Giants Designate Spencer Howard For Assignment
The Giants announced that right-hander Spencer Howard has been designated for assignment. Fellow righty Landen Roupp was called up from Triple-A Sacramento in the corresponding move.
Howard signed a minor league deal with San Francisco last September, and he made it to the big league roster a month ago when his contract was selected to the Show. Working as a starter, reliever, opener, and bulk pitcher behind an opener, Howard was holding his own until a rocky outing against the Dodgers yesterday, when he was tagged for six earned runs over 2 2/3 innings.
The tough night boosted Howard’s ERA to 5.63 over 24 innings, and prompted the Giants to remove Howard from the roster in order to bring a fresher arm in Roupp back to the majors. Howard is out of minor league options, so the Giants had to designate him in order to attempt to send Howard down to Triple-A.
The DFA is the latest twist in the career of the former top-100 prospect, who was a second-round pick for the Phillies in the 2017 draft. Howard was once seen as a future star during his time in Philadelphia’s farm system, but the Phils sent him to the Rangers as part of a six-player trade at the 2021 deadline, and the righty has yet to find any form against Major League batters.
Howard has a 6.93 ERA over 139 career innings with the Phillies, Rangers, and Giants, and the transition to relief pitching from starting work hasn’t seen much of an improvement in his results. Given his past prospect pedigree, another team might put in a waiver claim to see for themselves if any late bloomer potential is there for Howard as he approaches his 28th birthday.
Guardians Reinstate Gavin Williams From 60-Day IL, Option Triston McKenzie
The Guardians announced that Gavin Williams has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, after the right-hander has been sidelined the entire season due to elbow discomfort. Williams will take the rotation spot of fellow righty Triston McKenzie, who has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. To open a spot for Williams on the 40-man roster, Cleveland designated right-hander Darren McCaughan for assignment.
While Cleveland has long been known for its starting pitching, the rotation has been a surprising weak link for the first-place Guardians, and McKenzie’s 5.11 ERA in 75 2/3 innings has contributed to those struggles. McKenzie leads the majors in both home runs (19) and walks (49), and his -1.0 fWAR is the lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 70 innings pitched. Logan Allen is second on that list with -0.5 fWAR and Carlos Carrasco is sixth with 0.1 fWAR, speaking to the Guards’ overall rotation issues.
Some rust was to be expected for McKenzie, considering that he missed virtually all of the 2023 season recovering from a right teres major strain and then a right UCL sprain. However, his struggles have been so severe that a stint in Triple-A might be the best course for McKenzie to get some confidence back, and to work out the control issues that weren’t nearly this severe during his 2020-22 seasons. The former top-100 prospect looked like quite a solid pitcher in those first big years in the Show, and since he is only 26 and still under arbitration control through 2026, the Guardians would naturally love to see McKenzie get his career back on track.
It isn’t exactly a silver lining, but Williams’ own situation gave the Guardians some leeway in optioning McKenzie, as Williams represents a ready-made rotation replacement. Since his rehab assignment began on May 29, the Guards had to activate Williams this weekend, as his 30-day rehab window was about to expire. After his elbow began giving him problems during Spring Training, Williams began the season on the IL and has slowly been ramping up his workload over six minor league outings.
Selected 23rd overall in the 2021 draft, Williams delivered quickly on his top prospect status with an impressive rookie season in 2023. The right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA over 82 innings, though a 4.61 SIERA reflected some middling secondary metrics for Williams, as well as the benefits of a .270 BABIP and 78.3% strand rate.
If Williams can deliver something even midway between his 2023 ERA and SIERA in his return to the mound, the Guardians would probably be satisfied, given both their need for any kind of reliable pitching and the bigger-picture acknowledgement that Williams is still early in his pro career. Since Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively have been the only reliable members of Cleveland’s rotation, the Guards would love to get at least decent work from Williams as a third starter option before seeing if any pitching help is needed at the trade deadline.
McCaughan has already allowed five home runs over 10 2/3 combined innings with the Guardians and Marlins this season, inflating his ERA to 1181. Beyond those extreme problems at keeping the ball in the park, McCaughan also has nine walks and only three strikeouts, making him the odd man out of the Guards’ 40-man roster. A longtime member of the Mariners organization who made his MLB debut in Seattle in 2021, McCaughan was acquired by Miami in a cash considerations deal with the Mariners in February, and the Guardians then picked him up in a similar trade in May.
