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Central Notes: Abreu, Twins, Cardinals, Tigers, Royals

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Even though the White Sox own the majors’ worst record (9-26), first baseman Jose Abreu tells Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he supports Chicago’s rebuilding effort and would like to remain with the team for the rest of his career. “Of course, there is not any doubt about it,” the 31-year-old said through an interpreter. “My mom and dad, they taught me to always be grateful, and I’m really grateful for this organization because of all the things they have done for me and the opportunities they gave me.” The White Sox are the only major league franchise Abreu has known since emigrating from Cuba in 2013 for a six-year, $68MM guarantee. Since then, not only has Abreu delivered positive on-field results for the Sox, but he has emerged as a key leader for the young team, according to vice president Ken Williams. “He’s like having an extra coach on hand,” said Williams. “I cannot overstate the quality person that he is. I hope he really hears and understands how we feel about him.” If the White Sox continue to elect against trading Abreu, they’ll soon have a decision to make on whether to extend him. Although Abreu only has one more year of arbitration eligibility left after the current season, Merkin suggests there haven’t been contract talks between him and the club.

More from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Twins right-hander Ervin Santana seems to be progressing toward his 2018 debut. Santana, out since undergoing finger surgery in February, is slated to make his first rehab start May 26, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. It’ll be a four-inning, 60-pitch appearance for Santana. Before that, he’ll throw live batting practice Monday and then make an extended spring training start May 21. Meanwhile, catcher Jason Castro will head to Colorado for a second opinion on his injured right knee, Berardino adds. Castro went on the disabled list last weekend with a torn meniscus.
  • The Cardinals have activated left-handed reliever Brett Cecil from the disabled list and placed fellow southpaw Tyler Lyons on the DL with a mild back strain, per Joe Trezza of MLB.com. Cecil only made one appearance this year, on Opening Day (March 29), before landing on the shelf with shoulder soreness. Cecil, who’s in the second season of the four-year, $30.5MM deal he signed with the Cards in November 2016, logged a 3.88 ERA with 8.82 K/9 against 2.14 BB/9 across 67 1/3 innings in 2017. Lyons was also an effective piece of the Redbirds’ bullpen last year, though he began this season with an ugly ERA (6.17) in 11 2/3 frames prior to his DL placement.
  • Veteran reliever Louis Coleman is back in the majors after the Tigers selected his contract Saturday, though he may not be in this position if not for his college coach, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com relays. A “frustrated” Coleman was unable to find a job in the offseason until he spoke with Paul Mainieri, whom he played under at LSU, a couple weeks before spring training began. Mainieri then called his friend, Tigers general manager Al Avila, who signed Coleman to a minors pact Feb. 23. “I guess they had an opening (in spring training), I don’t know. But if it wasn’t for coach and Al, I don’t know if we’d be standing here,” said the 32-year-old Coleman, who recorded a 2.40 ERA in 15 Triple-A innings before his promotion.
  • Royals minor league outfielder Bubba Starling could miss upward of a month with an oblique strain, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic tweets. As Dodd notes, oblique strains have been a consistent problem for Starling, a former top prospect who still hasn’t gotten to the majors since the Royals chose him fifth overall in the 2011 draft. The 25-year-old struggled to produce at Triple-A this season before his injury, evidenced by a .257/.350/.314 line and no home runs in 41 plate appearances, though he did draw five walks against just six strikeouts.

White Sox Sign Johnny Giavotella

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The White Sox have signed free-agent second baseman Johnny Giavotella, according to an announcement from Birmingham, their Double-A affiliate. Giavotella will begin his White Sox tenure in Birmingham.

The 30-year-old Giavotella had been available since the Marlins released him May 3, which came after he batted .214/.389/.250 in 36 plate appearances with their Triple-A team. He also spent nearly all of last season at Triple-A (with the Orioles’ affiliate), where he hit a solid .306/.368/.441 in 379 PAs.

While Giavotella hasn’t been a factor in the majors lately, he did see extensive action at times with the Royals and Angels from 2011-16. In all, the righty-swinger has taken 1,344 trips to the plate at the game’s highest level and hit .255/.294/.359.

