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A’s Claim Ernie Clement From Guardians

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The A’s announced they’ve claimed infielder Ernie Clement off waivers from the Guardians, who’d designated him for assignment earlier this week. Oakland also recalled reliever Sam Selman from Triple-A Las Vegas and placed right-hander Joel Payamps on the 15-day injured list with a lumbar strain. The A’s already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no additional corresponding move was necessary.

Clement changes organizations for the first time in his career. A fourth-round pick out of Virginia in 2017, the right-handed hitter spent a few seasons generally ranked at the back half of Cleveland’s top 30 prospects. One of the game’s highest-contact batters, he worked his way up the minor league ladder and eventually earned a spot on the 40-man roster heading into the 2021 campaign. After opening last season with Triple-A Columbus, he received his first MLB call last June.

The 26-year-old has bounced on and off the active roster over the past year-plus. Clement has tallied 294 major league plate appearances, hitting .214/.273/.274. He’s only picked up three home runs and doubles apiece, and his well below-average exit velocities have muted his overall offensive impact. He’s continued to showcase excellent bat-to-ball skills against MLB arms, though, making contact on greater than 85% of his swings and only going down on strikes in 14.6% of his plate appearances (well below this year’s 22.3% league average). He’s been better overall in the minors, hitting .261/.311/.419 with a 13% strikeout rate over 238 Triple-A plate appearances.

In addition to his plus contact skills, Clement offers a fair bit of defensive versatility. He’s capable of playing anywhere on the infield, with the bulk of his professional experience coming at shortstop. He’s played mostly second and third base in the majors, with brief stints both at shortstop and in left field. The A’s have plenty of long-term uncertainty on the infield, giving Clement an opportunity to at least carve out a utility role if he can make a bit more impact from a power perspective.

Clement is in his second minor league option year, so the A’s can bounce him between Oakland and Triple-A Las Vegas through the end of next season if he holds his spot on the 40-man roster. He won’t be arbitration-eligible until after the 2024 season at the earliest.

Latest On Orioles’ Ownership Situation

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An ongoing legal battle among the Angelos family, which owns the Orioles, has hung over for the franchise for a few months. Longtime owner Peter Angelos, 93, is in poor health, and the franchise’s long-term direction has been a point of contention. Angelos’ wife, Georgia, will inherit the team once Peter passes away, while their son John has served as the franchise’s official control person in recent years.

Louis Angelos, son of Peter and Georgia, recently initiated litigation against his mother and brother in an attempt to force a sale of the franchise. Louis alleges a sale is the desired outcome for both his parents and argues in his complaint that “John has been misleading his mother into believing that he has been working to achieve her goal of a sale of the Orioles.” John Angelos then released a statement reiterating his family’s ties to the franchise and firmly rejecting the possibility of the organization relocating from Baltimore. Georgia Angelos, meanwhile, has previously expressed her faith in John’s leadership and filed a countersuit against Louis Angelos last month.

Against that backdrop, Daniel Kaplan of the Athletic now writes the franchise hired financial firm Goldman Sachs a few months ago to look into the possibility of a sale. That isn’t a new development; Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun reported last month Georgia Angelos confirmed in court filings she “had retained Goldman Sachs and Jones Day to provide investment banking and legal services in connection with the sale of the Orioles.” Nevertheless, Kaplan hears that John and Georgia Angelos continue to explore their options for the franchise, even if there’s no guarantee they’ll eventually put the organization up for sale. Barker, meanwhile, wrote last month that John Angelos was interested in selling a minority share of the franchise while retaining the family’s overall control and keeping the team in Baltimore.

Both Barker and Kaplan suggest that any sale of the franchise, if it were to arise, could wait until after Peter Angelos passes away. While Georgia Angelos stands to inherit the franchise tax free upon her husband’s death, Louis Angelos’ court filings suggest a sale while Peter Angelos is still alive would have “a sizable tax hit.”

