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A’s To Promote Tyler Soderstrom

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The A’s are promoting top catching/first base prospect Tyler Soderstrom before Friday’s game against the Twins, MLBTR has confirmed. The call-up was first reported by Christopher Correa of the Turlock Journal.

Oakland selected Soderstrom with the 26th overall pick out of a California high school in 2020. The left-handed hitter was regarded as a bat-first catcher on draft day. He’s lived up to that profile in the minors, hitting .272/.333/.525 in 260 professional games.

Soderstrom has been a top young talent for the past couple seasons. He participated in the Futures Game in 2021 (which he did again last weekend) and ranked among Baseball America’s top 25 prospects the following year. Soderstrom traversed three minor league levels last season, hitting .267/.324/.501 while spending the majority of his time in High-A.

He’s spent the entire 2023 campaign with Triple-A Las Vegas. Soderstrom has popped 20 home runs and slugged .536 in 69 games in that extremely hitter-friendly environment. He’s posted middling strikeout and walk numbers, drawing free passes just 6.6% of the time against an elevated 27.6% strikeout percentage. His .303 on-base percentage is last among the 68 hitters with 200+ plate appearances in the Pacific Coast League.

Of course, the 21-year-old was generally facing pitching much older than him at the top minor league level. Heading into the season, Soderstrom was on the Top 100 lists at all of BA, The Athletic, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. Scouting reports are effusive in their praise for his offensive ability. Soderstrom is credited with one of the best hit/power combinations of any player in the minor leagues.

The biggest question, as has been the case since draft day, is his eventual position. Prospect evaluators suggest he’s a well below-average receiving catcher who’s likely to move off the position. That’s before considering the presence of Shea Langeliers, whom the A’s have used behind the dish as their potential long-term replacement for Sean Murphy.

Soderstrom has split his time between catcher and first base with Las Vegas this season. He’s gotten 35 starts behind the plate, 24 nods at first base and nine outings as a designated hitter. Catcher and first are the only positions he’s played in pro ball, though both Baseball America and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel suggested he could be athletic enough to handle third base or the corner outfield if he doesn’t catch regularly.

A’s skipper Mark Kotsay will presumably find ways to get Soderstrom in the lineup on an everyday basis. He could take some starts from Langeliers while working in at first base or DH. Rule 5 draftee Ryan Noda is having a strong rookie campaign and will presumably play whichever of first base or DH that Soderstrom isn’t manning. Brent Rooker and Seth Brown seem likely to take most of their reps in the corner outfield.

There haven’t been many causes for celebration for A’s fans this season. Friday’s game will offer the fanbase and organization a glimpse of what they hope is a more exciting future. Soderstrom joins 2021 second-round selection Zack Gelof in getting his first MLB nod. Gelof isn’t quite the caliber of prospect Soderstrom is, but they’re both generally regarded among the top handful of young talents in the organizational pipeline.

Because he appeared on the preseason Top 100 lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, Soderstrom would be eligible for a full year of service time if he can squeeze out a top-two finish in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. That’s a tall task with less than half a season’s worth of playing time, however. It’s likely he’ll end up shy of a full service year; in that case, he wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2026 season and is controllable through 2029. Future assignments to the minor leagues could push that back further.

The A’s have one opening on the 40-man roster after waiving right-hander Adam Oller this week. They’ll need to create another vacancy to select the contracts of both Gelof and Soderstrom.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Mozeliak: Cardinals’ Deadline Focus Will Be On 2024 Club

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The Cardinals came into 2023 with hopes of contending, as they generally always do. The club has finished below .500 just once this century, back in 2007, and has qualified for the playoff in each of the past four seasons. Unfortunately, things haven’t been trending their way this year, with the Cards currently 38-52 and in last place in the National League Central.

