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Rockies Notes: Blackmon, Bryant, Rolison

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The Rockies put designated hitter Charlie Blackmon on the 10-day injured list yesterday after x-rays revealed a fracture in his right hand. That injury is expected to keep him out of action for four to six weeks, writes Manny Randhawa of MLB.com.

Blackmon was first hurt a week ago when he was hit by a pitch on June 3. He played through the issue for a few days before the break became clear over the weekend. Unsurprisingly, the intervening week was a struggle for the veteran hitter, who collected just three hits in 21 trips to the dish from June 4 onwards.

Prior to being hit by the pitch, Blackmon carried a .277/.356/.447 batting line over 216 trips to the plate. That’s slightly above-average offense even after accounting for his hitter-friendly home park. That marked a decent step up relative to last year’s .264/.314/.419 showing, largely thanks to a strikeout rate that he’d cut from 18.9% to 13.4%.

While he’s certainly not back to his peak, Blackmon had been one of the better hitters in a middling Colorado lineup. He’ll now be out past the All-Star Break and potentially into August, leaving the Rox down another of their veteran players. Colorado has already been without Kris Bryant for nearly two weeks thanks to a bruised left heel.

Foot issues have plagued Bryant off and on since he signed a seven-year free agent deal over the 2021-22 offseason. Plantar fasciitis in his left foot cost him a good chunk of the ’22 season, cutting his year short by the end of July. Bryant acknowledged he’s not entirely past that issue, telling reporters yesterday the plantar fasciitis still “comes and goes” (link via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post).

Bryant indicated he has yet to begin baseball activities and is without a clear timetable for a return. He said this year’s issue hasn’t inhibited him to the extent that last year’s problems had, though it’s still concerning that the foot has given him continued trouble. It’s possible it’s had a deleterious effect on Bryant’s performance, as he hasn’t made his typical level of impact as a Rockie.

The former MVP is hitting .263/.346/.374 in 50 games this season. He carries a .283/.358/.420 slash in just under 400 trips to the dish in a Colorado uniform. Bryant’s strike zone discipline has remained strong, but he’s had surprisingly light power numbers (ten homers, .137 ISO) despite playing half his games at altitude.

Colorado has been hit with the injury bug on the pitching side as well. Things have been particularly tough for former first round draftee Ryan Rolison. The Ole Miss product likely would’ve made his MLB debut by now if not for shoulder surgery that cost him all of 2022 and the first couple months of this season. The Rox reinstated Rolison from the 60-day injured list at the end of May, seemingly opening the door for him to factor in this summer.

While that might still be the case, the 25-year-old is again dealing with shoulder concerns. He left a Triple-A start on June 2 after just one inning because of discomfort. General manager Bill Schmidt said today that Rolison has returned to the club’s Arizona complex to rehab (via MLB.com injury tracker). It’s not clear how long this latest setback is expected to keep him out of game action, but it represents another obstacle for a pitcher trying to crack the back of a flexible Colorado rotation.

Rockies To Select Coco Montes

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12:10 PM: The Rockies have announced the full slate of roster moves surrounding Montes’s call-up, with Antonio Senzatela transferred to the 60-Day injured list to make room for Montes on the 40-man roster while Trejo was optioned to Triple-A to clear space on the active roster. Senzatela has been on the injured list with an elbow strain since early May, while Trejo heads to the minors after slashing .241/.271/.313 in 119 plate appearances for the Rockies this season.

In addition, the club announced that outfielder Charlie Blackmon was being placed on the 10-day IL with a fractured hand, with DNVR’s Patrick Lyons notes could leave Blackmon out of action for several weeks. In 242 plate appearances this season, the 36-year-old veteran has slashed .265/.347/.422, good for a wRC+ of 97. Taking Blackmon’s place on the roster is catcher Brian Serven, who has posted a wRC+ of 43 in 72 big league plate appearances since making his debut with the Rockies last season.

10:21 AM: The Rockies are selecting the contract of infielder Coco Montes, as first reported by Blake Street Banter on Twitter. The club’s 40-man roster is currently at capacity, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Montes on the 40-man, though no such move has been announced at this point.

