Quick Hits: Rockies, Hamilton, Gimenez, Mazara, Padres
The Rockies and visiting teams have tried several run-prevention strategies at Coors Field over the years with little success, though ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription-only column) suggests a novel idea — what if the Rockies and others used a fourth outfielder? The idea, which stemmed from a chat with Jake Peavy, would be a natural extension of the defensive shifts that have become more common in recent years. Here’s more from around the baseball world…
- Josh Hamilton and Chris Gimenez are both playing games in extended spring training, Rangers manager Jeff Banister told reporters (including MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan). Gimenez could start a rehab assignment as soon as Monday, as the catcher looks to return after being sidelined for a month by an ankle infection. Hamilton faces a longer road back to the bigs, as he’ll play in extended spring games for the next week and then some minor league action. Banister said the Rangers want to see Hamilton get around 35 plate appearances before considering a return to the MLB roster. Hamilton has battled left knee problems all offseason, and has already undergone two operations and a stem cell/PRP injection within the last eight months.
- The Rangers have a solid history of producing good young position players, MLB.com’s Phil Rogers writes, and Nomar Mazara is one of the most exciting of them all. The 20-year-old Mazara has made a huge impact in his first taste of big league action, taking a .378/.419/.514 slash line over 43 PAs into Saturday’s play.
- Melvin Upton is enjoying a good season and could eventually be a trade chip for the Padres, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes as part of a reader chat. San Diego would probably still have to eat some of the roughly $30.18MM owed to Upton through the 2017 season to make a trade work. That would still represent something of a win for the Padres and Upton, as his deal was though to be one of the worst in baseball at this time just a year ago. In two seasons as a Padres, however, Upton has regained some value by hitting .261/.334/.433 with seven homers over 292 PA and he also posted above-average defensive metrics in center field in 2015.
- Albert Abreu would be a much-hyped prospect in most farm systems, but he’s something of a hidden gem within the Astros‘ deep minor league organization. Baseball America’s Ben Badler profiles Abreu, a 20-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic who signed a $185K international deal in 2013. Abreu has a 5.11 ERA over 12 1/3 innings at high-A ball this season, though with very impressive peripherals (13.9 K/9, 4.75 K/BB rate, no homers allowed).
Rosenthal’s Latest: Beltran, Royals, Gray, Astros
Here’s the latest from FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, via his weekly Full Count video…
- Carlos Beltran wants to keep playing beyond this season and there’s a chance he could return to the Royals in 2017. Kansas City will have a vacancy at DH next season since Kendrys Morales is a free agent, and the Royals made a push to sign Beltran in the 2013-14 offseason before the Yankees boosted their offer to include a third guaranteed year. Beltran, who turns 39 tomorrow, is still swinging a strong bat, and it’s possible he could better preserve himself in a regular DH role — Alex Rodriguez‘s presence in New York has kept Beltran mostly in right field as a Yankee.
- Aside from Ian Kennedy, the Royals also targeted free agent hurlers Zack Greinke, Wei-Yin Chen and Mike Leake as good fits for their rotation last winter. “All throw changeups, all field their positions well and, most importantly, all command their fastballs,” Rosenthal noted, and GM Dayton Moore told him that pitchers who tend to fall behind in the count didn’t mesh with the Royals’ style. K.C. ended up signing Kennedy to a five-year, $70MM contract, which was less than the five years/$80MM Leake and Chen respectively received from the Cardinals and Marlins and obviously well below Greinke’s $206.5MM megadeal with the Diamondbacks. (Leake, unlike the other three, didn’t have qualifying offer draft compensation to his services.) In the early going, Kennedy has been outstanding as a Royal, posting a 1.35 ERA over his first three starts.
- The Athletics‘ good start will make it less likely that Sonny Gray is traded, though Rosenthal notes that even if Gray was shopped and a team was willing to give up “a ton” for the star righty, the A’s would still face a tough decision about pulling the trigger on a deal. Gray will become eligible for arbitration next winter, and though his arb costs may eventually price him out of Oakland’s comfort zone, Gray would still certainly be “affordable” for the A’s in 2017 (and really a bargain if he continues to post ace-type numbers).
