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Jalen Beeks

Jalen Beeks To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Rays received a slew on unfortunate injury news this afternoon, with Juan Toribio of MLB.com reporting that left-hander Jalen Beeks is set to undergo Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. Fellow reliever Chaz Roe will also have his season cut short, with the Rays transferring him to the 45-day injured list. Finally, two new players have hit the injured list: catcher Mike Zunino and lefty Ryan Yarbrough will head to the 10-day IL, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Catcher Kevan Smith and 1B/OF Brian O’Grady have been added to the active roster.

Wit Beeks on the 45-day injured list, we’ve known that his season was over, but the Rays were awaiting word of the severity of Beeks’s injury, which was first reported as an elbow sprain. Thus continues the Rays’ plague of injuries, which have gutted the pitching staff to an alarming extent.

Yonny Chirinos, Colin Poche, Brendan McKay, and Andrew Kittredge have already endured season-ending injuries, with Charlie Morton, Jose Alvarado, Nick Anderson, and others spending time on the injured list.

Beeks, for his part, had been enjoying his best Major League season to date, on pace for career bests in virtually every significant category. After averaging 7.6 K/9 over the last two years, that number climbed up to 12.1 K/9 through 19 1/3 innings this year. Simultaneously, his walk rate plummeted to a career low, leading to a minuscule 1.76 FIP.

His loss will be a considerable blow to the already-thin Tampa bullpen, which now finds itself without Chaz Roe for the season—also due to an elbow issue. Zunino, meanwhile, is dealing with oblique pain, and Yarbrough is experiencing left groin tightness. He’s the eleventh Rays pitcher to be sidelined due to injury since the beginning of Spring Training 2.0.

Rays Place Jalen Beeks On 45-Day IL, Select Ryan Sherriff

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The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve placed lefty Jalen Beeks on the 45-day injured list due to an elbow sprain and selected the contract of fellow southpaw Ryan Sherriff from their alternate training site. It’s another blow to the Rays’ pitching staff, as Beeks is now lost for the season. The team didn’t announce a treatment plan for Beeks, though the presence of a sprain indicates some degree of stretching or tearing within the elbow.

In the past week alone, the Rays have lost lefty Brendan McKay to shoulder surgery and right-hander Yonny Chirinos to Tommy John surgery. Tampa reliever Colin Poche also had Tommy John surgery earlier this season, righty Andrew Kittredge was diagnosed with a UCL sprain just two weeks ago. The Rays have also been without Charlie Morton for several weeks to shoulder inflammation. Also on the IL for the Rays are key relievers Nick Anderson, Oliver Drake, Jose Alvarado and Chaz Roe.

Beeks looks as if he’ll be a significant loss to Tampa Bay’s bullpen, which saw the 27-year-old turn in outstanding numbers this season before his campaign came to a premature end. Beeks made 12 appearances for the Rays and logged a 3.26 ERA/1.76 BB/9 with 12.1 K/9 and 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.

The Rays are obviously hopeful Sherriff will step up in the absence of Beeks and the rest of the their pitchers, but he brings a limited track record to the table and is coming off a major injury. Sherriff has thrown just 20 big league innings, all with the Cardinals from 2017-18, and owns a 4.05 ERA/4.51 FIP with 8.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and an exemplary 62.3 percent groundball rate. He signed with the Rays way back in October 2018, but the Tommy John surgery he underwent in June of that year mostly kept him on ice last season. In his first year with the Tampa Bay organization in 2019, Sherriff combined for just seven innings between the rookie and High-A levels.

Pitching Notes: Hader, Bumgarner, Pearson, Dodgers, Beeks, Wright

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On a night in which White Sox ace Lucas Giolito fired the first no-hitter of 2020, let’s check in on several other notable pitchers…

