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Injury Notes: Naquin, Graveman, Buchter, Hendriks, Vielma, Alvarez,

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The Indians have placed outfielder Tyler Naquin on the DL with a left hamstring strain, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com writes. Naquin limped into second during yesterday’s game while running out a double, and stayed in the game through the remainder of the inning. He was taken out subsequently, though, and sent to get an MRI. There’s no word yet on the severity of Naquin’s injury, nor how long he’ll be out. It’s surely a disappointing development for the Indians; Naquin’s hitting .333/.367/.453 on the year, albeit with an unsustainable .442 BABIP. In a related move, the Indians activated reliever Tyler Olson from the paternity list for today’s game.

Other injury notes from around the league…

  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle provided some injury updates on Athletics players with a pair of tweets today. Right-hander Kendall Graveman is “limping around” after taking a liner off his shin last night. While the situation is reportedly better than expected, the A’s aren’t yet certain whether they’ll need to push back Graveman’s next side session. Meanwhile, Ryan Buchter (shoulder strain) will begin a throwing program next week, and Liam Hendriks (groin strain) is scheduled to throw off a mound today.
  • In Orioles injury news, infielder Engelb Vielma is set to have surgery on his knee (according to Rich Dubroff of PressBoxonline.com). He sustained the injury after tripping over a mound while running down a fly ball in foul ground during a minors game, and while it’s not thought to be season-ending, some in the Orioles organization have loudly voiced their frustrations about the circumstances surrounding the injury. Meanwhile, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun tweets that Pedro Alvarez’ hamstring tightness will hold him out of today’s lineup, though there’s still hope that he could be called upon to hit if needed.

West Notes: CarGo, Fowler, Pence

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A combination of poor offensive output and surging young Rockies outfielders staking claims to playing time has led to an unusual “platoon” situation for Carlos Gonzalez, as Kyle Newman of the Denver Post writes. CarGo is hitting just .236/.278/.427 on the season with three homers, while David Dahl and Noel Cuevas both boast wRC+ figures above 100 (though each has a BABIP above .420). Gerrardo Parra has also seen a reduction in playing time thanks to the young duo’s hot streaks. Newman notes that manager Bud Black is making his lineup card each day with many factors each day, including rest, pitching matchups and the hot hand. Gonzalez signed a one-year, $8MM deal with the Rockies this past season after struggling for much of 2017.

A pair of other items out of the West…

  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the Athletics could start running more often following the promotion of speedy outfielder Dustin Fowler to the big league club. Enter Thursday’s game, Slusser notes that the A’s were just 7-for-14 in steal attempts on the season; those steals and steals attempts totals both rank second to last in the majors. In the meantime, Fowler was 8-for-10 during his time in Triple-A this year. Manager Bob Melvin describes Fowler as a “true base stealer”. Said Fowler on the subject:  “That’s something I’ve worked on my whole career, so I’d like to step it up and see how I can do at the big-league level as much as I can.” 
  • Giants outfielder Hunter Pence has reportedly resumed his rehab assignment (h/t Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports). Pence, who has been on the DL since April 20th after suffering a thumb injury, was originally expected to miss no more than the ten-day minimum. However, Pence began feeling some recurring thumb soreness during his initial rehab assignment, necessitating a retreat from playing in games for a bit. That was only five days ago, so it appears the setback wasn’t viewed as particularly serious. With Mac Williamson still being held out of games following concussion symptoms, the Giants will hope they can get Pence back into their depleted outfield mix sooner than later.

Athletics Promote Dustin Fowler, Place Trevor Cahill On 10-Day DL

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1:15pm: Cahill is expected only to be out for the required ten days, skipper Bob Melvin tells reporters including MLB.com’s Jane Lee (via Twitter). It is obviously not seen as a significant injury.

10:41am: The Athletics have announced the promotion of outfielder Dustin Fowler. He’ll take the open roster spot created by the placement of righty Trevor Cahill on the 10-day DL.

Fowler, acquired in last summer’s Sonny Gray trade, will be back in the majors after his first stint ended in calamity with a ruptured patella tendon in his very first game. The 23-year-old has been at full strength this year at Triple-A, where he has recorded a .313/.333/.484 batting line in 132 plate appearances.

It is not fully clear at the moment whether Fowler will get an extended look, as the A’s will ultimately need to add another arm to account for Cahill’s absence. It’s possible, though, that he’ll be given a chance to stake a claim to the job in center. The club has received middling production from Matt Joyce and Stephen Piscotty thus far and does not have a true center fielder on the roster. While Mark Canha has hit well since stepping in up the middle, and the A’s have a bevy of outfield-capable options, there’s a path to playing time for Fowler if the club so chooses.

As for Cahill, he has been diagnosed with an elbow impingement. It’s not clear at the moment how long he will be expected to miss. He had been off to an excellent start after signing with Oakland for $1.5MM late in camp. Cahill has worked to a 2.25 ERA with 11.6 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 over 24 frames in four outings.

Filling the void could mean bringing back Kendall Graveman, but his struggles have persisted since his demotion. Otherwise, Frankie Montas and Daniel Gossett appear to be the top options on the 40-man roster.

Athletics Release Simon Castro

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The Athletics have released right-hander Simon Castro from their Triple-A club, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. The 30-year-old turned in a solid year with the Oakland organization in 2017 but had gotten off to a rough start in 2018.

Originally signed by the Padres as an 18-year-old, Castro was flipped to the White Sox as the centerpiece in 2011’s Carlos Quentin trade. At the time, he ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects, but ultimately he didn’t establish himself with either organization. After being cut loose by the Sox, he spent two years with the Rockies before landing with the A’s on a minor league deal prior to the 2017 season.

Castro logged a career-high 38 innings with the A’s in the Majors last year, pitching to a 4.38 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 32.7 percent ground-ball rate in that time. He posted gaudy strikeout totals with Oakland’s top affiliate in Nashville as well, continuing a recent trend at the Triple-A level. While Castro has limited big league experience, his past three Triple-A campaigns (2015-17) saw him work 148 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball with 11.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 0.85 HR/9.

This season, he’s whiffed 12 hitters in 8 1/3 innings but also issued six walks and yielded seven earned runs. Castro has a fairly lengthy track record of missing bats in the upper minors and only turned 30 last month, so he’s likely to catch on as a depth piece elsewhere.

Athletics Select Contract Of Brett Anderson

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TODAY: Oakland has indeed selected Anderson’s contract. Righty Emilio Pagan was optioned to create roster space.

YESTERDAY: Brett Anderson arrived in the Athletics’ clubhouse on Tuesday night and is expected to start for Oakland tomorrow in place of recently demoted Opening Day starter Kendall Graveman, writes John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The A’s will have to formally select Anderson’s contract beforehand, though they have an open spot on the 40-man roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate him.

The news means that for the first time in seven years, the Athletics’ rotation will feature both Anderson and Trevor Cahill — two now-30-year-old pitchers who were once viewed as potential building blocks for the A’s. Over a span of two years, however, Oakland traded both pitchers in separate deals that netted Jarrod Parker, Drew Pomeranz, Ryan Cook, Collin Cowgill and Chris Jensen.

Since he last suited up for the A’s, Anderson has appeared for the Rockies, Dodgers, Cubs and Blue Jays at the big league level, at times functioning as a decidedly above-average starter but also dealing with myriad back injuries in addition to blister issues and a broken finger on his pitching hand. In the four seasons since he was traded Anderson has pitched a total of 290 1/3 innings — the vast majority of which came with the 2015 Dodgers (180 1/3 innings, 3.69 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 66.3 percent ground-ball rate).

[Related: Oakland Athletics depth chart]

As Shea notes, Anderson had an opt-out provision in his contract, which likely contributed to the decision to bring him back to the big league level. However, one could hardly argue that Anderson didn’t earn the promotion based on merit, either; in four starts and 19 innings thus far with Triple-A Nashville, he’s surrendered four earned runs (1.89 ERA) on 17 hits and two walks with 25 strikeouts and a 65.2 percent grounder rate. He’ll join Cahill, Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden and Andrew Triggs in Oakland’s rotation for the time being.

Knocking Down The Door: Fowler, Guerrero, Staumont, Stewart, Urias

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“Knocking Down the Door” is a regular feature that identifies minor leaguers who are making a case for a big league promotion.  

Dustin Fowler, CF, Athletics (Triple-A Nashville) | Athletics Depth Chart

Despite a devastating leg injury that occurred during the first inning of his MLB debut last June, many still expected Fowler to be the starting center fielder on Opening Day. While health did not appear to be a major factor—he had 47 plate appearances in 19 games this spring—the 23-year-old was understandably rusty at the plate. He hit just .222 with two walks and 13 strikeouts in the Cactus League. As a result, his Oakland A’s debut would have to wait until he began to show the form that catapulted him up prospect lists with the Yankees last season (.871 OPS, 13 HR, 19 2B, 8 3B, 13 SB in 70 Triple-A games). If the last seven games are any indication, he is getting close.

With 14 hits in his past 33 at-bats, including his first two homers of the season, a trio of three-hit games, three doubles and a pair of triples, Fowler has boosted his batting average over the .300 mark. He also has six stolen bases, which is a good indication that he’s recovered from his injury. The versatile Mark Canha has been productive while getting the majority of starts in center field as of late, but he’ll move back into a part-time role once Fowler arrives.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays (Double-A New Hampshire) | Blue Jays Depth Chart

A 19-year-old with only a few weeks of Double-A experience has no business being on this list. Or being this good, even if his father is a Hall of Famer. But Vladimir Jr., after just 96 plate appearances, is making it clear that he has no business being at this level for much longer. The right-handed hitting third baseman is slashing .380/.442/.582 with two homers, eight doubles, 10 walks and 10 strikeouts in his first 20 games. He was also 7-for-13 in MLB camp during an impressive spring that he capped off with a walk-off homer in an exhibition game in Montreal.

The only question for now is whether he makes a stop in Triple-A before he begins his MLB career. Once he’s in the Majors, he’ll be in the lineup on a regular basis. With Josh Donaldson expected back soon from the disabled list after missing time with shoulder discomfort, it’s possible that Guerrero spells him at third base a few days per week and serves as the designated hitter on other days. The odd man out would be Kendrys Morales, who is hitless in his last 21 at-bats and is 8-for-50 on the season.

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Josh Staumont, RP, Royals (Triple-A Omaha) | Royals Depth Chart

Entering 2017 as one of the Royals’ best prospects, Staumont flopped in his first full season in the upper minors with a 5.56 ERA and 7.0 BB/9 in 124 2/3 innings between Triple-A and Double-A. A move to the bullpen has him back on track so far in 2018.

While the walks are still an issue—he’s walked seven in 10 1/3 Triple-A innings—he’s allowed just one earned run and hasn’t walked more than one batter in seven of his eight appearances. The 24-year-old right-hander has also struck out 22 batters, including 10 over his past two outings (3 2/3 IP). Coincidentally, the Royals have one of the worst bullpens in the Majors. Their closer, Kelvin Herrera, isn’t part of the problem, but he’s expected to be traded to a contender by July 31st and probably sooner than that. Staumont should get a chance to prove that he can be a part of the team’s late-inning, post-Herrera relief crew.

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Christin Stewart, OF, Tigers (Triple-A Toledo) | Tigers Depth Chart

The Tigers had a fairly uneventful offseason, which wasn’t totally unexpected as they moved toward a rebuild. But with several free agents available at a discounted rate—Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez and Jon Jay are just a few examples—it was a bit surprising that they took a hard pass and began the season with Mikie Mahtook and Leonys Martin in their starting outfield. While it’s not clear whether the Stewart factored in to the decision—he hit 28 homers in Double-A in 2017, but also struck out 138 times—he could soon get the chance to show that he can be a part of the solution.

Not only has the 24-year-old left fielder continued to mash in the upper minors—he’s slashing .311/.404/.568 with four homers, five doubles and 11 walks in his first 89 Triple-A plate appearances—he’s also striking out at a much lower rate than in year’s past (24 % in ’17; 15 % in ’18). Playing alongside Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez should only help to continue that trend.

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Luis Urias, 2B, Padres (Triple-A El Paso) | Padres Depth Chart

Padres hitters continue to rack up strikeouts at a record pace. They lead the league with 309 whiffs in 1135 plate appearances and are on their way to surpassing the MLB single-season record of 1571. As a comparison, Urias has struck out 150 times in 1618 plate appearances in the minors. He also has 166 walks. The 20-year-old won’t be their savior in 2018, but he can certainly help this bunch.

Over his first 19 games in Triple-A, Urias is slashing .307/.416/.440 with two homers, four doubles, 13 walks and 15 strikeouts. He has nine hits, six walks and one strikeout over his last 22 plate appearances. The Padres moved quickly to fill two rotation spots with prospects—Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer both debuted in April—and now it’s becoming increasingly possible that Urias joins them to replace the struggling Carlos Asuaje (.576 OPS) as the starting second baseman.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL Notes: Orioles, A’s, Davis, Tribe, BoSox

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Things aren’t looking good for the Orioles, who are off to a 7-19 start and stuck in a division with at least two potential World Series contenders in the Red Sox and Yankees. Nevertheless, “it’s a little early” to tear things down, according to general manager Dan Duquette (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). “We’ll probably give it a little bit more time. Usually, Memorial Day is the marker to evaluate a ballclub and see where you’re at and see where you want to go,” Duquette continued. “Other clubs have had the same time to evaluate their ballclub and see what they need. So I think that’s probably a good marker.” Assuming the Orioles don’t return to relevance in the next month, they could have the hottest trade commodity of the summer in superstar shortstop Manny Machado, who has been tremendous this year, and other possible trade candidates such as free agents-to-be Adam Jones, Brad Brach and Zach Britton.

More on a few of Baltimore’s fellow AL clubs…

  • The Athletics are reportedly discussing a one-year extension with slugger Khris Davis, who’d welcome the opportunity to stay in Oakland, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. “I want to be an Oakland Athletic,” Davis said. “I think I fit in well here. I like the organization, I like the coaching staff, I like my teammates.” Interestingly, Slusser suggests there’s at least a small chance that the low-payroll Athletics could designate Davis for assignment next offseason if he hasn’t agreed to an extension and they fear his arbitration award will be too high. That would be an eye-opening move by Oakland, for which Davis has slashed .247/.322/.525 (125 wRC+) with a major league-high 92 home runs in 1,381 PAs since joining the team prior to 2016. The 30-year-old Davis is making $10.5MM this season and, as Slusser notes, could wind up at $15MM or more in 2019 – his final arb campaign.
  • The Indians tried to retain first baseman Carlos Santana with a three-year offer in the $40MM range before he joined the Phillies on a three-year, $60MM deal in the offseason, Terry Pluto of cleveland.com reports. The Indians ultimately replaced Santana with Yonder Alonso, who landed a two-year, $16MM pact, after considering fellow free agents Lucas Duda and Logan Morrison, per Pluto. The most productive member of that group this season has been Alonso, who has batted .239/.292/.534 (119 wRC+) with eight home runs in his first 96 plate trips as an Indian.
  • Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts is day-to-day after leaving their game against the Rays on Saturday with right hamstring tightness, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Betts has been among the best players in the game in the early going this year, having slashed a ridiculous .344/.439/.733 (208 wRC+) with eight HRs in 107 PAs. Meanwhile, teammate and knuckleballer Steven Wright began serving his 15-game suspension for violating the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, Ian Browne of MLB.com was among those to report. Wright opened the year on the disabled list after undergoing a platelet-rich plasma injection in his surgically repaired left knee, thus preventing him from serving the ban. Wright, who made a Triple-A rehab start Friday, will be eligible to return to the majors May 14. It’s unclear whether he’ll slot back into Boston’s rotation, though, given that it already has a full complement of arms with Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz.

