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Jeremy Guthrie Released By Padres After Exercising Opt-Out

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THURSDAY: Guthrie has been given his release, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter.

WEDNESDAY: Veteran righty Jeremy Guthrie will exercise an opt-out clause in his deal with the Padres, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). He expects to hit the market soon, though the precise timeline is unclear.

Guthrie, 37, has thrown sixty innings at Triple-A on the year. He owns a 6.60 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 over that span. Guthrie has generally been trended up of late, though the overall picture doesn’t inspire much confidence.

It remains to be seen whether Guthrie can make it back to the majors for the 13th consecutive year, but other teams will certainly give consideration in light of his track record of large innings tallies. He has topped 200 innings in five of the last seven seasons and owns a 4.37 lifetime ERA over 1,764 2/3 total frames. Last year, though, was his worst complete season in the majors, as he allowed just under six earned runs per game for the Royals.

Padres Chairman Ron Fowler Addresses Team’s Struggles

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The Padres just wrapped up a 1-7 road trip with a disastrous start from James Shields, and the 10-run meltdown from the team’s highest-paid pitcher was apparently enough to prompt owner Ron Fowler to speak on the matter. In an interview with Dan Sileo on Mighty 1090 radio in San Diego (audio link), Fowler called the team’s “embarrassing” and described the recent road trip a “pathetic.”

“I’m a very competitive individual,” said Fowler in the interview. “I think I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost in my life. This baseball experience has been very frustrating, very embarrassing. … To have a starter like Shields perform as poorly as he did yesterday I think, is an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to him.”

Shields, who has been the subject of recent trade rumors (most notably involving the White Sox), tells Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller that he’s not embarrassed by the start but doesn’t enjoy losing any more than the team owner (links to Miller on Twitter). “I feel like I’ve pitched well all season long,” said Shields, who is in the second season of a four-year, $75MM contract that contains an opt-out clause at the end of the current campaign. “Obviously, I was the guy that tipped him over the edge. It is what it is. I don’t like losing either. I understand his frustration. As far as it being an embarrassment to me, I’m not embarrassed by it.”

Shields, of course, was one of the final pieces to a whirlwind 2014-15 offseason — general manager A.J. Preller’s first on the job. His four-year contract was just one in a litany of moves made by San Diego that winter, as the new Preller-led front office also acquired Matt Kemp, Justin Upton,Wil Myers, Will Middlebrooks, Derek Norris, Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton.

There were questions about the club’s defense and dearth of shortstop options, and the season proved to be a letdown for the Friars, who finished with a 74-88 record while receiving scarce production from the vast majority of their infield spots. However, the team elected not to act as a seller last summer (curiously, in the eyes of many) and instead retooled this winter with the hope of a better on-field product.

“It seems like at every turn — we have great pitching in ’14, what we’re going to do is add some offense to it, think we can make a run at it in ’15,” said Fowler. “That was a miserable failure. We’ve got some key players intact this year. We thought we’d be at least a .500 baseball team, and we’re anything but. … We rolled the dice with [Preller] on some Major League signings, Major League trades, and we have to collectively look at that and say it didn’t come together as well as we wanted. I don’t think there’s a brighter GM out there. I don’t think anyone works harder, but the results are not there, and I think A.J. would be the first one to tell you that.”

Asked specifically about his coaches, Fowler expressed praise for rookie manager Andy Green and his field staff, calling the unit “as good of a group or a better group” than he’s seen. Asked, then, if the problem should be placed on the players, Fowler replied: “It’s on the player, but the organization has to accept responsibility for probably having the wrong players. … part of it is on the players, but our job is to get the right players here who can be motivated and deliver at game time, and right now, we’re not doing it.”

Not lost on Fowler, though, is the chance to bolster the club’s long-term outlook with a significant draft bonus pool and a large swath of international signings. “We hired A.J. because we knew we had to develop a farm system and we had to do far better in international than we’ve done,” he said. “I think this draft coming up and the international signing period on July 2 will give us a far better view of A.J. I will say that he’s done a spectacular job of building the player development area, and I think the players we have in the farm system, as a group, are stronger than they were before.”

The Padres have the third-largest pool of any club in Major League Baseball, thanks to a pair of compensatory picks received when Ian Kennedy and Justin Upton signed elsewhere as well as a Competitive Balance lottery pick (Round B, No. 71 overall) that they won in last summer’s lottery. As such, the Padres have an enormous amount of flexibility and a wide variety of creative approaches to take next Thursday. The Astros, for instance, have had success by spending well over-slot in the supplemental rounds at the expense of some later-round savings — landing Lance McCullers with the 41st pick in 2012 and then picking up outfielder Daz Cameron, a one-time potential Top 5 selection, at No. 37 last season when he slid due to signability concerns. Beyond that, the Padres are rumored to be prepping to shatter their international spending pool, which would provide a significant boost to the lower levels of their farm system.

