White Sox Designate Brad Keller For Assignment
May 20: The team has now formally announced both moves. Keller’s weeklong DFA window will begin today.
May 19: The White Sox are designating right-hander Brad Keller for assignment, James Fegan of Sox Machine reports (links to X). Dominic Leone is being activated from the 15-day injured list to take Keller’s spot on the active roster.
After three increasingly rough seasons with the Royals, Keller caught on with Chicago on a minor league deal over the offseason and that contract was selected to the big league roster at the end of April. Keller’s five games in a Sox uniform have consisted of two starts and three relief appearances, and his most recent outing saw him allow five earned runs to the Yankees over four innings of work in yesterday’s 6-1 Chicago loss.
That boosted Keller’s ERA to 4.86 over 16 2/3 total frames, with an underwhelming 17.7% strikeout rate and an okay 7.9% walk rate. Keller’s 56.1% grounder rate is impressive but he has also benefited from a .231 BABIP and been hit hard when he hasn’t been able to keep the ball on the ground. Over his small sample size of work, Keller has allowed five home runs, including four from the Yankees yesterday.
To be fair, Keller had a 2.84 ERA in his 12 2/3 innings before facing New York, and he is hardly the first pitcher to have problems with the dangerous Yankees lineup. While this move might seem like something of a quick trigger from the White Sox, it could be that the team is looking to open a rotation spot for Jared Shuster, who has looked very sharp in multi-inning relief outings this season. Since the Sox are obviously looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, they could simply see more value in letting Shuster pitch more meaningful innings now, and parting ways with a veteran like Keller who isn’t in their long-term plans.
It should be noted that Keller’s 2023 season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome, and he underwent TOS surgery last October. While the procedure has led to diminished results for many pitchers in their returns to the mound, Keller’s work to date has been somewhat promising, and his numbers could improve once he gets more fully comfortable in the aftermath of such a notable surgery.
This means that Keller could certainly draw some attention on the waiver wire from any team looking for a quick influx of innings in the rotation or the bullpen. The White Sox could work out a trade or might let Keller go on waivers entirely without any return. If he clears waivers, Keller has enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
Leone will return after just the minimum 15 days after dealing with some back tightness. The veteran right-hander has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen this season, and has already allowed 11 walks and four home runs.
Mets Offered Pete Alonso Seven-Year, $158MM Extension Last Summer
After the Mets’ record-setting spending failed to bring them even a winning record heading into late July of last season, the team instead generated headlines by selling instead of buying, moving Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and several others in a variety of deals prior to the trade deadline. Since the Mets were reportedly open to considering all options on shorter-term talent, the club even had some discussions about moving Pete Alonso, who is a free agent this coming offseason. The Brewers and Cubs were among the teams that at least checked in on Alonso’s status, but obviously no deal was struck, and the Polar Bear remains in a Mets uniform to this very day.
The trade explorations came after, however, the Mets made an attempt to lock Alonso up for the remainder of the decade. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mets offered Alonso a seven-year, $158MM extension last June, which would’ve kept him in Queens through his age 29-35 seasons. According to Sherman, “the sides never got close to a deal,” which is why the Mets then shifted to at least testing the waters to see what Alonso might net on the trade market.
The length and amount of the Mets’ offer exactly matches the final seven years of Matt Olson‘s extension with the Braves, signed back in March 2022. Olson was two years away from free agency at the time of that long-term deal, and the final dollar figure was an eight-year pact worth $168MM in guaranteed money, plus the Braves hold a $20MM club option for the 2030 season. New York’s offer to Alonso apparently didn’t involve a club option, but it otherwise mirrored Olson’s deal minus the $15MM Olson earned in 2022 (the first year of the extension). Freddie Freeman‘s six-year, $162MM contract with the Dodgers was another comp, as the Mets’ offer gave Alonso more actual money than Freeman due to the deferrals involved in the L.A. first baseman’s contract.
