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Injury Updates: Teixeira, Felix, Hill, Dodgers

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Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who went on the disabled list last Saturday with a cartilage tear in his right knee, is progressing toward a return and expects to start running next week, he told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media. Teixeira didn’t reveal when he could rejoin the Yankees, but the fact that it’s a possibility is undoubtedly welcome news for him and the team. The fear when Teixeira suffered the injury was that he’d need surgery. As of now, though, it appears the 36-year-old will avoid going under the knife. In addition to Teixeira, the Yankees have recently lost two other first base options – Chris Parmelee and Dustin Ackley – to injuries.

Here’s more on some big-name players dealing with health troubles:

  • Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is making progress with his strained calf, but there remains no timetable for his return, said manager Scott Servais (Twitter link via Greg Johns of MLB.com). Hernandez, who landed on the DL retroactive to May 28, was originally supposed to miss only two starts with the injury. But he’ll now need to go on a rehab stint when he’s deemed healthy enough to return to the mound, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Hernandez posted a 2.86 ERA, 7.57 K/9 and 3.71 BB/9 in 63 innings prior to going on the shelf.
  • Athletics left-hander Rich Hill won’t throw off a mound until the middle of next week at the earliest, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Before hitting the DL on Thursday with a right groin strain, the 36-year-old threw 64 frames of 2.25 ERA, struck out 10.41 batters per nine innings and established himself as an appealing summer trade candidate.
  • Dodgers starters Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy will both begin four- to five-start rehab assignments this weekend, according to manager Dave Roberts (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). This will be the second time Ryu has attempted a rehab assignment; in May, he suffered a setback in his surgically repaired left shoulder after making three rehab starts. The 29-year-old southpaw underwent surgery on a torn labrum in May 2015 and hasn’t appeared in a major league game since October 2014. Given the time Ryu has missed, he’ll need to prove himself worthy of a rotation spot, Roberts said. McCarthy, meanwhile, had Tommy John surgery a year ago after racking up just four starts on the season.

Dodgers To Sign Third-Round Pick Dustin May

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The Dodgers have agreed to terms with third-round draft pick Dustin May, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. May will receive $1M, significantly above the pool allotment for the No. 101 pick, which is $591K.

May, a 6-foot-6 Texas high school righty, was committed to Texas Tech. Baseball America ranked him the No. 117 prospect in the draft. MLB.com ranked him No. 166, writing that he throws 90-93 MPH, has touched 95, and still has projection remaining. He also throws a slider and curve. He doesn’t yet have much of a changeup and could reportedly stand to work on his mechanics, but that’s not surprising for a high school draftee.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/11/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • The Dodgers have released outfielder Jose Tabata, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. Tabata was hitting .240/.340/.333 for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Acquired last year for Michael Morse in an exchange of bad contracts, Tabata never played in the big leagues for the Dodgers. The former top Yankees and Pirates prospect is still owed the remainder of his $4.5MM 2016 salary from the long-term deal he signed with the Pirates in 2011, plus a $250K buyout on his 2017 option.
  • The Rangers have acquired righty reliever Justin De Fratus from the Mariners, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets. The deal completes last month’s Patrick Kivlehan trade, tweets MLB.com’s Greg Johns. The 28-year-old De Fratus was pitching for Triple-A Tacoma, where he’d posted a 3.21 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 28 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in five big-league seasons, all of them spent with the Phillies.
  • Veteran outfielder Will Venable is now a free agent after opting out of his minor league deal with the Phillies, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Venable has had a disappointing season thus far for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, batting .205/.304/.307 in 149 plate appearances. He hit .244/.320/.350 with the Padres and Rangers in 2015, then was released by the Indians near the end of Spring Training before being picked up by Philadelphia.
  • The Athletics have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Daniel Mengden, who will start today against the Reds. Mengden, an Astros draftee who headed to Oakland in the Scott Kazmir trade last July, had compiled a 1.19 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings this season split between Double-A and Triple-A. MLB.com rates Mengden as the Athletics’ 14th-best prospect, noting his “old-timey delivery and exaggerated windup,” which creates deception but also could ultimately result in a move to the bullpen. To clear space for Mengden on the 40-man roster, the Athletics transferred Mark Canha (hip) to the 60-day DL.

