MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

5 Key Stories: 9/3/16 – 9/9/16

By charliewilmoth | September 10, 2016 at 10:23am CDT

Here’s a look back at five key stories this week at MLBTR this week.

Mets sign Tim Tebow. Scoff if you like — after all, this was a minor league signing of a 29-year-old whose chances of reaching the Majors appear remote, to say the least. But public interest in the former Jets and Broncos quarterback remains intense, and plenty of sports fans will be following Tebow’s career in the minors. Here’s a post in which Mets GM Sandy Alderson explains the signing, and here’s a note from earlier in the week, when it looked like Tebow might head to the Braves organization, not the Mets.

Alexei Ramirez changes teams. The veteran shortstop was released by the Padres last weekend following an underwhelming .240/.275/.330 performance in San Diego. In the wake of an injury to Matt Duffy, the Rays snapped Ramirez up later in the week, and he’s already played two games for Tampa Bay.

Plenty of injury news. Star-crossed Mets starter Zack Wheeler’s season is over due to a flexor muscle strain, and Yankees starter Chad Green is done as well, thanks to a sprained right UCL and strained flexor tendon. The Angels’ Cam Bedrosian saw his dominant 2016 campaign end, as he had surgery on a blood clot in his right arm, while Athletics reliever Fernando Rodriguez had shoulder surgery. There were also important pitchers who got bad injury news that might not be season-ending — the Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg was diagnosed with a flexor mass strain, while the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel was shut down with shoulder trouble. Meanwhile, a key hitting prospect, Braves shortstop Ozzie Albies, saw his season end due to a fractured elbow.

Not all the injury news was bad, however. The Marlins activated Giancarlo Stanton (groin strain) with the idea that he would pinch-hit, while Clayton Kershaw (herniated disc) returned to the Dodgers.

Brewers acquire Ryan Cordell from Rangers. The Brewers and Rangers completed the Jonathan Lucroy / Jeremy Jeffress trade, with the Rangers sending 3B/OF Cordell to Milwaukee, which already got outfielder Lewis Brinson and righty Luis Ortiz in the deal. Cordell had been rated among the Rangers’ top ten prospects and was hitting .264/.319/.484 for Double-A Frisco.

Twins weigh front office candidates. Current Dodgers exec and former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos emerged early in the week as a candidate for a top job with the Twins, who are revamping their front office in the wake of the departure of Terry Ryan. But Anthopoulos has told colleagues the time isn’t right for him to leave Los Angeles. The Twins also appear to be considering Cubs execs Jason McLeod and Shiraz Rehman.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jeff Luhnow Reflects On Decision To Pass On Kris Bryant

By charliewilmoth | September 10, 2016 at 8:47am CDT

The Astros have more than their share of highly talented young players, but one player they don’t have in their system is Cubs masher Kris Bryant. Houston had the chance to take Bryant with the first pick in the 2013 draft, but they decided on righty Mark Appel instead, and the Cubs snagged Bryant with the next selection. Appel, now 25, has yet to make his big-league debut, and was traded to the Phillies in the Ken Giles deal last offseason. Bryant, meanwhile, leads the NL in home runs, runs scored and OPS+ while anchoring an intimidating Cubs lineup.

The Cubs and Astros are currently playing a series, so Astros GM Jeff Luhnow fielded questions about the Bryant-Appel decision. Here’s some of what he had to say, courtesy of Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There’s a history lesson to be learned about the risk with pitchers vs. position players,” says Luhnow, referring to the tendency of position players to be better bets in the early stages of the draft. “[T]hat’s a history lesson that’s been laid out over a long period of time. Having said that, if you want an impact pitcher, you have to gamble.”

The Astros have had plenty of experience selecting both position players and pitchers with top picks in recent years. Of their ten first-round picks from 2011 to 2016, six were position players, and three of those (George Springer, Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman) clearly look to be significant parts of their future. Another, outfielder Derek Fisher, was a later selection who doesn’t look like an impact player, but who has consistently hit well in the minors. The others, Kyle Tucker and Daz Cameron, were drafted last year and are still teenagers. Cameron has struggled so far in his pro career, but Tucker’s is off to a fast start, as he’s already advanced all the way to Class A+ Lancaster.

Meanwhile, two of four pitchers the Astros have selected in the first round, Appel and Brady Aiken, have suffered significant speed bumps even though they were both first overall picks, and the Astros famously didn’t even sign Aiken due to a disagreement regarding the Astros’ concerns about his health. One of their other first-round pitching picks was this year’s 17th overall selection, Forrest Whitley, about whom it’s way too early to pass judgment. Even granting the Astros’ success with 2012 supplemental pick Lance McCullers, their experience does seem to bear out the maxim that there are considerable risks to selecting pitchers at the top of the draft.

