AL Notes: Lincecum, Sale, Choo, Smith, Ortiz
New Angels righty Tim Lincecum has consented to an optional assignment as part of the arrangement, GM Billy Eppler tells reporters including Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). That’s obviously designed to give him a chance to ramp back up, but also means that the team won’t face the time pressures inherent in a rehab stint (thirty days, for pitchers). The Halos are playing a man down tonight since Lincecum technically needs to clear revocable option waivers before the move can be made, the Times’ Pedro Moura notes on Twitter. Regardless of the logistics, Eppler says that he expects that Lincecum will be ready for the bigs within twenty to thirty days. Lincecum also addressed his decision to sign with the Angels, noting that he had multiple MLB offers, as MLB.com’s Fabian Ardaya tweets.
Here’s more from the American League:
- White Sox ace Chris Sale is exhibiting diminished velocity and a lower strikeout rate, and he’s even better than ever, Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated writes. Certain ERA estimators are just a bit down on his efforts — at least against his amazing career figures — and none think he’s quite supported his sparkling 1.58 ERA, but Reiter explains that the master of “stuff” has learned how to think on the hill. Sale cites the desire to be more efficient and to save his highest gear for when he truly needs it. He also suggested that taking something off at times allows him to “get more movement” and keep the ball down. Sox pitching coach Don Cooper suggests that it’s something of an evolutionary transformation. “It’s a characteristic of the top, top guys,” Cooper explains. “They’ve got stuff in their tank when they need it, but they’re managing the game, handling the game, knowing when to add, when to subtract. I do believe this is pitching at the highest level.” The piece is well worth a full read.
- Midway through his first game off the DL, Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo departed with a tight left hamstring, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Choo had been sidelined by a right calf injury, so at least it’s not a re-aggravation of the prior issue, but that’s certainly disappointing news for the veteran. Texas still has plenty of options in the corner outfield, of course, and the severity of the injury remains to be seen.
- The signals on Red Sox reliever Carson Smith are somewhat mixed as he hits the 15-day DL. On the one hand, skipper John Farrell says that all indications he’s been given suggest that surgery would be a surprise, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports (Twitter links). On the other, he’s already had an MRI and the results are being reviewed, with Smith set to visit noted elbow surgeon David Altcheck on Monday, per MLB.com’s Ian Brown (via Twitter).
- Lest there be any confusion, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that he’s entertaining no thoughts of staying around past the present season, in spite of recent comments that seemed to leave the door cracked a bit. “Listen, the thing is that people need to understand, in my mind I’m 100 percent sure I’m going to retire,” he said. “There are so many reasons for me that I want to retire. That is what is my mind right now. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/20/16
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- Southpaw Phil Coke has been outrighted by the Yankees after he was designated for assignment on Tuesday, Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees Blog tweets. Coke wasn’t effective in his six innings over three appearances on the year, though he did show that he’s still capable of delivering his fastball at around 93 mph. The veteran bounced around last year after a five-year run with the Tigers ended followiing the 2014 season. He’ll accept the assignment, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets.
- The Indians released righty Felipe Paulino so that he can pursue an opportunity in Japan, the club announced. A six-year MLB veteran who last appeared in the majors in 2014 with the White Sox, Paulino had converted to full-time relief work with Cleveland. Over his 13 frames, he allowed just four earned runs and five hits, though his 10:5 K/BB ratio was somewhat less promising.
- The Angels have acquired infielder Ryan Jackson from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations, the Phillies announced. Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times tweets that Jackson will be assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Jackson, 28, returns to the Angels organization after pending the majority of the 2015 season playing for their Triple-A affiliate (he also went hitless in 14 plate appearances for their big league club last season). Jackson split last season between the Royals and Angels organizations and hit a combined .294/.372/.374 in 362 plate appearances. He’ll give the Halos some depth at shortstop with both Andrelton Simmons and Cliff Pennington on the disabled list — a pair of injuries that has forced the club to acquire Brendan Ryan from the Nationals and bring Gregorio Petit up from Salt Lake. Jackson was not on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary for the Halos.
Angels On Pace To Incur Luxury Tax After Lincecum Signing
The Angels are on pace to exceed the league’s $189MM luxury tax threshold, GM Billy Eppler told reporters including Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). While other in-season moves could well impact the final result, that represents a notable development given the team’s oft-reported operating philosophy.
