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Rangers Sign Chris Tillman

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The Rangers have signed righty Chris Tillman to a minors deal, per a club announcement. He’d recently elected free agency from the Orioles (following a DFA) after struggling throughout the entire season while playing on a one-year, $3MM contract. The Baltimore organization will remain responsible for the balance of the $3MM they promised Tillman over the winter, less any league-minimum earnings he obtains in Texas.

Tillman’s fall from the Orioles’ most consistent starters to his current status as a minor league roll of the dice was startlingly precipitous. As recently as 2016, he turned in a solid 3.77 ERA with respectable peripherals over the course of 30 starts and 172 innings of work. He, in fact, started the American League Wild Card game for the O’s that season.

Taking a further look back, from 2012-16, Tillman gave Baltimores 844 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball, averaging 7.0 strikeouts and 3.1 walks per nine innings pitched. While he was never an ace, he was good for 30-plus starts per season and generally turned in quality run-prevention numbers during his peak years.

Shoulder issues torpedoed Tillman’s season in 2017, though, when he was one of the least-effective pitchers in all of Major League Baseball (7.84 ERA, 24 homers allowed in 93 innings). He returned to the only organization with which he has ever appeared in the Majors this offseason on a make-good deal, but to this point he’s been unable to do so. Tillman has made seven starts and  been hammered for a 10.46 ERA in 26 2/3 innings with more walks allowed (17) than strikeouts recorded (13).

Now, Tillman will hope for an opportunity at a rebound in a new setting, though Globe Life Park in Arlington (if he ever reaches the Majors in Texas) is hardly an ideal setting for a homer-prone pitcher to return to form. The Rangers, though, have already traded Cole Hamels to the Cubs and has little in the way of stability among the current group of starters.

Veterans Bartolo Colon and Yovani Gallardo have eaten innings but pitched poorly on the whole, with the latter in particular struggling to keep runs off the board. Offseason signee Mike Minor has underwhelmed in his return to a starting role after dominating as a reliever in Kansas City last year, while southpaw Martin Perez has been the least effective of the bunch. Rookies Ariel Jurado and Yohander Mendez are candidates to make some starts down the stretch, but clearly depth is an issue.

Yankees To Place J.A. Happ On DL

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The Yankees will send just-acquired lefty J.A. Happ to the 10-day disabled list, per George A. King III of the New York Post (via Twitter). He has been dealing with a bout of hand, foot and mouth disease, which likely explains the placement.

Happ had been scheduled to start on Saturday in a showdown with the division-rival Red Sox. The Boston organization will be throwing their own recent deadline acquisition, Nathan Eovaldi, though it’s also missing a lefty for the series after placing Chris Sale on the DL recently.

At the moment, it seems there’s little reason to fear that Happ will miss significant action. That’s obviously the hope in the Bronx, given that the organization just made the southpaw its major rotation addition in advance of the trade deadline. Happ’s first outing was a promising one, as he spun six frames of three-hit, one-run ball.

In his absence, the Yanks could conceivably turn to any of their three extra 40-man starters — Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Luis Cessa — though it seems it’ll be Cessa. DJ Eberle of the Times Leader tweeted last night that the righty will be promoted along with recently acquired first baseman Luke Voit.

Mets To Select Contract Of Bobby Wahl

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The Mets will select the contract of reliever Bobby Wahl, assistant GM John Ricco said today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). He’s one of the two players acquired in the pre-deadline swap that sent out veteran closer Jeurys Familia.

Wahl, a hard-throwing righty, has continued to rack up the strikeouts at Triple-A in four appearances since coming over from the Oakland organization. On the year, he has retired 73 batters on strikes while issuing 19 walks in 45 frames at the highest level of the minors. In that span, he has permitted just eleven earned runs on a meager twenty base hits.

