Tigers Notes: Skubal, Manning, Turnbull, Carpenter
Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press discusses a litany of Tigers injury updates yesterday evening, with news regarding left-hander Tarik Skubal chief among them.
Skubal, 26, underwent surgery on his flexor tendon back in August, but is making steady progress on his rehab. About a month after throwing off a mound for the first time since the surgery, Skubal has taken the next step and begun to face live hitters. Petzold notes that Skubal threw 20-25 pitches and faced Andy Ibanez, Jonathan Schoop, and Nick Maton in the live session. Schoop noted to Petzold that Skubal’s fastball was touching 98, a phenomenal sign for the young left-hander’s progress.
A ninth-round pick by the Tigers in the 2018 draft, Skubal quickly ascended prospect rankings, becoming a consensus top-25 prospect in the game ahead of the 2021 season after making a brief MLB debut during the shortened 2020 season. In 2021, Skubal was given the keys to a spot in the starting rotation, and the results were decent but uninspiring. Skubal posted a roughly league average 4.34 ERA in 149 1/3 innings, but a 5.09 FIP indicates that performance may not have been entirely earned. Skubal’s 25.9% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate were both solid marks, but his overall production was hampered considerably by a massive 20.5% of his fly balls leaving the yard for home runs.
Fortunately, Skubal managed to turn a corner in 2022. The young lefty was a revelation with the Tigers last season, a rare bright spot in an otherwise dismal season in Detroit. Skubal posted a solid 3.52 ERA, 10% better than league average by measure of ERA+, and paired that with an excellent 2.96 FIP as he maintained his quality strikeout and walk numbers from the previous season while managing to drastically reduce the quality of contact he was allowing. In 2021, Skubal’s 13.9% barrel rate was the worst figure in baseball (min. 140 IP). That figure dropped all the way to 5.5% in 2022, however, good for the 78th percentile in the league, per Statcast. Skubal’s 2022 breakout campaign was, of course, cut short by the aforementioned surgery in August, which limited him to just 117 2/3 innings.
Looking ahead, Skubal figures to provide a huge boost to the Detroit rotation both this season and for the foreseeable future upon his return, assuming he’s able to maintain his 2022 breakout when he returns to the mound. No concrete details on Skubal’s timeline for return are available, though he seems to be ahead of right-hander Matt Manning, who Petzold notes threw off a mound Tuesday for the first time since suffering a fractured foot last month. While Manning initially hoped that he would be able to return to action after six weeks, that timeline was quickly taken off the table when the righty was transferred to the 60-day IL at the end of April. Manning will throw a second bullpen session today but, per Petzold, remains limited to an anti-gravity treadmill for his current running program.
All this suggests the club’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft is still a while away from a return to game action. In 12 starts last season, Manning impressed with a 3.43 ERA and 3.78 FIP in 63 innings of work that earned him a rotation spot on Opening Day this season. In two starts prior to his injury this season, however, Manning struggled badly, allowing a whopping four home runs in just 11 2/3 innings of work. Still, the talented youngster figures to be of great importance to the Tigers going forward, once he’s returned to full health.
Elsewhere among the club’s rotation options, right-hander Spencer Turnbull remains shut down after being placed on the injured list with neck discomfort earlier this month, though a recent MRI revealed the healing process is progressing well so far. Petzold notes that the current plan regarding Turnbull, who struggled to a 7.26 ERA in 31 innings of work this season prior to his placement on the IL, is for the 30-year-old righty to undergo an additional MRI in two weeks. If Turnbull’s neck ailment has cleared up, he’ll likely begin a throwing program at that point. Turnbull, of course, missed most of the 2021 campaign and all of 2022 while undergoing and rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
Rounding out the injury updates is outfielder Kerry Carpenter, who landed on the IL with a shoulder strain last month, began a rehab assignment in Triple-A yesterday. Carpenter impressed with the club in his major league debut down the stretch last season, and his quality performance largely carried over to 2023 prior to his injury. While the 25-year-old Carpenter still has just 188 big league plate appearances under his belt in his career, his slash line of .238/.298/.477 with ten home runs and nine doubles leaves plenty of optimism that Carpenter can contribute to a scuffling Tigers offense upon his return to the big league club.
