Quick Hits: Taveras, Samardzija, Hammel, Amateur
Speculation has heightened as to when the Cardinals will call up top prospect Oscar Taveras. He is part of a special trio of Triple-A outfielders, along with Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk, a scout tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). That same scout said that Taveras needs a new challenge at this point. “He’s on cruise control,” he said. “Gives away at-bats. Needs to play with more urgency. He’ll get a wake-up call but it will take [the] big leagues to do it.” Of course, whatever his level of motivation and effort, Taveras has played well; he entered the day with a .304/.354/.509 line through 175 plate appearances.
Here are some more stray notes to round out the evening:
- While he remains winless, Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija continues to drive up his stock with an outstanding start to the season. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com writes that the club should shop him this summer at peak value; as a GM tells Heyman, Chicago will “want top, top guys” in return. Heyman lists the ten clubs that could possibly match up on Samardzija, topped by the three northernmost A.L. East clubs.
- While Heyman puts the Yankees first among possible Samardzija suitors, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post says that fellow Cubs starter Jason Hammel may make more sense for New York. Samardzija may price himself out of the Yanks’ reach in terms of a prospect package, says Davidoff. While Cliff Lee of the Phillies would also be of interest — and, presumably, be more achievable for the Yankees given his hefty contract — he now has significant arm issues for the first time in his career.
- The early-agreement trend on the July 2 international market has not only changed the dynamics of the market itself, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America, but has made it more difficult for prospect watchers to scout players. When players reach terms, they tend to steer clear of showcases and tryouts. As Badler notes, increasingly aggressive signing tactics also “elevate[] the risk and uncertainty” for teams, because young players can change so much in a short period of time.
- Now a decade in the past, the 2004 amateur draft understandably looks quite different in retrospect. ESPN.com’s Keith Law takes a look back in two Insider pieces (subscription required). There were many misses, of course, headlined by first overall pick Matt Bush. If teams had perfect foresight at the time, says Law, the first three choices would have brought Justin Verlander to the Padres, Dustin Pedroia to the Tigers, and Jered Weaver to the Mets.
Injury Notes: Harvey, Lee, Hart, Beltran
Rehabbing Mets ace Matt Harvey hopes to return to big league action at the end of this season, the righty tells Tom Verducci of SI.com. While Harvey acknowledged that he would not push to return before being cleared, he said he wants to re-establish himself on the hill before the year is out. “I just want the peace of mind,” said Harvey. “I want to go back out there and know I still have the stuff to strike out major league hitters.” For his part, club GM Sandy Alderson sounded a cautious note, reports ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin. “Not being a medical doctor and not really faced with that decision previously, I’ll reserve judgment,” he said. “But the one thing we don’t want to do is be put in a situation where someone — Matt, or anyone else — has a setback because we’ve pushed the natural recovery processes further than we should have.”
Here’s the latest on some injury situations around the game that could potentially have transactional implications:
- Cliff Lee of the Phillies underwent an MRI today on his left elbow, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports. The durable and excellent lefty has been throwing through elbow tenderness for the last several weeks, but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said that the discomfort increased in his last start. The 35-year-old has been diagnosed with a flexor pronator strain, tweets Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, though a full assessment will await the results of the MRI. Needless to say, a prolonged absence or ongoing injury questions could not only have ramifications for the Phils’ ability to stay in the post-season race, but could heavily impact the summer’s starting pitching trade market. Lee, who has 21-club no-trade rights, is owed $25MM this year and next before a 2016 vesting/club option that comes with a $12.5MM buyout.
- Mariners first baseman/outfielder/DH Corey Hart is expected to miss four to six weeks, reports MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter). That news — and Stephen Drew‘s signing with the Red Sox today — has fueled calls for Seattle to take another look at re-signing first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales. Should Morales stay a free agent until the upcoming amateur draft, of course, he will be free to sign anywhere without costing his new team a pick, and without returning a compensatory choice to the M’s.
- Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran still hopes to play through the bone spur in his elbow, but if surgery is required he would be out for about two months, reports Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). Beltran saw Dr. James Andrews today, who confirmed the original diagnosis. It appears that the question at this point is whether or not Beltran can deal with the pain while playing at full speed.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Cards, Yanks, Phelps, Asche, Turner
In his latest notes column, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports quotes one rival executive that said Cardinals GM John Mozeliak “realizes he has more talent than anyone else — and he’s reluctant to get rid of it.” (That reluctance is illustrated by Mozeliak’s comments to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as the GM told him that external changes aren’t much of a consideration at this time.) Rosenthal looks at some of the recent improvements in the Cardinals’ offense and echoes Goold’s initial report that patience seems the likely route for St. Louis at this point.
More trade-, draft- and prospect-related highlights from a lengthy piece that also looks at slow starts in the AL East and a surprising start from the Twins…
- The Yankees have better pitching depth than many realize, Rosenthal opines, noting that Adam Warren could be moved into the rotation when Shawn Kelley is healthy again. He also points to a quartet of hard-throwing relievers at Triple-A — Diego Moreno, Jose Ramirez, Danny Burawa and Branden Pinder. A trade is still something the Yanks will likely explore, but despite the aforementioned depth, the team likely doesn’t have the firepower to land someone like Cliff Lee, in Rosenthal’s eyes. They have little more to offer than relief help and high-end catching talent and could be competing with at least two other AL East teams in the Orioles and Blue Jays.
- David Phelps wasn’t the Yankees‘ priority when scouting director Damon Oppenheimer went to see Notre Dame play prior to the 2008 draft. Oppenheimer was scouting Phelps’ teammate Kyle Weiland, but Phelps impressed him with his competitiveness, prompting Oppenheimer to push for him in the 14th round, which looks to be a nice bargain pickup six years later.
- The Phillies are having internal discussions about moving Cody Asche to the outfield in 2015 in order to clear room on the 25-man roster for top prospect Maikel Franco at third base. Though Rosenthal doesn’t mention this, that does raise the question of what will become of Domonic Brown, the team’s left fielder who is once again struggling after what looked to be a breakout 2013 season.
- Rosenthal hears that NC State shortstop Trea Turner is drawing interest from teams in the No. 6-10 range of the upcoming draft. The fleet-footed shortstop also has pop in his bat (he’s second in the ACC in homers), but some scouts wonder if he can stick at shortstop. Rosenthal points out that both the Mariners (No. 6) and the Mets (No. 10) have needs at shortstop heading into a draft that is light on college shortstops.
- Analysts from the Pirates and Marlins made the same comment to Rosenthal in the past week: the most useful data regarding defensive shifts comes from where hitters put the ball in play against a team’s own pitchers. The Marlins aren’t particularly focused where batters hit the ball against soft-tossers, due to the flamethrowing nature of their rotation. Likewise, the Pirates’ shifts are based largely on batted ball data against Francisco Liriano, Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton.
NL East Notes: Zimmerman, Phils, Tejada, Heaney
The Nationals raised some eyebrows recently by having injured third baseman Ryan Zimmerman work out in left field (as noted yesterday by the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore), though many on the coaching staff were quick to tell Kilgore that Zimmerman was merely getting some conditioning work. In a second piece from Kilgore last night, Zimmerman essentially said the same, noting that he cannot take grounders during batting practice at this point and the outfield worked helped him “from going crazy.” Manager Matt Williams, however, wouldn’t rule out using Zimmerman in the outfield, though he sounded more comfortable with the longtime third baseman as an emergency option there: “I think he’s a wonderful athlete and if we have a pinch late in a game where we have nobody left and he’s got to play left field, or right field or center field, he could do it.”
Here’s more from the NL East…
- The next 20 games could determine the Phillies‘ course of action this summer, writes CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. The Phils have a stretch of 20 games in 20 days beginning tonight, and 11 of those contests come against divisional opponents. If the team fares well in this stretch, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. may well push the decision off for a few weeks, but Salisbury implies that a particularly poor showing could push the Phillies into sell mode.
- Salisbury’s colleague, Corey Seidman, points out that fans can’t pin the team’s 19-22 record on the aging core. Ryan Howard is on pace for 28 homers, Chase Utley has played like an MVP candidate thus far, Jimmy Rollins has a career-high .359 OBP, Carlos Ruiz‘s OBP sits at .396 and Marlon Byrd has hit very well. Cliff Lee, A.J. Burnett and Jonathan Papelbon have all turned in solid ERA marks also, he adds. However, the team has received next to no production from Ben Revere and Domonic Brown, the bullpen has struggled and the bench has combined to hit .181 with four homers thus far.
- Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald found the Marlins‘ recent signing of Miguel Tejada a bit puzzling, so he spoke with VP of player development Marty Scott about the deal. Scott said the signing was made for depth purposes and that Tejada impressed both offensively and defensively in private workouts. “I don’t want something to happen at the big-league level where we don’t have someone we know who can come up and do the job,” said Scott before calling Tejada a “safety valve.”
- From that same piece, Spencer reports that the Marlins are currently listing Thursday’s starter at Triple-A as “TBA,” and that spot is very likely to be filled by top prospect Andrew Heaney, who has dominated Double-A Jacksonville. If all goes well, says Spencer, Heaney could be with the Fish in early June.
Phillies Re-Sign Shawn Camp
The Phillies have signed right-hander Shawn Camp to a new minor league contract, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Camp rejoins the organization after electing to become a free agent last week rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A. Camp is represented by Dave Meier.
Camp originally joined the Phils on a minor league deal in November and he posted a 5.40 ERA over 3 1/3 innings this season. Philadelphia is the fifth team that Camp, 38, has pitched for during his 11 years in the majors, and his career numbers include a 4.41 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 2.29 K/BB over 592 1/3 relief innings. While Camp has struggled over the last two seasons, he could still provide value to a Phillies’ bullpen that has the fourth-worst bullpen ERA in the majors (4.42) and is in need of right-handed depth.
Cafardo On Lee, Yankees, Maeda, Lackey
In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe discusses the rash of injuries to pitchers. Some are suggesting that MLB lower the mound, which would reduce stress on the shoulder and elbow by reducing some of the downward force. Red Sox pitching coach Juan Nieves has a different idea. “You have to stop shrinking the strike zone,” he said. “It has to be expanded. It’s incredible what you’re asking of pitchers nowadays. You expect them to throw the baseball into this tiny box. Do you know how much stress that puts on a pitcher’s arm? Just remembering when I pitched, the strike zone is so tiny compared to back then. It’s impossible to think that you make a pitcher hit that tiny box and not have it affect the health of a pitcher over time.” Here’s more from today’s column..
- Baseball executives think they’ll have their eyes on Cliff Lee if the Phillies fall out of the race. The Yankees would have plenty of competition for Lee, perhaps even from the Red Sox, who have long coveted him, especially given his past relationship with John Farrell. The Red Sox also have more to give than the Yankees in terms of prospects. Lee, 35, will earn $25MM this season and next, and has a $27.5MM option for 2016, which vests with 200 innings in 2015 or 400 innings in 2014-15.
- It’s expected that teams that missed out on Masahiro Tanaka will bid for Hiroshima Toyo Carp standout Kenta Maeda. The Red Sox have scouted Maeda quite a bit and he’s garnering attention, even though he is not as accomplished as Tanaka.
- Cafardo asked four GMs if they would rework John Lackey’s 2015 salary at the major league minimum if they were running the Red Sox. Three said no, that Lackey had agreed to play for the minimum in a sixth year if he lost a year to Tommy John surgery. The consensus was Lackey would be even more motivated to have a big year if he was playing for another big contract.
- The Phillies didn’t have any suitors for Jonathan Papelbon over the offseason, but now that he’s pitched through some difficulty he may have a market. The Phillies may not get a whole lot for him, however.
Free Agent Notes: Burres, Carbonell, Coffey, Feliciano
Three clubs were willing to offer major league deals to Kyle Farnsworth, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Farnsworth chose the Astros in part because he could see high leverage chances and due to his relationship with manager Bo Porter. Here are some notes on a few other players who are still looking for their next professional opportunity:
- Brian Burres, who has been throwing well this year in the independent Atlantic League, has recently received interest from a few clubs, MLBTR has learned. The 33-year-old southpaw carries a 1.80 ERA through 20 innings, striking out 6.3 and walking 1.8 batters per nine. Burress has 358 1/3 MLB innings under his belt; he last saw MLB time in 2011 with the Pirates.
