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Astros Reinstate Roberto Osuna, Place Lance McCullers On DL

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2:30pm: Houston issued a statement Sunday in regards to acquiring Osuna, all of which is available here via the team’s Twitter account. Here’s a portion of it: “Our decision to acquire Roberto was based on the entirety of information that we gathered during our extensive evaluation. That included as much information as we could gather about the specific incident and the charges that were filed but it also included as much information as we could gather about his actions before and after the incident, as well as his personal reputation among his former teammates and coaches. The information regarding this specific incident weighed heavily on our decision but when evaluating the entirety of the information, we felt that Roberto deserved a second chance.”

12:12pm: The Astros have reinstated reliever Roberto Osuna from the restricted list and sent starter Lance McCullers Jr. to the 10-day DL with right elbow discomfort, per a team announcement.

Osuna is now in position to make his debut with Houston, which acquired him in a headline-grabbing deal on the eve of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. To land Osuna, the Astros gave up three players – including their former closer, Ken Giles – in a move that hasn’t been received all that well from Houston’s point of view. While Osuna has been an excellent reliever since debuting in 2015, the 23-year-old’s career may be forever tarnished by an early May arrest on a domestic assault charge. Major League Baseball then issued Osuna a 75-game suspension, which he’s just returning from now.

Although Osuna has served MLB’s punishment, he’s not out of legal hot water in Canada. Osuna had a court date on Aug. 1, though there was no resolution at that hearing and he has another one scheduled for Sept. 5, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported earlier this week. It’s not clear, then, whether Osuna will even be available toward the end of the season as the playoff-bound Astros vie for their second straight World Series title.

From solely an on-field standpoint, the Osuna addition figures to help the Astros’ cause. Osuna was a lights-out closer during his 223-inning Toronto tenure, saving 104 games on 124 tries and logging a 2.87 ERA.

NL Notes: Callaway, Pirates, Ozuna, Reds

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Although this has been a nightmarish year for the Mets, it doesn’t appear rookie manager Mickey Callaway’s job is in jeopardy. Even if the Mets hire a new general manager, Callaway is expected to return in 2019, Steven Marcus of Newsday reports. Sandy Alderson, the GM who played a key part in hiring Callaway last offseason, went on leave in June to battle cancer. Whether the soon-to-be 71-year-old Alderson will return to his post in 2019 is unclear, but in the meantime, the Mets have essentially been utilizing tri-GMs in John Ricco, J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya. Any of those three could be candidates for the team’s full-time GM role if Alderson doesn’t come back next year, but regardless of who ultimately holds the position, it seems that individual will be working with Callaway.

Here’s more from the National League…

  • Prior to their midseason resurgence, the Pirates were leaning toward selling at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, general manager Neal Huntington told KDKA-FM on Sunday (via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). However, the team never gave any thought to dealing two of its top controllable assets, right-hander Jameson Taillon or closer Felipe Vazquez. “When club hit rock bottom at seven (games) under (.500 on July 7),” Huntington said, “(we began to consider), ‘Maybe ‘18 isn’t our year. How do we strengthen ’19, ’20, and ‘21 moving on?’ (But) it was never a consideration to trade Felipe Vazquez, and trading Jameson Taillon was never a consideration for us.” The Pirates actually fell to eight games under .500 on July 7, but they then ripped off 15 wins in 19 games before July 31 and ended up as buyers, acquiring right-hander Chris Archer from the Rays and reliever Keone Kela from the Rangers.
  • This has been a disappointing offensive season for Cardinals left fielder Marcell Ozuna, whom the team acquired from Miami over the winter on the heels of a career year in 2017. After posting a 142 wRC+, mashing 37 home runs and recording a .237 ISO last season, Ozuna’s down to 90, 13 and .124 in those respective categories this year. It’s possible right shoulder problems are at least partly to blame, as Ozuna told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com and other reporters that he has been battling tendinitis and inflammation dating back to last season. The Cardinals were aware of that when they picked up Ozuna, per president John Mozeliak, though Langosch adds that the team hasn’t considered surgery for the 27-year-old. Regardless, Ozuna’s arm strength has taken notable steps backward, Langosch details in her piece.
  • Meanwhile, Reds outfielder Scott Schebler is dealing with his own right shoulder troubles, and they may shelve him until September, manager Jim Riggleman announced (via Kyle Melnick of MLB.com). Schebler went on the DL on July 15 with a sprained AC joint, and even though the Reds activated him Friday when his 20-day rehab stint ended, he’s still unable to throw properly. Schebler had been in the midst of a fine season before going on the DL, with a .278/.351/.470 line and 12 homers in 299 plate appearances.

