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Luke Voit To Start Season On Injured List; Yankees Select Jay Bruce

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11:53 am: The Yankees have officially selected Bruce to the 40-man roster. Right-hander Clarke Schmidt was placed on the 60-day injured list (elbow) in a corresponding move. Additionally, non-roster invitees Robinson Chirinos and Derek Dietrich have been released from their minor-league contracts. Both are now free agents.

11:14 am: The Yankees are planning on selecting the contract of outfielder/first baseman Jay Bruce, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter link). The veteran slugger had been in camp as a non-roster invitee. New York is also expected to hold onto Mike Tauchman, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). At the very least, the Yankees don’t plan on exposing the out-of-options Tauchman to waivers, says Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link), although a trade could still be a possibility.

Expected starting first baseman Luke Voit will begin the year on the injured list, Marly Rivera of ESPN was first to report. Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed Voit has suffered a meniscus tear in his knee and will undergo surgery. He’ll be shut down from baseball activities for the next three weeks (via Erik Boland of Newsday). New York expects Voit back “considerably sooner than” June, Boone said (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com), but it seems possible the reigning home run champ could be out of action into May. In the interim, Bruce will be New York’s primary first baseman, relays Hoch.

The Yankees will have to officially add Bruce to the 40-man roster before Opening Day. The 33-year-old has hit for plenty of power but struggled to reach base in recent years, combining for a .212/.259/.510 line with 32 home runs across 436 plate appearances since the start of 2019. That kind of production would be a steep drop-off from Voit, who raked at a .277/.338/.610 clip last year.

Bruce will at least offer a left-handed bat to help balance a righty-heavy lineup. Tauchman also offers a lefty bat off the bench, and he’s capable of playing anywhere in the outfield. He’ll be limited to reserve duty behind Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner, assuming he isn’t traded. The 30-year-old has drawn rather strong interest around the league.

Indians Designate Beau Taylor For Assignment

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The Indians are designating catcher Beau Taylor for assignment, Mandy Bell of MLB.com was among those to pass along. Right-hander Cam Hill is going on the 60-day injured list, per Zack Meisel of the Athletic (Twitter link). The moves clear a pair of 40-man roster spots for outfielder Ben Gamel and lefty reliever Oliver Pérez, who made the Indians’ Opening Day roster. Cleveland will need to make another 40-man move to accommodate the addition of right-hander Bryan Shaw.

Taylor has only managed 60 MLB plate appearances between the A’s, Blue Jays and Indians over the past two seasons. The 31-year-old backstop carries a .256/.373/.385 line over parts of three years at Triple-A. In addition to that high minors productivity, Taylor still comes with a pair of minor-league option years, so it’s possible other clubs will have interest in him as a depth catcher. Cleveland will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

Braves Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Braves announced this morning they’ve selected the contracts of right-hander Nate Jones and infielder Ehire Adrianza. Outfielder Abraham Almonte has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to the alternate training site, while right-hander Touki Toussaint was placed on the 60-day injured list with a strain in his throwing shoulder. Fellow right-hander Bryse Wilson was optioned to the alternate site, meaning he won’t be on the Opening Day roster.

Jones and Adrianza signed minor-league deals over the offseason and won roster spots with impressive performances in Spring Training. Once an elite reliever with the White Sox, Jones’ career was sidetracked a bit by injuries, as he managed just 52 innings between 2017-19. He pitched to a 6.27 ERA over 18.2 innings with the Reds last year, allowing five home runs in that limited time. Jones struck out 23 against just six walks for Cincinnati, though, and he’ll now enter his tenth different season at the big league level.

Adrianza spent the past four years as a utility option with the Twins. He had a brutal .191/.287/.270 line over 101 plate appearances last year but hit a solid .272/.349/.416 over a larger sample in 2019. Also a former Giant, Adrianza has played everywhere along the infield (with extensive experience up the middle) and picked up a few innings in the corner outfield.

