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Indians Select Anthony Gose

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The Indians are selecting the contract of outfielder-turned-pitcher Anthony Gose, as first reported by Indians Prospective (on Twitter). The left-hander will be appearing in the Majors for the first time since 2016 — and for the first time ever as a pitcher.

Gose, now 31 years old, was a two-way star in high school and a second-round draft choice by the Phillies back in 2008. He focused solely on developing as an outfielder, and by the 2011-12 offseason, Gose ranked as a consensus top 100 prospect in all of baseball. He played the 2011 season as a 20-year-old in Double-A (about four years younger than the league-average age) and slashed .253/.349/.415 with 16 home runs, 20 doubles, seven triples and 70 stolen bases — the second 70-steal season of his young professional career.

In 2010, the Phillies traded Gose to the Astros alongside J.A. Happ and Jonathan Villar in the trade that brought Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia. Houston immediately flipped Gose to the Blue Jays for corner-infield prospect Brett Wallace, who’d been a first-round pick in 2008 and was a highly regarded prospect himself at the time.

Gose made his big league debut with the Jays as a 21-year-old in 2012 but never really found his footing in Toronto. He spent three seasons as an oft-optioned member of the Jays’ outfield but managed just a .234/.301/.332 output in that time. The Blue Jays and Tigers swapped Gose for second baseman Devon Travis in the 2014-15 offseason, and Gose only found marginally more success in Detroit. He batted .254/.321/.367 in his first season as a Tiger but played just 30 games in his second season (2016).

Those struggles at the plate carried over into Triple-A, and beginning in 2017, the Tigers gave Gose the opportunity to work off the mound all the way down in Class-A Advanced. The transition wasn’t particularly smooth, as one might expect. Gose appeared in 11 games, allowing nine runs in 10 2/3 innings. He fanned 14 of the 45 hitters he faced (31.1 percent), but the Tigers removed him from their 40-man roster and he opted for free agency at season’s end.

Gose signed a minor league pact with the Rangers in the 2017-18 offseason and was selected by the Astros in the Rule 5 Draft just days later. He didn’t make it out of Spring Training with the ’Stros before being returned to the Rangers. Gose made it to Double-A as a pitcher in the Rangers’ system and clearly intrigued the Indians’ baseball ops department enough to sign him as a minor league free agent the following offseason.

Gose has hung on with Cleveland ever since, but he hasn’t gotten a call to the big leagues until today. The lefty pitched for Team USA in the Olympics earlier this summer, and he’s had a generally solid season on the mound. Walks have been an issue since he made the move to the mound, and that’s true to an extent this season as well. Gose has worked to a 3.55 ERA with a hefty 34 percent strikeout rate but a bloated 19.4 percent walk rate.

However, most of those command issues came early in the season. Since returning from the Olympic team, Gose has yielded just one run in 14 frames. He’s walked six of the 52 batters he’s faced in that time (11.5 percent) and fanned a whopping 22 of them (42.3 percent). Given that recent run of dominance, it’s hardly a surprise that Cleveland is both rewarding Gose’s tenacity and also taking the opportunity to get a late look at him in the big leagues.

While Gose has appeared in parts of five big league seasons in the past, he has yet to even amass three years of Major League service time. As such, Cleveland would be able to control him all the way through the 2025 season — if he is indeed able to stick as a pitcher. Gose, by all accounts, has built his heater up to sit in the upper-90s and at times reach triple digits. Opponents are hitting just .172/.333/.328 against him so far in 2021 — including a .086/.192/.154 batting line since he returned from the Olympics.

It’s a frankly remarkable journey for Gose, who has been with four organizations in five years since attempting to reinvent himself as a pitcher. He’s pitched for clubs in the Puerto Rican Winter League and Dominican Winter League along the way after restarting his career as a 26-year-old in Class-A Advanced. He’ll now reap the benefits of that half-decade odyssey as he returns to the Major Leagues for what, in many ways, will be a second big league debut.

Rockies Outright Bernardo Flores Jr.

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The Rockies announced that left-hander Bernardo Flores Jr. has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. He doesn’t have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization.

Flores was originally drafted by the White Sox, with whom he spent the first few years of his career. The southpaw made his big league debut with Chicago last season, tossing two innings. He’s bounced between a couple organizations this year, landing with the Cardinals via waiver claim in April and moving to the Rockies a couple months later. He made one big league appearance with St. Louis but has yet to suit up in the majors with Colorado.

