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Giants Select Trevor Gott

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The Giants have selected the contract of right-hander Trevor Gott, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group was among those to report. The club also recalled left-hander Sam Selman and optioned outfielder Steven Duggar and catcher Chadwick Tromp. With hurlers Jake McGee and Logan Webb on the COVID list, the Giants won’t have to make a corresponding 40-man move to clear room for Gott.

Gott and Selman will give the Giants’ bullpen a pair of fresh arms after their relievers totaled 11 2/3 innings over the weekend in the team’s three-game series against the Marlins. The 28-year-old Gott was a regular in San Francisco’s bullpen in each of the previous two seasons, but the club designated him for assignment in February and then retained him after he cleared waivers.

In 2019, his first season with the Giants, Gott threw 52 2/3 innings of 4.44 ERA ball, but he finished with a more palatable 3.73 SIERA and posted above-average strikeout and walk percentages of 26.6 and 7.9, respectively. Gott wasn’t able to build on the positives last season, though, as he yielded 13 earned runs on 13 hits (including seven homers) across 11 2/3 frames. He also ended the year with as many walks as strikeouts (eight).

Starling Marte Suffers Fractured Rib

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APRIL 19: Marte suffered a non-displaced fracture in the 12th rib on his left side, the Marlins announced. He’ll go five to seven days without baseball activities, and then the Marlins will re-evaluate him. In the meantime, he’ll head to the IL.

APRIL 18: Marlins outfielder Starling Marte left today’s game in the middle of a ninth-inning plate appearance due to what appeared to be an injury to his side or oblique area.  After the first two pitches of the at-bat, Marte grabbed at his side, and was taken out of the game after being observed by manager Don Mattingly and a team trainer.

Speaking to The Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson and other reporters after the game, Mattingly said that Marte wanted to keep playing, but the skipper opted to be cautious.

“He’s a big part of what we do.  He’s that cog in the offense, defense, on the bases….That’s the reason to pull him out of the game,” Mattingly said.  “You don’t want to lose this guy for six weeks.  It could be a couple weeks.  It could be 10 days.  It could be five days.  We want it to be the minimum.”

While Marte will undergo further testing to determine the extent of the injury, Mattingly comments seem to indicate that the center fielder will miss at least some time, and likely make a trip to the 10-day injured list.  If the injury is indeed oblique-related, it would be the third such injury of Marte’s career, though the first two IL stints (in 2012 and 2018) didn’t keep Marte out of action for too long.

Nonetheless, any setback is an unfortunate interruption to Marte’s superb start, as he had a .310/.414/.483 slash line and two home runs over his first 70 PA of the season.  Magneuris Sierra is the most probable candidate to step into center field duty if Marte does have to miss an extended amount of time, and Miami could also call up Lewis Brinson or Monte Harrison from the alternate training site.

Reds Activate Sonny Gray, Outright Cam Bedrosian

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APRIL 19: The Reds have outrighted Bedrosian to their alternate site, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. He’ll remain in the organization.

APRIL 17: The Reds are activating right-hander Sonny Gray from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against the Indians. In a corresponding move, reliever Cam Bedrosian has been designated for assignment (via C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic).

Gray has long been expected to make his return at some point this week. A back injury has kept the right-hander out of action in the early going. His return should be a boon to the Reds, since Gray pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.83 SIERA over 11 starts last season. Given the lack of a minor-league setting to build back his arm strength, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Reds be particularly cautious with his workload over his first few starts.

The return of Gray bumps the 29-year-old Bedrosian from the roster. Formerly a productive reliever with the Angels, the righty has gotten off to a disastrous start in 2021. Over 5.2 innings across six games, Bedrosian has coughed up seven runs on ten hits (including a pair of homers) with six walks and seven strikeouts.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Pirates, Reynolds, Nationals

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Major League Baseball denied Nick Castellanos’ appeal of his two-game suspension, so the Cincinnati outfielder will serve his suspension when the Reds play the Diamondbacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Castellanos was suspended for his part in a bench-clearing incident between the Reds and Cardinals earlier this month, when Castellanos scored a run and then flexed over Cards pitcher Jake Woodford, who was covering the plate.  Castellanos was on base in the first place due to a hit-by-pitch that drew a heated response from the slugger, and his reaction to Woodford at home plate led to both benches emptying.

Castellanos was the only player issued a suspension, which was a little surprising given the number of players involved in the fracas.  Fines were issued to Castellanos and five other players (Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, Jordan Hicks, Yadier Molina, and Nolan Arenado).

