Mariners Designate Marcus Wilson For Assignment
The Mariners announced Saturday that they’ve designated outfielder Marcus Wilson for assignment and selected the contract of left-hander Brennan Bernardino from Triple-A Tacoma. Left-hander Tommy Milone, meanwhile, has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a cervical muscle strain.
Wilson made his MLB debut earlier this season, when Seattle selected his contract from Triple-A in late June. A member of the active roster for a little over a week, Wilson got into three games and made six plate appearances during this cup of coffee in the majors. The 25-year-old is a veteran of eight minor league seasons with the Diamondbacks, Red Sox, and Mariners, breaking in as a second-round pick for Arizona in the 2014 draft. Wilson came to Seattle via another trip to the DFA wire, as the Mariners claimed him away from Boston last year.
Wilson has a respectable .250/.352/.406 slash line and 66 home runs in an even 2800 PA in his minor league career. Between this decent bat and the ability to play all three outfield positions, Wilson has some value to any team looking for outfield depth.
The veteran Milone has a 5.40 ERA in 16 2/3 innings this season, after Seattle selected his minors contract to the big league roster last month. The M’s have been relatively short on left-handed relief options all season, as Ryan Borucki is the now the only veteran southpaw in the bullpen. It stands to reason that the Mariners will explore adding more relievers before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but Milone’s injury also gives Bernardino the opportunity to make his Major League debut.
A 26th-round pick for the Reds back in the 2014 draft, Bernardino pitched in the Cincinnati and Cleveland farm systems for the first six seasons of his pro career. He then turned to the Mexican League, and was pitching for Toros de Tijuana when Seattle inked him to a minor league deal earlier this season. Bernardino’s return to affiliated ball has been quite successful, with a 3.07 ERA, 7.1% walk rate, and a whopping 40.5% strikeout rate in 44 innings as a starter with Triple-A Tacoma.
Berardino will likely be deployed in a long relief role for as long as he’s on the big league roster, and he could even be a spot starter candidate. While the Mariners have six starters on paper, the club will be looking to limit the innings of George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, so Berardino could jump in as a piggyback starter or perhaps as a full-fledged starter.
Marlins Designate Jimmy Yacabonis For Assignment
The Marlins have selected the contract of righty Nick Neidert and designated fellow right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster, per the team. A 26-man roster spot was opened by placing lefty Daniel Castano on the seven-day concussion-related injured list. Miami also announced that Garrett Cooper (who is on the 10-day injured list due to a minor wrist injury) is beginning a minor league rehab assignment today.
Yacabonis inked a minor league deal with the Marlins just after the lockout ended, and after his contract was selected in June, the righty posted a 6.75 ERA over 9 1/3 innings in a Marlins uniform. It marked Yacabonis’ first MLB action since the 2020 season, as he spent last year in the Mariners organization but didn’t take the hill for the big league club.
Since Yacabonis is out of minor league options, Miami had to turn to the DFA route to remove him from the active roster. With only a 5.80 ERA to show for 113 1/3 career frames in the majors, Yacabonis doesn’t jump out as an obvious candidate to be claimed, as the right-hander has been plagued by walks and home runs throughout his time in the Show. That said, Yacabonis’ strikeout rate in both the majors and minors this season is far and away his career best, so another club could be intrigued by this seeming newfound ability to miss bats. Free agency is also a possibility rather than a DFA claim, as since Yacabonis has been outrighted previously in his career, he has the ability to reject an outright assignment and become a free agent.
Neidert was himself outrighted off the 40-man roster after the Marlins designated him for assignment back in April, and he’ll now be in line for his first Major League appearance of the 2022 season, starting today’s game against the Mets. With Castano, Trevor Rogers, and Max Meyer all being lost to the injured list within the last week, Neidert will step into the rotation and get an opportunity to carve a niche for himself in a pitching-deep organization.
Neidert has seen action in each of the previous two MLB seasons, with a 4.70 ERA over 44 innings (starting seven of 12 career games). Originally acquired by Miami as part of the trade that sent Dee Strange-Gordon to the Mariners back in 2017, Neidert has posted some solid numbers at the Triple-A level, relying on strong control and soft contact moreso than a lot of strikeouts. That said, Neidert’s 27.2% strikeout rate over 40 innings at Triple-A Jacksonville this season is the highest of his career.
