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Christian Arroyo

AL East Notes: Pomeranz, Davis, Valencia, Arroyo

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The results of Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz’ recent MRI showed a flexor strain, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports on Twitter. Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com says that Pomeranz describes the strain as “mild” and isn’t too worried about it. Mastrodonato later tweeted that every player who had a flexor strain last season missed at least six weeks, with one exception – Pomeranz. Last year’s injury caused him to spend 10 days on the DL. It should be strongly noted that all of this is simply one year’s worth of statistics, and we’ve yet to hear any announcement on Boston’s plans for their starter. Pomeranz pitched to a 3.32 ERA across 30 starts last season for the Red Sox, striking out just over a batter per inning while posting a 43.2% ground ball rate. He’s slated to become a free agent following the 2018 season.

Elsewhere in the American League’s Eastern Division…

  • Speaking of injuries, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis had an MRI on his right forearm, but it turns out that there’s no structural damage. Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun was first with the news on Twitter. Manager Buck Showalter had previously described the concern with Davis as a “flexor mass” issue (via Dan Connolly of baltimorebaseball.com). The Orioles will be hoping that Davis can stay healthy and bounce back this year after a rough 2017 season during which he homered 26 times but struck out in a whopping 37.2% of his plate appearances en route to a more pedestrian performance overall. He’ll enter the 2018 season at the age of 32; it’s the third year of a seven-year contract with Baltimore that guarantees him a total of $161MM.
  • In other Orioles news, the recently-signed Danny Valencia has no plans to go to the minors if the team opts not to add him to the major league roster, according to a piece by Rich Dubroff of pressboxonline.com. “I have nothing to prove down there,” Valencia said. “I’ve been a productive big leaguer… Obviously, you want to be in the big leagues and I think it’ll all work out.” Valencia had been reasonably productive for the Blue Jays and A’s across the 2015-2016 seasons, posting 3.2 fWAR while hammering 35 homers during that span. It’s tough to peg the value of his performance as a Mariner last year, however, as formulas like bWAR, fWAR and WARP varied greatly in their outputs.
  • Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times details the story of how new Rays infielder Christian Arroyo was raised by a single mother. Kim Arroyo worked ten-hour shifts on the casino floor at Hard Rock in order to support her son. But as he grew up, she still managed to find the time to play catch with him and throw batting practice. Kim says she had lots of help from family and friends, but Christian made clear the wealth of credit his mother deserves for what she did for him, and the values she instilled in him while she was raising him. “She did everything she could to make sure we never were struggling, and I never knew we were,” he said.

East Notes: Marlins, Arroyo, E-Rod, Mets

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A 2008 agreement between Miami-Dade county and Jeffrey Loria (and his partners) saw the county fund most of the $515 million government-owned Marlins stadium in Little Havana. In exchange, the county was promised the right to 5 percent of any profits Loria & co. earned if they sold the team within 10 years. Yet Loria’s lawyers have released documents telling the county not to expect any money at all from last year’s $1.2 billion sale of the Marlins, Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald writes. The reasoning from Loria’s camp is that his accountants claim the sale amounted to a net loss of $141MM. The breakdown they offer begins with a $625MM agreed-to underlying value of the franchise, $280MM in debt, circa $300MM in taxes tied to the sale and a write-off of the $30MM fee paid to financial advisors. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez says that the city may sue to collect the taxpayers’ fair share of that $1.2 billion. My message is that this community really allowed you to make a lot of money,” he said on Friday. “He should do the right thing. He made profits, and he made big profits. He should share that with the people who allowed him to do that.”

