeouts). Like Chang and Arroyo, he’s out of minor league options.
Cavan Biggio Is In A Tough Spot
It wasn’t that long ago that the Blue Jays looked to be building their infield around a trio of second-generation stars whose fathers combined to go to 20 All-Star Games over the course of their respective careers. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio all made their big league debuts in 2019, and all three hit the ground running. Fast forward to 2023, however, and only two of the three have panned out as core pieces. Guerrero and Bichette remain focal points in a talented Blue Jays lineup, but the now-28-year-old Biggio is clinging to a roster spot and could force the Jays to make a decision soon if the can’t turn things around.
While Biggio was never as considered as touted a prospect as either Guerrero or Bichette, he nevertheless looked like a potential key contributor from the moment he debuted. Between his 2019 debut and the shortened 2020 season, Biggio played in 159 games and totaled 695 plate appearances — effectively a full regular season’s worth of playing time — and batted .240/.368/.430 with 24 home runs while going a perfect 20-for-20 in stolen bases. His 26.5% strikeout rate was a bit bloated, and he wasn’t exactly an elite defender at second base, but Biggio walked at a huge 16.1% clip, ran well and showed above-average power.
Since that time, however, Biggio’s output has cratered. In a nearly identical number of plate appearances, he’s batted just .204/.307/.340 with 15 home runs and six stolen bases (eight attempts) — including a disastrous .127/.191/.238 showing in 68 trips to the plate so far in 2023. Biggio has been displaced at second base in recent years — first by Marcus Semien (2021), and then by Santiago Espinal (2022) and Whit Merrifield (2023). The Jays have bounced Biggio around the diamond a bit, giving him more time in the outfield and some time at third base, but the move to a utility role hasn’t been a productive one, clearly.
Biggio remained a disciplined, albeit less impactful hitter in 2021-22 (12.5% walk rate), but this year’s small sample of plate appearances doesn’t line up with even those down seasons. Biggio has walked in just 5.9% of his plate appearances — less than half his 2021-22 levels — and is striking out at a career-worst 38.9% clip. He isn’t suddenly chasing balls out of the strike zone with reckless abandon, as his 21.3% chase rate is right in line with his 2021-22 levels and well shy of the the league-average 31.5%.
However, Biggio’s contact rate when he does chase has plummeted to a career-worst 46.9%. His contact rate on pitches within the zone, meanwhile, has fallen to 80.6% — another career-worst. Heading into the 2023 season, Biggio made contact on 53% of his swings when chasing a ball off the plate and 85.4% on pitches within the zone.
The Blue Jays are a particularly right-handed team, so it’s perhaps understandable if they hope to get Biggio’s left-handed bat going. Brandon Belt, Daulton Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier are the only lefty-swinging regulars in the lineup. Biggio and outfielder Nathan Lukes are the two lefties on the bench at the moment. Of those five lefties, however, only Kiermaier and Belt have been productive at the plate. Varsho is hitting .206/.279/.359 in his first year with Toronto, while Lukes has gone 2-for-12 in a tiny sample of 14 plate appearances while making his MLB debut.
A lack of bench production, in general, has been a killer for the Blue Jays thus far, though others around Biggio have begun to pick up the pace. Espinal, for instance, opened the season mired in an awful 2-for-31 skid, though that looked rather fluky in nature, given his tiny 9.1% strikeout rate and .071 average on balls in play. He’s hitting .310/.370/.429 over his past 47 plate appearances, including a 3-for-3 effort on Saturday. Danny Jansen was scarcely better early in the year, beginning his 2023 with a 3-for-32 spell. He’s batted .247/.310/.506 since.
There’s been no such turnaround for Biggio, who has just two multi-hit games on the season and has only received 19 plate appearances in the month of May. The Jays clearly value his ability to play all over and provide some speed, as he’s lined up at second base, first base and in right field this month in addition to a trio of pinch-running appearances. However, Merrifield and Espinal have gotten the majority of playing time at second base, even against right-handed pitching, despite the fact that they’re both righties themselves. Biggio hasn’t played a complete game since May 6 and has only started twice in the past two weeks. He hasn’t been on the injured list; he just seemingly hasn’t been in the team’s plans.
For the time being, an injury to Espinal — which the Jays conveniently announced while I was finishing this piece — could open some additional time for Biggio. Utilityman Otto Lopez is up from Triple-A Buffalo in place of Espinal, and he could also enter the mix for at-bats.
Biggio has multiple minor league options remaining, but the Jays don’t have many infield/outfield options who are having productive years in the minors and are options to fill his spot. Lopez is batting only .213/.273/.260 in 139 Triple-A plate appearances, and top infield prospect Addison Barger hasn’t been much better at .237/.333/.329 in 87 plate appearances. Infielder Leo Jimenez is hitting .292 with a .370 on-base in Double-A but has just a .308 slugging percentage. This year’s 73 plate appearances are also his first experience above A-ball. Former top prospect Orelvis Martinez is batting .151/.226/.479 in Double-A. Each of Lopez, Martinez and Jimenez bats right-handed anyhow, and the Jays may want to keep as many lefty options around as possible.
One such option could be 25-year-old first baseman/left fielder Spencer Horwitz, who’s out to a terrific .326/.450/.437 slash in 169 Triple-A plate appearances. Horwitz isn’t hitting for much power and doesn’t project to, but he’s walked in 17.8% of his plate appearances and has torn up right-handed pitching at a .362/.492/.500 clip (.244/.347/.293 against lefties). The former 24th-round pick doesn’t bring the speed or defensive versatility to the table that Biggio would, but the Jays already have Lopez (and, once healthy, Espinal) on hand as a backup infielders who can play many of the same positions as Biggio. Lukes, meanwhile, can play all three outfield spots. Biggio’s defensive versatility is nice, but the Jays have other options at most of the spots he can cover.
This certainly isn’t a call to designate Biggio for assignment, but the Jays are a win-now team who aren’t getting much out of a valuable 26-man roster spot. It’s also tough to see how Biggio can be expected to get back on track when he’s had 19 plate appearances this month and is starting, at best, about a game per week. Again, perhaps the injury to Espinal can change that, but Merrifield still figures to be in line for a large portion of the work at second base.
The Jays showed last year they were willing to carry Bradley Zimmer for most of the season as practically an exclusive pinch-runner/defensive replacement, but Biggio has had more recent success than Zimmer had and at least ostensibly could have more of a future with the club. They could option him for everyday at-bats and see if that can jumpstart his contact abilities; at the very least, it might bring the Jays a more productive lefty bat off the bench, if Horwitz were indeed to be the chosen replacement.
From a bigger-picture standpoint, it’s increasingly tough to see where Biggio fits in if he can’t improve his production. He and the Jays agreed to a $2.8MM salary for the current season over the winter, avoiding arbitration in the process. He’d be arb-eligible again next winter, and it’s hard to imagine the team keeping him around if he has such a limited role and even more limited productivity. If Biggio can’t get things going, he’ll be a clear non-tender candidate following the season. For the time being, a shuffling of the bench mix makes sense both to maximize the utility of the big league roster and to hopefully get him back on track in Buffalo — an opportunity that simply isn’t present in the Majors right now.
Brewers Return Gus Varland To Dodgers, Place Eric Lauer On Injured List
The Brewers announced Monday that they’ve returned Rule 5 righty Gus Varland to the Dodgers after he went unclaimed on waivers, placed lefty Eric Lauer on the 15-day injured list due to an impingement in his right (non-throwing) shoulder, and recalled right-hander Tyson Miller from Triple-A Nashville.
Varland, 26, earned a spot on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster after he whiffed 17 of his 35 opponents in spring training. He started the season with a 2.25 ERA through his first eight innings, albeit with a less-impressive 5-to-5 K/BB ratio, and landed on the injured list in mid-April after a comebacker struck him on the pitching hand. He thankfully escaped major injury and was back on the mound about three weeks later, but the Cardinals torched him for nine runs in an outing that saw him record just two outs. That ballooned his ERA to 11.42, and the Brewers designated him for assignment the next day.
Twenty-eight other teams had the opportunity to claim Varland, though doing so would’ve meant committing to carrying him on the active roster, as his Rule 5 restrictions would’ve followed him to a new club. Once he went unclaimed, the Brewers had to offer him back to the Dodgers, who’ll now plug Varland back into the upper levels of their system and hope he can recapture some of that eye-catching spring form he showed with the Brew Crew. With Varland back in the Dodgers’ system, six of the 15 players selected in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft have been returned to their original organizations. There’s still another six on active big league rosters, plus three more on their teams’ Major League injured list.
Turning to Lauer, it’s unclear how serious his injury is or how long he is expected to be out of action, but it will be a frustrating and challenging development for the Brewers regardless. The club has already seen each of Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Aaron Ashby and Jason Alexander head to the injured list this season and now Lauer will join them, putting yet another dent into the club’s rotation depth.
Lauer wasn’t off to a great start here in 2023, having posted a 5.48 ERA through his first 42 2/3 innings. His 21.9% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 25.4% ground ball rate are all worse than league average. He had been much better in the previous two seasons, posting a combined 3.47 ERA over 2021 and 2022 while striking out 23.8% of opponents and walking just 8.7%. Perhaps the shoulder issue has been bothering him prior to this IL placement as his velocity is down on all five of his pitches, relative to last year.
That at least gives some hope of him returning to his previous form once he has time to heal up, but the club will still have to improvise with their starting mix in the meantime. The rotation currently consists of Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser and Colin Rea, with one spot needing to be filled. Bryse Wilson has plenty of starting experience but has been in the bullpen with the big league club and can’t be sent down to get stretched out because he’s out of options. Janson Junk is on the 40-man and was called up for a spot start earlier this season, but he’s not throwing exceptionally well in Triple-A this year. He has a 3.86 ERA through 35 innings but a much higher 5.38 FIP thanks to a tepid 17.7% strikeout rate and .277 batting average on balls in play. Robert Gasser is one of the club’s more interesting pitching prospects but he has a 4.74 ERA in Triple-A so far this season and isn’t on the 40-man. Thomas Pannone isn’t on the 40-man either but has major league experience and currently sports a 2.66 ERA in Triple-A this season.