Injury/Rehab Notes: Ohtani, Davis, Cardinals, Kendrick, Delmonico
Angels right-hander/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani played catch Friday — his first time throwing since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. The Angels tweeted video of the 23-year-old doing so, and Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times adds that he made about 60 to 70 light tosses from a max distance of “about” 12 feet (Twitter links). It’s an ever so minor first step in the electrifying young talent’s return to the mound — one that’ll be accompanied by a corresponding decline in his swinging for the time being. Ohtani’s hitting drills will be limited to soft toss for the foreseeable future, as the Halos proceed with extra caution regarding his right elbow. He’s reportedly targeting an early May return to the lineup as a DH.
More injury and rehab notes from around baseball…
- Orioles first baseman Chris Davis underwent an MRI on an ailing left hip that has kept him out of game action since Sunday, manager Brandon Hyde divulged to reporters (link via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The test was described as “precautionary,” though, and Hyde indicated that Davis has been feeling better as the week has progressed. While spring stats don’t mean much, it’s hardly encouraging that Davis is 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts to begin Grapefruit League play. The soon-to-be 33-year-old turned in the worst season of his career in 2018, hitting just .168/.243/.296 with 16 home runs and a staggering 36.7 percent strikeout rate in 522 plate appearances.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez is still another five to seven days away from even being able to throw. Meanwhile, a calf strain will sideline utility infielder Jedd Gyorko for about a week. Martinez has been slowed by shoulder weakness this spring and already received a platelet-rich plasma injection, though a timetable on his readiness for game activity will remain murky until the team can see how he responds to throwing. There’s been talk of him working as a reliever in 2019, as he did late in the 2018 season. Meanwhile, Gyorko figures to be a key backup all around the infield. A longer-than-expected absence for him would open more playing time for Yairo Munoz early in the season.
- The Nationals will be without infielder/outfielder Howie Kendrick for “at least” 10 to 12 days as he nurses a hamstring strain, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post tweets. Kendrick underwent an MRI earlier this week to evaluate the status of his hamstring after he suffered an injury during a game last weekend. Opening Day is less than three weeks away, so the strain could potentially jeopardize his readiness.
- Outfielder Nicky Delmonico has been diagnosed with a “mild” concussion, the White Sox announced Friday. The 26-year-old sustained the injury upon crashing into the outfield wall in yesterday’s Cactus League contest. Delmonico piqued the interest of ChiSox fans with a strong .262/.373/.482 slash (166 plate appearances) as a rookie in 2017, but his production cratered in 2018 as he batted just .215/.296/.373. He’s been vying for an outfield job in a mix that includes Jon Jay, Leury Garcia, Adam Engel Danial Palka and non-roster invitee Brandon Guyer. Top prospect Eloy Jimenez obviously looms in waiting, though the widespread expectation is that the Sox will keep him Triple-A for a couple of weeks to open the season, thus buying an additional year of control over the vaunted slugger.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Karns, Rays’ Rotation
It doesn’t sound as though the Yankees are giving much thought to carrying both Luke Voit and Greg Bird on the active roster this season, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters today that it’s “tough to envision” rostering multiple first basemen (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Boone noted that DJ LeMahieu figures to serve as a backup at first base, among numerous other positions, so it seems one of Voit or Bird will be ticketed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to open the season. Both players have enjoyed productive spring showings thus far, though it’s hard to imagine that Voit doesn’t have the inside track after last season’s Herculean .333/.405/.689 slash and 14 home runs in just 148 plate appearances with the Yankees.
Here’s more from the division…
- Right-hander Nate Karns is generally healthy but may not be stretched out in time to factor into the Orioles‘ Opening Day rotation, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun. The Orioles’ lone free-agent rotation addition, Karns missed the 2018 season while recovering from 2017 thoracic outlet surgery. He’s made a pair of appearances this spring but only pitched one inning in his most recent outing, prompting new manager Brandon Hyde to cast doubt on Karns’ ability to start games early in the year. “We’re not going to put him in any position to get hurt, and we’re not going to try and push through any kind of injury or any kind of soreness right now,” said Hyde of Karns. Whether Karns will open the season in the ‘pen remains to be seen, though it’s worth noting that he does have a minor league option remaining, so the O’s could potentially send him to Norfolk for a couple of outings to continue building arm strength.
- The Rays are planning to use a three-man rotation consisting of Opening Day starter and reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell, offseason signee Charlie Morton and 2018 trade acquisition Tyler Glasnow, Juan Toribio of MLB.com writes. From there, they’ll use a pair of openers in the would-be fourth and fifth slots of a traditional rotation; Ryne Stanek, Emilio Pagan, Colin Poche and Hunter Wood are among the candidates to function in that capacity. Candidates to follow the team’s openers include Ryan Yarbrough, Jalen Beeks, Jake Faria and Yonny Chirinos. As has been widely expected, it appears that the Rays will continue an aggressive means of pioneering what was a polarizing but increasingly accepted tactic throughout the league in 2018. Stanek was the team’s most frequent and successful opener in 2018, while Yarbrough was the most prolific followup arm (147 1/3 innings pitched despite making just six starts). Presumably, they’ll reprise those roles this year, with Tampa Bay shuffling the rest of the pitching mix based on matchups, workload and other factors.
Twins Acquire International Bonus Money From Orioles
The Twins have acquired $750K in international bonus pool space from the Orioles for right-hander Xavier Moore, per Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press. This is the second trade of the day involving Moore, whom the Twins acquired from the Rangers a couple hours ago for outfielder Zack Granite.
The Orioles have now traded away international spending room in back-to-back weekends, having previously sent an undisclosed amount to the Rangers for righty David Lebron last Sunday. It’s unexpected on the surface, as Baltimore has recently vowed to spend more internationally after long ignoring the foreign market under owner Peter Angelos. His sons are now at the helm of the team, and they’ve brought in Mike Elias to replace previous general manager Dan Duquette, but the act of parting with international money for relatively unexciting minor leaguers harks back to the prior regime.
Of course, even after these deals, the Orioles continue to lead the majors in international spending capacity. Thus, they could see these trades as easy ways to pick up minor league talent they like while continuing to hold the league’s largest bonus pool. It’s unclear how much the Orioles have left at the moment, but they had $6MM remaining – far more than the second-place Dodgers ($1.4MM) – before the Lebron and Moore acquisitions. With that in mind, the Orioles could still be in on Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez, whom they’ve scouted since he became free to sign with a major league team Feb. 5.
In Moore, the Twins are quickly bidding adieu to a 20-year-old who struggled at the lower levels of the Rangers’ system a season ago. By flipping him, the Twins are adding a notable amount to their bonus pool, as they had just under $80K remaining as of Feb. 8. Minnesota entered the current international market with upward of $6MM to play with, but it has since gone on a spending spree, with outfielder Misael Urbina ($2.75MM) being its most expensive pickup.
Orioles Claim Hanser Alberto, Designate Donnie Hart
The Orioles have claimed infielder Hanser Alberto off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. Southpaw Donnie Hart was designated for assignment to clear roster space.
If you’re keeping score at home, this is now the fourth time Alberto has been designated and claimed this winter — and the second time by the O’s. The Baltimore org had recently dropped him from the 40-man in order to claim lefty Josh Osich from the Giants, who in turn claimed (and have now waived and lost) Alberto.
In retrospect, perhaps it’d have all been easier had the O’s dropped Hart in the first place. Perhaps the team’s evaluation of the 28-year-old — and/or its non-Alberto infield assets — has changed in the meantime.
Hart has appeared in each of the past three MLB campaigns, working to a 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings with 6.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 along with a 52.6% groundball rate. He was knocked around in his twenty appearances in the majors last year, though he did manage 41 frames of 2.41 ERA ball at Triple-A.
Rangers Acquire International Bonus Money From Orioles
The Rangers have acquired international slot bonus money from the Orioles in exchange for minor league righty David Lebron, as per an announcement from the Orioles.
The trade represents an interesting twist for Baltimore, who has been amassing international draft money for months in various other deals in an attempt to revitalize the franchise’s long-dormant international development pipeline. Owner Peter Angelos had long shied away from spending on int’l prospects, though the organization’s stance changed significantly once Angelos’ sons took on a larger role in the Orioles’ operations. Under new general manager Mike Elias, the club has hired the well-regarded Koby Perez as Baltimore’s new senior director of international scouting.
