MLB Suspends Hector Neris, Dusty Baker
Major League Baseball announced this evening that Astros reliever Héctor Neris has been suspended four games “for intentionally throwing at Eugenio Suárez of the Mariners in the area of the head while warnings were in place.” He was also fined an undisclosed amount. Neris is appealing the ban, reports Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). He’ll remain on the active roster while the appeal runs its course.
Houston skipper Dusty Baker was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount on account of Neris’ actions. That’s standard procedure in these situations, and Baker will miss tonight’s game as a result. (Managers are not afforded any appellate rights). Bench coach Joe Espada will be the acting manager in his stead, tweets Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Espada himself was hit with a fine, as were fellow Houston staff members Omar López and Troy Snitker and Seattle manager Scott Servais.
The discipline comes out of last night’s contest, when benches cleared after Neris hit Mariners infielder Ty France in the top of the ninth inning. While France didn’t seem to take umbrage with the pitch itself, the benches began jawing after a dispute about whether the pitch actually struck him. Servais and López were ejected and the sides were warned.
Julio Rodríguez followed the France hit-by-pitch with a two-run homer. Two batters later, Neris sailed a fastball behind Suárez’s head, and home plate umpire Chris Guccione ejected both Neris and Baker. MLB has judged the offering to Suárez to be intentional, leading to the suspensions. Last night’s contest was the opener of a three-game set between the AL West rivals.
Mariners Release Asher Wojciechowski, Ian McKinney
The Mariners have released right-hander Asher Wojciechowski and left-hander Ian McKinney from their minor league contracts, according to Triple-A Tacoma director of media relations Paul Braverman (Twitter link). Both Wojciechowski and McKinney initially re-signed with Seattle in February.
Wojciechowski has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons since 2015, including a single game with the Yankees during the 2021 campaign. After being released by New York last summer, Wojciechowski signed on with the Mariners on a minors contract but didn’t receive a call to the big leagues, and he elected free agency once the offseason began.
The righty has a 5.93 ERA over 202 career innings, in large part due to a whopping 45 home runs allowed. A first-round pick for the Blue Jays back in 2010, the 33-year-old Wojciechowski has become a journeyman, pitching with nine different organizations at the major and minor league levels across 13 pro seasons.
McKinney is only 27 years old, but has nine seasons in the minors on his resume, pitching in the Cardinals system from 2013-18 and then joining the Mariners in 2019 following a brief stint in independent ball. The southpaw didn’t reach the Triple-A level until 2021 but the results haven’t been good — McKinney has a 7.22 ERA, 15.86% strikeout rate, and 12.75% walk rate over 76 innings in Tacoma in 2021-22.
While neither pitcher was performing well for the Rainiers, the releases do remove two swingman/long relief options from the Mariners’ depth chart. The M’s have gotten a lot of stability out of their rotation this year, with Marco Gonzalez, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, and Chris Flexen all making their starts, and star prospect George Kirby stepping with some quality work after Matt Brash struggled over five outings.
Mariners Acquire Ryan Borucki, Designate Mike Ford
The Mariners have announced a trade with the Blue Jays that will see left-hander Ryan Borucki head to Seattle in exchange for corner infielder Tyler Keenan. The M’s have also designated infielder Mike Ford for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Borucki.
The Jays designated Borucki for assignment on Tuesday, and today’s trade officially ends the southpaw’s lengthy stay in the Toronto organization. Borucki was a 15th-round pick for the Blue Jays back in 2012, and made an impressive debut by posting a 3.87 ERA over 97 2/3 innings and 17 starts in his 2018 rookie season. However, elbow problems (which required a bone spur surgery) hampered him for much of the next two years, and the Jays turned Borucki into a reliever for the 2020 campaign.
This transition seemed promising, as Borucki had a 2.70 ERA and 28.8% strikeout rate in 16 2/3 frames in the shortened season, though a 16.4% walk rate was a big red flag. Beyond the injuries, walks and home runs were Borucki’s biggest problems over his last 53 1/3 Major League innings, which saw him post a 5.57 ERA since the start of the 2019 season.
