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NL West Notes: Giants, Turner, Padres, Hoffman, Mathis

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With the trade deadline approaching, the bottom-feeding Giants may soon have to “take some bold, big-picture steps,” writes Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. One potential problem for the Giants, if they end up selling, is that they might not have any players they could deal who would do much to restock their mediocre farm system, notes Crasnick. And even if they do try to move trade candidates such as Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, there are roadblocks in the way. Cueto has the ability to opt out of his contract at season’s end, of course, and neither that nor his relatively unspectacular output this year are doing his trade value any favors. Samardzija, meanwhile, has a 21-team no-trade clause, making it likely he’ll remain in San Francisco.

A look at the rest of the National League West:

  • Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, on the disabled list since May 19 on account of a hamstring strain, could rejoin the team by the end of the week, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Turner will begin a rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga tonight. As they continue to await Turner’s return, the Dodgers are likely to recall utilityman Mike Freeman from Triple-A, according to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Freeman, whom Los Angeles claimed off waivers from Seattle on May 26, would join Logan Forsythe and Enrique Hernandez in giving the Turner-less Dodgers another third base-capable option.
  • The Padres’ attempt to turn Christian Bethancourt into a viable pitcher probably isn’t going to pan out, observes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The 25-year-old catcher/outfielder struggled mightily as a major league reliever this season before the Padres outrighted him in late April, and the experiment hasn’t gone much better in the minors. Across 10 1/3 innings with Triple-A El Paso, Bethancourt has given up 13 earned runs on 15 hits and 12 walks, with just five strikeouts. Bethancourt’s Triple-A woes have come in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, leading Lin to wonder if the Padres would’ve been better off sending him to Double-A to develop.
  • Like Bethancourt, Padres catcher Luis Torrens has fared poorly this season. Nevertheless, the club hasn’t considered jettisoning the Rule 5 pick, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Torrens, a former Yankees farmhand and one of an unprecedented three Rule 5 selections on the Padres’ roster, has collected a mere five hits (four singles and a double) and two walks in 41 plate appearances. Still, San Diego remains bullish on Torrens, particularly as a defender, suggests Cassavell.
  • A lack of self-awareness kept Rockies right-hander Jeff Hoffman in the minors to begin the season, manager Bud Black told Nick Groke of the Denver Post. “You have to critically evaluate your performance,” Black said. “Was that a good pitch? Was that located well? Was that pitch truly where I intended it to be? Was the homer I gave up a good piece of hitting?” Hoffman seems to have improved in that aspect, as Black noted that the 24-year-old has “come a long way in a short amount of time in a lot of areas.” Ranked as Baseball America’s 27th-best prospect, Hoffman has produced spectacular results this year over 20 2/3 innings in Colorado (2.61 ERA, 11.32 K/9, .87 BB/9), and has made a case to stay in the team’s rotation even when the injured Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson return.
  • Thanks to his pitch-framing skills, Diamondbacks catcher Jeff Mathis has emerged as an important offseason signing, opines Travis Sawchik of FanGraphs. The light-hitting Mathis, whom the Diamondbacks added on a two-year, $4MM deal, has been a sizable upgrade behind the plate over predecessor Welington Castillo, as Sawchik details. The change in backstops seems to be benefiting right-hander Zack Greinke, who has pitched to Mathis in all 12 of his starts this year and bounced back from a pedestrian 2016.

Justin Ruggiano Elects Free Agency

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JUNE 5: Ruggiano cleared waivers and has elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to the minors, as first noted on the Giants’ transactions page at MLB.com.

JUNE 2: The Giants announced that they’ve designated outfielder Justin Ruggiano for assignment in order to clear a roster spot for outfielder Austin Slater, whose contract has now been formally selected from Triple-A Sacramento (Twitter link via CSN Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic).

Ruggiano, 35, has failed to receive much in the way of major league opportunities over the past three seasons. At times, though, he has been a quality weapon off the bench against left-handed pitching.

Through 63 plate appearances on the season, Ruggiano managed only a .217/.238/.333 batting line. He was one of the numerous players the Giants have tried in the outfield, none of whom have provided consistent production. Now, Slater will have his shot at holding down a role in left.

Giants Activate Hunter Pence, Option Christian Arroyo

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The Giants have activated right fielder Hunter Pence from the disabled list and optioned infielder Christian Arroyo to Triple-A, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report (Twitter link).

