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Chase De Jong

Latest On Yordan Alvarez, Jose Urquidy

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A litany of health problems have slowed the Astros, who have started 2020 an even 6-6 after winning the American League a year ago. Slugger and 2019 AL Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez is among the team’s most important players on the shelf, likely owing to a positive coronavirus test. Alvarez is taking batting practice and running, but manager Dusty Baker suggested a return is not imminent.

“The cavalry is a ways off,” Baker said of Alvarez and right-hander Jose Urquidy, who has also been on the IL for an undisclosed reason early this year, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Urquidy just began throwing off a mound.

The 23-year-old Alvarez was a critical piece of the puzzle for the Astros last season, when he slashed .313/.412/.655 with 27 home runs in 369 plate appearances. There’s obviously no realistic way to replace that type of production.

Urquidy, 25, didn’t star as a rookie last year, but he was impressive in his own right, as he amassed 41 innings of 3.95 ERA/3.68 FIP ball with 8.78 K/9 and 1.54 BB/9. The Astros, who are facing several injuries in their pitching staff, will welcome similar numbers this year if Urquidy is able to pitch.

Austin Pruitt is also among the wounded in Houston, and the club decided to transfer the righty to the 45-day IL because of an elbow ailment on Friday, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets. The move opened up space for just-acquired righty Chase De Jong in their 60-man player pool. Pruitt still hasn’t pitched for the Astros, who added him in an offseason trade with the Rays, and it remains very much in question whether he’ll take the mound at all this season.

Astros To Acquire Chase De Jong

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The Astros have struck a deal to pick up righty Chase De Jong, per Mark Berman of FOX 26 (Twitter link). He had been working with the indy league Sugarland Skeeters.

It’s not immediately clear whether De Jong will join the Astros’ active roster or instead head to the team’s alternative training site. Regardless, he’ll first have to pass a physical and covid screening.

De Jong, 26, is a former second-round pick who has appeared in each of the past three MLB seasons. He hasn’t found much success at the game’s highest level, allowing 31 earned runs with a 26:22 K/BB ratio in 47 total frames. He also ran into the Triple-A home run buzzsaw last year, but did carry a 3.66 ERA in 160 frames at the highest level of the minors in the 2018 campaign.

Twins Release Chase De Jong

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The Twins have released righty Chase De Jong, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). He had been pitching for the club’s top affiliate.

De Jong was acquired last summer, then designated and outrighted over the winter. He got another shot in the majors earlier this year, but was torched in his lone outing before again being dropped from the 40-man roster.

The season has been a struggle thus far for the 25-year-old, who was a 2012 second-round pick. He has allowed more than an earned run per inning at Triple-A. Through 45 1/3 innings at the highest level of the minors, he has allowed nearly as many walks (26) as he has recorded strikeouts (30) while surrendering 16 long balls.

Twins Outright Chase De Jong

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The Twins announced Friday that right-hander Chase De Jong has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He’ll remain with the organization but is no longer on the 40-man roster. Additionally, Minnesota activated Matt Magill from the injured list.

De Jong, 25, pitched one inning for the Twins earlier this season and was tagged for four runs on three hits and three walks. He was considerably better in a small sample of innings down the stretch in 2018, pitching to a 3.57 ERA with a 13-to-6 K/BB ratio in 17 2/3 innings. The former second-round pick (Blue Jays, 2012) enjoyed a solid season between Double-A and Triple-A last year, where he logged a combined 3.66 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9, but he has yet to find consistent success in the upper minors or at the big league level. He’ll remain with the club as a depth option, should a need arise or should he force his way back into the MLB picture later this season.