Since Borucki is out of minor league options, the Blue Jays had to pursue the DFA route in order to remove him from their 40-man roster, and the Mariners jumped in to arrange a trade. Roenis Elias and Anthony Misiewicz are the only left-handers in the Seattle bullpen and neither southpaw is having a particularly strong year, so while Borucki himself hasn’t done well (9.95 ERA in 6 1/3 IP) over limited action in 2022, the M’s are hoping that a change of scenery could help the 28-year-old get on track.
Ford has appeared in 15 games with the Mariners this season, hitting .179./378/.214 over 37 plate appearances and working mostly as a DH and pinch-hitter. The M’s signed Ford to a minor league deal in March, and this is already the third time that Ford has been designated in less than six weeks’ time. After Seattle initially DFA’ed him in late April, the Giants acquired Ford in a trade, only for the Mariners to re-acquire Ford a couple of weeks later when San Francisco themselves sent Ford to the DFA wire.
Keenan was a fourth-round pick for the Mariners out of the University of Mississippi during the 2020 draft. The 23-year-old has spent both of his pro seasons at the high-A level, hitting .212/.317/.367 with nine home runs over 376 total plate appearances. Keenan has played both corner infield spots, with the bulk of his time coming as a third baseman.
Outrights: Mayers, O’Brien
We’ll kick off the morning here with a pair of recently DFA’ed players who’ve cleared waivers and remained with their prior clubs…
- Right-hander Mike Mayers went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake by the Angels. While he has enough service time to reject that assignment in favor of free agency, Sam Blum of The Athletic tweets that Mayers has accepted the assignment. That’s entirely unsurprising, because although Mayers has sufficient service time to reject the outright, he does not have the requisite five years of service time needed to also retain the remainder of his salary upon rejection. In other words, rejecting the assignment would’ve meant forfeiting the remainder of this year’s $2.15MM salary. Mayers, 30, posted a 3.34 ERA, a 30.5% strikeout rate and an 8.0% walk rate in 105 innings with the Angels from 2020-21, leading to that $2.15MM payday in arbitration. The 2022 season has been a struggle, however. In 16 2/3 frames, he’s allowed four home runs and seen his strikeout rate plummet to 18.7% — all en route to a 5.40 ERA. The Angels designated him for assignment last week.
- The Mariners announced that right-hander Riley O’Brien cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle picked O’Brien up in an April trade that promised a PTBNL to the Reds, and the two parties completed that swap this week when Seattle sent 20-year-old Rookie-ball infielder Luis Chevalier to Cincinnati. O’Brien, 27, threw one scoreless inning for the Mariners and has a 2.70 ERA with 14 punchouts in 10 Triple-A frames so far, but he’s also walked 11 hitters in that time. Seattle moved him to the bullpen after he’d spent the bulk of his pro career as a starter in the Rays’ and Reds’ systems. He’ll continue to work on his adjustment to a relief role in Tacoma but will no longer occupy a spot on the Mariners’ 40-man roster.
Mariners, Scott Heineman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder Scott Heineman and assigned him to Triple-A Tacoma, reports the affiliate’s broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). He’s expected to make his team debut tonight.
Heineman hasn’t played with an affiliated club this season, but he’s seen big league action in each of the prior three years. The right-handed hitter suited up with the Rangers from 2019-20 and played for the Reds last year. Altogether, he’s tallied 173 plate appearances and hit .172/.249/.325 with five home runs and four stolen bases.
The 29-year-old has obviously yet to find much MLB success, but he’s a .304/.369/.458 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons. That includes a .279/.353/.410 slash in 17 games for the Reds’ top affiliate in 2021, but Cincinnati granted him his release midseason. Heineman made the jump to Japan, signing with the Yomiuri Giants, but he only played in ten NPB games.
