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Christian Bethancourt, Tyson Ross Unlikely To Return In 2016

By Jeff Todd | September 12, 2016 at 9:15pm CDT

The Padres are unlikely to welcome back either catcher Christian Bethancourt or righty Tyson Ross in the final weeks of the 2016 season, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Bethancourt is sidelined with an intercostal strain that has not improved enough to allow him to return. The expectation, though, is that he’ll participate in winter ball once healthy. The 25-year-old receiver, who’ll end the year with a .228/.265/.368 slash over 204 plate appearances, is part of an uncertain mix of future options behind the dish for San Diego.

Prospect Austin Hedges seems like the future number one, but the Triple-A standout appears to be finishing out his standout year at the highest level of the minors. (It’s worth noting that Hedges already has 154 days of major league service, so an earlier call-up would have meant bumping him past one full season and moved up his free agency.) Meanwhile, veteran Derek Norris has scuffled through a disastrous season with the bat and still looks to be a trade candidate.

As for Ross, who has been throwing in an attempt to work back from a shoulder injury, it seems increasingly unlikely that he’ll make it to his second MLB start on the year. “Before September rolled around, we all felt very strongly that Tyson was going to pitch again for us this year,” said manager Andy Green. “Then it looked like a probability. Now it looks like just a possibility at this point in time.”

Certainly, there’s little reason for San Diego to push Ross too hard. At present, the veteran righty “has not been able to rebound” sufficiently from his sessions, per Green. It has been a lost season for Ross, 29, who is nevertheless likely to earn something close to his $9.625MM salary in his final arb-eligible campaign. The Pads could still look to work out a trade for him if he shows up healthy in the spring, but otherwise will presumably enter the year as a prime mid-season trade candidate — if his shoulder holds up.

Three Needs: Los Angeles Angels

By Jeff Todd | September 12, 2016 at 7:45pm CDT

At this point of the season, the focus for many teams has largely shifted to the upcoming offseason. While ten American League clubs are still within shouting distance of postseason position, only six teams are clear contenders for the five N.L. berths (with the Marlins, Pirates, and Rockies all hanging on by a thread with losing records).

After the season concludes, we’ll be looking at every team in the league in depth with MLBTR’s annual Offseason Outlook series. For the time being, though, we’re taking preliminary big-picture looks at what some of the non-contending clubs will need to focus on in order to reverse their current standing.

We’ll start with a disappointing Angels club:

[View Angels Depth Chart]

1. Increase the flow of the talent pipeline.

If you check in on the Angels’ top prospect list on MLB.com, you’ll find that the first four players listed were all taken in the first two rounds of the 2015 and 2016 drafts. That’s representative of the state of the Halos’ farm, which is in the beginning stages of a much-needed farm restocking. A top-ten pick in next year’s draft will help — plus, it’ll be protected if the club signs a qualifying offer-bound free agent — but GM Billy Eppler will need to find ways to ramp up the talent intake beyond waiting for the team’s turn to draft. Unfortunately, the Angels are still disqualified from handing out $300K+ bonuses in the current international signing period owing to the seemingly ill-fated signing of Roberto Baldoquin. As Ben Badler of Baseball America explains, the team has been trading its slots for speculative minor leaguers rather than spending all its available funds on even younger international talent. Whether that particular strategy will pay off remains to be seen, but it seems incumbent upon the Angels to turn over all the stones they can find to load up the pipeline with future big league assets — both to get cheap players onto the roster and to generate trade pieces. Taking on cash in trades to pick up prospects may be tough given that the organization already has $100MM on its books for 2017 and about $75MM for each of the three seasons that follow, but that’s something of the approach that they took in acquiring Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer from the Twins. If some kind of partial reboot can’t be pulled off while still trying to contend, the nuclear option — trading Mike Trout — will be increasingly plausible.

2. Build up rotation depth.

Matt Shoemaker was having a nice season before his unfortunate injury, but he is the sole member of the Angels’ rotation who has been worth even a single win above replacement in 2016. Health obviously played a major role, but that’s not exactly a surprise given the attrition rate of major league pitchers. The cross-town Dodgers also lost a host of starters, but managed to stay afloat; the A.L. entrant from Los Angeles simply wasn’t able to reach into the reserves that its neighboring N.L. competitors were. The Angels ended up making mid-season acquisitions (Tim Lincecum, Jhoulys Chacin) in a desperate bid to find useful innings, and it just didn’t work out. Whether Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs can turn in full seasons will obviously be critical to the 2017 campaign, but the organization needs to find a way not only to plug in quality rotation pieces, but also to fill in when the arm problems all-but-inevitably arise. There’s going to be plenty of competition for the few appealing free agent pitchers available, and the Angels already dealt away their two best pitching prospects last winter to get Andrelton Simmons. Eppler and co. will need to do a better job of identifying the right under-valued hurlers to cobble together a serviceable staff. Plus, the team will need to find a way to complete the development of upper-level pitching prospects such as Meyer, Nate Smith, and Victor Alcantara.

