Yankees Select Ryan Weber
The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Fellow righty Jonathan Loaisiga was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
It’s a familiar story for Weber, who spent the 2022 season with the Yankees and was selected to the Major League roster on four different occasions. Because he’s out of minor league options, Weber was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers each time, opting all four times to briefly elect free agency but immediately re-sign with the Yankees on a new minor league deal.
For all of last year’s trips through the DFA carousel, Weber only got into five games with the Yankees. He pitched quite well, holding opponents to one run in 10 2/3 innings of work over that quintet of appearances. He was also sharp in Triple-A, sporting a 3.86 ERA in 39 2/3 frames for the RailRiders in 2022.
The 2023 season hasn’t begun as well for Weber. He’s made seven starts and compiled 34 1/3 innings with an ugly 5.77 ERA to show for it. He’s picked up the pace over his past four turns, however, yielding 10 runs through 22 2/3 frames (3.97 ERA) with a 13-to-3 K/BB ratio. Weber has never missed many bats, but he possesses good command and regularly posts above-average ground-ball rates — which has also been the case in these season’s handful of starts with Scranton.
The Yankees don’t need a starter in the next few days, but they’ve relied heavily on their bullpen this week. Weber will give them some length in the event of another high-scoring game. Last year’s usage of Weber tells us that this could be another brief stay on the roster, but Weber and the Yankees clearly have a good working relationship, so even if he’s designated for assignment in the near future, there’s a good chance he’d just wind up back in Scranton, be it via accepting an outright assignment or electing free agency and re-upping on a new minor league pact.
Angels, Reyes Moronta Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Reyes Moronta, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old righty had been in spring training with the Rangers but signed with the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos after being cut loose by Texas. He posted a 2.35 ERA with a 13-to-5 K/BB ratio in 7 2/3 innings there before being picked up by the Halos.
Moronta was a high-end setup man for the Giants from 2017-19, pitching to a combined 2.66 ERA with a 29.8% strikeout rate and a fastball that averaged 97.1 mph over the life of 128 1/3 innings. Command was an issue for the big righty, evidenced by a 13.6% walk rate in that time, but his ability to miss bats still helped him move from lower-leverage spots into a position that allowed him to pick up a save and 27 holds during that time.
Shoulder surgery ended Moronta’s 2019 season a few weeks early and wiped out nearly all of his 2020-21 seasons, however. He returned to toss four innings with the Giants in 2021, allowing just one run in that time but also sporting a fastball that clocked it at an average of 94.3 mph — a nearly three mile-per-hour drop. The Giants removed him from the 40-man roster in September, and Moronta cleared outright waivers and subsequently elected free agency at season’s end.
The Dodgers signed Moronta to a minor league deal once the 2021-22 lockout was lifted, and less than three weeks into the season he’d made it up to their big league bullpen. He spent the next couple months as an up-and-down arm in L.A. before ultimately being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the D-backs. Overall, his 2022 campaign ended with 37 2/3 frames of 4.30 ERA ball, a 23.6% strikeout rate and an 11.2% walk rate. Moronta regained a bit of life on his heater, but last year’s 95.3 mph average was still a ways off from its peak levels.
The Angels have already lost Jose Quijada and Austin Warren to Tommy John surgery, and they’re also currently without veteran lefty Aaron Loup, who’s on the IL with a hamstring strain. They may also have to dip into their bullpen to stretch out Chase Silseth as a starter, with Jose Suarez on the shelf due to a shoulder strain.
Angels relievers still rank sixth in the Majors with a combined 3.24 ERA, but the group isn’t as deep as it was to begin the season. Adding Moronta, who has a career 3.02 ERA and 28.1% strikeout rate, to see if he can recapture some of his pre-surgery form makes for a sensible depth option.
The Opener: Glasnow, Senzatela, Seager
With six weeks of the 2023 regular season now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Glasnow removed from rehab start:
Oft-injured ace Tyler Glasnow was on track to return to the Rays sometime this month as he began his second rehab start of the season in Triple-A yesterday. Unfortunately, Glasnow was removed from yesterday’s rehab start after just one inning due to left side tightness. According to Tricia Whitaker of Bally Sports Florida, the issue was very mild but the club and player both decided not to push things further, with the Rays noting that there was “no upside” in continuing the start this early in Glasnow’s rehab process.
