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Padres Select Ronald Bolanos

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The Padres announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Ronald Bolanos from Double-A Amarillo. Southpaw Jose Castillo was moved to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Bolanos, who turned 23 just 10 days ago, was a fairly high-profile signing by the Padres, securing a bonus worth a bit more than $2MM when he left his native Cuba. Listed at 6’3″ and 220 pounds, Bolanos is generally regarded as one of the more promising arms in a loaded San Diego farm system. MLB.com tabs him 15th among Friars farmhands, and he’s listed at No. 17 on Baseball America’s midseason update and No. 39 over at Fangraphs.

Bolanos opened the season in Class-A Advanced and posted a 2.85 ERA through 10 starts before jumping to Double-A. His 4.23 ERA there isn’t as impressive, but Bolanos has upped his strikeout rate, improved his walk rate and maintained his strong 47.7 percent grounder rate since moving up to face more advanced competition. He’s still relatively young for the Double-A level and will face considerably more experienced pitching in making his big league debut.

The Padres have kept Bolanos in a starter’s role throughout the bulk of his minor league career, though scouting reports note that there’s a definite chance he ends up in the ’pen. He draws praise for a clean delivery and a fastball that sits 93 mph while occasionally touching 96-97mph. His slider, curveball and changeup are less polished offerings, and the development of those offerings will likely determine whether his future is in the San Diego rotation or bullpen. For now, he’ll get his first experience at the MLB level in hopes of convincing the club that he can be a part of the staff early in the 2020 campaign.

Jose Castillo Out For Season With Torn Hand Ligament

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Per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, promising Padres reliever Jose Castillo will miss the remainder of the 2019 season with a torn hand ligament (Twitter link). No surgery will be required, although this is certainly bitter news for a San Diego organization in sore need of bullpen aid.

After a solid 2018 debut in which the lefthanded Venezuelan logged a 3.29 ERA (2.64 FIP) in 38.1 innings, San Diego was likely looking for Castillo to develop into a viable bridge to vaunted closer Kirby Yates. Unfortunately, Castillo was sidelined for the entirety of 2019 with a left forearm flexor strain, until his activation this week. It was in his very first appearance back with the club on Thursday that Castillo exited a game with what at the time was believed to be a finger blister. As it turns out, the problem may end up being much more severe than the primary diagnosis indicated.

In a conference with The Athletic’s Dennis Lin, Padres manager Andy Green explained that the “pulley system” that straps a tendon in the middle finger to the bone was torn in Castillo’s hand (Twitter link). It is fair to speculate that Castillo’s return to the 60-day list will follow in due course.

 

Quick Hits: Pirates, Huntington, Hurdle, Padres, Mariners

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As part of a mailbag covering the floundering Pirates, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (subscription link) focuses on team higher-ups whose jobs could be in jeopardy. Biertempfel writes it’s “more likely” the club will fire pitching coach Ray Searage and maybe bullpen coach Euclides Rojas than either GM Neal Huntington or manager Clint Hurdle, at least during the season. Searage’s ouster would mark the end of what has been an oft-praised Pirates stint, but this season has been a rough go for their pitching staff. How much blame he should take for that is up for debate. As for Huntington and Hurdle, their jobs for 2020 aren’t etched in stone, suggests Biertempfel, who reports owner Bob Nutting would be willing to eat their salaries and fire them “if he is convinced that there is no hope of improvement in 2020.” With that in mind, the onus could be on Huntington and Hurdle to explain why they should keep their positions.

  • More from Biertempfel, who dismisses the possibility of outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall playing for the Pirates this season. Chisenhall remains at home in Bradenton, Fla., mending from left calf troubles, and there won’t be enough time for him to return to the majors this year. It seems the $2.75MM the Pirates gave Chisenhall last offseason will go down as a wasted investment. By the time this season ends, injuries will have kept the former Indian out of 375 of a possible 486 regular-season games dating back to 2017.
  • After missing the first four-plus months of the season with a flexor strain, Padres left-handed reliever Jose Castillo finally made his 2019 debut on Thursday. It didn’t go well, however. Castillo exited with an injury to the middle finger on his throwing hand, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. It’s fortunate that it isn’t another elbow problem for Castillo, though he still could end up heading back to the injured list because of this issue. The 23-year-old hasn’t gotten a chance to build on a superb rookie campaign in 2018, when he fired 38 1/3 innings of 3.29 ERA/2.64 FIP ball with 12.21 K/9 against 2.82 BB/9.
  • Rehabbing Mariners righty Felix Hernandez threw two innings at the Single-A level Thursday, after which he told Julian A. Lopez of the Modesto Bee he feels ready to return to the majors. The Mariners have other plans, though – they want Hernandez to make two rehab appearances with Triple-A Tacoma before he finally goes back to the Seattle. Shoulder woes have kept the pending free agent from the M’s staff since May 11 in what could be the final season of his storied tenure with the franchise.

Padres Place Adrian Morejon On 10-Day IL, Reinstate Jose Castillo

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The Padres announced that young left-hander Adrian Morejon has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a shoulder impingement.  Southpaw Jose Castillo has been reinstated from the 60-day IL to take Morejon’s spot on the active roster.

It’s been a rough beginning to Morejon’s big league career, as he has been tagged for a 10.13 ERA over his eight innings of work (five outings) since making his Major League debut back on July 21.  There were a couple of silver linings to Morejon’s first taste of the Show, as he averaged 96.4mph on his fastball and recorded nine strikeouts over his eight frames.  MLB.com and Baseball America ranked Morejon within the top 50 of their midseason prospects rankings, making him one of the many intriguing youngsters coming out of the loaded San Diego farm system.

Castillo didn’t have nearly the same prospect pedigree when he made his Major League debut for the Padres last season, though the southpaw had much better early results.  He posted a 3.29 ERA, 4.33 K/BB, and 12.2 K/9 over 38 1/3 relief innings for San Diego in 2018, though a flexor strain has kept him on the sidelines for all of 2019.

West Notes: Yordan, Angels, Rangers, Padres

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Rookie sensation Yordan Alvarez garnered some first base experience during his time in the minors, but the Astros have no intention of trying him there in the majors this year, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The team wasn’t “comfortable” with Alvarez’s performance at first in the minors, according to manager A.J. Hinch. Thanks in part to that, the Astros will stick with the hot-hitting Yuli Gurriel as their starter, with Rome noting Aledmys Diaz will serve as the backup when he comes off the injured list. Alvarez will continue as a designated hitter/left fielder, a role which has suited him well during what has been a brilliant introduction to the majors. Through his first 69 plate appearances, the 22-year-old has slashed .317/.406/.733 (196 wRC+) with seven home runs.

More from the majors’ West divisions…

  • The Angels received an encouraging second opinion this week on infielder Zack Cozart’s problematic left shoulder, manager Brad Ausmus revealed (via Dave Sessions of MLB.com). The doctors “seem to be narrowing it down to a couple things it could be, and I guess the MRI is to further narrow that down,” Ausmus said. Cozart has been down since May 28 with inflammation in his shoulder, a joint that also cost him a significant chunk of 2018. He underwent season-ending surgery on a torn labrum last season, ending his first year with the Angels after just 58 games. Cozart will visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed his surgery a year ago, for more imaging tests Friday, Sessions relays.
  • The Rangers were within a week of summoning reliever Matt Bush back to the majors before he was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Bush had been rehabbing a prior UCL injury all season, but this week’s news means he’ll wind up missing the entire campaign and surely a large portion of 2020. The Rangers plan on sticking with in-house relievers to help fill Bush’s void in the immediate term, according to Wilson, though he suggests the injury will place a greater urgency on the club to acquire outside help before the July 31 trade deadline.
  • Padres left-handed reliever Jose Castillo – out all season because of a flexor strain – could be one bullpen session away from restarting a rehab assignment, manager Andy Green said Thursday (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). The 23-year-old was pitching in what was supposed to be his final rehab appearance June 10 when he suffered a setback. Castillo was a quietly outstanding piece of the Padres’ bullpen as a rookie in 2018, when he pitched to a 3.29 ERA/2.64 FIP with 12.21 K/9 and 2.82 BB/9.

West Notes: Castillo, Arenado, Rockies, A’s, Ohtani

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Padres left-hander Jose Castillo will be sidelined for an estimated six-to-eight weeks to recover from a flexor strain in his throwing arm, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  Castillo began feeling forearm tightness last week, which caused San Diego to shut down his bullpens and then ultimately place him on the 60-day injured list today.  Needless to say, any type of forearm injury is cause for concern, though the team is still “confident” that Tommy John surgery won’t be required.  The 23-year-old Castillo made his MLB debut last season and immediately delivered results, posting a 3.29 ERA, 4.33 K/BB rate, and a whopping 12.2 K/9 over 38 1/3 innings out of San Diego’s bullpen.  With Castillo on the IL, the Padres’ top left-handed options consist of Matt Strahm and the recently-signed Aaron Loup, with former big leaguers Eric Stout, Kyle McGrath, and Brad Wieck also available in the upper minors.

Some more from both the NL and AL West divisions….

  • The specter of what Manny Machado or Bryce Harper could land in free agency theoretically loomed over the extension talks between Nolan Arenado and the Rockies, though the Machado/Harper situations “had a lot less to do with it than you might think,” Rockies GM Jeff Bridich said in an appearance on Inside Pitch show on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link).  While both the team and Arenado’s camp were obviously cognizant of the larger market forces at play, Bridich said “There were never any sort of deadlines or caveats put in going ’Hey, we need to know this first before…’ We just focused on our business at hand, and I think that’s why we ended up getting what hopefully ends up to be a great deal for everybody involved.”
  • Now that Arenado has been locked up to the biggest contract in franchise history, the Rockies don’t have any more big extension candidates on their radar for at least a couple of years, Kyle Newman and Jeff Bailey of the Denver Post write.  Colorado’s top young stars are still controlled through arbitration or have yet to even reach their arb years — Trevor Story and Jon Gray are controlled through the 2021 season, while Kyle Freeland and German Marquez aren’t eligible for free agency until after the 2022 campaign.  This doesn’t mean the Rockies couldn’t explore a long-term deal in advance, though it’s worth noting that Arenado and Charlie Blackmon both only signed their extensions when they were a season removed from the open market.  Looking at Colorado’s long-term payroll, Arenado and Blackmon are the only players guaranteed salary beyond 2021, several of the team’s other big contracts (Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, Daniel Murphy, and likely Ian Desmond) come off the books after 2020 or 2021.
  • The early start to the regular season for the Athletics and Mariners (who play a two-game series in Tokyo on March 20-21) has also pushed up some roster deadlines.  Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the A’s will have to decide by March 14 whether or not minor league signees Jerry Blevins and Nick Hundley will make the MLB roster.  Otherwise, Blevins and Hundley each can opt out of their minors contracts.  It could be a moot point, however, as “Blevins and Hundley both appear to be near-locks to make the team,” Slusser writes.  Hundley’s inclusion could leave Josh Phegley as the odd man out of the catching mix, and the out-of-options backstop is a good candidate to be claimed off waivers, multiple scouts tell Slusser.  Oakland’s early start doesn’t extend to out-of-options players, however, as the club has until March 28 (when their regular season resumes) to decide on Phegley, Frankie Montas, Aaron Brooks, and other players who can no longer be freely optioned to the minors.
  • Shohei Ohtani has moved from hitting off a tee to hitting soft toss, as the Angels slugger continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery.  The Halos are targeting a May return for Ohtani, though manager Brad Ausmus told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other media that the unique nature of Ohtani’s two-way status makes him “patient zero,” and thus “he doesn’t really have a set schedule.  He is making the schedule for future Shohei Ohtanis.”  Ohtani obviously won’t pitch this season, and he’ll be limited to DH-only duty once he does return to the team’s lineup.

Luis Valbuena, Former Pirates Infielder Jose Castillo Killed In Car Accident In Venezuela

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In a gutwrenching and heartbreaking piece of news, Major League Baseball announced overnight that Luis Valbuena and former Pirates/Giants/Astros infielder Jose Castillo were killed in a car crash in Venezuela. The pair had played in a game for the Venezuelan Winter League’s Cardenales de Lara earlier in the evening and were both passengers in the vehicle, per BeisbolPlay journalists Carlos Valmore Rodriguez and Andrew Sanchez Ruiz. Valbuena was just 33 years of age.  Castillo was 37.

Suspects have been arrested in conjunction with the tragedy, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times writes. It is suspected that the vehicle crashed when it struck a rock that was placed in the roadway intentionally, as part of a horrific robbery ploy.

Valbuena spent the past two seasons playing with the Angels and, prior to that, spent two years with the Astros, three years with the Cubs, three with the Indians and part of one season with the Mariners. Known for his affinity for bat flips and an ebullient personality, Valbuena was a popular clubhouse fixture in his decade-plus as a Major Leaguer — as evidenced by the outpouring of emotional messages from former teammates on social media.

Castillo saw fairly regular action at second base with the Pirates from 2004-07 and split the 2008 season between the Astros and Giants. While he hasn’t played in the Majors since that 2008 campaign, he continued his career with a pair of seasons in Japan, where he suited up for the Yokohama Bay Stars and the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2010-11. He’s played in the Venezuelan Winter League every year since 2006.

“Every day, every single day he had a smile on his face, happiness in his heart and a genuine interest in making others feel the same,” Angels VP of communications Tim Mead tweeted of Valbuena. “He treated everyone with respect, sincerity,and his wonderful gift of humor. Every day, every single day.”

MLBTR joins the baseball world in mourning the loss of the two and in expressing heartfelt condolences to the families, loved ones, friends and former teammates of both Valbuena and Castillo.

Placed On DL: Rua, Perdomo, Naquin

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Here are a few players to hit the disabled list today…

  • Rangers outfielder Ryan Rua has been placed on the DL with back spasms, the club has announced; they’ve recalled center fielder Delino DeShields to take his spot on the roster. Rua’s been worse than a replacement level player this year, according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, hitting a meager .194/.223/.371 across 132 plate appearances. He’s struck out in exactly a third of his plate appearances while drawing just five walks in that span.
  • The Padres announced that Luis Perdomo is going back on the disabled list due to a strained right shoulder, while left-hander Jose Castillo will activated from the DL in the same transaction. Perdomo allowed six earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings in his most recent start, and the former Rule 5 Draft selection has endured an ugly season to date. The right-hander has barely averaged four innings per start, walking nearly five batters per nine innings while posting a 7.94 ERA for the Friars. It’s surely a disappointing development for a San Diego ballclub that’s been very patient with him in his development since holding him on their active roster for the entire 2016 season.
  • The Indians’ outfield woes continue, with Tyler Naquin becoming the latest player to hit the disabled list. Naquin’s been dealing with a hip injury, as was earlier reported, so the official move comes as little surprise. Right-hander Adam Plutko will be recalled in his place, as tonight’s scheduled starter Mike Clevinger is dealing with a minor illness and may have to miss his start. Naquin’s been only marginally above replacement and sports a .264/.295/.356 slash line, but he was one of few options in the Tribe outfield worth playing and they’ll now likely be intensifying their search for a viable replacement for Lonnie Chisenhall.

Mets And Royals Discussing Francoeur, Others

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MONDAY, 3:09pm: A source tells ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that the Royals have "no interest" in Francoeur or Perez (Twitter link).

SUNDAY, 7:33pm: Talks between the Mets and Royals are fluid, though it doesn't appear that Guillen will be headed to Queens, says Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  It seems that if Guillen is dealt elsewhere, then Kansas City would be interested in Francoeur, Martino adds.

7:00pm: Francoeur and Perez are on the block, a source tells Jon Heyman of SI (via Twitter).  Another source tells Heyman that a trade with Kansas City "might happen" (Twitter link).

6:36pm: The Mets are in talks with the Royals and three names from each side are "in play," writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Those Royals players are Gil Meche, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jose Guillen while the Mets being discussed are Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and Jeff Francoeur.  It is unclear how advanced the talks are, cautions Rosenthal (via Twitter).

While the two sides aren't necessarily looking at a three-for-three swap, the two biggest contracts do match up well.  Meche and Perez's contracts are identical over the next two seasons, with both pitchers earning $12MM in this year and next.  The Mets made an attempt to swap the two just over a week ago.

Francoeur and Farnsworth also match up well, says Rosenthal.  Farnsworth's contract has a club option for 2011 for $5.25MM, though he has the right to void it in favor of a $500K buyout if he is traded before the 2010 World Series.  Francoeur will make $5MM this season before entering his final year of arbitration eligibility.

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