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East Notes: Phillies, Quinn, Herrera, Yanks, CC, Rays, Jays, Estrada

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Thanks to the presence of rookie Roman Quinn, Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera has recently shifted from center field to right. It’s unclear whether that alignment will hold up in 2019, but manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday (via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) that he wants both players to enter next season prepared to handle center. Kapler also suggested that Herrera hasn’t been at top physical condition this season, per Zolecki, saying: “I think he can come into camp in better shape in 2019 than he came in 2018. … This is something that he and I have discussed and will continue to discuss. I think he can be in incredible physical shape. We’ve seen it from him in the past. If you look back a couple years you see a version of him that is fast, athletic, explosive and I think that’s in there and I’m excited about helping him and supporting him to bring that out.”

Going by fWAR (1.1), this has been a dud of a season for Herrera, who posted between 2.9 and 3.8 in that category from 2015-17. Perhaps Herrera will be an offseason trade candidate, then, though the Phillies would be “selling low” on him, Zolecki points out. He also notes Quinn’s history of injuries could make it all the more difficult to part with Herrera, who’s set to turn 27 in December and has four guaranteed seasons left on the five-year, $30.5MM extension he signed prior to 2017.

Here’s more from the East Coast…

  • Major League Baseball has issued a five-game suspension to Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and a three-game ban to Rays right-hander Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com was among those to report. Both players will serve their suspensions at the beginning of the 2019 season, if they’re upheld through the appeals process. Sabathia was ejected from a win over the Rays on Thursday after throwing at catcher Jesus Sucre, a retaliatory move which served as a response to Kittredge nearly hitting Yankees backstop Austin Romine in the previous half-inning. Sabathia’s ejection may have cost him a significant amount of money, considering he was cruising through five innings and was only two frames away from notching 155 for the season. Had Sabathia reached that mark, he’d have secured a $500K bonus. It’s still possible the 38-year-old will earn that money, though, with George A. King III of the New York Post noting the Yankees could use him for a couple innings Sunday in Boston in a postseason tuneup. However, Sabathia told reporters on Saturday that he’s not interested in doing that (via Erik Boland of Newsday). “Nah, man, the season’s over for me. I’m ready for the lights to come on,” he said.
  • Blue Jays righty Marco Estrada won’t make his scheduled start Sunday on account of a sore back, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, meaning the pending free agent may have thrown his last pitch as a member of the team. The 35-year-old Estrada, a Blue Jay since 2015, said he’d “love to hear from” the club again and is “comfortable” in Toronto, though he’s not sure whether the club’s interested in re-signing him. Thanks in part to the Jays’ youth movement, not to mention Estrada’s struggles this season, a parting of ways may be in order. Estrada had been a quality starter for the Jays from 2015-17, but he only managed a 5.64 ERA/5.44 FIP over 143 2/3 innings this year.

Rays Select Ryan Weber

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The Rays have selected the contract of righty Ryan Weber, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links). Tampa Bay moved fellow righty Wilmer Font to the 60-day DL to create 40-man space.

In other moves, reliever Andrew Kittredge is also coming up to the active roster. To create the two needed openings there, the Rays have placed lefty Vidal Nuno on the 10-day DL and optioned righty Austin Pruitt.

Weber, 27, was up earlier in the year but only made one appearance before being outrighted. He has been successful at Triple-A, turning in 68 2/3 innings of 2.23 ERA ball. Though his combination of 5.8 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 aren’t terribly exciting, Weber has carried a 51.8% groundball rate and functioned in a multi-inning capacity — a consideration of particular importance given the Rays’ unusual staff usage.

Quick Hits: Undrafted Free Agents, Urshela, Aledmys

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J.J. Cooper of Baseball America recently answered a question from a Twitter fan about undrafted free agents in MLB. It turns out that there were eight undrafted free agents on MLB rosters at the start of the year, and all eight of them were right-handed pitchers. Unlike football, where there are plenty of UDFA success stories, it’s exceedingly rare for a UDFA to produce significantly at the MLB level. Some outliers include Matt Shoemaker, Miguel Gonzalez, Darren O’Day and Kirby Yates. Of the UDFA’s currently in the majors on opening day, Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez (23 years old) and Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge (28) are the only players below the age of 30. There are a few more fun facts in Cooper’s piece, making it well worth a full read.

