Rosenthal’s Latest: Blue Jays, Donaldson, Braun, Orioles
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal shares some news from around baseball in his latest notes column…
- Josh Donaldson is expected to spend 2-4 weeks on the DL recovering from a calf injury. Though the Blue Jays are in dire need of Donaldson’s bat, I would suspect the team would err on the side of caution and keep Donaldson out of action until he has completely healed, given that the third baseman has been bothered by this injury dating back to Spring Training.
- With the Blue Jays off to a 2-10 start, Rosenthal figures the team will likely be dealing veterans at the July trade deadline but “a major deconstruction would be a tough sell” to fans. A complete rebuild would erase most or all of the gains made in ticket sales and TV ratings during the last two years, when the Jays twice reached the postseason. Rosenthal believes the Jays could use “a strategic re-set” and still aim to contend in 2018. If Toronto does sell at the deadline, they could limit themselves to trading players who will be free agents after 2017 (such as Marco Estrada, Jose Bautista or Francisco Liriano). The tougher calls, of course, would be on deciding to trade Donaldson or J.A. Happ, who are under contract through the 2018 season.
- Ryan Braun will gain 10-and-5 rights on May 14, according to Rosenthal, not on May 24 as previous reports have suggested. No matter the date that the Brewers slugger can gain full no-trade control, however, Rosenthal echoes earlier reports that suggest little will change with Braun’s trade status once he becomes a 10-and-5 player.
- The Orioles‘ lack of international spending is “an ownership decision,” Rosenthal hears from Baltimore executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette. Ben Badler pulled no punches in criticizing the Orioles’ meager spending on international amateur free agents in a piece for Baseball America earlier this week, and Rosenthal adds that the O’s have also spent the least of any team on amateur draft signings over the last three years. While Duquette notes that several homegrown prospects are currently on Baltimore’s MLB roster, Rosenthal points out that with so many big names (i.e. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Zach Britton) slated for free agency after 2018, the O’s are lacking in young depth to fill what could be several significant roster holes.
- Two sources tell Rosenthal that Duquette wasn’t happy with how the Orioles‘ medical staff handled Chris Tillman‘s shoulder injury. Duquette didn’t specifically comment on this report to Rosenthal, only saying that “We probably could have done a better job getting him back….I’m not sure we rushed him. I’m just disappointed he didn’t start the season with us. We had plenty of time to work with him. The shoulder was bothering him at the end of last year.” Tillman and the O’s are targeting a return date of early May for the right-hander to make his season debut.
Pitching Injury Notes: Graveman, Lugo, Tillman, Ross
Athletics right-hander Kendall Graveman has been placed on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to this past Saturday, due to a strained right shoulder, per a club announcement. Catcher Bruce Maxwell has been recalled from Triple-A to fill Graveman’s spot on the 25-man roster. While A’s fans are undoubtedly disheartened to see the 26-year-old Graveman land on the shelf, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that there are no indications that the injury is severe. Slusser notes that she’d be surprised to see Graveman miss more than one start, so it seems that Oakland is merely taking advantage of the shortened minimum stay on the DL to help keep the roster full while Graveman recovers.
A few more injury notes from around the game…
- Mets righty Seth Lugo is set to begin a throwing program after taking two weeks off, per The Record’s Matt Ehalt (Twitter link). Lugo, who is hoping to avoid surgery after being diagnosed with a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, will begin his program by throwing from 60 feet. Ehalt adds. Lugo and southpaw Steven Matz are both presently on the DL for the Mets, which has considerably thinned out the club’s rotation depth.
- Chris Tillman was able to make his first rehab start yesterday, appearing with the Orioles‘ Double-A affiliate, as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports. Though he says he is still having trouble getting his problematic shoulder loose, he says he’s “good to go” once he’s able to do so. Tillman suggested he is learning to deal with the constraints of the balky joint, though how that’ll work out at the game’s highest level is anyone’s guess. The righty sat in the upper eighties with his fastball yesterday, though he did top out at 91 — which is where he typically works. So long as he’s able to rebound from this first outing, Tillman will continue to increase his pitch count in further rehab starts.
- The back issues that have slowed the rehab progress of Rangers‘ righty Tyson Ross are still hanging around, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports on Twitter. Since he has yet to return to the mound, it now seems that his early-May target to return to the majors will move back by at least a week or two. Ross had seemed to be nearing a full recovery from thoracic outlet surgery when the seemingly minor back issue cropped up.
Rich Hill Heads Back To 10-Day DL
After his blister problem reappeared in his most recent outing, Dodgers lefty Rich Hill is heading back to the DL, per a club announcement. For the time being, corner outfielder/infielder Rob Segedin is headed up to the active roster while Alex Wood will take the open rotation spot.
