West Notes: Giants, Dodgers, Mariners, Rangers
Off to a major league-worst 14-24 start, the Giants look like sellers in the making. The problem is that the veterans they could attempt to move are lacking in trade value, observes Buster Olney of ESPN. The best of the bunch is Johnny Cueto, but the offseason opt-out clause in the right-hander’s contract takes away some of his appeal. Then there’s righty Jeff Samardzija, who owns a 5.44 ERA in 46 1/3 innings (albeit with a 3.43 FIP) and is due upward of $60MM through 2020, as well as aging outfielders Hunter Pence and Denard Span. The 34-year-old Pence is making $18.5MM both this year and next, while Span, 33, is on a $9MM salary through 2018 and has a $4MM buyout for 2019.
More from the West divisions:
- The Dodgers will keep left-hander Alex Wood in their rotation when southpaw Rich Hill and righty Brandon McCarthy return from the disabled list next week, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Saturday (Twitter link via Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times). Wood opened the season in the bullpen, but the results have been too good to ignore since he moved to the rotation in late April. Across four starts and 22 innings, Wood has allowed four earned runs (all in his May 2 outing), with a whopping 34 strikeouts against four walks. Given that Wood, Hill, McCarthy and Clayton Kershaw are presumably on the cusp of occupying four-fifths of Los Angeles’ rotation, either Julio Urias or Hyun-Jin Ryu will end up as the odd man out.
- The Mariners’ top four starting pitchers, James Paxton, Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and Drew Smyly, are all on the disabled list, leading general manager Jerry Dipoto to tell Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune: “You always try to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, but this has set a new bar.” In the latest blow to Seattle’s starting depth, fill-in Ryan Weber left his season debut in the fourth inning of the club’s loss to Toronto on Saturday and is now on the DL with right shoulder tightness. While Dipoto has a reputation as a transaction-happy GM, having averaged one move every 15 hours, 45 minutes since the Mariners set their Opening Day roster (per Dutton, on Twitter), he doesn’t expect to bolster his rotation from outside the organization. “It’s a tough time of year to find external help,” he said. “Our most realistic and best options remain those in house.”
- Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre continues progressing toward a May return, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Beltre, who hasn’t played this year because of a strained right calf, took batting practice and fielded ground balls on Saturday. Manager Jeff Banister called the workout “very positive” and added, “It was as good as he has felt through this entire process.” Upon his return, Beltre will take over for Joey Gallo at third base, though the power-hitting 24-year-old should still rack up plenty of at-bats at other positions, including the corner outfield and/or first base.
Hisashi Iwakuma To Miss 4-6 Weeks
SATURDAY: The Mariners have announced that Mariners Medical Director E. Edward Khalfayan has confirmed that Iwakuma has inflammation in his right shoulder. Iwakuma is expected to miss four to six weeks.
WEDNESDAY: The Mariners announced that they’ve placed right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his right shoulder. In a corresponding move, the Mariners selected the contract of right-hander Sam Gaviglio from Triple-A Tacoma, also transferring righty Evan Marshall to the 60-day DL to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Gaviglio. Iwakuma, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (on Twitter), is headed back to Seattle for an MRI.
Iwakuma becomes the latest Mariners starter to land on the disabled list, joining Drew Smyly, James Paxton and Felix Hernandez on the shelf. With a stunning 80 percent of their Opening Day rotation on the disabled list, Seattle has turned to lefty Ariel Miranda and offseason acquisitions Chase De Jong and Dillon Overton in the rotation mix. Gaviglio may eventually join that mix, though for now right-hander Christian Bergman will step into the rotation and make a start in Toronto, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune tweets.
The 26-year-old Gaviglio, then, could initially be ticketed for long relief or could start in place of Overton next time around. Gaviglio had been pitching well in Triple-A, recording a 3.31 ERA with 4.4 K/9, 0.8 BB/9 and a 57.4 percent ground-ball rate through five starts (32 2/3 innings) with Tacoma. Originally acquired from the Cardinals back in 2014 in exchange for Ty Kelly, Gaviglio has a 4.38 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in parts of three Triple-A seasons (197 1/3 innings).
Iwakuma’s status is especially worth monitoring due to the fact that his health will determine whether his 2018 option vests. As noted yesterday when parsing through the vesting options around the league, Iwakuma is just 94 innings shy of locking in a $10MM salary for the 2018 season.