Los Angeles has long been said to target a level of spending that does not exceed the cap, with that reasoning often cited in explaining the team’s level of interest in seemingly appealing trade and free agent targets. For instance, the hopeful contenders forewent several notable corner outfield options this winter in favor of a budget platoon. Of course, running just past the cap number is quite a bit different than blowing past it with a major acquisition.
But with a whole variety of injuries hitting the club, especially in the pitching department, it was necessary to add reinforcements. The Angels acquired Jhoulys Chacin, taking over his $1.1MM salary, and added Tim Lincecum on a deal that will pay him a pro-rated portion of a $2.5MM annual payout (plus incentives). That last move has apparently pushed the organization past the line, at least if its roster composition holds its current form.
Some have suggested that the Halos could be more comfortable moving above the cap for a single year, and that appears to be the case. Indeed, owner Arte Moreno suggested as much before the 2015 season, and Eppler called it a possibility just this winter. All said, it seems that the club has heavily weighed the luxury tax, but obviously doesn’t view it as a hard cap.
For one thing, Los Angeles will only have to pay a 17.5% tax on any overages as a first-time offender. For another, it may be relatively easy for the team to duck back below the line next year — thus avoiding a bump in the rate — because several high-priced veterans will reach free agency, including C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver, Joe Smith, and (if his option isn’t exercised) Yunel Escobar.
It remains to be seen whether moving into position to hand over some extra cash will have much of an impact on the team’s plans the rest of the way. The Angels entered play today three games under .500, but they’re still fully in the mix in a crowded AL West. It’s possible to imagine the organization trimming some payroll to dip back under the limbo bar if it falls out of contention, or perhaps being slightly more comfortable in going further over, though it’s hard to see such considerations driving the decisionmaking.
Only six organizations have ever paid luxury tax bill, including the Angels in one prior season (2004). The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers appear currently set to do so in 2016. New York, of course, has accounted for the vast majority of the tax dollars over the years. Of course, other organizations could conceivably join them — most notably, the Giants and Cubs. San Francisco edged past the line in 2015 after several mid-season trade acquisitions.
Luxury tax calculations, notably, are not as simple as tabulating annual salaries. Long-term deals are averaged, and there are many nuances that make assessment based on public information a tall task — not least of which is the constantly changing set of players owed salary at the major league level and the ex post calculation of bonuses and options. Plus, there’s a charge (usually estimated at around $11MM) for all teams to account for assorted additional player expenses, such as insurance and pension benefits.
Angels Designate Danny Reynolds For Assignment
The Angels have designated righty Danny Reynolds for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot will go to Tim Lincecum, whose deal with the club is now official.
Reynolds, 24, was claimed off waivers from the Astros in early April. He’s bounced around the waiver wire a fair bit of late, with organizations obviously intrigued by his arm but finding it difficult to continue dedicating a valuable roster position to hold onto him.
Originally a third-round pick by the Halos, Reynolds rated as L.A.’s 16th-best prospect, per Baseball America, heading into the 2015 season. BA cited his upper-90s heater and hard-to-hit, but inconsistent, slider.
Reynolds hasn’t progressed as hoped since, however. He pitched to a 4.57 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 5.8 BB/9 over 43 1/3 innings last year with the Angels’ Double-A affiliate. And Reynolds hadn’t taken a step forward in the early going this year upon returning to Arkansas. To date, he has posted a 5.62 earned run mark in 16 frames, with 15 strikeouts and a dozen walks on his ledger.
Rays Release Carlos Corporan
The Rays have released backstop Carlos Corporan, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. His role at Triple-A is now occupied by J.P. Arencibia, whose signing was announced by the club.
Corporan, 32, is a switch hitter with a good deal of major league experience. He owns a .218/.280/.342 lifetime batting line over 780 plate appearances in parts of six seasons. But he struggled last year with the Rangers and has failed to re-establish himself since.
The Yankees inked Corporan to a minor league deal over the winter, and dealt him to Tampa Bay just before the start of the season. He’s put up a meager .200/.246/.308 slash in his 70 plate appearances at Triple-A Durham on the year.
While that’s not a terribly exciting package of results with the bat in hand, Corporan is generally regarded as a sturdy presence behind the dish. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that he’s capable of hitting from both sides and has spent so much time in the bigs — not to mention the relative scarcity of palatable receivers around the league.
Angels Sign Tim Lincecum
Former National League Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is staying in California, but he’s changing leagues and donning a new uniform. The Angels announced on Friday that they’ve signed Lincecum to a one-year, Major League contract for the remainder of the 2016 season. Lincecum, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, will reportedly earn a $2.5MM pro-rated base salary for his time in the Majors.
