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Marlins To Promote Sandy Alcantara

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The Marlins announced today that right-hander Sandy Alcantara will be recalled from Triple-A New Orleans to start Friday’s game against the Mets. The 22-year-old righty is considered to be among the organization’s top overall prospects and was the centerpiece in the offseason trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis.

Alcantara is off to a solid start to the season, having pitched to a 3.71 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.64 HR/9 and a 50.8 percent ground-ball rate. Alcantara entered the season generally regarded as one of baseball’s top 100 prospects, and he currently ranks 59th at Baseball America, 92nd at MLB.com and 110th at Fangraphs. He’ll instantly rank among the hardest-throwing starters in the game when he joins the Miami rotation, as his fastball receives a 70-grade on most scouting reports, and he averaged 98.3 mph on his heater in a brief cup of coffee with the Cardinals last season (8 1/3 innings).

[Related: Miami Marlins depth chart]

The organizational hope is that Alcantara will be able to serve as an anchor in the rotation for years to come. He’ll step into the starting five in place of lefty Caleb Smith, who looked to be establishing himself as a viable long-term option for the Fish prior to suffering a Grade 3 lat strain that will put an unfortunate end to his season. For the time being, then, Alcantara will join Dan Straily, Wei-Yin Chen, Trevor Richards and Rule 5 pick Elieser Hernandez in the rotation.

Alcantara did accrue 31 days of Major League service time in 2017, but even if he sticks in the rotation and isn’t optioned back to New Orleans, he’ll still finish the season shy of the 172 days needed to qualify for a full year of service time. As such, he’s controllable through at least the 2023 season for Miami, though the timing of his promotion will likely put him on the cusp of Super Two stats a couple of years from now is his ascension to the Majors does indeed prove to be permanent.

Latest On Shohei Ohtani

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Angels GM Billy Eppler said today that he anticipates star pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani to return as a hitter regardless of his status on the mound, Jim Duquette of Sirius XM Radio tweets (with some audio available on Twitter as well). Ohtani, who had taken the majors by storm this year after coming over from Japan, was diagnosed earlier this month with a grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Ohtani is set to be evaluated tomorrow after resting for several weeks following a platelet-rich plasma injection. But the medical review will not be necessary to determine his availability to resume hitting. As Eppler explains, if Ohtani “was only a DH … he would’ve been cleared right away.”

Rather, the focus at present is on ensuring that Ohtani has the best possible chance of returning to the mound without requiring Tommy John surgery. Whether or not he’ll even be able to try to accomplish that this season remains to be seen. But it seems there was a concern that allowing him to hit right away could jeopardize the ligament.

The point of the three-week layoff, per Eppler, was to make sure the area around the UCL “has plenty of time to scar and heal.” Presumably, that’s largely what will be assessed tomorrow.

Whatever the likelihood is of Ohtani returning to the bump in 2018, the Halos will surely be anxious to get his bat back in the lineup if possible. Since Ohtani went down, the Halos have gone just 5-11.

Jayson Werth To Retire

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Veteran outfielder Jayson Werth tells Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports that he will retire. He had been with the Mariners organization on a minor-league deal.

Though Werth declined to describe the situation in precisely those terms, he told Heyman: “I’m done … whatever you want to call it.” That statement does not seem to leave much room for interpretation, so it seems fair to assume that Werth will not look to return from the hamstring injury that recently put him on the shelf at Triple-A Tacoma.

Werth, 39, had signed on with the Seattle organization after wrapping up a seven-year, $126MM contract with the Nationals. That monster contract marked one of several turning points over Werth’s long professional career.

Drafted 22nd overall by the Orioles in the 1997 draft, Werth did not exactly race to the majors. And he did not stick immediately upon reaching the game’s highest level. He bounced from the Baltimore organization to the Blue Jays and then on to the Dodgers, moving from behind the dish to the outfield along the way and receiving relatively meager opportunities in the majors.

Werth posted strong numbers in a partial season of work with Los Angeles in 2004, but ended up suffering a significant wrist injury during camp in the ensuing spring. He played poorly upon returning and the issue failed to dissipate. Werth ended up missing all of the 2006 campaign and being set loose by the Dodgers.

