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Central Notes: Zambrano, Brewers, Robert, Gose

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Long-time Cubs righty Carlos Zambrano will return to the hill, per Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (via Twitter). At this point, though, there’s no indication he has his sights set on a return to the majors; rather, the soon-to-be-36-year-old will suit up for Venezuelan Winter League action. Zambrano last pitched in the majors in 2012 and spent time in the minors in 2013 before hanging up his spikes. Before that, he threw 1,826 2/3 innings of 3.60 ERA ball for the Cubs from 2001 through 2012.

Let’s take a look at the latest from the game’s central divisions:

  • Brewers GM David Stearns talked about his team’s promising start and what it might (or might not) mean for his deadline planning, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. Stearns is undeniably pleased with the fact that his club sits atop the NL Central standings, and didn’t shy away from the possibility that the wins could continue to come sooner than had been anticipated. But he also suggested that the imperative of sustainable building would largely remain the same. “The plan is to consistently win major league games over a period of years,” he said. “If that process begins a little bit sooner than people expected, that’s great. And we’ll react accordingly. But it doesn’t change our strategy; it doesn’t change our plan.”
  • With the White Sox reportedly beating out the Cardinals to sign Cuban prospect Luis Robert, Bernie Miklasz of 101sports.com wonders whether St. Louis should have been more aggressive in its bidding. You’ll need to read through his entire argument to see how you feel, but the gist is the view that the organization ought to have been willing to stake a greater bet on a potential impact talent — particularly given the fact that it had a unique opportunity with many big spenders unable to go after Robert and plenty of available resources given the team’s meager draft assets this summer.
  • The Tigers’ efforts to transition Anthony Gose from outfielder to pitcher became official today, as he was activated at Class A Lakeland to work out of the pen. While he didn’t escape from his first inning of action unscathed, Gose did make quite an impression. Per Lakeland assistant GM Dan Lauer, on Twitter, Gose was clocked at 99 mph with his debut heater.

2017 Opt-Out Clause Update

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Recently, I took a quick look at all of the players with vesting options for the 2018 season, noting that many of the outcomes within will have significant ramifications for both the upcoming free-agent market and the future of those players’ respective teams. The implications are even greater for the eight players that have opt-out provisions of some type at the end of the current season. In some cases, the opt-out in question could either liberate that player’s team from more than $80MM in future commitments or saddle them with that same burdensome amount. (And, in most cases, if the player isn’t opting out, the remaining salary is indeed a burden, as the player either performed too poorly to opt out and/or got hurt.)

