AL Notes: Tribe, Carrasco, Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox
Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco exited the club’s game Wednesday after taking a line drive off his left foot, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com reports. Carrasco is now dealing with a contusion, and the Indians will further evaluate the star hurler Thursday, Hoynes tweets. In the event Carrasco misses regular-season time as a result of the injury, it could help open the door for the out-of-options Ryan Merritt to claim a roster spot, at least temporarily. Merritt and Josh Tomlin have been vying for the fifth spot in the Indians’ rotation this spring. Now, with Carrasco potentially injured and Danny Salazar set to miss the beginning of the year, the only sure things for the Indians’ season-opening starting staff appear to be Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger (depth chart).
- In better news for the Indians, left fielder Michael Brantley isn’t ruling himself out for Opening Day (via Hoynes). “We shall see. But the old saying is take it one day at a time,” said Brantley, who’s working his way back from the right ankle surgery he underwent last October. Neither that procedure nor Brantley’s lack of availability from 2016-17, when injuries cost him a combined 223 games, were enough to stop the Tribe from exercising his $12MM club option early in the offseason. The 30-year-old appeared in 90 games in 2017 and slashed a solid .299/.357/.444 over 375 plate appearances.
- General manager Jerry Dipoto admitted to Greg Johns of MLB.com and other reporters Wednesday that David Phelps‘ season-ending injury is a serious blow to the Mariners’ bullpen. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. He’s a big piece of what we’re doing here, and it’s a big loss for us,” said Dipoto, who suggested the Mariners could pick up outside help for their bullpen, which also lost Tony Zych earlier this spring and is currently without the injured Nick Rumbelow. “You know you’ll run into an occasional injury and lose players along the way, but to have three in that time span is tough to deal with,” Dipoto said. “Fortunately were at the time of year when players are a little more accessible.” The Mariners have three open spots on their 40-man roster, Johns points out, giving them room to add relievers.
- The Yankees and Red Sox are nearing a deal to play a two-game series in London during the 2019 regular season, according to Janet Paskin and Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg. The series would take place at London Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympics, in what would be the first-ever Major League Baseball action in Europe.
West Notes: Souza, Lincecum, Halos, Carter, Gurriel
Diamondbacks outfielder Steven Souza Jr. left the team’s game Wednesday with an apparent right shoulder injury, Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic reports. There’s no word on the severity yet, but the Diamondbacks are left to hope it’s nothing serious after acquiring Souza from the Rays last month. The 28-year-old Souza posted his best season in 2017, hitting .239/.351/.459 with 30 home runs in 617 plate appearances en route to 3.7 fWAR. If healthy, he should help make up for the D-backs’ offseason loss of outfielder J.D. Martinez, who signed with the Red Sox.
And now for the latest from the AL West…
- Rangers reliever Tim Lincecum doesn’t expect to be ready for Opening Day, which he revealed Tuesday after throwing two innings of batting practice (via TR Sullivan of MLB.com). “Doesn’t look like it,” he said. “I still have some stuff to refine. I wasn’t extremely happy with the day. I was happy with the level of work. I’ve got a lot of refining to do.” Lincecum is only two weeks removed from signing with the Rangers, and he, of course, didn’t pitch competitively at all in 2017. Tuesday’s BP session was his second since joining the Rangers, and he’ll need at least one more before potentially pitching in a minor league game.
- First baseman Chris Carter is unlikely to make the Angels, Maria Guardado of MLB.com writes. That’s not surprising, given that Carter’s a minor league signee who’s not on the Halos’ 40-man roster. Guardado notes that there’s no obvious path to playing time for Carter at first in Anaheim, which has Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena. Plus, those two and Shohei Ohtani figure to be among their designated hitter options, taking away another potential route to the majors for Carter. The 31-year-old Carter will be able to refuse a minor league assignment if he doesn’t make the Halos, though he did spend a solid chunk of last season with the A’s Triple-A affiliate. That came just one year after the then-Brewer co-led the National League in home runs (41). Because of his dreadful 2017, which he began with the Yankees, Carter went unsigned until late February.
- Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, on the shelf the past few weeks because of left hand surgery, is progressing in his recovery, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com writes. He’s still likely to begin the season on the disabled list, however, according to McTaggart, and then he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension for an insensitive gesture directed at then-Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish in last year’s World Series. The Astros are likely to use Marwin Gonzalez at first in Gurriel’s absence, and J.D. Davis and Tyler White are currently fighting for a backup role. “It’s 1A and 1B, it’s not like one is separating themselves from the other. Eventually, we’ll have to make a decision,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Davis and White on Wednesday (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).
David Phelps To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Mariners right-handed reliever David Phelps suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm and will miss the season, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. He’ll need to undergo Tommy John surgery, Greg Johns of MLB.com adds (Twitter links).
Phelps suffered the injury on the final pitch of his outing last Saturday, per Johns. It’s yet another significant arm problem in Phelps’ short Mariners career, as he previously underwent season-ending surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow last September. That procedure came after a lengthy absence because of an elbow impingement. Phelps’ issues limited him to just 8 2/3 innings with Seattle last year after it acquired him from Miami in late July.
As was the case when they traded him for him in 2017, the Mariners were counting on Phelps to play a major role out of their bullpen this season. And for good reason, too, as the 31-year-old was among the majors’ premier relievers from 2016-17. Phelps made 108 appearances during that span, the third-highest total in the league, and pitched to a 2.69 ERA/3.12 FIP with 11.11 K/9, 3.97 BB/9 and a 46.4 percent groundball rate over 133 2/3 innings.
This injury comes at an especially inopportune time for Phelps, given that he’s in a contract year. He’ll make $5.5MM this season and could have put himself in line for a sizable multiyear deal in free agency next winter. Instead, he’ll head to the open market off a major surgery, and because of the 12- to 15-month recovery time that follows Tommy John surgery, it’s likely he’ll miss at least some of the 2019 campaign.
The Mariners, meanwhile, will have to go without arguably their best reliever as they attempt to break a league-worst 16-year playoff drought. Seattle still has other proven options on hand (depth chart), including closer Edwin Diaz, Juan Nicasio and Nick Vincent, yet this is certainly an enormous blow with the season just over a week away.
With Phelps no longer in the mix, it’s possible general manager Jerry Dipoto will now seek to bolster his bullpen from outside, potentially via trade (his signature route), free agency or the waiver wire (which he utilized earlier Wednesday). There are a few household names remaining on the market, including Greg Holland (he’d come at a high price and would cost the Mariners a draft pick), Chad Qualls, Jason Grilli, Joe Blanton and Huston Street. Unfortunately for the Mariners, though, anyone from that group would have a hard time approaching Phelps’ recent production.
Central Notes: Indians, Cards, Pirates, Royals
Indians first baseman/designated hitter Mike Napoli and outfielder Rajai Davis will be able to opt out of their minor league contracts Thursday, according to Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. It’s unclear whether one or both will vacate their deals, though Napoli has seemed especially likely to do so since his late-February signing with the Indians, who don’t have an opening for him in the majors. Asked Wednesday if Napoli could stay in the organization in a minor league role, manager Terry Francona said: “The next step is for him to talk to (president) Chris (Antonetti) a little bit more to figure out what he wants to do and what is available as far as the organization goes. Obviously, we think a ton of Nap and respect him a lot. There’s just a lot of unknowns.”
More on Cleveland a few other Central clubs:
- Indians infielder Giovanny Urshela will miss 10 to 14 days with a right hamstring strain, Hoynes tweets. Urshela may open the season on the DL, which would enable the Indians to delay their decision on him and Erik Gonzalez, who are each out of options and battling for the same bench role.
