MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Cueto, Morales, Odor, Rizzo
ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(April 10th)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
- CHICAGO CUBS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: 1B Anthony Rizzo (lower back tightness; retro to 4/6)
- Ben Zobrist played 1B and batted 3rd in Tuesday’s game.
- Promoted: 1B/OF Efren Navarro (contract purchased)
- Placed on 10-Day DL: 1B Anthony Rizzo (lower back tightness; retro to 4/6)
- CINCINNATI REDS | Depth Chart
- Promoted: RP Tanner Rainey (contract purchased)
- Designated for assignment: RP Yovani Gallardo
- NEW YORK METS | Depth Chart
- Promoted: RP Corey Oswalt
- Optioned: OF Brandon Nimmo
- SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: SP Johnny Cueto (sprained ankle)
- Promoted: SP Tyler Beede, RP Steven Okert
- Beede made his MLB debut in Tuesday’s game.
- Optioned: RP Roberto Gomez
- WASHINGTON NATIONALS | Depth Chart
- Reinstated from Paternity List: C Miguel Montero
- Placed on 10-Day DL: C Jhonatan Solano (bone spurs in elbow)
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AMERICAN LEAGUE
- BALTIMORE ORIOLES | Depth Chart
- Promoted: RP Yefry Ramirez
- Designated for assignment: RP Nestor Cortes Jr.
- HOUSTON ASTROS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: RP Tony Sipp (strained oblique)
- Promoted: RP James Hoyt
- KANSAS CITY ROYALS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: OF Alex Gordon (hip labral tear)
- Paulo Orlando played CF and batted 7th in Tuesday’s game.
- Promoted: OF Abraham Almonte
- Placed on 10-Day DL: OF Alex Gordon (hip labral tear)
- LOS ANGELES ANGELS | Depth Chart
- Promoted: SP Jaime Barria
- Barria will make his MLB and start Wednesday’s game.
- Optioned: RP Eduardo Paredes
- Promoted: SP Jaime Barria
- NEW YORK YANKEES | Depth Chart
- Promoted: OF Shane Robinson (contract purchased)
- Robinson played CF and batted 9th in Tuesday’s game.
- Designated for assignment: INF/OF Jace Peterson
- Promoted: OF Shane Robinson (contract purchased)
- TAMPA BAY RAYS | Depth Chart
- Acquired: OF Jeremy Hazelbaker (acquired from Diamondbacks for cash considerations)
- Hazelbaker was optioned to Triple-A.
- Transferred to 60-Day DL: SP Jose De Leon
- Acquired: OF Jeremy Hazelbaker (acquired from Diamondbacks for cash considerations)
- TEXAS RANGERS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: 2B Rougned Odor (strained hamstring), SP Doug Fister (strained hip)
- Jurickson Profar started at 2B and batted 2nd in Tuesday’s game.
- Bartolo Colon is expected to take Fister’s rotation spot on Sunday.
- Activated from 10-Day DL: RP Tony Barnette
- Promoted: INF/C Isiah Kiner-Falefa
- Placed on 10-Day DL: 2B Rougned Odor (strained hamstring), SP Doug Fister (strained hip)
- TORONTO BLUE JAYS | Depth Chart
- Placed on 10-Day DL: DH Kendrys Morales (strained hamstring)
- Yangervis Solarte started at DH and batted 4th in Tuesday’s game.
- Promoted: RP Tim Mayza
- Placed on 10-Day DL: DH Kendrys Morales (strained hamstring)
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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES
- BAL: SP Alex Cobb will be recalled from the minors on Saturday April 14th to make his Orioles’ debut, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN.
- LAA: 2B Ian Kinsler expects to be activated from the DL on Thursday April 12th, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group.
- LAA: SPs Nick Tropeano and Andrew Heaney as candidates to start on Thursday and Friday, also according to Fletcher.
- MIL: SP Junior Guerra will be recalled from the minors to make a start on Wednesday April 11th, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- NYM: SP Zack Wheeler will be recalled from the minors to make a start on Wednesday April 11th, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
- SFG: SP Andrew Suarez is expected to have his contract purchased from the minors to start on Wednesday April 11th, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. He would be making his MLB debut in place of Cueto.
- SEA: DH Nelson Cruz and OF Ben Gamel could both be activated from the DL as early as Friday April 13th, according to Greg Johns of MLB.com.
AL West Notes: Rangers, Miranda, Sipp, Bedrosian
The Rangers announced tonight that second baseman Rougned Odor (left hamstring strain) and right-hander Doug Fister (right hip strain) have both been placed on the 10-day disabled list. In their place, the team has activated reliever Tony Barnette from the DL and recalled catcher/infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa from Triple-A Round Rock. There’s no indication that either injury is considered to be long-term, with both Odor and Fister eligible to return from the DL on April 20. Kiner-Falefa will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game; the former fourth-round pick hit .288/.350/.390 through 569 trips to the plate in Double-A last season.