The Rays are surely hoping Glasnow’s side tightness doesn’t become a more significant setback in the coming days, as Glasnow is one of the league’s premiere talents when healthy. His 2.75 ERA since the start of the 2019 season would certainly be a welcome addition to a Rays rotation that currently sports just three regular starters in Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, and Zach Eflin.
2. Senzatela to be evaluated:
Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela was removed from yesterday’s game after 2 2/3 innings of work due to forearm tightness. Senzatela, who missed much of last season due to a torn ACL, had only recently returned to the rotation, with last night’s abbreviated outing marking just his second start of the 2023 campaign. Senzatela noted after the game that he was specifically experiencing soreness near his elbow and expressed concern about the injury, which will be evaluated further today.
Senzatela, who is currently in the second year of a five year, $50.5MM contract extension, has figured to be a key stabilizing force in a Rockies rotation that recently lost German Marquez to Tommy John surgery and Noah Davis to elbow inflammation. Now, Senzatela’s presence in the rotation going forward is yet another question mark for the Rockies, whose 4.73 ERA as a club ranks 8th worst in the majors.
3. Seager to begin rehab assignment:
The Rangers have been without Corey Seager for exactly one month due to a hamstring strain, but he’s slated to head out on a minor league rehab assignment beginning today. The 29-year-old Seager, who inked a ten-year, $325MM contract in free agency two offseasons ago, got out to a blistering start with Texas this season, slashing .359/.469/.538 with a homer, four doubles, and more walks (nine) than strikeouts (seven) in his first 49 plate appearances of the season.
Texas has turned to young Ezequiel Duran to hold down the fort in Seager’s absence, and 23-year-old has responded with a .305/.340/.474 slash in exactly 100 plate appearances this year. Manager Bruce Bochy recently told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News that he planned to find “creative” ways to keep Duran in the lineup even when Seager returns. It’s indeed been a strong start, though with just one walk in those 100 trips to the plate and a sky-high .379 average on balls in play, there’s likely some regression in store for the former top prospect.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Willson Contreras Out At Catcher For Cardinals, Braves Rotation, Rays, Astros
Episode 6 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Katie Woo of The Athletic to discuss:
- The Cardinals’ decision to move Willson Contreras out of the catching position for the time being (3:16)
- Nolan Arenado‘s early-season struggles (8:22)
- Will the Cardinals trade an outfielder to fill other needs? (9:49)
- Jordan Montgomery, possible extension candidate? (12:06)
After Katie talked Cardinals with Simon, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald comes on the podcast to dig into:
- The Braves’ rotation in the wake of Max Fried‘s forearm strain (15:56)
- Why have the Rays been so good? (19:17)
- The Astros’ sluggish start to the season (25:16)
Check out our past episodes!
- White Sox trade candidates, Red Sox options for improvements, managers on the hot seat – listen here
- The state of the Twins, Bryan Reynolds’ extension and Madison Bumgarner’s future – listen here
- Free agent power rankings, Shohei Ohtani’s next contract and Aaron Nola or Julio Urias in free agency? Listen here
Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez
The Marlins announced to reporters, including Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, they are calling up pitching prospect Eury Pérez. He’ll take the ball for Friday’s game. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster and will require a corresponding move to be added.
Both this move and Pérez himself are unique in a few respects. The promotion is an aggressive one given that the right-hander only just turned 20 years old last month and has yet to pitch in Triple-A. That makes him unusually young for a major league debut, with JJ Cooper of Baseball America pointing out Pérez is about to be the youngest starting pitcher in the majors since Julio Urías in 2016. The pitcher himself is also unique in terms of his size, listed at 6’8″ and 220 pounds.
Signed as an international amateur out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019, he wasn’t able to make his professional debut until over a year later since the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. The Marlins sent him to Single-A to begin 2021 and he dominated in his 15 starts there. He posted a 1.61 ERA in 56 innings, striking out 36.9% of opponents while walking 9.5% and getting grounders at a 36.4% clip. He was then given the ball for five High-A starts at the end of the year, posting a 2.86 ERA in those.
