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Angels Outright Chad Wallach

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The Angels announced this evening that they have assigned catcher Chad Wallach outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. The club designated Wallach for assignment on Friday, clearing the way for top prospect Logan O’Hoppe to make his return from injury. Wallach has enough service time to reject that assignment, if he so chooses, though he would forgo the remainder of his 2023 salary in doing so.

Wallach, 31, shared time behind the plate with Matt Thaiss for the Angels throughout much of the season thanks to injuries to both O’Hoppe and Max Stassi, the club’s initially planned tandem. Wallach performed admirably in the role, with a wRC+ of 84 in 149 trips to the plate that leaves him roughly middle of the pack among catchers with that many plate appearances this season. Wallach paired that decent offensive production with a solid glove and had the look of an above-average backup catcher throughout his time in Anaheim this year.

That being said, Wallach cooled significantly over his last two months with the club. In 67 trips to the plate since June 17, Wallach hit an anemic .119/.200/.220 with a massive 38.9% strikeout rate. That significant decline with the bat combined with Wallach’s lack of options remaining likely contributed to the journeyman catcher going unclaimed on waivers. Now that he’s been outrighted to Triple-A, Wallach will have to decide whether to remain with the Angels in the minor leagues or test the waters of free agency.

Free agency might be an attractive route for Wallach, given the constant need for catching depth around the big leagues and his solid performance as a back-up this year. That being said, Wallach is likely the Angels’ first choice to join the roster in the event of an injury to O’Hoppe or Thaiss, a reality that could lead the veteran to decide he’s best off remaining in the organization as he searches for his next big league opportunity.

Tigers To Promote Parker Meadows

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The Tigers announced this evening that they are planning to recall outfielder Parker Meadows from Triple-A tomorrow. The 23-year-old outfielder’s first appearance will be his major league debut. Since Meadows in on the 40-man roster already, a corresponding move will only be necessary to make room for him on the active roster.

Meadows, the brother of fellow Tiger Austin Meadows, was selected by Detroit out of high school in the second round of the 2018 draft. Meadows had something of a breakout season last year that saw him promoted from High-A to Double-A after just 14 games. From there, Meadows would go on to slash an impressive .275/.354/.466 in 113 games with a solid 10.6% walk rate and a strikeout rate of just 18.4%. That strong season left Meadows as one of the club’s better prospects entering the 2023 season, with Fangraphs considering him Detroit’s sixth-best prospect while MLB.com’s midseason ranking places him tenth in the Tigers’ system.

That discrepancy, of course, can partially be explained by the additions of Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle, both of whom were drafted by the Tigers last month. In addition to that, however, Meadows simply hasn’t replicated his impressive season last year at the Triple-A level in 2023, posting a more pedestrian slash line of .256/.337/.474 in 517 trips to the plate this year. While Meadows’ walk rate has actually ticked up to 11% and he’s hitting for more power with a .218 ISO in 2023, his reduced strikeout rate from last year has ticked back up to 23.8%, not far off from his 24.7% career average. The additional punchouts leave Meadows with a wRC+ of 97 that’s a bit below league average.

Despite something of a step back with the bat this year, there’s still reason for optimism regarding his impact on the Tigers. If Meadows can provide the late-season spark that youngster Kerry Carpenter provided in 2022 (126 wRC+ in 113 at-bats last year), the club would have a solid trio of young outfielders headed into the 2024 campaign next season between Meadows, Carpenter, and Riley Greene. Even if Meadows doesn’t reach those same heights, he seems certain to provide quality defense and baserunning as a speedy center fielder who has swiped 19 bags at Triple-A this year in 21 attempts.

Going forward, Meadows seems likely to cut into the playing time of Akil Baddoo in the outfield as the 24-year-old has struggled to a .221/.311/.370 slash line this season with a wRC+ of just 89. Matt Vierling, Zach McKinstry, and Nick Maton have gotten reps in the outfield as well, though each of that trio has primarily played the infield for the Tigers this season.