The nearby Nationals, with which the Orioles are still embroiled in a years-long suit over television rights fees, are currently going through a sales process themselves. The Lerner family announced in April they’d begun to explore a sale of the Washington franchise, and Kaplan hears from a source they’re seeking $2.5 billion in that deal. That same source suggests the Orioles could wait until after the Nationals’ sale is completed to begin any sales process of their own, given the likely market overlap. Angels owner Arte Moreno is also looking into a franchise sale, although that’s obviously in a much different geographical area.

There’ll certainly be more to come as the Angelos’ various litigations develop, likely over multiple months. The Orioles lease at Camden Yards runs through the end of next season. The team has the right to trigger a five-year option, extending the lease through the 2028 campaign, by February 1 of next year.

Pirates Select Ji-Hwan Bae

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3:27pm: Pittsburgh formally selected Bae’s contract. Catcher Tyler Heineman has been placed on the seven-day concussion injured list to clear an active roster spot. The Pirates 40-man tally now sits at 39.

8:51am: The Pirates are set to promote infield prospect Ji-hwan Bae, as first reported by Ryan Palencer of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). He’ll need to have his contract formally selected to the 40-man roster, though the Pirates currently have two vacancies in that regard, so Bae’s promotion will only require a corresponding 28-man roster move.

Now 23, Bae originally planned to sign with the Braves as an international amateur in 2017, but his agreement was dissolved when the Braves were penalized in 2017 for a bevy of rule violations ono the international market. The South Korean-born Bae instead signed a $1.25MM bonus with the Pirates a year later.

Bae currently ranks 11th among Pittsburgh farmhands at MLB.com and sits 23rd on Baseball America’s midseason ranking of the system. He’s spent the entire season with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, batting .289/.362/.430 with eight home runs, 23 doubles, six triples and 30 stolen bases (in 38 attempts). Bae has fanned in 16.9% of his plate appearances while walking at a 10.1% clip.

Scouting reports on Bae tout his 70-grade speed (on the 20-80 scale) and his above-average contact skills, though his eventual defensive home is rather unsettled. After spending much of his early pro career at shortstop, he’s played more second base in recent seasons and now begun to add further positions to his repertoire. The Bucs have played him primarily at second base (457 innings), shortstop (177) and in center field (161) in 2022, but he’s also had briefer looks in left field and at third base.

Bae was found guilty by a South Korean court in 2018 of assaulting his former girlfriend, and was subsequently ordered to pay a trivial sum to the victim (about $1,750 U.S. dollars, which she donated to charity). Major League Baseball conducted its own investigation into the matter, ultimately suspending Bae for 30 games of the 2019 season under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

Dodgers Sign Daniel Hudson To One-Year Extension

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The Dodgers are keeping another of their potential free agents, announcing agreement on an extension with reliever Daniel Hudson. Los Angeles will reportedly exercise their $6.5MM option on his services for next season, and the sides have agreed to tack on a 2024 team option with a $6.5MM base value that can max out at $7.3MM, based on his number of appearances next season, MLBTR has learned. Hudson is a Wasserman client.

Hudson returns for a second consecutive season in L.A. (third overall) after signing a one-year guarantee last winter. That deal paid the veteran a $6MM salary for this season and came with a $6.5MM option or a $1MM buyout for next year. That left the Dodgers with a $5.5MM decision based on Hudson’s performance this year. The 35-year-old looked well on his way to making that an easy call, dominating opposing hitters for the first two and a half months.

Over 25 appearances, Hudson tallied 24 1/3 innings of 2.22 ERA ball. His peripherals were similarly dominant. He fanned 30.9% of opposing hitters and generated swinging strikes on a whopping 16.3% of his total offerings. Hudson’s average fastball checked in north of 97 MPH, and his high-80s slider was an excellent putaway offering. Hudson also induced ground-balls at a fantastic 53.4% clip and rarely dished out free passes.

