Draft Signings: 7/18/21
Here’s the roundup of some of the latest prominent signings from this year’s draft class. For more on the 2021 draft, check out the prospect rankings and scouting reports compiled by Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, here is MLB Pipeline’s breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.
- The Diamondbacks signed second-round pick Ryan Bliss for a $1.25MM bonus, Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reports (Twitter link). This represents some noteworthy savings for Arizona’s draft pool, as the 42nd overall pick has an assigned slot price of $1,771,100. A shortstop from Auburn, Bliss might move to second base in the pros, and he displayed a lot of contact skills at the plate while also flashing some added power potential this year.
- The Yankees signed second-rounder Brendan Beck, with Collazo reporting that a $1.05MM bonus for the Stanford right-hander. It’s another below-slot deal, as $1.307MM is the assigned price for the 56th overall selection. Beck does a good job of mixing a four-pitch arsenal and he already has good command, and Baseball America feels Beck “projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter who has a chance to be more.”
- The Orioles announced the signing of second-rounder Connor Norby on Friday, with The Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli reporting (via Twitter) that Norby received a $1.7MM bonus. The 41st overall selection has a $1,813,500 assigned price, so Norby signed for slightly below slot. Fangraphs and Keith Law each had the East Carolina second baseman ranked 25th on their boards, as Norby received praise for his well-rounded approach at the plate.
Darren O’Day’s Season Likely Over After “Significant” Hamstring Injury
TODAY: O’Day will likely miss the rest of the season, Boone told Newsday’s Erik Boland and other reporters today.
JULY 8: Last night, the Yankees placed reliever Darren O’Day on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Manager Aaron Boone provided an update this morning, telling reporters (including Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media) it appears to be a “significant” injury. O’Day, who suffered the injury during a recent pregame workout, was sent for an MRI.
The news is particularly concerning given the righty’s history. O’Day underwent season-ending surgery to repair a strain in the same hamstring while with the Orioles in 2018. Until the MRI results come back, it won’t be known whether he’ll require a similar procedure this time around, but it unfortunately seems there’s a possibility he’ll require an extended absence.
It’s the second major injury O’Day has dealt with this season. He suffered a right rotator cuff strain that landed him on the IL in early May and had only just returned last week. That has kept the veteran submariner to 10 2/3 innings of 3.38 ERA ball this season. When healthy, O’Day has generally been highly effective. He was one of the game’s best set-up men for much of his time in Baltimore and pitched to a 1.25 ERA/2.60 FIP across 21 2/3 frames with the Braves between 2019-20.
If the hamstring injury winds up costing O’Day much or all of the remainder of the season, he’ll be faced with a tougher decision this winter. The 38-year-old signed a one-year guarantee with the Yankees in late January that contained a $1.4MM player option ($700K buyout) for 2022. O’Day would’ve been highly likely to decline his end of the deal with a healthy, typical season but a significant injury might change that decision. If O’Day declines his end of the option, the Yankees can trigger a $3.15MM club option to keep the righty in the fold next year.
Yankees Place Tim Locastro On Injured List, Select Ryan LaMarre
The Yankees announced they’ve placed outfielder Tim Locastro on the 10-day injured list and selected the contract of fellow outfielder Ryan LaMarre.
The Locastro move isn’t a surprise, as he unfortunately tore his ACL last night, just a few weeks after coming over to the Bronx in a trade with the Diamondbacks. It was hoped that Locastro could shore up an outfield that had already been beset by injuries to Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier. Sadly for both Locastro and the team, that will not be the case, as the injury will keep him out for the remainder of the season.
As for LaMarre, this is yet another swing in an up-and-down year with the club. His contract was selected back in May, though he wound up on the IL a few days later with a hamstring strain. In three games at the big league level, he couldn’t muster a hit in eight plate appearances.
After recuperating from the injury, he was then outrighted off the roster in June. At Triple-A this year, he has slashed a healthy .310/.403/.483, good enough for a wRC+ of 140. He will provide some depth behind an already-weakened outfield, competing for playing time with Brett Gardner, Greg Allen, Trey Amburgey, Tyler Wade and Hoy Jun Park.
