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AL East Notes: Swisher, Werner, Orioles

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The Orioles are still baseball’s only undefeated team, moving to 6-0 after today’s 9-7 win over the Red Sox.  Chris Davis broke a 6-6 tie in the ninth with a three-run homer off Craig Kimbrel (making his home debut for Boston) to score the game’s deciding runs.  Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters (including George A. King III of the New York Post) that Nick Swisher hadn’t yet signed a reported minor league deal with the club as of Monday afternoon.  Swisher will still have to pass a physical for the contract to become official, which could be difficult given his history of knee problems.  Several opposing scouts weren’t impressed by Swisher’s health during Spring Training, with one scout telling King that Swisher’s “legs are gone.”  The Yankees, however, felt Swisher could still contribute as a backup option at first, left field or DH, as Cashman said the club liked what they saw when Swisher faced them as a member of the Braves during the spring.
  • In a radio interview on the Ordway, Merloni & Fauria show, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner expressed surprise that some Sox fans felt ownership would influence certain lineup decisions, most notably insisting that high-priced Pablo Sandoval retain his starting job.  “Really our influence extends that we want the best lineup and we want to win now.  Beyond that it’s up to John [Farrell] and Dave [Dombrowski] and the coaching staff to come up with the best lineup every day,” Werner said.  “I think a lot has been made of this. Maybe there are some owners who would exert that kind of influence. The only influence that we would have is to say, ’You’re free to do whatever you want to do, and you shouldn’t worry about salary. You should worry about putting out the best lineup.’ ”  WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford has a partial transcript of Werner’s interview.
  • Jimmy Paredes is making progress in recovering from a sprained left wrist, though once he returns from the DL, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko notes that the Orioles could have a bit of a roster crunch.  Paredes is out of options, so he’d have to pass through waivers for the O’s to send him to Triple-A and there isn’t an obvious candidate to remove from the 25-man roster.  Kubatko also notes that Mychal Givens, T.J. McFarland or Tyler Wilson could be send down once Brian Matusz makes his expected return from injury on Thursday.

Injury Notes: McCann, Rumbelow, Cardinals

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Here’s the latest on some notable injury situations around baseball…

  • Tigers catcher James McCann left today’s game with a right ankle sprain, suffered while trying to beat out an infield single in the fifth inning.  Detroit skipper Brad Ausmus told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) that “there’s concern” McCann could require a DL stint.  X-rays were negative on the injury but McCann is still to undergo an MRI.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia would become the regular starter if McCann has to miss time.  It was just two weeks ago that Detroit traded backup Bryan Holaday to the Rangers in a trade that brought veteran backstop Bobby Wilson into the fold, though Wilson would need to be added to the 40-man roster if the Tigers used him as a backup; Saltalamacchia and McCann are currently the only catchers on Detroit’s 40-man.
  • Yankees righty Nick Rumbelow is in need of Tommy John surgery, Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog reports.  Rumbelow was sent to Triple-A to to begin this season.  The 24-year-old Rumbelow made his MLB debut in 2015, posting a 4.02 ERA, 8.6 K/9 and 3.00 K/BB rate over 15 2/3 innings out of the New York bullpen.  Rumbelow averaged 93.4mph on his fastball last year but hit the 98mph plateau when pitching in college at LSU, as per Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel in a breakdown of the Yankees’ farm system from January 2015.  Rumbelow has posted strong relief numbers in his three minor league seasons, though the Yankees experimenting using him as a starter this spring.  As per the usual recovery timeline for Tommy John patients, Rumbelow should be out of action until at least midway through the 2017 season.
  • Injuries have done a number on the Cardinals’ minor league pitching depth, Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, as Marco Gonzales is considering elbow surgery and Tim Cooney has been battling with a sore shoulder.  “When you look at what we have going on at [Triple-A] Memphis, it’s not as strong as we thought we were.  But, that’s not to say we are in a panic mode by any means,” Cards GM John Mozeliak said, noting that top prospect Alex Reyes could be an option in a couple of months.  Reyes is currently serving a 50-game suspension after testing positive for marijuana in November.  Mozeliak also provides updates on a few other injured Cardinals within Frederickson’s piece.