Some more AL West news…
- Lefty Ariel Miranda will remain the Mariners‘ fifth starter for the time being, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll take the ball on April 17 when the fifth spot in the rotation next comes up, Divish notes, rather than right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, who is working his way back from a lat strain. However, the team doesn’t want to rush Ramirez back and will keep him on a slower progression while entrusting Miranda with a larger role. The 29-year-old Miranda is no stranger to the Seattle rotation, having made 39 starts for the M’s over the past two seasons after being acquired in a one-for-one swap that sent Wade Miley to Baltimore.
- The Astros announced today that they placed left-hander Tony Sipp on the 10-day DL and recalled righty James Hoyt from Triple-A in his place. (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart first reported that Sipp would hit the DL.) With Sipp on the shelf, the Astros are going with an all-right-handed bullpen for the foreseeable future, though the ‘Stros do have options in that regard if they decide to change course. Lefties Buddy Boshers and Reymin Guadan are both on the 40-man roster and both pitching for Triple-A Fresno.
- The Angels are keeping an eye on Cam Bedrosian‘s velocity, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The struggling setup man, however, insists that he’s not injured, though he acknowledges that the drop from an average of 96 mph to 93 mph on his fastball is an issue. Bedrosian feels that he developed some bad mechanical tendencies upon returning from a groin strain last season and is trying to get back to his old delivery. Pitching coach Charles Nagy noted that the dip in velocity is a “concern,” though Bedrosian also attributes his early results to simply not locating his pitches effectively.
Giants Place Johnny Cueto On 10-Day DL
The Giants have placed right-hander Johnny Cueto on the 10-day disabled list due to a sprained ankle he sustained in a workout over the weekend, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. The move is retroactive to April 7. Left-hander Steven Okert is up from Triple-A to give the team an extra arm for tonight’s game against the D-backs, and southpaw Andrew Suarez will be promoted tomorrow to make his Major League debut in what would’ve been Cueto’s spot in the rotation.
While Cueto’s injury doesn’t sound serious, it’s nonetheless the latest blow in a series of rotation injuries that have hindered the Giants early on in the season. Madison Bumgarner has yet to pitch this season due to a fractured finger that he sustained in Spring Training, while Jeff Samardzija has also yet to make his season debut owing to a pectoral injury. Pavlovic does relay some good news for Giants fans, as Samardzija is slated to make a rehab appearance on Saturday and should be activated for his next turn in the rotation after that.
In many respects, Cueto is off to a solid start to the 2018 season, having yielded just one run on nine hits and two walks through his first 13 innings. However, Cueto’s velocity has dipped from an average of 91.3 mph last season to just 90 mph thus far, and he’s managed to strike out just five batters while posting an uncharacteristically low seven percent swinging-strike rate.
Suarez, meanwhile, was the Giants’ second-round pick back in the 2015 draft. The University of Miami product has made just one Triple-A start this season but impressed there in 2017, tossing 88 2/3 frames with 8.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 49.2 percent ground-ball rate following a promotion from Double-A, where he’d also impressed. San Francisco is already turning to its top pitching prospect, Tyler Beede, to make his MLB debut tonight, and they’ll follow him with another of the farm’s most promising young hurlers in Suarez — giving fans a potential glimpse of the future. MLB.com ranks Suarez as the Giants’ No. 10 prospect, calling him a high-floor prospect who should at the very least settle in as a back-of-the-rotation starter.
Rays Acquire Jeremy Hazelbaker From Diamondbacks
The Rays have acquired outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash, the teams announced. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay has transferred right-hander Jose De Leon to the 60-day disabled list.
Hazelbaker, whom the D-backs designated for assignment late last week, will head to Triple-A Durham. De Leon underwent Tommy John surgery during Spring Training, so he’ll be out for the entirety of the 2018 season.
The 30-year-old Hazelbaker will give the Rays some depth across the board in the outfield, as he’s plenty experienced in center and in both outfield corners. The left-handed-hitting Hazelbaker was the talk of MLB two years ago when he broke camp with the Cardinals and posted an absurd .317/.357/.683 slash in the month of April. However, he cooled off considerably over the remainder of the season and was ultimately waived by St. Louis and claimed by Arizona.
Last year with the D-backs, Hazelbaker logged 61 plate appearances and again posted some eye-popping numbers, hitting .346/.443/.577 with two doubles, two homers and two triples. In all, Hazelbaker is a .258/.327/.500 hitter in in 285 MLB plate appearances, and he owns a .277/.336/.452 slash in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.
Rangers Grant Trevor Plouffe His Release
Veteran infielder Trevor Plouffe, who’d been with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, asked for and was granted his release by the organization, the team told reporters (Twitter link via MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan).
Plouffe, 31, opened the Triple-A season by going 3-for-11 with a homer, a double and six walks in 17 plate appearances — good for a .273/.529/.636 slash in that tiny four-game sample. The longtime Twins third baseman struggled in Spring Training with the Rangers and agreed to head to their Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock to open the season, though clearly his stay there will be short-lived.
