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West Notes: Angels, Detmers, Mariners, Lewis, Elias, Rockies, Freeland

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Reid Detmers will open the season in the Angels six-man rotation, per Jeff Fletcher of the SoCal News group (via Twitter). Detmers made five starts in 2021 to mixed results, but the Angels have high hopes that the 22-year-old will develop into a rotation staple. For now, he’ll join Shohei Ohtani, Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Sandoval, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Suarez in manager Joe Maddon’s rotation. There’s a fair amount of injury concern in the group, but it’s also one of the higher ceiling units the Angels have started with in the rotation during Maddon’s tenure. As with most seasons, the Angels hopes for contention will hinge largely on the success of this group. Elsewhere out west…

  • Neither Kyle Lewis nor Roenis Elias will be ready to make the Mariners’ opening day roster, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Elias is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t appeared in a big league game since September of the 2019 season. As for Lewis, the Mariners are taking their time bringing back the 2019 Rookie of the Year. The next step for Lewis’ rehab will be to begin serving as the designated hitter in minor league games, notes Divish, with manager Scott Servais pegging Lewis’ return as being about a month behind the rest of the squad.
  • Kyle Freeland will get the ball on opening day for the Rockies, per Danielle Allentuck of The Gazette. It will be his second time as the Rockies’ opening day starter, having done so in 2019 as well. No Rockies starter has ever made three opening day starts for the club. The 28-year-old has put together 191 1/3 innings of 4.33 ERA/4.64 FIP over the past two seasons after a disastrous 2019 campaign.

Ken Giles To Open Season On Injured List

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Mariners reliever Ken Giles will be out a few weeks due to a tendon injury in the middle finger of his throwing hand, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Corey Brock of the Athletic). Needless to say, he won’t be ready for next Thursday’s Opening Day.

The injury will delay Giles’ team debut for a bit longer. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery while a member of the Blue Jays in October 2020. The M’s signed him to a two-year guarantee the following offseason knowing he wouldn’t be available during the 2021 campaign. The backloaded contract will pay Giles $5MM this season, a bargain price if he can rediscover his pre-injury form. (The deal also contains a $9.5MM club option for 2023).

Giles was rocked in four appearances with the Jays in 2020 before he went under the knife. The New Mexico native never appeared healthy in that minimal look, though, as his average fastball velocity had dropped more than two miles per hour relative to the prior season. It’s probably fair to look past that showing, and Giles was nothing short of dominant during the previous campaign.

In 2019, the former 7th-round draft pick worked 53 innings of 1.87 ERA ball for the Jays. Giles averaged 97 MPH on his heater and fanned an elite 39.9% of opposing hitters. He saved 23 games that season, his third consecutive year locking down 20+ contests. Like most relievers, Giles saw his production fluctuate a bit season-to-season, but he posted an ERA of 2.30 or lower in four of his first six MLB seasons.

If he can regain anything near that form post-surgery, Giles has the potential to be a key late-inning arms. The Mariners surprisingly had one of the league’s best bullpens last year, a big reason they won 90 games. Paul Sewald, Diego Castillo and Drew Steckenrider offer Servais an excellent trio of end-of-game options, but Seattle will be without Giles for at least the first few weeks of the season. The M’s also lost Casey Sadler, who was one of their best relievers in 2021, for the entire season to shoulder surgery.

Mariners Expected To Sign Tommy Milone

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The Mariners are expected to sign Tommy Milone to a minor league contract, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). The veteran left-hander will presumably open the year with Triple-A Tacoma.

Milone is a familiar face to Mariners fans, as he spent the 2019 campaign in Seattle. That season, he tossed 111 2/3 innings as a swingman, pitching to a 4.76 ERA. The M’s are one of nine different teams for which the 35-year-old has suited up at the big league level. The USC product has bounced around the league in true journeyman fashion, but he’s continued to earn big league looks along the way. Milone has pitched in the majors in each of the past eleven seasons, although his 14 frames with the Blue Jays last year marked a personal low.

One of the softer throwers in the game, Milone has never been known for his bat-missing prowess. Bizarrely, he did punch out an above-average 26.2% of opposing hitters on a strong 12.4% swinging strike rate last season despite averaging a career-low 84.2 MPH on his fastball. That’s probably little more than a sample size blip, as his 16.4% strikeout percentage in Triple-A more closely aligned with his career track record.

Without overpowering stuff, Milone has gotten by on excellent control. He’s never walked more than 7.1% of batters faced in a given season, and he’s doled out free passes at just a 5.6% clip for his career. (Last year’s league average walk percentage for starters, for reference, checked in at 7.8%). That strike-throwing reliability has made Milone a frequently-used depth option throughout his career. He has started 146 of his 189 MLB appearances, posting a 4.59 cumulative ERA.

