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60-Man Player Pool Additions: 9/9/20

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Here are the latest players added to their team’s 60-man player pool …

  • Hurlers Penn Murfee and Ian McKinney are now a part of the Mariners’ 60-man group, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. The 26-year-old Murfee had a strong 2019 showing, producing good numbers at the High-A level and then dominating Arizona Fall League hitters. It’s possible he could be an option at the MLB level if he shows well at the alternate training site. The same holds true of McKinney, 25, who joined Murfee as a productive member of the Modesto rotation last year. McKinney is a 2013 draftee who joined the Seattle organization as a minor-league free agent in advance of the 2019 season.
  • The Rays brought aboard a pair of youngsters in righty Seth Johnson and infielder Ford Proctor, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times covers on Twitter. The 40th overall pick of the 2019 draft, Johnson hasn’t pitched above the Rookie ball level and is likely being added for developmental purposes. Proctor, 23, is a 2018 third-rounder who has shown strong on-base ability but little power in the low minors. He appeared this year in the Constellation Energy League, knocking out a healthy .346/.500/.679 slash in 28 games.
  • The Padres have added youngster Owen Caissie to their pool at just 18 years of age, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports via Twitter. It’s quite the vote of confidence in the recent second-round pick, who obviously won’t be expected to make his professional debut this year at the MLB level. The Canadian outfielder will get some excellent experience at the Friars’ alternate training site before joining an affiliate in 2021.

Latest On Jed Lowrie

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It doesn’t appear Mets infielder Jed Lowrie will end up playing for the club this year, Tim Britton of The Athletic relays. The regular season is only a couple weeks from ending, but manager Luis Rojas said Wednesday he’s not sure whether Lowrie is participating in baseball activities.

“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Rojas said of Lowrie, who Britton notes has been eligible to come off the 45-day injured list for a week.

Lowrie has missed all but nine games since last season as a result of leg problems, including to his left knee this year. Since signing a two-year, $20MM contract with the Mets before 2019, Lowrie has totaled zero hits over eight plate appearances. That obviously wasn’t what the Mets had in mind when they picked up the switch-hitting Lowrie, now 36, off two straight healthy and highly impressive seasons with the Athletics.

Lowrie spent his best seasons in Oakland at second and third base (primarily the keystone), but New York hasn’t been without solutions at those positions during his prolonged absence in 2020. The Mets have mostly given second to a resurgent Robinson Cano and third to J.D. Davis, while Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme have been among those to fill in at those spots when necessary. The club’s still a disappointing 19-24, but it’s certainly not because Lowrie has been unavailable. And after back-to-back frustrating seasons, it seems likely the Mets will wave goodbye to Lowrie in free agency during the upcoming winter, ending what has been a regrettable union for the club.

Marlins Designate Justin Shafer For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they’ve designated right-hander Justin Shafer for assignment and reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the restricted list. The club sent Diaz to its alternate training site, and it also added outfielder Connor Scott to its 60-man player pool.

The 27-year-old Shafer joined the Marlins via waivers from the Reds in late July, when Miami was dealing with a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak. Shafer came to the team as someone with a 3.75 ERA in 48 major league innings, all with the Blue Jays, but his Marlins tenure has gone terribly so far. He threw 5 2/3 innings of eight-run ball while allowing eight hits and eight walks (against four strikeouts) before they designated him.

Scott, the Marlins’ 15th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, was the 13th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The 20-year-old topped out last season at High-A, where he batted .235/.306/.327 with one home run in 111 plate appearances.

Latest On Justin Verlander

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This season hasn’t gone as hoped for the reigning American League champion Astros, who have started 22-21 while dealing with several notable injuries. They have gone nearly the entire campaign without 2019 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who made one start in July and has been out since with a forearm strain, but it seems there is hope the right-hander will return this year. Manager Dusty Baker told Jake Kaplan of The Athletic and other reporters that Verlander was in line for a 50- to 55-pitch bullpen session Wednesday.

It remains to be seen whether Verlander will get through the session without setbacks, but it’s nonetheless encouraging that he has progressed to this point. Should he get through it unscathed, Verlander could be close to rejoining the Astros, who would make the playoffs if the season ended now.

