Rockies Designate Cole Tucker For Assignment
The Rockies have reinstated outfielder Kris Bryant from the 10-day injured list, per Patrick Lyons of DNVR, with infielder/outfielder Cole Tucker designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Signed to a seven-year, $182MM contract going into 2022, Bryant hasn’t been able to get into a groove at any point over the past two seasons. He was limited to just 42 games last year due to various injuries and has played in just 65 so far this season, having missed time due to a heel bruise and finger fracture.
It will be important for him and the Rockies to get him healthy and in a good place going forward, with five years still remaining on the deal. There’s little left to play for this year since the club is 51-91 and in the bottom of the National League but Bryant will have a few weeks to get some at-bats before the winter. He’s hit .251/.338/.379 around his injuries this year but had a stronger showing last year with a line of .306/.376/.475.
Tucker, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies in the winter and has bounced on and off their roster lately. He was selected in early August but was designated for assignment just a week later. He accepted an outright assignment after clearing waivers and was added back to the roster last week but has now been removed again.
He managed to get 10 plate appearances in five games around those transactions, getting four singles, a walk and one hit-by-pitch. He’s hit .280/.391/.407 in Triple-A this year, good enough for a wRC+ of 101 in the Pacific Coast League. Once a highly-touted prospect, he hasn’t been able to have consistent major league success, having slashed .216/.266/.318 in 479 big league plate appearances.
The Rockies will now place Tucker on waivers in the coming days, since the trade deadline has long passed. It’s possible that he again clears waivers and accepts an assignment to Albuquerque, the same sequence of events that happened last month, though that will be determined in due time.
Cubs Place Adbert Alzolay On IL With Forearm Strain
The Cubs have placed right-hander Adbert Alzolay on the 15-day injured list due to a right forearm strain, reports Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Fellow righty Michael Fulmer has been reinstated from the IL in a corresponding move.
It’s unclear at this point how long Alzolay is expected to be out, but it’s a worrisome development for the Cubs regardless. Alzolay is having a tremendous breakout season and has taken over the closer role for the Cubs. Through 63 innings this year, he has an earned run average of 2.71, racking up 22 saves in the process. He has struck out 26.4% of batters faced while walking just 4.8% of them and he has also kept the ball on the ground at a decent 42.4% clip.
More news on the severity of the injury will surely be forthcoming, but the timing is certainly unfortunate as there are now just three weeks left on the schedule. The Cubs are in the midst of a tight playoff race, three games back of the Brewers in the Central division and currently holding the second Wild Card spot in the National League, but with four clubs within 3.5 games of them.
They will now have to go through at least the next couple of weeks of that playoff push without their closer. That will potentially push pitchers like Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and José Cuas into the mix for the gig, with everyone moving up one notch on the bullpen chart.
Braves Reinstate Kyle Wright
Between games of today’s double-header, the Braves announced that right-hander Kyle Wright has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, left-hander Dylan Lee was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett while righty Daysbel Hernández was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Wright, now 27, had a huge breakout last year. He posted an earned run average of 3.19 over 30 starts for Atlanta, along with a 23.6% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 55.6% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on that here in 2023. He made five starts with a 5.79 ERA before a shoulder strain sent him to the injured list, only returning today after missing about four months.
Now that he’s back, he will look to get back into good form and hopefully strengthen an Atlanta club that is already in a great spot. Their 94-49 record is the best in baseball, having already clinched them a playoff spot. They are 16 games up on the Phillies in the division, 6.5 on the Dodgers for the league lead and 3.5 over the Orioles for best in the majors. They’ve done all that while missing Wright and Max Fried for much of the year, though both are now healthy and in the rotation alongside Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder. On a personal level, Wright will qualify for arbitration for the first time this winter and a strong finish will help him in that regard.
As for Hernández, he was placed on the injured list August 1 due to right forearm inflammation. He’ll now be officially ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which effectively ends his regular season. He could theoretically join the club in the postseason but would have to both get healthy and seem like a better option than someone currently on the roster. He posted a 7.36 ERA in four outings this year and missed all of 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in February of last year. He has struck out 30.3% of batters faced in the minors but has also walked 12.2%.
Padres Select Nick Hernandez
3:45pm: The Friars have now made it official, selecting Hernandez and transferring Sanchez to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man. They reinstated Robert Suarez from his suspension and placed left-hander Tim Hill on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left ring finger.
