Cubs, Willson Contreras Avoid Arbitration
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Dansby Swanson Wins Arbitration Case; Braves Win Case Over Adam Duvall
Two of the Braves’ remaining arbitration situations have been resolved. As first reported by the Associated Press, Dansby Swanson has won his case and will receive a $10MM salary. Adam Duvall, meanwhile, will make $9.275MM after losing his case. Both players will reach free agency after this season, as this was the final trip through the arb process for each.
Swanson and the Braves had an $800K dispute, with the team filing at $9.2MM. That came on the heels of a .248/.311/.449 showing last year, in which the shortstop started 158 regular season games. Swanson hit 27 home runs and drove in 88 runners, and he’ll be rewarded with a $4MM pay bump over that season’s $6MM salary in spite of the pedestrian batting average and on-base marks.
Duvall, meanwhile, blasted a career-high 38 homers in 146 games split between the Marlins and Braves. He only hit .228 with a meager .281 OBP, but the 33-year-old tied for fourth in Major League Baseball with 113 runs batted in. Duvall also claimed his first career Gold Glove Award for his work in right field, leading him to forego his end of a $7MM mutual option for the 2022 campaign. That was an easy call, as the Braves tendered him an arbitration contract, and he’ll make a fair bit more money than the option price even after losing at his hearing. Duvall’s camp had been seeking a $10.125MM salary, so he’ll land $1MM shy of his goal.
Of course, the differences in the 2022 campaigns for Swanson and Duvall are striking. The former is hitting at arguably a career-best level, carrying a .279/.348/.428 slash line and positioning himself well for a lucrative multi-year contract next winter. Duvall, on the other hand, has stumbled to a personal-worst .199/.260/.309 and has hit just three homers through 54 games.
The players’ respective performances this year are not supposed to play any role in the arbitrators’ decisions. The hearings are typically conducted over the offseason, but the lockout caused unsettled cases to linger into the season. Nevertheless, the cases presented are to be determined based on the players’ pre-2022 track records, their platform salaries and the performance of previous players in their respective service buckets.
Swanson and Duvall were two of five Atlanta players not to come to terms with the team before going to a hearing. The Braves won cases over both third baseman Austin Riley and reliever Luke Jackson earlier this year. Starter Max Fried still has a pending hearing, with a modest gap between the sides’ respective $6.85MM and $6.6MM filings.
Twins Reinstate Carlos Correa, Select Jharel Cotton
The Twins announced they’ve reinstated Carlos Correa from the injured list, a bit more than a week after the star shortstop tested positive for COVID-19. Jermaine Palacios, who was selected to the majors as a designated “substitute” once Correa went on the IL, has been returned to Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move. Minnesota also selected reliever Jharel Cotton back to the big league club, filling the spot vacated when they designated Juan Minaya for assignment last night.
Correa is back in the lineup tonight against the Yankees, although manager Rocco Baldelli will ease him in with a start at designated hitter. Minnesota’s marquee offseason pickup has overcome a slow start to carry a quality .279/.344/.407 season line into play tonight. He’s only hit three home runs, but the 27-year-old has collected nine doubles and a batting average and on-base percentage well better than the respective .240 and .311 league marks.
The virus absence was the second of the season for Correa, who also landed on the shelf with a bruised finger. That proved a brief stay, one that was welcome after initial x-rays suggested he’d potentially suffered a fracture. Correa has only appeared in 35 of the Twins’ 57 games as a result, but the club has nevertheless built a four-game lead in the American League Central. They’ll hope the two-time All-Star — who can opt out of the final two years and $70.2MM on his deal next offseason — remains in the lineup for good through the summer months.
Palacios picked up eight starts at shortstop in Correa’s absence, struggling in his first look at big league pitching. He heads back to St. Paul, where he’s posted a .262/.325/.376 line through 163 trips to the plate. Palacios will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, and the Twins weren’t required to run him through waivers because he’d been specifically brought to the big leagues as a virus substitute. He’ll look to earn a more lasting promotion with the Saints.
Cotton followed that path, getting called up just two days after being returned to the minors. The right-hander was selected as a substitute for the players who went on the restricted list for the team’s weekend series in Toronto, but he was taken back off the roster when that group was reinstated on Monday.
This time around, Cotton is earning a more typical promotion to the majors. He’s now longer a substitute, so Minnesota would have to designate him for assignment and try to run him through waivers were they to again look to remove him from the 40-man roster. They’ve already done so once this year, as Cotton was outrighted off the roster last month but accepted an assignment to Triple-A and has worked his way back.
The 30-year-old has appeared in six games for the MLB club this year, tossing 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball with ten strikeouts but six walks. Cotton has had a strong showing in ten outings with St. Paul, allowing four runs in 11 2/3 frames while punching out a third of the batters he’s faced. He rejoins the big league bullpen as a result, taking the place of the struggling Minaya. Cotton is out of minor league option years, so he has to stick on the MLB roster or again be exposed to waivers now that he’s reclaimed a 40-man spot.
White Sox Claim Parker Markel From A’s
The White Sox announced they’ve claimed reliever Parker Markel off waivers from the Athletics and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago already had a 40-man roster vacancy, so no additional move was necessary.
Oakland designated Markel for assignment this week, ending his tenure in the organization after just three big league appearances. The 31-year-old walked five batters in only three innings during that time, a continuation of some longstanding control issues. He walked an elevated 12.7% of batters faced across 19 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas prior to his call-up, and he struggled to throw strikes during his only previous MLB action back in 2019.
That said, Markel has also flashed promising swing-and-miss stuff. He’s punched out an excellent 35.4% of opponents in Triple-A this season, and he fanned batters at a nearly identical rate last year in Triple-A with the Padres. Markel averaged 95 MPH with above-average raw spin on his fastball during his brief big league look in Oakland, and his low-80s slider has promising two-plane movement.
The fastball-slider pairing has flummoxed many hitters in the upper minors, and the Sox will take a low-risk shot to add some bullpen depth. Markel still has a pair of option years remaining, so the White Sox can shuttle him between Chicago and Charlotte for each of the next two seasons if he retains his spot on the 40-man roster.