A corresponding move will not be needed to create room on the 40-man for LaMarre because players on the COVID IL do not take up a roster spot. The Yankees’ recent outbreak of the virus led to six players being placed on the COVID IL, creating ample roster space.
Yankees’ Tim Locastro Suffers Torn ACL
Tim Locastro‘s season is over after the Yankees outfielder suffered a torn ACL in tonight’s 3-1 win over the Red Sox. Yankees manager Aaron Boone informed reporters of Locastro’s injury following the game. In the first inning, Locastro made a running catch into the left field wall in foul ground to snag an Alex Verdugo fly ball, though he came up limping after the play was done. Locastro stayed in the game for the inning’s final two outs, but was replaced in left field at the start of the second frame.
It’s an awful turn of events for Locastro, who was playing in just his ninth game with the Yankees (a home state team for the Syracuse native) since being dealt from the Diamondbacks on July 1. The Yankees acquired Locastro to provide some outfield depth in the wake of injuries to Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier, but with Locastro now also heading to the injured list, the team will be further shorthanded. New York is already missing several players due to both injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak, so another dip into the farm system will be required in the short term, and some reinforcements are even more necessary as the trade deadline approaches.
In the bigger picture, an ACL tear is particularly damaging for a player who relies on elite speed as his signature weapon. Locastro hasn’t hit much over 503 career PA (in five Major League seasons with the Dodgers, D’Backs, and Yankees), but he earned a spot in the MLB record books earlier this season by becoming the first player in history to go a perfect 29-for-29 on the first 29 stolen base attempts of his career. The streak finally ended when Locastro was caught stealing in a game against the Nationals on April 17, and in fact Locastro has been caught stealing in three of eight attempts this season.
Injury Updates: Betts, Castellanos, Kluber
Mookie Betts left tonight’s game due to right hip irritation, according to the Dodgers. After hitting a double in the seventh inning, Betts came up limping, and the injury looked to have occurred while he was rounding first base. The hip problem ruined what had been a banner night for Betts, as that was his third double as part of a 4-for-4 performance.
Betts is now hitting .271/.375/.503 over 373 plate appearances, as he has been red-hot over the last month following something of a slow start (by his standards) to the 2021 season. Betts’ semi-struggles early could have been due to some minor injuries, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters that the hip problem has been one of Betts’ “nagging” issues. Roberts plans to have Betts back in the lineup as early as Monday, when the Dodgers begin a key series with the arch-rival Giants.
More on other injury situations around baseball…
- Reds slugger Nick Castellanos left Friday night’s game after being hit in the right wrist by an Adrian Houser pitch, and Castellanos also wasn’t in tonight’s lineup. X-rays were negative on Castellanos’ wrist, though it seems like he might get at least a day or two off for further examination. Castellanos has been one of baseball’s best hitters this season, batting .330/.384/.583 with 18 home runs over 367 PA, and Cincinnati’s pennant race hopes would be badly stung if Castellanos had to be placed on the IL for any amount of time.
- Corey Kluber might throw a bullpen session this coming Friday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler). A rotator cuff strain sidelined Kluber back on May 26, and while he was initially projected for an eight-week recovery period, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last month that September might be Kluber’s likelier return date. Given the long absence and the fact that Kluber missed almost all of the 2019-20 seasons due to injury, the veteran right-hander is likely to require multiple bullpen sessions and a minor league rehab assignment before he can get back on a big league mound, which could account for Cashman’s extended timeline. That said, it is a good sign that Kluber is beginning to ramp up throwing activities now, so an August return might not be out of the question. Over 53 1/3 innings prior to his rotator cuff strain, Kluber looked good in posting a 3.04 ERA, showing some flashes of his old Cy Young Award-winning form.
Cole Hamels Holds Showcase For Interested Teams
JULY 16: Twenty teams had representatives in attendance at today’s showcase, Heyman reports (Twitter link). The Angels and Cardinals were among the teams to send personnel, per reports from Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com and Katie Woo of the Athletic.
JULY 13, 3:59 pm: The Red Sox will also be in attendance, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI.
