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Giants Place Posey On 7-Day DL, Select Federowicz, Designate Blackburn

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The Giants announced that they’ve placed Buster Posey on the 7-day disabled list and selected the contract of veteran backstop Tim Federowicz. To clear a spot for Federowicz on the 40-man roster, the team has designated right-hander Clayton Blackburn for assignment. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area first reported that Posey would be placed on the DL and that Federowicz is on his way to the Majors.

[Related: Updated San Francisco Giants Depth Chart]

Posey was hit in the head by a 94 mph fastball from D-backs right-hander Taijuan Walker yesterday, and though Pavlovic notes that he’s said to be feeling good, the team wants to proceed with caution in a potential concussion scenario. As Pavlovic notes, the Giants have been burned in recent years by rushing both Brandon Belt and Joe Panik back from concussions, and it only stands to reason that they’d want to not only avoid repeating those mistakes but proceed with extreme caution regarding their top position player.

Federowicz, 29, is a veteran of five Major League seasons, although he’s never been much of a source of offense in the big leagues. He’s a .194/.243/.295 hitter in 304 plate appearances with the Dodgers and Cubs, but he does come with a strong Triple-A track record (to say nothing of his solid performance in Spring Training). In 304 Triple-A games over the course of his career, Federowicz is a .304/.375/.511 hitter, and he also slashed an impressive .323/.417/.625 in 21 games with the Giants this spring. Federowicz is out of minor league options, so he’ll likely be exposed to waivers once again once Posey is healthy enough to return. In the meantime, Nick Hundley figures to step up and catch on a regular basis.

Blackburn, 24, rated as the Giants’ No. 5 prospect (per Baseball America) as recently as the 2014-15 offseason and rated among the team’s Top 10 prospects from 2012 through 2016. BA praised Blackburn for his pitchability and control, noting that he’s able to generate good sink on his low-90s heater. Blackburn, though, had a rough 2016 season in Triple-A, pitching to a 4.36 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 and a 46.8 percent ground-ball rate. He was tagged for five runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout across three innings in his first Triple-A start of the 2017 season. Given his proximity to the Majors, his control and his fairly recent prospect status, he seems like a reasonable candidate to command trade interest or be claimed on waivers by a pitching-needy organization with strong waiver priority.

Braves Place Matt Kemp On 10-Day DL, Promote Johan Camargo

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The Braves have announced that outfielder Matt Kemp is headed to the 10-day DL. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by infielder Johan Camargo, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first tweeted.

Kemp, who last played on Friday, has been bothered by a hamstring injury. Evidently, it hasn’t improved enough to believe he’ll be ready to return within the next few days. Still, the placement is backdated to April 8th, and with the new ten-day minimum it could be a short absence.

The veteran outfielder was off to a strong start, with eight hits (two of them home runs) in his 17 trips to the plate. The 32-year-old is looking to follow up on his strong numbers upon arriving in Atlanta last summer. Over his 241 plate appearances with the Braves, he slashed .280/.336/.519 with a dozen home runs while dramatically improving his plate discipline numbers (20 walks, 56 strikeouts) after a power-only first half with the Padres.

It’s a somewhat aggressive promotion for Camargo, meanwhile, who only just reached Triple-A. But he’ll likely function as a little-used bench option as he gets his first taste of the majors. Camargo hit just .267/.304/.379 over 491 plate appearances at Double-A last year, but did hit well in MLB camp this spring. The versatile infielder — he’s a switch-hitter who has seen action at short, second, and third in the minors — seems like a long-term possibility for a reserve role, as Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs wrote in his recent look at the Braves’ farm.

Transaction Retrospection: The Elvis Andrus Extension

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In early April of 2013, the Rangers struck what was then described by GM Jon Daniels as “an unusual deal” with shortstop Elvis Andrus. Daniels was likely referring to the complicated structure, which included two opt-out opportunities (following the 2018 and 2019 campaigns), but it has proven unusual in other ways.

