Indians Option Mike Clevinger, Zach Plesac
The Indians have reinstated starters Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac from the restricted list. In a surprising twist, both rotation members have been optioned to the alternate training site.
This news comes in the aftermath of a forehead-smacking decision by this talented pair of right-handed hurlers. They each violated collectively bargained MLB coronavirus protocols and then — as rotation mate Adam Plutko explained — lied to the team about their poor decisions.
The decision to option both pitchers came on the heels of a team meeting involving them both, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal covers (Twitter links). It’s clear the organization decided it had to send a message.
It’s unlikely but not impossible that the optional assignment will have a significant impact on either player’s contractual situation. Clevinger entered the year with 3.041 years of MLB service while Plesac had 125 days. Unless the Indians leave them down for an extended stretch, they’ll still be able to move into the next service class. But the move could ruin Plesac’s hopes for potential early arbitration qualification as a Super Two.
Orioles Select Chandler Shepherd
The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chandler Shepherd and optioned righty David Hess to their alternate training site. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now up to a total of 39 players.
Shepherd, 28 later this month, made his big league debut with the O’s last season and allowed 14 runs in 19 frames — albeit with a solid 17-to-6 K/BB ratio. The longtime Red Sox farmhand had a solid track record in Triple-A prior to last year’s offensive explosion at that level, carrying a 3.91 ERA to that point in his career.
Shepherd has generally fared well in the upper minors while averaging a bit less than a punchout per frame and about two and a half walks per nine innings pitched. He sat at 92.2 mph with his fastball in last year’s debut effort and has posted roughly average ground-ball tendencies between Double-A and Triple-A.
Hess has a solid track record between Double-A and Triple-A over the past three seasons as well, but he’s yet to find success in the big leagues. He’s logged 190 1/3 frames since debuting back in ’17 and struggled to a 5.98 ERA with a 6.41 FIP in that time.
Marlins Acquire Jesus Tinoco
The Marlins have acquired right-hander Jesus Tinoco from the Rockies for fellow righty Chad Smith, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports. Tinoco will join the Marlins’ player pool and report to their alternate training site.
This is the second trade involving Tinoco, who was part of the Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster between the Blue Jays and Rockies in 2015. Tinoco reached the Triple-A and major league levels for the first time last season, though he didn’t produce great numbers in either place. The 25-year-old did pitch to a 3.97 ERA in 34 innings at the minors’ top level, but he only logged 6.1 K/9 against 4.98 BB/9. In his MLB debut, Tinoco’s control issues continued, as he recorded a 5.5 BB/9 with a 4.75 ERA and 7.0 K/9 across 36 frames.
Smith, 25, was an 11th-rounder of the Marlins in 2016 who hasn’t advanced beyond Double-A yet. He owns a 4.46 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 149 1/3 minor league innings.
Twins Designate Cory Gearrin For Assignment
The Twins have designated right-handed reliever Cory Gearrin for assignment, per a club announcement. Minnesota also activated righty Zack Littell from the injured list, placed fellow right-hander Cody Stashak on the 10-day IL due to lower back inflammation and activated recently acquired infielder Ildemaro Vargas.
Gearrin, 34, inked a minor league deal with the Twins in early 2020 and was added to the big league roster over the weekend after beginning the season at their alternate training site in St. Paul. He pitched a pair of scoreless innings Sunday, and in doing so ensured that he’d pitched in his sixth consecutive Major League season.
Gearrin has never been an overpowering reliever, but he has a solid track record in the Majors. From 2016-19, he averaged 63 relief appearances per year and worked to a tidy 3.42 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 47.9 percent ground-ball rate. Overall, Gearrin carries a 3.61 ERA and 3.81 FIP in 304 innings at the Major League level. Given the number of struggling bullpens around the game, he could appeal to another team on a waiver claim or a minor trade.
As for Littell, he’ll return to the club after missing about two weeks with a hamstring strain. He was tagged for four runs in his first three innings of work this season, but Littell flourished in the Minnesota bullpen last year, finishing out the season with 30 2/3 frames of 0.88 ERA ball after being recalled from Triple-A in late June. Stashak had his own impressive run for the Twins in the second half of 2019 and has allowed three runs on five hits and a pair of walks with 10 punchouts through seven innings thus far in 2020.
Rangers Place Edinson Volquez On 45-Day Injured List
The Rangers announced Thursday that right-hander Edinson Volquez has been placed on the 45-day injured list after suffering a right oblique strain in his most recent appearance. With only 47 days remaining in the regular season, that will likely put an end to his 2020 campaign.
Volquez, 37, returned to Texas on a minor league deal this winter after pitching 16 innings for them in 2019. He openly pondered the possibility of retiring last summer, suggesting that he hoped to get back on the mound with the Rangers late in the season and then call it a career. At the time, it seemed Volquez was simply hoping to go out on his own terms, but he clearly felt strong enough last September to give things another go in 2020. He cracked the club’s Opening Day roster and has pitched 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs, although virtually all the damage against him came in one ugly outing.
What’s next for Volquez isn’t clear. The right-hander has been limited to just 21 2/3 big league frames over the past three seasons after undergoing his second career Tommy John surgery late in the 2017 season while pitching for the Marlins. To this point, he’s amassed 1546 1/3 Major League innings while pitching to a 95-89 record with a 4.45 ERA and 1323 strikeouts. Volquez was an All-Star in a 2008 campaign that saw him finish fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and he’s pitched in parts of three postseasons — including as a key member of the Royals’ World Series-winning rotation in 2015.
Braves Outright Scott Schebler
The Braves announced that outfielder Scott Schebler went unclaimed on waivers and has been outrighted to their alternate training site in Gwinnett. Because he’s been assigned to the alternate training site, Schebler remains in the 60-player pool and is eligible to rejoin the club at a later date this season.
Atlanta acquired the 29-year-old Schebler from the Reds in exchange for cash after Cincinnati designated him for assignment. He received just one plate appearance with the Braves before being designated a second time.
It wasn’t long ago that Schebler was a 30-homer bat for the Reds. He swatted 30 long balls and hit .233/.307/.484 back in 2017 as the primary right fielder in Cincinnati, but the composition of their outfield has turned over considerably since that time. Schebler was used in a more limited role in 2018 but still hit well (.255/.337/.439, 17 homers). Shoulder troubles completely tanked Scheber’s 2019 season, however. He eventually underwent labrum repair surgery after hitting just .123/.253/.222 in 95 Major League plate appearances and .216/.274/.325 in 212 Triple-A plate appearances. He’ll work with the club’s alternate roster in Gwinnett while hoping for another chance at the big league level now that his shoulder is back up to strength.
Red Sox Claim Christian Arroyo
The Red Sox announced that they’ve claimed infielder Christian Arroyo off waivers from the Indians, who’d designated him for assignment last week. Boston’s 40-man roster and 60-man player pool are now full.
Still just 25 years of age, Arroyo was a 2013 first-round pick by the Giants who is now joining his fourth big league club. San Francisco initially traded him to Tampa Bay — when current chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was a senior VP of baseball ops with the Rays — in the Evan Longoria swap. Arroyo went to Cleveland alongside righty Hunter Wood in a 2019 deadline deal.
The right-handed-hitting Arroyo has appeared in 71 big league games and tallied 251 plate appearances, though he has only a .215/.280/.342 slash to show for it. Arroyo, however, is a career .298/.359/.487 hitter in 418 Triple-A plate appearances, and he comes to the BoSox with experience at shortstop (2574 innings), third base (1257 innings) and second base (519 innings).
At his prospect peak, Arroyo was known as a hit-over-power player at the plate with a strong throwing arm but questionable range at shortstop. That’s not an issue for the Red Sox, who have Xander Bogaerts entrenched at short with Rafael Devers similarly locked in at third base.
The outlook at second base is far murkier, though, given Dustin Pedroia‘s now years-long knee troubles. Jose Peraza was signed to a cheap one-year deal this winter and has paired with Rule 5 pick Jonathan Arauz and Tzu-Wei Lin to handle the workload at second base. That trio, though, has combined for a disastrous .224/.235/.299 slash. Arroyo adds another option to the pile, and it’s hard to imagine he’d offer much of a downgrade from that collective output. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need to remain on Boston’s active roster or else be designated for assignment once again.
Brewers Announce Series Of Roster Moves
The Brewers made a host of moves Thursday, perhaps most notably optioning lefty Eric Lauer to their alternate training site. Milwaukee also placed righty Justin Grimm on the 10-day injured list due to a laceration on his right index finger. In a pair of corresponding moves, lefty Angel Perdomo was recalled from the alternate site and righty Drew Rasmussen‘s contract was selected to the MLB roster. In order to open space on the 40-man roster for Rasmussen, the Brewers transferred right-hander Ray Black from the 10-day IL to the 45-day IL.