Here are a few other tidbits from around the league’s Eastern teams…

  • Newly-acquired Rays infielder Christian Arroyo was working out at Tropicana Field on Friday morning, Bill Chastain of MLB.com writes. MLB Pipeline’s 81st overall prospect saw his 2017 season end due to a broken hand, but surgeon Donald Sheridan cleared him for baseball activities after a visit on January 9th. “The hand is great,” Arroyo said. “Right now, it’s about getting back into baseball shape.” The 22-year-old came to Tampa Bay in this winter’s trade that sent Evan Longoria to San Francisco. He hit .192/.244/.304 across 135 plate appearances with the Giants last year in his first taste of big-league action, and figures to be in the Rays’ infield mix for the coming season.
  • Speaking of young players returning from injury, Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez could potentially miss a few starts at the beginning of the season after undergoing right knee patellofemoral ligament reconstruction surgery, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. “[The injury] happened, like, three times already,” Rodriguez pointed out. “I was just trying to fight to pitch with a knee like that. And I did it. Sometimes there would be ups and downs. Now it’s time to get back to the guy I was before I got the surgery.” The 24-year-old southpaw’s had his share of ups and downs across parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. Last season, he put up 137 1/3 innings for the club while striking out 9.83 batters per nine and posting a 4.19 ERA overall.
  • Eduardo Nunez and Todd Frazier are currently the Mets’ leading choices in their search for an infielder, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports via Twitter. They’re apparently leery of getting “used” by Frazier (presumably for leverage) if he prefers the Yankees as his ultimate destination. In addition, the Mets are reportedly reluctant to bring back second baseman Neil Walker, and aren’t getting any traction in their efforts to acquire Josh Harrison from the Pirates. Lastly, Rosenthal adds that the team is interested in signing Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn out of free agency if their prices dip low enough.

Giants Acquire Evan Longoria

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10:04pm: The Associated Press reports that the Rays will pay $14.5MM to the Giants and are responsible to the $13MM that is yet owed to Span. Specifically, the Rays will pay $2MM to the Giants by the end of 2017 to cover Longoria’s $2MM trade bonus, and they’ll also pay another $3MM by Oct. 31, 2022. The remaining $9.5MM, per the AP report, will be deferred in payments from 2025-29.

In essence, then, the Giants are adding $60.5MM to their long-term ledger in order to acquire the final five years of Longoria’s contract. Moreover, it doesn’t appear that San Francisco will take much of a hit at all in terms of the luxury tax. So, when paired with the shedding of Matt Moore’s contract, the move should afford the team ample opportunity to add at least one outfielder on a multi-year deal while remaining comfortably south of the $197MM luxury tax threshold.

7:30pm: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (via Twitter) that the Rays will send between $10MM and $15MM to the Giants to cover a portion of Longoria’s remaining $86MM as well as a $2MM trade bonus.

11:51am: The Rays and Giants have agreed to a deal that will send Evan Longoria to San Francisco. Young infielder Christian Arroyo headlines the return, with veteran outfielder Denard Span going along with him to offset some of Longoria’s salary. Young pitchers Stephen Woods and Matt Krook are also bound for the Tampa Bay organization.

LongoriaInsta

In addition to taking on Span’s contract, Tampa Bay will ship an as-yet-unknown amount of money to the Giants. The 32-year-old Longoria is owed another $86MM between now and 2022, including a $5MM buyout on a $13MM option for the 2023 campaign. He will also receive a $2MM assignment bonus.

Just how much of that will end up on the Giants’ books remains to be learned. The precise cash exchange has yet to be reported. Plus, there’s a bit of uncertainty surrounding Span’s future obligations. He is owed $9MM for 2018, along with a $4MM buyout of a $12MM mutual option for the ensuing season. Those obligations seem destined for San Francisco, but it’s not yet clear what’ll happen with the remaining $3MM signing bonus payment owed to Span in one month.

For both organizations, there’s quite a bit of risk in a transaction involving Longoria. The Giants are taking on a high-priced player who struggled to a career-low .261/.313/.424 batting line in 2017 — adding to a collection of costly, aging veterans. But the Rays are parting with the long-time face of the franchise.

If Longo can bounce back, the rewards could be significant. His days of top-level offensive production are likely in the past, but Longoria was a .273/.318/.521 hitter as recently as 2016, when he also swatted 36 home runs. Of course, that followed two less-than-excellent campaigns, so the overall trajectory of late has framed Longoria more as a solidly above-average hitter than an excellent one.

