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Dodgers Activate Russell Martin

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The Dodgers have activated catcher Russell Martin from the 10-day injured list and optioned fellow backstop Rocky Gale to Triple-A Oklahoma City, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets.

Martin’s return should be a welcome one for Los Angeles, whose primary catcher, Austin Barnes, has seen his numbers decline significantly over the past couple weeks. Barnes sported an otherworldly 1.110 OPS when Martin hit the IL with lower back inflammation on April 10, but he’s now down to .729 in that category. Martin, meanwhile, slashed an outstanding .333/.500/.600 with five walks against three strikeouts in 22 plate appearances prior to going on the IL. The well-respected 36-year-old is in his second stint with the Dodgers, with whom he stood out from 2006-10 before rejoining the team in an offseason trade with the Blue Jays.

Gale, on the other hand, has done anything but thrive as a Dodger. The 31-year-old posted a matching and equally woeful .143/.143/.143 line in 14 trips to the plate after the Dodgers promoted him to replace Martin. Gale, who debuted with the Padres in 2015, owns an ugly .111/.111/.194 line in 36 major league PA.

Pirates Place Chris Archer On 10-Day IL

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Per Mark Feinsand of mlb.com, the Pirates have placed righty Chris Archer on the 10-Day IL with right thumb inflammation. Righty Michael Feliz has been recalled to take his place.

Archer, 30, is off to his typical enigmatic start this season, striking out batters at an elite rate but ultimately failing to prevent runs at an ace-level pace. Concerning also are a slight uptick in walks – to a career-worst 4.00 per nine thus far – and a 32% grounder rate that’s dipped well below his career average. Archer’s average fastball velocity has also dropped nearly two miles an hour, to a career-low 93.4 MPH, though his swinging strike percentage has remained mostly stable.

Acquired in a controversial midseason trade last season that sent Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and prospect Shane Baz to Tampa Bay, Archer has long been the rare starting pitcher – along with perhaps Jon Gray of the Rockies – whose ace-level peripherals consistently lag behind their actual run prevention. Pittsburgh obviously bet heavily on the trend coming to an end, but thus far the profile looks like more of the same.

It’s unclear who’ll be Archer’s replacement in the Pittsburgh rotation – the team’s depth in the area is frighteningly thin – but the injury seems relatively minor, the club has a couple off-days upcoming, and the rest of the unit – spearheaded by Archer’s statistical inverse in Trevor Williams – has so far been brilliant.

Brewers Designate Jake Petricka For Assignment

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Per a club release, the Brewers have designated righty Jake Petricka for assignment amidst a series of minor roster moves.

Petricka, 30, appeared in six early-season games for the club this season, posting a 3.38 ERA/4.61 FIP/6.04 xFIP in eight IP. The seven-year MLB vet hasn’t had much success of any kind during stints with the White Sox, Blue Jays, and now Milwaukee, but has consistently been afforded opportunities due to his preternatural grounder-inducing ability.

Petricka ranks 6th among all active relievers with at least 200 IP since 2013 with a 59.1 grounder rate, and should present an attractive end-of-roster option for a bandbox-housed team. He seemed an ideal fit for a Brewer pen already possessing of an elite back-end, though the club apparently felt his shoddy command and declining velocity wasn’t likely to rectify itself anytime soon.

The vaunted Milwaukee ’pen, stripped early on of key pieces Corey Knebel – out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late last month – and Jeremy Jeffress, has struggled at the season’s outset. Offseason pickups Alex Claudio and Alex Wilson have each been shaky, and even the barely-mortal Josh Hader has proven vulnerable to the longball. Craig Kimbrel still waits, though perhaps not in the wings for the cash-strapped Crew.

Braves Activate Mike Foltynewicz, Option Bryse Wilson

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Per a team announcement, Braves righty Mike Foltynewicz will be activated from the IL in time to make his first start of the season tonight against Colorado. Right-hander Bryse Wilson will head back to AAA-Gwinnett.

The hard-throwing Foltynewicz, 27, whose 96.4 MPH average fastball velocity was tops among all NL starters last season, was sidelined at the end of spring with a balky right elbow. Atlanta’ll hope his return quenches what’s been a parched Brave rotation in the early going – the club’s starters have thus far posted the NL’s highest walk rate, at 4.08 men per nine, with an ugly 4.50 xFIP that collectively ranks second-to-last in the Senior Circuit.

