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Cardinals Add Three To Summer Camp Roster

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The Cardinals have added right-hander Seth Elledge and lefties Zack Thompson and Rob Kaminsky to their Summer Camp roster at Busch Stadium, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers tweets. Doing so means each has been added to the team’s 60-man player pool. The Cardinals’ initial pool contained 44 players, and they’ve since added third baseman Elehuris Montero to camp as well (although he was recently diagnosed with COVID-19, as were southpaws Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez).

Thompson, 22, is both the most highly regarded of today’s trio of additions and also the furthest from the Majors. The University of Kentucky product was the Cardinals’ first-round pick (No. 19 overall) in 2019 and ranks as their No. 5 prospect at FanGraphs and MLB.com. Thompson, however, only pitched two innings of Rookie ball and 13 1/3 frames with the Cards’ Class-A Advanced club in 2019. His inclusion is likely more for developmental purposes than due to his status a a legitimate option in 2020. He was seen as something of an injury risk in the ’19 draft but draws praise for a plus curve and above-average changeup. He was with the team during the initial Spring Training and tossed three perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Both Elledge and Kaminsky are more likely to be called upon should a need arise in 2020. Elledge, 24, is a pure bullpen prospect who came to the Cards in the trade that sent Sam Tuivailala to the Mariners. He posted a lackluster 4.26 ERA in 67 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year, but his overall body of work as a pro is sharp — as was his work in the 2019 Arizona Fall League. Elledge has averaged nearly a dozen punchouts per nine innings pitched but also saw his walk rate jump in Triple-A last year (19 free passes in 34 1/3 innings). With John Brebbia out until 2021 (Tommy John surgery) and Jordan Hicks set to open the year on the IL while rehabbing his own Tommy John procedure, Elledge gives the Cards some right-handed relief depth.

Kaminsky, 25, was a first-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2013 but was traded to the Indians for Brandon Moss two years later. Things didn’t pan out for Kaminsky there, and after spending parts of five seasons in Cleveland’s minor league ranks, he became a minor league free agent this winter, ultimately landing with the Cards on a minors deal.

A 2017 forearm injury cost Kaminsky the entire year and may have helped prompt a shift to the bullpen. He was quite good as a reliever in Double-A both in 2018 and 2019, but he struggled in the supercharged offensive environment in Triple-A last year (5.11 ERA, 31-to-14 K/BB ratio in 24 2/3 frames). Like Elledge, he’s a non-roster player but could conceivably see some MLB action in 2020 if the Cardinals need to tap into their depth.

Brandon Guyer Announces Retirement

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Veteran outfielder Brandon Guyer announced his retirement as a player on Monday. In a statement to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), Guyer wrote:

As I sit here and think about my baseball journey, I am so grateful for the life baseball has given me. I met my wife and raised three children in the game, made friendships that will last a lifetime, played on some amazing teams, and traveled the world making memories. None of it would have been possible without all my former teammates, coaches, trainers, friends, and family. Thank you all for being by my side during this amazing ride.

Guyer goes on to make clear that he isn’t walking away from the game entirely — just his time as a player. He’s launched an online training platform, FullyEquippedAthlete.com, and now strives to help shape the careers of a new generation of baseball players with that venture.

A veteran of seven Major League seasons, the now-34-year-old Guyer hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2018. He spent the 2019 season in the White Sox organization but was on the Triple-A injured list for most of the year, and he was cut loose by the Giants right around the time the league initially shut down. He’d signed a minor league pact with San Francisco over the winter.

Guyer split his career between the Rays and the Indians, tallying 517 games and 1487 plate appearances while hitting .250/.339/.388 with 32 home runs, 72 doubles, five triples and 22 stolen bases. While he was never a full-time outfielder, the right-handed-hitting Guyer was a constant thorn in the side for opposing lefties, as evidenced by a career .274/.376/.449 slash against them. Guyer was particularly adept at getting on base when holding the platoon advantage, in no small part due to his league-leading penchant for getting hit by pitches (as explored at great length by FanGraphs’ August Fagerstrom back in 2016). He was also a notable contributor in the Indians’ 2016 World Series run, going 6-for-18 with three RBIs, a double, four walks and, yes, a pair of hit-by-pitches that postseason.

