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Braves Release Matt Adams

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The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve released veteran first baseman Matt Adams. He was designated for assignment over the weekend when Atlanta acquired left-hander Tommy Milone from the Orioles.

Adams, 32, had a solid showing with the Braves in 2017 but returned with an ugly .184/.216/.347 slash in 51 plate appearances this season. The big slugger has long been a thorn in the side of right-handed pitching and long struggled against lefties. Between that and a defensive profile that limits him to first base (plus the occasional adventure in left field), Adams’ role has been that of a bench player for much of his time in the big leagues. He did provide some pop off the bench for the World Champion Nationals in 2019, slugging 20 big flies, but he also posted a lowly .276 on-base percentage.

Overall, Adams is a career .259/.307/.467 hitter in 2574 trips to the plate. Those numbers improve to .270/.322/.486 when you subtract his 452 unsightly plate appearances against lefties. A team looking for some thump off the bench could certainly pick Adams up and give him a look over the season’s final few weeks.

Rockies Claim Jesus Tinoco

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The Rockies have claimed right-hander Jesus Tinoco off waivers from the Marlins, per an announcement from both teams. Colorado traded Tinoco to Miami less than a month ago, receiving righty Chad Smith in return. The Rox will now have both right-handers in their organization. Tinoco has been optioned to the Rockies’ alternate training site.

Tinoco, 25, appeared in three games for the Marlins and tossed five hitless, scoreless innings. He walked three batters and picked up another three strikeouts along the way. Tinoco also logged 36 innings in the Colorado bullpen in 2019 and sports a career 4.17 ERA in his 41 frames. However, control problems have plagued Tinoco, and he appears rather fortunate to have maintained an ERA that respectable. The righty has averaged 5.5 walks and 2.6 home runs per nine innings in the big leagues, leading to an eye-popping 7.40 FIP and a 5.68 xFIP.

Originally acquired by the Rockies from the Blue Jays in the Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster, Tinoco has never missed bats or induced grounders at a particularly strong rate in the minors. The control issues that have emerged in the big leagues weren’t present throughout the bulk of his minor league career, however. Overall, Tinoco has a 4.71 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in parts of eight minor league seasons.

Mariners Claim Phil Ervin

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The Mariners announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder Phil Ervin off waivers from the Reds, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. Seattle also added right-hander Walker Lockett, another recent waiver claim, to the active roster.

Now 28 years old, Ervin was the 27th overall selection in the draft by the Reds back in 2013. He’s struggled immensely at the plate in 2020, going 3-for-35 with eight strikeouts and six walks. There’s some poor luck at play, evidenced by a ghastly .111 average on balls in play, but Ervin’s hard-hit rate has plummeted from 34.6 percent in 2018 to just 18.5 percent in 2020, per Statcast. He’s always been prone to weak contact when he doesn’t barrel the ball (career 85.4 mph exit velocity), but Ervin’s contact has been weak across the board in 2020.

That said, the 2020 season is a sample of just 42 plate appearances, and Ervin was a roughly league-average bat in parts of three prior seasons. From 2017-19, the former Samford University star hit .262/.326/.438 (98 wRC+ and OPS+) with 17 home runs, 23 doubles, eight triples and 14 stolen bases in 571 trips to the plate. He has experience at all three outfield positions but grades out much better in a corner than he has in his more limited sample of 283 center field innings (-1 DRS, -3.7 UZR).

Ervin doesn’t have minor league options remaining, so he’ll need to stick on the big league club or else be designated for assignment a second time. For now, he’ll give the Mariners a right-handed-hitting backup option in the outfield — one who could potentially fill that role again in future seasons if he shows well in his forthcoming audition.

White Sox Option Reynaldo Lopez

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The White Sox have optioned struggling right-hander Reynaldo Lopez to their alternate training site and recalled left-hander Bernardo Flores Jr., per a team announcement.