Apr 5, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus (1) throws to first in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Opt-out provisions are now fairly common, particularly in large free-agent deals and extensions reached with players who already have significant service time. But contracts of the size of the Andrus deal — which guaranteed him $120MM over eight years (beginning in 2015) — are a rarity for players of that general service time. Andrus, who had already agreed to one prior extension, had just begun his 4+ service-class year. Since his deal was made, just two players with at least three but less than five years of service — i.e., experienced players who aren’t entering a contract year — have cleared $100MM in guaranteed money. Those other deals went to franchise faces Giancarlo Stanton and Freddie Freeman.

Indeed, Andrus looks like something of an outlier when you expand the terms further to include 2+ players and look a bit further back. In addition to the three players noted above, here’s the list of players who scored nine-figure guarantees when they had more than two but less than five years of service (within the time period covered by MLBTR’s Extension Tracker):

Needless to say, these were all players who were (or, at least, were viewed by their organizations as) franchise-level talents. Andrus was certainly on the young side for this group; he was then entering his age-24 campaign. Only Trout and Freeman were younger, the latter only marginally so. And its fair to note that Andrus landed clearly on the low side of the total guarantees included in this somewhat arbitrary list.

Still, it was then and remains surprising to see Andrus in such company. Also, the opt-out opportunities weren’t present in those other contracts, which reduced the team’s upside. He had yet to post even a league-average batting line (and wouldn’t crack that barrier until 2016). And though he did rate as a high-quality fielder and outstanding baserunner, he graded out more as a quality first-division regular than a superstar. Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference each valued his 2011 season as his best, with the former crediting him with 4.0 WAR and the latter pegging the overall value at 4.2 WAR.

The first two years after the agreement weren’t kind to the team. Between 2014 and 2015, Andrus slashed just .261/.312/.345. While he swiped 52 bags, he was gunned down on 24 attempts. And his fielding grades took a precipitous tumble. Entering the 2016 season, Texas was still on the hook for $103MM over the following seven years. And it seemed rather unlikely that Andrus would bail on the contract’s back end.

Things did change for the better last year, however. Though Andrus didn’t recover his standing as a baserunner and gloveman, he did finally break through somewhat at the plate. Over 568 plate appearances, he slashed .302/.362/.439 — representing career-best marks in all three categories and working out to a 112 wRC+. There were some underlying changes at work, many of which represented carryovers from a shift that began the season prior. It was in 2015 that Andrus began to take a more aggressive approach, increasing his swing rate, producing a big drop in his groundball-to-flyball ratio and increasing the number of balls he pulled while largely maintaining his typically excellent contact skills.

Of course, Andrus wasn’t all that good with the bat in 2015. The biggest difference between that season and his strong 2016? Yep, a fifty point jump in BABIP (from .283 to .333). It’s an open question whether 2015 was weighed down by bad luck or whether 2016 was boosted by good fortune — perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle — but the Rangers will surely hope it’s the former. Andrus has hit well in the early going in 2017, despite carrying a .278 BABIP, though it’s far too soon to know whether that will continue.

As things stand, Andrus will open the current season with a six-year, $88MM deal that still includes the two opt-out chances. (Andrus can opt out of four years and $58MM or three years and $43MM.) It’s questionable whether he’d have received anything like that on the open market this past winter, though perhaps that depends in part upon how organizations view his current tools and how they value his 2016 season — which B-Ref values at a robust 3.7 WAR, but Fangraphs pegs at only 2.1 WAR.

It seems rather unlikely that the Rangers will get the kind of value they hoped for when they paid Andrus like a premier player. Indeed, they arguably didn’t even receive a fair ROI for the $15MM salaries Andrus took down in each of the past two seasons. But it’s still possible the deal could work out reasonably well over the long run, or even that he’ll find cause to opt out; after all, with two productive years, Andrus could conceivably expect to find yet more money on the open market in advance of his age-30 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brennan Boesch To Retire

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We’ll track the day’s minor moves right here …

  • Outfielder Brennan Boesch is set to retire, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Boesch, who’ll turn 32 tomorrow, spent parts of six seasons in the majors, appearing with the Tigers, Yankees, Angels, and Reds. He last cracked the bigs in 2015, but saw the bulk of his action from 2010-12 with Detroit. At his best, in his sophomore campaign, Boesch slashed .283/.341/.458 with 16 home runs. The left-handed hitter spent last year with the Red Sox organization, missing much of the season due to a broken wrist and batting just .221/.266/.345 in 158 Triple-A plate appearances upon his return.

