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Pitching Notes: Hader, Bumgarner, Pearson, Dodgers, Beeks, Wright

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On a night in which White Sox ace Lucas Giolito fired the first no-hitter of 2020, let’s check in on several other notable pitchers…

  • The Brewers are “listening” to offers for star reliever Josh Hader, but it’s not likely the club will trade the 26-year-old left-hander before the Aug. 31 deadline, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link). Milwaukee was also willing to entertain proposals for Hader last winter, but it elected to retain him heading into this year – his first of four potential arbitration seasons. For a bargain price this season (a prorated $4.1MM), Hader has given the Brewers 9 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings with 13 strikeouts and five walks. He’s obviously not someone the Brewers are going to give up for anything less than a massive offer.
  • After throwing a 70-pitch bullpen session Sunday, Diamondbacks southpaw Madison Bumgarner could be closing in on a return from the injured list, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Bumgarner has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a mid-back strain, but he came out of his bullpen session unscathed, which manager Torey Lovullo called “very encouraging news.” The former Giant’s first season as a Diamondback has been anything but encouraging, though. After inking a five-year, $85MM contract in the offseason, Bumgarner has logged a 9.35 ERA/8.79 FIP with 6.75 K/9, 3.63 BB/9 and a 23.7 percent groundball rate in 17 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old averaged a career-worst 87.8 mph on his fastball during that four-start stretch, but Lovullo revealed Bumgarner’s “velo ticked up a little bit” during sim games.
  • Right-hander Nate Pearson, whom the Blue Jays placed on the IL on Aug. 19, has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. He’s hoping to play catch this weekend, Mitchell reports, though it remains unclear if the rookie will return in 2020. Pearson struggled to a 6.61 ERA/7.60 FIP with 7.71 K/9 and 6.61 BB/9 over four starts and 16 1/3 frames before going on the shelf.
  • Dodgers righty Joe Kelly has been on the IL since Aug. 10 with shoulder inflammation, and a return isn’t imminent for the reliever. Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday (via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) that Kelly remains “a ways away” from rejoining the Dodgers. When Kelly does come back, he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension stemming from a July 28 dustup with the Astros. Meanwhile, Dodgers lefty Alex Wood won’t come off the IL before the end of the month, Gurnick tweets. Wood, who’s also dealing with shoulder inflammation, has only made one appearance this year (on July 25).
  • The Rays’ injury-laden pitching staff may have lost yet another hurler Tuesday, when southpaw Jalen Beeks left their game with an elbow/forearm issue. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t come off as optimistic afterward, saying (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com), “It sounded similar to Kitt, but we don’t know anything yet.” Cash was referring to righty Andrew Kittredge, who went on the 45-day IL on Aug. 12 with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. A similar fate would be a season-ender for Beeks, who has been terrific in 2020. The 27-year-old has notched a 3.26 ERA and a much more impressive 1.74 FIP with 12.1 K/9 against 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.
  • Veteran knuckleballer Steven Wright hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 13, 2019, but the former Red Sox righty informed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he’s not ready to call it a career. “I just don’t want to sit back in a few years and wish I had tried it,” said the soon-to-be 36-year-old Wright, who threw 35 pitches from a mound last week and told Abraham, “I’m throwing two bullpens a week and I’m feeling healthy for the first time since 2016.” Wright was an All-Star that year, but he then faced knee problems, Tommy John surgery, a performance-enhancing drugs suspension and an arrest on domestic violence charges (which led to a 15-game ban) during the ensuing seasons.

Latest On Yankees’ Search For Pitching Help

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8:13pm: The Yankees have called the Giants about righty Kevin Gausman, according to Martino. Gausman, whom the Giants signed to a one-year, $9MM contract last winter, has tossed 31 innings of 4.65 ERA ball (with a far shinier 3.10 FIP) and recorded 12.19 K/9 against 1.74 BB/9 this season. The 29-year-old spent 2013-18 in the Yankees’ division, the AL East, as a member of the Orioles.

8:50am: The Yankees find themselves in a familiar position with just six days until the Aug. 31 trade deadline: battling for first place in the AL East with a pitching staff that has been thinned out by injuries. Luis Severino won’t pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and James Paxton just landed on the IL after weeks of shaky results with diminished velocity. Just as Aroldis Chapman returned for his season debut, Zack Britton went down with a hamstring strain. Tommy Kahnle had Tommy John surgery. Southpaw Luis Avilan is out with shoulder troubles. On top of the injuries, Domingo German’s suspension removes him from the depth chart for 2020.