All that said, however, the team will be facing some difficult decisions as this summer’s Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. Though they didn’t sell off any pieces last summer, an arguably greater urgency to do so exists this summer. Fowler conceded that some moves could be on the horizon. “Well, to stay status quo, probably, unless we start playing a lot better is not likely,” he said. “But you’ve got to get value in return. You don’t just let somebody go unless you think there’s some value or unless you basically are just frustrated by any other options.”

The draft and international markets will be a boon to the farm system’s lower levels, but they’ll have little impact on the club’s big league roster in 2016-17 (though there are some Cuban veterans on the free-agent market, such as Jose Miguel Fernandez, that are more near-term targets). As such, whether it’s this summer or in the offseason, it seems safe to expect that the Padres will be making another significant wave of moves in an effort to inject more help for the current on-field product.

I should stress that the entire 11-minute interview is well worth a listen for Padres fans or any that are interested in their recent plight. Fowler seemingly acknowledges that the Padres’ woes are a collective failure for which both ownership and the front office are at fault, candidly stating: “…in a normal environment, if you’d performed as well as we have over the past three years, you’d probably be unemployed.”

NL Notes: Padres, Cards, Reds, D-Backs

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The Padres had a chance to add righty Michael Fulmer from the Mets at last year’s trade deadline, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Instead, San Diego held onto Justin Upton and recouped a draft pick via the qualifying offer, which the club will put to use alongside many other early picks in a few weeks. Fulmer, of course, ended up with the Tigers when New York cashed him in for Yoenis Cespedes. The jettisoned Carlos Gomez trade had already provided an interesting set of alternative history scenarios, and this deal-that-never-was only adds to the intrigue.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • The breakout performance of Aledmys Diaz has the Cardinals looking for ways to adapt the rest of the roster to a new full-time shortstop, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. St. Louis has had discussions with both Jhonny Peralta and Matt Carpenter about occupying more versatile roles — something in the mold of, but less dramatic than, Ben Zobrist’s old position-less situation with the Rays. Both Peralta and Carpenter have played multiple positions in the majors already, but it seems that the variety and day-to-day volatility may increase somewhat. Meanwhile, GM John Mozeliak said that he has high expectations for Diaz. “[G]iven what you’re seeing out of Diaz at his age [25], you really need to see him develop at shortstop,” said the veteran executive. “When you look at what he’s been able to do, seeing him hold that spot for the next five or six years is reasonable to think.”
  • Reds president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty says that his organization has not been fielding calls on possible trade pieces, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. Jocketty says his expectation is that trade chatter won’t really pick up until late June. “It’s really hard to say,” said Jocketty. “I don’t think anything will happen much until after the Draft. That’s usually when it starts to happen, a couple of weeks after the Draft.” Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t any action in the month of June; I recently looked back at some notable trades in recent years and we just saw a swap yesterday involving a veteran reliever.
  • Over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron suggests that the Diamondbacks ought to consider what might be their boldest move yet: dangling the just-signed Zack Greinke in trade talks this summer. While the organization is committed to near-term contention, says Cameron, it may not have the flexibility it needs to address its many concerns over the winter. Dealing Greinke this summer in a market that looks light on arms would offer an opportunity to big-budget contenders to add a premium pitcher in advance of a free agent class that falls well shy of last year’s crop of talent. While Greinke hasn’t been as sharp as last year, and has posted far worse results, he’d certainly still draw interest, even if his huge salary would require some serious negotiating. All told, the scenario seems rather unlikely — as Cameron acknowledges — but is interesting to consider.

NL Notes: Braun, Loney, Shields, Pomeranz, Vargas

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Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun may be generating trade buzz with his huge offensive numbers, but he’s also now dealing with a new malady, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports. While back issues have limited early, with prior wrist and thumb problems also posing some long-term concern, Braun has most recently been limited by a stiff neck. He’s now missed the starting lineup in eight of fourteen games, though GM David Stearns says that the organization expects to manage the injury (and his lingering back trouble) without the need for a DL stint. The general manager acknowledged a “level of interest” in the slugger from other organizations, but also said that the team “fully anticipate[s] Ryan is going to be a Brewer for a very long time.”

