Rangers Put Carlos Gomez On DL, Select Contract Of Jared Hoying
May 16: The Rangers have now formally announced that Gomez is on the 10-day disabled list. They’ve selected Hoying’s contract from Triple-A Round Rock and transferred infielder Hanser Alberto from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL in a pair of corresponding moves.
The 27-year-old Hoying appeared in 39 games with the Rangers last year but saw just 49 plate appearances and batted .217/.265/.261. Hoying has a respectable, if unspectacular minor league track record, though, and had logged a .242/.336/.477 batting line in Triple-A to open the year. That .812 OPS is a near-mirror image of the .810 mark he logged in 100 Triple-A contests last season.
Alberto has been on the disabled list since Opening Day due to tightness in his right shoulder and is now ineligible to return until at least June 1.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers Depth Chart]
May 15: The Rangers have placed center fielder Carlos Gomez on the 10-day disabled list due to a right hamstring strain that will sideline him for the next four to six weeks, the team announced on Monday. A corresponding roster move will be announced tomorrow.
Signed to a one-year, $11.5MM contract this offseason after a stellar September run with the Rangers last year, Gomez got off to a slow start to his 2017 season. However, the 31-year-old had come to life at the plate in recent weeks, slashing an outstanding .315/.397/.519 with six doubles, a triple, a home run and three stolen bases over the life of his past 15 games.
With Gomez on the shelf the Rangers can shift Delino DeShields Jr. to center field and once again try out a platoon of Ryan Rua and Jurickson Profar in left field, though that’s merely one of several options they’re likely considering. Texas is thin on upper-level outfield depth on the 40-man roster, though Travis Snider and Jared Hoying represent non-40-man outfielders that are on the Triple-A roster and come with big league experience.
An absence of four to six weeks is a blow to the earning power of Gomez, who had hoped to rebound from a down year in 2016 and re-enter the open market this coming offseason in search of a multi-year deal. However, if he’s able to maintain the majority of the production he was beginning to show prior to his injury upon returning, he’s still young enough and talented enough that a sizable multi-year offer could await him in his next foray into free agency.
Rangers Sign Drew Stubbs
The Rangers have reached a minor-league deal with outfielder Drew Stubbs, per a club announcement. The 32-year-old will report to Triple-A Round Rock.
Stubbs was recently cut loose by the Giants after a 10-game run. He has seen a variety of similarly short stints over the past two seasons — including a pair with the Texas organization. Clearly, the sides are familiar with one another at this point.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers depth chart]
All told, Stubbs owns a .242/.313/.391 batting line over his nine season of major league action. He was a regular contributor from 2010 through 2014, but has functioned more as a depth piece ever since he was cut loose by the Rockies early in 2015. He’s capable of playing center field and has handled lefties at a respectable clip throughout his career, so he could eventually resurface with the Rangers in a reserve capacity. Texas is without Carlos Gomez for the next four to six weeks due to a hamstring injury, so bringing Stubbs into the fold at Round Rock helps to cover that absence.
Blue Jays Re-Sign Jarrod Saltalamacchia
The Blue Jays have re-signed catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll head to Triple-A Buffalo.
Saltalamacchia, 32, opened as the Jays’ reserve backstop but had a brutal start to the season. Over his 26 plate appearances, the switch-hitter went down on strikes 16 times while reaching base just twice. He was also struggling to keep opposing baserunners at first base.
[Related: Updated Toronto Blue Jays depth chart]
While the on-base and fielding skills have always lagged for Saltalamacchia, he’ll obviously need to show more to find his way back to the majors. Still, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll rebound from that dreadful opening, though he’ll also now have to climb over both Luke Maile and Mike Ohlman on the depth chart.
“Salty” has been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride in recent years. But he has been an effective hitter as recently as 2015, when he gave the Diamondbacks 194 plate appearances of .251/.332/.474 hitting. Even last year, when his OBP dipped below .300 in a 92-game run with the Tigers, Saltalamacchia blasted a dozen home runs and a .175 isolated slugging percentage — right at his career average and well over the .150 average among catchers around the game.
Reds Claim Peter O’Brien
The Reds have claimed first baseman/outfielder Peter O’Brien off waivers from the Royals, per a club announcement. He has been optioned to Triple-A. Lefty Brandon Finnegan will head to the 60-day DL to create 40-man space.
[Related: Updated Cincinnati Reds depth chart]
Cincinnati has had some recent success with plucking high-power prospects who had fallen out of favor with other organizations, and will look to do just that here. O’Brien was designated recently by Kansas City, though he had not appeared at the major league level with the organization. Over his 115 plate appearances on the year at Triple-A, the 26-year-old owns a .162/.235/.276 slash with 31 strikeouts.
That’s a disappointing showing, to be sure, but it’s not a representative sample of O’Brien’s overall minor-league track record. He has been a steadily productive hitter, and carries a .259/.307/.503 batting line with 53 home runs in 1,083 career plate appearances at the highest level of the minors. Though his high-strikeout, low-walk approach makes him a questionable bet ever to reach base at a palatable clip in the majors, O’Brien’s power is a strong enough tool that the Reds will take a chance.
Marlins Claim Christian Colon, Designate Steve Lombardozzi
The Marlins have claimed infielder Christian Colon off waivers from the Royals, per a club announcement. Miami designated fellow infielder Steve Lombardozzi to create roster space.
[Related: Updated Miami Marlins depth chart]
Colon, who just turned 28, had played a limited role thus far for Kansas City in 2017 and was designated for assignment recently. He carried a .263/.323/.329 batting line over 348 plate appearances in his four seasons with the Royals. While that fell far shy of expectations when Colon was taken with the fourth overall pick of the 2010 draft, he did end up playing a notable role in the organization’s 2014-15 postseason runs.
The Marlins have scrambled to find infield help over the past several weeks amidst a wave of injuries. Colon will now take the place of Lombardozzi, who was hitless in eight plate appearances. He has appeared in just 34 MLB games since the start of the 2014 season, but had been a regular contributor for the Nationals before that. Lombardozzi opened the current season at Triple-A New Orleans, where he slashed .250/.289/.317 over 129 plate appearances. He seems likely to clear outright waivers and return to New Orleans, though due the fact that he’s been outrighted earlier in his career, he’d also have the ability to reject that assignment and elect free agency
Indians Promote Bradley Zimmer, Designate Carlos Frias
The Indians have selected the contract of top outfield prospect Bradley Zimmer, per a club announcement. To create 40-man roster space, the team designated righty Carlos Frias.
Cleveland also announced a few other corresponding moves. Righty Shawn Armstrong was recalled, as well, creating a need for two active roster spots. Those were cleared by placing outfielder Abraham Almonte on the 10-day DL and optioning utilityman Yandy Diaz.
[Related: Updated Cleveland Indians depth chart]
Zimmer, now 24, has been seen as a key future piece for the Indians ever since he was taken with the 21st overall pick of the draft back in 2014. (He spoke with MLBTR’s Steve Adams earlier that year.) He has been a consensus top-100 prospect entering each of the past two seasons, though he fell in some rankings due to a so-so 2016 campaign. In advance of the current campaign, MLB.com slotted Zimmer 22nd, Fangraphs had him at #45, Baseball America ranked him 62nd (now up to 54th in their updated list), and Baseball Prospectus had him at 80th. ESPN.com’s Keith Law dropped Zimmer out of his own top-100.
The reasons for concern were rather clear. While Zimmer has the tools — raw power, good speed, and a quality glove that plays up the middle — he hadn’t yet put it all together. In 557 plate appearances in the upper minors last season, he slashed .250/.365/.425 with 15 home runs and 38 steals. But the bulk of the damage came at Double-A; over his 150 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors, Zimmer went down on strikes 37.3% of the time. The left-handed hitter also turned in a rough overall .179/.343/.250 batting line against left-handed pitching.
As MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian wrote this spring, Zimmer has worked hard to upgrade his swing mechanics. And that seems to be paying dividends. He hit well in the Arizona Fall League and has been clicking thus far at Triple-A, with a .294/.371/.532 slash. The swing-and-miss will likely always be a part of his game — Zimmer currently carries a 29.9% strikeout rate on the year — but he’s showing an ability to make more and better contact thus far. He has also reversed his results against southpaws — albeit in quite a small sample. Coupled with a typically selective approach, and some untapped power potential, there’s reason to hope that Zimmer could blossom into a high-end major league piece.
The move comes with potential contract implications. Zimmer will have the opportunity to accumulate as many as 138 days of MLB service this year, so long as he can hold onto an active roster spot the rest of the way. If he can stick in the majors from here on out, then, he’d have a solid chance of qualifying for an addition year of arbitration after the conclusion of the 2019 season. The cutoff for Super Two status has ranged between 2.122 and 2.146 years of service over the past eight years, landing at 2.131 last season. Regardless, the Indians will control him through at least 2023.
That all depends upon Cleveland’s intentions — as well as Zimmer’s performance. While this could constitute only a brief preview, the fact that the Indians moved him onto the 40-man roster suggests the team intends to rely on him for more than a temporary patch. So long as Zimmer is up for any extended period, it seems likely he’ll see fairly regular action — meaning he could have a chance to play himself into a permanent role for the defending American League champs.
To add Zimmer meant clearing space on the roster, so the Indians elected to bump Frias, who was acquired over the winter. The 27-year-old had struggled through 17 frames at Triple-A this year, allowing 17 earned runs while recording just eight strikeouts to go with nine walks. Over three years of action with the Dodgers at the major league level, splitting his time between starting and relieving, he has worked to a 4.50 ERA in 114 frames.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets To Sign Neil Ramirez
The Mets have agreed to a deal with free-agent righty Neil Ramirez, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Ramirez, who just hit the open market after rejecting an outright assignment, will receive a major league pact.
[Related: Updated New York Mets depth chart]
Ramirez, 27, opened the season with the Giants before being claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays. He was designated and outrighted before seeing any action with Toronto, though, and just went unclaimed the second time through the wire.
New York will need to place Ramirez on its active roster, as he’s out of minor league options and thus cannot be sent down without first clearing waivers. The club will evidently be banking on Ramirez’s peripherals turning around his results. He gave up 15 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings with San Francisco, but also managed an 18:4 K/BB ratio with a strong 12.6% swinging-strike rate while dealing with some clear evidence of bad luck (.500 BABIP; 33.0% strand rate). The right-hander once looked like a potential long-term piece in the Cubs’ bullpen after coming over from the Rangers organization as a PTBNL in the Matt Garza trade, but shoulder and triceps injuries have slowed his career.
Diamondbacks Place A.J. Pollock On DL, Designate Enrique Burgos
The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve placed center fielder A.J. Pollock on the 10-day disabled list due to a right groin strain and selected the contract of fellow outfielder Reymond Fuentes from Triple-A Reno. In order to clear a spot for Fuentes on the 40-man roster, Arizona has designated right-hander Enrique Burgos for assignment.
[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks depth chart]
The loss of Pollock, even for a brief time, is a tough blow for a D-backs club that has gotten off to a strong 21-18 start. The 29-year-old Pollock’s early play has been a big factor in Arizona’s winning record, as he’s slashed .299/.337/.455 with a pair of homers and 11 stolen bases through his first 163 plate appearances. To this point, Arizona hasn’t put any sort of timetable on Pollock’s recovery.
Burgos, 26, spent the majority of the 2015-16 seasons in the Arizona bullpen, but he struggled to consistently retire Major League hitters despite excellent fastball velocity. Though he averages nearly 96 mph on his heater and has punched out 82 batters in 68 1/3 Major League innings (10.8 K/9), he’s also averaged five walks per nine innings and generated grounders at a below-average 38.7 percent clip. Overall, he’s logged just a 5.27 ERA as a big leaguer.
Burgos turned in a stellar 1.95 ERA in 27 2/3 innings with Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate in 2016, but he’s registered a bleak 6.23 ERA with a lackluster 13-to-11 K/BB ratio in 13 2/3 innings with Reno’s bullpen thus far in 2017.
Fuentes, on the other hand, has been excellent in Reno, hitting .376/.403/.481 with eight doubles, three triples and nine steals in nine attempts to open the year. Fuentes was once a well-regarded outfield prospect that went from Boston to San Diego (alongside Anthony Rizzo) as part of the 2010 Adrian Gonzalez blockbuster. However, he’s stumbled more often than not in the upper minors and also hasn’t produced in his 80 MLB plate appearances to date. Fuentes can play all three outfield spots, so he and veteran Gregor Blanco could slot into the mix in center field with Pollock on the shelf. Chris Owings also has some experience in center field, so the D-backs could give him a look there on occasion and turn to Nick Ahmed at shortstop on those days.
Brewers Designate Jhan Marinez For Assignment
The Brewers announced that they’ve designated right-hander Jhan Marinez for assignment and recalled lefty Brent Suter to take his place on the roster. The move makes the 27-year-old Suter the lone southpaw on what had been an entirely right-handed Brewers pitching staff.
[Related: Updated Milwaukee Brewers depth chart]
Marinez, 28, was acquired from the Rays in exchange for cash last season. The right-hander turned in a strong performance with the 2016 Brewers, logging a 3.22 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 58 2/3 innings, but he’s struggled to a 5.40 earned run average through his first 16 2/3 innings in 2017. More troubling, perhaps, is that after walking just 21 hitters all last season, Marinez has already issued 11 free passes.
Marinez does average nearly 95 mph on his fastball and has logged a 51.9 percent ground-ball rate across the past two seasons, so it’s possible that he could hold some intrigue to clubs in need of bullpen depth. However, he’s also out of minor league options (likely the primary factor behind Milwaukee designating him for assignment), so any club that picks him up will have to carry him on its 25-man roster.
Suter has seen action with the Brewers in each of the past two seasons, pitching a total of 29 innings with a 3.72 ERA, 6.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 42.2 percent ground-ball rate. However, he’s also been shelled by lefties in the Majors, as same-handed opponents have clobbered him at a .356/.408/.511 clip. That production has come in an admittedly minuscule sample of 49 plate appearances, but Suter has never dominated southpaw hitters in the upper-minors, either.
Geovany Soto To Undergo Elbow Surgery
The White Sox have announced that catcher Geovany Soto will undergo arthroscopic surgery for debridement and the removal loose bodies in his right elbow — a procedure that’ll sideline him for at least the next 12 weeks, per the team. Soto has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list, and his 40-man roster spot will go toright-hander Gregory Infante, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Charlotte. Cody Asche has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Infante on the active roster.
[Related: Updated White Sox Depth Chart]
Soto, 34, returned to the ChiSox for his second stint with the team this year and was expected to receive a fair share of the playing time, but he’s tallied just 48 plate appearances and batted .190/.271/.405 on the year thus far. He’ll now be out until at least mid-August due to the injury. In his stead, Omar Narvaez and Kevan Smith seem likely to handle the bulk of the catching duties on the South Side of Chicago.
The 25-year-old Narvaez should slot in as manager Rick Renteria’s primary backstop; since making his Major League debut in 2016, he’s proven to have a keen eye at the dish but hasn’t demonstrated much in the way of power. Narvaez has walked more than he’s struck out (13.9 percent versus 12.8 percent) and posted a collective .253/.355/.310 batting line in 187 plate appearances as a big leaguer to date. He’s caught just 18 percent of potential base thieves thus far in his career, though he’s gone 4-for-8 in that regard this year after struggling substantially in 2016 (2-for-25). Baseball Prospectus pegs him as a slighty below-average pitch framer.
As for Infante, the 29-year-old will be returning to the Majors for the first time since a brief, five-game stint with the White Sox all the way back in 2010. He has just 4 2/3 innings under his belt in the Majors, though he possesses a solid Triple-A track record and has been excellent there in 2017. Thus far with Charlotte, Infante has tossed 13 innings and allowed just three runs on seven hits and six walks with 16 strikeouts. Overall, he owns a 3.47 ERA in parts of seven Triple-A campaigns, though he’s been a bit wild there at times, averaging just under five walks per nine innings pitched.