Miguel Cabrera To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery On Ruptured Biceps Tendon
The Tigers received brutal news on Tuesday, as first baseman Miguel Cabrera was diagnosed with a ruptured tendon in his left biceps that will require season-ending surgery to repair, manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters after tonight’s game (Twitter link via MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery). He’d previously left tonight’s game against the Twins to undergo an MRI after injuring his arm on a swing (video link) and had since been seen leaving the clubhouse with his arm in a brace.
Cabrera, 35, had gotten off to a nice rebound start to his 2018 season after a career-worst season in 2017. While his power had yet to return, he was batting .301/.394/.451 with three homers and 11 doubles through 155 trips to the plate. Cabrera had already missed nearly a month of the season due to a hamstring strain but had gotten on base at a .362 clip in 11 games since returning. Now, it seems that the rebuilding Tigers will be without one of the best hitters of the generation until the 2019 season.
While Detroit has gotten off to a better start than most anticipated, at 31-37, the organization likely didn’t have any delusions of contending for a postseason spot. But the team certainly will miss the presence of Cabrera in the lineup, and his injury will come as an unequivocal blow to the team’s spirits over the season’s final four months.
The greater question for the Tigers, and one that can’t be answered in the short-term, is what type of effect the mounting pile of injuries that Cabrera has endured in recent seasons will have on him in 2019 and beyond. Cabrera played through a pair of herniated disks in his back last season and, unsurprisingly, struggled immensely (by his own standards, anyway; his overall output was actually that of a roughly league-average hitter).
Between the herniated disks, last month’s hamstring strain and a minor groin strain earlier in the 2017 season, the long-durable Cabrera — he averaged 155 games per year from 2004-16 — has begun to show increasing signs of wear and tear. For a player who’ll turn 36 next April and is still owed an otherworldly $162MM from 2019-23 — his age-36 through age-40 seasons — that sudden decrease in durability and productivity is alarming. It’s not clear if the Tigers have insurance on Cabrera’s contract, though typically a team will take out a policy on a contract of this magnitude, in which case the Tigers could stand to be reimbursed for at least a portion of Cabrera’s $30MM salary in 2018.
[Related: Detroit Tigers depth chart]
In the short-term, the Tigers will likely turn to John Hicks and Niko Goodrum to log most of the at-bats at first base in Cabrera’s absence. Each saw significant action there in Cabrera’s earlier absence, with Hicks picking up 248 innings and Goodrum logging 92 innings at the position.
The Tigers don’t have a first base prospect who’s knocking on the door in Triple-A or Double-A, though 24-year-old minor league signee Edwin Espinal is getting on base at a .374 clip in Triple-A and has displayed strong K/BB tendencies despite a lack of power (.104 ISO). Speculatively speaking, perhaps the club could give Nicholas Castellanos a look at the position, as he’s once again turning in dismal defensive ratings for his work in right field. Alternatively, if the Tigers front office is keen on adding a low-cost veteran to the mix, both Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez were cut loose by the Red Sox and Mets recently and have yet to sign with a new organization.
Rays Trade Brad Miller To Brewers For Ji-Man Choi
June 11: Tampa Bay is covering $2.209MM of the remaining $2.709MM remaining on Miller’s contract through season’s end, according to the Associated Press. Choi’s split contract calls for an $850K salary in the Majors and a $250K salary in the minors, and he’d be owed about $513K through season’s end if he were to spend the rest of the year in the Majors. That doesn’t seem likely to be the case, so the Rays will save a bit of money while paying Choi at his minor league rate of pay, though the overall cost-savings in the deal look to be more or less negligible, even for a cost-conscious club like Tampa Bay.
June 10: The Rays have dealt infielder Brad Miller to the Brewers for first baseman Ji-Man Choi, as announced by both teams on Twitter. Tampa will also send some cash to Milwaukee as part of the deal. Miller and Choi have each been optioned to Triple-A with their respective new organizations.
Miller was designated for assignment earlier this week, though he had hit respectably well (.256/.322/.429 with five homers) over 174 plate appearances for the Rays this season. Beyond those decent batting numbers, however, Miller brought little else to the table — he has continued his career-long struggles against left-handed pitching, and has posted below-average defensive numbers wherever he has played around the diamond. Miller is also coming off a rough 2017 campaign, so it could be that the Rays sought to sell as high as they could on him while he was still productive, in order to get at least some of his $2.79MM in remaining salary off the books.