Nonetheless, Luhnow says the Appel/Bryant decision doesn’t keep him up nights. “We’ve got Carlos Correa. We’ve got Alex Bregman. We’ve got Lance McCullers. Our scouting department has done a nice job with the draft,” he says. “You can always look back and say I should have taken this player instead of that player, but there’s no reason to really dwell on it.”

Alex Anthopoulos Says He’s No Longer A Candidate For Twins Job

By Jeff Todd | September 10, 2016 at 8:16am CDT

SATURDAY: Anthopoulos has told colleagues that the timing is poor for him to take a top baseball operations job elsewhere, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press writes. That means he won’t be taking a new job with the Twins. The Dodgers exec recently had his family join him in the Los Angeles area, and his two young children are recently started school.

TUESDAY: Alex Anthopoulos is a “confirmed candidate” to take over the Twins’ soon-to-be-created position of president of baseball operations, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports on Twitter. He becomes the first potential front office candidate clearly linked to the organization.

Minnesota has reportedly begun a search to add both a PBOp as well as a general manager, adopting some form of the two-tiered front office structure that has become popular around the league. The team has been relying upon Rob Antony as interim GM after parting ways with Terry Ryan earlier this year.

The 39-year-old Anthopoulos is best known for his turn as the GM of the Blue Jays from late 2009 through 2015. After putting together a postseason club last year — the organization’s first berth 1993 — he ended up parting ways with the club in a surprising series of events.

Toronto hired Mark Shapiro as president, reportedly promising him final authority over baseball decisionmaking. While the Jays attempted to retain Anthopoulos, offering him a five-year deal that he could have opted out of after a single season, he declined to continue with the new leadership and somewhat-altered parameters of his role.

Since that time, Anthopoulos has been working for the Dodgers as a Vice President, joining several other prominent former top baseball operations personnel in the Los Angeles front office. At the time of his hiring, Anthopoulos expressed interest in a long-term gig there — while also noting that he’d be intrigued by the idea of running his own shop again.

AL Central Notes: Verlander, Molitor, May, Milone, Salazar, Cain

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 11:05pm CDT

In his latest column, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan chronicles Justin Verlander’s return to prominence as one of the game’s most dominant pitchers. Passan spoke to a very candid Verlander, who explained that during the 2014 season — the worst of his career — he felt pain in his shoulder through virtually every pitch he delivered. However, as Passan notes, Verlander was keenly aware of the expectations that came along with signing a $180MM contract and was resolved to pitch so long as he was physically capable. Verlander admitted to Passan that for awhile, baseball was no longer fun for him. The Detroit ace walked Passan through his recovery, beginning with recovery from surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle (which was, perhaps the root of all of his problems, as his mechanics were drastically altered to compensate). As Passan points out, Verlander’s velocity is sitting around 93 mph, and he’s now throwing his slider harder than in the past as a means of differentiating it from his curve. The result is one of the finest stretches of Verlander’s career: a 2.09 ERA and a 102-to-19 K/BB ratio over his past 90 1/3 innings that has firmly inserted Verlander into the mix for the AL Cy Young Award.

NL Notes: Cashner, Pollock, Casilla, Olivera, Solis

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 9:53pm CDT

Facial hair policy may not typically be at the top of the list of considerations for free agents, but Marlins righty Andrew Cashner says it’s a matter of concern to him, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. The recently-acquired starter says that he “still hate[s]” Miami’s policy forbidding beards and intends to weigh that when he reaches the open market after the season. “That is a big deal to me in free agency,” he said. The 29-year-old seems unlikely to be more than a rental for the Fish anyway — his 4.78 ERA with the team is a near match for the 4.76 mark he put up before he was dealt — but if he sticks to his guns, it would seem that he also will be unlikely to sign with the beardless Yankees this winter.

