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Rangers Select Dallas Keuchel’s Contract

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TODAY: The Rangers have officially announced the selection of Keuchel’s contract from Triple-A

AUGUST 26: The Rangers announced that Dallas Keuchel is slated to start tomorrow evening’s game against the Tigers. Texas placed southpaw Cole Ragans on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 23, due to a left calf strain. The Rangers already have a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no additional transaction will be necessary to formally select Keuchel’s contract.

It’s a return to the big leagues for the 2015 AL Cy Young award winner, who will be on his third team of the 2022 season. Keuchel opened the year with the White Sox but was released in May after posting a 7.88 ERA over eight starts. The veteran southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks and made it back to the majors. He was tagged for 22 runs (20 earned) in 18 2/3 frames, however, and Arizona also let him go.

Texas rolled the dice on Keuchel last month, signing him to a minor league pact. He’s spent the past few weeks at Triple-A Round Rock, going 23 1/3 innings over four outings (just under six frames per start) with an excellent 2.31 ERA. Keuchel has walked an elevated 12.1% of batters faced there, but he’s induced ground-balls at a huge 64.9% clip. That’s more in line with the grounder numbers he racked up at his peak with the division-rival Astros than the even 50% rate (a strong but not elite mark) he’s posted with Chicago and Arizona this year.

Keuchel adds a veteran option with a lengthy track record of career success to the Texas rotation for the stretch run. The Rangers will only pay him the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum for any time he spends in the majors, with the White Sox otherwise on the hook for his $18MM salary this year (plus a $1.5MM buyout on a 2023 option in his original contract with Chicago). The 34-year-old will return to the free agent market this offseason, and a strong showing over the season’s final month could aid his efforts to find a big league deal over the winter.

Ragans was called up for his major league debut earlier this month. The former first-rounder has made four starts, allowing ten runs (nine earned) in 18 1/3 frames. Texas hasn’t provided any indication whether he’s expected to return before the end of the season. The 24-year-old is looking to carve out a back-end role in next year’s rotation.

Brewers Select Garrett Mitchell, Place Jonathan Davis On 10-Day IL

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The Brewers have selected the contract of outfielder Garrett Mitchell and placed outfielder Jonathan Davis on the 10-day IL with a right elbow effusion, the team announced. It will be the first taste of the majors for Mitchell, a former UCLA star and Milwaukee’s first-round pick (20th overall) in the 2020 amateur draft. Alex Jackson was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a 40-man roster move.

Mitchell has spent much of his season at the Double-A level this season, hitting .277/.353/.428 over 187 plate appearances.  This earned him a promotion to Triple-A for the first time, with Mitchell responding by delivering even more offense (.343/.435/.466) in 85 PA.  Unfortunately, Mitchell also missed about two months on the injured list due to an oblique strain, but he has made up for lost time with his strong Triple-A performance and now on the verge of his MLB debut.

A leg injury also limited Mitchell’s first pro season to 64 minor league games (roughly split between high-A and Double-A ball) in 2021, so simply staying healthy has been a bit of an issue for the 23-year-old.  His lack of hitting progress was also some concern, as scouting reports for both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline indicated that Mitchell hit too many grounders and didn’t exhibit enough power.  To this end, Mitchell’s offensive numbers could be fueled more by some excellent batted-ball luck — a .378 BABIP at Double-A and a .444 BABIP at Triple-A.

However, Mitchell also has the elite speed that lends itself to high BABIP numbers.  Both Pipeline and BA give him 80-grade speed, and between those wheels and an excellent glove and throwing arm, Mitchell’s defense already seems more than Major League-caliber.  This is good news for a Milwaukee team that has been looking for a regular center fielder, and with Tyrone Taylor also exhibiting some good glovework, the Brewers could use Mitchell and Taylor in a lefty/righty platoon that could at least solidify things defensively up the middle.

