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Pitcher Notes: Zimmermann, Yanks, Cahill, Mariners, White Sox

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The Tigers announced that they’ve reinstated right-hander Jordan Zimmerman from the 10-day injured list. Zimmermann, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since April 25 because of a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, will start Wednesday. Zimmermann’s nearly two-month absence added injury to insult in what has been a terrible Tigers tenure for the 33-year-old. A run as a front-line starter for the Nationals convinced the Tigers to give Zimmermann a five-year, $110MM contract entering 2016, but he has come up way short of expectations since then. Now 33, Zimmermann owns a 5.29 ERA/4.92 FIP with 6.34 K/9, 2.26 BB/9 and a 36.7 percent groundball rate in 427 innings as a Tiger.

  • Yankees southpaw Jordan Montgomery seemingly isn’t recovering as hoped from June 2018 Tommy John surgery, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Montgomery exited a live batting practice session Tuesday after throwing 15 pitches. Manager Aaron Boone said afterward Montgomery “had a little discomfort.” The Yankees hope Montgomery will be able to help their pitching staff later in the season, Ackert notes, but that seems even less likely now. The 26-year-old functioned as a full-time starter from 2017-18, a 182 2/3-inning span in which he recorded a solid 3.84 ERA/4.09 FIP with 8.23 K/9, 3.10 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent grounder rate.
  • Angels righty Trevor Cahill will make a rehab start Friday with Triple-A Salt Lake, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report. Cahill has been on the IL since June 8 with soreness in his pitching elbow. The offseason signing got off to a horrible start before then, as shown by a 7.18 ERA/6.37 FIP in 57 2/3 innings.
  • The shoulder MRI that Mariners righty Felix Hernandez underwent Tuesday didn’t show any new issues, per Greg Johns of MLB.com (Twitter links). As a result, Hernandez – out since May 11 – will resume his rehab, likely throwing a few bullpen sessions before taking the ball again in the minors. Meanwhile, teammate and fellow righty Sam Tuivailala will begin a rehab stint at the Single-A level Friday. Tuivailala, a July 2018 Mariners trade acquisition, has been out since last August with a right Achilles injury.
  • The White Sox have placed southpaw Manny Banuelos on the 10-day IL with shoulder inflammation and recalled righty Carson Fulmer, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. This is the second time in 2019 that shoulder issues have sent Banuelos to the shelf. Injuries have been a common theme throughout the pro career of Banuelos, once a well-regarded prospect with the Yankees. The 28-year-old has pitched to an ugly 6.90 ERA/6.78 FIP with 8.28 K/9, 5.91 BB/9 and a 33.3 percent grounder rate in 45 2/3 innings (13 appearances, eight starts) with the White Sox this season.

Marlins Acquire Cesar Puello

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The Marlins have acquired outfielder Cesar Puello from the Angels, per a club announcement. Cash considerations are going to Los Angeles for the recently-designated Puello.

That explains the just-reported move to designate Rosell Herrera. In other news, the club placed starter Pablo Lopez on the 10-day injured list, as anticipated. Southpaw Jose Quijada will take the open roster spot for the time being. The club will ultimately still need to find a space for hurler Zac Gallen, who is slated to be promoted tomorrow.

The Fish have little to lose in giving a shot to Puello, who surprised in fill-in duty for the Halos. He slashed .390/.500/.683 in fifty plate appearances after racking up a .299/.434/.507 line in his 166 trips to the plate at Triple-A. Once considered a prospect of note, Puello has received only limited MLB opportunities but carries a .844 OPS in over fifteen hundred attempts at the highest level of the minors.

Andrelton Simmons To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Injured Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons will begin a rehab assignment at the Rookie level on Tuesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic tweets. A Grade 3 left ankle sprain has kept Simmons out of action since May 20.

