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Health Notes: Gray, Murphy, Flaherty, Soroka

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The Twins announced this morning that Sonny Gray has been activated from the injured list to start today’s game against the A’s, with Cole Sands optioned out in a corresponding move. Gray has been out of action since April 16, when he left a start in the second inning due to a right hamstring strain. Acquired from the Reds as the Twins’ biggest rotation pickup of the offseason, Gray has made just a pair of starts with his new club. Despite his three-week absence, Minnesota has gotten excellent production out of their starting staff thus far. Twins starters rank sixth in MLB in ERA (3.12) and eighth in strikeout/walk rate differential (17.1 percentage points). Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Archer, Chris Paddack and highly-regarded prospect Josh Winder each have an ERA of 3.26 or lower; Dylan Bundy is currently on the COVID-19 injured list, but the Twins could have an interesting call on how the rotation should be comprised once Bundy returns.

Some other injury updates around the league:

  • Mariners catcher Tom Murphy left last night’s game against the Rays after dislocating his shoulder on a tag attempt at home plate. After the game, skipper Scott Servais said Murphy will be out for a while (via Corey Brock of the Athletic). The team will presumably provide a more specific timetable in the coming days, but it’s all but certain he’ll head to the injured list before tonight’s contest. The M’s optioned Opening Day backstop Cal Raleigh to Triple-A last week, and it’s likely he’ll be recalled to pair with Luis Torrens behind the dish. Murphy had been off to an excellent start to the year, reaching base in 18 of his first 42 plate appearances.
  • Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty is set to throw a bullpen session before tonight’s game against the Giants, tweets Katie Woo of the Athletic. She notes that it’s Flaherty’s first bullpen work since he was shut down from throwing in Spring Training due to shoulder bursitis. It’s obviously a notable step in the righty’s recovery timeline, but manager Oli Marmol cautioned the club was prepared for a “pretty lengthy (rehab) progression” and still doesn’t have a target date for his return. Flaherty missed a month last season because of a shoulder strain (in addition to a longer absence on account of an oblique issue), so it’s wholly unsurprising the team is proceeding with caution. St. Louis has managed an impressive 3.15 rotation ERA — albeit with more pedestrian peripherals — in the absence of arguably their top starter.
  • Braves right-hander Mike Soroka hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch since August 2020, the result of successive Achilles ruptures that have sidetracked a fantastic start to his young career. The most recent of his surgeries occurred last June and came with an estimated year-long recovery timeline, and he opened this season on the injured list. Soroka remains on track in his rehab, he and manager Brian Snitker informed reporters yesterday (via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Mark Bowman of MLB.com). The right-hander has thrown off a mound without issue around five times, and he’s soon to begin pitcher-fielding practice. The club is still hoping he can make it back to the majors shortly after the All-Star Break, and Toscano notes they’re not considering transitioning him to relief to expedite his return.

Mariners Select Penn Murfee

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Prior to this afternoon’s game against the Rays, the Mariners selected reliever Penn Murfee onto the major league roster. Catcher Cal Raleigh was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while first baseman Evan White was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list in corresponding moves.

Murfee was selected as a COVID substitute last week when Paul Sewald went on the injured list. He stayed on the active roster for seven days but was returned to Tacoma yesterday without making an appearance. Because he’d been designated as a substitute, Murfee could be taken off the 40-man roster without being designated for assignment.

That won’t be the case this time around, as Seattle brought him back to the big league club quickly. He figures to get an opportunity to make his MLB debut this time around, although the M’s are still free to option him back to Tacoma if they’d like. Taking him off the 40-man roster again would require exposing him to waivers, though. Seattle likely wouldn’t have selected Murfee back up if they had plans on doing that, so it seems he’ll hold his 40-man spot for longer than his previous stint.

Murfee, 28 next month, has made five appearances out of the Rainier bullpen thus far in 2022. The Santa Clara product hasn’t allowed a run in eight innings, and he’s surrendered just four baserunners (two hits, a walk and a hit batter) while striking out ten. The righty punched out an impressive 28.2% of batters faced in 78 2/3 innings between Double-A Arkansas and Tacoma last season, although that came with an elevated 10.2% walk rate.

Raleigh has been part of a three-person catching group in Seattle thus far. His eight starts behind the dish lead the team, but he’d been more or less alternating games with Tom Murphy in the early going. Raleigh had reached base in just six of his first 28 plate appearances. Murphy, on the other hand, is off to a blistering 10-24 start with six walks and eight strikeouts.

Neither Murphy nor Luis Torrens, who returned from a stint on the COVID list this week, can be optioned to the minor leagues. Particularly with active rosters set to shrink from 28 to 26 next Monday, carrying three catchers could’ve been challenging over the long haul. Rather than expose either of Torrens or Murphy to waivers, it seems the M’s will turn to that duo behind the dish while getting Raleigh some more work in the minors.

The switch-hitting Raleigh has been one of Seattle’s more highly-regarded prospects in recent years. He’s yet to produce in 176 MLB plate appearances, hitting .166/.222/.294 with a sky-high 34.7% strikeout rate. The 25-year-old had a much more impressive .324/.377/.608 mark while fanning in just 12.6% of his 199 trips to the plate in Triple-A last season, though. Between his high minors performance and a general belief among prospect evaluators he’s an adequate defensive catcher, Raleigh figures to get another opportunity before too long. For now, however, his slow start and three remaining option years make him the odd man out.