By virtually any measure, the right-hander was one of the more dominant late-game arms around. He picked up nine holds and carved out a key high-leverage role for skipper Dave Roberts, positioning himself among the most important bullpen pieces on the club. Unfortunately, Hudson’s stellar year was cut short in late June, when he tore the ACL in his left knee while trying to get off the mound to field a weakly-hit grounder.

Hudson underwent season-ending surgery, at least raising the possibility of the Dodgers letting him go if they were pessimistic about his recovery outlook. Los Angeles has frequently embraced high risk-reward plays (particularly on shorter-term deals), though, and they’ll take a shot on Hudson regaining his form for next season. In exchange for that bet, they’ll add a 2024 option that’d look like a bargain if he pitches anywhere near the level he had been over the first few months for a full season.

The Dodgers have taken similar courses of action with both Blake Treinen and Max Muncy. In each case, Los Angeles agreed to preemptively trigger a 2023 option in exchange for tacking on a similarly-priced club option for the ’24 campaign. Treinen, like Hudson, was on the injured list at the time of his deal. Muncy was on the active roster but struggling from a performance perspective, seemingly battling ill effects of last season’s elbow injury. Treinen has continued to deal with shoulder issues in the few months since signing his extension, while Muncy has played well over the few weeks since inking his new deal.

Los Angeles is surely hopeful both Treinen and Hudson will be back at full strength by the start of 2023. If healthy, they’d join Brusdar Graterol, waiver claim turned breakout Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia and Yency Almonte as candidates for mid-late inning work next season. The Dodgers will see Craig Kimbrel hit free agency after an up-and-down year, and deadline acquisition Chris Martin is headed to the open market as well. The team holds a $1.1MM option on Jimmy Nelson, who’s still rehabbing from last August’s Tommy John surgery.

It’s a talented group, although the Dodgers are sure to bring in a veteran or two from outside the organization this winter. Between the health uncertainty surrounding Treinen, Hudson and Nelson and the spotty pre-2022 track records for Phillips and Almonte, there’s room on the roster for additional veteran stability. There’s also plenty of payroll flexibility, as Hudson’s deal only brings the club shy of $98MM in guaranteed player commitments for next season, according to Roster Resource. The club’s estimated competitive balance tax ledger now sits just above $112MM.

The Dodgers have shattered the CBT threshold for two straight seasons, and they’re set to pay around $29.4MM in overage fees after this season. Next year’s base tax threshold will be set at $233MM, giving the Dodgers plenty of flexibility before even reaching the lowest tier. They’re facing another robust crop of impending free agents, with Trea Turner, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Anderson, Justin Turner, Andrew Heaney and Kimbrel among those ticketed for the open market.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Dodgers were exercising Hudson’s option, and that the sides had added a 2024 club option in the $6.5MM range.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds Place Mike Minor On Injured List

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The Reds announced Friday that left-hander Mike Minor has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to soreness in his left shoulder. Cincinnati also reinstated righty Connor Overton from the 60-day injured list and, in order to make room for him on the 40-man roster, transferred outfielder Nick Senzel to the 60-day IL. Senzel suffered a fractured toe earlier in the week, which was already known to be a season-ending injury, given the timing.

Minor’s placement on the injured list essentially ends his season and quite likely ends his time as a member of the Reds organization. Acquired from the Royals prior to the 2022 season, the veteran southpaw began the season on the injured list due to problems in that same left shoulder. The Reds initially suggested Minor’s shoulder issue would not keep him out long, but he suffered an April setback and wound up missing the first two months of the season. He’ll now miss the final couple weeks as well.

All told, Minor’s potentially lone season in Cincinnati lasted 19 starts and 98 innings, during which time he struggled to a 6.06 ERA with a 16.7% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. Home runs have increasingly become a problem for Minor in recent years, and the move to the Great American Ball Park — one of the game’s most homer-happy venues — unsurprisingly exacerbated the issue. Minor yielded a hefty 24 home runs in those 98 innings — 15 of them coming at home — for an average of 2.20 HR/9.

