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COVID Notes: Carlos Carrasco, Kevin Plawecki

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A few notes from around the game regarding COVID-19…

  • Some good news on the COVID-19 front. Because of his medical history, Carlos Carrasco has received the COVID-19 vaccine, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter). Carrasco’s recent history with leukemia put him at obvious risk, but he can continue his ramp up to opening day with at least a little greater sense of security. The medical testing did keep Carrasco from camp a little longer than some of the other arms, however, which will delay his Grapefruit League debut. It should not affect his ability to be ready for the start of the season, however, notes Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter).
  • Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki returned to the field today after previously being on the COVID-19 injured list, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). If healthy, Plawecki should have the inside track on backing up Christian Vasquez for the Red Sox this season. A former first round pick of the Mets, Plawecki appeared in 24 games and slashed .341/.393/.463 across 89 plate appearances during his first season with Boston in 2020.
  • Kyle Ryan has been cleared to return to the Cubs, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). Ryan is still technically in the protocols for COVID-19, but he has been cleared to return to the team.

Health Notes: Yordan, E-Rod, Bailey, Nottingham, Parra

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After he missed all but two games last season, the Astros are set to welcome back slugger Yordan Alvarez this year. It appears the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year will be limited solely to designated hitter, though, as manager Dusty Baker said Friday (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com) that it’s “very unlikely” he’ll play any outfield in 2021. Alvarez underwent surgery on both knees, and Baker commented, “It’s shown in the past that whenever [Alvarez] plays in the outfield, he’s hurting for two or three days, you know what I mean?” If Alvarez doesn’t see any action in the grass, it’ll leave left field to Michael Brantley, who battled his own injury troubles a year ago and spent most of his season at DH.

  • Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will return to the mound Saturday when he throws two innings in a simulated game, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com relays. That’s welcome news after Rodriguez missed all of last year because of myocarditis and COVID-19. Rodriguez was one of Boston’s top pitchers during the previous couple seasons, and as a pending free agent, the 27-year-old is heading into a pivotal campaign.
  • Reds right-hander Brandon Bailey announced on Twitter that he underwent Tommy John surgery on Friday. It was the second TJ procedure for the 26-year-old Bailey, whom the Reds acquired from the Astros in November. The 26-year-old Bailey made his major league debut last season in Houston with 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, six hits allowed, and four walks against three strikeouts. During his most recent minor league action in 2019, Bailey recorded a 3.30 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning across 92 2/3 Double-A frames.
  • Brewers catcher Jacob Nottingham is not recovering from late-December thumb surgery as quickly as expected. Nottingham is only doing “small baseball activities” right now and will not be ready for the start of Cactus League play, according to manager Craig Counsell (via Todd Rosiak and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). A healthy Nottingham and free-agent pickup Luke Maile figured to jockey for the No. 3 catcher position behind Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina, so Nottingham’s injury could help Maile in his quest to land that job. Nottingham, who is out of minor league options, amassed 54 plate appearances last year and hit .188/.278/.458 with four home runs.
  • Nationals outfielder Gerardo Parra underwent right knee surgery in the fall and is currently at 70 to 80 percent, he told Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post and other reporters Friday. Parra expects to be ready for Opening Day, but having signed a minor league deal in the offseason, he has work to do this spring in order to earn a spot on Washington’s roster.

Red Sox Designate Marcus Walden

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The Red Sox have designated right-hander Marcus Walden for assignment, Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald tweets. They did so to make room for the signing of utilityman Marwin Gonzalez, who’s now officially part of the team.

Walden, formerly with the Blue Jays, Athletics and Twins, signed with the Red Sox before 2017 and broke into the bigs with the club a year later. He was an effective piece of Boston’s bullpen from 2018-19 – a 92 2/3-inning run in which he averaged around 94 mph on his fastball, pitched to a 3.79 ERA/3.91 SIERA, forced grounders at a 54.3 percent clip, and logged strikeout and walk rates of 23.1 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.

Walden amassed a whopping 78 innings in 2019, so the Red Sox were likely expecting another workhorse effort in last year’s truncated campaign. Instead, though, the 32-year-old threw a mere 13 1/3 frames over 15 appearances, in which he posted a horrific 9.45 ERA/5.67 SIERA with a 14.1 percent strikeout rate and a 12.7 percent walk rate. A dip in velocity (92.7 mph average fastball) factored into his decline.

