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Tigers Working Out Spencer Torkelson As An Outfielder

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Parker Meadows and Matt Vierling will both be starting the season on the Tigers’ injured list, while Wenceel Perez is also a bit of a question mark after he received a cortisone shot to deal with a lingering back problem.  With so many absences already in the Detroit outfield, the team is getting creative in looking for answers, as manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including the Detroit Free Press’ Jeff Seidel) that Spencer Torkelson has been getting in some outfield work, and will play right field in the Tigers’ game with the Pirates on Monday.

Hinch made it clear that Torkelson will get “just a sprinkle” of time in right field and “you’re not going to see him out there routinely….but we’d like it to be part of the availability in game work.”  Even if the Tigers still view Torkelson as a first base/DH candidate, adding some versatility obviously can’t hurt his overall resume, plus it presents another avenue to get his bat into the lineup.

Torkelson played some outfield during his summer league days and at college at Arizona State, but since being selected first overall in the 2020 draft, Torkelson has played only third and first base as a professional.  Nevertheless, Torkelson is “excited for an opportunity” in a new role, and is happy to help the team as much as possible: “We had really key players kind of go down this spring, and…in the time being, we got to find ways to compete and win, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Despite his top-prospect status, Torkelson has yet to really get going at the MLB level, as he followed up a promising 2023 campaign with a borderline disastrous 2024.  Torkelson hit only .219/.295/.374 over 381 plate appearances, though his offense did pick up after he returned to the Tigers following a Triple-A stint of over two and a half months.  After Detroit signed Gleyber Torres this winter and subsequently moved Colt Keith from second to first base, there was speculation that Torkelson might even be a trade chip, as the Tigers seemed to be squeezing him into a part-time DH role at best.

However, Torkelson has been on a tear at the plate this spring, perhaps helping his chances at a more regular turn in a DH role.  Torkelson’s case for playing time has been helped by the fact that he is one of relatively few right-handed hitters within a Tigers lineup that tilts heavily to the left, plus the outfield injuries could mean that Kerry Carpenter gets more work in right field than at DH.  Torkelson himself now could be considered for the occasional cameo in right field as situations warrant.

It now seems possible we could get the unlikely combination of Torkelson in right field and Javier Baez in center field at some point during a game, which speaks to the depth issues that have been caused by this sudden spate of outfield injuries.  Chances are that Detroit will simply lean more on utilitymen Andy Ibanez or Zach McKinstry to fill holes while Meadows and Vierling are out, but finding more versatility on the bench (even from unexpected sources) is now a must

Jon Gray Suffers Wrist Fracture

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TODAY: A clear recovery timetable hasn’t yet been determined for Gray, but president of baseball operations Chris Young told Kennedi Landry and other media that Gray will indeed be out for an “extended time.”  It will be at least six weeks before Gray is even cleared to start throwing, so it seems like Texas will be placing him on the 60-day IL at some point before Opening Day.

MARCH 14: Rangers starter Jon Gray sustained a broken right wrist during this evening’s Spring Training appearance, manager Bruce Bochy tells Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News and other reporters. Gray was struck by a Michael Toglia line drive that had a 106.4 MPH exit velocity (video provided by Kennedi Landry of MLB.com).

Bochy didn’t provide specifics on a return timeline. Gray is obviously going to begin the season on the injured list and will probably be down for a while. It’s the worst of a handful of pitching injuries for Texas this spring. They announced just yesterday that presumptive fifth starter Cody Bradford was going to begin the season on the injured list after experiencing elbow soreness. An MRI came back clean, but the team is going to be cautious with any level of elbow pain.

Tyler Mahle was scratched from his start earlier this week with forearm soreness. Imaging didn’t reveal any problems and he’ll begin throwing in the coming days. Still, that may require a season-opening IL stint — especially since Mahle just returned from Tommy John surgery midway through 2024.

