Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Braves Designate Chase d’Arnaud, Select Lane Adams
The Braves have designated infielder Chase d’Arnaud for assignment, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Atlanta has summoned outfielder Lane Adams from Triple-A to take the roster spot.
d’Arnaud, 30, has bounced around the league over his six seasons in the majors, but received his most extensive action yet last year with the Braves. Over 262 plate appearances, he slashed .245/.317/.335. While he had managed three hits and two walks in his ten trips to the plate thus far in 2016, the Braves evidently elected to go in another direction for the time being.
The 27-year-old Adams has seen the majors, but only briefly. He was off to a strong start at Triple-A, though, with a .333/.352/.588 slash line — but also 16 strikeouts against just a pair of walks — over his 54 plate appearances. He’ll join Emilio Bonifacio in the reserve outfield mix, though it’s also possible that the former could see more action in the infield with d’Arnaud’s departure from the roster.
Marlins “Moving Forward” With Jeter/Bush Group
The Marlins are “moving forward” in negotiations with the would-be ownership group headlined by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (links to Twitter). The organization is said to be “optimistic” that a deal will be reached to transfer control from current owner Jeffrey Loria to Bush, who’d be the new control person, and the four other members of the group. It’s said to be an “agreement in principle” that sets a $1.3B purchase price.
This report follows some conflicting signals sent throughout the day. Earlier, a report suggested that the Jeter/Bush group was the only possible bidder left due to a lack of interest. But even that group was said not to have submitted a firm offer, with financing still in the works. Marlins president David Samson flatly rejected this report, saying it was strewn with errors but declining to specify or correct them.
Later, Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg reported that the Jeter/Bush group had “won the auction” for the organization — which presents quite a different picture of the entire process. In addition to framing it as an “auction” for the first time, this report says that there were multiple other bidding groups, including one headed by businessman Wayne Rothbaum and another led by Tagg Romney (which included Hall-of-Fame hurler Tom Glavine). When asked to respond, Samson stated that he would not offer any comment, as Tim Healey of the Sun-Sentinel tweets.
Notably, none of the reports suggest that any paperwork has been signed. It’s important to bear in mind, too, that even in the event that a preliminary agreement is struck, it would still be subject to a lengthy finalization process — between the parties and also involving authorization from Major League Baseball.
Central Notes: Cards, Hosmer, Rodon, Nova
The broad health arena appears to offer great potential for competitive advantage to individual MLB organizations. We have heard of medical and dietary advancements for various teams, for example, and there’s surely lots going on that isn’t being discussed fully in public. For the Cardinals, one area of focus is on training, but it’s all happening as part of a broader initiative, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. The club is building up a “department of performance” that will combine training, medical, and other related functions under one roof.
Here’s more from the game’s central divisions:
- Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer tells Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that he’s not looking for changes to break out of his early-season slump. “I know I’ve been through it long enough now to realize you’ve just got to stick with your approach and it will change,” said Hosmer. Of course, the 27-year-old’s offensive malaise ties into a broader picture of uneven production over his seven-year MLB career, which has continued to raise questions about his earning power on the upcoming free-agent market. And as Dodd writes, Hosmer has several teammates who are also struggling quite a bit early on. If there’s a silver lining to the club’s 7-and-12 start, though, it’s the fact that the division leaders haven’t exactly sprinted out of the gates. Entering today’s action, the Indians and Tigers sit just 3.5 games up.
- The White Sox were able to get a look at lefty Carlos Rodon yesterday, as he played catch under the watch of pitching coach Don Cooper, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. But that doesn’t mean there’s any further clarity to the question of when the talented southpaw will be back to the majors. Details are murky on Rodon, whose biceps injury initially seemed minor. As Hayes notes, the club had initially hoped to see Rodon push past 200 frames this year, but that’s obviously no longer a viable target.
- As righty Ivan Nova continues to produce good results for the Pirates, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post looks at why things didn’t quite turn out that way when he was pitching for the Yankees. Though Nova did have his share of success in New York, he was dealt last summer on the cusp of free agency and re-signed in Pittsburgh after eleven impressive outings. He doesn’t blame the Yankees’ handling for his uneven stint there, but does say that a lack of confidence in his standing in his old organization was partially at fault. “It’s very different when you know that you’re going to pitch every five days, that’s for sure,” says Nova. He continued to explain that he previously would worry about being dropped to the bullpen or Triple-A, explaining: “It wasn’t because they told me what’s going to happen after. It was something I put in my mind. It was my mistake, my fault, to think that way instead of keeping positive all the time.”
