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Tommy Hunter Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery

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Phillies right-hander Tommy Hunter underwent surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and will miss the remainder of the season, manager Gabe Kapler announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Scott Lauber of Philly.com). Hunter’s ulnar collateral ligament was examined but was cleared of any damage.

The operation will effectively close the book on Hunter’s two-year, $18MM deal with the Phillies. His results when healthy enough to take the mound were solid — a 3.50 ERA with a 56-to-15 K/BB ratio — but the organization surely hoped to receive more than 69 1/3 innings from Hunter. Unfortunately, Hunter missed about three and a half weeks due to a hamstring strain in 2018 and was limited to just 5 1/3 innings in 2019 by the forearm injury that will ultimately require surgical repair.

Hunter, who just recently turned 33, will have the final two-plus months of the 2019 campaign and the entire offseason to recover from the procedure, so he should be an option for clubs again in 2020. He may have to settle for a minor league pact coming off such an injury-ruined season, but his track record will be plenty appealing. In his past 350 big league appearances, Hunter has pitched to a 3.19 ERA (3.42 FIP) with 7.4 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and at least average ground-ball rates in all but one full season (2013).

Rockies Designate Seunghwan Oh For Assignment, Select Yonder Alonso

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The Rockies have selected the contract of veteran first baseman Yonder Alonso from Triple-A, per a club announcement. In order to clear roster space, Colorado optioned right-hander Yency Almonte to Triple-A and designated right-hander Seunghwan Oh for assignment.

Oh recently underwent season-ending elbow surgery, so his subtraction from the 40-man roster is a formality. He’s in the final season of his contract and, in all likelihood, will be released in the coming days. Whether he opts for another season in the U.S. is entirely his call, but Oh recently turned 37 and reportedly contemplated returning to South Korea this past offseason.

The 32-year-old Alonso was released by the White Sox after a miserable half season in Chicago but quickly latched on with the Rockies. He’s raked at a .419/.500/.774 clip with two homers, three doubles and a triple in 38 plate appearances down in Albuquerque and will look to bounce back in hopes of securing a big league deal in free agency this winter. Alonso may only have batted .178/.275/.301 in 251 trips to the plate with the ChiSox, but he hit a combined .257/.340/.458 with the A’s, Mariners and Indians across the 2017-18 seasons.

Rays Designate Ian Gibaut For Assignment, Place Yandy Diaz On IL

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The Rays announced that they’ve designated right-hander Ian Gibaut for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to third baseman Matt Duffy, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Tampa Bay also placed corner infielder Yandy Diaz on the 10-day IL due to a foot injury.

Gibaut, 25, spent the first two months of the season on the minor league injured list but returned in early June and made his MLB debut earlier this month. In 12 1/3 innings in the minors this season, Gibaut allowed 10 runs (only four earned) on 12 hits and 11 walks with 17 strikeouts. He also yielded a pair of runs in his two-inning MLB debut.

That said, Gibaut pitched well enough in 2018 that the Rays protected him from the Rule 5 Draft by adding him to the 40-man roster in the offseason. Last year in Triple-A, Gibaut logged a 2.09 ERA with 12.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.48 HR/9 and an even 47 percent ground-ball rate. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that the Rays have already heard from clubs expressing interest in Gibaut, and they expect to be able to trade the righty.

It’s not yet clear how long Diaz will be sidelined. Topkin tweets that the slugger is on crutches at the moment with what the team has termed to be a bruise, but Diaz is still in a good amount of pain. The fact that there’s no break or structural damage in his foot is obviously encouraging, however. A speedy return would prove most beneficial for the Rays, as their under-the-radar acquisition of Diaz looks like one of the offseason’s best moves for the team. In 344 plate appearances, he’s hitting .270/.343/.480 with 14 homers, 20 doubles and a triple.

The 28-year-old Duffy will be making his season debut after missing nearly four months due to a hamstring injury. Acquired in the trade that sent Matt Moore to the Giants, Duffy’s Rays tenure has been punctuated by injury. It’s been nearly three years to the day since Duffy was traded, but he’s only been able to suit up for 153 games. He’s been productive in that time (.292/.354/.364) and is regarded as a strong defender on the left side of the infield, but his acquisition has yet to yield significant dividends — at least, not to the extent the organization had hoped.

Cardinals Designate Chasen Shreve For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced Tuesday that they’ve designated lefty Chasen Shreve for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 25- and 40-man rosters for righty Mike Mayers, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Shreve, 29, allowed a pair of runs in two innings of work during his second go-around with the Cardinals. St. Louis acquired him from the Yankees in the trade that sent Luke Voit to New York last summer. Shreve has given them 16 2/3 innings of work out of the ’pen but has now also been twice jettisoned from the 40-man roster. This season in Triple-A, Shreve pitched to a 3.80 ERA with 10.6 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.05 HR/9 and a 36.3 percent ground-ball rate.

Of course, Shreve didn’t go to the Cardinals alone, and the breakout being enjoyed by 27-year-old righty Giovanny Gallegos lessens the sting of what once looked to be a decidedly lopsided swap. Gallegos also went to the Cards in that deal, and he’s been brilliant in his first full MLB season. Through 46 2/3 frames out of the bullpen, he’s pitched to an excellent 2.31 ERA with 67 punchouts against six unintentional walks. Metrics like FIP (2.39), xFIP (2.85) and SIERA (2.25) all generally agree that Gallegos has been nothing short of outstanding.

The same doesn’t hold true for Shreve, unfortunately. The Cardinals now have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him. Shreve has enough service time to elect free agency if he does clear waivers, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of this season’s $900K salary. As such, he’s likely to stick with the organization if he is not traded and goes unclaimed by another team.

Cubs Option Carl Edwards Jr., Recall Rowan Wick

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6:59pm: Wick is indeed coming up, the Cubs announced.

12:17pm: The Cubs have optioned right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. to Triple-A Iowa, Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago reports (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move, but Rogers adds that righty Rowan Wick is a possible replacement for the struggling Edwards.

It’s been a rough season for Edwards, who has missed time due to a thoracic strain and hasn’t generated quality results when healthy enough to take the mound. This is the second time he’s been optioned to Iowa, and while Edwards has performed well in Triple-A in 2019, he’s sporting a 5.87 ERA with nine walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches and a balk in 15 1/3 innings. Edwards does have 17 strikeouts, but he’s actually seen his swinging-strike rate dip precipitously (14.4 percent in ’18, 10.2 percent in ’19). His average fastball velocity is also down a half mile per hour from 2018 and 1.2 mph from 2017.

In 154 1/3 regular-season innings from 2016-18, Edwards turned in a 3.03 ERA with better than 12 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, so getting him back on track would be a boon to a Cubs ’pen that has been, at best, a middle-of-the-pack unit. Chicago has yet to receive so much as one inning from projected closer Brandon Morrow in 2019, and the front office felt strongly enough about the need to add bullpen help that it signed Craig Kimbrel to a $43MM contract following the June draft. President of baseball ops Theo Epstein, GM Jed Hoyer and the rest of the Cubs’ front office are reported to be on the hunt for bullpen upgrades between now and the July 31 trade deadline.

In the meantime, if Wick is indeed the corresponding move, he’ll get his second look with the Cubs. The catcher-turned-outfielder-turned-pitcher gave up five runs (three earned) in seven innings with the Cubs earlier this summer and has been excellent in Iowa. Through 35 innings there, the 26-year-old Wick has a 1.80 ERA with a 44-to-9 K/BB ratio and just three homers allowed.

Phillies Have Discussed Boyd, Greene With Tigers

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The Phillies have had recent trade talks with the Tigers, and general manager Matt Klentak will be travel to Detroit to get an in-person look at the Tigers’ trade candidates, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Of particular interest to the Phils are lefty Matthew Boyd and closer Shane Greene, although Salisbury suggests that the two teams have at least discussed outfielder Nicholas Castellanos and left-handed starter Daniel Norris.

Both the pitching staff and the bullpen are logical areas of focus for the Phillies, who recently demoted Nick Pivetta to the bullpen in favor of a dice roll on Drew Smyly (whose first start as a Phillie was excellent). Aaron Nola scuffled through a sluggish stretch earlier in the season, while Jake Arrieta is pitching through a bone spur that’ll eventually require elbow surgery. Righty Zach Eflin has been a solid mid-rotation piece, but Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff and rookie Cole Irvin have all struggled in their starts.

The bullpen has been an entirely different brand of problematic. David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Tommy Hunter, Pat Neshek, Edubray Ramos and Victor Arano have all missed significant time due to injury in 2019, which has frequently left the Phillies to rely on questionable arms. Of late, closer Hector Neris has become extraordinarily homer prone after what had been a strong two-month run that saw him yield one homer in 22 1/3 innings.

The Phillies are only a half-game back of the Nationals for the second NL Wild Card spot and, at 7.5 games behind the Braves, are technically still within plausible reach of a push for the division — although unseating Atlanta for the division crown is admittedly a long shot. Because of those long odds, though, it’s perhaps more natural to see the Phils paying particular interest to players who can be controlled beyond 2019. Dealing significant prospects for a rental when the most likely playoff scenario involves a one-game playoff is a tough sell for any front office.

Philadelphia has about $110MM committed to next season’s payroll — about $51MM less than the team is currently carrying. They’ve also seen their opening day payroll climb as high as $177MM back in 2014. With that level of financial breathing room — Nehsek, Hunter and Juan Nicasio will all be free agents; Maikel Franco could be non-tendered — the Phillies will be able to be aggressive in reloading for another run in 2020 regardless of this season’s outcome. Adding some salary right now in proactive moves to bolster this year’s Wild Card push and next year’s division chase is only logical.

Whether that proves to be some combination of Detroit’s controllable arms, at this point, is an unknown even to the Tigers and Phillies themselves. Team president Andy MacPhail recently expressed reluctance to deal from the very top tier of the farm (e.g. Alec Bohm, Spencer Howard), and the asking price on Boyd alone is known to be enormous. Reports have ranged from seeking a young, established “star”-caliber player to a Jose Quintana-esque haul. (The Cubs sent the White Sox a four-player package headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease.) Salisbury suggests something similar to the latter in referencing a four-player package with two potential stars — and that’s just for Boyd.

If the Phils are to look elsewhere, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale again connects the team to Arizona ace Zack Greinke as well as D-backs left-hander Robbie Ray (Twitter link). It’s not at all clear whether the Diamondbacks will move either player, but the Phils have previously been linked to Greinke, in particular. The aforementioned payroll capacity would surely come into play in any talks involving the righty. Greinke is still owed $75MM+ in base salaries between now and 2021, plus a yearly $3MM payout on his annualized signing bonus. Beyond that, a substantial portion of his yearly salary is deferred. He’ll be paid $12.5MM annually from 2022-26.

The Phillies could certainly help alleviate some of that fiscal burden for the Diamondbacks, but Greinke is also enjoying a strong season and wouldn’t be traded away for pure salary relief. The two sides would, in all likelihood, need to agree on some combination of financial aid and still-appealing prospects. That’s a tall order under any circumstances but is especially cumbersome with a nine-day clock on negotiations at a time when the D-backs, with a 50-50 record, aren’t even decided deadline sellers. As if all of that isn’t a sizable enough roadblock, the Phillies are also on Greinke’s limited no-trade list.

Tigers, Edwin Jackson Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran righty Edwin Jackson, as was first indicated on the league transactions log at MLB.com. Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets that Jackson is joining the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.

It’ll be Jackson’s second tour of duty with the Tigers, as he spent the 2009 campaign in Detroit as well. That year was one of the best of Jackson’s career, as he logged a career-high 214 innings with a 3.62 ERA and the lone All-Star nod of his remarkable big league journey. Jackson was recently cut loose by the Blue Jays — the MLB-record 14th team for which he has pitched.

The 35-year-old Jackson couldn’t get on track in Toronto, limping to a miserable 11.12 ERA in 28 1/3 innings there. He was charged with 35 earned runs on a whopping 49 hits (12 home runs) and 13 walks with 19 strikeouts in that time. That said, “E-Jax” was a vital member of the Athletics’ surprising playoff push just a season ago. His 2018 campaign featured 92 innings of 3.33 ERA ball with 6.7 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9.

Jackson still averaged 93.5 mph on his fastball in his time with the Blue Jays — a modest increase over last year’s velocity — so there’s still plenty of life in his arm. He’ll head to Toledo for now, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get a chance at the big league level in the near future. Detroit’a rotation has already lost Michael Fulmer (Tommy John surgery) and Matt Moore (knee surgery) for the season, and it’s not clear when (or if) Tyson Ross will be cleared to resume pitching in 2019. Add the possibility of a Matthew Boyd trade in the next nine days, and the uncertainty in the rotation is palpable. It’s also possible that Jackson could resurface as a bullpen option. There’s perhaps even more uncertainty in the Detroit relief corps, and closer Shane Greene is even likelier than Boyd to be traded before July 31.

Cubs Have Interest In Jarrod Dyson, Eric Sogard

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The Cubs have interest in D-backs outfielder Jarrod Dyson and have been “gathering information” on Blue Jays infielder Eric Sogard, according to Patrick Mooney, Sahadev Sharma and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Yesterday, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported Chicago’s interest in outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, and today’s report from Mooney, Sharma and Rosenthal doubles down on that interest while also acknowledging that Castellanos’ remaining salary could make such a move difficult to piece together.

Chicago hopes to land a veteran hitter with quality contact skills, per The Athletic, and both Dyson and Sogard would fit that bill. Dyson is hitting .254/.335/.369 with six homers and 21 steals on the season. His strikeout rate is sitting at 19 percent, which is elevated quite a bit from the 13.3 percent clip he notched across the past three seasons but is still lower than the league average (22.2 percent among non-pitchers). Sogard, meanwhile, is batting .305/.369/.491 with 10 home runs, six steals and a 14.1 percent strikeout rate (career 13.3 percent).

Adding Dyson, 34, to the fray would give the Cubs an excellent defensive outfielder who can handle all three positions. His presence would surely push struggling Albert Almora Jr. out of the lineup against right-handed opponents. Dyson’s career platoon numbers are pronounced, and his left-handed bat makes him a natural pairing with Almora. The 25-year-old Almora has been uncharacteristically awful against lefties in 2019 but is still a career .286/.335/.420 hitter against them. Dyson owns a lifetime .257/.324/.360 line against right-handers.

Dyson is earning a reasonable $3.5MM in 2019 and is still owed about $1.32MM of that sum between now and season’s end. Contrast that with the $3.75MM remaining on Castellanos’ $9.95MM salary, and he’s not only the better defender of the two but the more affordable. Dyson can’t match Castellanos’ bat, though, and the Diamondbacks aren’t the slam-dunk sellers that the Tigers are known to be. It’s certainly possible that Arizona could deal Dyson and other short-term pieces, but at 50-50 through 100 games, the Snakes likely haven’t determined how they’ll proceed over the next nine days. As a pending free agent, Dyson could be moved even as the D-backs look to simultaneously add longer-term parts who can help in 2020 and beyond.

Sogard, 33, seems a near-lock to be traded so long as there’s sufficient interest. His power surge and general offensive production are largely out of the blue — Sogard was released by the Brewers in 2018 and signed a minor league deal in Toronto this winter — but his strong output has likely positioned as a piece the Jays can flip. As a versatile defender capable of handling second base, shortstop, third base and the outfield corners, Sogard could give the Cubs a sort of Ben Zobrist-lite skill set at a time when the organization still isn’t sure when (or if) Zobrist will return. Sogard’s numbers at second are down this season, but he has a long track record of plus defense there. And after inking a minor league pact in the offseason, he’s assuredly an affordable option for the Cubs or any other interested team.

Twins To Select Cody Stashak

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The Twins will select the contract of right-hander Cody Stashak from Triple-A Rochester prior to tonight’s series opener against the Yankees, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Minnesota has four open spots following a recent spate of DFAs in the bullpen; each of Mike Morin, Matt Magill and Adalberto Mejia have been designated for assignment and landed with a new club in the past week. Stashak will take the 25-man roster spot of righty Zack Littell, who was optioned to Rochester following yesterday’s game.

Stashak, who turned 25 last month, was Minnesota’s 13th-round pick back in 2015 and will make his MLB debut the first time he sets foot on the mound. He didn’t enter the season considered to be among the Twins’ top echelon of prospects even after a strong showing in Double-A last season (2.75 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9). Stashak posted even better K/BB numbers in Double-A this season before moving up to Triple-A, where he’s pitched to a 1.61 ERA with 12.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 0.4 HR/9 and a 38.5 percent ground-ball rate in 22 1/3 innings of work.

The bullpen has been an ongoing problem for Minnesota, particularly in the past few weeks (hence the considerable turnover). While Twins relievers improbably rank 13th in each of ERA (4.36), FIP (4.27) and xFIP (4.41) as a collective unit, their relief corps has struggled to find consistency beyond closer Taylor Rogers and rookie Ryne Harper. The Twins are widely expected to add at least one veteran arm to the mix between now and next week’s trade deadline, but for the time being they’ll once again dip into their farm to provide some depth while waiting for a still-stagnant trade market to develop.

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