Cubs, Dodgers Swap Chris Martin For Zach McKinstry
The Dodgers have made one of the first bullpen pickups of note prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline, announcing Saturday that they’ve acquired right-hander Chris Martin from the Cubs in exchange for infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry.
Martin, 36, is playing the 2022 season on a one-year, $2.5MM contract he signed as a free agent this winter. His deal comes with $750K worth of incentives, paid out in the form of a $100K bonus for reaching each of 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 appearances, plus $125K for spending 40 and 90 days on the active roster.
Martin has already appeared in 34 games and logged 31 1/3 innings of 4.31 ERA ball this season, although fielding-independent metrics are far more bullish (3.02 FIP, 2.09 SIERA). Martin has been uncharacteristically homer-prone this year but has maintained his elite command of the strike zone. He’s punched out 30.1% of his opponents thus far and walked just four of the 133 batters he’s faced (3.1%). One of those free passes was of the intentional variety, it should be noted, and Martin has also yet to hit a batter this season.
The towering 6’8″ Martin is one of the more notable overseas success stories in recent years. After a nondescript run with the Rockies and Yankees in 2014-15, he signed with Japan’s Nippon-Ham Fighters and tore through NPB lineups over a brilliant two-year stint there. He signed with the Rangers for the 2018 campaign and, after a pedestrian first season back in MLB has solidified himself as a quality late-inning reliever. Over the past four seasons, Martin touts a 3.46 ERA with a 26.5% strikeout rate and an impeccable 3% walk rate. Among the 431 pitchers who’ve thrown at least 100 big league innings in that time, Martin’s walk rate is the second-lowest in the game (narrowly trailing former teammate Josh Tomlin‘s 2.9% mark).
Martin will give manager Dave Roberts some reinforcement in what’s been a generally strong but also very injury-plagued relief corps. Dodgers relievers rank sixth in the Majors with s 3.37 ERA, but they’ve lost Daniel Hudson for the season (torn ACL), aren’t clear when Blake Treinen (shoulder) will return, and also have each of Brusdar Graterol, Victor Gonzalez and Tommy Kahnle on the injured list at present.
In return for their one-year investment in Martin, the Cubs will acquire as many as five additional seasons of control over the 27-year-old McKinstry, who made his debut with the 2020 Dodgers and has been an up-and-down utility option in L.A. since that time. A lefty hitter with experience at second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield spots (albeit just 18 innings in center), McKinstry has posted just a .210/.266/.403 batting line in the big leagues. That’s come in a tiny sample of 193 plate appearances, however, and he’s been outstanding during his time at the Triple-A level.
McKinstry, a former 33rd-round pick, has logged 489 plate appearances with Triple-A Oklahoma City in parts of three seasons and put together a huge .323/.401/.550. The Pacific Coast League is a known hitters’ haven, but McKinstry has nonetheless been well above league-average on a rate basis and racked up an impressive 18 home runs, 25 doubles and nine triples there. He’s fanned in just 15.7% of his plate appearances and walked at a 10.8% clip as well.
While McKinstry likely profiles more as a utility player than a starter at the big league level, there’s at least a chance he could hit enough to be a regular at second base — his best defensive position. If not, he’ll give the Cubs someone to bounce around the diamond as a valuable role player for the foreseeable future. McKinstry will be out of minor league options next season, so he should receive ample opportunity sooner than later.
ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported that Martin had been traded to the Dodgers (Twitter link). Patrick Mooney of The Athletic first reported that McKinstry was headed to the Cubs in return (Twitter link).
Trevor Story Has Hairline Fracture In Wrist
Red Sox second baseman Trevor Story has been diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right wrist, manager Alex Cora announced to reporters Saturday (Twitter link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). He’ll be shut down from swinging a bat for the next 10 to 14 days.
