Twins Select Kyle Garlick, Designate Dereck Rodriguez For Assignment
The Twins announced Friday morning that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Kyle Garlick from Triple-A St. Paul and designated right-hander Dereck Rodriguez for assignment in a corresponding move.
Garlick, 30, opened the 2021 season as a fourth outfielder with the Twins and posted a .232/.280/.466 batting line in 107 trips to the plate. Primarily deployed against southpaws, he turned in a much more robust .271/.302/.576 batting line in 59 trips to the plate in such situations. Garlick landed on the 10-day injured list a couple of times — the first for a positive Covid test and the second for a sports hernia that eventually required surgery and ended his season. Minnesota passed him through waivers after the season, but Garlick will now return and presumably occupy a similar part-time role, perhaps splitting time with Trevor Larnach in left field while Alex Kirilloff is on the shelf with continued wrist troubles.
It proved to be a short stay with the big league club for Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher and a former Twins prospect who made his way back to the organization by way of a minor league deal this offseason. Rodriguez tossed four innings of long relief against the Dodgers earlier this week, tossing three scoreless frames before being tagged for back-to-back-to-back home runs off the bats of Cody Bellinger, Gavin Lux and Austin Barnes. He finished that lone appearance as a Twin with three runs through four innings pitched.
Now 29 years old, Rodriguez was a sixth-round pick by Minnesota back in 2011 but didn’t make his MLB debut until 2018, after he’d signed with the Giants as a minor league free agent. He turned in a stellar rookie campaign, logging 118 1/3 innings of 2.81 ERA ball, but Rodriguez has just a 5.97 ERA in 107 big league innings since that time.
Rodriguez averaged 92 mph on his heater in that one-off appearance this year. He’s generally posted below-average strikeout and ground-ball rates but been better than average when it comes to limiting free passes. He’s also optionable for the remainder of the 2022 season, which could enhance his appeal to another club in need of some upper-level pitching depth. The Twins will have a week to trade Rodriguez, pass him through outright waivers or release him.
Pirates, Bryan Reynolds Agree To Two-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration
The Pirates and center fielder Bryan Reynolds have agreed to a two-year contract to avoid arbitration, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal covers the 2022-23 campaigns and doesn’t affect the team’s window of contractual control. Reynolds is a CAA Sports client.
It’s a $13.5MM guarantee, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). He’ll receive matching $6.75MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, adds Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic.
Mackey wrote last week the Pirates were hoping to get a two-year deal done with Reynolds. As he noted, the Bucs are a “file-and-trial” team, meaning they decline to discuss one-year agreements with players once the deadline to exchange arbitration figures passes. That’s a fairly common practice around the league, albeit one teams set themselves.
By establishing the precedent they won’t continue negotiations after filing day, the reasoning goes, teams can deter players from filing at a high number in hopes of anchoring further discussions from an elevated starting point. If team and player go to a hearing, the arbitrator chooses one of the side’s desired figures rather than picking a midpoint. That incentivizes both to file for a salary reasonably in line with established precedent, since an outlier in either direction is less likely to be judged fair in the hearing.
On the other hand, going to a hearing with a star player like Reynolds isn’t ideal. The 27-year-old maintained in the past he wouldn’t be miffed by the process, but also acknowledged that the inherently adversarial arbitration process can sometimes get “messy” (link via Mackey). Signing a two-year deal after filing day allows the Pirates to maintain they’ve not violated their “file-and-trial” policy while avoiding the possibility of irritating one of their best players.
From Reynolds’ perspective, he locks in guaranteed earnings over the next couple years without delaying his path to free agency. He’ll also make more money this season than he would’ve even had he won a hearing. Reynolds’ camp had filed for a $4.9MM salary; the team had countered at $4.25MM. Pittsburgh will go above Reynolds’ desired mark this year to foreclose the possibility he receives a notable raise in 2023 with another big season.
Both sides are surely glad to avoid hearings for the next two years, but Reynolds’ long-term status with the organization isn’t much affected by today’s news. This was his first of four seasons of arb-eligibility as a Super Two qualifier. Barring another agreement at some point down the line, he’ll head through the arbitration process again in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 offseasons.
Reynolds is controllable through 2025, his age-30 campaign. He reportedly rejected an extension offer from the Bucs prior to the 2021 season and said in Spring Training the organization hadn’t seriously approached him about a long-term deal this year. Biertempfel tweets the two sides have discussed various potential contract structures in the past. It stands to reason they’ll eventually make a renewed effort at a longer-term pact.
Padres Promote MacKenzie Gore, Place Blake Snell On 10-Day IL
5:45PM: The Padres have officially announced the moves, putting Snell on the 10-day IL (retroactive to April 11) with a left adductor strain.
3:49PM: Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including AJ Cassavell and Kevin Acee) that Snell has been placed on the 10-day IL, and Gore will indeed start Friday’s game.
12:33PM: The Padres are facing some early-season uncertainty in the starting rotation. Left-hander Blake Snell was scratched from what was supposed to be his first start on Sunday after experiencing adductor tightness. Snell hasn’t been placed on the injured list, but it’s expected he’ll need some time on the shelf to recover.
With Snell’s spot in the rotation up again tomorrow night against the Braves, it looks as if MacKenzie Gore will get his first big league look. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweeted Tuesday that Gore had joined the team’s taxi squad, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote last night the organization expects to soon place Snell on the IL and start Gore in his place.
Gore’s prospect stock has fluctuated considerably in recent seasons. The third overall pick in 2017, he carved up low minors hitters over his first two professional campaigns. In the process, Gore emerged as a potentially elite young talent. Heading into the 2020 season, each of Baseball America, FanGraphs and The Athletic slotted Gore as the sport’s top pitching prospect. All three outlets ranked him among the top six minor league talents overall.
Having reached Double-A late in 2019, Gore looked as if he could make his MLB debut at some point that season. The pandemic wound up necessitating a shorter schedule and a lack of minor league play, however, and Gore spent the year at the alternate training site. Reports emerged that he’d gotten out of whack mechanically, with Baseball America writing over the 2020-21 offseason there were concerns about both his control and a velocity dip.
Those red flags persisted last year, as Gore walked an alarming 12.5% of opponents against a dramatically reduced 18.8% strikeout rate in six Triple-A starts. The Padres reassigned him to their Arizona complex for some lower-pressure work to get back on track, and he returned to an affiliate late in the season with a pair of Double-A starts. He walked another eight batters in nine innings but also punched out 16.
There’s no question Gore’s inconsistent past couple seasons have dealt some kind of hit to his prospect stock. He’s no longer a consensus top ten minor leaguer, nor has he reached the majors as quickly as it had once seemed he would. Yet Gore only turned 23 years old in February and is only two years removed from being perhaps the best pitcher in the minors. He’s certainly still a legitimate prospect, one whom Keith Law of the Athletic slotted #59 overall this offseason.
Law wrote that each of Gore’s fastball, changeup and slider are still plus pitches and that he’s athletic enough to yet emerge as a top-of-the-rotation arm if he finds more mechanical consistency. BA slotted the southpaw fourth in the San Diego system this winter, praising his high-octane repertoire and noting that his “misses off the plate were much smaller” late last year than they’d been early in that season. Gore has only made one appearance so far this year, but he didn’t issue a single free pass in five scoreless innings with Triple-A El Paso last week, fanning seven of the 16 batters he faced.
Gore is already on the 40-man roster, so a Snell IL placement would be sufficient to accommodate his call-up. How long he’d remain in the rotation is to be seen, but Acee writes that both Snell and right-hander Mike Clevinger are expected to require two minor league rehab starts before returning to the majors. The team announced last night that Clevinger, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery and opened this year on the IL due to some soreness in his right knee, will make his first rehab start today with High-A Lake Elsinore.
Nationals To Promote Donovan Casey
The Nationals are calling outfielder Donovan Casey up from Triple-A, according to Chuckie Maggio of the Pickin Splinters website. No corresponding move has been announced, though Dee Strange-Gordon was scratched from the initial starting lineup the Nats posted earlier today for their game against the Pirates.
Casey was already placed on Washington’s 40-man roster back in November, and the 26-year-old’s fifth pro season will now include his debut as a Major League ballplayer. Selected by the Dodgers in the 20th round of the 2017 draft, Casey was acquired as part of the four-player package the Nats received for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner at the last trade deadline.
Casey is a Boston College product who has hit .278/.337/.464 with 54 home runs and 52 steals (from 63 chances) over 1563 career plate appearances in the minors. That line doesn’t include much Triple-A success, however, as Casey has a modest .190/.250/.342 slash over 172 PA at the Triple-A level. It could be that the Nationals’ hand was somewhat forced by a potential injury situation on the big league roster, yet Casey at least had a .905 OPS over his first 25 PA of the 2022 season.