More from the National League…

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes’ return to the Pirates’ lineup could help address the team’s problem in center field, as Dustin Fowler and Anthony Alford have both gotten off to dreadful starts to the season.  As noted by Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Bryan Reynolds made a mid-game shift to center field yesterday, marking Reynolds’ first appearances in center all season.  Reynolds has been solid (+3 Defensive Runs Saved, +3.4 UZR/150) over 322 1/3 career innings as a center fielder, though the Bucs have preferred to use him in left, believing it to be his more optimal defensive position.  Moving Reynolds to center field, however, would allow Pittsburgh to give the red-hot Phillip Evans some time as a left fielder once Hayes reclaims third base.
  • Thanks to four upcoming off-days in the schedule, the Nationals may not need a fifth starter until May 8, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post writes.  That counts as good news for a team that has already dealt with several injuries and COVID-related absences to starting pitchers this season.  It isn’t yet clear when Jon Lester will make his season debut, but if he still needs a couple more weeks, the Nats could ride with their current starting four of Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Joe Ross, and Erick Fedde, with Austin Voth and Paolo Espino available as depth options if a spot start is required or if Washington does decide to go with a five-man rotation.  (It’s also worth noting that the Nationals have been exploring a possible reunion with Anibal Sanchez, but those plans may be on hold since Sanchez cut his finger while pitching at a recent showcase for scouts.)  D.C. won’t have its full rotation back until Stephen Strasburg returns from the injured list, and Corbin is another concern, as the southpaw was crushed in his first two outings of the season.

Ronald Acuna Jr. Day-To-Day After Suffering Mild Abdominal Strain

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TODAY: Acuna is day-to-day after an MRI “revealed a mild abdominal strain,” the Braves announced via Twitter.

APRIL 18: 9:50PM: Acuna has an abdominal strain, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter link).  A decision about an injured list placement will come tomorrow.

7:48PM: Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. left tonight’s game against the Cubs in the fourth inning “due to pain in his lower abdominal muscles,” the team announced.

Acuna drew a walk to begin the fourth inning, and then “appeared to tweak something” (as per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian) while diving back to the bag on a pickoff attempt.  After advancing to second base on a Freddie Freeman walk, Acuna was visited by the Braves trainer but remained in the game, and later had to dive across the plate to score on a Travis d’Arnaud fly ball.  For the bottom of the fourth, Ehire Adrianza took Acuna’s spot in right field and Johan Camargo entered the game to take over for Adrianza at second base.

More will be known about Acuna’s status after he undergoes tests, but needless to say, both Atlanta fans and the entire baseball world at large are holding their breath that the injury is a minor one.  After establishing himself as one of the sport’s best players in his first three MLB seasons, Acuna is already drawing NL MVP buzz after hitting an extraordinary .419/.486/.887 with seven home runs over his first 72 plate appearances.

Should Acuna have to miss any time, he’ll join fellow outfielders Cristian Pache and Ender Inciarte on the injured list.  The shorthanded Braves still have Marcell Ozuna in left field, but might have to rely on some combination of Guillermo Heredia, Adrianza, Camargo, or Austin Riley to handle the other two outfield positions in the interim.  Atlanta does have several experienced options at its alternate training site (including Phil Ervin, Abraham Almonte, and Terrance Gore), as well as top prospect Drew Waters.

COVID Notes: 4/19/21

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The latest on coronavirus-related situations around baseball…

  • The Astros plan to reinstate Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Martin Maldonado, and Robel Garcia from the COVID-19 list prior to tomorrow’s game against the Rockies, Mark Berman of FOX 26 reports (Twitter link).  It isn’t yet guaranteed that any of the four will be activated from the COVID-IL, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle writes that “there are still some hurdles to clear once they’re in Colorado concerning intake testing.”  Jose Altuve is the one player remaining on Houston’s COVID list, and Berman says the second baseman isn’t yet ready to return, though Altuve and the other four players were all cleared for individual workouts yesterday.

Latest On Cubs, Javier Baez

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TODAY: The Cubs’ offer was slightly lower than Olney’s figure, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), sitting somewhere between $160MM to $170MM.

APRIL 18: The status of extension talks between the Cubs and each of Javier Báez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo has been one of the biggest stories surrounding the team over the past couple years. There were some public discussions between the Cubs and Báez during the 2019-20 offseason, and Buster Olney of ESPN now sheds light on those discussions.

The Cubs offered Báez an extension “in the range of $180MM” after the 2019 season, Olney reports. Of course, the two-time All-Star declined that proposal and the sides haven’t yet managed to come to terms on a multi-year deal. The Cubs and Báez ultimately settled on a $10MM salary to avoid arbitration in 2020 (prior to proration) and agreed on an $11.65MM deal for 2021 this past offseason.

