NL Notes: Puig, Straily, Reds, Brewers, Mets
Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig will go for X-rays after fouling a ball off his left foot Saturday and leaving the team’s game against the Giants, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report. An injury to Puig could open the door for highly touted outfield prospect Alex Verdugo, who McCullough notes is on the Dodgers’ taxi squad for their doubleheader in San Francisco. Verdugo, 21, collected 25 plate appearances in his first major league action in 2017. He hasn’t gotten off to a great start at the Triple-A level this year (.276/.309/.474 – good for a 98 wRC+ – over 81 PAs), though Puig also hasn’t exactly been on fire up to now. The 27-year-old has hit an unsightly .193/.250/.250 (43 wRC+) in 96 PAs on the heels of a bounce-back 2017.
As we await word on Puig, here’s more from around the NL:
- Marlins right-hander Dan Straily will likely make his 2018 debut Monday against the Phillies, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com suggests. Straily, arguably Miami’s best starter, has been on the DL all season with a forearm injury. The 29-year-old is coming off back-to-back respectable campaigns, including 2016 with Cincinnati, and could perhaps emerge as a trade chip for the Marlins if he’s healthy and effective as the season progresses.
- Righty Luis Castillo was a key part of a Reds-Marlins trade in 2017 that also involved Straily, and the former has struggled mightily this year after looking like a potential long-term cog last season. The Reds are now working to fix Castillo, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com details. “They all agree that his arm angle has changed a little bit,’ interim manager Jim Riggleman said of pitching coach Danny Darwin, bullpen coach Ted Power and coach Derrin Ebert. “His hand is maybe not getting on top of the ball like it needs to. What that does, is it causes the ball to flatten out instead of sink. Hitters love that when the ball moves [flat] across the plate instead of having some sink. It’s kind of running right into their barrel.” Hitters have indeed barreled up against Castillo, who has seen his ERA rise from 3.12 in 2017 to 7.85 this year. Along the way, the 25-year-old has experienced a velocity drop and allowed more hard contact, Sheldon explains in a piece that’s worth checking out in full. It’s been a discouraging development for the Reds, who haven’t had much success developing front-line pitching from within.
- Brewers southpaw Wade Miley, out since late March with a slight groin tear, made his third and final rehab start Friday. The Brewers now must decide within the next two days whether to add Miley to their roster or release him, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes. If the Brewers do keep Miley, whom they signed to a minor league deal over the winter, they could option starter Brent Suter or reliever Brandon Woodruff to Triple-A to make room, McCalvy notes. But it’s “a tough decision” because Milwaukee’s staff has fared well thus far without Miley, manager Craig Counsell admitted.
- The Mets have activated left-hander Jason Vargas from the disabled list and optioned righty Jacob Rhame to Triple-A in a corresponding move. Vargas is set to take on San Diego on Saturday in his first start of 2018 after signing a two-year, $16MM deal in free agency. The 37-year-old, who logged a 4.16 ERA/4.67 FIP across 179 2/3 innings as a Royal in 2017, missed nearly the entire month of April after suffering a fracture in his right hand in late March. Vargas is in his second stint with the Mets, having previously been a member of the organization in 2007.
AL Notes: Orioles, A’s, Davis, Tribe, BoSox
Things aren’t looking good for the Orioles, who are off to a 7-19 start and stuck in a division with at least two potential World Series contenders in the Red Sox and Yankees. Nevertheless, “it’s a little early” to tear things down, according to general manager Dan Duquette (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). “We’ll probably give it a little bit more time. Usually, Memorial Day is the marker to evaluate a ballclub and see where you’re at and see where you want to go,” Duquette continued. “Other clubs have had the same time to evaluate their ballclub and see what they need. So I think that’s probably a good marker.” Assuming the Orioles don’t return to relevance in the next month, they could have the hottest trade commodity of the summer in superstar shortstop Manny Machado, who has been tremendous this year, and other possible trade candidates such as free agents-to-be Adam Jones, Brad Brach and Zach Britton.
