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NL West Notes: Dodgers, Sandoval, Padres, Buchholz

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With the Dodgers trying to stay under the $197MM competitive-balance tax threshold and unsure if they’ll contend this year, they’re not in position to act aggressively on the trade market, says FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link). Given that the athletic Cody Bellinger may be a better fit in center field than at first base, Rosenthal notes that Los Angeles looks like a fit on paper for White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. However, Abreu is making $13MM – a salary which would be problematic for the tax-minded Dodgers, whose payroll is just above $186MM – and Rosenthal points out that the club may be more focused on bolstering its pitching if it does look to upgrade its roster via trade. The Dodgers’ staff might have taken yet another costly hit Saturday when left-hander Rich Hill exited his start after throwing a mere two pitches, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report. Hill’s longstanding blister issues may have led to his departure, McCullough suggests.

Here’s more from the NL West:

  • The Giants are considering using big-bodied corner infielder Pablo Sandoval at second base, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. Sandoval has been taking grounders recently at the keystone with guidance from infield coach Ron Wotus, who said that the longtime third baseman “looks good. He has quick feet and good hands. So far, so good.” San Francisco’s in position to ponder this experiment because second basemen Joe Panik and Alen Hanson are on the disabled list. Moreover, Kelby Tomlinson and Miguel Gomez haven’t been particularly effective at the plate, while the 31-year-old Sandoval has hit a solid .270/.329/.429 in 70 PAs. That represents Sandoval’s best production in several years, though it’s obviously too soon to determine whether the Panda’s truly turning back into a useful hitter.
  • Padres reliever Kirby Yates has emerged as one of the best waiver pickups in recent memory, thanks in part to the development of a splitter, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com writes. Yates, whom San Diego claimed from the Angels in April 2017, has posted a 3.06 ERA with 13.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 70 2/3 innings as a Padre. The club can take some credit for Yates’ breakout, as it has encouraged the 31-year-old to use his splitter – a pitch he has tossed 32 percent of the time this season en route to dominant results, Cassavell details. “The Angels didn’t want me to get away from the slider,” Yates told Cassavell. “I wasn’t necessarily going to get away from the slider, but I was trying to add a third pitch. When I got here, it was, ’We like your split, we want you to throw it more.’“
  • Veteran right-hander Clay Buchholz’s minors pact with the Diamondbacks comes with a prorated $1.6MM major league salary, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic tweets. Buchholz will begin earning that sum Sunday when he makes a start against the Mets. It’ll be the 33-year-old’s first MLB appearance since April 11, 2017.

Padres Release Chase Headley

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May 19th: The Padres have made an official announcement of Headley’s release.

May 18th: The Padres have released Chase Headley following this past weekend’s DFA, tweets Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The veteran third baseman is now a free agent. San Diego has yet to make a formal announcement, though the move is listed both on the MLB.com transactions log and on the Padres’ transaction log at their official web site.

It’s hardly an unexpected outcome for the 34-year-old Headley, who opened the season with a dismal .115/.233/.135 performance through 60 trips to the plate and is earning $13MM in the final season of a four-year, $52MM contract that he initially signed with the Yankees. Any team to claim Headley off waivers would’ve been on the hook for the remaining $9.5MM of that figure. San Diego technically could’ve absorbed a notable chunk of that salary in a trade, but Headley’s performance this season surely didn’t drum up much interest from rival clubs in that regard.

Headley is now available to any club that wishes to sign him to a minor league contract, and he’ll only be owed the pro-rated portion of the league minimum under a new deal. That sum, subsequently, would be subtracted from the $9.5MM the Padres still owe him, so they could save at least a small portion of that money if he latches on elsewhere.

It’s unlikely that any team would plug Headley straight into its MLB roster, but he’d make sense for a club in need of some depth at the infield corners in Triple-A. While there seems to be a perception that Headley didn’t provide much of any value to the Yankees in 2017, that’s not really the case. In 586 plate appearances last year, Headley slashed .273/.352/.406 with a dozen homers, 30 doubles and a triple. That’s hardly elite production, but his overall output rated average or slightly better, after adjusting for park and league, per OPS+ (99) and wRC+ (104). Both Fangraphs (1.9) and Baseball-Reference (1.8) felt that he was worth roughly two wins above replacement.

