Blue Jays, Vinny Nittoli Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are signing reliever Vinny Nittoli to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The 31-year-old recently opted out of a similar arrangement with the division-rival Yankees.
A former 25h-round pick, Nittoli has spent the bulk of his career in the Mariners organization. He reached the big leagues with Seattle last year, getting the briefest cup of coffee with one inning of relief in his only appearance. The M’s outrighted him off their 40-man roster and later released him, and he caught on with the Twins for the stretch run. That agreement with Minnesota didn’t result in a big league look, and Nittoli returned to the open market as a minor league free agent, where he caught on with New York.
Assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the entirety of the 2022 campaign, the right-hander worked 36 2/3 innings across 22 appearances. He posted a 3.44 ERA, punching out a strong 29.9% of batters faced against a fine 8.8% walk rate. He’ll add some non-roster depth behind a Toronto relief corps that ranks 21st in MLB with a 4.11 ERA.
Sergio Romo Elects Free Agency
Veteran right-hander Sergio Romo went unclaimed on waivers following his recent DFA and has elected free agency, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Blue Jays had designated Romo for assignment this past weekend.
Romo’s time with the Jays proved to be brief. Signed to a big league deal after being designated for assignment and released by the Mariners, he appeared in six games with Toronto and allowed a pair of earned runs on one hit and two walks with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. That lone hit was a home run, continuing an alarming spike in home-run rate that dates back to his time in Seattle earlier this season.
The 39-year-old Romo signed a one-year, $2MM deal with the Mariners late in the offseason, after Seattle found out that right-hander Casey Sadler would miss the season due to shoulder surgery. He didn’t find his footing in either locale this year, however, evidenced by a 7.50 ERA and whopping seven long balls in just 18 innings of work.
Romo isn’t far removed from a solid 2019-20 run with the Marlins and Twins, when he pitched to a combined 3.59 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and a 7.1% walk rate. However, his strikeout rate dipped a bit last season during a pedestrian year with the A’s, and he’s whiffed a career-worst 17.7% of his opponents so far in 2022. Romo has been a soft-tosser for his whole career and had success averaging just 86.5 mph on his “fastball” from 2016-20, but this season’s 85.2 mph average, like his strikeout rate, is a career-low.
Michael Conforto Drawing Post-Draft Interest
On MLBTR’s list of top 50 free agents for this past offseason, 49 of them eventually reached deals, with outfielder Michael Conforto being the lone exception. It was later revealed that the reason he hadn’t signed was that he suffered a shoulder injury during the lockout, which would eventually require season-ending surgery.
Conforto’s agent, Scott Boras, later walked that “season-ending” descriptor back in May, saying that there was a chance that Conforto could return late in the season. While that opened up the possibility of some team signing an injured Conforto and hoping for him to recuperate ahead of schedule, it was never going to happen prior to the draft since Conforto turned down a qualifying offer from the Mets. Taking a risk on Conforto might have some appeal, but not so much that any team would forfeit a meaningful draft pick for the pleasure.
Now that the draft has been completed, that has become a moot point. Signing Conforto is no longer connected to any kind of forfeiture of draft picks or bonus pool money. Naturally, Conforto is now garnering more interest, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman speaks to Boras, who says that he got four phone calls about Conforto after the draft and that “there is very strong interest by some very good teams.”
When asked to list the teams that were interested, Boras said “They’re all in the United States except one,” hinting that the Blue Jays are one of the teams at the table. The involvement of the Jays isn’t terribly surprising, given that they had previous interest in the offseason as part of their desire to add left-handed hitting. Around the same time that the news of Conforto’s injury came out, the Jays acquired a different lefty bat in Raimel Tapia. Since Tapia has hit .275/.300/.388 this season for a wRC+ of 91, or 9% below league average, it stands to reason that Toronto still thinks they can upgrade in that department.
Of course, even if Conforto is able to return to health before season’s end, it’s fair to wonder which version he will be. After an amazing stretch of play from 2017-2020 wherein he hit .265/.369/.495 for a wRC+ of 133, he followed that up with a down year in 2021. His batting line last year was .232/.344/.384 for a wRC+ of 106, still above average but a far cry from his previous seasons. Given that disappointing season, followed by shoulder surgery, a lengthy layoff and then a rehab process of some kind, it’s hard to know how effective he can be in the coming months.
Of course, from Conforto’s perspective, he’d surely love the ability to get back on the field and show some signs of life before the offseason. As a free agent marketing himself to teams for the 2023 season, there would be a big difference between getting healthy in December and holding a showcase versus playing in real games, even if it’s only a handful.
