Mets Notes: Baty, McNeil, Alvarez, Senga
TODAY: Senga won’t return prior to the All-Star break, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told DiComo (X link) and other reporters today.
JUNE 7: The Mets and Phillies face off this weekend in MLB’s London Series, and both clubs will be afforded a 27th man for the overseas event. For the Mets, that’ll be infielder Brett Baty, who was recently optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a move designed to help him get back on track but also to get hot-hitting Mark Vientos a legitimate audition at third base.
While Vientos is clearly outplaying his fellow corner-infield prospect at the moment, it seems the Mets are open to ideas that could keep both in the lineup, even with a full-time designated hitter (J.D. Martinez) and with Pete Alonso entrenched at first base. Baty told the Mets beat this morning that the team has informed him he’ll likely begin taking reps at second base soon down in Syracuse (X link via Newsday’s Tim Healey). It hasn’t happened in a game setting yet, but the Mets approached him about the possibility when he was optioned on May 31.
The potential addition of second base to Baty’s skill set comes at a time when longtime second baseman Jeff McNeil is struggling through the worst results of his career. McNeil, the 2022 National League batting champion, is hitting just .227/.296/.320 this season — about 16% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+.
The 32-year-old McNeil is in just the second season of a four-year, $50MM extension and thus isn’t in jeopardy of being cut loose, but this is the second straight season his offensive output has declined in notable fashion. McNeil still has elite bat-to-ball skills (11.2% strikeout rate, 87.6% contact rate), but he’s hitting more fly-balls than ever before, which is having an adverse impact on his results. (Fly-balls — at least those in play — are the easiest type of batted ball to convert into an out.) There’s still surely some poor fortune in play, as McNeil’s fly-ball rate is only a few percentage points higher than when he won his batting title, while his .246 BABIP checks in 70 points shy of his career mark. But clearly the Mets have some level of concern, and clearly they’re also still looking at ways for both Baty and Vientos to factor into the long-term plan (particularly if the club ends up re-signing Pete Alonso and thus removing a Vientos-to-first base scenario).
Baty has never played second base in his professional career. He’s logged 250 innings in left field and otherwise spent every defensive inning since being drafted at third base. But with Vientos viewed more strictly as a corner infielder and also batting an outstanding .333/.392/.621 through his first 74 plate appearances this year, the Mets will take a look at the possibility of Baty slotting in elsewhere on the diamond. Baty hit just .225/.304/.325 in 169 turns at the plate prior to being optioned, so he has some obvious work to do on the offensive side of things as well — but it’s nevertheless interesting to see the Mets experimenting with the defensive alignment in a manner that could accommodate two of the organization’s longtime top prospects who have previously had the same primary position.
Both Baty and Vientos have the potential to emerge as cornerstones in Queens, and if they’re able to do so they’ll likely slot in alongside catcher Francisco Alvarez in forming a young core of hitters around which president of baseball ops David Stearns can build. Alvarez has been out since mid-April, when he required surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. He’s been on a minor league rehab assignment and had been slated for a return early next week. However, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that Alvarez’s return will be delayed by at least a few days. There’s no setback or new injury, but Alvarez has flown home to Venezuela to tend to a family matter.
At this point, there’s no indication Alvarez will be delayed long. A return in latter half of next week still seems feasible. The 25-year-old has already appeared in five minor league games but could get a few more under his belt before being activated. He hit .236/.288/.364 in 16 games before incurring his injury but swatted 25 homers in 123 games (423 plate appearances) last season. Alvarez has hit for a subpar .212 average in 496 big league plate appearances but makes plenty of hard contact, draws a roughly average number of walks, has clear plus power and has made substantial defensive improvements in the past couple years.
In further Mets injury news, there’s some optimism with regard to Kodai Senga‘s lengthy rehab process. He’s slated to throw a bullpen session next Monday or Tuesday, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Originally placed on the IL due to a moderate capsule strain his right shoulder, Senga has encountered multiple setbacks along the way. He progressed to facing live hitters by late April but was scaled back to try to get his mechanics back in order. While going through that step, Senga sustained a triceps injury that necessitated a cortisone injection and another five-day shutdown period.
That latter setback came in late May, but the silver lining was that his ailing shoulder looked to be healed on that MRI. It seems both the shoulder and triceps are now approaching a point where he’ll be cleared to throw. There will still be multiple steps to check off before Senga is a realistic option to return to the Mets’ rotation. He’ll likely need multiple bullpen sessions, followed by live sessions against hitters and then a minor league rehab assignment that figures to last multiple starts (with a full slate of rest between each, of course). It seems unlikely he’d be able to check all those boxes by the end of this month, making a July return far more likely.
Senga, 31, is in the second season of a five-year, $75MM contract. The former NPB standout made the All-Star team last year in his rookie season. He also finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in NL Cy Young voting after pitching 166 1/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball with a 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate, 44.7% grounder rate and 0.92 HR/9.
Blue Jays Designate Cavan Biggio For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder Spencer Horwitz, with infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relayed on X earlier that Horwitz was joining the club.
Biggio, 29, has been in a multi-positional role for the Jays for a while. He showed a keen eye at the plate when he first arrived in the big leagues but it seems that pitchers realized he wasn’t likely to do much damage if they threw him more strikes. He drew a walk in 16.5% of his plate appearances in his rookie season in 2019 but that number has dropped year over year. It was 15.5% in 2020 and then went to 12.6%, 12.5% and 11.8% in the years after that.
Here in 2024, Biggio has only walked at a 10.7% clip. That is still above league average, which is 8.3% so far this season, but a huge drop from where he started. Strikeouts have also become a growing problem for him over the years. In 2021, he was punched out at a roughly league average rate of 23% but that ticked up into the high 20s in subsequent campaigns and is currently at a 32.1% clip here this year.
Thanks to his on-base abilities, Biggio was able to hit .240/.368/.430 over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He hit 16 home runs in the first of those seasons but that is now considered by many to be a “juiced ball” season where home runs reached unprecedented levels. That production still translated to a wRC+ of 118 but he’s hit just .219/.327/.351 since then for a 94 wRC+, which includes a line of .200/.323/.291 and 88 wRC+ here in 2024.
Defensively, Biggio has never received especially strong grades anywhere on the diamond but has at least provided the Jays with plenty of versatility. That includes one inning at shortstop but plenty of time at the other three infield positions and in the outfield as well.
As Biggio’s results have declined over the years, other players have slid into his multi-positional role. Davis Schneider is splitting his time between second base and left field and has hit .254/.364/.505 since his call-up last year for a 145 wRC+. The Jays signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the offseason and he is hitting around league average with strong defense at various infield positions. Ernie Clement isn’t hitting much but gets stronger grades for his glovework than Biggio.
On top of those three, there’s also the aforementioned Horwitz. He has been hitting very well in Triple-A this year, walking in 17% of his plate appearances and producing a line of .335/.456/.514 for a 157 wRC+. He has primarily played first base but the Jays recently started getting him some work at second base in order to help him coexist with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who plays first most days. The Jays have also experimented with Guerrero playing some third base of late but also have Justin Turner and Daniel Vogelbach in the first base/designated hitter rotation.
Amid all of that, it seems Biggio has been nudged off the roster for being sort of in between. He doesn’t have as much offensive potential as guys like Schneider, Turner, Vogelbach and perhaps Horwitz, while Kiner-Falefa and Clement are stronger defenders. The Jays also couldn’t send Biggio down to the minors as he now has more than five years of service time.
That has nudged Biggio off the 40-man roster and the Jays will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Since he has passed the five-year service time marker, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while also retaining all of his salary. He is making $4.21MM this year, with about $2.78MM left to be paid out. If anyone were to claim him, they would have to take on that salary but would also have the ability to retain Biggio via arbitration for next year.
Astros Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List
11:30pm: Houston will recall Joey Loperfido to take Tucker’s place on the active roster, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on X). Loperfido debuted earlier this season and hit .333/.381/.436 with a homer in 14 games.
8:36pm: The Astros have placed star outfielder Kyle Tucker on the 10-day injured list with a right shin contusion, tweets Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. The move is retroactive to June 4, meaning Tucker could return a week from now. Houston didn’t immediately announce a corresponding roster move or provide a timetable for his return.
Tucker was injured in Monday’s win over the Cardinals. He fouled a ball off his leg and had to be removed from the game. While the two-time All-Star was on crutches postgame, testing didn’t reveal any fractures. That led the Astros to keep him on the active roster for a few days even though he wasn’t healthy enough to play. He evidently needed more time than the team initially hoped, sending him to the shelf.
It’s probably no coincidence that Houston placed Tucker on the IL just before tonight’s game. A team is allowed to backdate an IL stint by up to three days. Tucker had already been out since June 4. If the Astros had waited into the weekend to put him on the shelf, they’d have pushed back his first possible return date.
The injury halts a fantastic start to the season. Tucker has been a superstar for a few years and has taken his game to new heights in 2024. He has already hit 19 homers across 262 plate appearances. He’s running a .266/.395/.584 batting line with 46 walks against 41 strikeouts over 60 games. If healthy, he should coast to a third consecutive All-Star Game and looks on track to beat last year’s fifth-place finish in MVP balloting.
Despite Tucker’s massive numbers, the Astros head into this weekend’s set against the Angels with a 28-35 record. Their efforts to dig out of that hole will be complicated by the loss of their best player for at least a week. Houston plugged Yordan Alvarez into left field tonight against Griffin Canning, freeing the DH spot for Yainer Diaz and getting Victor Caratini into the lineup at catcher. Trey Cabbage is starting in right field for the second consecutive game.
In other injury news, the Astros announced this afternoon that starters Cristian Javier and José Urquidy each underwent Tommy John surgery (X link via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). Rome had previously reported that Javier would be undergoing TJS on Thursday. Urquidy’s status wasn’t as clear. While the team announced on Wednesday that he was headed for a season-ending elbow procedure, it wasn’t known whether he’d require a full Tommy John or a modified internal brace repair. Both pitchers seem likely to be out past the 2025 All-Star Break. Urquidy, who would be a free agent after ’25, could be non-tendered next winter.
Guardians Outright Estevan Florial
The Guardians announced Friday afternoon that outfielder Estevan Florial cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. Florial accepted an outright assignment and will report to Triple-A Columbus. He remains in the organization without holding a spot on the 40-man roster.
Acquired from the Yankees over the offseason, Florial broke camp with Cleveland despite a rough Spring Training. His offensive struggles carried into the regular season. Florial tallied 111 trips to the plate but limped to a .173/.264/.367 line while striking out 36.9% of the time. After hitting three home runs in the season’s first month, he turned in a .120/.200/.240 slash in 55 trips to the plate during May.
Florial was once a highly-regarded prospect in the New York farm system. Evaluators were intrigued by his power, speed and patient plate approach. Florial has well below-average pure contact skills, though, resulting in big strikeout tallies both in the upper minors and against MLB pitching. He played in 48 games over parts of four seasons in the Bronx, hitting .209/.313/.296 while fanning 41 times in 134 plate appearances (a 30.6% rate).
This is the second time in Florial’s career that he has cleared waivers. New York outrighted him last April and kept him in Triple-A for most of the 2023 season. The 26-year-old hit 28 homers and stole 25 bags with a .284/.380/.565 line in 482 plate appearances. Florial has never had any problem turning in strong results in the minors, though even last year’s huge slash came with an alarming 29.9% strikeout rate.
Alek Manoah To Undergo UCL Surgery
Alek Manoah will undergo surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow on June 17, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (X link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). Doctors won’t know whether he’ll need to undergo a full Tommy John or the slightly less invasive internal brace procedure, but either surgery will end his 2024 season and sideline him well into next year.
Manoah left his start against the White Sox on May 29 with elbow soreness. His velocity was down early in that appearance and he winced on his final pitch of the evening. TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported shortly thereafter that Manoah was headed for a second opinion — typically an ominous sign that initial evaluation suggested surgery could be necessary.
That’ll unfortunately come to pass, likely costing the former All-Star more than a year of game reps. A former first-round pick and top prospect, Manoah looked the part of a budding ace between 2021-22. Over his first season and a half in the majors, he turned in a 2.60 ERA while punching out almost a quarter of batters faced over 51 starts. Manoah finished third in AL Cy Young balloting during his sophomore campaign thanks to a sterling 2.24 mark in 196 2/3 innings.