Here are some more notes from the National League:

Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock left tonight’s action with what the team announced as a groin strain. The severity of the injury is not known at present, but it represents another turn of bad luck for a player who missed the vast majority of the year with a broken bone in his elbow. The 28-year-old hasn’t quite been himself at the plate since returning, though returning to health is the primary consideration and he has only had a chance to accumulate 45 plate appearances thus far in a star-crossed season.
The Giants have elected to remove Santiago Casilla from the closer’s role, skipper Bruce Bochy told reporters including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco intends to play the matchups for the time being, but Bochy suggested both that Casilla could still see save opportunities and that rookie Derek Law may get some chances once he’s back from the DL. Law, 25, has posted a 1.94 ERA over his first 51 MLB frames, with 8.3 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9, and could set himself up as the team’s closer of the future. As for the 36-year-old Casilla, the move mostly represents an acknowledgment that he’s more a sturdy reliever than a lights-out presence at the back of the pen. He still carries a solid 3.52 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 in his walk season.
By releasing Hector Olivera, the Padres forewent any chance of avoiding salary obligations that his jail time would otherwise have freed them from paying, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter links). It’s important to note, though, that he is only slated to spend ten days in prison after his domestic violence conviction, and the team would only have been able to recoup salary if the time ended up being served during the season.
Nationals lefty Sammy Solis has encountered a “roadblock” in his efforts to work through a shoulder injury, manager Dusty Baker told reporters including Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Washington still hopes that the 28-year-old will make it back by the end of the year, which could represent a nice boost as the club enters a highly likely postseason berth. Solis has had quite a nice season when healthy, posting a 2.35 ERA in 38 1/3 frames while compiling 10.3 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9.

Mets Injury Updates: Matz, deGrom, Lagares, Duda

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 8:42pm CDT

Though GM Sandy Alderson declined to provide further details on the Mets’ long list of injured players, today was rather a promising day for the club’s general health. New York entered play today in Wild Card position, but still faces a tough fight to reach and advance in the postseason, so every source of help will be most welcome. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo was among those to report on the progress:

Southpaw Steven Matz is prepared for his first throws from a mound since he hit the DL with a shoulder problem. Matz will take the bump tomorrow in an effort to ramp back up, which represents progress since the last time we checked in on him. Already pitching through bone spurs in his elbow, the shoulder troubles seemingly represented a more significant concern, but all indications are that the joint is structurally sound.
Righty Jacob deGrom, meanwhile, was able to throw on flat ground today for the first time since he was shut down with forearm soreness. He, too, is said to be battling inflammation but not a more significant underlying injury. It seems deGrom may be a bit behind Matz, but both could conceivably return to the Mets’ rotation within the next several weeks.
Outfielder Juan Lagares is ready to swing a bat, which represents forward progress from his thumb surgery recovery. But the team is preparing to “push” Lagares forward before he’s ready to hit at the major league level, per skipper Terry Collins, with a view to utilizing him as a defensive replacement and pinch runner down the stretch.
The Mets’ most surprising news, perhaps, is that first bagger Lucas Duda is preparing for a live BP session. He has missed much of the year with a stress fracture in his lower back and has seemed at various times to be unlikely to return in 2016. But that could be the prelude to a late-season return for the slugger, who could provide a big boost to the New York lineup if he’s able to return even for part-time duty. His recovery may also bear upon the team’s decision whether to tender him a contract this fall.

Fernando Rodriguez Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 6:54pm CDT

Athletics reliever Fernando Rodriguez has undergone surgery on his right shoulder, the club announced (via MLB.com’s Jane Lee, on Twitter). Specifically, the 32-year-old’s latissmus dorsi tendon was repaired and a debridement was performed on his teres major tendon.

This type of procedure generally has a good rate of success, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle explains (Twitter links). It is the same work that was done previously to pitchers such as Jake Peavy, and doesn’t involve more significant rotator cuff issues.

Rodriguez had provided the A’s with 40 2/3 innings of 4.20 ERA pitching prior to the injury, compiling 8.2 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. He was somewhat more effective a year ago, but still maintained a strong swinging strike rate of about 13% and ought to be a useful reliever if he can bounce back.

Rodriguez was playing on a $1.05MM salary in his second year of arbitration eligibility. He’ll command at least a modest raise on that amount in his final arb year, with free agency beckoning after 2017, so Oakland will presumably look closely at his recovery before deciding whether to tender him a contract this winter.

Dallas Keuchel Cleared Of Structural Issues In Shoulder, But Timeline Uncertain

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 6:13pm CDT

Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel is shut down at the moment with shoulder issues, but he said today that he has been cleared of structural concerns, as Mark Berman of FOX 26 reports (Twitter links). Tests showed inflammation, but he says the club’s training staff is confident that “a little bit of time” is all that’s needed to heal the joint.

If the issued had arisen earlier in the season, the ’Stros would surely have less immediate concern, as Keuchel could take his time getting back to full strength and embark upon a rehab stint. Plus, it would be easier to fill innings with an outside addition.

As it stands, though, there’s less than a month to go in the regular season and Keuchel’s absence will tell for a club that’s fighting to stay in the Wild Card hunt. Whether he can make it back by season’s end, or for a hopeful postseason run, is “hard to say at this point,” GM Jeff Luhnow tells MLB.com’s Alyson Footer (via Twitter). It doesn’t help that the southpaw won’t have an opportunity to pitch in the minor league system on a rehab assignment.