Going into 2022, he was already considered by many observers to be one of the better pitching prospects in the league, but he continued to raise his stock. Despite just being 19 years old for most of last year, he made 17 starts at the Double-A level. He posted a 4.08 ERA in those along with a 34.1% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate.
Coming into 2023, the youngster was unanimously considered to be one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America ranked him #7 overall and he’s since moved up to #6. MLB Pipeline had him at #13 and he’s now in the top 10. He was #4 at FanGraphs, #6 at ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #10. The reports highlight his fastball, which he can not only ramp up to triple digits but also command exceptionally well. Most observers agree that his changeup is his best secondary pitch, though his slider and curveball both get good reviews as well. By all accounts, Pérez has the ingredients to be a future ace and he keeps proving it. Through his six Double-A starts this year, he has a 2.32 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate.
That being said, not all prospects hit the ground running as soon as they reach the majors and it’s not something that should be expected for even the top names. That’s especially true for Pérez given his youth and relative inexperience. His entire professional track record consists of just 186 innings at this point, including just 77 last year, and none of that was at Triple-A. He’s yet to truly test his stuff against big league caliber hitters and it remains to be seen how many innings the Marlins will let him rack up this year. Nonetheless, it will be very exciting to see how the gamble pays off for them.
The club has had a strong rotation for many years and felt good enough about their options that they traded Pablo López to the Twins this winter in order to obtain Luis Arraez. However, they’ve been dealing with a few challenges this year, as both Trevor Rogers and Johnny Cueto are on the injured list with uncertain return timelines. Jesús Luzardo is having a nice season so far but Sandy Alcantara hasn’t quite been his Cy Young self, while Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have each posted middling results so far.
Pérez will now step into that mix and see how he fares, with his performance likely to have some impact on whether this is a brief cup of coffee or if he’s up for good. Since the season is over a month old at this point, Pérez won’t be able to accrue a full year of service time the old fashioned way, though the new collective bargaining agreement affords him a path to get there. A player with less than 60 days of service time who is on two of the top 100 prospect lists at BA, MLB or ESPN will get a full year of service, regardless of the time they spend on the roster, if they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. Pérez was on all three of those lists and is therefore eligible, but it will be a challenge to rank that highly given the late start. He’ll be competing with players like Corbin Carroll and James Outman who have already had plenty of time to bank stats this year.
Even if he finished the year shy of the one-year mark, his youth would still put him on a good trajectory. If he’s up for good, he would almost certainly qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player after the 2025 campaign and be on pace for free agency after 2029, which would be his age-26 season. Future optional assignments could push those targets further into the future, though he could also reach free agency after 2028 by succeeding in getting that full year here in 2023.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Royals Receiving Trade Interest In Aroldis Chapman
The Royals are getting early trade interest in Aroldis Chapman, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The seven-time All-Star is off to a strong start to the season.
Chapman has appeared in 14 games and tallied 12 2/3 innings out of Matt Quatraro’s bullpen. He’s allowed only five runs (four earned) and posted a 20:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 52 plate appearances. His 38.5% strikeout rate checks in eighth among the 219 relievers with 10+ innings. Chapman has gotten a swinging strike on 18.1% of his offerings — the 15th-best mark in MLB — and is holding opposing hitters to a .174/.269/.196 line overall.
The longtime star closer looks far better thus far in Kansas City than he did at the end of his Yankees’ tenure. The southpaw hit free agency last winter with his value at perhaps the lowest ebb of his career. Chapman had allowed a 4.46 ERA during his final season in the Bronx. His strikeout rate dropped below 30% for the first time in his 14-season MLB career, while last year’s 12.7% swinging strike rate was quite a bit below Chapman’s previous norms. Perhaps most worrisome was New York’s decision to leave him off its playoff rosters after Chapman spent time on the injured list with an infected tattoo and subsequently missed a team workout.
Chapman hasn’t quite returned to peak form, when his fastball was sitting in the triple digits and he was punching out just under half his opponents. He’s off to his best start in three years, though, again looking the part of a high-leverage arm. Chapman is averaging 99.3 MPH on his heater and 87.9 MPH on his slider, each figure checking in around two ticks harder than last season’s averages.
