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Marlins Acquire Jose Castillo From Padres

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The Marlins have acquired left-handed reliever Jose Castillo from the Padres in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Castillo, whom the Padres designated for assignment last week, has been optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. Miami had an opening on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding transaction isn’t necessary.

The 27-year-old Castillo had a strong debut with the Padres back in 2018 but has been clobbered with injuries since that time. His 2019 season ended after just two-thirds of an inning due to a torn ligament in his hand. He missed the shortened 2020 season due to a lat strain and had the bulk of his 2021-22 campaigns wiped out following Tommy John surgery.

Castillo logged a sharp 3.23 ERA in his first 39 big league innings, fanning 35.1% of his opponents against an 8.4% walk rate. However, he’s pitched just two big league innings since the start of the 2019 campaign due to that litany of injuries.

Castillo did return to the mound in the minors last season, notching a tidy 2.59 ERA in 48 1/3 innings between Class-A and Triple-A. However, he’s been rocked for a 9.82 ERA in 18 1/3 Triple-A frames so far in 2023 and surrendered four runs in just one-third of an inning in his lone MLB appearance this year.

This is Castillo’s final minor league option season, so he’ll need to establish himself as a viable big league bullpen option before season’s end or else be at risk of being subtracted from the 40-man roster this offseason. He’s already over three years of Major League service time — most of it spent on the injured list — so he’ll be arbitration-eligible this winter and would be a clear non-tender candidate if he can’t take a step forward in his new organization. And, because he has more than three years of service, he’d become a free agent at season’s end if he’s outrighted before that time.

Padres Release Rougned Odor

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The Padres have released infielder/outfielder Rougned Odor, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Friars last week and would have been able to reject an outright assignment as a veteran with more than three years of major league service time. The club has simply skipped that formality and sent him back to the open market.

Odor, 29, signed a minor league deal with the club in the offseason and cracked the Opening Day roster. He spent over three months serving a part-time role for the Padres, taking 157 trips to the plate in 59 games. He essentially flipped his previous profile of a low-walk, high-power guy. His 10.8% walk rate this year has been far better than any previous season and well beyond his 6.1% career rate. But he hit just four home runs in that time, despite once being a 30-homer threat on annual basis.

His .210/.306/.370 batting line this year amounted to a wRC+ of 90, or 10% below league average. Despite having hit 178 home runs in his career, he’s subtracted a lot of value with his poor on-base abilities. His career batting line of .230/.288/.423 translates to an 85 wRC+.

Defensively, Odor has mostly been a second baseman but has diversified in recent years as he’s been squeezed out of regular action. He spent a bit of time at third base in the previous two seasons and the Padres also slotted him in at first base and right field here in 2023. He’ll now head to free agency and look for his next opportunity.

Mike Ivie Passes Away

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Former Padres, Giants, Astros, and Tigers first baseman Mike Ivie passed away on Friday, as noted by Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was 70 years old.

Selected first overall by San Diego in the 1970 MLB draft, Ivie made his MLB debut at just 18 years old in 1971, slashing a phenomenal .471/.526/.471 in a six-game cup of coffee that season. Initially drafted as a catcher, Ivie developed the yips early on in his professional career, an issue that forced him to move to first base shortly after his debut. He spent the next two seasons in the minor leagues before returning to the majors in 1974. From 1975 to 1977, Ivie served as the Padres’ regular first baseman, slashing a roughly league .271/.322/.393.

Following the 1977 campaign, Ivie was traded to San Francisco, where he would have the best seasons of his career. In 1978 and 1979, Ivie stepped to the plate a combined 807 times, slashing a phenomenal .296/.361/.515 that was 41% better than league average at the time by measure of wRC+. Ivie slugged a combined 38 home runs, 32 doubles, and six triples across those two campaigns, and even chipped in eight stolen bases.

Ivie struggled to replicate that strong production in 79 with the Giants during the 1980 season, and was traded to the Houston Astros early on in the 1981 campaign. Continued struggles led Ivie to request his release from the Astros, which was granted early in the 1982 season. He finished his career as a member of the Tigers, for whom he slashed .232/.299/.448 with 14 home runs and 12 doubles in 80 games during the 1982 campaign before retiring from professional baseball in 1983 at the age of 30. Overall, Ivie’s major league career spanned 11 seasons and saw him record 724 hits including 81 home runs in 857 career games. He finished his playing days with an above average career slash line of .269/.324/.421.

MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends, former teammates and loved ones.

