Braves Select Seth Elledge, Release Danny Young
The Braves announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Seth Elledge from Triple-A Gwinnett. In a pair of corresponding roster moves, Atlanta placed outfielder Sam Hilliard on the 10-day injured list with a right heel contusion and released left-hander Danny Young (thereby opening a spot on the 40-man roster). Young recently sustained a yet-unspecified injury that’ll end his season. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, so the Braves’ choices with him were to call him up and place him on the Major League 60-day IL or release him.
Elledge, 27, opened the season on Atlanta’s 40-man roster but was designated for assignment in early April and bounced to the Mets and Tigers via the DFA circuit. Detroit designated him for assignment late last month, and the right-hander rejected an outright assignment after clearing waivers. He later returned to the Braves on a minor league deal.
While Elledge was hit hard with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate this season, he posted solid numbers in Detroit’s system and has been excellent in Gwinnett for the Braves: 9 2/3 innings, 1.86 ERA, 34.4% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate. He’ll get his first big league look since posting a 4.63 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with the Cardinals from 2020-21.
Young, 29, appeared in eight games with the Braves and pitched to a sterling 1.08 ERA with a 31.4% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in 8 1/3 innings. He’s been hit hard in 15 2/3 Triple-A frames, however, yielding a 6.32 ERA and walking 13.8% of his opponents.
It’s common in situations like this one for the player to ultimately re-sign with the organization on a minor league deal, though that’s certainly not a given. Young will have the opportunity to talk to the other 29 teams, perhaps latching on somewhere with a two-year minor league pact that’ll cover his current injury rehab and give that team — be it the Braves or someone else — control over his rights into the 2024 season.
Rangers Designate Taylor Hearn, Select Alex Speas
The Rangers announced Wednesday morning that they’ve designated left-hander Taylor Hearn for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Alex Speas, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Round Rock. Texas optioned lefty John King to Triple-A in order to open a spot for Speas on the active roster.
Now 28 years old, Hearn was acquired in the 2018 deadline deal that sent reliever Keone Kela to the Pirates. The southpaw was a mainstay on the Rangers’ pitching staff from 2021-22, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. While the overall 4.89 ERA he posted in 204 1/3 innings during that time hardly stands out, Hearn has pronounced splits between his work as a starter and a reliever.
In 110 1/3 career innings out of the rotation, Hearn has been rocked for a 6.36 ERA. Like many pitchers, he’s had particularly rough struggled when turning a lineup over for a third time; opponents have batted .343/.438/.567 against him in such situations.
Out of the bullpen, however, Hearn has looked like a different and quite serviceable pitcher. He’s tallied 118 2/3 innings of relief work in the big leagues, logging a 3.94 ERA and fanning exactly one quarter of his opponents. His 11.2% walk rate out of the ‘pen is well north of the league average, but Hearn has demonstrated an ability to miss bats and limit damage while averaging close to 96 mph with his heater in short stints.
He’s worked primarily out of the bullpen in Triple-A this season, posting a 3.66 ERA and a very strong 30.2% strikeout rate. Command has continued to plague Hearn in Round Rock though, evidenced by a 13.2% walk rate plus another four plunked batters in his 39 1/3 innings there.
Hearn is optionable for the remainder of the current season. That, combined with solid career marks in the bullpen, plus velocity on his fastball and a history of missing bats, could certainly lead to trade interest in the southpaw.
The Rangers will have a week to trade Hearn or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s earning $1.5MM this year and has at least two more seasons of arbitration eligibility remaining, so it’s feasible but certainly not guaranteed that he’d be claimed.
Taking Hearn’s spot on the roster is the 25-year-old Speas, a potential late-inning powerhouse whose trio of plus or better pitches is at times undercut by a lack of command. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked the flamethrowing righty 14th among Texas farmhands earlier this month, touting his “vicious” slider’s “absurd” movement. He’s throwing that slider or his low-90s cutter a combined 85% of the time in the minors this year, Longenhagen notes, due in part because of his struggles locating a four-seamer that can routinely hit 102 mph.