  • The Brewers are “listening” to offers for star reliever Josh Hader, but it’s not likely the club will trade the 26-year-old left-hander before the Aug. 31 deadline, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link). Milwaukee was also willing to entertain proposals for Hader last winter, but it elected to retain him heading into this year – his first of four potential arbitration seasons. For a bargain price this season (a prorated $4.1MM), Hader has given the Brewers 9 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings with 13 strikeouts and five walks. He’s obviously not someone the Brewers are going to give up for anything less than a massive offer.
  • After throwing a 70-pitch bullpen session Sunday, Diamondbacks southpaw Madison Bumgarner could be closing in on a return from the injured list, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Bumgarner has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a mid-back strain, but he came out of his bullpen session unscathed, which manager Torey Lovullo called “very encouraging news.” The former Giant’s first season as a Diamondback has been anything but encouraging, though. After inking a five-year, $85MM contract in the offseason, Bumgarner has logged a 9.35 ERA/8.79 FIP with 6.75 K/9, 3.63 BB/9 and a 23.7 percent groundball rate in 17 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old averaged a career-worst 87.8 mph on his fastball during that four-start stretch, but Lovullo revealed Bumgarner’s “velo ticked up a little bit” during sim games.
  • Right-hander Nate Pearson, whom the Blue Jays placed on the IL on Aug. 19, has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. He’s hoping to play catch this weekend, Mitchell reports, though it remains unclear if the rookie will return in 2020. Pearson struggled to a 6.61 ERA/7.60 FIP with 7.71 K/9 and 6.61 BB/9 over four starts and 16 1/3 frames before going on the shelf.
  • Dodgers righty Joe Kelly has been on the IL since Aug. 10 with shoulder inflammation, and a return isn’t imminent for the reliever. Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday (via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) that Kelly remains “a ways away” from rejoining the Dodgers. When Kelly does come back, he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension stemming from a July 28 dustup with the Astros. Meanwhile, Dodgers lefty Alex Wood won’t come off the IL before the end of the month, Gurnick tweets. Wood, who’s also dealing with shoulder inflammation, has only made one appearance this year (on July 25).
  • The Rays’ injury-laden pitching staff may have lost yet another hurler Tuesday, when southpaw Jalen Beeks left their game with an elbow/forearm issue. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t come off as optimistic afterward, saying (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com), “It sounded similar to Kitt, but we don’t know anything yet.” Cash was referring to righty Andrew Kittredge, who went on the 45-day IL on Aug. 12 with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. A similar fate would be a season-ender for Beeks, who has been terrific in 2020. The 27-year-old has notched a 3.26 ERA and a much more impressive 1.74 FIP with 12.1 K/9 against 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.
  • Veteran knuckleballer Steven Wright hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 13, 2019, but the former Red Sox righty informed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he’s not ready to call it a career. “I just don’t want to sit back in a few years and wish I had tried it,” said the soon-to-be 36-year-old Wright, who threw 35 pitches from a mound last week and told Abraham, “I’m throwing two bullpens a week and I’m feeling healthy for the first time since 2016.” Wright was an All-Star that year, but he then faced knee problems, Tommy John surgery, a performance-enhancing drugs suspension and an arrest on domestic violence charges (which led to a 15-game ban) during the ensuing seasons.

Rays Designate Nick Ciuffo For Assignment

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The Rays announced Friday that they’ve designated catcher Nick Ciuffo for assignment. His 40-man spot will go to top prospect Brendan McKay, whose previously reported promotion to the Majors is now official. Tampa Bay also reinstated lefty Jose Alvarado from the restricted list and recalled Casey Sadler from Triple-A Durham. Lefty Jalen Beeks and infielder Mike Brosseau were optioned to Durham in a pair of corresponding moves.

The 24-year-old Ciuffo was a first-round pick back in 2013 but has yet to live up to the potential that came along with that draft billing. His DFA will come with somewhat atypical circumstances, as Ciuffo is on the injured list in the minor leagues after undergoing thumb surgery that was expected to sideline him for eight to ten weeks. There’s still another four to six weeks to go on that projected recovery time. Because Ciuffo is on the IL, he can’t be outrighted, which means the Rays will likely release him and then hope to re-sign him to a new minor league contract. That’s a fairly common outcome in the rare instances that an injured minor league player is designated for assignment.

In 134 plate appearances with Durham this year, Ciuffo batted .228/.276/.350. He’s posted a .529 OPS in a tiny sample of 50 big league plate appearances and is a career .250/.292/.369 hitter in 370 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.

Alvarado, also 24, was on the restricted list after stepping away from the club for family reasons. He’s arguably Tampa Bay’s best reliever, having posted a 2.85 ERA (2.50 FIP) with 10.8 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 in 117 innings since making his MLB debut as a 21-year-old in 2017.

