Notes

AL Central Notes: Royals, Singer, Lynch, Tigers, Peralta, Pineda, Twins

By Anthony Franco | April 8, 2022 at 6:42pm CDT

The Royals finalized their season-opening rotation yesterday, with manager Mike Matheny telling reporters (including Alec Lewis of the Athletic) that southpaw Daniel Lynch will claim the final spot behind Zack Greinke, Brad Keller, Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernández. Notably, that means right-hander Brady Singer — who has started all 39 of his MLB appearances — is set to work out of the bullpen initially. Matheny indicated the Royals still view Singer and righty Jackson Kowar as starting pitchers long-term, but it’ll be Lynch who gets the nod for now.

It’s a bit of a surprising move, as Singer is coming off the better season. Neither hurler had a good ERA in 2021, but Singer had a better strikeout and ground-ball rate than Lynch while issuing slightly fewer walks. Lynch generated a slightly higher whiff rate, but Singer was among the league’s best pitchers at picking up called strikes. Some evaluators raised concerns during Singer’s prospect days about whether his below-average changeup and lower arm slot could diminish his ability to turn a lineup over multiple times, but he’s not shown marked second or third times through the order splits in his career thus far. Injuries and/or underperformance to the front five figure to give Singer another rotation look in the near future.

More pitching updates from around the division:

The Tigers are planning to use Wily Peralta in relief this season, writes Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The righty started 18 of 19 appearances with Detroit last year, posting a solid 3.07 ERA but an underwhelming 14.4% strikeout rate. The Tigers brought Peralta back on a minor league contract this spring. He seems likely to get another big league call fairly soon, but he was delayed in reporting to Spring Training because of visa issues and is set for further ramp-up work in the minors. The Tigers added Michael Pineda on a one-year big league deal to assume the final rotation spot behind Eduardo Rodríguez, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning. Pineda — held up by visa concerns of his own — consented to be optioned to Triple-A Toledo to open the year for more build-up time, giving Tyler Alexander the #5 spot for the season’s first couple weeks. Pineda tossed three innings for the Mud Hens yesterday, and Petzold notes he’s likely to make two more appearances there before being recalled to the majors.
The Twins made a last-minute addition to their rotation before Opening Day, acquiring Chris Paddack from the Padres in a deal that involved four MLB players changing hands. Minnesota already had a starting five of Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Dylan Bundy, Bailey Ober and Chris Archer lined up, and manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) the Twins will roll with a six-man starting staff to open the season. Active rosters are expanded from 26 to 28 through April, giving teams flexibility to carry plenty of arms. Minnesota is also carrying top prospects Josh Winder and Jhoan Duran on the Opening Day roster, with both working in relief. Duran is expected to remain in that role (where he shined in two innings during his MLB debut this afternoon); Winder could be a rotation option down the line, and Baldelli said Winder could shoulder as much as five innings during an appearance out of the ’pen in the early going (Park link).

Quick Hits: Deadline, Davis, Miller

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2022 at 7:46am CDT

The 2022 trade deadline will be set for Tuesday, August 2 at 6:00 pm EST, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). As previously reported, the new collective bargaining agreement gives Major League Baseball the authority to set each season’s deadline on any date between July 28 and August 3. In the past, the deadline has typically fallen in late July. MLB has been reluctant to set it on a weekend, preferring to avoid the potential awkwardness associated with conducting a large swath of trades at a time when there’s a slate of afternoon games ongoing.

This year, July 30-31 fall on a weekend. It always seemed likely MLB would push the deadline back to at least August 1 because of that, and they’ve elected to wait until the second of the month. The start to the regular season was delayed a week because of the lockout, so setting the deadline towards the back of the allotted window gives teams an extra couple days to evaluate their place in the standings during a slightly compressed schedule.

