NL West Notes: Shields, Padres, Parra, Thompson, Crawford
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
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
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.
NL Notes: Padres, D-backs, Dodgers, Nats
Padres general manager A.J. Preller told reporters – including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com – that four to five clubs called him with interest in right-hander James Shields, whom San Diego ended up trading to the White Sox on Saturday. With the Shields trade out of the way, Preller doesn’t expect to do much else until things heat up around the trade deadline, he added.
More from San Diego and a few other NL cities:
- There’s a “pretty good possibility” righty Erik Johnson, one of the two players the Padres received for Shields, will slot into their rotation as Shields’ long-term replacement, manager Andy Green said (Twitter link via Cassavell). For now, the Padres have optioned Johnson to Triple-A El Paso, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (on Twitter).
- Diamondbacks chief baseball officer Tony La Russa told Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports that the club has “no regrets” about the widely panned offseason trade that sent Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair to Atlanta for righty Shelby Miller. Nevertheless, La Russa believes that Swanson – the top pick in last year’s draft – “will be a star” in the majors.
- Injured Dodgers starters Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy are unlikely to make it back before the All-Star break, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter links here). Ryu, who had a setback last week with his surgically repaired left shoulder, will need to make at least four rehab starts before he can return to the majors. He has to resume throwing first, however. McCarthy also isn’t ready to begin a rehab assignment. In the meantime, the 2015 Tommy John recipient will throw a three-inning, 60-pitch sim game at some point in the coming days.
- Right-hander Bronson Arroyo is recovering well from partial tears in his rotator cuff tendons and hopes to pitch for the Nationals this season, Bill Ladson of MLB.com relays. Arroyo, whose injury forced him to use a sidearm delivery in early May, is now healthy enough to throw from a three-quarter arm slot, Ladson writes. “I guess my shoulder has turned the corner,” Arroyo told Ladson. “Now, the shoulder feels pretty good. It’s little less pressure throwing sidearm, but it has been OK throwing over the top. “ The 39-year-old, who hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2014, has been pitching intrasquad games at the Nationals’ spring training complex in Florida. He’s likely to make five more starts there before the team reevaluates him July 1. If all goes well, Arroyo could then begin a rehab assignment and perhaps join the Nationals down the stretch. Arroyo has started in the vast majority of his major league appearances (369 of 405), but he told Ladson he’d be willing to work out of the Nats’ bullpen.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/4/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The Dodgers have outrighted James Ramsey to Triple-A Oklahoma after he cleared waivers, per a club announcement. Los Angeles designated the outfielder for assignment a week ago. The 26-year-old has slashed just .222/.285/.429 with five home runs in 138 minor league plate appearances this season.
- Mets right-hander Jeff Walters cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas, the team announced. New York designated Walters for assignment earlier this week to make room for James Loney. Walters, 28, has a 9.27 ERA in 22 1/3 innings with Las Vegas this season.
- Right-hander Nick Tepesch has requested and been granted his release from his minor league contract with the Rangers, according to the team’s executive vice president of communications, John Blake (Twitter link). Tepesch appeared in 42 games — 39 of them starts — for the Rangers from 2013-14, logging a 4.56 ERA with 5.4 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 219 innings. The 27-year-old missed the 2015 season and underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in August.
- The White Sox have signed free agent catcher Janigson Villalobos to a minor league contract, the team announced. Villalobos, 19, is a native of Venezuela.
Earlier updates:
- The Angels have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Deolis Guerra and placed fellow righty Nick Tropeano on the 15-day DL with right shoulder tightness. Guerra has been a fixture on the transactions lists recently — the Angels designated him for assignment and then outrighted him just this week. He’s allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings in the big leagues this season. As for Tropeano, the Angels scratched him yesterday from his start today. Jhoulys Chacin will start in his place.
- The Dodgers have released lefty reliever Joe Thatcher, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Thatcher had previously exercised an opt-out clause in his minor-league deal, opening a brief window in which the Dodgers could add him to their active roster or let him go, and it appears they’ve chosen the latter option. The 34-year-old pitched reasonably well with the Astros last season and had a 3.60 ERA, 12.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 15 innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City this year.
