Injury Notes: Giolito, Longoria, Torres, Moreland, McGowin
The White Sox placed Lucas Giolito on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 1, due to a left hamstring strain this afternoon. It seems the move is mostly precautionary, as manager Tony La Russa told reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times) that Giolito is scheduled to throw a bullpen session next Wednesday. The White Sox can afford to be especially cautious with even minor injuries for their top players, as they’re coasting to a division title and hoping to get everybody right for the postseason. Giolito has a 3.69 ERA/3.68 SIERA over 158 1/3 innings this season.
Some more health situations around the league:
- The Giants announced they’ve activated third baseman Evan Longoria from the 10-day injured list. The 35-year-old returns in time for perhaps the club’s biggest series of the year, as San Francisco is set to kick off a three-game set against the Dodgers, with whom they’re tied atop the NL West. Injuries have limited Longoria to 199 plate appearances this season, but he’s looked rejuvenated when healthy. Longoria owns a .289/.382/.526 line with ten home runs. Mauricio Dubón was optioned to clear active roster space.
- The Yankees activated shortstop Gleyber Torres from the 10-day injured list before this evening’s game with the Orioles. The 24-year-old returns after a three-week absence due to a thumb sprain. Torres got off to a slow start but looked like he’d begun to turn a corner offensively before going down. He has a .253/.328/.351 mark across 407 plate appearances altogether. New York optioned outfielder Estevan Florial in a corresponding move.
- Athletics designated hitter/first baseman Mitch Moreland landed on the 10-day injured list with left wrist tendinitis earlier this week. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Moreland’s wrist will be in a splint “for at least a few weeks.” With a month remaining in the regular season, that would seemingly put Moreland’s season in jeopardy — at least barring an A’s postseason run. Moreland has struggled to a .227/.286/.415 line across 252 plate appearances this season, a disappointing follow-up to a strong 2020 campaign split between the Red Sox and Padres.
- The Nationals placed reliever Kyle McGowin on the 10-day injured list this afternoon. The right-hander has a UCL sprain in his throwing elbow and will see a specialist to determine his course of treatment, relays Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Any injury to a pitcher’s UCL raises the specter of a potential Tommy John surgery, although there’s no indication McGowin is facing any sort of procedure just yet. The 29-year-old has made 30 relief appearances for the Nats this season, working to a 4.20 ERA/3.85 SIERA.
A’s Loaded Arbitration Class Will Lead To Some Tough Decisions
The Athletics are squarely in the mix for the second American League Wild Card and, with six remaining games against the first-place Astros still on the schedule, are still alive in the division chase in the American League West as well. Oakland currently trails Houston by four and a half games, so with 28 games left to play, there’s time for a surge to overtake the current leaders.
Oakland’s proximity to a division title and their (at the time) status as a team in possession of the second Wild Card spot surely emboldened the team to go for it at this year’s trade deadline. The acquisition of Andrew Chafin was a solid addition to an already-sound bullpen, but it was the team’s trade for Starling Marte that really grabbed headlines. That’s in part due to Marte’s status as one of the more prominent names on the summer trade market but also due to the fact that Oakland parted with longtime top prospect Jesus Luzardo — five years of control over him to be exact — in exchange for a rental player who’ll be a free agent at season’s end.
At the time of the trade, I touched on this a bit, but it’s a concept that bears a bit more detail. The Athletics have every reason to act aggressively on the trade deadline this summer, because barring a major uptick in the team’s typically thrifty payroll, this could be something of a last hurrah for the current Oakland core.
The A’s don’t have much on the payroll next season — just Elvis Andrus $14MM salary (of which the Rangers are paying $7.25MM) and Stephen Piscotty‘s $7.25MM salary. The A’s have a $4MM club option on Jake Diekman that comes with a $750K buyout as well. Most clubs would probably pick that up given his strong season, but it’s at least feasible that given the forthcoming payroll crunch that will be laid out here shortly, the A’s could pass on it.
Those minimal contractual guarantees look nice at first glance, but the Athletics have an enormous arbitration class on the horizon — and it’s not just large in terms of volume. It’s a talented and experienced group of players featuring the majority of Oakland’s most recognizable names: Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt, Ramon Laureano, Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino, Chad Pinder, Tony Kemp, Deolis Guerra, Burch Smith and (depending on his final service time numbers) perhaps Adam Kolarek. Of that bunch, Manaea and Bassitt are up for their final arbitration raises — the former as a Super Two player. Chapman, Olson, Montas and Trivino are getting their second raises.
I wanted to better ascertain just how expensive a class this is going to be for the Athletics, so I reached out to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for some help. Matt created MLBTR’s Arbitration Projection model, and I asked if he’d be able to put together some projections for the Athletics’ class based on the seasons they’ve had to date. Matt did just that, tacking on each player’s rest-of-season projections from the Steamer projection system to their actual production to date, coming up with the following projections:
- Matt Olson: $11.8MM
- Sean Manaea: $10.1MM
- Matt Chapman: $9.8MM
- Chris Bassitt: $8.9MM
- Frankie Montas: $4.8MM
- Lou Trivino: $3.0MM
- Ramon Laureano: $2.8MM
- Chad Pinder: $2.7MM
- Tony Kemp: $1.8MM
- Burch Smith: $1MM
- Deolis Guerra: $900K
- Adam Kolarek: $800K
(One caveat on the projections themselves: these raises are determined using the 2021 model and standard inflation for the 2022 season. Major League Baseball and the MLBPA agreed not to use 2021 arbitration raises as precedent-setters because of the anomalous nature of last year’s short-season data.)
In all, it’s a projected total of $58.4MM. Add that to the combined salaries of Andrus and Piscotty, and the A’s are up to $72.4MM — $76.4MM if they exercise the option on Diekman. That’s what they’d owe to just 15 players. There are some possible non-tenders in there (Smith and Kolarek, certainly), but for the most part, all of the major names should be expected to be tendered. We don’t know precisely what next year’s minimum salary will be due to the expiring collective bargaining agreement, but even filling out the roster with players earning this year’s minimum would take them up to nearly $80MM — about $6MM shy of their current payroll.
Of course, we know that you can’t simply supplement this group with pre-arbitration players, because the rest of the current roster isn’t made up of pre-arb players. The A’s currently stand to lose not only Marte but also Mark Canha, Yan Gomes, Yusmeiro Petit, Sergio Romo, Jed Lowrie, Mitch Moreland, Josh Harrison, Mike Fiers and Khris Davis to free agency. Replace that group with readily available, in-house options and you’re probably not looking at a playoff team — certainly not with the Mariners, Angels and Rangers both looking to improve their rosters this winter, making for even tougher competition within the division.
The A’s have never carried an Opening Day payroll greater than $92MM, per Cot’s Contracts — their prorated 2020 payroll may have gotten there — so an arbitration class worth more than $55MM is an immensely expensive group for ownership. Some of this crunch could be alleviated by trying to find a taker for Andrus and/or Piscotty, though moving either player might necessitate the A’s paying some of the freight (or taking a lesser contract in return). As previously mentioned, some non-tenders could get the bottom-line number down as well.
It’s always possible, too, that ownership simply bites the bullet and pays up for a franchise-record payroll. We haven’t seen that level of spending in the past, though, and this is the same A’s team that only agreed to pay its minor leaguers a $400 weekly stipend after considerable public relations backlash during last summer’s pandemic — a move that only cost them about a million dollars. The A’s also had the Marlins foot the bill for all of Marte’s remaining salary. Perhaps that was in preparation for a payroll hike this winter, but that’d be a rather charitable interpretation when history and precedent tell us this is a team that is already pushing the upper levels of its comfort from a payroll standpoint.
All of this is to say: the Athletics certainly have the look of a team that is going to have to make some tough decisions this winter. They can either take payroll to new heights, look to move Andrus and/or Piscotty (which would likely mean attaching a prospect and further depleting a thin farm), or listen to offers on some names who’ve become staples on the roster.