Pence hasn’t taken an at-bat since May 12 on account of a left hamstring strain. Before Pence landed on the shelf, the normally steady veteran batted a meek .243/.289/.338 in 149 plate appearances. But the other right fielders the Giants have used this year, the just-designated Justin Ruggiano, Mac Williamson and Austin Slater, have each posted worse batting lines than Pence over a combined 106 trips to the plate. Now, if the 23-34 Giants are going to get back into the playoff race, they’ll need the 34-year-old Pence to return to his typical form. Entering Sunday, San Francisco sits 12 games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers and 10.5 out of a wild-card spot.

Arroyo, whom the Giants promoted in late April, didn’t help their cause in his first taste of major league action. The 22-year-old has been on various top 100 prospect lists (MLB.com currently ranks him 79th), but he hit a woeful .197/.244/.304 and totaled 32 strikeouts against eight walks in his initial big league call-up. Arroyo primarily played third base, where Eduardo Nunez has rebounded offensively since a rough April, and also picked up some middle infield experience.

Cafardo’s Latest: Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Quintana, Cueto, Samardzija, Rangers, Cozart

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe looks at nine teams who are trending upward this season and nine teams who are on the downward swing in his latest notes column.  These rankings (and Cafardo’s piece in general) contain several hot stove items as teams look to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.  The highlights…

  • The Yankees are looking for a third baseman, according to league sources.  Chase Headley got off to a hot start but scuffled badly in May, posting just a .446 OPS in 90 plate appearances last month.  Top prospect Gleyber Torres has been getting some reps at third base in the minors amidst rumors that he could be promoted later this season, though New York could prefer a more proven veteran for the hot corner if the team is chasing a pennant.  Headley is still owed $21.6MM through the end of the 2018 season, though the Yankees have shown a willingness to reduce the playing time of other highly-paid veterans in the past if they aren’t producing.
  • “Most talent evaluators” believe the Dodgers will make a play for the top starter available at the deadline.  The Dodgers’ rotation has combined for 6.2 fWAR (second in baseball) and a 3.94 ERA (third in baseball), though given the number of injury concerns within their staff, it wouldn’t be a shock if L.A. pursued yet another notable arm.
  • Cafardo also suggests that the Cubs will look to acquire a top starter, even if they’re one of the teams on the “trending down” list.  Cafardo believes the retirement of clubhouse leader David Ross has had a bigger impact on the Cubs than the team is willing to admit.
  • Some teams that were in on Jose Quintana have cooled their interest thanks to the southpaw’s rough start to the season.  There has been some questions about whether Quintana is healthy, though the White Sox say he is healthy.  Quintana has a 5.60 ERA in 64 1/3 innings, with career highs in BB/9 (3.36) and homer rate (13%) combining with a career-low 37.8% ground ball rate.  On the plus side, he also has a career-best 8.96 K/9 and ERA indicators are all over a run lower than his 5.60 real-world ERA.
  • “Don’t look for major subtractions” from the Giants, even if the team doesn’t make any additions at the deadline.  Cafardo doesn’t expect the Giants to deal the likes of Johnny Cueto or Jeff Samardzija.  I would imagine San Francisco is hoping to make a quick return to contention next season, though if Cueto gives them an indication that he’ll opt out of his contract this winter, a trade could be explored.
  • The Rangers are also a team that won’t go into full-scale selling mode, so Cafardo expects them to wait and see if they should pursue starting pitching help for a run at a wild card slot.
  • Zack Cozart has often been mentioned in trade rumors over the last couple of years as the Reds have been rebuilding, though one AL GM wonders why Cincinnati hasn’t instead explored an extension with the veteran shortstop.  The Reds’ long-term plan is to have Jose Peraza at short and Dilson Herrera at second, so on paper, Cozart makes more sense as a trade chip than a building block.  While Cozart is mashing the ball and playing his usual excellent defense, he also turns 32 in August and may be declining by the time the Reds are again ready to contend.

Giants Sign Jerry Sands To Minors Deal

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The Giants have signed outfielder Jerry Sands to a minor league contract, Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com reports.  Sands had been playing for the independent Somerset Patriots, and the 29-year-old will now head to the Giants’ Double-A affiliate.

Sands has only a .670 OPS over 464 plate appearances with the Dodgers, Rays, Indians and White Sox during his big league career, though the right-handed hitter has produced a very solid .285/.335/.477 slash line against lefty pitching.  Much of Sands’ experience comes in the corner outfield slots and he has a handful of games at first base, so he brings a bit of defensive versatility.

Sands is the latest veteran outfielder signed by the Giants as the team tries to fix an already-thin outfield that has been further hampered by several injuries.  San Francisco has added the likes of Melvin Upton Jr., Drew Stubbs and Justin Ruggiano on minors deals, with little impact (Upton underwent wrist surgery and Ruggiano was recently designated for assignment).  Hunter Pence’ imminent return from the DL will be a big help for the Giants, but with left field still a question mark, there is certainly opportunity for Sands to return to the majors.

