Rockies Sign Matt Kemp
July 4: The club has announced the move, which is now official. Kemp has been added to the Rockies’ 60-man player pool.
June 30: The Rockies have struck a deal with veteran outfielder Matt Kemp, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league pact.
Kemp had spent the spring with the Marlins, but was left out of the Miami organization’s 60-man player pool. The Fish evidently cut him loose to pursue other opportunities, opening the door to Kemp joining his third NL West outfit.
This move simply wouldn’t have happened in late March, but intervening developments made it possible. We learned last night that right-handed-hitting Rockies veteran Ian Desmond would opt out of the 2020 season, leaving a potential roster spot. And the Rockies are newly in need of designated hitter options, given the expansion of the hitter-only spot to the National League for 2020.
The 35-year-old Kemp is coming off of a rough 2019 season in which he struggled with injuries and hit poorly in a 20-game run with the Reds. He wasn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball in Grapefruit League action, with a .143/.200/.143 slash and 11 strikeouts in thirty plate appearances.
That said, it wasn’t long ago that the former superstar was mashing MLB pitching. In 506 trips to the plate with the Dodgers in 2018, he launched 25 home runs and carried a .290/.338/.481 batting line.
It’ll be interesting to see whether and how Kemp is utilized by the Rox. The club presumably won’t find it hard to carry him on the expanded early-season roster, having found space even last year for Mark Reynolds. The question is whether Kemp will be given a shot to take on a bigger role than that previously occupied by Reynolds. At present, the Colorado roster skews heavily towards lefty bats in the outfield mix, but Kemp’s defensive abilities have waned notably over the years.
Red Sox Sign RHP Caleb Simpson
The Red Sox have signed right-handed reliever Caleb Simpson and added him to their 60-man player pool, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com. His addition comes not long after the Red Sox revealed that two relievers, Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor, have tested positive for COVID-19.
Simpson, 28, had spent his entire career in the Giants’ minor-league system before earning a chance with the Cubs as a non-roster invite during this year’s Spring Training.
Last season, Simpson reached Double-A with the Giants’ affiliate, pitching 29 1/3 innings and posting a solid 2.45 ERA. Evidently, he’s got impressive stuff in his arsenal, striking out 41 batters—good for a 12.6 K/9 rate.
However, as is the case with many pitchers of Simpson’s ilk, control and precision has been an issue at times: those 41 strikeouts were accompanied by 18 walks. In Spring Training this year, Simpson walked 8 batters in 4 2/3 innings of work. To be sure, there’s some potential here, and the Red Sox will hope they can hone in Simpson’s mechanics and consistency as he strives to break into the Majors.
Two Red Sox Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
The Red Sox have announced that left-handed pitchers Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor have both tested positive for COVID-19, MLB.com’s Ian Browne was among those to report. Taylor’s positive test came during the intake at Red Sox camp, whereas Hernandez stayed at home. Both players will be quarantined and unable to return to the team until they’ve tested negative twice.
Evidently, both players gave the team permission to reveal their identities as the players who received positive test results. Boston skipper Ron Roenicke wouldn’t say whether Taylor and Hernandez were exhibiting symptoms, which could alter their timeline in returning to the diamond.
Fellow Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, who has abstained from reporting to Boston, is awaiting test results after coming into contact with a person who may have contracted the virus.
Both Hernandez and Taylor figure to be important pieces in the Boston bullpen this year, and there’s a considerable chance that the Sox will have to start the season without them. The two lefties each got their first foray into the big leagues last year, with Hernandez tossing more than 30 innings for Boston and Taylor tallying almost 50. Their roles this year might have been amplified, with relatively limited left-handed options in the bullpen mix for the Red Sox. Josh Osich is the other lefty reliever in the Boston 60-man player pool.
Clearly, though, the primary focus will be on the health and recovery of the Red Sox pitchers, and we wish them a quick and orderly return to health. We’ll hope to see Hernandez and Taylor on the mound and in good health at Fenway Park in the near future.
Willians Astudillo, Miguel Sano, Two Other Twins Test Positive For COVID-19
July 4: The Twins have revealed that Miguel Sano was the fourth player to have tested positive for the coronavirus, as reported by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. As of yesterday, we were aware that Astudillo, Gordon, and Colina were among those who had received positive test results. Evidently, Sano is the fourth player who will be barred from participating in team activities until recording two negative tests. It’s worth mentioning that two other Twins, Cody Stashak and Byron Buxton, will also be absent from camp, but not for health-related reasons; both are on paternity leave.
July 3: Twins utilityman Willians Astudillo has tested positive for COVID-19, the Twins announced today. Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those covering the news on Twitter.
