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NL Notes: Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Padres, Giants

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Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is slated to go on a rehab assignment Monday and come off the disabled list Wednesday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. It has been a short stay on the DL for Puig, who suffered a hip pointer and a bruised foot on April 28. Meanwhile, third baseman Justin Turner took batting practice Sunday for the first time since suffering a broken left wrist on March 20, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was among those to report. Both the Puig and Turner updates are much-needed positive news for the Dodgers, who have been victimized by key injuries all year. Ace Clayton Kershaw became their latest cornerstone player to hit the DL on Sunday.

More from the National League…

  • Mets left fielder Yoenis Cespedes exited the team’s game Sunday with a right quad issue, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets. Cespedes has dealt with right quad problems in the past, but he’s optimistic this isn’t a serious issue. The 32-year-old said after the game that he might play the Mets’ series opener in Cincinnati on Monday.
  • Braves third base prospect Austin Riley is getting closer to the majors. The Braves promoted the 21-year-old from Double-A to Triple-A on Sunday, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Riley, whom multiple outlets ranks as a top 100 prospect, slashed an incredible .333/.394/.677 (193 wRC+) with six home runs in 109 plate appearances at Double-A this year. He might push for the Braves’ starting third base job as early as next season, per O’Brien.
  • Padres righty Bryan Mitchell could lose his starting job before he’s scheduled to take the hill again on Thursday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com relays. “Going forward, we’ll sit down and talk about it,” Padres manager Andy Green said Saturday after Mitchell allowed three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. Although Mitchell’s ERA is now up to 6.47 across 32 frames, during which he has logged 4.5 K/9 against 7.31 BB/9, it doesn’t seem as if those struggles will cost him his roster spot. Rather, the Padres would move the out-of-options 27-year-old to the bullpen, Cassavell suggests. Mitchell’s output this year clearly isn’t what San Diego had in mind when it acquired him and third baseman Chase Headley (and $12.5MM of his $13MM salary) from the Yankees for outfielder Jabari Blash over the winter.
  • Giants outfielder Mac Williamson’s return from the seven-day concussion DL isn’t imminent, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests. Williamson, who suffered the injury April 24, will likely need a rehab assignment even when he’s healthy enough to play again, Schulman notes. As such, he might not suit up again for the Giants until mid-May or later.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/6/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Braves have selected right-hander Luke Jackson’s contract from Triple-A and optioned fellow righty Lucas Sims, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Twitter. Jackson’s now back on Atlanta’s 40-man roster after the club outrighted him two weeks ago. The 26-year-old appeared in two of the Braves’ games this season before they booted him from their roster, allowing two earned runs on two walks and one hit in 1 1/3 innings. Jackson has experienced some success in the minors this year, on the other hand, having pitched to a 3.86 ERA with 12.54 K/9, 5.79 BB/9 and a 50 percent groundball rate across 9 1/3 frames.

NL Notes: Harvey, Braves, Rendon, Hedges, Lamb, Reyes

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After deciding to designate Matt Harvey for assignment, the Mets are now sorting out exactly how his tenure with the organization will come to an end. Initial trade discussions seem not to be generating much traction, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter), who says that the team is offering to “eat a significant amount” of the remainder of Harvey’s salary in hopes of securing something in return. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the response from rival officials has to this point been that they’d prefer simply to pursue Harvey if he passes through waivers. If that occurs, he’ll surely either be released or decline an outright assignment, at which point he’d be a free agent who could sign for a pro-rated version of the league minimum, leaving the Mets on the hook for the balance of the $5.6MM he’s owed.

More from the National League:

  • New Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos has been discussing his team’s promising start with quite a few outlets of late as excitement has mounted. He largely credited the prior regime with “outstanding” work in accumulating and developing talent in a chat with Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Anthopoulos also says he’ll be “open-minded to do things” if the team is in position to push for the postseason at the trade deadline, though he notes there’s still quite a lot of baseball to be played before making any final assessments of where the 2018 roster may be headed. In comments to MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (via Twitter), Anthopoulos did note that payroll constraints and an ongoing focus on the future would continue to weigh significantly in the team’s decisionmaking.
  • Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon acknowledged after his rehab appearance today that he has a hairline fracture in his injured toe, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets. That explains his somewhat extended absence after fouling a ball off of his foot. The important thing for the Nats, though, is that Rendon seems to be ready to be activated as the club attempts to extend a six-game winning streak.
  • The Padres have a plan in place for assessing the balky elbow of catcher Austin Hedges, as Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports on Twitter. He’ll be given a week or ten days of rest before it’s decided whether he needs to undergo an MRI. Hedges hit the DL recently with a bout of tendinitis. It seems the hope remains that the issue will resolve itself with some down time. Hedges has struggled at the plate in 2018, hitting at a .173/.235/.293 clip to open the season.
  • Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb received an MRI and cortisone shot after reporting continued discomfort in his injured left shoulder, per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter links). That said, the belief is that this will not constitute a significant setback. It’s still disappointing to hear that Lamb is not yet back to health, as the club no doubt hoped he’d already be nearing a return at this point. Given his extended absence, it stands to reason that he’ll require some rehab time once he is cleared for game action. Fortunately for the Snakes, Daniel Descalso has filled in admirably.
  • Prized Cardinals righty Alex Reyes is prepared to begin a rehab assignment next week, as MLB.com’s Joe Trezza writes. As he works back from Tommy John surgery, the high-octane hurler is said to be working in the upper nineties and looking good. That’s great news for the Cards, though the team is expected to handle Reyes with care as he ramps up fully. It’s still not clear how the organization will deploy the 23-year-old, who showed ample promise in his 2016 debut, once he is ready to return. But he’s building up as a starter and figures to be a valuable addition to the MLB roster in any role when he is activated.

