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Quick Hits: Gray, Epstein, McClendon, Desmond

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Athletics ace Sonny Gray will not pitch again this year, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. Gray left his start on Friday with tightness in his hip. Gray has been a huge standout in what’s otherwise been a frustrating season in Oakland — he’s pitched 208 innings with a 2.73 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 52.7% ground ball rate, posting ace-caliber numbers for a 65-91 team. Starting in Gray’s place on Wednesday will be veteran Barry Zito, who will be making his third start of the season in his comeback with the A’s. Here are more notes from throughout the game.

  • Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says the team will eventually work on an extension for president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, but that will wait until after the season, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “Theo and I have a great relationship. Obviously, the results are great,” says Ricketts. “Everyone in the baseball organization, we’re on a mission. And we want to keep that mission going forward.” Epstein is currently signed through next season to a five-year, $18.5MM contract. Given the Cubs’ strong season and the escalation in executive salaries since his deal was struck in late 2011 (Andrew Friedman’s contract with the Dodgers is worth $35MM), Epstein’s next deal will likely be significantly more lucrative.
  • Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon had what he describes as a “great” conversation with new GM Jerry Dipoto on Monday, MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes. It isn’t yet clear whether Dipoto will retain McClendon next season, however. “I’m under contract to manage next year, and hopefully I’ll manage the club,” says McClendon. “So beyond that, if you’re looking for security in this game, you’re in the wrong business. That’s me and every other manager.”
  • Impending free agent shortstop Ian Desmond has fans in the Padres organization, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. The Padres, of course, have a need at shortstop, and Desmond’s struggles with the Nationals this year (during which he’s batted .236/.289/.389) should make him available more cheaply, and on a shorter deal, than he previously figured to get.
  • Rockies 2015 first-round picks Brendan Rodgers (No. 3 overall) and especially Mike Nikorak (No. 27) had uneven pro debuts, but the team isn’t worried, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Rodgers hit well (.273/.340/.420) at rookie-level Grand Junction, especially given his age, but suffered through hamstring troubles. Nikorak walked 32 batters in 17 2/3 innings, also for Grand Junction. The Rockies believe that Rodgers’ injury issues were due to a long break between the end of his high school season and the start of his pro career, and they’re going to help him work on his conditioning. Rockies director of player development Zach Wilson says he isn’t concerned about Nikorak’s debut. “Quite frankly, this season is going to be the best thing that ever happened to Mike Nikorak,” says Wilson. “He’s got the mentality to learn from this and make adjustments.”

AL East Notes: Donaldson, Boxberger, Karns

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The Blue Jays acquisition of Josh Donaldson last offseason has been said to be due to the dogged persistence of Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post echoes that sentiment, noting that Yankees GM Brian Cashman touched base with Billy Beane regarding Donaldson early last offseason. Cashman, however, was told that Donaldson simply wasn’t available in trades. Anthopolous, though, continued his pursuit despite being told the same. “Alex is and was certainly relentless,” Athletics assistant GM David Forst told Sherman. “That is his personality. But we didn’t trade Josh to make Alex go away.” Forst adds that the A’s had a list of Blue Jays players they had strong interest in, and eventually the Jays offered enough from that list to make them cave. Donaldson’s MVP-caliber season notwithstanding, Forst said the A’s still believe the players they got in the deal have bright futures that will even out the transaction in the future. Sherman notes that Franklin Barreto — who is ranked among the game’s top 50 prospects or so — and Kendall Graveman held particular appeal to the A’s.

Here’s more from the AL East…

  • Brad Boxberger’s recent comments about potential overuse from the Rays sparked some controversy, but agent Scott Boras tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that he believes Boxberger is a good fit for the Rays and will benefit from a more defined role in the future. “[Manager Kevin] Cash has given him an opportunity and he’s taken advantage of it and become an All-Star, and when you have things like that happen for a young player, you’re in a good place,” said Boras. The agent, however, acknowledged that the Rays may eventually struggle to keep Boxberger for financial reasons — a comment that is less a reflection on Boras’ reputation than it is of the Rays’ well-documented payroll constraints. Boxberger has saved 36 games this season, and a full 2016 season as the Rays’ closer would set him up for a hefty payday in 2016 which could soar by 2017. Comparatively, Greg Holland received $4.675MM for his first arb-eligible season in 2014 with just 67 career saves under his belt. That figure jumped to $8.25MM in 2015. Boxberger has already saved 39 games in his career and offers similarly high strikeout numbers, albeit with a higher ERA as well.
  • Also from Topkin, the Rays are shutting down Nate Karns for the remainder of the season due to tightness in his right forearm. Karns and Cash both feel that the issue isn’t serious in nature, and Karns added that at a different point in the season he might’ve pitched through the pain. With Tampa Bay having fallen out of playoff contention, though, it makes sense for Karns to focus on his health. Rookie catcher Curt Casali may also see his season shut down, Topkin notes, due to a lingering hamstring injury.

Quick Hits: Zito, Giants, Cespedes, Stearns

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Barry Zito tossed an inning in the Athletics’ 5-1 loss to the Astros today, marking his first Major League appearance since 2013.  It wasn’t exactly a triumphant return (Zito allowed a hit, a walk and a two-run homer to Colby Rasmus in his one inning) but it still represented a milestone for the veteran southpaw, who worked his way back to the Show after sitting out 2014 and spending most of this season at Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate.  Here’s more from around the game as we begin a new week…

  • David Stearns was involved in all facets of baseball operations as the Astros’ assistant GM, which Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets was one of the many reasons why the Brewers wanted him as their new general manager.  Stearns’ multi-tasking ability made him the ideal choice as Jeff Luhnow’s lone second-in-command in Houston, as Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle notes that many teams have multiple assistant GMs who oversee different departments.  Stearns’ departure, therefore, leaves the Astros with a big hole to fill.  The Astros have several highly-touted members of the organization who could potentially be promoted to assistant GM, and Drellich notes that promoting from within could help the Astros retain these front office talents before they’re lured away by other clubs.
  • There is some thought in rival front offices that the Giants could bid on Yoenis Cespedes this winter, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (Insider subscription required).  Cespedes would likely be deployed in left, though some time in center field wouldn’t be out of the question if the Giants wanted to keep him playing every day while also finding time for Angel Pagan and Nori Aoki (assuming Aoki is brought back).  It could be a moot point, however, as Olney wonders if Cespedes’ demands for a six-year deal are too rich for the Giants’ liking.
  • From that same piece, a rival executive told Olney “the Giants are the quickest fix” of any of the non-playoff teams.  While San Francisco has some clear needs in the rotation, they have a lot of payroll coming off the books as well as a solid core of proven veterans and controllable younger players.
  • Like most GMs, Alex Anthopoulos uses both analytical and scouting data to inform his decisions, and he gave a bit of insight to Fangraphs’ David Laurila about which methods were used in some recent Blue Jays transactions.  Edwin Encarnacion and Dioner Navarro may have been more inspired by scouting reports, whereas Justin Smoak may have been more of an analytics call.  Both departments endorsed signing Jose Bautista to an extension in February 2011, a contract that has been a major bargain for the Jays.
  • Also from Laurila’s piece, he spoke with Mark Melancon about his development into a star closer with the Pirates after an unsuccessful stint with the Red Sox.  Melancon credits ex-teammate Russell Martin with encouraging him to use his cutter more, and he admitted that he’s satisfied that he was able to prove to his critics in Boston (both within the fanbase and the organization) that he indeed has “the closer mentality.”

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/20/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball, with the latest transactions at the top of the post…

  • The Athletics purchased the contract of catcher Bryan Anderson from Triple-A Nashville, creating 40-man roster space by shifting Kendall Graveman to the 60-day DL.  This will be Anderson’s first stint on an MLB roster this season, providing some catching depth as Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley are both battling injuries.  Anderson has appeared in 36 career big league games since 2010 (with the Cardinals, White Sox and A’s) and has a .202/.273/.288 line over 322 PA at Triple-A this season.