The last two seasons have been far more challenging. Manoah couldn’t find his form in 2023. He was tagged for nearly six earned runs per nine over 19 starts, leading the Jays to option him to the minors on two separate occasions. While he’d been searching for a rebound in 2024, health intervened. Manoah was delayed by shoulder soreness in Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He made his season debut on May 5 and was out to a decent start. In five outings, he worked to a 3.70 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate across 24 1/3 innings.
Manoah has between two and three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time next offseason and is under team control through 2027. The internal brace surgery typically involves a roughly year-long rehab process. Tommy John procedures usually last 14-16 months. If he requires the latter operation, his ’25 season could be in jeopardy.
Toronto will need to figure out a solution for the fifth rotation spot. They’re fairly well set in the top four with Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. Righty Bowden Francis occupied the fifth starter role during Manoah’s season-opening IL stint. He was rocked in two starts and quickly moved back to the bullpen. Francis spent around six weeks on the injured list before returning this week. He tossed 3 1/3 innings of four-run ball behind Trevor Richards in a bullpen game.
The Jays used a few Richards-led bullpen games late last summer while Manoah was trying to work through mechanical issues. That doesn’t feel like a sustainable solution for a couple months. Offseason pickup Yariel Rodríguez could step back into the starting five. The Cuban right-hander has been on the IL since April 30 with thoracic spine inflammation. He’s on a rehab stint at Triple-A Buffalo, where he tossed three innings on Wednesday. Rodríguez has started four games in his first season in Canada but has yet to throw more than four innings or surpass 20 batters faced.
Toronto, which sits three games back in the AL Wild Card mix at 30-32, could find itself in the market for starting pitching at the deadline. They’d be joined by upwards of a dozen teams in that regard. If the Jays fall out of the playoff picture, they’d be in position to market one of the top rental arms (Kikuchi). They’re one of the more interesting borderline contenders to follow over the next six weeks.
Taylor Ward Drawing Trade Interest
The Angels have begun “listening to inquiries” on players on the roster and one of them is outfielder Taylor Ward, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. Earlier this week, Jeff Passan of ESPN listed Ward and fellow outfielder Jo Adell as plausible trade candidates but said that general manager Perry Minasian is “asking for giant returns” for either of those two.
It’s unsurprising that the Angels are exploring a selloff this summer. Despite the departure of Shohei Ohtani in free agency, the club still made an attempt to field a competitive roster here in 2024. That has not panned out, thanks to some injuries and some underperformance. Face of the franchise Mike Trout has been on the injured list more than a month due to knee surgery. The club’s biggest offseason acquisition, Robert Stephenson, required Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire campaign. Players like Anthony Rendon, Brandon Drury and Chase Silseth are also on the IL. Meanwhile, Reid Detmers struggled enough to get optioned down to the minors while guys like Mickey Moniak and Nolan Schanuel have also underwhelmed.
All of those elements have combined to chip away at whatever chances of competing the club may have had at the start of the schedule. They are currently 24-38, 11 games back in the American League West and nine back of the final AL Wild Card spot. The FanGraphs Playoff Odds have the Angels down to a 0.6% shot at the postseason while the Baseball Prospectus PECOTA Standings have them down to a 0.1% sliver of a chance.
Last summer, the club was hovering around contention and decided to go for it while they still had a few months of Ohtani left. That ended up being a mistake and several players they acquired at the deadline wound up on waivers, but the move for this year is much easier. Minasian and his team will look to acquire some younger players that can help bolster the farm system and help in future seasons.
Ward is a sensible candidate for such a trade. He can still be retained for two seasons via arbitration but the Halos will have a hard time getting back into contention in that time frame, given that they have a poorly-regarded farm system. On top of that, Ward is a bit on the older side for a guy in his arbitration years since he was a late bloomer. He’ll turn 31 in December and will be on the cusp of his 33rd birthday by the time he reaches free agency.
But all that should make him appealing to clubs looking for an upgrade in the present. Ward has 11 home runs this year and his walking at a solid 9.7% clip. His .253/.322/.445 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 116, indicating he’s been 16% above league average this year. That aligns with previous seasons as well, with Ward having hit .265/.346/.449 over the 2021-23 campaigns for a 121 wRC+.
Defensively, Ward is no slouch either, having racked up three Outs Above Average in his career. His tally of -12 Defensive Runs Saved is less impressive but that metric has had him closer to league average since the start of 2023. He’s making a modest $4.8MM salary this year and, as mentioned, has two years of club control remaining beyond this one.
That salary could fit into the budget of just about any club and the extra control would make him appealing even to clubs that may be looking beyond 2024 to the next two seasons. With his strong work at the plate and solid defense, there should be plenty of clubs calling the Angels about him.
The Phillies have the best record in the National League but the outfield is a relative weak spot, with Brandon Marsh on the injured list while Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas are struggling at the plate. The Royals are 37-26 despite getting almost no contributions from their outfield, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored in a piece for Front Office subscribers. The Mariners are leading the AL West but their offense is struggling so much that they recently fired their offensive coordinator and took a cheap flier on Víctor Robles. Atlanta’s looking for outfield help with Ronald Acuña Jr. out for the rest of the year. The Cardinals, Dodgers, Rangers, Diamondbacks and plenty of others could make sense as well.
A controllable position player can bring back plenty of value. Just over a month ago, the Marlins were able to trade Luis Arráez to the Padres for a four-player package. One of them, Woo-Suk Go, has already been outrighted off the roster, but they also got three intriguing youngsters who are each now listed in the top 10 Miami prospects at Baseball America. Ward is a few years older than Arráez and is arguably not the same level of hitter, but Ward brings an extra year of control and his salary is less than half the $10.6MM that Arraez is making this year.
With the expanded postseason and several teams hovering around .500, it has been theorized that there could be a seller’s market this summer. With the Halos clearly out this year, they could be in a good position to take advantage, with Ward one of their best chances to do so.
Rangers To Designate Derek Hill For Assignment
The Rangers are recalling infielder Davis Wendzel from Triple-A Round Rock to give them some infield cover. Corey Seager is day-to-day after leaving Wednesday’s game with hamstring soreness. In a corresponding move, outfielder Derek Hill will be designated for assignment. Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today relayed the moves on X. The team’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.
Hill is out of options, so Texas couldn’t send him back to Triple-A without the DFA. It’s an unfortunate situation for the speedster, who gets squeezed out by the need for another infielder. Hill signed a minor league contract over the offseason and was selected onto the MLB roster at the end of May. He appeared in five games, including a pair of starts in right field. Hill went 2-9 with a walk and a stolen base in what marked his fifth year logging MLB time.
A first-round pick of the Tigers in 2014, Hill played sporadically with Detroit. He combined for a .240/.291/.339 line in 95 games over parts of three seasons. Hill made a brief appearance with the Nationals a year ago, appearing in 13 games between late June and the early part of July. He’s a plus runner who can play all three outfield positions. He has never provided much in the batter’s box against MLB pitching though.
To his credit, the 28-year-old has been a productive Triple-A hitter. Hill owns a .295/.354/.502 slash in nearly 900 trips at the top minor league level. That includes a robust .333/.387/.659 showing over 142 plate appearances with Round Rock this season. Hill’s 6.3% walk percentage and near-25% strikeout rate were pedestrian, but he connected on eight homers, four triples and 10 doubles (albeit in a hitter-friendly setting).
The Rangers will have a few days to gauge possible trade interest. It’s likelier he’ll land on outright waivers by next week. Hill has cleared waivers a couple times in his career and would have the ability to elect free agency if he does so again.
Texas evidently doesn’t anticipate placing Seager on the injured list, at least for the moment. He is out of the lineup tonight against the Giants. Josh Smith moves over to shortstop while Ezequiel Duran handles third base against Logan Webb and the Giants.
Brewers Reportedly Promoting Carlos Rodriguez
The Brewers are going to promote right-hander Carlos Rodriguez, according to Spanish-language reports from Edgard Rodriguez (X link) and Fernando Rayo of 8 Deportivo out of Nicaragua (links from X one and two). The Nicaraguan hurler is not on the club’s 40-man but will need to be added before he starts Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays.
Rodriguez, now 22, was a sixth-round pick of the Brewers in 2021. He made his professional debut in 2022, tossing 107 2/3 innings between Single-A and High-A. He allowed 3.01 earned runs per nine frames while striking out 30.1% of hitters and giving out walks at a 9.3% rate.
That launched him onto the prospect radar, with Baseball America ranking him #14 in the system going into 2023 and FanGraphs putting him in the #20 slot. He spent most of last year in Double-A with one start in Triple-A late in the year. He tossed a combined 128 1/3 innings with a 2.88 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.
Here in 2024, he’s been back at Triple-A, having thrown 62 2/3 innings so far. His 5.17 ERA isn’t especially impressive but he’s looked better as the season has gone along, with a 2.83 ERA in six starts since the start of May. That strong showing will get him up to the big leagues for the first time.
The Brewers have put both Joe Ross and Robert Gasser on the injured list in recent weeks, further compounding a growing injury problem for the rotation. Brandon Woodruff is going to miss the entire season due to shoulder surgery and Wade Miley required Tommy John surgery not too long ago. DL Hall and Jakob Junis have each been on the IL for a while as well.
Tobias Myers is starting tonight’s game and should be followed by Freddy Peralta, Bryse Wilson and Colin Rea in the games after that. Rodriguez will then take the hill on Tuesday, which could perhaps be for a spot start or maybe a lengthier stay in the majors, perhaps depending on how he fares.
As for the 40-man roster spot, it’s possible that Gasser could relinquish his to Rodriguez, depending on how things develop in the next few days. The lefty was placed on the IL earlier this week with a left flexor strain. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed an update on X today from manager Pat Murphy. Gasser apparently has damage “in the back of his elbow” and has been recommended for surgery by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. But this apparently contrasts with another opinion the club got, so the lefty will be getting a third perspective.
Brewers Notes: Rotation, Adames, Uribe
Rotation help looked like a potential area of deadline focus for the Brewers even heading into the season, and that was before a veritable avalanche of injuries left their starting staff in shambles. Milwaukee currently has Wade Miley, Jakob Junis, Robert Gasser, DL Hall and Joe Ross on the big league injured list alongside Brandon Woodruff. Miley (Tommy John surgery) and Woodruff (2023 shoulder surgery) won’t pitch again this season.
That series of health woes has left Milwaukee with a patchwork rotation comprised that features only three set members at the moment: staff ace Freddy Peralta, journeyman Colin Rea and swingman-turned-starter Bryse Wilson. The Brewers announced earlier today that righty Tobias Myers will start tonight’s game and has since optioned lefty Aaron Ashby to Triple-A (clearing way for the selection of righty James Meeker‘s contract). They’ll feature plenty of “TBA”s in the near future when looking at upcoming pitching matchups.
Incredibly, the Brewers are not only still in first place but have a relatively commanding 5.5-game lead over the division at the moment. Still, it’s wholly unsurprising to see FanSided’s Robert Murray suggest that starting pitching will be a major point of focus for Milwaukee’s front office in the weeks leading up to next month’s trade deadline. Murray writes that the Brewers “considered” righty Mike Clevinger in free agency before the 33-year-old re-signed with the White Sox on a one-year deal.
Milwaukee’s level of interest in Clevinger following four shaky White Sox starts and an IL placement for elbow inflammation isn’t clear, but he’d be a reasonable low-cost pickup — both in terms of salary ($3MM base) and cost of acquisition. Clevinger has pitched 16 innings with a 6.75 ERA, a 19.2% strikeout rate and an 11.5% walk rate. He did not complete five innings in any of his four starts with the Sox prior to being placed on the 15-day IL in late May. There’s still seven weeks for him to get healthy and get back to his 2023 form, when he tossed 131 1/3 innings of 3.77 ERA ball (4.28 FIP, 4.81 SIERA). If Clevinger can indeed right the ship, the offseason interest from Milwaukee will be an interesting point to keep in mind, but for now the Brew Crew is surely trying to find more immediate upgrades.
Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also writes within his latest mailbag that Milwaukee is likely to pursue pitching depth at the deadline. That’s only natural, but Hogg also fields multiple questions on the trade candidacy — or lack thereof — of Willy Adames. Milwaukee’s shortstop is just months from reaching the open market, and the Brewers have in the past been willing to trade from the big league roster in the midst of contending pushes as a means of stockpiling future talent. Their 2022 trade of Josh Hader, in particular, is the most prominent instance of this.
That said, Hogg paints a trade of Adames as unlikely, citing a recent interview with Brewers owner Mark Attanasio wherein he acknowledged that the team has not only received trade offers but compelling ones for Adames in the past — as recently as this offseason. “…[T]here may have been some merit to build for the future,” Attanasio said of the offers received for Adames. The club’s owner also touted Adames as one of the heartbeats of the clubhouse, however. And, as Hogg rightly notes, Adames is a slam-dunk qualifying offer candidate at season’s end — one who’ll surely sign a large enough contract to net the Brewers a comp pick at the end of the first round — if he indeed signs elsewhere.
The previously mentioned injury problems for the Brewers don’t stop in the rotation. Milwaukee has been without outfielder Garrett Mitchell and, even more critically, star closer Devin Williams all season. Young fireballer Abner Uribe took over some of Williams’ closing duties early in the season and had a strong start, tossing 12 1/3 innings with a 3.65 ERA, a 27% strikeout rate and three saves to begin the season. Uribe was torched for five runs in two-thirds of an inning against the Yankees in late April and gave up another run against the Rays three days later before being sent to Nashville to work shaky command that had led to a glaring 18.2% walk rate.
Now, however, Uribe is also on the shelf. He recently sustained a knee injury and was placed on the minor league injured list, general manager Matt Arnold revealed to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Uribe is slated to undergo an MRI next Tuesday, at which point the club will surely have further updates on his status.
Reds Shut Down Brandon Williamson’s Rehab Assignment
Reds lefty Brandon Williamson hasn’t pitched in the majors this season due to a shoulder strain he suffered back in spring training. He’d been out on a minor league rehab stint and looked to be nearing a potential return, but things have now hit a snag. The Reds announced today that Williamson has been pulled back from his rehab assignment — but not reinstated to the roster. Rather, he’s remaining on the injured list.
That typically indicates a setback, and shortly after the announcement, manager David Bell indeed announced to the Reds beat that Williamson is experiencing continued discomfort in his ailing shoulder (X link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). He’ll be shut down for at least the next seven days while the Reds see how his shoulder responds and evaluate their options.
It’s poor timing for Williamson, who looked as though he might have a rotation spot to fight for upon his return. Cincinnati optioned struggling righty Graham Ashcraft to Triple-A Louisville yesterday, creating an opening in the rotation behind Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Frankie Montas and Andrew Abbott. The Reds have other options to fill that spot — Nick Martinez and Carson Spiers among them — but Williamson’s apparent setback is a most unwelcome development, given that he’s an intriguing young arm and potential building block for the staff.
Williamson, selected by the Mariners out of TCU in the second round of the 2019 draft, went from Seattle to Cincinnati as part of the swap sending Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the M’s. The 6’6″ southpaw was ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects by Baseball America at the time of the trade and wound up making his MLB debut with the Reds last year. In 23 starts, he pitched to a respectable 4.46 ERA, though that number is perhaps skewed by a rough arrival in the majors.
Williamson posted a 5.82 ERA through his first eight starts but rebounded with 78 1/3 innings of 3.79 ERA ball in his final 15 trips to the hill. After posting lackluster strikeout and walk rates of 17% and 9.9%, respectively, in those first eight outings, the Minnesota native settled in with stronger marks of 21.6% and 6.9% in the season’s final three months. It was a strong finish to his season, and when adding in 34 Triple-A frames to his 117 MLB innings, Williams closed out the year with a career-high 151 frames. Between his late performance and his lack of workload concerns, it seemed as though he’d pitched is way onto the Reds’ starting five — or at the very least into the conversation.
Any such arrival will now be further delayed. The Reds haven’t provided further details, but it’s obviously a worrisome sign when a pitcher who’s missed more than two months with a shoulder strain reports discomfort on the heels of a fourth rehab appearance. Presumably, the Reds will provide further details at some point next weekend or early in the following week. For now, Williamson will continue to accrue big league pay and service time on the 60-day injured list. He entered the season with 139 days of MLB service and has already reached one year, placing him on course to reach arbitration after the 2025 season as a Super Two player and free agency after the 2029 campaign.