- X-rays were negative on Teoscar Hernandez’s left foot after the Blue Jays outfielder fouled a ball off his foot in the eighth inning of today’s 5-2 win over the Yankees. Hernandez was replaced in right field for the bottom half of the eighth inning. While it appears as though Hernandez has avoided any serious injury, it seems likely that he’ll miss Sunday’s game, thus leaving the Jays even more shorthanded in the outfield. George Springer has been limited to DH duty since returning from the injured list, and Springer has also missed the last two games due to a sore right knee after a wayward foul ball of his own on Thursday. While Toronto has outfield depth on the bench, the lineup would be hurt if both Hernandez and Springer each have to miss more time.
Blue Jays Rumors
AL Notes: Yankees, Stanton, Blue Jays, Mayza, Twins, Maeda
Giancarlo Stanton is beginning a rehab assignment today, per Lindsey Adler of The Athletic (via Twitter). Before this latest injury, Stanton had been enjoying a run of sound health. For the season, Stanton has appeared in 80 games, slashing .228/.309/.498 with 24 home runs in 328 plate appearances. Stanton even started 38 games in the outfield grass, his most defensive action since 2018. Elsewhere around the Junior Circuit…
- Blue Jays southpaw Tim Mayza will begin a rehab assignment in Triple-A today, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (via Twitter). Mayza has been a key piece of Toronto’s bullpen for a number of years, no less so this season when he has pitched to a 2.88 ERA/3.94 FIP across 41 appearances totaling 34 1/3 innings. Mayza has been out of action since August 7th. The 30-year-old has held lefties to a .157/.218/.275 line this season.
- The Twins are cautiously optimistic that Kenta Maeda might be able to return late in the season to pitch out of the bullpen as he used to for the Dodgers. Maeda is throwing bullpens now, but President of Baseball Ops Derek Falvey was non-commital about Maeda’s ability to make a late-season appearance, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (via Twitter). Maeda is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Blue Jays Showing Interest In Billy Hamilton
The Blue Jays are showing interest in outfielder Billy Hamilton, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Hamilton had been outrighted by the Marlins last week but rejected that assignment and elected free agency, as was his right as a player with more than three years of MLB service time.
Hamilton, 31, is a veteran who has appeared in each of the past ten MLB seasons. He’s never been a tremendous hitter, as evidenced by his career batting line of .239/.293/.326, but he’s long been one of the fastest players in the league, allowing him to provide value with baserunning and defense.
He began this year on a minor league deal with the Mariners, getting into 22 games with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers before triggering an opt-out clause and returning to free agency. He then landed with the Marlins on another minor league deal, getting selected to the big league club just over a week later. He spent just over a month with the Fish before getting outrighted last week.
He was largely used off the bench in that stint in the big leagues, getting into 20 games but making just 15 plate appearances. He hit a paltry .077/.143/.077 in that time, but stole seven bases without getting caught.
Despite the lackluster results with the bat, most contending teams will be interested in players like Hamilton. The ability to steal a base or make a difficult catch in a key moment can make a big difference in the later innings. With extra innings now beginning with a runner already on second base, having a speedy pinch runner on the bench arguably becomes even more important. With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 in September, it will become easier for a team to find space for a player of this ilk.
The Blue Jays recently made a switch in this area of their roster, signing Jackie Bradley Jr. after he was released by the Red Sox but then later designating Bradley Zimmer for assignment. Zimmer was subsequently claimed off waivers by the Phillies. As Davidi notes, the Jays have been focused on adding depth options, recently signing first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo to a minor league deal. If they can get Hamilton to put pen to paper, it would add another layer of depth as the club gears up for the stretch run. Coming into tonight’s action, the Jays and Rays are tied for the second and third Wild Card spots in the American League, but with four teams within five games.
Phillies Claim Bradley Zimmer
The Phillies announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder Bradley Zimmer off waivers from the Blue Jays. He’ll take the active roster spot of center fielder Brandon Marsh, who’s headed to the 10-day injured list due to a sprained left ankle. Bryce Harper was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Zimmer, a former first-round pick and top prospect in Cleveland, was traded to the Jays on Opening Day and held a roster spot throughout the season due to his glovework and baserunning prowess. He’s posted a disastrous .105/.209/.237 batting line on the season, but that’s come in a minuscule sample of 87 plate appearances spread across 77 games.
Zimmer has never been a great hitter in the Majors, but he came into the 2022 season as a .225/.310/.347 hitter, so it’s fair to wonder whether he might’ve fared a bit better at the plate had he been given more than five to six plate appearances per week. At the time of his DFA, Zimmer had played in 22 games and received just 14 plate appearances over a span of more than six weeks.
At least in the short term, the Phils could have more at-bats to give Zimmer. He’ll give them a plus defender to slot in between lumbering sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos in the outfield, providing some needed range to help offset the defensive deficiencies the Phillies face in the corners.
Marsh, acquired in a deadline deal sending top catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe to the Angels, hit .250/.294/.313 in 34 plate appearances with the Phillies before sustaining his current injury on a play at the center field wall. Like Zimmer, he’s a plus defender in center, though Marsh is also a recent second-round pick and top prospect whom the Phils hope can be their everyday option in center for the foreseeable future. It seems likely that once Marsh returns, Zimmer could again be squeezed off the roster, although with rosters expanding to 28 in September, perhaps the Phils will hang onto Zimmer to give them a second plus glove in the outfield as a late-game replacement.
Harper’s move to the 60-day injured list is procedural and does not reset his timeline for a return. The “60-day” term on the 60-day IL is retroactive to whenever a player was first placed on the IL, and Harper has been aiming for a September return anyway. In other words, it’s a technicality that is not reflective of any snags in his rehab or any setbacks. He’s been working to mend a broken thumb sustained when he was plunked by an errant Blake Snell fastball. Harper also has a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, which has limited him to DH work due to an inability to throw from right field. That’ll likely remain his role once he returns next month.
Blue Jays Outright Matt Peacock
- Blue Jays righty Matt Peacock, designated for assignment last week when the team signed Jackie Bradley Jr., has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transactions log at MLB.com. Peacock, 28, hasn’t pitched for the Jays this year but did log 10 innings between the D-backs and Royals, during which time he yielded six runs on a dozen hits and four walks with six punchouts. Peacock has a 4.95 ERA in 96 1/3 big league innings, mostly coming with Arizona, and has recorded a massive 59.3% grounder rate in that time. He has only a 13% strikeout rate but also a solid 7.4% walk rate. In parts of five minor league seasons, Peacock has a 3.71 ERA.
Blue Jays, Yoshi Tsutsugo Close To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are close to signing first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to a minor league contract, interim manager John Schneider indicated to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic). Yuki Yamada of Japan’s Sankei Sports first reported that Tsutsugo was likely to land with Toronto on a minor league pact.
The 30-year-old Tsutsugo began the 2022 season on a one-year, $4MM deal with the Pirates but was cut loose by Pittsburgh last week after hitting just .171/.249/.229 with a pair of homers and four doubles through 193 plate appearances. That output was miles from the .268/.347/.535 slash turned in by Tsutsugo through 144 plate appearances down the stretch with the Pirates in 2021. The Pirates are on the hook for the remainder of his salary, so the Jays would only owe Tsutsugo the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Major League roster.
Once a star-caliber slugger in with Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars — when he posted a combined .293/.402/.574 with 139 home runs, 116 doubles, five triples, a 15.1 percent walk rate and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate in his final four NPB campaigns from 2016-19 — Tsutsugo has struggled in the big leagues. Originally signed by the Rays to a two-year, $12MM contract back in Dec. 2019, Tsutsugo has drawn plenty of walks throughout his big league tenure (11.6%) but has struggled with strikeouts (26.9%) while showing a particular susceptibility to sliders.
Tsutsugo likely amounts to little more than a depth addition for the Jays at this point, though with a nice showing in Buffalo he could emerge as an option to give Toronto an extra left-handed bat when they pick up another couple roster spots in September. Following today’s DFA of outfielder Bradley Zimmer, the Blue Jays currently have just three left-handed hitters on the Major League roster — Raimel Tapia, Cavan Biggio, Jackie Bradley Jr. — none of whom are especially productive hitters. Tapia is the only one logging regular at-bats right now, and he figures to continue doing so in center field for at least a few days, with George Springer being eased back in as a designated hitter following today’s activation from the injured list (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).
