Pirates Designate Jacob Stallings
The Pirates have designated catcher Jacob Stallings for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man roster spot was needed for southpaw Steven Brault, who was called up to start today’s game.
[Related: Updated Pirates Depth Chart]
Originally selected in the seventh round of the 2012 draft out of the University of North Carolina, Stallings has steadily climbed through the Bucs’ system but has never hit much. He appeared briefly at the major league level for the first time this year, but has played mostly at Triple-A in 2016.
Stallings’s already borderline bat hasn’t improved thus far in 2016; far from it, in fact. Over his first 180 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors,the 26-year-old owns a meager .202/.239/.327 slash line.
Pirates Place Jameson Taillon On 15-Day DL With Shoulder Fatigue
The Pirates have prized rookie right-hander Jameson Taillon on the 15-day DL due to fatigue in his throwing shoulder. Southpaw Steven Brault will start tomorrow’s game against the Cardinals in Taillon’s place, and another move will need to be made to create space for Brault on the 40-man roster.
[Related: updated Pirates depth chart at Roster Resource]
Taillon missed all of the 2014 and 2015 seasons recovering from both Tommy John surgery and a hernia operation, and he returned to dominate over 61 2/3 IP at Triple-A. That dominance (as well as some injuries to the Pirates’ rotation) led to two separate callups this season, and Taillon acquitted himself pretty well in his first taste of big league action. The 24-year-old righty had a 3.86 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 4.20 K/BB rate over 28 innings with the Pirates, and he looked in good form during his last start on June 29, holding Seattle to one run on six hits over six innings.
The Pirates were naturally going to be careful with Taillon’s innings given his long injury layoff and the fact that he’d never thrown more than 147 1/3 frames in any one pro season. This could very well be a precautionary DL stint based on Taillon showing the first hint of an issue, though obviously any type of shoulder-related DL stint is troubling given Taillon’s importance to Pittsburgh’s rotation plans in both the long and short term.
The Bucs’ pitching staff has been plagued by injuries (Taillon joins Gerrit Cole and Ryan Vogelsong on the DL) and underperformance from Francisco Liriano, Jeff Locke and Jon Niese. Chad Kuhl has already gotten the call from Triple-A to bolster the rotation, and one has to wonder if the Pirates will promote another top prospect by bringing Tyler Glasnow to the bigs. Glasnow has a 1.78 ERA and 10.6 K/9 over 96 Triple-A innings this season, though he has also posted a troubling 4.9 BB/9.
Brault was rated as the 15th-best minor leaguer in Pittsburgh’s system by the 2016 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. He was credited with having excellent command and an ability to limit homers and induce grounders, which helps counter an “ordinary” changeup and curve, and a fastball in the 89-91 mph range. Brault has a 3.34 ERA, 11.3 K/9 and 2.93 K/BB rate over 35 Triple-A innings this season.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/4/16
Here are the day’s minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted:
- The Diamondbacks have released righty Kyle Drabek. The former first-rounder, now 28, received a single appearance this year for Arizona. He owns a tough 6.68 ERA with 5.4 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 in his 68 2/3 Triple-A innings thus far in 2016.
- The Pirates have outrighted right-hander Jorge Rondon to Triple-A, per an announcement from the team’s affiliate at Indianapolis. Rondon had been designated for assignment recently. He has a 2.72 ERA over his rather extensive time at Triple-A, but has yet to show much in his brief time at the major league level.
- Outfielder Tony Campana is headed to the White Sox on a minor league deal after being released by the Nationals, per Eddy. Campana, 30, has seen MLB time in parts of four seasons, none since 2014. He owns a meager .215/.289/.230 slash in 158 Triple-A plate appearances on the year.
- The Padres released righty Johnny Hellweg, Eddy adds. The towering righty had an unsuccessful trial run in the majors back in 2013. He had struggled with his command and been hit quite hard this year in the minors for the Padres.
- After being designated recently, catcher Hector Sanchez has been outrighted by the Padres. The 26-year-old will head back to Triple-A, which is where he has spent most of his time in recent years. Sanchez does have 663 major league plate appearances over the last six seasons, with a .240/.276/.348 lifetime batting line.
- The Mariners have released Efren Navarro, a 30-year-old first baseman. Navarro was off to a .243/.316/.362 slash in his 301 plate appearances this year at Triple-A, well off of his usual productivity at the highest level of the minors.
- The recently-designated Andrew Bellatti has been outrighted by the Rays. Despite providing 23 1/3 innings of 2.31 ERA pitching last year at the major league level, the right-hander has not cracked the majors this year and had struggled in limited action at Triple-A.
- The Nationals have released infielder Scott Sizemore, also via Eddy. The 31-year-old was off to a rough start, hitting just .205/.353/.323 over his 243 plate appearances on the year. He hasn’t cracked the majors since 2014.
