Heyman’s Latest: Braves, Lincecum, Weaver, Chapman, Giants, Panik, Odor
FanRag’s Jon Heyman kicks off his weekly notes column by recapping seven moves that turned the Cubs from cellar-dwellers into contenders, recalling the trades that netted the team Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell as well as the Rule 5 selection of Hector Rondon. Here are some highlights from his roundup of notes on all 30 big league clubs…
- Brian Snitker, Terry Pendleton and Bo Porter are the Braves‘ primary internal candidates to fill the managerial vacancy, while Heyman lists some potential outside candidates as Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, former Padres manager Bud Black, former Twins manager Rob Gardenhire and Royals bench coach/former Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu.
- The Astros will seek rotation help this offseason even if Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers get back up to full strength from their respective shoulder and elbow issues. With Doug Fister hitting the open market and the Astros receiving lackluster production from Collin McHugh and Mike Fiers, that’s not exactly a surprise.
- Both Tim Lincecum and Jered Weaver are determined to return in 2017, according to Heyman. He writes that Lincecum feels that he focused so much on strengthening his surgically repaired hip that he neglected to strengthen his arm enough, though a return to prominence for Lincecum always seemed like a fairly noted long shot after four down seasons and a significant surgical procedure.
- The Yankees will make a run at re-signing Aroldis Chapman as a free agent this winter, Heyman writes, at least in part due to Dellin Betances‘ recent struggles. While Betances’ slump has been magnified by the fact that it’s taken place in late September, he was excellent for the bulk of the time following the Yankees’ deadline sale, pitching to a 0.57 ERA in his first 15 2/3 innings following the deadline and allowing only one run in August. If the motivation to re-sign Chapman is simply to once again create an extraordinarily deep back of the bullpen, that certainly makes sense, but pursuing him in light of three poor September outings from Betances seems rather reactionary when looking at Betances’ body of work as a whole.
- Second-half bullpen struggles have the Giants kicking themselves for not making a stronger push for Mark Melancon, Heyman reports. The Giants felt their offer was comparable to that of the Nationals, but Pittsburgh ultimately traded Melancon to D.C. in exchange for left-hander Felipe Rivero and minor league lefty Taylor Hearn. While the Giants made a run at Andrew Miller, as well, the Yankees asked for Joe Panik in exchange, which the Giants understandably found to be too steep an ask. GM Bobby Evans lamented not adding another established reliever to Heyman, and it seems likely that they’ll be in the mix for the top bullpen options this winter (Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Melancon).
- Extension talks between the Rangers and Rougned Odor were put on hold earlier this season, as the two sides couldn’t get on the same page. Odor’s camp was seeking a deal larger than Gregory Polanco‘s five-year, $35MM pact with the Pirates, and while the Rangers wanted two club options tacked onto their top offer, Odor’s reps were only willing to concede one option year. That, of course, doesn’t rule out a deal being reached further down the line, but Odor’s 31-homer season as a 22-year-old second baseman figures to give his side plenty of leverage in talks, even if that power comes with an OBP that’s barely scraping the .300 mark.
Rangers To Sign Yanio Perez
The Rangers have agreed to terms with Cuban third baseman Yanio Perez, reports Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald. Perez, who rates 13th on Jesse Sanchez’s top 30 international prospect rankings at MLB.com, will receive a $1.1MM signing bonus.
The 21-year-old Perez was cleared to sign on May 20 and receives plus grades for his raw power, per Sanchez, though some scouts have questioned his athleticism and ability to stick at third base. He’s said to have a good makeup by scouts, according to Sanchez, and is also an above-average runner. Baseball America’s Ben Badler has a full scouting report up on Perez, noting that he was once a 45-grade runner (on the 20-80 scale) but is now up to roughly 70 speed once underway, based on his 60-yard dash time. Badler, too, spoke to some scouts who graded Perez’s power well, though he heard above-average as opposed to the more impressive 65 grade used by Sanchez in his report. Perez hasn’t played in Cuba’s top league since the 2014-15 season and was just a career .259/.335/.328 hitter in Serie Nacional, though those stats came in his age 18-19 seasons. Perez is now listed at 6’2″ and 205 pounds, so it seems reasonable to believe that he’s filled out a bit since his last bit of pro experience in Cuba. Badler writes that he could begin next season at the Class-A level.
While Texas has taken an aggressive approach to the international market in seasons past, they’ve been more measured thus far in 2016. Perez’s bonus is the largest they’ve issued, with the next-biggest bonus going to Venezuelan catcher David Garcia, who received an $800K signing bonus in early July, per Sanchez. Even with this notable signing on the books, the Rangers haven’t cleared their allotted pool, so they’re not facing any type of long-term penalization.
Injury Notes: Choo, Cozart, Reynolds, Rea
Though expectations had been that Shin-Soo Choo would be out through mid-October after surgery on a fractured forearm, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports that he may be ready to return to the Rangers for an early postseason series. Choo could be taking BP with the big league club by the weekend if he continues to progress, and would then head to the instructional league to face live pitching. Texas skipper Jeff Banister said that the team misses Choo’s presence in the leadoff spot; he could provide a nice boost if he can remain on track.
Here’s more on some injury situations around the game:
- While the Reds aren’t officially ruling out shortstop Zack Cozart from returning this year, he is shut down for the moment, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Cozart is battling a sore knee, which is somewhat additionally concerning because he missed much of last year after requiring surgery on the joint. The 31-year-old was nearly dealt at the trade deadline, and still remains prime candidate to change hands this winter, but the second half of the year hasn’t exactly boosted his value. After a highly productive first half, the slick-fielding shortstop has limped to a .223/.291/.312 batting line with just two home runs over his last 173 trips to the plate. The tepid finish will also impact Cozart’s arbitration earning power; he’ll be entering his final arb year looking to build off of a $2.925MM salary.
- Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds will not require surgery on his fractured left hand, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets. His single season contract with Colorado is nevertheless already in the books, with the 33-year-old heading back onto the open market after the year. Over 441 plate appearances, Reynolds put up a .282/.356/.450 slash line with 14 home runs — good for approximately league-average overall production given that he played his home games at Coors Field. That’s not a terribly appealing batting line for a player who is limited to first base duties at this point, but he’ll surely still draw interest at least as a bench bat.
- Injured Padres righty Colin Rea is nearing a throwing program, manager Andy Green tells MLB.com’s Carlos Collazo (via Twitter). The 26-year-old, who was traded to the Marlins and then back to the Padres after he suffered an elbow injury, is trying to stave off Tommy John surgery with treatment, rest, and rehab. His progress will be interesting to watch, as he’d presumably hold down a rotation job next year for San Diego if his ulnar collateral ligament allows.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/17/16
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Rangers outrighted left-hander Michael Roth to Triple-A after he accepted the assignment, club executive VP of communications John Blake tweets. Roth was designated for assignment earlier this week. The southpaw appeared in just one game for the Rangers this season (allowing six ER over 3 2/3 relief innings) while posting a 2.97 ERA, 2.24 K/BB rate and 5.8 K/9 over 145 1/3 innings at Triple-A, with 23 of his 28 outings coming as a starter.
- The Braves selected the contracts of utilityman Emilio Bonifacio and third baseman Rio Ruiz from Triple-A Gwinnett, the team announced. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski and righty Rob Whalen were shifted to the 60-day DL in corresponding moves to create roster space. Bonifacio was outrighted off Atlanta’s 40-man roster earlier this summer, and the veteran has appeared in just 15 games for the Braves in 2016. Ruiz, 22, is getting his first taste of the majors after hitting .271/.355/.400 with 10 homers and 24 doubles over 533 Triple-A plate appearances this season. MLB.com ranked Ruiz as the 15th-best prospect in the Braves’ system.
Rangers Outright R.J. Alvarez
The Rangers announced this afternoon that right-hander R.J. Alvarez has been assigned outright to the minor leagues. Texas just claimed Alvarez off waivers from the Cubs over the weekend, though it now looks as though Alvarez was claimed with the intent of the Rangers trying to sneak him through outright waivers themselves. Texas succeeded and will therefore be able to retain Alvarez for the time being without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him.
The 25-year-old Alvarez was once a well-regarded prospect within the Angels’ farm system and has been included in a pair of high-profile trades — going from the Halos to the Padres in the Huston Street deal and going from San Diego to Oakland in the Derek Norris swap. The Cubs picked him up off waivers earlier this season, but he struggled considerably with Chicago’s Double-A affiliate in Tennessee.
In 27 innings split between Triple-A, Double-A and Class-A Advanced this season, Alvarez has a 7.00 ERA, and while the 35 strikeouts he’s racked up in that time are impressive, they also come with a dozen walks, a pair of hit batters and six wild pitches. Those troubles are reflective of the control issues that have plagued Alvarez throughout his minor league career, as he’s averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings pitched since being selected in the third round of the 2012 draft (by the Angels). Alvarez’s brief time in the Majors hasn’t gone any better, as he’s posted a 7.39 ERA in 28 big league innings, again showing a penchant for missing bats (32 strikeouts) but a susceptibility to bases on balls (18 walks).
Rangers Activate Colby Lewis, Designate Michael Roth
The Rangers have activated right-hander Colby Lewis from the 60-day disabled list and designated left-hander Michael Roth in a corresponding move, according to the team’s executive vice president of communications, John Blake.
Lewis, out since late June with a lat strain, was highly effective for the Rangers during the season’s first two-plus months. The 37-year-old registered a 3.21 ERA, 5.6 K/9 and 1.74 BB/9 in 98 innings for a club that had been without ace Yu Darvish for a significant portion of time. Lewis, who will start Sunday against the Angels, will now join Darvish and Cole Hamels atop the Rangers’ rotation as the team moves toward clinching the American League West. At 85-58, Texas holds a 9 1/2-game lead in its division and owns the best record in the AL.
Roth, 26, has spent the vast majority of this year as a member of the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, Round Rock, with which he logged an impressive 2.97 ERA over 145 1/3 innings. He has thrown 3 2/3 frames with Texas this year, giving him a career 38 major league innings with the Rangers, Angels and Indians. The 2012 ninth-round pick has recorded an 8.50 ERA, 7.25 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 over that limited sample size.
Rosenthal On Astros, Rangers, Nova, CBA
Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal, via a video at FOX Sports.
- Some members of the Astros are frustrated that the team didn’t deal for a top starter at the August 1 trade deadline, but GM Jeff Luhnow says the team ultimately didn’t make a big acquisition because teams were requesting big hauls in return, including players already contributing at the big-league level. Rosenthal notes that the Astros had previously had a surplus of starters, leading them to deal Dan Straily and then, months later, Scott Feldman for minimal returns (or perhaps seemingly minimal returns, since it’s way too early to get a clear read on Lupe Chavez, the very young pitcher the Astros got from the Blue Jays for Feldman). With Lance McCullers and Dallas Keuchel now hurt, though, the Astros might not have enough top starting pitching.
- The Rangers attempted to acquire Ivan Nova from the Yankees last month, with the talks occurring very close to the deadline. The Yankees, of course, sent Nova to the Pirates, where he has had tremendous success in their rotation. Nova has posted a 2.53 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and a remarkable 0.4 BB/9 in 46 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh. It’s impossible to say, of course, whether Nova would have had similar success in Texas, which is a completely different context in which to pitch, perhaps especially for someone like Nova, who struggled with allowing home runs in New York. But he might well have been able to help a team that has seen A.J. Griffin and Lucas Harrell struggle at the back of its rotation over the past month.
- MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement is due to expire at the beginning of December, but the two sides would prefer to have a new agreement in place by the beginning of November. The free agent market could unfold slowly without a new labor deal, with teams reluctant to commit to free agents without a clear idea of the rules going forward.
Rangers Claim R.J. Alvarez From Cubs
The Rangers have announced that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever R.J. Alvarez off waivers from the Cubs. They’ve optioned him to the Class A+ High Desert Mavericks. To clear space on their 40-man roster, they’ve moved righty Lucas Harrell (groin strain) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. The Cubs designated Alvarez for assignment earlier this week.
The 25-year-old Alvarez has spent the entire season in the minors, posting a 7.00 ERA, but with 11.7 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9, in 27 innings split between three levels in the Cubs and Athletics organizations. He spent the early part of the season recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery.
Alvarez has also struggled in parts of two seasons in the Majors, posting a 7.39 ERA, 10.3 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 in 28 total innings. It’s easy to see why he keeps generating interest after previously going from the Angels to the Padres in the Huston Street deal and from the Padres to the Athletics in the Derek Norris trade, however. Alvarez possesses mid-90s velocity, and he has an outstanding 12.6 K/9 in five career minor league seasons. He also has minimal service time, so the Rangers can keep him in their organization for the next several years if they choose.
AL West Notes: Correa, Gamel, Rangers
The Astros will be without shortstop Carlos Correa for at least two games as he travels back to Houston to get his ailing shoulder examined, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters, including Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. Correa is believed to be troubled by some inflammation in his shoulder, and despite his leaving the team, the injury doesn’t appear to be serious in nature just yet, as Hinch said the team’s expectation is that Correa will play at some point this weekend. If that’s the case, it’s a minor hiccup for the Astros, but a more prolonged absence is something the Astros can ill afford as they sit two games back in the American League Wild Card hunt. With Correa absent, Alex Bregman saw his first Major League action at shortstop last night.
More from the American League West…
- August trade acquisition Ben Gamel will get a long look from the Mariners down the stretch, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. “We’re really going to look at those corner outfield spots against right-handed pitching,” manager Scott Servais said prior to tonight’s contest. “…I do think we owe an opportunity to find out what Ben Gamel can do. So he’s going to play.” Gamel has just one hit in 16 at-bats with Seattle so far, though he’s already delivered some highlight-reel defense. With Nori Aoki and Franklin Gutierrez set to hit free agency, there could potentially be some corner outfield at-bats for Gamel to win next season with a strong showing in September and in Spring Training.
- The Rangers are set to get Colby Lewis back on Sunday, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. With Lewis joining Cole Hamels, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Martin Perez and A.J. Griffin, Texas will have six options in the rotation, but skipper Jeff Banister says the team won’t deploy a straight six-man rotation. However, each of the six will get some starts down the stretch. Wilson writes that Perez, Griffin and Holland will each have some extra rest built into their schedules over the season’s final few weeks. Lewis, 37, has a 3.21 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 through his first 98 innings of the 2016 campaign.
- Wilson also writes that Shin-Soo Choo has begun throwing as he continues his rehab from a forearm fracture. He’ll throw every other day and take some swings with a fungo bat today as he aims to return to the Rangers‘ roster for a potential playoff run. Choo’s chances of returning during the regular season aren’t great, but he said last month he hopes to play in October.
NL Notes: Jay, Campos, Gutierrez, Feliz
Padres outfielder Jon Jay officially returned to action last night, making his first plate appearance since the 19th of June. As Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune explains, the 31-year-old stayed busy during his rehab from a fractured forearm. While he says his focus remains on “going out and proving to everyone that I’m healthy and I can still play at a high level,” Jay also spent time focusing on other aspects of the game. “I love this game of baseball, and in the future you never know what’s going to happen,” said Jay. “I would maybe want to coach or be involved in the game still with player development or whatever it might be. I’m kind of working on those things now so that if an opportunity does come in the future, I’m ready for it.” First things first, though: Jay will be playing to help set up his next contract, as he’ll reach the open market this fall. Mutual interest in a return to San Diego won’t be explored further until that time, both he and manager Andy Green noted.
More from the National League:
- The Diamondbacks received unfortunate news about righty Vicente Campos, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. Not long after making his MLB debut, the 24-year-old has been diagnosed with an ulnar fracture that will require surgery and an eight-month recovery timeline. That seems to suggest that a mid-season return in 2017 may be possible, at least, but the fracture obviously represents a highly disappointing development. Campos was acquired in July in the Tyler Clippard swap.
- Just-signed righty Vladimir Gutierrez was also pursued by several other clubs before agreeing with the Reds, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (Twitter links). The Rangers and Astros were the two primary pursuers who were willing to strike a deal right now, but three other organizations tried to convince the Cuban youngster to wait until the following July 2 signing period to put pen to paper. Meanwhile, Cinci GM Dick Williams says that the club likely won’t be making any other big-dollar signings in the near term.
- Pirates righty Neftali Feliz left action on Saturday, leading to some concern about his health, but it appears to be a minor issue. As Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweeted yesterday, there is no elbow or shoulder concern. Feliz still hasn’t returned to the bump, but is expected to be ready in short order, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. The 28-year-old has enjoyed a solid campaign in Pittsburgh, posting a 3.52 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 53 2/3 innings, though some good batted ball fortune (.240 BABIP despite allowing 37.0% hard contact) may be helping. He’ll return to the open market this fall.