Guardians Rumors

Michael Brantley Suffers Setback In Shoulder Rehab; Surgery A Possibility

By Steve Adams | August 9, 2016 at 9:38pm CDT

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley looked to be moving toward a return to the field, but the Indians announced tonight that Brantley has suffered “a recurrence of right shoulder symptoms while progressing through hitting activities late last week.” Dr. Stephen O’Brien of the Hospital of Special Surgery in New York City examined Brantley yesterday and determined that his symptoms are consistent with chronic biceps tendinitis, per the team. Cleveland is gathering additional information and weighing its options, and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said today that surgery is a possibility (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian).

The 2016 campaign is looking more and more like a lost year for Brantley, who emerged as one of the game’s best all-around players with a breakout 2014 campaign and delivered a similarly excellent season in 2015. Late last season, however, he injured his shoulder while making a diving attempt at a ball hit to the left-center gap in Minnesota, and he ultimately required offseason surgery to repair a tear in his labrum. Brantley came back a bit ahead of schedule, debuting in late April, but he appeared in just 11 games before landing back on the disabled list due to shoulder fatigue. Bastian tweets a timeline of the various setbacks and treatments Brantley has encountered in his quest to get back on the field, but another setback significantly reduces the likelihood that he’ll make a contribution to the club’s playoff push. Certainly, surgery would figure to take him out of the picture for the remainder of the 2016 season.

That Brantley has only played in 11 contests this season makes Cleveland’s current three-game lead on the AL Central all the more impressive. The Indians entered the season with one of the murkiest outfield mixtures in all of baseball but has received a tremendous breakout from former first-rounder Tyler Naquin as well as one of the finest seasons of Rajai Davis’ big league career, thus helping to soften the blow of losing Brantley — arguably the team’s best player. A healthy Brantley would only make Cleveland all the more imposing as the playoffs approach, but the perhaps surprising production they’ve gotten from their current outfield alignment lessens the need for Antonetti and his staff to seek outfield upgrades from outside the organization, even if Brantley doesn’t suit up again until 2017.

AL Central News & Notes: Twins, Buxton, Ryan, Royals, Indians

By Mark Polishuk | August 8, 2016 at 6:25pm CDT

Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

The Twins demoted Byron Buxton to Triple-A yesterday, the fourth time the heralded prospect has been sent back to the minors since his initial call-up in June 2015. Buxton has simply not been able to figure out big league pitching, hitting just .199/.248/.319 over 356 Major League plate appearances. It’s too soon to panic over Buxton, however, as Fangraphs’ August Fagerstrom notes in an analysis of Buxton’s various issues at the plate.
Braves director of baseball operations Billy Ryan is one of the names under consideration in the Twins’ general manager search, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link). Despite being in his mid-thirties, Ryan has an extensive resume in the game, working in the Commissioner’s office as well as in the front offices of the Rangers, Indians and Diamondbacks, including four seasons as Arizona’s assistant GM. As Nightengale notes, Ryan is one of “several young executives” on the Twins’ radar as a replacement for former GM Terry Ryan (no relation).
Cheslor Cuthbert has played well as Mike Moustakas’ replacement at third base, leaving the Royals with some depth options for next season, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. Beyond Moustakas and Cuthbert, top prospect Hunter Dozier is hitting well and getting close to a promotion. The hot corner is still slated to belong to Moustakas in 2017, as the others have more defensive versatility — Dozier has been action at first and in both corner outfield spots, plus the Royals feel Cuthbert is capable of handling several spots around the diamond. The DH spot could also be open if the Royals led Kendrys Morales go in free agency. Long-term, it seem as though K.C. could be prepared at third if Moustakas himself leaves as a free agent after the 2017 campaign.
In a mailbag piece, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian feels the Indians won’t be too active in the August waiver trade market, though the club will keep an eye on potential bench or bullpen help. Yankees catcher Brian McCann is an unlikely fit, as while the veteran has cleared waivers, Bastian feels McCann is much too pricey for the Tribe’s liking (whereas trade target Jonathan Lucroy had a much less expensive contract).

