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Aaron Altherr

Mets Activate Robinson Cano From IL, Designate Aaron Altherr

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The Mets have activated second baseman Robinson Cano from the 10-day injured list, according to multiple reports.  In a corresponding move, the Mets have designated outfielder Aaron Altherr for assignment.

A quad strain went Cano to the IL on May 23, so he’ll miss only a bit of time beyond the 10-day minimum.  The veteran was acquired with great fanfare in a blockbuster trade with the Mariners during the offseason, though Cano has yet to take off in a Mets uniform.  The 36-year-old has hit just .241/.287/.371 (on pace for his lowest career totals in all three slash-line categories) over 181 PA this season.

Despite the struggles, Cano will resume his regular spot at second base within a Mets lineup that is slowly starting to make its way back to full health.  Though the team is still short in the outfield with the absence of Brandon Nimmo, the returning Jeff McNeil and converted first baseman Dominic Smith should factor into the outfield picture, with J.D. Davis also on hand, the Carlos Gomez/Juan Lagares pairing in center field, and Michael Conforto holding down everyday duty in right field.

All of these names made Altherr an expendable piece, less than two weeks after the Mets claimed the 28-year-old off waivers from the Giants.  This is now the third time Altherr has been DFA’ed in a little over a month’s time, after going from the Phillies to the Giants on another waiver claim.  The constant roster shuffles certainly haven’t helped Altherr’s performance, as he has only an .050/.095/.150 slash over 42 combined plate appearances for Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York this season.

This is the second consecutive year that Altherr has struggles, though the flashes of breakout potential he showed with the Phils in 2015 and 2017 could be enough to earn him a look on another roster.  Altherr is out of options, so he’d have to pass through the DFA period unclaimed for the Mets to keep him at Triple-A.

Mets Claim Aaron Altherr, Designate Tim Peterson For Assignment

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The Mets announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder Aaron Altherr off waivers from the Giants and designated right-hander Tim Peterson for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Altherr, who is out of minor league options, will be added directly to the Mets’ roster after today’s game. He’ll step into a depleted outfield mix that is currently without Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo or Jeff McNeil, each of whom is on the injured list.

Altherr, 28, has spent the majority of his career with the division-rival Phillies, but Philadelphia ultimately had to designate him for assignment earlier this month due to a lack of playing time and his lack of options. He briefly landed with the Giants and appeared in all of one game with one plate appearance before his second DFA of the season. Given that the Mets have a whole outfield on the IL at the moment but none of the three is seriously injured, it’s possible that Altherr’s stay with his new organization will also be brief (though it’ll surely be longer than his Giants tenure).

Altherr has had an up-and-down career with the Phillies, showing great promise on multiple occasions but also battling frequent injuries that, at times, hampered his ability at the plate. He hit .241/.338/.489 through 161 plate appearances as a rookie in 2015 and .272/.340/.516 in 412 plate appearances in 2017. Altherr, however, posted miserable seasons at the plate in both 2016 (.587 OPS, 59 OPS+) and 2018 (.628, 68 OPS+), and he’s off to a 1-for-30 start so far in 2019. He possess an enticing blend of power and speed, but he’s also prone to strikeouts and prolonged slumps at the plate.

Peterson, also 28, has a 5.56 ERA and a 28-to-11 K/BB ratio through 34 MLB innings — 6 1/3 of which came earlier this season. An extreme fly-ball pitcher who doesn’t throw especially hard, Peterson hasn’t missed many bats at the MLB level but has a 3.90 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 60 innings at the Triple-A level. He currently has a 2.89 ERA and a 16-to-2 K/BB ratio in 18 2/3 innings with the Mets’ affiliate in Syracuse. He’s a pure reliever who also has a minor league option remaining beyond the 2019 season, so it’s possible another club could view him as some optionable bullpen candidate.

Giants Designate Aaron Altherr

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The Giants have designated outfielder Aaron Altherr for assignment and activated left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the 10-day injured list, Maria Guardado of MLB.com was among those to report.

