Pirates Place Anthony Alford On 45-Day Injured List
TODAY: Alford underwent elbow surgery yesterday, the Pirates announced, and the outfielder “is projected to participate in full baseball activities in spring training 2021.”
SEPTEMBER 6: Alford’s season is indeed over, as the Pirates announced they have placed him on the 45-day injured list. Outfielder Jason Martin is up from the alternate training site to replace him on the active roster.
SEPTEMBER 5: Pirates outfielder Anthony Alford fractured his right elbow during tonight’s game, the team announced. Alford suffered the injury during the third inning after crashing into the wall in pursuit of a Tucker Barnhart home run ball.
While the severity of the injury has yet to be revealed, it certainly would seem that Alford’s 2020 season has come to an end. The 26-year-old only recently joined the Pirates after being claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays, with Saturday’s contest with the Reds marking Alford’s fifth game in the black and gold. The early returns from the change of scenery were promising, as Alford had three hits (including a home run) and a walk over his first 13 plate appearances as a Pirate.
The elbow fracture is the latest in a series of injuries that have hampered Alford’s career and kept him from establishing himself as a Major League regular. A highly-regarded prospect while in the Jays’ farm system, Alford hit a modest .265/.358/.393 over 2098 career plate appearances in the minors, then a .454 OPS over 75 PA for Toronto at the big league level from 2017-20. The Blue Jays designated Alford for assignment in August, and Pittsburgh made the claim to give Alford a look as the Bucs continue to build for the future.
Orioles Claim Carson Fulmer
The Orioles have claimed right-hander Carson Fulmer off waivers from the Pirates, the team announced. The Fulmer move was one of a series of transactions made this afternoon by the O’s, who also called up righty David Hess from their alternate training site, sent right-hander Evan Phillips to the alternate site, and added infield prospect Rylan Bannon to the 60-man player pool. This is all in addition to the most notable news of the day for the club, as breakout star Anthony Santander is headed to the injured list with a potentially season-ending injury.
Fulmer will be joining his fourth organization in less than two months, as the 26-year-old has already been a waiver claim for both the Pirates and Tigers since being originally designated for assignment by the White Sox back on July 23. Fulmer is out of options, which is why teams have been unable to just send him to their alternate training sites without another club pouncing on the right-hander on the waiver wire. Within this whirlwind of movement, Fulmer has amassed 6 2/3 innings pitched this season, all with Detroit, with a 6.75 ERA.
The eighth overall pick of the 2015 draft, Fulmer has yet to live up to expectations in the majors, with a career 6.57 ERA, 1.34 K/BB rate, and 8.0 K/9 over 101 1/3 career IP with the Tigers and White Sox. Given his prospect pedigree and relatively young age, it isn’t hard to see why the Orioles (and other clubs) have been interested in taking a look at Fulmer as a potential post-hype breakout player.
Bannon, 24, was an eight-round pick for the Orioles in the 2017 draft. A product of Xavier University, Bannon has a .280/.375/.481 slash line and 43 home runs over 1234 career minor league plate appearances, which included 90 PA and 20 games with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate in 2019. It remains to be seen if the O’s have Bannon in mind for a September call-up, though he will provide depth as both a second baseman and third baseman if he does make his MLB debut this year.
Recent Player Pool Additions: Tigers, Rangers, Rays, Pirates, Phillies
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+.
Pirates Designate Carson Fulmer For Assignment
The Pirates announced that they have designated right-hander Carson Fulmer for assignment. The club also reinstated righty Joe Musgrove from the injured list, reinstated outfielder Bryan Reynolds from the paternity list and optioned infielder/outfielder Jose Osuna.
The Pirates are already the third team since July for Fulmer, who has gone from Chicago to Detroit to Pittsburgh in the past month-plus. Fulmer was once a highly regarded prospect, but it hasn’t translated to success in the majors for the 26-year-old, who owns a 6.57 ERA/6.33 FIP across 101 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Tigers. He hasn’t appeared in a big league game with the Pirates, who claimed him from the Tigers on Aug. 24, and could soon leave the organization. Fulmer’s out of options, though, so it’s possible no other team will take a chance on him.
Musgrove, out since Aug. 11 with right triceps inflammation, is scheduled to start for the Pirates against the Cubs on Wednesday. Musgrove started 2020 poorly before his IL placement (6.75 ERA/6.83 FIP in 14 2/3 innings), but he was a capable starter for the Pirates from 2018-19 and could boost his trade value heading into the offseason with a strong finish. Musgrove nearly went from Pittsburgh to Toronto before Monday’s trade deadline, but the two sides couldn’t come together on a deal.
