AL Notes: McCullers, Norris, Indians
Newly promoted Astros pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr. throws in the upper 90s with an outstanding breaking ball, Vince Lara-Cinisomo writes in a scouting report for Baseball America. The biggest difference between this season and the previous three years of his pro career has been that his control has taken a leap forward, from 5.2 BB/9 in 2014 to 3.4 BB/9 in 29 innings this season. Lara-Cinosomo suggests that one possibility is that the Astros promoted McCullers in order to showcase him as a possible trade piece for a top starting pitcher like Cole Hamels. Here’s more from the American League.
- Top Blue Jays prospect Daniel Norris is now back in Buffalo after a stint in the big leagues in which he held his own but averaged less than five innings per start. GM Alex Anthopoulos says the team wants Norris to work on improving that number, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes. “[T]he issue here was the consistency of trying to go deep into games and making sure we were going to have that to not tax the bullpen,” says Anthopoulos. “When he shows the consistency down there – it’s only been two games and what that number is, three, four, five, I’m not sure – and when we have a need and feel he’s throwing the ball well down there, he’ll be back.“
- The Indians‘ season hasn’t gone well, but that doesn’t mean a fire sale is imminent, Paul Hoynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Much of their core consists of young-ish players signed to long-term deals (like Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco), so the Indians probably wouldn’t trade them. And some of their other veterans (like Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher) simply haven’t played well and therefore don’t have much value right now.
Draft Notes: Rodgers, Diamondbacks, Fernandez
A look at recent draft history suggests the Diamondbacks should take shortstop Brendan Rodgers with the No. 1 pick, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Rodgers headed into the season as the consensus top talent in the draft, and teams who have picked No. 1 overall in recent years have avoided consensus top talents at their peril — No. 1 picks like the Rays’ selection of Tim Beckham and the Royals’ selection of Luke Hochevar haven’t worked out as well as they would have if the Rays and Royals had simply picked more straightforwardly. Here’s more on the draft.
- The Diamondbacks currently appear more likely to take Vanderbilt pitcher Carson Fulmer first overall, according to John Manuel of Baseball America’s latest mock draft. The Diamondbacks seem to want a college pitcher, and Fulmer seems to be gaining a slight edge over UC-Santa Barbara’s Dillon Tate. The Astros then take another Commodore, infielder Dansby Swanson, in Manuel’s mock before the Rockies take Rodgers at No. 3. Manuel suggests the collection of injured top pitchers (Brady Aiken, Michael Matuella and Kolby Allard) will fall to the end of the first round.
- Cuban right-hander Yoandy Fernandez has been declared eligible for the draft, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports. Fernandez has far more seasoning than your average draft candidate; he’s 27 and has six years of experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional league, where he posted a 4.22 ERA, 72 strikeouts and 62 walks over 157 2/3 innings. Almost all of Fernandez’s work came as a reliever, and Sanchez notes that teams are still figuring out if he projects as a starter or a reliever in MLB. Perhaps more information will be determined later this month, as Fernandez has several tryouts scheduled for various teams.
Week In Review: 5/9/15 – 5/15/15
Here’s a look back at this week at MLBTR.
Key Move
- The Angels extended closer Huston Street for two years, with a club option for 2018.
Top Prospect Promotions
- Astros – P Lance McCullers, Jr. (link)
Trades
- Blue Jays – acquired IF Ronald Torreyes from Blue Jays for PTBNL or cash
- Phillies – acquired C Blake Forsythe from Athletics
- Athletics – acquired P Edward Mujica and cash from Red Sox for a PTBNL or cash
Designated For Assignment
- Rangers – P Stolmy Pimentel (link)
- Reds – P Kevin Gregg (link)
Claimed
- Rays – P Preston Guilmet (from Blue Jays – link)
- Reds – P Ryan Mattheus (from Angels – link)
- Orioles – P Jorge Rondon (from Rockies – link)
Outrighted
- Blue Jays – IF Jonathan Diaz (link)
- Phillies – P Dustin McGowan (link)
- Red Sox – IF Luis Jimenez (link)
- Indians – P Anthony Swarzak (link)
- Marlins – IF Reid Brignac (link)
- Cubs – P Anthony Varvaro (link)
- White Sox – P Javy Guerra (link)
- Rangers – P Mike Kickham (link)
Retirements
- P Boof Bonser (link)
Key Minor League Signings
- Twins – IF Ryan Wheeler (link)
- Astros – P Jose Veras (link)
- Blue Jays – OF Luke Scott (link)
- Giants – P Tommy Hanson (link), P Ricky Romero (link)
- Braves – C Wil Nieves (link)
- Cubs – P Felipe Paulino (link)
Quick Hits: Cole, Drew, Vogt
In case you’ve not noticed, Pirates righty Gerrit Cole has delivered on his promise — and then some — thus far in 2015. As things stand, he owns a 2.32 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 and a healthy 55.3% groundball rate. The 2011 first overall pick has, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes, justified Pittsburgh’s decision to take him over a host of other strong options (though Anthony Rendon, Jose Fernandez, and Sonny Gray — among others — could also ultimately stake a claim as the best player from that productive draft). Jayson Stark of ESPN.com says that Cole represents the complete package on the hill, and may have upside that is yet to be fully tapped.
Here are some more stray links from around the game:
- The Yankees plan to keep utilizing Stephen Drew despite his lackluster batting line, as Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports. Skipper Joe Girardi, who has deployed Drew around the infield, says that the quality of his at-bats have not yet shown up in terms of results but that a turnaround could be forthcoming. Lacking clear solutions up the middle, it makes good sense for the Yankees to give Drew every chance to succeed. If nothing else, as Feinsand notes, his quality defense makes him a useful utility player even if New York were to make an addition at the trade deadline.
- ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider link) looks at the Athletics and where things could be headed for the club this summer. Despite the rough start, there are signs of promise, and the division could still be within reach. If a return to competitiveness is not forthcoming, however, Olney suggests that the club could market not only Ben Zobrist and Scott Kazmir, but also catcher Stephen Vogt. While Vogt is still going to be cheap for some time, that same fact — combined with positional scarcity and his outstanding production thus far (third in the league in both wRC+ and fWAR) — could make him quite an interesting trade piece. While Olney makes clear that he is just speculating, it is certainly an intriguing idea, and one that we can’t put past the always-creative Billy Beane.
NL Notes: D’Backs, Marlins, Herrera, Tulowitzki
None of the top candidates for the first overall pick in the upcoming amateur draft seem likely to command the $8.6MM+ bonus slotted for the #1 pick, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes as part of a draft mailbag. Callis notes that the Diamondbacks would likely save a couple of million on whomever they pick first overall, making the team’s explorations of taking a lesser-ranked prospect first to save even more bonus pool money seem rather needless. “There’s no need to do a discount of $4 million or more, and it’s unlikely there will be enough quality players to spend that much extra money on in later rounds,” Callis writes.
Here’s more from the National League:
- The Marlins‘ decision not to pursue Rafael Soriano does not indicate that the team is not going to look to spur change in its pen, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes. Nevertheless, the focus is now internal. A.J. Ramos is just beginning his audition in the closer’s role, and should get a fairly long look. Otherwise, righties David Phelps and Tom Koehler could be shifted to full-time bullpen roles. It makes sense for Miami to see how things look with in-house changes now, of course, to gather information before the summer trade market heats up.
- Mets second baseman Dilson Herrera is headed to the DL with a broken middle finger on this throwing hand, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports (Twitter links). Third baseman and utilityman Eric Campbell will slide into the mix for the time being. It remains to be seen how long Herrera will be out, but his absence could impact the club in a multitude of ways. For one thing, it reduces (or even eliminates) the possibility that Herrera will seize the everyday job and render Daniel Murphy a trade piece — an admittedly somewhat unlikely scenario to begin with, especially given David Wright‘s prolonged absence. Also of note: the decision to tab Campbell means that the team is not yet ready to bump Wilmer Flores off of shortstop, which was at least a theoretical alternative if Matt Reynolds had received the call. Unless and until Flores can curb his difficulties in the field, the position will remain an area of focus. As Andy Martino of the New York Daily News writes, the overall disposition in New York (particularly given the context of a five-game losing streak) is not terribly sunny at present.
- The Rockies‘ shortstop situation is also going to continue to get press, albeit for somewhat different reasons. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs takes a shot at valuing Troy Tulowitzki, opining that the excellent but oft-injured star would probably command something north of the Jacoby Ellsbury contract. That implies something like $50MM to $60MM in excess value in his contract, says Cameron, indicating that Tulo might bring back a package of very good prospects rather than one headlined by a super-premium young player. (Though, as Cameron notes, we should expect some mark-up for an in-season deal. Last year’s Jeff Samardzija–Addison Russell trade certainly illustrates that point.) The article suggests some possible groups of players that could theoretically be offered to Colorado.
Jeff Bridich Addresses Troy Tulowitzki Trade Chatter
Rockies GM Jeff Bridich addressed recent comments from star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and his agent about the possibility of a trade, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. Bridich wrote off the recent talk about a deal as “a media production, more than anything else.”
Colorado’s top baseball executive also rejected the notion that Tulowitzki’s camp was responsible for the sudden rash of attention to the idea of the club’s top attraction demanding a trade. (Tulowitzki, of course, has denied that he will do so.) Bridich made clear, further, that Colorado sees itself in the driver’s seat regarding Tulowitzki’s employment.
“The reality is that at any point, in any players’ day, they can come to the organization and ask for a trade, I suppose,” said Bridich. “But the reality is that Troy doesn’t have control of this and neither does his agent, for the contract. All Troy wants to do is come to work each day and make us better.”
Bridich also noted that he believes reports are tied to the club’s overall struggles. “That fuels speculation,” said Bridich, “and then people go on the record and try to create types of news stories and controversies by writing opinions that are just that, opinions. They aren’t based in fact. So really, nothing has changed. … Funny how none of this came up in April when we were playing very different baseball.”
There is little doubt that Colorado’s recent free-fall in the NL West standings has brought the matter back to the front burner. In that regard, Bridich is undoubtedly correct. But there is also a good reason for the current revival of an oft-discussed question: the team does not seem headed for contention — now or, frankly, in the near future — and Tulowitzki would represent a huge upgrade for many other clubs.
Though the 30-year-old has not played to his usual level thus far, slashing a modest .289/.297/.456, that represents a relatively tiny data point. There are legitimate reasons for some concern, of course, starting with the fact that Tulo is coming off of hip surgery. Then, there’s his troubling 1.7% walk rate, coupled with an uncharacteristic 23.7% strikeout rate.
If Tulowitzki can put up anything near his usual level of production going forward, the slow start (and, to a lesser extent, the injury concerns) will be all but forgotten. He is obviously not cheap — he’s owed the balance of $20MM this year and $98MM from 2016-2020 (including an option buyout for 2021) — but that’s a manageable sum for most teams for a superstar, up-the-middle player. All said, it’s quite likely that we will see plenty of ongoing rumors and analysis of the situation over the next few months.
Injury Notes: Pence, Tanaka, Blue Jays, Fister, Ryu
Giants outfielder Hunter Pence is returning to active duty tomorrow, Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports on Twitter. Pence has yet to see MLB action this year since suffering a fractured forearm in the spring. The 32-year-old figures to provide a nice boost to the club, which has produced middling results thus far.
Here are some more injury notes from around the game:
- Another important player who received promising injury news is Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka. As Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets, Tanaka threw 35 pitches in a BP session today and seems to be nearing the start of a rehab stint. Tanaka’s continued progress is obviously welcome, particularly given that swingman Chase Whitley may be headed for season-ending surgery.
- The Blue Jays also have some notable situations to watch, with Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca providing several updates. Outfielder Michael Saunders will miss four to six weeks to rest his knee. And catcher Dioner Navarro still does not have a timetable for a rehab assignment as he rests his hamstring. More positively, shortstop Jose Reyes is nearing his own build-up through the minors. While Saunders and Reyes are important for the team, the Navarro news is most notable from a transactional perspective. Though he has not done much offensively this year, Navarro could be a useful trade piece for a Toronto club that has other needs — if he can reestablish his health and show more promise at the plate.
- The Nationals made the surprising announcement today that righty Doug Fister is heading to the DL with right forearm tightness (via Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com, on Twitter). Young starter A.J. Cole, one of the team’s top prospects, will return to take his spot on the active roster. While hidden somewhat due to the attention given to Stephen Strasburg, there is cause for concern with Fister, whose velocity (86.1 mph average two-seam fastball), K:BB ratio (4.1 K/9 vs. 2.3 BB/9), and groundball rate (40.9%) have suffered in comparison to his usual numbers. Of course, the Nationals are somewhat uniquely suited to weather any extended absence, should that prove necessary. But for the 31-year-old free agent-to-be, the first two months of the season have left him with plenty to prove the rest of the way.
- Hyun-jin Ryu of the Dodgers is still not even scheduled to resume throwing, J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group reports on Twitter. The health of the 28-year-old lefty remains a key sub-plot in the development of the summer trade market: L.A. already profiles as a strong buyer for starting pitching, and its needs would be enhanced greatly if Ryu isn’t able to develop an upward trajectory.
Chase Whitley Preliminarily Diagnosed With UCL Tear
Yankees right-hander Chase Whitley has received an initial diagnosis of a UCL tear after departing his start early last night, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. A Tommy John procedure is very much on the table, per the report, though the team will not rush to a decision.
Whitley, 25, has been a useful swingman for the club since coming up last year. While he posted an unsightly 5.23 ERA over his 75 2/3 frames last year (compiled in a dozen starts and a dozen relief appearances), Whitley put up 7.1 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 and drew much better ratings from ERA estimators.
His promising campaign last year has carried through to 2015, as Whitley stepped into a rotation void and has provided 19 1/3 solid innings. So far, he has registered a 4.19 ERA on the back of 7.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, and a 49.2% groundball rate.
Whitley, who does not have much velocity, leans heavily on his slider. While he probably does not have a ton of upside, his early career effort suggests that he could settle in as a useful back-of-the-rotation starter and long reliever.
That kind of player obviously has function and value, as evidenced by the fact that the Yanks gave lefty Chris Capuano $5MM to return this winter. Capuano is set to return from injury soon, which draws some of the sting of the possible loss of Whitley. But with Masahiro Tanaka and Ivan Nova still working their way back from injury, it would have been nice to have a full complement of depth on hand.
Astros To Promote Lance McCullers Jr.
Not long after bumping him up to Triple-A, the Astros have decided to advance pitching prospect Lance McCullers Jr. to the majors, the club announced. His first start will come on Monday against the Athletics.
McCullers, 21, is the son of seven-season big leaguer Lance McCullers Sr. He was taken in the sandwich round of the 2012 draft out of high school. Using some of the savings they achieved after taking Carlos Correa first overall — a somewhat controversial decision which has turned out nicely — the ‘Stros locked up McCullers with an above-slot, $2.5MM bonus.
The young righty fell off of top-100 prospect lists after last season — he had reached #50 on Baseball America’s list and was 52nd per MLB.com — when he struggled to a 5.47 ERA over 97 frames in his first action at the High-A level. The issue then, as it has been more generally, is control, as McCullers put up 10.7 K/9 but permitted 5.2 free passes per nine.
That led Baseball America to drop him to 11th on the Houston prospect list heading into the year. But BA did note that McCullers still have very high quality stuff, including a big fastball, outstanding breaking ball, and improving changeup.
As the big league call-up would indicate, things have come together this year. Houston saw enough to start him off at the Double-A level despite his youth and his tough year, and he rewarded that confidence with 29 innings of top-notch pitching. McCullers has permitted just two earned runs in that stretch, striking out 43 and walking only 11 hitters.
If he can stick at the big league level all year, McCullers would stand a good chance of qualifying for Super Two status. Of course, that is far from a given. It seems reasonably likely that Houston’s purpose here is twofold: first, and most importantly, to get a look and see whether McCullers can contribute at the big league level this year; and second, for their team and others to gauge his future value in weighing him as a trade piece.
Twins Sign Ryan Wheeler To Minor League Deal
The Twins have signed third baseman Ryan Wheeler to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com Transactions page. Wheeler, a client of CAA Sports, will report to Triple-A Rochester. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that the Twins were the first to act when Wheeler’s agents notified teams that he’d been released by the Angels, and he was quick to accept the offer.
The 26-year-old Wheeler, a former fifth-round selection by the Diamondbacks (2009), frequented the club’s list of Top 30 prospects (per Baseball America) prior to being traded to the Rockies in exchange for lefty Matt Reynolds. Wheeler peaked at No. 8 on the D-Backs’ Top 30, and he ranked 10th on BA’s list of Top 30 Rockies prospects as recently as the 2012-13 offseason. That winter, BA noted that Wheeler was a work in progress at third and likely lacked the speed to play in the outfield. Their scouting report seemed to consider him a man without a true position, questioning if he’d have the power to man first base or the glove to handle the hot corner.
Wheeler has hit at every level of the minors, however. He’s a career .306/.363/.462 batter in the minors, and BA noted that he’s able to drive the ball well to the opposite field, though sometimes at the expense of drawing walks. Wheeler has received a big league look in each of the past three seasons, including 64 plate appearances with the Rockies in 2014. His strong track record in the minors has yet to carry over to the Majors, however, as he’s batted .233/.280/.335 in the bigs.
The Twins have Trevor Plouffe playing a strong overall third base in the Majors and the slugging Miguel Sano looming in the minors. Eduardo Escobar represents a nice utility option for the club, but the lefty swinging Wheeler could eventually emerge as a bench option for the Twins with a strong minor league showing.
Joining the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate figures to carry extra meaning for Wheeler, as his younger brother Jason (a former eighth-round pick by the Twins) is currently in the Rochester rotation.