Story has been out since being plunked by a Corey Kluber sinker back on July 12. Initial x-rays of his hand and wrist came back negative, but the 29-year-old was recently sent for a second opinion with a hand specialist after his recovery failed to progress. That visit revealed the fracture and prompted the forthcoming shutdown. The Sox have not yet provided a timetable for when he might return, but by the time that shutdown period is up, he’ll have already been out nearly a month. He’ll surely require a minor league rehab assignment of some length, putting his earliest plausible return at some point in mid-August.
Signed to a six-year, $140MM contract over the winter, Story got out to a brutal start in his first season with Boston and looked to have turned things around with a torrid showing in May. He’s again fallen into a slump at the plate, however, and while he’s hit for solid power thus far, his overall .221/.289/.423 slash is well shy of what the Sox had envisioned when signing him.
The Red Sox have, perhaps not coincidentally, picked up some depth at second base in recent days, bringing old friends Danny Santana and Jose Peraza back to the organization on minor league contracts. Between Story’s newly found fracture and Enrique Hernandez‘s status on the 60-day injured list, it’s not a surprise to see some veteran depth added to the minor league fold. It’s also plausible that the Sox will need to tap into some of their depth following Tuesday’s trade deadline. Boston has made clear that Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers aren’t going anywhere, but the Sox could still move some veteran rentals (e.g. Christian Vazquez, J.D. Martinez) as they come to grips with a disappointing first four months of the season.
Rockies, Daniel Bard Agree To Extension
1:05pm: Bard’s contract will guarantee him “about $19MM,” Feinsand tweets.
12:52pm: The Rockies and closer Daniel Bard are finalizing a contract extension, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of the New York Post, meanwhile, reports that the Rockies have already reached an agreement on a two-year extension for Bard, a client of ISE Baseball (Twitter links).
All indications throughout the summer have been that the Rockies aren’t interested in trading the 37-year-old Bard and rather hoped to keep him beyond the current season. It now appears they’ve succeeded in that goal.
On paper, Bard seemed like the optimal trade candidate: a 37-year-old reliever on an expiring contract and in the midst of a dominant season for a last-place team. The Rockies, however, march to the beat of their own drum perhaps more than any team in the sport and have made a habit of hanging onto conventional trade candidates, even if it means losing key players for nothing, as they did last summer when declining to trade Jon Gray and surprisingly choosing not to issue him a qualifying offer.
Rockies owner Dick Monfort has outwardly spoken about his belief that the team has the makings of a winning club, even if the on-field results have overwhelmingly suggested otherwise in recent seasons. General manager Bill Schmidt, who was elevated from scouting director to the GM’s chair last year after GM Jeff Bridich’s dismissal, plainly told Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette earlier this month that he did not envision being a major seller at this year’s deadline because the organization believes in the talent on the roster. Manager Bud Black has echoed similar sentiments in recent days, rhetorically questioning why the team would trade a “Range Rover” (Bard) for a “Honda Accord” (a package of minor league prospects, presumably).
While it’s certainly fair to question the inherently risky decision to extend a 37-year-old reliever, it’s simultaneously easy to see how the Rockies have become enamored of Bard in the ninth inning. Merely making it back to the Majors after a seven-year absence would’ve been a feel-good story on its own, but Bard not only engineered one of the most improbable comebacks in recent memory — he’s quickly ascended to the ranks of the elite in MLB.
A late-season swoon sent Bard’s 2021 ERA soaring to 5.21 following the trade deadline, but he’s been an absolute powerhouse in Black’s bullpen this year, pitching to a 1.91 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate and a 53.8% ground-ball rate. Bard’s 12.2% walk rate is noticeably higher than the league-average mark of 9.1% among relievers, but his penchant for grounders and inducing generally weak contact (87.2 mph average exit velocity) has helped him to mitigate any damage that might arise from at-times spotty control. Bard is also averaging a blistering 98.1 mph on a sinker that can reach triple-digits and make hitters look downright foolish at times.
Relievers are volatile, as Bard himself has shown with his 2021 and 2022 results, so there’s plenty of risk that this deal turns out poorly for the Rockies. The current version of Bard, though, is about as good a reliever as you’ll find anywhere in the league — and the Rockies are clearly confident in his ability to sustain this output even as he approaches his 40th birthday.
