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Nationals Reinstate Stephen Strasburg

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The Nationals announced today that they have reinstated Stephen Strasburg from the 10-day injured list. Left-hander Sam Clay was optioned to create space for him on the active roster.

It’s been a long journey for the righty, who will take the ball for Washington’s game against the Marlins tonight. This will be his first time on a big league mound in over a year, as his last appearance was June 1 of last season. He would eventually undergo surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, a procedure he has been working back from ever since.

A lot has changed for the Nationals between Strasburg’s last start and tonight’s game. At the time of the former game, the Nats still had many of their 2019 World Series-winning players, such as Trea Turner, Max Scherzer and Yan Gomes, in addition to many other subsequently-added veterans. Just about any player that was healthy and valuable and not named Juan Soto was traded at last year’s deadline, however, leaving the team with a roster primarily composed of young and unproven players, to which they eventually added veterans on short-term deals.

The club is now clearly in a retooling year, currently sporting a 21-37 record that has them firmly planted in the NL East basement, five games behind the fourth-place Marlins and just barely ahead of the Reds for the worst record in the National League. That means that Strasburg’s performance won’t need to be scrutinized too closely in the short term, though the long-term implications will be important. Strasburg is making $35MM this year and each of the next four years (though some of the money will be deferred.)

The Nats are hoping for a quick turnaround and a return to competition in the coming years, especially with Soto currently slated to hit free agency after the 2024 campaign. Soto’s already making over $17MM this year and will only see that number go up over the next couple of seasons as he goes through arbitration again. With Patrick Corbin also due to make a total of around $60MM over the next couple of years, the team will be spending a big chunk of its payroll on those three players, making it all the more important for Strasburg to get back to his old self. He’s pitched only total 26 2/3 innings over the past three seasons but was excellent in 2019, throwing 209 frames of 3.32 ERA ball, before throwing 36 1/3 more in the postseason with a 1.98 ERA, being an instrumental part of the franchise earning its first ever World Series trophy.

Twins, Gary Sanchez Avoid Arbitration

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The Twins and catcher Gary Sánchez have avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a $9MM salary, the Associated Press reports. That’s the midpoint between the parties’ respective $9.5MM and $8.5MM filing figures, negating the need for a hearing that had been set to take place next week.

Minnesota acquired Sánchez from the Yankees as part of the Spring Training blockbuster that sent Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to New York. He’s appeared in 44 games with his new club, hitting .224/.282/.435 in 177 trips to the plate. Sánchez has struggled to reach base, largely due to a personal-low 5.6% walk rate, but he’s popped seven home runs and 13 doubles to make a strong impact from a power perspective. The 29-year-old has started 24 games behind the plate and collected 18 appearances as the team’s designated hitter.

This was Sánchez’s final trip through the arbitration process. He’ll hit free agency for the first time in his career next offseason, part of a fairly deep catching class. Willson Contreras is the clear headliner of the group, with Sánchez joining such players as Omar Narváez, Mike Zunino, Christian Vázquez and Tucker Barnhart among the other potential regulars. Sánchez has as much offensive upside as anyone aside from Contreras, but he’d come under fire for his defense in the Bronx and has ceded the majority of starts behind the plate to Ryan Jeffers in Minneapolis.

Minnesota has now wrapped up its arbitration class without the need for any hearings. The Twins agreed to terms with Tyler Duffey, Gio Urshela, Caleb Thielbar and Danny Coulombe before the start of the season, while they settled with Luis Arraez last month. Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagán, the team’s other two arbitration-eligible players, had agreed to terms with the Padres before being traded to Minnesota on Opening Day.

Rays Place Andrew Kittredge On Injured List

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The Rays put reliever Andrew Kittredge on the 15-day injured list this morning, recalling Calvin Faucher to take his spot on the active roster. Kittredge is dealing with right elbow discomfort, and he’s going to miss a fair bit of time.

Manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) the righty is likely to undergo a procedure to remove a loose body from his elbow. He’ll be out of action for at least a month, dealing another hit to a relief corps that lost J.P. Feyereisen last week and has been without Pete Fairbanks, Nick Anderson, JT Chargois and Chris Mazza for most or all of the season.

Kittredge had a stellar 2021 season, tossing 71 2/3 innings of 1.88 ERA ball as one of the club’s highest-leverage arms. He punched out a strong 27.3% of batters faced, induced grounders on more than half the batted balls against him and was one of the sport’s best strike-throwing relievers. Kittredge picked up a deserved All-Star nod for that work, but he’s not managed to replicate that success through the first couple months of this season.

