Marlins Activate Sandy Alcantara From IL
The Marlins have activated right-hander Sandy Alcantara from the injured list, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Fellow right-hander Jesús Tinoco has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Alcantara hit the IL for undisclosed reasons amidst Miami’s COVID-19 clubhouse outbreak. The hard-throwing sinkerballer, an All-Star in 2019, has been limited to just one start this season. He’ll start this afternoon’s game against Tampa Bay.
Tinoco, a 25-year-old reliever, has pitched five scoreless innings for Miami this season, albeit with three strikeouts and walks apiece. He has a career 4.17 ERA/7.40 FIP in 41 innings with the Rockies and Marlins over the past two seasons.
Marlins Announce Several Roster Moves
The Marlins have made a series of roster moves this afternoon, announcing via Twitter that they’ve activated three players—pitchers Robert Dugger and Alex Vesia, along with catcher Chad Wallach—from the injured list. Meanwhile, right-hander Humberto Mejia was optioned to the team’s alternate training site, while RHP Brett Eibner, catcher Brian Navarreto, and LHP Josh D. Smith were designated for assignment.
Eibner, Navarreto, and Smith will no longer occupy a position on the Miami 40-man roster. The Marlins will have a week to either trade, release, or outright assign those three players.
Eibner, a former outfielder, has made the transition to pitcher, making his first two big league appearances with the Marlins, though they didn’t play out as hoped, with Eibner surrendering three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings of work.
Dugger and Vesia will replace Eibner and Smith in the Miami pitching staff, offering one righty and one lefty option. Dugger, Vesia, and Wallach were all placed on the injured list for undisclosed reasons.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/28/20
Friday’s minor moves…
- The Marlins announced that they’ve sent infielder Logan Forsythe to the 60-day injured list with a right oblique strain. That should wrap up the 2020 season for Forsythe, whom the Marlins signed July 29. He made his Marlins debut Aug. 4 and went on to hit a miserable .118/.211/.235 with one HR in 35 plate appearances before going on the IL. Overall, it has been a rough few years for Forsythe, a once-valuable member of the Rays who has combined for minus-0.3 fWAR since the beginning of the 2018 campaign.
- The Angels outrighted Michael Hermosillo to their alternate training site after he cleared waivers, the team announced. Hermosillo, whom the Angels designated for assignment last Sunday, has slashed a paltry .188/.288/.287 with one home run 118 plate appearances with the Angels since 2018. The 25-year-old outfielder has been far better at the Triple-A level, where he has batted .261/.344/.478 with 32 homers over 748 trips to the plate.
Nationals Add Sterling Sharp, Jeremy De La Rosa To Player Pool
9:45am: The Nats are adding Sharp and outfield prospect Jeremy De La Rosa to their 60-man player pool, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports (via Twitter). Both will head to the team’s alternate training site in Fredricksburg. De La Rosa, 18, ranks 15th among Nats farmhands at MLB.com and at FanGraphs. He’ll be able to get some developmental reps with the club’s staff now, although being added to the 60-man pool also makes him eligible to be directly included in a trade to another club (as opposed to being shipped off as a PTBNL).
8:50am: The Marlins have returned right-hander Sterling Sharp, their pick in last year’s Rule 5 Draft, to the Nationals, per a team announcement from the Nats. Miami designated Sharp for assignment earlier this week, and the fact that he was returned indicates he went unclaimed on outright waivers.
Sharp, 25, appeared in four games with the Fish but struggled in his final two outings. Overall, he was tagged for seven runs (six earned) on seven hits, five walks and a hit batter with three strikeouts in 5 1/3 frames. Sharp’s heavy sinker helped him keep the ball on the ground at a 65 percent clip in his brief time with the Marlins. However, the Marlins were forced to make a broad-reaching series of moves in the wake of their team-wide Covid-19 outbreak, one of which was to designate Sharp for assignment. It’s eminently possible that this outcome would’ve occurred eventually anyhow, particularly in light of his struggles.
Regardless, Sharp now returns to the Nats and gives them a relatively near-term option for their pitching staff. He’s not on the 40-man roster but could emerge as a candidate for a big league call up before long. Sharp logged 49 2/3 frames in Double-A last year, pitching to a 3.99 ERA and 2.59 FIP with 8.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.18 HR/9 and a whopping 63.3 percent ground-ball rate.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/25/20
Checking in on the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Deolis Guerra. The 31-year-old righty had been in limbo since the Phillies designated him for assignment last Saturday. Guerra threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, two walks and eight strikeouts from Philly’s bullpen this season before the club booted him from its roster. In all, Guerra has combined for 103 major league frames with a few teams and put up a 4.81 ERA/4.78 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.
Earlier:
- The Giants have added first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to their 60-man player pool, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Shaw was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 31) who spent the subsequent few seasons as one of the Giants’ top prospects, but the 26-year-old hasn’t made a mark in the big leagues yet. Across 82 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, Shaw has batted .153/.244/.222 with one home run. But Shaw did enjoy a productive 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for a .294/.360/.559 line and 28 homers in 492 trips to the plate.
- The Marlins have outrighted catcher Ryan Lavarnway to their alternate site, per a team announcement. Lavarnway got off to a 4-for-11 start at the plate this year, but the Marlins designated him for assignment last week to make room for the return of starting backstop Jorge Alfaro from the injured list. The 33-year-old Lavarnway has now seen regular-season action with seven teams since his career began in 2011.
- The Brewers announced that left-hander Aaron Ashby is now part of their player pool. Ashby, a 2018 fourth-rounder, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 126 innings between Single-A and High-A last season. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks Ashby as the fifth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, writing that the 22-year-old has “nasty” stuff that could work out of the team’s rotation or bullpen down the line.
- The Rays have outrighted southpaw Sean Gilmartin, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. This is the second time this year the Rays have outrighted Gilmartin, who will head back to their alternate site. He has thrown 4 1/3 innings of four-earned run ball this season with seven hits and four walks (five strikeouts).
Marlins Designate Sterling Sharp For Assignment
The Marlins made a series of roster moves Monday, beginning with the announcement that right-hander Sterling Sharp has been designated for assignment. Miami also reinstated infielder Eddy Alvarez from the paternity list and optioned him to the alternate training site. Lefty Stephen Tarpley, meanwhile, has been placed on the 10-day IL due to an oblique strain, while fellow southpaw Brandon Leibrandt was optioned to the alternate site.
Up from the alternate site in place of Sharp, Tarpley and Leibrant are first baseman Lewin Diaz and right-handers Jorge Guzman and Jesus Tinoco.
Sharp, 25, joined the Marlins via the NL East-rival Nationals as a Rule 5 pick over the winter. He went on to throw 5 1/3 innings with the Marlins this year before they booted him from their roster, but Sharp struggled mightily along the way. The soft-tossing Sharp made four appearances out of Miami’s bullpen and yielded seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and five walks, striking out just three in the process. Sharp will now head to the waiver wire, and if nobody claims him there, the Marlins will have to offer him back to the Nats.
Mets To Resume Play On Tuesday
10:47am: Major League Baseball announced, via press release, that the Mets will host the Marlins for a doubleheader tomorrow, which will make up for last Thursday’s postponement. The upcoming weekend Subway Series against the Yankees will indeed include doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday, as Sherman previously reported.
8:10am: The Mets have not had any further positive Covid-19 tests since a player and coach tested positive last Thursday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (via Twitter). The team is expected to resume play Tuesday with a three-game series against the visiting Marlins.
Last week’s series finale against the same Marlins club was postponed due to the initial tests, so it’s possible there will now be a doubleheader baked into this upcoming three-game set in order to make up for that lost contest.
This past weekend’s scheduled Subway Series against the Yankees was also wiped out, although the two sides should be able to make up those three games, assuming continued negative tests. The Mets are slated to play a three-game series in the Bronx beginning Friday. Sherman further tweets that the current plan is for the Yankees and Mets to play doubleheaders both Friday and Sunday this coming weekend, with an additional makeup game set to fall on Sept. 3, when both clubs had an off-day scheduled.