Injury Notes: Tulowitzki, Phegley, Harvey

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Here’s the latest injury related notes from around the league:

  • Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is making progress in his return from a cracked scapula, writes Jaime Ross of MLB.com. The 30-year-old is still a few days from learning his timeline for return. Initial estimates suggested he’d miss two to three weeks. He originally sustained the injury last Saturday. Tulowitzki reports that he can now lift his arm, but it’s unclear when he can begin baseball activities.
  • Athletics catcher Josh Phegley has a concussion, reports Chandler Rome of MLB.com. He sustained the freak injury yesterday during batting practice when a bat clipped the back of his head. Phegley was acquired by Oakland prior to the season as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade.
  • Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey has been shut down with elbow discomfort, writes Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. It’s a recurrence of an existing problem for the 20-year-old prospect. The club intends for him to visit Dr. James Andrews before setting a course of action, but the renowned surgeon is currently out of the country. Harvey entered the season as the second ranked prospect in the Orioles farm system per Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs.

Quick Hits: Turner, Beane, Cumpton, Reed

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Justin Turner’s rise is one of the game’s underplayed stories. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports writes that the minor league free agent-turned-star is loving life with the Dodgers. The picture painted is one of a player whose success and positivity have fed more of the same. As I explained recently, Turner looks to be a possible extension candidate this winter.

Here are some more stray notes from around the league:

  • If the Athletics follow through on their reported plans to promote Billy Beane, he’ll take a position akin to that of Tony La Russa’s with the D’backs, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains (Twitter links). Club president Michael Crowley will remain in his current role, says Rosenthal. It’s still somewhat unclear exactly how day-to-day responsibilities would change from the present arrangement, but the GM title is reportedly likely to go to assistant GM David Forst.
  • Pirates’ right-hander Brandon Cumpton entered the 2014 season as the organization’s 11th-best prospect, in the eyes of Baseball America, but has seen injuries derail his career since. After undergoing Tommy John surgery already in 2015, Cumpton has now had a “right shoulder subacromial decompression” procedure performed, as Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter links). In addition to raising concerns in another area of his arm, that will bump his recovery time to 13-15 months away.
  • Though some Astros fans want to see the team give a late-season call-up to fast-rising prospect A.J. Reed, that’s almost certainly not going to happen, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. Reed has had an excellent season, but only reached Double-A for the second half and does not need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason.

West Notes: Milo Hamilton, Freese, Semien, Dodgers

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Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton, the long-time voice of the Astros, passed away today at 88 years of age. David Barron of the Houston Chronicle documents the life and work of the man who shaped the baseball experiences of so many Houston fans — and coaches, players, and executives — during his venerable career.

With a tip of the cap to Mr. Hamilton, and best regards to his loved ones, here are some notes from the game’s western divisions:

  • Angels third baseman David Freese says that he has given no thought at all to his upcoming free agency, as MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports. While his focus is on helping his team, a nice post-DL run at the plate is also helpful to Freese’s free agent case. Though Freese has been fairly average across the board over his career, and is entering his age-33 season, he enjoys a good position in a market that is largely devoid of high-end options at the hot corner.
  • The Athletics like what they’ve seen from Marcus Semien in the second half, as he’s made strides on defense, but GM Billy Beane tells Joe Stiglich of CSNBayArea.com that he’s open to considering Semien at other positions. “Right now, we’re committed to [Semien] for this year [at shortstop], and like I said, we like his progress and hopefully he continues it,” Beane explained. “… I don’t see any immediate competition right now, but at some point, that will arrive on the scene. The thing with Marcus is he’s got the ability to play any position. He can play second, third, short, the outfield. He’s always got that in his back pocket.” Semien has landed a bit below league average with the bat, and UZR isn’t a fan of his overall glovework, but Defensive Runs Saved actually sees him as a positive overall in the field. And he’s still young, having just turned 25 today. (Happy birthday, Marcus!)
  • Certainly, it will be interesting to see whether the A’s look to move Semien around the diamond in the coming seasons. Regardless of how things turn out for him, it’s worth noting that the trade that brought him to Oakland is looking quite positive for the organization, which has received solid early returns from Chris Bassitt and Josh Phegley even as Jeff Samardzija has struggled with the White Sox. Of course, Oakland will also enjoy rights to those players for much longer, whereas Samardzija will be a free agent this winter.
  • The Dodgers are continuing to enact broader organizational changes, this time to the minor league staff. As MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports, the organization is shaking up its coaching and instructor ranks. Director of player development Gabe Kapler says that the club “wanted to bring in some new voices in key areas.” Last we checked in, Los Angeles had begun turning over its international scouting department.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/16/15

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Athletics have brought up lefty Barry Zito from Triple-A, announcing today that his contract was selected. A 40-man spot was cleared by placing Jesse Chavez on the 60-day DL. The 37-year-old last threw for Oakland back in 2006, his last of seven seasons with the club. He has worked to a 3.46 ERA over 138 innings this season at Triple-A Nashville, with 5.9 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9, after sitting out the 2014 campaign and joining the A’s on a minor league deal.