Dodgers Release Alex Guerrero

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The Dodgers announced that they have released infielder/outfielder Alex Guerrero, who was designated for assignment back on May 31.

The move brings to an end what will go down as a disappointing tenure for Guerrero, who signed a four-year, $28MM contract with the Dodgers back in 2013 on the heels of some impressive numbers in Cuba. Playing for los Lenadores de las Tunas, Guerrero compiled a lifetime .303/.386/.528 batting line across 2257 plate appearances in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He’s delivered similarly impressive numbers in his brief minor league career, most notably slashing .323/.357/.598 in 266 PAs at the Triple-A level.

However, the 29-year-old Guerrero has struggled with big league pitching, hitting just .224/.251/.414 in 243 PAs, and he’s had even greater struggles on the defensive end of the game. Guerrero was primarily a shortstop while playing in Cuba, though he did see a couple hundred innings at second base as well. Even at the time of his signing, there was doubt as to whether he’d be able to handle shortstop in the Majors, and the Dodgers only gave him 47 innings at the position in the minors. He never saw action at shortstop in the Majors, spending the entirety of his time at third base and in left field while drawing mostly negative marks in the eyes of defensive metrics.

Guerrero didn’t see much in the way of regular at-bats with the Dodgers, and his time in the minors was even slowed somewhat by a bizarre incident in which teammate Miguel Olivo bit off a portion of his ear in a dugout altercation. A left knee injury prevented him from taking the field for the majority of the 2016 season, and he batted just .136/.162/.197 in 68 PAs during a recent minor league rehab assignment.

Guerrero will now be available to any club that wishes to take a chance on his production in Cuba and in Triple-A. The Dodgers are on the hook for the remainder of this season’s $5MM salary and the $5MM salary he’ll take home in 2016 as well, so he’d be available for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.

NL Notes: Taillon, Masterson, Bryant, Phillies, McCarthy

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Jameson Taillon’s much-anticipated Major League debut will come tomorrow, as the Pirates announced earlier today, but GM Neal Huntington implied that the young right-hander’s promotion may be rather short-lived in nature. Via Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link), Huntington said: “This may be a spot start for Jameson. A lot of that decision will be beyond his control.” Taillon has utterly dominated Triple-A Indianapolis this season, posting a 2.04 ERA with a 61-to-6 K/BB ratio in 61 2/3 innings, spanning 10 starts. One has to imagine that innings are a concern for the Pirates when it comes to Taillon, as injuries prevented the former No. 2 overall pick from pitching in both 2014 and 2015.

Here’s the latest from the National League:

  • Right-hander Justin Masterson will take Taillon’s spot on the roster at Indianapolis, tweets the team’s media communications coordinator, Ryan Sheets. Masterson sat down recently with Charlie Wilmoth of MLBTR and SB Nation’s Bucs Dugout to discuss his rehab from shoulder surgery, his decision to sign with the Pirates and the long-term talks he had with Cleveland prior to hitting the open market in the 2014-15 offseason. Masterson acknowledged that his shoulder hasn’t been in great shape for quite some time and implied that it could’ve derailed an agreement in Cleveland even if one had been reached. He also praised the Pirates organization as an appealing landing spot and added that the location of the club’s Triple-A affiliate, in Indianapolis where he makes his home, was alluring as well.
  • Service time considerations played an oft-noted role in the promotional timeline of young Cubs star Kris Bryant, leading to a still-pending grievance. As Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports, though, Bryant calls the matter a thing of the past. While the actual grievance proceeding has yet to reach a hearing, with all involved seemingly waiting for the new CBA to be negotiated, Bryant says it “never even crossed [his] mind” entering the season. “For me it’s just important to continue to go out there and do what I do, so that I can help the team in any way possible in where we’re at today,” Bryant said. “It’s just important for me to not even worry about it right now because it takes away from so much of what we have going this year. And that was last year’s news.”
  • Phillies manager Pete Mackanin says that he’s nearing a resolution of the team’s first-base situation, as Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com reports. It seems quite possible that Tommy Joseph will receive the official designation as the starting first bagger, which is essentially the way things have been trending anyway. That would put Ryan Howard in a tenuous position, though it’s not at all clear whether Philadelphia has any intentions of cutting him loose. The 24-year-old Joseph is off to a nice .311/.313/.590 start over his first 64 MLB plate appearances, while the 36-year-old Howard is mired in a .150/.210/.333 opening to the year. In years past, we’ve talked about the former star slugger as a possible trade chip who might allow the Phillies to save some cash. Now, however, it seems he’ll either finish out the season in a limited role or end up hunting for another team on the open market.
  • Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy will begin a minor league rehab assignment within a week, manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). McCarthy had Tommy John surgery just weeks into the first season of a four-year, $48MM contract with the Dodgers and has been rehabbing since undergoing the operation late last April. A return to health would be a nice boost to a Dodgers rotation that has been ravaged by injuries, though he’ll of course need some time to build up innings in the minors. As for another of the Dodgers’ injured starters, Hyun-jin Ryu, Roberts said the team still doesn’t know when the left-hander will appear in a game at any level. Shoulder problems have sidelined Ryu for much of the past two years.