Yankees Release Aaron Hicks
The Yankees announced that veteran outfielder Aaron Hicks, whom they designated for assignment earlier this week, has now been released.
Hicks is in the fifth season of a seven-year, $70MM contract that didn’t pan out nearly as well as the Yankees hoped. The former first-round pick and top prospect hit .255/.368/.470 (128 wRC+) with 42 home runs for the Yankees from 2017-18, and he gave them a respectable .231/.350/.431 output in the 2019-20 seasons. Since that time, however, his offensive production has cratered as injuries have mounted. Hicks hit just .188/.263/.261 in 76 plate appearances this season and is a .209/.315/.310 hitter in 655 plate appearances dating back to 2021.
For all his struggles, Hicks has generally graded as an average or better left fielder in recent years. His once-excellent defense in center field has faded, but he posted a hefty 8 Defensive Runs Saved through just 413 innings in left field as recently as 2022. The switch-hitter hasn’t had success regardless of opponent in 2022-23, but Hicks had a decent showing against lefties in 2021 and has a career .247/.327/.415 batting line as a right-handed hitter facing lefties. He’s also walked in 12.5% of his 3352 Major League plate appearances, including an above-average 9.2% walk rate even in the midst of this year’s freefall at the dish.
Hicks clearly isn’t the player he was at his peak, but now that he’s been released and the Yankees are going to be stuck picking up the tab, he’d make some sense for an outfield-needy club — particularly one seeking some help against left-handed pitching. Hicks is hardly a lock to rediscover any of his former production, but it won’t cost another team much to see if escaping the Yankee Stadium spotlight and the constant scrutiny surrounding his contract and diminished play can help him rebound to at least some extent. He certainly wouldn’t be the first player to rebuild some stock after leaving the Yankees for a lower-pressure environment.
The Yankees remain on the hook for the rest of this year’s $10.5MM salary and will also owe Hicks a $9.5MM salary in each of the next two seasons, plus a $1MM buyout on a 2026 club option. Any team that wants to sign Hicks will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That sum will be subtracted from the Yankees’ obligation to Hicks, but even if Hicks catches on with a new club and sticks on the roster moving forward, the Yanks are stuck with the overwhelming majority of that contract.
Blue Jays Release Julian Fernández
The Blue Jays have released right-hander Julian Fernández, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.
Fernández, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter. He has been pitching for Triple-A Buffalo so far this year, tossing 9 1/3 innings over seven relief appearances. Unfortunately, he registered a miserable 10.61 ERA in that time. Shockingly, he struck out just 9.8% of batters faced after posting a 24.9% strikeout rate in Triple-A last year.
The right-hander has a small amount of major league experience, throwing 6 2/3 innings for the Rockies in 2021. He didn’t get good results in that brief showing but did have a fastball that averaged 99 mph. He spent 2022 in Triple-A with the Rockies, tossing 57 innings with a 6.63 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
He had lost his 40-man roster spot in the middle of that 2022 campaign and qualified for free agency at season’s end. The Jays took a shot on him, undoubtedly hoping to help him get the most of his powerful arm, though they’ve now seemingly given up.
Fernandez will now be free to pursue opportunities with any club. His results weren’t there this year but he’s garnered plenty of interest in the past, having previously been nabbed by the Giants and Marlins in the Rule 5 draft.
Brewers To Place Willy Adames On Concussion IL
Brewers shortstop Willy Adames was struck by a foul ball while in the dugout during tonight’s game. He was taken to a hospital for testing and will stay there overnight, manager Craig Counsell tells reporters, including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The incident occurred in the second inning of tonight’s game when Brian Anderson fouled a ball into the Milwaukee dugout (Twitter video courtesy of @thecomeback). Adames was removed from the game and taken to hospital for testing. While the incident initially led to much alarm, it seems that perhaps the worst has been avoided. Counsell says that Adames has no fractures and has remained responsive all night. They expect he will be released from hospital tomorrow but he will be placed on the seven-day concussion injured list.
While the good news is that Adames seems to have avoided any kind of catastrophic injury, the club will still have to figure out how to proceed without their everyday shortstop for a while. He had been out to a slow start this year, hitting .205/.292/.384 through his first 214 plate appearances this season. But he’s coming off an excellent 2022 campaign where he hit 31 home runs and slashed .238/.298/.458 for a wRC+ of 109. He also stole eight bases and provided quality defense, leading to a tally of 4.7 wins above replacement last year, according to FanGraphs.