JULY 13, 2:51 pm: The Phillies and Mets will have scouts watching Hamels, according to Heyman (Twitter links). The Yankees will also be in attendance, The New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets. As teams will inevitably be revealed as being part of this showcase, it should be noted (as Sherman does) that the Yankees and many clubs send evaluators to these showcases as a normal order of business.
JULY 9: Free agent left-hander Cole Hamels will hold a showcase in front of teams on July 16, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The Dodgers are among the teams who will have personnel in attendance, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
It has been a protracted stay in free agency for Hamels, who hasn’t signed anywhere since the 2020 season concluded. There was never any indication the veteran southpaw planned to sit out for all of 2021, though, and he was reported to be building up a throwing program last month.
Hamels essentially had a lost 2020 season. Signed by the Braves to a one-year, $18MM deal over the 2019-20 offseason, he dealt with shoulder soreness in Spring Training and then began the shortened season on the injured list with a triceps issue. Hamels returned to make one appearance in mid-September before landing back on the IL with a season-ending shoulder problem.
Before 2020, Hamels was a paragon of durability, tossing at least 130 innings in every season between 2006-19. He was also a model of consistency, never posting an ERA higher than 4.32 and allowing fewer than four earned runs per nine innings in eleven of those fourteen campaigns. He was still effective as recently as 2019, when he tossed 141 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball with solid strikeout and walk rates (23.2% and 7.1%, respectively) with the Cubs. Between his track record and the volume of pitcher injuries around the league in 2021, there figures to be plenty of teams in attendance next week to gauge Hamels’ current form.
Yankees Select Three Players, Place Luke Voit On Injured List
The Yankees announced a series of roster moves before this evening’s game against the Red Sox. New York selected the contracts of outfielder Greg Allen, catcher Rob Brantly and infielder Hoy Jun Park (previously reported). As expected, All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge, third baseman Gio Urshela and catcher Kyle Higashioka landed on the COVID-19 injured list. (Manager Aaron Boone implied this afternoon all three players had tested positive for the virus as part of its spread within the Yankees clubhouse).
Additionally, first baseman Luke Voit has been placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to July 13, with left knee inflammation. Fellow first baseman Chris Gittens was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take his active roster spot.
Allen and Brantly each have a decent amount of big league experience, although neither has played in the majors to this point in 2021. Allen, a switch-hitting outfielder, suited up for the Indians and Padres between 2017-20. He’s only managed a tepid .239/.298/.343 line across 618 MLB plate appearances, but he’s an elite runner capable of covering all three outfield spots. The 28-year-old has had a strong season with Scranton, hitting .272/.409/.369 over 128 trips to the dish, drawing 15 walks and rather remarkably reaching base via hit-by-pitch nine times.
Brantly, a lefty-hitting backstop, has appeared in parts of six major league seasons for four different clubs. He appeared in one game with the Giants last year but hasn’t accrued more than 36 MLB plate appearances in any single season since 2013. The 32-year-old has hit a stellar .270/.391/.477 with six homers in 133 plate appearances with the RailRiders this year and will be on hand as Gary Sánchez’s backup while Higashioka is on the shelf.
As part of the 2021 health and safety protocols, players selected to the big league roster as replacements for players landing on the COVID-19 injured list can be removed from the 40-man roster without being exposed to waivers. Thus, each of Allen, Brantly and Park can be taken off the 40-man and returned to Scranton without being offered to other teams upon the returns of Judge, Urshela and Higashioka.
Voit’s IL placement is unrelated to the Yankees’ COVID-19 situation. It’s the third stint of the season for the slugging first baseman, who’s had a disappointing 2021 campaign because of health woes. The diagnosis of left knee inflammation is particularly alarming since Voit began the season on the IL after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in the area. (His second stint was due to an oblique strain). Voit will undergo a lubricating injection and is looking at potential platelet-rich plasma treatment, Boone told reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). The team didn’t provide a timetable for his return, but it seems he could be looking at another significant absence given the skipper’s comments.