Marlins Select Brian Navarreto
10:52 am: The move is official, per Andre Fernandez of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Right-hander Jesús Tinoco has been optioned out as well following yesterday’s 29-man doubleheader roster.
10:41 am: Catcher Brian Navarreto will be activated to the Marlins’ roster, president of baseball operations Michael Hill told reporters, including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Miami placed Francisco Cervelli on the seven-day injured list last night after he sustained a concussion.
A former sixth-round pick of the Twins, Navarreto is in line to make his MLB debut following seven minor-league seasons. In that time, he’s compiled a lackluster .214/.268/.307 line up through Double-A, so he won’t be expected to offer much with the bat. Nevertheless, he’s on hand as necessary catching depth for a club that’s currently without Cervelli and Chad Wallach due to injury.
Fortunately, starter Jorge Alfaro returned from his own IL stint earlier this week and figures to log most of the playing time. Fellow backstop Ryan Lavarnway was designated for assignment to open roster space for Alfaro. He remains in DFA limbo at the moment, but Miami would like to bring him back if he clears waivers, notes Craig Mish of Sportsgrid (Twitter link).
Marlins To Place Francisco Cervelli On 7-Day Concussion IL
The Marlins announced that catcher Francisco Cervelli will be placed on the seven-day concussion protocol injured list. A corresponding move will be made prior to tomorrow’s game. Cervelli started for Miami tonight in the second game of its doubleheader with the Nationals, though Cervelli was replaced by Jorge Alfaro prior to the start of the third inning.
While no concussion news is good, tonight’s news is particularly troubling due to Cervelli’s long history with such injuries. This is at least the seventh concussion Cervelli has suffered during his career, and it was less than 14 months ago that Cervelli seemed to intimate that he was done with catching, though he rather emphatically walked back that statement a few days later. Even if Cervelli’s symptoms (hopefully) subside quickly this time, one would imagine the Marlins might keep him out of action for longer than the seven-day minimum just to make absolutely sure Cervelli is ready, given all the past concussions on his record.
Cervelli inked a one-year, $2MM deal with Miami last offseason to provide some more experience at catcher, and since Alfaro was only activated from the IL on Friday, Cervelli has been a key player both behind the plate and at the plate. Entering Saturday, Cervelli had a .250/.361/.462 slash line and three home runs over 61 plate appearances.
Should Cervelli miss an extended amount of time, the Marlins don’t have a ton of depth behind Alfardo. Chad Wallach is also on the IL, while four other catchers in Miami’s player pool (Will Banfield, Santiago Chavez, Julian Leon, and Brian Navarreto) don’t have any Major League experience.
Latest On Mets’ COVID-19 Testing
TODAY: According to a press release from the team, all Mets players and personnel who returned to New York from Miami have registered negatives on tests taken both Thursday and Friday. “Test results of close contacts for those that remained in Miami also came back negative,” the statement said.
AUGUST 20, 6:52pm: A Mets position player and a coach tested positive, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.
5:08pm: Most Mets will fly out of Miami tonight, Andy Martino of SNY first reported. Only the two members of the organization who tested positive and those who aren’t delayed by contact tracing will stay behind. The belief is that the Mets did not violate protocols on the road, per Martino.
4:07pm: A Mets player and a staff member have tested positive for the coronavirus, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Tim Healey of Newsday. As a result, their road game against the Marlins tonight has been postponed, as has their matchup against the Yankees on Friday.
This is the latest COVID-related setback in a season chock-full of them for Major League Baseball, which has seen numerous games postponed as a result of the illness. The Marlins and Cardinals have been hit especially hard so far, and the league has tightened up its protocols of late in an effort to prevent outbreaks and make sure each team completes its 60-game regular-season schedule.
For now, it’s unknown how Thursday’s development will affect these three teams’ schedules. Thursday was supposed to be the last Mets-Marlins game in Miami this year, but they’ll have to make it up at a later date. The Mets are slated to host the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday, so there could be a doubleheader on one of those days. However, the Mets will have to receive clearance to return to the field first.