AL Central Notes: Anibal, Indians, Kepler, Snider
The Tigers have removed Anibal Sanchez from the rotation and replaced him with left-hander Matt Boyd, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Sanchez took the move as well as could be expected, manager Brad Ausmus told the media, and Fenech writes that Sanchez spoke with conviction about working to correct his flaws and reclaim his job. Sanchez, who is earning $16MM in 2016, the fourth season of a five-year, $80MM contract, has surrendered a 6.67 ERA through his first 56 2/3 innings of the year. He led the American League with 29 homers allowed in 157 innings last season and has allowed an even more alarming 14 long balls in this year’s 56 2/3 frames while also displaying his worst control since 2009 (4.6 BB/9). Sanchez is owed $16MM once again in 2017, and the Tigers hold a $16MM club option for the 2018 season that comes with a hefty $5MM buyout. With offseason signee Mike Pelfrey struggling so greatly as well, the Tigers are definite candidates to seek rotation upgrades this summer, though the emergence of Michael Fulmer and a recent string of solid outings for Daniel Norris at Triple-A may lessen the urgency.
More from the AL Central…
- The Indians need to trade for an outfield bat in the wake of Marlon Byrd‘s 162-game suspension, opines Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Suspensions for Byrd and Abraham Almonte, combined with the shoulder woes of Michael Brantley, has left Cleveland with an outfield mix of Rajai Davis, Tyler Naquin, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez. As Hoynes writes, the Indians “have pretty much said” that top prospects Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier won’t play in the Majors this season, so neither Double-A outfielder seems like an immediate option. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said to Hoynes that the club will “take some time to determine” if a trade is necessary, and he also explained that the club “spent a lot of time working through” Byrd’s first positive test before electing to sign him. Byrd, of course, went three years between suspensions and passed numerous drug tests along the way.
- Twins outfield prospect Max Kepler hasn’t seen much playing time in either of his first two stints at the Major League level, but manager Paul Molitor said that this time around, he’ll get more of a chance at regular playing time, writes MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. The 23-year-old German outfielder raked at a .322/.416/.531 clip at Double-A last season en route to Southern League MVP honors, and he batted .282/.367/.455 in 30 games at Triple-A after being demoted to Rochester earlier this season. Notably, Bollinger adds that the Triple-A coaching staff recommended Kepler over recently demoted Eddie Rosario, who is hitting .333 since a mid-May demotion but still hasn’t drawn a walk in 51 plate appearances.
- Travis Snider will not opt out of his minor league contract with the Royals, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). The 28-year-old had a June 1 opt-out date but will instead remain with Triple-A Omaha, where he’s batted .259/.377/.348 in 162 plate appearances. The Royals have lost Alex Gordon to a fracture in his hand for the time being, so perhaps the hope is that a need in the outfield corner will lead to a promotion in the near future.
Injury Notes: Dodgers, Joseph, Romo, Perkins, Minor
The Dodgers will place left-hander Alex Wood on the 15-day disabled list with soreness in his left elbow and will recall fellow lefty Julio Urias from Triple-A just a few days after optioning him back to the minors, reports Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). McCullough tweets that Wood’s injury is not structural, though he informed the team earlier in the day that he’s has some lingering soreness in his triceps. It’s not entirely certain that Urias will step into the rotation for Wood, McCullough notes. That decision will be impacted by righty Kenta Maeda, who has some swelling in his right hand after being hit by a comeback line drive over the weekend.
A few more notes on some injury situations from around the league…
- The Orioles have placed backup catcher Caleb Joseph on the 15-day disabled list after he underwent surgery for a testicular injury sustained over the weekend when he took an unfortunately placed foul ball, tweets Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Encina wrote earlier in the day that the injury was sustained on a foul tip in the eighth inning of yesterday’s contest. As MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes, the O’s have recalled Francisco Pena from Triple-A, and he’ll receive an equal workload to the one that had been shouldered by Joseph. In other words, Matt Wieters‘ workload will not increase in light of Joseph’s absence. “We’re not going to start pushing up his load and jeopardize something down the road,” said manager Buck Showalter of Wieters. “He may feel differently, but we’ll take it day to day. Shouldn’t change anything about that, but we’ll see.”
- Giants right-hander Sergio Romo has had a setback in his rehab from a flexor strain in his right elbow, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (Twitter links via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle). Romo has been experiencing tenderness in his right elbow, which prompted the Giants to order an MRI on their longtime late-inning reliever. On the positive side, Schulman notes that the MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage. However, he’ll still be backed off for four to five days, making it unlikely that he’ll be back with the team anytime soon.
- Twins closer Glen Perkins suffered a setback in his return from a shoulder injury earlier this month, but assistant GM Rob Antony told reporters, including Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter link), that Perkins’ throwing program since that time has been going well. The Minnesota native and career-long Twin will throw his first mound session since hitting the DL back on April 13 this coming Saturday. He’s pitched in just two games this season — a significant factor the Twins’ season-long bullpen woes.
- Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes that Royals left-hander Mike Minor returned to Kansas City today to have his surgically repaired left shoulder checked out by the Major League training staff. Minor, who signed a two-year deal this winter on the heels of the aforementioned surgery, has been dealing with some fatigue in that shoulder. Manager Ned Yost said the team doesn’t consider the injury to be serious at this time and isn’t calling the fatigue a setback, though as Dodd notes, he’s just over a week away from the end of his 30-day rehab window, which comes to a close on June 9.
Royals Agree To Minors Deal With Joe Beimel
The Royals have agreed to a minor league deal with southpaw Joe Beimel, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). It’s pending a physical, but Brown notes that Kansas City has already seen an MRI of Beimel’s left arm and does not believe that health will pose an obstacle.
Beimel had previously struck a deal with the Marlins, but that accord fell apart — apparently over issues with the status of his arm. Unless something new is found this time around, though, it seems that the veteran will join his ninth major league organization.
The 39-year-old has seen action with seven teams at the big league level, including a two-year run with the Mariners from 2014-15 in which he compiled 92 1/3 innings of 3.12 ERA pitching. Of course, he had better results in the first of those campaigns, and ERA estimators viewed his results last year with particular skepticism.
Beimel was actually somewhat better against right-handed hitters in 2015, but historically he’s much stingier when facing opposing lefties. Presumably, the Royals will give him a shot to earn a LOOGY role. With Danny Duffy moving to the rotation, the club’s pen currently features only one lefty, Scott Alexander. He’s been effective in his first ten innings on the year, and has good results recently at Triple-A, but has a fairly limited MLB track record.
Central Notes: Cardinals, Indians, Royals
The Cardinals‘ Jhonny Peralta is nearing a return from thumb surgery, but he might not be their everyday shortstop when he comes back, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Redbirds want to continue playing standout rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz, possibly their long-term solution at the position, and have had conversations with both Peralta and third baseman Matt Carpenter about lining up at multiple spots. Peralta has been playing third (he has previous major league experience there) and short during his rehab assignment, while Carpenter could move back to his former position – second base – or first base, where he started Saturday. “I feel like it’s going to create a fresh opportunity for us, but I also feel like given what you’re seeing out of Diaz at his age (25) you really need to see him develop at shortstop,” said general manager John Mozeliak. “We want to keep him developing and also figure out the right combination to win games. We need to have at least one player moving around. We need one of the veterans to say, ‘Hey, I’m willing.’”
Now for some notes on a couple of teams from the AL Central…
- Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco, out since late April with a hamstring injury, is close to rejoining the club. He could make one more rehab start or get back on a big league mound even earlier than that, general manager Mike Chernoff told MLB Network Radio on Sunday (Twitter link). Prior to his injury, Carrasco pitched to an outstanding 2.45 ERA in 22 innings while putting up strong strikeout and walk ratios (8.18 and 2.05, respectively, per nine innings).
- Having already lost Mike Moustakas for the season and Alex Gordon for an extended period of time earlier this week, the Royals suffered yet another scare to a cornerstone player Saturday when catcher Salvador Perez left their game against the White Sox after colliding with third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert. Fortunately, an MRI showed no structural damage (only a quad contusion), meaning Perez will miss just 7-10 days, manager Ned Yost told reporters (Twitter link via Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star). The Royals will not place Perez on the disabled list, tweets Dodd.
- With Perez temporarily unavailable, the Royals have recalled catcher Tony Cruz from Triple-A Omaha and optioned reliever Peter Moylan, Dodd was among those to report (via Twitter). Cruz, who owns a .220/.262/.310 line in 633 career major league plate appearances, hit .278/.352/.417 in 122 trips to the plate with Omaha before today’s promotion. Moylan has thrown 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball for the Royals this year, striking out seven and walking two.
- While the Indians have one of the majors’ lowest payrolls, salary has never been a deciding factor for them around the trade deadline, Chernoff said (Twitter link). “It’s almost always about players and the return you have to give up,” he stated.
Injury Notes: Darvish, Perez, Cain, Wright
As expected, the Rangers have announced that they’ve activated Yu Darvish from the disabled list. To clear space for him on the active roster, they shipped slugger Joey Gallo to Triple-A Round Rock. Darvish will start tonight in his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing the entire 2015 season. Previously, of course, Darvish was one of the game’s most dominant starters, leading the AL in strikeouts (277) and K/9 (11.9) and finishing second in Cy Young balloting in a brilliant 2013 season before succumbing to injury. It will be interesting to see how he fares tonight in his first regular-season action since August 2014. Here are more notes on injuries.
- Catcher Salvador Perez left the Royals‘ game against the White Sox today after colliding with third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. He had to be helped off the field. Via Dodd on Twitter, manager Ned Yost says Perez has a quad contusion and that there’s no structural damage to his knee, although he’ll have an MRI tomorrow. Losing him for an extended period would be tough for the Royals — his offense this season (.282/.314/.503) has provided plenty of value even independent of the work he does with the Royals’ pitchers, and the Royals also recently learned that another key player, Mike Moustakas, would be out of the season after tearing his ACL.
- The Giants have announced that they’ve placed starter Matt Cain on the 15-day DL with a hamstring strain and recalled fellow righty Chris Stratton to take his place on the active roster. 2016 has proven to be yet another frustrating season for Cain, who currently has a 5.20 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 53 2/3 innings this year after struggling through an injury-riddled 2015 campaign. For now, Stratton will likely serve as a long reliever, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News suggests. Stratton, the 20th overall pick in the 2012 draft, was pitching in the rotation at Triple-A Sacramento, where he’d posted a 6.02 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings.
- David Wright is out the lineup Saturday due to neck pain, and the Mets have at least some concern about the situation, ESPN’s Adam Rubin writes. The concern might be that the issue could be related to Wright’s chronic spinal stenosis, although Mets GM Sandy Alderson won’t speculate about the matter until he knows more. Wright has collected 164 plate appearances this season and has generally been effective, batting just .226 but with a solid on-base percentage (.350) and seven home runs.
AL Notes: Profar, Young, Jays’ Farm, Twins, Ausmus
In theory, Jurickson Profar could stay up for the Rangers even after Rougned Odor returns from his suspension, functioning in some kind of utility capacity. But as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explains, the likelihood remains that he’ll head back to Triple-A: while Profar could well represent an upgrade over Hanser Alberto, it would be tough to find sufficient action for a player who still needs reps after a long layoff. It is worth noting that Texas slotted Profar right into the leadoff spot tonight, and he could conceivably play his way into a bigger role.
More from the American League:
- Righty Chris Young will join the bullpen upon his return to the Royals, manager Ned Yost told reporters including Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter). Yost did add, though, that he foresees Young returning to the starting staff at some point this year.
- In addition to addressing other topics, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins raised some concerns with the state of talent in the team’s farm system, he tells Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. While he sees “some guys who could be everyday major league players,” Atkins says he’s concerned that the organization lacks “the depth of those guys that could turn into major league players, that larger number of what we call in the industry a Role 4 player, someone who is maybe not an everyday player but a solid contributing player, who could turn into a five.” That could tell when it comes to deadline additions, the new general manager suggests. “There’s no question that it impacts it,” he said. “We will have to keep our eyes on the future, but we recognize this window and opportunity. … I think fortunately we do have enough assets that if we wanted to make a move like that, we could. I think the question then becomes at what expense and at what level of sacrifice.”
- The Twins spoke with the reps for Yadiel Hernandez, but the team doesn’t seem inclined to pursue him, per Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter links). It’s unclear whether Minnesota has interest in fellow Cuban free agents Jose Miguel Fernandez and Lazaro Armenteros, but Wolfson adds that the club did have eyes on them in their recent showcase.
- Tigers GM Al Avila tells MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (audio link) that he stands behind embattled skipper Brad Ausmus. After tonight’s win, Detroit is on a 9-and-2 run since dropping to a season-worst 15-21 record recently. That leaves the club well within striking distance in the AL Central, which still looks to be a four-team dogfight.
Royals, Steve Tolleson Agree To Minor League Deal
The Royals have signed infielder Steve Tolleson to a minor league contract, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. The 32-year-old will report to Triple-A Omaha, he adds.
Tolleson, released by the Orioles earlier this week, is a veteran of four big league seasons and 12 minor league seasons. He most recently logged 234 Major League plate appearances with the Blue Jays between the 2014 and 2015 campaigns, hitting a combined .256/.313/.384 with three homers and five steals while seeing time at second base, third base, shortstop and in the outfield corners. Tolleson is a career .245/.299/.372 hitter in 363 PAs at the MLB level and owns a lifetime .281/.365/.401 batting line in an even 2100 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He’ll give Kansas City some infield depth in the wake of yesterday’s devastating news that Mike Moustakas will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.
Mike Moustakas Out For Season With Torn ACL
3:58pm: Moustakas is indeed out for the season, manager Ned Yost confirmed to reporters, including Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link).
3:17pm: The Royals announced today (via Twitter) that third baseman Mike Moustakas has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Outfielder Brett Eibner has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take his spot on the 25-man roster. Kansas City did not give a timeline for Moustakas’ return, but certainly a tear of his ACL would seem to put the remainder of his 2016 season in jeopardy. Moustakas suffered the injury in a foul-territory collision with Alex Gordon this past weekend — a doubly devastating accident for the Royals, as it also resulted in a fractured wrist and a trip to the disabled list for Gordon.
The 27-year-old Moustakas, long hailed as one of baseball’s top prospects, struggled through the early stages of his career but had a full-fledged breakout in 2015 when he batted .284/.348/.470 with 22 home runs and excellent defense at the hot corner, helping to fuel the Royals’ second consecutive trip to the World Series as well as their eventual victory. The driving factor in his emergence as a star was a dramatic improvement against left-handed pitching; after hitting just .211/.267/.328 against lefties from 2011-14, Moustakas crushed same-handed pitching to the tune of a .282/.328/.482 batting line in 2015. This season, he’s been limited to 27 games due to a minor fracture in his left thumb but had maintained his production versus lefties and delivered a solid overall line of .240/.301/.500 with characteristically strong defense.
For the Royals, the in-house options at the hot corner are most likely highlighted by a combination of prospect Cheslor Cuthbert and utilityman Whit Merrifield — each of whom was recently added to the big league roster. Kansas City has also seen 2013 first-rounder Hunter Dozier, who had an abysmal 2015 campaign at Double-A, enjoy a terrific resurgence playing primarily third base at Triple-A. Dozier has batted .296/.324/.521 through 17 games this season after obliterating Double-A pitching at an even more impressive .301/.370/.590 pace in 26 games to open the season. Dozier, it should be noted, is not on the 40-man roster, though if it’s determined that Moustakas will indeed miss the season, a spot could be opened simply by transferring him to the 60-day disabled list. Also of note is that early June is typically looked at as the threshold to safely avoid Super Two designation for well-regarded minor leaguers, so there’s some degree of financial incentive for Kansas City to keep Dozier at the minor league level a bit longer.
Alternatively, shifting Omar Infante across the diamond (though he’s struggled with the bat since signing in Kansas City) could be an option. Infante does have more than 600 career innings at third base, although he hasn’t seen any time at the position since 2012. Given that contingency of internal replacement candidates, it seems likely that the reigning World Series Champions will at least take some time to evaluate existing alternatives before looking outside the organization to acquire some help at the hot corner.
Cardinals Acquire Jose Martinez
The Cardinals have acquired outfielder Jose Martinez from the Royals, per an announcement from the St. Louis club. Cash considerations will go back to Kansas City in the deal.
Martinez, 27, was designated recently. He’s a ten-year minor-league veteran who has yet to crack the majors. In parts of two seasons at Triple-A, Martinez owns a productive .359/.431/.525 batting line over 556 plate appearances. He hasn’t quite maintained the pace he set last year at Omaha, but will nevertheless provide the Cards some outfield depth in the upper levels of their system.
Details On Carlos Beltran’s No-Trade Clause
Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran can block trades to 15 clubs under the terms of his limited no-trade clause, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, who explores the possibility of a deal involving the veteran. Among the teams to which Beltran could be dealt without consent are the Indians, Nationals, Royals, Cardinals, Rays, Tigers, and Dodgers, per the report.
Of course, it’s far from clear whether New York will end up entertaining such a move. The club has moved back to within striking distance in the AL East already, and there’s plenty of time left before the deadline.
Parting with Beltran wouldn’t necessarily mean abandoning hope for the present season, Olney suggests. Shipping him out would free up opportunities for highly-regarded young players such as Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge. They could be expected to provide value now while helping prepare for bigger roles in 2017 and beyond.
It’s fair to wonder just how much trade value Beltran would carry. On the one hand, he recently turned 39 and is a subpar outfielder (especially if one credits Defensive Runs Saved). On the other, he’s a highly respected veteran who is currently running out a productive .274/.299/.522 batting line, largely matching his overall production levels from last season (about 20% above league average).
Salary will certainly play a role, too, as Beltran is owed a healthy $15MM this season before reaching free agency at year’s end. Whether or not the market is receptive to that overall package remains to be seen, but presumably the Yankees won’t make a move unless they receive some kind of interesting return (barring a full-blown collapse in the next two months). That’s especially true given the uncertainty of Hicks and Judge as well as the fact that aging sluggers Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez come with their own blend of health, age, and performance questions.