Rays Designate Ian Gibaut For Assignment, Place Yandy Diaz On IL
The Rays announced that they’ve designated right-hander Ian Gibaut for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to third baseman Matt Duffy, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Tampa Bay also placed corner infielder Yandy Diaz on the 10-day IL due to a foot injury.
Gibaut, 25, spent the first two months of the season on the minor league injured list but returned in early June and made his MLB debut earlier this month. In 12 1/3 innings in the minors this season, Gibaut allowed 10 runs (only four earned) on 12 hits and 11 walks with 17 strikeouts. He also yielded a pair of runs in his two-inning MLB debut.
That said, Gibaut pitched well enough in 2018 that the Rays protected him from the Rule 5 Draft by adding him to the 40-man roster in the offseason. Last year in Triple-A, Gibaut logged a 2.09 ERA with 12.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.48 HR/9 and an even 47 percent ground-ball rate. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that the Rays have already heard from clubs expressing interest in Gibaut, and they expect to be able to trade the righty.
It’s not yet clear how long Diaz will be sidelined. Topkin tweets that the slugger is on crutches at the moment with what the team has termed to be a bruise, but Diaz is still in a good amount of pain. The fact that there’s no break or structural damage in his foot is obviously encouraging, however. A speedy return would prove most beneficial for the Rays, as their under-the-radar acquisition of Diaz looks like one of the offseason’s best moves for the team. In 344 plate appearances, he’s hitting .270/.343/.480 with 14 homers, 20 doubles and a triple.
The 28-year-old Duffy will be making his season debut after missing nearly four months due to a hamstring injury. Acquired in the trade that sent Matt Moore to the Giants, Duffy’s Rays tenure has been punctuated by injury. It’s been nearly three years to the day since Duffy was traded, but he’s only been able to suit up for 153 games. He’s been productive in that time (.292/.354/.364) and is regarded as a strong defender on the left side of the infield, but his acquisition has yet to yield significant dividends — at least, not to the extent the organization had hoped.
Phillies Outright Fernando Salas
1:55pm: Salas has accepted the outright assignment, tweets MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
12:46pm: The Phillies announced today that righty Fernando Salas has been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. He had been designated for assignment recently.
Despite throwing forty innings last year with the D-Backs, Salas opened the current season in the Mexican League before joining the Phillies on a minors pact. The 34-year-old ultimately received a three-game audition with the Phils, but the results weren’t promising. Opposing batters were as likely to get a base knock as to make an out, rapping eight hits and plating two runs in his 2 2/3 innings of work.
It is not clear at this point whether Salas will elect to remain with the Philadelphia organization, but he’ll have an opportunity instead to return to the open market. Through nearly five hundred career innings at the game’s highest level, he carries a 3.91 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.
Angels Release Matt Harvey
July 23: Harvey is now officially a free agent after clearing waivers, the Angels announced.
July 21: The Angels have requested unconditional release waivers on right-handed pitcher Matt Harvey, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. The move comes after Harvey was designated for assignment on Friday.
Thus continues a frustrating season for Harvey, who earned an $11MM contract from the Halos, representing an opportunity to re-establish himself as a viable rotation option after injuries derailed his career. Unfortunately, though, the contract has been a disaster for the playoff-hopeful Angels, who have by all measures received negative value from their one-year investment: Harvey’s ERA has ballooned to 7.09, the worst of his career. Other indicators paint a similar picture: with a 6.36 FIP and a .390 xwOBA, the Angels had little reason to continue trotting Harvey out to the mound every fifth day.
Harvey has seen his fastball velocity take yet another step back this season, continuing a trend that began after his peak in 2013. In 2019, Harvey’s fastball has averaged 93.68 mph per Brooks Baseball, a far cry from the 96.96 mark he posted in his All-Star season. While the former number still comes in slightly above average, the declining velocity mirrors an overall trend in Harvey’s performance, with his strikeout rate declining to a career-worst 14.7%. That, coupled with a walk rate that is likewise trending in the wrong direction, has led to an abysmal 1.34 K:BB ratio.
With his Angels tenure now in the rear-view, it will be intriguing to monitor Harvey’s status in free agency. Given the prodigious success that he enjoyed early in his career, it seems likely that several teams will have interest in taking a flyer on the veteran, especially at a much more affordable price; in light of his recent performance, Harvey may only garner a minor-league deal. Perhaps teams would be interested in converting Harvey to a bullpen role in hopes that his stuff would play up, though it’s unclear if Harvey himself would be open to such a change. The Mets experimented with Harvey as a reliever prior to his departure in 2018, though he only made four appearances, making it hard to draw any conclusions about his viability out of the bullpen.
Cardinals Designate Chasen Shreve For Assignment
The Cardinals announced Tuesday that they’ve designated lefty Chasen Shreve for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 25- and 40-man rosters for righty Mike Mayers, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.