At that point, clearly, there was a high likelihood that Werth would simply never make good on his original promise. But he drew major-league contract offers and ultimately landed with the Phillies, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explained at the time.

Needless to say, things turned up from there. Werth ended up slashing a robust .282/.380/.506 in over two thousand plate appearances over four seasons in Philadelphia, swatting 95 home runs and swiping sixty bags along the way. He was a key piece of the organization’s magical run in that span, including a 2008 World Series victory.

When free agency arrived, both team and player decided to make other plans — not that the Phillies fans ever forgave Werth for leaving. As MLBTR’s Zach Links wrote, it took an eye-popping number to convince him to head to D.C., a surprising decision for a Nationals organization that was then a perennial cellar dweller.

Werth’s first season with the Nats did not go according to plan. And he missed time with a wrist injury in the one that followed. But his play picked up quite a bit. And the tide soon turned in the division, with the Washington organization rising as the Phillies fell apart. From 2012 through 2014, Werth made good on his hefty salary, posting a cumulative .303/.394/.479 slash with 46 home runs. Unfortunately, that output — and Werth’s good health — would not last. Over the final three years of his deal with the Nationals, he managed only a .233/.322/.402 batting line in 301 games.

While postseason success wasn’t to be in D.C., Werth will be remembered well for his leadership role in an important time in the organization’s history. Now, he tells Heyman, he’ll head off to spend more time with his family — and, perhaps, take up some organic farming. Both sound like worthy pursuits, and we at MLBTR wish him the best of fortune.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Lester, deGrom, Keller, Dietrich

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There’s no denying that Jon Lester has produced top-level results for the Cubs, but his peripherals reveal some cause for concern, as Jay Jaffe of Fangraphs writes in a detailed analysis of the veteran hurler that’s well worth your time. Suffice to say that Jaffe provides ample support for his conclusion that Lester is probably due for some significant regression. Of course, there’s not much for the Cubs to do here but continue riding Lester, who would still be a productive pitcher even if he falls back to last year’s earned-run levels. But it does seem notable that Lester’s 4.33 ERA in 2017 came with better grades from ERA estimators (4.10 FIP/3.85 xFIP/4.07 SIERA) than he has received to this point in 2018 (4.08 FIP/4.46 xFIP/4.51 SIERA).

Here’s more from the National League:

  • Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic argued recently (subscription link) that the Mets ought to try to get a long-term deal done with righty Jacob deGrom rather than shopping him this summer. Of course, such a move would be dependent upon the hurler’s own preferences, too, and may not be practicable in the middle of the season. Pursuing a new deal with deGrom would seem to imply an ongoing effort to contend in upcoming seasons, despite the organization’s recent disappointments. In that regard, Rosenthal’s related suggestion — that the team dangle co-ace Noah Syndergaard this summer instead — seems tough to square with that strategy. Syndergaard is younger, cheaper, and more controllable than deGrom. But his present value is likely lower, since he has dealt with significant injury issues of late. For a team in the Mets’ situation, a strategic choice to keep (and try to extend) deGrom would seem to support the retention of Syndergaard as well. Regardless, it’s an interesting situation. One key element in potential contract talks is deGrom’s relatively advanced age. Rosenthal’s colleague Tim Britton did a nice job breaking down a potential extension price tag in another recent subscription piece, suggesting a five-year arrangement (two arb years plus three would-be free-agent campaigns) structured in the same essential manner as Jake Arrieta’s contract with the Phillies (that is, with an opt-out provision that the team can void by adding more money to the deal). Whether there’s any interest in such a deal, on either side, really isn’t clear at this stage.
  • The Diamondbacks seem to have whiffed on righty Brad Keller, who was lost to the Royals via the Rule 5 draft and has now thrown 48 innings of 2.25 ERA ball on the year. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic examines the topic from the perspective of the Arizona organization, noting that it seems the roster flexibility was there to protect Keller had the team made him a priority. GM Mike Hazen says that the Snakes liked the 22-year-old, but faced other considerations. “We made the conscious decision not to add him because of where he was in proximity to the major-league team, where we were in the cycle, what we wanted to use our 40-man spots for, we wanted to be aggressive in the offseason in claiming guys … that were closer to the big leagues in our mind,” Hazen explained.
  • Marlins outfielder Derek Dietrich is looking increasingly like a useful trade asset, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes. The left-handed hitter has been on fire at the plate of late, running up his batting line to .303/.354/.491 in 294 plate appearances on the year. To be fair, he’s also walking less, striking out more, and carrying a heftier BABIP than usual, but Dietrich has produced a career-best 38.3% hard-hit rate this season as well. It’s also easy to forget that he has produced quite a bit in prior campaigns; indeed, he’s a 118 OPS+ hitter since the start of 2015. A substantial portion of that output came against right-handed pitching, though he has swung well against southpaws this year, his first as a true regular. Soon to turn 29, Dietrich is earning only $2.9MM in 2018 and can be controlled for two more seasons beyond the present one. He has never been regarded as a particularly good defender, but is capable of lining up in the corner outfield and infield as well as at second base — versatility that will appeal to some contenders but also to a Marlins team facing an uncertain future. All told, there are some clear limitations to Dietrich’s value, but there’s also quite a lot to like about the player.

2018 Amateur Draft Signings: 6/27/18

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We’ll use this post to track the day’s most notable signings from the first few rounds of the draft.  Scouting reports and pre-draft rankings can be found courtesy of MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law (the latter two available to subscribers only)…

  • The Cubs have convinced supplemental second-round choice Cole Roederer to forego his commitment to UCLA, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). It’ll cost the team $1.2M, well over the $775,100 value that came with the 77th overall selection. Though he did not earn any top-100 tabs, Roederer placed 161st on the Baseball America board. BA credits him with “hints of all five tools and growing power,” with solid upside but also questions surrounding his relatively small stature. Clearly, the Cubs believe in Roederer, whose over-slot bonus absorbs most of the savings the team achieved from later selections.

Braves Select Contract Of Wes Parsons, Move Mike Soroka To 60-Day DL

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10:04am: To create 40-man space, the Braves moved young righty Mike Soroka to the 60-day disabled list. That means he’ll be on the shelf for quite some time, as he only went on the DL last Friday.

Clearly, the Atlanta organization anticipated that it would need to give Soroka’s ailing shoulder a lengthy rest. He already sat for a month before inflammation again cropped up, and this time he’ll miss at least twice that time.

The prized hurler will first be eligible to return to action on August 21st. It is not yet known whether the team anticipates that Soroka will be physically ready to return at that time.

9:46am: The Braves will select the contract of righty Wes Parsons today, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to report (Twitter links). It is not yet known how the organization will clear a 40-man spot. To create space on the active roster, though, the Braves will option righty Matt Wisler.

Parsons, now 25, originally joined the organization as an undrafted free agent. He has climbed the ladder steadily ever since, but really emerged last year at the Double-A level. In 103 total innings there, over ten starts and 16 relief appearances, Parsons worked to a 2.71 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 as well as a 54.2% groundball rate.

The success has continued into the 2018 campaign, with Parsons functioning almost exclusively as a starter. He has thrown 64 1/3 frames, split about evenly between Double-A and Triple-A, with a cumulative 2.10 ERA and peripherals that line up with his 2017 showing.

It seems likely that Parsons will contribute to the relief corps out of the gates. He may not be up for long, depending upon how the roster needs shake out. Now that he’s on the 40-man, though, Parsons could certainly be called upon at any moment — even in the rotation, perhaps, if that proves necessary.

Trade Candidate: Leonys Martin

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Teams in a rebuilding posture still frequently invest in some veterans, with part of the rationale being that those players can turn into trade assets in the middle of the season. For the Tigers, the most visible offseason spending took place in the rotation, with the club pouring $10MM into starting pitching (Mike Fiers and Francisco Liriano).

Detroit made just one other winter investment of consequence: a $1.75MM promise to center fielder Leonys Martin. (The deal also includes $1.25MM in available incentives, topping out at 500 plate appearances.) The club needed a solid piece in the outfield and got a 30-year-old who has generally been a useful big leaguer but had trouble holding onto a MLB roster spot last year. Needless to say, it wasn’t a highlight of the offseason.

Thus far, however, Martin has been one of the fifty or so most valuable position players in baseball. There are certainly some limits to his appeal, but he also looks to be quite a useful potential trade piece for the Tigers.

Notably, Martin was dealt to a contender in the middle of 2017 despite his struggles last year at the MLB level. He’s an up-the-middle defender who has always been an outstanding baserunner, which explains why the Cubs picked him up and ended up putting him on their postseason roster.

Now, the profile is much more interesting. Through 291 plate appearances, Martin carries a .261/.333/.444 batting line with nine home runs and seven stolen bases. His output includes a 9.3% walk rate that’s easily the best rate of his career. Martin is posting a personal-high .184 isolated slugging mark, and has done so without increasing his strikeout rate (at 22.3%, it’s almost exactly at his career mean).

That’s not exactly world-beating offensive work, but it’s above-average output from a player who is best known for his defensive and baserunning skills. UZR is more bullish on his work in center this year than is DRS, but Martin has long drawn positive (or even outstanding) grades on the outfield grass. He’s also still receiving high marks on the bases, another area he has thrived traditionally.

All things considered, if the work at the plate seems sustainable, Martin could be a notable piece for the right team. Is it?

Martin’s advancing walk rate is certainly promising. And it’s quite interesting to note that the power seems to be coming from a notable change. Entering the year, Martin had a career launch angle of just 9.4 degrees. Thus far in 2018? It stands at 17.1 degrees, which has helped drive a newly robust power output. Better still, Statcast measures indicate that Martin has actually struck the ball even better than the results suggest. He owns a .334 wOBA but is credited with an eye-popping .384 xwOBA. Martin has a career hard-hit rate of 27.6% but is sitting at 40.1% at present.

So, what’s the catch? The biggest knock on Martin, beyond the need to discount his new profile somewhat based upon his prior track record, is the fact that he still doesn’t hit lefties. He’s delivering some pop (.190 ISO) so far in 2018, but carries a meager 55 wRC+ against southpaws. The spread is much wider this year than it has been historically, but he has long been more effective when hitting with the platoon advantage.

Teams likely won’t go wild for Martin, then. But the still-developing trade market doesn’t figure to have loads of quality outfield options available. And Martin is not only affordable but controllable for 2019. His struggles last year left him just shy of reaching a new service-year threshold; he had 4.161 years entering the current campaign. That leaves one year of arbitration still to go, though his representatives will argue that the salary ought to build off of a prior high-point (he earned $4.85MM in 2017) rather than his 2018 earnings.

Of course, that extra season leaves the Tigers with some options, too. The club might prefer to hold onto Martin, who’d be a useful piece for an organization that has received somewhat better-than-expected results from its roster this year. Or, he could be dealt over the winter. The Tigers’ plans aren’t really clear just yet; the point, though, is that there are options and some leverage here for GM Al Avila.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Bryant, Bundy, Cain, Wright

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(June 26th)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

  • MIAMI MARLINS | Depth Chart
    • Suspended: SP Dan Straily is serving a 5-game suspension (June 26-June 30).
      • Straily was lined up to start on Friday, the last day of his suspension, so he’ll likely be pushed back to Saturday.

—

AMERICAN LEAGUE

  • HOUSTON ASTROS | Depth Chart
    • Reinstated from Restricted List: SP Dean Deetz
      • Deetz was optioned to Triple-A after serving an 80-game suspension.

—

FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

Injury Notes: Kuhl, Ervin, Bundy, O’Day, Guzman

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The Pirates announced tonight that right-hander Chad Kuhl exited his start after four innings due to discomfort in his right forearm. Forearm discomfort can be ominous in and of itself, but Kuhl’s exit is made all the more concerning by the fact that he uncorked three wild pitches, walked a pair and threw just 40 of his 73 offerings on the evening for strikes. There’s been no word on Kuhl since the Bucs and Mets wrapped up tonight’s game, but if he requires a DL stint, the Pirates can turn to righty Nick Kingham once again. While he’s currently in the minors, Kingham has pitched well both in the Majors and in Triple-A so far this season.

As we await further word on Kuhl, who has a 4.55 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 85 innings out of the rotation in 2018, here are a few more notable injury updates from around the around the game…

  • Ervin Santana looks to be back on track toward a return to the Twins, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets that the veteran right-hander is slated to head to Class-A Advanced Fort Myers on Saturday to embark on a rehab assignment. Santana has already started one rehab assignment this season as he works back from February finger surgery, but he had to cut that assignment short due to lingering discomfort. Over the weekend, it was reported that Santana was still struggling and wasn’t able to reach 90 mph with his fastball in a throwing session last week, but it seems he’s trending back up. Bollinger notes that a live batting practice session went well for Santana, leading to the decision to send him out on rehab.
  • The Orioles placed right-hander Dylan Bundy on the 10-day DL due to an ankle sprain that he sustained while running the bases during interleague play over the weekend. Left-hander Donnie Hart was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk in his place. Thankfully for the O’s, the injury doesn’t sound to be overly serious; Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline.com tweets that Bundy is only expected to miss two starts with the ankle issue. Despite bizarrely authoring one of the worst starts in MLB history earlier this year (seven earned runs, no outs recorded), Bundy has been Baltimore’s best starter in the aggregate so far. He’s notched a 3.75 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 through 96 innings over the life of 16 starts.
  • Baltimore also looks likely to place righty Darren O’Day on the 10-day disabled list, as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. O’Day incurred some type of leg injury while fielding a bunt, signaled for the trainer, and exited after throwing just one warmup pitch. Kubatko notes that O’Day was bothered by some hamstring soreness a week ago and may have aggravated that ailment. MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli adds (via Twitter) that both O’Day and outfielder Craig Gentry are DL-bound for the Orioles, with the latter being troubled by a rib injury that stems from being hit by a pitch recently.
  • The Rangers announced Tuesday that rookie first baseman Ronald Guzman has been placed on the 7-day concussion list, with Ryan Rua returning from Triple-A Round Rock to take his spot on the active roster. Guzman sustained his concussion when he dove back into third base on a pickoff attempt but collided with the knee of Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva. The 23-year-old Guzman, long one of the Rangers’ most promising farmhands, had a rough start to the season but came alive in late May and had compiled an impressive .266/.364/.489 slash in his most recent 110 PAs leading up to the injury.

Shae Simmons Elects Free Agency

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A day after clearing outright waivers, right-handed reliever Shae Simmons has rejected an assignment to the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate and instead elected free agency, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets.

Simmons hasn’t been previously outrighted but does have more than three years of MLB service time (much of it spent on the MLB disabled list), which affords him the right to pass on an outright assignment and again test the open market. The Cubs ran Simmons throughout waivers in hopes of creating some roster flexibility, it seems, as they didn’t announce any form of corresponding move along with his outright, and their 40-man roster remains at 39 players.

Now 27 years of age, Simmons is a ways removed from an impressive rookie campaign with the Braves back in 2014. The former 22nd-round pick was never considered an elite prospect but debuted to toss 21 2/3 innings of 2.91 ERA ball with a 23-to-11 K/BB ratio, just one homer allowed and 52.8 percent ground-ball rate. At the very least, Simmons looked to have earned himself a bullpen gig for the following season — and potentially for years to come — but he required offseason Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2015 season.

Upon returning in 2016, Simmons tossed 25 innings between the Majors and minors, generally faring well along the way. He was traded alongside Mallex Smith to the Mariners in a deal that netted the Braves pitching prospect Luiz Gohara, and he went on to spend most of the 2017 season on the 60-day DL in Seattle with a flexor strain.

The Cubs still saw enough in Simmons that they signed him to a split Major League deal this winter and placed him on the 40-man roster, but the righty has struggled to this point in the year down in Iowa. Through 22 2/3 innings, Simmons had logged a 5.56 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (21 apiece). While his 50.8 percent ground-ball rate and the one homer he’d allowed were both encouraging signs, Simmons’ lack of control proved too detrimental to overcome. Simmons was still averaging 96 mph on his heater with the Mariners in 2017, and he can still miss bats and generate grounders, so it seems likely that another team will take a chance on him as long as he’s healthy (barring a reunion with the Cubs on a new minor league deal).

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