- Although Cardinals president John Mozeliak suggested over the winter the team would deploy offseason pickup Luke Gregerson as its closer, it now appears the Redbirds will take a communal approach to the ninth inning to open 2018, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains. “We don’t have a closer,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Ideally, would we like to have that title on somebody? Ideally, yeah. But right now we’ve got a bunch of guys who can do that. Over time we’ll figure it out. We have a bunch of guys who can pitch any inning.” The Cardinals’ general bullpen plan is “to maximize the flexibility,” Matheny revealed, meaning they’re likely to shuttle optionable relievers between the majors and minors throughout the season.
- Pirates righty Tyler Glasnow, a former top prospect, had a rough time in the majors last year, but pitching coach Ray Searage has seen legitimate progress this spring, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details. “Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes,” said Searage, who added that Glasnow “has embraced” the adjustments the Pirates have suggested this year. Searage likened the 2017 version of Glasnow to a deer in the headlights, but now, even though there’s still work to be done, “he’s mature.” The 6-foot-8 Glasnow, 24, will kick off the season in the Pirates’ bullpen, though their hope is that he’ll ascend to the rotation, per Bloom. He made 13 starts in 15 appearances last year and pitched to a 7.69 ERA/6.30 FIP with 8.13 K/9 against 6.39 BB/9.
- Royals middle infielder Adalberto Mondesi is dealing with a right shoulder impingement, and he could begin the year in extended spring training as a result, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports. Mondesi appeared to be the Royals’ likely Opening Day starter at shortstop a couple months back, but that was before they re-signed Alcides Escobar in late January. Thanks to both Escobar’s presence and Mondesi’s injury, the 22-year-old certainly won’t be a factor in KC at the start of the season.
NL Notes: Phils, Flaherty, Brewers, Mets, Pirates
Phillies utilityman Ryan Flaherty plans to opt out of his minor league contract, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com tweets. The Phillies will have 48 hours to add Flaherty to their 25-man roster or let him go. Odds are that they’ll grant him his release, per Zolecki. The 31-year-old Flaherty was a member of the Orioles from 2012-17, and Baltimore reportedly made an attempt to keep him before he joined the Phillies. Now, he could head back to the O’s, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com suggests.
More from the NL…
- Brewers southpaw Wade Miley exited his outing Wednesday with a strained left groin and will undergo an MRI, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com was among those to report (Twitter links here). That’s obviously not ideal for Miley, who’s vying for a place in the Brewers’ rotation, or the team, which isn’t yet sure who will occupy the final two starting spots behind Chase Anderson, Jhoulys Chacin and Zach Davies. Miley looked like a front-runner to earn one of those jobs prior to Wednesday – manager Craig Counsell said that “Wade had made a really good case to be on the team” – though that’s up in the air as we await further news on his injury. It’s also worth noting that the 31-year-old can opt out of his minor league deal as early as Thursday.
- Lefty reliever Boone Logan also left the Brewers’ game with an injury, McCalvy relays (Twitter links). Counsell attributed his departure to triceps/shoulder discomfort, but he’s not yet sure of the severity. Logan joined the Brewers for a guaranteed $2.75MM over the winter after spending a shortened 2017 in Cleveland, where his season ended in July on account of a strained lat muscle.
- Having allowed six earned runs on 15 hits in eight innings this spring, Mets righty Zack Wheeler isn’t a lock to be part of the team’s season-opening rotation, Mike Puma and Fred Kerber of the New York Post report. If Wheeler doesn’t show well against Washington on Thursday, the Mets could elect to give the fifth spot in their starting staff to Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo, the reporters add. But any of Wheeler, Gsellman or Lugo would likely be a placeholder, as the Mets just need a fill-in while Jason Vargas recovers from surgery on his non-pitching hand. The other four spots in their rotation belong to Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz.