1:58pm: The Padres are set to select the contract of right-hander Nick Hernandez from Triple-A El Paso, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC Channel 2. He’ll make his big league debut the first time he takes the mound.
Hernandez, 28, is a former Astros draftee (eighth round, 2016) who signed with San Diego in minor league free agency this offseason. His first year in the Padres organization has been mostly solid thus far. He’s posted sub-4.00 ERA marks with strong strikeout and walk rates in both Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 3.60 earned run average with a 33.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in 60 innings.
Hernandez has regularly posted quality ERA marks and missed bats in the minors. Command has been an issue at times, evidenced by a career 11.7% walk rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons –though he’s been quite a bit better in that regard this year. Hernandez will get the opportunity to show the Padres that he deserves a chance to stick at the big league level over the season’s final few weeks. He’ll be able to become a minor league free agent again at season’s end if he’s removed from the 40-man.
The Padres will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster in order to formally add Hernandez to the Major League club. That can be easily achieved at this stage of the calendar, however. Both Ji Man Choi and Gary Sanchez remain on the 10-day injured list despite recently suffering fractures. Choi has been trying to play through his injury in Triple-A and could still feasibly return, but moving either to the 60-day injured list would clear roster space for Hernandez.
Brewers Select Josh Donaldson
The Brewers announced that they have selected the contract of third baseman Josh Donaldson. In corresponding moves, they have optioned infielder Owen Miller and transferred righty J.C. Mejía to the 60-day injured list.
Donaldson, 37, began the year with the Yankees but was released in August after a season of injuries and disappointing results. He went on the injured list this year due to a right hamstring strain and then a right calf strain, only playing 34 games for the Yanks. In that time, the results were all over the place. He got 15 hits in his 120 plate appearances but 10 of those were home runs. That led to a lopsided .142/.225/.434 batting line and wRC+ of 74.
The Yankees fell out of contention and wanted to give playing time to younger players, so they released Donaldson in August. The Brewers grabbed him on a minor league deal and sent him to get some work at Triple-A, essentially a rehab assignment for his calf strain. He played five games for Nashville and produced similarly odd results in that small sample, hitting two home runs but batting just .091.
The Brewers are hoping to find lightning in a bottle with Donaldson, who has a strong track record from previous seasons and could perhaps get some better fortune going forward. He had a tiny .076 batting average on balls in play with the Yankees earlier this year and a mark of .091 in his five games with the Sounds. Despite the poor results, his Statcast page still has plenty to like, including a 92.8 mph average exit velocity and 51.3% hard hit rate.
Donaldson also struggled last year but was above-average at the plate as recently as 2021, when he hit 26 home runs for the Twins and drew walks in 13.6% of his plate appearances. His .247/.352/.475 line that year amounted to a wRC+ of 126. His defense at third base has also continued to be graded well, even as his offensive results have waned since he joined the Yankees going into 2022. He produced seven Defensive Runs Saved and seven Outs Above Average last year and was average or above in his small sample this year.
Over the past couple of months, Andruw Monasterio has taken the lion’s share of playing time at third for the Brewers. He had some strong results earlier this year but has cooled off significantly, hitting .231/.297/.286 over the past month. Perhaps Donaldson will take some of his playing time as the club hopes that the veteran can get some better batted ball luck and get closer to his previous excellent form.
There will be no financial risk for them to give him this shot, as the Yankees are still on the hook for what remains of his contract. That means Milwaukee can just pay him the prorated version of the $720K league minimum for any time he spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees are paying. By joining the organization prior to September 1, Donaldson will be able to play for the Brewers in the postseason.
As for Mejía, he’s been on the injured list since August 14 due to right shoulder inflammation. It’s unclear how long he’s expected to be sidelined by that injury but he’ll now be officially ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial placement on the injured list, which would be mid-October. His regular season is officially over and he likely won’t return to the club unless he gets healthy as they make a deep postseason run. He posted a 5.56 earned run average in nine appearances this year.
Marlins Outright Devin Smeltzer
The Marlins have sent left-hander Devin Smeltzer outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment last week.
The transaction hardly comes as a surprise, as this is the fourth time this year that Smeltzer has been to this rodeo. He signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason and has been selected to the roster four times, whenever the club’s regular staff is taxed and they need an emergency arm. Since he’s out of options, the Fish have repeatedly designated him for assignment shortly after adding him to roster. Each instance has resulted in him passing through waivers and accepting an outright assignment, waiting for his next turn.
Amid those transactions, he’s managed to toss 22 1/3 innings over nine appearances, posting a 6.45 ERA in that time with a 16% strikeout rate and 4% walk rate. He’s also made 18 Triple-A starts this year with a 6.36 ERA, 17.5% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate. He also pitched for the Twins in the previous four seasons and now has a career ERA of 4.32 in 162 1/3 big league innings.
Smeltzer has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, though it hasn’t been officially announced if he has done so or not. Based on precedent, it seems fair to expect him to accept to accept and he’s listed on Jacksonville’s roster page.
Yankees Select Estevan Florial
The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Estevan Florial from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Fellow outfielder Jasson Dominguez, who was recently diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, was placed on the 10-day injured list to open a spot on the active roster. The Yankees already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, which is now at capacity.
Florial, 25, was once considered among the Yankees’ best prospects but has seen his stock tumble enough in recent years that he went unclaimed on waivers early in the season. He’s received just 63 plate appearances in the Majors and has a tepid .185/.302/.278 slash in that time, although his numbers in Triple-A are far better. Florial hit .283/.368/.481 with 15 homers and 39 steals with Scranton in 2022 and is having a similarly eye-catching year in 2023: .284/.380/.565, 28 home runs, 25 stolen bases.
Impressive as the raw rate stats and counting numbers are, questions about Florial’s hit tool have persisted for some time now, and his strikeout rates in Triple-A remain a pronounced red flag. Florial punched out in 30.4% of his Triple-A plate appearances last year and is currently sitting on a nearly identical 29.9% strikeout rate in 2023. He’s walked in more than 12% of his plate appearances over the past two seasons as well, but the penchant for strikeouts is nonetheless concerning. That Florial wasn’t claimed earlier this season and that he was continually passed over for journeymen like Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, Billy McKinney and Greg Allen in 2023 at least strongly implies that the Yankees and other clubs share in those concerns.
With Dominguez now out for the season, the Yankees will finally give Florial a look in the big leagues. He’s already been jettisoned from the 40-man roster once despite strong Triple-A output, so this could well be something of a last chance for the out-of-options former top prospect to prove to the organization that he ought to stick in the Majors. If he’s removed from the 40-man roster a second time, he’ll have the right to elect free agency. For now, the Yankees will mix Florial into the outfield alongside reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge, prospect Everson Pereira, utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera and the aforementioned Bauers.
Braves Select Jackson Stephens
The Braves announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Jackson Stephens from Triple-A Gwinnett and optioned righty Allan Winans in his place. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, injured right-hander Michael Soroka was transferred to the 60-day IL. Soroka was recently shut down for the season due to forearm inflammation.
Stephens, 29, will get a second big league look with Atlanta after spending the bulk of the 2022 season in their bullpen. He tossed 53 2/3 innings off 3.69 ERA ball last year, striking out 20% of his opponents against a 9.8% walk rate with a 46.3% ground-ball rate. He had a lengthy stay on the minor league injured list this season but has been sharp both in rehab work in the low minors and more recently in Triple-A, where Stephens has pitched 24 2/3 frames with a 3.28 earned run average, 26% strikeout rate and outstanding 4% walk rate.
This will be the fourth season in which Stephens, a former 18th-round pick of the Reds (2012), logs major league time. He’s totaled 117 big league frames between Cincinnati and Atlanta, notching a combined 4.31 ERA in that time. Stephens has been pitching in two- and three-inning stints recently in Gwinnett — some of them starts, some out of the bullpen — so he’ll add some length to the Braves’ bullpen during today’s doubleheader against the Phillies.
It’s quite possible that Kyle Wright will be returning to make his first start since May in the second half of that twin bill, and he’s yet to throw more than 50 pitches or pitch beyond 3 2/3 innings during his rehab stint. As such, there’s all the more reason to call up an arm capable of providing three or perhaps even four innings of relief if needed.
Cubs To Promote Pete Crow-Armstrong
The Cubs are calling up top outfield prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He’s expected to be activated prior to tomorrow’s game. The Cubs will need to make a 40-man roster move in order to formally select Crow-Armstrong’s contract.
Selected by the Mets with the No. 19 overall pick back in 2020, the now-21-year-old Crow-Armstrong was the headline prospect in the 2021 trade sending Javier Baez and Trevor Williams from Chicago to New York. Crow-Armstrong was already a prospect of note at the time, but his stock has skyrocketed since that swap; he currently ranks 12th on the leaguewide top-100 prospect lists at both Baseball America and MLB.com, while The Athletic’s Keith Law tabbed him 18th and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen pegs him 23rd.
While he’s long drawn praise as a 70- or even 80-grade defender in center field (on the 20-80 scale), Crow-Armstrong has grown into more power since being traded to the Cubs and now has the look of a potential five-tool center fielder. He’s split the current season between Double-A and Triple-A, turning in a combined .283/.365/.511 batting line with 20 home runs, 26 doubles, seven triples and 37 steals (in 47 tries).
Crow-Armstrong has whiffed a bit more often than the Cubs would prefer to see, punching out at a 25.8% rate against a higher-than-average (but far from elite) 9.2% walk rate. He’s also a 21-year-old facing much older and more experienced competition, so there’s likely some hope that he can continue to polish those bat-to-ball skills and refine his pitch selection as he ages.
The big picture hope for Crow-Armstrong is that he can become the Cubs’ everyday center fielder, holding down that position for the six-plus seasons which they’ll control him via arbitration. In the short-term, however, “PCA” will give the team an alternative to the struggling Mike Tauchman, who’s batting just .163/.295/.188 in 95 plate appearances over the past month. Cody Bellinger, of course, can handle center field as well, but he’s spent a fair bit of time at first base and designated hitter since returning from a knee injury earlier this summer. Crow-Armstrong can potentially allow him to continue doing so while still upgrading the outfield defense and perhaps providing some more offense than they’re currently receiving from Tauchman.
Even if he doesn’t play everyday, Crow-Armstrong adds a dynamic defender and plus threat on the basepaths who can be used late in games. That includes both in the regular season and potentially into October. While Crow-Armstrong wasn’t on the 40-man roster when the playoff eligibility deadline passed, he was still in the organization at that point, meaning the Cubs can petition the league to add him to the playoff roster in place of an injured player. Teams do this every year, and there’s no reason to think he won’t be able to suit up during postseason play.
In terms of service time considerations, Crow-Armstrong will remain under club control for six full seasons (plus the handful of days he’ll accrue late in the current year). Barring any future optional assignments that impact the trajectory, he’ll be controllable through the 2029 season and eligible for arbitration following the 2026 campaign.
Also of note for the Cubs is that the looming promotion to the big leagues won’t impact Crow-Armstrong’s rookie status for the 2024 season. He’ll surely be on every major top-100 prospect ranking heading into the 2024 season, meaning he’ll remain eligible for the new collective bargaining agreement’s “prospect promotion incentives,” which could net the Cubs bonus draft picks based on how he fares in future award voting.
Royals To Select Logan Porter
The Royals are set to select the contract of catcher of Logan Porter, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The Royals have a full 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary to clear space for Porter.
The news is a triumph for Porter, 28, who joined the Royals organization as an undrafted free agent back in 2018. Porter broke out at the Double-A level last year, slashing .301/.437/.487 while acting as the team’s starting catcher. That garnered him a promotion to Triple-A late in the year, though his numbers since being promoted late last year have been closer to solid than excellent; in 144 career games at Triple-A, Porter has slashed .250/.370/.398. That includes a downturn in production this year at the plate that’s seen him hit just .235/.342/.381 in 109 plate appearances with a career-high 25.2% strikeout rate, though he’s still walking at an impressive 13.5% clip.
With youngster MJ Melendez not having played behind the plate since April and Freddy Fermin on the injured list due to a fractured finger, the Royals have an opening at catcher on their roster as they look for someone to share time with veteran backstop Salvador Perez behind the plate. While Perez plays most days, he’s split time at first base in recent months, opening up additional starts behind the plate for his backup.
The Royals selected Double-A catcher Tyler Cropley to the big league roster yesterday, though he has yet to make it into a game. It’s not yet clear whether the Royals will employ three catchers with each of Cropley and Porter spelling Perez behind the plate, or if Porter’s impending selection could spell the end of Cropley’s time with the big league club. In addition to Porter’s experience at the Triple-A level, where Cropley has not yet appeared in his career, Cropley’s offensive performance this season has been far below Porter’s, as the 27-year-old has slashed just .235/.329/.359 in 43 games at Double-A this season.