New York still possesses a deep bullpen, even with Kahnle out for the year and Britton sidelined into September, but the rotation is much shakier. Gerrit Cole has been excellent thus far, but Masahiro Tanaka hasn’t thrown more than 71 pitches in a start. Jordan Montgomery has been shaky in his four starts, and J.A. Happ has yielded nine runs in 12 2/3 frames with more walks (10) than strikeouts (6). Cole and Jonathan Loaisiga, who has thrown a total of 5 1/3 innings, are the only Yankees pitchers who have started a game this year and currently carry an ERA under 4.60.

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees are in the market for arms — both in the ’pen and more importantly in the rotation. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees could be particularly intrigued by deals that could allow them to acquire a starter and reliever in one fell swoop. Most clubs are expected to be a bit more averse than usual to parting with prospects at this year’s deadline, given the shortened amount of time they’ll control the players in 2020 and the fact that ownership groups are less willing to take on salary. The Yankees are no exception, so doubling up in a single deal makes some sense.

SNY’s Andy Martino writes that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has already been in touch with the Indians, who are said to be at least “open” to offers on recently demoted right-hander Mike Clevinger. The 29-year-old has been excellent dating back to 2017 (2.97 ERA, 10.2 K/9 in 464 2/3 innings) and has two years of club control remaining beyond 2020. However, he also angered his organization by violating health-and-safety protocols and taking a flight with the club before the team learned of his actions. Clevinger was limited to 21 starts last year due to a teres major strain and an ankle injury, as well.

Elsewhere, Jon Morosi of MLB.com writes that the Yankees are among the many clubs to have inquired on Mariners righty Taijuan Walker. ]Walker is among the surest bets to move between now and Monday afternoon’s deadline, so it’d be more surprising to learn that the Yankees haven’t kicked the tires, but the initial interest is still worth noting. Walker is on a one-year, $2MM deal in Seattle this season and has pitched to a flat 4.00 ERA with a 25-to-8 K/BB ratio in 27 innings. Once one of MLB’s top pitching prospects, he pitched just 14 innings from 2018-19 due to injuries but has looked healthy thus far. Walker’s most recent start saw him hold the Dodgers to three runs on four hits and a walk with eight punchouts in seven innings.

There are obviously plenty of other places for the Yankees to look, but Cleveland and Seattle represent a pair of logical trade partners. If Clevinger is to move, the Indians will assuredly want immediate Major League help. They’re in second place in the AL Central and in clear win-now mode. Affordable outfield help will be paramount on the team’s wish list, as their current group has woefully underperformed. Speculatively speaking, Clint Frazier is a former top draft pick by the Indians. If Cleveland believes Miguel Andujar can play a competent left field, perhaps he’d be of interest as well. For a pitcher of Clevinger’s caliber, even with his stock down, they’d likely seek some additional prospect value rather than a straight-up swap, though. The rebuilding Mariners, meanwhile, may not be quite as insistent on adding MLB-ready help given that they’re not in the 2020 playoff picture. However, they’re beginning to see the fruits of their rebuild emerge at the big league level, so players who could help in the next year or two still seem likely to be an area of focus.

Rangers Release Blake Swihart

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The Rangers announced that they’ve released catcher/outfielder Blake Swihart. He had been at the Rangers’ alternate training site as part of their 60-man player pool.

Formerly a high-end prospect with the Red Sox, Swihart appeared in the majors with the club from 2015-19 before it traded him to Arizona last year. The Diamondbacks outrighted Swihart late in the summer, but he stayed with the organization through the end of the season. Swihart then elected free agency over the winter and wound up with the Rangers on a minor league contract.

Back when the Rangers signed Swihart, they were coming off a year in which their catchers were perhaps the least productive in the majors. Their backstops have continued to struggle this season, but Swihart still wasn’t able to make his way to their big league roster. The 28-year-old will return to the open market as the owner of a .243/.301/.355 line with 12 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 696 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/25/20

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Checking in on the latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Deolis Guerra. The 31-year-old righty had been in limbo since the Phillies designated him for assignment last Saturday. Guerra threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, two walks and eight strikeouts from Philly’s bullpen this season before the club booted him from its roster. In all, Guerra has combined for 103 major league frames with a few teams and put up a 4.81 ERA/4.78 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.