AL Central News & Rumors: Ventura, Napoli, Tribe, Royals

By Mark Polishuk | August 7, 2016 at 9:26pm CDT

Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

During an appearance on WSCR Radio’s “Inside The Clubhouse” show (hat tip to CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine), White Sox GM Rick Hahn said that discussions with manager Robin Ventura and the coaching staff about their futures with the team will wait until the end of the season. While the Sox have had another underachieving season, the lack of talk isn’t necessarily a sign that Ventura and company could be in trouble, as “we had the same conversations a couple of years back, when he was in the last year of his deal that time,” Hahn said. “Even as a player, [Ventura] played out the last year of his contract, and focused on the end of that particular season. He let the contractual stuff go until the end of the season, and that is our plan at this point.” Ventura quietly signed a two-year extension during the 2013-14 offseason, prior to his last season under his previous contract as Chicago’s skipper.
Could the qualifying offer keep Mike Napoli in an Indians uniform? Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer floats the idea that the Tribe could extend the one-year QO (rumored to be worth $16.7MM) to Napoli as an attempt at keeping the slugger in the fold without making too lengthy a commitment to a player with a checkered injury history and who is entering his age-35 season. Napoli has enjoyed an outstanding season (.253/.339/.515 with 28 homers in 442 PA) and could certainly be in line for a multi-year deal this winter. If Napoli feels the draft pick compensation attached to the qualifying offer could dampen his market, however, he could also accept the QO and remain on a contender he enjoys playing for, while still taking home a nice payday. It’s certainly one of the more interesting possible QO scenarios in play this winter, assuming of course that the qualifying offer still exists in its current form if the new collective bargaining agreement is finalized before the offseason begins.
The Royals have disappointed this season, and rival executives tell Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that the Royals could face a tough time reloading for another quick return to prominence. A lack of quality pitching in the system is one issue, not to mention rule changes to the draft and international spending that have made it harder for smaller-market teams like K.C. to stockpile talent. Dodd’s piece is well worth a full read for a look at what plagued the Royals this season and the challenges they’ll face in the future.

Jonathan Lucroy Explains Veto Of Indians Trade

By Steve Adams | August 7, 2016 at 8:24pm CDT

There’s been a great deal written about the reasons behind Jonathan Lucroy’s decision to invoke his no-trade clause in order to veto a trade to the Indians, and Lucroy himself has elected to set the record straight, as told to ESPN.com’s Robert Sanchez. The entire explanation is well worth a look for any fan, but Cleveland fans feeling jilted by Lucroy will especially want to take a look to read his own take.

When first informed by Brewers GM David Stearns that he’d been traded, Lucroy said he wasn’t informed which team had struck a deal to acquire him, as medical information needed to be examined before anything could be finalized. He assumed, however, that he’d been dealt to a club that didn’t appear on his no-trade list, as he wasn’t asked about waiving the clause at the time. When Lucroy’s agent, Doug Rogalski, learned it was Cleveland who had the agreement, he called Lucroy to inform him. As Lucroy says…

“I was surprised, but I wanted to keep an open mind. Great team. Competitive team. There’s a real chance to win. Doug called Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president. There was one thing we wanted to know: What was my future with the Indians? We knew Cleveland already had a good catcher, Yan Gomes, who’s injured right now. He’s getting paid more than me, and he’s younger than me. We knew they’d probably want him catching almost every day next year. Heck, if I were the general manager in Cleveland, I’d want Gomes catching every day.

We were right. Antonetti told Doug that the Indians couldn’t make any promises on me catching next season. There was no way they’d drop the team option, either, because I’m pretty inexpensive in 2017. I don’t blame them. I would have been mostly at first base and designated hitter.”

Lucroy stresses that the decision was not because of any negative feelings he harbors toward the city of Cleveland, Indians fans or the Indians organization. He, in fact, was sure to state that he actually respects the organization even more now due to Antonetti’s honesty: “He could have lied to my agent and said I’d play catcher every day next season. … He told the truth. I’m thankful for that.”

Lucroy calls the decision to reject the trade purely economic, believing that teams wouldn’t place as high of a value on him as a free agent if it had been more than a calendar year since he’d regularly been catching games. He also expressed a basic love for the position of catcher — his regular spot on the diamond since he was 12 years old — and spoke about the difficulty he had when thinking of not manning the spot on a near-daily basis in 2017. Lucroy goes on to discuss the uneasiness of waiting to find out if he’d be traded, the impact that the talks had on his wife and young daughter, the emotion he felt in his final at-bat as a member of the Brewers and the relief he felt not only from being traded to a contending club but one that is close to his offseason home in Louisiana. “I know I had nothing to do with the Rangers getting to where they are now, but I want to have a lot to do with finishing the job,” he closes.

Again, readers are strongly encouraged to check out Lucroy’s full statements, as they provide a behind-the-curtain look at the thoughts, emotion and stress that fans and the media alike will often take for granted when discussing trades.