- The Pirates expect to re-sign free agent outfielder Daniel Nava, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Pittsburgh released Nava on Tuesday, but general manager Neal Huntington suggested at the time that the team would like to bring him back. Nava is still on the mend from February back surgery, and the Pirates want him to rehab as a member of their organization. “We anticipate him being a second-half contributor to the major league team,” said Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk, who noted that “the sooner we can get our hands on him, is the better.”
Blue Jays Acquire Sam Gaviglio, Designate Matt Dermody
The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Sam Gaviglio from the Royals for cash considerations or a player to be named later, according to an announcement from Toronto. To make room for Gaviglio, the Blue Jays designated left-hander Matt Dermody for assignment, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets.
The 27-year-old Gaviglio lost his spot on the Royals last weekend, when they designated him to make room for newly signed reliever Justin Grimm. Gaviglio came to the Royals via waivers from the Mariners last September and closed the year by throwing 12 innings of four-run ball with KC. Between the two teams, Gaviglio racked up 74 1/3 innings across 16 appearances (13 starts) in 2017 – his rookie year – and posted a 4.36 ERA/5.81 FIP with 5.93 K/9, 3.15 BB/9 and a 49.4 percent groundball rate. With two options remaining, he figures to begin his Blue Jays tenure by serving as minor league depth.
Dermody, also 27, has been a member of the Toronto organization since it used a 28th-round pick on him in 2013. He debuted in the majors two seasons ago, throwing three innings, and is coming off a 22 1/3-frame campaign. The results haven’t been great for Dermody, who has logged a 5.33 ERA/6.12 FIP despite playable strikeout and walk rates (7.11 K/9, 1.78 BB/9). A low grounder rate (37.3 percent) and a propensity for giving up home runs (2.49 per nine) have hurt his cause in the majors, though he has been considerably better at preventing runs at the Triple-A level (3.34 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 59 1/3 innings).
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Kingery, Lackey, Orioles Rotation, Renfroe
Click here to view the transcript for MLBTR Chat With Jason Martinez: March 21, 2018
Pirates Sign Ji-Hwan Bae
The Pirates have signed former Braves prospect Ji-Hwan Bae, as John Dreker and Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com recently reported (subscription link). The well-regarded young shortstop, a recent international signee from Korea, will earn a bonus worth around $1.25MM.
The addition of Bae means the Pirates have spent roughly $5.25MM of their available $5.75MM pool space for the 2017-18 signing period, MLB.com’s Adam Berry notes. He received the second-largest bonus the organization has ever given to a prospect, trailing only right-hander Luis Heredia, whom the Bucs handed $2.6MM back in 2010. Heredia is now a free agent.
The 18-year-old Bae had been property of the Braves from this past September until November, when Major League Baseball took him and 11 other prospects from the Atlanta organization because of international signing violations. Thanks in part to those transgressions, MLB hit ex-Braves general manager John Coppolella with a lifetime ban.
Bae joined the Braves for $300K, but they reportedly had an under-the-table agreement to pay him an extra $600K. After Atlanta signed Bae, special assistant Chad MacDonald offered high praise for the lefty-swinger.
“He’s very athletic. He stays at shortstop, he’s going to be a solid to plus defender there. His bat-to-ball skills are really good. There’s more power in the bat,” said MacDonald. “If everything clicks, we have a left-handed version of Trea Turner, who I signed in San Diego. Again, maybe not that much power, but certainly the impact speed and defense, with bat-to-ball skills and a left-handed hitter.”
AL East Notes: O’s, Cobb, Red Sox, Pomeranz, Blue Jays
The Orioles officially signed Alex Cobb on Wednesday, but they weren’t serious suitors for him as of February because his asking price was too high, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com hears. But Cobb told Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun and other reporters Wednesday: “They didn’t stop bothering me the whole offseason. They were very persistent, and I think that you notice that confidence they have in you just by the way they speak to you, and the questions they ask and not questioning anything that’s gone on.” The Orioles’ insistence on signing Cobb came from John and Lou Angelos, sons of owner Peter Angelos, according to Connolly, who reports that the duo recently made “a hard push” to add the right-hander, who landed a four-year, $57MM deal.
And now the latest on a pair of Baltimore’s division rivals…
- While Red Sox southpaw Drew Pomeranz has recently made progress in his recovery from a mild flexor strain, odds are that he’ll start the season on the disabled list, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. Meanwhile, Browne relays that there’s more hope for Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez and righty Steven Wright, each of whom underwent knee surgery last year. If they’re both ready to open the season on time, they’ll follow Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello in Boston’s rotation. Otherwise, the Red Sox’s top fallback choices are lefty Brian Johnson and righty Hector Velazquez.
- The Blue Jays have informed left-handed reliever Craig Breslow that he won’t make the team, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. Breslow will have a chance to opt out of his minor league contract Thursday. The 37-year-old has struggled in spring action, having allowed five earned runs on 10 hits and four walks, with five strikeouts, in 6 2/3 innings.
- Blue Jays righty Joe Biagini is likely to begin the season at the Triple-A level, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. In doing so, he’ll continue developing as a starter. The Jays, with Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada and Jaime Garcia in their rotation, don’t have room for Biagini in their starting staff. Biagini was a key component of Toronto’s bullpen in 2016, his rookie season, but he went backward as both a starter and reliever last season.
Orioles Sign Alex Cobb
TODAY, 5:03pm: Heyman has the layout of Cobb’s contract (Twitter link). He’ll make $14MM in each year from 2018-2020, including $6.5MM deferred without interest this season and $4.5MM deferred without interest in both ’19 and ’20. Cobb will earn $15MM in 2021 and either $4.75MM deferred without interest or $9.75MM deferred without interest, if he throws fewer than 130 innings. If he amasses 180 innings in any of those seasons, he’ll rake in an extra $500K.
9:38am: Cobb has passed the notoriously stringent Orioles’ physical, Heyman tweets, making the deal official. It has also been announced by the organization.
The deal includes a no-trade provision, Heyman adds on Twitter. Cobb picks up full no-trade rights until this coming November and will be able to block deals to ten clubs from that point forward.
There’ll be $20MM in deferred money, Kubatko tweets, though the precise manner of the structure has yet to be reported. When that’s factored in, the present-day value of the deal is $47MM, he adds, though that is a number that’s certainly subject to quite a bit of interpretation. Every multi-year deal, after all, includes future obligations that can be discounted to a lump-sum current dollar amount, and the math is dependent upon what approach is utilized to perform the discount.
YESTERDAY, 9:19PM: Cobb and the Orioles have agreed that he’ll begin the season in the minors for a brief spell in order to get properly stretched out, BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Dan Connolly reports. Cobb had enough service time to refuse a minor league assignment even though he has an option remaining, though obviously both sides felt a short stint on the farm was necessary.
6:53PM: The four-year deal will be worth $57MM, an MLB official tells 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine (Twitter link). There is deferred money in each of the four years, Kubatko tweets.
6:06PM: The Orioles have agreed to sign right-hander Alex Cobb, with FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reporting (Twitter link) that the two sides had worked out a four-year deal believed to be worth close to $60MM. Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reported earlier today that there was “a strong belief” that Cobb was close to a contract, with the Orioles considered to be the favorite. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links) confirmed the link between Cobb and the O’s, and noted that the deal will be official once Cobb passes a physical, while MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko was the first to report that the deal was a four-year agreement. Cobb is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Cobb was long seen as a natural fit for the Orioles given their severe need for starting pitching, and the team indeed reportedly expressed interest in Cobb quite early in the offseason. While it wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see the two sides end up in an agreement, however, there are some eyebrow-raising elements to this signing given the size and length of the contract.
As Passan noted, Cobb has been holding out for a multi-year deal, as opposed to the one-year contracts that several notable players were forced to settle for in recent weeks due to the unprecedented lack of activity in the free agent market. Lance Lynn, for instance, was Cobb’s closest comparable on the open market and Lynn wound up signing a one-year, $12MM deal with the Twins. Lynn, however, was also in talks with the Orioles and potentially left a longer-term offer on the table in order to sign with Minnesota, believing that the Twins had a better shot at contending in 2018.