Earlier:

  • The Giants have added first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to their 60-man player pool, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Shaw was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 31) who spent the subsequent few seasons as one of the Giants’ top prospects, but the 26-year-old hasn’t made a mark in the big leagues yet. Across 82 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, Shaw has batted .153/.244/.222 with one home run. But Shaw did enjoy a productive 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for a .294/.360/.559 line and 28 homers in 492 trips to the plate.
  • The Marlins have outrighted catcher Ryan Lavarnway to their alternate site, per a team announcement. Lavarnway got off to a 4-for-11 start at the plate this year, but the Marlins designated him for assignment last week to make room for the return of starting backstop Jorge Alfaro from the injured list. The 33-year-old Lavarnway has now seen regular-season action with seven teams since his career began in 2011.
  • The Brewers announced that left-hander Aaron Ashby is now part of their player pool. Ashby, a 2018 fourth-rounder, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 126 innings between Single-A and High-A last season. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks Ashby as the fifth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, writing that the 22-year-old has “nasty” stuff that could work out of the team’s rotation or bullpen down the line.
  • The Rays have outrighted southpaw Sean Gilmartin, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. This is the second time this year the Rays have outrighted Gilmartin, who will head back to their alternate site. He has thrown 4 1/3 innings of four-earned run ball this season with seven hits and four walks (five strikeouts).

Astros Reopen Alternate Training Site

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AUG. 25: The Astros have reopened their site, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets.

AUG. 22: The Astros’ alternate training site in Corpus Christi was recently shut down due to a positive COVID-19 test, GM James Click told reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome).  “As the result of a single positive test, we have shut down the facility out of an abundance of caution while we go through the Major League Baseball-managed contact tracing and testing protocols,” Astros GM James Click said.

For now, the issue seems restricted to that lone positive result.  Contact tracing efforts didn’t reveal any link between the person who tested positive and anyone on either the Astros’ active roster or traveling party, so “based on the protocols, the big league team is currently unaffected,” Click said.

It isn’t yet known when the alternate site will re-open, leaving the 23 non-MLB members of the Astros’ current player pool in limbo until they are cleared to resume workouts.  It would also seem that the Astros wouldn’t be able to call any of these players up to the big league roster unless they pass testing protocols (usually two negative results on consecutive days, and likely some type of brief quarantine period will be required in this case).  However the process plays out, the Astros will surely be hampered by the loss of their training site, particularly given that a swath of injuries has already forced the team to reach further into its organizational depth chart.

Rangers Reportedly “Entertaining” Offers For Lance Lynn

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The Rangers began 2020 with playoff aspirations, but almost halfway through the campaign, it appears they’ll fall short of their goal. Texas will enter Tuesday’s action a dismal 11-17, 3 1/2 games out of wild-card position and well on its way to a fourth straight season without a playoff berth. Consequently, the Rangers could end up as sellers prior to the Aug. 31 trade deadline. If that’s the case, they may have one of the game’s most appealing trade chips in right-hander Lance Lynn. Although he still has another year of control left after this one, the Rangers are at least “entertaining” offers for Lynn, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link).

Of course, just because the Rangers are willing to listen to teams’ proposals for Lynn doesn’t mean they’re ready to move him. However, there’s a case the Rangers should sell high on Lynn, a former Cardinal, Twin and Yankee who has been brilliant in Texas.

Since signing a three-year, $30MM contract with the Rangers before 2019, Lynn has pitched to a 3.30 ERA/3.17 FIP over 253 2/3 innings. Lynn was an American League Cy Young contender during his first season in Texas, and it appears he’ll be in the thick of the race this year. Through a major league-leading 45 1/3 innings in 2020, Lynn has recorded a 1.59 ERA/3.35 FIP with 9.93 K/9 and 2.78 BB/9.

With only a few weeks left in the regular season, teams may be loath to surrender significant value for most players available around the deadline, as the majority are pending free agents who aren’t vying for major awards. But Lynn’s a Cy Young hopeful who would be able to help a team this year and next, when he’ll be due an affordable $8MM salary, so the Rangers should be in position to land a quality haul for the 33-year-old if they do part with him in the next several days.

Yonny Chirinos Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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AUG. 25: Chirinos underwent successful surgery Tuesday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets.

AUG. 21, 2:22pm: Rays skipper Kevin Cash confirmed to reporters that Chirinos will require Tommy John surgery and likely miss all of the 2021 season as well (Twitter links via Topkin).

1:10pm: Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos landed on the IL this week due to an elbow strain, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times now reports (via Twitter) that the right-hander’s injury is not only a season-ender but will likely require Tommy John surgery. It’s a tough blow to the same first-place Rays pitching staff that just lost Brendan McKay to shoulder surgery and has been without Charlie Morton for two weeks due to shoulder inflammation. Longtime top prospect Brent Honeywell recently underwent another surgery as well.

