Cafardo On Marlins, Burnett, Price, Cuddyer
In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe looks at the impact that hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has had on the Blue Jays thus far in 2014. Toronto used to be a swing-for-the-fences team, but even guys like Jose Bautista are hitting to all fields. With a new, more patient approach at the plate, Toronto is leading the league in runs, homers, and extra base hits. Here’s more from today’s column..
- A Marlins official told Cafardo there’s no reason they won’t add a player through a trade. The National League East seems wide open, and they believe that they can find their way to the playoffs, even without the services of Jose Fernandez. Miami has lots of pieces to offer, so they shouldn’t have trouble finding a match over the next couple of months.
- Phillies veteran A.J. Burnett is some contending teams are looking at, but as one AL scout tells Cafardo, “if he doesn’t pitch better he’ll be another guy the Phillies are stuck with. When he’s the A.J. we saw earlier in the year or last year, he’s a guy you want out there in a tough situation. Right now, you wouldn’t touch him.” In his last six starts he has a 7.25 ERA, after posting a 2.06 ERA in his first seven.
- The Rays will have to get at least three top players for left-hander David Price and if they don’t get that offer this summer, they’ll probably pull back and wait until the offseason. Price, of course, still has great stuff, but his velocity is down, which is always a red flag. There’s also no guarantee that he’ll re-sign with the team that trades for him, which could keep the Rays from getting the haul they want.
- Rockies veteran Michael Cuddyer didn’t appear to be one of the possibly available outfielders at the deadline a month ago, but he could be if Colorado’s slide continues. The 35-year-old is a great clubhouse presence and would draw trade interest along with Drew Stubbs. Cafardo mentions the Red Sox as a club that could have interest in Stubbs as they seek an outfielder with power.
- The Yankees, Rangers, Angels, Mariners, and Tigers (if they lose Max Scherzer) are among the teams who will line up if Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester hits the open market. On their end, Boston must decide whether to go beyond a fifth year because the other teams surely will.
- The A’s nearly traded right-hander Jim Johnson to the Marlins last week, so, they’re clearly willing to move him. Cafardo mentions the Orioles, Yankees, and Tigers as clubs that could have interest, but his rocky start and onerous contract make him a gamble.
Minor Moves: Spears, Pineiro, Worth, Angels
Here are today’s minor moves from throughout baseball.
- The Phillies have signed former Red Sox infielder Nate Spears, reports Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com (via Twitter; hat tip to Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com). Spears, 29, had been playing with the indy league Somerset Patriots. Despite two very brief cups of coffee with Boston, Spears has not recorded a hit in eight MLB plate appearances. He owns a career .244/.335/.371 line through 1,442 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
- Joel Pineiro has signed a minor-league deal with the Angels, according to MiLB.com, and he will start tonight for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. The Cubs had recently released him. Pineiro is attempting to make it back to the big leagues after having last appeared in the Majors in 2011. He had made four starts with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies, posting a 4.43 ERA in 22 1/3 innings with 4.0 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9.
- Infielder Danny Worth has accepted his outright assignment and will head to Triple-A Toledo, Chris Iott of MLive.com tweets. The Tigers designated worth for assignment on Wednesday after he hit .167/.217/.190 in 46 plate appearances.
- The Angels have outrighted pitchers Michael Brady, Jarrett Grube and Brooks Raley, according to MiLB.com. After a strong 2013 season in the Marlins organization, Brady has struggled in the high minors in 2014, posting a 7.18 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. Grube, 32, made his big-league debut for the Angels last week. He had posted a 3.52 ERA in 61 1/3 innings for Triple-A Salt Lake with 7.5 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. The Angels claimed Raley from the Twins last month, and he struggled for Salt Lake, allowing 26 runs in 21 innings there. These moves likely signal that the Angels are about to make other transactions that will affect their 40-man roster.
Minor Moves: Worth, Simunic, Mazzaro
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- Though the Tigers announced earlier today that infielder Danny Worth has cleared outright waivers, though as Chris Iott of MLive.com reports, Worth has not yet decided whether or not to accept the assignment. Worth, 28, was designated for assignment earlier in the week when Detroit purchased the contract of shortstop prospect Eugenio Suarez.