With shaky command from rookies Wilson, 21, Kyle Wright, and Touki Toussaint, plus the all-over-the-place nature of the recently demoted Sean Newcomb, Atlanta may need to move rotation help to the top of its mid-season shopping list.

Quick Hits: Brewers, Cubs, Rays, Mariners

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Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson last took a major league mound Sept. 8, 2017, when he suffered a partially torn labrum that derailed a breakout season. Almost 20 months later, it appears Nelson is nearing a return to the majors. The 29-year-old, who has been pitching in extended spring training, will begin a rehab assignment Sunday at the Triple-A level, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. In another piece of encouraging news for the Brewers’ struggling rotation, righty Freddy Peralta could rejoin the team after his Double-A rehab start Saturday, manager Craig Counsell said. Peralta went to the IL on April 16 with a shoulder issue. The 24-year-old has only managed a 7.13 ERA/5.82 FIP with a 21.1 percent groundball rate in four starts this season, though he also logged 11.21 K/9 against 3.57 BB/9 during that 17 2/3-inning span.

Here’s more from around the majors…

  • The Cubs shut down injured reliever Brandon Morrow a week ago, but he’s nonetheless optimistic he’ll pitch this year, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports. Biceps and elbow problems have prevented Morrow from taking the hill since last July, adding to the unfortunate array of injuries the 34-year-old has dealt with during his career. “Every injury I’ve come back the same or better,” Morrow told Rogers. “Frustrating it’s going to be a little longer but just needs a little more time to heal.” Morrow will have a Synvisc injection Monday to “lubricate and help to protect the area around my elbow,” though Rogers notes it’s not a permanent solution. In the event Morrow doesn’t come back this season, it’s possible he has thrown his last pitch with the Cubs. They’ll have a chance to buy him out for $3MM in lieu of a $12MM vesting option over the winter. In the meantime, their bullpen has clearly missed a healthy Morrow this season, having posted a 4.84 ERA with 5.63 BB/9.
  • Rays second baseman Joey Wendle’s fractured right wrist will shelve him for at least six to eight weeks, according to manager Kevin Cash (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). This season has been an injury-riddled nightmare for Wendle, who previously missed three weeks on account of a left hamstring strain. Wendle hasn’t gotten to properly follow up last year’s impressive rookie showing as a result. The first-place Rays have held their own without him, though, thanks in part to second base replacement Brandon Lowe.
  • Longtime major league center fielder Mike Cameron has accepted a coaching job in the Mariners organization, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. The 46-year-old Cameron will work with Mariners outfielders on defense and baserunning, largely at the minor league level. Cameron excelled in those two areas during his MLB career, which spanned from 1995-2011 and included a tremendous four-year run in Seattle from 2000-03. He was a key cog on the ’01 Mariners, who won 116 regular-season games and still stand as the franchise’s most recent playoff team.

Brewers Sign Gio Gonzalez

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APRIL 27: The Brewers have announced the signing, adding that they’ll make a corresponding move later today.

APRIL 24: The Brewers have agreed to a deal with lefty Gio Gonzalez, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll earn $2MM for his work the rest of the season with up to $2MM more in available incentives.

Gio Gonzalez } Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The incentives package reflects changes in modern pitching usage. It’s a points-based system, as Jon Heyman of MLB Network first tweeted. Gonzalez can earn two points every time he makes an appearance of three or more innings and one point for all other appearances. He’ll receive $333,333 upon accumulating his 25th, 30th, 35th, and 40th points and then $333,334 with his 45th and 50th, Robert Murray of The Athletic explains on Twitter.

Gonzalez, who recently moved to CAA Baseball, triggered an opt-out clause in the minor-league deal he signed late in camp with the Yankees. When the New York club declined to add him to its MLB roster, Gonzalez returned to the open market. While his new contract won’t come with the same amount of upside that was available in the prior one, it will put him back in the majors and provide some guaranteed earnings.

Gonzalez should be ready to step right into the Brewers’ rotation. He worked 15 innings over three starts with the Yankees organization, allowing ten earned runs but posting a solid 19:6 K/BB ratio. The Brew Crew obviously liked what it saw well enough to commit some resources to adding Gonzalez to its staff.

It’s a nice move at this stage of the season for the Brewers, who’ve had several rotation issues crop up early. Gonzalez is assuredly not the pitcher he once was at 33 years of age, but has still been capable of solid mound work in recent years. He’s also one of the game’s most durable starters. While he’s not exactly known for his inning-to-inning steadiness, Gonzalez is a good bet to make his scheduled starts and eat up some frames.

Gonzalez has taken the ball 283 times since the start of the 2010 season, a track record bettered by only a few other starters. Over seven seasons with the Nationals, Gonzalez turned in over twelve hundred innings of 3.62 ERA pitching with 8.7 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9. His best seasons came earlier in his tenure, though he did slip in one final gem of a year in 2018 — overcoming the underwhelming peripherals that suggested some good fortune and regression in the ensuing season.

While he did indeed take a step back in 2018, Gonzalez was still capable of 171 frames of 4.21 ERA ball. He was particularly effective in his final five outings, which came with Milwaukee, turning in 25 1/3 innings over which he allowed just six earned runs on 14 base hits with a 22:10 K/BB ratio.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL Injury Notes: Andujar, Eloy, Rangers, Jays, Royals

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The Yankees will open a seven-game homestand May 3, at which point injured third baseman Miguel Andujar could rejoin their lineup, manager Aaron Boone said Friday (via George A. King III of the New York Post). Whether that happens will depend on how Andujar fares in extended spring training and minor league rehab games over the next several days. For now, though, Boone is “cautiously optimistic” about Andujar’s torn right labrum, which looked like a potential season-ending injury when he went on the IL on April 1.  The 24-year-old is one of a whopping 15 Yankees who have landed on the injured list this season, but the reserve-laden club has weathered the storm with a 15-11 start. Third base subs DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela have performed well along the way, helping to ease the burden of Andujar’s absence.

  • White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez exited Friday’s game with a right ankle sprain and was wearing a walking boot afterward, per James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required). X-rays on Jimenez’s ankle came back negative, but he’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday. An IL stint seems like a distinct possibility for the 22-year-old phenom, who’s just 85 plate appearances into his career.
  • Rangers lefty Taylor Hearn endured a rough debut start. Now, he’s headed to the 10-day IL with elbow tightness. That’s not how the club drew things up when it called upon one of its most promising young pitchers to join the MLB roster. Hearn’s outlook isn’t yet known. That was just one of several moves, as fellow hurler Jeffrey Springs and infielder Patrick Wisdom were optioned out. Second bagger Rouned Odor was activated from the IL while pitchers Ariel Jurado and Wei-Chieh Huang were called up to provide some fresh arms.
  • Standout Blue Jays infield prospect Bo Bichette is down with a broken left hand, but general manager Ross Atkins said Friday he won’t require surgery, as Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. The Jays expect a four- to six-week recovery time for the 21-year-old Bichette, who’s regarded as one of the game’s premier prospects.
  • The Royals have placed first baseman Lucas Duda on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 24, and recalled third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez from Triple-A Omaha, according to Pete Grathoff and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. Duda’s dealing with a lumbar strain, which continues a rough start to the season for the 33-year-old. The free-agent pickup has hit a miserable .174/.304/.326 in 56 trips to the plate. Meanwhile, Gutierrez batted an impressive .333/.443/.439 in 79 PA prior to his promotion, and he’s now in line for his first major league action. The Royals acquired Gutierrez, 24, from the Nationals last June as part of a deal centering on reliever Kelvin Herrera. Gutierrez currently ranks as KC’s 14th-best prospect at MLB.com.

Angels To Promote Griffin Canning

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The Angels are set to promote top pitching prospect Griffin Canning, the team informed reporters including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). He’s expected to start on Tuesday.

Canning will debut just before turning 23 in early May. A 2017 second-rounder out of UCLA, the righty was tabbed as a consensus top-100 leaguewide prospect entering the current season following a strong showing last year.

After working hard in his final collegiate campaign, Canning slipped a bit in the draft and then waited to make his debut. The patience has paid off thus far, as he ran through the Halos system in his first year as a pro.

Though his results took a step back upon reaching Triple-A, the overall effort was impressive. Canning threw 113 1/3 frames of 3.65 ERA ball with 9.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9, with all but 8 2/3 of those innings coming in the upper minors.

Canning isn’t necessarily seen as a budding ace so much as a polished, highly capable hurler with a deep arsenal who is as good a bet as anyone to become a quality MLB starter. The Angels obviously didn’t need to see more after watching him allow just one earned run and post a 17:2 K/BB ratio in 16 innings over three starts to open the year back at Salt Lake City.