Dodgers Designate Carl Crawford For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated outfielder Carl Crawford for assignment and recalled catcher/infielder Austin Barnes from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his roster spot, per a team announcement.

Designating Crawford could bring about a significant financial hit for the Dodgers, who will likely have to pay the remaining $35MM on his contract, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter). Crawford, who’s signed through next season, “got caught in the numbers game,” Dodgers vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes told MLB Network Radio (Twitter link). The Dodgers do have a slew of non-Crawford outfield options in Joc Pederson, Trayce Thompson, Scott Van Slyke, Howie Kendrick and Enrique Hernandez – not to mention the injured Yasiel Puig and Andre Ethier – but this is nonetheless quite a fall from grace for such a high-profile player.

As a quality hitter who offered excellent defense and established himself as a terror on the bases, Crawford was a premier all-around player with the Rays over the first several seasons of his career. The four-time All-Star’s success in Tampa Bay led the division-rival Red Sox to sign him to a seven-year, $142MM contract in 2010, but Crawford fared poorly in Boston during parts of two seasons. The Red Sox then shipped him to the Dodgers in 2012 as part of a salary-dumping trade that also featured first baseman Adrian Gonzalez going to Los Angeles. As noted by the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link), Crawford was just two days removed from Tommy John surgery at the time.

Injuries have long been an issue for Crawford, who appeared in just 310 games with LA prior to today’s designation. He began this season on the disabled list with a back issue and returned to appear in 30 games, during which he hit a terrible .185/.230/.235 in 87 plate appearances. To Crawford’s credit, he was a solid piece for the Dodgers from 2013-15 – slashing .286/.328/.414 with 18 home runs and 48 steals in 1,032 trips to the plate – but LA has now deemed the soon-to-be 35-year-old expendable.

Crawford, a career .290/.330/.435 hitter who has swatted 136 homers and stolen 480 bases, could catch on elsewhere at a cheap cost after he clears waivers (assuming no one claims him, of course). The Dodgers would have to pick up the remainder of his salary.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/6/16

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Here are the day’s most notable moves from around the game, all coming courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, unless otherwise noted…