The Mariners look likely to open the year with a top four of Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. Top prospects Matt Brash and George Kirby look the likely options for the final spot, with Brash seemingly having the upper hand by virtue of last season’s late selection onto the 40-man roster. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic wrote yesterday that Seattle brass would prefer to add another starter to that group, but it’s not clear that’s possible at this stage of the offseason. Regardless of whether the M’s make another rotation move in the next week, Milone figures to begin the season in Tacoma and remain on hand in the event injuries necessitate a midseason call-up.

Reds Acquire Connor Phillips From Mariners To Complete Winker Trade

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The Reds announced they’ve acquired pitching prospect Connor Phillips from the Mariners. He’s the player to be named later in this month’s deal that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez to Seattle.

Cincinnati maintained at the time of the deal they’d add a notable prospect as the player to be named later, and they indeed pick up one of the better arms in the Seattle system. Baseball America ranked Phillips 12th among M’s farmhands this winter, writing that the right-hander owns a 94-96 MPH fastball and a plus slider. BA suggests that Phillips’ below-average changeup and inconsistent control figure to make him a reliever in the long run, but he worked as a starting pitcher during his first full professional season.

Phillips, whom the Mariners selected 64th overall out of a Texas junior college in 2020, made 16 starts with Low-A Modesto last year. The 20-year-old tossed 72 innings of 4.75 ERA ball, striking out an excellent 32.3% of opposing hitters but issuing walks at an alarming 13.7% rate. He was bumped up to High-A Everett for his final start of the year, allowing three runs in four innings.

Phillips becomes the latest power arm added to the Cincinnati system as part of their recent sell-off. The Reds also picked up Brandon Williamson in the Winker trade and landed 2021 first-rounder Chase Petty from the Twins in the Sonny Gray deal.

Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reported Phillips’ inclusion in the deal shortly before the official announcement.

Mariners’ Evan White To Undergo Sports Hernia Surgery

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Mariners first baseman Evan White will soon be undergoing surgery to address a sports hernia, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.  It’s another big setback for White, who underwent a hip surgery last July that cut short his 2021 season.

Though White’s specific case may differ, most sports hernia operations result in roughly 4-8 weeks of missed time.  It’s probably safe to project towards the higher end of that timeframe, given that White is also on the way back from his hip procedure, and he has barely played during Spring Training.  With these factors in mind, White could be looking at closer to a midseason debut.

The 17th overall pick of the 2017 draft, White drew plenty of top-100 prospect buzz heading into the 2020 season, and his rookie season was highlighted by a Gold Glove Award for his work at first base.  At the plate, however, White has remained a major work in progress, hitting only .165/.235/.308 over his first 306 plate appearances against big league pitching.

Between his injuries and the lack of a 2020 minor league season, White’s development has already hit some significant speedbumps, and it was already looking like he would be starting 2022 as either a backup or perhaps even in the minors to get some regular playing time.  The Mariners can afford to take their time, as White was already been signed to a six-year, $24MM extension back in November 2019.  Much of the money on that backloaded deal has yet to kick in, as White made $2.6MM in the first two years of the extension and is set to earn $1.4MM in 2022.

Ty France is Seattle’s top option at first base, with utilityman Abraham Toro and Luis Torrens also capable of handling the position.  Divish also reports that new acquisition Jesse Winker has been working out at first base, which could represent an interesting way for the M’s to juggle their lineup (especially when star prospect Julio Rodriguez is eventually called up).  Winker has never played first base in his pro career, though gaining a foothold at a new position could be helpful for Winker considering that defensive metrics haven’t been too fond of his work in the outfield.

Mariners To Sign Sergio Romo

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The Mariners have agreed to a deal with free-agent righty Sergio Romo, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. It’s a big league deal that comes with a $2MM base salary, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The deal is pending a physical. Romo is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Sergio Romo | D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The 39-year-old Romo spent the 2021 campaign with the division-rival A’s, where he posted a 4.67 ERA with a 23.2% strikeout rate against an 8.1% walk rate. It marked a downturn both in terms of ERA and strikeout rate for the 14-year big league veteran, but Romo continued to be among the game’s best in terms of limiting hard contact. His 84.9 mph average exit velocity ranked in the 98th percentile of big league pitchers, and Romo’s 23.3% opponents’ hard-hit rate was the best in the Majors.

A soft-tossing, sidearming slider specialist, Romo has long flummoxed right-handed opponents and kept lefties in check more effectively than most sidearm righties. He wasn’t quite as dominant against either in ’21 as he has been in prior seasons, but neither managed much to do much damage against him overall. Right-handed opponents posted a .240/.290/.420 batting line, while lefties hit .235/.330/.376 — both good for a .305 wOBA.

