Blue Jays Rumors

Knocking Down The Door: Fowler, Guerrero, Staumont, Stewart, Urias

By Jason Martinez | May 1, 2018 at 5:20pm CDT

“Knocking Down the Door” is a regular feature that identifies minor leaguers who are making a case for a big league promotion.

Dustin Fowler, CF, Athletics (Triple-A Nashville) | Athletics Depth Chart

Despite a devastating leg injury that occurred during the first inning of his MLB debut last June, many still expected Fowler to be the starting center fielder on Opening Day. While health did not appear to be a major factor—he had 47 plate appearances in 19 games this spring—the 23-year-old was understandably rusty at the plate. He hit just .222 with two walks and 13 strikeouts in the Cactus League. As a result, his Oakland A’s debut would have to wait until he began to show the form that catapulted him up prospect lists with the Yankees last season (.871 OPS, 13 HR, 19 2B, 8 3B, 13 SB in 70 Triple-A games). If the last seven games are any indication, he is getting close.

With 14 hits in his past 33 at-bats, including his first two homers of the season, a trio of three-hit games, three doubles and a pair of triples, Fowler has boosted his batting average over the .300 mark. He also has six stolen bases, which is a good indication that he’s recovered from his injury. The versatile Mark Canha has been productive while getting the majority of starts in center field as of late, but he’ll move back into a part-time role once Fowler arrives.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays (Double-A New Hampshire) | Blue Jays Depth Chart

A 19-year-old with only a few weeks of Double-A experience has no business being on this list. Or being this good, even if his father is a Hall of Famer. But Vladimir Jr., after just 96 plate appearances, is making it clear that he has no business being at this level for much longer. The right-handed hitting third baseman is slashing .380/.442/.582 with two homers, eight doubles, 10 walks and 10 strikeouts in his first 20 games. He was also 7-for-13 in MLB camp during an impressive spring that he capped off with a walk-off homer in an exhibition game in Montreal.

The only question for now is whether he makes a stop in Triple-A before he begins his MLB career. Once he’s in the Majors, he’ll be in the lineup on a regular basis. With Josh Donaldson expected back soon from the disabled list after missing time with shoulder discomfort, it’s possible that Guerrero spells him at third base a few days per week and serves as the designated hitter on other days. The odd man out would be Kendrys Morales, who is hitless in his last 21 at-bats and is 8-for-50 on the season.

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Josh Staumont, RP, Royals (Triple-A Omaha) | Royals Depth Chart

Entering 2017 as one of the Royals’ best prospects, Staumont flopped in his first full season in the upper minors with a 5.56 ERA and 7.0 BB/9 in 124 2/3 innings between Triple-A and Double-A. A move to the bullpen has him back on track so far in 2018.

While the walks are still an issue—he’s walked seven in 10 1/3 Triple-A innings—he’s allowed just one earned run and hasn’t walked more than one batter in seven of his eight appearances. The 24-year-old right-hander has also struck out 22 batters, including 10 over his past two outings (3 2/3 IP). Coincidentally, the Royals have one of the worst bullpens in the Majors. Their closer, Kelvin Herrera, isn’t part of the problem, but he’s expected to be traded to a contender by July 31st and probably sooner than that. Staumont should get a chance to prove that he can be a part of the team’s late-inning, post-Herrera relief crew.

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Christin Stewart, OF, Tigers (Triple-A Toledo) | Tigers Depth Chart

The Tigers had a fairly uneventful offseason, which wasn’t totally unexpected as they moved toward a rebuild. But with several free agents available at a discounted rate—Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez and Jon Jay are just a few examples—it was a bit surprising that they took a hard pass and began the season with Mikie Mahtook and Leonys Martin in their starting outfield. While it’s not clear whether the Stewart factored in to the decision—he hit 28 homers in Double-A in 2017, but also struck out 138 times—he could soon get the chance to show that he can be a part of the solution.

Not only has the 24-year-old left fielder continued to mash in the upper minors—he’s slashing .311/.404/.568 with four homers, five doubles and 11 walks in his first 89 Triple-A plate appearances—he’s also striking out at a much lower rate than in year’s past (24 % in ’17; 15 % in ’18). Playing alongside Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez should only help to continue that trend.

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Luis Urias, 2B, Padres (Triple-A El Paso) | Padres Depth Chart

Padres hitters continue to rack up strikeouts at a record pace. They lead the league with 309 whiffs in 1135 plate appearances and are on their way to surpassing the MLB single-season record of 1571. As a comparison, Urias has struck out 150 times in 1618 plate appearances in the minors. He also has 166 walks. The 20-year-old won’t be their savior in 2018, but he can certainly help this bunch.

Over his first 19 games in Triple-A, Urias is slashing .307/.416/.440 with two homers, four doubles, 13 walks and 15 strikeouts. He has nine hits, six walks and one strikeout over his last 22 plate appearances. The Padres moved quickly to fill two rotation spots with prospects—Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer both debuted in April—and now it’s becoming increasingly possible that Urias joins them to replace the struggling Carlos Asuaje (.576 OPS) as the starting second baseman.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blue Jays Place Randal Grichuk On 10-Day DL

By Jeff Todd | April 30, 2018 at 7:52pm CDT

The Blue Jays have placed outfielder Randal Grichuk on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’s dealing with a knee sprain that is likely to cost him at least three weeks or so, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm notes on Twitter.

Toronto will promote infielder Gift Ngoepe to take the open spot on the active roster. That’ll likely be a temporary measure, as Josh Donaldson could soon be ready to return to the majors.

The move comes as Grichuk, who was acquired over the winter, has struggled badly out of the gates. The out-of-options 26-year-old is carrying a hard-to-fathom .106/.208/.227 slash through 77 plate appearances.

With Teoscar Hernandez emerging in recent weeks, Grichuk has increasingly found himself on the bench. Presuming Grichuk ends up on a rehab assignment, he’ll have a chance to try to find a groove in the minors before returning to the MLB roster.

AL East Notes: Gray, Rays, Teoscar

By Steve Adams | April 30, 2018 at 1:18pm CDT

Sonny Gray has been clobbered by opposing hitters this season, and Sheryl Ring of Fangraphs suggests that the root of his struggles could be an organizational pitching philosophy that the Yankees seem to be employing. As Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan highlighted in an excellent piece earlier this month, the Yankees are using far and away the fewest percentage of fastballs in the league in 2018 — continuing a trend of increasingly diminished fastball usage in recent years. Ring notes that Gray, however, has never thrown fewer than 55 percent heaters (combining both his four-seamer and two-seamer/sinker). Gray’s success against lefties, in particular, has been in no small part attributable to the success of his fastball up and in on lefty bats, she observes. While there could obviously be multiple factors at play — Ring also notes a mechanical disparity between Gray’s wind-up from 2015 and from 2018, for instance — it certainly seems plausible that Gray’s increased use of breaking pitches is making it more difficult to position himself in favorable counts. He’s thrown a first-pitch strike to just 50 percent of the hitters he’s faced in 2018 — down from a career-best 61.7 percent in 2017.

Danny Espinosa Opts Out Of Blue Jays Deal

By Steve Adams | April 30, 2018 at 10:25am CDT

10:25am: Espinosa exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with the Jays, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.

8:25am: Veteran infielder Danny Espinosa has been released by the Blue Jays organization, per an announcement from Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo.

The 31-year-old Espinosa opened the 2017 season at the big league level with the Angels but has since bounced to four other organizations in that time. He saw brief stints in the Majors with both the Mariners and Rays (eight games apiece) before season’s end in 2017, and he was with the Yankees in Spring Training before being granted his release and latching on with the Jays on a minor league pact.

Espinosa has had a rough start to the Triple-A season with the Bisons, hitting .232/.271/.286 with 15 strikeouts against three walks in 60 trips to the plate. That inauspicious slash comes on the heels of a combined .197/.286/.344 batting line in 896 plate appearances at the big league level across the 2016-17 seasons.

Though the past couple years have been a struggle at the plate for the switch-hitter, he’s long carried a strong defensive reputation and is capable of playing both middle-infield spots. He’s also just a season removed from slugging 24 homers for the Nationals in 2016, indicating that there’s still some pop in his bat.

Toronto’s offseason pickups of Yangervis Solarte, Aledmys Diaz and Gift Ngoepe created plenty of middle-infield competition within the organization, and the promotion of international signee Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the Majors only further impeded Espinosa’s path to a potential roster spot. He’ll now look to latch on with what will somewhat remarkably be his sixth organization of the past calendar year — presumably one with lesser middle-infield depth than the Jays have at present.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/30/18

By Steve Adams | April 30, 2018 at 10:15am CDT

Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, unless otherwise noted…

The Blue Jays have released southpaw Chad Girodo from their Triple-A affiliate. Once considered one of the more promising bullpen arms in Toronto’s system, the lefty made his MLB debut in 2016 when he tossed 10 1/3 innings with a 5-to-1 K/BB ratio and a 69.4 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 4.35 ERA. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster that year. Girodo, now 27, turned in a 3.02 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.57 HR/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate in 47 2/3 Triple-A innings last year. He’s served up three homers in 3 2/3 innings to open the 2018 campaign in Triple-A, though.
The Reds parted ways with left-handed reliever Dean Kiekhefer, releasing him from their Double-A club. The 28-year-old tossed 22 innings at the big league level with the Cardinals in 2016, working to a 5.32 ERA with 14 strikeouts against seven walks (four intentional) and two hit batters in that brief time. Kiekhefer landed with the Mariners via waivers in the 2016-17 offseason but was outrighted off their 40-man roster shortly thereafter. Last year, he logged a 4.47 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9 and a 46 percent grounder rate in Triple-A. He opened the season with eight innings of one-run ball in the Cincinnati organization, albeit at the Double-A level.

AL East Notes: Solarte, Donaldson, Trumbo, Red Sox

By Mark Polishuk | April 29, 2018 at 7:31pm CDT

Yangervis Solarte’s career has been marked by both professional setbacks and personal tragedy, as Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi details in a profile of the Blue Jays infielder. A lightly-regarded prospect growing up in Venezuela, Solarte was close to giving up on his baseball dreams before signing with the Twins in 2005. Davidi’s piece details Solarte’s long path to becoming a big league regular, as well as the unimaginable burden Solarte had to face when his wife Yuliett passed away due to cancer in September 2016. Though it all, Solarte has continued to be an energetic figure on the field and become an increasingly important piece of Toronto’s everyday lineup.

Here are some more items from around the AL East…

Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae (Twitter link) and other reporters that Josh Donaldson could potentially return from the DL on Friday when the team begins a series in Tampa Bay. Donaldson began his rehab assignment today, going 0-for-3 for Toronto’s high-A ball affiliate. Donaldson played as a DH today, so he has yet to test his ailing shoulder in a game situation by throwing from third base.
Mark Trumbo is slated to be activated from the DL on Tuesday, with the Orioles already optioning Joey Rickard back to Triple-A today to create roster space. Trumbo will be making his season debut after missing six weeks with a quad strain, with the slugger looking to personally rebound from a poor 2017 season and also add some pop to an Orioles lineup that has struggled to score runs this year. The O’s figure to use Trumbo as a right-handed hitting complement at first base, DH, and right field, as those positions are respectively occupied by lefty-swingers Chris Davis and Pedro Alvarez, and switch-hitter Anthony Santander. Manager Buck Showalter also told media (including BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Dan Connolly) that Luis Sardinas will be placed on the 10-day DL due to a bad back, and Engelb Vielma looks to be the likeliest candidate to replace Sardinas as the utility infielder.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora provided some updates (to MLB.com’s Ian Browne and other reporters) about some injury situations, including Mookie Betts’ day-to-day status with right hamstring tightness. Betts didn’t play on Sunday as the Sox are being cautious with their superstar: “If this game is September, October, November, I guarantee he’d play, but we have to take care of him,” Cora said. As for other sidelined Sox players, Dustin Pedroia is begun play in extended Spring Training games as the second baseman continues his rehab from knee surgery last October. Tyler Thornburg is also beginning a Triple-A rehab assignment on Monday, which will be his first taste of game action at any level after missing all of 2017 due to shoulder problems that resulted in thoracic outlet surgery. Given the extended layoff, Browne thinks Thornburg’s rehab assignment could last for the maximum 30 days as the right-hander gets himself back into game shape.

Blue Jays Option Devon Travis

By Connor Byrne | April 29, 2018 at 9:11am CDT

The Blue Jays have optioned second baseman Devon Travis to Triple-A and recalled right-hander Carlos Ramirez, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.

The 27-year-old Travis is a familiar name who has enjoyed success in the past, which theoretically makes this a surprising move. However, Travis has dealt with injury issues throughout his career and, although he’s healthy now, has gotten off to a dreadful start in 2018. Travis has batted an ugly .148/.212/.246 (25 wRC+) through 66 plate appearances, making it difficult for Toronto to keep him in its lineup – let alone in the majors. Sending Travis to the minors could enable him to get back up to speed in the wake of his injury-shortened 2017, as MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently noted.

In light of Travis’ struggles, prospect Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been seeing some time lately at second. While Gurriel has also gotten off to a slow start, he seems likely to serve as Toronto’s top second base option now that Travis is headed to Buffalo. That may change when on-the-mend third baseman Josh Donaldson returns from a shoulder injury, which could push utility player Yangervis Solarte from the hot corner to the keystone.

Injury Notes: Teheran, Buchter, Giants, Donaldson, Schoop, Nats

By Jeff Todd | April 27, 2018 at 10:57pm CDT

Braves righty Julio Teheran left his outing today with what the team is calling “right upper trap tightness.” He had shown a concerning velocity drop before departing, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. The 27-year-old Teheran entered the day with a 4.00 ERA in his 27 innings, while carrying a career-best 12.8% swinging-strike rate, but gave up three earned in his three frames. It seems generally promising that there’s a muscular explanation for Teheran’s sudden loss of velo, though of course that does not necessarily mean he’s out of the woods and we’ll have to await further word.

Here’s the latest on some other health situations around the league:

The Athletics have placed southpaw Ryan Buchter on the DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Danny Coulombe. At this point, the team plans to shut Buchter down for at least ten days and possibly longer, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. The 31-year-old southpaw, who was acquired over the offseason, has been quite good thus far for the A’s. He’s carrying a 1.69 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over 10 2/3 innings.
While the Giants will hold off on putting Mac Williamson on the DL, he’s in the concussion protocol at present, as manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). In the meantime, the organization has brought fellow outfielder Austin Slater onto the active roster, creating space by sending reliever Josh Osich to the 10-day DL. It’s unclear at this point how long Slater will have in the majors, but he’ll surely be hoping to follow the same track as Williamson, who kept on raking after receiving a promotion. Slater owns a .358/.435/.642 slash with just six strikeouts in his 62 plate appearances on the year at Triple-A.
Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson is beginning his rehab assignment tomorrow, as the team announced. He’ll open as a DH as he eases back into action, though the real test will come when he puts his throwing back on display at game speed. There’s similarly good news for the division-rival Orioles, who expect to send second baseman Jonathan Schoop on a brief rehab assignment next week, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. He has been out for two weeks with an oblique strain.
The Nationals, who are still waiting for a trio of important players, gave some updates today. (Links to the Twitter feed of Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com.) Third baseman Anthony Rendon is reasonably close and is expected to return in relatively short order after a brief stint on the shelf. It’s not quite as rosy for outfielder Adam Eaton, who has seemingly had some ups and downs in rehabbing his ankle issues, but — GM Mike Rizzo emphasized — also has not experienced any setbacks. As for second baseman Daniel Murphy, who has yet to play at all following offseason knee surgery, there’s still no timeline for a return.
A number of other players are already coming off of the DL. The Reds have activated righty David Hernandez and the Mariners have brought back first baseman Ryon Healy. Both were relatively significant offseason acquisitions for their organizations. Meanwhile, the Rays activated infielder Matt Duffy and the Rangers did the same with righty Tony Barnette.

AL East Notes: Corbin, Gleyber, Machado, Donaldson, Tulo, Eovaldi

By Jeff Todd | April 26, 2018 at 12:25pm CDT

For the time being, Patrick Corbin is pitching brilliantly for the Diamondbacks, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that he could have been doing so for the Yankees. It was reported that the New York organization looked into dealing for Corbin over the winter, but Nightengale suggests that the interested was more focused than was realized at the time. It’s anyone’s guess how things will play out in the future, but Nightengale notes that Corbin is the member of a family of rabid Yankees fans. It’s not hard to connect the dots, at least speculatively, but Corbin also says he’s happy in Arizona and would be amenable to discussing a new deal during the season.

Here’s more from the AL East:

As the Yankees get their first look at top prospect Gleyber Torres at the major-league level, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic looks at how the gifted youngster ended up in New York. (Subscription link.) Yanks GM Brian Cashman says that the organization had targeted Torres years before as an amateur. That made it all the more exciting when he was finally landed via trade.
Rosenthal goes on to discuss a few other subjects of note, including some hypothetical trade suitors for Orioles shortstop Manny Machado. As Craig Edwards writes at Fangraphs, Machado seems to be a clear mid-season trade candidate given the O’s putrid start to the season and his pending free agency. Edwards gives the numbers on just how deep a hole the Baltimore club appears to be in, arguing the team ought to begin listening to offers even if it decides to wait and allow bidding to drive up the return for the star infielder.
The Blue Jays have received some promising news on the health front, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports (Twitter links). Star third baseman Josh Donaldson is just one step away from a rehab assignment. That said, it’s not an insignificant one for a player whose shoulder issues created notable problems throwing across the diamond. Presently, Donaldson is long tossing, but he’ll still need to make throws on the field before he goes out to an affiliate for a tune-up. Meanwhile, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is set to begin baseball activities for the first time since undergoing heel surgery.
There’s also progress to report for Rays righty Nathan Eovaldi, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Eovaldi, whose long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery was thwarted when he required another procedure late this spring, has already managed a 25-pitch pen session. It’s possible he could be back in the big leagues within a month or so, says Topkin, which seems like a reasonably promising prognosis for a player who has endured significant health questions. Of course, given the club’s poor start to the year, it could be that Eovaldi will be looking to pitch his way into a trade chip once he’s back.

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

By Mark Polishuk | April 22, 2018 at 7:48pm CDT

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.

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