A’s Claim Angel Felipe
The Athletics have claimed right-hander Angel Felipe off waivers from the Padres, per a team announcement. Felipe has been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s transferred righty Zach Jackson from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Felipe, 25, joins the rebuilding Athletics as a power-armed righty reliever with questionable command. Baseball America ranked him 29th among Padres prospects just a few weeks ago, touting a four-seamer and two-seamer that could both reach triple digits, as well as a potentially plus slider and potentially above-average changeup. Felipe is still relatively new to pitching, having played shortstop in his teenage days before moving to the mound upon signing as an amateur with the Rays.
This had been Felipe’s second season with the Padres, with whom he signed a minor league deal in the 2021-22 offseason. He’s yet to make his MLB debut and has spent the entire season in Triple-A El Paso, where he’s posted an ugly 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Poor command has contributed to those ugly run-prevention numbers, evidenced by a 14.9% walk rate, a pair of hit batters and seven wild pitches in his brief time on the mound this year. However, Felipe has also fanned 32.2% of his opponents and has a history of gaudy ground-ball rates — even if this year’s 46.7% clip is “only” a few percentage points above league-average.
The Athletics have virtually no stability in their big league bullpen at the moment, and given the bleak outlook on their current rebuild, it’s only logical that they’d roll the dice on a big arm even with command issues. Flamethrowers who struggle to locate the ball aren’t exactly uncommon in today’s game, but the A’s can afford a longer leash than most clubs given that they’re not close to competing. Felipe has an option year remaining beyond the current season, so Oakland doesn’t need to make any kind of decision on the right-hander’s future in the short term.
Padres Designate Nabil Crismatt For Assignment
The Padres announced that right-hander Seth Lugo has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Nabil Crismatt designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Crismatt, 28, began his major league career with the Cardinals in 2020. He only appeared in six games that season and was outrighted off the roster at season’s end. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres prior to the 2021 season and has been with them since. He made the club’s Opening Day roster that year and has served as an up-and-down arm for the club in recent years, often throwing multiple innings out of the bullpen while also getting frequently optioned to the minors.
Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 148 2/3 innings over 95 appearances. He posted a combined 3.39 ERA over those two campaigns, striking out 21.6% of opponents while walking 7.3% and getting ground balls on 50.6% of balls in play.
He had exhausted his option years at that point and is now out of options here in 2023. This year, he made six appearances and struggled badly with a 10.80 ERA before landing on the injured list due to a hip strain. He returned from the IL a few days ago and tossed a scoreless inning on Friday. That dropped his ERA to 9.82 but he has now been squeezed off the roster.
The Padres will now have a week to trade Crismatt or pass him through waivers. His results have obviously been poor so far this year but it’s a small sample size and perhaps at least partially explained by the hip injury. He might garner interest based on his work in other seasons. Since he has a previous career outright, he would have the right reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.
Jose Iglesias Opts Out Of Contract With Padres
Veteran infielder José Iglesias has opted out of his minor league deal with the Padres, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Assuming San Diego doesn’t add him to the MLB roster, he’ll return to free agency.
It’s familiar territory for Iglesias. He followed a similar path with the Marlins a few months ago, opting out after signing a minor league pact in Spring Training. He caught on with the Padres, triggered an opt-out a month later, then re-signed on a new minor league deal with San Diego.
Iglesias is still searching for his first MLB call of the year. He got to the highest level in 11 of the 12 seasons between 2011-22. Iglesias carved out a lengthy career as a regular thanks to excellent shortstop defense and a high-contact bat that allowed him to run strong batting averages. His public defensive marks have dropped over the past two seasons, though, contributing to his struggles to find an MLB look thus far in 2023.
To his credit, the 33-year-old had a nice offensive showing in Triple-A. He appeared in 28 games for San Diego’s highest affiliate in El Paso and hit .317/.356/.537 with four home runs over 135 trips to the plate. The power is probably inflated by the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting — Iglesias hit only three homers in 467 plate appearances for the Rockies last season — but he has continued to put the ball in play at a high rate. He went down on strikes in only 16.3% of his trips with El Paso.
Iglesias has played almost exclusively shortstop at the big league level, logging over 8000 career innings there. He spent most of his time there in Triple-A but logged a few starts at both second and third base as well. He’s no longer the defender he was at his peak, but he can cover any infield position and still hits for a high enough average he should at least find another minor league deal elsewhere.
NL West Notes: Giants, Lugo, Dodgers
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area discussed the injury situations facing the Giants earlier today, noting that right-hander Alex Cobb expects to only miss the minimum 15-days after landing on the injured list earlier today with an oblique strain. Cobb noted to reporters that he felt he could take the mound as soon as Wednesday, but the club is opting to “protect him for the long haul”, in the words of manager Gabe Kapler.