Central Notes: Martinez, Reds, Hughes, Thames

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Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez was able to take BP yesterday, manager Brad Ausmus tells Evan Woodberry of MLive.com (via Twitter). That puts the slugger a bit ahead of schedule in his rehab timeline from a lisfranc sprain in his right foot. The expectation had been that Martinez would not resume baseball activities until mid-April. Detroit is obviously hoping to get Martinez back quickly, while also balancing the need to ensure he doesn’t suffer a setback along the way.

Here’s more from the central divisions:

  • Reds skipper Bryan Price is backing up the organization’s promise to utilize unconventional bullpen tactics, as C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Yesterday, top setup man (and occasional closer option) Michael Lorenzen entered with the bases loaded in the third, putting out that fire and staying in to record three scoreless frames. (That’s not all; Lorenzen will also factor as a pinch-hitter.) Top baseball ops man Dick Williams has preached outside-the-box thinking for the rebuilding organization, with flexible, multi-inning relief outings representing one point of apparent focus. Top closer option Raisel Iglesias is also slated to continue throwing more than one frame from the pen at times, as he did on 17 occasions last year.
  • New Brewers reliever Jared Hughes discussed his transition from the NL Central-rival Pirates with Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He wasn’t surprised when he was cut loose by Pittsburgh, the only organization he had known to this point. “They told me early in spring that if it wasn’t going to be a great spring that they might need to part ways,” said Hughes. He noted, though, that struggling in camp is mostly a byproduct of his big frame. “I’ve got long levers,” said Hughes. “I need to get the timing of my sinker. … My sinker was not sinking the way it should have been. By the end of spring I was getting groundball outs. I’d imagine the Brewers saw it, and that’s what I’m doing now in the season.” Indeed, Hughes has generated eight grounders in 4 1/3 scoreless innings, though he has also issued four walks against just one strikeout thus far.
  • Another new Brewers player, first baseman/outfielder Eric Thames, took a much more circuitous route to Milwaukee. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy details how he landed with the Brewers, identifying the statistical and scouting analysis — as well as the “old-school sit-down” — that led to the three-year, $16MM pact. Thames, who is back in the majors for the first time since 2012, is off to a fine start. He owns a .333/.429/.611 slash through 21 plate appearances, though that comes with the usual sample caveats. Thamas has also gone down on strikes eight times against three walks and has hit safely on over half the balls he put in play.

Offseason In Review: Texas Rangers

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This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.

Facing a number of high-profile defections and about as many big holes, the Rangers faced a tough task this winter. Their acquisitions are just talented enough to work out well for them, but they’ll need some luck to approach their 95-win total from 2016.

Major League Signings

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Josh Hamilton, James Loney (since released), Travis Snider, Will Middlebrooks, Allen Webster, Anthony Bass, Bobby LaFromboise

Extensions

  • Rougned Odor, 2B: six years, $49.5MM, including $3MM buyout on $13.5MM option for 2023
  • Robinson Chirinos, C: one year (2018), $2.35MM, including $100K buyout on $2.375MM option for 2019

Contract Options

Notable Losses

Ian Desmond, Carlos Beltran, Mitch Moreland, Colby Lewis, Holland

Needs Addressed

Heading into the winter, the Rangers faced a number of potential high-profile defections, including those of Ian Desmond, Carlos Gomez and Carlos Beltran, and a limited amount of cash with which to address them — the Rangers’ budget was somewhat restricted by high-dollar, low-value contracts such as those of Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo, as well as expensive deals for Cole Hamels, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Yu Darvish.