Parting with a starter such as Manaea or Bassitt would be difficult, but both are slated to become free agents following the 2022 season. Both Chapman and Olson have two arbitration raises left, which means both are going to be owed a raise on top of that already sizable arbitration projection following the ’22 campaign. Both are on a path toward $15MM-plus salaries in 2023 — especially if Chapman is able to maintain his recent surge at the plate and return to his pre-hip surgery levels of offensive output.
Whatever route the Athletics ultimately decide to take, the organization and its fans are in for a good bit of change this winter. That could mean changes to the payroll or changes to the composition of a core group of players who’ve been quite successful since coming together a few years back. Regardless of which path they choose, it’s understandable that the A’s opted to be aggressive at this year’s deadline; with Canha, Marte and several relievers set for free agency and a huge arbitration class that could force some financially-motivated trades, this looks like the current group’s best and perhaps final chance to make a deep playoff run together.
Athletics Select Khris Davis
Khris Davis is officially back in Oakland. The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve selected his contract from Triple-A Las Vegas and recalled catcher Austin Allen as well, filling the two new spots on their expanded September roster.
Davis, 33, was traded from Oakland to Texas alongside catcher Jonah Heim and righty Dane Acker over the winter in a financially driven swap that brought veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus, catcher Aramis Garcia and cash back to the A’s. He lasted just 22 games and 61 plate appearances with the Rangers, however, as the struggles that plagued Davis with the 2019-20 A’s only worsened in Arlington. The Rangers released him on June 13.
The A’s brought Davis back to the organization on a minor league deal in early August, and he responded by absolutely decimating Triple-A pitching over a 16-game stretch. In 68 plate appearances with Vegas, Davis batted .333/.382/.921 with 10 home runs, three doubles and a pair of triples. He struck out just 13 times in that stretch (19.1 percent).
It’s obviously a small sample against inferior pitching in a wildly hitter-friendly setting, but Davis did everything the A’s could have hoped for (and then some) during his trial run back in Triple-A. That monstrous output in Vegas will earn him a look back in the big leagues, offering him an audition for any interested parties in the offseason, when he’ll be a free agent. If he’s back to his former self, Davis can provide the A’s a big power boost as they look to close a one-game deficit in the American League Wild Card standings and a five-game gap in the American League West.
The 27-year-old Allen has been up and down with the A’s a bit over the past two seasons since coming over in the trade that sent Jurickson Profar to the Padres. He’s had only six plate appearances this season but has enjoyed a highly productive season of his own in Triple-A, batting .321/.356/.592 (126 wRC+) with 20 long balls and 15 doubles on the season.
A’s Place Seth Brown On COVID-Related Injured List, Recall Daulton Jefferies
The Athletics placed Seth Brown on the injured list after a positive COVID-19 test, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Daulton Jefferies was recalled from the taxi squad to claim his roster spot.
Brown has been part of the fix in right field after the club lost Ramon Laureano and Stephen Piscotty to a suspension and wrist surgery, respectively. Brown’s walk rate is a little low (8.2 percent) and his strikeout rate is a little high (29.2 percent), but he brings power to the position with a .254 ISO. With 254 plate appearances, the 29-year-old has not been an insubstantial contributor for these A’s, despite just a .219 BABIP that, along with the metrics above, paint Brown as a boom-or-bust type of role player.
Of course, the greater part of the story for Brown is that he’s been strictly a platoon player, with 233 plate appearances coming against right-handers. For that kind of limited usage player, you’d like to see even stronger splits, however, as Brown’s 100 wRC+ against righties suggests he’s holding the line as an average bat — but not much more than that.
Without him (and maybe even when he returns), the A’s piece together their final outfielder with infielders Tony Kemp, Josh Harrison, and Chad Pinder, depending on match-ups. Mark Canha also plays a role in Frankenstein-ing this roster spot, as he slides from left to right field depending on who else is in the lineup. The A’s seem more comfortable with Pinder in right, while Kemp and Harrison have taken their turns in left.
As for Jefferies, he’s most likely just an insurance arm in this short interval without Brown. The 26-year-old has served as a starter in all 16 of his outings this year, of which only one took place in the bigs. His arm should be fresh, however, as he hasn’t started a game since August 20th in Triple-A.
Stephen Piscotty Out For Season After Undergoing Wrist Surgery
AUGUST 27: Piscotty underwent successful surgery on his left wrist this morning, the team announced. Unsurprisingly, he won’t return this season.
AUGUST 23: Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty is back on the 10-day injured list due to ongoing discomfort in his sprained left wrist, and trainer Nick Paparesta tells reporters that the “anticipation at this point in time” is that surgery will be required (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). He’s had a pair of cortisone injections already that have helped but have not remedied the issue entirely.
It’s been a difficult couple seasons for Piscotty at the plate, as he’s hitting just .220/.282/.353 in 188 plate appearances this season and carries a .223/.277/.355 slash in 359 plate appearances dating back to Opening Day 2020. The wrist injury has obviously hampered him, at least in 2021, and given that there are just six weeks remaining on the current regular-season schedule, it’d be tough to envision Piscotty returning this year if surgery is indeed required. He’s slated to meet with a specialist this week.
Originally acquired in a Dec. 2017 trade with the Cardinals, Piscotty had an outstanding debut campaign in Oakland, hitting .267/.331/.491 with 27 home runs and 41 doubles in 605 plate appearances (151 games). Knee and wrist sprains plagued him in 2019, however, and his production has waned as the overall number of injuries he’s incurred in recent years has mounted.
Piscotty has typically been a player who holds his own with about average offense against right-handed pitching (.252/.316/.422 career batting line, 101 wRC+) while thriving in platoon settings (.277/.357/.468 and a 126 wRC+). His drop-off this year has happened across the board, however, as he’s providing roughly average offense against lefties and hitting just .181/.236/.313 against righties.
Piscotty’s decline is particularly problematic for the low-payroll A’s. The now-30-year-old right fielder inked a six-year, $33.5MM deal with the Cardinals back at the beginning of the 2017 season after a pair of impressive seasons to begin his career. The 2022 season is the final guaranteed year of that contract, and he’s still owed $7.25MM next year, plus a $1MM buyout of a $15MM club option for the 2023 season. He’s earning that same $7.25MM in 2021 and accounting for a bit more than eight percent of the team’s current payroll in the process.
AL West Notes: Astros, Bregman, Angels, Trout, A’s, Brown, Piscotty
The Astros are expected to activate star third baseman Alex Bregman from the injured list on Monday, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). That should be welcome news for the Houston faithful. The Astros have been without Bregman since June 17th when he suffered a quad strain. He will play what could be a final rehab game for Triple-A Sugar Land tomorrow, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The Astros have held up without Bregman, but with just a 2.5 game lead over the A’s in the West, Dusty Baker’s squad could certainly use another big bat. Speaking of those Athletics…
- Seth Brown wasn’t gone for long. The A’s outfielder was optioned to Triple-A yesterday, but he’s back on the active roster today, replacing Stephen Piscotty, who heads to the 10-day injured list with a sprained left wrist, the team announced. Brown steps right into the starting lineup today playing right field. Piscotty, meanwhile, is suffering through the worst season of his career, slashing .220/.282/.353 in 173 plate appearances — an output worth -0.6 rWAR.
- Mike Trout is running about every other day, and though he’s nearing a rehab assignment, a date has not yet been set, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Angels are exactly .500 at 62-62, which puts them 11 games out of first and 8.5 out of a playoff spot. Trout doesn’t exactly have to hustle back for the playoff race, then, though the Halos do have a chance to finish above .500 for the first time since 2015. Trout has been out since May 18th with a calf strain, though the superstar refers to the injury as a tear.
2021-22 Qualifying Offer Candidates
With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror and a little more than six weeks remaining in the regular season, plenty of front offices are turning their attention towards the upcoming offseason. The first notable decision for many clubs will be to decide whether to tag one or more of their top impending free agents with a qualifying offer.
As a reminder, the qualifying offer is a one-year contract offer teams can make to certain impending free agents. The precise value of the QO has yet to be calculated, but it’s determined as the average salary of the game’s 125 highest-paid players. Last season, the QO value was set at $18.9MM. If the player accepts the offer, he returns to his current team on that one-year deal. If he rejects, his previous team would receive draft pick compensation should he sign elsewhere.
Last season, six players (George Springer, Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto, DJ LeMahieu, Kevin Gausman and Marcus Stroman) received qualifying offers. Gausman and Stroman accepted the QO, while Realmuto and LeMahieu re-signed with their current clubs as free agents. The Reds and Astros received compensatory picks (used on Jay Allen and Chayce McDermott, respectively) when Bauer and Springer departed.
The collective bargaining agreement prohibits a player from being tagged with a qualifying offer multiple times in his career. (A list of every active big leaguer who has previously received a QO is available here). Similarly, in order to be eligible, the player must have spent the entire preceding season on the same team. Players traded midseason cannot be tagged with a QO.
With the majority of the 2021 season in the books, we can take a look at the upcoming free agent class to predict which players might wind up receiving qualifying offer this winter.
Locks
- Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Clayton Kershaw, Robbie Ray, Carlos Rodón, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story
This group is fairly straightforward, as there’s very little chance any of these players would accept a qualifying offer. Correa, Seager and Freeman all have MVP-caliber upside and are locks to pull in long-term deals this winter. Semien didn’t receive a QO from the A’s after a down year in 2020, took a pillow contract with the Jays for almost the value of the QO ($18MM), and has essentially replicated his 2019 form that earned him a third place finish in AL MVP voting. He should find a big multi-year deal this time around.
Story is having a bit of a down year, but there’s no doubt the Rockies will make him a qualifying offer after not trading him at the deadline. Nick Groke of the Athletic wrote this week that Colorado hasn’t given up hope of convincing him to sign a long-term extension, but that seems unlikely given Story’s own bewilderment he wasn’t moved to a contender this summer. Whether Story is willing to return to Denver or not, he’ll receive a QO.
Kershaw, Ray and Rodón will be among the top pitchers on the market. Kershaw has spent the past couple months on the injured list due to forearm soreness, but he’s expected back in September and is in the midst of another fantastic season. So long as he’s healthy, he’s a lock for a QO. Ray and Rodón both had to settle for one-year deals after poor 2020 seasons, but they’ve each been among the best pitchers in the American League this year.
Likely
- Michael Conforto, Jon Gray, Yusei Kikuchi, Eduardo Rodríguez, Noah Syndergaard, Chris Taylor, Justin Verlander
Over the past two seasons, Taylor has somewhat quietly been one of the game’s top 25 qualified hitters by measure of wRC+ and he’s versatile enough to cover any non-catcher position on the diamond. He’s not a true everyday player at any one spot and he’s making contact at a career-worst rate this season, so he falls just short of being an absolute lock for a QO. But the Dodgers would be as willing as any team to shoulder a significant one-year salary were Taylor to accept, and his body of work should be sufficient to warrant a multi-year deal regardless.
The Mets’ players in this group are two of the more interesting free agents in the class. Conforto entered the season looking like a lock for a QO and seemingly having a chance at landing nine figures with a strong platform year. He missed a month with injury, though, and hasn’t made anywhere near his typical level of impact at the plate. He’s shown some life over the past few weeks, and between his track record and age (28), Conforto still seems a good bet to land a long-term deal.
Syndergaard was a top-of-the-rotation starter at his peak, but he hasn’t pitched since 2019 because of Tommy John surgery. He’s eyeing a September return — likely in relief, given his dwindling time to build up arm strength — and his late-season form will obviously be critical to his market. The Mets should run one of the higher payrolls in the league, and Syndergaard has the upside to be an ace if healthy, so New York still seems more likely than not to make the offer.
Similarly, Verlander has essentially missed two full seasons because of his own Tommy John procedure. That’s a scary development for a pitcher who’ll be 39 on Opening Day 2022, but he was still every bit an ace when we last saw him in 2018-19. The Astros are a win-now club that runs high payrolls, so Verlander accepting a QO wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. If he declines and signs elsewhere, Houston would recoup some much-needed draft compensation after losing their past two first-round picks as punishment for the sign-stealing scandal.
Colorado reportedly showed even less interest in trading Gray than they did with Story at the deadline. There’s apparently mutual interest about working out a multi-year extension, and the QO could serve as a temporary measure to keep Gray in Denver while the Rockies and Gray’s representatives work on a long-term deal.
Rodríguez has bounced back to take the ball every fifth day this year after a scary bout with myocarditis cost him all of 2020. His ERA’s pushing 5.00, but his peripherals are far better than that bottom line run prevention and the southpaw has an established track record of mid-rotation production.
The Mariners are facing a difficult decision regarding Kikuchi, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored last month. Seattle must decide whether to exercise a package deal of four successive club options at $16.5MM apiece (essentially a four-year, $66MM extension) this winter. If the Mariners don’t exercise their four-year option, Kikuchi has a $13MM player option to return to Seattle for 2022. If both parties decline their ends, the 30-year-old would hit free agency this offseason, although the M’s could then tag Kikuchi with a qualifying offer.
Given that Kikuchi will only be a free agent if he passes on a $13MM player option, the Mariners would likely make him a QO worth a few million dollars more if it comes to that — either with the expectation he’ll decline in search of a longer-term deal, or with the hope he accepts and Seattle can keep him in the fold next season without committing themselves to the additional three years of guaranteed money.
Possible
The Giants have plenty of payroll space this offseason and seem likely to try to keep most of this season’s core together. Belt has been one of the sport’s most productive offensive players on a rate basis over the past two years. But he’s also 33 years old, has a long injury history and is striking out at the highest rate of his career.
San Francisco bought low on DeSclafani over the winter after he had a tough 2020 season with the Reds. He’s bounced back to post a very strong 3.26 ERA, although his peripherals are closer to average and he’s benefitted from opponents’ .257 batting average on balls in play. The Giants will likely see 4/5 of their starting rotation hit free agency this winter, so they could be eager to bring DeSclafani back, even if that comes via a lofty 2022 salary.
Morton has had another productive season in his first year as a Brave, but his previous two teams (the Astros in 2018 and the Rays in 2020) let him reach free agency without making a qualifying offer despite his consistently strong track record. That’s presumably due to concerns about his past injury history and age. He’ll turn 38 this winter and might check his potential earning power by limiting himself to teams in the Southeastern part of the country — as he reportedly did last offseason. That could inspire the Braves to pass on a QO, but Morton continually reels off above-average performances, and this is an Atlanta front office that has been eager to dole out hefty single-year salaries for key veteran upgrades in recent years.
Iglesias looks like the top impending free agent reliever (assuming the White Sox exercise their option over Craig Kimbrel). He’s sporting an ERA under 3.00 for the fifth time in his six seasons since moving to the bullpen, and he’s never had a single-season SIERA above 3.55. Home runs have been an issue, but Iglesias gets above-average results year in and year out and has some of the best strikeout and walk numbers in the game in 2021.
Long Shots
The Giants hold a $22MM club option (with a $3MM buyout) over Posey’s services for next season. If the front office is willing to commit him a significant salary, they’ll just exercise the option rather than going the QO route. Indeed, they’re reportedly planning to do exactly that (or to potentially pursue a multi-year extension with the franchise icon). Either way, there’s no real reason to involve the qualifying offer here.
Canha would be a very plausible qualifying offer candidate on many teams. He’s been a well above-average hitter and overall performer three years running and is generally one of the game’s more underrated players. The A’s, though, didn’t make a QO to either of Semien or Liam Hendriks last season. Canha’s a Bay Area native, and his age (33 in February) will cap the length of offers he receives from other clubs. Given that, it’s not hard to envision him accepting a QO if offered. The A’s, who perennially run low payrolls and will have a loaded class of arbitration-eligible players this winter, don’t seem likely to take that risk.
Wainwright has had a fantastic 2021 season, and the Cardinals figure to be motivated to keep the franchise icon in St. Louis in some capacity. But that also looked to be true after his strong 2020 campaign, and Wainwright only wound up landing a one-year, $8MM deal. He’d be well-deserved in demanding a raise over that sum to return next season, but it remains to be seen if the Cardinals would be willing to chance more than doubling his salary — particularly if they feel Wainwright’s motivated to remain in St. Louis rather than pursue the highest possible offers in free agency.
Kluber signed an $11MM deal with the Yankees last offseason after back-to-back seasons wrecked by injury. He pitched well through ten starts but has been out since late May with a shoulder strain. Kluber’s nearing a return to action, but his missing nearly three months only adds to prior concerns about his ability to handle a significant workload at this stage of his career.
Kim, García and Wood are all having strong 2021 seasons and could plausibly land solid multi-year deals this winter. Each has enough question marks that their teams don’t seem especially likely to offer a salary in the range of the qualifying offer, though. Kim doesn’t miss many bats; García has had extreme highs and lows throughout his career; Wood has a checkered injury history. García’s contract contains a $12MM club option that vests into a mutual option if he reaches 492 plate appearances this season. If that option doesn’t vest, the Brewers would obviously have no incentive to decline the option only to make a qualifying offer at a higher price point.
Opt-Out Clauses
Each of Arenado (six years, $179MM), Castellanos (two years, $34MM) and Martinez (one year, $19.35MM) has significant guaranteed money remaining on their contracts but can opt out of those deals this winter. Arenado and Castellanos would be locks to reject qualifying offers if they trigger their opt-out provisions, since they’d be foregoing bigger guarantees to test the market.
Martinez’s player option is of similar enough value to the projected value of the qualifying offer that he could plausibly trigger the opt-out but then accept a QO. Even if that proved to be the case, the Red Sox would probably be happy to keep him in the middle of the lineup for another season.
Ineligible
- Javier Báez (midseason trade), Kris Bryant (midseason trade), Alex Cobb (previous QO), Nelson Cruz (previous QO/midseason trade), Danny Duffy (midseason trade), Eduardo Escobar (midseason trade), Kevin Gausman (previous QO), Kendall Graveman (midseason trade), Zack Greinke (previous QO), Kenley Jansen (previous QO), Starling Marte (midseason trade), Anthony Rizzo (midseason trade), Max Scherzer (previous QO/midseason trade), Kyle Schwarber (midseason trade), Marcus Stroman (previous QO)
Athletics Select Paul Blackburn
The Athletics announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Paul Blackburn. He’ll get the start in tonight’s game against the White Sox. Oakland placed starter Chris Bassitt on the 10-day injured list to open an active roster spot, while the club already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster.
Blackburn appeared in the majors for Oakland in every season from 2017-20. Tonight will mark his first big league outing this year, as he’s spent the year with Triple-A Las Vegas after being passed through outright waivers in February.
Over the past four seasons, Blackburn took the ball 21 times (18 starts), working 99 2/3 innings. He’s only managed a 5.69 ERA at the highest level, thanks largely to his trouble missing bats. Blackburn has struck out just 11.9% of opposing hitters — a little more than half the league average — with a tiny 7.1% swinging strike rate.
Despite the lack of swing-and-miss stuff, Blackburn looks like a capable fill-in for the starting staff. He’s a very good strike-thrower, walking hitters at a minuscule 6.5% career clip. The sinkerballer has also had plenty of success keeping the ball down, racking up groundballs at a huge 53.2% rate in the majors. It’s been more of the same for Blackburn in 2021, as he’s induced grounders on 53.9% of balls in play at Triple-A. His 20% strikeout rate with the Aviators is still below-average, but it’s Blackburn’s best mark at any level of his professional career.
Oakland also offered an update on Bassitt, who sustained fractures to his right cheek and jaw after being struck by a 100 MPH line drive in a terrifying incident during last night’s start. A’s trainer Nick Paparesta told reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News) Bassitt is expected to undergo surgery next Tuesday. Paparesta estimated it’d take around six weeks for the bones to heal. General manager David Forst said the team is understandably more concerned about Bassitt’s individual well-being than a potential timeline for his return to action at this point, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Bassitt making it back to the mound this season (via Rubin).
