New Features At Roster Resource!
Over at Roster Resource, we’ve been working hard to keep our readers updated on the state of each team from the Majors down to the low Minors. Not only do we provide up-to-the-minute depth charts with a ton of useful information, we have recently launched three new features that can give you an even better understanding of each roster.
- Our closer chart lists 3-5 relievers for each team with current role, recent bullpen usage and power ranking (overall and last 14 days).
- Notable closer workloads with likely replacement(s) for that day
- Injury updates
- Closers who are running out of chances and who is next in line to take their job.
- A look at each team’s starting rotation usage and effectiveness.
- View how many (and which) starters have been used by each team, which rotations are eating the most innings and which ones are providing their teams with the most quality starts.
- View which teams are getting the most starts out of homegrown pitchers.
- Our “Roster Effect Rating” shows which teams have been hit hardest by injuries using a formula that takes a player’s projected value and numbers of days on the DL into account.
- DL stint tally per team
- DL start and return dates.
- Number of days on the DL per player.
Please feel free to leave feedback or suggestions in the comment section or contact me @mlbdepthcharts.
Mariners Designate Andrew Aplin, Place Jean Segura On DL
The Mariners have announced a host of roster moves, with recently claimed outfielder Andrew Aplin losing his 40-man spot and shortstop Jean Segura heading to the 10-day DL. Seattle has called up righty Tyler Cloyd and infielder Tyler Smith.
Two additional corresponding moves were needed as well. Righty Casey Lawrence was optioned to Triple-A, while fellow right-hander Ryan Weber was shifted to the 60-day DL to clear an extra 40-man spot.
Aplin, who was just picked up from the division-rival Astros, has yet to see MLB action with any organization. Seattle will presumably hope that the 26-year-old outfielder will clear waivers this time and land back at Triple-A Tacoma.
It’s not yet clear just what the prognosis is for Segura, who is easily the most significant player involved in today’s moves. He has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, per the M’s, who can scarcely afford a lengthy absence from one of the club’s best performers.
As for the newcomers, it’s interesting to see Cloyd moving back to the majors after joining the Mariners from the independent leagues less than one month ago. He has impressed in four starts at Tacoma, though, with a 1.10 ERA and 14:2 K/BB ratio over 16 1/3 frames.
The 25-year-old Smith, meanwhile, is set to make his major league debut. He had been off to an improved start after scuffling somewhat last year at the highest level of the minors. Through 193 Triple-A plate appearances in 2017, Smith carries a .265/.344/.400 batting line with five home runs while lining up primarily at shortstop.
Angels To Sign Michael Bourn
The Angels have agreed to a minor-league deal with veteran outfielder Michael Bourn, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). He had recently opted out of his deal with the Orioles.
Los Angeles is building up its outfield depth in the wake of injuries to Mike Trout and Cameron Maybin, each of whom are on the DL. Bourn will head to Triple-A Salt Lake City, which just lost Eric Young Jr. and Shane Robinson to the MLB roster.
Bourn, 34, finished his 2016 season on a strong note in a productive 24-game run with the Orioles. But he had struggled earlier in the year with the Diamondbacks and hasn’t been a productive regular since 2013.
Still, it seems reasonable to hope that the fleet-footed veteran could function as a useful bench or platoon player. He was getting on base at an excellent .373 clip through 51 plate appearances at Triple-A in the Baltimore organization, though he was lagging in batting average (.220) and power (.317 slugging percentage).
Rangers To Designate Sam Dyson For Assignment
TODAY: Texas has officially announced the move.
YESTERDAY: The Rangers will designate struggling former closer Sam Dyson for assignment, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Texas expects to trade Dyson after informing other clubs of its plans and receiving interest from more than one team, Rosenthal adds. Jose Leclerc will be activated from the DL to take Dyson’s place on the roster.
Dyson, 29, emerged as the closer in Texas just one year ago on the strength of an excellent 2.43 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 65.2 percent ground-ball rate. He logged a total of 70 1/3 innings and picked up 38 saves last season, leading to a $3.52MM salary in arbitration last winter. However, the 2017 season has been nothing short of nightmarish for Dyson, who has posted a 10.80 ERA with more walks (12) than strikeouts (7). Dyson has served up six homers in just 16 2/3 innings this year after yielding a total of five over the life of the entire 2016 season.
