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Cardinals Option Alex Reyes, Yairo Munoz To Triple-A

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The Cardinals have optioned righty Alex Reyes and utilityman Yairo Munoz to Triple-A Memphis, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Corresponding moves haven’t yet been announced.

Reyes will received “scheduled work” in Memphis, Goold notes, rather than his irregular deployment out of the Cards’ bullpen over the first week of the season.  This usage could be a reason for Reyes’ struggles. as the 24-year-old has allowed five earned runs over his three innings pitched this season for an ugly 15.00 ERA.  Reyes has allowed runs in each of his last three outings, including a rough frame of work on Friday that saw him surrender a Fernando Tatis Jr. homer as well as three walks, leading to three Padres runs.

One of the game’s most heralded pitching prospects, Reyes burst onto the scene with 46 innings of 1.57 ERA ball for the Cardinals in 2016, but has since barely pitched.  Tommy John surgery sidelined him for all of 2017, and Reyes only amassed 27 total innings in the minors and majors in 2018 after tearing a tendon in his right lat.

A more steady workload could be the best move for Reyes as he continues to get his career back on track, and it seems likely that he’ll be back in St. Louis at some point this season after he begins to string together some good results.  Whether that return would be as a reliever or as a starter may depend on the status of the Cardinals’ rotation members, though Reyes could again be seen as a potential multi-inning relief weapon for late in games.

Two pitchers are likely to be added to the 25-man roster, Goold writes.  Since the Cardinals were playing with a five-man bench, Munoz became expendable as the team looked to add an extra arm to the bullpen.  Munoz has five plate appearances over four games for St. Louis, making one start and mostly coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter and late-game defensive sub.  The 24-year-old Munoz was a valuable bench piece for St. Louis last season, hitting .276/.350/.413 over 329 PA in his rookie season while seeing time at six different positions.

Rehab Notes: Polanco, Kershaw, Taylor

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A grueling seven-month rehab process is finally nearing its end for Gregory Polanco, reports MLB.com’s Adam Berry, as the Pirates outfielder is set to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow for High-A Bradenton. The initial rehab outlook for the torn labrum on Polanco’s left shoulder was seven to nine months, so even a full 20-day rehab stay will have him set to return on the short end of the timeframe. The 27-year-old’s imminent return will be manna from the proverbial heaven for the run-starved Pirates, who’ve already lost outfielders Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall to injuries at the season’s outset. Polanco’s status as a perennial breakout candidate finally came to fruition last year, as the big lefty slashed a career-best .254/.340/.499 (123 wRC+) in 130 games before suffering the injury in early September. His hard-hit rate, which had dipped to a shockingly pedestrian 25.9% in 2017, jumped nearly nine percentage points, and the newfound plate discipline he exhibited reaped huge benefits.

In further rehab news from around the game…

  • Clayton Kershaw’s dominant rehab performance on minor-league Opening Night doesn’t mean he’s ready for the show, writes Bill Plunkett of the OC Register. The three-time Cy Young award winner will need at least another rehab outing – this one in the 75-80 pitch range – before rejoining the big club in the coming weeks. Dampening the much-needed flames throughout the outing were the stadium’s radar gun readouts, which reportedly had the seven-time all-star sitting at a frightening 88-91 MPH with the fastball. A career-low 90.9 MPH average fastball velocity in ’18 led to the lefty’s lowest strikeout rate since his rookie season of 2008, and the once-untouchable ace was again vulnerable to the longball. The club may not need a halcyon Kershaw to contend for the pennant, and may not need him at all to run through a sloppy NL West. Still, even a compromised version of the lefty should be quite effective, and the Dodgers, who doubled down on their substantial investment this offseason, will continue to hold out out hope for the ace of seasons past.
  • Per Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, Nationals outfielder Michael A. Taylor will play seven innings in a rehab game today. It’s good news for the Nationals, who expected the extra OF to miss “significant time” after he sprained his knee and hip mid-March. There seems to be precious little playing time in the Nats outfield for Taylor, who followed up a solid 2017 season with a .227/.287/.357 stinker last year. Strikeouts have long been an issue for the speedy centerfielder, who’s posted a K rate of 30% or higher in each of his four major-league seasons.

