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AL Central Notes: Renteria, Royals, Gibson

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Though details of Rick Renteria’s contract were unreported when he was named manager of the White Sox, FanRag’s Jon Heyman now reports that Renteria received a three-year contract that runs from 2017-19. Renteria will earn $1.1MM in 2017, $1.2MM in 2018 and $1.3MM in 2019, according to Heyman’s report. The appointment of the 55-year-old Renteria, who had previously served as a bench coach with the White Sox and as the manager of the Cubs, came after an unsuccessful five-year run at the helm for former White Sox All-Star Robin Ventura. While it’s early in the season and the White Sox aren’t expected to contend following the offseason sale of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, Renteria has the team off to a nice 11-9 start.

More from the AL Central…

  • The Royals are off to a terrible 7-14 start and have scored far and away the fewest runs in baseball (54). However, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports that even in spite of the team’s poor play, the front office has shown no willingness to engage other clubs in trade talks. Similarly, FanRag’s Jon Heyman hears from a rival executive that the Royals are “very, very quiet so far” in terms of communication with other teams. That’s not surprising for virtually any club in late April, but as Morosi and Heyman point out, those conversations may very well be coming sooner rather than later. Kansas City is set to lose Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Alcides Escobar and Jason Vargas to free agency at season’s end, and if the team isn’t contending, any of the bunch could be marketed in trades. Late-inning relievers Kelvin Herrera and Joakim Soria, both controlled through 2018, could also be candidates to move.
  • Kyle Gibson is facing a pivotal juncture in his career with the Twins, writes La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Per Neal, Twins personnel have indicated that with Gibson off to a poor start in his followup effort to last year’s unsuccessful and injury-plagued year, tonight’s start could impact his standing in the club’s rotation. Gibson spoke to Neal and suggested that the importance of his next several outings is hardly lost on him. “They know what I have been, what I haven’t been and what I can be,” says Gibson. “…That doesn’t mean they won’t say, ‘Hey, go figure it out in Triple-A,’ or anything like that. I don’t think it makes me immune from that. But knowing the confidence they have in the pitcher that I can be is reassuring.” The former first-rounder has been hampered by shoulder and back injuries since a very good 2015 season (3.84 ERA, 6.7 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 53.4 percent ground-ball rate in 194 2/3 innings).

NL West Notes: Jankowski, Desmond, Hill, Wood, Ethier

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Padres center fielder Travis Jankowski hit the 10-day disabled list earlier this week with what the team called a “deep bone bruise” in his right foot, but there’s now a concern that Jankowski may have a hairline fracture as well, reports MLB.com’s Barry M. Bloom. If that’s the case, the 25-year-old could be out more than a month. Bloom quotes manager Andy Green as saying the team doctors aren’t yet able to determine if there’s a fracture (perhaps due to the swelling), but they’ll be cautious either way. Even if there’s no fracture, it sounds as if Jankowski can expect to miss more than the minimum 10 days. “They told me I’d be in the boot for another week to 10 days,” Jankowski tells Bloom. Jankowski turned in a marginal performance at the plate in 2016, hitting .245/.332/.313 in 383 plate appearances, but he played strong defense in center field and provided significant baserunning value with 30 steals.

More on the NL West…

  • Ian Desmond is nearing a return to the Rockies, manager Bud Black tells Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Desmond has been with the team but is splitting off to work at the team’s extended Spring Training complex this weekend, where he’ll begin playing in rehab games. According to Groke, Desmond will play multiple positions as he preps for the possibility of logging some outfield work in addition to his time at first base. Black tells Groke that Desmond is “closer than you think” to returning. Previously, Black has mentioned the possibility of Desmond working in the outfield against lefties to keep the Mark Reynolds’ hot right-handed bat in the lineup.
  • Left-hander Alex Wood will make at least one more start for the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (link via MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick). However, it’s also possible that Wood, who tossed six one-hit innings against the Giants in his most recent outing, will remain in the rotation even when Rich Hill is ready to be activated from the disabled list. “I think Alex has done everything he can to warrant a case to continue to be in the rotation,” said Roberts. “…I can’t say with 100 percent confidence when Rich will be back as a starter. There is talk about Rich potentially coming back sooner in a role out of the ’pen and that would leave an opportunity for Woody — who has pitched really well — to stay in the rotation.” Roberts has suggested on multiple occasions that Hill could be eased back from his blister problems as a reliever, though given the magnitude of his contract and last season’s excellence as a starter, one has to imagine that the team would eventually prefer that Hill rejoin the rotation.
  • Roberts also conceded the fact that outfielder Andre Ethier will be sidelined until June, “at the earliest,” as Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times writes. The Dodgers have been without Ethier since he was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back late in Spring Training, and he’s yet to resume baseball activities more than five weeks after receiving an epidural injection. “The time that it’s taken, at this point, it’s almost like [he’ll need] a spring training again,” said Roberts. “…I’m not saying it needs to be a dedicated six weeks. But from the time of baseball activity, it’s easily fair to say [it’ll take] a month after that.” In Ethier’s absence, Andrew Toles has seen quite a bit of playing time, though he’s batting just .207/.258/.362 through 62 plate appearances.

