MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Acuña, Buehler, Morrow, Ray
ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(June 27th-June 28th)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
- ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS | Depth Chart
- Activated from 10-Day DL: SP Robbie Ray
- Ray pitched 6 shutout innings in his return on Wednesday.
- Placed on 10-Day DL: C Alex Avila (strained hamstring)
- Activated from 10-Day DL: SP Robbie Ray
- ATLANTA BRAVES | Depth Chart
- Activated from 10-Day DL: OF Ronald Acuna Jr.
- Placed on 10-Day DL: SP Brandon McCarthy (knee tendinitis)
- Promoted: RP Matt Wisler, RP Wes Parsons (contract purchased)
- Optioned: RP Matt Wisler, RP Wes Parsons
- Transferred to 60-Day DL: SP Mike Soroka
- CHICAGO CUBS | Depth Chart
- Activated from 10-Day DL: RP Brandon Morrow
- Reinstated from Paternity List: SP Tyler Chatwood
- Optioned: RP Dillon Maples, RP Cory Mazzoni
- COLORADO ROCKIES | Depth Chart
- Activated from 10-Day DL: RP Mike Dunn, RP Scott Oberg
- Optioned: RP Jeff Hoffman, RP Brooks Pounders
- LOS ANGELES DODGERS | Depth Chart
- Activated from 10-Day DL: P Walker Buehler
- Buehler allowing 5 ER and picked up his 2nd loss in a relief appearance on Thursday. It has not been determined if or when he’ll return to the rotation.
- Suspension: OF Matt Kemp served a 1-game suspension on Wednesday.
- Placed on 10-Day DL: RP Josh Fields (shoulder inflammation)
- Activated from 10-Day DL: P Walker Buehler
- MILWAUKEE BREWERS | Depth Chart
- Promoted: RP Mike Zagurski (contract purchased)
- Optioned: RP Adrian Houser
- PITTSBURGH PIRATES | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: INF/OF Sean Rodriguez (strained quad)
- Promoted: RP Tanner Anderson (contract purchased)
- Transferred to 60-Day DL: RP A.J. Schugel
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AMERICAN LEAGUE
- BALTIMORE ORIOLES | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: OF Craig Gentry (fractured rib), RP Darren O’Day (strained hamstring)
- Promoted: C Chance Sisco, INF/OF Steve Wilkerson, SP Jimmy Yacabonis, RP Yefry Ramirez
- Sisco was the catcher and batted 8th on Thursday.
- Yacabonis made his 1st career MLB start on Thursday (4 IP, 2 ER)
- Optioned: C Austin Wynns, RP Donnie Hart
- BOSTON RED SOX | Depth Chart
- Acquisition: INF/OF Steve Pearce (acquired from Blue Jays for INF Santiago Espinal), INF Brandon Phillips (MiLB contract)
- HOUSTON ASTROS | Depth Chart
- Placed on Paternity List: 1B Yuli Gurriel
- Tyler White played 1B and batted 7th on Thursday.
- Promoted: 1B AJ Reed
- Placed on Paternity List: 1B Yuli Gurriel
- KANSAS CITY ROYALS | Depth Chart
- Reinstated from Restricted List: OF Jorge Bonifacio
- Bonifacio served an 80-game PED suspension.
- Placed on 10-Day DL: RP Justin Grimm (shoulder impingement)
- Promoted: RP Jason Adam
- Designated for assignment: INF Ryan Goins
- Reinstated from Restricted List: OF Jorge Bonifacio
- LOS ANGELES ANGELS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: SP John Lamb (elbow/shoulder inflammation), RP Jake Jewell (fractured fibula)
- Promoted: INF Nolan Fontana, RP Taylor Cole (contract purchased), RP Jake Jewell, RP Eduardo Paredes
- Optioned: INF Nolan Fontana, RP Akeel Morris
- Transferred to 60-Day DL: INF Zack Cozart
- OAKLAND ATHLETICS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: SP Daniel Mengden (sprained foot)
- Promoted: SP Chris Bassitt
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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES
- ATL: SP Max Fried will likely be recalled from Triple-A on Saturday June 30th, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
- HOU: SS Carlos Correa (back discomfort) will be placed on the 10-Day DL, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. He’ll be eligible to return on Friday July 6th. Jake Kaplan of the Athletic reported that team will fill Correa’s roster spot by recalling RP Cionel Perez from Double-A.
