Mariners Designate Nick Solak, Select José Rodríguez
The Mariners have selected the contract of right-hander José Rodríguez, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. In a corresponding move, infielder/outfielder Nick Solak was designated for assignment. Right-hander J.B. Bukauskas was optioned in order to get Rodríguez onto the active roster.
Solak, 28, has spent the past four seasons with the Rangers. He had a strong major league debut in 2019, hitting five home runs in 33 games, leading to a .293/.393/.491 batting line and 126 wRC+. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to carry that over, having hit just 16 homers in 220 games over the past three seasons and slashing .246/.317/.354 for a wRC+ of 88.
Early in the offseason, the Rangers flipped him to the Reds for cash considerations. Solak didn’t perform well in Spring Training with his new club and was designated for assignment on Opening Day. He was once again traded for cash considerations, this time going to the Mariners. He’s was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma and has appeared in four games for the Rainiers but has just a .077/.294/.077 to show for it. That’s obviously a tiny sample size but it doesn’t help a guy whose stock has been falling in recent years. In addition to his offensive struggles, his second base defense wasn’t well regarded either. When the Rangers signed Marcus Semien to take over the keystone, Solak got pushed into a corner outfield role. Since the offensive expectations are higher for a corner outfielder than a second baseman, that’s only magnified his struggles at the plate.
The Mariners will now have one week to trade Solak or pass him through waivers. Despite his big league struggles, he’s continued performing well in the minors, this year’s small sample aside. From 2019 through to the present, he has a .289/.368/.503 batting line for a 117 wRC+ in 198 Triple-A games. He still has one option year left, meaning that any acquiring club could keep him down on the farm if they’re willing to give him a 40-man roster spot.
As for Rodríguez, 27, he has a small bit of major league experience already. He got into 10 contests as an Angel in 2019 and 2020, posting a 2.53 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. That impressive ERA wasn’t sustainable, given his .226 batting average on balls in play and 100% strand rate in that small sample. He was outrighted off their roster in August of 2020 and has been pitching in the minors over the past few years. In Triple-A with the Mets last year, he tossed 76 1/3 innings over 11 starts and 18 relief appearances, posting a 4.95 ERA in that time. Signed by the Mariners to a minor league deal this winter, he has a couple of scoreless appearances for the Rainiers this year and will give the big league club a fresh arm. He still has options and can be sent back to Tacoma in the future without being exposed to waivers.
Rangers Select Sandy León, Place Mitch Garver On IL
The Rangers announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Sandy León. To make room on the active roster, fellow catcher Mitch Garver was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a mild left knee sprain. To open a spot on the 40-man, right-hander Spencer Howard was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
León, 34, has appeared in each of the past 11 major league seasons, suiting up for the Nationals, Red Sox, Marlins, Guardians and Twins. He is mostly viewed as a glove-first catcher, though he did have one tremendous season at the plate. With the Red Sox in 2016, he hit .310/.369/.476 for a wRC+ of 124. It seems fair to conclude there was some good fortune in there, as he had a .392 batting average on balls in play that season, compared to a career mark that’s now at .271. Even with that one stellar campaign, his career batting line is .210/.278/.314 for a wRC+ of 58. But on the other side of his game, he has racked up 34 Defensive Runs Saved and is considered a good pitch framer.
León will be taking the spot of Garver, 32, who lands on the shelf. It’s unclear how much time the club expects him to miss with this mild knee sprain, though he’ll now be ineligible to rejoin them for over a week. The slugging backstop has shown tremendous pop in his career, highlighted by a 31-homer campaign in 2019. However, injuries have hampered him significantly since then, going on the IL due to an intercostal strain, groin contusion, back tightness and forearm flexor muscle strain, with the latter issue ultimately requiring surgery. He was off to a hot start here in 2023, hitting a couple of home runs already while slashing .263/.364/.579 for a wRC+ of 160. Unfortunately, he’ll now have to put that on pause, with León stepping in to backup Jonah Heim. Getting back to health will be significant for both the club and Garver personally, as he’s slated to reach free agency at the end of this season.
