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Orioles Make Several Roster Moves

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The Orioles have placed first baseman Chris Davis on the 60-day injured list with a lower back strain, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The team also made the re-signing of left-hander Wade LeBlanc official. LeBlanc is in the mix for the Orioles’ rotation/long man role, while that is no longer the case for lefty Keegan Akin. The O’s optioned Akin, outfielder Jahmai Jones and infielder Richie Martin, per Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com, and they reassigned lefty Fernando Abad and first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw.

Manager Brandon Hyde implied earlier this week that Davis could be headed for the long-term IL, so this news doesn’t come as any kind of surprise. Nevertheless, it’s the latest unfortunate development for the 35-year-old Davis, whose career has been an abject disaster since the Orioles re-signed him to a seven-year, $161MM contract before 2016.

When Davis received his deal, he had established himself as one of the game’s fiercest sluggers, as he smashed 53 home runs in 2013 – his lone All-Star season – and added another 47 in 2015. Davis was a 38-HR hitter in the first year of his deal, though he has totaled a mere 28 (none during an injury-limited 2020) with a .169/251/.299 in 929 trips to the plate since 2018. The Orioles have stuck with Davis during his massive on-field decline, and he still has another year on his contract after this one.

Orioles Outright Chris Shaw

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The Orioles have outrighted first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to Triple-A Norfolk, per a team announcement. The club designated Shaw for assignment last week, but he cleared waivers.

Shaw has only been with the Baltimore organization for a little over two months, as it claimed him off waivers from San Francisco toward the end of November. The 27-year-old was a prospect of note in his younger days, going 31st overall to the Giants in the 2015 draft and subsequently ranking among their best farmhands on multiple occasions. However, Shaw hasn’t found any real success in the majors to this point, though the sample of work hasn’t been extensive. He collected 82 plate appearances as a Giant from 2018-19 and batted .153/.244/.222 with a 37.8 percent strikeout rate and one home run.

To Shaw’s credit, he has been a pretty successful hitter in the minors, having slashed .279/.340/.520 with 109 homers over 2,189 plate appearances. During his most recent minor league action in 2019, he posted a strong .298/.355/.592 line with 21 HRs across 310 trips to the plate in Triple-A.

Orioles Sign Freddy Galvis, Designate Chris Shaw

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Another shortstop comes off the board. The Baltimore Orioles have signed shortstop Freddy Galvis to a one-year contract, the team announced. The Rep 1 Baseball client will receive $1.5MM with a $250K bonus if he is traded, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). There is not an option for a second year. First baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw was designated for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Shaw, per the club.

Galvis takes over at short for the recently-traded Jose Iglesias, another veteran whom the Orioles signed in free agency. Galvis has long been a starting shortstop in MLB, from his early days with the Phillies to last season with the Cincinnati Reds. He also played for the Blue Jays and Padres in his nine-year career. Durability has been a strength for Galvis. He achieved the rare-for-this-era achievement of appearing in all 162 games in back-to-back seasons with the Phillies in 2017 and Padres in 2018.

Last season with the Reds, Galvis slashed .220/.308/.404 with seven home runs, 8.2 percent walk rate, 18.9 percent strikeout rate and 90 wRC+. The switch-hitting Galvis is largely considered a solid defensive option up the middle. By measure of Statcast’s outs above average, however, Galvis may wield an elite glove. Though he registered -3 OAA in the shortened 2020 season, he finished 8th among shortstops in 2019 with 11 OAA and tied for third with Andrelton Simmons and Francisco Lindor in 2018 with 12 OAA.

Galvis won’t help the Orioles a ton with his bat. He routinely logs below-average hard hit rates, barrel rates, and walk rates. He does a pretty good job of putting the ball in play, however, and his power has jumped a notch with .178 ISO and .184 ISO the past two seasons. He’s also not a burner, finishing in the 28th percentile by sprint speed in 2020. For the Orioles, however, they’ll hope Galvis provides defensive support to their young pitching staff and leadership in the clubhouse. Should he prove productive, he could also serve as a trade chip at the deadline, a possibility for which both player and team are clearly aware, given the trade clause in his contract.