  • The Nationals brought back infielder Steve Lombardozzi on a minors deal, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson reports. Lombardozzi, 27, saw minimal playing time in each of the last two years at the major league level after playing a significant role in D.C. during his 2011-13 stint. After failing to find a suitable opportunity over the winter, Lombardozzi joined the independent league Southern Maryland Blue Crabs to start 2016. He was off to a .367/.401/.428 start with eight steals before the Nats came calling.
  • Righty Nick Tepesch has joined the Dodgers on a minor league deal and will take the ball tonight at Triple-A, as Oklahoma City Dodgers broadcaster Alex Freeman tweets. Interestingly, he’s squaring off against his recent teammates at the Rangers’ top affiliate. The 27-year-old recorded over 200 frames for the Rangers over 2013-14, posting a 4.66 ERA with 5.4 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9, but missed all of 2015 and eventually underwent thoracic outlet surgery. After returning for 11 starts at the Triple-A level this year, where he tallied a 4.11 ERA, Tepesch opted out of his minor league deal with Texas.
  • Outfielder Jake Goebbert has been outrighted to Triple-A Durham by the Rays after being designated for assignment. The 28-year-old entered the season as an accomplished Triple-A hitter, but he’s struggled mightily with Durham this season, hitting just .183/.288/.275. Even with his career numbers at Triple-A weighed down by his 2016 performance, Goebbert is a lifetime .271/.375/.444 hitter at that level. The Pirates saw enough in him to give him a big league deal this winter, but he didn’t make it through Spring Training and was ultimately claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay after being designated for assignment. He’ll look to get back to his productive ways now that he’s been removed from the 40-man roster and hope to factor into Tampa Bay’s big league plans later in the year.
  • The White Sox outrighted outfielder Daniel Fields off their 40-man roster over the weekend, and the 25-year-old was released shortly thereafter (presumably upon refusing the assignment, as was his right having been previously outrighted). Fields is a career .281/.359/.423 hitter in in 672 plate appearances at the Double-A level, but he’s struggled to a .223/.312/.345 line in 957 PAs at the Triple-A level. The former sixth-round pick (2009) had spent his entire career in the Tigers organization prior to this season.
  • The White Sox also picked up veteran catcher Brett Hayes in a trade that sent cash considerations to the Diamondbacks. The 32-year-old Hayes tallied 32 plate appearances with Cleveland last season and has appeared in parts of each of the past seven Major League seasons, splitting his time between the Marlins, Royals and Indians. He’s a career .205/.250/.359 hitter at the big league level and a .239/.279/.387 hitter in nearly 1200 PAs at the Triple-A level.
  • The Cardinals have signed right-hander Daniel Bard to a minor league deal after he was released by the division-rival Pirates. St. Louis will become the latest organization to attempt to revitalize Bard’s once dominant right arm in the hope that he can resurface as a quality bullpen piece. Bard, a former first-round pick, was a strong setup piece for the Red Sox from 2009-11 (specifically in 2010) but struggled terribly in 2012 and had a cataclysmic decline in the years to follow, as he lost the ability to throw the ball over the plate entirely. His last stint in affiliated ball came with the Rangers’ Class-A affiliate in 2014 when he faced just 18 men and walked nine of them in addition to hitting another seven.
  • Right-hander Felipe Paulino, who was granted his release from the Indians in order to pursue a deal in Japan late last month, has signed a deal with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, his agents at Octagon tweeted last week. The 32-year-old Paulino, a veteran of six Major League seasons, was pitching quite well for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate, having logged a 2.77 ERA in 10 relief appearances. He’s worked as a starter for the vast majority of his career and has displayed an ability to miss bats at the big league level but has nonetheless struggled to a 5.22 ERA in 403 2/3 big league frames. This will be Paulino’s first stint in NPB, but as we often see, players that have struggled to thrive in the Majors can still make an excellent living pitching in Asia.

NL West Notes: Shields, Padres, Parra, Thompson, Crawford

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Here’s the latest from around the NL West…

  • The Padres’ trade of James Shields puts an end to the “spending spree” chapter of A.J. Preller’s tenure as San Diego’s GM, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal observes, and it seemed like the club was eager to put this era behind it.  “How exactly did the Padres make the White Sox hurt” in the trade, Rosenthal asks, noting that the Friars didn’t receive a significant player return in exchange for the veteran righty and they’ll still be paying the majority of Shields’ remaining contract.  In a general overview of San Diego’s situation, Rosenthal notes that the franchise is relying on a big influx of prospects in both the draft and the next international market to help make up for all of the young talent lost in the Padres’ flurry of moves during the 2014-15 offseason.
  • Gerardo Parra has yet to take off at the plate since joining the Rockies, though he tells MLB.com’s Thomas Harding that he feels it’s only a matter of time before he becomes more consistent at the plate.  Parra entered Sunday hitting .269/.281/.429 over 218 PA, with a 1.8% walk rate that is far below even his modest 6.1% career mark.  Parra has struggled badly (.681 OPS) against right-handed pitching and away from Coors Field.  Between his bat and lackluster defensive metrics, Parra has been a sub-replacement level (-0.4 fWAR) player for Colorado in the first year of a three-year, $27.5MM free agent contract.
  • Trayce Thompson is having a breakout season for the Dodgers and become a part of the club’s growing young core, ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla writes.  Thompson’s emergence played a big role in L.A. designating Carl Crawford for assignment earlier today.  “[Crawford has] had a great run and where we’re at right now, and where this organization wants to go, you have a lot of young guys coming,” manager Dave Roberts said.
  • In other NL West news from today, Hunter Pence’s date for hamstring surgery was set for Thursday and we collected some Diamondbacks notes.