More on a few of Baltimore’s fellow AL clubs…
- The Athletics are reportedly discussing a one-year extension with slugger Khris Davis, who’d welcome the opportunity to stay in Oakland, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. “I want to be an Oakland Athletic,” Davis said. “I think I fit in well here. I like the organization, I like the coaching staff, I like my teammates.” Interestingly, Slusser suggests there’s at least a small chance that the low-payroll Athletics could designate Davis for assignment next offseason if he hasn’t agreed to an extension and they fear his arbitration award will be too high. That would be an eye-opening move by Oakland, for which Davis has slashed .247/.322/.525 (125 wRC+) with a major league-high 92 home runs in 1,381 PAs since joining the team prior to 2016. The 30-year-old Davis is making $10.5MM this season and, as Slusser notes, could wind up at $15MM or more in 2019 – his final arb campaign.
- The Indians tried to retain first baseman Carlos Santana with a three-year offer in the $40MM range before he joined the Phillies on a three-year, $60MM deal in the offseason, Terry Pluto of cleveland.com reports. The Indians ultimately replaced Santana with Yonder Alonso, who landed a two-year, $16MM pact, after considering fellow free agents Lucas Duda and Logan Morrison, per Pluto. The most productive member of that group this season has been Alonso, who has batted .239/.292/.534 (119 wRC+) with eight home runs in his first 96 plate trips as an Indian.
- Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts is day-to-day after leaving their game against the Rays on Saturday with right hamstring tightness, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Betts has been among the best players in the game in the early going this year, having slashed a ridiculous .344/.439/.733 (208 wRC+) with eight HRs in 107 PAs. Meanwhile, teammate and knuckleballer Steven Wright began serving his 15-game suspension for violating the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, Ian Browne of MLB.com was among those to report. Wright opened the year on the disabled list after undergoing a platelet-rich plasma injection in his surgically repaired left knee, thus preventing him from serving the ban. Wright, who made a Triple-A rehab start Friday, will be eligible to return to the majors May 14. It’s unclear whether he’ll slot back into Boston’s rotation, though, given that it already has a full complement of arms with Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz.
White Sox Select Dylan Covey’s Contract
The White Sox have selected the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, whom they outrighted off their 40-man roster over the winter. Covey will start against the Royals tonight, and he’ll take fellow righty Gregory Infante‘s place on the club’s 25-man roster. Infante’s headed to Triple-A Charlotte.
Covey, 26, joined the Chicago organization as a Rule 5 pick from the Athletics in December 2016. He ended up spending nearly all of last season as a major leaguer with the White Sox, though he struggled to a 7.71 ERA/7.20 FIP with 5.27 K/9, 4.37 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent groundball rate across 70 innings (18 appearances, 12 starts).
While Covey has posted a terrific 2.95 ERA and an outstanding 58.6 percent grounder rate in 21 1/3 innings (four starts) at the minors’ highest level this year, he managed less encouraging strikeout and walk rates before his promotion. Covey has logged 6.75 K/9 against 5.48 BB/9 thus far, helping lead to an ugly 5.15 FIP.
Poll: Should MLB Shorten The Baseball Season?
Most readers have probably already caught wind of the suggestion that MLB should shave a few games off the incredibly long season. But fewer readers probably realize that it’s actually a topic that’s gained some very real momentum. In a lengthy piece on the subject, Jayson Stark of The Athletic dives into this issue, at one point revealing that the topic of a 158-game season actually made it to the “bargaining table” in the negotiations leading up to the 2011 labor agreement. In 2016, MLB actually did some extensive research on the potential effects of a 154-game season due to a suspicion that the players might bring it up, but the union apparently didn’t bring it up; they were focused on other issues.
While eight games might seem like a trivial percentage of the season, it could actually pose a significant reduction in revenue for MLB clubs. According to statista.com, the Yankees brought in about $278MM in ticket revenue during the 2017 season. A 5% reduction in games would mean losing out on nearly $14MM in ticket sales, not to mention they’d be worth 5% less in terms of a television contract.
Of course, the Yankees are an extreme example in that regard; small market clubs make much, much less on an annual basis when it comes to ticket sales. As such, it’s not surprising to learn that twenty-two MLB clubs reportedly had little or no objection to a 154 season; it seems that a vocal eight-team minority would have likely proved a holdup in negotiations.
It’s also easy to imagine that cutting player salaries would be one of the first orders of business in the event of a shortened season. After all, it’s unfair to expect ownership to pay players the same amount for playing 5% fewer games. While Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo seems to be sympathetic to the idea of making less money in order to play a more comfortable season, it seems awfully likely that there’d be some ruckus from at least some of the players. With all the recent pushback over the idea of something as simple as a pitch clock, you can bet that there’d be some loud voices where millions of dollars are concerned.
The benefits to a shorter season, though, are numerous and logically sound. Stark makes a great point when mentioning that beginning the season in the third week of April rather than the final days of March would lop off a dramatic majority of the games played in uncomfortably cold weather; weather that makes the games less enjoyable for both the players and the fans who come out to the ballpark. It’s fair to imagine that the number of injuries and illnesses increase as a result of playing in extreme cold. The number of postponements due to inclement weather also complicate the season schedule.
Concurrently, a shorter season would mean a better chance that the final games of the playoffs could conclude before cold weather sets in. Stark also suggests a longer All-Star break, as well as making all Mondays off-days. From my vantage point, it’s a bit confusing to see how all these things could be implemented with a reduction of only eight games, even if Stark does mention the idea of a few planned doubleheaders scattered throughout the season.
Perhaps one of the most important benefits to a shortened season with more days off is the health and energy of the players. Stark suggests that pitcher injuries could be reduced, which makes plenty of sense. Not only would fewer games make for fewer physically taxing stretches of baseball, but it would also allow players more time to rest and recuperate from smaller nagging injuries without putting their respective teams at a disadvantage.
On a grander scale, this kind of change could have an impact on gameplay and even roster makeup. More intermittent days off would likely allow teams to get by without a fifth starter for large stretches of the season, potentially eliminating many starting pitcher jobs around the league. It could also allow teams to feel more comfortable rolling with one fewer reliever for extended stretches, and it certainly makes sense to think that teams wouldn’t be forced to reach into their vertical depth at Triple-A for a fresh bullpen arm as often as they are now. Basically, while a shorter season could mean a more comfortable job for the players, it could also make for a game in which a small number of pitchers begin to lose their jobs in favor of bench bats or late-inning defensive replacement types.
With all this in mind, what do you think? Should MLB shorten the baseball season to 154 games, or keep things the way they are? (Poll link for app users)
Should MLB Shorten The Season To 154 Games?
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Yes 52% (5,937)
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No 48% (5,503)
Total votes: 11,440
Draft Notes: Mize, Singer, Prospects, BA Mock
This past Thursday featured a high-octane pitching duel between draft prospects Casey Mize and Brady Singer, and Teddy Cahill of Baseball America has the intricate details of the story in his recent article. Both are expected my many to go within the first ten rounds of the upcoming June amateur draft, with Mize the current favorite to be selected number one overall by the Tigers. Two days ago in Gainesville, Florida, Singer outdueled Mize by allowing just one run while striking out eight, with a small army of scouts, GMs and other front office personnel in attendance. According to Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs, there was at least one team with its President, GM and Director of Scouting all in attendance, with “about as many scouts as I’ve ever seen at UF”.
A pair of other interesting reads from Baseball America on the upcoming draft…
- Mize sits high atop Baseball America’s Top 300 MLB Draft Prospects. But while the publication seems confident in its pick to go number one overall, there are apparently “seven or eight players who could make a case to go second overall”. Six of the top ten are pitchers, and seven of the top ten are college talent. Obviously the list runs very deep, so those interested in parsing through the players most likely to go in the first nine rounds should definitely give the list a full read.
- Baseball America’s Mock Draft of the first fifteen picks, however, doesn’t assume that the first ten teams will draft based on pure talent alone. While they rank Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart seventh in their rankings, he’s projected to go to the Giants at number two overall due to signability. BA mentions that he could perhaps be Buster Posey‘s eventual replacement, though obviously that would be pretty far down the road. The mock features a pretty even split between pitchers (8) and position players (7).
Marlins Reinstate Wei-Yin Chen
The Marlins have activated left-hander Wei-Yin Chen from the disabled list; they’ve designated catcher Tomas Telis for assignment in a corresponding move. Chen will make his season debut tonight against the Rockies.
