Braves Option Sean Newcomb
The Braves optioned lefty Sean Newcomb to the team’s alternate training site after tonight’s game. He’ll remain on the 40-man roster and in the 60-man player pool.
This is the latest in a series of hits to the Atlanta rotation. In this case, as with Mike Foltynewicz, it’s simply a matter of inadequate performance.
Newcomb, 27, was bombed in a forgettable start this evening. He recorded only four outs while doling out a pair of walks and a pair of long balls and permitting eight total earned runs.
That performance represented another segment of a roller coaster season … which is itself but a part of a rather topsy-turvy career. The southpaw has had his share of success but never quite fully found his groove in the majors.
In 2018, Newcomb emerged as a solid rotation piece, running a 3.90 ERA in 164 frames. He ended up spending most of last year in the bullpen, where he worked to a 3.04 ERA in 51 appearances.
The Braves had cause to hope that Newcomb might step up when the opportunity arose to return to the rotation. Instead, he’ll have to earn his way back to the active roster. It’s back to the drawing board for the club, which will have to dip into the farm for another arm to start (or help man a bullpen game).
Dodgers Outright Terrance Gore
The Dodgers have outrighted outfielder Terrance Gore, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. He had recently been designated for assignment.
Gore will remain in the Dodgers’ 60-man player pool. He will remain available to the team if and when there’s another opportunity at the MLB level.
In addition to potential fill-in duty, Gore could be a late-season or postseason option. He’s a fleet-footed, highly regarded fielder who hasn’t been allowed to swing the bat much at the MLB level. Gore has appeared in each of the past seven campaigns, logging forty stolen bases and just 77 plate appearances (including two this year with L.A.).
Angels Designate Jose Rodriguez
The Angels have designated righty Jose Rodriguez for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for southpaw Jose Suarez, who was reinstated from the injured list and optioned to the team’s alternate training site.
Soon to turn 25, Rodriguez first reached the majors in 2019 as a swingman for the Halos. He has only allowed six earned runs in 21 1/3 MLB innings, but he has managed only a 13:12 K/BB ratio and has also coughed up five long balls. The Angels obviously don’t expect that high-wire act to continue succeeding.
If and when he earns his way back to the bigs, the 22-year-old Suarez will hope to improve upon a challenging debut season. He was tagged for 23 long balls and limped to a 7.11 ERA in 81 frames last year. The Los Angeles organization will certainly remain patient given Suarez’s history of high strikeout rates as a minor-league starter.
Red Sox Release Brian Johnson
The Red Sox have released lefty Brian Johnson, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com (via Twitter). He did not have a place on the team’s 40-man roster but was in the 60-man player pool.
Johnson, 29, was a useful swingman for the Boston club back in 2018. He threw 99 1/3 frames that year, working to a 4.17 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. Things turned south last year, however, as Johnson saw his walk rate (5.1 BB/9) and ERA (6.02) skyrocket.
It sounds as if the decision was driven by Johnson himself. Though the organization has been scrambling a bit for innings, he hasn’t drawn another chance. It seems the southpaw will now go out looking for a new opportunity with another organization.
Brewers Reinstate Luis Urias, Designate Logan Morrison
The Brewers have reinstated infielder Luis Urias from the injured list. He had been sidelined due to a COVID-19 diagnosis.
To open roster space, the Milwaukee organization has designated veteran first baseman Logan Morrison for assignment. He could conceivably remain with the team if he clears waivers and the club wants to keep him in the 60-man player pool.
Urias came to the Brew Crew along with Eric Lauer in the swap that sent Trent Grisham and Zach Davies to the Padres. The Friars have received strong initial production on their side of the deal, though it’s obviously far too soon to declare a winner.
Through about a half-season of total MLB play, Urias has struggled to a .221/.318/.331 batting line with six home runs. But the former top-100 prospect has ripped up Triple-A pitching for a cumulative .305/.403/.511 output over 887 plate appearances.
Morrison, soon to turn 33, has seen his MLB opportunities wane in recent seasons. He struggled in 28 plate appearances early this season in Milwaukee. In his eleven major league campaigns, LoMo has launched 140 long balls and produced a .238/.323/.425 slash.
Mariners Claim Brady Lail, Designate Patrick Wisdom
The Mariners announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Brady Lail off waivers from the White Sox and designated infielder Patrick Wisdom for assignment.
Lail, 27, made his big league debut with the Yankees in 2019 but pitched just 2 2/3 innings in his lone appearance with the club. It was a similar tale with the ChiSox, who got Lail into one game for 1 1/3 innings of work prior to designating the right-hander for assignment. He’s struggled in the upper minors as a starter, but he moved to the bullpen full-time a couple years back and has since enjoyed much better results. In 49 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019, Lail pitched to a 3.83 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.
Wisdom, 28, hasn’t appeared in the Majors with Seattle since signing with them over the winter. He’s a career .224/.306/.408 hitter in 86 MLB plate appearances and a .252/.328/.478 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Wisdom struggled quite a bit in his first run through Triple-A, but he’s slugged 77 homers in three seasons since that time while oscillating between the Majors and Minors. He has experience at all four corner positions.
Marcus Stroman Opts Out Of 2020 Season
The Mets announced Monday that right-hander Marcus Stroman has opted out of the remainder of the 2020 season. The right-hander, who is a free agent at season’s end, called the move a family decision and cited the many “uncertainties” and “unknowns” of playing in the current health-and-safety atmosphere.
This obviously represents a major blow to the Mets’ hopes in 2020. While Stroman will forgo the remainder of his $12MM salary, it isn’t as if there’s an obvious way for the team to reinvest it for a player of similar quality — at least, not without giving up substantial prospect value via trade.
The decision puts a bow on the Mets’ end of last summer’s trade that brought Stroman to Queens. Adding him cost two promising young starters: Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson. The club remained competitive late in 2019 but was already in too deep a hole to make a postseason run. And now Stroman won’t throw a pitch in the 2020 campaign.
It all sets up several intriguing contract situations in the future. Stroman, who had been on the injured list, did not opt out until after he had reached six full years of MLB service. That means he’ll still qualify for free agency. Whether the Mets will extend Stroman a qualifying offer, as once seemed sure, remains to be seen. And it’ll be interesting to see how the open market treats the high-quality 29-year-old.
Stroman is now listed among the players around the game that have opted out of the 2020 season.
Twins Sign Casey Lawrence, Outright Aaron Whitefield
The Twins have inked right-hander Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal and assigned him to their alternate training site in St. Paul, per The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (Twitter link). Meanwhile, outfielder Aaron Whitefield has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to the minor leagues. Being outrighted to the minors versus the alternate training site is a notable distinction, as it indicates that Whitefield is no longer in the team’s 60-player pool. He won’t be eligible to return to Minnesota’s pool in 2020 (though he could still technically be traded elsewhere). The Twins had 59 players in their pool.
Lawrence, 32, has seen action in a pair of big league seasons without much success. In 78 2/3 innings between the Blue Jays and Mariners, he was knocked around for a 6.64 ERA with a 66-to-35 K/BB ratio (five of the walks were intentional) and a 48.6 percent grounder rate. However, he also has a career 3.73 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in parts of five Triple-A seasons.
Lawrence actually signed a minor league deal with Minnesota back in January, although he wasn’t ever included in the team’s player pool and was seemingly cut loose at some point between the conclusion of Spring Training and today’s re-signing. The Twins currently have Zack Littell, Homer Bailey and Rich Hill on the injured list, which prompted the team to select Cory Gearrin‘s contract yesterday. Bringing Lawrence into the mix gives them another experienced arm to stash in St. Paul should they need a long reliever at some point.
As for Whitefield, he made just one plate appearance and appeared in three games with the Twins this year. That marked the 23-year-old Aussie’s MLB debut, but he was destined for a limited role from the moment the Twins put him on the Opening Day roster. Whitefield was a late add to Minnesota’s player pool and was carried primarily for pinch-running and late-inning defensive purposes. He’s a career .238/.299/.338 hitter in the minors but has gone 115-for-148 (77.7 percent) in stolen base attempts through just 357 games in the Twins’ system.
Rangers Sign Derek Dietrich
The Rangers have signed infielder Derek Dietrich to a minor league contract and assigned him to their alternate training site, per a club announcement. Texas will be the third organization for Dietrich already in 2020. He signed a minor league deal with the Reds (with whom he spent the 2019 season) over the winter and latched on with the Cubs late last month after Cincinnati cut him loose. The Cubs released Dietrich just 24 hours ago.
Early last summer, Dietrich looked to be one of the best minor league pickups in all of MLB. Through his first 157 trips to the plate, he raked at a .263/.369/.684 clip and had already set a new career-high in home runs. He was thriving both at the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park and on the road, but his offensive output cratered in the season’s final few months. Over his final 149 plate appearances, he hit just .102/.284/.212.
In all, Dietrich is a career .246/.334/.427 hitter with 79 home runs, 106 doubles and 21 triples in 2438 plate appearances between the Marlins and Reds. He has experience playing second base, first base, third base and the outfield corners. He’ll give the club some lefty-hitting bench depth and perhaps an alternative to the struggling Rougned Odor, who has opened the season with a disastrous .114/.205/.229 slash and 16 strikeouts in 39 plate appearances.
Orioles Release Ty Blach
The Orioles announced this morning that they have released left-hander Ty Blach. He underwent Tommy John surgery last month. Blach wasn’t on the team’s 40-man roster but had been in their 60-man player pool, which dropped to a total of 59 players with his release.
Blach, 29, struggled in 20 2/3 frames with the Orioles in 2019 after being claimed off waivers out of the Giants organization. Between those two clubs, he was tagged for 36 runs on 46 hits and 17 walks with 20 strikeouts in 27 innings of work.
While that was a season Blach would surely like to forget, his prior work in San Francisco was solid. From 2016-18, Blach logged 299 1/3 innings with a 4.36 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 4.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 50.1 percent ground-ball rate. The lack of strikeouts is obviously glaring, but Blach generally avoided too much hard contact on his sinker, which helped him to limit the damage.