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Rangers Designate Elier Hernandez For Assignment

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The Rangers announced Tuesday that outfielder Elier Hernandez has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Kohei Arihara, whose previously reported selection to the Major League roster has now been formally confirmed and announced by the club. Additionally, Texas optioned right-hander Yerry Rodriguez to Triple-A Round Rock and recalled infielder/outfielder Mark Mathias in his place.

Hernandez, 27, made his big league debut earlier this season after spending parts of ten seasons in the minor leagues. Once a notable international signee of the Royals, he latched on with the Rangers organization prior to the 2021 season and, after a pedestrian minor league showing last year, forced his way onto the MLB roster with an impressive Triple-A effort in 2022. Through 62 games and 231 plate appearances in Triple-A this year, Hernandez slashed .295/.364/.546 with 11 homers, nine steals, an 8.7% walk rate and a 19.5% strikeout rate.

Unfortunately, that success has yet to carry over to the Majors. Hernandez hasn’t gotten much playing time, to be fair, but he’s managed just a .182/.200/.242 output in 35 trips to the plate. He’s punched out 15 times (42.9%) against just one walk (2.9%). Trades of DFA’ed players are no longer permitted now that the deadline has passed, so Hernandez will be placed on either outright waivers or release waivers within the week.

Mathias, meanwhile, is up for the first time in a Ranger uniform. Acquired alongside pitching prospect Antoine Kelly just before the trade deadline in the deal that sent reliever Matt Bush to Milwaukee, he’s appeared in eight games with Round Rock. Mathias has collected ten hits and four walks in 35 plate appearances, a continuation of the .318/.421/.518 pace at which he’d hit with the Brewers affiliate in Nashville.

Rangers Sign Wilson Ramos To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced they’ve signed catcher Wilson Ramos to a minor league contract. The club plans to assign him to Triple-A Round Rock.

It’s the first landing spot of 2022 for Ramos, who has lingered on the free agent market. The veteran backstop was playing for Cleveland last August when he tore the ACL in his left knee. That required season-ending surgery, and Ramos has seemingly spent the past year rehabbing. The 35-year-old is apparently now healthy enough to get back to game action, and he’ll look to work his way back to the big leagues for a 13th consecutive season.

Ramos split last year between the Tigers and Indians, tallying 163 plate appearances over 44 games. He hit .205/.248/.397, the worst offensive showing of his big league career. That was in large part due to a career-worst .213 batting average on balls in play, however, and he still connected on eight home runs. Ramos hit .239/.297/.387 during the shortened 2020 campaign as a member of the Mets, offense that aligns with the league average for catchers.

Of course, Ramos has been a well above-average hitting backstop at points in his career. He’s a two-time All-Star who won a Silver Slugger Award and picked up down ballot MVP support with the Nationals in 2016. That season saw Ramos connect on 22 homers and hit .307/.354/.496 through 131 games. By measure of wRC+, the Venezuela native has posted five above-average hitting seasons over the course of his career.

Texas has gotten good work from its catchers this season. Jonah Heim has seized the starting job with a .249/.321/.439 showing through 91 games. Offseason minor league signee Meibrys Viloria has impressed in 20 contests since being called up two months ago. Ramos adds an experienced veteran presence to the upper minors, where one of the organization’s more promising prospects, Sam Huff, figures to assume the bulk of the playing time behind the dish.

Marlins Designate Parker Bugg For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated reliever Parker Bugg for assignment, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Cole Sulser has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list to take the active and 40-man roster spots.

Bugg, 27, was just selected onto the MLB club over the weekend. He didn’t wind up making it into a game, and he loses his roster spot in short order. The LSU product has spent his entire professional career in the Miami organization, entering the affiliated ranks as a 27th-round pick in 2016. He’s split this season between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville, working to a 2.39 ERA across 37 2/3 innings. The righty has fanned a solid 26.7% of batters faced but walked an alarming 15.5% of opponents.