White Sox Make Series Of Roster Moves

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves today, including placing right-hander Lance Lynn on the bereavement list and third baseman Yoan Moncada on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. To take their places on the active roster, the club reinstated utilityman Leury Garcia from the 10-day IL and recalled right-hander Davis Martin from Triple-A Charlotte.

This is the second hamstring-related IL stint of the season for Moncada, who missed 10 days due to a strain in his right hamstring back in June. That absence followed a longer IL stint at the start of the season due to an oblique strain, which delayed Moncada’s 2022 debut until May. All of these injuries have contributed to a miserable season for the third baseman, who has only a .197/.269/.313 slash line over 324 plate appearances.

The White Sox in general have been hampered by injury absences all year long, and Moncada joins other regulars in Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal as current members of the IL. Garcia’s return will help make up some of that depth in the infield, though Garcia is himself struggling through a mediocre year at the plate. Garcia, Josh Harrison, and rookie Romy Gonzalez now figure to split duties between third and second base.

Phillies Activate Brandon Marsh, Designate Bradley Zimmer For Assignment

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The Phillies have activated outfielder Brandon Marsh from the 10-day IL, the team announced today. Outfielder Bradley Zimmer was designated for assignment, opening a spot for Marsh on the active roster.

The 24-year-old second-year outfielder, who arrived in Philadelphia in a deadline deal that sent catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe to the Angels, had hardly had a chanced to get his feet wet in Philly before a sprained left ankle sent him to the IL. The injury was evidently fairly minor, however, as Marsh’s activation comes on his first day of eligibility.

Marsh will likely take over center field duties for the Phils, though he may also share time with the versatile Matt Vierling, who had split time in center with Zimmer in Marsh’s absence. Given yesterday’s return of Bryce Harper to the DH slot, which forces both Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos to play the field to keep their bats in the lineup, center field takes on added importance in Philadelphia.

Fortunately for the Philly faithful, Marsh has rated out as a bit above-average defensively by most metrics, though his offensive production has lagged a bit. For his short career, he owns a .239/.299/.352 batting line (good for an 81 wRC+), including a .228/.285/.349 mark (78 wRC+) in 2022, though playing his home games in Philadelphia’s hitter-friendly Citizen’s Bank Park should help those numbers.

The 29-year-old Zimmer, who also rates out as above-average with the glove but owns a .215/.300/.337 career triple-slash, may opt to stick it out with the Phillies if he goes unclaimed, though he could be picked up by a contender in need of a glove-first reserve outfielder. Still, he’ll likely be looking for his fourth (or fifth) major league team in the offseason. After appearing in parts of five season with Cleveland, he began 2022 with the Blue Jays before he was claimed by the Phillies the same day Marsh hit the IL.

Braves Place Jackson Stephens On 7-Day IL, Recall Jay Jackson

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The Braves placed right-hander Jackson Stephens on the 7-day concussion IL and recalled fellow righty Jay Jackson, the team announced today. Per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Stephens has been diagnosed with a mild concussion. He suffered the injury when a Brendan Donovan liner ricocheted off his forehead in the ninth inning of the Braves’ blowout win over the Cardinals last night.

Should Jackson find his way into a game, it’ll be his first action with the Braves, though his recall marks his second stint with the big-league club this year. He had previously been called up when Max Fried went on the concussion IL earlier this month but did not enter a game.

In 56 1/3 innings in the majors across parts of three seasons with the Padres, Brewers, and Giants, the 34-year-old — who also spent three years pitching in Japan for the Hiroshima Carp — owns a 4.31 ERA (4.22 FIP) as well as a stellar 32.6% strikeout rate and a not-so-stellar 12.8% walk rate. He’s performed admirably in limited action for Triple-A Gwinnett this year, posting a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 innings with a 29.5% strikeout rate and a much more palatable 4.9% walk rate.