- Utility man Andy Simunic has inked a minor league deal with the Braves after being released by the Astros, reports Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (via Twitter). Simunic, a former 17th-round pick, is a career .261/.332/.304 hitter in four seasons at the Triple-A level. The 28-year-old’s entire career has been spent in the Houston organization to this point.
- Pirates reliever Vin Mazzaro, who cleared outright waivers yesterday, has accepted his assignment to Triple-A, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Our own Zach Links initially reported that he was on outright waivers, with Biertempfel reporting last night that he’d cleared.
Tigers Designate Danny Worth For Assignment
The Tigers have designated infielder Danny Worth for assignment to clear roster space for Eugenio Suarez, who has been promoted from Triple-A Toledo, according to the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter). MLB.com’s Jason Beck first noted that Suarez was listed as a reserve on the Tigers’ lineup sheet, while Worth’s name was not (Twitter link).
Worth, 28, batted just .167/.217/.190 in 46 plate appearances for the Tigers this season. He, along with Andrew Romine and Alex Gonzalez, have composed an underwhelming shortstop contingent for the Tigers this season after losing Jose Iglesias for the year due to stress fractures in his shins.
Suarez will likely get a look as the team’s everyday shortstop as GM Dave Dombrowski evaluates whether or not he needs to pursue an upgrade on the trade market this summer. The 22-year-old’s power has soared in the minor leagues this season en route to a combined .288/.360/.510 batting line between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. Suarez, who has eight homers after belting just 10 long balls in all of 2013, ranked seventh among Detroit prospects heading into the 2014 season, according to Baseball America.
BA praised Suarez’s “plus arm, quick release, good footwork and soft hands” while also noting he’s a below-average runner that at times can get a bit careless in the field. MLB.com ranked Suarez sixth among Tigers prospects, noting that he can do a little of everything, including hit for decent average, draw some walks and hit with some pop at the plate.
AL Central Notes: Iglesias, Tigers, Hicks, Masterson
Any Tigers fans that were holding out hope for a Jose Iglesias return in late 2014 will have to wait until next year, as GM Dave Dombrowski told Tony Paul of the Detroit News today that the team doesn’t expect the defensive wizard back at any point in 2014. Previous reports had indicated that Iglesias was likely to miss “most” of 2014 with stress fractures in his shins, though most were already operating under the assumption that his season was indeed lost. Detroit has a definite need at short, as the players that have manned the position to this point have combined for an MLB-worst .187/.239/.235 batting line while adding negative defensive contributions according to both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved.
Some more links pertaining to the Tigers and their division…
- James Schmel of MLive.com fielded plenty of interesting questions in his latest Twitter mailbag, including some on Victor Martinez‘s future with the Tigers and the team’s deadline approach. He feels V-Mart will receive a qualifying offer, but the Tigers will be hesitant about a deal of three of more years for their aging DH. He adds that the Tigers likely feel they’re set in the outfield with Andy Dirks on the mend, but it’s not hard to envision them targeting some rotation depth next month.
- The Twins are continuing to look for a stopgap option in center field so they can option Aaron Hicks to the minors, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. One potential option, Sam Fuld, is currently nearing a rehab assignment after sustaining a concussion last month, Neal writes. Hicks recently gave up switch-hitting in favor of what has long been a superior right-handed stroke, but learning to gauge breaking balls from right-handed pitchers as a right-handed hitter at the Major League level is a tall task. Hicks’ .722 OPS as a right-handed hitter in his career dwarfs his .549 mark from the left side.
- Justin Masterson spoke with WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on the Indians‘ recent trip to Boston about his contract situation. Masterson said he’s following his former teammate Jon Lester‘s lead as the pair approaches free agency, not letting it distract him after failing to reach an extension agreement in Spring Training. “I’m the exact same way. One way or another, something is going to happen. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about it or not.” He added that while he hasn’t tracked the success of other impending free agents, he has kept an eye on Lester’s numbers, but only because the two are friends.
Minor Moves: Maloney, Hanzawa, Lopez
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Reds have released left-hander Matt Maloney after just two starts according to a tweet from Cincinnati’s Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. Maloney, a former Reds prospect, allowed 16 runs (12 earned) in 6 2/3 innings with Louisville this season, striking out three with no walks. He allowed a staggering 25 hits in that time, however, including two homers. Despite the rough outings, Maloney does have a very strong Triple-A background and has seen Major League action in parts of four seasons with the Reds and Twins.