It’s still a small sample, but the early results are exactly what the Royals had envisioned when they took a buy-low flier in late January. Kansas City inked Chapman to a one-year, $3.75MM guarantee. The deal contained up to $5MM in additional performance bonuses — up to $2.5MM based on appearances, $2.5MM on games finished — but those incentives look perfectly reasonable so long as Chapman is pitching this well. The 35-year-old will receive $312,500 for every fifth appearance between 20 and 55 outings, and he’d land a matching sum for every fourth game finished between 12 and 40.
Chapman is at 14 appearances in 38 games. He’s on pace to max out the $2.5MM in appearance incentives. Kansas City has used him mostly in the middle innings while keeping Scott Barlow in the closer role. Chapman has four games finished, putting him on pace for 17. Of course, if Kansas City (or an acquiring team) installs him as their closer at any point, he’d be in better position to unlock more of those incentives. That’d be a good problem to have if Chapman is closing games effectively.
Despite the veteran reliever’s contributions, the Royals are off to a nightmarish start overall. They have an 11-27 record that has them ahead of only the A’s in the American League. A 35-year-old reliever on a one-year contract for a noncompetitive team is a straightforward trade candidate, so it’s little surprise bullpen-needy clubs are getting in touch with the K.C. front office.
While the Royals are receiving early trade interest, it’s unlikely any deal will come together in the immediate future. For one, Chapman can’t be traded without his consent until next month. Major league free agents who sign MLB contracts receive an automatic no-trade right until June 15 of the following season under the collective bargaining agreement. Even if Chapman were amenable to waiving that to join a contender within the next five weeks, it’s rare to see trades of significance hammered out this early in the season.
Traditionally, the Royals have been more willing than most clubs to explore early-season trades if they’re well out of contention. They dealt Carlos Santana to the Mariners in late June last season and reportedly began shopping Andrew Benintendi around the same time. Those moves came under former president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, though, and earnestly shopping veteran players in the second week of May is a different level altogether. Even with the Royals highly likely to miss the playoffs, it’s easier for them to hold Chapman for now as rival teams take more time to determine how aggressively to pursue trades for relief help.
So long as he’s healthy and still performing in four to six weeks, Chapman figures to be a very popular target. The Royals could also market Barlow, who has a season and a half of remaining arbitration control, and impending free agent southpaw Amir Garrett.
Taylor Motter Accepts Outright Assignment
Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat). He remains in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.
St. Louis had designated Motter for assignment last weekend. He cleared waivers on Monday but had the right to test free agency as a player who has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. After some time to consider the decision, he’ll stick in the system and try to play his way back onto the big league roster.
Motter signed a minor league deal with St. Louis last offseason. He’s twice gotten onto the MLB roster but been DFA rather quickly both times. Over his two stints, he’s played in eight games and tallied a .200/.273/.300 batting line through 22 trips to the plate. That brings his career slash to .191/.263/.309 in 169 major league contests. The right-handed hitter is far more accomplished at the Triple-A level. He’s a .262/.352/.482 hitter in more than 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of six seasons.
Among the reasons for Motter’s initial stint on the MLB roster was a season-opening injured list stay for Paul DeJong. The Cards reinstated DeJong a couple weeks ago and have seen their one-time starting shortstop get off to a scorching start in a utility role. Through 12 games, DeJong has already picked up three homers and sports a .350/.409/.650 line overall.
That’s miles better than the .182/.269/.352 slash DeJong had mustered from 2021-22. While it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, he’s obviously off to a much stronger start than anticipated, a particularly welcome development in the final guaranteed season of his contract.
A Cash Transaction Paying Off For The Giants
It has been a middling start for the Giants, who fell to 16-20 with a loss to the Nationals this evening. San Francisco’s lineup has been a mediocre group overall, largely thanks to slow starts from Michael Conforto, David Villar and Brandon Crawford.
Despite the bland overall results, the Giants are getting strong contributions from a handful of players acquired in minor trades. LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis and Mike Yastrzemski all landed in the organization via small or buy-low deals. That’s also true of the player who has been arguably the team’s most valuable contributor in 2023: middle infielder Thairo Estrada.
