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Phillies Select Roman Quinn, Option Bryson Stott

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The Phillies announced this evening they’ve selected outfielder Roman Quinn onto the big league club. Infielder Bryson Stott was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to open active roster space. In order to clear a 40-man roster spot, left-hander Ryan Sherriff was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Quinn returns to the Phils’ active roster for a sixth season. A former second-round pick, he was among the better prospects in the Philadelphia farm system for some time. His athleticism, speed and solid minor league production made him a potential regular center fielder, but the switch-hitting outfielder hasn’t managed to cement himself as an everyday player. That’s in large part due to injury, as Quinn missed notable time every season between 2013-19 and again in 2021. His latest malady was a ruptured left Achilles tendon that ended his 2021 season in May.

Primarily because of his health history, Quinn has just 512 MLB plate appearances under his belt despite pushing 29 years old and having first reached the majors six years ago. He’s a .228/.306/.355 hitter in that time, but he’s stolen 39 bases and garnered solid defensive ratings. He’ll offer the Phils some extra cover in center field, where Matt Vierling has gotten out to a poor start. The Phils recently activated Odúbel Herrera from the injured list, and he’ll probably get the lion’s share of playing time in center. Herrera is coming off a fine but unspectacular .260/.310/.416 showing and spent the first few weeks of the season on the shelf because of an oblique strain.

The Phils outrighted Quinn off the 40-man roster at the end of last season. He qualified for minor league free agency, then inked a non-roster pact with the division-rival Marlins. After failing to crack the Opening Day roster in Miami, he triggered an opt-out clause and went back to the open market. Quinn returned to Philadelphia on a minor league deal a few weeks ago, and he quickly made it back to the big leagues after reaching base in 13 of his 25 plate appearances in Triple-A. Quinn is out of minor league options, so now that he’s back in the majors, the Phils have to either keep him on the active roster or designate him for assignment.

Stott, one of the Phils’ top prospects, broke camp with the club and was the Opening Day third baseman. The 24-year-old appeared in nine games during his first major league run but started his MLB career just 4-30 with a walk and ten strikeouts. Stott’s chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone was a bit elevated, and he hasn’t gotten the start in any of the team’s last six games.

Alec Bohm has gotten off to a strong start at the plate and has been playing third base, while the Phils have turned to switch-hitting utilityman Johan Camargo (himself on a nice run to open the year) at shortstop over the last week. Didi Gregorius hasn’t played since Tuesday because of a bruised left hand, but the team hasn’t placed him on the injured list and figures to work him in at shortstop frequently once he’s again ready to go.

With the more experienced infield options outplaying Stott early on, the Phils elected him to send him back to the minors for regular reps. The former first-round pick only played in ten games with Lehigh Valley late last season, as he spent the bulk of the year with Double-A Reading. Stott posted an impressive .301/.368/.481 line there, but he’ll now get a bit more run at the minors’ top level. The Phillies figure to bring Stott back to the majors before too long if he replicates his Double-A production for the IronPigs.

Sherriff, claimed off waivers from the Rays last offseason, opened the season on the injured list due to a shoulder strain. There’s no timetable for his return, but he won’t be back until at least the first week of June. He’s out for sixty-plus days from Opening Day, meaning he can’t return until June 6 at the earliest.

Red Sox Promote John Schreiber

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4:30pm: Boston announced that Garrett Whitlock will get the start for Thursday’s contest. The Red Sox also reinstated catcher Kevin Plawecki from the COVID-19 injured list this afternoon, optioning fellow backstop Connor Wong to Triple-A.

2:57pm: The Red Sox announced this afternoon they’ve added right-handers John Schreiber and Tyler Danish to the major league roster as replacements for Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, both of whom have been placed on the restricted list. Schreiber had not previously been on the 40-man roster, while Danish had.

The Sox are kicking off a series in Toronto this evening, and players who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 are barred by the Canadian government from crossing the border. Under the terms of the 2022 health and safety protocols agreed upon by MLB and the Players Association, players who miss games because of their vaccination status are placed on the restricted list and don’t receive pay or service time.

