Mariners Place Jake Fraley, Anthony Misiewicz On 10-Day Injured List
The Mariners made a handful of roster moves today. They placed Jake Fraley on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Anthony Misiewicz was also placed on the injured list because of a left forearm strain.
Fraley has made headway this season in making himself a big league outfielder, slashing .213/.359/.388 in 220 plate appearances, making his season thus far worth 1.5 rWAR. Misiewicz, meanwhile, has made 54 appearances covering 46 1/3 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA/3.32 FIP, 24.1 percent strikeout rate, 5.6 percent walk rate, and 44.9 percent groundball rate.
To fill their roster spots, Wyatt Mills was recalled from Triple-A, and Jimmy Yacabonis had his contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster, Shed Long was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Long went on the injured list on July 30, so he’s very likely done for the year. Keynan Middleton was also outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
Yacabonis will make his first appearance in the bigs since last year when he made two appearances with the Mariners. For his career, he owns a 5.71 ERA/6.05 FIP across 104 innings, mostly with the Orioles from 2017 to 2019. The 29-year-old right-hander has been sharp in Triple-A this season, tossing 31 1/3 innings with a 1.74 ERA. He will provide the Mariners with some length out of the bullpen should they need it.
Cardinals Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day Injured List
The Cardinals have placed Andrew Miller on the 10-day injured list because of a left foot blister, per the team. This will be the second time Miller misses time because of a blister on his foot. He missed the entire month of May because of a similar injury. When healthy, he has a 4.94 ERA/4.54 FIP over 31 innings.
Kodi Whitley has been recalled from Triple-A to take Miller’s roster spot. Whitley has made 12 appearances with the big league club this year, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits and seven walks while striking out eight over 10 1/3 innings.
Additionally, Dakota Hudson will head to Palm Beach for a rehab assignment in Single-A, and Mark Saxon suggests Hudson could pitch out of the Cardinals bullpen soon. Hudson has been out for the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cardinals would love to have a healthy Hudson in their rotation next season, but this year they will focus on working his arm back into game shape. Hudson’s one full season resulted in 174 2/3 innings of 3.35 ERA baseball back in 2019.
Indians Option James Karinchak To Triple-A
The Indians have optioned reliever James Karinchak to Triple-A, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (via Twitter). Bobby Bradley will be activated from the injured list to take Karinchak’s roster spot.
Karinchak was a popular breakout candidate this season because of his gaudy strikeout numbers, and for awhile, Karinchak made good on that promise. But it’s been a different story in the second half. After recording an absurd 42.5 percent strikeout rate in the first half, that number has fallen to 12.5 percent in the second half. His FIP has tumbled from 3.12 to 7.64.
Karinchak’s spin rates have plummeted all season long on both his fastball and his curve. His In Zone Swing & Miss Percentages have fallen as well, from 26% on his four-seamer in June to just 9% on that same pitch in August.
As for Bradley, the powerful first baseman slashed .213/.316/.480 over 174 plate appearances, his first real crack at regular playing time in the bigs. He’s been out since August 7 with a knee sprain.
MLBTR Poll: What Should The Cardinals Do With Alex Reyes?
The Cardinals rotation has featured a series of guest stars and few regulars this season, with 12 different pitchers taking a turn and only 40-year-old Adam Wainwright logging enough innings to qualify. As a group, they’re 13th in the Majors in terms of starters’ innings, and 12th league-wide by measure of ERA (4.02 ERA). By measure of FIP, however, their 4.46 FIP ranks 20th in the game, and if we look ahead to 2022, there’s more than enough uncertainty to make nervous thinkers in Redbird Nation fret.
The five guys currently taking hill turns for manager Mike Shildt have an average age of 36.5, so it’s not a sprightly group. Except for Miles Mikolas, they’re all heading towards free agency at year’s end, too. In fact, of those 12 players who have started a game in 2021, six will be free agents, and John Gant has already been dealt to Minnesota. All of which is to say, the Cardinals have their work cut out for them before Opening Day 2022.
The cupboard isn’t barren, however. For starters, there will be the annual Wainwright retirement question. But with Yadier Molina coming back for one final season, isn’t it almost too perfect for Waino to do anything but follow suit?
