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Rays To Select Contract Of Jonny Venters

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The Rays are set to select the contract of left-handed reliever Jonny Venters from Triple-A Durham, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). It’ll be the first appearance in the Majors for Venters since way back in 2012. The lefty was a star setup man for the Braves before injuries decimated a promising career. As Topkin notes, Venters has had three Tommy John surgeries in his career — two since his Braves days — as well as a “reattachment” procedure in 2016.

Now 33 years of age, Venters burst onto the scene with the 2010 Braves, working to a combined 1.89 ERA with 9.9 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and roughly 70 percent ground-ball rate in his first two big league seasons. Venters’ results took a step back in 2012, though he still turned in a strong 3.22 ERA with similar K/BB numbers and slightly diminished ground-ball tendencies in 58 2/3 innings before going down with injury.

Venters didn’t pitch with any team’s minor league affiliate from 2013-15 and tossed just 27 2/3 innings in rehab stints over the past two seasons. He’s allowed a run on four hits and five walks with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings thus far in Triple-A Durham.

Tampa Bay has an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no 40-man move will need to be made to accommodate Venters’ promotion. Righty Hunter Wood will be optioned to Triple-A to clear a spot on the 25-man roster, per Topkin. Venters will join Jose Alvardo and Ryan Yarbrough as left-handed options in manager Kevin Cash’s bullpen for the time being.

AL East Links: Blue Jays, Pearce, Swihart, Cubs, Rays, Cards

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The latest form around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays will be facing a roster crunch when Josh Donaldson returns from the disabled list, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes.  The hot-hitting Teoscar Hernandez is the better starting option right now than the slumping Randal Grichuk, though Grichuk is out of options and the Jays don’t want to risk losing him for nothing.  The presence of other veterans on pricey contracts (such as Kendrys Morales or Steve Pearce) further creates a positional glut, and demoting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would leave Toronto without a backup shortstop option.  This is just my opinion, but one answer could be to demote Devon Travis, who is hitting just .140/.218/.160 through his first 55 plate appearances.  Travis missed most of 2017 due to knee problems and could possibly use some minor league time to get himself back up to speed.
  • A trade could also solve the Jays’ roster issues, and Davidi noted that Pearce received some interest during the offseason.  After an injury-plagued 2017, Pearce is off to a nice rebound year thus far, hitting .304/.360/.565 over 50 PA as the right-handed hitting side of an outfield platoon with Curtis Granderson.  Even with roughly $5.3MM still owed to him this year, Pearce could be attractive to a team looking for a right-handed bat at first base or in the corner outfield.  Pearce is a much more viable trade chip than Morales, who is owed $23MM in 2018-19, can only play DH at this point, and is off to another slow start at the plate.
  • Blake Swihart’s lack of playing time has created “a cruel catch-22” for the utilityman and the Red Sox, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey writes (subscription required).  Swihart has appeared in 10 of Boston’s first 21 games, with only two of those appearances coming in the starting lineup, and thus he hasn’t done much to enhance his trade value to potential suitors.  On the other hand, there isn’t yet any indication that the Sox are open to trading Swihart, as doing so would suddenly leave the team thin at catcher if Christian Vazquez or Sandy Leon got injured.  (Though it should also be noted that Swihart has yet to appear behind the plate this season.)  Swihart is out of options, and can’t be sent to Triple-A without being exposed to waivers and very likely claimed by another team, so the Sox aren’t going to part ways with the former top prospect without getting anything in return.  While not an ideal situation for Swihart, of course, it’s something of a good problem to have for the Red Sox — the reason Swihart isn’t getting more regular playing time is because the rest of Boston’s lineup is on fire amidst an excellent 17-4 start to the season.
  • Evaluators from the Cubs and Cardinals were recently on hand to watch the Rays last week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.  The Rays’ limited payroll capability could make them sellers regardless of their record, though the team is also off to a slow 8-13 start overall (though Tampa has won five of its last six games).  It isn’t known what players were being watched, though the Cubs have been heavily linked to Chris Archer in the past while the Cardinals had strong interest in Alex Colome this offseason.

