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Astros To Shift Collin McHugh To Bullpen, Promote Corbin Martin

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The Astros are moving right-hander Collin McHugh to their bullpen for at least “a few outings,” manager A.J. Hinch told Mark Berman of Fox 26 and other reporters Saturday. They’ll likely promote righty Corbin Martin from Triple-A Round Rock to start in McHugh’s place against Texas on Sunday, Hinch added. Martin’s not on the Astros’ 40-man roster, but because the team has two openings, it won’t need to create room for him.

McHugh’s demotion comes in response to a four-start slump in which his ERA shot from a season-best 1.96 on April 16 to 6.37. In his most recent performance, a 12-2 loss to the Royals on May 7, McHugh yielded eight earned runs on seven hits, including two homers, with three walks and three strikeouts in three innings. The long ball has haunted McHugh for a few weeks, as he gave up eight in his four-start slide after surrendering just one in his first three outings of 2019.

Until this season, home runs hadn’t been a problem for McHugh since the Astros added him off waivers entering the 2014 campaign. He was a quality rotation piece with the club from 2014-17, a 606 1/3-inning, 102-start stretch in which McHugh pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.60 FIP with a 10 percent home run-to-fly ball rate. McHugh then shifted to the Astros’ bullpen last year, when he was somewhat quietly among the majors’ most effective relievers and where he experienced an uptick in velocity. Despite that, the Astros moved McHugh back to their rotation entering this season because of the departures of Charlie Morton and the still-unsigned Dallas Keuchel to free agency and the Tommy John surgery Lance McCullers Jr. underwent.

As an impending free agent, another good season as a starter could have put the soon-to-be 32-year-old McHugh in line for a respectable payday during the upcoming winter. While there’s still time for McHugh to rebound as a starter or reliever in advance of the offseason, he hasn’t done himself any favors with his bloated HR-fly ball rate (21.6), a sub-40 groundball percentage or a 6.37 ERA/5.17 FIP in 41 innings. To his credit, though, he has registered 9.22 K/9 against 3.07 BB/9.

McHugh’s struggles will create a big league opportunity for the 23-year-old Martin, a native of the Lone Star State and former Texas A&M Aggie whom the Astros chose in the second round of the 2017 draft. That pick, No. 56, was one of the two selections the Astros received from the Cardinals stemming from a hacking scandal.

Martin has held his own at all levels of the minors since he turned pro, especially during 2018 in Double-A, where he posted a 2.97 ERA/3.29 FIP with 8.39 K/9, 2.45 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent groundball rate in 103 innings. That performance earned Martin a promotion to Triple-A to begin this season, and he hasn’t fallen short there either, evidenced by a 1.48 ERA/3.35 FIP with 10.36 K/9, 4.07 BB/9 and another 47 percent-plus grounder mark over 24 1/3 frames.

Thanks in part to Martin’s minor league excellence, both FanGraphs (No. 50) and MLB.com (No. 73) regard the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder as one of baseball’s 75 best prospects. Entering the season, FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen wrote that “Martin sits in the mid-90s, mixes in a plus slider, with an above average changeup and average command,” though they expressed some disappointment in his strikeout numbers. Martin’s now in line to join a Houston staff that, aside from Wade Miley, hasn’t had much difficulty punching out opposing hitters this season.

Blue Jays Acquire Edwin Jackson

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5:23pm: Jackson’s minor league contract included an end-of-May opt-out clause, which played a role in the A’s decision to trade him, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Slusser adds that it looks “more than likely” the cash in this deal will cover what the Athletics paid Jackson on his minors pact this season.

2:37pm: Per a team release, the Blue Jays have acquired righty Edwin Jackson from the A’s for cash considerations. It’ll be the staggering 14th career organization for the 35-year-old Jackson, who’d been pitching for Triple-A Las Vegas since he was signed by the club a few weeks ago.

Jackson enjoyed something of a renaissance with Oakland last season, posting a 3.33 ERA in 92 IP (17 starts) for the club. Teams were presumably put off by his ugly 115 xFIP-, though – just a slight uptick from his baseline established between 2014-18 – and he didn’t catch on with a club until April 12 of this season.

Blue Jays starters have done better than anticipated this season, though the unit’s dealt with a rash of injuries of late. Matt Shoemaker is out for the year after tearing his ACL in a base running incident, and righty Clay Buchholz is again on the shelf with an ailment of his own. Jackson may indeed find his way to Toronto immediately, where he should be afforded ample opportunity to see if his newfound run prevention is sustainable.

Giants Option Dereck Rodriguez

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Per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Bay Area, the Giants have optioned righty Dereck Rodriguez to AAA-Sacramento after catcher Erik Kratz returned from the 10-Day IL.

Rodriguez, the son of hall-of-fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, converted to pitching in 2015 and quickly made his mark at the upper levels of the Twins and Giants systems. In 118 1/3 IP upon promotion the big club last season, Rodriguez delivered a 2.81 ERA, best among all NL rookies. The mark seemed a mirage, though, as his 112 xFIP-, on the back of 6.77 K/9 and low grounder rate, was among the league’s worst for all pitchers with at least 100 innings last season.

It didn’t take long for regression to pounce in ’19: the righty was torched for nine homers in 41 innings in the Giants’ extreme pitcher-friendly yard, and again struggled to miss bats and keep the ball on the ground. His 119 xFIP- is only slightly worse than last season’s mark, though his 5.05 ERA now more closely mirrors his subpar peripherals.

Rodriguez curried plenty of favor with the old Giants regime, but the new, data-driven one may not look quite so kindly on the contact-heavy profile.

Pirates Acquire Chris Stratton

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The Pirates have acquired righty Chris Stratton from the Angels for cash considerations, per a team release. The 28-year-old was designated for assignment by Los Angeles earlier this week.

Stratton, 28, was acquired earlier in the season from San Francisco for lefty Williams Jerez. The former first-rounder fought through five and a half difficult minor league seasons before cracking the Giant rotation in mid-2017, where he opened eyes with a super-high spin rate on his hammer curve. The fastball, though, has always been a bit light, and the righty’s long struggled to miss bats and command the zone. In five starts with LA this season, Stratton posted a dreadful 142 FIP-/127 xFIP- with six homers allowed in 29 1/3 IP.

Still, he’ll likely get a crack at a decimated Pittsburgh rotation, which’s already lost righties Chris Archer and Jameson Taillon to the IL. Nick Kingham and Steven Brault had attempted to fill the temporary void, to middling-to-disastrous results thus far. Top prospect Mitch Keller, it seems, is not quite ready to make the jump.

Details On Madison Bumgarner’s No Trade List

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The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has the details on Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner’s limited no-trade list, which, per the five-year, $35MM extension (plus 2018 and ’19 option years) he signed prior to the 2013 season, may contain up to eight teams. The four-time all-star may reportedly block trades to the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies, and Cardinals at the upcoming trade deadline.

If the list seems curious for its contender bent, it’s by design: Bumgarner’s reps seem to have carefully selected the teams most apt to pursue the lefty for a pennant push later this season. High-profile players can often negotiate some sort of compensatory bonus if they’re moved to a team on their restricted list at any point during that contract, and the former World Series hero seems no exception.

Atlanta, it seems, is the dead giveaway here – Bumgarner grew up deep in the North Carolina hills, the nether regions of the far-reaching heart of Braves country, and was raised a die-hard Atlanta devotee. He’d surely jump at the opportunity to join a pennant-chasing Braves team, one that will likely have rising stars Mike Soroka and Max Fried on a strict innings limit as the season progresses, though whether the suddenly stingy Atlanta front office will have interest is an altogether different conversation.

As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Bay Area explains, there’s been no indication that Bumgarner will block deals to any of the teams included on his list, though explicit comments from the hurler on the matter are as yet in the dark. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the Yankees, Bumgarner’s most-connected suitor, are “not particularly high” on the lefty, an impression that could certainly shift with another couple months’ strong performance, coupled with a continued depletion of the team’s starting staff.

After two injury-riddled seasons, in which Bumgarner’s peripherals slumped considerably, the one-time ace has rekindled some of his mid-decade mojo: his 84 xFIP- and 91.8 average fastball velocity are his best marks in the categories since the 2015 season, and his 11.5% swinging strike rate has jumped to above his career average. He’s again striking out over a batter per nine, and his BB rate has swung back to barely-traceable levels, with the 1.45 mark actually the lowest of his career.

If there’s an area of concern, it’s the ground-ball rate, which has plummeted to a career-low 36.8%, leaving the 10-year vet more vulnerable than ever to the longball. There’s also, of course, his status as a rental: teams are more loath than ever to give up high quality talent for just two-plus months of even a star player, and Bumgarner, even during his heyday, was always closer to third starter than ace.

His postseason reputation precedes – no, surrounds – him, though modern front offices won’t fall prey to the blue ox beside his Paul Bunyan October lore, and are now much more likely to consider the sample in which it was done. Indeed, Bumgarner’s 93 career xFIP- in the postseason – interestingly a mark considerably worse than late-season whipping boy Clayton Kershaw’s 82 figure – is a fact which, if ever relevant at the outset, almost certainly won’t be dismissed in considerations.

There’s also the matter of Giants majority owner Charles Johnson, of whom Bumgarner is said to be a favorite, and an ownership group that’s always willing to shell out for hometown stars of seasons past. The Bumgarner saga may drag on well into the summer, but it’s still a distinct possibility the lefty will stay in San Fran for the long haul.

Rangers Sign Josh Fields

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The Rangers have agreed to a minors deal with righty Josh Fields, per Bob Nightengale of the USA Today. The deal will pay Fields $850K if he reaches the majors, per Nightengale, with a chance for him to earn an extra $200K in incentives.

The 33-year-old Fields opted out of his contract with Milwaukee on April 30 after being released mid-spring by Los Angeles, the club with whom he’d spent the previous two and a half seasons.

Acquired in mid-2016 for now-top prospect Yordan Alvarez, Fields excelled at preventing runs for the Dodgers – he posted a 2.57 ERA with the club over the last two seasons, in addition to the 2.79 mark he put up in 19 innings down the 2016 stretch – but the peripherals never quite aligned. Fields’ xFIP- dropped to a career-low 114 last season, a mark that surely made modern front offices cringe.

He’ll hope to soon join a Ranger bullpen that’s been among the league’s worst this season, and should get ample high-leverage opportunity in Arlington upon arrival.

Indians Select A.J. Cole

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The Indians have selected the contract of righty A.J. Cole from Triple-A Columbus, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Righty Cody Anderson will head back to AAA in his place, while infielder Max Moroff has cleared waivers and been outright off the 40-man roster.

Cole, 27, will presumably work out of an unsung Indians pen that’s been a surprising bright spot in 2019. Both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber have again been rock-solid, and under-the-radar pickup Nick Wittgren has quietly been among the AL’s best in a brief sample thus far.

In 148 big-league innings across four seasons with the Nationals and Yankees, Cole has shown an unyielding proclivity for the K, though it’s too often been offset by an icky gopher-ball itch. His 1.89 HR/9 ranks near the back of the league over that span, hitting rock bottom in ’18 with a disturbing 2.79 HR/9 over 48 IP with both clubs. In 17 innings with Columbus this season, Cole’d allowed just 2 homers, though his 35.3% grounder rate placed right in line with his career norms.

Giants Claim Aaron Altherr

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2:30pm: Righty Andrew Moore has been designated to make room for Altherr on the 40-man. The outfielder is out of options, so a corresponding demotion will also be in order.

12:44pm: Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Giants have claimed OF Aaron Altherr. Altherr, 28, was designated for assignment by Philadelphia last Saturday.

It’s the latest in a months-long flurry of outfield moves for SF, which remains on a desperate quest to find anything approaching quality production from all three spots. Michael Reed, Connor Joe, Gerardo Parra, and (in a part-time role) Yangervis Solarte have all come and gone just six weeks into the season, while April acquisition Kevin Pillar has been a near automatic out over his first 125 plate appearances with the club.

28-year-old Mac Williamson has reportedly been promised regular action in left field, though neither he nor center fielder-turned-right fielder Steven Duggar have done much to warrant anything of the sort. Perhaps Altherr fits as a platoon option with Duggar and occasional fill-in for Pillar and Williamson, though any whiff of a hot streak may place him firmly in the lineup for good.

Altherr has been dreadful since the beginning of the 2018 season, with a 30 plate-appearance, .034/.067/.069 ’19 mark on the back of a 75 wRC+ mark from the season prior. Still, his offensive track record far outstrips those of any of his new outfield mates, and perhaps regular playing time will be just the elixir his struggling bat needs.

Quick Hits: Jeter, DeShields/Gallo, Bryant

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Derek Jeter recognized the social divides that developed in the clubhouses of his playing days between Spanish-speaking players and native English speakers, but since taking over the Marlins in Miami, where Spanish is omnipresent, Jeter has made it a priority to develop the language skills of everyone in the organization – including himself, per James Wagner of the New York Times. While emphasis is often placed on international players developing their English-language skills, Jeter’s programming ensures that the education highway runs in both directions. Major league players cannot be mandated to take language classes because of the collective bargaining agreement, but players in lower levels of the organization are now required to take classes, as are some coaches and Jeter himself, who attends a 90-minute weekly class with the executive team. The branding here is positive for Jeter, who has yet to make much headway in terms of fan engagement in Miami, but the internal benefits of a growing language program will have no end to its usefulness. Tangible effects may not reach the playing field for some time, but it’s encouraging nonetheless to see the Marlins taking a proactive approach to community engagement, emphasizing relationships with players from Latin America, and broadening avenues of communication within the organization. Let’s take a look at a couple of on-field situations throughout the league…

  • After another lackluster start at the plate for Delino DeShields, he finds himself back in Triple-A to work on developing a more line drive approach at the plate, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Deshields is one of the fastest players in the league, fifth overall with 16 Bolts this season (individual run times of 30+ ft/sec sprint speeds) and ninth in Sprint Speed, per Statcast. His speed is obviously an asset in the field as well, where Statcast has him tied for 7th with three Outs Above Average this season (three four-star catches). None of which was enough to keep him in Texas after hitting .182/.321/.284 through 108 plate appearances. How much time the 26-year-old spends in Triple-A may have as much to do with his ability to drive the ball as it does Joey Gallo’s ability to stick in center. It’s certainly uncommon for a third baseman-turned-corner-outfielder to transition into center, but the hulking 6’5″ Gallo hasn’t looked wholly out of place for the Rangers thus far, -1 DRS and -0.3 UZR through 88 innings this season, but over 188 career innings as the outfield captain, Gallo grades out at 1 DRS, 1.4 UZR. Replacing DeShields, a career 77 wRC+ hitter, with Gallo’s 115 wRC+ upgrades center field offensively for Texas, but this is a head-to-head battle worth tracking as the season moves along.
  • Chicago’s Kris Bryant finally found his power stroke for the Cubs, with credit going to his new Axe Bat, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. Bryant never tapped into his power after returning from a shoulder injury last season as he finished the season with an uncharacteristically low, but still solid .188 ISO. He has hit four home runs in his last six games, raising his 2019 isolated power to .268, and while that would be a career high if he keeps it up all season, it’s closer to his career average of .232 ISO than his numbers from 2018. This season’s power surge tracks back to a broken bat on April 26th, when Bryant switched to an Axe Bat and promptly homered. An Axe Bat’s defining feature – you might guess – is a handle shaped more like the handle of an axe, though this particular handle is unique to Bryant, christened as the “Bryant Handle” as it was geared specifically towards Bryant’s rather unique grip. Whether it’s the bat, or something mental, or simply the strength in his injured shoulder finally being built back up to normal levels, a maintained resurgence of power from Bryant could make the difference for a Cubs lineup that has struggled at times since Bryant’s shoulder injury last season.

Erick Fedde Auditioning For Expanded Role In Nationals Bullpen

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Results have been good thus far for Erick Fedde, who in limited action has made a good impression on a struggling Nationals bullpen, per Byron Kerr of MASN Sports. Fedde, a starter in the minors, was brought up for the first time this season on April 28th – and he immediately made an impact. He threw four scoreless innings in relief of Jeremy Hellickson against the Padres that day, keeping a 6-0 deficit at bay and giving the Nationals young bats a chance to heat up. Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Carter Kieboom became the first trio of teammates younger than 22-years-old to homer in the same game as the Nationals came back to beat the Friars 7-6 in 10 innings. In an unceremonious thank-you, however, Fedde was sent back to Double-A the very next day. 

In Harrisburg, Fedde has roasted the competition so far this season, 2.55 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 2.63 xFIP with 9.85 K/9 to 1.82 BB/9, which includes two-thirds of a combined no-hitter in early April. Fedde, 26, is miscast in Double-A after a full season between Triple-A Syracuse and the majors in 2018, but with their Triple-A affiliate now cross-country in Fresno, the Nationals have kept a few ML-hopefuls close at hand in Harrisburg. Current teammates in D.C. Dan Jennings, Michael A. Taylor, and Adrian Sanchez have all spent time in Harrisburg this year before recalls with quick turnarounds. Fedde is back in the Nats’ bullpen now and potentially in line to take on a larger role, whether as a long man, in a setup capacity, or both.

There is little doubt as to the need for the Nationals, whose bullpen has imploded time and again in 2019 as Dave Martinez searches for a reliable option in the middle-to-late innings. The three-headed monster in the rotation (Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin) somewhat mitigates usage of the pen (111 innings is the lowest mark in the National League), and Sean Doolittle is as good as it gets at the back-end, but there’s still that pesky eighth inning to worry about, and forty percent of the rotation is not among the NL’s top ten in strikeouts, K/9, innings, and WAR as are Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin. (Admittedly, Corbin ranks tied for 14th in the NL with 1.0 fWAR, though his 2.0 rWAR jumps him to second by that measure, while rWAR drops Scherzer out of the top ten into a seven-way tie for 12th. Among those seven is Doolittle, tied with John Gant for the NL rWAR lead among relievers.) Anibal Sanchez and Jeremy Hellickson have lasted six full innings only once apiece en route to respective ERAs of 5.27 and 5.52, and between the implosion of Trevor Rosenthal, some bad bounces, and a difficulty in stranding inherited runners, the bullpen ahead of Doolittle has been a mess. 

Washington’s pen boasts some ugly numbers with a 6.24 ERA, 5.06 xFIP, .342 BABIP, and 65.1 LOB% – all of which rank dead last in the Majors. Still, it’s hard to know exactly what the Nationals have in their pen, as BABIP and LOB% have a tendency to fluctuate, and many of their pen hands have much stronger FIPs than ERAs (Wander Suero, Matt Grace, Joe Ross), and while that could point to some bad luck, they have an equal number of arms on the flip side of the ledger as Doolittle, Justin Miller and Kyle Barraclough’s ERAs are all outperforming xFIP. Outside of Doolittle, the pen is functioning largely without defined roles so far this season, which is where Fedde’s newfound versatility could prove invaluable. Fedde is adjusting to life in a potential fireman role, but if he can muster a quality outing or two in high-leverage situations – arguably the Nats’ greatest area of need – he will make it very difficult for the Washington brass to shuttle him back to Harrisburg.

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