AL Notes: Weaver, Vazquez, Yanks, Chisenhall

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Angels righty and former ace Jered Weaver, who’s coming off a career-worst season in which his fastball velocity sat in the low 80s, made his 2016 debut Sunday and threw six innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 win over Texas. Weaver allowed seven base runners (six hits, one walk), struck out four, and was encouraged afterward. “It makes me look forward to the future in baseball as opposed to thinking about shutting it down,” he told reporters, including Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (Twitter link). Weaver’s fastball resided in the 82 mph range Sunday and he didn’t generate many grounders (a common career trend), but he effectively used his curveball and changeup to keep Rangers hitters at bay. Whether he can continue to get by that way is up for debate, but Weaver seems confident, saying, “Haters equals motivation for me. I feed off of it.”

More from the American League…

  • Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez is recovering well from Tommy John surgery and could rejoin the team by the end of the month, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal reports. “Everything points to [the 20-day rehab timeline] being more than enough time for him right now,” manager John Farrell said Sunday. Vazquez’s rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket lasts until April 28, at which point the big league club will either have to call up the 25-year-old or option him to the minors. The Red Sox currently employ two capable catchers in Blake Swihart and Ryan Hanigan, though the latter has been mentioned as a trade candidate in the past.
  • The Yankees, who opened the season in less-than-ideal weather in the Bronx and then went to frigid Detroit for their second series, have already had two games postponed (one of which was made up). Manager Joe Girardi isn’t pleased with the schedule makers’ decisions, per Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. “I’m not sure why it happens,” he said in regards to MLB’s choice to start the Yankees in cities prone to poor conditions. “I’d really like to see us start within (the American League East) in the first month as much as you can and I know there’s five teams, and those games you try to go to warmer cities. It didn’t happen and we’ll have to deal with it,” he added.
  • Bad weather is also serving as an annoyance to the Indians and slowing right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall’s comeback from a left wrist impingement, writes Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Before beginning his rehab assignment Sunday with Triple-A Columbus, Chisenhall hadn’t played since March 27 – thanks in part to the postponement of Columbus’ previous three games. Chisenahll, who went hitless in three at-bats Sunday, is eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list early in the upcoming week. However, the Indians might not activate him until Thursday because they face lefty starters Tuesday and Wednesday. Chisenhall owns an uninspiring career line of .241/.288/.371 against lefties.
  • Royals southpaw reliever Tim Collins will undergo his second Tommy John surgery since March 2015 on Friday, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets. The news that Collins needed the surgery after his previous elbow graft failed was revealed last month. Collins, 26, posted a 3.54 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 in 211 relief innings for the Royals from 2011-14.

East Notes: Ellsbury, Encarnacion, Ortiz, Mets, Morales

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Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s $153MM deal could turn out to be one of the worst in the history of the Yankees franchise, ESPN’s Andrew Marchand writes. At the time the deal was signed, it looked like the team’s best chance to get value was for Ellsbury to be very productive at the front end of the deal, but that hasn’t really proven to be the case. He produced a solid .271/.328/.419 season in 2014, but last year he hit just .257/.318/.345 while dealing with knee issues, with his isolated power dropping from .148 to .088. He’s off to a 4-for-18 start this season. Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • Red Sox legend David Ortiz thinks Edwin Encarnacion should replace him as the Sox’ DH after he retires, WEEI’s Rob Bradford writes. “Hell, yeah. He’s a perfect replacement,” Ortiz says. “Because of everything, but mostly because he can hit.” Encarnacion says he still wants to play first base as well as DH, but he’s already talked to Ortiz about the possibility of playing DH full-time in the future (although not for the Red Sox specifically). Encarnacion batted .277/.372/.557 last season in Toronto. It now appears extension talks with the Blue Jays are dead. He’s set to become a free agent after the season.
  • Mets manager Terry Collins says that he will utilize a full-blown left field platoon of Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares, Marc Carig of Newsday reports (Twitter links). “We’re in a situation where we’re trying to win games,” said Collins. “This is not a time to develop players.” The Mets skipper added that it wasn’t just a matter of getting Lagares in for his glove, noting that he likes his bat against lefties.
  • Blue Jays lefty Franklin Morales says he felt “weakness” in his shoulder upon completing his first warm-up pitch yesterday, Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling tweets. Also via Zwelling (on Twitter), Jays manager John Gibbons says today that Morales’ situation isn’t serious and that Morales simply couldn’t loosen up last night. The Jays had planned to use Morales in the sixth inning yesterday, but he didn’t end up pitching. The Jays signed Morales to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal last week after the Brewers released him.

Luis Severino Switches Agencies

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Standout young Yankees right-hander Luis Severino has changed representation and is now a client of Paul Kinzer’s Rep 1 Baseball, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray tweets that Severino followed agent Nelson Montas De Oca to his new agency.