Here’s a look at the opt-out decisions that are looming at season’s end…

  • Justin Upton, Tigers: The disastrous start to Upton’s six-year, $132.5MM contract now looks like a distant memory. After struggling to a .228/.286/.369 batting line through his first three months in the Motor City, Upton has surged with a .255/.342/.535 slash and 31 home runs over his past 471 big league plate appearances. Strikeouts are still an issue for Upton, but he’s also walking more than ever (15 percent in 2017). He’s on pace to finish the season right around the 30-homer mark, and if he can do so with an OBP in the mid-.300s and respectable marks in left field — he’s currently at +4 DRS and +3.4 UZR — then the remaining four years and $88.5MM on his contract will pose an interesting decision for Upton, who is currently playing out his age-29 season.
  • Johnny Cueto, Giants: Cueto looked like an ace in his first year with San Francisco but has stumbled to a 4.50 ERA through his first 58 innings with the Giants in 2017. He’s still averaging better than eight punchouts per nine innings to go along with solid (but diminished) control. However, he’s seen his ground-ball rate plummet from 50 percent to 39 percent, and paired with the increase in walk rate (1.8 BB/9 to 2.5 BB/9), that has led to some issues. There’s still plenty of time for Cueto to get back on track, but the remaining four years and $84MM on his contract doesn’t look quite as easy to walk away from as it did just seven weeks ago. He’ll be 32 next season.
  • Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees: Cueto’s slow start looks Cy Young-worthy when juxtaposed with Tanaka, who has logged a ghastly 6.56 ERA through 48 innings in 2017. Like Cueto, Tanaka has seen his control take a step back, though his strikeout and ground-ball rates are consistent, and his velocity is fine. Tanaka’s average on balls in play is up, however, and his homer-to-flyball rate has skyrocketed from 12 percent to 24.5 percent. Given his age (29 in November), Tanaka would be a virtual lock to opt out of the remaining three years and $67MM on his contract with a good season. If he can’t overcome his home-run woes, however, he may instead opt for the substantial amount of guaranteed cash remaining on his deal.
  • Wei-Yin Chen, Marlins: Chen’s opt-out is perhaps the easiest to determine of any player on this list. Unfortunately for the Marlins, that’s due to the fact that he’s currently sidelined indefinitely due to arm troubles. Chen is on the disabled list with arm fatigue, though it’s been reported previously that he’d been pitching through a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, which was sustained in 2016. Chen hasn’t pitched well as a Marlin even when healthy, and at this point it would take a quick recovery and a dominant finish for him to even consider opting out of the remaining three years and $52MM on his contract.
  • Ian Kennedy, Royals: Kennedy has logged a solid 3.74 ERA in 233 1/3 innings since signing a five-year deal with Kansas City, but he’s already in his age-32 season. His strikeout rate and control have taken a step back in 2017 as well, and he’s remained homer-prone despite pitching half his games at the spacious Kauffman Stadium. Kennedy turned in a very strong final four months in his last contract season — which helped him land this surprising contract in the first place — but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll opt out of the remaining three years and $49MM on his current contract.
  • Greg Holland, Rockies: To be clear, Holland cannot technically opt out of his contract just yet. The one-year, $7MM contract that he signed with the Rox contained a $10MM mutual option that can vest as a $15MM player option if Holland finishes 30 games. At this juncture, though, it seems as if an injury is all that can stop Holland’s player option from vesting. He’s already finished 20 of the 30 games he needs, and he’s currently boasting a preposterous 0.96 ERA with a 26-to-6 K/BB ratio through 18 2/3 innings. Apparently, pitching at Coors Field suits Holland just fine, though if he keeps this up, it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll turn down the one year and $15MM he’d receive for a second season at Coors and hit the market in search of a lucrative three- or four-year contract.
  • Matt Wieters, Nationals: The stagnant offseason market for Wieters’ services culminated in a two-year, $21MM contract with the Nats that offers Wieters the opportunity to test free agency once again next winter, if he wishes. To this point, it’s looking likely that Wieters will pass on that player option. His walks, hard-hit rate and BABIP are up, none of which has come at the expense of his strikeout rate. Wieters is hitting a solid .283/.358/.442 with four homers on the year. His caught-stealing rate is down (23 percent), and his framing remains questionable, but the improved offense makes it seem likely that, even if Wieters again struggles to find the strong multi-year deal he craves, a contract comparable to the one year and $10.5MM he can opt out of will once again be available on the open market.
  • Welington Castillo, Orioles: Castillo’s two-year, $13MM contract with the Orioles was a pleasant surprise for a player who had previously been locked into arbitration in Arizona before surprisingly being non-tendered. He’s off to a torrid .348/.375/.543 start to the season with four homers and six doubles through 96 plate appearances. There’s a fair bit of luck involved in that production, as evidenced by the 30-year-old’s .418 BABIP. But his strikeouts are down this season, and he’s thrown out a career-best 41 percent of attempted base thieves. His framing marks, while still below average, have improved on a per-pitch basis as well. His glove may prevent him from fully cashing in, but Castillo’s bat could make the remaining one year and $7MM on his contract easy enough to walk away from, assuming he’s healthy.

Tigers Option Anibal Sanchez

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The Tigers have optioned veteran righty Anibal Sanchez to Triple-A, manager Brad Ausmus told reporters including Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links). Sanchez, who would’ve had the right to reject any minor-league assignment, will return to working as a starter at Toledo.