Padres Designate Domingo Tapia For Assignment

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The Padres announced several roster moves this afternoon ahead of tonight’s game against the Tigers. The club placed right-hander Alek Jacob on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 21) with right elbow inflammation. To replace Jacob on the active roster, the club selected the contract of left-hander Jackson Wolf, as previously expected. Right-hander Domingo Tapia was designated for assignment to make room for Wolf on the club’s 40-man roster.

Jacob made his big league debut just last week, and his move to the shelf puts a promising start to his major league career on hold. In three big league appearances, the 25 year old has racked up five strikeouts against just one walk in three scoreless innings of work. Jacob’s early success in the big league’s comes on the heels of a dominant performance at the Double-A level prior to his call-up to the majors where he posted a 1.32 ERA in 27 1/3 innings with a 29.4% strikeout rate.

Taking Jacob’s place on the active roster is Wolf, a 24-year-old lefty for whom his first appearance with the Padres will be his major league debut. That opportunity seems likely to come tonight, with Wolf poised to take the ball to start tonight’s game in Detroit. To this point in the 2023 campaign, Wolf has pitched out of the rotation for San Diego’s Double-A affiliate in San Antonio. In 85 innings of work across 17 starts, Wolf has posted a solid 3.39 ERA with a 31.3% strikeout rate.

Wolf’s selection likely brings to an end Tapia’s time with the Padres, for whom he posted a solid 3.57 ERA in 17 2/3 innings of work (albeit with a less impressive 5.38 FIP). In addition to San Diego, Tapia has also played in Oakland, Kansas City, and Seattle since making his major league debut for the Red Sox back in 2020. Overall, Tapia sports a 4.21 ERA and 4.40 FIP in 72 2/3 innings of work at the big league level. Going forward, the Padres will have seven days to waive, trade, or release the 31-year-old journeyman. Should the club pass him through waivers and attempt to assign him outright to the minors, Tapia will have the opportunity to reject that assignment and test free agency as a player who has been previously outrighted in his career.

Padres To Select Jackson Wolf

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The Padres are calling up pitcher Jackson Wolf for tomorrow’s game in Detroit, manager Bob Melvin tells AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (Twitter link). The club hasn’t decided whether Wolf will start the contest or work in relief. They’ll need to formally select him onto the 40-man roster tomorrow.

Wolf, 24, was a fourth-round selection out of West Virginia in the 2021 draft. The 6’7″ lefty split his first full professional season between High-A and Double-A. He has spent 2023 with Double-A San Antonio, starting all 17 appearances. He has excelled through 85 innings, pitching to a 3.39 ERA. Wolf is striking hitters out at an elite 31.3% rate and has only walked 6% of opposing batters.

That was a strong enough showing the Friars will skip him past the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League entirely. He makes the jump straight from Double-A to at least get the opportunity for his major league debut. San Diego has been without Michael Wacha for nearly three weeks due to shoulder inflammation, leaving a rotation vacancy.

Earlier this month, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Wolf the #11 prospect in a relatively thin San Diego farm system. While his fastball only sits in the upper 80s, Longenhagen credits him with a plus slider and suggests his lower arm slot presents a particularly challenging look for left-handed hitters.

San Diego’s 40-man roster is full. They’ll likely wind up designating someone for assignment tomorrow to create space.

Padres Designate Jose Castillo For Assignment

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The Padres have designated left-hander Jose Castillo for assignment and optioned righty Matt Waldron to Triple-A El Paso, per a team announcement. That pair of moves clears roster space for righty Robert Suarez, who has been formally reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Castillo, 27, posted a strong 3.23 ERA through his first 39 big league innings back in 2018-19 but has since seen that promising debut derailed by injury. His 2019 season was cut short by a torn ligament in his hand, and he missed the 2020 season due to a lat strain. Castillo’s 2021 campaign and much of his 2022 season were then wiped out by Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched just two total MLB frames dating back to 2019.

While Castillo posted solid numbers in the upper minors last year as he returned from that deluge of injuries, he’s struggled immensely in 2023. His lone MLB appearance saw him yield four runs in one-third of an inning, and he’s been tagged for a 9.82 ERA in 18 1/3 frames of Triple-A ball.

Castillo is in his final option season and will be arbitration-eligible this winter. The Padres will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. If another team picks him up, he can be optioned for the remainder of the season but would need to be carried on the active MLB roster beginning next season. That said, if he can get back on track with a new club, he’d have an additional two seasons of club control remaining.

Suarez, 32, fanned 32% of his opponents and notched a 2.27 ERA as a 31-year-old rookie in San Diego last season after a years-long run of excellence in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The Friars re-signed to a five-year, $46MM deal with an opt-out clause early last offseason, but he’s yet to pitch this season due to an elbow issue. He’ll give San Diego a high-quality arm to slot into the late innings as the Padres try to salvage an immensely disappointing start to their 2023 season.