Latest On Marlins’ Sale Efforts
12:32pm: Marlins president David Samson calls the Forbes story “inaccurate,” as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes, though he did not provide details on bidding parties.
11:56am: Casting doubts on recent reports of keen interest from multiple bidding groups, Mike Ozanian of Forbes writes that the Marlins are currently drawing attention from just one potential suitor. And even that group — a team of investors led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush — has only yet made a “non-binding indication of interest” and is still hunting for cash to support a bid.
According to Ozanian, other potential bidders have not continued their initial pursuit of a deal with current Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. Former hurler Tom Glavine was said to have joined forces with Tagg Romney (Mitt’s son), but that pairing has apparently fizzled already. That’s particularly problematic, per the report, since the group held out the promise of bringing a significant amount of cash to the table.
We have heard talk at times of at least one more possible challenger to take the reins in Miami. But Ozanian says that interest has also seemingly dried up beyond the two recognizable bidding groups noted above. There’s doubt, it seems, as to where an alternative to the Jeter/Bush team might come from.
If there’s truly just one passable pursuer of the organization, that surely doesn’t bode well for Loria’s sale price. As the report notes, there already seems to have been a precipitous fall in the numbers being discussed publicly. Just ten weeks ago, the club was said to be headed for a $1.6B sale.
Red Sox Place Pablo Sandoval On 10-Day DL
1:00pm: Manager John Farrell provided some details in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com recounts. The injury was to the “medial side of the right knee,” said Farrell, who says that significant swelling forced the DL move. It is still not known how long of an absence is to be expected.
11:07am: The Red Sox have placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day DL with a right knee sprain, the club has announced. He’ll be replaced by infielder Josh Rutledge, who has been activated from his own DL stint.
Sandoval, 30, has produced uneven results thus far upon returning from a long layoff. Through 67 plate appearances, he is hitting .213/.269/.377 with three home runs. And there are some questions about his glovework, with four errors on his ledger and poor grades from advanced metrics (in quite a small sample).
Still, there are some reasons for hope with the bat. Sandoval’s .164 isolated slugging mark matches his work from 2012, which would seem to be a positive development. But it remains to be seen whether he can right the ship in the on-base department. Sandoval is suffering from a .217 BABIP despite making plenty of hard contact, though his strikeout rate is up to 19.4% on a 14.6% swinging-strike rate — well above his career figures in both areas.
While Boston will be glad to get Rutledge back, the hope had been to see both players on the roster at the same time. The switch-hitting Sandoval has continued to struggle badly against left-handed pitching, making the pair a theoretically useful platoon match. (Rutledge hits from the right side, though he hasn’t carried noticeable splits historically.)
Instead, the Sox will lean on Rutledge — along with left-handed-hitting utilityman Marco Hernandez — to cover third base during Sandoval’s absence. It’s not clear at this point just how long the organization expects to be without the veteran.
Transactions Retrospection: The Ryan Howard Extension
On April 26, 2010, Ryan Howard was a star. For four consecutive seasons, the Phillies first baseman had landed in the top five of the National League MVP voting and swatted over forty home runs. With the Phils in the midst of a five-year run of dominance, the sides linked up on a five-year, $125MM extension.
It’s easy to mock that contract now, with the Phillies still paying down the final portion of it — a whopping $10MM buyout of a $23MM option for the 2017 season. Perhaps the organization believed at the time of the signing that the $13MM decision would be an easy one, but surely since-departed GM Ruben Amaro Jr. did not expect it would be so obvious to say goodbye to (rather than retain) the slugger.
With Howard now looking to make his way back to the majors on a minor-league deal with the Braves, his huge contract is no longer weighing down the Phillies. Instead, it serves mostly as a cautionary tale.
It’s easy to go overboard in criticizing the Howard contract, because we know what became of it. Though he continued to hit at an above-average rate in 2010 and 2011, while playing out the remainder of his arbitration-eligible seasons (which had been bought out under a prior extension), the actual years covered by the five-year deal were a disaster. From 2012 through 2016, Howard averaged 19 home runs annually while slashing a miserable .226/.292/.427.