At this stage of the season, the organization is likely limited to the arms it already has on hand (see the Houston depth chart here) to fill the void in the rotation. Youngster David Paulino received his first major league start recently, but lasted only three innings and coughed up four earned runs with two walks, two wild pitches, and no strikeouts. The Astros received somewhat more promising results from just-activated righty Brad Peacock in his outing, as he allowed one earned in 3 2/3 frames, but he did permit five base knocks and managed only a pair of Ks.

Former Top Prospects Looking To Stand Out As September Call-Ups

By Steve Adams | September 9, 2016 at 5:11pm CDT

Yasiel Puig’s return to the Majors this month will be carefully monitored by both the Dodgers and the teams around the league as they look to decide if he’s worth pursuing as a potential trade candidate. However, while Puig might be the most high-profile case of a once-top-tier talent looking to rebuild his stock, he’s far from the only player looking to do so. September was once looked at as a trial grounds for top prospects to cut their teeth in the Major Leagues, but as ESPN’s Keith Law recently wrote (subscription required and recommended), the “traditional” September call-up has fallen to the wayside as teams rely more heavily than ever before on their top-rated prospects throughout the course of the regular season. Only a few select top 100 prospects are even making their Major League debut this September — Yoan Moncada, Jose De Leon, Yohander Mendez and David Paulino, thus far — but there are a number of former top-ranked prospects that have exhausted their rookie eligibility (or will do so quickly this month) without yet establishing themselves as big league regulars.

MLBTR’s Jason Martinez has kept track of all of this month’s transactions over at Roster Resource. Among them are the call-ups of some once-lauded youngsters that are looking to make good on a second, third, or even fourth opportunity at the major league level (statistics through 9/8/16):

Byron Buxton, Twins: Buxton has returned to Minnesota for another MLB stint after yet another demotion to Triple-A, and the Twins will hope this last bit of seasoning he received was enough for him to capitalize on the potential that made him the game’s No. 1 overall prospect in back-to-back years. Buxton’s overall .305/.359/.568 line in 49 Triple-A games this season is tantalizing when combined with his outrageous speed and defensive prowess, but he was hitting under .200 with a .578 OPS in the majors at the time of his recall. Buxton, however, has already shown signs of at last figuring out MLB pitching, as he’s homered on four occasions for the Twins in September en route to a .462/.481/1.077 batting line. It’s a small sample, but it’s encouraging.
Jose Berrios, Twins: Berrios entered the season as one of the very top pitching prospects in baseball and was supposed to be a polished, near-MLB-ready arm. Many, in fact, believed he should’ve made the Twins’ roster out of Spring Training. Berrios was knocked around considerably in his two big league stints prior to September, though, demonstrating uncharacteristically poor control and allowing an unthinkable 38 runs in 37 innings of work. The Twins, as has been the case for years now, are perilously thin on starting pitching, and a strong September effort could go a long way toward strengthening Berrios’ case for a rotation spot in 2017. Surrendering five runs in five innings in his first September start wasn’t a good beginning, though.
Luis Severino, Yankees: Severino looked to have gone a long way toward solidifying his standing in the Yankees’ rotation in 2015, but those rushing to proclaim him the team’s future ace received a kick to the gut in 2016 when Severino limped to a 7.19 ERA in 51 1/3 Major League innings. Severino’s strikeout and walk rates went in the wrong direction, and he struggled tremendously with home runs. He’s slated to work out of the bullpen for the final month of the season and could prove that he’s a weapon in that capacity. Fans may hope that Severino ultimately resurfaces in the rotation, but as Dellin Betances has demonstrated, there’s plenty of value to be had if Severino ends up working in relief when all is said and done. Six shutout relief innings have been a nice start for the 22-year-old.
Michael Conforto, Mets: Few would’ve expected the Mets to add a corner outfielder like Jay Bruce entering the season with Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson all in the fold, but Conforto struggled at the plate after a terrific 2015 debut and a brilliant start to the season. The 2014 first-rounder hit .365/.442/.676 in April but tanked thereafter, hitting .148/.217/.303 across his next 44 games before being optioned to Triple-A. Conforto would return the following month and struggle once again, leading to another demotion. His final stint in Triple produced comical numbers, as he obliterated Triple-A pitchers with an obscene .493/.541/.821 batting line, six homers and four doubles in 17 games. The Mets and Conforto both hope that’s the last Triple-A assignment he’ll ever require. With Cespedes likely to opt out of his contract this winter, it’d behoove Conforto to show that he can fill those shoes, if needed, with a strong September.
Cody Reed, Reds: Reed has been quite good at Triple-A, working to a 3.08 ERA with strong K/BB numbers, but he’s been pummeled for a 7.36 ERA and allowed a staggering 12 home runs in just 47 2/3 innings in the Majors this season. He ranked firmly among the game’s top 50 prospects entering the season and, according to some scouting reports, has a better shot to stick in the Cincinnati rotation than teammate Brandon Finnegan, who came to the Reds in the same trade as Reed (sending Johnny Cueto to Kansas City). There looks to be at least one spot up for grabs next season, and while he’ll be pitching out of the bullpen for the final month of the year (via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Zach Buchanan), a strong showing this month will help his chances next season. At the very least, it’d be a positive sign for the Reds if he could simply avoid the long ball in his limited work.
Joey Gallo, Rangers: Gallo may have the toughest time finding regular playing time of anyone on this list, as the presence of Adrian Beltre, Carlos Beltran, Mitch Moreland, Nomar Mazara and Carlos Gomez limits his ability to get into the lineup. However, Gallo could be used to spell any of the aforementioned corner bats this month, and a player with his game-changing power would figure to be a potential add to a playoff roster as well. He struck out in his lone plate appearance to date and will look to demonstrate an improved knack for contact as he closes out the year.
Justin Nicolino, Marlins: Nicolino turned in a solid, albeit unspectacular rookie season in 2015 before being torched for a 5.48 ERA in 70 2/3 innings earlier this year. Like Reed, he’s currently ticketed for bullpen duty, but with talk of possibly shutting Jose Fernandez down for the season if the Marlins fall out of contention, Nicolino could find himself making a few starts one way or another. He hasn’t missed bats in the Majors and will need to show an improved ability to do so, though his pristine control has been on display this season in the minors and should help offset the lack of whiffs to some degree.
Eddie Butler, Rockies: Another starter that will work out of the bullpen in the final month, Butler recently made some notable changes to his delivery that he feels were directly correlated with his late surge at Triple-A. Butler was shelled for a 6.96 ERA earlier this season and has a career 6.37 ERA in the bigs but did manage a 2.58 ERA in his final 45 2/3 innings at Triple-A (albeit with an unimpressive 15-to-10 K/BB ratio). With so many impressive young arms beginning to surface for the Rox, Butler could carve out a role as a hard-throwing reliever with a high ground-ball rate, and this September will be an early shot to prove that.

