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AL East Notes: Means, Bautista, Verdugo, Bradley

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The Orioles have had a wildly successful 2023 campaign, with an 84-51 record that places them 2.5 games ahead of the Rays in a highly competitive AL East division. Despite that success, the club’s clear Achilles heel throughout the season has been the starting rotation, which has produced just 8.3 fWAR this year, 19th in the majors and only better than San Francisco among clubs currently in playoff position. While the club added right-hander Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline to bolster their staff, he’s struggled to a 6.41 ERA in 19 2/3 innings of work with Baltimore.

Given this, it should be a major relief to Orioles fans that left-hander John Means may be nearing a return to the big league club. MLB.com’s Jake Rill relays that manager Brandon Hyde indicated to reporters that Means will make another rehab start with Triple-A Norfolk but could be available to join the club’s big league rotation following that. Means, of course, hasn’t pitched since April 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery but sports a 3.72 ERA and 4.59 FIP in 353 1/3 innings of work since the start of his rookie campaign back in 2019. If the 30-year-old lefty can recapture his steady, mid-rotation performance from prior to his surgery in time for the postseason, he’ll surely be an asset to a rotation that figures to include right-handers Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, and Kyle Gibson.

More from around the AL East…

  • Sticking with the Orioles, closer Felix Bautista hit the injured list with “some degree of injury” to his UCL last week, though since then specifics regarding his situation have been sparse. Hyde provided an update regarding Bautista to reporters this afternoon, with Rill relaying that the club is waiting for inflammation in Bautista’s elbow to go down before deciding on next steps. While Bautista already underwent an MRI, Rill notes that more tests could be in the 28-year-old’s future as the club tries to determine the best course of action for their breakout relief ace.
  • Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo exited today’s game against the Royals due to what the club termed as hamstring tightness. Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe caught up with Verdugo following the game and the 27-year-old downplayed the severity of the issue, suggesting that he “felt a little something” in his hamstring during the sixth inning and that it should be taken care of with a day or two of rest. Should Verdugo miss more time than that, the club has Wilyer Abreu, Cedanne Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder as options to fill out the outfield alongside Adam Duvall and Masataka Yoshida.
  • The Rays recalled rookie starter Taj Bradley today, with the 22-year-old hurler taking the place of the recently-injured Jason Adam on the active roster. Bradley’s first sixteen starts with Tampa were something of a mixed bag; while the youngster dazzled with a 30% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate, his 5.67 ERA in 74 2/3 innings left a great deal to be desired in terms of both results and volume. Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Bradley’s BABIP allowed was the sixth-highest figure in the majors among pitchers with at least 70 innings of work this year, while his strand rate was tenth lowest. That combination indicates some degree of bad luck in Bradley’s results, though a whopping 17.3% of his fly balls leaving the yard for home runs serves as an indicator that not all of his struggles have been pure misfortune. Bradley will look to end his rookie campaign on a high note as a member of the rotation alongside Tyler Glasnow, Aaron Civale, Zach Eflin, and Zack Littell.

AL East Notes: Adam, Blue Jays, Wells

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Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Rays right-hander Jason Adam was unavailable during tonight’s 7-6 loss to the Guardians due to an oblique strain that will send him to the injured list. Adam hasn’t pitched since August 27 due to the issue. It’s another devastating injury for Tampa’s pitching staff, which has already lost three of its five opening day rotation members for the season in Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan. Now, the bullpen has lost perhaps its most reliable setup arm for right-hander Pete Fairbanks.

After a sensational 2022 campaign with the Rays where Adam posted a 1.56 ERA in 67 appearances, the 31-year-old righty has taken a step back but is still dominant with a 2.67 ERA in 54 innings this season, 56% better than league average by measure of ERA+. With Adam headed to the IL, it’s fair to wonder if his regular season is in jeopardy, though without confirmation from Rays brass its hard to speculate on a timetable for return given the considerable variance in severity regarding oblique injuries. With Adam headed to the shelf, the Rays figure to rely on Fairbanks, Colin Poche, and Robert Stephenson to cover the late innings, with veteran Andrew Kitteredge as a potential X-factor for the bullpen as he returns from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