Here’s more from the National League:

  • The Mets are expected to activate just-acquired first baseman James Loney for action on Tuesday, manager Terry Collins told reporters including Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). Acquired yesterday from the Padres, the veteran is expected to help fill in for injured first baseman Lucas Duda.
  • Padres righty James Shields addressed the recent trade chatter surrounding him, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The veteran hurler says that he’s used to the rumors. “I don’t really think about that kind of thing too much, to be honest with you,” said Shields. “I’ve been in the game long enough to where these things get thrown out there. I think my name gets thrown out there every single year. I don’t really put too much emphasis on it.”
  • A prospective deal that would send Shields from the Padres to the White Sox would make sense for both organizations, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports opines. While Shields certainly doesn’t profile as an top-of-the-line starter any longer, Rosenthal says he’d unquestionably help the pitching-needy South Siders.
  • Rosenthal notes that other Padres arms, including southpaw Drew Pomeranz, have drawn interest as well. Pomeranz had his worst outing of the season today, though he still managed to set down nine hitters via strikeout in just five innings of work. The 27-year-old is an interesting player to watch, as he comes with two more years of cheap control and has turned in the most promising work of his career thus far for the Pads.
  • Meanwhile, the Padres learned that they will be without right-handed starter Cesar Vargas for a stretch, Lin also reports. Elbow soreness is the culprit, and it remains unknown how long he’ll miss. Vargas had been a nice surprise in the early going, though he was hit hard yesterday as his elbow flared up. The Friars are expected to bring back fellow righty Colin Rea to step into Vargas’s rotation spot. He had been optioned in order to limit his innings and maintain his availability for the rest of the season.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Machado, Teheran, Hill, Pomeranz

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Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper might not be the only $400MM free agent if he reaches the open market in 2018, says FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link), who reports that Orioles third baseman/shortstop Manny Machado could also exceed that total. Machado is a more valuable defender at third than Harper is in right, argues Rosenthal, and is just three months older than Harper (both will be 26 in 2018). Machado, who has slashed a videogamelike .323/.397/.634 with 13 home runs in 209 plate appearances this year, has outhit Harper (.243/.423/.537, 12 homers in 201 PAs) and leads all major leaguers in fWAR (3.4).

Here’s more inside info from Rosenthal:

  • The Braves will only trade right-hander Julio Teheran if they can get a major league hitter of similar quality and age in return, general manager John Coppolella told Rosenthal. “The days of us trading players like Teheran for prospects are over. We need to get better at the major league level. We would have to be overwhelmed to move Teheran,” Coppolella said. Teheran, 25, is off to a strong start this year (2.57 ERA, 8.43 K/9, 2.43 BB/9 in 63 innings) and is signed to a reasonable contract through 2020.
  • Although left-hander Rich Hill looks like an attractive trade candidate, the Athletics could elect to keep the 36-year-old and extend him a qualifying offer at season’s end if nobody makes a satisfactory offer for him. The A’s would then either retain Hill for at least another season at $15.8MM – a significant increase from his current salary of $6MM – or lose him in free agency and receive a first-round pick as compensation.
  • Teams are contacting the Padres about southpaw Drew Pomeranz, per Rosenthal, who adds that GM A.J. Preller “remains open-minded” to the idea of moving any of his players. Acquired from the A’s for a pittance during the offseason, Pomeranz has somewhat quietly been terrific this season. With a stingy 1.70 ERA, the 27-year-old is behind only Clayton Kershaw and he ranks 12th among qualified starters in strikeouts per nine innings (10.19), though his lofty 4.25 BB/9 is 10th from the bottom. Pomeranz is currently on a cheap salary of $1.35MM and has two arbitration-eligible years remaining.

Mets Acquire James Loney From Padres

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The Mets have acquired first baseman James Loney from the Padres for cash considerations, the Padres have announced. Loney had an opt-out in his minor-league deal with the Friars, although the move that brings him to New York is a trade. The bulk of Loney’s $8MM 2016 salary will be paid by the Rays, who signed him to a three-year deal prior to the 2014 season and then released him in early April.

MLB: Spring Training-Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue JaysThe Mets were on the lookout for a first baseman with Lucas Duda out for a significant stretch due to a stress fracture in his back. Loney was an obvious potential target, and many speculated from the beginning that the Mets could pursue him. That appears to be exactly what they did. Earlier this week, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported that the Mets had at least some degree of interest.

