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West Notes: Angels Stadium, Richards, Reynolds, Mariners, Hultzen

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The Angels’ bid to put together a stadium deal in Tustin has not panned out, leading the team to resume talks with the city of Anaheim, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. While teams like the Braves, Rangers, and D-Backs are in various stages of replacing their still-serviceable ballparks, the Halos are still playing in Angel Stadium, which opened in 1966. The current lease runs through the 2029 season, but includes a provision allowing the club to opt out before 2019. That, naturally, spurred talks of renovation work and a new agreement, with the Angels exploring alternatives when discussions didn’t proceed as hoped.

Here’s more from out west:

  • Angels righty Garrett Richards could be cleared to throw next week if his check-up on Monday goes as hoped, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. The 28-year-old is attempting to avoid Tommy John surgery despite a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He has been ramping up his workout regimen as his PRP/stem cell treatment has continued to show promise, and the next step may be to build up toward throwing and then full-blown mound work. The outlook remains uncertain, but Richards expressed loads of optimism. “I literally feel like my arm is just refreshed,” he said yesterday. “Everything feels great. My shoulder feels nice and loose. I feel zero discomfort in my arm. Nothing even close to what I was feeling when I was put on the DL.”
  • Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds left today’s action with an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports. It has actually been a problem for some time, per the report, but Reynolds felt heightened discomfort after a swing. The expectation is that he’ll require a DL stint, though the severity isn’t yet known with an MRI scheduled for tomorrow. Colorado is already in a bit of a bind with Trevor Story likely out for the year. The team had avoided a sell-off at the trade deadline in hopes of making a post-season run, but the odds against it continue to build.
  • The Mariners’ trade deadline tightrope walk has paid off thus far, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. GM Jerry Dipoto ultimately settled on a few relatively modest moves to tweak the club’s roster and set of contractual obligations, but the M’s have responded by pushing to seven games over .500 — putting them right in the thick of the Wild Card hunt. The veteran executive suggested that the team looked at more significant transactions. “I’m a big fan of trying to pounce on opportunity,” he said. “We talked with a variety of clubs about acquisitions that maybe would have been more notable — I don’t want to say star quality, but more household-type names. We also talked about the possibility of moving players out who were more household names. … In the end, the best moves we could make were holding steady.”
  • Meanwhile, tough-luck Mariners lefty Danny Hultzen isn’t yet ready to give up pitching, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports. He has undergone another shoulder procedure in hopes of making it back to the hill. The former second overall pick, now 26, threw 124 innings back in 2012 but hasn’t even cracked fifty total in the four seasons since.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/10/16

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Wednesday’s minor transactions from around baseball:

  • The Orioles have released right-hander Sam Deduno, reports FanGraphs’ Brad Johnson, who adds that the 33-year-old is now healthy after rehabbing from a hip injury (Twitter links). Deduno, whom the Orioles signed to a minor league deal in February, hasn’t gotten past Rookie ball this year because of his hip ailment. That issue limited Deduno to just 22 combined innings with the Astros and their Triple-A affiliate in 2015.  Prior to posting a 6.86 ERA in 21 major league frames last season, Deduno combined for 287 2/3 innings between the Twins and Astros from 2012-14. In that time, he logged a 4.22 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and an excellent 57.2 percent ground-ball rate.
  • The Braves have signed free agent left-hander Brian Moran to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. Moran’s entire pitching resume with major league organizations has come as a member of the Mariners, though the Blue Jays selected the reliever in the fifth round of the 2013 Rule 5 draft and then traded him to the Angels for an international bonus slot. However, the Halos returned Moran to the Mariners a few months later after learning that he needed Tommy John surgery. Moran missed all of 2014 while recovering from the procedure, but he returned last year to log a total of 33 1/3 minor league innings with the Mariners. Most of those innings (30 1/3) came at the Double-A level, where Moran recorded a 3.56 ERA, 8.6 K/9 and 5.04 BB/9. The 27-year-old (and the brother of Astros third baseman Colin Moran) has pitched this season with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League.
  • The Angels have announced the release of shortstop Ryan Jackson, who has divided his season between their Triple-A affiliate and Philadelphia’s. Jackson, a Cardinals fifth-round pick in 2009, debuted briefly in the majors with St. Louis in 2012 and reentered the big leagues last year with the Angels. The 28-year-old garnered just 39 combined plate appearances in those two call-ups, however. In 1,809 Triple-A PAs, Jackson has hit .274/.352/.356.