Christian Bethancourt To Continue Pitching In Triple-A

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The Padres sent catcher/outfielder/reliever Christian Bethancourt outright to Triple-A earlier this week after he cleared waivers with the hope that he’d continue to hone his mound skills, and as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune writes, Bethancourt has informed general manager A.J. Preller that he is indeed open to that. Bethancourt only recently began experimenting as a pitcher, and Preller tells Lin that the organization involved the 25-year-old in the decision process.

“It’s his career,” Preller tells Lin. “…Talking to him, he said, ‘I want to give it a go.’ I think he understands he can always go back to catching and he wants to see how it plays out on the pitching front if he has regular practice and outings.”

Coming up through the Braves’ system, Bethancourt rated as one of the game’s top 100 prospects as a catcher, thanks largely to his rocket arm. Multiple scouting reports, in fact, placed an 80 grade on his arm (on the 20-80 scouting scale). An issue with passed balls and his struggles at the plate, however, may have contributed to San Diego’s preference to get a look at Bethancourt on the mound; in 489 Major League plate appearances, he’s batted just .222/.252/.316.

Unsurprisingly, Bethancourt is a work in progress on the mound. Though he allowed just two runs in 8 1/3 innings in Spring Training, he also issued four walks against just three strikeouts in that time. His work as a pitcher during the regular season has been unsightly, as Bethancourt has logged a 10.13 ERA with three strikeouts against 11 walks in just 5 1/3 innings. That’s not necessarily indicative of the hard-throwing Bethancourt’s potential on the mound, though. Learning to pitch at the Major League level with scant mound experience elsewhere is obviously a daunting task, which no doubt factored into his removal from the 40-man roster. (Bethancourt was out of minor league options, thus the exposure to outright waivers.) Despite those struggles, Bethancourt did offer a glimpse of his potential on the mound during his 2017 work, as he averaged better than 94 mph on his fastball and topped out at 98 mph (per Brooks Baseball).

According to Lin, Bethancourt will continue to pinch-hit and take batting practice while in Triple-A, but the vast majority of his focus will be on his work as a reliever. “He’ll get a chance to face the next-best league to the big leagues,” says Preller of the decision to throw Bethancourt into the fire of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. “It’s going to be a test for him, but I’m confident as far as him going out and being able to perform.”

If Bethancourt is able to successfully make the transition, he’d join Jason Motte, Chris Hatcher and, most notably, Kenley Jansen as big league relievers that opened their careers as catchers. Carlos Marmol and Troy Percival are other recent examples of relievers who found success after (much more briefly) working as catchers early in their careers.

Latest Details On Potential Sale Of Marlins

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11:35pm: The group led by Tagg Romney, which reportedly also includes Hall of Fame left-hander Tom Glavine, is still alive in the bidding for the Marlins, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link).

Charles Gasparino and Brian Schwartz of FOX Business provide a slew of new information, reporting that Bush and Jeter are expected to invest “no more than $200 million combined,” leaving as much as $800-900MM to be raised to complete the purchase with what the league will term an acceptable level of debt. However, as the FOX Business duo notes, it will also be difficult for Jeter and Bush to rally that type of financial commitment while still maintaining principal ownership of the team.

Furthermore, Gasparino and Schwartz report that the Romney group — notably, they make no mention of Glavine — bid $1.1 billion for the Marlins, though that falls well shy of the $1.34 billion figure from Jeter and Bush. The Jeter/Bush group has an “exclusive negotiating window” to raise the requisite capital to complete their purchase, and that window is “expected to last at least until June,” per the report. Gasparino and Schwartz cite a “senior executive inside the commissioner’s office” in reporting that the Marlins have yet to formally approach Major League Baseball about the Jeter/Bush bid. Should that bid ultimately fall through, there are other bidders that will step in.

