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Kendall Graveman

Injury Notes: Murphy, Archer, T. Frazier, Graveman

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Unfortunately for the Nationals, second baseman Daniel Murphy doesn’t seem close to making his 2018 debut. Manager Dave Martinez told Jamal Collier of MLB.com and other reporters Sunday that Murphy remains “a ways” away from coming off the disabled list. What’s more, Murphy – who underwent microfracture surgery in his right knee last October – has not looked healthy during his Double-A rehab assignment, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post hears. A scout informed Janes that Murphy has been “gimpy,” “struggling to move laterally” and lacking “straight-ahead speed” during action this weekend. Not only is that bad news for the Nats, with whom Murphy starred from 2016-17, but also for the impending free agent. While Murphy did all he could to set himself up for another nice payday over the previous couple seasons, the 33-year-old is now amid a less-than-ideal platform campaign.

  • Rays right-hander Chris Archer dealt with groin tightness during his start Saturday, helping lead to his exit after five innings of two-run ball, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. It doesn’t seem to be a major concern, but “he’ll probably get checked out here in the next day or two and see how it is,” manager Kevin Cash said. Thanks in part to Saturday’s performance, Archer has seen his ERA plummet from a season-worst 7.84 on April 14 to 4.24 over his past nine starts. That should help the hard-throwing 29-year-old’s stock if the Rays make him available in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, as some expect them to do.
  • Mets third baseman Todd Frazier is primed to come off the DL in time for the team’s series against Baltimore, which begins Tuesday, Matt Ehalt of The Record suggests. Indeed, Frazier tweeted Sunday that he’s on his way back to New York, thus wrapping up a Triple-A rehab assignment. His return will be a rare positive development for the free-falling Mets, who placed Frazier on the DL with a hamstring strain on May 8. Prior to suffering the injury, the offseason free-agent signing opened 2018 with a helpful .237/.357/.412 line and five home runs in 140 plate appearances.
  • The Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville has placed righty Kendall Graveman on the DL with a forearm strain, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Fortunately, Graveman doesn’t have any structural damage and should only miss 10 days, Slusser reports. Nevertheless, the injury continues a difficult year for Graveman, who entered 2018 off three straight respectable campaigns but has spent a large portion of the season in the minors. The 27-year-old worked to a 7.60 ERA in 34 1/3 innings prior to his demotion and also hasn’t been great in Nashville, where he has posted a 4.50 ERA in 24 frames.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Heaney, Moore

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Trevor Cahill is set to return from the disabled list tomorrow after missing one start, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Athletics will have him displace Kendall Graveman in the rotation, she adds in a separate column. Graveman pitched reasonably well in his one start after a demotion to Triple-A, but the A’s still would like him to continue to round back into form in Nashville following a surprisingly ugly start to the season. As Slusser notes, Oakland could’ve dropped Brett Anderson from the rotation, but doing so would mean designating the lefty for assignment.

Graveman was optioned out to make room on the roster for the return of Stephen Piscotty — who homered in his first at-bat back with the team tonight — from the bereavement list. The Athletics will need to make another roster move to accommodate Cahill’s activation tomorrow, which could mean optioning Jake Smolinski to Nashville as well, per Slusser.

Here’s more from the division…

  • Angels lefty Andrew Heaney dominated the division-rival Astros last night, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, in what the pitcher calls “probably the best game I pitched in my career.” Heaney now carries a 3.93 ERA over 34 1/3 innings through six starts. But fielding-independent pitching numbers suggest he has been even better; he’s carrying an appealing combination of 10.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. As Fletcher notes, the results have been particularly promising over the last four outings, reflecting a decision by Heaney to abandon an experiment with pitching on the third-base side of the rubber. All said, his performance to date has been enormously encouraging, though the big question remains whether he can stay healthy.
  • Despite a terrible start to the season, left-hander Matt Moore will remain in the Rangers’ rotation for now, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The former Rays/Giants southpaw will lug a 7.82 ERA into Saturday’s start against the White Sox, having averaged 6.6 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 with 1.42 HR/9 and a 38.6 percent ground-ball rate. Moore has no doubt had some poor fortune, with a .388 BABIP and 62.3 percent strand rate, but even fielding-independent metrics peg him well north of 5.00. Sullivan does note that Moore’s spot, however, is in some jeopardy. Manager Jeff Banister stressed that Moore has “got to show some progress” before adding that he’s not considering a switch in the rotation just yet. Right-hander Jesse Chavez has showed well in a long relief role, though Banister suggested that the organization is happy with Chavez in his current role at present.