More from around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays had interested in then-Mets outfielder Mark Canha prior to the trade deadline, when he was ultimately traded to the Brewers. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, the club considered dealing for an additional bat like Canha or fellow Met Tommy Pham (who was eventually traded to Arizona) before ultimately opting to rely on prospect Davis Schneider to boost the offense down the stretch. While the decision to lean on Schneider looks prescient as the 24-year-old has set the world on fire with a 270 wRC+ in his first 15 games, a bat like Canha or Pham would surely help cover for the loss of Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman to the injured list earlier this week. Nicholson-Smith also notes that the club rebuffed interest from a free agent middle infielder toward the end of August in deference to Ernie Clement, who like Schneider has also delivered in a small sample size since taking over for Bichette at shortstop.
  • Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells is struggling with arm fatigue as he converts to a bullpen role with Triple-A Norfolk, as manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Jake Rill of MLB.com) today. As Rill notes, Wells last pitched on August 25, with Hyde noting that the righty hasn’t “bounced back” from his last outing as hoped. Wells posted a 3.18 ERA in 104 2/3 innings of work prior to the All Star break but was rocked for 11 runs in nine innings of work in three appearances after the break, prompting the club to demote the 29-year-old hurler for a conversion to the bullpen.

Rays Using Taylor Walls As Primary Shortstop Down The Stretch

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After being activated from the 10-day IL, Taylor Walls will become the Rays’ primary shortstop, manager Kevin Cash revealed to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Osleivis Basabe will move into a utility role around the infield.

Walls has been with the Rays organization since he was selected in the third round of the 2017 draft. He made his big league debut in 2021 and took on a regular role the following season, flashing the leather at shortstop, second, and third. While he wasn’t particularly effective at the plate, he demonstrated an aptitude for drawing walks and contributed on the basepaths, swiping 14 bags in 19 attempts during his first two seasons.

Prior to suffering an oblique strain, Walls was enjoying a mini breakout in 2023. After posting a .569 OPS and a 70 wRC+ in 196 games throughout his first two seasons, he had a .675 OPS and a 94 wRC+ across his first 79 games. Those are still below-average numbers, but they represented a significant improvement for the young infielder. On top of that, he went 20-for-21 on the bases and drew his walks at one of the highest rates in the American League. In 79 games, he accumulated 1.1 FanGraphs WAR. By naming Walls the primary starter at shortstop for the rest of the season, the Rays are expressing optimism that he’ll pick up right where he left off.

The Rays added Basabe to their 40-man roster this past November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Entering the season, he was a consensus top-15 prospect in the organization. Baseball America praised his “baseball IQ” and his “bat-to-ball skills,” although they gave his glove an average grade. MLB Pipeline also mentioned that the Rays were impressed with his “competitiveness and work ethic” in 2022.

Basabe made his MLB debut on August 13, starting at shortstop in place of Wander Franco, who has since been put on administrative leave while investigators look into allegations he’d had inappropriate relationships with multiple minors. The rookie has started at shortstop in all but two of his team’s games since. He has performed admirably, slashing .255/.327/.383 with a 103 wRC+. The 22-year-old had played only half a season at Triple-A before he was recalled. Nevertheless, he will move into a utility role now that Walls has returned to the active roster. While Basabe put up slightly above-average offensive numbers in his brief cup of coffee, Walls is the better defender and has far more experience facing big league pitching.

Walls is also a switch-hitter, thereby providing his manager with more flexibility in crafting the everyday lineup. Meanwhile, the right-handed Basabe will be able to spell Brandon Lowe at second base with a tough southpaw is on the mound. Lowe has a .536 OPS against left-handed pitching this season.

The Rays will need every advantage they can get in September, as they fight a close battle with the Orioles for the AL East crown. They currently sit 1.5 games back in the division with four games remaining against Baltimore. As Jeff Passan and Juan Recio reported for ESPN, it appears unlikely Franco will return this season with the investigations expected to last into the winter. Thus, Walls will take on a new challenge, becoming the Rays’ starting shortstop in the heat of a division race. The Rays will hope he’s up for the task.

Report: Investigators Looking Into Second Formal Complaint Against Wander Franco

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Investigators in the Dominican Republic are looking into a second complaint filed against Rays shortstop Wander Franco, according to a Spanish-language report from Juan Arturo Recio of ESPN. ESPN’s Jeff Passan also wrote an English article based on Recio’s report.

According to ESPN, law enforcement first began a formal investigation on July 17 into allegations that Franco had an inappropriate relationship with a minor. A second girl subsequently filed an official complaint making similar allegations. ESPN writes that a third girl has alleged an inappropriate relationship as well but has not spoken with investigators. There are presently two formal complaints.

Passan writes that investigators have not yet spoken with Franco but hope to do so within the coming weeks. According to Passan, the investigations are expected to last well beyond the end of the 2023 season.

In the interim, Franco is away from the team. Shortly after social media allegations circulated on August 13, the team and player mutually agreed he’d be placed on the restricted list. MLB indefinitely placed Franco on administrative leave on August 22.

