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Matt den Dekker Retires

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Veteran outfielder Matt den Dekker has retired, according to the independent Atlantic League’s transactions page. He had been playing for the Long Island Ducks.

Now 31 years old, den Dekker entered professional baseball as a fifth-round pick of the Mets in 2010. He then ranked as one of the Mets’ top 25 prospects at Baseball America in four straight seasons. Den Dekker made his New York debut in 2013, the first of two consecutive campaigns in which he saw action with the Mets, but only mustered a .238/.325/.310 line with one home run during that 237-plate appearance span.

On March 31, 2015, one week before the season began, the Mets traded den Dekker to the Nationals for left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins. That move largely worked out for the Mets, though den Dekker did hit a solid .253/.315/.485 with five home runs across 110 PA in 2015. Den Dekker then struggled in the minors and during a limited major league sample size in 2016, leading the Nationals to designate him for assignment.

The lefty-swinging den Dekker went on to total another 29 major league PA – eight with the Tigers in 2017 and 21 in a reunion with the Mets last year – before joining the independent circuit this season. He batted .223/.305/.337 with seven homers in 415 tries at the game’s top level and .260/.325/.427 with 61 HRs in 2,248 Triple-A attempts.

MLB Draft Signings: 6/7/19

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Keeping up with the latest MLB draft signings…

  • The Marlins have agreed to an over-slot bonus with second-rounder Nasim Nunez (pick 46), Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio tweets. The high school infielder from Georgia will receive $2.2MM, a fair amount more than the recommended value of his pick ($1,617,400). Nunez had previously committed to Clemson. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked the 19-year-old Nunez as the 51st-best player entering the draft, writing he may be the top defensive shortstop in his class. But whether the 5-foot-9, 155-pound switch hitter will complement his irreproachable glove work with big league-caliber offense is in question.
  • Thirty-eighth overall pick T.J. Sikkema has agreed to a deal with the Yankees worth full slot value ($1.95MM), per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Sikkema, a left-hander from Missouri, checked in at No. 57 on MLB.com’s pre-draft list. While Sikkema doesn’t seem to come with a ton of upside, he has a high enough floor to potentially make it as a major league reliever or a back-end starter, Callis and Mayo suggest.
  • Brewers second-rounder Antoine Kelly, the 65th pick, has signed for full slot value ($1,025,100), Callis reports. The development of the 19-year-old Kelly – a lefty from Wabash Valley College in Illinois – “will require a ton of patience and he ultimately may be more of a reliever than a starter, but he has a rare arm,” Callis and Mayo write. They ranked Kelly 90th overall going into the draft.

Poll: Shopping Matthew Boyd

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The Tigers may have helped develop a front-line starter in left-hander Matthew Boyd, whom they acquired from the Blue Jays in a deal for David Price in July 2015. At the time, fellow southpaw prospect Daniel Norris was seen as the best part of the Tigers’ three-player return, but it’s Boyd who has since emerged as the superior major leaguer. Now, with the noncompetitive Tigers amid a rebuild and not likely to return to contention in the near future, they may have to consider trading Boyd this summer.

Boyd debuted with the Blue Jays the same season as the trade and wound up turning in 57 1/3 innings of 7.53 ERA/6.59 FIP ball between Toronto and Detroit. He was much better over the next three seasons, including when he totaled 4.3 fWAR in 305 1/3 frames from 2017-18, yet still didn’t look like much more than an average starter. But Boyd has found another gear in 2019 – his age-28 season.

Across 83 2/3 innings this year, Boyd has already put up a career-best fWAR (2.8) that trails only Max Scherzer among starters. Thanks in part to a lethal fastball-slider combo, Boyd’s also third in the league in K/BB ratio (6.93), sixth in K/9 (11.16) and BB/9 (1.61), eighth in FIP (2.93), 15th in ERA (3.12) and swinging-strike percentage (13.4), and 25th in contact rate (73.2). Furthermore, there’s almost zero difference between Boyd’s weighted on-base average/expected wOBA against (.272 versus .271).

Based on his production to date, the 2019 version of Boyd has been an ace – and a cheap one at that. Relative to his performance, Boyd is earning a pittance ($2.6MM) in his first of four potential arbitration-eligible years. Considering Boyd is breaking through as a top-flight starter who’s under control through 2022, it wouldn’t be remotely surprising to see the Tigers go forward with him. That said, there’s a case for Detroit to cash in its best trade chip this summer, when Boyd would outrank Marcus Stroman, Madison Bumgarner and others as the most desirable starter on the block.