That’s phenomenal news for San Francisco, as Cobb has been among the club’s most reliable starters this season with a 3.09 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 78 2/3 innings of work. Nonetheless, it raises the question of who the club can add to the rotation alongside Logan Webb, Alex Wood, and Anthony DeSclafani while Cobb is on the shelf. One possibility, per The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, is right-hander Sean Hjelle, who was scratched from his start at the Triple-A level today. Hjelle could replace left-hander Scott Alexander on the active roster for the Giants, as both Pavlovic and Baggarly note that the lefty reliever is expected to head to the injured list after leaving today’s game against the Dodgers with a hamstring issue.
More from around the NL West…
- The Padres expect to welcome right-hander Seth Lugo back into the fold on Tuesday, when he figures to start against the Giants in San Francisco. Per MLB.com, Lugo threw a 60-pitch simulated game on Thursday, which would put the righty in line for around 80 pitches on Tuesday. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters today that the injury, while not ideal, has allowed the club to manage Lugo’s innings. While Lugo had largely pitched well in eight starts, with a 4.10 ERA and a 3.94 FIP, Lugo has never thrown more than 101 1/3 innings in a season in his career and last threw more than 65 innings back in 2019. Given that reality, Lugo’s month-long stint on the injured list has potentially allowed San Diego to avoid limiting his innings later in the season.
- Dodgers fans have new clarity on the timelines of left-hander Julio Urias and right-hander Daniel Hudson, both of whom have made notable strides in their rehab processes in recent days. Manager Dave Roberts provided a specific timetable to reporters today, as noted by J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register. Per Roberts, both pitchers are poised to be activated from the injured list during the club’s upcoming three-game set in Kansas City, which will take place from June 30 to July 2. All told, Urias will have missed six weeks while dealing with a hamstring strain if everything goes according to plan from here, while Hudson will make his 2023 debut after missing more than a calendar year while rehabbing from left knee surgery.
Padres Select Preston Tucker
In a somewhat unusual move, the Padres have selected the contract of outfielder Preston Tucker before promptly placing him on the 10-day IL with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. To make room for Tucker on the 40-man roster, right-hander Angel Felipe was designated for assignment. MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell shed some light on the club’s decision, noting that Tucker had an impending opt-out opportunity in the minor league deal he signed with the Padres back in December.
The 32-year-old Tucker last played in the major leagues in 2018. A seventh round pick by the Astros in the 2012 draft, Tucker made a solid impression with Houston during his 2015 rookie season, slashing .243/.297/.434 with 13 homers and 19 doubles in just 323 trips to the plate. Altogether, Tucker’s debut performance was good for a 104 wRC+ that clocked in just above league average. Unfortunately, things would take a turn for the worse the following season, as Tucker struggled to a .164/.222/.328 slash line in 144 plate appearances. That lead the Astros to option Tucker to the minors for their entire 2017 championship campaign before designating the outfielder for assignment in December.
That led the Braves to take a chance on Tucker, acquiring him from the Astros in a minor trade a few days later. Atlanta surely did not regret their decision, as Tucker hit a respectable .256/.307/.444 in 62 games for the Braves in 2018. His time in Atlanta was interrupted at the trade deadline that year, when he was traded for the second time in eight months as part of the package that brought Adam Duvall to the Braves from Cincinnati. Tucker’s time in Cincinnati was brief, as he appeared in just 17 games with the club before the Reds traded him back to Atlanta in exchange for cash considerations. Tucker scuffled badly in his final 18 games of the season, however, hitting just .083 without an extra base hit upon his return to Atlanta. Those struggles prompted the Braves to outright Tucker off the roster, leaving him to elect free agency after the 2018 season.
Since then, Tucker spent three seasons with the Kia Tigers in the KBO, slashing .284/.372/.466 during his time in Korea before departing the club after the 2021 campaign. Tucker returned to stateside ball in 2022, signing a minor league deal with the Braves before joining San Diego this past offseason. Since signing with the Padres, Tucker has put up impressive numbers at the Triple-A level, slashing .342/.468/.658 in 44 games. While Tucker posted those massive numbers in the offense-inflated Pacific Coast League, they’re impressive even for that offensive environment as demonstrated by a wRC+ of 166.
Looking ahead, Tucker will of course be focused on working back from the plantar fasciitis that landed him on the injured list today. When he’s ready to be activated, he’ll have to be added to the active roster in San Diego, as Tucker does not have options remaining. He would figure to join a bench that currently includes Nelson Cruz, Brandon Dixon and Rougned Odor.
As for Felipe, the 25-year-old reliever has yet to make his big league debut and has struggled to a 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings of work with the club’s Triple-A affiliate this season. Assuming the youngster goes unclaimed on waivers, it seems likely the club will assign outright Felipe to the minor leagues, where he would then act as bullpen depth for the club going forward.
