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AL West Notes: Rangers, Kiner-Falefa, A’s Camp Battles

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Before spring training shut down, the Rangers’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa made his presence known while vying for the 26th roster spot. Kiner-Falefa, 25 on Monday, put up big numbers this spring after ditching a high leg kick –  though his swing could use further simplification, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Kiner-Falefa returned home to Hawaii for now, but when/if the season reboots, he’ll have a chance not only to crack the Rangers’ roster, but to play a significant role. Kiner-Falefa brings interesting upside to the Rangers’ roster because of his positional versatility. The past two seasons he has not only served as the Rangers’ backup catcher, appearing in 35 and 38 games behind the dish, respectively, but he’s also seen time at third base and in the middle infield. The bat has not been there over the course of his first two big-league seasons (.253/.315/.344, 71 wRC+), but given what they saw thus far in the spring, expectations are that Kiner-Falefa could push for additional playing time at third base where Todd Frazier is slated to sit first chair. Elsewhere out west…

  • The Oakland Athletics have a few positions still up in the air after truncated spring training, per MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos. Second base remains likely in the hands of favorites Franklin Barreto and Tony Kemp. Presumably, Kemp could protect Barreto against tough right-handers while getting his feet wet in the big leagues. Kemp’s value largely comes as a clubhouse presence and versatile offensive contributor, to use the term loosely, as he has struggled at the dish with a .233/.314/.367 career line. Kemp, 28, has yet to produce a slugging percentage over .400 for a full season, and it’s hard to imagine his power playing up in the Coliseum.
  • That said, Gallegos makes the argument that the more compelling battle was that of the two presumptive backups: Jorge Mateo and Vimael Machin. Mateo, 24, has more name recognition, and his speed and athleticism certainly make him worth watching. He’s out of options, and if he doesn’t make the team out of camp, Mateo is unlikely to make it through waivers given his bench-ready skillset. That’s extra incentive to keep him around, but they face the same issue with Machin, a Rule 5 pick from the Cubs. The A’s could try to work out a deal with Chicago to keep Machin, 26, in the organization. Otherwise, the roster crunch is real, as none of Mateo, Barreto, or Kemp have any options remaining. Chad Pinder is already entrenched as the primary utility option off the bench, leaving probably one spot max in the long-term for the runners-up in the battle for second base.

 

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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Chad Pinder Attracting “Significant Interest”

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6:14pm: As of now, the Athletics are uninterested in trading Pinder, Slusser tweets.

3:24am: Oakland Athletics utility man Chad Pinder is drawing trade interest around the league, per MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman. Pinder, 28 in March, was a second round draft choice of the A’s in 2013 out of Virginia Tech. He’s been a role player for Bob Melvin’s A’s in each of the last three seasons, though he saw more playing time than ever last season.

It’s understandable that Pinder would attract trade inquiries, as he’s the type of player managers love because of his versatility. While making appearances at every position besides pitcher and catcher in each of the last two seasons, he truly has proven comfortable everywhere, with left field garnering the greatest portion of the defensive timeshare at just over fifty-five percent of his career innings. The infield is mostly spoken for in Oakland due to the presence of Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien and Matt Olsen, but with Jurickson Profar now in San Diego, Pinder could be in line for a semi-regular role at the keystone, where he’s been tabbed for right around 13 starts per season since his debut. Franklin Barreto, Jorge Mateo and Sheldon Neuse are the greatest threats to a regular role at second for now, though there’s plenty of time for Oakland to make a move.

There aren’t many teams that couldn’t use a Swiss Army knife like Pinder. The Indians, for one, have long had their eye on him, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He bring defensive value in the outfield corners, where the A’s play him most, but he’s also coming off the worst offensive showing of his career – a mere 87 wRC+. This on the heels of a 114 wRC+ season in 2018. His BABIP slipped to a career low, so there could be some positive regression coming, but his walk rate also dropped back to 5.4% after a rise to 8.1% the year before, which prompted much of the excess offensive output. Strikeouts aren’t a huge problem for Pinder, but he simply doesn’t have any one skill strong enough to make up for a below-average walk rate. He has decent enough pop, but the .240/.290/.416 line he put forth in 2019 isn’t going to cut it, even for a part-timer.