With his new organization, Giavotella will begin as minors depth for a club missing its star second baseman, Yoan Moncada, who landed on the disabled list last weekend on account of hamstring tightness. The White Sox have since turned to Jose Rondon, Leury Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez at the keystone.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/11/18

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Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Brewers announced late Thursday that they’ve signed second baseman Darren Seferina to a minor league deal. The former Cardinals’ farmhand was a fifth-round pick back in 2014 and opened the 2018 season in Double-A, where he struggled considerably. But Seferina, 24, split the 2017 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, faring well at both levels and hitting a combined .278/.357/.409 with seven homers, 17 doubles, 10 triples and 19 stolen bases. He’s never been considered one of the Cardinals’ premium prospects, but he’s hit fairly well throughout his minor league tenure with the exception of the first few weeks of the 2018 season.
  • Right-hander Jorge Rondon was released from the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate in Birmingham, per the Southern League transactions log. The 30-year-old Rondon tossed 19 innings in the Majors between the Pirates, Cardinals, Rockies and Orioles from 2014-16, though he struggled at each stop and allowed 28 runs with a 13-to-11 K/BB ratio in just 19 innings at the game’s top level. Rondon has a career 2.81 ERA in 263 innings at the Triple-A level, but he’s never missed all that many bats (6.8 K/9 in AAA) and was off to a fairly pedestrian start to his 2018 campaign (14-to-8 K/BB ratio, 13 hits allowed, 4.85 ERA in 13 innings).

White Sox Prospect Jake Burger Re-Tears Achilles

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White Sox prospect Jake Burger has re-torn his Achilles tendon, GM Rick Hahn tells reporters including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter links). The recent first-round pick was rehabbing a prior tear that occurred in late February.

Burger was already down for the year, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a significant new development in its own right. He will now have to start over in his rehab after undergoing a second surgical replacement. With a full-year absence required, that means there’s little hope that Burger will be ready for the start of the 2019 season.

Clearly, the 22-year-old was not going to be a part of the immediate plans for the Chicago organization even before the initial injury. But the successive procedures don’t exactly help his long-term outlook, though at this point there’s no reason to believe he can’t get back to full health.

The White Sox will ultimately have to wait quite a bit longer than originally anticipated to see a contribution from Burger, the 11th overall pick last summer out of Missouri State. He hit at a .263/.336/.412 rate in his 217 innings in the low minors last year, so clearly was still in need of significant seasoning. Now, he’ll need to work through quite a lengthy rehab process before re-starting his march toward the majors.

AL Central Notes: Cuthbert, Wilson, Martin, Salazar, Engel

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Rustin Dodd of The Athletic chronicles Cheslor Cuthbert’s improbable ascent to the Major Leagues from his humble beginnings in a fishing village of 6,000 on a small island off the coast of Nicaragua (subscription link). As Cuthbert explains as part of the excellent interview, when he moved from Corn Island to Managua (Nicaragua’s capitol), he actually didn’t even speak any Spanish. His hometown spoke a form of English Creole, making the move to Managua to pursue a career in baseball at the age of 15 all the more difficult. With no understanding of the language in Managua and no family in the city, the decision for Cuthbert to move wasn’t an easy one to make, but it paved the way for him to receive a $1.5MM signing bonus — the largest for any Nicaraguan player in history — just a few years later with the Royals.

Some notes from around the AL Central…

  • An MRI revealed that Tigers reliever Alex Wilson has a 95 percent tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot, reports Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links). While that doesn’t sound like great news for the right-hander, the nearly complete tear isn’t actually as bad as one might think. One doctor to whom Fenech spoke pegged the recovery time for such an injury at a mere two to three weeks, creating some hope that the veteran righty could return in relatively short order after being placed on the DL yesterday. Wilson has managed just a 4.50 ERA in 20 innings this season, though his 16-to-6 K/BB ratio gives a bit more cause for optimism.
  • In a full column, Fenech adds that Tigers center fielder Leonys Martin is undergoing an MRI on his swollen left knee, per manager Ron Gardenhire. The issue seems to be related to a tendon in the back of Martin’s knee, though there’s no word yet as to how serious the issue or how much time he might miss. Through 138 plate appearances, Martin, who signed a one-year deal worth $1.75MM this winter, is hitting .294/.355/.508 with five home runs as Detroit’s primary leadoff hitter.
  • Indians right-hander Danny Salazar will  be shut down for at least the next week after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing right shoulder (link via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Salazar was moved to the 60-day disabled list last week and has yet to pitch in the Majors this season due to an impingement in that right shoulder. At this point, there’s clear indication as to when the Indians can plausibly expect him to return to the roster. Mike Clevinger has stepped up and filled Salazar’s rotation spot quite nicely, though the fifth spot in the Cleveland rotation continues to be an issue.
  • MLB.com’s Scott Merkin tackles several White Sox questions in his latest reader inbox, kicking off by discussing Adam Engel’s spot with the club moving forward. Per Merkin, the organization believes that Engel’s blistering speed gives him the potential for elite range in center field, but GM Rick Hahn has also been “forthright” in stating that the 26-year-old will need to produce more at the plate if he is to have any sort of long-term role with the team. The ChiSox have given Engel 423 plate appearances dating back to Opening Day 2017, but he’s posted a miserable .167/.237/.271 slash with a 33 percent strikeout rate in that time.

