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Phillies Interested In Right-Handed Hitting Outfielders

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With just over a week until Opening Day, the bench group in Philadelphia is beginning to come into focus. As discussed by The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, the Phillies view each of backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, and utilitymen Edmundo Sosa and Josh Harrison as locks to make the roster. With Bryce Harper slated to begin the season on the injured list as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery, the Phillies have no set, everyday DH, leaving them with effectively five seats on the bench. With three locked in, two spots remain available for the Phillies to fill.

Gelb notes that the Phillies are interested in acquiring a right-handed fourth outfielder to complement the starting outfield trio of Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and Nick Castellanos, but there are plenty of internal candidates also capable of securing one of the remaining bench jobs: utilitymen Scott Kingery, Dalton Guthrie, and Kody Clemens are joined by outfielder Jake Cave and first baseman Darick Hall in the hunt for a spot on the Philadelphia bench to open the season.

All five players have relatively secure spots in the organization headed into the season: Guthrie, Clemens, Cave, and Hall all are on the 40-man roster with minor league options remaining, while Kingery is not on the 40-man roster but is set to remain in the organization during the final year of his ill-fated six-year, $24MM extension he signed with the Phillies ahead of the 2018 season, before he had taken a big league at-bat. Without fear of losing any of these players by not dedicating an Opening Day roster spot to them, the Phillies have plenty of flexibility in making their final decisions about which players to roster.

Looking at external options, the best right-handed fourth outfield option remaining unsigned is likely Albert Almora. Almora played in 64 games for the Reds in 2022 with solid defense at each of the three outfield spots, but struggled at the plate as he slashed just .223/.282/.349 in 235 plate appearances, good for just a 71 wRC+. That seems to be about in line with what a club should expect from Almora should they sign him for this season, given his career 80 wRC+ drops to 71 when looking at his performance since the start of the 2018 season.

While the pickings are currently slim on the free agent market, it remains possible that a player squeezed off their current club’s roster could be made available either by trade or by opting-out of their current minor-league pact and returning to the free agent market. Jake Marisnick, Monte Harrison, and Michael Hermosillo are among the numerous players around the league for whom that is a possibility as Spring Training draws toward a conclusion.

If the Philies are unable to find anyone outside of the organization to their liking, both Kingery and Guthrie are right-handed hitters with experience at all three outfield spots. Kingery has had a better spring to this point that Guthrie, as the former has raked to a .394/.459/.515 line this spring that far outshines Guthrie’s .250/.273/.375 line. With that being said, Guthrie has advantages of his own. As previously mentioned, he already has a 40-man roster spot, while Kingery would require a corresponding move to roster. Additionally, Guthrie raked in his first taste of big league action last season, posting a whopping 184 wRC+ in his fourteen-game cup of coffee that earned him a spot on the postseason roster during Philadelphia’s NL championship run.

It’s also worth noting that Kingery has largely struggled in his major league opportunities to this point in his career, with his already mediocre 73 wRC+ in 325 career games mostly buoyed by a 2019 season where he was league average at the plate (100 wRC+) in 500 plate appearances. Since then, Kingery has posted a brutal wRC+ of just 21, indicating he’s been 79% worse than league average at the plate in 52 big league games since the start of the 2020 season. Given his long-lasting struggles, it would be understandable if the Phillies were hesitant to trust his torrid spring.

Assuming the Phillies would like another left-handed bat on the bench in addition to Stubbs, the spot that doesn’t go to one of Kingery, Guthrie, or an external fourth outfielder would likely go to one of Hall, Clemens, or Cave. All three have raked in Grapefruit League play, but one separator could be that Clemens has by far the most positional flexibility of the three. Cave is confined to the outfield while Hall is limited to first base and the DH slot while Clemens has experience in the four corner spots and at second base, though Gelb indicates that the Phillies don’t see Clemens as a factor at the keystone.

That being said, Cave has the advantage of a long track record of major league experience, with 335 big league games under his belt to this point and a career wRC+ of 92, though he posted just an 81 in 54 games with the Twins last year. While the most defensively limited of the three options, Hall is the most interesting bat of the three, as he posted a 119 wRC+ in 101 Triple-A games last year before carrying that success into the big leagues, where he slashed .250/.282/.550 with a wRC+ of 120. For a team set to start the season without Harper, it’s possible that Hall’s lefty power might be too attractive to pass up, even with his defensive limitations.

While pairing Hall with one of Guthrie or Kingery certainly seems like an attractive option for the Phillies right now, an external addition or injury could certainly change that over the course of the next week or so, to say nothing of the reality that all five internal options seem sure to get major league opportunities at some point this year as the roster churns through the regular season.

Phillies Acquire Gregory Soto From Tigers In Five-Player Deal

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The Phillies have continued to strengthen their roster following their World Series defeat last year, acquiring left-handed reliever Gregory Soto and utilityman Kody Clemens in a trade with the Tigers. Utilityman Nick Maton, outfielder Matt Vierling and catcher Donny Sands are headed to Detroit in the other end of the deal. The two teams announced the deal this afternoon.

The deal adds another quality southpaw to Philadelphia’s bullpen, as Soto joins fellow lefty Matt Strahm in the relief corps plus another prominent new face in right-hander Craig Kimbrel. Between these bullpen additions and the signings of Trea Turner and Taijuan Walker, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is being typically aggressive as he looks to take the World Series finalist Phillies one step further in 2023.

Soto (who turns 28 in February) worked to a 3.28 ERA over 60 1/3 innings for the Tigers last season, striking out batters at a 22.8% clip against a 12.9% walk rate. In the process, he notched 30 saves for the team. The strikeout rate represented something of a dip for Soto, as it sat at 27.5% just a year prior.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic back in 2012, Soto came up through the Tigers’ system as a starting pitcher. He’d make seven starts for Detroit in his rookie year back in 2019, but was rocked to the tune of an 8.49 ERA and has been a reliever ever since. He’s found plenty of success in that role, working to a 3.57 ERA over 181 1/3 relief innings, including earning trips to the All Star game in 2021 and 2022.

Left-handed hitters hit just .225/.328/.277 against Soto, but perhaps most noteworthy is the fact he’s given up just one home run in his career to a left-handed hitter. While he handled the closing duties in Detroit, he’s joining a much stronger bullpen in Philadelphia so may see fewer ninth-inning opportunities, but in any event they’ve got an ideal late-innings arm to shut down any left-handed power threats late in the game.

Soto mixes a fastball which touches triple-digits with an 89 mph slider, as well as a very occasional changeup. As evidenced by his career 13.1% rate, walks have been the biggest issue for Soto during his career. Even with the below-average walk rate Soto has been a valuable relief arm, but if he can tighten up the free passes he has the stuff to blossom into an elite late-inning arm.

Soto has between three and four years of service time, so the Phillies will pay him a first year arbitration salary that Matt Swartz estimated to be $3.1MM. The Phillies will then control him via arbitration for the 2024 and ’25 seasons.

The Phillies pen now includes Kimbrel, Soto and Strahm, as well as Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado, Andrew Bellatti and Connor Brogdon. In Alvarado and Soto, they’ve now got two of the hardest throwing left-handers in the game, with both possessing the ability to reach 100mph.

They’ll also pick up Clemens, a utility infielder who got his first taste of the big leagues in 2022.  Clemens slashed just .145/.197/.308 with five home runs over 127 plate appearances for the Tigers in 2022. The 26-year-old did hit a much more robust .274/.327/.535 line at Triple-A.

He logged time at first, second and third base in 2022, as well as some time in left field. Though it was a small sample size, he did earn two Defensive Runs Saved for his work at first and third. While unlikely to be a regular in Philadelphia, Clemens comes with two minor league options remaining so should serve as depth/bench piece.

As for the return, Detroit picks up three players who were all on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster. Sands is a 26-year-old catcher who earned his first taste of the big leagues in 2022, appearing in three games for the Phillies. Acquired from the Yankees last winter, Sands made 57 appearances at Triple-A last year, slashing .309/.413/.428 with five home runs. It’s a strong slashline, but with J.T. Realmuto ahead of him Sands was never likely to get an extended look in the big leagues. The Tigers have Eric Haase and Jake Rogers as catching options, but Sands will join that mix and could be in line to serve as a backup.

Maton, 25, is a utility player who appeared in 35 games for the Phillies last year, slashing .250/.341/.514 with five home runs over 85 plate appearances. That was a solid follow-up to his rookie year in 2021, when he hit .256/.323/.385 over 131 plate appearances. He came through the Phillies system as a shortstop but bounced around the infield and outfield in the majors. Javier Baez is locked in at shortstop for the Tigers, but they don’t currently have an obvious option at third so Maton could see plenty of time there as the Tigers look to see if his strong showing in 2022 can be sustained over a full season.

Vierling, 26, wound up picking up 357 plate appearances for the Phillies last season, putting together a .246/.297/.351 line with six home runs. He logged 434 2/3 innings in center, earning -7 Defensive Runs Saved. Vierling graded out much better in a corner spot, earning 1 DRS over 175 innings in right. He also logged a handful of innings at first, second and third. He should compete for a bench spot in Detroit as a fourth outfielder.

While there’s no highly rated prospect going back to Detroit in the deal, all three players are ready to contribute to the major league club in 2023. For the Phillies, these three players would have found opportunities somewhat hard to come by in 2023 unless more injuries (beyond just Bryce Harper’s Tommy John surgery) hit, given the established nature of their contending roster. As such, it’s a solid move from Dombrowski to flip the trio for a player that immediately makes their bullpen stronger, plus Clemens helps replace some of the bench depth sent to the Tigers.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia first reported on Twitter that the Phillies and Tigers were working on a trade. Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported on Twitter that the two sides were close on a deal involving the five players. Morosi was also first to report on Twitter that the two sides had agreed to the deal. 

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports.

Tigers Place Matt Manning On Injured List, Select Miguel Diaz

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9:24am: The Tigers formally announced the moves. Manning goes directly to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Diaz, although that’s a technicality, as he can be activated as soon as the season is over. The 60-day minimum does not carry over into next season. Carpenter, meanwhile, heads to the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain, also ending his 2022 campaign.

9:12am: The Tigers have selected the contract of righty Miguel Diaz and will place both right-hander Matt Manning and outfielder Kerry Carpenter on the injured list, tweets Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Kody Clemens has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo alongside Diaz, filling the extra spot on the roster. Manning reported some arm fatigue and tightness in his forearm last night, and while manager A.J. Hinch stated that the team doesn’t believe there’s a serious injury at play, they’ll shut him down for the remainder of the season out of caution (via The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, on Twitter).

Manning, 24, is the only of the Tigers’ vaunted rotation trio to avoid undergoing surgery this season, though he still missed a substantial portion of the season due to shoulder troubles. Assuming this is indeed a minor arm issue, though, he can be penciled in for Spring Training readiness, which can’t necessarily be said for either Casey Mize (Tommy John surgery in June) or Tarik Skubal (flexor tendon surgery in August). Detroit staked considerable hopes in that trio, and with good reason. Each of the three has impressed on the mound when healthy, but as is so often the case with pitching prospects, injuries have altered the calculus.

Manning’s season will draw to a close with just 63 Major League innings and another 20 1/3 Triple-A frames from a rehab assignment. He was sharp when on the mound, however, giving the Tigers a 3.43 ERA with an 18.3% strikeout rate, a 7.2% walk rate and a 40.1% ground-ball rate. Manning took considerable steps forward from last year’s ugly debut (5.80 ERA in 85 1/3 innings), recording improvements in strikeout rate, walk rate, swinging-strike rate and chase rate on pitches off the plate — all while yielding a much lighter average exit velocity. Injury concerns notwithstanding, there are ultimately quite a few positive takeaways from his second big league season.

Diaz, 27, will get a late look after working 65 innings out of the bullpen in Toledo and pitching to a 4.29 ERA with a 24.2% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate and a hefty 52.3% grounder rate. The right-hander spent the 2017-21 seasons in the Padres organization, dating back to his time as a Rule 5 pick out of the Brewers system in 2016.

San Diego selected Diaz directly out of A-ball and carried him on the roster all season in 2017. The lack of upper-minors seasoning showed, as Diaz was rocked for a 7.34 ERA through 41 2/3 innings as a seldom-used, low-leverage bullpen option. He pitched 42 innings with the Friars just last season, however, logging a much-improved 3.64 ERA with a sharp 26.2% strikeout rate but a bloated 11% walk rate.

Carpenter’s back injury will end a meteoric rise through the system for the former 19th-round pick (2019). After a nondescript run in Double-A last year, Carpenter — who never ranked among the organization’s best prospects — belted 30 home runs and posted OPS marks north of 1.000 in a combined 400 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A before ascending to the Majors.

Carpenter swatted another six round-trippers and hit .252/.310/.485 in 113 plate appearances at the MLB level, firmly inserting himself into the mix for an outfield spot in 2023 and beyond. He won’t get the opportunity to end that storybook season on his own terms, but his rise is one of very few bright spots in an otherwise largely catastrophic Tigers season.

AL Notes: Rodriguez, Cabrera, Story, Eovaldi, Red Sox

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Julio Rodriguez has missed the Mariners’ last two games due to lower back soreness, and the rookie star told The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that “I feel a few days of rest will be the best thing for it.”  There’s a chance Rodriguez could be back as early as Monday’s game with the Angels, though manager Scott Servais noted that the situation is “day to day,” especially since Monday’s contest is an afternoon start.

As much as Seattle needs all hands on deck for its playoff chase, nobody wants to risk a longer-term injury to Rodriguez, who has already emerged as one of baseball’s brightest stars.  After a brief slump in August, Rodriguez has a whopping 1.259 OPS over 59 plate appearances in September, even though he said is still getting used to the physical toll of a full Major League season.  “I’m not familiar with playing for such a long time,” Rodriguez said.  “It’s been teaching me a few things and I’m learning about my body and how to keep it healthy.”

While the Mariners hope Rodriguez’s rookie year will be extending deep into October, here are some more items from around the American League…

  • The Tigers will activate Miguel Cabrera from the 10-day injured list on Monday, and infielder Kody Clemens has already been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Cabrera on the active roster.  A left biceps strain has kept Cabrera on the shelf since September 2, but he’ll return for some more action in his 20th Major League season.  Over 393 PA this year, Cabrera is hitting .256/.305/.317 with four home runs.  Since a milestone watch is inevitably attached to Cabrera, the veteran slugger’s 506 career homers is three back of Gary Sheffield for 26th place on the all-time list, and Cabrera’s 3079 career hits put him 10 behind Ichiro Suzuki for 24th all-time.
  • Trevor Story has missed five games due to left heel soreness, but he is tentatively slated to return to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams).  In other injury news, Nathan Eovaldi threw 65 pitches during a four-inning simulated game today, and the next step could be a minor league rehab game on Friday.  Eovaldi has missed almost a full month due to right shoulder inflammation, but is hoping to get back to the mound at least one more start with the Sox before the season is over.
  • The Red Sox designated Kevin Plawecki for assignment after Friday night’s game, and both the late timing of the transaction and the transaction itself didn’t sit well within the clubhouse.  Both Eovaldi and Rich Hill spoke to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford about Plawecki’s popularity and the importance of veteran leaders in general on a team, with Eovaldi saying “I think sometimes that goes a little further than productivity or whatever on the field.”  After today’s 13-3 victory over the Royals, McWilliams and other reporters noted that the Sox were playing Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” within the clubhouse, a song adopted by Plawecki as both a walkup song and as a team anthem in 2021.

Tigers Recall Kody Clemens, Place Robbie Grossman On IL

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The Tigers have recalled second baseman Kody Clemens from Triple-A Toledo and placed outfielder Robbie Grossman on the 10-day IL with a neck strain, the team announced today. It’ll be the first taste of the big leagues for Clemens, the 26-year-old youngest son of long-dominant (and controversial) ace Roger Clemens.

Though the younger Clemens is primarily known for his bloodlines, he does come with at least a bit of prospect pedigree of his own, and the Tigers thought enough of him to place him on the 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. A third-round pick by the Tigers in the 2018 amateur draft after posting a 1.170 OPS in his junior season, the University of Texas product commanded a $600K bonus and a promotion to Double-A Erie by the end of his first full professional season. His career minor league numbers (.252/.320/.444) are hardly eye-popping, but he has the positional versatility to contribute around the diamond and is off to a strong start (.283/.316/.527 with 8 home runs in 197 plate appearances) at Triple-A Toledo.

The same can’t be said for Grossman’s start to 2022, which has seen him struggle to a .199/.311/.241 triple-slash behind an elevated strikeout rate (30.5% in 2022, 21.8% for his career) and a sudden loss of power; after logging 23 homers last year and 12 in only 51 games in 2020, Grossman hasn’t yet gone deep 167 trips to the plate in 2022. He exited yesterday’s game after popping out in his first at-bat of what became a 2-1 win over the Guardians.

Whether the move is as much to give Grossman a bit of time away from his struggles as to recuperate an injury is unclear, but it does help manager AJ Hinch avoid entering Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Twins short-handed. Still, even with Clemens’ promotion, between Grossman’s injury, Austin Meadows’ continued vertigo-related absence, and Akil Baddoo’s recent demotion, Hinch is left with only two players (Daz Cameron and Derek Hill) on his active roster listed as outfielders, though utility-man Willi Castro has primarily played left field since Baddoo’s demotion and Harold Castro has major-league experience at all three outfield spots.

Primarily a second baseman, Clemens also has limited experience in the outfield, logging 167 minor-league innings between left and right. In the short term, that might be his quickest path to big-league playing time, though he could put pressure on Jonathan Schoop’s hold on the second base job should he prove productive. The 30-year-old Schoop, who’s consistently posted batting lines in the vicinity of his career .258/.297/.441 mark, has joined many of his Tigers teammates in getting off to a slow start to 2022, posting a mark of only a .173/.218/.286 through his first 179 trips to the plate.

Niko Goodrum Elects Free Agency

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The Tigers announced Friday that infielder Niko Goodrum went unclaimed on outright waivers and has elected free agency. Detroit also passed righty Nivaldo Rodriguez and outfielder Jacob Robson through waivers unclaimed, though they’ll both remain with the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A. (Unlike Goodrum, they did not have the service time needed to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.)

Additionally, the Tigers selected the contracts of righty Angel De Jesus and infielder Kody Clemens. Both are now on the 40-man roster and thus protected from this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.

Goodrum, 29, looked like a minor league free-agent steal a few years ago when he signed in Detroit and hit .245/.315/.432 with 16 homers and a dozen steals while playing every position other than catcher, center field and pitcher. He matched those solid 2018 numbers in near-identical fashion in 2019, improving his glovework at shortstop in the process and looking like at least a useful utility piece — if not a possible everyday shortstop.

Unfortunately for both Goodrum and the Tigers, the switch-hitter’s bat tumbled in 2020 and wasn’t able to recover this past season. Over the past two years, Goodrum has managed just a .203/.282/.350 batting line, while his strikeout rate has skyrocketed from 28% to 34.9%. Goodrum can still play all over the diamond and still has a decent blend of power and speed, but his mounting issues making contact and a projected $2.9MM arbitration salary prompted Detroit to effectively non-tender him.

Joining the 40-man roster are the power-armed De Jesus and the 25-year-old Clemens — the son of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens. De Jesus, 24, split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, compiling a 3.34 ERA with a big 29.1% strikeout rate in 64 innings (primarily out of the bullpen). De Jesus kept the ball on the ground at an above-average rate as well, though his 13.5% walk rate is obviously somewhat problematic.

Clemens is the more highly regarded of today’s additions, ranking between 18th and 26th among Tigers prospects at MLB.com, Baseball America and FanGraphs. He played in 97 games (413 plate appearances) and logged a .247/.312/.466 output with 18 homers, 15 doubles and six triples. He’s primarily been a second baseman, though some scouting reports peg him as more of an offensive-minded utility player — assuming he can continue to improve his contact skills.

The 24-year-old Rodriguez was claimed off waivers out of the Astros organization back in August, and while he fared well in 7 1/3 MLB frames, that wasn’t the case in Triple-A: 5.37 ERA, 44-to-28 K/BB ratio in 62 innings. Robson, 26, was an eighth-round pick by the Tigers in 2016. He went hitless in seven at-bats during his MLB debut this year and posted a .259/.385/.389 batting line in 78 Triple-A games.

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