- The Tigers have released shortstop Troy Hanzawa from Triple-A Toledo, according to the International League transactions page. Hanzawa, 28, collected just three hits and no walks in 30 plate appearances for the Mud Hens. The former Phillies farmhand is a career .248/.300/.324 hitter in parts of seven minor league seasons since being drafted in the 16th round in 2008.
- Former Pirates farmhand Cesar Lopez has signed a minor league deal with the Braves, according to the club’s transactions page. The 23-year-old Cuban-born hurler was pitching for the independent American Association’s Grand Prairie AirHogs prior to this deal. Lopez notched a 4.46 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 42 1/3 innings across three levels for the Pirates last season, though he topped out at Class-A Advanced.
AL Central Notes: Hughes, Iglesias, Coke, Sveum
Twins right-hander Phil Hughes chatted with Brandon Warne of the St. Paul Pioneer Press about his turnaround this season and his decision to return to the curveball he had abandoned in favor of a slider. As Warne notes, Hughes is using a three-pitch mix — four-seamer, cutter and curveball — to great effect, having compiled a 3.23 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 0.9 BB/9 en route to 1.9 fWAR through his first 61 1/3 innings as a Twin. Hughes, who has faced 175 batters since his issuing his last walk, credits improved mechanics and an emphasis on throwing strikes for his turnaround. He’ll return to Yankee Stadium for the first time this weekend, which he says he’s looking forward to. “I think human nature is you’re going to get a little more amped up for something like that,” Hughes tells Warne. “It’ll be fun.”
Here’s more on the Twins and the rest of the AL Central…
- The Twins will be present at today’s Raciel Iglesias showcase in Haiti, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (Twitter link). However, it might not be worth reading too much into that, as Sanchez also notes that the Twins “see everyone.” The New York Post’s Joel Sherman noted last night that some teams feel Iglesias can help a big league bullpen this season.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski tells Steve Kaminski of MLive.com that fans tend to “jump on situations and focus on individuals” when a team is struggling, and he doesn’t think that Phil Coke is the team’s problem at this point. Dombrowski said he feels that Coke has thrown the ball better of late, which is true to an extent, but he does still own a 5.91 ERA in the month of May (albeit, an improvement from his 8.10 mark in April). Dombrowski feels that the team’s pitching staff is well-equipped to recover from its recent rough patch.
- New Royals hitting coach Dale Sveum feels that the team is swinging at too many pitches down in the zone rather than waiting to pounce on pitches that are left up, he tells MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel. Sveum offered high praise for the man he replaced, Pedro Grifol, and talked about the difficulty of the role of hitting coach: “You’re dealing with the to do of any manager, of any coach, of any position. The hitting coach — anybody will also say — is the most difficult. Unfortunately, it’s the most transitional, too.”
AL Notes: Ventura, Zimmer, Paxton, Rangers, Suarez
While there are, thankfully, no new Tommy John procedures to pass on, the news out of the American League was once again dominated by injury situations involving young arms. Here’s the latest:
- The Royals avoided an immediate scare with Yordano Ventura, but the news was not all positive, explains Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Manager Ned Yost said on the club’s television broadcast today that trainers diagnosed Ventura with “valgus stress overload,” which Passan says can have longer-term complications. Passan lists cartilage damage, arthritis, bone chips, and instability (with possible exposure for the UCL) as problems associated with that condition.
- Meanwhile, the club is not sanguine about the possibility of its other top young arm — Kyle Zimmer — making his way back from a lat injury to help the big league club this year, reports Dick Kaegel of MLB.com. “We were looking down the road at maybe after the All-Star break, if Kyle was really throwing good and there was a need, he might be a guy that we could bring up to help us,” said Yost. Now, says Kaegel, Zimmer may not even be throwing a baseball by the All-Star break. While the skipper indicated that the long-term prognosis remains positive, the injury could certainly have implications for how Kansas City navigates the summer.