It’s a disappointing development for the 26-year-old Lopez but one the Sox clearly no longer felt they could avoid. Lopez was once regarded as one of baseball’s best overall prospects and was a key piece in the trade that sent Adam Eaton from Chicago to Washington, D.C. He’s been in the big leagues since his original promotion with the Sox back in Aug. 2017.

Lopez posted a solid 3.91 ERA through 188 2/3 frames with the Sox in 2018 — his first full Major League season. However, he did so with ugly peripheral metrics that painted him as a candidate for major regression, and that’s precisely what panned out. Dating back to Opening Day 2019, Lopez has a 5.53 ERA and 5.18 FIP in 193 2/3 innings for the South Siders. In 2020, he’s started four games but lasted only 9 2/3 innings overall. Along the way, he’s yielded 11 runs (nine earned) on 14 hits, eight walks and a hit batter with 10 strikeouts.

Were the Sox still in rebuild mode, perhaps they’d chalk this up to continued growing pains and keep trotting Lopez out against big league lineups. But the team’s drawn-out rebuilding process has reached its conclusion, and the White Sox are now squarely in win-now mode, making it harder to accept substandard outings like the one put together by Lopez yesterday. In a key match against the division-rival Twins, Lopez was unable to escape the second inning, allowing three runs on four hits and a pair of walks. He used 53 pitches to record his five outs.

Even when Lopez was considered a premier prospect, there were some scouts who felt his ultimate home would be in the bullpen. He’s worked closer to a true three-pitch mix in 2020 and, in his two most recent outings, thrown primarily fastballs and sliders. Given his ongoing struggles in the rotation, perhaps there will be some intrigue within the organization to see how Lopez would handle short-relief stints that allow him to ramp up his fastball velocity and focus on a two-pitch mix.

With Lopez out of the mix for at least the foreseeable future, it appears the Sox will roll with Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease and perhaps Dane Dunning as the top four in their rotation. Carlos Rodon was said over the weekend to be nearing a return, and the Sox also have veteran southpaw Gio Gonzalez on the mend from a groin strain.

Flores, recalled in place of Lopez, could be an option to start a game as well. He made 15 starts for Chicago’s Double-A affiliate last year, totaling 78 1/3 innings with a 3.33 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 53.3 percent ground-ball rate. He’s yet to pitch in the big leagues, so whether his first appearance comes as a starter or out of the ’pen, that’ll mark his MLB debut. Flores isn’t considered one of the system’s elite prospects, but he ranks on the back half of the top 30 at MLB.com (19) and FanGraphs (27).

Jordy Mercer Accepts Outright Assignment

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The Yankees announced that veteran infielder Jordy Mercer has accepted an outright assignment to the team’s alternate training site. He was designated for assignment Tuesday, just days after having his contract selected on Aug. 28. Mercer has enough service time that he could’ve rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, but he’ll instead head to the Yankees’ alternate site. As a result, he’ll remain in New York’s 60-man player pool and be eligible to return later in the season should the team wish to re-add him to the 40-man roster.

Mercer, 34, went 2-for-11 with a pair of walks in six games and 13 total plate appearances with the Yankees. The nine-year MLB veteran was Pittsburgh’s everyday shortstop from 2013-18, hitting .257/.317/.383 in 779 games along the way.

Mercer spent last year with the Tigers — his first anywhere other than the Pirates — and salvaged what was shaping up to be a dismal season with an excellent .312/.343/.512 slash in his final 48 games. He returned to the Tigers in 2020 but was cut loose early in the year when they opted to give younger talent a look as their rebuild progresses. He can play all over the infield, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see Mercer return later this month should an injury pop up in the Yankees’ infield.

Twins Outright Danny Coulombe

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The Twins have assigned left-hander Danny Coulombe outright to their alternate training site after he cleared waivers, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets.

The 30-year-old Coulombe only pitched in two games with the Twins in the short time between the selection his contract and a subsequent late-August DFA. He pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings between those two contests, walking three hitters but also picking up three strikeouts.

