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Red Sox Place Rob Refsnyder On Injured List

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The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list while recalling left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez. In corresponding moves, right-hander Josh Winckowski was optioned and outfielder Rob Refsnyder was placed on the injured list due to back spasms.

Refsnyder, 31, has somewhat quietly been having the best season of his career. Signed by Boston to a minor league deal in the offseason, he eventually got into 57 games for the Sox and hit .307/.384/.497 for a wRC+ of 146, indicating his production has been 46% better than league average. That’s likely buoyed by some good luck, as his .394 batting average on balls in play is well above his career rate and the league-wide average, but it’s still a nice result for a minor league signing.

Refsnyder can be retained for next year via arbitration, which is the path it seems like the team is leaning towards. Manager Alex Cora spoke to Christopher Smith of MassLive about Refsnyder and had plenty of positive things to say. “He was really, really good offensively. Versatility. The quality of the at-bats were awesome,” Cora said. “The ability to impact the baseball was there and the projections. Defensively solid. It’s a matter of staying healthy. That’s the most important thing with him. We’ll set up a good program for him in the offseason and this is a guy we really like. We really like. And he can contribute at this level.”

Refsnyder has played some infield in previous seasons but the Red Sox kept him on the grass this year, getting a bit of time at all three outfield positions. Going forward, there’s some uncertainty in the team’s outfield picture. Tommy Pham is likely to reach free agency as he has a mutual option for 2023, with those pacts rarely being exercised by both sides. Enrique Hernández and the club recently agreed to sign an extension, though he’s a candidate to spend some time in the infield with Xander Bogaerts likely to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this winter. That leaves Alex Verdugo as the only guy locked into next year’s outfield, with Refsnyder, Abraham Almonte and Franchy Cordero potential candidates to be there as well. The Sox could certainly reinforce that group with external additions, but it sounds like Refsnyder has earned his way into their plans for next year.

Giants Place Evan Longoria On IL With Thumb Fracture

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with third baseman Evan Longoria being placed on the injured list due to a thumb fracture. Left-hander Thomas Szapucki was also placed on the injured list, with a hip strain being the culprit in his case. To take their spots on the active roster, outfielder Bryce Johnson was recalled while left-hander Andrew Vasquez had his contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster for Vasquez, lefty Alex Wood was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Longoria suffered his injury yesterday when attempting to field a ground ball. X-rays revealed a fracture, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, which will finish Longoria’s season. The veteran had another strong year at the plate, hitting .244/.315/.451, production that was 15% above league average by measure of wRC+. However, various injuries limited him to just 89 games on the year, as he previously went on the IL due to hand surgery, an oblique strain and a hamstring strain.

Going forward, it remains to be seen what the future holds for Longoria. He is in the final guaranteed year of the huge extension he signed with the Rays back in 2012. There is a club option for 2023, though Longoria has at least considered retirement, discussing the matter with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle back in June.

After the IL placement was announced today, Longoria spoke to the media about his future, with Slusser and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic among those to relay the information on Twitter. He says that his wife and kids want him to continue playing in 2023 and that his first choice would be to return to the Giants. The option for next year comes with a $13MM base salary and $5MM buyout, though Longoria says he’s open to renegotiating the terms if the team wants him back. The club’s president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has already publicly spoken about a desire to run out a younger roster next year, which would seemingly be a point against bringing back Longoria, who turns 37 in a few days. However, if Longoria is willing to accept a lower salary, perhaps there is a price point where it makes sense for both sides to reunite. The surgery comes with a recovery time of about 4-6 weeks, per Slusser, meaning Longoria should have plenty of time to recover before Spring Training.

As for Vasquez, 29, he began the year with the Blue Jays but subsequently joined the Phillies and Giants on waiver claims before being outrighted about a month ago. He threw 6 2/3 innings with the Jays earlier this year but has otherwise been relegated to the minor leagues, pitching very well on the whole. In 32 1/3 innings in the minors on the year, he has a 2.23 ERA, 34.9% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. He has less than a year of MLB service time and could be retained for next year if he holds onto his roster spot through the winter.

As for Wood, this today’s transfer is a mere formality as it had already been reported that he wouldn’t be returning this season.

Twins Select Aaron Sanchez

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Aaron Sanchez. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Trevor Megill, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. To make room on the 40-man roster, outfielder Kyle Garlick was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Sanchez, 30, had a tremendous season for the Blue Jays in 2016, throwing 192 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 54.4% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, various injuries have held him back in subsequent years, relegating him to a depth arm.

