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Red Sox Place Yu Chang On IL With Hamate Fracture

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The Red Sox announced that infielder Yu Chang has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamate fracture. Infielder Enmanuel Valdéz was recalled in a corresponding move. Christopher Smith of MassLive previously reported the components of the move. Chang will have surgery and should be out roughly six weeks, per Rob Bradford of WEEI.

Chang, 27, has been on quite a rollercoaster over the past year and a bit. He started out 2022 with the Guardians, the only organization he had ever played for up until that point. But he had exhausted his option years without truly establishing himself in the big leagues. He still had appeal to other clubs based on his past prospect status and defensive versatility, eventually getting opportunities from the Pirates, Rays and Red Sox, failing to hold a roster spot for very long at any stop. He finished the year with a combined .208/.289/.315 batting line and 78 wRC+ between the four clubs.

The Sox non-tendered Chang but later re-signed him to a major league deal in February to help the middle infield mix that had just lost Trevor Story to an internal brace procedure. Chang then went to represent Chinese Taipei in the World Baseball Classic and fared well, hitting .438 and earning the Most Valuable Player award for Pool A. He’s since played 17 games for the Sox, hitting three home runs but walking in just 2.1% of his plate appearances. His current batting line is .136/.174/.341, translating to a wRC+ of 30.

Though Chang was still struggling offensively, his upcoming absence will be notable for the club. He departed last night’s game with wrist pain and today’s news is not welcome. As mentioned up top, Chang will require surgery and an absence of roughly six weeks. For however long he’s out, the Sox will be further depleted in a middle infield that has taken many hits this year. As mentioned, Story has been out all year due to his procedure and it isn’t clear when he’ll be back. Adalberto Mondesí is still working his way back from last year’s torn ACL and also has little clarity on his return. Both players are on the 60-day injured list and aren’t eligible to return until late May. Valdéz will now step up to support the regular starting duo of Enrique Hernández and Christian Arroyo. Valdéz got to make a single-game debut in the majors last week when Chang was on the paternity list.

Twins Designate Trevor Megill For Assignment

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Brock Stewart, a move that was reported earlier today. To open a spot for Stewart on the active roster, righty Bailey Ober was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul yesterday. To get Stewart onto the 40-man roster, righty Trevor Megill was designated for assignment.

Megill, 29, made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2021. He posted an 8.37 ERA in 28 appearances, though he struck out 26.1% of batters faced and walked just 7%. He was claimed off waivers by the Twins at season’s end, though they quickly non-tendered him and re-signed him on a minor league deal. He got selected to the roster in May and made 39 appearances for the Twins last year, registering a 4.80 ERA. It’s possible that he deserved even better, given his .368 batting average on balls in play and 62.5% strand rate. Decent peripherals like a 25% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 45% ground ball rate led to a 3.29 FIP and 3.38 SIERA.

The righty was optioned to Triple-A to start this season but has gotten out to an atrocious start. He’s tossed 9 2/3 innings over seven outings, walking 25.5% of batters faced, which has contributed to an unsightly 13.03 ERA. He struck out 31.4% of batters faced and got grounders at a 50% clip, but the overall results were clearly not great.

The Twins will now have a week to trade Megill or pass him through waivers. Despite his rough start to the year, other clubs may overlook that small sample and take a flier on the righty based on past results, as he still has a couple of options and has yet to qualify for arbitration.

Rays Select Heath Hembree

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The Rays made a series of roster moves today, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Right-hander Taj Bradley and infielder Vidal Bruján have been optioned to the minors, making room for outfielder Jose Siri to be activated from the injured list and right-hander Heath Hembree to have his contract selected. A spot for Hembree on the 40-man was already opened when the club designated righty Hector Perez for assignment on the weekend. Topkin adds that Perez has now cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham.

Hembree, 34, has appeared in the past 10 MLB seasons and will make it 11 in a row as soon as he gets into a game. He had many good seasons for the Red Sox earlier in his career, racking up double-digit holds in 2017 and 2018, but he’s gone into journeyman mode more recently. Since the start of the 2020 season, he’s suited up for the Red Sox, Phillies, Mets, Reds, Pirates and Dodgers. He registered a 6.64 ERA over those three seasons with an 11.1% walk rate but also struck out 27.3% of batters faced.

The Rays took a flier on him by signing him to a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made eight appearances for the Bulls so far this year with a 1.29 ERA, though a 90.9% strand rate has surely helped him keep that down. He’s struck out 25% of batters faced thus far but walked 15.6%. He hasn’t been at his best over the past few years but the Rays have a knack for getting pitchers into peak form and will try to do that with Hembree.