Coulombe has appeared in parts of six Major League seasons, 2020 included, and notched a collective 4.19 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.0 BB/9 and a 56 percent ground-ball rate. He’s found a new gear in terms of strikeouts over the past two seasons in Triple-A, punching out 61 hitters in just 36 1/3 innings. He’ll stick with the Twins in their 60-man player pool and is eligible to return to the club later this season should the need for some bullpen reinforcements arise.

Additional Context On Padres’ Flurry Of Trades

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The Padres were the most active buyer at the 2020 trade deadline — arguably of any trade deadline in recent history — reshaping their roster with additions of Mike Clevinger, Austin Nola, Trevor Rosenthal, Mitch Moreland and Jason Castro, among others. The dizzying sequence of additions hearkened back to the days when Matt Kemp labeled A.J. Preller a “rock star” GM during Preller’s frenetic first offseason on the job, but the biggest trades swung by the Padres over the weekend didn’t necessarily come together in straightforward fashion.

Preller, in fact, was informed Sunday evening that his Padres were “out” of the Clevinger bidding, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The Indians told the Padres that they were sitting on a better offer and likely to proceed in another direction. That call prompted the club to reconvene and alter its package, ultimately adding infield prospect Owen Miller and catcher Austin Hedges early Monday morning. Those pieces put San Diego’s offer over the top, it seems, as word of Clevinger’s trade to the Friars was out several hours before the 4pm ET deadline.

Hedges and Miller, the final two pieces of the Padres’ six-player package, added quite a bit more near-term value to the arrangement. Hedges is considered one of the best defensive catchers (if not the best) in the game and is controlled through the 2022 season. The 23-year-old Miller has yet to make his big league debut, but he slashed .290/.355/.430 in a full season at the Double-A level last year while playing three infield positions. He’s in Cleveland’s player pool now and could conceivably be an option this month. If not, he’ll certainly be in consideration for a call to the big leagues come 2021. With Cesar Hernandez playing on a one-year deal, it’s possible that Miller could be in the mix for regular playing time next season.

But the Clevinger blockbuster wasn’t the only Friars swap that required some persistent iterations. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters after trading Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres that he didn’t expect to trade Nola this summer (as opposed to Taijuan Walker, whom the M’s fully anticipated moving).

“They had called repeatedly on Austin Nola and we had repeatedly rebuffed that interest until the return just became too big for us to pass up in our minds,”  Dipoto said Monday (link via MLB.com’s Greg Johns).

The key element of the trade for the Mariners was getting both infielder Ty France and outfield prospect Taylor Trammell in the deal. Dipoto didn’t hide his affinity for either player, revealing that he’s contacted the Padres on France repeatedly over the past couple seasons and been similarly drawn to Trammell dating all the way back to the 2016 draft. “As many phone calls as A.J. made to me this last week about Austin Nola, I have made as many to him over the last couple of years regarding Ty France,” said Dipoto.

With Nola and Castro now on hand, the Padres have completely remade their catching tandem midseason, but changes could yet be coming. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (subscription required) that the club is contemplating a September promotion for 21-year-old Luis Campusano — a top-ranked catching prospect who was an in-demand piece himself at this year’s deadline. Per Lin, both the Indians and Rangers asked the Padres about Campusano in trade negotiations, but the Friars clearly weren’t inclined to include him in a deal. Cleveland initially sought Campusano and Luis Patino as centerpieces in the Clevinger deal, while the Rangers were interested in that pair as well as shortstop CJ Abrams when discussing Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo with the Padres.

The 21-year-old Campusano has yet to play above Class-A Advanced, but he tore through the pitcher-friendly California League last year, slashing .325/.396/.509 (148 wRC+). If the Padres do bring him up, they could rotate him, Nola and Castro through the catcher slot while maximizing Nola’s versatility with reps at any of first base, second base, third base or the outfield corners.

Suffice it to say, we could’ve seen any number of permutations of the Padres’ deluge of deals this past week. Such is the nature of a win-now team with a deep farm system. The club’s minor league system undoubtedly took a hit with this wave of trades, but San Diego also managed to hang onto the majority of its top-ranked prospects while clearly placing themselves in a better competitive position both now and into at least the 2022 season, after which Clevinger is scheduled to become a free agent.

