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Recent Player Pool Additions: Tigers, Rangers, Rays, Pirates, Phillies

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The flurry of trades leading up to the deadline created some vacancies in teams’ player pools, and we’ve continued to see a few clubs add prospects to their ranks even in the days since the deadline as they look to get said players some vital developmental reps late in the season. Here’s a look at some of the latest additions around the league…

  • Outfielder Parker Meadows and right-handers Logan Shore, Jason Foley and Alex Lange have all been added to the Tigers’ pool, the team announced Thursday morning. Meadows, the No. 44 pick in 2018 and the younger brother of Rays star Austin Meadows, is the most highly regarded of the bunch. He posted strong numbers that summer but struggled in his first full season, slashing .221/.296/.312 against older competition in Class-A. He’s ranked 13th among Detroit prospects at MLB.com and at FanGraphs. Lange, 24, was the better of the two pitching prospects acquired from the Cubs in the trade that sent Nick Castellanos to Chicago last year. He’s pitched as a high as Double-A already and could be an option for the Tigers by next year. Foley was an undrafted free agent in ’16 who missed the 2018 season due to injury but returned with solid numbers in Class-A Advanced last year. Shore, a former second-round pick of the A’s, was sent to Detroit as a PTBNL in 2018’s Mike Fiers trade. Shore’s changeup is considered a potentially plus pitch, but the rest of his arsenal isn’t regarded nearly as highly.

Earlier Additions

  • The Rangers announced that infielder Davis Wendzel, outfielder Bubba Thompson and outfielder Steele Walker were all added to their 60-man pool this week. Wendzel was the No. 41 overall pick in the 2019 draft, while Thompson was selected 26th overall back in 2017. Wendzel saw just seven pro games after being drafted last year, so he’s still relatively light on overall professional experience. Thompson had a strong 2018 campaign in his first year of pro ball but saw his production crater in Class-A Advanced last year. He fared better in the Arizona Fall League, however. The 24-year-old Walker was a second-rounder of the White Sox back in 2018 but was traded to Texas over the winter in exchange for Nomar Mazara. He hit .284/.361/.451 in 525 plate appearances across Class-A and Class-A Advanced last year.
  • Infield prospect Greg Jones was added to the Rays’ player pool, per a club announcement. Tampa Bay selected the now-22-year-old Jones with the No. 22 pick out of UNC Wilmington in 2019. He posted a .335/.413/.461 slash in 48 games and 218 plate appearances with the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, although that wasn’t a particularly aggressive initial assignment for a college bat. The success is still notable, of course, and he’ll get some additional simulated game reps and face time with coaches over the season’s final month.
  • The Pirates added 2019 first-rounder Quinn Priester to their player pool earlier this week, MLBTR has learned. The Illinois native was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 draft and logged 36 2/3 innings between Rookie ball and short-season Class-A last year. Priester pitched to a 3.19 ERA in that time with a 41-to-14 K/BB ratio and a hefty 59.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s considered to be one of the organization’s best two to three best pitching prospects.
  • The Phillies added former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak to their player pool a day prior to the trade deadline. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia noted at the time, it was possible the timing of the move was sheer coincidence and not part of any scheme to trade the 22-year-old outfielder. Moniak had been rehabbing a knee injury, Salisbury wrote, and he’d progressed to the point where he’s able to work at the Phillies’ alternate training site rather than rehab at their Spring Training complex. Moniak hasn’t lived up to his 1-1 billing, but he did post better-than-average numbers against much more advanced pitching in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting last year. His .252/.303/.439 slash doesn’t look like much, but that checked in 15 percent better than average in the Eastern League, per wRC+.

East Notes: Realmuto, Bichette, Elieser, Benintendi

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With the winter fast approaching and time running out for an in-season extension, Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto will “likely” try his hand on the open market, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia observes. However, general manager Matt Klentak suggested Monday that the Phillies and Realmuto have at least discussed a new contract since the season began. “That’s not true,” Klentak said of a report that the two sides hadn’t talked, though Salisbury notes that the executive was loath to give more detailed updates. Regardless of where he signs, it’ll be fascinating to see how much Realmuto rakes in as a soon-to-be 30-year-old backstop whose trip to free agency will come off a pandemic-shortened season. Realmuto has continued to make an emphatic case for a mega-deal, though, as the two-time All-Star has once again been the game’s premier catcher in 2020.

