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Roenis Elias

Cubs Sign Sergio Alcantara, Roenis Elias To Minor League Deals

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The Cubs have inked infielder Sergio Alcántara and reliever Roenis Elías to minor league contracts, the team informed reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Both players receive invitations to MLB Spring Training.

Alcántara is back for a second stint in Chicago. The Cubs claimed him off waivers from the Tigers in February 2021, and he spent the year in the organization. The switch-hitting infielder played in just over half their MLB contests that season, picking up a personal-high 255 plate appearances. Alcántara hit only .205/.303/.327 with five home runs. Chicago designated him for assignment last March and sold his contract to the Diamondbacks.

For the 2022 campaign, Alcántara bounced between Arizona and the Padres on waivers. The Snakes lost him in May before bringing him back in July. He played out the year in the desert but was taken off the 40-man roster at season’s end. Upon going unclaimed on waivers, he became a minor league free agent.

Over parts of three MLB seasons, Alcántara owns a .209/.281/.343 line in 502 trips to the plate. He’s gone down on strikes at an elevated 26.9% clip and posted below-average power production while generally featuring at the bottom of a lineup. The 26-year-old has only 25 games of Triple-A experience and had a fairly light .261/.340/.317 showing in just under 900 plate appearances at Double-A.

While he’s never been much of a hitter, Alcántara is a well-regarded and versatile infield defender. He has plenty of experience at second, shortstop and third base and has rated favorably at shortstop in the eyes of public defensive metrics (albeit with curiously subpar marks at the less challenging second and third base positions). Scouts consistently credited him as a plus defensive shortstop throughout his time in the minors, even if longstanding questions about his bat have pointed to a utility future. He’ll add some familiarity and upper level experience to Cubs camp and compete for a spot on the bench behind Chicago’s middle infield tandem of Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner. Alcántara is out of minor league option years, so if he cracks the 40-man roster at any point, he’ll either have to stick in the majors or again be made available to other teams.

Elías is a veteran left-hander with parts of seven MLB campaigns under his belt. A starter for his first couple seasons with the Mariners, he has worked primarily out of the bullpen in recent years. Elías had some success with the Mariners and Nationals between 2018-19, but his career was sidetracked when his elbow blew out and he required Tommy John surgery in March 2021.

After losing that season to rehab, he returned on a minor league deal with Seattle in 2022. The 34-year-old briefly made it back to the big leagues, working seven times and allowing three runs over 7 1/3 innings. Elías averaged 93.5 MPH on his fastball in that look. He played the bulk of the season with Seattle’s top affiliate in Tacoma, working primarily as a long reliever. In 65 innings across 37 appearances (nine of which were starts), he managed a 5.12 ERA. Elías only posted a 19.8% strikeout percentage, though he limited walks to a 6.8% clip.

Outrighted off Seattle’s roster midseason, the veteran reached minor league free agency at year’s end. He’ll battle for a bullpen spot in the spring, with the Cubs lacking in left-handed depth. Brandon Hughes looks assured of one spot, but he’s the only southpaw reliever on the 40-man roster. Elías will battle for playing time with fellow non-roster invitee Eric Stout and, likely, another player or two whom the Cubs bring in this offseason.

13 Players Elect Free Agency

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With the World Series kicking off on Friday, we’re only a couple weeks from the opening of the offseason. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

In recent weeks, we’ve provided periodic updates on players qualifying for minor league free agency. Here are the latest, courtesy of the MiLB.com transactions tracker.

Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Roenis Elias Accepts Outright Assignment With Mariners

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Mariners reliever Roenis Elias has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The left-hander had the right to elect free agency but he’ll forego that opportunity and report to the Rainiers in hopes of pitching his way back onto the M’s roster.

Elias has spent the majority of the season in Tacoma, tossing 17 1/3 innings over 14 appearances. He’s allowed only seven runs in that time (3.63 ERA), demonstrating strong control in the process. Elias has walked just 6.8% of batters faced, helping to compensate for a below-average 17.6% strikeout rate.