Cubs Option Carl Edwards Jr. To Minors, Send Mike Montgomery To IL, Promote Kyle Ryan And Select Allen Webster

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In a relatively surprising development out of Chicago, the Cubs will option Carl Edwards Jr. to Triple-A Iowa, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times (via Twitter). Mike Montgomery, meanwhile, has been put on the injured list with a left lat strain, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (via Twitter), who also announced the Edwards Jr. move on ESPN 1000 this morning, and MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter link). Bastian was among those to report that the club has promoted lefty Kyle Ryan and selected Allen Webster from AAA Iowa. Righty Jen-Ho Tseng was designated for assignment to make room for Webster on the 40-man.

Edwards’ decline, while not wholly out of character, took a sudden downturn this season after he had entrenched himself as a key piece of Joe Maddon’s bullpen since 2016. Edwards Jr. no doubt has wipeout stuff, but he has long struggled with loss of command in stretches, never more clearly than in the early stages of this season. In four appearances spanning just 1 2/3 innings, Edwards has surrendered 6 earned runs, 2 home runs and 5 walks (32.40 ERA). Still, the move must come as somewhat of a shock to the system for the “Stringbean Slinger,” who has averaged 66 appearances per season over the last two seasons with a 2.81 ERA and 12.2 K/9 to 5.3 BB/9.

With the Cubs losing six in a row after a win on Opening Day, changes were clearly in store for the Northsiders. Edwards’ had one option remaining, which could be a consideration here, as the only other pitchers on the staff with options remaining are lefty Randy Rosario (1) and starter Kyle Hendricks (3). Hendricks is clearly going nowhere, while Rosario has been one of the few strike-throwers out of the Cubs’ pen so far this season.

Montgomery, meanwhile, has similarly struggled through the first week of the season, appearing four times with a 16.88 ERA over 2 2/3 innings of work. He has been a key swingman for the Cubs over the last three seasons, appearing in 82 games, 33 of them starts since his acquisition from Seattle in the middle of 2016. As you may recall, Montgomery relieved Edwards Jr. to get the save in the game seven of the Cubs World Series win in Cleveland – his first career save.

Webster, 29, was a former top prospect in the Dodgers and Red Sox organizations, and was a key figure in the blockbuster waiver deal that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett to Los Angeles in August of 2012. He struggled mightily in Boston, with both arsenal and command, and was quickly shipped to Arizona, where the troubles worsened. The former 18th-rounder’s been a reclamation project in the Chicago farm since last Spring, and the club will hope he can suddenly regain his long-ago form.

Ryan, 27, has appeared in 86 big-league games with the Tigers since his debut in 2014, posting a 3.87 ERA/4.29 FIP/4.50 xFIP over 128 innings. He rarely misses a bat, having struck out just 4.92 men per nine since his debut, though is typically adroit at keeping the ball out of the air (54% career ground-ball rate). Ryan’s been much more effective against lefties (3.39 FIP against) than righties (4.76 opponents’ FIP) in his four-year career thus far.

Tseng, a 24-year-old righty who appeared in three games for Chicago over the last two seasons, was hammered in 24 starts for Iowa last season (6.27 ERA/5.13 FIP).

Yankees Select Giovanny Urshela, Option Thairo Estrada To Minors

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Per a team release, the Yankees have selected the contract of INF Giovanny Urshela from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and signed him to a major league contract. INF Thairo Estrada will head back to Scranton, while SS Didi Gregorius heads to the 60-day DL to make room for Urshela on the 40-man.

Long regarded as a premier hot-corner defender, Urshela will look to offer much-needed stability to a Yankee infield in shambles. With Gregorius, Miguel Andujar and the ever-fragile Troy Tulowitzki on the shelf, the club has been furiously plugging holes – Estrada and Tyler Wade were summoned from Triple-A, and Gold Glove second baseman DJ LeMahieu was uprooted from his natural habitat to help fill the void at third.

The 27-year-old Urshela has been an out-making specialist in the big leagues, slashing just .225/.274/.315 over 499 career MLB plate appearances. The 2018 late-season Yankee acquisition also spent time in the Blue Jays and Indians systems last year, where he slashed a combined .286/.326/.393 in 240 PA. Since 2014’s AAA breakout, where the Colombian clubbed 60 extra-base hits in a full-season’s worth of plate appearances, Urshela hasn’t found much success at the dish.

It was a brief big-league stay for Estrada (he didn’t once make it to the plate for the Bombers), who’s a well-regarded utility prospect in some circles. A gunshot wound and surgery-gone-wrong destroyed his 2018 campaign, so the 23-year-old will hope to patch things up in the season to come.

Edinson Volquez Facing Retirement Decision

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Rangers right-hander Edinson Volquez will consider retirement if the injury that recently landed him on the IL turns out to be another UCL tear, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter).

Volquez underwent Tommy John to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow in August of 2017, returning to big league action for the first time since the injury this season. He started two games before being placed on the IL with an elbow sprain. If the injury turns out to be a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament, as feared, Volquez plans to hang up his spikes. Neal reports Volquez saying (on the possibility of a tear): “If it is, I will go home and watch my daughter grow up. No complaints about what I’ve done in baseball.”

Volquez, 35, began his career in Texas before being sent to Cincinnati (with Danny Herrera) for Josh Hamilton. He threw 12 innings over 2 starts for the Royals in the 2015 World Series, including starting the series-clinching game five win over the Mets. He strongest season came as a 24-year-old in Cincinnati when he went 17-9 with a 3.21 ERA over 196 innings. Though that 2008 season may have been the high water mark for Volquez, he nonetheless put together a solid career as well as somewhat of a bounceback in 2014 and 2015, when he put together back-to-back 13-win campaigns for the Pirates and Royals, respectively.

Twins Select Contract Of Chase De Jong, DFA Tyler Austin

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The Minnesota Twins have selected the contract of right-hander Chase De Jong, while first baseman Tyler Austin will be designated for assignment, per The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (via Twitter).

De Jong, 25, was a 2nd round draft selection of the Blue Jays before seeing time in the Dodgers and Mariners organizations. He joined the Twins via the Zach Duke deal last July, making four starts with Minnesota in 2018, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA (4.92 FIP). A rough spring in which he surrendered more runs than innings pitched led to a reassignment to minor league camp, but the Twins are obviously satisfied with the progress he’s made since then.

There was some confusion as to who was getting the call, with various reports from last night suggesting that Zack Littell was being brought up. Littell will remain in Triple-A, however, while De Jong has an opportunity as the Twins’ fifth starter, though someone like Martin Perez could conceivably move from the bullpen to the rotation instead. The Twins have a day off on Monday and another next Thursday following a two-game series with the Mets, so they could conceivably go without a fifth starter until the Blue Jays come to town April 15-18.

Austin, meanwhile, has plenty of pop in his bat, but has yet to consistently get on base in the big leagues. He went 1-4 this season after slashing .230/.287/.480 with 17 home runs in 268 plate appearances between the Twins and Yankees in 2018. Those numbers track with Austin’s career averages as a .232/.291/.469 hitter across a total 371 big-league at-bats. Austin was out of options, so he’ll need to clear waivers before being reassigned.

Red Sox Add Marcus Walden, Tzu-Wei Lin To Roster

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10:30am: The Red Sox have officially announced the roster changes. Holt hits the 10-day IL with a scratched cornea in his right eye, while Johnson is placed on the 10-day IL with left elbow inflammation.

9:50am: The Boston Red Sox have called up right-handed reliever Marcus Walden, a source tells Evan Drellich of the MLB Network and WEEI in Boston (via Twitter).

Walden, 30, made eight relief appearances for the Red Sox last season, giving up six earned runs in 14 2/3 innings (3.86 ERA). He joined the Red Sox as a minor league free agent prior to the 2017 season after stints with the Blue Jays, Reds, Twins and A’s organizations. Though most of his time in the minors has been as a starter, the Joe-Kelly-lookalike pitched primarily out of the bullpen for Pawtucket last year after missing most of June and July due to injury.

He’ll join a Red Sox bullpen that is second in volume usage thus far in 2019 with 33 2/3 innings of work. The unit is under the microscope this season after management chose not to resign back-end stalwarts Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel, the latter of whom, of course, remains available on the open market. The 8-man unit has held form thus far, striking out 10.69 batters per nine innings while stranding 77.4% of inherited baserunners.

Walden can help as a long man to bolster a rotation that has, meanwhile, absolutely cratered (to put it nicely). The unit as a whole is 0-7 in nine starts with a 9.60 ERA and -1.5 fWAR in a little over a week.  Their 5.76 xFIP paints a slightly less face-melting picture, though even that number ranks dead last among starting units this season.

Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin is also being added to the 25-man roster, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Lin started at least one game at shortstop, second base, third base and centerfield for the Red Sox last season. Brock Holt and Brian Johnson will land on the injured list as the corresponding roster moves, per Speier (via Twitter).

Rockies Extend German Marquez

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April 6: The Rockies have formally announced the extension. Marquez  is now signed through at least the 2023 season.

Per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), he’ll receive a $1.5MM signing bonus and earn $1MM this season before earning $4.5MM in 2020, $7.5MM in 2021, $11MM in 2022 and $15MM in 2023. The option is valued at $16MM and comes with a $2.5MM buyout.

April 2: The Rockies and right-hander German Marquez are in agreement on a five-year, $43MM contract extension, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (via Twitter). The deal contains a club option for a sixth season, though a pair of top-three finishes in Cy Young voting over the life of the deal would convert that into a mutual option. The contract begins in 2019 and runs through the 2023 season, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Marquez is represented by Daniel Szew of L.A. Sports Management.

German Marquez | Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The $43MM figure promised to Marquez is the second-largest guarantee ever received by an arbitration-eligible pitcher with between two and three years of MLB service time. Rays lefty Blake Snell recently set a new precedent in that regard by landing a $50MM sum over the same five-year term, which may have helped to move the market forward a bit for Marquez.

Marquez, who turned 24 in February, was not yet eligible for arbitration and will now forgo that entire process. The new contract includes the current season as well as three arbitration years and what would have been Marquez’s first season of free agency. The club option covers a second would-be free-agent season. Marquez would’ve been on track to reach free agency heading into his age-28 season, but he’ll now be controlled by the Rockies through age 29 and reach the market in advance of his age-30 campaign.

While Marquez didn’t generate the most attention among Rockies starters last year  — teammate Kyle Freeland placed fourth in National League Cy Young voting — he did break out as a high-quality mid-rotation piece with the potential upside to become more. Over the life of a career-high 196 innings, Marquez posted a 3.77 ERA with 10.6 K/, 2.6 BB/9, 1.10 HR/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate. Metrics such as FIP (3.40), xFIP (3.10) and SIERA (3.31) all felt that Marquez handily outperformed an earned run average that already appeared solid (particularly when accounting for the fact that his home games are played at Coors Field).

Marquez complemented those numbers with a fastball that averaged 95.2 mph, a 12.5 percent swinging-strike rate and a 30.7 percent opponents’ chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone. Dating back to Opening Day 2017 (and including the lone start he’s made in 2019), Marquez has a 4.01 ERA with 384 strikeouts against 109 walks across 364 innings for the Rox.

Moving forward, the Rockies will count on Marquez and Freeland to anchor a rotation that also features lefty Tyler Anderson, the talented but wildly inconsistent Jon Gray and veteran righty Chad Bettis. There’s a chance that Marquez proves to be the best of that bunch, though the rates at which he’s being paid would be a bargain even for a mid-rotation starter (as is the inherent nature of pre-arbitration contract extensions).

The Rockies now control Marquez longer than any player on the roster other than their other spring extension recipient, Nolan Arenado, who is signed through the 2026 season (albeit with an opt-out after 2021). The Rockies aren’t in any real proximity to the luxury tax threshold, so any ramifications of the deal’s impact on Colorado’s luxury payroll are negligible. Colorado already had $116.75MM on the books for the 2020 season, and the Marquez contract will nudge that forward by a few million dollars.

Marquez’s agreement continues an unprecedented barrage of long-term extensions for players who are already under club control — many of whom have signed on the dotted line just months before what would’ve been their first foray into free agency (e.g. Arenado). The onslaught of long-term deals has manifested against the backdrop of significant tension labor tensions stemming from a deteriorating middle class among MLB free agents and questions surrounding the increasing number of tanking (“rebuilding”) teams throughout the league.

As shown in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker, Marquez’s deal is, stunningly, the 25th extension of the calendar year. In past offseasons, it was commonplace for a handful of players to ink long-term deals each spring, but this is the first time in league history that the equivalent of an entire team’s active roster has signed extensions. While it’s hard to fault any player for signing on board for a life-changing sum of money, the increased number of pre-market deals also serves to suppress the age at which players reach free agency, leading to more free agents in their early 30s and creating potential for additional strife down the line. Of course, the league and MLBPA are already in the process of discussing changes well in advance of the current Basic Agreement’s expiration at the end of the 2021 season, so perhaps there’ll be changes that mitigate much of that tension as we move ahead.

Pirates Place Kyle Crick On 10-Day IL, Recall OF Jason Martin

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Yesterday, the Pirates placed right-hander Kyle Crick on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 4th. Outfielder Jason Martin was recalled to take his place on the 25-man roster.

