Nationals Activate Juan Soto, Will Harris; Designate Hernan Perez
The Nationals have activated outfielder Juan Soto and right-handed reliever Will Harris from the injured list, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com. In corresponding moves, the Nationals designated infielder/outfielder Hernan Perez for assignment and optioned righty Kyle McGowin to Triple-A.
The Nationals held an ugly 5-9 record when Soto went on the IL on April 20 with a strained left shoulder. To their credit, though, the Nats did more than stay afloat during their superstar hitter’s absence. After going 7-3 while Soto was on the shelf, Washington sits at 12-12 – good for a half-game lead in the National League East. They’ll have to continue playing without Soto at full strength for a little while longer, as manager Dave Martinez said the 22-year-old still isn’t ready to throw in games (via Zuckerman). For now, he’ll serve as a pinch-hitter. That should continue leaving right field to Yadiel Hernandez, who has come up large with a .362/.444/.500 line in 36 plate appearances.
Harris, 36, has yet to debut this year as a result of right hand inflammation. There was a fear Harris would require thoracic outlet surgery, but he avoided that procedure and will now rejoin the Nationals’ bullpen a month into the season. The club signed Harris to a three-year, $24MM contract entering last season after a strong run with the Astros. Harris did throw 17 2/3 innings of 3.06 ERA ball with a 25 percent strikeout rate in 2020, though his fielding-independent numbers (4.09 xFIP, 4.13 SIERA, 4.55 FIP) were less impressive. He also experienced an increase in walks and home runs allowed, while his groundball percentage tumbled by over 12 percent from the previous season.
The 30-year-old Perez signed a minor league contract with the Nationals over the winter and then made their Opening Day roster. Perez couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, though, as he collected one hit (a single) in 21 plate appearances and struck out 10 times, leading the Nats to boot him from their 40-man roster.
Royals Sign Alcides Escobar
The Royals turned back the clock Tuesday, announcing that they’ve agreed to terms with veteran shortstop Alcides Escobar on a minor league deal. Escobar, the Royals’ everyday shortstop for their 2014-15 World Series teams, will head to Triple-A Omaha to begin the season.
Now 34 years old, Escobar was one of the key pieces Kansas City received in the 2010 trade that sent Zack Greinke to Milwaukee. Coming over alongside Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, Escobar quickly established himself as a foundational piece for the Royals. He was never a huge contributor at the plate, but at his best he hit for a respectable average while racking up 30-plus steals per year and flashing Gold Glove-caliber leather.
Escobar has appeared in parts of eight seasons with the Royals in the past, batting a combined .259/.292/.344 in just over 5000 plate appearances. He spent the 2020 season with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, hitting .273/.312/.329 through 104 games.
Escobar is on hand as a depth piece right now, but with Adalberto Mondesi still sidelined and being no stranger to prolonged stints on the injured list, it makes sense to bring in some veteran depth. The Royals have already gotten a notable portion of the 2014-15 band back together, as they currently have Wade Davis, Greg Holland and Jarrod Dyson on the MLB roster alongside franchise cornerstones Salvador Perez and Danny Duffy.
Nicky Lopez has been handling shortstop work in Mondesi’s absence and has performed well in the early stages of the season, but he has a limited track record at the plat. If his bat steps back or if the Royals incur further injuries in the middle infield, it’s possible that Escobar will be brought back into the fold and given another reunion tour in front of the Kansas City faithful.
Brewers Sign Wade LeBlanc, Logan Forsythe
The Brewers have signed left-hander Wade LeBlanc, infielder Logan Forsythe and catcher Christian Kelley to minor league contracts, per a team announcement. All three will open the season with their top minor league affiliate in Nashville.
LeBlanc, 36, began the season with the Orioles but was designated for assignment after six appearances. He spent the 2020 season with Baltimore as well, but the overall results weren’t pretty. The soft-tossing southpaw logged 29 frames with the Birds and was clobbered for 27 runs on 38 hits and nine walks with 19 strikeouts.
That said, LeBlanc has a pretty lengthy track record at the big league level and was particularly effective from 2014-18, when he tallied 321 2/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball spread across stints with the Angels, Yankees, Pirates and Mariners. He notched a career-high 162 innings with the 2018 Mariners and turned in a very solid 3.72 ERA in that time.