That placed a lot of emphasis on Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Gray to stay healthy. The season-opening rotation now likely comprises deGrom, Eovaldi, Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. Mahle would round out the group if he can avoid the IL. They otherwise could push expected long reliever Dane Dunning back into the rotation or turn to veteran ground-ball specialist Adrian Houser, who is in camp on a minor league deal. Houser has tossed eight innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts and walks apiece this spring. He allowed a near-6.00 ERA over 69 1/3 innings for the Mets last season.

The rotation’s durability is arguably the biggest question for Texas. deGrom and Eovaldi are 36 and 35, respectively. deGrom has made 35 starts over the last four years. Eovaldi has mostly been durable recently, but he has twice undergone Tommy John surgery in his career. Rocker underwent the same procedure in May 2023. He pitched fewer than 50 innings between the minors and his three-start MLB debut late last season.

Texas will probably look to add minor league rotation depth as veterans opt out of contracts with other teams in the coming weeks. It’s less likely that they’ll make an MLB signing. The Rangers were clear all offseason that they wanted to keep their luxury tax payroll below the $241MM base threshold. RosterResource projects them around $236MM at the moment. Salary acquired in-season via waivers or trade would add to that on a prorated basis. It’d be a surprise if ownership approves going beyond the tax line to sign a free agent starter like Spencer Turnbull or old friends Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. With less than two weeks until Opening Day, none of those pitchers are likely to be game ready for the start of the regular season.

Cody Bradford To Start Season On Injured List

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TODAY: Bradford won’t throw for at least four weeks, Young told Kennedi Landry and other reporters today.  This new timeline likely sidelines Bradford until well into May, as he’ll need plenty of time to rebuild his arm strength once he is cleared to throw.

MARCH 13: Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford is going to start the season on the 15-day injured list. Manager Bruce Bochy passed the news along to reporters, including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The southpaw has had some soreness in his throwing elbow lately. Thankfully, a recent MRI came back clean, but the club will shut him down for ten days to see how he reacts.

The timeline is fairly uncertain apart from that, as it will depend how Bradford feels after his shutdown period. If he is cleared to throw again in ten days, he will presumably need a few rehab outings to get back into game shape. IL stints can be backdated three days, so it’s theoretically possible Bradford could rejoin the club 12 days into the season if he’s healthy by then, though no one really knows how possible that is.

“I can’t tell you if this is something that’s going to linger and last longer than a day or two to get the soreness knocked out,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “We did take the necessary steps in terms of evaluating. He’s been in touch with Dr. [Keith] Meister [team physician] back in Texas. We are going to shut him down for a few days and see how this goes. Hopefully the time off will allow it to calm down. But anytime the pitcher has pain in the elbow, it’s concerning.”

Over the past two years, Bradford logged 132 1/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing 4.28 earned runs per nine. Last year, a low back strain cost him most of the first half but he finished the year having made 13 starts and one relief appearance, posting a 3.54 ERA. His 22.7% strikeout rate was around league average while his 4.2% walk rate was excellent. That would have lined him up for a rotation spot this year if he were healthy, but he’ll have to focus on his health for the time being.

The Rangers have another starter with a nebulous timeline. Tyler Mahle was scratched from a start earlier this week due to forearm soreness. Like Bradford, his MRI came back clean. He is expected to throw again in a few days, so perhaps his situation is a bit less serious than that of Bradford, though more updates will likely be forthcoming in the next week or so.

For the Opening Day rotation, the Rangers have three spots taken by Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Jacob deGrom. Mahle will have a fourth spot if he can get in game shape in the next couple of weeks. That leaves one or perhaps two spots for Jack Leiter and/or Kumar Rocker.

Between the two prospects and former Vanderbilt rotation mates, Rocker finished 2024 with more steam. He came back from Tommy John surgery and tossed 36 2/3 innings in the minors with a 1.96 ERA, 39.6% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate. He then posted a 3.86 ERA in his first three big league starts. Leiter, meanwhile, had an 8.83 ERA in his first 35 2/3 MLB innings.

But Leiter has had the stronger showing in camp, with a 2.53 ERA over his four appearances. His 14.6% walk rate is certainly high but he’s also punched out 31.7% of batters faced in that small sample. Rocker allowed eight earned runs in two official spring innings, though as detailed by Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News, he then pitched in an unofficial backfield game which went much better. If Mahle is healthy, the Rangers might have to make a tricky decision between the two, though both might nab rotation spots if Mahle will also need to miss some time.