Miami will have a few days to try to run Bugg through waivers. He’s never previously been outrighted, so if he goes unclaimed, he’ll remain in the organization without requiring a spot on the 40-man roster. Bugg would be eligible for minor league free agency at the end of the season if he’s not on a 40-man.

Sulser missed a hair more than two months after straining his right lat in mid-June. An offseason acquisition from the Orioles alongside the hard-throwing Tanner Scott, he’s made 26 appearances during his first season in South Florida. Sulser has a 3.86 ERA across 23 1/3 frames, striking out an above-average 27.5% of opponents with a 10.5% walk percentage. He’ll presumably step back into the high-leverage mix for manager Don Mattingly for the stretch run.

Carlos Carrasco Diagnosed With Low-Grade Oblique Strain

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The Mets announced that starter Carlos Carrasco has been diagnosed with a low-grade strain of his left oblique. The team added that recoveries from a strain of this nature typically take three-to-four weeks.

It’s not unexpected news after the right-hander was sent for an MRI this morning. Carrasco departed last night’s start against the Braves after two innings with soreness in his side, immediately raising the possibility of an oblique issue. It’s certainly not ideal that he’ll have to go on the injured list and could miss around a month of action, but the club is also fortunate he’s dodged a more serious strain that would have impacted his availability for the postseason.

Carrasco started last night’s game and made it through one inning before weather forced a 55-minute delay. The 35-year-old stayed in the contest despite the long layoff, throwing inside the facility while waiting for the rain to subside. That Carrasco felt discomfort within an inning of getting back on the mound has led to some speculation that manager Buck Showalter’s decision to stick with the veteran after the delay could’ve played a role in the injury. However, both the skipper and Carrasco told reporters they believed the injury to be coincidental, noting that Carrasco had kept himself loose and felt fine until his final pitch. (Braves manager Brian Snitker also stuck with his starter, Spencer Strider, who ended up throwing five innings and 87 pitches).

Carrasco has been an effective mid-rotation arm during his second season in Queens, pitching to a 3.92 ERA with an above-average 23.4% strikeout rate over 23 starts. He missed most of his first year as a Met with a torn right hamstring, but he’d avoided the IL thus far in 2022. Carrasco had been slated to start one half of a doubleheader against the Phillies on Saturday, but the club now seems likely to turn to swingman Trevor Williams to pair with sixth starter David Peterson, who is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, as Anthony DiComo of MLB.com wrote last night.

The Mets hold a 4 1/2 game lead over Atlanta in the NL East. The division winner is all but certain to get the newly-instituted first-round bye in the Wild Card round, with a huge margin between the leaders in the NL East and NL Central. A starting five of Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Peterson is still an excellent group, but there’s no question the club would feel better with Carrasco also in the fold. They seem likely to welcome Carrasco back in some capacity before the postseason gets underway, but it remains to be seen to what extent he’ll be able to build his arm strength back up after the layoff. It’s possible he’s limited more to relief or abbreviated starting work heading into the playoffs.

The injury also has important ramifications for Carrasco contractually. The Mets hold a $14MM option on his services for 2023. That provision would vest (become guaranteed) if he throws 170 innings this season and finishes the year healthy. Carrasco has tallied 126 1/3 frames thus far, leaving him 43 2/3 innings shy of the threshold. There’s no chance for him to work that much over the final three weeks of the season, so the injury eliminates any possibility of Carrasco reaching the vesting trigger.

Of course, the Mets could deem a $14MM price point reasonable enough they exercise Carrasco’s option regardless. He’s been a valuable member of a team that could lose deGrom, Bassitt, Walker and Williams to free agency. New York will need to retain or add plenty of starting pitching this winter, and there could be value in simply keeping Carrasco around. At the same time, they already have an estimated $194MM in guaranteed commitments on the 2023 books and are facing a massive free agent class that also includes Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz. Even with a payroll that may be the highest in the majors (and could well tip over $300MM), they’re likely to lose a couple key contributors from this year’s club.