Injury Notes: Hill, Ethier, AGon, Bailey, Melancon, Mariners, Kluber, Gray
Here’s the latest on some notable health situations from around the game:
- The Dodgers have updates on a number of players. Lefty Rich Hill is going to return as a starter, but if his blister issue recurs then the team will consider moving him into some kind of relief role, manager Dave Roberts tells MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). The timeline remains a ways off for outfielder Andre Ethier, meanwhile. He’s still not able to run without feeling pain in his back, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports, making it seem unlikely he’d be able to return early July. Finally, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is expected to begin a rehab assignment next week, Alanna Rizzo of Sportsnet LA tweets. He may only require two or three games before returning.
- On the other side of the city, the Angels are sending righty Andrew Bailey for a visit with Dr. David Altchek, as Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The reliever “felt something” in his shoulder during a recent throwing session. Shoulder issues have kept him on the DL all year.
- Further north, the Giants have cause for hope that closer Mark Melancon will require only the brief DL timeline the club had charted when he was taken off the active roster. As Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter, Melancon is reporting reduced symptoms in his forearm. The righty will test things out by playing catch tomorrow.
- Continuing up the coast, the Mariners also have a smattering of health updates of note, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports. Key young talents James Paxton and Mitch Haniger are moving in the right direction, with the hope still being that they’ll return before the month is out. Reliever Steve Cishek is also close. But Felix Hernandez is going to rest his ailing shoulder a bit more, leaving his timeline somewhat cloudy, and it’s still not clear what to expect from Hisashi Iwakuma.
- Indians righty Corey Kluber is moving slowly in his rehab, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Out with lower back issues, Kluber has begun throwing from flat ground but still hasn’t taken the hill. Manager Terry Francona did say that the team is seeing progress, though perhaps the biggest test is yet to come.
- Rockies staff ace Jon Gray is also taking longer than had been hoped, as Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes. Gray is still in a walking boot while his broken left foot heals, though the hope seems to be he’ll be ready to shed that soon. While Gray has been able to continue throwing, he’ll obviously need to boost his conditioning and ensure his foot is at full health before undertaking at least some kind of rehab assignment.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/11/17
We’ll track the day’s minor moves right here…
- Former big league right-hander Barry Enright, who has been pitching for the Padres‘ Double-A affiliate, was traded to the Rockies in a minor swap, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. (Enright himself confirmed the move on Twitter). The 31-year-old hasn’t appeared in the Major since a 2013 stint with the Angels, though he’s pitched with various Triple-A clubs and in the Mexican League since that time. Enright owns a career 5.57 ERA in 148 2/3 Major League innings and a 4.86 ERA across parts of nine minor league seasons.
- The Mariners have signed infielder Danny Muno to a minor league deal and assigned them to their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, according to Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). Muno, 28, got a brief taste of the Majors with the Mets in 2015 (32 plate appearances) but hasn’t returned to the big leagues since. He opened the 2017 season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League, where he posted a .744 OPS through 13 games. Muno doesn’t have much power but has a history of getting on base in Triple-A, where he’s logged a .257/.363/.377 batting line in parts of three seasons. He’ll bring some defensive versatility to the Mariners’ Triple-A club, as he’s well-versed at second base, shortstop and third base.
Earlier Moves
- The Mariners have purchased the contract of righty Tyler Cloyd from the Somerset Patriots, the indy ball club announced. Cloyd had been throwing quite well, racking up 16 strikeouts over a dozen frames while allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and three walks. Soon to turn 30, Cloyd had struggled in two seasons of work with the Phillies and then bounced around in recent years. He returned from a stint with Korea’s Samsung Lions to join the Yankees last year on a minors deal, but missed the bulk of the season due to injury after a promising start. Over 440 2/3 total Triple-A innings, Cloyd owns a 3.49 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.
AL West Notes: Cotton, Alonso, Paxton, Ramirez
The Athletics announced on Thursday that right-hander Jharel Cotton has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville. While Cotton has been impressive at times, he’s also allowed five or more runs in three of his starts, including a seven-run drubbing at the hands of the Angels on Tuesday. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, GM David Forst suggested that Cotton merely needs to improve his consistency and may not be long for the minors. ““Jharel has pitched better than what his overall line shows,” said the GM. “…[H]e just needs some more consistency with his performance. The bottom line is that we currently have six starters who are probably deserving of being in the big leagues; Jharel needs to continue to improve in Nashville so he’s ready when the next opportunity arises.” Cotton’s demotion will clear a spot in the rotation for lefty Sean Manaea, who is returning from shoulder troubles early next week. Manaea will be joined by Sonny Gray, Kendall Graveman, Andrew Triggs and Jesse Hahn in the starting five.