But that outcome surely wasn’t the expected one at the time of the signing. Howard hadn’t yet suffered a devastating Achilles injury. His K/BB numbers hadn’t eroded to the point that they would. (In fact, he had posted 15% or better walk rates in two full MLB seasons — 2006 and 2007 — and had to that point never ended a full year with less than a 10.7% walk rate.) The swing-and-miss was always there, but Howard hadn’t yet seen his chase rate jump suddenly (it topped 30% in 2010 and kept going up from there).
That is to say: the Phillies weren’t wrong in assessing that Howard was a heck of a player. He was! And he gave them 64 dingers and a .265/.350/.497 batting line over the next two seasons, helping the organization to two more postseason berths. That sort of reduced-but- still-useful production might’ve continued had Howard not blown out his Achilles in making the last out of the club’s stunning 2011 NLDS exit.
Of course, while the Howard extension perhaps turned sour quicker than might’ve been anticipated, that doesn’t mean it was well-conceived. Even at his best, Howard was an extremely limited player; at the time of the deal, he was already thirty years old. And the real sin was committed in making the deal so far in advance of Howard’s free agency, at the end of his peak, and in expectation of a longer run of organizational success than could be sustained. This wasn’t exactly unforeseeable, either. As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes wrote at the time: “The length makes this an unnecessary risk, and at $25MM a year the Phillies didn’t get a discount for taking the gamble and locking him up two years before free agency.”
The Phillies did not come up with a favorable bounce on their ill-advised dice roll. That’s clear. And the deal ended up costing the organization quite a bit of money that could have been reallocated — perhaps, to other players who might’ve helped extend the contention window. (Or, perhaps to other players who might’ve been signed to unwise contracts that would have deepened the eventual financial hole.) But here, too, it’s best to avoid dramatizing the impact. When the Phillies began dismantling their once-great core, Howard’s contract meant that he’d stay on — eventually becoming the lone remaining relic. But it’d be a bit of a stretch to say that the deal impacted the team’s recent decisionmaking, or changed the timeline for a hoped-for return to contention. The delayed rebuilding launch surely wasn’t driven by this one contract.
For the Phillies, the Howard contract proved to be something like the cost expended on a fancy diamond ring in a relationship that ultimately falls apart. When put in perspective, it’s hardly the thing that stings the most. And eventually, you can look back on it all with fondness despite the hard times. By the end, Howard was even able to be seen once more as a proud part of a golden era for the franchise. The Phillies organization will no doubt remember him just that way for decades to come … with the front office also constantly reminding itself of the lesson paid for in his contract.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/24/17
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- Mariners righty Jonathan Aro has been hit with a 50-game suspension for an unspecified violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, per an announcement. Unlike some recent suspensions, the sanction was not tied to performance-enhancing drugs, making it seem likely that Aro’s suspension relates to a drug of abuse. The 26-year-old reliever had been outrighted off of the 40-man roster previously. He has seen 11 innings of MLB action over the past two years, but has spent the bulk of his time since the start of 2015 pitching in the upper minors. In 88 Triple-A frames, Aro owns a 2.86 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
- The Padres announced that they have recalled outfielder Jabari Blash from Triple-A. With Travis Jankowski hitting the 10-day DL owing to a bone bruise on his right foot, the club was in need of another option in the outfield. The 27-year-old Blash has continued to punish pitching at the highest level of the minors, though it remains unclear how long a look he’ll get at the MLB level. For now, at least, he’s holding onto a 40-man spot and will get at least a brief shot to return to active duty in the majors.
- The Twins will select the contract of right-hander Nick Tepesch from Triple-A Rochester prior to tonight’s game, two sources tell Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter links). Minnesota recently optioned fifth starter Adalberto Mejia to Triple-A and placed long reliever Justin Haley on the 10-day DL, so Tepesch could conceivably fill either of those spots (though the Twins already made a pair of corresponding roster moves, recalling Kennys Vargas and Buddy Boshers). The 26-year-old Tepesch inked a minor league deal with Minnesota this offseason and has fired 18 innings with a 2.00 ERA and a 17-to-4 K/BB ratio so far in Triple-A. In 223 Major League innings — most of which came with the Rangers when Twins GM Thad Levine was an assistant GM in Texas — Tepesch has a 4.68 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 43.5 percent ground-ball rate. The corresponding 25-man and 40-man roster moves for Tepesch’s arrival remain unclear.