It’s possible McCaughan could find himself on the move again via trade or waiver claim, though the extent of his struggles might give any interested teams a second thought. The 28-year-old righty has a 5.50 ERA and 10 homers allowed over 54 Triple-A innings as well this season, and while McCaughan’s past Triple-A track record has somewhat comparable bottom-line stats, those numbers were at least posted when pitching with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Rockies Designate Elehuris Montero, Reinstate Elias Diaz From 10-Day IL
The Rockies announced that first baseman Elehuris Montero has been designated for assignment. The move opens space for the return of catcher Elias Diaz, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list after missing just short of three weeks due to a strained left calf.
Montero was one of five players Colorado obtained from the Cardinals in the Nolan Arenado trade in February 2021, and was arguably the highest-profile name of the group, considering how Montero drew some top-100 prospect buzz from Baseball America prior to the 2019 season. His star has already started to dim after a lackluster showing at Double-A ball in 2019, and he missed a year of development when the pandemic shut down the 2020 minor league season, yet Montero emerged from that hiatus with a big performance at Triple-A Albuquerque in 2021.
More minor league success in 2022 paved the way for Montero’s MLB debut that season, but the production simply hasn’t come over Montero’s three seasons in Colorado. After hitting .239/.283/.428 over 492 plate appearances in 2022-23, Montero’s numbers have cratered even further this year, as he has only a .206/.268/.305 slash line in 246 PA. Among all players with at least 240 plate appearances in 2024, Montero ranks last in all of baseball in both wRC+ (48) and fWAR (-1.8).
Even though the Montero has improved his walk rate and drastically cut back on the strikeouts that plagued him over his first two big league seasons, he is still making contact at a below-average rate. Montero also doesn’t provide much value on the basepaths or in the field, as his glovework has been subpar as both a third baseman and first baseman.
Kris Bryant‘s injuries opened the door for Montero to receive pretty regular playing time at first base this season, but this might have essentially served as his last chance to prove himself as a part of the Rockies’ future. Michael Toglia has already seemingly moved into the starting first base job, and with Charlie Blackmon and now Diaz both back from the IL, the roster was getting too crowded for the Rox to keep giving at-bats to a player going through such extreme struggles as Montero.
Since Montero is out of minor league options, however, a new team would have to either give Montero playing time at the big league level, or else DFA him again in order to potentially send him to Triple-A. If Montero clears waivers, the Rockies might part ways entirely with a release, or option him to Triple-A after outrighting him off the 40-man roster.
Diaz was hitting .303/.352/.439 with five home runs in 216 PA at the time of his injury, and it is good news that the catcher is able to return in relatively short order. Since Diaz is a free agent after the season, he stands out as a logical candidate to be moved at the trade deadline, though the Rox could have designs on trying to sign the catcher to another extension.
Yankees Designate Phil Bickford, Select Josh Maciejewski
The Yankees announced that right-hander Phil Bickford has been designated for assignment. The move opens a roster space for left-hander Josh Maciejewski, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A.
Bickford’s own minor league contract was selected to New York’s roster just on June 21, and the veteran righty allowed eight earned runs over five innings (in five appearances) for an ugly 14.40 ERA. The majority of that damage took place in Saturday’s game, as Bickford was charged for five runs in just two-thirds of an inning of relief work in the Yankees’ 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays.
Today’s move brings a fresh arm into the Yankees bullpen, and returns Bickford to the DFA wire for the third time in his career. Bickford’s previous designations resulted in a change of uniform — the Dodgers claimed him off waivers from the Brewers in May 2021, and the Mets acquired Bickford as part of a deadline day trade last August. Since Bickford is out of minor league options, the Yankees had to designate him and risk losing him on waivers before the club is free to outright him off the 40-man roster.
Maciejewski was designated and outrighted himself back in April, shortly after he made his Major League debut in the form of a single inning of relief work in New York’s 7-0 win over the Marlins on April 8. A 10th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2018 draft, Maciejewski is more of a pitch-to-contract type of hurler than a strikeout artist, and he has a 4.95 ERA over 83 2/3 career Triple-A innings. His second trip to the majors will see Maciejewski join Caleb Ferguson and Tim Hill as the left-handed options in New York’s relief corps.