Shaw’s time with the O’s, meanwhile, will apparently prove quite brief. Baltimore claimed him off waivers from the Giants back in late November, and he’ll now very possibly be exposed to waivers a second time. The 27-year-old was once the 31st overall draft pick by the prior San Francisco front-office regime, and he has a solid-looking .280/.328/.538 slash line in about 1000 plate appearances of Triple-A ball. Shaw, though, also has a 30 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A and hasn’t hit well at all in 82 big league plate appearances. The O’s have a week to trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through waivers themselves.

Orioles Claim Chris Shaw, Release Renato Nunez, Designate Thomas Eshelman

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw off waivers from the Giants. Right-hander Thomas Eshelman was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Additionally, the O’s revealed that corner infielder/designated hitter Renato Nunez, whom they designated for assignment last Friday, went unclaimed on waivers and has been released.

Shaw, 26, long seemed like a change-of-scenery candidate for the Giants. The former No. 31 overall draft pick has a productive .280/.328/.538 slash in more than 1000 Triple-A plate appearances, but he’s also struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances there. He made his big league debut in 2018 but still only has 82 plate appearances, as the new-look Giants front office never seemed as bullish on Shaw as the prior regime that drafted him. Shaw was initially omitted from San Francisco’s 60-man player pool this season, and although he was later added, he never got called up to the big leagues. With the O’s, his left-handed bat will get some looks at first base, in the outfield corners and at designated hitter.

The release of Nunez in many ways opens a spot for Shaw to get an opportunity in Baltimore. While Orioles fans were alarmed to see Nunez, who slugged 43 home runs in just over 800 plate appearances from 2019-20, designated for assignment last week, the move wasn’t necessarily a shock.

Nunez has struggled to get on base even while showing considerable power, and he’s a below-average defender at both infield corners. The market for OBP-challenged, defensively limited sluggers has dried up considerably in recent years, and Nunez was due a raise in arbitration. That he went unclaimed speaks to the fact that his one-dimensional skill set isn’t one that’s valued highly around the game at the moment.

As for the 26-year-old Eshelman, he gave the Orioles an aesthetically pleasing 3.89 ERA in 34 2/3 innings this past season, but that mark was likely misleading. Eshelman managed just 16 strikeouts in that time, and while many low-strikeout arms can mitigate damage by keeping the ball on the ground, his 35.9 percent grounder rate makes him a fairly extreme fly-ball pitcher.

Eshelman has just 38 strikeouts in 70 2/3 career innings, and he’s allowed 19 home runs in that time as well — a rate of 2.42 per nine innings pitched. He has a decent minor league track record, but that lack of missed bats and penchant for serving up the long ball has led to a career 5.22 ERA and even higher 6.56 FIP. The Orioles will have a week to trade Eshelman, run him through outright waivers or release him.

Giants Designate Chris Shaw, Aramis Garcia, Jordan Humphreys

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The Giants have designated first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw, catcher Aramis Garcia and right-hander Jordan Humphreys for assignment. They added outfielder Alexander Canario and righties Kervin Castro, Camilo Doval and Gregory Santos to their 40-man roster in corresponding moves.

Shaw was once a well-regarded prospect for the Giants, but the 27-year-old hasn’t gotten an extensive look in the majors yet. He’s the owner of a .153/.244/.222 line in 82 plate appearances as a Giant. Like Shaw, Garcia was seen as a promising farmhand in the past, but he stumbled to a .229/.270/.419  mark in 111 trips to the plate in San Francisco from 2018-19.

Humphreys was the return the Giants received from the Mets for outfielder Billy Hamilton last August. The deal could go down as a wash for both sides, as Hamilton is now a free agent after making little impact with the Mets and Humphreys hasn’t contributed to the Giants. The 24-year-old barely pitched at all from 2018-19 because of arm problems.

Player Pool Additions: Giants, Mets, Rays, Nats

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Teams have been tinkering with their 60-man player pools throughout the 2020 season, at times cutting veterans to make room for prospects and at times cutting bait on some lower-tier organizational pieces in order to make room for more experienced additions (be they via waiver claim, free-agent signing, etc.). There have been several clubs to announce additions to their player pools already Friday, and while such moves seem innocuous, it’s of course worth pointing out that adding a player to the 60-man pool makes him eligible to be traded.

