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NL East Notes: Nimmo, Conforto, Cooper, Sanchez

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The imminent return of Michael Conforto could force one of his deserving Mets teammates out of a job, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes. Specifically, leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo (who reached base four times on opening day) could end up being displaced to the bench, as the Mets also have Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce at the outfield corners. Nimmo, who was the club’s first-round selection in 2011, leapfrogged Juan Lagares on the depth chart with a fantastic spring. However, he doesn’t carry the upside of Conforto or the track record of Bruce or Cespedes. DiComo adds that the Mets are not considering shifting Bruce to first base, as the club seems content with Adrian Gonzalez at that position for the time being. For his part, Nimmo isn’t thinking about the outfield crunch at this time. “When Conforto comes back, we’ll deal with that,” he said. “But as far as right now, I’m just going to try to be me, and be the best me I can.”

Other items from the NL’s eastern teams…

  • In other Mets news, Anthony Swarzak left today’s game with an apparent injury. Said injury was later described as a “sore oblique”, and he’s considered day-to-day for the time being (h/t Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). For Swarzak’s part, he’s “not panicking” about the soreness and is hoping it’ll disappear tomorrow.
  • After being hit by a pitch on the wrist in yesterday’s 17-inning marathon, Marlins outfielder Garrett Cooper was replaced by fellow outfielder Cameron Maybin. After the game, the club described the injury as a “wrist contusion”, writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. It’s good news for Miami to hear that Cooper’s wrist isn’t broken, but he’s day-to-day for the time being, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to the lineup. “I took the sleeve off, and it was pretty purple,” Cooper said of the injury. “No fracture. Just day-to-day right now. I can move it around. Just a little swollen.”
  • The Braves currently have three catchers on the roster, but manager Brian Snitker says that one of them could give way to right-hander Anibal Sanchez soon. David O’Brien of the Atlantla Journal-Constitution writes that while Sanchez has been tabbed for the fifth spot in the rotation (when necessary) for some time, the club may add him sooner than that in case they need to deploy him as a reliever. Sanchez pitched to a horrific 5.67 ERA across 415 2/3 innings across his last three seasons with the Tigers, though his strikeout (8.14 K/9) and walk (2.84) ratios remained generally good during that time.

Marlins Acquire Garrett Cooper, Caleb Smith From Yankees For Michael King, Int’l Bonus Pool Money

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The Marlins have struck a deal to acquire first baseman Garrett Cooper and lefty Caleb Smith from the Yankees. New York will receive righty Michael King and $250K of international bonus pool money in the swap. A deal involving Cooper and another player was first reported by Robert Murray of Fan Rag (via Twitter); the dollar value was tweeted by Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Cooper, 26, is a right-handed hitter who made his MLB debut in 2017 after going to the Yankees in a mid-season swap. He turned in 45 productive plate appearances, slashing .326/.333/.488 despite not hitting any long balls and drawing only a single walk. Cooper was quite productive on the year in the upper minors, posting a composite .359/.423/.634 batting line in 350 total plate appearances.

Smith, who’s also 26, struggled in his first MLB action in 2017. But he showed a 93.6 mph average heater from the left side along with a 13.0% swinging-strike rate in his 18 2/3 frames. And he also pitched to a 2.39 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 98 innings in his first full attempt at Triple-A this year. For the pitching-needy Marlins, that’s a background worth taking a shot on.

The Yanks have been hustling to sort their 40-man roster in advance of today’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Cooper, clearly, was not seen as a significant part of the team’s future while Smith had perhaps been bypassed by other relief options. In King, the club will add a 22-year-old who just turned in 149 innings of 3.14 ERA ball at the Class A level — and won’t create any 40-man pressures for quite some time.

Meanwhile, the club has padded its international bonus availability as part of a possible push for Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. The Marlins reportedly had $1.74MM left to work with. But teams can only trade for 75% of their original pool amount. In the Yankees’ case, the team started with $4.75MM, meaning they are capped at $8.3MM total. And the organization had already boosted its pool to $8MM (a good portion of which it has already spent). As things stand, the Yanks have $3.5MM left to dangle for Ohtani or utilize on other international amateur talent.

The Marlins, meanwhile, are engaged in their own roster maneuvering this winter under new ownership. It’s not tough to see how a young lefty would fit. But the team is set at first with Justin Bour, who is deserving of near-everyday time after a breakout 2017 season. He handled lefties just fine when allowed the chance, though he could also stand to be paired with a right-handed hitter. And it’s still possible that Bour could be dangled in trades, though he’s plenty cheap as a pre-arb player. In any event, the Marlins are surely focused mostly on finding as much affordable and controllable talent as possible.

Ankle Surgery An Option For Greg Bird

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The Yankees revealed to reporters earlier today that Michael Pineda has a partial UCL tear and has been recommended to undergo Tommy John surgery, and the bad injury news doesn’t stop there. Via Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com, GM Brian Cashman also elaborated on Greg Bird’s ankle injury today and revealed that the young first baseman may require surgery.

Bird is dealing with an ailment called “os trigonum” syndrome — an excess bone growth that could require surgical removal. Bird is headed for another opinion on his ankle and will have further discussions with medical professionals, the team and his agents before deciding on a course of action. The surgery would sideline Bird for “at least another two months,” per Marchand. One alternative is a second cortisone shot, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (on Twitter).

With Bird and Tyler Austin ailing and Chris Carter cut loose after struggling, the Yankees swung a trade to acquire 26-year-old Triple-A first baseman Garrett Cooper from the Brewers yesterday. Cashman tells reporters that Cooper will be brought directly onto the roster to make his MLB debut — moving Pineda to the 60-day DL would open a roster spot — for this weekend’s series at Fenway Park. At the very least, the right-handed-hitting Cooper will see at-bats against left-handed pitching this weekend, tweets Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. Through 320 plate appearances in Triple-A this year, Cooper was hitting .366/.428/.652 with 17 homers, although those numbers came in the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League (specifically, in the launching pad that is Colorado Springs).

Brewers Acquire Tyler Webb From Yankees For Garrett Cooper

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1:01pm: Milwaukee has announced the swap, adding that Webb will open his tenure with the organization at Triple-A. The same holds true of Cooper, per the Yankees’ announcement.

12:28pm: The Brewers and Yankees have lined up on a minor deal with potentially significant ramifications, as both teams seemingly met needs while dealing from areas of depth. Per Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), lefty Tyler Webb is headed to Milwaukee. Minor-league first baseman Garrett Cooper is going in return in the swap, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports hinted (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag confirms (in a tweet).

Webb, 26, will give the Milwaukee pen another southpaw option. He made his MLB debut for New York this year after spending spring camp with the Pirates as a Rule 5 pick. Webb put up 33 1/3 impressive Triple-A innings upon his return to the New York organization, posting 47 strikeouts against just three walks in that span.

The major league sample is quite a small one. Webb has thrown only six innings in seven appearances, allowing three earned runs but only three total base hits. He has struck out five and walked four. Webb only checks in with a low-nineties fastball, but also utilizes a change and slider — to good effect, evidently, at least in the upper minors.

Cooper, who’s also 26 years of age, has enjoyed quite a productive season thus far in the hitter-friendly environs of Colorado Springs. Through 320 plate appearances on the year, he owns a .366/.428/.652 slash with 17 home runs. That’s a big power jump for the former sixth-round pick, who has also drawn 33 walks against just 48 strikeouts on the year.

Clearly, the right-handed hitter offers an alternative to Greg Bird, who’s injury status has left the team in flux at first base. Whether additional trade targets could still also be pursued isn’t immediately clear, but seemingly remains plausible.

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