NL Notes: Rockies, Cubs, Marlins, Nationals
The Rockies announced a pair of corresponding roster moves today. They selected the contract of Connor Joe from Triple-A, while right-handed pitcher Jose Mujica was optioned to Triple-A. It’s good to see Joe back in the Majors. The 28-year-old opted out of 2020 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, writes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The Rockies like Joe as a possibility at first base or left off the bench. Joe was a first round draft pick of the Pirates back in 2014. Mujica will be a long-term rotation possibility for the Rockies, though he came out of the bullpen for both of his appearances this season. Elsewhere in the NL…
- Cubs southpaw Brailyn Marquez has been about six weeks behind in his conditioning after testing positive for COVID-19. The Cubs’ top pitching prospect doesn’t have an official assignment yet, but it’s believed that he’ll soon head to Double-A, per Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (via Twitter). Marquez doesn’t turn 22 years old until September.
- Both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jorge Alfaro hope to begin their rehab assignments next week and return from the injured list by next weekend, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter). Marlins fans eagerly await Chisholm’s return after the infielder posted a 154 wRC+ in 80 plate appearances this season.
- Wander Suero will begin his own rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The Nationals‘ reliever has been out since April 18th with an oblique strain. Stephen Strasburg, meanwhile, will soon pitch his second simulated game since landing on the injured list. Presumably, that means the Nats are still in an evaluation stage, and it might take some time yet before Strasburg can return to the diamond.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/7/21
Let’s round up some minor moves from around the game…
- The Mariners signed a trio of players to minor league deals: Justin Grimm, Brooks Pounders, and Caleb Joseph. Grimm surrendered nine earned runs in just four innings with the Brewers last season after spending 2019 in Triple-A. The 32-year-old owns a 5.14 career ERA in 360 2/3 innings since his debut with the Rangers in 2012. This will be his second go-round in Seattle: he made five appearances for the Mariners in 2019. Pounders did not make a big league appearance in 2020 after appearing for the Mets, Rockies, Angels, and Royals in the four seasons prior. Joseph is a depth catcher who spent the past two seasons with the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks after carving out significant playing time with the Orioles from 2014 to 2018.
- The Brewers signed outfielder Mitch Longo to a minor league contract and assigned him to Double-A Biloxi. Noah Zavolas, meanwhile, was assigned to Triple-A Nashville, per the team. Zavalos posted a 2.98 ERA over 22 starts for the Brewers High-A affiliate in 2019. Longo, 26, was a 14th-round draft choice by Cleveland in 2016. He hit .248/.320/.370 across 365 plate appearances in Double-A back in 2019.
- The Astros signed Brandon Lawson to a minor league deal and assigned him to Double-A, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). The 26-year-old right-hander was solid in 2019 with a 3.70 ERA in 129 innings for the Giants’ Double-A affiliate. He was drafted by the Rays in the 12th round of the 2016 draft when current Astros GM James Click was working in their front office.
Top Mets Pitching Prospect Matt Allan To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Tough news coming out of New York today as it was revealed that Matt Allan will undergo Tommy John surgery sometime this month, per Deesha Thosar of New York Daily News. Allan is the Mets’ top pitching prospect and their third-ranked prospect overall by both Fangraphs and Baseball America, who each place Ronny Mauricio and Francisco Alvarez in the top two spots.
Baseball Prospectus, however, slots Allan ahead of Alvarez as the Mets’ second-ranked prospect. Jeffrey Paternostro of BP wrote just a couple of days ago, “There isn’t a ton to look forward to in 2021 if you are a Mets prospect watcher. It’s a thin, top-heavy system. The top is quite good however, and Allan stands out as the prospect most likely to take a big step forward. His fastball velocity has continued to creep up as a pro, along with spin rates that push it into the plus-plus range. The breaking ball is a potential true hammer, and his changeup is coming along as well.” BP ranked Allan as the No. 79 prospect in all of baseball. He makes Fangraphs’ top-100 at No. 96, while Baseball America is a bit more bullish with a No. 86 valuation.