Simmons will have up to 20 days to rehab, meaning he’s on track to return by early July, if not sooner. The fact that Simmons should come back within a month and a half of suffering such a serious injury is a boon to the Angels. Simmons is no doubt one of their premier players, having totaled at least 5.0 fWAR in each of the previous two seasons.

A 29-year-old defensive maven, Simmons came out of the gates this season with a .298/.323/.415 slash (100 wRC+), three home runs, five steals and 1.3 fWAR in 195 plate appearances before his ankle injury. The Angels boast the lowest strikeout rate in the game (16.9 percent) thanks in part to Simmons, who has gone down on strikes a measly 7.7 percent of the time in 2019.

Sans Simmons, the Angels have deployed David Fletcher, Zack Cozart (also now on the IL) and Wilfredo Tovar at short. Tovar has been the Angels’ full-time starter at the position since they selected him from Triple-A Salt Lake on June 7, though the ex-Met hasn’t hit during his first big league action since 2014.

The Angels, to their credit, have hung around the AL wild-card race even without Simmons. At 36-37, they sit 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. The club just got back another major reinforcement Monday in left fielder Justin Upton, who had missed the entire season because of a toe injury. Simmons, Fletcher, Upton, Shohei Ohtani, Kole Calhoun and Tommy La Stella, among others, should make for an impressive-looking set of complements to Mike Trout. However, that group will have to overcome a less-than-stellar pitching staff in order for the Angels to break their four-year playoff drought in 2019.

Angels Release Cody Allen

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The Angels have released reliever Cody Allen, per a club announcement. He had recently been designated for assignment.

This move brings a formal end to Allen’s disappointingly brief tenure in Los Angeles. When he inked a one-year, $8.5MM contract with the organization over the winter, there were visions of a return to his glory days as the Indians’ closer. Instead, Allen is out the door before the trade deadline.

The 30-year-old’s downfall on the mound has been surprising, but the Halos’ decision to cut bait really isn’t. Allen was shellacked in his 23 frames with the organization, allowing nine home runs and issuing twenty walks to go with his 29 strikeouts. His swinging-strike rate has plummeted as his fastball has lost velocity; opposing hitters are having little trouble spitting on pitches out of the zone and squaring up those that aren’t.

While the Angels may not have seen a way to get Allen back on track, it stands to reason that some other organization will make an effort to do so. He’ll likely end up on a minor-league deal, perhaps getting a chance to spend some time at extended spring training to sort things out. If Allen does return to the majors this year, he’ll assuredly do so at a league-minimum salary, with the Halos paying the balance of the money he’s guaranteed.

Angels Activate Justin Upton, Designate Cesar Puello

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The Angels announced today that Justin Upton has been activated from the injured list. He’ll take the active and 40-man roster spots of fellow outfielder Cesar Puello, who was designated for assignment.

It’s obviously good news for the Halos to finally welcome Upton back to the active roster. He hasn’t yet suited up owing to a turf toe injury that proved surprisingly problematic. The slugger is a key piece of a roster that has not performed as hoped to this stage of the season.

That said, the L.A. org won’t be able to hope for much of a production bump over Puello. The 28-year-old has produced a hefty .390/.500/.683 output with three home runs in fifty plate appearances this year. That far outstrips anything he had shown previously, though it’s fair to note that Puello has been a steady offensive producer in the high minors for several seasons.

Angels To Activate Justin Upton On Monday

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Justin Upton will make his season debut on Monday when the Angels open a series in Toronto against the Blue Jays, Angels manager Brad Ausmus told Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (Twitter links) and other reporters.

Upton has missed the entire year recovering from turf toe, but will be activated off the injured list tomorrow and is set to take his usual spot in left field.  There isn’t necessarily a great way for the Angels to ease Upton back in terms of a positional role, as giving him DH at-bats would mean that Shohei Ohtani would have to sit, though Upton has been regularly working in left field during his rehab assignment and seems ready to go.

Unexpectedly strong contributions from Brian Goodwin, Cesar Puello, and utilityman David Fletcher helped the Angels generate some solid offense from the left field spot even without Upton.  He isn’t the only star who could be on his way back to Anaheim, as Ausmus also said that shortstop Andrelton Simmons (out since May 20 with a left ankle sprain) could potentially rejoin the club during its road trip through Toronto and St. Louis.

The returns of Upton and Simmons will only help an Angels lineup that has quietly been very productive this season.  The Halos have received surprise breakouts from Fletcher, Goodwin, and Tommy La Stella, Kole Calhoun is enjoying a comeback year, Ohtani is beginning to heat up after his own extended IL absence, Albert Pujols is showing some of his old power, and (of course) Mike Trout is his usual superb self.

Despite this offensive pop, however, Los Angeles is still only 35-36 on the season thanks to a subpar pitching staff.  The Halos sit 3.5 games out of a wild card spot entering Sunday’s action, and it remains to be seen if the club will look to add some arms before the trade deadline in the name of a postseason push.

Angels Designate Cody Allen For Assignment

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The Angels designated Cody Allen for assignment today, recalling righty Taylor Cole in his stead, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter).

The DFA represents part-two of a fairly sudden downturn in Cody Allen’s career. Allen owned a 2.67 career ERA through 386 appearances from 2012-2017, notching 122 saves over that span in Cleveland. As the lockdown closer for the pennant-winning Indians, Allen’s consistency at the backend allowed manager Terry Francona to deploy Andrew Miller as a multi-inning, anytime-anywhere fireman and usher in a new era of bullpen dependence.

Last season was a decidedly less successful campaign for Allen as he struggled to a 4.70 ERA in 70 games in his final season in Cleveland. It was the first time he posted an ERA over 3.00 since his rookie season in 2012. He took six losses and blew five saves, but the decreased K-rate (27.7 K%) and increased walk rate (11.4 BB%) pointed to an even more substantial decline.

After inking $8.5MM in guaranteed money from the Angels, Allen walked 17.2% of the batters he faced, a mark in the bottom 1% league wide. He has also given up considerable hard contact (54.5%) as opponents have barreled him up at a 15% clip while getting the ball up in the air more frequently (65.2 FB%). Opponents’ average exit velocity of 94.3 mph ranks Allen ahead of only Reed Garrett (94.7 mph) and Alex Cobb (94.9 mph). Hard hit fly balls have unsurprisingly led to a 20.9 HR/FB%, 3.52 HR/9 and 6.26 ERA.

Allen has incentives in his contract that would have given him his first a many raises at 35 games finished, but with only four saves and 13 games finished, the Angels weren’t at risk of hitting those benchmarks anytime soon. Still, given the picture painted above, it’s hard to argue with the Angels’ decision to cut their losses.

The 30-year-old isn’t likely to be claimed, at which point he has the right to refuse a demotion and become a free agent. He’ll look to catch on somewhere, however, as he has no plans to retire, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Given his fastball-reliant two-pitch arsenal, Allen will need to develop a new approach to remain viable at the big-league level. His four-seamer has slowed to an average 92.2 mph (from 93.5 mph last year and a career peak 96 mph in 2013), and though he’s become slightly-more invested in his curveball this season, usage rates were not considerably different than his career norms.

As for Cole, the 29-year-old righty owns a career 3.99 ERA across 27 career games, 26 of which have come with the Halos this year and last. He’s been hit hard in the minors this season, however, with a 5.51 ERA and 12.7 hits surrendered per nine innings.

MLB Draft Signings: 6/12/19

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Here are the latest notable MLB draft signings…

  • Second-round outfielder Matt Gorski (No. 57) has signed a below-slot deal with the Pirates, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. He’ll earn $1MM, down from the $1,243,600 recommended slot value of the selection. Callis and Jonathan Mayo ranked Gorski as the 112th-best player in the draft, crediting the Indiana Hoosier with possessing “one of the best toolsets in college baseball.” They contend the 21-year-old Gorski could become a 20-20 player and a plus center fielder in the majors, though he’ll have to overcome concerns regarding the length of his swing.
  • Along with inking Gorski, the Pirates signed third baseman Jared Triolo for full slot value ($870K), Callis tweets. Triolo, out of the University of Houston, went to the Pirates in Comp Round B (No. 72 overall). Callis and Mayo had him at No. 146 going into the draft, noting, “He doesn’t have any plus tools or glaring flaws, and scouts love his makeup.”
  • The Angels have signed second-rounder Kyren Parris, the team announced. Parris’ pick, No. 55, came with a $1.31MM slot value, but he received $1.4MM, Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs relays. McDaniel and colleague Eric Longenhagen rated the 17-year-old Parris as the draft’s 39th-best player, thanks in part to his speed, defensive skills at shortstop, and a “projectable” frame.
  • The Rockies announced the signings of several picks, including second-round infielder Aaron Schunk. The 62nd pick, Schunk received the full slot value of $1.1MM, Callis reports. Callis and Mayo, who had Schunk 92nd in his class, write that the Georgia Bulldog could develop into a .270/20-HR hitter and a quality third baseman in the pros.

Health Notes: Angels, Gordon, Brewers, M. Kemp, Reds

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The Angels appear likely to activate left fielder Justin Upton sometime during their upcoming road trip from June 13-23, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register suggests. Upton, out all season because of a toe injury, began a rehab assignment last Friday. Meanwhile, injured shortstop Andrelton Simmons is “progressing quickly” and may start taking live at-bats soon, per Fletcher. Simmons hasn’t played since May 20 because of a Grade 3 left ankle sprain.

  • The Mariners activated second baseman Dee Gordon from the 10-day injured list Tuesday, the team announced. They optioned righty Matt Festa to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move. Gordon’s back after missing 19 games with a right wrist contusion. The 31-year-old trade candidate is off to a .280/.309/.366 start (85 wRC+) with three home runs and 12 steals on 14 attempts across 177 plate appearances.
  • Brewers right-hander Jhoulys Chacin is on track to return during their series in San Diego, which runs from June 17-19, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Chacin has been on the IL since June 2 with a lower back strain. Before that, he struggled to build on last season’s quality performance, logging 58 innings of 5.74 ERA/5.75 FIP ball with 6.83 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.
  • Mets minor league outfielder Matt Kemp is dealing with lingering effects of a broken rib he suffered in April, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. The Mets placed Kemp on the minor league IL as a result. The 34-year-old Kemp settled for a minors pact with the Mets on May 24, three weeks after Cincinnati released him. Kemp slashed a brutal .200/.210/.283 (23 wRC+) in 62 plate appearances with Cincy and hasn’t been much better as a member of the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse. So far, Kemp has hit .235/.278/.324 (52 wRC+) in 36 tries at the minors’ top level.
  • Reds righty reliever Robert Stephenson began a Triple-A rehab stint Tuesday, according to the team. Stephenson went to the IL on May 31 with a cervical strain. Once a well-regarded starting pitching prospect, Stephenson looked as if he was emerging as a credible reliever before his injury. In his first full-time look out of the bullpen, the 26-year-old has notched a 3.96 ERA/2.58 FIP with 12.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 across 25 innings.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/11/19

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Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Angels announced that catcher Dustin Garneau has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake following last week’s DFA. The 31-year-old Garneau appeared in seven games with the Halos and posted a solid .250/.455/.313 line in 22 plate appearances as a replacement for the injured Kevan Smith. Once Smith returned from a concussion, however, Garneau lost his hold on a roster spot. He’s a career .198/.282/.321 hitter in 302 Major League plate appearances and also owns a lifetime .260/.335/.501 line through 1187 plate appearances in Triple-A. Garneau has long excelled in terms of preventing the running game (39 percent caught-stealing in Triple-A and 40 percent in the big leagues). He’s drawn slightly below-average framing grades in recent seasons, per Baseball Prospectus.
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