Heineman has experience at all three outfield spots, although he’s better suited for work in the corners. The M’s have Jesse Winker, Julio Rodríguez and Taylor Trammell as their primary outfield, with utilityman Dylan Moore seeing occasional work as well. Mitch Haniger and Kyle Lewis are both on the injured list, and Jarred Kelenic was optioned to Tacoma a few weeks ago. Seattle is awaiting the arrival of Justin Upton as he works his way into game shape, and Heineman will an experienced non-roster depth player to the upper minors.
Health Notes: Kershaw, Lewis, Barnes
Clayton Kershaw threw a 30-35 pitch bullpen session this afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). It marked the star southpaw’s second bullpen work of the week, as he also tossed 35 pitches on Memorial Day. The team will monitor how Kershaw feels over the coming days, but it’s possible he heads out on a minor league rehab assignment as soon as this weekend.
Kershaw has been on the injured list since May 13 after experiencing some inflammation in the SI joint of his right hip area. The team initially expressed hope he’d be back after a minimal 15-day stint, although that proved untenable once the three-time Cy Young award winner experienced continued soreness. Now that he’s back on a mound and potentially nearing a rehab assignment, however, it seems as if he could be back at Dodger Stadium by the middle of the month. Before the injury, Kershaw had been characteristically excellent, posting a 1.80 ERA through five starts.
Some more health situations of note:
- The Mariners placed outfielder Kyle Lewis on the seven-day concussion injured list, retroactive to May 29, before tonight’s game against the Orioles. There’s no indication the 26-year-old is in for a long-term absence, but it’s another health setback for a player who has dealt with more than his fair share of injuries. Lewis’ previous issues have typically been related to his right knee, and he only made his season debut on May 24 after he missed the final few months of last season due to a meniscus tear and a bone bruise in the joint. To take Lewis’ spot on the active roster, infielder Abraham Toro is back from the 10-day IL. The switch-hitting Toro is off to a disappointing .179/.237/.366 start through 135 plate appearances. He missed the minimal amount of time on the shelf recovering from a left shoulder sprain.
- The Red Sox placed reliever Matt Barnes on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 31, before this evening’s contest with the Reds. He’s dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. It’ll be a reset opportunity for Barnes, whose struggles down the stretch last season have carried over into this year. Through 20 games, the right-hander has a 7.94 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. That’s on the heels of a 6.48 ERA in the second half of 2021, an out-of-the-blue downturn for a pitcher who earned a deserved All-Star nod during a dominant first-half performance. Barnes signed a two-year, $18.75MM extension last July — a deal that looked team-friendly at the time but has gone immediately haywire. To take Barnes’ spot on the roster, fellow reliever Matt Strahm has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list following a two-day absence.
Reds Acquire Luis Chevalier From Mariners
The Mariners announced Wednesday that they’ve traded minor league infielder Luis Chevalier to the Reds as the player to be named later in the April 16 swap that sent right-hander Riley O’Brien from Cincinnati to Seattle.
Chevalier, 20, has been assigned to the Reds’ affiliate in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League — the same level at which he spent the 2021 season. The 5’11”, 160-pound switch-hitter batted .221/.345/.329 with three homers, four doubles, a triple, two steals, a 20.8% strikeout rate and a 14.9% walk rate in 168 trips to the plate with the Mariners’ ACL affiliate last summer and will start there again before the Reds consider moving him up a level. Chevalier split his time in 2021 between second base (198 innings), shortstop (79 innings) and left field (48 innings). He wasn’t ranked among the Mariners’ top prospects, though that’s to be expected in a swap for a 27-year-old righty who’d been designated for assignment.
As for O’Brien, he’s tossed one scoreless inning with the M’s since the trade but has otherwise spent his time with the team’s Triple-A club in Tacoma. He’s turned in a strong 2.70 ERA through 10 frames there and fanned 14 hitters, but O’Brien has also demonstrated some worrying command issues (11 walks and a one batter thus far). O’Brien spent the bulk of his pro career with the Rays and Reds as a starting pitcher, but Seattle has opted to move him to the bullpen for now.
