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Giants Acquire Alex Young From Guardians

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The Giants have acquired left-handed pitcher Alex Young from the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Guardians had designated him for assignment last week. He has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. In order to open a spot for Young on the 40-man roster, fellow lefty Aaron Fletcher has been outrighted to Sacramento.

Young, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks in July of last year. He threw 10 1/3 innings for Cleveland last year but has only logged one third of inning here in 2022. In 32 Triple-A frames on the year, he has a 3.66 ERA, which might not be eye-popping, though his rate stats are excellent. He has a 35.6% strikeout rate, well above the 22.3% MLB average. His 5.3% walk rate and 52% are also a few ticks better than league-wide marks. The reason those haven’t translated into a pristine ERA, however, is a whopping 23.8% HR/FB rate, more than double the 11.4% MLB average. The Giants will get him some work in Sacramento and hope to find a way to limit those long balls.

It seems the Giants were intrigued enough by those minor league numbers to consider him a better use of a roster spot than Fletcher. The 26-year-old was just claimed off waivers from the Pirates last week. Though there hadn’t been any public indication of a subsequent roster move, they evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. He made his MLB debut in 2020 and has logged 19 2/3 total innings at the big league level with an unsightly 9.15 ERA. His Triple-A ERA is a much more pleasant 1.45 this year, despite a meager 11% strikeout rate. He’s typically posted high ground ball marks, though, as evidenced by his 55.2% rate in Triple-A this season. He will stay in the Giants organization as depth, but without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

Outrights: Barnes, Inciarte

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Updates on a couple of players who were recently designated for assignment…

  • Right-hander Jacob Barnes has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment by the Mariners last week. The 32-year-old is in his seventh season of MLB action, having signed a minor league deal with the Tigers and then cracking their Opening Day roster. Despite striking out over 25% of batters faced in both 2020 and 2021, his rate plummeted to 11.2% this year. Although his ground ball rate jumped a few ticks to 51.5%, he still registered an ERA of 6.10 on the year before getting designated for assignment in June. After reaching free agency, he landed with the Mariners on a minor league deal and eventually got selected to the big league club. However, he was designated assignment again the next day, without getting into a game for the M’s. He will now return to the open market and look for his next opportunity.
  • Outfielder Ender Inciarte, designated for assignment by the Mets last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Inciarte, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason but was released in mid-June. He latched on with the Mets on another minors deal, eventually making the big league club but lasting just over two weeks on the roster. He filled a bench/defensive substitute role for the team, getting into 11 games but making only eight plate appearances. Despite strong defense, his offensive output at the MLB level has declined in recent years. He hit at a decent clip in his time in the Yankees’ system this year, slashing .252/.336/.408, wRC+ of 101. As a veteran with more than five years of MLB experience, he has the ability to reject an outright assignment without forfeiting any salary, though it’s unclear whether he’s done so or not.

Guardians Designate Tanner Tully For Assignment

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The Guardians announced a couple of roster moves today, activating right-hander Carlos Vargas from the 60-day injured list and optioning him to Double-A Akron. To make room on the 40-man roster, left-hander Tanner Tully has been designated for assignment.

Tully, 27, has been on and off the Guardians roster all year. He was first selected as a COVID substitute in April, being removed from the roster five days later. (COVID substitutes can be removed from rosters without being exposed to waivers.) He was selected to the roster in the more traditional sense in June, before being designated for assignment a couple of days later. A few days ago, he was selected back to the team but has now been DFA’d for a second time this season.

With all of that roster shuffling, he’s only been able to throw six MLB innings this year, his first taste of the majors. Though those innings came in three relief appearances with the Guardians, he’s been working as a starter in the minors. In 14 Triple-A starts this year, he’s thrown 76 1/3 innings with a 4.95 ERA, 51.4% ground ball rate, 16.9% strikeout rate and 3.3% walk rate.

The Guardians will have one week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him. If he were to clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency by virtue of having previously been outrighted in his career.

Angels Place Mike Trout On IL With Ribcage Inflammation

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The Angels have announced that Mike Trout has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to left ribcage inflammation. They also announced the previously reported claim of infielder Phil Gosselin, and that outfielder Monte Harrison has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake.

At this point, there’s been no indication from the team as to how long they expect Trout to be out of action. He has missed some time recently due to back spasms, though the club avoided putting him on the IL until now. Perhaps they were waiting for the All-Star break, when the 10-day minimum absence would sting the least, though further word will surely come from the Angels in time.

Trout had been fairly healthy for the early portions of his career, playing in at least 114 games for the eight seasons from 2012 to 2019 and only coming in below 134 in one of those. He followed that up by getting into 53 of the club’s 60 games in the shortened 2020 season. Last year, however, he made it into only 36 contests, as a calf issue that didn’t initially seem serious eventually lingered and finished his season.

This year, he’s gotten into 79 of the club’s 92 games so far, already more than doubling his total from last year. He hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down in terms of overall production, hitting an excellent .270/.368/.599 for a 168 wRC+. He’s produced 3.8 wins above replacement already, according to FanGraphs.

Regardless of how much time he misses, it’s yet another disappointing setback in a season full of them for the Angels. Despite a hot start to the year wherein the club was 24-14 in mid-May, they’ve played at a miserable 15-39 pace since and are now 39-53 overall. The club is 10 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and seems more likely to sell than add at the deadline. Taking that into consideration, it makes sense to give Trout some time off to get healthy, rather than pushing him and potentially worsening the issue.

As for Harrison, he was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason after being released by the Marlins. Despite once being a highly-rated prospect, strikeout issues have kept him from living up to his athletic potential. Despite a 35% strikeout rate in the minors this year, he was selected to the big league for some bench/pinch running/defensive replacement duties. He played nine game but got just 14 plate appearances, striking out in eight of them, before being DFA’d. Having been previously outrighted in his career, he has the ability to reject the outright assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear which path he’s taken.

Angels Claim Phil Gosselin From Braves

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The Angels have claimed infielder Phil Gosselin off waivers from the Braves, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Angels already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move will be required.

This will be Gosselin’s second stint with the Halos, as he spent the 2021 season with the club. The 33-year-old veteran has also spent time with the Braves, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Rangers, Reds and Phillies throughout his career.

In 104 games with the Angels last year, he served a utility role, playing all three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. His 373 plate appearances on the year were a career high for him, a time in which he put up a batting line of .261/.314/.363 for a wRC+ of 87.

This year, he signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and got selected to the big league club just over a month ago. He’s managed to get into just 12 games so far, making 24 plate appearances. His line on the year is .261/.292/.261, while playing mostly second base. He hit well in the minors before his promotion, however, slashing .297/.358/.473.

The Angels are likely hoping Gosselin can give a boost to them at either second or third base, as they’ve struggled to get any kind of production out of their infield this year. Their second basemen have collectively hit .232/.284/.313. The resultant wRC+ of 71 is 24th in the league. Third base is even worse, as the team’s line from that position is .222/.292/.301 for a wRC+ that ranks 28th.

Gosselin is unlikely to help too much, as he’s the owner of a career batting line of .261/.313/.360 for a wRC+ of 82. However, the club’s been giving a lot of playing time at the keystone to Michael Stefanic and his .206/.325/.235 batting line (72 wRC+), as well as time at the hot corner to Jonathan Villar, who’s hitting .167/.222/.167 since becoming an Angel for a wRC+ of just 12.

Chi Chi Gonzalez Elects Free Agency

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The Brewers announced over the weekend that right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez has chosen to become a free agent, rather than accept an outright assignment to the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate.  Gonzalez was designated for assignment last week and cleared waivers, and he had the ability to test the open market again because he has already been outrighted during his career.

The 30-year-old Gonzalez is now en route to pitching for his third different organization of 2022, after already seeing action with the Brewers and Twins in 18 1/3 combined innings.  Minnesota signed Gonzalez to a minor league deal in March, and Gonzalez pitched in two games before being DFA’ed and then claimed off waivers by the Brewers a month ago.  This brief tenure in Milwaukee consisted of four games for Gonzalez, two of them starts.

All told, the righty has a 6.87 ERA over his 18 1/3 IP, continuing a string of disappointing results over four consecutive seasons.  Gonzalez didn’t pitch in 2017-18 due to Tommy John surgery, and since returning in 2019, the righty has a posted a 6.17 ERA over 202 2/3 innings.  Home runs have been a persistent issue for Gonzalez, and that trend has continued in 2022 with five homers allowed in his brief sample size of work.

Gonzalez did have a 3.44 ERA in 36 2/3 innings with the Twins’ Triple-A club this year, also delivering a 23.2% strikeout rate that (while modest) represented a step up for a pitcher who doesn’t miss many bats.  Gonzalez also had a 55.7% grounder rate at St. Paul, though while he has pretty consistently delivered excellent groundball numbers at the minor league level, the righty has only a career 42.4% grounder rate at the big league level — naturally, a setback for a homer-prone pitcher who doesn’t record many strikeouts.

It seems likely that Gonzalez will catch on somewhere, though his lack of minor league options makes him a candidate for further trips to the DFA wire down the road.  A turn to full-time relief pitching could eventually be required for Gonzalez to try and find a consistent niche for himself on a Major League roster, yet with clubs always on the lookout for rotation depth, Gonzalez will probably get another opportunity to make starts.

KBO’s Lotte Giants Waive DJ Peters

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The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’re waiving former Dodgers and Rangers outfielder DJ Peters (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Yoo adds that the Giants are expected to announce a new foreign-player acquisition soon.

Peters, 26, was the Dodgers’ fourth-round draft pick back in 2016 and had been in his first season in the KBO after agreeing to a one-year, $600K deal with the Giants this past offseason. He made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 2021 before being picked up by the Rangers in an early-August waiver claim and seeing fairly regular action for them down the stretch. Between the two teams, Peters batted .197/.242/.422 with 13 homers, nine doubles and a triple in 240 plate appearances — showing good power but also considerable strikeout-to-walk concerns (34.2% strikeout rate, 5.0% walk rate).

While Peters has improved on both his strikeout and walk rates in the KBO (21.8% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate), his overall .228/.299/.402 batting line through 354 plate appearances looks fairly similar to last year’s showing in the big leagues — plenty of pop but with glaring OBP concerns. Peters has been credited for huge power and a concerning hit tool dating back to his prospect days, and that’s largely how his career has played out through his first taste of both MLB action and KBO play.

That huge raw power — FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited him with 70-grade power on the 20-80 scale as recently as the 2020-21 offseason — above-average speed and strong throwing arm ought to keep getting Peters opportunities, though following a release in the KBO he’ll likely need to look to a minor league deal if he returns to North American ball. Still, it’s a tantalizing package of raw tools that a team could stash in the upper minors as depth with the hope of a potential breakout.

Giants Activate Evan Longoria, Jakob Junis From Injured List; Brandon Crawford, Mauricio Llovera Placed On IL

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TODAY: Crawford’s knee MRI revealed “nothing notable,” manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle), so there isn’t any beyond inflammation and bruising.

JULY 16: The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, with third baseman Evan Longoria and right-hander Jakob Junis returning from the 10-day and 15-day injured lists, respectively.  Longoria and Junis will take the places of two other players, as Brandon Crawford has been placed on the 10-day IL due to knee inflammation, and right-hander Mauricio Llovera was placed on the 15-day IL because of a Grade 2 flexor strain.

Crawford only just returned a few days ago from another 10-day absence due to that knee soreness, and manager Gabe Kapler mentioned at the time that Crawford has been bothered by his knee for much of the season.  Given the nagging nature of the injury and the fact that Crawford was so quickly sidelined again, it’s probably safe to guess that the shortstop will miss more than just 10 days this time around.  With the All-Star break coming, those four off-days will absorb a good chunk of the IL time for both Crawford and Llovera.

A longer absence would seem to be in order for Llovera, and it is possible his 2022 season could be over, depending on how well he can recover from the more significant strain.  The righty suffered the injury in last night’s game, after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings in San Francisco’s 8-5 win over the Brewers.

Llovera has a 4.41 ERA over 16 1/3 frames, with one particularly rough outing (four runs in 1/3 of an inning) against the Mets on May 23 accounting for much of that ERA damage.  Now in his third MLB season and first with the Giants, Llovera has been shuttled up and down from Triple-A multiple times this year.

Junis has missed five weeks due to a hamstring strain, and he’ll now take Llovera’s spot in the bullpen while getting built up for more rotation work.  Junis had a 2.63 ERA over his first 48 innings (starting seven of nine games) before going on the 15-day IL, and the Giants will need similar quality in their rotation now that Anthony DeSclafani is gone for the season.

A left oblique strain sidelined Longoria for only the minimum 10 days, and the veteran third baseman will now hope to finally get a sustained run of healthy baseball for the rest of the season.  Longoria already had to delay his 2022 debut until May 11 due to finger surgery, but he has hit solidly well while available, hitting .242/.331/.462 with eight homers over 151 plate appearances.

With Longoria back and Crawford out of action, the Giants will again shuffle around their versatile infield mix.  Longoria will return to his customary third base spot, and Thairo Estrada figures to get most of the playing time at shortstop.  David Villar also figures to toggle between second and third base, and Wilmer Flores will continue getting regular work as a designated hitter, second baseman, and part-time first baseman.

IL Transactions: Matz, VerHagen, Lynch, De Jong

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The Cardinals activated left-hander Steven Matz off the 15-day injured list today, as Matz was slated to start the Cardinals’ game against the Reds before the contest was rained out.  Matz will now have to wait until after the All-Star break to make his official return to the field, as he has been sidelined since May 22 due to a shoulder impingement.  With the Cards in need of rotation help, a healthy and effective Matz would be a major boost to the team, as both sides must hope that this two-month absence can essentially be a restart on Matz’s season.  After signing a four-year, $44MM free agent deal with St. Louis in November, Matz stumbled out of the gate with a 6.03 ERA over his first 37 1/3 innings in a Cardinals uniform.

To create room on the active roster, St. Louis placed right-hander Drew VerHagen on the 15-day IL with a right hip impingement.  A similar injury sent VerHagen to the injured list for a little over three weeks earlier this season, and the righty was just activated from another IL stint (due to shoulder problems) earlier this week.  With all of these health issues, it perhaps isn’t surprising that VerHagen has only a 6.65 ERA over 21 2/3 innings, with walks and home runs being particular issues for the 31-year-old.  VerHagen is another offseason signing for the Cards, joining the team on a two-year, $5.5MM deal after spending the previous two seasons pitching in Japan.

More comings and goings off the injured list from around the league…

  • The Royals placed left-hander Daniel Lynch on the 15-day IL, as Lynch is again dealing with a blister problem.  Lynch had already been sent to the IL with that same blister issue on June 24, and he was activated earlier this week and made two abbreviated starts before returning to the sidelines.  It has been a difficult season for Lynch, who has a 5.05 ERA and a wealth of troubling Statcast metrics over 15 starts and 71 1/3 innings.  Lynch’s IL placement was part of a busy day of roster moves for the Royals, who sent 10 players (Angel Zerpa, Nick Pratto, Gabe Speier, Collin Snider, Brewer Hicklen, Michael Massey, Freddy Fermin, Nate Eaton to Triple-A; Sebastian Rivero and Maikel Garcia to Double-A) to the minors in the aftermath of their series in Toronto.  This clears the way for the return of 10 Kansas City players, who were placed on the restricted list due to their non-vaccinated status.
  • The Pirates placed righty Chase De Jong on the 15-day IL due to tendinitis in his left knee, and Bryse Wilson (today’s starting pitcher against the Rockies) was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Another knee injury is perhaps a red flag for De Jong, who underwent surgery on that same left knee last year.  The surgery cut short De Jong’s first season in Pittsburgh, but after signing another minor league deal with the Bucs this past winter, De Jong has rebounded to post a 2.06 ERA over 35 relief innings in 2022.

Nationals To Re-Sign Dee Strange-Gordon To Minors Deal

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The Nationals are signing another minor league deal with utility player Dee Strange-Gordon, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. He and the Nats agreed to a minor league deal in the offseason, with Strange-Gordon cracking the Opening Day Roster but getting released last month.

Strange-Gordon, 34, made his MLB debut in 2011 with the Dodgers and spent another three seasons there. He then spent three seasons each with the Marlins and Mariners, rarely hitting for much power overall but providing plenty of speed and athleticism. In 1,025 career games, he’s hit just 18 home runs but has stolen 336 bases, producing an overall batting line of .286/.319/.360.

With the Nats this year, he was used sparingly, getting into just 23 games over a two-month stretch on the roster, though a two-week stint on the COVID IL also played a part in that. As a National, he produced a nice .305 batting average but not a single walk or home run, leading to a slash line of .305/.305/.356, wRC+ of 82.

After getting designated for assignment in mid-June, he rejected an outright assignment and returned to free agency. Now, almost a month later, he’s returned to the Nats’ organization. Although he was squeezed off of the roster at that time, it’s possible that more openings are created in the coming weeks. With the August 2 trade deadline just over two weeks away and the Nationals holding the worst record in baseball at 30-63, they are obvious sellers. MLBTR’s recent list of trade candidates highlighted Josh Bell, Nelson Cruz, Cesar Hernandez and Victor Robles as guys who could potentially be subtracted from the lineup. Then there was a bombshell report yesterday that the club will consider trading superstar Juan Soto.

Regardless of how it plays out, it seems likely that at least a couple of guys will be on the move soon, which could provide a path for Strange-Gordon to return to the big league club as a bench/utility option. Earlier this year, he played shortstop, left field and center field, but has also spent most of his career at second base prior to this season.

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