The move was driven by Sanchez himself, per Ausmus. He would like to return to working from the rotation after opening the year in the bullpen. Through 21 innings over 11 outings, Sanchez had allowed 21 earned runs on 34 hits while compiling 22 strikeouts against nine walks.

That was the first time Sanchez had functioned as a reliever for such a dedicated stretch. The vast balk of his dozen-year MLB career has come from the rotation, where Sanchez once thrived. But the results just haven’t been there over the past two seasons — he owns a 5.65 ERA since the start of 2015 — and Detroit wasn’t willing to give him a starting role this year.

It seems optimistic to hope that Sanchez can turn things around by returning to a starting role, though stranger things have happened. It’s worth noting that he’s registering a 10.1% swinging-strike rate in the early going, his best since 2013, and could perhaps boost that yet further if he can get batters to chase outside the zone at a rate closer to his career average. Sanchez’s batted-ball results — .379 BABIP; 3.86 HR/9; 55.9% strand rate — may fall at his feet to large extent, but there’s probably some poor fortune mixed in as well.

Regardless of how things go, Sanchez will earn $16MM this season — the final guaranteed year of the contract he signed before the 2013 campaign. He’ll also earn a $5MM buyout over the winter, unless the Tigers make the surprising decision to pick up his $16MM option.

AL Notes: Red Sox, Athletics, White Sox, Tigers

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Speaking with Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com on Saturday, Athletics third baseman Trevor Plouffe confirmed that the Red Sox had interest in signing him as a free agent during the offseason. In the end, Plouffe chose to ink a deal with Oakland because it presented a clearer path to playing time at the hot corner than Boston did at the time. “I wanted to play third base and [the A’s] came and right away and expressed their interest in that, and to me it was kind of a no-brainer,” said Plouffe, who’s on a one-year, $5.25MM contract. “I was going to come here and get a chance to start at third. Kind of after last year, not being able to play a ton of games, prove that I can stay healthy again — that was kind of the real selling point for me.” As Drellich notes, it turns out Plouffe would have had an opportunity to play had he signed with the Red Sox, whose third base options (including Pablo Sandoval) have dealt with injuries this season. Plouffe could still end up with the Red Sox around the trade deadline, Drellich adds, and the 30-year-old realizes it’s possible he’ll head elsewhere if the A’s aren’t in contention. “Of course. You can’t be naive about that fact,” acknowledged Plouffe, a .248/.318/.421 hitter in 148 plate appearances this season.

More from the American League:

  • White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, No. 1 prospect Yoan Moncada and manager Rick Renteria each played key roles in the team’s signing of highly touted outfield prospect Luis Robert, according to Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. Like Robert, both Abreu and Moncada hail from Cuba, while Renteria is the only Spanish-speaking manager in the majors. The White Sox put together a video presentation for Robert which featured narration in Spanish from Renteria and appearances from Abreu and Moncada, both of whom encouraged Robert to join the franchise. The White Sox’s attitude toward Cuban-born players has impressed Abreu, who told Hayes through an interpreter, “The way this team has treated the Cuban players and the Latino players in general, that’s something that is important and I really, really appreciate it.”
  • Red Sox left-hander David Price didn’t last long in his rehab start Friday, so he’ll make at least one more before rejoining the big club, manager John Farrell announced Saturday (via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). While Price “feels great physically,” per Farrell, he’s not stretched out to the team’s liking. Price, working his way back from a strained elbow, went two innings and threw 65 pitches in his initial start for Triple-A Pawtucket. That fell well short of the 85- to 90-pitch goal Boston had set for Price, who will take the hill again for Pawtucket on Wednesday.
  • Chris Illitch is officially the controlling owner of the Tigers, having gotten approval from the league’s other 29 owners earlier this week, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Illitch is taking over for his father, Mike Illitch, who passed away in February after a nearly 25-year run at the helm of the Tigers.