That said, it’s important to bear in mind that Longoria has also long delivered value with his glove. Though Defensive Runs Saved had observed a downturn of late, it credited him with a substantial bounceback (+11 runs) in 2017. Despite the tepid offensive output, then, Longoria contributed 3.6 rWAR and 2.5 fWAR in 2017.

In return for Longoria, the Rays will get not only salary relief but also some young talent. Arroyo is the chief piece here. He had a messy MLB debut and missed time due to injury in 2017, but is only 22 years of age and destroyed Triple-A pitching in a limited sample in the just-completed campaign. In the best-case scenario for the Rays, Arroyo may be able to compete for a job out of camp.

Span’s inclusion is mostly about cost. Still, he remains a useful player even as he closes in on his 34th birthday. In 2017, Span slashed .272/.329/.427 with a dozen home runs over 542 plate appearances. Though he’s no longer really capable of regular time in center and has battled through core and hip injuries in recent years, Span ought to be capable of at least average work in a corner spot and has long been a productive baserunner.

Padding the return here for the Rays are a pair of interesting young arms. As Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs tweets, both have quality stuff that still remains to be harnessed. The 22-year-old Woods just threw 110 innings of 2.95 ERA ball at the Class A level, with 9.2 K/9 against 5.2 BB/9. The righty is considered a relief prospect, as is the left-handed Krook, who will play the coming season at 23 years of age. Krook was unsigned as a first-round pick in 2013 and landed with the Giants as a fourth-rounder in 2016. Over his 91 1/3 frames at High-A in the just-competed season, Krook worked to a 5.12 ERA with 10.3 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9.

For the Rays, this move may be a precursor to further action. The club has been in talks on closer Alex Colome all winter. Many anticipate the team will trade a starter, with star Chris Archer representing the most intriguing possibility. Replacing Longoria with Arroyo means there’s arguably still some excess infield depth to work from. And Span could either be used as a part-time player or sent elsewhere to realize further cost savings.

The Giants, meanwhile, still have needs and will be looking to fill them without going over the luxury tax line. It seems this swap won’t impact their spending capacity too significantly, since the average annual values of the two contracts involved aren’t too far apart. But the move takes one outfielder out of the equation while filling the gap at third, possibly leaving the Giants still searching for both a center and corner piece.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported Longoria was going via trade (via Twitter). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (links to Twitter) and Robert Murray of Fan Rag (via Twitter) reported the other pieces involved. Murray was first to note on Twitter that the sides had struck a deal, with Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link) and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link) mentioning the key names involved.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Nationals, Hamilton, Stanton, Brewers

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The Nationals are checking over the market for starters, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription required). While the team’s potential targets aren’t yet clear, Rosenthal does list two interesting options, both of whom were among the names we floated as hypothetical candidates in our review of the Nats’ offseason outlook. Gerrit Cole of the Pirates could be a name to watch on the trade market, says Rosenthal. And the Nationals are “kicking around” a pursuit of free agent Jake Arrieta, per the report. Certainly, the club’s numerous dealings with Scott Boras make that possible match one to keep an eye on. It’s certainly still possible the Nationals will go in any number of different directions in filling out their rotation, though the report does suggest the team shouldn’t be ruled out for a significant addition.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • Billy Hamilton is generating the most interest of any potential Reds trade pieces, Rosenthal also reports. Hamilton, obviously, is a limited offensive player due to a lack of power and on-base skills, but his baserunning and defensive skills are among the game’s elite. If the Reds do ultimately find an offer to their liking for Hamilton — he’s arb-eligible for two more years and projected to earn $5MM next season by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz — Rosenthal writes that they’d likely sign a short-term stopgap in center field rather than play a corner option out of position.
  • Both the Giants and Cardinals are now out of the running to land Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins, but their pursuits still carry some information worthy of note. In the case of San Francisco, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links) that many of the players rumored to have been in the teams’ agreed-upon trade package were not, in fact, slated to be moved. None of Joe Panik, Tyler Beede, Chris Shaw, Heliot Ramos, and Christian Arroyo would have been dealt, per the report. Meanwhile, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that the Cards would have absorbed about $250MM of the $295MM still owed to Stanton.
  • Brewers GM David Stearns chatted with the team’s beat writers, including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, in advance of the Winter Meetings. Regarding the team’s rotation needs, Stearns says that the organization’s “market and history” under his stewardship are “a better indicator of the types of moves we’re seeking than some of the external speculation.” That seemingly hints that the organization won’t be chasing high-end free agents, though perhaps some of the top pitchers could still be considered in the right circumstances. He noted that lefty Josh Hader could yet end up “in a multi-inning relief role, similar to last year, or a more conventional starter role.” While the team wants to ensure Hader is able to “accumulate innings,” its winter moves could dictate his precise usage. Generally, Stearns said the club has many talks at various stages of development, though nothing that is nearing completion as of this particular moment.