Instead, Flores has spent almost his entire tenure in the organization on the minor league injured list. He landed on the IL immediately after being claimed off waivers and just made it back with Albuquerque for the first time last week. The 26-year-old will look to work his way back onto the 40-man roster now that he’s returned to health. Flores has very little Triple-A experience, but he’s posted a quality 3.04 ERA over 156 2/3 career innings in Double-A.

Pirates Release John Nogowski, Ka’ai Tom

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The Pirates have released first baseman John Nogowski and outfielder Ka’ai Tom, relays Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Both players had been with Triple-A Indianapolis after being outrighted last month. Each of Nogowski and Tom would have qualified for minor league free agency this offseason if not reselected to the 40-man roster before the end of the year. The Pittsburgh front office evidently determined neither player was in line for a promotion, so they’ve elected to cut both loose a few weeks early.

Pittsburgh acquired Nogowski from the division-rival Cardinals for cash considerations in early July. He tallied 143 plate appearances with Pittsburgh but scuffled after a hot start, ultimately posting just a .233/.301/.310 line. After being outrighted to Indianapolis, Nogowski hit an impressive .259/.406/.352 with thirteen walks and only ten strikeouts in 69 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter has shown that strong on-base ability throughout much of his minor league career, and he owns a .269/.388/.423 slash over 680 career trips to the dish at Triple-A.

Tom has spent the bulk of his career in the Indians’ organization. The A’s selected him in the Rule 5 draft last winter but bumped him from the big league roster after just nine games. The Pirates claimed Tom off waivers and gave him a bit more run, but the 27-year-old only managed a .152/.308/.261 showing in 117 plate appearances with the Bucs. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment and passed him through waivers.

Rule 5 draftees have to be kept on the MLB roster (or injured list) for the entirety of their rookie season or offered back to their original organization. The Pirates offered Tom back to Cleveland once he cleared waivers, but the Indians declined to bring him back into the system. He instead reported to Indianapolis but continued to struggle, hitting .190/.299/.310 in 67 plate appearances before being released.

MLB To Require Vaccinations For Players To Participate In Arizona Fall League

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Major League Baseball is requiring players to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to participate in the Arizona Fall League, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. It marks the first instance of an MLB vaccination mandate directly affecting players.

Last week, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that MLB was mandating vaccinations among non-playing team personnel in order for those individuals to be granted access to the field during postseason play. That requirement did not apply to players, as any sort of vaccine mandate for MLB players would need to be agreed upon with the Players Association. MLB can and has attempted to encourage vaccinations among big leaguers by loosening health and safety protocols for teams that fully vaccinate 85% of Tier 1 personnel.

The Arizona Fall League is an annual prospect showcase that takes place after the conclusion of the standard minor league season. It is operated by MLB. Teams send a contingent of players at various minor league levels to the AFL in order to log extra playing time. The caliber of player assigned to the league is also highly variable, but it’s not uncommon to see at least a few of the league’s most promising prospects participate.

It’s possible a few players on MLB 40-man rosters will be tabbed for Fall League action. Those players are members of the MLBPA, but Piecoro notes that the Fall League is generally treated as a minor league, making a MLB vaccination mandate for players permissible. That naturally raises the question whether MLB could consider a vaccination mandate for all affiliated minor leagues next season even if the MLBPA doesn’t agree to a mandate at the big league level. There’s no indication that’s presently the league’s intent, but one executive opined to Piecoro the AFL vaccine mandate might wind up being a precursor to similar measures for minor leaguers during next year’s Spring Training.

Pirates Select Taylor Davis

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The Pirates announced they’ve selected catcher Taylor Davis to the big league club. Starting backstop Jacob Stallings has been placed on the 7-day concussion injured list. To open space for Davis on the 40-man roster, right-hander Bryse Wilson was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day IL.

Davis appeared in the majors with the Cubs in each season from 2017-19 but tallied just 39 total plate appearances. The 31-year-old has spent almost the entirety of his eleven-year professional career in the minor leagues, with the bulk of that experience coming at Triple-A. Over parts of six seasons at the minors’ top level, the righty-hitting Davis owns a .275/.350/.381 line.

Signed to a minor league deal by the Orioles, Davis was flipped to the Pirates in a minor trade in mid-June. He’s split the season between the two clubs’ Triple-A affiliates, hitting .253/.347/.331 across 176 plate appearances. Davis will get the call to pair with the lefty-hitting Michael Pérez with Stallings landing on the shelf.