This is the second time this month that a team has booted Altherr from its 40-man roster. The Phillies did it previously when they designated Altherr on May 4, leading the Giants to claim him off waivers last weekend. Even though San Francisco’s outfield has been a mess this season, the club didn’t give Altherr much of an opportunity, allowing the 28-year-old just one at-bat before cutting him.

In fairness to the Giants, Altherr hasn’t exactly made a case for a big league roster spot over the past couple years. Altherr was a solid offensive producer in Philadelphia in 2017, when he hit .272/.340/.516 (121 wRC+) with 19 home runs in 412 plate appearances, but he has only batted .165/.272/.304 with eight long balls across 316 PA since then. Altherr’s 60 wRC+ is tied for eighth worst among hitters who have amassed at least 300 trips to the plate dating back to last season.

NL West Notes: Giants, Altherr, Anderson, Cordero, Jankowski

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Yesterday’s news that Derek Holland was being moved to the Giants bullpen came with some eyebrow-raising comments from the left-hander, who was critical of the front office’s decision and claimed that his April 29 injured list placement due to a bruised index finger was a “fake injury.”  Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Saturday that Holland’s injury was legitimate, and further discussed the matter today with reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group).  “I think every organization would like to create an environment where guys feel comfortable talking about their concerns in-house,” Zaidi said.  “To the extent guys don’t feel comfortable, that’s on me. Maybe I haven’t been around as much as I should be.”  The entire situation, Zaidi intimated, could be due to the shared displeasure between the front office and the players over the Giants’ lackluster start to the season: “If we’re 23-16, I don’t think we’d be sitting in this room right now. I understand it. I’m as frustrated as anybody. But again, I want us to have a culture of accountability where people are looking in the mirror and asking what they can do better.”

More from around the NL West…

  • The Giants claimed Aaron Altherr from the Phillies yesterday, though the outfielder has been on San Francisco’s radar for a while.  According to NBC Sports.com’s Alex Pavlovic, the Giants first asked the Phils about Altherr two months ago, when Bryce Harper’s arrival created a surplus in the Philadelphia outfield.  Giants skipper Bruce Bochy said Altherr’s arrival won’t impact Mac Williamson’s status as the team’s regular left fielder, as Williamson will be given an extended look as an everyday player.  Altherr, meanwhile, “be eased in,” Pavlovic writes, both because Altherr hasn’t played much in recent weeks and because Altherr has struggled since the start of the 2018 season.
  • Rockies southpaw Tyler Anderson will have his bothersome left knee examined by a specialist on Monday, manager Bud Black told the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler and other media.  Anderson missed two weeks in April due to knee inflammation, and he been hit hard in five starts this season (an 11.76 ERA over 20 2/3 IP).  He was optioned to Triple-A in the wake of another rough outing on May 3, though Anderson hasn’t since pitched.  Anderson emerged as a solid, if unspectacular, innings-eater for Colorado last season, with a 4.55 ERA and league-high 30 homers over 176 frames.
  • In other injury updates, Franchy Cordero and Travis Jankowski aren’t expected to return to the Padres’ active roster anytime soon, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  Cordero has begun to hit in the batting cage, though “the work is limited” as Cordero continues to recover from an elbow sprain that has kept him on the IL since April 9.  Jankowski has yet to play this season after breaking his right wrist in early March, and the injury “is not healing as fast as anticipated.”  Jankowski was originally estimated for a three-month IL stint, though it doesn’t seem as though he’ll meet that timeline.

Giants Claim Aaron Altherr

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2:30pm: Righty Andrew Moore has been designated to make room for Altherr on the 40-man. The outfielder is out of options, so a corresponding demotion will also be in order.

12:44pm: Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Giants have claimed OF Aaron Altherr. Altherr, 28, was designated for assignment by Philadelphia last Saturday.

It’s the latest in a months-long flurry of outfield moves for SF, which remains on a desperate quest to find anything approaching quality production from all three spots. Michael Reed, Connor Joe, Gerardo Parra, and (in a part-time role) Yangervis Solarte have all come and gone just six weeks into the season, while April acquisition Kevin Pillar has been a near automatic out over his first 125 plate appearances with the club.

28-year-old Mac Williamson has reportedly been promised regular action in left field, though neither he nor center fielder-turned-right fielder Steven Duggar have done much to warrant anything of the sort. Perhaps Altherr fits as a platoon option with Duggar and occasional fill-in for Pillar and Williamson, though any whiff of a hot streak may place him firmly in the lineup for good.

Altherr has been dreadful since the beginning of the 2018 season, with a 30 plate-appearance, .034/.067/.069 ’19 mark on the back of a 75 wRC+ mark from the season prior. Still, his offensive track record far outstrips those of any of his new outfield mates, and perhaps regular playing time will be just the elixir his struggling bat needs.

Phillies Designate Aaron Altherr For Assignment

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Per a team release, the Phillies have designated OF Aaron Altherr for assignment after activating OF Odubel Herrera from the 10-Day IL.

Altherr, 28, has shown promise since his 2015 debut, most notably slugging .516 en route to a stellar 121 wRC+ across 418 plate appearances in 2017, but has too often been dogged been inconsistency and a climbing strikeout rate. In 285 PAs for the club last season, Altherr slashed a meager .181/.295/.333 (75 wRC+) and didn’t bring much back on defense, where a -2.6 UZR in 427 right-field innings resulted in an ugly -0.4 fWAR.

Though he accrued just 30 plate appearances in his short time with the Phillies this season, the trajectory wasn’t encouraging: Altherr had already managed to worsen his hideous fWAR mark from the season prior, and hadn’t showed even a glimpse of the career-best plate discipline he’d flashed in ’18.

This’ll likely be the end of the line for Altherr in Philadelphia – 28-year-olds with the ability to play center field and multiple 120 wRC+ or better seasons (albeit in limited action) under their belt aren’t often designated, and he’d seem to represent a clear outfield upgrade for at least a handful of teams. The Indians, with a league-worst 69 wRC+ and a cast of scattered disappointments in the outfield, may already be hot on the trail.

Phillies’ Roman Quinn Out “At Least Several Weeks”

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The Phillies will be without fleet-footed outfielder Roman Quinn for “at least several weeks” after an MRI revealed a Grade 2 groin strain, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters Thursday (link via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia). He’s joined Odubel Herrera on the injured list, leaving the Phillies without their top two options in center field.

With Quinn and Herrera on the shelf, Aaron Altherr becomes Philadelphia’s top option in center field. It wasn’t long ago that the out-of-options Altherr looked like a potential roster casualty, but the Phils are now short on alternative options to man center field. Journeymen Lane Adams and Shane Robinson are currently on the roster in Triple-A; former first-rounders Mickey Moniak and Adam Haseley are in Double-A but lack experience and success in the upper minors.

Injuries have begun to pile up in Philadelphia, where they’ve not only lost their top two center fielders but their top two options at shortstop. Both Jean Segura and Scott Kingery are on the injured list with the same injury as Herrera (a strained hamstring), which forced the Phils to select the contract of veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez earlier this week. He’s currently paired up with fellow veteran bench bat Phil Gosselin in being tasked with shortstop duties for the banged-up Philadelphia club.

For the time being, Quinn’s injury prevents the Phillies from having to make a determination on how to proceed with an outfield mix that has more bodies than available at-bats when at full strength. A healthy Phillies outfield would feature Andrew McCutchen in left, Herrera in center and Bryce Harper in right field, with Quinn, Altherr and Nick Williams on hand as reserve options. Of the reserve trio, only Quinn and Altherr are viable options in center field, but both players are also out of minor league options, which would seemingly present the Phillies with a 40-man roster call to make. That, however, won’t be the case unless the Phils can get all of their outfielders healthy at the same time.

For now, the Phils will apparently hope that Altherr can bounce back from an awful start at the plate. He has just one hit and one walk through his first 27 trips to the plate — a dismal beginning to what he hoped could be a rebound campaign following a .181/.295/.333 slash in 285 plate appearances last season. Recent struggles aside, Altherr isn’t that far removed from a terrific .272/.340/.516 batting line and 19 home runs back in 2017.

