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Angels Claim Chad Wallach Off Waivers From Dodgers

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The Angels have claimed catcher Chad Wallach off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A, per the team. In a corresponding move, Anthony Bemboom has been designated for assignment.

Wallach never appeared with the Dodgers in the Majors after being claimed off waivers from the Marlins. The Dodgers had hoped Wallach could serve as backstop insurance for Will Smith and Austin Barnes after the deadline departure of Keibert Ruiz. Still, he was only an extra man for the Dodgers, who still have Tim Federowicz in the organization as their presumptive third catcher.

As for Wallach, he heads to the Angels, where he will slot in behind Kurt Suzuki and Max Stassi in the depth chart. Most of Wallach’s Major League playing time came with the Marlins over the last four seasons, though he did make his debut with the Reds back in 2017. In total, he owns a .207/.271/.303 line across 231 plate appearances.

As for Bemboom, the 31-year-old heads to the waiver wire. While his success in the bigs has been fleeting — from an offensive standpoint — he’s having a nice year at Triple-A this season, slashing .255/.364/.482 in 165 trips to the plate.

Padres Claim Shaun Anderson Off Waivers From Orioles

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The Padres claimed right-hander Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Orioles today, both teams announced. The Padres optioned the right-hander to Triple-A El Paso.

Anderson’s time with the Orioles was brief, as he made just seven appearances totalling 10 innings after being claimed off waivers from the Twins. Anderson surrendered 10 earned runs on 17 hits and five walks while striking out seven. He’ll provide depth for the Padres, whose pitching staff has struggled to stay healthy this season.

As for the Orioles, they made a number of their own roster moves today, reinstating Ryan Hartman from the injured list, recalling Isaac Mattson, and designating Conner Greene for assignment. Greene, 26, made just three appearances for the O’s, yielding six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

MLBTR Poll: Can The A’s Replace Ramon Laureano?

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The Oakland A’s were a popular pick to regress this season after winning the AL West with a .600 win percentage during the truncated 2020 season. The presumption of the A’s decline was fueled by the departures of impact players in free agency: namely, Marcus Semien to Toronto, Tommy La Stella to San Francisco, Liam Hendriks to Chicago, and Robbie Grossman to Detroit.

Those were notable losses, but lackluster replacements spoke more to the overall skepticism surrounding the team: Elvis Andrus and an aged Jed Lowrie in the infield, Mitch Moreland taking many of the at-bats in the designated hitter spot that went to Grossman (with holders Chad Pinder, Tony Kemp, or Stephen Piscotty taking his spot in the field), and Trevor Rosenthal signed to assume the closer’s role.

Of course, the details of the “Moneyball” model that made the A’s front office famous has changed over the years, but one thing that hasn’t is their non-linear approach to roster creation. Replacing Semien, La Stella, Hendriks, and Grossman wasn’t a casting problem. If it were, the collective 0.6 rWAR accrued by their replacements would be enough to tank this roster.

Instead, the A’s are outperforming their projections with a 62-48 record, which carries a 57.4% chance of making the playoffs. They’re just three games behind the Astros for the division lead, 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees for the second wild card spot.

It seems like every year now that the A’s simply find a way. They were left for dead mid-way through last season, too, when star Matt Chapman was lost for the year. When they chose to replace him with scrapheap pickup Jake Lamb and platoon-players like Chad Pinder and Vimael Machin, it seemed that the A’s were doomed for a second-half skid.

Not so. Despite posting nearly identical win percentages the two seasons prior (.599 in both 2018 and 2019, 97-win seasons), 2020 marked Oakland’s first division title since 2012 and 2013. With the Ramon Laureano suspension now in effect, can the A’s yet again survive the loss of a key two-way position player?

Obviously, the acquisition of Starling Marte at the deadline looks even better now than it did a week ago. He certainly stands as a more significant replacement than Lamb from a year ago. And yet, bringing in Marte seemed like such a boon because he shored up a real weak spot in the lineup. That spot is back to being a question mark for the final two months of the season.

Marte can ably fill the void defensively. Despite Laureano’s flashy tools, there’s an argument to be made that an outfield of Mark Canha, Marte, and Seth Brown could be better defensively. Laureano’s -1 OAA comes in last behind Marte at +6 and Canha and Brown both at +4. DRS and UZR give Laureano more credit, but Marte ought to nevertheless mostly replace his glove.

With the bat, Brown and Stephen Piscotty are likely to step back in as a relatively straightforward platoon in right. Piscotty’s been below-average this season, but he’s better against lefties with a 98 wRC+. The same can be said for Brown going the other way with his 97 wRC+ against right-handers. Together that doesn’t exactly add up to Laureano’s 114 wRC+, but it helps close the gap.

Of course, replacing a player for the A’s always involved a bit of sleight of hand. Utility man Josh Harrison might be the answer to replacing Laureano, either by slotting directly into the outfield, or by taking time at second while Kemp moves to the grass. Harrison played his way back into relevance with a .291/.363/.431 line over 450 plate appearances with the Nationals the past two seasons. The upgrade from Aramis Garcia (54 wRC+) to Yan Gomes (104 wRC+) may also help pick up some of the slack — as might the addition of Andrew Chafin in the pen.

So how worried should A’s fans be? Will they have enough to hold off the onrushing Yankees, Blue Jays, and Mariners for a playoff spot? Can they catch the Astros? What say you of Oakland’s chances the rest of the way?

(poll link for app users)

(poll link for app users)

East Notes: Red Sox, Martinez, Houck, Rays, McHugh, Phillies, Anderson

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The Red Sox have placed designated hitter J.D. Martinez on the COVID-related injured list today after he wasn’t feeling well, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Martinez joins centerfielder Jarren Duran as players recently placed on the COVID-related IL. Test results have not returned for either Martinez or Duran, notes The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. Connor Wong has been added to the active roster in Martinez’s place.

  • Tanner Houck was also added to the roster to make a start in today’s doubleheader, notes Abraham. He will be their 27th man. Houck has a 2.45 ERA in 22 innings, which includes four starts and a pair of appearances out of the pen — his last start coming on July 28th. His Triple-A numbers haven’t been quite as good, but no matter where he’s pitched, he’s been striking out batters, owning a combined 31.3 percent strikeout rate on the year.
  • Elsewhere in the American League East, the Rays reinstated Collin McHugh from the injured list, optioning Louis Head to Triple-A, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Head has been tremendous when active, tossing 20 innings with a 1.35 ERA/2.71 FIP. McHugh is no slouch himself, however, with a 1.51 ERA/1.36 FIP across 41 2/3 innings. Both right-handers have been able to fill a role as a multi-inning reliever for manager Kevin Cash.
  • In the National League, the Phillies placed Chase Anderson on the 10-day injured list with right triceps tendinitis, recalling Nick Maton from Triple-A, per the team. With a 6.75 ERA/5.85 FIP on the year, one would think that Anderson’s rotation spot would be up for grabs if his absence.The first-place Phillies won’t need to fill his rotation spot until next Saturday, notes The Athletic’s Matt Gelb (via Twitter).

Yankees Place Aroldis Chapman On 10-Day Injured List

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The Yankees have placed Aroldis Chapman on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, retroactive to yesterday, per the team. In a corresponding move, Nick Nelson has been recalled from Triple-A.

It hasn’t been Chapman’s best season on the whole, but he had seemed to figure some things out of late. He had posted seven consecutive scoreless outings going back to July 21st. In fact, since allowing nine earned runs across three outings at the end of June, Chapman has posted a 0.82 ERA over his last 11 innings.

Nelson, 25, has been burned for 14 earned runs across 13 1/3 innings in 10 appearances (2 starts) this season. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, however, where he owns a 3.50 ERA across 36 innings with 46 strikeouts to 18 walks.

With Chapman out, the Yankees will likely turn to Chad Green to close games. Green has three saves on the year to go with 15 holds and a 3.21 ERA/3.45 FIP in 56 innings of work. Alternatively, veteran Zack Britton has plenty of experience closing, and he does appear to be rounding himself into form with a 2.57 ERA over his past seven outings. Jonathan Loaisiga also has three saves this season with a 2.53 ERA and 13 holds.

Soto Expects To Go “Year By Year” With Nationals

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On their way to back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2010-2011, the Nationals have for the first time in a long time turned their attention to the future. If they are able to successfully pull of a “retool” — thereby avoiding the dreaded “rebuild” — it will likely be fueled by the rapid development of a stable of young players that includes Victor Robles, Luis Garcia, Carter Kieboom, Keibert Ruiz, Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray.

In trading away veterans at the deadline, the Nationals targeted more advanced prospects like Ruiz and Gray for the express purpose of keying a quick turnaround. That’s because Juan Soto remains on the roster, and if they plan on signing the all-world outfielder to a contract extension, the Nats will want to avoid a drawn-out rebuild. Soto is under team control for three seasons beyond this one, and as a Scott Boras client, he’s unlikely to sign long-term.

Soto said as much recently, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. When asked about the possibility of extending, Soto said, “I’m going to try to take it year by year. I’m just going to keep playing baseball, not think about contracts or whatever … right now, I was a little frustrated, but I have to concentrate on the field, on how to be better for myself and my teammates. If they want to talk to my agent, they can talk to him. But let me play.”

The Nationals are better equipped than many clubs to handle the uncertainty of Soto’s long-term future because of their relationship with Boras. They’ve gone down this road before with Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, and Stephen Strasburg. And while one view might notice that two of those three players left for other organizations, it’s also important to note that the team did bring Strasburg back on a monster $245MM deal. Besides, with Scherzer’s contract off the books and a Trea Turner extension no longer something they need to worry about, the Nats have long-term money to spend.

They’ll still need to convince Soto that Washington is where he wants to be. To that end, they should have a leg up on the competition. He has, after all, already won a World Series in DC, and with the Nats’ history of spending and pushing for competitive ball clubs, one would think Soto could envision an enviable long-term future.

On the Nats’ side, there’s the lingering question of how aggressively the Nats will work to make Soto a lifelong National. The Nats tend to put their money behind pitching — hence the long-term deals for Strasburg, Scherzer, and Patrick Corbin, while Harper, Rendon, and Turner have all been shown the door.

Soto, however, might be a generational player even beyond that star-studded threesome. On the one hand, there are few players in the game as talented as Harper, Rendon, and Turner. But on the other hand, Soto might just be one of those guys, and his youth makes him all the more likely to garner a “lifetime” contract like those mega deals signed by Manny Machado, Mookie Betts, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Harper himself.

What might be worrying for Nats’ fans is that Harper’s a pretty darn good career comp for Soto, and while they made an earnest effort to re-sign Harper, they were ultimately okay with letting him walk.

At the very least, Nats apologists can point to Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman as two players they were intent on keeping – and did.  From a personality standpoint, Soto’s understated confidence and humility might fall more in line with Strasburg and Zim than the more vivacious Harper.

If Washington feels about Soto the way they have about Stras and Zim, he should be a National for life. Regardless, it doesn’t look like we’ll know for sure until the winter following the 2024 season.

Central Notes: White Sox, Cubs, Tigers

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The White Sox rolled out a $128MM payroll on opening day this year, already the highest in franchise history, but don’t expect Chicago to curb their spending now. Team options for the newly acquired Cesar Hernandez and Craig Kimbrel would bring their payroll for next season up to $150MM — and that’s before arbitration raises – but owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Rick Hahn have prepared for this payroll spike and they’re ready for it, per The Athletic’s James Fegan. If Hernandez and/or Kimbrel aren’t part of the 2022 Sox, it won’t be because of their impact on the payroll. Elsewhere from the flyover states…

Tyler Glasnow Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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AUGUST 4: Glasnow underwent a successful Tommy John procedure today, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). According to Murray, the expectation is that he indeed will miss the entirety of the 2022 season.

AUGUST 3: As expected, Glasnow will indeed have Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

JULY 31: Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery next week, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). That not only officially marks an end to his 2021 season, but perhaps his 2022 season as well. Passan adds that he may not return until 2023, though there remains a “small chance” that they’ll find an alternative way to rehab his partially torn UCL before a potential surgery date next week.

Glasnow last appeared in a game on June 14th, at which point the hope was that rehab might be enough for Glasnow to make a late-season return. His latest throwing session put that theory in doubt, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), who adds that the decision for Tommy John isn’t yet official, though it is expected.

Prior to the injury, Glasnow was a clear Cy Young candidate, having posted 2.4 rWAR through 14 starts with a 2.66 ERA/2.76 FIP. He tossed 88 innings with an absurd 36.2 percent strikeout rate and strong 7.9 percent walk rate to go with a 45.3 percent groundball rate. Now, it’s unclear if Glasnow will pitch again before 2023, his last year before free agency.

This is a truly devastating though not wholly unexpected development for the electric 27-year-old. Glasnow’s injury will remain a touchstone of debate, not only because of how his absence will affect the pennant race this season (and next) but because the timing of the injury coincided with MLB’s stricter policy on the use of foreign substances. The causal link there is tenuous, of course, but the connection will continue to be made because of its powers as an analog for the disconnect between MLB decision-makers and the players.

Deadline Notes: Rockies, Story, Mets, Bryant, Gibson, Nationals, Dodgers

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The Rockies reportedly received offers for All-Star shortstop Trevor Story from the Yankees, Brewers, White Sox, and Rays prior to Friday’s trade deadline, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). The Rockies have been criticized for their failure to move Story, given that they are all but assured to lose him as a free agent after the season. They will get a draft pick when he departs, and their front office did not deem any of the offers received as appreciably better than that draft pick will be.

  • Despite all the talk, the Mets never came particularly close to acquiring Kris Bryant from the Cubs, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). The two clubs were obviously in steady communication — and eventually consummated a deal for Javier Baez — but the Cubs kept the conversation away from Bryant. Given how long Bryant had been “on the block,” the Cubs certainly had a sense of what was available.
  • The Mets did, however, explore the cost for Kyle Gibson of the Rangers, notes Puma, but the Rangers informed them that they had a better offer on the table from the Phillies.
  • The Nationals had the pieces in place for a deal that would have sent Max Scherzer to the Padres on Thursday night, but they also had a deal in place with an American League East team, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. The Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays, and Red Sox were all said to have interest in Scherzer at one point or another.
  • As for the Dodgers’ side of that deal eventual deal, they were intent on holding onto Ryan Pepiot, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack, despite wide-ranging interest in that trio of arms.

Astros Select Jake Meyers, Designate Nivaldo Rodriguez For Assignment

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The Astros announced a number of roster moves today. Phil Maton — acquired yesterday from the Indians — was added to the active roster, while Jake Meyers had his contract selected. To make room on the active roster, Bryan Abreu was optioned to the taxi squad and Brandon Bielak was optioned to Triple-A. To create a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Nivaldo Rodriguez was designated for assignment, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26.

Meyers, 25, is the most interesting addition of the bunch here, despite his lack of prospect status and unheralded beginnings as a 13th-round pick. His revelatory play in Triple-A this season seems to be one of the driving factors in Houston’s decision to trade Myles Straw for Maton. It’s certainly not standard operating procedure for a first-place team like the Astros to deal their starting centerfielder for a middle reliever in the middle of a playoff race — especially with Straw being cheap and controllable through 2025.

But Meyers raked in Triple-A, slashing .343/.408/.598 with 16 home runs for the Sugar Land Skeeters. He brings a less extreme version of Straw’s positive approach at the plate, but with the added benefit of some power potential. Meyers has walked at an 8.2 percent clip while striking out just 19.4 percent of the time. He has benefited from a .389 BABIP, and the power marks – .255 ISO, .598 SLG — are way above his career averages prior to this season.

Defensively, he has split his time evenly between all three outfield spots this year. Back in June, Kevin Goldstein of Fangraphs noted that he profiles as an above-average defensive centerfielder, though without Straw’s arm. If his power proves to be for real, Meyers ought to be an upgrade in centerfield, assuming he can outbid Chas McCormick for playing time. The 26-year-old McCormick has a head start on the starter’s job with a 113 wRC+ through 178 plate appearances this season.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, will be left exposed to waivers as a result of Houston’s trade deadline additions. The 24-year-old righty has nine career appearances between this season and last. He logged 16 innings, allowing eight earned runs on 19 hits and 10 walks while serving up five long balls. Given the need for pitching league-wide, there’s certainly a possibility somebody takes a chance on Rodriguez either as a starter or a reliever with multi-inning potential.

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