Giants Designate Conor Gillaspie For Assignment

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Following last night’s game, the Giants designated third baseman Conor Gillaspie for assignment and optioned infielder Jae-gyun Hwang back to Triple-A Sacramento, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area writes. In their place, the Giants have recalled infield/outfield prospect Ryder Jones from Sacramento and activated outfielder Jarrett Parker from the disabled list.

Gillaspie, 30, returned to the Giants organization for a second stint in 2016 and hit ..262/.307/.440 in 205 regular-season plate appearance before emerging as a postseason hero and cementing himself in Giants lore. With the Giants and Mets locked into a scoreless Madison Bumgarner vs. Noah Syndergaard pitching duel, it was Gillaspie who eventually broke the deadlock with a dramatic one-out, three-run homer in the ninth inning against New York closer Jeurys Familia. Gillaspie would later have a 4-for-4 showing in the decisive Game 4 of the NLDS, though the Giants nonetheless dropped that game and series to the eventual World Champion Cubs.

This season, however, has been entirely different for Gillaspie. He’s spent roughly two months of the year on the disabled list due to ongoing back spasms and back discomfort, and when he’s been healthy enough to take the field, he’s been unproductive in a limited role. Through 87 plate appearances, he’s hitting .163/.218/.288 with a pair of homers.

Notably, Pavlovic suggests that Jones will get the opportunity to establish himself as an everyday player in the wake of Wednesday’s late-night moves. The 23-year-old former second-round pick (2013) has enjoyed an excellent season in Triple-A, hitting .312/.396/.574 with 13 homers, 19 doubles and a pair of triples through 273 plate appearances. He didn’t get a lengthy look in his initial audition with the Giants earlier in 2017, but it seems that San Francisco decision-makers are prepared to see what they have on their hands in Jones as they seek to evaluate their needs for the 2018 campaign.

Jones also has experience in the outfield corners and at first base, so he could settle in as a versatile semi-regular, even if Christian Arroyo returns in 2018 and lays claim to the third base role. However, Pavlovic explains that Arroyo, like fellow prospects Austin Slater and Tyler Beede, may not make it back to the field at all in 2017 due to injury. Arroyo suffered a fractured hand when he was hit by a pitch in Triple-A earlier this month.

NL West Notes: A-Gon, Pollock, Nunez, Arroyo, Espinoza, Padres

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Adrian Gonzalez’s season and possibly even his long-term playing future have been threatened by his recurring back problems, but the Dodgers first baseman tells Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times that he intends to return to the field in September even if his back is still bothering him.  “Put it this way: Even if I’m not quote-unquote 100%, I’m still going to go in September because what I have is what I have,” Gonzalez said.  “If it doesn’t get better with all this time off, it’s not going to get better, so I might as well learn to play with medication.”  If he isn’t healthy enough for regular play, Gonzalez said he is happy to take a pinch-hitting role or to cede playing time to Cody Bellinger since “I’m just here to win. It’s not about, ‘It’s my position,’ or, ‘It’s his position.’ It’s about winning as a team.”  The piece is well worth a full read, as Gonzalez also discusses how his back problems have raised the question of retirement.