Beyond the listed names, players such as Kevin Plawecki, Andrew Susac and Dalton Pompey also fit the criteria specified for this post, but the former two are serving as third-string catchers while the latter looks to be solely in a pinch-running/defensive replacement role. Names like Robert Stephenson, Tyler Glasnow, Alex Meyer and others were also considered initially, but didn’t quite fit because they haven’t yet exceeded the rookie limits or haven’t really struggled in limited exposure. Among those three hurlers, for example, only Stephenson has even thrown ten MLB frames, and he owns a 3.12 ERA.

Dodgers Set To Activate Andre Ethier

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2016 at 4:23pm CDT

The Dodgers are summoning veteran outfielder Andre Ethier to meet the team in Miami and could activate him from the DL as soon as this evening, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. Since he has been on the 60-day DL, Ethier will require a 40-man roster spot in order to return.

Ethier, 34, has not played a single major league inning this year since suffering a broken leg late this spring. Much has changed since his injury, but with less than a month to play the Dodgers are leading the NL West and can certainly stand to add another quality piece to a depth chart that already boasts plenty of outfield options.

The veteran will likely be eased back into action, and it’s a bit unclear just where he’ll end up contributing. Manager Dave Roberts says that Ethier will receive “occasional starts,” MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets, but it remains to be seen how that’ll occur. Ethier has seen action all over the outfield in recent years, but the Dodgers already have a full array of left-handed-hitting options. Joc Pederson has a lock on center, Josh Reddick was acquired at the trade deadline to play in right, and Andrew Toles has been a revelation through 24 games of action.

Expanded rosters will leave plenty of room for flexibility, of course, but this all promises to make for some interesting decisions when the time comes to set postseason rosters. Ethier will be playing not only for a chance to participate in the playoffs, but also to set up his place on next year’s team. The veteran has been productive of late, but has also been mentioned quite frequently as a trade candidate — though he has achieved full no-trade protection through ten-and-five rights. Ethier is owed $17.5MM next year, with a $2.5MM buyout on a $17.5MM option for 2018 still to go thereafter.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Headlines

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect