Giants Claim Jose Quintana
The Giants have claimed veteran left-hander Jose Quintana off waivers from the Angels, per a team announcement from the Halos. The Giants themselves yet to announce the claim or a corresponding move, although they have an open 40-man roster spot after designating Tyler Chatwood for assignment this weekend.
Quintana, 32, signed a one-year, $8MM contract with the Angels over the winter in hopes of bouncing back from 2020’s injury-ruined season. However, the left-hander labored through just 10 starts before being ousted from the rotation and dropped to the bullpen. Fourteen of his past 15 games have come in relief, and the one spot start he made since that initial demotion went quite poorly. He’s still owed about $1.5MM between now and season’s end, and by claiming him on waivers, the Giants are assuming the remainder of that commitment.
In a total of 53 1/3 innings this season, Quintana has pitched to a 6.75 ERA with a career-worst 11.4 percent walk rate, but his secondary numbers paint a brighter picture. He’s sporting a 3.90 SIERA and career-best marks in strikeout percentage (28.7), swinging-strike rate (11.9 percent) and opponents’ chase rate (32.6 percent). His 45.6 percent ground-ball mark, meanwhile, is his best since back in 2015 with the White Sox.
Quintana has been rocked in the majority of his starts this season, but he holds a 3.93 ERA, a 28.6 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 3.9 percent walk rate in 18 1/3 frames as a reliever. It’s obviously a very small sample, but the vastly improved control he’s shown when working in relief perhaps encouraged the Giants to take a flier on a veteran arm who was at one point one of the most consistently solid starters in Major League Baseball.
From 2013-18, Quintana pitched at least 174 innings and made at least 32 starts per season. His ERA along the way was a rock-solid 3.58 — a number that was largely supported by metrics such as FIP (3.56) and SIERA (3.85). Quintana was a consummate source of reliable, above-average innings throughout that span and an often-overlooked name in All-Star and awards voting. Despite his consistency, he made just one All-Star appearance and only garnered Cy Young votes on one occasion: a 10th-place finish in 2016.
A return to his peak form probably shouldn’t be expected, but Quintana will give the Giants another lefty who is stretched out enough to at least throw a couple of innings per relief stint. And if he can maintain the output that he’s posted as a reliever to this point in the season — or perhaps improve upon it — he’ll be a fine addition to the team’s relief corps down the stretch. By claiming Quintana prior to Sept. 1, the Giants have ensured that he’ll be eligible for their postseason roster. He’s not a lock to be included, of course, but we’ve seen the Giants help turn around the careers of many pitchers to date and Quintana could surface as yet another data point on that growing list.
Wilson Ramos Suffers Torn ACL, Sprained MCL
Indians catcher Wilson Ramos has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and a sprained MCL in his knee, tweets Mandy Bell of MLB.com. He’ll require season-ending surgery.
Ramos sustained the injury yesterday when fielding a weak grounder in front of the plate. He threw out Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who was running from first to second on the play, but dropped in a heap upon releasing the ball. Cleveland trainers came out onto the field as Ramos, who remained down and gestured to his left knee. He was helped off the field by a pair of members of the Indians’ training staff. It’s the third ACL tear of Ramos’ career, although the first two tears came in his right knee back in 2012 and in 2016.
The 34-year-old Ramos opened the season in Detroit after signing a one-year, $2MM contract over the winter and promptly homered six times in his first nine games of the season, posting a ridiculous .281/.343/.875 batting line in that tiny sample. His production cratered not long after, however, and Ramos managed just a .178/.198/.216 batting line over his final 91 plate appearances before being designated for assignment, missing time with a back injury along the way. Detroit released him on June 20, and Cleveland signed him to a minor league deal about three weeks later.
Ramos hit well through 16 games with the Indians’ top affiliate in Columbus before having his contract selected to the MLB roster. He’s since appeared in nine games and posted a .226/.286/.419 batting line with a pair of homers.
Another major knee injury is a brutal blow for Ramos at this stage of his career. His glovework behind the plate has been graded with increasing levels of skepticism since that 2016 ACL tear, and he’s also dealt with hamstring and back injuries along the way. The hope will be for as swift a recovery as possible, but it goes without saying that it’d be a tall order for a 34-year-old with a multiple ACL repairs under his belt to handle a sizable workload behind the dish.
The Indians haven’t yet put a timetable on Ramos’ recovery, but he’s a free agent at season’s end, so it’s quite possible this injury will effectively end a very brief tenure with the organization. Presumably, the team will provide more details on his expected rehabilitation process once the surgery has been performed and more information has been gathered.
Noah Syndergaard Tests Positive For COVID-19
Noah Syndergaard has tested positive for COVID-19, per several reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday Sports. The righty was scheduled to make a rehab appearance today as he continues his arduous journey back to the big leagues, which he hasn’t seen in almost two years. Instead, it will be yet another setback in a year full of them for Syndergaard.
Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020, it’s been nothing but stops and starts for Thor in 2021. He initially started a rehab stint in May but was shut down after just two starts due to elbow inflammation. He then began a second rehab stint on Thursday, throwing just one inning, with the aim of returning as a reliever since there’s no longer enough time in the season to get properly stretched out as a starter. Now he will have to put everything on pause again due to this positive test.
This is yet another disappointment in a month full of them for the Mets. After leading the NL East for much of the season, they’ve gone 7-19 in August and now find themselves 7 1/2 games behind the Braves, with the Phillies in between them. They were already facing a difficult decision with Syndergaard, given that he’s approaching free agency and is a candidate for a qualifying offer. If healthy, he is a potential top-of-rotation starter and certainly worth the money. But the club will have to judge his health based on whatever small sample of work he can produce in the dwindling number of remaining games. With yet another setback, the sample they will use to make that decision has now gotten even smaller.
Pirates Release Gregory Polanco
3:29PM: The Pirates have actually released Polanco, as the team issued a correction to their initial announcement.
3:03PM: The Pirates have designated outfielder Gregory Polanco for assignment. According to the team’s official media release, infielder Cole Tucker “is expected” to be called up from Triple-A to take Polanco’s spot on the active roster.
The move comes less than a week after Polanco was placed on outright waivers, though he remained in the organization after no other teams claimed him. Today’s release officially cuts ties between Polanco and the Bucs, and the team will remain on the hook for the roughly $5.28MM still owed to Polanco — his remaining 2021 salary, and the $3MM buyout of his $12.5MM club option for 2022.
“Gregory has been a true professional throughout his entire Pirates career, including in our conversation with him regarding today’s roster move,” Pirates GM Ben Cherington said. “He has been a great teammate who always handled himself with class and took a great deal of pride in representing the Pirates and the city of Pittsburgh. We wish him nothing but success moving forward.”
After rising through the minor league ranks as one of baseball’s top prospects, Polanco had some stops and starts in his efforts to establish himself as a productive Major League regular, though that didn’t stop the Bucs from locking him up on a five-year, $35MM contract extension in April 2016. Strong seasons in both 2016 and 2018 (the latter a 23-homer, .839 OPS campaign over 535 plate appearances) seemed to indicate that the Pirates had made a wise investment, yet shoulder surgery in September 2018 ended up essentially derailing Polanco’s career.
Recurring shoulder problems limited him to only 42 games in 2019. In 723 PA since the start of the 2019 season, Polanco has hit only .203/.270/.364 with 24 home runs. Between this dropoff and increasing annual salaries in the latter years of the extension, Polanco became something of an untradeable albatross as the Pirates entered another rebuilding phase.
Though Polanco is a veteran of eight MLB seasons, he still doesn’t turn 30 years old until September. It stands to reason that another team will take a flier on Polanco to see if a change of scenery could get his career back on track, since that new team would only owe Polanco the prorated portion of the minimum salary (the Pirates would pay the rest of the money owed).
Kenta Maeda To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Kenta Maeda will undergo elbow surgery next week, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). It won’t be known exactly what procedure Maeda will require until he goes under the knife, but it’s possible he’ll need a full Tommy John surgery.