Trade Rumors: Hill, A’s, Royals, BoSox, Yanks, Dodgers
In his first start since May 29, Athletics left-hander Rich Hill returned from a groin injury to throw six innings of two-run, four-hit ball and rack up six strikeouts against two walks Saturday. Several playoff contenders sent representatives to observe Hill’s outing against the Pirates, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Incidentally, the Bucs were among the teams scouting him. In addition, four of the 36-year-old journeyman’s previous employers – the Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs and Yankees – as well as the Dodgers and Royals were in attendance to watch Hill, who could be the best starter dealt before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The free agent-to-be has been brilliant when healthy this year, recording a 2.31 ERA, 10.29 K/9, 49.7 percent ground-ball rate and 15.3 percent infield fly rate in 70 innings. Dating back to his four-start revival in Boston last September, the out-of-nowhere ace has put up a tremendous 2.09 ERA in 99 frames.
More of the latest pre-deadline rumors:
- Along with Hill, the Royals also have interest in Athletics right fielder Josh Reddick, according to Slusser. However, they do not wish to reunite with another A’s trade chip, third baseman Danny Valencia. Kansas City was a rumored landing spot as of last week for Valencia, who was with the Royals in 2014 and should draw plenty of attention from other teams as the deadline nears.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported Sunday that the Blue Jays have been scouting the Astros’ system, though he didn’t specify which players interested Toronto. It turns out that one prospect who intrigues the Jays is Double-A right-hander Francis Martes, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Martes would be difficult to acquire, however, given that he’s among baseball’s premier prospects. Entering the season, Baseball America placed Martes 20th overall in its rankings. In its updated list, MLB.com has the 20-year-old at No. 36. In 63 2/3 innings this season, the hard-throwing Martes has logged a 4.10 ERA, 8.48 K/9 and 4.52 BB/9.
- While Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com expects the Angels’ Matt Shoemaker to garner interest leading up to the deadline, he doesn’t envision the Halos trading controllable starting pitching depth (Twitter link). The desperate-for-starters Red Sox – who roughed up Shoemaker on Sunday – would make sense as a trade partner if the Angels do make the righty available, opines Tim Britton of the Providence Journal (via Twitter). After a terrible first month of the season and a demotion to the minors, Shoemaker rejoined the Angels in May and has performed like an elite-level ace of late – Sunday notwithstanding. During an eight-start span prior to the Angels’ trip to Fenway Park, the 29-year-old amassed 57 2/3 innings, allowed 12 earned runs and piled up 68 strikeouts against a paltry five walks. As Gonzalez alluded to when mentioning team control, Shoemaker will make his first trip through arbitration during the upcoming offseason.
Pirates Claim Eric Fryer From Cardinals, Designate Rob Scahill
3:33pm: The Pirates have announced both the Fryer claim and right-handed reliever Rob Scahill‘s designation for assignment. Scahill threw 16 1/3 innings for the Pirates this year prior to the designation and recorded a 4.41 ERA, 7.16 K/9, 3.31 BB/9 and 58 percent ground-ball rate. In 104 big league innings, the 29-year-old owns a 3.89 ERA, 6.23 K/9, 3.72 BB/9 and 52.7 percent grounder rate.
[RELATED: Updated Pirates depth chart]
1:32pm: The Pirates have claimed catcher Eric Fryer off waivers from the division-rival Cardinals, reports Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter link). The 30-year-old became available when the Redbirds designated him for assignment Tuesday, though they were hoping he’d sneak through waivers and remain in the organization.
This will be the second stint in Pittsburgh for Fryer, who was previously with the Bucs from 2010-12. He looks poised to take the place of Chris Stewart – who could head to the disabled list, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets. Stewart would then join starting backstop Francisco Cervelli as the second Bucs catcher on the DL, leaving the position to Fryer and Erik Kratz.
In parts of six major league seasons, Fryer has totaled 199 trips to the plate and hit .270/.347/.354. Forty-one of those PAs came this year in St. Louis, with which Fryer slashed an outstanding .368/.415/.421. Those numbers are vastly superior to the .237/.328/.328 line Fryer has compiled in 935 Triple-A plate appearances, so regression is clearly on the way. Defensively, Fryer has graded respectably as a pitch framer and thrown out 29 percent of base stealers during his minor league career.