Chen has had a rough go of it since signing a five-year, $80MM contract with Miami prior to the 2016 season. The pact was based at least on part on the southpaw’s impressive durability to that point in his career, but Chen’s only managed to throw 156 1/3 innings in a Marlins uniform due to myriad injuries, most recently a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. Chen had an opt-out clause in his contract that he could’ve activated this past offseason, but wisely chose not to do so.
His return to the mound will be a welcome sight for a Marlins club that has trotted out a host of inexperienced starters this season, headlined by Jose Urena as the club’s “ace by default”. As a group, their rotation has posted a 5.13 ERA and -0.1 fWAR, both marks that rank among baseball’s bottom five. Meanwhile, they’ve issued walks at the third-highest rate in the majors. They’ll hope that changes with today’s addition of Chen, along with tomorrow’s addition of right-hander Dan Straily, who’s also scheduled to come off the DL and make a start.
Telis, a 26-year-old switch-hitter, was mainly on the roster to back up Bryan Holaday in J.T. Realmuto‘s absence; with Realmuto healthy (and homering at a surprising rate), Telis became an expendable piece. He owns a .230/.267/.298 career batting line in 267 plate appearances; he had been even worse than that in a small sample this year in addition to striking out in a career-high 25.8% of his plate appearances.
NL Notes: Bruce, Kang, Stratton, Panik, Gohara, Pennington
Mets outfielder Jay Bruce has been taking ground balls at first base, James Wagner of the New York Times reports. Wagner adds that the Mets may consider playing him there in order to open up room for Brandon Nimmo to receive everyday playing time again. First base incumbent Adrian Gonzalez has struggled mightily thus far, with just a .203/.300/.320 batting line on the season. It’s still only April, but in light of his struggles last year with the Dodgers, Gonzalez’s leash might be fairly short. That’s particularly true since Nimmo reached base in half of his 38 MLB plate appearances this season. It’s fair to think that the Mets are looking hard for ways to lock Nimmo into an everyday role.
Other news out of the NL…
- Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang won’t receive any discipline from MLB, nor will the team dole out any punishment, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. Kang was denied a U.S. visa for all of last year due to multiple DUI-related arrests. He’s finally able to return to the Pirates as of Thursday.
- Today, the Giants reinstated Chris Stratton from the paternity list, optioning outfielder Austin Slater to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. Within hours, however, the club reversed its reported stance on Mac Williamson‘s status, placing him on the seven-day concussion DL. The move allowed the Giants to recall Slater, who’s directly replacing Williamson. Stratton sports an impressive 2.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP across five starts this season, though the fact that he hasn’t allowed any homers despite a 37.8% hard contact rate suggests he might have been a bit lucky in that regard. Stratton will take his scheduled turn through the rotation today against the Dodgers.
- In other Giants news, second baseman Joe Panik has been placed on the disabled list with a sprained left thumb. The club correspondingly purchased the contract of second baseman/outfielder Alen Hanson, who leads the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with a .403 batting average. The club moved Mark Melancon to the 60-day DL in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for Hanson.
- The Braves have reinstated left-hander Luiz Gohara from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Gohara suffered a sprained ankle during a spring training outing, and had exhausted the maximum amount of time allotted for rehab starts. He’ll likely make a couple more starts in the minors before returning to help the Braves at the major league level. Gohara had figured to be a prominent part of Atlanta’s rotation before the season began.
- The Reds announced that infielder Cliff Pennington has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Pennington, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, made the club out of spring training camp as a bench player. However, he’s struck out in nearly 40 percent of his plate appearances thus far and has yet to sock an extra-base hit.
Injury Notes: Buxton, Sano, Ervin, Knebel, Williamson
Byron Buxton has a hairline fracture in his left toe, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports on Twitter. According to Hayes, the Twins hopes to have a better idea on his return timeline by the end of the homestand. As Hayes wrote previously, the team has missed Buxton while he’s been sidelined; seven of the club’s eight wins have come with the speedster patrolling center field. It’s worth noting, though, that while Buxton has played typically great defense in the outfield grass, he’s scuffled to a .195/.233/.244 batting line at the plate.