Offseason In Review: Minnesota Twins
This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.
The first offseason of the Twins’ new-look front office was headlined by a litany of Brian Dozier trade rumors that never came to fruition. Ultimately, the winter proved to be a quiet one for a club that has spent the better part of a decade in the American League Central cellar.
Major League Signings
- Jason Castro, C: Three years, $24.5MM
- Matt Belisle, RHP: One year, $2.05MM
- Total spend: $26.55MM
Trades and Claims
- Claimed SS/2B/3B Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Brewers
- Acquired Rule 5 RHP Justin Haley from the Angels in exchange for cash
- Traded RHP Pat Light to the Pirates for cash
Extensions
- None
Notable Minor League Signings
- Craig Breslow, Drew Stubbs (released), Chris Gimenez, Ryan Vogelsong (released), Nick Tepesch, Paul Clemens, J.B. Shuck, Ben Paulsen, Matt Hague
Notable Losses
Needs Addressed
The 2016-17 offseason marked the first test for new chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine — the two men that were tasked with leading the new Twins front office following the surprising dismissal of Minnesota GM Terry Ryan (now a special advisor with the Phillies). Those unfamiliar with the Twins may raise an eyebrow at calling it “surprising” for a 100-loss team to fire its GM, but virtually no organization has shown loyalty in its front office and coaching staff like the Twins. Incredibly, Falvey is just the fourth man to assume the top spot in Minnesota’s baseball ops hierarchy since 1985.
While Falvey and Levine didn’t gut their new roster in the same manner that some of their peers have in recent offseasons upon being hired (e.g. Jerry Dipoto in Seattle, David Stearns in Milwaukee), the new Minnesota duo did cut ties on one of the team’s longest-tenured players in the form of Trevor Plouffe. Rather than pay the third baseman a projected arbitration salary north of $8MM, Minnesota outrighted Plouffe, clearing a path for Miguel Sano to man third base.
Along those same lines, Falvey and Levine waited until late in the offseason to designate Byung Ho Park for assignment, banking on the fact that the remaining $9.25MM on his contract would allow him to pass through waivers and remain in the organization without occupying a 40-man spot. That’s exactly how the situation panned out, and he’ll now look to work his way back to the Majors after a strong Spring Training once he returns from an injury in Triple-A.
While an overabundance of corner/DH options (many of whom haven’t been impressive) has been a recent issue for the Twins, catching has been a need in Minnesota since concussions and back injuries forced Joe Mauer to vacate his lifelong position and move to first base. The post-Mauer days have seen the Twins turn to Kurt Suzuki for three years and a long list of less-productive options, including Ryan Doumit, Josmil Pinto, Drew Butera, Chris Herrmann, John Ryan Murphy, Juan Centeno and Eric Fryer.
The first significant move for Falvey and Levine was to shore up the catching spot with a plus defender — something they lacked during the three-year term of Suzuki. Suzuki was often a passable offensive option, relative to other backstops, but he struggled greatly in throwing out runners and in framing pitches. No team caught fewer than the 64 runners the Twins have thrown out in stolen base attempts from 2014-16. (And it’s not particularly close, with the Rockies and White Sox tied for the next-fewest at 82.)
Jason Castro’s three-year, $24.5MM deal might’ve seemed steep based on his offensive struggles, but he grades out as one of baseball’s best framers and threw out base thieves at a 30.4 percent clip in 2015-16. Pitching has been one of the Twins’ greatest ills since their 2011 downward spiral, and Castro should help out the staff in a number of ways. Castro’s struggles against lefties may have prompted Falvey and Levine to bring in a player with whom they’re quite familiar in veteran backstop Chris Gimenez. After spending time with Falvey’s Indians and Levine’s Rangers in recent years, Gimenez broke camp as the backup to Castro in Minnesota, giving the club a platoon option with solid glovework himself.
Bullpen depth has been an issue for the Twins in recent seasons, and while Matt Belisle is hardly a big-name addition, he represented a highly affordable option (one year, $2.05MM) that has pitched to a combined 2.15 ERA across 79 2/3 innings over the past two seasons. He doesn’t miss many bats — an all-too-common trend among Twins pitchers — but has enjoyed relatively consistent success dating back to the 2010 campaign.
