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NL East Notes: Cespedes, Soroka, Braves, Rendon

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Yoenis Cespedes made an early exit from today’s Mets/Padres game, as the outfielder left during the third inning with a thumb injury.  Cespedes suffered the injury while making a headfirst slide during a steal of third base, and remained in the game for the rest of the Mets’ turn at bat before being replaced by Brandon Nimmo in the bottom half of the inning.  The injury is just a day-to-day issue for now, though it is certainly another unwelcome problem in what has already been a tough start to the 2018 season for the New York outfielder.  Cespedes entered today’s action hitting just .218/.279/.416 with a league-high 43 strikeouts.  [UPDATE: Cespedes tells MLB.com’s Tim Powers and other media that he believes he’ll miss three days recovering from the injury, or two games given New York’s off-day on Monday.  X-rays were negative on Cespedes’ thumb and he is likely to undergo an MRI on Monday.)

Some more from around the NL East…

  • Braves pitching prospect Mike Soroka was scratched from a Triple-A start today since he could be needed for his big league debut this week, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, depending on the health of Julio Teheran and Anibal Sanchez.  Teheran’s outing on Friday was cut short by tightness in his upper right trapezius, though the Braves are hopeful that he’ll be able to make his scheduled start on Wednesday.  Sanchez, meanwhile, is tentatively slated to return from a hamstring injury and be activated from the DL in time for Saturday’s start.  Both Teheran and Sanchez felt good after bullpen sessions on Sunday, and Sanchez will also throw in a simulated game on Tuesday before a decision is made about his status.  Soroka, the 28th overall pick of the 2015 draft, is a consensus top-35 prospect according to preseason rankings from Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, and MLB.com.  He has continued to display that promise in his first taste of Triple-A ball this year, with a 1.99 ERA, 9.5 K/9, and a 4.8 K/BB rate over 22 2/3 innings at the top of the minor league pyramid.  It’s likely that Soroka wouldn’t get an extended stint in the majors quite yet if he was promoted this week, though he is a prime candidate for a longer look later this season once rosters expand.
  • In a video update for FOX Sports (Twitter link), Ken Rosenthal believes Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos will be his usual aggressive self on the trade front if Atlanta is in contention at the deadline, though Anthopoulos doesn’t seem likely to deal multiple prospects.  While the Braves have a deep farm system, this pipeline of young and affordable talent is crucial to both the club’s rebuild and its financial situation — Rosenthal notes that the Braves “are saddled by debt.”  Anthopoulos already eschewed trading from that prospect depth last winter, though it will be interesting to see what moves he does make if the Braves continue to keep pace in the NL East.
  • Anthony Rendon is “very close” to returning from his toe injury, Nationals manager Dave Martinez told MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman and other reporters.  Rendon was eligible to be activated from the DL today, though he remained sidelined and Martinez said that the activation may not come on Monday, either.  On a more positive note, Martinez said that Rendon went through fielding, running, and hitting drills today with no issue.  The team still has to decide whether a short rehab stint is needed since Rendon has been out of action for over two weeks.

Braves Release Peter Bourjos

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APRIL 29: The Braves have released Bourjos, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.

APRIL 25: The Braves announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Peter Bourjos for assignment. His roster spot will go to Ronald Acuña Jr., whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Acuña will make his MLB debut tonight.

Bourjos, 31, has a longstanding reputation as a premium defensive outfielder but has struggled at the plate in recent seasons. The 2018 campaign was no exception, as Bourjos got off to a 3-for-25 start to the season, with a pair of walks against seven strikeouts through a total of 27 plate appearances. He latched on with the Braves on a Major League contract late in Spring Training after being cut loose by the Cubs, with whom he’d been playing on a minor league deal.

Atlanta will have a week to trade Bourjos, run him through outright waivers or simply release him. If he clears outright waivers, he’d have the option to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency, given that he has seven-plus years of MLB service time — well north of the minimum three he’d need to exercise that right. Considering the crowded outfield situation with the Braves with Acuna, Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis and Preston Tucker all on the big league roster, it’s quite possible that the veteran Bourjos looks to find another opportunity with an organization that has a less-solidified mix of outfielders in the Majors.

NL Notes: Bruce, Kang, Stratton, Panik, Gohara, Pennington

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Mets outfielder Jay Bruce has been taking ground balls at first base, James Wagner of the New York Times reports. Wagner adds that the Mets may consider playing him there in order to open up room for Brandon Nimmo to receive everyday playing time again. First base incumbent Adrian Gonzalez has struggled mightily thus far, with just a .203/.300/.320 batting line on the season. It’s still only April, but in light of his struggles last year with the Dodgers, Gonzalez’s leash might be fairly short. That’s particularly true since Nimmo reached base in half of his 38 MLB plate appearances this season. It’s fair to think that the Mets are looking hard for ways to lock Nimmo into an everyday role.