Jack Flaherty raises the ceiling of the group, and they’ve made clear that priority one is getting their ace ready for next season, even if that means shutting it down the rest of this year. Dakota Hudson will be an interesting wildcard as he returns from Tommy John. Mikolas is also trying to get healthy, having made just three starts this season. The Cards are on the hook to pay him $17MM in each of the next two seasons, so if the 33-year-old can get healthy, he should have a rotation spot.
Not to mention, any of Jake Woodford, Johan Oviedo, T.J. Zeuch, Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson, or Angel Rondon could be given a look. There are definitely arms floating around in the organization that could ramp up to earn rotation minutes.
But there’s another familiar name that’s going to be given a chance to win a rotation spot: Alex Reyes.
Reyes turns 27-years-old tomorrow, and the former top prospect is in the midst of an establishing campaign. In what’s really been his first full season in the bigs, Reyes has a 2.50 ERA/3.90 FIP over 57 2/3 innings. His usage has certainly been consistent: of his 55 appearances, 50 of them have finished the game, a mark that leads the Majors. Simply put, he’s gone from a high-ceiling rotation question mark to an All-Star closer.
But next season, Reyes will follow Carlos Martinez in the Cardinal tradition of yo-yo-ing organizational expectations from starter to closer and back again. Let’s be clear, for this season, Reyes is the Cardinals closer and that’s the end of it. But next year is a different story, said Shildt on MLB Network Radio. Reyes will be given the opportunity to compete for a rotation spot in 2022.
Reyes has maintained a starter’s arsenal in the bullpen, throwing his fastball, slider, and sinker with almost equal usage rates. He’s been even more diverse against lefties, mixing in an occasional curveball or change-up as needed. His heater has averaged 96.5 mph, which is right around what he was averaging when he first came up as a starter. It might be, then, that he’d lose a tick or two if spread out to a starter’s workload.
The concern relates to his injury history and whether or not the Cards should risk losing another valuable bullpen arm by risking a move to the rotation. There’s more upside in the rotation, of course, but there’s something to be said for letting Reyes stay where he’s been successful. After all, if there’s a desire to get him more time on the mound, the Cards could ramp up his usage with multi-inning outings instead of making a full-scale switch to the rotation.
However many innings Reyes finishes with this season will be his most in a single year since the 2016 campaign. He threw between 100 and 110 innings from 2014 to 2016, which is pretty typical for a young arm on the rise. Whether one healthy season is enough to make Reyes ready for that kind of workload again is unclear.
As a starter, of course, the hope would be that he’d surpass even those totals. That said, it’s looking like only Wainwright and Kwang Hyun Kim will accumulate more than 100 innings from the Cards’ rotation this season, so there’s space to make an impact even without posting an 150-inning season.
Even tempering expectations, the Cards could expect 40-50 more innings from Reyes if he can stay healthy in the rotation. Considering his injury history, however, it’s tempting to take the money on the table now and settle in with Reyes as the closer of the next few years.
Of course, Cardinal closers haven’t been any more immune to arm injuries than their starters have, so there’s an argument to be made that whichever course they take with Reyes, there’s risk. If that’s the case, why not pursue the upside of a rotation slot?
From the beginning of the year, the Cardinals have maintained that this season would be an opportunity to inch Reyes’ workload closer to that of a starter and look ahead next season. He’s been much closer to a traditional reliever than the multi-inning firearm we might have expected, but he’s still likely to finish with something close to 70 innings.
The last consideration is timeline. Even though this will be Reyes’ first full season in the Majors, he has just two years of arbitration remaining, so it might be now or never to see if Reyes can be a starter before he hits the open market. Two years as a starter might make Reyes too pricey for the Cards, but it might also give them enough certainty to lock him up at the right rate, knowing he could be a starter moving forward.
Wainwright believes Reyes can make the jump, per Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who provides this quote from Reyes about Wainwright: “He always looks at me and tells me, ‘Hey man, you’re a starter. You know I was there, and I was able to do it. I believe you can. Just those words of encouragement, they make me feel good. And also, they give me the thought. Someone like Adam Wainwright, who has had such a long career here and has been pitching for so long, if he thinks like that of me?”
Let’s give the St. Louis brass some help and point them in the right direction.
(poll link for app users)
Where Should Alex Reyes Pitch In 2022?