A few weeks ago, the club’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak spoke about how the club hadn’t yet made any concrete decisions about how to approach the deadline. But those plans seem to have firmed up recently, with Mozeliak speaking with Martin Kilcoyne of The Kilcoyne Conversation at Scoops with Danny Mac, discussing how the club is planning to make moves aimed at improving the 2024 roster.

Mozeliak says that the club won’t be “waving the white flag” but admits that “all decisions or all moves we do really will try to set us up for next year.” He goes on to say that they won’t just give players away but that they “want to get some return that’s going to help us for 2024 and that’s going to be, really, our focus as we enter the trading period.” He also admitted that there’s not really such a thing as a player who’s “untouchable” because anything can happen, but also states that “The fact is we hope we can keep our core together and then, you know, supplement it properly.”

To hear him take such a stance is hardly surprising, given their current place in the standings. They are 11.5 games out in the division and 11 back of the final Wild Card spot right now. FanGraphs currently pegs their playoff odds at just 6.3%. A hot streak between the All-Star break and the deadline could change those odds, but it seems the club is accepting that their best path forward is to make decisions with their eyes set on a fresh start next year.

The club could have also considered committing to a more significant rebuild with their sights set even further into the future, but there are reasons why it makes sense to take a more measured approach. The club came into this year with a strong roster than many predicted to win the division and that could easily be true of 2024 as well, especially since every position player on the club is still under club control for next year. The pitching staff is a different story, but some modest selling could still leave the club with a solid core for next year.

There’s also the fact that this year’s deadline seems to be lining up to be a seller’s market, with so many clubs still hovering near contention thanks to the expanded postseason and some weaker divisions. By staking out some space in the seller column, the Cards could quickly add some controllable talent to the system and then figure out how to proceed in the offseason.

In terms of impending free agents, the club will have plenty of players to shop around. Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty are each slated to reach free agency this winter and should garner plenty of interest, especially with pitching always in demand around the league. Montgomery has a long track record of solid production and is having arguably his best season to date, with a 3.23 ERA that would be a personal best. Flaherty’s 4.27 ERA isn’t quite as impressive but he’s shown better upside in the past, including his 2.75 ERA in 2019. Relievers Chris Stratton and Jordan Hicks are each having nice seasons and could also be flipped before they reach free agency in a few months’ time.

Since those aforementioned players are all rentals, moving them wouldn’t hurt the 2024 club in any way. The Cards could potentially hang onto to them and issue them qualifying offers in order to receive compensatory draft picks, though Mozeliak admitted that “Our hope is we can get more than just the pick, and so that will be what we try to do.” That also tracks with the club’s aims of continuing to compete in 2024, as they could recoup players close to helping at the major league level, whereas a draft pick wouldn’t be likely to help the club until years down the line.

There’s also an argument to be made that the Cards could trade some controllable position players in a way that helps the 2024 club. They have plenty of outfielders in the mix, including Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Tyler O’Neill and Alec Burleson, while infielders like Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan have also been pushed into the outfield of late as Paul DeJong and Nolan Gorman have regularly taken the middle infield spots. One of the club’s top prospects, shortstop Masyn Winn, is in Triple-A this year and should be due for a major league audition at some point. Other depth options on the 40-man include Juan Yepez, Moises Gomez and Richie Palacios. The club also has Iván Herrera, a valuable catching prospect, who is currently blocked by Willson Contreras.

That’s quite the crowded picture and the Cards could perhaps decide which players they like best while moving a few others while still having a solid group overall. However, those kinds of decisions aren’t always easy to make, as the club has seen in recent years. Mozeliak admitted that the club made mistakes in letting go of players like Randy Arozarena and Adolis García while sticking with guys like O’Neill and Harrison Bader.

It’s easy to make those kinds of calls with the benefit of hindsight, but the Cards may have to make some tough decisions again, especially in order to improve the pitching staff. With Montgomery, Flaherty, Hicks and Stratton on their way to free agency and Adam Wainwright set to retire, there are plenty of holes to fill on the pitching side of things. Some of the remaining options are also questionable, with Mozeliak admitting the club didn’t get what they expected from pitchers like Dakota Hudson and Matthew Liberatore this year.