Angels Place Cam Bedrosian On DL, Claim Brett Oberholtzer From Phillies

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The Angels announced several roster moves this afternoon, including the placement of right-hander Cam Bedrosian on the 15-day disabled list due to flexor tendinitis in the middle finger on his right hand. Additionally, the Angels have claimed left-hander Brett Oberholtzer off waivers from the Phillies and selected the contract of fellow righty A.J. Achter. Oberholtzer will join the Major League club but will not do so today, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

The injury to Bedrosian means that the Angels will now have both closer Huston Street and Bedrosian, their top setup man and interim closer, on the disabled list at the same time. Those injuries and the trade of setup man Joe Smith to the Cubs creates some uncertainty at the back of manager Mike Scioscia’s bullpen. Right-hander Deolis Guerra has had the most impressive season thus far of any of the team’s remaining relievers, but righty Fernando Salas tops him in terms of experience. Bedrosian’s loss is a notable one for the Halos, as he’s quietly delivered one of the best seasons of any reliever in baseball. The 24-year-old has posted a brilliant 1.12 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 49.5 percent ground-ball rate in 40 1/3 innings in his breakout campaign.

As for Oberholtzer, the 27-year-old went from Houston to Philadelphia in last December’s Ken Giles blockbuster, but he was unable to find his footing as a member of the Phils. In 50 1/3 innings this year, Oberholtzer limped to a 4.83 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 44.8 percent ground-ball rate. He hasn’t factored into a big league rotation much recently, but Oberholtzer does has 42 Major League starts under his belt. That could be key for an Angels organization that is thin on rotation depth with Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano and likely Garrett Richards all slated to miss the 2017 season (or most of it) due to Tommy John surgery. While Oberholtzer certainly isn’t an overpowering arm, he has a 4.09 career ERA in 304 big league innings.

Achter, 27, has a 3.98 ERA in 20 1/3 innings out of the Angels’ bullpen this season but has fanned just nine batters in that time. He has plenty of Triple-A success under his belt though: a 2.90 ERA with a 164-to-64 K/BB ratio in 183 innings. The Halos have designated Achter for assignment and outrighted him twice already this season.

Tim Lincecum Accepts Outright Assignment, Will Pitch In Triple-A

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TUESDAY: Lincecum has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. That means Lincecum will continue his career with the Salt Lake Bees, hoping to eventually get another shot in the Majors. As a former MLB star, that likely means Lincecum is swallowing his pride, but he also likely believes that heading to Triple-A provides his clearest path back to the big leagues at this point.

SATURDAY: The Angels have designated right-hander Tim Lincecum for assignment, reports Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The club’s hope is that Lincecum will stay in the organization and accept an assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Indeed, the Angels are under the impression Lincecum will head to Salt Lake, per Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (on Twitter). In the meantime, Los Angeles has recalled righty Jose Valdez to take Lincecum’s roster spot.

[RELATED: Updated Angels Depth Chart]

Lincecum joined the pitching-needy Angels as a free agent in May after undergoing hip surgery and then showcasing himself around the majors in somewhat ballyhooed fashion, but his stint with the organization has been a disaster. In possibly his final start of the season, Lincecum surrendered six earned runs on nine hits, two walks and a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings of a 6-4 loss to the Mariners on Friday. That outing increased Lincecum’s ERA to a hideous 9.16 through nine starts, and manager Mike Scioscia was wary of committing to him afterward. Lincecum averaged just over four frames in those nine outings and recorded only one quality start, which came in his June 18 season debut.