Some more notes from around the game:

Joe Davis is set to take over as the play-by-play broadcaster for World Series coverage on Fox, reports Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. The 34-year-old has been the Dodgers television play-by-play man for the past five seasons, taking over in the L.A. booth after legendary broadcaster Vin Scully retired. Davis has also called some national broadcast games for Fox in recent years, both during the regular season and occasional playoff games when previous Fox lead broadcaster Joe Buck was unavailable. Buck had been the play-by-play voice of the World Series for each of the last 21 years, originally pairing with Tim McCarver before more recently teaming with John Smoltz. Buck recently left Fox to join ESPN, however, and the network will promote Davis to pair with Smoltz on World Series broadcasts moving forward.
Longtime big league hurler Andrew Miller announced his retirement last month, wrapping up a 16-year MLB career that included a pair of All-Star appearances and top ten finishes in Cy Young voting. That came as a bit of a surprise, not least because Miller had taken on an active role during the lockout as a member of the MLB Players Association’s executive subcommittee. In a recent chat with the PA’s Jerry Crasnick, Miller explained why he assumed an active role in the union. “I got lucky in the sense that I got elected to be the team rep in Miami. Once that happens, you start to meet people and make connections and see the inner workings and appreciate how important the union is — what they can do for players even on things a lot of people probably think of as minor issues. They mean a lot to the individual player, and to be able to help guys through that helped me understand that side of the game. Once you get invested and get to know the people, it’s almost like a second team that you’re a part of.” Miller and Crasnick also chat about plenty of non-labor topics, including his transition from the rotation to the bullpen, his most memorable seasons and teammates, and his post-playing goals.

Mets Notes: Scherzer, deGrom, Nimmo

By Mark Polishuk | April 3, 2022 at 9:14pm CDT

Max Scherzer is set to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday, Mets manager Buck Showalter told Newsday’s Tim Healey and other reporters. Right hamstring tightness kept Scherzer out of a scheduled seven-inning intrasquad game on Saturday, which was supposed to be Scherzer’s last bit of spring work before the beginning of the regular season.

The ace has already tossed 11 Grapefruit League innings, so his arm might already be built up enough should he get through Tuesday’s bullpen without any ill effects. It is also possible that the Mets might opt for some extra caution, and either push Scherzer’s first start back at least a few days, or maybe even sideline him with a backdated IL visit just to be completely sure that the 37-year-old is fully ready.

Scherzer’s health has taken on an greater import for the Mets in the wake of Friday’s news that Jacob deGrom will miss probably at least the first two months of the season after an MRI revealed a stress reaction in his right scapula. The Mets begin play on April 7 with seven straight games (a four-game series against the Nationals and then a three-game series against the Phillies), so there aren’t any off-days to provide breathing room for the pitching staff.

DeGrom and Scherzer had been penciled in for the first two games of the schedule, with Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker then slated to follow in the rotation. Rather than disrupt this planned routine, if Scherzer can’t pitch on April 7, any of Tyler Megill, David Peterson, or Trevor Williams could start the first two games, or New York could even opt for a bullpen game. Of course, the Mets are also known to be on the lookout for more starting pitching help, so a new face might suddenly emerge to help fill out the rotation picture.

DeGrom met with reporters (including The New York Post’s Mike Puma) today to discuss his injury, and unsurprisingly, his “level of frustration is really high right now” over another lengthy stint on the injured list. A forearm injury ended deGrom’s 2021 season on July 7, cutting short an incredible year that saw deGrom post an 1.08 ERA over 92 innings.

If there is any silver lining, deGrom is confident that his stress reaction won’t be a lingering problem: “Structurally everything looks fine, so once the bone heals then we’ll be ready to go and build up from there and hopefully be healthy for the rest of the year.” As such, deGrom reiterated that he is still planning to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract after the season, and test the open market.

Most pitchers with this recent injury history would be more hesitant over walking away from a guaranteed $30.5MM in 2023, plus maybe another $32.5MM in 2024 via a Mets club option. However, if deGrom is healthy and pitches like his usual self when he returns to the mound, he’ll surely land a more lucrative multi-year commitment. As The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal pointed out, $12MM of deGrom’s 2023 salary would also be deferred, so opting out would allow deGrom to land more up-front money in a new contract.

In other Mets contract news (or lack thereof), Puma reports that there hasn’t been any discussion between the club and Brandon Nimmo’s representatives about a contract extension. Nimmo has stated multiple times that he would be interested in working out a long-term deal as he enters his final season before free agency. In general, most players prefer to not let talks carry on beyond Opening Day, so there might not be a lot of time left for a deal to get done if Nimmo adheres to this rough deadline.

Nimmo has been one of baseball’s more quietly productive players in recent years, hitting .266/.393/.445 with 47 home runs over 1695 career PA. This translates to a very impressive 131 OPS+ and 134 wRC+, but the key statistic might be the relatively small amount of plate appearances, as Nimmo has been beset by multiple injuries. It could be that the Mets have held off on extension talks in order to see if Nimmo can finally put together a lengthy stretch of playing time in 2022, though if he does stay healthy, Nimmo might then be tempted to test the free agent market.

Padres Notes: Clevinger, Abrams, Paddack, Weathers

By Mark Polishuk | April 3, 2022 at 8:02pm CDT

Mike Clevinger is battling soreness in his right knee and is expected to begin the season on the 10-day injured list, Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune). Clevinger has made only one appearance this spring, and lasted only 1 2/3 innings.

The IL placement “allows us to kind of smooth things out and slow it down some,” Melvin said. “We don’t feel like it’s a significant thing, but it actually might be a little bit of a blessing because it did feel like we were kind of rushing him a little bit.”

It has already been a lengthy absence from a big league mound for Clevinger, who underwent Tommy John surgery in November 2020 and subsequently missed all of last season. The Padres were already planning to ease him back into action on limited innings, pairing Clevinger with another pitcher in piggyback fashion. It seems likely that the team might still pursue this strategy when Clevinger does return, though the extra recovery time could allow Clevinger to start a bit deeper into games.

San Diego has enough of a pitching surplus to withstand Clevinger’s absence, particularly after Sean Manaea was acquired from the A’s earlier today. However, rumors continue to swirl about the possibility that the Friars could trade from their pitching depth to facilitate another deal, and the Padres reportedly came close on a four-player swap with the Mets yesterday that would’ve seen Eric Hosmer, Chris Paddack, and Emilio Pagan all sent to New York for Dominic Smith.

That trade would’ve been largely about getting luxury tax relief from Hosmer’s contract, though the Padres have also pursued other big-ticket moves to add talent. San Diego has long been rumored to have interest in the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the Padres offered two arms in Paddack and Ryan Weathers in exchange for the All-Star outfielder. That wasn’t enough for the Pirates, as talks were scuttled when Pittsburgh additionally wanted top prospect C.J. Abrams added to the trade package.

While Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has been willing to deal notable prospects in the past, he has mostly resisted trading any of the true upper-tier names from his farm system. As a consensus top-15 prospect in baseball, Abrams fits that billing, even coming off an injury-shortened 2021 season. The Pirates are known to be seeking a major return in exchange for Reynolds, so while Abrams is a justifiable ask for a player of Reynolds’ proven ability, it remains to be seen if the Padres (or any team) would be willing to trade away a blue-chip minor league talent.

In fact, the door remains open on Abrams contributing to the Padres’ own big league roster as early as Opening Day. Abrams has been hitting well this spring, and with Fernando Tatis Jr. set to miss as much as the first three months of the season, there is a vacancy at Abrams’ natural shortstop position. Abrams has also been playing at second base, and Melvin has suggested that he could get some reps in the outfield as well, acting as some center field depth behind Trent Grisham.

It would be an aggressive promotion considering that Abrams has only played 42 games of Double-A ball, and has never played at Triple-A. That said, the Padres didn’t shy away from putting Tatis on their Opening Day roster in 2019, and that was even before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement introduced the “Prospect Promotion Incentive,” which allows teams to potentially gain an extra draft pick if a top prospect spends an entire season on the active roster and has a high finish in awards balloting.

Returning to the pitching rumor mill, Paddack drew some attention from New York’s other team last month, when the Yankees and Padres were discussing Luke Voit in trade talks. SNY’s Andy Martino reports that the Yankees initially wanted Paddack in return for Voit, before finally settling on a less-experienced hurler in prospect Justin Lange.

AL East Notes: Pearson, Borucki, Harvey, Judge, Meadows, Rays, Pollock

By Mark Polishuk | April 2, 2022 at 5:12pm CDT

The Blue Jays are dealing with some injury concerns in their bullpen, as Nate Pearson is dealing with a non-COVID illness and Ryan Borucki left yesterday’s game with discomfort in his right hamstring. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter link) and other reporters that Borucki will undergo an MRI. More will be known about Borucki’s situation when the MRI results are in, but for Pearson, his illness has limited him to only two appearances thus far in Grapefruit League action.

In all likelihood, Pearson’s illness will keep him from making Toronto’s Opening Day roster. While this issue seems less serious than the other injuries that have sidelined the righty over the last two years, it represents yet another setback for the former top prospect. As for Borucki, the southpaw has been a pretty solid reliever when healthy, though he missed almost all of the 2019 season due to elbow problems and over two months of last season with a forearm strain. If another IL stint is required for Borucki, Tim Mayza will be the only left-hander in the Jays’ projected bullpen, which could open the door for Anthony Kay, Tayler Saucedo, or Andrew Vasquez to break camp.

Roster Notes: Nationals, A’s, Royals

By TC Zencka | April 2, 2022 at 1:17pm CDT

Andrew Stevenson of the Nationals has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, per the team. Stevenson can provide solid defense and baserunning, but those aren’t particular needs for a Washington team planning to start Lane Thomas and Victor Robles alongside superstar Juan Soto. Yadiel Hernandez and Gerardo Parra are the pure outfielders remaining in camp with a chance to win the fourth outfielder spot, while Ehire Adrianza is also capable of playing in the grass. As for Stevenson, he will have 48 hours to accept his assignment or elect free agency. Let’s check in on some other roster updates from around the game…

The A’s have optioned southpaw Sam Selman to Triple-A, per the team, lowering the number of players in camp to 38. Selman appeared in each of the past three seasons with the Giants, but also made 18 appearances with the Angels after being acquired as part of the Tony Watson deal. Oakland later claimed Selman off waivers. He’ll continue to serve as bullpen depth in Oakland for the time being.
The Royals announced a handful of minor league assignments today. Colten Brewer, Jose Cuas, Brad Peacock and Arodys Vizcaino; infielders Gabriel Cancel, Iván Castillo, Clay Dungan and Vinnie Pasquantino; and outfielders Dairon Blanco, Brewer Hicken and JaCoby Jones were all assigned to minor league camp.

West Notes: Angels, Detmers, Mariners, Lewis, Elias, Rockies, Freeland

By TC Zencka | April 2, 2022 at 9:52am CDT

Reid Detmers will open the season in the Angels six-man rotation, per Jeff Fletcher of the SoCal News group (via Twitter). Detmers made five starts in 2021 to mixed results, but the Angels have high hopes that the 22-year-old will develop into a rotation staple. For now, he’ll join Shohei Ohtani, Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Sandoval, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Suarez in manager Joe Maddon’s rotation. There’s a fair amount of injury concern in the group, but it’s also one of the higher ceiling units the Angels have started with in the rotation during Maddon’s tenure. As with most seasons, the Angels hopes for contention will hinge largely on the success of this group. Elsewhere out west…

Neither Kyle Lewis nor Roenis Elias will be ready to make the Mariners’ opening day roster, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Elias is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t appeared in a big league game since September of the 2019 season. As for Lewis, the Mariners are taking their time bringing back the 2019 Rookie of the Year. The next step for Lewis’ rehab will be to begin serving as the designated hitter in minor league games, notes Divish, with manager Scott Servais pegging Lewis’ return as being about a month behind the rest of the squad.
Kyle Freeland will get the ball on opening day for the Rockies, per Danielle Allentuck of The Gazette. It will be his second time as the Rockies’ opening day starter, having done so in 2019 as well. No Rockies starter has ever made three opening day starts for the club. The 28-year-old has put together 191 1/3 innings of 4.33 ERA/4.64 FIP over the past two seasons after a disastrous 2019 campaign.

Athletics Notes: Guerra, Oller, Lowrie

By Anthony Franco | April 1, 2022 at 10:29pm CDT

A’s reliever Deolis Guerra will require surgery after leaving a Cactus League appearance this week due to forearm tightness, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (Twitter link). The underlying cause of the soreness and the type of procedure he’ll undergo aren’t clear, but forearm tightness can often be a precursor to Tommy John proceeders.

Guerra had looked like one of the sturdier middle innings options for first-year skipper Mark Kotsay. The 32-year-old (33 later this month) is coming off a season in which he logged a personal-high 65 2/3 innings across 53 appearances in his first year in Oakland. Guerra posted a 4.11 ERA, striking out an average 23% of batters faced while only walking 7.4% of opponents. It wasn’t an overpowering showing, but the Venezuela native frequently worked multiple innings out of the ’pen and excelled at avoiding hard contact. Guerra is playing out this year on an $815K salary and is controllable via arbitration through 2024. He”ll accrue big league service for whatever time he spends on the injured list.

More out of Oakland:

Kotsay informed right-hander Adam Oller this afternoon that he’ll break camp with the big league club, Gallegos writes. That positions the 27-year-old to make his MLB debut at some point early in the year. The closer to the majors of the two pitching prospects the A’s acquired from the Mets for Chris Bassitt, Oller is a former 20th-round pick out of Northwestern State. Originally selected by the Pirates, he’d also seen time in the Giants organization, in independent ball and in Australia before putting together a breakout 2021 campaign. He made 23 combined starts between the Mets’ top two affiliates, working 120 innings of 3.45 ERA ball with a 27.7% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk percentage. Baseball America placed him 23rd in the A’s system after he was acquired, writing that his capable three-pitch mix and solid control could make him a back-of-the-rotation starter or long reliever. Kotsay suggested Oller, who is already on Oakland’s 40-man roster, could pitch in either role to begin his big league career. The A’s will be without starters James Kaprielian and Brent Honeywell Jr. to open the year, perhaps leaving a spot for Oller in the season-opening rotation.
The A’s recently brought Jed Lowrie back for what’ll be a seventh season in green and gold. The switch-hitting infielder has played almost exclusively second base or designated hitter in recent years. Tony Kemp looks to have earned everyday run at the keystone with a strong 2021 showing, and Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the A’s have been getting Lowrie some work at first base this spring. The 37-year-old has never started an MLB game at first, but he’s dealt with knee issues lately and didn’t rate well at second last season. Oakland doesn’t have an obvious everyday first baseman on the roster after trading Matt Olson, so manning the position could get Lowrie some extra at-bats.

Twins Notes: Larnach, Miranda, Rotation, Winder

By Anthony Franco | March 30, 2022 at 6:55pm CDT

The Twins announced this afternoon they’ve optioned corner outfielder Trevor Larnach and infield prospect Jose Miranda to Triple-A St. Paul. Neither player will break camp with the big league club.

Larnach played in just under half of Minnesota’s games as a rookie last season. The former first-rounder and top prospect only managed a .223/.322/.350 line in 301 plate appearances, striking out at a 34.6% clip. Those swing-and-miss concerns resulted in the Twins optioning Larnach back to Triple-A in August, and he’ll start this season in the minors as well.

