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Injury Notes: McCullers, Wilson, Alvarez, Revere

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Here’s the latest on some injury news around the game …

  • Astros righty Lance McCullers Jr. has been scratched from a scheduled rehab outing tomorrow, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter links). Skipper A.J. Hinch says that the young starter hasn’t experienced any kind of set-back, but hadn’t recovered quickly enough from his most recent work. Houston obviously wants to be certain that the 22-year-old’s shoulder is free and clear of problems before ramping him up, but the club is surely anxious to plug him back into a rotation that has had its share of struggles in the early going.
  • Meanwhile, the division-rival Angels have their own starter coming back slowly from shoulder problems in C.J. Wilson. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports on Twitter, Wilson is still throwing off of flat ground and has yet to move past sixty feet. He “still has a long way to go” to returning to a big league hill, Fletcher adds.
  • Yet another AL West club, the Athletics, received more promising news today on their own shoulder-plagued pitcher, righty Henderson Alvarez. He impressed the club with a two-inning sim game, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports, though he still may need two more before undertaking a rehab assignment. Soon to turn 26, Alvarez was signed to a one-year, $4.25MM deal in hopes that he’d recover from shoulder surgery and return to the solid form he’s displayed in the past with the Marlins.
  • The Nationals still don’t have a timeline for the return of center fielder Ben Revere, as Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com reports. Washington has fared well in his absence, but will look forward to adding his left-handed bat back to the top of the lineup. Fellow outfielders Jayson Werth and Michael Taylor are off to slow starts, though both had more promising results in tonight’s action.

AL Notes: Betances, Gattis, Rangers, Perkins, Pablo

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Yankees righty Dellin Betances was one of several players who couldn’t agree to terms with his team on a pre-arbitration salary over the offseason, and George A. King III of the New York Post reports that the relief ace ended up being renewed at the league minimum of $507.5K. New York had offered Betances $540K, but dropped it down when he declined (on the advice of his agent) to agree to that amount. To be clear, he’s not complaining; the small protest was, of course, his only recourse. Betances, 28, will be in much better standing next winter, when he’ll reach arbitration for the first time. Though he doesn’t have a big history of saves to bring to the arb table, he has racked up quite a few innings for a reliever and has all the other numbers (including holds) needed to run up a significant tab.

Here’s more from the American League:

  • The Astros are readying Evan Gattis for duties behind the plate in the near future, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports. Gattis broke in as a backstop, of course, but the 29-year-old didn’t see any time there last year, as Houston utilized him almost exclusively as a DH (with 11 outfield stings also mixed in). Houston has relied on a combination of Jason Castro and Erik Kratz at the catching position to open the year, having acquired the latter after presumed reserve Max Stassi was lost to injury. He’s expected back before long, but the opportunity to plug Gattis in at times could open some interesting roster possibilities for the Astros.
  • While the Rangers already utilized some significant prospect capital to add Cole Hamels last year, the organization could be in a position to do the same for another quality starter at this year’s trade deadline, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports.  The club’s blue chip youngsters surely won’t be parted with lightly, but Rosenthal says that they could be pried loose if a top-quality, controllable rotation piece can be had over the summer.
  • The Twins may be looking at a reasonably protracted absence from closer Glen Perkins, as LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. According to Perkins, his shoulder troubles arose only recently, but he doesn’t expect to be ready after his 15-day minimum DL stint has passed.
  • Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval has undergone an MRI on his ailing left shoulder, with results expected tomorrow, team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters. He’s already been placed on the disabled list, of course. One major factor seemingly underlying Sandoval’s on-field struggles, of course, is his ongoing battle with weight, and Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald provides interesting insight from Sandoval’s former trainer, Ethan Banning. According to Banning, who worked with Sandoval in the winters before the 2011 and 2012 seasons, the former Giants star had to participate in concerted training efforts to cut back the pounds he had added over both of those offseasons. Per Banning, Sandoval’s struggle relates not to exercise but eating habits. He expressed confidence that the 29-year-old can overcome the issue, but suggested that he’ll need concerted oversight to make it happen.

Angels Claim Danny Reynolds From Astros

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The Angels have announced that they’ve claimed righty Danny Reynolds from the Astros and returned him to Double-A Arkansas, where he pitched last season. The Astros designated Reynolds for assignment on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Reynolds was previously a prospect in the Angels system, but he was claimed last December by the Dodgers and then the Astros. Last season, the 24-year-old posted a 4.57 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings of relief at Arkansas, increasing his strikeout rate but also his walk rate. Reynolds, a third-round pick of the Angels in 2009, has never pitched in the big leagues.

Minor Transactions: Sierra, Outman, Carpenter

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Let’s round up a few notable transactions that won’t impact major league rosters:

  • Cuban shortstop Anibal Sierra has agreed to a $3.5MM bonus with the Astros that will become official on July 2nd, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com reports. The total outlay will be closer to $7MM when accounting for the penalty on the amount that goes above and beyond Houston’s $2.197MM international pool, though of course that number could change if the club acquires additional spending slots. Adding the glove-first 22-year-old would appear to set the club up for yet more additions, as his signing alone would require the team to take on a two-year ban on international signings of over $300K.
  • Former big league relievers Josh Outman, Josh Zeid, Eric Fornataro, and Nick Greenwood have signed deals with the Atlantic League’s New Britain Bees, according to team press release (h/t to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation, on Twitter). Outman, 31, has had some productive years as a lefty specialist but never got a shot in the majors last year while dealing with shoulder troubles. Zeid, a 29-year-old righty who has seen sporadic MLB action with the Astros, posted a 4.46 ERA in 70 2/3 frames for the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2015. Fornataro, a 28-year-old right-hander, has received only minimal major league time. He worked to a 5.37 ERA last year at Triple-A in the Nationals organization. As for Greenwood, 28, he did enough to earn 36 major league frames with the Cardinals in 2014, but ended with a 4.75 ERA and only managed a 5.79 earned run mark last season while functioning mostly as a Triple-A starter.
  • Veteran righty David Carpenter has signed with the Bridgeport Bluefish, the club announced. He had shoulder issues in 2015 and only managed 24 1/3 innings with the Yankees and Naionals. The 30-year-old has some impressive MLB work under his belt, but his strikeout rate plummeted last year after sitting at better than one per inning. He was released by both the Rays and Braves this spring.

Astros Designate Danny Reynolds For Assignment

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The Astros have designated right-hander Danny Reynolds for assignment, tweets MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Presumably, the move will clear spot on the 40-man roster for fellow right-hander Chris Devenski; earlier today, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle tweeted that Houston planned to select Devenski’s contract and option right-hander Michael Feliz to Triple-A after Feliz threw 107 pitches in relief of Collin McHugh’s disastrous start yesterday.

Reynolds, 24, went from the Angels to the Dodgers to the Astros by way of waiver claim this offseason, and now could very well be exposed to waivers once again in the wake of his most recent DFA. The former sixth-rounder made it to Triple-A in 2014 but took a step back down the ladder in 2015, spending the entire year with he Halos’ Double-A affiliate, where he worked to a 4.57 ERA with 10.4 K/9 vs. 5.8 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings of relief. Reynolds moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen in 2014 and has seen his strikeout rate spike significantly since that time; over the past two minor league campaigns, he’s whiffed 113 batters in 105 1/3 innings. He did seem to develop some control issues in 2015, however, as evidenced by an uncharacteristically lofty 5.8 BB/9 rate.

As for the 25-year-old Devenski, who will be making his big league debut if he gets into a game with the Astros, the former White Sox 25th-rounder rated 24th among Houston farmhands, per MLB.com, which noted in its free scouting report that he sits 88-91 mph with his fastball and could sneak his way into the back of a big league rotation if everything clicks. If not, an above-average changeup and solid control could land him a spot in the bullpen. Last season, Devenski logged a 3.01 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 119 2/3 innings with Houston’s Double-A affiliate.

AL West Notes: Wandy, Beltre, Weaver, Surkamp

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The Astros have made veteran left-hander and former rotation mainstay Wandy Rodriguez a an offer to pitch for their Triple-A club, reports MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (Twitter link). The 37-year-old Rodriguez signed with Houston on a minor league deal this winter but didn’t crack the big league roster in Spring Training and is now mulling over the prospect of pitching for the club’s top minor league affiliate, per McTaggart. Rodriguez opened the 2015 campaign with Texas’ other club, the Rangers, and pitched quite well out of the Rangers rotation for a couple of months (3.20 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 across his first 11 starts) before a midsummer meltdown led to his release. Rodriguez spent the first seven and a half seasons of his career with Houston, though the Astros have multiple options ahead of him on the rotation depth chart and a number of lefty relief options at the Triple-A level as well.

Elsewhere in the American League West…

  • Rangers general manager Jon Daniels joined 105.3 The Fan yesterday and talked about Adrian Beltre’s contract status (h/t: the SportsDay DFW, which has transcribed a portion of the interview). Daniels said that retaining Beltre beyond 2016 is still high on his list of priorities. “I love the guy,” said Daniels of Beltre. “I could not appreciate him more on or off the field, and what he’s done for a lot of people – including myself, this franchise, our young players – I love the guy. So, we would still like to be able to find a way to keep him as a Ranger beyond this year. … Whether that gets done now or whether that gets done another time…I think he wants to be here, and we want him here.”
  • Angels righty Jered Weaver tells reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, that he is “100 percent” certain that he will return to form. Weaver told the media that his velocity, which sat 80-82 mph late in Spring Training, reached 86 mph a couple of times in a four-inning simulated game earlier this week, and while skipper Mike Scioscia didn’t reveal specific velocity readings from the workout, he did acknowledge that there was improvement. Weaver conceded that he still has work to do both in terms of endurance and velocity, but he expressed confidence in his ability to make strides in both departments. He’s lined up to pitch for the Halos on Sunday, and with yesterday’s news that Andrew Heaney has been placed on the DL due to a forearm strain, Weaver’s performance is even more crucial to the Angels. It should be noted, too, that while 86 mph (especially from a right-hander) is well below average, Weaver enjoyed success in both 2013 and 2014 while averaging about 86.4 mph on his fastball. Scraping 86 and averaging 86 are different, of course, but the uptick in velocity is nonetheless an encouraging sign. Weaver averaged just 83.3 mph on his fastball last year.
  • Left-hander Eric Surkamp will start in Felix Doubront’s place for the Athletics on Friday, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee writes. Surkamp gets the nod over right-hander Jesse Hahn, who will remain at Triple-A Nashville after posting an ERA north of 11.00 in Spring Training this season. Skipper Bob Melvin said that Surkamp is deserving of the job after a strong spring (3.60 ERA, 19-to-7 K/BB ratio in 20 innings), though as Lee points out, the A’s will have to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Surkamp’s promotion. If surgery is the eventual outcome of the “fibrous tearing” that was reportedly found in Doubront’s left elbow, the club could simply transfer the injured lefty to the 60-day DL to create space for Surkamp, though there’s been no definitive word out of Oakland on Doubront, who was headed for a second opinion this week.

AL West Notes: Doubront, Wilson, Gregerson, Loney

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Athletics lefty Felix Doubront has suffered “fibrous tearing” in his pitching elbow, trainer Nick Paparesta tells Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area (Twitter links). A second opinion will still be needed before a course of treatment is determined, but a surgical option seems to be on the table. The 28-year-old southpaw had been lined up for fifth-starter duties, at least to open the year.