Severino celebrated just his 22nd birthday in February, but he’s already burst onto the scene as one of the game’s more exciting young arms. The former top prospect made 11 starts for the Yankees down the stretched and helped New York to a Wild Card playoff berth last season by logging a 2.89 ERA in his 62 1/3 innings at the big league level. Severino averaged 8.1 strikeouts and 3.2 walks per nine innings to go along with a solid 50.3 percent ground-ball rate in that impressive debut, and his fastball averaged 95.3 mph along the way.

Of course, with only 61 days of major league service under his belt, Severino remains under team control through 2021. He’s on track to become eligible for arbitration before the 2019 campaign, as he won’t qualify as a Super Two if he remains on the active roster. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any opportunity for contractual work for his new reps, though, as the young righty could profile as an extension candidate if he continues to entrench himself on the Yankees’ staff.

AL Notes: Teixeira, Beltre, Heaney, Rays

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Mark Teixeira has previously told reporters that he feels like he can play until he’s 40 years old, and the 35-year-old Yankees first baseman doubled down on those comments following last night’s win over the Astros, as MLB.com’s Barry M. Bloom writes. Teixeira said last night that he hopes to play for five to six more seasons beyond the 2016 campaign, adding that he would love to remain in Yankee pinstripes for the remainder of his playing days. “I’ve loved playing here,” said Teixeira. “I’ve loved every minute of it. … I mean, once you’ve played for the Yankees you’ve reached the pinnacle of Major League Baseball. It’s just tough to see myself in another uniform.” Of course, the Yankees’ roster, as currently constructed, could complicate that possibility. Alex Rodriguez is a strict DH now and is signed through 2017, while the Yanks have a highly promising young first base option in the form of Gregory Bird. While Bird will miss the 2016 campaign due to shoulder surgery and could therefore be rusty heading into next season, he looked plenty comfortable against MLB pitching in his 2015 debut after impressing at the Triple-A level as well.

More from the American League…

  • Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre told reporters, including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, that he is still waiting on a contract proposal from the Rangers following yesterday’s loss to the Angels. Grant writes that the Rangers’ hesitation, unsurprisingly, is likely due to Beltre’s age. The three-year deal he seeks would cost Texas something in the vicinity of $60MM, and the Rangers must weigh whether that type of investment in Beltre’s age-38 through age-40 seasons is a better course of action than trusting a high-upside but unproven prospect, Joey Gallo, to man the position while making scarcely more than $1.5MM (total) in his pre-arbitration seasons over that same time frame.
  • Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney was relieved after receiving encouraging news following an MRI, writes the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher. “I saw the MRI for myself,” Heaney explained. “Obviously I’m not a doctor, but the way they explained it to me, it looked perfectly sound and healthy,” he added in reference to his ulnar collateral ligament. The words “forearm tightness” have become increasingly frightening in recent years, as that can often be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, but the MRI makes two waves of evaluations that seem to indicate a healthy UCL for Heaney. In his absence, the Halos will turn to Nick Tropeano to step into the rotation, though as Fletcher notes, Tropeano didn’t exceed four innings in an appearance in Spring Training. With Tropeano and Jered Weaver both limited in terms of endurance at this time, there could be some extra stress placed on the ’pen.
  • Former big league right-hander Jeremy Sowers is beginning to carve out a career on the baseball operations side of the game as a member of the Rays organization, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Sowers’ final big league game came in 2009, and since that time he received an MBA from North Carolina. After briefly working in the corporate world, Sowers took a 2015 internship with the Rays, who eventually hired him as a Major League operations assistant. Sowers is working with the Rays’ advance scouting process, and he’s also an integral part of the club’s instant replay process as well as the “information flow with [the Rays’] players and coaches,” per president Matt Silverman.

Reds Return Rule 5 Pick Jake Cave To Yankees

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Reds’ Rule 5 selection Jake Cave has been sent back to the Yankees, MLB.com’s Matt Kardos reports on Twitter. It appears that New York is accepting his return, as Cave is said to be heading to Triple-A.

Cincinnati had designated Cave for assignment on Sunday, but he’s obviously cleared waivers already. The 23-year-old hasn’t shown much pop in his recent minor league results or his relatively extensive spring action with the Reds. But as MLBTR’s Brad Johnson explained in previewing the Rule 5 festivities, Cave could still turn into a useful player, particularly if he can tap into some of the power and speed tools he’s shown at times.

