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Braves Place Max Fried On IL, DFA Charlie Culberson, And Other Roster Moves

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The Atlanta Braves announced a number of roster moves this morning, the most consequential of which was placing ace Max Fried on the injured list, retroactive to September 6th, the team announced. Also, Kyle Wright was recalled and Jacob Webb reinstated from the injured list. Fan favorite utility man Charlie Culberson was designated for assignment.

Fried might be the single most important player on the Braves roster right now as the only reliable high-end arm in the rotation. In the wake of Mike Soroka’s season-ending injury, Mike Foltynewicz’s demotion, and Cole Hamels’ injury, Fried has ably stepped up and developed into an ace for the Braves. He’s currently a top contender for the Cy Young in the National League with a 6-0 record through 9 starts, 50 innings, a 1.98 ERA/2.47 FIP, and zero home runs allowed.

A worrying drop in velocity hit a season low in his last start on Saturday, as illustrated here by PitcherList.com (via Twitter), averaging just 91.7 mph after being as high as 94.1 mph for his first two starts of the year . The injury listed is a left-side muscle spasm of the lumbar spine, aka back spasms. The Braves are obviously hopeful that some rest and treatment can get him back on the hill.

In the meantime, Hamels is on the comeback trail, and he could be activated as soon as next Monday, per Baseball America’s Gabe Burns (via Twitter). For now, Wright will return from their alternate training site in Lawrenceville to re-join the rotation. The Braves will hope for better results this time around for the 24-year-old, who was hit with a 7.20 ERA/6.48 FIP while going 0-3 in 4 starts earlier this season – though The Athletic’s David O’Brien reports that Wright is just up for a spot start. Still, Wright is highly regarded, their 4th ranked prospect by Fangraphs, Baseball America, and MLB.com.

The 27-year-old Webb could provide boost to Atlanta’s right-side relief corps. Webb has yet to appear in 2020, but he put up a 1.39 ERA in 39 games in 2019 – his first big league experience. The 6’2″ right-hander brings a 95 mph heater buttressed by a curveball and 86 mph change that generated a 40% Whiff% in 2019.

Culberson, 31, only appeared in 9 games this season going 1 for 7 with a double and RBI. The utlilty man has mostly been used as a pinch-runner this season. Culberson had some big hits for the 2019 Braves, but he took a Fernando Rodney fastball to the cheek on a bunt attempt in Washington which broke his cheekbone and ended his season. Culberson hasn’t seen regular playing time since the injury.

Cole Hamels, Ozzie Albies Nearing Returns

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When the Braves signed Cole Hamels to a one-year, $18MM deal, he checked all the right boxes: veteran, short-term deal, fierce competitor, playoff-tested, particularly painful for a playoff rival. But triceps tendinitis has kept Hamels from the hill and forced the Braves to turn to Plan B lefties like Tommy Milone, Sean Newcomb, and Robbie Erlin. Some solutions have worked better than others, but despite a rotation in constant flux, Atlanta holds a 2-game lead in the NL East with less than 20 games to play.

Their need for Hamels is no less intense, however, because while the season itself has gone by in the blink of an eye, the playoffs will actually be longer than usual. For a team with back-to-back NLDS losses, the Braves are well aware of the potential pitfalls awaiting them in the postseason. So it’s not a moment too soon that Hamels could be nearing his return.

The veteran lefty threw live batting practice to Ozzie Albies on Sunday, leaving the Braves encouraged about the potential return of both players, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien (via Twitter). The Braves will wait another couple of days before letting Hamels throw a similar session, but if there are no red flags, Hamels could return to the rotation shortly thereafter.

As with many pitchers who have returned in this single-league environment – such as Charlie Morton of the Rays – Hamels may ease back into the rotation with 1-2 inning outings at a time. That doesn’t give the Braves and Hamels unlimited time to get him on track before the postseason, but he could still get 2-3 tune-ups before the playoffs.

Hamels has run hot-and-cold in recent seasons with the Chicago Cubs, nonetheless sustaining the comeback that began with 12 starts of a 2.36 ERA to finish 2018 after his exile in Texas. In his lone full season with the Cubs, Hamels went 7-7 in 27 starts with a 3.81 ERA/4.09 FIP over 141 2/3 innings. Hamels could return to the roster as soon as Monday, per Baseball America’s Gabe Burns (via Twitter). The Braves certainly don’t want to rush the 36-year-old back into action, but with Max Fried going on the injured list, there’s cause for urgency in Atlanta.

Injury Notes: J. Ramirez, Hosmer, Stanton, A. Dickerson

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Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez exited their win over the Royals on Monday with left thumb discomfort, Mandy Bell of MLB.com relays. The Indians replaced Ramirez, who Bell notes has been dealing with the issue for weeks, with Mike Freeman. Whether Ramirez will miss any more time remains to be seen, but the Indians can only hope he won’t, as he has played an important role in their 26-15 start. The 27-year-old Ramirez has followed up a so-so 2019 (by his standards) with a .248/.350/.478 start and nine home runs in 183 plate appearances this season.

  • Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer departed their game Monday against the Rockies with a left finger injury, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. San Diego plugged in the just-acquired Mitch Moreland in place of Hosmer, who’s in the third season of an eight-year, $144MM contract and has easily enjoyed his best campaign as a Padre. Thanks in part to an increase in fly balls, Hosmer has slashed .291/.346/.547 (a career-high 138 wRC+) with eight home runs in 127 plate appearances. Hosmer’s rebound from a couple of mediocre seasons has contributed to the Padres’ 25-17 start.
  • Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton “ran bases, hit off a machine and threw today,” Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets, but it remains unclear when or if he’ll return in 2020. Even if Stanton does play again this year, it will go in the books as the second straight injury-ruined season for the ex-NL MVP, as he missed almost all of 2019 with health issues and has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a left hamstring strain. The Stanton-less Yankees have struggled over the past few weeks and are now fighting for their playoff lives.
  • Giants outfielder Alex Dickerson had to leave their game against the Diamondbacks on Monday after fouling a ball off his right leg (video via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The Giants called on Darin Ruf to take over for Dickerson. There’s no word on Dickerson’s status, but he’s someone the Giants can ill afford to go without for an extended stretch. They’re surprisingly in playoff contention, and Dickerson has followed up last season’s solid showing with a .264/.342/.528 line and seven home runs this year, making him one of the Giants’ most valuable players [UPDATE: Dickerson’s X-Rays came back negative. He has a knee contusion, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic relays].

Reds Release Boog Powell, Alex Powers

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The Reds have released outfielder Boog Powell and right-hander Alex Powers, per a team announcement. Their 60-man pool now includes 57 players.

Powell, previously with the Athletics, Rays, Mariners and Padres organizations, joined the Reds on a minor league contract last January. The 27-year-old Powell accumulated 160 plate appearances in the majors between the A’s and Mariners from 2017-18, hitting .262/.333/.383 with three home runs, but has otherwise played in the minors. As a member of the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate last season, the left-handed Powell batted .288/.391/.438 with eight homers and 14 steals over 403 PA.

Powers, 28, became a pro when the White Sox selected him in the 25th round of the 2013 draft. He had been with the Reds since 2016 and will now look for the third organization in his career, in which he has produced quality results in the minors. Powers topped out at Triple-A last season and logged a 1.98 ERA/3.22 FIP with 10.87 K/9 and 3.95 BB/9 in 27 1/3 innings.

Rockies Sign AJ Ramos

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SEPT. 7: Ramos has signed a minor league deal, the Rockies announced. He’ll join their 60-man player pool.

SEPT. 4: The Rockies have signed free-agent reliever AJ Ramos, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports. It’s presumably a minor league contract for Ramos, whom the Cubs released from a minors pact Thursday.

Ramos’ best years came in Miami, where he debuted in 2012, logged sub-3.00 ERAs and accumulated 64-plus innings in each season from 2014-16, and piled up 92 of his 99 career saves. But Ramos fell off substantially in 2017 between the Marlins and Mets, who acquired him in advance of that year’s trade deadline, and endured a career-worst 2018 before undergoing shoulder surgery.

Ramos hasn’t pitched in the majors since he went under the knife, but the 33-year-old right-hander has latched on with three teams over the past few months during his comeback attempt. Deals with the Dodgers and Cubs didn’t lead to MLB opportunities for Ramos, but perhaps he’ll get a chance to join a Colorado bullpen that entered Friday with the bigs’ second-worst ERA (6.58).

Alex Bregman Nearing Return; Astros Place Taylor, Devenski On IL

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The Astros are likely to activate star third baseman Alex Bregman from the injured list on Tuesday, manager Dusty Baker told Jake Kaplan of The Athletic and other reporters.

Houston has gone without Bregman since he suffered a strained right hamstring on Aug. 19, temporarily depriving the club of one of baseball’s greatest talents. Bregman’s production has dipped a bit compared to the previous couple seasons, but his output has still been outstanding this season. The 26-year-old slashed .272/.374/.500 (139 wRC+) with four home runs in 107 plate appearances before hitting the IL. The Astros have since turned to Abraham Toro, Jack Mayfield and Aledmys Diaz at the hot corner, but those three have registered terrible numbers this season. Plus, having dropped four straight to fall to 21-19, the Astros as a whole have slumped of late, so they’ll be all the more pleased to welcome Bregman back.

Meantime, the news isn’t nearly as positive for Houston’s pitching staff, which lost left-hander Blake Taylor and righty Chris Devenski to the IL with elbow problems on Monday, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The Astros will use righties Chase De Jong and Humberto Castellanos to take their open roster spots.

The rookie Taylor, 25, has been a bright spot for an Astros relief corps that has dealt with injuries to the likes of Roberto Osuna and Brad Peacock, among others. In his first 17 major league frames, Taylor has posted a 2.12 ERA/4.09 FIP with 7.94 K/9 and a 51.1 percent groundball rate, though he has walked 5.82 batters per nine. Devenski, formerly a key cog for Houston’s bullpen, has been battling elbow issues throughout the season. He made two appearances in July, missed all of August and then totaled another two appearances this month (on Sept. 5 and 6), in which he combined for 1 2/3 innings of three-run ball, before going back to the IL.

Blue Jays Place Teoscar Hernandez On 10-Day IL

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The Blue Jays have placed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (left oblique strain) and right-hander Wilmer Font (right shin contusion) on the 10-day injured list, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. The team recalled outfielder Jonathan Davis and righty Sean Reid-Foley to fill out its roster.

While the severity of Hernandez’s injury is unknown, oblique issues are always a concern – especially considering that the regular season is in its final month. The Blue Jays, owners of a 22-18 record, are a playoff team as of now, and Hernandez has contributed plenty to their cause so far. After a pair of roughly league-average full seasons at the plate, the 27-year-old has seemingly broken through with a tremendous .308/.358/.637 line over 157 plate appearances in 2020. Hernandez ranks second among qualified hitters in home runs (14), 16th in wRC+ (163) and 20th in fWAR (1.5). He also sits near the top of the league in several Statcast categories, including expected weighted on-base average (.443).

Defensively, Hernandez has primarily handled right field for the Blue Jays, who have also used Cavan Biggio and Derek Fisher there. But Toronto did better its infield/outfield depth when it acquired Jonathan Villar at last week’s trade deadline, and he could give the team another option in right as long as Hernandez is out. For Monday’s crucial game against the division-rival Yankees, though, the Blue Jays will have Biggio take over for Hernandez.

Athletics Shut Down A.J. Puk

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The Athletics have shut down rehabbing left-hander A.J. Puk because of ongoing shoulder problems, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Shoulder issues have prevented Puk from pitching at all this year, which he and the Athletics hoped would be his first full season in the majors. Unfortunately, health woes have stopped the hard-throwing Puk, a highly regarded hurler, from logging much action in the bigs so far. It looked possible that Puk would debut in 2018, but he was unable to do so that season as a result of Tommy John surgery.

Puk made it back from the procedure last year to throw his first 11 1/3 innings from Oakland’s bullpen, averaging 97 mph on his fastball and recording a 3.18 ERA/3.39 FIP with 10.32 K/9 and 3.97 BB/9. A full-time starting role may have been in the cards this season had the 25-year-old stayed healthy, though it continues to look doubtful that he’ll pitch at all in 2020.

Even without Puk, the A’s have jumped out to a 23-14 record and a 3 1/2-game lead in the American League West. They’ve done so despite uninspiring production from their rotation, which ranks 17th in the majors in ERA (4.85) and FIP (4.41). Their bullpen, on the other hand, has been marvelous, as it owns the league’s best ERA (2.20) and FIP (3.22). Perhaps Puk will still be able to help either of those units this year, but time is running out.

Padres Recall Jorge Ona

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The Padres announced that they’ve called up outfield prospect Jorge Ona. They optioned righty Luis Patino to their alternate training site in a corresponding move. Ona will debut as the Padres’ designated hitter against Colorado on Monday, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.

As Cassavell notes, the hope is that Ona will give the Padres more power from the right side of the plate. They were counting on high-end prospect Luis Campusano, whom they promoted Friday, to provide that. However, Campusano went on the injured list on Sunday after three at-bats (and a home run) because of a left wrist sprain.

Unlike Campusano, Ona is not a top 100 caliber prospect, though the Cuba native did join the club for a pricey $7MM bonus in 2016. Ona was obviously regarded as an international gem at the time, but he hasn’t quite lived up to the hype yet. Still, four years after signing, he remains a promising part of the Padres’ loaded farm system, ranking as one of their top 30 prospects at MLB.com (No. 24), FanGraphs (30) and Baseball America (30). The 23-year-old was dominant last season in Double-A, where he slashed .348/.417/.539 in 102 plate appearances, but Ona saw his campaign come to an end in July when he underwent right shoulder surgery.

Giants Release Abiatal Avelino; Latest On Drew Smyly

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The Giants have released infielder Abiatal Avelino, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He had been part of the Giants’ alternate training site.

The 25-year-old Avelino – whom San Francisco acquired from the Yankees in a 2018 trade centering on Andrew McCutchen – had brief stints with the Giants in each of the previous two seasons, during which he totaled five hits (all singles) in 19 plate appearances. Avelino has garnered far more experience in Triple-A, though he also hasn’t been a world-beater there, evidenced by his .266/.302/.402 slash with 15 home runs  across 873 trips to the plate.

In other Giants news, manager Gabe Kapler announced to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and other reporters that the team could activate left-hander Drew Smyly from the injured list on Wednesday or Thursday. Smyly, whom the Giants signed to a $4MM guarantee in the offseason, has only made three appearances this year and hasn’t pitched since Aug. 1 on account of a strained left index finger. Before that, the 31-year-old threw 8 1/3 innings of three-run ball with 11 strikeouts and four walks, and he averaged a career-best 93.4 mph on his fastball. Two of Smyly’s three outings this season have come as a starter, but it’s unclear whether he’ll return to the playoff-contending Giants’ rotation when he comes back.

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