[Updated Brewers and Rays depth charts at Roster Resource]
Though Miller doesn’t bring much defensive value as a shortstop or second baseman, he can at least offer the Brew Crew some extra pop at both middle infield positions. Jonathan Villar hasn’t done much against righty pitching over the last couple of years, while defensively-gifted shortstop Orlando Arcia is suffering through a dreadful year at the plate. Miller and Arcia could form a platoon, with Arcia stepping in as a late-game defensive replacement on days when Miller starts, plus the Brewers also have veteran Eric Sogard in the bench mix.
Middle infield was a weak spot for a Brewers team that is fighting for a postseason berth, and the low-cost addition of Miller could mean that the club won’t seek out more substantial second base or shortstop help at the trade deadline. Miller also adds a bit more depth to the roster at first base and in the corner outfield positions, though Milwaukee is already pretty set at those spots.
Choi signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last offseason that guaranteed him $850K if he reached the majors, so he’ll only add another $510K or so to Tampa’s payroll. The 27-year-old hit .233/.281/.500 over 32 plate appearances for the Crew, getting some time at first base with Eric Thames and Ryan Braun hit the disabled list. (Just yesterday, in fact, Choi hit a pinch-hit grand slam in Milwaukee’s 12-3 rout of the Phillies.) The 27-year-old will essentially replace Miller as a left-handed hitting option in the Rays organization, though the team is currently giving top prospect Jake Bauers (another lefty bat) a chance to stick in the big leagues as a regular first baseman.
Mets Release Adrian Gonzalez
The Mets announced several roster moves after tonight’s win over the Yankees, including the news that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has been released. On Tuesday, prior to the team’s next game, catcher Jose Lobaton will be designated for assignment. The two open roster spots will be filled by Dominic Smith and Ty Kelly, as the Mets will recall Smith and select Kelly’s contract.
Gonzalez found himself a free agent this winter after the Braves acquired him as part of a payroll-shifting trade with the Dodgers and then almost immediately released the veteran first baseman. With the Braves covering virtually all of Gonzalez’s 2018 salary, the Mets inked him to a minimum-salary contract to see if they could find a bargain if Gonzalez regained any of his old form.
After a hot start in his first few games, however, Gonzalez settled into being a below-average bat and has most recently been caught in a deep slump, with just a .550 OPS over his last 43 plate appearances coming into tonight’s game. He’ll conclude his Mets tenure with a .237/.299/.373 slash line and six homers over 187 PA, with the bulk of his at-bats coming against right-handed pitching.
“A-Gon” began to show some signs of decline in 2016 (though still posting a 111 wRC+) and then cratered in 2017, as a severe back injury limited him to just 71 games and he hit only .242/.287/.355 over 252 PA. Gonzalez has looked generally healthy during his time with the Mets, though at age 36 and showing little sign of his old hitting prowess, one has to wonder if this could mark the end of Gonzalez’s otherwise outstanding 15-year career in the big leagues.
Ranked as one of baseball’s top-100 prospects coming into last season, Smith’s star dimmed after a mediocre start to his MLB career, as he hit just .198/.262/.395 and struck out a whopping 49 times over 183 PA last season. Mets GM Sandy Alderson was rather bluntly critical about Smith’s first stint in the big leagues, and the team’s acquisitions of Gonzalez and Jay Bruce in the offseason indicated that the team felt Smith needed more seasoning before being given another crack at regular first base duty.
The first base picture at Citi Field is still rather unclear, as both Smith and Bruce are left-handed bats and thus not an ideal platoon mix. The right-handed hitting Jose Bautista is also on the roster, and utilityman Wilmer Flores is on the DL. Brandon Nimmo‘s emergence as an everyday player has helped the Mets withstand the loss of the injured Yoenis Cespedes, though it could lead to a bit of a roster logjam at the first base and corner outfield spots once Flores and Cespedes return (though the latter may not be back for a while yet).
Further complicating matters is the fact that Asdrubal Cabrera left tonight’s game with a hamstring issue, which could explain why utilityman Kelly is headed for another stint with the Mets. Rookie Luis Guillorme and struggling veteran Jose Reyes also provide infield depth on the roster, and if Cabrera does require some DL time, it could give Reyes some more opportunity to turn around his disastrous season.