Bryan Mitchell Undergoes Toe Surgery, Out “At Least” Four Months

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Yankees righty Bryan Mitchell underwent toe surgery yesterday and is expected to miss “at least” four months of the coming season, manager Joe Girardi told reporters, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link). It wasn’t clear previously whether Mitchell would require a procedure after fracturing his toe at the end of camp.

While New York had already absorbed the news of Mitchell’s absence for the first half of the year, the fact that he had to go under the knife appears to extend the timeline for a return. Initial reports suggested a minimum three-month absence, but now the 24-year-old will need to recover and rehab from the surgery.

At this point, it seems, the Yankees are unlikely to have a chance to see Mitchell back in action before the trade deadline. If the team is in position and has pitching needs, that may help tilt the needle towards an outside addition.

Mitchell was viewed as an important piece of a pitching staff that has some health questions in the rotation and potential depth concerns in the pen. He likely would have played a significant middle relief role to open the year, while remaining available as a rotation option if a need arose.

Though he was never a hyped prospect, the former 16th-round pick has shown some interesting skills early in his major league career. He lit up the radar gun and showed the ability to miss some bats in a relief role last year, though his walks are a concern and he didn’t fare well in the earned run department. Mitchell had shown well this spring, permitting just one earned run in 14 2/3 frames while posting an 11:1 K:BB ratio.

Rays Acquire Carlos Corporan From Yankees

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The Yankees have announced that they’ve traded catcher Carlos Corporan to the Rays for cash considerations. The 32-year-old Corporan will likely serve as catching depth for the Rays, who have Hank Conger and Curt Casali at the big-league level. The Rays were down a catcher after releasing Rene Rivera last week.

Corporan collected 121 plate appearances for the Rangers in 2015, hitting .178/.244/.299, after which Texas non-tendered him. The Yankees signed him to a minor-league deal over the winter. He’s played parts of six big-league seasons, also suiting up for the Brewers and Astros, and had established himself as a somewhat better hitter than he showed last year — in 780 career plate appearances, he’s batted .218/.280/.342.

Roster Notes: Kim, Bailey, Frieri, Arencibia, Venable, Sabathia, Miller

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We’ve already covered a number of roster decisions already this evening, but more keep rolling in. Here are some of the latest:

  • The Orioles announced a number of moves, including the demotion of infielder Paul Janish. That could open the door to an Opening Day roster spot for Hyun Soo Kim, as Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com explains (Twitter links). Kim has continued to maintain that he will not accept a minor league assignment, as is his contractual right, despite a rough spring. Only Xavier Avery appears to remain an obstacle to a roster spot for Kim, as the team’s 29 remaining players in camp include three who are bound for the DL.
  • The Phillies have announced that veteran relievers Andrew Bailey and Ernesto Frieri were reassigned to minor league camp along with catcher J.P. Arencibia and outfielder Will Venable. That lends clarity to the team’s Opening Day roster. Bailey reportedly has a May 1 opt-out date, while Frieri apparently allowed his own to pass yesterday without action. Venable had seemed lined up for a job after signing late in camp, but the Phils will apparently give roster spots to non-roster invitees Cedric Hunter and Emmanuel Burriss, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes on Twitter. Fellow minor league signee James Russell also appears to have earned an Opening Day nod. The club is also set to give a shot to its two Rule 5 picks — outfielder Tyler Goeddel and lefty Daniel Stumpf.
  • CC Sabathia has beaten out Ivan Nova for the Yankees’ fifth starter role, manager Joe Girardi told reporters incluing Wallace Mathews of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). That appears to put Nova in the pen for now, where he’ll also serve as a swingman option. The Yanks will give their final pen job to righty Kirby Yates, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network (via Twitter). Yates was acquired for cash over the winter, and impressed this spring, though he might not have had a slot had it not been for an unfortunate injury to Bryan Mitchell. Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees Blog had noted yesterday on Twitter that Yates was a prime candidate to take over for Mitchell, while adding that Luis Cessa and Johnny Barbato were also slated to join the active roster for the season’s start.
  • Fortunately for the Yankees, it appears they won’t have to replace lefty Andrew Miller on Opening Day. Miller has been cleared to pitch despite suffering a fracture to his non-pitching hand, as Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News reports. Miller, who’ll hold down closing duties while Aroldis Chapman is out, is not expected to require surgery and will apparently be able to proceed as normal so long as he can tolerate the injury.
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