As for the coaching, Mozeliak doesn’t lay any blame at the foot of second-year manager Oli Marmol. “I don’t think the coaches have any fault in this,” Mozeliak said. “They are handed the players. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. But I think Oli and his group do a really good job. They work really hard. And, you know, they continue to do that. But their level of frustration is probably as real as the fan base.” Marmol’s first season at the helm resulted in a 93-69 record and a division title. The results haven’t been there this season but it seems like he’s likely to get another shot with a different roster next year.

Exactly how the Cards navigate the deadline will undoubtedly be influenced by what kind of conversations they have with other clubs in the weeks to come, but it seems like they have settled on a broad plan of making whatever decisions will help the club next year. That likely means impending free agents will be available and perhaps other players as well. This year’s trade deadline is August 1, now less than three weeks away.

Brown: Astros Prioritizing Rotation Help

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Astros general manager Dana Brown hasn’t been shy about his desire to add a left-handed bat to his lineup, publicly calling that his front office’s focus as recently as two weeks ago. However, asked this morning during his weekly appearance on 790 AM’s Sean Salisbury Show where he’d make an upgrade if he could only improve at one spot on his roster, the first-year GM changed course and suggested it’d be in the rotation (link contains full audio of the 11-minute interview).

“With the pitchers that we’ve had going down, it could put us in a situation where we come up short or we don’t get to that next round of the playoffs,” said Brown. “A good arm would be really, really helpful. … The problem is, there are not many good arms out there.”

[Related: Top 50 Deadline Trade Candidates]

Houston has seen more than its share of rotation injuries in 2023. Lance McCullers Jr. won’t pitch this year after undergoing flexor tendon surgery, and the ’Stros have also lost fellow righty Luis Garcia to Tommy John surgery. Jose Urquidy has been out since late April due to a shoulder injury. And, since Brown’s last comments about prioritizing a bat, he’s revealed that ace Framber Valdez has been pitching through an ankle sprain. Meanwhile, right-hander Cristian Javier has been slumping (22 runs in his past 21 1/3 innings) and had his spot in the rotation skipped over leading into the break. Brown indicated this morning that Javier simply “needed a breather” and gave no indication that the right-hander is dealing with any sort of injury.

As it stands, the Astros are leaning on Valdez (ostensibly at less than 100%), Brandon Bielak and rookies Hunter Brown and J.P. France. Presumably, Javier will slot back into the rotation early in the second half. Houston has taken a look at right-handers Ronel Blanco and Shawn Dubin in the rotation, too. By and large, it’s a group of inexperienced starters. Outside of Brown, none of the rookies were considered particularly high-end prospects. Each of Brown, Bielak, France and Dubin is already approaching his 2022 innings total; Blanco has already exceeded last year’s workload. Urquidy has not yet begun a minor league rehab assignment.

Even with those injuries and workload concerns, Houston starters rank fourth in the Majors with a 3.74 ERA. Valdez’s outstanding year plays a large role in that collective figure, but Houston’s in-house rotation reinforcements have undeniably done a nice job in keeping the team afloat. With each rapidly approaching last year’s innings tally and with Valdez at least somewhat banged up, it’s natural to hear Brown express a desire to bolster the group.

In prior comments, Brown made clear that he’s not interested in parting with the top prospects in his system in exchange for rental players. Pitchers controlled beyond the current season could potentially fall into a different category, and if there are teams willing to put controllable arms up for sale, the Astros could be more apt to part with higher-end talent. Lucas Giolito, Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty and Michael Lorenzen are among the rental arms expected to be available, while more controllable trade candidates include Shane Bieber and Paul Blackburn. Righties Kyle Hendricks and Lance Lynn both have team options for the 2024 season, though Lynn could be trending toward a buyout. Marcus Stroman and Eduardo Rodriguez have opt-out opportunities this winter, so they’ll be treated as rentals, at best, by interested parties.

