AL West Notes: Hamels, Wood, Ohtani, McCann, Chapman
Cole Hamels has a 20-team no-trade clause in his contract, though the veteran southpaw described his no-trade protection as “just kind of a formality” during a wide-ranging chat with NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller. Hamels can block deals to every team except the Braves, Mariners, Phillies, Nationals, Rays, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, and Astros, though it doesn’t sound like he would have any specific objection to being dealt to a contender. “Really, it’s just kind of like heads up….It just kind of provides a little bit more information, a little bit more bargaining power,” Hamels said. “That’s kind of really what that entails. But at the end of the day, situations kind of come up and I think everybody understands what can transpire.”
With the Rangers struggling and Hamels in his final year under contract, the former World Series MVP has often been cited as a potential deadline trade chip. Some players in Hamels’ position have used their no-trade clause to garner some extra money and/or future security, though it doesn’t seem like Hamels would be particularly inclined to insist that a new team (for example) automatically pick up the $20MM club option on his services for 2019. It’s worth noting that several of Hamels’ nine non-protected teams are contenders, so Texas might not necessarily have to worry about the no-trade clause at all to potentially deal the left-hander. Miller’s full piece is well worth a read, as Hamels discusses several topics about his past and future in baseball.
Some more from the AL West…
- An MRI revealed some damage to Blake Wood‘s ulnar collateral ligament, the Angels told MLB.com’s Maria Guardado and other reporters today. Wood will receive a second opinion before deciding on his next course of action. The extent of the damage isn’t known, though the worst-case scenario would be that Wood undergoes Tommy John surgery and is thus sidelined through at least half of the 2019 season. Wood has been on the DL for the last month due to an elbow impingement, and had posted a 2.31 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 1.43 K/BB rate over 11 2/3 IP out of the Los Angeles bullpen this season. Wood is a free agent this winter, and would be facing some type of incentive-heavy, minor league deal at best if he does face a Tommy John absence.
- The Angels‘ balancing act of using Shohei Ohtani as a two-way player has been “perfect” based on Ohtani’s projected and assumed values as a pitcher and as a hitter, according to ESPN.com’s Sam Miller. “The miracle isn’t just that we get to see a player who is as good at hitting and as good at pitching as Ohtani is. It’s that we get to see one who is precisely this good at each so that this usage makes sense,” Miller writes.
- As part of a reader mailbag piece, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes that he would “be surprised” if Brian McCann is with the Astros in 2019. McCann is in the final guarantee year of his contract and the Astros hold a $15MM club option on him for next season. This option vests into a player option should McCann has 601 PA and at least 90 starts at catcher this season, and doesn’t end the year on the disabled list, though obviously Houston could manage McCann’s workload to ensure he doesn’t hit the vesting threshold. The hot-hitting Max Stassi has already cut into McCann’s playing time, though McTaggart isn’t sure that Stassi (a longtime prospect) would necessarily be the starting catcher going forward if the Astros parted ways with McCann. It’s worth noting that the Astros were linked to J.T. Realmuto in trade rumors last winter, and the team has the minor league trade chips to manage such a big acquisition. McCann, 34, has above-average run creation numbers (111 wRC+) via his .248/.347/.396 slash line in 118 PA this season, though his production over the last five years has generally been closer to league-average.
- The Athletics‘ pick of Matt Chapman with the 25th overall selection of the 2014 draft came about due to something of a “reverse Moneyball” situation, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required). Chapman had only modest hitting numbers in college ball but his skillset was heavily praised by A’s scouts; unlike the events of the film and Michael Lewis’ book, Billy Beane and company decided to go against the statistics to choose Chapman, as a private workout for the team prior to the draft helped answer the front office’s concerns. The pick looks like a great one for the A’s, as Chapman has broken out into one of the game’s most promising young stars.
Twins Acquire Chris Carter
7:47PM: The Angels received cash considerations for Carter, Mike Berardino tweets.