-
Rotation 57% (3,068)
-
Bullpen 43% (2,350)
Total votes: 5,418
A’s Place Seth Brown On COVID-Related Injured List, Recall Daulton Jefferies
The Athletics placed Seth Brown on the injured list after a positive COVID-19 test, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Daulton Jefferies was recalled from the taxi squad to claim his roster spot.
Brown has been part of the fix in right field after the club lost Ramon Laureano and Stephen Piscotty to a suspension and wrist surgery, respectively. Brown’s walk rate is a little low (8.2 percent) and his strikeout rate is a little high (29.2 percent), but he brings power to the position with a .254 ISO. With 254 plate appearances, the 29-year-old has not been an insubstantial contributor for these A’s, despite just a .219 BABIP that, along with the metrics above, paint Brown as a boom-or-bust type of role player.
Of course, the greater part of the story for Brown is that he’s been strictly a platoon player, with 233 plate appearances coming against right-handers. For that kind of limited usage player, you’d like to see even stronger splits, however, as Brown’s 100 wRC+ against righties suggests he’s holding the line as an average bat — but not much more than that.
Without him (and maybe even when he returns), the A’s piece together their final outfielder with infielders Tony Kemp, Josh Harrison, and Chad Pinder, depending on match-ups. Mark Canha also plays a role in Frankenstein-ing this roster spot, as he slides from left to right field depending on who else is in the lineup. The A’s seem more comfortable with Pinder in right, while Kemp and Harrison have taken their turns in left.
As for Jefferies, he’s most likely just an insurance arm in this short interval without Brown. The 26-year-old has served as a starter in all 16 of his outings this year, of which only one took place in the bigs. His arm should be fresh, however, as he hasn’t started a game since August 20th in Triple-A.
Kenta Maeda To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Kenta Maeda will undergo elbow surgery next week, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). It won’t be known exactly what procedure Maeda will require until he goes under the knife, but it’s possible he’ll need a full Tommy John surgery.
Obviously, Maeda’s timetable will depend on the kind of procedure he ultimately undergoes. If Maeda does require a complete reconstruction, that would probably rule him out for the entirety of the 2022 season, since Tommy John surgeries typically require rehab timelines of fourteen-plus months. Even a surgery of lesser severity could threaten his readiness for the start of next season.
For instance, Astros left-hander Kent Emanuel had an undetermined amount of ligament damage in his elbow at the time he underwent surgery in June. As with Maeda, it wasn’t clear at the time whether Emanuel would need a full reconstruction. During the operation, it was determined that he didn’t need to undergo TJS, but the procedure he did undergo still came with a nine-month recovery timeline. That’s just one example, and it’s not a given that Maeda is facing the same options Emanuel was. But it’s illustrative that even avoiding Tommy John surgery in these situations could still require a significant recovery period.
The Twins are playing out the string for the rest of 2021, so the effects of losing Maeda for the remainder of this season are relatively minimal. His absence potentially extending into 2022 would be devastating for a Minnesota team hoping to return to contention next season. With José Berríos traded to the Blue Jays before this summer’s deadline, Maeda is by far the most accomplished member of Minnesota’s starting staff.
Michael Pineda is slated to hit free agency this offseason, leaving Bailey Ober, Charlie Barnes, Griffin Jax, Lewis Thorpe and Randy Dobnak as the other starters controllable into 2022. That’s an unproven group insufficient for a hopeful contender. Prospects like Jordan Balazovic or Joe Ryan could pitch their way into the mix at some point soon, but starting pitching already looked to be the biggest area of need for Minnesota this winter. Even if Maeda doesn’t require Tommy John surgery, the front office will have to proceed through the offseason without the comfort of seeing their top in-house pitcher having logged any game action after an elbow procedure of some note.
It’s a disappointing end to the toughest season of Maeda’s six-year big league career. The right-hander consistently posted above-average numbers between 2016-19 with the Dodgers. Minnesota acquired him over the 2019-20 offseason and he had a career-best campaign in last year’s shortened season. Maeda worked to a 2.70 ERA over 66 2/3 innings, earning a runner-up finish in AL Cy Young award balloting.
Maeda couldn’t replicate that success this season, as that ERA ballooned to a career-worst 4.66 over 106 1/3 frames. The 33-year-old has seen significant declines in strikeout and ground-ball rates relative to last season, which looks like a bit of an outlier. But Maeda’s strikeout and walk numbers are still solid, and his 3.97 SIERA suggests he’s at least still a quality arm as he was for his couple seasons in Los Angeles.
If Maeda is forced to miss significant time in 2022, that’d come with serious financial consequences. His original eight-year deal with the Dodgers was heavily incentive-laden because of the L.A. front office’s concern about his medical outlook. Maeda is guaranteed just $3.125MM annually, with millions of dollars in bonuses available via games started and innings thresholds.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/27/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Minnesota Twins signed right-hander Vinny Nittoli to a minors deal and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (via Twitter). Nittoli, 30, made his Major League debut earlier this season with the Mariners. He threw one inning, allowing a pair of runs on a pair of walks and a home run. He had a 5.61 ERA in Triple-A over 33 2/3 innings.
- Bo Takahashi has been released from his contract to sign with the Kia Tigers in Korea, per his former club the Louisville Bats. The Bats, of course, are the Triple-A affiliate of the Reds. Takahashi had a 4.45 ERA in 89 innings while serving as a regular starter in Louisville.
Tigers Preparing To Return Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd To Rotation
The Tigers have designated Ian Krol for assignment in order to make room for Jose Urena, who will come off the injured list tomorrow, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group (via Twitter).
In 12 appearances, Krol has a 5.11 ERA/3.82 FIP covering 12 1/3 innings. Urena has been out since July 17th with a groin strain. The veteran right-hander posted a mostly unimpressive 80 innings of 6.19 ERA baseball through 17 starts. Nevertheless, Urena is scheduled to reclaim his spot in the rotation tomorrow.
Matthew Boyd is also returning to the Tigers this weekend to start Sunday’s game. Another roster move will be required to bring him onto the roster. Boyd hasn’t pitched since June 15th, but he’s a big piece of their rotation moving into next season.
Angels Select Cooper Criswell, Recall Packy Naughton
The Angels made a number of roster moves before Friday night’s ballgame, including the selection of Cooper Criswell, who started the game for his Major League debut. Kean Wong was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the roster, per the team.
In addition, Packy Naughton was recalled from Triple-A, and James Hoyt was optioned to Triple-A. Naughton made his Major League debut earlier this season, tossing one inning against the Dodgers back on May 8th. He allowed one run on a hit and a walk. Naughton’s long-term future may still be in the rotation, even if the Angels use him out of the bullpen again.
The well-traveled Hoyt has made it into nine games the Halos, serving up 11 hits, seven walks, and 11 runs (10 earned) over just eight innings. Wong, 26, slashed .171/.190/.268 in 45 plate appearances.
Central Notes: Royals, Cardinals, Tigers
The Royals are placing Brad Keller on the 10-day injured list with a right lat strain, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com (via Twitter). Josh Staumont has returned from the COVID-related injured list to take his roster spot. Keller has reliably taken his rotation turn all season long for Kansas City, totaling 133 2/3 innings across 26 starts (though he was removed from his last start). The quality of those turns hasn’t perhaps been what Keller or the Royals would hope, however, as he owns a 5.39 ERA/4.72 FIP and -0.2 rWAR. Staumont, for his part, spent just one day on the injured list.
Let’s take a spin around the Midwest and see what shakes loose…
- Carlos Martinez is probably done for the year, per MLB.com’s Zachary Silver (via Twitter). Wade LeBlanc is also questionable to return after feeling some elbow pain in his latest bullpen. If Martinez’s season is truly over, it will have been a disappointing one for the one-time Cardinal ace. Martinez owns a 6.23 ERA over 82 1/3 innings. A 4.76 FIP suggests it might not have quite been the disaster season that those baseline numbers suggest, however.
- While we’re here, we might as well check in with Jack Flaherty, who is also questionable to return this season. The Cardinals are putting him through a series of assessments now. What matters most is making sure he’s healthy for 2022, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Same story for Ryan Helsley, who will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and look ahead to next season.
- The Tigers released Renato Nunez, per Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group (via Twitter). Manager A.J. Hinch suggested that there weren’t enough at-bats to go around in Triple-A for Spencer Torkelson, Aderlin Rodriguez, and Nunez. The Tigers outrighted Nunez a few days ago, and he will now be free to sign anywhere.