Here’s more from

  • Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson is still waiting to be cleared to begin ramping up, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. Wilson, 35, is building up strength in his balky shoulder, and says he expects to need a full month to get ready once he’s allowed to begin a throwing program. Los Angeles will need everything it can get from the veteran, but it remains unclear at present how long it will take for him to make it back to the big league rotation.
  • Luke Gregerson will open the year as the Astros’ closer, manager A.J. Hinch announced and Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports. The 31-year-old will reprise his 9th-inning role of a year ago, beating out recent addition Ken Giles for the job, though certainly the young flamethrower will be knocking at the door if a need arises. For the time being, said Hinch, Giles will “pitch in a couple different roles, depending on what the highest leverage situation of the game would be” — including, perhaps, some save chances. Even the analytically-inclined Astros apparently believe that roles matter, though; as Hinch explained: “for the purposes of getting guys prepared, I think it’s important that they know sort of generally how they’re going to be used.”
  • Meanwhile, the Astros don’t have interest in now-free agent first baseman James Loney, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports on Twitter. Houston views that position as “set” with Spring Training in the books, he adds. Tyler White figures to get the first look, though players such as Marwin Gonzalez, Evan Gattis, Jon Singleton, and rising prospect A.J. Reed could factor into the picture as well.

Quick Hits: Shields, Sandoval, Cardinals, Astros, Twins

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On the notion of the Padres trading right-hander James Shields to the Red Sox for benched third baseman Pablo Sandoval, one scout told Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, “James Shields is not good in Fenway Park in his career. Some people think he’s a National League pitcher at this point of his career. But it’s one fewer year (on his contract) than Sandoval. I think Sandoval would be better off outside of Boston. I think he’s been eaten whole there. That trade actually would make some sense.” Both players are coming off down seasons, albeit Shields was easily the more valuable of the two in 2015. Shields, 34, exceeded the 200-inning barrier for the ninth straight year and set a career high with a 9.61 K/9, but he also logged personal worsts in BB/9 (3.6) and FIP (4.45) to accompany a mediocre 3.91 ERA. Sandoval is a half-decade younger (29), though that plus is offset by a well-known weight problem and the fact that he had the worst fWAR in baseball in 2015 (-2.0). Moreover, the two carry undesirable financial commitments. Shields is due $60MM over the next three years, though he can opt out and become a free agent after next season. That would mean leaving $44MM on the table, however. Sandoval, meanwhile, is owed $70MM through 2019. Both players’ deals have expensive club options at the end that their respective teams surely won’t exercise, which will lead to buyouts ($2MM for Shields in 2019, $5MM for Sandoval in 2020).

More from around the majors. . .

  • With president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in charge, the Red Sox are a meritocracy when it comes to putting together a roster, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. That was evident in the team’s decision to relegate Sandoval, whom it signed just a year ago, in favor of Travis Shaw at the hot corner. The Dombrowski-led Red Sox began the trend of valuing performance over contract when they elected last summer to end the short-lived, disastrous experiment of Hanley Ramirez in left field, Speier notes. “My focus is on the guys that are in uniform, not what’s attached to them or what their contract states,” manager John Farrell said. “We’re all about evaluating and what’s best for our team.”
  • The Astros have informed left-hander Wandy Rodriguez that he will not crack their Opening Day Roster, tweets Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. Rodriguez, who inked a minor league accord with the Astros in the offseason, had been competing with James Hoyt and Michael Feliz for the final spot in the team’s bullpen. Rodriguez had an opt-out in his contract for last Saturday, per Evan Drellich of the Chronicle. With that deadline having passed, it’s unclear what the immediate future will hold for Rodriguez, but he could end up on the market and in search of a major league deal elsewhere. “Let me see what happens if somebody picks me (up),” he told Drellich.
  • The Cardinals aren’t looking for outside help at shortstop in the wake of Ruben Tejada’s injury, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Instead, the Redbirds will at least wait until they have a better understanding of Tejada’s status. He’ll start the season on the disabled list with a muscle strain in his left quadriceps, leaving Jedd Gyorko and Greg Garcia as the Cardinals’ options at the major league level. They also have Aledmys Diaz of Triple-A Memphis as a potential call-up.
  • Nick Burdi, the Twins’ best relief pitching prospect, is “out indefinitely” with right forearm tightness and will begin the season on the DL, reports LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. Of course, forearm injuries sometimes portend Tommy John surgery. Burdi, who’s capable of hitting 99 on the radar gun, threw three scoreless spring innings for the Twins. The 23-year-old tossed 63 2/3 innings at multiple minor league levels last season and pitched to a 3.82 ERA with an 11.7 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9.
  • Right-hander Roberto Hernandez is drawing interest from teams that want to sign him to a minor league contract, but he’s holding out for a major league deal, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Hernandez, 35, opted out of his deal with Toronto earlier this week after the club didn’t add him to its active roster. In 84 2/3 innings last year with Houston, Hernandez worked to a 4.36 ERA with 4.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.
  • Lefty reliever Wesley Wright has garnered multiple Triple-A offers, per Cotillo (Twitter link). Wright, whom Arizona released Monday, has thrown 371 innings of 4.16 ERA ball to accompany an 8.6 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in his major league career. Those mediocre numbers belie his success versus left-handed batters, who have hit a paltry .234/.313/.334 against Wright.

Cubs To Sign Jake Buchanan

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The Cubs have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Jake Buchanan, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter links).  The Astros released Buchanan today.

Buchanan, 26, has a 4.06 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 1.56 K/9 over 44 1/3 career innings in the bigs, all with the Astros in 2014-15.  Just nine of those innings came last season, however, and Buchanan found himself designated for assignment in September.  His Major League numbers were roughly identical to the state line he posted over 696 2/3 innings in Houston’s minor league system, beginning as a starter but transitioning to a relief role over the last three seasons.

Padres Acquire Dan Straily From Astros For Erik Kratz

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The Padres have acquired righty Dan Straily from the Astros in exchange for veteran catcher Erik Kratz, the clubs have announced. Houston had been searching for another backstop after losing presumed reserve Max Stassi to injury.

Straily, 27, is out of options and did not appear in line for a rotation job with the Astros. He was, however, competing for a spot in the Houston pen. It’s certainly possible he could function in either capacity with the Padres.

It’s been something of an uphill battle for Straily since a promising 2013 season with the Athletics, in which he threw 152 1/3 innings and compiled a 3.96 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9. He’s only made 18 appearances (seven from the pen) since that time, with his earned run average ballooning to 6.42. He’s still young and controllable, but he’s also bounced from the A’s to the Cubs to the ’Stros as a small part of more significant trades.

Meanwhile, San Diego has been rumored to be shopping its catching depth for longer than Houston has even had a need. Derek Norris, Christian Bethancourt, and Austin Hedges look like the top three options for the Padres. Rocky Gale remains in camp, too. More than likely, Kratz — who had a minor league deal with San Diego — wasn’t cracking the MLB roster anytime soon.

The veteran Kratz looks like a true stop-gap for Houston, while the club awaits the return of Stassi. The 35-year-old has spent time in the majors in parts of the last six seasons. He was most active over 2012-13 with the Phillies, and also topped 100 plate appearances in total in 2014, but last year he played in only 16 major league games.

All told, Kratz owns a .218/.270/.397 slash with 23 home runs in 560 MLB plate appearances. That’s quite an impressive power outlay, and Kratz owns an excellent .266/.343/.473 line in his Triple-A career. (That’s not a short sample, either: he’s seen action in ten seasons, and has 1,820 plate appearances on his ledger.)

Of course, striking this deal doesn’t necessarily preclude the Astros from searching for a more significant catching addition, though that seems increasingly unlikely — particularly since the club announced that it has added Kratz to its 40-man roster. Likewise, the Pads could still conceivably deal one of their other backstops. It’s worth noting, too, that adding Straily would help ease the burden if San Diego were to find a trade partner for James Shields, though his presence hardly changes the calculus of such a significant move.

Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle first reported the swap on Twitter, noting that Straily was going and a catcher was involved. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Kratz was involved, on Twitter.

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