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Astros Place Jose Altuve On Injured List, Select J.J. Matijevic

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The Astros announced today that Jose Altuve has been placed on the injured list with a left hamstring strain. J.J. Matijevic had his contract selected to take Altuve’s place on the active roster. To make space on the 40-man, Taylor Jones was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day IL.

Altuve had been removed from Monday’s game with the hamstring issue and then sat out yesterday’s game. Although it appeared that Altuve might just miss a few games, it now appears the club will give him a stint on the IL to get healed up. He’s off to a slow start this year, hitting just .167/.268/.250 in his first 41 plate appearances.

Matijevic, 26, will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game. Selected by the Astros 75th overall in the 2017 draft, Matijevic was recently ranked the #39 prospect in the organization by Baseball America. Their report praised the power in his bat but noted that he needed to improve his first base defense. He’s off to a torrid start at the plate this year, hitting four home runs in his first 11 games and slashing .310/.420/.714. While primarily a first baseman, he’s also seen significant time in left field.

Jones was placed on the 10-day IL a couple of weeks ago with a lower back injury, though it now appears it’s serious enough to keep him on the shelf until at least June.

Astros Select Ronel Blanco, Designate Tyler Ivey For Assignment

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The Astros set their Opening Day roster Thursday, announcing that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Ronel Blanco and designated righty Tyler Ivey for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Houston also placed Lance McCullers Jr. (forearm strain), Jake Meyers (recovering from shoulder surgery) and Taylor Jones (lower back injury) on the 10-day injured list.

Once he appears in a game, Blanco will make his MLB debut at the age of 28.  He spent all of last year at Triple-A, punching out 31.7% of hitters while walking 8.9% with a 40.4% groundball rate.  According to Chandler Rome of Baseball America, Blanco would have been a “virtual lock” to be selected in the Rule 5 draft, had that event not been canceled.  Rome notes that Blanco, who was signed out of the Dominican Republic six years ago for $5,000, surprisingly beat out several pitchers with MLB experience to make the Astros’ opening day bullpen.  Houston’s 10-man crew also includes Ryan Pressly, Ryne Stanek, Hector Neris, Phil Maton, Blake Taylor, Pedro Baez, Rafael Montero, Bryan Abreu, and Cristian Javier.

Ivey, 26 next month, made his MLB debut with the Astros last May in a spot start against the Rangers.  A few weeks afterward, his season ended due to a nerve issue in his elbow.  At that time, Ivey admitted in an illuminating story by Rome for the Houston Chronicle that he’d been pitching through pain since 2019, concealing it from the team to maintain his shot at reaching the Majors.  The injury turned out to be thoracic outlet syndrome, which the righty dealt with via rehab rather than surgery.

The Astros had optioned Ivey to Triple-A on March 24th.  Baseball America assigned Ivey a 50 grade as a prospect, explaining that he’s “a potential middle-to-back-of-the-rotation starter candidate if he can stay healthy.”  Having ranked as the Astros’ seventh-best prospect, it seems likely Ivey will be claimed off waivers by another organization.

Astros Designate Robel Garcia For Assignment

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The Astros are designating infielder Robel García for assignment, relays Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Reliever Rafael Montero was also transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. The moves create a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster needed to reinstate Taylor Jones and Andre Scrubb from the injured list (Jones from the COVID-19 IL, Scrubb from the 60-day version). Both Jones and Scrubb were optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land.

García has had one of the crazier career arcs of any player over the past few seasons. He spent a few years at the lowest levels of the Indians system but was released having topped out in Low-A. The Cubs spotted García playing professional ball in Italy a few years later and signed him to a minor league deal going into the 2019 season.

Assigned to Double-A, García mashed over the season’s first month before being bumped up to the minors’ top level. He popped 21 home runs in just 296 Triple-A plate appearances to earn his first big league call that July. The switch-hitting infielder hit another five homers in 80 trips to the plate at the big league level, but he also struck out 35 times.

Chicago designated García for assignment last July, and he spent the campaign at the Reds’ alternate training site after Cincinnati claimed him off waivers. He briefly landed with the Mets and Angels via waiver claim over the offseason and stuck with Houston after the Astros claimed him in February. He’s taken 117 plate appearances at the major league level this season, struggling to a .151/.216/.208 line with a huge 35.9% strikeout rate. The utilityman has had similar swing-and-miss issues in Triple-A, hitting .189/.321/.422 in 109 trips to the plate.

The Astros will now place García on outright or release waivers. His combination of power and ability to cover any position on the dirt has attracted the interest of a few teams around the league, although his continued strikeout problems have kept him from producing much to date at the big league level. García still has a minor league option year remaining after this season, so it’s possible a team could claim him and keep him in the system as high minors infield depth.

Houston acquired Montero alongside Kendall Graveman as part of a deadline deal with the Mariners. Montero had underperformed in Seattle and was included in the deal largely to offset salary. He performed well over his first four appearances with the Astros, tossing six innings of one-run ball. Unfortunately, right shoulder discomfort landed him on the IL just a couple weeks after the trade.

Today’s transfer rules Montero out for sixty days from August 10, the date of his initial IL placement. It’s theoretically possible he could make it back for a postseason run, but it seems more likely he won’t return this season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the fourth and final time of his career this offseason. If tendered a contract, he’d be in line for a slight raise on this season’s $2.25MM salary.

Scrubb returns for the first time since mid-July, when he landed on the IL with a shoulder strain. The 26-year-old has worked 19 2/3 frames of 5.03 ERA ball, striking out a decent 24.4% of batters faced but issuing walks at an alarming 16.3% clip. Jones, meanwhile, is back after missing a couple weeks upon testing positive for the coronavirus. He’s hitting .245/.269/.402 across 108 plate appearances.