Padres Sign Óscar Mercado To Minor League Deal

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In a move that recently eluded MLBTR, the Padres signed outfielder Óscar Mercado to a minor league deal, as relayed by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Mercado has already appeared in five games with Triple-A El Paso.

The 28-year-old Mercado once looked to be establishing himself as an everyday regular at the big league level, especially during a strong 2019 season. He hit 15 home runs for Cleveland that year and produced a batting line of .269/.318/.443. That offense was actually slightly below league average in that juiced ball season, translating to a wRC+ of 98. But he also provided strong outfield defense, including in center field, and stole 15 bases. Since that was just his age-24 season, it seemed fair to expect he might be able to continue developing from that platform.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, as he’s hit just .206/.262/.334 in 491 plate appearances since that season, which amounts to a wRC+ of 64. He’s bounced from Cleveland to Philadelphia, then back to Cleveland, exhausting his options in the process. He signed a minor league deal with St. Louis this winter and was selected to the big leagues in mid-May, serving in a part-time bench role. He was on the roster for over six weeks but only received 32 plate appearances in 20 games.

For the Padres, they have a regular outfield of Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trent Grisham but have cycled through a few depth pieces this year, such as José Azocar, Brandon Dixon, David Dahl and Adam Engel. There’s little harm in them bringing Mercado aboard to get a close-up look at him. His speed and defense give him a solid floor and he could still carve out a role by getting his offensive production in the vicinity of average. If he cracks the roster at any point, he’s out of options but has yet to reach arbitration and could potentially be cheaply retained for subsequent seasons.

Notable Draft Signings: 7/18/23

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The first overall pick signed for a record bonus with the Pirates this afternoon. Meanwhile, Arizona signed their first-round selection for a $4.4MM figure. The other $2MM+ signees from Tuesday (scouting reports from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN and The Athletic):

  • The Phillies announced a deal with 27th overall pick Aidan Miller. The club didn’t specify the signing figure, but Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reports it at $3.1MM (Twitter link). That’s a little north of the $2.97MM slot value. A high school infielder out of Florida, Miller appeared on the top 25 players on each of the referenced pre-draft rankings. The 6’2″ third baseman is credited with some of the highest offensive upside in the high school class, though he had a relatively down draft year after injuring the hamate bone in his hand. He’s already 19 — older than the typical high schooler — but has significant power potential and a chance to stick at the hot corner. Miller bypasses a commitment to Arkansas to enter the pro ranks.
  • The Padres agreed to terms with 25th selection Dillon Head, Callis reports (on Twitter). The Illinois high schooler gets a $2.8MM bonus, a little below the pick’s $3.17MM slot value. Head ranked 27th on MLB Pipeline’s pre-draft list but as low as 50th on Keith Law’s ranking at The Athletic. The lefty-hitting outfielder is an elite runner and a potential quality defensive center fielder. Evaluators are split on how much offensive upside he possesses in a 5’11” or 6’0″ frame. Head was a Clemson commit.
  • The Royals went well overslot to sign second-round draftee Blake Wolters, according to Callis (Twitter link). A high school right-hander from Illinois, he lands a $2.8MM bonus that beats the $1.95MM value of the 44th pick. The 6’4″ hurler had a velocity bump into the mid-90s during his draft year. He’s credited with a quality slider and intriguing athleticism but faces questions about his third pitch. It’s a fairly common refrain for an upside flier on a high school pitcher. Kansas City liked Wolters enough to sign him away from the University of Arizona.

Padres Designate Rougned Odor For Assignment, Option Austin Nola

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The Padres announced a broad-reaching slate of roster moves Tuesday, most notably designating infielder/outfielder Rougned Odor for assignment and optioning catcher Austin Nola to Triple-A El Paso. San Diego also optioned utilityman Brandon Dixon to El Paso.

That trio of moves creates space for the team to reinstate catcher Luis Campusano from the 60-day injured list, select the contract of outfielder Taylor Kohlwey and recall infielder Alfonso Rivas from Triple-A. The Padres also announced that righty Reiss Knehr has been transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the shelf with elbow discomfort since late June and will now be sidelined until at least late August.

It’s a notable shakeup for a struggling Padres club that has gotten negligible production from the bench and from its catching position this season. Odor, who’ll be traded or released within a week’s time (he can reject an outright assignment), has batted just .210/.306/.370 in 157 trips to the plate this season. Nola (.146/.260/.192 in 154 plate appearances) and Dixon (.204/.244/.329 in 86 plate appearances) have been even less productive. They’ll both remain in the organization in Triple-A, at least for the time being.