In particular, the Rangers needed to replace key players in their outfield, upgrade their rotation and find a solution at first base and/or DH. In their rotation, the Rangers sensibly declined longtime starter Derek Holland’s $11MM option, paying him a $1.5MM buyout after a season in which he posted a 4.95 ERA, 5.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 while struggling with shoulder trouble. They also parted ways with another longtime starter, 37-year-old Colby Lewis, whose 3.71 ERA in 2016 masked lousy peripherals. Lewis remains a free agent.

The free-agent market for starting pitchers was poor, giving the Rangers limited opportunities to find another solid starter to complement Hamels, Darvish and Martin Perez. Instead, they gambled on two interesting former Padres arms, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross. Both are relatively young pitchers with tantalizing stuff, but they also both come with major question marks.

Andrew CashnerCashner received $10MM and will enter the Rangers’ rotation as soon as he’s ready, likely sometime late this month. The 30-year-old brings mid-90s heat and a hard slider, but he’s never gotten the sorts of strikeout rates you’d associate with that repertoire, and he’s coming off a season in which he posted a 5.25 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 while fading down the stretch. It will be up to the Rangers to figure out why. Cashner has used his changeup less and less frequently over the years, and the pitch has been less effective when he’s thrown it; reestablishing that pitch might be a key to reviving his career. As Fangraphs’ Eno Sarris points out, Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy might be able to help Cashner with his quality pitch framing. In any case, Cashner’s an interesting gamble, although $10MM seems like a lot to pay given his recent performances. He’ll also begin the season on the DL due to biceps tendinitis.

The Rangers also added Tyson Ross, whose main problem is health. The 29-year-old had back-to-back excellent seasons in San Diego in 2014 and 2015, but pitched only one outing in 2016 due to shoulder trouble, and finally had offseason surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome. The Padres non-tendered him in December, and the Rangers lured him away from the Cubs with a $6MM deal. He isn’t ready yet, but he’s progressed to throwing bullpens and simulated games, and could be ready to join the Rangers early in May. It remains to be seen whether the Rangers will be getting the pitcher who struck out a batter an inning and posted ground-ball rates in the 60% range in 2014 and 2015. Ross can help them if he’s even half that good, but it’s difficult at this point to project with any certainty that he will be.

The Rangers thus began the season with a rotation that features neither of the key starting pitchers they acquired. Darvish, Hamels, Perez and A.J. Griffin (who struggled to a 5.07 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 2016 after missing two full seasons to injury) will comprise the initial rotation, with Cashner perhaps joining in mid-April when the team needs a fifth starter. The Rangers initially signed Dillon Gee to a minor-league deal, and then, after he opted out, re-signed him to a big-league contract and optioned him to Triple-A; he represents an alternative if Cashner isn’t ready to go. Given the considerable question marks surrounding Cashner, Ross, Griffin and Gee (and, if we want to get really pessimistic, Perez, who posted a very shaky 4.7 K/9 last season), the Rangers’ rotation still looks iffy, although it’s also easy to see the upside if Cashner and Ross pan out.

In the outfield, the Rangers lost Desmond to the Rockies, who agreed to pay him $70MM over five years. The Rangers, meanwhile, received the No. 29 pick in this year’s draft as compensation. The Rangers had interest in Desmond, but were wise not to match the Rockies’ offer — Desmond’s resurgence in 2016 was fueled by a career-best .350 BABIP, and he’s already 31.

Instead, the Rangers retained another outfielder, re-signing Carlos Gomez to a short-term deal to man center field. Gomez’s career seemed to be falling apart when the Astros released him last August, but he caught on with the Rangers down the stretch and batted .284/.362/.543, numbers worthy of his brilliant 2013-2014 run with Milwaukee. That sort of production probably won’t continue, but for a mere $11.5MM, the Rangers can get a good deal even if Gomez’s offense tails off. His hitting is hard to predict, and his 30.0% strikeout rate for the 2016 season is a bad sign, but he has defensive and baserunning value going for him, plus a bit of home-run power. All things considered, he seems good for about two wins above replacement, which would rather easily make him worth the value of his contract.