For the Padres, the trade that brought Headley back to San Diego has provided poor results all around in the early going. The trade, of course, was never about acquiring Headley but rather acquiring right-hander Bryan Mitchell from the Yankees. In taking on the remainder of Headley’s contract, the Padres effectively purchased four years of control over Mitchell for $13MM.

Mitchell, though, hasn’t panned out whatsoever in San Diego and has already lost his rotation spot. The 27-year-old came to the Padres with a terrific minor league track record and had shown potential at times in the Majors as well, but he’s been rocked for a 6.21 ERA in 37 1/3 innings with his new organization. While early-season ERA numbers can often be misleading, Mitchell’s struggles aren’t merely the product of poor luck, though. He’s issued 29 walks in 37 1/3 frames — a considerably higher total than the meager 18 strikeouts he’s managed. Mitchell has also surrendered six home runs and yielded a 39.4 percent hard-contact rate to opposing batters, as well (30th-highest among 132 MLB pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched).

Because Mitchell is out of minor league options, the Padres weren’t able to send him to Triple-A to straighten out and were instead forced to move him into the bullpen. He logged a starter’s workload in his lone appearance out of the ’pen thus far, totaling 5 2/3 innings of long relief and allowing three runs — again with more walks (three) than strikeouts (two).

Certainly, there’s ample time for him to improve his performance and to even make the trade a worthwhile one. The Padres, after all, can afford to be patient with him in a long relief role given their 17-28 start to the season, but he’ll eventually need to display better control, as the Friars will become more serious about contending in 2019 and beyond.

Padres Place Joey Lucchesi On 10-Day DL

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The Padres have placed young lefty Joey Lucchesi on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced by infielder Carlos Asuaje, who had just been optioned down.

A hip strain is the official diagnosis for Lucchesi, who has been a revelation as a rookie. In his nine starts, he has reeled off 47 1/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball with 9.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. It is not known how long he’ll miss, but the 24-year-old will surely be handled with care by the Friars.

There’s no reason at present to believe that Lucchesi is dealing with a significant problem. If anything, early indications are that it’s not a major issue, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell wrote after Lucchesi threw five frames last night.

Erring on the side of caution is generally good policy with respect to young hurlers, particularly in the midst of a season that is exceedingly unlikely to result in a postseason berth. In this case, too, Lucchesi may be best off with at least some loose limitations on his workload. Last year, he threw 139 frames, adding nearly one hundred frames to his 2016 tally and representing a big step up from his first year as a professional.

Padres Promote Franmil Reyes

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TODAY: The move is now official. Asuaje will be the player who’s sent out. The 26-year-old has struggled to a .198/.263/.292 slash in 118 plate appearances.

YESTERDAY: The Padres will promote outfielder Franmil Reyes prior to Monday’s game against the Rockies, James E. Clark of the East Village Times reports.  The corresponding move isn’t yet known, though San Diego has an open 40-man spot after Chase Headley was designated for assignment on Saturday.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2011, the 22-year-old Reyes was something of an unheralded prospect entering the season, as he wasn’t ranked by either Baseball America or MLB.com as one of the top 30 minor leaguers in the Padres’ system despite solid numbers at the high-A and Double-A levels in 2016-17.  (Granted, the Padres’ farm system is particularly deep in quality prospects.)  In his first exposure to Triple-A pitching, however, Reyes has taken the Pacific Coast League by storm, entering today’s action with an astounding .346/.440/.748 slash line and 14 home runs over 150 plate appearances.

Reyes hit 16 homers at high-A ball in 2016 and 25 homers at Double-A last season, though his latest power surge is as eye-popping as it gets, even with the caveat that the PCL is a very hitter-friendly league.  Given that the Padres are lacking both home run pop and hitting in general, it makes that the team would ride the hot hand and see what Reyes can provide at the big league level.

