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Yankees Place Chris Iannetta On Restricted List, Activate Luis Cessa

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Aug. 7: The Yankees have now placed Iannetta on the restricted list, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic tweets. It’s unclear why the team made the move.

Aug. 5: The Yankees further announced this morning that right-hander Luis Cessa has been reinstated from the injured list, filling Iannetta’s roster spot. Cessa missed most of Summer Camp and the early portion of the regular season while recovering from Covid-19. He tested positive prior to intake and dealt with some minor symptoms before his return.

Aug. 4: The Yankees have outrighted catcher Chris Iannetta to their alternate training site after he cleared waivers, per a team announcement. Iannetta, whom the Yankees designated for assignment over the weekend, is no longer part of their 40-man roster but will stay in their 60-player pool.

The 37-year-old Iannetta joined the Yankees as a minor league pickup last offseason on the heels of a subpar campaign in Colorado. However, Iannetta has enjoyed quite a bit of offensive success in the majors as a member of a few teams. He’s the owner of a lifetime line of .230/.345/.406 (100 wRC+) with 141 home runs in 4,253 plate appearances since he debuted in 2006.

Iannetta’s track record hasn’t been enough for him to get an opportunity in New York, which has Gary Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka as the only catchers on its big league roster. Erik Kratz and Josh Thole join Iannetta as 60-man veteran reserves for the club.

Mets Make Handful Of Roster Moves

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The Mets announced a few moves before their loss to the Marlins on Friday. The club activated right-hander Robert Gsellman from the injured list, optioned lefty Daniel Zamora to its alternate training site, added infielder Luis Carpio to its 60-man player pool and outrighted outfielder Ryan Cordell.

Gsellman hasn’t pitched this season on account of a right triceps injury, which has weakened a New York bullpen that has begun 2020 in below-average fashion. Mets relievers ranked 24th in ERA entering Friday’s action.

Gsellman, for his part, has hardly been automatic when it comes to stopping runs, but he has given the Mets 143 2/3 decent innings in relief since 2018, and he averaged a career-best 95.4 mph on his fastball last season. He owns a 4.28 ERA/4.00 FIP with 8.09 K/9 and 3.27 BB/9 in 151 1/3 frames as a reliever.

Cordell joined the Mets on a minor league deal in January, but the team designated him for assignment Wednesday after he opened the season with four appearances and four trips to the plate. The former member of the White Sox cleared waivers after the Mets designated him, and he’s now in line to remain with the organization.

Reds Acquire Mark Payton From Athletics

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The Reds have acquired outfielder Mark Payton from the Athletics for cash considerations, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Cincy took Payton from Oakland during last winter’s Rule 5 Draft, but it returned him to the A’s on July 21.

The 28-year-old Payton entered the pro ranks as a seventh-round pick of the Yankees in 2014, and he hasn’t played in the majors yet. However, he is coming off a 2019 in which he was a tremendous minor league producer. Payton logged 447 plate appearances with the A’s top minors affiliate, mashed 30 home runs and hit .334/.400/.653 – good for a 148 wRC+ even in the offensively charged Pacific Coast League. He only struck out in 17 percent of trips to the plate, so Payton certainly wasn’t selling out for power.

Royals Place Mike Montgomery On 45-Day IL

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The Royals announced that they have moved left-hander Mike Montgomery and righty Glenn Sparkman from the 10-day injured list to the 45-day version. They also reinstated righty Chance Adams from the IL and optioned him to their alternate training site.

The most notable name here is Montgomery, who began the season in the Royals’ rotation before quickly succumbing to a lat strain. The 31-year-old has made made one start this year, back on July 27, but it didn’t go well. Montgomery lasted just two innings against the Tigers then and yielded five runs (three earned) on three hits. Considering Friday’s news, it’s unknown whether Montgomery will pitch again this season.

Montgomery’s best known as one of many 2016 heroes for the Cubs, as he saved their Game 7 World Series victory over the Indians that broke a 108-year championship drought. But Montgomery fell out of favor last season in Chicago, which dealt him to Kansas City for catcher Martin Maldonado with the trade deadline approaching.

During his second stint with the Royals, who first acquired him in Round 1 of the 2008 draft, Montgomery has put up a 4.91 ERA/5.33 FIP with 7.09 K/9, 2.86 BB/9 and a 51.7 percent groundball rate over 66 innings. Montgomery’s on a a prorated $3.1MM salary this year and has another season of arbitration eligibility left if the Royals choose to retain him on the heels of an injury-limited 2020.

Reds Add 3 To Player Pool

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The Reds have added left-hander Brandon Finnegan, infielder Rece Hinds and outfielder TJ Friedl to their 60-man player pool, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. All three players will report to the team’s alternate site.

While he was formerly a high-end prospect whom the Reds acquired from the Royals in the teams’ 2015 Johnny Cueto blockbuster, Finnegan hasn’t made a major impact in the bigs. Finnegan threw 172 innings of 3.98 ERA ball as a Red in 2016, but injuries have helped cut him down since then. He threw just 33 2/3 innings from 2017-18 and then didn’t pitch at all in the majors last season. The Reds outrighted the 27-year-old back in April.

Both Hinds and Friedl rank among the Reds’ most promising farmhands, as MLB.com places the former ninth in their system and the latter 22nd. Hinds, just 19 years old, was a second-round pick in 2019 who took a mere 10 plate appearances in rookie ball last season because of a quad injury. The 24-year-old Friedl has topped out at Double-A, where he batted .257/.353/.372 with seven home runs in 565 trips to the plate from 2018-19.

Latest On Yordan Alvarez, Jose Urquidy

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A litany of health problems have slowed the Astros, who have started 2020 an even 6-6 after winning the American League a year ago. Slugger and 2019 AL Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez is among the team’s most important players on the shelf, likely owing to a positive coronavirus test. Alvarez is taking batting practice and running, but manager Dusty Baker suggested a return is not imminent.

“The cavalry is a ways off,” Baker said of Alvarez and right-hander Jose Urquidy, who has also been on the IL for an undisclosed reason early this year, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Urquidy just began throwing off a mound.

The 23-year-old Alvarez was a critical piece of the puzzle for the Astros last season, when he slashed .313/.412/.655 with 27 home runs in 369 plate appearances. There’s obviously no realistic way to replace that type of production.

Urquidy, 25, didn’t star as a rookie last year, but he was impressive in his own right, as he amassed 41 innings of 3.95 ERA/3.68 FIP ball with 8.78 K/9 and 1.54 BB/9. The Astros, who are facing several injuries in their pitching staff, will welcome similar numbers this year if Urquidy is able to pitch.

Austin Pruitt is also among the wounded in Houston, and the club decided to transfer the righty to the 45-day IL because of an elbow ailment on Friday, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets. The move opened up space for just-acquired righty Chase De Jong in their 60-man player pool. Pruitt still hasn’t pitched for the Astros, who added him in an offseason trade with the Rays, and it remains very much in question whether he’ll take the mound at all this season.

Rays Select Sean Gilmartin

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The Rays announced Friday that they’ve placed lefty Jose Alvarado on the paternity list and selected the contract of fellow left-hander Sean Gilmartin from their alternate training site. A 40-man roster spot was opened by reinstating outfielder Manuel Margot from the bereavement list and placing him on the Covid-19-related injured list so that he can undergo mandatory intake testing. It should be noted that there’s no indication of a positive test or any symptoms for Margot; this is merely standard protocol after Margot left the team earlier this week following the death of his father.

Gilmartin, 30, has pitched in the big leagues in each of the past five seasons — albeit just 2 1/3 frames with the Orioles in 2019. The Braves selected him with the No. 28 pick back in 2011, and he’s since bounced around the league in a series of trades, a Rule 5 pick and waiver claims.

Back in 2015, the Mets looked wise to have plucked Gilmartin out of the Twins organization in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft. He stuck with the club all season and gave the Mets 57 2/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball with a strong 54-to-18 K/BB ratio and just two home runs allowed. Outside of that rookie season, however, success in the Majors has been hard to come by.

In the four years since that time, Gilmartin has pitched to a combined 5.90 ERA and 6.46 FIP, averaging just 5.5 strikeouts and 3.8 walks per nine innings pitched. Gilmartin’s home-run and walk rates have ballooned as his strikeout rate has dipped. He’ll hope to reverse those trends with the Rays, but it’s also possible that his stay with the club will be rather abbreviated, as Alvarado should return to the Rays in just a few days.

Royals Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

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The Royals announced Friday that right-hander Jorge Lopez has been designated for assignment. He’d been on the bereavement list, and because he’s out of minor league options, had to either be added back to the 28-man roster or designated for assignment. The Kansas City front office clearly didn’t feel that Lopez was among the team’s 28 best options, so he’ll now await the resolution of his DFA status. The Royals have a week to trade Lopez, release him or run him through outright waivers.

Lopez, 27, ranked among baseball’s 100 best prospects prior to the 2016 season but has never pieced things together at the game’s top level. The former second-rounder went from Milwaukee to K.C. alongside outfielder Brett Phillips in the trade that initially brought Mike Moustakas to the Brewers. Lopez, however, has logged 190 innings in the Majors between the two teams and stumbled to a 5.97 ERA with a pedestrian 157-to-70 K/BB ratio. He’s struggled quite a bit in Triple-A as well, and while the Pacific Coast League is notoriously hitter-friendly, a 6.31 ERA and 11 hits per nine innings pitched still doesn’t reflect well.

Lopez does average 94 mph on his sinker and generate grounders at an above-average rate, but his lack of minor league options might make it tough for another club to claim him.

Red Sox Release John Andreoli, Add Seth Blair To Player Pool

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The Red Sox have released outfielder John Andreoli in order to open a spot in their 60-man player pool for right-hander Seth Blair, per a team announcement. Blair will join the club’s alternate training site.

Andreoli, 30, is a Worcester native with 26 games and 67 plate appearance of big league experience under his belt. That all came back in 2018, when he hit .230/.284/.262 in a small sample with the Mariners and Orioles. Lack of big league experience aside, Andreoli is a solid depth piece for big league clubs given a career .262/.375/.416 slash in nearly 2500 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s also logged more than 2000 minor league innings at all three outfield positions and racked up 259 minor league stolen bases. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him latch on with a club hurting for outfield depth.

Blair, meanwhile, is something of a remarkable story. The 31-year-old was selected by the Cardinals with the No. 46 overall pick of the 2010 draft and looked to have washed out of baseball after an ugly season in 2014. Blair didn’t throw a professional pitch from 2015-18 but was given a chance at a comeback by the Padres organization in 2019. He spent the year with San Diego’s Class-A Advanced affiliate, and while his 4.11 ERA doesn’t stand out as a particularly impressive mark, Blair also notched an impressive 47-to-14 K/BB ratio in 35 frames. Now that he’s in Boston’s player pool, he’s closer to an improbable big league debut than he was at any point in 2019.

Orioles Add Two To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve added lefty Brian Gonzalez and infielder Gunnar Henderson to their 60-man player pool. Both have been assigned to the club’s alternate training site in Bowie. Baltimore’s pool is up to 59 players.

Gonzalez, 24, doesn’t rank among Baltimore’s best prospects but has had success up through the Double-A level, so he could emerge as an eventual bullpen option in 2020. The 2014 third-rounder struggled as a starter in Class-A Advanced and Double-A, but he was moved to a full-time relief role in 2019 and enjoyed his best year since 2016. Gonzalez tallied 53 1/3 innings last season, pitching to a 3.38 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and an admittedly bloated 1.5 HR/9 mark. The O’s recently traded southpaw Richard Bleier to the Marlins, so Gonzalez replenishes some of that depth.

Henderson, meanwhile, won’t see any MLB time in 2020. The 19-year-old was Baltimore’s second-round pick in the 2019 draft and hasn’t even reached A-ball yet, so there’s no way the club will put him on the 40-man roster and bring him to the big leagues. That said, he’s widely regarded as one of the rebuilding club’s ten best prospects, so he’ll head to Bowie to get some work with the coaching staff there and see some simulated reps along with the club’s other top minor leaguers. As The Athletic’s Dan Connolly points out on Twitter, the O’s now have all of their Top 11 prospects (per Baseball America’s rankings) either on their MLB roster or at their Bowie site.

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