Stephens, who hadn’t appeared in a major league game since a 2018 stint with the Reds heading into the season, had been something of a revelation at the back end of a top-notch Braves bullpen. While bad luck against the Cardinals last night marred his season numbers somewhat, he still owns a 3.89 ERA (3.56 FIP) in 44 innings across 32 appearances. In a bullpen that also includes Kenley Jansen, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek, Colin McHugh, and Raisel Iglesias (who essentially took the place of Will Smith), Stephens has mostly pitched in low-leverage situations, though not exclusively.

It isn’t yet clear how long Stephens will be out, but he’s probably a safe bet for the Braves’ postseason roster, presuming he’s back and ready to pitch by then. Jackson may benefit from the forthcoming expansion of rosters on the first of September, though the Braves have a pair of pitchers nearing return (Darren O’Day and Mike Soroka, who’s slated to make his third rehab start today as he works his way back from a pair of achilles tears) that could well create a roster crunch sooner than later, even with an extra spot available in the bullpen.

Red Sox Option Jarren Duran, Activate Trevor Story

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The Red Sox have optioned outfielder Jarren Duran to Triple-A Worcester, reports Chris Cottilo of MassLive (Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe had earlier reported that Duran’s locker was empty, suggesting such a move had occurred). The move opens a roster spot for the return of Trevor Story, who’s been activated from the 10-day IL and is in the starting lineup for today’s game against the Rays.

While the move may be short-lived with rosters set to expand to 28 in a few days, it will represent a disappointment for Duran, a consensus top-100 prospect entering the season. Though by no means entirely overmatched in the big leagues, Duran’s batting line — .220/.283/.365 in 219 plate appearances — fell well short of the stellar .305/.379/.531 line he posted in Triple-A in roughly the same sample.

Meanwhile, the combination of Duran’s demotion and Story’s return could have something of a cascading effect on the Red Sox lineup, likely pushing Enrique Hernandez to more regular duty in center field and Christian Arroyo to first base, at least until Eric Hosmer returns from injury (per Ian Browne of MLB.com). In addition to offering a bit more defensive stability, Story’s return adds some much-needed power potential to Alex Cora’s lineup card, even as Story has limped to a career-worst .221/.289/.423 batting line in his first year in Boston.

Even if Story returns to form, though, the Red Sox would need a minor miracle to salvage what’s been a disappointing season in Beantown. Despite high expectations and a hot start, the club has been beset by injuries to the pitching staff (including to would-be ace Chris Sale, who suffered a broken wrist in a cycling accident just as he’d returned from a series of baseball-related injuries) and currently sits in last place in the AL East and 8 games behind the Mariners for the American League’s final wild card spot.

The Sox also face a rather uncertain future, with J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, and Hernandez all set to enter free agency at season’s end, with Xander Bogaerts an effective lock to exercise his opt-out clause and join them after pre-season extension talks broke down. Third baseman Rafael Devers remains under team control through next season but will be a free agent thereafter, also a likelihood given the similar impasse reached between player and club in pre-season discussions.

Rays Option Ryan Yarbrough, Recall Garrett Cleavinger

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The Rays have optioned left-hander Ryan Yarbrough to Triple-A Durham today and recalled fellow lefty Garrett Cleavinger to take his place, the team announced today. Yarbrough had started last night’s game against the Red Sox, and as the Rays have two days off next week, his next turn in rotation may have been skipped regardless.

Indeed, with rosters set to expand to 28 on the first of September, the move could well be a temporary measure to give manager Kevin Cash an extra arm in the bullpen. The move marks the first trip to the Rays’ active roster for Cleavinger, who was acquired from the Dodgers in an under-the-radar deadline move that sent minor league outfielder German Tapia to Los Angeles. In 4 1/3 innings across four games with the Dodgers this season, the 28-year-old southpaw posted an unsightly 10.38 ERA (and 2.08 WHIP), though he’s compiled a 2.37 ERA across 31 Triple-A innings between Oklahoma City and Durham. In the majors, he’s thus far posted a 4.70 ERA (6.25 FIP) across 23 innings in parts of three seasons with the Phillies and Dodgers.