3. Improve on the bases.

The Angels’ position players have combined this year to produce the league’s ninth-best results at the plate (by measure of wRC+) and were collectively slightly above-average on defense, but the club as a whole ranks dead last in Fangraphs’ total baserunning metric (BsR). That hasn’t been the case in recent years, but many of the team’s roster changes have brought in poorly-rated baserunners (Yunel Escobar, especially). Clearly, the Halos need to consider much more than wheels in filling in their numerous areas of need, which (still) include second base, left field, and catcher as well as the bench. But perhaps infusing some speed — and contemplating ways that the organization can improve its general approach — would be a somewhat subtle way to find value with a limited supply of talent available on the upcoming free agent market.

Twins Eyeing Cubs Front Office In Executive Search

By Jeff Todd | September 12, 2016 at 5:43pm CDT

SEPTEMBER 12: The Twins have now requested permission to speak with McLeod, GM Jed Hoyer told reporters including Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter links). Hoyer suggested that it is all but a foregone conclusion that McLeod will eventually depart to take over another baseball ops department, though of course it remains to be seen whether there’ll be a match with Minnesota.

SEPTEMBER 7, 9:50pm: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the Twins haven’t approached the Cubs about speaking to either McLeod or Rehman about a front office role. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Twins don’t have interest in the pair of execs. Thus far, there’s been no indication that the Twins have progressed beyond compiling a list of potential candidates, let alone conducting interviews.

Rehman downplayed the reported interest when speaking to Wittenmyer, calling it “flattering” but stressing that he, like the rest of the Cubs’ front office, is focused on bringing a championship to Chicago.

12:50pm: The Twins are “looking closely” at some members of the Cubs front office as they continue their own executive search, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. Specifically, Minnesota has interest in Jason McLeod and Shiraz Rehman, per the report.

We heard yesterday that Minnesota is considering former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos for the post of president of baseball operations. [Editor’s Note: Anthopoulos has since said he is not interested in pursuing the position at this time.] The club is set to institute a two-tier arrangement, hiring a PBOp who will in turn hire a GM.

It is not immediately clear how the Cubs’ executives fit into this still-developing picture. Both of these still-youthful executives obviously carry wide industry respect, but neither has yet been tasked with final decisionmaking authority over an operations department.

McLeod, the senior VP of player development and amateur scouting, has previously drawn consideration for GM gigs but has seemingly been committed first to his work in Chicago. “I really want to be here when we win,” he said back in 2014 after declining a chance to interview for the Padres’ GM opening. “Being a GM is something I still really hope to do in the future, but right now I felt this is where I want to be.”

Rehman is an assistant general manager who has long-standing ties to top Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer dating back to their time with the Red Sox. He worked with the Diamondbacks before coming to Chicago. For more about his background in Arizona — under a regime that prioritized statistical analysis — check out this 2009 interview from David Laurila.

It’s worth noting that the expectation is that no Cubs personnel will change organizations while the season is ongoing, per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (via Twitter). That wouldn’t appear to remove any of that club’s executives from consideration for this or other openings that may arise, but it could impact the timing somewhat.

Pirates Activate Gerrit Cole

By Jeff Todd | September 12, 2016 at 5:25pm CDT

The Pirates have activated righty Gerrit Cole to take the ball tonight, per a team announcement. That certainly represents the best case scenario for the staff ace, who hit the shelf about two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the tide has turned quite a bit in the mean time. Pittsburgh sat just a half game out of Wild Card position when Cole went on the DL, but is now buried a full six games out of the postseason picture.

Even if the playoffs are no longer particularly realistic, there’s still plenty for Cole to pitch for. The righty, who turned 26 during his DL stint, is filling out a stat sheet before his first trip through arbitration this winter.

The 2016 hasn’t been as productive as the one before it, though Cole still carries a 3.55 ERA. From an arb perspective, his 114 frames to date will limit his earnings. Of greater concern from an on-field perspective is the decline in Cole’s strikeout ability (from about 10% swinging strike rate to 8.4%). Cole has received mixed reviews from ERA estimators, with a 3.16 FIP but only a 3.94 xFIP and 4.16 SIERA.