Baseball America (17th) and MLB Pipeline (19th) each have Casey listed within the Nationals’ top-20 prospect rankings, and BA also gave Casey extra mention as the “Best Athlete” in Washington’s farm system. His speed and athletic ability has translated into some excellent defense in the outfield, and Casey’s strong throwing arm makes him a good right field candidate. Both BA/Pipeline scouting reports have some questions about his bat, particularly Casey’s high propensity for strikeouts.
While the situation could change based on roster moves involving Strange-Gordon or other players, Casey would seem to fit as a glove-first backup outfield type. Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Lane Thomas make up the D.C. starting outfield, while Strange-Gordon and Yadiel Hernandez were working in a backup capacity.
Rangers Activate Garrett Richards; Place Spencer Howard, Dennis Santana On Injured List
The Rangers announced four roster moves involving right-handed pitchers today, including the activation of Garrett Richards from the 10-day injured list. Nick Snyder was also called up from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, Dennis Santana was placed on the COVID-related injured list, while Spencer Howard was placed on the regular 10-day IL due to a blister and cracked fingernail.
Richards signed a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $5.5MM following the lockout, but his Texas debut was postponed by a blister issue of his own. Fortunately, it ended up being only a minor setback, and Richards is now lined up to take his spot in the Rangers bullpen. Reporter Jeff Wilson (Twitter links) that the Rangers are tentatively planning a bullpen game for Friday’s contest with the Angels, so Richards could conceivably get the pseudo-start if he doesn’t see any action tonight.
Howard has been initially stated to start Friday’s game, but he will now head to the IL (retroactive to April 11) to recover from his own finger issue. The 25-year-old didn’t fare well in his first start of the season, as Howard was tagged for four homers and six earned runs over three innings in a 12-6 loss to the Blue Jays. Blisters have been a recurring problem for the Rangers in the early going, between Richards’ absence, and both Howard and Jon Gray now sidelined. The Rangers have an off-day on April 18, so it’s possible the rotation might not need further re-alignment if Howard and/or Gray are able to return in short order.
Santana is still waiting results of his COVID-19 test, but Wilson reports that the IL placement was precautionary since Santana is showing symptoms. As per the 2022 rules, Santana will have to miss a minimum of five days and be free of symptoms for the last two or more of those days.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/14/22
Catching up on some minor moves from around the game…
- The Rangers outrighted Sherten Apostel to Triple-A, after the infielder cleared waivers. Apostel was designated for assignment prior to the Rangers’ Opening Day game. The 23-year-old made his big league debut with seven games for Texas in 2020 but didn’t receive another call to the majors last year. Originally acquired from the Pirates as part of the Keone Kela trade in 2018, Apostel has hit .246/.358/.422 over 1437 career minor league plate appearances in the Pittsburgh and Texas farm systems.
Blue Jays Place Teoscar Hernandez On 10-Day Injured List
3:42PM: Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Kaitlyn McGrath and other reporters that the team will be cautious with Hernandez’s injury, but it doesn’t appear to be as severe as initially thought.
3:14PM: The Blue Jays have placed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Infielder Gosuke Katoh has been called up from Triple-A to take Hernandez’s spot on the active roster. The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath reported earlier today that Katoh had joined the Jays in New York for tonight’s game with the Yankees, and The Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley also tweeted earlier that Hernandez was thought to have an oblique-related injury.
Hernandez suffered the injury during a sixth inning at-bat in last night’s game, as the outfielder looked pained after taking his first swing. Hernandez waved off a visit from the team trainer but then continued to show discomfort after grounding out to end the plate appearance. Hernandez didn’t take the field for the bottom of the sixth, replaced in the lineup by Bradley Zimmer.
As Longley noted, this isn’t the first time Hernandez has missed time with a left oblique strain, as a similar injury resulted in a 10-day IL stint in September 2020. That proved to be a mild strain that resulted in Hernandez missing only the minimum 10 days, but oblique strains are notoriously tricky injuries that can often lead to weeks or even months on the IL, depending on the severity. It was just three days ago that the Jays lost another regular to an oblique strain, as catcher Danny Jansen is expected to miss several weeks of action.
Losing Hernandez for any length of time is a blow to Toronto’s lineup, as the 29-year-old slugger has hit 49 home runs and slashed .295/.347/.538 in 825 PA since the start of the 2020 season. Even for a Blue Jays team that has plenty of hitting, this type of production can’t be easily replicated, especially since the Jays already lost some depth when Jansen went down.
