Giants Option Dereck Rodriguez
Per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Bay Area, the Giants have optioned righty Dereck Rodriguez to AAA-Sacramento after catcher Erik Kratz returned from the 10-Day IL.
Rodriguez, the son of hall-of-fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, converted to pitching in 2015 and quickly made his mark at the upper levels of the Twins and Giants systems. In 118 1/3 IP upon promotion the big club last season, Rodriguez delivered a 2.81 ERA, best among all NL rookies. The mark seemed a mirage, though, as his 112 xFIP-, on the back of 6.77 K/9 and low grounder rate, was among the league’s worst for all pitchers with at least 100 innings last season.
It didn’t take long for regression to pounce in ’19: the righty was torched for nine homers in 41 innings in the Giants’ extreme pitcher-friendly yard, and again struggled to miss bats and keep the ball on the ground. His 119 xFIP- is only slightly worse than last season’s mark, though his 5.05 ERA now more closely mirrors his subpar peripherals.
Rodriguez curried plenty of favor with the old Giants regime, but the new, data-driven one may not look quite so kindly on the contact-heavy profile.
Pirates Acquire Chris Stratton
The Pirates have acquired righty Chris Stratton from the Angels for cash considerations, per a team release. The 28-year-old was designated for assignment by Los Angeles earlier this week.
Stratton, 28, was acquired earlier in the season from San Francisco for lefty Williams Jerez. The former first-rounder fought through five and a half difficult minor league seasons before cracking the Giant rotation in mid-2017, where he opened eyes with a super-high spin rate on his hammer curve. The fastball, though, has always been a bit light, and the righty’s long struggled to miss bats and command the zone. In five starts with LA this season, Stratton posted a dreadful 142 FIP-/127 xFIP- with six homers allowed in 29 1/3 IP.
Still, he’ll likely get a crack at a decimated Pittsburgh rotation, which’s already lost righties Chris Archer and Jameson Taillon to the IL. Nick Kingham and Steven Brault had attempted to fill the temporary void, to middling-to-disastrous results thus far. Top prospect Mitch Keller, it seems, is not quite ready to make the jump.
Rangers Sign Josh Fields
The Rangers have agreed to a minors deal with righty Josh Fields, per Bob Nightengale of the USA Today. The deal will pay Fields $850K if he reaches the majors, per Nightengale, with a chance for him to earn an extra $200K in incentives.
The 33-year-old Fields opted out of his contract with Milwaukee on April 30 after being released mid-spring by Los Angeles, the club with whom he’d spent the previous two and a half seasons.
Acquired in mid-2016 for now-top prospect Yordan Alvarez, Fields excelled at preventing runs for the Dodgers – he posted a 2.57 ERA with the club over the last two seasons, in addition to the 2.79 mark he put up in 19 innings down the 2016 stretch – but the peripherals never quite aligned. Fields’ xFIP- dropped to a career-low 114 last season, a mark that surely made modern front offices cringe.
He’ll hope to soon join a Ranger bullpen that’s been among the league’s worst this season, and should get ample high-leverage opportunity in Arlington upon arrival.
Indians Select A.J. Cole
The Indians have selected the contract of righty A.J. Cole from Triple-A Columbus, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Righty Cody Anderson will head back to AAA in his place, while infielder Max Moroff has cleared waivers and been outright off the 40-man roster.
Cole, 27, will presumably work out of an unsung Indians pen that’s been a surprising bright spot in 2019. Both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber have again been rock-solid, and under-the-radar pickup Nick Wittgren has quietly been among the AL’s best in a brief sample thus far.
In 148 big-league innings across four seasons with the Nationals and Yankees, Cole has shown an unyielding proclivity for the K, though it’s too often been offset by an icky gopher-ball itch. His 1.89 HR/9 ranks near the back of the league over that span, hitting rock bottom in ’18 with a disturbing 2.79 HR/9 over 48 IP with both clubs. In 17 innings with Columbus this season, Cole’d allowed just 2 homers, though his 35.3% grounder rate placed right in line with his career norms.