The Reds technically hold a $13MM club option over Minor for the 2023 season, though given this year’s struggles, they’ll surely pay the $1MM buyout on that option. It’s always possible the two parties could seek to renegotiate a new contract, but that net $12MM price tag for the Reds seems particularly steep for Minor, given that his struggles extend well beyond the 2022 season. Minor’s last healthy, productive season came in 2019, when he tossed 208 1/3 innings of 3.59 ERA ball for the Rangers. Since that time, he’s pitched 313 1/3 innings of 5.46 ERA ball across parts of three seasons.

As for Overton, his return from a stress reaction in his lower back will give the Reds a late look at a journeyman right-hander who enjoyed solid results early in the season, albeit with questionable underlying numbers. Overton, 29, pitched 24 2/3 innings out of the Cincinnati rotation earlier this year, logging a pristine 1.82 ERA but with just an 11.2% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate. Opponents recorded an average exit velocity of 91 mph against him, and 44.4% of the balls hit against him were at 95mph or greater.

The Reds are Overton’s sixth MLB organization (to say nothing of a stint on the independent circuit) in what’s now a nine-year professional career. Selected by the Marlins in the 15th round of the 2014 draft, Overton has pitched in the minors with Miami, Washington, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and now Cincinnati. He made his big league debut in 2021, pitching to a 4.70 ERA in 15 1/3 innings between the Pirates and Blue Jays. In parts of seven minor league seasons, Overton has a 3.98 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate.

Twins Designate Aaron Sanchez For Assignment

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The Twins announced Friday that they’ve recalled right-hander Louie Varland from Triple-A St. Paul and designated fellow righty Aaron Sanchez for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.

Sanchez, 30, has appeared in seven games with the Twins this season and pitched to a 4.00 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate in 27 innings. The right-hander was an All-Star in 2016 and led the American League with a 3.00 ERA that season but has seen that promising career derailed by a series of injuries, most notably including 2019 shoulder surgery.

Sanchez logged a career-high 192 innings back in that 2016 season, but he’s only managed 366 big league innings since that time, pitching to a 5.24 ERA along the way. The Twins will place him on outright waivers or release waivers in the next few days.

Varland, 24, will get the start for the Twins in tonight’s game. It’ll be the third of his career, as he made a pair of appearances earlier this month, pitching well through 5 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium in his MLB debut before struggling in a five-inning outing in Cleveland.

A Minnesota native whom the Twins selected in the 15th round  of the 2019 draft out of Division-II Concordia University in St. Paul, Varland skyrocketed through the system in 2021. He’s had a strong followup showing between Double-A and Triple-A this year, logging a combined 3.06 ERA in 126 1/3 frames. He’ll be in the mix for a rotation spot for a pitching-needy Twins club next year, making his late-season audition well worth monitoring for Twins fans.

Yankees Designate Miguel Andujar For Assignment

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The Yankees announced they’ve designated Miguel Andújar for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for Zack Britton, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. To open a spot for Britton on the active roster, New York placed southpaw Wandy Peralta on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 19, with thoracic spine tightness.

Andújar’s designation is likely to bring an end to his time as a Yankee. Signed as an amateur free agent back in 2011, he developed into one of the organization’s better prospects a few years later. Andújar hit well on his way up the minor league ladder, earning a cup of coffee late in the 2017 season. The right-handed hitter was widely regarded among the sport’s top prospects heading into 2018, and he very quickly seized the job as New York’s primary third baseman.

During his age-23 rookie season, Andújar hit .297/.328/.527 through 606 plate appearances. He connected on 27 home runs and 47 doubles, tying for third in the majors in the latter category. It wasn’t a flawless season — he didn’t walk much and his defensive marks were subpar — but it was an unquestionably impressive effort that looked as if it’d cement him in the middle of the Yankees order for years to come. He picked up a second place finish in that year’s American League Rookie of the Year balloting, collecting the five first-place votes that didn’t go to Shohei Ohtani.