Almonte surprisingly signed a major-league deal with the Braves last October but he’ll lose that 40-man roster spot before the start of the season. While he has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past eight years, Almonte has gotten very little recent playing time. The switch-hitting outfielder only picked up 51 combined plate appearances between the 2019 Diamondbacks and 2020 Padres.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Wilson optioned out. When the Braves optioned Kyle Wright earlier this week, that seemed to suggest Wilson would open the year as the #5 starter behind Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly and Ian Anderson. Wilson will likely be back before long, but it seems Atlanta’s content to lean on multi-inning arms like Josh Tomlin and/or Sean Newcomb in the fifth starter’s spot, at least early in the year.

Toussaint’s placement on the 60-day IL comes as a surprise. It hadn’t been clear the 24-year-old was dealing with an injury of any kind. The Braves didn’t announce a timetable for his return, but he’ll be shelved at least into June.

Mariners Reassign Jarred Kelenic

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The Mariners announced several roster moves Friday, including reassigning star outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic to minor league camp. The decision means he won’t make the Mariners’ Opening Day roster. The team also reassigned fellow outfielder Julio Rodriguez and righties Brady Lail and Paul Sewald. Additionally, righty Ljay Newsome, lefty Aaron Fletcher and outfielder Braden Bishop were optioned.

This move is particularly notable in the wake of comments made by former Mariners CEO Kevin Mather, who resigned in February after suggesting the team would manipulate Kelenic’s service time. Mather made it clear that the Mariners would keep him out of the majors for the first month of the season in order to gain an extra year of team control.

“Probably Triple-A Tacoma for a month, and then he will likely be in left field at T-Mobile Park for the next six or seven years,” he said.

Kelenic went on to miss some time this spring with a Grade 2 knee strain, but he looked worthy of a major league roster spot upon his return. The 21-year-old came back to slash.333/.478/.778 with two home runs, albeit over just 18 at-bats. Kelenic has also been highly productive in the minors, where he most recently batted .253/.315/.542 with six homers during a 21-game, 92-PA Double-A debut in 2019. The former sixth overall pick – whom the Mariners acquired in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz blockbuster with the Mets in December 2018 – currently ranks as a consensus top prospect, with MLB.com placing him fourth overall. Rodriguez ranks fifth, though he’s not quite as close to the bigs as Kelenic.

With Kelenic out of the Opening Day picture, the Mariners could begin with Taylor Trammell as the starting left fielder alongside center fielder and reigning AL Rookie of the Kyle Lewis and right fielder Mitch Haniger. Jake Fraley and Jose Marmolejos are also outfield options on the 40-man roster.

Orioles Make Several Roster Moves

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The Orioles have placed first baseman Chris Davis on the 60-day injured list with a lower back strain, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The team also made the re-signing of left-hander Wade LeBlanc official. LeBlanc is in the mix for the Orioles’ rotation/long man role, while that is no longer the case for lefty Keegan Akin. The O’s optioned Akin, outfielder Jahmai Jones and infielder Richie Martin, per Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com, and they reassigned lefty Fernando Abad and first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw.

Manager Brandon Hyde implied earlier this week that Davis could be headed for the long-term IL, so this news doesn’t come as any kind of surprise. Nevertheless, it’s the latest unfortunate development for the 35-year-old Davis, whose career has been an abject disaster since the Orioles re-signed him to a seven-year, $161MM contract before 2016.

When Davis received his deal, he had established himself as one of the game’s fiercest sluggers, as he smashed 53 home runs in 2013 – his lone All-Star season – and added another 47 in 2015. Davis was a 38-HR hitter in the first year of his deal, though he has totaled a mere 28 (none during an injury-limited 2020) with a .169/251/.299 in 929 trips to the plate since 2018. The Orioles have stuck with Davis during his massive on-field decline, and he still has another year on his contract after this one.

Reds Release Dee Strange-Gordon, Jesse Biddle

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5:59pm: The Reds have also released Biddle, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Biddle saw almost no action with the Reds last season, throwing two-thirds of an inning, but he did toss nine frames of three-run ball and post 12 strikeouts against two walks this spring.

12:19pm: The Reds announced Friday that they’ve released veteran infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon. They also reassigned lefty Jesse Biddle, lefty Brandon Finnegan and catcher Rocky Gale to minor league camp.

Strange-Gordon, 32, at one point looked to be a candidate to land the shortstop job in Cincinnati. However, over the past several weeks the club has taken a long look at returning Eugenio Suarez to that position. A strong spring showing by infield prospect Jonathan India, who has spent time at second base and third base, has made that outcome more likely.

While Strange-Gordon could’ve still been in line for a bench role, it seems the Reds prefer to go with in-house options like Kyle Farmer, Kyle Holder and perhaps Mike Freeman as utility men off the bench. That’ll send the fleet-footed Strange-Gordon back to the open market on the heels of a solid .281/.361/.313 showing in 36 spring plate appearances. Obviously, the slugging percentage is a bit problematic, but Strange-Gordon also swiped four bases without being caught and walked four times against just five strikeouts. He turned in a disappointing .200/.268/.213 showing with the 2020 Mariners, albeit in just 82 plate appearances.

Astros Sign Lance McCullers Jr. To Five-Year Extension

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MARCH 26: The extension is official, the Astros announced.

MARCH 24: Lance McCullers Jr. won’t be heading to free agency next winter after all. One month after making clear he hoped to forgo the open market and stick with the Astros, the right-hander has reportedly agreed to a five-year contract extension that will begin in 2022 and run through the 2026 season. McCullers, a client of the Boras Corporation, will reportedly be guaranteed $85MM and receive a limited no-trade clause.

Because the deal doesn’t kick in until the 2022 campaign, it does not impact the Astros’ luxury tax ledger for the current season. That’s a critical point for the ’Stros, who have worked diligently to remain south of the $210MM threshold. The contract reportedly comes with a $3.5MM signing bonus, salaries of $15.25MM in 2022-23 and a $17MM annual salary from 2024-26.

McCullers, who’s about to embark on his age-27 campaign, has been a career-long Astro to this point. The team used the 41st overall pick on him in 2012, and he has since produced quality results in the majors. Dating back to his big league debut in 2015, McCullers has pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.61 SIERA with an above-average strikeout rate (26.4) and a tremendous 55.2 percent groundball rate across 508 2/3 innings. With the exception of 2016, when his walk rate spiked to 12.8 percent, he’s generally kept that mark better than the league average as well.

Durability has been a problem for McCullers, though, as he has never even reached the 130-inning mark in a season. He topped out at 128 1/3 frames in 2018, the year after he helped pitch the Astros to a World Series championship, before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

McCullers missed all of 2019 as a result of the procedure, but he did make a strong return last year with 11 starts and 55 innings of 3.93 ERA/3.95 SIERA pitching, solid strikeout and walk percentages (24.7 and 8.8, respectively) and a 59.7 percent grounder rate. Still, this is an unprecedented guarantee for a starting pitcher who’s never made more than 22 starts in a big league season.

While it’s risky for the Astros to make this type of commitment to a hurler who has had trouble staying healthy, they know McCullers is at least a mid-rotation-caliber starter when he does take the mound. And this move will lead to less uncertainty in Houston’s starting staff a year from now, as veterans Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander could depart in free agency next offseason. Even if those two exit, the Astros figure to return McCullers, Jake Odorizzi, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy in 2022.

Of course, next winter’s free-agent class looks a bit less interesting with McCullers off the market. But Greinke, Verlander, Trevor Bauer (if he opts out of his Dodgers deal), Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman are among many established starters who could be searching for new deals then.

It’s an obviously strong class, and the Astros can afford to be major players in the market if they choose, given that even after this new McCullers deal they’re at $91.7MM in guaranteed money on the books. For a club that’s topped $160MM in payroll in each of the past four seasons now (prior to prorating in 2020), there will be ample room to spend on the open market.

Mark Berman of FOX 26 first reported that an agreement was in place. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the terms, while MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale added contractual details (Twitter links).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Wade LeBlanc Signs New Contract With Orioles

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MARCH 26: LeBlanc has rejoined the Orioles on a split contract that comes with a $700K salary if he makes the majors, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.

MARCH 25: Left-hander Wade LeBlanc has opted out of the minor league contract he signed with the Orioles in February, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic. He’s now a free agent, though Connolly notes that a return to the Orioles isn’t out of the question.

The well-traveled LeBlanc, 36, spent last season in the Baltimore, where he endured immense struggles. LeBlanc finished the year with six starts and 22 1/3 innings of 8.06 ERA/5.77 SIERA pitching, and he managed a paltry 4.9 strikeout-walk percentage along the way.  He fared decently this spring with eight innings of two-run, three-hit ball and seven strikeouts, though he did walk five hitters.