Olson and Freeman were obvious benchmarks for Alonso as fellow star first basemen, and reports from last November suggested that Alonso wants a “much bigger” contract than either of those two deals. In the least surprising news possible, Alonso’s agent Scott Boras feels the same way, as Boras told Sherman that Alonso’s market stands apart from other recent major first baseman contracts due to Alonso’s age (he’ll be 30 on Opening Day 2025) and because the dynamics of extensions and free agent deals differ.
“The market for consistent 40-homer, durable, infield-capable, true middle-of-the-lineup sluggers is the question,” Boras said. “Note there are none available in free agency and none coming [in the next few years]. Plus, he’s New York proven, which is an unanswered question for many others — not Pete. It’s elite-level durability and production at a prime age, which is simply something most MLB teams do not possess. They will covet the opportunity to have free-agent access to such talent.”
It is worth noting that Alonso was a client of Apex Sports when he and the Mets were negotiating that extension, and Alonso then changed representation to the Boras Corporation after the season. With a few notable exceptions over the years, Boras clients generally end up heading to the open market rather than signing a contract extension, so it would count as a big surprise if Alonso and the Mets agreed to a new deal this close to Alonso’s arrival on the open market.
Alonso burst onto the scene with a 53-homer season in 2019, earning both NL Rookie of the Year honors and the first of three career All-Star berths (and the first of two Home Run Derby crowns during All-Star festivities). Naturally this made Alonso an instant star in New York, and he has kept up the power by hitting 202 homers and slashing .249/.340/.524 over his career. Those 202 homers is the most of any player since the start of the 2019 campaign.
This season has largely been more of the same, as Alonso has hit .226/.307/.458 with 10 homers in his first 189 plate appearances of 2024. However, Alonso is now in his second consecutive season with a below-average hard-hit ball rate, even if his barrel rate remains outstanding. Overall, Alonso is still mashing the ball when he makes premium contact, but is having trouble with anything less than a barrel, giving how his batting averages have declined — a .261 average in his first four seasons but only .219 since. Beyond these numbers, teams could also have the usual concerns attached to giving any first-base only player a big guaranteed deal into his 30’s, and beyond the bat, Alonso’s defense is considered average at best.
Leaving $158MM on the table could loom large for Alonso should he hit an extended slump that drags down his overall production, or if he gets injured. (Though Alonso has been very durable over his career, with only two minimal trips to the injured list.) There is also the possibility that this winter’s free agent market could somewhat resemble the staid proceedings of this past offseason, when several top free agents — including several Boras clients — had to settle for smaller deals than expected. If any of Alonso’s red flags become more glaring over the course of the 2024 campaign, teams might first attempt to see if they can wait out the market to see if Alonso could be had for the kind of short-term, opt-out heavy contracts signed by the “Boras Four” this past winter.
On the other hand, a standard Alonso type of season should provide a very nice platform, and the Polar Bear ranked fourth in MLB’s most recent Power Rankings of the 2024-25 free agent class. The first baseman’s chances of scoring a deal closer to $200MM than $158MM are also helped by the fact that Mets owner Steve Cohen has expressed his hope that Alonso will remain with the team over the long term, and Cohen hasn’t been shy about spending big to obtain his preferred targets. President of baseball operations David Stearns will obviously have a way in whatever direction the Mets take with pursuing Alonso, but if Cohen is willing to outbid the market for a particular fan favorite, Alonso might have a particular edge that other free agents don’t, depending on how aggressive the Mets will be on players beyond Alonso.
Jung Hoo Lee To Undergo Season-Ending Labrum Surgery
The Giants informed reporters this evening that rookie center fielder Jung Hoo Lee will undergo surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder (X link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). He’ll miss the remainder of the season.
Lee was one of the top signees of last offseason. San Francisco inked the KBO star to a six-year, $113MM deal after he was posted by the Kiwoom Heroes. It was the fourth-largest free agent guarantee of the winter, trailing only the Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Aaron Nola deals. Lee’s age was a major factor, as he’s only 25. The Giants envisioned him as a top-of-the-lineup hitter who could handle center field on an everyday basis.
The left-handed hitter appeared in 37 games in his debut campaign. He hit .262/.310/.331 with two homers over 158 plate appearances. It wasn’t a great overall showing, but Lee only struck out in 8.2% of his trips to the plate and generally made a decent amount of hard contact. Most of his batted balls were hit on the ground, limiting his power ceiling, but it seemed reasonable to project him for a solid on-base percentage as he continued gaining experience against MLB pitching.
