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Pirates Trade Sean Poppen To Rays

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The Rays announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired right-hander Sean Poppen from the Pirates in exchange for cash. Pittsburgh had recently designated Poppen for assignment. Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster is now full.

Poppen has been optioned to Triple-A Durham for the time being but could see some action in the big leagues with his new club before long, given the regularity with which the Rays have shuffle up their pitching mix in recent seasons.

The 27-year-old Poppen has seen time in the Majors in each of the past three seasons (2019-20 with Minnesota, 2021 with Pittsburgh) but hasn’t found much in the way of success. He’s tallied 20 2/3 innings in the bigs but yielded 18 runs (15 earned) on 30 hits and 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. Poppen’s sinker averages 94.4 mph and has resulted in a solid 46.8 percent ground-ball in his limited big league action. He pairs the pitch with a slider and a seldom-used changeup, but none of the three offerings has been particularly effective against MLB opponents.

Poppen has had more success in the minors, where he sports a 3.39 ERA and a strikeout per inning in parts of five professional seasons — mostly as a starting pitcher. All 13 of his MLB appearances to date have come out of the bullpen, but it’s possible the Rays could look to stretch him back out, either as a multi-inning reliever or as a true depth option for the rotation. The Harvard product is a former 19th-round pick who has never been considered to be one of his organization’s top products, but he carries a respectable 3.88 ERA in 65 Triple-A innings.

Rays Likely To Wait On Wander Franco Promotion

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Wander Franco has performed well in his first 52 plate appearances at Triple-A, posting a .348/.404/.652 slash line that befits his status as baseball’s top prospect.  However, it doesn’t appear likely that Franco will get a quick promotion to the big leagues, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  The Rays aren’t likely to rush a 20-year-old who is only now getting his first taste of the pros beyond the A-ball level, and naturally, some payroll considerations are likely at play — delaying Franco’s debut until at least late June would probably keep him from reaching Super Two status.  A pre-career contract extension would address that concern, but Topkin doesn’t see such a deal as very likely.

Beyond just the financial aspects, the Rays don’t want to make a development misstep with a prospect who represents such a major part of their future.  “The team wants “to be ’more’ sure a player is ready, and avoiding the confidence crusher of sending him back.  Also, they definitely want to avoid putting a young player in a role of being cast as a ’savior’ as Franco might be if the Rays offense still was struggling when he was summoned,” Topkin writes.  This doesn’t mean that Tampa Bay wouldn’t turn to its farm system in the event of a sudden need, of course, but Topkin feels that Vidal Brujan or Taylor Walls (notable prospects in their own right) would get the call ahead of Franco since Brujan and Walls are both a few years older, and also already on the 40-man roster.

Rays Acquire Wyatt Mathisen From Diamondbacks

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The Rays have acquired utilityman Wyatt Mathisen from the Diamondbacks, with cash considerations heading back Arizona’s way.  Mathisen was designated for assignment by the D’Backs earlier this week, and he will report to Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate.

The 29-year-old Mathisen made his MLB debut last season with Arizona, and over 32 games and 84 plate appearances in 2020-21, Mathisen has hit .159/.298/.290.  He has also seen time at both corner infield positions and in left field.

Third base has been Mathisen’s primary position over 649 games in his minor league career.  Initially breaking into the pros as a catcher when he was a second-round pick for the Pirates in the 2012 draft, Mathisen hasn’t been behind the plate since 2013, moving on to play mostly third base but also a lot of time at first and second.  The outfield work is a relatively new part of his defensive arsenal, as Mathisen hadn’t played outside the infield until 2019.

With a .272/.360/.396 slash line over 2507 PA in the minors, Mathisen has shown some decent on-base skill, and he’ll add yet another multi-position weapon to the Rays’ stash of versatile players.  Yandy Diaz, Mike Brosseau, and Kevin Padlo are all on the big league roster and are all right-handed hitters who can play corner infield roles, so Mathisen may have to wait until circumstances change for his next call-up to the Show.

Rays Activate Francisco Mejia, Designate Kevan Smith

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The Rays are reinstating catcher Francisco Mejía from the 10-day injured list, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to pass along (Twitter link). Fellow backstop Kevan Smith was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Mejía went on the IL last week with left intercostal discomfort. It proved to be a minimal stay, as he returns ten days later to again pair with Mike Zunino behind the plate. Acquired from the Padres over the winter as part of the Blake Snell return, Mejía has gotten off to a fine start with his new team. Over his first 67 plate appearances, the switch-hitter has slashed .300/.348/.450 with a home run. That’s a rather significant improvement over the .225/.282/.386 mark he carried as a big leaguer entering 2021.