Astros Place Zack Greinke On COVID-19 Injured List

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The Astros are placing starter Zack Greinke and corner infielder Taylor Jones on the COVID-19 injured list, Mark Berman of Fox 26 was among those to pass along. Righty Josh James and infielder Robel García have been recalled in corresponding moves.

It isn’t yet clear whether either of Greinke or Jones has actually tested positive for the virus. Players can land on the COVID list for feeling viral symptoms or for exposure. However, manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle) that Greinke won’t make his next scheduled start. Greinke last pitched on Sunday, when he was tagged for six runs in four innings against the Rangers. That brought his season line to a 3.66 ERA/4.55 SIERA across 159 2/3 innings.

That rotation spot could be filled by José Urquidy. The righty has been on a minor league rehab assignment for around two weeks. Urquidy, who has a 3.38 ERA in 77 1/3 innings, hasn’t pitched since June 29 because of shoulder discomfort.

Astros Place Yordan Alvarez On 45-Day Injured List

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August 23: Alvarez was transferred to the 45-day injured list today, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Right-hander Chase DeJong had his contract selected for the 40-man roster, while Humberto Castellanos was optioned.

August 18: The Astros announced that DH Yordan Alvarez has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 16) due to right knee discomfort.  Infielder Taylor Jones has been called up from Houston’s alternate training site to take Alvarez’s roster spot.

Alvarez has appeared in only two games for the Astros this season, as he missed all of Summer Camp for undisclosed reasons and thus needed a few weeks to ramp up before joining the active roster.  Even once playing and even while homering and singling over his nine plate appearances, Alvarez was hampered by his knees, as he was a late scratch from Sunday’s lineup.  An MRI was negative, as Alvarez’s issues may simply be chronic.

“I asked [Alvarez] when did he start having these problems, and he said back in Double-A,” manager Dusty Baker told MLB.com’s Alyson Footer and other reporters yesterday.  “Most of the time when you have knee problems, they don’t subside very quickly. And when they do, they have a history of coming back.”

The Astros were only planning to use Alvarez only as a DH this season, and it seems possible that the 23-year-old might already be ticketed for DH-only duty at this early stage in his career if his knee problems prevent him from taking the field at first base or in left field.  That certainly puts a limitation on Alvarez’s overall value, though he has already shown a lot of talent at the plate — a whopping .313/.412/.655 slash line and 27 homers over 369 PA in 2019 earned Alvarez the American League’s Rookie Of The Year award.

Pitching injuries have been the story of the Astros’ season thus far, though the club is now missing two of its top bats with Alvarez and Michael Brantley both on the IL.  Jones, a 19th-round pick in the 2016 draft, may be more suited for bench depth than a regular role, though he did hit .291/.388/.501 over 531 Triple-A plate appearances in 2019 (albeit in the most hitter-friendly Triple-A season in history).  Jones made his big league debut earlier this season, appearing in one game for the Astros.

Astros Place Justin Verlander On Injured List, Select Brandon Bielak

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The Astros have placed Justin Verlander on 10-day injured list due to a forearm strain and selected the contract of right-hander Brandon Bielak, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets. Houston has also optioned infielder Taylor Jones to alternate camp and recalled right-hander Nivaldo Rodriguez.

Verlander yesterday publicly denied a report that he’s expected to miss the rest of the 2020 season with the injury, tweeting that he is hopeful rest will heal the current issue and allow him to return. For now, Verlander won’t throw for at least two weeks and will be re-evaluated after that shutdown. In his absence, a once-formidable rotation now looks vulnerable. Lance McCullers Jr. was sharp in his return effort from Tommy John surgery, and veteran Zack Greinke is remains a high-end option. But the options beyond that pair include Framber Valdez, Josh James and several other largely unproven names (Bielak among them).

Bielak, 24, was the Astros’ 11th-round pick back in 2017 and currently ranks in the top half to top third of the team’s 30 best prospects. He split the 2019 season between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching to a combined 4.22 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate. Both MLB.com and FanGraphs label him as a potential fourth/fifth starter in their reports on him, noting that he lacks a true plus pitch but has average across-the-board offerings, a durable frame and history of throwing strikes.

Rodriguez, 23, might not have gotten the call in a normal season, as he’s never pitched above A-ball. However, the Astros are more limited in their choices, so he’ll jump straight to the big leagues on the heels of last year’s 2.40 ERA, 9.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 105 frames between Class-A and Class-A Advanced.

Astros Place Aledmys Diaz On Injured List

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The Houston Astros have placed Aledmys Diaz on the injured list with a groin strain, per Mark Berman, the Sports Director at Fox 26. Taylor Jones is set to take over his roster spot.

Last season was Diaz’s first with the Astros. He joined the club from the Blue Jays in a straight-up swap for righty Trent Thornton. The utility infielder served his purpose in limited playing time last year, slashing .271/.356/.467 over 247 plate appearances. Houston’s stacked infield doesn’t allow for a ton of playing time for Diaz, though he’ll continue to serve as valuable injury insurance for the reigning AL champs. He appeared at first, second, third, short, left, and designate hitter for the Astros in 2019.

Diaz got the start at DH on Opening Day for the Astros this season, notching a single and a run scored in two at-bats before being replaced by Abraham Toro.

Jones, 26, will be making his major-league debut. He spent last season with Triple-A Round Rock, slashing an impressive .291/.388/.501 with 22 home runs, 86 runs, and 84 RBIs. Jones doesn’t offer quite the positional versatility of Diaz – but he’s not far off. Last year he played in all four corners. Despite the strong numbers last season, the 6’7″ Taylor is not considered one of the Astros better prospects. He didn’t make Fangraphs’ list of top-40 Astros’ prospects, though he did draw mention as a “masher” with enough power to rank with at least some big-league potential.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
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