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MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Bush, Ramirez, Sano

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IMPACT ROSTER MOVES

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

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MINOR TRANSACTIONS

  • ATL: RP Dan Winkler activated from 60-Day DL; RP Rex Brothers optioned to minors. | Braves Depth Chart
    • Winkler retains Rule 5 status—he was selected from the Rockies prior to the 2015 season—and is still more than 60 days short of fulfilling the 90-day requirement for the Braves to take fill control of his rights.

10 Hitters Lining Up Big First-Time Arbitration Salaries

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We took a look recently at the pitchers who have done the most this year to drive big first-time arbitration salaries this fall. Today, we’ll look at some position players that have done the same.

For hitters, the key factors — as MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz ascertained about six years ago — are playing time and power. The accumulation of plate appearances, home runs, and runs batted in are the biggest factors in driving earning power through arbitration, even if those are far from the only things that go into making for a productive baseball player.

While prior years’ performances certainly factor in, we’re focused here on which players have done the most in 2017 to boost their next salaries. We’ll assume that marginal Super Two candidates such as Carlos Correa, Eddie Rosario, and Tommy Pham will not sneak in and gain eligibility. Here’s the list:

Mookie Betts, Red Sox — Though he hasn’t been quite as exciting as he was last year and excels in some areas (contact, defense, baserunning) that don’t pay much in arbitration, Betts still easily cracks this list. Among the players listed here, he leads the way with 553 plate appearances and is second with 76 RBI. He also has swatted 18 long balls on the year, though obviously he won’t match last year’s tally of 31.

Justin Bour, Marlins — An injury has really hurt Bour’s case, but it’s tough to ignore what he did before going down. Over 339 plate appearances, the slugger swatted 21 home runs with 63 RBI. There’s no chance he’ll take home anything like the paydays of the players that sandwich him on this list, but Bour has earned a solid payday for 2018 while also locking down a starting role for the foreseeable future.

Kris Bryant, Cubs — The 25-year-old isn’t anywhere near to last year’s pace when it comes to the key counting stats, as he has only 23 home runs and 55 runs batted in through 511 plate appearances. But that’s only sparse in relative terms, and Bryant’s overall track record — including Rookie of the Year and MVP nods — will get him a huge and much-deserved payday as a Super Two.

Maikel Franco, Phillies — There’s no sugarcoating this season for Franco, who is reaching base at an anemic .277 clip and isn’t even playing at replacement level. Fortunately for him, an arbitral panel would likely largely look past the broader picture. Despite his broader struggles, Franco has still managed to leave the yard 17 times and drive in 59 runs over 494 plate appearances.

Jake Lamb, Diamondbacks — The third baseman has turned in a big season at the dish for Arizona. Through 503 plate appearances, he has smacked 27 round-trippers — just barely pacing the rest of the names on this list. Better still, he’s a shoo-in to reach triple-digits in the sabermetrically disfavored, arbitrationally relevant RBI statistic. With 95 already in the bag, Lamb is lapping the competition in this cohort.

David Peralta, Diamondbacks — Peralta’s  case is weaker  in every way than is his teammate’s. In fact, he just nudged out Kevin Pillar of the Blue Jays for inclusion. But with 13 dingers and 43 ribbies over 438 plate appearances — not to mention a .303 batting average — Peralta sneaks in amongst the top ten. (Pillar, for what it’s worth, has managed a dozen homers and has nearly reached 500 plate appearances, but has only driven in 32.)

Steven Souza, Rays — What makes this such an exciting season for Souza isn’t even what is going to get him paid. Right now, he’s running a walk rate that’s double what he carried in 2016. And the power has been there, too, with 26 bombs and 73 RBI over 494 plate appearances. Souza should earn well in his first trip through arbitration.

Eugenio Suarez, Reds — Speaking of exciting walk totals, Suarez has ramped up from a 4.3% rate in 2015 all the way to 14.0% this year. He’s also knocking the ball around the yard, with 21 homers and 64 runs batted in through an even 500 trips to the plate.

J.T. Realmuto, Marlins — The standout Marlins backstop doesn’t have gaudy numbers, but his solid output and heavy workload — only Buster Posey has more plate appearances among catchers — ought to play in his favor. Realmuto has 14 home runs and fifty RBI through 432 plate appearances; he’s also carrying a .287 batting average.

Mike Zunino, Mariners — Last but not least, we find another catcher who happens to be one of the game’s most extreme sluggers. Zunino has driven the ball out of the park 18 times in just 322 plate appearances … while recording a hefty 121 strikeouts to go with his 48 RBI and anemic .222 batting average. Zunino will also benefit from the fact that he would have been a Super Two last year if he had been on the active roster for enough days; as a result, he had already logged quite a few plate appearances (1,247) — and, yes, dingers (50) — entering the season. Honorable mention on the catching side of things goes to James McCann of the Tigers and Cameron Rupp of the Phillies, each of whom has nudged into double-digit home-run tallies.

Andrew Miller Leaves With Aggravation Of Knee Injury

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Star Indians reliever Andrew Miller left his appearance today with what the team is calling an aggravation of the right knee patella tendinitis that recently sent him to the DL, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. His outlook is not currently known.

Miller missed little more than the minimum earlier this month, and threw without apparent issue on Friday. But he exited after just seven pitches tonight, issuing a walk and showing a significantly reduced fastball velocity. Miller, who typically sits at 95 mph, was clocked at an average of around 90 mph this evening.

It’s too soon to know whether there’s cause for real concern. And Cleveland can afford to exercise caution with a five-game lead (entering today’s action) in the AL Central. Still, at this stage of the season, it’s a bit worrying to see such a showing from such an important piece of the team’s hopeful post-season roster.

Even if it turns out that Miller’s situation is serious, the Indians would have no realistic hope of finding a similarly valuable arm on the August trade market. With Boone Logan possibly out the rest of the way, though, any questions surrounding Miller could leave the club with added impetus to find another southpaw reliever.

Fortunately for Cleveland, Tyler Olson has been a revelation since ascending to the MLB roster. Through 11 appearances this year — already matching a career-high — Olson has racked up 13 strikeouts (on a 13.6% swinging-strike rate) against just one walk without allowing a run.

The Indians also announced that first baseman Carlos Santana departed the contest with lower-back tightness. There’s little reason at this point to believe that is an injury of any significance.

Melvin Upton Requests & Receives Release From Giants

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The Giants have released veteran outfielder Melvin Upton after he requested his release, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag first reported on Twitter. Upton, it seems, is hopeful of catching on with a contender down the stretch.

Upton, who turns 33 today, caught on with the Giants in early April after he was released by the Blue Jays at the end of camp. He has seen only minimal action since, owing to thumb and shoulder issues. And none of it has come at the major-league level.

If Upton doesn’t make it back to the majors this year, it would represent his first season without MLB action since way back in 2005. He certainly will need to show he warrants a roster spot before he’ll have an opportunity, as he struggled badly late last year and Toronto and has hit just .244/.306/.333 over 49 plate appearances this year at Triple-A.

Still, it is conceivable that Upton could end up being a useful bench piece for a late-season run. He has long been a stolen base threat and quality overall baserunner. While defensive metrics have wavered on his glovework in center, both UZR and DRS graded him as a positive contributor in left field in 2016.

Paul Janish To Retire, Join Rice University Coaching Staff

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Veteran utility infielder Paul Janish has been granted his release from the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate and “has left the club with plans to retire,” reports David Hall of the Virginian Pilot (on Twitter). Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets that O’s skipper Buck Showalter confirmed the release, and Kubatko adds that Janish will join the coaching staff at his alma mater, Rice University.

The 34-year-old Janish was a fifth-round selection out of Rice by the Reds back in the 2004 draft. He debuted with the Reds just under four years later, appearing in 38 games as a rookie. While he never fully cemented himself as a regular with the Reds, Janish spent parts of the next four seasons in Cincinnati before joining the Braves for the 2012-13 seasons. He’s appeared in 14 games with the Orioles in each of the past three seasons, including the current campaign.

All told, the light-hitting Janish will wrap up his career as a .212/.280/.284 batter over the life of 473 Major League games and 1305 Major League plate appearances. Despite that lack of offensive production, though, Janish’s superlative glovework allowed him to spend parts of nine seasons in the Majors. Primarily a shortstop, Janish graded out at 21 runs above average, per Defensive Runs Saved, and 17.3 runs above average, per Ultimate Zone Rating. He also logged 140 innings at second base and 262 innings at third base.