Of course, the Angels are also responding to need at the MLB level. The club is in last place in the AL West and is still waiting for a variety of injured players to filter back to the roster. If there’s to be a postseason run this year, it may take some inspired showings from players that opened the year on the farm.

Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

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This is the final post in MLBTR’s annual series reviewing the offseason efforts of every team in baseball.

The 2018-19 offseason marked yet another winter of measured free-agent spending and luxury-tax-motivated trades for the Andrew Friedman-led Dodgers.

Major League Signings

Trades and Waiver Claims

Extensions

  • Clayton Kershaw: One year, $28MM (bringing his total contract to three years, $93MM)

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

[Dodgers organizational depth chart][Dodgers payroll information]

Needs Addressed

We’ve reached the point where it should be accepted that despite their extraordinarily deep pockets, the Dodgers aren’t going to flex their financial might to their fullest extent. That’s not a knock on the organization, which has been extremely successful under the current ownership group and front office regime, but simply an acknowledgement that the team’s days of MLB-leading payrolls look to be a thing of the past.

At the outset of free agency, we at MLBTR predicted that the Dodgers, who dipped under the luxury tax line in 2018, would be the team to agree to a lengthy contract with Bryce Harper. That was never particularly close to happening, as the Dodgers sought to sign Harper to a record-shattering annual value but only on a four- or five-year deal. Perhaps, if they can find a free agent amenable to such a structure in the future, the Dodgers will exceed the luxury line again, but it was reported this offseason that the organization has drawn up plans to avoid doing so for the next several seasons. The trade of Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer to the Reds in exchange for Homer Bailey — whom they immediately released — and a pair of prospects meshed with that directive.

The Dodgers’ first order of business this winter came in the form of finding a middle ground with Clayton Kershaw, who could have opted out of the remaining two years and $65MM on his contract. An extension was long viewed as a strong possibility, and in the end, the Dodgers locked up Kershaw on a deal even friendlier than many expected. Kershaw tacked an extra year and $28MM onto his preexisting deal in exchange for forgoing his opt-out provision, allowing the club to maintain one of the generation’s most dominant pitchers at an affordable rate. Injuries have begun to take their toll on Kershaw, and he’ll probably never sustain the level of dominance he once did, but there’s no denying his ongoing excellence when he’s been healthy enough to take the mound. A $31MM annual rate is nearly as steep as it gets for a pitcher in baseball, but Kershaw notched a 2.73 ERA in 161 1/3 innings and was worth 3.3 WAR (per both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference) in last year’s “down” season.

With Kershaw taken care of, the Dodgers began eyeing upgrades elsewhere on the roster. Rather than earnestly pursue the market’s top names, the Dodgers were aggressive in the second tier of free agency. A.J. Pollock was arguably the best non-Harper outfielder on the market and was compensated as such ($55MM in guaranteed money), while the flamethrowing Joe Kelly was regarded as one of the top non-Craig Kimbrel relievers. (His addition hasn’t paid early dividends, but Kelly’s .410 BABIP will regress over time, and metrics like xFIP (3.13) and SIERA (3.27) point to brighter days ahead.) Both were brought in on contracts with manageable annual salaries for a team with pockets this deep.

Having issued Yasmani Grandal a qualifying offer he unsurprisingly rejected, the Dodgers were involved in the J.T. Realmuto market for much of the offseason. Los Angeles, however, wasn’t willing to meet the prospect price tag put on Realmuto by the Marlins and instead shifted focus to old friend Russell Martin. While Martin’s bat is nowhere near what it once was, he maintained an elite walk rate and framing skills in 2018.

The other qualifying offer issued by the Dodgers went to lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who accepted the $17.9MM payday rather than test his strong but injury-riddled track record on the open market. At the time, it was at least worth wondering whether a team might’ve committed multiple years and a slightly higher guarantee (at a lower annual rate) to Ryu. However, given the manner in which the offseason played out, Ryu has to be quite happy with his decision to remain in Los Angeles at a premium rate. His return gave the Dodgers an even more enviable collection of rotation depth, joining Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Julio Urias and Ross Stripling (among others).

Corey Seager’s return to the lineup only bolstered the Dodgers’ offensive potential, and Alex Verdugo’s ascension up the minor league ladder gives the Dodgers another high-upside bat upon which to dream. Verdugo’s rise (and the signing of Pollock) allowed L.A. to at least explore the possibility of trading Joc Pederson this winter, with the Braves and White Sox among the rumored suitors. However, there was apparently never anything that convinced the Dodgers to take the plunge, and Pederson remains on hand as part of a roster that features largely unmatched depth in both the infield and outfield.

Questions Remaining

That’s not to say that there aren’t questions surrounding the roster even in light of a hot start to the season. The lineup is deep and more dangerous than ever thanks to Cody Bellinger doing his best Ted Williams impression, but it’s hard not to look at the pairing of Martin and Austin Barnes behind the dish and wonder whether the duo brings enough offense to the table. The asking price for Realmuto from the Dodgers was surely steep, but imagining a lineup that pairs him with this version of Bellinger and the rest of the Dodgers’ potent bats seems almost unfair to opposing pitchers. Biting that bullet could’ve made this lineup into a veritable juggernaut, and it’s not hard to see the Dodgers seeking catching help come July. Perhaps catching prospect Will Smith will be MLB-ready by that point, but that’s hardly a given.

It’s a somewhat similar tale in the bullpen, where the Dodgers have ample options but relatively little in terms of established arms. Kenley Jansen has begun to show signs that he is, in fact, human after years of unhittable ninth-inning mastery, and while Kelly was brought in as an expected top-quality setup option, the Dodgers took their typical approach of cobbling together a relief unit beyond that point. Pedro Baez has been a good but sometimes shaky option in the ’pen for years. Dylan Floro is one of the quietest bargain finds the Dodgers have made.

But the mix of JT Chargois, Scott Alexander, Caleb Ferguson, Yimi Garcia, Josh Sborz and Jaime Schultz isn’t as solid as one would expect from a team with legitimate World Series aspirations. It’s true that Julio Urias and Tony Cingrani are also factors, but durability questions with that duo are even more pronounced than with most relievers. Adding another arm to the ’pen to deepen the mix would’ve been prudent, and it seems almost inevitable that the Dodgers will be in that market a couple months from now. There’s a clear on-paper match with Craig Kimbrel, but signing him would push the team into luxury tax territory, and Kimbrel’s asking price apparently hasn’t dropped to the point where Los Angeles (or any other club) is willing to jump on board. It doesn’t seem all that likely that they’ll be the team to sign him in the end.

2019 Season Outlook

The Dodgers entered the season as clear favorites in the National League West, and a poor start to the season for their primary competitors in Denver didn’t do much to change that line of thinking. Surprisingly hot starts from the upstart Padres and the wait-aren’t-they-kind-of-rebuilding Diamondbacks have added an interesting wrinkle to the division, but the Dodgers are still pacing the group. With the talent and depth cultivated by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his staff, as well as that group’s willingness to make a trade to plug holes as they arise, the Dodgers are still the favorites to take the NL West. Whether they can finally get over the hump and convert a postseason berth into a World Series trophy is the true question.

How would you grade the Dodgers’ offseason? (Poll link for Trade Rumors app users)

Rockies Acquire James Pazos

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The Rockies have acquired lefty James Pazos from the Phillies, the clubs announced. Infielder Hunter Stovall is heading to the Philadelphia organization in return.

Pazos was designated for assignment recently by the Phils. He’ll head onto the Colorado 40-man roster but does not have to be added to the active roster.

Soon to turn 28, Pazos landed with the Phils in the Jean Segura swap this past offseason. Things didn’t turn out as hoped in Philadelphia, leading to a surprisingly quick DFA. He failed to win a big-league pen job after a rough camp and has continued to struggle at Triple-A to open the season.

That showing came after some curious developments last year. Pazos had previously sported 96 mph heat and a good slider, but saw the fastball velo dip even as he went to that pitch almost exclusively last year. His swinging-strike rate fell by nearly 25%.

Despite the recent issues, it’s easy to see why the Rockies decided to roll the dice. Pazos carries a 3.54 ERA through 112 MLB frames, with 9.3 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 and a 47.8% groundball rate. He has been effective against both lefties and righties. And he’s optionable, which creates some additional flexibility.

On the other side of this swap is the 22-year-old Stovall. He was a 21st-round draft pick last year but has performed well thus far as a professional. After hitting ten home runs in 199 plate appearances at the Rookie ball level last year, he’s off to a .281/.414/.439 slash with as many walks as strikeouts (a dozen apiece) in seventy Class A plate appearances. Whether he can combine the power and patience remains to be seen.

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