Other news out of the NL…

  • Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang won’t receive any discipline from MLB, nor will the team dole out any punishment, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. Kang was denied a U.S. visa for all of last year due to multiple DUI-related arrests. He’s finally able to return to the Pirates as of Thursday.
  • Today, the Giants reinstated Chris Stratton from the paternity list, optioning outfielder Austin Slater to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. Within hours, however, the club reversed its reported stance on Mac Williamson’s status, placing him on the seven-day concussion DL. The move allowed the Giants to recall Slater, who’s directly replacing Williamson. Stratton sports an impressive 2.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP across five starts this season, though the fact that he hasn’t allowed any homers despite a 37.8% hard contact rate suggests he might have been a bit lucky in that regard. Stratton will take his scheduled turn through the rotation today against the Dodgers.
  • In other Giants news, second baseman Joe Panik has been placed on the disabled list with a sprained left thumb. The club correspondingly purchased the contract of second baseman/outfielder Alen Hanson, who leads the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with a .403 batting average. The club moved Mark Melancon to the 60-day DL in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for Hanson.
  • The Braves have reinstated left-hander Luiz Gohara from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Gohara suffered a sprained ankle during a spring training outing, and had exhausted the maximum amount of time allotted for rehab starts. He’ll likely make a couple more starts in the minors before returning to help the Braves at the major league level. Gohara had figured to be a prominent part of Atlanta’s rotation before the season began.
  • The Reds announced that infielder Cliff Pennington has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Pennington, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, made the club out of spring training camp as a bench player. However, he’s struck out in nearly 40 percent of his plate appearances thus far and has yet to sock an extra-base hit.

Injury Notes: Teheran, Buchter, Giants, Donaldson, Schoop, Nats

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Braves righty Julio Teheran left his outing today with what the team is calling “right upper trap tightness.” He had shown a concerning velocity drop before departing, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. The 27-year-old Teheran entered the day with a 4.00 ERA in his 27 innings, while carrying a career-best 12.8% swinging-strike rate, but gave up three earned in his three frames. It seems generally promising that there’s a muscular explanation for Teheran’s sudden loss of velo, though of course that does not necessarily mean he’s out of the woods and we’ll have to await further word.

Here’s the latest on some other health situations around the league:

  • The Athletics have placed southpaw Ryan Buchter on the DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Danny Coulombe. At this point, the team plans to shut Buchter down for at least ten days and possibly longer, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. The 31-year-old southpaw, who was acquired over the offseason, has been quite good thus far for the A’s. He’s carrying a 1.69 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over 10 2/3 innings.
  • While the Giants will hold off on putting Mac Williamson on the DL, he’s in the concussion protocol at present, as manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). In the meantime, the organization has brought fellow outfielder Austin Slater onto the active roster, creating space by sending reliever Josh Osich to the 10-day DL. It’s unclear at this point how long Slater will have in the majors, but he’ll surely be hoping to follow the same track as Williamson, who kept on raking after receiving a promotion. Slater owns a .358/.435/.642 slash with just six strikeouts in his 62 plate appearances on the year at Triple-A.
  • Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson is beginning his rehab assignment tomorrow, as the team announced. He’ll open as a DH as he eases back into action, though the real test will come when he puts his throwing back on display at game speed. There’s similarly good news for the division-rival Orioles, who expect to send second baseman Jonathan Schoop on a brief rehab assignment next week, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. He has been out for two weeks with an oblique strain.
  • The Nationals, who are still waiting for a trio of important players, gave some updates today. (Links to the Twitter feed of Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com.) Third baseman Anthony Rendon is reasonably close and is expected to return in relatively short order after a brief stint on the shelf. It’s not quite as rosy for outfielder Adam Eaton, who has seemingly had some ups and downs in rehabbing his ankle issues, but — GM Mike Rizzo emphasized — also has not experienced any setbacks. As for second baseman Daniel Murphy, who has yet to play at all following offseason knee surgery, there’s still no timeline for a return.
  • A number of other players are already coming off of the DL. The Reds have activated righty David Hernandez and the Mariners have brought back first baseman Ryon Healy. Both were relatively significant offseason acquisitions for their organizations. Meanwhile, the Rays activated infielder Matt Duffy and the Rangers did the same with righty Tony Barnette.

Lane Adams Elects Free Agency

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Outfielder Lane Adams has elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment from the Braves, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). He had already cleared waivers after recently being designated for assignment.

Adams has been a useful asset for the Braves since joining the organization on a minor-league deal in advance of the 2017 season. He has carried a .264/.338/.450 slash line with six home runs in 146 total plate appearances since being called up this time last year.