The Padres were Odor’s fourth team in as many years. He hasn’t had an above-average season at the plate since 2016 but has continually gotten looks around the league thanks to his glove and considerable left-handed pop. He’s been with the Rangers, Yankees and Orioles in the past three seasons, respectively, and cracked the Padres’ Opening Day roster in 2023 despite a combined .199/.269/.374 showing from 2020-22. In doing so, he continued the long line of former Rangers who’ve made cameos with the Padres under president of baseball operations AJ Preller — a longtime assistant GM in Texas (e.g. Ian Kinsler, Keone Kela, Mitch Moreland, Nelson Cruz, Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar, Yu Darvish, Nick Martinez, Carl Edwards Jr.).

Nola, 33, has been San Diego’s primary catcher in recent seasons after coming over from the Mariners in what’s become a lopsided deal for Seattle. San Diego acquired Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla in exchange for infielder Ty France, reliever Andres Munoz, outfielder Taylor Trammell and catcher Luis Torrens. France has since settled in as the Mariners’ primary first baseman and made the All-Star team in 2022. Munoz has stepped up as Seattle’s closer.

While Nola had been enjoying a breakout with the Mariners in 2019-20 and was solid in his first season-plus with San Diego, his bat has since cratered. Dating back to Opening Day 2022, he’s a .222/.304/.291 hitter (75 wRC+) in exactly 162 games and 551 plate appearances. His once-strong framing ratings have also deteriorated, and Nola has thwarted just 16.8% of stolen base attempts over the past two seasons.

With Nola now in El Paso, the Padres will rely on Campusano and Gary Sanchez behind the plate. Sanchez started hot after signing in San Diego, clubbing five dingers in his first 50 plate appearances. However, he’s since gone ice cold at the dish, batting just .150/.253/.250 in his past 91 turns at the plate.

That could open the door for Campusano to at last get a legitimate look behind the plate. The longtime top prospect has appeared in each MLB season since 2020 but has only 114 career plate appearances to his name. He’s mustered only a .198/.237/.302 output in that time, but Campusano is a career .297/.366/.513 hitter in 702 Triple-A plate appearances and has outstanding batted-ball metrics in his limited MLB work. Despite the pedestrian bottom-line results, Campusano has an average exit velocity of 90.6 mph and a massive 48.7% hard-hit rate, per Statcast. Opponents have gone 16-for-16 against him in stolen bases at the MLB level, but Campusano has a 25% caught-stealing rate in the minors.

Also joining the Padres’ roster will be Kohlwey, who’ll be in line for his MLB debut just two days prior to his 29th birthday. A 21st-round pick out of the University of Wisconsin La Crosse back in 2016, Kohlwey has experience at all three outfield spots and is batting .261/.377/.437 with nine homers, 16 doubles, a pair of triples, 10 steals and nearly as many walks (50) as strikeouts (51) in 328 trips to the batter’s box.

Rivas, 26, signed with the Padres over the winter after spending the past two seasons with the Cubs. He’s gone 2-for-7 with a double in his limited sample with the Friars so far this year and is a career .248/.332/.325 hitter in 344 MLB plate appearances. Rivas boasts a colossal .332/.462/.582 slash in Triple-A this season and carries a lifetime .313/.424/.492 line in 150 games at that level.

Padres Notes: Campusano, Sanchez, Morejon

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  • Padres catcher Luis Campusano has missed most of the 2023 campaign after undergoing thumb surgery in early May, leaving the club to rely on the struggling Austin Nola and in-season signing Gary Sanchez behind the plate.  Fortunately, Campusano appears to be nearing a return as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune write that the backstop is in “the final stages” of his Triple-A rehab assignment, and is expected to rejoin the club during their current road trip (which runs through July 23).  According to Acee, Campusano’s return will result in a timeshare with Sanchez, though the playing time specifics are expected to be “merit-based.”  Sanchez has hit .197/.279/.426 (94 wRC+) in 136 plate appearances with the Padres while Campusano posted a .238/.227/.429 (70 wRC+) slash line prior to his trip to the IL, albeit in just 22 trips to the plate.
  • Sticking with the Padres, the club announced today that left-hander Adrian Morejon was placed on the 15-day injured list due to right knee inflammation.  It’s been a difficult road for Morejon, who has pitched just 47 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign due to a Tommy John surgery, and then an elbow sprain that sent him to the 60-day IL at the start of this season.  Morejon will be replaced on the active roster by right-hander Matt Waldron, who sports a 3.86 ERA in 4 2/3 innings of work with the Padres this season.
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