6:26PM: The Twins have acquired first baseman Chris Carter from the Angels, as reported by Steve Klauke, radio broadcaster for the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City. Chris Carter will report to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, as per Nate Rowan from the Rochester PR department (Twitter link).
Carter will provide Minnesota with some additional first base/DH depth in the upper minors while Joe Mauer is on the Major League DL with a neck strain and concussion symptoms. The Twins have Logan Morrison at first with Robbie Grossman getting the bulk of DH at-bats, though Kennys Vargas is struggling (.614 OPS though 153 PA) for Rochester.
It was just back in 2016 that Carter led the National League in homers after hitting 41 dingers for the Brewers as part of a .222/.321/.499 season for Milwaukee. That home run total inflated Carter’s potential arbitration price, however, and with the then-rebuilding Brewers wary of committing a hefty salary (MLBTR projected him to earn $8.1MM) for a player with such a one-dimensional game, Carter found himself non-tendered. He signed on with the Yankees but then badly struggled, hitting just .201/.284/.370 in 208 PA in pinstripes last season before being released.
Carter caught on with the A’s on a minor league deal last summer, and while he didn’t return to the Show, his subsequent success at Triple-A with the A’s and Angels has given some indication that he can still be a productive bat. He has 22 homers over his last 322 PA at the Triple-A level, and was hitting .255/.333/.600 over 168 PA with Salt Lake City this season.
As per the terms of Carter’s original minor league deal with the Angels, he will earn $1.75MM if he reaches the Twins’ 25-man roster at any point this season, with another $600K available in incentives. His chances of a promotion could hinge on Mauer’s health — Paul Molitor told reporters (including Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that Mauer was making some progress, though the club will be as cautious as possible given Mauer’s history with concussions.
AL West Notes: Parker, Shoemaker, Rangers, Cook
The Angels‘ closer role has been something of a carousel all season, and just when it looked to be settling on Keynan Middleton, the 24-year-old righty was diagnosed with a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register notes, Blake Parker looks to be first up in line after recording a save last night and now rattling off nine consecutive scoreless innings. “It feels good to finally be back a little bit and command the zone better than I was early on,” said Parker of his recent run of success. Manager Mike Scioscia hasn’t yet re-tabbed Parker as the team’s closer, though given last night’s clean outing and his recent run of success, it seems likely that he’ll receive additional opportunities at the very least.
Fletcher also provides some health updates on Matt Shoemaker and Blake Wood, most notably reporting that Shoemaker played catch for the first time in two weeks yesterday and is headed for a followup visit with a nerve specialist today. Shoemaker was moved to the 60-day DL over the weekend when the Halos selected Ian Krol from Triple-A Salt Lake.
More from the division…
- The Rangers are “open to anything” in terms of listening to trade offers, an exec from another club tells Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. That comes on the heels of last week’s report from Ken Rosenthal’s report that the team is telling clubs throughout the league that they’re willing to move veteran players. However, that official suggests that the Rangers will also be patient with their approach, telling Grant they’re “willing to wait to get what they deem is fair.” Grant examines several potential trade candidates in depth, specifically listing Adrian Beltre, Cole Hamels, Keone Kela, Mike Minor, Doug Fister and Jake Diekman as players that scouts figure to watch closely in the two months leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
- Corey Brock of The Athletic takes a look at Ryan Cook‘s long road back to the Majors with the Mariners after missing two full seasons due to injury (subscription link). Once a dominant reliever in Oakland, Cook discusses a tumultuous career to date that has seen some notable highs (striking out Bryce Harper and David Wright in the 2012 All-Star Game) and some difficult lows. “The most humbling part was wondering if I could ever do it again,” said Cook, who has undergone both Tommy John surgery and ulnar nerve transposition surgery in recent years. “…Those days you come back from rehab and can’t even move your arm or feel your fingers and literally just looking at yourself in the mirror and wondering if it might be over.” Cook, it seems, certainly can do it again. He posted a 2.03 ERA with a 17-to-3 K/BB ratio in 13 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball this year and has already tossed two shutout innings since being selected to the MLB roster in Seattle. Manager Scott Servais, who has seen setup men Juan Nicasio and Nick Vincent struggle recently, said Cook will receive “plenty of opportunities” to re-establish himself as a high-quality ‘pen option.