- MIA: SP Sandy Alcantara will be recalled from Triple-A to make his Marlins’ debut on Friday June 29th, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. RP Nick Wittgren will be optioned to Triple-A to open a roster spot. Frisaro also reported that SP Pablo Lopez will be recalled on Saturday June 30th to make his MLB debut.
- NYY: INF Brandon Drury will be recalled from Triple-A on Friday June 29th, according to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. P Luis Cessa will be optioned.
Astros To Promote Cionel Perez
The Astros will call up young southpaw Cionel Perez, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll take the open roster spot created when Carlos Correa was placed on the 10-day DL.
Perez was already on the 40-man roster, as he needed to be protected from the most recent Rule 5 draft. Accordingly, the move is not necessarily a particularly consequential one.
That said, this will be his first turn at the game’s highest level. And it stands to reason that the ‘Stros would not have made the move unless they were interested to see how the highly regarded lefty looks in the MLB bullpen.
Perez, 22, has been a nice addition to the Houston farm since signing in 2016 out of Cuba — a process that had some twists and turns but left him with a $2MM signing bonus. He entered the current season ranked 6th among the organization’s prospects by MLB.com.
Questions remain as to Perez’s long-term outlook as a starter. Per MLB.com, he’s still refining his primary three-pitch mix — sinker/slider/change — and faces concerns about his small stature. There’s also the matter of the elbow concerns that gummed up his original deal with Houston.
That said, Perez has sure looked the part this year. In his 57 1/3 Double-A frames, he carries a 2.20 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He has compiled that stat line over ten starts and four relief appearances, so clearly the Astros aren’t pushing him too hard. Perez tallied 93 2/3 total innings in 2017, his first professional campaign, so he wasn’t quite set up for a full workload this year.
All things considered, it’s certainly possible that Houston could look at Perez as a potential multi-inning relief asset. He’d still be able to return to the rotation in the long run. It’s more likely, though, that this call-up will represent only a first taste of the majors. The Astros’ pen has been rather dominant, after all, though it’d be nice to have another option available if any cracks begin to form.
Reds Prospect Nick Senzel Undergoes Finger Surgery
THURSDAY: The surgery was to “reduce the fracture,” per a club announcement, with “no damage to the tendon” requiring treatment. Whether or not that impacts the timeline is not known, but it seems there could be some hope for an improved outlook.
SATURDAY: The Reds have announced that their top prospect, third baseman Nick Senzel, will undergo season-ending surgery in order to repair a torn tendon in his right index finger.
It appears as though Senzel suffered the injury while making a defensive play during the top half of the first inning in a Triple-A matchup against the Norfolk Tides. Although he initially remained in the game for the Louisville Bats, he was removed in the bottom half of the inning, and now it appears the Reds are facing one of the worst-case outcomes, as a player who seemed ready to contribute in the majors at some point soon will instead miss the remainder of 2018.
The 22-year-old Senzel is a consensus top-flight young talent in the game, with all four of Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus labeling him as either the game’s sixth- or seventh-best prospect in their most recent rankings. A 6’1″ third baseman, Senzel has raked at a .310/.378/.509 clip in 193 Triple-A plate appearances this season while slugging six homers and swiping eight bags.
For what it’s worth, The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans reports that the Reds expect Senzel to make a full recovery, and they believe the injury is unlikely to affect him moving forward. Furthermore, it seems as though he could still feasibly be ready in time for further development in the Arizona Fall League or in winter ball. Online research, at least, would seem to corroborate that last point, as a few sources suggest that a finger with said injury can handle heavy sports activities after about 12 weeks post-surgery.
Prior to this stunning turn of events, Senzel seemed to be on the brink of a potential major-league call-up, at least by basic logic. He was just coming off a two-homer game and had three in the past week in addition to his strong Triple-A batting line. Furthermore, a promotion at this point in the season would not have helped him qualify for Super Two status, as that deadline has almost certainly passed for the season. Though he would appear to be blocked at third base by a red-hot Eugenio Suarez, Senzel’s actually been getting some reps at the keystone this season in order to give him a more direct path to the majors.