That doesn’t mean all of the players added to pools today are on the trading block — far from it. We’ve also already seen the Marlins (in the Richard Bleier trade) and the Blue Jays (in the Taijuan Walker trade) take advantage of using players to be named later to get around the rule that only players in a 60-man pool are eligible to be traded. Both sent a PTBNL to their trade partner, each of whom is expected to be a non-60-man player that will be announced after the season.

So while not all of today’s additions will change hands, it’s still notable that some of these players now could change hands without needing to be listed as a PTBNL. In that scenario, a new club could get a look at said player at its alternate training site and, if close enough to the Majors, perhaps even promote them in September.

Here’s a quick rundown…

  • The Giants announced that first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw and righty Melvin Adon were added to the 60-man player pool. Shaw, 26, was San Francisco’s first-round pick (No. 31 overall) back in 2015 and rated among the club’s best prospects for several years. His shine has worn off, however, after some shaky showings in the upper minors and the Majors. Shaw carries a .280/.328/.538 slash in 1092 Triple-A plate appearances but has struck out at a 30 percent clip there. He’s hit .153/.244/.222 in 82 big league PAs. Speculatively, he seems like a change-of-scenery candidate. Adon, also 26, received an 80 grade on his heater at FanGraphs this offseason and was called the hardest thrower in the minors by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel. However, they also gave him just 30 command on the 20-80 scale and called his chances of realizing his ceiling low due to his inability to locate. Adon walked 34 batters, hit another and threw 11 wild pitches in 55 1/3 innings last year.
  • The Mets added third baseman Brett Baty, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Baty, 20, was the No. 12 pick in the 2019 draft and is considered to be among the organization’s top prospects. He divided last year between rookie and Low-A ball, where he batted .234/.368/.452 with seven home runs in 228 plate appearances. Now that Baty’s in the fold, the Mets have all of their top five prospects in the player pool — including Andres Gimenez in the Majors — as DiComo points out.
  • Right-hander Brent Honeywell has been added to the Rays’ pool and reported to their alternate site in Port Charlotte, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. The highly touted Honeywell underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2018, hasn’t pitched since and may not take the mound for the Rays this season. By adding Honeywell to their pool, though, the Rays will give the 25-year-old an opportunity to rehab while facing professional hitters, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes. For now, though, “there are still plenty of boxes” for Honeywell to check before he makes his MLB debut, according to manager Kevin Cash.
  • The Nationals already added righty Sterling Sharp and outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa earlier today (as covered here), and this afternoon they announced two more additions: infielders Jackson Cluff and Drew Mendoza. Both have reported to the alternate site in Fredricksburg. Cluff was a 2019 sixth-rounder who spent his first pro season in Single-A, where he batted .229/.320/.367 with five homers and 11 steals in 280 trips to the plate. The 23-year-old is now generally regarded as one of the Nationals’ top 20 prospects. Mendoza, another 2019 draft choice (third round, No. 94), hovers around Washington’s top 10 farmhands at multiple outlets. The 22-year-old also spent 2019 at Single-A, slashing .264/.377/.383 with four HRs and three steals in 239 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/25/20

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Checking in on the latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Deolis Guerra. The 31-year-old righty had been in limbo since the Phillies designated him for assignment last Saturday. Guerra threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, two walks and eight strikeouts from Philly’s bullpen this season before the club booted him from its roster. In all, Guerra has combined for 103 major league frames with a few teams and put up a 4.81 ERA/4.78 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.

