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AL Notes: Tucker, Abreu, Betts, Blue Jays

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The Astros called up top outfield prospect Kyle Tucker from Triple-A today, and that could very well mark the team’s final September promotion, manager A.J. Hinch tells reporters (Twitter links via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Hinch added that Tucker probably won’t play much in the season’s final weeks, though with Tucker having already debuted earlier this summer and his season in Triple-A Fresno over, there’s little reason not to bring Tucker back up. The 21-year-old former No. 5 overall pick hit just .154/.254/.212 in 59 plate appearances with the ’Stros earlier this year, but he decimated Triple-A pitching at a .332/.400/.590 pace, swatting 24 homers and swiping 20 steals along the way.

More from the American League…

  • In an interesting look back at what could have been, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald examines the Red Sox’ initial pursuit of Jose Abreu when he was an international free agent. The BoSox maxed out at six years and $60MM in their pursuit of the vaunted Cuban slugger according to Silverman, but they ultimately lost out when the White Sox offered a total of $68MM guaranteed over that same term. Silverman runs through a series of trickle-down effects, as Boston instead pivoted to re-sign Mike Napoli. That was one of many lackluster offseason moves that set the stage for the ill-fated 2014-15 offseason that saw the Sox sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. There’s little sense in fretting too much over hindsight, but it’s nonetheless an intriguing reminder of the domino effect that so many offseason moves (and non-moves) carry.
  • Mookie Betts exited today’s game with soreness in his left side, the Red Sox announced today. That’s the same issue that caused him to land on the disabled list earlier this summer, but manager Alex Cora tells reporters that this instance was precautionary and not considered serious (Twitter link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic). Betts is expected to see some time at DH in the Red Sox’ upcoming series against the Yankees, with J.D. Martinez lining up in right field in his place.
  • The Blue Jays are making some changes in their scouting department, as first reported by Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Specifically, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reports that pro scouts Jon Bunnell, Dan Evans, Bryan Lambe and Kimball Crossley are being let go. A pair of veteran Jays scouts, Jim Beattie and and Brad Matthews are retiring as well. While some organizations have begun to pare back on their pro scouting staffs, Davidi notes that the Blue Jays are planning on replacing all six of them.

Prospect Notes: Vlad, 2018 Draftees, Twins, Franco, Pitchers

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With the season effectively over for all but a few teams, many front offices and fanbases alike are turning their sights toward the 2019 season and beyond as they hope for better days. With that in mind, here’s a look at some notes on some of the game’s top prospects from around the league…

  • ESPN’s Keith Law named Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. his prospect of the year for a second consecutive season (subscription required), citing familiar questions about his long-term defensive capabilities but adding that there’s “zero question in my mind” that Guerrero is more than ready to thrive against Major League pitching at the moment. As for 2018 draftees, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman and Royals lefty Daniel Lynch have been the two most impressive in his estimation. Gorman destroyed Appalachian League pitching and was promoted to full-season Class-A ball despite only having turned 18 in May. Lynch, a University of Virginia product, split his pro debut between those same two levels and pitched to a 1.58 ERA with a 61-to-8 K/BB ratio in 51 1/3 innings.
  • Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com took a longer-term look at prospects yesterday, attempting to forecast who will be the top-ranked prospects this time a year from now. With names like Guerrero, Eloy Jimenez, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Kyle Tucker all expected to graduate from prospect lists next year, Callis and Mayo tab Twins shortstop Royce Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick from 2017, as their pick to be the game’s top prospect a year from now. More encouraging for Twins fans is that 2016 first-rounder and outfielder Alex Kirilloff, who missed the 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery, lands third on the same list after hitting .348/.392/.578 between Class-A and Class-A Advanced in his return from that surgery.
  • Meanwhile, Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser writes that Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been tabbed as BA’s breakout prospect of 2018. (Franco also appears on the previously mentioned lists from Law and MLB.com.) The 17-year-old Franco grew up living next to Indians superstar Jose Ramirez in the Dominican Republic and calls his childhood neighbor and friend his “idol” and greatest influence as a hitter. Glaser speaks to Franco about his relationship with Ramirez and his progress in 2018, and he also chats with Franco’s Appalachian League manager, Danny Sheaffer, about the young phenom’s strengths and upside. Franco was one of just two 17-year-olds playing in the Appy League this year but crushed older pitching to the tune of a .351/.418/.587 slash with 11 homers, 10 doubles and seven triples in 273 plate appearances.
  • Evaluating pitching prospects is among the most challenging endeavors for teams and online analysts alike. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs recently explored the pitfalls of attempting to do so, suggesting that many mainstream publications (his own past work at Fangraphs included) have leaned too heavily in favor of “power-over-feel” prospects and downplayed the potential significance of players cut from the Shane Bieber cloth — those who possess above-average command and stuff but perhaps not an overpowering arsenal of 60- or 70-grade offerings. McDaniel highlights Tigers righty Matt Manning, White Sox righty Dylan Cease and Rays lefty/first baseman Brendan McKay in examining the various elements that have contributed to this line of thinking in an interesting column that those who avidly follow prospects will want to check out in its entirety.

White Sox Activate Nate Jones

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The White Sox have activated reliever Nate Jones, per a club announcement. That’ll leave the club’s 40-man roster fully occupied.

Jones hit the DL in mid-June with a pronator muscle strain that ended up sapping much of his season. It’s the latest in a string of maladies in the elbow/forearm region of his right arm. Last year, Jones required season-ending nerve repositioning surgery. Previously, he missed virtually all of the 2014 season and part of the 2015 campaign while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

It’s not a particularly promising run of arm health, but it’s hard to ignore the results that Jones has produced in-between DL stints. In particular, he worked 70 2/3 innings of 2.29 ERA ball, with 10.2 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9, in an excellent 2016 season. Though he has thrown only 36 1/3 MLB frames since, Jones has allowed only ten earned runs in that span. He’s still getting swings and misses while pumping upper-nineties heat, though it’s fair also to note that he has also walked five batters per nine.

In the aggregate, as MLBTR’s Connor Byrne recently explored, there’s good reason to imagine the White Sox expect to pick up Jones’s option. It’ll cost $4.65MM, though there’d otherwise be a $1.25MM buyout to pay. For a reliever of his upside, it’s likely a reasonable risk, especially since the deal includes future option seasons as well.

Importantly, while there has been some belief that Jones might be available to the White Sox at a lower price, MLBTR has learned that will not be the case. His contract contemplated two scenarios at its back end. If Jones needed Tommy John surgery before the end of the 2018 season, then there would be a MLB minimum club option in 2019 followed by $3.75MM and $4.25MM club options. If, on the other hand, TJS did not take place, Jones would be controllable via successive club options of $4.65MM and $5.15MM, with a $6MM mutual option for the 2021 campaign.

Now, any uncertainty about the contract values has been resolved: the latter scenario will govern from this point forward. That means that the cost is somewhat higher and, perhaps more importantly, that there are only two more seasons available for control via club option (with the third being a rarely exercised mutual option).

That certainly makes for a tougher decision and raises the stakes somewhat for Jones’s late-season return. Barring a truly worrisome performance, though, it seems fair to guess that the White Sox are rather likely to roll the dice that Jones will be able to stay on the mound in 2019.

White Sox Activate Jose Abreu

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve activated first baseman Jose Abreu from the 10-day disabled list. He’d been out since mid-August after being rushed to the hospital due to lower abdominal pain and eventually undergoing an emergency testicular torsion surgery.

Abreu, 33, missed about three weeks of action as a result of the surgery and could ultimately fall shy of a fifth consecutive 25-homer, 100-RBI season to open his big league career. The Cuban-born slugger struggled through a disappointing first half but was on absolute fire in the second half prior to his surgery, hitting at a .330/.394/.652 clip through 127 plate appearances between the All-Star Game and his most recent game played (Aug. 20).

Despite his standing as a productive veteran slugger on a team that has rebuilding for the past two-plus years, Abreu hasn’t been rumored to be much of a trade candidate this year. He’ll be a free agent following the 2019 season, as things currently stand, though the Sox have in the past suggested that there’d be interest in keeping their clubhouse leader around beyond that 2019 campaign. Abreu is playing the 2018 season on a $13MM salary and will be eligible for one final arbitration raise this winter before he’d be scheduled to hit the open market.