As for Magill, the 29-year-old was somewhat of a diamond-in-the-rough find for the Twins a year ago. The former Dodgers/Reds farmhand was signed to a minor league contract but wound up tallying 56 2/3 innings of relief in Minnesota. Magill’s 3.81 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and 94.7 mph average fastball were all encouraging, though the righty still issued too many walks (3.7 BB/9) and was far too homer-prone (1.75 HR/9) in his lone season with the Twins. He’ll look to maintain his ability to miss bats while paring back on the free passes and long balls in his second go-around with the Twins. In 5 1/3 innings on a Triple-A rehab assignment, Magill allowed a run on two hits and a walk with eight punchouts.

That said, the fact that Minnesota is relying on Magill, 30-year-old rookie Ryne Harper and converted rotation prospects Fernando Romero and Adalberto Mejia highlights the fact that the Twins have plenty of room for improvement in the ’pen as they battle the Indians in the American League Central.

Twins Select Contract Of Chase De Jong, DFA Tyler Austin

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The Minnesota Twins have selected the contract of right-hander Chase De Jong, while first baseman Tyler Austin will be designated for assignment, per The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (via Twitter).

De Jong, 25, was a 2nd round draft selection of the Blue Jays before seeing time in the Dodgers and Mariners organizations. He joined the Twins via the Zach Duke deal last July, making four starts with Minnesota in 2018, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA (4.92 FIP). A rough spring in which he surrendered more runs than innings pitched led to a reassignment to minor league camp, but the Twins are obviously satisfied with the progress he’s made since then.

There was some confusion as to who was getting the call, with various reports from last night suggesting that Zack Littell was being brought up. Littell will remain in Triple-A, however, while De Jong has an opportunity as the Twins’ fifth starter, though someone like Martin Perez could conceivably move from the bullpen to the rotation instead. The Twins have a day off on Monday and another next Thursday following a two-game series with the Mets, so they could conceivably go without a fifth starter until the Blue Jays come to town April 15-18.

Austin, meanwhile, has plenty of pop in his bat, but has yet to consistently get on base in the big leagues. He went 1-4 this season after slashing .230/.287/.480 with 17 home runs in 268 plate appearances between the Twins and Yankees in 2018. Those numbers track with Austin’s career averages as a .232/.291/.469 hitter across a total 371 big-league at-bats. Austin was out of options, so he’ll need to clear waivers before being reassigned.

Twins Option Tyler Duffey, Reassign Chase De Jong

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The Twins optioned reliever Tyler Duffey to Triple-A this morning, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News in Minneapolis (via Twitter). The Twins confirmed the move via a press release.

Chase De Jong is also on the move, as the 6’4″ righty has been reassigned to minor league camp. De Jong’s reassignment cuts the Twins’ number of pitchers in camp down to 21. They have 44 players remaining in camp overall, 13 of whom are of the non-roster invitee variety.

Duffey, 28, spent parts of the last four seasons with the big league club, most notably as a starter in 2016 when he took the hill 26 times for a 9-12 record and a 6.43 ERA (4.73 FIP) across 133 frames. A move to the bullpen in 2017 provided a boost to his K-rate as he logged 8.5 K/9 versus his 7.7 K/9 mark as a starter in 2016, but he wasn’t able to repeat those numbers in 2018. Duffey has little left to prove at Triple-A as he once again put together a strong year with the Rochester Red Wings, striking out 9.61 batters per nine while mostly working as a long man, logging 59 innings in only 31 appearances out of the pen. A 2.90 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 3.35 xFIP looks good – but those results did not translate to Target Field where he accumulated -0.2 WAR while marking a 7.20 ERA (5.36 FIP, 4.29 xFIP) in 25 innings. Though he’ll begin the season back at Rochester, there’s a decent chance Duffey returns at some point to the Twins bullpen in 2019.

De Jong, 25, made four starts in his first season with Minnesota last year, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA (4.92 FIP). The former 2nd round draft selection of the Blue Jays also saw time in the Dodgers and Mariners organizations before coming to Minnesota in the Zach Duke deal last July. He is likely ticketed to return to Triple-A to start the year after a rough spring in which he surrendered 12 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings of work. Both he and Duffey have one option year remaining, though De Jong faces a longer return road to the majors, as he is not currently on the Twins 40-man roster.

