Twins Place Max Kepler On Injured List, Promote Brent Rooker
11:32am: Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli tells reporters that Kepler is only expected to be sidelined for the minimum 10 days (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park). Kepler might’ve avoided an IL stint entirely had the team been at full strength, but with several players also banged up, they needed to get a fresh body onto the roster.
11:15am: The Twins have placed right fielder Max Kepler on the 10-day injured list due to a left adductor strain and selected the contract of outfielder Brent Rooker from their alternate training site in St. Paul, per a team announcement. The club also added Willians Astudillo as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader and announced that righty Juan Minaya cleared waivers and has been outrighted back to St. Paul.
Minnesota only just got Josh Donaldson and Byron Buxton back from the injured list, but they’ll now see a third key piece of their lineup sidelined for the foreseeable future. An expected timeline for Kepler’s return has not been provided.
Kepler, 27, has slashed .220/.322/.431 with seven homers, five doubles and three steals through 143 plate appearances to begin the 2020 season. He’s played strong defense along the way, checking with a +2.5 Ultimate Zone Rating and +1 Defensive Runs Saved in 259 innings in right. It’s a notable loss for the Twins, as Kepler is batting .246/.333/.502 dating back to Opening Day 2019 and is tied for fifth among all MLB right fielders with 15 Defensive Runs Saved over the past three seasons.
Rooker, 25, will get his first call to the Major League level. The No. 35 overall pick in the 2017 draft has been a steady source of power in the minors, slashing a combined .267/.357/.505 in 1110 professional plate appearances, including a .281/.398/.535 line in 274 Triple-A plate appearances a year ago.
There are questions about Rooker’s defense, as some feel he’s best suited in a first base/designated hitter role. The Twins, though, have played him in left field for much of his minor league career and seemingly hope that he can at least play passable defense there at the game’s top level. Defensive concerns notwithstanding, Rooker is considered one of the Twins’ better prospects, ranking 12th at MLB.com, 14th at Baseball America and 17th at FanGraphs due to his largely to his plus raw power and his consistently strong performances at each minor league stop.
With Kepler sidelined, the Twins can rotate Rooker, Eddie Rosario and Jake Cave through the corners. On the surface, adding Rooker’s right-handed bat would seemingly be a plus for a Twins club that has unexpectedly floundered against left-handed pitching in 2020, but Rooker has actually handled righties better than lefties over the past couple of minor league seasons.
Turning to Minaya, he had his contract selected last week but didn’t make it into a game before being designated for assignment. The 29-year-old has spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox, where he’s pitched to a combined 3.93 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.98 HR/9 and a 36.8 percent grounder rate in 128 1/3 frames.
Jose Altuve Undergoes MRI On Right Knee
Sept. 4: Altuve is considered day-to-day after undergoing an MRI, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets. The exact diagnosis isn’t clear, although that certainly suggests he’s avoided a major injury.
Sept. 3: Astros second baseman Jose Altuve will undergo an MRI on his right knee, manager Dusty Baker announced Thursday (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). Altuve exited the Astros’ game against the Rangers on Thursday because of discomfort in the area.
Right knee problems aren’t anything new for Altuve, who underwent surgery on the joint after the 2018 season. The former AL MVP bounced back with another highly productive season last year, helping the Astros to a pennant, but has endured uncharacteristic struggles in 2020. So far, Altuve has amassed 155 plate appearances and batted .231/.290/.329 with three home runs and two stolen bases. His 74 wRC+ pales in comparison to the 141 mark he combined for during the previous six seasons.
Despite Altuve’s slow start, it goes without saying the Astros would rather have him out there than not, especially considering he has been their almost exclusive choice at second this season. Furthermore, although the Astros improved to 21-15 on Thursday and are in possession of the AL’s second wild-card spot, they’ve already suffered enough serious injuries to this point. The club has gone extended stretches without Justin Verlander, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Roberto Osuna and Jose Urquidy, who – along with several other Astros – are on the IL right now. Verlander and Osuna may not return this year, while Alvarez definitely won’t after undergoing surgery on both knees.
Indians Outright Domingo Santana, Release Jake Elmore
The Indians announced Friday that outfielder Domingo Santana has been assigned outright to their alternate training site after he went unclaimed on waivers. Because Santana was outrighted to the alternate site, he remains in Cleveland’s player pool and is eligible to rejoin the club later this season if they wish to again add him to the 40-man roster. The club also released infielder/outfielder Jake Elmore, who’d been in the 60-player pool.
Cleveland bought low on Santana this winter, signing him to a one-year, $1.5MM contract with a 2021 club option after he was non-tendered by the Mariners. The hope was surely that he could rebound closer to the .278/.371/.505, 30-homer form he showed with Milwaukee in 2017, but Santana struggled through one of the worst showings of his career with his new club. Appearing in 24 games and taking 84 plate appearances, the 28-year-old hit just .157/.298/.286 with a pair of homers and three doubles.
