Brewers Designate Jhoulys Chacin For Assignment, Select Cory Spangenberg
The Brewers have designated Opening Day-starter Jhoulys Chacin for assignment, Robert Murray of The Athletic reports. IF/OF Cory Spangenberg has also been selected from Triple-A San Antonio, per the team.
Chacin, 31, had hit the IL with a lat-strain a week ago after a dreadful 2019 campaign. The righty, who started some of the biggest games for the Central-winning Crew last season, pitched to a 5.79 ERA/5.69 FIP in the final year of a two-year, $15.5MM deal signed prior to the 2018 season. Chacin’s strikeout rate was actually the highest of his career, but his longstanding command woes re-appeared and he was unable to keep the ball in the park, the one trait at which he excelled so masterfully last season.
Chacin’s 3.50 ERA in ’18 was mostly a mirage – his .250 BABIP, the second-lowest mark in the NL, wasn’t going to be sustained, nor was a 0.84 HR/9 in Milwaukee’s puny Miller Park. Once an extreme sinkerballer in his Coors Field days, Chacin in recent seasons has become heavily reliant on a hard-to-identify slider, a pitch NL hitters have finally begun to figure out. The righty’s grounder rate, at 37.4%, was a career low, and he wasn’t able to throw enough strikes to compensate. Chacin’ll certainly be an intriguing buy-low option for many contenders, a number of which may have designs on inserting the hurler into some sort of righty-heavy relief role.
Spangenberg, now 28, had spent all of ’19 at San Antonio. The longtime Padre has posted some of the league’s highest strikeout rates in recent seasons, and doesn’t much appear to have mollified the issue in AAA, with a K rate still hovering near 30%. Still, he possesses an intriguing power/versaility combo off at the bench, and could conceivably fill in at a number of positions for the Crew down the stretch.
Angels Activate Andrelton Simmons, Designate Wilfredo Tovar
The Angels announced today that star shortstop Andrelton Simmons has been activated from the injured list. He is returning from a long absence due to a severe ankle sprain.
Infielder Wilfredo Tovar was designated for assignment to create roster space. In other news, the club officially placed Griffin Canning on the injured list — he was declared out for the season yesterday — while recalling southpaw Jose Suarez.
It’s all but certainly too little, too late for the sinking Halos. But it’s still good to see Simmons return to action. The peerless defensive aficionado hadn’t been hitting quite as well as he did in his prior two campaigns, but will now have a chance to get back on track before the season wraps up.
Tovar, 28, received his lengthiest stint in the majors this year for the Angels. Through 88 plate appearances in 31 games, he managed only a .193/.239/.253 slash line.
Nationals To Sign Jake Buchanan
The Nationals have agreed to a deal with righty Jake Buchanan, according to Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league arrangement for the 29-year-old, who was recently cut loose by the Athletics.
Buchanan has seen time in four MLB campaigns, but has not established himself in the bigs. Indeed, he hasn’t appeared there since 2017. Over the past two campaigns, Buchanan has worked as a starter at the Triple-A level without notable success.
It’s likely that this move is designed only for depth for the Nats, who have hunted for low-cost pitching all season long. Buchanan carries a 6.16 ERA in 99 1/3 Triple-A frames on the year, with 6.4 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9.
Rangers Designate Shane Carle
The Rangers have designated righty Shane Carle for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot will go to fellow right-hander Luke Farrell, who was activated from the 60-day injured list.
Farrell is also heading onto the active roster for the Texas organization. He’ll take the place of southpaw Locke St. John, who was optioned down.
Carle was picked up from the Braves in late July after being designated by the Atlanta club. He has not appeared in the majors since. Though he turned in excellent results in 2018, the performance was driven by home run (0.29 per nine) and BABIP (.258) suppression that never seemed terribly likely to continue.
This year, Carle struggled mightily in six outings for the Braves before he was sent packing. He hasn’t been much better this year at Triple-A, where he carries a 5.62 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 over forty total innings.
Yankees Claim Cory Gearrin, Release Domingo Acevedo
The Yankees have claimed righty Cory Gearrin from the Mariners, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). In a corresponding move, the New York club announced that it has released fellow right-hander Domingo Acevedo.
Gearrin is a well-established hurler who has seen action in eight MLB campaigns. He has long been effective despite uninspiring peripherals, with a career 3.59 ERA. That’s much the story again in 2019, as he owns a 3.92 ERA in 41 1/3 innings while carrying 8.5 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 and a 46.6% groundball rate.
[RELATED: So, What Can Teams Do In August?]
As we explained in our recent listing of possible August waiver candidates — which included Gearrin and others — teams have a variety of possible motivations for exposing players to waivers at this time of year. With respect to a player such as Gearrin, who wasn’t dealt at the deadline, it’s likely the club considered factors such as salary savings, roster space for younger players, and a desire to allow a veteran a chance to play in a postseason race.
Acevedo, 25, has at times been considered a significant prospect. But he has had some health issues and was moved into a relief role this year. Evidently, the Yanks didn’t really love what they saw. Acevedo has maintained 9.4 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in his 51 2/3 total innings over 32 appearances, but has also allowed 11 long balls and 4.35 earned runs per nine in that span.
Astros Release Brady Rodgers
Aug. 23: Houston has released Rodgers, per the MLB.com transactions list. That was the only outcome for the right-hander following yesterday’s DFA; teams are no longer permitted to make trades involving players who’ve been on the 40-man roster this season, and Rodgers was on the minor league injured list, meaning he couldn’t be placed on outright waivers.
Rodgers will now have the opportunity to explore interest from new clubs, though Houston could very well have interest in re-signing him to a minor league deal as a depth piece — particularly with several members of the current big pitching staff ticketed for free agency this winter.
Aug. 22: The Astros announced today that they have designated righty Brady Rodgers for assignment, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle was among those to tweet. That creates roster space for the surprising promotion of prospect Abraham Toro.
Soon to turn 29, Rodgers has seen limited MLB action in two of the past three seasons. The game’s best hitters have not been gentle, rocking Rodgers for 23 earned runs in his 13 1/3 innings of action. He carries an ugly 7:10 K/BB ratio in the bigs.
Rodgers, a former third-round pick out of Arizona State, raced to the upper minors upon becoming a professional and has generally succeeded there. Through 365 1/3 innings of Triple-A pitching, over parts of seven seasons, he carries a 3.67 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. Rodgers has at times been ranked on the back half of Houston’s top 30 prospect rankings at Baseball America, though not since undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2017.
Mets Sign Nick Rumbelow
The Mets signed right-handed reliever Nick Rumbelow out of the independent Atlantic League this week, per an announcement from his now-former team: the Sugar Land Skeeters. He’ll head to New York’s Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse and give the club some additional depth in the ‘pen.
Rumbelow, 28 early next month, was released by the Mariners earlier this season on the heels of a disastrous performance at the Triple-A level. The former Yankees prospect pitched to an 8.17 ERA with a 22-to-15 K/BB ratio and two hit batters in 25 2/3 innings of work before being cut loose. However, whatever difficulties he had locating the ball in Tacoma have been largely remedied in his brief stop on the indie circuit. In 22 1/3 Atlantic League innings, Rumbelow posted a tiny 0.81 ERA with a brilliant 31-to-3 K/BB ratio.
Rumbelow also struggled in 17 2/3 MLB innings with the Mariners in 2018, but his numbers in Sugar Land are more in line with the sharp results he posted in Triple-A last year (17 2/3 innings, 2.04 ERA, 25 strikeouts, eight walks) and with the Yankees in 2017 (29 innings, 0.62 ERA, 30 strikeouts, eight walks). The righty’s career has been slowed by injuries, most notably including Tommy John surgery that effectively wiped out his entire 2016 season.
The Mets have been turning over the bullpen a bit with their recent signing of Brad Brach and the return of Paul Sewald (as Tim Peterson was designated for assignment for a second time this season). Right-hander Robert Gsellman, meanwhile, appears unlikely to return to the Mets in 2019 after reportedly being diagnosed with a partial lat tear. There’s no guarantee Rumbelow will get a look at the big league level, but rosters are set to expand next weekend.
Jon Gray Suffers Season-Ending Foot Fracture
THURSDAY: Gray will undergo surgery Friday, Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets.
WEDNESDAY, 1:56PM: Speaking to MLB.com’s Jake Rill and other reporters, Gray said his injury is another stress fracture, similar to his 2017 injury. Gray indicated that he is considering having surgery to correct the problem, and such a procedure wouldn’t interfere with his readiness for the start of the 2020 season.
12:07PM: Rockies right-hander Jon Gray will miss the rest of the season after suffering a left foot fracture, the team announced. Gray has been placed on the 60-day injured list. Colorado purchased the contract of right-hander Tim Melville from Triple-A, and Melville will take Gray’s spot as the starter for today’s game against the Diamondbacks.
The news brings a premature end to what was looking like the best of Gray’s four full MLB seasons, as the 27-year-old had a 3.84 ERA, 2.68 K/BB rate, and an even 9.0 K/9 over 150 innings for the Rox. It was a nice bounce-back from the 5.12 ERA Gray posted in 172 1/3 frames in 2018, though advanced metrics indicated that he was a little unlucky to post such an inflated ERA, while some of his 2019 ERA indicators (4.06 FIP, 3.89 xFIP, 4.35 SIERA) hint at a bit of good fortune this year. Statcast also paints rather a dour picture of Gray’s 2019 work, as he is in the bottom 10 percent of all pitchers in hard-hit ball rate and fastball spin rate, not to mention a below-average xwOBA.
On the plus side, Gray posted a career-best 50.4% grounder rate and he is still one of the game’s hardest throwers, with an average fastball velocity of 96.1 mph. He was also the rare pitcher who actually performed better at Coors Field (3.46 ERA in 75 1/3 IP) than on the road (4.22 ERA in 74 2/3 IP). With 12.6 fWAR accumulated since the start of the 2016 season, Gray has become a generally reliable, if still a touch inconsistent, rotation stalwart, which is no small feat for a homegrown Rockies pitcher.
While he has been pretty durable over his short career, this is the second time Gray has suffered a major left foot injury, as he spent two and a half months on the injured list in 2017 due to a stress fracture. Still, Gray and German Marquez project as the top two members of the Rockies rotation going forward to 2020, as Kyle Freeland and Tyler Anderson have been respectively bedeviled by inconsistency and injuries this season.
Today’s outing will see Melville make his first Major League appearance since September 26, 2017. The 29-year-old tossed 14 2/3 innings for the Reds, Twins, and Padres in 2016-17, and then went onto pitch in the Orioles’ farm system and in independent baseball until inking a minor league contract with the Rockies back in May. Pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Melville has a 5.42 ERA and 2.2 HR/9 over 96 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season, though with an 8.8 K/9 and 2.35 K/BB rate.
Angels Outright Adalberto Mejia
The Angels announced that they’ve outrighted left-hander Adalberto Mejia to Triple-A Salt Lake after he cleared waivers. Mejia hasn’t been outrighted in the past, nor does he have the service time to reject an assignment in favor of free agency, so he’ll stay in the organization.
This has been a wild season for Mejia, a member of the Twins, Angels (twice) and Cardinals in 2019. The Angels designated the former top 100 prospect for assignment Wednesday after his major league struggles continued in his second go-around in their uniform. The 26-year-old has thrown 7 1/3 innings of six-run (five earned) ball in a Halos uniform this season.
Since he debuted in the majors in 2016, Mejia has pitched to a 4.79 ERA/4.64 FIP across 148 1/3 innings (51 appearances, 25 starts). Mejia has logged 7.58 K/9, 4.31 BB/9 and a 36.3 percent groundball rate in that span.
Mets Designate Ruben Tejada
The Mets announced today that they have designated infielder Ruben Tejada for assignment. He’ll make way for righty Chris Flexen, who was recalled.
Tejada’s latest stint with the New York org has to this point been a feel-good reunion story. But the 29-year-old has only been given nine plate appearances over his brief time in the big leagues and hasn’t yet reached base.
It’s possible Tejada will remain with the Mets, but that won’t be up to the team. Every other team in baseball will have a shot at claiming him. If he clears waivers, Tejada will have the right to elect free agency.
Despite a scant recent track record in the majors — he was last a notable contributor in 2015 — Tejada has shown a bit of a spark this year in the upper minors. Over 304 Triple-A plate appearances leading up to his promotion, he slashed a hefty .330/.408/.476 with six long balls.