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Phillips Valdez

Rockies, Phillips Valdez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have signed righty Phillips Valdez to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. He’d reached minor league free agency at the end of the season after being outrighted off the Mariners 40-man roster in October.

Valdez didn’t suit up at the MLB level with Seattle. He spent his time in the organization with Triple-A Tacoma, where he worked to a 4.22 ERA over 21 1/3 innings of relief. Valdez struck out just 16.3% of batters faced at that level, though he induced grounders on almost half the batted balls he allowed. Before landing with the Mariners, he pitched in 13 MLB games for the Red Sox. Over 16 1/3 frames, he put up a 4,41 ERA with an 18.1% strikeout rate and a massive 58.7% grounder percentage.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Valdez has pitched in the majors in each of the last four years. He’s made 76 appearances with the Rangers and Red Sox, pitching 102 2/3 frames of 4.56 ERA ball. The 31-year-old doesn’t have especially strong strikeout or walk numbers, but he’s consistently been successful at keeping the ball on the ground. For his career, Valdez has induced worm-burners on 53.9% of batted balls.

That’s surely of appeal to the Rockies, who are always looking for ways to keep the ball in the yard and avoid the massive Coors Field outfield. Valdez will try to carve out a middle innings role. If he secures a 40-man roster spot, the Rox would have to keep him in the majors or make him available to other teams as he’s out of minor league option years.

Mariners Activate Julio Rodriguez

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Oct. 3: The Mariners have made it official, announcing that Rodriguez has been reinstated from the IL, with catcher Curt Casali being reinstated from the paternity list. In corresponding moves, catcher Brian O’Keefe and infielder Abraham Toro were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Additionally, right-hander Phillips Valdez, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Tacoma.

Oct. 2: Monday is the first day that Julio Rodriguez is eligible to be activated from the 10-day injured list, and Mariners manager Scott Servais said the team is hoping that the star rookie will indeed be ready to return as soon as possible.  Servais told The Seattle Times’ Shane Lantz and other reporters that Rodriguez will take part in baseball activities (including “a bunch of swings“) today, and if he feels okay, Rodriguez will be back in the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Tigers.

Rodriguez has been sidelined by a lower back strain, and though the injury wasn’t thought to be too serious, the Mariners felt an IL stint was necessary given how Rodriguez had been missing games even prior to his placement on the injured list.  Even with the M’s in the heat of the postseason chase, the team naturally didn’t want to take any risks with their young cornerstone, and the caution paid off — Seattle still clinched a wild card berth, and will be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The next step is to get the team as close to peak form as possible, and the Mariners will need Rodriguez to be ready to go.  As Servais noted, “the thing you always worry about when you are out 10 days is timing.  What’s the timing going to be like at the plate?….That’s why I want to get Julio in there as soon as we can, to see how his body reacts and also get him as many at-bats as we can, and feel good about where he is at heading into the playoffs.”

This is Rodriguez’s second IL stint of his rookie season, as he also missed just slightly beyond the 10-day minimum in late July and early August due to a right wrist contusion.  These brief injury absences have been pretty much the only down notes in an otherwise spectacular debut for Rodriguez, who has hit .280/.342/.502 with 27 homers and 25 steals over 549 plate appearances.  Rodriguez is the favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, and the Mariners have already cemented him as the face of the franchise by signing J-Rod to a long-term extension that is worth at least $210MM over 12 years (and could ultimately be a whopping 18-year, $470MM deal).

Mariners Designate Phillips Valdez For Assignment

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The Mariners announced they’ve designated right-hander Phillips Valdez for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for backstop Brian O’Keefe, whose selection to the majors was reported this morning.

Valdez was claimed off waivers by Seattle in late July after the Red Sox designated him for assignment. The righty had been with the Red Sox since the 2020 season, when they claimed him off waivers themselves from the Rangers. For his major league career, Valdez has posted a 4.56 ERA and matching 4.59 FIP in 102 2/3 innings.

Valdez never made it into a game for Seattle this season, though he posted a 4.41 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with Boston this season. Otherwise, he has pitched at the Triple-A level this season, posting a 3.60 ERA across 39 innings split between the Worcester Red Sox and the Tacoma Rainiers. While his Triple-A numbers have been respectable this season, Valdez has seemingly struggled with his command during his time in the majors this season, walking seven while hitting another six batters.