Santana did manage a hearty 15.5 percent walk rate, but he also struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances. Meanwhile, his average exit velocity was down 3.5 mph from its 2019 levels, per Statcast, and his hard-hit rate fell by seven percent. He might return later this month, but suffice it to say, his $5MM club option won’t be picked up.
The 32-year-old Elmore signed a minor league deal with the Indians back in early July and spent Summer Camp with the team, but he has not been called up from their alternate site to this point. Elmore has appeared in 217 games at the big league level and logged 527 plate appearances.
Though he’s just a .215/.292/.275 hitter in that time, Elmore has demonstrated as much versatility as anyone in baseball. In 2013, the Astros used him at every position on the diamond — including catcher and pitcher. Elmore has at least 106 innings at all four infield spots, 234 innings in the outfield (including 14 in center) and has also caught 4 1/3 innings and pitched two frames (one run allowed) in the Majors.
J.D. Martinez Discusses Future
Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez will have an opportunity to return to free agency during the upcoming offseason, but the 33-year-old designated hitter admitted to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe on Thursday that he’d be leery of testing the open market off a pandemic-shortened season.
Regarding the 60-game schedule, Martinez said: “I would not want to be a free agent during this time for that reason. You just don’t know.”
As Martinez implied, a shorter season is more conducive to strange outcomes – perhaps damaging ones for pending free agents – than a 162-game slate. For instance, one of the surprises of this season has been the typically great Martinez’s underwhelming production, and he’s running out of time to boost his numbers.
After a run as one of the game’s elite offensive players from 2014-19, which he divided among Detroit, Arizona and Boston, Martinez has put up a.234/.317/.406 line with just three home runs in 145 plate appearances. Martinez’s .172 isolated power number sits 80 points under last year’s figure (.252), while his hard-hit rate and Statcast numbers have also fallen off significantly since then.
Martinez’s 2o20 woes may just be a product of a much smaller sample size than normal, though he nonetheless hasn’t done himself any favors as a potential opt-out candidate. Once the offseason arrives, Martinez will have a chance to leave behind the remaining two years and $38.7MM of the five-year, $110MM contract he signed with Boston before the 2018 campaign. Martinez also had an opt-out chance last winter, but he decided to stay put on the heels of another fantastic season at the plate.
Considering how his season has gone, not to mention the economic uncertainty in the game, it’s hard to envision Martinez testing the market in a couple months. Regardless, Martinez emphasized to Speier that he’s “focusing on right now,” not his opt-out decision, and he lavished praise on the Red Sox and their fan base.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/20
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Marlins have outrighted hurler Brett Eibner and catcher Brian Navarreto to their alternate training site, per a team announcement. The 31-year-old Eibner, formerly an outfielder with the Royals, Athletics and Dodgers from 2016-17, reinvented himself as a pitcher and signed with the Marlins a month ago. The right-hander’s time with Miami hasn’t gone well, though, as he made two appearances and allowed three earned runs on four walks and two hits before the team designated him for assignment Aug. 29. The Marlins designated Navarreto, 25, on the same day as Eibner. Navarreto made his big league debut with the Marlins this year and went 2-for-5 in two appearances prior to his DFA.
Alex Rodriguez Reportedly Unhappy With Mets’ Sale Process
It appears the Mets’ next owner will be Steve Cohen, who entered exclusive negotiations to purchase the franchise from Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon last Friday. Cohen became the favorite after beating out multiple big-money groups, including one headlined by former major leaguer/current television analyst Alex Rodriguez and famous fiancee Jennifer Lopez. The Rodriguez-Lopez team was willing to offer $2.3 billion for the Mets before losing out to Cohen, according to Josh Kosman and Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.
Now, after falling short, A-Rod is crying foul on the process, as he believes bidding was rigged in Cohen’s favor, Kosman and McEnery report. Mets banker Steve Greenberg asked Rodriguez what his group was willing to pay before final bids were due, per Kosman and McEnery, who write that the 14-time All-Star “reluctantly” gave Greenberg the information. Cohen then offered $2.35 billion for the franchise, which will apparently end up as the winning bid.
“They took the bids and showed them to Cohen,” a source close to Rodriguez told the New York Post. Another source said the sale “was fixed” because Rodriguez & Co. did not get a chance to match Cohen’s offer. Rodriguez has tried contacting Fred Wilpon since last Friday but to no avail, Kosman and McEnery report.
With Rodriguez out of the picture, it should only be a matter of time before Cohen finalizes a deal, though Major League Baseball will spend three months investigating his background before a sale goes through, Kosman and McEnery relay. If Cohen does get the team for $2.35 billion, though, it would represent a lower amount than the $2.6 billion he was willing to fork over in the winter before negotiations between him and the Wilpons fell apart.