- Turning to the Mariners, one of the team’s rehabbing young starters, James Paxton, has been shut down after an MRI revealed shoulder inflammation, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (on Twitter). The club is hopeful that the rest period for the 25-year-old lefty will not be longer than one week, but it had been hoped that Paxton would be nearing a big league return. It bears noting that Paxton, who entered the year with 27 days of MLB service, has been adding time to his clock while on the 15-day DL.
- In spite of their extensive injury woes, it is too early to count the Rangers as trade deadline sellers, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “We’re in May,” said GM Jon Daniels. “The players aren’t giving up, and we certainly aren’t either.” Of course, the head baseball man also seemed not to rule out the possibility of the club ultimately deciding to recoup some future value if it cannot keep pace over the summer. “We’ll continue to evaluate it and let it play out,” he said. “We’ll make adjustments if we have to, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”
- Ever since shortstop Jose Iglesias was lost for the season, speculation has run rampant about the possibility of the Tigers making an addition up the middle, but the club has thrived without a major move thus far. On the other hand, the club sits at second-to-last in the bigs in shortstop production (half a win below replacement level). As MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports, GM Dave Dombrowski recently got an in-person look at 22-year-old shortstop Eugenio Suarez, who has thrived in his first few games at the Triple-A level. “He’s done very well this year,” said Dombrowski. “Everybody has talked well of him.” Indeed, Suarez currently boasts a .291/.351/.520 line over 191 plate appearances, most of them at Double-A. While the GM certainly did not suggest that he was ready to hand the young Venezuelan the reigns, Beck notes that Suarez could well force his way into the big league conversation. Though Suarez has only just made it to the highest level of the minors, it could well make sense for Detroit to look at him at the major league level before deciding whether (and if so how) to shop at the trade deadline.
AL Notes: Rangers, Tigers, Red Sox
It would make sense for the Rangers to sign free agent Kendrys Morales, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. With injuries to Prince Fielder and Matt Harrison, the Rangers should be able to recoup enough from their insurance policies that they have money to sign Morales. Also, Grant argues that Morales could end up being worth more to the Rangers than the No. 30 overall draft pick they would lose if they signed him prior to the draft. Even if the Rangers’ season fell apart, they could trade Morales later. And by signing Morales now, the Rangers would avoid having to bid against others once the draft passed. Here are more notes from the American League.
- The Rangers’ injuries may have already turned their season into “a lost cause,” Jeff Sullivan writes for Fangraphs’ series at FOX Sports. While it’s easy to overstate the impact of one injury, the Rangers have had so many injuries to so many important players that the impact is clearly significant. Signing Morales would seem to make sense for the Rangers, but they could decide that the injuries have already hurt so much that signing him isn’t worth it right now, particularly given the draft-pick issue.
- The Tigers will likely try to re-sign Victor Martinez this offseason, and they also could try to re-sign Joba Chamberlain if he continues to contribute, Chris Iott of MLive.com writes. Max Scherzer, of course, is a top free agent and is likely to sign elsewhere.
- It’s too early in the season for GM Ben Cherington to be able to use the trade market to effectively upgrade a Red Sox squad that has lost ten straight games, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald writes. Nonetheless, Cherington says, “At some point if production is not there, you have to think about changes.” He continues, “We have to find ways to improve across the board. Some of that is going to happen just naturally with the guys we have here.”
Tigers Outright Francisco Martinez
The Tigers announced that they have outrighted the contract of minor league infielder Francisco Martinez off the 40-man roster in order to clear a spot for right-hander Corey Knebel, whose contract has officially been selected from Triple-A Toledo (Twitter link).
Martinez, 23, has batted .228/.282/.298 for Double-A Erie this season. The Venezuelan infielder/outfielder was originally signed by the Tigers but found himself traded to Seattle alongside Casper Wells, Charlie Furbush and Chance Ruffin in the trade that sent Doug Fister and David Pauley to the Tigers. Detroit re-acquired Martinez in exchange for a player to be named later last summer.
Knebel, 22, was the 39th overall pick in last year’s draft and will make his big league debut less than 12 months after being selected. The University of Texas alum has utterly dominated the minor leagues in a relief role to this point, registering a 0.90 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 50 innings across three levels. Baseball America ranked the power right-hander — whose fastball can touch 98 mph — sixth among Tigers prospects heading into the season.