Lauer, 25, was acquired along with Luis Urias in the trade that sent Zach Davies and Trent Grisham to the Padres back in November. He was a constant presence in the Padres’ rotation from 2018-19, but he’s gotten out to a tough start in his first few appearances as a Brewer. Lauer has made a pair of starts and one relief appearance thus far but yielded 13 runs in 9 1/3 frames. Lauer’s 2 2/3-inning relief appearance could hardly have gone better — he whiffed six hitters in a scoreless effort — but he’s been hit hard by the Reds and Twins in two subsequent starts.
The 26-year-old Perdomo has a strong minor league track record but ran into a roadblock in last year’s supercharged offensive atmosphere in Triple-A (5.17 ERA in 54 frames). Despite the bloated ERA, though, Perdomo still punched out 86 hitters in those 54 innings of work. He’ll give skipper Craig Counsell a fourth lefty out of the ‘pen, joining Josh Hader, Brent Suter and Alex Claudio. His first appearance in a game will mark his Major League debut.
Rasmussen is also slated to make his first MLB showing. The 25-year-old averaged 11.6 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 while working to a 3.15 ERA through 74 1/3 innings across three minor league levels last year. That marked the lone season of professional experience for the 2018 sixth-rounder, who’ll now jump directly from Double-A to the big leagues after impressing the club both in Summer Camp and at the alternate training site.
As for Black, it seems as though he’s now in danger of another season-ending injury. The flamethrowing righty brings triple-digit heat and outrageous minor league strikeout numbers, but he’s simply been unable to stay healthy enough to establish himself in the Majors. Black went on the injured list due to a rotator cuff strain to begin the season, and today’s move to the 45-day IL suggests that the club doesn’t expect him back anytime soon.
Phillies Designate Edgar Garcia, Place Adam Haseley On Injured List
The Phillies announced Thursday that right-hander Edgar Garcia has been designated for assignment, while center fielder Adam Haseley has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist sprain. The moves pave the way for the promotion of top prospect Alec Bohm, whose first call to the big leagues was reported earlier in the day. He’s batting sixth for the Phils tonight and playing third base.
The loss of Haseley for at least the immediate future likely means Scott Kingery and Roman Quinn will share time in center field. Bohm, the No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft, should get a legitimate audition at the hot corner, which will mean Jean Segura seeing extra time at second base. Haseley had been out to a hot start in 10 games, slashing .333/.364/.429 in 22 trips to the plate. Since debuting in 2019, the 2017 first-rounder has posted a .272/.327/.399 slash while playing quality defense in the outfield. Kingery’s versatility helps to cushion the loss, but the Phils will obviously be hoping for an abbreviated absence for the promising 24-year-old.
Garcia, meanwhile, hasn’t pitched in the Majors this year. The 22-year-old made his big league debut with last year’s Phillies, compiling 39 innings but pitching to an ugly 5.77 earned run average. Walks were a huge flaw for Garcia, who whiffed 45 hitters in that time but also yielded 26 free passes (in addition to four wild pitches). He does have strong numbers in the upper minors and a minor league option remaining beyond 2020, so it’s possible another club could take a look at Garcia either in a small trade or as a waiver claim.
Nationals Promote Seth Romero, Place Sean Doolittle On IL
The Nationals have selected the contract of pitching prospect Seth Romero. Veteran reliever Sean Doolittle was moved to the 10-day injured list with right knee fatigue.
This isn’t quite how the Nats hoped things to shake out early, but the team’s supply of southpaw relievers has now been exhausted. The team placed Sam Freeman on the IL earlier today.
Details of Doolittle’s injury aren’t yet known. The placement surely also reflects his difficulties on the mound. He has made it through three total innings in five appearances, coughing up five earned runs while recording only two strikeouts. Doolittle’s velocity has fallen off a cliff, declining three full ticks on average versus 2019.
When the Nats picked Romero in the first round of the 2017 draft, there were whispers that the team might speed him through the system for a near-term relief role. It took some time, and required a few ups and downs but he’s now headed to the majors to work out of the pen.
Romero has averaged 13.1 K/9 in the minors, but that’s in a minimal sample of 47 1/3 innings. His 2019 campaign was wiped out entirely by Tommy John surgery, though that’s now nearly two years in the rearview mirror.
In the long run, the hope surely remains that Romero will turn into a rotation piece. For now, the Nationals need to address the immediate need and will give him a shot to carve out a place on the pitching staff.