Here’s more from around the NL West…

  • Outfielder A.J. Pollock has officially returned to action for the Diamondbacks, with the club announcing that he has been activated from the 10-day DL after a lengthy absence owing to a groin strain. Arizona hasn’t encountered any real troubles in his absence, but the return promises to make for an even more compelling roster. The surprising D-Backs not only seem a shoe-in for a Wild Card spot, but currently sit just two-and-a-half games out of the NL West lead.
  • Eduardo Nunez didn’t play in a scheduled rehab game on Sunday due to continued discomfort in his ailing hamstring, and the Giants infielder may not return to action until after the All-Star break, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Nunez, who has been on the DL since June 24, is perhaps the Giants’ clearest trade chip as the club prepares to be deadline sellers.  If he can’t return until after the break, Nunez will have just over two weeks to keep up his solid pre-injury production and prove to interested trade suitors that he is healthy, or else the Giants will have trouble gaining full value in a deal.
  • Christian Arroyo suffered a fractured left hand after being hit by a pitch in minor league action on Saturday, and the Giants prospect is in danger of missing the rest of the season, MLB.com’s Chris Haft writes.  Manager Bruce Bochy said he was hoping Arroyo would be healthy in time to be a September call-up for the Giants.  Arroyo made his big league debut earlier this season and hit just .192/.244/.304 in 135 plate appearances, though San Francisco obviously wants to give one of its most highly-touted young players more experience in the Show.  Arroyo’s development has already been stalled by another hand injury in June; in fact, Arroyo’s first game back from that prior injury was Saturday’s contest.
  • Padres relievers Craig Stammen and Kirby Yates are under-the-radar candidates to be moved at the deadline, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune write as part of a reader mailbag.  Stammen has a 4.53 ERA in 45 2/3 IP, a number that is somewhat inflated by a few bad outings; 10 of Stammen’s 23 earned runs this year came during a three-game stretch in April, plus he allowed a grand slam in his last game.  Yates, meanwhile has an outstanding 2.08 ERA, 14.2 K/9 and 5.13 K/BB rate over 26 IP since being claimed off waivers from the Angels in April.  Neither pitcher is likely to net the Padres a big return in a trade, though as Lin notes, San Diego has little in the way of healthy trade chips aside from Brad Hand.
  • Also from Lin’s mailbag, he reports that star pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza is playing catch but hasn’t yet thrown off a mound.  Espinoza has yet to pitch at all this season after suffering forearm tightness in early April, and then additional soreness in May that led to a shutdown.  The Padres, as you might expect, are taking it slow with Espinoza’s recovery given his long-term value to the organization.  Lin notes that Espinoza might possibly not pitch at all this summer, as it will still be a while before the young righty is ready for game action.

Giants Activate Hunter Pence, Option Christian Arroyo

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The Giants have activated right fielder Hunter Pence from the disabled list and optioned infielder Christian Arroyo to Triple-A, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report (Twitter link).

Pence hasn’t taken an at-bat since May 12 on account of a left hamstring strain. Before Pence landed on the shelf, the normally steady veteran batted a meek .243/.289/.338 in 149 plate appearances. But the other right fielders the Giants have used this year, the just-designated Justin Ruggiano, Mac Williamson and Austin Slater, have each posted worse batting lines than Pence over a combined 106 trips to the plate. Now, if the 23-34 Giants are going to get back into the playoff race, they’ll need the 34-year-old Pence to return to his typical form. Entering Sunday, San Francisco sits 12 games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers and 10.5 out of a wild-card spot.