International Notes: Nova, Astros, Lazarito, Fernandez

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With the 2016-17 international signing period set to open on July 2nd, here’s the latest on some players who may be lined up for big contracts next month, as well as info on players who aren’t subject to the international bonus pools…

  • The Astros are now seen the most likely landing spot for Dominican shortstop Freudis Nova, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports, with the 16-year-old in line for a bonus of around $1.5MM.  Nova had been expected to sign with the Marlins for a bonus in the neighborhood of $2.5MM, but Miami backed away from that arrangement after Nova tested positive for steroids in February.  One scout tells Badler that Nova has five-tool potential, and a fuller scouting report is available to those with a Baseball America subscription.  The highly-touted Nova may be the best international talent Houston lands in the coming signing period, which is saying something given that the Astros are expected to load up on international talent and far exceed their signing pool.
  • Badler lists some other international prospects expected to sign with the Astros, noting that Venezuelan catcher Yorbin Ceuta is also expected to receive a bonus in excess of $1MM.
  • Outfielder Lazaro “Lazarito” Armenteros and second baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez will take part in a showcase of Cuban talent to be held on June 13, Ben Badler tweets.  This is two days before the close of the 2015-16 international signing period, and as Badler noted two weeks ago, time is running out for the Dodgers (and other clubs facing a $300K spending ceiling in the next signing period) to sign Armenteros while they still can  Fernandez, of course, can sign at any time for any amount since he is exempt from the pools.
  • Cuban righty Vladimir Gutierrez took part in a private workout for Dodgers officials yesterday, Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray reports.  The Dodgers have long been rumored to be interested in Gutierrez, though since he is pool-eligible, the June 15 deadline looms large for L.A. given the number of other teams who have been linked to Gutierrez.  That said, Gutierrez has also been a free agent for almost a full year and has yet to sign a contract.
  • Roland Bolanos, a 19-year-old righty from Cuba, has been declared a free agent and can sign with any team, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter link).  Bolanos is a former member of Cuba’s junior national team, and he has a four-pitch arsenal that includes a mid-90’s fastball.
  • Earlier this week, Badler compiled a list of the 50 largest international signing bonuses of all time.  (Cuban players weren’t included on the list given the county’s unique situation.)  The Giants’ $6MM bonus to Lucius Fox last summer tops the list, with the Rangers’ $4.95MM bonus to Nomar Mazara in 2011 the next-highest.  As Badler observes, relatively few of the 50 names have made an impact in the bigs since expensive bonuses are a most recent trend, though there are some very notable names (Miguel Cabrera, Byung-Hyun Kim, Miguel Sano and Mazara himself).

Cafardo’s Latest: RPs, Bautista, Teheran, Shields, Ausmus

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This summer’s trade market will favor relief pitchers, not starters, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. While the pool of starters who are expected to be available looks shallow and largely unappealing, the opposite is true in regards to bullpen options. Cafardo points to Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Arodys Vizcaino, Jeremy Jeffress, Jeanmar Gomez, Sean Doolittle and Will Smith, among many others, as relievers who could be on the move in the next couple months.

Here’s more from Cafardo:

  • The 30-27 Blue Jays are in the thick of the playoff race, but if they fall out of it, right fielder Jose Bautista and first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion (both pending free agents) are prime trade candidates. The Cardinals, Cubs and Hunter Pence-less Giants would all have interest in Bautista, according to Cafardo.
  • The Red Sox and Braves would match up well in a potential trade involving right-hander Julio Teheran, per Cafardo, who notes that Boston’s package would have to be headlined by outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi, infield prospect Yoan Moncada, third baseman Travis Shaw or catcher/left fielder Blake Swihart. Of that group, the Red Sox would prefer to give up Swihart, though Cafardo doubts he alone would be enough of a return for Teheran.
  • Before the Padres traded righty James Shields to the White Sox on Saturday, the Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Dodgers expressed interest in acquiring the 34-year-old. Shields’ final start with the Padres – in which he allowed 10 earned runs, eight hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings on Tuesday – served as a deterrent to some clubs, though, reports Cafardo.
  • The 27-28 Tigers aren’t considering replacing third-year manager Brad Ausmus as of now, relays Cafardo. However, given that he’s in a contract year, Ausmus could be managing for his job.
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