NL Notes: D-backs, Braves, Bucs, Dodgers
Diamondbacks right-handed prospect Yoan Lopez left Double-A Mobile on Wednesday for the second time in as many seasons, this time with the intention of giving up the sport, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Diamondbacks have since convinced Lopez to avoid making a definitive decision on his future for the time being, per general manager Dave Stewart, who conceded that the 23-year-old is “not having a good time” and is dealing with “serious emotional issues.” Lopez signed with the D-backs for a sizable $8.27MM bonus in January 2015, but the Cuba native has since posted subpar numbers (4.89 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9) across 116 minor league innings. That could at least be thanks in part to Lopez’s traumatic experience immigrating to the United States, as Stewart pointed out: “It’s the escaping, crossing the water in a raft — or however he got here — living in Haiti and then going to the Dominican, leaving family members — it’s all of it.” As of now, Stewart and the organization are working to help Lopez get back on track.
More from the National League:
- Newly signed 16-year-old Braves prospects Kevin Maitan and Abrahan Gutierrez might not be as far from the majors as their youth suggests, general manager John Coppolella told David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think when you look at Andruw Jones hit two home runs in the World Series at age 18, both these kids are 16,” Coppolella said of Maitan and Gutierrez, who combined to sign for $7.75MM. “I’m not saying they’re going to hit two home runs in the 2018 World Series, but we think that they’re special talents that won’t take six or seven years. They could be here fairly quickly and they could have a big impact on the Braves.” Coppolella also stated that he hopes the two begin 2017 in the Gulf Coast League.
- The Pirates’ frustration with scuffling left-hander Francisco Liriano has begun to manifest itself, details John Perrotto of Today’s Knuckleball. Pitching coach Ray Searage became so irked at Liriano during a recent bullpen session that the former ended up leaving and storming back into the clubhouse, according to Perrotto. Part of Searage’s frustration stems from Liriano’s refusal to abide by the Pirates’ wish for him to pick one side of the rubber and stick with it consistently. The 32-year-old Liriano, a potential trade candidate who’s owed $13MM next season, has followed three straight stellar campaigns with an ugly 2016. So far, Liriano has logged a bloated ERA (5.33) and walk rate (5.88 per nine innings) in 82 2/3 frames, and ERA estimators like FIP (5.46), xFIP (4.75) and SIERA (4.93) are also noticeably down on his performance.
- When the Dodgers took on Dian Toscano from the Braves as part of the Bud Norris deal, the club agreed to absorb only a portion of the $3MM left on his contract, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The 27-year-old outfielder is struggling at Double-A and has not shown any signs of providing value to Atlanta. It’s not known how much of the balance will transfer to L.A.
NL Central Notes: Schwarber, Brewers, Liriano
Injured Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber probably isn’t going anywhere this summer, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein gave strong signals that he’s got little interest in seeing Schwarber return from his knee injury in another uniform. While there’s always plenty of posturing this time of year, Epstein certainly made clear that there’s a higher-than-usual barrier to a trade involving the catcher/outfielder.
Here’s more from the NL Central:
- The Brewers are winding up for what looks to be an important trade deadline, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports. Milwaukee has several notable names that rate amongst the top twenty trade candidates this summer, but few represent straightforward decisions. GM David Stearns says that “the calls have picked up over the last week to ten days,” though it’s “still largely informational.” Right now, the club is getting a feel for the teams it is looking to target in reaching agreements over the coming month. “You try to get a sense of what other clubs are doing, where you might have fits, so you can begin to do additional target work on certain target organizations,” says Stearns. “At this point, we feel well-prepared in terms of organizations we’re likely to have serious discussions with.”
- Selling was never in the plans for the Pirates, but the club increasingly looks to be in a tough spot — in no small part due to the struggles of lefty Francisco Liriano, who owns a 5.33 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 on the year. Manager Clint Hurdle tells John Perrotto of the Beaver County Times that Liriano is still failing to command the ball with consistency. “Sometimes, it’s hard to pitch when you aren’t feeling the way you’ve felt when you’ve had success,” Hurdle said. “We’re going to continue to peel back the layers and try to push through this. We’ll continue to look at video. We’ll see if we can find some answers.” We have heard at least some suggestion that there’d be interest around the league in the talented lefty, who had turned in three-straight stellar campaigns heading into 2016. But he’s owed $13MM both this year and next, and surely any acquiring team would be looking for a buy-low opportunity.
Heyman’s Latest: Yankees, Pirates, Teheran, Marlins
There appear to be different viewpoints in the Yankees front office about how to approach the deadline, Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com writes. GM Brian Cashman may actually be more inclined to sell some assets than is the ownership and upper-level management, per the report.
After a long look at that situation, Heyman goes on to provide some other notes from around the game:
- Some within the Yankees think there’s a very good chance that Aroldis Chapman will be around for the long-term, whether that comes about via extension or a re-signing over the winter. Meanwhile, a team official says the price on Andrew Miller is so high that the odds he’ll be dealt are miniscule.