Angels Select Jose Briceno
1:55pm: Rivera’s going to the DL with knee inflammation, per Fletcher, who adds that the Angels have transferred reliever Keynan Middleton to the 60-day DL to open up a 40-man spot for Briceno. Middleton’s set to undergo Tommy John surgery.
1:15pm: The Angels have selected catcher Jose Briceno from Triple-A, Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group was among those to report. With the Angels’ 40-man roster already at capacity, they’ll need to make a corresponding move to create room for Briceno.
Briceno is now in his third season with the Angels organization, which acquired him from the Braves in the teams’ 2015 trade centering on Andrelton Simmons and Sean Newcomb. The 25-year-old Briceno hasn’t posed a significant offensive threat in the minors since then, evidenced in part by his .261/.272/.500 line (88 wRC+) in 92 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this season. The Venezuela native does carry some defensive promise, however, as FanGraphs prospect expert Kiley McDaniel wrote back in 2014 that Briceno’s “athleticism and tools are there to stick behind the plate and the arm is plus.” Moreover, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America adds that Briceno has “showed himself to be a superb defender” since joining the Halos.
It’s unclear at the moment what Briceno’s promotion means for the rest of the Angels’ roster. They already look to be in good shape behind the plate, where Martin Maldonado and Rene Rivera have opened the season with a .255/.328/.389 line (101 wRC+) in 175 PAs. Although, Maldonado’s normally excellent defense has taken steps backward this year, per Baseball Prospectus.
Injury Notes: Anderson, Lamb, Giants, Shoemaker
The A’s announced this morning that Brett Anderson has been placed on the 10-day DL with a left shoulder strain. Anderson was removed from yesterday’s game before the second inning even began. He’d had an ugly showing so far this season at the MLB level, pitching to a 7.63 ERA with just eight strikeouts across four starts. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes, it’s the 11th time in the 30-year-old lefty’s career that he’s gone on the disabled list. Anderson has only pitched more than 100 innings once in the past eight seasons; it was a 2015 campaign with the Dodgers in which he worked to a 3.69 ERA and 3.94 FIP. In a corresponding move, the A’s have recalled Ryan Dull, who was technically optioned to Triple-A Nashville yesterday but never left Toronto.
Other injury notes from around baseball…
- Yesterday, the Diamondbacks officially announced the activation of slugging third baseman Jake Lamb from the disabled list. After hitting the 10-day DL with a sprained right AC joint and subsequently having his return delayed by elbow tendinitis, has finally completed a rehab assignment and is ready to return. It’s a welcome sight for the Diamondbacks, who recently lost team WAR leader A.J. Pollock to the DL. They’ll hope Lamb can repeat the 30-homer power he showed last year and help propel an offense that currently ranks 27th of 30 MLB teams with a wRC+ of just 83.
- Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports provides a pair Giants injury updates via Twitter. Joe Panik is reportedly doing well in his recovery from left thumb surgery, and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as the end of this month. Meanwhile, Mac Williamson served as a DH in Triple-A last night. None of the rehabbing Giants, however, will be called upon at the major league level for at least another week, a group that includes rookie Alen Hanson and veteran outfielder Hunter Pence.
- There’s still no real answer to the nerve issue in Matt Shoemaker‘s forearm, according to Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times. The Angels right-hander reportedly visited a specialist in St. Louis earlier this week, and the next move in his recovery isn’t quite clear at this time. The oft-injured Shoemaker landed on the DL after just one start this season; he allowed three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out four.
Keynan Middleton To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
The Angels received a worst-case diagnosis on the right elbow of closer Keynan Middleton, as doctors have recommended that the 24-year-old righty undergo Tommy John surgery (Twitter links via Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). He’ll miss the remainder of the 2018 season and a significant portion of the 2019 campaign as well.