Schreiber returns to the active roster, where he could get an opportunity to suit up in the big leagues for a fourth straight year. He made 18 appearances with the Tigers from 2019-20, posting an ERA above 6.00 in both seasons. Boston added him on a minor league deal during the 2020-21 offseason, and he spent the bulk of last season at Triple-A Worcester. He tossed 66 1/3 innings over 33 appearances, posting a 2.71 ERA with average strikeout and walk numbers and a strong 50% ground-ball rate. Boston selected him for one three-inning MLB appearance during their late-season COVID outbreak, then returned him to the minors.

This season, Schreiber has allowed four runs (two earned) in 10 1/3 frames with the WooSox. He’s punched out 13 batters against just two walks and will temporarily replace Crawford as a right-handed bullpen option for acting skipper Will Venable. The Red Sox’s press release noted that Schreiber had been “added” to the active roster, not that his contract had been selected. That could indicate he’s up as a designated COVID substitute, in which case Boston would be able to return him to Worcester and off the 40-man roster without clearing waivers. Danish could be assigned back to Worcester but would remain on the 40-man, since he was on there prior to today’s call.

Houck and Crawford figure to return to action when the Sox come back stateside Friday, beginning a weekend series at the Orioles. Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Michael Wacha are lined up for the first three games of this week’s set in Toronto, with their starter for Thursday’s game yet to be determined.

Mariners Designate Mike Ford For Assignment

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The Mariners announced this afternoon they’ve designated first baseman Mike Ford for assignment. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for catcher Luis Torrens, who has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list.

Seattle selected Ford when Torrens first went on the IL last Tuesday. Players on the COVID IL don’t count against the 40-man, so the M’s could bring Ford up to the majors. Evidently, Seattle wasn’t permitted to designate Ford as a “COVID substitute,” however. Therefore, they’ve had to designate him for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Torrens.

Under the 2022 health and safety protocols, the commissioner’s office has the sole discretion to determine whether a team has been sufficiently impacted by COVID to call up “substitute” players. If granted permission — as the A’s were earlier this season — the team can then return those substitutes back to Triple-A (and, if the substitute was not previously on the 40-man, off the roster entirely) without utilizing a minor league option or passing the player through waivers. If the commissioner’s office doesn’t feel the team is sufficiently affected by the virus to warrant designated substitutes, the team can still select new players onto the 40-man roster, but they’d have to be designated for assignment like everyone else in order to be taken off.

Ford will now be traded or placed on waivers within the next week. He didn’t get into an MLB game with Seattle, but he’d been off to a scorching .317/.404/.488 start over 11 appearances with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Presumably, the M’s will try to run him through waivers to outright him back to the Rainiers. Ford, who signed a minor league deal over the offseason, is a .199/.301/.422 hitter in 319 MLB plate appearances.

Torrens has started the season 3-13. He hit at a roughly league average level (.243/.299/.431 with 15 homers in 378 plate appearances) last season but didn’t rate favorably behind the dish. The M’s also have Cal Raleigh and Tom Murphy on the roster, and Torrens can serve as an occasional catcher, designated hitter and pinch-hitting option off the bench.

Read The Transcript Of Today’s Fantasy Baseball Chat With Brad Johnson

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Brad Johnson has been writing about fantasy baseball for more than a decade and has considerable experience in Roto, H2H, dynasty, DFS, and experimental formats.  As an expert in the field, Brad participates in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold format and was crowned the league’s winner in 2020. Brad’s writing experience includes RotoGraphs, NBC SportsEDGE, and right here at MLB Trade Rumors. He’s also presented at the First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball conference.

We’ll be hosting fantasy baseball-focused chats with Brad every other Monday at noon CT between now and September, so mark your calendars for those and feel free to drop him some questions on Twitter @BaseballATeam as well.

Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with Brad!

Astros Moving Cristian Javier Into Rotation

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The Astros are moving right-hander Cristian Javier from the bullpen back into what will now be a six-man rotation, manager Dusty Baker told reporters yesterday (link via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Houston is facing a daunting stretch of 33 games in the next 34 days, and Baker revealed that the team has been expecting to move to a six-man rotation since Spring Training, recognizing this marathon stretch on the schedule.

