Guardians Select Alex Young, Designate Kirk McCarty For Assignment
The Guardians announced to reporters, including Zack Meisel of The Athletic, a series of roster moves. Right-hander James Karinchak has been recalled to the active roster, while left-hander Alex Young has had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, lefty Anthony Gose was placed on the injured list with a left triceps strain, Anthony Castro was optioned to Triple-A and lefty Kirk McCarty was designated for assignment. (The Guardians had an active roster of 27 for yesterday’s doubleheader but needed to get it back down to 26 today, which explains why they are adding two players to the roster but subtracting three.)
Young was a second-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks in 2015, making his MLB debut with them in 2019. In 83 1/3 innings, he put up an ERA of 3.56, along with a 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate. Things went the wrong direction in subsequent seasons, however, as Young’s ERA jumped up to 5.44 in 2020 and then 6.26 with the DBacks in 2021. He was designated for assignment and claimed by Cleveland last year, putting up a 7.84 ERA with them in 10 1/3 innings after the claim.
In November, the Guardians made a huge roster overhaul prior to the Rule 5 draft, selecting ten players and designating seven for assignment. Young was one of those in the latter group, eventually clearing waivers and staying in the organization. He’s made 27 relief appearances for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers this season and has fared quite well. He has an ERA of 3.14, along with a 37.1% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate. Based on that successful run, he’ll get another crack at the majors.
McCarty, 26, was selected to the big league club in April, making it to the MLB level for the first time. He’s thrown 12 innings in the show, but with an unfortunate ERA of 9.00 in that sample. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, with a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings, but the club has decided to risk losing him. The Guardians are in the midst of a particularly gruelling portion of their schedule, after Friday’s game was rained out, leading to a doubleheader yesterday. Since they also have a doubleheader to play against the Tigers tomorrow, that means they are playing five games in three days, with two more games before the next off-day. Due to the need for fresh arms, it seems the collateral damage is McCarty losing his roster spot. The team will have seven days to trade him or put him through waivers.
Brewers Reinstate Pedro Severino
The Brewers announced that they have reinstated catcher Pedro Severino from the restricted list. To create space on the active roster. Outfielder Tyrone Taylor has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to July 2. The club already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move was required in that regard.
Severino spent the past three years with the Orioles but was non-tendered at the end of last season. The Brewers signed him in November to a one-year, $1.9MM deal, hoping that the right-handed-hitting Severino could form a platoon with the left-handed-hitting Omar Narvaez. However, in early April, Severino was given an 80-game suspension after failing a PED test. Severino didn’t challenge the results, admitting that the presence of Clomiphene in his system was due to fertility treatments he was undergoing in the Dominican Republic.
Knowing that they would be without Severino for an extended stretch, the club bolstered the catching position by trading for Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson. Jackson has been on the shelf for about a month with a sprained finger, but the Brewers still have a three-catcher situation now, with Severino, Caratini and Narvaez. Caratini has stepped up admirably and is hitting .248/.375/.448 this year for a wRC+ of 132. That might make it hard for Severino to force his way back into the mix.
“We’re going to have to be creative a little bit,” manager Craig Counsell told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com about the logjam. “Look, the two guys we’ve got are playing really well. That’s going to factor into it as well.” Severino played a few games at first base during his rehab, but it doesn’t seem like Plan A will involve a lot of time there for him. “I don’t think initially he will be a big option,” Counsell said. “We’ll continue to have him do some work there, and if we get to a situation where we need it, he’ll be a guy with some experience there.”
Due to his suspension, Severino is ineligible to play in the postseason. However, if he plays well for the remainder of the season, he can be retained for next year via arbitration.
Tigers Select Garrett Hill
The Tigers announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Rony Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder soreness, retroactive to June 30. To create space on the 40-man roster, Matt Manning has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Hill, 26, was selected by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. Since then, he’s climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, racking up strikeouts at each level along the way. He started this year at Double-A and made seven starts for the SeaWolves. In that time, he struck out 40.9% of the batters he faced, walking 7.9% of them and getting grounders at a 33.3% clip.
Based on those strong results, he was moved up to Triple-A and made eight starts for the Mud Hens. The higher level of competition naturally resulted in lesser results, though Hill still fared well. His Triple-A ERA is 4.06, along with a 28.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 32.6% ground ball rate. Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the system as part of a recent update. The Tigers’ plan is for Hill to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Guardians, which will be his MLB debut.
Detroit was supposed to have their rotation as a strength this year but have seen a litany of injuries derail that plan. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of the year, joining Spencer Turnbull, who underwent the procedure last year. Matt Manning has only made two starts due to shoulder issues. Eduardo Rodriguez made eight starts before landing on the IL and then the restricted list due to a personal matter. Michael Pineda spent about six weeks on the IL as well, but has since returned. Now Rony Garcia is the latest starter to land on the shelf.