Middleton becomes the latest in a growing line of Angels hurler’s who’ve been plagued by significant injuries in recent years. Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano, Matt Shoemaker and J.C. Ramirez have all had arm troubles over the past couple of seasons, with Skaggs, Heaney, Tropeano and Ramirez each also requiring Tommy John surgery.
The loss of Middleton stings quite a bit for the Angels and ranks among the more impactful injuries they’ve incurred recently. The flamethrowing young righty has averaged nearly 97 mph on his heater since making his MLB debut last year, and he’s pitched to a combined 3.43 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 36.7 percent ground-ball rate in 76 Major League innings. Middleton has been especially effective in 2018, notching a 2.04 ERA and taking over the Angels’ ninth-inning job with six saves.
Of course, there’s been some cause for concern even as he racks up impressive run-prevention numbers. Middleton’s velocity was down 0.7 mph early this season, and his swinging-strike rate had plummeted from a robust 16.6 percent last season to a pedestrian 9.5 percent this year. Unsurprisingly, Middleton’s K/9 rate dipped, and his walk rate spiked as well. In all, while his 2.04 ERA certainly looks impressive on the surface, it’s been buoyed by an 88.5 percent strand rate and minuscule 5.3 percent homer-to-flyball ratio — neither of which he was likely to sustain. Metrics such as FIP (3.77), xFIP (4.79) and SIERA (4.40) all projected regression for Middleton, though it’s clear that he has the talent to be a high-quality reliever for years to come.
Unfortunately, that promising future will be put on hold for the time being. The possibility exists that Middleton won’t be ready to pitch until the 2020 season, though the Angels will obviously be holding out hope for a return next summer. In the meantime, he’ll accrue valuable service time while rehabbing on the Major League disabled list. Middleton won’t reach arbitration eligibility this offseason, but he’ll wrap up the 2019 campaign with two years, 150 days of MLB service, making him a lock to qualify as a Super Two player. The Angels control him all the way through the 2023 season.
Mid-Season Roster Check: Los Angeles Angels
The Angels won the offseason, as you may have read. In years past, that has often meant only that a team sacrificed the most in future resources (salary commitments and/or pre-MLB talent) to improve its MLB roster. With regard to the 2018 Halos, though, it meant landing a great degree of major-league talent at a relative bargain — thanks, mostly, to the score of the century in Japanese wunderkind Shohei Ohtani.
We’ve already broken down the Angels’ offseason efforts in full. And we’ve now observed the team run out to a 25-18 start to the season that has kept it in range of the defending World Series champion Astros in the AL West. So, what are the key factors in the team’s quality opening play and can it be sustained?
How have the Angels succeeded thus far?
It’s not all about Ohtani, of course, but adding him at minimal cost has been everything the Halos hoped for and more. He’s settling in and looking increasingly dangerous on the mound, where he has provided 32 2/3 innings of 3.58 ERA pitching. And Ohtani has exceeded even the most optimistic projections at the plate, with a .348/.392/.652 output through 74 plate appearances.
The other significant position players the Angels added or retained over the winter, meanwhile, have been more solid than great. Justin Upton is hitting well but not exactly outproducing his hefty contract. Zack Cozart has been solid. Ian Kinsler is continuing to defend like a star but is off to a sluggish start at the plate.
The rock upon which all of this is built, of course, remains Mike Trout, who’s a merciless WAR machine. But Andrelton Simmons has somewhat quietly also been among the game’s very best players to this point in 2018. The all-world defender is rather amazingly walking at nearly twice the rate he has struck out (9.3% vs. 5.6%) while producing at about 50% better than league-average on offense.
With Ohtani in the mix, the rotation has been in the top third of the league by measure of ERA, FIP, and xFIP. In some ways, this is the most promising development of the young season. Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, Garrett Richards, and Nick Tropeano are all healthy and delivering quality results, while Jaime Barria has a 2.13 ERA through his first 25 1/3 MLB innings.
