Mets GM Zack Scott Facing DWI Charge
Sept. 2: Scott pleaded not guilty to the DWI charge at this morning’s arraignment, writes Ryan Gerbosi of Newsday. He has another court date scheduled on Oct. 7.
Sept. 1: Mets acting general manager Zack Scott was arrested in White Plains, N.Y., early Tuesday morning, as first reported by Mike Puma, Craig McCarthy and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon of the New York Post. The Post reports that police found Scott “dozing” in a vehicle, at which point he allegedly refused a breathalyzer but failed a field sobriety test. CBS 2 New York indicates that an officer saw the vehicle in question “driving erratically” shortly before the arrest. Scott has been charged and is due back in White Plains City Court this Thursday, per the Post report.
The Mets issued a statement just minutes after the news of Scott’s arrest was reported, which reads as follows:
“We were surprised and deeply disappointed to learn this morning about an alleged DUI involving Zack Scott. We take this matter very seriously. Zack will not be traveling with the team for our upcoming road trip while we learn more and determine next steps.”
The 44-year-old Scott is in his first year with the Mets, having been hired out of the Red Sox organization, where he oversaw the pro scouting and analytics departments, this past offseason. Scott was originally hired as an assistant general manager but was elevated to the title of acting general manager after then-GM Jared Porter was fired.
Kenta Maeda Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Twins ace Kenta Maeda underwent Tommy John surgery today, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press and Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). The operation involved the placement of an internal brace in Maeda’s elbow that apparently has a chance to expedite the recovery timeline. While Tommy John rehabilitation typically takes around fourteen months, Baldelli suggested Maeda could return in between nine and twelve months time. A more definitive timetable will be apparent a few months from now.
It’s not a particularly surprising development, as Baldelli acknowledged that a Tommy John procedure was a possibility when he announced that Maeda would be going under the knife last week. Nevertheless, it’s unquestionably disappointing for a Minnesota team that — even in a best-case scenario — will have to navigate at least half the season without their top pitcher.
Even if everything progresses well, it seems unlikely Maeda will be able to return before next season’s All-Star Break. A nine-month shutdown would keep the right-hander from throwing until early June. He’ll need at least a few weeks to build up arm strength once he’s cleared to begin throwing and will have to embark upon a lengthy minor league rehab assignment.
Losing Maeda makes the Twins’ attempt to compete in 2022 all the more difficult. While Minnesota was widely expected to contend for the American League Central entering this season, the team started dreadfully and played their way out of the playoff picture almost immediately. They enter play tonight 58-74, placing them at the bottom of the division with a -100 run differential.
The rotation has been perhaps the biggest reason for that massive underperformance. Offseason pickups Matt Shoemaker and J.A. Happ didn’t pan out. Maeda and Michael Pineda both dealt with injuries. José Berríos was great but was shipped off to the Blue Jays at the deadline. That leaves Minnesota relying on an unproven starting staff for the stretch run with plenty of opportunity for the younger arms to earn a spot in next year’s season-opening rotation.
Only Bailey Ober appears to have locked down one of those spots thanks to a strong rookie year. Prospect Joe Ryan — acquired from the Rays in the Nelson Cruz trade — is making his big league debut tonight. Griffin Jax and Randy Dobnak have generally disappointed this season, and the Twins are also giving looks to soft-tossing journeyman Andrew Albers and reliever-turned-starter John Gant. Pineda, who is currently on the injured list, will be a free agent at season’s end. Prospect Jordan Balazovic might get his first MLB call at some point over the next couple weeks.
Rebuilding that rotation will be the top priority for the Twins’ front office this winter. Minnesota will have plenty of payroll space over the offseason but virtually no certainty in the starting staff. They figure to be very active players in a free agent market that’ll features Kevin Gausman, Marcus Stroman, Robbie Ray and Carlos Rodón at the top of the class and also includes notables like Anthony DeSclafani, Zack Greinke, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, and Alex Wood. With much of a quality position player group still in place, the rotation was likely the big-ticket issue for the Twins even before Maeda’s injury.