- The Yankees and Mariners are two of the five finalists to sign Cuban outfielder Daniel Carbonell, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. The Twins attended Carbonell’s most recent showcase, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, and are “monitoring” him. Carbonell, 23, was declared a free agent back in April.
- The Phillies are in on Todd Coffey, a source tells Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish (via Twitter). The Orioles, meanwhile, are likely out on Coffey after signing Heath Bell (link). Coffey has multiple offers in hand and could decide soon, according to sources.
- Lefty Pedro Feliciano is getting a hard look from the Cardinals, according to Steve Nations of KSDK Sports. Feliciano threw live BP to Cards minor leaguers yesterday, and will appear in a simulated game today in hopes of convincing the St. Louis brass to give him a minor league deal. The 37-year-old has seen time in nine MLB campaigns, returning to the bigs for 25 appearances (but just 11 1/3 innings) with the Mets last year, putting up a 3.97 ERA. His career mark stands at 3.33 earned per nine over 383 2/3 frames.
Quick Hits: TJ, Martinez, Dodgers, Cubs, Amateur
Pitching injuries are the big topic around the league, so let’s catch up on some of the latest commentary. Writing for GammonsDaily.com, Neil Weinberg offers a hypothesis (which, as he notes, may not really be testable) on the seeming Tommy John epidemic: what if the reason that more high-end professional pitchers are experiencing UCL tears is simply because better management at younger ages has actually prevented them from blowing their arms out at an earlier age? Meanwhile, pointing to the contractual effects of the injury bug, a GM tells Peter Gammons (Twitter link) that, “with all these injuries, I think pitchers will be reluctant to turn down extensions.” At Fangraphs, Wendy Thurm explores the costs to pitchers who lose time to TJ recovery, providing a bevy of salary information on past and current pitchers who have experienced the career-saving procedure.
Here are more notes from around the game:
- One player coming off of surger (on his shoulder) is righty Cristhian Martinez, who Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com says (Twitter link) is expected to throw for teams by the end of May. The 31-year-old, who was non-tendered by the Braves, was good for a 3.63 ERA in 151 1/3 innings over 2011-12.
- The Dodgers need to make some moves if they want to get back on trajectory, opines Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. While the team is among the most well-rounded in baseball, that does not mean it is without its faults; one scout tells Castrovince that “the bench is awful, the bullpen is fringy at best, maybe below average, and there’s no situational hitting.” Though Castrovince says that the stats don’t really bear out the latter concern, he says the team should take the much-discussed step of shipping out one of its highly-paid outfielders.
- Trading away players is an expectation for the Cubs, of course, and Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com discusses the team’s most likely pieces (after ace Jeff Samardzija). Though Jason Hammel just suffered his worst start of the year, Rogers says he still looks to be on track to bring back a strong prospect return. Nate Schierholtz and Jose Veras still look like trade chips to Rogers, though both will need to improve rather substantially to maximize their trade value to their current club.
- The latest amateur draft mocks are out, with MLB.com offering a first-round projection and Baseball America putting out its second version. The BA staff now sees a shake-up in the early portion: their board has the Marlins going with catcher/outfielder Alex Jackson at second overall, the Cubs choosing lefty collegiate Kyle Freeland in the fourth slot, and big-armed high schooler Tyler Kolek falling to the Phillies at number seven. Both MLB.com and BA like the Jays to take N.C. State shortstop Trea Turner and prep righty Touki Toussaint. Meanwhile, the Twins have interest in Jackson with their fifth-overall pick — if he lasts that long — tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, though he notes that there is still no consensus as to whether he can stick behind the dish.
- Turning to the international market, there has of course been much discussion over whether — and, if so, how — a draft might be implemented. Writing for the Hardball Times, Alex Remington argues against a draft. Among his reasons are the concern that less young international players would have a chance to play professionally; various deleterious consequences that could occur in Latin America (without solving the issues that currently persist); and that implementation could pose a “logistical nightmare.”