In terms of shortstop options on the roster, there’s Owen Miller, who has played the position a bunch in the minors but has just eight innings of major league experience there. Brice Turang is in a similar boat, with plenty of minor league experience at short but just 16 innings in the big leagues. Mike Brosseau is also in a similar situation with 19 2/3 innings of major league time at that spot. Luis Urías has more than 1,000 innings at the position and is perhaps the best option. He’s on the injured list right now but began a rehab assignment on Wednesday. He is on the 60-day IL and isn’t eligible to come off until Tuesday, when he would require a corresponding move.
How the club proceeds with its on-field plans remains to be seen. But for now, the main priority is the health of Adames after such a scary incident. More information will come on that as well but it seems like it could have been much worse, all things considered.
Dodgers Outright Wander Suero
Dodgers righty Wander Suero went unclaimed on waivers following his DFA and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per the team’s transaction log. The 31-year-old righty has enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. The team hasn’t made an announcement one way or another, but Suero is listed as active on the OKC Dodgers’ roster.
Suero appeared in four games with the Dodgers, pitching 6 2/3 innings but yielding six runs on four hits and four walks. Suero did fan exactly a quarter of his opponents (seven of 28), but he struggled not only to find the zone but to locate within it, as two of those hits left the yard.
Prior to this brief run the Dodgers, the entirety of Suero’s big league experience had come with the Nationals, for whom he pitched in 2018-21. The righty logged 185 1/3 frames with the Nats, at times serving as one of Davey Martinez’s setup men (33 holds). He posted a combined 4.61 ERA with Washington, striking out a solid 25.4% of opponents against a roughly average 8.4% walk rate. Suero wasn’t especially homer prone and didn’t give up many free passes, but he struggled with men on base, stranding a below-average 67.8% of runners he allowed. Still, fielding-independent metrics like FIP (3.80) and SIERA (3.78) thought his skills were better than his bottom-line results.
Suero has had a nice year in Oklahoma City so far, holding opponents to four runs on ten hits and eight walks with 17 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings (2.45 ERA). It’s the fifth season in which he’s spent time at the Triple-A level, and he owns a career 3.59 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate through 110 1/3 innings there.
John Means Suffers Back Muscle Strain
Orioles left-hander John Means recently suffered a back muscle strain, with general manager Mike Elias relaying the news to reporters, including Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner (Twitter links).
Means, 30, underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and is on the 60-day injured list. It was already known that he wasn’t going to be available to the Orioles in the early parts of this season but this new issue will push his timeline even further down the road. “We’re still very much hoping to get him back this season,” Elias said. “But this is obviously going to slow things down and tack on some time before we actually see him out pitching games.” Elias said that a return in July is out of the picture, meaning it will still be many months before he returns.
It’s an unfortunate development as Means had previously been one of the few bright spots on the Baltimore roster during their dismal rebuilding years. He has 356 2/3 career innings with a 3.81 ERA. His 21.2% strikeout rate is actually slightly below average, but he pairs that with strong control, shown by his 5% walk rate.
The club is now showing that those dreary tanking years are in the past, as they have shot out to an excellent 33-17 start here in 2023. However, the starting rotation still stands out as an area that could use some improvement. The Baltimore starters have a collective 4.76 ERA this year, a mark that places them 21st out of the 30 clubs in the league.
Getting Means back into the mix could have provided them with a stabilizing effect but that will now have to wait. His continued progress over the next few months could perhaps have an impact on how the club approaches the trade deadline, which is on August 1 this year. If the southpaw seems like he’s close to returning by then, perhaps they feel less urgency to splurge on a rotation addition, but the inverse could also be true.
Means still hadn’t settled his arbitration salary last year at the time of his surgery. Shortly after going under the knife, he and the club agreed to a two-year, $5.925MM deal that covered both last year and this season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration one more time for the 2024 season, after which he’d reach free agency. The kind of raise he’ll be able to command will be impacted by when he’s able to return and what form he’s in.