Yasmany Tomas To Undergo Core Surgery

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Diamondbacks outfielder Yasmany Tomas is slated to undergo surgery for a core injury, per a club announcement. Details were not given on the exact nature of the procedure or the anticipated timeline.

Tomas has been out since early June with successive groin injuries. Presumably, that’s the malady that will be treated tomorrow. Tomas had been attempting to rehab through the problem but obviously was not able. Perhaps it’s not yet out of the question that Tomas will work back to become an option down the stretch or in the postseason, but the likelier scenario may be that he focuses on getting back to full health over the offseason.

The surgery seemingly makes it all the more likely that Tomas will remain with Arizona heading into camp next year. While Tomas is hardly an easy roster fit in the National League, the team does still have an open corner spot for 2018, and he could be part of the solution there. Plus, with this news capping a disappointing season for the slugger, it’s tough to imagine the team finding a taker for Tomas’s contract.

Tomas, who’s still just 26, signed a six-year, $68.5MM pact to join the Arizona organization out of Cuba in December of 2014. The bulk of the obligations remain to be paid, including a $10MM salary for next season. After that, Tomas will have the option of heading to the open market or instead taking another $32.5MM over the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.

At present, all signs point to a “no” on that opt-out. While there’s still plenty of time for things to change, it’s somewhat difficult to see a scenario where Tomas will anticipate bigger earnings elsewhere given his current trajectory.

Given his widely panned glovework in the corner outfield, Tomas needs to hit quite a bit to be a useful player. While he has shown plenty of power, he just hasn’t reached base at a consistent enough clip thus far. Tomas had turned in a fairly promising 2016 season with the bat, slashing .272/.313/.508 and swatting 31 home runs. But he struggled to a mediocre .241/.294/.464 batting line through his first 180 trips to the plate in the current season before hitting the DL.

West Notes: Kershaw, Ray, Rangers, Padres

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Clayton Kershaw threw a simulated game today as he continues to work toward a return from his back injury, and Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the Dodgers’ ace is now scheduled for a minor league rehab start this coming Saturday. McCullough cites Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt in reporting that Kershaw is slated to throw four innings and 60 pitches in what will be his first live game action since landing on the disabled list last month. It’s encouraging news for the Dodgers, as that timetable should line Kershaw up for a return in early or mid-September, giving him at least two to three weeks before the postseason begins.

More from the game’s western divisions….

  • Left-hander Robbie Ray will return to the Diamondbacks’ rotation on Thursday of this week, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The 25-year-old breakout lefty was in the midst of an outstanding season when he was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Cardinals first baseman Luke Voit on July 28. Ray exited the game and went on the concussion DL, where he’ll ultimately have spent just under a month if he is activated as planned on Thursday. Ray made a rehab start with Class-A Advanced Visalia over the weekend and struck out 11 of the 21 batters he faced, which had to be encouraging for the D-backs. Through 118 2/3 MLB innings, Ray has a 3.11 ERA with 11.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 38.9 percent ground-ball rate.
  • MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tackles a number of Rangers-related topics in his latest Rangers Inbox piece, ranging from the possibility of re-signing Carlos Gomez to the PTBNL in the Jonathan Lucroy trade with the Rockies and Jurickson Profar’s future in Texas. Of Gomez, Sullivan notes that before committing to another contract with Gomez, the Rangers first need to definitively determine a position for Joey Gallo. Sullivan also opines that the Rangers should commit left field to the fleet-footed Delino DeShields, though that would leave the team needing to effectively choose between Gomez and Drew Robinson. Per Sullivan, the Rangers view the 25-year-old Robinson “as a frontline talent,” though they’ve also been reluctant to hand starting roles to players without a veteran safety net. Robinson hit .268/.369/.494 with 11 homers and seven steals in Triple-A this year, but he’s batted .209/.382/.442 in 55 big league PAs. Robinson has never cracked Baseball America’s top 20 Rangers prospects and isn’t among Texas’ top 30 at MLB.com at present, though certainly that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a quality MLB future ahead of him.
  • Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune has a mailbag column of his own up that Padres fans will want to check out. Within, Lin notes that Hunter Renfroe’s recent demotion wasn’t about service time — the optional assignment is highly unlikely to impact his path to arbitration or free agency — but rather about sending a message to improve his plate discipline. Manager Andy Green spoke recently about how a similar option to the minors did wonders for Cory Spangenberg, and the organization’s hope is that Renfroe will benefit similarly. Lin also touches on Jose Pirela’s long-term fit with the team, various speculative offseason trade scenarios and the Padres’ shortstop needs. Notably, he opines that the team’s 2018 Opening Day shortstop is not currently in the organization.

NL Central Notes: Cozart, Piscotty, Brewers, Montero

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While Zack Cozart still stands out as a logical on-paper trade candidate, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that it doesn’t seem that much of a market has developed for the 31-year-old. That puts the Reds in a difficult position, as if no trade materializes, they’ll need to weigh whether to make Cozart a qualifying offer that’ll likely be worth a bit more than $18MM. Cozart’s sensational defense and huge step forward both in terms of power and plate discipline make that seem like a reasonable offer for the Reds. However, the lack of a clear market for shortstops and the draft compensation to which he’d be tied could make Cozart at least ponder accepting a theoretical QO, Buchanan notes.

More from the NL Central…

  • Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis for yesterday’s doubleheader, will stick with the club moving forward, tweets MLB.com’s Jen Langosch. First baseman Luke Voit has been optioned to Memphis in his place. The 26-year-old Piscotty, who signed a six-year deal in April but was sent to Memphis after some considerable struggles, tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that he feels the demotion was beneficial in the long run. “It was a shot in the arm, and I needed it,” said Piscotty. The brief trip to the minors allowed Piscotty to “get back to basics,” in the outfielder’s words, and the fact that he obliterated Triple-A pitching over an eight-game stretch certainly had to help his confidence. In 38 plate appearances, Piscotty mashed to the tune of a .313/.421/.781 batting line with four homers and three doubles.
  • The catcher position has been an unexpected strength for the Brewers in 2017, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Following last summer’s trade of Jonathan Lucroy and the offseason trade of Martin Maldonado, Milwaukee entered the year with the unheralded trio of Manny Pina, Jett Bandy and Andrew Susac competing for playing time. An injury to Susac almost immediately took him out of the picture, and Bandy faded after a hot start. Pina, though, has continued to produce on both sides of the ball, and his .285/.328/.451 batting line places him among the game’s most productive backstops. The 30-year-old was acquired with little fanfare, coming over from the Tigers as a player to be named later in the Dec. 2015 Francisco Rodriguez trade, but he’s become an invaluable asset for the Brewers.
  • Miguel Montero told Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times that he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the Cubs organization — neither the front office nor his former teammates — following his abrupt dismissal earlier this summer. On his final day as a Cub, Montero called out Jake Arrieta and other Cubs hurlers for being slow to the plate with their deliveries, and the Cubs quickly designated him for assignment. Former teammate Anthony Rizzo went on to suggest that Montero’s comments were those of a player that was being “selfish.” Montero called Rizzo a “great player” and a “good teammate” and said that he harbors no ill feelings toward him for the comments, even if he does disagree with the sentiment. Montero revealed that five clubs were in touch with his agent about a possible fit in anticipation of him potentially being released, though that never happened, as the Cubs agreed to a trade that sent him to Toronto before waiving him. “If I was really that bad guy they said I was, the teams aren’t interested in bad guys,” said Montero.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s MLBTR Mailbag

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In last week’s MLBTR Mailbag, Jeff Todd fielded questions on the Athletics’ chances of trading Jed Lowrie, Jay Bruce’s free agent stock, the Giants’ offseason outlook and some potentially available arms on the offseason trade market.

If you have a question pertaining to August trades, 2017-18 free agency or any other topic we’d typically cover here on MLBTR, send us an email: mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. We’ll run the next edition of the Mailbag later this week, but remember that you’re always welcome to get our take on topics of your choosing in the three weekly chats hosted at MLBTR (Tuesdays at 2pm CT with me, Wednesdays at 6:30pm CT with Jason Martinez and Thursdays at 2pm CT with Jeff Todd).

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