Mets Expect To Trade Matt Harvey

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May 8: The Mets have been trying to add a catcher in return for Harvey, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). Puma adds that the Padres are also in the mix for Harvey.

May 7: The Mets are “confident” they will strike a deal involving righty Matt Harvey, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). At this point, says Rosenthal, there are “four to five teams interested” in taking a chance on the former ace.

Harvey was formally designated for assignment on May 5th, meaning his situation will be resolved one way or another by Saturday the 12th. If he’s not traded, Harvey would need to go onto waivers; if he were then to pass through unclaimed, he’d hit the open market (whether by release or by rejecting an outright assignment).

We checked in earlier today on some teams with varying degrees of interest in Harvey. The Giants seem clearly to be involved, though their interest level isn’t clear. (Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets there’s “very strong” interest, while MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter) that it’s much more tepid, with some significant roadblocks to a swap.) Martino adds the Reds as a possibility, joining the previously reported Mariners in that regard. And Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the White Sox are also in the mix. There’s some uncertainty about the status of the Orioles, but they are among the organizations that would make some degree of sense on paper.

Of course, we’ve also seen plenty of reports of other teams that will not be in on the 29-year-old. It appears the Rangers have decided against pursuing Harvey in a trade scenario despite giving it serious consideration. Otherwise, the Rays, Tigers, Red Sox, and Yankees are said not to be involved.

If a deal does, in fact, get done, Rosenthal says not to expect the Mets to shave away much salary. With something on the order of $4.5MM still owed to Harvey for the rest of the season, the New York organization anticipates paying the “vast majority” in hopes of securing “something in return” in a deal.

Reading the tea leaves, then, the Mets aren’t really looking for a MLB asset back that might offset some of the Harvey commitment. It’s possible the team will be able to find another organization willing to give a bit of young talent, but it’ll take deft work for GM Sandy Alderson to achieve significant value.

Harvey, after all, has managed only a 5.93 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in his 212 1/3 innings since the start of the 2016 season. His velocity has continued to trail off as the arm injuries have mounted. As outstanding as he was before a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome, Harvey has struggled badly ever since.

Clearly, some front offices around the game still think that Harvey can at least deliver some useful innings from the back of a rotation. Just what they’ll give up to find out remains to be seen.

Danny Farquhar Discharged From Hospital

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The White Sox announced this afternoon that right-hander Danny Farquhar has been discharged from RUSH University Medical Center. He’s resting at home with his family, per the update. While that’s tremendous news in and of itself, the Sox’ press release also indicates that while Farquhar will not pitch again in 2018, his neurosurgeon expects that he’ll be able to return to pitching in the future.

Farquhar, 31, endured one of the most frightening medical ordeals in recent memory when he collapsed in the dugout following a relief appearance last month. He was rushed to the hospital, where it was determined that he’d suffered a brain hemorrhage due to a ruptured brain aneurysm. Best wishes to Farquhar in his continued recovery, and here’s hoping for a return to the mound in the future.

White Sox Place Yoan Moncada On 10-Day DL

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The White Sox have placed young second baseman Yoan Moncada on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced by fellow infielder Jose Rondon.

At the moment, it does not seem as if there’s much reason to expect a lengthy absence for Moncada. He has been diagnosed with hamstring tightness, an issue that has forced him out of two recent ballgames. But Moncada said yesterday that he felt he’d only need a few days off, as James Fegan of The Athletic tweeted.

It’s certainly understandable that the Sox would take a conservative course with Moncada, who’ll turn 23 later this month. He’s off to a strong start, turning in 132 plate appearances of .263/.359/.509 hitting with six home runs and four stolen bases. Moncada has also graded as a positive overall with the glove and on the bases.

That output does come with a worrisome 37.1% strikeout rate for a player who’ll probably always swing and miss a fair bit. Though he’s also walking in 12.9% of his plate appearances, Moncada surely won’t maintain a .407 batting average on balls in play. Of course, it’s certainly worth noting as well that he’s legitimately stinging the ball when he does make contact, with a 95.0 mph average exit velocity that’s among the best in baseball.

The 24-year-old Rondon, meanwhile, will get his second crack at the majors after a brief call-up with the Padres in 2016. He has been off to a nice start at Triple-A, turning in a .290/.347/.473 slash, though he’s also striking out at a significantly higher rate (24.8%) than he has in prior seasons as a professional. Rondon came to Chicago in a swap with the Friars in January of this year.

AL Central Notes: Farquhar, Romero, Goody, Soler

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Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports shares details of the long road ahead for White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar after the right-hander suffered a recent brain aneurysm. The incident occurred in the Sox dugout just under two weeks ago following an outing against Houston, and caused Farquhar to be hospitalized in what was a scary few hours. As Passan notes, 40% of people who suffer a brain aneurysm don’t survive them, while half of those who survive end up with resulting disabilities. He adds that success in the early stages afterwards is measured in small improvements. Farquhar’s agent says he’s been progressing and has a positive outlook. It’s fair to think it’ll be a significant amount of time before Farquhar is able to pick up a baseball again, but the early signs are encouraging for the right-hander’s health. Passan’s lengthy piece also details some historical precedents for aneurysms in baseball players, as well as the adversity Farquhar has already overcome in his seven-year MLB career. We at MLBTR are relieved to hear that Farquhar is stable, and wish him the best of fortunes in the road to recovery.

Other items from around the AL Central…

  • Speaking of close calls, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press has a story from Twins rookie Fernando Romero’s past, when the right-hander almost drowned in a hotel pool. It took a while for Romero to gradually overcome his fear of swimming, but he now uses it as a conditioning method to strengthen his shoulder for pitching purposes. Berardino also tells the tale of how Romero nearly went unsigned for an entire international period, failing to receive an offer from any of the 50 scouts in attendance at a showcase. The main knock on him was lack of a “major league body”, and a perceived likelihood that he’d get hurt. Ultimately Romero found his way to the Perfect Game Tournament, where several more scouts were in attendance, and while the Astros made a strong run at him, he ultimately went to the Twins for a signing bonus of $260K.
  • According to Terry Francona (via a tweet from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com), it’s best-case scenario outcome for Indians reliever Nick Goody, who left the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader with an elbow injury. Tests have revealed no structural damage; it’s thought that Goody’s pain was the result of hyperextending his elbow. He’ll reportedly be shut down for a week and then re-evaluated. It’s a sigh of relief when considering the worst-case scenarios in an elbow-fearing pitching climate; it’s well-known that ligament injuries can result in 12-18 month absences. Goody’s a vital part of a Tribe bullpen that’s recently shuffled through a few low-upside relievers; they’ve designated both Matt Belisle and Jeff Beliveau for assignment in the past week and before that lost Andrew Miller to the DL with a hamstring injury.
  • Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tells readers about the plate discipline improvements made by Royals outfielder Jorge Soler. In stark contrast to last season, he’s already drawn 18 walks and has seen 4.46 pitches per plate appearance. His .309/.429/.526 slash line on the season is exactly what Kansas City envisioned when they acquired him from the Cubs prior to last season in exchange for closer Wade Davis. Manager Ned Yost credits the improvements to the fact that Soler is “not chasing much of anything”, though it’s certainly worth noting that his chase rate this year is in line with his typically low figures the past few seasons and therefore not indicative of any major changes. I’d add, though, that Soler is certainly seeing more pitches per plate appearance than he did during his injury-riddled 2017 campaign; he’s seen 4.26 PPPA so far, up from 3.99 last season.

White Sox Select Dylan Covey’s Contract

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The White Sox have selected the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, whom they outrighted off their 40-man roster over the winter. Covey will start against the Royals tonight, and he’ll take fellow righty Gregory Infante’s place on the club’s 25-man roster. Infante’s headed to Triple-A Charlotte.

Covey, 26, joined the Chicago organization as a Rule 5 pick from the Athletics in December 2016. He ended up spending nearly all of last season as a major leaguer with the White Sox, though he struggled to a 7.71 ERA/7.20 FIP with 5.27 K/9, 4.37 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent groundball rate across 70 innings (18 appearances, 12 starts).

While Covey has posted a terrific 2.95 ERA and an outstanding 58.6 percent grounder rate in 21 1/3 innings (four starts) at the minors’ highest level this year, he managed less encouraging strikeout and walk rates before his promotion. Covey has logged 6.75 K/9 against 5.48 BB/9 thus far, helping lead to an ugly 5.15 FIP.

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