In 20 innings, the 32-year-old has seen his ERA jump to 3.15 while his strikeout percentage has plummeted to 18.7%. Kittredge has still thrown plenty of strikes and been effective overall, but he’s seen his swing-and-miss and ground-ball rates take step backs relative to last year’s marks. He also missed a bit of time with back tightness last month, and his elbow issue seems likely to keep him out until after the All-Star Break.

Kittredge is playing this season on a $1.85MM salary after he and the club avoided arbitration. He’ll go through that process twice more before first qualifying for free agency after the 2024 campaign.

Cubs, Willson Contreras Avoid Arbitration

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The Cubs and catcher Willson Contreras have avoided arbitration, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN (Twitter link). The sides came to terms on a $9.625MM salary, agreeing to the exact midpoint between their respective $10.25MM and $9MM filing figures.

The agreement doesn’t have any long-term contractual ramifications, but they’ll avoid the hassle and any potential acrimony of going through a hearing — which had been scheduled for today. This is the final trip through the arb process for Contreras, who is scheduled to reach free agency for the first time at the end of the season.

The 30-year-old looks like the clear top option among a deep catching class, and he’s continued to improve his stock with an incredible first couple months of the season. Contreras owns a .277/.403/.530 line with ten home runs through 201 plate appearances, sporting career-best marks in both walk (11.9%) and strikeout (19.9%) rate in the process. He leads catchers (minimum 100 trips to the plate) in wRC+ with a 162 mark that indicates he’s been 62 percentage points better than the average batter thus far.

Not only is that hot start setting up a likely lucrative free agent payday, it also makes him one of the most interesting players to follow over the next six-to-eight weeks. The Cubs are ten games below .500 and a virtual lock to miss the postseason, making Contreras one of the game’s bigger potential deadline trade chips. Last month, he told Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago he’d not heard any extension overtures from the front office. That’d seem to point towards a trade being the likelier outcome, although the career-long Cub has consistently maintained he’d be open to in-season discussions if the front office initiates talks.

The agreement closes the books on a light arbitration class for the North Siders. Outfielder Ian Happ was the only other arbitration-eligible player on the roster, and he and the organization agreed to a $6.85MM salary during Spring Training. Happ, himself a possible midseason trade candidate, will go through the process once more before reaching free agency after the 2023 campaign.

Diamondbacks Place Nick Ahmed On 60-Day Injured List

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The D-Backs announced last night that Nick Ahmed has been placed on the 60-day injured list. The club announced his diagnosis as right shoulder inflammation.

Ahmed had been on the COVID-19 list for three weeks, so he hadn’t been occupying a spot on the 40-man roster. He’s apparently recovered from the virus, but his shoulder issue will prevent him from playing for at least a couple months. Rather than designate someone for assignment to clear a 40-man spot, the Diamondbacks simply placed Ahmed on the 60-day IL.

The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the veteran shortstop was recently shut down from his rehab process due to shoulder soreness. He’s set to visit noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache next week to gauge his treatment options, writes Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. If he were forced to go under the knife, Ahmed would almost certainly not return this season. Even if he’s able to pursue a non-surgical rehab course, it doesn’t seem there’s much chance he’ll be in game shape in the foreseeable future.

Ahmed’s right shoulder has given him problems dating back to 2020. He played through the issue for most of last season but eventually landed on the IL during the final week of the year. Ahmed was still bothered this spring, receiving a pair of cortisone injections and missing the first 15 days of the regular season. He returned to appear in 17 games before his COVID diagnosis, and the shoulder issues have again arisen during his rehab process.

The physical limitations seemed to take their toll on Ahmed last year, as he struggled through one of the worst seasons of his career. The Massachusetts native hit only .221/.280/.339 across 473 plate appearances, offense that checked in 36 percentage points below league average by measure of wRC+. Ahmed has always been a glove-first player, but that was easily his worst showing at the plate since 2016.

The 32-year-old is under contract through 2023 under the terms of an extension he signed in February 2020. He’s making $7.875MM this season and will receive a $10.375MM salary next year, a lofty enough sum the D-Backs aren’t likely to find a trade partner while he’s battling shoulder problems.

In Ahmed’s absence, the D-Backs have relied primarily on 22-year-old Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop. The switch-hitter has a .223/.337/.302 line across 164 plate appearances. Perdomo has long been regarded as one of the better prospects in the organization, so the club will probably continue to give him regular run for evaluative and developmental purposes so long as Ahmed is out.

Blue Jays To Promote Gabriel Moreno

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The Blue Jays are calling up top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno, as first reported by Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com adds that Moreno’s call-up is likely to coincide with Toronto’s upcoming weekend series in Detroit. No 40-man moves will be required to facilitate Moreno’s debut, as the young catcher was added to the team’s roster back in 2020.

Signed as an international free agent in 2016, the 22-year-old Moreno has seen his stock soar after an excellent 2021 showing. Entering the 2022 season both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Moreno as the seventh best prospect in baseball after previously missing top prospect lists (and the 2020 season) entirely.

Through 32 games last season at Double-A, Moreno hit an otherworldly .373/.441/.651 with eight home runs and a manageable 22 strikeouts. A right thumb fracture limited the amount of regular season reps given to the Jays’ top prospect, but it didn’t stop him from receiving a promotion to Triple-A at the end of the year. An additional 100 plate appearances of .329/.410/.494 hitting in the Arizona Fall League, against older competition no less, only helped to reinforce the hype.

Moreno’s 2022 season hasn’t been quite as powerful as last season’s performance, but a .323/.377/.406 showing against Triple-A competition was clearly enough to impress Toronto’s top brass. Those 35 games will net Moreno his first big league call-up, but it remains to be seen what position he’ll be manning when the decision becomes official.

Primarily a catcher with a strong arm, Moreno has received the odd start at DH and third base in recent years to get his right-handed bat into teams’ lineups. With Alejandro Kirk producing at an elite level from behind the plate and offseason acquisition Matt Chapman locked in at third, there doesn’t appear to be a slam dunk place on the field for Moreno to helm.

Catcher Zack Collins was recalled just yesterday to fill in for injured catcher Danny Jansen (who was having a strong season in his own right), a move that perhaps signals the three catchers will shuttle between catcher and DH duties for the time being. If nothing else, Moreno’s call-up figures to place some pressure on a number of bench players and outfielders (who have seen reps at the DH position) who have underperformed offensively thus far.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Daulton Jefferies To Undergo Thoracic Outlet Surgery

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After receiving a second opinion, A’s right-hander Daulton Jefferies is scheduled to undergo thoracic outlet surgery on Monday per Matt Kawahara of The San Francisco Chronicle. Oakland will share more details about Jefferies’ recovery timetable after the surgery is completed.

The surgery decision comes as little surprise after the 26-year-old Jefferies was placed on the 15-day IL a few weeks ago. A subsequent move to the 60-day IL largely dashed any chance that the right-handed pitcher would return to the hill in short order.

For the time being, the A’s appear set to roll with a rotation headed by Frankie Montas, Cole Irvin, and Paul Blackburn who are all off to strong starts this season. James Kaprielian and Jared Koenig, who was called up this past Sunday, present a pair of interesting options to hold down the fort at the back of the rotation.

While that group will hardly stand in the way of Jefferies receiving future looks in the rotation— he has first-round pedigree and strong peripherals working in his favor— the last place A’s have no urgency to rush him back. More pressing for the organization is the recovery of a player under five additional years of team control.

As has been discussed ad nauseam when it comes to any major procedure like TOS surgery, nothing is guaranteed in terms of pitching success upon recovery. D-backs starter Merrill Kelly and Chris Archer of the Twins are both years removed from the procedure and having modest success out of the rotation this year. Past pitchers haven’t always rebounded as decently however, as former Padres starter Tyson Ross, for example, saw a promising career derailed by the procedure. More recently, Nationals reliever Will Harris underwent the procedure in May of 2021 but has yet to return this season.

Julio Teheran Signs With Mexican League’s Toros De Tijuana

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Right-handed pitcher Julio Teheran is set to sign with the Toros De Tijuana of the Mexican League reports the New York Post’s Jon Heyman. It’s the second contract of the 2022 season for the former Brave, who signed a contract with the Atlantic League’s Staten Island FerryHawks back in April.

Long one of baseball’s most consistent starters in Atlanta, Teheran last appeared in the majors in April 2021 with the Tigers. A shoulder injury limited his stint in Detroit to just one start, and no doubt influenced his lack of 2022 opportunities with major league clubs.