It’s a long-awaited day for Montes, who was a 15th round pick by the Rockies in the 2018 draft. Now in his sixth season in the Rockies organization, Montes is poised to make his big league debut after slashing an impressive .321/.401/.560 in 59 games at Triple-A this season, a line that converts to a well-above average 126 wRC+ even in the heightened offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. In addition to that impressive slash line, Montes has cut his strikeout rate down to just 23%, which would be his lowest full-season figure since 2019. Montes has paired that reduced strikeout figure with a solid 11.7% walk rate.

While Montes didn’t hit for much power prior to reaching the PCL, with just 34 home runs in 332 minor league games below the Triple-A level from 2018-2022, Montes will nonetheless try to provide a jolt to a Rockies lineup that lost Brendan Rogers before the season and has more recently had to go without both C.J. Cron and Kris Bryant. An infielder who has plenty of experience at each of third base, second base, and shortstop, Montes figures to join an infield mix in Colorado that currently contains Ryan McMahon, Ezequiel Tovar, Harold Castro, and Alan Trejo.

Rockies Sign Jorge Alfaro To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have signed catcher Jorge Alfaro to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

It’s sort of a birthday present for Alfaro, who turns 30 on Sunday. He began the season on a minor league deal with the Red Sox and was assigned to Triple-A Worcester, where he put up an excellent line of .320/.366/.520 through 43 games. That production amounted to a 119 wRC+, indicating he was 19% better than league average.

He had the ability to opt out of that contract on June 1 and July 1 and exercised the first of those opt-outs, hardly a surprise given his hot start to the year. The Red Sox could have prevented Alfaro from getting away by giving him a spot on their roster but decided to stick with their tandem of Reese McGuire and Connor Wong, allowing Alfaro to return to the open market.

Alfaro now finds a new home with the Rockies, an organization that has some question marks in its catching corps. Elias Díaz is the club’s primary backstop and he is having a solid season, hitting .299/.355/.459 for a wRC+ of 107. He’s also been worth three Defensive Runs Saved on defense. However, he was removed from today’s game after he was hit in the mask by a foul ball. “We were cautionary taking him out, based on a blow last night and that one today,” manager Bud Black told Patrick Lyons of DNVR. “I think it made sense to take him out. (Trainer Keith Duggar) is confident that he’s going to be fine. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

The club’s backup is Austin Wynns, who is hitting just .190/.255/.238 this year for a wRC+ of 28. Brian Serven is on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment with Albuquerque, though he’s hitting just .260/.289/.438 at that level for a 64 wRC+ and had a line of .130/.130/.174 in the majors earlier this year.

The Rockies will now add Alfaro into the mix amid those other options. Once a top 100 prospect, Alfaro hasn’t quite clicked in the majors despite continually crushing in the minors. He’s hit .256/.305/.396 in his major league career for a wRC+ of 89 and also received subpar marks for his defensive work.

If Alfaro can get back up to the majors, the timing will potentially be important for his future status. He currently has five years and 83 days of major league service time. Since a new “year” flips over at 172 days, he is currently 89 days shy of the six-year mark that comes with automatic free agency. If he were called up in the middle of July or later and finally had his long-awaited breakout, he would come up short of that mark and could be retained by the Rockies via arbitration for another season. It’s also possible that his new deal contains opt-outs similar to his deal with the Red Sox, though that’s not publicly known at this time.

Rockies Remove Pierce Johnson From Closer Role

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The Rockies will no longer use right-hander Pierce Johnson as the closer, manager Bud Black told the team’s beat (relayed by Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). Black didn’t declare a definitive replacement but pointed to Justin Lawrence and Jake Bird as candidates to step into the role.

Johnson signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal with his hometown club last offseason. It was a roll of the dice from the Colorado front office considering he’d been limited by injury to 14 1/3 innings during his final season as a Padre. Johnson has been healthy in 2023 but hasn’t performed at the level the organization had envisioned.

