Rangers Select Hunter Pence, Logan Forsythe, Jeanmar Gomez; Designate Connor Sadzeck
The Rangers announced that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Hunter Pence, infielder Logan Forsythe and right-hander Jeanmar Gomez. The trio of veterans will all be on the Opening Day roster. Right-hander Connor Sadzeck was designated for assignment to clear one spot on the 40-man roster, while fellow righty Luke Farrell was placed on the 60-day injured list to create another. Texas also optioned outfielder Zack Granite to Triple-A and placed lefty Yohander Mendez on the 10-day IL.
Sadzeck, 27, had been in competition for a bullpen job all spring, but the control issues that plagued him in the big leagues continued to manifest during exhibition play. While Sadzeck’s average fastball of 97 mph is undeniably tantalizing, he walked 11 batters in 9 1/3 MLB innings last season and issued another eight free passes through 8 1/3 innings of Cactus League action. In his place, the Rangers will entrust a bullpen spot to Kyle Bird — a 25-year-old lefty acquired as part of the Jurickson Profar trade.
Neither Pence nor Forsythe is expected to hold down an everyday role with the Rangers, though Pence is in the Opening Day lineup as the designated hitter with a lefty opponent on the mound. Pence should see occasional time in the corner outfield and at DH, particularly against lefties, while Forsythe can provide some platoon support for lefty-swinging Rougned Odor at second base. The veteran Forsythe has experience at all four infield positions, so he’ll give rookie manager Chris Woodward plenty of versatility off the bench.
Pitching Notes: Farrell, Chatwood, J. Nelson, Cessa
Rangers pitcher Luke Farrell suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right jaw Saturday, the team announced. The injury occurred when a line drive off the bat of the Giants’ Jalen Miller struck Farrell in the face, forcing the right-hander out of the game and to a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital for examination. Farrell has since been released from the hospital, but he’ll undergo further examination Monday, according to the Rangers. The son of former big league manager John Farrell, Luke Farrell is in his first spring with the Rangers, who claimed him off waivers from the Angels in January. The 27-year-old spent 2018 as a member of the Cubs, with whom he registered a 5.17 ERA/5.20 FIP and 11.2 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 in 31 1/3 innings.
- Just 15 months removed from signing a three-year, $38MM contract with the Cubs, righty Tyler Chatwood isn’t a lock to make their roster this season, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune observes. Chatwood said Saturday he views himself as a starter, but he’s not a candidate for Chicago’s season-opening rotation if the quintet remains healthy, leaving him to fight for a long relief role. If he doesn’t win the job, the Cubs could try to trade Chatwood, but they’d have to eat a large chunk of the $25.5MM left on his contract in order to make that a realistic possibility, Gonzales notes. Chatwood was in the Cubs’ rotation for the majority of last season, as he made 20 starts in 24 appearances, but he managed a hideous 5.30 ERA/5.50 FIP and issued an eye-popping 95 walks in 103 2/3 innings. So far this spring, Chatwood has walked just one batter over five frames in his bid for a roster spot.
- Brewers righty Jimmy Nelson had to pause his throwing program earlier this week because of arm fatigue, but he’s now on track to throw his first live batting practice of the spring Monday, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. It’s a long time coming for Nelson, who hasn’t pitched to live hitters since he underwent shoulder surgery in September 2017, thus knocking a promising career off the rails.
- Yankees righty Luis Cessa is the front-runner for a season-opening long relief role, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com suggests. While Cessa would need to beat out fellow righties Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga for the spot, it should help the former’s cause that he’s the only one who has no minor league options left, Hoch points out. And Cessa has pitched well this spring, leading manager Aaron Boone to say Saturday he has “a really good opportunity” to make the team. The soon-to-be 27-year-old would be the least heralded member of the Yankees’ stacked bullpen, having pitched to a 4.71 ERA/5.03 FIP with 6.85 K/9 and 2.62 BB/9 in 151 innings with the club since 2016.
Rangers Claim Luke Farrell
The Rangers announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luke Farrell off waivers from the Angels. Farrell had been designated for assignment last week when the Halos signed free-agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
Farrell, 27, joined the Angels organization in September after being claimed from the Cubs, though he never actually threw a pitch for the Angels. He spent the rest of the 2018 campaign in the Chicago organization, pitching to a 5.17 ERA with 11.2 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 2.01 HR/9 and a 30.6 percent ground-ball rate in 31 1/3 innings for the Cubs. Farrell’s 3.64 ERA in 51 1/3 Triple-A innings was considerably more respectable and was fueled by a vastly superior 0.66 HR/9 mark; his K/BB numbers in the minors this past season were fairly similar to those he posted at the MLB level.
The son of former Red Sox skipper John Farrell, Luke has totaled 44 1/3 MLB frames over the past two seasons, spending time with the Royals and Reds in addition to his work with the Cubs. He does have a minor league option remaining and has worked extensively as a starter in the minors, so he’ll give Texas some optionable depth and a flexible piece that can pitch in multiple roles.
Texas also formally announced a pair of previously reported minor league signings: right-handers Rafael Montero and Adrian Sampson will both be in Major League camp as non-roster invitees this spring.
Angels Designate Luke Farrell, Announce Matt Harvey Deal
The Angels have designated right-hander Luke Farrell for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot will go to Matt Harvey, whose previously reported one-year contract is now official.
The 27-year-old Farrell has thrown 44 1/3 innings over the past two seasons, managing only a 5.28 ERA. He did show jumps in his strikeout (11.2 K/9) and swinging-strike (11.4%) rates last year, though clearly teams view him mostly as a depth arm at this point. Farrell worked to a 3.64 ERA in a dozen Triple-A starts in 2018, which he spent with the Cubs.
Angels Claim Luke Farrell, Designate Osmer Morales
The Angels have claimed righty Luke Farrell off waivers from the Cubs, per a club announcement. To create space on the 40-man roster, the Halos designated Osmer Morales for assignment.
Tonight’s starter, Matt Shoemaker, also needed a 40-man spot after returning from the 60-day DL. He’ll change places with first baseman/DH Albert Pujols, who was shifted to the 60-day DL after undergoing season-ending surgery recently.
Farrell, 27, was knocked off the Cubs’ 40-man roster recently to make way for some preferred late-season roster assets. He has managed only a 5.17 ERA through 31 1/3 MLB frames on the season, though he did post 11.2 K/9 (on the basis of a much-improved 11.4% swinging-strike rate) to go with 4.6 BB/9.
As for the 25-year-old Morales, he recently made his first MLB appearance but obviously did not have a clear place in the organization’s near-future plans. In 102 innings at Triple-A this year, he carried a 6.44 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 5.0 BB/9.
Cubs Designate Luke Farrell, Rob Zastryzny
The Cubs have a pair of roster casualties today amidst their first round of September call-ups: right-hander Luke Farrell and left-hander Rob Zastryzny have been designated for assignment in order to clear room on the roster for outfielder Terrance Gore and infielder Taylor Davis, whose contracts have been selected from Triple-A Iowa.
Farrell has done more harm than good for the 2018 Cubs team; his 5.17 ERA and 5.19 FIP are nearly identical, indicating he hasn’t shown the skills required of an effective major-league pitcher. While his ability to miss bats (11.20 K/9) might disagree with that assumption to some extent, his command issues (4.60 BB/9) strengthens the case that he isn’t a useful major-league piece at this time. His biggest woes come from the fact that he’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher (30.6% ground-ball rate) who allows an excess of homers (17.5% homer-to-fly-ball ratio).
The 26-year-old Zastryzny has seen less of an extended look at the MLB level, but showed even less promise than Farrell in that small sample. He’s allowed three earned runs while walking four batters in a 5 2/3 inning sample size, and while it’s perhaps unfair to draw many conclusions from that limited opportunity, his 2018 Triple-A performance doesn’t necessarily help his cause. While the 3.86 ERA he posted in 56 innings there might seem serviceable on the surface, the 4.68 FIP and 4.52 xFIP lurking underneath paint an entirely different picture. He also walked a batter every other inning on average while with Iowa.
Cubs Place Anthony Bass On DL
The Cubs have made a host of roster moves today (first announced by Patrick Mooney of The Athletic), chiefly among them the placement of right-hander Anthony Bass on the 10-day disabled list due to a back muscle issue. The move creates room for the recently acquired Jesse Chavez to be activated. The club also promoted righty Dillon Maples, optioned fellow righty James Norwood, and recalled righty Luke Farrell as the 26th man for today’s double-header against the Cardinals.
Bass has been excellent across 16 appearances for the Cubs so far this season, pitching to a 2.93 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. He’s also managed an impressive ground ball rate of 53.3%. Bass spent time on the disabled list earlier this month with what was described as an illness. When he’s been healthy, though, the 30-year-old has enjoyed a career-best performance, certainly an upgrade over his 4.51 career ERA and a career K/BB ratio worse than 2:1.
Chavez, recently acquired from the Rangers, has also been quietly enjoying an excellent season, as MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted at the time the trade was announced. Chavez will presumably see the same type of work with the Cubs as he did with the Rangers: multi-inning relief appearances. Though Chavez appeared 30 times on the mound with Texas, he managed to toss 56 innings during that time.
Cubs Place Kris Bryant On Disabled List
The Cubs announced a lengthy series of roster moves Tuesday, most notably placing Kris Bryant on the disabled list (retroactive to June 23) due to left shoulder inflammation. Chicago also placed right-hander Justin Hancock on the DL due to inflammation in his right shoulder and optioned righty Duane Underwood Jr. back to Triple-A Iowa. In place of that trio, the Cubs are calling up right-hander Dillon Maples, right-hander Luke Farrell and infielder David Bote.
It’s the first career trip to the disabled list for Bryant, who entered play today hitting .280/.383/.481 with nine homers, 20 doubles and three triples so far on the season. There’s no timetable available yet for Bryant, who hasn’t played since this past Friday.
The 27-year-old Hancock has posted a strong 1.46 ERA in 12 2/3 innings for the Cubs so far, though his 11-to-9 K/BB ratio is far less encouraging. Underwood, 23, recently made his MLB debut in a spot start, tossing four innings of one-run ball.
Of the names being recalled to join the big league roster, Maples is the most noteworthy. The 26-year-old flamethrower is widely considered to be among Chicago’s best prospects, and the organization hopes that he can help to anchor the relief corps for years to come. If that’s to happen, though, Maples will have to considerably improve his control. The righty has the ability to wholly overpower opposing hitters, as evidenced by averaging better than 14 strikeouts per nine innings pitched across three minor league levels over the past two seasons. However, Maples’ control has been terrible in that time as well; he averaged 5.3 walks per nine innings pitched in 2017 and has issued 24 free passes in 25 1/3 innings with Triple-A Iowa so far in 2018.
Bote has been up and down with the Cubs this season, appearing in a total of eight games and hitting .263/.286/.368. The 25-year-old has a career .282/.360/.510 slash in 70 Triple-A games and has experience at every position other than catcher (including seven innings of minor league relief pitching). Farrell, 27, was claimed off waivers last October and has already pitched 20 innings in the Majors for the Cubs this year, recording a 4.50 ERA with 30 strikeouts against eight walks.
NL Central Notes: Butler, Price, DeJong
Let’s take a look in at the latest notes from around the National League’s Central division:
- The Cubs have placed long reliever Eddie Butler on the 10-day DL with a groin strain. He turned in four strong appearances to open the year but has been knocked around in his last two and now owns a 4.30 ERA over 14 2/3 innings, with ten strikeouts against five walks. There’s no reason at this point to believe that Butler will be sidelined long. Fellow righty Luke Farrell received the call to take the open active roster spot. He, too, ought to be able to give the team innings in some volume when needed, as he’s stretched out to start.
- C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic breaks down the Reds‘ firing of skipper Bryan Price in a subscription piece. As Rosecrans observes, it is in some regard actually more surprising that Price lasted this long, despite never overseeing a winning product, than that he was fired so early in the current season. Of course, the struggles during his tenure have hardly all been his fault, and it may be that the long-rebuilding team finally felt this was the time to make a statement. There were some internal hopes of improvement entering the year, making it all the harder to stomach an ugly start to the season. GM Dick Williams explained that “now was the right time to do something about” the fact that the team’s offseason work had gone so far south. At the same time, he acknowledged that “this is an organizational disappointment,” not something that falls only at the feet of Price and his staff. It’s certainly hard to escape that conclusion; as I documented in breaking down the Reds’ offseason just yesterday, Price was not exactly given a compelling roster to work with this year or in the past.
- Fresh off an offseason extension, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong has continued to carry above-average overall offensive numbers in his sophomore campaign, due mostly to a healthy .477 slugging percentage. But as Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observes, DeJong is also exhibiting a worrying rise in strikeouts. Indeed, a league-leading thirty of his seventy plate appearances have ended with a K thus far. And DeJong has drawn only four walks, leaving him with a .286 OBP on the young season. As Frederickson notes, the 24-year-od is showing much greater selectivity thus far in 2018 than he did last year, but he’s also swinging and missing at rates typically procured only by elite relief pitchers. Much like young Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, DeJong still needs to show he can get on base consistently enough to be a compelling offensive player.
Cubs Claim Luke Farrell From Reds, Designate Felix Pena
The Cubs announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luke Farrell off waivers from the Reds and designated righty Felix Pena for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Farrell, whose father manages the Boston Red Sox, made his big league debut with the Royals in 2017 but has bounced from Kansas City to the Dodgers to the Reds to the Cubs in minor trades and waiver claims over the past several months. His lone outing in Kansas City produced nightmarish results (five runs on seven hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings), but he enjoyed better success in a larger sample with Cincinnati. In 10 1/3 innings as a Red, he allowed three runs on just five hits, though he also walked seven in that time. Overall, Farrell’s first taste of the big leagues resulted in a 5.54 ERA and a 9-to-10 K/BB ratio in 13 innings.
Farrell has, however, produced solid Triple-A results in 2016-17, working to a combined 3.83 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and roughly a 36 percent ground-ball rate in 199 2/3 innings. He has a pair of minor league options remaining beyond this season, so if the Cubs choose to keep him on the roster this winter, they could option him to Triple-A Iowa next spring without first exposing him to waivers. Alternatively, the Cubs could try to pass Farrell through waivers themselves in hopes of retaining his arm as a depth piece without the need of committing a 40-man roster spot.
The 27-year-old Pena, meanwhile, averaged 93.4 mph on his heater in 34 1/3 innings with the Cubs this year. He also averaged a hearty 9.7 K/9 against a more troublesome 4.7 BB/9 and a sub-par 34.7 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 5.24 earned run average.