NL West Notes: Bettis, Gray, Dahl, Walker, Bradley, Wood, Giants

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Rockies righty Chad Bettis is set to report to the club to begin moving toward a return, Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. Bettis, who underwent chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer, has already been throwing and running. Needless to say, it’s great to see that he’s ready to start working in earnest. Notably, too, Bettis could conceivably represent quite an impactful late-season addition if the Rockies stay in contention and he’s able to move through a rehab assignment.

  • A quicker path to relief for the Rockies rotation could be in the works, as Jon Gray was able to run on the field for the first time this week, per Groke. Gray is slated to face hitters in a sim game for the first time next week, which suggests he isn’t far from ramping it up in earnest. Groke also notes that the club isn’t interested in utilizing a six-man rotation; presumably, another hurler will step aside to make way for Gray when he’s ready.
  • The news wasn’t quite as promising for Rockies outfielder David Dahl, who has also missed the entire season thus far after a strong rookie campaign. His rib issues are still causing discomfort, so the club has sent him back to its spring facility to keep exercising and waiting for the problems to subside, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com (via Twitter). With Ian Desmond back, Mark Reynolds still producing, and Gerardo Parra showing much-improved form, the loss of Dahl hasn’t been as significant as might have been feared. Still, he’d represent another offensive threat, and his progress could be quite important if any needs arise between now and the trade deadline.
  • Diamondbacks righty Taijuan Walker isn’t quite ready to take the ball this weekend, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports on Twitter. Walker says his blister is nearly healed, but isn’t quite to the point that the club is comfortable putting him on the major league mound.
  • Meanwhile, D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo tells MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that the club isn’t interested in moving righty Archie Bradley back to the rotation at this point. That was a topic of discussion when Shelby Miller was lost for the year, says Lovullo, but ultimately the team felt Bradley was too valuable in his current role as a multi-inning-capable reliever. The 24-year-old, a former top prospect, had struggled as a starter in his prior MLB work. But he currently owns a sterling 1.46 ERA through 24 2/3 innings of relief, with 31 strikeouts against just six walks on the year.
  • Dodgers lefty Alex Wood, who is on the DL with sternum discomfort but was just named the NL pitcher of the month, got some promising news today. As Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets, skipper Dave Roberts says a medical review came back “as benign as possible.” Wood is only expected to miss one more start before he’ll be ready to return.
  • Things are obviously not going well for the Giants in 2017; indeed, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News observes, not only is the major league outfit struggling, but all of the organization’s affiliates are currently sitting in last place. GM Bobby Evans says that may be due in part to the fact that the club has pushed younger players up the ladder somewhat rapidly — especially pitchers. Looking back at the MLB outfit, top righty Johnny Cueto had some notable words on the current atmosphere in the clubhouse. Drawing a distinction to his prior clubs, Cueto says the Giants players tend to be “on their own, just sitting at their locker, very quiet, just by themselves.”

Giants To Purchase Contract Of Austin Slater

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The Giants will purchase the contract of outfielder Austin Slater, according to Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News. Slater, 24, was taken in the eighth round of the 2014 draft.

A corresponding move has yet to be reported, but the Giants will need to clear roster space to make way for Slater. While that could involve optioning youngster Christian Arroyo, a 40-man move of some kind will be needed regardless.

Slater has thrived in the upper minors since the start of the 2016 season. All told, he owns a .308/.381/.487 slash through 474 trips to the plate at Triple-A, with 48 walks to go with 91 strikeouts.

While the right-handed hitter can play center, it makes sense to expect he’ll find most of his opportunities in left field. San Francisco has struggled to find production from the outfield all year long.

The struggling Giants could ultimately begin cycling in more new faces, Baggarly notes, if the club can’t quickly break out of its season-long struggles. It seems that light-hitting outfielder Gorkys Hernandez is the most likely player to go to make way for Slater, though a few of other roster spots also appear to be less than secure.

MLB Announces Suspensions For Harper, Strickland

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TODAY: Harper’s ban was knocked down to three days upon appeal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.

YESTERDAY: Following last night’s brawl, Major League Baseball has announced suspensions for Giants righty Hunter Strickland and Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post first tweeted, Strickland will receive a six-game ban, while Harper will miss four contests.

Both players have appealed their sentences. They’ll also each pay undisclosed fines, per the league announcement.

The fracas occurred when Strickland plunked Harper in the hip in the first pitch of his plate appearance. The latter charged the mound, with both players landing punches before things were broken up.