AL Notes: Manaea, Red Sox, Bogaerts, Rays, Twins

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The Red Sox entered play Saturday with the majors’ best record (17-2), the majors’ most runs (123) and the majors’ top triple-slash line (.293/.361/.497). None of that fazed Athletics left-hander Sean Manaea, who no-hit the Red Sox over nine innings of 10-strikeout, two-walk ball to become the first hurler to accomplish the feat this year. It’s the seventh no-hitter in Athletics history and the first for the franchise since Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against Tampa Bay in May 2010. And remarkably, it occurred on nearly the 25th-year anniversary of the last time the Red Sox were on the wrong end of a no-hitter. Back on April 22, 1993, Chris Bosio of the Mariners held the Sox out of the hit column.

  • In better news for the Red Sox, shortstop Xander Bogaerts could return as early as Friday, Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com was among those to report (Twitter link). Bogaerts, who went on the disabled list April 9 with a cracked bone in his left ankle, is set to play a pair of rehab games with Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Red Sox have won nine of 11 without Bogaerts, which is all the more impressive when considering he got off to an otherworldly start (.368/.400/.711 in 40 plate appearances) before landing on the DL.
  • Meanwhile, teammate Tyler Thornburg is “still a ways away from the majors,” Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. But the reliever, who has been pitching in extended spring training, will rejoin the Red Sox during their upcoming homestand (beginning April 27) and could throw batting practice, per Abraham. Thornburg remains on the mend from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent last summer. The righty hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016, when he was among the game’s premier relievers as a member of the Brewers.
  • Rays righty Yonny Chirinos is now a full-fledged member of their rotation, manager Kevin Cash told Bill Chastain of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. Tampa Bay opened the season with an unconventional three-man starting staff (Chris Archer, Blake Snell and Jake Faria), with Chirinos among those working as a “Bullpen Day” starter, but it saw enough from him during his first few outings to officially make it a four-man group. The 24-year-old has tallied 20 innings of 2.70 ERA/3.49 FIP ball in four appearances thus far. After throwing 50-some pitches in each of his first two games, Chiirnos racked up 75 and 89, respectively, in the previous two. He’s now stretched out enough to get into the 100 range, per Cash, and will start Sunday against Minnesota.
  • Chirinos will face Twins righty Phil Hughes, whom the team has reinstated from the disabled list. The Twins optioned pitcher Gabriel Moya to Triple-A to make room for Hughes, who had been on the shelf with a strained oblique. The 31-year-old Hughes hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 14, 2017, thanks to the thoracic outlet syndrome revision surgery he underwent in August. At $13.2MM per year through next season, Hughes is one of the Twins’ highest-paid players, though he has struggled mightily since a sensational 2014 with the team. When he was healthy enough to pitch last season, Hughes logged a 5.87 ERA with a meager 30.7 percent groundball rate over 53 2/3 innings (14 appearances, seven starts).

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/21/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • Outfielder Ryan Kalish has retired, Peter Gammons tweets. Kalish, who played the final game of his career on Friday with New Britain of the independent Atlantic League, is stepping away because of knee issues, per Gammons. Now 30, Kalish was once a promising prospect with the Red Sox, who grabbed him in the ninth round of the 2006 draft. Injuries were problematic throughout Kalish’s career, though, which helps to explain why he only amassed 422 major league plate appearances with the BoSox and Cubs between 2010-16. Kalish was a .245/.297/.349 hitter with four homers and 16 stolen bases in the majors.
  • The Indians have acquired utility player Jon Berti from the Blue Jays for cash considerations, according to announcements from both teams. Berti will join Triple-A Columbus with Cleveland, which will be his second organization since Toronto chose him in the 18th round of the 2011 draft. The 28-year-old Berti ascended to Triple-A in 2015 and has since hit .212/.282/.314 in 433 PAs at the minors’ highest level.
  • The Rays outrighted outfielder Brandon Snyder to Triple-A Durham after he cleared waivers, the team announced. Snyder, whom the Rays designated Friday, could decline the assignment because he has been outrighted in the past. He totaled six PAs with the Rays before they cut him from their 40-man roster, giving him 211 since he debuted with Baltimore in 2011. Snyder has batted .240/.276/.455 with nine long balls in the bigs.