Juan Soto Has Found His Stride After Slow Start
Early in the year, there was a decent amount of trepidation about Juan Soto. The Padres superstar was still reaching base at an excellent clip but was clearly performing below his established level. Soto carried a .202/.373/.384 line across 126 plate appearances through the end of April. That came on the heels of a .236/.388/.390 showing in 52 games last summer after one of the biggest deadline trades in MLB history.
For most players, those numbers wouldn’t be cause for concern. While the batting averages weren’t eye-catching, consistently excellent walk tallies kept the on-base mark at an elite level. Among qualified hitters, Soto ranked 12th in the majors with a .382 OBP between the time of the trade and the start of this May.
By Soto’s standards, though, that production was a disappointment. He’d been a top-five hitter in MLB virtually from the moment he was promoted as a 19-year-old five seasons back. For him to hit only 11 homers with a .388 slugging percentage through his first 81 games as a Padre was a surprise. A .254 average on balls in play certainly didn’t do him any favors, but the three-time Silver Slugger also seemed relatively out of sorts. In mid-April, he told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post he felt he was pulling off too many pitches, resulting in weak ground-ball contact to the pull side.
As the season has gone on, Soto has more consistently found his power stroke. He caught fire in May, hitting .333/.482/.632, resulting in a 202 wRC+ that ranked third among qualified hitters that month. While he’s slowed down in June, he still carries a .302/.433/.524 line over the past six weeks. He’s drawn 29 walks against 28 strikeouts while hitting 13 doubles and five home runs over his last 36 contests.
That’s essentially the kind of production we’ve come to expect from Soto. He’s a career .282/.422/.520 hitter in just under 3000 plate appearances. He’s played essentially at that pace for a month and a half. The beginning of May is an arbitrary endpoint, of course. There’s nothing more meaningful about May 1 than there would be about April 26. It’s nevertheless encouraging to see Soto performing at his typical Nationals level for an extended stretch.
Soto is still pulling the ball on the ground a little more often than he had in prior seasons. That’s not ideal given his April comments about getting out in front of too many pitches. When he puts the ball in the air, though, he’s hitting it harder than he did at the start of the year.
The contact quality was the only potential concern. His strike zone discipline has never wavered. Soto sustaining this level will be crucial for a club that still hasn’t kicked things into gear. His hot stretch coincided with a Manny Machado injury and a dismal recent run of play from Xander Bogaerts. The offense as a whole has yet to get going, leaving the Padres with a 31-34 record heading into tonight’s series opener with the Guardians.
Fortunately for San Diego, few teams in the National League have separated themselves from the pack. The Padres are looking up at a 9.5-game deficit on the Diamondbacks in the NL West, which will obviously be difficult to close, even with more than three months remaining on the schedule. However, they’re only two and a half games behind the Giants and Brewers for the Senior Circuit’s last Wild Card spot. Aside from the Dodgers, no team in the Wild Card mix has a better run differential than San Diego’s +19 figure. Despite the mediocre start, there’s still plenty of time for the Friars to play their way into the postseason picture.
Soto should be a central part of that effort. His start in San Diego raised some eyebrows, but he’s looked much more like himself over the last six weeks. Continued production like that should quiet questions about whether his camp had made a grave mistake turning down a reported $440MM extension offer from Washington before the trade. He has a chance to make last summer and this April look like a blip. He looks on his way to doing so.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Jack Baldschun Passes Away
Former big league reliever Jack Baldschun passed away this week after a battle with leukemia, according to an obituary from the Malcore Funeral Home in Green Bay. He was 86 years old.
An Ohio native, Baldschun entered the minor league ranks in 1956 as a signee of the Washington Senators. He’d spent four years in the Reds’ organization thereafter before moving to the Phillies during the 1960 Rule 5 draft. That set the stage for the right-hander to make his big league debut with Philadelphia in April 1961.
Baldschun took an immediate key role on the Phils’ pitching staff. He logged 99 2/3 innings over 65 relief appearances as a rookie, leading the majors in pitching appearances. Baldschun posted a 3.88 ERA, then followed up with consecutive sub-3.00 showings. He pitched to a 2.96 ERA over 112 2/3 frames of relief in 1962, then posted a career-best 2.30 mark in 113 2/3 innings the next season.
While he didn’t quite keep his ERA below 3.00 for a third straight year, Baldschun tossed a personal-high 118 1/3 frames of 3.12 ball in 1964. He fell just shy of the century mark the following season, working to a 3.82 ERA over 99 innings.
Over the stretch between 1961-65, only Hoyt Wilhelm, Ron Perranoski and Stu Miller absorbed a heavier workload out of the bullpen. Baldschun posted a cumulative 3.18 ERA and, while the save wouldn’t become an official statistic until the end of the decade, he’d be retroactively credited with 59 of them.