This is the second straight year in which Lee’s season was cut short. He appeared in 86 games before suffering a left ankle injury requiring surgery during his final season in Korea. He sustained the shoulder injury — a dislocation in addition to the labrum damage — when he collided with the Oracle Park wall trying to rob a Jeimer Candelario extra-base hit on Sunday. San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) that Lee also underwent a left shoulder procedure while in Korea back in 2018. This surgery comes with a six-month rehab process, so he should be ready for Spring Training.
San Francisco has a staggering 11 players on the injured list at the moment. Lee is one of six position players on the shelf, including a trio of outfielders. Michael Conforto and Austin Slater are also currently out. The Giants are also without starting shortstop Nick Ahmed and their expected catching tandem of Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy.
Losing Lee for the season is arguably the biggest hit the Giants have taken so far. Second-year player Luis Matos has stepped in as the primary center fielder in his absence. Matos hit .250/.319/.342 with a pair of homers in 76 games during his rookie campaign. He was out to a very slow start to this season at Triple-A Sacramento, hitting .218/.308/.355 through 143 trips to the plate. Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos are flanking him in the corners.
The Giants will move Lee to the 60-day injured list when their next need for a 40-man roster spot arises. They’ll need to reinstate him at the beginning of the offseason. He’ll make $16MM next season, $22MM in 2026-27 and $20.5MM annually for the final two seasons of his deal. He can opt out after the 2027 campaign.
Emmet Sheehan Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
The Dodgers announced that right-hander Emmet Sheehan underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow yesterday. They didn’t announced whether it was full Tommy John surgery or the internal brace alternative, but a source tells Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic that it was TJS, which Ardaya relayed on X.
Sheehan, 24, was slated to compete for a rotation spot coming into this year. But in early March, he experienced some shoulder discomfort and general soreness, which led manager Dave Roberts to relay that Sheehan would be starting the season on the injured list. Though it was a shoulder injury that initially was the problem, when he was placed on the IL, his injury was described as forearm inflammation. He was transferred to the 60-day IL in late March when the club selected Nabil Crismatt to the roster.
In mid-April, he began throwing to live hitters but Roberts said that his arm “hasn’t been responding” the way team staff had hoped. The club hasn’t provided any details about Sheehan to the public in about a month but it seems that a determination was made behind the scenes that he would require surgery.
It’s obviously an unfortunate blow for both Sheehan and the team. The righty made his major league debut last year age the age of 23. He tossed 60 1/3 innings for the Dodgers over 11 starts and two relief appearances. He allowed 4.92 earned runs per nine innings in that time, striking out 25.8% of batters faced while issuing walks at a 10.5% clip. He had been even better in the minors, with a 2.43 ERA in 2023 and a 2.91 mark the year prior. Given those strong minor league numbers and his youth, it would have been fair to think a step forward in the major leagues was forthcoming in 2024.
Instead, it will now go down as a lost season for Sheehan. If there’s one silver lining for him, it’s that he’ll stay on the 60-day injured list all season, collecting major league pay and service time. He will miss a portion of 2025 as well, depending on the eventual progression of his rehab.
For the Dodgers, this will further add to the number of days missed by pitchers on their staff this year. Sheehan is one of 11 Dodgers pitchers currently on the injured list, joined by Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Kyle Hurt, Bobby Miller, Ryan Brasier, Connor Brogdon, Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly and Evan Phillips.
Some of those injuries were known coming into the year, as a few of those guys underwent significant surgeries last year. Still, it’s remarkable that the club hasn’t been hurt too much by all that talent that’s not currently on the roster. The Dodgers are 29-16 right now and have a 7.5-game lead in the National League West. Their pitching staff has a collective ERA of 3.16, which is third in the league, behind only the Red Sox and Yankees.
The starting staff currently consists of Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Gavin Stone, though the club is also doing occasional bullpen games to give each pitcher five days off between outings. That’s led to guys like Ryan Yarbrough, Elieser Hernández and Michael Grove picking up bulk work here and there.