A second-round pick by the Rangers back in 2016, Speas has a ridiculous 1.00 ERA in 36 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season. He’s fanned 40.4% of his opponents against an 11.3% walk rate that represents a career-low. The walk rate would likely be higher if Speas leaned on his heater more regularly, but for now the emphasis on his slider and cutter has proven a recipe for success.
It’s increasingly common for relievers to throw their breaking pitches more than their fastballs, and while Speas is an extreme example of that, his ability to do so with success in the upper minors positions him as a potential late-inning weapon for manager Bruce Bochy.
Padres Sign Óscar Mercado To Minor League Deal
In a move that recently eluded MLBTR, the Padres signed outfielder Óscar Mercado to a minor league deal, as relayed by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Mercado has already appeared in five games with Triple-A El Paso.
The 28-year-old Mercado once looked to be establishing himself as an everyday regular at the big league level, especially during a strong 2019 season. He hit 15 home runs for Cleveland that year and produced a batting line of .269/.318/.443. That offense was actually slightly below league average in that juiced ball season, translating to a wRC+ of 98. But he also provided strong outfield defense, including in center field, and stole 15 bases. Since that was just his age-24 season, it seemed fair to expect he might be able to continue developing from that platform.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, as he’s hit just .206/.262/.334 in 491 plate appearances since that season, which amounts to a wRC+ of 64. He’s bounced from Cleveland to Philadelphia, then back to Cleveland, exhausting his options in the process. He signed a minor league deal with St. Louis this winter and was selected to the big leagues in mid-May, serving in a part-time bench role. He was on the roster for over six weeks but only received 32 plate appearances in 20 games.
For the Padres, they have a regular outfield of Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trent Grisham but have cycled through a few depth pieces this year, such as José Azocar, Brandon Dixon, David Dahl and Adam Engel. There’s little harm in them bringing Mercado aboard to get a close-up look at him. His speed and defense give him a solid floor and he could still carve out a role by getting his offensive production in the vicinity of average. If he cracks the roster at any point, he’s out of options but has yet to reach arbitration and could potentially be cheaply retained for subsequent seasons.
The Opener: Extensions, Marisnick, Recent DFAs
With MLB’s trade deadline just two weeks away, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Are more mid-season extension negotiations on the horizon?
While players and clubs typically try to avoid in-season extension talks, that occasionally changes in the run-up to the trade deadline. The Braves signed catcher Travis d’Arnaud to an extension yesterday, and last year’s deal between the Padres and Joe Musgrove stands as another recent example of two sides coming together on an extension in the midst of trade season. While d’Arnaud isn’t the only player for whom an extension has been a recent topic of discussion, other rumored extension possibilities come with roadblocks. The Red Sox reportedly have interest in an extension with young right-hander Brayan Bello, but Bello has indicated he prefers not to negotiate in-season. On the other hand, veteran hurler Marcus Stroman has expressed a desire to stay with the Cubs, but the club’s front office does not appear to reciprocate that interest.
2. Marisnick to undergo MRI:
Dodgers outfielder Jake Marisnick is set to undergo an MRI with the expectation that he’ll require a trip to the injured list, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Marisnick has appeared in just four games with the Dodgers since signing with the club on a major-league deal last week after stints with the White Sox and Tigers earlier in the season. If Marisnick winds up missing significant time, that would only increase pressure on the Dodgers to add a right-handed outfielder prior to the trade deadline, as the club has begun to rely on a fully lefty outfield of James Outman, David Peralta, and Jason Heyward with Mookie Betts and Chris Taylor taking on more infield work in recent days. In the meantime, Ardaya reports the Dodgers are expected to recall outfielder Jonny Deluca to take Marisnick’s spot on the roster.
3. Recent DFAs to monitor:
Cardinals lefty Genesis Cabrera and Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos were designated for assignment earlier in the week, and both are more established names than the typical DFA fodder. Cabrera has had a rough stretch in 2022-23 but notched a 3.41 ERA and 28.7% strikeout rate in 92 1/3 innings from 2020-21. Command has always been an issue for him (career 12.2% walk rate), but lefties who average 96 mph and miss bats don’t grow on trees; it’s feasible that the DFA could accelerate talks on a potential trade. Chirinos, meanwhile, has posted a career-low 11.8% strikeout rate this season but nevertheless sports a respectable 4.02 ERA in 66 2/3 innings. Tommy John surgery wiped out most of the past couple seasons for the right-hander, but back in 2018-19 he gave Tampa Bay 223 innings of 3.71 ERA ball with a 21% strikeout rate and terrific 5.9% walk rate. There are workload concerns after he missed so much time from 2020-22, but Chirinos stands as a possible trade candidate who could help teams in need of rotation depth.
Both players’ DFA windows will extend to July 24, but it’s likely the Rays and Cardinals are in ongoing talks with other clubs on the pair of experienced hurlers.
Braves Extend Travis d’Arnaud
The Braves announced they’ve signed catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a one-year, $8MM deal covering the 2024 season. The contract also contains an $8MM club option for the ’25 season with no buyout. d’Arnaud is represented by Wasserman.
Atlanta controlled d’Arnaud on an $8MM team option for 2024. They’ll preemptively trigger that provision. In exchange, the veteran backstop gives the team a matching option for the following year. It’s familiar territory for an Atlanta organization that has been very aggressive about signing players to extensions.
It is also a comfortable spot for d’Arnaud himself. He’s now signed a trio of contracts with the Braves over the past half-decade. He first agreed on a two-year, $16MM deal in free agency over the 2019-20 offseason. Midway through the ’21 season, he re-upped on a matching $16MM contract that contained the ’24 option. He’s now locked in for a fifth campaign at Truist Park.
Now 34, d’Arnaud has been an effective backstop throughout his time in the organization. He hit .266/.324/.462 over his first three seasons as a Brave. Catching wasn’t a need last winter, but the Atlanta front office seized on the opportunity to add a star catcher on the trade market. Atlanta acquired and promptly extended Sean Murphy, pushing d’Arnaud into a reserve role.
While he’s overqualified for a #2 catching position, the former All-Star has taken his new role in stride. d’Arnaud carries a .265/.338/.478 line with eight home runs through 151 trips to the plate on the season. He’s walking at a personal-high 9.3% clip and has maintained his previous contact and power production on a rate basis. d’Arnaud has gotten 27 starts behind the plate compared to Murphy’s 60 nods.
Despite the diminished role, he’s clearly happy in Atlanta. He’ll reprise his role as Murphy’s backup for at least one more season and potentially an additional year beyond that. d’Arnaud will soon surpass the 10-year MLB service threshold. The ’24 campaign will be his fifth in Atlanta. If the Braves keep him around for 2025, he’d have automatic no-trade rights that season as a 10-and-5 player (10 years of service, the past five of which have come for the same team) under the collective bargaining agreement.
That’s a possible longer-term consideration. For now, the move solidifies the catching position with a high-quality backup for a second year. Atlanta’s 2024 payroll commitments now sit around $138MM, as estimated by Roster Resource. Their projected luxury tax number is a bit under $159MM. The Braves opened this season with a franchise-record payroll estimated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts around $203MM.
With d’Arnaud officially off the board, the upcoming free agent catching class takes another hit. Unlike last year, where Willson Contreras was a clear candidate for a long-term deal, next winter’s group mostly consists of veteran depth types. Tom Murphy, Yasmani Grandal, Austin Hedges and Víctor Caratini are among the top names available. The Cubs hold a $6MM club option on Yan Gomes as well.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Notable Draft Signings: 7/18/23
The first overall pick signed for a record bonus with the Pirates this afternoon. Meanwhile, Arizona signed their first-round selection for a $4.4MM figure. The other $2MM+ signees from Tuesday (scouting reports from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN and The Athletic):
- The Phillies announced a deal with 27th overall pick Aidan Miller. The club didn’t specify the signing figure, but Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reports it at $3.1MM (Twitter link). That’s a little north of the $2.97MM slot value. A high school infielder out of Florida, Miller appeared on the top 25 players on each of the referenced pre-draft rankings. The 6’2″ third baseman is credited with some of the highest offensive upside in the high school class, though he had a relatively down draft year after injuring the hamate bone in his hand. He’s already 19 — older than the typical high schooler — but has significant power potential and a chance to stick at the hot corner. Miller bypasses a commitment to Arkansas to enter the pro ranks.
- The Padres agreed to terms with 25th selection Dillon Head, Callis reports (on Twitter). The Illinois high schooler gets a $2.8MM bonus, a little below the pick’s $3.17MM slot value. Head ranked 27th on MLB Pipeline’s pre-draft list but as low as 50th on Keith Law’s ranking at The Athletic. The lefty-hitting outfielder is an elite runner and a potential quality defensive center fielder. Evaluators are split on how much offensive upside he possesses in a 5’11” or 6’0″ frame. Head was a Clemson commit.
- The Royals went well overslot to sign second-round draftee Blake Wolters, according to Callis (Twitter link). A high school right-hander from Illinois, he lands a $2.8MM bonus that beats the $1.95MM value of the 44th pick. The 6’4″ hurler had a velocity bump into the mid-90s during his draft year. He’s credited with a quality slider and intriguing athleticism but faces questions about his third pitch. It’s a fairly common refrain for an upside flier on a high school pitcher. Kansas City liked Wolters enough to sign him away from the University of Arizona.
Giants Place Cole Waites On 60-Day Injured List
The Giants placed reliever Cole Waites on the 60-day injured list this afternoon. He’s dealing with a sprain in his throwing elbow, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. To take the open 40-man roster spot, outfielder Heliot Ramos was reinstated from a 60-day IL stint of his own and optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
Waites, 25, has made three appearances for San Francisco this season. He debuted with seven games late last season. He’s allowed seven runs in his first eight MLB innings. Waites has spent the majority of the year on optional assignment to Triple-A, where he’s been tagged for a 6.16 ERA across 30 2/3 frames. The righty has walked nearly 19% of batters faced in the minors this year.
The club didn’t provide specifics on Waites’ return timetable, though his season could be in jeopardy. He’ll be out until at least mid-September. The only silver lining is that he’ll be paid at the prorated $720K MLB minimum rate and collect service for time spent on the major league injured list.
Ramos missed two months with an oblique strain. The former first-round pick has appeared in nine MLB contests in each of the past two seasons. Before the injury, he’d been off to a strong start in Triple-A. Ramos was hitting .314/.368/.589 in 27 contests for the River Cats early in the year.
KBO’s Lotte Giants Sign Aaron Wilkerson, Release Dan Straily
The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced an agreement with right-hander Aaron Wilkerson this morning (h/t to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News). He’ll be paid $350K through season’s end.
Wilkerson, 34, has pitched professionally since 2013. He logged 14 big league appearances, all of which came with Milwaukee between 2017-19. Wilkerson spent part of last season in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers before returning to the U.S. for 2023. He’d been in the A’s system on a minor league pact, working to a 6.51 ERA through 47 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas.
The A’s granted Wilkerson his release last week. That was apparently so he could pursue the KBO opportunity, which’ll be the first of his career. (Oakland subsequently signed righty Zack Godley as non-roster rotation depth). Wilkerson has a 4.02 ERA over parts of five Triple-A seasons, striking out just under a quarter of opponents in the process.
In a corresponding transaction, Lotte released veteran righty Dan Straily. KBO teams are permitted a maximum of three foreign-born players (two pitchers) on the roster. The Giants will move forward with Charlie Barnes and Wilkerson. Straily has spent four of the last five seasons with Lotte. He was effective for the bulk of that time, including a 2.50 ERA in 2019 and a 2.31 mark over 11 starts after re-signing last August.