Thankfully for Verlander-less Houston, Framber Valdez has established himself as a solid starter this year, which has helped complement Zack Greinke in their staff and make up for the loss of Verlander to a degree. Rookie Cristian Javier has stopped runs at a good rate (3.46 ERA over 41 2/3 innings), meanwhile, but his peripherals aren’t as encouraging. And though the Astros did just get back Jose Urquidy back from the injured list, they had to place Lance McCullers Jr. on the IL on Sept. 6 with neck issues. So, while the Astros would be thrilled to welcome a healthy and effective Verlander back under any circumstance, he may be especially helpful in the next few weeks.

Mariners Select Jimmy Yacabonis

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The Mariners have selected the contract of right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis from their alternate training site, the team announced. They optioned fellow righty Brady Lail in a corresponding move.

The 28-year-old Yacabonis is new to the Seattle organization, which acquired him from San Diego for cash on Aug. 19. Yacabonis previously signed a minor league contract with the Padres last offseason, but he didn’t wind up seeing any major league action as a member of the club. He did, however, appear in the bigs with the Orioles in each season from 2017-19. During that 101 2/3-inning span, Yacabonis pitched to a 5.75 ERA/6.01 FIP with 6.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9.

Yacabonis will now join a Mariners bullpen that, as Greg Johns of MLB.com points out, may need some fresh arms at the moment. Their relief corps pitched most of Tuesday’s loss to the Giants after Ljay Newsome left with an injury following just 1 2/3 innings of work.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On 10-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks have placed second baseman Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list with wrist inflammation, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. They also recalled infielder/outfielder Josh VanMeter and right-hander Joel Payamps, and optioned lefty Joe Mantiply.

The Diamondbacks are arguably the majors’ most disappointing team at an NL-worst 15-28, and with their playoff hopes all but dead, it’s possible we have seen the last of Marte in 2020. His presence was among the reasons Arizona was a popular pick as a contender entering this year. After all, just a season ago, Marte posted an MVP-level 7.1 fWAR with a .329/.389/.592 line and 32 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 628 plate appearances.

On the heels of last season’s tremendous performance, there wasn’t much reason to believe Marte would fall off dramatically this year. But he, like his team, has. Thanks in part to a significant decrease in walk percentage (8.4 to 2.9) and a massive drop in power (.264 ISO versus .117), he has hit a relatively underwhelming .290/.342/.407 with two homers and a single steal over 173 PA. Marte has also endured a roughly 6 percent decrease in hard-hit rate, per FanGraphs, and has seen his expected weighted on-base average fall from .379 to .327.

Blue Jays Place Rowdy Tellez On 10-Day IL

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4:39pm: The Blue Jays have placed Tellez on the IL and recalled outfielder Billy McKinney, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.

3:28pm: The Blue Jays are likely to place first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez on the 10-day injured list with a right knee strain, Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star tweets.

At 24-18 and in possession of an American League playoff spot, Toronto has been one of the game’s pleasant surprises this year. The 25-year-old Tellez has been among the reasons the Blue Jays have jumped out to such a quality record and have scored the majors’ ninth-most runs (210). Tellez has slashed an excellent .283/.347/.540 with eight home runs in 127 plate appearances in 2020. Of course, with such a small amount of time left in the regular season, it’s unknown if Tellez will be able to return in the coming weeks. For now, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Travis Shaw will take up the lion’s share of playing time at first base.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, this is the second major injury their offense has dealt with this week. They previously lost outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who has been an elite hitter this season, to a left oblique strain. Nevertheless, the Jays will go for a sweep against the division-rival Yankees on Wednesday.

Tigers Reinstate Jordan Zimmermann, Select Nick Ramirez

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The Tigers have reinstated right-hander Jordan Zimmermann from the injured list and selected lefty Nick Ramirez, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com tweets. In other moves, they optioned righties John Schreiber and Kyle Funkhouser and moved a pair of players – righty Ivan Nova and outfielder JaCoby Jones – to the 45-day IL.

Zimmermann, out all season with forearm issues, will make his 2020 debut with a start against the Cardinals on Thursday. Surprisingly, the 34-year-old will rejoin a team with at least a glimmer of a playoff chance as the regular season runs out of time. The Tigers haven’t qualified for the playoffs in any season since they signed Zimmermann, a former Nationals standout, to a five-year, $110MM contract before 2016, but they’re alive this year with a 19-22 record.