Sheehan’s surgery means he won’t be able to return later in the year for extra depth, so the Dodgers will be hoping some of the other ten guys on the injured list are able to make it back to the club before the injury bug bites them again.
Pirates Trade Roansy Contreras To Angels
1:50pm: The Angels sent cash to the Pirates in the deal, reports Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
1:18pm: The Angels are acquiring right-hander Roansy Contreras in a trade with the Pirates, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Pittsburgh designated Contreras for assignment five days ago.
The Halos have an open 40-man roster spot after designating lefty Amir Garrett for assignment last night, and they already cleared a 26-man roster spot earlier today when they announced that utilityman Niko Goodrum and righty Davis Daniel were optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake, with infielder Luis Rengifo coming off the injured list. A second 26-man roster move wasn’t revealed at the time, but it now seems that’ll go to Contreras, who’s out of minor league and thus cannot be sent to Triple-A himself.
Still just 24 years old, Contreras was the headline prospect going from the Yankees to the Pirates in the 2020-21 offseason trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Bronx. At the time of the swap, Contreras was widely regarded among the top-100 minor leaguers in the sport, and through the early portion of his career, the reasons for his prospect fanfare were apparent. Contreras debuted as a 21-year-old late in the 2021 season and tossed three shutout innings, then went on to make 18 starts and another three relief appearances for the 2022 Pirates. In all, he pitched 98 innings with a 3.67 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate in the majors — all before celebrating his 23rd birthday.
That’s a fine start to any big league career, and as recently as April 2023, Contreras looked like a foundational rotation piece alongside Mitch Keller. The 2023 season went about as poorly for Contreras as possible, however. He made 11 starts between April and mid-June — struggling so much that the Pirates dropped him to the bullpen. Through Contreras’ first 56 1/3 frames last year, he was torched for a 5.91 ERA with a greatly reduced 17.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 10.1% walk rate. His fastball velocity, which sat just shy of 96 mph from 2021-22, averaged a noticeably lesser 94.4 mph. Statcast painted the picture of a right-hander who opponents had little problem squaring up: 90.3 mph average exit velocity, 9% barrel rate, 42.7% hard-hit rate.
The 2024 season hasn’t brought better results. Despite a full-time move to the ‘pen, Contreras’ 94.7 mph average fastball is still more than a mile per hour slower than his 2021-22 velocity out of the rotation. His 21.6% strikeout rate is a slight uptick from last year’s 21.4% mark, but his 10.8% walk rate is a career-high. His Statcast profile looks quite similar to the rough numbers he posted as a starter in 2023: 90.8 mph average exit velocity, 10% barrel rate, 42% hard-hit rate. Opponents hit .292/.370/.477 against Contreras this season. He’s sitting on a respectable enough 4.41 ERA, but his 5.01 FIP doesn’t match even that modest number. (His 4.13 SIERA is a bit more optimistic, forecasting some improvement in terms of homer-to-flyball ratio.)
Since the Pirates couldn’t send Contreras to the minors without first passing him through waivers, the club opted to DFA him. It’s clear they no longer viewed Contreras as a viable candidate to take a rotation spot alongside Keller, Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and veteran Martin Perez. With several pitching prospects having leapfrogged Contreras on the depth chart and no set-in-stone place in the team’s bullpen, the decision was made to designate him and evaluate other options. The cash return on the swap will surely frustrate Pirates fans, but that negligible return also speaks to the manner in which the leaguewide perception of Contreras has changed over the past 13 to 14 months.
The Angels have a full five-man rotation — Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning, Tyler Anderson, Jose Soriano — so it seems likely they’ll plug Contreras into the bullpen for the time being. It’s possible he’ll eventually get a look as a starter, with injuries always standing as an inevitability plus some notable workload concerns for Soriano, who’s making the transition from reliever to starting pitcher this season.
Matt Brash Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Mariners right-hander Matt Brash underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times on X, relaying word from general manager Justin Hollander. The righty had his ligament repaired and a brace installed, with the club expecting a return in June of next year, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com on X.