The veteran can also earn up to $1.7MM in incentives under his new deal, though he’ll have to make the rotation and stay in it for much of the rest of the season to come close to maxing them out. Lincecum can earn four separate $125K roster bonuses upon his fourth, 30th, 60th, and 90th days on the active MLB roster, according to the Associated Press (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle; Twitter links). Days spent on the DL for a right hip injury won’t count toward the tally. The bigger chunk of Lincecum’s incentives are tied to games started. He’ll earn $25K upon his 11th start, $50K for his 13th, $100K if he makes a 15th, $200K for his 17th, and then $400K apiece if he can reach 19 and 21 starts. (For what it’s worth, that last mark looks to be out of the question unless Lincecum zips through the minors faster than expected.)
Los Angeles desperately needs solid innings with injuries running rampant throughout its staff. That dovetailed nicely with the availability of the soon-to-be 32-year-old righty, who put on a showcase about two weeks ago that drew wide attention around the league. Observers were interested to see how he looked after undergoing surgery last September to repair a hip that had seemed to further limit an already-diminished pitcher.
It remains to be seen just how much Lincecum has left in the tank, but obviously the hope is that he can at least provide a serviceable option for the Halos. Scouting reports suggested that Lincecum didn’t look like the two-time Cy Young winner of yore, but still profiled at least as a useful major league swingman. Per Eric Longenhagen, writing for ESPN.com, the one-time ace was working around the 90 mph level with his fastball, which is where he sat between 2012 and 2014.
That viewpoint on Lincecum’s stuff is certainly reflected in the price that the Angels will pay for his services, as is his recent track record. It’s tempting to see this as an upside play, but realistically it’s been quite a long time since Lincecum looked like the top-line arm he once was. Since the start of 2012, when he was coming off of what was then a typically dominant season entering his age-28 campaign, Lincecum has run up a 4.68 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 over 615 2/3 frames. Even as his walk rate has trended upward, he’s seen a year-over-year decline in strikeouts-per-nine over that four-year span.
Lincecum’s timeline remains unclear, but he’s said to have already reached 90 pitches several times in pen sessions and evidently waited to sign until he had built up his arm strength. On the one hand, that means that the Halos may not be able to hope for much gain in the velocity department, though he could still build up somewhat in live game action. On the other, it suggests that he may not require much more than a typical rehab trip through the minors.
Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported that the two sides were closing in on a Major League deal and that Lincecum would take his physical on Thursday of this week (links to Passan on Twitter). Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that Lincecum had passed his physical and reported his base salary (Twitter links) as well as his incentives (link).
Yankees Sign Neal Cotts To Minor League Deal
The Yankees announced that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Neal Cotts to a minor league contract. The Pro Star Management client will report to the club’s Triple-A affiliate, according to the team.
Cotts, 36, recently opted out of a minor league pact with the Angels. The 10-year Major League veteran had been throwing well with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake, posting a 3.29 ERA with 13 strikeouts against three walks in 13 2/3 innings. Last season, he split the year between the Brewers and Twins after signing a one-year, $3MM contract with Milwaukee and posted a combined 3.41 ERA in 63 1/3 innings while holding opposing lefties to a .186/.243/.330 batting line. Injuries kept Cotts out of the Majors from 2010-12, but since returning with the 2013 Rangers, he’s posted a cumulative 3.03 ERA with 186 strikeouts against 63 walks (six intentional) in 187 innings of work.
AL East Notes: Smith, Holt, Gibbons, Yankees, Hensley
The Red Sox announced today that they’ve placed right-hander Carson Smith and left fielder Brock Holt on the 15-day and 7-day disabled lists, respectively. Smith is dealing with continued soreness in his right elbow, and Holt has what the Sox termed a “mild” concussion. In that duo’s place, right-hander Noe Ramirez and catcher Blake Swihart have been recalled, although the Sox’ press release announcing the moves referred to Swihart as a catcher/left fielder, so presumably he will continue the outfield work he began at Triple-A in his latest big league stint. That’d mean that Swihart could platoon with outfielder Chris Young in Holt’s absence, and Swihart’s presence also will allow manager John Farrell to be a bit more liberal in terms of pinch-hitting for either Christian Vazquez or Ryan Hanigan in late situations. Swihart gets the call over high priced outfielder Rusney Castillo, who remains at the Triple-A level with a .263/.315/.316 slash line through 124 plate appearances.
