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Phillies Select Logan Morrison

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4:26pm: Morrison’s contract has indeed been selected, per a club announcement. He’ll fill the 25-man roster spot that was vacated with Jake Arrieta landing on the 10-day IL with what looks to be a season-ending elbow issue. Righty Jerad Eickhoff was moved to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Morrison.

1:33pm: The Phillies will select the contract of veteran first baseman Logan Morrison from Triple-A Lehigh Valley today, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He’ll join the roster a day after fellow lefty slugger Corey Dickerson exited the game with an apparent hand injury after being hit by a pitch from Jose Quintana.

The 31-year-old Morrison had an awful season in 2018 when he tried to play through a hip injury with the Twins. That issue, initially believed to be an impingement, wound up being far more severe, as season-ending surgery also revealed a torn labrum in Morrison’s hip. Morrison still managed to swat 15 home runs with the Twins in 359 plate appearances last year, but his overall .186/.276/.368 batting line was obviously an eyesore.

Morrison inked a minor league deal with the Yankees earlier this summer once he was sufficiently recovered from that procedure, but he didn’t make it to the big leagues in the Bronx despite laying waste to Triple-A pitching in Scranton. He then signed on with the Phillies and hasn’t missed a beat in Triple-A. In fact, he’s been even better with the Phillies’ top affiliate. Overall, in a combined 233 Triple-A plate appearances, Morrison has ripped 18 home runs and 16 doubles while putting together a superlative .308/.369/.640 batting line. Even in a league-wide, supercharged offensive environment in Triple-A this season, Morrison’s bat has been more than 50 percent better than that off an average hitter (by measure of wRC+).

With the Phils, Morrison will look to sweep last year’s woeful ratios under the rug and bounce back to the 2017 form that saw him hit .246/.353/.516 with a career-high 38 home runs as a member of the Rays.

NL Injury Notes: Phillies, Mets, Dodgers

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When we last checked in on Phillies reliever David Robertson four weeks ago, he was hoping to return from a right flexor strain by the end of this month. That isn’t going to happen, though. While Robertson is advancing in his recovery, he’s not “progressing as fast as we all had hoped he would,” manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday (via Matt Gelb of The Athletic). This continues a Murphy’s Law season for Robertson, whose impressive production and durability helped him secure a a two-year, $23MM with the Phillies in free agency last winter. The 34-year-old hasn’t pitched since April 14, though, and in the seven appearances he logged toward the beginning of the season, Robertson gave up four earned runs on eight hits and six walks (with six strikeouts) in 6 2/3 innings. His lack of availability is among the reasons the Phillies could decide to add to their bullpen by Wednesday’s trade deadline.

  • The Mets have placed first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith on the injured list with a stress reaction in his left foot, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. It’s unclear how much time Smith will miss, but for now, outfielder Aaron Altherr is up from Triple-A Syracuse to take his place. In what has been an unpleasant season for the Mets, Smith has been a legitimate bright spot. After a couple seasons of subpar major league production, the former high-end prospect has slashed .278/.352/.506 with 10 home runs in 196 plate appearances this year.
  • In further unfortunate news for the Mets, injured outfielder Brandon Nimmo is “still a ways away from game action,” manager Mickey Callaway revealed Saturday (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Nimmo shouldn’t return for “at least several weeks,” DiComo writes. The 26-year-old hasn’t played in over two months because of a bulging disc in his neck. Before that, Nimmo struggled to follow up on what looked like a breakout 2018 showing. He hit .200/.344/.323 with three HRs in 161 PA prior to landing on the shelf.
  • The Dodgers are set to place utilityman Enrique Hernandez on the IL with a left hand issue, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. It hasn’t been a great year at the plate for Hernandez, who has hit .238/.309/.433 in 356 trips, but he has slugged 16 home runs on the season and been on a tear of late. Hernandez slashed .352/.417/.574 this month. His absence should primarily leave second base to Max Muncy.
  • Phillies righty Jerad Eickhoff will begin a rehab assignment during the upcoming week, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. Biceps tendinitis has kept Eickhoff out of action since June 16. He slumped to a 5.71 ERA/6.51 FIP over 58 1/3 innings as a starter and reliever before his IL stint.

Phillies Activate Roman Quinn, Place Jerad Eickhoff On IL

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The Phillies announced a series of roster moves today, including the activation of outfielder Roman Quinn. He’ll take the place of fellow outfielder Nick Williams, who was optioned down.

Meanwhile, the Phils placed righty Jerad Eickhoff on the 10-day injured list with what the team is labeling right biceps tendinitis. He’ll be replaced for the time being by reliever Edgar Garcia.

Quinn, 26, has shown promise at times but has rarely stayed healthy long enough for a full assessment. The toolsy youngster is back from a groin strain that cost him a big chunk of the early portion of the season. He ought to have a solid opportunity in the run-up to the trade deadline to prove he deserves a steady outfield job.

Eickhoff returned well after a long injury layoff, but was recently been bumped to the bullpen after a rough stretch. His first relief recent outing was even worse, as he was bombed for five earned runs on six hits (including two long balls) while recording just three outs. He’ll get a chance to take a breather and try to build back towards the majors.

Phillies Move Jerad Eickhoff To Bullpen

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The Phillies have moved right-hander Jerad Eickhoff from the starting rotation to the bullpen, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Matt Breen of Philly.com). The Phils have not yet determined who’ll start in his place, but Kapler ruled out top prospect Adonis Medina as an option, Breen notes.

Eickhoff, 28, made an impressive return to the Phillies’ rotation earlier this year after some prolonged injury troubles, pitching to a 1.50 ERA through his first five games of the season. Since that time, he’s been tagged for 27 runs in 27 1/3 innings while yielding a sky-high 16 home runs (five in his most recent outing). Injuries limited Eickhoff to just 5 1/3 innings in 2018 and a total of 133 1/3 innings from 2017-18, but he did give the Phillies 197 innings of 3.65 ERA ball back in 2016. If Eickhoff’s struggles continue in relief, he does have minor league options remaining.

Rotation alternatives in the big league bullpen include Ranger Suarez and Vince Velasquez, while Triple-A hurlers Cole Irvin, Enyel De Los Santos and Drew Anderson are all on the 40-man roster as well. The Phillies could also explore the idea of utilizing an opener or even look for another option outside the organization.

It’s been a rough year for Phillies starters, as Nick Pivetta has been inconsistent while neither Aaron Nola nor Jake Arrieta has pitched to expectations. Nola and Arrieta, in particular, have seen their struggles coincide with those of Eickhoff. The Phillies still have a 15-13 record over the past month despite their ineffective rotation, but the Braves have substantially closed the gap in what is now a tied division by playing at a 17-9 pace over that same stretch. Philadelphia is widely expected to be aggressive on the trade market this winter, and the rotation looks to be an increasingly logical target area for general manager Matt Klentak and his staff.

NL East Notes: Pivetta, Brinson, Jennings, Arano

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Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta sat down with The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro for a candid interview about the difficulty of being optioned to Triple-A and the path he knows he needs to take back to the Majors (subscription required). The 26-year-old expressed disappointment in what he felt was “an early send-down,” though he made clear he respects the decision and understands what he has to improve upon to return. The Phils made no promises about the length of his minor league stay, Montemurro notes, suggesting that Pivetta’s fate is largely in his own hands. Perhaps most interestingly, Pivetta spoke about the emotional conflict of being sent to the minors and having his job taken by close friend Jerad Eickhoff. “That’s the brutality of what is baseball,” Pivetta explained. “Your best friends and guys that have really helped you out, they come up and they take your jobs and you can’t feel hardship against those guys because they’re your friends. … The road he had to come back is extraordinary and it’s a feat and it’s a great thing for him. So I’m not ever going to feel down about that.” The interview serves as a good reminder of the oft-overlooked human component of roster transactions we see on a daily basis.

Here’s more from the NL East…

  • A demotion to Triple-A New Orleans could be looming for Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson if he’s not able to quickly right the ship at the plate, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. The former top prospect struggled through much of the 2018 season but gave Marlins fans hope with a huge Spring Training performance. However, he’s now mired in a disastrous 1-for-27 tailspin over his past 11 games, having punched out 16 times in that span. Even more troubling, as Frisaro points out, is the fact that Brinson has just one hit against a breaking pitch all season.
  • The Nationals have assigned just-inked southpaw Dan Jennings to the club’s Double-A affiliate, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post tweets. Heading to the penultimate stop of the minors doesn’t mean that the 32-year-old is far from the majors; to the contrary, it puts him much closer to Nationals Park — in Harrisburg, PA instead of the club’s Triple-A outpost in Fresno, CA. Jennings owns a 2.96 ERA over 344 career innings in the majors; given the present state of the Nats’ pen, he figures to be called up in fairly short order.
  • It still isn’t clear what’s going on in the inflamed elbow of Phillies righty Victor Arano. He’s due soon for an MRI, but first needs an ultrasound to assess what precise type of imaging to pursue, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Arano had been off to an interesting start to the season, racking up seven strikeouts against two walks in 4 2/3 innings with an eye-popping 25.0% swinging-strike rate. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but nevertheless a promising development for a young reliever who already showed ample promise last year. He and the Phillies will obviously hope that the elbow issue turns out to be minor.

Phillies Option Nick Pivetta

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10:07am: Reliever Tommy Hunter was pushed to the 60-day injured list, opening the needed 40-man spot. He will not be eligible to return to the majors until the end of May.

9:36am: The club has announced the move and selected the contract of infielder Phil Gosselin. He’ll take the open active roster spot but will also need a 40-man slot, meaning that another transaction is still coming.

9:19am: The Phillies have made an early-season change in their rotation by optioning down struggling righty Nick Pivetta, Matt Gelb of The Athletic is among those to cover via Twitter. He’ll be replaced in the starting five by just-recalled righty Jerad Eickhoff, with a corresponding roster move as yet unknown.

This is a notable move for a variety of reasons. Among other things, the team’s control rights are implicated. Pivetta entered the season with 1.129 years of service and now sits at 1.149. He’ll need to be on the active roster for at least 23 more days this season to pass into a new service class. The demotion all but ends any possibility that he’d be a Super Two player this fall.

Service time considerations surely didn’t drive this decision. The Phils are locked in an intense divisional battle and need every bit of quality they can muster on the MLB roster. Pivetta just hasn’t had it; through four starts and 18 1/3 innings, he has coughed up 17 earned runs on 31 hits with a 16:8 K/BB ratio. His swinging-strike rate has dropped from 12.0% last year down to 8.5% in 2019.

It makes sense to allow Pivetta some time to work things out; likewise, it’s understandable that the club wishes to give Eickhoff an early run in the rotation. He has already shown the ability to be a high-quality MLB hurler, with a 3.87 ERA through 385 2/3 innings. Injuries intervened, but the hope now is that he’s ready to return to his previously established ceiling.

Eickhoff, now 28, certainly had a promising season debut yesterday against the Mets. His velocity was back at its customary 91 mph level. Eickhoff threw four scoreless frames in relief, striking out six while allowing just three baserunners. That stood in contrast to Pivetta’s own, messier effort over the first five innings of a contest that turned out to be a rotation face-off.

This switch is notable, but doesn’t come with particularly high stakes for the team. Pivetta can always be brought back up; he’d be a fascinating multi-inning relief candidate if there’s no need or desire to return him to a starting role later this year. If neither pitcher is up to the task, there are alternatives. Enyel De Los Santos, Ranger Suarez, and Drew Anderson all have 40-man spots, prior MLB experience, and rotation jobs at Triple-A. The summer trade market should offer some opportunities. And there’s always a possibility that the Phils will come back around to still-unsigned veteran Dallas Keuchel, who was a reported target at times over the offseason.

NL East Notes: Gohara, Harper, Eickhoff, Hernandez

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If the Braves are to repeat their 2018 division title, they’ll likely require significant contributions from some talented young players. Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines the status of still-youthful lefty Luiz Gohara, who has shown immense ability but is now looking to reestablish himself after a difficult 2018 both on and off the field. Gohara is said not only to be in much-improved physical condition, carrying less weight and with a healthy shoulder, but also to possess a newfound focus on his craft.

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • As part of an interesting look at what it’s like to sit and wait through a long stay on the open market, Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic drops a few nuggets regarding the Nationals and still-unsigned star free agent Bryce Harper. (Subscription link.) Word reached some in the organization recently that the club was “out of the running” to bring back Harper, per the report, though Ghiroli also cautions that there’s still nothing approaching certainty there. After all, Nats ownership and agent Scott Boras have a well-established knack for finding a way to line up on big contracts.
  • Phillies righty Jerad Eickhoff is back on the bump in camp, making for a notable step in his comeback effort. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports, it was an emotional moment for the 28-year-old and others in he organization. Eickhoff still has quite a few tests ahead of him as he looks to put his finger troubles behind him. As Salisbury explains, there doesn’t seem to be a clear path right back into the Phillies rotation, but it’s also not hard to imagine Eickhoff forcing himself into the picture. There’s still some flexibility to work with as well, as Eickhoff could open the season on the DL and has an option year remaining.
  • In other Phillies health news, second baseman Cesar Hernandez is coming back from a broken foot that he played through late last season, as Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Hernandez, who struggled after suffering the injury, now says that “it affected me in every single way.” The team was aware of the injury and did what it could to limit the strain; it was determined that Hernandez could play without risking further injury. Still, it’s not hard to imagine how it limited the switch-hitter, who saw his OPS fall by over 100 points from the first half of the season to the second. He was also just five-of-nine in stolen base attempts down the stretch. It’d be a nice boon for the 2019 Phils if Hernandez can get back to reaching base at the .370+ clip he carried in the two and a half seasons before his injury.

NL Health Notes: Wieck, Seager, Arrieta, Eickhoff

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Padres lefty Brad Wieck was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year, as AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. The 27-year-old hurler went under the knife not long thereafter. Fortunately, the medical prognosis appears to be good, though it’s obviously something that’ll be watched closely by doctors. Though Wieck will be building back to full strength during camp, it seems his outlook on the field also remains promising. He could return to the hill in the next few weeks, it seems, and could again present the team with a MLB option after making his debut during a promising 2018 campaign.

As we send our best wishes to Wieck for a cancer-free future, we’ll cover some other health matters from the National League …

  • President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman says that the Dodgers are quite encouraged by the progress of shortstop Corey Seager in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports on Twitter. It’s “a best-case to this point,” in fact, which certainly paints a hopeful picture. Seager went under the knife at the end of April last year, so he’s about ten weeks shy of being a full year removed from the procedure. The hope remains that Seager will be prepared for Opening Day, manager Dave Roberts indicated yesterday (via Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times, on Twitter), though it stands to reason that the club will take a cautious path before fully unleashing the young star.
  • Phillies starter Jake Arrieta underwent a meniscus procedure on his left knee about a month back, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The surgery, which addressed an injury that occurred during the offseason, does not appear to be a major concern, with Kapler saying the expectation is for Arrieta to be ready for the start of the season. Still, the hope was that the veteran righty, who’ll soon turn 33, would be at full health and focused on finding improvements after his ERA rose for the third-straight season.
  • Meanwhile, the Phillies are holding their collective breath on fellow righty Jerad Eickhoff. As Kapler explains, and Lauber tweets, Eickhoff has again experienced symptoms relating to the carpal tunnel issues that led to surgery last season. While another procedure isn’t on the table at present, it’s another suboptimal situation. The 28-year-old has shown quite a bit of talent, but is looking to bounce back after missing almost all of the 2018 campaign.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday

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The deadline for teams and players to exchange arbitration figures is tomorrow afternoon at 1pm ET. With the vast majority of teams now adopting a “file-and-trial” approach to arbitration — that is, halting negotiations on one-year contracts once figures have been exchanged and simply going to a hearing at that point — there will be a deluge of arbitration agreements in the next 24 hours. It’s a minor deadline day in terms of newsworthiness — outside of the largest cases, at least — as few arbitration cases will have a significant impact on their team’s overall payroll picture. From a broader perspective, though, the exchange of arb figures is perhaps more notable. With most or all of their arbitration cases out of the way, teams can focus more heavily on the trade and free-agent markets.

As always, it’s interesting to refer back to MLBTR’s annual arbitration projections. Here are the day’s deals:

  • The Tigers will pay Shane Greene $4MM for the coming campaign, Murray tweets. Entering his second year of eligibility, the 30-year-old had projected at $4.8MM, owing largely to his strong tally of 32 saves. Despite appealing K/BB numbers, though, Greene finished the season with an unsightly 5.12 ERA.
  • Righty Nick Tropeano settled with the Angels at $1.075MM. (That’s also via Murray, on Twitter.) That falls well shy of his $1.6MM projection. The first-year arb-eligible hurler was not terribly effective in his 14 starts last year and has just over two hundred career frames in the big leagues, due in no small part to a long rehab owing to Tommy John surgery.

Earlier Updates

  • Newly acquired outfielder Domingo Santana will earn $1.95MM in his first season with the Mariners, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. That’s just a touch below the $2.0MM that MLBTR & Matt Swartz had projected. The 26-year-old Santana swatted thirty long balls and had a productive overall 2017 season, but only received 235 plate appearances in the ensuing campaign — over which he hit five home runs and carried a .265/.328/.412 slash — before being dealt to Seattle.
  • The Angels are on the hook for $1,901,000 to rehabbing righty J.C. Ramirez, Robert Murray of The Athletic tweets. Ramirez will receive a nominal raise on his 2018 salary after requiring Tommy John surgery after just two starts.
  • Phillies righty Hector Neris has settled at $1.8MM, according to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter links). He had projected at $2.0MM but will settle for a bit less in his first season of arb eligibility. Right-handed starter Jerad Eickhoff, meanwhile, is slated to receive $975K. His projected first-year salary was much higher, at $1.7MM, but Eickhoff presented a tough case since he missed virtually all of his platform season with arm troubles.
  • Southpaw Ryan Buchter has agreed with the Athletics on a $1.4MM deal, Nightengale of reports on Twitter. That lands just a smidge over his $1.3MM projection. Soon to turn 32, Buchter worked to a sub-3.00 for the third-straight season in 2018, but only threw 39 1/3 innings while working as a lefty specialist.
  • Red Sox reliever Heath Hembree will receive a $1,312,500 salary next year, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link). Starter Steven Wright checks in just a shade higher, at $1.375MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Both players had projected in this range, with Swartz pegging $1.2MM for the former and $1.4MM for the latter. It’s Hembree’s first time through the process and Wright’s second.
  • First-time arb-eligible righty Scott Oberg settled with the Rockies for $1.3MM, according to Nightengale (via Twitter). It’s $100K over the projected rate for the 28-year-old hurler, who turned in far and away his most productive MLB season in 2018.
  • The Yankees have a $1.2MM deal in place with first baseman Greg Bird, Nightengale was first to tweet. Though he had projected a bit higher, at $1.5MM, Bird’s relatively robust number of home runs (31 total in 659 career plate appearances) were threatened to be overshadowed in a hypothetical hearing by his rough overall stats over the past two seasons. He’ll need to earn his way back into a larger share of playing time in 2019.
  • Infielder Travis Jankowski will earn $1.165MM with the Padres, per Murray (via Twitter). He projected at a heftier $1.4MM, but the Super Two qualifier will still earn a nice raise after his best season in the big leagues. Jankowski will be looking to crack 400 plate appearances for the first time in the season to come.
  • The Nationals have agreed to a $1MM contract with righty Joe Ross, Murray also tweets. Though Ross projected at $1.5MM for his first season of eligibility, that was based largely upon the innings he accumulated over the prior three seasons. Ross made it back from Tommy John surgery in time for only three outings in 2018.
  • A pair of backstops have also put pen to paper on new salaries. Curt Casali will earn $950K with the Reds, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). John Ryan Murphy has a $900K agreement with the Diamondbacks, the elder Nightengale tweets. Casali, a Super Two, had projected for a $1.3MM salary, while Murphy projected at $1.1MM in his first arb year.

NL East Notes: Eickhoff, Phillies, deGrom, Mets, Realmuto, Braves

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The latest from the National League East . . .

  • Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff, who made just three late-season appearances for the club in 2018 after battling wrist pain and numbness stemming from untreated carpal tunnel syndrome, is apparently feeling “100 percent” healthy this offseason after undergoing surgery on October 1, writes The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro. During the moderately-invasive procedure, doctors found that Eickhoff’s palmaris longus tendon was reversed, a rare occurrence even in patients exhibiting symptoms of the ailment, and one that very likely had compounded his discomfort. With the pain-free outlook for 2019, the 28-year-old Eickhoff figures to be in the mix at the back end of a Philly rotation that currently includes Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, and Zach Eflin. Acquired in the 2015 deal that sent Cole Hamels to Texas, Eickhoff is arguably the most accomplished of the bunch, having put together a career ERA south of four (3.91), though his fielding-independent metrics are a bit less propitious, and his stuff – a 90.8 MPH average career fastball that showed little signs of decline even in his supposed injury-hampered ’17 and ’18 seasons – clearly lags behind the rest.
  • Despite last summer’s near-ultimatum from current boss Brodie Van Wagenen to either extend or trade former client Jacob deGrom, the team has thus far held back from either. Though the former option remains a “priority,” per sources of the New York Post’s Mike Puma, the team has yet to even present an extension offer to the 30-year-old ace. The reigning Cy Young Award winner had a dream 2018, posting a minuscule 1.70 ERA/1.99 FIP on the way to 8.8 fWAR, the best season for a Mets starting pitcher since Dwight Gooden’s 1985 campaign. It’s unclear whether the Mets will be willing to pony up the necessary cash, which should be considerable, as the team has also co-ace Noah Syndergaard, four years deGrom’s junior, to consider, to say nothing of the huge payout guaranteed to Robinson Cano over the next five seasons.
  • Per The Athletic’s David O’Brien on Twitter, it doesn’t appear Miami’s asking price for catcher J.T. Realmuto has dropped much, if at all. Per O’Brien, “no new” discussions have taken place since December’s Winter Meetings, and Atlanta has “moved on” to other needs. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that the Fish are still insisting on major-league pieces with three or more years of team control remaining for Realmuto, which has set off a veritable chain reaction of balking suitors around the league. It seems increasingly unlikely, at this point, that Miami will get what it desires for Realmuto, and the Fish could face stern brushback around the league if the catcher regresses his to offensive baseline from 2015-17 before next season’s trade deadline.

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