Forsythe, 34, brings a solid track record of his own to the Brewers. He’s spent parts of 10 seasons in the Majors and is experienced at all four infield positions. His peak came with the 2015-16 Rays, when he slashed a combined .273/.347/.444 as the team’s primary second baseman. He’s struggled at the plate and bounced around the league in journeyman fashion since that time. Overall, Forsythe is a career .244/.326/.369 hitter. He’s a versatile right-handed bat who’ll give the Brewers a depth option with a similar skill set to that of 2020 utilityman Jedd Gyorko (albeit without as much success at the plate).
The 27-year-old Kelley has never appeared in the Majors. He’s spent his career to this point in the Pirates organization, topping out with a rough Triple-A showing in 2019. Kelley was an 11th-round pick by the Bucs back in 2015 and carries only a career .229/.311/.306 batting line as a professional. However, he’s regarded as a sound defender, rating as the best defensive catcher in Pittsburgh’s system from 2018-20, per Baseball America. He’ll give the Brewers some depth with both Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina on the injured list.
Cubs Announce Series Of Roster Moves
The Cubs announced a series of roster moves Tuesday, placing righty Jake Arrieta, infielder Nico Hoerner and reliever Dan Winkler on the 10-day injured list. Arrieta is dealing with a right thumb abrasion, while Hoerner has a left forearm strain and Winkler is being slowed by tendinitis in his right triceps. In their absence, the Cubs have recalled lefty Kyle Ryan and right-hander Keegan Thompson. They’ve also selected the contract of infielder Ildemaro Vargas, filling their 40-man roster.
Arrieta, 35, has had a decent rebound effort with the Cubs thus far, making six starts and logging a 4.31 ERA through 31 1/3 frames out of the rotation. He signed a one-year, $6.5MM deal to return to the team with which he won a Cy Young Award in 2015 and a World Series ring in 2016. He’d been slated to take the mound tomorrow, but it appears the cut on his pitching thumb hasn’t healed to the point where he’s able to properly throw all of his offerings. Given the nature of the injury, it seems likely to be a short-term stay on the IL.
The 23-year-old is out to a brilliant start in 2021, slashing .389/.500/.556 with six doubles, three steals and eight walks against seven strikeouts through 44 trips to the plate. Hoerner collided with center fielder Ian Happ when chasing down a shallow fly-ball during Sunday’s game against the Reds, though it’s not clear if that play is the source of his current injury. Happ remains day-to-day after that incident, with manager David Ross telling reporters he’s been diagnosed with a rib contusion after getting kicked “pretty hard” by Hoerner in the process. Hoerner tells reporters he expects to be back from the IL when he’s first eligible (Twitter link via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago).
Winkler, meanwhile, has held opponents to just one run on five hits in 10 1/3 innings. It’s a strong start in terms of bottom-line results, but the fact that he’s walked seven batters, plunked another and snapped off a wild pitch suggest that he’ll need to improve his control if he’s to maintain anything close to that output. To his credit, Winkler has also punched out a dozen of the 44 hitters he’s faced, but this marks a second straight year of questionable command in the Cubs’ bullpen for the 31-year-old Illinois native.
Ryan leads Cubs relievers in innings pitched over the past few seasons and will give Ross another lefty to work with for the time being. Thompson, who made his MLB debut when he tossed an inning earlier this year, is slated to start the second game of today’s twin bill against the Dodgers. He’s a 26-year-old back-of-the-rotation/swingman candidate who ranks 14th among Cubs farmhands at MLB.com, 23rd at FanGraphs and 28th at Baseball America. The Cubs’ rotation doesn’t have room for him when it’s at full strength, but he’ll likely be called upon for multiple spot starts in situations just as this throughout the year, when injuries pop up among the team’s top few starters.
Vargas has appeared in eight games with the Cubs dating back to a 2020 waiver claim from the Twins. He’s spent the bulk of his career with the D-backs, primarily in a utility role, and is a lifetime .252/.280/.388 hitter in 300 trips to the plate as a big leaguer. He’ll factor into the mix at second base and off the bench while Hoerner is sidelined.
Pirates Release Brian Goodwin
The Pirates have released veteran outfielder Brian Goodwin, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was among those to report. The 30-year-old Goodwin joined the Pirates back in February on a minor league contract. The deal included an opt-out clause for May, so it’s possible Goodwin exercised it before the Pirates decided to cut him loose.
