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Rangers Place Joely Rodriguez On IL

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The Rangers announced today that LHP Joely Rodriguez was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Jesse Chavez, who’s been activated from the IL after spraining his left big toe on August 23. Rodriguez suffered the injury during last night’s game against the Mariners.

With just three weeks until the scheduled end of the regular season, it’s unlikely that Rodriguez, 28, will return to health quickly enough to pitch again this year. It’s an unfortunate break for the Rangers, for whom Rodriguez has been something of a surprise, establishing himself as one of the club’s most reliable relievers to this point.

In 12 2/3 innings of work—his first MLB appearances since 2017—Rodriguez has produced an impressive 2.13 ERA. He’s reinvented himself since his days with the Phillies, adding a changeup upon which he relies heavily, throwing it about 30% of the time. That pitch has effectively replace the slider in his repertoire, and his strikeouts have climbed to career-best rates as a result: he boasts a nice 17:5 K:BB ratio, good for a 12.1 K/9 average.

Without Rodriguez available, the Rangers will turn to Chavez, now recovered from a toe sprain suffered last month. Unlike Rodriguez, the 37-year-old Chavez was off to a slow start to the year prior to his injury. He’s allowed 11 runs (including 6 homers) in just 11 1/3 innings, all while striking out batters at his lowest rate in a decade. Make no mistake, that could be dismissed as an aberration in any other season, but in this unique shortened campaign, small sample sizes can’t be so easily ignored.

Quick Hits: Rangers, Andrus, Red Sox, Pérez, Cardinals, Cruz

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The Texas Rangers are paying Elvis Andrus for another two seasons at $14.25MM per season, but their long-time shortstop might have to start yielding minutes to Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Anderson Tejeda, writes Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. While one consideration might be the $15MM vesting option the Rangers hold on Andrus for 2023, the fact is Andrus hasn’t provided positive value with the bat since 2016 and 2017, the only two seasons of his 12-year career with a wRC+ north of 100. The last remaining member of the Rangers’ back-to-back World Series squads in 2010 and 2011, Andrus long provided value with the glove to offset his subpar bat, but the defensive numbers have slipped a touch and, at his price point, the Rangers can’t afford for him to be a one- or two-dimensional player. Andrus himself admits that he’s been slow to adapt, saying in a quote provided by Grant, “The toughest thing for me is to not to believe my instincts during the game and to actually believe more in a piece of paper, or report. That’s where the game is right now. I think that’s what I’ve been a little hard-headed about.”

  • Boston Red Sox lefty Martin Pérez is glad he remained with the team through the trade deadline. The 29-year-old veteran is trying to do his part to mentor the young players on an inexperienced Boston staff, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Said Pérez, “I’ve been at this level for a couple of years and I’ve learned from a lot of guys. Now it’s time for me to let the youngest guys know what they have to do.” The Red Sox have leaned on Pérez in a season where they’ve lacked veteran options. Boston holds a $6.25MM option for Pérez next season, a reasonable price point for the kind of production he’s offered this season (4.07 ERA across 42 innings).
  • Jesus Cruz has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the Cardinals’ alternate site, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). Cruz was designated for assignment last week. Cruz, 25, appeared in just one game for the Cardinals this season, yielding 2 earned runs on 3 hits and a walk. Cruz has been in the Cardinals organization since 2017, marching steadily up the organizational ladder year-by-year. In 2019, he stuck out 13.1 batter per nine innings across Double-A and Triple-A, but struggled with his comman, surrendering 6.8 BB/9. He worked a 6.02 ERA across 61 1/3 innings between the two levels.

Rangers Designate Yadiel Rivera, Select John King

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The Rangers have designated infielder Yadiel Rivera for assignment and selected the contract of left-hander John King from their alternate training site, per a club announcement. They’ve also added lefty Jake Latz to their 60-man player pool and assigned him to their alternate site.

Rivera, 28, appeared in just four games and went 0-for-5 in that brief time. The former Brewers and Marlins utilityman is a career .175/.244/.217 hitter in 319 Major League plate appearances and a .243/.280/.352 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. The Rangers will have a week to put him through waivers or release him.

