Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.
Giants To Purchase Contract Of Austin Slater
The Giants will purchase the contract of outfielder Austin Slater, according to Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News. Slater, 24, was taken in the eighth round of the 2014 draft.
A corresponding move has yet to be reported, but the Giants will need to clear roster space to make way for Slater. While that could involve optioning youngster Christian Arroyo, a 40-man move of some kind will be needed regardless.
Slater has thrived in the upper minors since the start of the 2016 season. All told, he owns a .308/.381/.487 slash through 474 trips to the plate at Triple-A, with 48 walks to go with 91 strikeouts.
While the right-handed hitter can play center, it makes sense to expect he’ll find most of his opportunities in left field. San Francisco has struggled to find production from the outfield all year long.
The struggling Giants could ultimately begin cycling in more new faces, Baggarly notes, if the club can’t quickly break out of its season-long struggles. It seems that light-hitting outfielder Gorkys Hernandez is the most likely player to go to make way for Slater, though a few of other roster spots also appear to be less than secure.
NL Central Notes: Reds, Cecil, Cubs, Arrieta
In his latest notes column, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that the Reds have fared better in some recent trades than had been expected at the time. Indeed, the club is receiving significant contributions from a variety of position players who were added in relatively unheralded swaps, including Eugenio Suarez, Scott Schebler, Adam Duvall, and Jose Peraza.
Here’s more from the NL Central:
- It came as something of a surprise when lefty Brett Cecil landed four years from the Cardinals, but Rosenthal says other organizations were also willing to do four-year deals for the 30-year-old reliever. The Cubs and Mariners had such offers on the table, though both are said to have underbid St. Louis. As Rosenthal notes, the scuffling Cecil has shown at least some signs recently of emerging from his malaise.
- Everyone is wondering why the Cubs have failed to break out from their sluggish start, and Dave Cameron of Fangraphs has a look under the hood. The issues aren’t isolated, he finds. Fairly widespread performance dips at the plate, in the field, and on the mound have resulted in a sub-.500 record that is largely deserved based on what the team has done. Though it remains reasonable to expect Chicago to improve its play, Cameron writes, the projections no longer view the current roster as a unique force.
- Clearly, Jake Arrieta isn’t the only Cubs player who is struggling through the first two months of the season, but he’s perhaps the most prominent. With free agency on the horizon, the stakes are particularly high. His agent, Scott Boras, still thinks that Arrieta’s overall body of work compares favorably to a pair of pitchers (David Price and Max Scherzer) who landed over $200MM in free agency, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag writes. Though Boras argues that Arrieta’s recent struggles and declining velocity shouldn’t outweigh his lofty established ceiling and big-game performances, teams weighing massive investments will surely be taking a close look at Arrieta’s work over the first two months and the rest of the current season.
NL East Notes: Fernandez, Phillies, Medlen, Braves
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details the efforts by Major League Baseball and the Marlins to set up a fund for the infant daughter of deceased star Jose Fernandez. As Jackson explains, the money appears to have flowed from an insurance company to the league, then on to the team and into a trust for her benefit. Those interested in the specifics should read the exhaustively reported piece.
Here’s more from the NL East:
- Phillies GM Matt Klentak sat down for an interesting chat with Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, which you can watch or read about right here. It’s certainly worth a full look for Phils’ fans, as Klentak discusses the team’s woeful performance in May. He emphasized a need to remain patient and keep the focus on the future, but acknowledged the disappointment. As for two particularly important players, Klentak says the team wants to let them work things out at the major league level. There are “reasons to believe” that Maikel Franco will bust out of his slump, he says, and the organization is “committed to giving Maikel more time to get out of this.” And center fielder Odubel Herrera is still a valuable contributor in the field, Klentak notes, explaining that his struggles at the plate may be due to the fact that he is currently “not taking pitches as well as he used to.”
- Righty Kris Medlen is still working on a comeback attempt with the Braves, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Medlen has moved up to the Double-A level and says he feels good physically after dealing with a host of arm problems and redeveloping his mechanics to compensate. The 31-year-old has allowed six earned runs on 16 hits while striking out ten batters and issuing six walks over 15 2/3 total innings through three starts. He last turned in a full and productive MLB season back in 2013 with the Braves.
- Of more immediate concern to the Braves, the current big league club is struggling with its glovework, as O’Brien also reports. Even putting aside one horrific inning on Tuesday, Atlanta has allowed a ton of unearned runs. Metrics are split on the overall performance of the Braves fielders: UZR grades them rather well in spite of the miscues, while Defensive Runs Saved values the unit in the bottom ten leaguewide. Young shortstop Dansby Swanson has already racked up 11 errors, though both grading systems still see him as an average performer at short.
