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Yoshi Tsutsugo Is Finding His Stride In Pittsburgh

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Expectations likely weren’t too high for most onlookers when Yoshi Tsutsugo signed with the Pirates last month. Pittsburgh was the third organization of the season for the 29-year-old Tsutsugo — a star with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball who’d struggled since signing a two-year contract with the the Rays. That contract guaranteed Tsutsugo a total of $12MM, but he never found his footing with Tampa Bay.

In 272 plate appearances as a member of the Rays, Tsutsugo batted just .187/.292/.336 with a 28.3 percent strikeout rate. He showed a bit of pop during the shortened 2020 season, at least, slugging eight homers and reaching base enough to register an even 100 wRC+ through 185 plate appearances (in spite of a poor .197 batting average). Things went much worse in 2021, as Tsutsugo went homerless with an increased strikeout rate and decreased walk rate through 85 trips to the plate. The Rays designated him for assignment on May 11.

A trade to the Dodgers didn’t bring about better fortunes. Tsutsugo appeared in only 12 games and went 3-for-25 without an extra-base hit and a dozen strikeouts. Los Angeles outrighted him off the 40-man roster in early July and released him by mid-August.

Enter the Pirates.

Pittsburgh is paying Tsutsugo the prorated league-minimum after signing him on Aug. 15, and since donning the black and gold, he’s quietly looked like the middle-of-the-order bat the Rays hoped to be signing in the first place. It’s a small sample, but Tsutsugo has flat-out mashed for the Bucs. In 117 plate appearances prior to today’s game, he’s turned in a .291/.368/.612 slash with as many home runs (eight) as he tallied in 303 plate appearances between Tampa Bay and Los Angeles.

It’s not just the long ball that’s driving the turnaround, either. Tsutsugo fanned at a 29.4 percent clip between the Rays and Dodgers, but that’s plummeted to 19.7 percent in Pittsburgh. He’s added seven doubles and a triple with the Pirates, too, bringing his extra-base hit total to 16 (just two fewer than his combined mark in his prior two organizations).

Like many other hitters in recent years, Tsutsugo has found some success by beginning to elevate the ball more regularly. His 42.4 percent ground-ball rate during his time between L.A. and Tampa Bay has dropped to just 33.3 percent with his new club. His infield-fly rate has dropped, his line-drive rate has risen a bit, and he’s improved his barrel percentage — even if his overall hard-hit rate has declined.

Defensively, the Pirates have played Tsutsugo in right field and at first base. The results in the outfield haven’t been great, which isn’t a huge surprise. He was billed as primarily a first baseman or left fielder upon coming over from Japan, but the Rays deployed him at both infield corners and in both outfield corners. Colin Moran’s presence and the lack of a designated hitter in the National League has pushed Tsutsugo to the outfield too frequently, but it’s of course possible there will be a designated hitter in the NL next season, which would open some more avenues for Tsutsugo.

This all amounts to little more than a trial run with the Pirates, as Tsutsugo’s initial contract called for him to become a free agent after the 2021 season. That’s still the case, as noted by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month. One would imagine that a rebuilding team like the Pirates wouldn’t have taken a post-trade deadline look at Tsutsugo in the first place without some interest in retaining him beyond the current season, though. Even if he was viewed as a mere placeholder at the time, his play in Pittsburgh ought to have piqued the front office’s interest moving forward.

Improbable as it might’ve seemed a few weeks ago, they’ll now likely face competition in that regard. After all, this is a hitter who posted a combined .293/.402/.574 batting line with 139 home runs, 116 doubles, five triples, a 15.1 percent walk rate and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate in his final four seasons of NPB action. That includes a huge 2016 season, when Tsutsugo launched a career-high 44 home runs and slashed .322/.430/.680.

Given that Tsutsugo won’t turn 30 until November and is now starting to look a bit closer to that NPB form against Major League competition, it would only stand to reason that other teams would have interest. The expected advent of a universal DH can’t hurt his chances, if it indeed comes to fruition.