Twins Sign Tim Collins, Justin Nicolino To Minor League Deals

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The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve added left-handers Tim Collins and Justin Nicolino on a pair of minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training. Beyond that, recently designated right-hander Chase De Jong cleared waivers and will remain in the organization. De Jong, like Collins and Nicolino, will be in Major League camp as a non-roster invitee.

Now 29 years old, Collins was once a key member of the bullpen for the division-rival Royals, but a pair of Tommy John surgeries kept him off the field from 2015-17. The diminutive southpaw returned to the Show this past season with the Nationals, however, totaling 22 2/3 innings with a 4.37 ERA and a 21-to-12 K/BB ratio. Collins’ 92.5 mph average fastball was only narrowly south of his pre-surgery velocity, and he posted a solid 11.6 percent swinging-strike rate to go along with a 31.7 percent chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone. Control has long been an issue for Collins, but he notched a solid 3.54 ERA with 9.4 K/9 in 211 innings prior to his injury troubles.

As for Nicolino, the former second-round pick (Blue Jays, 2010) was once viewed as a Top 100 prospect but has never lived up to that potential. He’s amassed 201 1/3 MLB innings, all with the Marlins, but turned in a pedestrian 4.65 ERA with just 3.8 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in that time. He spent the 2018 season with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, where he was knocked around for a 4.69 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 134 1/3 innings.

Presently, Taylor Rogers and Adalberto Mejia are the Twins’ top two left-handed relief options. Rogers finished out the year as one of the game’s most effective relievers after adopting a slider partway through the season and didn’t allow a run in his final 28 appearances. Mejia, meanwhile, is out of minor league options. Both seem quite likely to make it to the club’s Opening Day roster, barring injury. Meanwhile, southpaws Gabriel Moya and Andrew Vasquez are likely ticketed for Triple-A to open the season. That presents both Collins with quite a bit of competition in vying for a roster spot, and the rotation picture for Nicolino (if he’s still to be used as a starter), is all the more crowded.

Twins Designate Chase De Jong For Assignment

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The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Chase De Jong for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for left-hander Martin Perez, whose signing is now official.

Minnesota originally acquired De Jong, 25, in the trade that sent left-handed reliever Zach Duke to the Mariners last summer. De Jong made four starts for the Twins down the stretch, pitching to a 3.57 ERA with a 13-to-6 K/BB ratio in that time. While that performance was respectable, though, De Jong has a shakier track record in the upper minors (4.97 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.4 HR/9 in 128 2/3 Triple-A innings) and was hit hard in a slightly larger sample with the Mariners a year prior. The Twins, surely, will hope to sneak him through outright waivers and retain him as a non-40-man-roster depth option if there’s no interest in him on the trade front now that he’s been designated.

Mariners Acquire Zach Duke

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5:01pm: MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that the Twins sent $75K to the Mariners in the deal, which will leave Seattle on the hook for just over $600K of Duke’s salary.

4:36pm: The Mariners have deepened their relief corps as they continue to stock up for a potential postseason run, adding veteran lefty Zach Duke in a trade with the Twins. In exchange for Duke, an impending free agent who is owed about $683K of his $2.05MM salary through season’s end, Minnesota will receive right-hander Chase De Jong and minor league corner infielder Ryan Costello. Because De Jong was already on the Mariners’ 40-man roster, Seattle won’t need a corresponding move for Duke.

Zach Duke | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Duke, 35, had Tommy John surgery in 2016 but returned for the last couple months of the 2017 season and pitched well enough to land a big league deal from the Twins this offseason. Minnesota was rewarded with 37 1/3 innings of 3.62 ERA ball from Duke, who has averaged 9.4 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 without allowing a home run this season. Duke’s superb 58.8 percent ground-ball rate ties a career-high (set in 2016 prior to his surgery).

As one would expect, Duke comes with a fairly notable platoon split. Minnesota has used him in 45 games this season but only allowed him to total 37 1/3 innings — a split that is indicative of his status as more of a lefty specialist than a full-inning setup piece. Indeed, left-handed opponents have mustered just a .237/.274/.288 slash against Duke, while righties have hit slashed a much more potent .303/.409/.351 against the veteran southpaw.

Duke will give the Mariners a lefty option to step into the role which Seattle had hoped fellow veteran Marc Rzepczynski could fill in 2017-18. Unfortunately for Seattle, Rzepczynski’s two-year, $11MM deal proved to be a substantial misstep. “Scrabble” struggled in both seasons with Seattle and was released earlier this season. Duke will complement James Pazos and Roenis Elias as southpaw options in manager Scott Servais’ bullpen, giving him a trio of lefties to deploy as matchups dictate.

As for the Twins, they’ll acquire a former second-round pick (Blue Jays, 2012) with minor league options remaining in De Jong. The 24-year-old made his big league debut with Seattle last season but was hit hard in 28 1/3 innings. De Jong yielded 20 runs on 31 hits (five homers) and 13 walks with just 13 strikeouts in 28 1/3 MLB frames last season.

That said, De Jong is still just 24 years of age and has had a solid, if unspectacular season pitching for Seattle’s Double-A affiliate this season. Through 120 2/3 innings, De Jong has notched a 3.80 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 39.2 percent ground-ball rate. Despite some big league experience, he technically retained his prospect status and ranked 28th in an admittedly dismal Mariners’ farm system, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.

Costello, 22, was the Mariners’ 31st-round pick in the 2017 draft out of Central Connecticut State University. He’s posted solid numbers in the Class-A Midwest League this season, though as a college bat playing against younger competition, that should be the expectation. In 406 trips to the plate, Costello has hit .266/.360/.486 with 16 homers, 24 doubles and a pair of triples while posting a 12.6 percent walk rate against a 20.2 percent strikeout rate. He won’t factor in anywhere near the top of the Twins’ prospect rankings, but he’ll add a left-handed bat with some pop to the lower levels of the Twins’ system.

De Jong is the more immediate return for the Twins, and while he profiles more as a swingman than a rotation option, that’s not a bad return for a couple of months of a lefty specialist who was set to hit free agency. Of course, it’s also a pretty easy commodity for the Mariners to surrender in order to improve their options in high-leverage spots down the stretch and, ideally, into the postseason. It’s hardly an exciting trade, but it’s one that makes a fair bit of sense for both parties involved.

Jon Heyman of Fancred reported that the Mariners had a deal to acquire Duke (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the return (also via Twitter).

Mariners Place Felix Hernandez, Mitch Haniger On 10-Day DL

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2:44pm: Hernandez is expected to be sidelined for two or three weeks at a minimum, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter).

2:13pm: Both righty Felix Hernandez and outfielder Mitch Haniger are going on the 10-day DL after suffering injuries last night, as the team announced and Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reported on Twitter.

Seattle made a variety of other roster moves, too. Righties Chase De Jong and Casey Fien, lefty Dillon Overton, and outfielder Ben Gamel are all headed onto the MLB roster. Meanwhile, righties Chris Heston and Evan Marshall have each been optioned back to Triple-A.

[RELATED: Updated Mariners Depth Chart]

In Hernandez’s case, he has been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation, as Dutton tweets. But it’s still not entirely clear whether that’s just an isolated issue or if there’s an underlying injury of greater concern causing the problem. The 31-year-old has been knocked around in his first five starts, allowing 14 earned runs on 39 hits.

As for Haniger, he has been a revelation. But an oblique issue will sideline him after 95 plate appearances of .338/.442/.600 hitting. It’s still not known how severe Haniger’s injury is or what kind of timeline he’ll be facing.

Needless to say, these DL placements constitute significant losses for a struggling Seattle club, though perhaps the hope remains that neither player will be out for an extended stretch. The M’s are already staring at a 6.5 game deficit in the AL West.

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