With a projected regular outfield of Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler, there weren’t everyday at-bats to afford to Larnach early on. The 25-year-old is still a valuable long-term piece for the organization, and they’d evidently prefer to get him regular run in the minors as opposed to having him start the year as a part-time player.

That’s also the case for Miranda, a 23-year-old who broke out with a huge .344/.401/.572 line between the minors’ top two levels. That earned him a place on the back half of Baseball America’s and FanGraphs’ Top 100 Prospects lists this winter, but he’ll head back to St. Paul to start the year. Minnesota has offseason acquisition Gio Urshela at third base, with Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez options at the keystone and designated hitter. Miranda, added to the 40-man roster in November, figures to get his first big league look at some point this year. That’ll be put on hold by the Twins enviable collection of infield depth.

Strong as Minnesota’s position player group looks, the team’s rotation is still a major question mark. The Twins entered the offseason likely needing to add three starters from outside the organization. They’ve done so, acquiring Sonny Gray from the Reds and signing free agents Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer. Each of Bundy and Archer comes with durability and performance questions related to tough 2021 seasons, though.

The Twins were recently connected to A’s starters Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, both of whom would still be marked upgrades to the starting staff. The latest reports suggest Oakland could elect to keep both of those hurlers, and Montas in particular now seems unlikely to be moved before Opening Day. The Twins were linked to Montas/Manaea before they signed Archer on Monday, and it now appears they’ll break camp with a rotation of Gray, Bailey Ober, Archer, Bundy and rookie Joe Ryan.

In an appearance on SKOR North’s Mackey & Judd podcast this week, Darren Wolfson noted the Twins talks with the A’s had “stagnated.” Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press hears the A’s never made a formal ask for anyone from Minnesota in Montas and Manaea discussions. Wolfson suggests the Twins could be willing to revisit discussions on Montas and Manaea at some point, but Minnesota chief baseball officer Derek Falvey indicated this week the team is content with their existing rotation options. “We’ll always stay open-minded to everything,” Falvey said about the possibility of acquiring another starter (via Helfand). “I know I always say that, but that’s true. It’s just at this late stage as we approach Opening Day, it feels like the group is probably in this room.”

Like every team, the Twins will need to rely on more than five starters throughout the course of a 162-game season. Righty Josh Winder, Baseball America’s #6 prospect in the organization, would appear to be the top depth option out of the gate. Winder has yet to make his MLB debut, but he pitched to a 1.98 ERA with excellent strikeout and walk rates (31.3% and 4.8%, respectively) in 10 Double-A starts last season. The Twins could start him in the St. Paul rotation, but manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) today they’re open to carrying him with the big league club as a long relief option.

The organization no doubt views Winder as a starting pitcher long-term, but keeping him in the MLB bullpen could allow him to stay stretched out and get his feet wet in the big leagues. Given the rather thin rotation, the VMI product figures to be starting games before long.

D-Backs Notes: Marte, Ahmed, Luplow

By Steve Adams | March 30, 2022 at 5:23pm CDT

Ketel Marte will remain in Arizona for quite some time after agreeing to this week’s contract extension. The deal, which exercised his preexisting 2023 and 2024 options, tacked on three more years and gave the Diamondbacks a 2028 club option as well. Zach Buchanan of The Athletic notes that, in total, the new contract gives the D-backs the opportunity to control Marte for another four years at a total of $63MM (although the deal contains various incentives and escalators that can further bolster that price). Marte tells Buchanan and others that he hopes to spend the remainder of his career with the Diamondbacks, citing, a strong relationship with Torey Lovullo among his reasons for wanting to stay put.

The D-backs could’ve traded Marte for a king’s ransom, but Hazen tells Buchanan and others that the front office also feels it necessary to “make some commitments,” both to current stars and perhaps to future core pieces they hope will be rising up to the Majors sooner than later.

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