Goodwin has experience at all three outfield positions, but the former National, Royal, Angel and Red was unable to work his way up to the majors with Pittsburgh. The Pirates have primarily relied on Bryan Reynolds, Dustin Fowler (whom they outrighted last week), Phillip Evans and Gregory Polanco in the grass this year, and they’ve given a few starts to recent waiver pickup Ka’ai Tom of late. Reynolds has been far and away the most effective member of that group, while Evans has put up league-average offense and Polanco has gotten off to a slow start.
Goodwin has logged average offense in his own right during his 1,124-plate appearance career, in which he has hit .250/.317/.455 (101 wRC+) with 42 home runs and 22 stolen bases. That history of respectable offensive production should help him latch on elsewhere sometime soon.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/3/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- Infielder Greg Garcia opted out of his minor league contract with the Phillies, who subsequently released him, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Garcia spent roughly two weeks with the Phillies, though he never made it to their roster after signing April 22. The former Cardinal and Padre will return to the open market as the owner of a .245/.354/.339 line in 1,303 plate appearances.
Earlier transactions:
- JT Riddle and Tzu-Wei Lin both cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Twins earlier this week, according to SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter links). The infielders will be assigned to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul for the start of the minor league season. Riddle and Lin signed minors deals with Minnesota in December, and each had their contracts selected in April as the Twins looked to fill some roster holes created by injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak. Riddle appeared in four games before landing on the COVID injured list himself, while Lin appeared in just one game as a defensive sub.
Blue Jays Place Kirk, Milone, Castro On 10-Day IL
MAY 3: Kirk could miss at least six weeks, Ben Wagner of Sportsnet tweets.
MAY 2, 5:20PM: Right-hander Anthony Castro was also sent to the 10-day IL due to a forearm strain. The severity of the strain isn’t known, though Castro did undergo Tommy John surgery earlier in his career. Left-hander Anthony Kay was called up from the alternate training site.
11:40PM: The Blue Jays indeed decided to recall Riley Adams from Triple-A to replace Kirk on the active roster, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter).
9:10PM: The Blue Jays will make a number of roster moves today. Alejandro Kirk and Tommy Milone will head to the injured list, while Ross Stripling will return to the team, per Ben Wagner of Sportsnet (via Twitter). Presumably, with Kirk out for at least 10 days, the Blue Jays will need to add a backup to the roster for Danny Jansen.
Speculatively speaking, Reese McGuire or Juan Graterol would be the Jays’ top option, though either one would need to be added to the 40-man roster. The Jays do have an open spot on their 40-man, but they also have Riley Adams, 24, who is already on the 40-man roster and could slot into Jansen’s backup role without a 40-man move. If the Jays expect Kirk to return after a minimum stint on the IL, they might prefer to avoid the rigmarole that comes with putting the out-of-options McGuire back onto the active roster. Graterol, 32, does have an option remaining.
On the pitching side, Milone heads to the injured list after contributing 14 innings of 6.43 ERA baseball (4.09 FIP). The veteran southpaw made one start and five appearances out of the pen. Stripling will return to the rotation for the first time since being placed on the injured list with a flexor strain in mid-April. Stripling and the Blue Jays hope he can re-gain the form that made him a valuable swingman for the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019.
Royals Promote Daniel Lynch
MAY 3: Lynch’s promotion is official, Rogers tweets. To make room for him, the Royals optioned righty Jake Newberry and moved lefty Daniel Tillo (elbow surgery) to the 60-day injured list.
MAY 2, 7:58PM: Jakob Junis will be moved from the rotation to the bullpen to make room for Lynch, GM Dayton Moore told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. Junis has a solid 3.47 ERA/3.35 SIERA and 28.7% strikeout rate over 23 1/3 innings this season, but Moore feels Junis can help strength a relief corps thinned by injuries.
6:00PM: The Royals announced that top pitching prospect Daniel Lynch will be called up on Monday. Lynch will make his MLB debut as the starting pitcher in tomorrow’s game against the Indians. K.C. has a full 40-man roster, so at least one corresponding move will have to be made to create room for Lynch on both the 40-man and the 26-man active roster.