Brewers Considering Brice Turang At Shortstop, Joey Ortiz At Second Base

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Once Willy Adames officially ended his Brewers tenure by signing with the Giants, the conventional wisdom was that Joey Ortiz would move from third base take over the shortstop position, as Ortiz had been a standout defensive shortstop during his time in the Orioles’ farm system.  Indeed, Ortiz got the bulk of looks at shortstop for most of Spring Training, but in recent days, the Brewers have been going with a new alignment of Ortiz at second base, and Brice Turang moving from the keystone over to shortstop.

Manager Pat Murphy stressed that the situation was still very much in flux, telling MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reports that “We haven’t made a final decision.  I haven’t made a final decision.  I really believe in looking at all of it, taking in all the information and listening to others.  I was dead set on, ’Turang is going to be our second baseman, and Ortiz can handle short.’ I still believe that.  But, then we toyed with this new setup and I was like, ’This might be better for everybody.’ ”

There is nothing stopping the experimentation from continuing into the regular season, though McCalvy writes that the team wants “Turang and Ortiz set at their positions as much as possible, rather than moving around.”  Milwaukee used 108 different defensive lineups during the 2024 season, yet the cornerstones of that shifting lineup were Adames at shortstop, Turang at second base, William Contreras at catcher, and Ortiz with 124 of the starts at third base.  Ortiz did make six appearances at second base last year, as well as one appearance as a shortstop.

Turang was a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove winner last season as a second baseman, with public defensive metrics (+22 Defensive Runs Saved, +6 Outs Above Average, +2.1 UZR/150) all wowed by his work at the position.  Ortiz was also excellent at third base, posting +8 DRS, +11 OAA, and a +5.0 UZR/150 in 1098 1/3 innings at the hot corner.  Against this backdrop of success, the Brewers naturally face some risk in rocking the boat too much on what is already a strong defensive alignment, even if there seems to be little doubt that Turang or Ortiz would adapt well to new positions.

In explaining why Ortiz might be an ideal fit at second base, Murphy noted that “We ask our second basemen to do a lot.  What I mean by that is when you play the middle of the diamond the way we play our second basemen for most all right-handed hitters, and the ground we ask them to cover, it’s not too awfully different than short.  The number of times you end up throwing a ball from the outfield to a base, the number of times you end up directing a ball in a first-and-third steal situation, the number of times you wind up touching the ball because you’re turning two.”

As for third base, Oliver Dunn has been making a strong bid for the job with a big Cactus League performance.  Dunn made his MLB debut last season and hit .221/.282/.316 over 104 plate appearances, playing primarily as a third baseman before a back injury cut short his season in mid-June.

Dunn is a left-handed hitter, so Caleb Durbin (acquired from the Yankees in the Devin Williams trade) was thought to be the top candidate for at least a platoon role at the hot corner.  However, Durbin hasn’t hit much this spring, while an unheralded option in Vinny Capra has been tearing the cover off the ball.  Capra has a .439 OPS over all of 37 career PA at the big league level, and his .271/.366/.384 career slash line in 984 Triple-A plate appearances is uninspiring but respectable.  Because Capra is out of minor league options, the Brewers would have to sneak him through waivers in order to send him down to Triple-A, which might help his chances of breaking camp with the team if the decision is made to give Durbin more seasoning in the minors.

Brandon Nimmo Limited By Right Knee Soreness

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Brandon Nimmo played in his second Spring Training game on Thursday, serving the Mets’ designated hitter against the Red Sox.  It was Nimmo’s first on-field action in over a week, as right knee soreness and a gel injection to battle inflammation kept the outfielder on the sidelines.  The Mets were already taking Nimmo’s ramp-up slowly in a nod to the plantar fasciitis issue that bothered him for much of 2024, yet Nimmo told the New York Post’s Dan Martin and other reporters that his left foot is no longer much of a concern, or at least less of a concern than his knee.