Danny Salazar Out 3-4 Weeks With Mild Forearm Strain; No Ligament Damage Found

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 3:31pm CDT

An MRI has revealed a mild strain of the flexor musculature in Danny Salazar’s right forearm, the Indians announced today. Salazar will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection tomorrow and be shut down from all throwing for 10 days thereafter. Cleveland’s announcement indicates that his projected recovery time is three to four weeks, effectively ending Salazar’s regular season. On the plus side, if he’s able to recover in the allotted time frame, he could rejoin the team’s postseason rotation.

While the news is certainly worse than the initial report that Salazar would miss one start due to the forearm issue, there were certainly more frightening potential outcomes for Cleveland. Salazar had Tommy John surgery while working his way up through the minors, but the examination of his forearm and elbow showed that his reconstructed ulnar collateral ligament remains intact.

Salazar, 26, has delivered another strong campaign for the Indians, working to a 3.87 earned run average with 10.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate in 137 1/3 innings of work to his credit thus far. However, this isn’t the first brush with injury that he’s had in 2016, either; inflammation in Salazar’s right elbow cost him two weeks last month, and he’s now set to miss a wider slate of games than for his previous arm issue.

While Salazar’s injury calls into question whether he’d be able to take the ball in the ALDS — and with a seven-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central, it seems safe to assume that Cleveland will indeed find itself in that series — Cleveland can rely on Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco to serve as its one-two punch in that first postseason round. While it’s been an up-and-down season for the other members of the rotation, Trevor Bauer has looked plenty sharp over his past seven appearances (3.30 ERA) and could take the ball in Game 3 if Salazar is unable to return by that point.

Wrist Injury Ends Logan Morrison’s Season

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 3:20pm CDT

3:20pm: Morrison now confirms to Topkin (Twitter link) that he’s done for the season. He’ll have an MRI performed on his wrist this Wednesday, which will determine whether he requires surgery. Even if only rehab is required, though, Morrison won’t play again this year.

8:46am: Rays first baseman/designated hitter Logan Morrison believes he’s done for the season after incurring a left wrist injury while taking a swing in yesterday’s game, he tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Morrison explains that he heard a “pop” in his left wrist, which had previously given him no issues. He’ll undergo an MRI to determine if surgery is needed to correct an injury that, according to manager Kevin Cash, pertains to Morrison’s tendon sheath, according to Topkin. “More than likely, I’m probably done for the year,” Morrison said. “I’m just hoping everything is all right.”

The injury comes with the worst of timing for Morrison, who is slated to hit the open market following the 2016 season. He’d gone a long way toward rebuilding his stock after enduring one of the slowest starts of any player in recent history, but season-ending wrist surgery certainly won’t do him any favors as he looks for a new contract this offseason.

Morrison, who recently turned 29, was acquired by the Rays along with Brad Miller and Danny Farquhar in the offseason trade that sent Nate Karns, Boog Powell and C.J. Riefenhauser to the Mariners. He opened the season in dreadful fashion, collecting just two hits through his first 44 plate appearances and didn’t collect a multi-hit game until May 17. Morrison’s overall batting line sat at just .119/.221/.143 through his first 95 plate appearances, and it was questioned in mid-May how long he could hang onto his roster spot.

Morrison answered naysayers emphatically with a brilliant finish to the month of May, though, and continued to hit for the remainder of the season when healthy. (Notably, a forearm strain did cost him more than two weeks of action in late July/early August.) Over his final 303 plate appearances this season, Morrison slashed .275/.350/.498 with 14 homers, 16 doubles and a triple, raising his OPS nearly 400 points in the process.

While Morrison was never going to rank as one of the top 10 free agents of the offseason (in terms of earning capacity), another three strong weeks would’ve helped to further distance himself from that disastrous start to the season. Now, Morrison will simply hope that surgery isn’t required to alleviate the newfound pain in his wrist, as a lengthy rehab would presumably create some hesitation on behalf of interested teams. All of the first base options on the market, of course, will be playing second fiddle to Edwin Encarnacion, but Morrison will join a crop of first basemen that also includes Brandon Moss, Mike Napoli, Mitch Moreland and Steve Pearce this coming winter.

Josh Harrison Out Remainder Of Season Due To Groin Strain

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 2:50pm CDT

The Pirates have issued a press release announcing that infielder Josh Harrison has suffered a right groin strain and is projected to require four to six weeks in order to recover, thus ruling him out for the remainder of the regular season. Should the Pirates make a last-minute surge and find themselves in the postseason, Harrison could potentially return in mid-October if his recovery period proves to be on the shorter end of the spectrum provided by the team. Harrison tells MLB.com’s Adam Berry that he’ll perform his rehab with the team and continue to travel with the club (Twitter link).