Poll: The Handling Of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Eloy Jimenez

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Two of the most talented players in Triple-A will remain there throughout the month of September. Third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Eloy Jimenez will not receive a cup of coffee in the majors this month, per recent announcements from the Blue Jays and White Sox, respectively.

To those well-versed in MLB service time rules and practices, this news induces a reaction closer to a yawn than a surprise; teams have been using the service clock to manipulate team control for quite some time, and there was no reason to believe that would change in regards to Guerrero Jr. or Jimenez. Recent examples of players whose service time has been suppressed by their respective teams in order to yield them an additional year of team control include Kris Bryant, George Springer and Ronald Acuna Jr., and that list is far from complete. Others still, including the likes of Francisco Lindor, have been held in the minors long enough to reduce their earning power.

That doesn’t mean agents are quieting down about the issue, though. Both players’ representatives have been vocal in regards to their clients’ dearth of a promotion, as well they ought to be considering they’ll miss out on a significant amount of money. Jimenez’ agent in particular blasted with White Sox for service time manipulation. “Especially with elite players like Eloy and (Blue Jays top prospect) Vlad (Guerrero) Jr., that’s the nature of the business,” said Dan Kinzer. “It’s not about the money. It’s the extra year of control.” Similarly, the MLBPA has spoken out against Chicago and Toronto on the subject.

Perhaps J.J. Cooper of Baseball America put it best in his recent piece on the subject: it’s impossible to objectively argue that these players don’t deserve a call up based on performance. Guerrero Jr. has hit .336/.414/.564 with a microscopic 7.8% strikeout rate since his promotion to Triple-A this season, while Jimenez owns an even more excellent .355/.399/.597 line to go along with a 13.2% strikeout rate. Put simply, opposing pitchers aren’t fooling these prospects, and there’s no real reason development-wise that they ought not be exposed to major-league pitching. That’s particularly true in light of the fact that the White Sox promoted low-ceiling prospect Ryan Cordell, while the Blue Jays selected Triple-A veteran Rowdy Tellez. Whatever good there is to say of these young players, any attempt to argue that they’ve done more to earn a promotion than Guerrero Jr. or Jimenez would require a staggering amount of cognitive dissonance.

These teams are clearly planning to restrain their top prospects within the confines of Triple-A until the third week of April 2019, regardless of how well they hit. That’s the point at which they’ll be guaranteed an additional year of team control that allows them to keep those future superstars around through the 2026 season rather than hit free agency after 2025. It’s a distinction that could potentially cost them eight figures in earning power apiece depending on how they develop in the majors.

The question I want to pose is, how do you feel about the overt suppression of service time to manipulate a player’s team control? (Poll link for app users)

 

White Sox Outright Tyler Danish

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The White Sox outrighted right-hander Tyler Danish to Triple-A Charlotte, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Twitter link).  This is the second time that Danish has been outrighted, as he was also removed from Chicago’s 40-man roster last November.

A second-rounder for the Sox in the 2013 draft, Danish has seen only sparing big league action in each of the last three seasons, with a career total of 13 innings over 11 games (one of them a start).  In total, the right-hander has a 4.85 ERA and more walks (13) than strikeouts (11) over his brief time as a big leaguer.

Danish has also posted middling numbers as a starter at the Double-A and Triple-A levels, though he showed some improvement this season pitching largely as a reliever in Charlotte, with a 3.01 ERA over 71 2/3 IP and 33 total appearances, 31 of which came out of the bullpen.  Danish doesn’t miss many bats (6.0 K/9 in his minor league career), though he has been able to generate grounders, as his 50.2% ground-ball rate for Charlotte this season actually represents his lowest grounder rate over his six minor league campaigns.

White Sox Select Rob Scahill, Place Michael Kopech On 60-Day DL

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The White Sox have purchased reliever Rob Scahill’s contract from Triple-A Charlotte and placed right-hander Michael Kopech on the 60-day disabled list, per a team announcement.

Scahill, whom the White Sox signed to a minor league deal last December,  is set to pitch in the majors for the first time this year. But Scahill’s addition to Chicago’s roster comes under terrible circumstances for the club, which found out Friday that the prized Kopech, 22, is likely to require Tommy John surgery just four appearances into his big league career.