That generally solid work earned him a pair of looks on the big league roster. The M’s first brought Elias up as a temporary COVID substitute in mid-May, then formally selected him onto the 40-man a couple weeks later. Between the two stints, the 33-year-old worked 7 2/3 innings of three-run ball. He fanned six, walked three and allowed one home run before being designated for assignment this week.

This season’s return marked the culmination of a couple seasons of injury rehab for the veteran hurler. Elias spent all of 2020 on the Nationals’ injured list battling a flexor strain in his forearm. The following spring, he required Tommy John surgery after latching on with the Mariners via minor league deal. That cost him all of last season, but Seattle signed him to a two-year minor league contract to see through the rehab process in hopes of a 2022 comeback. He’s now appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons, compiling a 3.96 ERA in just under 400 innings.

Mariners Designate Sergio Romo, Roenis Elias For Assignment

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The Mariners announced four roster moves Monday, reinstating righty Ken Giles from the 60-day injured list and recalling infielder Kevin Padlo from Triple-A Tacoma. In order to create roster space, right-hander Sergio Romo and lefty Roenis Elias were designated for assignment.

Romo, signed to a one-year, $2MM deal late in the offseason after it was learned that Casey Sadler required season-ending shoulder surgery, was sharp through his first month as a Mariner but has seen the wheels come off in dramatic fashion. The 39-year-old sidearmer yielded just one run through his first eight innings before the Orioles tattooed him for five runs in two-third of an inning back on June 1.

That marked the beginning of a monumental meltdown that has seen the three-time World Series champion and former All-Star serve up a dozen runs in his past 6 1/3 frames. Romo has allowed runs in five of his past nine appearances, giving up multiple runs in an outing four times during that calamitous stretch.

Given the extent of those struggles and the fact that he’s on a guaranteed salary (albeit a fairly modest one), Romo is quite likely to go unclaimed on waivers and become a free agent. Any team that wants to speculate on helping him right the ship would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the Majors at that point. Romo hasn’t experienced a velocity drop — he’s still sitting at 85.6 mph with his sinker and in the 77-78 range with his signature slider — and is still inducing chases off the plate at a huge 37.8% clip. Given that context and his broader track record, he ought to have another opportunity out there — particularly if he’s willing to take a minor league deal somewhere.

As for the 33-year-old Elias, he’s pitched far better with the Mariners in 2022, albeit in a smaller sample of 7 2/3 innings. During that time, the veteran lefty has fanned six of 33 opponents (18.2%) while walking three (9.1%) and inducing grounders at a robust 50% clip. That marks Elias’ first big league action since the 2019 season, as he was sidelined for much of the 2020-21 seasons due to arm injuries — culminating in Tommy John surgery last March.

Elias has been similarly solid in Triple-A this year, notching a 3.63 ERA with a 17.6% strikeout rate against a sharp 6.8% walk rate and a 44.6% grounder rate in 17 1/3 innings. It’s possible he’ll hold some appeal to bullpen-hungry clubs, particularly those in need of a lefty. In 395 2/3 innings at the MLB level, Elias has a 3.96 ERA — although that mark is at 3.30 dating back to a 2017 move to the bullpen.

Giles, 31, will be activated for his team debut. Signed to a two-year, $7MM contract knowing he’d miss the first year of the deal recovering from 2020 Tommy John surgery, Giles brings a a triple-digit heater and 115 career saves to the Seattle bullpen. His minor league rehab assignment, however, was grisly. The former Phillies, Astros and Blue Jays closer logged 7 1/3 innings between High-A and Triple-A but was shellacked for 16 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits and eight walks in that time. Giles also served up four long balls in that stretch.

Some rust after a long layoff is to be expected, but those minor league struggles are nevertheless eye-opening. However, it’s worth noting that in addition to that 2020 Tommy John procedure, Giles suffered a strained tendon in his pitching hand back in Spring Training, which sent him back to the IL for the first two-plus months of the season.