More from the AL West…
- While there’s been plenty of talk about Yonder Alonso altering his launch angle and adopting a more fly-ball-heavy approach, Athletics hitting coach Darren Bush tells Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area that Alonso hasn’t fundamentally changed his approach at the plate. Rather, Alonso has adopted a leg kick that has improved his timing and the quality of his contact. “All he’s trying to do is be in position and execute a good swing, and the by-product is the ball is going the way that it should,” says Bush. “…This year, his leg kick is just on time. He’s given himself time to read the pitch, he’s given himself time to execute his swing. … He doesn’t have a two-part swing. It’s just one fluid swing.” Alonso, once one of the game’s to overall prospects, has been a light-hitting first baseman for years but is off to a ludicrous start in 2017. To date, he’s batting .303/.389/.687 with 11 home runs and five doubles through 113 plate appearances.
- Mariners southpaw James Paxton, on the disabled list due to a forearm strain, has already been cleared by doctors to begin throwing, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Word of Paxton’s injury — particularly the ever-ominous forearm strain — was a disheartening blow the Mariners and their fans, though GM Jerry Dipoto expressed optimism that Paxton would only miss two starts at the time of the injury. While it’s not yet certain that his absence will be that brief in nature, a return to throwing just six days after landing on the DL is certainly encouraging.
- In his latest Angels mailbag, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tackles a number of topics, ranging from Yunel Escobar‘s trade candidacy to the dearth of production the Halos have received in left field. On right-hander J.C. Ramirez, Moura notes that pitching coach Charles Nagy urged Ramirez to ditch his erratic four-seam fastball for a two-seamer late last season, and the results have somewhat quietly been excellent. The hard-throwing 28-year-old has a 3.21 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 46.6 percent ground-ball rate in 47 2/3 innings dating back to last September. Moura notes that scouts to whom he’s spoken still don’t know what to make of Ramirez in the long run, but his early work as a starter in 2017 has been a bright spot for the Halos — especially as they deal with injuries elsewhere in the rotation.
Mariners Claim Casey Lawrence
The Mariners have claimed righty Casey Lawrence from the Blue Jays, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune first reported on Twitter. The club has announced the move, with Evan Scribner moving to the 60-day DL to create 40-man space.
The 29-year-old Lawrence will report to Triple-A Tacoma, where he’ll provide the Seattle organization with an additional depth option. He had made two starts and two relief appearances at the MLB level for the Jays, though those didn’t go particularly well.
Over 13 1/3 innings frames with Toronto — the first of his career in the big leagues — Lawrence surrendered 13 earned runs on 21 hits with a less-than-ideal 7:11 K/BB walk rate. That said, Lawrence has also turned in three strong starts at Triple-A this year (allowing just one earned in ten innings) and has been a sturdy (if unspectacular) performer in the upper minors in recent years.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/9/17
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Angels lefty John Lamb has received a fifty-game suspension for his second positive test for a drug of abuse, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to tweet. The 26-year-old received 24 MLB starts over 2015-16 with the Reds, who acquired him in the Johnny Cueto deal. But he struggled to a 6.17 ERA in that span, striking out 8.7 batters per nine while issuing 3.8 walks per nine and allowing 142 base hits — 22 of them long balls. Lamb caught on with the Halos on a minors deal after he was cut loose by Cincinnati over the winter.
- The Dodgers have inked lefty Logan Darnell to a minors pact, as Triple-A Oklahoma City broadcaster/media relations director Alex Freedman announced on Twitter. Darnell, 28, has 24 MLB frames under his belt, all of those coming in 2014 with the Twins. Last year, he worked to a 3.53 ERA over 109 2/3 Triple-A frames. He wasn’t exactly generating great results with the indy ball Somerset Patriots, but evidently showed enough to catch the eye of the Dodgers’ brass.
- Righty Justin De Fratus has signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners, the indy ball Southern Maryland Blue Crabs announced on Twitter. De Fratus, 29, spent parts of five years in the majors with the Phillies. But he struggled in 2015 and then bounced around the minors last season.
- The Cardinals have released reliever Mitch Harris, as Glenn Sattell of MLB.com reports. The 31-year-old has continued to struggle with elbow issues. He had made a notable big league debut in 2015, making it to the majors after putting his professional career on hold during a stint in the Navy. The Naval Academy grad worked 27 innings of 3.67 ERA ball that year, though he managed only 5.0 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 in that stretch.