The righty-heavy Jays have still been one of baseball’s most productive clubs against right-handed pitching, but there’s little harm in picking up a lefty bat with some thump and taking a low-cost look at him in Triple-A in order to see if they can help to coax some more production out of his swing later this season.
Blue Jays Designate Bradley Zimmer For Assignment
The Blue Jays have designated outfielder Bradley Zimmer for assignment, according to a club announcement. The move opens a spot on the active roster for George Springer, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list.
Zimmer, 29, has held down a spot on the Toronto roster since being acquired in an Opening Day trade that sent righty Anthony Castro back to Cleveland. He’s had an extremely limited role this season and struggled mightily when plugged into the lineup, hitting just .105/.209/.237 on the season. Of course, despite appearing in 77 games this year, Zimmer has just 87 plate appearances — a total that’s reflective of his status as a pure late-game defensive replacement and pinch-running option. He’s posted solid numbers with the glove and ranks in the 95th percentile in Statcast’s average sprint speed, but it’s hard to overlook the glaring level of offensive output.
That said, it’s surely difficult for anyone to perform with such sparse opportunities to see big league pitching in a competitive setting. Zimmer had never hit much prior to the 2022 campaign, but he at least entered the year with a .226/.310/.348 batting line in 858 big league plate appearances. Were he able to replicate that line while still functioning in a late-game substitute role, he’d make for a fine fourth outfielder, but the Jays seemingly feel as though the roster spot could be better used elsewhere.
Zimmer was the 21st overall pick out of the University of San Francisco back in 2014. Current Toronto general manager Ross Atkins was Cleveland’s farm director at the time of Zimmer’s selection and surely knows him quite well after spending several years in that role while Zimmer developed into one of the game’s most highly touted outfield prospects. A sky-high strikeout rate and some glaring struggles against left-handers have kept Zimmer from ever reaching that ceiling, however, and when the Jays added Jackie Bradley Jr. on a big league deal last week, it seemed quite likely that Zimmer’s Jays days were numbered.
Trades of anyone who’s been on a Major League roster are prohibited at this point in the season, so the only resolution for Zimmer’s DFA will be to place him on outright waivers or release waivers. He technically has enough big league service time to reject a minor league assignment if he does clear outright waivers, but he does not yet have the five years of service needed to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of his salary. As such, assuming he indeed passes through waivers unclaimed, Zimmer figures to accept the assignment in order to avoid forfeiting the remainder of this season’s $1.3MM salary.
Ken Giles Elects Free Agency
The Mariners announced that reliever Ken Giles has declined an outright assignment and elected free agency. Giles was designated for assignment on Friday and this announcement indicates he has passed through waivers unclaimed. According to Ben Nicholson-Smith at Sportsnet.ca, Giles asked for his release from the Mariners. As a veteran with over five years of MLB service time, Giles has the right to reject an outright assignment without forfeiting any salary.
Giles, now 31, underwent Tommy John surgery in October of 2020. The Mariners later signed him to a two-year deal, knowing that he would miss the entirety of the 2021 campaign, but hoping for a payoff in 2022. Giles made $1.5MM last year and is making $5MM this season. (There was also a club option for 2023, which now seems to be a moot point.) Unfortunately, things haven’t gone according to that long-term plan, with Giles missing much of this season due to other injuries. Though it was hoped he’d be ready for Opening Day, a finger injury in Spring Training kept him from making his Mariner debut until June 21. After five appearances with diminished velocity, a shoulder issue sent him back to the IL yet again. He was rehabbing from that issue when the M’s designated him for assignment.
Giles will now head back to the open market and try to find his next opportunity. Prior to his current run of injury woes, he was one of the better relievers in all of baseball. He was last healthy for an extended period of time in 2019 with the Blue Jays, throwing 53 innings with a 1.87 ERA, 39.9% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 39.3% ground ball rate.
Given the chance to claim Giles off waivers and take on the roughly $1.4MM owed to him for the remainder of the season – as well as a $500K buyout on his $9.5MM club option for 2023 – the remaining 29 teams passed. Now, any team can sign Giles and pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount being subtracted from what Seattle pays. That will make him an interesting wild card in the baseball world until he signs. On the one hand, he’s now three years removed from his last signs of effectiveness and has dealt with various ailments since. But on the other hand, with the trade deadline now gone, teams desiring bullpen upgrades have very limited options for doing so. Given Giles’ past success and no-risk acquisition cost, teams could consider him worth a dice roll.
The Mariners also announced that catcher Luis Torrens cleared waivers and was outright to Triple-A Tacoma. His situation is slightly different from Giles, given that he has just over three years of MLB service time. Players between three and five years can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, though they have to forfeit their remaining salary. Torrens qualified for arbitration this past offseason as a Super Two player and is making a $1.2MM salary this year. With approximately $340K remaining to be paid out this year, no team deemed him worthy of a claim. Though the Mariners didn’t announce if he accepted the assignment, it seems fair to assume that he has, given that the club announced Giles’ rejection and the money Torrens would leave on the table by walking away. Torrens isn’t rated very highly for his defense but provided strong offense last year, hitting 15 home runs and slashing .243/.299/.431, wRC+ of 101. He’s been far worse this year, however, adding just a single long ball and producing a batting line of .214/.262/.252, wRC+ of 52.
Latest On George Springer
- There is optimism that George Springer will be able to exit the 10-day injured list when first eligible on August 15. Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider told reporters (including The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath) that Springer won’t need a rehab assignment, and the outfielder is already hitting on the field and playing catch. Springer has been bothered by a sore right elbow for most of the season, with the problem finally forcing him to the IL after he had to sit out five games in a seven-game stretch.
Big Hype Prospects: Chourio, De La Cruz, Harrison, Tovar, Tiedemann
Trade deadline content is finally in the rearview mirror. Baseball America put out a spicy August update to their Top 100 rankings. So too did The Athletic’s Keith Law. We’ll talk about some of the biggest movers and discrepancies.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Jackson Chourio, 18, OF, MIL (A+)
72 PA, 2 HR, 2 SB, .270/.333/.429
Chourio began generating hype during extended Spring Training when it became apparent that he possessed all the traits teams look for in Statcast-era prospects. Baseball America recently ranked him as the game’s second-best prospect while Law tagged him third. Either way, it’s quite the climb for a player who was unranked prior to the season. He made short work of Low-A opponents (.324/.373/.600), albeit with an elevated strikeout rate. Upon promotion to High-A, he’s trimmed his strikeout rate while holding his own against much older competition. He’s currently on pace to reach the Majors as a 20-year-old and might even debut next season (unlikely). He’s already a big league caliber center fielder. We’re just waiting for his bat to prove it at each stop along the way.
Elly De La Cruz, 20, SS, CIN (AA)
84 PA, 5 HR, 7 SB, .304/.345/.620
After his 2021 breakout, which was built upon the twin pillars of loud Statcast measurables and enticing results in the lowest levels, De La Cruz has only improved upon his success. Thanks to his size (6’5″) and incredible athleticism, comparisons to Oneil Cruz are nearly unavoidable. Even Fernando Tatis Jr. comes to mind. That’s because, despite his youth, De La Cruz is clearly a man among boys. You can’t help but notice when he takes the field. Naysayers will point to poor discipline and hefty whiff rates. His proponents will break out the numbers. He has 25 home runs and 35 stolen bases across 390 plate appearances this season. His contact profile is best described as “laser show,” complete with a .389 BABIP. Nobody is even sure that he won’t develop discipline against actual competition. He’s yet to experience true adversity.
Law is sold, ranking de la Cruz eighth overall. The Baseball America crew – who were among the first to move on him last season – remain a bit more cautious. He’s 22nd on their list.
Kyle Harrison, 21, SP, SFG (AA)
57.1 IP, 13.19 K/9, 4.71 BB/9, 2.83 ERA
During the course of this season, both of the aforementioned list-makers bumped Harrison up from the back end of their Top 100 to within the Top 20. Harrison’s results speak for themselves. He’s dominated Double-A competition as a 20-year-old. (Today is his 21st birthday!) His slider is one of the most effective breaking pitches in the minors, in part due to a deceptive delivery. Said deceptiveness could factor into his elevated walk rate, which will be something to watch as he continues to ascend the ladder. He might be the kind of “wild” that plays better in the Majors than the minors (see Camilo Doval as an example). Harrison has a floor as a shutdown reliever, but he should comfortably stick in the rotation.
Ezequiel Tovar, 21, SS, COL (AA)
295 PA, 13 HR, 17 SB, .318/.386/.545
Per Baseball America, Tovar rated as the ninth-best prospect in the Rockies’ system entering this season. Given the general antipathy for Rockies prospects these days, it goes without saying he was unranked on leaguewide Top 100 lists. He’s improved upon a balanced approach as a hitter – both in the types of contact he makes and the directionality of his batted balls. Tovar’s even added a touch of plate discipline. While just about every hitter is better at Coors Field, Tovar is the sort of player who can take maximum advantage of the spacious venue.
Tovar is currently sidelined with a groin injury. He’s now 14th on the Baseball America list and 25th for The Athletic.
Ricky Tiedemann, 19, SP, TOR (AA)
(A+) 37.2 IP, 12.90 K/9, 2.87 BB/9, 2.39 ERA
Tiedemann, soon to turn 20, has pitched at three levels this season for a total of 70.2 innings. He recently debuted at Double-A with three near-flawless innings. Like Tovar, he entered the season as the ninth-ranked prospect in his organization’s system. Now, he’s 31st in the game for Baseball America and 41st for Law. If he maintains his results, he could soon be considered a Top 10 overall prospect. I get the sense publicly available reports haven’t yet caught up with Tiedemann. They certainly don’t match his results. There are references to below average command and a mix of three “above-average” offerings. If the command is truly minus and he doesn’t have at least one double-plus pitch, I would expect higher ERAs. Either he’s filling the zone with hittable pitches and getting away with it, or his stuff dominates in-zone, OR his command isn’t actually minus. A fourth alternative – he’s been a little lucky over some small samples.
In any event, Tiedemann’s rise is rapid. It’s telling that he wasn’t traded at the deadline.
Five More
Gunnar Henderson, BAL (21): Henderson has already been covered ad nauseum in this column. He’s the number one prospect per Baseball America. Law rates him as second best. While this is technically his age 21 season, his June 29 birthday means he’s a young 21. His advanced feel for hitting is all the more impressive.
Corbin Carroll, ARI (21): Carroll too has seen plenty of favorable words on these pages. He’s Law’s top prospect and ranks fifth for the BA staff. An interesting juxtaposition with Henderson, Carroll is an old 21-year-old. He’ll turn 22 in a little over a week. Of course, without the lost COVID year and a lengthy injury in 2021, Carroll would probably be in the Majors right now.
Noelvi Marte, CIN (20): I’ve had some interesting behind-the-scenes conversations about Marte. Earlier in the season, a source suggested to me that Marte might be overrated because he punished less physically developed opponents. The implication was that he might cool against more advanced competition. After relaying this detail, I received pushback from a separate source disputing that notion. This is what analysts mean when they say a prospect is contentious. In any event, Marte held serve on Law’s list, checking in at 12th. Baseball America places him 35th – a slight improvement over their last update. Since joining the Reds’ High-A affiliate, he’s batting .229/.282/.429 with two home runs and a steal in 39 plate appearances.
Evan Carter, TEX (19): Carter was making headway towards Top 100 lists in early 2021 before a season-ending injury left him stranded with just 146 plate appearances. He ascended to High-A this season and has hit like a champ; .285/.376/.484 with 10 home runs and 22 steals in 395 plate appearances. He has plate discipline and an advanced feel for contact. This is the starter kit for a polished and highly valuable hitter, non-superstar division. BA has him 43rd.
Josh Jung, TEX, (24): This last one isn’t about the rankings (roughly 50th on both lists). Jung is back in action, demonstrating power and discipline over 44 rehab plate appearances. He has three games in Triple-A and could soon reach the Majors. Remember, he was a candidate to make the Rangers out of Spring Training. While they could play service shenanigans to gain control of his age-31 season, it might behoove the club more to get his feet wet.
Editor’s Note: this post was inadvertently published under Steve Adams’ byline at first. Apologies to Brad.
