Braves Release Lucas Duda
The Braves have released first baseman Lucas Duda, Grant McAuley of Braves Radio Network tweets.
It’s an unceremonious ending to the second Braves tenure for Duda, who signed a minor league contract with the team Aug. 5. Duda was previously a Brave in 2018, when they acquired the slugger from the Royals almost exactly one year ago (Aug. 29). While Duda was a useful bench piece for the Braves then, albeit over only 22 plate appearances, he didn’t make it back to the majors with the club this summer. The 33-year-old instead posted hideous numbers across 68 PA as a member of Triple-A Gwinnett, with which he batted .140/.235/.211.
At his best, Duda was a legitimate power threat with the Mets and Rays from 2014-17. Aside from an injury-limited 2016, he piled up at least 27 home runs in each of those seasons – including 30-HR campaigns to bookend that four-year span. Duda hasn’t been anywhere near as formidable at the plate over the past couple seasons, though. After settling for a minors deal with the Royals in late March, the lefty-swinging Duda stumbled to a .171/.252/.324 line with four homers in 119 PA before they released him July 29.
Nationals Sign Josh Lucas To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have agreed to a minor league contract with righty Josh Lucas, per an announcement from Paul Braverman of the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies (Twitter link). Lucas will report to the Grizzlies.
It’s been a tough season for the 28-year-old Lucas, who struggled through multiple stints with the Orioles before being released. He’s totaled 15 2/3 innings but surrendered a total of 12 runs (10 earned) on 14 hits and seven walks with 16 strikeouts. His Triple-A results have struggled too, as despite a strong track record there in prior seasons, Lucas owns a 6.85 ERA (5.99 FIP) with a 19-to-12 K/BB ratio in 23 2/3 innings of work.
From 2017-18, Lucas tallied 98 2/3 innings of 2.92 ERA ball in Triple-A with a 100-to-27 K/BB ratio, so he does have a fair bit of success in the upper minors. He’ll now join a lengthy list of depth options that the Nationals have picked up in recent months. The Nats have signed Greg Holland, Sam Freeman and Jake Buchanan to minor league deals in the month of August and have regularly speculated on recently released relievers throughout the season as they work to patch together a bullpen that has been their primary weakness in 2019.
Reds Release Brad Boxberger
The Reds have released right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger, Kegan Lowe of Baseball America relays.
The reunion between the Reds and Boxberger didn’t last long, as they just signed the 31-year-old to a minor league contract Aug. 6. It was the second stint with the Reds for Boxberger, whom the club spent the 43rd overall pick on back in 2009. The Reds ultimately traded Boxberger to the Padres two years later in a blockbuster that included several players who either were or have become household names.
To his credit, Boxberger has turned into a well-known commodity in his own right over the past several years. He made the American League All-Star team as a member of the Rays in 2015, the same year he led the AL in saves (41). But Boxberger’s effectiveness has waned since his final season with the Rays in 2017. He struggled a year ago as a member of the Diamondbacks, and after signing a $2.2MM contract with the Royals over the winter, Boxberger opened 2019 with a 5.40 ERA/4.67 FIP and 9.11 K/9 against 5.74 BB/9 over 26 2/3 innings.
The Royals released Boxberger in early July, after which he inked a minors pact with the Nationals’ Double-A club. The Nats quickly cut Boxberger loose, leading him to rejoni the Cincy organization. However, Boxberger had immense difficulty in 5 1/3 frames with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, yielding seven earned runs on 10 hits and five walks (with eight strikeouts).
Keynan Middleton Returns From Tommy John Surgery
The Angels announced this evening that hard-throwing right-hander Keynan Middleton has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow righty Taylor Cole was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake to open a spot on the active roster, and the Angels had space on the 40-man roster to accommodate the move.
Middleton, 25, carved out a spot for himself in the Angels’ bullpen with a solid rookie showing in 2017 when he pitched 58 1/3 innings of 3.86 ERA ball. While he was homer-prone that year (1.70 HR/9), Middleton averaged 96.8 mph on his heater to go along with 9.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. His 16.7 percent swinging-strike rate was tied for eighth-best among 155 qualified MLB relievers, and he looked every bit the part of a long-term piece for the Angels’ relief corps.
The early returns on Middleton in 2018 did nothing to sway that line of thinking. In fact, despite his relatively minimal MLB experience, Middleton ascended to the closer’s role by mid April. He’d tallied six saves and pitched to a 2.04 ERA with 16 strikeouts against nine walks before being shelved due to inflammation in his elbow. He returned after a minimal absence and made three appearances before again going down with elbow discomfort, at which point damage to his ulnar collateral ligament was discovered. He underwent Tommy John surgery in late May.
Middleton’s results down the stretch will certainly be worth monitoring with a watchful eye. He’s allowed just one run on four hits and six walks with 16 strikeouts in nine minor league rehab innings, and a return to his 2017-18 form would give the Angels reason to be optimistic about the back of their ‘pen headed into 2020. While GM Billy Eppler and his staff will surely make some additions regardless, lining up Middleton with Ty Buttrey, Cam Bedrosian and Hansel Robles would be a strong foundation for a bullpen. The latter three of that quartet have all enjoyed strong seasons to date and remain under control into at least 2020.
Although Middleton has appeared in just 80 big league games and pitched a total of 76 innings, he’ll be eligible for arbitration this winter. Middleton entered the year with one year, 150 days of big league service and will accumulate a full season in 2019 after spending the year to date on the Major League injured list. As such, he’ll wrap up the year with 2.150 years of MLB service time, making him a lock to qualify for Super Two designation. His raise will likely be a modest one given the missed time in 2018-19, but the foundation for his future raises will nevertheless be a bit stronger than that of a typical arb-eligible player.
Giants Release Scooter Gennett, Select Tyler Rogers
The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves on Tuesday, most notably requesting unconditional release waivers on second baseman Scooter Gennett. San Francisco also promoted infield prospect Mauricio Dubon (as had been previously reported), selected the contract of right-hander Tyler Rogers (the twin brother of Minnesota closer Taylor Rogers) and recalled outfielder Joey Rickard. Furthermore, Abiatal Avelino was optioned to Triple-A, while righty Trevor Gott was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right elbow strain.
Gennett, 29, enjoyed a pair of excellent breakout seasons with the Reds in 2017-18, hitting a combined .303/.351/.508 with 50 homers in 1135 plate appearances, but his 2019 campaign has been a forgettable one. Gennett began the season on the injured list due to a severe groin strain and, after an absence of nearly three months, struggled to regain his footing in Cincinnati.
A deadline trade sending him to the Giants in exchange for a player to be named later didn’t prove to be a spark, either. In 139 plate appearances, he’s posted an ugly .226/.245/.323 batting line with an enormous spike in strikeout rate (19.6 percent in 2018; 29.5 percent in 2019) and a significant dip in walk rate (6.6 percent in ’18; 1.4 percent in ’19). With Gennett and the recently released Joe Panik out of the picture, Dubon (covered at greater length earlier today) will quite likely be in line for regular work at second base.
While another club could technically claim Gennett off release waivers, there’s almost no way to fathom that outcome. Gennett’s two excellent seasons in Cincinnati bolstered his salary to $9.75MM, and he’s owed the balance of that sum — about $1.78MM — between now and season’s end. Any claiming team would be on the hook for that amount. By contrast, signing Gennett after he clears would only cost Gennett the prorated league minimum — about $95K as of this Thursday (when he’d formally clear waivers).
Turning to the 28-year-old Rogers, this’ll be the first call to the big leagues for the former 10th-rounder. While he’s watched his twin brother rise to prominence as one of the game’s top lefty relievers, he’s been biding his time in Triple-A for parts of four seasons. In that time, the right-handed Rogers has worked to a 3.27 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a whopping ground-ball rate north of 64 percent.
The sidearming Rogers features a funky delivery that has at times made him unhittable by opposing righties. While he’s not in the midst of his best season — what pitcher in the supercharged offensive environments in Triple-A is? — he held righties to a putrid .161/.239/.238 line through 159 plate appearances in 2018. For a Giants team that figures to have some extensive bullpen turnover moving forward, it’s worth getting a look at an intriguing righty who could be a piece in future seasons.
Mets Place Ruben Tejada On Release Waivers
The Mets have requested unconditional release waivers on infielder Ruben Tejada, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. He’ll be a free agent in 48 hours if he clears.
Tejada, 29, returned to the Mets earlier this month — his first appearance with his original MLB organization since the 2015 postseason. He went hitless in nine plate appearances but has enjoyed a strong season in Triple-A Syracuse, where he’s posted a .330/.408/.476 batting line through 304 plate appearances. The majority of Tejada’s time in Triple-A this season was spent at third base, but he’s also logged innings at second base and shortstop.
Tejada, who bounced from St. Louis to San Francisco to Baltimore between Mets stints, is familiar with all three positions and has played each extensively in the Majors (shortstop in particular). He’s a career .250/.324/.317 batter in 2396 plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Rockies To Promote Rico Garcia
Faced with increasing rotation needs, the Rockies are slated to promote prospect Rico Garcia, according to MLB.com’s William Boor (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known; Garcia will require a 40-man spot.
Just a 30th-round pick in the 2016 draft, Garcia has steadily increased his profile. He has thoroughly dominated the Double-A level, turning in a sparkling 2.07 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 135 frames over 24 starts split about evenly between 2018 and 2019.
Garcia has run into some long balls since moving up to Triple-A, however. He owns an ugly 7.16 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 2.1 HR/9 in 55 1/3 innings this year at the highest level of the minors.
Before his recent rough stretch, Garcia had earned placement in top-thirty prospect lists produced by MLB.com and Baseball America. He also warranted a mention from the Fangraphs prospect team, though the assessment there was that his limited secondary repertoire foretold a future in the bullpen.
The Rockies will evidently give Garcia a shot to show he can stick in the rotation before considering him for a relief job. But this promotion may be as much about immediate need as it is a desire to give a showcase to a promising young hurler. Garcia would have commanded a slot on the 40-man this fall regardless, in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Angels Outright Wilfredo Tovar
The Angels have outrighted infielder Wilfredo Tovar, per a team announcement. He was recently designated for assignment.
Tovar, 28, had briefly appeared in the bigs earlier in his career but had just nine games under his belt when called upon earlier this season by the Halos. He ended up appearing in 31 games with the Los Angeles organization, all at the shortstop position.
Unfortunately, the results just weren’t there. Tovar slashed just .193/.239/.253 in 88 plate appearances. Through nearly two thousand career trips to the dish at the Triple-A level, the defensive specialist owns a .277/.324/.367 batting line.
Brewers Release Jhoulys Chacin
The Brewers announced today that they have released righty Jhoulys Chacin. He had recently been designated for assignment.
Given that we’re past the point on the calendar when trades are permissible, this outcome was all but inevitable. There was no reason to attempt outrighting him, since the veteran could have elected free agency without sacrificing the remainder of the $6MM owed to him this season.
It’s hard to imagine a rival club taking on that obligation for a hurler who hasn’t been in top form, particularly since Chacin has been on the injured list with an oblique injury. Whether or not he has cleared release waivers isn’t entirely clear from the club’s announcement. Barring a surprise development, he’ll hit the open market.
Chacin, 31, has fallen well shy of the standard he set in the prior two campaigns, over which he threw 373 innings of 3.69 ERA ball (handily outperforming his peripherals in the process). Through 88 2/3 frames over 19 starts in 2019, Chacin has limped to a 5.79 ERA. Fielding-independent ERA estimators didn’t see much cause to blame bad bounces, grading him out at 5.68 (FIP), 5.23 (xFIP), and 5.13 (SIERA).
Even more than he did last year, Chacin leaned hard on his slider, throwing it just over half the time. Doing so likely helped him to a career-high 8.1 K/9 strikeout rate, though Chacin still mustered only a cumulative 7.8% swinging-strike rate.
The biggest problem was with the long ball. He allowed 1.93 per nine on an 18.3% HR/GB rate, both of which are about double the levels he maintained last year. Batters put the ball in the air against him more than ever (38.1%) and did so at a much greater launch angle (16.5 degrees vs. previous high of 11.5). Though Chacin was able to generate a large quantity of harmless infield pops (18.3%), too many balls ended up in the bleachers.
It’s certainly still possible that a team will decide to add Chacin to provide some depth down the stretch. If he ends up making it back to the majors after signing elsewhere, he’ll play at the league-minimum rate for his new club, partially offsetting the cash still owed to him by the Brewers.
Athletics Designate Nick Martini
The Athletics have designated outfielder Nick Martini for assignment, per a club announcement. His designation will make 40-man room for just-promoted first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown.
Martini was a seventh-round pick of the Cardinals in 2011 who proved to be a shrewd minor league signing for the Athletics last season. He earned his first major league promotion in the first week of June in 2018 and then proceeded to slash an impressive .296/.397/.414 (129 wRC+) with 1.3 fWAR in 179 plate appearances, though he only hit one home run over that span. Unsurprisingly, the left-handed Martini did just about all of his damage against righty pitchers.
Even though Martini was an easily above-average hitter at the major league level a year ago, he hasn’t been much of a factor in the bigs this season. The 29-year-old collected just 13 PA with the 2019 A’s before they cut him, instead spending almost all of the campaign with their Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas. Across 329 trips to the plate, Martini has put up a strong .328/432/.482 line in the minors with eight home runs and almost as many walks (49) as strikeouts (51), good for a 129 wRC+ that matches his MLB production from 2018. With two minor league options left, it’s possible someone will claim Martini on waivers.