Braves Claim Rylan Bannon, Designate Travis Demeritte

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The Braves announced they’ve claimed third baseman/second baseman Rylan Bannon off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Corner outfielder Travis Demeritte has been designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Bannon has been shuffled around the league in recent weeks. He’s gone from the Orioles to the Dodgers and now to Atlanta via waivers since August 8. The 26-year-old only has four big league games under his belt, but he’s long been regarded as a solid prospect and has a decent track record in the minors. He’s spent the majority of this season with the Orioles top affiliate in Norfolk, hitting .229/.347/.407 across 326 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter has connected on 11 home runs and 14 doubles while drawing walks at a robust 13.8% clip, although he’s also striking out at an elevated 26.7% rate.

This is the second of three minor league option years for Bannon, who can therefore bounce between the big leagues and Triple-A for the next season and a half. Atlanta typically has an excellent infield of Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley, with top prospect Vaughn Grissom getting the recent playing time at second base while Albies mends a broken foot. There’s not much of a path to immediate playing time for Bannon, but he’ll serve as an upper level depth option in Gwinnett.

Demeritte, 27, has appeared at the MLB level in three of the past four seasons. A former Rangers first-round pick, he spent time in the Atlanta system before being dealt to the Tigers in 2019. He made his major league debut with Detroit and spent two seasons there before returning to the Braves as a waiver claim in 2021. Atlanta passed him through outright waivers and kept him in Triple-A last year, but they selected him onto the 40-man roster at the end of the season to keep him from qualifying for minor league free agency.

He held that 40-man spot throughout the winter and has appeared in 26 big league games this season, hitting .213/.260/.337. Demeritte spent the majority of the year in Gwinnett, struggling to a .207/.291/.357 line while striking out in 34.2% of his plate appearances. Swing-and-miss has been an issue throughout his big league time as well, as Demeritte has fanned in 34.6% of his 315 trips to the plate in the majors. He owns a .216/.277/.328 career line at the highest level.

The Braves will place Demeritte on outright or release waivers within the next few days. Having previously been outrighted in his career, he’d have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Braves Recall Freddy Tarnok, Select Ryan Goins

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The Braves announced a host of roster moves this morning. Pitching prospect Freddy Tarnok has been recalled, while the club selected the contract of infielder Ryan Goins. Catcher Chadwick Tromp has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left quad strain, while reliever Danny Young was designated for assignment.

Tarnok, 23, is headed to the big leagues for the first time. A third-round pick out of a Florida high school in 2017, the 6’3″ hurler has spent the past few seasons as one of the organization’s more interesting pitching prospects. He’s split the 2022 campaign between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett, starting all 20 of his appearances. Between the two levels, he owns a 3.63 ERA over 89 1/3 innings, striking out an impressive 27% of batters faced against a slightly elevated but manageable 9.1% walk rate.

Baseball America recently slotted Tarnok as the #8 prospect in the Atlanta farm system. The outlet praised his 95-98 MPH heater and a downer curveball that could be a plus offering. He also mixes in a slider and changeup and has solid control, giving him an opportunity to carve out a role in the starting rotation. Tarnok, who was added to the 40-man roster last winter to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, is in his first of three minor league option years and could bounce on and off the active roster.

That’s not the case for Goins, who is back in the big leagues for the first time in two years. The 34-year-old utilityman signed a minor league contract with the Braves over the offseason. He’s only hitting .221/.250/.272 over 250 plate appearances with Gwinnett, but he’s a quality defender who can cover all around the infield. Atlanta placed Ehire Adrianza on the 10-day injured due to a non-COVID viral infection earlier this week, so Goins will step into the utility role.

A left-handed hitter, Goins has appeared in eight previous big league seasons. The bulk of that time came with the Blue Jays, where current Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos served as general manager for a while. He’s a .228/.278/.333 career hitter, but he’s rated as a plus defensive second baseman throughout his time in the majors.