Braves Place Dansby Swanson On 10-Day DL

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The Braves have placed shortstop Dansby Swanson on the 10-day DL with left wrist inflammation, per a team announcement. He’ll be replaced by outfielder Preston Tucker, who was only just optioned way earlier today.

It doesn’t seem as if the move was made out of concern that Swanson has suffered a significant injury. Manager Brian Snitker suggested today that the belief is Swanson’s wrist is “structurally sound,” per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter).

That’s generally good news, then, for the Braves. The team’s encouraging overall start has been matched — and driven, in no small part — by Swanson’s own first month. Coming off of a rough 2017 effort at the plate, he was something of a question mark entering the current campaign.

To this point, Swanson has fulfilled the promise he showed as a former first overall draft pick who sprined through the minors. He’s off to a .289/.336/.430 start through 122 plate appearances, with two home runs and two stolen bases. Defensive metrics are also smiling on Swanson’s efforts in the field after awarding him marginal grades in 2017.

That said, Swanson still has some issues to overcome on the offensive side. He has benefited thus far from a .388 batting average on balls in play that’s sure to decline. Swanson has thus far taken a more aggressive approach than in the past, with his swing rate (48.5%) and swinging-strike rate (11.2%) both easily topping his prior levels. He’s drawing walks in just 5.7% of his plate appearances, well shy of the 10.7% rate he carried last year, while going down on strikeouts more than ever before (26.2%). It remains to be seen how things will shake out as pitchers react to this changed approach and Swanson, in turn, responds.

As for Tucker, he was eligible to return in advance of the usual 10-day waiting period since he was replacing an injured player. It’s fair to wonder, though, whether he’ll remain on the MLB roster for long. There isn’t a rush for another infielder — Johan Camargo can slide to short, with Charlie Culberson and Ryan Flaherty still available off the bench — but the organization had already decided it preferred an alignment that did not include Tucker. He could head back to Gwinnett when Swanson is activated, if not sooner — if, say, the Braves decide to promote just-claimed utilityman Philip Gosselin.

Braves Select Jose Bautista’s Contract, Option Preston Tucker

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1:38pm: The Braves have now announced that Bautista’s contract has been select. Outfielder Preston Tucker was optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster for Bautista.

After a blistering start to the season, Tucker’s bat has unsurprisingly come back down to Earth in recent weeks. He’s posted a .218/.246/.364 slash over his past 57 plate appearances with the Braves.

9:32am: David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets that the Braves are adding Bautista to the MLB roster today.

9:24am: The Braves are expected to add Jose Bautista to their lineup tonight, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (via Twitter). Atlanta will need to formally select the contract of Bautista, who signed a minor league deal with the Braves last month. Atlanta announced in April that the longtime Blue Jays star will play third base in their organization. The Braves currently have three openings on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 25-man roster move to add Bautista.

Bautista, of course, was primarily a third baseman before breaking out with the Jays and settling in as their right fielder for the better part of a decade. He’s played just 38 innings at the position in the four years prior to signing with Atlanta, however, all of which came last year in Toronto. Bautista hasn’t seen even semi-regular action at the hot corner since 2011, and even then he logged just 205 innings at the position in that entire season.

The 37-year-old slugger has gotten off to a solid start with Atlanta’s top affiliate, hitting .250/.386/.361 with a homer, a double and six walks against eight strikeouts through 44 plate appearances. As Bowman notes, the home run and double came within the past few days, as Bautista’s bat has begun to heat up a bit as he’s shaken off some of the rust after sitting out Spring Training entirely.

Bautista will be looking to rebound from a dreary 2017 season in which he hit just .203/.308/.366. While Bautista still slugged 23 homers and walked at an above-average 12.2 percent clip, his strikeout rate jumped to a career-worst 24.8 percent as his contact rate plummeted from 80.2 percent to 73.3 percent. The biggest flaw for Bautista was a sudden inability to hit fastballs; a career .246/.374/.519 hitter against four-seamers, Bautista flailed ineffectively at four-seam fastballs in 2017, hitting just .198/.294/.365 against them.

Braves Claim Phil Gosselin From Reds

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The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed infielder Phil Gosselin off waivers from the Reds and assigned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta had open space on its 40-man roster, so there’s no corresponding move necessary with Gosselin’s claim.

This will mark Gosselin’s second stint with the Atlanta organization, as the Braves were the club to initially select him out of the University of Virginia in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. Gosselin went on to make his Major League debut for the Braves three years later, and in parts of three seasons with Atlanta, he slashed .282/.321/.345 through 185 trips to the plate.

Since being traded to the Braves in the deal that saw Atlanta effectively purchase pitching prospect Touki Toussaint from the D-backs by absorbing the remainder of Bronson Arroyo’s contract, Gosselin has spent time in Arizona, Pittsburgh, Texas and Cincinnati. All told, he’s a lifetime .263/.314/.361 hitter that’ll provide the Braves with some depth at second base, shortstop and third base while playing at the Triple-A level.

Rangers Claim Carlos Perez From Braves

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The Rangers announced that they’ve claimed catcher Carlos Perez off waivers from the Braves. Texas has opened a 40-man roster spot by transferring injured shortstop Elvis Andrus from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. That move seemingly carries little impact on Andrus’ timetable for a return from an elbow fracture, as he was widely expected to miss around eight weeks with the injury anyhow. As Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets, Andrus can be activated on June 11.

Texas didn’t immediately reveal a corresponding 25-man roster move, as executive VP of communications John Blake indicated that said move will be announced tomorrow. However, it seems unlikely that the Rangers would carry three catchers on the big league roster, and Perez is out of minor league options, so it’s fair to speculate that current backup catcher Juan Centeno’s spot could be in jeopardy. It’s also possible, of course, that one of Centeno or Robinson Chirinos is dealing with a yet-undisclosed injury and could land on the disabled list, thus prompting the Texas organization to pick up some additional depth behind the dish.

Perez, 27, was traded from the Angels to the Braves on March 31 in the wake of an injury to Atlanta catcher Tyler Flowers. He appeared in eight games with the Braves but went just 3-for-21 with a walk and six strikeouts in 22 trips to the plate. That lack of production mirrors Perez’s meager output from a near-identical sample of 21 plate appearances in 2017 with the Halos. Overall, he’s hit just .122/.163/.195 over the past two seasons and .221/.264/.325 in a total of 617 big league plate appearances.

Of course, Perez’s calling card is his glovework behind the dish. The Venezuelan-born backstop has successfully halted 38 percent of stolen-base attempts against him at the big league level and has drawn generally positive marks for both his pitch-framing and pitch-blocking skills, per Baseball Prospectus.

It’s been an ugly start to the season for the season for the 28-year-old Centeno, which only makes it easier to speculate on his potential dismissal. He’s posted a tepid .147/.171/.176 slash in 35 plate appearances as the backup to Chirinos, and while he’s yet to have an opponent attempt a steal against him, Centeno has just a 13 percent caught-stealing rate as a Major League catcher.

Braves Re-Sign Peter Bourjos To Minor League Deal

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The Braves re-signed outfielder Peter Bourjos to a new minor league contract after releasing him over the weekend, the team’s Triple-A affiliate announced. Outfielder Jaff Decker was released to open a spot. Bourjos is represented by Dishman Sports Group. He’ll remain on hand as a depth option for the Braves after opening the year on their big league roster.

Bourjos, 31, hit just .120/.185/.160 in a minuscule sample of 27 plate appearances, starting only two of the 18 games in which he appeared for Atlanta. He’ll head to Triple-A Gwinnett for now and could eventually give the team another right-handed-hitting option to pair with lefties Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis in the outfield. Preston Tucker is currently Atlanta’s fourth outfielder behind Markakis, Inciarte and wunderkind Ronald Acuna Jr., though Tucker has never played center as a pro and has seen his production at the plate plummet after a hot week to open the season (.192/.222/.327 in his past 54 PAs).

As for Decker, the 28-year-old opened the season with a .271/.407/.458 batting line through 59 PAs, though that came with a lofty .429 BABIP and a 32.2 percent strikeout clip. Strikeouts haven’t typically been an issue for him (career 20.1 percent), however, and he’s also displayed a keen eye at the top minor league level with a 12.7 percent walk rate. Decker, a former supplemental-round pick of the Padres (No. 42 overall, 2008), is a career .268/.364/.402 slash in parts of six Triple-A seasons.