Obviously, Mejía will need more than a month of strong performance to cement himself as a foundational piece for the Rays, but he certainly carries the pedigree to do so. Mejía was once regarded among the top prospects in baseball as a potentially impactful bat-first catcher. He’s still just 25 years old and making contact at a career-best clip so far, although he hasn’t tamped down the overaggressive approach that contributed to his prior big league struggles.

With Mejía and Zunino healthy, the Rays determined there wasn’t place on the active roster for Smith, who is out of minor league option years. The 32-year-old was selected to the roster when Mejía went on the IL and only picked up five plate appearances over the past week-plus. The Rays now have a week to trade or waive Smith, who has been in the Tampa Bay organization over the past two seasons. Having previously been outrighted in his career, Smith would have the right to elect free agency in lieu of a minor league assignment if he clears waivers.

Dodgers Acquire Yoshi Tsutsugo From Rays

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The Dodgers have acquired infielder Yoshi Tsutsugo from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.  Infielder Edwin Rios was moved to the 60-day injured list to create roster space for Tsutsugo.

The Rays designated Tsutsugo for assignment last Tuesday, and today’s trade closes the book on an overall disappointing 18-month tenure for Tsutsugo in Tampa Bay.  Signed to a two-year, $12MM free agent deal in the 2019-20 offseason, Tsutsugo hit .197/.314/.395 over 185 plate appearances last season, and had only two hits over 16 PA during Tampa’s postseason run.  The 29-year-old followed that rookie season up with a rough .167/.244/.218 slash line in 87 PA this season, which prompted the Rays to send Tsutsugo to the DFA wire.

Tsutsugo is still owed roughly $5.49MM of his original $7MM salary for the 2021 season, and according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), the Dodgers will cover slightly more than $430K — the prorated share of the minimum salary.  This means the Rays will eat the roughly $5MM remaining of Tsutsugo’s salary, making his contract a fairly costly mistake considering the team’s low spending habts.

After years of big numbers with NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars, Tsutsugo drew plenty of attention when he was posted by the BayStars in the winter of 2019-20.  The Dodgers weren’t one of the teams known to have interest in Tsutsugo’s services, but their interest could have been piqued given their current needs.

Tsutsugo has played third base, first base, and left field for Tampa Bay, so he fits the Dodgers’ preferred model as a multi-position player (the team’s signing of Albert Pujols notwithstanding).  While L.A. already has a number of left-handed hitting options, Tsutsugo is something of a more experienced option due to his time in Japan, even if he has relatively little time in Major League Baseball.  Tsutsugo could be seen as something of a straight replacement for Rios, another lefty bat with corner infield and corner outfield experience.  Rios will miss the remainder of the season due to surgery on his right shoulder.

Ji-Man Choi Activated From Injured List

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  • Ji-Man Choi was activated from the 10-day injured list today, though the first baseman didn’t make an appearance in the Rays’ 12-5 victory over the Mets.  Choi underwent arthroscopic knee surgery just prior to Opening Day and thus has yet to make his 2021 debut.  Choi (who celebrates his 30th birthday on Wednesday) has hit a cool .257/.359/.461 with 30 home runs over 821 PA since being acquired by Tampa Bay in July 2018.  Now that he is healthy, Choi is expected to assume his usual role as Tampa’s primary first base/DH option against right-handed pitching, with Yandy Diaz taking over against left-handed pitchers.

Angels Acquire Hunter Strickland

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The Rays have traded right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to the Angels, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Tampa Bay will receive cash considerations or a player to be named later in return, per an announcement from the Angels.

The 32-year-old Strickland joined the Rays on a minor league contract over the winter, and he wound up holding his own during his short stint with the club after it promoted him in early April. Strickland bounced back from a rough two years divided among the Mariners, Nationals and Mets to log a meager 1.69 ERA (with a less spectacular 3.76 SIERA) across 16 innings and post a 24.2 percent strikeout rate against a 9.1 percent walk rate as a Ray.