There are plenty of obstacles standing in the way of Báez securing such a lofty deal at this point. Revenue losses due to the intervening COVID-19 pandemic affected plenty of teams’ willingness to spend this past winter, the Cubs chief among them. Chicago opened 2021 with an estimated payroll just shy of $148MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, far below their $203MM outlay in the season before the pandemic. Shedding salary was no doubt a factor in the decision to trade Yu Darvish to the Padres in a deal with very little recent precedent.

Even more significantly, though, Báez’s personal production has cratered since that offseason. At the time of the reported offer, the star shortstop was coming off a two-year run in which he’d hit .286/.321/.544 (123 wRC+) while playing high-end defense. He’d earned All-Star selections in both 2018 and 2019 and finished as the National League MVP runner-up in the first of those years. It’s easy to see why the Cubs felt comfortable investing in Báez long-term and why the player was willing to bet on himself continuing to perform at an elite level.

That’s not what’s happened, at least to this point. Over the past two years, Báez is hitting just .201/.241/.376 in 291 plate appearances. Controlling the strike zone has never been his calling card, but Báez’s 2.7% walk rate and 34.4% strikeout rate in that time are untenable figures. The 28-year-old has continued to play a strong shortstop, but his 63 wRC+ is fourth-worst among the 190 players to take at least 200 plate appearances over the last two years.

There had been some hope Báez could rebound from his 2020 struggles in a longer, more normal season. His bottom line results have indeed been better (albeit still below-average) thanks to the four home runs he’s popped. But Báez’s underlying process metrics are equally or more concerning. His 44.6% strikeout rate is up twelve points relative to last season, while his walks have fallen even further.

Most concerning, Báez has made contact on less than half his swings (48.7%) in this season’s early going. For reference, he connected on a little more than two-thirds of his cuts during his peak years, and even made contact at a 64.2% clip last year. Only Sam Hilliard has a lower contact rate among the 259 players with 30+ plate appearances, with every other hitter in the league putting the bat on the ball at least 54.9% of the time.

There’s plenty of time for Báez to right the ship, but he’ll need to make significantly more contact in the coming months if he’s to secure a massive deal from the Cubs or any other team. The two sides remain in contact, with Báez reiterating in February he hopes to work out an extension with Chicago rather than go elsewhere in free agency.

Latest On Tigers’ Rotation

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The Tigers are going to move Tarik Skubal into a scheduled piggyback role for his next couple of outings, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. The Tigers could do the same with Casey Mize at some point during this season. Manager A.J. Hinch views the piggyback option as a way to avoid shutting down or demoting Skubal and Mize as they work with innings restrictions for their young hurlers.

The move, Hinch was careful to note, is not a demotion. Skubal has a 6.08 ERA in 13 1/3 innings so far this season, allowing 11 hits, four home runs, and nine walks against 12 strikeouts. The home runs are a concern, but Skubal also has a 15.0 percent groundball rate, a number that is sure to rise over time. Per the Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, Hinch said, “It’s not an indictment on where he’s at in our rotation or what we think of his first few starts. But it’s the plan we’re gonna put in place to be smart about our pitching resources throughout a six-month season.”

Skubal’s move to the pen actually comes prompted by a bit of good news: Spencer Turnbull will return to the rotation for his first start of the season on Wednesday. Turnbull had his season debut delayed because of a positive COVID-19 diagnosis in spring. The 28-year-old is coming off a strong 2020 in which he posted a 3.97 ERA/3.49 FIP over 56 2/3 innings. It was the first time Turnbull saw his ERA match his typically strong FIP. Turnbull will join Matthew Boyd, Mize, Jose Urena, and Michael Fulmer in the rotation, at least in the short-term. Detroit’s rotation has already lost Julio Teheran to injury after the veteran got the win in his first start as a Tiger.

When Turnbull joins the roster, another roster move will follow. McCosky suggests a pitcher will likely be demoted, with Joe Jimenez being one possibility. The 26-year-old right-hander has just two appearances so far this season, but he’s off to a rough start. The former All-Star has walked seven of 10 batters this season while being charged with five earned runs (despite not yielding a base hit). In fact, with two strikeouts also on the ledger, only one batter has put the ball in play with Jimenez toeing the rubber, an Aramis Garcia ground out. Both of Jimenez’s appearances this season have come against the Athletics. The Tigers will likely wait to make an official roster move until much closer to Turnbull’s Wednesday start.