Based on his strong play in the Atlantic League this year, however, Teheran may yet find a summer suitor with a big league club if he continues to excel in the Mexican League.Through six starts and 33-plus innings with the FerryHawks, the two-time All-Star is sporting a 1.60 ERA with 35 strikeouts and only six walks.

While the quality of independent league hitters is not to be confused with major league caliber bats, it’s nonetheless noteworthy that Teheran’s strikeout-walk ratio is as good as it’s ever been, topping even the minor league numbers that made him a consensus top prospect a decade ago. A return to health is an equally important development, as even the post-peak, innings-eater version of Teheran was coveted enough to net him a $3MM contract last year.

Giants Designate Kevin Padlo For Assignment

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The Giants announced tonight that infielder Kevin Padlo has been designated for assignment. The move clears a spot on the team’s 40-man roster for catcher Austin Wynns, who was acquired earlier today from the Phillies.

The 25-year-old Padlo was scooped from the Mariners organization in April for cash and has spent the majority of the season between Seattle and San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliates. To his credit, the former fifth-rounder has continued to excel at the highest levels of the minor leagues. Through 22 games in Triple-A Sacramento, Padlo is hitting an excellent .275/.333/.600 with seven home runs and is a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.

San Francisco’s depth-hoarding ways have made it difficult to find room for Padlo on the team’s big league roster, however. In sporadic action with the club last month he received just 12 at-bats, collecting two base hits before being shuttled back to the minors.

Padlo is now eligible to be claimed by any team in the league seeking right-handed infield depth in the upper minors or on their bench. That outcome isn’t inevitable, but seems likely given his recent hot streak at Triple-A.  The versatile infielder is in his last option year, so any team that is awarded a claim will have to keep Padlo on their 40-man roster or risk exposing him to waivers.

Angels Select Dillon Thomas, Designate Ty Buttrey

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The Angels have selected outfielder Dillon Thomas onto the major league roster, according to a club announcement. They’ve also recalled Jack Mayfield from Triple-A Salt Lake, optioned José Suarez and placed Luis Rengifo on the paternity list. Reliever Ty Buttrey has been designated for assignment to open space for Thomas on the 40-man roster.

Thomas inked a minor league contract with the Halos over the offseason. The 29-year-old has spent the year in Salt Lake and performed quite well, hitting .295/.398/.489 with eight home runs in 211 plate appearances. Thomas has drawn walks in a strong 10.9% of his trips while striking out at a roughly league average level (23.7%). It’s his second consecutive solid year of Triple-A work, as he posted a .269/.377/.448 line with the Mariners top affiliate in 2021.

Seattle gave Thomas a brief look at the MLB level last summer, getting him into four games. The Houston native will hope for a longer stay on the roster this time around, although he does have a pair of minor league option years remaining and can be moved between Anaheim and Salt Lake.

Thomas, who has some experience in center field but has spent most of his minor league career in the corners, adds some depth while the team plays things cautiously with Mike Trout. The three-time MVP left last night’s game early with left groin tightness. It doesn’t seem to be a concern, as team trainer Mike Frostad told reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic) that Trout is day-to-day. Juan Lagares will get the start in center field tonight, however.

Buttrey, meanwhile, loses his 40-man roster spot after struggling in Triple-A. He’s tossed 12 1/3 innings of nine-run ball, striking out only five batters while issuing a trio of walks. Buttrey has induced grounders on almost 60% of batted balls, but he wasn’t missing enough bats to be on the radar for an MLB call. The 29-year-old frankly acknowledged after his DFA (Twitter link) that he “(has) work to do to get myself back to peak form. … The best players will play and I’m not one of them yet. We will see what happens over the next few days, if not I’ll be back in Angel Stadium when the time is right.”

It’s not especially surprising that Buttrey hasn’t been at top form to this point, as he’s making his way back after sitting out the 2021 campaign. The right-hander stepped away from the game last April, saying at the time he’d begun to lose his passion and love for the sport. After a year away, Buttrey embarked on a comeback in January, and he’s occupied a spot on the 40-man roster since April.

The Angels will now have a week to trade Buttrey or try to run him through outright waivers. He struggled to a 5.81 ERA over 26 1/3 big league frames during the shortened 2020 season, but he’d posted a 3.98 mark with a quality 27.2% strikeout rate in 2019.

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