Signing an injured player comes with risks but is not unprecedented. For instance, in August of last year, the Dodgers signed Cole Hamels for $1MM plus incentives as he was working his way back from various injuries. In that case, it didn’t work out, as Hamels was shut down for the season just two weeks later. With less than two weeks to go until the trade deadline, any team looking for an extra bat that comes up short could turn to Conforto as a risky fallback option.
Blue Jays Acquire Foster Griffin From Royals For Jonatan Bernal
The Blue Jays and Royals have agreed to a trade this morning, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter). Toronto will send right-hander Jonatan Bernal to the Royals for southpaw Foster Griffin.
The Blue Jays have sent Griffin to Triple-A. The southpaw made five appearances in the bigs with the Royals, yielding six earned runs across 4 1/3 innings. He has a 1.93 ERA across 28 innings in Triple-A, however.
The Blue Jays also recalled Jeremy Beasley from Triple-A and designated veteran Sergio Romo for assignment, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 39-year-old Romo made six appearances with the Jays after being cut loose by the Mariners. He fared better in Toronto, though the underlying metrics tell a fairly similar tale. Beasley, 26, has made six appearances for the Bue Jays totaling 10 innings of work with a 6.30 ERA.
For the Royals, this is a sort of paying-it-forward deal, where they pick up a younger arm in Bernal in exchange for a near-ML-ready arm in Griffin. Bernal, 20, has a 5.47 ERA across 52 2/3 innings in Single-A this season, where he is a couple of years younger than the average player.
Blue Jays Fire Charlie Montoyo
The Blue Jays have fired manager Charlie Montoyo, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The decision comes barely three months after Montoyo signed a one-year extension that ran through the end of the 2023 season.
The Blue Jays have announced the move via press release. Montoyo has been “relieved of his duties as manager” (i.e. fired) in favor of bench coach John Schneider, who’ll assume the position on an interim basis through the end of the 2022 season. Triple-A manager Casey Candaele is joining the Major League staff as an interim bench coach as well.
It’s rare to see a team that’s four games over .500 and in possession of a Wild Card spot oust its skipper, but Montoyo’s Jays are in the midst of a dreadful stretch that has seen them drop nine of their past 11 games. That includes a sweep at the hands of a red-hot Mariners club that used a series of four straight wins over Toronto to pull itself back to within a half game of the very Wild Card spot to which the recently floundering Blue Jays are clinging. ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that “questions in the clubhouse about leadership” also contributed to Montoyo’s dismissal (Twitter link).
It’s been an unexpectedly mediocre season for the Blue Jays on the whole. While their lineup has been well above-average overall — Toronto hitters are batting .259/.321/.435, good for a fifth-ranked 111 wRC+ — that masks a dismal stretch in the middle of the season where the Jays were one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league for a few weeks. Even with those solid rate stats, Toronto sits just 11th in total runs scored (401), and their offense has not been the juggernaut unit that most expected.
Each of Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have been better than the average hitter but shy of their recent levels of production (Bichette in particular). Offseason acquisition Matt Chapman has been better than he was in his past couple seasons with Oakland but has yet to rebound to the form he showed prior to 2020 hip surgery.
There have been similarly unexpected troubles on the pitching staff, with Jose Berrios‘ unexpected decline chief among them. The longtime Twins top starter and prized 2021 deadline acquisition for the Jays signed a seven-year contract extension in the offseason and has immediately followed up with far and away his worst performance since his rookie season.
Berrios was the picture of consistency for the Twins from 2017-21 and pitched like his typically strong self down the stretch with Toronto following last July’s trade. However, he’s stumbled through the 2022 season with a 5.38 ERA and career-low 20.7% strikeout rate through 95 1/3 frames. His rotationmate, offseason free-agent signing Yusei Kikuchi, has had similar struggles in the first season of a three-year deal. Hyun Jin Ryu was lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Injuries have prevented Nate Pearson from taking the mound.
Of course, those shortcomings certainly don’t fall squarely on Montoyo’s shoulders, but he’ll be the one to bear the blame for the struggles of those expected contributors and the team’s recent spate of often close losses. He becomes the third manager to be dismissed this season alone, as both Joe Girardi (Phillies) and Joe Maddon (Angels) were fired earlier in the year.
At least in terms of win-loss record, Montoyo will go down as one of the more successful managers fired in recent memory. Despite taking over in the late stages of a rebuild in 2019, he guided the Jays to an even 236-236 record in his three-plus seasons on the job. Prior to his time with the Jays, the bilingual Montoyo was one of the most successful minor league managers in Rays franchise history, and he also spent four seasons as bench coach in Tampa Bay. Given that history and track record, it stands to reason that he could find himself in the running for some offseason coaching and/or managerial searches — if his desire is to get right back into a dugout, of course.
Royals To Place Andrew Benintendi, Nine Others On Restricted List
The Royals are traveling to Toronto tomorrow to begin a series against the Blue Jays but will be without a significant portion of their regular roster. The team announced to reporters, including Alec Lewis of The Athletic, that ten players will be placed on the restricted list. Since unvaccinated travelers are not allowed to cross the Canada-U.S. border, it’s become common for teams to place a handful of players on the restricted list before playing in Toronto. However, the quantity and quality of the Royals players included is noteworthy. The full list of names: Andrew Benintendi, Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, MJ Melendez, Brady Singer, Brad Keller, Kyle Isbel, Michael A. Taylor and Dylan Coleman.
Benintendi is one of the top trade chips this year, as he’s an impending free agent having a good season for a noncompetitive team. He landed the #2 slot on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates, trailing only Willson Contreras. Benintendi is walking in 10.2% of his plate appearances while striking out just 14% of the time and hitting .317/.386/.401 on the year. That amounts to a wRC+ of 127, or 27% above league average. With the Royals currently 35-53, a record worse than all American League teams except for the A’s, they stand out as obvious deadline sellers.
Two weeks ago, it was reported that the Blue Jays were among the teams interested in acquiring Benintendi, which was a fairly logical match. Benintendi bats from the left side, whereas the Blue Jays have a right-handed heavy lineup. They acquired outfielder Raimel Tapia from the Rockies in an offseason trade as a way to try to balance things out. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .263/.289/.375 for an 84 wRC+ this year. Swapping Benintendi into Tapia’s role as part of an outfield/DH mix with George Springer, Teoscar Hernández and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would have been a straightforward upgrade. However, this news would seem to more or less eliminate the chances of such a deal coming together since Benintendi would only be available to the Blue Jays for road games.
In the short term, the Royals will have to find replacements for these players in order get through the upcoming four-game series against the Blue Jays, which starts tomorrow. The corresponding moves are not known at this time.
Injured List Transactions: Sale, Jansen, Garver
The Red Sox reinstated Chris Sale to make his season debut tonight against the Rays, as had been reported last week. The veteran southpaw missed the first few months of the year after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his rib during Spring Training. It’s the third straight injury-impacted season for Sale, who missed all of 2020 and the bulk of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery. His return is a necessary welcome development for a Boston club that has five starting pitching options (Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, Garrett Whitlock and Connor Seabold) on the 15-day injured list at the moment.
Boston optioned rookie right-hander Brayan Bello to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding active roster move. The 23-year-old, who’s one of the best pitching prospects in the organization, was promoted last week and made his first two big league starts. Bello surrendered nine runs with seven strikeouts and six walks in eight innings, however, so the club will send him back to the minors for a bit. A 40-man roster vacancy for Sale was created yesterday when catcher Kevin Plawecki landed on the COVID-19 injured list, but Boston will need to make another move in that regard once Plawecki is cleared to return.
Updates on a pair of other notable injury moves:
- The Blue Jays welcomed back catcher Danny Jansen from the 10-day injured list, installing him right into tonight’s starting lineup against the Phillies. The 27-year-old missed a month after fracturing a finger on his left hand, his second notable injury of the season. That and an April oblique strain have limited Jansen to just 19 games thus far, but he’s blasted seven home runs in limited action. In a corresponding active roster move, top prospect Gabriel Moreno was optioned back to Triple-A Buffalo. A consensus top prospect, Moreno was promoted for his MLB debut shortly after Jansen went down. The 22-year-old only collected one extra-base hit (a double) in his first 60 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, though. With Jansen back and the Jays firmly in win-now mode, they’ll turn back to the veteran while giving Moreno regular reps in Triple-A. Across 36 games with the Bisons, Moreno is hitting .324/.380/.404.
- Last night, the Rangers transferred catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. That’s not a surprise, as he’ll miss the rest of the season after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair the injured flexor tendon in his forearm. The move freed a spot on Texas’ 40-man roster, which Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggests (on Twitter) is likely to go to reliever Jonathan Hernández. The right-hander hasn’t pitched in the majors since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2021, but he’s been on a rehab stint at Triple-A Round Rock for the past month and a half. Grant notes that his allotted rehab window wraps up tomorrow, meaning he’ll have to be reinstated from the 60-day IL or shut down from his rehab entirely. The former seems likelier, as manager Chris Woodward suggested Hernández should be back with the big league club soon.
East Notes: Castillo, Jays, Orioles, Marte, Kiermaier, Nationals
Luis Castillo was a Blue Jays trade target last winter, and unsurprisingly, Toronto continues to have interest in Castillo’s services, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Though Castillo missed the first month of the season due to shoulder soreness, he has been in strong form with a 2.92 ERA over 71 innings, even if his Statcast numbers aren’t quite as reflective of top-notch performance. Castillo’s walk rate and hard-contact numbers are only okay, though his strikeout rate (25.3%) is well above league average and he still has elite fastball velocity.
The Reds right-hander is one of the very best players (let alone pitchers) expected to be available as the deadline approaches, making him a natural fit for a Toronto club in sore need of pitching upgrades. Between Hyun Jin Ryu‘s Tommy John surgery and underwhelming performances from Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi, the faulty rotation has been the chief reason for the Jays’ struggles in the last month, which is why Nightengale writes that the Blue Jays “are expected to be the most aggressive team pursuing starting pitching help.” Last summer’s trade for Berrios is an example of how the Toronto front office hasn’t been hesitant to pay a big price for a player they want and need, though the Blue Jays will face plenty of competition for Castillo’s services.
More from both the AL East and NL East…
- Also from Nightengale, the Orioles‘ surprisingly strong play seemingly hasn’t changed the club’s long-term plans, as Baltimore is “expected to unload” several notable veterans. The list of names includes both impending free agents like Trey Mancini, Rougned Odor, and Jordan Lyles, plus more controllable players like Anthony Santander and All-Star closer Jorge Lopez. It’s safe to assume that the price tag will be a lot higher for Lopez and Santander than the others, but regardless, the O’s likely aren’t going to change course and start thinking about a playoff push.
- Starling Marte left Saturday’s game due to a groin injury, and Marte wasn’t in the Mets lineup on Sunday. However, Marte is only day-to-day, as manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) that an MRI revealed only minor inflammation and no serious damage. Marte has been a big contributor in his first year in New York, and his first-half performance earned him a slot on the NL All-Star team earlier today. With this groin injury lingering, however, Marte might opt to skip the game to rest up over the break.
- Kevin Kiermaier was placed on the 10-day injured list earlier today, marking the second time this month that a nagging hip injury has put the Rays outfielder on the shelf. Kiermaier told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that he received a cortisone shot during his first IL stint, but now that the issue has returned, he’ll be visiting a specialist to further explore the injury. “There’s just a lot of unknowns right now with what’s to come….I don’t really know what the future holds, to be quite honest,” Kiermaier said, noting that surgery was a possibility. A major procedure could quite possibly end Kiermaier’s season, and thus maybe his tenure with the Rays altogether, as 2022 is the final guaranteed year of his contract. Kiermaier has spent all 13 of his pro seasons in the Tampa organization, though that tenure has involved several injury absences.
- There hasn’t been much public information revealed about the Nationals‘ possible sale, but billionaire Michael B. Kim is the first name linked to the list of potential buyers, according to Barry Svrluga and Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post. Kim and another bidding group have met in person with team officials already, and a third group is also slated for in-person meetings later in July. Though there seems to be an increasing feeling that the Lerner family will indeed sell the Nationals, it is still early in the process, since “as many as five or six individuals or groups are expected to meet with club officials.”
AL Notes: Gausman, Forst, Athletics, Olson, Refsnyder
Kevin Gausman won’t start tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, as the Blue Jays righty is still recovering from a bone bruise on his right ankle. Gausman hasn’t pitched since suffering the injury on July 2, but Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters that the team is hoping Gausman can return to the mound on Tuesday when the Blue Jays host the Phillies.
Toronto’s struggling rotation hasn’t been helped by Gausman’s absence, as the Jays’ lack of depth was already being stretched by a recent doubleheader against the Rays, and Ross Stripling‘s move to the rotation to replace the injured Hyun Jin Ryu. Since June 14, the Blue Jays have a 9-16 record, and their pitchers have a cumulative 5.49 ERA — the second-highest total of any team in baseball in that stretch. Rotation help certainly seems like the Jays’ top priority heading into the trade deadline, but in the short term, the club is just trying to hang onto its status as a wild card team.
More from around the American League…
- In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard, A’s general manager David Forst discussed his team’s struggles, the young talent on the roster and in the farm system, the pitching development team, and many other topics. Forst also noted how the continued uncertainty over the Athletics‘ future in Oakland impacts long-term planning, saying “this is sort of almost cliché at this point, but it’s hard, without a ballpark direction and timeline, to really make a plan on what the next few years look like. Even internally, it’s hard to know what the team will look like the next couple of years.”
- Forst also talked some trade possibilities both in the future and in the past, noting that of all the Athletics‘ moves during the winter, the deal that sent Matt Olson to the Braves “was the one that we had most discussed prior to the lockout.” Most of the other notable deals were largely negotiated post-lockout, however, leaving the A’s with little time to both remake their roster and bring in new talent. “That’s why I sort of say there weren’t enough days to make those deals — which again, we knew we were gonna have to do — and also find ways…to get the current team to the level that we’ve sort of become accustomed to,” Forst said. No such time crunch exists with the upcoming trade deadline, and to that end, Forst (unsurprisingly) said “there’s no panic” about moving Frankie Montas prior to August 2. “We didn’t trade him in Spring Training because there wasn’t a trade that made sense for us. That will continue to be the case. Whether it’s at the deadline or next offseason or whatever, there’s not a feeling at all that in the next 30 days we have to trade Frankie Montas.”
- Rob Refsnyder has been an unexpected hero for the Red Sox, posting a .931 OPS over 69 plate appearances since Boston selected his contract on June 10. Refsnyder inked a minor league deal with the Sox just prior to the lockout, and he also drew interest from the Yankees during the offseason, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). It would’ve been something of a reunion for Refsnyder in the Bronx, as he was a fifth-round draft pick for the Yankees back in 2012, and he was a well-regarded prospect during his time in New York’s farm system. However, Refsnyder didn’t hit much in limited playing time in 2015-17, and a trade to the Blue Jays in 2017 kicked off a journeyman stretch for the utilityman — the Red Sox are the ninth different organization of Refsnyder’s career.
Injury Notes: Kikuchi, Soroka, Peralta, Segura
The Blue Jays placed struggling starter Yusei Kikuchi on the 15-day injured list last night due to a neck strain. The team didn’t provide any specifics on a timetable for his return, but he’ll be out of action at least through the All-Star Break.
Kikuchi may have been in danger of ceding his rotation spot anyhow, as manager Charlie Montoyo implied before his IL placement the club could move him to the bullpen in lieu of his next scheduled start (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). That’s reflective of how poorly the southpaw has pitched of late, as he’s been tagged for a 7.99 ERA in seven starts since the calendar turned to June. That brought his season line up to a 5.12 ERA, on track for his third 5.00+ mark in his four MLB seasons. He’s dominated same-handed batters but been tattooed for a .270/.397/.526 clip against righties, a trend he also showed throughout his three seasons with the Mariners.
With Kikuchi’s underperformance and the loss of Hyun-jin Ryu to Tommy John surgery, the Jays are widely expected to prioritize starting pitching help over the coming weeks. Toronto has gotten generally excellent work from Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah, while swingman Ross Stripling has stepped in well at the back end. José Berríos is amidst a career-worst season, however, and Nate Pearson won’t resume throwing until the end of the month after suffering a lat strain while building back from a battle with mononucleosis.
In other health situations around the game:
- Mike Soroka has made just three starts since the end of the 2019 season. The Braves right-hander tore his Achilles tendon early in 2020, then unfortunately suffered the same fate a year later. Soroka has been working his way back from that pair of devastating injuries in hopes of a midseason return, but he’s now dealing with another setback. As Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported, the 24-year-old was hit in the knee by a comebacker while throwing live batting practice. Atlanta is calling the injury a bruise and has shut Soroka down for the time being, preferring to make sure his knee is at full strength before he resumes a throwing program. It’s obviously a far more minor concern than either of the Achilles tears have been, but the stroke of poor luck will push back his timeline to begin a minor league rehab assignment by at least a little bit.
- The Tigers lost reliever Wily Peralta to the 15-day injured list earlier this week, as he’s dealing with a strained left hamstring. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that Peralta is expected to miss a fair bit of time. Hinch suggested it was unlikely he’d be back before the end of July, and it seems possible his absence could extend beyond that. Peralta, who returned to the organization on a minor league deal last winter, has tossed 33 1/3 innings through 23 appearances. The righty has a sparkling 2.16 ERA and a solid 48.4% ground-ball rate, but he’s walked 14% of batters faced with a strikeout rate below the league average.
- Jean Segura has been out since the beginning of June. The Phillies second baseman fractured his right index finger on a bunt attempt, an injury that required surgery and came with a 10-12 week recovery estimate. That set his timetable at late August or perhaps into September, but Segura told reporters this week he feels he could beat that initial projection (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). The 32-year-old recently had a trio of pins removed from his finger and is set for further evaluation next week. If that round of testing comes back as hoped, he could be cleared to start throwing and taking swings. Phils second baseman have posted an impressive .268/.339/.429 line since Segura went down, but there’s no question they’d welcome an opportunity to get him back sooner than anticipated and free up some of their utility options for work elsewhere around the infield.