Rays Acquire International Slot From Mariners
The Rays have acquired an international signing slot from the Mariners in exchange for minor-league righty Bryan Bonnell, per an announcement from the M’s. While the announcement doesn’t specify, it seems that the international money will be for the current season.
Tampa Bay will pick up the 71st international pool slot, which gives the team $321,100 in added bonus money. The Rays are sitting in the penalty box this year after loading up on the 2014-15 draft class, so the team is capped at $300K in spending on any given player. But the organization has still moved aggressively, as Ben Badler of Baseball America writes (subscription required and recommended), with 36 players already under contract.
As for the Mariners, the club evidently didn’t see the merit in utilizing that cash before the close of the current signing period on June 15th. Instead, they’ll pick up the 23-year-old Bonnell, who came to the Rays as a 36th-round draft pick in 2015. Bonnell has worked as a reliever in the minors, opening the current season at High-A. Through 11 frames this year, he has allowed five earned runs on 11 hits while compiling 10 strikeouts against just one walk.
Phillies Acquire Casey Fien
The Mariners announced that they’ve traded right-hander Casey Fien to the Phillies in exchange for cash. Because Fien wasn’t on the Mariners’ 40-man roster, Philadelphia does not need to make a corresponding 40-man move. Fien will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, per an announcement from the Phillies.
Fien, 33, has been designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster by the Mariners twice this season. He’s struggled immensely through six big league innings this year, surrendering 10 earned runs on nine hits (three homers) and four walks with six strikeouts. That marks a continuation of the difficulties that Fien had with the Dodgers and Twins in 2016, when he posted a 5.49 ERA through 39 1/3 innings. (Notably, Fien did improve considerably upon moving from Minnesota to Los Angeles, recording a 4.21 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 25 2/3 innings.)
Though he’s struggled since the onset of the 2016 season, Fien was a reliable middle relief/setup option for the Twins from 2012-15, logging 223 2/3 innings with a 3.54 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9. Fien’s velocity is down a bit this season, but he’s also registered an impressive 17.8 percent swinging-strike rate and is subsequently sporting a career-best 66.7 percent contact rate. The long ball has plagued Fien since early in 2016, and while a move to the homer-happy Citizens Bank Park (in the event that he is promoted to the Majors at some point) may not help in that regard, it could also do Fien some good to get out of the America League.
2018 Vesting Options Update
Each year, the free-agent class is impacted by the performance of players with vesting options (as is the financial future of players with said provisions in their contract). For those unfamiliar with the option, a vesting option is typically (though not always) a club option that can automatically trigger based on the player’s health and/or performance. Meeting pre-determined criteria for games played, innings pitched and plate appearances are the most common ways of triggering a vesting option. Some also require that a player avoid the DL at the end of the season and/or for a certain number of games over the course of the year.
Here’s a look at all of the 2018 player options that can automatically trigger based on the players’ 2017 performance…
- Matt Cain: The 2017 campaign is the final season of a six-year, $127.5MM extension that Cain signed with the Giants on April 2, 2012. Prior to that point, Cain had been one of the most durable and efficient starters in the NL, but injuries have completely derailed Cain’s career since that 2012 season. Cain hasn’t thrown more than 90 1/3 innings since 2013, and so far he’s delivered just a 4.64 ERA in 455 1/3 innings over the five extra years of control the Giants bought out. If he can reach 200 innings this season and is not on the disabled list due to elbow or shoulder troubles to end the year, his $21.5MM club option would become guaranteed. However, he’s averaging fewer than 5 1/3 innings per start in 2017, and his previous health woes make that decidedly unlikely. His option comes with a $7.5MM buyout, which seems like an inevitable outcome.
- Andre Ethier: Ethier batted .273/.351/.429 through the first three seasons of his five-year, $85MM extension (including particularly strong efforts in 2013 and 2015), but he played in just 16 games last season and has been on the disabled list for the entire 2017 season (herniated disk in his lower back). His $17.5MM club option would automatically vest with 550 plate appearances this season, but that’s obviously not going to happen, so he’ll receive a $2.5MM buyout instead.