Straily hasn’t quite found his groove in 2023, however. He has a 4.37 ERA with a 19.2% strikeout rate and elevated 10.2% walk percentage through 80 1/3 innings. That led the Giants to move on and put Straily back on the open market. The 34-year-old was in affiliated ball last season, spending some time with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A club. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since an eight-year run from 2012-19.
T.J. McFarland Elects Free Agency
July 18: McFarland has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker.
July 17: The Mets have sent reliever Stephen Ridings outright to Triple-A Syracuse, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. Since New York hadn’t previously announced he was on waivers, the move creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster. The count drops to 39.
Ridings joined the organization on a waiver claim from the Yankees last November. A lat strain kept him on the injured list though mid-June. New York promptly optioned him to Triple-A upon reinstating him from the IL and he has yet to make a big league appearance as a Met.
The 6’8″ righty has made seven appearances with Syracuse, allowing six runs with six strikeouts and walks apiece over 6 1/3 innings. There’s some understandable signs of rust after the 27-year-old missed almost the entire 2022 campaign with a shoulder issue. Ridings’ sole MLB experience consists of five innings of two-run ball for the Yankees two seasons back.
This is the first time in Ridings’ career in which he has cleared waivers. He also has less than three years of MLB service, so he won’t have the ability to test free agency. Ridings will stick in the organization as a non-roster player and try to pitch his way back into the MLB mix. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster by season’s end, he’ll qualify for minor league free agency to start the offseason.
The transaction log also indicates that veteran southpaw T.J. McFarland cleared outright waivers. Unlike Ridings, McFarland had been designated for assignment before he was placed on waivers, so he was already off the 40-man roster. He made just three MLB appearances with New York but has had a strong season in Syracuse, working to a 2.76 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate in the minors.
McFarland has more than enough service time to decline an outright assignment while retaining what remains of this year’s salary. It isn’t clear if he’ll head back to free agency or return to Syracuse and hope for another opportunity in Queens.
Dombrowski: Phillies No Longer Counting On Andrew Painter As 2023 Rotation Depth
Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter has had an injury-plagued 2023 season. A potential season-opening rotation member, the highly-touted righty sprained the UCL in his throwing elbow in Spring Training. His rehab was set back a couple weeks ago when he experienced renewed discomfort and was shut back down.
Philadelphia expressed general relief about the latest testing on Painter’s elbow, saying his UCL was healing (via Matt Gelb of the Athletic). The soreness led them to back down his throwing program out of an abundance of caution though. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested this afternoon they’re no longer viewing Painter as a key factor for the 2023 MLB staff.
“We’re not counting on him as depth at this time,” Dombrowski told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. “Where he is at this point, he has tenderness [in the elbow]. He’s still dealing with that. I mean, you can just do the math. It just doesn’t make sense. I think basically as of a couple weeks ago when he had that [setback], in my own mind I thought that’s it for this year.”
While the Phils haven’t officially announced Painter as being done for the season, it looks unlikely he’ll make his MLB debut before 2024. Barring further setbacks, the 20-year-old still figures to enter next year as one of the sport’s top pitching prospects and a potential factor for the MLB rotation.
Relatedly, Dombrowski told Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post on their podcast that Philadelphia was open to adding rotation depth before the August 1 deadline. That’s no surprise; as Dombrowski pointed out, the vast majority of the league could stand to secure more pitching depth.
Philadelphia has a starting five of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez was a late entrant in that mix but has pitched well through six starts. In 30 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old southpaw owns a 3.26 ERA built on an excellent 54.1% grounder rate.
Dombrowski praised Sánchez’s performance and implied the Phils were happy with their current top five starters. However, he indicated they could look to fortify the depth in case anyone in their current group suffers an injury. Bailey Falter stands as the #6 starter. He has a 4.38 ERA over nine Triple-A starts after surrendering a 5.13 mark over 40 1/3 big league innings early in the season.