Marlins Designate Brian Ellington, Select Severino Gonzalez
The Marlins have designated right-handed reliever Brian Ellington for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Severino Gonzalez, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.
The flamethrowing Ellington logged significant innings with the Marlins from 2015-17 (a combined 102 2/3) and adeptly prevented runs over his first two years, during which he compiled a 2.64 ERA. That figure came with less enticing peripherals, though, and Ellington crashed to earth last season. The 27-year-old recorded a 7.25 ERA/5.80 FIP with 9.67 K/9, 7.05 BB/9 and a 35.4 percent groundball rate across 44 2/3 innings. He then dealt with biceps tendinitis during spring training, leading the Marlins to send him to Triple-A to open 2018.
Now 25, Gonzalez was once a well-regarded prospect with the Phillies, who dealt him to the Marlins in a small trade over the winter. Gonzalez spent the 2017 season in the minors (mostly Double-A) and posted a 4.82 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 80 1/3 innings. He worked out of the Phillies’ bullpen from 2015-16 and yielded a 6.68 ERA across 66 frames, though he did manage strong strikeout and walk rates (8.45 K/9, 1.91 BB/9).
NL West Notes: Padres, Rockies, Giants
A quick look around the NL West…
- After a rough season debut Saturday, Padres right-hander Luis Perdomo is in danger of losing his starting job, perhaps even his roster spot, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com writes. The 24-year-old Perdomo surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and four walks (with seven strikeouts) in four innings during a loss to Milwaukee, after which Padres manager Andy Green said: “It’s two years on the roster [for Perdomo]. It’s just one outing this year, and it wasn’t a great outing. But it’s time for him to go. It’s time for him to step up and attack. The challenge is out there in front of him.” If Perdomo does fall out of San Diego’s starting five, it could turn to left-hander Robbie Erlin, per Cassavell. Erlin, 27, pitched 3 2/3 innings of two-run relief Saturday in his first action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2016.
- Rockies first baseman Ian Desmond left the team’s game early Saturday with right knee soreness, and he’s now day-to-day, according to Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Desmond got off to a good start prior to the injury, going 4 for 10 with a home run, as he attempts to rebound from an injury-filled, highly disappointing 2017. Colorado replaced him with Ryan McMahon on Saturday.
- Giants righty Jeff Samardzija, who has been out for over a week with a strained pectoral muscle, is progressing in his recovery, manager Bruce Bochy told Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News and other reporters Saturday. Samardzija probably won’t be ready the first time the Giants need a fifth starter (April 10), Bochy suggested, but it appears likely he’ll return to their rotation sometime this month.
Quick Hits: Braun, Kemp, Brewers, Dodgers, BoSox, Mancini, Saunders
A trade rumor centering on Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun and Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp made the rounds Saturday evening on social media, but “there’s nothing to it,” according to Milwaukee general manager David Stearns. While the executive told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com and other reporters that he doesn’t normally respond to rumors, he felt the need to shoot this one down publicly. “You guys know my policy, I don’t like commenting on this type of stuff,” he said. “But given that I don’t want this to be any sort of distraction, I’ll say when I first read it, I thought maybe someone was making an early April Fool’s joke.” The Dodgers reportedly showed serious interest in Braun in the past, but “there’s nothing clearly relevant” this time around, per Stearns.
More from around the majors…
- It could be a month before Red Sox reliever Tyler Thornburg joins the team’s bullpen, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told WEEI on Saturday (via Ian Browne of MLB.com). Thornburg remains on the comeback trail from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent last June. The 29-year-old, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Brewers in a December 2016 deal that also involved third baseman Travis Shaw, still hasn’t pitched in a meaningful game for Boston.
- With pre-arb players Paul DeJong Scott Kingery, Ketel Marte all having signed contract extensions recently, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun wonders if the Orioles could try to lock up outfielder Trey Mancini. The 26-year-old slugger, who has five seasons of control left (including three arb-eligible years), told Meoli that the aforementioned extensions make for “an interesting trend. I’ve definitely taken notice of that, and I’m sure there’s probably been some more offers to other guys that nobody has heard about and they didn’t take them. You don’t know what goes on. But it is pretty interesting what’s going on there.” While there’s no indications that the Orioles and Mancini have actually discussed a long-term deal, Meoli suggests a five-year, $22MM to $24MM pact would be reasonable for the player at this stage. Power pays well in arbitration, Meoli points out, and Mancini’s coming off a rookie year in which he hit 24 homers and batted .293/.338/.488 in 586 trips to the plate.
- Free-agent outfielder Michael Saunders has gotten four offers since the Royals released him a week ago, and he’s expected to sign with a new club soon, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. Saunders, 31, lasted a month with Kansas City, which added him on a minor league pact. He was unable to secure a big league deal in the offseason (or make KC’s roster during the spring) after batting a paltry .202/.256/.344 (56 wRC+) in 234 PAs between Philadelphia and Toronto in 2017.
Braves, Angels Swap Ryan Schimpf, Carlos Perez
The Angels have acquired infielder Ryan Schimpf from the Braves for catcher Carlos Perez, according to an announcement from Los Angeles. Schimpf will head to Triple-A, per the Angels.
Injuries likely played a part in this deal for both teams. The Angels sent second baseman Ian Kinsler to the disabled list on Saturday, while Braves catcher Tyler Flowers was already on the DL with an oblique strain. Flowers’ backup, Kurt Suzuki, took a pitch off the hand during an at-bat on Friday, though he won’t need a DL stint, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports. Nevertheless, that injury scare was all the more reason for the Braves to add depth in the wake of Flowers’ loss.
Schimpf, 29, lasted less than a month with the Braves, who acquired him from the Rays on March 5. He’s best known for a solid 2016 campaign in San Diego, where he batted .217/.336/.533 (130 wRC+) with 20 home runs in 330 plate appearances. Schimpf’s success that year (his rookie season) came thanks in part to both a 64.9 percent fly ball rate and a 12.7 percent walk rate. At the same time, Schimpf struck out in nearly 32 percent of PAs. His swing-and-miss tendencies carried into 2017, when he fanned 35.5 percent of the time and saw his overall production plummet. Across 197 PAs, Schimpf hit .158/.284/.424 (88 wRC+) with 14 HRs, but he continued to rack up fly balls (63.9 percent) and walks (13.7 percent).
The 27-year-old Perez lost his spot on the Angels when they designated him for assignment earlier this week to make room for Shohei Ohtani‘s promotion. Perez amassed upward of 280 PAs with the Angels in both the 2015 and ’16 campaigns, but the addition of Martin Maldonado last year helped limit him to just 21 big league trips to the plate. Over 595 PAs with the Angels, Perez batted .224/.267/.332 (64 wRC+). On the defensive side, Perez threw out an impressive 38 percent of would-be base stealers (far above the 30 percent league average) during his Angels tenure, though he did draw minus pitch-framing marks from 2015-16. With no options remaining, Perez will have to go through waivers if the Braves attempt to demote him to the minors.
2017-18 Offseason In Review Series
Here are the links to each team’s entry in the MLBTR 2017-18 Offseason In Review series. This post will be updated as more entries are published over the coming weeks.
NL East
NL Central
NL West
AL East
AL Central
AL West
NL Notes: Phillies, Arrieta, Neshek, Padres, Myers, Gallardo
Phillies right-hander Jake Arrieta is on track to make his first start with the club on April 8, per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Arrieta’s going to miss the first week-plus of the season because he’s not yet in game shape, having gone without a contract in free agency until the Phillies handed him a three-year, $75MM guarantee on March 12. The former Cubs star will join Aaron Nola atop Philly’s rotation when he does debut with the team.
- In not-so-good news for the Phillies, righty Pat Neshek is fearful that the shoulder strain which forced him to the disabled list could “be something serious,” the reliever informed Matt Breen of Philly.com and other media. The 37-year-old Neshek added that this is the first time he has dealt with this type of injury. “And that’s what’s kind of weirding me out a little bit,” he continued. “But it’s something like, if I had to pitch today, I know I could. But I’m more worried about how it’s going to progress over the next couple weeks.” Neshek was the recipient of a two-year, $16.25MM deal in the offseason. Teammate and fellow reliever Tommy Hunter also landed a two-year deal (for an even richer $18MM). Both pitchers opened the season on the DL, though, with Hunter battling a hamstring strain.
- Padres corner outfielder Wil Myers has been dealing with back trouble over the past couple weeks, and it kept him out of the lineup Saturday. It doesn’t seem to be a serious injury, however, as manager Andy Green told reporters including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com that Myers’ issue is “a day-to-day thing at most.” Myers suggested that moving from his previous position, first base, to the outfield has had a detrimental effect on his back in the early going. “I need to work on my posture a little more,” Myers said. “Playing a new position kind of wears on you a little bit. I’ll be fine, going to keep working to get it better. Before too long, it’ll be gone.” Myers, who began his major league career in 2013 as an outfielder, spent the previous two seasons as a first baseman. He moved back to the grass in the offseason to accommodate Eric Hosmer, whom the Padres signed to an eight-year, $144MM contract in free agency.
- Yovani Gallardo signed a major league deal with the Reds on Saturday, but they weren’t the only team that pursued the right-hander. Gallardo told C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic and other reporters that he garnered offers from other clubs before joining the Reds (though it’s unclear whether those were big league proposals). He’s now in position to return to regular-season action in the NL Central, where he pitched with the Brewers from 2007-14. Gallardo has collected plenty of experience at the Reds’ Great American Ballpark as a result, having made 15 starts there, Rosecrans notes.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/31/18
We’ll use this post to keep track of some minor moves from around MLB…
- The Phillies have released right-hander Shane Watson, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Watson had been with the organization since it used a supplemental first-round pick (No. 40 overall) on him in 2012. Injuries, a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis and a 50-game suspension for a non-PED drug policy violation beset Watson during his Phillies tenure, however. He climbed to the Double-A level for the first time in 2017 and posted a 4.10 ERA/5.60 FIP with 4.86 K/9 and 4.32 BB/9 across 83 1/3 innings.
Earlier moves:
- The Dodgers have signed catcher Cael Brockmeyer to a minor-league contract, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reports on Twitter. Brockmeyer was released by the Cubs earlier this week; he’ll report to the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate. Brockmeyer hit .179/.256/.308 last season with Chicago’s Double-A affiliate with a 27% strikeout rate, but still received a promotion to Triple-A late in the season. Hoornstra adds that the team released minors catcher Shawn Zarraga in a related move.
- The Reds have released infielder Darnell Sweeney, tweets C. Trent Rosencrans of The Athletic. Sweeney had been in spring training camp as a non-roster invite; he hit .287/.355/.420 across 363 plate appearances last season for the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, though his .347 BABIP suggests that at least a bit of good fortune was involved in that batting line.
AL Notes: Cobb, Mariners, Cruz, Indians, Salazar
The latest from the American League…
- Right-hander Alex Cobb won’t debut with the Orioles before April 14, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Cobb’s behind schedule because he sat on the free-agent market for a surprisingly long time – until March 21, to be exact – before scoring a four-year, $57MM deal. The 30-year-old threw four innings of 48-pitch ball in extended spring training on Friday, per Kubatko, and is likely to have an outing with Double-A Bowie on April 9, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweets.
- Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz sprained his right ankle Saturday, causing him to leave their game against Cleveland early, and was in a walking boot afterward, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times relays. It doesn’t appear to be a major injury, however, as Divish writes that Cruz may only miss “a few days.” The designated hitter suffered the injury when he slipped on a step in the dugout, which came immediately after he belted his second home run of the season. X-rays came back negative, but Cruz will undergo an MRI on Sunday to make sure it’s nothing serious.
- Meanwhile in Seattle, it seems the left oblique injury that sent catcher Mike Zunino to the disabled list on Friday is fairly minor. Zunino suffered the least severe type of sprain (Grade 1), Mariners manager Scott Servais told Greg Johns of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. The hope is that Zunino will be able to return next weekend. In the meantime, the Mariners will continue to go with Mike Marjama and David Freitas behind the plate.
- It doesn’t look as if Indians righty Danny Salazar will return in the near future. He’s slated to stay in Arizona for the next month on a throwing program, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com suggests. The 28-year-old Salazar has been on the shelf since he suffered an onset of right shoulder rotator cuff inflammation in January. The hard-throwing Salazar also missed significant time last season (six weeks) because of shoulder issues.
Giants’ Julian Fernandez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Giants right-hander Julian Fernandez will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report. San Francisco previously placed Fernandez on the 60-day disabled list earlier this week.
The 22-year-old Fernandez has never even pitched above the Single-A level, nor is he a high-end prospect. But the news is particularly noteworthy because Fernandez was a Rule 5 pick last December, when the Giants snatched him from the NL West rival Rockies with the No. 2 selection. The fact that Fernandez will now undergo this procedure means he’ll rack up a year of service time and earn a a major league-minimum salary ($545K) in the process. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted earlier this week, that could be a minor nuisance for San Francisco, which has little wiggle room as it works to stay under the $197MM competitive balance tax threshold.
During 7 1/3 spring innings with the Giants, Fernandez yielded a whopping 11 earned runs on 10 hits and five walks, with an eye-opening 12 strikeouts. Fernandez was far more effective at preventing runs last year in 58 innings with the Rockies’ Single-A affiliate, as he logged a 3.26 ERA/3.09 FIP with 8.84 K/9 and 2.79 BB/9.
Yankees Place Billy McKinney On DL, Recall Miguel Andujar
Another day, another injury for the Yankees’ outfield. Billy McKinney is headed to the disabled list after crashing into the left field wall at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on an attempted catch Saturday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post was among those to report. The Yankees will recall third baseman Miguel Andujar to take McKinney’s spot on their 25-man roster.
The rookie McKinney suffered an AC sprain in his left shoulder, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, which forced him to leave the Yankees’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays in the first inning. The Yankees then subbed in Brett Gardner, who had been scheduled for an off day, to take McKinney’s place in left. Gardner joined Aaron Judge in center (his first big league game at the position) and Giancarlo Stanton in right to comprise New York’s outfield.
With Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier also on the DL, the Yankees’ vaunted outfield has taken a beating early this season. They still have the enviable Judge-Stanton-Gardner trio intact, of course, but the depth behind them is now lacking. Potential backups on the big league roster include third baseman Brandon Drury, who played 94 games in the Diamondbacks’ outfield in 2016, utilityman Tyler Wade and first baseman Tyler Austin – both of whom bring some outfield experience to the table. The Yankees also have veteran Shane Robinson in the organization, but he’s not on their 40-man roster.
Andujar, 23, may slot in at both third and first in his second major league call-up. He vied for the Yankees’ third base job during the spring, but the late-February acquisition of Drury made it unlikely he’d open the season in the majors. Andujar appeared in five of the team’s games last year, which he mostly spent at the Triple-A level. He slashed an outstanding .317/.364/.502 in 250 PAs at the minors’ highest level in 2017, leading to his soaring stock as a prospect. Andujar’s a highly regarded youngster who ranks as FanGraphs’ 14th-best prospect.