Is it sustainable?
On a team level, there’s no indication that the Angels are just lucking their way into victories by squeezing out close wins. Their Pythagorean and BaseRuns records are spot on to the actual results for a team with a +31 run differential to this point of the season. But that’s not to say there aren’t some underlying numbers worth considering.
Catchers Martin Maldonado and Rene Rivera have each hit at an average-or-better rate. Unfortunately, their career number suggest that’s unlikely to continue; each (particularly Rivera) has benefited from ball-in-play fortune. Of course, some other players have been on the other side of the BABIP gods. That’s particularly true of Kinsler, though he certainly has not stung the ball this year (.298 xwOBA). Similarly, Kole Calhoun‘s miserable start has likely been the product of both bad luck and suboptimal contact (.173 wOBA vs. .271 xwOBA). Somewhat worryingly, reserves Chris Young (.246 wOBA vs. .237 xwOBA) and Luis Valbuena (.283 wOBA vs. .263 xwOBA) have even been a bit fortunate to produce at the middling rate they have to this point, though certainly both have broader track records of solid offensive output.
One issue remains the ongoing presence of Albert Pujols, whose fall-off at the plate has really not abated. He doesn’t strike out much but also doesn’t get on base or even hit for all that much power (.165 ISO). Limited to first base or the DH slot, he’s a replacement-level player. If you imagine he and Simmons swapping batting lines, perhaps it doesn’t sting us much. But there’s no indication that Pujols will get back to being an above-average hitter, while there’s likely good reason to believe that Simmons will begin to regress back toward his typical levels of average (or worse) outcomes with the bat. Likewise, it seems reasonable to bake in a bit of caution into projections for Ohtani’s work at the plate.
In the aggregate, the Halos may be outperforming their true talent on offense, but not dramatically so. Entering the season, though, that wasn’t the question. Instead, as we heard over and over in MLBTR chats, fans wondered: “Do the Angels have enough pitching to contend?”
There’s good news and bad news on that front. While Barria and Tropeano are outperforming their peripherals, the rotation as a whole has deserved its quality results. Ohtani and Heaney have each been much more impressive by measure of fielding-independent pitching than of actual earned runs. Promising as it is to see so many talented arms finally healthy and productive in the majors, there still has to be some concern about whether that’ll hold up all year long. The club has already lost JC Ramirez for the year, while there’s increasing concern for Matt Shoemaker.
It therefore seems that depth, more than quality, is a concern in the rotation. But what about that bullpen?
Areas of need and resources
The Halos’ somewhat dodgy relief unit leads to worry that the club won’t capture as many winnable contests as possible. Keynan Middleton had been effective (more so than his peripherals) but now seems destined to miss a big chunk of time. Blake Parker has continued to excel after his surprising 2017 showing, while Noe Ramirez is quietly breaking out (his peripherals are better than his 3.80 ERA). Jose Alvarez has been a solid southpaw presence. And veteran Jim Johnson is another useful arm to have around. But that’s not an overly impressive group of leading bullpen lights. Cam Bedrosian has come crashing back to earth; Justin Anderson is getting loads of whiffs but also doling out too many walks and dingers.
There’s little question, then, that the Angels are going to be prowling the waiver wire for arms over the next ten weeks. And they’ll likely be among the most relief-needy teams at this summer’s trade deadline. The club could justifiably target high-quality, high-leverage assets as well as useful middle-relief arms … to say nothing of whatever the needs in the rotation will be come July.
Otherwise, perhaps, there may not be much work to be done unless an injury intervenes. It’s certainly possible that the front office could weigh an outfield addition, but it’s hard to imagine Calhoun and Young will continue to be this bad. And relatively unknown reserve Jefry Marte has been on fire out of the gates, helping to ease the situation. While Pujols likely isn’t going anywhere, Valbuena is an increasing concern in his own right; he’s now striking out more and walking less than ever. With the possibility of some quality bats being available for little, it’s not inconceivable that the Angels could at some point jettison Valbuena and reduce Pujols’s role to fit another player on the roster.