It’s technically possible Stallings recovers in time to make it back for a few more games, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the concussion brings his year to a close with just two weeks left on the schedule. One of the game’s more underrated catchers, Stallings owns a .240/.329/.366 line in 414 plate appearances this season. That’s more or less in line with that of the league average catcher, but he rates very highly among publicly-available defensive metrics.

Statcast’s pitch framing metrics have pegged him as above-average in that regard for three years running. He’s been a little below-average at throwing out attempted basestealers, but Stallings rather incredibly hasn’t been charged with a single passed ball in 865 innings behind the plate this season. That’s contributed to a league-leading estimated 21 Defensive Runs Saved.

The Pirates never seemed anxious to discuss Stallings in trades this summer, but it wouldn’t be a shock if his name comes up in rumors over the upcoming offseason. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the second of four times this winter, due a raise on this year’s $1.3MM salary. Even a bump in salary to the $3-4MM range would be a bargain for a player of Stallings’ caliber, and catcher-needy teams won’t have much to choose from in free agency. With the Pirates amidst a full rebuild and Stallings set to turn 32 in December, a few clubs figure to at least gauge his availability.

Wilson’s season is officially over on account of a left hamstring strain. The 23-year-old split the year between the Braves and Pittsburgh, making sixteen starts in aggregate. Wilson struggled to a 5.35 ERA with well below-average strikeout (14.3%) and swinging strike (8.7%) marks. The righty had been one of the Braves’ top pitching prospects before being sent to Pittsburgh as part of the deadline day Richard Rodríguez deal. In spite of his struggles, Wilson seems likely to have an inside track at a rotation spot next season based on that pedigree.

Phillies Designate Tyler Phillips For Assignment

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The Phillies announced they’ve designated minor league righty Tyler Phillips for assignment. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for utilityman Luke Williams, who has been activated from the COVID-19 injured list. Outfielder Mickey Moniak was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to open active roster space for Williams.

Phillips joined the Philadelphia organization in July, when they added him via waiver claim from the Rangers. He’d spent his entire career up to that point with Texas, who drafted him in 2015. Phillips posted quality numbers throughout much of his low minors tenure, but he struggled a bit upon reaching Double-A two years ago and was knocked around in his first four Triple-A appearances this season.

The Phillies assigned Phillips to Double-A Reading after adding him, but he was tagged for nine runs (eight earned) in 11 1/3 frames of work in that hitter-friendly setting. 2021 has been a struggle for Phillips no matter where he’s pitched, as he’s managed just a 6.13 ERA over 39 2/3 total minor league frames. That has come with subpar strikeout and walk rates, as the 23-year-old has punched out 22.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at an elevated 12.7% clip.

Obviously, things haven’t gone as planned for Phillips this season. But he’s not far removed from being seen as a potential back-end starter by public prospect evaluators. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him 29th in the Rangers’ system this May, projecting Phillips to overcome fringy raw stuff because of potential plus-plus command.

Indeed, Phillips had doled out free passes to only 4.6% of opponents in his career entering this season, making his sudden strike-throwing woes quite perplexing. It’s certainly not of the question he could again find that kind of feel for locating and reemerge as a decent prospect. The Phillies will place him on outright or release waivers in the coming days.

A’s Claim Michael Feliz, Designate Aramis Garcia

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The Athletics announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Michael Feliz off waivers from the Red Sox and cleared roster space by designating catcher Aramis Garcia for assignment. Boston had designated Feliz for assignment on Friday.

Feliz, 28, has split the season between the Pirates, Red Sox and Reds. He’s pitched fairly well for the former two, but his ERA on the year is an untenable 7.32 thanks to the 12 runs he allowed in 6 2/3 frames with Cincinnati. With the Red Sox, he held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts through 5 1/3 innings. He’s also spent more than two months of the 2021 campaign on the injured list due to elbow troubles.

Feliz posted an impressive 30.5 percent strikeout rate and a 3.99 ERA in 56 1/3 innings with Pittsburgh back in 2019, but command problems and arm injuries have hindered him throughout his big league career. He’s missed time with shoulder and forearm injuries prior to this year’s elbow troubles. In 246 1/3 MLB innings between Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Boston the hard-throwing Feliz owns a 5.33 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate and a 9.8 percent walk rate. He’s also accrued more than five years of Major League service tie, meaning he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.