Even with Boyd in the fold, it doesn’t look as if the Tigers have nearly enough quality building blocks in the majors or minors to work their way back into contention over the next couple years. There’s hope in the Tigers’ starting staff in the form of Boyd, Norris and Spencer Turnbull. But the team’s premier reliever, Shane Greene, isn’t signed past this season and may find himself on another roster in the coming weeks. Switching to the offensive side, Brandon Dixon and Nicholas Castellanos have been the Tigers’ only league-average batters this season. The 27-year-old Dixon has struck out 37 times and drawn three walks in 98 plate appearances, indicating his bubble’s going to burst. We know Castellanos can hit, but he’s a free agent-to-be whose overall value is limited by his defensive shortcomings. Down on the farm, the Tigers do have prized righty Casey Mize – the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft – but Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs still don’t see a special system in place.

While the Tigers don’t boast an elite collection of farmhands, trading Boyd would change that to a certain extent. He’d command a massive return right now, though it would be an agonizing call on the Tigers’ part to let him go. However, with Boyd’s value perhaps at its zenith and Detroit seemingly not nearing a return to relevance, general manager Al Avila may have to think about putting his club’s ace on the block. What would you do in Avila’s position?

(Poll link for app users)

Should the Tigers put Matthew Boyd on the block this summer?
Yes 77.53% (5,170 votes)
No 22.47% (1,498 votes)
Total Votes: 6,668

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Marlins Place Caleb Smith On Injured List

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The Marlins have placed southpaw Caleb Smith on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his left hip, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. The injury bothered Smith even before his start against the Brewers on Thursday, per McPherson, but manager Don Mattingly indicated it isn’t serious.

Smith has seen his ERA climb by almost a run and a half since the beginning of May, yet he has still been one of the few bright spots for this season’s Marlins. The 27-year-old has given Miami 66 innings of 3.41 ERA/4.18 FIP ball with 11.18 K/9 and 2.73 BB/9. Although Smith owns the majors’ third-lowest groundball percentage among starters (29.1), he has helped offset that with the league’s sixth-highest K rate.

The absence of Smith means the Marlins will have to go outside their rotation for a starter for the first time this season. Health-wise, the club has been fortunate enough to deploy Smith, Pablo Lopez, Jose Urena, Sandy Alcantara and Trevor Richards for all of its starts this year. With Smith going to the shelf, Triple-A righty Elieser Hernandez is a candidate to move into the Marlins’ rotation, McPherson suggests, though he notes they could rely on relievers in lieu of a traditional starter.

Marlins Sign Yangervis Solarte

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The Marlins have signed infielder/outfielder Yangervis Solarte to a minor league contract, Roster Roundup reports.

Miami’s the second team of 2019 for Solarte, who cracked the Giants’ season-opening roster after signing a minors pact with them over the winter. However, the switch-hitting Solarte didn’t prove to be part of the solution for San Francisco’s dreadful offense, slashing .205/.247/.315 (48 wRC+) with one home run in 78 plate appearances. As a result, the Giants released him in early May.

While the 31-year-old Solarte was a solid contributor with the Yankees and Padres from 2014-17, those days appear long gone. His struggles in San Francisco came on the heels of a difficult 2018 campaign spent in Toronto, with which he batted .226/.277/.378 (77 wRC+) with 17 homers in 506 trips to the plate. Solarte has continued to show defensive versatility even as his offense has tanked, though. Dating back to last season, he has logged double-digit appearances at second base, third and shortstop. He also picked up nine appearances in left field with the Giants.

Pirates To Activate Corey Dickerson, Jung Ho Kang

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The Pirates will activate outfielder Corey Dickerson and infielder Jung Ho Kang for tomorrow’s game, skipper Clint Hurdle told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known.

Dickerson’s shoulder injury ended up costing him about two months of action. He’ll need a 40-man roster spot, since he had been moved to the 60-day IL. Kang was out for three weeks with a left side strain.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Bucs handle their roster now that they’re approaching full health. There’ll really be an abundance of corner outfielders once Lonnie Chisenhall is ready, but even Dickerson creates a bit of a crowd.

Jose Osuna could be the odd man out, though he has hit well in brief action. That would leave the club with two switch-hitting options (Melky Cabrera, Bryan Reynolds) and a pair of lefty bats (Dickerson, Gregory Polanco) in the corner mix. That’s arguably a somewhat suboptimal mix, particularly since it means carrying five players limited to outfield or pinch-hitting duties.

Hurdle will also face some tough playing time decisions. The resurgent Cabrera and newcomer Reynolds are both hitting quite well. Dickerson and Polanco are both well-established and well-compensated players. There has already been some chatter among Pirates scribes that the club could ponder trading from its outfield stock to boost a sagging pitching staff, though it remains unclear whether and when that strategy will be pursued.

It’s a bit easier to guess at the decision in the infield. Youngster Cole Tucker has not yet found sustained success at the plate and seems likely to be dispatched back to Triple-A, though that’ll leave the club with only two true middle infielders (Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier). Perhaps the Pirates will send down a pitcher and run with a seven-man bullpen for at least a stretch, but that seems unlikely to be a long-term strategy for a team that needs innings.

Whatever the move, Kang is hardly assured of a lengthy stint back on the MLB roster. He’ll need to improve upon a terrible start to the season or be sent packing.

It’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out, both now and in the near future. We know that GM Neal Huntington is looking for ways to shore up the pitching staff. The Bucs could be a fun team to watch with seven weeks to go before the trade deadline and a four-game deficit in the division.

Braves Sign Dallas Keuchel

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FRIDAY, 9:07pm: The Braves have announced the agreement. To make room for Keuchel on their 40-man roster, they transferred reliever Darren O’Day to the 60-day injured list. Atlanta plans to activate Keuchel after he makes two starts in the minors, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets.

6:32pm: Keuchel has passed a physical, per Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The signing is expected to be announced tonight.

THURSDAY, 9:02pm: Keuchel’s contract is indeed for one year, reports Yahoo’s Tim Brown (Twitter link). He’ll be paid $13MM between now and season’s end, which is a bit more than the $11.16MM he’d have made on a prorated deal worth the same amount as the $17.9MM qualifying offer. (ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that his base salary is technically around $20MM, and the $13MM represents the prorated version of that sum.) Keuchel will take a physical tomorrow, and he’ll jump right into the fray with Triple-A Gwinnett when he makes a start there on Saturday.

8:18pm: The Braves have agreed to terms with left-hander Dallas Keuchel, reports David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s “likely” a one-year deal, O’Brien adds. Keuchel is represented by the Boras Corporation.

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As was the case with Craig Kimbrel, Keuchel will see his prolonged free-agent saga come to a close just days after the draft-pick compensation that has hung over his head was lifted. The terms of the contract will surely be only a fraction of what the former Cy Young winner had eyed when rejecting a $17.9MM qualifying offer from the Astros back in November, but but a short-term arrangement will allow Keuchel the opportunity to once again test free agency — this time without the burden of a qualifying offer and likely with some lower expectations; Keuchel and Boras reportedly sought a contract of five years and more than $100MM in the early stages of free agency.

Keuchel, 31, has seen his results tail off since his brilliant Cy Young campaign back in 2015, but he’s still a quality arm who should provide some much-needed stability to a Braves rotation that hasn’t functioned according to plan (or anywhere close) in 2019. Top starter Mike Foltynewicz missed several weeks to open the season and has struggled considerably in his return from the injured list, while Sean Newcomb has been moved to the bullpen and Kevin Gausman is lugging around a 6.15 ERA. Julio Teheran has posted solid bottom-line results, but fielding-independent pitching metrics forecast him as a regression candidate.

Mike Soroka has been far and away the team’s best starter, putting himself not only in the Rookie of the Year race but in the Cy Young race early in the season. Soroka, however pitched just 56 1/3 innings between the Majors and minors last season and figures to have some degree of workload restriction facing him down the line. Lefty Max Fried has also emerged as a largely solid option, but he tossed only 111 innings last year and could see his own innings monitored a bit late in the year.

Last season, Keuchel racked up 204 2/3 innings while working to a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 53.7 percent ground-ball rate. Keuchel’s strikeout and ground-ball rates have dipped in recent seasons, particularly in 2018, and he also saw both his 2016-17 seasons shortened a bit by injuries. All of that has taken some of the shine of the lefty, but it’s also a fact that he’s posted a sub-3.00 ERA in three of the past five seasons. Even when throwing out his Cy Young campaign, Keuchel has a 3.77 ERA with a premium ground-ball rate and above-average control through his past 518 1/3 innings.

Based on that track record, there’s little doubt that he’ll be an upgrade for the Braves — especially when considering who he’ll likely replace. Gausman would appear to be the odd man out in this situation, as he’s struggled through the worst season of his career and could very well be bullpen-bound. If he can manage to find success in that admittedly presumptive new role, the benefit to the Braves would be twofold; not only would they get another quality arm in the ’pen, they’d have a starter working deeper into games (Keuchel) and thus not forcing the bullpen into action as frequently.

Keuchel drew interest elsewhere around the league, with the Yankees in particular being mentioned as an aggressive pursuer. However, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees had a very clear cutoff with their offer and were not willing to budge beyond paying Keuchel the prorated portion of the $17.9MM qualifying offer (Twitter link). That base salary would’ve paid Keuchel about $11.16MM through season’s end — assuming a deal is completed tomorrow. The Cardinals, Twins and Rays were all mentioned as interested parties, to varying extents, although Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets that Tampa Bay was never strongly after the lefty. Those teams will instead have to turn to the trade market in order to find rotation upgrades, as Keuchel was the open market’s lone realistic difference-maker.

The Braves, too, still figure to be active on the trade market moving forward. Even after adding Keuchel to the rotation, the Atlanta bullpen has been shaky and could stand to be improved upon. The team has been relying on Luke Jackson in the ninth inning as well as a host of converted starters and a series of low-cost fliers on veterans (e.g. Jerry Blevins, Anthony Swarzak). Newcomb has shown well in that role, as has Touki Toussaint, which makes the situation a bit less dire, but it’d nevertheless be a surprise if the Braves didn’t add at least one more reliable arm to the relief corps. Keuchel may very well be the highest-profile addition made by Atlanta between now and July 31, but he’s unlikely to be the only one.

David Bote: Starman?

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Cubs infielder David Bote had one of the best offensive games of the 2019 season Wednesday, going 4 for 4 with a home run and seven runs batted in to help his team to a 9-8 win over the Rockies. The 26-year-old failed to reach base in either of the Cubs’ games since then, but he’s still off to a rousing start this season. After hitting .239/.319/.408 (95 wRC+) with six home runs during his 210-plate appearance debut in 2018, Bote has slashed .276/.349/.481 (117 wRC+) with seven HRs in 175 tries this year.

So far, Bote – an 18th-round pick in 2012 – is more than justifying the Cubs’ decision to hand him a five-year, $15MM extension in April. Bote was one of the least known players to receive a new deal during the league’s extension craze back in the spring, though he may be establishing himself as a long-term cog for the Cubs. However, it’s still up in the air whether Bote’s Year 2 improvement is real or a mirage.

As was the case last season, Bote’s walking in better than 9 percent of plate appearances. That’s a bit above the league-average mark (8.7). At the same time, Bote has slashed his strikeout percentage from 28.6 to 25.1, cut his swinging-strike rate a hair and made more contact. So far, so good.

On the other hand, even though Bote possesses better speed than most, he’s unlikely to sustain the .340 batting average on balls in play that has helped prop up his numbers this year. That’s especially true given that Bote has become much more of a fly ball hitter since last season. On that subject, it’s worth noting Bote has hit the ball with far less authority when he has elevated it this year compared to his initial campaign. Bote battered fly balls and line drives at a lofty 96.6 mph average in 2018, but that figure has sunk just below 93 this year, according to Statcast. Given that information, it’s unsurprising Bote’s expected weighted on-base average (.315) comes up well short of his real wOBA (.361).

While stardom doesn’t look as if it’s in the offing for Bote (not yet, at least), his value to the Cubs is apparent. The inexpensive Bote’s ability to chip in respectable offense while playing scratch to plus defense at second and third base is a package most teams would sign up for in a heartbeat. That certainly includes the Cubs, who haven’t recalled infielder/outfielder Ian Happ since demoting him to Triple-A prior to the season, may never see utilityman extraordinaire Ben Zobrist put on their uniform again, and have received woeful production from offseason second base pickup Daniel Descalso.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Phillies To Sign Fernando Salas

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The Phillies have agreed to a minors pact with righty reliever Fernando Salas, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports on Twitter. Salas is expected to report to the club’s top affiliate.

Salas has thrown nearly five hundred MLB frames over nine seasons, but has bounced around a bit in recent years. He threw forty innings for the Diamondbacks last year before he was cut loose, then was dropped by the Braves after a brief stint at Triple-A. He ended up landing in the Mexican League for the current season.

Pitching for the Acereros de Monclova this year, Salas has precisely matched his lifetime 3.90 MLB ERA through 27 2/3 innings in his homeland. He has coughed up four long balls, which helps explain the results, but is carrying a strong 28:4 K/BB ratio.

Whether or not Salas will end up getting a shot at the MLB level with the Phils remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him come up in the near future. The Philadelphia organization is weathering an ongoing run of poor health fortune in its relief corps.

Blue Jays Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Alek Manoah

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The Blue Jays have agreed to terms with first-round draft choice Alek Manoah, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). It’s an at-slot, $4,547,500 deal for the 11th overall pick.

Manoah, a junior out of West Virginia University, was selected right in range of where he was ranked by draft pundits. ESPN.com’s Keith Law was highest, grading him ninth overall, while MLB.com had him right at the draft position. Baseball America and Fangraphs each ranked Manoah the 13th-best prospect available.

A massive right-handed hurler, Manoah is said by the MLB.com team to be “a rare college pitcher with projection.” He increased his stock this year by improving his strike-throwing ability, though BA notes his command is still a work in progress. In addition to that needed refinement, Manoah will need to gain confidence in an infrequently-utilized changeup to go with his fastball/slider combo.

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