It’s obviously an unfortunate blow for both the Mariners and Brash, as the righty had been so impressive over the past two years. He was a highly-touted starting prospect while climbing through the minors, but a lack of control seemed to be pushing him towards a relief role, which is how things have played out in the majors thus far.
He debuted in 2022 with five starts but had a 7.65 earned run average in those, walking 17.9% of batters faced. He was sent back down to the minors and moved to a bullpen role. He re-emerged with the big league club in July and posted a 2.35 ERA in 30 2/3 innings the rest of the way. His 12.6% walk rate was still on the high side but he was able to punch out 33.9% of opponents.
2023 saw him continue to establish himself as a bonafide big league reliever and even move into a leverage role for the Mariners. He put up a 3.06 ERA last year across 78 appearances. He dropped his walk rate to 9.4% while still getting punchouts 34.7% of the time. He recorded four saves and 24 holds in the process.
Here in 2024, it’s been mostly ominous. It was reported at the end of February that Brash was potentially looking at a lengthy absence, but he was cleared to resume throwing just a few days later. The bad news returned at the end of April when his progress was shut down. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list earlier this week and now the worries of a lengthy absence have come to fruition.
He will now spend the rest of this year and a chunk of 2025 rehabbing from the surgery, forcing the club to proceed without him. Andrés Muñoz is in the closer’s role while pitchers like Ryne Stanek and Gabe Speier lead the setup crew.
Brash came into 2024 with one year and 121 days of service time. That will give him a borderline chance at qualifying for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player. Looking at recent history, that amount of service would have been sufficient three times since 2009, though all three of those occured in the five most recent seasons.
Angels Acquire Luis Guillorme, Transfer Anthony Rendon To 60-Day IL
8:40pm: Guillorme is active for tonight’s game against the Royals. The Halos placed both Drury and Rengifo on the 10-day injured list while recalling Kyren Paris in corresponding moves.
10:00am: The Braves announced that Guillorme has been traded to the Angels for a player to be named later or cash. The Angels have also announced the swap, transferring third baseman Anthony Rendon to the 60-day injured list to create roster space. Rendon has been out since April 20 with a hamstring injury and will now be sidelined into at least late June.
7:27am: The Angels are reportedly acquiring infielder Luis Guillorme from the Braves, according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The return headed to Atlanta is not currently known.
Guillorme, 29, was non-tendered by the Mets back in November but signed with the Braves in early January on a one-year, $1.1MM deal. A tenth-round pick by New York in the 2013 draft, Guillorme made his big league debut in 2018 but did not receive significant playing time until the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. While he had struggled to a .227/.303/.297 slash line in 80 games over his first two seasons in the big leagues, 2020 saw Guillorme appear in 29 of the club’s 60 contests while slashing an incredible .333/.426/.439, good for a wRC+ of 145.
Impressive as that performance in the shortened campaign was, it was inflated by a .463 BABIP that would be completely unsustainable over a full season. Even so, Guillorme began to see more frequent use by the Mets in the seasons following his strong performance in 2020. With that increase in playing time came improved results; Guillorme slashed a serviceable .265/.374/.311 (97 wRC+) in 69 games during the 2021 campaign, and in 335 plate appearances the following year he hit .273/.351/.340 (104 wRC+).
Overall, that trio of campaigns saw Guillorme post production that was 7% better than league average off the bench while striking out just 15.4% of the time and walking at an excellent 12.4% clip. Guillorme’s overall offensive performance was capped by an extreme lack of power that saw him hit just three home runs in 559 trips to the plate from 2020-22. Still, the infielder managed to make up for that not only through strong plate discipline but also excellent glovework; those years saw Guillorme post an impressive +10 Outs Above Average in limited playing time while shuffling between second base, third base, and shortstop.
While his combination of contact, on-base ability, and versatile infield defense made Guillorme one of the better bench bats in the league over that three year stretch, the 2023 campaign saw him regress significantly. In 120 trips to the plate across 53 games, Guillorme slashed just .224/.388/.327 (70 wRC+) with much weaker peripherals than his previous seasons. His 23.3% strikeout rate was nearly a ten-point jump from where it had been the previous year, while his 8.3% walk rate was the worst of his career. Making matters worse was a regression in Guillorme’s fielding that saw him go from a clearly above-average defender around the infield to below average at every spot he played. The infielder generated -4 Outs Above Average in 2023, including at least a -1 figure at each of his three positions.
That difficult 2023 season is what led the Mets to non-tender Guillorme back in November, allowing the Braves to add him to their bench mix. Unfortunately for Guillorme, however, he’s been limited to just nine games this season and his .150/.190/.250 slash line in that limited playing time hardly made a case for a larger role in Atlanta. With Luke Williams currently occupying a spot on the bench and non-roster veterans such as David Fletcher and Leury Garcia able to step into Guillorme’s utility role, it’s unlikely the Braves will be impacted too significantly by his departure.
With that being said, it’s possible the 29-year-old will receive more runway to re-establish himself in Anaheim. The club’s infield has struggled to stay healthy this year with Anthony Rendon, Michael Stefanic, and Miguel Sano all currently on the injured list. Meanwhile, Luis Rengifo has been out for nearly a week due to illness and Brandon Drury could be headed to the injured list in the coming days himself after exiting yesterday’s game in the sixth inning due to hamstring tightness.
Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza are currently filling in on the infield alongside shortstop Zack Neto, but Tucker has routinely struggled at the big league level throughout his career and Adrianza sports a .165/.248/.218 slash line in the majors over the past three seasons. Given those limited options, it appears likely that Guillorme will have plenty of opportunities to earn a larger role in Anaheim than he had in Atlanta over the coming weeks. If he manages to bounce back to the form he showed from 2020-22, the Angels will have found a solid in-season addition to their infield mix who could remain valuable even once the club’s infield regulars begin to get healthy.
Pirates To Promote Paul Skenes
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft is on his way to the majors. Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes will make his highly anticipated MLB debut this Saturday in a home outing against the visiting Cubs, the the team announced.
The 6’6″, 235-pound Skenes is the embodiment of a prototypical, power-armed ace. He’s widely regarded as one of the top pitching prospects in the sport — if not the top pitching prospect. Pittsburgh selected him with the top pick in last year’s draft after Skenes posted a 2.18 ERA and fanned more than 36% of his opponents in a three-year college career that included two seasons with the Air Force Academy and a third with the eventual national champion Louisiana State University Tigers. Skenes posted a comical 1.69 ERA over the course of 122 innings, striking out a hair over 45% of his opponents.
You won’t find a scouting report on Skenes that doesn’t laud him as a potential perennial All-Star and front-of-the-rotation pitcher with Cy Young upside. His fastball sits in the upper 90s and can reach 102 mph. Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs all give him credit for a plus-plus (70-grade) fastball on the 20-80 scale, with MLB.com even pegging as an 80-grade pitch. His slider draws similar praise.
The Athletic’s Keith Law notes that Skenes’ four-seam/slider combo was so dominant in college that he needed to work on his seldom-used changeup and a two-seamer in order to reach his ace-level ceiling. He’s worked to incorporate both into his repertoire more regularly in Triple-A this year. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel lists Skenes alongside David Price, Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg as one of the four best pitching prospects in the past 20 years of the MLB draft.
To this point in his young career, Skenes has done nothing to suggest the hype is unwarranted. He’s made seven starts in Triple-A — the Pirates have limited his per-outing workload, leaving him at 27 1/3 innings on the season — and posted a 0.99 ERA with an over-the-moon 42.9% strikeout rate against a 7.6% walk rate. Skenes has kept the ball on the ground at a 51% clip and yielded just one homer all season. Though Pittsburgh has ramped him up in quite cautious fashion, he’s now been up to six innings in a start, so he should be able to work relatively deep into his debut effort if his performance dictates.
Skenes’ ascension to the Pirates’ rotation comes at a time when fellow rookie Jared Jones looks well on his way to becoming a high-end rotation arm himself. The 22-year-old Jones entered the season as a top-100 prospect himself and has raced out to a brilliant start: 2.63 ERA, 33.8% strikeout rate, 3.2% walk rate in 41 innings.