It’s possible Tsutsugo will simply prefer to return to Japan, where he’d undoubtedly garner interest from other NPB clubs. However, if he’s intent on carving out a career in the Majors, his late run with the Bucs should create opportunities to do just that — whether it’s back in Pittsburgh or with a fourth organization in three years.

Carlos Gomez Officially Announces Retirement

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Former major league outfielder Carlos Gómez officially announced his retirement this afternoon in a ceremony at Milwaukee’s American Family Field (video via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The announcement finalizes the end of a 13-year major league career.

Of course, there hasn’t been much doubt that Gómez’s playing days had already concluded. The 35-year-old last played in the majors in 2019, and he hasn’t played professionally since wrapping up a stint with the Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League between 2019-20. Reports out of the Dominican Republic in January 2020 indicated Gómez’s playing days were likely coming to an end, but he hadn’t publicly finalized that decision until today.

Gómez ceremoniously hung up his spikes as a Brewer, with whom he had the best run of his career. Acquired from the Twins over the 2009-10 offseason, the electric center fielder spent the next four and a half seasons with the Brew Crew. At his peak, Gómez was one of the sport’s top power-speed threats. Between 2013 and 2014, the right-handed hitter posted a .284/.347/.491 line with 47 home runs. He chipped in 74 stolen bases over those two seasons while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense.

Gómez earned down-ballot MVP support in both of those campaigns, and few players could match his well-rounded skillset. Over that two-year stretch, Gómez ranked seventh among all position players in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement, trailing only Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen, teammate Jonathan Lucroy, Buster Posey, Miguel Cabrera and Josh Donaldson.

Milwaukee traded Gómez to the Astros at the 2015 deadline for then-prospects Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, Josh Hader and Adrian Houser. It proved an opportune time for the Brewers to add an influx of young talent still helping the team immensely today, as Gómez’s productivity was never quite the same from that point forward. As he entered his 30’s, Gómez bounced around the league with a few clubs. He ended his playing days with the Mets, ironically the team that initially signed him as a 16-year-old back in 2002.

Gómez appeared in the majors with six different clubs over the course of his career, although he’ll be best known for his peak in Milwaukee. He appeared in 1461 MLB games and hit .252/.313/.411 with 145 home runs, 236 doubles and 41 triples. Gómez stole 268 bases, scored 675 runs and drove in 546. He appeared in two All-Star Games and won a Gold Glove during his aforementioned star-level peak. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each valued his career at around 25 WAR. MLBTR congratulates Gómez on a very fine career and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

MLB Suspends Blue Jays’ Ryan Borucki

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SEPTEMBER 24: Borucki’s suspension was reduced to two games on appeal. He’ll miss Toronto’s next two games in Minnesota.

SEPTEMBER 23: Major League Baseball has suspended Blue Jays reliever Ryan Borucki for three games “for intentionally hitting Kevin Kiermaier of the Tampa Bay Rays with a pitch during the bottom of the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game at Tropicana Field.” Borucki has also received an undisclosed fine. He is appealing the suspension, so he’ll remain on the active roster until that appeal is heard.

As is typical, Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo has been suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount for Borucki’s actions. Montoyo will serve his ban tonight, missing this evening’s game against the Twins.

With the Rays leading last night’s game 7-1, Borucki hit Kiermaier in the back with a first-pitch fastball. Benches cleared, and Borucki was ejected by third base umpire Joe West after the fracas was sorted out. After the game, Borucki denied that he hit Kiermaier intentionally, claiming that the ball slipped out of his hand (via ESPN).

The incident came just two days after Kiermaier was at the center of controversy between the two clubs. During Monday’s game, Kiermaier was thrown out at home plate attempting to score on a Jake Lamb throwing error. The play ended the inning and the Blue Jays departed the field. While sitting next to home plate, Kiermaier picked up a gameplan card that had been dropped by Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk (video via Arash Madani of Sportsnet). Kiermaier took the card back to the Tampa Bay dugout.

It’s not clear whether Kiermaier was aware of what was on the card at the time he picked it up. After the game, the Rays center fielder told reporters he initially believed it to be his own gameplan card, which he keeps in his pocket during games to aid his positioning on defense. Kiermaier refused to return the card to the Blue Jays once he realized its contents, upsetting some in the Toronto organization. That bad blood seemingly carried over into Wednesday’s game.

The Rays and Jays are not scheduled to play one another again this season, but it’s possible they’ll play meet in the playoffs. Tampa Bay enters play tonight with a two and a half game advantage over the Astros for the top seed in the American League. If they hold onto that position, they’ll face the winner of the AL Wild Card game in their Division Series. Toronto trails the Yankees by half a game in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot.

Rays’ Ryan Thompson To Undergo Thoracic Outlet Surgery

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Rays reliever Ryan Thompson will undergo surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). That’ll officially end his 2021 season, although the team expects he’ll be ready for Opening Day 2022.

Thompson hasn’t made a big league appearance since June 27, when he landed on the injured list with what the team initially termed shoulder inflammation. He embarked upon a minor league rehab assignment in mid-August but apparently continued to deal with issues that’ll require surgical repair. He’s already on the 60-day injured list, so today’s development won’t affect the Rays’ roster situation.

Thoracic outlet syndrome has become increasingly commonplace in recent years, although the track record of pitchers recovering from the procedure remains mixed. A few hurlers (most prominently Matt Harvey and Thompson’s teammate Chris Archer) continued to deal with injuries and/or ineffectiveness upon returning from TOS surgery. That’s not a universal fate, though. Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, for instance, underwent thoracic outlet surgery last September but returned to open this season in the Arizona rotation. Aside from a battle with COVID-19, Kelly has remained healthy all season and has settled back in at his general level of 2019-20 performance.

Thompson’s not a household name to many fans around the league, but he’s been part of an under-the-radar yet highly productive Rays’ relief corps. The sidearming righty made his big league debut last season and quickly emerged as one of Tampa Bay’s higher-leverage bullpen options. He owns a 3.28 ERA over 60 1/3 MLB innings with average or better strikeout (24.2%), walk (6.9%) and ground-ball (53.6%) numbers.

Orioles Claim Joey Krehbiel, Designate Manny Barreda

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Joey Krehbiel off waivers from the Rays and designated right-hander Manny Barreda, per a club announcement. The O’s also announced that righty Dusten Knight, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk.

Krehbiel, 28, pitched a scoreless inning during his lone appearance with the Rays this season, whiffing a pair and issuing a walk. He’s spent the rest of the 2021 season with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, logging a 4.19 ERA with a sizable 29.5 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.1 percent walk rate through 43 innings. It’s the fourth season that Krehbiel has logged some time in Triple-A, and he’s fanned 26.1 percent of the opponents he’s faced at that level in his career. Krehbiel has just four big league innings under his belt, but he’s yet to allow a run in that time.

Barreda, 33 next month, recently had his contract selected and made his big league debut. He allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings over the life of three appearances prior to today’s DFA — a brief debut for a player who has grinded through parts of 11 minor league seasons as well as five full seasons pitching in Mexico. He’s posted a 3.89 ERA in 39 1/3 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for the O’s, and he carries a career 3.45 ERA in just over 500 minor league innings.

Like Barreda, Knight was another 30-something rookie who made his big league debut in 2021. He’s notched an even 3.00 ERA in 36 Triple-A frames this season but was tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) in 8 2/3 frames during his own brief look at the MLB level. He’ll remain with the Orioles organization for the remainder of the year, at least, but he’ll be a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Rays Promote Shane Baz

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Sept. 20: The Rays have formally selected Baz’s contract and created space on the 40-man roster by transferring Archer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. That will formally end the season for Archer, who is battling renewed discomfort in his problematic hip. Tampa Bay opened a spot on the 28-man roster for Baz by placing righty Andrew Kittredge on the 10-day IL due to tightness in his neck.

Sept. 18: Top Rays prospect Shane Baz will make his Major League debut on Monday against the Blue Jays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Baz was the third piece acquired along with Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow from the Pirates in the now infamous Chris Archer trade. The 22-year-old’s stock has risen since the trade, though the former first rounder has always shown tremendous promise.

In the Tampa development engine, he has become a refined starting prospect at the top of an impressive farm system. He was the Rays’ top prospect on Baseball America’s midseason report, and he’s the top prospect by MLB.com’s rendering as well. Baz won a silver medal alongside current Ray David Robertson while with Team USA at the Olympics in Japan.

He is not currently on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding roster move will be necessary. While Baz isn’t technically postseason-eligible right now, he could theoretically be added to the postseason roster through a petition to the Commissioner’s office as an injury replacement. That process has often been exploited in the past, and the Rays have shown a willingness to throw young hurlers into the postseason fire (see McClanahan, Shane).

Besides, while the Rays own the best record in the American League, they have the most dynamic (read: unpredictable) pitching staff. Practically speaking, it’s entirely unclear who might get the ball in a potential opening round playoff series, so there is at least a possibility that Baz could pitch his way onto the playoff roster. Because playoff roster changes cannot be made mid-series, the only opening he’d likely snag would be as a starter. Best case, he could make maybe three starts before the year is out — if the Rays view this promotion as an actual audition for playoff baseball.

The prospect of Baz as a playoff weapon isn’t all that far-fetched when you consider his dominance in the upper levels of the minors this season. He made seven starts in Double-A with a 2.84 ERA, striking out 49 in 32 2/3 innings. After earning a rapid promotion to Triple-A, Baz went back to work with a 1.76 ERA over 10 starts totaling 46 innings with a 64-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those eye-popping numbers certainly must make the Rays consider giving him an opportunity to help the parent club right now.

The rookie southpaw McClanahan is the only sure thing to be in the playoff rotation right now, and he’s currently on the injured list. Drew Rasmussen is making a strong push to be a postseason starter as well, having not allowed more than one earned run in any of his past six starts since joining the rotation. Ryan Yarbrough, Michael Wacha, and Luis Patino round out the rotation for now, though the Rays are likely to use at least one rotation spot (and maybe more) for bullpen days come the postseason.

Rays Reinstate Shane McClanahan, Kevin Kiermaier; Designate Joey Krehbiel

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The Rays have reinstated left-hander Shane McClanahan from the 10-day injured list and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier from the COVID-related injury list.  In corresponding moves, right-hander Joey Krehbiel has been designated for assignment while righty Louis Head has once again been optioned to Triple-A Durham.  (Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz was among those to report the news.)

McClanahan is scheduled to start today’s game against the Tigers, and the southpaw will return after a minimal 10-day IL visit due to lower back tightness.  McClanahan has enjoyed a lot of success in his first MLB season, posting a 3.59 ERA/3.62 SIERA and very solid strikeout (27.5%) and walk (7.3%) rates over 22 starts and 110 1/3 innings.  While McClanahan allows a lot of hard contact, it hasn’t translated into much extra damage — if anything, McClanahan’s .339 BABIP indicates he has perhaps been a little unlucky.

While 2021 marked McClanahan’s first taste of regular season action, he actually made his big league debut during last year’s playoffs, delivering an 8.31 ERA over 4 1/3 innings.  The Rays will be hoping for much more from McClanahan in this year’s postseason, as the left-hander projects to be one of the few pitchers on Tampa’s roster that might be used more or less in a traditional starting role, though the Rays are likely to be very flexible in how they deploy their arms.

Kiermaier returns after a one-day precautionary stay on the COVID-IL, and Krehbiel (who was added to the active roster in Kiermaier’s place and demoted to Triple-A after Saturday’s game) will now hit the DFA wire.  Krehbiel’s one official day as a Ray saw him toss a scoreless inning in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Detroit, and it gave Krehbiel his first appearance in a Major League game since 2018, when he was a member of the Diamondbacks.

Krehbiel now has four total innings over his MLB career, to go along with 492 career innings in the minors while pitching in the Angels, Diamondbacks, and Rays organizations.  Krehbiel has a 4.19 ERA in 43 innings at Triple-A Durham this year, with a 29.5% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate.  These numbers could attract some attention on the waiver wire for the 28-year-old Krehbiel, if another team thinks he could be a late bloomer as a relief pitcher.

Rays Option Joey Krehbiel

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  • The Rays optioned righty Joey Krehbiel to Triple-A today after making his Rays’ debut, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The move is likely a precursor to the call-up of top prospect Shane Baz, whose debut is scheduled for Monday. Krehbiel, 28, tossed a scoreless inning today, striking out two while walking one.

Rays Place Kevin Kiermaier On COVID List, Select Joey Krehbiel

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1:43PM: Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin) that Kiermaier is receiving another COVID test today, and already tested negative during the Rays’ series against the Blue Jays earlier this week.  The team’s feeling is that Kiermaier likely has a non-COVID sickness.

12:03PM: The Rays have placed outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on the COVID-related injury list.  Right-hander Joey Krehbiel’s contract has been selected from Triple-A to take Kiermaier’s spot on the active roster.

The official announcement from the team says that Kiermaier has been sidelined due to “general illness/symptoms,” without mention of a positive test.  Of course, league protocols stipulate that positive COVID-19 tests don’t need to be publicly announced without the player’s permission.  Kiermaier’s placement could simply be precautionary in nature while he recovers from a non-COVID illness, so he could be back on the field in only a day or two.

Kiermaier has previously visited the regular injured list twice this season, though both stints (for a quad strain and a wrist sprain) ended up being pretty close to the 10-day minimum in terms of missed time.  The 31-year-old is hitting .247/.310/.369 with four home runs over 355 plate appearances this season, and is having what has become a typical Kiermaier year — slightly below-average offense, and superb defense.  Kiermaier’s center field glovework has been as stellar as ever, thus making him a 2.0 fWAR player over 110 games even factoring in his 89 wRC+.

After tossing three innings over two games with the Diamondbacks in 2018, Krehbiel is now back for another taste of the Show.  Originally a 12th-round pick for the Angels back in the 2011 draft, Krehbiel has worked almost exclusively as a reliever over his 10 minor league seasons, and struggled once hitting the Triple-A level in Arizona’s farm system in 2018-19.

Krehbiel signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay this past offseason, and has posted some much more intriguing numbers at Triple-A Durham.  The righty has a 4.19 ERA over 43 innings, plus a 29.5% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate, with the improved control being particularly notable since walks were an issue for Krehbiel in his past Triple-A action.  Given how the Rays cycle through relief arms, Krehbiel might only be in for another cup of coffee in the majors, or the Rays might give Krehbiel some extra work while saving other relievers for the postseason.

Rays Notes: Cruz, Baz

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  • Nelson Cruz left tonight’s game due to a right forearm contusion after being hit by a Tyler Alexander pitch.  X-rays were negative on Cruz, and Rays manager Kevin Cash told The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin (Twitter link) and other reporters that the slugger should be “fully available” for tomorrow’s game against the Tigers.  That said, Cruz might not play just for precautionary reasons and because Cash said Cruz might have been due for an off-day even before the minor injury.  After being acquired in a July trade with the Twins, Cruz got off to a slow start in Tampa, but has started to heat up again over the last couple of weeks.
  • After Shane Baz was scratched from a Triple-A start today, there was speculation that the Rays might give the star pitching prospect his big league debut during this series against Detroit.  However, reporter Patrick Kinas tweets that Baz was actually scratched due to back spasms, though the issue might only sideline Baz for a few days.  Baz has only continued to impress since making his Triple-A debut earlier this season, as the right-hander has a 1.76 ERA and a very impressive strikeout (36%) and walk (6.2%) rates over 46 innings with the Durham Bulls.  MLB Pipeline ranks Baz as the 20th-best prospect in the game, and he stands out as a very intriguing x-factor of a weapon for the Rays heading into the playoffs.
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