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AL East Notes: Morales, O’s, Francisco, Yankees

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Orioles executive VP Dan Duquette appeared on Buster Olney’s podcast today and discussed a variety of topics, including Kendrys Morales (Duquette appears around the 27:00 mark). Asked by Olney about the speculation that Morales could help his team, Duquette replied, “We don’t have any plans to add anybody to our ball club right now … Matt Wieters, with the issue he has in with his elbow, is going to take some at-bats in our DH position, so we’re all set. When we signed Nelson Cruz, that pretty much closed the door on that speculation.” Duquette also talked about his team’s strong start to the year in spite of several injuries as well as Manny Machado’s elite defense. More from that interview and the rest of the AL East below…

  • Duquette also fielded questions on the contract status of Wieters and Chris Davis (around the 36:20 mark), noting that the club has twice tried to extend Wieters and once tried to extend Davis as well. “I like Chris and Matt on the ball club, but having said that, we’ve already made that effort, and I’m not really going to be discussing that this year during the season with those players.” Both Wieters and Davis are Scott Boras clients, which makes the task of hammering out a long-term deal a more difficult one, as Boras typically encourages his players to go year-to-year and test the open market.
  • Shifting gears from the O’s to the Blue Jays, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets that the main reason behind Juan Francisco choosing to sign in Toronto was a recruiting pitch from Edwin Encarnacion. After Francisco was cut by the Brewers in Spring Training, Encarnacion called his countryman and pitched Toronto, and the result has been a .311/.403/.623 batting line with five homers in 72 PAs for Francisco.
  • In a special piece for ESPN New York, Danny Knobler writes that the perception of the Yankees as an “old-school” team is misleading. Knobler spoke with Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who called the Yankees “way more [progressive] than people think.” Knobler also points out that the Yankees trail only the Astros in terms of infield shifting this season, a fact that isn’t lost on division rival Joe Maddon. The Rays skipper told Knobler: “They’re exceeding us. It doesn’t surprise me. It disappoints me. I much preferred when they thought we were nuts, that we were bastardizing the game.”

MRI Indicates Wieters Does Not Need Surgery

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After receiving a scare when Matt Wieters’ MRI results were sent to Dr. James Andrews for further review, the Orioles received good news today, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (all Twitter links). After reviewing the MRI, Andrews informed the team that Wieters isn’t a candidate for surgery.

The belief, says Connolly’s source, is that the injury could have been preexisting, dating back to Wieters’ time as a pitcher in college, and he may have simply tweaked it recently. Connolly adds that Wieters won’t catch for awhile, but he is expected to be able to DH. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the concern was over Wieters’ flexor mass, not his ulnar collateral ligament.

MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko speculated this morning that if Wieters were to be relegated to DH duties for awhile, the team would purchase the contract of Caleb Joseph to serve as Steve Clevenger’s backup. Baltimore has an open 40-man roster spot, which would make that scenario easier for the team. That they won’t be without Wieters’ bat has to come as a huge sigh of relief to an Orioles team that has already seen Chris Davis land on the disabled list after spending the season’s first month without Manny Machado. Wieters is hitting .341/.374/.560 with five homers through his first 23 games.

AL Notes: A’s, O’Flaherty, Wieters, Tomlin, Bauer

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The Athletics have continued to adapt to changes in the market and the analysis of the game since the much-hyped Moneyball era, writes MLB.com’s Mike Bauman. Getting on base is still a key, says Bauman, but this year’s club is winning with success on the bases and in the field. Manager Bob Melvin explained: “A guy like Josh Reddick, even when he’s not swinging the bat well, can play because he runs the bases well and he plays good defense. There’s value to all different variables, and we do value all of them.”

  • Of course, the most recent notable shift has been GM Billy Beane’s heavy investment in the bullpen, which continued with the Athletics’ recent extension of Sean Doolittle. The club’s relief corps currently has a 2.71 collective ERA (fourth-best in the bigs), and could soon benefit from the return of Eric O’Flaherty. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the former Braves southpaw is nearing a rehab assignment and could be looking at an early June debut in Oakland. O’Flaherty was inked to a back-loaded, two-year, $7MM deal in the offseason.
  • The Orioles may be holding their collective breath until tomorrow, when catcher Matt Wieters will pay a visit to Dr. James Andrews to receive an evaluation of his sore elbow, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Though Passan notes the possibility of a UCL tear, Wieters played today in the DH slot and manager Buck Showalter downplayed the seriousness of the issue in comments to reporters, including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (links to Twitter). Showalter said that the team simply hopes to learn more about the cause of the soreness, and hopes to have Wieters back behind the dish tomorrow.
  • The Indians have struggled to nail down the back of the rotation in the early part of the season. After letting Aaron Harang go and seeing Carlos Carrasco struggle, says Zack Meisel of the Plain Dealer, the team will now give Josh Tomlin a chance to seize a regular spot. Manager Terry Francona explained that the decision-making out of camp was driven by roster limitations. “For what I think are the right reasons, we wanted to see Carlos pitch,” he said, noting that Tomlin suffered in some respects because he still had an option. “We tried to figure out a way to keep Aaron Harang. We had so many meetings about that. You want to keep depth, knowing that you’re going to need it.” Tomlin, a 29-year-old righty, was solid in his return to Cleveland tonight after missing most of 2013 to Tommy John rehab and then losing his arbitration case to the club. David Laurila of Fangraphs provided an interesting breakdown of Tomlin’s offerings and how he hopes to succeed in his return from surgery.
  • Of course, the Indians also have a surging Trevor Bauer throwing at the Triple-A level. As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes, the 23-year-old is among the top prospects in the game who are still waiting for their chance to shine at the major league level. For Bauer, who had 25 days of MLB service coming into the year, extended time in the minors would be needed to maintain an additional year of team control and avoid Super Two status. Rosenthal discusses the fact that several excellent youngsters seem ready for promotions that have not yet been forthcoming.