Brewers Claim Jordan Lyles

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The Brewers have claimed right-hander Jordan Lyles off waivers from the Padres, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. San Diego has decided to let Lyles go for no compensation, Acee adds.

The 27-year-old Lyles, a first-round pick of the Astros in 2008, has generally struggled since debuting in the majors in 2011. However, Lyles was decent this year as a member of the Padres, with whom he logged a 4.29 ERA/4.45 FIP with 7.82 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 46.7 percent groundball rate in 71 1/3 innings. He worked primarily out of San Diego’s bullpen before it said goodbye to him, totaling eight starts in 24 appearances.

Lyles will presumably begin his Brewers tenure in relief, and his presence could help a Milwaukee club whose pitching depth has recently taken multiple hits in the form of serious injuries to Brent Suter and Zach Davies. Judging by the work he has done as a reliever this year, Lyles looks capable of serving as an asset for the Brewers, who own a 65-49 record and are 2 1/2 games up on a wild-card spot. In 24 1/3 frames out of the bullpen this season, Lyles has pitched to a 3.33 ERA/3.53 FIP with 8.14 K/9 and 2.96 BB/9, and limited opposing hitters to a .200/.276/.330 line.

Should the Lyles experiment go well for the Brewers this year, they’ll have a chance to keep him in 2019 on a $3.5MM club option (or they could buy him out for $250K). In the meantime, he’s on an ultra-affordable $750K salary this season.

Cardinals Claim Tyson Ross

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Tyson Ross off waivers from the Padres. He’ll join the Cardinals on Monday.

There’s no indication St. Louis gave up anything for Ross, which means the team will only take on what’s left of his $1.75MM salary (approximately $500K). Ross will presumably slot into a Cardinals rotation that has been dealing with its share of injury issues. Top starter Carlos Martinez just went on the disabled list for the third time this season on Tuesday, while both Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha have each been out for a significant period with injuries of their own. As a result of their absences, the Cardinals’ rotation currently consists of Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Luke Weaver, John Gant and Austin Gomber. Either Gant or Gomber could exit the group in favor of Ross.

The 31-year-old Ross, whom arm injuries have weighed down as his career has progressed, had been amid a strong bounce-back season until July. That disastrous month, in which Ross posted an 8.87 ERA with matching strikeout and walk rates of 5.79 per nine over 23 1/3 innings, seemingly went a long way toward killing his trade value.

In all, Ross has logged a useful 4.45 ERA/4.55 FIP with 7.81 K/9, 3.79 BB/9 and a 43.8 percent groundball rate over 123 1/3 innings, though ineffectiveness against left-handed hitters and struggles during his second and third times through opposing batting orders have negatively affected his numbers. Ross has given up a .294/.380/.462 slash versus lefty-swingers, and he has seen his ERA rise from 2.59 while facing an order for the first time to 4.47 the second and 7.59 the third.

Despite his flaws, the Cardinals have taken a low-risk flyer on him as they continue to hold out hope of earning a postseason berth. That’ll be a tall order for 57-54 St. Louis, which is 7 1/2 games out of playoff position.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Tyson Ross, Jordan Lyles Claimed On Trade Waivers

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11:15am: One of Ross’ teammates, righty Jordan Lyles, has also been claimed, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets.