Romo’s spike in ERA this past season was due, at least in part, to an uncharacteristic dip in strand rate; after leaving 77% of runners on base throughout his career (and 78% in 2020 with Minnesota), Romo saw that rate drop to 69.3%. He also put himself at a disadvantage by throwing a first-pitch strike at just a 59.8% clip — the third-lowest mark of his career. If Romo can get ahead more frequently and maintain his outstanding levels of weak contact, that problematic strand rate will quite likely regress toward his career levels.

The Seattle bullpen was already strong, following a breakout from Paul Sewald and a resurgence from fellow righty Drew Steckenrider. The Mariners will also get both Ken Giles and Andres Munoz back from Tommy John surgery, giving them a pair of power arms capable of reaching triple-digit readings on the radar gun. Righty Diego Castillo was closing games in Tampa Bay before being acquired at last year’s trade deadline, and the club was surely encouraged by the progress made from starter-turned-reliever Erik Swanson.

That said, the Mariners also lost a key arm in recent days when right-hander Casey Sadler underwent a shoulder procedure that will cost him the entire 2022 season. Sadler, 31, posted a comical 0.67 ERA in 40 1/3 innings last year, and while he would never have been expected to replicate that level of dominance, he was surely viewed as a vital member of manager Scott Servais’ bullpen. Romo gives the M’s a veteran replacement for Sadler — one who’ll provide quite a different look than some of his new power-armed teammates. Going from Romo’s 85-86 mph “fastball” to triple-digit heaters from Giles or Munoz in the late stages of a game won’t be an easy transition for opponents.

With Romo on board, the Mariners’ projected payroll ticks up to about $106MM — its highest point since 2019 but still miles shy of the franchise-record $158MM. It’s still possible they’ll boost that total a bit further with another free-agent pickup — though the market has been largely picked over by now — or via a trade acquisition, though much of the team’s heavy lifting appears complete this winter. The M’s were known to be eyeing an experienced option to round out the rotation and have yet to make such an addition, however, and there’s always some room for even further bullpen depth to be added — particularly with expanded 28-man rosters to begin the season.

Mariners Sign Sal Romano To Minor League Contract

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The Mariners announced this afternoon they’ve signed reliever Sal Romano to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league Spring Training. Seattle will be the right-hander’s fourth different organization in the past twelve months, as he bounced around the league fairly frequently last season.

Romano began the year with the Reds but found himself outrighted off the roster in mid-May after a rough start to the year. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees and was selected onto their big league roster in July, but he found himself designated for assignment within two weeks. This time, the Brewers claimed him off waivers, but they outrighted him themselves after he made just one appearance. Upon electing free agency, Romano returned to the Yankees, where he remained until being released in September.

Between the three clubs, the former 23rd-round pick tallied 25 innings over 19 appearances. The bulk of that work came during his first month and a half in Cincinnati, and he finished the season with a 6.12 ERA. Romano’s 14.4% strikeout percentage and 5% swinging strike rate were each among the lower marks in the league for relievers.

The past few seasons have been a struggle for Romano. After breaking into the majors with a 4.45 ERA over 16 starts for the Reds in 2017, he owns a 5.59 mark in 188 1/3 MLB frames over the past four years. Romano has moved to relief in that time, and while he’s yet to find much success in the role at the highest level, he did post a 3.56 ERA over 30 1/3 innings with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season. Romano also averaged nearly 95 MPH on his heater during his big league time, so he’d add a live arm to the middle innings mix for skipper Scott Servais if he can crack the big league club.

Mariners Sign Billy Hamilton To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with center fielder Billy Hamilton, tweets Corey Brock of The Athletic. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweeted earlier that Hamilton was in the Mariners’ clubhouse. The Wasserman client will surely be in big league camp and compete for a roster spot over the next few weeks.

Hamilton, 31, is one of the game’s fastest players and best defensive players but has never managed to provide much in the way of value at the plate. He did swipe at least 56 bases in four straight seasons with the Reds early in his career, even in spite of a dismal .297 OBP in that time, but his lack of production makes it difficult to plug him into an everyday lineup.

Hamilton spent the 2021 season with the White Sox, logging 135 plate appearances over the life of 71 games. Primarily used as a late-game sub, Hamilton walked in a career-low three percent of his plate appearances while striking out at a career-high 34.8% clip. He hit .220/.240/.378 overall in Chicago and is a career .240/.293/.397 hitter in 3260 plate appearances.

Lack of offense notwithstanding, there’s still a chance Hamilton could wind up making the Mariners’ roster. The starting trio of Jesse Winker (left field), Jarred Kelenic (center) and Mitch Haniger (right) isn’t exactly a standout defensive group, and while Taylor Trammell would give them a strong glove off the bench, the Mariners could want the former top prospect getting regular reps in Triple-A in hopes that he can rebound from a disappointing 2021 campaign.

