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Brewers, Mets Showing Initial Interest In Gio Gonzalez

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Now that he’s back on the open market and up to competitive speed, veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez looks to be a fit for several clubs around baseball. The Brewers are among those with interest, per SNY.tv’s Andy Martino, who has previously linked the Mets to the southpaw. The New York organization is said be “inquiring” on Gonzalez, per Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Both of those clubs are quite familiar with Gonzalez. He spent the end of the 2018 season in Milwaukee. That followed a lengthy stint with the Nationals, during which time he often faced the Mets.

Gonzalez is obviously past his peak at 33 years of age, but he topped 200 frames with a sub-3.00 ERA as recently as 2017 and is among the game’s most durable hurlers. He was effective in five starts late last year with the Brewers, though his postseason showing did not impress.

Through three starts at Triple-A with the Yankees organization, Gonzalez allowed ten earned runs on 19 hits. At the same time, he compiled a strong 19:6 K/BB ratio. The showing wasn’t sufficient for the Yanks to add him to their roster, but did give other teams a good look.

That these two contenders have interest seems to be a good indication that Gonzalez drew relatively positive scouting reviews. Of course, it’s also a reflection of the states of their pitching staffs. It remains to be seen whether Gonzalez will sign right onto an active roster — and, if so, at what price. His deal with the Yankees included a $3MM base salary and up to $9MM in incentives, making for a rather hefty potential payout for a minors contract.

NL East Notes: Pivetta, Brinson, Jennings, Arano

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Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta sat down with The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro for a candid interview about the difficulty of being optioned to Triple-A and the path he knows he needs to take back to the Majors (subscription required). The 26-year-old expressed disappointment in what he felt was “an early send-down,” though he made clear he respects the decision and understands what he has to improve upon to return. The Phils made no promises about the length of his minor league stay, Montemurro notes, suggesting that Pivetta’s fate is largely in his own hands. Perhaps most interestingly, Pivetta spoke about the emotional conflict of being sent to the minors and having his job taken by close friend Jerad Eickhoff. “That’s the brutality of what is baseball,” Pivetta explained. “Your best friends and guys that have really helped you out, they come up and they take your jobs and you can’t feel hardship against those guys because they’re your friends. … The road he had to come back is extraordinary and it’s a feat and it’s a great thing for him. So I’m not ever going to feel down about that.” The interview serves as a good reminder of the oft-overlooked human component of roster transactions we see on a daily basis.

Here’s more from the NL East…

  • A demotion to Triple-A New Orleans could be looming for Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson if he’s not able to quickly right the ship at the plate, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. The former top prospect struggled through much of the 2018 season but gave Marlins fans hope with a huge Spring Training performance. However, he’s now mired in a disastrous 1-for-27 tailspin over his past 11 games, having punched out 16 times in that span. Even more troubling, as Frisaro points out, is the fact that Brinson has just one hit against a breaking pitch all season.
  • The Nationals have assigned just-inked southpaw Dan Jennings to the club’s Double-A affiliate, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post tweets. Heading to the penultimate stop of the minors doesn’t mean that the 32-year-old is far from the majors; to the contrary, it puts him much closer to Nationals Park — in Harrisburg, PA instead of the club’s Triple-A outpost in Fresno, CA. Jennings owns a 2.96 ERA over 344 career innings in the majors; given the present state of the Nats’ pen, he figures to be called up in fairly short order.
  • It still isn’t clear what’s going on in the inflamed elbow of Phillies righty Victor Arano. He’s due soon for an MRI, but first needs an ultrasound to assess what precise type of imaging to pursue, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Arano had been off to an interesting start to the season, racking up seven strikeouts against two walks in 4 2/3 innings with an eye-popping 25.0% swinging-strike rate. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but nevertheless a promising development for a young reliever who already showed ample promise last year. He and the Phillies will obviously hope that the elbow issue turns out to be minor.

Pirates Activate Gregory Polanco, Option Steven Brault

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We’re a smidge late on this one, as he’s already in action tonight, but it’s nevertheless worth highlighting that the Pirates have activated outfielder Gregory Polanco. To create active roster space, the club optioned Steven Brault.

When Polanco underwent surgery late last season with a torn shoulder labrum, it wasn’t entirely clear how long he’d be out. Indeed, that’s the sort of injury that can hamper a player even when he is back on the field.

As it turns out, Polanco was able to return to the majors at the early end of the estimates. (And he’s two-for-three with a walk already this evening.) That’s great news for his long-term outlook; clearly, he healed quickly and did not experience any setbacks or new issues during his rehab work.

It’s also critically important for the Bucs’ 2019 hopes. With Starling Marte now sidelined indefinitely, joining Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall on the injured list, the outfield was badly in need of reinforcement.

The 27-year-old Polanco had an up-and-down showing in 2018, but ended the campaign with a career-best .254/.340/.499 slash and 23 long balls over 535 plate appearances. That’s the sort of output the Pittsburgh organization had long hoped to receive. Whether Polanco can pick up where he left off will have significant bearing on the Pirates’ ability to maintain a narrow early lead in a hotly contested NL Central.