With an improving farm system, GM Billy Eppler has an increasing slate of prospect assets from which to trade. Of course, he’ll surely be hesitant to part with any of the team’s most treasured young players. It seems likely the Angels will attempt to utilize their financial flexibility to the extent possible. With nearly $25MM in space beneath the luxury line, there is some room to work with. But there are limits to how much talent you can get without giving up talent in return. The organization could well end up facing some tough questions over the summer.
Outlook
All things considered, the Angels have performed up to expectations and seem to be positioned to continue to do so. That said, the club is somewhat more exposed to injury risk than others and may need to be creative to land mid-season improvements given that it is still rebuilding its talent pipeline.
AL West Notes: Athletics, Heaney, Moore
Trevor Cahill is set to return from the disabled list tomorrow after missing one start, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Athletics will have him displace Kendall Graveman in the rotation, she adds in a separate column. Graveman pitched reasonably well in his one start after a demotion to Triple-A, but the A’s still would like him to continue to round back into form in Nashville following a surprisingly ugly start to the season. As Slusser notes, Oakland could’ve dropped Brett Anderson from the rotation, but doing so would mean designating the lefty for assignment.
Graveman was optioned out to make room on the roster for the return of Stephen Piscotty — who homered in his first at-bat back with the team tonight — from the bereavement list. The Athletics will need to make another roster move to accommodate Cahill’s activation tomorrow, which could mean optioning Jake Smolinski to Nashville as well, per Slusser.
Here’s more from the division…
- Angels lefty Andrew Heaney dominated the division-rival Astros last night, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, in what the pitcher calls “probably the best game I pitched in my career.” Heaney now carries a 3.93 ERA over 34 1/3 innings through six starts. But fielding-independent pitching numbers suggest he has been even better; he’s carrying an appealing combination of 10.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. As Fletcher notes, the results have been particularly promising over the last four outings, reflecting a decision by Heaney to abandon an experiment with pitching on the third-base side of the rubber. All said, his performance to date has been enormously encouraging, though the big question remains whether he can stay healthy.
- Despite a terrible start to the season, left-hander Matt Moore will remain in the Rangers‘ rotation for now, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The former Rays/Giants southpaw will lug a 7.82 ERA into Saturday’s start against the White Sox, having averaged 6.6 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 with 1.42 HR/9 and a 38.6 percent ground-ball rate. Moore has no doubt had some poor fortune, with a .388 BABIP and 62.3 percent strand rate, but even fielding-independent metrics peg him well north of 5.00. Sullivan does note that Moore’s spot, however, is in some jeopardy. Manager Jeff Banister stressed that Moore has “got to show some progress” before adding that he’s not considering a switch in the rotation just yet. Right-hander Jesse Chavez has showed well in a long relief role, though Banister suggested that the organization is happy with Chavez in his current role at present.
Keynan Middleton Headed To DL With UCL Damage
Angels reliever Keynan Middleton is going on the 10-day DL after being diagnosed with damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, as MLB.com’s Maria Guardado was among those to report (Twitter links). He is headed for a second opinion.
Clearly, that’s unwelcome news for the 24-year-old righty. It’s not known at this point just how severe the damage is; it seems team and player are looking to gather information before deciding upon a course of treatment. In the most serious cases, of course, UCL injuries require extensive surgery (most famously, the Tommy John procedure) that comes with upwards of a year of rehab.
As things stand, then, we simply don’t know how long Middleton will be sidelined. Given that there’s a problem with the ligament, though, even the most optimistic scenario will involve a fairly lengthy DL stint. And the risk of the rest-and-rehab — which is sometimes accompanied by stem cell and/or platelet-rich plasma treatment — is that the player may end up delaying his procedure and thus also his ultimate point of return.
Given the stakes, the Angels and Middleton will understandably weigh the decision carefully. He had become firmly ensconced in the team’s bullpen hierarchy, even locking up six saves this year for the Halos. Even losing a few months of work from Middleton will increase the pressure on other arms in the Los Angeles pen.
