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Marlins Designate Devin Smeltzer For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated lefty Devin Smeltzer for assignment and selected the contract of right-hander Johan Quezada, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com (hat tip: Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald on Twitter).

Smeltzer, 27, wore the brunt of the damage for the bullpen at the hands of the Phillies in early April after they ambushed reigning Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara for 10 runs in four innings of work. Smeltzer came on in mop-up duty and was tagged for five more runs of his own, but he’s thrown well in his previous three outings, including a four-inning spot start. Since April 21, he’s pitched seven innings of one-run ball with a 5-to-3 K/BB ratio. He’s still at an ugly 6.75 ERA in 12 innings overall, however.

This is Smeltzer’s first season with the Marlins organization. The former Dodgers draft pick went to the Twins as part of a Brian Dozier trade and spent parts of four seasons with Minnesota, pitching to a combined 3.99 ERA in 140 innings of work. That includes 70 1/3 frames of 3.71 ERA ball last year, though that success came with a tepid 13.9% strikeout rate. Smeltzer has never missed many bats at the MLB level, evidenced by a career 16.4% strikeout rate, but he’s also only walked 6.4% of his opponents — a far better-than-average mark.

All told, Smeltzer has 152 innings of 4.20 ERA ball under his belt in the Majors. He’s made 20 big league starts and 39 more relief appearances, demonstrating the ability to pitch in just about any role asked of him. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that trades for him or claims him on waivers would need to carry him on the big league roster. The Marlins will have a week to try to trade Smeltzer or pass him through waivers.

As for the 28-year-old Quezada, he’ll be making his first MLB appearance since 2020 (also with the Marlins) if he gets into a game with the Fish. He’s yielded a pair of runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts through his first 6 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season and carries a career 2.60 ERA in 34 2/3 innings there. He’s spent time with the Twins and Cardinals organizations in addition to the Marlins.

Red Sox Place Garrett Whitlock On IL With Ulnar Neuritis

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The Red Sox announced today that right-hander Garrett Whitlock has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow ulnar neuritis. Fellow righty Brayan Bello was recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

The club didn’t provide any more information about Whitlock’s injury, so the severity isn’t publicly known at this time. It’s possible that they are still doing more testing, as ulnar neuritis comes with a wide range of possible outcomes. The ulnar nerve is commonly known as the “funny bone” due to the tingling sensation it causes when agitated. Neuritis is the medical term for when there is inflammation of the nerve.

It’s too early to draw conclusions but the diagnosis is nonetheless concerning. Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs was recently diagnosed with ulnar neuritis and just a few days later was reported to require Tommy John surgery. That’s not to say that Whitlock is inevitably headed down the same path, as Blue Jays right-hander Jordan Romano was diagnosed with the same ailment in April of 2021 but was back after just 10 days.

Whitlock already had Tommy John surgery back in 2019 but said he isn’t concerned he’s headed down that path again. He told reporters, including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, he felt some tingling recently but doesn’t think it’s at all similar to his torn UCL from years ago. He’s hasn’t had an MRI yet.

That’s surely encouraging, but Whitlock and the Red Sox will be in wait-and-see mode until it can be discovered exactly which part of the spectrum his injury is on. He’s attempting to make the transition to full-time starting this year after working primarily in relief for the past two seasons. He began the year on the injured list after being delayed in spring by last year’s hip surgery. He’s only made three starts on the year so far because of that, registering a 6.19 ERA in that small sample.

He posted a 1.96 ERA out of the bullpen in 2021 after being plucked from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. That instilled enough confidence in the club that they signed him to an $18.75MM extension through 2026 with two club options after that. They then tried to stretch him out last year but injuries eventually pushed him back into the bullpen.

Whitlock was scheduled to start tomorrow’s game but that will now presumably fall to Bello, who just started for the big league club on Sunday. The young prospect is seen as a future building block of the rotation but has posted a 9.82 ERA in his two starts so far this year. Both Bello and Whitlock began the year on the IL and the club briefly ran out a six-man rotation when they returned but Bello was sent down earlier this week. He’d normally have to stay down for 15 days after being optioned but an exception is made when another player goes on the IL.

It’s possible that it could be another short stay in the rotation for Bello alongside Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck and Corey Kluber. Lefty James Paxton has been on the IL all year but has made four rehab starts already as he tries to get back into game shape. He’s only made six major league starts since the end of 2019, with Tommy John surgery wiping out most of his 2021. He was working his way back to the mound in 2022 when he suffered a lat strain that killed his chances. His subsequent attempt at a return this spring was set back by a hamstring injury.

Reds Select Matt Reynolds

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The Reds announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of utilityman Matt Reynolds from Triple-A Louisville and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring right-hander Tony Santillan from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Santillan has yet to pitch in the Majors this season due to a back injury that dates back to the 2022 campaign. He’d gone out on a minor league rehab assignment earlier this month, but the Reds halted that when he began experiencing discomfort in his knee.

Reynolds, 32, played in 93 games with the 2022 Reds and posted a .246/.320/.332 batting line while appearing at every position on the diamond other than catcher (pitcher included). The former Mets farmhand is out to a nice start in Louisville this season, slashing .263/.364/.544 with three homers and seven doubles through his first 66 trips to the plate.

The Reds placed Wil Myers on the injured list yesterday and didn’t announce a corresponding 26-man roster move, so Reynolds is effectively coming up to take his spot on the roster for the time being. He’ll give the club a versatile bench option for now, with catcher Tyler Stephenson likely slotting in as the primary option at first base. Cincinnati currently has three catchers on its roster with Stephenson, Curt Casali and Luke Maile, and Stephenson has already appeared in five games at first base on the young season.

Red Sox Claim Justin Garza

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The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Justin Garza off waivers from the Angels, per an announcement from both clubs. The Red Sox had an open spot on the 40-man roster so a corresponding transaction isn’t necessary. Garza has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester.

Garza, 29, was designated for assignment a week ago when the Halos selected the contracts of Chad Wallach and Austin Warren. He didn’t pitch for the Angels at the MLB level this season but opened the year with their Triple-A club, where he tossed 8 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on six hits and four walks. Garza’s stay with the Angels organization was rather brief. The Guardians outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in November, at which point he elected free agency and signed a split Major League contract with the Angels, thus placing him on their 40-man roster.

In 2022, Garza made his big league debut with the Guardians, pitching to a 4.71 ERA with a roughly average 22.7% strikeout rate against a bleak 14.1% walk rate. Garza sits at 95 mph with his heater and has missed bats at a high level in Triple-A (29.2% strikeout rate), but command has been an issue for him even in the minors (12.2% walk rate).

The Sox rank 13th in the Majors with a 3.58 ERA from their bullpen, though it’s a decidedly top-heavy unit. Kenley Jansen, Josh Winckowski, John Schreiber and Kutter Crawford have all gotten out to excellent starts, but the rest of the group has been severely lacking. Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort, in particular, have been hit hard. Offseason signee Chris Martin, meanwhile, is on the injured list and Zack Kelly’s season is in jeopardy due to elbow surgery. Garza will give the Sox some depth with good life on his fastball, but for now he’ll head to Worcester and look to refine his command while awaiting an opportunity.

Rockies Release Jose Urena

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The Rockies have released starter José Ureña, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That was the anticipated outcome when Colorado designated the right-hander for assignment on Tuesday.

Ureña had been off to a very rough start to the season. Through five outings, he’d tossed 18 1/3 innings of 22-run ball. He walked 14 while recording just nine strikeouts and generating swinging strikes at a career-worst 7.2% clip. He and Ken Waldichuk are tied for the major league lead with nine home runs allowed.

That’s obviously not the caliber of production the Colorado front office had in mind when signing Ureña to a $3.5MM free agent deal last winter. It was a return to Coors Field for the sinkerballer, who spent the final four months of last season in Denver. Ureña posted a 5.14 ERA through 89 1/3 innings last season. While not overwhelming production, it was serviceable enough for a Rockies team that’s light on rotation depth. Ureña hadn’t come close to replicating those numbers through this season’s first month and Colorado moved on rather quickly.

Ureña is still due around $2.5MM in salary through season’s end, plus a $500K buyout on a 2024 club option. No team is going to take that off Colorado’s hands, so it’s a near certainty he’ll go unclaimed on release waivers. At that point, the 31-year-old hurler will be free to explore other opportunities. Any team that carries Ureña on its MLB roster would only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary, which would be subtracted from Colorado’s obligations. Given the extent of his early-season struggles, he seems likely to be limited to minor league offers.

There should be some interest around the league in adding him to a Triple-A rotation. Ureña has never posted impressive strikeout or walk rates but he’s consistently kept the ball on the ground at a higher than average clip. He has 813 big league innings over parts of nine seasons, carrying a career 4.92 ERA.

Mariners Release Justus Sheffield

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The Mariners are releasing left-hander Justus Sheffield from Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Rainiers’ director of media relations Paul Braverman. The southpaw had already been taken off the 40-man roster over the offseason but had remained in the system after going unclaimed on outright waivers.

Sheffield had been hit very hard through his first 10 outings in Tacoma. He’s allowed 17 runs over 8 1/3 innings, walking 11 batters with only four strikeouts. Given that production, he surely wasn’t on the radar for an imminent look at the MLB level. Seattle will instead officially part ways with the 26-year-old hurler, a disappointing conclusion to a four-plus year tenure in the organization.

The M’s first acquired Sheffield from the Yankees in the James Paxton trade over the 2018-19 offseason. One of the game’s top pitching prospects at the time of the deal, Sheffield was regarded by many prospect evaluators as a potential mid-rotation starter. He was the headlining piece of the trade return, though righty Erik Swanson wound up outperforming him after moving to the bullpen.

Sheffield struggled in a brief look in 2019 but flashed some of that promise during the shortened 2020 campaign. Sheffield had a 3.58 ERA through 10 starts that year, inducing ground balls at a quality 50.6% clip. Over the past two seasons, though, the former first round draftee has allowed over six earned runs per nine innings at the MLB level. His ERA was pushing 7.00 over 24 starts in Triple-A last season.

That led to him clearing waivers in January, preceding his immense struggles through this season’s first month. He’ll hit the open market in search of a new landing spot, which would assuredly be via minor league contract.

Marlins Outright Sean Nolin

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Left-hander Sean Nolin has been outrighted by the Marlins to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. Since he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s decided to do so.

Nolin, 33, has racked up a lot of miles in his career. Originally a draft pick of the Blue Jays, he briefly made it to the big leagues with them in 2013 and 2014, getting one appearance in each of those seasons. He then went to the Athletics in the Josh Donaldson trade but posted a 5.28 ERA in six starts in 2015 before getting designated for assignment prior to the following season.

He then missed the next five major league campaigns, bouncing around the minors and non-affiliated leagues, going to the Brewers, Rockies, White Sox, the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, the Mariners and the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. He returned to the bigs in 2021, tossing 26 2/3 innings for the Nats in that season with a 4.39 ERA. He went to the Kia Tigers of the KBO League last year before returning to North America this offseason.

The southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Twins in February but was flipped to the Marlins a week ago, just before he was selected to the big league club. The Fish put him into Monday’s game when they were down 5-0, leaving him out for three innings of mop-up duty wherein he allowed six runs, designating him for assignment the day after he was selected. Nolin could decide to accept the assignment and join the Jumbo Shrimp but he could also opt for the open market to see if there are any opportunities out there for him.

Reds Place Wil Myers On Injured List, Outright Jason Vosler

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The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve place first baseman/outfielder Wil Myers on the injured list (retroactive to Wednesday) and assigned corner infielder Jason Vosler to Triple-A Louisville after he went unclaimed on outright waivers. Cincinnati also placed righty Graham Ashcraft on the bereavement list and recalled right-hander Casey Legumina from Louisville. The Reds are off today, so they’ll presumably add a position player to the roster tomorrow in advance of their series opener in Oakland.

Myers was scratched from yesterday’s game due to an illness and missed Tuesday’s contest due to neck spasms. The Reds didn’t list an injury designation or a timetable for his return in today’s announcement. Myers, who signed a one-year deal worth $7.5MM this offseason, has stumbled out to a .222/.292/.321 start with what would be a career-high 34.8% strikeout rate through his first 89 plate appearances.

With Myers and Joey Votto on the shelf, the Reds could turn to catcher Tyler Stephenson at first base with more regularity. The 26-year-old Stephenson has already started three games there and made five total appearances at the position, and Cincinnati is carrying two other catchers in Luke Maile and Curt Casali. Infielder Spencer Steer is another option; he started his first game of the season at first base when Myers was scratched and has made a total of four appearances there. It’s also possible the Reds will call up a first base option from the minors before tomorrow’s game.

With Votto yet to make his 2023 debut, the Reds’ two primary first basemen have been Myers and the now-outrighted Vosler, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week. Vosler got out to a blistering start with the Reds after signing a minor league deal late in the offseason. He cracked three home runs in his first 15 plate appearances but has since fallen into a protracted slump, batting just .106/.160/.128 with 20 strikeouts in his past 50 trips to the plate.

Vosler, 29, has logged big league time in each of the past three seasons. In 258 Major League plate appearances between the Reds and the Giants, he’s a .210/.279/.408 hitter who’s seen time at both infield and both outfield corners. Vosler has also appeared in 345 Triple-A games in his career, posting a vastly superior .272/.344/.485 slash along the way. This is the first outright assignment of Vosler’s career, and he has fewer than three years of MLB service time, so he doesn’t have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain with the Reds organization and hope to play his way back onto the 40-man roster at some point.

Orioles Promote Joey Ortiz

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The Orioles announced Thursday morning that they’ve recalled top infield prospect Joey Ortiz from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra to Triple-A in his place. Ortiz — who currently ranks as the game’s No. 66 prospect at FanGraphs, No. 88 at Baseball America and No. 91 at MLB.com — will be making his Major League debut the first time he takes the field.

Ortiz, 24, was Baltimore’s fourth-round selection in the 2019 draft and was selected to the 40-man roster back in November, thus protecting him from selection in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. He’s gotten out to a torrid start in Triple-A this season, slashing .359/.389/.500 with five doubles, a pair of triples, a 6.9% walk rate and a 16.7% strikeout rate that’s considerably lower than average. It’s a strong early followup to a 2022 season in which Ortiz hit .284/.349/.477 with 19 home runs, 35 doubles, six triples and eight steals in a combined 600 plate appearances between Double-A (485) and Triple-A (115).

While he’s spent the vast majority of his professional career to date at shortstop, Ortiz has just shy of 300 innings at second base and another 51 frames of third base under his belt since being drafted. He’s not going to supplant Jorge Mateo at shortstop, given Mateo’s own brilliant start to the season, but Ortiz could see some time at the other two infield spots in the days ahead, with second base seeming particularly plausible.

As Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun points out (Twitter link), the O’s are slated to face left-handed starters in each of their next three games. The left-handed-hitting Vavra likely wouldn’t have gotten a start in any of those three contests, but Ortiz gives manager Brandon Hyde a righty bat off the bench or, speculatively speaking, at second base to start over the lefty-swinging Adam Frazier (who has struggled in general early this season).

It’s not clear just yet whether Ortiz will only be getting a brief call to the Majors or whether he might be earnestly auditioning for a larger role with the club right now. Frazier’s hitting just .208/.288/.333 through his first 80 plate appearances, though it’s unlikely that the Orioles would move on so soon after signing him to a one-year, $8MM deal over the winter. However, it’s at least feasible that Ortiz could spell Frazier against lefties while also seeing a start per week at shortstop, third base and designated hitter, perhaps accruing something close to regular playing time in the process. Injuries, of course, could always create additional opportunity.

Whether it’s just a brief cup of coffee or a more legitimate big league audition, Ortiz’s early promotion will give Baltimore fans a look at yet another promising young position player who could help form the core of the club for the next several years. He’ll join Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle and Grayson Rodriguez as recent top-100 prospects to take the big league stage at Camden Yards over the past couple seasons, with several more waiting in the wings behind them.

A’s Outright Dermis Garcia

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Athletics infielder Dérmis Garcia has been outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That indicates he’s gone unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday.

Garcia, 25, signed a minor league contract with Oakland heading into 2022. A longtime Yankee farmhand, the right-handed hitter had topped out at Double-A in the New York system. Garcia hit well with Las Vegas to earn his initial MLB call last July. He got into 39 games and tallied 125 plate appearances but struggled in his first crack at big league arms. Garcia hit .207/.264/.388 with five home runs, showing solid power but punching out at an unacceptable 44% clip.

The A’s carried him on the 40-man roster for the entire offseason. He was optioned to Las Vegas to start this year. He’s off to a .242/.329/.500 start in 70 plate appearances with the Aviators. That’s a reasonable line on the surface but a little below-average in one of the minors’ most favorable home parks for hitters. Garcia had also struck out 24 times (34.3%) while drawing only five walks through the first few weeks of the year.

Garcia has never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service. As a result, he doesn’t have the right to refuse the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain in Las Vegas and try to work his way back onto the 40-man roster at some point during the season. Garcia would be eligible for minor league free agency at the end of the ’23 campaign if he’s not added back to the roster.

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