Earlier:

  • The Giants have added first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to their 60-man player pool, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Shaw was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 31) who spent the subsequent few seasons as one of the Giants’ top prospects, but the 26-year-old hasn’t made a mark in the big leagues yet. Across 82 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, Shaw has batted .153/.244/.222 with one home run. But Shaw did enjoy a productive 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for a .294/.360/.559 line and 28 homers in 492 trips to the plate.
  • The Marlins have outrighted catcher Ryan Lavarnway to their alternate site, per a team announcement. Lavarnway got off to a 4-for-11 start at the plate this year, but the Marlins designated him for assignment last week to make room for the return of starting backstop Jorge Alfaro from the injured list. The 33-year-old Lavarnway has now seen regular-season action with seven teams since his career began in 2011.
  • The Brewers announced that left-hander Aaron Ashby is now part of their player pool. Ashby, a 2018 fourth-rounder, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 126 innings between Single-A and High-A last season. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks Ashby as the fifth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, writing that the 22-year-old has “nasty” stuff that could work out of the team’s rotation or bullpen down the line.
  • The Rays have outrighted southpaw Sean Gilmartin, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. This is the second time this year the Rays have outrighted Gilmartin, who will head back to their alternate site. He has thrown 4 1/3 innings of four-earned run ball this season with seven hits and four walks (five strikeouts).

Giants Promote Chris Shaw

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2:42pm: The Giants have formally announced Shaw’s promotion to the Majors.

1:24pm: The Giants are set to select the contract of outfielder Chris Shaw, reports Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter). The 2015 first-round pick ranks as the Giants’ No. 4 prospect on MLB.com’s midseason rankings and fifth on Baseball America’s midseason update.

Shaw, 24, has played both first base and left field in the minors but has played the outfield exclusively in 2018. He’s displayed strong power marks to this point in his career but also demonstrated some concerning trends in terms of plate discipline. Thus far in 2018, he’s hit .259/.308/.505 with 24 homers and 21 doubles in 422 plate appearances, but he’s also drawn walks at just a five percent clip while striking out in 34.1 percent of his trips to the plate.

Scouting reports on Shaw generally indicate that he has significant raw power but limited speed that makes him a questionable fit in left field. But, with Brandon Belt entrenched at first base (Shaw’s best defensive position), the Giants will continue to work on the slugger’s outfield defense.

[Related: San Francisco Giants depth chart]

Shaw’s promotion comes on the heels of San Francisco’s trade of Andrew McCutchen to the Yankees earlier this morning. Between that and the season-ending injury to young center fielder Steven Duggar, there should be sufficient playing time available for Shaw in left field. The Giants will get their first look at how Shaw handles big league pitching while they also evaluate young corner outfield options in the form of Austin Slater and Mac Williamson.

Looking ahead, it’s possible that an arrangement of Shaw, Duggar, Slater and Williamson could see the bulk of the outfield work at AT&T Park down the line, though the uncertainty that comes with that mix makes the Giants a logical fit to explore the market for outfield additions this winter.

NL West Notes: Greinke, Thompson, Dodgers, Shaw

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On a day when the Arenado brothers (Nolan and Jonah) were on opposite sites of a Rockies/Giants Spring Training tilt, here are some items from around the NL West…