The Braves just nabbed Young off waivers from the Mariners last week. The 28-year-old made his only appearance in an Atlanta uniform last night, tossing 2 2/3 innings of mop-up work in a blowout win over the Mets. He’s up to 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball between Seattle and Atlanta, striking out six with a couple of walks but averaging only 88.7 MPH on his sinker. The lack of velocity hasn’t stopped the University of Florida product from posting strong numbers in Triple-A this year. He’s combined for 29 2/3 innings of 3.64 ERA ball, striking out a stellar 35.2% of opponents against an 8% walk rate.

Young will find himself back on waivers over the next couple days. Between his Triple-A production and all three remaining minor league option years, he could draw some interest from teams seeking left-handed relief depth.

A’s Promote Shea Langeliers, Release Stephen Piscotty

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The A’s announced they’ve selected the contract of top catching prospect Shea Langeliers. The club also recalled David MacKinnon from Triple-A Las Vegas. In corresponding moves, Oakland placed Ramón Laureano on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 15, with a left oblique strain, and released outfielder Stephen Piscotty.

It’s a notable shakeup for the A’s, who’ll get their first look at a player they hope to be a key piece of the future. Langeliers was one of four players Oakland received from the Braves in the Matt Olson trade this spring. Arguably the headliner of the deal, the righty-hitting backstop is regarded by most prospect evaluators as a potential above-average regular behind the dish.

The ninth overall pick in the 2019 draft, Langeliers has spent the past three years progressing up the minor league ladder. He got off to a somewhat slow start late in his first pro season — not too surprising for a catcher logging the most action in any year of his career. The following minor league season was wiped out by the pandemic, and Atlanta pushed the Baylor product to Double-A to start 2021. Langeliers spent virtually the entire year there, putting up an impressive .258/.338/.498 line with 22 home runs in 92 games in a pitcher-friendly environment.

That would’ve been quality power production for any player, but it’s particularly impressive for a highly-regarded defensive catcher. Langeliers fits that bill. Most evaluators peg him as at least an average receiver, and he draws unanimous praise for his arm strength. Each of FanGraphs, Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN placed him among the back half of their top 100 overall prospects heading into the 2022 season, and the A’s acquired him as part of their Spring Training teardown.

Langeliers has continued to impress in his new organization. He’s spent the year in Triple-A, his first extended stretch there after a brief cameo late last season. Over 402 plate appearances, the 24-year-old has hit 19 homers and posted a solid 10.7% walk percentage against a manageable 21.9% strikeout rate. Las Vegas is one of the more favorable environments in the affiliated ranks for hitters, but Langeliers’ .283/.366/.510 line is a strong showing even in that context. With nearly 200 upper minors games under his belt over the past two seasons, he had little left to prove before earning an MLB look.

The A’s would have had to add Langeliers to the 40-man roster this offseason to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. General manager David Forst indicated last week they were hoping to get him a look earlier than that, and he’ll presumably spend the final seven weeks of the season on the active roster. The club has been playing out the string in a brutal season, but Langeliers’ promotion will give the fanbase and organization a glimpse at a potential core piece for 2023 and beyond. BA recently named him the game’s #81 farmhand, while McDaniel pegs him as the second-best prospect in the organization.

First-year manager Mark Kotsay will be tasked with divvying up playing time between the rookie and incumbent backstop Sean Murphy. Oakland’s primary catcher is arguably the team’s best player. An elite defender with an above-average .244/.323/.422 showing at the dish, Murphy is one of the best catchers in the game. He’ll certainly remain in the lineup on most days, although Langeliers’ promotion could afford Murphy some additional quasi-rest work at first base or as a designated hitter. Langeliers himself figures to see some action at those spots as well.

That’ll at least be the temporary arrangement, but a solid showing from Langeliers during his first look at big league pitching would only ramp up speculation about Murphy’s long-term future. With Murphy controllable through 2025, the A’s certainly don’t have to deal him away next offseason. He’ll only be going through arbitration for the first time in the winter, and next year’s salary (while a notable raise over his pre-arb payouts) won’t be onerous — even for an Oakland club that’s likely to run one of the league’s lowest payrolls. Yet a significant portion of the value of each of Murphy and Langeliers lies in their defensive acumen behind the plate. That’s nowhere near as valuable at first base or DH, of course, so one could argue for the A’s to deal Murphy over the winter and turn to Langeliers on a regular basis in 2023. Murphy drew interest from teams like the Guardians and Red Sox before this summer’s trade deadline, and the A’s will certainly get plenty of calls about his availability once teams are again allowed to trade MLB players.