As for Brault, he has been utilized mostly in a relief capacity of late but will be stretched out at Triple-A, manager Clint Hurdle told reporters including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old hadn’t been used much at all in the early going. He is now sitting on 1.110 years of MLB service, meaning that he still needs 62 more days of MLB action this year to enter a new service class by season’s end.

Mets Place Justin Wilson On 10-Day IL; MRI Clean For DeGrom

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The Mets announced today that they’ve placed southpaw reliever Justin Wilson on the 10-day injured list, as Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to cover (Twitter links). He’s experiencing elbow soreness, but the club indicated it anticipates a brief IL stint after receiving the results of an MRI.

The imaging gods are shining on Queens, it seems. Ace starter Jacob deGrom’s MRI came back negative, so his elbow scare appears to be just that. deGrom was able to throw a pen session earlier today; it seems likely he’ll be ready for activation at or near the 10-day minimum.

A few other roster tweaks are also in the books. The Mets activated third baseman Todd Frazier, as anticipated, and called up infielder Luis Guillorme. (Guillorme boosts the infield depth further with both Robinson Cano and Amed Rosario dealing with minor issues.) To create an additional active roster spot, the Mets optioned down righty Paul Sewald.

Wilson’s absence leaves a notable hole in the New York pen — though the hope is it’s only a temporary one. Wilson has thrown 8 1/3 useful innings to open the year, allowing three earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and four walks. There are two other southpaws available in Luis Avilan and Daniel Zamora, but the former has been torched while the latter hasn’t yet pitched in the bigs this season.

Cardinals Place Michael Wacha On Injured List

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4:50pm: The Cards only anticipate a one-start absence from Wacha, Mark Saxon of The Athletic reports on Twitter.

11:53am: The Cardinals announced Monday that right-hander Michael Wacha has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to patellar tendinitis in his left knee. The move is retroactive to April 19. In his place, infielder/outfielder Drew Robinson has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals did not provide any indication as to how long Wacha is expected to be sidelined.

Wacha, 27, hasn’t been at his best through his small sample of four starts in 2019. While he’s sporting a 10.1 K/9 mark that would be far and away a career high, he’s also averaged 5.9 walks per nine frames so far — a mark that would be a clear-cut worst. The right-hander’s velocity, swinging-strike rate and opponents’ chase rates have all gone in the wrong direction as compared to last season’s numbers, suggesting that he’ll have difficulty sustaining that strikeout rate. He’s also allowed five homers in just 21 1/3 innings after allowing only nine through 84 1/3 innings a year ago.

Wacha was penciled in to start Tuesday’s game against the division-rival Brewers, so St. Louis will need to find an alternative. Daniel Ponce de Leon last started on April 17, meaning he’d be a logical substitution in Wacha’s stead for tomorrow’s game.

With Carlos Martinez still ailing and Alex Reyes working shorter stints in Triple-A at the moment, the Cards are surely crossing their fingers that Wacha will be able to return to the club in relatively short order. There’s added incentive for the player himself, as well, considering that Wacha is slated to reach free agency for the first time in his career this winter. After totaling only 84 1/3 innings in 2018 and averaging just 24 starts per season in since becoming a fixture in the St. Louis rotation, a largely healthy season would bode well for Wacha, who will hit the open market at a rather youthful 28 years of age.

Rockies Place Kyle Freeland On 10-Day IL

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The Rockies announced today that southpaw Kyle Freeland has been placed on the 10-day inured list with a blister. He’ll be replaced by fellow southpaw Tyler Anderson, who was activated from his own stint on the IL.

It had been hoped that the blister to Freeland’s left middle finger wouldn’t require any time on the shelf, but it seems not to have responded quite as well as had been hoped. Blisters can become major problems for pitchers, though there’s no reason at this point to think Freeland’s will turn into a long-lasting issue.

The news comes as a mild disappointment for a club that has been on a nice run of late. Freeland, 25, finished fourth in the Cy Young voting last year and is a key rotation cog for Colorado. Then again, it may not amount to much at all; with his IL placement backdated to April 19th, he could in theory will miss only a single start. That’s just what the southpaw is hoping for, Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets.

As for Anderson, the 29-year-old will be looking to bounce back after experiencing knee inflammation and throwing two rough outings to open the year. He hasn’t reached the heights some might have hoped for a first-round pick, but has been useful for the Rox since reaching the majors in 2016. Anderson showed a worrying velocity drop of nearly 2 mph to open the current campaign; that’s something to watch now that he’s back in action.

Yankees Sign Brad Miller

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The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve signed veteran infielder Brad Miller to a minor league contract. The ISE Baseball client was recently designated for assignment by the Indians and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues.

The 29-year-old Miller hit .250/.325/.417 with a homer and three doubles in his short time with the Indians but lost out on his roster spot when Cleveland activated Jason Kipnis from the injured list. Miller isn’t a strong defender but has experience all over the infield as well as in the outfield corners, making him an interesting depth pickup for an injury-decimated Yankees club. The lefty-swinging utilityman is a career .240/.313/.409 hitter in 2545 plate appearances, including a .243/.322/.433 line against right-handed pitching.

At present, the Yankees have Greg Bird, Troy Tulowitzki, Miguel Andujar and Didi Gregorius all on the injured list, which has forced the club to carry a hodgepodge of largely unproven replacements. Mike Ford, Gio Urshela and Tyler Wade are all logging at-bats around the infield right now (in addition to DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres), and things in the outfield aren’t necessarily any better; Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton are all on the IL for the Yankees, leaving Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner and Mike Tauchman in the starting lineup. To their credit, however, both Frazier and the relatively unknown Tauchman have performed quite well.

Orioles Option Cedric Mullins, Select Stevie Wilkerson, Designate Josh Lucas

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves Monday afternoon: Opening Day center fielder Cedric Mullins has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, while infielder Stevie Wilkerson has had his contract selected from Norfolk to take Mullins’ place. In order to clear a spot on the 40-roster for Wilkerson, Baltimore has designated right-hander Josh Lucas for assignment.

Mullins, 24, stumbled to a slow start to open the year but excited Orioles fans with a two-triple game against the visiting A’s back on April 8. The organization hoped that day might’ve served as a turning point for the talented young center fielder, but he’s instead collected just two hits (both singles) in 44 plate appearances since that time. Mullins hasn’t been striking out at a lofty rate, with just nine punchouts in that time, but he’s already popped up to the infield on five occasions this year.

A 13th-round pick back in 2015, Mullins moved fairly quickly through the Orioles’ farm system; he only logged 125 games in Double-A and another 60 in the Majors before making his big league debut last year. It’s certainly feasible that he needs a bit more development time in Triple-A, where he held his own last year but didn’t exactly excel (.269/.333/.438 in 269 PAs). The Orioles likely still view Mullins as a potential long-term piece in the outfield, but he’ll be asked to earn his way back to the big leagues for the time being. In his place, it seems likely that Joey Rickard will step up and assume more playing time in center field.

The 27-year-old Wilkerson was outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this year but will return for a second stint on the Orioles’ 40-man roster. He made his MLB debut with the club last year but didn’t fare well in a minuscule sample of 49 plate appearances (.174/.224/.239). Wilkerson, however, is a .290/.338/.481 hitter through 35 games at the Triple-A level and a career .268/.342/.371 hitter in parts of six minor league seasons. He’s played second base, third base, shortstop and corner outfield in the minors and should give manager Brandon Hyde some versatility off the bench.

As for Lucas, the 28-year-old made a trio of appearances for the O’s after being selected to the big leagues earlier this month. In 4 1/3 innings, he yielded a pair of earned runs on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Lucas has spent a bit of time in the Majors in each of the past three seasons now, and in 108 2/3 career innings of Triple-A ball, he has a 3.32 ERA with just under a strikeout per inning and 2.6 BB/9 while working primarily as a reliever.

Yankees Grant Gio Gonzalez His Release

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The Yankees announced that veteran left-hander Gio Gonzalez was not added to the team’s 40-man roster after exercising his opt-out clause over the weekend. The team had 48 hours to add Gonzalez to the roster once he triggered that clause, but he was instead allowed to become a free agent and is now able to sign with any club.

Bringing Gonzalez to the Majors would’ve been a fairly expensive bit of speculation for the Yankees, as the southpaw’s contract contained a $3MM base salary and called for him to earn an additional $300K per start made. With the decision to move on from Gonzalez, the Yankees will rely on James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, CC Sabathia and Domingo German while awaiting the return of top starter Luis Severino, who is recovering from a lat strain.

Gonzalez, 33, made three starts with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton before opting out of his contract. Although he was shelled in the season opener (eight runs in four innings), the veteran rebounded with a pair of excellent outings, yielding a combined two runs with an 18-to-2 K/BB ratio in 11 innings. He threw 93 pitches in the most recent of those outings (April 14), so Gonzalez is plenty stretched out and could even be ready to join a big league staff in short order. He was slated to make a fourth appearance over the weekend but had that start rained out.

While Gonzalez found a tepid market for much of the offseason (to put things mildly), he should have no shortage of interested clubs this time around. Many teams have seen their rotation struggle early in the season, with some losing key arms for much (or all) of the season and others having to send younger rotation hopefuls back to the minors. The Brewers, Angels, Mets, Red Sox, Cardinals, Phillies, Athletics, Indians and Twins have all endured varying levels of disappointment from their starting rotations and could conceivably look to the durable Gonzalez as an alternative option.

While the 2018 season certainly wasn’t one of Gonzalez’s best, he topped 170 innings and 30 starts for the eighth time in the past nine seasons, working to a 4.21 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 along the way. Gonzalez has averaged 31 starts per season dating back to 2010 and hasn’t made fewer than 27 appearances in a given season since that time. As recently as 2017, he notched a 2.96 ERA in 201 innings of work, though he did lead the National League in walks that season. Nevertheless, Gonzalez has regularly been an average or better starter in the Majors for the past decade; that strong track record made it nothing short of bewildering to onlookers that he faced such a seemingly minimal market, but he’ll now venture into free agency for a second time with new representation as he looks to find a quick path back to the Major Leagues.

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