Mariners Outright Mike Wright
According to an official team announcement, the Mariners have outrighted right-handed pitcher Mike Wright, who cleared waivers after he was designated for assignment last week, to Triple-A.
This marks the second time that Wright has been designated and outrighted by the M’s, who acquired the 29-year-old from the Orioles in April. Not long thereafter, he was demoted, but a strong showing in Triple-A earned him a second chance at claiming a spot in the Mariners’ bullpen, though evidently that tryout has not gone his way.
Wright, who has pitched 29 1/3 innings between Baltimore and Seattle this season, has done well to miss bats, striking out more than one batter per inning on average, but hitters have otherwise had their way against the right-hander. He has mustered a mere 8.28 ERA, fueled in large part by a proneness to the long ball. To his credit, though, the home run has gashed him far less often since he was acquired by the Mariners: he’s conceded one home run in 16 innings with Seattle, contributing to a far more serviceable 3.14 FIP, albeit one that still has not translated to results, as evidenced by his 7.31 ERA.
Injury Notes: Dodgers, Red Sox, Pirates, Mariners
Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill is making progress in his effort to overcome a flexor tendon strain, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. A platelet-rich plasma injection “has promoted some healing in the tissue,” writes Plunkett, who adds “everything looked good” for Hill after an ultrasound on Friday. He’s on track to start playing catch next weekend, though a potential return is still a ways off. The 39-year-old landed on the 10-day injured list June 20, but the Dodgers transferred him to the 60-day version earlier this week. Consequently, Hill won’t factor back into the Dodgers’ pitching staff until at least August. He had been enjoying another fine season – the last of his three-year, $48MM contract – with a 2.55 ERA/4.15 FIP, 10.36 K/9, 2.04 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent groundball rate over 53 innings.
- Sticking with the Dodgers, corner infielder David Freese is a good bet to return from the IL on Friday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. Freese went down June 23 with a left hamstring strain, temporarily halting a rousing start for the long-productive 36-year-old. He came out flying this season with a .308/.407/.592 line (162 wRC+) and eight home runs in 140 plate appearances.
- Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland could start a rehab assignment next week, according to Bill Koch of the Providence Journal. Moreland has already been on the IL twice dating back to late May, including since June 8. He first succumbed to a lower back strain and then suffered a right quad strain upon his return. A healthy Moreland has been among many major leaguers to demonstrate an increase in power this season. The 33-year-old boasts 13 HRs, a sky-high .318 ISO and a .225/.316/.543 line (116 wRC+) in 174 trips to the plate.
- Left-hander Steven Brault became the most recent Pittsburgh starter to head to the IL on Saturday. Brault will sit out with a left shoulder strain, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. That sounds like a concerning ailment on paper, though Brault and the Pirates are optimistic he won’t miss more than one or two starts, according to Mackey. Brault exited his start against the Brewers on Friday after four innings of one-run ball because of the injury. He has now pitched to a 4.15 ERA/4.53 FIP with 7.86 K/9 and 4.75 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings (15 appearances, nine starts) this year. Several injuries to starters, including to Pirates No. 1 Jameson Taillon, have opened the door for Brault to work from their rotation. Taillon has been out since May 4 with a right flexor strain, though in a long-awaited sign of progress, he’ll play catch Sunday, Mackey relays. Meanwhile, reliever Keone Kela threw a simulated game Saturday. Kela, also down since May 4, has been battling right shoulder troubles.
- Greg Johns of MLB.com and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times share the latest on a trio of righty Mariners relievers. Offseason signing Hunter Strickland, out since March 30 with a right lat strain, felt “awesome” after throwing a 20-pitch bullpen Saturday. His return still appears to be a good distance away, though. Austin Adams (Grade 1 lat strain) and Dan Altavilla (ulnar collateral ligament) just joined Strickland on the IL. Between Adams and Altavilla, the former has been the better reliever this year, but the latter’s injury looks more severe. The Mariners will know more after Altavilla undergoes an MRI.
Mariners Designate Mike Wright
The Mariners announced today that they have designated righty Mike Wright for assignment. His roster spot was needed for fellow right-hander Matt Wisler, who is active after being acquired yesterday.
Wright, 29, landed with the M’s in late April and ended up being designated and outrighted by the Seattle org. He earned another shot after an effective run at Triple-A, but was obviously seen by the team as a fringe roster piece.
In 29 1/3 innings this year, Wright carries an ugly 8.28 ERA. He has coughed up six home runs and 45 total base knocks, but does have a solid 30:12 K/BB ratio. Wright has never managed to sustain success in the majors; he’s allowing more than six earned per nine over 258 career frames.