Quick Hits: Farquhar, Machado, Cardinals, Duffy

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White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar has been placed on the 10-day disabled list after passing out in the club’s dugout. According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, the sudden collapse was caused by a brain aneurysm. He was immediately hospitalized following the incident, and is currently in stable but critical condition. We at MLBTR will be keeping Farquhar in our thoughts during what is certainly a scary situation.

More notes from around MLB…

  • Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports suggests that the White Sox could be a team to watch in the upcoming Manny Machado sweepstakes this offseason. A rival GM tells Heyman that the Sox could be a “dark horse” to sign the superstar shortstop. Concurrent with this rumor, via Heyman, is the pattern of owner Jerry Reinsdorf being occasionally willing to make a big splash in the free agent market (though I’d like to point out that they’ve never made a splash of anything close to this size).
  • A pair of Cardinals relievers are making progress in their returns from injury, which would provide a welcome cavalry to the club’s bullpen. Left-hander Ryan Sherriff is scheduled to throw a live bullpen session on Wednesday at Triple-A Memphis, according to Joe Trezza of MLB.com. He’s currently still wearing a metal shank in his shoe under the fractured toe in order to protect it. Meanwhile, Trezza adds, righty Sam Tuivailala threw two bullpen sessions this week, and will throw a third one tomorrow. The downside of these imminent returns is that the Cardinals will be facing a difficult roster decision when they decide to activate these two relievers.
  • Bill Chastain of MLB.com tweets that Rays third baseman Matt Duffy is “cautiously optimistic” that he’ll be able to be activated from the 10-day disabled list when he’s first eligible on April 27th. He did some soft-toss hitting yesterday along with a few throwing drills, and is progressing nicely in an attempt to return quickly from a hamstring injury suffered in Monday’s game.

AL East Notes: Mallex, Red Sox, Cashner, Yanks, Donaldson

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The Rays are preparing to give a long look at outfielder Mallex Smith, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. As he nears his 25th birthday, Smith has upped his offensive game, with a .373/.418/.510 batting line. Though he’s carrying an unsustainable .432 BABIP, it’s notable that Smith has been striking out at a meager 12.5% clip. With Kevin Kiermaier just starting a lengthy DL stint, there’s little reason not to see whether Smith can stake a claim to an everyday job. Topkin also covers some of the other players who could see additional opportunities due to the loss of Kiermaier.

Here’s more from the rest of the AL East:

  • Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski gave an honest answer when  asked by Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald whether he foresaw the team’s unbelievable start to the season. “We thought the capabilities were there,” said Dombrowski. “But for me to say we expected it to this point, that would be a bit much.” Still, he did acknowledge that he and the rest of the front office truly believed that last year’s tepid run production would turn around, with or without the addition of J.D. Martinez. Sox fans will want to read the entire piece, which gives an interesting look at all the things going right in Boston at the moment.
  • The story isn’t quite the same in Baltimore, where the Orioles are off to a miserable opening run. One bright spot has been Andrew Cashner, one of several offseason pitching additions. Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun examines whether his 3.00 ERA through 24 innings — which follows a 3.40 mark in 166 2/3 frames last year — could be sustainable despite still-middling peripherals. Skipper Buck Showalter seems to believe that Cashner has matured as a pitcher and “came into his own last year.” He says he’s “hoping that we’re going to reap the benefits of that” over the full course of the current season. Of course, as Meoli explains, there are certainly some reasons not to buy in.
  • Relief pitching was expected to be an overwhelming strength for the Yankees in 2018, but Marc Carig of The Athletic writes (subscription link) that there are some cracks in the pen. Beyond just short-term struggles with results, the Yanks have seen cause for deeper concern with some pitchers. In particular, Dellin Betances has shown a bit of a velo drop and, perhaps more worryingly, reduced spin rate. There are similar issues for Tommy Kahnle, who is now on the DL after not looking capable of sustaining his 2017  breakout in the early going.
  • The Blue Jays have received generally promising news on star third baseman Josh Donaldson, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweets. Skipper John Gibbons says that, though Donaldson isn’t going to be ready to come back after the minimum ten-day stint, he has resumed throwing and is feeling “great.” The real question, though, is whether Donaldson will be able to throw without limitation after showing reduced form early in the season.