Loney was hitting .342/.373/.424 with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso. He previously played in ten MLB seasons, spending time with the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Rays, while compiling a career .285/.338/.411 line. While he’s mostly retained his ability to hit for average as his career has progressed, though, his power numbers have dwindled — he once regularly hit ten to 15 home runs a season, but last year with the Rays he hit just four while posting a .357 slugging percentage. Once a plus defensive first baseman, his fielding numbers have taken a tumble as well, with both UZR and DRS marking him as significantly worse in the last two seasons than he was in 2011 through 2013.

Given the Mets’ need, though, and the fact that the cash return the Mets will send the Padres is presumably nominal, it’s no surprise that the team pursued him despite his flaws. He’s a longtime starter who has experience and some level of on-base ability. The team can also potentially protect the lefty hitter by using Eric Campbell at first against lefty starters.

Adam Rubin of ESPN reported that Loney was headed to the Mets and that the deal was a trade (Twitter links). Jon Heyman tweeted that the Padres would receive cash considerations in return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Injury Notes: Jordan, Gray, Ross, Martin, Ottavino, Smith, Chirinos

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Nationals right-hander Taylor Jordan underwent Tommy John surgery yesterday, the team announced. It’s his second time undergoing a UCL replacement for the 27-year-old. Jordan burst onto the scene for the Nats in 2013, but has failed to maintain that promise at the major league level. He did have a strong season in the results department last year at Triple-A, though, and allowed just three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings in his first three starts of the 2016 campaign. Now, it’ll be at least a year or so before Jordan can try to get back on track.

Here’s more on some injury situations around the game:

  • Athletics staff ace Sonny Gray is readying to throw from a mound tomorrow, per Joe Stiglich of Comcast SportsNet California (via Twitter). It’s certainly good to hear that Gray feels good enough to begin working his way back from a trapezius issue, though his timeline remains completely unknown.
  • Padres skipper Andy Green says that righty Tyson Ross may be ready to begin throwing within one week’s time, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. It’s been a slow process for Ross, as the Pads seek to ensure that his shoulder issues don’t worsen. While the trade deadline remains two months away, leaving some time to turn him back into a potentially valuable trade chip, it’s worth bearing in mind that Ross will need a full build-up and rehab stint before returning to the major league hill.
  • The Mariners have placed outfielder Leonys Martin on the 15-day DL today with a hamstring strain, the club announced. The team had believed he might avoid such an outcome altogether, so it doesn’t seem as if there’s any reason for significant concern. Stefen Romero will take Martin’s roster spot for the meantime. Martin, an offseason trade acquisition, had been off to an eye-opening .262/.339/.483 start at the plate for Seattle.
  • Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino is nearly ready to throw live batting practice, Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. He’s still working back from Tommy John surgery, but it’s encouraging to hear that his rehab could soon begin in earnest. Colorado, meanwhile, will no doubt be excited to look forward to receiving a return on the team’s investment in Ottavino over the winter.
  • Southpaw Will Smith is expected to return to the Brewers by next week, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets. That’s great news for Milwaukee, which has been without the excellent 26-year-old reliever all year long. He’ll join Jeremy Jeffress at the back of the pen — and, perhaps, on the trade block.
  • Rangers backstop Robinson Chirinos will begin a rehab stint tomorrow with hopes of returning to the majors on June 9, as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan was among those to tweet. Texas has been blessed with surprisingly productive starts from the catching position, but Chirinos had been expected to handle most of the duties before suffering a forearm fracture.

Latest On Mets’ First Base Search

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Mets GM Sandy Alderson said today that the club is “not ruling anything out externally” as it deals with a significant injury to first baseman Lucas Duda, as ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports. Assistant GM John Ricco suggested recently that the club wasn’t content with what it has in house.

While the Mets are obviously interested to see what’s out there, Alderson suggested that there isn’t much urgency. “We’ll continue to monitor what’s available,” he said. “We haven’t at this point decided that we’re just going to go with what we have.”

One possibility that many have mentioned is to make a play for James Loney. He’s an established veteran with a high-on-base approach who’s playing well at Triple-A in the Padres organization, and New York has been said to have at least some “curiosity” in him.

New York has been scouting Loney, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter), but it certainly doesn’t appear that the team has rushed out to get him. Loney is not the only player that the club is looking at, according to that report. I recently ran down the different ways the team could go about filling the void, with Loney featuring as one of the most obvious options but far from the only one.

While it’s early to be dealing, Alderson called a trade “doable.” Nevertheless, he warned that it wouldn’t be easy to find and acquire the right piece. “The circumstances have to be right,” said the veteran executive. “Whether it’s doable or not is one thing. Actually pursuing it and trying to identify something is something else.”