Missing a substantial chunk of time will come at a pretty significant financial cost for Maeda. The 33-year-old’s contract is heavily incentive-laden due to concerns the Dodgers’ front office had about the results of his physical. Maeda is guaranteed just $3MM annually (with additional $150K roster bonuses each season) through 2023. He unlocks a $1MM bonus for reaching his fifteenth and twentieth starts of each season, with additional incentives available based on starts.
Maeda also picks up $250K for reaching ninety innings each year, with additional $250K increments locked in for each ten innings accrued thereafter — maxing out at 200 frames. Until a more definite timetable is revealed, it’s impossible to know precisely how much Maeda will lose because of the surgery. It at least seems as if he’ll miss out on the majority of his earning upside in 2022 as a result of today’s operation.
Athletics Select Khris Davis
Khris Davis is officially back in Oakland. The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve selected his contract from Triple-A Las Vegas and recalled catcher Austin Allen as well, filling the two new spots on their expanded September roster.
Davis, 33, was traded from Oakland to Texas alongside catcher Jonah Heim and righty Dane Acker over the winter in a financially driven swap that brought veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus, catcher Aramis Garcia and cash back to the A’s. He lasted just 22 games and 61 plate appearances with the Rangers, however, as the struggles that plagued Davis with the 2019-20 A’s only worsened in Arlington. The Rangers released him on June 13.
The A’s brought Davis back to the organization on a minor league deal in early August, and he responded by absolutely decimating Triple-A pitching over a 16-game stretch. In 68 plate appearances with Vegas, Davis batted .333/.382/.921 with 10 home runs, three doubles and a pair of triples. He struck out just 13 times in that stretch (19.1 percent).
It’s obviously a small sample against inferior pitching in a wildly hitter-friendly setting, but Davis did everything the A’s could have hoped for (and then some) during his trial run back in Triple-A. That monstrous output in Vegas will earn him a look back in the big leagues, offering him an audition for any interested parties in the offseason, when he’ll be a free agent. If he’s back to his former self, Davis can provide the A’s a big power boost as they look to close a one-game deficit in the American League Wild Card standings and a five-game gap in the American League West.
The 27-year-old Allen has been up and down with the A’s a bit over the past two seasons since coming over in the trade that sent Jurickson Profar to the Padres. He’s had only six plate appearances this season but has enjoyed a highly productive season of his own in Triple-A, batting .321/.356/.592 (126 wRC+) with 20 long balls and 15 doubles on the season.
Mariners Extend Jerry Dipoto, Scott Servais
The Mariners announced Wednesday that they’ve promoted general manager Jerry Dipoto to president of baseball operations and signed him to a multi-year contract extension. The club has also announced a multi-year extension for manager Scott Servais. The length of the contracts were not specified.
“Jerry is a creative, passionate leader with a clear vision for our franchise,” managing partner John Stanton said in today’s press release. “Following the 2018 season, Jerry came to us with a plan for how to compete for and win championships. He was transparent on the difficulty, but also clear on the goals and milestones. In the two-and-a-half years since, he has led the baseball operations group through challenges on and off the field, while executing on the timeline he laid out.”
Stanton points out that the Mariners’ 91-76 record since the midpoint of last season ranks sixth in baseball, praises the “first-class operations and analytics team” built by Dipoto, and expresses pride in a farm system that recently topped Baseball America’s midseason rankings. The Mariners are also just three and a half games back in the American League Wild Card race, outperforming broad expectations in what most expected to be another rebuilding season.
The 2021 campaign is Dipoto’s sixth full season with the Mariners, who hired him as general manager on Sept. 28, 2015. He’d previously served as interim general manager of the Diamondbacks and spent nearly five seasons as general manager of the Angels before leaving the organization after a public rift with manager Mike Scioscia. Dipoto then served as a special assistant in the Red Sox’ front office before being tabbed as Seattle’s new head of baseball operations.
Mariners ownership brought Dipoto aboard in the midst of a win-now push. At the time, Dipoto was stepping into an organization that had a bloated long-term payroll and one of the game’s worst-ranked farm systems. Seattle posted winning records in two of Dipoto’s first three seasons (2016 and 2018) but did not reach the playoffs. With several aging veterans and little help on the immediate horizon, Dipoto set out to “reimagine” the Mariners’ roster and farm system following an 89-win 2018 season.
Over the next two seasons, he traded away the likes of Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, James Paxton, Jean Segura, Austin Nola and many others as he sought to replenish the minor league system and bring about a youth movement. His efforts continued all the way through the current deadline, when Dipoto somewhat controversially traded closer Kendall Graveman to his chief division rival for five years of control over young infielder Abraham Toro. (Toro hit a grand slam off Graveman last night.)
That youth movement has begun to arrive in Seattle, led by names such as Toro, Ty France, J.P. Crawford, Luis Torrens and others. Some of Dipoto’s early acquisitions, such as Mitch Haniger and Marco Gonzales, have become mainstays on the roster and played key roles in the team’s emergence. Free-agent additions such as Chris Flexen and Yusei Kikuchi have been vital to the team’s 2021 rotation.
A new multi-year extension gives Dipoto the opportunity to see a rebuild he initially pushed for all the way through to its culmination. While the Mariners have begun to see some of the fruits of those rebuilding efforts, the club hopes there’s more on the horizon not just via the young big leaguers who’ve struggled (e.g. Jarred Kelenic) but also the numerous top prospects still on the farm. Outfielder Julio Rodriguez, right-handers Emerson Hancock and George Kirby and infielder Noelvi Marte, among others, could all reach the Majors by 2023 — many of them as soon as next season.
The rebuilding effort has also left Seattle with a squeaky-clean payroll outlook. The Mariners have just $19MM committed to next year’s payroll (before arbitration raises and decisions on options for Kyle Seager and Kikuchi). They’ll take that minimal level of financial commitment to a free-agent market that is deeper in talent than any we’ve seen in recent memory and look to augment the young core with some veterans to take the team to a new level in 2022 and beyond.
The sheer volume of trades made by Dipoto, who has more than earned his “Trader Jerry” nickname since taking the reins in Seattle, opens him up to some criticism and has created his share of detractors. However, it’s tough to argue that the team’s farm system, payroll outlook and current big league roster paint anything other than a bright future that is largely because of its current baseball operations leader’s doing.
Servais, like Dipoto, is in his sixth season with the Mariners. He’d worked as an assistant general manager in the Angels front office during Dipoto’s time as GM there, setting up a strong foundation for the two to build upon in Seattle.
“Scott has done a terrific job in defining our team’s culture as one that is driven by process, hard work and heart,” Dipoto said in a press release announcing Servais’ new contract. “That has allowed us to bring young, talented players to the Majors over the past three years and see them adjust and succeed as we build towards a team that competes for championships on an annual basis. The resiliency our club has shown in overcoming challenges on, and off, the field over the past two years have been a direct result of Scott’s leadership of the team and coaching staff.”
The Mariners are the only club Servais has ever managed, and through his six seasons he holds a 419-422 record. That’s skewed largely by a 68-94 record in 2019 — the first season of the club’s rebuild. Servais has a pair of winning seasons on his record and ought to add a third to the ledger in 2021, barring a seismic September collapse.
The larger question isn’t whether the Mariners will finish the current season with a winning record but rather whether they’ll be able to close a 3.5-game Wild Card deficit, thereby snapping a two-decade playoff drought. Even if a return to the postseason doesn’t happen in 2021, it would surely be viewed as a disappointment among fans, the players, the front office and ownership if a return to the playoffs doesn’t come to fruition over the life of these new contracts for Dipoto and Servais. Their ability to push this club from a young, up-and-coming club on the rise to bona fide postseason contenders will determine whether future extensions are in order.
Blue Jays Designate Brad Hand For Assignment
The Blue Jays are designating reliever Brad Hand for assignment, relays Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Catcher Danny Jansen is being activated from the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move. Hand’s designation also creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 38.
It’s a rather surprising move, as Toronto acquired Hand from the Nationals the week of the trade deadline. That proved to be a rather significant misstep. The hope was that Hand could serve as a stabilizing force for a Blue Jays’ bullpen that struggled throughout the season’s first half. But his time north of the border proved brief and unproductive, as Hand was tagged for ten runs (seven of them earned) in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out five batters, issued three walks and served up three home runs.
To make matters worse, young catcher Riley Adams — whom the Jays sent to the Nats in exchange for Hand — has been on a tear since landing in Washington. The 25-year-old has hit .341/.442/.568 with a pair of homers in 52 plate appearances. That’s an extraordinarily small sample and public prospect evaluators have long suggested Adams is likelier to wind up a quality backup than a true regular catcher. But swapping Adams for Hand is unquestionably a move the Jays’ front office wishes it had back after just a few weeks.
While Hand’s tenure in Toronto didn’t pan out, he figures to latch on elsewhere rather quickly. Hand broke out upon a move to the bullpen with the Padres in 2016 and remained one of the game’s best late-inning arms up through last season. Over that five-year run, the southpaw posted a 2.70 ERA/2.92 FIP across 320 innings split between San Diego and the Indians.
His results were strong as ever in 2020, when Hand pitched to a 2.05 ERA/2.80 SIERA over 22 frames with Cleveland. He’d seen a worrying dip in velocity, though, and the Indians waived Hand before declining a $10MM club option on his services. That actually worked in his favor financially, as Hand picked up a $1MM buyout before signing a $10.5MM guarantee with Washington upon hitting the market.
Hand’s velocity has bounced back this season, though. After dipping from a 92.7 MPH average four-seam in 2019 to 91.5 MPH last season, the 31-year-old is averaging 93.3 MPH on his heater in 2021 (per Brooks Baseball). His slider velocity hasn’t gotten back to peak levels, although that too is up relative to last season’s mark. And Hand was still fairly productive during his early-season run in Washington, where he posted a 3.59 ERA over 42 2/3 innings.
That’s not to say he was at peak form. Even during his time with the Nationals, Hand’s strikeout rate had dipped from 33.7% last season to 23.1%. His swinging strike rate had dropped from 10.5% to a subpar 7.3%. That declining swing-and-miss was a red flag, but Hand’s track record and continued decent results were enough to attract interest on the trade market just a month ago.
It stands to reason some other club will look past Hand’s terrible past few weeks and give him another look. Claiming him off waivers would require assuming the remainder of his $10.5MM salary (approximately $1.9MM). That might prove too pricey given Hand’s recent struggles, but any team that signs him after he clears waivers would only have to pay the prorated portion of the league minimum while leaving the Jays on the hook for the bulk of the remaining money.
Blue Jays Sign Gregory Polanco To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed outfielder Gregory Polanco to a minor league deal, the team informed reporters (including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). Toronto also re-signed right-hander Elvis Luciano, who had been released last week, on a minors pact.
Polanco finds a new home shortly after being released by the Pirates over the weekend. That brought an end to Polanco’s twelve-year tenure in the Pittsburgh organization, which began when he was signed during the 2009-10 international signing period. The powerful corner outfielder eventually emerged as one of the game’s most talented prospects, peaking as Baseball America’s #10 overall farmhand entering the 2014 season.
That year, Polanco made his MLB debut and took over as the Pirates regular right fielder. While his career got off to a slow start, the left-handed hitter eventually made good on some of his promise. Polanco hit .254/.340/.499 (123 wRC+) over 535 plate appearances in 2018, seemingly setting the stage for him to settle in as a core piece of the Bucs future.
Unfortunately, Polanco underwent season-ending shoulder surgery that September. He’s never been anywhere close to the same since that point. Over the past three seasons, he has hit just .203/.270/.364 across 723 trips to the dish. Those struggles continued to mount this season, as the 28-year-old posted only a .208/.283/.354 line before Pittsburgh moved on.
Needless to say, the past few years haven’t gone as Polanco or the Pirates had hoped. There’s no risk for the Blue Jays in brining him aboard on a minor league deal to see if a change of scenery and coaching can help him regain any of the promise he showed a few seasons ago. The Pirates remain on the hook for the balance of Polanco’s $11MM salary (as well as a $3MM buyout on a 2022 club option).
Toronto will only Polanco the prorated league minimum salary if he makes it onto the big league roster, with that mark subtracted from Pittsburgh’s obligations. Because the Jays worked out a deal with Polanco before September 1, he would be eligible for their postseason roster. That’d require him to perform well enough to earn an MLB look and the Jays to erase a four and a half game deficit in the Wild Card race over the season’s final month. Polanco will again reach free agency this offseason.
Luciano was cut loose last week to open a spot on the Jays’ 40-man roster. He’ll now return without requiring a 40-man spot. Luciano has spent the season with Double-A New Hampshire, where he’s posted a 3.41 ERA across 34 1/3 innings but suffered through a pair of stints on the injured list.
Xander Bogaerts Tests Positive For COVID-19
Red Sox star Xander Bogaerts has tested positive for COVID-19, the team informed reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive). He was removed in the second inning of this evening’s game after the team became aware of the result. Bogaerts becomes the sixth Boston player to test positive in recent days. He’ll join Kiké Hernández, Christian Arroyo, Martín Pérez, Matt Barnes, Hirokazu Sawamura and Josh Taylor (who is in isolation as a close contact) on the COVID IL.
None of those losses will be tougher to overcome than that of Bogaerts, who is among the sport’s best overall performers. The 28-year-old shortstop has a fantastic .298/.366/.501 line with twenty home runs over 519 plate appearances this summer. That showing earned Bogaerts his third career All-Star selection. By FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement, Bogaerts ranks as the game’s thirteenth most valuable position player this season.
When Bogaerts departed, the Sox slid Jonathan Araúz over from second base to shortstop. Yairo Muñoz stepped into the lineup at second. That duo looks to be the likeliest middle infield tandem for the Red Sox over the next week-plus while Bogaerts recuperates.
The Red Sox will have to continue to rely upon their depth options as they navigate a difficult stretch on the schedule. Boston has series against the Rays, Indians, Rays again and White Sox through the end of next week. The Red Sox entered play tonight leading the A’s by two games for the final American League playoff spot.
Giants Place Alex Wood On COVID-19 Injured List
AUGUST 31: Cueto has been activated from the IL to start this evening’s game against Milwaukee, the team announced. Quintana has also been activated after reporting to the club, with Vosler and Brebbia optioned in corresponding moves.
AUGUST 30: The Giants announced they’ve placed starting pitchers Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto on the COVID-19 injured list. Infielder Jason Vosler and reliever John Brebbia have been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take their places on the active roster.
Wood has tested positive for COVID-19, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Cueto has not tested positive, but he’s feeling virus-like symptoms. The Giants will conduct an impromptu bullpen game tonight against the Brewers in place of Cueto, who had been scheduled to take the ball. The team remains hopeful Cueto could be back as soon as tomorrow.
Regardless of Cueto’s status, the Giants will be without Wood for the near future. San Francisco’s rotation depth is one of the team’s few question marks, particularly after Tyler Beede recently suffered a serious back injury in Triple-A. The Giants’ top five starters of Wood, Cueto, Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani and Logan Webb has remained remarkably healthy for much of the season. Sammy Long and the since-released Aaron Sanchez are the only other pitchers to log at least ten innings out of the San Francisco rotation.