Socrates Brito Reportedly Opts Out Of Season
6:04pm: Brito hasn’t officially made a decision yet, the Pirates announced (via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The Pirates did note there’s a “possibility” Brito will opt out.
5:38pm: Pirates outfielder Socrates Brito has opted out of the season, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. Brito made the decision after his brother passed away of COVID-19.
This isn’t the first time the coronavirus has affected Brito, who tested positive for the illness in early July. Brito was able to return to the Pirates shortly after, though, and the hope is that the 27-year-old will be able to get back on a major league diamond next season. The former Diamondback and Blue Jay, who joined the Pirates on a minor league contract last winter, has seen action in four big league seasons since he debuted in 2015. He didn’t make any appearances with the Pirates this year.
Pittsburgh has now seen two of its players opt out of the season. Righty Hector Noesi previously decided not to play this year because of family concerns.
Pirates Promote Ke’Bryan Hayes
TODAY: The Pirates have officially called Hayes up, and also promoted recent waiver claim Anthony Alford to the active roster. Southpaw Brandon Waddell and outfielder Jason Martin were optioned to the club’s alternate training site in corresponding moves.
AUGUST 31: The Pirates will promote top third base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes before their game against the Cubs on Tuesday, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Hayes’ promotion was slowed thanks in part to a positive coronavirus test in July.
Now 23 years old, Hayes was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 32) who has established himself as a high-end major league prospect since the Pirates drafted him. In fact, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (No. 26), FanGraphs (30), MLB.com (45), Keith Law of The Athletic (46) and Baseball America (59) recently placed Hayes among the game’s 60 best farmhands. McDaniel wrote that Hayes, the son of ex-major leaguer Charlie Hayes, possesses “plus speed, a plus arm and a potential 70 glove,” and if he proves to be a capable offensive player in the majors, the package could make him a star.
So far, Hayes has not necessarily thrived against minor league pitching. He owns a .752 OPS in the minors, and in his most recent showing at the lower levels in 2019, he batted .265/.336/.415 (92 wRC+) with 10 home runs and 12 stolen bases across 480 Triple-A plate appearances. Still, his promotion makes for a rare bit of excitement in a Pittsburgh season that has largely been devoid of it.
The Pirates are a major league-worst 10-21 and have received below-average production from the third base tandem of Erik Gonzalez and JT Riddle, two players who probably won’t be part of the solution over the long haul. Hayes, on the other hand, has a chance to emerge as a franchise cornerstone for years to come. Because the Pirates are waiting until Sept. 1 to call him up, he’ll miss out on Super Two status and won’t be on track to reach free agency until after 2026.
Blue Jays, Pirates Came Close On Joe Musgrove Trade
The Blue Jays and Pirates nearly completed a trade sending righty Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh to Toronto prior to yesterday’s trade deadline, Robert Murray reports (via Twitter). That arrangement “fell apart at the eleventh hour,” however, and the Jays pivoted to acquire both Robbie Ray and Ross Stripling instead.
Musgrove, 27, was a Jays draft pick back in 2011 (No. 46 overall) and has settled in as a solid rotation piece in Pittsburgh after coming over from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade. From 2018-19, Musgrove tossed 285 2/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball with more promising secondary marks: 3.72 FIP, 8.1 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.94 HR/9, 44.9 percent ground-ball rate. He was hit hard in three starts this season, however, and was placed on the injured list early in August. He’s said to be nearing a return but remained on the IL through the deadline, which undoubtedly complicated negotiations as the two sides tried to align on value. He’s controlled through the 2022 season, so he’d have been a relatively long-term play for a Jays club that is emerging from a rebuilding effort.
While it was a busy week for the Blue Jays, deadline season came and went without much activity from the last-place Pirates, due largely to injuries and underperformance up and down the roster. Also on the injured list for the Bucs was right-hander Keone Kela, who’d surely have been moved had he not recently sustained a forearm injury. Chris Archer, too, would’ve been a near-lock to be moved had he not undergone thoracic outlet surgery prior to the season.
Over on the active roster, more established players like Josh Bell, Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco have played so poorly that the Bucs would’ve needed to sell low and likely accept middling returns. Forcing a move with a lackluster return wasn’t something GM Ben Cherington and his staff considered.
