Poll: The Handling Of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Eloy Jimenez
Two of the most talented players in Triple-A will remain there throughout the month of September. Third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Eloy Jimenez will not receive a cup of coffee in the majors this month, per recent announcements from the Blue Jays and White Sox, respectively.
To those well-versed in MLB service time rules and practices, this news induces a reaction closer to a yawn than a surprise; teams have been using the service clock to manipulate team control for quite some time, and there was no reason to believe that would change in regards to Guerrero Jr. or Jimenez. Recent examples of players whose service time has been suppressed by their respective teams in order to yield them an additional year of team control include Kris Bryant, George Springer and Ronald Acuna Jr., and that list is far from complete. Others still, including the likes of Francisco Lindor, have been held in the minors long enough to reduce their earning power.
That doesn’t mean agents are quieting down about the issue, though. Both players’ representatives have been vocal in regards to their clients’ dearth of a promotion, as well they ought to be considering they’ll miss out on a significant amount of money. Jimenez’ agent in particular blasted with White Sox for service time manipulation. “Especially with elite players like Eloy and (Blue Jays top prospect) Vlad (Guerrero) Jr., that’s the nature of the business,” said Dan Kinzer. “It’s not about the money. It’s the extra year of control.” Similarly, the MLBPA has spoken out against Chicago and Toronto on the subject.
Perhaps J.J. Cooper of Baseball America put it best in his recent piece on the subject: it’s impossible to objectively argue that these players don’t deserve a call up based on performance. Guerrero Jr. has hit .336/.414/.564 with a microscopic 7.8% strikeout rate since his promotion to Triple-A this season, while Jimenez owns an even more excellent .355/.399/.597 line to go along with a 13.2% strikeout rate. Put simply, opposing pitchers aren’t fooling these prospects, and there’s no real reason development-wise that they ought not be exposed to major-league pitching. That’s particularly true in light of the fact that the White Sox promoted low-ceiling prospect Ryan Cordell, while the Blue Jays selected Triple-A veteran Rowdy Tellez. Whatever good there is to say of these young players, any attempt to argue that they’ve done more to earn a promotion than Guerrero Jr. or Jimenez would require a staggering amount of cognitive dissonance.
These teams are clearly planning to restrain their top prospects within the confines of Triple-A until the third week of April 2019, regardless of how well they hit. That’s the point at which they’ll be guaranteed an additional year of team control that allows them to keep those future superstars around through the 2026 season rather than hit free agency after 2025. It’s a distinction that could potentially cost them eight figures in earning power apiece depending on how they develop in the majors.
The question I want to pose is, how do you feel about the overt suppression of service time to manipulate a player’s team control? (Poll link for app users)
Is Service Clock Manipulation Bad For Baseball?
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Yes, but there's no good way to prevent it so oh well. 34% (4,315)
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Yes, it's abhorrent. 33% (4,257)
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No, it's not a big deal at all. 33% (4,147)
Total votes: 12,719
Blue Jays Select Jonathan Davis, Designate Mike Hauschild
The Blue Jays announced today that they have selected the contract of outfielder Jonathan Davis. In a corresponding move, righty Mike Hauschild was designated for assignment.
In other promotions, the club has called up outfielder Dwight Smith Jr., infielder Richard Urena, and first baseman Rowdy Tellez. All were already on the 40-man roster, so no further moves were needed.
Davis, a 15th-round pick in the 2013 draft, will get his first promotion after turning in mixed results in the upper minors. Though he had an impress showing at Double-A, Davis has only managed a .249/.308/.389 slash in his 202 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors. He did, however, turn in his third-straight minor-league season with at least ten home runs and twenty steals.
As for the 28-year-old Hauschild, he has seen limited MLB action over the past two seasons. At Triple-A this year, with the Houston and Toronto organizations, he has worked to a cumulative 4.90 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 119 1/3 innings.
AL Notes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Athletics, Indians
A few notes from the American League:
- The cost for the Red Sox to purchase right-hander Hector Velazquez from the Mexican League last week was just $30K, reports Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. Velazquez’s pact with the Red Sox includes escalators based on consecutive days he spends on Boston’s roster, and one general manager told Drellich it’s the first such deal he has seen. Red Sox front office members Allard Baird, Jared Banner, Marcus Cuellar and Edgar Perez were all involved in the signing, per Drellich. Velazquez is familiar with Cuellar, notes Drellich, which helped the Sox beat out other teams (including the Yankees) for his services.
- Blue Jays first base prospect Rowdy Tellez is “knocking at the door” of the big league roster, manager John Gibbons said Saturday (via Paul Hagen of MLB.com). Continued Gibbons: “You just watch him more and more. There’s something there. Something special there.” Since going in the 30th round of the 2013 draft, Tellez has raked in the minors, including at the Double-A level last season. The 21-year-old slashed .297/.387/.530 with 23 home runs and 63 walks against 92 strikeouts. Now Baseball America’s 95th-ranked prospect, Tellez is likely to start the year with Triple-A Buffalo, relays Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
- Righty Daniel Gossett made a surprise start for the Athletics on Sunday, leading Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle to wonder if he could be in the mix for the last spot in the team’s rotation. Manager Bob Melvin isn’t ruling it out. “He impressed everybody in the organization last year, so in talking about that fifth starter, who knows?” said Melvin. Gossett, 24, checks in at No. 8 on BA’s list of A’s prospects after pitching at all three levels last year. The 2014 second-round pick spent most of his time at Double-A, where he posted a 2.49 ERA, 9.00 K/9 and 2.39 BB/9 in 94 innings.
- Non-roster invitee Ronny Rodriguez has emerged as a serious candidate to earn a role as a utility infielder with the Indians, writes Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Rodriguez, who’s competing against Michael Martinez and Erik Gonzalez (a potential trade chip), has won the favor of manager Terry Francona. “He’s got a lot of sock in his bat,” said the skipper. “He can play other positions. He’s really interesting. I don’t think you hold it against a guy, because he maybe spent more time in the Minor Leagues. Some guys figure it out later in life. He’s got all the tools.”