It remains to be seen who will leave the roster to make room for Reyes, though the obvious candidate seems to be Matt Szczur, who has only 47 PA this season and is also a right-handed hitting outfielder.  Szczur is out of options, however, so if the Padres don’t want to expose him to waivers, Carlos Asuaje or perhaps a reliever could be candidates.  San Diego’s outfield situation could be further crowded by the return of Hunter Renfroe, who is working his way back from an elbow injury, though Renfroe has yet to begin a rehab assignment and could receive some extended time the minors anyway to get his own hitting on track.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/14/18

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Padres announced over the weekend that righty Michael Mariot was released from their Triple-A club. The former Royals and Phillies reliever has 49 2/3 innings of work under his belt in the Majors, all coming from 2014-16, though he’s struggled to an ERA just south of 6.00 in that time. The 29-year-old has never had much trouble missing bats in the minors since moving from a starting role to the ’pen, but he’s off to a dismal start in 2018 with a 12.15 ERA in 13 1/3 innings of work. Mariot did punch out 14 hitters with Triple-A El Paso, but he also walked seven, hit a batter and surrendered a whopping five homers in his 13 1/3 innings. Overall, he owns a 3.80 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 253 1/3 Triple-A innings.
  • Right-handed reliever Ben Rowen was released from the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.The 29-year-old Rowen has just 11 2/3 MLB innings under his belt (none since 2016), but the sidearmer has a lengthy track record of success in Triple-A. He allowed 11 runs in 10 2/3 innings to open the 2018 season, however, and his ground-ball rate, which has previously been well north of 60 percent, was just 41.9 percent so far this season. Rowen entered 2018 with a career 2.81 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 in parts of five Triple-A campaigns, so perhaps he’ll garner interest elsewhere.
  • The Athletics signed left-handed reliever Dean Kiekhefer, per Eddy. He’d recently been released by Cincinnati. The 28-year-old tossed 22 innings at the big league level with the Cardinals in 2016, working to a 5.32 ERA with 14 strikeouts against seven walks (four intentional) and two hit batters in that brief time. Kiekhefer landed with the Mariners via waivers in the 2016-17 offseason but was outrighted off their 40-man roster shortly thereafter. Last year, he logged a 4.47 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9 and a 46 percent grounder rate in Triple-A. He opened the season with eight innings of one-run ball in the Cincinnati organization, albeit at the Double-A level.
  • Southpaw James Russell was released by the Tigers, Eddy reports. The 32-year-old Russell, a fixture in the Cubs’ bullpen for six seasons, hasn’t appeared in the Majors since an unsuccessful 2016 stint with the Phillies. He spent the 2017 season pitching in the Mexican League, where he performed quite well, but tossed just three innings and allowed five runs with the Tigers’ top affiliate in 2018 before his release.

Padres Place Phil Maton On DL

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The Padres announced that they’ve placed right-hander Phil Maton on the 10-day disabled list with a a right lat strain. His roster spot will go to fellow righty Kazuhisa Makita, who’s returning after a short stint at the Triple-A level.

At 15-26, the Padres appear likely to finish under .500 for the eighth straight season. This year’s club isn’t teeming with bright spots, then, though Maton and the bullpen in general have been outstanding. The 25-year-old Maton has pitched to a microscopic .56 ERA with 9.56 K/9, 3.94 BB/9 and a 42.2 percent groundball rate across 16 innings. He’s among a slew of relievers who have been effective for the Padres, whose bullpen ranks toward the top of the majors in fWAR (third), ERA (sixth), K/BB ratio (sixth) and grounder rate (seventh).

Makita, on the other hand, didn’t do San Diego’s run prevention numbers any favors before it demoted him earlier this week. The 33-year-old rookie, an offseason free-agent pickup from Japan, has notched a 6.75 ERA and a paltry 22.2 percent grounder mark over his first 16 MLB frames. On the positive side, the soft-tossing Makita has matched Maton’s K/BB rates and logged an impressive swinging-strike percentage (15.4).