Over 24 innings, the veteran hurler has been tagged for a 7.50 ERA. He hasn’t had any trouble missing bats, as he’s punching out 27.7% of opponents while picking up swinging strikes at a solid 11.9% clip. Yet his control has been far too inconsistent. Johnson has walked over 14% of batters faced. He’s also surrendered plenty of loud contact, and while it’s unlikely that nearly 40% of balls in play will continue to fall for hits, the combination of free passes and barrels has led to disappointing results.

Johnson’s raw save rate (11 of 13) isn’t bad. Each of his blown saves have come in his last two opportunities, though. A three-run ninth inning to turn a 4-3 lead into a 6-4 loss to the Giants yesterday will lead the club in another direction. Johnson could still play an important role in the Colorado bullpen, but it’ll come in middle to late innings work for the moment.

Lawrence and Bird have each performed much better through the season’s first couple months. The former carries a 3.41 ERA across 34 1/3 innings. A lower-slot righty, Lawrence presents a particularly tough look for same-handed hitters. He’s striking out almost 27% of opponents and generating grounders on over half the batted balls he allows. Lawrence has had scattershot control in years past, but this season’s 9.4% walk rate is tolerable.

Bird, 27, leads Colorado relievers with 41 1/3 innings pitched. He’s sitting on a 3.05 ERA and, like Lawrence, is keeping the ball on the ground at a high level. While a modest 9% swinging strike rate might make it hard for him to continue punching out a quarter of opposing hitters, that shouldn’t be an issue so long as he’s picking up grounders at a near-57% clip.

Injury Notes: Cron, Polanco, Alvarado, Bohm

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Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron has been on the injured list since May 15 due to back spasms and the progress has been slow since then. Manager Bud Black told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post on Tuesday that Cron was at least a week away from baseball activities and Cron himself told Saunders today that he is still experiencing pain and doesn’t have a timetable for return (Twitter links).

It’s undoubtedly a frustrating situation both for Cron and the Rockies. Cron’s first season with the club was 2021 and it went so well that the two sides agreed to an extension. He hit 28 home runs that year and walked in 11% of his plate appearances, finishing the year with a batting line of .281/.375/.530 and wRC+ of 126. He was about to become a free agent when the club signed him for another two years and $14.5MM.

Cron had a slightly diminished overall output last year but still hit 29 home runs and provided above-average first base defense. He was off to a slow start this year, but in a small sample of 36 games and it’s possible the back issue was hampering him before he went on the IL. With that contract now a few months from expiring and the Rockies in last in the NL West, he would have been a logical trade candidate this summer, but any trade talks will obviously be affected by the lingering health issues.

Some other health notes from around the league…

  • Twins second baseman Jorge Polanco departed today’s game and the club later announced to reporters, including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, that it was due to left hamstring tightness. Injuries have become a running theme in recent years for both the Twins generally and Polanco specifically. Last year, the club was in first place for much of the season before mounting injuries led to a late-season collapse. Polanco was one of those injured players, as his left knee put him out of action in early September. That issue lingered into the start of this year and he began the season on the injured list. He debuted in late April but then landed on the IL due to a left hamstring strain in late May, and that same left hamstring now seems to be bothering him yet again. He’s hit a solid .250/.291/.450 this year but in just 30 games due to the multiple IL stints. “He’s still, I think, pretty strong in the muscle, but he definitely felt something,” manager Rocco Baldelli tells Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. “We’re going to have to pay attention to it.”
  • The Phillies are set to receive some reinforcements soon, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Left-hander José Alvarado is set to be activated from the injured list tomorrow with infielder Alec Bohm potentially back on Saturday. Alvarado’s been out for almost a month due to inflammation in his left elbow whereas Bohm has been out a week due to a hamstring strain. Alvarado has had elite strikeout stuff in his career but also struggled with walks. He was having a great season here in 2023 prior to the IL stint, striking out a ridiculous 46.2% of opponents without issuing a single walk. He surely won’t be able to maintain a 0.63 ERA all year long but getting him back in the bullpen will be a boost nonetheless. Bohm is hitting .265/.321/.403 this year for a wRC+ of 97, which isn’t elite production but he is still an important part of the club. Their infield depth has taken serious hits this year as Darick Hall has been on the injured list for most of it while Rhys Hoskins could end up missing the entire campaign.