Cardinals Option Gordon Graceffo, Select Jacob Bosiokovic, Designate Kolton Ingram
The Cardinals announced that pitching prospect Gordon Graceffo has been optioned to Triple-A, in order to clear a 26-man roster spot for righty Jacob Bosiokovic. In a corresponding move for the selection of Bosiokovic’s contract, lefty Kolton Ingram was designated for assignment.
A 19th-round pick for the Rockies in the 2016 draft, Bosiokovic is now poised to make his debut as a big leaguer. The 30-year-old Bosiokovic was drafted as a first baseman but, after his progress at the plate was stalling out, he turned to pitching during the 2019 season. That position change has now paved Bosiokovic’s path to the Show, as he continued to develop on the mound after joining the Cardinals organization in late 2019.
Bosiokovic spent two years in the Cards’ system before becoming a free agent and signing with Charleston of the independent Atlantic League for the 2023 season. Resigning with St. Louis this past winter, Bosiokovic has a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings for Triple-A Memphis, along with a 29.7% strikeout rate. While the right-hander can miss bats and can keep the ball in the park (47.8% grounder rate), Bosiokovic’s control is a big concern, as he has a 17.2% walk rate during his time in Memphis this season.
St. Louis will give Bosiokovic a look while also bringing a fresh arm into the bullpen, as Graceffo pitched 4 1/3 innings in yesterday’s 9-4 loss to the Reds. Making his own MLB debut, Graceffo looked pretty solid in the long relief outing, limiting Cincinnati to a run on three hits and two walks, while Graceffo racked up four strikeouts.
Ingram has become a familiar name on MLBTR’s pages in 2024, as the southpaw has been designated for assignment four times by four different teams, and then claimed away on waivers from another club. Beginning February as a member of Detroit’s organization, Ingram has bounced from the Tigers to the Angels, Mets, Rangers, and Cardinals without getting any time in the big leagues. The left-hander’s Major League resume still consists of his five appearances and 5 1/3 innings with the Angels last season.
Ingram has a 4.26 ERA over 25 1/3 combined innings with three different Triple-A affiliates this year, which is quite solid considering the added tumult of continually changing teams. Given how his 2024 has gone, nobody would be surprised if yet another team in need of left-handed bullpen depth claims Ingram off the Cardinals’ waiver wire.
Mets Select Matt Festa, Tyler Jay; Designate Duke Ellis
The Mets announced a set of roster moves, including the news that right-hander Matt Festa and left-hander Tyler Jay have had their contracts selected from Triple-A Syracuse. The two pitchers will take the 26-man roster spots created when Tylor Megill and Danny Young were optioned to Triple-A yesterday. To create room on the 40-man roster, the Mets designated outfielder Duke Ellis for assignment, and moved left-hander Brooks Raley (who had Tommy John surgery last month) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.
Festa and Jay will provide the struggling Mets bullpen with a couple of fresh arms. Young had been pitching well before a downturn over the last week, as the southpaw has allowed two earned runs in each of his last three outings. This ballooned Young’s ERA to 5.11 over 12 1/3 innings, after he’d posted a sparkling 0.87 ERA in his first 10 1/3 frames.
Young threw 1 1/3 innings in New York’s 9-6 loss to the Astros yesterday, and Megill got the start and gave up four runs over 5 1/3 frames of work. Megill has a 5.08 ERA over 39 innings and eight starts, with all but one of those starts coming after a seven-week stint on the IL due to a shoulder strain.
With Megill struggling, his demotion was seen as a way for the Mets to bring some relief help up from Triple-A over the next four days. The Athletic’s Will Sammon figures that the Mets will call up one of Christian Scott or Jose Butto to take Megill’s place in the rotation, and the team could need to cycle several arms through the rotation and bullpen in order to get through a tough stretch of the schedule. Last Thursday marked the Mets’ last off-day until the All-Star break, as the club is two games into a string of 17 games in as many days.
For Festa, he’ll now be in line for his first big league action of the 2024 season, and the Brooklyn native will have the bonus of pitching close to home. The 31-year-old Festa signed a minor league contract with the Mets last month after he was released from his minor league deal with the Padres, as a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings with San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate didn’t catch the Friars’ attention. Festa has looked quite good in Syracuse, however, delivering a 1.76 ERA in 15 1/3 relief innings. A veteran of four MLB seasons with the Mariners, Festa has a 4.32 ERA over 93 2/3 career frames in the Show.