As poorly as he pitched last year, Walden is due to earn a league-minimum salary this season – his final pre-arb campaign – and he has two minor league options remaining. It’s conceivable another team will take a chance on him in hopes that he’ll bounce back to his 2018-19 form.

Red Sox Claim Joel Payamps, Place Franchy Cordero On COVID Injured List

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The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Joel Payamps off waivers from the Blue Jays, according to Boston’s Twitter feed.  To create roster space, outfielder Franchy Cordero has been placed on the COVID-19 injured list, as the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham reported earlier today.

Payamps returns to the Sox less than two weeks after Toronto acquired him in another waiver claim, after the Red Sox designated Payamps for assignment to make roster room for the newly-signed Garrett Richards.  The Sox themselves first landed Payamps on a waiver claim back in November when the right-hander was DFA’ed by the Diamondbacks.

A veteran of eight minor league seasons in the Rockies and Diamondbacks organizations, Payamps has received brief looks at the MLB level in each of the last two seasons, appearing in two games for Arizona in both 2019 and 2020 (with a 3.86 ERA over his seven career innings in the Show).   Over 665 2/3 innings in the minors, Payamps has a 4.15 ERA with a modest 20.34 strikeout rate, starting 119 of 145 games but seeing increasing work as a reliever in both the affiliated minors and in the Dominican Winter League.

Cordero was acquired from the Royals as part of the three-team trade with the Mets that saw Andrew Benintendi head from Boston to Kansas City.  Cordero has shown some glimpses of potential but has been plagued by injuries, appearing in only 95 Major League games over his four seasons as a big leaguer.  It isn’t known if Cordero’s placement on the COVID list is because of his own positive test for the virus, or if he was placed on the list as a precautionary measure due to possible exposure.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/22/21

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The latest minor league moves from around baseball…

  • The Red Sox announced that Jett Bandy has been re-signed to a minor league deal and invited to big league Spring Training camp.  (Alex Speier of the Boston Globe was among those to report the news.)  Bandy is back for his second season with the Sox, after inking a minors pact last winter and spending the 2020 season at Boston’s alternate training site.  Bandy has hit .218/.282/.365 over 492 career plate appearances in the majors, all with the Angels and Brewers from 2015-18.  His last official game action came with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.

Red Sox Notes: Bloom, Martinez, Chavis

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Let’s head to Boston for the latest from Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom…

  • Bloom thinks the Red Sox should be competitive this season, writes Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Designated hitter J.D. Martinez’s return to prominence is a crux of that belief, however, as Bloom notes that they know “how important he is to our lineup and just how much he brings a lineup together when he’s doing what he can do.” Martinez is upper crust when he’s on. He went six consecutive seasons from 2015 to 2019 posting absurd weighted runs created numbers between 136 wRC+ and 170 wRC+. The 33-year-old slugger saw his numbers crater in 2020 to a .213/.291/.389 line worth -1.0 fWAR and 77 wRC+. His isolated power fell to .175 ISO, though a 9.3 percent walk rate and 24.9 percent strikeout rate fell within the range of his career norms. A .259 BABIP was well below his career averages, and while his batted ball profile wasn’t horrendous, it also wasn’t all-world for the first time in his Boston tenure. Martinez needs to be a threat for the rest of the Boston lineup to fall into place.
  • Bloom maintains his long-term perspective, hoping to see the next Red Sox core establishing themselves by the end of 2021, writes the Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. Said Bloom, “That next core that is going to be the center of a sustainable championship contender. To see that core taking shape, both with the players who have been here, who have been part of the core that won the last championship — that are going to continue to be here – and then the players who are going to join that group, whether it’s from within our system, whether it’s guys we’ve acquired, or even guys who might not be here yet. To feel that by the end of the year, we can see that core taking even more shape than we can see right now.”
  • There are only so many candidates left that Bloom could be referring to when talking about members of the last Red Sox champ. Ostensibly, that’s Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers on the position player side. The former was extended through 2025, and the latter could be next in line, if indeed Bloom views him as a centerpiece offensive contributor. The Red Sox can clear a lot of payroll space after this season, and only Bogaerts and Chris Sale are on the books for 2023, so there’s plenty of runway for Devers to land a long-term extension.
  • Red Sox manager Alex Cora is leaning towards entering the season with a three-man position player bench, a strategy buoyed by the recent signings of Enrique Hernandez and Marwin Gonzalez. Michael Chavis is another guy who will move around the diamond a bit. Cora plans on giving Chavis time at third, first, second, and left field. But he wants to see more consistency from the young right-hander at the plate, per Rob Bradford of WEEI sports radio network. Chavis especially needs to mash versus southpaws, though he has just a .257 wOBA against lefties through 158 career plate appearances compared to a .281 wOBA versus same-handed hurlers.