The move marks the latest setback in what’s been an up-and-down year for the 30-year-old Yarbrough. After opening the season on the IL with groin tightness, the lefty has struggled to find consistent success, posting a 4.87 ERA (4.49 FIP) across 68 1/3 innings in the same sort of hybrid role he’s occupied since his 2018 debut.

While these numbers bear a striking resemblance to his 2021 output (5.11 ERA, 4.45 FIP), they still fall well short of his career marks (4.37 ERA, 4.10 FIP). Yarbrough’s advanced stats don’t offer a clear reason for the decline. His strikeout rate has dropped a bit, from 20.3% across his first three seasons to 17.9 % in the last two, but he’s continued to limit hard contact, allowing a hard-hit rate (the percent of balls in play with an exit velocity of 95 mph or more) of only 29.6%, nearly 10% below the league-wide average while his walk rate has inched downwards.

Regardless of the cause of the dip, it will be interesting to see how the Tampa front office handles Yarbrough in the offseason. He’s making $3.85MM this season in his second season of arbitration eligibility and could be a non-tender candidate for the financially constrained Rays.

Reds Place Mike Moustakas On 10-Day Injured List, Select Colin Moran

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The Reds have placed Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain and selected the contract of Colin Moran, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter).

Moustakas never really got going this season, contributing -1.0 bWAR and a .214/.295/.345 triple-slash across 285 plate appearances. The soon-to-be 34-year-old, in his third season with the Reds, has one year (at $18MM) remaining on the four-year, $64MM deal he signed in December 2019 as the Reds geared up to compete in the (ultimately pandemic-shortened) 2020 season.

The Reds have since traded away several of their most valuable assets, of course (including Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, and Brandon Drury at the deadline and Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, and Tucker Barnhart in the offseason), with Moustakas one of only a few veterans remaining from the 2020 club that secured a wild-card berth in the shortened season. Beyond the financial commitment, Moustakas’ declining production and struggles with injury have made moving him difficult. Since arriving in Cincinnati, he’s compiled a .216/.300/.383 batting line — a substantial drop from his career .247/.308/.434 line — and he’s missed more than a third of 2022 already after appearing in only 62 games in 2021.

Moran, taken by the Marlins as the sixth overall pick in the 2013 amateur draft, will get his third taste of the bigs this season as Moustakas’ replacement. The corner infielder broke in with the Astros for short stints in both 2016 and 2017 before heading to Pittsburgh in 2018 as part of the package that netted Gerrit Cole. Moran had some success with the Pirates, compiling a .269/.333/.419 line across four seasons, but he was ultimately designated for assignment shortly before the lockout to clear a 40-man spot for Yoshi Tsutsugo.

In his prior two stints with the Reds this year, Moran has logged a comparatively meager .210/.299/.360 triple-slash in 117 plate appearances, well below his career .263/.327/.414 mark in a relatively small sample. He may well get a chance to build on those numbers for a rebuilding Reds squad, though. Moustakas and Donovan Solano had been sharing time at first since Joey Votto’s season ended in rotator cuff surgery, and Moran may well simply take over Moustakas’ share of the playing time there. The club may also opt to take a more extended look at him, as he’ll remain eligible for arbitration in 2023.

Orioles Face September Call-Up Decisions For Multiple Top Prospects

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The Orioles – the surprise of the 2022 season – have some decisions to make about their September roster. The biggest decisions center on top prospects Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, and Gunnar Henderson, the 56th, 4th, and top-ranked prospects in the game, per Baseball America.

Hall and Henderson are under consideration to join the big league club when the rosters expand, and perhaps sooner, so says General Manager Mike Elias, tweets Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun. The plan has been for Hall to win the right to join the bullpen in September when rosters expand, but the evaluation process is dynamic, and nothing is guaranteed for the southpaw, who made his debut earlier this season. (It’s worth noting that, regardless of what happens this year, the plan remains for Hall to join the rotation next year.)