Yankees Name Sean Casey Hitting Coach

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4:25pm: The Yankees have officially announced Casey’s hiring.

11:37am: Heyman tweets that Casey has agreed to take on the role for the remainder of the 2023 season. Presumably, these next few months will serve as a trial run for a potentially longer stint in the position, but the short-term nature of Casey’s agreement also creates the possibility that there will be another search conducted in the offseason.

11:33am: The Yankees dismissed hitting coach Dillon Lawson over the weekend, and they’ve wasted little time in zeroing in on a replacement. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that they’ll hire former All-Star first baseman and current MLB Network personality Sean Casey as Lawson’s successor. Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that Casey was under “strong” consideration for the position (Twitter links).

Casey, 49, is something of an outside-the-box hire, as he’s never worked as a coach at the minor league or major league level since ending his 12-year playing career in 2008. The three-time All-Star has been working as a broadcaster and analyst on the MLB Network for the past several years. In that sense, there are some parallels between his hiring and that of manager Aaron Boone — another former player who went straight from broadcasting back into a big league dugout. Boone and Casey were teammates with the Reds from 1998 through 2003, when Boone was traded to the Yankees. That familiarity surely plays a role in the decision to consider and ultimately hire Casey despite his lack of experience coaching.

While Casey is new to coaching, he certainly knows a thing or two about hitting. The former second-round pick retired as a .302/.367/.447 hitter and had just a 10.2% strikeout rate against an 8.5% walk rate in 5644 big league plate appearances. Casey made the NL All-Star team in 1999, 2001 and 2004, and he finished out his career with 130 home runs, 322 doubles and 12 triples.

Casey’s background couldn’t be much different from that of his predecessor. Lawson didn’t play baseball professionally, going directly from college ball to the college coaching ranks and eventually coaching in the Royals’ system before being hired away by the Yankees. After a couple years as the organization’s minor league hitting coordinator, Lawson was elevated to the major league hitting coach position following the ’21 campaign, though his time in that spot ultimately lasted just one and a half seasons.

In addition to his dozen years playing at the big league level, Casey has spent considerable time interacting with and building a rapport with current players through his work on MLB Network. “The Mayor” is known for a gregarious and jovial personality. At the very least, one can imagine he’ll have little trouble connecting with the Yankees’ players and fitting in from a clubhouse perspective. The rest of the season will be used to determine both his coaching acumen, his appetite for returning to the dugout on a long-term basis, and whether Yankees decision-makers feel he’s equipped to handle the position in 2024 and beyond.

Pirates Select Paul Skenes With First Pick Of 2023 Draft

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The Pirates selected LSU right-hander Paul Skenes with the first overall pick of the 2023 amateur draft.  The 21-year-old Skenes joins Henry Davis (2021), Gerrit Cole (2011), Bryan Bullington (2002), Kris Benson (1996), and Jeff King (1986) as players selected by Pittsburgh as the first overall pick.  FanSided’s Robert Murray was the first to report that Pittsburgh was taking Skenes.

In a draft class that is heavier on position players in the top tier, Skenes has long stood out as the best pitcher of this year’s prospects, and one of the favorites to go first overall.  MLB Pipeline ranked Skenes as the top overall draft prospect of 2023, while Baseball America ranked him second (behind LSU teammate Dylan Crews) and Fangraphs, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel all had Skenes third.