AL East Notes: Bradley, Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, Honeywell

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Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom met with reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe) this afternoon and confirmed that the club remains in contact with the representatives for free agent center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. They will stay in touch until the situation “resolves” itself, Bloom added. Bradley is unquestionably the top position player remaining in free agency at this point. In addition to their involvement in the Bradley market, Bloom noted (via Speier) the Sox could discuss contract extensions with players already on the roster in spring training.

Elsewhere in the AL East:

  • Even after agreeing to terms with Brett Gardner, the Yankees expect to hand the primary left field job to Clint Frazier, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (via Marly Rivera of ESPN). Frazier, a former top prospect, took hold of the job with a stellar .267/.394/.511 slash line with eight home runs over 160 plate appearances in 2020. The 26-year-old has still only played 162 MLB games and has had some ups and downs defensively, so a reunion with the reliable Gardner provides something of a safety net for New York.
  • Rays pitching prospect Brent Honeywell has been knocked off course by a series of arm injuries, undergoing four elbow surgeries since his last minor-league action in September 2017. The 25-year-old is now back in major league camp and feeling better than he has in years. “I’m excited. I’m healthy. … Everything is good. After this last one, it was a big-time help for me, and it was a big-time relief of my elbow. Everything is so-called ‘on track,’ and we’re moving in the right direction,” Honeywell told reporters (including Adam Berry of MLB.com). There’s no specific timetable for the 25-year-old’s return to game action but there seems to be a general sense of optimism regarding Honeywell’s ability to contribute at the big league level in 2021.

Red Sox Claim John Schreiber, Place Chris Sale On 60-Day IL

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The Red Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed righty John Schreiber off waivers from the Tigers and placed left-hander Chris Sale on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The Sale move shouldn’t come as a shock, given that he underwent Tommy John surgery on March 30 last year. It was reported last month that his rehab was expected to come near the back end of the typical 12-15 month recovery time. He’ll likely be an option for the Sox sometime early this summer.

Schreiber, 27 next month, has pitched 28 2/3 innings with Detroit over the past two seasons but has not fared well, logging a 6.28 ERA in that time. Other metrics are more bullish on the former 15th-round pick, however, thanks largely to an above-average 25.6 percent strikeout rate and a very manageable 6.2 percent walk rate. The sidearm-slinging Schreiber has a career 1.99 ERA in four minor league seasons, including a 2.28 mark in 59 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

Schreiber doesn’t throw particularly hard, as is common with sidearmers, but he’s been a thorn in the side of hitters throughout his minor league tenure — righties in particular. Right-handed opponents posted a laughable .192/.270/.311 slash against him in 2019. Beyond that, Schreiber has multiple minor league option years remaining, giving the Red Sox both depth and flexibility with their bullpen should they choose to keep him on the 40-man roster.

Rays Acquire Chris Mazza, Jeffrey Springs From Red Sox

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9:19am: The teams have officially announced the four-player trade. Tampa Bay placed lefty Jalen Beeks, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The Red Sox, notably, announced that backup catcher Kevin Plawecki has been placed on the Covid-19 related injured list (which can be done either for positive cases or for players who have been exposed to positive cases).

9:00am: The two sides have agreed to the trade of Mazza, Springs and cash for Hernandez and Sogard, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

8:09am: The Rays and Red Sox are moving toward a trade that would send recently designated-for-assignment pitchers Chris Mazza and Jeffrey Springs from Boston to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another Rays farmhand, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter thread). MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets that 23-year-old Nick Sogard, the Rays’ 12th-round pick in 2019, is the other player going to Boston in the deal.

Hernandez ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects as recently as the 2018-19 offseason, so it’s a bit of a surprise to see the Rays deal him and another minor leaguer in exchange for a pair of recently DFA’ed arms. Hernandez’s prospect stock has tumbled in recent seasons, however, and the Rays are likely aiming to stockpile as much optionable pitching depth as possible to get them through a 2021 season when most pitchers will be on limited workloads.

Mazza, 31, has spent time in the Majors with the Mets and Red Sox across the past two seasons but hasn’t matched his strong Triple-A results. In 46 1/3 big league innings, he’s posted a 5.05 ERA and 4.96 SIERA with sub-par strikeout (21.3), walk (11.0) and ground-ball (35.4) percentages. Mazza does carry a 3.72 ERA in 92 Triple-A frames and a 3.24 mark in 283 2/3 Double-A innings, but he’s been with five MLB organizations (Twins, Marlins, Mariners, Mets, Red Sox) and hasn’t carried those results to the big leagues yet.