Lynn’s rejection could have been what inspired the Orioles to give Cobb four years to solidify its rotation, as it was believed that the club was no longer willing to go beyond a three-year contract for a pitcher in the wake of the disastrous Ubaldo Jimenez signing. Furthermore, the organization has long been very particular about signing veteran pitchers due to injury concerns, so it represents a bold step for owner Peter Angelos to sign off the biggest pitcher contract in franchise history for Cobb, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015. (It’s worth noting that the O’s have changed or even abandoned agreements in the past due to concerns about pitcher health, so Cobb’s physical probably represents a bigger final hurdle than usual in most player signings.)
While many free agents left this winter’s market feeling short-changed, Cobb ended up finding his desired four-year guarantee and a very healthy salary. MLB Trade Rumors ranked Cobb 11th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, and projected him for a four-year, $48MM deal. Heyman reports that Cobb rejected an offer of that exact size from the Cubs earlier this winter, and despite the free agent deep freeze, eventually landed a more lucrative deal.
[Updated Orioles depth chart at Roster Resource]
It may be too close to Opening Day for Cobb to be ready for the very beginning of the season, though when he is set, the 30-year-old could very well be the ace of Baltimore’s rotation. The O’s went into the offseason with only Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy established in the starting five, and were in talks about a wide variety of free agent and trade possibilities. Executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette has developed a pattern of late-winter signings during his time in Baltimore, and he stuck to that strategy again this year to rebuild his rotation, signing Andrew Cashner, re-signing Chris Tillman, and now adding Cobb within the last five weeks.
Cobb provides Baltimore with a solid, AL East-tested arm who looked to be front-of-the-rotation material in 2013-14 before getting his TJ surgery in 2015. The procedure cost Cobb all of that season and limited him to just five starts in 2016, though he rebounded for a 3.66 ERA, 6.4 K/9, and 2.91 K/BB rate over 179 1/3 innings for the Rays last season. The post-surgery version of Cobb is striking out fewer batters than the pre-2015 Cobb, and his already-middling swinging strike rate took another drop to just 6.7% last season, plus his 36.9% hard-hit ball rate was a career high.
These concerns notwithstanding, it should be noted that Cobb pitched better as the season wore on, which is a good sign that he could fully back to his old self. Even the 2017 version of Cobb would represent a big upgrade for the Orioles over fifth starter candidates such as Mike Wright, Nestor Cortes Jr. or Miguel Castro. The O’s now face some roster-shuffling questions with these arms (Wright is out of options and Cortes is a Rule 5 pick), though they could all possibly be used in the bullpen.
Needless to say, this surplus of arms is now an unexpectedly good problem to have for an Orioles team that has positioned itself to stay competitive within a tough AL East. The length of Cobb’s deal also indicates that the O’s aren’t planning for a rebuild after 2018. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Zach Britton, and Brad Brach will all be free agents next winter (plus Duquette and manager Buck Showalter are entering their last year under contract), though Baltimore now has Cobb, Gausman, Bundy, Trey Mancini, Mychal Givens, and Chris Davis as core pieces through at least the 2020 season, plus prospects like Austin Hays and Chance Sisco.
Since Cobb rejected a qualifying offer from the Rays, the O’s will have to surrender their third-highest pick (51st overall) in the 2018 amateur draft, as they were a revenue-sharing recipient that didn’t exceed the luxury tax threshold. Because Cobb received more than $50MM in guaranteed money, the Rays are now in line to receive a compensation pick after the first round of the draft. This will actually be one of two picks for Tampa Bay in the “sandwich round,” as the Rays are also slated for a compensatory pick for not signing 31st-overall pick Drew Rasmussen in last year’s draft class.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images