The pundits are unanimous in their praise for Skenes’ fastball (which touches 100 mph) and slider, which are both considered plus-plus pitches.  Relying mostly on this two-pitch arsenal, Skenes dominated collegiate batters, helping lead LSU to the College World Series title.  His changeup is a bit more of a work in progress simply because Skenes hasn’t thrown it all that much, but Pipeline’s scouting report describes the pitch as “88-93 mph with fade and is a solid offering when he lands it in the strike zone.”  Skenes has strong command of his pitches, and he has a classic pitcher’s build at 6’6 and 235 pounds.  If this wasn’t enough, Skenes was also an excellent hitter while playing as a catcher before he focused entirely on pitching — while there hasn’t been any two-way speculation, it at least speaks to Skenes’ athleticism.

The Pirates earned the top pick via the first-ever MLB Draft Lottery, which took place last December at the Winter Meetings.  In an effort to combat tanking, the lottery was instituted in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement as a new method to determine the top six picks in the draft order.  All 18 of the non-playoff teams technically had a shot at earning a top-six pick, though naturally teams with worse records had better chances of landing one of those top spots.  The Nationals and Athletics each had worse records than the Pirates’ 62-100 mark in 2022, but it was Pittsburgh who lucked out and landed the first overall pick.

The Bucs’ rebuild has made them regulars near the top of the draft in recent years, but between these selections, their additional picks later in the draft, international signings and prospects picked up in trades, the Pirates are hopeful that their young core is getting ready to turn the franchise around.  We saw some hints of promise with the Pirates’ excellent 19-9 record in April, though their subsequent struggles indicate that Pittsburgh’s true breakout might be at least one more season away.

With light perhaps at the end of the rebuilding tunnel, the Pirates certainly hope that this is the last time they’ll have such a high pick (barring some major lottery luck) in the foreseeable future.  This makes Skenes an even more important prospect as perhaps the last consensus blue-chipper the Pirates might be selecting in the coming years, and he immediately becomes the club’s most prized pitching prospect.  Since Ben Cherington was hired as Pittsburgh’s GM in November 2019, his front offices have favored position players with their top picks — Nick Gonzales seventh overall in 2020, Davis first overall in 2021, and Termarr Johnson fourth overall last year.

The first overall pick has an assigned slot value of $9,721,000, and it remains to be seen if finances might have played some role in Pittsburgh’s choice of Skenes.  Crews was rumored to be wanting an above-slot signing bonus, so taking Skenes might have been a better financial fit for the Pirates, plus Skenes was in no way a reach at 1-1.  With a $16,185,700 bonus pool to work with, the Bucs have plenty of flexibility to sign Skenes and spread some money around to other highly-touted prospects further down the board.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

2023 MLB Draft, First Round Results

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The 2023 MLB Draft begins tonight, and this post will be constantly updated with each team’s selections from the first round.  The Mets and Dodgers are the only teams without a first-rounder, as their top picks were each dropped 10 places overall as part of their punishment for exceeding the highest luxury-tax tier in 2022.  As a result, the Mets won’t have a selection until the 32nd overall pick, and the Dodgers won’t select until 36th overall.

The first-round selections….