Allan was a third round draft pick in the 2019 draft. As such, the 20-year-old California native has just 10 1/3 innings of professional pitching to his name. After 8 1/3 innings in Rookie ball back in 2019, Allan was promoted to Low-A for one two-inning outing to close out his first professional campaign. He’ll now miss all of this season as well as a good chunk of 2022, tweets Newsday’s Tim Healey.
Giants Make Several Roster Moves
The Giants made a number of roster moves ahead of tonight’s game. The biggest bit of news is the return of Mike Yastrzemski, who has been out since April 26th. While he’s not in the lineup tonight, he is available off the bench and should return to the lineup in the next couple of days. The 30-year-old outfielder put up a .215/.303/.468 line before straining his oblique.
With Yaz coming off the injured list, Alex Dickerson is heading the other way. Dickerson lands on the injured list with a bone bruise on his shoulder. Coming off a 150 wRC+ over a 52-game stretch in 2020, Dickerson has stumbled to a .213/.280/.347 line to start the season (79 wRC+). His strikeout rate is up from 17.6 percent to 22.0 percent, and his walk rate is down from 9.4 percent to 6.1 percent. He’ll get an opportunity to reset after recovering from this shoulder impingement.
Jarlin Garcia has also been added to the active roster taking Joey Bart‘s spot after he was optioned to Triple-A, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). Garcia had been out with left knee tendinitis. He surrendered six earned runs over 6 1/3 innings in five appearances early this season. All in all, it was a mixed bag for the 28-year-old southpaw, who managed a strong 32.1 percent strikeout rate despite serving up a pair of home runs and struggling with his command to the tune of a way-too-high 17.9 percent walk rate.
Finally, Johnny Cueto will return to the rotation on Sunday, and with Kevin Gausman set to return after his second vaccine shot, Logan Webb is likely headed to the bullpen. The Giants have been planning to use him as multi-inning reliever out of the pen, but injuries to Cueto and Alex Wood have kept him in the rotation to start the year. The Giants will need to make a roster move to bring Cueto back, with Sam Selman and Zack Littell being possible candidates for demotion, writes Slusser.
Red Sox Place Enrique Hernandez On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Michael Chavis
The Red Sox have placed Enrique Hernandez on the 10-day injured list because of a right hamstring strain. Michael Chavis has been recalled in his place, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Chavis had been on Boston’s taxi squad.
Kiké has been the Red Sox primary centerfielder thus far this season, though he has also seen time up the middle in the infield. Offensively, he clocks in with a .239/.298/.425 triple slash line with four home runs in 124 plate appearances. While Hernandez has been a touch light at the plate (or exactly average with a 100 wRC+), his overall contributions amount to 0.6 bWAR/0.5 fWAR. That puts the former Dodger on a 2.5 fWAR pace over 150 games.
Chavis pinch-ran and scored a run in his only appearance of the season to date. The 25-year-old has hit .241/.304/.424 in 634 career plate appearances between 2019 and 2020.
Angels Acquire Drew Butera From Rangers For Cash Considerations
The Rangers have traded catcher Drew Butera to the Angels for cash considerations, Texas announced. This will be Butera’s second tour of duty with the Angels. To make room, the Angels designated Jack Kruger for assignment, per Bill Shaikin of the LA Times (via Twitter).
The 37-year-old Butera was expendable for the Rangers. Their catching corps is secure right now with Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim at the big league level and John Hicks serving as depth in Triple-A. Butera had been on the Rangers’ taxi squad, but he did not get into a game. The 11-year veteran hit .154/.190/.205 in 43 plate appearances with the Rockies in 2020.
Butera will presumably be added to the Angels’ active roster to serve as Kurt Suzuki‘s backup in the near term. Max Stassi was just placed on the 7-day concussion protocol yesterday.
Blue Jays Place Joe Panik On Injured List, Recall Rowdy Tellez
The Blue Jays have placed infielder Joe Panik on the injured list with a left calf strain, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter). Rowdy Tellez will be recalled to take his roster spot.