Rays Designate Brandon Snyder For Assignment

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The Rays have designated infielder Brandon Snyder for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for fellow infielder Brad Miller, who is returning from the disabled list (Twitter link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).

Snyder, 28, went 1-for-6 with a double in a pair of games for Tampa Bay after having his contract selected earlier this week. That marked the 31-year-old’s first action at the Major League level since 2016, when he made 47 plate appearances for the rebuilding Braves. The former Orioles prospect was the 13th overall pick back in the 2005 draft but has yet to tally even 70 plate appearances in a single big league season. He’s a career .242/.279/.459 hitter with nine homers in just 205 big league plate appearances and a .259/.326/.426 hitter in 2353 Triple-A plate appearances.

As for Miller, he’ll return after spending nearly two weeks on the shelf with a groin strain. The 28-year-old enjoyed a 30-homer campaign back in 2016 but followed that power surge with the worst offensive campaign of his career. He’s off to a .222/.300/.370 start through 30 plate appearances as he looks to rebound from last year’s down season.

Mets Notes: Catcher, Harvey, Bruce

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The Mets have been without Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki for a week and have received just two hits from their patchwork catching tandem of Jose Lobaton and Tomas Nido. However, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News hears that in spite of that, the Mets don’t plan to trade for a catcher before Plawecki returns in another two to three weeks. Ackert checked in on three AL clubs with “obvious” matches — speculatively speaking, Blake Swihart and Wilson Ramos would be a pair of clear on-paper matches — and was told that the Mets have not reached out. Rather, they’ve told clubs who’ve reached out that they plan to stay internal for now. Mike Puma of the New York Post paints a slightly different picture, reporting that the Mets have begun to kick the tires on some options. He lists Swihart, Ramos and Houston’s Max Stassi as “potential pursuits,” though there’s no mention of direct contact with the Red Sox, Rays or Astros regarding that trio in his report.

More notes out of Queens…

  • With Jason Vargas nearing a return from the disabled list, the Mets will soon need to create a vacancy in their rotation, and based on performance, Matt Harvey would be the obvious starter to get bumped. However, the right-hander told the media following that he considers himself a starting pitcher and isn’t thinking about a move to the bullpen (links via Puma and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo). Harvey cited his three scoreless innings to close out last night’s rough outing as evidence that he can “get people out still in the fifth and sixth inning when my pitch count gets up,” though the Braves had already pounced on him for six runs by that point. Harvey has more than five years of MLB service time, meaning he’d have to give his consent to be optioned to the minors. Asked about the possibility of being optioned, he told reporters: “I can’t answer that question right now.”
  • MLB.com’s Bill Ladson sat down with Jay Bruce for a Q&A and talked about his return to the Mets, the team’s expectations and the work he’s done with hitting coaches Kevin Long (now with the Nationals) and Pat Roessler over the course of his Mets tenure. As Bruce explains, his return to New York was helped out by the fact that he had a chance to get to new new skipper Mickey Callaway in his time with Cleveland following last year’s trade. The Texas native acknowledges that there was some interest from Houston this offseason and that playing in his home state “would have meant a lot,” but he makes clear that he’s thrilled to be back in New York on a team that believes it can make a run at the postseason in 2018 and beyond.