Harrison, 29, will see his regular season come to a close with a .283/.311/.388 batting line, four homers and a career-high 19 stolen bases on the year. Though he’s capable of playing all over the diamond, Harrison has served as Pittsburgh’s primary second baseman this season, with David Freese manning third base in the lengthy absences of Jung Ho Kang, Jordy Mercer handling shortstop and Sean Rodriguez filling in at three infield spots and both corner outfield positions.

Harrison is in the second season of a four-year, $27.3MM contract extension that was signed early in the 2015 season and called for him to earn a reasonable $5MM in 2016. He’s guaranteed salaries of $7.5MM and $10MM in each of the next two seasons, and the Bucs have club options that are worth $10.5MM and $11MM, respectively, for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. While Harrison hasn’t played up to the standard that earned him that contract — he batted .315/.347/.490 with a career-best 13 homers in 2014 — he’s been a useful piece for the Pirates in each of the past two seasons and figures to continue to operate as such moving forward. The power he displayed in 2014 always seemed a bit dubious — six of his homers that year were of the “just enough” variety, and he’d never topped seven homers in a previous professional season — but Harrison has maintained his excellent contact skills (14.6 percent strikeout rate this year), delivered consistently above-average value on the basepaths and provided perennially above-average defense at second base.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Mailbag

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 2:11pm CDT

In last week’s edition of the MLBTR Mailbag, Jeff Todd tackled questions on the Phillies’ chances of landing a veteran bat in free agency, the possibility of the Dodgers re-signing Kenley Jansen and/or Justin Turner, targeting prospects in trades, the notion of trading Mike Trout and contract projections for the Blue Jays’ trio of sluggers that will hit free agency this winter.

If you have a question on the upcoming offseason, free agency, the playoff race, postseason awards or anything else and would like to hear MLBTR’s take, let us know: mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. We can’t get to every question, of course, but we’ll try to diversify the teams/subject matter as best we can. If you miss out on having your question answered, remember that you can always ask during one of our three weekly live chats — Tuesday afternoons with myself, Wednesday evenings with Jason Martinez and/or Thursday afternoons with Jeff Todd. Mailbag questions are welcome throughout the week, so feel free to send them in at any time.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/12/16

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 1:50pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

The Phillies announced that infielder Taylor Featherston, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster. The former Rule 5 pick (Angels, 2014) came to Philadelphia this past winter in exchange for cash considerations — a minor trade executed by first-year Phillies GM Matt Klentak, who presumably had a role in the Angels’ decision to select Featherston in the Rule 5 Draft whilst serving as an assistant GM in Anaheim. Featherston appeared in 19 games for the Phils but tallied just 28 plate appearances and collected three hits. He’s been a glove-first player at the big league level, though he enjoyed his best offensive season to date with Triple-A Lehigh Valley when he batted .254/.311/.428 with 13 homers in 99 games this season.
The Athletics announced that they’ve selected the contract of first baseman/outfielder Matt Olson from Triple-A Nashville. Olson entered the season ranked as MLB.com’s No. 100 prospect and struggled mightily through the end of June before hitting .260/.349/.462 over the final couple of months of the Triple-A season. With Billy Butler already having been released and the possibility of Danny Valencia meeting the same fate, the A’s could find increased at-bats for Olson and other young corner options like Renato Nunez (also recalled today) and Ryon Healy, though the latter of that pairing has been playing on an everyday basis since his promotion earlier this summer.

Rangers Outright R.J. Alvarez

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 12:54pm CDT

The Rangers announced this afternoon that right-hander R.J. Alvarez has been assigned outright to the minor leagues. Texas just claimed Alvarez off waivers from the Cubs over the weekend, though it now looks as though Alvarez was claimed with the intent of the Rangers trying to sneak him through outright waivers themselves. Texas succeeded and will therefore be able to retain Alvarez for the time being without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him.

The 25-year-old Alvarez was once a well-regarded prospect within the Angels’ farm system and has been included in a pair of high-profile trades — going from the Halos to the Padres in the Huston Street deal and going from San Diego to Oakland in the Derek Norris swap. The Cubs picked him up off waivers earlier this season, but he struggled considerably with Chicago’s Double-A affiliate in Tennessee.

In 27 innings split between Triple-A, Double-A and Class-A Advanced this season, Alvarez has a 7.00 ERA, and while the 35 strikeouts he’s racked up in that time are impressive, they also come with a dozen walks, a pair of hit batters and six wild pitches. Those troubles are reflective of the control issues that have plagued Alvarez throughout his minor league career, as he’s averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings pitched since being selected in the third round of the 2012 draft (by the Angels). Alvarez’s brief time in the Majors hasn’t gone any better, as he’s posted a 7.39 ERA in 28 big league innings, again showing a penchant for missing bats (32 strikeouts) but a susceptibility to bases on balls (18 walks).

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