Of course, that’s obviously not a terribly significant amount of playing time. It’s worth noting, too, that Adams had been more a good than a great performer in the upper minors in recent seasons. (He owns a .721 OPS in 384 Triple-A plate appearances and a .777 mark in his 1,479 cumulative trips to the dish at the Double-A level.) And teams that bypassed Adams on the waiver wire were surely turned off by the fact that the 28-year-old cannot be optioned.

Still, the Braves no doubt would have preferred to hold onto Adams, who might well have been the first man up if a need had arisen at the MLB level. That said, with Ronald Acuna ascending, there just wasn’t an immediate need. Adams obviously decided he could find greater opportunity elsewhere.

Braves Designate Carlos Perez

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The Braves have designated catcher Carlos Perez for assignment, per a club announcement. That move came as part of a series of decisions.

Fellow receiver Tyler Flowers will make his return from the DL, which left the team without a need for Perez. The Atlanta organization also elected to bring up righty Chase Whitley while optioning Matt Wisler back to Triple-A.

Perez had a chance to make a case to be retained by the Braves after being acquired from the Angels at the outset of the season. But he managed just three singles and a walk in his 22 plate appearances for the Braves. Though he has hit the ball well at times in the minors, Perez is just a .221/.264/.325 hitter over 617 total trips to the dish at the game’s highest level.

On the pitching side, the Braves will fill out their pen by calling upon Whitley, who was acquired from the Rays over the winter. He has thrown 12 1/3 innings of 3.65 ERA ball thus far at Triple-A, with ten strikeouts against three walks. A veteran of four MLB campaigns, two apiece with the Yankees and Rays, Whitley will be joining the Braves’ MLB roster for the first time.

As for Wisler, he raised hopes with a strong season debut in which he racked up eight strikeouts without issuing a walk in seven two-hit innings. But he coughed up three free passes, nine hits, and four earned runs without recording a single K in his next outing. For now, then, the former top prospect will head back to Gwinnett and wait for another opportunity.

After 310 total frames of 5.20 ERA ball in the majors, Wisler remains in a somewhat precarious roster position. That said the Braves have cleared several 40-man spots in recent weeks, so the pressure shouldn’t be felt immediately, particularly given the team’s ongoing need for rotation depth and the fact that Wisler’s first two outings at Triple-A were quite good.

Outrighted: VerHagen, Socolovich

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With several players currently in DFA limbo, we’ll keep track of those who’ve successfully cleared waivers here…

  • The Tigers announced that righty Drew VerHagen cleared waivers and has been sent outright to Triple-A Toledo. The 27-year-old has struggled with the Tigers in each of the past few seasons, totaling 63 2/3 innings with a 6.25 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. But he also possesses a mid-90s heater that has added some velocity in 2018, and he’s made some meaningful gains in swinging-strike rate as well. Manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters this week that the organization maintains high hopes for VerHagen but simply didn’t feel it could continue to let him work on his control at the big league level given the overall state of the Tigers’ bullpen.
  • Right-hander Miguel Socolovich has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett by the Braves for a second time this season, per the International League transactions log. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Braves called up Max Fried — second DFA from Atlanta in the season’s first month. Socolovich has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, though he accepted the outright last time around. The 31-year-old has tossed three innings in his two stints with Atlanta and allowed three runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. In 85 2/3 career innings at the MLB level, Socolovich owns a 4.41 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9. He has a career 3.28 ERA in Triple-A, where he’s averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

NL Notes: Epstein, Harvey, Bumgarner, Bautista

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Top Cubs baseball exec Theo Epstein made for an interesting guest on the latest podcast of MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (audio link). This is obviously worth a listen for any Cubs fans, as Epstein talks about some points where the team’s rebuilding effort led to particular frustration, but he also has some interesting tales to tell of broader interest. Most notably, perhaps, the former Red Sox GM suggests that there’s no way he or anybody else saw David Ortiz emerging the way he did. As proof, Epstein offers an anecdote about Ortiz’s agent seeking a trade early in the 2003 season — Ortiz’s first in Boston — because of a lack of playing time.

Here are a few notes from around the National League:

  • Mets hurler Matt Harvey appears to be waging a battle with the New York media, as Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. The veteran hurler did not speak with reporters last night after appearing in a relief role. When approached today, he directed some harsh words at reporters. Harvey has struggled to a 5.87 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in his 23 innings on the season.
  • ESPN.com’s Buster Olney argues that the Giants ought to be preparing to listen to offers on ace lefty Madison Bumgarner if they can’t keep pace in the playoff race. As Olney explains, there aren’t many assets on hand in San Francisco that could bring back potential young building blocks. But if Bumgarner can get back to health by the trade deadline, he could be a monumental deadline piece, particularly given his history of postseason dominance and cheap 2019 option. It’s certainly an interesting possibility — albeit one the Giants no doubt hope they won’t have cause to consider in earnest.
  • As his anticipated activation by the Braves draws near, Jose Bautista discussed his status with John Lott of The Athletic (subscription link). The veteran slugger says he was drawn by his trust in Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos — he called the organization “a place where I know where I stand” — and the fact that he likes the makeup of the current roster. Despite his high-profile status, Bautista says he hopes to “be just another player on the team” who’ll play hard no matter where and when he’s asked to. The piece documents an interesting series of chats between the former Blue Jays star and Lott, who long covered him in Toronto.