Elsewhere on the Orioles’ roster, right-hander Dillon Tate has been dealing with a flexor strain since November and still hasn’t made it to the majors this year. He’s been pitching in the minors on a rehab assignment for the past month but won’t be joining the big league club anytime soon. Elias says that Tate has a stress reaction in his elbow, a different area than his flexor tendon injury, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The right-hander will be shut down until the issue passes before going out on yet another rehab assignment.
The 29-year-old posted a solid 3.05 ERA last year in 73 2/3 innings for the O’s. He struck out 20.5% of batters faced, walked 5.5% and got grounders on 57.4% of balls in play. He reached arbitration for the first time over the winter and is making $1.5MM this year. He can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons before he’s slated to reach free agency after 2025.
Blue Jays Place Danny Jansen On IL With Groin Strain
The Blue Jays announced that catcher Danny Jansen has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 25, with a left groin strain. Fellow backstop Tyler Heineman has been recalled in a corresponding move.
Jansen, 28, has been splitting the catching duties with Alejandro Kirk fairly evenly so far this season, with Jansen getting 28 starts to Kirk’s 23. Jansen is capable of being a two-way contributor when healthy, as he hit .260/.339/.516 last year for a wRC+ of 140 while also putting up five Defensive Runs Saved. FanGraphs strangely ranked him as a negative pitch framer last season, though he’s been in the positive territory in every other season of his career.
He hasn’t quite matched that level of offense this year, currently hitting .207/.273/.413 for the season. Though that’s being dragged down by an ice-cold start to the year, as he’s hitting .250/.314/.510 from April 15 onwards for a wRC+ of 124. Unfortunately, he’ll now have to hit the shelf for a while, something that has become a common theme for him. With the shortened 2020 schedule and IL stints in each campaign since, he hasn’t topped 72 games played in an individual season since 2019. He departed Wednesday’s game with groin tightness and the club gave him a day to see how it progressed, but it’s evidently serious enough that they’ll give him at least another week to recuperate.
Presumably, that means the lion’s share of playing time will now fall to Kirk, who’s also not hitting up to last year’s standards. He hit .285/.372/.415 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 129 but is slashing just .248/.360/.333 this year for a wRC+ of 101. He and the Jays will hope that some extra reps will allow him to make up some of the difference between those two lines.
Backing him up will be Heineman, whom the Jays acquired from the Pirates at the end of April. He only played three games with the Pirates this year, having spent most of the season with the Triple-A clubs of the two organizations. He’s hit .260/.393/.400 between those two clubs for a wRC+ of 108. He has 246 major league plate appearances in his career, going back to 2019, with a batting line of .210/.276/.269 in those. He also accrued six Defensive Runs Saved and positive marks for his framing work.
Phillies Claim Cal Stevenson
The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve claimed outfielder Cal Stevenson off waivers from the Giants. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Philadelphia transferred Rule 5 right-hander Noah Song from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Stevenson originally came to the Giants from the A’s, coming over in exchange for cash. He went hitless in 12 plate appearances as a Giant and has just a .145/.259/.188 slash in 83 trips to the plate at the big league level. That’s an unsightly look, of course, but it comes in a tiny sample.
Down in the minors, he’s been a much more productive hitter. Stevenson touts a .271/.382/.386 batting line with seven home runs and 21 steals in 26 attempts. He’s walked at a hefty 15% clip in Triple-A against a lower-than-average 18.2% strikeout rate. Stevenson can play all three outfield spots, though the bulk of his work has come in center field.
The Phils don’t necessarily have a dire outfield need, with Kyle Schwarber, breakout 25-year-old Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos lining up from left to right, respectively. However, with Cristian Pache on the mend from surgery to repair a meniscus tear, Philadelphia also doesn’t have a true fourth outfielder. Veteran utilityman Josh Harrison is no stranger to the outfield corners, and rookie infielder/outfielder Dalton Guthrie has spent time in center field. However, Guthrie has more experience on the infield than in the outfield. Stevenson will give the Phillies a pure fourth outfield option who carries nearly 1800 professional innings of experience in center, plus another 1300 in the corners.
Dodgers Claim Zack Burdi
The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Zack Burdi off waivers from the Rays, per announcements from both clubs. Righty Tyler Cyr was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Burdi was twice designated for assignment by Tampa Bay this season, clearing waivers and accepting an outright the first time around. He’ll be claimed this time through, however, and be placed directly onto Los Angeles’ 40-man roster. The 28-year-old tossed three shutout innings during his first stint with the Rays but was rocked for five earned runs on five hits and a walk in just one inning when the Rays were blown out by the Blue Jays by a score of 20-1.