Seattle will have 7 days to either release Valdez or send him through outright waivers. Should he be outrighted, Valdez will qualify for minor league free agency this offseason unless the Mariners add him back onto the 40-man roster. With Valdez off the 40-man, the Mariners still have Brennan Bernardino, Juan Then, and Justus Sheffield on the roster as depth options in the minors.

Mariners Claim Phillips Valdez Off Waivers From Red Sox

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The Mariners have claimed reliever Phillips Valdez off waivers from the Red Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma, per a club announcement. Seattle already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves were necessary.

Valdez lost his roster spot in Boston earlier this week. The right-hander had made 13 appearances this season, pitching to a 4.41 ERA across 16 1/3 frames. He had a modest 18.1% strikeout rate and 7.7% swinging strike percentage, but he induced ground-balls at a very strong 58.7% clip. That’s generally in line with the career track record for Valdez, who has a 4.56 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate and a 53.9% grounder percentage through 102 2/3 innings between the Rangers and Red Sox over the past four years.

The 30-year-old has an even better 64.1% grounder rate through 14 appearances with the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester this year, although he’s walked an untenable 19.4% of hitters at the level. He’s in his final option year, so the M’s can keep him in Tacoma for the remainder of the 2022 campaign if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

Red Sox Designate Phillips Valdez For Assignment

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The Red Sox have designated right-hander Phillips Valdez for assignment, the team announced Tuesday. His DFA will open a spot on the 40-man roster for righty Josh Winckowski, whose contract will be selected to the Major League roster today (as MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweeted). Valdez’s subtraction from the roster in Triple-A Worcester also opens a spot there for outfielder Abraham Almonte, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Brewers in exchange for cash yesterday. Almonte is not on the 40-man roster, however.

Valdez, 30, has tallied 16 1/3 innings out of the Boston bullpen this season, pitching to a 4.41 ERA with an 18.1% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate in that abbreviated sample. It’s his fourth consecutive season with big league time — the past three of which have come with the Sox. Overall, he carries a 4.56 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate, an 11.1% walk rate and a 53.9% ground-ball rate through 102 2/3 Major League innings.

Valdez has a decent track record in Triple-A, where he’s logged a 3.87 ERA in parts of five seasons — including a 3.06 mark in 17 2/3 innings this year. He was sitting at a career-high 94.4 mph with his sinker in the big leagues this year, although it also bears mentioning that Valdez has walked 14 of the 72 Triple-A opponents he’s faced this year (19.4%). Pair that with the 11.1% walk rate he showed in the Majors and with a whopping six hit batsmen in his limited MLB time this year, and it’s clear that there are some command issues he’s attempting to navigate.

The Red Sox will have a week to trade Valdez, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He can be optioned freely for the remainder of the 2022 season, but this is Valdez’s final minor league option season, meaning he’ll have to either make a team’s big league roster next spring or else pass through waivers unclaimed at some point — be it in the next few days with the Sox or down the road with a new club.

Red Sox Place Connor Seabold, Christian Arroyo On Injured List

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The Red Sox announced a series of moves, including the placement of right-hander Connor Seabold on the 15-day injured list and utilityman Christian Arroyo on the 10-day IL.  Right-hander Phillips Valdez and infielder Jeter Downs were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves.  As reported earlier today, Boston also selected the contract of Kaleb Ort, while designating Michael Feliz for assignment.

Seabold has an extensor strain in his right forearm, which forced him out of last night’s game with the Yankees in the third inning.  While extensor strains aren’t always a precursor to Tommy John surgery, any forearm-related injury is naturally a concern, and Seabold will undergo further examination before a recovery timeline is known.

With the injury bug taking a big bit out of the Sox rotation, Seabold was called up in late June and has made three starts.  The results haven’t been pretty, as he has an 11.91 ERA over 11 1/3 innings — Seabold sandwiched a respectable one-run performance against the White Sox between a pair of seven-run blowouts to the Blue Jays and Yankees.

Chris Sale is slated to be activated from the IL on Tuesday, and the veteran southpaw will join a makeshift rotation of Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski and top prospect Brayan Bello.  However, the Red Sox have more than an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the injured list, as Seabold joins Sale, Garrett Whitlock, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, and James Paxton.  Eovaldi is tentatively set to return next weekend, but the Sox might have to wait until after the All-Star break to get any semblance of a healthy starting five.

The team will also lose bench depth, as the versatile Arroyo will miss time due to a left groin strain.  Arroyo’s placement opens the door for Downs’ latest opportunity at the MLB level, as the star prospect made his big league debut with a single game earlier this season.

Downs has been on fire in the 14 Triple-A games since his return, as his offense has hugely improved since cutting down on his leg lift during his swing.  (Hat tip to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.)  His role on Boston’s active roster will be of some interest, as Downs has almost exclusively played shortstop this season, with only a single game at third base.  Rafael Devers is currently battling a bad back, and with Downs now up, this could hint that the Sox are considering a precautionary IL placement for Devers.  However, it is also possible Downs might get only another cup-of-coffee stint if Devers’ back heals up after a weekend off.

Red Sox Place Rich Hill On 15-Day Injured List

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TODAY: Hill’s recovery timeline is roughly 2-4 weeks, according to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham (Twitter link).  An MRI did reveal “some tearing” in Hill’s ligament.

JULY 2: The Red Sox have placed Rich Hill on the 15-day injured list, as the left-hander is battling a left knee sprain.  Right-hander Phillips Valdez was called up from Triple-A to take Hill’s spot on the active roster.

Hill suffered the injury in the fifth inning of yesterday’s start against the Cubs, as he tried to tough it out through two more batters but eventually left the game.  Hill told reporters (including WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that he was waiting for the results of an MRI, but he compared the injury to the MCL problem that sidelined him for a month during the 2019 season.

The 42-year-old Hill has continued to post solid results in his 18th Major League season, with a 4.20 ERA/4.35 SIERA over 70 2/3 innings.  While his Statcast numbers and advanced metrics (including a 19.5% strikeout rate) aren’t anything to write home about, Hill has still been a reliable presence within a Boston rotation that has been lacking in stability.

At the moment, that rotation is down to just three pitchers, as the Sox have been hit by injuries.  Hill joins Nathan Eovaldi, Chris Sale (who has yet to pitch in 2022) and Garrett Whitlock on the IL, leaving Michael Wacha, Nick Pivetta, and Josh Winckowski as the only pitchers remaining in the starting five.  Connor Seabold is at Triple-A and figures to be recalled to make at least one spot start.

Among the injured names, Eovaldi threw a 35-pitch bullpen session today, though it isn’t yet known if the righty may need a rehab start.  Eovaldi has been on the IL since June 9 due to lower back inflammation.  Sale has another rehab outing slated for Wednesday, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora told MLB.com’s Ian Browne that Sale could potentially in line to make his 2022 season debut on July 11 when the Sox play the Rays.

As for Whitlock, he has been out since June 10 due to hip inflammation.  The righty has a bullpen session today and will have to make a rehab outing, but when he does return, Cora told Bradford and company that Whitlock will “pretty much likely” return to his old bullpen role, rather than as a starting pitcher.  Whitlock had a 4.15 ERA over 39 innings and nine starts this season, but with a theoretical surplus of starters when everyone is healthy, the Red Sox figure Whitlock can best help the team as a multi-inning reliever — Whitlock dominated batters in such a role in 2021.

Red Sox Designate Jonathan Arauz For Assignment

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The Red Sox a series of roster moves to reporters, including Ian Browne of MLB.com. Right-hander Garrett Whitlock is heading to the 15-day injured list, with right hip inflammation, retroactive to June 9. Fellow righty Phillips Valdez, who was just optioned yesterday for the activation of Hansel Robles, will take his roster spot. Optional assignments usually require a 15-day minimum stint before returning to the roster, though exceptions are made when a player goes on the IL or for double-headers. Additionally, the previously-reported selection of outfielder Rob Refsnyder has been made official, with infielder Jonathan Arauz being designated for assignment to create a spot for him.

A native of Panama, Arauz was originally signed by the Phillies as an international free agent back in 2014. The following year, he was traded to the Astros as part of the Ken Giles deal. The Red Sox selected him in the 2019 Rule 5 draft, with Arauz sticking on the roster through the entirety of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Of course, the Red Sox were undergoing a miserable season in 2020, finishing dead last in the AL East with a record of 24-36. As the team has put some distance between themselves and that campaign, Arauz has done little to justify hanging onto a roster spot. In 59 career games over the past three seasons, he’s hit .204/.280/.320 for a wRC+ of 62. Even in Triple-A, things haven’t gone much better, as Arauz has hit just .228/.303/.329 in 92 career games there.

The Red Sox will now have a week to trade him or put him on waivers. Despite his light-hitting stat line, he could still garner some interest, as he is still very young at only 23 years old, making it possible he still has some development ahead of him. He also brings versatility to the table, as he is a switch-hitter and is capable of playing shortstop, second base and third base. He still has options remaining, meaning a team that acquires him could keep him in Triple-A for depth purposes.

As for Whitlock, he was scheduled to start Sunday’s game, meaning the club will have a rotation hole to fill. He started the year in the bullpen but has gradually been shifted into the rotation. He was getting better results as a reliever, though it’s possible this hip issue has contributed to his dampened results. Through the end of April, he had a 0.54 ERA, though it’s been 5.06 since.

Red Sox To Select Rob Refsnyder

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The Red Sox are selecting the contract of utility player Rob Refsnyder, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. A corresponding move will be required in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster for him. Additionally, the club announced it has reinstated right-hander Hansel Robles from the IL and optioned fellow righty Phillips Valdez in a corresponding move.

Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, Refsnyder joined the big league club earlier this year but was designated as a Covid substitute and therefore was able to be removed from the roster without being exposed to waivers. He got into three games in April before being returned to the minors. He’s having a monster season in Triple-A through 42 games on the season, with a batting line of .306/.429/.524. That amounts to a wRC+ of 156, or 56% better than the league average hitter.

If Refsnyder, 31, can carry anything resembling that type of production to the big leagues, it would be a tremendous boon to the team and his own career numbers. In 235 MLB games to this point, he’s hit .226/.312/.312 for a wRC+ of 72. However, even if he doesn’t hit at an elite level, he’ll at least provide the team with some positional versatility. He’s spent time at first, second and third base as well as all three outfield positions in his career, though he’s only played in the outfield for Worcester this year.

The club hasn’t gotten much offensive production out of its outfield this year. Franchy Cordero, Alex Verdugo, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Arroyo each have a wRC+ between 55 and 95 on the year, indicating that they’ve all been hitting at below-average rates on the season. Enrique Hernandez, recently placed on the IL, also fits this bill with a wRC+ of 73 on the year.

As for Robles, he was dealing with back spasms and last pitched on May 22. He was off to a good start to the year before hitting the IL, throwing 17 innings with a 2.65 ERA. Their might have been some good fortune in there, however, as his 16.2% strikeout rate was well below his career rate of 25.3% and his .188 BABIP was nowhere near his .279 career number.

Red Sox Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Red Sox announced a set of roster moves prior to their doubleheader with the Orioles today, and as expected, right-hander Josh Winckowski was added to the roster as the 27th man.  Winckowski is slated to make his Major League debut when he starts the second game of the doubleheader.  In other moves, Hansel Robles was placed on the 15-day injured list, and Hirokazu Sawamura was optioned to Triple-A Worcester, while right-handers Ryan Brasier and Phillips Valdez were called up from Triple-A.

Robles is battling back spasms and hasn’t pitched since May 22 (his IL placement is retroactive to the 25th).  In an inconsistent season for the Red Sox bullpen, Robles has emerged as a closer candidate, recording two saves and recording a 2.65 ERA over 17 innings of work.  However, the secondary metrics aren’t impressed with Robles’ work — his strikeout rate is only 16.2%, and Robles has benefited from a .188 BABIP.

Sawamura has a solid 3.60 ERA over 15 innings this year, and his demotion is likely less a reflection of his performance than it is about restocking the bullpen with some fresher arms.  After pitching in three of the last four days, Sawamura will likely get a short breather in Triple-A before being called back up to Boston in a few days’ time.  Brasier (6.28 ERA) and Valdez (6.10) have each struggled at the big league level this year, and will get another chance to turn things around as the Sox continue to look for reliability late in games.

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