Garcia, 28, came to the A’s alongside Elvis Andrus in the offseason trade that sent Khris Davis and catcher Jonah Heim to Texas. It was financially motivated swap for both parties, but the Rangers look to have gotten the better of the two backstops involved in the swap. Garcia has struggled to a .205/.239/.318 batting line this season — his first back from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip back in Feb. 2020.

Garcia has been a bit more productive in Triple-A, although his .268/.323/.393 showing there clocks in at about 23 percent below league-average production in that offensively charged setting, by measure of wRC+. Garcia will be out of minor league options in 2022, but teams around the league are in constant need of catching depth, so it’s possible another club will take a chance on him once he hits waivers in the wake of this DFA. He’s a career .268/.333/.448 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons and did post a .286/.308/.492 batting line in 65 plate appearances as a rookie with the Giants in 2018.

Yankees Activate Luis Severino, Release Sal Romano

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The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve reinstated right-hander Luis Severino from the 60-day injured list and cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by releasing right-hander Sal Romano.

Severino, 27, will make his return to a big league mound for the first time in nearly two years. His last regular-season appearance for the Yankees came back on Sept. 28, 2019. He hasn’t pitched in a Major League game since his Game 3 start against the Astros in that year’s ALCS. Severino underwent Tommy John surgery in Feb. 2020, and his return has been delayed in 2021 by setbacks throughout the recovery process, namely some shoulder and groin injuries.

Even including Severino’s postseason work in 2019, he’s pitched just 20 1/3 innings for the Yankees since Opening Day of that season. He missed nearly the entire 2019 campaign due to shoulder and lat strains, and his 2020 season was wiped out entirely by the aforementioned Tommy John procedure. It’s obviously not how the Yankees drew things up when signing Severino to a four-year, $40MM contract extension in Feb. 2019. That contract spanned the 2019-22 campaigns and gives the Yankees a $15MM club option for a fifth season.

Manager Aaron Boone suggested over the weekend that Severino’s return was imminent. However, the two-time All-Star and 2017 third-place finisher in American League Cy Young voting won’t return to the Yankees’ rotation this year. Severino did not have time to build up to the point where he could work as a starter, so he’ll work as a reliever down the stretch, perhaps being called upon for two- or three-inning stints.

Moving forward, there’s little doubt the Yankees hope to reinstall Severino near the top of their rotation. It’s been three years since we last saw a full season from Severino, but he’s among the best starters in the American League when healthy. From 2017-18, Severino logged 384 2/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA, an impressive 28.8 percent strikeout rate and a similarly excellent 6.2 percent walk rate.

Assuming Severino’s injury troubles are behind him, he’ll join Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Jameson Taillon and Domingo German as the top rotation options for the Yankees in 2022. Prospects Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Medina and Ken Waldichuk are among the top options in the upper minors, and it’s of course possible that the Yankees will make an offseason move or two in an effort to deepen and strengthen their collection of MLB-caliber arms.

For Romano, today’s release marks the latest in a dizzying stretch of transactions this season. Since beginning the year with the Reds organization — where he was originally drafted and developed — his transaction log reads as followed:

  • May 14: Designated for assignment by Reds
  • May 17: Elects free agency
  • May 22: Signs minor league deal with Yankees
  • July 22: Selected to MLB roster by Yankees
  • July 31: Designated for assignment by Yankees
  • Aug. 3: Claimed off waivers by Brewers
  • Aug. 10: Designated for assignment by Brewers
  • Aug. 13: Elects free agency
  • Aug. 14: Signs minor league deal with Yankees
  • Sept. 9: Selected to MLB roster by Yankees
  • Sept. 10: Designated for assignment by Yankees
  • Sept. 13: Elects free agency
  • Sept. 14: Signs Major League deal with Yankees
  • Sept. 17: Placed on 10-day injured list (sprained finger)
  • Sept. 20: Released by Yankees

Romano has allowed a pair of runs in 3 1/3 innings with the Yankees this year and has been tagged for a 6.12 ERA on the season overall between Cincinnati, Milwaukee and New York. Romano has had a nice season in Triple-A and had some success as a rookie with Cincinnati back in 2017, but it’s begun to feel as though he’s spent nearly as much time in DFA limbo and minor league free agency this season as he has as an active member of an organization’s MLB or Triple-A roster. He’s gotten service time and big league pay for all of the time spent in the Majors and in DFA limbo, but the manner in which he’s been pinballed on and off MLB rosters has to be nevertheless frustrating.