Athletics Acquire Daniel Coulombe

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The Athletics have acquired lefty Daniel Coulombe from the Dodgers, Los Angeles announced. Cash considerations will make up the return for the recently-designated pitcher.

Coulombe’s speedy ascent through the LA system hit something of snag this year, even as he earned his second consecutive five-appearance big league cameo. After having maintained double-digit strikeout rates over his first three seasons as a professional, Coulombe retired just 8.9 per nine via strikeout (against 5.2 BB/9) in his 41 1/3 Triple-A frames.

Of course, Coulombe had never before faced hitting at the highest level of the minors, as he skipped that level entirely when he earned his first big league promotion late in 2014. Oakland will take a chance on harnessing that previously-demonstrated swing-and-miss upside.

AL West Notes: Melvin, A’s, Astros, Zunino

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At today’s press conference announcing his two-year extension with the Athletics, manager Bob Melvin acknowledged to reporters, including CSN Bay Area’s Joe Stiglich, that he recognizes the significance of being granted an extension despite the club’s last place standing. “It’s not lost on me that during a year like this, these are things that don’t typically happen, and I’m very fortunate and appreciative of that,” said Melvin. “The one thing the front office always has done for me here is given me good players. I believe we’ve underachieved this year, and I’m responsible for that.” Specifically, Melvin referenced the team’s struggles in one-run games, taking the blame for not using the right players to finish out such contests while preserving the lead. GM Billy Beane said that he closely examined his options when he initially hired Melvin and felt him the best person to guide the next generation of A’s players, and he feels that Melvin is still the best choice. As Beane explains, he didn’t want the question of Melvin’s contract status coming up next season, so he elected to proactively address the issue.

Here’s more from the AL West…

  • Beane also said today that he’s not planning on trading away the team’s best prospects this offseason, tweets Stiglich. Rather, the GM hopes to see his top talent develop into pieces that can contribute in the near future. If he holds to that approach, it’ll be slightly different than the one Beane has taken over the past 14 months or so. The A’s have traded many prospects since last July — most notably Addison Russell — although Beane has also added quite a bit of young talent, including Marcus Semien, Franklin Barreto, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin and Brett Lawrie (though Lawrie, of course, was not a prospect at the time of his acquisition).
  • Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle examines the way in which the Astros came to acquire prospects David Paulino and Francis Martes. The primary reason, Drellich writes, is a scouting system set up by director Kevin Goldstein in which he placed a greater-than-normal focus on scouting low-level minor leaguers due to the team’s standing when he assumed the role in 2013. GM Jeff Luhnow explained the idea behind the team’s scouting efforts. “We were, we knew we were in a position where we had a lot of already interesting prospects at the upper levels and we could afford to take some fliers on some guys that were further away,” said Luhnow. “…And as a result of (Goldstein’s system), we had good reports on players that maybe another organization might not have even seen, or might have had only one report on. Whenever you’re asking for the third player in the trade, and he’s a rookie ball player or a Low A ball player, those guys are far away. They’re — it’s like rolling the dice. But in the case of both Paulino and Martes, Kevin and his scouts did a tremendous job of identifying those guys.”
  • Although Mike Zunino won’t be called up to the Mariners this September and will instead report to the instructional league, Seattle is not giving up on the young catcher by any means, writes Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. “Mike is still very much in our future,” manager Lloyd McClendon told Divish. “Going into spring training next year, I will consider him my everyday catcher. We thought this was the best path moving forward for his career.” Zunino is part of a Mariners catching contingent, which, as noted by Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan, is on pace for a historically bad offensive campaign. However, the former No. 3 overall pick has shown plenty of pop in his career and is a strong defender, so the Mariners are being patient in their hopes that he could yet turn into a strong all-around option at the plate.
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