AL East Notes: Morrow, Francisco, Cruz, Santana, Sabathia

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With Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow going to the 60-day DL with a torn tendon sheath, the Star’s Richard Griffin writes that Morrow may well have thrown his last pitch for the club. As Griffin notes, the 29-year-old’s $10MM club option (which comes with a $1MM buyout) seems unlikely to be exercised at this point after yet another significant injury. Here’s more from Toronto and the rest of the AL East:

  • Indications are that the Blue Jays will look to keep power-hitting corner infielder Juan Francisco in the fold after Adam Lind is activated, tweets Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star. Discussing the situation, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm writes that Toronto could conceivably drop one of its eight relievers or shift Brett Lawrie into the club’s regular second base role.
  • Orioles slugger Nelson Cruz discussed his difficult last year with MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli, saying that it was hardest on his family. As for the qualifying offer situation, Cruz said he probably would have grabbed it had he known what was in store. “But it’s something that you risk and you trust your instincts,” said Cruz. “In this case, it wasn’t what I expected. But I’m happy with my decision and happy with where I am now. That’s the only thing that matters.” From the O’s perspective, executive VP Dan Duquette said that the deal was made when Cruz’s camp “adjusted what they were looking for in terms of the term” (i.e. length) of the deal. Cruz if off to a hot start, of course, posting a .294/.369/.596 triple-slash with nine home runs in his first 122 plate appearances with Baltimore.
  • A less-consequential decision for the Orioles front office was the low-risk signing of one-time ace Johan Santana, who has been working his way back to full strength on a minor league contract. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter that Santana’s fastball has reached the 88-89 mph range, with his slider in the low-80’s and change in the mid-70’s. While that obviously represents a significant drop from his peak years, Santana posted an average fastball velocity of just 89.6 mph in his 2.98 ERA, 199-inning 2010 season.
  • In a chat today, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick touched upon the situation of Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia. A scout recently told Crasnick that Sabathia’s offerings are “very fringy,” and that he will need impeccable control to be effective going forward. On the other hand, Crasnick opines that Sabathia has actually delivered decent value to New York on his massive contract. For what it’s worth, Sabathia’s unsightly 5.75 ERA through his first 40 2/3 innings in 2014 is much worse than his 4.16 FIP, 2.95 xFIP, and 2.92 SIERA marks. Indeed, while Sabathia has been hurt by the long ball (21.9% HR/FB rate) and a .361 BABIP, he is sporting 9.74 K/9 against just 1.99 BB/9 while generating a 50.8% ground-ball rate.

AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Schoop, Gray

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The recent struggles of Yankees starters C.C. Sabathia (age 33) and Hiroki Kuroda (age 39) weigh on the minds of Red Sox management in regards to a possible Jon Lester extension, Peter Gammons tweets.  While the Sox are surely interested in keeping Lester in the fold through 2018, anything beyond that could be problematic given the history of guaranteeing big money to aging pitchers.  Lester would be 35 on Opening Day 2019, which could be why Boston’s most recent offer to the southpaw was a four-year extension.

  • The Blue Jays could make up their 2.5-game deficit in the AL East by making four changes, Paul Swydan writes in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com.  One of those moves would be an upgrade at second base, and Swydan suggests that Rickie Weeks, Luis Valbuena, Emilio Bonifacio and Danny Espinosa could all be logical trade targets.
  • Chuck LaMar, former Rays GM and current Blue Jays special assistant of amateur scouting, recently scouted high schooler Alex Verdugo, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reports.  Verdugo, recently ranked as the 41st-best draft prospect by Baseball America, is both a left-handed pitcher and an outfielder “who prefers to hit anyway,” according to BA’s John Manuel.  Toronto has the ninth and eleventh overall picks in the 2014 draft, as well as the 50th overall selection.
  • Jonathan Schoop is only hitting .231/.278/.374 in 97 PA this season, but MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski believes the Orioles’ star prospect deserves more time as a Major League regular.
  • The Athletics drafted Sonny Gray one pick ahead of the Red Sox in 2011, and WEEI.com’s Alex Speier notes that the Sox heavily evaluated the righty in the months leading up to the draft.  While Gray has already enjoyed Major League stardom, Boston still has to be pretty satisfied with its actual pick at #19 overall, as Matt Barnes is a well-regarded right-hander pitching at Triple-A this season and possibly in line for a late-season promotion to the bigs.