Chirinos has quietly emerged as an important contributor for the Rays in recent seasons, pitching to a combined 3.65 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.23 HR/9 and a 42.8 percent ground-ball rate. That showing was expected to cement him as a member of the Rays’ starting rotation in 2020, but he’s been limited to 11 1/3 innings by a pair of IL placements due to elbow troubles.

Given the timing of the injury, it’s quite possible that Chirinos will miss the entirety of the 2021 season as well. Tommy John surgery typically requires a minimum of 12 months to recover — quite often closer to 14 months. Perhaps with a speedy recovery, he’ll emerge as a bullpen option for the Rays late next year, but getting any contribution from him at all in ’21 would be a bonus and should not be considered a given.

Fortunately for the Rays, they have their typical brand of enviable starting pitching depth from which they can draw. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Ryan Yarbrough and Trevor Richards are currently making starts with Chirinos, Morton and McKay on the shelf, the the team has several other potential options to which they can turn. Former top prospect Anthony Banda is back from his own Tommy John procedure and working in long relief at the moment. Either he or fellow southpaw Jalen Beeks could conceivably be stretched out to help patch things over. At the alternate training site, well-regarded prospects Shane Baz and Shane McClanahan loom as options as well.

Of course, with the Rays in first place and the Aug. 31 trade deadline looming, the possibility off augmenting the staff with someone not currently in the organization can’t be ruled out. The Rays are considered to have the best minor league system in baseball, so they should have no trouble putting together an alluring package for any of the names that figure to be available. Speculatively speaking, that list could include the likes of Lance Lynn, Dylan Bundy, Taijuan Walker and Kevin Gausman, among numerous others.

Reds Select Jesse Biddle

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The Reds have selected left-hander Jesse Biddle’s contract, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic tweets. The team also placed right-hander Anthony DeSclafani on the paternity list and put infielder Jose Garcia on its taxi squad.

Biddle was a Reds offseason minor league signing who divided 2018-19 among the Braves, Mariners and Rangers. His career began quite well during his first year, in which Biddle tossed 63 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA/3.88 FIP ball with 9.47 K/9, 4.38 BB/9 and a 55.6 percent groundball rate. But things went south last year for Biddle, who could only muster an 8.36 ERA/6.46 FIP in 28 innings, owing largely to a horrid 7.07 BB/9 and an almost 10 percent drop in grounder rate.

The 28-year-old Biddle will now join a Reds bullpen that, like the team itself, has underwhelmed this season. Reds relievers will go into Tuesday 26th in the majors in ERA and 23rd in FIP.

Braves Activate Nick Markakis, Option Cristian Pache

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The Braves have activated outfielder Nick Markakis from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Cristian Pache, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets.

Markakis is back after missing week of action because he may have come into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. That interrupted an excellent start to the season for Markakis, who has slashed .353/.421/.616 in 38 plate appearances. He’ll now rejoin the just-reinstated Ronald Acuna Jr., Marcell Ozuna and Ender Inciarte as the Braves’ top outfield options.

Pache, whom the Braves promoted the same day Markakis landed on the IL, only totaled four plate appearances in his first major league experience. But as a 21-year-old who ranks among the sport’s premier prospects, it shouldn’t be long before Pache gets a legitimate chance to prove himself in the majors.

Cubs Activate Jose Quintana, Tyler Chatwood

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The Cubs announced that they have activated left-hander Jose Quintana and righty Tyler Chatwood from the injured list. The club optioned righty Jason Adam and outfielder Ian Miller to its alternate site in corresponding moves.

Quintana hasn’t pitched this season after undergoing left thumb surgery in early July, though he’s known for consistently providing solid production over a large number of innings. The 31-year-old will head into this season with a 3.72 ERA/3,65 FIP in 1,485 innings divided between Chicago’s two teams. While 246 of Quintana’s lifetime 250 appearances have come as a starter, he seems likely to function as a reliever this year, at least in the early going.

Chatwood, meanwhile, will rejoin the Cubs’ rotation after missing a couple weeks with a back strain. The former Rockie has largely been a disappointment since he signed a three-year, $38MM contract with the Cubs before 2018, but his platform season has brought some encouraging signs. Chatwood’s 5.40 ERA through 15 innings is unsightly, though he has turned in two very good starts versus one clunker this season. He has so far logged an excellent 13.8 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9, and put up a 2.60 FIP/2.71 xFIP/2.91 SIERA.

The Cubs will give Chatwood another chance to hang on to a rotation spot alongside Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Alec Mills. However, if he flops upon his return, Quintana could move back into their starting five.

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