10:49am: An unknown team has claimed Padres right-hander Tyson Ross on revocable trade waivers, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The Padres have 48.5 hours from the time of the claim to trade Ross to the unidentified team, pull him off waivers or allow him to go to the claiming club for no compensation.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

As the rules dictate, Ross first would have had to go through waivers in the Padres’ league, the NL. Given Ross’ affordability (he has approximately $500K left on his $1.75MM salary), it seems unlikely that the 31-year-old would have gotten past every other NL club without being claimed.

With the rebuilding Padres not in contention for a playoff spot, Ross looked like a strong candidate to end up on the move prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. He stayed put, though, perhaps because of a rough July in which he logged an 8.87 ERA with matching strikeout and walk rates of 5.79 per nine across 23 1/3 innings.

On the whole, Ross has offered passable production this year, having pitched to a 4.45 ERA/4.55 FIP with 7.81 K/9, 3.79 BB/9 and a 43.8 percent groundball rate over 123 1/3 frames. Given the serious arm troubles the former front-line starter dealt with in recent years, his performance this season has been more impressive than it looks on paper.

Although Ross has functioned solely as a starter through 22 appearances this year, it’s possible a playoff-contending claiming team would have interest in deploying him out of its bullpen. He does have prior experience as a reliever, after all, and may be better equipped to function in that role down the stretch. Ross has declined substantially this year when going through teams’ batting orders multiple times. His ERA jumps from 2.59 the initial time through to 4.47 on the second and a whopping 7.62 on the third. Ross has also held opposing lineups to a paltry .170/.284/.308 line when facing them for the first time.

Of course, before figuring out whether Ross will finish the season as a starter or reliever, we’ll have to see which uniform he puts on the next time he takes the hill. In what may go down as his final outing as a Padre, Ross threw five innings of three-run ball in a loss to the Cubs on Friday.

Daniel Robertson To Undergo Thumb Surgery, Likely Done For Season

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Rays infielder Daniel Robertson, who went on the disabled list on Saturday with a sprained left thumb, will require surgery and is likely to miss the rest of the season, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports.

Like the Rays themselves, owners of a respectable 56-55 record, Robertson has been a pleasant surprise in 2018. After struggling through a 254-plate appearance debut in 2017, when he hit .206/.308/.326, the 24-year-old Robertson has slashed .262/.382/.415 in 340 PAs this season.

Robertson hasn’t offered a ton of power (nine home runs, .152 ISO), though he’s tied for 21st in on-base percentage among hitters with at least 300 PAs and has registered appealing walk and strikeout rates (12.0 and 22.6 percent, respectively). Thanks largely to his on-base ability, which has been buoyed by 13 hit by pitches, Robertson has been 28 percent better than the league-average offensive player in 2018, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

If Robertson’s season is indeed over, it’ll end with 2.6 fWAR and 2.8 rWAR, which would’ve made for impressive production even over a full campaign. But injuries have helped hold back Robertson, who previously missed time in June on account of a strained left hamstring and has played in just 87 games. Robertson showed off plenty of defensive versatility in that span, amassing anywhere from 19 to 39 appearances at third base, second base (his primary position) and shortstop.

Angels Designate Luis Valbuena For Assignment

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In a surprise move, the Angels announced that they’ve designated corner infielder Luis Valbuena for assignment. To take his 25-man roster spot, the team recalled right-hander Deck McGuire from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Prior to his ouster, Valbuena had been two months from completing the two-year, $15MM guarantee the Angels awarded him as a free agent before last season. The deal also comes with an $8.5MM mutual option for 2019, but given his poor production in their uniform, the Angels would have bought him out for $500K instead. While the Angels will now have a week to find a taker for Valbuena via trade, that seems unlikely to happen. Instead, it’s fair to guess that the 32-year-old will clear waivers and end up back on the free-agent market soon after that.