Of course, the failed Zimmermann deal is among the many reasons Detroit has struggled so much in recent years. Zimmermann has only given the Tigers 508 2/3 innings of 5.61 ERA/4.86 FIP ball so far. No matter how this season ends, though, Zimmermann seems likely to end up in search of a new organization soon as a pending free agent.

Ramirez, 31, made his major league debut with the Tigers last year and performed respectably, recording a 4.07 ERA/4.51 FIP across 79 2/3 innings from their bullpen. He logged 8.36 K/9, 3.95 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent groundball rate in the process.

Kluber, Leclerc, Santana Won’t Return To Rangers This Season

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SEPT. 9: Santana underwent elbow surgery and will miss seven to eight months, TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. That could jeopardize at least some of Santana’s 2021 campaign, which will be his final arbitration-eligible season. After Santana made a prorated $3.6MM this season, the Rangers will have to decide whether to keep him on the heels of a rough year.

SEPT. 5: Three injured Rangers players are done for the season, as manager Chris Woodward told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that Corey Kluber, Jose Leclerc, and Danny Santana won’t return to action in 2020.  Kluber and Leclerc were each already on the 45-day injured list with teres major problems, while Santana has been on the 10-day IL since August 28 due to a right elbow strain.

The Rangers expected all three to be key contributors this season, hoping for a repeat of Santana’s breakout 2019 numbers, Leclerc to return to his 2018 form after a somewhat shaky 2019, and for Kluber to bounce back from an injured-plagued 2019 season that ultimately closed the book on the former ace’s tenure in Cleveland.

Instead, Kluber pitched in just one inning of one game for Texas before hitting the IL with a grade 2 tear of the teres major muscle.  Leclerc only banked two games before suffering a strain in his own teres major muscle, while Santana has been limited to 63 PA in 15 games (and only a .145/.238/.273 slash line) thanks to two trips to the injured list.  A right forearm strain put Santana on the 10-day IL on August 2 and kept him out of action until the middle of the month.

Leclerc is under contract through at least the 2022 season, while Santana has one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining before hitting free agency in the 2021-22 offseason.  Santana obviously won’t earn much of a raise on his $3.6MM salary for 2020, but given how the Rangers (like many teams) are planning on a lower payroll next season, it is conceivable that Santana could be non-tendered and then pursued at a lower price than a salary in the ballpark of $3.6 or $3.7MM.

Of course, a big chunk of money will be coming off the Rangers’ books in the form of Kluber’s contract, as Texas is surely unlikely to exercise its $18MM club option on the veteran righty for the 2021 campaign.  With just 36 2/3 total innings pitched since the start of the 2019 season, Kluber will be hard-pressed to find anything more than a single guaranteed year on his next contract, though his track record could still land him another Major League deal.  We aren’t far removed, after all, from the dominant five-year stretch Kluber delivered in the Indians’ rotation from 2014-18 — 2.85 ERA, 10.1 K/9, 5.51 K/BB rate, two AL Cy Young Awards, and an average of 218 innings pitched.

Mets Place Robert Gsellman On 10-Day Injured List

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3:05pm: The Mets don’t expect Gsellman to return this year, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News tweets.

2:45pm: The Mets have placed right-hander Robert Gsellman on the 10-day injured list due to a fractured rib.  Right-hander Drew Smith was called up from the alternate training site.

While the exact severity of Gsellman’s injury isn’t known, a rib fracture would likely indicate that his 2020 campaign is over with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season.  The right-hander already missed time earlier this season with a triceps injury and didn’t make his season debut until August 8.

The injuries have undoubtedly contributed to a rough year for Gsellman on the mound.  Working as both a reliever and as a starter, Gsellman has a 9.64 ERA over 14 innings, with almost as many walks (eight) as strikeouts (nine).  Gsellman has also been tagged for four homers over his 14 innings for an ungainly 2.6 HR/9.  A big piece of that damage came in last night’s game, when Gsellman allowed six runs to the Orioles over 3 2/3 innings.

Gsellman broke into the big leagues as a starter, though transitioned to relief work in 2018-19 and was only called back to starting this season to help fill the gaps left by the Mets’ many rotation injuries.  The 27-year-old is pitching in his fifth MLB season and will be arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter.  Since he isn’t likely to earn much of a raise over his $1.225MM salary from 2020, it wouldn’t cost the Mets much to bring Gsellman back and hope for better health in 2021.

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