- In another video from Rosenthal, he notes that the Astros might eventually need to make a trade to add some velocity to their rotation. Houston’s starters entered today with the lowest average velocity (87.8 mph) of any club in baseball, with the Orioles next to last at 90.1 mph. The rotation woes are just one of many problems plaguing the Astros right now as the team is off to a rough 5-12 start.
AL Notes: Jays, Astros, Red Sox, Yanks
In the wake of the 80-game PED suspension handed to Blue Jays first baseman/designated hitter Chris Colabello on Friday, teammate Kevin Pillar had some choice words for Major League Baseball (Twitter link via Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet Magazine). “This is a guy that got caught up in a flawed system,” the outfielder said of Colabello. “He fell victim to a technicality in the system. And I think that the drug testing policy and Major League Baseball are going to have some soul searching to do and they’re going to have to figure it out.” Pillar didn’t elaborate on the “technicality” that he believes victimized Colabello. The 32-year-old tested positive in March for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid that’s designed to increase the user’s speed and strength. Colabello did pass four drug tests last year, though, tweets John Lott of VICE Sports.
More from Toronto and a couple other American League cities:
- The Blue Jays aren’t yet considering going outside the organization to replace Colabello, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). Justin Smoak is first in line to pick up the slack, per Rosenthal, who points out that the team also has Matt Dominguez in Triple-A Buffalo. Rosenthal didn’t mention Jesus Montero, who’s with Dominguez in Buffalo. The former elite prospect has recorded a respectable .292/.341/.429 line in in 315 career plate appearances against left-handed pitchers.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said Friday that Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo and Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez (then the Rays’ bench coach) were the main runners-up to A.J. Hinch in Houston’s 2014 managerial search, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. “I think he’s going to be a major league manager in the future, and a good one,” Luhnow said of Lovullo. “He has a great balance of instincts and wisdom from all of his coaching experience, and understanding and appreciation for all of the other elements that are involved.” Lovullo garnered some major league managerial experience last season when he filled in for John Farrell, who was undergoing treatment for lymphoma, and led the Red Sox to a 28-21 record. Hinch, meanwhile, helped the Astros to a playoff berth and finished second in the AL manager of the year voting. This year isn’t going nearly as well so far, however, as the Astros have gone a surprisingly poor 5-12.
- Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks will undergo an MRI after leaving the team’s win Friday with a jammed non-throwing (left) shoulder, reports Ryan Hatch of NJ Advance Media. “We told him: see how you feel when you wake up,” said manager Joe Girardi. “If you’re really sore, we’re going to send you for an MRI. And that’s what happened.” Hicks, whom the Yankees acquired from the Twins during the offseason, has appeared in 14 of 15 games this year and totaled just two singles and two walks in 24 plate appearances.
AL Notes: Rangers, Sandoval, Indians, Keuchel
Rangers GM Jon Daniels said in an appearance on 105.3 FM The Fan that his club has not made an effort to trade for an impact catcher since Robinson Chirinos‘ injury (transcript via the Dallas Morning News). To this point, Daniels says that other clubs haven’t called and marketed potentially available catchers: “No, nobody has really … the guys we’ve heard from the most are the agents who have either free agent catching guys that got released out of camp, or maybe they have a catcher at Triple-A with somebody where maybe they’ve got an out or want us to trade for them.” Daniels said that the Rangers have looked into adding some more organizational depth — defense-first, quality makeup catchers — but is more focused on getting Chirinos healthy than acquiring a potential replacement.
- Rob Bradford of WEEI.com wonders if some time away from the Red Sox will create the opportunity for Pablo Sandoval to follow the route of former Sox pitcher John Lackey, who was a largely unpopular figure in Boston after the first few seasons of his five-year deal but won his way back into the hearts of Red Sox fans with a very strong 2013 in his return from Tommy John surgery. Bradford notes that it won’t be easy for Sandoval, though right-hander Clay Buchholz tells Bradford that Sandoval’s teammates are all behind him. “We all know what Panda can do,” said Buchholz. “He’s an elite player. He’s battled through some pretty tough criticism and now with this … I hope it’s not anything like it sounds.” Sandoval is currently on the shelf for an undetermined amount of time after visiting Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on his ailing shoulder.
- The Indians will activate right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall from the disabled list on Wednesday this week, writes Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com, which means a roster move is forthcoming. Of the team’s four outfielders — Rajai Davis, Collin Cowgill, Marlon Byrd and Tyler Naquin — only Naquin has options and can be sent down without being exposed to waivers. Looking at the pitching staff, Hoynes lists a number of arms that are safe but doesn’t apply that designation to Joba Chamberlain, Ross Detwiler or Dan Otero. Chamberlain and Otero have been strong thus far in the young season, whereas Detwiler has surrendered runs in two of his four appearances on the year.
- While he’s only made three starts this season, Astros ace and reigning Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel has displayed some notable red flags, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs points out (notably, Cameron’s piece was written prior to Keuchel’s most recent start, though the velocity issues he mentions persisted in that outing). Chief among them is diminished velocity in Keuchel’s sinker, cutter and slider. Velocity peaks in the middle of a season for a pitcher, of course, but Cameron notes that even when comparing Keuchel’s velocity to his velocity last April, there’s a significant dip. Beyond that, Keuchel isn’t commanding the bottom of the strike zone as well as he did last season (or, alternatively, umpires are not being as generous on the bottom of the zone after learning from Statcast data that Keuchel received more favorable bottom-of-the-zone calls than nearly any other pitcher in the league). Cameron stresses that the sample being studied is small, but each is a concerning trend for an Astros club that very much needs Keuchel to approximate his 2015 value to make a run at the top of the division.
Texas Notes: Rangers, Beltre, Gallo, Astros, Giles
Here’s the latest from the Lone Star State’s two MLB clubs…
- The Rangers‘ decision to extend Adrian Beltre was “probably one of the easiest” of Jon Daniels’ tenure with the club, the GM told reporters (including T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com) yesterday during the official press conference to announce Beltre’s new two-year, $36MM contract. There was a great deal of speculation and, in fact, assumption that the two sides would work out a new deal this offseason, and Beltre joked that the negotiations weren’t settled until two weeks into the season since “I wanted Giancarlo Stanton money, 13 years and $400MM.”
- Keeping Beltre through the 2018 season won’t have any impact on top prospect Joey Gallo‘s future with the Rangers, Daniels said, aside from a probable position shift. “Joey has a ton of talent and a ton of ability. He has played the outfield and played first base. Those may be options down the line. We’re not making that decision today,” Daniels said. Mitch Moreland is a free agent this winter, so first base could be Gallo’s best option given that Nomar Mazara and Shin-Soo Choo look to have the corner outfield spots spoken for in 2017 and beyond. It’s also not out of the question that Gallo could play around the diamond until Beltre’s extension is up, and then take over as the regular third baseman.
- Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram likes the Beltre extension for the Rangers, as Beltre is still producing at a high level despite just turning 37 years old. The $18MM average annual value is the cost of doing business, in terms of keeping Beltre off the open market and keeping his contract status from becoming a greater distraction throughout the rest of the year.
- Though the season is only two weeks old, the early returns on the Ken Giles trade aren’t great from the Astros‘ perspective, CBSSports.com’s R.J. Anderson writes. Houston dealt a hefty package of prospects and young players to the Phillies for Giles and Jonathan Arauz in December, and one of those five players (Vincent Velasquez) has already emerged as an early star of the 2016 season. Giles, meanwhile, has a 9.64 ERA through 4 2/3 innings and has already allowed as many homers (three) as he did in the entire 2014-15 seasons combined. As Anderson notes, however, Giles has maintained his velocity and is actually striking batters out at a higher rate, so his early-season homer issues could simply be a fluke.
- In other Astros news from earlier today, Lance McCullers got through a throwing session with no problems.
Injury Updates: Pirates, McCullers, Santana
Here’s the latest injury news from around Major League Baseball:
- The Pirates announced that both infielder Jung Ho Kang and right-handed reliever Jared Hughes will begin rehab assignments at Triple-A Indianapolis in the upcoming week. Kang, who will play for Indy on Monday, is certainly the bigger piece of the two, having put up a 3.9-fWAR season as a rookie in 2015. After coming over from Korea, the shortstop/third baseman hit .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs before suffering torn ligaments in his knee in September. Kang is allowed 20 days on his rehab assignment, which means the latest he can return to the Pirates is May 7, tweets Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hughes, meanwhile, has exceeded 60 innings three of the last four years out of the Bucs’ bullpen, and his ERA hasn’t surpassed 2.85 in any of those seasons. Although the ground-ball pitcher owns a 2.77 ERA in 250 career innings, FIP (3.95) and xFIP (3.93) aren’t quite buying his bottom-line results.
- Astros right-hander Lance McCullers threw Sunday without any problems, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on Twitter). The 22-year-old has yet to debut this season because of shoulder troubles, and he had to be scratched from a rehab start earlier this week because of “lingering recovery issues” from his prior outing. McCullers burst on the scene as a rookie in 2015, tossing 125 2/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball (3.26 FIP, 3.50 xFIP) to accompany a stellar 9.24 K/9. Without McCullers, the Astros’ rotation has put up a lofty 4.82 ERA this year.
- Twins outfielder Danny Santana, who landed on the disabled list April 9 because of a hamstring injury, could begin a rehab assignment midway through the upcoming week, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Santana played all three outfield positions for the Twins during his first four games prior to the injury, though he went just 2 for 12 with no extra-base hits or walks at the plate. Twins outfielders have been putrid in general this year, so Santana could work his way back into the lineup when he returns. However, he was ineffective over 91 games last season in putting up a .215/.241/.291 line and -1.4 fWAR. Those numbers served as a stark contrast to Santana’s red-hot, 101-game rookie campaign in 2014 (.319/.353/.472, 3.3 fWAR).
Rosenthal’s Latest: Jays, Nats, Padres, Astros
While a deep playoff run could improve the Blue Jays’ odds of re-signing one of right fielder Jose Bautista or designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, chances are neither will return to Toronto next season, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (video link). The fact that the Jays are already dedicating a significant chunk of payroll to a pair of over-30 players in catcher Russell Martin and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki could deter them from handing out another massive contract to an aging player. Bautista and Encarnacion are two of the best hitters in the sport, but their respective ages (35 and 33) are working against them. Rosenthal reported last month that the Jays might only be willing to give Bautista a Yoenis Cespedes-esque deal (three years, $75MM), which is a good distance from his desire to land at least a four-year contract worth in the $30MM-per-annum range. As for Encarnacion, extension talks between him and Toronto went dormant in March.
Here’s more from Rosenthal:
- The Nationals have until June 15 to exercise the two-year option in president of baseball operations/general manager Mike Rizzo’s contract, and signs point toward the team picking it up. The Rizzo-built Nationals haven’t won a championship, but they have ranged from respectable to elite in recent individual seasons. They currently have the majors’ third-best record since 2012, including an 8-1 start this year, and possess one of baseball’s premier farm systems. In the unlikely event Washington doesn’t retain Rizzo, Rosenthal doesn’t think he’d have a difficult time finding another job.
- Although Padres president Mike Dee gave second-year GM A.J. Preller a vote of confidence last month, Friars ownership expects better from the team than what it has shown during a 3-8 start. If such poor play continues, it could put Preller’s job in jeopardy. However, as Rosenthal notes, the Padres hired Preller because of his eye for young talent, which the club is in position to accrue in droves over the next several months. Preller’s Padres have three of the top 25 picks in June’s draft and are expected to be highly active when the international free agent spending period begins July 2. They could also add more youth by trading certain veterans this summer.
- With hard-throwing righty Lance McCullers on the shelf because of inflammation in his pitching shoulder, the Astros might have to address the lack of velocity in their rotation at some point, Rosenthal opines. Even though the Astros have the reigning American League Cy Young winner in lefty Dallas Keuchel, he isn’t known for overpowering velocity. Neither are fellow starters Mike Fiers, Doug Fister, Collin McHugh or Scott Feldman. Of course, in addition to McCullers, Houston had another young, in-house flamethrower in Vincent Velasquez, but it traded the early 2016 sensation to the Phillies in a package for reliever Ken Giles during the offseason.
Injury Notes: McCullers, Wilson, Alvarez, Revere
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
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
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.