Central Notes: Pirates, Tribe, Napoli, Cardinals

By Connor Byrne | August 6, 2016 at 8:09pm CDT

The Pirates have taken plenty of flak since sending left-hander Francisco Liriano and a pair of prospects – outfielder Harold Ramirez and catcher Reese McGuire – to the Blue Jays on Monday for right-hander Drew Hutchison. General manager Neal Huntington explained the Bucs’ thinking Saturday, telling Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review, “Our primary motivation was to acquire Drew Hutchison. … Instead, it came out that we moved two prospects to move Liriano’s contract. Now I can’t tell you that wasn’t a part of the motivation, but the primary motivation was to acquire a quality pitcher.” The 25-year-old Hutchison has spent the vast majority of the season in the minors and owns a below-average 4.92 ERA in 406 1/3 major league innings, but he has recorded a solid 15.1 K-BB percentage and is controllable through 2018. The Pirates were particularly mindful of the latter factor upon acquiring him. “Mediocre pitching is getting paid a lot of money. As we look forward, whether it’s the trade market or free agent market, the challenge of acquiring quality, controllable, productive starting pitching … is hard to do,” said Huntington. As for Liriano, Huntington expects him to do well “where hitters are unfamiliar with him, in a new environment, with new scouting reports,” but the GM believes the opposition in the National League became too accustomed to the 32-year-old.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/5/16

By Jeff Todd | August 5, 2016 at 8:36pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

The Indians announced that outfielder Joey Butler has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. Butler, 30, hasn’t seen the majors this year after posting a useful .276/.326/.416 batting line in 276 plate appearances last year for the Rays. Though he once seemingly represented a corner outfield option for Cleveland this year, he hadn’t yet earned a promotion and now loses his 40-man spot after running up a .238/.306/.360 slash at the highest level of the minors — well off of his .841 career OPS in extensive Triple-A action.
Likewise, Giants infielder Ramiro Pena has cleared waivers and is ticketed for Triple-A, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. The 31-year-old did excellent fill-in work for San Francisco, slashing .299/.330/.425 in his 91 plate appearances. But with the Giants welcoming back several players from the DL and re-aligning their infield mix, he was without a spot. Pena is a handy defender — he played at short, second, and third this year alone — but typically isn’t quite as productive at the plate as he has been in 2016. He carries a .636 OPS in his 701 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, though he has been swinging a good stick at Triple-A in each of the last two years.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/4/16

By Jeff Todd | August 4, 2016 at 8:38pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

Angels outfielder Daniel Nava has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers, the Halos announced. He hasn’t panned out as hoped since signing a $1.375MM deal over the winter, and it doesn’t appear as if the club will end up tendering him a contract this fall. Nava owns a .235/.309/.303 slash over 136 plate appearances on the year, and he is now two seasons removed from the solid offensive numbers he put up with the Red Sox. Still, the 33-year-old’s high-on-base approach would hold plenty of appeal if he can get back on track.
The Indians have inked lefty Colt Hynes to a minor league pact, according to the Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes (via Twitter). Hynes, 31, will head to Triple-A Columbus. The southpaw reliever has spent the last two years with the Blue Jays organization, briefly appearing in the majors last year. He has carried a sub-3.50 ERA at Triple-A each year, and was especially impressive this season. Over his 37 frames, Hynes retired 10.5 batters per nine via the strikeout while issuing only 1.7 BB/9.

Indians Claim Michael Martinez, Designate Tyler Olson

By Jeff Todd | August 4, 2016 at 3:42pm CDT

The Indians have claimed utilityman Michael Martinez off waivers from the Red Sox, per a team announcement. To clear a 40-man roster spot, the Indians designated lefty Tyler Olson for assignment.

Boston had actually added Martinez from Cleveland not long ago, and now sends him back. The 33-year-old switch-hitter has just 70 MLB plate appearances on the year, over which he carries a .273/.304/.364 batting line.

That doesn’t sound like much production, and it isn’t, but it actually stands quite a bit higher than Martinez’s career .515 OPS in 542 plate appearances. He has continued to draw interest from organizations, though, because of his defensive versatility. Martinez has lined up at every position except for first, pitcher, and catcher.

Olson, 26, was himself a recent waiver mover, with the Indians representing his third team on the year. He has reached the majors, but has received only minimal time there. Over his 95 1/3 career Triple-A innings, Olson has pitched to a 4.81 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 3.0 B/9.

AL Notes: Twins, Hill, Indians, Norris, Rangers

By Jeff Todd | August 3, 2016 at 7:55pm CDT

While details are non-existent, Twins general manager Rob Antony dropped an intriguing note to reporters including Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Twitter link). Minnesota nearly swung a three-team trade before the deadline, the newly-minted interim GM said. That’s certainly fun to ponder, though it’s awfully difficult to assess what kind of scenario might have materialized with so many moving parts. (Don’t let that stop you from trying in the comments!)