From a payroll vantage point, Bard will add another notable salary to a 2023 roster that could well set a new franchise-record in payroll before the front office makes a single roster move. The Rox had $110MM on next year’s books already, and that was before factoring in Bard’s new extension and an $18MM player option that Charlie Blackmon seems likely to exercise. Colorado will also owe arbitration raises to each of Robert Stephenson, Garrett Hampson, Tyler Kinley, Peter Lambert, Austin Gomber and Brendan Rodgers. All of that should push the team right up against or somewhere beyond the current franchise-record mark of $145MM. Further additions this winter could send the Rockies into entirely new payroll territory.
The Rockies will take– and, based on social media reaction, already have taken — plenty of flak for their commitment to retaining a core of players that has generated only a .445 winning percentage dating back to the 2019 season. And while the team’s resistance to rebuilding and staunch belief that the makings of a contender are present can both fairly be questioned, it’s also somewhat refreshing to see a club continue to try to put together a winning club rather than lean into the type of arduous, multi-year rebuilds that have proliferated the sport in recent years. Even if this group never breaks through and emerges as a true postseason contender in future seasons, the Rockies are at least trying — and that’s more than several teams can say each season.
Cardinals, Phillies Swap Edmundo Sosa For JoJo Romero
The Phillies and Cardinals announced agreement on a trade sending infielder Edmundo Sosa from St. Louis to Philadelphia for left-handed reliever JoJo Romero. Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of the Athletic first reported Sosa was being traded to Philadelphia. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in the past couple days that the Cards have been discussing trades involving Sosa and could bring Paul DeJong back to the big league roster.
The Cards and Phillies enter play Saturday tied for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. It’s rare to see clubs this close in the standings exchange big leaguers, but the teams’ needs lined up well enough to facilitate a deal. Sosa had surpassed DeJong on the depth chart late last season, receiving the lion’s share of shortstop playing time down the stretch and putting up a solid .271/.346/.389 line over his first extended run in the big leagues. Yet both players have since been supplanted, as the arrival of top prospect Nolan Gorman at second base has pushed Tommy Edman across the bag to shortstop.
Sosa, kicked to the bench in a utility capacity, has struggled significantly in 2022. He’s not collected a single homer in 131 plate appearances, hitting only .189/.244/.270 with a 29% strikeout rate. He’s out of minor league option years, so the Cardinals had to either keep Sosa on the active roster or make him available to other teams. They initially chose to option out DeJong to keep both players on the 40-man roster, but the latter has gotten out a strong run at Triple-A Memphis of late. DeJong has a .249/.313/.552 showing with 17 homers in 230 plate appearances since being optioned, and he’ll seemingly be recalled to back up Gorman, Edman and utilityman Brendan Donovan as a power-hitting depth infielder.
Philadelphia has a less robust collection of infielders than does St. Louis, giving them more motivation to keep Sosa on the active roster and hope he rediscovers something approaching his 2021 form. The Phils have relied on Bryson Stott and Didi Gregorius in the middle infield of late, and Gregorius has struggled for the second consecutive year. The forthcoming return of Jean Segura from the injured list figures to kick Stott back to shortstop, and it’s worth wondering how the Phillies will handle the infield mix at that point. Gregorius could move into a utility role, but his .218/.274/.320 line could put his roster spot into jeopardy. Philadelphia could also choose to option either of Johan Camargo or Yairo Munoz, each of whom has played sporadically (primarily spelling Gregorius against left-handed pitching) in a utility infield capacity.
Sosa is only 26 years old, and he’s controllable through the 2026 season. He’s likely to qualify for arbitration this offseason as a Super Two player, but he wouldn’t command an exorbitant salary coming off a rough showing in sporadic playing time this year. The Phillies could keep him around for a while as a depth infielder if they’re committed to keeping him on the active roster.
In exchange, the Phils send a left-handed bullpen arm to St. Louis. Romero has appeared in 25 MLB games over the past three seasons, pitching to a 7.89 ERA in 21 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old has been quite home run prone in the big leagues, but he’s averaged nearly 95 MPH on his fastball and received decent grades on both his changeup and slider while he was a prospect.