Here’s more from the AL East…
- Blue Jays president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro said to hosts Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportsnet 590 The FAN this morning that he remains confident in manager John Gibbons despite a “disappointing” start for the reigning AL East champions (via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith). “To spend time around Gibby is to be incredibly confident in his leadership and to recognize that he’s part of the solution,” said Shapiro. “We feel that he’s a guy who’s consistent. He is strong. He is tough. He is committed, and I feel like he’s the right guy to help guide us through the challenges that we’re facing now.” Rather than focus on potential changes to the field staff, the Blue Jays are instead already having internal discussions about trades and other roster changes, said Shapiro. It’s still rather early to expect significant trades, of course (as White Sox GM Rick Hahn recently noted when revealing that his club has already had talks with other teams), but the groundwork that goes into a trade can often be the product of months of effort.
- ESPN’s Buster Olney opines (Insider subscription required) that while the Yankees have a chance at playing October baseball this season, their focus should be on improving the 2017 club without completely tearing down the 2016 product. That, he writes, means playing Aaron Hicks regularly even if it costs Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez some at-bats. Olney, in fact, believes it’d be wise for the Yankees to explore the idea of trading Gardner to a contender for prospects as a means of getting Aaron Judge some playing time in the Majors later this summer. Other contributing pieces that could be moved without significantly tanking the club’s chances, he continues, are Brian McCann and one of Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller. The Yankees currently sit at 18-22, last place in the division, although there’s clearly time to turn things around, and they’ve won seven of their past 10 games.
- Yankees prospect Ty Hensley is lost for the season due to a setback in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, reports Chad Jennings of the Journal News. The 2012 first-rounder has seen a once-promising career decimated by injuries to this point, as hip surgery cost him the entire 2013 season and he missed all of 2014 due to the aforementioned Tommy John procedure. Jennings doesn’t state that Hensley needs a second Tommy John surgery, and the specific nature of the setback isn’t entirely clear, but Jennings does note that both GM Brian Cashman and VP of player development Gary Denbo have confirmed that Hensley will miss the 2016 campaign. Now 22 years of age (23 in July), Hensley hasn’t pitched since 2014 and has pitched in just 16 games since being drafted, posting a 2.98 ERA with 54 strikeouts against 18 walks in 42 1/3 innings.
Sean Burnett Opts Out Of Braves Contract
Left-handed reliever Sean Burnett has opted out of his minor league contract with the Braves, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter). The 33-year-old is now a free agent, joining fellow southpaw Neal Cotts as an experienced southpaw available to clubs in need of some left-handed help in the bullpen.
Burnett began the season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate and struggled a bit, walking six batters and striking out five in 7 2/3 innings, though he was more solid in six appearances with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate, firing 5 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts and a walk. Overall, he’s sporting a 1.38 ERA and, more importantly, has been healthy enough to take the ball consistently this season. Burnett battled elbow problems in 2013 and 2014, ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014 and missing the entirety of the 2015 season recovering from that procedure. Prior to those injury struggles, Burnett was a very solid bullpen option with the Nationals and Pirates, posting a 2.85 ERA in 234 innings of relief from 2009-12. He’s also held lefties to a .228/.293/.336 batting line in 315 opportunities over the course of his career.
Rays To Sign J.P. Arencibia
The Rays are set to sign veteran catcher J.P. Arencibia, who recently asked for his release from a contract with the Phillies, to a minor league deal, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
The 30-year-old Arencibia will return to the organization with which he posted outstanding results in a brief stretch of time in 2015, batting .310/.315/.606 with six homers in 73 plate appearances. His experience with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate this season was another story, as he struggled to a .167/.167/.271 line in 48 trips to the plate, but he’ll seek better results and a perhaps clearer path back to the Major Leagues in his second stint with Tampa Bay.
Currently, the Rays have Hank Conger and Curt Casali splitting catching duties at the big league level. However, Conger is hitting just .170/.220/.170 in 50 plate appearances and has continued to struggle in preventing stolen bases (although to his credit, he’s nabbed three of the past four runners that have attempted). The Rays, currently 23rd in the Majors in runs scored, could certainly stand to inject some offense into the bottom of their lineup, and Arencibia provides an option that could help them achieve that goal in the near future if Conger isn’t able to right the ship. While Arencibia has a history of OBP struggles and strikeouts, he has undeniable power, with 80 homers and a .200 ISO (slugging minus batting average) in 1687 plate appearances at the big league level.