Jay is back in the majors for the second time this season, as New York designated him for assignment and then outrighted the southpaw to Triple-A after throwing four innings over two appearances with the Mets back in April. These two games marked Jay’s first taste of MLB action, as the sixth overall pick of the 2015 draft finally made it to the big leagues after a long journey marked by injuries and stints in independent ball.
Ellis also made his Major League debut this season, appearing in eight games for the White Sox (mostly as a defensive sub and pinch-runner) before Chicago designated him for assignment two weeks ago. The Mets claimed Ellis away on waivers, but he only played in two games with Double-A Binghampton before returning to the DFA wire. Ellis has hit only .241/.329/.333 over 965 career plate appearances in the minors, but he is known for his excellent baserunning, as he has 117 steals in 134 chances during his minor league career. This speed and his ability to play all three outfield spots makes him an interesting pickup for any other clubs that might be looking to the waiver wire for outfield depth.
Giants Chairman Discusses Deadline, Signings, “Inconsistent” First Half
With a 40-44 record, the Giants sit in fourth place in the NL West but also still within striking distance of the playoffs, as San Francisco is 3.5 games out of the last National League wild card slot. Several other teams within the congested NL are in this same half-in, half-out status of semi-contention, though expectations were certainly higher in the Bay Area after the Giants spent over $324MM on free agents this past offseason.
Team chairman Greg Johnson is still optimistic that the best is yet to come for the Giants, though he admitted in an interview this week with the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser that the club’s play has been “very inconsistent.”
“I think we have to be a little patient through this period where you get frustrated when you watch every day,” Johnson said. “We also have to take into account that we’ve been hit with injuries in very key places, and when you try to muddle through with a two-man rotation, it’s pretty difficult….We’ve had slow starts in games. We can’t seem to get on starting pitching, we always seem to be trying to play catch-up. But on the positive side, the clubhouse vibe seems to be good despite the injuries, and I think if we can stay relevant the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be in great shape in the second half.”
Thirteen players are currently on the Giants’ injured list, ranging from season-ending issues like Jung Hoo Lee‘s shoulder surgery to a couple of injuries (to Thairo Estrada and Wilmer Flores) that have arose even in the few days since Slusser’s interview with Johnson was published. As Johnson simply put it, “it’s tough when you watch the team take the field — that’s not the team we thought would be out there.”
The sheer volume of personnel on the IL does hint at further upside for the roster, since Johnson says “we probably have the biggest lift (with returning injured players) of any team out there.” This in itself could provide more of a natural roster reinforcement than anything San Francisco could add at the trade deadline, though whether or not enough players will be back by July 30 adds another wrinkle to the club’s future plans.
Johnson demurred most talk about the deadline, saying that was the purview of president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. However, the chairman downplayed the idea of a splashy midseason trade, saying “we’re going to look and see what’s available, but we’re not that optimistic that the market will bear much fruit with so many teams in contention right now, and the cost of getting players and giving up a lot of young talent.” Should a situation emerge where the Giants could add a player by boosting their approximately $254MM, Johnson said “I think we do” have that type of financial flexibility.
It has been no secret that the Giants were trying to add superstars (and thus a larger payroll) to their roster for the last several years, as per their pursuits of Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, and other big-ticket stars in free agency. Last winter’s spending spree was headlined by Lee’s six-year, $113MM deal, though the Giants were able to score a pair of notable less-pricey deals late in the offseason with a pair of shorter-term, opt-out heavy deals with Blake Snell and Matt Chapman. As a result, San Francisco is now over the luxury tax threshold for the first time since 2017, though their estimated $254MM figure puts them under the secondary tax tier of $257MM.
In regards to the Giants’ spending capacity in general, Johnson said “We don’t go in with any set number — here’s the cap, here’s the target. Things change, and being able to get someone of Blake Snell’s caliber and you look at your areas of vulnerability and with a lot of untested pitchers, that was a reason to go out and spend beyond the luxury tax. You want to be nimble and opportunistic and having Blake still available kind of pushed us over that [luxury tax] range.”
Seen as relative bargains at the time, the signings of Chapman (three years, $54MM with two opt-outs) and Snell (two years, $62MM with an opt-out after the season) haven’t gone to plan. Chapman is at least on the field and providing his customary excellent third base defense, even if his hitting has been only decent. Snell, on the other hand, has battled through a nightmare of a season that has included two IL stints and a 9.51 ERA over 23 2/3 innings pitched.
Because Snell didn’t sign until March 19, he didn’t have the benefit of any kind of normal Spring Training routine, as the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner’s preseason work was limited to his own personal training regiment and some sim games after he officially joined the Giants. Snell’s struggles have been so overwhelming that it seems to have led to a policy change within the team, as “signing someone late isn’t something we’d do again, especially with a pitcher,” Johnson said.
“I think that shows you how important Spring Training is, especially for pitchers….We felt a veteran like him could be ready pretty quickly. I’m sure he’s pretty frustrated as well. You want him to feel like he’s 100 percent when he’s out there, and he wants to feel like he’s 100 percent.”
While it is a little surprising to hear a team executive make such a firm declaration, it isn’t all that controversial given that Snell himself has gone on record with his regrets over his lack of a normal offseason ramp-up. It should be noted that Johnson didn’t regard Snell’s signing as a mistake, since there is still time this season for Snell to return and contribute, not to mention in the second year of his deal in 2025 (since an opt-out is looking increasingly unlikely).
All in all, Johnson’s statements don’t much differ from the comments of other front office officials or executives in recent weeks, as so much of the league is still in wait-and-see mode with a month to go before the deadline. It is certainly possible the Giants could be more aggressive in adding talent if they go on a hot streak in July, though remaining under .500 (and falling more definitively out of a playoff race) could motivate Zaidi to reload for 2025 and move some veteran players at the deadline. Or, given how San Francisco surely plans to contend next year, the Giants could pursue a combination of both buying and selling at the deadline, rather than one specific path.
Mike Trout “Basically Pain-Free,” Expects To Return By Late July
Fans around baseball received exciting news today as veteran superstar Mike Trout told reporters (including Sam Blum of The Athletic) this afternoon that he is “basically pain-free” with only occasional soreness as he works his way back from surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee that he underwent at the end of April. Initial reporting suggested a recovery timeline in the range of six weeks was possible for the 32-year-old based on similar surgeries other players had undergone previously, though the Angels cautioned that they intended to take Trout’s rehab slowly in order to minimize the possibility of re-injury.
They’ve certainly done that, as tomorrow will mark two months since Trout went under the knife and he has still not began running, as he told reporters (including Blum) earlier today. While he has no specific timetable for his return from the IL or even for himself to resume running, Trout indicated that he expects to be back by the end of July. Given the fact that Trout will almost assuredly require a rehab assignment of some length after a two-month layoff, that timeline would suggest that the star expects to resume running in relatively short order.
The possibility of Trout returning in the near future is certainly an exciting one, both for Angels fans and fans around the baseball world. After all, the 32-year-old veteran was long considered the game’s best player and is already a slam-dunk future Hall of Famer as an 11-time All Star who finished within the top 5 of AL MVP voting in nine consecutive seasons while winning the award three times. Trout’s career slash line of .299/.410/.581 gives him the 12th-highest career wRC+ in MLB history, ahead of legends of the game such as Ty Cobb and Stan Musial.
Prior to going on the IL this season, Trout had gotten off to an unusual start. The superstar slugged an incredible ten home runs in just 29 games prior to going on the IL, was striking out at a 21.4% clip that would be his lowest since the pandemic if maintained throughout the whole year, and boasted a strong 12.7% walk rate. While those elite peripherals would suggest that Trout was an early favorite to win his fourth AL MVP award this year, an eye-popping batting average on balls in play of just .194 left Trout with a slash line of “just” .220/.325/.541 in 126 trips to the plate prior to his placement on the injured list. While the overwhelming majority of hitters would be delighted to post a wRC+ of 138, that’s a far cry from Trout’s typical lofty standard.
Of course, this is far from the only injury that’s plagued Trout in recent years. The veteran has played in just 51% of the club’s games since the start of the 2020 season amid injury woes ranging from calf and back problems to a fractured hamate bone, in addition to this season’s knee surgery. Those injury woes have not only cost Trout nearly half of his games over the past half decade, but have also turned his contract with the Angels, which runs through the 2030 season, into a relative bargain for a future Hall of Famer into a deal that the Halos might have trouble moving on from even if both the organization and Trout himself were to decide that they’d like to part ways.