Questions Remaining
The biggest question surrounding the Twins this offseason was whether they should pull the trigger on a trade of Brian Dozier on the heels of the second baseman’s 42-homer campaign. Unfortunately for Minnesota, it was hardly a seller’s market. Only the Dodgers and Angels truly needed second base upgrades, and the Halos’ lackluster farm system made it difficult to pursue a premium trade target.
Rumors tying the Dodgers to Dozier persisted for the better part of two months. Specific machinations vary from report to report, but the general, underlying theme seems fairly clear. The Dodgers felt comfortable parting with promising right-handed pitching prospect Jose De Leon in a straight-up swap for Dozier, while the Twins wanted at least one quality second piece. Early reports had the Twins pursuing top-level second pieces such as Cody Bellinger and Yadier Alvarez, though later reports indicated that lesser-regarded names like Brock Stewart were off the table as a secondary piece, as well. Ultimately, L.A. swapped De Leon for Logan Forsythe in a one-for-one exchange.
So, the Twins entered 2017 with Dozier again in the heart of their lineup, and the question now turns to whether it was a mistake not to flip him for De Leon. Certainly, the 24-year-old De Leon is a promising piece, but there’s serious risk in swapping a proven big leaguer for just one pitching prospect (as Twins fans know all too well from the Denard Span / Alex Meyer trade), and Dozier could be in higher demand this summer. Dozier’s quietly been one of the game’s better second basemen for the past four seasons (16.4 fWAR, 17.8 rWAR), but a sudden downturn in performance or a significant injury could make the decision to hold look ill-advised.
Looking to the rest of the roster, the Twins face a familiar refrain. There are question marks up and down the rotation, the bullpen could be thin, and the lineup is extremely dependent on a number of high-ceiling but unproven position players.
Ervin Santana has been somewhat quietly excellent since last June, and Hector Santiago is off to a nice start as he looks to rebound from a terrible stint with Minnesota last season. Phil Hughes, Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia (acquired last summer for Eduardo Nunez) all broke camp in the rotation, but Mejia’s already been optioned out after struggling. Hughes’ velocity is down after thoracic outlet surgery last summer, and Gibson hasn’t shown signs of righting the ship after a down year in 2016.
The Twins lost one rotation candidate early in spring when Trevor May tore his UCL and required Tommy John surgery. It’s possible that Tyler Duffey could get another look in the rotation, with other candidates including once-vaunted prospect Jose Berrios (who was shelled in his first tastes of the Majors last year) or well-regarded lefty Stephen Gonsalves. Former top picks Kohl Stewart and Tyler Jay don’t appear to be especially close, and Jay is in fact now being developed as a reliever. Suffice it to say, the rotation picture is murky, at best.
Adding Belisle to the bullpen was a fine low-cost/low-risk move, but the Twins’ relief corps is still rife with uncertainty. Glen Perkins will be out until at least June following last year’s shoulder surgery, and it remains to be seen if Brandon Kintzler can sustain his 2016 success. Ryan Pressly pitched well from 2014-16, and Taylor Rogers looked like a solid lefty upon debuting in 2016. Beyond that, the Twins are counting on a hodgepodge of inexperienced arms and reclamation projects (e.g. Craig Breslow) to buttress a shaky rotation.
The lineup comes with similar questions. Each of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler has frequented top 100 prospect lists in recent years, and each has had some big league success. But, none of the bunch has solidified himself as a big league regular just yet. Buxton’s early struggles, in particular, lead to further questions for this team.
In the infield, Jorge Polanco opened the year as the everyday shortstop despite the fact that scouting reports peg him as a better option at second base or third base. Sano, meanwhile, needs to prove that he can serve as a passable defensive option at third base. Eduardo Escobar and Danny Santana made the club as reserves, but Santana hasn’t hit since his BABIP-fueled rookie season, and his lack of minor league options could jeopardize his 40-man spot at some point in 2017. At some point, Park or Kennys Vargas will be settled upon as the long-term option at designated hitter, but Robbie Grossman has held down the fort quite nicely in that regard early in 2017.