The 25-year-old King was Texas’ 10th-round pick in 2017 and will be making the jump from Class-A Advanced to the Major Leagues thanks to the lack of a minor league season in 2020. King started 19 games between two Class-A levels last year and was dominant, pitching to a 2.40 ERA with a pristine 91-to-13 K/BB ratio and a huge 57.9 percent ground-ball rate in 97 1/3 innings. On top of that, King induced a whopping 23 infield flies.

Additional Context On Padres’ Flurry Of Trades

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The Padres were the most active buyer at the 2020 trade deadline — arguably of any trade deadline in recent history — reshaping their roster with additions of Mike Clevinger, Austin Nola, Trevor Rosenthal, Mitch Moreland and Jason Castro, among others. The dizzying sequence of additions hearkened back to the days when Matt Kemp labeled A.J. Preller a “rock star” GM during Preller’s frenetic first offseason on the job, but the biggest trades swung by the Padres over the weekend didn’t necessarily come together in straightforward fashion.

Preller, in fact, was informed Sunday evening that his Padres were “out” of the Clevinger bidding, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The Indians told the Padres that they were sitting on a better offer and likely to proceed in another direction. That call prompted the club to reconvene and alter its package, ultimately adding infield prospect Owen Miller and catcher Austin Hedges early Monday morning. Those pieces put San Diego’s offer over the top, it seems, as word of Clevinger’s trade to the Friars was out several hours before the 4pm ET deadline.

Hedges and Miller, the final two pieces of the Padres’ six-player package, added quite a bit more near-term value to the arrangement. Hedges is considered one of the best defensive catchers (if not the best) in the game and is controlled through the 2022 season. The 23-year-old Miller has yet to make his big league debut, but he slashed .290/.355/.430 in a full season at the Double-A level last year while playing three infield positions. He’s in Cleveland’s player pool now and could conceivably be an option this month. If not, he’ll certainly be in consideration for a call to the big leagues come 2021. With Cesar Hernandez playing on a one-year deal, it’s possible that Miller could be in the mix for regular playing time next season.

But the Clevinger blockbuster wasn’t the only Friars swap that required some persistent iterations. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters after trading Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres that he didn’t expect to trade Nola this summer (as opposed to Taijuan Walker, whom the M’s fully anticipated moving).

“They had called repeatedly on Austin Nola and we had repeatedly rebuffed that interest until the return just became too big for us to pass up in our minds,”  Dipoto said Monday (link via MLB.com’s Greg Johns).

The key element of the trade for the Mariners was getting both infielder Ty France and outfield prospect Taylor Trammell in the deal. Dipoto didn’t hide his affinity for either player, revealing that he’s contacted the Padres on France repeatedly over the past couple seasons and been similarly drawn to Trammell dating all the way back to the 2016 draft. “As many phone calls as A.J. made to me this last week about Austin Nola, I have made as many to him over the last couple of years regarding Ty France,” said Dipoto.

With Nola and Castro now on hand, the Padres have completely remade their catching tandem midseason, but changes could yet be coming. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (subscription required) that the club is contemplating a September promotion for 21-year-old Luis Campusano — a top-ranked catching prospect who was an in-demand piece himself at this year’s deadline. Per Lin, both the Indians and Rangers asked the Padres about Campusano in trade negotiations, but the Friars clearly weren’t inclined to include him in a deal. Cleveland initially sought Campusano and Luis Patino as centerpieces in the Clevinger deal, while the Rangers were interested in that pair as well as shortstop CJ Abrams when discussing Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo with the Padres.

The 21-year-old Campusano has yet to play above Class-A Advanced, but he tore through the pitcher-friendly California League last year, slashing .325/.396/.509 (148 wRC+). If the Padres do bring him up, they could rotate him, Nola and Castro through the catcher slot while maximizing Nola’s versatility with reps at any of first base, second base, third base or the outfield corners.

Suffice it to say, we could’ve seen any number of permutations of the Padres’ deluge of deals this past week. Such is the nature of a win-now team with a deep farm system. The club’s minor league system undoubtedly took a hit with this wave of trades, but San Diego also managed to hang onto the majority of its top-ranked prospects while clearly placing themselves in a better competitive position both now and into at least the 2022 season, after which Clevinger is scheduled to become a free agent.

Recent Player Pool Additions: Tigers, Rangers, Rays, Pirates, Phillies

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The flurry of trades leading up to the deadline created some vacancies in teams’ player pools, and we’ve continued to see a few clubs add prospects to their ranks even in the days since the deadline as they look to get said players some vital developmental reps late in the season. Here’s a look at some of the latest additions around the league…

  • Outfielder Parker Meadows and right-handers Logan Shore, Jason Foley and Alex Lange have all been added to the Tigers’ pool, the team announced Thursday morning. Meadows, the No. 44 pick in 2018 and the younger brother of Rays star Austin Meadows, is the most highly regarded of the bunch. He posted strong numbers that summer but struggled in his first full season, slashing .221/.296/.312 against older competition in Class-A. He’s ranked 13th among Detroit prospects at MLB.com and at FanGraphs. Lange, 24, was the better of the two pitching prospects acquired from the Cubs in the trade that sent Nick Castellanos to Chicago last year. He’s pitched as a high as Double-A already and could be an option for the Tigers by next year. Foley was an undrafted free agent in ’16 who missed the 2018 season due to injury but returned with solid numbers in Class-A Advanced last year. Shore, a former second-round pick of the A’s, was sent to Detroit as a PTBNL in 2018’s Mike Fiers trade. Shore’s changeup is considered a potentially plus pitch, but the rest of his arsenal isn’t regarded nearly as highly.

Earlier Additions

  • The Rangers announced that infielder Davis Wendzel, outfielder Bubba Thompson and outfielder Steele Walker were all added to their 60-man pool this week. Wendzel was the No. 41 overall pick in the 2019 draft, while Thompson was selected 26th overall back in 2017. Wendzel saw just seven pro games after being drafted last year, so he’s still relatively light on overall professional experience. Thompson had a strong 2018 campaign in his first year of pro ball but saw his production crater in Class-A Advanced last year. He fared better in the Arizona Fall League, however. The 24-year-old Walker was a second-rounder of the White Sox back in 2018 but was traded to Texas over the winter in exchange for Nomar Mazara. He hit .284/.361/.451 in 525 plate appearances across Class-A and Class-A Advanced last year.
  • Infield prospect Greg Jones was added to the Rays’ player pool, per a club announcement. Tampa Bay selected the now-22-year-old Jones with the No. 22 pick out of UNC Wilmington in 2019. He posted a .335/.413/.461 slash in 48 games and 218 plate appearances with the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, although that wasn’t a particularly aggressive initial assignment for a college bat. The success is still notable, of course, and he’ll get some additional simulated game reps and face time with coaches over the season’s final month.
  • The Pirates added 2019 first-rounder Quinn Priester to their player pool earlier this week, MLBTR has learned. The Illinois native was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 draft and logged 36 2/3 innings between Rookie ball and short-season Class-A last year. Priester pitched to a 3.19 ERA in that time with a 41-to-14 K/BB ratio and a hefty 59.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s considered to be one of the organization’s best two to three best pitching prospects.
  • The Phillies added former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak to their player pool a day prior to the trade deadline. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia noted at the time, it was possible the timing of the move was sheer coincidence and not part of any scheme to trade the 22-year-old outfielder. Moniak had been rehabbing a knee injury, Salisbury wrote, and he’d progressed to the point where he’s able to work at the Phillies’ alternate training site rather than rehab at their Spring Training complex. Moniak hasn’t lived up to his 1-1 billing, but he did post better-than-average numbers against much more advanced pitching in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting last year. His .252/.303/.439 slash doesn’t look like much, but that checked in 15 percent better than average in the Eastern League, per wRC+.

Rangers Had High Price On Lynn; Deals With Dodgers, Braves Didn’t Get Close

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Despite vast interest from around the majors, the Rangers decided to retain right-hander Lance Lynn through at least the rest of the season. The Braves were among the teams in on Lynn, but the Rangers understandably placed a high asking price on the AL Cy Young contender and his year-plus of affordable control. Texas wanted either Cristian Pache or Drew Waters from Atlanta as the headliner in a package for Lynn, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic, though the Braves clearly were unwilling to part with either of the highly touted outfield prospects.

Both Pache and Waters are 21-year-old outfielders who rank among the game’s top 50 prospects, and it stands to reason that the Rangers would’ve pushed for additional pieces to be added. Had either Pache or Waters changed hands in a deal with Texas or another club, they’d have been the highest-ranked prospect dealt in a deadline season that was punctuated more by players to be named later and mid-tier prospects.

The Braves and the Dodgers were known to be in on Lynn, with L.A. reportedly making a late push but ultimately failing to close a deal. Specific names that were discussed haven’t come to light, but Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels made clear that sufficient value wasn’t presented.

“I would not have been proud of some of those deals if we made them,” Daniels told reporters following the deadline (link via Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News). “I don’t think our fans would have been happy about it, either.”

All of the top baseball operations execs involved in Lynn discussions has made similar statements in the hours and days since the deadline passed. Via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Dodgers president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman acknowledged his efforts to add an “impactful” starter who could’ve lined up behind Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw in the postseason rotation. Lynn fits that description following his past season-plus with the Rangers, but Friedman characterized those as talks that never “got all that close.”

Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, meanwhile said in a recent radio appearance on 92.9 The Game that his club set a threshold they weren’t willing to cross — much as they do with regard to free-agent negotiations. “The moves that we could’ve made, for us, would not have been good deals,” Anthopoulos said. “…It just came down to — and it’s no knock on anybody — we made the decision that the price for us, we didn’t think that made sense.”

Daniels and the Rangers will have another opportunity to shop Lynn this winter, and while they’re now only marketing one season of Lynn (and one postseason push involving him), interest should still be high as long as Lynn remains healthy. If the 2021 season sees a return to a standard 10-team postseason field, clubs may be more motivated to add impact pieces like Lynn, knowing that multiple postseason spots in each league have been eliminated. That doesn’t guarantee a huge return for the Rangers, of course, but a full season of a high-end starter on a below-market contract ($8MM in 2021) and the right to make him a qualifying offer after the season should still be able to fetch a respectable haul.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/1/20

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Keeping up with the latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The White Sox have outrighted outfielder Nicky Delmonico, James Fegan of The Athletic reports. He’ll remain with the organization at the team’s alternate training site. Now 28 years old, Delmonico enjoyed a terrific 166-plate appearance debut with the White Sox in 2017, when he slashed .262/.373/.482 with nine home runs. Success in the majors has eluded Delmonico since then, though, as he has combined for a weak .210/.287/.346 line with nine HRs in 408 PA dating back to 2018. The White Sox designated him for assignment Aug. 28.
  • The Mariners have outrighted Zac Grotz to Triple-A Tacoma, according to Greg Johns of MLB.com. The right-handed Grotz struggled mightily across five appearances and 7 1/3 innings before the Mariners booted him from their 40-man. So far this season, offenses have tattooed Grotz for 12 earned runs on 11 hits and 11 walks, and he has totaled just four strikeouts.
  • The Rangers have added infielder Davis Wendzel and outfielders Steele Walker and Bubba Thompson to their 60-man player pool, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. They’re headed to the Rangers’ alternate site. All three rank among the Rangers’ top 15 prospects at MLB.com, which places Wendzel 11th, Walker 12th and Thompson 15th. Wendzel’s only a year removed from going 41st overall in the 2019 draft, but a thumb injury limited him to 24 plate appearances between rookie and Low-A ball. Walker was a 2018 second-rounder of the White Sox who joined the Rangers in the two teams’ Nomar Mazara trade last winter. The Rangers used a first-rounder on Thompson in 2017, but the 22-year-old is coming off a rough 2019 in High-A, where he batted .178/.261/.312 in 228 trips to the plate.

Rangers Make Series Of Moves

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The Rangers have made a series of moves, per a team announcement. The club reinstated shortstop Elvis Andrus and reliever Brett Martin from the 10-day injured list, placed second baseman Rougned Odor on the 10-day IL with an eye infection, selected outfielder Eli White and recalled infielder Anderson Tejeda.

Andrus is returning after landing on the IL on Aug. 20 with a lower back strain. The 31-year-old hit an ugly .184/.244/.250 in 82 plate appearances before then, and he won’t have his double-play partner, Odor, around upon his return. Odor, like Andrus, has gotten off to a difficult start this year. His IL placement is retroactive to Aug. 28.

White, 26, looks to be in line for his major league debut four years after the Athletics chose him in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. He joined the Rangers in the division rivals’ pre-2019 trade that Jurickson Profar and Emilio Pagan headlined. White reached the Triple-A level for the first time in his initial season in the Texas organization, but he only managed a .253/.337/.418 line with 14 home runs and 14 stolen bases across 499 plate appearances. He ranked as FanGraphs’ 37th-best Rangers prospect before the current campaign.

Rangers Anticipate Payroll Cut This Offseason

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The 12-21 Rangers shipped off a few pieces today, but they didn’t find an offer to their liking on Lance Lynn or Joey Gallo. Given comments made by general manager Jon Daniels, though, it seems probable they’ll revisit talks on those players this offseason.

“We were open to the idea of acquiring younger players that fit more long-term,” said Daniels, who admitted that 2022 and beyond is “probably the more likely window for us” (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). Adding to the challenge of competing in 2021, it seems, are forthcoming payroll cuts.

“I’m not certain what the overall budget will be. It will be down from where it was this year, but I’m not sure exactly where,” Daniels said, per Wilson. As the GM pointed out, that’ll likely be true of a lot of teams in the wake of massive revenue losses arising out of the pandemic. Patching all the team’s holes this offseason while navigating budget cuts may be an impossible task.

Lynn is due $8MM in 2021, his final year of team control. Gallo, who’ll command an arbitration raise on this year’s $4.4MM salary, is controlled through 2022. Texas obviously wasn’t willing to give either player away for underwhelming returns merely to cut costs. Still, Daniels’ acknowledgement the team doesn’t seem to be a piece or two away from contention figures to lead to future speculation on those shorter-term assets.

Elsewhere on the roster, Shin-Soo Choo’s $21MM contract comes off the books at the end of the year, and they seem likely to decline Corey Kluber’s $18MM option. Texas’ other high-priced players, though, figure to be difficult to move. Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor haven’t performed well recently and are ticketed for lofty salaries ($14.25MM and $12.33MM, respectively). Likewise, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles have underwhelmed in their first seasons in Arlington.

The Rangers entered this season with an anticipated payroll of around $153MM, per Cot’s Contracts. They have only $63MM on the books for 2021 before arbitration, although beyond Gallo and José Leclerc, there don’t figure to be huge raises. That leaves room for some additions, but not to Texas’ established levels of spending.

AL Injury Notes: Twins, Jays, Kennedy, Hernandez, Odor

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Some notes on prominent injury situations around the American League:

  • Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli provided encouraging updates on a trio of injured players, via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter links). Star third baseman Josh Donaldson and center fielder Byron Buxton are seemingly nearing their returns, with each scheduled to play in an intrasquad game at the team’s alternate training site this afternoon. Right-hander Cody Stashak is evidently a bit further behind, but he’s lining up for a bullpen session soon, Park reports. If all goes well, he could be back on the active roster shortly thereafter.
  • Blue Jays’ closer Ken Giles will throw a live batting practice session tomorrow, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link). An impending free agent, Giles has been limited to two appearances this season by a forearm strain. Fellow right-handed reliever Jordan Romano, who looked on his way to breaking through as one of the game’s top strikeout artists before going down with a strained finger, has not yet progressed to throwing, Nicholson-Smith adds. The Toronto organization hopes he’ll be able to return this year, though.
  • Royals’ reliever Ian Kennedy is headed to the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain, the club announced. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (Twitter link). So continues a nightmarish season for the 35-year-old, who has allowed 17 runs (14 earned) in 14 innings. 2020 is the final year of Kennedy’s five-year, $70MM contract.
  • The Red Sox are sending reliever Darwinzon Hernández to the 10-day injured list with a sprained AC joint, via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The hard-throwing southpaw missed the first three weeks of the season after testing positive for COVID-19, limiting him to three appearances. They’ve been more of the same for Hernández, who continues to rack up otherworldly strikeout totals while issuing an alarming number of walks.
  • Rougned Odor is headed to the Rangers’ 10-day injured list with an eye infection, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). In his stead, shortstop Elvis Andrus is returning from an IL stint of his own. The Rangers discussed an Odor deal with the Red Sox earlier today, but the underperforming second baseman will instead remain in Arlington.
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