Phillies Notes: Pettibone, Gonzalez, Pen, Prospects, Revere
The Phillies currently sit at four games under .500. While that leaves them just 4.5 games back in the NL East heading into the day’s action, the team is carrying a -34 run differential (third-worst in baseball) and falls among the bottom five clubs in the game in hitting, pitching, and defense by measure of fWAR. Here are a few notes out of Philadelphia:
- The club received some bad news on the injury front today. Righty Jonathan Pettibone, who was expected to be an important part of the rotation mix this year and in the future, has been placed on the minor league DL and will visit Dr. James Andrews to explore the possibility of surgery on his ailing right shoulder, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. After entering 2013 rated fourth by Baseball America among the organization’s prospects, Pettibone delivered 18 solid starts of 4.04 ERA ball. But he was shut down with shoulder troubles, and managed only two MLB starts this year (allowing nine earned in just nine innings).
- In more positive news, international free agent signee Miguel Gonzalez has begun working through the low minors and is throwing in the low-to-mid 90s. “His control was a little off, but it sounds like he’s healthy,” said manager Ryne Sandberg. “He must be healthy if he’s throwing that hard. Now it’s just about getting his games in.”
- The Phillies’ bullpen was an area that many thought could have used additional help, and the club has paid the price for failing to make any moves. Zolecki writes that the club’s talent evaluators believed they had the necessary pieces in place. “Looking back doesn’t do us all that much good,” said Amaro. “What we have to do is find either internal solutions to improve or just hope that the guys start to do their thing.”
- One tantalizing option for relief help — young fireballer Ken Giles — will not be aggressively promoted, Amaro said, while also indicating that the same holds true for top prospect Maikel Franco. “We’re not going to force them because some other guys aren’t performing,” said Amaro. “They can’t be saviors for us. They might be able to help us at some point, but when they’re ready, when they have forced our hand to do it, they’ll come.”
- The cost to acquire center fielder Ben Revere still looks low in retrospect, argues Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com, with Vance Worley falling apart and Trevor May still not quite matching results to his talent for the Twins. (I would push back somewhat on the characterization of May, who is a fairly valuable asset that could have been an important piece this year in Philly. Baseball America ranked him 8th in a deep group of Minnesota prospects, and he has 10.5 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in his first seven starts at the Triple-A level.) But while the deal seems okay in terms of value, says Seidman, that does not mean that it delivered a starter to Philadelphia. With middling defense, non-existent power, and lagging on-base numbers, Seidman argues that Revere is entering his prime years playing like a late-career Juan Pierre. Needless to say, the club would face yet more questions if Revere is not the answer in center for the next several years.
- GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said that some of the club’s difficulties to start the year can be attributed to “part of the growing pains you have with young players,” Revere among them, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports. Though that comment strikes an unmistakably ironic chord for the veteran-laden Phils, Zolecki points out that the team’s aging, big-dollar stars are actually playing quite well on the whole, while its younger assets are scuffling. That is indeed the case — as the team’s fWAR hitter and pitcher leaderboards show, the team has thus far received a positive net contribution from just one player who has yet to turn 30 (Jake Diekman). It appears that the warning in my review of the Phillies’ offseason could be coming to pass; as I wrote then, even if the team gets production from all of its elder statesmen, the rest of the roster may not be good enough to support a legitimate post-season run. It is not as if injuries are to blame. With Darin Ruf returning from injury, there is little argument that the Philles are at “full strength” in terms of available personnel, notes Justin Klugh of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Jayson Nix Outrighted By Phillies, Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Nix has elected free agency, the club announced.
YESTERDAY: The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted infielder Jayson Nix off the 25-man and 40-man roster. Nix will have 72 hours to accept or his assignment to Triple-A Lehigh Valley or elect free agency. A corresponding roster move will be made before tomorrow’s game, according to the Phillies.
The 31-year-old Nix appeared in 18 games for the Phillies this season, batting just .154/.214/.231 while appearing at third base, shortstop and second base. Nix appeared at the Major League level in the 2009-13 seasons with the White Sox, Indians, Blue Jays and Yankees, batting .223/.293/.367 and posting a pair of double-digit homer seasons along the way. He’s never been able to carve out a role as a regular, but he does have some pop in his bat and speed on the basepaths to go along with his defensive versatility.
He is the second Nix to wear a Phillies uniform in the past year, as his brother, Laynce, was with the Phils from 2012-13, though Laynce was released last August near the end of his two-year, $2.5MM contract.