AL Central Notes: Moncada, JDM, Royals, Almonte, Ervin

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White Sox fans hoping to see Yoan Moncada join the Major League club will definitely be waiting a bit longer, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago reports that the top prospect is expected to land on the minor league 7-day disabled list tomorrow (Twitter link). Moncada has been playing through a sore left thumb, and while an MRI didn’t reveal any serious injury, it’s been nagging him enough that the team has decided it’s best to get him some rest. Soon to turn 22, Moncada got off to a ridiculous start to the 2017 season, hitting .352/.427/.565 through his first 27 games (124 plate appearances). His bat has slowed mightily over the last week, though, as he’s managed just a .258/.303/.290 line through his seven most recent games.

Elsewhere in the AL Central…

  • Free-agent-to-be J.D. Martinez told reporters today that he’d love to remain in Detroit, but it’s “highly doubtful” that there’ll be any contract negotiations during the season (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Jordan Horrobin). Detroit could always look to re-sign Martinez this offseason, though that would run counter to GM Al Avila’s stated goal of lowering the team’s long-term payroll outlook. Martinez has burst back into the Tigers’ lineup with an outrageous four-game stretch, as he’s already blasted four homers and collected hits in six of his 12 at-bats while also drawing five walks. Detroit is two games back from the division lead and Martinez doesn’t figure to be a trade chip if they remain that close to a potential division title. But, if the team begins to slip, he’ll be an interesting player to monitor as the non-waiver deadline approaches.
  • Royals righty Ian Kennedy is showing signs of improvement in his injured right hamstring, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. The 32-year-old could return by this coming weekend, per manager Ned Yost. That would rate as a welcome development for the scuffling Royals, who have received six solid outings from Kennedy thus far. He has held opposing batters to just 23 hits and currently carries a 3.03 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. If Kennedy can pick up where he left off, he’ll set up some interesting scenarios. Kansas City could explore trading him this summer if the team can’t turn things around. And then there’s the question of Kennedy’s contract, which allows him to opt out of the three years and $49MM that remains (in favor of a $6MM buyout) after the season.
  • While many are beginning to wonder whether the Royals will engineer a tear-down of the current MLB roster this summer, GM Dayton Moore says he’s not yet entertaining that possibility, as Dodd further reports. There’s no rush in making any decisions, Moore emphasized, noting that trades can come together quickly “if you have two willing partners.” While the club is still six games under .500, moreover, it has performed better of late and remains within reach of the front of a tightly-bunched pack in the AL Central. Moore drew an interesting analogy to the 2015 Tigers in explaining why he sees little reason to contemplate a summer sale effort. While that organization seemed prepared to hold at the deadline, he notes, “all of a sudden, some things changed, and Dave Dombrowski says he’s going to trade David Price, and the deal comes together very quickly.”
  • The Indians have some added clarity on the timeline for injured outfielder Abraham Almonte, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports. The team anticipates that he’ll be down for three to five weeks with what has been diagnosed as a sprained right biceps tendon. While the team is down a few outfielders, that has opened the door to top prospect Bradley Zimmer. Though Zimmer went down on strikeouts three times in his debut yesterday, he has already slashed a double today for his first MLB hit and seems to have an opportunity to lay claim to a regular job.
  • Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey spoke to FanRag’s John Perrotto about the temptation to trade right-hander Ervin Santana this offseason but noted that the team ultimately came to the conclusion that it was best to hang onto the veteran righty. “We felt it was really important to have that anchor for the rotation,” Falvey tells Perrotto. “You need that pitcher who you can count on to give you a good outing and pitch deep into games almost every time out. We felt we had that Ervin and whatever we might get back in a trade wouldn’t equal the value of what he brings to us.” The decision looks wise in hindsight, Perrotto adds, now that Minnesota has gotten off to a strong start thanks largely to Santana’s success. And of course, if Minnesota cannot sustain its division-leading pace, then Santana, who is guaranteed $24.6MM through the end of the 2018 season and has a 2019 option, could still be an appealing trade piece. Through 54 innings this year, Santana owns a 1.50 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Tigers Agree To Minors Deal With Matt Den Dekker

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The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Matt den Dekker, Evan Woodberry of MLive.com tweets. The 29-year-old den Dekker will report to Triple-A Toledo.

[Related: Updated Tigers depth chart]

den Dekker has spent time in the Majors in each of the past four seasons, logging 237 plate appearances for the Mets in 2013-14 before tallying 149 PAs on the other side of the division rivalry with the Nationals from 2015-16. In that time, he’s recorded a .236/.318/.359 batting line with seven homers and a dozen stolen bases. Capable of playing all three outfield spots, den Dekker has received positive overall grades from Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

As for the 2017 season, den Dekker once again opened the year in the NL East, reporting to the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans after failing to make the club out of Spring Training. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro recently reported that he’d exercised an opt-out clause after hitting .247/.280/.481 with three homers, seven doubles and a triple through 82 PAs with New Orleans.

With the return of J.D. Martinez from the disabled list, there’s one less spot in the Tigers’ Major League outfield. Both Martinez and Justin Upton are locked into the outfield corners, though center field is murkier. Mikie Mahtook has struggled at the plate all season (.184/.262/.316), while Andrew Romine has moved to center field out of necessity but cooled after a slow start (.230/.302/.391). Tyler Collins, too, is capable of playing center field but has batted just .226/.294/.323. JaCoby Jones, meanwhile, was demoted to Triple-A earlier this year and is currently hitting .250/.344/.375 in Toledo.

AL Central Notes: Infante, White Sox, Jimenez, AJax

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It has been a long and winding path back to the big leagues for White Sox righty Gregory Infante, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. After briefly making his MLB debut at 22 years of age, the now-29-year-old had bounced around the upper minors waiting for another shot. That finally came after Infante threw 13 dominant innings at Triple-A Charlotte to open the current season, earning him a ticket back to the majors. “I am very happy and glad to get this opportunity,” Infante said. “The last seven years were tough years, but I also worked a lot in the last seven to get to this point because this is where you want to be as a player.”

  • That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
  • Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
  • Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.

Tigers Activate J.D. Martinez From DL

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10:38pm: The Tigers have now announced that Martinez has been activated and that Adduci has been placed on the 10-day DL.

10:25pm: The Tigers will get one of the most productive bats in their lineup back tonight, as they’re set to activate right fielder J.D. Martinez from the disabled list, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Detroit had been hoping to get Martinez a few more at-bats on a minor league rehab assignment, but an oblique injury to outfielder Jim Adduci instead forced the team’s hand a bit. Aducci will head to the 10-day DL as a corresponding roster move for Martinez’s reinstatement.

As Fenech points out, it’s been seven weeks to the day since Martinez suffered a lisfranc sprain in his right foot while making a sliding catch in Spring Training. The team originally projected an absence of five weeks, but Martinez required a bit more time to work up to running the bases and playing right field on a regular basis. He played the outfield on consecutive days during his abbreviated rehab stint, however, and is seemingly able to run the bases well enough to return to the lineup. Manager Brad Ausmus told Tigers reporters that Martinez is said to “feel fine moving around,” tough he noted that there could be “some residual soreness” in Martinez’s foot.

In Martinez, the Tigers will be getting back one of the American League’s premier sluggers across the past three seasons. Released by Houston late in Spring Training 2014, Martinez blossomed after inking a minor league deal with the Tigers. Since joining Detroit, he’s mashed at a .299/.357/.540 clip and slugged 83 home runs in 401 games. All of that has positioned him quite nicely as a free agent this coming offseason. While missing the first five weeks of the year certainly doesn’t do his free-agent stock any favors, Martinez remains a candidate to sign a contract worth more than $100MM in free agency this coming winter — a notion that would’ve been unfathomable when he initially signed with Detroit.