That should leave first base to Gittens, who was selected to the roster during Voit’s second IL stint earlier this year. The 27-year-old didn’t perform well over his first 25 MLB plate appearances, but he’s had a downright monstrous season in Triple-A. The right-handed hitting slugger has mashed at a .359/.519/.718 clip across 104 plate appearances with the RailRiders this year.
Latest On Yankees’ COVID-19 Situation
JULY 16: Testing today has turned up zero new positive cases, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). However, Boone added that six Yankees players have been confirmed positive within the past week and are expected to miss at least ten days, suggesting that follow-up testing on Judge, Urshela and Higashioka has confirmed their positive results. Friday’s game against the Red Sox will be played, with yesterday’s postponement to be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 17.
JULY 15, 5:20 pm: Judge is indeed the Yankees All-Star in question, The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham reports (via Twitter). Gio Urshela, and Kyle Higashioka are the other two Yankees in COVID protocol, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets.
JULY 15, 5:05 pm: Rafael Devers and other Red Sox All-Star representatives were asked to undergo additional COVID-19 testing after being told that one of the Yankees’ All-Star reps tested positive, ESPN’s Marly Rivera (Twitter links) reports. This would indicate at least one of Aaron Judge, Aroldis Chapman, or Gerrit Cole — Cole was replaced on the All-Star roster but was still present during festivities.
JULY 15, 3:39 pm: Tonight’s game between the Red Sox and Yankees has been postponed due to a COVID-19 situation within the Yankees’ clubhouse, as originally reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). Major League Baseball released an official announcement about the postponement, noting “positive COVID-19 tests within the New York Yankees organization.” There isn’t yet any word about a make-up date for tonight’s contest, and it isn’t yet known if any other games in the scheduled four-game series could be in jeopardy.
Speaking with The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (all links to Twitter) and other reporters, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said the club has six ongoing COVID-19 cases, all of players. Cashman confirmed that the three players currently on the Yankees’ COVID-related injury list (left-handers Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta, and righty Jonathan Loaisiga) all tested positive for the virus, while three other potential cases are pending confirmation of positive results. ESPN’s Marly Rivera reports that “at least two” of the positive COVID tests were delivered by Yankees position players.
Most importantly, Cashman indicated that the cases appear to be asymptomatic, saying “As of right now, everybody is ok.” The Yankees as a whole have passed the league’s mandated 85% vaccination rate , though Cashman said that only “most” of the six players had received vaccines. Cortes, Peralta, and Loaisiga had all been vaccinated.
Cortes and Peralta were placed on the COVID-19 list earlier today, while Loaisiga’s placement came back on July 10. Loaisiga has yet to rejoin the team from their road trip in Houston, Cashman said, as the right-hander has been quarantined.
This is the second time the Yankees have been hit with a COVID outbreak this season, after eight players and coaches tested positive for the virus back in May. (New York manager Aaron Boone told Adler and other reporters today that Gleyber Torres‘ positive test at the time was actually a false positive.) That outbreak didn’t result in any postponed games, as while COVID-IL placements have still been rather common this season, today’s Red Sox/Yankees matchup is the only the eighth game of the season to be postponed for COVID-related reasons. The other seven postponements all took place prior to April 19.
Yankees To Place Hoy Jun Park On Taxi Squad
The Yankees have placed infielder Hoy Jun Park on the team’s taxi squad, according to The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (via Twitter). Reporter Daniel Kim (Twitter link) said earlier today that Park was being called up to the Yankees, and such a move could quite possibly still be imminent, given that infielder Gio Urshela is reportedly in COVID-19 protocol. Park is not on New York’s 40-man roster, though the team has roster space available and won’t need to make a corresponding move if/when Park’s contract is officially selected.
Though MLB Pipeline doesn’t rank Park among the Yankees’ top 30 prospects, the Seoul native has been crushing Triple-A pitching this season, batting .325/.475/.541 with eight home runs over 206 plate appearances. This is a marked increase from Park’s numbers in five previous minor league seasons, as he offered some good on-base skills but little in the way of power. Even with this year’s Triple-A dominance factored in, Park has a pretty modest .254/.366/.369 slash line over 2411 career PA in New York’s farm system.