J.A. Happ Retires
Veteran lefty J.A. Happ has retired after spending parts of 15 seasons in the Major Leagues. The 39-year-old discussed his career, his journey to pro ball and his decision to step away from the game in an appearance on the Heart Strong Podcast with Jessica Lindberg.
Happ acknowledges that he went “back and forth for pretty much the whole winter” trying to determine whether he wanted to return for another season, going through his usual training regimen to be ready in case he felt a pull to return to the mound.
“It got to the point where it was Opening Day, and I turned the first game on, and I talked to my wife, Morgan, and I said ‘What are you feeling?’ She just kind of looked at me and said, ‘A little anxiety.’ I wanted to turn it on to see what I felt, too, and I didn’t maybe feel what I needed to feel in order to think I wanted to keep doing this. I felt like that was a sign, like ‘OK, it’s time to go.’ Even though I had put the work in to be ready if the right situation came, I felt like it was time to move on and be a dad and dive into the kids. … It was emotional — something I didn’t expect. I called my agent that day, right after we turned that game on, and said, ‘I think this is it.’ I told the people I feel like I needed to tell. I think I’m still processing it, but I do wake up feeling good about it, and I’m happy to start the process of being a full-time dad, for the time being, at the very least.”
Originally a third-round pick by the Phillies back in 2004, Happ made his MLB debut with Philadelphia in 2007, appearing in just one game. He pitched in eight games the following year, earning enough trust to make the team’s NLCS roster and turn in three sharp innings of relief. By the 2009 season, Happ not only established himself as a member of the Phillies’ rotation but took home a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting after logging a 2.93 ERA in 166 innings of work. He began that year in the bullpen but moved into the rotation in late May, going on to hurl shutouts against the Blue Jays and Rockies in just the seventh and fourteenth starts of his big league career.
Strong as Happ’s early work was, the Phillies couldn’t resist the temptation to include him as part of the return for right-hander Roy Oswalt — a three-time All-Star and regular Cy Young contender at that point in his career. That 2010 swap proved to be the first of several notable trades in which Happ was involved over the course of his career. The Astros included him in a massive 11-player swap with the Jays that saw Happ land in Toronto and a then fresh-faced prospect named Joe Musgrove among the most notable names sent to Houston. Happ was also swapped straight up for outfielder Michael Saunders in 2014, and after returning to the Blue Jays on a three-year, $36MM deal as a free agent, he was flipped to the Yankees for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney in the final season of that pact.
Happ was never a flamethrower or a perennial All-Star, but he carved out a lengthy career as a mid-rotation starter in the perennially dangerous American League East, spending six of his 15 years with the Jays and another three with the Yankees. From Happ’s peak in 2014-20, he notched 1058 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball — a strong run that included an All-Star nod in 2018 and a sixth-place finish in 2016 American League Cy Young voting. His consistency netted him a trio of sizable free-agent contracts: his aforementioned $36MM deal with the Blue Jays, a two-year Yankees deal worth $34MM, and a one-year deal with the Twins that promised him $8MM just last season.
All in all, Happ steps away from the game with a lifetime 133-100 record, a 4.13 ERA, 1661 strikeouts, four complete games and three shutouts compiled while suiting up for eight teams: the Blue Jays, Phillies, Yankees, Astros, Twins, Mariners, Pirates and Cardinals. He reached the postseason six times, winning a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies and pitching well in four of those six playoff runs. (He made one start with the Yankees both in 2018 and 2020, neither of which went particularly well.) Between the three previously referenced free-agent deals and his arbitration seasons, Happ earned more than $97MM in a career pegged at 21.5 wins above replacement by Baseball-Reference and 21.8 WAR by FanGraphs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images/Imagn.