Estrada began his professional career a little more than a decade ago. He signed with the Yankees as an amateur out of Venezuela. While he was never an elite prospect, the 5’10” infielder appeared among the organization’s top 30 minor league talents at Baseball America every year between 2014-19. Estrada had been an effective hitter up through Double-A but he lost the bulk of the 2018 season after being shot in the leg during a robbery attempt the preceding offseason. He required a pair of surgeries, and while he returned to play the majority of the ’19 campaign, his offensive numbers in Triple-A dropped.
The Yankees played Estrada sparingly at the big league level between 2019-20. Relegated to a depth role on a roster with DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres, he appeared in 61 games in pinstripes. New York designated him for assignment during the first week of the 2021 season upon trading for Rougned Odor to serve as a depth infielder. The Giants jumped the waiver order, acquiring Estrada for cash five days later.
Getting any kind of contributions from a player added for that kind of minimal cost would have counted as a win. Estrada has far exceeded what the Giants themselves likely had anticipated. He was on and off the active roster in 2021, hitting .273/.333/.479 in 52 big league contests. By last season, he’d established himself as the primary second baseman. Estrada held that job with another above-average showing, putting together a .260/.322/.400 line with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases through a personal-high 541 plate appearances.
San Francisco tabbed Estrada as its Opening Day second baseman for a second consecutive season. He’s responded with a torrid start, carrying a .338/.388/.522 slash over 38 games. He’s already connected on six home runs and seven doubles, and he’s swiped 10 bags in 12 attempts. Estrada has split his defensive work almost evenly between the two middle infield spots, moving to shortstop lately after Crawford hit the injured list. Public metrics suggest he’s better suited for second base, where he figures to return once Crawford is healthy.
Estrada isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace. He’s running a .396 batting average on balls in play in spite of a modest 31.8% hard contact rate. As a few more batted balls find gloves, his offense will take a step back. Even with some regression, Estrada looks to have established himself as a slightly above-average hitter. He’s now up to 820 plate appearances of .277/.336/.435 batting since landing in San Francisco. He puts the ball in play to compensate for middling walk totals and has solid if unexceptional power.
Combine that offense with quality baserunning and the ability to play up the middle and Estrada looks like a well-rounded everyday option who’s currently playing at an All-Star level. The Giants have already gotten far more out of Estrada than teams get in the vast majority of transactions for players who’d been in DFA limbo.
He’s likely to remain a contributor — albeit not quite at his early-season level — for the next few seasons. Estrada is making just $2.25MM in his first of four years of arbitration eligibility. The Giants can keep him around via that process through 2026. It’s rare for teams to retain players whom they’d added in a cash transaction for multiple seasons but Estrada has played his way into an important role in the Bay Area.
AL Notes: Rodon, Walsh, Brantley, Martin
The Yankees have been without Carlos Rodón to this point. New York’s big offseason acquisition was sidelined by a minor forearm strain in Spring Training and subsequently bothered by back issues. The back has kept him out of action and raised particular concern last week when Rodón told reporters that doctors had called his injury a “chronic” problem.
While that cast plenty of uncertainty as to when the star southpaw would be able to take the mound, it’s possible he starts ramping up in the coming days. Chris Kirschner of the Athletic tweeted yesterday that Rodón will work out on Friday after receiving a cortisone injection. It’s possible he progresses back to mound work as soon as this weekend, which would enable him to begin building strength via a throwing program.
The Yankees have also been without Frankie Montas and Luis Severino due to injuries. Montas is going to be out until late in the year, but Severino threw 3 1/3 innings for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre to start a rehab assignment this afternoon. Those injuries have forced the Yankees to rely on the likes of Domingo Germán, Jhony Brito and Clarke Schmidt out of the rotation to middling results.
Checking in on some other injury situations around the AL:
- Jared Walsh will head on a rehab stint with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake this weekend, the team informed reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic). He’ll play at least three games with the Bees before the Halos determine whether he’s ready for his first MLB action of the season. Walsh lost the first six weeks to insomnia and recurring headaches. Now that he’s put that behind him, he’ll try to get on track offensively. An All-Star in 2021, the lefty-swinging first baseman slumped to a .215/.269/.374 showing last year before his season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome. The Angels have divided first base reps almost evenly between Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela and Jake Lamb. The left-handed hitting Lamb has struggled in the early going and could be the odd man out once Walsh is ready to return.
- Michael Brantley has yet to make his season debut for the Astros. Over the weekend, Houston had hinted he could be back for their three-game set in Anaheim to start the week. That didn’t happen and manager Dusty Baker said today the veteran outfielder departed the team to go for some testing (via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). The Astros were customarily reluctant to divulge specifics, but it’s no longer entirely clear when they expect Brantley to be ready for activation. He’d been ramping up from last year’s season-ending shoulder surgery and had played in nine rehab games with Triple-A Sugar Land through last Saturday.
- The White Sox placed right-hander Davis Martin on the minor league injured list last week. Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets that Martin has a forearm strain in his throwing arm. The issue’s severity isn’t clear, though forearm strains can sometimes be precursors for more serious injuries. At the very least, it seems he’ll be out of the short-term mix should the team need to tap into its rotation depth. Martin started nine of 14 MLB games last year, working to a 4.83 ERA across 63 1/3 innings. He entered 2023 as the #6 starter on the depth chart. Martin had been pitching well for Charlotte, allowing only five runs with 20 strikeouts and seven walks over 16 innings. Chicago has avoided rotation injuries at the big league level; the group of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger has taken all 38 starts thus far.
Sixto Sanchez Experienced Minor Shoulder Soreness, Marlins Targeting Second-Half Return
The Marlins have been without Sixto Sánchez for nearly three years. The one-time top prospect and headliner of the J.T. Realmuto trade has had his career thrown off track by injuries. Shoulder problems have been the main concern, as Sánchez has twice undergone shoulder surgery since July 2021.
That extended layoff has left Sánchez without a particularly clear recovery timetable. While he’d expressed some optimism at the start of the offseason he’d be ready for Spring Training, it became apparent by February a midseason return was the best-case scenario. That has seemingly been pushed back a little further, as the team informed reporters that Sánchez experienced some shoulder soreness following an extended Spring Training outing last week (via MLB.com injury tracker).
This particular issue doesn’t seem all that worrisome. Sánchez has already returned to playing catch this week, according to MLB.com. It’s nevertheless a subpar development for a pitcher who is hoping to get back into affiliated games this year. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald write the organization views August or September as a viable target date for Sánchez’s return to minor league games. It’s clear he’s not an option in the immediate future and at least raises some question about whether the 24-year-old will be able to pitch in an MLB game this season.
Given Sánchez’s repeated setbacks, it’s not surprising Jackson and Mish report that Miami no longer views him as an integral part of their long-term pitching plans. Sánchez is still young and controllable for six seasons but he’ll go almost three years between regular season appearances. Even once he’s able to return, there’s no guarantee he’ll do so with high-octane stuff.
Sánchez averaged 98.5 MPH on his four-seam and 96.6 MPH on his sinker during his seven-start MLB debut back in 2020. The righty told reporters this spring he’d lost almost 50 pounds over the offseason, though, and the organization has taken its time to allow him to build his conditioning after so many stops and starts in his rehab.
The Fish could also soon face some pressure from a roster management perspective. They’ve kept him on the 40-man roster throughout his rehab. That’s a testament to his ceiling but also limits their flexibility somewhat. While they could place him on the 60-day injured list during the season, doing so would require paying him the MLB minimum salary (at which they’ve thus far balked). There is no IL over the offseason, so he’d have to count against the 40-man tally during the winter.
More pressing is that the Fish have used their option years to keep Sánchez on the minor league IL. Most players can only be optioned in three separate seasons in their careers. Exceptions are sometimes made to grant a fourth option year when a player has missed an extended chunk of action. The Marlins received a fourth option on Sánchez for 2023. There’s no such thing as a fifth option, however, so the Marlins won’t be able to send Sánchez back to the minors next season unless they first pass him through waivers.