Fans are certainly eager to see this cluster of high-ceiling prospects in action, but they can put at least a modicum of trust in the process, as compared to seasons past. With the new CBA, the Orioles are freed from some of the service time concerns that have hampered clubs’ decision-making under the prior collective bargaining agreement. With less than 45 service days remaining in the season, Baltimore has no service reasons to keep Henderson or Hall in the minors any longer, notes The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. If they feel the pair can help the big league club as they make a push for the playoffs, we should see them soon.

For Rodriguez, the issue is more a question of health than MLB readiness. He has yet to begin a rehab assignment as he recovers from a lat injury. Per Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com, Elias said, “I’m almost positive that we’re going to see him in real game action before the season’s over. As with any rehab assignment, we’ll start him in the lower minors and then we’ll get him back, hopefully, to the level in which he got injured, and we’ll take it from there.”

Of course, Elias has more to think about than just the individual development of each of these high flyers. With the team unexpectantly pushing for a playoff spot, the Orioles should prioritize fielding the best team possible. Thrusting a young player into a playoff chase for a team that’s been so far from contention for so long is no small decision, however. Suddenly, the lights are bright in Baltimore. Elias must weigh the current needs of the team against the developmental hurdles in front of Henderson, Hall, and Rodriguez. Given the process and plan that Elias has instilled in this organization, he’s likely to want to maintain the long view, even amidst a playoff race.

For now, Orioles fans will have to content themselves with watching new face-of-the-franchise Adley Rutschman lead this team. Thus far, Rutschman has done everything promised to keep this Cinderella squad in the hunt. The 24-year-old backstop has slashed .253/.363/.442 with eight home runs across 320 plate appearances. Those numbers are 34 percent better than average, as evidenced by a 134 wRC+, which isn’t just remarkable for a catcher, or for a rookie, but for anyone in spikes.

Maybe this will be the new normal for Baltimore, but especially in the AL East, where the competition will be top-shelf year after year, each opportunity for postseason play is precious. If nothing else, August/September baseball should matter in a way that Baltimore fans haven’t seen since the days of Buck Showalter, Manny Machado, and Zack Britton. If the kids come to play, all the better.

NL Central Notes: Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs

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The Cardinals are hopeful that Steven Matz will return from his stint on the injured list soon, but when he does, it will be as a reliever, per MLB.com’s John Denton (via Twitter). There simply isn’t time remaining in the season to build him back up as a starter. The switch is partly because of Matz, but also due to the expectation that Jack Flaherty will return to the rotation potentially next Wednesday or the following weekend, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Not to mention, deadline acquisitions Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery have excelled in the rotation since their arrival. In the bullpen, Matz can provide manager Oliver Marmol with another weapon from the left side to augment current southpaws Genesis Cabrera and JoJo Romero. Elsewhere in the NL Central…

  • Deadline acquisition Trevor Rosenthal left his latest appearance in Triple-A with lat soreness, per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (via Twitter). Picking up Rosenthal was certainly a bit of a lottery ticket for the Brewers, given that Rosenthal hasn’t pitched since 2020. Rosenthal had begun to show shades of his former self, posting a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings with the Royals and Padres. The hits keep coming for Rosenthal, who suffered a hamstring strain before the lat injury, which all came while recovering from thoracic outlet surgery.
  • The Cubs will be looking to add power this offseason, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. That certainly tracks for a team with a middle infield consisting of Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal, both of whom boast contact-first profiles at the dish. Hoerner has stepped up this season, both on the field and from a leadership perspective, making himself a key part of the Cubs’ future. Madrigal has had a less memorable campaign, but he may yet establish himself as the second baseman of the future. The power will have to come from somewhere, however, especially with Willson Contreras slated for free agency. Contreras’ 20 home runs rank second on the team behind Patrick Wisdom’s 22, and the long-time catcher is the team leader in isolated power with a .222 ISO.

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