White Sox Outright Ryan Goins, Release Drew Anderson
The White Sox have outrighted infielder Ryan Goins to their alternate site, James Fegan of The Athletic reports. Goins is now a member of their taxi squad. Additionally, Chicago released right-hander Drew Anderson.
The White Sox designated Goins for assignment on Monday, which came just over a month after they re-signed him to a minor league pact and selected his contract. The 32-year-old Goins took 14 trips to the plate as a member of the White Sox this season before they designated him, and he went hitless during that span. Of course, offense has never been a strong suit for Goins, who has combined for a .228/.278/.333 line across 1,690 plate appearances among the White Sox, Blue Jays and Royals.
The 26-year-old Anderson, formerly with the Phillies, was a minor league offseason pickup for Chicago who made just one appearance with the team this year. It went rather poorly for Anderson, who gave up six earned runs on four hits (including two homers) and two walks in 1 1/3 innings of an Aug. 8 loss to the Indians. The White Sox outrighted him shortly after that.
Cubs Release Cody Allen, A.J. Ramos; Outright Josh Phegley, Ian Miller
The Cubs have released right-handed relievers Cody Allen and AJ Ramos, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com was among those to report. They also outrighted catcher Josh Phegley and outfielder Ian Miller to their alternate site after the pair cleared waivers, Jay Cohen of the Associated Press tweets.
Allen, who signed with the Cubs in July, was a dominant closer during his heyday. The former Indian logged a sub-3.00 ERA in each season from 2013-17 and racked up 122 saves during that span. Allen totaled another 27 saves in 2018, his final season with the Indians, but his production tailed off significantly then and continued to worsen during a 23-inning run with the Angels in 2019. The Halos signed Allen to an $8.5MM contract before last season, but after he struggled to a 6.26 ERA/8.38 FIP with 7.83 BB/9 and a career-worst 92.3 mph average fastball velocity, they released him in June. The 31-year-old hasn’t pitched in the majors since then.
Ramos, who will turn 35 on Sept. 20, had a terrific run in Miami from 2012-17, when he notched 99 saves and posted a 2.78 ERA in 327 1/3 innings. They traded him to the Mets in the last of those seasons, though, and Ramos proceeded to slump to a 5.59 ERA in New York over 38 2/3 frames in parts of two seasons. Ramos hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 2018 after undergoing shoulder surgery, though he hoped to make a return to the bigs as a member of the Cubs. He’ll now have to try to latch on elsewhere if he still plans on continuing his career.
Both Phegley and Miller became Cubs on minor league contracts last offseason, but the team designated the two for assignment in recent days. Phegley, formerly the A’s starting catcher, went 1-for-16 as a Cub before they kicked him off their roster. The fleet-of-foot Miller appeared in one of Chicago’s games, but he didn’t record a plate appearance.
Brewers Designate Justin Smoak, Claim Daniel Vogelbach
6:02pm: Milwaukee has announced the moves. The Brewers acquired Vogelbach via waivers.
3:23pm: The Brewers have designated first baseman Justin Smoak for assignment and acquired 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach from the Blue Jays, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
The switch-hitting Smoak had a couple very good years with the Blue Jays from 2017-18, but his production went downward in ’19 during his final campaign in Toronto. The Brewers, hoping for a bounce-back effort, signed the 33-year-old Smoak to a $5MM guarantee last offseason, but the deal didn’t pay dividends for the club. Smoak logged an ugly .186/.262/.381 line with five home runs in 126 plate appearances this year before the Brewers designated him. Thanks in large part to Smoak, first base has been a black hole for Milwaukee, though Jedd Gyorko (who has totaled the second-most starts there for the club) has posted terrific production over a small sample.
Vogelbach could now wind up in the mix at first for the Brewers, but he hasn’t lined up there at all this year between Seattle and Toronto, instead playing all of his games as a DH. While Vogelbach was a Mariners All-Star a year ago, his numbers plummeted in the second half then, and he certainly hasn’t offered a DH-caliber bat this season. Between the M’s and Jays, he hit an abysmal .088/.246/.211 with two home runs in 69 plate appearances. Toronto designated Vogelbach after four at-bats as a member of the team.
Angels Place David Fletcher On 10-Day Injured List
The Angels announced that they have placed utility player David Fletcher on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 31, with a left ankle sprain. The club recalled outfielder Taylor Ward in a corresponding move.
Tied for an American League-worst 12-25, there’s not much left to play for over the final few weeks of the season for the Angels. Nevertheless, it’s unfortunate to see Fletcher go down. After breaking out last year with a 3.4-fWAR showing and a .290/.350/.384 line in 653 plate appearances, Fletcher has been even stronger on offense this season with a .313/.377/.438 slash and almost as many walks (16) as strikeouts (17) across 162 PA.
As was the case in 2019, the 26-year-old Fletcher has added to his value by performing capably at multiple positions. Most of Fletcher’s work has come at shortstop, but he has also played five-plus games at second and third. He has combined for seven Defensive Runs Saved among those three spots.