Reds Release Ryan Lavarnway
The Reds have released catcher Ryan Lavarnway, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Lavarnway had been with the organization since signing a minor league contract July 18 – the same day the Yankees released him.
Now 32 years old, Lavarnway came through the ranks as a high-end prospect for the Red Sox, who grabbed him in the sixth round of the 2008 draft. Lavarnway hasn’t matched the hype he garnered during his younger days, though, and has been a member of several organizations as a result. Along with Boston and Cincinnati, Lavarnway has appeared at the major league level with Baltimore, Atlanta, Oakland and Pittsburgh, combining for a nonthreatening .211/.270/.343 line with nine home runs in 445 plate appearances.
The Reds actually received impressive production from Lavarnway, albeit over only 19 trips to the plate, as he collected five hits and a pair of homers in their uniform. But Lavarnway never seemed likely to stick for long in Cincinnati, as he came up just to fill in for then-injured catchers Tucker Barnhart, Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer. The club deemed Lavarnway expendable when it designated him for assignment to clear room for Farmer activation’s from the injured list on July 28. Lavarnway then wound up spending a few weeks with the Reds’ Triple-A team in Louisville, where he hit .225/.319/.500 and totaled three long balls in 47 PA.
Ross Stripling Set For Sunday Activation
Right-hander Ross Stripling is set for activation from the injured list when rosters expand Sunday, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. Stripling hasn’t pitched since July 24 because of neck and biceps issues.
The 24-year-old Stripling’s a swingman, but he had been something of a regular in the Dodgers’ rotation before landing on the IL. With 12 starts this year, Stripling ranks fifth among Dodgers hurlers in that category. And Stripling has been quite effective in that role, evidenced by his 3.54 ERA/4.06 FIP with 8.85 K/9 and 1.92 BB/9 in 61 innings as a starter in 2019.
To his credit, Stripling is also a viable reliever, making him one of seemingly umpteen Dodgers who’s capable of faring well in multiple positions He holds a lifetime 3.24 ERA/3.47 FIP and has posted 8.71 K/9 against 2.59 BB/9 over 125 frames from the Los Angeles bullpen.
With the playoffs approaching and the Dodgers well on their way to a first-place finish in the National League, Stripling’s likely to factor into their relief corps down the stretch. It’s a group that has come under fire on plenty of occasions this season – including when Pedro Baez and once-automatic closer Kenley Jansen each yielded an earned run in a win over the Padres on Wednesday – so Stripling could serve as an important reinforcement in the coming weeks.
Kyle Seager’s Rebound Season
Not much has gone right for the Mariners at the Major League level this season, as GM Jerry Dipoto’s ongoing plan to “re-imagine” the roster has cut a lot of payroll and brought a lot of young talent into the organization at the expense of big league wins. Only five teams have fewer victories than the 56-78 Mariners, and every single team in the four major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) has reached the postseason more recently than the M’s, who last tasted the playoffs in 2001.
With so much focus on the Mariners’ newer faces, one of the more positive development of the team’s season has been the re-emergence of a cornerstone. Thanks to hand surgery during Spring Training, Kyle Seager didn’t make his season debut until May 25, and thus the durable third baseman will appear in fewer than 154 games for the first time since his 2011 rookie season. Even in abbreviated fashion over 324 plate appearances, however, Seager looks to have reversed a very worrisome decline at the plate.
Seager hit .268/.340/.457 with 103 homers for the M’s between 2013-16, culminating in an outstanding 2016 campaign that saw him finish 12th in AL MVP voting on the basis of a .278/.359/.499 slash line and 30 home runs (all career bests) over 676 plate appearances. That great year was followed up, however, by a less-impressive 2017 and then a disastrous 2018.
After breaking his left big toe in June, Seager made an ill-fated attempt to try and play through the injury, leading to the worst full-season numbers of his career. Seager’s production went from okay in 2017 to well below-average (107 wRC+ to 84, 109 OPS + to 86) , as he managed only a .221/.273/.400 slash through 630 PA, while still swatting 22 home runs.
It would’ve been easy to just write off 2018 as a result of the toe injury, though between the earlier dropoff in 2017 and then his late start to 2019, the Mariners didn’t really know what to expect from Seager this year. While still not at his 2016 peak, Seager has nonetheless rebounded to once again become a force at the plate. He has 18 homers and a .250/.327/.503 slash line over 324 PA, fueled mostly by a recent surge (1.183 OPS over his last 132 PA) that has made Seager one of baseball’s top hitters over the last five weeks of action.
While he may not remain quite this red-hot, Seager’s production looks mostly sustainable. His .354 xwOBA actually outpaces his .350 wOBA (which has been a consistent trend for him since Statcast began measuring wOBA/xwOBA back in 2015). His exit velocity and hard-hit ball percentage are both well above league averages, and Seager’s 38.9% showing in the latter category represents a new career high. Always something of a fly-ball hitter, Seager’s improved contact has made him the latest batter to benefit from MLB’s homer-happy reality, as his 18% homer rate is by far the highest of his career. He has also shown more patience, with a 9.9% walk rate this season after a career-worst 6.0% in 2018.
Beyond just a healed toe, Seager also took steps to improve his diet and offseason training last winter, and the early results bode well for him to remain a valuable player heading into 2020, his age-32 season. His bounce-back performance in 2019 could also revive some trade value, though the terms of Seager’s contract will be a notable obstacle.
Signed to a seven-year, $100MM contract extension by former M’s general manager Jack Zduriencik prior to the 2015 season, Seager is still owed $19MM in 2020 and $18MM in 2021, with a $15MM club option for 2022. That club option becomes guaranteed, however, in the event of a trade, effectively making it a poison pill rival teams are unlikely to swallow for a player who will be 34 on Opening Day 2022. The Mariners have been willing to cover money in other trades of veterans over the past year, though between the contracts already dealt and Felix Hernandez‘s big salary coming off the books after the season, the M’s have already significantly reduced their future financial commitments. The team has just under $87MM committed to payroll in 2020.
Even the fact that Seager can again be considered something of a trade chip, however, represents a big step forward for the third baseman given his issues over the previous two seasons. Since Hernandez is expected to depart, Seager will become the longest-tenured Mariner, and perhaps a veteran bridge to the team’s next window of competitive baseball. Dipoto has insisted that his rebuilding efforts won’t be long-lasting, so there’s still a chance that Seager’s career revival could take him into a long-awaited postseason appearance while still wearing a Mariners uniform.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
MLBTR Poll: Superstars For Sale?
ESPN scribe Jeff Passan floated a very interesting tidbit in his latest column Wednesday: There’s a belief among rival executives that the Red Sox, Indians and Cubs will at least be willing to listen to trade offers for their franchise players during the upcoming winter. That means any of Boston’s Mookie Betts, Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor or Chicago’s Kris Bryant could change hands once the offseason rolls around. It’s far from a guarantee anyone from the group will wind up on the move, but the idea that they might should make hot stove season all the more interesting.
The only member of the trio with fewer than two years of team control remaining is Betts, who will enter his final season of arbitration eligibility over the winter. The 26-year-old right fielder is just a season removed from earning AL MVP honors, which helped him land a historic $20MM payday to avoid arbitration last winter. The 2019 version of Betts hasn’t been as stellar as the MVP-winning player, but that’s not a knock on his performance this season so much as a compliment to what he did a year ago, when he amassed an eyebrow-raising 10.4 fWAR. Betts is up to 4.8 in that category this year, having slashed a strong .282/.384/.494 with 21 home runs and 13 stolen bases across 622 plate appearances.
Just a year from winning their latest World Series title, why would the Red Sox possibly move Betts? They’re unlikely to make the playoffs this year, though a trip back to the postseason in 2020 hardly looks out of the question. However, Betts has indicated on multiple occasions that he’d like to test free agency after next season, when he could reel in one of the all-time richest contracts in the sport. For the Red Sox, trading Betts a year before a potential journey to the open market would help the club replenish its farm system to some degree. The Red Sox only came in 22nd place in Baseball America’s most recent talent rankings.