The 2020 season was Springs’ first with the Red Sox, and it proved to be a struggle. In 20 1/3 frames, the former Rangers southpaw was tagged for a 7.08 ERA. He struck out 28 percent of his opponents against just a seven percent walk rate, but five of the 99 opponents Springs faced took him deep. He has a 5.42 ERA and 4.66 FIP in 84 2/3 innings at the Major League level between the Texas and Boston organizations.

Mazza limited hard contact reasonably well in 2020, while Springs showed plenty of aptitude for missing bats even if he yielded too many long balls. Both figure to be shuttled back and forth between the Rays’ Triple-A club in Durham and their MLB roster throughout the season. The Rays surely believe they can coax more out of both players as well, either by tinkering with their pitch mixes or altering their approach with the existing arsenals of Mazza and Springs.

The trade also illustrates the volatility of prospects and serves as a reminder not to be too beholden to prospect lists, which are typically just a snapshot in time anyhow. Hernandez posted big numbers in Rookie ball and had a strong full-season debut in 2018 when he slashed .284/.339/.494 with 21 homers in 109 games. His 2019 season in Class-A Advanced, however, resulted in a lackluster .265/.299/.397 showing, though he did rebound with a good showing during 11 games of Arizona Fall League action.

Hernandez still ranked 13th among Tampa Bay prospects, per Baseball America, but perhaps the Rays’ internal evaluations vary. It’s tougher than ever to evaluate prospects right now after they didn’t have a minor league season in 2020 and weren’t as widely accessible for scouts. The Rays may feel that Hernandez’s stock is more diminished than the general public consensus. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, meanwhile, knows Hernandez quite well from his time as a Rays vice president and was likely more than content to roll the dice on a prospect at an organizational position of need when the cost was a pair of arms the Sox determined to be fringe 40-man contributors.

Boston will also pick up Sogard, a utility-infield type who is devoid of any power but can move around the diamond with a contact-driven skill set at the plate. Sogard hit all of two home runs in his NCAA career and slashed .290/.405/.313 in 63 games for the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate following the draft. He walked nearly as often as he struck out that year — a trend which aligns with his college days at Loyola Marymount.

Pitching Notes: Odorizzi, Paxton, Mets, Red Sox, Tigers

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Jake Odorizzi is the top name left from MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent rankings, and it’s still not clear which (if any) team will meet the right-hander’s reported multi-year asking price. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in his latest Q&A with readers that the Cardinals’ interest in Odorizzi is legitimate but not aggressive. Goold likens the Cards’ interest to their interest in Kyle Lohse more than a decade ago, when Lohse signed a one-year deal during Spring Training 2008 at a much lower rate than he’d initially sought in free agency. Of course, other teams would surely jump into the mix were Odorizzi to eventually settle for a one-year pact, and there’s no indication yet he plans to do so.

  • James Paxton is headed back to the Mariners on a one-year deal worth $8.5MM, but he drew interest from numerous other clubs before landing that deal. The Mets offered Paxton $6MM in guarantees, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post, and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes that the M’s at one point expected the lefty to be out of their price range because of how impressive he looked during an offseason showcase. However, Divish adds that Paxton also had a desire to return to a Seattle setting where he’d previously felt comfortable and had success.
  • The Red Sox were among the teams in attendance for free-agent righty Chaz Roe’s bullpen session over the weekend, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. The 34-year-old reliever spent the previous three-plus seasons in Tampa Bay and is familiar with Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who used to be a Rays executive. Roe threw only 9 1/3 innings in 2020, but he was overall a solid bullpen option as a member of the Rays, with whom he pitched to a 3.54 ERA/3.73 SIERA in 119 1/3 frames.
  • The Tigers added Jose Urena to their rotation mix earlier in the offseason, but they might not be done yet. “We’re definitely looking for more pitching as we speak. I think at least one more starter would be ideal,” general manager Al Avila said Tuesday (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com).The right-handed Urena was mostly a starter as a Marlin from 2015-20, but he could wind up in a bullpen role with the Tigers, Avila noted. For now, Urena’s a candidate to join Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull and Michael Fulmer in Detroit’s starting staff. Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Daniel Norris and Tyler Alexander are also among in-house possibilities to rack up starts this year.
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