Obviously, Maeda’s timetable will depend on the kind of procedure he ultimately undergoes. If Maeda does require a complete reconstruction, that would probably rule him out for the entirety of the 2022 season, since Tommy John surgeries typically require rehab timelines of fourteen-plus months. Even a surgery of lesser severity could threaten his readiness for the start of next season.
For instance, Astros left-hander Kent Emanuel had an undetermined amount of ligament damage in his elbow at the time he underwent surgery in June. As with Maeda, it wasn’t clear at the time whether Emanuel would need a full reconstruction. During the operation, it was determined that he didn’t need to undergo TJS, but the procedure he did undergo still came with a nine-month recovery timeline. That’s just one example, and it’s not a given that Maeda is facing the same options Emanuel was. But it’s illustrative that even avoiding Tommy John surgery in these situations could still require a significant recovery period.
The Twins are playing out the string for the rest of 2021, so the effects of losing Maeda for the remainder of this season are relatively minimal. His absence potentially extending into 2022 would be devastating for a Minnesota team hoping to return to contention next season. With José Berríos traded to the Blue Jays before this summer’s deadline, Maeda is by far the most accomplished member of Minnesota’s starting staff.
Michael Pineda is slated to hit free agency this offseason, leaving Bailey Ober, Charlie Barnes, Griffin Jax, Lewis Thorpe and Randy Dobnak as the other starters controllable into 2022. That’s an unproven group insufficient for a hopeful contender. Prospects like Jordan Balazovic or Joe Ryan could pitch their way into the mix at some point soon, but starting pitching already looked to be the biggest area of need for Minnesota this winter. Even if Maeda doesn’t require Tommy John surgery, the front office will have to proceed through the offseason without the comfort of seeing their top in-house pitcher having logged any game action after an elbow procedure of some note.
It’s a disappointing end to the toughest season of Maeda’s six-year big league career. The right-hander consistently posted above-average numbers between 2016-19 with the Dodgers. Minnesota acquired him over the 2019-20 offseason and he had a career-best campaign in last year’s shortened season. Maeda worked to a 2.70 ERA over 66 2/3 innings, earning a runner-up finish in AL Cy Young award balloting.
Maeda couldn’t replicate that success this season, as that ERA ballooned to a career-worst 4.66 over 106 1/3 frames. The 33-year-old has seen significant declines in strikeout and ground-ball rates relative to last season, which looks like a bit of an outlier. But Maeda’s strikeout and walk numbers are still solid, and his 3.97 SIERA suggests he’s at least still a quality arm as he was for his couple seasons in Los Angeles.
If Maeda is forced to miss significant time in 2022, that’d come with serious financial consequences. His original eight-year deal with the Dodgers was heavily incentive-laden because of the L.A. front office’s concern about his medical outlook. Maeda is guaranteed just $3.125MM annually, with millions of dollars in bonuses available via games started and innings thresholds.
Patrick Sandoval Out For The Season
Angels southpaw Patrick Sandoval is out for the year with a stress fracture in his back, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). Sandoval was placed the injured list on August 15th, but the severity of the injury was not clear at that time.
For Sandoval, this is an unfortunate setback right at a time when he appeared to be establishing himself in manager Joe Maddon’s rotation. For the Angels, then, this is particularly disheartening considering how much they’ve struggled to find and develop arms.
Still, the 25-year-old can count 2021 as a success. He has a 3.62 ERA/4.03 FIP in 87 innings with a 25.9 percent strikeout rate, 9.9 percent walk rate, and solid 50.7 percent groundball rate. Sandoval’s walk rate remains a little high, but paired with an above-average strikeout rate, he’s been able to limit hard contact and post the best home run rate of his young career.
In the long run, the Angels will slot Sandoval into a rotation slot for 2022. Their success next year may very well depend on who else joins Sandoval and Shohei Ohtani in that rotation. Griffin Canning — also out for the season — will join them, and they’re sure to look for outside additions. Promising young arms like Reid Detmers, Chris Rodriguez, and Packy Naughton will also get a look.
For now, however, the Angels will continue to make due. Alex Cobb is working to return soon from injury after a better-than-usual start to the season. Cooper Criswell gets the start tonight, making his Major League debut.
Reds Claim Asdrubal Cabrera
1:45pm: The Reds and D-backs have officially announced the move.
12:44pm: The Reds have claimed veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The teams have yet to announce the move. Cincinnati already has multiple vacancies on its 40-man roster, so the Reds will only need to open a spot on the active 26-man roster.
Cabrera, 35, will give the Reds a switch-hitting infield option off the bench for the final month-plus of the regular season — and for the postseason, should they qualify. Because Cabrera is being claimed prior to Sept. 1, he’ll be eligible for postseason play with his new club.
It hasn’t been a great year at the plate for Cabrera, but he’s posted a respectable .244/.324/.392 batting line in 321 plate appearances while splitting his time between the infield corners (in addition to one lone inning at shortstop). He’s playing out the season on a one-year, $1.75MM contract and is owed about $358K of that sum through season’s end. The Reds will be on the hook for the remainder of that salary.
The veteran Cabrera looked like an obvious trade candidate prior to the deadline, but the D-backs apparently didn’t find much interest. They’ll clear a bit of cash now that he’s been claimed, although the primary motivation here could simply have been to give a veteran player a chance to join a playoff contender.
Cincinnati doesn’t have everyday at-bats available for Cabrera — not with Joey Votto at first base, Jonathan India at second base and Mike Moustakas over at third base. However, Cabrera has been quite productive against left-handed pitching over the past two seasons and has slightly better numbers against lefties than against righties over the course of his lengthy career. And as potent as the Reds’ lineup can be, Cincinnati has quietly been one of the game’s least-productive groups against southpaws, hitting just .231/.313/.380 as a team. Their collective 86 wRC+ against lefties ranks 28th in the Majors. Cabrera gives them a slight upgrade in that regard and also gives manager David Bell some versatility for late-game maneuvering.
Blue Jays Claim Jarrod Dyson
1:11pm: The Royals and Blue Jays have now both announced the move.
12:39pm: The Blue Jays have claimed outfielder Jarrod Dyson off waivers from the Royals, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Neither club has formally announced the move just yet.
Kansas City never formally designated Dyson for assignment, but it’s not uncommon for clubs to quietly place a player on waivers without first announcing a DFA. The Blue Jays, by claiming Dyson, are now on the hook for the remainder of his $1.5MM salary — about $306K between now and season’s end.
Dyson, 37, returned for a second stint with the Royals this offseason when he inked a one-year, $1.5MM contract in free agency. He’s appeared in 77 games but tallied just 132 plate appearances, instead being utilized more for his blistering speed and defensive acumen late in games. Dyson carries a .221/.256/.311 batting line in that time. He hasn’t homered in 2021 but has doubled seven times, tripled twice and gone 8-for-11 in stolen base attempts this year.
The Royals likely didn’t find much interest in Dyson at the trade deadline, but he’ll only cost the Jays cash and a roster spot at this point. He’ll give the team some needed depth in center field with George Springer again on the shelf, and he’ll also provide Toronto with a dynamic late-game defensive replacement and pinch-running option as they try to close a deficit of five and a half games in the hunt for the second Wild Card spot.
The Royals will save a but of cash by placing him on waivers, but the move is surely more about giving a veteran player the organization respects an opportunity to return to the postseason. By waiting until late in the month of August to place Dyson on waivers, the Royals ensured that the cost of acquiring him was quite minimal, thereby enhancing the chances he’d be claimed. Because he’s joining the Jays organization prior to Sept. 1, Dyson would be eligible for their postseason roster, should Toronto manage to close that considerable gap in the standings.
Tejay Antone To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Reds reliever Tejay Antone announced (on Twitter) that he will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow. It’ll be the second time of the right-hander’s career, as Antone previously underwent the procedure in 2017.
It’s a disappointing, if not especially surprising, development. Antone spent most of the past few months on the injured list with forearm troubles. He was activated from the IL on Tuesday but pulled himself from that night’s game just five pitches amidst obvious discomfort. Cincinnati placed him back on the IL yesterday with what the team termed a forearm strain.
While no timetable has been announced, it seems likely Antone will miss the entire 2022 season. Tommy John procedures often require fourteen-plus months of recovery time, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the team is particularly cautious with Antone’s rehab given that he’s already undergone the procedure once before.
It’s a notable blow for the Reds, as Antone has been the club’s best reliever. The 27-year-old worked 33 2/3 innings across 23 appearances as a high-leverage weapon, pitching to a 2.14 ERA. Antone punched out hitters at a massive 32.8% clip on the back of an above-average 12.9% swinging strike rate. It’s the second consecutive high-end season to begin Antone’s MLB career, as he broke into the big leagues with 35 1/3 frames of 2.80 ERA ball in 2020.
Despite Antone’s contributions, the bullpen has been a problem for the Reds for much of the year. Cincinnati relievers have a 5.27 ERA that ranks 28th in the league, while they’re closer to middle-of-the-pack in SIERA (4.07) and strikeout/walk rate differential (14.3 percentage points). They’ve been marginally better since remaking their bullpen the week of the trade deadline — when they acquired Luis Cessa, Justin Wilson and Mychal Givens — but Reds’ relievers still have an even 5.00 ERA over the past thirty days. Antone has been on the injured list for almost all of that time already, but holding late leads will be all the more difficult with no possibility of him making it back at this point. At 69-59, the Reds hold a one-game advantage over the Padres in the NL Wild Card race.
Antone will likely be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever the Reds need a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll need to return to the 40-man over the offseason but can go back on the 60-day IL for the entirety of next season. Antone will continue to accrue service time on the IL and is scheduled to reach arbitration eligibility for the first time after the 2022 campaign.
Rhys Hoskins Done For The Season
Rhys Hoskins was placed on the 10-day injured list earlier today. Unfortunately, the news has only gotten more dire since then. Speaking to reporters, Hoskins said that he will not play again this season, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He will undergo surgery to repair a tear in his lower abdomen, adds MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki (via Twitter).
Interestingly, the earlier designation for his IL placement was for a groin injury. The abdomen issue was a preexisting injury that Hoskins has been dealing with for some time now. The two injuries in tandem, however, seemed to push the point for Hoskins, leading to the decision to have the surgery now. It’s an unequivocal bummer for Hoskins, who had put together a bounce-back season after a difficult 2020.
Big picture, this is a crushing revelation for the Phillies. They have very little margin for error as they strive to make the postseason for the first time in the Bryce Harper era. It’s been a tough month of August for the Phillies, who were leapfrogged by the Braves for first place in the NL East. Girardi’s club now sits 5.0 games out of first and 5.5 games out of a wild card spot.
All this comes amidst a front office shakeup and the demotion of Alec Bohm, their top prospect and starting third baseman for much of the year. Add in the yo-yo treatment of Spencer Howard‘s development before he was dealt to Texas, as well as their wild swings in the standings since the trade deadline, and it all adds up to a rather disjointed situation in Philly, at least in terms of the optics.
Remember, they were 3.5 games behind the Mets at the trade deadline only to go on an 8-game win streak to begin August. They swiftly overtook the Mets for the division lead on August 6th. Their time at the top was short-lived, as they’ve gone just 6-10 in the games since, losing the top spot to surging Atlanta. Less than two weeks after they lost the division lead to the Braves, they sit just barely on the fringes of contention with a 17.6% chance of making the playoffs, per baseball-reference.
Losing Hoskins now adds insult to injury, especially because they’re roster is so thin after the superstars at the top. Hoskins’ 129 wRC+ and 2.4 fWAR were a key piece of scaffolding to the Harper-J.T. Realmuto core. Swapping in Brad Miller‘s 93 wRC+ simply doesn’t make up enough ground for a team looking to make up ground. Miller’s going to be the guy, however, because there’s not much else in the organization by way of reinforcements — not unless Bohm can very quickly figure things out in Triple-A.