1:48pm: Commissioner Rob Manfred has cast doubt on certain reports that have framed the Jeter/Bush group as having a deal in place. As the Sun Sentinel reports, Manfred says “there are multiple bidders for the Marlins” at this point. Importantly, too, he made clear “there is no agreement in place” at present, with the league still “working with more than one group” of possible purchasers.

Manfred later made clear that there were two bidding groups currently involved in the pursuit of the franchise. Resolution is expected in short order. “The timeline is relatively short,” he said. “It would be measured in days, not months.”

11:35am: We learned recently that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria had elected to try to finalize a sale of the organization with a bidding group led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush. As noted at the time, though, that hardly means that a deal is inevitable.

Reporting continues to emerge regarding the still-developing situation. Jon Heyman of Fan Rag writes that the Jeter/Bush group’s emergence from other bidders came as a surprise — and may not yet be backed by the needed financial commitments. The would-be owners are said to be contacting a range of sources, including some connected with other bidding groups, to bolster the amount of equity that’ll be needed to obtain MLB approval. (The league typically requires at least three-fifths of the purchase price to come from cash.)

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears similarly, reporting that Bush has been on the horn with possible co-investors this week. The team, though, is apparently confident that the needed cash (and, presumably, debt financing as well) will be found in due time. As Jackson expounds further (Twitter links), that belief explains why the club struck an agreement for some form of exclusive negotiation rights — the details of which remain unknown — with the new group. Bush, who’d be the control person, will apparently sit down soon with league officials to discuss the money situation.

In the aggregate, there’s still a fair bit of uncertainty, even if the Jeter/Bush team have the inside track to move into Marlins Park. Per Heyman, a look at the books led the second-place bidders (a group led by Tagg Romney and headlined by Tom Glavine) to back down from their initial willingness to commit something on the order of $1.4B. For Jeter and Bush, convincing others to put their cash at stake will require a compelling financial argument. We have heard indication both that the league approval process ought not be a problem and that the Jeter/Bush duo can find the rest of the equity needed to lock up a deal. If not, says Jackson, Loria could circle back to other prospective buyers.

Latest On Luis Robert’s Market

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Nineteen-year-old outfielder Luis Robert is the top international talent that is available on the amateur market and, after recently being declared a free agent by Major League Baseball, has already begun hosting private workouts with interested teams, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler. The Athletics hosted a workout for Robert last Friday that was attended by GM David Forst, according to Badler, and Reds GM Dick Williams was on hand to watch him this past Tuesday in a workout. Prior to that, he’d worked out for the Astros, Badler adds.

Badler notes that Robert’s camp is also expected to set up private workouts with the Padres, Cardinals and White Sox in the coming weeks. It seems that of those three clubs, the heavy-spending Padres are up first, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune reports (via Twitter) that Robert will work out with the Pads tomorrow. To this point, the Padres have paced all 30 teams in terms of international spending during the current signing period, as their total investment (including luxury tax penalties for shattering their allotted bonus pool) is in the vicinity of $80MM.

The willingness to spend at such an aggressive level may be key for any club that wishes to sign Robert, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman writes in his latest Inside Baseball column that one source who closely follows the international market believes Robert already has a $25MM offer “in hand,” though Heyman notes that others have suggested to him no offers have been made to this point. There could, of course, be some semantics at play there in terms of what constitutes a formal offer. A price tag in the vicinity of $25MM for Robert would come with a 100 percent luxury tax attached to it, meaning he’d cost any team that signed him at that rate a total of roughly $50MM.

As Badler writes, though Robert has been declared a free agent, he won’t formally be cleared to sign until May 20. In the interim, he’ll host at least one more open showcase for teams, in addition to the remaining private workouts his camp will orchestrate.

It’s worth noting that of the teams linked to Robert, only the White Sox have yet to exceed their current international bonus pool. In other words, while other clubs would essentially only be parting with money in order to sign Robert, the ChiSox would need to determine if Robert is worth handcuffing themselves in each of the next two international signing periods; should the Sox decide to exceed their pool in the eleventh hour — the current signing period ends on June 15 — they’d be unable to sign any individual player for more than $300K in either the 2017-18 or 2018-19 signing periods.