Due to all of that, the Tigers have leaned hard on their starting depth this year, giving MLB debuts to pitchers such as Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Joey Wentz, with Hill now stepping up as the next rookie to get a shot.
The move for Manning is strictly procedural as he’s been on the IL for over 60 days already. He will be eligible to return as soon as his health allows, though he will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster at that time. He is close to starting a rehab assignment but will need some time to build back up into game shape.
Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported Hill’s promotion before the official announcement.
Rays Select Cristofer Ogando
The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Cristofer Ogando and optioned fellow right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. in a corresponding move. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, though Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson are currently on the restricted list due to their unvaccinated status preventing them from traveling to Toronto for this weekend’s series. Javy Guerra was selected to take one of the vacated spots and Ogando will now take the other. Once the team is in Boston for tomorrow’s game, they will have to remove two players from the roster.
Ogando, 28, has taken a long road to the big leagues. He made his debut in affiliated ball back in 2013 as part of the Marlins organization. Just 19 years old at the time, he threw 6 1/3 innings in Rookie ball but then didn’t appear in the affiliated ranks over the next few seasons. He was signed by the Diamondbacks in 2018 and pitched well enough that the Rays selected him in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in December of that year.
He’s been in the Rays organization ever since, climbing his way from A-ball to Triple-A. This year, he’s thrown 32 2/3 innings for the Durham Bulls with a 3.03 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Royals Activate Joel Payamps, Outright Daniel Mengden
The Royals activated right-hander Joel Payamps from the COVID-related injury list today. In the corresponding move, Kansas City outrighted right-hander Daniel Mengden off the 40-man roster and assigned him to Triple-A.
Payamps was placed on the COVID list on June 13, and he returned to the field last week to make a trio of Triple-A outings as part of a rehab assignment. Despite below-average strikeout and walk rates, Payamps has a 2.42 ERA over 26 relief innings for K.C. this season, relying on a 53.7% grounder rate, a lack of hard contact, and zero homers allowed. The righty used a pretty similar recipe for success in 2021, as Payamps posted a 3.40 ERA over 50 1/3 innings with the Blue Jays and Royals in his first full MLB season.
Payamps is only 28 years old but he has 11 years of pro experience, including time in the majors in each of the last four seasons. While not a premium bullpen arm, his numbers could get him some looks from other teams heading into the trade deadline, as the Royals are already known to be open to offers on veteran players.
Mengden signed a minor league deal with Kansas City in March, and in fact got his contract selected to the Show when Payamps was first placed on the COVID-IL. Mengden appeared in four games with the Royals, posting a 2.08 ERA over 4 1/3 innings — this marked his first MLB action since 2020, as Mengden pitched in South Korea last season.
Though the Royals have only deployed Mengden as a reliever to date, he has started 11 of his 12 games for Triple-A Omaha, and has worked as a starter for the bulk of his career in the majors, minors, and the KBO League. Mengden had some solid numbers pitching for the A’s in 2017-18 before control problems hampered him in 2019.
Brewers Activate Aaron Ashby From 15-Day IL
The Brewers reinstated left-hander Aaron Ashby from the 15-day injured list today, as Ashby is slated to start today’s game against the Pirates. Righty Trevor Kelley was optioned to Triple-A to open up a 26-man roster spot.
Following his (retroactive) IL placement on June 17, Ashby ended up missing only a minimal amount of time — a sigh of relief, given that Ashby had been sidelined by forearm inflammation. The injury wasn’t considered to be too serious at the time, and Ashby will indeed make a pretty quick return to help a Milwaukee rotation that has been shorthanded for much of the season. Even with Ashby and (earlier this week) Brandon Woodruff returning, Freddy Peralta is still on the 60-day IL until late July, and Adrian Houser was just placed on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a flexor strain.
Ashby will try to pick up the slack by continuing what has been a pretty solid sophomore year in the big leagues. Beginning the season as a swingman, Ashby’s last five outings were all as a starting pitcher. The left-hander has a 4.25 ERA over 55 total innings, posting a 62.6% grounder rate and an impressive array of Statcast numbers, apart from a 10.7% walk rate that is well below the league average. Control has been something of an issue for Ashby at both the MLB and minor league levels, but his ability to miss bats and generate grounders makes him yet another intriguing product of the Brewers’ pitching development system.
In other Brewers injury news, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Luis Perdomo is “struggling to get going” from an elbow injury that sent him to the IL back in late May. Perdomo underwent a Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2021 season, though Counsell didn’t give any indication that Perdomo’s current issue was also season-threatening, or something that could require another surgical procedure.
Hunter Renfroe will also still miss a bit more time, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes that Renfroe has yet to start running on the field following a calf strain that sent him to the injured list over a week ago. Renfroe’s 10-day minimum IL time expires on Sunday, but the Brewers will continue to be cautious in bringing Renfroe back, for fear of exacerbating the injury. Renfroe had 13 home runs and a .247/.300/.490 slash line over his first 217 plate appearances this season.
Angels To Sign Jonathan Villar
1:50pm: The Angels have officially announced the signing, with catcher Matt Thaiss optioned to Triple-A to create space on the active roster. To create room on the 40-man roster, reliever Archie Bradley was transferred to the 60-day IL. Bradley was recently shut down for at least four weeks with an elbow fracture, after which he’ll need time to get back into game shape. He isn’t likely to return within the next couple of months, making today’s transaction largely a formality.
10:50am: MLBTR has confirmed Villar is in agreement with the club on a major league deal.
8:20am: The Angels are reportedly signing infielder Jonathan Villar, according to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital. The team has not yet confirmed the deal nor announced any corresponding moves. The club’s 40-man roster is presently full, meaning someone will have to be subtracted in order to make room for his addition. Villar is a client of ACES.
Signed by the Cubs in the offseason to a one-year, $6MM deal, Villar has struggled this year to the point that Chicago designated him for assignment and released him last week. With around $3.4MM left to be paid out, the Cubs will be on the hook for most of the remainder of that. The Angels will pay Villar the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the roster, with that amount being subtracted from what the Cubs pay.
For the Angels, this is a way of trying to bolster an infield mix that is in serious need of bolstering. The middle infield was arguably the team’s weakest area going into the season, with a mix that included David Fletcher, Matt Duffy, Andrew Velazquez, Tyler Wade and Luis Rengifo. Fletcher struggled through 14 games before hitting the injured list and won’t return until around the All-Star break. The season-ending injury to Anthony Rendon created a hole at third base, further stretching this infield crew to cover three positions instead of two. The depth was further depleted when Duffy landed on the injured list with back spasms. Although he’s not expected to have an extended stay on the shelf, that still left the Halos with Velazquez, Wade and Rengifo in line for everyday roles, with David MacKinnon occasionally taking some time at third base.
No one out of that group has done much to solidify the infield mix, with Velazquez, Wade, Rengifo and MacKinnon all currently a sporting a wRC+ between 36 and 92, meaning they’ve all hit at below-average rates to differing degrees. Even if Duffy can return from his IL trip in short order, he’s only hitting .261/.308/.291 for a wRC+ of 74. Due to the uninspiring results of this group, the Angels have gotten a 68 wRC+ from the second base position overall, placing them 24th out of the 30 teams in the league. At third base, it’s an 82 wRC+ for 21st place, and shortstop is even worse, as their collective 44 wRC+ is dead last in the league.
Given that dearth of production from their infielders, it makes sense that they would be willing to take a gamble on Villar. Of course, whether that gamble pays off will depend upon which version of Villar shows up, as he’s had oscillating results in recent years. 2019 was arguably the best season of his career, as he hit .274/.339/.453 for a 107 wRC+. Combined with his 40 bases stolen bases, he provided 3.9 wins above replacement that year, in the estimation of FanGraphs. He followed that up with a downswing in the shortened 2020 season, hitting just .232/.301/.292 for a 65 wRC+. Last year was a nice bounceback, as he hit .249/.322/.416 for 105 wRC+, along with 14 steals. With the Cubs this year, the pendulum has swung back the other way, as Villar’s batting line is currently .222/.271/.327 for a wRC+ of 65. The defensive metrics have also soured on his glovework, with DRS giving him a -8 at second base this year.
With the Angels sporting a record of 37-42, they are currently five games behind the Guardians for the final AL Wild Card spot, with three other clubs in between them. The trade deadline is now one month away, making the next stretch of play incredibly important for teams like the Angels that could see their deadline status quickly altered by a streak, either hot or cold. If Villar can find some of the form he showed in 2019 or 2021, even for a short amount of time, it could be a significant boost to the club’s fortunes.
Braves Designate Touki Toussaint For Assignment
The Braves announced that right-hander Jay Jackson has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. To make room on the 40-man roster fellow righty Touki Toussaint has been designated for assignment.
Toussaint, 26, was the 16th overall selection of the 2014 draft, taken by the Diamondbacks. He was traded to Atlanta in 2015 along with Bronson Arroyo for Phil Gosselin. In the years following that deal, Toussaint was viewed as one of the better prospects in Atlanta’s system and across the game as a whole. Baseball America had him on their list of Top 100 prospects in all of baseball in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
However, he has struggled with injuries and underperformance since then. He saw scattered major league action over the four seasons from 2018 to 2021, logging 145 total innings over those campaigns with a 5.46 ERA. His 23.6% strikeout rate is a bit above average, though it’s also come with an unfortunate 12.9% walk rate.