For now, though, the young wunderkind will sit on the MiLB injury shelf, where he won’t gather any MLB service time. That means Reds fans will likely have to wait until at least three weeks into next season to see Senzel at Great American Ballpark, as Cincinnati will almost certainly look to manipulate his service clock in order to gain an extra year of team control over him.
Astros To Place Carlos Correa On 10-Day DL
The Astros will place star shortstop Carlos Correa on the 10-day disabled list, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (video link on Twitter). The move will formally be made tomorrow.
Correa has been dealing with lower back soreness for a few days but had hoped to avoid the DL. The 23-year-old last played on June 25th, so the club can backdate the placement to the 26th. It seems the hope is that Correa will be back after missing only the minimum, or close to it.
Hinch explains that the young slugger is “doing great” in his progress, but says the club did not want to set up a situation that allowed uncertainty as to whether or not he’d be available on any given day. Rather than take any risks, the call was made to take Correa off of the active roster until he is “completely symptom-free.”
There’s no reason, then, to think that this issue will be much of an impediment for Correa or the ‘Stros. There hasn’t been much stopping either to this point of the season, with Correa carrying a 129 wRC+and the ballclub tied for the AL lead with 54 wins.
Angels Righty Jake Jewell Diagnosed With Fractured Fibula
Angels reliever Jake Jewell has been diagnosed with a fractured right fibula, the team announced and MLB.com’s Maria Guardado was among those to report (Twitter links). He will require season-ending surgery.
Jewell suffered the injury on a play at the plate last night. The images left little doubt that he was seriously hurt, with a cart removing him from the diamond. At this point, his long-term outlook is not clear, though hopefully he’ll be able to rest and rehab over the winter and return to full strength next spring.
Certainly, that’s not how anyone would have wished Jewell’s third MLB outing would end. The 25-year-old, a former fifth-round draft pick, had only just ascended to the big leagues to help fill out an increasingly thin Halos’ staff. Now, he’s the latest to go down with injury — in this case, in quite an unusual and unfortunate manner.
Jewell had never even pitched at Triple-A when the 2018 season began. He quickly earned a promotion to the highest level of the minors, but had struggled there before moving to the bigs. In 25 frames at Triple-A, Jewell managed a 3.60 ERA but handed out 6.1 BB/9 to go with his 8.6 K/9 and 54.9% groundball rate. Jewell, who had previously been added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, did show a 97+ mph heater in his brief time in the majors.
Brewers Select Mike Zagurski
The Brewers announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of left-handed reliever Mike Zagurski from Triple-A Colorado Springs and optioned right-hander Adrian Houser back to Triple-A in his place.
It’s a somewhat remarkable return to the Majors for Zagurski, who last appeared at the big league level back in 2013. Since that time, he’s been with the Triple-A affiliates for the Blue Jays, Indians and Tigers in addition to spending two seasons pitching for the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
Zagurski has a 7.05 ERA in 75 1/3 innings at the MLB level, but he posted terrific K/BB numbers in the Tigers’ minor league system last season and has racked up 48 strikeouts against a dozen walks in 30 innings with the Sky Sox so far in 2018. Lefties have managed just a .224/.283/.286 slash against him through 53 plate appearances this season. He’s currently sporting a 3.90 ERA in Triple-A despite the exceptionally hitter-friendly nature of his home environment, and he owns a lifetime 2.90 ERA with 12.4 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 in 279 1/3 Triple-A frames.
Twins Sign Juan Graterol
The Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester announced today that catcher Juan Graterol was signed to a minor league contract. He’ll be added to the Red Wings roster and take the spot of veteran Jordan Pacheco, who’s going on the minor league DL with a knee injury.
Graterol, 29, was recently released by the Angels after being designated for assignment. He’d been up and down with the club on multiple occasions dating back to 2016 and has also spent time with the D-backs, Reds and Blue Jays in recent years. The defensively-sound backstop is a career .222/.225/.283 hitter in 103 MLB plate appearances but carries a more encouraging .290/.318/.349 slash in 449 PAs at the Triple-A level. (For those wondering, there’s no relation to top Twins pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol.)
Minnesota is understandably on the lookout for some depth behind the plate, having lost starter Jason Castro to a meniscus tear that proved significant enough to require season-ending surgery. Rookie Mitch Garver and journeyman Bobby Wilson have filled in behind the dish since that time, though neither has provided the Twins with much offense. Minnesota also picked up former Phillies backstop Cameron Rupp on a minor league deal, but he’s hitting just .143/.245/.200 through his first 53 plate appearances in Rochester.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Darvish, Dietrich, Donaldson, More
Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.