Daniel Norris Elects Free Agency

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Left-hander Daniel Norris has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per an announcement by the Guardians. Norris was designated for assignment by Cleveland earlier this week to make room for catcher Zack Collins on the 40-man roster.

Norris, 30, is in his veteran currently in the midst of his tenth major league season. Initially selected in the second round of the 2011 draft by the Blue Jays, Norris spent the first several seasons of his career primarily as a starting pitcher, drawing starts in 82 of his 97 appearances between 2014 and 2019. During that time, Norris was a roughly average arm for the Blue Jays and Tigers. His 4.54 ERA clocked in just 1% below league average by measure of ERA+ and was largely backed up by his 4.47 FIP. That being said, Norris eclipsed 100 innings just twice during this period.

Those low innings counts resulted in Norris moving to a relief role starting with the shortened 2020 season, to fairly mixed results. His debut campaign as a reliever went quite well, with a 3.25 ERA (140 ERA+) and an even better 2.87 FIP. He struck out a solid 24.1% of batters faced, while his 6% walk rate was the lowest of his career. Norris struggled in both 2021 and 2022, however, combining for a 5.68 ERA and 5.01 FIP in 97 appearances for the Cubs, Tigers, and Brewers.

Those struggles led Norris to latch on with the Guardians on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 campaign, to familiarly mixed results. While he’s performed acceptably in limited chances with the big league club this year, notching a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of work, he carries an untenable walk rate of 21.2% in the big leagues this year, leaving him with a 5.98 FIP. While he’s posted a more manageable 10.8% walk rate in 53 innings at Triple-A this year, his 5.60 ERA at the level doesn’t provide much reason for confidence as Norris returns to free agency.

Despite those rather glaring concerns, it seems reasonable to expect Norris to find a spot somewhere on a minor league deal. With the trade deadline having come and gone, pitching depth is a constantly sought-after commodity, particularly in the days leading up to September, at which point players added to the organization are no longer eligible to participate in the postseason.

As for the Guardians, the club has plenty of left-handed options available to them for the stretch run, including Sam Hentges, Tim Herrin, and Joey Cantillo all on the 40-man roster. Amir Garrett and Randy Labaut are also upper-level depth options the club has at its disposal, though either one would require a 40-man roster move to make use of at the big league level.

Orioles Release Mychal Givens

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TODAY: The Orioles announced that Givens has been officially released.

AUGUST 19: Givens has cleared DFA waivers, and the Orioles announced that he has been placed on unconditional release waivers.

AUGUST 13: The Orioles announced that right-hander Mychal Givens has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and designated for assignment.

Givens, 33, signed a one-year deal in the offseason with a $5MM guarantee. Unfortunately, injuries have prevented him from providing much of anything this year. He began the season on the injured list thanks to left knee inflammation. He was activated in May but returned to the IL after just six appearances, this time due to right shoulder inflammation, eventually getting transferred to the 60-day version of the IL.

He seems to be healthy again, as he began a new rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago. But the O’s seem to have decided they don’t have room for him on their roster and have cut him loose instead. As a veteran with more than five years of service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors. He also has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency while retaining all of his salary.

The deal that he signed came with a $3MM salary here in 2023 and then there’s a $6MM mutual option for 2024. If Givens declines his end of the option, he would receive a $1MM buyout. If he triggers his end and the team declines, it’s a $2MM buyout. There’s still about $790K of that salary left to be paid out, as well as the buyout/option. Given his health issues this year and that money, he’ll almost certainly clear waivers, leaving the Orioles responsible for that cash.

That will allow any of the 29 other clubs to sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the O’s pay. Although he’s been injured for much of the year, other clubs could still be interested based on his previous track record. Givens has a career ERA of 3.47 over 425 appearances dating back to 2015, striking out 28.2% of hitters while walking 10%.