After the ’65 season, Philadelphia traded Baldschun to the Orioles. Baltimore would flip him back to Cincinnati within a matter of days, packaging him in one of the most impactful trades in MLB history. Baldschun joined starter Milt Pappas and outfielder Dick Simpson in heading to the Reds for Frank Robinson. The future Hall of Famer would go to win an MVP in his first season in Baltimore and help the club to a pair of World Series titles.
Baldschun never really found his form with the Reds, pitching to a 5.25 ERA in parts of two seasons. He signed with the Padres going into 1969 and pitched for two years there. He retired after the 1970 campaign, having appeared in parts of nine MLB seasons. Altogether, Baldschun pitched 704 innings over 457 games as one of the top bullpen workhorses of the 1960s. He posted a 3.69 ERA, struck out 555 and finished 267 contests.
MLBTR sends our condolences to Baldschun’s family, friends and loved ones.
David Dahl Elects Free Agency
Outfielder David Dahl went unclaimed on outright waivers and elected minor league free agency, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Pads had designated him for assignment when reinstating Adrián Morejón from the injured list earlier in the week.
Dahl signed a minor league pact with San Diego over the winter. He broke camp but appeared in only four MLB games. A quad strain cost him some time early and he spent the bulk of his time on optional assignment to Triple-A El Paso. Dahl got into 17 games there, hitting .265/.342/.382 with one home run.
That’s modest power production in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Dahl did demonstrate strong plate discipline in that limited time, walking eight times against seven strikeouts. The lefty-swinging outfielder has now appeared in parts of six seasons at that level. In a little less than 800 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .299/.352/.488 against Triple-A pitching.
Dahl was an All-Star outfielder for the Rockies early in his career. He hasn’t gotten much major league run in the past few years. Dahl missed a good chunk of 2020 to injury, slumped to a .210/.247/.322 showing for the Rangers in ’21, then spent all of last season in the minors. He’ll likely look for minor league opportunities on the open market.
Padres, Blake Cederlind Agree To Minor League Deal
The Padres have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Blake Cederlind, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). The Pirates released Cederlind in late May after he struggled through six frames with their Class-A affiliate.
Cederlind, 27, was a fifth-round pick by Pittsburgh back in 2016 who pitched his way into prospect status with excellent 2018 and 2019 showings at the minor league level. The Bucs gave him his big league debut in the shortened 2020 season. The 6’3″ flamethrower with a power sinker pitched four solid innings across five games, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Unfortunately, that’s the last time Cederlind set foot on a big league mound. He underwent Tommy John surgery the following spring, wiping out his entire 2021 season and a portion of his 2022 campaign. During what was supposed to be his comeback year, Cederlind required a second surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. He didn’t throw a pitch in the majors or minors from 2021-22.
Despite Cederlind’s struggles this season — nine runs on six hits, six walks and two hit batters in six innings — the mere fact that he was able to take the mound is a sign of some encouragement. He fanned six of his 31 opponents in A-ball and kept the ball on the ground at a strong 50% clip. Obviously, there are some worrying command issues at play, but that’s not exactly unexpected on the heels of a two-year absence owing to multiple elbow surgeries.
Cederlind has a long road to get back to the Majors, but based on his history when healthy, it’s easy enough to see why the Padres are interested in taking a no-risk flier. Prior to his surgeries, Cederlind sat in the upper 90s with his sinker and was able to reach triple digits. He’s only had six innings of experience in Triple-A thanks to the canceled minor league season in 2020, but he overwhelmed Double-A opponents with a 1.77 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 48.3% ground-ball rate. It’s not yet clear to which affiliate they’ll sign Cederlind.
Padres Designate David Dahl For Assignment
The Padres announced today that left-hander Adrian Morejon has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A El Paso. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, outfielder David Dahl was designate for assignment.
Dahl, 29, signed a minor league deal with the club and cracked the Opening Day roster. Unfortunately, he landed on the injured list just a week into the season with a quad strain, having made nine plate appearances in four games. He went on a rehab assignment and was optioned to El Paso once healthy. In 76 plate appearances for the Chihuahuas, he hit .265/.342/.382 for a wRC+ of 76, or 24% below league average.
It’s a continuation of a rough stretch for Dahl, who was once a fixture of the Rockies’ roster. He debuted in 2016 and hit .315/.359/.500 for a wRC+ of 113. He spent all of 2017 on the injured list but returned to post a combined .291/.342/.528 line for a 111 wRC+ in the two seasons after that. Unfortunately, he had a dismal 2020 when he hit just .183/.222/.247. He was non-tendered after that season and has bounced around since then, joining the Rangers, Brewers, Nationals and now the Padres in recent years, struggling to get on track for any extended period of time.
The Padres will now have a week to trade Dahl or pass him through waivers. If he were to clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency by virtue of having more than three years of major league service time.