While the two hadn’t even squared off in years, the last time they did it was under dramatic circumstances. Harper, of course, swatted two long home runs off of Strickland in the 2014 NLDS.

While Strickland did not admit to any intent after the game, the commissioner’s office nevertheless found that he had intentionally struck Harper with the pitch. Per the league’s announcement, his actions were responsible for “inciting the bench-clearing incident and fighting.” As for Harper, one of the game’s most visible players, the ban was announced for “charging the mound, throwing his helmet and fighting.”

While Harper will officially sit for less games, the punishment will hurt the Nats more than it does the Giants. The former will lose a fair bit of production from one of the game’s best hitters, while the latter will miss out on only a few innings from a quality reliever. That imbalance is ripe for some criticism, though it’s also something of a matter of perspective. If the punishment is intended primarily for the player rather than the team, then perhaps it’s not as skewed as it might otherwise appear. The bigger question, perhaps, is whether suspensions of this length provide sufficient deterrent value at all.

NL West Notes: Kazmir, Segedin, Arroyo, Margot, Bettis, Wall

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says that starting pitcher Scott Kazmir’s velocity is up to 90-92 MPH as he rehabs his injured hip, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. That’s close to Kazmir’s typical regular-season velocity, which has sat in the low 90s over the past several seasons. It’s still unclear when Kazmir will return to the team, however. The hip has been an ongoing problem for Kazmir, as has his velocity, which was well below 90 MPH at various points in Spring Training. He has not yet pitched in the Majors or minors this season. As long as their other pitchers remain healthy, though, the Dodgers should be able to get by without him — they have Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Brandon McCarthy already available and Hyun-Jin Ryu and Julio Urias waiting in the wings. Here’s more from the NL West.

  • Dodgers corner infielder Rob Segedin is set to have wrist surgery on Wednesday and will miss four to six weeks, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. Segedin was hurt while batting as he was rehabbing an earlier injury to his toe. The 28-year-old was one of Triple-A Oklahoma City’s top hitters last year, and he was off to a good start before succumbing to injury last month, batting .324/.342/.541 in 38 plate appearances. He’s also collected 87 big-league plate appearances over the last two seasons.
  • With Giants rookie Christian Arroyo going through an extended lull at the plate, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that it’s plausible to imagine him being optioned. With Aaron Hill and Conor Gillaspie both nearing returns from injury, and some alternatives on hand at Triple-A, San Francisco may have little choice but to see if it can get more production elsewhere — while letting Arroyo iron out the kinks back at Sacramento. As SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee further writes, the move makes all the more sense when considering the fact that Eduardo Nunez’s glove likely doesn’t belong in left field.
  • The Padres have placed young center fielder Manuel Margot in a walking boot as a precautionary measure, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Margot’s calf issue is likely to send him to the 10-day DL, it seems, though the team is waiting to make a final decision. Through exactly 200 plate appearances on the year, Margot is hitting .259/.305/.389 with four home runs and five stolen bases (albeit in ten attempts).
  • Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis sees pitching in the big leagues this season as a “realistic goal” as he continues to recover from testicular cancer, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes. “The way I see it, it’s going to happen,” Bettis says. “At what point in time during the season I would be coming back is all kind of up in the air. But it’s something that I’m going to be pushing to get to.” Bettis had surgery during the offseason but learned in Spring Training that the cancer had returned, weeks before his wife gave birth to his first child. Since then, he’s had several rounds of chemotherapy, although those ended earlier this month. Now, he’s working on throwing at 75 feet and doing cardiovascular work. There’s still no date for his return, however, and he’s watched the Rockies’ strong start from the sidelines. “[I]t’s hard,” he says. “I so wish that I was a part of it.”
  • Rockies prospect Forrest Wall, who had moved from second base to the outfield this year, is slated to miss the rest of the season after suffering a dislocated left shoulder, Vince Lara-Cinisomo of Baseball America writes. The 21-year-old needs surgery, bringing an end to what had been a promising campaign. Taken 35th overall in the 2014 draft, Wall had struggled in 2016. But he was slashing a robust .299/.361/.471 through 98 plate appearances at High-A at the time of his injury.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/26/17

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Here are the day’s minors moves from around baseball…

  • The Giants have released first baseman/outfielder Kyle Blanks, tweets Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. The 30-year-old Blanks missed the 2016 campaign with foot injuries and inked a minor league pact with San Francisco this winter. Through 34 games and 92 plate appearances, Blanks has yet to deliver much in the way of offense despite the hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League. He’s hitting .232/.315/.390 with three homers and four doubles. The former Padres prospect does, however, have an excellent track record in Triple-A, having slashed .291/.390/.546 with 40 homers in 770 total plate appearances at that level.
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