Latest On Mitch Haniger
The Mariners have temporarily halted Mitch Haniger‘s baseball activities, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, Jen Mueller of Root Sports, and MLB.com’s Greg Johns). Haniger underwent surgery to fix a ruptured testicle almost a month ago, and hasn’t yet begun a full injury rehab, instead just sticking to more basic workouts.
Even this has been a challenge, however, as Haniger reported some soreness while trying to increase his baseball-related activity, and was informed by a doctor that he needed to take a step back in the recovery process. “He’s just sore. We need to be really patient and give him time,” Servais said.
This isn’t the first setback for Haniger, as the initial hope was that he would already be back on the field by early July, though that timeline was recently pushed back until after the All-Star break. This latest news would seem to indicate that Haniger will be out of action for even longer, since he would seemingly need to ramp up his preparations in pain-free fashion and then embark on some minor league rehab games.
Mariners Acquire Matt Wisler
The Mariners have acquired right-hander Matt Wisler from the Padres in exchange for cash, the teams announced. Seattle had an opening on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding DFA or 60-day IL placement isn’t necessary. Wisler was designated for assignment by San Diego last week.
Wisler, 26, was once one of the game’s premier pitching prospects but has yet to find his footing at the MLB level. He’s shifted to a full-time relief role for the first time in 2019, and while the bottom-line numbers aren’t great — 5.28 ERA, five homers allowed in 29 innings — there’s also reason for optimism. Wisler is striking out a career-best 26.4 percent of opponents (10.6 K/9) thanks to a career-high 15.6 percent swinging-strike rate and 35.1 percent opponents’ chase rate. He’s also been plagued by a bloated .363 average on balls in play despite substantial drops in his opponents’ hard-hit rate and average exit velocity.
Opponents have batted .291/.344/.479 against Wisler in 2019 — good for a .349 weighted on-base average. But based on the quality of contact allowed and his enhanced strikeout tendencies, Statcast projects a more palatable .252 expected batting average, .394 expected slugging percentage and .314 weighted on-base average. Whether he’s able to turn things around in his new environs remains to be seen, but he’ll give the Mariners yet another fresh arm to trot out into an ever-changing bullpen mix. Wisler is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to improve at the MLB level or else once again be designated for assignment before he can potentially be sent to Triple-A.
Injury Notes: Hendricks, Pence, Haniger, Treinen, A. Wood
The Cubs lost left-hander Cole Hamels to the injured list Friday, but there’s better news regarding fellow rotation stalwart Kyle Hendricks. The righty, who has been out two weeks because of shoulder inflammation, could return to the Cubs’ rotation as early as the upcoming week. It’s possible Hendricks will skip a rehab start and slot back into the team’s starting staff Tuesday, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. If that happens, the Cubs could get two Hendricks starts before the All-Star break. That would be a boon for NL Central-leading Chicago, whose rotation looks especially shaky at the moment without Hamels and Hendricks. Both starters have enjoyed terrific seasons thus far, with Hendricks having pitched to a 3.36 ERA/3.48 FIP and posted 7.64 K/9 against 1.63 BB/9 in 88 1/3 innings.
More on a few other injured notables…
- Rangers designated hitter/outfielder Hunter Pence will embark on a two-game minor league rehab stint beginning Monday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Barring setbacks, Pence will return to the Rangers on Wednesday. Pence has been out since June 17 with a right groin strain, but the stunning start the revived 36-year-old jumped out to before then earned him his fourth career All-Star nod. Thanks in no small part to Pence, who’s raking at a .294/.353/.608 clip (142 wRC+) with 15 home runs over 215 plate appearances, Texas owns a 46-37 record and a 1 1/2-game lead on the AL’s last wild-card spot.
- Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger won’t return until sometime after the All-Star break, manager Scott Servais announced Saturday (via Greg Johns of MLB.com). The Mariners had been hopeful Haniger would come back a bit before then, but the ruptured testicle he suffered June 6 will ultimately keep him out at least five weeks.
- Athletics closer Blake Treinen is on track to come off the IL on Wednesday, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com tweets. In the meantime, Treinen’s likely to pitch a rehab game Monday. The A’s placed Treinen on the shelf last Saturday with a right shoulder strain, continuing a disappointing campaign for the 30-year-old. Arguably the majors’ premier reliever in 2018, Treinen has recorded a pedestrian 4.08 ERA/4.11 FIP with 9.17 K/9, 5.35 BB/9 and a 43.2 percent groundball rate in 35 1/3 innings this season.
- Reds lefty Alex Wood has dealt with multiple setbacks in his recovery from a back injury, an issue that has stopped him from pitching in the majors this year. But he’ll make another attempt to progress toward a rehab assignment, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer relays. Wood plans to throw off flat ground Sunday, and the Reds will determine his next step thereafter. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed, hopeful that it wasn’t too big of a setback for him,” manager David Bell said of the latest setback Wood suffered earlier this week.
MLB Draft Signings: 6/29/19
We’ll use this post to track some of the day’s draft signings…
- The Cubs signed their 3rd rounder to below-slot value today, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). Michael McAvene signs for $500K, just a little below his potential value as the 103rd overall pick in the draft – slot value of $565,600. He appeared in 23 games out of the Cardinals bullpen this season, going 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA across 33 innings. He struck out 50 versus only 11 walks, good marks for the righty, who chucked a mid-90s heater as a reliever. There’s at least a chance the Cubs will try to convert him to a starter moving forward.
- The Mariners signed their supplemental 2nd rounder Isaiah Campbell for $850K, tweets Callis. Slot value for the 76th pick in the draft is $818,200, but Seattle felt Campbell was worth splurging for. Campbell rocks a mid-90s heater that touches 98 mph, and he has a couple of interesting secondary pitches as well. Campbell helmed the staff for the Arkansas Razorbacks this season, goin 12-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 18 starts. He struck out 125 batters versus only 22 walks, promising numbers for Seattle’s new righty. Fun fact from Callis, Campbell would be the first major leaguer from Portugal since the illustrious Frank Thompson in 1875.
Rangers Claim Jesse Biddle
The Rangers have claimed left-hander Jesse Biddle off waivers from the Mariners, according to announcements from both clubs. Texas transferred Jeffrey Springs from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
The 27-year-old Biddle is a former first-round pick who bounced back from injuries to give the Braves a strong season in the bullpen in 2018 (3.11 ERA, 9.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 55.6 percent grounder rate in 63 2/3 innings). The 2019 season, however, has been a nightmare for the hard-throwing southpaw. In 22 2/3 innings between Atlanta and Seattle, Biddle has been pummeled for a 7.54 ERA. His strikeout, walk, home-run, ground-ball and swinging-strike rates have all gone in the wrong direction, with his control being particularly problematic; Biddle has walked 17 batters, hit another, and thrown seven wild pitches thus far in ’19.
That glut of red flags notwithstanding, Biddle is still a 27-year-old lefty who averages better than 94 mph on his heater and has some very recent success on his resume. Hard-throwing lefties who can miss bats and generate grounders in bunches are hard to come by, making Biddle an interesting reclamation project even if this year hasn’t been at all encouraging.
John Stanton Discusses Mariners’ Direction
After general manager Jerry Dipoto oversaw a future-driven retooling of the Mariners’ roster over the winter, there was little expectation they’d break their 17-year playoff drought in 2019. The club then got off to a sizzling 13-2 start this season, perhaps creating a glimmer of hope that it would enjoy a Cinderella campaign. Two and a half months later, though, it’s clear this will indeed go down as another lean year for the Mariners. They’ve lost 45 of 69 games since they came bursting out of the gates and now own the majors’ eighth-worst record at 37-47.
The trajectory of the Mariners’ season surely hasn’t gone to their liking, but the franchise isn’t discouraged. Quite the contrary, Mariners owner John Stanton recently told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times in an in-depth interview that’s worth checking out in full (interview links: 1, 2). We’ll take a look at a few of the highlights.
Stanton’s of the belief the Mariners are executing their plan properly, saying: “I think we’ve done exactly what we’ve set out to do. I try to resist the temptation to take a snapshot of a movie — even the midpoint of the movie. I view us as on a journey to have a sustainable, championship-caliber team as soon as we can.”
In the Mariners’ estimation, they’ve done a great deal to improve their long-term outlook dating back to the winter, even though it has come at the expense of immediate success.
“We’ve gotten younger,” Stanton offered. “And I don’t really like the word controlled, but from a contractual point of view they are players we know will be here for a longer period of time. We’ve gone from being one of the oldest teams in baseball to being middle of the pack in age”
Pricey 30-somethings such as Robinson Cano, Jay Bruce (originally acquired as part of the Cano deal) and Edwin Encarnacion (also acquired in the offseason) are gone. Their departures opened up varying degrees of financial flexibility for the Mariners. Meanwhile, shipping out the likes of James Paxton, Edwin Diaz, Jean Segura, Mike Zunino and Alex Colome during the winter went a long way toward adding capable younger players to the organization – including shortstop J.P. Crawford, center fielder Mallex Smith and catcher Omar Narvaez at the MLB level.