The optioning of Bradley comes as a bit of a surprise because he’s been pitching well, registering a 3.52 ERA through three starts. Topkin and Kristie Ackert report that the move is more about transitioning him to the traditional five-day rotation of the majors, as he had previously been working on a six-day routine and the club didn’t want him to make the adjustment in the big leagues. Without Bradley, the Rays are down to a three-man rotation of Shane McClanahan, Zach Eflin and Drew Rasmussen. They are generally not afraid to do bullpen games, including multi-inning pitchers like Josh Fleming or Yonny Chirinos, though those guys could also make some traditional starts as well. Bradley will likely be back later in the season, once he’s properly made the workload switch.

Perez was selected to the roster on the weekend but designated for assignment a day later without getting into a game. That means his big league résumé still consists of just one game with the Blue Jays in 2020. Since he has a previous career outright, he had the right to reject another such move and elect free agency, but it seems he’ll stick with the Bulls and try to work his way back to the majors.

Diamondbacks Option Jake McCarthy, Drey Jameson

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The Diamondbacks optioned right-hander Drey Jameson to Triple-A Reno yesterday, opening up a roster spot for lefty Tommy Henry, who was recalled and started last night’s game. Today, the club is optioning outfielder Jake McCarthy as well, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, recalling infielder Emmanuel Rivera in a corresponding move.

Individually, the moves aren’t necessarily shocking. Both players have started a bit slow here in the early parts of this season and neither is fully established. Each player is 25 years old and came into this year with less than a year of service time. But their demotions, as well as Madison Bumgarner recently getting designated for assignment, perhaps point to the club having more of a win-now mentality than recent years.

The D’Backs went 25-35 in the shortened 2020 season before winning just 52 games the season after and 74 last year. The silver lining of those losing seasons is that they’ve been able to devote playing time to young players like Josh Rojas, Corbin Carroll, Christian Walker and others, who were able to use those opportunities to hone their skills cement themselves as viable big leaguers to varying degrees.

But this year, the club’s emerging young core has helped them jump out to a 13-11 start. With the Dodgers having a modest offseason and feeling less like inevitable conquerors while the Padres and Giants have had slow starts, the D’Backs find themselves leading the American League West. In order to stay that up there, it seems there’s less room for players to develop in the big leagues.

McCarthy looked to have taken a step forward last year, hitting .283/.342/.427 for a wRC+ of 116 while also stealing 23 bases. With him in the outfield alongside Carroll and Alek Thomas, the club felt good enough about its options on the grass to trade Daulton Varsho to the Blue Jays in the offseason. They did get Lourdes Gurriel Jr. back in that deal for some insurance, though he’s a short-term add since he’s an impending free agent. McCarthy hasn’t been able to carry over those results so far, hitting just .143/.229/.238 prior to today’s move. He’s surely due for some regression from a .160 batting average on balls in play, but he’s also not hitting the ball with much authority. He’s currently in the 9th percentile in terms of average exit velocity, 8th in hard hit rate and 34th in barrel rate. He’ll head to Triple-A to try to get into a groove.

As for Jameson, his numbers might not look disastrous at first glance, as he has a 3.71 ERA through six appearances. However, he hasn’t exactly been racking up the outs. He started the season in the bullpen and made three long relief appearances, but then was moved to the rotation when Zach Davies landed on the injured list. His first start was solid, tossing four shutouts innings against the Brewers, throwing 54 pitches in the process. His next start wasn’t quite as good, as he threw 71 pitches but logged only 3 2/3 innings against the Cardinals. Then on Sunday, he only lasted one inning against the Padres. It took him 43 pitches, allowing three hits, three walks and three earned runs in the process.

“If he pitched better, he’d still be here,” manager Torey Lovullo said frankly yesterday, per Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic. “That’s one of the things that (General Manager Mike Hazen) told him. A 43-pitch first inning puts us way behind, we’re kind of in a box, we’ve got to play a little catchup now with our bullpen. This was a direct response to what he did yesterday and a little bit of what he did in St. Louis as well.”

Those comments seem to reflect the win-now mentality that the club currently has. “We felt like the best thing for Drey at this point in time is to go down, get his timing, get his rhythm and find his stuff,” Lovullo said. “I said it last night: Good major league hitters, when they know you’re throwing a fastball, will get wood on a bullet. I stand by his ability to make pitches and when he does, he’s going to find his way back here.”

With Jameson going to Reno to try to earn his way back to the majors and Bumgarner out of the picture, the club is down to four starters on the roster in Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson and Henry. They have some off days coming up that could allow them to get by with that group, but it sounds like that’s not the plan. “We have discussed the four-man,” Lovullo said. “We know the off days are there. It was thrown around. We have not made any decisions, but I don’t think a four-man rotation right now is anything we’re interested in.”

Since the club needs a fifth starter, it makes speculative sense that a promotion of prospect Brandon Pfaadt could be imminent, though the club hasn’t made any kind of official announcement in that department. A telling sign could be if he makes his next scheduled start, as he’s currently slated to take the ball for Reno on Wednesday. A consensus top-50 prospect in the league, Pfaadt isn’t on the 40-man roster and would require a corresponding move if he gets the call. He has a 3.54 ERA through four starts in Triple-A this year, striking out 30.1% of batters faced while walking 4.8%.

Twins To Select Brock Stewart

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The Twins are set to select the contract of right-hander Brock Stewart, MLBTR has confirmed. Jeremy Maschino first suggested that Stewart could be on his way to join the Twins’ big league club today. They’ll need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Stewart’s addition, though they have at least one on-paper candidate for the 60-day injured list, as right-hander Ronny Henriquez has spent the entire season on the 15-day injured list due to an elbow issue and has yet to throw a pitch.

This will be the first MLB stint for the 31-year-old Stewart since 2019, when he tossed 25 2/3 innings between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. He didn’t pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, and Tommy John surgery plus a second procedure to remove a bone spur from his elbow wiped out most of his 2021-22 seasons. Stewart made it back to a minor league mound with the Twins late in the ’22 season but struggled across three levels, allowing 10 earned runs in 14 innings.

The 2023 season has been a much different story thus far. He’s blitzed out of the gate with a 2.08 ERA and gaudy 48.6% strikeout rate in 8 2/3 innings, walking just 5.7% of his opponents. Stewart’s raw 17-to-2 K/BB ratio is intriguing, even in a small sample at the Triple-A level, particularly since he’s added considerable velocity in recent years. Stewart averaged 92.8 mph on his four-seamer during his 2016-19 run with Los Angeles and Toronto but has since moved to short relief stints and ramped that velocity into the upper 90s. In addition to that massive strikeout rate, he’s also sporting an enormous 22.1% swinging-strike rate in St. Paul.

The back end of the Twins’ bullpen has been outstanding thus far, as closer Jhoan Duran and setup men Jorge Lopez, Griffin Jax and Caleb Thielbar are all out to strong starts. It’s been far shakier after that quartet, with righty Emilio Pagan and lefty Jovani Moran both sporting early ERAs that begin with a seven. Twins starters rank second in the Majors in innings pitched so far — a remarkable change of course from the 2022 season — so they haven’t had to lean too heavily on the arms in their middle relief corps. Still, the front office and manager Rocco Baldelli would surely prefer a deeper supply of reliable arms, and at least based on his early output in St. Paul, Stewart could potentially give them another hard-throwing, bat-missing arm to help stabilize the group. Stewart is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on the Twins’ big league roster or else be passed through waivers before he can return to Triple-A.

Rangers Release Clint Frazier

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The Rangers have released corner outfielder Clint Frazier from his minor league contract, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Kennedi Landry of MLB.com indicates it was a mutual decision between player and team (Twitter link).

Frazier had signed the non-roster deal shortly before the start of Spring Training. He got a long run in exhibition play, taking 47 at-bats over 21 games. Frazier hit .234/.308/.426 with a pair of home runs, five walks and 16 strikeouts. That wasn’t enough to secure a big league job out of camp. The 28-year-old started the season with Triple-A Round Rock, appearing in 15 games. Frazier hit .250/.350/.442 with a lone home run over 62 trips to the plate for the Express.

The former fifth overall draftee now heads back to the open market in search of a new landing spot. Frazier is looking to get back to the bigs for what’d be a seventh straight year. He spent the first five seasons of his career in the Bronx, combining for a .239/.327/.434 line in a little more than 800 plate appearances. Frazier was released over the 2021-22 offseason and hooked on with the Cubs on a one-year contract. He only played in 19 MLB games with Chicago before being designated for assignment and outrighted off the roster.

Frazier is coming off consecutive subpar seasons. He’d looked like a potential middle-of-the-order bat at times with the Yankees early in his career, drawing plenty of walks and flashing the plus power that once made him a top-tier prospect. His consistency was impacted both by lofty strikeout rates and various injury concerns, particularly recurring issues with concussion-like symptoms. That early-career production should land Frazier another minor league opportunity elsewhere.

The Rangers have used a rotation throughout left field. Travis Jankowski, Bubba Thompson, Josh H. Smith, Robbie Grossman and Ezequiel Durán have all tallied between 10 and 20 plate appearances at the position. It’s been a predictable problem area, as that collection of players has combined to hit only .176/.272/.221 while manning the position.

Braves, Daniel Robertson Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves are signing infielder Daniel Robertson to a minor league contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). The MVP Sports Group client had been a free agent since the Rays released him at the end of Spring Training.

Robertson, 29, logged big league action each season from 2017-21. The majority of that time came in Tampa Bay, where Robertson had the best year of his career in 2018. Through 88 games, the righty-hitting infielder posted a .262/.382/.415 line while walking at an excellent 12.6% clip. He slumped to a .213/.312/.295 slash in 73 contests the next season, leading the Rays to designate him for assignment going into 2020.

The former 34th overall draftee saw time with the Giants and Brewers over the next couple seasons. He combined to hit only .164/.303/.274 in 90 trips to the plate. Robertson spent last season in Triple-A with the Phillies and Twins but didn’t hit well at either stop. He posted a .172/.250/.207 showing through 29 Spring Training at-bats in a brief return to the Rays’ organization this year.

In spite of falling on some hard times in recent seasons, Robertson owns a reasonable .227/.338/.345 line in parts of five big league campaigns. He’s continued to draw plenty of walks even as his strikeout tallies have mounted over the past couple years. He’s a .240/.337/.342 hitter in just under 1000 trips to the plate in Triple-A.

Robertson has logged over 4000 minor league innings at shortstop and has ample experience at second and third base as well. He’ll add some upper minors infield depth, presumably joining prospect Braden Shewmake and fairly recent big leaguers Hoy Park, Charlie Culberson, Joe Dunand, Joshua Fuentes and Yolmer Sánchez at Triple-A Gwinnett.

Marlins To Select Bryan Hoeing

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The Marlins are turning to right-hander Bryan Hoeing to start tomorrow evening’s game in Atlanta, manager Skip Schumaker told the team’s beat (relayed by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Hoeing doesn’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, so the club will have to formally select his contract.

A seventh round pick in 2019, Hoeing made it to the big leagues for the first time last year. He pitched in eight games (seven times out of the bullpen), allowing 17 runs in 12 2/3 innings of work. The Louisville product had spent the majority of the season with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate, where he started 17 of 18 outings. He pitched to a 5.07 ERA for their top affiliate in Jacksonville, inducing grounders at a very strong 53.7% clip but only punching out 12.1% of opponents.

At the end of the season, Miami successfully ran Hoeing through outright waivers. He remained in the organization and returned to Jacksonville, where he’s off to an excellent first few weeks. He’s allowed only six runs (four earned) in 17 1/3 frames over his first four appearances. Hoeing has maintained his stellar ground-ball rate while significantly upping the whiffs. He’s punched out just under 30% of batters faced while nearly doubling his percentage of swinging strikes per pitch.

Even in a limited sample, that was enough for the 6’6″ hurler to pitch himself back onto the radar. Hoeing still has two minor league option years remaining, so the Fish can cycle him between Miami and Jacksonville for the foreseeable future if he’s able to hold his 40-man roster spot for an extended stretch.

Miami’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move tomorrow. The Marlins just selected journeyman left-hander Sean Nolin onto the big league club this afternoon. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible they’re planning on a short-term stay in the majors for Nolin.

Red Sox Option Brayan Bello

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The Red Sox announced that left-hander Brennan Bernardino has been recalled from Triple-A, with right-hander Brayan Bello optioned in a corresponding move.

The Sox started the season short-handed in the rotation, as all of Bello, Garrett Whitlock and James Paxton started the season on the injured list. That allowed Tanner Houck, who has worked as both a starter and a reliever in recent years, to get a rotation spot out of the gate. Bello and Whitlock returned from the IL recently, giving the club a difficult decision to make since Houck had gotten off to a decent start. Through four outings, he has struck out 25.6% of batters faced while walking 9.3% and getting ground balls on 58.9% of balls in play. Despite those strong peripherals, his 4.29 ERA is fairly average thanks to a 20% HR/FB rate.

Though that’s not exactly ace-level work, he’s still been arguably the club’s best starter this year. Chris Sale has an ERA of 8.00, Corey Kluber is at 8.50, Nick Pivetta at 4.58 and Whitlock at 6.19. Bello has only made two starts but is at 9.82. Although Houck has frequently moved from the rotation to the bullpen and back, it would have been difficult to bump him right now when he’s arguably been the club’s best starter this year. The club has been running out a six-man rotation recently but has multiple off-days coming up on the schedule, which would make it challenging to continue that. Today’s move provides a bit of clarity on the path forward, allowing Houck to hold that rotation spot for now and see if he can stretch his results over a larger sample.

As for Bello, he hasn’t got out to a great start this year, getting shut down in spring with forearm tightness and missing the beginning of the season. He returned recently but allowed eight earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in his first two starts. He’ll head down to Worcester to try to get into a groove again after the bumpy start to the campaign. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back up in short order, as he posted a 2.34 WRA in the minors last year and was a fixture of top prospect lists before graduating last year.

Even if Bello succeeds in Worcester, there might be some crowding in the Boston rotation with Sale, Kluber, Pivetta, Whitlock and Houck having the five spots for now. In addition to that, Paxton is rehabbing in the minors, though his last outing was a disaster. He tossed 43 pitches while recording only two outs and allowed seven earned runs.

Brewers Designate Javy Guerra For Assignment

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3:55pm: Bush will be shut down for two to four weeks, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

3:04pm: The Brewers announced a series of roster moves Monday, all pertaining to the bullpen. Right-hander Javy Guerra has been designated for assignment, with his spot on the 40-man roster going to veteran lefty Alex Claudio, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Nashville. Milwaukee also placed righty Matt Bush on the 15-day IL with tendinitis in his right rotator cuff and recalled right-hander Jake Cousins from Nashville.

Guerra, 27, was once one of the top prospects in baseball when he was a shortstop, but he converted to the mound several years ago and has been trying to establish himself as a flamethrowing reliever. He’s seen MLB time with the Padres, Rays and Brewers but has yet to find much consistency. So far in 8 1/3 innings with the Brewers, who acquired him from the Rays in exchange for a PTBNL (Victor Castaneda) back in November, he’s tossed 8 1/3 innings but allowed eight runs on 10 hits, nine walks and a pair of hit batters.

Guerra has averaged a blazing 98.4 mph on his heater this year and 98.1 mph overall in parts of five big league seasons on the mound, but command has regularly been an issue. Overall, he’s tallied 52 innings of relief work between those three previously mentioned clubs and walked nearly as many batters (12.1%) as he’s struck out (14.5%). The Brewers will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass the out-of-options righty through waivers.

Bush’s injury comes on the heels of some pronounced struggles for the 37-year-old this year. He’s pitched 7 2/3 innings but been tagged for seven runs on six hits and six walks with eight strikeouts. It’s a small sample, but that’s a 17.1% walk rate through his first nine appearances, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than the combined 7.7% mark he posted from 2016-22. Add in that Bush’s average fastball is down from 97.4 mph in 2022 to 94.8 mph in 2023, and there are a few pretty glaring signs that he perhaps has not been pitching at full strength. The Brewers have not yet provided a potential timetable for his return.

Claudio, 31, is a familiar face for Brewers fans, having spent the 2019-20 seasons pitching in the Milwaukee bullpen. He returned on a minor league contract over the winter and has gotten out to a nice start in Nashville, allowing a pair of runs with a 5-to-2 K/BB ratio and a mammoth 73.3% ground-ball rate in his six innings of work so far.

Hearty ground-ball rates are nothing new for Claudio, who’s posted a career 59.8% mark over the life of 347 2/3 innings at the big league level. He struggled upon departing the Brewers organization, pitching to a 5.51 ERA in 32 2/3 innings with the 2021 Angels, but Claudio’s broader body of MLB work is solid: 3.60 ERA (3.83 FIP, 3.67 SIERA), 17% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate, 59.8% grounder rate, 14 saves, 51 holds. He does have emphatic platoon splits, however, which makes the three-batter minimum a particularly disadvantageous rule change for Claudio.

Cousins, 28, has given up five runs in 4 1/3 innings with Nashville so far, though virtually all of the damage against him came in one outing. What’s surely of greater intrigue to the organization is that he’s punched out 11 of the 24 batters he’s faced so far (45.8%).

Cousins has just 43 1/3 innings of big league work under his belt to this point in his career, but he’s averaged 95.9 mph with his sinker, 95.3 mph with his four-seamer and notched a massive 17% swinging-strike rate. His 14.7% walk rate and six plunked batters (out of 184 faced) show command that needs some serious refinement, but Cousins has the stuff to miss bats in droves. If he can throw more strikes, as he’d done so far in Triple-A (two walks in 24 batters faced), he has the potential to become a legitimate high-leverage arm. That’s far easier said than done, of course, but it’s easy to see why the Brewers continue to be intrigued by Cousins.

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