Injury Notes: Naquin, Graveman, Buchter, Hendriks, Vielma, Alvarez,

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The Indians have placed outfielder Tyler Naquin on the DL with a left hamstring strain, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com writes. Naquin limped into second during yesterday’s game while running out a double, and stayed in the game through the remainder of the inning. He was taken out subsequently, though, and sent to get an MRI. There’s no word yet on the severity of Naquin’s injury, nor how long he’ll be out. It’s surely a disappointing development for the Indians; Naquin’s hitting .333/.367/.453 on the year, albeit with an unsustainable .442 BABIP. In a related move, the Indians activated reliever Tyler Olson from the paternity list for today’s game.

Other injury notes from around the league…

  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle provided some injury updates on Athletics players with a pair of tweets today. Right-hander Kendall Graveman is “limping around” after taking a liner off his shin last night. While the situation is reportedly better than expected, the A’s aren’t yet certain whether they’ll need to push back Graveman’s next side session. Meanwhile, Ryan Buchter (shoulder strain) will begin a throwing program next week, and Liam Hendriks (groin strain) is scheduled to throw off a mound today.
  • In Orioles injury news, infielder Engelb Vielma is set to have surgery on his knee (according to Rich Dubroff of PressBoxonline.com). He sustained the injury after tripping over a mound while running down a fly ball in foul ground during a minors game, and while it’s not thought to be season-ending, some in the Orioles organization have loudly voiced their frustrations about the circumstances surrounding the injury. Meanwhile, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun tweets that Pedro Alvarez’ hamstring tightness will hold him out of today’s lineup, though there’s still hope that he could be called upon to hit if needed.

Athletics Option Kendall Graveman

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The Athletics announced this afternoon that they’ve optioned Opening Day starter Kendall Graveman to Triple-A Nashville. Fellow righty Chris Bassitt is also being optioned to Triple-A, while recently acquired reliever Wilmer Font has been added to the active roster. The A’s will announce another move tomorrow (perhaps Yusmeiro Petit being activated from the bereavement list, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests).

The move comes as somewhat of a surprise given Graveman’s standing in the organization. The 27-year-old has been a reliable member of the starting five (when healthy) dating back to the 2015 season, pitching to a 4.11 ERA through 407 innings from 2015-17.

Thus far, the 2018 campaign has proven to be a nightmare for Graveman, however. In 28 1/3 innings, Graveman has allowed 28 earned runs on 41 hits (seven homers) and 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. No pitcher in Major League Baseball has allowed more hits or earned runs, and Graveman’s seven homers trail only Cole Hamels for the MLB lead. (Hamels has tossed 6 1/3 more innings.)

[Related: Oakland Athletics depth chart]

Graveman entered the season with three years, 14 days of Major League service time, putting him on track to reach free agency after the completion of the 2020 season. He needs to accumulate a total of 158 days of big league service time in 2018 in order to surpass four years of service and remain on track for that free agency date, which should still be attainable unless the demotion proves to be an especially lengthy one. He’d need to spend about a full month in the minors in order to miss out on the requisite service time for free agency that offseason.

With Graveman temporarily out of the rotation, the A’s have Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Triggs holding starting jobs. There’s been no announcement as to who’ll step into his spot, but righty Daniel Gossett has pitched well in two starts since being optioned to Nashville. Flamethrowing Frankie Montas is also starting down in Nashville and is on the 40-man roster, though he’s gotten off to a poor start. Veteran lefty Brett Anderson is also with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate and throwing well — 1.89 ERA, 25-to-2 K/BB ratio in 19 innings — and the A’s have an open 40-man roster spot to accommodate him if he is the preferred option.

A’s Notes: Parker, Maxwell, Rotation

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Former Athletics right-hander Jarrod Parker has officially decided to halt any comeback attempts and retire, he tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The now-29-year-old Parker was a promising building block for the A’s in 2011-13, posting a 3.68 ERA through his first 384 big league innings at ages 22 through 24.

Once the ninth overall pick in the MLB draft (Diamondbacks, 2007), Parker found his way to Oakland as part of the return that Arizona surrendered when initially acquiring a more established, controllable young righty: Trevor Cahill. Parker showed all the promise in the world, landing on five Top 100 lists from Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus after being drafted out of high school, and the fine early work in his career serves as a testament to what might have been had injuries not ruined a promising career.

Unfortunately for the talented young Parker, his elbow simply didn’t allow him to realize his considerable potential. The righty twice underwent Tommy John surgery before fracturing his elbow in his comeback attempt from that second Tommy John procedure. Unfathomably, Parker re-fractured the epicondyle bone in his elbow, necessitating a fourth elbow surgery. Parker’s former teammate Ryan Cook, A’s executive vice president Billy Beane and former A’s lefty Barry Zito are among the notable names who raved to Slusser about Parker’s raw potential and expressed sadness over never seeing how high his ceiling could have been.

Parker, now looking to the future, tells Slusser that he’d look to work in the health industry, potentially serving as a rehab coordinator for players returning from injury.