Here’s more from the American League:

Before he was traded by the Athletics to the Dodgers, southpaw Rich Hill was seeking around $28MM over two years in the extension talks between the sides, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s certainly an interesting number to ponder: it’s shockingly high for a player of Hill’s background, but is rather cheap compared with the cost of top-end starting pitching on the open market, particularly given the dearth of arms coming this winter. Despite the risk, Hill has pitched at an extremely high level when healthy, and the guess here is that plenty of teams would be happy to take that chance for less than the expected annual rate of a qualifying offer (which is expected to be $16.7MM). Last fall, Marco Estrada commanded $26MM over two years in a deal struck while he pondered a QO, providing something of a comparable, though Hill is older and probably should come with wider band of reasonable performance expectations. Regardless whether that was a reasonable request for a raise over Hill’s current $6MM salary — which he landed despite only a four-start audition late last year — it provides some insight into the thinking of an interesting pending free agent. (Notably, the trade also means that Hill won’t be eligible to receive a qualifying offer.)
The Indians considered a move for Padres catcher Derek Norris after their agreement to add Jonathan Lucroy was vetoed by the veteran backstop, according to Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. Talks didn’t go very far, though, as Cleveland wasn’t enticed by a reportedly high asking price. The Indians also looked at Steve Pearce, but the team’s scouts weren’t enthused by his defensive profile at third.
The Rangers’ efforts to strike a deal for a new ballpark are still moving along, as Robert Cadwallader of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The Arlington City Council voted unanimously to push ahead with a November ballot item seeking approval for the funding package, which has received plenty of criticism given its taxpayer-backed terms and the fact that the Rangers seemingly play in a rather acclaimed, quite youthful ballpark at present. Another vote is needed to send the matter to the voters.

Injury Notes: Salazar, Cabrera, Gregerson, Teheran, Rosenthal, Hochevar

By Jeff Todd | August 2, 2016 at 6:07pm CDT

A trio of notable players just hit the 15-day DL, so we’ll cover them all right here:

The Indians announced that they have placed righty Danny Salazar on the 15-day DL while he rests his prized right elbow. Fortunately, an MRI seems only to have revealed inflammation, so the hope is that Salazar won’t miss an extended period of time. And Cleveland has plenty of rotation depth on hand, including Cody Anderson and Mike Clevinger, with the latter getting the nod for the time being. Still even a relatively brief absence will have an impact; Salazar has been nothing short of outstanding, and the AL Central-leading club holding a four-game cushion in the division race.
After already recently placing infielder Jose Reyes on the shelf, the Mets have now done the same with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. He suffered a strained patellar tendon and is headed for an MRI. The team also added just-signed outfielder Justin Ruggiano to the 15-day ranks. Cabrera’s loss is notable for an organization that was already scrambling to fill in for missing infielders. Matt Reynolds will come up for the meantime to help fill the void, but it seems there’s some real concern that the injury could require a fairly lengthy absence.
Astros reliever Luke Gregerson is headed to the 15-day with an oblique strain, the team announced. That not only will keep him out of action for a bit, but will clear the way for Ken Giles to take over as the team’s closer with Will Harris struggling of late. Gregerson has been rather excellent this year despite himself losing the 9th-inning job previously, with ERA estimators valuing him even more highly than his 3.09 ERA.
The Braves have added righty Julio Teheran to the DL as well. He is dealing with a lat strain that isn’t believed to be serious. Atlanta will obviously want to exercise plenty of caution in handling the injury, even if it isn’t particularly worrisome, as Teheran is a key piece of the organization’s rebuilding plans and there’s no need to rush him back.
Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal has been given platelet-rich plasma injections in his bothersome righty shoulder, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. GM John Mozeliak says that it’s possible Rosenthal Of course, St. Louis will be looking for more than just physical improvement; it’ll also hope that he can fix his skyrocketing walk rate during a rehab stint.
As expected, Royals righty Luke Hochevar underwent a procedure today to help deal with a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. He is expected to be out for six months, which would conceivably mean that he’ll be ready for a full spring camp if the rehab goes according to plan. It seems likely that the Royals will decline their end of a $7MM mutual option on the reliever, which would make him a free agent, though certainly it’s possible to imagine him staying with Kansas City on some kind of creative, two-year deal of the sort that the team has reached in recent years with several injured hurlers.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Guardians Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect