Astros To Promote Abraham Toro
The Astros are calling up third base prospect Abraham Toro, according to reporter Jacques Lanciault (Twitter link). As noted by The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan (Twitter link), it isn’t yet known what corresponding moves will be made to create room for Toro on either the 25-man or 40-man rosters.
As Kaplan observes, the promotion is rather unexpected, as Toro has only 16 Triple-A games under his belt. However, Toro has absolutely raked in that short amount of time (a 1.112 OPS over 79 plate appearances), and also hit .306/.393/.513 with 16 home runs over 435 Double-A plate appearances this season.
While this breakout at the plate didn’t land Toro a spot on any top-100 prospect lists, MLB Pipeline currently ranks him as the sixth-best prospect in Houston’s farm system. As per the MLB.com scouting report, many scouts have long considered Toro to be one of the Astros’ best hitting prospects, an evaluation that has seemingly been proven correct by his big 2019 numbers and a strong performance in the 2018 Arizona Fall League.
The 22-year-old Toro was a fifth-round pick for the Astros in the 2016 draft. The vast majority of his pro experience has come at third base, though with Alex Bregman at the hot corner in Houston, Toro has also played an increasing amount of first base and second base this season. For his first taste of the big leagues, however, Toro could very well see most of his time at his natural position, as Bregman could slide over to shortstop while Carlos Correa is on the injured list. Alternatively, Toro could also handle some first base if the Astros use Yuli Gurriel at third base.
Dodgers Notes: Ryu, May, Jansen, Stripling, Hill, Verdugo
Hyun-Jin Ryu has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this season, and with a trip to free agency pending, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand speaks to several rival executives about how Ryu will fare on the open market this winter. It should be noted that Ryu sidestepped a chance at free agency last offseason by accepting a one-year, $17.9MM qualifying offer from the Dodgers, preferring to remain in L.A. and aim for a better platform year than his injury-shortened 2018 campaign. That strategy has worked like gangbusters, as Ryu has a 1.64 ERA, 1.1 BB/9 (both league bests), 7.00 K/BB rate, and 50.7% grounder rate over 148 1/3 frames in 2019, with only two minimal injured list stints for relatively minor issues.
With this in mind, Ryu’s long injury history and age (he’ll be 33 on Opening Day 2020) will also certainly be factors in his next contract. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes placed Ryu seventh in his most recent power ranking of the 2019-20 free agent class, though one NL executive tells Feinsand that depending on whether some players exercise opt-out clauses or not, Ryu is “probably No. 2 if his contract ask is reasonable….This could be an interesting class to watch. It might be one of those years where teams rank guys differently based on who they like.” Gerrit Cole is the undisputed top pitcher available this winter, but other arms like Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, or Dallas Keuchel have also seemingly generated more buzz than Ryu, recent results notwithstanding. An AL talent evaluator thinks this could be to Ryu’s benefit, telling Feinsand that Ryu “may actually be viewed slightly lower than some in that group perceptually, and therefore, sign earlier. I can see Ryu signing ahead of them and jumping the market and actually getting a better deal. I think the other guys may wait longer, and waiting longer hasn’t always paid off.”
Here’s more on the Dodgers…
- Dustin May is in line for another start next week, manager Dave Roberts told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other reporters, though May will also make relief appearances to get him more acclimated to working out of the bullpen. This semi-swingman usage is being deployed since the Dodgers ultimately intend to use May as a reliever in the postseason, though also need him available to make a spot start if necessary down the stretch. For instance, L.A. is two games into a run of 16 games in 16 days, so May’s start next week will give the regular rotation members a breather. “When you have a person of Dustin’s head, mindset, it makes it a better bet for us to make and especially when you have the buy-in of the player….We’re going to continue to keep our options open,” Roberts said. May has started three of his four big league appearances thus far, posting a 4.26 ERA, 7.1 K/9, and 5.00 K/BB rate over 19 total innings.
- In another case of the Dodgers making early preparations for October, the team will use Kenley Jansen roughly once per series for the remainder of the season, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times writes. This means Jansen will be skipped for some save situations and pitch in some non-save situations, all in order to keep him regularly sharp rather than tether this workload to whether or not the Dodgers have a ninth-inning lead. It’s worth wondering if this strategy could also have to do with Jansen’s somewhat shaky performance this year, as the closer has a career-high 3.70 ERA over 48 2/3 innings. Jansen blew his sixth save chance of the season last night, and now has 26 saves in 32 chances.
- Roberts provided DiGiovanna and other reporters with updates on some injured Dodgers players. Ross Stripling (right biceps tendinitis) seems the closest to returning, as he tossed a 25-pitch bullpen session on Tuesday and has a two-inning simulated game coming up before he begins a rehab assignment. Rich Hill (flexor tendon strain) has upped his long-toss throwing to 150 feet and will next start throwing off a mound. Hill isn’t expected back until sometime in September, though his path to a return is clearer than that of Alex Verdugo, as Roberts said Verdugo is still feeling pain in his ribcage and hasn’t yet resumed baseball activities. Verdugo has been on the IL since August 6 due to a right oblique strain, and Roberts said the outfielder won’t return to action until at least the start of September.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/22/19
The latest minor moves from around baseball….
- The Rangers announced yesterday that right-hander David Carpenter has been assigned outright to Triple-A. Carpenter was designated for assignment on Monday, and thus must have cleared waivers before being removed from the Rangers’ 40-man roster. This is the second time Carpenter has been DFA’ed and outrighted this season, following a similar path back to Triple-A in June. The righty appeared in three games during this latest stay on the Texas roster, and for the season has a 10.80 ERA in 3 1/3 innings over four total appearances. After tossing 211 1/3 relief innings for five different teams from 2011-15, Carpenter didn’t make it back to the Major Leagues until this season, after three years battling injuries while bouncing around the minors and independent leagues.
East Notes: Nola, Stroman, Dansby, Riley, Deivi, Lowe
As the Phillies quest for a playoff berth intensifies, manager Gabe Kapler looks poised to increase his ace’s workload in hopes that Aaron Nola can carry the team to the promised land. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports writes, the Phillies are considering starting the 26-year-old Nola every fifth day for the stretch run, regardless of intervening off days. Last year’s third-place NL Cy Young finisher has been far and away the most reliable of the Phillies’ starting rotation, which has sorely lacked for production outside of its ace. If the Phillies were to employ such a plan, Nola would make eight more starts over the next month-plus, which would place him at a total of 35 at season’s end. As Salisbury notes, though, Nola has often benefitted from a fifth day of rest and features considerably better career numbers with the extra day off. Of course, it’s undeniable that Nola is the Phillies’ best option to start games and the club is confident that, in a playoff race that may well be decided in the waning days of the season, their chances are maximized with Nola on the mound as often as possible.
Here’s all the latest from baseball’s East divisions…
- Mets starter Marcus Stroman left today’s start against the Indians after just four innings because of left hamstring tightness. Tim Healey of Newsday has an update, with Stroman undergoing an MRI that showed no reason for concern. Indeed, it’s only hamstring tightness for the new Met, who has now made four starts with his new club. All indications are that the injury is nothing serious, so it seems as though Stroman should be good to go for his next start.
- A pair of young Braves regulars are slated to begin rehab assignments in the coming days, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Shortstop Dansby Swanson will join the Class-A Rome Braves on Thursday for a rehab stint, with rookie slugger Austin Riley joining him the following day. Swanson has been out since late July with a heel issue, while Riley has missed about two weeks with a partially torn right LCL. While the Braves have found capable replacements for both young stars and has gotten by without the pair, the club would no doubt welcome Swanson and Riley back to the lineup as soon as possible. Swanson has put together his best offensive season, while Riley has gotten his career off to a blistering start, slugging 17 home runs in just 66 Major League games.
- Yankees pitching prospect Deivi Garcia has been moved to the bullpen for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, according to Connor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune. While the organization has not given an explicit explanation for the move, it seems likely that it’s motivated by one of two things: most likely, the Yankees are limiting the workload for Garcia, who is just 20 years old and has already eclipsed 100 innings pitched for the season, a threshold that he never reached prior to 2019; or, less likely, the team is preparing Garcia for the role he would have in the Majors as a potential September call-up. The club has taken a similar course of action in the past with Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams, though both were further along in their development than Garcia.
- Injured Rays rookie Brandon Lowe may have hit a roadblock in his recovery from a right shin contusion, as he exited his rehab game with Triple-A Durham with a left quad strain, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com. That injury, of course, is separate from the shin contusion, though the severity is not yet known. Lowe will return to St. Petersburg tomorrow to be further evaluated, at which point more details will likely be made available. Lowe, who has generated buzz as a Rookie of the Year candidate, has not played for the Rays since July 2. He had previously been expected to return in late August or early September, but that timeline may have been complicated by the introduction of another, unrelated injury.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/21/19
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with left-handed pitcher Sam Freeman, according to Mark Zuckerman of MASN. He’ll report to Triple-A Fresno. Though he was a mainstay in Braves bullpens over the last two years, he has only appeared in one big league game in 2019. He could very well get a chance to boost that number with the Washington organization, which has sorely lacked a lefty out-getter this season. In 35 games with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, he has a 7.01 ERA over 52 2/3 innings.
- After the Giants designated him for assignment, Rule 5 selection Travis Bergen has cleared waivers and will return to his former organization, the Blue Jays. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo as he makes his return to the team that drafted him in 2015. Bergen, a left-handed reliever, got into 21 games for the Giants this year and compiled a 5.49 ERA in his first taste of the big leagues. Between two levels of the minors in 2018, he posted a 0.95 ERA while striking out 74 batters in 56 2/3 innings.
Tigers Shut Down Top Prospect Casey Mize
The Tigers are shutting down former first-overall selection and top pitching prospect Casey Mize, per Jason Beck of MLB.com. While he’s out of commission, he’ll remain with the Double-A Erie Seawolves before reporting to instructional league in mid-September.
As Beck notes, no one injury motivated the Tigers’ decision; rather the organization would prefer to take a cautious approach with its top minor-leaguer, who is playing in just his first professional season. While he did make a stint on the injured list with shoulder inflammation earlier this season, today’s decision is unrelated. Indeed, this looks to be in hopes of preventing injury, rather than reacting to one.
Mize finishes his first full professional season with 109 2/3 innings under his belt between High-A Lakeland and Double-A Erie. After breezing through the low minors and earning himself a promotion to Double-A—where he threw a no-hitter in his first game—Mize has encountered some difficulty of late, possibly as a consequence of a building workload. While the Tigers weren’t restricting their crown jewel to a definitive innings limit, Beck notes that Tigers officials felt that, in recent viewings, Mize wasn’t as sharp as he had been throughout the year, leading them to shut the righty down for the final two weeks of the minor-league season.
Last season, in his draft year, Mize accumulated nearly 130 innings pitched between his time at Auburn University and a partial season in the low minors.
In his first full season as a professional, Mize made 21 starts, going 8-3 with a 2.55 ERA across two levels of the minors. He struck out 106 batters compared to just 23 walks, good for for a 4.6 K:BB ratio.
The 2018 first overall pick is regarded by many to be the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, including MLB Pipeline, which regards Mize as the second-ranked overall prospect. Already a relatively polished product, it seems like a solid bet that Mize could be pitching in Comerica Park at this time next year.
Cubs’ Brandon Morrow Shut Down For Season
Cubs reliever Brandon Morrow has suffered a setback in his recovery from elbow surgery, President Theo Epstein told reporters including Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. He’ll miss the remainder of the season.
While the precise nature of the setback is not yet known, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports that Morrow will require another procedure to correct the issue. A timeline for Morrow’s recovery is not yet known.
After undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in the offseason, there were always questions whether the right-hander would be able to pitch for the Cubs in 2019, but optimism seemed to be building as Morrow built his workload up in hopes of making a September return.
Morrow’s injury history with the Cubs dates back to last season’s All-Star break, when a biceps injury cost him much of the second half of the season before giving way to elbow problems that necessitated last November’s surgery. He last pitched for the Cubs on July 15 of last year. Earlier this month, it looked as though that might change as Morrow began throwing off a mound, but his progress halted there and his Cubs tenure is effectively over.
With a 2019 return now out of the question, Morrow’s season will go down as one in which he has been unable to appear in a single game for the Cubs, who doled out $21MM in guaranteed money to bring the 35-year-old aboard after a breakout 2017 season with the Dodgers.
In light of Morrow’s recent setback, that two-year contract looks in hindsight to be an utter misstep by the Chicago front office. With a $12MM team option for 2020 that will almost surely not be exercised, Morrow will have appeared in just 35 games over his Cubs tenure—none of which came in the postseason. To be fair, Morrow has been reliable when he has been on the field—posting a 1.47 ERA in a half-season’s worth of games in Chicago—but such a drastic lack of availability paints an unpleasant picture of the Cubs’ hefty investment in the veteran.
Russell Martin Discusses Possible Retirement
Dodgers catcher Russell Martin is in the midst of his 14th and what could be his final Major League season, as the impending free agent told Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi that he might consider hanging up his spikes if he can’t land with another contending team this offseason.
“I know I can do it physically. It’s going to be, do I have the desire? Am I going to enjoy myself doing it? I don’t know….I really like competing,” Martin said. “Being on a team like this is fun, but if I wasn’t on a winning team, I’d have to be really selective on where I would go. I’d have to have that perfect fit and who knows if that’s going to be available. There are a lot of things that are going to come into play in the decision. This could possibly be my last year. I don’t know. It could be. We’ll see.”
Martin will be 37 on Opening Day 2020, so it isn’t any surprise that he has been considering the end of his career. He has hit .211/.332/.304 over 205 plate appearances this season, continuing an offensive decline that began to sharpen in 2018. Martin has probably received more playing time than expected this season due to Austin Barnes‘ struggles, though the emergence of Will Smith as the Dodgers’ regular catcher has firmly placed Martin back into his original veteran backup role. Martin is still one of the sport’s better pitch-framers, and his .227 caught stealing percentage (5-of-22) is roughly middle of the pack, though Baseball Prospectus rates him as a below-average blocker.
The five-year, $82MM contract Martin signed with the Blue Jays prior to the 2015 season is up after this year, and one would imagine the Dodgers would have some interest in re-signing Martin as an inexpensive veteran mentor to Smith. Then again, Los Angeles also has another top catching prospect in Keibert Ruiz who could be close to the big leagues, plus the club still has to figure out what to do with Barnes, who is less than two years’ removed from himself seemingly being the Dodgers’ catcher of the future.
As Davidi notes, it’s also possible Martin could decide to retire on a high note if the Dodgers were to win the World Series, thus giving the catcher the championship ring that has eluded him through multiple trips to the postseason. If Martin did decide to keep playing, he’d certainly get calls from several teams (including contenders) about a contract in 2020.
One theoretical option could be Philadelphia, as Davidi writes that the Blue Jays’ offseason trade talks about Martin “came down to the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.” J.T. Realmuto is obviously locked as the Phillies’ everyday starter, though Andrew Knapp‘s rough season has left the club looking for further depth options.
Eddie Rosario Day-To-Day With Hamstring Tightness
After Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario left today’s game early, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports that the move was simply precautionary, and that Rosario is day-to-day with hamstring tightness.
The 27-year-old Rosario was pulled from Wednesday’s matchup with the White Sox prior to the sixth inning after going hitless in his first two times at-bat. With an off day tomorrow, the Twins star will have a well-needed chance to rest and recover ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Tigers.