Fortunately, it does not appear as if Astudillo has had a worrying reaction to the disease to this point. He’s said to be symptom-free at the moment.
The Twins reported three other players that have active coronavirus infections. Edwar Colina and Nick Gordon are among them, having previously tested positive. Both are in the 60-man player pool; Gordon is on the 40-man. Neither player has to this point debuted in the majors.
It would certainly be unfortunate should the Twins open the season without Astudillo. He’s one of the game’s most offbeat players — and not only because of his barrel-chested figure and high-energy approach to the game. Astudillo is not just bemusing but also legitimately interesting as a player, owing to his blend of positional versatility (including catcher, his primary position) and unusual proclivity to put the ball in play (career 2.3% walk rate, 3.7% strikeout rate). Though he was not as effective last season as in his brief 2018 debut, Astudillo was and is expected to be an important part of the Minnesota roster this year.
Royals’ Salvador Perez Tests Positive For COVID-19
Royals fans will have to wait just a little longer to see long-time backstop Salvador Perez back in a Royals’ uni. Salvy is the latest player to allow his name to be released after testing positive for coronavirus. Perez is asymptomatic as of right now, and though he personally stressed that people should wear their masks, he feels well enough to play (though he can’t, at least for now), per The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.
After missing all of 2019, the 30-year-old Perez was looking to get back to his role as the Royals’ everyday catcher. The Royals have five other catchers in their 60-man player pool: Nick Dini, Cam Gallagher, MJ Melendez, Sebastian Rivero, and Meibrys Viloria. Gallagher and Viloria would figure to get the gameday starts if Perez isn’t back in time, though Dini could also get a look after appearing in 20 games for the big-league club in 2019.
Perez is a career .266/.297/.442 hitter over eight seasons with the Royals. He’s one of the last remaining members of the back-to-back pennant-winning clubs from 2014 and 2015, along with Alex Gordon and Danny Duffy.
Nationals Notes: Kieboom To Start At Third, Denaburg Out, Cavalli In
Speaking to a handful of DMV-area reporters, Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez said that he expects Carter Kieboom to be the starting third baseman, MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, and Todd Dybas of NBC Sports were among those reporting. It’s a bit of a surprising revelation from Martinez, as last we heard, Kieboom wasn’t even a sure thing to make the Opening Day roster. At the same time, most projections had the 22-year-old making his play for the hot corner by August, surely, so it might be that not much has changed in terms of organizational outlook. More on this and the other goings-on around Nats’ camp…
- One change that might have affected the Nats’ plan for Kieboom, however, was Ryan Zimmerman opting out for the season. Without Zimmerman, there seems to be plenty of at-bats to go around the remaining veteran contingent of Nationals’ infielders. First base should fall to a strict platoon between Howie Kendrick and Eric Thames, while the off-day first baseman is also likely to split time at DH with Asdrubal Cabrera. Starlin Castro, then, would handle second base relatively full-time while occasionally being spelled by either Cabrera or Kendrick. The Nationals tend to let their prospects play full time, so if Kieboom keeps the starting role through Opening Day, he’s likely to get more-or-less the full slate of 60 games to prove he deserves it.
- Updating some numbers for us, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post mentions that the Nationals have about 49-50 guys in camp right now of the 58 currently named to the player pool. That said, the Nats’ are widely expected to add first-round pick Cade Cavalli to their 60-man player pool shortly, per TalkNats. The Nats have a few open spots on their roster now that a number of players have opted out for the season (Ryan Zimmerman, Joe Ross, Welington Castillo).
- As the Cavalli addition presupposes, the Nats have chosen to include most of the organization’s highest-regarded prospects in the 60-man player pool. That group would have included Mason Denaburg, were he not out for the season recovering from offseason surgery, per Stephen G. Mears of TalkNats. The 6’4″ former catcher ranks eighth on the Nats’ top prospect list per Baseball America. He was the Nats’ top draft choice in 2018, though he’s managed just 20 1/3 innings of pro ball since then.
60-Man Roster Notes: Orioles, Phillies
As teams continue to get health and travel reports, many have slots left to fill on their 60-man rosters, so we’ll use this post throughout the day to track the minor changes.
LATEST
- The Giants added four names to their 60-man player pool: Will Wilson, Camilo Doval, Luis Toribio and Chad Tromp, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports. It’s a group of fairly high-end prospects for the Giants, highlighted by Wilson, whom they essentially spent $12.6MM to acquire last year by taking on Zack Cozart‘s contract, writes Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Catcher Chadwick Tromp has the best chance to train with the major league camp, as the others are more likely to head to the alternative camp when it opens in Sacramento, per Schulman. The Giants have four empty slots remaining from their 60-player pool.