LeBlanc was one of a few experienced starters the O’s signed to minors deals during the offseason, when they also inked Matt Harvey and Felix Hernandez to minors deals. Harvey earned a roster spot Thursday, while Hernandez’s status is uncertain as he recovers from elbow discomfort.

Nick Anderson Suffers Partial Tear Of Elbow Ligament

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MARCH 26: The Rays have placed Anderson on the 60-day injured list and added righty Andrew Kittredge to their 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Kittredge had an opt-out for the end of camp in the minor league deal he signed with the Rays, but he’ll stay put. He contributed 111 1/3 innings of 4.93 ERA/3.90 SIERA pitching with the Rays from 2017-20.

MARCH 25: The Rays’ bullpen received terrible news Thursday: Right-hander Nick Anderson suffered a partial tear of his elbow ligament and will likely be out until past the All-Star break, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Surgery has not been recommended at this point.

Considering how much the reigning American League champion Rays lean on their bullpen, the loss of Anderson for at least a few months is an especially troubling development. Anderson has been absolutely lights-out dating back to his 2019 debut with Miami, which traded him to Tampa Bay before that season’s deadline.

Now 30 years old, the hard-throwing Anderson was a 32nd-round pick of the Brewers in 2012 who spent time in independent ball before he broke out in the bigs. Anderson owns a stellar 2.77 ERA/2.14 SIERA with a 42.2 percent strikeout rate and a 6.5 percent walk rate across 81 1/3 innings. While Anderson did miss time last year with forearm issues, he dominated over 16 1/3 frames with a measly 0.55 ERA and similarly jaw-dropping strikeout and walk percentages of 44.8 and 5.2, respectively. He wasn’t nearly as successful in the playoffs, in which he surrendered nine earned runs on 16 hits and totaled nine strikeouts against four walks in 14 2/3 innings.

Anderson led the Rays with six saves during the regular season in 2020, but they’ll have to lean on other end-of-game options until at least sometime in the summer. Diego Castillo, Pete Fairbanks, Chaz Roe and Ryan Thompson are among possible solutions for the Rays, whose bullpen – thanks in no small part to Anderson – ranked third in the majors in ERA a year ago.

Tony Watson Opts Out Of Phillies Deal; Kintzler, Joyce Make Roster

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2:27pm: Righty reliever Brandon Kintzler and outfielder Matt Joyce, who also signed minors pacts, have earned roster spots, Matt Gelb of The Athletic tweets. Kintzler will make $3MM, while Joyce’s salary isn’t known yet.

Long an effective, grounder-inducing late-game option, Kintzler piled up 12 saves and recorded a 2.20 ERA over 24 1/3 frames. While the 36-year-old notched ugly strikeout and walk percentages (13.9 and 10.9, respectively), his 57.3 percent groundball mark once again helped him keep runs off the board at a quality clip.

Joyce, also 36 and Kintzler’s teammate in Miami last year, has been an on-base threat for most of his career. He slashed .252/.351/.331 with two home runs in a limited role (46 plate appearances) in 2020.

2:10pm: Veteran left-handed reliever Tony Watson has opted out of his minor league contract with the Phillies, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

Watson, whom the Phillies signed during the winter, would have earned a somewhat hefty $3MM salary had he cracked their roster. Considering the Phillies would like to stay under the luxury-tax threshold, it’s not that surprising that they’re unwilling to pay Watson that sum – especially in light of his struggles this spring. The 35-year-old allowed four earned runs in five innings and surrendered nine hits in exhibition play, though he did total seven strikeouts against two walks. His exit leaves the Phillies with Jose Alvarado, JoJo Romero, Damon Jones and Ranger Suarez – all on the 40-man roster – as their primary southpaw relievers.

As for Watson’s next step, he should at least be able to land another minors deal somewhere, as the former Pirate, Dodger and Giant has regularly produced good results. Owner of a lifetime 2.80 ERA, Watson logged a 2.50 mark and a 3.75 SIERA over 18 innings in San Francisco last season. He also amassed 15 strikeouts against three walks, posted a 50 percent groundball rate and was tough on both lefty and righty hitters.

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