Other items of note as the Tigers and Mariners prepare for a remarkably cold double-header…

  • The Blue Jays announced earlier today that they’ve activated infielder Gio Urshela and optioned outfielder Dalton Pompey to Triple-A Buffalo. Urshela, 26, was recently acquired for cash (or a player to be named later) after the Indians designated him for assignment earlier this month; he’d been on the DL since the start of the season. While acclaimed as somewhat of a defensive wizard, Urshela carries an anemic bat and has posted a wRC+ of just 57 throughout the course of his major-league career.
  • In other Blue Jays news, shortstop Aledmys Diaz has begun throwing, says Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. He’s expected to begin hitting later this week. Diaz left last Sunday’s game after spraining his ankle, but it doesn’t appear as though the injury will keep him sidelined for much longer than the ten-day minimum at this point. Diaz was acquired from the Cardinals this offseason in exchange for outfielder J.B. Woodman; the shortstop has hit .216/.273/.431 so far with his new club.

Rays Place Jake Odorizzi On 10-Day DL

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The Rays have placed righty Jake Odorizzi on the 10-day DL, per Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). A lower-back issue is the cause for the placement.

Odorizzi says he has dealt with lower back troubles since the spring, as Mooney further reports (Twitter links). The hope is he’ll only miss a pair of outings. While the move would likely remove him from trade consideration, and he has previously been tabbed a trade candidate, that seemed unlikely anyway with the Rays firmly in contention.

Hopefully, the respite will give Odorizzi a chance to get his season back on track. While his 4.47 ERA is hardly disastrous, it’s also not what we’ve come to expect from the 27-year-old righty. While he’s maintaining a fairly typical blend of 7.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9, Odorizzi has surrendered 23 long balls in just 94 2/3 innings on the year.

That said, the injury — along with Odorizzi’s struggles — does serve to highlight the ever-present need to maintain adequate pitching depth. Tampa Bay has that in spades, so much so that it has long been speculated the organization would consider dealing from a surplus. But with Matt Andriese already out and Odorizzi now ailing, perhaps it’s less likely than ever that pending free agent Alex Cobb will be on the move.

On the other hand, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes, the Rays’ front office is still looking closely at the club’s postseason odds as it charts a course forward. Even with less than a week to go before the deadline, it seems, movement in the standings will impact the extent to which the team looks to add — or even push it toward considering a deal for Cobb.

The Rays are seemingly focused at this point on adding relief pitching as the deadline draws near. Perhaps hanging onto Cobb and the rest of the starting options will also help deepen the pen, though all indications are the Rays will look to make at least one outside addition.

To fill the roster spot created by Odorizzi’s injury, the club has recalled righty Andrew Kittredge, who has put up some intriguing numbers this year at Triple-A (in addition to making his first three MLB appearances). To fill the rotation spot, though, it seems the club could turn to Austin Pruitt; Mooney notes (via Twitter) that Pruitt was scratched from his scheduled outing last night.

Rays Designate Jumbo Diaz

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The Rays have designated reliever Jumbo Diaz for assignment, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). To take Diaz’s place, they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Andrew Kittredge from Triple-A.

In booting Diaz from their 25- and 40-man rosters, the Rays are moving on from a pitcher they’ve relied on somewhat heavily this year. The same went for Danny Farquhar, whom the Rays designated in late June and outrighted earlier this month after he racked up 35 innings from their bullpen.

Diaz tossed 30 innings before his designation, though he struggled mightily over that span. The 33-year-old flamethrower has registered a bloated ERA (5.70) and a minuscule ground-ball rate (30.7 percent), and his 4.51 FIP isn’t particularly appealing. The righty’s strikeout and walk rates aren’t horrible (8.4 K/9, 4.5 BB/9), though, and he ranks third among relievers in infield fly rate (22.5 percent). Diaz also carries a cheap salary and comes with three years of arbitration eligibility, so he could be a waiver target for another club. That’s how Diaz joined the Rays, who claimed him from Cincinnati back in March.

Regardless of where Diaz goes next, his designation seems to further increase the odds of the Rays acquiring bullpen help before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. There have been multiple reports this month connecting the team to relievers, including the Giants’ Hunter Strickland. For now, they’ll turn to the 27-year-old Kittredge, a 45th-round pick of the Mariners in 2008 who hasn’t yet pitched in the majors. The Rays acquired Kittredge from the Mariners over the winter, and he has since posted a 1.90 ERA, 9.35 K/9, 2.08 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent grounder rate through 52 innings and 30 appearances (two starts) with Durham.

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