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Yankees To Promote Randy Vásquez

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The Yankees are promoting right-hander Randy Vásquez to the majors, with the righty telling reporters such as Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he’ll be starting tomorrow’s game. That will be his major league debut. He’s already on the 40-man roster but will require an active roster spot between now and then.

Vásquez, 24, was an international amateur out of the Dominican Republic, signing with the Yanks in 2018. He started his professional career in rookie ball in 2018 and 2019, before the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. He followed that up with a strong 2021 wherein he shot from Single-A to High-A and then Double-A. He tossed 107 1/3 innings across those levels with a 2.52 ERA, striking out 28.6% of opponents while walking 8.4%. That showing caused Baseball America to rank him the #12 Yankee prospect going into 2022.

Last year, he spent the entire season at Double-A, making 25 starts and tallying 115 1/3 innings. He had a 3.90 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 48.3% ground ball rate. In November, the club gave him a spot on the 40-man roster to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. That solid showing got him bumped to #9 on the BA list of top 30 farmhands in the system.

This year, he’s been in Triple-A, making nine starts on the year so far with a 4.85 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. He has a healthy 25.5% strikeout rate and 46% ground ball rate but is walking 11.7% of batters faced on the year.

It’s possible that this will be just a spot start for Vásquez, as Domingo Germán’s 10-game sticky stuff suspension will be over in a couple of days. Once he’s able to return, he should slot back into the rotation next to Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino and Clarke Schmidt. Schmidt has an ERA of 6.00 so far this year and still has an option, so there’s perhaps some chance Vásquez bumps him out. However, Schmidt has solid peripherals but an unlucky .386 batting average on balls in play and 62.7% strand rate. His 4.39 FIP and 3.82 SIERA suggest that regression to the mean might push his ERA down a bit.

Giants Sign Phoenix Sanders To Minor League Deal

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The Giants have signed right-hander Phoenix Sanders to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.

Sanders, 28 next month, was a Rays draft pick in 2017 and made his way to the majors with that club last year. He got into eight games out of Tampa’s bullpen, logging 14 2/3 innings with a 3.07 ERA. He struck out 21.1% of batters faced and walked 5.3%, getting grounders on 41.5% of balls in play. He also tossed 30 innings for their Triple-A club with a 5.40 ERA though his 3.91 FIP suggests some bad luck, supported by his .388 batting average on balls in play and 67.5% strand rate. He stuck out 27.9% of opponents at that level against a walk rate of just 1.6%.

The Rays put Sanders on waivers in August and he was claimed by the Orioles. They kept him in the minors and then passed him through waivers in September. He made nine appearances for their Triple-A team to start this year with an ERA of 2.00, striking out 31.4% of batters faced while walking 8.6%. Despite those solid results, he was released last week but has quickly found his next job with the Giants.

The bullpen hasn’t been a strong part of the roster in San Francisco this year, as the club’s relievers have a collective 4.90 ERA. That places them 28th out of the 30 teams in the league, ahead of just the White Sox and the A’s. Sanders will head to Sacramento and try to work his way back to the big leagues. If he succeeds, he still has options and less than a year of service time, allowing him to be utilized as a depth reliever for the foreseeable future.

Angels To Promote Sam Bachman

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The Angels are set to promote pitching prospect Sam Bachman for his Major League debut, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Bachman, the ninth overall selection in the 2021 draft, will be used out of the bullpen to begin his big league career, Sam Blum of The Athletic adds. Bachman isn’t on the 40-man roster and will need to be added.

The 23-year-old Bachman ranks seventh in the Angels’ system at Baseball America, fifth at MLB.com and fourth at FanGraphs. Scouting reports on the 6’1″ righty tout potent fastball/slider combo, with the heater capable of reaching triple digits and the slider giving him a potentially plus pitch with which to miss bats. Command is the most oft-cited question mark with Bachman, as is often the case with power-armed hurlers of this nature, and he also dealt with back and biceps injuries since being drafted.

Bachman has gotten out to a tough start in Double-A this season, posting a 5.81 ERA in six starts — a total of just 26 1/3 frames. He’s fanned nearly a quarter of his opponents but also issued walks at an ugly 16.9% clip. That work has come exclusively out of the rotation, however, and the Angels will now take a look at how Bachman fares in shorter stints when he can air out his already plus heater at max intensity. Baseball America’s scouting report on Bachman notes that his velocity has a tendency to begin dropping after around three innings anyhow, which could certainly point to a future in the bullpen.

The Angels’ bullpen has been a top-heavy unit in 2023, ranking seventh in the Majors with a 3.57 ERA that’s largely due to dominant performances from Carlos Estevez, Matt Moore and Jaime Barria, who all sport sub-2.00 ERAs. Righties Andrew Wantz and Chris Devenski have been sharp as well, but the Angels have cycled through several less-successful options to round out the relief corps. Anaheim has already moved on from veteran righty Ryan Tepera, and they’ve received ugly results from fellow veteran Aaron Loup. They’ll hope Bachman’s high-octane arsenal can help to solidify the group and take some pressure off the likes of Estevez and Moore, who are tied with a team-leading (by a wide margin) 22 appearances apiece.

Rockies Release Fernando Abad

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The Rockies have released lefty Fernando Abad, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Colorado had designated the 37-year-old veteran for assignment over the weekend.

Abad appeared in three games with the Rox, tossing a combined 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball between his first two outings before being tagged for three runs in one inning during his final appearance. He’d signed with the club on a minor league deal over the winter, and he opened the year pitching brilliantly in a hitter-friendly Triple-A setting; through 16 frames with the Rockies’ Albuquerque affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, Abad allowed just three runs (1.69 ERA) on nine hits and two walks with 20 strikeouts. He whiffed 34.5% of his opponents against just a 3.4% walk rate.

The Rockies were the eighth big league team for the well-traveled Abad, who’s now pitched in parts of 11 Major League seasons. His big league work has been infrequent over the past four years — just 33 1/3 total innings — but Abad was a quality and heavily used bullpen arm from 2013-17 with the Nats, A’s, Twins and Red Sox. During that time, he pitched to a 3.13 ERA in 233 frames, and on the whole he carries a career 3.82 ERA with 48 holds, two saves, a 19.4% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate in 351 big league innings.

The Rockies could’ve tried to pass Abad through outright waivers, though he’d either have been claimed or had the ability to reject his assignment based on Major League service time. (He reached seven total years of service during his brief stint with Colorado.) He’ll now carry that excellent start to his season in Triple-A back to the market as he looks for other opportunities.

Padres Release Adam Engel

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The Padres have released outfielder Adam Engel, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment on the weekend.

Engel, 31, was signed this winter to a major league deal with a $1MM guarantee, just a bit above the $720K minimum for this season. Unfortunately, he suffered a hamstring strain during Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He returned in early May and wasn’t really given any playing time, getting six plate appearances in five games before being designated for assignment recently.

The club had some uncertainty in the outfield coming into the season, as Fernando Tatis Jr. still had 20 games remaining on his suspension from last season. However, he was back in the lineup by the time Engel came off the injured list, joining Juan Soto and Trent Grisham in the outfield. It seems the club prefers to roll with José Azocar as its fourth outfielder and will let Engel walk.

Prior to joining the Padres, Engel had spent his entire career with the White Sox, largely serving as a glove-first outfielder. His career batting line of .224/.279/.349 translates to a 71 wRC+, indicating he’s been 29% worse than league average overall. However, he’s stolen 47 bases and received positive reviews from advanced defensive metrics. In 3715 2/3 innings over 528 career games, he’s accrued 53 Outs Above Average, 20 Defensive Runs Saved and a score of 2.3 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Statcast put his sprint speed in the 92nd percentile last year.

Even if the Padres had tried to pass Engel through outright waivers, he has more than five years of major league service time, giving him the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Now that Engel has been released, they will remain on the hook for his salary while allowing another club to sign him for the protated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Friars pay. He’ll now head to the open market in search of a team in need of a fleet-footed outfielder for its bench.

Angels Outright Brett Phillips

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The Angels have sent outfielder Brett Phillips outright to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he passed through waivers unclaimed after the club designated him for assignment on the weekend.

Phillips, turning 29 next week, was signed this winter to a one-year, $1.2MM deal. He has long been a light-hitting outfielder with value off the bench as a speed-and-defense specialist. The Halos used him in that vein, putting him into 20 contests but sending him to the plate just 16 times. Though he stole three bases and provided his customarily strong glovework, he hit just .077/.250/.077 in those trips to the plate, a drop-off from even his own standards.

For his career, he’s hit .187/.272/.343 in 916 plate appearances dating back to 2017. That amounts to a wRC+ of 70, or 30% below league average. That’s a level that teams have been able to live with given his other traits, as he’s stolen 39 bases and been given excellent grades from all advanced defensive metrics. He has career tallies of 43 Defensive Runs Saved, 34 Outs Above Average and a score of 27.0 from Ultimate Zone Rating.

The Halos went into the season with a regular outfield of Mike Trout, Hunter Renfroe and Taylor Ward with Phillips in the fourth outfield role. However, his downturn at the plate coincided with the rise of Mickey Moniak, who hit well in the minors and was recalled a few weeks ago, producing a scorching hot .419/.438/.935 batting line in his 32 plate appearances so far.

Each of the 29 other teams had a chance to grab Phillips off waivers but all declined. He has over three years of major league service time, which technically gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. However, he lacks the five years of service necessary to both reject and retain his salary. Since all the clubs in the league already passed on him at that modest $1.2MM price point, it’s likely that he’ll simply forgo the open market and report to Salt Lake.

Reds Select Eduardo Salazar, Designate Silvino Bracho

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The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of pitching prospect Eduardo Salazar from Triple-A Louisville and designated righty Silvino Bracho for assignment in a corresponding move.

Entering the 2023 season, the 25-year-old Salazar was a generally nondescript prospect in the Reds’ system. He’d never cracked the organization’s top 30 at Baseball America and only drew a cursory mention as a potential multi-inning reliever in Eric Longenhagen’s 2022 overview of the Reds’ system over at FanGraphs — due largely to a velocity spike and improvement on his breaking ball.

Following a move from a starting role to short relief, Salazar has flipped the narrative surrounding him in a substantial way in 2023. He’s combined for 17 2/3 innings of 0.51 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A, whiffing a massive 35.2% of his opponents against an outstanding 4.2% walk rate. Salazar hasn’t given up a home run this season and has induced grounders at an enormous 63.2% rate.

Cincinnati relievers rank 10th in the Majors with a 3.72 ERA and are fourth in total innings pitched (193 2/3), thanks largely to a young starting rotation that has struggled to keep runs off the board and pitch deep into games. Reds starters have a 6.29 ERA that ranks second-worst in baseball, and only the Rays — who’ve frequently used openers and bullpen games — have gotten fewer innings from the rotation.

Much of the relief corps’ success is attributable to strong performances from Buck Farmer, Ian Gibaut, Alex Young and especially closer Alexis Diaz. The Reds have also gotten nice contributions from Derek Law and Kevin Herget. On the whole, it’s a collection of journeymen, many of whom are experiencing their first taste of MLB success in simultaneous fashion. That coalescence has proven to be a godsend for the Reds and manager David Bell, but Salazar will hope to join Diaz as a homegrown product and success story for the team’s scouting and player development departments.

Bracho, 30, held opponents scoreless in three of his four outings — the lone exception being a three-run appearance against the Yankees in which he only recorded two outs. Overall, he pitched 5 1/3 innings with the Reds and only allowed two hits, though he walked more batters (five) than he struck out (four).

In 99 1/3 career innings, most of them spent with the D-backs, Bracho has a 4.89 ERA with a 23.7% strikeout rate against a 9.1% walk rate. He’s typically been homer-prone in his career (1.72 HR/9), but he had some success with Arizona in both 2015 and 2019. The Reds will have a week to trade Bracho, pass him through outright waivers, or release him. He has more than three years of Major League service time, so even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Rays Designate Zack Burdi For Assignment, Select Ben Heller

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The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Zack Burdi for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Ben Heller from Triple-A Durham. It’s the second time this season Burdi has been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Durham the first time around.

Burdi tossed three shutout innings during his first stint with the Rays earlier this season but was mauled for six runs (five earned) on five hits and a walk — all in one inning — during yesterday’s 20-1 drubbing at the hands of the Blue Jays. Tampa Bay needed at least one fresh arm in the ’pen, and Burdi surely wasn’t going to be available after laboring through a six-run, 36-pitch frame.

The 28-year-old Burdi is a former first-rounder whose results have not yet aligned with his former top prospect status. That’s due largely to injury, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and then suffered a torn patellar tendon in his knee the following year. There were no minor leagues to return to in 2020, so Burdi jumped straight to the big leagues with the White Sox after pitching just 33 combined innings in 2018-19. The results weren’t good (nine runs in 7 1/3 innings) and Burdi has yet to find his footing. In 21 1/3 big league innings, he has an 8.44 ERA. The Rays will have a week to pass him through outright waivers, trade him or release him.

Heller, 31, has appeared in parts of four big league seasons. All of those came with the Yankees, who acquired him alongside Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and J.P. Feyereisen in the trade sending Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Heller has been successful in limited opportunities, pitching to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 MLB frames — albeit with worse-than-average strikeout and walk rates (21.7%, 10.9%).

Had it not been for 2018 Tommy John surgery, he might’ve had additional opportunities with the Yankees. Heller missed that entire season, was only healthy enough to throw 21 innings in 2019, and spent much of the shortened 2020 season on the injured list due to a nerve injury in his biceps.

Heller has spent the season in Durham’s bullpen, working in a multi-inning role and logging a 3.91 ERA in 23 frames spread across 16 outings. He’s fanned a strong 26.6% of his opponents against a sharp 6.4% walk rate and only allowed a pair of homers so far. Assuming he gets into a game with the Rays, it’ll be his first big league appearance since that injury-shortened 2020 campaign.

Mariners, Pedro Severino Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran catcher Pedro Severino, tweets Tacoma Rainiers director of communications Paul Braverman. Severino, a client of Republik Sports, opted out of a minor league deal with the Padres last week. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma and will give the Mariners some catching depth there.

The 29-year-old Severino had a strong start at the plate with the Padres’ Triple-A club, slashing .286/.400/.476 with three home runs, three doubles and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10) in his first 75 plate appearances. He even added a surprising three stolen bases, matching his career-high from any prior season.

Severino has logged Major League time in each of the past eight seasons, typically serving as a backup or the right-handed end of a catching platoon. Dating back to the 2019 season, he’s a .248/.316/.396 hitter with 29 homers, 38 doubles, an 8.6% walk rate and a 23.9% strikeout rate in 959 plate appearances (mostly with the Orioles).

As far as catchers go, Severino is a solid hitter — evidenced both by his big start to the season in El Paso and that respectable four-year run from 2019-22. However, he’s long graded out as a poor defensive backstop. Severino routinely posts below-average framing marks, and Defensive Runs Saved dings him for -18 in his 2574 career innings behind the dish. He does have a solid 28.5% caught-stealing rate in the big leagues, but his 33 passed balls from 2015-22 are the 22nd-most in MLB — despite the fact that all but one name ahead of him on the list (the now-retired Josh Phegley) have at least 600 more innings behind the plate. Statcast’s tracking of catchers’ blocking data only dates back to 2020, but Severino ranks last among big league catchers in its Blocks Above Average metric.

The Mariners are largely set behind the plate, with slugging Cal Raleigh taking the majority of the playing time and veteran Tom Murphy backing him up. In Tacoma, the Mariners have Jacob Nottingham and minor league veteran Brian O’Keefe as their primary options, though catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel has also logged a pair of games behind the plate. Bringing Severino into the mix will give them another option behind the dish and another bat to work into the lineup against left-handed pitching. In 449 big league plate appearances against southpaws, Severino is a .260/.325/.436 hitter.

Diamondbacks Release Jandel Gustave

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Right-hander Jandel Gustave has been released by the Diamondbacks, reports Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America.

Gustave, 30, was with the Brewers last year but was non-tendered at season’s end and signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in the winter. He made nine appearances with the Triple-A Reno Aces this year with an unfortunate 16.43 ERA before landing on the minor league injured list about a month ago. It’s not publicly known what his injury is, but it’s possible it contributed to his poor results this year.

Prior to this season, he’s been able to produce quality results in the big leagues. He has a 3.56 ERA in his career over 91 innings, dating back to 2016. He spent 2021 and 2022 with the Brewers, tossing 46 1/3 innings over 41 appearances with a 3.69 ERA. He struck out 20.1% of batters faced while walking 8% and got grounders at a 48.2% clip.

Gustave will now be free to sign with any club, though his unknown injury situation will undoubtedly be a factor in how much interest he draws on the open market. If he’s healthy, he should intrigue clubs based on his track record of effective big league work. Should he eventually find his way back onto a major league roster, he still has an option year remaining and a service time count of 4.027.

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