Strickland will now return to California, where he spent the first five years of his career in San Francisco. Over 226 frames as a Giant from 2014-18, Strickland recorded a 2.91 ERA/3.80 SIERA with a 22.6 percent strikeout rate and an 8.4 percent walk rate. Production along those lines (or the type of numbers he put up as a Ray) would be welcome for the Angels, whose bullpen has struggled mightily during their 16-21 start. Angels relievers own both the majors’ fourth-worst ERA (5.32) and K-BB percentage (10.7).

Rays Designate Yoshi Tsutsugo For Assignment

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The Rays announced Tuesday that they’ve designated struggling first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo for assignment. He’s in the second season of a two-year, $12MM contract that represented a relatively sizable investment for the cost-conscious Rays. They’ll now have a week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him. Corner infielder Kevin Padlo is up from Triple-A Durham in his place.

Tsutsugo, 29, was a prominent slugger with the Yokohama DeNa BayStars in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, batting .285/.382/.528 in parts of 10 seasons — including a .293/.402/.574 slash with 139 home runs in the four years leading up to his free agency.

He struggled in 2020 with the Rays but at least showed off some of that power, slugging eight long balls, five doubles and a triple in 185 trips to the plate last summer. That power has completely evaporated in 2021, however, as Tsutsugo has just four doubles and no home runs through his first 87 plate appearances.

Overall, Tsutsugo has come to the plate 272 times as a member of the Rays and managed only a .187/.292/.336 batting line with a 28.3 percent strikeout rate. To his credit, he’s walked at a hearty 12.5 percent clip, but that keen eye hasn’t helped him to tap into the obvious power that helped make him a star in Japan. With Ji-Man Choi nearing a return from the injured list and Tsutsugo’s struggles persisting, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote yesterday that a touch decision on Tsutsugo seemed virtually “inevitable.”

It’s unlikely that the Rays will find a taker for Tsutsugo’s salary — he’s still owed $5.46MM through season’s end — though they could always try to orchestrate some kind of swap involving another bad contract. Such deals are tough to put together in a short window during the season, making it likelier that he’ll be placed on waivers or simply released.

Yoshi Tsutsugo's Future With Rays May Be In Doubt

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It “seems inevitable” that Rays infielder/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo will lose his roster spot in the near future, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times observes. Although the Rays made a fairly expensive commitment to Tsutsugo prior to 2020, the former Nippon Professional Baseball standout hasn’t lived up to a two-year, $12MM guarantee. This season has been especially rough for the 29-year-old, who has batted a miserable .167/.244/.218 with zero home runs in 87 plate appearances. The Rays still owe Tsutsugo around $5.5MM, Topkin points out, but may decide to move on anyway. Tsutsugo could stay in the organization if they send him down, but he has an assignment clause in his contract and would have to sign off on a demotion. Otherwise, Tsutsugo could collect the remaining money he’s due and try his luck in free agency again.

Rays Sign Adam Conley To Minors Contract

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The Rays have signed left-hander Adam Conley to a minor league deal, Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle reports.  Conley had previously agreed to join NPB’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, but opted out of joining the team earlier this week.

According to a statement from the Eagles (hat tip to reporter Jim Allen), Conley decided against playing in Japan due to concerns over the country’s COVID-19 situation.  Due to entry restrictions from the Japanese government, Conley had been unable to even arrive in Japan until late March, and those same restrictions prevented Conley’s family from joining him abroad.

This isn’t the first time that the coronavirus has directly impacted the southpaw’s career, as Conley was one of many Marlins players placed on the COVID-related injured list last summer due to an outbreak within the clubhouse.  Conley ended up not pitching at all in 2020, after previously seeing some big league action in each of the previous five seasons.

Initially a promising starter in the Marlins’ rotation in 2015-16, Conley ran into some struggles and then turned to relief pitching, with some success in 2018 and then a rougher experience (6.53 ERA in 60 2/3 innings) in 2019.  For his career, Conley has a 4.82 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, and 9.5% walk rate over 414 1/3 innings, all with Miami.

It remains to be seen what role Conley will take with Florida’s other MLB team, though given the Rays’ flexible approach to pitching, Conley could potentially be used in a number of different ways.  He could be deployed in a traditional relief role or perhaps stretched out to be given a second look as a starter, or the Rays could use Conley as an opener, a piggyback starter, a long reliever, a swingman, or perhaps all of the above.

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