Even so, the A’s like Pinder quite a bit, and it would take a good return to prompt a trade, per MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos. He is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter, however, figured to make around $1.8MM. The cost-conscious A’s are always willing to be creative with their payroll, but the flexibility and security Pinder provides the roster far outweighs the meager salary he’ll be due his first time through the arbitration process.

Athletics Place Chad Pinder On DL

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12:03pm: Pinder suffered the injury in a car crash on Saturday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. It seems Pinder’s in for a lengthy absence, as Slusser writes that “he won’t be allowed to swing for awhile” after receiving stitches on his elbow and arm.

10:47am: The Athletics announced that they’ve placed infielder/outfielder Chad Pinder on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Saturday, with a left elbow laceration. His roster spot will go to young infielder Franklin Barreto, whom the A’s recalled from Triple-A Nashville.

At 61-45 and one game out of a wild-card spot, the A’s have been among the game’s biggest surprises this season. Pinder has been a key part of their success, as the 26-year-old has enjoyed a career-best season to this point. The right-handed hitter has slashed .259/.332/.453 (116 wRC+) with 10 home runs and 1.4 fWAR across 236 plate appearances. Pinder has also seen action at several different positions, primarily left field, where he has posted six Defensive Runs Saved and a 4.1 Ultimate Zone Rating in 277 innings.

This is the second DL stint of the season for Pinder, who previously missed the minimum 10 days in April on account of a hyperextended left knee. It’s unclear how much time Pinder will sit out thanks to this injury, but regardless, his loss is an unwelcome development for Oakland. The good news is that the team will get another look at Barreto, whom Baseball America (subscription required) ranks as the majors’ 61st-best prospect.

A 22-year-old middle infielder, Barreto has totaled 134 major league PAs (including 58 this season) since 2017, though he has struggled to a .205/.246/.386 line with 57 strikeouts against six walks. Barreto also hasn’t produced inspiring results this year with Nashville, where he has put up a lofty 32.2 percent strikeout rate, but he has still hit a respectable .233/.347/.460 and shown off good power (11 home runs, .228 ISO) in 242 trips to the plate.

A’s To Promote Franklin Barreto, Place Chad Pinder On 10-Day DL

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The Athletics will place utilityman Chad Pinder on the 10-day DL due to a hyperextended left knee, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.  In a corresponding move, Oakland will also call up one of their top prospects, infielder Franklin Barreto.

Pinder suffered the injury during Thursday’s game and, while it wasn’t serious enough for him to leave the field that night, the A’s decided to be cautious after Pinder’s pregame workout yesterday.  Oakland has two off-days next week but also a two-game interleague series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, so the extra bench depth was required for the extra substitutions often necessary in NL games.

This will be Barreto’s third visit to the big leagues after a brief stint with the A’s last summer and another call-up in September once the rosters expanded.  The 22-year-old didn’t show much at the plate, posting just a .602 OPS over 76 plate appearances, though he did perform much better (.290/.339/.456) over 510 PA for Triple-A Nashville in his first extended taste of Triple-A pitching.  Barreto has been a staple of top-100 prospect lists for several years, including high grades from Baseball America (which ranked him as the 43rd best minor leaguer in the sport), Baseball Prospectus (63rd) and MLB.com (66th) prior to this season.

Depending on how long Pinder is out, this could end up being another relatively brief call-up for Barreto, as the A’s obviously want to see him playing every day in the minors rather than only receiving sparing playing time as a big league bench player.  (Service time considerations are also surely a factor for the organization.)  Marcus Semien and Jed Lowrie are still locked in as Oakland’s regular middle infield combo, plus Matt Chapman has quickly become a fixture at third base, not that Barreto has ever played the hot corner.  Barreto does seem in line for some work, however, as he is currently the only backup infield option on Oakland’s 25-man roster.

AL West Notes: Rangers, A’s Scouting, Pinder, Ohtani

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The Rangers and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League have announced a partnership. Gerry Fraley of SportsDay wrote a full report on the news, noting that the partnership will include exchanging of “ideas and information” about business, ballpark construction, scouting and player development. Notably, the Fighters will also send one of their own instructors both to Rangers spring training camp and to travel with the team during the regular season. The partnership may have evolved from the depth of scouting personnel that Texas deployed to scout players such as Yu Darvish, Yoshinori Tateyama and Shohei Ohtani. “We look forward to helping each other in a variety of ways,” Rangers President Jon Daniels said of the new alliance. It’s fair to wonder whether this partnership will allow Texas to get its foot in the door with future Fighters talent interested in making the transition to MLB.

More items from the American League’s western clubs…

  • The Athletics recently hired 24-year-old Haley Alvarez as their scouting coordinator; she’s the first woman to be hired by the club as a talent evaluator. Alyson Footer of MLB.com wrote a piece on the subject detailing the former intern’s rise to her new position. Alvarez’ journey to scouting began with baseball operations experience she gained during her college days at the University of Virginia, followed by internships with the Commissioner’s Office and the Boston Red Sox organization. Following an internship with the A’s, GM David Forst offered to sponsor her for scout school. Though Alvarez didn’t even know such a thing existed, she was excited about the opportunity, and used it to fuel her career path. She’s now using modern analytics and new advanced technology to help the A’s bring in talent. “You don’t have to have played baseball, which is a common misconception,” says Alvarez, who hopes to inspire other women to pursue career paths in baseball operations.
  • In other Athletics news, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports that sophomore Chad Pinder is preparing to play first base for the club on occasion. Because Ryon Healy was shipped to Seattle this offseason, the club needs a backup first baseman. “I think the last time I played first base was in eighth grade,” said Pinder, though he did take ground balls during practice there last season. The Oakland utilityman started at six different positions for the club last season while hitting .232/.292/.457 across 309 plate appearances with 15 homers and 42 RBI. The righty-hitter struck out in nearly 30% of his plate appearances.
  • Angels GM Billy Eppler is headed to Japan in order to help with Shohei Ohtani’s transition process, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. He’ll be bringing three other Angels personnel with him. “We spent so much time saying what we’re about to Ohtani and putting things forward for him,” said Eppler. “The main purpose of this is now to get his input and feedback on things.” Eppler also added that Ohtani is scheduled to get on a mound in two weeks; there don’t seem to be any concerns about his health at this time.

Athletics Promote Franklin Barreto

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12:11pm: Barreto was not in the initial lineup, with Adam Rosales penciled in at short and Lowrie at second. But he’s now taking the latter’s place, with the club announcing that Lowrie “has been scratched.”

It’s just a slight knee sprain for the veteran, skipper Bob Melvin tells reporters including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). So, it seems there’s no reason to read anything into the move at the moment, though presumably Lowrie could be dealt at any point before the trade deadline.

9:36am: The Athletics are set to call up top infield prospect Franklin Barreto, according to a club announcement. He’ll take the roster spot opened by the team’s placement of Chad Pinder on the 10-day DL for a left hamstring strain.

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Barreto, just 21 years of age, is a key piece of the A’s past and future. He came to Oakand as the prospect centerpiece of the shocking deal that sent superstar third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays back in November of 2014. Even assuming Barreto can stay on the MLB roster from this point forward, he would not be in line to achieve Super Two status; instead, he’d project to achieve arbitration eligibility after the 2020 season while reaching free agency in the fall of 2023.

Since landing with his new organization, Barreto has steadily climbed the ladder and developed into a consensus top-50 prospect leaguewide. He struggled a bit last year in his first attempt at the upper minors and in a stint in the Arizona Fall League, and hasn’t exactly dominated this year at Triple-A. Given his age, though, the A’s still obviously see room for growth — and clearly believe he’s ready now to handle duties at the game’s highest level.

Over his 309 plate appearances this year at Nashville, Barreto owns a .281/.326/.428 batting line. He has knocked eight long balls and stolen four bags, though he has also been cut down on five attempted steals and has a history of being caught on the bases.

Barreto is known as a solid defender at short, but may ultimately line up at second base or even center field in the long run. With Pinder joining the rehabbing Marcus Semien on the DL, though, it seems reasonable to anticipate that Barreto will line up at his natural shortstop position in his first taste of the majors. He could move over to second, though, once Semien returns.

This move comes as part of a wave of others for the struggling A’s, who own the worst record in the American League. Oakland is in the midst of a transition that has already seen several promotions along with the departures of veterans Trevor Plouffe and Stephen Vogt. Odds are that veteran Jed Lowrie will follow them out of town — though he’ll likely be dealt rather than designated for assignment — leaving second base open for Barreto.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL West Notes: Vasquez, Gurriel, Pinder, Rangers

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Astros Double-A outfielder Danry Vasquez has been placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball as the Corpus Christi Police Department and the MLB Commissioner’s Office investigate a domestic violence incident, according to a statement from the Astros. Fares Sabawi of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times has obtained an arrest affidavit, which reveals that video footage from the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks’ stadium shows Vasquez striking his girlfriend on three separate occasions during an argument. A Hooks employee also claims to have been threatened by Vasquez on the day in question, and video does show a “heated conversation” between the two, per the affidavit. Said the Astros in a statement: ” The Houston Astros and all of our affiliates, including the Corpus Christi Hooks, are governed by and strongly support MLB’s domestic violence policy.  We take this allegation very seriously, and have taken swift response as we do not condone violence in our organization.”

A few other items pertaining to the division…

  • The Astros promoted Yulieski Gurriel to Triple-A Fresno yesterday, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes. The previous expectation had been that Gurriel would make his big league debut this week, but after he struggled considerably at the Double-A level, the organization made the decision to give him some additional time to get up to speed and bumped him up another level. General manager Jeff Luhnow told McTaggart that there’s “no specific timeline” for Gurriel to be promoted to the Majors at this point but did add that the infielder “is getting close.” Gurriel collected just two hits in 19 plate appearances at the Double-A level, but he went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run in yesterday’s Triple-A debut.
  • Athletics prospect Chad Pinder has been told he’ll be joining the team on Wednesday, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s not entirely clear yet how Pinder will be utilized, Slusser notes, and he could potentially be a short-term sub while Marcus Semien departs on paternity leave. However, Slusser also notes that fellow right-handed-hitting infielder Tyler Ladendorf is mired in a dismal 0-for-19 slump and is 0-for-26 against left-handed pitchers this season, so Pinder could replace him on the roster. The 24-year-old Pinder was Oakland’s second-round pick in 2014 and has batted .258/.310/.425 in 465 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He rates ninth among Oakland farmhands, per MLB.com, and sixth per Baseball America.
  • The Rangers’ injury woes seem to have continued, as Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News writes that righty Lucas Harrell is likely ticketed for the DL due to a groin strain that forced him to exit last night’s start after two innings. Harrell hasn’t performed well since being acquired by the Rangers (5.60 ERA in 17 2/3 innings) but was nonetheless occupying a spot in the rotation and will now force Texas to scramble a bit. Nick Martinez is likely to be brought back to the Majors to serve as a long reliever today, per Fraley, and the Harrell injury will have an impact on Texas’ decision as to when Derek Holland will be activated from the 60-day DL. He’s eligible to join the team this coming Saturday, and Holland himself tells Fraley that feels “very confident” in where he’s at in terms of recovery. Holland last tossed 75 pitches over four innings in a minor league rehab start. Manager Jeff Banister wouldn’t commit to exactly when Holland will rejoin the team, and Fraley points out that a pair of upcoming off-days gives the Rangers some flexibility with the rotation.
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