Recent Player Pool Additions: Tigers, Rangers, Rays, Pirates, Phillies

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The flurry of trades leading up to the deadline created some vacancies in teams’ player pools, and we’ve continued to see a few clubs add prospects to their ranks even in the days since the deadline as they look to get said players some vital developmental reps late in the season. Here’s a look at some of the latest additions around the league…

  • Outfielder Parker Meadows and right-handers Logan Shore, Jason Foley and Alex Lange have all been added to the Tigers’ pool, the team announced Thursday morning. Meadows, the No. 44 pick in 2018 and the younger brother of Rays star Austin Meadows, is the most highly regarded of the bunch. He posted strong numbers that summer but struggled in his first full season, slashing .221/.296/.312 against older competition in Class-A. He’s ranked 13th among Detroit prospects at MLB.com and at FanGraphs. Lange, 24, was the better of the two pitching prospects acquired from the Cubs in the trade that sent Nick Castellanos to Chicago last year. He’s pitched as a high as Double-A already and could be an option for the Tigers by next year. Foley was an undrafted free agent in ’16 who missed the 2018 season due to injury but returned with solid numbers in Class-A Advanced last year. Shore, a former second-round pick of the A’s, was sent to Detroit as a PTBNL in 2018’s Mike Fiers trade. Shore’s changeup is considered a potentially plus pitch, but the rest of his arsenal isn’t regarded nearly as highly.

Earlier Additions

  • The Rangers announced that infielder Davis Wendzel, outfielder Bubba Thompson and outfielder Steele Walker were all added to their 60-man pool this week. Wendzel was the No. 41 overall pick in the 2019 draft, while Thompson was selected 26th overall back in 2017. Wendzel saw just seven pro games after being drafted last year, so he’s still relatively light on overall professional experience. Thompson had a strong 2018 campaign in his first year of pro ball but saw his production crater in Class-A Advanced last year. He fared better in the Arizona Fall League, however. The 24-year-old Walker was a second-rounder of the White Sox back in 2018 but was traded to Texas over the winter in exchange for Nomar Mazara. He hit .284/.361/.451 in 525 plate appearances across Class-A and Class-A Advanced last year.
  • Infield prospect Greg Jones was added to the Rays’ player pool, per a club announcement. Tampa Bay selected the now-22-year-old Jones with the No. 22 pick out of UNC Wilmington in 2019. He posted a .335/.413/.461 slash in 48 games and 218 plate appearances with the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, although that wasn’t a particularly aggressive initial assignment for a college bat. The success is still notable, of course, and he’ll get some additional simulated game reps and face time with coaches over the season’s final month.
  • The Pirates added 2019 first-rounder Quinn Priester to their player pool earlier this week, MLBTR has learned. The Illinois native was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 draft and logged 36 2/3 innings between Rookie ball and short-season Class-A last year. Priester pitched to a 3.19 ERA in that time with a 41-to-14 K/BB ratio and a hefty 59.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s considered to be one of the organization’s best two to three best pitching prospects.
  • The Phillies added former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak to their player pool a day prior to the trade deadline. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia noted at the time, it was possible the timing of the move was sheer coincidence and not part of any scheme to trade the 22-year-old outfielder. Moniak had been rehabbing a knee injury, Salisbury wrote, and he’d progressed to the point where he’s able to work at the Phillies’ alternate training site rather than rehab at their Spring Training complex. Moniak hasn’t lived up to his 1-1 billing, but he did post better-than-average numbers against much more advanced pitching in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting last year. His .252/.303/.439 slash doesn’t look like much, but that checked in 15 percent better than average in the Eastern League, per wRC+.

Ian Kennedy Diagnosed With Grade 2 Calf Strain

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An MRI revealed that Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy has a Grade 2 calf strain, manager Mike Matheny tells reporters (Twitter link via Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com). The team expects that he’ll need a minimum of three weeks to recover. That doesn’t technically close the door on Kennedy’s 2020 season, but it now seems quite doubtful that he’ll be able to make it back.