Today’s news comes after Middleton had turned in 17 2/3 innings of 2.04 ERA pitching to open the season. Of course, there were already some signs of concern. Middleton was doling out a few too many free passes (4.6 per nine) and had seen his swinging-strike rate plummet from an eye-opening 16.6% in 2017 down to 9.5% to begin the current year.
While the Angels are no doubt aware that the young hurler still has a ways to go to prove he’s a reliable late-inning force, the team surely would have preferred to continue giving him that opportunity. Now, the Halos’ roster’s already-unimposing high-leverage mix appears all the more in need of buttressing at the trade deadline. With the club off to a strong start but facing a tough year-long fight for the postseason, it would not be surprising at all to see GM Billy Eppler focus on adding arms this summer.
West Notes: Ohtani, Mariners, Desmond, Reynolds, Dodgers
Though the Angels elected not to use Shohei Ohtani as a pinch-hitter late in Saturday night’s game due to the fact that he was slated to start on Sunday, manager Mike Scioscia suggested yesterday that the team could eventually work to get Ohtani’s bat into the game more often (via Jeff Miller of the L.A. Times). Scioscia called the team’s template for using Ohtani “conservative” but added that the Angels could eventually loosen some constraints on the two-way star’s usage. Scioscia also acknowledged that the team has even considered forgoing the designated hitter on days when Ohtani pitches in American League stadiums, though as Miller notes, that could present problems for a team with a thin bench. “It would take an extreme, you know, something you might consider in September, if it was something that was really critical and you needed his bat in the lineup,” said the manager.
More from the game’s Western divisions…
- While the loss of Robinson Cano due to a broken hand is a significant blow, the bullpen may be the Mariners‘ primary focus when searching for upgrades, writes Bob Dutton for KLAY 1180 AM. Cano figures to be back this summer, and while the rotation has hardly been effective, it’s more difficult to add high-end starting pitching upgrades around the deadline than it is to add relief arms, Dutton notes. Seattle would be hard-pressed to outbid other teams for a top-of-the-rotation arm, and club officials have acknowledged to Dutton that targeting relief help is a likelier course of action. Juan Nicasio has completely melted down over his past couple appearances after a dominant start to the season, while Nick Vincent hasn’t been as effective as he has in recent seasons, either.
- Ian Desmond‘s struggles have become a glaring problem for the Rockies, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. However, manager Bud Black and the Colorado front office still believe the veteran will turn things around despite his .170/.213/.355 slash this season and his unsightly .244/.294/.369 line since coming to the Rockies in the 2016-17 offseason. Desmond’s problems are all the more concerning given the struggles of Ryan McMahon earlier this season, leaving the Rox with little in the way of in-house options. Saunders notes that talks between the Rockies and Mark Reynolds never really took off, though he suggests that if Reynolds loses his roster spot in Washington once Ryan Zimmerman returns, the two sides could again explore a fit. However, Saunders also hears from those within the organization that the team wouldn’t relegate Desmond to the bench in favor of Reynolds, which could make a return to Denver a tough sell.
- Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to Dave Roberts, Kenley Jansen, Chris Taylor and others about the Dodgers‘ early struggles (subscription link). While the losses of Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jun Ryu have hurt the club immensely, Rosenthal also contends that the Dodgers’ approach this offseason didn’t do the team any favors. The Dodgers were known to be avoiding the luxury tax threshold — an important factor as they prepare for next offseason’s impressive free-agent class — and thus sought bargain options to replace quality contributors such as Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson (namely, signing Tom Koehler and acquiring Scott Alexander). Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Morrow and Watson were low-cost acquisitions themselves, and Rosenthal notes that the current front office has had success in building bullpens on the fly in the past. With Turner nearing a return and Kershaw expected to be out for weeks, rather than months (per Rosenthal), there’s help on the horizon, however, at a time when the division-leading D-backs are struggling with some of their own injury losses.