NL Central Notes: Hayes, Akiyama, Contreras, Hicks

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Rookie third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes will soon compete in alternate site games, and he should thereafter return to the Pirates’ roster, per Kevin Gorman of Triblive.com. Hayes jammed his wrist in the second game of the season. The Pirates have surprisingly held their heads above water in his absence; A win in extras yesterday put their record to 7-9 on the young season. Hayes apparently left some rookie magic behind at the hot corner, as 28-year-old Phillip Evans has slashed .275/.373/.490 in 59 plate appearances as Hayes’ stand-in. Evans has already made 2021 the most prolific campaign of his career, a strong argument to keep a roster spot even after Hayes returns.

Let’s hang out in the NL Central this morning…

  • Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama is working on running drills, per C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic (via Twitter). Manager David Bell wants to see Akiyama in game action at the team’s alternate site this weekend. Even with Aristides Aquino on the injured list, the Reds have no shortage of outfielders thanks to the surprising play of Tyler Naquin. Still, if Akiyami can return as he finished last season, he’s undoubtedly an asset. Akiyama posted a 135 wRC+ in September and October of last season while slashing .317/.456/.365 and providing capable defense at all three spots in the outfield.
  • Whether or not the Cubs are headed towards a rebuild, it’s a good time to work on extending catcher Willson Contreras, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports. Contreras continues to be one of the more dynamic catchers in the game, both in terms of his personality and his play on the field. The Cubs long-time backstop is off to a hot start at the plate, slashing .273/.400/.614 with five home runs through 55 plate appearances. Contreras will be a free agent after 2022, heading into his age-30 season. Appealing as it may be to keep Contreras in Chicago, extensions for positions players have not been part of the Cubs’ current operating procedure.
  • Jordan Hicks is on the Cardinals roster and pitching valuable innings, but he’s also still completing his ramp-up process as he returns from a 22-month layoff, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hicks has tossed seven innings over six appearances, giving up just one earned run on two hits while walking six and striking out seven. More importantly, his stuff has looked as electric as ever, averaging 99.2 mph on his sinking fastball.

Jay Bruce Announces Retirement

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Yankees first baseman Jay Bruce has announced he’s retiring from baseball (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic). Today’s game against the Rays will be the final outing of Bruce’s 14-year MLB career.

“After 14 incredible seasons, I’ve decided to make the very difficult decision to retire from baseball. All I ever wanted to be ’when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say that I got to live out my dream would be the understatement of a lifetime. This sport gave me more than I could’ve ever asked for,” Bruce wrote as part of his announcement (the full statement is available at the above link).

A first-round pick of the Reds in 2005, Bruce would quickly become one of the sport’s most promising young talents. He was a top 100 prospect in each of his first three years in pro ball, eventually becoming Baseball America’s #1 farmhand entering the 2008 season. Bruce made his major league debut in May of that year and hit a decent .254/.314/.453, earning a fifth-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Two years later, Bruce settled in as the middle-of-the-order bat many evaluators expected he’d become. Between 2010-13, the left-handed slugger hit a very productive .262/.337/.489 (119 wRC+), earning back-to-back All-Star selections in 2011-12 and a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP support in 2012-13. Bruce fell off a bit in 2014-15, but he rebounded offensively in 2016 and earned his third and final All-Star selection.

The bulk of Bruce’s career was spent with the Reds, but he continued to produce for a few years after leaving Cincinnati. He hit a career-high 36 home runs during a 2017 season split between the Mets and Indians and popped 26 homers as recently as 2019. He was an above-average hitter during his time with the Mets, as well as in his brief stints in Cleveland and Seattle.

Unfortunately, Bruce’s production has fallen off as he’s entered his 30’s, with increasing struggles to reach base at a passable clip. He didn’t perform well with the Phillies last year and had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Yankees over the offseason. A Spring Training injury to Luke Voit opened up an opportunity for Bruce to begin the year as New York’s first baseman, but he’s stumbled to a .118/.231/.235 line in 39 plate appearances as a Yankee.

Struggles in his final couple seasons notwithstanding, Bruce had a very strong career. Not including any stats he may accrue in this afternoon’s game, the Texas native concludes with a .244/.314/.467 slash line across 6642 MLB plate appearances, making him six percentage points better than the league average hitter by measure of weighted runs created plus.

Bruce had five separate seasons in which he was at least fifteen points above average at the plate. The well-respected veteran had 1455 hits, including 319 home runs, scored 839 times and drove in 951 runs. Altogether, Bruce was worth around 20 wins above replacement and accrued just shy of $103MM in career earnings, per Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Bruce on a fine career and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

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