A lofty walk rate (5.4 per nine innings) and a decrease in ground balls (40.7 percent rate, down from his career 46.4 percent mark), the latter of which helps to explain his unmanageable 22.9 percent home run-fly ball ratio, are largely behind Lincecum’s run prevention issues. So is a .432 batting average on balls in play, though FanGraphs indicates that Lincecum has been quite susceptible to hard contact, and the 32-year-old’s high-80s fastball velocity hasn’t helped his cause.

Struggles aren’t necessarily anything new for Lincecum, who posted a subpar 4.68 ERA in 615 1/3 innings with the Giants from 2012-15 as his mean fastball velo fell from the low- to mid-90s to the upper 80s. However, he did manage an impressive K/9 (8.4), a playable BB/9 (3.9) and a 45.9 percent grounder rate. Still, the version of Lincecum everyone has seen since 2012 is a far cry from his heyday, in which he was a dominant member of the Giants’ rotation from 2008-11 and took home a pair of National League Cy Young Awards.

The fact that Lincecum wasn’t able to hold a rotation spot, let alone a place on the roster, for an Angels team without fellow starters Garrett Richards, C.J. Wilson, Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano – all of whom are on the disabled list – obviously bodes poorly for his future. Barring a significant turnaround this year, his days as a starter could be over. Fortunately for the Angels, they only invested a prorated $2.5MM in Linceum upon signing him.

AL West News & Rumors: Paxton, Walker, Angels

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Here’s the latest from around the AL West…

  • Mariners lefty James Paxton was two outs away from a complete game victory yesterday when he was hit on his throwing elbow by an Andrelton Simmons line drive.  Fortunately for Paxton and the M’s, x-rays were negative and manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune) that he’s hoping Paxton may not even miss a start, thanks to an off-day this week in Seattle’s schedule.  The injury has been diagnosed as a deep bruise, and Paxton will be able to pitch if the swelling subsides.  Paxton has been a big part of the Mariners rotation, posting a 3.53 ERA, 4.06 K/BB rate and 8.04 K/9 over 81 2/3 IP this season, and any missed time for Paxton would undoubtedly be a blow to Seattle’s wild card hopes.
  • In other Mariners pitching news, Taijuan Walker was optioned to Triple-A to create a 25-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Arquimedes Caminero.  Ariel Miranda will continue in the Mariners’ rotation filling Walker’s spot.  [Updated Mariners depth chart at Roster Resource.]  Walker got off to a strong start this season that fueled his solid year-long stats (4.10 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 4.0 K/BB rate), though he has had trouble pitching deep into games.  Walker has also struggled in his last two outings, sandwiched around a month-long DL stint due to right foot tendinitis, and the M’s couldn’t allow for Walker time to regain his form with the team in a playoff race.  “His last 13 starts, he’s had three quality starts.  It may be different if we were 10 or 15 games below .500.  We’re not,” Servais told Dutton and other reporters.
  • Despite the demotion, the Mariners haven’t given up on Walker and aren’t looking to trade him, Dutton tweets in response to a reader question.  Walker received a lot of attention from other teams prior to the trade deadline but GM Jerry Dipoto said the young hurler wasn’t available.
  • With the Angels already looking ahead to 2017, both MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez and the Los Angeles Times’ Pedro Moura addressed the team’s future in separate mailbag pieces.  Gonzalez believes the Halos will have an offseason similar to last, when they look to upgrade with relatively low-cost or cost-neutral moves since the payroll will still be bogged down by several large contracts (albeit with some relief since C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver will be off the books).  Aiming for contention in 2018 may be a wiser move since Josh Hamilton’s contract will also be up, and Gonzalez feels Kole Calhoun could be an interesting trade chip to address other needs, though Calhoun is obviously a valuable piece of the current roster.
  • Moura’s mailbag addresses such topics as whether or not Arte Moreno would consider selling the team (Moura doesn’t believe so), the possibility of Yunel Escobar being traded and Kaleb Cowart possibly stepping in as a low-cost third base option in his place, plus how Angels GM Billy Eppler really can’t be judged on his job performance since Eppler is still dealing with poor organizational decisions made prior to his hiring.

Angels Won’t Commit To Another Lincecum Start

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After veteran starter Tim Lincecum allowed six runs against the Mariners Friday, Angels manager Mike Scioscia wouldn’t commit to Lincecum taking another turn in the rotation, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes. “Our goal is to get him right,” Scioscia says, although he adds that “we haven’t really digested some things.” The Angels had committed more strongly to Lincecum after he struggled against the Astros two starts ago.

It’s unclear what further plans the Angels might have for Lincecum if they remove him from the rotation. Speculatively, releasing him would seem to be an option, although perhaps a move to the bullpen could also be a possibility. Gonzalez notes that if Lincecum does leave the rotation, Jhoulys Chacin and Nate Smith are candidates to take his place. The Angels, of course, are dealing with a long list of pitcher injuries, with Garrett Richards, C.J. Wilson, Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano all on the DL.

It’s not surprising that the Angels might consider moving on from Lincecum, whose tenure with the team has not gone well, to put it mildly. Since signing in May after returning from hip surgery and debuting with the big-league team in June, he’s made nine starts and posted a 9.16 ERA in 38 1/3 innings, with 7.5 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9. He’s allowed at least four runs in all but two of those starts. His velocity is in the high 80s, about where it was last season with the Giants but down significantly from his 2008-2011 heyday.

West Notes: Angels, Valencia, Padres, Jones

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The Angels have removed amateur scouting director Ric Wilson from his post, ESPN.com’s Keith Law tweets, though he may stay with the organization in another role. GM Billy Eppler tells Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times that the team hopes Wilson will stick around. He has been with the organization for quite some time, assuming his most recent position in 2011. Though the draft results since that time haven’t been terribly well-regarded, as DiGiovanna notes, the Halos have generally not provided him with advantageous draft positions from which to work and have traded away several of the more promising prospects brought in under Wilson.

Here’s more from out west to round out the evening:

  • Even with Josh Reddick out of the picture, the Athletics continue to use Danny Valencia somewhat sporadically, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Manager Bob Melvin says the reason is that the organization needs to look to “see what our future is.” While Valencia isn’t a long-term piece, he is controllable for another season and has been highly productive at the plate. It was somewhat surprising he wasn’t dealt at the deadline, but he could be moved in August or over the winter as well.
  • Though he has received quite a lot of criticism (and before that, praise) since taking over as the Padres’ general manager, A.J. Preller has overseen a swift rebuilding of the team’s farm of late, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. The work has been accomplished through a variety of methods, as Cassavell explains in a long look at the club’s action since the start of 2016. Preller says that the initial investment in veteran assets when he took the helm occurred due to an “opportunity in the short term to try to take a chance to put a competitive team on the field.” But there was also a back-up plan, he suggests: “There was also understanding at the time that we were going to acquire assets that potentially could be valuable to other teams. … As a baseball group, you’re always talking about: ’Here’s the best possible scenario, but also here’s other scenarios.'”
  • The Rangers have moved James Jones from the outfield to the mound, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. A hurler in college, the 27-year-old (who is a southpaw) has reached the majors as a position player and has had success at the plate in the upper minors. He struggled to a .232/.297/.330 batting line this year at Triple-A after being acquired (and then outrighted and re-signed) over the winter by Texas.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/4/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • Angels outfielder Daniel Nava has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers, the Halos announced. He hasn’t panned out as hoped since signing a $1.375MM deal over the winter, and it doesn’t appear as if the club will end up tendering him a contract this fall. Nava owns a .235/.309/.303 slash over 136 plate appearances on the year, and he is now two seasons removed from the solid offensive numbers he put up with the Red Sox. Still, the 33-year-old’s high-on-base approach would hold plenty of appeal if he can get back on track.
  • The Indians have inked lefty Colt Hynes to a minor league pact, according to the Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes (via Twitter). Hynes, 31, will head to Triple-A Columbus. The southpaw reliever has spent the last two years with the Blue Jays organization, briefly appearing in the majors last year. He has carried a sub-3.50 ERA at Triple-A each year, and was especially impressive this season. Over his 37 frames, Hynes retired 10.5 batters per nine via the strikeout while issuing only 1.7 BB/9.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/3/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • Outfielder Craig Gentry is a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment from the Angels, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The hope was that the 32-year-old would combine with Daniel Nava to provide a solid left field platoon, but both players ended up being designated at the same time. Ultimately, Gentry was limited by injury and appeared in only 14 games, failing to hit in that short sample — much as he did last year. Before that, the veteran had been a sturdy, glove-first outfielder who was capable at times of slightly above-average offensive production.
  • Fellow Angels outfielder Todd Cunningham, who was recently designated, has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers for the third time this year, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds on Twitter. The 27-year-old, who was acquired from the Braves during the offseason, has struggled in limited MLB playing time in three of the last four years. The former second-round draft pick owns a .275/.348/.368 batting line over 1,698 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • Giants infielder Grant Green cleared outright waivers, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. Now 28, Green was once considered a quality prospect with the Halos but hasn’t managed to gain any traction at the major league level. He slashed .261/.300/.370 in his fifty plate appearances this year with the Giants.
  • The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with catcher Tony Sanchez, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Recently released by the Blue Jays, Sanchez will help bolster San Francisco’s catching depth after the team dealt away Andrew Susac. Sanchez’s prospect star has faded over recent years, and was cut loose by Toronto after putting up a meager .201/.292/.309 slash in 168 Triple-A plate appearances this year.

Nick Tropeano To Undergo Tommy John Surgery; Garrett Richards Still Holding Off

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The Angels received mix news on the pitching injury front today, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report (Twitter links). Righty Nick Tropeano will undergo Tommy John surgery, as had been expected, while fellow right-hander Garrett Richards continues to show enough positive progress that he’ll hold off on having the same procedure.

Tropeano was recently diagnosed with a fairly significant tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. While there was at least some thought given to a PRP and stem cell treatment similar to that undertaken by both Richards and lefty Andrew Heaney, the decision was made in fairly short order to go ahead with a UCL replacement (as ultimately proved necessary for Heaney).

The surgery puts an end to what had been a promising campaign for the 25-year-old. He recorded solid results in 2015, but opened the year at Triple-A. Upon returning to the majors, Tropeano posted 68 1/3 innings of 3.56 ERA pitching, with 9.0 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. ERA estimators weren’t as high on his performance — he was homer-prone and benefited from a 91.1% strand rate — but he was generating a strong 12.5% swinging strike rate and seemed well on his way to locking up a rotation spot for some time to come. Instead, one of his seasons of near-league-minimum salary will be spent on the DL, with the hope being that Tropeano can return for 2018 — at which time he’ll have 2.068 years of service.

Richards, on the other hand, has continued to exhibit sufficient healing that a non-surgical path remains viable. He won’t return to the majors this year, but is expected to attempt to build up to pitch up after the year — perhaps in the Arizona Fall League or winter ball. A final decision on the surgery will await the results of his efforts to throw in full game action.

Los Angeles has been hit hard with the TJ bug this year, though at least Richards holds out some hope of pitching in 2017. If he does end up having the procedure later in the year, his 2018 campaign would then come under some question — leading to a tough call as to whether the Halos ought to tender him an arb contract for the two seasons to come. Those are the team’s final two years of control over the 28-year-old, and they won’t come cheap since Richards is earning $6.425MM this year.

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