Braves Promote Mike Soroka

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The Braves have promoted top pitching prospect Mike Soroka to take the ball in tonight’s contest, per a club announcement. Though Soroka had to be added to the 40-man roster, there were openings available.

Mike Soroka | Getty Images

In a corresponding move that was completed yesterday, righty Chase Whitley was optioned to open a spot on the active roster. The Braves still have eight arms available in the pen.

Soroka, 20, entered the season as one of the game’s most-hyped pitching prospects. By consensus, he placed among the game’s top thirty-five or so pre-MLB players. Baseball America is among the most bullish outlets on the young righty, ranking him 27th on its board.

Thus far, Soroka has done nothing but increase the anticipation with his first four starts at the Triple-A level. In 22 2/3 innings this season for Gwinnett, he sports an attractive 1.99 ERA wih 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. He’s also drawing grounders on an eye-popping 69.0% of the balls put in play against him.

Needless to say, it’s an exciting time to be a Braves fan. The organization is off to a nice start and has already welcomed top overall prospect Ronald Acuna, who has knocked the cover off the ball early on.

Now, the club will get a look at perhaps its most exciting young arm. The 28th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Soroka has breezed through the Braves’ system. While he has not typically carried his current strikeout or groundball rates over full seasons, all the tools are there for a front-of-the-rotation starter.

It’s worth noting, too, that Soroka ought not to face many restrictions on his workload this year. He threw 143 frames in 2016 and 153 2/3 last year at Double-A, so he should be clear to handle about as many as the team likes in 2018. If he can hold down a MLB roster spot the rest of the way, Soroka would put himself on course to reach arbitration as a Super Two player after the 2020 season. Regardless, he cannot pass six years of major-league service until after the 2024 campaign, at the earliest.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

NL East Notes: Straily/Chen, Mets, Braves, Murphy

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The Marlins activated righty Dan Straily yesterday, meaning he and fellow starter Wei-Yin Chen are each now officially back in the team’s rotation. The initial results were somewhat mixed, unsurprisingly. Straily managed just one strikeout while allowing four earned runs on six hits and four walks in four frames; Chen was much more effective, limiting the damage to one earned on four hits and two free passes, though he retired only three batters by strikeout in his 5 1/3 innings. From a health perspective, though, the returns are quite promising. Both hurlers worked in their typical velocity ranges and will have several months to build value in advance of the trade deadline. Whether either will be moved remains to be seen, but both could be interesting chips in their own ways. Straily could be an appealingly affordable plug-in for the right contender, perhaps returning some young talent to the rebuilding Miami org. As for Chen, the $42MM guarantee left on his contract beyond the present season remains a major impediment to any trade. But if he can show he’s effective and healthy, perhaps the Marlins can find a taker for some of that cash.

Here’s more from the NL East, which is shaping up to be quite a bit more interesting than most anticipated at the outset of the season:

  • Though the Mets continue to pace the division, the race is only just getting started. Managing a roster all season long, particularly in the pitching department, could be a key to determining how things shake out. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo addresses a host of reader questions, focusing on the club’s variety of swingmen. He suggests that Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman, and Seth Lugo will likely continue working from the pen unless and until there’s a need for more than a spot start in the rotation. At that point, it seems, the organization could choose among them when the time comes.
  • Likewise, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman answers some queries from Braves fans. Of particular interest, he provides a gauge on what kind of cash the organization may have to spend in the coming winter. Bowman says he has been told there’ll be at least $50MM in payroll capacity to work with for 2019, which is certainly a rather hefty sum for a team that is not among the bigger spenders around the game. Just how much is ultimately utilized, and how it’s allocated, is obviously far from being clear. As Bowman notes, the team will be gather information on its assets and needs all season long, even as it tries to extend a promising start to the year.
  • Meanwhile, the Nationals continue to try to hold things together with several key cogs still on the mend. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com has the latest on the injury front. Second baseman Daniel Murphy, who’s recovering from offseason knee surgery, made an appearance at Nats Park, but his status remains unclear at present. He’s set to be evaluated by the team’s medical staff before the next steps are determined. It’d be a surprise if a return is imminent for Murphy; fellow infielder Anthony Rendon, though, is likely not far from making it back from a toe injury. He may require a brief rehab stint but is expected to head back to the active roster in relatively short order. In other Nats news, the club has dipped into its farm to add another fresh arm. Righty Wander Suero will come up for his first MLB action, with Austin Voth optioned back to Triple-A without having made an appearance.
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