Shohei Ohtani Cleared To Begin Hitting Program
After undergoing an MRI this morning, Shohei Ohtani has been cleared to begin a hitting program, the Angels announced today. He’ll be further evaluated in another three weeks, but tests today showed improvements in his ulnar collateral ligament (Twitter links via Joel Sherman of the New York Post). The Angels aren’t making a definitive call on whether he’ll be able to pitch again this season until that subsequent followup exam.
While Ohtani certainly isn’t entirely out of the woods just yet, it’s obviously an encouraging update for the Angels that the platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections he received earlier this month have resulted in some meaningful improvement. Eppler indicated yesterday that if Ohtani were strictly a designated hitter, he’d likely have been cleared right away. That, coupled with today’s clearance, makes it seem likely that Ohtani will, at the very least, return to the Angels’ lineup at some point this summer — if not the rotation.
Ohtani was widely expected to be a superior pitcher than hitter, and many reports at the time of his signing cited scouts who remained skeptical of his ability to hit Major League pitching. While he’s only had 129 plate appearances to date, he’s looked every bit the part of someone talented enough to excel in both areas. Thus far in the Majors, Ohtani has raked at a .289/.372/.535 pace, clubbing six homers, eight doubles and a triple.
The Halos won’t send Ohtani on a traditional minor league rehab assignment, according to Eppler (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). Instead, he’ll get his at-bats in via a series of simulated games and live BP sessions. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Ohtani could begin facing live pitching as soon as next week.
As with any UCL injury, speculation regarding potential surgery for Ohtani will abound. However, Eppler made sure to emphasize today that medical experts have not yet made that recommendation for Ohtani (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Maria Guardado). Said Eppler: “No doctor has told me that Shohei needs surgical intervention at this time.”
Darvish To Be Reevaluated After Experiencing Pain During Bullpen Session
The Cubs were hopeful they’d be getting right-hander Yu Darvish back in the near future, but his return to the active roster will now be further delayed, it seems. Manager Joe Maddon told reporters (Twitter link via the Sun Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer) that Darvish’s latest bullpen session “did not go well,” adding that the righty will be reevaluated after he “felt pain on extension.” ESPN’s Jesse Rogers adds that the pain Darvish felt was beyond the normal soreness that might be expected when working back from an injury.
It’s been a month since the Cubs placed Darvish on the disabled list due to discomfort in his right biceps, and it doesn’t seem like the organization is sure exactly when he’ll be cleared to return to the rotation. Darvish will clearly need to ramp up on some form of rehab assignment before returning, and speculatively speaking, today’s setback makes it seem unlikely that he’ll be able to do so before the All-Star break.
Left-hander Mike Montgomery has stepped up nicely in Darvish’s place, working to a pristine 2.02 ERA in 35 1/3 innings across six starts since joining the rotation. While he’s not likely to continue at that pace, of course — fielding-independent metrics peg him in the upper-3.00s or low-4.00s in that time due largely to a .208 BABIP and an unsustainable 83.7 percent strand rate — Montgomery has certainly done enough to make the Cubs think hard about giving him a longer look in the rotation.
General manager Jed Hoyer spoke on that very subject earlier today on 670 The Score in Chicago, stating that Montgomery has “earned” an opportunity in the rotation with his high level of performance. Just how the Cubs will navigate that arrangement remains to be seen. Tyler Chatwood‘s control has been an issue all season, and righty Kyle Hendricks has struggled badly in the month of June, posting a 7.03 ERA over five starts. If both Chatwood and Hendricks turn things around, and Darvish ultimately returns to good health, it’s plausible that Chicago could utilize six starters through the season’s second half. If not, perhaps Montgomery will get a longer-term look over one of the struggling arms currently in the rotation.
Of course, a hypothetical scenario in which the Cubs have six healthy and effective rotation options is a long ways from reality at this point, and the coming days will serve to inform as to just how plausible that scenario is. Said Maddon of the Darvish setback (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney): “Over the next couple days, we’ll try to figure out the next course of action. He’s so important to us and our success. We just got to try to figure it out for him and for us. He knows he’s got our support.”