Deal of Note
Entering the offseason, few would’ve projected Jason Castro to receive the most significant contract of any catcher this winter. The 29-year-old is a former first-round pick and did have an All-Star 2013 campaign in which he batted .276/.350/.485 with 18 home runs in 491 plate appearances. But, he followed up that excellent season with a collective .215/.291/.369 batting line from 2014-16 and hit just .210/.307/.377 in his platform year before free agency.
The market for Castro was robust from the start, though, with multiple clubs showing interest. The Twins, Rays and Braves led the charge in pursuing Castro, though he was said to have multi-year offers from at least four teams in addition to multiple three-year offers before signing with Minnesota. Compare that to the market of Matt Wieters — a considerably more accomplished offensive player — and the Castro contract becomes a readily apparent sign of a paradigm shift in the valuation of catchers throughout the league.
Catcher defense is being valued at an all-time high, with a particular emphasis on pitch-framing coming into focus. Wieters’ pitch-framing marks have been below average in recent years, as have those of Welington Castillo — another catcher whose bat is superior to that of Castro but was surprisingly non-tendered. Castillo had to settle for a guaranteed two years at a lesser rate than Castro, further exemplifying that teams are increasingly concerned with what catchers do behind the plate than what they can do at the plate.
While the addition of Castro isn’t going to turn the Twins’ pitching staff from a bottom-of-the-league unit to a premium collection of arms, there’s also an argument to be made that signing a catcher with this skill-set was the best way for Minnesota to overhaul its staff in one fell swoop. Framing numbers, of course, are an inexact science, but for the sake of comparison, Baseball Prospectus rated Suzuki 6.8 runs below average in terms of framing last year, while Castro was among the game’s best at 16.3 runs above average.
Overview
As has been the case in recent years, the Twins are relying on some questionable veteran arms in the rotation and a slew of talented-but-unproven position players to fill out the lineup. Thus far, the Twins have trotted out an everyday lineup that features five players — Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Kepler and Polanco — that were regarded as top 100 prospects within the past two years. There’s plenty of upside in this bunch, but it’s not realistic to expect that each of that quintet will prove to be an average regular or better.
It’s true that in any given season, any club could contend with enough breaks (see: the 2015 Twins). This year’s version of the Twins got off to a hot start, but it still seems likely that 2017 will be more about determining which members of the team’s most recent wave of top prospects can live up to the hype.
If and when they fall out of the race in the American League Central, the Twins will have a handful of chips to cash in and further add to the youth movement, including Dozier, Ervin Santana, Kintzler, Belisle and any of Santiago, Hughes and Gibson depending on health and performance. The new front office didn’t act as a definitive seller this winter, though, suggesting that Falvey, Levine & Co. at least feel it’s possible that enough of the young talent already in the system can be vital cogs in the next competitive Twins team.
Let’s see what MLBTR readers thought about Minnesota’s offseason (link to poll for Trade Rumors app users)…
Dodgers Place Joc Pederson On 10-Day DL; Julio Urias To Make Season Debut
The Dodgers have placed center fielder Joc Pederson on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by outfielder Brett Eibner.
Pederson, who just turned 25, has a groin injury. It doesn’t seem likely to keep him out for a lengthy stretch, but the Dodgers evidently felt it was worth getting out ahead of with a DL placement. He’ll look to pick up his hitting a bit upon his return, after posting a tepid .220/.322/.340 mark through his first 18 games of the season.
Notably, too, Los Angeles is set to bring up talented young starter Julio Urias for his 2017 debut, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link). The 20-year-old had opened the year at Triple-A as part of an effort to control his innings.
Urias has unsurprisingly dominated at the highest level of the minors, though he has also permitted nine walks in his 14 frames. Still, he has nothing left to prove there; the young southpaw already turned in 77 innings of 3.39 ERA ball in the majors last season.
It seems that Urias will take the ball Thursday, meaning that righty Kenta Maeda will be bumped from his next scheduled start. He’ll pitch Friday, per skipper Dave Roberts, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. The 29-year-old has been hit hard in the early going, with 24 hits and seven long balls recorded against him through 19 innings — though he has also maintained his excellent strikeout (9.0 K/9) and walk (2.4 BB/9) rates.
After this first outing, Urias could stay in the majors or head back to Albuquerque. How things shake out could also depend in part upon the status of Rich Hill, who is still on the DL with a troublesome blister.
