Red Sox Place Enrique Hernandez On COVID-19 Injured List
Aug. 29: Although he initially landed on the COVID IL as a close contact, Arroyo now has tested positive, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com.
Aug. 27: The Red Sox announced they’ve placed utilityman Kiké Hernández on the COVID-19 injured list. Yairo Muñoz has been selected to the big league roster in his place. Additionally, Jonathan Araúz has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester while Christian Arroyo is landing on the COVID IL. Hernández has tested positive for the virus, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe), while Arroyo has entered protocols as a close contact.
Hernández has been one of Boston’s most valuable performers this season. He has gotten starts at all three positions up the middle of the field while posting one of the best offensive years of his career. Over 483 plate appearances, Hernández is hitting .258/.346/.465 with seventeen home runs, earning himself the leadoff spot in the order.
Muñoz is up for the first time this season. The 26-year-old has spent the entire year in Worcester, hitting .318/.346/.461 with eight home runs over 356 plate appearances. Muñoz hasn’t drawn many walks or hit for a ton of power, but his 13.2% strikeout rate in the minors is minuscule, allowing him to hit for a high batting average. He has also displayed plenty of defensive flexibility, starting multiple games at each of third base, shortstop, second base and all three outfield positions.
That’s nothing new for Muñoz, who logged big league action as a multi-positional player in each season from 2018-20. The bulk of that experience came in his first two seasons with the Cardinals, but Muñoz did appear in twelve games with Boston last season. He owns a .278/.332/.402 line over 555 career trips to the plate at the big league level. Because Muñoz was selected as a COVID replacement, he can be removed from the 40-man roster and returned to the minor leagues without passing through waivers whenever a player is able to return from the COVID list.
Tigers Reinstate Matthew Boyd, Option Daz Cameron
The Tigers have reinstated left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd from the 60-day injured list, per a team announcement. Boyd will start this afternoon’s game against the Blue Jays. To make room on the active roster, outfielder Daz Cameron was optioned to Triple-A. No corresponding move was required for the 40-man roster as the team has multiple slots available.
Before going on the IL in mid-June with a triceps issue, Boyd was en route to perhaps his best season to date. Through 70 2/3 innings, the 30-year-old has an ERA of 3.44, almost a full run better than his previous best of 4.39 in 2018. With his return, he will have more than a month to try and build on that success before going into what could be his last offseason as a Tiger. He is currently slated to reach free agency after the 2022 season, which figures to be an important campaign both for he and the club. For Boyd, he will be looking to have a strong platform season in order to earn a nice paycheck on the open market, but the team will be looking to make a move from rebuilding to contending. The emergence of young starters such as Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning has strengthened the rotation around Boyd, giving the club a framework to build upon.
As for Cameron, it’s been something of a stop-and-start season for the outfielder. This is his second time being optioned this year, and he’s been on the IL twice as well. Amidst all of that, he’s gotten into 25 games at the MLB level, putting up a line of .177/.235/.342, wRC+ of 55. However, the 24-year-old has much better numbers in his 23 Triple-A games, a wRC+ of 130 thanks to a line of .309/368/.495.
Pirates Release Gregory Polanco
3:29PM: The Pirates have actually released Polanco, as the team issued a correction to their initial announcement.
3:03PM: The Pirates have designated outfielder Gregory Polanco for assignment. According to the team’s official media release, infielder Cole Tucker “is expected” to be called up from Triple-A to take Polanco’s spot on the active roster.
The move comes less than a week after Polanco was placed on outright waivers, though he remained in the organization after no other teams claimed him. Today’s release officially cuts ties between Polanco and the Bucs, and the team will remain on the hook for the roughly $5.28MM still owed to Polanco — his remaining 2021 salary, and the $3MM buyout of his $12.5MM club option for 2022.
“Gregory has been a true professional throughout his entire Pirates career, including in our conversation with him regarding today’s roster move,” Pirates GM Ben Cherington said. “He has been a great teammate who always handled himself with class and took a great deal of pride in representing the Pirates and the city of Pittsburgh. We wish him nothing but success moving forward.”
After rising through the minor league ranks as one of baseball’s top prospects, Polanco had some stops and starts in his efforts to establish himself as a productive Major League regular, though that didn’t stop the Bucs from locking him up on a five-year, $35MM contract extension in April 2016. Strong seasons in both 2016 and 2018 (the latter a 23-homer, .839 OPS campaign over 535 plate appearances) seemed to indicate that the Pirates had made a wise investment, yet shoulder surgery in September 2018 ended up essentially derailing Polanco’s career.
Recurring shoulder problems limited him to only 42 games in 2019. In 723 PA since the start of the 2019 season, Polanco has hit only .203/.270/.364 with 24 home runs. Between this dropoff and increasing annual salaries in the latter years of the extension, Polanco became something of an untradeable albatross as the Pirates entered another rebuilding phase.
Though Polanco is a veteran of eight MLB seasons, he still doesn’t turn 30 years old until September. It stands to reason that another team will take a flier on Polanco to see if a change of scenery could get his career back on track, since that new team would only owe Polanco the prorated portion of the minimum salary (the Pirates would pay the rest of the money owed).
Red Sox Sign Michael Feliz To Minors Contract
The Red Sox have signed Michael Feliz to a minor league contract, according to MLB.com’s official transactions page. The right-hander will report to Triple-A Worcester. Feliz hit the open market earlier this week after being released by the Reds.
The 28-year-old hasn’t pitched in a big league game since June 6, after a right elbow sprain landed him on Cincinnati’s 60-day injured list. Between this absence and an earlier IL visit (due to a cracked fingernail) when he was a member of the Pirates organization earlier this season, Feliz has appeared in only 16 games this season, with an 8.79 ERA over 14 1/3 combined innings with the Pirates and Reds.
With an even 30% strikeout rate over 241 innings in The Show, Feliz’s ability to miss bats has never been in question. Staying healthy, avoiding walks, and delivering consistent results has been another matter entirely, as Feliz has only a 5.38 ERA while appearing in parts of seven MLB seasons. He began his career with the Astros from 2015-17, so should he make Boston’s active roster, he’ll find a familiar face in former Houston bench coach and current Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
The Sox will become the latest team to see if they can harness Feliz’s prodigious strikeout ability, and for the cost of just a minor league deal, there’s no real risk on Boston’s part. Despite his 5.38 career ERA, Feliz’s SIERA is over two runs lower at 3.35, so there is some measure of misfortune involved in his performance. That said, Feliz hasn’t helped his cause with a 9.9% career walk rate and a 15.6% career home run rate.
Cubs Make Five Roster Moves
6:10PM: Bote’s ankle injury is “significant,” manager David Ross told reporters (including Tim Stebbins of NBC Sports Chicago), and it isn’t out of the question that Bote’s season could be over. Ross said Bote hurt his right ankle in rather fluky fashion, as he stepped onto a baseball while participating in a pregame baserunning drill. “You watch the replay, and it’s pretty nasty, how hard he rolled his ankle,” Ross said.
3:37PM: The Cubs announced a flurry of roster moves today, including the news that David Bote has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 26) due to a right ankle sprain. Chicago also designated right-handers Jake Jewell and Ryan Meisinger for assignment, and selected the contracts of right-hander Scott Effross and infielder Alfonso Rivas from Triple-A.
This is Bote’s second IL placement of the season, after a separated shoulder put him out of action for close to two months. Bote has seen most of the everyday second base at-bats since returning from that first IL trip, though he is still struggling at the plate, with only a .202/.270/.339 slash line over 268 plate appearances. The severity of the sprain isn’t yet known, and Cubs radio broadcaster Zach Zaidman (Twitter link) said Bote’s injury occurred yesterday during batting practice.
Both Effross and Rivas are now in line to make their Major League debuts, as the rebuilding Cubs continue to look at younger players. Effross was a 15th-round pick for the team in the 2015 draft, while Rivas was a fourth-round pick for the A’s in the 2018 draft, and was dealt to Chicago in January 2020 in the trade that sent Tony Kemp to Oakland.
On-base skills have been Rivas’ calling card over his brief pro career, as he has hit .288/.393/.411 over 1037 PA across three minor league seasons. The left-handed hitting Rivas has done much of that damage against right-handed pitching, and he has played some left field and right field to go along with his customary first base spot.
Effross began the season at Double-A and was then promoted to Triple-A for the first time. Overall, the 27-year-old has a 3.41 ERA and 27.61% strikeout rate over 60 2/3 combined innings this season, working out of the bullpen for 29 of his 31 appearances. Effross tends to rely more on grounders than missed bats, as he has consistently topped the 50 percent threshold for groundball percentage during his minor league career.
Jewell and Meisinger each signed minor league contracts with the Cubs during the offseason, and both right-handers were selected to the MLB roster within the last month. Jewell has a 9.90 ERA over 10 innings, while Meisinger has a 12.27 ERA in 7 1/3 innings.
Tigers Place Erasmo Ramirez On Release Waivers
4:49PM: Ramirez has been placed on release waivers, the Tigers announced.
2:22PM: The Tigers have designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for assignment, per a club announcement. They’ve also reinstated catcher Eric Haase from the 10-day injured list and recalled right-hander Jason Foley from Triple-A Toledo.
It’s been a season of rough results for the 31-year-old Ramirez, who carries a 5.74 ERA through 26 2/3 innings of relief in Detroit. He’s gone through a particularly rough stretch of late, yielding runs in five of his past seven appearances — including a three-run drubbing in two-thirds of an inning at the hands of the Cardinals this week. He’s posted a below-average 18.3 percent strikeout rate this season, although to his credit, Ramirez’s 4.6 percent walk rate is excellent.
The 2020 campaign went much better for Ramirez, who pitched 14 1/3 innings out of the Mets’ bullpen and held opponents to just one run on eight hits and four walks with nine strikeouts. He’s pitched for five big league teams across parts of nine seasons, totaling 681 2/3 frames of 4.37 ERA ball with an 18.4 percent strikeout rate, a strong 6.7 percent walk rate and a solid 44 percent ground-ball rate. He’ll hit outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days, and Ramirez has the service time to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo if he goes unclaimed on waivers.
Mariners Place Jake Fraley, Anthony Misiewicz On 10-Day Injured List
The Mariners made a handful of roster moves today. They placed Jake Fraley on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Anthony Misiewicz was also placed on the injured list because of a left forearm strain.
Fraley has made headway this season in making himself a big league outfielder, slashing .213/.359/.388 in 220 plate appearances, making his season thus far worth 1.5 rWAR. Misiewicz, meanwhile, has made 54 appearances covering 46 1/3 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA/3.32 FIP, 24.1 percent strikeout rate, 5.6 percent walk rate, and 44.9 percent groundball rate.
To fill their roster spots, Wyatt Mills was recalled from Triple-A, and Jimmy Yacabonis had his contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster, Shed Long was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Long went on the injured list on July 30, so he’s very likely done for the year. Keynan Middleton was also outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
Yacabonis will make his first appearance in the bigs since last year when he made two appearances with the Mariners. For his career, he owns a 5.71 ERA/6.05 FIP across 104 innings, mostly with the Orioles from 2017 to 2019. The 29-year-old right-hander has been sharp in Triple-A this season, tossing 31 1/3 innings with a 1.74 ERA. He will provide the Mariners with some length out of the bullpen should they need it.
Cardinals Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day Injured List
The Cardinals have placed Andrew Miller on the 10-day injured list because of a left foot blister, per the team. This will be the second time Miller misses time because of a blister on his foot. He missed the entire month of May because of a similar injury. When healthy, he has a 4.94 ERA/4.54 FIP over 31 innings.
Kodi Whitley has been recalled from Triple-A to take Miller’s roster spot. Whitley has made 12 appearances with the big league club this year, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits and seven walks while striking out eight over 10 1/3 innings.
Additionally, Dakota Hudson will head to Palm Beach for a rehab assignment in Single-A, and Mark Saxon suggests Hudson could pitch out of the Cardinals bullpen soon. Hudson has been out for the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cardinals would love to have a healthy Hudson in their rotation next season, but this year they will focus on working his arm back into game shape. Hudson’s one full season resulted in 174 2/3 innings of 3.35 ERA baseball back in 2019.
Indians Option James Karinchak To Triple-A
The Indians have optioned reliever James Karinchak to Triple-A, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (via Twitter). Bobby Bradley will be activated from the injured list to take Karinchak’s roster spot.
Karinchak was a popular breakout candidate this season because of his gaudy strikeout numbers, and for awhile, Karinchak made good on that promise. But it’s been a different story in the second half. After recording an absurd 42.5 percent strikeout rate in the first half, that number has fallen to 12.5 percent in the second half. His FIP has tumbled from 3.12 to 7.64.
Karinchak’s spin rates have plummeted all season long on both his fastball and his curve. His In Zone Swing & Miss Percentages have fallen as well, from 26% on his four-seamer in June to just 9% on that same pitch in August.
As for Bradley, the powerful first baseman slashed .213/.316/.480 over 174 plate appearances, his first real crack at regular playing time in the bigs. He’s been out since August 7 with a knee sprain.
A’s Place Seth Brown On COVID-Related Injured List, Recall Daulton Jefferies
The Athletics placed Seth Brown on the injured list after a positive COVID-19 test, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Daulton Jefferies was recalled from the taxi squad to claim his roster spot.
Brown has been part of the fix in right field after the club lost Ramon Laureano and Stephen Piscotty to a suspension and wrist surgery, respectively. Brown’s walk rate is a little low (8.2 percent) and his strikeout rate is a little high (29.2 percent), but he brings power to the position with a .254 ISO. With 254 plate appearances, the 29-year-old has not been an insubstantial contributor for these A’s, despite just a .219 BABIP that, along with the metrics above, paint Brown as a boom-or-bust type of role player.
Of course, the greater part of the story for Brown is that he’s been strictly a platoon player, with 233 plate appearances coming against right-handers. For that kind of limited usage player, you’d like to see even stronger splits, however, as Brown’s 100 wRC+ against righties suggests he’s holding the line as an average bat — but not much more than that.
Without him (and maybe even when he returns), the A’s piece together their final outfielder with infielders Tony Kemp, Josh Harrison, and Chad Pinder, depending on match-ups. Mark Canha also plays a role in Frankenstein-ing this roster spot, as he slides from left to right field depending on who else is in the lineup. The A’s seem more comfortable with Pinder in right, while Kemp and Harrison have taken their turns in left.
As for Jefferies, he’s most likely just an insurance arm in this short interval without Brown. The 26-year-old has served as a starter in all 16 of his outings this year, of which only one took place in the bigs. His arm should be fresh, however, as he hasn’t started a game since August 20th in Triple-A.