White underwent sports hernia surgery during the final week in March. The team didn’t provide a timetable on his return, and he’ll now be out of action until at least the first week of June. It’s yet another setback for White, who missed most of the 2021 campaign after undergoing left hip surgery. Even when he returns to health, he figures to be optioned to Tacoma, as he’s been surpassed by the hot-hitting Ty France on the depth chart at first base.

Dipoto: Mariners Not Willing To Supplant J.P. Crawford At Shortstop

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Mariners’ president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to reporters during this week’s GM meetings, offering a lot of insight into how the team plans to operate this offseason. While Dipoto delivered coy equivocations like “It’s incumbent on us to go add where we can add and improve where we can improve,” he did draw some lines in the sand that may dictate the Mariners’ involvement in certain markets this winter.

One such line in the sand, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, was Dipoto’s proclamation that J.P. Crawford will remain the team’s starting shortstop going into next season. Dipoto had already gone on record about the team’s desire to supplement their core with versatile free agents, which notably meant surrounding building blocks like Crawford with talent instead of outright replacing them.

While it won’t register as much of a surprise that a team wants to keep its Gold Glove-capable shortstop entrenched at the position, it is notable at this point to mention which contenders may turn their nose up at the star shortstops on this year’s market. Even if the Mariners dabble in the shortstop market this summer however, Dipoto made it clear that any free agent will be asked to move off the position in deference to Crawford.

There was another line Seattle’s top decision maker has indicated his team is unwilling to cross: no trades of top prospects. “There’s no scenario where we will move the top prospects in our system, the guys who are prominent in our system” stated Dipoto, per Corey Brock of the Athletic.  Seattle has been in prospect accumulation mode for a few seasons now, launching their farm system into the number two spot on MLB Pipeline’s most recent league wide ranking. It’s hard to fault the famously trade-happy Dipoto for taking a more measured approach with his prospect capital this offseason— after all, top prospects like Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby can save the team millions of dollars if they prove Major League-ready next year.

As far as free agents are concerned, Dipoto expects to be more engaged in that part of the player-accumulation process than he has in the past. Brock recites some previously speculated free agent targets that fit the versatile player mold Seattle is aiming for, like Kris Bryant and Marcus Semien, while also throwing less heralded utility man Leury Garcia’s name into the mix. Additionally, the team will look to add multiple starters to the rotation this winter, with Brock speculating Jon Gray, Marcus Stroman, and Anthony DeSclafani as potential fits.

Divish, meanwhile, reported some updates on the existing roster, which will help inform the team (and its fans) which free agents are worth pursuing. Notably, Ty France has been told he will be the team’s starting first baseman next season. Recovering first baseman and previous Gold Glove winner Evan White has been tasked with getting some reps in left field to increase his positional versatility, though the team will continue to view him as a first base-first option. Dipoto all but confirmed that the current catching triumvirate Tom Murphy, Cal Raleigh, and Luis Torrens (plus Jose Godoy) will stick into next season as well.

To top it all off, Dipoto also offered some news on a few of the team’s most foundational pieces. Kyle Lewis, for instance, continues to recover from knee surgery and is questionable for Spring Training. Fellow outfielder Jarred Kelenic is healthy, but can perhaps attribute some of his debut season underperformance to playing center field. Dipoto acknowledged that the 22-year-old Kelenic is not an optimal fit in center field but will likely continue to see playing time there next season due to market scarcity at the position and existing organizational depth. In one last piece of positive health news, Justin Dunn has also been cleared for a normal offseason and is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Mariners Promote Cal Raleigh

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The Mariners announced they’re selecting the contract of catching prospect Cal Raleigh. All-Star southpaw Yusei Kikuchi was placed on the COVID-19 injured list to create active and 40-man roster space. Additionally, utilityman Donovan Walton has been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, while outfielder Taylor Trammell was optioned to Tacoma after last night’s game.

Raleigh is now set to make his major league debut. A third-round pick out of Florida State in 2018, the switch-hitting backstop has developed into one of the game’s more promising young catchers. After a pair of quality seasons in the low minors, Raleigh entered 2021 as one of the Mariners top prospects. Each of Baseball America, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs and Keith Law of the Athletic slotted him among the top ten farmhands in a strong system this year.

All three outlets laud Raleigh’s combination of power potential and solid receiving skills, with Longenhagen noting that he’s rated as a strong pitch framer throughout his amateur and minor league career. The general expectation among evaluators is that he’ll develop into an average or better regular behind the plate.

The M’s would have had to add Raleigh to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft at the end of the season, but he forced his way to the big leagues a bit early by performing well at Triple-A. Assigned to Tacoma for the first time this year, he’s hit .324/.377/.608 with nine home runs across 199 trips to the plate. Raleigh has slashed his strikeout rate to a personal-best 12.6% this year, swinging and missing at a lower-than-average 10.9% clip.

With the 48-42 Mariners hanging in the postseason picture, Raleigh will get an immediate opportunity to contribute to a playoff race. The Mariners catching trio of Luis Torrens, Tom Murphy and José Godoy has offered slightly below-average production on the season, although Torrens has been better lately after a bad start. It’s not a given that Raleigh will stick on the active roster from here on out, but his selection clears the way for him to contribute at the big league level down the stretch.

As for Kikuchi, there doesn’t seem to be much cause for concern. The 30-year-old has been feeling virus-like symptoms recently, but he’s fully vaccinated and has already tested negative for COVID-19, relays Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). Assuming a follow-up test today comes back negative, he’ll be cleared to participate in the All-Star Game and return to the Mariners next week.

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