Burdi is a former first-rounder whose results have not yet aligned with his former top prospect status. That’s due largely to injury, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and then suffered a torn patellar tendon in his knee the following year. There were no minor leagues to return to in 2020, so Burdi jumped straight to the big leagues with the White Sox after pitching just 33 combined innings in 2018-19. The results weren’t good (nine runs in 7 1/3 innings) and Burdi has yet to find his footing. In 21 1/3 big league innings, he has an 8.44 ERA.
Cyr, 30, was selected to the big league roster just a week ago. The journeyman right-hander tossed 1 2/3 shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts in his brief stint with the Dodgers, but his shoulder barked following his second appearance, sending him to the 15-day injured list with what was diagnosed as an impingement. It seems that the injury is serious enough that it’ll require at least a two-month absence.
It’s a tough blow for Cyr, whose only prior MLB experience came in 2022 with the A’s and Phillies — a total of just 12 1/3 innings. He’d hoped his call to the Dodgers and a pair of scoreless outings might give him an opportunity to prove he can hold down a spot in a big league bullpen. Those hopes will be delayed indefinitely now as he battles this shoulder issue.
Cyr, who entered the season with just 34 days of MLB service time, will accrue service time and be paid at the prorated league minimum rate while he’s on the injured list. That’s a decent financial consolation prize after grinding through eight minor league seasons with scant salaries each year, but the loss of the opportunity to carve out a larger role on a big league club surely stings.
Reds Place Wil Myers On 15-Day IL, Recall Will Benson
The Reds announced a series of roster moves ahead of this afternoon’s game against the Cubs as they placed outfielder Wil Myers on the 10-day injured list due to a kidney stone and activated right-hander Fernando Cruz from the 15-day IL. In corresponding moves, the club recalled outfielder Will Benson from Triple-A and and optioned right-hander Alan Busenitz to Triple-A.
Myers, 32, signed a one-year deal with the Reds this past offseason to act as the club’s regular right fielder. That pact has hardly gone accordingly to plan so far, however, as Myers has slashed a brutal .189/.257/.283 in 141 plate appearances across 37 game this season. Prior to signing with the Reds during the offseason, Myers had spent the past eight seasons as a member of the Padres, slashing a solid .254/.330/.452 with a wRC+ of 111 in 888 games with San Diego.
While the Reds were surely hoping for such a similar performance this season to help steady their offense, Myers’s struggles have helped contribute to an offense that ranks in the bottom five across baseball in terms of slugging percentage thanks to an offense that struggles to find production outside of TJ Friedl, Jonathan India, and Spencer Steer.
In Myers’s place, the Reds have recalled Benson, who the club acquired from the Guardians this past offseason to shore up their outfield mix. A former first round pick who turns 25 next month, Benson has a great deal of upside, though his results have not matched it to this point. in 87 MLB plate appearances so far in his career, Benson has slashed just .138/.198/.150 with a wRC+ of -1, though he sports a far more palatable .243/.396/.464 slash line in 641 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Benson figures to mix into the outfield for the Reds alongside Friedl, Jake Fraley, and Stuart Fairchild while Myers is on the shelf.
Joining Benson in returning to the active roster is Cruz, a 33-year-old journeyman who made his major league debut with the Reds last year. Since then, the right-hander has posted a 3.81 ERA with a 3.12 FIP in 28 1/3 innings of work, good for a 124 ERA+. That ERA is inflated by a brutal stretch of five appearances prior to Cruz’s placement on the injured list, during which he allowed eight runs on eleven hits in just 7 1/3 innings. As Cruz attempts to get back on track, he’ll join a Reds bullpen that has been a bright spot for the club this season, ranking top 10 in baseball in FIP and third in terms of fWAR.
Making room for Cruz on the roster is Busenitz, who heads to Triple-A after just pitching just four innings for the big league club. The 32-year-old righty allowed two runs in four innings of work while striking out three. Busenitz figures to act as depth for Cincinnati going forward at the Triple-A level, where he sports a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings of work.