- The White Sox have announced that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jason Coats from Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll take the 25-man roster spot of righty Tommy Kahnle, who was optioned last night; Kahnle himself had briefly taken the spot of corner outfielder Melky Cabrera, who was placed on the family emergency leave list yesterday. The 26-year-old Coats looked like a fringe prospect heading into the 2016 season, but he’s had a breakout year at Charlotte, batting .335/.399/.567 with 22 extra-base hits. He’s starting in left field and batting seventh for the Sox today against the Tigers.
- The Pirates announced a variety of moves related to their bullpen — they’ve selected the contract of righty Curtis Partch, recalled lefty Cory Luebke from Triple-A Indianapolis, optioned righties Wilfredo Boscan and Rob Scahill to Indianapolis, and moved righty Ryan Vogelsong (facial fractures) to the 60-day DL. The moves provide the Bucs with fresh relief options after Boscan and Scahill each pitched multiple innings last night. The hard-throwing Partch last pitched in the big leagues in 2014 with the Reds. He’s gotten great results so far this season for Indianapolis, with a 1.30 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 27 2/3 innings.
- Utilityman Emmanuel Burriss has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies have announced. The Phillies designated Burriss for assignment on Wednesday after he struggled in brief duty in the big leagues this season.
Dodgers Place Yasiel Puig On 15-Day DL
The Dodgers have placed outfielder Yasiel Puig on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain, per a team announcement (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). Scott Van Slyke has returned from his own DL stint to join the club in Puig’s stead.
It has been a trying year for the 25-year-old. Hopes were that he’d return to the stellar play he showed over 2013-14, but Puig has fallen shy even of the reduced version of himself that was on display last season.
Over his first 198 plate appearances, he’s compiled a meager .237/.283/.360 batting line with a handful of home runs and four steals. On the positive side, defensive metrics have been quite high on his work in right field, representing a turnaround in that regard.
It doesn’t appear that the injury is a serious one, as the club waited until the last minute to decide on the DL placement. But this is hardly the first time that Puig has been felled by this particular injury, increasing the level of concern. If there’s a silver lining, it could be that Puig may end up with a chance at a rehab stint to sort out some of his issues at the plate.
Los Angeles does not figure to go looking outside the organization for help — unless, perhaps, it turns into a much longer absence than is expected. The team already cut loose Alex Guerrero recently because of its stock of outfielders, and the return of Van Slyke further bolsters a deep unit.
Opt-Outs: Joe Thatcher, Hak-Ju Lee
June 1 serves as a common date for opt-out clauses in minor league contracts, and as such, there figure to be a few players on the verge of free agency. It’s already been reported that Travis Snider won’t opt out of his deal with the Royals, and we’ll keep track of the rest of the day’s opt-out decisions in this post…
- Veteran lefty Joe Thatcher has exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Dodgers, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The Dodgers have until Saturday to add him to the big league roster or he’ll be a free agent. Thatcher, 34, spent the 2015 season with the Astros and totaled 22 2/3 innings of 3.18 ERA ball with a 26-to-12 K/BB ratio. Thatcher didn’t display his typical excellence against lefties, yielding a .241/.362/.321 batting line to same-handed opponents, but he’s an overall line of .232/.298/.348 to lefty batters in his big league career. He has a 3.86 ERA with a 20-to-5 K/BB ratio in 14 innings at the Triple-A level thus far in 2016 and could get a look elsewhere as a situational lefty if the Dodgers elect not to add him to the big league bullpen.
- Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee has also exercised a June 1 opt-out in his minors deal with the Giants, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). Lee, a former Top 100 prospect with the Cubs and Rays, is hitting .263/.343/.378 with three homers and four steals in 45 games/178 plate appearances with Triple-A Sacramento this season. San Francisco has 72 hours to add him to the active roster. The 25-year-old has played shortstop almost exclusively throughout his career but has logged a pair of games at third base this season. Lee’s career was slowed by a collision at second base in 2013 that left him with multiple torn ligaments in his left knee, and he hasn’t topped 100 games in a season since 2012 (though he’s healthy and on pace to do so in 2016). Baseball America wrote prior to the 2015 season that Lee possessed above-average range, a plus throwing arm and soft hands at shortstop.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/1/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Just 24 hours after sending Brendan Ryan outright to Triple-A, the Angels have once again selected his contract, the club announced today. The team selected the contract of Javy Guerra, another recently outrighted veteran, from Salt Lake as well. Pennington and left-hander Chris Jones hit the disabled list today, creating an opening in the infield and in the bullpen. Ryan, of course, didn’t even have time to get a game in at Triple-A following his outright, but Guerra rattled off five innings of dominant relief following his recent outright. In that time, he yielded just one hit and struck out seven hitters without issuing a walk.
Earlier Moves
- The Angels outrighted infielder Brendan Ryan to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, the club has announced yesterday. Ryan, 34, got into 11 games with the Halos, failing to reach base and recording six whiffs in a dozen plate appearances. Of course, he’s never done much damage with the bat: over ten seasons in the majors, Ryan owns only a .233/.293/.314 batting line. But the veteran has always been valued highly for his glovework, and he could have a new opportunity before long, as Cliff Pennington seems likely to return to the DL.
- Righty Gus Schlosser is headed to the Dodgers on a minor league deal, as Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com reports. Schlosser dominated the Atlantic League this year with the Somerset Patriots, earning him a return to the affiliated ranks. The 27-year-old cracked the majors in 2014 with the Braves, allowing 7.64 earned per nine over 17 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and six walks. He spent last year at the Double-A level in the Rockies organization.
Alex Wood Has Elbow Impingement, Won’t Throw For Four Weeks
The Dodgers announced tonight that an MRI on the left arm of starter Alex Wood has revealed a posterior elbow impingement, which will require four weeks of rest (Twitter link). Per their announcement, he’ll be reevaluated at that time. With a layoff of nearly a month from throwing, Wood seems like a lock to require a minor league rehab assignment before returning, so an absence of at least six weeks (through the All-Star break) seems like a reasonable floor, and the potential for him to miss more time than that certainly exists.
Wood, 25, had rounded into form after a slow start with the Dodgers to open the year. Over his past six outings, a span of 35 1/3 innings, he’d worked to a 2.80 ERA with a scintillating 50-to-8 K/BB ratio and a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate. Wood’s unorthodox delivery has led some to tab him as an injury risk in the past, though this is the first time he’s landed on the Major League disabled list with an arm injury (or with any injury, for that matter). Last season, he totaled 189 2/3 of 3.84 ERA ball between the Braves and Dodgers, who acquired him from Atlanta in the much-maligned Hector Olivera trade.
The Dodgers had already placed Wood on the disabled list and brought Julio Urias back from Triple-A prior to the MRI, and it’ll be Urias who starts in Wood’s place for tomorrow’s matchup against the Cubs. Wood joins left-handers Brett Anderson and Hyun-jin Ryu as well as right-handers Brandon McCarthy and Frankie Montas as injured rotation options on the Dodgers’ disabled list. With him on the shelf, Los Angeles will lean on Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda, Mike Bolsinger and, presumably, Urias in the rotation for the foreseeable future. Other alternatives at the Triple-A level include Ross Stripling, Carlos Frias and Zach Lee.
The Dodgers’ rotation entered play today with the third-best ERA of any team in the Majors, though that mark is skewed to some extent by Kershaw’s dominance. As a collective unit they’ve posted a strong 3.41 ERA, but non-Kershaw starters have provided skipper Dave Roberts and his staff with a more pedestrian 4.14 ERA. The Dodgers clearly have a number of starters that could return from the disabled list to bolster the middle and back-end of the rotation, though given the uncertainties permeating the staff, the top-heavy nature of the rotation and the front office’s active nature, it shouldn’t come as a shock if the Dodgers are connected to potential rotation upgrades on the trade market this summer.
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.