After coming up short in their pursuit of Cuban prospects Sandy Gaston, Victor Victor Mesa, and Victor Mesa Jr., the O’s were left with easily the largest bonus pool of any team of the 2018-19 international signing period, with close to $6MM in available funds. (The Dodgers were next on the list with just $1.4MM.)
Interestingly, both Baltimore and Texas were two of the teams reportedly interested in Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez, who is the most highly-touted prospect on the int’l market after being cleared to sign with Major League teams in late January. Texas has only $850K remaining in its signing pool, so the Rangers could be trying to add more money to land Sanchez, and could perhaps make more deals in the coming days or weeks to add extra funds from teams that have satisfied their needs in this signing period (or were under spending restrictions in this period).
By specifically trading with Texas, it could indicate that the Orioles are out on Sanchez, since it would make little sense to assist a rival in signing a prospect that the O’s themselves want. Theoretically, the Orioles might already have a price point in mind for Sanchez that sits at less than $6MM, so they’re simply trading some of their own excess space to the Rangers, who will then pursue other prospects. Baltimore is in something of an unusual position, as most teams have long since exhausted their bonus pools by this time in the 2018-19 signing period, yet there also isn’t much in the way of premium talent remaining other than Sanchez.
Lebron was a 26th-round pick for Texas in last summer’s amateur draft. A 25-year-old product of the University of Tampa, Lebron posted a 1.31 ERA, 8.3 K/9, and 3.17 K/9 rate over his first 20 2/3 professional innings. Lebron pitched exclusively as a reliever for the Rangers’ low-A and high-A affiliates, though his season was cut short to injury in August.
Giants Claim Hanser Alberto, Designate Jake Barrett For Assignment
Infielder Hanser Alberto is on the move once again, as the Orioles announced Friday that he’s been claimed off waivers by the Giants. In a corresponding move, the Giants announced that they’ve designated right-hander Jake Barrett for assignment.
San Francisco will be the fourth organization for Alberto this offseason, as the versatile 26-year-old has gone from the Rangers to the Yankees to the Orioles via the waiver circuit. Baltimore designated him for assignment earlier this week upon claiming lefty Josh Osich off waivers from the Giants. In some respects, the pair of move effectively amounts to a trade of the two assets.
Alberto, who has experience at second base, shortstop and third base, is a .309/.330/.438 hitter in 1000 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s never managed to carry that production over to the MLB level, however, as evidenced by a meek .192/.210/.231 slash through 192 MLB plate appearances (all coming with the Rangers).
Barrett was only acquired by the Giants earlier this month. New president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has already shown early in his tenure that he’ll carry some of the trends that have been characteristic of the Dodgers over to his new club. Namely, he’s been unafraid to continually shuffle players in and out of the final spot on the Giants’ 40-man roster, regularly claiming players who’ve been designated for assignment only to try to pass them through waivers once again. In the case of outfielder John Andreoli, that worked out nicely, and San Francisco will seemingly hope that a similar situation plays out with Barrett.
The 27-year-old Barrett has a career 4.05 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 1.35 HR/9 and a 44.2 percent ground-ball rate in 93 1/3 MLB innings — all coming with the Diamondbacks. He’s struggled since turning in an strong rookie season back in 2016, but he did average better than 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched over 53 1/3 frames in Triple-A last year.
Orioles Claim Josh Osich, Designate Hanser Alberto
The Orioles have claimed lefty Josh Osich off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. To open a roster spot, they designated infielder Hanser Alberto for assignment.
Osich gives the O’s yet another lefty relief option. The 30-year-old will try to show that he can tap into his apparent upside. Osich has a big fastball and draws loads of grounders, but has struggled with control and carries a 5.01 ERA in 120 1/3 MLB innings.
As for Alberto, 26, he’ll either land back with the O’s as a non-roster player or move once again through the DFA process. He has turned in solid offensive numbers at the Triple-A level but hasn’t yet carried that over to the majors in limited opportunities.
Orioles Sign Alcides Escobar To Minor League Deal
Per a team release, the Orioles have signed shortstop Alcides Escobar to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that Escobar will receive $700K if he cracks the big-league roster.
Escobar, 32, finally fell out of favor in Kansas City, where from 2015-18 his .251/.284/.336 (64 wRC+) line was the worst among all qualified regulars in the majors. Still, the 2015 All-Star has been remarkably durable throughout his big-league career, appearing in at least 140 games in each of the last nine seasons, and should at least offer defensive stability to a hazy Baltimore infield picture.
Escobar arrived to much fanfare in Kansas City after the 2010 trade that sent Zack Greinke to Milwaukee. He flashed his defensive chops early, posting 10 DRS and a 9.6 UZR rating in his first full season with the Royals, though his grounder-heavy bat was a harbinger of outs to come. After a slight lift-off the next season, Escobar again cratered offensively (a cringe-worthy 49 wRC+) in 2013 before leading a late-season charge to the pennant the following year. That 3.5 fWAR campaign would prove to be the shortstop’s high-water mark: discipline issues – a 4.1% career walk rate – sent the once-leadoff man to back-of-the-order rehab, from which he’d emerge only sporadically.
His long-heralded defense, too, has been anything but, according to the advanced metrics. DRS has rated Escobar below-league-average at the position in six of the last seven seasons, pegging him at a career-low -12 in 2018. UZR finally severed its sort-of attachment in 2016, but has never considered the former top 100 prospect a top-of-the-scale defender at the position.
Still, Escobar probably holds the inside track to the Oriole shortstop job in 2019. His competitors – Richie Martin, Drew Jackson, and maybe Jonathan Villar, who seems a better fit at second – haven’t much asserted themselves in recent years, and none are a sure bet to handle the rigors of the position on the regular.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/14/19
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Athletics announced that they’ve signed lefty Tyler Alexander to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training. He’s been out of affiliated ball since the 2014 season, pitching on the independent circuit and in the Mexican League. Manager Bob Melvin spoke to Jane Lee of MLB.com and touted Alexander as someone who the A’s have kept an eye on for the past few years, specifically citing this winter’s strong showing in the Dominican Winter League — 2.68 ERA, 48-to-10 K/BB ratio in 50 1/3 innings — as a source of intrigue.
- The Orioles announced that infielder Jack Reinheimer cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee, where he’ll compete with a variety of other players for a shot at some time in the Baltimore infield mix. The light-hitting 26-year-old hasn’t seen much MLB time but bounced around the waiver wire a bit this winter, indicating that teams see him at least as a plausible big-league depth piece.
- Catcher Adam Moore has agreed to a minor league contract with the Rangers, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. He’d earn a $600K base salary at the Major League level. Moore, 34, has seen action in nine MLB seasons but played in double-digit games in only one of those. He spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, slashing .219/.260/.347 in 208 plate appearances.
- In somewhat of a blast-from-the-past move, the Blue Jays have added lefty Ryan Feierabend on a minor league deal, per Baseball Toronto’s Keegan Matheson (Twitter link). Now 33 years old, Feierabend has just 7 1/3 MLB innings under his belt since the close of the 2008 season. However, he’s had some success pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization in recent seasons and is now utilizing a knuckleball — a rare pitch in today’s game that is all the more anomalous given that Feierabend is left-handed.
Orioles Sign Eric Young Jr.
TODAY: The O’s have announced the signing.
YESTERDAY: The Orioles have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Eric Young Jr. and invited him to Major League Spring Training, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (via Twitter).
Young, now 33 years old, spent the 2017-18 seasons with the Angels but, after a solid run in 2017, saw his offensive output crater in 2018. Overall, he hit a combined .233/.293/.361 with five homers, nine doubles, a pair of triples and 17 steals through 242 plate appearances with the Halos. Young paced the National League with 46 stolen bases back in 2013 as a member of the Rockies, and he doesn’t look to have lost much of a step, as his sprint speed of 29.0 feet per second (via Statcast) still ranked in the 91st percentile of big leaguers.
Baltimore currently projects to have Trey Mancini, Cedric Mullins and DJ Stewart line up as the primary outfielders, with Mark Trumbo, Joey Rickard, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Rule 5 pick Drew Jackson all potentially factoring into the mix as well. Young, though, would bring an element of speed to the O’s that is largely lacking outside of Mullins and infielder Jonathan Villar, so perhaps that’ll hold some appeal to the Orioles’ new leadership as Young vies for a bench job this spring.