Chris Bassitt To Undergo Surgery For Facial Fractures After Being Struck By Line Drive
10:30am: The Athletics announced that Bassitt “received stitches for two facial lacerations and was diagnosed with a displaced tripod fracture in his right cheek that will require surgery.” Vision tests and a CT scan revealed no additional damage, and Bassitt also avoided any damage to his orbital bone. He’s been released from the hospital for the time being.
Aug. 18, 8:20am: Bassitt sustained fractures to his cheekbone and upper jawbone, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, but all other tests have come back clean and his vision is unaffected. He’ll require surgery in the next three to five days once the swelling has subsided.
Aug. 17, 10:10pm: Manager Bob Melvin spoke to reporters on Zoom after the game and provided the following update (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle):
“Bass is conscious. He was the entire time. We don’t think the eye is a problem at this point. It felt like it was below it. He’s got some cuts. They had to do some stitches. He’s in a scan and we’ll know more about potential fractures tomorrow or later tonight.”
8:12pm: In a frightening scene at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday evening, Athletics right-hander Chris Bassitt was carted off the field after being struck on the side of the head by a comeback line drive off the bat of White Sox outfielder Brian Goodwin. Bassitt spent several minutes down on the mound with the training staff, who held multiple towels to the side of his face. He was eventually helped onto the cart and driven off the field, still clutching a towel to the side of his head.
The Athletics, thankfully, have issued the following statement:
“Chris Bassitt is conscious and aware, and is on his way to the hospital. We will provide additional information when possible.”
The overwhelming concern right now is not on the outcome of the game itself or potential impact on playoff races, but rather on Bassitt’s overall health and well-being. The line-drive left Goodwin’s bat at just over 100 mph, per Statcast, and Bassitt did not appear to deflect the ball prior to contact. Players on the field were visibly shaken — Bassitt’s teammates and his opponents alike.
Bassitt, 32, is in the midst of the finest season of his career, having emerged as the top starter on the Oakland staff. He’s carrying a 3.04 ERA through 151 innings this season and entered play ranked third in total innings among all MLB pitchers.
Diamondbacks Claim J.B. Wendelken
The D-backs have claimed right-hander J.B. Wendelken off waivers from the Athletics, reports FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). The A’s designated him for assignment just yesterday.
It’d have been surprising for a team in the Diamondbacks’ position — dismal bullpen, No. 1 waiver priority, multiple open 40-man spots — to pass on Wendelken. The right-hander hasn’t had a great season in Oakland, but his work leading up to the 2021 campaign was quite strong.
From 2018-20, Wendelken pitched 74 1/3 innings for the A’s, working to a 2.30 ERA with a strong 26.4 percent strikeout rate and a very solid 8.4 percent walk rate. The righty also thrived in terms of limiting hard contact, yielding an 86.6 mph average exit velocity, a 30.6 percent overall hard-hit rate and just a 2.1 percent barrel rate. Fielding-independent pitching metrics weren’t quite as bullish as his baseline ERA (3.04 FIP, 3.72 SIERA) but still generally agreed that Wendelken was a solid reliever.
The 2021 season hasn’t gone quite as well, but Wendelken has pitched to a respectable 4.32 ERA in 25 frames. His 22.2 percent strikeout rate is his lowest since a brief rookie debut in 2016, and his 11.1 percent walk rate is a career-high. Still, the 28-year-old has continued to limit hard contact effectively, and his swinging-strike and chase rates have actually improved over their 2020 marks.
Wendelken will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, and the D-backs can control him through the 2024 season via that arbitration process. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the big league roster, but based on his past 100 innings in the Majors, there’s reason to think he can stick.
It’s always possible that Wendelken’s strikeout and walk tendencies continue to trend in the wrong direction, but there’s no reason for the last-place D-backs to pass on a risk-free flier. Arizona relievers rank second-to-last in the Majors with a combined 5.41 ERA, so Wendelken is an upgrade even if he doesn’t quite return to his peak form.