More injury notes from around the league…
- Speaking of the Twins, Miguel Sano will sit out today’s game due to hamstring tightness (h/t Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). Sano, who owns a .450 slugging percentage on the season with five homers and a 40% K rate, barely ran out a ground ball in his last at-bat during yesterday’s game. It’s unclear how long he’ll need to rest. Meanwhile, there’s a positive sign for the Twins: Ervin Santana is making progress and has already practiced throwing his change-up, according to Hayes. He’s reportedly close to throwing off a mound. The club will be anxiously awaiting his return, as their starters as a group sit in the bottom half of MLB in ERA and FIP and dead last in innings pitched.
- Brewers closer Corey Knebel is very excited about his progress with his hamstring strain, Tom Haudricort of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. He’ll reportedly throw one more bullpen session before heading out on a rehab assignment. It seems likely that Knebel will be able to return by mid-May. Josh Hader, Matt Albers and Jacob Barnes have closed out games in his absence, collecting six saves; that group has combined for a sub-1.25 ERA on the season, so Knebel’s return will make for a truly formidable late-inning crew.
- It looks as though Giants outfielder Mac Williamson will avoid the concussion DL, as manager Bruce Bochy expects him to start tomorrow (h/t Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic). There was a fear that Williamson might have suffered a concussion after a collision with the outfield wall on Tuesday, but the 27-year-old appears to have dodged any serious injury. Williamson already has three homers for San Francisco in just 19 plate appearances.
Twins Designate David Hale, Select Matt Magill
10:36am: The Twins have selected the contract of right-hander Matt Magill in a corresponding roster move. Magill owns a 6.47 ERA in 32 major league innings between the Dodgers and Reds; remarkably he’s walked more than a batter an inning at the game’s highest level.
8:38am: The Twins have designated right-hander David Hale for assignment, according to a team announcement. A corresponding roster move is expected at some point today.
Minnesota had claimed Hale off waivers from the Yankees less than 48 hours ago. Recent comments from GM Thad Levine suggested that his club had shown interest in Hale as far back as the offseason, when they made attempts to sign him to a minors pact and ultimately lost out to the Yankees in those efforts. Whatever interest the club had was clearly tempered last night after they watched him walk four hitters and allow four earned runs in just three relief innings against a cellar-dwelling Cincinnati ballclub.
While Hale’s short leash certainly tells a clear story about the capacity in which Minnesota views the 30-year-old, it’s fair to imagine that the club might still be hoping they can keep him by sneaking him through waivers. Levine went on record saying that the club likes his pitch profile; the righty throws a four-seamer, sinker, change-up and slider, though it should be noted that all of those pitches are negative throughout his career in terms of weighted runs above average per 100 pitches.
For the Twins, it’s the latest development in a story of bullpen despair early on in 2018. As a group, their relievers own the second-highest ERA and FIP in the major leagues, second only to the Royals. It’s fortunate that they’ve been asked to shoulder the fifth-smallest workload in terms of innings thus far, but the Hale experiment now looks like yet another shortcoming in a desperate search for bullpen stability; he’s already the twelfth reliever to make an appearance for them Twins in 2018.
Cubs Activate Ben Zobrist, Option David Bote; Bryant Back In Lineup
Ben Zobrist has been activated from the 10-day disabled list and will bat seventh today against the Brewers, Bruce Levine of 760thescore.com reports. Kris Bryant will also make his return to the lineup after sitting out for a few days following a hit-by-pitch injury. In a corresponding move, the Cubs have optioned third baseman David Bote to Triple-A Iowa.
Zobrist was off to an impressive start in 49 plate appearances, accruing a .326 average and .408 on-base percentage before a lower back strain sent him to the DL. Though landed there on April 21st, he was eligible to return today because the move was retroactive to April 18th.
Bryant was hit in the head by a 96-MPH fastball on Sunday and has been held out of the lineup as a precaution ever since, even though he’d been cleared of all concussion symptoms on the same day he suffered the injury. “This is about a young man’s life and how he feels 30-40 years from now, so I’m all into that … Getting him back on the horse is always a good thing, obviously, so I think he’s going to be fine,” manager Joe Maddon had said of the injury on Thursday.
The 25-year-old Bote made just nine plate appearances in Zobrist’s absence, and managed just one hit while striking out three times. It was Bote’s first taste of the major leagues; he’s been a career Cubs farmhand since the club selected him in the 18th round of the 2012 draft. He’ll head back to Triple-A for the time being, where he’s got a .511 slugging percentage on the young season.