In an ideal setting, that electric young duo will join stalwart righty Mitch Keller, who signed a five-year extension during spring training, in forming the core of the Bucs’ rotation for years to come. Veteran Martin Perez is holding down one of the rotation spots behind that trio for now, but he’s only on a one-year contract. Fellow southpaw Marco Gonzales entered the season in the rotation as well, but he’s since gone down with a forearm strain. The Pirates are surely hopeful that some combination of Quinn Priester, Luis Ortiz, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler and Tom Harrington can break through in the majors and form a homegrown rotation that can thrust the team into perennial contention.
The timing of Skenes’ promotion comes at a point when enough time has elapsed that he can’t accrue a full year of big league service time — at least not by conventional means. There will only be 143 days remaining in the season by the time he debuts, leaving him well shy of the requisite 172 for a year of service. However, under the prospect promotion incentives in the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement, Skenes could still gain a full year of service if he finishes in the top two of National League Rookie of the Year voting.
In the event that Skenes achieves that feat, he’d have five additional years of club control, meaning he wouldn’t be eligible for free agency until the 2029-30 offseason and wouldn’t reach arbitration eligibility until the 2026-27 offseason. If Skenes sticks in the big leagues but does not gain a year of service based on Rookie of the Year voting, he’d be under club control through the 2030 season. However, the timing of his promotion also leaves him as a surefire Super Two player in that scenario, meaning he’d still be arb-eligible following the 2026 campaign and would go through the arbitration process four times rather than the standard three.
Shohei Ohtani’s Former Interpreter Pleading Guilty To Multiple Charges
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, is pleading guilty multiple charges relating to the allegations he stole money from Ohtani to fund his gambling habit. Meghann Cuniff of The Washington Post relays on X (link one and link two) that Mizuhara is pleading guilty to bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. Further details are also provided by the Associated Press and Paula Lavigne of ESPN while Cuniff links to the full 33-page plea agreement.
The AP relays that the bank fraud charge carries a maximum of 30 years in federal prison and the false tax return charge carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison. Cuniff reports that Mizuhara will likely be facing 87 to 108 months in federal prison as part of the plea, though “acceptance of responsibility“could drop that to the range of 78 to 97 months. She adds the prosecutors could “recommend a departure from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that puts Mizuhara’s prison time below the 87-108 month range,” with the sentence ultimately to be determined by the judge. Mizuhara will be arraigned on May 14, per the AP. The plea agreement states that Mizuhara will almost certainly be deported to Japan, per Fabian Ardaya and Sam Blum of The Athletic.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement, per the AP. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit.”
Last month, Mizuhara was charged with bank fraud relating to allegations that he transferred more than $16MM from Ohtani’s bank account to an illegal sports book. Cuniff also relayed the full 37-page complaint against Mizuhara at that time.
That document laid out a series of events wherein Mizuhara helped Ohtani set up a bank account when the player first came over from Japan in 2018, to deposit his pay from the Angels. Mizuhara began betting on sports with an illegal bookmaker in 2021, as betting on sports is not legal in California. Over the next few years, Mizuhara wired more than $16MM from Ohtani’s bank account to pay his debts.
Per the allegations of those charges, Mizuhara called Ohtani’s bank and pretended to be the player in order to gain access. As relayed by Lavigne, today’s plea agreement says Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani during phone calls to the bank “at least 24 times.” Ohtani’s agent repeatedly tried to view the account but Mizuhara told him it was “private” and that Ohtani didn’t want them to access it. Ohtani, meanwhile, believed that his accountants and financial advisors were monitoring the accounts. Since Mizuhara handled all translation between Ohtani and his team, each side remained unaware of what was going on.
The complaint against Mizuhara also contained various text messages between him and the bookmakers, as well as between him and Ohtani. The investigators found no evidence that Ohtani knew about Mizuhara’s gambling habits and Ohtani is considered to be a victim in the case. Nor did they find any evidence that Mizuhara bet on baseball. When the story of Mizuhara’s gambling broke in March, he told reporters that the debts were his but that Ohtani agreed to wire the money as his friend. He later retracted that story and said Ohtani knew nothing about either the gambling or the transfers. Ohtani later addressed the media and accused Mizuhara of stealing from him and lying about, saying he knew nothing of what was going on until after the accusations surfaced in the media. Ohtani has been cooperating with the investigation. The complaint against Mizuhara contains a text message where he admits to one of the bookmakers that he stole from Ohtani. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers last month with Will Ireton taking over as Ohtani’s interpreter since then.
