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Athletics Place Sean Doolittle On 10-Day DL, Designate Cesar Valdez

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7:45pm: A’s manager Bob Melvin suggested to reporters that Doolittle could be facing an extended absence (link via MLB.com’s Jane Lee).

“We’ve seen this over the course of the last couple of years, that when this pops up, we need to be careful with him,” said Melvin. “I don’t know this is going to be a quick thing. This is a tough loss for us. … Obviously we have our fingers crossed, but my guess is we’re going to be conservative with him.”

2:38pm: The Athletics have announced a series of roster moves involving their bullpen. Lefty Sean Doolittle has been placed on the 10-day DL with what the team is describing as a shoulder strain, while righty Cesar Valdez was designated for assignment.

Oakland will promote two righties to take the open roster spots. Bobby Wahl and Josh Smith are each headed to the majors for the first time this year — and the first time ever in Wahl’s case. The 25-year-old Wahl (Oakland’s No. 18 prospect, per MLB.com) will bring an upper-90s heater that occasionally reaches triple digits to the Oakland ’pen. Wahl has a history of missing bats at a lofty rate but has struggled to limit walks. Smith, meanwhile, has a career 5.46 ERA in 92 1/3 innings with the Reds but was sporting an outrageous 21-to-3 K/BB ratio through 13 2/3 innings at Triple-A this season.

[Related: Oakland Athletics Depth Chart]

It’s rough news for Doolittle, who has dealt with frequent arm issues in recent seasons but had been in fine form thus far. The 32-year-old has allowed three earned runs on five hits and a single walk through his 7 2/3 frames, while retiring 11 batters via strikeout. Doolittle had been in at least a partial share of the team’s closing duties in Oakland, but it seems likely now that fellow veteran Santiago Casilla will handle the vast majority of ninth-inning duties with Doolittle on the shelf.

Injuries are nothing new for Doolittle, who has generally been excellent when healthy but has had durability issues since inking a five-year, $10.5MM extension with Oakland that spans the 2014-18 seasons. The former infielder is earning a reasonable $2.6MM salary in 2017, and he’s guaranteed $4.35MM in 2018 as well (plus a $500K buyout of a $6MM option for 2019). Since signing that deal, Doolittle has had four separate DL stints for shoulder troubles (including this latest trip).

As for the 32-year-old Valdez, he returned to the Majors this season for the first time since the 2010 campaign — a fairly remarkable layoff from which to return. Valdez appeared in four games with the A’s, including one start, but was tagged for 10 runs on 14 hits and four walks with just five strikeouts in a total of 9 1/3 innings. It seems likely that he’ll be able to clear waivers and remain with the organization as a depth option for later in the season.

Rockies Select Contract Of Ryan Hanigan, Activate Mike Dunn From DL

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The Rockies announced that they’ve selected the contract of veteran backstop Ryan Hanigan, giving the club an additional option behind the plate with starting catcher Tony Wolters on the disabled list due to a concussion sustained in yesterday’s game. A 40-man roster move was not necessary, as the Rockies were only carrying 39 players on the 40-man prior to today’s moves. Colorado also announced that lefty Mike Dunn has been activated from the DL, with right-hander Carlos Estevez being optioned to Triple-A to clear a 25-man roster spot.

The 36-year-old Hanigan struggled to the worst season of his career with the Red Sox in 2016, hitting just .171/.230/.238 in 113 plate appearances while missing time with neck and ankle injuries. The longtime Reds backstop inked a minors deal with the Phillies this offseason but latched on with the Rockies after he didn’t make Philadelphia roster in Spring Training.

Thus far in 2017, Hanigan has hit well in the admittedly hitter-friendly environs of Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. Through his first 13 games and 50 plate appearances, Hanigan is batting .282/.360/.359 with three doubles.

Dunn’s return will be a boon to the Rockies’ relief corps, as he’d gotten off to a terrific start with his new club in the first season of a three-year, $19MM contract. Dunn has yielded just one run on five hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

Steven Wright Considering Surgery That Could End His Season

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Righty knuckleballer Steven Wright is meeting with the Red Sox today to consider potentially season-ending surgery on his injured left knee, Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com writes. Wright has visited a knee specialist, but has not yet reached a decision about his path forward.

The Red Sox placed Wright on the 10-day DL with a knee sprain earlier this week, and the team is set to purchase the contract of Kyle Kendrick tomorrow to fill out its rotation. Wright’s terrific 2016 season was cut short due to bursitis in his shoulder, and as he completed his recovery from that injury in Spring Training, it emerged that he had been wearing a knee brace to deal with soreness in that area.

Wright began the 2017 season in the Red Sox’ rotation, but struggled in five starts spanning 24 innings, posting an 8.25 ERA, 4.9 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. If Wright were to return to health and effectiveness, it would be a boon to a Red Sox rotation that has already dealt with injuries to David Price and Drew Pomeranz in addition to Wright. Of course, today’s news would seem to indicate it’s unlikely Wright will be able to make a quick recovery.

Mariners Outright Casey Fien

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WEDNESDAY: The Mariners have announced that they’ve outrighted Fien to Triple-A Tacoma.

TUESDAY: The Mariners have designated righty Casey Fien for assignment, per a team announcement. Seattle has also placed infielder Shawn O’Malley on the 60-day DL to clear another 40-man spot.

These moves were designed to open the door to two new members of the big league bullpen. The M’s purchased the contracts of righties Jean Machi and Emilio Pagan. First baseman Dan Vogelbach was optioned to open another active roster spot.

Fien was already outrighted off of the 40-man roster earlier in the year, accepting an assignment at Triple-A (in part, perhaps, in order to keep his salary under the MLB deal he signed over the winter). Unfortunately, he had another poor outing upon returning to the majors and now carries a 15.00 ERA through six innings on the year.

The 35-year-old Machi has not pitched in the majors since 2015. But he has thrown eight spotless innings thus far at Tacoma. Pagan, 25, is set for his MLB debut. The former tenth rounder has worked to a 3.27 ERA over his 11 frames at Triple-A this year, allowing just five hits while racking up 18 strikeouts against seven walks.

Cole Hamels Expected To Miss About Eight Weeks With Oblique Strain

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The Rangers have placed lefty Cole Hamels on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He was scratched from his most recent start with an oblique strain; the injury is expected to cost him around eight weeks, per the club.

Hamels, 33, was expected to anchor the rotation alongside Yu Darvish. But he has struggled to open the season, recording only 4.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 over his 32 2/3 innings. Hamels has still managed a strong 3.03 ERA, so the bottom-line looks good, but his swinging-strike rate (7.5%) is lagging far behind his career average (12.3%) and he is benefiting from a .219 BABIP.

Righty Anthony Bass has been brought up to take the open roster spot. While his first (and so far, only) MLB outing of the year went poorly, he has been pitching well at Triple-A since returning from a 2016 stint in Japan. Over 9 1/3 innings, Bass has allowed just one earned run and only four hits while recording an outstanding 17:4 K/BB ratio.

Rangers starters currently rate third in the Majors with a 3.45 ERA, but their 4.68 FIP and 4.71 xFIP rank among the bottom third of the league, and their 4.89 SIERA is the second-worst mark in baseball. In other words, regression from this unit already looked likely, and subtracting Hamels from the mix doesn’t figure to do Texas any favors. As can be seen on their depth chart at Roster Resource, the top internal candidates to fill in for Hamels are A.J. Griffin, Clayton Blackburn, Eddie Gamboa and Dillon Gee.

Indians Place Corey Kluber On 10-Day DL

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The Indians have placed righty Corey Kluber on the 10-day DL with lower back discomfort, per a team announcement. He’ll be replaced for the time being by righty Joe Colon.

Kluber has reportedly been dealing with the back issue throughout the early portion of the season, so it seems the hope is that some rest will help him move past it. He has struggled somewhat thus far, perhaps due in part to the nagging discomfort.

Though Kluber is still carrying a strong 9.9 K/9 on the year, he has allowed more walks (3.1 BB/9) than usual and has coughed up seven long balls through 37 1/3 innings. His velocity has dropped a bit, with his four-seamer sitting at 91.5 mph and his sinker averaging 92.1 mph.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/3/17

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We’ll keep tabs on the day’s minor moves in this post …

  • The Blue Jays announced that they have released catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He had been designated for assignment recently. Saltalamacchia opened the year as the team’s reserve catcher, but never got it going offensively. The high-power, high-K switch-hitter did more of the latter, going down on strikeouts 16 times while recording only a single base hit over 26 trips to the plate. Saltalamacchia also struggled last year, though he did hit a dozen long balls in just 292 plate appearances.
  • Angels lefty Greg Mahle was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers, per a club announcement. The 24-year-old was working at Salt Lake already, but gave up his 40-man spot when the team had a need for more pitching at the MLB level. Mahle reached the bigs last year, but struggled to a 5.40 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in his 18 1/3 innings.

Pirates Outright John Bormann

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The Pirates have outrighted catcher John Bormann, per a club announcement (h/t John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com). That leaves Pittsburgh with a pair of open 40-man spots.

Bormann, 24, received his first MLB call-up recently when the organization had a sudden need for a backstop. He did get a single plate appearance, though he struck out. Of course, Bormann wasn’t expected to see the majors anywhere near so soon as this. He has only just reached the High-A level and had struggled there in the early going.

Pittsburgh already moved earlier this week to install a more viable replacement, recalling Elias Diaz. The club is carrying three catchers while waiting for Francisco Cervelli to return to health.

N.L. Notes: Bellinger, Harvey, d’Arnaud, Bryant

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Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts acknowledged after last night’s game that there’s a chance top prospect Cody Bellinger won’t be optioned back to Triple-A when Joc Pederson is ready to return, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was among those to report. The 21-year-old has only 32 plate appearances under his belt, but he is batting a robust .345/.406/.655 with three walks to go with five strikeouts. “I think I belong,” said Bellinger. His manager seemingly agreed, praising the youngster and noting that “things can change” when addressing the question whether Bellinger would be sent back as planned. The question remains one of playing time, as the organization no doubt prefers that Bellinger play more or less every day. Unless first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is sent to the DL to rest his forearm or the club decides to reduce the playing time of its existing group of outfielders, that might be difficult for the Dodgers to arrange.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • While Mets players and coaches say Matt Harvey has been on the rebound in terms of his stuff, the results just haven’t been there, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo explores. Both Harvey and manager Terry Collins say they believe the issue is command, especially with his secondary offerings. Whatever the cause, it’s concerning. While Harvey’s average velocity isn’t too far from his typical range, he is managing only a 7.4% swinging-strike rate. That has left him with as many earned runs as strikeouts (5.14 per nine apiece) over his 35 innings this year.
  • Meanwhile, Mets catch Travis d’Arnaud left yesterday’s game when his recent wrist injury “acted up,” in the words of Collins and as DiComo further reports. It’s not immediately clear whether he’ll miss any time; presumably, that’ll depend upon how the joint responds today. The 28-year-old has rebounded somewhat after a rough 2016 season at the plate. Over his 66 plate appearances, he owns a .203/.288/.475 batting line with four home runs and six walks against just 11 strikeouts — and a .182 BABIP that could suggest some misfortune.
  • Though Cubs star Kris Bryant was forced out of last night’s game with a calf issue, it doesn’t sound as if it’s much cause for concern. Bryant told reporters, including Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter), that he is very confident of returning to the lineup today. Unsurprisingly, the 25-year-old has continued to rake in his third MLB campaign. Over 122 plate appearances, he’s slashing .291/.393/.553 — a near-exact match for the 2016 batting line that helped him to the NL MVP award.

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