A bit more on the A’s…

  • Also via Slusser, Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell did not reach a plea agreement in his recent settlement conference, thus prompting a second such meeting to be scheduled for April 13. Maxwell, who is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct after allegedly pointing a firearm at a delivery person back in October, is slated for an Aug. 9 trial if no plea agreement can be reached. Maxwell is still expected to serve as Oakland’s primary catcher in 2018 despite those struggles; Slusser adds (via Twitter) that GM David Forst cited the team’s long relationship with Maxwell as a factor in its decision to give him a chance as the starting backstop in 2018. Maxwell was the Athletics’ second-round pick back in the 2012 draft.
  • Jane Lee of MLB.com breaks down the rotation situation in Oakland, noting that only right-hander Kendall Graveman and left-hander Sean Manaea are considered locks to hold down a starting job at present. The final three spots are up for grabs in a race consisting of Andrew Triggs, Jharel Cotton, Daniel Mengden, Daniel Gossett and Paul Blackburn — assuming Oakland does not make any further additions to the staff. Lee adds, on Twitter, that manager Bob Melvin said Mengden’s strong finish to the season has him in the lead for the third spot in the rotation right now, but the A’s look to have a fairly sizable competition for rotation innings.

A’s Defeat Kendall Graveman In Arbitration

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Kendall Graveman has lost his arbitration case against the Athletics, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports via Twitter. Though he filed for $2.6MM in his first trip through the arb process (which incidentally also happened to be what MLBTR’s arbitration model projected for him), he’ll instead make the $2.3MM salary that Oakland filed for.

The 27-year-old ground ball artist came to Oakland as one of the pieces in the trade that sent Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays. He’s owns a career ERA of 4.11 across 411 2/3 major league innings spanning 71 starts with Oakland and five relief appearances for Toronto. His lifetime record stands at 22-24.

Likely working against Graveman in the arbitration process is his lack of strikeouts. The righty’s K/9 over the past three seasons with the A’s stands at a paltry 5.64, a figure that ranks fourth-worst in baseball among qualified pitchers during that time span. Of course, he made up for that somewhat by posting a 51.3% ground ball rate that falls within MLB’s top 20. But arbitration panels don’t take that into account the way they do strikeouts.

Graveman’s case was Oakland’s only one to go to trial. Now that it’s been settled, the team’s arbitration salaries are all fully resolved for the 2018 season.

Unresolved 2018 Arbitration Cases

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We’ve covered a whole lot of arbitration deals today, many of them reached before today’s deadline to exchange filing figures. Some other agreements have come together after team and player submitted their numbers. It’s still possible, of course, that these situations will be resolved before an arbitration hearing becomes necessary. (At this point, we seem to lack full clarity on teams’ approaches to negotiations after the filing deadline. And most organizations make exceptions for multi-year deals even if they have a file-and-trial stance.)

Some situations could even be dealt with in short order. As things stand, though, these unresolved arbitration cases could turn into significant hearings. (As always, MLBTR’s 2018 arbitration projections can be found here; you will also want to reference MLBTR’s 2018 arbitration tracker.)

AL West Notes: Segura, Athletics, Street

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Here’s the latest on some injury situations around the AL West…

  • It doesn’t seem as if the Mariners are terribly optimistic about getting shortstop Jean Segura back in the near future. GM Jerry Dipoto tells Dave Mahler of Sportsradio 960 KJR (Twitter link) that the injury could cost Segura a significant chunk of the season. “It’s more likely to be a month than 10 days, which is a somewhat optimistic view,” said Dipoto. “Could be as much as 2 months.” That’s rough news for an organization that came into the year expectations of contending but currently sits five games under .500. The 27-year-old Segura has slashed a robust .341/.391/.462 on the year. His primary replacement, Taylor Motter, has filled in all over the diamond to this point, showing some pop (.180 isolated slugging) but failing to reach base at a palatable clip (.281 OBP).
  • Athletics reliever Sean Doolittle is officially out on a rehab assignment for his shoulder injury, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The late-inning southpaw may need only two or three outings before rejoining the club, which could occur as soon as the middle of this month.
  • There’s news on two Athletics starters as well. Kendall Graveman tells MLB.com’s Jane Lee (via Twitter) that his shoulder MRI came back clean. He has begun to work on strengthening the joint, though it’s unclear when he’ll resume throwing. Fellow righty Jesse Hahn, meanwhile, says he thinks he’ll return directly from the DL to the major league rotation, as Lee further tweets. Hahn is dealing with a seemingly minor triceps issue.
  • The latest news is generally positive on Angels reliever Huston Street. His triceps soreness, which halted his rehab, doesn’t appear to be a major issue; Street tells Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) that he expects to get back on the hill soon.

AL Notes: Red Sox, Athletics, Indians

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In the event left-hander David Price falters this year in his return from elbow problems, the playoff-contending Red Sox will be forced to scour the trade market to bolster their rotation, observes Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. Jose Quintana, Sonny Gray, Gerrit Cole and Chris Archer represent high-end starters who could end up on the move prior to the trade deadline, notes Silverman, who doubts that the Red Sox would be able to put together a deal for any of the four. Even without factoring Cole into the mix, the Red Sox are bullish on the Pirates’ pitching at both the major and minor league levels, according to Silverman. If Boston and Pittsburgh don’t swing a deal, Miami right-hander Dan Straily could also be a possibility, though Silverman is skeptical that the Sox would meet the Marlins’ likely high asking price for him. Conversely, Silverman regards Royals left-hander Jason Vargas as an ideal fit for Boston and Twins righty Ervin Santana as a “perfect bridge-type acquisition.” Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported Saturday that Vargas and Santana are generating buzz as the trade deadline draws closer.

More from Boston and two other American League cities:

  • For the second time this season, a shoulder issue will force Athletics right-hander Kendall Graveman to the disabled list, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Graveman, who’s dealing with soreness and will head to the DL on Monday, is likely to miss more time than he did when he previously sat out from April 15-26, per Slusser. When on the mound this year, the sinker-throwing Graveman has logged a 3.83 ERA, 6.13 K/9, 2.68 BB/9 and a 50.7 percent ground-ball rate. For now, his spot in the rotation will go to Daniel Mengden, a righty who has spent the year at Triple-A after undergoing offseason foot surgery. Mengden debuted in the majors with 14 starts and 72 innings last year, posting a 6.50 ERA (with a more encouraging 4.34 FIP), and has recorded strong results in the minors this season (2.21 ERA, 8.85 K/9, 2.21 BB/9 in 20 1/3 frames).
  • As expected, the Indians have demoted righty Danny Salazar to the bullpen, the Associated Press was among those to report. Salazar will serve as a relief option for the Tribe beginning Wednesday, but he could start again as early as next week, according to Terry Francona. The manager indicated that Cleveland is placing Salazar in the bullpen to help him regain his confidence. Home runs and walks have been the key contributors to Salazar’s 5.50 ERA, up nearly two full runs from the combined 3.72 mark he put up in 484 1/3 innings from 2013-16. On the positive side, the hard-throwing 27-year-old is second to Chris Sale among starters in K/9 (12.45) and ranks behind only Sale and Max Scherzer in swinging-strike rate (15.4 percent).
  • It looks as though the Red Sox are targeting next weekend for third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s activation from the DL, writes Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. Upon his return, Sandoval – unavailable since late April because of a right knee sprain – will provide a much-needed option at third for a team that’s dealing with significant injuries to Marco Hernandez and Brock Holt. Boston’s third basemen have been utterly inept this year, having slashed a paltry .231/.281/.316 in 243 plate appearances. Sandoval didn’t look like part of the solution prior to his injury, though, with a .213/.269/.377 showing in 67 trips to the plate.

AL Injury Notes: Hanley, Paxton/M’s, Graveman/Hahn, Griffin

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The Red Sox won’t count on Hanley Ramirez being capable of playing first base again this year, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters including Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Shoulder troubles have persisted for the veteran, relegating him to DH duties. “The potential negatives of him going out and [playing first], at this point don’t outweigh the positives that we get from having his bat in as our DH,” Dombrowski explained. “We just have to maneuver around it.” For the time being, at least, rookie Sam Travis is up to provide a right-handed-hitting option at first along side lefty Mitch Moreland.

Here’s more on some injury situations around the American League:

  • There’s some welcome news on the injury front for the Mariners, who watched lefty James Paxton through four innings and 55 pitches tonight in a rehab outing, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports (Twitter links). The expectation is that he’ll take the ball for Seattle on Wednesday. Fellow rehabbing starters Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma are slated for bullpen sessions in the coming days, too, leading skipper Scott Servais to say that the club is finally “starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
  • Two Athletics pitchers, meanwhile, are dealing with injury issues. Right-hander Kendall Graveman is suffering from some shoulder issues, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets, though the seriousness isn’t yet clear. And while the MRI results were promising for fellow righty Jesse Hahn, MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports on Twitter, his triceps problem is likely to require a DL stint. Jharel Cotton will come up to take a rotation spot this weekend.
  • Finally, the Rangers will be awaiting the results of further evaluation on righty A.J. Griffin, but he’s heading to the DL, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). Per a club announcement, he left his start tonight with a left intercostal strain. Even if Griffin ends up missing some time, though, it may not work out too badly for Texas. As Grant notes (Twitter links), the team could fill the opening with Tyson Ross — if he’s ready. Alternatively, Yohander Mendez could be an option. For the time being, though, veteran Dillon Gee will head onto the active roster.
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