Outrighted: Quackenbush, Adams, Brothers, Ravin

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Here are the latest players to be outrighted off of their teams’ 40-man rosters:

  • The Reds announced that righty Kevin Quackenbush has been outrighted after clearing waivers following a recent DFA. The veteran could have elected free agency but has instead decided to remain in the Cincinnati organization, MLBTR’s Steve Adams tweets. Quackenbush did not produce a very appealing stat line during his ten appearances with the Reds. He surrendered 11 earned runs, with a 7:6 K/BB ratio, in just nine innings of action. In over two hundred career innings at the game’s highest level, Quackenbush carries a 4.38 ERA.
  • Outfielder Lane Adams and relievers Rex Brothers and Josh Ravin were all outrighted by the Braves, the club says. Both Adams and Ravin had recently been designated for assignment, so had already been removed from the 40-man. As for Brothers, a 30-year-old southpaw, he’ll lose his spot after a rough start to the season. He has issued eight walks in his six Triple-A frames — an area that has long been a challenge — and does not appear to be in the team’s immediate plans. The Braves will pay Brothers at a lesser rate in the minors under the split contract he agreed to last fall. Adams, who has been productive in limited action at the MLB level over the past two years, will remain on hand as an outfield depth piece. Ravin, who was claimed over the winter, will likely be among the first pitchers considered if a bullpen need arises.

Braves Promote Ronald Acuna

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April 25: Acuna’s contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Gwinnett, the club announced. He’s playing left field and batting sixth for the Braves in his MLB debut.

April 24: The Braves are set to promote top prospect Ronald Acuna to the Major Leagues, Daniel Alvarez Montes of EVTV Miami reports (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman hears the same and adds that Acuna is expected to join the team tomorrow (Twitter link).

Ronald Acuna | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The timing of Acuna’s promotion has been a source of consternation among Braves fans all season, as many felt he should’ve been with the club from Opening Day after laying waste to minor league pitching in 2017 and outhitting the vast majority of the Braves’ roster in Spring Training. The Braves, however, understandably appear to have wanted to keep Acuna in Triple-A long enough to delay his free agency by a full year. By keeping him in Triple-A until April 14, Atlanta delayed his free agency from the 2023-24 offseason to the 2024-25 offseason.

Acuna, though, got off to a brutal start in Triple-A Gwinnett, which prompted the Braves to keep the 21-year-old in the minors even longer. Not wanting to promote Acuna to the Majors when he was struggling badly against minor league arms, Atlanta waited for their prized prospect to begin to right the ship at the plate. That’s been taking place over the past week, as Acuna has collected 1 11 hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 37 plate appearances.

Entering the 2018 season, virtually every set of prospect rankings from major outlets considered Acuna to be the game’s top overall prospect. It was a rapid ascent for Acuna, who entered the 2017 campaign as a consensus top 100 prospect but not near the top of any notable rankings. His meteoric rise began last season when he started in Class-A Advanced and skyrocketed to Triple-A by the end of the year. The Venezuelan-born slugger didn’t just move up the ladder, though; his numbers actually improved upon each promotion, culminating with a .344/.393/.548 line in Triple-A.

Overall, Acuna slashed .325/.374/.522 with 21 homers, 31 doubles, eight triples and 44 steals across three minor league levels in 2017 — and he did so all before turning 20 years of age this past December. Even before reading any of the many glowing scouting reports on Acuna — and there’s no shortage of them, as Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN are among the many that have lauded him — it’s readily apparent that he’s a significantly more advanced talent than most prospects. That type of production in Double-A and Triple-A is rare for prospects who are several years older than Acuna, even, but doing so at age 19 is a rather remarkable accomplishment.

It stands to reason that Acuna will be thrown directly into the mix in left field with the Braves, who managed to jettison Matt Kemp this offseason in order to create an easy path to at-bats for the ballyhooed young slugger. Preston Tucker has been holding down the fort in left field and performed admirably as a stopgap, but his bat has cooled substantially since a hot start to the season (.514 OPS over his past 44 PAs).

With Acuna now penciled in as the primary left fielder, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis will occupy the team’s other two outfield spots. Tucker or Peter Bourjos remain on hand as reserve options in the outfield, though it’s possible that one could be a roster casualty to make way for Acuna. The Braves already designated one reserve, Lane Adams, for assignment last week.

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