Shreve, 29, allowed a pair of runs in two innings of work during his second go-around with the Cardinals. St. Louis acquired him from the Yankees in the trade that sent Luke Voit to New York last summer. Shreve has given them 16 2/3 innings of work out of the ‘pen but has now also been twice jettisoned from the 40-man roster. This season in Triple-A, Shreve pitched to a 3.80 ERA with 10.6 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.05 HR/9 and a 36.3 percent ground-ball rate.
Of course, Shreve didn’t go to the Cardinals alone, and the breakout being enjoyed by 27-year-old righty Giovanny Gallegos lessens the sting of what once looked to be a decidedly lopsided swap. Gallegos also went to the Cards in that deal, and he’s been brilliant in his first full MLB season. Through 46 2/3 frames out of the bullpen, he’s pitched to an excellent 2.31 ERA with 67 punchouts against six unintentional walks. Metrics like FIP (2.39), xFIP (2.85) and SIERA (2.25) all generally agree that Gallegos has been nothing short of outstanding.
The same doesn’t hold true for Shreve, unfortunately. The Cardinals now have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him. Shreve has enough service time to elect free agency if he does clear waivers, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of this season’s $900K salary. As such, he’s likely to stick with the organization if he is not traded and goes unclaimed by another team.
Mac Williamson Set To Join KBO Team
The Korea Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions appear to have a deal with outfielder Mac Williamson. Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs tweeted the news that a signing was imminent, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweeting that Williamson is heading out for his new gig today.
Williamson gets the call to head to the hitter-friendly KBO after failing to take advantage of his latest MLB opportunities and finally losing his 40-man roster status. After a brief stint with the Mariners, who claimed him from the Giants, Williamson cleared waivers and took up residence at Triple-A. For all his struggles in the majors, the 29-year-old Williamson is a .265/.343/.487 hitter in over a thousand Triple-A plate appearances.
It’s fun to foresee the bat-flipping highlights that are soon to come from the Samsung lineup, which already features former big league slugger Darin Ruf. Whether or not Williamson can carve out a similar path to earnings and notoriety remains to be seen, but he’ll have a good example to follow in Ruf, who is now in his third season as a Lions star.
As Kim notes, it’s quite rare for KBO clubs to carry two foreign-born position players. They typically use at least one of their slots on hard-to-find arms. In this case, Kim says, former MLB righty Justin Haley will be cut loose after struggling. The Lions still employ hurler Deck McGuire along with Ruf.
Rangers Place Shawn Kelley On IL, Select Rafael Montero, Designate Carlos Tocci
The Rangers announced an interesting trio of roster moves today. Veteran hurler Shawn Kelley has been moved to the 10-day injured list with what is described as biceps soreness.
The organization has selected the contract of righty Rafael Montero to fill the open active roster spot. To clear 40-man space, outfielder and former Rule 5 pick Carlos Tocci was designated for assignment.
Kelley, who has served as the Rangers’ closer, had increasingly seemed to be a trade candidate. The club adds that an “MRI showed no acute injury,” which seemingly suggests that Kelley isn’t facing a significant malady. But he’ll be sidelined through to the trade deadline, which will make it quite a bit more difficult for the Texas org to obtain a return sufficient to prompt a deal.
While he has had his ups and downs in recent years, Kelley has mostly been effective since the start of the 2018 campaign. He’s through 33 innings of 3.00 ERA ball this year, with 8.7 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9. With a $2.5MM salary this year and $2.5MM club option for 2020, Kelley’s contract is a fairly appealing one. The option also gives the Rangers an alternative to a trade.
The other moves are intriguing as well. Montero, 28, was once a prized hurler in the Mets organization but his fortunes were sinking even before he missed the ’18 season for Tommy John surgery. It remains to be seen whether he can resurrect his career, but the Rangers will be glad to have a look after watching Montero rack up a shiny 31:2 K/BB ratio in 18 1/3 minor-league innings.
As for Tocci, the 23-year-old was bumped from the 40-man after the organization put in a big effort to acquire him. The club carried him for all of the 2018 season to secure his rights through the Rule 5 draft, with Tocci struggling badly in limited playing time. Long considered a project with the bat, he’s slashing .246/.317/.312 in 360 Triple-A plate appearances this year.
Padres Designate Jose Pirela, Reinstate & Option Travis Jankowski
The Padres have designated utilityman Jose Pirela for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for outfielder Travis Jankowski, who was activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A.
Pirela, 29, has not seen much MLB action this season despite the fact that he has posted loud offensive numbers. Through 242 plate appearances, he’s slashing a robust .353/.401/.674 with 18 long balls.
It seems the Friars had already seen enough to know how they felt about Pirela. He had received a long look in 2018 after a strong 2017 showing, but proved unable to capitalize on the opportunity. Through nearly a thousand total trips to the plate at the game’s highest level, Pirela is a .258/.307/.390 hitter (88 wRC+).
The story isn’t altogether different for Jankowski, who has run through 953 plate appearances in the majors with marginal results (.242/.319/.321; 79 wRC+). He is a year-and-a-half younger than Pirela and arguably offers a slightly higher floor with highly-graded glovework and baserunning. Jankowski hasn’t been overly impressive with the bat during his rehab assignment — his plate discipline hasn’t quite made up for a total power outage (.254/.371/.271) — but will get another chance to show he deserves a big-league job in San Diego.
Nationals Place Ryan Zimmerman On 10-Day IL, Select Michael Blazek
The Nationals have placed first baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the 10-day injured list. He’s dealing with an ongoing bout of plantar fasciitis.
As anticipated, the D.C. organization has also selected the contract of righty Michael Blazek. To create a 40-man opening, reliever Justin Miller was shifted to the 60-day injured list.
In other roster tweaks, the Nats have recalled outfielder Andrew Stevenson. To open the additional active roster spot, right-hander Kyle McGowin was optioned down.
Zimmerman already missed a lengthy stretch owing to the nagging foot issue. The 34-year-old has endured a rough campaign when he has been available, though he had been on a nice run this month. It seems Zimmerman will look to let the flare-up die down and return to action once he’s able to tolerate the pain, as Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic tweets. It stands to reason that Matt Adams will pick up the bulk of the playing time while Zimmerman is down, with Howie Kendrick likely stepping in against lefties.
As for Blazek, he’s now formally back in the bigs for the first time since 2017. He has a solid 28:10 K/BB ratio in 26 Triple-A innings, but has also coughed up 16 earned runs in that span. With the Nats continuing to search far and wide for passable relief pitching, they’ll give the 30-year-old a shot to get his career back on track. Blazek owns a 4.39 ERA through 123 career MLB innings.
Tigers, Edwin Jackson Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran righty Edwin Jackson, as was first indicated on the league transactions log at MLB.com. Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets that Jackson is joining the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.
It’ll be Jackson’s second tour of duty with the Tigers, as he spent the 2009 campaign in Detroit as well. That year was one of the best of Jackson’s career, as he logged a career-high 214 innings with a 3.62 ERA and the lone All-Star nod of his remarkable big league journey. Jackson was recently cut loose by the Blue Jays — the MLB-record 14th team for which he has pitched.
The 35-year-old Jackson couldn’t get on track in Toronto, limping to a miserable 11.12 ERA in 28 1/3 innings there. He was charged with 35 earned runs on a whopping 49 hits (12 home runs) and 13 walks with 19 strikeouts in that time. That said, “E-Jax” was a vital member of the Athletics’ surprising playoff push just a season ago. His 2018 campaign featured 92 innings of 3.33 ERA ball with 6.7 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9.
Jackson still averaged 93.5 mph on his fastball in his time with the Blue Jays — a modest increase over last year’s velocity — so there’s still plenty of life in his arm. He’ll head to Toledo for now, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get a chance at the big league level in the near future. Detroit’a rotation has already lost Michael Fulmer (Tommy John surgery) and Matt Moore (knee surgery) for the season, and it’s not clear when (or if) Tyson Ross will be cleared to resume pitching in 2019. Add the possibility of a Matthew Boyd trade in the next nine days, and the uncertainty in the rotation is palpable. It’s also possible that Jackson could resurface as a bullpen option. There’s perhaps even more uncertainty in the Detroit relief corps, and closer Shane Greene is even likelier than Boyd to be traded before July 31.
Twins To Select Cody Stashak
The Twins will select the contract of right-hander Cody Stashak from Triple-A Rochester prior to tonight’s series opener against the Yankees, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Minnesota has four open spots following a recent spate of DFAs in the bullpen; each of Mike Morin, Matt Magill and Adalberto Mejia have been designated for assignment and landed with a new club in the past week. Stashak will take the 25-man roster spot of righty Zack Littell, who was optioned to Rochester following yesterday’s game.
Stashak, who turned 25 last month, was Minnesota’s 13th-round pick back in 2015 and will make his MLB debut the first time he sets foot on the mound. He didn’t enter the season considered to be among the Twins’ top echelon of prospects even after a strong showing in Double-A last season (2.75 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9). Stashak posted even better K/BB numbers in Double-A this season before moving up to Triple-A, where he’s pitched to a 1.61 ERA with 12.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 0.4 HR/9 and a 38.5 percent ground-ball rate in 22 1/3 innings of work.
The bullpen has been an ongoing problem for Minnesota, particularly in the past few weeks (hence the considerable turnover). While Twins relievers improbably rank 13th in each of ERA (4.36), FIP (4.27) and xFIP (4.41) as a collective unit, their relief corps has struggled to find consistency beyond closer Taylor Rogers and rookie Ryne Harper. The Twins are widely expected to add at least one veteran arm to the mix between now and next week’s trade deadline, but for the time being they’ll once again dip into their farm to provide some depth while waiting for a still-stagnant trade market to develop.