Valbuena, who’s on an $8MM salary this year, has hit a horrid .199/.253/.335 with nine home runs and a .135 ISO in 288 plate appearances in 2018. He also batted .199 over 401 PAs in 2017, though Valbuena still offered far better overall production than he has this year, as he posted a .294 on-base percentage, a .432 slugging percentage, 22 homers and a .233 ISO. During what amounted to nearly a two-year run in Anaheim, Valbuena slashed .199/.277/.390 in 689 PAs.

The lefty-swinging Valbuena had been an above-average offensive player earlier in his career, which led the Angels to hand him a sizable payday. From 2013-16, which he divided between the Cubs and Astros, Valbuena hit .237/.333/.428 (112 wRC+) with 66 homers, a .191 ISO and respectable walk (12.0) and strikeout (20.5) percentages in 1,773 PAs.

Lance McCullers To Have Elbow Examined

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Houston’s the only team in the majors that has used the same five starting pitchers all season, but that may be on the verge of changing. Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. left his start against the Dodgers on Saturday in the fifth inning with discomfort in his pitching elbow, the team announced. McCullers will head back to Houston on Sunday for a medical examination, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to report.

McCullers cruised during his abbreviated outing Saturday in what proved to be a rout for the reigning champion Astros, who rolled to a 14-0 victory over their World Series opponent from 2017. The 24-year-old tossed four innings of scoreless, two-hit ball, also notching five strikeouts against two walks. But McCullers was unable to throw a single pitch in the fifth, and he told reporters after the game that there was “some abnormal soreness and stiffness” around his forearm.

Forearm issues often serve as a precursor to Tommy John surgery, a procedure McCullers hasn’t undergone to this point. The fourth-year man hasn’t been the picture of durability in the majors, though, having dealt with elbow and shoulder troubles in 2016 before going on the disabled list twice on account of back problems last year. He has only gone past the 125-inning mark twice in a season, including his career-best 126 frames in 2018.

Despite his injuries, McCullers has always posted strong production, which has continued this year with a 3.93 ERA/3.57 FIP, 9.86 K/9 and 3.57 BB/9 and a 54.8 percent groundball rate. That type of output won’t be easy for the Astros to replace if McCullers does land on the shelf, though the team’s rotation would still be a loaded group without him, evidenced by the unit’s league-leading ERA (3.00) and fWAR (16.2). Statistically, McCullers has been the worst of the Astros’ starters this year, but that’s less a knock on him than a compliment to the work Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and Dallas Keuchel have done.

Now, if Houston does lose McCullers, it’s unclear how the team would fill out its rotation. Fellow Astros righties Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock each bring plenty of starting experience, but they’ve been entrenched in bullpen roles all season and, with a few exceptions, have typically worked a maximum of two innings per appearance. Other 40-man options include Triple-A starters Brady Rodgers and Francis Martes, though neither looks ready for the big leagues right now. Rodgers has struggled in his first action since undergoing TJ surgery last year, and Martes is on the mend from elbow issues of his own.

At the Double-A level and not on the 40-man roster, the Astros have one of the premier pitching prospects in baseball in towering righty Forrest Whitley. However, he’s also working back from an injury (a strained oblique) and has only amassed 35 2/3 innings above the Single-A level since 2017. Astros manager A.J. Hinch did suggest last week that Whitley could garner consideration for a September promotion, though (via Christian Boutwell and Alyson Footer of MLB.com). In the meantime, Houston’s hope is that McCullers won’t miss any time – let alone a substantial amount – as it continues trying to maintain or build on its five-game lead over the Athletics in the AL West.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/4/18

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We’ll use this post to keep track of some minor transactions throughout the day…

Latest…

  • The Tigers have made their second minor deal of the day, this time acquiring righty Eric Villanueva from the Mets in exchange for cash considerations, Woodbery tweets. Villanueva, 20, had been with the Mets since they chose him out of Puerto Rico in the 30th round of the 2016 draft. During his time with the Mets, Villaneuva worked at the Rookie level and struggled to a 5.14 ERA with unsightly strikeout and walk rates (5.1 K/9, 11.2 BB/9) across 40 1/3 innings.

Earlier…

  • The Yankees have acquired infielder Gio Urshela from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations; Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune was first to take note of the transaction, and the move has since been announced by both organizations. The Jays designated Urshela for assignment on June 26th, about seven weeks after they claimed him off waivers from the Indians. The 26-year-old is widely known for his highlight-reel defensive plays, although he’s also error-prone on the big stage; Urshela made four errors while with Cleveland during last year’s ALDS. His tepid bat has been what’s really held him back, though. Urshela’s career batting line is .225/.274/.315 across 499 plate appearances with Cleveland and Toronto.
  • The Indians announced that they’ve traded right-hander George Kontos to the Yankees in exchange for cash considerations; the Yankees in turn announced that the veteran has assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. The 33-year-old has pitched in parts of every MLB season since 2011, though he’s never shuffled around the league quite this much. Kontos began 2018 with the Pirates before being shipped to Cleveland, and will now head to his third team of the year. He’s earned himself a 4.68 ERA across 25 innings thus far, and his FIP (5.93) suggests he’s been lucky to attain even that mediocre mark. However, if he can return to the form of the 3.12 ERA hurler he’s been across his career on average, he could yet prove a useful piece for the Bombers.
  • The Tigers have acquired righty Christian Binford from the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations, per Evan Woodbery of MLive. Across 12 appearances this season (seven starts) with the O’s Double-A affiliate, Binford has pitched to a 4.95 ERA. While he’s walked just 1.28 batters per nine innings, he’s only managed to strike out a measly 5.59. However, his 4.35 xFIP suggests that he’s been slightly unlucky in terms of fly balls going for home runs. While Binford has remained at Double-A all season, he’s seen time at the minors’ highest level in each of the past two years (while with the Royals organization). In fact, prior to this season, the 25-year-old had never known any other organization outside of Kansas City, who selected him in the 30th round of the 2011 draft.

Rangers To Sign Drew Hutchison To Major League Deal

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The Rangers and right-hander Drew Hutchison have agreed to a major league contract, according to an announcement from Texas. Hutchison, an ACES client, will start the Rangers’ game against the Orioles on Sunday.

The Rangers are the third major league organization of 2018 for Hutchison, who inked a minors pact with the Phillies in February and did well enough in camp to earn a season-opening roster spot. The 27-year-old worked out of the Phillies’ bullpen, making 11 appearances and tossing 21 1/3 innings of 4.64 ERA ball, before the club designated him for assignment in late May.

Hutchison, who went on to reject an outright assignment to Philly’s Triple-A affiliate, then caught on with the Dodgers on another minor league contract. He did not return to the majors with them, though, and after posting a terrific 2.14 ERA in 42 innings (nine appearances, seven starts) with their Triple-A club, opted out of his deal this past Tuesday in favor of free agency.

Returning to the open market proved to be a wise move by Hutchison, who will now get a chance as part of a thin Rangers rotation. Texas, which is well out of contention, has seen its starters log the majors’ second-worst ERA (5.28) and third-worst fWAR (2.3) this season. Hutchison has generally been more successful than that at preventing runs, though he has only combined for three starts since 2017. He’s best known for his run with the Blue Jays from 2012-16 – a 76-appearance, 73-start stretch in which he put up a 4.92 ERA/4.23 FIP with 8.28 K/9, 2.84 BB/9 and a 38.7 percent groundball rate over 406 1/3 innings. Hutchison also racked up at least 150 frames in two individual seasons (2014-15) during that span.

While Hutchison had his moments as a Blue Jay, he has fallen off the radar somewhat since they dealt him to the Pirates at the trade deadline in 2016. Hutchison wound up spending all of last season with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate. Now, Hutchison will get his best major league shot in a while, and if he performs well down the stretch, he could emerge as a multiyear find for Texas. The pitching-starved Rangers will have an opportunity to control Hutchison via arbitration for up to three years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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