Romero has missed the bulk of the past two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery last May, but he returned from the injured list a couple weeks ago. He’s in his second of three option seasons, so the Cards can move him between St. Louis and Memphis over the next year and a half if he holds his 40-man roster spot. St. Louis already has Genesis Cabrera, Zack Thompson, Packy Naughton and T.J. McFarland as left-handed relievers in the majors, but Romero adds a hard-throwing depth piece to the upper levels.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Royals Activate Salvador Perez From Injured List
The Royals announced Friday that catcher Salvador Perez has been reinstated from the injured list. Infielder Emmanuel Rivera was optioned to Triple-A Omaha to open a spot on the roster.
It’s a remarkably swift turnaround for the veteran Perez, who underwent surgery on June 24 to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. At the time of the surgery, manager Mike Matheny told reporters that doctors expected Perez to require about eight weeks to mend from the surgery. Instead, he’s back on the big league roster after exactly five weeks and having appeared in just three minor league rehab games (during which he went 4-for-8 with a double).
Perez, 32, is playing out the first season of a four-year, $82MM contract extension that stands as the largest contract in Royals franchise history. The seven-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner had a season for the ages in 2021 when he slugged a league-leading 48 homers and plated an MLB-best 121 runs, but the pendulum has swung in the other direction thus far in 2022. It’s been arguably the worst offensive season of Perez’s career, as he’s slashed just .211/.254/.426 through his first 236 trips to the plate.
Of course, the thumb issue that required surgical repair could well have played into those doldrums at the plate. Perez first went on the injured list in early May with what the team termed a sprain in his thumb, and while he returned in just three weeks’ time, he was back on the injured list and headed for surgery less than a month later.
The hope for both Perez and the Royals is that the newly mended thumb will bring about a return to form. No one should be surprised if Perez never matches his incredible 2021 output — it’s unrealistic to expect anyone, let alone a catcher with Perez’s workload to replicate those numbers — but there’s obviously quite a bit of room for improvement over his early scuffles at the dish.
Jonathan Villar Elects Free Agency
The Angels announced that veteran infielder Jonathan Villar has cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Villar, 31, began the season with the Cubs after signing a one-year, $6MM contract in free agency. It looked to be a nice enough value add by the Cubs, as Villar had been an above-average hitter with a nice blend of power and speed in two of the past three seasons (the exception being the shortened 2020 campaign). Even with an ugly showing in 2020, Villar came to the Cubs with a .259/.327/.417 slash over his past 1456 plate appearances.
Unfortunately for Villar and for both of the teams for which he’s suited up this year, his 2022 season looks a lot more like his 2020 campaign than his strong 2019 and 2021 years. The Cubs cut Villar loose after he hit just .222/.271/.327 through 166 plate appearances, and things deteriorated even further with the Angels. In 54 trips to the plate as a Halo, Villar hit just .163/.226/.224.
This year’s rough showing notwithstanding, Villar is a 10-year Major League veteran with a decent track record and some versatility. The switch-hitting Villar has logged 3456 career innings at shortstop, 2911 innings at second base and 1380 innings at third base (to say nothing of some very brief forays into outfield work). He hasn’t been considered a strong defender at any of the three positions but, until the 2022 season at least, had generally rated as a roughly average option at second base.
Villar could very well still latch on with a club looking for some infield depth, although given this season’s struggles, he’ll likely be asked to settle for a minor league deal and look to get back on track in Triple-A.
Yankees Re-Sign Ryan Weber, Shane Greene To Minor League Deals
The Yankees have re-signed right-handers Ryan Weber and Shane Greene to minor league deals, per an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Joining that pair in Scranton will be veteran reliever Richard Rodriguez, who inked a minor league deal earlier this month once he’d finished serving an 80-game PED suspension. Rodriguez has been building up with the Yankees’ Florida Complex League affiliate but is now headed for Triple-A.