  1. Pittsburgh Pirates: Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU
  2. Washington Nationals: Dylan Crews, OF, LSU
  3. Detroit Tigers: Max Clark, OF, Franklin Community High School (IN)
  4. Texas Rangers: Wyatt Langford, OF, University Of Florida
  5. Minnesota Twins: Walker Jenkins, OF, South Brunswick High School (NC)
  6. Oakland Athletics: Jacob Wilson, SS, Grand Canyon University
  7. Cincinnati Reds: Rhett Lowder, RHP, Wake Forest
  8. Kansas City Royals: Blake Mitchell, C, Sinton High School (TX)
  9. Colorado Rockies: Chase Dollander, RHP, University of Tennessee
  10. Miami Marlins: Noble Meyer, RHP, Jesuit High School (OR)
  11. Los Angeles Angels: Nolan Schanuel, 1B/OF, Florida Atlantic
  12. Arizona Diamondbacks: Tommy Troy, SS, Stanford
  13. Chicago Cubs: Matthew Shaw, SS, University of Maryland
  14. Boston Red Sox: Kyle Teel, C, University of Virginia
  15. Chicago White Sox: Jacob Gonzalez, SS, University Of Mississippi
  16. San Francisco Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B/RHP, Madison High School (VA)
  17. Baltimore Orioles: Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Vanderbilt
  18. Milwaukee Brewers: Brock Wilken, 3B, Wake Forest
  19. Tampa Bay Rays: Brayden Taylor, 3B/SS, TCU
  20. Toronto Blue Jays: Arjun Nimmala, SS, Strawberry Crest High School (FL)
  21. St. Louis Cardinals: Chase Davis, OF, University of Arizona
  22. Seattle Mariners: Colt Emerson, SS, Glenn High School (OH)
  23. Cleveland Guardians: Ralphy Velazquez, C, Huntington Beach High School (CA)
  24. Atlanta Braves: Hurston Waldrep, RHP, University of Florida
  25. San Diego Padres: Dillon Head, OF, Homewood-Flossmoor High School (IL)
  26. New York Yankees: George Lombard Jr., 3B/SS, Gulliver Prep High School (FL)
  27. Philadelphia Phillies: Aidan Miller, 3B/SS, Mitchell High School (FL)
  28. Houston Astros: Brice Matthews, SS, University of Nebraska

This year’s draft will again be 20 rounds long, and split over three days.  Rounds 11-20 will take place on Tuesday, rounds 3-10 on Monday, and the draft’s first 70 picks will be made tonight.  Those 70 picks cover the first two official rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, the two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents), and the first-ever Prospect Promotion Incentive Pick.  The Mariners received the PPI selection at 29th overall, since Julio Rodriguez filled the criteria of winning the Rookie Of The Year Award, being part of his team’s active roster from Opening Day onwards, and he ranked as a preseason top-100 prospect by at least two of Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline.

The PPI is one of several new wrinkles to the 2023 draft, as this is the first draft held under the new guidelines established by the 2022-2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The process for determining the 14 teams in the Competitive Balance Rounds was also tweaked, though the teams (all in the bottom 10 in market size or revenue size) will still have their picks split up over two mini-rounds sandwiched around the second round.  The most obvious change came at the very top of the board, as this was the first year of the lottery process to determine the draft’s top six picks.  This is how the Pirates ended up with the first overall selection, even though the Nationals and A’s each had worse records in 2022.

This year’s draft class is considered to be one of the deepest and most talent-laden in years, so several potential franchise-changing players could be starting their pro careers tonight.  More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.  As well, Pipeline has the 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.

Drew Rasmussen To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

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Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen is set to undergo an internal brace surgery that will end his 2023 season, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Rasmussen has been out with a flexor strain since mid-May, though the club initially hoped he could return this season. The 27-year-old hurler now is not expected return until midway through the 2024 campaign, per Topkin.

The news is yet another blow to a Rays rotation that lost left-hander Shane McClanahan to the injured list at the end of June. Rasmussen will now join left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who underwent Tommy John surgery back in April, in missing the remainder of the 2023 campaign. The Rays are currently leaning on a rotation of Tyler Glasnow, Taj Bradley, Zach Eflin, and Yonny Chirinos as they await McClanahan’s return from the IL. While that’s a solid group who has combined for a 3.99 in 252 1/3 innings this season, it’s hard to deny to that both Rasmussen (2.62 ERA in eight starts) and Springs (0.56 ERA in three starts) would be major upgrades to the current group if healthy.

News that Tampa will be without Rasmussen for the rest of the season comes just three weeks before the August 1 trade deadline. The Rays are the top team in the AL with a 57-34 record even as they’ve not been able to field their five best starters at the same time for a single turn through the rotation all season.  Still, without Rasmussen to help bolster the pitching staff down the stretch and into the playoffs the club’s already-acknowledged need to add pitching in the coming weeks is only intensified.

Of course, the market for starting pitchers is always a competitive one, and GM Peter Bendix previously indicated the club was unlikely to participate in a bidding war for the most highly sought-after hurlers. While it’s possible the recent news on Rasmussen has increased the club’s urgency to make impactful additions, the Rays may still prefer to stick to less sought-after options like Jack Flaherty or Michael Lorenzen rather than pursue top-of-the-market arms like Lucas Giolito.

Looking beyond the 2023 campaign, the Rays are currently set to enter the 2024 campaign without the services of either Rasmussen or Springs. Glasnow, McClanahan, Bradley, Eflin, and Chirinos are all controlled through at least 2024, giving them a plausible Opening Day rotation still under contract, but with minimal depth outside of that group, it would hardly be a surprise if the club pursued additionally starting depth during the coming offseason- that is, unless they add an arm with multiple years of control this summer.

Hector Neris Reaches 110 Astros Appearances, Converts 2024 Option

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Astros right-hander Hector Neris made his 110th appearance tonight since signing a two-year, $17MM deal with Houston prior to the 2022 season. Tonight’s appearance triggered a clause in that contract converts the deal’s $8.5MM team option ($1MM buyout) into a player option. Neris needed to reach either 60 appearances in 2023 or 110 appearances between 2022 and 2023 to convert the option. With tonight’s appearance in the books, the 34-year-old righty will have control of the option this coming offseason, though the Associated Press notes that if Neris ends the 2023 campaign on the injured list or fails to pass a physical after the season, the Astros will retain control of the option.

If the second half of Neris’s 2023 campaign goes as well as the first half has, the righty will surely decline the option if given the opportunity. Prior to tonight’s scoreless outing, Neris boasted a 1.47 ERA in 36 2/3 innings of work, good for a whopping 287 ERA+. Neris’s peripherals leave room for some mild concern: he sports a rather high 10.4% walk rate, has stranded a whopping 95.8% of baserunners, and has allowed a career-low .232 BABIP. Of course, the regression one might expect given those numbers is baked into advanced metrics. Those metrics are rather bullish on Neris: the righty sports a solid 3.73 FIP, an excellent 2.76 xERA and a strong 3.55 SIERA.

Neris will be entering his age-35 season in 2024, so it’s possible that his age will limit any multi-year offers he receives in free agency. Even if that turns out to be the case, however, it’s certainly feasible for Neris could surpass the $7.5MM he’d be leaving on the table by testing the open market. After all, David Robertson landed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Mets last offseason entering his age-38 campaign after posting a 2.40 ERA and 3.58 FIP in his first fully healthy season since 2018.

In the meantime, Neris figures to be the Astros’ top setup option for closer Ryan Pressly as Houston looks to defend its 2022 World Series championship. The club is currently 50-40, two games back of the Rangers for control of the AL West and one game ahead of the Yankees and Blue Jays for the second of three AL Wild Card spots.

Latest On Andrew Painter

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TODAY: Thomson told Matt Gelb and other reporters that Painter received good news in his tests, as the right-hander’s UCL looks to be healing.  Painter will remain in shutdown mode while the Phillies continue to monitor the situation and until the elbow soreness subsides, but it seems as though there isn’t anything overtly wrong with Painter’s arm.

JULY 7: Phillies’ top pitching prospect Andrew Painter is headed for evaluation after reporting discomfort in his throwing elbow, manager Rob Thomson informed the beat (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer). He’ll be shut down from throwing pending further testing, writes Matt Gelb of the Athletic.

Thomson declined to provide specifics on the evaluation or a timeline for when the club would have more information. The skipper did suggest he’s at least somewhat alarmed by the situation. “Well, I’m concerned,” Thomson told reporters. “You’re always concerned when guys are sore. We’ll know more after we get the test back.”

It’s an ominous continuation of arm issues that have bothered the right-hander for the bulk of the year. Painter turned heads early in Spring Training and looked to have a strong chance at securing an Opening Day rotation spot before his 20th birthday. He sprained the UCL in his throwing elbow midway through exhibition play, however, requiring a multi-week shutdown.

That obviously killed any chance of Painter breaking camp. The Phils still held out hope for a midseason return. The 6’7″ hurler was scheduled to throw to hitters this week for the first time since March. Once he felt some soreness, they modified that plan to have him throw a bullpen session instead. Painter came out of that with renewed elbow discomfort, necessitating further testing.

With more uncertainty regarding Painter’s timetable for a return to game action, the Phillies could face some urgency to add rotation help in the coming weeks. Gelb reports that the Phils have told opposing clubs they were monitoring Painter’s rehab before deciding whether to turn to the trade market for starting pitching.

Philadelphia has an established front four of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Taijuan Walker. They’ve rotated through various options in the final spot. Bailey Falter got the first look but struggled to a 5.13 ERA in eight appearances before being optioned to the minors. Matt Strahm got a season-opening rotation job while Suárez was injured. He pitched well, but the Phils have seemingly preferred to use him in the bullpen to keep an eye on his workload.

Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez has had the job of late. The 26-year-old has had a strong month, working to a 2.84 ERA on the back of a massive 55.6% grounder rate through five starts. Whether Sánchez keeps performing at that level could also impact the deadline calculus for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and his front office staff.

Tigers Designate Jonathan Schoop For Assignment

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TODAY: The Tigers officially announced that Schoop has been DFA’ed.

JULY 7: The Tigers are designating veteran infielder Jonathan Schoop for assignment, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The club has yet to announce the move.

Once official, it’ll close the book on a nearly four-season tenure in the Motor City. The Tigers first signed the former All-Star second baseman to a $6.1MM pact heading into 2020. Schoop put up a quality .278/.324/.475 line over 44 games during the abbreviated season. Detroit brought him back on a $4.5MM guarantee the next winter, and the right-handed hitter put together another strong season.

Schoop played in 156 games and hit .278/.320/.435 with 22 home runs. As an impending free agent on a rebuilding Detroit club, he looked a logical deadline trade candidate. Instead, Detroit held him past the deadline and extended him on a two-year, $15MM deal in August. That contract contained matching $7.5MM salaries for 2022-23 and allowed Schoop to opt out after the first season.

The third contract did not pan out. Schoop’s offense has cratered. He hit .202/.239/.322 across 510 trips to the plate last year. He made the obvious call to return to Detroit rather than testing the open market. Hopes of a rebound campaign have been dashed by a nightmarish first half. Schoop hasn’t connected on a single home run and carries a .213/.278/.272 batting line over 55 contests.

Between the two seasons, he’s a .204/.248/.311 hitter. Among the 203 hitters with 600+ plate appearances since the start of last season, Schoop ranks last in on-base percentage and third from the bottom (above Nicky Lopez and Myles Straw) in slugging. Detroit has pushed him from everyday second base work into more of a platoon capacity, giving most of the recent second/third base reps to Andy Ibañez and Zach McKinstry.

Schoop is due a little less than $3.5MM from now through season’s end. No team is going to take on that money given his offensive struggles. He’s likely to be released within the next few days. Once he clears waivers, the Tigers would remain on the hook for the bulk of that sum. Any team that adds Schoop would owe him just the prorated portion of the $720K minimum for whatever time he spends on their MLB roster.

While he might be limited to minor league offers at that point, he should be of interest to clubs seeking infield depth. Schoop is still just 31 and was a career .262/.301/.448 hitter through the end of 2021. He can cover either second or third base and remains an excellent defensive option at the keystone, in particular.

Statcast credited Schoop as a staggering 21 runs above average with the glove last season. Defensive Runs Saved wasn’t quite so bullish but still rated him among the league’s best at +8 runs. He’s not likely to repeat quite so exceptional a defensive season, but both DRS and Statcast have pegged him a few runs above par in 160 2/3 second base innings this year as well.

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