Talented as Trout is, it’s extremely unlikely that his return will be able to spur Anaheim into the postseason. The club’s 35-46 record leaves them 10.5 games back in the AL West and nine games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with a record better than only the lowly A’s and White Sox among all AL clubs. To even finish the season with a .500 record, the Halos would need to play at a .568 clip the rest of the way, on par with what the Braves have done in the first half this year.
Tigers Notes: Flaherty, Brieske, Baez
The Tigers’ signing of right-hander Jack Flaherty has proved to be one of the best moves of the 2023-24 offseason through the first half of play this year. The 28-year-old has looked nothing short of fantastic since signing with Detroit on a one-year deal over the offseason. In 89 innings of work across 15 starts, Flaherty has posted a solid 3.24 ERA (129 ERA+) with a 3.04 FIP.
That’s a quality performance that virtually any club would like to have at the front to middle of their rotation, but his underlying metrics have been even more elite. Flaherty has struck out an eye-popping 33% of batters faced while walking just 4% this year, giving him the league’s second-highest K-BB% behind only White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet. While home runs- which have been an issue that has plagued Flaherty throughout his career- have remained an issue as 18.3% of his fly balls have left the yard this year, the right-hander has also generated grounders at a full-season career best clip of 44.2%. All of that has combined to give Flaherty an MLB-best xFIP of 2.29 and a SIERA of 2.45 that trails only Crochet.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they aren’t particularly well-positioned to make the most out of Flaherty’s time in the organization. While fans in Detroit are surely dreaming on the right-hander pairing with Tarik Skubal at the front of a playoff rotation, the Tigers are sitting at a record of just 37-45 headed into the second half. The AL Central division already appears more or less out of reach for the club as they’ve fallen 15.5 games behind the Guardians, and even an AL Wild Card berth would take a herculean climb up the standings as the club currently sits 7.5 games behind the Royals for the third Wild Card spot.
Between that reality and the fact that Flaherty would surely be the most attractive rental pitcher moved at the deadline if the Tigers were to deal him, it may seem like a forgone conclusion that the right-hander will be changing teams next month. That might not be the case, however, as Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reported earlier this week that president of baseball operations Scott Harris and his front office are preparing not just for a potential sell-off, but also for a hypothetical scenario where the Tigers look to add at the deadline.
While the club’s weak position in the standings makes that possibility appear extremely unlikely at first blush, McCosky notes that the club figures to have plenty of control over its own destiny between now and the trade deadline on July 30. Prior to that date, Detroit will square off against the Guardians ten times and the Twins six times. That could give Detroit plenty of opportunities to not only cut into their massive deficit in the AL Central, but also make up ground in the AL Wild Card race; Minnesota holds the second of three spots and currently sits eight games ahead of the Tigers in the standings.
Even as the Tigers have an interesting opportunity to play their way into contention over the final month before the deadline, however, it still appears more likely than not that Flaherty is pitching in another uniform when the calendar flips to August. If that comes to pass, the Tigers will need another arm to step into the rotation alongside Skubal, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Kenta Maeda. According to McCosky, that next man up was once thought to be right-hander Matt Manning, but the club’s first-round pick from the 2016 draft has struggled to a 6.00 ERA at the Triple-A level since last being optioned to the minors and has pitched to below-average numbers across five spot starts in the big leagues this year.
That, per McCosky, could lead the club to consider right-hander Beau Brieske for a rotation spot at some point. While the Tigers haven’t formally broached the possibility of swinging between the bullpen and the rotation with Brieske, the right-hander would reportedly be the top option for the role should the club decide to utilize a pitcher in that role. Looking at the righty’s work during his time with the club, it’s easy to see why that would be the case.
Brieske, 26, was a 27th-round pick by the Tigers in the 2019 draft but made it to the big leagues fairly quickly, starting 15 games in the majors during the 2022 season to roughly league average results. He’s been used almost exclusively out of the bullpen since then and has taken to the role particularly well this year as he’s posted a 2.35 ERA (180 ERA+) and a 2.24 FIP with a 24.4% strikeout rate in 13 multi-inning relief appearances totaling 23 innings of work. Those strong multi-inning performances have seen Brieske throw as many as 53 pitches in relief over three innings of work, making him a prime candidate to move into the rotation from a workload perspective.