Impressive as that debut season was, Andújar hasn’t gotten an extended chance to build upon it in the four years since then. That’s in large part due to injury, as he suffered a labrum tear in his right shoulder early in the 2019 campaign. He played in only 12 games before undergoing season-ending surgery. By the time he returned to health for 2020, Gio Urshela had broken out and staked a claim to the hot corner in the Bronx. Andújar was relegated to a depth role, bouncing between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and New York as needed but never appearing in more than 45 games in a season.

Andújar hasn’t done much in those brief stints to warrant more regular playing time. Dating back to the start of the 2020 campaign, he owns just a .244/.272/.346 line with eight homers in 327 trips to the plate. That’s obviously not sufficient for a bat-first player, but it’s fair to wonder whether he’d have been able to perform better if the Yankees had more consistent at-bats to give him. Instead, he’s been caught in something of a catch-22 for three seasons: never playing well enough to earn everyday reps on a win-now team and thus not having a window of opportunity to get back on track.

The constant shuffling on and off the roster made Andújar a frequent subject of trade speculation, and the 27-year-old has reportedly requested to be traded on multiple occasions in search of a new opportunity. While the Yankees were open to offers at this summer’s deadline (and quite likely at periods before this August), they didn’t find a deal to their liking. Instead, they’ve kept Andújar around as a depth player while getting him some more experience in the corner outfield in addition to his infield work.

The lack of apparent playing time available has become so glaring the Yankees now decide to take him off the roster entirely. With the trade deadline having passed, they’ll have no choice but to place him on waivers in the next few days. It appears likely another team will put in a claim. Not only has Andújar had some MLB success a few years back, he owns a solid .285/.330/.487 line with 13 longballs in 297 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He’s only gone down on strikes in 11.8% of those trips, showcasing the blend of contact and power that once made him such a promising offensive player.

Andújar is making $1.3MM this season, but less than $100K of that remains to be paid out. He’s likely to finish this season with four-plus years of MLB service, meaning he’ll be eligible for arbitration twice more after this year. This is Andújar’s final minor league option year, so he’d have to break camp with another team next season or again be designated for assignment.

As for the other players involved, it’s a notable return for Britton. The veteran southpaw hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch this season after undergoing UCL replacement surgery last September. That brought a disheartening end to what had already been a rough season, as Britton posted just a 5.89 ERA over 18 1/3 innings while battling multiple injuries in 2021. He has made eight appearances on a minor league rehab stint and now returns to the active roster with a little less than two weeks to try to earn a playoff roster spot.

Britton is making $14MM this season, the final year of a contract he signed in January 2019. The 34-year-old is headed back to free agency at the end of the season. He won’t approach that kind of salary on his next deal, but a strong showing down the stretch and into the playoffs could earn him a few million dollars on the open market.

With Britton stepping in as a left-handed option for manager Aaron Boone, Peralta heads to the shelf. He’s had a quietly excellent 2022 campaign, working to a 2.72 ERA over 56 1/3 frames while holding southpaws to a meager .155/.211/.211 line in 77 plate appearances. He’d be a nice situational weapon for the postseason, and Boone told reporters this afternoon the club anticipates he’ll be back before the end of the regular season (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

Pirates Outright Tyler Beede

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The Pirates announced this afternoon that right-hander Tyler Beede has gone unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis.

A first-round selection of the Giants in 2014, Beede spent the next few years as one of the most talented prospects in the San Francisco system. He debuted late in the 2018 season and started 22 of 24 outings the following year, pitching to a 5.07 ERA across 117 innings. While he didn’t prevent many runs, Beede averaged north of 94 MPH on his fastball and generated swinging strikes at an 11.2% clip that hinted at a possible long-term future in the San Francisco rotation.

Beede was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery the following March, and he missed the entire 2020 campaign. He spent most of last year on the injured list as well, first recovering from the TJ procedure and then suffering a lower back strain. While he returned to health in 2022, the Giants deployed him just six times out of the bullpen before designating him for assignment. The Pirates nabbed him off waivers and have used him as a multi-inning reliever, but he posted a 5.23 ERA with a below-average 14.8% strikeout rate across 51 2/3 frames.