MLB’s Department of Investigations had opened an investigation into the matter in March but released the following statement when Mizuhara was charged in April: “We are aware of the charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Mr. Mizuhara for bank fraud after a thorough federal investigation. According to that investigation, Shohei Ohtani is considered a victim of fraud and there is no evidence that he authorized betting with an illegal bookmaker. Further, the investigation did not find any betting on baseball by Mr. Mizuhara. Given the information disclosed today, and other information we have already collected, we will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted.”
Reds Re-Sign Mike Ford To Major League Deal
2:40pm: Encarnacion-Strand is going to miss a month to six weeks, manager David Bell tells Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
2:15pm: Ford’s deal is worth $1.3MM plus incentives, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Assuming that’s prorated, he’ll make just over $1MM for the rest of the year.
1:35pm: The Reds announced Ford’s signing and the corresponding moves. Encarnacion-Strand has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right ulnar styloid fracture. It’s unclear how long they expect him to be out of action. To open a 40-man spot, lefty Brandon Williamson was transferred to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the 15-day IL all year due to shoulder soreness. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported over a week ago that Williamson will be starting a rehab assignment May 9. He’s now ineligible to be activated until late May, 60 days from his initial IL placement, but he’ll likely need a few weeks to get stretched out anyhow.
12:15pm: The Reds are bringing first baseman/designated hitter Mike Ford back to the organization — this time on a major league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The ZS Sports client will join the big league roster today. Cincinnati hasn’t announced the signing and will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster before Ford’s deal can become official.
It’s the third time Ford has signed with the Reds in fewer than three months. He’s previously signed and opted out of a pair of minor league contracts. The Reds could’ve added Ford to the big league roster when he triggered his opt-out clause last Friday but instead opted to let him become a free agent and test the market. It’s clear based on the number of times they’ve signed him that the Reds like the player, however, and it seems they were willing to match or beat whatever other offers Ford found in his brief foray into early season free agency.
Ford, 31, raked at a staggering .455/.486/.727 clip with three homers in 31 spring plate appearances before opening the season with a gaudy .297/.381/.538 slash in his first 105 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s cut his strikeout rate to a manageable 19.4% and coupled it with a stout 11.4% walk rate during his short time with Louisville.
Those impressive numbers come on the heels of a .228/.323/.475 slash in 251 plate appearances with the 2023 Mariners. Ford clobbered 16 home runs and walked at a strong 9.6% clip last year, but his 32.3% strikeout rate was an obvious eyesore. It was also nothing particularly new for Ford, a former Yankees farmhand who’s long had plus power and questionable bat-to-ball skills. In 719 big league plate appearances, Ford is a career .211/.309/.418 hitter. He’s actually hit fellow lefties better than righties, albeit in a small sample of 108 plate appearances compared to 611 plate appearances against righties.
Ford’s addition to the roster comes at a time when both Christian Encarnacion-Strand is struggling and when fellow lefty DH option Nick Martini has already been optioned to the minors. Encarnacion-Strand has been the primary first baseman in Cincinnati, logging 29 games at the position, but he’s flailed his way to a .190/.220/.293 slash in 123 plate appearances. Encarnacion-Strand has long had contact issues and sub-par walk rates, but this year’s 28.5% strikeout rate and microscopic 3.3% walk rate underscore that worrisome approach at the plate.
Ford will give the Reds a lefty-swinging alternative at first base or perhaps simply a regular option in the DH slot. The Reds have used a wide cast of characters there, but Ford could offer more stability in that role. If Cincinnati goes that route, one solution could be to option the struggling Will Benson (.191/.273/.391, 41.6% strikeout rate) and go with a regular outfield of Spencer Steer, TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley.