Twins Acquire Jeremy Bleich
The Twins have acquired left-hander Jeremy Bleich from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations, as tweeted by Nate Rowan, the director of communications for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. Bleich will be assigned to Rochester.
Bleich signed a minors deal with Boston in April, and has posted an 0.71 ERA in 12 2/3 innings at low-A ball along with a 5.59 ERA over 19 1/3 frames for Triple-A Pawtucket. These represent the latest stops in an 11-year pro career for Bleich, who was originally selected 44th overall by the Yankees in the 2008 draft. Minnesota will be the seventh different organization Bleich has called home, and his long resume includes a cup of coffee in the majors, appearing in two games (and pitching a total of one-third of an inning) for the Athletics just last season.
The 32-year-old Bleich has a 3.87 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 2.08 K/BB rate over 641 1/3 career innings in the minors. He has started 72 of his 271 career games, though the lefty has worked largely out of the bullpen for the last five years.
Cora, Betts, Porcello Discuss Red Sox’ Outlook & Future
As the Red Sox continue to hover just out of postseason position, but well shy of striking distance in the division, the organization’s outlook has been a topic of keen interest in Boston. Without the backstop of an August trade period, the upcoming trade deadline has taken on increased significance for the defending champs.
Skipper Alex Cora has continued to emphasize the need for urgency from the men in uniform. As MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports, Cora has now acknowledged the possibility that the club may not be in a strong buying position when it comes time to make a final call in one week’s time.
“The front office has a job to do,” says Cora. “Obviously our goals are set to win the World Series. If it doesn’t look that way and they go somewhere else and take another approach, you’ve got to respect that. At the end, we have to perform and we have to win games.”
There has been some chatter of a minor sell-off, though it seems quite difficult to imagine that taking place with the Boston club just two games out of postseason position and still laden with talent. But it remains to be seen how hard the front office will be able to push to improve, with a realistic assessment of the likelihood of a repeat crown necessarily weighing in the balance of how much young talent and/or future payroll capacity can be sacrificed to improve the present active roster.
Superstar Mookie Betts is emblematic of the frustrating Sox’ season to this point. He romped through 2018 but has been merely very good this year. As Christopher Smith of MassLive.com covers, Betts suggeests there’s nothing to do but keep grinding.
“Just like I may not be able to have that type of MVP season every year, well, how many teams have amazing seasons like that every year?” Betts queries. “So this year has new challenges that we have to go about and accept it.”
If the Sox elected to blow things up, Betts would be the club’s biggest trade chip. But that’s exceptionally unlikely. True, Betts has generally not seemed inclined to pursue an extension, which certainly weighs into the considerations from a team perspective. But it’s all but impossible to imagine a scenario where it makes sense for a thriving Sox franchise to part with such a talent when it controls him for one more season.
Plus, there are still scenarios where Betts ends up spending his entire career in Boston — even if it comes after a trip onto the open market. He emphasized in his comments how much he loves playing for the Sox.
“It’s been nothing but amazing here,” he says. “Just because you go to free agency doesn’t mean you don’t want to be somewhere. It’s just a part of the business.”
While Betts has declined persistent extension overtures, the opposite was true for righty Rick Porcello. As he approaches free agency, the thirty-year-old hurler is now mired in his worst season in the big leagues, with a 5.61 ERA through 110 2/3 innings. As Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports, Porcello is choosing to focus on the things he can control right now rather than dwelling on what has gone wrong or what the future holds.
From a team perspective, Porcello says, “it’s not going to be the same journey every year and this is our path right now.” Rather than comparing to the club’s blessed 2018 path, he says, the club should “focus on the positives and focus on moving forward and what we can do with the remaining games we have left, that’s where all the energy should be.” Those words translate to Porcello’s personal situation as well, as the righty explains and Bradford explores in great detail. Porcello says he isn’t worried about future possibilities that aren’t even yet clear, emphasizing that he doesn’t “think about the contract stuff anymore.”
Porcello seemingly summed things up, for himself and the team: “You play enough baseball you start to realize it’s so much wasted energy thinking about if we’re going to get a player, am I going to get traded, what’s going to happen, are we still trying to win? I have one priority right now and that’s getting my [stuff] right to get guys out. That’s it.”
Red Sox To Activate Mitch Moreland; Could Place Michael Chavis On IL
The Red Sox plan to activate first baseman Mitch Moreland from the injured list Tuesday, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets. Unfortunately for Boston, though, it could lose infielder Michael Chavis at the same time. Manager Alex Cora isn’t ruling out an IL placement for Chavis, who’s dealing with back spasms, according to Speier.
Moreland has endured two IL stints going back to late May, the latest being for a quad strain. The 33-year-old has taken just two at-bats since May 26 as a result of his injuries. Moreland had gotten off to a nice start before then, with a .225/.316/.543 line (115 wRC+) and 13 home runs in 174 plate appearances.
The long-term absences of Moreland and fellow injured first baseman Steve Pearce left the position to Chavis – who had been at second base – for the past several weeks. While Chavis has hammered 16 HRs in 331 PA, a recent skid has dropped the 23-year-old rookie’s overall slash to a league-average .255/.329/.450 (100 wRC+). Chavis hasn’t played since Saturday.
Rich Hill On Outlook, Future Plans
Dodgers southpaw Rich Hill is working his way back to the mound this year, with plans for more, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. The veteran hurler is presently on the 60-day injured list with a flexor strain but says he has now begun a throwing program.
Hill is still a month away from possible activation, but it’s encouraging to hear that he’s already beginning to move in a positive direction. There was initial concern that he had suffered a catastrophic injury, but Hill says those fears subsided rather quickly. Now, he’s “anxious to get started again.” It certainly seems as if the near-term outlook is rather optimistic.
Once he does get back going, Hill has no plans to stop. “I want to play as long as I can,” he says, though he acknowledges there’s always some uncertainty when it comes to health.
Hill’s contract expires after the present season. He’ll be eligible for a qualifying offer, which could well be a possibility given how well he has pitched when available. Hill has made between twenty and twenty-five starts annually since 2016 and won’t even reach that level this year, but he’s sporting a 2.93 ERA since the start of his stunning rebirth in late 2015.
So, how might the future look? “It could be one of those things where I go year to year,” says Hill, though he adds that he’s “not 100 percent sure” what form his next contract will take.
As for location, there are also some notable hints. “[H]opefully I can stay in L.A.,” says Hill, who says he relishes the competitive success the Dodgers have had in his time there. The club has made good use of Hill, with an approach that embraces his occasional absences and even views them as a means of keeping him at top form when he is active.
Of course, there’s also a strong pull to Boston. Not only did he launch his comeback with the Red Sox, but Hill’s family still resides there. He cited a desire to keep his son around the professional game as part of his plan for continuing to pitch, while also bemoaning the lack of time with his family once school starts. Boston “has always been home,” says Hill, who otherwise cites “a chance to compete” as the “biggest” draw in his future.
It certainly seems that his current and former organizations hold plenty of allure to the 39-year-old Hill, who may well be set up for a remarkable (and lucrative) run past forty years of age. “I feel like I have a lot of good pitching left in me,” he says.
Blue Jays Notes: Hudson, Red Sox, Sogard, Pompey
Daniel Hudson‘s strong season is drawing trade attention from the Red Sox and multiple other teams, MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports (Twitter link). The Blue Jays signed Hudson to a one-year, $1.5MM contract over the offseason, and the 32-year-old is on pace to deliver his best season as a relief pitcher, with a 2.72 ERA, 8.8 K/9, and 2.00 K/BB rate over 43 innings. The Red Sox are known to be looking at the high end of the bullpen market, though it isn’t surprising that they would also be seeking out pitchers like Hudson, who wouldn’t cost nearly as much in the way of prospects.
Hudson’s performance comes with some red flags, however, as ERA predictors (4.46 FIP, 5.51 xFIP, 4.67 SIERA) hint that Hudson is due for some major regression, and he is allowing a lot of hard contact — 40% of Hudson’s balls in play are hard-hit. On the plus side, Hudson’s fastball velocity and spin rate both rank in the 89th percentile or better of all qualified pitchers, so a lot of that hard contact is going for naught (or is being converted into relatively harmless fly balls, as his 47.5% fly ball rate is well above his 39.2% career average).
Here’s more out of Toronto….
- In another tweet from Morosi, Eric Sogard is getting some looks from teams in search of a utilityman, especially clubs turned off by the Royals’ “crazy” asking price on Whit Merrifield. Sogard is another unheralded offseason signing who has become a big contributor for the Jays, with a .305/.369/.491 slash line (128 wRC+) and 10 homers over 304 plate appearances. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently explored how Sogard’s unexpected power surge has been something of a mirage, though Sogard’s solid contact skills and defensive versatility make him an asset even if his bat cools off. He has worked mostly as a second baseman this year, though also with time at third base, shortstop, and both corner outfield positions.
- The Blue Jays are facing a decision about Dalton Pompey, Sportsnet.ca’s Arden Zwelling writes, as Pompey’s 20-day injury rehab assignment is up on Monday. Since Pompey is out of options, the Jays have to either call the outfielder up to the majors, or designate him for assignment. It isn’t out of the question that Pompey could come through DFA limbo without being claimed, Zwelling notes, as other teams might also not want to spend a 25-man roster spot on his services. Once a consensus top-50 prospect prior to the 2015 season, Pompey has fallen off the radar after several injury-plagued years, including multiple concussions. He only returned to action in early July after suffering another concussion during Spring Training.
Red Sox Interested In Ken Giles, Kirby Yates
While Nathan Eovaldi has been slated to become Boston’s closer, the Red Sox continue to monitor the closer market, with MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi (via Twitter) reporting that the Sox have “active interest” in the Blue Jays’ Ken Giles and the Padres’ Kirby Yates.
The bullpen has been seen as a longstanding problem for the Sox dating back to the offseason, when the team seemed content to let Craig Kimbrel leave in free agency and then more or less stand pat with its relief options. That strategy has resulted in some pretty inconsistent results from the Red Sox pen this season, with Eovaldi’s recent role change seen as a two birds-with-one stone idea that would both help preserve Eovaldi’s elbow and get him back on a mound quicker, and also address Boston’s need for a stable closer.
Of course, Eovaldi has no experience closing games, so it makes sense that the Sox would at least be checking into options like Yates and Giles to see if another move was possible. That said, there are a lot of obstacles standing in the way of a trade for either closer. The Jays have a big asking price on Giles, while the Padres would reportedly only trade Yates for “an overwhelming offer.” Ergo, acquiring either right-hander would require the Sox to dig deep into an already-thin farm system.
In a pure bidding war for young minor leaguers, it seems unlikely that the Sox would be able to outbid most other interested suitors for either Giles or Yates, and their normal financial might (in terms of taking on money to accommodate trades) is limited by the team’s close proximity to the top luxury tax threshold of $246MM. Neither Giles or Yates are on particularly big salaries, though every dollar counts considering Roster Resource has Boston’s luxury tax number at just under $244MM.
While high-profile trades between division rivals are usually pretty rare, the Red Sox and Blue Jays combined on a notable deal just last summer, when the Sox acquired future World Series MVP from Toronto. By contrast, one wonders if the Sox could actually have a tougher time completing a trade with the Padres given the controversy that erupted between the two clubs over the Drew Pomeranz deal in July 2016. That said, San Diego and Boston have combined on one swap since the Pomeranz trade, the relatively minor deal last November that saw Colten Brewer go to the Sox.
If nothing else, Boston’s interest in Giles and Yates indicates that the team still sees itself as a contender and a buyer at the trade deadline. At this point, however, it seems like the Sox are vying only for a wild card spot, as Boston sits 11 games behind the Yankees in the AL East race. The Red Sox are three games behind Oakland for the final AL wild card berth, and with a tough road to travel just to get to a one-game playoff, there has been some suggestion (from both the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham and MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) that the Sox should consider trading some veterans to unload salary and restock on young talent for another run in 2020.
Boston’s next 14 games are all against either the Yankees or the Rays, with eight of those games coming before the July 31 trade deadline. Both Abraham and Cotillo cite this upcoming stretch as the potential turning point of the Red Sox season, with Abraham describing the team’s July 29 off-day as “the organization’s deadline to decide whether this season is worth trying to save.”
Andrew Cashner Would Have Sat Out If Traded To Undesirable Team
Back in May, right-hander Andrew Cashner suggested to Dan Connolly of The Athletic that he’d consider sitting out the rest of the season if the Orioles sent him to an undesirable destination by the July 31 trade deadline. Cashner, whom Baltimore traded to Boston last weekend, confirmed to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com that he indeed would have held out through year’s end had the Orioles dealt him somewhere he didn’t want to go.
“I mean what I said,” he told Cotillo. “This is one of the places I would come. It wasn’t a place that I would ever not come to. We’re talking about the World Series champions. Why would you not come here?”
Philadelphia was the only other team that showed reported interest in Cashner before his trade to the Red Sox, but the Phillies stopped their pursuit because of concerns over his makeup. The well-traveled Cashner then fell flat in his Red Sox debut in a loss Tuesday to the Blue Jays, who roughed him up for six runs (five earned) on eight hits and a pair of homers in five innings. Cashner had been much more productive than that toward the tail end of his Orioles tenure, though, and has managed a playable 4.09 ERA/4.53 FIP with 6.04 K/9, 2.75 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent groundball rate in 101 1/3 innings this season.
As of now, Cashner’s output looks as if it’ll earn him another guaranteed contract in the offseason – if he reaches free agency. The soon-to-be 33-year-old’s current deal includes a $10MM vesting option if he throws 340 innings from 2018-19 or a player option should he amass 360. But Cashner is well short of either figure, having accrued 254 1/3 dating back to last season, so another trip to the open market appears inevitable. Obviously, though, Cashner isn’t willing to simply play anywhere going forward. The hirsute Cashner also isn’t going to shave his beard at a team’s request, which – as funny as it sounds – could have an effect on where he pitches after this season.
Red Sox Release Eduardo Nunez
The Red Sox have released INF Eduardo Nunez, Chris Cotillo of masslive.com was among those to report. Nunez was designated for assignment Monday after a dreadful (.228/.243/.305, 36 wRC+) start to the 2019 campaign, and is now eligible to sign with any team for the pro-rated league minimum.
Long a productive utility player, if defensive liability, over the course of his ten-year MLB career thus far, Nunez’s recent output, on the heels of a -0.3 fWAR 2018 campaign, may relegate him to minor-league duty if he’s to latch on with another club this season. The longtime Yankee posted three consecutive 100 wRC+ or better seasons from 2015-17, but the current campaign marked the fourth season in which he’s checked in beneath the replacement-level fWAR baseline.
Nunez’s ineffectiveness, coupled with Dustin Pedroia‘s injury issues, spawned an unlikely Brock Holt/Michael Chavis platoon at the keystone, the latter of whom – a converted corner infielder – shouldered the bulk of the early-season load. It’s been a mostly productive mix thus far, with each player posting above-league-average offensive totals through yesterday’s games; Chavis, for his part, has acquitted himself well defensively in his first professional crack at the position.
Red Sox Activate Nate Eovaldi, Option Ryan Weber
The Red Sox activated Nathan Eovaldi from the 60-day injured list today, per The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham (via Twitter). Optioning Ryan Weber to Triple-A will be the corresponding roster move. The team announced the moves as well.
Eovaldi will step into the closer’s role, as has been the plan coming out of Boston since the beginning of this month. Eovaldi certainly has the chops to cover the back-end innings for the BoSox, but the decision was surprising because of Eovaldi’s stated preference for the rotation. The injury history, his success out of the pen in last year’s World Series, and the middling production from the Red Sox pen (4.56 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 4.35 xFIP) add up to a fairly compelling case to support Boston’s decision, however.
Ryan Brasier leads the team in saves with seven, but his recent struggles landed him back in Pawtucket earlier this week. Freeing Brandon Workman and Matt Barnes from regular closing responsibilities will lengthen the bullpen and give manager Alex Cora weapons to deploy earlier in ballgames. Given the scarcity of natural sellers in this year’s trade market, the Red Sox already sidestepped the long line of teams angling for bullpen additions by finding an easier get for their rotation in the form of ex-Oriole Andrew Cashner. Rather than mortgaging the farm to outspend the many of pen-hungry buyers, the Red Sox are hoping Eovaldi can settle a relief core than has been the worst in the majors by ERA (6.88) over the last month.
As for Weber, he made two appearances in this most recent go-round with the major league club, struggling through 4 2/3 innings of work. For the season, he’s made three starts and five relief appearances for the Red Sox, amassing 24 innings and a 5.25 ERA (4.31 FIP). The 28-year-old righty returns to Pawtucket for the time being, where he owns a 5.16 ERA this season across 11 starts.
Latest On Steve Pearce
Steve Pearce proved to be a brilliant in-season pickup by the Red Sox a year ago, when they acquired him from the division-rival Blue Jays in late June. Pearce not only put up excellent regular-season production with Boston, but the first baseman dominated during the Fall Classic to earn World Series MVP honors in a five-game victory over the Dodgers. The Red Sox and Pearce could have gone their separate ways then and ended their relationship on a high note, but a couple weeks after the team won its latest title, it re-signed the 36-year-old to a $6.25MM guarantee.
While Boston undoubtedly expected the good times to continue rolling for Pearce in 2019, he has instead trudged through a season defined by underperformance and injuries. After starting the campaign on the shelf because of a strained left calf, Pearce debuted in early April and proceeded to hit a ghastly .180/.245/.258 (29 wRC+) with one home run in 99 plate appearances through May. The Red Sox sent Pearce back to the IL on June 1 with back problems. Pearce hasn’t returned to action since then, owing largely to the posterior ligament knee injury he suffered while on a rehab stint. A month and a half later, he’s still not slated to make his way back to the majors anytime soon, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.
Manager Alex Cora issued an update Thursday on Pearce, saying he’s “just rehabbing” at the team’s complex in Fort Myers, Fla., and not “even close to (being) back.” As of now, Pearce isn’t “participating in many baseball activities” and is only hitting off a tee, Smith writes.
The absences of Pearce and Mitch Moreland (who has taken two at-bats since late May) have thrown a wrench into the plans Boston had at first base entering the season. The righty-swinging Pearce and the left-handed Moreland were supposed to be the Red Sox’s solution at the position. Rookie Michael Chavis, who had been at second base, has instead emerged as the team’s starter at first with Pearce and Moreland unavailable. Meanwhile, Brock Holt and Marco Hernandez have taken the reins at second, which played a part in the Red Sox’s decision to to designate struggling veteran Eduardo Nunez for assignment this week. Moreland’s due back soon, Smith notes, though it’s not yet clear how the Red Sox will dole out playing time at first and second when he returns.