President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told reporters at the time of the Winker acquisition that former AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis isn’t likely to be ready to begin the season as he continues to rehab a knee injury, which only creates further opportunity for a player like Hamilton. Seattle, of course, has one of the game’s top all-around prospects in outfielder Julio Rodriguez, but he’s yet to even take a plate appearance at the Triple-A level and only has 206 (dominant) plate appearances of Double-A ball under his belt. High as the ceiling with Rodriguez is, it seems likely that he’ll begin the year in Triple-A Tacoma.

Mariners, Andrew Albers Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran left-hander Andrew Albers, MLBTR has learned. It’ll be the second stint with the Mariners for Albers, a client of True Gravity Baseball.

The 36-year-old Albers, originally a tenth-round pick by the Padres back in 2008, Albers has pitched in parts of five Major League seasons in addition to three years spent in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and one in the Korea Baseball Organization. He appeared in five games with the Twins in 2021, logging 19 innings but yielding 16 runs during that time.

In signing with the Mariners, Albers returns to the organization with which he’s had the most success at the MLB level. The 2017 Mariners acquired Albers from the Braves in exchange for cash in August and plugged him right into the big league pitching staff. He responded with 41 innings of 3.51 ERA ball across nine appearances (six starts, three relief outings) while posting a 20.8% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.6% walk rate.

All in all, Albers has pitched 139 2/3 innings at the big league level, during which he’s notched a 4.58 ERA with a 14.9% strikeout rate, a 5.6% walk rate and a 40.2% ground-ball rate. He’s also logged a 3.60 ERA in parts of five Triple-A campaigns — a total of 563 innings.

The Mariners’ rotation, as currently constructed, has four arms locked into spots: Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. Prospects Matt Brash, Levi Stoudt and George Kirby could all be in line to make their debuts this season, though Brash’s presence on the 40-man roster might give him the inside track on a spot out of camp. In addition to those prospects, the Mariners can now have both Albers and fellow veteran Asher Wojciechowski as depth options in Triple-A Tacoma.

Mariners’ Casey Sadler To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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6:13PM: Sadler will undergo shoulder surgery and miss the entire season, Servais told Ryan Divish and other reporters.

4:40PM: Mariners right-hander Casey Sadler is dealing with soreness in his throwing shoulder and is “going to be down for quite some time,” manager Scott Servais told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jesse Borek and The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish).  Sadler is apparently taking time to decide on what his next step will be, which could be an indication that surgery is being considered to address the issue.

Seattle’s lockdown bullpen was one of the main reasons the M’s recorded a surprising 90 wins in 2021, and Sadler was a major part of that relief corps.  The righty had the lowest ERA of any pitcher in baseball with at least 40 innings pitched last season, as Sadler posted a tiny 0.67 number over 40 1/3 frames.  After being charged with an earned run in an appearance against the Athletics on July 25, Sadler then held opponents scoreless over his next 29 appearances and 28 innings, a streak that is still ongoing.

Sadler is a grounder specialist, and thus obviously benefited from a .188 BABIP after generating a 62.9% groundball rate last year.  Still, ERA predictors (3.06 SIERA, 3.25 xFIP) also liked his work, as Sadler posted a solid 25.5% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate, and his 0.22 HR/9 was also the third-lowest of any pitcher in the 40+ innings club.  Sadler has also posted excellent spin rates on his fastball and curve in each of the last three years.

A veteran of six MLB seasons, Sadler’s performance has been inconsistent, which isn’t unexpected for a pitcher who relies so heavily on grounders.  Of Sadler’s 125 2/3 innings, 86 2/3 of those frames have come in his two best seasons — last year with the Mariners, and his 2019 season when he had a 2.14 ERA over 46 1/3 combined IP with the Rays and Dodgers.

The 31-year-old reached arbitration eligibility for the first time this winter, and agreed to a $1.025MM salary for the 2022 season.  Unfortunately for both Sadler and the M’s, it now seems as though it will be some time before he can continue his scoreless-innings streak or perhaps even get back onto a mound.  Sadler also missed over two and a half months on the injured list last season due to shoulder inflammation, and he also had a major injury setback earlier in his career as a member of the Pirates organization, when Tommy John surgery cost Sadler the entire 2016 season.

Most of the Mariners’ 2021 bullpen is returning, though they’ll now have Ken Giles in the mix, after Giles missed all of 2021 recovering from his own Tommy John procedure.  Left-hander Ryan Buchter was also signed to a minor league deal earlier today, adding another veteran arm to the mix.

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