The former fifth-round pick banked more than $7MM in his career (prior to agent fees, taxes, etc.) and will now step into a hands-on role in developing younger talents. Best wishes to Guyer in whatever the game has in store for him next.

Indians Bench Coach Brad Mills Opts Out Of 2020 Season

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Indians bench coach Brad Mills has decided to opt out of the 2020 season and return home, manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Mandy Bell of MLB.com). How Cleveland plans to replace Mills in the dugout and whether he will continue to work for the organization in some sort of remote capacity isn’t clear.

Mills, 63, has spent the better part of two decades coaching for Francona-led teams. He was the Phillies’ first base coach and Red Sox’s bench coach while Francona managed those respective clubs. He’s been on Cleveland’s staff the past seven years, the last six as bench coach. Mills also once took the helm in Houston, managing the Astros from 2010 through most of 2012. Those teams went just 171-274 under his watch, but it’s hard to separate Mills’ performance as manager from the subpar rosters he was working with.

 

2020 Amateur Draft Signings: 7/3/20

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Here are the latest draft deals …

  • The Dodgers have agreed to a $1,622,500 bonus with third-rounder Jake Vogel, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. That’s over a million north of the slot value of the 100th overall pick, so clearly the high-school outfielder represented a draft priority for his home-state club. Vogel had been ticketed for UCLA. Keith Law of The Athletic was most bullish on his outlook, rating him the 77th overall prospect. Law emphasized Vogel’s speed, defense, and quality hitting outlook while noting that he’ll likely always be limited by a lack of power.
  • Likewise, the Indians struck a big deal with a California outfielder plucked in the third round. Petey Halpin inked for $1.525MM, well north of the $610,800 pool allocation. He had been slated to play at the University of Texas. Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs placed Halpin as the 59th-best prospect in the draft class while Law ranked him 50th. While there’s obviously a good deal of talent, it seems scouts are still a bit unsure exactly how Halpin will develop in the long run. Law calls him a “high school outfielder who might move to a corner but doesn’t have clear corner-outfielder power.”
  • A true two-way prospect, second-round draft choice Casey Schmitt has agreed to a $1,147,500 bonus with the Giants, Callis reports on Twitter. The San Diego State product is said to have possible routes to the majors as a power-hitting third baseman and/or solid relief arm. Baseball America ranked him 76th overall on its board. Also landing with the Giants is supplemental second-rounder Nick Swiney. Callis tweets that he’s set to earn $1.2MM ($976,700 slot value). Law was the high man by Swiney by a fair sight, grading him the 22nd overall talent in the draft pool. It’s all a question whether you believe in the strides Swiney showed before the 2020 collegiate campaign was cut short.

Cleveland Indians To Consider Name Change

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In the wake of the potential forthcoming name change of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians appear to be approaching a reckoning of their own. The organization issued a statement on the matter, first disclosing it to Zack Meisel and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) and then publishing it on Twitter.

While the “Indians” moniker hasn’t drawn quite as much ire as the Washington football club’s nickname, there has been pressure on the baseball club for quite some time. Much of the scorn focused on the team’s “Chief Wahoo” logo, which was finally sidelined for its offensive depiction of Native Americans.

No doubt the Cleveland organization saw the writing on the wall and recognized the merits of moving now. High-visibility corporate pressure finally forced the hand of the long-time D.C. NFL institution, but the obvious financial motivation left the club looking all the more craven.

The Indians attempted to walk a line in their official statement, hinting that the name change was already under consideration while also acknowledging that the immediate impetus was tied to “recent social unrest”:

“We have had ongoing discussions organizationally on these issues. The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice. With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.”