As for Howard, he was placed on the 15-day IL on Opening Day due to a lat strain. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action, though he’s now ineligible to return until late May at the earliest. The 60 days are counted from his initial IL placement, not from today’s transfer. Though he was a highly-touted prospect during his time with the Phillies, he has a 7.09 career ERA through his first 111 2/3 innings. He was pushed way down the club’s depth chart when they remade their rotation this winter, acquiring Jake Odorizzi while signing Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. Howard wasn’t going to be the most essential member of the staff, but he’s now the third depth starter on the 60-day IL, alongside Odorizzi and Glenn Otto. The rotation is still in good shape for now, with Martín Pérez and Jon Gray joined by those three offseason signees, but those guys have some notable injury histories of their own, meaning the weakened depth could be an issue down the road.
Giants Designate Austin Wynns, Reinstate Joey Bart
The Giants announced that catcher Joey Bart has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list, with fellow backstop Austin Wynns designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Wynns, 32, was selected to the club’s roster on the weekend as they dealt with a sudden catching shortage. They selected the contract of Roberto Pérez towards the end of March, preventing him from opting out and returning to the open market. He gave the club three catchers, joining Bart and Rule 5 pick Blake Sabol, though Sabol’s ability to play the outfield made the setup workable. However, Bart was placed on the IL due to a mild back strain after just one game and Pérez recently suffered a shoulder strain that sent him to the 60-day IL. With Sabol suddenly the last catcher standing, Wynns was added to help the club out, though he’s now lost his roster spot after two plate appearances yesterday.
The club will now have one week to trade Wynns or pass him through waivers. Any player that has previously been outrighted in their career can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Since Wynns has multiple previous outrights, he will have that opportunity, though it wouldn’t be a shock to see him stick around. He was designated for assignment by the club in January but accepted an outright assignment after clearing waivers at that time.
The veteran spent most of his career with the Orioles until losing his roster spot after the 2021 season. He then signed a minor league deal with the Phillies, though that club traded him to the Giants without calling him up to the big leagues. Between the O’s and Giants, Wynns has a .230/.274/.335 batting line for a 67 wRC+ in 182 career games.
Bart, 26, will now look to get back on track after that brief injury setback. With Pérez set to miss the next couple of months at least, Wynns off the roster and Sabol in the mix for some outfield time, Bart’s path to playing time behind the plate is clear for the time being. That could change in a few weeks, as Gary Sánchez recently signed a minor league deal with the club. Given that Sánchez can opt out of that deal on May 1 and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi recently spoke highly of him, it seems well within the realm of possibility Sánchez gets a roster spot after a few weeks of pseudo Spring Training in the minors.
For now, Bart will have some runway to get into a groove. Once a highly-touted prospect, he’s struck out in 38% of his 408 career plate appearances in the majors thus far. He hit 11 home runs last year in just 97 games but his career batting line of .222/.294/.351 amounts to a wRC+ of just 84. He also hasn’t been graded especially well behind the plate, earning a -5 mark from Defensive Runs Saved to this point.
Guardians Place Aaron Civale On Injured List, Select Peyton Battenfield
The Guardians announced Monday that they’ve placed right-hander Aaron Civale on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left oblique and selected the contract of right-hander Peyton Battenfield from Triple-A Columbus. Righty Triston McKenzie was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Battenfield. That doesn’t change the projected return date for McKenzie, it should be noted; the “60-day” term of his IL stint begins with his original IL placement and is not reset upon being transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day.
Civale, 27, was excellent in his first start of the season, tossing seven shutout frames against Seattle. The Mariners got their revenge over the weekend, however, tagging Civale for four runs on nine hits and a walk through 5 2/3 innings. Civale didn’t depart that start with an injury, but it seems something was amiss physically for the righty during that outing. This will be his fourth stint on the injured list dating back to Opening Day 2022, as he missed time last season due to glute, wrist and forearm injuries.
Those injuries cost Civale roughly 12 starts last season, limiting him to 97 innings and likely contributing to his lackluster 4.92 ERA on the season. Across parts of three prior campaigns, he’d given Cleveland a combined 3.76 ERA in 256 innings, stepping up to seemingly seize a long-term spot in the team’s rotation. The early signs in 2022 were promising, as Civale’s fastball had crept up nearly a mile per hour on average, but he’ll now be shelved for a yet-to-be announced period of time.
With Civale joining McKenzie on the injured list, the Guards are now down two of their top five starters. They’ll look to Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Zach Plesac and Hunter Gaddis to hold down the first four spots in the rotation, with Battenfield and long reliever Xzavion Curry the favorites to step into Civale’s now-vacated spot on the staff.
The 25-year-old Battenfield, acquired from the Rays in a trade sending Jordan Luplow back to Tampa Bay, has made 29 starts in Triple-A across the past two seasons, logging a combined 3.63 ERA with a 16.9% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. Battenfield isn’t a hard thrower, sitting in the low 90s with his fastball, but he leans on a wide variety of secondary offerings, keeping hitters off balance with a deep five-pitch repertoire.
Athletics Recall Kevin Smith, Place Seth Brown On IL
April 10: The A’s made it official today, recalled Smith and placing Brown on the 10-day IL with a strained left oblique.
April 9: Oakland outfielder Seth Brown is headed for the injured list with an oblique issue, according to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. Brown was unavailable during today’s game against the Rays after feeling discomfort during a check-swing in last night’s game, and it appears the issue is serious enough to warrant an IL-stint, though no details regarding Brown’s timetable for return have been revealed. Gallegos also reports that infielder Kevin Smith is set to join the club in Baltimore, presumably to replace Brown on the active roster.
Brown, who is entering his age-30 season in 2023, was the best hitter in the A’s lineup last season who returned this season as he posted a 25 homer season while slashing .230/.305/.444 in 150 games last year, good for a wRC+ of 117. Only Sean Murphy, who the A’s traded to the Braves in a three-team deal with the Brewers over the offseason, had a better year in terms of wRC+ among A’s regulars. Though he still has three seasons of team control left prior to free agency after 2023, Brown entered the year as a plausible trade candidate for the A’s come July due to his age and the club being in the midst of a rebuild that saw the likes of Murphy, AJ Puk, and Cole Irvin traded this past offseason.
Brown hits the injured list without having gotten going at the plate, having posted a wRC+ of just 71 in his first eight games this season, but with strikeout and walk rates roughly in line with last season and a deflated .238 BABIP, there was plenty of reason for optimism that his production would return to 2022 levels with a larger sample size. Those hopes will have to be put on hold for now, however, though it’s currently unclear if Brown will require only the minimum stay on the IL or miss a longer period.
That leaves the A’s likely to turn to Smith, who struggled mightily in 47 games at the big league level with Oakland last season, slashing just .180/.216/.302 in 151 plate appearances. That being said, Smith has a career .817 OPS in the minor leagues and, at 26 years old, could still put it together at the major league level. Acquired from the Blue Jays in the trade that sent Matt Chapman to Toronto, Smith provides the A’s with a great deal of versatility off the bench, as he has experience at all four infield spots in addition to the outfield corners.
Any time missed by Brown will likely stand to benefit outfielders Brent Rooker and Conner Capel, each of whom have drawn a start at Brown’s usual spot in left field over the past two games. It’s also possible that an infielder, like Tony Kemp, could move to left, allowing shortstop Nick Allen to get extra at-bats in the infield.
White Sox Select Keynan Middleton, Place Joe Kelly On IL, Outright Jonathan Stiever
The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve placed right-hander Joe Kelly on the 15-day injured list due to a groin strain and selected the contract of right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton. Right-hander Jonathan Stiever was outrighted in order to open a 40-man spot for Middleton. Stiever hasn’t been previously outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service time, so he can’t reject the assignment. He’ll remain with the organization now that he’s cleared waivers.
Middleton, 29, signed a minor league deal over the winter and didn’t initially win a spot in Chicago’s bullpen, pitching to a 6.00 ERA in nine spring innings. He’s opened the year in Charlotte with a trio of scoreless frames, punching out three of the 11 batters he’s faced and also walking a pair.
The White Sox will be Middleton’s fourth big league club. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Angels, looking at one point like a potential building block in the relief corps in Anaheim. Middleton debuted with 58 1/3 solid innings back in 2017 (3.86 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate) and showed a high-octane fastball that averaged 97 mph.
Middleton started the 2018 season with an even stronger 2.04 ERA in 17 2/3 frames but saw diminished velocity while his strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction. He was placed on the injured list in May with what the team discovered some damage in his ulnar collateral ligament. He underwent Tommy John surgery just a few days later. That wiped out the remainder of his 2018 season, and while Middleton returned with a clean 1.17 ERA in 7 2/3 innings the following year, he walked more hitters (seven) than he struck out (six) and was working with a fastball sitting at 94.2 mph.
In the three seasons since, Middleton’s velocity has fluctuated greatly, but his results with the Halos, Mariners and D-backs have been similarly below par. Overall, since returning from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander carries a 4.66 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate that are both worse than the league average. In the aggregate, his post-TJS fastball has sat at 95.6 mph, but that includes year-to-year averages that are all over the map: 94.2 mph in 2019, 97.2 mph in 2020, 95.6 mph in 2021 and 94.8 mph in 2022. Along the way, he’s encountered biceps, elbow and ankle injuries.
As for the 34-year-old Kelly, he’s gotten out to a rough start, yielding three runs on four hits and a walk through his first 2 2/3 innings of the 2023 campaign. He’s playing out the second season of a two-year, $17MM contract that hasn’t panned out as either he or the White Sox hoped. Biceps and hamstring injuries limited the former Red Sox and Dodgers hurler to 37 innings last year, during which he posted an unsightly 6.08 ERA with a career-worst 13.5% walk rate. He’ll now head to the injured list for the third time in just over one calendar year with the South Siders.
Kelly, of course, has a much better track record prior to his time with the ChiSox. From 2017-21, he tossed 229 innings of 3.62 ERA ball, and he was a postseason hero for the 2018 Red Sox, tossing 11 1/3 innings of one-run ball with a 13-to-0 K/BB ratio in the postseason during their march to an eventual World Series title.
Stiever, 26 next month, is a 2018 fifth-rounder who ranked among the White Sox’ best prospects from 2020-21 but has seen his stock tumble in recent seasons, in part due to health troubles. Stiever underwent lat surgery late in the 2021 season and spent nearly the entire 2022 campaign on the 60-day injured list as a result. He’s appeared in just 6 1/3 MLB innings, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits (four homers) and four walks in that time.
Because of those injuries and the lost 2020 minor league season, Stiever still has just 252 minor league innings under his belt. Seventy-nine of those have come at the Triple-A level, but he’s been tagged for a 5.47 ERA in that time. All but five of those 79 frames came during an ugly 2021 season, and Stiever has tossed a pair of scoreless innings so far to begin his ’23 season. He’ll remain in Triple-A and hope that better health brings about better results. If so, he could conceivably work his way back into the 40-man roster conversation at some point.
Diamondbacks Place Zach Davies On 15-Day IL, Select Peter Solomon
1:30PM: Jameson will move into Davies’ rotation spot, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic).
12:45PM: The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Zach Davies has been placed on the 15-day injured list, due to a strained left oblique suffered in last night’s game with the Dodgers. Right-hander Peter Solomon‘s contract was selected from Triple-A in order to fill Davies’ spot on the active roster. Arizona moved both Mark Melancon and Cole Sulser to the 60-day IL to create 40-man roster space for Solomon and for the newly-acquired Jose Ruiz.
It was pretty clear that Davies was headed to the IL after yesterday’s early exit, as he struggled through 4 1/3 innings before departing. We may learn about the severity of Davies’ strain in due time, though most oblique injuries of even a Grade 1 level usually require around a month of recovery time.
Since the D’Backs don’t play on Thursday, the team doesn’t strictly need a fifth starter until its April 18 game against the Cardinals. That gives the Snakes some time to figure out Davies’ replacement in the rotation, with reliever Drey Jameson representing the most obvious in-house option already on the MLB roster. Jameson didn’t win a rotation job in Spring Training but still made the roster as a relief pitcher, with the expectation that he could step into a starting role if and when an injury-related vacancy emerged. At the Triple-A level, Tommy Henry and top prospect Brandon Pfaadt are also possibilities if the D’Backs prefer to keep Jameson in the bullpen.
Solomon’s promotion could be a hint to Arizona’s intentions, as while Solomon is a starter himself, his shaky results in the minors might suggest that he’s suited to a relief role at the MLB level. The Diamondbacks might move Jameson to the rotation and then use Solomon in Jameson’s role as a multi-inning reliever (albeit in lower-leverage situations).
Solomon was a fourth-round pick for the Astros in the 2017 draft, and his only MLB experience came in the form of 14 innings with Houston in 2021. Pittsburgh claimed Solomon off waivers from the Astros last September, and then Arizona selected Solomon away from the Pirates in December during the minor league version of the Rule 5 Draft. While Solomon has a 5.25 ERA over 210 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level, he misses a lot of bats, and might better fit the profile of a reliever even though he has a five-pitch arsenal.
It was only a matter of time before the D’Backs moved Melancon to the 60-day IL, since the veteran reliever is expected to miss several months recovering from a shoulder strain. Sulser is also suffering from a shoulder strain and was just placed on the 15-day injured list on Friday, but he’ll now face at least a two-month absence before he returns to the big league roster.
The mounting list of injuries in Arizona’s bullpen might also be a factor in the team’s decision about whether or not to move Jameson out of a relief spot. Corbin Martin might miss the entire 2023 season after undergoing lat tendon surgery last month, Melancon and Sulser are also long-term absences, and Joe Mantiply began the season on the 15-day IL due to shoulder fatigue.
Padres Place David Dahl On 10-Day Injured List
The Padres placed outfielder David Dahl on the 10-day injured list due to a right quad strain, with a retroactive placement date of April 7. Brandon Dixon was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
San Diego signed Dahl to a minor league deal during the offseason, and he broke camp with the team and appeared in four games for the Padres before this latest injury setback. Manager Bob Melvin said yesterday that Dahl was hurt while running sprints in the outfield prior to Saturday’s game, and that an IL stint seemed possible.
Dahl is unfortunately no stranger to the injured list, as several health problems (including a lacerated spleen, a stress fracture in his rib, and various back and shoulder issues) have hampered his career. It seemed like he’d finally broken through with an All-Star season with the Rockies in 2019, but Dahl has hit only .199/.236/.303 over 328 Major League plate appearances since the start of the 2020 campaign. Dahl didn’t see any big league action in 2022, spending the year at the Triple-A affiliates of the Nationals and Brewers.
Dixon’s multi-position versatility will help the Padres address their depth needs in the outfield, but the club is definitely not in an ideal place with both Dahl and Adam Engel on the IL. Juan Soto and Trent Grisham are everyday starters, of course, and Fernando Tatis Jr. will soon be joining the mix once his PED suspension is up, but until then, San Diego has used backup Jose Azocar, Dahl, and converted infielder Rougned Odor in right field. Melvin suggested that Nelson Cruz might be an option for some right field work, even though Cruz hasn’t played the outfield since 2018.
Diamondbacks Acquire Jose Ruiz From White Sox
The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Jose Ruiz has been acquired from the White Sox in exchange for cash considerations. Ruiz was designated for assignment by the Sox on Friday.
Ruiz was a regular in Chicago’s bullpen for most of the last four seasons, except for an injury-shortened 2020 season that saw Ruiz pitch mostly at the club’s alternate training site. With a 3.75 ERA over 129 2/3 innings from 2020-22, Ruiz’s bottom-line results were solid, and his high-velocity fastball carries some solid spin. Ruiz’s effectiveness was tempered, however, by mediocre walk rates and a lot of hard contact, and a .260 BABIP over the previous three seasons was likely a big factor in his success.
That good fortune turned around hard on Ruiz this season, as he had a whopping 22.09 ERA over his first 3 2/3 innings of the 2023 campaign. It was enough for the White Sox to part ways with Ruiz, and he’ll now look for a fresh start in Arizona’s bullpen.
The D’Backs are looking for some relief help in the wake of multiple injuries to their intended bullpen mix. Joe Mantiply has yet to pitch this season due to shoulder fatigue, while Cole Sulser, Mark Melancon, and Corbin Martin are all on the 60-day injured list — in the case of Melancon and Martin, it remains to be seen if either will return before the 2023 season is over. The injury bug has now spread to the rotation in the form of Zach Davies‘ oblique strain, and with Drey Jameson moving from the bullpen to Davies’ spot in the starting five, Arizona took a flier on Ruiz to add some depth to the relief corps.
Cardinals Place Packy Naughton On 15-Day IL Due To Left Forearm Strain
TODAY: Manager Oliver Marmol told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) that Naughton’s MRI didn’t show any structural damage, so Naughton may have only suffered a forearm strain. The lefty will continue to be evaluated over the next few days as the Cardinals determine his recovery plan.
APRIL 8: The Cardinals placed left-hander Packy Naughton on the 15-day injured list, as Naughton is suffering from a left forearm strain. Genesis Cabrera has been called up from Triple-A to fill Naughton’s place in the bullpen with another southpaw.
There wasn’t much doubt that Naughton would need some type of visit to the IL after he removed himself from last night’s 4-0 loss to the Brewers. Naughton entered the game in the eighth inning, retired two batters and then walked Christian Yelich before motioning to the Cardinals’ dugout that something was amiss. The club has yet to comment on the severity of Naughton’s strain or if the worst-case scenario of Tommy John surgery is being considered, but Naughton will almost certainly miss more than 15 days while recovering.
Naughton (who turns 27 later this month) is in his third Major League season, after initially being selected by the Reds in the ninth round of the 2017 draft. The Angels acquired Naughton as part of the trade that sent Brian Goodwin to Cincinnati at the 2020 trade deadline, and St. Louis claimed Naughton off waivers from Anaheim prior to the start of the 2022 season.
With both the Angels in 2021 and the Cards last year, Naughton has spent a lot of time shuttling back and forth from Triple-A, working as both a spot starter and increasingly as a reliever with St. Louis. The more permanent move to relief work has seemingly bumped up Naughton’s strikeout rates, while he has continued to exhibit the solid control that has helped up rise up the minor league ranks. Naughton has a 3.69 ERA over 453 1/3 innings in the minors, and a 4.98 ERA over his 59 2/3 frames as a big leaguer, which includes five innings of scoreless ball this season.
It hasn’t been a smooth start to the season for the Cardinals bullpen, and losing Naughton won’t help matters. Cabrera joins Zack Thompson as the only left-handed members of the relief corps, though JoJo Romero is at the Triple-A level. Between a dropoff in strikeouts and an increase in his home run rate, Cabrera struggled to a 4.63 ERA over 44 2/3 innings for St. Louis last season, and a good Spring Training performance wasn’t enough to win him a spot on the Opening Day roster.