Dodgers Outright Casey Fien
The Dodgers have outrighted reliever Casey Fien, according to Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider (via Twitter). Fien, 32, had already been optioned to Triple-A after being claimed off waivers from the Twins.
The veteran righty obviously passed through the second time around, suggesting that Los Angeles was the only organization interested in taking on the rest of his $2.275MM salary. Though Fien could have refused the assignment, that would have meant giving up the cash as well.
It seems that the Dodgers were drawn to Fien because of a rising swinging strike rate and steady fastball velocity. Of course, he’s also been hurt badly by the long ball and owns a 7.90 ERA, though that’s due in part to some misfortune — such as a 22.7% HR/FB rate that stands at over twice his career average and a somewhat elevated .372 BABIP-against.
Those peripherals reflect performance and skill as well as luck, of course, but the Dodgers evidently saw enough cause for optimism to put in a claim. Certainly, it’s hard to find arms at this stage of the season with Fien’s solid track record, and it doesn’t hurt that the club can now stash him in Triple-A without occupying a 40-man spot. It’s worth noting, too, that Fien can also be controlled for two more years via arbitration if he makes good on his chance
White Sox Acquire Anthony Ranaudo
The White Sox have acquired righty Anthony Ranaudo from the Rangers, according to an announcement from Texas VP of communications John Blake. Right-hander Matt Ball will go back in return.
Ranaudo, 26, was once regarded as a significant prospect with the Red Sox, but was dealt to Texas before the start of 2015. His star had already faded by that point, and he hasn’t done much to right the ship since.
Since going to the Rangers, Ranaudo has thrown 19 innings over which he’s allowed twenty earned runs with 13 strikeouts against 16 walks. His last outing, in particular, was an unmitigated disaster.
But Ranaudo could function in a swingman capacity if needed, and can be stashed in the minors since he is still optionable. And it’s fair to note that the big righty has been somewhat more useful at Triple-A. In his first three starts of 2016, he recorded 18 strikeouts over 13 1/3 innings, while issuing only four free passes and surrendering six hits. And he contributed 118 frames of sturdy-but-unspectacular work at Round Rock last year as well.
Ball, 21, had been showing some promise at the Class A level after converting to a relief role this year following three years as a Rookie ball starter. Over 16 frames, he’s racked up a 24:5 K/BB ratio, though he has permitted eight earned runs as well. Ball was taken in the 11th round of the 2013 draft out of high school, and obviously has moved slowly since joining the Chicago organization.
Royals Place Young, Medlen On DL; Moylan’s Contract Selected
The Royals announced today that they’ve placed 40 percent of their starting rotation on the 15-day disabled list, with Chris Young going on the shelf due to a strained muscle in his forearm and Kris Medlen landing there due to a inflammation in his right rotator cuff. The Royals have recalled lefty Scott Alexander from Triple-A and also selected the contract of right-hander Peter Moylan from Triple-A, thus adding another member to their 40-man roster. (A 40-man vacancy was created earlier this week when prospect Raul Mondesi Jr. was suspended for 50 games due to a failed PED test.)
Indications last night were that Young may not require a full 15 days to allow his forearm to mend, but because he could require a week or more of rest, the Royals opted to DL him in order to avoid playing a man short for the next week. The outlook on Medlen is less certain, as there’s been no indication as to what type of timeline he is facing to return from his latest arm troubles. Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets that an update on his status is expected later this afternoon, though. MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan writes that Dillon Gee will start this Saturday in Young’s place in the rotation, and he tweets that Sunday’s start will probably go to one of two lefties currently in the ‘pen: Danny Duffy or Brian Flynn.
The 36-year-old Young inked a two-year, $11.5MM contract this offseason on the heels of a pair of strong years with the Mariners (2014) and Royals (2015). However, he’s been shockingly prone to the home run early in 2016, surrendering 13 long balls in just 32 1/3 innings en route to a 6.68 ERA. Young told Flanagan and others in the KC media earlier this week that he’s been experiencing some forearm discomfort since Spring Training, though primarily in between starts. However, it’s certainly plausible that the injury has been hampering him throughout his first six starts of the season.