- Matt Garza: Garza’s four-year, $50MM contract with the Brewers contained one of the more convoluted vesting options in recent memory. Injury concerns surrounding Garza allowed the club to land a team option valued at a base of just $5MM. However, had Garza made 110 starts over the contract’s four years, pitched 115 innings in 2017 and avoided the DL at the end of the 2017 season, the option would’ve become guaranteed at $13MM. On the other side of the coin, the Brewers would’ve been able to pick it up at just $1MM had Garza missed 130 or more days during any single season of the contract. Neither of those scenarios will play out at this point, though. All of that is a long-winded way of saying that Garza’s option won’t be vesting at $13MM and will come at a potentially reasonable rate of $5MM.
- Gio Gonzalez: Gonzalez’s five-year, $42MM extension came with a $12MM club option for the 2017 season (which was exercised) and a $12MM club/vesting option for the 2018 campaign. If the left-hander reaches 180 innings this season, he’ll be locked in at $12MM next season. For a player as durable as Gonzalez, who averaged 31 starts per year from 2010-16, that seems simple enough. But, Gonzalez has had difficulty working deep into games and has not crossed the 180-inning threshold since 2013. This season, though, he’s already racked up 44 1/3 innings through seven starts — an average of about 6 1/3 frames per outing. He’d need only 29 starts at that pace to trigger the option. And even if he doesn’t sustain that innings pace, if he can avoid the DL and average even 5 1/3 to 5 2/3 innings per start for the rest of the year, he’d accrue enough innings to guarantee that option. Of course, if Gonzalez delivers anything close to the 3.57 ERA he’s turned in through parts of six seasons as a National, the team will likely pick up the option even if it doesn’t vest.
- J.J. Hardy: Hardy decided to forgo the open market at the end of the 2014 season, instead re-upping with Orioles in early October on a three-year, $40MM deal. His contract comes with a $14MM club option ($2MM buyout) that could automatically vest in the event that Hardy reaches 600 plate appearances this season. Hardy, however, has reached that total just twice in six previous seasons with the Orioles, and he’s hitting a mere .196/.232/.252 through his first 113 plate appearances in 2017. Based on his recent health track record, it could be considered unlikely that he stays healthy enough to trigger the option. But if he does remain healthy and doesn’t turn things around at the plate, the O’s won’t have a hard time justifying a reduction in playing time to prevent the option from vesting.
- Greg Holland: Holland signed a one-year, $7MM deal with a mutual option for the 2018 season, though so long as he remains healthy it’s effectively a two-year, $22MM contract with a player option/opt-out provision. Holland’s $10MM mutual option becomes a $15MM player option if he appears in 50 total games or finishes 30 games in 2017. He’s come out of the gate roaring as a dominant closer in Colorado, just as he was in Kansas City. Holland has already finished 14 games, meaning he needs just 16 more to trigger that player option and secure the right to re-enter the open market. An injury seems like the only thing that will stand in Holland’s way, as he’s currently sporting a 1.29 ERA with a 17-to-5 K/BB ratio, a career-best 51.6 percent ground-ball rate and a 93.9 mph average fastball through his first 14 innings.
- Hisashi Iwakuma: After injury concerns stemming from Iwakuma’s physical caused the Dodgers to back out of a reported three-year, $45MM agreement in the 2015-16 offseason, Iwakuma instead returned to the Mariners on a one-year deal with a pair of vesting options. Iwakuma needed 162 innings to trigger his 2017 option, and he needed either 162 innings in 2017 or 324 innings between 2016-17 to trigger his $10MM option for the 2018 season. The 36-year-old racked up 199 innings last year, meaning he now needs just 125 innings in 2017, though he must also avoid the disabled list at season’s end as well. Iwakuma has barely averaged five innings per outing (31 through six starts), but he also needs just 94 more innings this year for that option to kick in.
- Ricky Nolasco: Nolasco’s option isn’t a standard vesting option, but his $13MM club option would become a player option with 400 innings pitched between 2016-17. The 34-year-old logged 197 2/3 innings last year, meaning he’d need 202 1/3 innings in 2017 in order to convert his option. That’s a total that Nolasco has reached only twice in his career, and he’s not on pace to approach that number through his first seven starts of the season. If Nolasco were to make the same number of starts as last season (32), he’d need to average nearly 6 2/3 innings per outing for the rest of the season to reach that level. If he ties his career-high with 33 starts, he’d need to average 6 1/3 frames through season’s end. It’s technically possible that Nolasco does end up with a $13MM player option, but the likelier scenario is that the Halos will choose between a $13MM club option and a $1MM buyout. (Thanks to MLBTR commenters paytoplay and jdobson1822 for pointing out Nolasco’s option.)
Cot’s Contracts was used in the creation of this post.