Mariners Sign Nick Wittgren

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The Mariners have agreed to a deal with right-hander Nick Wittgren, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (via X).  The contract is presumably a minor league pact, as Wittgren was previously playing on a minors deal with the Royals before he became a free agent earlier this week.  Since Wittgren has over five years of MLB service time, he had the right to choose free agency when the Royals tried to option him to Triple-A.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Wittgren was released by the Cardinals in July 2022 and didn’t land with a new club until signing his minor league contract with the Royals in December.  K.C. selected him to the 26-man roster in May, and Wittgren had a 4.97 ERA over 29 innings in Royal blue.

It’s not a big improvement over his 5.32 ERA with Cleveland and St. Louis in 2021-22, but while advanced metrics indicate that Wittgren was a little unlucky to post such an ERA in those seasons, his SIERA this year is 5.03.  While Wittgren hasn’t really been a big strikeout pitcher throughout his career, his K% has plummeted over the last two seasons.  He has done an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park in that same time span, yet batters have been making hard contact.

Wittgren did pitch well at Triple-A Omaha this year, and he was a very reliable bullpen arm in his heyday as recently as the 2020 season.  The 32-year-old will give the Mariners some more experienced relief depth as they prepare to try and thread the needle between staying in contention and managing the innings of their several young pitchers.  Seattle is already set to go to a six-man rotation to help keep everyone fresh for the pennant race (and, the M’s hope, into October), and more bullpen help will also be required.

Giants Place Brandon Crawford On 10-Day Injured List

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The Giants announced that shortstop Brandon Crawford has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left forearm strain.  The placement is retroactive to August 19.  Outfielder Luis Matos was called up from Triple-A to take Crawford’s place on the active roster.

This is Crawford’s third IL stint of the season, as he missed roughly three weeks total due to a calf strain and left knee inflammation.  Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Crawford’s forearm issue was impacting his swing, which explains why Crawford has only a single hit in his last 31 plate appearances.  The club’s initial plan was to give Crawford a couple of days off, but he’ll now get at least 10 days to recover.

In a little over 14 months, Crawford has now made five different trips to the injured list.  Recurring knee problems have led to the majority of those placements, and he was also briefly shut down during Spring Training this year due to more knee discomfort.  The injuries have short-circuited what looked like a late-career revival for Crawford, who finished fourth in NL MVP voting in 2021 for delivering a huge performance in his age-34 season.

Crawford has hit only .194/.264/.318 over 270 plate appearances in 2023, and while his glovework has still been excellent, it surely isn’t the platform Crawford wanted for the final guaranteed year of his contract.  While Crawford was somewhat non-committal last winter about the possibility of playing beyond the 2023 season, a year of injuries and struggles at the plate isn’t how the longtime Giants shortstop would want to wrap up his outstanding 13-year career.  The severity of the forearm strain isn’t yet known, so it isn’t clear if Crawford could be in danger of missing the remainder of the 2023 campaign.

Casey Schitt was called up from Triple-A yesterday, and the Giants also recently selected the minor league deal of Johan Camargo.  These two players will likely handle shortstop duty while Crawford is out, and Thairo Estrada has also seen some time at the position this season.

Reds Reinstate Hunter Greene From 60-Day Injured List

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The Reds have officially activated Hunter Greene from the 60-day injured list, as the right-hander will take the mound to start today’s game with the Blue Jays.  Right-hander Alan Busenitz was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding 26-man roster move, and the Reds also added righty Lyon Richardson to the club’s taxi squad.

Greene last pitched in the majors on June 17, before recurring hip pain sidelined him for what became an absence of over two months.  Both Greene and the Reds wanted the young hurler to be at full strength before returning, so in theory, Greene should be fully recovered and ready to become a big part of Cincinnati’s push for a playoff berth (whether as a wild card or as the NL Central champions).

The starting rotation has been a weak point for the Reds all season, and the front office at least checked in on some notable trade candidates at the deadline but didn’t add any significant arms besides reliever Sam Moll.  Instead, the Reds are hoping to get a boost from their own injured pitchers returning to action, as besides Greene’s activation, Nick Lodolo and Ben Lively are also on minor league rehab assignments.

