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Minor MLB Transactions: 9/15/19

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The latest minor moves from around baseball….

  • The Dodgers sent right-hander Jaime Schultz on an outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City.  Schultz cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.  Already a regular for the Triple-A affiliate this season, Schultz had a 5.85 ERA, 11.7 K/9, and 5.1 BB/9 over 47 2/3 innings at Oklahoma City, also appearing in four games for the Dodgers at the Major League level.  The 28-year-old joined the Dodgers organization last January after being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay.

Justin Turner Expected To Return On Tuesday

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Justin Turner is expected to return to the Dodgers’ lineup on Tuesday, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets.  The third baseman hasn’t played since September 7 due to a left ankle sprain, so it will end up being a seven-game absence for Turner.  Still one of the game’s better hitters (.291/.370/.514 with 27 homers in 538 PA) in his age 34 season, Turner is likely to get further rest time over the last couple of weeks if necessary, as the Dodgers obviously want him fully healthy and prepared for the postseason.

The Dodgers have long since punched their ticket for October, but let’s check in some teams still fighting to reach the playoffs and dealing with some injuries along the way…

Dodgers Could Pursue Anthony Rendon

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  • Which organizations pursue each player will no doubt dictate their respective market values in the coming months. To that end, ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription link) is hearing chatter the Dodgers figure to be in the Rendon market. The idea, per Olney, would be move Justin Turner to first base to split time with Max Muncy while deploying Cody Bellinger solely on the grass. Whether the Dodgers would be best-served beating what is sure to be a robust market for Rendon when their internal options are already formidable is debatable, but Olney notes that the Dodgers’ collection of cheap young stars gives the team ample financial flexibility to make a splash in free agency. Further, he argues that Rendon is the Dodgers’ ideal hitter- patient, with contact and power skills- although of course LA wouldn’t be the only organization to appreciate a player with Rendon’s superstar track record.

Latest On Alex Verdugo, Rich Hill

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It’s “very unlikely” outfielder Alex Verdugo will return for the Dodgers’ National League Division Series matchup, manager Dave Roberts told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com and other reporters Friday (Twitter links). The rookie originally landed on the injured list Aug. 6 with a right oblique strain, but a back injury has slowed him of late. Meantime, southpaw Rich Hill – who’s dealing with a strained left MCL – will undergo an MRI on Monday. It seems iffy at best that Hill will avoid a lengthy absence, as a strained left MCL previously shelved him for the first month of the season. The injury-prone 39-year-old then missed almost two months with a forearm problem. His start Thursday, when he recorded just two outs, was his first since June 19.

Dodgers Activate Max Muncy

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The Dodgers announced that they have activated infielder Max Muncy from the injured list. He had been sidelined with a fractured wrist.

Fortunately, the injury ended up requiring only a brief absence. While the Dodgers will likely take it slow with the 29-year-old slugger upon his return, there’s obviously no concern that he’s at risk of further injury.

The Los Angeles organization will spend the next two weeks firming up its postseason roster plans and getting the right amount of reps to the right players. Muncy hasn’t been sidelined for long, but he’ll obviously want to get plenty of looks at big-league pitching to prepare for what is hoped to be a deep playoff run.

Muncy hasn’t been quite as awesome this year as he was in his stunning 2018 breakout campaign, but he has remained a top-end offensive player. Through 534 plate appearances, Muncy carries a .253/.375/.525 batting line with 33 home runs.

Latest On Rich Hill

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9:51pm: Hill suffered a strained left MCL, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. It’s not yet clear how much time he’ll miss, though it obviously doesn’t sound promising.

7:05PM: Hill’s outing only lasted six batters and two-thirds of an inning, as Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link) that Hill had a problem with his left knee.  A strain to that same knee put Hill on the IL for the first month of the season.

2:10PM: The Dodgers have officially activated veteran left-hander Rich Hill from the 60-day injured list, as Hill will start tonight’s game against the Orioles.  To create roster space, right-hander Jaime Schultz has been designated for assignment.

Hill last took the mound on June 19, as a flexor tendon strain sidelined him for close to half the season.  As per the team’s plan to get Hill ready for the postseason, he’ll only throw two innings or 30 pitches tonight (essentially working as an opener) and then gradually build up his workload over four outings before the end of the season.  If all goes well, Hill will be in line to take the fourth starter role for Los Angeles in the playoffs, behind Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Walker Buehler.

Hill has been no stranger to injuries over his career, and as per usual during the southpaw’s late-career renaissance, he has been very effective then he has been able to pitch.  Hill had a 2.55 ERA, 5.08 K/BB rate, and 10.4 K/9 over 53 innings in 2019, also missing the first month of the season due to a knee sprain.  Though his numbers included a career-high 1.7 HR/9 (perhaps not usual for any pitcher in this homer-happy season), Hill’s .265 xwOBA put him in the 91st percentile of all pitchers.