This is old hat by now for Weber, who is signing his fourth minor league deal of the season with the Yankees. On three different occasions now, Weber has been selected to the 40-man roster, pitched in one game, been designated for assignment and elected free agency after clearing waivers. Each time, he’s returned on a new minor league deal. In all likelihood, this scenario will play out again the next time the Yankees need some length in the bullpen — or possibly a spot start. The journeyman Weber has pitched well both with the Yankees and the RailRiders this season, but his overall track record in the Majors is fairly pedestrian: 174 2/3 innings, 5.10 ERA, 14.7% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate.
Greene, meanwhile, made his MLB debut with the Yankees back in 2014 and was traded to the Tigers in the three-team deal that brought Didi Gregorius to the Bronx. He went on to have a long run as a quality setup man and occasional closer for the Tigers and Braves, but Greene’s production has slipped in recent years. He returned to the Yankees on a minor league deal earlier this season and, like Weber, was briefly selected to the Majors and then designated for assignment after one lone appearance, during which he allowed a pair of runs. It wouldn’t be a shock if Greene received another look and again followed the same cycle that Weber has for much of the year.
Brewers, A’s Have Discussed Ramon Laureano
The Brewers are known to be in the market for outfield help — specifically in center field — and they’ve had recent talks with the Athletics about a potential trade involving Oakland outfielder Ramon Laureano, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes.
The 28-year-old Laureano is just one of several Athletics players who could change hands in the coming days. He missed the first month-plus of the season while finishing out an 80-game PED ban and has turned in a .224/.305/.396 batting line with 10 homers, 14 doubles and nine stolen bases in 285 plate appearances since returning.
Those numbers certainly don’t stand out as overly impressive, but when factoring in Laureano’s cavernous home park, wRC+ pegs his overall offensive output at about five percent above that of a league-average hitter. Laureano has been average or better each season of his career, by measure of wRC+, and carries a lifetime .256/.330/.452 batting line in 1542 trips to the plate.
Cristian Pache‘s presence on the A’s roster — at least, prior to his demotion to Triple-A — pushed Laureano from center field to right field upon his return from the restricted list. He’s drawn quality marks for his glovework in right (+4 Defensive Runs Saved, 2.7 Ultimate Zone Rating) but curiously posted dismal numbers through 169 innings in center this season (-7 Defensive Runs Saved, -3 UZR, -3 Outs Above Average).
Laureano has a solid overall track record in center, however, and the Brewers are understandably on the hunt for options there after parting ways with Lorenzo Cain earlier this season. Twenty-eight-year-old Tyrone Taylor has stepped up as a frequent option in center, but his bat has wilted after a hot showing in May. Since June 1, Taylor is hitting just .198/.234/.358 with a 29.7% strikeout rate. Jonathan Davis has also seen time in center, providing good defense and also drawing some walks out of the nine-spot in the order, but he also has just one extra-base hit (a double) in 75 plate appearances.
Circling back to Laureano’s PED suspension, while it understandably will lead to some skepticism regarding Laureano’s prior performance, it should also be noted that the suspension effectively extended the Athletics’ club control over the outfielder. Laureano did not receive pay or service time while on the restricted list and entered the season with three years, 14 days of MLB service time. As such, he needed 158 days of service to reach four years and remain on track for free agency following the 2024 season. By the time Laureano was reinstated from that suspension, however, only 151 days of the current season remained.
As such, Laureano should be controllable for three more years beyond the current season, as opposed to the previously scheduled two. He’ll be eligible for arbitration raises in each of the three coming campaigns, building upon this year’s modest $2MM salary. That’s plenty affordable for any team but may hold particular appeal to a Brewers club with a massive arbitration class (headlined by Josh Hader, Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Willy Adames).
The extended club control, however, also lessens the Athletics’ urgency to sell Laureano at all — particularly at a time when his offensive production is down a tick from prior seasons. If teams aren’t willing to put forth a compelling offer, the A’s can just hang onto Laureano into the offseason and revisit talks then, when he’d still have three full seasons of club control remaining.
In addition to the Brewers, the Marlins are also known to have interest in Laureano, and the Phillies, too, have been in search of center field upgrades.