In a similar vein, teams that are still in the metaphorical “penalty box” for crushing their allotted pools in previous signing periods won’t be able to compete for Robert’s services, as they’re each capped at that same $300K figure on individual signings. That eliminates the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Blue Jays, Rays, Royals and Diamondbacks from serving as serious competition in the Robert market.

Though Robert is just 19 years of age, he’d already blossomed into a star, hitting a ridiculous .401/.526/.687 with 12 homers, 12 doubles, a pair of triples and 11 steals over the life of 53 games (232 plate appearances) in his final pro season in the Cuban National Series. Scouting reports on Robert note that he’s capable of playing center field right now, though he may ultimately wind up in a corner. Badler has previously written that both his bat speed and raw power are plus, and Heyman’s above-linked piece offers a number of favorable reviews of Robert’s skill set. Additionally, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez has previously spoken to a number of international scouting directors who have heaped praise onto Robert, calling him the game’s best international prospect behind Japanese phenom Shohei Otani and labeling him one of the most talented young players on the planet.

Injury Notes: Manaea, Beltre, Red Sox, Span

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Athletics lefty Sean Manaea exited yesterday’s game after just two innings due to left shoulder tightness, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The departure of yet another of the Athletics’ top starters is troubling enough, but Slusser adds that Manaea’s velocity was topping out at 90 mph on Wednesday — a far cry from the 95 mph at which he usually tops out and from the 92.5 mph he’s averaged thus far in 2017. Slusser has since tweeted that Manaea did pass some initial strength tests with his shoulder today and hopes to try throwing tomorrow.

Oakland already has Sonny Gray and Kendall Graveman on the disabled list, though they’ll welcome Graveman back to the rotation tonight. If Manaea needs to miss time, I’d imagine that right-handers Cesar Valdez and Paul Blackburn would be options to step into his rotation spot. Each is already on the 40-man roster, and Valdez is presently serving as the team’s long reliever after making a spot start last week.

A few more injury notes from around the game…

  • While the Rangers hoped at the time of Adrian Beltre’s most recent setback that he’d be able to join the club by the end of April, it’s now questionable whether he’ll even be ready to take the field at some point in May, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “It’s at the point where we didn’t necessarily see the progress results we thought we would see,” manager Jeff Banister tells Sullivan. Banister said there’s still no timeline on Beltre, adding that the team is still trying to reduce the swelling and soreness in Beltre’s strained calf. Joey Gallo will continue to man third base in Beltre’s absence.
  • Red Sox reliever Carson Smith has had a setback in his recovery from 2016 Tommy John surgery, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com writes. Smith was throwing off a mound a couple of weeks ago but has “had to slow down,” manager John Farrell told reporters. Smith is long tossing from 110 feet but is now two weeks removed from his most recent mound session. Boston had been targeting a June return for Smith, but a July return is now more realistic, per McCaffrey. The Red Sox have had rough luck when trading for potential setup arms; in addition to losing Smith for more than a year due to Tommy John surgery just months after trading for him, the team has yet to reap any benefit from its trade to acquire Tyler Thornburg this offseason, as Thornburg has been sidelined all season by a right shoulder impingement. CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich tweeted recently that Farrell said on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that Thornburg essentially needs to progress through Spring Training all over again, which would normally consist of seven to 10 appearances.
  • The initial MRI on Denard Span’s shoulder revealed no serious injuries to the Giants center fielder (Twitter links via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Chris Haft of MLB.com). Span, who has already been placed on the 10-day disabled list, said that his shoulder was in too much pain yesterday to even get through the first attempt at an MRI (via Schulman). Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters earlier today that the expectation is that Span will miss more than the minimum 10 days on the disabled list (Twitter link via Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News).