As for Medlen, the 30-year-old is no stranger to arm injuries, having twice undergone Tommy John surgery in the past. However, this is the first time he’s landed on the disabled list due to a shoulder injury. Medlen is in the second season of a two-year, $8.5MM contract that also contains a mutual option for the 2017 season. To this point, he’s limped to a 7.77 ERA with more walks (20) than strikeouts (18) in 24 1/3 innings pitched. Medlen has completed six innings just once this season and has only thrown two innings in each of his past two starts.
The 37-year-old Moylan is a survivor of two Tommy John surgeries himself and made a return to the Major Leagues in 2015 for the first time since the 2013 campaign. He’s kicked off this season by allowing one earned run with a 10-to-5 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Alexander, 26, made his big league debut with the Royals last season and tossed six innings in the Majors. He started the 2016 season in the bullpen at Omaha, where he’s allowed four runs with eight strikeouts against four walks in 14 innings. Lefties batted a miserable .152/.243/.163 in 103 plate appearances against him last year between the Majors and Triple-A.
MLBTR Live Chat: 5/12/2016
Click here to read a transcript of today’s MLBTR chat with host Jeff Todd.
Latest On Interest In Tim Lincecum
Tim Lincecum has yet to sign following last Friday’s showcase, which was attended by roughly two-thirds of the league, but a handful of reports today has at least eliminated a few teams from consideration. Per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter), both the Padres and Mariners are out of the mix on Lincecum at this point. While some San Diego fans speculated that the Friars’ claim of Hector Sanchez, who caught Lincecum during the pair’s San Francisco days, could be related, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune squashed that notion in relatively short order last night, tweeting that the Sanchez claim was unrelated to any pursuit of Lincecum and was instead merely about adding catching depth to the organization.
Beyond all of that, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets that the Marlins, too, are unlikely to make a play for the right-hander at this time. Those reports join previous word out of Baltimore and Arizona that the Orioles and D-backs, respectively, aren’t expected to pursue Lincecum, either.
Rosenthal adds (Twitter link) that the Angels, Giants and White Sox currently have the most interest in Lincecum, which is the same list of clubs reported to be most intrigued this past weekend, with the notable exclusion of the D-backs. Per Rosenthal, no decision is close. Any of the three make sense as a landing spot, though Giants manager Bruce Bochy said last week that the club was only interested in a relief role for Lincecum, and fallen ace Matt Cain delivered a strong showing in his most recent start, by dominating the Blue Jays over eight innings. The Angels, meanwhile, picked up one arm yesterday by acquiring Jhoulys Chacin from the Braves, and while it’s hard to imagine that lone pickup leaving the Halos feeling like they have sufficient depth in the rotation in the wake of all the injuries they’ve incurred, it probably does curb some of the urgency to seek further rotation help.
As for the White Sox, they have some options to replace the recently released John Danks (former Oriole Miguel Gonzalez is getting the first crack at the fifth spot), but the rotation is suspect beyond Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon. Mat Latos started the year strong, but his lack of strikeouts and considerable fortune on balls in play made him a clear regression candidate through his first several starts, and the wheels have begun to come off as of late.
Amid the considerable Lincecum chatter, it seems worth addressing that it’s been five years since he posted an ERA south of 4.00 in a season, making it likelier that he stabilizes the back end of a rotation than emerges as a revitalized top-of-the-rotation force. Lincecum did post a 4.37 ERA and come within arm’s reach of 200 innings as recently as 2013 even while averaging 90.4 mph on his fastball, so there’s certainly reason to express optimism that he can help a club in 2016 with the aid of improved health. However, fans hoping for a return to the levels displayed in his Cy Young heyday are probably overreaching.