He began this year on a minor league deal with the Nats, eventually spending just over a month with the big league club. He then signed another minors deal, this time with the Twins. Since then, he’s twice been selected to the big league club before being designated for assignment and outrighted to the minors, with today’s selection being his third selection by the Twins and fourth on the year overall. Between all of those transactions, he’s thrown 58 1/3 innings in the bigs this year with a 6.33 ERA, 16% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 52.4% grounder rate. He has over six years of MLB service time and will return to free agency at the conclusion of the season.

As for Megill, 28, this IL placement will finish his season. He threw 45 innings for the Twins this year with a 4.80 ERA, though much stronger peripheral stats. His 25% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 45% ground ball rate are all a bit better than the league average marks. He might have been held back by some bad luck, as his 62.5% strand rate is well below the mean and his .368 batting average on balls in play is well above. He and the Twins will hope for better results next year and into the future, as he’s yet to reach arbitration eligibility.

As for Garlick, he’s been on the IL since mid-September due to a wrist sprain and this transfer will officially quash any chance of him returning. He finishes the year with a .233/.284/.433 batting line, good enough for a wRC+ of 104.

Athletics Select Nate Mondou

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The Athletics announced that they have placed infielder Vimael Machín on the paternity list and selected infielder Nate Mondou from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Mondou, 27, has spent his entire professional career with the A’s thus far, having been selected by them in the 13th round of the 2016 draft. After that draft, he began in the lower levels of the club’s system and fared well. Over 2016 and 2017, he hit .290/.370/.375 in 186 games between rookie ball, A-ball and High-A, striking out in just 17.1% of plate appearances while walking in 10.5% of them.

Though he’s never been a highly-touted prospect, his performance up to that time got him a mention on the 2018 FanGraphs list of top Oakland farmhands. Carson Cistulli highlighted Mondou as “Cistulli’s Guy,” a slot reserved for a prospect that was perhaps a hidden gem. Cistulli noted Mondou’s lack of power but gave a compliment his bat-to-ball skills.

Mondou reached Double-A in 2018 but struggled there that year and in 2019, producing a .250/.344/.323 batting line at that level. After the minor league seasons were canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, Mondou got a bump to Triple-A in 2021 and has generally continued to fare well in that low-power way of his. Over the past two years, he’s hit just 15 home runs in 192 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but has walked in 10.6% of his plate appearances while striking out in just 17% of them. That’s led to a Triple-A batting line of .283/.373/.431 and a wRC+ of 104, or 4% better than league average.

Defensively, Mondou has spent most of his time at second base while also seeing some action at third base, shortstop, left field and one mound appearance. The A’s have traded away or released most of their established players in the last year, leaving them with a whole bunch of rookies scattered all over their roster. The infield is no exception, as Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Dermis Garcia and Jordan Diaz are all in the mix, none of whom having ever cracked the big leagues before this season. Mondou will get a very brief chance to showcase his skills before the offseason begins, though he has a full slate of options and could act as a depth piece for the A’s for the foreseeable future.

Tony La Russa Announces He Won’t Return To White Sox In 2023

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White Sox manager Tony La Russa issued a statement today, saying that he will not return to his role for 2023. His contract runs for another year but he has been dealing with health issues that have kept him away from the team since late August. Reports emerged over the weekend that an announcement of this nature would be coming today.

“This February, I had a pacemaker installed and was cleared by my doctors to begin spring training as scheduled,” La Russa’s statement reads. “A periodic check of the device later identified a problem. During batting practice on August 30, I was informed of the issue, taken out of uniform and tested by doctors the next day.The solution was to update the pacemaker in Arizona and for me not to return as manager without medical clearance.”

La Russa goes on to outline a second, unspecified health issue that was diagnosed earlier in the year and that he intended to address in the coming offseason. “While I was inactive with the pacemaker, the second issue was analyzed. The result is that a corrective plan has been developed by my medical team and implementation has begun. I informed the White Sox of this second issue while I was out of uniform dealing with the pacemaker. At no time this season did either issue negatively affect my responsibilities as White Sox manager. However, it has become obvious that the length of the treatment and recovery process for this second health issue makes it impossible for me to be the White Sox manager in 2023. The timing of this announcement now enables the front office to include filling the manager position with their other off-season priorities.”

He then goes on to express his disappointment in his performance this year but makes clear he is not upset with the fans, even those who jeered him, as he understands their desire for the club to win. The White Sox are currently 79-80, eliminated from postseason contention after qualifying in the previous two seasons. In a press conference following the release of the statement, La Russa said he has not yet discussed a different role with the organization as his health is his focus right now, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

General manager Rick Hahn also participated in the press conference, saying that discussions about the next manager have already begun, per Van Schouwen (Twitter links). As for what they will be looking for in their next skipper, Hahn says they would like someone with recent managerial experience and success. A pre-existing relationship with the organization is not a prerequisite, though acting manager Miguel Cairo will receive an interview.

The Sox will be competing with a handful of other clubs who will also be looking for new field bosses for 2023. The Marlins and Don Mattingly announced that he won’t be back for next year, while the Blue Jays, Phillies, Angels and Rangers have all fired their managers midseason here in 2022. Some of those clubs will potentially retain their interim managers, with the Blue Jays seeming like a candidate to do so.

Whoever the White Sox grab to helm the dugout next season, they will have a very similar roster as La Russa had this year. Much of the club’s core performers are still under club control next year, with the most notable exception being first baseman Jose Abreu. However, the last time Abreu was approaching free agency, he was re-signed to stick around Chicago and could perhaps do the same again.

Of course, the organization could always make changes to the roster through the offseason, though they may be hamstrung financially. The club set a franchise record last year with an Opening Day payroll of $129MM but then shattered that here in 2022 by going up to $193MM, according to numbers from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Next year’s outlay is at $121MM so far, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. However, that number doesn’t include raises for arbitration eligible players like Lucas Giolito or options for players like Tim Anderson, not to mention a potential new contract for Abreu. As such, Hahn tells Van Schouwen that the club is likely to be more active on the trade market than in free agency this winter.

Mariners Activate Julio Rodriguez

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Oct. 3: The Mariners have made it official, announcing that Rodriguez has been reinstated from the IL, with catcher Curt Casali being reinstated from the paternity list. In corresponding moves, catcher Brian O’Keefe and infielder Abraham Toro were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Additionally, right-hander Phillips Valdez, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Tacoma.

Oct. 2: Monday is the first day that Julio Rodriguez is eligible to be activated from the 10-day injured list, and Mariners manager Scott Servais said the team is hoping that the star rookie will indeed be ready to return as soon as possible.  Servais told The Seattle Times’ Shane Lantz and other reporters that Rodriguez will take part in baseball activities (including “a bunch of swings“) today, and if he feels okay, Rodriguez will be back in the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Tigers.

Rodriguez has been sidelined by a lower back strain, and though the injury wasn’t thought to be too serious, the Mariners felt an IL stint was necessary given how Rodriguez had been missing games even prior to his placement on the injured list.  Even with the M’s in the heat of the postseason chase, the team naturally didn’t want to take any risks with their young cornerstone, and the caution paid off — Seattle still clinched a wild card berth, and will be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The next step is to get the team as close to peak form as possible, and the Mariners will need Rodriguez to be ready to go.  As Servais noted, “the thing you always worry about when you are out 10 days is timing.  What’s the timing going to be like at the plate?….That’s why I want to get Julio in there as soon as we can, to see how his body reacts and also get him as many at-bats as we can, and feel good about where he is at heading into the playoffs.”

This is Rodriguez’s second IL stint of his rookie season, as he also missed just slightly beyond the 10-day minimum in late July and early August due to a right wrist contusion.  These brief injury absences have been pretty much the only down notes in an otherwise spectacular debut for Rodriguez, who has hit .280/.342/.502 with 27 homers and 25 steals over 549 plate appearances.  Rodriguez is the favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, and the Mariners have already cemented him as the face of the franchise by signing J-Rod to a long-term extension that is worth at least $210MM over 12 years (and could ultimately be a whopping 18-year, $470MM deal).

Orioles Shut Down Félix Bautista

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The Orioles have announced that right-handed pitcher Félix Bautista has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left knee discomfort, retroactive to October 1. Fellow righty Yennier Cano was recalled in a corresponding move. Earlier today, manager Brandon Hyde had relayed to reporters that Bautista would be shut down, with Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com among those to relay the news.

The fact that Bautista is being shut down is fairly sensible. His knee has been bothering him for a few days now, but the club kept him around as they clung to their diminishing postseason aspirations. With the Orioles officially eliminated over the weekend, it makes sense to let Bautista go into offseason mode as opposed to potentially making his knee worse as they play out the string.