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/27/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • First baseman/left fielder Chris Marrero has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Sacramento by the Giants, the team announced earlier today. Marrero, 28, broke camp as part of a left-field platoon with Jarrett Parker but struggled to a .132/.171/.211 batting line through 41 plate appearances. The former first-round pick (Nationals, 2006) had a strong year with the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016 and delivered a huge performance in Spring Training. That output clearly didn’t carry over into the regular season, but given the uncertainty surrounding the Giants’ left field mix at present, Marrero could resurface later in the year if he performs well in Sacramento. The Giants noted that Marrero will be joining their Sacramento affiliate tomorrow.
  • The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander T.J. McFarland and moved Shelby Miller to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Miller, as he announced earlier this afternoon, is dealing with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and a flexor strain. McFarland, 27, logged a 2.76 ERA in 58 2/3 frames with the 2014 Orioles but has struggled in 65 innings since that time, working to a 5.68 ERA with 4.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. When at his best, McFarland held opposing lefties to a combined .246/.309/.330 batting line in a total of 194 plate appearances between the 2014-15 campaigns.

Cardinals Outright Anthony Garcia

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Cardinals outfielder Anthony Garcia has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster, per the club’s transactions page at MLB.com. It doesn’t appear as if there will be an immediate corresponding move, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Garcia’s outright was more about keeping an open roster spot on the 40-man for the future than for accommodating a new addition.

The 25-year-old Garcia hit .280/.317/.473 in 31 games following a promotion from Double-A Springfield to Triple-A Memphis in 2016, which was apparently enough to secure his spot on the 40-man roster over the course of the offseason. However, a .162/.225/.270 start through his first 40 plate appearances of the 2017 campaign likely contributed to his departure from the 40-man roster.

While Garcia played some center field and even did some catching early in his career after being selected in the 18th round of the 2009 draft, he’s been almost exclusively a corner outfielder in each of the past two seasons (with the exception being one lone appearance at first base in 2015).

Cespedes Slated For MRI On Ailing Hamstring; Trip To DL Possible

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3:20pm: Cespedes will undergo another MRI on Friday to reevaluate his hamstring, tweets MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. “There’s no indication for how long it will be,” manager Terry Collins told New York reporters (via DiComo). However, Collins’ assumption is that Cespedes will land on the disabled list, Carig tweets. Collins added that Cespedes could be “out a while,” tweets James Wagner of the New York Times.

1:47pm: Mets star Yoenis Cespedes has left today’s game with what is being called a left hamstring pull, as the SNY broadcast team reports (and Marc Carig of Newday tweets). He pulled up while running out a double.

As ever, we’ll need to await further word before reaching any conclusions as to how this might impact the team. But there’s added and more obvious concern here since Cespedes had already been dealing with a hamstring issue that kept him out for three games. Last year, Cespedes ended up missing a significant stretch due to a leg muscle injury, though in that case it was a quad problem.

It’s far too soon to know how significant the injury is, but clearly it’s a major concern for a Mets club that has had its fair share of issues in the early going. In addition to on-field struggles, the organization has been beset by a variety of worrying injury situations.

Several other players are also dealing with maladies, but two new concerns arose today. Before Cespedes went down, ace righty Noah Syndergaard was scratched with discomfort in his biceps. Fortunately, there’s no reason at present to fear that either issue will turn out to be something major. But there’s increasingly little margin for error in New York. Though it’s still early, the Mets will slip into the NL East basement if they can’t come back in today’s game against the Braves.

Marlins Claim Joe Gunkel

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The Marlins have announced the claim of righty Joe Gunkel off waivers from the Dodgers. He has been optioned to Double-A Jacksonville, where he’ll serve as a near-MLB-ready depth option for the Fish.

Gunkel, 25, has bounced from the Red Sox to the Orioles to the Dodgers over the past 18 months before today’s arrival in the Marlins organization. Though he’s yet to crack a Major League roster and hasn’t generated considerable prospect fanfare — he topped out as the No. 20 prospect in a weak Orioles farm system this past offseason, per Baseball America — it’s not hard to see why he’s held appeal to so many clubs.

A former 18th-round pick, Gunkel has displayed pristine control throughout his minor league career, averaging just 1.5 walks per nine innings pitched over the life of 439 1/3 frames. And, as recently as 2015, thre righty posted a combined 2.68 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in 144 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.

In 2016, Gunkel’s ERA took a step backward (4.02), but he turned in a career-high 161 innings between Double-A and Triple-A while still showing off a staunch aversion to free passes (1.2 BB/9). Gunkel averaged 6.1 K/9 and induced grounders at a roughly 41 percent clip between those two levels. Gunkel has three minor league options remaining, meaning that he can be shuttled back and forth between the minors and Majors without first needing to clear waivers from now through the end of the 2019 campaign (if he ultimately sticks with one organization).

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