Giants Claim Aaron Altherr
2:30pm: Righty Andrew Moore has been designated to make room for Altherr on the 40-man. The outfielder is out of options, so a corresponding demotion will also be in order.
12:44pm: Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Giants have claimed OF Aaron Altherr. Altherr, 28, was designated for assignment by Philadelphia last Saturday.
It’s the latest in a months-long flurry of outfield moves for SF, which remains on a desperate quest to find anything approaching quality production from all three spots. Michael Reed, Connor Joe, Gerardo Parra, and (in a part-time role) Yangervis Solarte have all come and gone just six weeks into the season, while April acquisition Kevin Pillar has been a near automatic out over his first 125 plate appearances with the club.
28-year-old Mac Williamson has reportedly been promised regular action in left field, though neither he nor center fielder-turned-right fielder Steven Duggar have done much to warrant anything of the sort. Perhaps Altherr fits as a platoon option with Duggar and occasional fill-in for Pillar and Williamson, though any whiff of a hot streak may place him firmly in the lineup for good.
Altherr has been dreadful since the beginning of the 2018 season, with a 30 plate-appearance, .034/.067/.069 ’19 mark on the back of a 75 wRC+ mark from the season prior. Still, his offensive track record far outstrips those of any of his new outfield mates, and perhaps regular playing time will be just the elixir his struggling bat needs.
Tyler Glasnow Out 4-6 Weeks With Mild Forearm Strain, Andrew Velazquez Recalled
Tyler Glasnow has been placed on the 10-day injured list after being removed from his start yesterday with forearm soreness. An MRI returned a mild forearm strain, better than a potential elbow issue as was the fear, though Glasnow is expected to miss four to six weeks of action, as reported by both MLB.com’s Juan Toribio (via Twitter) and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). Andrew Velazquez will be recalled to take Glasnow’s roster spot.
While this isn’t the worst case scenario for the Rays, it’s certainly disappointing to see Glasnow out for an extended period. As Jeff Todd pointed out yesterday at the time of the injury, Glasnow’s production has aligned with expectations for the first time this season, his first full season in Tampa after being acquired in the Chris Archer deal. Still only 25-years-old, the hard-throwing, 6’8″ righty has bull-rushed opponents with an average 96.6 mph heater, 10.24 K/9 to only 1.68 BB/9, while limiting impact contact with only 3.8% of at-bats resulting in an extra-base hit, a number that ranks second in the American League.
Andrew Velazquez, 24, joins the club in the short-term from Triple-A, where he’s worked a batting line of .290/.347/.495. He is as well-suited for the Rays as a player can be, providing tremendous versatility via speed, switch-hitting and the ability to play all over the diamond. In just 13 games with the big league club last year, Velazquez managed time at every position except pitcher, catcher, and first, while twice being used a pinch-runner and once at designated hitter. While he did not rank among the Rays’ top 30 prospects per MLB.com, the New York native has cut down on his strikeouts through 101 plate appearances so far this season, and while it’s still early, his versatility should provide more opportunity enough to stick in the bigs at some point.
As for the rotation, there will be increased pressure on Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, the other two rotation stalwarts for a roster that largely relies on a pitching-by-committee approach. At 48 1/3 innings, Glasnow heads to the injured list as the Rays leader in innings pitched so far this season. Yonny Chirinos has pitched well both as a starter and a follower, including an efficient 7 1/3 innings in his last start against Baltimore. Jalen Beeks has also given the Rays quality innings in a long man/follower role, with a 2.48 ERA in ten games averaging almost three innings per outing. With a 12-man pitching staff at present, the Rays are likely to maintain a fluid approach to roster construction in the near-term.
Cubs Activate Xavier Cedeno, Place Allen Webster On IL
The Cubs have activated left-hander Xavier Cedeno from the injured list to make his 2019 debut, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). In a corresponding move, right-hander Allen Webster takes Cedeno’s slot on the injured list with radial nerve inflammation in his throwing arm.
Cedeno split 2018 between a pair of Cub rivals in the Brewers and White Sox, pitching to a combined 2.43 ERA across 48 games. Cedeno, 32, put together back-to-back solid campaigns for Tampa Bay after being DFA’ed by the Nationals early in 2015, but a forearm injury cost him most of 2017, leading to another non-tender prior to 2018. He bounced back successfully for the White Sox and Brewers, pitching without a real platoon split as right-handers mustered only a .212/.316/.288 line versus lefties who hit .207/.281/.293 against Cedeno. Still, the Brewers rarely used Cedeno for more than a batter at a time, and he got as many as four outs in an appearance only thrice last season.
Webster, meanwhile, already hit a career high in appearances with 12 so far this season in Chicago, though his 11 total innings have a ways to go before catching the 59 innings he threw as a starter for the Red Sox back in 2014. Results have been underwhelming for Webster in 2019, 4.91 ERA to 5.48 FIP while surrendering 11.5 hits per nine innings.
Blue Jays Acquire Patrick Kivlehan
The Blue Jays have acquired outfielder Patrick Kivlehan from the Pirates, per a club announcement. The trade return isn’t known but it’s likely a typical cash payment.
Kivlehan has seen time in each of the past three MLB campaigns but hasn’t received a call yet in 2019. He’s a .208/.302/.401 hitter in 242 plate appearances at the game’s highest level.
The move helps the Jays fill out their upper farm ranks. Kivlehan takes the opening just created by the promotion of Jonathan Davis. The Bucs had the opposite scenario, with JB Shuck being outrighted back to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Rays Acquire Travis d’Arnaud
6:26pm: This move is now official. Infielder Matt Duffy was shifted to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man space; the team will wait to make a corresponding active roster move.
6:03pm: The Rays have struck a deal with the Dodgers to acquire catcher Travis d’Arnaud, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Cash considerations will go to Los Angeles in return.
This represents the continuation of d’Arnaud’s already disjointed season. After working back to health in the wake of Tommy John surgery, he opened up as the Mets’ backup backstop but was dumped at a surprisingly early juncture.
The Dodgers signed the out-of-options d’Arnaud as a righty bench bat with designs on trying him at other positions, but instead pivoted quickly to today’s move. d’Arnaud is now slated to help fill in while the Rays deal with injuries to their top two backstops (Mike Zunino and Michael Perez).
Perhaps it’s not surprising to see these organizations showing interest in d’Arnaud as a fill-in and possible bounceback performer. He was long considered quite talented and has at times been a quality-hitting catcher. Best of all, the New York club is on the hook for d’Arnaud’s $3.52MM salary (less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum) so it’s a virtual free-ride for other outfits.
There’s no reason to think that the Dodgers soured on d’Arnaud after watching him take just one plate appearance, though perhaps they weren’t enthralled by what they saw when they worked him out at first base and left field. Perhaps the team was simply willing to let him go because there was a clear opportunity for him in Tampa Bay and because it was just as interested in utilizing other players to fill out the roster.
Yangervis Solarte Elects Free Agency
Utilityman Yangervis Solarte has elected free agency after being outrighted by the Giants, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic was among those to tweet. He had been designated for assignment recently.
Solarte, 31, has taken at least four hundred plate appearances in all five of his full seasons in the majors, topping five hundred in four of those campaigns. The switch-hitter was an above-average hitter for his first three years in the bigs, though that status has slipped of late.
The drop-off began in 2017, when Solarte’s numbers dipped a bit with the Padres. He stumbled to a .226/.277/.378 batting line last year with the Blue Jays, leaving him to settle for a minors deal with a Giants organization that needed some stability and hoped for a bounce back.
Things didn’t go as planned in San Francisco. In his 78 trips to the plate, Solarte posted a meager .205/.247/.315 batting line with a single home run and just four walks to go with 16 strikeouts.