Of course, Wahl has shown an interesting power arm in the past, and that did not prevent him from clearing waivers after a brief MLB debut in 2017. If the A’s were convinced he is a notable near-term bullpen asset, perhaps they would not have dealt him for the rental rights to Familia. That said, Wahl’s campaign last year was cut short by injury, which explains why he went unclaimed, and he has certainly bounced back with vigor in 2018. Perhaps he’ll provide a glimmer of hope for the Mets down the stretch.

In other news, the Mets are slated to activate third baseman Todd Frazier, per MLB.com’s Todd Frazier (via Twitter). He could perhaps become an August trade candidate, though there has been no rumor of trade talks to this point.

One active roster spot could be opened by sending starter Steven Matz to the DL. While Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets that Matz was cleared of structural concerns after undergoing an MRI, Mike Puma of the New York post suggests on Twitter that the southpaw may still hit the shelf. As Tim Healey of Newsday notes in a tweet, though, the club is still listing Matz as a probable starter this weekend.

Cardinals Notes: Pham, Leone, Gregerson, Gomber, Martinez

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The Cardinals’ decision to send Tommy Pham to the Rays caused quite some eyebrow raising among rival executives, according to Jayson Stark of The Athletic. (Stark also ran down a host of other interesting items heading out of the deadline in a subscription piece.) Some around the game see it tied to the fact that, after a lengthy run of success, the Cards are increasingly in flux. Pham had seemed a core piece as recently as this past winter, when the team dealt away other young outfielders, but is now the latest player on the move. The St. Louis club is still two games over .500, has plenty of controllable talent, and isn’t even out of the 2018 postseason picture. But one rival questions whether the organization has “a real understanding of where they are within their process.”

  • One of those recent outfield swaps brought the Cardinals reliever Dominic Leone, who worked his first rehab outing for Triple-A Memphis yesterday, striking out two batters in an inning of work. That’s good news for the right-hander, who has been sidelined for much of the year with a biceps nerve problem. He’s still controllable through 2021, so the Cards have time to reap value from the 26-year-old.
  • Meanwhile, it’s possible that veteran reliever Luke Gregerson won’t return to the majors this year, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch recently tweeted. Gregerson was sidelined with a shoulder injury when he suffered a torn meniscus that required surgery. The 34-year-old, who inked a two-year, $11MM pact with St. Louis over the winter, has only thrown 12 2/3 frames for the club this season. He allowed ten earned runs in that span, but more worryingly showed some other declines. Gregerson was working at about 1.5 mph less with his average heater than in 2017 while sporting a 12.6% swinging-strike rate that’s well off of his recent levels.
  • In other pitching news, the organization has decided to bump rookie Austin Gomber into the rotation to take the place of Carlos Martinez, who just headed back onto the DL, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter). The 24-year-old Gomber has thrown 22 1/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball this year in the majors, though his peripherals (7.3 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 33.3% groundball rate) aren’t quite so promising. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes on Twitter, the organization could soon face an “innings crisis” if it can’t get lengthier outings from its young arms while several veterans work back from the DL. Fortunately, as Langosch recently reported, there is some continued optimism that Martinez won’t require a lengthy absence, though it remains concerning that he has suffered a string of problems in his shoulder and back.

How Might Things Play Out For Josh Donaldson?

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The thought long was that Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson would be a major trade chip for the team if things went awry in 2018. While the Toronto organization is well into a sell-off, however, Donaldson remains. That’s due largely to the fact that he hasn’t played since the end of May, with a setback in his rehab from a calf injury keeping him on the shelf through the non-waiver trade deadline.

Donaldson has “made a ton of progress” of late, per GM Ross Atkins (via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, on Twitter), so he seems likely to feature heavily in August trade talks. Indeed, the Jays have already had plenty of talks involving the star third baseman, Atkins also noted (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, on Twitter). Of course, we’re still talking about a player who was perhaps the best in all of baseball (non-Trout division) over the prior three seasons. If he can get back to full health, Donaldson could be a difference-maker down the stretch and into the postseason for the right organization.

Given the complications of dealmaking in August, though, how might all this play out?

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

There are innumerable variables at play here. Donaldson will need not only to get healthy — he also dealt with significant shoulder problems earlier in the year — but restore his performance in order to bring back real value. Through 159 plate appearances on the season, he was hitting a respectable .234/.333/.423 while playing average defense, levels at which he’s a quality but hardly world-beating performer.

Before organizations considering Donaldson can get a look, though, they may first face a decision on whether to roll the dice on claiming him. This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the entire situation for the former AL MVP.

Since he has already been on the disabled list for sixty days, Donaldson can be placed on waivers once he’s ready to play on a rehab assignment. At that point, which may come sooner than later, the pending free agent will be expensive (around $7MM of his $23MM salary remains to be paid as of this writing) and plenty risky. Rival teams will know that he’s at least healthy enough to get back on the field, but won’t be sure he’s over the injury and up to full speed (let alone that he’s in top form).

At first glance, the presumption would be that non-contenders wouldn’t have any reason to place a claim on such a player. Then again, as the Phillies showed last year, it may be unwise to assume that a creative front office won’t see an angle here.

It’s important to note that Donaldson will be available first to American League teams, in reverse order of record at the time the request for waivers is submitted. If none of the non-contenders intercede, the Indians are quite likely to have the first crack at him. The Cleveland organization presently sits 3.5 games behind the Mariners and A’s (the club that memorably dealt Donaldson to Toronto). As it turns out, the Indians could certainly still stand to add a major piece to their lineup and could easily slot Donaldson in at third base while bumping star Jose Ramirez to second and pushing Jason Kipnis into a utility role.

Of course, the remaining salary is a hefty sum — particularly for the Indians — in light of the multiple elements of uncertainty here. If the Cleveland org passes, then the rest of the American League contenders could win the claim instead, or Donaldson could be claimed by an organization on the NL side (who’ll also be ordered from worst to best in priority).

Winning a revocable August claim, of course, doesn’t mean that a team gets the player. Rather, it only gives the claiming organization a chance to work out a deal with the team that sought waivers, which has the election of pulling the player back (after which point only irrevocable waivers may be sought), working out a trade, or simply letting him go for free.

In this case, despite Donaldson’s struggles and injury questions, the Jays could well hold out for a real return. The organization won’t likely be desperate to dump the salary. And it may view a qualifying offer at season’s end as a reasonable alternative to a deal. After all, Donaldson would represent a nice risk even at the hefty single-season QO rate (likely in the $18MM range this offseason). And if he declines the Jays would stand to pick up some draft compensation in a year in which they’ll have some decent draft capital to work with.

[RELATED: The New Qualifying Offer Rules]

Supposing that Donaldson does end up passing through waivers unclaimed, we’ll end up watching his rehab and eventual return quite closely. If that occurs, the Jays will be able to auction the star third bagger off to the highest bidder at the end of the month. While it was quite a different situation in many respects, the Justin Verlander trade last August shows that it’s still possible to get notable returns in August. Donaldson would be a pure rental asset who lacks no-trade protection, so he’d be much simpler to market than was Verlander.

The optimal outcome from the Blue Jays’ perspective is for Donaldson to clear waivers, return to action, put up vintage JD output for a few weeks, and then draw huge interest from a variety of contenders at the end of the month. That’s plausible, though by no means guaranteed.

Drew Hutchison Opts Out Of Dodgers Contract

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Right-hander Drew Hutchison has opted out of his minor league contract with the Dodgers, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. The veteran right-hander, then, is a free agent and is now eligible to sign with any team.

Hutchison, 27, began the season with the Phillies and pitched to a 4.64 ERA with a 19-to-13 K/BB in 21 1/3 innings of work before being designated for assignment and ultimately landing with the Dodgers. While he never made it to the big leagues in L.A., he pitched brilliantly with Triple-A Oklahoma City, logging a 2.14 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 42 innings at that level. More impressively, Shaikin notes that Hutchison snapped off a 23-inning scoreless streak to end his tenure with the organization.

Understandably, after not being brought to the Majors on the heels of that type of success, Hutchison will re-enter the open market in hopes of finding a new opportunity with a clearer path to the big leagues. The right-hander has struggled to find his footing in the Majors over the past several years, but he looked like an intriguing long-term rotation piece with the Blue Jays back in 2013, when he pitched 184 2/3 innings of 4.48 ERA ball with a strikeout per inning, solid control and a 3.85 FIP.

Mariners Re-Sign Marc Rzepczynski To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have re-signed left-hander Marc Rzepczynski to a minor league deal, per Triple-A broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo first mentioned the reunion (also via Twitter).

Rzepczynski, 32, is technically being paid by the Mariners anyhow, as he signed a two-year, $11MM deal with Seattle in the 2016-17 offseason. However, after pitching poorly in each of the first season and a half of that pact, the veteran southpaw was designated for assignment and ultimately released. He landed with the Indians after that and notched 2 2/3 shutout innings before being designated for assignment and released for a second time.

Left-handed relief has been a need for the M’s for much of the season, in part due to Rzepczynski’s own struggles, and he’ll rejoin the organization as a depth piece. However, with James Pazos, Roenis Elias and the newly acquired Zach Duke — picked up in a Monday trade with the Twins — all in the big league bullpen, Rzepczynski won’t have much of a path to the Majors in the near future. In the event of an injury at the MLB level, though, or perhaps as a September call-up, he could potentially return to the big-league level with Seattle.

In 268 innings from 2011-16, Rzecpzynski worked to a 3.56 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. In parts of 10 Major League seasons, he’s held left-handed opponents to a timid .227/.296/.305 slash in 857 plate appearances.

Johnny Cueto To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Giants announced to reporters Wednesday evening that right-hander Johnny Cueto will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow (Twitter link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The procedure will end his 2018 season and cost him the majority of the 2019 campaign as well.

Cueto spent two months on the disabled list earlier this season due to an elbow strain but was able to return to the mound in early July. However, after working to a sub-1.00 ERA through the season’s first month, he allowed 16 runs in 21 innings before landing back on the disabled list. Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged recently that Tommy John surgery was a definite possibility for Cueto, and today’s announcement confirms as much.

The loss of Cueto is a massive blow to the Giants’ 2018 hopes. They’re currently five games out of the lead in the NL West and 4.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot in the National League, though the loss of Cueto and ongoing injury issues with Jeff Samardzija will present them with even more of an uphill battle in their efforts to return to the top of the division.

Cueto, 33 in February, is in the third season of a six-year, $132MM contract after forgoing an opt-out clause after the deal’s second season. While he turned in a brilliant first season in San Francisco back in 2016, his 2017 was marred by injuries, and both the 2018 and 2019 seasons will now fall under that same category. He’ll hope for a return late in the 2019 campaign, though it’s possible that Cueto won’t be able to return to the Giants’ rotation until after his 35th birthday. He’s owed just under $75MM through the end of the 2021 season (including a $5MM buyout of a $22MM option for the 2022 season).

It’s not clear whether the worst-case outcome on Cueto’s elbow will motivate the Giants to subtract any veteran pieces over the course of the month. San Francisco’s front office has been candid about its desire to try to remain competitive on a yearly basis. Certainly, they’d have plenty of pieces who could be attractive to contending clubs if they fall any further out of the race. While the Giants aren’t going to be embarking on any type of full-scale tear down, shorter-term veterans like Sam Dyson, Will Smith, Nick Hundley and Derek Holland could draw interest from teams that are more firmly in the playoff hunt. It’s far from clear, though, that the Giants would make any of those players available later this month.

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