EARLIER TODAY
- The Orioles added Evan Phillips to their 60-man roster, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Baltimore gave themselves more leeway than most, however, and they still have 15 slots available on their 60-man roster. The Maryland native made 25 appearances out of the Orioles’ bullpen in 2019, pitching to a 6.43 ERA/3.96 FIP. Phillips joined the Baltimore organization from Atlanta as part of the Kevin Gausman/Darren O’Day trade from deadline day 2018.
- The Phillies added two catchers to their 60-man roster, per Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Henri Lartigue and Logan O’Hoppe will bring the Phillies’ total number of catchers to five. Lartigue, 25, hit .136/.259/.248 in 78 games in Double-A last year. O’Hoppe, 20, went to the Phillies in the 23rd round of the 2018 draft. In Low-A in 2019, the New York native hit .216/.266/.407. The pair of catchers are presumably in camp to spread the defensive workload. J.T. Realmuto, Andrew Knapp, and Deivi Grullon are far better bets to see any game time once the season opens.
Freddie Freeman, Three Other Braves Test Positive For COVID-19
A quartet of Atlanta Braves tested positive for COVID-19: Freddie Freeman, Pete Kozma, Touki Toussaint, and Will Smith, per Sportscaster Kelly Crull. Though the teams do not have to release the names of the players who test positive for coronavirus, in this case, the players consented to have their names released in order to spread awareness.
Smith and Toussaint are asymptomatic at this time. Freeman tested negative upon intake, but started developing symptoms before workouts were to begin, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien. Since it appears Freeman caught the virus while at Braves’ camp, this will be an important situation to track.
Not to mention, it’s possibly a blow to the Braves on-field expectations for 2020. There’s no telling how severe a case Freeman is dealing with, and even after he’s back to full health, he’ll need to pass the new protocols to return to play. Freeman, 30, is the longest-tenured member of the Braves. When he made his debut in 2010, Chipper Jones, David Ross, Derek Lowe, Jason Heyward, Tim Hudson, Craig Kimbrel, and Brian McCann were still a part of the team.
Though it seems like he’s been around forever, Freeman still produces like a superstar. He hit .295/.389/.549 even while dealing with an elbow injury that sapped him of some power.
Smith, meanwhile, could return earlier if he remains asymptomatic, but it’s important to remember that anybody appearing without symptoms who test positive could simply be pre-symptomatic, at which point there’s no telling yet what kind of timetable for a return might be. Smith was to be an important piece of Atlanta’s bullpen after joining the club from San Francisco via free agency. As the Giants’ closer last year, Smith went 6-0 with 34 saves and a 2.76 ERA/3.23 FIP over 60 games.
Toussaint had an outside shot at winning a spot in the Atlanta bullpen, though he figured to join the big league club at some point during the season as he has in each of the past two campaigns. Kozma was to serve as a depth infield option after playing all of 2019 for the Tigers’ Triple-A club.
NL Notes: Camp Delays, Dodgers, Cardinals, Gallegos, Health Updates, Senzel, Hamels
Expect delayed arrivals to camp to become somewhat of a recurring story early in training camp as players attempt to clear the many hurdles to return to play. The Dodgers, for instance, will be missing a few players at the start of camp, though manager Dave Roberts wasn’t able to name specific players, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Likewise, the Cardinals will be missing reliever Giovanny Gallegos, who is delayed in his return from Mexico, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Cardinals have not given a specific reason for his delay, per The Athletic’s Mark Saxon. Rather than speculate on reasons for the holdup, let’s check in on some health updates from around the league…
- Nick Senzel‘s had a banged-up rookie season, appearing in 104 games with a .256/.315/.427 slash – but he’s ready to go for his sophomore campaign. His first season ended early when a torn labrum required Senzel to get shoulder surgery. That injury is fully recovered now, but only just now, as Senzel reported having throwing pain as recently as a month ago, per Bobby Nightengale of The Enquirer. Senzel may not have a steady defensive home when play begins, but he figures to be an everyday presence in the Reds’ lineup regardless, especially with the DH now in play.
- Cole Hamels was never going to get a full Spring Training, not once a shoulder injury took him out of commission for a few months. The 36-year-old knows that the four-week leadup to the newly-rebooted 2020 season isn’t exactly the same, not at his age, but he plans to be ready to contribute, per Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Said Hamels: “It’s not as if I’m going to go out there expecting to pitch seven to nine innings. There’s going to be a gradual buildup process, and there’s going to be guys who will be able to piggyback on you, like in a high school or a college season. All that really matters is putting up zeroes. If you can put up two or put up five zeroes, that’s really helping the team, more so than (other pitchers) having to pick up and try to eat a lot of innings.”
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