At this juncture, it doesn’t seem that there is cause for concern regarding Rosario’s availability in the future, though the injury certainly doesn’t come at an opportune time for the Twins, who find themselves in a tight race with Cleveland for the division crown. And with a loss on Wednesday marking a series loss at home against the White Sox, the AL Central leaders can ill afford to go an extended period without one of their most productive offensive performers.
Rosario has been a key player in the Twins’ season-long power surge, with his 27 home runs already matching the career-best mark he put up in 2017, despite playing 34 fewer games. By sheer volume stats, it looks that Rosario is on pace for a career year, though context-adjusted stats like wRC+ prefer Rosario’s previous two seasons to the current one.
While Rosario has always been known as a free swinger, he appears to have taken that approach to another level this year, with his walk rate dipping to the lowest it’s been since 2016, and his strikeout rate at a career low. Evidently, the aggressive approach has paid off in the form of boosted power numbers, though it’s also come at the cost of his OBP, which sits at .308, considerably lower than the cumulative .326 mark he has posted over the last two years.
Regardless, his presence in the Twins’ everyday lineup is imperative for a team that has minimal margin for error in an intensifying division race.
Pirates Place Chris Archer, Clay Holmes On Injured List
The Pirates have placed right-handers Chris Archer and Clay Holmes on the 10-day injured list, the team announced. Archer has been sidelined with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, while Holmes is suffering from left quad discomfort. Right-handers Dario Agrazal and Parker Markel have been called up from Triple-A to fill the two 25-man roster spots.
Some type of IL placement seemed likely for Archer following his abbreviated outing last night, when he left the game after just one inning following an off-target warm-up prior to his second frame of work. This is the first noteworthy arm issue of Archer’s career and only the third IL stint of his eight-year career, though they have all happened within the last two seasons — Archer missed a month due to an abdominal strain in 2018, and right thumb inflammation cost him around three weeks earlier this year.
The seriousness of the shoulder issue isn’t yet known, though if it lingers, the Pirates could just decide to shut Archer down for the remainder of the season. It would bring an early end to what has been a discouraging campaign for Archer, with a career-high 5.19 ERA over 119 2/3 frames. That innings total would mark a new career low for Archer in his seven full MLB seasons, while also posting career worsts in walk rate (4.14 BB/9), grounder rate (36.3%), home run rate (20.2%), xwOBA (.346), and hard-hit ball rate (40.1%).
All in all, it has been a very unmemorable stint in Pittsburgh since Archer was acquired in a trade deadline deal in July 2018. The deal raised eyebrows at the time, and given that Austin Meadows and (pre-injury) Tyler Glasnow both emerged as key contributors for the Rays, the trade is now looking like a significant misfire for the Pirates’ front office.
Archer still has as many as two seasons to turn things around in the Steel City, as the Bucs hold club options on his services for 2020 ($9MM, $1.75MM buyout) and 2021 ($11MM, $250K buyout). Despite his struggles, it still seems very likely that the Pirates will exercise that 2020 option, given the uncertainty in the team’s 2020 rotation. Jameson Taillon will miss all of next season recovering from Tommy John surgery, leaving the Pirates with Archer in all likelihood, as well as some combination of Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove, Mitch Keller, Steven Brault, and others all in the mix. Since the Bucs are likely to pursue a veteran starter anyway this winter, keeping Archer at a relatively inexpensive price seems like a logical move, especially if Archer can recapture any of his past form.
Holmes has a 6.05 ERA, 1.54 K/BB rate, and 10.0 K/9 over 38 2/3 relief innings for Pittsburgh this season. Control has been a major concern for Holmes over his brief Major League career, as he has a 7.1 BB/9 over 65 frames for the Bucs in 2018-19. This is Holmes’ second trip to the IL in less than a month, as he only recently returned from an absence due to right triceps inflammation.