The 34th overall pick of the 2018 draft, the left-handed Lynch has emerged as one of the more intriguing minor league arms in all of baseball, let alone in Kansas City’s farm system. Lynch is a consensus pick as a top-100 prospect, albeit within a fairly large range of projections — Keith Law (17th), MLB Pipeline (24th), Baseball America (25th) all have Lynch very high on their boards, while Fangraphs (61st) and Baseball Prospectus (70th) aren’t quite as optimistic.
Fangraphs’ scouting report still pegs Lynch as “a very safe mid-rotation sort” based on his fastball alone, which has increased in velocity during his short pro career. Lynch has hit the 99mph-threshold and regularly throws his fastball in the 95-97mph range. His slider is another plus pitch, and his changeup is also turning into a plus offering. “He’ll have to keep working on repeating his delivery to boost his command and control, but this is elite stuff from the left side,” Law writes.
The 24-year-old Lynch has a 2.74 ERA and 26.2% strikeout rate over 147 2/3 innings in the minors, but he’ll be making the jump to the Show without any Double-A or Triple-A experience. He was originally set to begin the 2021 season at Triple-A, but clearly the Royals are impressed by what they’ve seen from Lynch at Spring Training and at their alternate training site.
Should Lynch remain with the Royals for the rest of the season, enough time has passed on the calendar that the team will control his rights for an extra seventh year, so Lynch would be controlled through the 2027 season. However, it remains to be seen if Lynch is just getting a cup of coffee in the big leagues, perhaps as a fill-in for Brady Singer. During Friday’s game, Singer’s start was cut short after two innings after he took a hard comebacker off his left heel to conclude the second frame. X-rays were negative on Singer’s heel and he was expected to make his next scheduled start, though the Royals might be either considering a 10-day IL stint just to be cautious, or perhaps Singer could just be held back a day or two.
Mets Release Caleb Joseph
The Mets released Caleb Joseph from his split contract with the team, MLBTR has learned. The move took place last week. Joseph signed with New York in February and was a late cut at the end of Spring Training camp.
A veteran of seven big league seasons, Joseph is best known for his time as a backup and part-time catcher with the Orioles from 2014-18. He also appeared in 20 games with the Diamondbacks in 2019 and three games back in the AL East with the Blue Jays last season. Joseph has hit .222/.270/.351 with 32 home runs over 1367 career plate appearances in the majors, but is better known for his defense, particularly his pitch-framing and his ability to throw out baserunners.
Joseph’s release leaves the Mets without much experienced catching depth at the Triple-A level, though the club added another backstop by claiming Deivy Grullon off waivers from the Rays last week. Grullon, Bruce Maxwell, and Patrick Mazeika are the top depth options behind the MLB catching combo of James McCann and Tomas Nido.
Marlins’ Paul Campbell Issued 80-Game PED Suspension
Marlins right-hander Paul Campbell has been suspended for 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the league announced. Campbell tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT).
Originally a 21st-round pick for the Rays in the 2017 draft, Campbell was selected out of Tampa Bay’s organization by the Marlins in last December’s Rule 5 draft. Making his big league debut this season, Campbell had an 8.74 ERA over 11 1/3 innings for Miami, with a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate but with some respectable hard-contact numbers. Control was also an issue, with six walks allowed in Campbell’s 11 1/3 frames.
Via the MLB Players Association, Campbell released a statement about his suspension, saying he “never knowingly, willingly, or intentionally ingested this substance in any form, nor have I ever heard of DHCMT prior to this situation.”
“Due to the fact that I do not know the origin of how this substance has entered into my system, I currently have no viable defense in support of my innocence. I have unfortunately become one of the many athletes, across multiple sports, who are presenting themselves to the world and asking for members of the anti-doping world to help us find answers as to why this metabolite is continuing to show up in athletes’ bodies and ultimately costing them significant detours in their careers.”
DHCMT has been a subject of controversy in recent years, as The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond explored in a piece last August. Kent Emanuel, Tres Barrera, Chris Colabello, and Alec Asher are a few of the other MLB players who have been suspended for DHCMT, and Emanuel recently stated (hat tip to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal) that the league rejected an MLBPA proposal stating that a player couldn’t be suspended unless he had more than 100 pictograms of DHCMT in his system.