Reflecting on the December blockbuster that sent Cano and Diaz to the Mets, Stanton told Divish, “I personally love Robbie Cano, but having a 40-year old second baseman or probably DH by that time isn’t ideal, and even though I think Robbie will be better than any other 40-year-old at that time, we needed to do something.”
It does appear the Mariners got the better end of that deal thus far. Cano, who will earn $24MM per annum through 2023, is having a brutal season at the age of 36. Diaz has been good, on the other hand, though not the game-ending buzzsaw he was in 2018. And the centerpieces of the Mariners’ return – 19-year-old High-A outfielder Jarred Kelenic and 23-year-old Double-A righty Justin Dunn – are their top two prospects. More than that, Kelenic and Dunn are a pair of the game’s best prospects in general.
At the beginning of June, six months after the trade with the Mets brought Bruce to Seattle, the Mariners flipped him to Philadelphia for minor league infielder Jake Scheiner. However, the Mariners had to pay the Phillies $18MM of Bruce’s remaining $21.6MM salary to take him off their hands. Similarly, the Mariners paid the Yankees in mid-June to take the more valuable Encarnacion, who has about $16MM in guarantees left on his contract. They and the Yankees are essentially splitting the money, which may have driven down the Mariners’ return for Encarnacion. The M’s only acquired 19-year-old Low-A pitching prospect Juan Then, whom Dipoto once traded away.
Stanton defended the Encarnacion trade, saying: “I will tell you categorically that situation was not about the money. It was about the pitching prospect we got. He was a guy that we felt really good about and were really excited to get back. We wanted that kid back.”
The fact that the Mariners are paying Bruce and Encarnacion to play elsewhere is “fine” with Stanton because “the value of our flexibility is greater than the dollars that we have to pay.” Stanton continued: “We bunched up some salary dollars now and probably overpaid some salary dollars in some respects, but then we’ve freed ourselves up so that we if he need another starting pitcher — and I’m not saying we will — but if we need an additional starting pitcher in 2021 then we are giving Jerry the budget to be able to get the best guy he can.”
Stanton mentioned 2021-22 as a potential time frame for the Mariners to return to contention, in part because AL West juggernaut “Houston has a lot of their really becoming free agents” then. At the same time, though, Stanton’s “resistant to being too specific on it. I think the intent is for us to get better and be more in control of players. There will be signs that we believe it’s time when you’ll see us step up on a free agent to fill a gap. That’s a pretty good indication.”
For now, the Mariners’ win-loss record “isn’t, for me, the important metric on how we are doing,” insists Stanton, who’s instead focused on the growth of their young players in the majors and minors. In Stanton’s view, the team’s “exceeding expectations overall in terms of the quality of guys that we have added.”
Orioles Claim Tayler Scott, Designate Sean Gilmartin
The Orioles have claimed right-hander Tayler Scott off waivers from the Mariners and designated left-hander Sean Gilmartin for assignment in order to open a 40-man roster spot, per a club announcement. Scott has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
The South African-born Scott, 27, made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2019, pitching 7 2/3 innings but yielding eight earned runs on 11 hits and six walks with seven strikeouts. Scott’s bottom-line numbers in Triple-A aren’t much more appealing — 6.43 ERA in 35 innings — but he’s posted a 57 percent grounder rate across his past two Triple-A campaigns and averages roughly 95 mph on his sinker. That, it seems, piqued the interest of the new-look Orioles front office. Because Scott only just had his contract selected for the first time in 2019, he has all three minor league option years remaining (2019 included).
Gilmartin, 29, yielded five runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout across 2 1/3 innings in his lone start for the O’s. The former first-round pick was once a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect but hasn’t found much MLB success outside a solid 2015 rookie season with the Mets when he was a Rule 5 pick out of the Twins organization. In 107 2/3 innings in the big leagues, Gilmartin has a 4.18 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 (5.90 ERA in 50 1/3 frames from 2016-19). He’s struggled throughout much of his time in Triple-A as well, though he did give the Orioles’ top affiliate 36 1/3 sharp innings this year prior to his selection to the MLB roster. The O’s will have a week to trade Gilmartin or run him through outright waivers.