Still, there’s no real risk for the Yankees in riding the hot hand, especially since the club may need some roster reinforcements in short order. Kim doesn’t know if Park’s call-up is specifically related to the COVID situation, as Park’s Triple-A numbers were already making a strong case for a promotion.
An international signing back in July 2014, Park offers some added value to the Yankees beyond his bat. Park has 116 stolen bases (from 152 chances) in the the minors, and he has displayed some defensive versatility — mostly a second baseman and shortstop during his six pro seasons, Park has also received a handful of games as a third baseman, left fielder, and center fielder. This could indicate an opportunity for Park to supplant either Rougned Odor or Tyler Wade for backup infield duty, if he indeed gets a look on the Major League roster.
Yankees Select Trey Amburgey, Activate Zack Britton
The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of minor league outfielder Trey Amburgey to the Major League roster and reinstated lefty Zack Britton from the 10-day injured list. In a pair of corresponding roster moves, both Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta were placed on the Covid-19-related injured list. The team has not provided further updates on their status. Players on the Covid list do not count against a team’s 40-man roster, so no further corresponding move was necessary to place Amburgey on the 40-man.
Amburgey, 26, was the team’s 13th-round pick back in 2015. He’s never been considered one of the organization’s top prospects and posted mostly average results while rising through the minor league ranks. However, his 2019 campaign in Triple-A was a bit above the league average, and his second go-around at that level has been enormously productive.
Through 161 plate appearances so far in 2021, Amburgey has tattooed Triple-A pitching at a .312/.379/.582 clip. He’s connected on seven home runs, 15 doubles and a triple while walking at a healthy 9.9 percent clip and fanning in 24.2 percent his plate appearances.
Amburgey has played the outfield corners exclusively so far in 2021, but he does have 753 innings of center-field work under his belt — including 122 innings there back in Triple-A during the 2019 season. That makes him an option to work into the mix at multiple spots, as the Yankees have received generally poor collective output from both left field (.232/.297/.363, 83 wRC+) and center field (.182/.289/.312, 71 wRC+) so far in 2021. Right fielder Aaron Judge has been characteristically excellent, both with the glove and the bat, but the outfield group as a whole has been a key factor in the Yankees’ underwhelming 2021 campaign.
The 33-year-old Britton, meanwhile, will return from his second IL stint of the season — the second a much shorter one than the first. Britton was out from Opening Day through June 12 due to arthroscopic surgery that removed bone chips from his left elbow. He tossed just 4 1/3 innings upon his activation before going down with a hamstring strain that sidelined him another three weeks.
Britton’s return will come at a time when the Yankees’ other high-priced bullpen lefty, Aroldis Chapman, has been melting down at the most alarming rate of his career. Chapman carried a near-immaculate 0.39 ERA through early June before imploding in a four-run loss to the Twins at Target Field in which he failed to retire any batters. He’s now allowed runs in five of his past ten outings, including three of his past four, and pitched to a disastrous 18.90 ERA over those ten outings. Since that June 10 meltdown, Chapman has yielded 14 earned runs on 15 hits and 11 walks in just 6 2/3 frames. Four of those hits have left the yard, and he’s also hit a batter. He’s faced 46 batters and allowed 27 of them to reach.
Given those struggles, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see a returning Britton and the steadier Chad Green supplant Chapman in high-leverage and/or save situations. (Although Green himself just imploded for four runs in his final first-half outing.) Britton, of course, has more closing experience than just about any “setup” man around the game, having racked up 153 saves in his career — including an AL-best 47 back in 2016 with the Orioles.
The Yankees are turning to Amburgey and Britton at a pivotal time for the club. They’ll face the division-leading Red Sox in eight of their next ten games, with the only reprieve coming via a two-game set against the Phillies.
The Yankees’ season in many ways hangs in the balance; they’re already eight games behind Boston in the AL East and four and a half games back in the AL Wild Card chase. A strong showing in these eight games could rally the club and push the front office into buy mode with the July 30 trade deadline looming, but if the Sox are able to topple the Yankees in the majority of these eight games, it could serve as a proverbial nail in the coffin of the 2021 Yankees, who’d have some interesting veterans to peddle in advance of the deadline.