Rockies’ Low-Cost Relief Addition Paying Off

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While most of last offseason’s major free agent activity was wrapped up by the new year, the left-handed relief market lagged. Matt Strahm and Taylor Rogers came off the board in December but veterans Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore and Zack Britton all lingered on the market. (Britton remains unsigned.)

Brad Hand also fell into the latter group. The three-time All-Star was a free agent until well into Spring Training. His camp had presumably pointed to last year’s 2.80 ERA over 45 innings for the Phillies and Hand’s broader track record since moving to relief. Teams were no doubt wary of dwindling swing-and-miss numbers that translated in a modest 19.2% strikeout rate and an 11.6% walk percentage that was his worst since going to the bullpen.

After four months of free agency, Hand signed a $3MM deal with the Rockies. Including a $1MM escalator for making the Opening Day roster, he’s being paid $2.5MM in salary. He’s also guaranteed at least a $500K buyout on a $7MM team/vesting option covering the 2024 season.

Colorado had a quiet winter, adding a handful of veteran free agents on one-year deals and bringing in unproven younger players via trade. Of the free agent pickups (Jurickson Profar, Pierce Johnson, José Ureña, Hand and Mike Moustakas), the southpaw has easily been the most effective.

Calling this a “rebound” campaign is probably doing Hand’s 2022 efforts a disservice. He worked around his middling strikeout and walk marks to keep runs off the board for Philadelphia, after all. Yet his first couple months in Colorado more closely resemble his best form.

The 33-year-old has punched out 30 of the 92 batters he’s faced over 23 appearances. His 32.6% strikeout rate is easily his best mark since 2020 and nine points higher than this year’s league average. Hand’s per-pitch metrics aren’t quite so excellent — his 11.3% swinging strike rate is around par for a reliever — but a notable step up from the past two seasons, when he was missing bats on less than 8% of his offerings.

Hand’s fastball velocity hasn’t changed. He has added some power back to his go-to slider. Hand is averaging 81.3 MPH on his breaking ball, a tick or two higher than he has over the past three years. The results have followed. Opponents are swinging through the slider far more than they have since 2020 and it’s been a particularly effective offering in two-strike counts.

Improving his swing-and-miss has allowed Hand to navigate his tough home environment. He carries a solid 3.86 ERA even as hitters are running a .400 average on balls in play against him. He hasn’t allowed a single home run. That obviously won’t continue over a full season but Hand’s ball-in-play results should come down to earth to help offset that.

That’s particularly true if he’s not calling Coors Field, which has the one of the game’s most spacious outfields, his home park all year. Hand’s uptick in whiffs figures to pique the interest of bullpen-needy contenders. As the trade deadline gets closer, general manager Bill Schmidt and his front office are likely to get questions on his availability.

There’s no guarantee the Rockies will actively shop Hand this summer, of course. At 26-35, Colorado is headed for another non-playoff season. Yet they’ve consistently resisted sweeping changes at previous trade deadlines. They’ve allowed some impending free agents (Trevor Story, Jon Gray) to hit the market and signed others to extensions (Daniel Bard, C.J. Cron) in response to what they felt weren’t compelling trade proposals.

Colorado might not have to do either in Hand’s case. Unless he finishes 25 games this season, the Rox would be able to keep him around via the club option. Hand has completed only six contests so far, putting him shy of a pace that’d convert the option into a mutual provision.

It’d also become a mutual option if Hand is traded. For the Rockies, whether to bring Hand back in 2024 is likely to be a club decision. For any other team, he’d have the right to retest free agency and would be viewed as more of a true rental.

Perhaps that discrepancy will diminish the trade offers to the point that Colorado prefers to play things out. So long as he keeps pitching at this level, though, he’ll be on the radar for other clubs. The Rockies haven’t had a ton go right to this point but the acquisition of Hand has developed as the front office would’ve drawn up.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rockies Place Kris Bryant On Injured List

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The Rockies announced Thursday that outfielder Kris Bryant has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to May 31) with a bruised left heel. Bryant was out of the lineup yesterday after fouling a ball off his left foot in Tuesday’s game. Outfielder/designated hitter Charlie Blackmon was reinstated from the bereavement list in a corresponding move.