As a player with more than three years of MLB service, Beede has the right to refuse the outright assignment in favor of free agency. The Pirates didn’t announce whether he’d do so at this point, although it’s likely he’ll hit the open market in the near future either way. Even if Beede accepts this outright assignment, he’d qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season unless the Pirates add him back to the 40-man roster.

Julio Rodríguez Undergoing MRI Due To Lower Back Tightness

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Mariners 21-year-old rookie superstar Julio Rodríguez left tonight’s game with lower back tightness, furthering the saga that began earlier this week. As reported by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Rodríguez did not undergo an MRI when he first experienced the lower back tightness over the weekend in Anaheim, but is now scheduled to receive imaging tomorrow in Kansas City. When asked about Rodríguez after the game, Mariners manager Scott Servais labeled the young star’s back troubles as “concerning.”

Rodríguez is having a fantastic start to his career, slashing .279/.341/.499 for an OPS of .840 and a WRC+ of 143, the second highest for qualified CF, only behind MVP-candidate Aaron Judge. His strong performance earned him a trip to the All-Star game, and he is the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year award.

An extended absence would be tough to weather for the Mariners, who recently signed a massive extension with Rodríguez that can run through the 2039 season and are in the hunt for a wildcard spot, currently two games back of Toronto for the first wildcard spot and tied with Tampa Bay for the second spot. The Mariners have also recently placed Eugenio Suárez on the 10-day injured list with a fracture in the tip of his right index finger.

Rodríguez’s presence in the lineup every day has been a much-needed bat for a paltry Seattle offense. Seattle’s team slash line of .227/.311/.388 features the second third-lowest batting average in the league and roughly league-average OBP, SLG, and OPS. Even with these struggles, if the regular season ended today, the Mariners would be in the postseason.

Mike Soroka Shut Down For 2022 Season With Elbow Soreness

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Mike Soroka’s return to MLB will not be in 2022, with the Braves placing the starter on the minor league injured list with right elbow soreness, as reported by Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including David O’Brien of the Athletic) there’s not structural damage, but Soroka will nevertheless be shut down and turn his attention to 2023.

It is yet another lost season for the now 25-year-old, who broke into the majors in early 2018 just shy of his 21st birthday. He would then deal with inflammation in his pitching shoulder and only pitched 25 2/3 innings. However, Soroka returned healthy in 2019 and posted a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts, totaling 174 2/3 innings with an average 20.3 K% and 5.9 BB% en route to an All-Star appearance, NL Rookie of Year runner-up, and a 6th place finish in Cy Young voting.

On the heels of his great rookie season, Soroka was named the Braves’ Opening Day starting pitcher, becoming the youngest ever in the team’s modern history. However, after only 13 2/3 innings, Soroka tore his Achilles tendon midway through a start — ending his 2020 season. Soroka began the 2021 season on the 60-day injured list while continuing his rehab. However, in a cruel twist, as he was progressing, he had a setback and was forced to undergo a second surgery on his Achillies, ending his 2021 season.

Soroka returned to the field in August, with the Braves optioning him to Triple-A Gwinnett after his activation as he worked his way back from three surgery on his Achilles tendon. However, in 21 innings pitched (five starts) in Gwinnett, Soroka has given up 20 hits and 15 earned runs.

In his absence, the Braves haven’t missed a step. Fresh off winning the 2021 World Series, Atlanta’s starting rotation has held steady. Led by Max Fried and Spencer Strider, the rotation features five pitchers who have each made at least 20 starts. Collectively, Braves starters have posted the sixth-lowest ERA, sixth-most innings pitched, and the second-highest K% at 25.2% league-wide

Soroka agreed to a $2.8MM salary to avoid arbitration this past offseason. He’ll be eligible for arbitration twice more after this season and is unlikely to receive much of a raise (if any) after another lost year, assuming the Braves tender him a contract.

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