Administrative leave is not a disciplinary action or a finding of fact. It’s an agreed-upon portion of the MLB/MLBPA policy on domestic violence, child abuse and/or sexual assault that keeps a player away from the team while the league can look into the allegations. The player is paid while on administrative leave. The domestic violence/child abuse policy permits MLB to levy discipline regardless of whether a player is criminally charged.

The Rays have used Osleivis Basabe as their shortstop of late. The 22-year-old is hitting .273/.333/.409 through his first 14 major league games.

Rays, Billy Hamilton Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rays are signing speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton to a minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Hamilton had been released by the White Sox a week ago.

At this stage of his career, the switch-hitting outfielder is a depth player. Hamilton was a regular center fielder for the Reds from 2014-18 on the strength of his speed and glove. He’s appeared for seven different clubs since the start of 2019, hitting .205/.262/.288 through 549 MLB plate appearances. Hamilton has gone an excellent 49-58 in stolen base attempts over that stretch and continued to play strong defense, but the lack of productivity at the plate has bounced him around the league.

Hamilton has barely played in the majors this season, suiting up just twice with the ChiSox. He’s appeared in 28 games with their Triple-A club, hitting .147/.261/.253 while striking out in just under a third of his plate appearances. Hamilton hasn’t played since July 7 because of shoulder discomfort, but a source informed MLBTR last week that he was recently cleared to return to game action.

It’s common for teams to give a look to speed/defense players late in the season. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players on Friday, giving clubs some additional leeway to carry a late-game specialist. It’s not uncommon for such players to also crack a postseason roster, though that’s by no means assured in Hamilton’s case.

He will be eligible for the playoff roster if the Rays wanted to give him an MLB look. Players only need to be in the organization before September 1. Players not on the 40-man roster by the start of September have to be granted a commissioner’s exemption to replace an injured player in October, though that’s commonly approved by the league office.

Rays Sign Chris Devenski To Major League Deal

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7:12pm: Tampa Bay has announced the deal.

5:49pm: The Rays have agreed to a big league contract with reliever Chris Devenski, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’d apparently been released by the Angels after being designated for assignment last week. The Rays are placing him on the bereavement list, so he won’t report to the MLB club for a few days. Tampa Bay already had an open 40-man roster spot after outrighting Francisco Mejía.

Devenski signed a non-roster pact with the Halos last offseason. Los Angeles selected his contract in late April and had kept him in the MLB bullpen for the bulk of the year. The right-hander logged 33 2/3 innings over 29 appearances. His 5.08 ERA isn’t particularly eye-catching, but his underlying marks were all fairly solid.

The changeup specialist has struck out a league average 23.6% of batters faced while picking up whiffs on 11.9% of his offerings. He has kept his walks to a modest 6.4% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a 46.3% rate. Devenski’s fastball has sat north of 94 MPH, while he’s handling hitters from both sides of the plate. The primary driver in his middling ERA is a 61.8% strand rate that is well below the league mark.

Tampa Bay feels comfortable enough with Devenski’s peripherals to install him into the middle innings. He can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, so he’ll be in the MLB bullpen once he’s ready to join the club. There’s no financial risk, as the Rays will only pay him the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum for the stretch run before he returns to free agency at year’s end. Devenski will be eligible for postseason play since he’s in the organization before September 1, though he’s not a lock to secure a spot on the Rays’ playoff rosters.

Francisco Mejia Accepts Outright Assignment With Rays

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Catcher Francisco Mejia, whom the Rays designated for assignment last week, has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham after clearing waivers and will remain with the organization, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. As a player with more than five years of service time, Mejia could’ve rejected that assignment in favor of free agency and still retained the remainder of this year’s $2.2MM salary, but he’ll opt to remain with the Rays and hope for a call back to the big leagues. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster between now and season’s end, Mejia can become a free agent to begin the offseason.

Mejia, 27, was once regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball but has not yet seen his offense in the big leagues match his prodigious output in the upper minors. The switch-hitter is a .304/.348/.507 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, but the former San Diego and Cleveland farmhand has produced just a .239/.284/.394 batting line in 1098 plate appearances between his three organizations. Cleveland flipped him to San Diego as part of the 2018 Brad Hand trade, while the Friars sent him to Tampa Bay as part of 2020’s Blake Snell trade.

While Mejia showed some promise in 2021, hitting .260/.322/.416 in his first season with the Rays, he’s batted .237/.262/.387 in 143 games since that time. He’s regularly drawn below-average framing grades, and this year he’s thwarted just four of the 42 stolen base attempts against him. Dating back to the 2018 season, Statcast also grades him 61st of 75 qualified catchers in terms of pitch blocking (-14 blocks above average).