After tossing 30 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay in his rookie season, Schultz pitched only five innings over four MLB games for the Dodgers in 2019, spending the bulk of the year at Triple-A Oklahoma City.  He had a 5.85 ERA over 47 2/3 Triple-A innings, though unlike many pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, homers weren’t the problem — Schultz had only an 0.6 HR/9, as the larger issue was a 5.1 BB/9, continuing the control issues that have bothered the 28-year-old for much of his pro career.  Also as per the norm for the hard-throwing Schultz, he posted some strong strikeout numbers, whiffing Triple-A batters at a rate of 11.7 K/9.

Dodgers Notes: Muncy, Alexander, Turner, Lux

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Let’s check in on the best team in the National League…

  • Expectations are that the Dodgers will activate infielder Max Muncy from the injured list Friday, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times relays. Muncy hasn’t played since he suffered a fractured right wrist Aug. 28, but it obviously wasn’t an overly serious injury. The 29-year-old is the Dodgers’ go-to option at second base, though his injury helped open the door for the promotion of highly touted prospect Gavin Lux, who has performed well over a small sample of plate appearances thus far. But Muncy’s among the Dodgers’ best hitters, evidenced by his .253/.375/.525 line with 33 home runs in 534 PA, and they’ll be happy to welcome him back with a couple weeks left before the playoffs begin.
  • Left-handed reliever Scott Alexander underwent surgery to address a nerve issue in his pitching hand, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. The 30-year-old, who hasn’t pitched since the first week of June, wasn’t going to return this season anyway. It’s unclear, though, how long it will take him to recover from this procedure. Alexander has thrown just 17 1/3 innings this year on account of forearm issues. While Alexander was among the game’s foremost southpaw relievers as recently as 2017, when he was with the Royals, his two years with the Dodgers have been somewhat disappointing. He owns a 3.67 ERA/3.88 FIP with 7.02 K/9 and 3.67 BB/9 across 83 1/3 innings as a Dodger, though he has posted an eye-popping 68.5 percent groundball rate in that span.
  • More from Plunkett, who reports that third baseman Justin Turner is day-to-day with a mild ankle sprain. That’s a relief for Los Angeles, which has gone without Turner’s services since last Saturday. The 34-year-old went without a hit in two at-bats then, but has otherwise enjoyed yet another outstanding season. Turner’s a .291/.370/.514 hitter with 27 home runs and 3.4 fWAR in 538 trips to the plate.
  • Dodgers director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino recently reflected on the drafting of Lux in a chat with Kyle Glaser of Baseball America. Although Lux just won Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year honors, it was seen as something of a reach when the Dodgers chose the former Wisconsin high schooler 20th overall in the 2016 draft. He impressed Dodgers scouts throughout that year, though, and when the draft rolled around, they took him over an unidentified college pitcher who was also high on their board. “His overall talent level and character assessments were so high, we just felt like, a little bit of liking him just a little bit more than the college pitcher and some of just draft strategy of taking the bat there and getting pitching later,” Gasparino said. The 21-year-old Lux has since surpassed the organization’s expectations, according to Gasparino.

Latest On Alex Verdugo

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  • The Dodgers clinched their seventh straight NL West title Tuesday, but they’re also dealing with some unwelcome news: Outfielder Alex Verdugo isn’t nearing a return, per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. An oblique strain forced the rookie to the IL back on Aug. 6, but he suffered a back injury on a rehab assignment and will sit out “for at least a few days,” Castillo writes. Verdugo has been a valuable contributor this year, having slashed .294/.342/.475 with 2.2 fWAR in 377 plate appearances, but the loaded Dodgers have carried on fine without him thus far.

Latest On Joe Kelly

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  • Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has been battling a lower-body injury, manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and other reporters.  The problem is “not a red flag for us,” Roberts said, though he noted that Kelly’s delivery is still being somewhat altered by the injury.  Kelly pitched on Saturday after sitting out the Dodgers’ previous five games.  After signing a three-year, $25MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter, Kelly badly struggled over his first two-plus months but then stabilized things, posting a 2.00 ERA over his last 27 innings (28 outings).

Muncy Targeting Return On Friday

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Max Muncy’s wrist fracture wasn’t thought to be an overly serious injury, and the Dodgers infielder is now aiming to be back on the field on Friday when Los Angeles begins a series against the Mets.  As Muncy told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter links) and other reporters, he felt “better than I expected” after taking regular swings in the batting cage today.  Needless to say, the Dodgers will be careful with their slugger’s progress, as there’s no urgency to get Muncy back in immediate fashion since the team is running away with the NL West.  Still, it’s an excellent sign that Muncy has seemingly avoided what initially looked like a season-threatening injury.

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