In terms of what created the knee issue, Nimmo feels a swing adjustment he made this spring added some extra stress on his joint.  He also cited some longstanding MCL and cartilage damage based on a torn ACL Nimmo suffered 15 years ago when he was a high school football player.  While Nimmo has had plenty of injury problems during his baseball career, his right knee has been pretty stable until now.

At the moment, Nimmo said he is only able to run at about 80 percent of his normal level.  “For sure, there’s definitely still some soreness [and] still some pain when I get above those levels,” Nimmo said.  “We try to keep things at a controlled level of pain.  Up to a certain threshold is OK, but if you go much past that, then you do more damage than you’re trying to gain.”

The plan is for Nimmo to get into the “90-95 percent” range before he starts to focus on more high-impact outfield activity, beyond tracking balls and other light drills.  Anything less, and Nimmo feels he could be putting both his knee and the Mets’ outfield defense at risk.  In terms of overall readiness, both Nimmo and manager Carlos Mendoza were cautiously optimistic that Nimmo should be ready for Opening Day in at least a DH capacity.

The Mets have already been hit hard by injuries this spring, as Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil will all start the season on the injured list, and Nick Madrigal’s season has probably already been ended by shoulder surgery.  A DH-only version of Nimmo wouldn’t help with this lack of depth, though Jesse Winker or Tyrone Taylor could step into left field in the interim.  If Nimmo is limited just to DH, however, it could crowd Starling Marte out of more at-bats.

Latest On Erik Swanson

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Blue Jays reliever Erik Swanson is dealing with a median nerve entrapment in his throwing arm, as the Jays announced to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson and other reporters yesterday.  Swanson received a cortisone shot to deal with the issue, and won’t throw for a few days while the shot takes effect.

It still seems likely that this setback is enough to put Swanson on the injured list at the beginning of the season, as was related last week when Swanson reported discomfort in his throwing elbow.  An MRI came back clean without any sign of structural damage, so Swanson has at least avoided any kind of longer-term elbow problem.

A median nerve entrapment (which is related to carpal tunnel syndrome) isn’t exactly a small matter since nerve issues have no set recovery timeline.  On the plus side, there hasn’t been any indication that Swanson might miss any great amount of time, even if a more concrete plan might not be known until the right-hander starts throwing again.

Acquired from the Mariners in the 2022-2023 offseason, Swanson was outstanding in his first year in Toronto, but injuries contributed to a rough start to his 2024 campaign.  Swanson dealt with some forearm tightness during last year’s Spring Training and a subsequent IL stint delayed his start to the season, and he then struggled so badly over his first 18 appearances that he was sent to Triple-A.  Swanson returned to the big leagues after the All-Star break and then seemed like his old self, making for some rather glaring splits — a 9.20 ERA in 14 2/3 innings in the first half and a 2.55 ERA over 24 2/3 frames in the second half.

Given the dismal state of Toronto’s bullpen last season, the Blue Jays badly need Swanson to stay healthy and fully bounce back to his past form as a key setup man.  New signing Jeff Hoffman looks to be in line for the closer’s job, with Chad Green, Yimi Garcia, Nick Sandlin, and Swanson all lined up for high-leverage work.

Matt Waldron Suffers Oblique Strain, May Begin Season On IL

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Right-hander Matt Waldron sustained a mild oblique strain yesterday, Padres manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell and other reporters.  Waldron suffered the injury while warming up in the bullpen for a scheduled relief appearance in the Padres’ Cactus League game.

While Waldron is officially considered day-to-day, Shildt said the knuckleballer is “going to need some rest for some period of time, which will be determined.”  Simply given the nature of oblique injuries and the timing, Shildt admitted that Waldron’s chances of making the Opening Day roster “would seem like it would be in jeopardy.”

The news would seem to erase any chance Waldron had of winning the fifth spot in San Diego’s rotation.  An 8.68 ERA over 9 1/3 spring innings wasn’t helping his cause, and Waldron’s planned usage out of the pen on Friday might’ve hinted that the Padres were considering a long relief role for the right-hander.  Naturally the first order of business will simply be for Waldron to get healthy, giving the team time to decide whether Waldron could be used as a reliever, or as a Triple-A depth starter.

Waldron has worked almost exclusively as a starter in the minors since the Padres acquired him in the 2020-21 offseason, and he has started 32 of his 35 career MLB games, posting a 4.79 ERA over his 188 innings in the Show.  Injuries within the Padres’ rotation opened the door for Waldron to get a good amount of playing time, including 146 2/3 frames last season, though a 12.76 ERA over his last four starts suggested that Waldron ran into some fatigue.

Assuming a late trade doesn’t change the equation, Dylan Cease, Michael King, Yu Darvish, and Nick Pivetta are slated to be the Padres’ top four starters.  Stephen Kolek, Randy Vasquez, and Kyle Hart are the remaining candidates for the fifth starter’s job now that Waldron has seemingly been removed from the competition.

Rays Exercise 2026 Club Option On Yandy Díaz, Add 2027 Vesting Option

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The Rays and Yandy Díaz have worked out a mini extension of sorts. The club announced that it has preemptively picked up his 2026 club option, which is valued at $12MM, while adding a club/vesting option for 2027. Díaz, an ACES client, would reportedly vest the ’27 provision at $13MM if he reaches 500 plate appearances in 2026. If he doesn’t hit that vesting threshold, it would be a $10MM team option with no buyout.

Back in January of 2023, the Rays and Díaz agreed to a three-year, $24MM extension with a club option for 2026. He had just had his first arbitration season in 2022 and he was set to go through the process twice more. That deal bought out those two final arb years and one free agent year, while the option gave the Rays the chance to extend their window of control with Díaz by yet another season. He made $6MM in 2023, $8MM last year and will be making $10MM this year. The 2026 club option was set at $12MM with no buyout.

Over the course of the deal, Díaz has continued to hit, though the first year was far better than the second. In 2023, he hit 22 home runs and slashed .330/.410/.522 for a wRC+ of 163. His .367 batting average on balls in play was helping him out a bit, but he drew walks at a 10.8% clip and only struck out 15.7% of the time. Last year, his walk rate fell to 8.1% and he only hit 14 homers. His BABIP normalized somewhat to .314. The result was a .281/.341/.414 line and 120 wRC+. His defensive grades at first base also slid a bit. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 5.0 wins above replacement in 2023 but just 1.9 fWAR last year.

Díaz is now 33 years old and will turn 34 in August. The Rays could have waited to see how he performed in 2025 before picking up the 2026 option. By locking it in now, they’re getting a potential club option for the following season at a similar salary.

Díaz is perhaps sacrificing a bit of future earning power, but the trade-off for doing so is that he’s guaranteeing himself another $12MM today. That would protect him against a further decline in performance during the 2025 season. Under his previous contract structure, a bad 2025 campaign would have led to his option being declined and him heading to free agency with no buyout. Now he has the $12MM already locked in.

Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the news and the contract terms.

No Extension Talks Thus Far Between A’s, Mason Miller

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The A’s have handed out two of the largest extensions in franchise history in recent months. They inked DH Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60MM guarantee in January. Earlier this week, they finalized a seven-year deal with outfielder Lawrence Butler that guarantees $65.5MM.

It’s possible that the Butler deal is the first of multiple A’s extensions in Spring Training. General manager David Forst told Evan Drellich of The Athletic a couple weeks ago that the team had opened talks with a few players. With Butler signed, closer Mason Miller should arguably be the team’s top extension candidate.

Miller told Foul Territory’s A.J. Pierzynski on Friday afternoon that he’s open to talks but hasn’t heard from the team about the possibility. The A’s control the hard-throwing reliever for another five seasons. Miller will qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player next winter. He’d go through that process four times unless he signs an extension.

The A’s may not be eager to commit to a reliever, even one as dominant as Miller, whom they already have under control for a half-decade. There’s downside associated with the general volatility of relief pitching. Miller’s stuff is so exceptional that he’s a safer bet than almost any reliever to remain effective, but there’s more of a risk from a health perspective. He battled shoulder and elbow injuries and pitched fewer than 40 innings in the minor leagues.