There’s plenty of uncertainty in Hill’s situation. As things stand, the team is examining ways to treat the ongoing problem, though there’s no timetable at present and it seems there’s little in the way of clear answers. Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that the organization’s medical staff has been stymied thus far in its efforts to get at the root cause, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports on Twitter. (Gurnick provided more detail on the confounding issue earlier today.)
The strategy of utilizing the 10-day DL to provide rest obviously wasn’t successful on its own. As Roberts notes, and Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets, “ten days wasn’t enough.” Whether additional rest will provide a solution obviously isn’t known, though presumably that’s one possible action. It’s even possible that the veteran southpaw could move to the bullpen upon his return, Roberts says (as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets), with the idea presumably being that shorter stints may help alleviate the problem.
Fortunately, the Dodgers do have ample depth built into their plans. Every member of the current MLB staff has at least some significant recent injury on his record, but the current top five seems to be a strong and healthy unit at the moment. Swingman Ross Stripling could also step into the rotation, while Triple-A starters Julio Urias and Joe Gunkel could also be called upon. Scott Kazmir and Brock Stewart both represent additional starting options who are currently on the mend.
While the organization always knew there was some health risk with the 37-year-old Hill, that doesn’t soften the blow. The Dodgers promised Hill $48MM over three years to bring him back into the fold, so while a bullpen move might at least allow him to contribute and stay fresh while the team looks for a permanent fix, such an approach would surely not return value on the contract over the long run.
Rangers Place Sam Dyson On 10-Day DL, Recall Keone Kela; Matt Bush To Close
6:39pm: Bush will get the first shot at the closing role, skipper Jeff Banister tells reporters including Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter). But the team will spread the opportunities around somewhat. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets, that’s due in large part to the need to avoid over-straining Bush’s shoulder.
5:54pm: The Rangers have placed struggling closer Sam Dyson on the 10-day DL with a hand contusion, TR.. Sullivan of MLB.com was among those to report on Twitter. Texas will recall fellow right-hander Keone Kela to take his place on the active roster.
Specifics of the injury haven’t been reported, but the club was no doubt interested in finding a way to give Dyson a respite. He has been tagged for 13 earned runs on 14 hits and 5 walks over 4 1/3 innings, while recording only a pair of strikeouts.
It’s unclear as yet who will take over for Dyson in the ninth inning. In fact, that was the subject of a poll earlier today; you can head here to participate. The likeliest options appear to be Matt Bush and Jeremy Jeffress.
Kela might have been one of the names considered to function as the closer, but he was optioned to start the season in something of a disciplinary move. He’ll be looking to improve upon a disappointing 2016 season and regain his standing in the MLB locker room.
Angels Acquire Parker Bridwell, Move Huston Street To 60-Day DL
6:59pm: Street was not able to stay on track due to a “mild shoulder impingement,” GM Billy Eppler tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter).
5:51pm: The Angels have acquired righty Parker Bridwell from the Orioles, per club announcements. Cash considerations or a player to be named later will go to Baltimore in return.
To open a 40-man spot, the Halos have bumped righty Huston Street to the 60-day DL. That suggests his lat strain isn’t progressing quite as hoped. At the time of his injury, about six weeks back, it was suggested that it was at least possible Street would be throwing in three or four weeks. With today’s DL swap, he won’t be eligible to return until about two months of the season have elapsed.
Bridwell, who was recently designated for assignment, will head to Double-A upon landing in his new organization. The 25-year-old reached the majors briefly last year, but evidently didn’t factor very heavily in the O’s plans.
A starter for most of his career, Bridwell spent much of 2016 functioning as a multi-inning reliever (he logged 87 total innings last year over 33 appearances). Over 83 2/3 minor-league innings, including an AFL stint, Bridwell pitched to a 3.76 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9.
Marlins Designate Tyler Moore For Assignment
The Marlins announced that they’ve reinstated third baseman Martin Prado from the 10-day disabled list and designated first baseman/outfielder Tyler Moore for assignment in order to clear a spot on the active roster.
The 30-year-old Moore, long a member of the division-rival Nationals, was in his first season with the Fish after signing a minors deal in the offseason and breaking camp with the club. The right-handed-hitting Moore logged 11 plate appearances with Miami, collecting four hits along the way. In parts of five big league seasons, Moore is a .230/.282/.402 hitter. Unlike many right-handed bats that have long occupied a part-time role, however, Moore has actually fared slightly better against righties in his career.
Prado, 33, opened the season on the DL due to a hamstring strain that he sustained while playing for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. He just concluded a four-game rehab stint in the minors and will suit up for the 2017 season on the heels of a .304/.359/.417 batting line in 2016. The 2017 campaign marks the first season of a three-year, $40MM extension that Prado inked last September in lieu of testing the open market; he’d been slated to hit free agency before signing that deal but now will continue on as a leader in the Miami clubhouse through the 2019 season.
Marlins Notes: Bullpen, Shifts, Ozuna, Prado
The Marlins are off to a strong 7-5 start to the season and are currently sporting the game’s fifth-best run differential (+12). Here’s the latest out of South Beach…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports covers a couple of Marlins topics in his latest notes post. While the team is off to a good start to the year, Rosenthal points out that Miami has six relief pitchers on pace to throw more than 85 innings in 2017. Even though that’s deliberate in some ways, as the Marlins stocked up on ‘pen depth when recognizing how difficult it’d be to beef up their rotation, Rosenthal suggests Marlins starters are going need to pitch deeper into games in order for the team’s run to be more sustainable. To add some further context to Rosenthal’s point, only two relievers in baseball reached 85 innings last year: Brad Hand and Erasmo Ramirez. While strategically stockpiling quality relievers certainly has some merit on paper, Marlins starters have thrown just 60 1/3 innings through 12 games. Asking any group of relievers to throw as many as three to four innings on a near-nightly basis seems unrealistic, even if the group is largely comprised of quality arms (as is the case in Miami).
- Rosenthal also spoke to Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill about the team’s increased number of infield shifts in 2017. As Rosenthal points out, the Marlins have shifted nearly as many times in 12 games this year as they did in all of 2016 (per STATS, LLC). Hill explains to Rosenthal that the primary difference in 2017 is that the team is more aggressively shifting infielders to the opposite side of the second base bag. Moving defenders but keeping them on their designated side of the infield isn’t designated as a technical “shift” in STATS’ record-keeping. “We had numerous shifts (previously) where the shortstop/second baseman shaded up the middle, but didn’t cross the bag,” says Hill. “In an effort to be more thorough and get more outs, our data suggested we shade to the other side.”
- Yahoo’s Jeff Passan observes that the Marlins could find themselves in position to cash in a huge return on outfielder Marcell Ozuna if they’re not contending this summer. The 26-year-old Ozuna is rocking a Herculean .404/.453/.745 batting line through his first 53 plate appearances, and while that’ll fall once his .438 BABIP corrects itself, Ozuna has seemingly taken a step forward in the power department. If the Marlins aren’t contending, they’ll have a decision to make on Ozuna, who would have two and a half years of team control remaining. Miami has virtually no chance of working out an extension with the Scott Boras client, in Passan’s estimation, so dealing him could be a means of injecting a much-needed wave of quality young talent into the team’s minor league ranks. Then again, if Miami is still flirting with the NL East lead and/or a Wild Card spot, it may be a moot point, as Ozuna would be considered a key contributor to a postseason pursuit.
- The Marlins are expected to reinstate third baseman Martin Prado from the disabled list prior to tonight’s game against the Mariners, reports MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. The return of Prado will be a welcome addition for the Fish, as he’s fresh off a .305/.359/.417 batting line compiled over the life of 153 games last season. The 33-year-old suffered a strained hamstring while playing for Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic but recently wrapped up a four-game rehab stint with Miami’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in the Florida State League.
Pirates Acquire Johnny Barbato From Yankees
The Yankees announced that they’ve traded right-hander Johnny Barbato to the Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Barbato was designated for assignment by the Yankees last week. THe Bucs entered the day with a pair of open spots on their 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t required. Pittsburgh announced that Barbato has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates Depth Chart]
The 24-year-old Barbato, originally acquired in the trade that sent right-hander Shawn Kelley to San Diego, struggled in his Major League debut with the Yanks last season, as he surrendered 11 runs in 13 innings of work. On the plus side, Barbato did post an impressive 15-to-5 K/BB ratio in that short time while averaging 94.6 mph on his fastball. Barbato’s numbers in Triple-A last season were solid as well: a 2.61 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in 48 1/3 frames.
There’s no immediate room in the Pittsburgh bullpen for Barbato, as manager Clint Hurdle’s relief corps is fairly well set with Tony Watson (the current closer), Daniel Hudson, Felipe Rivero, Juan Nicasio, Antonio Bastardo, Trevor Williams and long man Wade LeBlanc providing a nice blend of both left- and right-handed options. Bastardo has gotten off to a rough start, but his $6.5MM salary probably gives him a bit of a leash to right the ship. For now, Barbato will join relievers such as A.J. Schugel and Pat Light on a Triple-A pitching staff that is fairly well stocked with depth options for the big league pitching staff (both in the bullpen and in the rotation).
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/17/17
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Orioles announced that right-hander Jason Garcia has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Double-A Bowie, thus removing him from the 40-man roster but keeping him in the organization. The 24-year-old righty was designated for assignment last week. Garcia was Baltimore’s Rule 5 Draft pick prior to the 2015 season but struggled in the Majors that year and in Double-A last season. While Garcia logged a respectable 4.25 ERA in 29 2/3 innings with the 2015 Orioles, he also posted an ugly 22-to-17 K/BB ratio that season. In 142 innings of Double-A work, he’s limped to a 4.82 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9. The right-hander is still fairly young, generates ground-balls at about a 46 percent clip and averages better than 93 mph on his fastball, so there’s still plenty to like in his overall skill set, though it seems clear that some additional development is needed.
Poll: The Rangers’ Closer
After a catastrophic start to the season for Rangers right-hander Sam Dyson, the team’s ninth-inning scene is now among the biggest question marks facing the club’s decision-makers. Like predecessor Shawn Tolleson, Dyson transitioned from largely unheralded setup man to unlikely closer in 2016, racking up 38 saves with a 2.43 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 65.2 percent ground-ball rate. However, Dyson has also seemingly followed Tolleson’s footsteps by imploding early in his second season as a closer; in just 4 1/3 innings this year, the 28-year-old has yielded a staggering 13 earned runs on 14 hits (two homers) and five walks with just two strikeouts. He’s blown three saves and been saddled with three losses for a Rangers team that current sits last in the AL West with a 4-8 record.
A closer change in Arlington seems like a virtual lock, though manager Jeff Banister wouldn’t firmly commit to a new closer yesterday, telling reporters, “We’ll have those discussions,” when asked about a possible change but neglecting to elaborate beyond that (via MLB.com’s Doug Miller). The Rangers do possess several alternative options, so let’s run down the possibilities with a change seeming likely on the horizon…
- Matt Bush: The resurgence of the former No. 1 overall pick as a shutdown reliever is among the most improbable comebacks in recent MLB history. Bush has been dominant in 66 1/3 innings since making his MLB debut at the age of 30 last season, which came after spending more than three years in prison. With the Rangers, he’s posted a 2.58 ERA with a 69-to-15 K/BB ratio, a ground-ball rate of 42 percent and a fastball that has averaged 97 mph. There’s at least some level of trepidation when it comes to Bush’s shoulder, however, as the right-hander received a cortisone injection in his ailing AC joint last week, though he hasn’t demonstrated any ill effects since returning.
- Jeremy Jeffress: The former Brewers closer has been generally excellent since establishing himself as a big league bullpen arm back in 2014. Across his past 164 Major League innings, Jeffress has a 2.58 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate approaching 60 percent. He’s typically averaged about 95 mph on his heater, and he racked up 27 saves in 2016 for the Brewers before being shipped to the Rangers alongside Jonathan Lucroy in a summer blockbuster. Like Bush, Jeffress has had his share of off-field issues and spent a month in a rehab facility for alcohol abuse late last season. Looking solely at his on-field performance, he’s a perfectly serviceable option for the Rangers in the ninth inning and comes with the most experience of the team’s internal candidates. Piling up some additional saves would likely inflate Jeffress’ arbitration earnings next year, though the team likely wouldn’t be deterred by that if it kept them in games in 2017.
- Tony Barnette: A former Diamondbacks minor leaguer that broke out in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Barnette inked a two-year, $3.5MM deal with the Rangers on the heels of a dominant six-year run with NPB’s Yakult Swallows. The 33-year-old has had a slightly rocky start to his 2017 season but was a terrific low-cost addition to the relief corps last season, logging 60 1/3 innings of 2.09 ERA ball with 7.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate. Installing Barnette as the closer comes with immediate financial implications as well, as his modest $1.75MM salary can rise by as much as $550K based on games finished. He can also see the value of his $4MM club option for the 2017 season increase significantly based on games finished.
The Rangers also have hard-throwing rookie Jose Leclerc, though he comes with just 21 1/3 innings of Major League experience to date. Young right-hander Keone Kela would’ve conceivably been an option to close games in the event of a Dyson meltdown, but he was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock at the end of Spring Training for disciplinary reasons following a clash with some of the team’s more veteran players. Either righty could seemingly be a high-leverage/ninth-inning option down the line, but neither stands out as a likely option at present.
As I did with the Phillies last week, I’ll turn this one over to the general public to weigh in (link to poll for Trade Rumors app users)…
Who should be closing games for the Rangers?
-
Matt Bush 54% (3,890)
-
Jeremy Jeffress 34% (2,443)
-
Other (specify in the comments if you're so inclined) 8% (549)
-
Tony Barnette 5% (340)
Total votes: 7,222