Ryan Weber Elects Free Agency
The Yankees announced Monday that right-hander Ryan Weber rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency. That indicates that Weber, who was designated for assignment last week, first went unclaimed on outright waivers. Because he’s been outrighted previously in his career, Weber had the right to reject the assignment.
New York was the sixth stop for the well-traveled Weber, a 31-year-old journeyman who’s seen at least brief Major League time in every season dating back to 2015. Though he’s never appeared in more than 18 games or topped 43 innings in a single Major League season, Weber has slowly racked up 170 2/3 innings at the game’s top level. He made just one appearance for the Yankees after being selected to their Major League roster, during which he held the Rays to one run on two hits with no walks and a strikeout in 3 2/3 frames. A solo homer to catcher Francisco Mejia proved to be his lone blemish that day.
That solid outing aside, Weber owns a career 5.22 ERA in the big leagues, generally relying on a big 53.2% grounder rate and a strong 5.4% walk rate to help offset his lack of velocity (89.1 mph average sinker) and lack of missed bats (14.8% strikeout rate, 5.9% swinging-strike rate). Weber has had some decent stretches in the big leagues and has been far more effective as a reliever (4.49 ERA in 100 1/3 innings) than as a starter (6.27 ERA in 70 1/3 frames).
Despite never finding much consistent success in the Majors, Weber has had plenty of just that down in Triple-A. The former 22nd-rounder (Braves, 2009) has appeared in parts of seven Triple-A campaigns with a 3.14 ERA, an 18% strikeout rate and a tiny 4.4% walk rate in 485 innings. That includes a sharp showing with the same Scranton affiliate to which he just refused an outright assignment; in 21 1/3 innings with the RailRiders this year, Weber posted a 2.95 ERA with a 15-to-1 K/BB ratio and a 47.1% ground-ball rate.
Dodgers Exploring Market For Right-Handed Platoon Bat In Right Field
The Dodgers took a huge hit over the weekend when Mookie Betts was placed on the injured list due to a cracked rib, and they’re already looking at ways to help weather the storm in his absence. Los Angeles exploring ways to acquire a right-handed-hitting outfielder to platoon with lefty-swinging Eddy Alvarez while waiting on Betts to heal, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). They’re looking to expend only “minimal prospect cost” in such a deal, which suggests they’re looking at low-cost stopgaps rather than a higher-profile name.
Were it not for a tough-luck injury to veteran Kevin Pillar, the Dodgers might’ve already had that solution in house. Pillar, however, suffered a fracture in his shoulder shortly after being called to the Majors and will miss the remainder of the season following the subsequent surgery to address the issue.
There’s no way to fully replace the value provided by Betts, who is again one of the game’s top all-around players. The former NL MVP was hitting .273/.349/.535 with 17 home runs, 13 doubles, six stolen bases and his typical brand of all-world defense in right field. There’s no firm indication as to how long Betts will be shelved. Manager Dave Roberts expressed optimism about a two-week absence, but that’s a best-case scenario. That the Dodgers are seeking low-cost, ostensibly short-term platoon options speaks to that optimism, but there’s little to be done about a rib fracture of this nature other than rest it and let it heal. Only time will tell the rate at which Betts’ rib mends.
The 32-year-old Alvarez doesn’t have any kind of big league track record to inspire much hope (.190/.277/.276 in 130 plate appearances), but he’s crushed Triple-A pitching at a .304/.430/.500 clip so far in 2022 and has had similarly productive Triple-A showings with the 2019 and 2021 Marlins. It’s sensible that, for the time being, the Dodgers would look to go with some in-house options to patch things over. Even the most obvious sellers on the summer trade market aren’t going to be motivated to sell yet — not with so many teams still trying to gauge their own playoff chances — and taking a short-term approach gives them some time to evaluate just how long Betts will need to recover.
The focus on low-cost platoon options removes the Dodgers from the mix for higher-profile names like Oakland’s Ramon Laureano and Baltimore’s Trey Mancini — at least for now — but still ought to leave plenty of scenarios to explore. Speaking purely speculatively, a big leaguer like Arizona’s Jordan Luplow would make sense both with Betts out and then as a bench piece moving forward, though the D-backs may want an actual prospect in return — especially from a division rival. Then again, given that the larger half of the proposed platoon (Alvarez) is a relative unknown, perhaps the Dodgers will be content to hunt for a similarly obscure solution on the short side of the platoon — be it an accomplished minor league slugger (e.g. Trayce Thompson, Jaylin Davis) or someone who’s yet to make their MLB debut at all.
If it appears at any point as though Betts is in for a lengthier absence, the possibility of a larger-scale move will improve. For now, small-scale swaps or even in-house promotions are the likelier first course of action. For instance, Rosenthal notes that third base prospect Miguel Vargas, who’s hitting .278/.376/.475 in Triple-A Oklahoma City, could be an option. The 22-year-old Vargas, ranked among baseball’s top 100 prospects at MLB.com and Baseball America, hasn’t played any outfield his professional career, however.
Mariners Designate Sergio Romo, Roenis Elias For Assignment
The Mariners announced four roster moves Monday, reinstating righty Ken Giles from the 60-day injured list and recalling infielder Kevin Padlo from Triple-A Tacoma. In order to create roster space, right-hander Sergio Romo and lefty Roenis Elias were designated for assignment.
Romo, signed to a one-year, $2MM deal late in the offseason after it was learned that Casey Sadler required season-ending shoulder surgery, was sharp through his first month as a Mariner but has seen the wheels come off in dramatic fashion. The 39-year-old sidearmer yielded just one run through his first eight innings before the Orioles tattooed him for five runs in two-third of an inning back on June 1.
That marked the beginning of a monumental meltdown that has seen the three-time World Series champion and former All-Star serve up a dozen runs in his past 6 1/3 frames. Romo has allowed runs in five of his past nine appearances, giving up multiple runs in an outing four times during that calamitous stretch.
Given the extent of those struggles and the fact that he’s on a guaranteed salary (albeit a fairly modest one), Romo is quite likely to go unclaimed on waivers and become a free agent. Any team that wants to speculate on helping him right the ship would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the Majors at that point. Romo hasn’t experienced a velocity drop — he’s still sitting at 85.6 mph with his sinker and in the 77-78 range with his signature slider — and is still inducing chases off the plate at a huge 37.8% clip. Given that context and his broader track record, he ought to have another opportunity out there — particularly if he’s willing to take a minor league deal somewhere.
As for the 33-year-old Elias, he’s pitched far better with the Mariners in 2022, albeit in a smaller sample of 7 2/3 innings. During that time, the veteran lefty has fanned six of 33 opponents (18.2%) while walking three (9.1%) and inducing grounders at a robust 50% clip. That marks Elias’ first big league action since the 2019 season, as he was sidelined for much of the 2020-21 seasons due to arm injuries — culminating in Tommy John surgery last March.
Elias has been similarly solid in Triple-A this year, notching a 3.63 ERA with a 17.6% strikeout rate against a sharp 6.8% walk rate and a 44.6% grounder rate in 17 1/3 innings. It’s possible he’ll hold some appeal to bullpen-hungry clubs, particularly those in need of a lefty. In 395 2/3 innings at the MLB level, Elias has a 3.96 ERA — although that mark is at 3.30 dating back to a 2017 move to the bullpen.
Giles, 31, will be activated for his team debut. Signed to a two-year, $7MM contract knowing he’d miss the first year of the deal recovering from 2020 Tommy John surgery, Giles brings a a triple-digit heater and 115 career saves to the Seattle bullpen. His minor league rehab assignment, however, was grisly. The former Phillies, Astros and Blue Jays closer logged 7 1/3 innings between High-A and Triple-A but was shellacked for 16 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits and eight walks in that time. Giles also served up four long balls in that stretch.
Some rust after a long layoff is to be expected, but those minor league struggles are nevertheless eye-opening. However, it’s worth noting that in addition to that 2020 Tommy John procedure, Giles suffered a strained tendon in his pitching hand back in Spring Training, which sent him back to the IL for the first two-plus months of the season.
At his best, Giles has shown the ability to be one of the game’s very best relievers. He tallied 53 innings of 1.87 ERA ball as recently as 2019 with Toronto, striking out 40% of his opponents along the way. And in 351 career innings, Giles boasts a 2.74 ERA with a huge 33.3% strikeout rate against a better-than-average 7.7% walk rate. Time will tell which version of the righty the Mariners are getting, but if he’s back to form, Giles could either be a key bullpen piece down the stretch or, if the Mariners continue to struggle, an appealing trade chip in six weeks’ time.
Read The Transcript Of Today’s Fantasy Baseball Chat With Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson has been writing about fantasy baseball for more than a decade and has considerable experience in Roto, H2H, dynasty, DFS, and experimental formats. As an expert in the field, Brad participates in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold format and was crowned the league’s winner in 2020. Brad’s writing experience includes RotoGraphs, NBC SportsEDGE, and right here at MLB Trade Rumors. He’s also presented at the First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball conference.
We’ll be hosting fantasy baseball-focused chats with Brad regularly, and feel free to drop him some questions on Twitter @BaseballATeam as well.
Click here to read a transcript of today’s fantasy baseball chat with Brad!
Rays Designate Chris Mazza For Assignment
The Rays announced Monday that they’ve reinstated right-hander Chris Mazza from the 60-day injured list and designated him for assignment. Mazza, who’s been sidelined since mid-April due to back spasms, saw his 20-day minor league rehab window run out and the Rays apparently didn’t see enough to bring him back to the big league roster. He’s out of minor league options, the team couldn’t simply send him down and had to designate him for assignment. Tampa Bay will now have a week to trade Mazza, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.
Mazza, 32, has seen big league time in each of the past four seasons, pitching to a combined 5.35 ERA in 79 innings with the Mets, Red Sox and Rays. He tossed 27 1/3 innings of 4.61 ERA ball for the Rays in 2021 but was torched for 10 runs (seven earned) in 5 1/3 innings this year before landing on the injured list.
Though he’s never missed bats at a high level (career 18.5% strikeout rate) and has a slightly worse-than-average career walk rate (9.2%), Mazza has also thrived when it comes to inducing feeble contact. That was particularly true with the 2021 Rays, when he allowed just an 85.5 mph average exit velocity and saw only 29.7% of batted balls against him clock in at 95 mph or more. Those trends went in the wrong direction this season, however, and Mazza’s rehab work in Durham clearly didn’t inspire enough confidence in his ability to right the ship. In 13 innings of Triple-A work, he yielded nine runs (seven earned) on 16 hits and six walks with 18 strikeouts.
Mets Recall Dominic Smith
With teams cutting their pitching staffs down to 13 on Monday, the Mets announced that they’ve recalled first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith from Triple-A Syracuse and placed righty Seth Lugo on the paternity list. Another arm will have to be sent out once Lugo returns from the paternity list later this week.
Smith was optioned to Triple-A earlier in the month after struggling through limited playing time and publicly acknowledging (when asked) that he’d prefer an opportunity to play every day — be it with the Mets or another club. He’s found more of a rhythm down in Syracuse, logging regular reps and hitting .266/.347/.438 with a pair of homers, five doubles, an 8.3% walk rate and a 16.7% strikeout rate in 72 plate appearances. Smith absolutely tore through International League pitching for the first two weeks after his demotion, though he’s fallen into a 3-for-24 skid over his past five games.
That’s a far cry from Smith’s 2019-20 form, when he was one of the NL’s best all-around hitters, posting a combined .299/.366/.571 slash with 21 homers in 396 trips to the plate. However, it’s also markedly better than the numbers he produced in 2021 while playing through a small tear in his shoulder (.244/.304/.363) or earlier this season in a heavily limited role (.186/.287/.256).
It’s possible this will be only a short-term move for Smith, as there’s still no clear path to regular playing time for him on the big league roster. Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte are one of the game’s most productive outfield trios, while Pete Alonso is enjoying some of the best production of his career at first base. J.D. Davis is hitting .339/.391/.452 over his past 20 games, mostly operating as the Mets’ designated hitter. One could argue in favor of Smith seeing regular DH work and Davis taking playing time from the struggling Eduardo Escobar at the hot corner, but Escobar was generally hitting fine before falling into a five-game hitless slump — and Davis’ defensive shortcomings are well-documented.
Ultimately, a trade of some sort seems like the most straightforward path to uncluttering the corner infield/designated hitter mix in Queens, with Smith or Davis standing as the most obvious possibilities to change hands. That said, there’s no pressure for the Mets to make an immediate move, and Smith could simply be optioned out again if the Mets want to add some more defensive versatility than he brings to the table. Both Smith and Davis have multiple minor league options remaining, meaning they can be freely optioned this year and next. It’s a relatively expensive pair of depth options to carry when there isn’t clear space for both on the 26-man roster — Smith is earning $3.95MM, Davis $2.76MM — but payroll issues of that nature are less concerning to the deep-pocketed Mets than to other clubs.
Red Sox Promote Jeter Downs, Designate James Norwood
The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve recalled infield prospect Jeter Downs from Triple-A Worcester and designated right-hander James Norwood for assignment.
It’ll be the Major League debut for Downs whenever he first steps onto the field for a game. Acquired alongside Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong in the trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers, Downs was once widely ranked among the sport’s 100 best prospects but has seen his stock tumble following a pair of poor showings in Triple-A. In 53 games so far with the WooSox, the 23-year-old Downs is hitting just .180/.297/.397 with a 31.1% strikeout rate in 222 plate appearances. That actually represents a modest improvement over his struggles in a larger sample during the 2021 campaign. Overall, he’s now tallied 627 Triple-A plate appearances with just a .187/.281/.355 slash to show for it.
Those struggles notwithstanding, Downs will get his first big league look and give the Sox some extra infield depth at a time when both Christian Arroyo and Enrique Hernandez are on the injured list. Major League teams who’d been carrying 14 pitchers also need to cut their pitching staff back to 13 beginning today, and Downs was already on the 40-man roster, making him an easy name to recall. They’ll need a 40-man spot once Arroyo is cleared to return from the Covid-related injured list anyhow, so designating Norwood and briefly giving Downs a taste of the Majors is a sensible — albeit likely short-term — route to take for the time being.
Norwood, acquired from the Phillies for cash over the weekend, never appeared in a game with the Sox before what is now his third DFA in the past three months. The 28-year-old spent the bulk of Spring Training with the Padres but was designated for assignment late in camp and subsequently traded to Philadelphia for minor league infielder Kervin Pichardo. Norwood showed big velocity, an ability to miss bats and a knack for keeping the ball in the park during his 17 1/3 innings with the Phils. However, he also walked too many hitters, struggled to strand runners (both inherited and those he allowed to reach base), and generally yielded too much hard contact.
In those 17 1/3 frames with Philly, Norwood was tagged for an 8.31 ERA, causing his career mark through 44 1/3 innings to balloon to 5.48. It’s certainly possible that Norwood’s 96.8 mph average fastball and splitter that comes with a 42.7% whiff rate will get him a look from another team, be it via waivers or another small trade. He’s out of minor league options, though, so any interested club will need to carry him on the 40-man roster. The Red Sox will have a week to trade Norwood, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.
Twins Trade Daniel Robertson To Phillies
The Phillies have acquired utilityman Daniel Robertson from the Twins in exchange for cash, according to both teams‘ transaction logs at MLB.com. There’s been no formal announcement of the move by either club just yet.
It’s likely a depth move for the Phillies, who’ve lost Jean Segura (surgery to repair broken finger), Johan Camargo (knee strain) and Nick Maton (shoulder sprain) to the injured list since the calendar flipped to June. Robertson wasn’t on the 40-man roster with the Twins, and there’s no indication as of yet that the Phillies plan to select him to the big leagues at this time.
The trio of Phillies injuries has led to Didi Gregorius and top prospect Bryson Stott splitting middle-infield duties, with the former rebounding (somewhat) from an awful 2021 showing and the latter generally struggling to reach base in his first big league season. Gregorius’ power is nowhere to be seen, but he’s posted a .280/.345/.393 batting line through 119 plate appearances this season. Stott has begun to show some pop at the dish — four homers, two doubles in his past 19 games — but is still hitting just .215/.261/.431 in that stretch. The Phillies have also selected former Cardinals utilityman Yairo Munoz to the big league roster to add some depth to the bench, and Matt Vierling gives them another option — though he’s been used primarily as an outfielder thus far in his limited MLB work.
Robertson, 28, has appeared in parts of five Major League seasons, mostly with the Rays but also with the Giants (2020) and Brewers (2021). The former No. 34 overall draft pick (Athletics, 2012) looked to have broken out with the Rays in 2018 when he hit .262/.382/.415 in 340 plate appearances, but he’s posted just a .209/.317/.292 slash in 351 subsequent trips to the plate spanning the 2019-21 seasons. He’s appeared in 24 minor league games with the Twins and posted a combined e.220/.326/.390 batting line between their Complex League and Triple-A affiliates.
Robertson has played every position on the big league diamond other than catcher and center field, though he’s primarily spent his time at second base (816 innings), third base (601) and shortstop (569). In the estimation of defensive metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average, he’s drawn solid marks for his work at second base and below-average (but not awful) grades at those other two infield slots.
Phillies Select Yairo Munoz, Option Mickey Moniak
The Phillies have selected the contract of infielder Yairo Munoz from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and optioned center fielder Mickey Moniak back to Lehigh Valley in a corresponding 26-man roster move. Infielder Jean Segura was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Munoz. Segura suffered a broken finger a couple weeks back and is expected to miss up to 12 weeks of action as a result.
Munoz, 27, is hitting .319/.345/.454 in 172 plate appearances with the IronPigs so far in 2022. A solid utilityman with the Cardinals back in 2018, he’s struggled to recreate that year’s .276/.350/.413 output at the big league level. Munoz has consistently hit well against Triple-A pitching, though, and he’ll give the Phillies some additional infield cover with Segura, Johan Camargo and Nick Maton all on the injured list.
As for Moniak, the 24-year-old former No. 1 pick hasn’t gotten it going at the plate after getting a late start to the season due to a fractured hand suffered in Spring Training. He’s hit just .160/.250/.160 in a tiny sample of 25 plate appearances, and the Phils will give him a reset in Triple-A to try to get back on track there. At this point, it’s unlikely that Moniak ever matches the expectations so often associated with the top overall pick in the draft, but that doesn’t rule him out as a potentially useful contributor to the Phillies — either in 2022 or further down the road.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.