Buddy Reed (University of Florida) Interview: Draft Prospect Q&A
MLBTR continues its Draft Prospect Q&A series in order to give our readers a look at some of the top names on the board in this year’s draft. MLBTR will be chatting with some of the draft’s most well-regarded prospects as they prepare for the 2016 draft on June 9-11; we’ve already spoken with prep outfielder Blake Rutherford, Mercer’s Kyle Lewis, Oklahoma’s Alec Hansen and Louisville’s Corey Ray.
Center fielder Buddy Reed is one of the more intriguing names in this year’s draft. The 6’4”, 207-pound University of Florida junior ranks as one of the top all-around players in college thanks to his speed and defensive ability, but the big question is how teams look at the switch-hitter’s bat.
Reed grew up just outside of Baltimore, where he was a well-regarded hockey player. He went to boarding school nearly seven hours from home at St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I. – a tiny school with a vast array of recognizable alums (the Bush family, the Vanderbilts, as well as many politicians and journalists). Reed went there on a hockey scholarship, where his coach was former Washington Capitals center Ryan Mulhern.
Reed, a 35th-round selection of the Texas Rangers in the 2013 draft, figures to be selected considerably higher this time around. Last week, Baseball America listed him No. 21 on its Top 100 Draft Prospects chart, and he’s currently 16th on the Top 100 at MLB.com. He leads Florida in runs scored (41) and stolen bases (22-for-24), including a straight steal of home April 22 against Georgia.
Reed and his No. 1-ranked Gators squad have a big SEC showdown series this weekend against No. 7 Vanderbilt. He talked with MLBTR earlier this week:
Chuck Wasserstrom: Hi Buddy, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I’ll start out by saying there haven’t been a whole lot of Buddy Reed stories out there, but it looks like you have a pretty fascinating background. I’m going to start off with a couple baseball questions, then get into your story. There are some talented college outfielders out there right now. What makes you different?
Buddy Reed: “I haven’t been playing baseball as long or as seriously as other people in the SEC and other conferences around the country.”
I want to hear about Buddy Reed the player. Describe your game for me. I don’t want a scouting report that I can read on the internet. I want to hear you tell me about your game.
“I would describe myself as a streaky guy. I’m a tall guy who can bunt. I can get on base. I can steal second, third, and even home. I’m a threat on the base paths. I’m a threat from the outfield with my arm and my speed; I can track down a lot of balls. And I can hit.”
[Full interview after the page break]
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/12/16
Here are Thursday’s minor transactions from around the game…
- The Padres re-signed right-hander Cory Mazzoni to a minor league contract last night, tweets Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Mazzoni, 26, was acquired from the Mets in Spring Training 2015 when San Diego sent Alex Torres to New York. He enjoyed a solid season at the Triple-A level (3.97 ERA, 12.2 K/9, 3.2 BB/9) but was rocked for 20 runs in just 8 2/3 innings in his lone taste of the Majors last season. As Lin notes, he’s currently recovering from shoulder surgery and will continue his rehab on a minors deal now that he’s been removed from the 40-man roster, having been designated for assignment and subsequently released late last month. The former second-round pick has a career 4.08 ERA in the minors to go along with solid walk and strikeout rates.
Pitching Notes: Arrieta, Matz, Strasburg, Bailey, Royals
On a night when Max Scherzer turned in one of the most dominant starts in history, striking out 20 Tigers batters (video link) to tie a Major League record, here are a few notes on pitcher contracts and injuries…
- Cubs ace Jake Arrieta won’t offer the team a discount in extension talks, he told reporters, including ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers. According to previous reports, the Cubs have been hesitant to commit to anything greater than a four-year term, and that length clearly isn’t of interest to the 30-year-old reigning Cy Young winner. “Aces get seven years,” Arrieta candidly said in the interview. Asked what he felt his market to be, Arrieta declined to answer directly, instead telling reporters: “I’ll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers.” Arrieta again emphasized that his preference is to remain with the Cubs but that being compensated at the same level as the game’s other elite arms is also a factor. “Financially I’m fine, regardless,” he said. “You want to be paid in respect to how your peers are paid. I don’t think that changes with any guy you ask. It happens around baseball every year.” As Rogers points out, Scherzer and David Price are likelier comparables than the recently extended Stephen Strasburg, who secured a seven-year, $175MM deal.
- Mets left-hander Steven Matz will miss his next start due to soreness in his pitching elbow, manager Terry Collins told the media (via ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin). Right-hander Logan Verrett will take Matz’s turn in the rotation on Saturday, and Matz will be examined by doctors in New York next Monday. As the lefty himself explained (via the New York Post’s Mike Puma), he tried to pitch through similar soreness last season and ultimately had to spent two months on the shelf. The issue seems relatively innocuous at the moment, though given Matz’s considerable injury history it’s not surprising to see Puma write that there is “some level of concern” about Matz.
- MLB.com’s Bill Ladson spoke to Strasburg about his extension with the Nationals, (Twitter link to audio download), his motivation to sign now with free agency looming, the influence Tony Gwynn (his favorite player growing up and coach in college at San Diego State) has had on his desire to remain with one club and the team’s decision to shut him down in the midst of the 2012 playoff push in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. “He definitely had that sense of loyalty,” Strasburg said of Gwynn. “I think there were certainly times in his career where he could’ve gone other places, but the city, San Diego, kind of grew on him, and he became an icon in that city. I’m not about to say that I’m going to be on his level here in D.C., but I think you do have some sort of sense of loyalty to the team that did draft you, at least speaking for myself. So, when the opportunity presented itself that, here’s a fair deal presented to you, it didn’t really take long to make my mind up.”
- Reds right-hander Homer Bailey is “taking a step back” in his rehab from Tommy John surgery, writes C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Bailey explains to Rosecrans that he had a second opinion on his elbow on Monday, 366 days after his surgery, and is slowing his pace as a precaution. Bailey recently experienced some pain and took 10 days off from throwing and is being extra cautious. “One of the things that was brought to my attention was there’s a lot of research about guys who come back at the 12-month mark have a higher probability of it happening again, as opposed to maybe 14 months then the numbers are (better),” he adds. Bailey made throws of 110-120 feet on Tuesday without pain, but he tells Rosecrans he’s still about a month away from a rehab assignment.
- Chris Young, who underwent an MRI today due to forearm soreness, has been diagnosed with a muscle strain on the top of said forearm, tweets the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd. Young is a candidate to land on the 15-day disabled list, even though (via MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan, on Twitter) manager Ned Yost said that Young may not need 15 whole days to recover from the issue. The club may simply not have a choice, especially due to the fact that right-hander Kris Medlen is also scheduled to have his shoulder examined due to some soreness (via Dodd). Medlen’s Sunday start is in jeopardy, though the severity of the issue remains unclear.
MLB Investigating Red Sox’ International Signings
8:12pm: Via Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald, while the league has spoken to the players in question, the Red Sox themselves have yet to be questioned due to the fact that MLB is currently “right in the middle” of the investigation. Interestingly, Drellich reports that there was pre-existing evidence against the Sox that led to the league’s investigation, citing a source that references a “specific fact pattern” that was detected. The players themselves wouldn’t be punished even if the league is able to determine that the Red Sox utilized package agreements to circumvent the signing restrictions, per Drellich’s source. Furthermore, Drellich spoke to multiple sources that refuted allegations of threatening the players whilst questioning them, as the players themselves aren’t the target and do not stand to be punished.
Proving allegations of this nature is a highly difficult task, he continues, as the worth of each player is entirely subjective, and paper trails aren’t easily found. “It’s just a difficult thing to prove without cooperation,” one source told Drellich, which could serve to explain the reasoning behind the league’s decision to first question the players themselves.
Any punishment for the Sox would be the first of its kind, as to this point, only warnings have been issued when it comes to matters of international bonus pools. Drellich adds that any disciplinary measures that are taken by the league would carry over even if the international signing system is revamped in the upcoming wave of collective bargaining negotiations.
11:23am: Major League Baseball is investigating the Red Sox in relation to the team’s 2015-16 international signings, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports. In particular, the league is said to be looking into the club’s actions in Venezuela.
Boston entered the current July 2 signing period with a prohibition on any bonuses of over $300K, a penalty that stems from the club’s prior-year investments (including, most notably, Yoan Moncada) and will carry over for one more signing season. Nevertheless, Badler explains, the organization was able to land several highly-rated international talents for somewhat surprisingly low bonuses.
The investigation is looking into the tactics that the organization may have used in procuring certain signings, including players such as Albert Guaimaro, Simon Muzziotti, Antonio Pinero, and Eduardo Torrealba — all of whom landed bonuses of exactly $300K. These players reportedly shared trainers with several other Red Sox signees, leading to concern that they may have been signed to “package” deals in an effort to evade the signing restrictions.
Badler recently detailed that practice in a piece at BA, though it did not cite Boston in particular and dealt primarily with the Cuban market. Per his more recent report, though, only the Red Sox are being investigated by the league at this time.
Interestingly, as Badler notes, the use of package arrangements is widespread and long-established. Moreover, it doesn’t appear to violate any specific MLB rules and all of the contracts in question have previously been approved by the league. There are, of course, other possible incentives (beyond bonus pool evasion) for teams and trainers to arrange non-value-based payouts between certain players. In particular, trainers often have different “stakes” in different players’ eventual bonuses.
Several players reportedly acknowledged some kind of package arrangement in their signings, a source tells Badler. But it remains unclear precisely what the repercussions could be if that is indeed what the league’s investigation shows.
It seems fair to note, too, that there are in theory different ways in which packaging could occur, which might well be viewed differently. Traditional packaging that mutually benefits a trainer and team certainly raises ethical questions, but may not be of concern to the league at this juncture. Post-signing asset shifting to $300K signees from trainers or other players, on the other hand, could conceivably be more worrisome from the perspective of competitive advantage. As things stand, though, this is all hypothetical.
Questions are also raised as to MLB’s tactics in interviewing players, with sources telling Badler of various high-pressure techniques on the teenagers. A league source responded, saying that players are obligated to cooperate but that the investigators did not threaten them with suspensions to secure cooperation.
You’ll certainly want to read Badler’s entire piece for more details on the investigation and the rest of the story.
Padres Claim Hector Sanchez From White Sox
The Padres have claimed catcher Hector Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox, per the MLB.com transactions page. Because he’s out of options, Sanchez will be added to the Major League roster. Left-hander Robbie Erlin was moved to the 60-day disabled list to create room on the 40-man roster.
Sanchez, a 26-year-old switch-hitter, has spent the bulk of his career in the NL West, appearing with the Giants in each of the past five seasons, primarily as a backup to Buster Posey. He picked up eight plate appearances with the White Sox this season, collecting one hit in seven official at-bats, and is a career .238/.273/.348 hitter in 645 plate appearances at the Major League level. He’s also halted 26 percent of opposing stolen base attempts and, dating back to the 2013 season, Baseball Prospectus feels that he’s been slightly above-average in terms of pitch framing.
While Erlin’s transfer to the 60-day DL explains the 40-man portion of the puzzle, it’s not immediately clear how Sanchez fits onto the 25-man roster for the Padres, who have used Derek Norris and Christian Bethancourt behind the plate thus far in the 2016 season. Neither has hit much this season, with Norris in particular struggling to a dismal .167/.213/.275 batting line through his first 108 plate appearances. Bethancourt, meanwhile, has slashed .222/.241/.519 in just 29 plate appearances, but he’s out of minor league options as well, so the Padres wouldn’t be able to send him down without first exposing him to waivers. Norris, it’s worth noting, does have minor league options remaining, but he’s also earning $2.925MM in 2016 after his first trip through the arbitration process this past winter.