Javier joins Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Jake Odorizzi in what Baker termed a “temporary” six-man rotation. Of course, the fact that the team isn’t planning to trot out a six-man unit for the duration of the season doesn’t mean that Javier is ticketed for bullpen work once this imposing stretch of games draws to a close. Injuries can always alter the picture, and right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will be eligible to return not long after this 34-day gauntlet. The Astros will also surely need to see better results from Odorizzi (nine runs, five strikeouts, seven walks in nine innings) and Urquidy (5.52 ERA, 11.3% strikeout rate in 14 2/3 innings) for either to hold their starting job in the long term.

Odorizzi, in particular, has drawn the ire of fans early in the season. The righty has gotten out to a slow start for a second straight year, but it’s worth pointing out that in his final 96 2/3 innings after returning from the injured list last season, he pitched to a 3.72 ERA with a 19.8% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate — solid marks that generally fall in line with his career numbers. Odorizzi is playing the 2022 season on a $5MM base salary and is also owed at least a $3.25MM buyout on next year’s $6.5MM player option. He can earn up to $6.75MM via incentives this year, with a $500K bonus for reaching 100 innings and then a $1MM incentive for every 10 innings thereafter, up through 150. He’d receive a $1.25MM bonus for hitting 160 innings.

Turning back to Javier, there’s an easy argument that, based on the talented 25-year-old’s prior success as a starter, a permanent move to the rotation is the right call. While his velocity and strikeout rate are higher when working out of the ’pen, as one would expect, Javier nevertheless carries a 3.42 ERA and a hearty 26.7% strikeout rate in 19 career appearances as a starter. His 9.8% walk rate when starting games is a good bit lower than the 12.1% mark he’s posted out of the ’pen, and while it’s still a small sample, Javier hasn’t shown the drastic splits that many pitchers have when facing a lineup for a third time. Opponents have batted .151/.270/.377 against Javier when facing him for the third time in a day.

Looking beyond the current season and what Javier’s move to the rotation could mean for the 2022 Astros, there’d be notable ramifications as soon as 2023. Javier is eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, and he’d be poised for a much larger jump in salary with a successful season’s worth of starts than he would with a season worth of multi-inning relief work. Javier was placed into a long relief role in order to keep him stretched as a starter, Baker noted, but that’s meant only three appearances thus far. Dominant as they’ve been — Javier has yet to allow a run and has fanned 12 of his 31 opponents (38.7%) — Javier hasn’t been put in position to earn a save or a hold, either of which could help his case in arbitration. Working as a starter seems likely to be the best use of his talents for the Astros, but it’s also best for him and his long-term earning capacity in arbitration.

Javier’s first start of the season will be a road outing against the Rangers on Wednesday this week. He’s thrown 28, 53 and 55 pitches in his first three appearances this season, so it’s unlikely he’ll be tasked with tossing 100 pitches and pitching deep into the game. Five to six innings is probably the longest he’ll be allowed to pitch, depending on his efficiency, but the fact that he eclipsed 50 pitches both on April 13 and April 20 indicates that he won’t need to go through a particularly lengthy build-up process.

Rays Notes: Zombro, Yarbrough, Stadium

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Right-hander Tyler Zombro made his return to the mound last night with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate — the first time he pitched in a regular-season game since last season’s horrifying injury. Zombro, struck in the head by a 104 mph comeback liner early last June, underwent emergency brain surgery and had his skull stabilized with 16 plates and 36 screws, as detailed by MLB.com’s Adam Berry. That Zombro fully recovered is a triumph in and of itself, but returning to the mound in less than a year’s time seems nearly impossible to fathom. Last night’s return came on the road against the Norfolk Tides (the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate), and in a particularly classy scene, the entire Tides dugout emptied to laud Zombro with a standing ovation as he took the mound (video link). Zombro’s teammates and many of the fans in attendance followed suit. “That’s been one of the moments that certainly hit me the hardest,” Zombro tells Berry. “…I think it all came kind of full circle there and definitely was a symbol of me ‘completing the journey’ to be back to performing in Triple-A.”

More on the Rays…

  • Lefty Ryan Yarbrough made a rehab outing yesterday in hopes of a quick return to the roster, but he retired just one batter, walked four hitters and threw only 10 of his 27 pitches for strikes. Yarbrough, on the shelf since April 8 due to a groin strain, has yet to pitch in a big league game for Tampa Bay so far in 2022. The 30-year-old southpaw is hoping to bounce back from a career-worst year in 2021, when he logged a 5.11 ERA in a career-high 155 frames. He pitched well this spring (one run in 8 1/3 official frames), but it’s not yet clear when he’ll return to the club. Tampa Bay has been (quite successfully) using setup man J.P. Feyereisen as a an opener with Yarbrough, Luis Patino, Shane Baz, Yonny Chirinos, Tyler Glasnow and Brendan McKay all on the injured list. The team hasn’t made any kind of formal announcement regarding Yarbrough’s status, but given the short nature of that outing and the ugly results, it’d be a bit of a surprise to see him activated without another rehab appearance.
  • Major League Baseball nixed the Rays’ convoluted split-city plan with Montreal back in January, and St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch now tells John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times that he believes there’s a path forward for the Rays right at home in St. Petersburg. While Romano notes that a move to Tampa is the team’s preferred option, they’ve been unable to work out the necessary funding to facilitate such a move (hence the outside-the-box Montreal plan). Welch notes that the city of St. Petersburg has hired new financial consultants to explore whether the possibility of a mixed-use development similar to the Braves’ Battery development surrounding Truist Park could be plausible. Major funding from Pinellas County’s tourist tax would still be required, but Welch struck an optimistic tone that the team and the city could eventually figure out a workable plan. Of course, there’s been no shortage of optimism regarding various stadium plans in recent years, and the team has nevertheless continually found itself back at square one after each has fallen through. The Rays’ current lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2027.

NL Central Notes: Shelton, India, Stephenson, Miley

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Terms weren’t reported on Derek Shelton’s contract when he was first hired as the Pirates’ manager in November 2019, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that Shelton’s deal is believed to run through the 2023 campaign.  That would make it a four-year commitment to Shelton, who has only a 95-158 record during his two-plus years of managing the rebuilding team.  While nobody expected Shelton to win given his threadbare rosters, progress of some type is expected, so Rosenthal feels there could be some questions asked if the Pirates post another 100-loss season.  However, Rosenthal also notes that “Shelton has served almost as an assistant general manager” to GM Ben Cherington.

Speaking to a broader point of Rosenthal’s piece about skippers around baseball, he writes that “GMs of tanking teams, in particular, often are reluctant to hold managers responsible for the non-competitive clubs they’ve assembled, knowing a dismissal will only lead to greater scrutiny of their own actions.”  While there are certainly some managers on shorter-term deals who are under additional pressure in 2022, it remains to be seen how many of these skippers might actually be let go after the year.

More from around the NL Central…

  • The Reds might be able to activate Jonathan India from the 10-day IL on Tuesday, his first day of eligibility to return.  India has taken grounders and run the bases on each of the last two days, and told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and other reporters that he is “feeling great,” though “I’m not going to push anything to come back right now.”  India has been out of action with a right hamstring strain, and is one of 11 Cincinnati players on the injured list
  • Tyler Stephenson is on the seven-day version of the IL after suffering a concussion on April 20, and manager David Bell told Sheldon and company that the catcher will likely be sidelined until early May.  Bell even implied that Stephenson may not join the Reds during an upcoming road trip that runs April 29 to May 5, if just for precautionary reasons in advance of a possible May 6 activation.
  • Wade Miley has yet to make his Cubs debut due to left elbow inflammation that arose during Spring Training, but the veteran southpaw is getting closer to pitching.  670 The Score’s Bruce Levine (Twitter link) was among those to report that Miley came out of a 50-pitch side session on Saturday with no issues, and Miley is now lined up to throw a live batting practice session on Wednesday.  Miley is loosely scheduled to be activated off the 10-day IL sometime in May, though a more exact date will be known as the left-hander takes more steps in the recovery process.

Royals Acquire Matt Peacock, Designate Domingo Tapia

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The Royals announced that right-hander Matt Peacock has been acquired from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations.  To make roster space for Peacock, Kansas City has designated righty Domingo Tapia for assignment.