Lobaton signed a minors deal over the winter to provide catching depth that quite immediately became necessary as Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki were both sidelined with injuries. With Plawecki back and Devin Mesoraco establishing himself as a regular, Lobaton became the odd man out. This is the second time in under a month that Lobaton will enter DFA limbo, so he could very well clear waivers again and return to Triple-A.
Angels Place Shohei Ohtani On Disabled List With Grade 2 UCL Sprain
3:40pm: Angels GM Billy Eppler provided further details on the situation, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (Twitter links). Ohtani reported elbow stiffness after being removed from his most recent start for a blister, prompting the medical review. When asked whether Ohtani can avoid Tommy John surgery, Eppler responded: “We’re hopeful that he can, that it is completely treatable with the biologic prescription the doctors recommended.”
2:03pm: In an alarming announcement, the Angels revealed today that right-hander Shohei Ohtani has been placed on the 10-day DL with a Grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He’s already received platelet-rich plasma and stem-cell injections, per the Angels, and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
The move comes as a brutal blow to an Angels staff that is without Matt Shoemaker indefinitely and without J.C. Ramirez for the balance of the season. It was reported shortly after Ohtani signed with the Angels that the young phenom had a Grade 1 sprain of his UCL when teams were courting him this offseason. Every organization was made aware of that information, and it obviously did little to dissuade clubs from embarking on an elaborate and high-profile courtship of the former NPB sensation. He also received a PRP injection for that injury at the time.
The preexisting elbow damage was either minimal enough or had healed to the point that Ohtani was able to pitch throughout Spring Training and quickly enter super-stardom in his first two months with the Halos. Not only has the 23-year-old pitched to a pristine 3.10 ERA with 11.1 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 in 49 1/3 innings, he’s also been one of the Angels’ best hitters. In 129 plate appearances, Ohtani has raked at a .289/.372/.535 pace with six homers, eight doubles and a triple. He’s walked at an 11.6 percent clip against a 25.6 percent strikeout rate, and he’s even stolen a base in his lone attempt.
With Ohtani out of commission for at least the foreseeable future, the Angels will have Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, Jaime Barria and Parker Bridwell as rotation options. But any more significant absence for Ohtani, coupled with significant recent injury histories for a number of the currently-healthy members of the Angels’ rotation mix, could push the Angels out into the market for rotation upgrades later this summer. Despite their excellent 35-28 record, the Angels find themselves 4.5 games back of the surprising Mariners in the American League West, and they’re 3.5 games out of an AL Wild Card spot at present.
Athletics, Kyler Murray Agree To Terms
FRIDAY: Murray will receive $4.66MM, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter), which checks in just below the $4,761,500 slot value. The sides have yet to put pen to paper, Callis notes.
WEDNESDAY: The Athletics have reached a deal with No. 9 overall draft pick Kyler Murray, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The agreement will guarantee Murray close to $5MM and allow Murray to play quarterback at Oklahoma for one year, per Heyman. Murray, one of the country’s top multi-sport athletes, could step up as the Sooners’ starting quarterback in place of Baker Mayfield, who was selected with the top overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Of course, Murray is hardly a slouch when it comes to the baseball diamond. Oakland selected the center fielder ninth overall, and scouting reports on him indicate that he has plus-plus speed in addition to promising bat speed the potential for average or better power, though he’s less polished than many college bats given that he has yet to fully commit to baseball.
Heading into the draft, Fangraphs ranked Murray as the No. 20 prospect in this year’s class, while ESPN’s Keith Law tabbed him 35th, MLB.com pegged him 36th and Baseball America rated him No. 77 among available prospects. Murray, who has yet to turn 21 years of age, is coming off a season in which he hit .296/.398/.556 with 10 homers and 10 steals in 51 games. His slot comes with an assigned pick value of $4,761,500, so it seems that his agreement with the A’s will pay him at that level or perhaps a bit more.
It’s an interesting arrangement for Murray, who’ll lose NCAA eligibility in baseball but (clearly) not in football now that he’s agreed to a deal with a Major League organization. The agreement points to the likelihood that Murray’s future lies on the diamond and not on the gridiron, though it’s sure to be a complex arrangement. It’s not known at this time what sort of contingencies are in place in the event that Murray incurs a severe injury while playing football, though it seems likely that the A’s will have some form of safeguards in place, given the size of their investment in Murray and the level of risk that comes with allowing him to play NCAA football.
Jordan Montgomery Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
June 7: The Yankees announced that Montgomery underwent Tommy John surgery today, adding that Dr. Christopher Ahmad also discovered a loose bone chip that was removed as well.
June 5: Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who has been on the 10-day disabled list with an elbow strain for a bit more than a month, will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday this week, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).
Obviously, the news comes as a blow to a Yankees club that was already likely to be in the market for rotation help on the summer trade market. With Montgomery now out of action for the balance of the 2018 season and a significant portion of the 2019 season as well, that need will only be emphasized more strongly by general manager Brian Cashman and his staff.
[Related: New York Yankees depth chart]
The 25-year-old Montgomery entered Spring Training 2017 as a dark-horse candidate for a rotation spot but forced his way into the organization’s plans and appeared to seize a long-term rotation spot with a very strong rookie showing. In 155 1/3 innings last year (29 starts), Montgomery notched a 3.82 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9. He started six games for the Yankees in 2018, working to a 3.62 ERA in 27 1/3 innings, though his final outing lasted just one inning, and he’s been on the DL since.
Montgomery will still accrue service time in both 2018 and 2019 as he mends on the 60-day disabled list. By the time he’s likely to be healthy enough for a full season of work in the rotation (2020), he’ll quite likely have gone through the arbitration process for the first time as a Super Two player. Montgomery entered the season with 153 days of Major League service time, so he’ll be at two years, 153 days once the 2019 season wraps up. That makes him a virtual lock for Super Two designation, and he’ll be controllable for the Yankees all the way through the 2023 campaign.
With Montgomery now done for the year, the Yankees will continue to lean on Domingo German in the fifth spot of their rotation for the foreseeable future. He’ll fall in line behind Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia, though it’s possible that the Yankees will ultimately turn to another option in the five-spot — at least until a presumptive trade acquisition comes together.
German, 25, threw six no-hit innings in his first MLB start back on May 6, but he’s been rocked for 19 earned runs in 21 innings since that time. Top pitching prospect Chance Adams has struggled with the Yankees’ top affiliate this season, though lefty Justus Sheffield has been more impressive and could conceivably earn a look in the coming weeks as the Yankees plot a new trajectory in the wake of Montgomery’s unfortunate diagnosis.
Rangers Extend Jon Daniels
The Rangers have agreed to an extension of GM and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was among those to tweet. Details are not yet known.
A new contract for the club’s top baseball operations executive has long been expected, so the news is no surprise in that regard. Daniels is now in his 13th year in the position, which he took at just 28 years of age.
Over that tenure, Daniels has signed contracts of varying lengths, but never for more than four campaigns. His latest deal covered the 2016 through 2018 seasons, so it was set to expire at year end.
While the Rangers are experiencing some transition pains at the MLB level, Daniels has delivered strong overall results during his time in office. The club went to the postseason in five of seven seasons between 2010 and 2016 and has only carried a losing record in two of the past nine campaigns, though another will likely be added to that tally when 2018 draws to a close.
On the surface, it’s odd to see this agreement come while the Rangers are limping out to a 27-37 record. But there’s obviously a broader view being considered here. The club is scheduled to open a new ballpark (its second in less than three decades) for the start of the 2020 season, which surely represents a target date of sorts.
There’s certainly a formidable challenge ahead for Daniels, whose current roster is not exactly stuffed with core talent. Though the team has its share of well-regarded prospect talent, it isn’t considered a top farm system overall. Meanwhile, each of the other four teams in the AL West have generated some excitement and momentum to this point in the season.
Most immediately, there are some potentially sticky situations to be navigated involving veteran players. Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus could each become free agents — the latter has an opt-out chance — and thus may also be summer trade candidates. It’s fair to wonder whether the club may try to engineer some kind of move to shed a bit of the money owed to Shin-Soo Choo. Several relievers could be dealt. And then there’s the rotation, which includes three veterans who could be useful to contenders — Cole Hamels, Doug Fister, and Bartolo Colon — and otherwise presents as much or uncertainty as any other starting unit in baseball in both the near and long term.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Diamondbacks Acquire Jon Jay
9:41pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that the D-backs are taking on the remainder of Jay’s salary and will be on the hook for any of the $1.5MM worth of incentives he unlocks. Jay reportedly receives $100K for every 25th plate appearance beginning at 250 plate appearances and escalating up through his 600th plate appearance of the year. He’s already at 266 PAs on the season.
7:52pm: The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve acquired outfielder Jon Jay from the Royals in exchange for minor league left-hander Gabe Speier and minor league right-hander Elvis Luciano. Infielder Kristopher Negron has been designated for assignment to clear roster space.
Jay, 33, inked a one-year contract worth $3MM this offseason and is still owed about $1.86MM through season’s end. He’s gotten off to a nice start at the plate in his first year with Kansas City, hitting .307/.363/.374 with a homer, nine doubles, two triples and three steals on the year.
That’s a fairly typical year at the plate for Jay, who has batted at least .291 and posted an OBP of at least .339 in four of the past five seasons. While he doesn’t provide much in the way of pop, he’ll give the Diamondbacks a high-average hitter with solid OBP skills who rarely strikes out and can handle all three outfield spots.
For a team that currently strikes out at a 25 percent clip — fourth-highest in the Majors — Jay’s 14.7 percent punchout rate would seem to be particularly appealing. Beyond that, Jay has virtually no discernible platoon split, having hit lefties (.288/.361/.347) at a comparable rate to righties (.290/.354/.393) throughout his career.
Jay will join an outfield mix that also includes David Peralta, Jarrod Dyson and Chris Owings at the moment. Heading into the season, the outfield hardly looked to be a serious need for the D-backs, but they’ve since seen March acquisition Steven Souza hit the DL twice and are also without A.J. Pollock for upwards of two months due to an avulsion fracture in his thumb.
While that has the makings of a potentially crowded outfield mix if everyone can get healthy, the D-backs will worry about that theoretical logjam down the line. For the time being, they’re taking a proactive approach to help stop the bleeding after a dreadful freefall that has seen their once-monstrous division lead whittled down to a half-game advantage over the Rockies.
The price the D-backs paid for Jay appears modest, at best (as one might expect for a part-time outfielder on a modest contract). The 23-year-old Speier was a 19th-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2013 that has now been traded four times in his career. He went from Boston to Detroit in the Yoenis Cespedes/Rick Porcello blockbuster before next making his way to the Braves alongside Ian Krol in the trade that sent Cameron Maybin back to Detroit. Speier never threw a pitch in the Braves organization, though, as he was traded to the D-backs alongside Shelby Miller in the infamous Ender Inciarte/Dansby Swanson deal.
For a player that’s bounced around so much, though, Speier has solid numbers in the minors. He’s currently in his second full season at the Double-A level and has thus far notched a tidy 3.03 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a whopping 60.5 percent ground-ball rate through 29 2/3 frames. In all, he has a 3.67 ERA in 112 2/3 innings at that level, though he’s yet to ascend to Triple-A and is not considered to be among Arizona’s top 30 farmhands.
Luciano, then, may be the more notable of the pair of hurlers headed to Kansas City. MLB.com ranks him 26th among D-backs farmhands, while Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDainiel of Fangraphs noted in their rundown of the system that Luciano has a 55-grade curveball and a chance to start. Of course, at 18 years of age, he’s years away from even sniffing the big leagues.
Luciano pitched in the Dominican Summer League and in Rookie ball last season, posting a combined 2.84 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com give him a chance to have three average or better offerings, highlighted by the aforementioned hook, but he’ll need quite a bit more development. Callis and Mayo, though, note that he has “plus mound presence and maturity” and was well-regarded by many in the D-backs organization.
For the Royals, the trade of Jay figures to be the first of many in a long summer of rebuilding. Jay was among the many veterans on a contract set to expire after this season, and it’s likely that the Royals front office will field offers on everyone from high-profile rentals like Kelvin Herrera and Mike Moustakas to veteran starters like Jason Hammel and even more controllable assets like Whit Merrifield. The rentals seem like virtual locks to go (Herrera and Moustakas, in particular), but GM Dayton Moore and his staff will undoubtedly carry an open mind as they entertain offers for nearly anyone on the roster.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Alex Reyes Undergoes Surgery On Torn Tendon, Likely Out For Season
The Cardinals received brutal news on touted right-hander Alex Reyes, as the 23-year-old was ultimately diagnosed with a torn tendon in his right lat that necessitated surgical repair (Twitter links via Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Reyes, who pitched four innings in his first start back from Tommy John surgery, is expected to need six months to recover, which would effectively end his 2018 season. The doctors did tell the team that they expect a full recovery, Timmermann adds.
The abrupt end to Reyes’ season is a transformative injury for a Cardinals rotation that was dreaming of six quality options: Reyes, Carlos Martinez, Miles Mikolas, Luke Weaver, Michael Wacha and Jack Flaherty (to say nothing of the rehabbing Adam Wainwright and depth arms like Austin Gomber and John Gant). While the very presence of Flaherty, Gomber and Gant should allow the Cards to field a competitive rotation even without Reyes and Wainwright, the group now looks thinner than the organization would’ve hoped. Martinez himself is only just back from a less-severe lat injury of his own, and he looked decidedly rusty in his first start since being activated off the DL yesterday.
Of greater concern, of course, is the long-term ability of Reyes to contribute in the rotation. While there’s no doubting the talent he possesses in his right arm, his four-inning appearance this season was his first action since the 2016 campaign. As Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch rightly points out (via Twitter), by the time the 2019 season kicks off, Reyes will have pitched just four MLB innings in a span of 31 months. That doesn’t even factor in a shoulder injury he had in the minors back in 2015. In all, the highest total of innings Reyes has ever thrown in a full season is 116 1/3 in 2015 (101 1/3 regular-season frames and 15 innings in the Arizona Fall League).
Reyes will continue to accrue MLB service time while he misses a second straight season rehabbing from a major surgery, meaning that by Opening Day 2019, he’ll have racked up two years, 55 days of service despite throwing only 46 innings at the Major League level. He’s on track to be eligible for arbitration following the 2019 season and can be controlled through the 2022 season as things currently stand.
Rays To Promote Jake Bauers
The Rays are set to promote top prospect Jake Bauers from Triple-A Durham, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The first baseman/outfielder will join the team for his MLB debut on Thursday.
Bauers, 22, entered the season to quite a bit of Top 100 prospect fanfare, ranking 43rd at Fangraphs, 45th at Baseball America and 68th at MLB.com. (He’s since risen to 42 at BA and 55 at MLB.com.)
Bauers is not yet hitting for a great deal of power but is off to a fine start in Durham, slashing .279/.357/.426 with five homers, 14 doubles and 10 steals (in 16 attempts). He’s drawn a walk in 10.4 percent of his 222 trips to the dish and has whiffed at a 21.2 percent clip. Defensively, Bauers has spent the bulk of his time in the field at first base, his primary position in the minors, but has logged 47 innings in the outfield corners as well (35 in left field and a dozen in right field).
Originally a seventh-round pick of the Padres back in 2013, Bauers went from San Diego to Tampa Bay in the three-team blockbuster that saw Wil Myers land with the Padres, sent Trea Turner to the Nationals and landed the since-traded Steven Souza Jr. in a Rays uniform. While that three-team deal features plenty of name value now, the Nats look to have come out quite a bit ahead thanks to the success of Turner (and righty Joe Ross, who’s currently mending from Tommy John surgery). Bauers, though, will now look to help the Rays recoup some value in his first taste of the Major Leagues.
C.J. Cron has hit quite well as the Rays’ primary first baseman, but Tampa Bay has received modest production from its outfield. With Kevin Kiermaier on the shelf and Denard Span traded to the Mariners, the Rays have been utilizing Mallex Smith, Carlos Gomez, Johnny Field and Rob Refsnyder in the outfield of late.
It stands to reason that the left-handed hitting Bauers could join that mix. Scouting reports on him indicate that while he’s a better defensive first baseman than outfielder, he’s slimmed down in recent years and can handle the outfield grass (or turf, as it were) adequately while chipping in with an above-average hit tool and average or better power at the plate.
The timing of Bauers’ promotion is such that he won’t be eligible for free agency until at least the end of the 2024 season, though his early-June debut figures to leave him on the bubble for Super Two arbitration status down the line.
There’s no exact cutoff date for that nebulous distinction, as it’s dependent on the service time of the other players in Bauers’ service class, but it seems likely that he’ll fall just shy of qualifying. There are only 116 days remaining in the season from the point at which Bauers will be formally promoted, and the lowest that the Super Two cutoff has fallen in recent seasons has been two years, 122 days of MLB service time.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.