Greene is the biggest addition of the group, as despite his lengthy IL stint, he is still the Reds’ co-leader in pitching fWAR (1.8).  The former second overall pick had a respectable rookie season in 2022 and then pitched well over 73 1/3 innings this year, posting a 3.73 ERA and an excellent 31.4% strikeout rate.  However, Greene’s walk rate is below average and he has allowed a lot of hard contact, so he isn’t a surefire ace at this point in his career despite his promising beginning.  The Reds’ unexpected rise into contention has put a lot of extra pressure on the team’s young core as they begin their MLB careers, and Greene has more responsibility than most in trying to help stabilize the rotation.

Hector Perez Elects Free Agency

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Hector Perez has elected to become a free agent, as per the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page.  Perez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rays earlier this week, and he opted to test the open market rather than accept an outright assignment to the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate.

Because Perez had previously been outrighted in his career, he has the right to turn down any future outright assignments.  That first outright move came back in April, when the Rays brought Perez to the active roster for a one-day stint, but then designated him (and subsequently outrighted him to Triple-A) before he could appear in a game.

It has been a whirlwind of transactions for Perez just within the last four days, as Tampa Bay only selected his contract from Triple-A Durham on Wednesday.  The 27-year-old Perez tossed one third of an inning in the Rays’ 6-1 victory over the Giants and was then DFA’ed the next day.  This brief outing marked Perez’s first Major League game since his big league debut, when he threw 1 2/3 frames for the Blue Jays in 2020.

These two games represents the entirety of Perez’s MLB resume, as he spent the rest of his nine-year pro career in the minor leagues.  An international signing for the Astros in 2014, Perez has played for five different organizations at the minor league level, and came to the Rays last winter after they selected him away from the Orioles in the minor league version of the Rule 5 Draft.

Trending mostly towards relief pitching over the last few years, Perez has started 82 of his 197 career games in the minors, totaling 583 innings.  He has a respectable 3.78 ERA and a 26.7% strikeout rate over his time on the farm, but control has long been an issue for Perez, with a career minor league walk rate of 14.35%.

Reds Promote Noelvi Marte

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The Reds called up infield prospect Noelvi Marte today, with the corresponding move of Kevin Newman placed on the 10-day injured list due to an oblique strain. Marte is already on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster but he will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Robert Murray of Fansided was the first to report that Marte was on his way to the Show.

Marte, now 21, was a high-profile international signing of the Mariners. That club gave him a signing bonus of $1.55MM in 2018 and he quickly came to be regarded as one of the top prospects in their system. A strong professional debut in 2019 got him into top 100 territory, with Baseball America ranking him #92 in the league going into 2020.

With the pandemic wiping out the minor leagues in 2020, Marte and all other prospects missed a year of game action. But he got back on track with a solid showing in 2021, his first full professional season. He hit .273/.366/.459 between Single-A and High-A for a wRC+ of 118 while also stealing 24 bases. Going into 2022, he was considered the 18th-best prospect in the league by Baseball America, with FanGraphs having him in the #13 slot.

He came to the Reds midway through 2022 as part of the Luis Castillo trade, one of four young players that Cincinnati added to their system in that deal. Between the two organizations, he hit .279/.371/.458 at the High-A level for a wRC+ of 131. Despite those strong numbers, his prospect stock faded a bit. Baseball America dropped him to #63 overall going into 2023, noting that opposing pitchers were starting to realize they could exploit his weakness on breaking balls. He also started to move from shortstop to third base, diminishing his future value somewhat. FanGraphs expressed similar concerns in bumping him down to #91.

This year, he started at Double-A, hitting .281/.356/.464 at that level, swiping 10 bags in 50 games. He’s also hit .280/.365/.455 in 39 Triple-A games while racking up another eight steals. With the heightened offensive environment of the International League this year, that Triple-A line translates to a 105 wRC+, above-average but only slightly. Baseball America currently ranks him 52nd overall with FanGraphs at #71.

Regardless of the recent fluctuations in the evaluations from prospect watchers, this is yet another exciting young player promoted by the Reds in what is shaping up to be a remarkable season in that department. Given their recent struggles, few observers picked them to be competitive coming into the year. But they have been continually promoting one prospect after another, with Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Andrew Abbott all promoted for their debuts this year. Those players have joined other youngsters who had previously made it to the big leagues, such as Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Spencer Steer and many more.

