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Dodgers Designate Dylan Covey For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced today that left-hander Justin Bruihl and right-hander Andre Jackson have been recalled to the club. In corresponding moves, right-hander Dustin May was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain and righty Dylan Covey designated for assignment.

The Dodgers have been facing various challenges with their pitching staff in recent days, leading to much improvising. They played a 12-inning game against the Twins on Monday, using six relievers after Noah Syndergaard lasted just four innings. On Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw was also bounced after just four frames, requiring the bullpen to pick up the remaining five.

That led the club to select Covey’s contract yesterday to give the bullpen a fresh arm. It was a good thing that they did, since May had to depart after just one inning with elbow pain. It was later reported that he has a flexor pronator strain and will likely miss four to six weeks, making today’s injured list placement inevitable. Covey stepped in and threw four innings in relief of May, allowing a couple of earned runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Four other pitchers came in after him as the Dodgers managed to pull off a 7-3 victory.

Despite playing a key role in that victory, Covey has been nudged out of his roster spot as the club was once again facing an exhausted pitching staff and needed some fresh arms. Prior to joining the big league club, he had a 4.22 ERA in 32 Triple-A innings on the year. The Dodgers will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He hasn’t really been a major league regular for a few years, pitching in the CPBL in Taiwan in 2021 and 2022, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see some other club express interest given the mounting pile of pitcher injuries around the league. In the event he does clear waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, by virtue of having a previous career outright.

Yankees Place Jose Trevino On IL With Hamstring Strain, Recall Ben Rortvedt

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The Yankees announced that they have placed catcher Jose Trevino on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. Fellow backstop Ben Rortvedt has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

Trevino, 30, had spent the 2018-2021 seasons as a part-time catcher with the Rangers before the Yankees acquired him going into 2022. He already had a reputation as a glove-first backstop, tallying eight Defensive Runs Saved with Texas in 2021. He took that part of his game to new heights with the Yanks last year, accruing 21 DRS for the season, winning a Gold Glove and a Fielding Bible award. He also hit 11 home runs and slashed .248/.283/.388 for a wRC+ of 91.

He hasn’t quite been able to maintain that pace so far this year, as he’s hitting just .219/.265/.333 and his defense has been around league average. Nonetheless, it’s a frustrating development for the Yankees, for whom injuries have become an ongoing concern. Trevino joins Josh Donaldson, Oswald Peraza, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodon, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas, Luis Gil, Scott Effross, Ian Hamilton, Tommy Kahnle, Jonathan Loáisiga and Lou Trivino, who are all currently on the injured list, while they’ve also seen Aaron Judge and Harrison Bader miss some time. Despite all of those absences, the club is still hanging tough with a 25-20 record so far, but continually shuffling the deck chairs could become a growing concern over a long season unless the health situation improves.

As for Rortvedt, he was also acquired prior to the 2022 season, coming over from the Twins alongside Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but has yet to appear in a game as a Yankee mostly due to injuries. He suffered an oblique injury in the spring of 2022 then underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in April. He was eventually activated in August but was optioned to the minors. He did get recalled to the big league club in September but was optioned three days later without getting into a game. This year, Rortvedt underwent surgery in February on an aneurysm near the posterior in his left shoulder that was affecting his circulation. He began the year on the injured list and was activated a week ago but optioned to the minors again.

Given all of those hurdles, a running joke has developed among some Yankee fans that Rortvedt doesn’t even exist, but it now seems inevitable he will make his team debut at some point in the near future. He’ll likely be in the backup role in support of Kyle Higashioka, who had been backing up Trevino until now. Rortvedt has 39 games of MLB experience, which came with the Twins back 2021. He hit just .169/.229/.281 but earned 5 DRS in that short time and has positive framing metrics.

The Yankees also announced that Kahnle will begin a rehab assignment today with Single-A Tampa. The 33-year-old was signed in the offseason to a two-year, $11.5MM deal but has been on the IL all year so far due to biceps tendinitis. He was eventually transferred to the 60-day IL, meaning he won’t be eligible to return until next week but will likely need some time to get into game shape anyway. He has a career 3.78 ERA and 29.3% strikeout rate but has only thrown 13 2/3 innings since the end of 2019 due to various injuries.