The 31-year-old Scahill was with Kopech in Charlotte, where the former posted a disastrous 5.64 ERA despite solid peripherals over 60 2/3 innings. Scahill registered 10.53 K/9 against 3.71 BB/9 with a 49.7 percent groundball rate during that span, and he also logged a 3.23 FIP/3.19 xFIP.

A former Rockie, Pirate and Brewer, Scahill carries a decent track record in the majors, where he has recorded a 3.79 ERA/4.66 FIP across 144 2/3 frames. Scahill has managed a passable ERA largely because he has induced grounders at an excellent clip (54.8 percent), somewhat helping to offset subpar strikeout and walk rates of 5.97 and 3.48, respectively.

Abreu Recovering From Testicular Torsion Surgery

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  • White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu told reporters today that the surgery he underwent two weeks ago was to repair a testicular torsion, as Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. The issue “blindsided” Abreu and prompted emergency surgery, but the 31-year-old Abreu thankfully revealed that he is in good health and possibly even nearing a return to the playing field. Abreu expressed optimism about being able to play in a game this weekend, though Van Schouwen notes that both manager Rick Renteria and GM Rick Hahn offered a more cautious timetable and said Abreu could miss another week or so. For now, Abreu is doing light cardio exercises as he works his way back.

White Sox Select Jose Ruiz, Outright Matt Skole

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The White Sox announced today that they have selected the contract of righty Jose Ruiz. To open a 40-man spot, the club outrighted infielder Matt Skole to Triple-A.

The move on Ruiz is one that the team announced yesterday, so it comes as no surprise. Of course, the exciting news for him was overshadowed by the team’s decision not to promote top-rated prospect Eloy Jimenez.

As for Skole, 29, he received his first MLB call-up and performed well in four games. But the corner infielder didn’t hit all that much at Triple-A, turning in a .237/.336/.404 slash in five hundred trips to the plate at Charlotte.

White Sox Will Not Promote Eloy Jimenez; Will Select Jose Ruiz

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The White Sox will not promote their top prospect, outfielder Eloy Jimenez, to the majors this season, general manager Rick Hahn confirmed Monday. Meanwhile, they will select young right-hander Jose Ruiz from Double-A Birmingham, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. Adding Ruiz will require a corresponding 40-man move, as Chicago’s currently at capacity.

The fact that Jimenez won’t come up this year is no surprise, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported over the weekend that the Triple-A star would not debut in the majors until 2019. Indeed, Hahn said (via Van Schouwen) that Jimenez is “very well positioned to make a significant impact at the big league level” next season. For now, “it’s in everyone’s best interest” for the team to hold off on promoting Jimenez, Hahn added.

“We’re not trying to develop a 21-year-old DH,” continued Hahn, suggesting Jimenez still has to improve his defense (via James Fegan of The Athletic).

That may be true, but it won’t win over Jimenez’s agents, who discussed their client with Jon Heyman of Fancred last week.

“How can you say with a straight face this guy needs to work on anything?” asked one of his representatives, Paul Kinzer. “What’s he need to work on?”

Meanwhile, fellow Jimenez rep Nelson Montes De Oca suggested service time is the driving force behind Chicago’s decision not to promote him this year. Keeping Jimenez out of the majors until the third week of 2019 campaign will enable the White Sox to control him for an extra year, after all, and it’s clear he has done more than enough offensively to earn a call-up. Since moving from Birmingham to Triple-A Charlotte in June, Jimenez has further cemented his place as an elite prospect by slashing an incredible .355/.399/.597 with 12 home runs and a .242 ISO in 228 plate appearances. Next, he’s likely to continue his development in winter ball, per Hahn (via Fegan).

Unlike Jimenez, Ruiz is far from an elite prospect, but MLB.com does rank him 24th in an impressive Chicago farm system. A former catcher in San Diego’s system, the Padres converted Ruiz into a pitcher but ultimately lost him on waivers to the White Sox last winter. The hard-throwing 23-year-old has a chance to develop into an impact reliever for the White Sox, MLB.com suggests, and he made his mark in Birmingham this season by logging a 3.18 ERA/2.84 FIP with 10.92 K/9 and 3.77 BB/9 in 45 1/3 innings.

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