With Mejia now off the 40-man roster (but still in the organization), the Rays are going with the light-hitting but defensively superior tandem of Rene Pinto and Christian Bethancourt behind the plate. Mejia will now be the primary fallback option for that pair, and with rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it could be easier to get him back on the big league roster if the organization wishes to do so.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: The White Sox Fire Their Front Office, Injured Rays and Prospect Promotion Time

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • With the Reds calling up Noelvi Marte, how do they fit in playing time for all their rookie position players? After keeping Nick Senzel at the deadline, what kind of return could they get for trading him during the offseason? (18:40)
  • Will the Mets pursue any notable free agent pitchers this off season? (24:05)
  • Of the teams that have exceeded the base luxury tax threshold this season, which ones do you see as most likely to dip back below it during this coming offseason? (26:15)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Pete Alonso’s Future, Yankees’ Rotation Troubles and Should the Trade Deadline Be Pushed Back? – listen here
  • The Streaking Mariners, the Struggling Angels and Injured Aces – listen here
  • Trade deadline recap – listen here

Rays Designate Francisco Mejía For Assignment

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The Rays announced that catcher Francisco Mejía has been reinstated from the injured list and designated for assignment. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the DFA prior to the official announcement.

Mejia, 27, landed on the injured list about a month ago due to a left knee MCL sprain. He began a rehab assignment just over a week ago but the club evidently didn’t want to bring him back and have cut him loose instead. Since he has more than five years of major league service time, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent.

Once one of the top prospects in the league, Mejía hasn’t been able to live up to the hype at this point. Through 355 career games, he’s hitting .239/.284/.394 for a wRC+ of 87. That includes a fairly similar line of .227/.258/.400 here in 2023. He also hasn’t been graded particularly well on defense, with -3 Defensive Runs Saved so far, as well as negative grades from the framing metrics of FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus.

It’s surely not what was expected during his time as a notable youngster, with Baseball America having ranked him as one of the top 35 prospects in the league in three straight years starting in 2017. Originally signed by Cleveland, he went to the Padres in the 2018 Brad Hand trade before being one of four players sent to the Rays in the Blake Snell deal. Though the Rays have a reputation for winning just about every trade they make, this one hasn’t worked out so far. Luis Patiño struggled for years and was recently flipped to the White Sox for cash. The other two players in the deal, Cole Wilcox and Blake Hunt, could still give Tampa something but neither has reached the majors yet.

With Mejía on the injured list of late, the Rays have been using a duo of Christian Bethancourt and René Pinto. The latter has just 37 games of major league experience to this point, but the Rays evidently like the early results enough to ride with him instead of Mejía. Pinto is hitting .276/.300/.379 this year in a small sample of 30 plate appearances. He’s considered a solid defender and has generally performed well at the plate in the minors.

With the trade deadline now past, the Rays will have no choice but to put Mejía on waivers in the coming days. Though he has struggled in his career thus far, he is still young and isn’t too far removed from being a highly-touted prospect. If any club were to put in a claim, they could retain him for one more season via arbitration. Though if Mejía clears, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining that remaining salary. In that scenario, the Rays would stay on the hook for the money while Mejia would be free to sign with any club for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Rays pay.

MLB Places Wander Franco On Administrative Leave

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Major League Baseball announced this morning that Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been placed on administrative leave, as agreed upon by the league and the MLB Players Association. It’s standard procedure for players who are being investigated under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. Administrative leave is not considered punitive, and players continue to be paid and accrue service time while on leave (though both can be rescinded in the event of an eventual suspension). There’s no set length for administrative leave, which can last as long as an investigation into a matter takes. The leave is typically extended week-by-week until the investigation has been completed.

Franco is under investigation by Major League Baseball after allegations of an inappropriate relationship between him and a minor surfaced on social media. The Rays placed him on the team’s restricted list during the recent road trip. Prosecutors in Franco’s native Dominican Republic are also reportedly evaluating the allegations against the star shortstop.

Franco, 22, has pledged his innocence to teammates and also posted a since-deleted video to Instagram wherein he denied the allegations against him. Further details regarding the investigation are sparse. Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has yet to publicly comment on the status of the investigation.

The Rays issued this statement following today’s announcement from MLB:

“We support Major League Baseball’s decision to place Wander Franco on Administration Leave. The Tampa Bay Rays are dedicated to upholding high standards of integrity both on and off the field. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our fans and supporters as this process unfolds. We will have no further statements on this matter until MLB completes its process.”

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