Langeliers’ promotion won’t have huge immediate ramifications from a service time perspective. Enough time has passed that he won’t accrue enough action to reach a full year of service or qualify for early arbitration after 2024 as a Super Two player. If he’s on the MLB roster for good, Langeliers would reach arb-eligibility after the 2025 campaign and would first hit free agency over the 2028-29 offseason. Oakland can option him back to the minors over the next few years, and any demotions could impact his service trajectory.

While the Langeliers call-up is the most significant news for the A’s as they look ahead to future seasons, the corresponding transaction subtracts a player who has spent almost five years with the team. The A’s acquired Piscotty, a Bay Area native and Stanford product, from the Cardinals heading into the 2018 season. The righty-hitting outfielder had broken into the majors with two excellent seasons to earn a $33.5MM contract extension from St. Louis leading into the 2017 campaign. He didn’t perform at the same level his final season in St. Louis, but the A’s took a shot on a bounceback (and brought Piscotty closer to his family as his mother battled ALS) in a trade at the end of that year.

Initially, the change of scenery seemed to work wonders for Piscotty’s career. He popped 27 longballs and put up a .267/.331/.491 line over 151 games during his first season in green and gold. At age 27, Piscotty looked to have rediscovered his early-career form and seemed poised to settle in as a middle-of-the-order bat for years to come. That unfortunately hasn’t played out, as he’s posted below-average numbers in all four years since then.

Going back to the start of 2019, Piscotty owns a .229/.287/.378 line in just shy of 900 plate appearances. He’s hitting .190/.252/.341 with a 34.5% strikeout rate over 42 games this year. He’s gotten just one start over the past eight days, as the club has increasingly turned to Laureano in right field while playing rookie Cal Stevenson in center. With Piscotty earning such sporadic playing time, the A’s have decided to move on entirely.

Piscotty will technically be available to the league’s 29 other teams via release waivers over the next couple days. Any team that claims him would assume the approximate $2MM remaining on his $7.25MM salary, as well as the $1MM buyout on a $15MM team option for next season. That makes it a certainty he’ll clear waivers, with the A’s remaining on the hook for the rest of that sum. Piscotty will be a free agent in the next few days, at which point he’ll have the right to explore other opportunities. If he signs elsewhere before September 1 — even on a minor league contract — he’d be eligible for a new team’s postseason roster.

Laureano, meanwhile, will now miss at least the next week and a half. The team hasn’t provided further specifics on his diagnosis, but it’s common for oblique strains to cost players upwards of a month of action. Laureano missed the first month of the season as he finished out a PED suspension handed down last summer. He’s returned to play in 84 games, hitting .223/.300/.395 with 12 homers while splitting his time between center and right field.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Carlos Carrasco Headed For MRI After Experiencing Side Discomfort

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Carlos Carrasco left last night’s start against the Braves after just two innings, as the hurler felt some discomfort in his left side. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those to relay that the right-hander will head for an MRI today to determine the cause and severity of the issue.

Carrasco started the game and made it through one inning before weather forced a 55-minute delay. The 35-year-old stayed in the contest despite the long layoff, throwing inside the facility while waiting for the rain to subside. That Carrasco felt discomfort within an inning of getting back on the mound has led to some speculation that manager Buck Showalter’s decision to stick with the veteran after the delay could’ve played a role in the injury. However, both the skipper and Carrasco told reporters they believed the injury to be coincidental, noting that Carrasco had kept himself loose and felt fine until his final pitch. (Braves manager Brian Snitker also stuck with his starter, Spencer Strider, who ended up throwing five innings and 87 pitches).

