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Mike Napoli Undergoes ACL Surgery, Continues To Weigh Future

By Jeff Todd | May 11, 2018 at 8:05pm CDT

Slugger Mike Napoli has undergone a procedure to repair his anterior cruciate ligament, per Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). That has been anticipated since he was diagnosed with a torn ACL and meniscus last month.

The injury occurred while Napoli was playing for the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate, which he joined after failing to find an MLB opportunity all spring. Napoli’s anticipated recovery time has been pegged at ten to fourteen months, which is not an insubstantial span for a 36-year-old player.

All things considered, it wouldn’t be surprising if Napoli decided that this was an opportune moment to hang up his spikes. But he’s not ready to declare his intentions just yet, per Cafardo, who reports that Napoli hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll attempt a comeback next season.

It’s certainly understandable that the dozen-year MLB veteran prefers to take his time making a decision. After all, he has driven 63 balls out of the yard over the past two seasons and still rates as a quality defender at first.

To be sure, that output has come with loads of strikeouts and, in 2017, an unsatisfactory .285 on-base percentage. And it’s only fair to note Napoli had managed only one hit (albeit with seven walks) in his 31 Triple-A plate appearances to open the present season, though of course that’s not much of a sample.

Still, it wouldn’t have been at all surprising had he ended up turning in some useful plate appearances in the majors had it not been for the injury. And it’s still plausible, perhaps, that he could do so in the future, should he decide to make another go of it.

Nationals Place Matt Wieters On DL, Select Contract Of Spencer Kieboom

By Jeff Todd | May 11, 2018 at 6:07pm CDT

As expected, the Nationals have placed catcher Matt Wieters on the 10-day DL with a hamstring strain. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by backstop Spencer Kieboom, as the Talk Nats blog first reported on Twitter.

While Kieboom was previously on the Nats’ 40-man, he was bumped off the roster last spring. The Nats have selected his contract again to facilitate his move back to the active roster.

Clearing a 40-man spot wasn’t a challenge with so many injured players susceptible of moving to the 60-day DL. The Nationals made that move with outfielder Adam Eaton, who recently underwent ankle surgery and is expected to be out of commission for quite some time. Since he has been out since early April anyway, his timeline will not be impacted. (D.C. fans looking for a silver lining will note that this decision leaves Daniel Murphy eligible to return before the end of May, though it’s still not clear he’ll be ready by that point.)

At this point, it’s still unclear just what sort of absence the Nats ought to expect from Wieters. The injury has been announced as being to his hamstring, but there was some concern his knee may have incurred damage. It is not known at this point whether the joint is still an area of concern.

The 27-year-old Kieboom, who’s the older brother of Nats prospect Carter Kieboom, drew a walk in his lone prior MLB plate appearance. He has not hit all that much in the upper minors — his .250/.337/.333 slash thus far in 2018 is representative — but does possess solid plate discipline and contact skills (lifetime 8.4% walk rate and 19.2% strikeout rate). Kieboom has long been regarded as a quality defender, too, so he’s a suitable option at least for fill-in duty.

Whether or not Wieters is shelved for a significant time, the Nationals’ questions behind the dish are only getting more pressing. The club is now facing some firm challenges from within the NL East while dealing with the absences of Murphy and Eaton. Though both Wieters and now-starter Pedro Severino have produced at approximately league average offensively to this point of the season, there’s reason in both cases to suspect the output will lag over the course of the season. While the team will surely also be looking for pitching depth at the deadline, the situation behind the plate stands out as being the other area of the roster ripest for upgrade. That’s all the more true since Wieters is set to depart after the current season, meaning the Nats still need to find a near and long-term solution.

Orioles Place Chris Tillman On 10-Day DL

By Jeff Todd | May 11, 2018 at 5:27pm CDT

The Orioles have announced that starter Chris Tillman is going on the 10-day DL with what the club is calling a lower back strain. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis.

There had been no prior indication that Tillman was dealing with a back issue, though certainly something hasn’t been right for the 30-year-old righty. He has been one of the least-effective pitchers in all of baseball, stumbling through 26 2/3 innings of 10.46 ERA pitching in his seven starts on the year.

Baltimore had promised Tillman $3MM to rejoin the organization after a disastrous 2017 season. The deal included loads of incentives, though they don’t begin to kick in until he reaches 125 innings. Tillman’s performance had already begun to make that number seem steep. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out, but any kind of extended absence would make it all but impossible for Tillman to boost his earnings for the year.

Of course, those financial considerations aren’t really on anyone’s minds at present. The real question is whether the O’s can somehow find a way to get Tillman back to being a serviceable pitcher. If he is on the shelf long enough, he may end up getting some time in the minors on a rehab assignment to try and sort things out.

Answers won’t come easy. His average fastball velocity has continued to fall and now sits below 90 mph. Never much of a strikeout pitcher, Tillman is now only generating a career-low 5.2% swinging-strike rate, with a brutal combination of 4.4 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9. Opponents are swatting more than two homers per nine. Statcast calculations suggest Tillman has deserved to be knocked around, as he’s credited with a .458 xwOBA that’s nearly identical to the .455 wOBA rate at which opposing hitters are producing against him.

As for Yacabonis, he has been starting at Triple-A, so could offer the O’s some length from the pen or a fill-in rotation option. Interestingly, though his, six outings for Norfolk are the first six starts he has ever made as a professional, so odds are he’ll work from the pen. The 26-year-old, who spent some time in the majors last year and has one appearance this season as well, has coughed up 11 earned runs in twenty innings in the highest level of the minors thus far in 2018, with an unfavorable mix of both a dozen walks and strikeouts.

Rangers Activate Rougned Odor, Designate Renato Nunez

By Jeff Todd | May 11, 2018 at 3:16pm CDT

The Rangers have activated second baseman Rougned Odor from the 10-day DL, the club announced. To create an opening, the club has designated infielder/outfielder Renato Nunez for assignment.

Odor has missed much of the still-young season with a hamstring injury. The 24-year-old is still looking to get back on track after a miserable 2017 campaign. It’s promising, at least, that he showed much-improved plate discipline (seven strikeouts and four walks) in his 41 plate appearances, though he wasn’t delivering much of his trademark power.

Clearly, it’s too soon to read much into that brief showing. Odor’s struggles in the on-base department are not new. Even when he swatted 33 home runs with an above-average overall batting output in 2016, he sported a sub-.300 OBP. But he reached base at a piddling .252 rate last year, which left him as one of the league’s least-useful regular hitters despite the fact that he put the ball over the fence thirty times.

Texas has plenty riding on the outcome. He’s owed $43.5MM from 2019 through 2022 (including the buyout on a 2023 option) under the extension he signed before the 2017 seas. Odor only recently turned 24 and the club is not contending at the moment, so there’s ample reason to exercise patience and allow him to continue getting reps.

As for Nunez, also 24, he was claimed last month off waivers from the Athletics. He has received brief MLB time in each of the past three seasons. In total, Nunez carries only a .167/.222/.273 slash in 72 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, though he was productive (.249/.319/.518 with 32 home runs) last year at Triple-A.

Twins Release Mason Melotakis

By Jeff Todd | May 11, 2018 at 3:00pm CDT

The Twins have released 2012 second-round pick Mason Melotakis. The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, the affiliate with which Melotakis had been pitching, made the announcement (h/t LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune, on Twitter).

Soon to turn 27 years of age, Melotakis first reached the upper minors back in 2014. He missed all of 2015 with Tommy John surgery but was added to the 40-man roster thereafter and returned to post strong results. The southpaw followed up on a strong effort at Double-A in 2016 with 11 innings in the Arizona Fall League, over which he allowed just two earned runs while compiling 11 strikeouts against a single walk.

Melotakis was seemingly off to a solid start to the 2017 season, posting a 2.28 ERA while generating plenty of grounders to go with 10.4 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, when he was designated and eventually outrighted. He ended that year with a 3.22 ERA and has carried a 3.07 ERA with 14 strikeouts against five walks in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2018.

Evidently, despite the useful numbers, Melotakis has not convinced the current Twins front office that he’s capable of holding down a MLB bullpen spot. Otherwise, he’d surely have been kept, as he wasn’t occupying a 40-man spot and the team hasn’t exactly received top-line results thus far from southpaw relievers Zach Duke and Taylor Rogers. Melotakis was long credited with a big fastball from the left side, but perhaps his arsenal has not been as impressive of late to the Minnesota brass. Other organizations will now have their own shot at adding him.

Blue Jays Place Marcus Stroman On Disabled List

By Steve Adams | May 11, 2018 at 1:07pm CDT

The Blue Jays announced that they’ve placed right-hander Marcus Stroman on the 10-day disabled list due to right shoulder fatigue. In addition, left-handed reliever Tim Mayza has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. The Jays recalled right-handers Joe Biagini and Sam Gaviglio from Buffalo to fill the spots on the active roster. Stroman’s DL placement is retroactive to May 9.

The 27-year-old Stroman has had a disastrous start to his 2018 season, pitching to a 7.71 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and 1.21 HR/9 in 37 1/3 innings (seven starts). He still ranks among the league leaders in ground-ball rate, at 60.5 percent, but virtually all of Stroman’s numbers have gone in the wrong direction, including his fastball velocity (93.4 mph in 2017, 92.2 mph in 2018). Either Biagini or Gaviglio, each of whom has been working in the Buffalo rotation, will start in Stroman’s place this weekend, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.

It remains unclear exactly how long Stroman can be expected to be sidelined. Toronto’s announcement didn’t come with any sort of timetable, nor did it include a specific injury or indicate that any further testing, such as an MRI, is on the horizon. Stroman is slated to meet with the Toronto media at 2:45pm ET, the Jays announced.

Turning to his potential replacements, Biagini enjoyed a terrific rookie season as a Rule 5 pick in 2016, tossing 67 2/3 innings of relief with a 3.06 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent grounder rate. He faltered considerably in a starting capacity last season, though, and hasn’t fared particularly well in the Triple-A rotation this year, either (4.57 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 in 21 1/3 innings).

Gaviglio, meanwhile, was acquired from the Royals in March in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. The 27-year-old got his first look in the Majors last season when he struggled through 74 1/3 innings between Seattle and Kansas City. He’s off to a terrific start in Triple-A, however, where he’s notched a pristine 1.86 ERA with 9.0 K/9, 1.2 BB/9, 1.24 HR/9 and a 45.9 percent ground-ball rate in 29 innings of work.

Mesa Brothers Leave Cuba To Pursue MLB Contracts

By Steve Adams | May 11, 2018 at 12:48pm CDT

12:48pm: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (via Twitter) that the Cardinals have interest in Victor Victor Mesa and have long been monitoring his performance. Of course, St. Louis is one of the eight teams listed below which can only invest $300K in either brother, so it seems quite likely that another club could push bidding past that level.

11:39am: Outfield prospects Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr. have left Cuba with the intent to pursue contracts with Major League clubs, reports Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (Twitter link). The elder Mesa brother is 21 years of age, while the younger is still just 16. Victor Victor seemingly confirmed as much this morning by tweeting a picture in which he is wearing a Team USA jacket alongside his younger brother. They’re being represented by Magnus Sports, per Sanchez.

Both brothers will be considered amateur players under the collective bargaining agreement and will therefore be subject to Major League Baseball’s international bonus pools, despite the fact that the older of the two does come with six seasons of pro ball in Cuba under his belt. As such, they’ll be limited to minor league contracts and signing bonuses that are relatively minimal when compared to the top prices paid for prior Cuban stars.

The Mesa brothers are the sons of Victor Mesa, a 19-year veteran of the Cuban National Series who has in the past served as the manager of Cuba’s team in the World Baseball Classic. Scouting info on the pair is somewhat sparse, especially as pertains to the 16-year-old Mesa Jr.

Prior to last year’s WBC, however, Sanchez called the elder Mesa brother one of the top prospects in all of Cuba, reporting that he was one of the main draws for MLB scouts to the international spectacle. Per Sanchez’s brief report, Victor Victor is a plus runner and defender in the outfield with a strong throwing arm. He enjoyed a terrific campaign in the 2016-17 season in the Cuban National Series, hitting .354/.399/.539 and swiping 40 bases in 70 games — lending credence to reports on his impressive speed. In all, he’s a career .275/.334/.378 hitter in his six professional seasons in Cuba. His aggregate numbers are weighed down, to an extent, by the fact that he made his professional debut at the age of 16 and, unsurprisingly, endured some struggles against the island’s top pitchers in his first couple of seasons.

There’s obviously a fair ways to go before either will be able to sign with a big league organization. The Mesa brothers will first need to be declared free agents by Major League Baseball — a process that could take several months but has, at times, also taken as much as a year for some players. Even if they’re cleared in short order, it stands to reason that they’d likely wait to sign until at least July 2, when the 2018-19 international signing period kicks off, thus resetting the bonus pools for teams throughout the league.

Eight teams — the Reds, A’s, Nationals, Braves, White Sox, Astros, Cardinals and Padres — will still be in the metaphorical “penalty box” for previously shattering their league-allotted pools by more than 15 percent and will subsequently be barred for signing any international amateur player for more than $300K. The other 22 clubs will be able to allocate as much of their pool space as they wish to either or both brothers — it’s not clear if the two are set on signing with the same organization — though the new CBA placed a hard cap on signings and no longer allows clubs to exceed their bonus pools in any capacity.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/11/18

By Steve Adams | May 11, 2018 at 10:40am CDT

Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

The Brewers announced late Thursday that they’ve signed second baseman Darren Seferina to a minor league deal. The former Cardinals’ farmhand was a fifth-round pick back in 2014 and opened the 2018 season in Double-A, where he struggled considerably. But Seferina, 24, split the 2017 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, faring well at both levels and hitting a combined .278/.357/.409 with seven homers, 17 doubles, 10 triples and 19 stolen bases. He’s never been considered one of the Cardinals’ premium prospects, but he’s hit fairly well throughout his minor league tenure with the exception of the first few weeks of the 2018 season.
Right-hander Jorge Rondon was released from the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate in Birmingham, per the Southern League transactions log. The 30-year-old Rondon tossed 19 innings in the Majors between the Pirates, Cardinals, Rockies and Orioles from 2014-16, though he struggled at each stop and allowed 28 runs with a 13-to-11 K/BB ratio in just 19 innings at the game’s top level. Rondon has a career 2.81 ERA in 263 innings at the Triple-A level, but he’s never missed all that many bats (6.8 K/9 in AAA) and was off to a fairly pedestrian start to his 2018 campaign (14-to-8 K/BB ratio, 13 hits allowed, 4.85 ERA in 13 innings).

Nationals Notes: Wieters, Soto, Outfield

By Steve Adams | May 11, 2018 at 9:09am CDT

Matt Wieters sustained a leg injury when rounding first base after hitting a single and will undergo an MRI this morning, writes Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. It’s not clear if the damage is specific to his hamstring or something in his knee. Wieters told reporters that he felt something “behind [his] knee, kind of go a little bit.” The veteran switch-hitter has been more productive so far in 2018 than he was in 2017, hitting .231/.342/.385 through his first 76 plate appearances. While he’s still not the hitter he was in his best years with the Orioles, the loss of Wieters for any period would put the Nationals in a bind. He’s one of just two catchers on the 40-man roster now that the Nationals released Miguel Montero last month and placed Jhonatan Solano on the 60-day DL (depth chart). Either journeyman Tuffy Gosewisch or longtime Nats farmhand Spencer Kieboom seem likely to have his contract selected from Triple-A this weekend, as Janes notes that Wieters has already been deemed unavailable for tonight’s game and will “almost certainly” land on the DL for a second time this season.

Kyle Lohse Likely To Retire

By Steve Adams | May 11, 2018 at 8:10am CDT

May 11, 8:10am: Lohse tells Tony Boone of the Omaha World-Herald that this is “probably it” for his career, though he left the door open slightly in the event that a team approached him with an opportunity (Twitter link). It doesn’t sound as though agent Scott Boras will be actively pursuing new opportunities for his client, though.

May 10, 11:25pm: Shortly after being released by the Royals this afternoon, veteran right-hander Kyle Lohse took to Instagram to suggest that he is retiring from baseball after spending parts of 16 seasons in the Majors.

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Lohse wrote with a view from the stands at a minor league game. “Baseball, you’ve taken me a lot of places I’ve never thought or even dreamed of. The highs. The lows. The people I’ve met. The teammates I’ve had the pleasure of battling alongside. The guys on the other teams I’ve had the pleasure of battling against. Time to take it to the house knowing I gave it all I had each and every time.”

Lohse made a comeback bid with the Royals this year after not pitching professionally in 2017, signing a minor league contract on March 31 but ultimately being knocked around in a pair of Triple-A starts. That, apparently, was enough to set the 39-year-old’s mind at east as he rides off into the sunset following a long and successful playing career.

Originally a 29th-round pick of the Cubs in 1996, Lohse was never considered to be an elite prospect. He went from the Cubs organization to the Twins by way of 1999’s Rick Aguilera trade and found himself in the big leagues for an up-and-coming Twins team a couple years later in 2001. Lohse’s rookie campaign was hardly noteworthy (5.68 ERA in 90 1/3 innings), but he settled in as a durable workhorse for the Twins the following season.

From 2002-05, Lohse averaged 32 starts and 189 innings per season, pitching to a 4.61 ERA with 5.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. That, of course, was a markedly different era of baseball, as evidenced by the fact that Lohse’s collective 4.61 ERA in those 754 1/3 innings translated to an ERA+ of 99 — meaning he was roughly a league-average starter for the Twins in a heightened offensive period for baseball.

Lohse was eventually flipped to the Reds in 2006 and would spent parts of the next two seasons in Cincinnati and Philadelphia before setting into the Cardinals’ rotation for half a decade. Lohse enjoyed some of his best seasons in St. Louis, including a 2011 season that saw him post a 3.39 ERA in 30 starts for the World Champion Cardinals and a 2012 season in which he posted a career-best 2.86 ERA in 211 innings. Lohse started the NL Wild Card game for the Cards in 2012 and took home the win in that game, setting up St. Louis for another run to the NLCS. In all, he posted a 3.90 ERA in 809 innings for the chief rival of the club which originally drafted and traded him.

Following his strong run with the Cards, Lohse inked a three-year, $33MM deal with the Brewers, remaining in the NL Central and again serving as a thorn in the side to two former organizations — at least for the first two years of his deal. Lohse signed late in Spring Training in 2013 but proved to be well worth the investment when he tossed 397 innings of 3.45 ERA ball for the Brewers in the first two seasons of his deal. He stumbled in the final season of that contract, however, losing his rotation spot and finishing the year in a bullpen as he limped to the finish line with a 5.85 ERA. Lohse threw just 9 1/3 innings in the Majors after that point — all coming with the 2016 Rangers.

Lohse never made an All-Star team and only received Cy Young votes once in his career — a seventh-place finish in 2012 — but will still go down as one of the best 29th-round picks in history (even if Ken Griffey Sr. can probably lay claim to the top spot). Few players selected that late in the draft approach the type of career that Lohse had. At a point in the draft when most players selected are organizational filler, he forged a 16-year playing career that saw him post a 147-143 record with a 4.40 ERA, 1615 strikeouts, 12 complete games and even nine shutouts over the life of 2531 2/3 Major League innings. Lohse earned more than $89MM in a career that was valued by Baseball-Reference at 19.6 wins above replacement and at 26.3 wins above replacement by Fangraphs. Best of luck to Lohse in his post-playing days.

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