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Cardinals Place Jordan Hicks On IL With Forearm Strain

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Cardinals righty Jordan Hicks tells reporters, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that he is going on the injured list with a forearm strain. Shortly after Hicks made that announcement, the club announced a batch of roster moves, with catcher Yadier Molina being activated from the bereavement list. Righties Kodi Whitley and Jake Woodford were recalled. To make room for those three on the active roster, Hicks was placed on the IL, while righty Junior Fernandez and catcher Ivan Herrera were optioned to Triple-A.

More to come.

Guardians Designate Yu Chang, Select Oscar Gonzalez

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The Guardians announced a flurry of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with left-hander Konnor Pilkington and outfielder Richie Palacios being recalled to the active roster. Outfielder Oscar Gonzalez has also had his contract selected, with Yu Chang being designated for assignment to make room for him on both the active and 40-man rosters. To clear space on the active roster for Pilkington and Palacios, Franmil Reyes has been placed on the injured list alongside Aaron Civale, whose IL placement has already been reported. Right hamstring tightness is the diagnosis for Reyes, per Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal.

More to come.

Royals Place Amir Garrett, Kyle Isbel On Injured List

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The Royals announced a series of roster moves today, with left-handed pitcher Amir Garrett and outfielder Kyle Isbel both going on the injured list. No designation was given for their IL placement, which suggests they are going on the COVID-related injured list. Right-hander Dylan Coleman has been recalled to take one of the spots on the active roster, with outfielder Brewer Hicklen’s contract being selected for the other.

After previously spending his entire career with the Reds, Garrett was sent to KC in a March trade and has thrown 13 2/3 innings for his new team with a 4.61 ERA. It’s been a strange campaign for the southpaw so far, as his 29.1% strikeout rate is fairly similar to last year’s mark, but his walk rate has shot up to 20%. That’s much higher than his 13.5% mark last year, which was already above league average. He’s been able to limit the damage due to not allowing a homer yet on the year and also having an unsustainable .148 BABIP. With Garrett out, Gabe Speier is now the only lefty in the team’s bullpen.

More to come.

Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract

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The Yankees announced they’ve signed Matt Carpenter to a big league contract. The veteran infielder had been granted his release from a minor league deal with the Rangers a week ago. Carpenter is a client of SSG Baseball.

New York also announced they’ve selected left-hander Manny Bañuelos onto the big league roster. The Yankees had optioned outfielder Estevan Florial and left-hander JP Sears to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to clear two active roster spots last night.

Carpenter was one of the game’s best hitters for a good portion of his tenure with the Cardinals. He posted above-average offensive numbers each season from 2012-18, earning a trio of All-Star selections along the way. He earned a Silver Slugger award in 2013 and twice finished in the top ten of NL MVP balloting. As recently as 2018, Carpenter had posted an excellent .257/.374/.523 slash line with 36 home runs.

Things have gone sharply downhill over the past few years, however. As he hit his mid-30’s, the left-handed hitter experienced a dramatic decline. Going back to the start of the 2019 season, Carpenter owns just a .203/.325/.346 mark in a bit more than 900 plate appearances. He’s continued to draw walks at a robust 13.3% clip, but that’s essentially been the only positive in his offensive game. He’s fanned in 27.9% of his plate appearances, posted a below-average .143 ISO (slugging minus batting average) and hit only .270 on balls in play.

St. Louis bought Carpenter out at the end of last season, and he was limited to minor league offers over the winter. The 36-year-old was forthright about the necessity of reinventing himself at the plate, and he chronicled some changes he’d made with Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic in February. The former TCU star signed a non-roster pact with the Rangers shortly after the lockout, and he’s shown some signs of a turnaround.

Through 21 games with Triple-A Round Rock, Carpenter put up a .275/.379/.613 showing. He hit six homers while continuing to draw plenty of free passes. Perhaps most encouragingly, he trimmed his strikeout rate to a lower than average 21.1%. Texas didn’t feel he had a path to playing time on the big league club, but the Yankees will give him the opportunity to try to carry over his strong work in the minors against MLB pitching.

Carpenter started exclusively at first base for Round Rock, but he has plenty of experience both at second and third base in the majors. He figures to see some time at all three spots in the Bronx, offering manager Aaron Boone a left-handed bat off the bench. The Yankees have Anthony Rizzo at first base, but right-handed hitters Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson seeing action at the other positions.

LeMahieu hasn’t played in a couple days due to some left wrist discomfort, and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton hit the injured list last night with ankle inflammation. Carpenter doesn’t have the defensive versatility of utilityman Marwin González, but he could offer a bit more punch at the plate. New York deployed Rougned Odor in a similar role last season.

As for Bañuelos, he’s back in the big leagues for the first time since 2019. The 31-year-old is set to make his first appearance in pinstripes, a debut many fans anticipated a decade ago when the southpaw was ranked among the Yankees’ top prospects. Unfortunately, he experienced some injury trouble on his way up the minor league ladder, and the Yankees dealt him to the Braves in advance of the 2015 season. Bañuelos made seven appearances with Atlanta as a rookie, then didn’t pitch in MLB again until a 16-game stint with the 2019 White Sox.

Between those two seasons, the Mexico native tossed 77 innings of 6.31 ERA ball. He spent a couple years out of affiliated ball, including a stint in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. Bañuelos returned stateside on a minor league deal with his original organization over the winter, and he’s earned his way back with a strong start in Scranton.

Over seven appearances (five starts) for the RailRiders, Bañuelos has a 2.35 ERA through 30 2/3 innings. He’s posted roughly average strikeout, walk and ground-ball marks and will presumably add a multi-inning arm to a bullpen mix that has lost Chad Green, Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman to injury recently.

The Yankees had two vacancies on their 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary at the moment. Donaldson will require a 40-man spot whenever he’s ready to return from the COVID-19 injured list, however. Rob Brantly, recently designated for assignment, has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A. The veteran has the right to refuse the assignment in favor of free agency, having been outrighted in the past.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Royals Sign Jose Briceno To Minor League Deal

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The Royals agreed to a minor league contract with catcher José Briceño, according to an announcement from the Atlantic League. The 29-year-old was assigned to Triple-A Omaha, where he made his team debut yesterday.

Briceño has spent more than a decade in pro ball since signing with the Rockies as an amateur out of Venezuela back in 2009. He was involved in a pair of trades as a prospect — first going from Colorado to the Braves for David Hale, then joining Andrelton Simmons in heading to the Angels for Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis — before reaching the big leagues in 2018. Briceño picked up his most MLB experience that season, posting a .239/.299/.385 line in 128 plate appearances with the Halos.

Los Angeles released Briceño in 2019 but brought him back on a minor league deal. He appeared in two games for the big league club in 2020 but was outrighted back off the roster at the end of the season. He returned to his original organization last winter, signing a non-roster deal with Colorado. The Rox cut him loose after he scuffled to a .218/.261/.436 line in 33 games despite playing in one of pro ball’s most hitter-friendly environments in Albuquerque.

After being let go by Colorado, Briceño signed with the Atlantic League’s Lexington Legends. He mashed at a .333/.396/.680 clip there last summer, and while he’s been off to a slow start offensively this season, the Royals will add him to the organizational catching corps. Salvador Pérez and Cam Gallagher are both on the injured list, leaving MJ Melendez and Sebastian Rivero as the only two healthy backstops on the 40-man roster. That duo is in the majors, so Kansas City was in position to add some experienced upper minors depth behind the plate.

Marlins Acquire Luke Williams From Giants

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The Marlins announced they’ve acquired utilityman Luke Williams from the Giants for minor league infielder Hayden Cantrelle. San Francisco had designated Williams for assignment last week.

Williams returns to the NL East, where he began his career as a third-round pick of the Phillies. He reached the majors for the first time last season, getting into 58 games and hitting .245/.315/.316. Williams showed solid plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills, but he collected just five extra-base hits in 108 plate appearances. It was a similar story at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he posted a .270/.329/.341 line through 143 trips to the dish.

The Phils designated Williams for assignment in Spring Training, and the Giants brought him in for minor league third baseman Will Toffey. His stint in the Bay Area was brief, as the 25-year-old got into just eight MLB games and made ten appearances with their top affiliate in Sacramento. The Giants later acquired a pair of infielders — Kevin Padlo and Donovan Walton — from the Mariners, and they’d seemingly surpassed Williams on the depth chart.

Miami picks up a versatile infield option for manager Don Mattingly. Williams has played all over the diamond in the minor leagues, with the bulk of his action coming at third base. He still has all three option years remaining, so the right-handed hitter can bounce between the majors and Triple-A Jacksonville for the foreseeable future if the Fish keep him on the 40-man roster.

Miami already has a fair bit of infield depth, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Miguel Rojas comprising the everyday middle infield. Offseason trade pickup Joey Wendle has been the primary third baseman, though he’s been on the injured list for two weeks because of a hamstring strain. That’s left Brian Anderson to step back third base from his corner outfield role, although Wendle is currently on a rehab assignment with Low-A Jupiter and should be back before long. Out-of-options utilityman Erik González is on the active roster as a depth player.

Cantrelle, like Williams, spent less than two months with the club that traded him today. The Marlins landed the 23-year-old as one of two players in the Spring Training deal that sent catcher Alex Jackson to Milwaukee. Cantrelle was a fairly recent fifth-round pick of the Brew Crew. A good runner who’s primarily a second baseman, he has struggled offensively during his pro career. Cantrelle is hitting .185/.312/.337 through 110 plate appearances with Double-A Pensacola. The University of Louisiana product has drawn plenty of walks in the minors, but he’s also struggled quite a bit with strikeouts.

Anthony Alford Signs With KBO’s KT Wiz

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Last night, the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced agreement on a contract with outfielder Anthony Alford. It’s a $577K deal for the Jet Sports Management client (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO).

A former third-round pick of the Blue Jays, Alford blossomed into one of the sport’s top outfield prospects in pro ball. The Mississippi native drew plaudits from evaluators for his combination of power and athleticism, and he posted excellent numbers during his time in the low minors. Alford appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects each year from 2016-18 and reached the big leagues in 2017, but he never carved out a permanent role.

Injuries played a significant part in that, as Alford has spent time on the injured list in each of the past six years. A 2017 hamate fracture in his left hand and a fractured right elbow in 2020 have proven the most significant maladies, but he has also had IL stints for hamstring and back issues. When healthy, he’s struggled to make contact against higher-level arms.

Alford has tallied 240 MLB plate appearances between the Jays and Pirates, hitting .209/.275/.368 with a 37.9% strikeout rate. He has popped eight home runs and swiped 11 bases in that limited time, flashing the kind of power-speed impact that had garnered attention. Yet his swing-and-miss concerns have led the Pirates to outright him off their 40-man roster in each of the past two seasons.

Following his most recent outright, Alford elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Guardians. He appeared in eight games with their top affiliate in Columbus but has been granted his release to pursue the opportunity with the Wiz. He’ll presumably lock in a loftier salary for the remainder of the season than he’d been receiving in Columbus. Still just 27 years old (28 in July), Alford would no doubt draw interest from affiliated teams down the line if he stays healthy and performs well.

The defending KBO champions, the Wiz have started this season just 20-25. They’ve now signed a pair of former major leaguers during the season in an effort to change their fortunes, adding Alford a week after landing left-hander Wes Benjamin.

KBO teams are limited to carrying three foreign-born players on their roster, so the Wiz released former Diamondbacks outfielder Henry Ramos in a corresponding move. Ramos, who played in 18 games with Arizona last season, hit .250/.304/.417 across 80 plate appearances with the Wiz. Kurtz notes that he hasn’t played since late April after fracturing a toe on his right foot.

Yankees Place Giancarlo Stanton On Injured List

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9:30pm: While the team announced Stanton’s injury as a calf strain, Boone told reporters tonight that the former NL MVP is actually dealing with ankle inflammation (via Lindsey Adler of the Athletic). The hope is that Stanton can return after a minimal IL stay.

5:47pm: The Yankees announced a series of moves before tonight’s matchup with the Orioles. Most notably, designated hitter/right fielder Giancarlo Stanton is headed to the 10-day injured list because of a right calf strain. New York also placed reliever Jonathan Loáisiga on the 15-day IL and designated catcher Rob Brantly for assignment. In corresponding moves, the Yankees welcomed Joey Gallo back from the COVID-19 injured list. They also recalled relievers JP Sears and David McKay from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Stanton has been one of the best hitters for the AL-leading Yankees. He’s mashing at a .285/.339/.523 clip, and his 11 home runs tie him for fifth in MLB. The big slugger has a personal-low 8.3% walk rate, but he’s doing more than enough damage on contact to offset the corresponding drop in his on-base percentage. Stanton has been an instrumental piece of a lineup that has been among the league’s best. Aaron Judge is playing at an MVP-type pace through the season’s first month and a half, with Stanton and Anthony Rizzo also offering middle-of-the-order caliber production.

Unfortunately, Stanton is also no stranger to the injured list. He’s landed on the IL because of leg issues in each of the past four years. Stanton missed a significant chunk of the 2019 campaign because of a right knee sprain, then lost more than half of the shortened 2020 season with a left hamstring strain. The 32-year-old had a more minor IL stint due to a left quad strain last year, and he’ll obviously miss some time with his current malady. A timetable remains unclear, but manager Aaron Boone informed reporters last night (via Joel Sherman of the New York Post) that he was headed for an MRI after leaving yesterday’s game with calf tightness.

The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries in recent days. New York lost pitchers Chad Green and Luis Gil to Tommy John procedures over the weekend. Closer Aroldis Chapman hit the IL with Achilles tendinitis yesterday, and Boone told reporters this afternoon that Loáisiga was going on the IL with shoulder discomfort. The team’s official diagnosis for Loáisiga is shoulder inflammation.

New York welcomes Gallo back to the lineup a few days after he landed on the virus list. The power-hitting outfielder hit the IL on Sunday as part of a trio of Yankees suffering flu-like symptoms, but he and Kyle Higashioka have returned quickly. Gallo is capable of suiting up in either corner outfield spot but is struggling this season, owning just a .176/.294/.333 line through 119 plate appearances.

Brantly was selected onto the 40-man roster once Higashioka went out to offer some catching depth behind Jose Trevino. With Higahioka now back, Brantly loses his roster spot after appearing in one game. The 32-year-old has seen brief action at the big league level in each of the last four years, but he’s not tallied more than 40 MLB plate appearances in a season since 2013. He’ll have the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Cubs Outright Ildemaro Vargas

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Cubs infielder Ildemaro Vargas has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Iowa, the team informed reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). Chicago had designated the utilityman for assignment over the weekend.

Vargas signed a minor league deal with the Cubs over the winter. He opened the season in Iowa, hitting .279/.321/.413 through 25 games. Vargas didn’t walk much or hit for a ton of extra-base power, but he only punched out in 10.7% of his plate appearances. That earned him a big league call a couple weeks ago after Nick Madrigal was placed on the injured list. That marked Vargas’ sixth straight season logging some MLB time, although it proved another fairly short stint.

The switch-hitting infielder tallied 211 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2019, but he’s otherwise tallied fewer than 100 trips to the dish in every season. He hit 26 times during his recent ten-game stint with the Cubs, drawing three walks against two strikeouts but collecting just one hit.

Vargas has been outrighted before in his career, so he has the right to refuse the assignment to Iowa in favor of minor league free agency. Should he choose to remain in the organization, he’d try to play his way back onto a big league roster that has welcomed back Andrelton Simmons and Nico Hoerner from the injured list within the past two weeks.

Mets Acquire Daniel Johnson From Guardians

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The Guardians announced that outfielder Daniel Johnson has been dealt to the Mets for cash considerations.  Johnson will be assigned to Triple-A Syracuse.

A fifth-round pick for the Nationals in the 2016 draft, Johnson was acquired as part of the Yan Gomes trade in 2018, and it seemed like Cleveland might have gotten a steal.  Johnson hit a combined .290/.361/.507 with 19 homers over 547 plate appearances with Double-A Akron (167 PA) and Triple-A Columbus (380 PA) in 2019, putting him on the radar to win a job with a team in constant need of outfield help.

However, over 35 games with the Guardians in 2020-21, Johnson has hit only .202/.245/.337 over his 94 career plate appearances in the majors.  While not a huge sample size, the Guards appeared ready to move on from Johnson after the season, as he was designated for assignment and then outrighted off the 40-man roster back in November.

Johnson’s Triple-A numbers came back to earth in 2021, and he has full-on struggled this year, batting .217/.217/.337 in 69 PA with Triple-A Columbus this season.  He’ll now head to the Mets organization for a fresh start, and he’ll provide New York with some depth at all three outfield positions.  Johnson’s defense has been well-regarded, and he possesses a strong throwing arm that makes him ideal for right field in particular.

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