  • Zack Greinke has been dealing with a lack of velocity and a minor groin injury this spring, but after a 40-pitch bullpen session today, the Diamondbacks ace is hopeful of being ready for the start of the season, he told MLB.com’s Owen Perkins and other reporters.  “If I felt this good every day for the rest of my career, it would be amazing,” Greinke said. “I’ll definitely be making the next outing. I felt healthy and the pitches were pretty good. Hopefully that continues. It should; it was a good day.”  Greinke left a start last Wednesday after just one inning due to mild groin tightness, and though he already seems to be feeling better, manager Torey Lovullo said the club will continue to monitor Greinke’s progress.  The setbacks have cost Greinke the Opening Day assignment, though he could pitch as soon as Arizona’s third game of the season.
  • With several outfielders seemingly ahead of Trayce Thompson on the Dodgers depth chart, the club is expected to explore trading the out-of-options Thompson, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes.  Thompson has shown some promise over three MLB seasons but he hasn’t been the same since suffering back injuries midway through the 2016 season.  Thompson appeared in just 27 games for the Dodgers last season, contributing a meager .483 OPS in 55 plate appearances.  Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor are slated for starting duty in right and center field, respectively, with Thompson, Matt Kemp, Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez, Andrew Toles, and top prospect Alex Verdugo all competing for left field or backup duty.  If a trade partner can’t be found, the Dodgers will risk losing Thompson for nothing, as he would have to pass through waivers before the Dodgers could send him to the minors.
  • Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed his rotation to reporters (including Bill Shaikin) today, with Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, and Hyun-jin Ryu lined up as the Los Angeles starting five.  Beyond those five, however, are some question marks, as Roberts admitted “We don’t have the starting pitching depth that we’ve had in past years.”  That depth allowed the Dodgers to reach the World Series despite DL stints for every member of their pitching staff, and now since Yu Darvish and Brandon McCarthy have both moved on to other teams, L.A. now has Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart, and Walker Buehler as the top depth options.  Tom Koehler was signed over the offseason to bring a veteran arm into the mix, though Koehler is sidelined indefinitely due to a mild AC strain.
  • A year after a surprising position switch, Chris Shaw is hoping to eventually crack the majors as a left fielder, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes.  The Giants already had Brandon Belt at first base, so with Shaw’s natural position blocked, the club began to deploy Shaw in left field as a way of finding a place in the lineup for his intriguing power bat.  Shaw was San Francisco’s first-round pick (31st overall) in the 2015 draft and is ranked as the second-best prospect in the team’s farm system by both MLB.com and Baseball America, making him a key part of the Giants’ future.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Shaw make his Major League debut sometime in 2018, with a potential starting job awaiting him in 2019 if Hunter Pence isn’t re-signed.

Trade Chatter: Dodgers/White Sox, McCutchen, Salazar, Donaldson

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While there’s nothing in the way of details, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com dangles an intriguing nugget of information on Twitter: the Dodgers and White Sox, he says, are “working on a trade.” Beyond observing the obvious — the former is a clear contender and the latter still in a rebuilding stance — it’s hard to say just what might be afoot. While most of Chicago’s most obvious trade assets have already been moved over the past year or so, the team still possesses a few veteran hitters and some interesting young arms that might theoretically be of interest to Los Angeles. And it’s anyone’s guess just what player(s) might have capture the attention of the always-creative Dodgers front office. Anyhow, for now, we’ll take Crasnick’s advice and “stay tuned” for more details to emerge.

A few more notes on the trade market…

  • The Giants and Pirates have had recent discussions about a trade involving Andrew McCutchen, though the two sides aren’t close to a deal, reports MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. The Pirates would want the Giants to include one of the organization’s best prospects — either Heliot Ramos, Chris Shaw or Tyler Beede — in any deal for McCutchen, and San Francisco brass is reluctant to part with additional top talent in an already-thin farm system after giving up Christian Arroyo in the Evan Longoria blockbuster. The 31-year-old McCutchen will earn $14.5MM this season before becoming a free agent next winter. While he had a significant rebound at the plate in 2017 (.279/.363/.486, 28 homers), he also turned in poor defensive metrics in center field for a fourth consecutive season. Upgrading the outfield defense has been a stated priority for the Giants.
  • The Indians are “open” to moving right-hander Danny Salazar, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in his latest notes column (subscription required and strongly recommended). Salazar, 28 next week, has missed time in each of the past two seasons owing to shoulder and elbow injuries. When healthy, the flamethrowing righty has shown the ability to overpower hitters, as evidenced by a career 10.5 K/9 mark and 12.6 percent swinging-strike rate. Salazar, who has two years of club control remaining, comes with a projected arbitration salary of $5.2MM for the 2018 campaign (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) and would be arb-eligible once more next winter. Cleveland doesn’t sound to be shopping him by any means, but the Tribe does have some enviable pitching depth and could stomach the loss if a Salazar trade helped the MLB roster in other ways.
  • One name not currently being discussed on the trade market is Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, Morosi tweets. Toronto isn’t in any active talks regarding Donaldson, which lines up with numerous reports (and comments from GM Ross Atkins) that have indicated the Jays’ desire to field a competitive club in 2018. It stands to reason that an unexpected king’s ransom could change that thinking, especially if it included MLB-ready pieces, but at present it seems more likely that the Jays head into the 2018 season with the former AL MVP in the middle of their order.
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