The 25-year-old Beeks has been excellent for the Rays in 2019, serving primarily as a followup pitcher to frequent opener Ryne Stanek. In 61 1/3 innings, Beeks has a 2.79 ERA (3.48 FIP) with 7.5 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. Despite that strong performance, Beeks is a casualty of yesterday’s 18-inning marathon win over the Twins. Beeks pitched 3 1/3 innings yesterday and wouldn’t have been available for a couple of days. The Rays, in need of fresh arms, sent him down for some additional depth, but it’s likely that Beeks will be back once the 10-day minimum length of his optional assignment has been met.

Red Sox Acquire Nathan Eovaldi

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The Red Sox have officially struck a deal to land righty Nathan Eovaldi from the Rays, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter). Young lefty Jalen Beeks will go to Tampa Bay in return, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link).

This swap is the second in the last two days that sends rental pitchers between AL East rivals. Yesterday, of course, the Yankees got lefty reliever Zach Britton from the Orioles. The Yanks will temporarily dodge Eovaldi, who had been scheduled to start against them today, but will surely see him down the stretch.

For Boston, the move will add an intriguing arm to their roster. Eovaldi has worked as a starter almost exclusively in his career, and may well continue to do so over the final two months of the season as he helps to shore up a Red Sox rotation that is showing a few cracks. But his role in the postseason could end up being an interesting one. The Sox have an unusual number of southpaws among their rotation candidates, making Eovaldi an interesting pitcher to pair up with one or more lefties.

Eovaldi is a pure rental, and a cheap one at that. He’s earning just $2MM this year, with some affordable incentive pay also included. Though it took him quite a while to make it all the way back from Tommy John surgery, Eovaldi has returned with vigor thus far in 2018.

Over 57 frames in ten starts this year Eovaldi has pumped his customary 97+ mph heat while working to a solid 4.26 ERA. But that only tells part of the story. He’s sporting a career-best 20.1% K%-BB% while generating more swings and misses (11.0%) than ever before, though he has also been touched for 11 long balls. Eovaldi merited rather lofty placement on MLBTR’s latest ranking of the top trade deadline candidates and has certainly increased his stock heading into free agency.

It seems likely the Rays will have designs on using Beeks in a flexible manner, too, but on a more regular basis. The 25-year-old has been roughed up in two MLB outings this year, but has also turned in increasingly interesting results in the upper minors in recent seasons.

Over 16 Triple-A starts in 2018, Beeks carries a 2.89 ERA with 12.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 87 1/3 innings. That strong showing led Baseball America to rank Beeks the Sox’ sixth-best prospect in its most recent look at a thin Boston farm. While he’s considered likely to be a back-end rotation piece in the majors, he possesses an interesting four-pitch mix and seems a good fit for the Rays’ counter-culture approach to building a pitching staff.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Red Sox Select Contract Of Justin Haley

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The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Justin Haley from Triple-A Pawtucket and optioned lefty Jalen Beeks back to Pawtucket in his place. Boston’s 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.

While this will mark the Red Sox debut for Haley, whom the club selected in the sixth round of the 2012 draft, it won’t be his MLB debut. Haley was selected by the Twins in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft and broke camp in Minnesota last year, but he was ultimately designated for assignment and returned to the Sox after posting a 6.00 ERA over 18 innings as a seldom-used long reliever.

Things have gone much better for the now-26-year-old Haley in Triple-A, where he owns a career 3.28 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 203 1/3 innings. That production is right in line with his marks so far in 2018: a 3.18 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 44 percent ground-ball rate in 56 2/3 innings out of the Pawtucket rotation.

The 24-year-old Beeks, meanwhile, will head back to Triple-A for continued development. He was called upon to make a spot start last night against the Tigers and was ambushed for five runs in his first Major League inning, though he settled down and allowed just one run over the next three innings. While it wasn’t a great debut, Beeks should still have ample opportunity to factor into Boston’s long-term plans. The former 12th-rounder owns a 3.38 ERA with 10.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 152 Triple-A innings.

Players Added To The 40-Man Roster

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As detailed earlier this morning at MLBTR, the deadline for Major League clubs to add players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft is tonight. Because of that, there will be literally dozens of moves between now and 8pm ET as teams make final determinations on who to protect and who to risk losing in next month’s Rule 5 draft. This process will lead to smaller-scale trades, waiver claims and DFAs, but for some clubs the only necessary moves will simply be to select the contracts of the prospects they wish to place on the 40-man roster. We’ll track those such moves in this post…

Click to check in on other teams that have selected players to their 40-man rosters …

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