Of course, it remains to be seen how Martinez will perform on the defensive side of the ball in 2017. While both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating pegged Martinez as an above-average defender in right field back in 2015, those same metrics characterized him as one of baseball’s worst defenders in 2016. If there are any lingering limitations on his mobility in 2017 due to the lisfranc injury, that could understandably hamper his defensive play, which could, in turn, alter his perception on the free-agent market.

It’s also worth noting that the play of both Martinez and the Tigers will be worth monitoring as trade season approaches. The 17-16 Tigers are currently just a game out of first place in the AL Central, and assuming they remain in contention, the team could be content to keep Martinez and issue him a qualifying offer at season’s end. However, if the Tigers’ team performance begins to slip, then Martinez could find himself as a trade candidate.

Speculatively speaking, the 29-year-old could even find himself on the block if the Tigers are in the Wild Card hunt but appear long shots to take home an AL Central crown. The newly restructured collective bargaining agreement drastically reduced the compensation that teams will receive when free agents that decline a QO sign elsewhere; as such, the Tigers wouldn’t even be able to pocket a first-round pick as compensation in the event of a Martinez departure.

Though Martinez has yet to suit up for even a single game with the Tigers this season, he nonetheless landed at No. 6 on the most recent edition of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings. If Martinez comes out of the gates strongly, that ranking could rise, as well, especially considering the struggles of several players that previously rated ahead of him (e.g. Jake Arrieta, Johnny Cueto, Masahiro Tanaka).

Heyman’s Latest: Miller, Marlins, Cole, Tigers, Agency Changes

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Last August, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Diamondbacks and Marlins were in talks regarding a possible Shelby Miller trade that was ultimately vetoed by D-backs owner Ken Kendrick. Roughly nine months later, FanRag’s Jon Heyman adds some more context to the story, noting that the two sides were in talks regarding right-handers Luis Castillo, Jose Urena and Austin Brice were all being discussed as potential pieces for Arizona to acquire, as was left-hander Dillon Peters (not necessarily all four, though Castillo and Urena were likely the centerpieces). One D-backs source tells Heyman the trade was never close, though Heyman cites others who agreed with Nightengale’s report, stating that Kendrick did indeed veto the deal when it was close to fruition. Miller, of course, remained with the D-backs and looked better in 2017 than he did in 2016 before suffering a torn UCL and undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Heyman’s weekly American League and National League Notes columns reveal a few more interesting hot stove items…

  • Despite the fact that multiple reports suggest the bidding price for the Marlins is around $1.3 billion, some have suggested to Heyman that the team’s lack of revenue and significant financial commitments to Giancarlo Stanton, Wei-Yin Chen, Martin Prado and others will ultimately lower the sale price after a full financial examination. Heyman adds that despite prior reports, he’s been told that Alex Rodriguez was never actually offered a spot in the Tagg Romney/Tom Glavine group that is vying to purchase the Marlins. Whether A-Rod was made an offer or not, the key takeaway is that it appears he won’t be involved in the sale.
  • Rival executives believe that Pirates ace Gerrit Cole could land on the trade market this summer, per Heyman. The former No. 1 overall pick would make for an extremely interesting addition to the summer trade market, though Bucs certainly needn’t feel compelled to trade him. Cole is controlled through the 2019 season and is earning a perfectly reasonable $3.8MM this season (though that number will spike in his second trip through arbitration this winter). Nonetheless, with two and a half years of club control left, Cole would fetch a significant haul of young talent if he were actually made available. It seems quite likely that the Bucs will listen on Andrew McCutchen and Tony Watson this summer (Watson, like Mark Melancon last year, is a pending free agent), but Cole would have the most significant value of the bunch.
  • Even if a closer upgrade were available to the Tigers at the moment, they don’t have the money to make an addition (or at least wouldn’t be willing to spend it). Detroit recently demoted Francisco Rodriguez from the ninth inning in favor of Justin Wilson following a brutal start to the season for K-Rod, and their bullpen has once again been a weak spot. Heyman notes that GM Al Avila at one point made a trip to Triple-A Toledo and “read the riot act” to right-hander Bruce Rondon, who has responded by dropping 15 pounds. Rondon was once viewed as a potential closer of the future, but he’s yet to establish himself and has had issues with his conditioning and effort level.
  • Heyman also reports a pair of agency changes, noting that Red Sox top prospect Rafael Devers is now a client of Rep 1 Baseball, while Dodgers top prospect Yadier Alvarez is now repped by Wasserman. Neither has made his MLB debut yet, though both are considered among the game’s top 25 to 50 prospects and could theoretically surface in the Majors within the next calendar year or so (Devers, who is already in Double-A, appears closer than Alvarez, who has just 18 innings in High-A). Both changes are now reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains representation info on roughly more than 2,500 Major League and Minor League players. If you see any inaccuracies or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.

Central Notes: Moncada, K-Rod/Wilson, Garrett, Kirby, Lynn

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White Sox GM Rick Hahn shot down the idea that top prospect Yoan Moncada will push his way onto the MLB roster early this year, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago reports. All signs are pointing up for Moncada, who has tamped down on the strikeouts while showing signs of polishing up his defensive game. But that doesn’t mean the club is prepared to make an aggressive promotion. “He’s shown a fair amount of progress in each of those areas that we’ve asked of him,” said GM Rick Hahn. “That said, we want to see that over an extended period of time. It’s awfully important to not lose sight of the fact this is a 21-year-old player, one who was not playing two years ago as of right now. It’s a guy who has fewer than 325 or so plate appearances above A-ball.” Given that, says Hahn, the club won’t “rush” Moncada’s ascension.

Here’s more from the game’s central divisions:

  • The Tigers have moved Francisco Rodriguez out of the closer role, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported on Twitter. He’ll be replaced, at least for the time being, by Justin Wilson. While it seems that Rodriguez could yet regain his spot in the ninth, he’ll now need to show he’s a better option than Wilson, who has been lights out thus far. Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been generating plenty of strikeouts but has also allowed 11 earned runs on 19 hits in his 11 2/3 innings.
  • Though the Reds optioned lefty Amir Garrett recently, president of baseball operations Dick Williams says he expects to bring the youngster back soon (in an interview with MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM; audio link). Garrett, who just turned 25, has been rather solid in his six starts, providing 36 innings of 4.25 ERA ball. But the plan heading into the season was never to ride any of the team’s young arms too hard. “We’ve got a lot of young guys that we’re excited to see this year on the roster,” Williams explains. “And the idea was, ’We’re going to get you up, we’re going to get you opportunities. All of you are going to see opportunities in the big leagues, and all of you are going to be back in Triple-A at some point, just for sheer numbers and innings management.'” In Garrett’s case, some upcoming off-days presented an opportunity to slow his accumulation of innings; he has never previously gone past 144 2/3 frames. “Most importantly, it gives Amir the ability to be on pace to pitch into September, which is what we want these guys to learn how to do,” said Williams.
  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Brewers prospect Nathan Kirby, who missed the 2016 season due to Tommy John surgery, had another elbow operation and will miss the next eight to 12 weeks (all links to Twitter). An ulnar nerve transposition was performed after Kirby was diagnosed with ulnar neuritis. That’s obviously a disheartening blow to both Kirby and the organization, as the Brewers selected Kirby with one of their top picks back in 2015. Kirby had been touted as a potential top five pick back in 2015 but slid to the supplemental round due to injury concerns that, clearly, have manifested in his pro career.
  • Cardinals righty Lance Lynn tells Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that he has not engaged in any long-term talks with the club. The pending free agent says he would “love to stay” in St. Louis, but it also doesn’t sound as if the organization should expect any discount. Lynn, who’ll soon turn 30, has returned from Tommy John surgery on a hot streak. Over 35 1/3 frames this year, he owns a shiny 2.04 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. If he can keep up anything approaching that work, and maintain his health, Lynn ought to make for quite an appealing free agent at season’s end.
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