For first base and DH, the Rangers turned to another familiar face, that of Mike Napoli. The Rangers faced the loss not only of Beltran, but also longtime first baseman Mitch Moreland, whose production faded in 2016. Minor-league über-slugger Joey Gallo looked like an obvious candidate to take over at first, but the Rangers made clear at the beginning of the offseason that they felt the 23-year-old Gallo, who whiffed in a ghastly 34.6% of his plate appearances at Triple-A last year, ought to start 2017 in the minors. (Gallo began the season in the Majors anyway, taking over at third for Beltre, who is nursing a calf injury.)

Napoli is coming off a 34-homer season in Cleveland. The 35-year-old has always fared well in Texas — he had two of the best years of his career there in 2011 and 2012, and also was productive after the Red Sox dealt him to the Rangers in August 2015. It’s not a given his third stint with the team will go as well, given his age and his seemingly limited ability to hit for average. He batted just .248 in 2014, .227 in 2015 and .239 in 2016, and if his ability to make contact declines at all, he might have trouble hitting enough homers to compensate. As with the Gomez deal, though, it’s hard to argue with the limited commitment the Rangers made, coughing up only $11MM guaranteed and getting a 2018 team option in the deal as well.

The Rangers also exercised Lucroy’s $5.25MM 2017 option (probably the easiest move they made this winter), and extended backup Robinson Chirinos. Chirinos’ extension bought out his 2018 season, which would have been his last season of arbitration eligibility, for just $2.35MM, likely less than he would have gotten had he been even modestly productive in 2017. The Rangers also received a cheap option for 2019, giving them a couple years of flexibility as they prepare for Lucroy’s possible departure to free agency next winter. Chirinos had never been paid more than $1.55MM in a season prior to the extension, and, at age 32, might never have gotten another shot at a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract. His new deal thus provides him with a bit of financial security.

Questions Remaining

The Rangers never did acquire another player to help at DH, and it appears they’ll have Choo soak a number of plate appearances there. In a vaccum, that makes sense — Choo has rated as a below-average outfield defender in the past several seasons, and he’s had health problems to boot. With Nomar Mazara slated for the bulk of the time in right, that leaves left field open to one of the most wide-open time shares in baseball.

Delino DeShields arguably sits atop the depth chart at left field, which seems like a questionable proposition. DeShields is coming off an outstanding spring in which he posted a .442 OBP, but he’s coming off a miserable 2016 season in which he batted just .209/.275/.313. At just 24, DeShields is young enough to improve, and he’ll certainly make the Rangers’ defense better. But his bat is a question mark. Neither Ryan Rua nor Drew Robinson have established a track record of offensive production at the major league level, but they’ll also factor in the mix.

Then, there’s Jurickson Profar, once an elite prospect and now something of a super-utility option. Though there was reported trade interest over the winter, Texas elected to hang onto Profar to see if he can restore some of his lost luster. He will participate in the game of musical chairs in left and might also step into the infield wherever a need arises. Gallo, too, could theoretically shift to the corner outfield in addition to seeing time in the corner infield or at DH, depending upon how the season progresses. For both of these top prospects, it’s something of a make-or-break year for their futures with the Rangers.

Then there’s the Rangers’ pitching staff. It’s always hard to know how a bullpen will perform, but the Rangers’ looks fine — their 2016 ’pen didn’t rate well overall, but they’re returning most of the relievers (including Sam Dyson, Matt Bush, Tony Barnette and Alex Claudio) who were key to their second half, when their bullpen did an outstanding job keeping the ball on the ground and were very effective overall. Another key reliever, Jake Diekman, will be out until at least the All-Star Break after having colon surgery. Jeremy Jeffress will need to keep his off-field issues in check to play his expected role; if he can do that and remain effective, then either he or Bush would represent alternatives at the closer role if Dyson’s early struggles continue.