“We’d much rather hold than make trades that we’re not confident in that later come back and bite us,” Cherington tells Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Without getting into specifics, the GM acknowledged that he thought he was close to lining up on a couple deals that didn’t quite pan out in the end. Ultimately, the only player the Pirates traded was Jarrod Dyson, who went to the White Sox for $243K of international bonus pool space.
While it was a frustrating deadline for many Pirates fans, there’s still ample opportunity down the road for Cherington and his staff to reshape the club. Kela is a free agent at season’s end, and Archer’s $11MM club option seems likely to be bought out for $250K rather than exercised. Injuries torpedoed trade possibilities for that pair, but the Bucs control each of Musgrove, Bell, Frazier, Polanco, Trevor Williams, Chad Kuhl and Richard Rodriguez through at least the 2022 season. If the team does ultimately opt for a larger-scale tear down, be it this winter or next summer, they’ll still have more than one season of control over each player to market to other clubs.
As for the Jays, they didn’t get the two-plus years of Musgrove they apparently sought, but they did land two-plus years of Stripling. The 30-year-old has struggled through his past four appearances after an otherwise solid start to the year, but he has a strong track with the Dodgers, carrying a career 3.51 ERA and 3.60 FIP (387 innings) into the 2020 season. They also rolled the dice on another struggling but established NL West starter, Robbie Ray, adding him and Stripling to the already acquired Taijuan Walker — who was excellent in his Blue Jays debut over the weekend.
It’s arguable that Musgrove would’ve been a more impactful addition than Stripling and/or Ray, and it’s worth wondering whether they’d have acquired either player had the Musgrove swap come together. Regardless, the Jays are positioned quite well to return to the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season. At 18-15, they’re a game back of the second place Yankees and currently leading the Tigers by a game and a half for the No. 8 seed in the American League.
NL Central Trade Deadline Recap
With the deadline in the rearview mirror, we’ll look back at each NL Central team’s trade activity over the past month.
Chicago Cubs
- Acquired 1B/DH José Martínez from Rays for two players to be named later or cash considerations
- Acquired LHP Andrew Chafin from Diamondbacks for a player to be named later
- Acquired LHP Josh Osich from Red Sox for a player to be named later
- Acquired OF Cameron Maybin from Tigers for INF Zack Short
Cincinnati Reds
- Acquired a player to be named later from Astros for LHP Brooks Raley
- Acquired OF Mark Payton from Athletics for cash considerations
- Acquired RHP Riley O’Brien from Rays for LHP Cody Reed
- Acquired OF Brian Goodwin from Angels for LHP Packy Naughton and a player to be named later or cash considerations
- Acquired RHP Archie Bradley from Diamondbacks for INF Josh VanMeter and OF Stuart Fairchild
Milwaukee Brewers
- Acquired three players to be named later (reportedly RHP Brandon Ramey, RHP Israel Puello and RHP Juan Geraldo) from Phillies for RHP David Phelps
Pittsburgh Pirates
- Acquired RHP Tyler Bashlor from Mets for cash considerations
- Acquired LHP Austin Davis from Phillies for a player to be named later and cash considerations
- Acquired international bonus pool space from White Sox for OF Jarrod Dyson
St. Louis Cardinals
- None
NL East Notes: Phillies, Robertson, Nationals, Braves, Musgrove
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.
Mets Claim Guillermo Heredia
The Mets have claimed outfielder Guillermo Heredia off waivers from the Pirates, tweets Tim Healey of Newsday. Pittsburgh designated Heredia for assignment earlier this week when they claimed Carson Fulmer off waivers from the Tigers. Heredia has been optioned to the Mets’ alternate training site in Brooklyn.
Heredia inked a one-year deal, $1MM contract with the Pirates in the offseason but played in just eight games and took 18 plate appearances before the Bucs optioned him to their own alternate site. Because the Mets are claiming Heredia, they’ll be on the hook for the remainder of his prorated salary — a total of about $172K between now and season’s end.
Heredia has appeared in 390 Major League games, mostly with the Mariners, and posted a combined .239/.317/.339 batting line. As a solid outfield defender with a bit of speed and a career .275/.338/.400 batting line against lefties, he can be a useful bench piece when he’s at his best. The Mets just cut Juan Lagares — a player with a comparable skill set — loose earlier today when they designated him for assignment when Jake Marisnick was activated from the injured list. Unlike Heredia, however, Lagares couldn’t be optioned to the alternate site without his consent, given that he has more than five years of big league service.