Dennis Santana Accepts Outright Assignment With Mets

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Mets right-hander Dennis Santana went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Syracuse, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’s the second time this season the Mets have outrighted Santana, which grants him the ability to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. I’m told that Santana has accepted the assignment and will head to Syracuse, however.

Santana, 27, has appeared in eight games for the Mets this season, tallying 8 2/3 innings but allowing six runs on eight hits — including a pair of homers — and five walks. He’s punched out 11 of 40 opponents and averaged 95.6 mph on his heater. That’s above-average velocity but still down from last year’s 97.7 mph average in Texas. Santana has also tossed 7 1/3 frames for the Mets’ top affiliate in Syracuse, notching a 3.68 ERA with an 11-to-6 K/BB ratio there.

Once considered one of the top prospects in a deep Dodgers system, Santana has begun to bounce around the league, going from L.A. to Texas to Atlanta and to Minnesota before being claimed by the Mets earlier this year. A rotator cuff strain back in 2018 wiped out most of that season, and Santana moved from a starting role to a relief role the following season. He’s seen Major League action in parts of six big league campaigns and compiled 147 2/3 innings, most of which has come with the Rangers over the past two seasons. Overall, Santana has a 5.18 earned run average 21.4% strikeout rate, 11.8% walk rate and 45.4% ground-ball rate as a big leaguer.

Santana has generated swinging strikes, chases on pitches off the plate and grounders at average or better rates throughout his Major League tenure — all while sitting at an average of 96.1 mph with a fastball that has plus spin rates each year. He’ll head back to Syracuse and continue to work on his command in hopes of earning another look at the big league level with the Mets sooner than later. Given the fluid state of the injury-plagued Mets relief corps — they’ve used 17 relievers already, tied for fourth-most in MLB — a strong showing in Syracuse could put Santana back on the big league map before long.

Nationals, Franmil Reyes Agree To Minor League Deal

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11:15am: Reyes’ contract with the Nats has opt-out dates on June 16 and July 1, Andrew Golden of the Washington Post tweets.

9:18am: The Nationals have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent outfielder/designated hitter Franmil Reyes, per a report from Talk Nats (Twitter link). Reyes opened the season with the Royals but was optioned to Triple-A Omaha after a rough start and designated for assignment shortly thereafter. He cleared outright waivers and elected free agency last week.

The 27-year-old Reyes has a pair of 30-homer campaigns under his belt at the big league level but has seen his production take a sharp nosedive in recent seasons. After hitting .260/.325/.503 with 92 home runs in 1540 plate appearances between San Diego and Cleveland from 2018-21, the 6’5″ slugger flopped with a .221/.273/.365 batting line and 33.2% strikeout rate in 473 plate appearances between the Guardians and Cubs in 2022.

Chicago outrighted Reyes off the 40-man roster, and he elected free agency heading into the offseason. He lingered on the market into the new year but signed on with the Royals on a minor league pact. Reyes made Kansas City’s roster this spring but faded after a pair of early homers. In 65 trips to the plate, he hit just .186/.231/.288 and fanned at an ugly 36.9% clip.

Joey Meneses has been the Nationals’ primary designated hitter in 2023 and is slashing .295/.326/.387 with a pair of homers and ten doubles on the season. Reyes isn’t going to supplant Meneses anytime soon, and Dominic Smith is getting on base at a strong enough clip as the primary first baseman (.277/.361/.311) that there’s little urgency to push him out of the lineup, even if the Nats are surely hoping he’ll add some power to that output. It seems unlikely that the Nats would give Reyes substantial time in the outfield; he has just 208 innings on the grass dating back to 2020 and carries career marks of -17 Defensive Runs Saved and -10 Outs Above Average in 1420 career innings there.

Where Reyes could fit onto the big league roster is a secondary consideration at the moment anyhow. He hasn’t been a productive big league hitter since 2021, and his brief run with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate saw him go 3-for-15 with a homer and seven strikeouts. He’ll head to Triple-A Rochester for the time being and hope to pare back his strikeout rate and tap back into the power he displayed during that strong stretch from 2018-21.

Pedro Severino Opts Out Of Deal With Padres

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Catcher Pedro Severino triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Padres, reports Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). He heads back to the open market after the Friars granted him his release in lieu of adding him to the major league roster.

Severino, 29, has appeared in parts of eight major league seasons. He was a backup with the Nationals for a few years before getting starting run for the Orioles between 2019-21. A capable offensive catcher, Severino never rated highly behind the dish in the estimation of public defensive marks. The O’s cut him loose after 2021 with Adley Rutschman nearing the majors. He signed with the Brewers for 2022 but was suspended before the start of the season after failing a performance-enhancing drug test. He’d appear in only eight games for Milwaukee.

The Friars signed Severino to a minor league deal over the winter. He was assigned to Triple-A El Paso, where he tallied 75 plate appearances over 18 games. The right-handed hitter put up a solid .286/.400/.476 line with three home runs and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10). He threw out only three out of 20 attempted basestealers in 132 1/3 innings of work, however.

San Diego didn’t give Severino a major league look in spite of significant offensive woes from their catchers. The Friars have been without Luis Campusano since mid-April because of a torn ligament in his left thumb. They’ve turned to a combination of Austin Nola and Brett Sullivan behind the dish. Nola is hitting .161/.253/.209 with three extra-base hits over 102 plate appearances. Sullivan has a .176/.200/.324 mark in his first 35 big league trips.

Severino’s .248/.316/.396 batting line going back to 2019 indicates he probably would’ve provided a boost at the plate. The Friars will stick with the more defensively-minded duo of Nola and Sullivan instead. Severino will look for other opportunities in free agency.

A’s Acquire Lucas Erceg From Brewers

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The A’s announced this evening they’ve acquired minor league reliever Lucas Erceg from the Brewers for cash. The 28-year-old was not on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster and will not immediately go on the Oakland 40-man.

A San Jose native, Erceg entered the professional ranks as Milwaukee’s second round pick in 2016. He was a third baseman at the time and generated a fair amount of attention from prospect evaluators early in his career. After multiple seasons of offensive struggles in the upper minors, he gradually fell off the prospect radar. He was sitting on a .223/.270/.379 batting line as a 26-year-old in Double-A two seasons ago when he and the organization agreed to transition to pitching.

Erceg has spent the past two and a half seasons pitching in the upper minors. As one might expect, his results have been mixed. Erceg has missed bats around a league average rate but struggled to throw strikes consistently. That’s understandable for someone who’s new to pitching full-time but has translated into a 5.07 ERA over 124 1/3 minor league frames.

The right-hander has allowed 15 runs (11 earned) over 15 1/3 frames with Triple-A Nashville this season. He’s fanned 16, walked ten and induced grounders at an excellent 53.8% rate. While Erceg clearly still isn’t a finished product, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs named him the #32 prospect in the Milwaukee farm system last offseason. According to Longenhagen, Erceg’s fastball sits in the 96-99 MPH range. The A’s will take a flier on his power arm and lofty ground-ball totals in spite of the overall performance inconsistency.

As with much of the roster, Oakland’s bullpen has been among the league’s worst. The A’s entered play Wednesday with the highest bullpen ERA (6.64) and lowest strikeout rate (18%). Erceg won’t step immediately into that mix but should have a clearer path to an MLB job than he would’ve in Milwaukee if he can find success in Triple-A.

Brewers To Place Wade Miley On IL With Lat Strain

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3:05pm: The Brewers have now officially placed Miley on the IL, recalling righty Jake Cousins in a corresponding move.

9:34am: Brewers lefty Wade Miley departed  last night’s game in the second inning after throwing just 22 pitches. It was later announced that he has a left lat strain and will be placed on the 15-day injured list, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter links).

At this point, it’s not known who will take Miley’s roster spot or how long he’ll be out of action, with the southpaw undoubtedly set for further testing in the days to come. But even a mild lat strain usually requires about two to three weeks of recovery time, meaning Miley will likely be looking at more than a minimum stint on the injured list.

Miley was off to a solid start to the year, proceeding in his low-strikeout ways, succeeding by inducing soft contact. Through eight starts, he has a 3.67 ERA despite a modest 14% strikeout rate. But his 5.3% walk rate is excellent and Statcast pegs his average exit velocity in the 73rd percentile among qualified pitchers and his hard hit rate in the 76th.

Losing Miley for a few weeks will present a challenge to a Milwaukee club that is already dealing with a few other injuries to its rotation. Brandon Woodruff has a subscapular strain and isn’t expected back before late June, Jason Alexander has a shoulder strain of his own and is on the 60-day IL, while Aaron Ashby had shoulder surgery and may not be able to pitch this year at all.

That will leave the Brewers with Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser in the four rotation spots and a question mark for the final slot. It’s possible that they recall Colin Rea, who had been with the club in recent weeks until Houser returned from his groin strain. Rea has a 5.52 ERA in 31 innings this year over six starts and one relief appearance. He was only optioned a few days ago but would be eligible to return quicker than the standard 15-day minimum if he’s the corresponding move for Miley going on the injured list. Janson Junk is also on the 40-man roster and has a 3.86 ERA in Triple-A this year. He was called up to make a spot start in April but allowed four earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Non-roster options would include Robert Gasser, who is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and is at the Triple-A level, but he has a 5.17 ERA there this year. Thomas Pannone is with the club on a minor league deal, having started the year in the Triple-A bullpen but getting stretched out recently. He has a 2.04 ERA through 17 2/3 innings there. Either of these two or any other non-roster option would require a corresponding move to get them onto the 40-man.

Cardinals Select Oscar Mercado

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2:40pm: The Cardinals have announced Mercado’s selection, along with left-hander Matthew Liberatore being recalled from Triple-A Memphis. In corresponding moves, Carlson was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 15 while righty James Naile was optioned. To make room for Mercado on the 40-man roster, lefty Packy Naughton was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Naughton has been on the IL since April 8 with a forearm strain and will now be ineligible to return until early June, 60 days from that initial IL placement.

12:47pm: The Cardinals are set to select the contract of outfielder Oscar Mercado, as first reported by Robert Murray and Joshua Jacobs of FanSided (Twitter link). They’ll need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move, as Mercado is currently in Triple-A Memphis on a minor league deal.

Outfielder Dylan Carlson has been hobbled by an ankle injury that’s kept him out of the lineup for the past few games. He’s been available off the bench on an emergency basis but hasn’t played since exiting the Cardinals’ Sunday game after just one plate appearance. Tyler O’Neill is already on the injured list with a back strain, and it stands to reason that Carlson could also wind up headed there if he’s still unavailable. A 10-day IL placement can be backdated up to three days, so he that move could still have him available for activation within a week’s time, if the Cards go that route.

Calling up Mercado will give the Cards some additional depth in center field behind Lars Nootbaar, who’s been starting in center recently. Mercado will join Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez as outfield options on the big league roster.

Mercado, 28, was a second-round pick by St. Louis back in 2013 but was traded to Cleveland before making his big league debut. He was a fringe Rookie of the Year candidate in Cleveland in 2019, batting .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 15 steals in 482 trips to the plate. That landed him an eighth-place finish on the ballot and looked to set the stage for Mercado to hold down a long-term spot in the outfield, but he regressed badly in 2020 and has yet to recover. In 459 plate appearances since that strong debut campaign, Mercado has batted .200/.258/.330.

The Cardinals brought Mercado back to the organization on a minor league contract this offseason, and he’s out to a nice start in Memphis, where he’s slashed .278/.361/.421 (100 wRC+) with a pair of home runs and 15 steals (in 18 tries). Mercado is out of minor league options, so it could be a short stay on the big league roster for him once O’Neill and/or Carlson can return to the lineup. The Cards won’t be able to send Mercado down without first passing him through waivers, which would make him a DFA candidate once the outfield is at full strength.

Rays Select Zack Burdi

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The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Zack Burdi from Triple-A Durham and optioned right-hander Yonny Chirinos to Durham in his place, per a team announcement. Tampa Bay also announced that right-hander Javy Guerra, whom they designated for assignment over the weekend, has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A after clearing waivers.

This’ll be Burdi’s second stint of the season with the Rays. He came up earlier in the season and pitched three scoreless frames with a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio before being designated for assignment and passed through waivers. He accepted an outright assignment ten days ago and is now back with the big league club.

Burdi, 28, is a former first-round pick and top prospect whose career has been waylaid by injuries, including 2018 Tommy John surgery and a torn patellar tendon in 2019. He inked a minor league deal with the Rays over the winter, and while he got out to a rocky start in Durham this season, he’s tossed seven innings and allowed just one run over his past four appearances. Add in the three shutout big league frames, and he’s been quite effective dating back to mid-April, even in spite of an ugly 5.56 ERA in Triple-A.

Guerra, 27, has bounced between the Rays and Brewers over the past six months. Tampa Bay originally acquired him from the Padres in exchange for cash last April. After tossing 16 innings of 3.38 ERA ball with elite velocity but sub-par strikeout and walk rates, he was traded to the Brewers in an offseason swap that netted right-handed pitching prospect Victor Castaneda. The Brewers designated Guerra for assignment after he walked nine batters against five strikeouts while pitching to an 8.64 ERA in 9 1/3 innings, and Milwaukee flipped him right back to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later.

Guerra walked another nine batters in an even smaller sample of five innings (28 total batters faced) before being designated for assignment by the Rays. The former top shortstop prospect has been working to make the jump to a successful reliever, but his command is in clear need of refinement. He pitched 41 2/3 innings of 1.74 ERA ball with a 31.9% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate with Durham last season, and if he can get back to that form, he could yet be a prominent bullpen piece for the Rays.

As for Chirinos, he worked 9 1/3 shutout innings with a 5-to-2 K/BB ratio to kick off his comeback from Tommy John surgery earlier this year, but his work of late has been far less crisp. Over his past four appearances (one start, three following an opener), Chirinos has a 4.12 ERA in 19 2/3 innings with nine walks against just six strikeouts. His overall season ERA is a strong 2.79, but Chirinos’ matching 9.7% strikeout and walk rates tell another story. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.68) and SIERA (5.74) are far more bearish on his work.

Chirinos’ workload figures to be monitored this season as well, after he pitched just 33 1/3 innings in 2022. He’s already at 36 1/3 frames on the year between Triple-A and the Majors. He’ll head to Durham for the time being while the Rays figure out how they’ll manage a host of pitching injuries that included Jeffrey Springs (Tommy John surgery), Drew Rasmussen (flexor strain, 60-day IL) and Tyler Glasnow (oblique strain, has yet to his season debut).

Mets To Option Luis Guillorme

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The Mets are going to option infielder Luis Guillorme, per Andy Martino of SNY. Guillorme’s roster spot will go to infielder Mark Vientos, whose promotion was reported on earlier today.

Guillorme, 28, debuted with the Mets in 2018. He served as a frequently-optioned depth piece in his first couple of seasons but has generally been a fixture of the club since the 2020 season. Though not a superstar, he has been a useful member of the club as a guy who can do a lot of things well.

From the start of 2020 to the present, Guillorme has appeared in 228 games for the Mets and stepped to the plate 627 times. He only has three home runs but has drawn walks in 12% of those appearances while striking out just a 16.1% rate. His .273/.362/.335 batting line in that time translates to a 105 wRC+, indicating he’s been a bit above average. He’s done all that while moving between second base, third base and shortstop, generally considered to be a passable defender or better at any of those spots.

Guillorme’s bat has taken a bit of a step backward here in 2023, as he has been punched out in 22.1% of his plate appearances while slashing .233/.324/.267 for a wRC+ of 77. The Mets are off to a sluggish start this year, currently 20-23 and in fourth place in the National League East. It seems they are looking to shake things up to try to find some more offense, bringing up Vientos and his .333/.416/.688 Triple-A batting line.

It’s easy to see why the Mets see that as an upgrade worth pursuing, but there will be a bit of risk on the defensive side of things. Guillorme was backing up several infield positions and the club will be a bit short-handed there, particularly up the middle. Vientos and Baty will have third covered but neither has any recent work at second or short. With Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil getting the starts up the middle most days, it would appear Eduardo Escobar is the backup there. He has plenty of shortstop experience but only two innings at the position since 2018, while McNeil has just one career inning there, which was earlier this season.

Guillorme will head to the minors to try to get back into good form at the dish. From a service time perspective, he came into this season with three years and 167 days, meaning he’s already gone over the four-year mark. Assuming the Mets recall him again at some point this season, he’ll remain on track for free agency after the 2025 season. However, once he spends 20 days in the minors, he’ll burn his final option season and be slated to be out of options in 2024. He’s making $1.6MM this year and would be eligible for an arbitration raise this winter if the Mets tender him a contract.

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