They’ll have to get the ball to those pitchers, though, and their rotation looks like it could quickly boil down to Hamels, Darvish and then a bunch of uncertainties, particularly if Cashner and Ross don’t reemerge.

Deal Of Note

"<strongLate in Spring Training, the Rangers announced that they’d signed second baseman Rougned Odor to a six-year, $49.5MM deal with a club option for 2023. The deal buys out what would have been Odor’s first two free agent seasons, with an option for a third.

The deal is roughly comparable to recent six-year, one-option extensions for fellow second basemen Jason Kipnis and Matt Carpenter, who received $52.5MM and $52MM, respectively, when they had between two and three years of service time. It’s also interesting to compare Odor’s deal to that of another infielder’s recent extension: that of Jose Ramirez, who received just $26MM over five years and gave up two option years. Even if the Indians exercise Ramirez’s first option, he’ll only receive a total of $35MM, far less than Odor, Kipnis or Carpenter received.

It’s debatable whether Odor will be as valuable as Kipnis or Carpenter have proven to be — Odor produced a mere .296 OBP and questionable defensive numbers in 2016. But the outlier here is Ramirez’s contract, not Odor’s, and that ultimately isn’t surprising. Kipnis, Carpenter, Ramirez and Odor were all early enough in their careers at the time of their extensions that many of the yearly salaries their extensions covered would have been governed by the arbitration process, which values counting stats. While Odor doesn’t have the overall track record Kipnis or Carpenter did, his 33-homer total in 2016, if sustained, probably would have gotten him paid at a similar rate. That’s particularly likely since the Kipnis and Carpenter contracts are both now three years old.

Ramirez, meanwhile, had two uneven years before his breakout 2016 and hasn’t posted outstanding counting stats in any category. As a player, I’d probably prefer Ramirez to Odor, due to Ramirez’s defense and versatility, as well as the greater likelihood that he’ll continue to reach base at a palatable rate. But it makes sense that Odor was the one who got the big contract.

These are, of course, different questions than whether the Rangers should have extended Odor. Odor whiffed seven times as often as he walked in 2016, a worrying sign. He only recently turned 23, though, so there’s plenty of room for growth. And even if his career stagnates, his deal is still fairly cheap in the grand scheme of things despite being considerably more expensive than Ramirez’s, and his positional value, power and age insulate the Rangers somewhat against the possibility that the deal will go south.

Overview

The Rangers’ 95-win 2016 season was built on shaky ground — they only scored eight more runs than they allowed. This year, their weaknesses look fairly obvious, particularly in their rotation. They have enough marquee talent (including Hamels, Darvish, Beltre, and Lucroy, potentially along with players like Odor or young outfielder Nomar Mazara) to contend if things go well, however. Within that context, their signings of Cashner and Ross this offseason look like Hail Mary passes — those gambles don’t appear incredibly likely to produce huge dividends, but could be decisive for the team if they do. The Rangers might have a hard time topping the Astros this season. But it’s easy to see how they could.

If things don’t go as hoped, though, the front office will increasingly face questions about how to handle the next offseason. While the Rangers could revisit extension talks with Darvish and Lucroy, or pursue them on the open market, efforts at new deals fizzled this spring. That could leave two very notable holes on the roster at the end of the 2017 season.

How would you rate the Rangers’ offseason moves? (Link for app users.)

How would you grade the Rangers' offseason?
C 40.73% (701 votes)
B 31.78% (547 votes)
D 12.14% (209 votes)
F 9.01% (155 votes)
A 6.33% (109 votes)
Total Votes: 1,721
Photos courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

Orioles To Re-Sign Michael Bourn

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The Orioles have reached agreement on a new minors deal with veteran outfielder Michael Bourn, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). He’ll report to extended spring training, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets.

Bourn, 34, seemed likely to make the O’s roster when he signed on over the winter, but a broken finger intervened. In the meantime, Baltimore has opened the season with fellow minor-league signee Craig Gentry functioning as a defensively-minded reserve outfielder.

Once Bourn is back to health, then, he’ll be working to unseat Gentry. If and when he returns to the majors, he’ll look to pick up where he left off last year, when he slashed .283/.358/.435 in a 55 plate appearance stint with the O’s. That’s a tiny sample, of course, and Bourn has not been nearly so productive otherwise in recent campaigns.

Injury Notes: Bradley, Posey, Segura, Osuna, Desmond, Gray/Bassitt, Weaver

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The Red Sox have placed center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. on the 10-day DL, as Ian Browne of MLB.com was among those to report. Bradley was diagnosed with a knee sprain caused by a misstep while running the bases. An MRI did not reveal more significant damage, so the hope is he won’t miss much more than the minimum.

Let’s check in on a few health situations of note from around the game …

  • Giants star Buster Posey departed the club’s game today after being struck in the head by an errant pitch, but thankfully indications are he escaped any significant injury. As Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News writes, Posey passed a concussion test and told teammates he was fine. That’s not conclusive, of course, but for now the team does not plan to make a roster move to fill in for the stellar backstop, as Baggarly further notes on Twitter.
  • Mariners shortstop Jean Segura was also pulled today with an injury, though it doesn’t appear to be a major concern. Manager Scott Servais told reporters, including MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter link), that it’s a “very mild” hamstring issue. For now, at least, the key offseason addition won’t be headed for the DL, with Servais calling him day to day.
  • The Blue Jays anticipate that closer Roberto Osuna will be able to return to action tomorrow, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports. The excellent young reliever opened the year on the 10-day DL owing to a cervical spasm, though that placement was backdated. He made it through a sim game and now seems ready to return to the majors — where he’ll try to pick up where he left off in a strong 2016 season.
  • There are several important Rockies players still working back from injury, and Nick Groke of the Denver Post has the latest. Ian Desmond, Tom Murphy, and David Dahl all seem to be progressing, with the trio possibly slated to return by the end of the month. Desmond, who’ll suit up at first base for the first time when he’s ready, seems to have the clearest progression at this point. Per Groke, Desmond will start to throw and field at some point this week.
  • Athletics righties Sonny Gray and Chris Bassitt are making strides in their rehabs, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Grey’s lat strain is healing well enough that he was able to work up to 35 pitches from the bullpen today. That could leave him on track to return tot he majors before April is out, per the report. Bassitt, meanwhile, is on the cusp of a rehab stint, though Slusser notes that he’s likely to take a full month in the minors since he’s working back from a year-long layoff owing to Tommy John surgery.
  • Though he’s currently stashed at Triple-A, Cardinals righty Luke Weaver is a key piece of the organization’s depth (and future rotation plans). He is headed for a DL stint with lower back stiffness, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports on Twitter. At present, it’s not clear what kind of an absence is anticipated.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/10/17

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Here are the latest minor moves from around the game:

  • Righties Ray Black and Ian Gardeck have reached minor-league agreements with the Giants after clearing waivers, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Both 26-year-old relievers were moved off the 40-man recently. Black possesses a huge fastball and has shown big strikeout tallies at times, but he also has yet to demonstrate anything close to the command needed to succeed in the majors. Gardeck, meanwhile, is returning from Tommy John surgery. In 2015, he pitched to a 3.54 ERA with 10.8 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 over 86 1/3 innings at High-A.
  • The Mets have reached a minors deal with first baseman Cody Decker, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Decker, 30, has also spent some amount of time at most every other spot on the diamond. He earned a brief call-up in 2015 with the Padres, the organization he had been with for his entire career until last season. Last year, Decker bounced between the Royals, Rockies, and Red Sox organizations, hitting a combined .230/.284/.484 with 19 home runs in 335 plate appearances in the upper minors.
  • Joining the Cardinals on a minor-league deal is first baseman Rangel Ravelo, per Matt Eddy of Baseball America (Twitter link). The 24-year-old played most recently in the Athletics organization, where he was known for his high-contact approach and solid on-base abilities. Ravelo struggled last year, though, slashing just .262/.334/.395 with eight long balls in 416 Triple-A plate appearances.

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