Regardless, the Mets have to hope the MRI doesn’t reveal any serious issues. Side discomfort can be a precursor to oblique strains — which often cost players upwards of a month on the injured list — but that won’t be known until the imaging results come back. Carrasco has been an effective mid-rotation arm during his second season in Queens, pitching to a 3.92 ERA with an above-average 23.4% strikeout rate over 23 starts. He missed most of his first year as a Met with a torn right hamstring, but he’s avoided the IL thus far in 2022.

Any kind of injury absence could also have contractual repercussions. Carrasco is in the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Mets hold a $14MM option on his services for 2023. That provision would vest (become guaranteed) if he throws 170 innings this season and finishes the year healthy. Carrasco has tallied 126 1/3 frames thus far, leaving him 43 2/3 innings shy of the threshold. The Mets have 46 regular season games remaining, setting them up for around 8-9 more turns through the rotation. Should Carrasco stay healthy, he’d have a chance at getting to 170 innings — he’d need around 4.85 frames per start over nine appearances, 5.46 innings over eight starts — but even a brief IL stay would all but foreclose that possibility.

Of course, the Mets could deem a $14MM price point reasonable enough they exercise Carrasco’s option even if it doesn’t vest. He’s been a valuable member of a team that could lose Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Trevor Williams to free agency. New York will need to retain or add plenty of starting pitching this winter, and there could be value in simply keeping Carrasco around. At the same time, they already have an estimated $194MM in guaranteed commitments on the 2023 books and are facing a massive free agent class that also includes Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz. Even with a payroll that may be the highest in the majors (and could well tip over $300MM), they’re likely to lose a couple key contributors from this year’s club.

Rangers To Select Kohei Arihara

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Following last night’s game against the A’s, the Rangers announced that Kohei Arihara would get the ball for the second contest of the series this evening. It’ll be the 30-year-old’s first big league appearance of the season, as he’s spent the entire season with Triple-A Round Rock after being outrighted off the 40-man roster last September. The Rangers 40-man is currently full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move this afternoon to formally select Arihara’s contract. Longtime Texas beat reporter Jeff Wilson first suggested that he could be on the radar for a call-up.

A longtime member of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan, Arihara made the jump to MLB over the 2020-21 offseason. The right-hander was made available by the Fighters via the posting process, and he ultimately signed a two-year, $6.2MM contract. Texas also paid a $1.24MM posting fee to the Fighters, pushing their total investment to around $7.5MM.

Arihara never threw especially hard or missed many bats in Japan, but he was a polished strike-thrower who pitched to a 3.74 ERA over six NPB seasons. Texas hoped that control could allow him to flourish as a back-of-the-rotation arm in the big leagues, but that hasn’t been the case thus far. Arihara made ten big league starts last season, allowing a 6.64 ERA over 40 2/3 innings while struggling mightily with the home run ball (2.43 HR/9). He required shoulder surgery that May and spent nearly four months rehabbing before returning in September. After three more starts, he was run through waivers and assigned to Triple-A.

Through 18 appearances (14 starts) with Round Rock in 2022, Arihara has a 4.88 ERA in 72 innings. His 20.4% strikeout rate is a bit below-average, but he’s demonstrating his customary excellent control (5.8% walk percentage). More importantly, he’s gotten his home run rate to a more manageable level than it was during his first MLB stint, largely because he’s inducing grounders on over half the batted balls against him. Arihara’s season line still isn’t eye-catching, but he’s allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his past five starts and will get a shot to try to carry that over against big league hitters.

Arihara’s contract wraps up at the end of the season, so the final couple months are particularly important for him personally. Capturing a rotation spot and performing serviceably over the next seven weeks would seem to be a prerequisite if he hopes to land a major league contract this winter. The Rangers have already bumped Taylor Hearn to a relief role after a rough run in the rotation, but they’re without Jon Gray due to an oblique strain and have given 18 starts to Glenn Otto without much consistent success. There’s enough uncertainty Arihara could have a path to picking up a handful of starts down the stretch.

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