Here’s more from baseball’s East divisions…

  • The Blue Jays have been without shortstop Bo Bichette for two weeks because of a knee sprain, though manager Charlie Montoyo said Tuesday that “he’s progressing pretty good,” according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. Bichette, if he returns, could be a huge down-the-stretch pickup for a Blue Jays club that has legitimate playoff aspirations. He began the year with a superb .361/.391/.672 line and five home runs in 64 plate appearances before going to the IL. Shortstop has become a weakness for Toronto since Bichette went down, but the team did acquire veteran Band-Aid Jonathan Villar from Miami prior to Monday’s trade deadline.
  • Speaking of those two teams, Marlins right-hander Elieser Hernandez exited his start against Toronto on Tuesday with a sore lat muscle, the Fish announced. He’s listed as day to day, but manager Don Mattingly revealed Hernandez will undergo an MRI, Craig Mish of Sports Grid relays. Any kind of absence for Hernandez over the season’s last month would be an unwelcome development for the surprising Marlins, who are in playoff contention thanks in part to his contributions. With a 2.81 ERA and 11.92 K/9 against 1.75 BB/9, the 25-year-old Hernandez has given Miami front-line production across 25 2/3 innings.
  • Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke admitted Tuesday that injured left fielder Andrew Benintendi might not return this season, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Benintendi headed to the IL on Aug. 12 with a right rib cage strain, which continued a miserable start to the 2020 campaign for the 26-year-old. If he is done for the year, he’ll end it with a .103/.314/.128 line and no homers in 52 trips to the plate.

NL East Trade Deadline Recap

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With the deadline in the rearview mirror, we’ll look back at each NL East team’s trade activity over the past month.

Atlanta Braves

Miami Marlins

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Washington Nationals

  • None

Deadline Day DFAs: Phillies, White Sox, Cubs, Marlins

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Given the flurry of transactions around the deadline, a number of players have been designated for assignment. This is, of course, the natural consequence of such a dramatic amount of shuffling to the roster via trade. These players will be available to the 29 other teams via waiver claim. We’ll use this post to track some of the more recent DFAs around baseball.

Latest Updates

  • The Marlins have designated left-hander Adam Conley for assignment, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old hasn’t pitched this season after going on the injured list in the wake of Miami’s clubhouse COVID-19 outbreak. Conley was a prominent member of the pitching staff, recently as a pure reliever, from 2015-19. He struggled to a miserable 6.53 ERA/5.19 FIP last season, although he posted much more palatable 4.09/3.60 marks the year prior.

Earlier Today

  • In perhaps the most surprising DFA of the day, the Phillies designated catcher Deivy Grullón for assignment, per the team. Grullon had been the Phillies presumptive third catcher after J.T. Realmuto and backup Andrew Knapp. The 24-year-old has long appeared on Philly prospect boards, making his first big-league appearance last season, going 1 for 9 in limited action. Rafael Marchan and Logan O’Hoppe are the other catchers in the Phillies’ 60-man player pool.
  • Philadelphia also DFA’ed right-hander Reggie McClain. The 27-year-old McClain had appeared in 5 games this season with a 5.06 ERA across 5 1/3 innings. These moves came as a consequence not of trades, necessarily, but because Jay Bruce and Ranger Suárez both were reinstated from the injured list.
  • The White Sox designated infielder Ryan Goins for assignment after activating Yolmer Sanchez, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Goings, 32, is a veteran of the Blue Jays and Royals. He appeared in 14 games for the White Sox this season, often as a pinch-runner. At the plate, he was 0 for 9 with a walk and a strikeout. Sanchez rejoins the White Sox after being designated for assignment by the Giants. Sanchez spent 2014 to 2019 with the White Sox.
  • The Cubs DFA’ed Ian Miller and Hernan Perez, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter links). Miller and Perez are making room for Andrew Chafin and Josh Osich, respectively, the pair of lefties acquired from the Diamondbacks and Red Sox. Miller, 28, is a speed specialist who appeared in just one game for the Cubs as a pinch-runner. Perez never cracked the rotation in Chicago after several years of regular reps with the Brewers. He appeared in just 3 games for the Cubs, going 1 for 6.

Phillies Acquire David Phelps

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5:34 pm: Milwaukee will eventually pick up a trio of young pitchers in the deal, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Right-handers Brandon Ramey, Israel Puello and Juan Geraldo will be the final return. Because they were not included in the Phillies’ 60-man player pool, they are ineligible to be officially named as part of the trade until after the season.

2:30 pm: The Phillies have acquired right-hander David Phelps from the Brewers, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Matt Gelb (Twitter link).  Milwaukee will receive three prospects in return, as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

After missing all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery, Phelps looked good over 34 1/3 innings with the Blue Jays and Cubs last season and has been sensational in 13 innings for Milwaukee this season.  Phelps has a 2.77 ERA, 52% grounder rate, 13.8 K/9, and a sterling 10.00 K/BB rate, not to mention some of the best soft-contact numbers of any pitcher in the league.

The deal reunites Phelps with Joe Girardi, who was Phelps’ manager with the Yankees from 2012-14.  More importantly, Phelps gives the Phillies another new arm to help revive what has been a dreadful bullpen thus far in the 2020 season.  Philadelphia has already acquired Brandon Workman, David Hale, and Heath Hembree in recent days to help address the relief corps, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Phils add another reliever beyond Phelps before the deadline.

Phelps is under control through the 2021 season, as the Phillies hold a $4.5MM club option on his services (with a $250K buyout).  With Workman, Jose Alvarez, and Tommy Hunter slated for free agency and David Robertson and Hector Neris likely to have their club options declined, Phelps gives the Phils some extra bullpen depth for 2021 if they choose to exercise his option.

NL East Notes: Phillies, Robertson, Nationals, Braves, Musgrove

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David Robertson will not appear this season for the Philadelphia Phillies, per Jim Salisbury of NBCSPhilly (via Twitter). The reliever has been shut down from any throwing for the next six weeks. The 35-year-old reliever will now have contributed just seven appearances over the span of the two-year, $23MM deal he signed with the Phillies prior to 2019. Philadelphia has a $2MM buyout option for next season, which one has to think they’d execute after two lost seasons. Otherwise, they’ll be on the hook for $12MM in 2021. Instead, Robertson is likely headed back to the open market to look for a non-guaranteed deal. He could return to the Phillies on that type of deal as Brandon Morrow did after missing the entirety of his contract length due to injury with the Cubs, but it’s not clear now if the Phillies would even be interested in investing more time into Robertson. As we near the trade deadline, let’s check in on a couple of Philly rivals…

  • The Washington Nationals have stumbled through a rough first half to their title defense, but don’t expect the champs to sell, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Per Heyman, selling is “not in their DNA.” It certainly hasn’t been an option most seasons for the Nats, who haven’t had a losing season since 2011. In recent seasons, we’ve seen them hold onto Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon instead of moving them before free agency. They did move Daniel Murphy a couple seasons ago to the Cubs, but even then the Nats didn’t pull the trigger until just before the August deadline. Theoretically, the Nats could look to move veterans like Kurt Suzuki, Adam Eaton, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Eric Thames, but Heyman reports that GM Mike Rizzo is more likely to add than subtract.
  • The Braves have expressed an interest in Joe Musgrove of the Pirates, per Jason MAckey of PGSportsNow. This isn’t likely to turn your hat around as the Braves have expressed interest in a number of potential rotation targets. Musgrove is one of the more likely to move, though he’s just now returning from injury. The former Astro has been a viable rotation arm throughout his career, despite just 3 starts this season. In 2019, he toed the rubber 31 times for a 11-12 record and 4.44 ERA/3.82 FIP. Lance Lynn is probably the top rotation arm available, but Musgrove fits firmly into the next tier in terms of track record and consistency.

David Robertson Suffers Setback

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Just under two weeks ago, rehabbing Phillies right-hander David Robertson was optimistic he’d return to the team’s bullpen sometime in September. That looks far less likely now, though, as Robertson suffered a setback in his recovery from July 2019 Tommy John surgery, Matt Breen of The Athletic tweets.

With just a month left in the regular season and the Phillies a couple games out of a wild-card spot, it’s eminently possible Robertson has thrown his final pitch with the team. Robertson has a $12MM club option for 2021, but the Phillies are sure to buy him out for $2MM, regardless of whether he pitches this season.

Robertson was a consistently durable and excellent performer with the Yankees and White Sox earlier in his career, but he has totaled a mere 6 2/3 innings with the Phillies since they signed him to a two-year, $23MM contract before 2019. It was an understandable gamble at the time by the Phillies, as Robertson was then coming off his ninth straight season of at least 60 innings and was the owner of a 2.88 ERA/2.81 FIP with 11.97 K/9, 3.56 BB/9, 137 saves and 145 holds over 657 innings. Unfortunately for Philly, though, the signing has blown up in its face, and it doesn’t appear Robertson will provide the team any on-field value this season.

Seven Games Postponed On Thursday

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6:23PM: Tonight’s game between the Marlins and Mets will not be played.  As relayed by several reporters, players on both teams took part in a powerful symbolic moment, with Mets players taking their usual positions in the field and the other Mets and Marlins players standing outside their dugouts.  After a 42-second moment of silence in honor of Jackie Robinson, all players tipped and waved their caps at one another before departing the field, with a Black Lives Matter t-shirt left atop home plate.

5:41PM: The game between the Orioles and Rays will also not be played.  Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter site) was among those to note the lack of normal pregame activity between the two clubs, and equipment being packed up from both dugouts.

5:06PM: Tonight’s game between the Rockies and Diamondbacks has also been postponed, as per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).

3:51PM: Players on the Nationals and Phillies collectively decided to postpone tonight’s game, as per a Phillies media release.

3:21PM: The Red Sox have decided not to play their game against the Blue Jays tonight, Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reports (via Twitter).

3:04PM: Tonight’s game between the Twins and Tigers will also be postponed, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).  Twins and Tigers players each voted against playing the game, as respectively reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and MLB.com’s Jason Beck.

1:42PM: Phillies players have voted against playing their scheduled game versus the Nationals tonight, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports (via Twitter). ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that the Rangers/Athletics game will also be postponed tonight. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted shortly prior that the A’s were giving strong consideration to opting not to play. Passan tweeted earlier that Red Sox players were also considering a decision not to play against the Blue Jays.

Today’s decisions follow several clubs who declined to play yesterday in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In total, three MLB games — Brewers/Reds, Mariners/Padres and Dodgers/Giants were postponed yesterday. All three are expected to be made up in doubleheaders today.

Last night, Major League Baseball issued the following statement in response to teams’ decisions to protest:

“Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. MLB remains united for change in our society & we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”

Similar protests were made in the NBA, where the scheduled postseason games Wednesday and Thursday were all postponed. The current expectation is for the NBA to resume play Saturday (link via HoopsRumors).

Phillies Trade Austin Davis To Pirates

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The Phillies have traded lefty Austin Davis to the Pirates in exchange for cash and a player to be named later, per a club announcement. He was designated for assignment last Friday after Philadelphia acquired righty David Hale from the Yankees.

The 27-year-old Davis has spent parts of the 2018-20 seasons in the big leagues with the Phillies but hasn’t found an extended run of success just yet. He’s been rocked for a 5.86 ERA in 58 1/3 Major League innings, including seven runs in three frames this season. With 27 walks and five hit batters in his young career, control has been an issue, but it’s encouraging that the former 12th-rounder (2014) has also whiffed 64 hitters in those 58 1/3 MLB frames.

Davis has also been solid in Triple-A, where he’s logged a combined 2.69 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 through 82 2/3 innings of relief. He’s long posted strong strikeout numbers and impressive control in the minors, so there’s some hope he’ll improve in the bigs. Davis’ fastball averages 93.5 mph, and he has a pair of minor league options remaining (including this season), so he gives the Bucs some flexibility in that regard. It seems he’ll join Pittsburgh’s big league roster for the time being, however, as the Pirates’ announcement made no mention of optioning him to the alternate site.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/25/20

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Checking in on the latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Deolis Guerra. The 31-year-old righty had been in limbo since the Phillies designated him for assignment last Saturday. Guerra threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, two walks and eight strikeouts from Philly’s bullpen this season before the club booted him from its roster. In all, Guerra has combined for 103 major league frames with a few teams and put up a 4.81 ERA/4.78 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.

Earlier:

  • The Giants have added first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to their 60-man player pool, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Shaw was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 31) who spent the subsequent few seasons as one of the Giants’ top prospects, but the 26-year-old hasn’t made a mark in the big leagues yet. Across 82 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, Shaw has batted .153/.244/.222 with one home run. But Shaw did enjoy a productive 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for a .294/.360/.559 line and 28 homers in 492 trips to the plate.
  • The Marlins have outrighted catcher Ryan Lavarnway to their alternate site, per a team announcement. Lavarnway got off to a 4-for-11 start at the plate this year, but the Marlins designated him for assignment last week to make room for the return of starting backstop Jorge Alfaro from the injured list. The 33-year-old Lavarnway has now seen regular-season action with seven teams since his career began in 2011.
  • The Brewers announced that left-hander Aaron Ashby is now part of their player pool. Ashby, a 2018 fourth-rounder, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 126 innings between Single-A and High-A last season. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks Ashby as the fifth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, writing that the 22-year-old has “nasty” stuff that could work out of the team’s rotation or bullpen down the line.
  • The Rays have outrighted southpaw Sean Gilmartin, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. This is the second time this year the Rays have outrighted Gilmartin, who will head back to their alternate site. He has thrown 4 1/3 innings of four-earned run ball this season with seven hits and four walks (five strikeouts).
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