Royals Transfer Josh Taylor To 60-Day Injured List
The Royals today announced that outfielder Diego Hernandez was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to High-A Quad Cities. Left-hander Josh Taylor goes the other way, transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move.
It’s not a shock to see Taylor wind up on the 60-day IL. He was placed on the 15-day IL in late May due to a shoulder impingement and it was reported last week that he would require lower back surgery to address a herniated disk. He’ll now be officially ineligible to return until late July, which didn’t seem especially likely anyhow. He’ll need to recover from that surgery and then will likely need a rehab assignment to get back into a game shape.
He came over to the Royals from in the January trade that saw the Red Sox acquire Adalberto Mondesí and a player to be named later, who was later named as Angel Pierre. Taylor made 17 appearances this year with an 8.15 ERA, though that number was inflated by a .409 batting average on balls in play and 55.1% strand rate. He struck out 31.3% of batters faced while walking 10.8% and advanced metrics liked him more than his ERA, such as a 4.81 FIP and 3.32 SIERA. Those figures align more closely with his 2022 performance, where he posted a 3.40 ERA in 61 appearances.
As for Hernandez, 22, he has yet to play in the majors or even at the Triple-A level. He was added to the club’s roster in November to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He dislocated his shoulder in February and was placed on the 60-day IL on Opening Day as the club selected the contracts of veterans Matt Duffy, Franmil Reyes and Jackie Bradley Jr. Hernandez was able to earn big league pay and service time for the past three months while on the major league IL, though that will now come to an end. He’ll head to High-A and try to work his way up to his major league debut. He hit .284/.347/.407 between High-A and Double-A last year, stealing 40 bases in 115 games.
Cardinals Designate Óscar Mercado For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that they have recalled first baseman Luken Baker from Triple-A Memphis, with outfielder Óscar Mercado designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Mercado, 28, was signed by the Cardinals to a minor league deal in the winter and was called up to the big league club in mid-May. He’s been serving a part-time role since then, often as a defensive replacement or pinch runner off the bench. He’s appeared in 20 contests, only seven starts, and taken just 32 trips to the plate.
He hit a solid .290/.313/.387 in those but has had a hard time carving out a larger role on a club loaded with viable outfielders. Paul DeJong and Nolan Gorman have been spending a lot of time in the middle infield lately, pushing Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan into spending more time on the grass alongside regular outfielders like Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson and Alec Burleson. On top of that, Tyler O’Neill is working his way towards a rehab assignment.
With all of those moving parts, Mercado has only taken two trips to the plate in the past two weeks and is now off the roster. He once seemed like he was carving out a regular role in the big leagues, as he hit 15 home runs with Cleveland in 2019 and slashed .269/.318/.443 overall while stealing 15 bases. When combined with his above-average center field defense, he was able to provide 2.2 wins above replacement that year, per the calculations of FanGraphs. But he fell off in subsequent seasons, hitting just .200/.258/.330 from 2020 to 2022.
The Cards will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers, though he’d have the right to elect free agency in the latter scenario. He has a previous career outright, which will allow him to reject another such assignment in favor of the open market.
Marlins Place Jazz Chisholm Jr. On IL, Designate Eli Villalobos
The Marlins have placed outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, per Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase (Twitter links). This move opens an active roster spot for infielder/outfielder Dane Myers, whose impending promotion was reported earlier. Right-hander Eli Villalobos was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Myers.
It’s yet another frustrating injury setback for Chisholm, who has dealt with a number of them over the past year. He broke out with a strong .254/.325/.535 showing last year, 139 wRC+, but was placed on the injured list at the end of June. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back and didn’t return in the second half of the season. Here in 2023, he played 39 games while transitioning from second base to center field before landing on the IL due to turf toe. He’s now back on the IL yet again just one week after being reinstated.
The timing of this injury is particularly unfortunate, as he had been red hot in the past week, hitting .348/.375/.696. That’s a small sample size, but it was an encouraging sign as he had hit just .229/.291/.403 earlier in the season. He’ll now be out of action for an undetermined amount of time. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald relays that Chisholm will get an MRI to determine the severity but it’s at least serious enough for the club to have him sit out the next seven games leading into the All-Star break.
As for Villalobos, 26, he was just claimed off waivers from the Pirates a week ago but is now quickly in DFA limbo yet again. It’s been a busy few months of transactions for the right-hander, who was originally added to the Marlins’ roster in November. He was designated for assignment in April and went to the Pirates on waivers before coming back to the Fish last week.
Amid all those transactions, he’s managed to throw 23 innings in the minors this year with a 6.26 ERA. His 21.2% strikeout rate is close to average but his 19.5% walk rate is more than double the major league par. His results last year were far stronger, as he posted a 2.86 ERA while striking out 32.7% of opponents and walking just 9.4%.
The Marlins will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Despite his numbers this year, he could garner interest based on last year’s work and the fact that he still has a full slate of options.
Niko Goodrum Opts Out Of Red Sox Deal
Utilityman Niko Goodrum has opted out of his minor league deal with the Red Sox and is now a free agent, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter link). He’d been with their Triple-A club in Worcester.
Goodrum, 31, has appeared in parts of six big league seasons, spending time with the Twins, Tigers and Astros since his 2017 big league debut in Minnesota. He’s a career .226/.299/.389 hitter in 1531 big league plate appearances, and he was particularly solid with Detroit in 2018-19, when he received semi-regular work all around the diamond. During those two seasons, Goodrum slashed .247/.318/.427 with 28 homers and 24 steals in 964 trips to the plate. Statcast credits Goodrum as a plus defender at both middle infield spots and a passable option in the outfield as well.
It’s been a strong season for Goodrum down in Worcester, where he’s turned in a .280/.448/.440 batting line with more walks than strikeouts. The fleet-footed switch-hitter has swatted eight homers, swiped seven bases and drawn a walk in a sensational 23.1% of his plate appearances through his first 65 games (286 plate appearances).
Despite that production, it seems the Sox will allow Goodrum to seek out other opportunities in free agency rather than add him to the big league roster themselves. That registers as a moderate surprise, particularly given the presence of Trevor Story, Pablo Reyes, Yu Chang and Adalberto Mondesi on the injured list. Boston is currently deploying Christian Arroyo, David Hamilton and Enrique Hernandez in the middle infield and has had issues both offensively and defensively in the middle infield throughout the year.
Mets Designate Zach Muckenhirn For Assignment
The Mets have designated left-hander Zach Muckenhirn for assignment, tweets Will Sammon of The Athletic. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Elieser Hernandez, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Hernandez has been out all season due to a shoulder strain.
Muckenhirn, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Mets over the winter and made his big league debut earlier this season. He’s tallied six innings in the Majors, yielding four runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks with three strikeouts. His work in Triple-A has produced far better results; Muckenhirn boasts a sensational 0.88 ERA in 30 2/3 frames, although his 15.7% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate don’t exactly support that minuscule ERA. Muckenhirn has induced grounders at a hearty 50% clip, but he’s also benefited from a .230 average on balls in play and a mammoth 95.2% strand rate in Syracuse so far.
Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Muckenhirn will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the week. He still has all three minor league option years remaining (2023 included), so between that and his strong performance in Triple-A, Muckenhirn could well hold appeal to other clubs in search of left-handed bullpen depth.
At times, the 28-year-old Hernandez has looked like a solid big league starter with the division-rival Marlins. From 2020-21, he started 17 games with Miami and notched a 3.84 ERA with above-average strikeout and walk rates of 26.4% and 5.7%, respectively. That production came in a sample of 77 1/3 innings thanks to a lat strain, biceps inflammation and a quad strain. His 2022 season was nightmarish, however. Hernandez struggled en route to a 6.35 ERA, losing his rotation spot along the way. Hernandez’s strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction last year, and his average of 2.74 homers per nine innings pitched is one of the higher marks from a pitcher in recent memory.
Those red flags notwithstanding, Hernandez is a 28-year-old righty who’s only one year removed from quality rotation work spread across two seasons. He’s allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with 10 punchouts across a pair of rehab starts thus far. Hernandez will continue building up in Syracuse and figures to be in the mix should the Mets need to further tap into their rotation depth again in the season’s second half.
Marlins To Select Dane Myers
The Marlins are planning to select the contract of infielder/outfielder Dane Myers prior to today’s game, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald (Twitter link). They’ll need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to open a spot for Myers, who’ll be making his MLB debut.
Myers, 27, was a sixth-round pick by the Tigers in 2017 but made his way to the Marlins organization this offseason by way of the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. He’s had a monster season between Double-A and Triple-A, slashing a combined .335/.423/.533 with 13 homers, eight doubles, a pair of triples and an impressive 16-for-17 showing in stolen base attempts.
That production is all the more impressive when considering that Myers was drafted as a pitcher and spent the first three years of his pro career on the mound. He barely hit at all from 2017-19, didn’t play during the canceled minor league season in 2020, and has only been a position player since the 2021 season. He’s logged time in all three outfield spots this season and also played both infield corners.
Myers will give the Fish another right-handed bat to further deepen a lineup that is among the best in baseball versus southpaws. Marlins hitters have posted a combined .301/.350/.442 batting line against left-handed pitching this season — a major reason they find themselves leading the pack in the National League Wild Card chase.
Brewers Sign Jahmai Jones
The Brewers announced Monday that they’ve signed infielder Jahmai Jones and added him directly to their 26-man Major League roster for today’s game. Infielder/outfielder Brian Anderson was placed on the paternity list in a corresponding roster move. Milwaukee already had an open spot on the 40-man roster. Jones, an ACES client, opted out of a minor league contract with the Dodgers over the weekend.
Jones, 26 next month, was a second-round pick by the Angels back in 2015 and long rated as one of the Halos’ best prospects, even cracking most top-100 lists heading into the 2018 season. He’s only logged 29 games in the big leagues to this point, hitting just .176/.228/.216 in 79 trips to the plate during that tiny sample, most of which came with the 2021 Orioles.
Struggles in that small collection of big league games notwithstanding, Jones has a strong Triple-A track record, including an excellent .293/.428/.543 slash in 263 plate appearances with the Dodgers’ top affiliate in 2023. He’s clubbed nine homers, connected on 20 doubles and added three triples this season, walking at a massive 17.5% clip against a 20.9% strikeout rate.
Jones has primarily played second base in his professional career, but he does have nearly 1700 innings of experience in center field and another 369 frames in left field, so he could have some utility appeal for the Brewers in the short-term. Owen Miller has played first base, second base and third base for the Brewers this season, and he’ll likely step in at the hot corner while Anderson is on the paternity list for up to three days. Jones could be an option there as well, though he has just nine innings at third base since being drafted.
Nationals To Sign Daniel Mengden To Minors Contract
The Nationals are signing right-hander Daniel Mengden to a minor league deal, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). Mengden had been pitching in the Royals’ farm system on another minors contract signed at the start of the season, but Kansas City released him from that deal earlier this week.
Mengden now moves onto the fifth different organization (four in MLB, one in the KBO League) of a pro career that began as a fourth-round draft pick for the Astros in 2014. The righty is best known for his five years with the Athletics from 2016-20, as Mengden posted a 4.64 ERA over 302 2/3 innings during his Oakland tenure, mostly working as a starting pitcher. An injury-plagued 2020 campaign led the A’s to outright Mengden following the 2020 season, and he then went overseas to South Korea to pitch for the Kia Tigers.
Returning to MLB in 2022, Mengden signed a minors deal with the Royals and appeared in five games (seven IP) at the big league level. That represents his last stint in the Show, as he hasn’t pitched well or even often with Triple-A Omaha this season. Starting three of his six games for Omaha, Mengden has a 7.36 ERA over 14 2/3 innings, with a lackluster 20% strikeout rate and 11.4% strikeout rate.
Washington might view the 30-year-old Mengden purely as rotation depth or as a bullpen candidate who can be called upon to soak up innings as a long reliever. At the cost of a minors league deal, there’s no risk for the Nationals in seeing what Mengden can provide, whether at the Triple-A level or for spot duty in the majors.
Rockies Release Logan Allen
The Rockies have released southpaw Logan Allen, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link). Allen signed a minor league deal with Colorado last August, but hasn’t yet seen any time on the Rockies’ MLB roster.
Not to be confused with current Guardians left-hander Logan T. Allen (born in 1998), the elder Allen also formerly pitched for Cleveland as well as San Diego and Baltimore from 2019-22. Allen was a former top-100 prospect who was involved in two significant trades during his career — he was one of four prospects sent by the Red Sox to the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel deal in 2015, and he was part of the big three-team swap between San Diego, Cleveland, and Cincinnati at the 2019 trade deadline.
Allen has tossed 96 1/3 innings at the Major League level, and posted only a 5.89 ERA and a very low 15.5% strikeout rate. The results haven’t been any better at Triple-A, as the lefty has a 6.35 ERA over 253 2/3 frames at the top minor league level. This includes a 7.20 ERA over 45 innings with Triple-A Albuquerque this season, as Allen has only a 22.2% strikeout rate and a high 12.4% walk rate.
Even with the caveat that pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League is no easy feat, Allen’s lack of results at Triple-A aren’t promising. Still only 26 years old, his past track record could very well get him another look with another team on a minor league contract. Speculatively, Allen might seem like a good candidate to pitch overseas, as working in an international league might help him get his career on track.
Tigers Release Heath Hembree, Trevor Rosenthal
The Tigers released right-handers Heath Hembree and Trevor Rosenthal, according to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). Rosenthal signed a minor league contract with Detroit in March, while Hembree inked a minors deal of his own in May.
Neither player saw any action for the Tigers this season at the big league level, in large part due to injury. Hembree made only six appearances (pitching six innings) with Triple-A Toledo, after spending more than a month on the injured list — Toledo just activated him from the IL on Friday. As for Rosenthal, he tossed three minor innings before undergoing elbow surgery in mid-June.
This elbow procedure is the latest in a series of injuries that has plagued Rosenthal’s career for well over five seasons. Since the start of the 2018 campaign, Rosenthal has thrown only 39 innings in the majors, due to such varied injuries as a Tommy John surgery, thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and a hip surgery. The nature of this latest elbow surgery isn’t known, but it is fair to wonder if it could be one setback too many for Rosenthal, and whether or not he might be considering retirement at age 33.
Hembree signed a minors deal with the Rays during the offseason and pitched in one game for Tampa before being designated for assignment. The 11-year veteran had enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, which led to his signing with the Tigers. Best known for his seven seasons with the Red Sox from 2014-2020, Hembree has since pitched for a whopping seven different teams, appearing at the MLB level with all of those clubs except Detroit.