Crick is suffering from right triceps tightness after making just two relief appearances this season. A former first round pick of the Giants, Crick joined the Pirates before last season as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade. While he may not be a household name, Crick was an effective piece for the Pittsburgh bullpen after being called up in mid-April.  Appearing in 64 games, Crick went 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA (3.14 FIP, 4.00 xFIP) across 60 1/3 innings – good for exactly 1.0 fWAR. He throws a 95.8 mph heater, augmented with a hard-driving sinker and a slow-down slider, effectively used to put away right-handed batters last season (44.4 K%, 50% whiff rate).

He figured to serve in a primary setup role after tallying 16 holds last year, second on the team to only Edgar Santana, who is out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Trade deadline acquisition Keone Kela will be relied upon even more heavily in his stead to set up closer Felipe Vasquez. Elsewhere in the pen, tule 5 pick Nick Burdi is getting looks early this season, while Richard Rodriguez will claim whatever high leverage innings aren’t taken by Kela/Vasquez. The Pirates bullpen was generally middle of the pack last season, finishing 14th in ERA, 12th in xFIP and 14th in fWAR.

Taking Crick’s roster spot is outfielder Jason Martin, who will make his major league debut. Martin, 23, came over in the Gerrit Cole trade. He ranked 24th on Fangraphs’ list of top Pirates prospects coming into this season. With a roughly even split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, Martin hit a combined .274/.337/.429, though with a stark difference between the levels. After raking in Double-A to the tune of .325/.392/.522, Martin hit only .211/.270/.319 in Indianapolis. While he’s being pressed into duty with the big league club a little earlier than the Pirates likely hoped, he had a strong spring, and they are definitely in need of outfield depth after injures to Gregory Polanco, Lonnie Chisenhall and Corey Dickerson.

Rockies Interested In Additional Extensions

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The Rockies are fully on board the extension train, having inked two significant deals with existing players this winter (Nolan Arenado, German Marquez) after doing the same this time last year with Charlie Blackmon. Club owner Dick Monfort indicated today that the team is interested in pursuing yet more deals, as Nick Groke of The Athletic reports (Twitter links).

Two players, in particular, seem to be in the crosshairs for Monfort and his front office, which is led by GM Jeff Bridich. Shortstop Trevor Story is one; Monfort said that the team would rather ink a long-term deal than try to find an eventual free-agent replacement. And Monfort also suggests he sees a path to a multi-year arrangement with lefty Kyle Freeland.

It’s interesting to see the concept of a free-agent replacement cited in relation to Story, since the Rox’ top prospect is also a shortstop. Brendan Rodgers figures to be ready for the majors well before Story hits the open market in advance of the 2022 season, though perhaps the preference is for an infield that features both — along with Arenado.

Story, certainly, has shown himself worthy of an investment. The 26-year-old turned in a sub-par season with the bat in 2017 but still launched 24 long balls. He has been outstanding with the bat in his other two seasons in the majors. Last year, he drove the ball out of the park 37 times and slashed .291/.348/.567 over 656 plate appearances — good for a healthy 127 wRC+. Story also swiped 27 bags. While his defensive metrics lagged following a strong ’17 showing, he has graded in range of league average at short. It’s an impressive overall package.

The Rox aren’t likely to get too much of a discount on a deal with Story. He’s already earning $5MM this season, which sets the stage for large earnings in his final two seasons of arbitration. With age generally on his side, and big money already locked in, Story can hold out for a significant payday.

As for Freeland, there’s always more risk for a pitcher — particularly one who calls Coors Field home. But altitude comes with the territory for the Colorado native, who’s in the same 2+ (non-Super Two) service class as Marquez. Freeland is a bit older — he’ll soon turn 26, while Marquez only just turned 24 — but has an argument for even greater earnings after a monster 2018 season. (Marquez was guaranteed $43MM over five years.)

Freeland showed ample promise in his MLB debut, but took things to quite a surprising new level last year. In 202 1/3 innings, he worked to a 2.85 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 to go with a 46.0% groundball rate. That showing earned him a fourth-place finish in the N.L. Cy Young voting — and probably would’ve warranted higher placement in most seasons.

There’s certainly an argument to be made that Marquez is the better pitcher to invest in, but that’s not to say that Freeland isn’t worthy — even if he does end up costing more. His history of 50+% groundball rates in the minors is noteworthy. And his productivity to date has already boosted his arb earning capabilities, so the Rockies figure to face some reasonably significant obligations in the near term.

It’s not clear whether talks will be pursued in the immediate term with either player. The team may prefer to wait and see how the season shakes out. Rodgers could reduce the long-term need for Story; Freeland may not repeat his ’18 successes. On the other hand, repeat showings from these quality younger players could make it that much more expensive to secure their services for the future.

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