A former first-round pick of the Twins (20th overall, 2004), Plouffe was a bit of a late bloomer but eventually rose to the Majors and claimed Minnesota’s starting third base job as a 26-year-old back in 2012. From 2012-16, Plouffe hit .250/.311/.423 and averaged 17 homers and 124 games played per season with the Twins. While his glovework at the hot corner was initially questionable, he eventually posted solid UZR and DRS marks with the Twins in 2014-15. His 2016 season — Plouffe’s last as a Twin — was marred by a series of intercostal and oblique injuries that limited him to 84 games.
Plouffe split the 2017 season between the A’s and Rays, struggling at each stop and hitting just .198/.272/.318 in a combined 313 plate appearances. Given that showing and his injury-plagued 2016 season, it seems likely that Plouffe will need to find another minor league opportunity elsewhere — perhaps one with a clearer path to the Majors than he had in Texas, where Adrian Beltre and Joey Gallo are locked in at the infield corners. At his best, Plouffe has been a thorn in the side of left-handed pitching (.263/.346/.469 during that ’12-’16 stretch) who is capable of handing either corner infield slot.
Mat Latos Signs With CanAm League’s New Jersey Jackals
Veteran right-hander Mat Latos has signed a deal with the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Canadian-American Association, the Jackals announced today.
Latos, 30, tossed just 15 innings in the Majors last season, all with the Blue Jays, and notched a 3.81 ERA in an additional 28 innings with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. The former Padres/Reds hurler was a rising star early in his career, pitching to a 3.27 ERA in 799 innings between San Diego and Cincinnati from 2010-13 before injuries began to derail him.
Latos underwent knee surgery in February 2014, and while he returned that summer to toss 102 1/3 innings of 3.25 ERA ball for the Reds, he experienced a rapid decline in the subsequent seasons. An offseason trade to the Marlins was followed by a half season of pedestrian work with the Marlins and a pair of uninspiring stints with both L.A. clubs following the 2015 non-waiver deadline. Latos has had brief stints with the White Sox, Nationals and Jays since that time, but his overall body of work dating back to 2015 is unsightly: a 5.05 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 201 1/3 innings at the big league level.
Alex Gordon Placed On DL With Labral Tear In Left Hip
The Royals announced that they’ve placed left fielder Alex Gordon on the 10-day disabled list with a labral tear in his left hip. Recently claimed outfielder Abraham Almonte has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take his place. Kansas City didn’t provide an immediate timeline within its announcement, though manager Ned Yost suggests that the injury may not be as bad as it sounds (Twitter link via Rustin Dodd of The Athletic). Yost said that Gordon will be re-evaluated in five days and could return as soon as two weeks down the road in a best-case scenario.
Gordon, 34, inked a franchise record four-year, $72MM contract with the Royals in the 2015-16 offseason. At the time, the left fielder had made three consecutive All-Star teams and been one of the key factors in the Royals’ return to prominence in the American League Central. From 2011-15, Gordon slashed .281/.359/.450 (121 OPS+) and took home four Gold Glove Awards. Baseball-Reference pegged his efforts at 27.2 wins above replacement in that five-year peak, while Fangraphs credited him with 24 WAR.
However, Gordon’s production immediately went south in the first season of a four-year contract that has transformed from a cause for celebration among Royals fans to an albatross deal for the franchise. Since Opening Day 2016, Gordon has posted a woeful .213/.300/.343 slash in 1071 plate appearances, missing time along the way with a fractured right wrist (in May 2016). He’s still owed $20MM in 2018 and 2019, plus a $4MM buyout of a mutual option for the 2020 season.
Orioles Designate Nestor Cortes
The Orioles have designated lefty Nestor Cortes for assignment, per a club announcement. The team promoted righty Yefry Ramirez to take his place on the active roster.
Cortes was taken from the Yankees in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. If he clears waivers, he’ll be offered back to the New York organization for a $50K sum, which the Yankees will all but assuredly pay. Regardless, the O’s have opened an additional 40-man spot for the time being.
The 23-year-old Cortes was one of two Rule 5 picks the O’s made back in December and one of three players with Rule 5 restrictions to crack the Opening Day roster. Baltimore also selected Pedro Araujo out of the Cubs organization, and outfielder Anthony Santander still comes with Rule 5 status for the first 44 days of the 2018 season after spending the bulk of the 2017 season on the disabled list.
Cortes appeared in four games for the Orioles and was tagged for four runs on 10 hits and four walks with three strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings of relief. Last year with the Yankees, he logged an impressive 2.06 ERA in 104 total innings between Class-A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A, while averaging a strikeout per inning and just 2.8 walks per nine frames.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Yankees Designate Jace Peterson, Select Shane Robinson
The Yankees have designated utilityman Jace Peterson for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot will go to outfielder Shane Robinson, whose contract was selected, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported on Twitter.
Peterson, 27, helped fill out the Yankees roster as injuries interfered with the club’s plans. But the former Braves infielder never seemed likely to hang on all season long. The Yankees seem pleased to utilize Ronald Torreyes as a reserve in the infield and obviously have other ideas for the outfield mix.
By adding Robinson, the Yanks will add another center field-capable player to the roster while awaiting the returns of Aaron Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury. While Robinson has never hit much and surely won’t start now that he’s 33 years of age, he has plenty of experience coming off the bench and lining up at any of the three outfield positions.