[Related Front Office Post: Who Else Could The A’s Look To Extend?]

Forearm tightness wiped out most of his ’23 season and was the main reason the A’s moved him out of the rotation during the 2023-24 offseason. Miller stayed healthy last year aside from an incident where he fractured the pinkie on his left (non-throwing) hand, which reportedly occurred when he hit a training table in frustration after a poor outing. That’s presumably not a concern moving forward, but as baseball’s hardest thrower, he certainly puts a lot of stress on his elbow and shoulder.

There have been a handful of extensions for relief pitchers in the 1-2 year service bucket. Miller would almost certainly look to set a new standard for that class if the A’s were interested in an extension. Emmanuel Clase’s five-year, $20MM guarantee is the current record. That deal, which was signed in April 2022, included a pair of $10MM club options to extend Cleveland’s control window by two seasons. Clase was coming off an outstanding first full season, turning in a 1.29 ERA with 24 saves and 74 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings. Miller struck out 104 hitters with a 2.49 earned run average over 65 frames last season. He went 28-31 in save chances.

Clase’s deal is a three-year old precedent that has turned into an extremely team-friendly contract. Clase also wasn’t on track to reach Super Two status, which meant he was two years from arbitration and had a much lower earning power through that process. Arbitration salaries escalate annually, and Super Two qualification sets a higher baseline for future raises. Clase didn’t have Miller’s injury history, but the Cleveland closer had served a performance-enhancing drug suspension in 2020 that added a different risk to his profile.

Sean Burke To Open Season In White Sox’s Rotation

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White Sox manager Will Venable informed the beat this afternoon that rookie righty Sean Burke will be in the season-opening rotation (relayed by Scott Merkin of MLB.com). The former third-round pick joins Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon as locks for the Opening Day starting staff.

Chicago optioned lefty Jared Shuster, who had entered camp as a candidate for a rotation spot. The former first-round pick worked mostly in long relief last season but was building back up as a starter this spring. Venable suggested Shuster may move back to the bullpen in Triple-A (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times). The Wake Forest product allowed nine runs in seven innings.

Pérez, who signed a $5MM free agent deal, has by far the most experience of anyone in Chicago’s rotation. Cannon, who worked to a 4.49 ERA over 124 1/3 frames, is the only returning pitcher who reached even 75 MLB innings last season. Martin returned from Tommy John surgery in the second half. He allowed 4.32 earned runs per nine over 50 innings down the stretch.

That trio entered camp with rotation spots solidified. It was more in question whether Burke would break camp. The Sox called him up midway through September. He impressed over four appearances, working to a 1.42 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. The Maryland product has tossed five innings of three-run ball with three strikeouts and walks apiece this spring. Burke fanned 31% of batters faced over 16 Triple-A starts last season. He also walked 13% of opponents, raising questions about whether he’ll have the necessary command to stick as a starter, but the Sox will see how his stuff plays against MLB hitters.

Venable hasn’t committed to a fifth starter. With Shuster out of consideration, that job will probably fall to one of Bryse Wilson or Shane Smith. Wilson is out of options and has plenty of experience working in long relief. He turned in a 4.04 ERA over 103 2/3 frames for Milwaukee last season; Chicago signed him to a $1.05MM deal after the Brewers non-tendered him. Smith is a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system. The 6’4″ righty started 16 of 27 Double-A appearances. He allowed 3.08 earned runs per nine with a near-30% strikeout rate over 87 2/3 innings.

Smith has had a decent start to camp. He has fanned nine hitters over 6 2/3 frames, allowing four runs. Chicago shouldn’t have an issue keeping him on the MLB roster to gain his long-term contractual rights. Most Rule 5 pitchers work in low-leverage relief, at least to begin the season. An Opening Day rotation assignment would be rare, but that’s a reflection of the Sox’s lack of starting pitching depth. Non-roster invitee Justin Dunn could also be an option. He has managed eight innings of one-run ball this spring, but he only has two strikeouts against four walks.

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