Arroyo, whom the Giants promoted in late April, didn’t help their cause in his first taste of major league action. The 22-year-old has been on various top 100 prospect lists (MLB.com currently ranks him 79th), but he hit a woeful .197/.244/.304 and totaled 32 strikeouts against eight walks in his initial big league call-up. Arroyo primarily played third base, where Eduardo Nunez has rebounded offensively since a rough April, and also picked up some middle infield experience.

NL West Notes: Kazmir, Segedin, Arroyo, Margot, Bettis, Wall

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says that starting pitcher Scott Kazmir’s velocity is up to 90-92 MPH as he rehabs his injured hip, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. That’s close to Kazmir’s typical regular-season velocity, which has sat in the low 90s over the past several seasons. It’s still unclear when Kazmir will return to the team, however. The hip has been an ongoing problem for Kazmir, as has his velocity, which was well below 90 MPH at various points in Spring Training. He has not yet pitched in the Majors or minors this season. As long as their other pitchers remain healthy, though, the Dodgers should be able to get by without him — they have Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Brandon McCarthy already available and Hyun-Jin Ryu and Julio Urias waiting in the wings. Here’s more from the NL West.

  • Dodgers corner infielder Rob Segedin is set to have wrist surgery on Wednesday and will miss four to six weeks, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. Segedin was hurt while batting as he was rehabbing an earlier injury to his toe. The 28-year-old was one of Triple-A Oklahoma City’s top hitters last year, and he was off to a good start before succumbing to injury last month, batting .324/.342/.541 in 38 plate appearances. He’s also collected 87 big-league plate appearances over the last two seasons.
  • With Giants rookie Christian Arroyo going through an extended lull at the plate, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that it’s plausible to imagine him being optioned. With Aaron Hill and Conor Gillaspie both nearing returns from injury, and some alternatives on hand at Triple-A, San Francisco may have little choice but to see if it can get more production elsewhere — while letting Arroyo iron out the kinks back at Sacramento. As SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee further writes, the move makes all the more sense when considering the fact that Eduardo Nunez’s glove likely doesn’t belong in left field.
  • The Padres have placed young center fielder Manuel Margot in a walking boot as a precautionary measure, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Margot’s calf issue is likely to send him to the 10-day DL, it seems, though the team is waiting to make a final decision. Through exactly 200 plate appearances on the year, Margot is hitting .259/.305/.389 with four home runs and five stolen bases (albeit in ten attempts).
  • Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis sees pitching in the big leagues this season as a “realistic goal” as he continues to recover from testicular cancer, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes. “The way I see it, it’s going to happen,” Bettis says. “At what point in time during the season I would be coming back is all kind of up in the air. But it’s something that I’m going to be pushing to get to.” Bettis had surgery during the offseason but learned in Spring Training that the cancer had returned, weeks before his wife gave birth to his first child. Since then, he’s had several rounds of chemotherapy, although those ended earlier this month. Now, he’s working on throwing at 75 feet and doing cardiovascular work. There’s still no date for his return, however, and he’s watched the Rockies’ strong start from the sidelines. “[I]t’s hard,” he says. “I so wish that I was a part of it.”
  • Rockies prospect Forrest Wall, who had moved from second base to the outfield this year, is slated to miss the rest of the season after suffering a dislocated left shoulder, Vince Lara-Cinisomo of Baseball America writes. The 21-year-old needs surgery, bringing an end to what had been a promising campaign. Taken 35th overall in the 2014 draft, Wall had struggled in 2016. But he was slashing a robust .299/.361/.471 through 98 plate appearances at High-A at the time of his injury.

Giants To Promote Christian Arroyo, Designate Chris Marrero

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5:39pm: Struggling first baseman/outfielder Chris Marrero has been designated for assignment, Shea tweets. In the other corresponding move, veteran utilityman Aaron Hill was sent to the 10-day DL with a forearm strain.

5:24pm: The Giants will promote top infield prospect Christian Arroyo, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter). Also joining the MLB roster is veteran outfielder Drew Stubbs, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link).

Arroyo, who’s still just 21 years old, was taken 25th overall in the 2013 draft. Since, he has steadily moved up the ladder toward the majors, with the Giants facing steadily growing calls to give him a shot at the game’s highest level.

While there have been several opportunities, San Francisco has to this point kept the youngster in the pipeline. Arroyo struggled last year upon making the leap to Double-A, causing him to drop out of Baseball America’s listing of the top-100 prospects (though he remains 89th on MLB.com’s ranking) and further extending his timeline.

But that all changed with the beginning of the current season. The Giants have staggered out of the gates and will now be forced to navigate the tough NL West without ace Madison Bumgarner. Arroyo, meanwhile, has thrived in brief action at the game’s highest level. Through 69 plate appearances, he is slashing a robust .446/.478/.692. While he has drawn just a pair of walks, Arroyo has also gone down on strikes only eight times.

While he has played mostly at shortstop in the minors, Arroyo will line up at third base upon his arrival in San Francisco. Indeed, he’ll plug right into the lineup, taking the sixth spot in the batting order while starting at the hot corner tonight. Eduardo Nunez is playing in left field; presumably, he’ll see a good bit of time there while also stepping into the infield when needed.

Given that the season is only a few weeks old, Arroyo will be set up nicely to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player down the road — assuming, at least, that he can stick in the bigs from this point forward. If he entrenches himself in San Francisco, Arroyo would reach arbitration eligibility in advance of the 2020 season but not qualify for free agency until 2024.

NL West Notes: Kazmir, Arroyo, Rockies, Blash

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Dodgers left-hander Scott Kazmir threw a five-inning simulated game today and told reporters after the outing that he felt better (Twitter links via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times). However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed concern over Kazmir’s velocity to the L.A. media, noting that the southpaw’s fastball was sitting between 82 and 84 mph. Roberts adds that Kazmir is healthy (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick) but now needs to build up sufficient arm strength to restore his velocity. The 33-year-old Kazmir has been slowed this spring by hip tightness that has limited his mobility and hindered his mechanics. He’s vying for a spot at the back of the Dodgers’ rotation and is owed a combined $32MM over the final two seasons of a three-year, $48MM contract (although some of that money is deferred).

More from the division…

  • With Eduardo Nunez entering his final season before free agency, Christian Arroyo could be just one year from serving as the Giants’ primary third baseman, writes John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco GM Bobby Evans wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Arroyo reaching the Majors at some point in 2017, in fact, when asked by Shea. Evans, though, did stress that the emphasis is on first succeeding in Triple-A. Evans noted that from a defensive standpoint, he feels Arroyo is capable of playing any of third base, shortstop or second base, though the Giants obviously have long-term options at both middle infield slots in the form of Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik. Arroyo hit .274/.316/.373 in 119 games as a 21-year-old in the Double-A Eastern League last year.
  • Rockies manager Bud Black said today that a best-case scenario for injured first baseman Ian Desmond and injured catcher Tom Murphy would be for each to return in mid-April (via Thomas Harding of MLB.com). While initial reports suggested that Desmond could be out six weeks, Dr. Donald Sheridan, who performed the surgery on Desmond’s fractured finger, said the operation went so well that the team is now projecting a recovery of four to six weeks. Mark Reynolds, in camp on a minor league deal, figures to make the team and handle first base early in the year in lieu of Desmond.
  • The injury to Padres outfielder Alex Dickerson opens a door for slugger Jabari Blash to get another crack in the Majors, manager Andy Green told reporters on Thursday (including Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune). “Obviously it opens an opportunity for Jabari,” said Green. “We might start entertaining the idea of hitting fly balls to (second/third baseman) Cory Spangenberg to check his versatility level at this point in time, try to give ourselves as many options as possible going into the start of the season.” The 27-year-old Blash was a Rule 5 pick out of the Mariners’ system last year, but the Padres struck a trade to retain his rights and optioned him to the minors before outrighting him off the 40-man roster this past January. Blash struggled in the Majors last year but hit .260/.415/.514 in 229 Triple-A plate appearances.

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