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/26/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Reds announced tonight that right-hander Steve Delabar has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A after clearing waivers. (SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo first tweeted the move earlier this afternoon). Cincinnati designated Delabar, 32, for assignment on Sunday after he struggled through eight innings of relief at the big league level this season. Delabar, who posted a 3.49 ERA in 131 2/3 innings between the Mariners and Blue Jays from 2011-13, has struggled to rediscover that form in the seasons to follow. His 2016 work the the Blue Jays resulted in six earned runs on five hits and an alarming 10 walks in eight innings, though he did also pick up 10 strikeouts in that time. He’ll look to get back on track in Triple-A, where he excelled in 2014, 2015 and earlier this season as well.
  • The Marlins announced that lefty Tim Berry, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been outrighted to Class-A Advanced Jupiter. The former Orioles farmhand had a dreadful first run between Class-A and Double-A this year, surrendering an astounding 22 earned runs on 35 hits and nine walks with 17 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings. Berry showed some promise as starter in 2014 with the Orioles organization, but he struggled to repeat that success, and his troubles have continued even following a shift to the bullpen.

Earlier Moves

  • The Twins have placed outfielder Darin Mastroianni on the DL and filled his roster spot by selecting the contract of left-hander Buddy Boshers from Triple-A Rochester, per a club announcement. Minnesota transferred closer Glen Perkins to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Boshers, 28, spent the 2015 season on the independent circuit but has turned in a strong showing at the Triple-A level this year, working to a 1.42 ERA with a 21-to-5 K/BB ratio in 19 innings out of the Rochester bullpen. Perkins, meanwhile, has been out since early April due to a shoulder injury and recently suffered a setback in his rehab. The earliest he could be activated would be June 10, though that seems unlikely given recent updates on his status.
  • Right-hander Seth Simmons has agreed to a minor league contract with the Padres, MLBTR has learned. Simmons, a former D-backs farmhand, split the 2015 season between Arizona’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, working to a 2.99 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 75 1/3 innings. The 27-year-old struggled out of the gates with Arizona at the Triple-A level this season and was granted his release recently. The 27-year-old has yet to pitch in the Majors but has posted strong numbers for most of his minor league career, working a 2.97 ERA with averages of 11.6 strikeouts and 3.9 walks per nine innings. The Padres would seem to be somewhat of a logical connection, as San Diego skipper Andy Green has previously managed Simmons during his days as a minor league skipper with the D-backs.

Mets Have “Some Curiosity About” Padres’ James Loney

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The Mets have at least “some curiosity about” Padres first baseman James Loney, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). Loney’s representatives at the Legacy Agency are expected to contact the club today to see if there’s a fit.

While Loney remains under control of the Padres, he’s reportedly able to opt out of his contract if a major league opportunity arises with another organization. As I explained this morning in breaking down New York’s options with Lucas Duda sidelined, Loney looks to be one of the most viable targets for the club.

Playing at Triple-A to open the year, Loney owns a .333/.368/.417 slash over 155 plate appearances with two home runs and just ten strikeouts to go with his nine walks. That’s not a terribly surprising batting line for the 32-year-old, who is a somewhat atypical hitter for a first baseman. Over his decade of major league experience, Loney has slashed .285/.338/.411, relying on average and low strikeout tallies to make up for a lack of pop.

Loney has also generally graded out well with the glove, though defensive metrics viewed him as a slightly below-average performer at first in each of his last two major league seasons. He also won’t require any kind of payroll hit beyond the league minimum, as the Rays released him this spring when trade partners failed to materialize. Tampa Bay remains obligated for his $8MM salary.

With San Diego rostering both Wil Myers and Brett Wallace, it doesn’t appear as if the Padres will be motivated to move Loney up to keep him in the organization. Wallace is hardly untouchable, but his salary is guaranteed and he’s capable of playing third base. On the other hand, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney has noted on Twitter, San Diego would have the option of elevating Loney if another team offers him a big league job, which also means the club could potentially extract some trade value.

The Mets will, no doubt, consider alternatives. The left-handed-hitting Loney wouldn’t make much sense on the roster when Duda returns, after all, and it’s probably worth at least checking to see if there’s a better match elsewhere. As covered in the above-linked post, there are a lot of possibilities out there, though ultimately a low-risk fill-in would make plenty of sense.

One hypothetical candidate, Nick Swisher of the Yankees, does not appear to be a fit. Sherman notes that the Mets don’t have interest in the veteran, who has continued to post meager numbers at Triple-A.

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