Panik is in his second season coming off the bench for the Blue Jays. The 30-year-old can play all over the infield, though with a healthy Bo Bichette, Panik’s glovework has been limited mostly to second and third this season. The former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner owns a .226/.241/.302 triple slash line across 54 plate appearances.
Tellez had a rough start to the season, slashing .183/.222/.267 across 63 plate appearances. If nothing else, Tellez comes back after a short, but effective tune-up in Triple-A. In the first three games of the minor league season, Tellez went 3-for-10 with a pair of doubles, a home run, and three walks against three strikeouts.
Brewers Sign Hernan Perez To Minors Deal
The Milwaukee Brewers have signed Hernan Perez to a minor league deal, the team announced. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers also announced the signing of left-handed pitcher Andy Otero, who will be sent to extended spring training.
Perez recently elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Nationals. Perez had gone just 1-for-19 with a couple of walks in 10 games with the Nats. He also took the hill twice, tossing a pair of scoreless innings.
With Keston Hiura recently being demoted, Perez could have a quicker path back to the Majors in Milwaukee than had he stayed in Washington, though that’s not necessarily the driving factor for Perez. He certainly has a fair amount of familiarity with Milwaukee having spent a chunk of his career there. Perez played for the Brewers from midway through 2015 until 2019.
Roberto Perez Undergoes Surgery To Repair Broken Finger
2:50 PM: It appears the Indians will be without their starting catcher for quite some time. Manager Terry Francona told the media, including the Athletic’s Zack Meisel (Twitter links), that Cleveland expects Perez to be out for 8-10 weeks.
2:04 PM: Indians catcher Roberto Perez underwent surgery to repair the fractured ring finger on his right hand, tweets Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal. The team has yet to provide a timeline as to when Perez might be cleared to return to action, but Cleveland will now be without its top catcher for the foreseeable future.
Perez suffered the injury when he got crossed up with hard-throwing James Karinchak, and while he tried to play through the issue for awhile, he eventually was placed on the injured list earlier this week. He met with a specialist this week, Lewis notes, and clearly the surgical route wound up being the recommended course of treatment.
The injury initially occurred more than three weeks ago at a time when Perez was batting .238/.448/.524 with a pair of home runs through his first 29 plate appearances. Unsurprisingly, his bid to remain productive with a broken finger didn’t go particularly well; in 44 plate appearances since that time, Perez has just three hits and a dismal .075/.159/.175 slash.
Cleveland is temporarily losing one of the game’s best defensive catchers, although one of Perez’s primary competitors for that distinction is his own teammate, Austin Hedges. With Perez sidelined, Hedges figures to get the lion’s share of playing time. His bat isn’t likely to match that of a healthy Perez, as he’s mustered only a .118/.189/.294 output in 2021 and a .166/.243/.306 line overall dating back to 2019. Hedges’ glove, game-calling and framing should continue to work to the advantage of what is yet another high-quality Indians pitching staff, however.
That’s especially true given that he figures to share time with 37-year-old Rene Rivera, who was selected to the MLB roster to replace Perez. Rivera, a glove-first backstop himself, won’t provide much with the bat but will give Terry Francona another quality battery-mate for his pitchers.
Yankees Recall Miguel Andujar, Option Albert Abreu
The Yankees recalled Miguel Andujar today, the team announced. To make room, they optioned Albert Abreu to Triple-A.
Andujar arrives as insurance for starting third baseman Gio Urshela. An MRI on Urshela’s knee came back without any structural damage, so he’ll be day-to-day for now, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (via Twitter). Urshela has once again proven himself to be a reliable bat for the Yankees. He’s slashing .287/.342/.455 with four home runs across 111 plate appearances, producing 0.7 bWAR.
Andujar himself has struggled to stay healthy. This spring he dealt with carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrist, though it hasn’t appeared to bother him so far. The minor league season is just three days old, but Andujar has already knocked three home runs while going 6-for-13.
As for Abreu, the 25-year-old right-hander made two appearances this season, both coming in the first half of April. He was placed on the roster just two days ago when Rougned Odor went to the injured list. Abreu will likely join the starting rotation in Triple-A.