NL West Notes: Kershaw, Bumgarner, Padres

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A few items from the National League West…

  • Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will choose whether to opt out of the remaining two years and $65MM on his contract after the season ends, and Buster Olney of ESPN looks at several factors that could play into the process. Health is chief among them, which isn’t surprising considering Kershaw’s recent injury issues. The 30-year-old is currently on the DL with biceps tendinitis after missing time during the previous two seasons with back and hip issues. If Kershaw does opt out, Olney wonders if his legacy with the Dodgers will help influence them to give him a megadeal. They’ve shied away from overly long commitments in recent years, including when they allowed Zack Greinke to sign with the rival Diamondbacks for a six-year, $206.5MM guarantee in December 2015, Olney points out.
  • The Giants are taking an aggressive approach in ace Madison Bumgarner’s recovery from a fractured pinky finger, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group relays. Manager Bruce Bochy indicated that Bumgarner may only need one rehab start and could return shortly after May 25, when he’s eligible to come off the 60-day DL. Bumgarner hasn’t pitched yet this year, and his debut will be an especially timely one for a San Francisco team that just lost fellow front-of-the-rotation starter Johnny Cueto for up to two months with an elbow strain.
  • The Padres’ decision to designate veteran infielder Chase Headley on Saturday opened up a spot for infielder/outfielder Cory Spangenberg, whom they recalled from Triple-A. Now, Spangenberg may be in a do-or-die spot with the organization, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests. The 27-year-old Spangenberg will see more time at third base than the 34-year-old Headley did, per Acee, as the bottom-feeding Padres want to find out if the younger player is capable of emerging as a long-term piece. Spangenberg, who has been with the Padres since they chose him 10th overall in the 2011 draft, has offered roughly league-average offensive production (.262/.319/.399, 97 wRC+) across 1,009 major league plate appearances.
  • In the wake of Headley’s exit from the Padres’ roster, Dennis Lin of The Athletic (subscription required) opines that “the jury’s still out” on A.J. Preller’s ability to make trades. The fifth-year general manager took on Headley and his $13MM salary during the offseason in order to acquire righty Bryan Mitchell from the Yankees, and that hasn’t worked out at all thus far. Both that trade and the 2015 swap in which Preller sent infielder Jedd Gyorko to the Cardinals for outfielder Jon Jay “have been duds,” Lin writes.

Padres Designate Chase Headley

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The Padres have designated third baseman Chase Headley for assignment, according to a team announcement. San Diego recalled infielder Cory Spangenberg from Triple-A to take Headley’s 25-man roster spot.

With a .115/.233/.135 line in 60 plate appearances, Headley got off to a terrible start prior to his designation. Between his own struggles and the success of fellow third baseman Christian Villanueva, the 34-year-old Headley was unable to return to a regular role in San Diego – which he held with both the Padres and Yankees from 2008-17. Headley was a quality starter throughout that run, especially during a 31-home run, 7.2-fWAR season with the Padres in 2012.

The switch-hitting Headley chipped in a decent season last year in New York, where he slashed .273/.352/.406 with 1.9 fWAR in 586 PAs and helped the Yankees to the ALCS. But the Yankees then shipped Headley to the Padres in a salary-dumping trade over the winter, when the Pads dealt outfielder Jabari Blash, agreed to take on Headley’s $13MM salary and acquired right-hander Bryan Mitchell.

The hope was that Headley would continue to serve as a capable veteran in his second go-round with the Padres, but the deal was more about Mitchell from the rebuilding team’s point of view. Unfortunately for the Padres, however, the 27-year-old Mitchell hasn’t been a worthwhile pickup to this point. Mitchell has been among the worst pitchers in the majors during the first month-plus of the season, in fact, having recorded 37 2/3 innings (eight appearances, seven starts) of 6.21 ERA/6.66 FIP ball and posted disastrous strikeout and walk rates (4.3 K/9, 6.93 BB/9).

A turnaround could perhaps still be in the offing for Mitchell, but it doesn’t appear one will come for Headley in a Padres uniform. Unless the Padres are able to deal him elsewhere for another team’s unwanted salary within the next week, it seems likely Headley will clear waivers and become a free agent. At that point, a club would be able to add a potentially helpful piece for the prorated league minimum.

Mets Expect To Trade Matt Harvey

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May 8: The Mets have been trying to add a catcher in return for Harvey, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). Puma adds that the Padres are also in the mix for Harvey.

May 7: The Mets are “confident” they will strike a deal involving righty Matt Harvey, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). At this point, says Rosenthal, there are “four to five teams interested” in taking a chance on the former ace.