At his best, Giles has shown the ability to be one of the game’s very best relievers. He tallied 53 innings of 1.87 ERA ball as recently as 2019 with Toronto, striking out 40% of his opponents along the way. And in 351 career innings, Giles boasts a 2.74 ERA with a huge 33.3% strikeout rate against a better-than-average 7.7% walk rate. Time will tell which version of the righty the Mariners are getting, but if he’s back to form, Giles could either be a key bullpen piece down the stretch or, if the Mariners continue to struggle, an appealing trade chip in six weeks’ time.

Mariners Select Roenis Elias

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The Mariners announced they’ve selected left-hander Roenis Elías onto the big league roster. Seattle had optioned reliever Drew Steckenrider to Triple-A Tacoma last night to clear a spot on the active roster. In order to open space on the 40-man, righty Riley O’Brien has been designated for assignment.

It’s the second time Elías has gotten a major league call, although this stint figures to be more lasting. The 33-year-old was brought up for a series in Toronto when a handful of Seattle players went on the restricted list because of their vaccination status. Elías was a designated COVID-19 substitute for that weekend, however, and he was removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Triple-A after a few days. He made one appearance, allowing a run on a hit and two walks in one inning.

Elías has otherwise spent the season in Tacoma, making 14 appearances. He’s worked 17 1/3 innings of 3.63 ERA ball, posting lower than average strikeout (17.6%) and walk (6.8%) marks. Elías has yet to allow a home run this year in spite of a fairly ordinary 44.6% ground-ball rate. He’ll offer manager Scott Servais a multi-inning arm out of the bullpen.

Steckenrider had been a key reliever for the M’s last season. An offseason minor league signee, the righty made the Opening Day roster and eventually pitched his way into high-leverage work. He wound up posting an even 2.00 ERA through 67 2/3 innings, an impact contributor to a bullpen that was among the reasons the M’s overperformed and won 90 games. Steckenrider’s below-average strikeout and grounder numbers suggested he wasn’t likely to be quite so dominant again, but he showed solid control and was generally reliable.

That hasn’t been the case in 2022, as his early performance has dipped more than anyone would’ve seen coming. Through 14 1/3 frames, he owns a 5.65 ERA. His already fringy 21.7% strikeout percentage has dropped to just 14.7%, and he’s surrendered a pair of homers. The M’s can only hope that a stint with the Rainiers can get Steckenrider more reasonably back on track, as Seattle has had one of the league’s least effective relief corps this year.

Seattle acquired O’Brien from the Reds in exchange for cash last month. The 27-year-old made just one big league appearance with his hometown club, spending the rest of his time on optional assignment to Tacoma. He’s allowed five runs in ten innings at the minors top level, striking out 14 but issuing 11 walks. O’Brien has worked exclusively in relief this year after starting 22 of his 23 outings with the Reds’ highest affiliate last season, where he pitched to a 4.55 ERA across 112 2/3 frames.

The Mariners will have a week to trade O’Brien or try to run him through outright waivers. The 27-year-old only has a pair of MLB appearances to his name. He’s had success missing bats at the Triple-A level but also dealt with some control concerns. O’Brien still has a couple minor league option years remaining and has already been traded twice in his career, so it’s certainly possible he changes hands again in the coming days.

Mariners Return Roenis Elias To Triple-A

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May 19: The Mariners announced that Elias has been returned to Triple-A Tacoma. That he wasn’t passed through waivers indicates that he was indeed treated as a Covid substitute player, despite the fact that the team did not originally specify him as one. He’ll remain with the organization but won’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Steckenrider, meanwhile, has been reinstated from the restricted list.

May 16: The Mariners have selected the contract of left-hander Roenis Elias from Triple-A Tacoma, per a team announcement. Right-hander Drew Steckenrider, meanwhile, has been placed on the restricted list in advance of their forthcoming three-game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Steckenrider is temporarily removed from the 40-man roster while on the restricted list, so the Mariners didn’t need to make an additional move to accommodate the return of Elias, who pitched with Seattle from 2014-15 and 2018-19.

Elias, 33, returned to the Mariners in hopes of a third stint when he signed a minor league deal prior to the 2021 season. He tore his left elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament during Spring Training 2021, however, and missed the entire season after the subsequent Tommy John surgery. He’s healthy again, having pitched 14 2/3 innings of 4.30 ERA ball with an 11-to-4 K/BB ratio in Triple-A Tacoma so far in 2022.

Elias has spent parts of four previous seasons with the Mariners, and while he’s also pitched with the Red Sox and Nationals, he’s never found much success outside Seattle. In 377 career innings as a Mariner, the Cuban-born southpaw has a 3.75 ERA, 14 saves and a shutout (during his 2014 run as a starter). He’s logged a combined 11 innings between Boston and Washington, surrendering 15 runs in those brief stints.

It could be a short stay on the roster for Elias, although it’s worth noting that the Mariners did not classify him as a Covid-related “substitute” player. Rather, Seattle made formal announcement of his selection to the 40-man roster. Team-by-team terminology tends to vary with respect to Covid substitutes, but the implication in this instance certainly seems to be that there’s some degree of permanence to this move. If that’s indeed the case, Elias can’t be sent back to Triple-A unless he first passes through outright waivers unclaimed. Even then, he’d have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate, should he choose.

As for Steckenrider, he’ll be away from the team for this three-game set and presumably rejoin them Thursday when they continue the current road trip in Boston. Travel regulations in Canada prevent unvaccinated athletes from entering the country to compete against Canadian-based teams.

Steckenrider, 31, was a revelation for the Mariners last year after signing a minor league deal. In 67 innings, he pitched to a flat 2.00 ERA with 14 saves, seven holds, a 21.7% strikeout rate and a 6.4% walk rate. It looked to be the start of an impressive rebound for Steckenrider, who shined as a setup man with the Marlins early in his career before injuries derailed his 2019-20 seasons. However, he’s stumbled again in 2022, limping to a 4.85 ERA with diminished strikeout and walk rates (15% and 8.3%, respectively). To Steckenrider’s credit, he’s been dogged by a bloated .356 average on balls in play, but even if one were to chalk some of his struggles up to that woeful BABIP, the sharp downturn in his K-BB% is nevertheless a concern. He’s being paid a $3.1MM salary this season and can be controlled through 2023 via arbitration.

West Notes: Angels, Detmers, Mariners, Lewis, Elias, Rockies, Freeland

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Reid Detmers will open the season in the Angels six-man rotation, per Jeff Fletcher of the SoCal News group (via Twitter). Detmers made five starts in 2021 to mixed results, but the Angels have high hopes that the 22-year-old will develop into a rotation staple. For now, he’ll join Shohei Ohtani, Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Sandoval, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Suarez in manager Joe Maddon’s rotation. There’s a fair amount of injury concern in the group, but it’s also one of the higher ceiling units the Angels have started with in the rotation during Maddon’s tenure. As with most seasons, the Angels hopes for contention will hinge largely on the success of this group. Elsewhere out west…

  • Neither Kyle Lewis nor Roenis Elias will be ready to make the Mariners’ opening day roster, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Elias is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t appeared in a big league game since September of the 2019 season. As for Lewis, the Mariners are taking their time bringing back the 2019 Rookie of the Year. The next step for Lewis’ rehab will be to begin serving as the designated hitter in minor league games, notes Divish, with manager Scott Servais pegging Lewis’ return as being about a month behind the rest of the squad.
  • Kyle Freeland will get the ball on opening day for the Rockies, per Danielle Allentuck of The Gazette. It will be his second time as the Rockies’ opening day starter, having done so in 2019 as well. No Rockies starter has ever made three opening day starts for the club. The 28-year-old has put together 191 1/3 innings of 4.33 ERA/4.64 FIP over the past two seasons after a disastrous 2019 campaign.

Roenis Elias To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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MARCH 16,10:27pm: Elias has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will undergo Tommy John surgery, per Divish, who adds that the Mariners have offered him a two-year minor league contract to keep him in the organization as he recovers.

4:06pm:: Elias will undergo surgery, Divish tweets. Further details aren’t yet available.

MARCH 14: Mariners left-hander Roenis Elías suffered a serious injury to his throwing forearm/elbow, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Corey Brock of the Athletic and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). He’s slated to undergo further evaluation.

With any serious injury to a pitcher’s forearm and/or elbow, one tends to fear a potential Tommy John surgery. There’s no specific indication that procedure (or any other) is yet on the table in Elías’ case. Nevertheless, it’s clear he won’t be an option to start the season and could seemingly be out an extended period of time.

Elías most recently pitched for Seattle between 2018-19, even serving as the team’s closer for part of the latter season. He was traded to the Nationals at the 2019 deadline but was limited to three innings with Washington by injuries. The 32-year-old then missed the entire 2020 season with a flexor strain in his elbow. Elías returned to the Mariners on a minor league deal in January after demonstrating improved health in an offseason showcase. Unfortunately, it seems he’s now in for another injury-related absence.

Mariners Sign Roenis Elias, Paul Sewald To Minor League Deals

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The Mariners announced that they have signed left-hander Roenis Elias, righty Paul Sewald and infielder Jantzen Witte to minor league contracts.

This will be the third Mariners stint for Elias, who was previously with the team from 2014-15 and again from 2018-19. Formerly a starter, the 32-year-old has put up a 3.75 ERA over 377 innings in Seattle to this point. He has also taken the mound for the Red Sox and Nationals, though Elias has not pitched in the majors since 2019, owing in part to a flexor strain he suffered last season. Overall, Elias has logged a 3.97 ERA with a strikeout percentage of 19.7 and a walk percentage of 9.0 during his 388-inning big league career.

Sewald spent the first four seasons of his MLB tenure as a Met, but the 30-year-old struggled to a 5.50 ERA in 147 1/3 frames during that span. Witte, 31, has not played in the majors yet. The former Red Sox farmhand took 1,227 plate appearances at the Triple-A level for them and hit .261/.333/.370.

Health Notes: Honeywell, Chapman, Bellinger, Elias

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Rays prospect recently Brent Honeywell underwent a staggering fourth elbow surgery since his last in-game appearance back in 2017, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The latest operation, however, was an arthroscopic procedure to alleviate some mild discomfort and is not expected to impact Honeywell’s readiness for the upcoming 2021 season. Optimistic prognosis notwithstanding, the mounting number of arm injuries for Honeywell, once touted as one of he game’s premier pitching, is increasingly troubling. Honeywell has previously undergone Tommy John surgery, had surgery to repair a fracture in his elbow and undergone an ulnar nerve decompression procedure. He’s still just 25 years old (26 in March) and has a career 2.88 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 416 professional innings.

Some more health/injury updates from around the game…

  • Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman is “full speed ahead” after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip ended his 2020 season prematurely, manager Bob Melvin told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). He’s expected to be a full participant in Spring Training. Chapman’s agent, Scott Boras, indicated this week that he’d likely be ready for Spring Training, but it’s all the more encouraging to hear prominent members of the A’s organization making similar declarations. Chapman belted 10 homers in 152 plate appearances this past season, but he was clearly dogged by the injury, as evidenced by a career-worst 35.5 percent strikeout rate (up from 21.9 percent in 2019).
  • Cody Bellinger’s rehab from last month’s shoulder surgery is ahead of schedule, Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts said in a Zoom call with reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times). At the time of the surgery, it was reported that he’d need about 10 weeks to recover, although Roberts stopped short of proclaiming Bellinger ready for Spring Training, instead merely stating that the team hoped he could be “somewhat active” early in camp. Bellinger is expected to serve as the Dodgers’ primary center fielder again in 2020, which shouldn’t come as a surprise after he was named a Gold Glove finalist in 2020.
  • Free-agent left-hander Roenis Elias will throw for teams this Sunday in Texas as he looks to show that he’s put his a season-ending flexor strain behind him. The 32-year-old Elias didn’t pitch in 2020 after he opened the season on the Covid-19 list and then sustained that flexor strain when ramping back up. Sent from Seattle to D.C. at the 2019 trade deadline, Elias only pitched three innings for the Nats due to a hamstring injury. He was sharp with the Mariners from 2018-19, however, working to a 3.12 ERA and 3.84 FIP with 7.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 0.83 HR/9 in 98 innings of relief.
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