- The Pirates could sell off a few short-term pieces if the club isn’t in contention come late July, but a broader sale isn’t expected. Heyman suggests Francisco Liriano, Mark Melancon, David Freese, and perhaps Tony Watson as plausible trade chips. You could probably also throw names like Matt Joyce, Sean Rodriguez, and Juan Nicasio into the mix as well.
- Julio Teheran may be pitching his way out of a trade for the Braves, says Heyman. Rival executives suggest that they see a trade as unlikely, and also gave some endorsement of his value. Heyman cites three who believe Teheran is a better trade piece than Sonny Gray of the Athletics at this stage.
- There’s plenty of demand on the starting pitching market, which is perhaps one reason to think that some arms could end up being pried loose. Heyman lists the Orioles, Red Sox, Dodgers, Tigers, Rangers, Blue Jays, Astros, Mariners, and Yankees as looking for rotation pieces.
- The Marlins are also reputed to be looking for starting pitching, with Drew Pomeranz on the wish list. But a Miami source tells Heyman that the team finds it “hard to trust Pomeranz” given his relatively thin track record.
- The Padres “at least took a look” at Jose Reyes before he signed with the Mets, per Heyman. It isn’t clear what sort of opportunity San Diego was interested in offering, but it’s not surprising to hear that the organization is looking for low-cost ways to seek value.
Central Notes: Cain, Hamilton, Melancon, Rondon
Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain left last night’s game with a hamstring injury suffered when attempting to beat out an infield single and will be further evaluated by doctors in Kansas City today, writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Manager Ned Yost said after the game that the early diagnosis is a hamstring strain, but there’s not yet an indication as to whether Cain will require a trip to the disabled list. Cain becomes the latest core player for the Royals to sustain an injury this season, as Mike Moustakas is out for the season with a torn ACL, while Alex Gordon missed more than a month due to a broken wrist (suffered in a collision that resulted in Moustakas’ ACL tear). The Royals’ loss to the Cardinals last night dropped them to six games out of the lead for the AL Central.
More from the game’s Central divisions…
- Billy Hamilton was removed from the Reds game against today after he was struck in the face by a ball off the bat of Anthony Rizzo that deflected off the glove of left fielder Adam Duvall (video link). Hamilton was down for several minutes but ultimately walked to the Reds’ bullpen with the team’s training staff but under his own power. Tyler Holt replaced Hamilton in center field, and there’s been no update from the team at this time, but one would imagine that Hamilton will undergo testing for concussion symptoms following an injury of that nature.
- Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review opines that the Pirates should make closer Mark Melancon available in trades this summer, as the club looks increasingly unlikely to fight its way back into contention. The Bucs have dropped 18 of their 26 contests in June and are currently sitting 14 back in the NL Central and 4.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot in the National League, and Melancon is a free agent at season’s end.
- I’d take Rossi’s argument a step further, though, as I feel that the Bucs should shop Melancon even if they turn things around with a strong showing in July and position themselves for a Wild Card berth. There very little chance that Pirates will take the financial risk of making Melancon a qualifying offer following the season, meaning that they presently stand to lose him for nothing if he signs elsewhere. The Pirates could turn to either Tony Watson or a resurgent Neftali Feliz to handle ninth-inning duties, and Melancon could help fetch a piece that could address another roster need in 2016 (and possibly beyond). The back of the rotation, in particular, could use some help. While moving him unquestionably thins out the bullpen, Pittsburgh will eventually need to limit Jameson Taillon‘s innings in 2016, and placing him in the bullpen for the balance of the season following a Melancon trade would accomplish just that.
- Tigers right-hander Bruce Rondon is embracing a new role in the Detroit bullpen, writes MLB.com’s Jason Beck. Rondon has been entering games mid-inning and often working more than one inning and is thriving without the label of “future closer” being associated with him for the time being. Rondon was sent home early last season due to his “effort level” and questions surrounding his maturity, but manager Brad Ausmus sees a completely different person in 2016. “He’s definitely matured since the end of last year, no question,” said Ausmus. “He seems to have a better focus. At this point, really, when he’s asked to pitch, he takes the ball, doesn’t complain. He’s been a model citizen so far.” It’s a small sample, but Rondon is averaging 98.5 mph on his fastball and has allowed just one run with a 7-to-2 K/BB ratio in seven innings since being recalled from Triple-A. Even if his stellar results don’t continue, the gains he’s made in terms of maturity seem to bode well for his future with the club.
Dodgers Claim Cole Figueroa
The Dodgers have claimed infielder Cole Figueroa off waivers from the Pirates, Los Angeles announced. He has been optioned to Triple-A.
Figueroa, who’ll turn 29 on Thursday, has appeared at second, third, and short at the major league level. He hasn’t hit much in limited action at the major league level, but has produced at a .288/.356/.376 clip in nearly 2,000 turns at the plate at Triple-A.