That youth movement has shot the Reds into the postseason picture, as they are currently tied with the Marlins for the final Wild Card spot with about six weeks left on the schedule. Now they will add Marte into the mix and hope that he can add further fuel to the fire for the final playoff push. How he fits into the puzzle remains to be seen, as he’s primarily played shortstop and third base this year. De La Cruz will likely stick at short but Marte could perhaps take some time at the hot corner. Steer has been getting the bulk of playing time there lately but has also played some left field and could perhaps slot in there more often, taking playing time from Stuart Fairchild.

The timing of the promotion is worth noting, as Marte will likely retain rookie status going into 2024. Position players are considered rookies as long as they start a season with less than 130 at-bats and fewer than 46 days on a big league roster. There are now 44 days left until the end of the regular season, meaning Marte will still be a rookie next year as long as he falls shy of 130 at-bats.

That’s a significant distinction under the current collective bargaining agreement, as the Prospect Promotion Incentive can provide extra draft picks for clubs as a way to disincentive service time manipulation. A position player who had appeared on at least two Top 100 lists at BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline the preceding offseason can earn his club a bonus draft choice if a) the team carries them on the MLB roster for a full service year and b) the player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons. It’s surely not a coincidence that Masyn Winn of the Cardinals and Nolan Schanuel of the Angels were both promoted as soon as they could have been while still having the ability to net their club an extra draft pick next year, with Marte now a third notable prospect promoted in recent days.

But that will be a concern for the future. In the interim, it’s yet another domino of the Reds’ incredible youth movement tipped over as they try to surge into the playoffs. With Marte joining the other young players on the roster, while pitchers like Greene and Lodolo are coming back from injuries, the fans in Cincinnati could be in for an exciting few weeks as well as a future that looks increasingly bright.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Orioles Place Aaron Hicks On 10-Day Injured List

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Prior to tonight’s game with the A’s, the Orioles placed outfielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back strain, with a retroactive placement date of August 16.  Ryan McKenna was called up from Triple-A to take Hicks’ spot on the active roster and as part of Baltimore’s outfield mix.

Injuries have plagued Hicks throughout his career, and his recent setbacks are at least less serious than some of his past season-shortening issues.  However, Hicks missed about three weeks due to a hamstring strain before being activated last Monday, but he played in just one game before being sidelined again with his back problem.

As Hicks told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters, “as soon as I start hitting it kind of starts to flare up a little bit….Walking around I feel fine, doing little things feel fine, rotation feels fine.  And then as soon as I start to try to fire it up and get moving as fast as possible is when it starts wanting to shut down.”

The Orioles’ plan is to shut Hicks down for around two weeks, manager Brandon Hyde told Kubatko and company, then re-evaluate.  With this cautious approach, Hicks will need some ramp-up time and perhaps more minor league rehab games before returning, so the veteran seems to be looking at a rough return timeline of the second week of September.  Because the injury is “kind of hit or miss right now,” as Hicks put it, the timeline might conceivably be shorter if his back spasms quickly dissipate.

The two IL stints have put a damper on a nice comeback run for Hicks in an O’s uniform.  After the Yankees designated and subsequently released Hicks in late May, he caught on with the Orioles for a minimum salary, as New York is still paying the rest of the roughly $22.6MM still owed on Hicks’ contract through the 2025 campaign.  The change of scenery seemed to help, as Hicks is hitting .261/.355/.440 with six homers over 155 plate appearances for Baltimore, after managing only a .211/.322/.317 slash line in 579 PA with the Yankees in 2021-22.

Given Hicks’ previous IL trip, the Orioles have gotten used to adjusting with Hicks in the lineup.  Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, and Anthony Santander will remain the club’s primary outfield trio, though Santander is missing today’s game due to what Hyde described as “general soreness.”  Ryan O’Hearn and McKenna will also provide outfield depth in a part-time capacity.

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