In the end, it will go down as a tremendous debut campaign for the hulking right-hander, a season that felt like it came out of nowhere. Bautista actually began his career in the Marlins’ organization but was released in January of 2015 after posting a 12.41 ERA in rookie ball in 2014. He was signed by the Orioles to a new deal in October of 2016 and has been working his way up the minor league ladder since then.

As he made his way towards the majors, he often paired huge strikeout numbers with troubling walk totals. That was still the case last year, as he threw 46 2/3 innings across three different levels, posting a 1.54 ERA and 39.7% strikeout rate despite walking 15.5% of batters faced. Though the signs of potential were there, Bautista never cracked Baseball America’s list of top 30 prospects in the system. FanGraphs listed him in the past three years, but always in the #30-45 range.

Still, Baltimore believed in the stuff enough that they added him to the roster in November of last year to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, which ended up being canceled by the lockout. Bautista took a huge step forward here in 2022, cracking the club’s Opening Day roster and almost immediately cementing himself as a lockdown reliever. He threw 65 2/3 innings over 65 games with a 2.19 ERA and 34.8% strikeout rate. He even showed improved control, limiting walks to a manageable 9.1% rate. He moved his way up the leverage chart for the O’s as the season went on, notching 15 saves and 13 holds.

Though his season ends with a bit of a down note, he and the club will look forward to 2023. After years of dismal results, Baltimore has posted a solid 82-77 record here in 2022 so far, their first winning season since 2016. Bautista was one of many rookies to debut and show promise this year, with Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and others giving the fanbase something to dream on throughout the winter. Bautista will finish the season with exactly one year of MLB service time, meaning he won’t be slated to qualify for arbitration until after 2024 and free agency after 2027.

Rays Designate Easton McGee For Assignment

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Easton McGee for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Kevin Herget from Triple-A Durham (for the third time this season, in Herget’s case). Tampa Bay also optioned utilityman Miles Mastrobuoni to Durham and recalled fellow infielder/outfielder Vidal Brujan.

McGee, 24, was selected to the 40-man roster himself just this weekend and debuted with three shutout innings of relief on the road in Houston. That sharp debut is overshadowed by a tough Triple-A showing for the 2016 fourth-rounder so far in 2022, however. In 107 2/3 innings in Durham, McGee has pitched to an ugly 5.43 ERA with a terrific 4.3% walk rate but a well below-average 17.4% strikeout rate. He’s allowed an average of 2.01 homers per nine innings in the minors this season and carries a career 4.38 ERA in parts of six minor league seasons (including a 5.19 ERA in Triple-A). The Rays will place McGee on outright waivers or release waivers within the coming days.

Herget, meanwhile, heads back to the big leagues for the third time this season. The former Cardinals 39th-round pick went through a nearly decade-long grind to reach the big leagues earlier this summer and has pitched 2 2/3 MLB frames so far in 2022, allowing a pair of runs in that time. He’s been quite good in Durham, however, pitching to a 2.95 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate and a superb 3.9% walk rate through 97 2/3 innings. As was the case with McGee, he’ll give the Rays some potential length out of the bullpen.

Brujan’s first extended look in the Majors has been a struggle, to say the least. The longtime top prospect has exhausted his rookie eligibility this season, piling up 154 plate appearances but producing just a .165/.234/.245 batting line in that time. The switch-hitter, who’s ranked among Baseball America’s 100 best prospect for the past four years, has been an above-average hitter at every minor league stop and is enjoying another solid season in Triple-A, however. In 290 trips to the plate with Durham, he’s slashed .292/.369/.440 (118 wRC+).

This is Brujan’s final option season, so the Rays will need to carry him on the Major League roster next season. Even in spite of his big league struggles to date, there’s no way Brujan would make it through waivers, so he’ll either be an offseason trade candidate or be tasked with continuing his development on the fly and at the Major League level in 2023.

Miguel Rojas To Undergo Wrist Surgery

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Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas will undergo surgery to repair a torn triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) in his right wrist on Wednesday, Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extra Base reports. (As defined by the Cleveland Clinic, the TFCC is a collection of ligaments and cartilage that “attaches your forearm bones (ulna and radius) to each other and to the small bones of your wrist.”) Rojas tells Alvarez-Montes that he originally suffered the injury back on July 21 when sliding into third base and has since been trying to play through the subsequent pain.

It’s been a tough season all-around for Rojas, who’s hitting just .237/.282/.324 in 504 plate appearances. It’s a far cry from the .273/.336/.413 batting line he posted in 682 plate appearances from 2020-21. Things have been particularly tough for Rojas since the date of the injury, as his batting average, OBP and slugging percentage have all been below .300 in that span of 208 trips to the plate. He’s still shown strong bat-to-ball skills along the way, striking out just 12.5% of the time (and 12.1% on the season as a whole), but Rojas hasn’t homered since late June and has just nine extra-base hits (eight doubles, one triple) since incurring this injury.

Defensively, you wouldn’t know Rojas has been ailing. He’s always been considered a quality defender at short but in 2022 has posted career-high marks in Defensive Runs Saved (16) and Outs Above Average (11). Rojas leads Major League shortstops in DRS and trails only Dansby Swanson (20), Nico Hoerner (13) and Francisco Lindor (13) in OAA.

It also bears mentioning that it’s the second hand-related injury to Rojas over the past two seasons. He was out to a career-best start in 2021 before breaking and dislocating his left index finger in late May. He only missed about three weeks of action, but upon returning, Rojas didn’t produce at nearly the same level he did prior to the injury. It’s difficult to determine just how heavily the pair of hand/wrist ailments have weighed on his production, but from Opening Day 2019 until the time of that 2021 finger injury, Rojas hit .285/.347/.409 in 866 plate appearances; he’s hit .249/.290/.343 in a near-identical sample of 846 plate appearances since.

The expectation is that Rojas will be ready for Spring Training, when he’ll be entering the second and final season of a two-year, $10MM contract with the Fish. The Marlins have routinely praised Rojas as the team’s unofficial captain and clubhouse leader, and he’s been vocal about his love for the city and the organization in the past. He’ll play next season at 34, though, making a rebound effort next year all the more important as his contract expires. If Rojas can put the injuries behind him and return to his 2019-21 form, it’s easy enough to see the two parties extending the relationship beyond the 2023 season.

Angels Outright Three

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A trio of players designated for assignment by the Angels last week — right-hander Mike Mayers, first baseman Mike Ford and outfielder Magneuris Sierra — went unclaimed on outright waivers, per the league’s transactions log at MLB.com. All three were assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. All three can reject the assignment in favor of free agency right now, though that’s largely a moot point, as all three can also become free agents after the season concludes.

Mayers, 30, is the most experienced of the bunch and has spent the most time with the Angels organization. From 2020-21, he was a regular in late-inning roles for the Halos, recording four saves and 22 holds through 105 innings pitched. In that span, Mayers worked to a sharp 3.34 ERA with a terrific 30.5% strikeout rate and a solid 8% walk rate — easily the best stretch of a big league career that now spans parts of seven seasons.

Unfortunately, Mayers wasn’t at all able to sustain that pace in 2022. He’s pitched 50 2/3 innings this year — third-most of any season in his Major League career — and been clubbed for a 5.68 ERA along the way. His average fastball velocity, which sat 94.6 mph in 2020-21, is down to a career-low 93.7 mph in 2022. He’s also seen his strikeout rate plummet to 20.2%, and after allowing just 1.11 homers per nine innings in 2020-21, he’s surrendered a whopping 2.66 long balls per nine frames this year.

Ford, also 30, has suited up for four big league teams in 2022 alone. The longtime Yankees prospect spent 16 games with the Mariners earlier in the season (across two stints), one with the Giants, eight with the Braves and now 28 with the Halos. Ford has been designated for assignment by each of those teams, however (twice by the Mariners), bringing his DFA total to a whopping five on the year.

Ford impressed in his rookie showing with the Yankees back in 2019, debuting to the tune of a .259/.350/.559 batting line and a dozen homers in just 163 plate appearances. He hit just .134/.250/.276 in 156 plate appearances over the next two seasons before being cut loose by the Yankees, however, and has now logged a combined .206/.302/.313 output in 149 plate appearances between his quartet of new teams in 2022.

Sierra, meanwhile, hit just .165/.200/.242 in 96 plate appearances with the Angels prior to his DFA. The former Cardinals and Marlins prospect is one of baseball’s fastest players, ranking in the 97th percentile for average sprint speed, per Statcast. He’s never gotten on base enough in the big leagues to make much use of his wheels, though, as evidenced by a lifetime .228/.273/.272 slash in 636 plate appearances.

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