Injury Notes: Teheran, Buchter, Giants, Donaldson, Schoop, Nats

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Braves righty Julio Teheran left his outing today with what the team is calling “right upper trap tightness.” He had shown a concerning velocity drop before departing, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. The 27-year-old Teheran entered the day with a 4.00 ERA in his 27 innings, while carrying a career-best 12.8% swinging-strike rate, but gave up three earned in his three frames. It seems generally promising that there’s a muscular explanation for Teheran’s sudden loss of velo, though of course that does not necessarily mean he’s out of the woods and we’ll have to await further word.

Here’s the latest on some other health situations around the league:

  • The Athletics have placed southpaw Ryan Buchter on the DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Danny Coulombe. At this point, the team plans to shut Buchter down for at least ten days and possibly longer, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. The 31-year-old southpaw, who was acquired over the offseason, has been quite good thus far for the A’s. He’s carrying a 1.69 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over 10 2/3 innings.
  • While the Giants will hold off on putting Mac Williamson on the DL, he’s in the concussion protocol at present, as manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). In the meantime, the organization has brought fellow outfielder Austin Slater onto the active roster, creating space by sending reliever Josh Osich to the 10-day DL. It’s unclear at this point how long Slater will have in the majors, but he’ll surely be hoping to follow the same track as Williamson, who kept on raking after receiving a promotion. Slater owns a .358/.435/.642 slash with just six strikeouts in his 62 plate appearances on the year at Triple-A.
  • Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson is beginning his rehab assignment tomorrow, as the team announced. He’ll open as a DH as he eases back into action, though the real test will come when he puts his throwing back on display at game speed. There’s similarly good news for the division-rival Orioles, who expect to send second baseman Jonathan Schoop on a brief rehab assignment next week, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. He has been out for two weeks with an oblique strain.
  • The Nationals, who are still waiting for a trio of important players, gave some updates today. (Links to the Twitter feed of Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com.) Third baseman Anthony Rendon is reasonably close and is expected to return in relatively short order after a brief stint on the shelf. It’s not quite as rosy for outfielder Adam Eaton, who has seemingly had some ups and downs in rehabbing his ankle issues, but — GM Mike Rizzo emphasized — also has not experienced any setbacks. As for second baseman Daniel Murphy, who has yet to play at all following offseason knee surgery, there’s still no timeline for a return.
  • A number of other players are already coming off of the DL. The Reds have activated righty David Hernandez and the Mariners have brought back first baseman Ryon Healy. Both were relatively significant offseason acquisitions for their organizations. Meanwhile, the Rays activated infielder Matt Duffy and the Rangers did the same with righty Tony Barnette.

A’s Reportedly Discussing One-Year Extension With Khris Davis

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The A’s have approached Khris Davis’ representatives at Octagon about a one-year extension for the 2019 season, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports within his latest column on the A’s (subscription required). The two sides are in the early stages of talks about a deal that’d buy out Davis’ final year of arbitration well in advance. Davis is controlled through 2019 regardless, so a one-year extension would largely be about establishing cost certainty for the club and about protecting against injury or a notable decline from Davis’ vantage point.

Oakland and Davis came to terms on a one-year, $10.5MM contract this past offseason, avoiding arbitration in the process. With another characteristically strong season at the plate — Davis is off to a .257/.339/.535 start with seven homers — the 30-year-old slugger would be primed for one more significant boost in his salary. As a loose point of reference, he received a $5.5MM raise this past offseason, so a typical season could push his salary beyond the $16MM point next year.

Davis’ skill set, while not one that has been rewarded handsomely in free agency in recent years, is one that still plays quite well in the arbitration process. Locking Davis up now could potentially save the A’s a bit of cash over what he’d command in his final trip through the arbitration process. Extensions of this nature aren’t exactly commonplace, though the Nationals brokered a one-year deal that bought out Bryce Harper’s final arbitration around this time last season.

While a salary ranging anywhere from $14-17MM (speaking speculatively) would be substantial for the budget-conscious A’s, Oakland can certainly afford to make that type of commitment to Davis in 2019. At present, right-hander Yusmeiro Petit and outfielder Stephen Piscotty are the only players signed to guaranteed contracts for the 2019 season. They’ll earn just under $13MM combined.

Oakland will have a sizable arbitration class, with Marcus Semien, Kendall Graveman, Blake Treinen, Liam Hendriks, Chris Hatcher, Josh Phegley, Jake Smolinski, Ryan Dull, Ryan Buchter and emerging ace Sean Manaea each qualifying in addition to Davis. Of that group, only Semien seems likely to command anything north of $5MM, though. Manaea will be first-time eligible as a Super Two player, while the others are primarily role players that are either first-time eligible as well (Dull, Buchter) or are currently earning relatively minimal salaries.

The A’s will surely want to leave some room for potential free-agent signings and trade acquisitions, particularly given their increasingly promising young core, though it certainly seems that there’d be room for Davis’ salary, the rest of their arb class, and a few new additions. Oakland will watch $26MM come off the books when Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Joyce, Jed Lowrie, Santiago Casilla and Trevor Cahill come off the books, and their Opening Day payroll of roughly $68.9MM was quite a bit lower than the $83.6MM they averaged from 2014-17.

Athletics Option Kendall Graveman

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The Athletics announced this afternoon that they’ve optioned Opening Day starter Kendall Graveman to Triple-A Nashville. Fellow righty Chris Bassitt is also being optioned to Triple-A, while recently acquired reliever Wilmer Font has been added to the active roster. The A’s will announce another move tomorrow (perhaps Yusmeiro Petit being activated from the bereavement list, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests).

The move comes as somewhat of a surprise given Graveman’s standing in the organization. The 27-year-old has been a reliable member of the starting five (when healthy) dating back to the 2015 season, pitching to a 4.11 ERA through 407 innings from 2015-17.

Thus far, the 2018 campaign has proven to be a nightmare for Graveman, however. In 28 1/3 innings, Graveman has allowed 28 earned runs on 41 hits (seven homers) and 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. No pitcher in Major League Baseball has allowed more hits or earned runs, and Graveman’s seven homers trail only Cole Hamels for the MLB lead. (Hamels has tossed 6 1/3 more innings.)

[Related: Oakland Athletics depth chart]

Graveman entered the season with three years, 14 days of Major League service time, putting him on track to reach free agency after the completion of the 2020 season. He needs to accumulate a total of 158 days of big league service time in 2018 in order to surpass four years of service and remain on track for that free agency date, which should still be attainable unless the demotion proves to be an especially lengthy one. He’d need to spend about a full month in the minors in order to miss out on the requisite service time for free agency that offseason.

With Graveman temporarily out of the rotation, the A’s have Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Triggs holding starting jobs. There’s been no announcement as to who’ll step into his spot, but righty Daniel Gossett has pitched well in two starts since being optioned to Nashville. Flamethrowing Frankie Montas is also starting down in Nashville and is on the 40-man roster, though he’s gotten off to a poor start. Veteran lefty Brett Anderson is also with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate and throwing well — 1.89 ERA, 25-to-2 K/BB ratio in 19 innings — and the A’s have an open 40-man roster spot to accommodate him if he is the preferred option.

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