Duquette Downplays Orioles’ Interest In Kendrys Morales

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Late last week it was reported that the Orioles are still talking with free agent Kendrys Morales, but Orioles Executive Vice President Dan Duquette isn’t interested in fueling speculation.  It could very well just be posturing, but earlier today, Duquette told Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette of SiriusXM (Twitter link) that the O’s haven’t discussed Morales since they signed Nelson Cruz.

Duquette went on to say (link) that Chris Davis’ pending return plays a role in their lack of interest in Morales. With everyone healthy, Davis will play first while Cruz frequently plays DH, leaving limited room for Morales. Davis today told the Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina that he was “a little ahead of schedule” in his bid to return from an oblique strain.

Orioles Outright David Adams To Double-A

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We’ll keep track of today’s outright assignments here..

  • The Orioles announced that they have outrighted infielder David Adams to Double-A Bowie. Adams, who was claimed off waivers from the Indians in late March, batted .214/.295/.371 with two homers in 21 games for Triple-A Norfolk this season.  The 26-year-old hit just .193/.252/.286 in 152 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2013, but offered a more robust .268/.366/.405 slash line in 255 plate appearances at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  With the move, the O’s now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.

AL East Links: Lester, Hinojosa, Cruz, Orr

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George Digby, a Red Sox scout from 1944 to 1994 and a scouting consultant until 2004, passed away on Friday at age 96.  Digby’s long career earned him a spot in the Red Sox Hall Of Fame and his many signings included such notable names as Wade Boggs, Mike Greenwell and Jody Reed.  An even bigger name, however, eluded Digby through no fault of his own.  As ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes relates, Digby pushed the Red Sox to sign Willie Mays in 1949 yet got nowhere thanks to the club’s ban on black players that shamefully existed until 1959.  The MLBTR staff extends our condolences to Digby’s family and many friends around baseball.

Here’s the latest from the AL East…

  • Jon Lester recorded a career-best 15 strikeouts over eight innings of one-hit ball in a 6-3 Boston win over Oakland today.  MLB.com’s Mike Bauman notes that such performances are what makes Lester so valuable to the Red Sox and it only raises the southpaw’s asking price on his next contract.  When last we heard about negotiations, Lester and the Sox had reportedly suspended talks until the end of the season.
  • Dalier Hinojosa has a 7.15 ERA and 12 walks over his first 11 1/3 innings with Triple-A Pawtucket, yet the PawSox coaching staff isn’t yet concerned about the Cuban right-hander, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes.  This is not only Hinojosa’s first taste of American pro baseball since signing a $4.25MM contract with the Red Sox in October, but it is also his first time pitching in cold weather, which the PawSox coaches believe is affecting his performance.
  • Nelson Cruz is off to a hot start and is only under contract through 2014, though MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski opines that the Orioles shouldn’t be in any rush to extend Cruz’s contract.  The O’s have other long-term deals for building block players (i.e. Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy) to consider first, plus Baltimore can also extend a qualifying offer to Cruz in the offseason.
  • Infielder Pete Orr wanted to sign with the Blue Jays last winter, his agent Blake Corosky tells Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.  “Pete made it clear to them that they were his first choice and starting in [Triple-A] Buffalo was fine.  But they were equally clear there were better options and that they liked him but not enough,” Corosky said.  Orr, born just outside Toronto in nearby Richmond Hill, instead signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.

Orioles Still Talking With Kendrys Morales

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The Orioles have maintained dialogue with free agent first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales over the last several weeks, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. At present, a “fairly significant gap” still separates the two sides.

Notably, according to Heyman, the key issue is not years but dollars. Negotiations between Baltimore and Scott Boras (Morales’s agent) have focused on one-year scenarios. It is worth noting that Morales will only earn a prorated portion of whatever annual salary rate is agreed upon for 2014.

Heyman notes that the Mariners and Brewers continue to look like other possibilities. Seattle seemingly stepped back from Morales after its rough stretch, but Heyman wonders if they could get back involved if the club continues its recent revival. Of course, the closer we get to the June draft, the greater the possibility becomes that the Mariners will lose the supplemental pick they stand to gain should Morales find a new home before that time, which could increase the club’s motivation.

Performance has not been an issue for Milwaukee, of course, and Morales may well be just the kind of mid-season addition needed to cement the team’s status as a contender. As Heyman notes, the Brewers have recently landed fellow Boras clients Kyle Lohse and Francisco Rodriguez.

Orioles Outright Josh Stinson

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The Orioles have outrighted reliever Josh Stinson to Triple-A, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Stinson has already cleared waivers, says Kubatko. The move clears space for the activation of Troy Patton from the restricted list.

Stinson, 26, was off to a rough start to the 2014 campaign, as he carried a 7.15 ERA through 11 1/3 frames while carrying a WHIP just south of 2.000. He was more effective in limited action last year, when he posted a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings. Stinson was originally claimed by Baltimore off waivers right at the start of the 2013 season.

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