In other Tigers news, Hinch told reporters (including McCosky) this evening that veteran shortstop Javier Baez, who has been shelved since early this month due to lumbar spine inflammation, is not only improving but has reached point of feeling “the best he’s felt with his back in some time.” Hinch noted that the Tigers are hoping to get the 31-year-old out on a rehab assignment next week with an eye toward a return prior to the All Star break, which begins on July 15. The veteran has struggled to a .183/.209/.247 slash line in 53 games with the Tigers this year, but despite that meager offensive contribution the Tigers still figure to look forward to his return because even that offense is still an improvement over the bat of Ryan Kreidler, who has replaced Baez in the lineup and is currently slashing just .148/.258/.148 in 13 games with the club while filling in for the veteran.
Corey Seager Exits Game Following Hit By Pitch
Rangers star Corey Seager exited tonight’s game against the Orioles after being struck in the wrist area in the fifth inning by Baltimore lefty Cade Povich, as noted by several reporters (including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) on X. The Rangers subsequently announced that initial x-rays on Seager’s wrist were negative, though he’ll be evaluated further tomorrow to determine the severity of the issue.
An absence of any length for the 30-year-old superstar would be a brutal turn of events for the Rangers as they try to fight their way back into the AL playoff picture. The club currently sits at 37-45 entering play this evening, nine games back of the Mariners in the AL West and 7.5 games back of the Royals for the final AL Wild Card spot. With Texas currently buried behind the Red Sox, Astros, Rays, and Blue Jays in the race to catch the Royals for that final playoff spot, the Rangers were already facing an uphill climb as they seek an opportunity to defend their 2023 World Series championship this fall.
Now, it seems possible they’ll have to do so without Seager, at least for the time being. On the heels of a campaign where he slashed an incredible .327/.390/.623 en route to a second-place finish behind Shohei Ohtani in AL MVP voting as well as the second World Series MVP honors of his career, the 10-year MLB veteran got off to an uncharacteristically slow start in April but quickly began to heat up when the calendar flipped to May.
Over the past two months, Seager has slashed an excellent .273/.356/.521 (139 wRC+) to raise his season-long figure to 116, although digging a little deeper into his numbers would suggest that even that number has some misfortune baked into it. Seager’s .277 BABIP in 71 games this year would be the second-lowest figure of his career and just the second time he’s posted a figure below .300. Meanwhile, his .335 wOBA is a far cry from his expected .379 figure, the latter of which ranks 14th among qualified hitters this year, sandwiched between Bryce Harper and Mookie Betts.
Even setting aside Seager’s underlying performance and focusing purely on his production to this point, the shortstop’s 116 wRC+ is one of only two above-average offensive performances the Rangers have gotten from qualified hitters this season, trailing only the fantastic breakout performance of infielder Josh Smith. With key bats such as Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia not yet meeting expectations this season, top prospects Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford struggling through injuries and ineffectiveness in their rookie campaigns, and star third baseman Josh Jung sidelined by a wrist injury of his own since early April, the Rangers lineup has in some ways leaned even more heavily on Seager this season than it did during his MVP-caliber 2023 season.
In the event that Seager misses time, Smith appears to be the most likely candidate to handle shortstop in his absence, sliding over to the position from third base. Jung appeared to be nearing a return to action not long ago, although as noted by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News the youngster has been delayed in returning to taking batting practice by inflammation in his ailing wrist. According to Grant, Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters prior to tonight’s game that Jung will not swing this weekend and is headed to visit with a specialist on Monday to be re-evaluated. Even if that visit with a specialist ends up going well and Jung is cleared to resume swinging, Grant suggests that a conservative approach to his rehab could see him remain out until play resumes after the All Star break.
Should third base be left open by Smith taking over for Seager at shortstop, it appears likely that the Rangers would call up another infielder such as Ezequiel Duran or Justin Foscue to pair with utility infielder Davis Wendzel at the hot corner. Duran is the most established big leaguer of the three, having played his way into something of an everyday role with the Rangers last year in a bat-first utility role. The 25-year-old’s offense evaporated this year, however, as he hit a paltry .256/.294/.324 in 58 games before being demoted to the minors. Foscue, meanwhile, is a former top-100 prospect with a career .261/.396/.456 slash line at the Triple-A level who has just two big league plate appearances under his belt. Either player appears more likely to take the lion’s share of available at-bats rather than Wendzel, a 27-year-old rookie who has struggled badly at the plate with a wRC+ of just 15 in 25 games with the Rangers this year.