This season, his final option year, he’s gotten all his action with Triple-A Gwinnett thus far. (He was briefly recalled to the big league club in April but was optioned again before getting into a game.) He’s made eight starts for the Stripers and five relief appearances, throwing 41 2/3 frames in total. Despite a robust 27.5% strikeout rate, control has again been an issue, with his 13% walk rate helping his ERA balloon up to 6.26 on the year. It seems that the club has finally run out of patience with hoping he can right the ship and make good on his potential.
Despite those unfortunate results so far this year, Toussaint is still just 26 years old and only a few years removed from being considered one of the best young pitchers in the sport. He’s sure to garner interest for teams in need of pitching depth, especially considering he can be stashed in Triple-A for the remainder of the year. He will be out of options next year, however, meaning he will need to stick on a team’s active roster all season or else be sent into DFA limbo yet again. He currently has between two and three years of MLB service time and isn’t likely to reach the three-year plateau this season. Atlanta will have one week to work out a trade or put him through waivers.
Blue Jays Acquire Anthony Banda
The Blue Jays have announced to reporters, including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, that they have acquired left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda from the Pirates for cash considerations. Banda had been designated for assignment earlier this week. Julian Merryweather was transferred to the 60-day IL in order to create space on the 40-man roster for Banda.
With Toronto missing several relievers on the injured list, Banda’s acquisition adds some bullpen depth, and Banda could possibly position himself for regular work even when everyone is healthy. Tim Mayza is the top left-hander in the Jays’ bullpen, with Taylor Saucedo and rookies Matt Gage and Andrew Vasquez getting some looks as the second southpaw in the relief corps (Saucedo and Vazquez are two of the pitchers on the IL).
It has been a tough and perhaps simply unlucky season for Banda, who has a 6.41 ERA over 19 2/3 innings with the Pirates in 2022. Banda’s SIERA is a much more respectable 3.47, as a whopping .463 BABIP indicates that despite his success at limiting hard contact, a lot of Banda’s balls in play are turning into hits. Banda also has an impressive 5.1% walk rate.
The 28-year-old is no stranger to the AL East, having pitched with the Rays from 2018-20. A noted prospect back during his time in the Diamondbacks’ farm system, Banda spent the bulk of his time in Tampa recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he has yet to truly establish himself in the majors. The southpaw’s 33 2/3 innings in 2021 marked his career high, as Banda had a 4.28 ERA with the Mets and Pirates.
Cardinals Designate Nick Wittgren For Assignment
The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game, with righty Jordan Hicks being activated from the 15-day injured list. Lefty Matthew Liberatore was also recalled to take a spot on the active roster. To create room for those two hurlers, the Cards optioned righty Jake Woodford and designated righty Nick Wittgren for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster now sits at 39, though T.J. McFarland and Genesis Cabrera are currently on the COVID IL and will need roster spots when they are eligible to return.
Wittgren, 31, spent the first three years of his career with the Marlins and the next three with Cleveland. In that time, he established himself as a solid if unspectacular bullpen piece. At the end of the 2021 season, he had 271 1/3 innings under his belt with a 3.75 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 39.9% ground ball rate. He had never posted an ERA above 5.00 until 2021, and even then, it was just 5.05. Cleveland could have controlled him for one more year via arbitration but decided to move on, after which he was scooped up by the Cards on a one-year deal for $1.2MM.
It’s been a difficult season to evaluate for Wittgren, with many of his stats differing from career norms. His strikeout rate has plummeted to 12.7%, barely half of his mark coming into the year. He’s allowed a .333 BABIP, well above his .292 career rate. However, his HR/FB is just 2.9%, well below the 12.4% rate of his career. All of that has resulted in a 5.90 ERA, though advanced metrics are divided as to whether that’s deserved or not. SIERA gives him a 4.73 with xFIP at 5.14, but xERA and FIP have him at 3.83 and 3.85, respectively. There’s some wide variance there, but all of those metrics feel he’s better than his ERA suggests. According to Statcast, Wittgren is in the 99th percentile in terms of barrel percentage and 78th percentile in terms of hard hit percentage. Any team that needs bullpen help and believes that Wittgren’s suppression of hard contract is sustainable could be interested in acquiring his services. The Cardinals will have a week to work out a trade or put him on waivers.
As for Hicks, he returns after just over a month on the IL due to a forearm strain. Though the Cardinals tinkered with adding him to the rotation earlier in the year, he seems ticketed for a return to the bullpen now. In his four rehab outings, he tossed five total innings, with all but one of those appearances being of the one-inning variety. Despite tantalizing stuff, Hicks has been limited by injuries in recent years. After throwing 77 2/3 innings in 2018, he’s thrown just 67 1/3 total frames in the four subsequent seasons.