Long could be an option to shoulder a heavier workload over the coming days, and San Francisco did just add José Quintana off waivers from the Angels. Matt Shoemaker is on hand as a potential option in Sacramento, but he’s struggled since signing a minor league deal earlier this month. San Francisco can ill-afford any sort of letup over the final few weeks of the season. While the league-best Giants are a lock to make the playoffs, they hold just a two and a half game lead over the Dodgers in the National League West.
Zack Britton To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Yankees southpaw Zack Britton will undergo surgery next month to remove bone chips from his left elbow, he tells reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who will perform the procedure, will also examine Britton’s UCL, but the veteran reliever noted that the primary concern appears to be the bone chips. (Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported yesterday that this was the likeliest outcome).
There’s no indication of a recovery timeline for Britton. He had already been transferred to the 60-day injured list, effectively ending his 2021 season. Whether Britton is expected to be at full strength for Spring Training remains to be seen. This will be the second elbow procedure the 33-year-old has undergone this season. In early March, Britton required arthroscopic surgery — also to alleviate bone chips — that kept him from making his season debut until mid-June.
In between the injuries, Britton struggled to his worst season since he moved to the bullpen in 2014. The typically reliable relief ace only managed 18 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball. Britton continued to rack up ground balls at one of the league’s best clips (68%), but his walk rate spiked to a career high 17.1%. Along the way, the average velocity on Britton’s hellacious sinker fell to 92.6 MPH, more than two ticks lower than its 2018-20 level.
Britton remains under contract with New York for next season. Last October, the Yankees exercised his $14MM club option for 2022. (Declining the option would’ve allowed Britton to reach free agency last winter). New York’s training staff will work to get Britton back to his standard form next season.
Nationals Option Victor Robles
The Nationals announced they’ve optioned center fielder Víctor Robles to Triple-A Rochester. Fellow outfielder Andrew Stevenson has been recalled in his place.
It’s the culmination of back-to-back poor seasons for Robles, who finds himself in the minors for the first time since 2018. Robles has more or less been Washington’s everyday center fielder over the past three seasons, a role he’s been expected to hold for years. A one-time top prospect, Robles seized the center field job during the Nats’ World Series winning 2019 campaign. While he was a slightly below-average hitter that year, Robles rated as one of the league’s best baserunners and defensive outfielders. Only 22 years old, he looked to be a core piece who could emerge as an All-Star caliber player with just a bit of an improvement at the plate over the coming seasons.
Not only has Robles not taken another step offensively, he’s completely fallen flat at the plate. Since the start of the 2020 campaign, the right-handed hitter has posted a .209/.304/.302 line over 558 plate appearances. That translates to a 67 wRC+ that suggests Robles has been 33 percentage points worse than the league average hitter. Of the 181 hitters with 500+ plate appearances over the past two years, only four (Kevin Newman, Elvis Andrus, Gregory Polanco and Garrett Hampson) have been less productive at the plate.
Those struggles have cost Robles playing time in recent days, as he hadn’t started a game since Friday. Lane Thomas, acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, has started the past three games in center and is in the lineup there again tonight. With Robles relegated to fourth outfielder duty at the big league level, the Nationals have evidently determined it better to get him continued reps against minor league pitching.
The Nationals could bring Robles back up relatively shortly, as position players only need be on optional assignment for ten days before they’re eligible to be recalled. (They can be brought up within ten days if recalled to replace an injured player). However, the timing of the demotion could suggest they’re prepared to leave Robles in the minors for additional experience. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players starting tomorrow, so the Nats weren’t under immediate pressure to make a move from a roster limit perspective. Instead, it seems the team has decided an optional assignment to be the more prudent course of action for Robles’ long-term development.
Even if Robles doesn’t return to the majors this season, the demotion shouldn’t have an effect on his service time outlook. He entered the season with 2.052 years of big league time and has already accrued around 152 days of service this season. That’s more than enough to push him beyond the three-year threshold as had been anticipated. He’ll qualify for arbitration for the first time this offseason and is still ticketed to reach free agency over the 2024-25 offseason — assuming he begins next year on Washington’s active roster.