It’s been a rough season for the 35-year-old Kennedy, who has yielded 14 runs through 14 innings of work for the Royals. While he’s still missing bats (15 punchouts) and exhibiting solid control (five walks, one intentional), he’s also been tagged for seven big flies already in that tiny sample.

Kennedy has had an up-and-down tenure since signing a surprising five-year, $70MM contract with the Royals prior to the 2016 season. He pitched well in his first year with the club, logging 195 2/3 frames with a 3.68 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning — precisely the type of performance for which the Royals hoped when he put pen to paper. Kennedy’s effectiveness dipped over the next two years, however, as he stumbled to a 5.06 ERA and allowed an average of 1.78 homers per nine frames.

Expectations were relatively minimal when the Royals moved Kennedy to the bullpen in the 2018-19 offseason, but the righty looked rejuvenated in a late-inning role. Kennedy ultimately emerged as the Royals’ closer, pitching to a 3.41 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 while racking up 30 saves. The Royals even received some trade interest in Kennedy last summer as the deadline approached, but they preferred to hang onto their veterans rather than pay down salaries in trades that would net them marginal returns.

The 2020 season was the last of Kennedy’s five-year deal with the Royals, so it’s possible he’s thrown his last pitch for the Kansas City club. He could of course be brought back on a small one-year deal or a minor league arrangement, but he’ll have the opportunity to speak to 29 other clubs before determining what’s next for him.

Rangers Had High Price On Lynn; Deals With Dodgers, Braves Didn’t Get Close

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Despite vast interest from around the majors, the Rangers decided to retain right-hander Lance Lynn through at least the rest of the season. The Braves were among the teams in on Lynn, but the Rangers understandably placed a high asking price on the AL Cy Young contender and his year-plus of affordable control. Texas wanted either Cristian Pache or Drew Waters from Atlanta as the headliner in a package for Lynn, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic, though the Braves clearly were unwilling to part with either of the highly touted outfield prospects.

Both Pache and Waters are 21-year-old outfielders who rank among the game’s top 50 prospects, and it stands to reason that the Rangers would’ve pushed for additional pieces to be added. Had either Pache or Waters changed hands in a deal with Texas or another club, they’d have been the highest-ranked prospect dealt in a deadline season that was punctuated more by players to be named later and mid-tier prospects.

The Braves and the Dodgers were known to be in on Lynn, with L.A. reportedly making a late push but ultimately failing to close a deal. Specific names that were discussed haven’t come to light, but Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels made clear that sufficient value wasn’t presented.

“I would not have been proud of some of those deals if we made them,” Daniels told reporters following the deadline (link via Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News). “I don’t think our fans would have been happy about it, either.”

All of the top baseball operations execs involved in Lynn discussions has made similar statements in the hours and days since the deadline passed. Via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Dodgers president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman acknowledged his efforts to add an “impactful” starter who could’ve lined up behind Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw in the postseason rotation. Lynn fits that description following his past season-plus with the Rangers, but Friedman characterized those as talks that never “got all that close.”

Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, meanwhile said in a recent radio appearance on 92.9 The Game that his club set a threshold they weren’t willing to cross — much as they do with regard to free-agent negotiations. “The moves that we could’ve made, for us, would not have been good deals,” Anthopoulos said. “…It just came down to — and it’s no knock on anybody — we made the decision that the price for us, we didn’t think that made sense.”

Daniels and the Rangers will have another opportunity to shop Lynn this winter, and while they’re now only marketing one season of Lynn (and one postseason push involving him), interest should still be high as long as Lynn remains healthy. If the 2021 season sees a return to a standard 10-team postseason field, clubs may be more motivated to add impact pieces like Lynn, knowing that multiple postseason spots in each league have been eliminated. That doesn’t guarantee a huge return for the Rangers, of course, but a full season of a high-end starter on a below-market contract ($8MM in 2021) and the right to make him a qualifying offer after the season should still be able to fetch a respectable haul.

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