Harvey was formally designated for assignment on May 5th, meaning his situation will be resolved one way or another by Saturday the 12th. If he’s not traded, Harvey would need to go onto waivers; if he were then to pass through unclaimed, he’d hit the open market (whether by release or by rejecting an outright assignment).

We checked in earlier today on some teams with varying degrees of interest in Harvey. The Giants seem clearly to be involved, though their interest level isn’t clear. (Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets there’s “very strong” interest, while MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter) that it’s much more tepid, with some significant roadblocks to a swap.) Martino adds the Reds as a possibility, joining the previously reported Mariners in that regard. And Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the White Sox are also in the mix. There’s some uncertainty about the status of the Orioles, but they are among the organizations that would make some degree of sense on paper.

Of course, we’ve also seen plenty of reports of other teams that will not be in on the 29-year-old. It appears the Rangers have decided against pursuing Harvey in a trade scenario despite giving it serious consideration. Otherwise, the Rays, Tigers, Red Sox, and Yankees are said not to be involved.

If a deal does, in fact, get done, Rosenthal says not to expect the Mets to shave away much salary. With something on the order of $4.5MM still owed to Harvey for the rest of the season, the New York organization anticipates paying the “vast majority” in hopes of securing “something in return” in a deal.

Reading the tea leaves, then, the Mets aren’t really looking for a MLB asset back that might offset some of the Harvey commitment. It’s possible the team will be able to find another organization willing to give a bit of young talent, but it’ll take deft work for GM Sandy Alderson to achieve significant value.

Harvey, after all, has managed only a 5.93 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in his 212 1/3 innings since the start of the 2016 season. His velocity has continued to trail off as the arm injuries have mounted. As outstanding as he was before a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome, Harvey has struggled badly ever since.

Clearly, some front offices around the game still think that Harvey can at least deliver some useful innings from the back of a rotation. Just what they’ll give up to find out remains to be seen.

Padres Move Bryan Mitchell To Bullpen, Option Kazuhisa Makita

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The Padres will shift righty Bryan Mitchell to the bullpen, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Recent signee Kazuhisa Makita, meanwhile, has been optioned to Triple-A.

To account for the decision on Mitchell, the club has moved fellow righty Jordan Lyles into the rotation for at least one start, veteran Padres writer Bill Center tweets. Meanwhile, lefty Matt Strahm was activated from the DL to step in for Makita.

These moves reflect the disappointing initial showings of two of the Padres’ most significant offseason pitching additions. Mitchell was the key piece acquired in a trade in which the Friars agreed to take over the remaining $13MM owed to Chase Headley, while Makita signed for $3.8MM over two years (plus a $500K posting fee).

In the case of Mitchell, who is out of options, the results have been awful thus far. He’s carrying a 6.47 ERA with 4.5 K/9 against 7.3 BB/9 in 32 frames over seven starts. His swinging-strike rate, which has never been very compelling in the majors, is down to just 5.0%.

Though Acee writes that the organization still believes in Mitchell and even thinks he could yet be a big-league starter, he’ll need to show something to earn another opportunity. For now, it’ll be Lyles who gets another crack at working from the rotation, though it’s unclear whether he’ll receive an extended shot. He’s still just 27 years of age and broke into the majors as a starter, but has not yet shown that he can hold down a job working every fifth day.

As for the 33-year-old Makita, a veteran of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but a MLB rookie, he’s shown both some good and bad to open the year. He’s sporting a healthy 15.4% swinging-strike rate and 9.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 over his 16 innings. While a 6.75 ERA is never a good sign, in this case the damage is mostly isolated to a pair of rough outing and is surely a reflection in some part of a 58.5% strand rate that likely will go down. Makita needs to pare back the long balls (1.69 HR/9, 20.0% HR/FB) as well, but generally his unique, soft-tossing pitch mix has shown a fair bit of promise of playing in the majors.

Strahm, meanwhile, will look to make good on his long-observed talent. He was part of the interesting swap swung last year between the Padres and Royals. Strahm, who did not debut with the San Diego organization until 2018, has impressed in 14 1/3 innings this year at Double-A, allowing four earned runs while running a 22:4 K/BB ratio. Though he was knocked around in his debut outing last night, he figures to get a real chance to stick in the bigs.

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