NL East Notes: Phillies’ Outfield, Keuchel, Granderson

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The Phillies will soon face a decision with regard to their outfield when Roman Quinn returns from the injured list, writes Matt Breen of Philly.com. Quinn, who played nine innings in a rehab game yesterday, is out of minor league options and will need to be added to the active roster. Given his speed and ability to play all three outfield slots, the organization will retain the soon-to-be 26-year-old. That means either optioning Nick Williams to Triple-A Lehigh Valley or designating fellow out-of-options outfielder Aaron Altherr for assignment. Parting ways with Altherr is the “most likely scenario,” per Breen, though the organization seemingly would prefer to find a way to keep him. As Breen further notes, losing Altherr on waivers and the seeing Quinn go down with another injury would leave the Phils without a backup center fielder on the 40-man roster. Between non-roster journeyman Lane Adams starting the season in Triple-A for the Phils and the number of outfielders designated by other organizations over the course of a season, though, a short-term injury to Quinn could probably be patched over.

Some more from the division…

  • The Mets have continued to keep tabs on Dallas Keuchel’s market, SNY’s Andy Martino writes, though at this point it’s still more due diligence than anything else. Fifth starter Jason Vargas still has supporters within the organization, and any move to add a starter would require pushing him out of the rotation and possibly off the roster in the second season of a two-year, $16MM deal. Vargas posted a 4.50 ERA with a more solid 15-to-6 K/BB ratio in 18 spring innings. He allowed a pair of runs on eight hits and a walk with just two strikeouts across five innings in his season debut earlier this week.
  • It hasn’t taken long for young Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson to look to veteran Curtis Granderson as a mentor, as David Wilson of the Miami Herald explains. Coming out of Spring Training, Brinson requested that his locker in the Marlins’ clubhouse be adjacent to Granderson, and the two have quickly formed a bond. “I pick Curtis’ brain,” says Brinson. “I asked if I could be next to him in the locker room just so if I have a question on anything that crosses my mind, I can ask him and if he has anything to ask me, if he wants to go over anything with me we’re right next to each other.” The 38-year-old Granderson is among the game’s most respected and popular players, and beyond the fact that he remains a productive bat against right-handed pitching, the Marlins surely saw appeal in adding this exact type of leadership to a young, developing club when signing him.

Injury/Rehab Notes: Kershaw, Jeffress, Nelson, Darvish, Phillies

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It’s been a fait accompli for weeks now, but Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts made it official today that Clayton Kershaw will open the season on the injured list (link via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times). Kershaw has been slowed by inflammation in his left shoulder for much of the spring and has not been pitching in Cactus League games recently. He’ll face live hitters tomorrow, per Castillo. There’s no indication at present that Kershaw will miss a substantial portion of the upcoming season. Castillo, in fact, notes that Kershaw won’t pitch in the upcoming series of exhibition games against the Angels, beginning on Sunday, because withholding him will allow the Dodgers to back-date his IL placement by the maximum three days (thus creating the possibility of an earlier return). It’s been a month since Kershaw has thrown in a game setting, though, so there’s still some work to be done in terms of getting him back up to speed.

A few more updates on some notable injury situations…

  • Both Jeremy Jeffress and Jimmy Nelson will open the season on the injured list, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed today (Twitter links, with video, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt). The concern regarding each player appears to be relatively mild, as Stearns even emphasized that Jeffress isn’t so much hurt as he is dealing with weakness in his shoulder while trying to build up strength. Stearns declined to place a definitive timeline on either pitcher but indicated that it’s plausible that Jeffress could return to the team before the end of April. Nelson, meanwhile, will jump right into rehab games for Triple-A San Antonio to open the season, and he’ll be further evaluated after his first couple of starts.
  • Cubs fans braced for bad news when trainers visited Yu Darvish on the mound today and the righty exited the game, however the ailment in question proved to be minor. The Cubs announced that Darvish exited the game with a blister, and Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the right-hander doesn’t even expect to miss a start. Darvish cut the blister open while throwing a breaking ball on what proved to be his final pitch of the afternoon.
  • Phillies right-hander Tommy Hunter and outfield hopeful Roman Quinn are expected to open the 2019 season on the injured list, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. Hunter has been slowed by a flexor strain this spring, while Quinn is sidelined for now due to an oblique strain. Quinn’s placement on the IL buys the Phillies a little bit of time in determining how to sort out their outfield picture. With Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen locked into the corners, the Phillies have four remaining outfielders — Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr and Quinn — with minimal at-bats to go around. That situation is complicated further by the fact that Altherr and Quinn are both out of minor league options. Something will have to give eventually, but until Quinn is up to full strength, the Phillies can continue to keep him and Altherr both in the organization.