It’s the first IL stint of the season for Bryant but the fourth since signing a seven-year deal with the Rockies. He missed time late last season due to plantar fasciitis in this same foot and was also shelved due to back troubles.

The former NL Rookie of the Year and MVP is putting the ball in play and drawing walks at above-average rates so far in 2023, but he hasn’t yet delivered much in the way of power. Bryant has just five homers and six doubles in 214 plate appearances this season, giving him a .111 ISO (slugging minus batting average) that’s 50 points below the league average. Overall, the 31-year-old is hitting .263/.346/.374 with a 9.8% walk rate and 17.3% strikeout rate.

Bryant has moved across the outfield grass from left to right field in 2023, accommodating fellow free-agent signee Jurickson Profar. He’s already totaled a career-high 317 innings in right field, but defensive metrics have panned his work there (-7 Defensive Runs Saved, -3 Outs Above Average). It’s certainly possible that his slate of injuries over the past year has hampered his range and contributed to those poor marks. After ranking in the 71st percentile of MLB players in average sprint speed as recently as 2021, Bryant sat in the 50th percentile in 2022 and is in just the 35th percentile so far in 2023, per Statcast. He also ranks in the 17th percentile of big leaguers in terms of Statcast’s outfield jump metric.

With Bryant on the shelf, the Rockies will likely go with an outfield alignment of Profar, Brenton Doyle and Randal Grichuk from left to right. Their bench currently has backup catcher Austin Wynns, utility infielder Alan Trejo and corner infielders Mike Moustakas and Elehuris Montero, which doesn’t leave them with a traditional fourth outfielder. However, Nolan Jones — who’s mostly played first base since his recall — can slot into an outfield corner, as can the veteran Blackmon. Grichuk, meanwhile, has ample experience in center field, should Doyle need a day off or need to exit a game due to injury.

Rockies Re-Sign Fernando Abad To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have re-signed left-hander Fernando Abad to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Abad, 37, signed a previous minor league deal with the Rockies in the winter and began the year with Albuquerque. He got out to a great start there, tossing 16 innings in 13 appearances with a 1.69 ERA. His .206 batting average on balls in play and 97.6% strand rate were unsustainably lucky, but he was striking out 34.5% of batters faced while walking just 3.4%.

Those encouraging results got him back to the big leagues for the first time since 2021, as the Rockies selected his contract on May 15. His first two appearances went well but the Rangers put three runs on the board in his third outing, leading to a 10.13 ERA in a small sample of 2 2/3 innings. He was designated for assignment less than a week after being selected and then released shortly thereafter.

After a few days on the open market, the two sides have now reunited. It’s understandable why the Rockies would want to keep a veteran like Abad around, given the state of their pitching staff. Building a solid stable of arms in Colorado is challenging in the best of times, given that its hitter-friendly nature makes it fairly unappealing for free agents. They’ve also been hit hard by the injury bug this year, with eight hurlers currently on the injured list.

Abad has 403 major league appearances under his belt now, going back to the 2010 season. He has a 3.82 ERA in that time, along with a 19.4% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 41.6% ground ball rate. He’s a few years removed from that level of effectiveness, as he didn’t make it to the majors 2020 or 2022 and had a 5.60 ERA in the season between those two. However, his Triple-A numbers from earlier this year suggest that he can still get some outs. He’ll provide the club with an experienced bit of non-roster depth and could get called up again the next time they need a fresh arm.

Looking Ahead To Upcoming Club Options: NL West

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We’re roughly a third of the way through the 2023 season. Players have had a couple months to build something of a performance track record that’ll play a role in their future contracts. With that in mind, MLBTR will take a look over the coming days at players whose contracts contain team or mutual options to gauge the early trajectory for those upcoming decisions.

We’ll go division by division and open things in the National League West:

Arizona Diamondbacks

Chafin lingered in free agency over the winter after opting out of his deal with the Tigers. The seeming lack of market interest was perplexing given the lefty reliever’s consistent effectiveness over the past few seasons. He’s carried that over into his second stint in the desert. Through 20 1/3 innings, Chafin owns a 3.10 ERA. He’s punched out 36% of opposing hitters on a huge 16.2% swinging strike percentage, both of which would be career-high marks. He’s not a prototypical fireballing reliever but he’s demonstrated he’s capable of missing bats and thriving in high-leverage situations for the past few years. The $6.5MM net decision on next year’s option looks more than reasonable if he keeps this up.

  • Zach Davies: $5.5MM mutual option ($300K buyout, rises to $500K with 16+ starts)

Davies has been limited to three starts by a left oblique strain. He has allowed eight runs with a modest 10:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 12 2/3 innings. There’s not much to go on yet in terms of 2023 performance but Davies looked like a borderline fifth starter the previous two years. The Diamondbacks have enough young pitching they seem likelier to buy him out unless the soft-tossing righty rediscovers his 2019-20 form for the stretch run.

  • Miguel Castro: $5MM option vests with 60+ appearances; would become $6MM player option with 40+ games finished (no buyout)

Castro has already pitched 26 times since signing with Arizona over the winter. He’s on pace to easily surpass the 60-appearance threshold needed to vest next year’s $5MM option if he can avoid the injured list. It could be a closer call as to whether he can turn that guaranteed $5MM salary into a $6MM player option; Castro has finished 12 games thus far, putting him just off the 40-game pace he’d need to do so. (He’s on pace for 36 games finished). Castro has been effective — a 2.22 ERA with roughly average strikeout, walk and swinging strike numbers through 24 1/3 innings — so vesting the player option and retesting the market isn’t out of the question.

Melancon struggled to a 4.66 ERA in 56 innings during his first season in Arizona. He hasn’t pitched this year on account of a Spring Training shoulder strain. Melancon might return in the second half but this is trending towards the team buying him out.

Colorado Rockies

Márquez underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month. He’ll miss the majority of next season as he rehabs. A healthy Márquez would’ve made this an easy call for the Rockies to exercise but the procedure means they’ll buy him out. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Rox try to bring him back on a lesser salary or a multi-year deal with an eye towards 2025.

Hand’s peripherals had fallen back between 2021-22 from his All-Star peak. He’s continued to keep runs off the board and seen a notable bounceback in his strikeout rate since a Spring Training deal with Colorado. Hand owns a 3.20 ERA through 19 2/3 frames while striking out 33.7% of batters faced on a decent 11.6% swinging strike percentage. The veteran southpaw has dominated left-handed hitters and is yet to allow a home run this season. If he maintains this form, he’ll be one of the top reliever trade candidates this summer. If Colorado hangs onto him, they could be faced with an interesting decision as to whether to keep him around for an extra $6.5MM next winter.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers signed Muncy to a $13.5MM deal last summer even as he was amidst his worst season since landing in L.A. They’ve been rewarded with a massive bounceback showing. Muncy is tied for second in the majors with 17 home runs. He’s only hitting .208 but carrying a strong .340 on-base percentage thanks to an elite 15.8% walk rate. The $10MM price point would be an easy decision for the Dodgers if Muncy keeps up anything approaching this pace.

Los Angeles brought Hudson back last summer on the heels of a season-ending ACL tear. The veteran reliever hasn’t recovered as quickly from that procedure as he’d hoped. Hudson hasn’t pitched yet this season. He told reporters last night he’ll throw a bullpen session this week but is without a timeline for a return to game action (via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). It remains to be seen how he’ll look when he takes the mound.

  • Alex Reyes: $3MM team option with escalators ($100K buyout)

The Dodgers took a $1.1MM flier on Reyes after he lost the 2022 season to shoulder surgery. He’s on the 60-day injured list and not expected to be a factor until around the All-Star Break. This one remains to be determined based on his post-rehab form.

  • Blake Treinen (option value between $1-7MM dependent on time spent on IL)

Treinen underwent surgery to repair the rotator cuff and labrum in his throwing shoulder last November. He won’t pitch much, if at all, this season. Treinen’s contract contains an option with a floating value between $1MM and $7MM depending on how much time he spends on the injured list and the issue that puts him on the shelf. Its precise value is yet to be determined, but MLBTR has confirmed it’ll land towards the lower end of that range given Treinen’s surgery.

San Diego Padres

  • Nick Martinez: team has two-year, $32MM option; if declined, Martinez has two-year, $16MM player option

Martinez has taken on a similar swing role as he served during his first year in San Diego. The right-hander started his first four outings and pitched reasonably well. He was nevertheless bumped back into relief thereafter. For the second consecutive season, Martinez has proven a key multi-inning arm out of the bullpen. He’s posted a 1.35 ERA with a quality 20:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 20 relief innings, holding opponents to a pitiful .240/.278/.267 batting line.

There’s little question of Martinez’s effectiveness in a relief role, though a $16MM average annual value could be pricy if the organization isn’t planning on giving him another look out of the rotation. Perhaps Martinez’s production over the final four months makes this a clearer decision for San Diego by season’s end. As of now, it looks like a borderline call — not too dissimilar from Martinez’s question of whether to opt out of three years and $18MM last winter. The Padres liked him enough to subsequently re-sign him to a $26MM guarantee with the complex option structure.

  • Michael Wacha: team has two-year, $32MM option; if declined, Wacha has $6.5MM player option (with successive player options for 2025-26)

Wacha lingered in free agency last winter. Clubs seemed reluctant to buy into his solid results for the Red Sox, a reflection of middling strikeout and ground-ball numbers. Since landing in San Diego, he’s basically repeating last year’s script. The run prevention is excellent; he’s allowed a 3.45 ERA through 57 1/3 innings over ten starts. Wacha is again throwing strikes and keeping runs off the board despite roughly average strikeout and swinging strike rates.

Maintaining a mid-3.00s ERA for a second straight season might build confidence in his ability to outperform ERA estimators that suggest he’s more of a solid #4 starter than a mid-rotation arm. That said, Wacha doesn’t look all that different now than he did three months ago, when he signed a four-year guarantee with a $6.5MM average annual value. A jump to the $16MM per-year range could be a tougher sell for San Diego, although there’s little doubt Wacha would opt out of the final three years and $18.5MM on his contract if he keeps pitching like this and the Padres decline their end.

San Francisco Giants

Cobb has pitched well since signing a two-year deal with San Francisco over the 2021-22 offseason. He carries a 3.05 ERA through his first 11 starts this year. Cobb’s 60.6% ground-ball rate is stellar and he’s posted average strikeout and walk numbers (21.3% and 6.7%, respectively). An $8MM net decision would be an easy call for the Giants to exercise if Cobb maintains this pace. He’s dealt with injuries in the past but managed 149 2/3 innings over 28 starts last year and has avoided the IL in 2023.

All stats through play Monday.

Rockies Recall Blair Calvo

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The Rockies announced they’ve recalled reliever Blair Calvo from Triple-A Albuquerque. He’ll be in Bud Black’s bullpen tonight against the Diamondbacks following his first major league call. Karl Kauffmann was optioned out in a corresponding move.

Calvo, 27, has played four-plus seasons professionally. Signed for just $3,000 as a 23rd round draftee out of Florida’s Flagler Junior College in 2019, he’s worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen in the minors. He’s never appeared on an organizational prospects ranking at Baseball America, though Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs praised his plus slider and called him a potential middle reliever this spring.

In 153 2/3 career minor league frames, Calvo has a 4.86 ERA. He’s had the misfortune of working in some hitter-friendly environments on his way up the ladder. That includes this year’s run in Albuquerque, where the righty has allowed 18 runs in as many innings. A huge .426 batting average on balls in play hasn’t done him any favors. Calvo’s 29.2% strikeout rate and 49% ground-ball percentage are both solid, though he’s also walked batters at a 10.1% clip.

The Rockies added Calvo to their 40-man roster last offseason. He’d have otherwise been eligible for the Rule 5 draft. As a result, Colorado doesn’t need to make any 40-man transactions to accommodate his promotion. He’s in his first of three minor league option years and can bounce between Coors Field and the upper minors for the foreseeable future without landing on waivers.

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