Rays Select Contract Of Brandon Snyder, Place Matt Duffy On DL

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The Rays have selected the contract of infielder Brandon Snyder and placed third baseman Matt Duffy on the 10-day disabled list, tweets MLB.com’s Bill Chastain. Kevin Kiermaier, who is undergoing thumb surgery and figures to miss upwards of three months, was moved to the 60-day disabled list to open a 40-man spot for Snyder.

Duffy exited yesterday’s game with discomfort in his hamstring. The infielder told reporters that the injury isn’t serious, and it seems as if he expects to return after a minimal stay on the disabled list (Twitter link via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times). Snyder and Daniel Robertson could pick up the bulk of the at-bats at the hot corner in his absence.

Snyder, 31, will get the call to the big leagues over some potential longer-term options for the Rays — most notably Christian Arroyo, whom the team acquired in the offseason Evan Longoria trade with the Giants. Arroyo hasn’t exactly come out of the gates and forced his way into big league consideration, posting just a .499 OPS through the season’s first few games.

Snyder will be stepping onto a big league field for the first time since 2016, when he made 47 plate appearances for the rebuilding Braves. The former Orioles prospect was the 13th overall pick back in the 2005 draft but has yet to tally even 70 plate appearances in a single big league season. He’s a career .242/.279/.459 hitter with nine homers in just 205 big league plate appearances and a .259/.326/.426 hitter in 2353 Triple-A plate appearances.

AL East Notes: Rays, Red Sox, Orioles, Peterson

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Given the loss of Kevin Kiermaier for upwards of three months and an ugly 4-12 start to the season, the Rays ought to be open to selling veteran pieces right now rather than waiting until the summer, opines Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. While there’s some logic to hold onto Chris Archer until later this year, particularly given his advantageous contract, Topkin argues in favor of trading other veterans such as Wilson Ramos, Adeiny Hechavarria, Alex Colome and Denard Span in the near future. Beyond that, however, Topkin posits that the Rays should make those moves as a means of paving way for well-regarded prospects like Willy Adames, Christian Arroyo and Jake Bauers, rather than just swapping out their veteran assets for stopgaps and replacement-level fillers. With the Rays already 9.5 games out of first place in the division, Baseball Prospectus pegs Tampa Bay’s postseason odds at just seven percent, while Fangraphs’ projections give the Rays a minuscule 0.2 percent chance of even securing a Wild Card berth.

  • WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford takes a look back at the Red Sox’ efforts to sign Shohei Ohtani out of high school back in 2013, chatting with then-Red Sox scouts Jon Deeble and Eddie Romero about their initial meeting with Ohtani. (Deeble is now the Dodgers’Pacific Rim director, while Romero is an assistant GM in Boston.) Both men recall Boston’s tireless pursuit of the player who Romero describes as “the best pitching prospect I had ever seen.” Ben Cherington, the Red Sox’ GM at the time, gave Deeble and Romero the green light to pursue Ohtani as aggressively as possible — including an agreement to let him develop as a two-way player if he signed with Boston. The Red Sox and Dodgers, Deeble suggests, would likely have been the finalists for Ohtani had he signed with a big league club out of high school, but NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters were ultimately able to convince Ohtani to begin his professional career in his home country. Bradford’s column is full of quotes from Deeble and Romero on Ohtani as an amateur and a very interesting pursuit, which makes for a fun look back at what might have been.
  • Jonathan Schoop’s injury could push the Orioles to look outside the organization for some infield depth, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Kubatko notes that the O’s have held interest in Erick Aybar in the past, and the longtime Angels shortstop is currently unsigned after spending much of Spring Training with the Twins. Kubatko also indicates that the Orioles had interest in bringing Jace Peterson aboard after his DFA from the Yankees, but the Yanks were able to bring him back on board by offering a more lucrative split contract to the utilityman. “A number of teams” had interest in Peterson, per Kubatko, but he’ll remain in the Bronx for the time being.
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