AL Notes: Kluber, Twins, A’s, Dyson, Soler/Bonifacio
As expected, the Indians have activated righty Corey Kluber. He’s back on the hill today for Cleveland after missing a few weeks resting his lower back. The 31-year-old will be looking to improve upon a tepid start to the season. Over his first 37 1/3 innings, he has managed only a 5.06 ERA with 9.9 K/9 but an uncharacteristically high 3.1 BB/9. Righty Shawn Armstrong was optioned to create roster space.
Here’s the latest from the American League:
- Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey discussed the club’s first overall selection in the upcoming amateur draft, as Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reports. The team is taking a closer look at “a group of five to six [players], probably,” according to the club’s top baseball decisionmaker. With several candidates slated to visit with the organization just days before the draft, there’s still time for new information to shape the picture. Falvey says the Twins intend to “ask some difficult questions” of the candidates when they sit down with them, in addition to taking another look at their skills. As Miller well explains, the club’s management of its overall bonus pool will also factor in. Falvey acknowledged the possibility of reallocating some of the top slot’s cash to sign other players — though he also said he’s “not yet ready to say it’s something we’d do in the first round” — and acknowledged the need “to add as many upside assets” as possible.
- With the Athletics still lagging in the standings, eyes are beginning to turn to their deadline plans. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, the organization will likely increasingly turn to more youthful options as it deals away veteran assets. In particular, she says, second baseman Jed Lowrie “almost certainly will be dealt” — helping clear the way for top prospect Franklin Barreto. The A’s will surely also entertain a move involving surprising slugger Yonder Alonso, and Slusser notes that the club could also part with a few lesser-performing veterans as well.
- The struggles have continued for former Rangers closer Sam Dyson. As Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes, Dyson surrendered two home runs as the club went down in extra innings. While he is still generating grounders at a healthy clip, everything else has gone wrong for Dyson, who now owns a 10.80 ERA with a dozen walks and just seven strikeouts through 16 2/3 innings. It’s not clear what the organization will do with the out-of-options righty, but manager Jeff Banister did not exactly deliver a strong vote of confidence after the game. “It’s an extreme challenge right now,” Banister said. “He’s on our staff. He’s one of our pitchers right now, and we have to find a way to continue to work.”
- The Royals had hoped that Jorge Soler would blossom upon arriving over the winter, but another young outfielder by the same first name is currently keeping him out of the lineup, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. Jorge Bonifacio, who’ll turn 24 in a few days, is off to a .273/.325/.500 batting line with seven home runs in 120 plate appearances. That may not be quite sustainable, of course, but for now he’s producing and the Royals are giving him a chance to show it’s real. That’s not to say that K.C. is giving up on Soler, who has only seen 18 games of action due to injury and the limited opportunities he has found upon his return.
Twins Shuffle Bullpen In Series Of Roster Moves
10:25pm: The Twins are selecting the contract of right-hander Alex Wimmers and recalling left-hander Randy Rosario to fill the two spots in the ’pen, as respectively first reported by Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com (Twitter link) and Mariana Guzman of 95.7 FM radio (Twitter link).
Wimmers wasn’t on the 40-man after being previously outrighted, but the former first-round pick will receive another chance to establish himself in the Majors. Minnesota plucked Wimmers out of Ohio State University with the 21st overall pick back in 2010, and though he was touted as a polished starter that could move quickly through the minors, injuries derailed his first several seasons as a pro. Now working out of the bullpen, Wimmers has a 3.94 ERA with a 13-to-7 K/BB ratio through 16 innings in Rochester.
The 23-year-old Rosario, who will be making his MLB debut, has torn through Double-A hitters this year, logging a 1.90 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 54.8 percent ground-ball rate. As noted by Stohs, he posted an 18-to-2 K/BB ratio with just four hits and one earned run allowed in 13 2/3 May innings. MLB.com rates him as Minnesota’s No. 27 prospect, praising his upper-90s fastball but calling his slider inconsistent.
4:33pm: The Twins have designated left-hander Jason Wheeler for assignment and optioned right-hander Ryan Pressly to Triple-A Rochester, the team announced to reporters following today’s loss (Twitter link via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN had first tweeted that Pressly would be optioned. A pair of corresponding roster moves will be announced tomorrow.
Wheeler, 26, saw his contract selected just yesterday and made his MLB debut on Tuesday. However, the former eighth-round pick struggled through a pair of relief appearances over the past two days, yielding three runs on six hits and four walks in three innings of work. Generally speaking, the Twins’ abysmal bullpen performance in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Astros (28 runs allowed) necessitated a shuffling of the pitching staff, which undoubtedly contributed to Wheeler’s quick loss of his 40-man spot.
Pressly’s significant struggles this season have been one of the primary reasons that the Twins rank last in the Majors in bullpen ERA. The right-hander had pitched to a 3.36 ERA over his past 131 1/3 Major League innings prior to the 2017 campaign and has steadily seen his fastball velocity rise over the years. Pressly is averaging nearly 96 mph on his heater this season and entered the day with a considerably above-average 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate. However, despite his knack for missing bats, Pressly has been exceptionally home-run prone and has also had quite a bit of poor fortune on balls in play (.356 BABIP). He’s yielded five homers in just 18 innings this season after surrendering eight in 75 1/3 innings last year.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/31/17
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Orioles announced today that they’ve selected the contract of catcher Francisco Pena from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Welington Castillo, who’s been placed on the 10-day DL due to a groin injury. Pena made the Baltimore roster out of Spring Training in part due to the fact that he’s out of minor league options, but the team ultimately decided that it could not carry three catchers and designated the 27-year-old for assignment. Pena cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, where he’s batted .229/.260/.375 in 50 plate appearances since clearing waivers. Pena has shown power but a penchant for strikeouts in his brief big league time, though he’s a strong-armed catcher that is regarded as a solid all-around defender.
- Righty William Cuevas was outrighted to the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate, as first noted on the club’s transactions page at MLB.com. Cuevas was designated over the weekend, with his 40-man spot going to fellow righty Arcenio Leon. The 26-year-old Cuevas made one appearance for Detroit this season and surrendered four runs in one-third of an inning. He has a 4.06 ERA in nine starts (44 1/3 innings) for the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate this season and a career 3.87 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 in 216 1/3 Triple-A innings.
Orioles Notes: Castillo, Alvarez, Jackson, Andino
The Orioles placed catcher Welington Castillo on the 10-day DL this afternoon after he suffered a groin injury that stemmed from a ball that deflected off the foot of Didi Gregorius when Gregorius was hit by a pitch yesterday. As MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes, Castillo spent several hours in the emergency room yesterday, though the injury is “not nearly as serious” as the testicular injury suffered by Caleb Joseph last year that cost Joseph a month of the season and required surgery. “He’s got a hematoma there in his groin that we’re going to monitor and see how it progresses,” manager Buck Showalter told reporters (via Kubatko). The O’s debated whether they should even put Castillo on the DL, per Kubatko, as the current belief is that he won’t require 10 days.
A few more notes on the Orioles…
- Kubatko also points out (on Twitter) that Pedro Alvarez has an opt-out clause in his contract tomorrow. The 30-year-old slugger entered play today hitting just .219/.293/.443 through 51 games, though he belted his 12th homer of the season in today’s game. That continues an outrageous tear for Alvarez, who has now homered eight times in his past 13 games and is hitting well over .300 in that stretch. Alvarez has been trying his hand in right field with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, though most teams would likely still view him as a first base/designated hitter candidate.
- I’ll also point out that the minor league deal that veteran right-hander Edwin Jackson inked with the Orioles back in April reportedly contained a June 1 opt-out provision as well (according to Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun). While Jackson has had issues with his control down in Norfolk, he’s logged a 3.86 ERA with 14 strikeouts through 16 1/3 innings. Of course, he’s also issued 10 walks, hit two batters and uncorked a pair of wild pitches, so there are plenty of red flags with the mercurial righty.
- The league announced today that veteran infielder Robert Andino, who was playing with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate, has been hit with a 50-game suspension after testing positive for Amphetamine. The 33-year-old Andino logges his first 13 games in the Majors since 2013 last season and was off to a .234/.282/.375 start through 2016 plate appearances in Triple-A.
Pirates Place Alen Hanson On Waivers
The Pirates have placed infielder Alen Hanson on waivers, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Additionally, infielder Gift Ngoepe has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. A pair of corresponding moves will be announced tomorrow, Biertempfel notes, adding that infielder Max Moroff is one candidate to be added to the big league roster.
Hanson, 24, long rated as one of the Bucs’ top prospects and at one point was a consensus top 100 prospect in the game. However, his offensive production began to trail off upon reaching Triple-A, and he’s batted just .205/.239/.261 in a combined 92 plate appearances between the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The bulk of his time in the field as a big leaguer has come at second base, though defensive metrics such as Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved don’t paint a favorable picture.
Hanson broke camp with the Pirates due largely to the fact that he’s out of minor league options, and that same fact may at least give Pittsburgh hope of passing him through outright waivers. Any club placing a claim on Hanson would have to be prepared to carry him on its 25-man roster (or simply attempt to run him through waivers once again with the hope that he’d clear a second time around).
Ngoepe, the first African-born player ever to reach the Major Leagues, made his big league debut earlier this season and has seen action in 27 games with the Pirates. In 63 plate appearances, the 27-year-old has batted .222/.323/.296 with a pair of doubles and a triple. Ngoepe turned in strong defensive marks in a small sample of 110 innings at second base and also saw time at shortstop (26 innings) and third base (14 innings). However, he struck out in 41 percent of his trips to the plate, demonstrating that there’s still more for him to work on at the dish.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to view the transcript for MLBTR Chat With Jason Martinez: May 31, 2017