Rehab Notes: Adames, Jimenez, Giles
Willy Adames is on his way to begin a rehab assignment, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Brewers shortstop has been out since May 16th with a high ankle sprain, and it’ll take a couple of rehab starts before he’s ready to rejoin the club. He won’t join the team in Chicago for their series against the Cubs, but he could be ready by Thursday, when the Brewers come home to face the Padres. Adames, 26, has been a key piece for the Brewers since coming over from Tampa Bay. While he’s been out, it’s been Luis Urias sliding over from his regular spot at the hot corner, while Jace Peterson and Mike Brosseau have worked out a platoon at third. In other recovery news…
- Eloy Jimenez got just two at-bats in his first rehab assignment before leaving the game with right leg soreness. The White Sox slugger is day-to-day, per the team. Jimenez was seemingly making a quick recovery from a torn right hamstring, but the good vibes may have been too good to be true. Jimenez has been out for only a month for an injury that was projected to require a six-to-eight week layoff.
- Ken Giles began his rehab assignment in Tacoma today, per the Rainiers Director of Media Relations Paul Braverman (via Twitter). The Mariners bullpen could use a little help. Seattle’s relief crew ranks 24th in the Majors by ERA and 19th by FIP, though they haven’t been overworked, currently 26th in terms of their innings workload. The former closer will be a question mark until proven otherwise, however, having made just four appearances over the past two seasons.
Mariners Select Roenis Elias
The Mariners announced they’ve selected left-hander Roenis Elías onto the big league roster. Seattle had optioned reliever Drew Steckenrider to Triple-A Tacoma last night to clear a spot on the active roster. In order to open space on the 40-man, righty Riley O’Brien has been designated for assignment.
It’s the second time Elías has gotten a major league call, although this stint figures to be more lasting. The 33-year-old was brought up for a series in Toronto when a handful of Seattle players went on the restricted list because of their vaccination status. Elías was a designated COVID-19 substitute for that weekend, however, and he was removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Triple-A after a few days. He made one appearance, allowing a run on a hit and two walks in one inning.
Elías has otherwise spent the season in Tacoma, making 14 appearances. He’s worked 17 1/3 innings of 3.63 ERA ball, posting lower than average strikeout (17.6%) and walk (6.8%) marks. Elías has yet to allow a home run this year in spite of a fairly ordinary 44.6% ground-ball rate. He’ll offer manager Scott Servais a multi-inning arm out of the bullpen.
Steckenrider had been a key reliever for the M’s last season. An offseason minor league signee, the righty made the Opening Day roster and eventually pitched his way into high-leverage work. He wound up posting an even 2.00 ERA through 67 2/3 innings, an impact contributor to a bullpen that was among the reasons the M’s overperformed and won 90 games. Steckenrider’s below-average strikeout and grounder numbers suggested he wasn’t likely to be quite so dominant again, but he showed solid control and was generally reliable.
That hasn’t been the case in 2022, as his early performance has dipped more than anyone would’ve seen coming. Through 14 1/3 frames, he owns a 5.65 ERA. His already fringy 21.7% strikeout percentage has dropped to just 14.7%, and he’s surrendered a pair of homers. The M’s can only hope that a stint with the Rainiers can get Steckenrider more reasonably back on track, as Seattle has had one of the league’s least effective relief corps this year.
Seattle acquired O’Brien from the Reds in exchange for cash last month. The 27-year-old made just one big league appearance with his hometown club, spending the rest of his time on optional assignment to Tacoma. He’s allowed five runs in ten innings at the minors top level, striking out 14 but issuing 11 walks. O’Brien has worked exclusively in relief this year after starting 22 of his 23 outings with the Reds’ highest affiliate last season, where he pitched to a 4.55 ERA across 112 2/3 frames.
The Mariners will have a week to trade O’Brien or try to run him through outright waivers. The 27-year-old only has a pair of MLB appearances to his name. He’s had success missing bats at the Triple-A level but also dealt with some control concerns. O’Brien still has a couple minor league option years remaining and has already been traded twice in his career, so it’s certainly possible he changes hands again in the coming days.