Arizona designated Peacock for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now head to the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate after spending his entire pro career in the Diamondbacks organization.  A 23rd-round pick in the 2017 draft, Peacock made his Major League debut last season and posted a 4.90 ERA over 86 1/3 innings, starting eight of his 35 appearances.  In 2022, Peacock made two appearances out of Arizona’s bullpen before getting DFA’ed.

Peacock is a grounder specialist who regularly topped the 60% groundball-rate threshold during his time in the minors, and he also has respectable walk totals, though he doesn’t record many strikeouts.  The D’Backs regularly used Peacock as a starter prior to the canceled 2020 minor league season, and he hasn’t recorded a minor league start since (albeit in limited action at Triple-A), so it will be interesting to see how the Royals will opt to deploy the righty.  Conceivably, the Royals might use Peacock in a flexible swingman role depending on their needs, and his grounder-heavy arsenal could be particularly effective on a solid defensive team like K.C.

Tapia’s resume is pretty similar to Peacock, as both are right-handed groundball specialists who pitched in their first big league game in 2020.  Tapia took a longer path than Peacock, as Tapia was an international signing for the Mets back in December 2009.  After long stints in the New York and Cincinnati farm systems, Tapia finally broke into the Show with the Red Sox in 2020, then posted a 2.67 ERA over 33 2/3 combined innings with the Mariners and Royals in 2021.

Over 718 1/3 career innings in the minors, Tapia has a 4.12 ERA and 17.68% strikeout rate.  Tapia has been more or less a full-time reliever since 2018, and his efforts to win a job in the K.C. bullpen this spring were hampered by a lack of control (six walks in 5 1/3 Cactus League innings).

Dodgers Select Reyes Moronta, Designate Darien Nunez, Place David Price On COVID-IL

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6:36PM: Price tested positive for COVID-19, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times).  Price is showing symptoms but is vaccinated, and Roberts doesn’t expect anyone else on the team to hit the COVID-IL due to infection or close-contact situations.

3:05PM: McKinstry has now been quickly recalled from his Triple-A assignment since David Price has been placed on the injured list. No specific reason was given for Price’s placement.

2:43PM: The Dodgers made a few roster moves prior to today’s game, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Right-handed pitcher Reyes Moronta had his contract selected. To make room on the active roster, utility player Zach McKinstry was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. To clear a spot for Moronta on the 40-man roster, left-hander Darien Nunez was designated for assignment.

Moronta seemed to emerge as an elite bullpen weapon for the Giants in 2018 and ’19. Over those two seasons, the righty threw 121 2/3 innings with a 2.66 ERA. His 13.8% walk rate was certainly concerning, but he paired that with a 29.3% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, shoulder surgery caused him to miss the entirety of the shortened 2020 campaign. Last year, a flexor strain limited him to four innings in the majors and 18 innings in Triple-A.

The Giants outrighted him at the end of the season, with Moronta electing free agency. He signed a minors deal with the Dodgers that would guarantee him $1.5MM if he cracked the roster. With his selection today, the 29-year-old has now secured himself that salary. As of today, Moronta has exactly four years of MLB service time, as well as still being able to be optioned to the minors. If he can hold onto his 40-man roster spot through the remainder of the season, the Dodgers could opt to keep him around via arbitration. In six Triple-A innings so far this year, he has an ERA of 1.50, with 10 strikeouts but 4 walks.

As for Nunez, it was announced yesterday that he will need to undergo Tommy John surgery. Nunez was in the minors at the time, meaning that the Dodgers could have merely placed him on the minor league injured list. However, in that scenario, he would continue to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The club also had the option of placing Nunez on the major league injured list. Doing so would have opened up a roster spot, but also would have meant Nunez would earn an MLB salary and service time over the remainder of the year.

The Dodgers have instead decided to designate him for assignment. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, meaning Nunez will have to be placed on release waivers. A team could theoretically claim him if they were willing to give him the service time and MLB pay that the Dodgers opted against. A similar situation occurred last year when the White Sox designated Luis Gonzalez for assignment, who was claimed by the Giants, with the latter club placing him on the MLB injured list. However, that situation happened in mid-August with just about six weeks remaining in the season. Since Nunez is undergoing Tommy John surgery, he won’t be back for at least a year and probably longer, which likely reduces the chances of him following in Gonzalez’s footsteps.

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