Given that Romano was on the injured list at the time of his release, it remains to be seen whether he can get back to good enough health to return to the mound in 2021. If not, he’ll look for a more stable opportunity in free agency this winter.

Rays Promote Shane Baz

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Sept. 20: The Rays have formally selected Baz’s contract and created space on the 40-man roster by transferring Archer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. That will formally end the season for Archer, who is battling renewed discomfort in his problematic hip. Tampa Bay opened a spot on the 28-man roster for Baz by placing righty Andrew Kittredge on the 10-day IL due to tightness in his neck.

Sept. 18: Top Rays prospect Shane Baz will make his Major League debut on Monday against the Blue Jays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Baz was the third piece acquired along with Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow from the Pirates in the now infamous Chris Archer trade. The 22-year-old’s stock has risen since the trade, though the former first rounder has always shown tremendous promise.

In the Tampa development engine, he has become a refined starting prospect at the top of an impressive farm system. He was the Rays’ top prospect on Baseball America’s midseason report, and he’s the top prospect by MLB.com’s rendering as well. Baz won a silver medal alongside current Ray David Robertson while with Team USA at the Olympics in Japan.

He is not currently on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding roster move will be necessary. While Baz isn’t technically postseason-eligible right now, he could theoretically be added to the postseason roster through a petition to the Commissioner’s office as an injury replacement. That process has often been exploited in the past, and the Rays have shown a willingness to throw young hurlers into the postseason fire (see McClanahan, Shane).

Besides, while the Rays own the best record in the American League, they have the most dynamic (read: unpredictable) pitching staff. Practically speaking, it’s entirely unclear who might get the ball in a potential opening round playoff series, so there is at least a possibility that Baz could pitch his way onto the playoff roster. Because playoff roster changes cannot be made mid-series, the only opening he’d likely snag would be as a starter. Best case, he could make maybe three starts before the year is out — if the Rays view this promotion as an actual audition for playoff baseball.

The prospect of Baz as a playoff weapon isn’t all that far-fetched when you consider his dominance in the upper levels of the minors this season. He made seven starts in Double-A with a 2.84 ERA, striking out 49 in 32 2/3 innings. After earning a rapid promotion to Triple-A, Baz went back to work with a 1.76 ERA over 10 starts totaling 46 innings with a 64-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those eye-popping numbers certainly must make the Rays consider giving him an opportunity to help the parent club right now.

The rookie southpaw McClanahan is the only sure thing to be in the playoff rotation right now, and he’s currently on the injured list. Drew Rasmussen is making a strong push to be a postseason starter as well, having not allowed more than one earned run in any of his past six starts since joining the rotation. Ryan Yarbrough, Michael Wacha, and Luis Patino round out the rotation for now, though the Rays are likely to use at least one rotation spot (and maybe more) for bullpen days come the postseason.

Royals Select Dylan Coleman

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The Royals have selected the contract of righty Dylan Coleman and reinstated right-hander Brady Singer from the injured list, per a club announcement. Kansas City moved fellow righties Brad Keller and Wade Davis from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL in a pair of corresponding 40-man roster moves. (A 40-man move was necessary for Singer, who’d been on the Covid-related injured list.) The Royals are also calling up outfielder Edward Olivares as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader.

Coleman, 25, joined the Royals alongside Olivares in last summer’s Trevor Rosenthal trade with the Padres. The 2018 fourth-rounder has enjoyed a strong season in the upper minors, splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A while recording a combined 3.28 ERA with a massive 40.4 percent strikeout rate and a 9.6 percent walk rate in 57 2/3 innings of relief.

Coleman ranked 18th among Royals farmhands on the midseason rankings from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and 29th over at MLB.com. Longenhagen notes that while Coleman lost some life on his fastball in 2019, he’s now throwing harder than ever before, sitting upper 90s and occasionally reaching 100 mph. Both FanGraphs and MLB.com note that his slider lacks consistency, however, so he’ll need to refine that offering (or develop a new secondary offering) if he’s to settle in as a high-leverage option in the Kansas City bullpen.

The news on Keller and Davis isn’t especially surprising at this point. The Royals revealed last week that Keller would be shut down for the season, and Davis went on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation five days ago. He’d technically have had time to return, but there’d only have been about a week’s worth of games remaining on the calendar by the earliest date on which he could be activated. Davis is a free agent at season’s end. Keller is arbitration-eligible and under club control through the 2023 season.

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