Dyson is still owed the balance of that aforementioned salary — a commitment of roughly $2.347MM through season’s end. Of course, Texas could offset some of that salary in trade talks with interested teams over the course of the next few days. Presumably, the move won’t be made official until tomorrow, as the Rangers are off today.
Despite his disastrous results in 2017, it’s not difficult to envision a club rolling the dice on Dyson’s track record. From 2014-16, the righty posted a combined 2.45 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 187 2/3 innings with the Marlins and Rangers. And while he hasn’t been able to keep the ball in the yard this year, his heavy ground-ball tendencies helped him to average just 0.5 HR/9 across those three seasons. Furthermore, Dyson has maintained a ground-ball rate north of 61 percent in 2017 and is averaging nearly 95 mph on his fastball.
While one can make the argument for any number of teams to take a gamble on Dyson, a few stand out as plausible in my eyes. The Nationals have been looking for late-inning ‘pen help for quite some time and could try Dyson in a low-leverage role with the hope that he can reemerge as a viable setup option. The Mets, too, are in need of relief help following Jeurys Familia‘s injury. The Twins’ have the worst bullpen ERA in the Majors and may find the idea of acquiring Dyson at a bargain rate appealing, given that their surprising status as AL Central contenders clashes with their expected plan of rebuilding. (Notably, Minnesota GM Thad Levine was a longtime Rangers assistant GM before moving to the Twins this year.) Of course, all of those fits are purely my own speculation.
Braves Designate Emilio Bonifacio
The Braves have designated utilityman Emilio Bonifacio for assignment, per a club announcement. The club also optioned infielder Jace Peterson and righty Matt Wisler to Triple-A.
Those moves opened three active roster spots for Atlanta. Southpaw Eric O’Flaherty and third baseman Adonis Garcia will come back from rehab stints to rejoin the club. Also, infielder Johan Camargo was recalled.
[RELATED: Updated Braves Depth Chart]
It’s not surprising to see Atlanta move on from Bonifacio. The versatile 32-year-old has only seen 44 plate appearances in his 38 games of action, all in the outfield, and owns an anemic .132/.150/.211 batting line.
Neither Peterson nor Wisler were performing well, either, though in those cases there are longer-term implications. The 27-year-old Peterson had turned in a solid 2016 campaign, but is slashing just .194/.293/.259 through 123 trips to the plate this season. Wisler, 24, has struggled in the bullpen after spending the bulk of his career as a starter. He has permitted seven earned runs through nine innings with just three strikeouts against three walks.
The Atlanta organization, which sits seven games under .500 entering today’s action, will hope for more from its trio of new roster additions. But none have performed very well in the early going. In fact, their current-season lines are near matches for the scuffling players they’ll replace.
The veteran O’Flaherty owns an ugly 6.59 ERA in 13 2/3 innings, with nine strikeouts and six walks on the ledger. Garcia entered the year as the regular third baseman but is hitting just .237/.278/.348 in 144 plate appearances. And Camargo, a first-year player who isn’t regarded as a future regular, has reached base only twice in his 11 appearances at the dish — though he has hit quite well at Triple-A.
Angels Pause Huston Street’s Throwing Program
The Angels have paused the throwing program for injured right-hander Huston Street, the team announced to reporters on Thursday night (link via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). Street was on a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake but felt some tightness in his right triceps. He’s been out the entire year thus far due to a strained right lat muscle.
In the absence of Street and fellow righty Cam Bedrosian, the Angels have received some relatively surprising contributions from an unlikely collection of relievers that were acquired at a bargain rate. Veteran Bud Norris has stepped into the closer’s role and pitched quite well (last night’s lackluster outing notwithstanding), while Blake Parker, David Hernandez and Yusmeiro Petit have all made strong contributions out of the bullpen as well.
The 33-year-old Street is currently playing out the second season of a two-year, $18MM contract and is earning $9MM this year (plus a $1MM buyout of a 2018 option). The contract hasn’t worked out the way the Halos had hoped, to say the least. Last season, Street limped to a 6.45 ERA through 30 1/3 innings as he dealt with knee and oblique injuries that likely contributed to a career-worst 88.2 mph average fastball velocity.
It doesn’t seem especially likely that Street will be handed the reins to the ninth inning when (or if) he is ultimately deemed healthy enough to return. Norris has excelled in closer’s role, pitching to a 2.08 ERA with 24 strikeouts against nine walks in 17 1/3 innings since being asked to lock down his first save of the season. And while Norris’ success and affordable salary on a one-year commitment make him an obvious summer trade candidate, the much-younger Bedrosian looked every bit the part of a big league closer last year when logging a 1.12 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 49.6 percent ground-ball rate in 40 1/3 innings for the Angels.
Bobby Parnell Opts Out Of Royals Contract
Right-hander Bobby Parnell has exercised an out clause in his minor league deal with the Royals and is now a free agent, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
Parnell, 32, has totaled 21 innings with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in Omaha, pitching to a 4.71 ERA with 17 strikeouts against 13 walks with a 42.2 percent ground-ball rate. Opponents actually aren’t hitting Parnell all that hard (.244/.354/.305, no homers allowed), but his control issues and a poor 61.8 percent strand rate have haunted him thus far.
The former Mets closer tallied just 30 1/3 innings in the Majors over the past three seasons combined due to myriad injuries, including 2014 Tommy John surgery. Prior to that TJ operation, Parnell had risen from middle reliever to setup man to closer in Queens, pitching to a 2.79 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 across 213 innings from 2010-13. He’s yet to be able to approach that form in any of his comeback attempts, however, and Parnell’s once-97 mph heater was averaging a diminished (but still solid) 94 mph in his brief big league stint with the Tigers last year.
Ernesto Frieri Opts Out Of Yankees Deal
Veteran right-hander Ernesto Frieri has exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Yankees, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). The decision to opt out seems to be a last-minute change in direction, as the Post’s Joel Sherman reported late yesterday afternoon that Frieri had not yet triggered the clause.
Set to turn 32 next month, Frieri has enjoyed a solid season with New York’s Triple-A affiliate thus far, pitching to a 3.00 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 21 innings of work. Frieri’s nine walks and 33.3 percent ground-ball rate aren’t eye-catching numbers, but even in his peak seasons from 2010-13, he was a fly-ball pitcher that struggled with his control at times.
Frieri sat out the 2016 campaign entirely, with the exception of playing some winter ball, and he struggled through both the 2014 and 2015 seasons in the Majors. However, the former Angels closer did notch 60 saves from 2012-13, and his aforementioned four-year peak stretch included a 2.79 earned run average with 313 strikeouts in just 229 1/3 innings.
Given his history of missing bats and solid efforts thus far in Triple-A, Frieri could latch on as a low-cost flyer with any number of bullpen-needy teams around the league. Speculatively speaking, the Nationals, Tigers, Twins, Rangers and Mets are among the many clubs that could be on the hunt for relief help.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/2/17
Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Reds have released left-hander Lucas Luetge from Triple-A, tweets Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The former Mariners southpaw inked a minors deal with Cincinnati this offseason and has tossed 27 2/3 innings for the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Louisville. In that time, Luetge has recorded a pedestrian 4.55 ERA, though it’s accompanied by a much more encouraging 30-to-9 K/BB ratio. Luetge hasn’t had much big league success (4.35 ERA in 89 innings), but he has a history of missing bats in Triple-A and has held lefties to a .225/.295/.275 batting line through 45 plate appearances this season.
Rockies Release Chris Denorfia
The Rockies have released veteran outfielder Chris Denorfia from their Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque, as first noted on the Pacific Coast League transactions page.
The 36-year-old Denorfia hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2015 but has shown fairly well in Triple-A in each of the past two seasons, hitting .269/.329/.408 in 42 minor league games with the Giants last season and .275/.383/.353 through 61 plate appearances with Colorado’s affiliate this year. Though he’s never been an especially powerful bat, the right-handed-hitting Denorfia has experience at all three outfield spots and has hit left-handed pitchers at a .285/.353/.419 clip in 1004 plate appearances spread across parts of 10 Major League seasons.