There’s no commitment just yet, but The Athletic cites “a source familiar with the club’s thinking” for the proposition that the organization is “prepared to consider changing the team name more seriously than they have before.”

Certainly, it would be difficult to walk this back now and hang onto the moniker for the long haul. Taking this approach does perhaps have the advantage of buying some time and avoiding the sudden crunch facing the Washington football club. It sounds as if the Cleveland organization will launch a process of some kind to make a final determination on the old nickname and a potential replacement.

Indians Sign David Hernandez, Jake Elmore, Steven Baron

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The Indians announced this morning that they’ve signed veteran right-hander David Hernandez, utilityman Jake Elmore and catcher Steven Baron to minor league contracts. Hernandez and Elmore will report to Summer Camp in Cleveland, while Baron will head to the team’s alternate training site in Eastlake, at their Class-A affiliate’s facility. All three have been added to Cleveland’s player pool, bringing their total to 58 players.

Hernandez, 35, wrapped up a two-year deal with the Reds in 2019. He was brilliant in the first season of that contract, pitching to a pristine 2.53 ERA and 3.38 FIP with 9.1 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 over the course of 64 innings. Unfortunately, the second season of the deal was as ugly as the first was impressive; in 42 2/3 innings, Hernandez was clobbered for an 8.02 ERA.

That’s an alarming number, of course, but it should be pointed out that Hernandez was plagued by a sky-high .393 average on balls in play — more than 100 points higher than his career mark. As was the case with many pitchers during last year’s juiced-ball campaign, Hernandez also saw his home-run rate soar (0.76 HR/9 in 2017-18; 1.48 HR/9 in 2019). He’d been in the original Spring Training with the Nationals but was cut loose.

The 32-year-old Elmore has appeared in 217 games and logged 527 plate appearances at the MLB level. Elmore is just a .215/.292/.275 hitter in that time, but he’s demonstrated substantial versatility; in 2013, the Astros used him at every position on the diamond — including catcher and pitcher. Elmore has at least 106 innings at all four infield spots, 234 innings in the outfield (including 14 in center) and has also caught 4 1/3 innings and pitched two frames (one run allowed) in the Majors.

Baron, 29, was the No. 33 overall pick by the Mariners back in 2009 but has never gotten much of a look in the big leagues. In 26 plate appearances, he’s batted .115/.115/.154. Baron is a veteran of 11 minor league seasons, though, and is widely regarded as a strong defensive backstop. He routinely posts strong framing marks in the minors and boasts a huge 39 percent caught-stealing rate in those 11 seasons. In 678 Triple-A plate appearances, Baron is a .237/.299/.313 hitter.

Delino DeShields Jr. Tests Positive For COVID-19

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Indians outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. has tested positive for COVID-19, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters this morning at the team’s summer camp (Twitter link via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal). DeShields is experiencing some symptoms, though they’re thankfully said to be mild in nature at this point. For the time being, he remains at home and will need a pair of negative tests before he can travel and join the club in Cleveland.

DeShields, 27, was acquired alongside right-hander Emmanuel Clase in the trade that sent two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber from Cleveland to Texas over the winter. He’s part of a crowded Indians outfield mix that currently has plenty of options but lacks much definition outside regular playing time for impressive young center fielder Oscar Mercado. In 408 plate appearances with the Rangers last year, the fleet-footed DeShields hit .249/.325/.347 with four homers, 15 doubles, four triples and 24 stolen bases.

Indians Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

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Today marks the deadline for teams to submit to Major League Baseball their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.

The Indians’ initial player pool consists of the following players.

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Amateur Draft Signings: 6/27/20

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The latest draft signings…

Latest News

  • The Brewers have signed third-rounder Zavier Warren, who made the news official today on his own Twitter feed.  Warren will receive “slightly” less than the $637.6K slot value attached to the 92nd overall pick, Tony Paul of the Detroit News reports (Twitter link).  Milwaukee is also reportedly close to an official agreement with fifth-round pick Hayden Cantrelle, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports that Cantrelle took his physical earlier this week and will receive a below-slot deal.  Cantrelle’s 151st overall draft position has a $353.7K slot value.  [UPDATE: Cantrelle has signed for $300K, as per Robert Murray]

Earlier Today

  • The Reds inked third-round pick Bryce Bonnin and fifth-rounder Joe Boyle, as reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Details on Boyle’s bonus aren’t yet known, though Bonnin signed for $700K, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis.  This falls slightly below the $721.9K slot value attached to the 84th overall pick.  Bonnin is a right-handed pitcher from Texas who previously went to the Cubs as a 26th-rounder in 2017. After attending Arkansas, Bonnin transferred to Texas Tech and became their Sunday starter in 2019, helping his club to a 12-1 record on days he took the hill. He finished the year with a 4.08 ERA before struggling over his four starts in 2020 (7.36 ERA).
  • Second-round pick Logan Allen signed yesterday with the Indians, but the financial details of his deal have come in. Allen signed for $1.125MM, a touch below slot ($1,276,400), tweets Callis. Allen was a two-way player in college, but like the Indians’ other Logan Allen, the southpaw’s most likely future is on the hill.
  • The Pirates announced today that they’ve signed fifth-round pick Logan Hofmann, with details first reported by Marc Delucchi and confirmed by Callis. Hofmann will receive a $125K signing bonus, which is under the $402K slot value for the 138th overall selection. Hofmann is a right-handed pitcher from Northwestern State, where he didn’t concede an earned run in 28 IP this spring.
  • The White Sox have signed fifth-rounder Bailey Horn, according to Callis. Horn, a left-handed pitcher from Auburn, will earn $150K, which comes in at less than half of the $386,600 slot value for the 142nd pick. Per Callis, Horn features a four-pitch mix, of which the slider is his best offering. By signing Horn and second-rounder Jared Kelley today, the White Sox now have all five of their draft picks under contract.

Latest On Teams With Positive Coronavirus Tests

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After multiple members of the Texas Rangers organization tested positive for COVID-19, some employees told ESPN that they “fear for their health and hope the organization will allow employees to work from home after feeling pressure to come into the office,” per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That’s a troubling revelation coming out of Texas, and a reminder of the power that employers yield over their workers during this difficult time. The Rangers, of course, will have the opportunity to reassess their work-from-home policies in light of these positive tests – and hopefully do so. Given unemployment rates around the country, those with highly-coveted positions within sports franchises are in a difficult position should they disagree with their employers in terms of readiness to return to work. None of the Rangers’ positive tests belonged to players, coaches, or baseball personnel, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Teams generally face less public scrutiny with how they handle non-baseball-personnel staff, so let’s see how a couple other teams are handling confirmed positive tests…

  • The Brewers are newly among those clubs with positive COVID-19 tests within the organization, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Many of those who tested positive were asymptomatic, but apparently not all of them. It’s unclear at this time if those positive tests were from staff members or players. Regardless, the Brewers are forging ahead, set to bring a group of 45 players to compete for the eventual 30-man regular-season roster. The rest of the 60-man roster will train at the team’s Class A facility in Appleton, Wisconsin. Players will face intake testing for COVID-19 as they arrive at team facilities.
  • The Indians have had players test positive from their homes, the team facility in Arizona, and from the Dominican Republic, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. Team President Chris Antonetti says that the cases have been isolated and there have not been any large-scale breakouts. Interestingly, some staff members have decided to sit out the season, though no players within the organization have as of yet decided to abstain from play. Clearly, the concerns are real across the league, and it’s up to teams to work with their staff and players to make sure everyone feels safe heading into this truncated season. The players face the most visibility, but there are obviously many more employees from every team who will face increased risk in the coming months now that baseball is coming back.
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