Raimel Tapia and Zimmer (both acquired in offseason trades) figure to get the bulk of outfield work in Hernandez’s absence, and Cavan Biggio also has some experience as an outfielder. In the minors, Mallex Smith and Nathan Lukes are potential options, though neither are on the 40-man roster. The same is true of veteran Dexter Fowler, but Fowler only signed with the Jays at the end of Spring Training and is still participating only in sim games as he works his way back from a torn ACL.
Phillies Announce Five Roster Moves
The Phillies announced five roster moves in advance of today’s game with the Marlins. The Phils have selected the contract of right-hander Andrew Bellatti from Triple-A and also reinstated James Norwood from the bereavement list. Righty Connor Brogdon and left-hander Damon Jones were optioned to Triple-A, while Sam Coonrod was moved to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space for Bellatti.
Coonrod has been dealing with a shoulder strain that initially shut him down at the end of March. The right-hander tossed only 1 2/3 innings of Spring Training action, so between the injury rehab and then making up for his lost preseason work, it was already expected to be a while before Coonrod made his 2022 debut.
The 60-day IL placement means that Coonrod won’t make it back until mid-June at the earliest, which represents another injury setback for the 29-year-old. Coonrod missed over two months last season due to forearm tendinitis, and over three weeks of the shortened 2020 season due a lat strain. That same season also saw Coonrod hit the IL late in the year with another shoulder strain.
Between Coonrod’s injury absence and Brogdon’s demotion, the Phillies find themselves without two of their better relievers from last season. However, since Brogdon has pitched in three of Philadelphia’s last four games, the move is probably just a way to get a fresher arm into the bullpen than indicative of a long-term stint in Triple-A for the right-hander. Brogdon had a rough outing last night, allowing two earned runs and two more inherited runners to score over two-thirds of an inning in a 9-6 loss to the Mets.
Bellatti signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in December after being outrighted off the Marlins’ 40-man roster at the end of last season. After tossing 23 1/3 innings for the Rays in his 2015 rookie season, Bellatti bounced around the minors before finally returning to the majors last year, pitching 3 1/3 innings of relief work out of Miami’s bullpen. Bellatti has a 3.77 ERA and 24.03% strikeout rate over his 547 career frames in the minor leagues.
Royals Release Daniel Tillo
TODAY: Tillo is now officially a free agent after clearing waivers, the Royals announced.
APRIL 13: The Royals announced this morning they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on left-hander Daniel Tillo. Kansas City had designated the 6’5″ southpaw for assignment last week when setting the Opening Day roster.
Tillo has never appeared in a major league game, although he did accrue 99 days of MLB service last season while on the injured list. Kansas City selected the Iowa native onto the 40-man roster over the 2020-21 offseason. He was still rehabbing from a Tommy John surgery he’d undergone the prior season, and he spent much of last year recovering.
Upon being reinstated from the IL in August, Tillo was optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He pitched 23 1/3 innings there, working to a 4.63 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout percentage and an elevated 14.7% walk rate. Assuming he clears release waivers, Tillo will be a free agent and could look for a minor league deal with any of the league’s 30 teams.
White Sox, Scott Blewett Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Scott Blewett, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Double-A Birmingham.
Blewett has spent his entire career in the AL Central, but this’ll be his second organization. He entered pro ball as a second-round pick of the Royals in 2014. Despite progressing up the minor league ladder fairly slowly, he was placed among Baseball America’s top 30 Kansas City prospects every season between 2015-19 and again heading into 2021. BA wrote early in his career that Blewett could develop into a mid-rotation starter, but struggles against high minors hitters eventually changed his projection to that of a depth starter or long relief option.
The New York native got to the big leagues for the first time in 2020, making a pair of relief appearances. He also pitched in three games last year, tossing eight innings of three-run ball over his first five MLB outings. Blewett worked solely as a reliever in the majors, but he started 10 of 23 games with Triple-A Omaha last season. In 69 innings with the Storm Chasers, he posted a 6.39 ERA with a below-average 20.1% strikeout rate. He allowed 19 home runs, an untenable 2.48 longballs per nine innings.
The Royals outrighted Blewett off their 40-man roster last September, at which point he elected minor league free agency. The 26-year-old has yet to find his stride even at the Triple-A level, but he has a solid track record of throwing strikes up through Double-A and can work as either a starter or multi-inning reliever. Blewett will hope a change of scenery can allow him to miss a few more bats and tamp down on homers to earn another crack in the big leagues.