The Indians, on the other hand, boast the game’s 10th-best system, though they’re incapable of spending to the extent the Red Sox can. That means Lindor is quite likely to end up elsewhere in the coming years. Mr. Smile will be a free agent after 2021, but it would behoove the Indians to get something for him prior to then. In the meantime, the 25-year-old Lindor is sure to collect a notable raise over his current $10.55MM salary when he reaches arbitration for the penultimate time during the offseason. Lindor perhaps hasn’t been quite as great as he was in 2018, a career-high 7.6-fWAR campaign, but his 4.3 mark and .300/.353/.532 line with 24 homers and 19 steals through 522 PA are mighty impressive nonetheless. Needless to say, teams will line up for the elite shortstop if small-market Cleveland goes with the agonizing decision to make him available in the coming months.
And then there’s Bryant, yet another former MVP. The Boras client joins Lindor as another all-world performer who’s slated for his second-last trip through arbitration in a few months. Bryant, 27, is well on his way to another raise (he’s currently on a $12.9MM salary), having batted .282/.379/.521 and smashed 29 dingers over 552 trips to the plate. Whether the Cubs would truly consider parting with Bryant is up in the air, but they are amid their second somewhat disappointing season (albeit one that looks as if it will culminate in yet another playoff berth), and waving goodbye to the third baseman/outfielder would go a long way toward aiding them in bolstering their system. It’s definitely a below-average group, according to BA, which places it 29th in baseball.
We’re still a couple months from the offseason rearing its head, but if anyone from this trio hits the block, it should make for an incredibly interesting winter of rumors. Do you expect any of them to actually change teams after the season?
(Poll link for app users)
Will any of these three be traded in the offseason?
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Francisco Lindor 39% (3,089)
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Mookie Betts 34% (2,690)
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Kris Bryant 26% (2,080)
Total votes: 7,859
AL East Notes: Kiermaier, Holt, Pearson
Some items from around the AL East…
- The Rays would “really would like to avoid” an injured list placement for Kevin Kiermaier, manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters, though Kiermaier is still “in a significant amount of pain” following a collision with the outfield wall on Sunday. Kiermaier hasn’t taken the field since suffering the left rib cage contusion, though Cash was hopeful that the center fielder would be able to return on Friday. Kiermaier already spent ten days on the IL earlier this season due to a sprained left thumb, though 2019 has thus far been a relatively healthy season for the injury-plagued outfielder. His 109 games played is already the second-highest total of his seven-year career.
- Super-utilityman Brock Holt is enjoying the best season of his eight-year career, leaving MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo to wonder if the Red Sox will be able to affordably re-sign Holt in free agency this offseason. Despite missing over seven weeks due to shoulder and eye injuries, Holt has hit .320/.393/.455 over 206 plate appearances, playing mostly as a second baseman to help the Sox fill the void left by the injured Dustin Pedroia. Cotillo thinks the 31-year-old could find a three-year deal worth $27MM-$30MM on the open market, though “that might take a market rebound and some teams rewarding Holt for trending upward this season.” While Boston has a lot of money coming off the books this winter, the club still has roughly $159.35MM in projected salary commitments (as per Roster Resource) and that’s not counting big raises due to arbitration-eligible players like Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. Andrew Benintendi, or Eduardo Rodriguez. The Red Sox have Marco Hernandez on hand as a possible heir apparent utility infielder, should they choose to let Holt go and spend elsewhere. For his part, Holt stated last spring that he “would love to stay here for the rest of my career.”
- In a radio interview on the Fan 590’s Good Show today, Blue Jays pitching prospect Nate Pearson said that he doesn’t think he’ll be making this MLB debut this season. “[The Blue Jays] haven’t really talked to me about anything,” Pearson said. “I’m just assuming I’m going home if we don’t make the [Triple-A] playoffs and just taking some time off. That’s all I really have planned right now.” Pearson has been dominant in working his way up the Jays’ minor league ladder this season, with an overall 2.05 ERA, 10.6 K/9, and 4.75 K/BB rate in 96 2/3 combined innings at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels. This performance has elevated Pearson’s already-high prospect stock, as he placed 14th and 15th on midseason top-100 prospect lists from MLB.com and Baseball America, respectively. Since Pearson has made only two Triple-A starts and missed almost all of 2018 due to injuries, the Jays are being cautious in bringing along the prized right-hander (plus, service time considerations are likely in mind). Given Pearson’s ability, however, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Pearson in the big leagues before the halfway point of the 2020 season.
Danny Coulombe Opts Out Of Brewers Contract
Left-hander Danny Coulombe has exercised a release clause within his minor league deal with the Brewers and is now a free agent, the team announced (Twitter link). Coulombe signed with Milwaukee back in July, a few weeks after being released from a previous minors contract with the Yankees.
For the entire 2019 season, Coulombe has a cumulative 4.79 ERA over 35 2/3 relief innings at the Triple-A level, also missing a month on the injured list while with New York’s Triple-A affiliate. Despite a 15.1 K/9, Coulombe has been badly hurt by home runs, allowing nine long balls over his limited number of innings. (His walk rate also ballooned to 6.0 BB/9 when with the Yankees, though that number shrunk to a far more respectable 1.4 BB/9 over 13 frames in the Brewers’ farm system.) Home runs had generally not been much of a problem for Coulombe prior to last season, when his HR/9 spiked to 1.9 over 23 2/3 innings on the Athletics’ big league roster.
Between the homer issues and a lack of need for left-handed relief in the Brewers’ pen (Alex Claudio and Drew Pomeranz are on hand, not to mention closer Josh Hader), it’s safe to infer that Coulombe knew he wasn’t going to be called up when rosters expand on September 1, so he has left the Brewers in search of another opportunity elsewhere. There’s perhaps room for him to catch on with a team as a lefty specialist, as Coulombe has held Triple-A left-handed hitters to just a .580 OPS this season, to go along with his solid work (.631 OPS in 287 PA) against lefty swingers at the Major League level.
Coulombe has yet to appear in the majors this season after amassing 153 appearances for the Dodgers and A’s from 2014-2018. He has a career 4.27 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and 2.20 K/BB rate over 143 1/3 IP in the Show, including a workhorse year for Oakland in 2017 that saw him appear in 72 games.
Matt Harvey Won’t Opt Out Of A’s Contract, Will Try Relief Pitching
Today marks the opt-out date in Matt Harvey‘s minor league contract with the Athletics, though the right-hander is going to remain in the organization, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Harvey could be changing roles, however, as the A’s have asked him to make some Triple-A relief appearances. The longtime starter is open to the idea, replaying he is “gonna give it the shot” in a text message to the Chronicle.
After an ugly 12-start stint with the Angels that resulted in a 7.09 ERA over 59 2/3 innings, Harvey was released in late July and then caught on with Oakland two weeks ago. After two solid outings for Triple-A Las Vegas, Harvey’s third start in the A’s organization wasn’t as sharp, giving him an overall 3.60 ERA, 4.50 K/BB rate, and 10.8 K/9 over 15 total innings for Las Vegas.
Harvey has started 140 of his 145 career Major League games, with four of those bullpen outings coming last season after he lost his rotation job with the Mets. It’s worth noting that when the Angels released Harvey, manager Brad Ausmus said the team didn’t explore using Harvey as a reliever since the team “didn’t think he’d take well to the role” (as per Maria Torres of the L.A. Times), which is perhaps telling given that the Angels have themselves been looking for relief help this season.
A move to the pen, however, might simply have been inevitable for a pitcher who simply hasn’t performed well since undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2016. Harvey has a 5.89 ERA over 307 1/3 innings since the start of the 2017 campaign, with only a 6.9 K/9 and an ungainly 1.8 HR/9. Slusser noted two days ago that Harvey was hoping to make a late-season rebound in Oakland’s rotation to help his free agent case this winter, and while Harvey could still market himself to starter-needy teams down the road, relief pitching is a relatively pragmatic short-term decision.
After all, Harvey could get himself a quicker path back to the big leagues as a reliever, given how the A’s have been short on reliable right-handed bullpen depth this season. If he acclimates well to a relief role, Harvey could even wind up pitching some important September innings for a team in the midst of a pennant race. Having a proven capability to work as a reliever would help Harvey in landing a Major League contract for next season, possibly as a full-time reliever or perhaps a swingman, whereas he would almost surely have to settle for another minors contract if he stuck with starting pitching.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/29/19
The latest minor moves from around the sport…
- Right-hander Felipe Paulino has asked to be released from his minor league contract with the Astros, as per the ALPB News Instagram page. Paulino will rejoin the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League, returning to the club after spending the last two-plus months in Houston’s farm system. The brief stint at Triple-A Round Rock didn’t go well, as Paulino posted a 9.58 ERA over 20 2/3 innings. The 35-year-old Paulino last appeared in the majors in 2014, and has since pitched in the affiliated minors, Japan, Mexico, and (for the last three years) Sugar Land.
Rays Sign Jhon Diaz
The Rays have signed 16-year-old Dominican outfield prospect Jhon Diaz, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). Diaz had been widely projected to go to the Yankees, and Sanchez even tweeted on July 2 that Diaz and New York had agreed to a $1.2MM signing bonus. It seems, however, that said deal was never officially finalized. (In the case of today’s report, Sanchez tweeted a photo of Diaz signing with his contract with the Rays.)
The Yankees pledged the vast majority of their $5.398MM bonus pool to fellow Dominican outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez — to the point that they’d have needed to trade for roughly $1MM in additional funds to accommodate both Dominguez and Diaz (at their reported bonus levels). Such a trade never came together prior to the deadline, so perhaps Diaz’s camp simply found another suitor with ample remaining funds in its bonus pool.
When international free agency kicked off on July 2, Diaz ranked as the No. 7 prospect on the market over at Fangraphs and checked in at No. 18 on Sanchez’s list at MLB.com. The specific numerical rankings aren’t of the foremost importance; prospect rankings in general are an inexact science, and that’s even more true when writing about the second tier of more seldom-seen international teenagers. Rather, the key takeaway is that Tampa Bay has added yet another intriguing piece to an already deep farm system that is graded among the game’s elite.
Diaz is a center fielder who draws praise for his above-average speed and defensive instincts in addition to a compact swing and plenty of present-day skill (rather than the pure physical projection that accompanies many 16-year-old signees). He’ll join an international class for Tampa Bay that had previously been headlined by Dominican shortstop Wilmer de la Cruz. Baseball America’s Ben Badler has a list of other prospects the Rays have inked during the current signing period, which runs through June 15, 2020.
Athletics Designate Wei-Chung Wang For Assignment
The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve designated left-hander Wei-Chung Wang for assignment and placed designated hitter Khris Davis on the paternity list. Wang’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to infield prospect Sheldon Neuse, whose previously reported promotion to the big leagues is now official. Davis can be on the paternity list until Sept. 1, and at that point rosters will expand, so it’s likely that Neuse will be with the MLB club through season’s end.
Wang, 27, has pitched to an aesthetically pleasing 3.33 ERA through 27 innings with the A’s this season, but he’s also managed just a 16-to-11 K/BB ratio with a 30.5 percent ground-ball rate in that time. His success has been propped up by a .231 average on balls in play and an 84.5 percent strand rate — neither of which seems particularly sustainable over a larger sample. Oakland isn’t short on lefty options in the ‘pen, either; Ryan Buchter has been a constant in the bullpen for much of the past two seasons, and he’s joined there by deadline acquisition Jake Diekman and recently promoted top prospect A.J. Puk. That depth had relegated Wang to Triple-A Las Vegas, where he’s logged a 4.78 ERA with 24 strikeouts, eight walks and five homers allowed in 26 1/3 innings.
Although this season’s performance has been mixed both in Triple-A and at the MLB level, Wang does sport a career 3.20 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in 115 2/3 innings of Triple-A pitching. If he goes unclaimed on outright waivers, he’ll have the right to reject an assignment to the minors in favor of free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted off a 40-man roster in the past.
Even if Wang is claimed by another club, the former Rule 5 pick is in his final option season, thus hurting his chances of sticking with a team into the 2020 season. Any club could take a flier on Wang via outright waivers and give him a September bullpen audition, but because he’ll be out of options in Spring Training, he’d need to either break camp with a club or once again be placed on waivers.