NL East Notes: Phillies’ Outfield, Mets’ Bullpen, Solis, Lopez

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Offseason additions of Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen have left the Phillies with an overcrowded outfield mix that will likely lead to some roster shuffling. As The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro examines at length (subscription required), the Phils now have five outfielders — Odubel Herrera, Roman Quinn, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr and Dylan Cozens — all on the 40-man roster beyond their two big-name pickups. Both Herrera and Quinn are currently nursing minor injuries, but they’re also the two most logical options for center field. Williams, meanwhile, isn’t viewed as an option in center, per manager Gabe Kapler, which severely clouds his future with the team. Williams does have minor league options remaining, but he could also hold appeal as a trade asset marketed to other clubs in search of outfield help. (The same could be true of Herrera, but he’s owed $24.5MM through 2021 and had a down season in 2018.) Of the Phillies’ current outfielders, both Altherr and Quinn are out of minor league options, which only enhances the likelihood of some roster moves in the next couple of weeks.

Elsewhere in the division…

  • Because of the numerous off-days baked into the early-season schedule, the Mets are likelier to open the season with seven relievers than they are with eight, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, Justin Wilson, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo are locks to hold down five of those spots, and Puma adds that non-roster lefties Luis Avilan and Hector Santiago are strong candidates to claim the other two slots. Both veterans signed minor league contracts with invites to Spring Training, and both have thrown quite well to open camp. That’d give manager Mickey Callaway three lefties to utilize out of the ’pen early in the season, although it wouldn’t leave the team with too much in the way of roster flexibility. With so many veteran relievers on board, the only three pitchers of that bunch who could technically be optioned to the minors would be Lugo, Gsellman and Diaz — none of whom would figure to be sent down to the minors at any point. If the Mets do eventually shift to carrying eight relievers, they’d be able to use that final ’pen slot to shuffle some fresh arms back and forth between the Majors and Triple-A Syracuse.
  • Left-hander Sammy Solis was caught “completely off guard” by the Nationals’ decision to release him, the pitcher tells Richard Justice of MLB.com. Solid seemingly took the abrupt and unexpected news in good stride, thanking the organization and expressing some disappointment over having to say goodbye to longtime teammates. As manager Dave Martinez explains, the move was made with an eye toward giving Solis a chance to find another organization before the season begins. “For me, it was more about giving Sammy an opportunity to latch on with another team and get a chance to have that Spring Training elsewhere,” said Martinez. The Nats also shed $713K in salary with the move, which surely played a factor as well. The 30-year-old Solid has had a pair of unsightly seasons over the past two years, including a 2017 campaign that was shortened by elbow troubles. He maintains that he’s healthy now, though, and one would imagine that a lefty who averaged nearly 94 mph on his fastball to go along with a 12.9 percent swinging-strike rate in 2018 will garner interest — even if only on a minor league contract.
  • Right-hander Pablo Lopez is making a strong case to open the season in the Marlins’ rotation, but manager Don Mattingly said this weekend that no decisions have been made as to who’ll round out the rotation behind Jose Urena and Dan Straily, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Lopez tossed four perfect innings and picked up four punchouts in his most recent outing against a Nationals lineup featuring many regulars. He’s now allowed just one run on three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in nine spring frames. Wei-Yin Chen’s contract — he’s owed $42MM over the next two seasons — makes him a likely candidate to get a long look, while other rotation hopefuls include Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Richards and southpaw Caleb Smith.
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