Luis Urias Out 6-8 Weeks With Hamstring Injury
11:14am: Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Urias will miss 6-8 weeks of action.
9:47am: The Brewers announced a couple of roster moves this morning, placing infielder Luis Urias on the 10-day injured list retroactive to March 31 after he sustained a left hamstring injury on Opening Day. The team also announced that left-handed pitcher Justin Wilson has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
It opens the door for the Brewers to officially add prospect Joey Wiemer to their big league roster, as he’ll take the place of Urias, while Wilson’s move to the 60-day IL opens up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Urias hurt his hamstring in the ninth inning of Milwaukee’s 4-0 Opening Day loss to the Cubs, having gone 0-4 in the match. There’s no indication yet of how long Urias will be out for, but this opens the door for Brian Anderson to handle the hot corner in the meantime, with Wiemer taking over in right for the time being.
A fourth round pick in 2020, Wiemer has shot up the Brewers’ prospect charts in recent years, and his .287/.368/.520 line over 174 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors last season showed he was knocking on the door of his first big league call up. While scouts raised concerns over his strikeouts and swing mechanics dating back to the draft, Wiemer’s raw power and athleticism have shone through and he was placed near the back of Keith Law’s recent top-100 prospects in all of baseball.
The move to shift Wilson to the 60-day IL was likely an easy one for the Brewers. The veteran lefty underwent Tommy John surgery in June of last year, so he is expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2023 campaign. The Brewers signed him this winter to a one-year deal, but hold a club option on him for 2024.
Brewers To Promote Joey Wiemer
The Brewers are bringing up one of their top prospects. Outfielder Joey Wiemer is getting his first major league call, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The Brewers figure to finalize the move before tomorrow afternoon’s matchup with the Cubs.
Wiemer was Milwaukee’s fourth-round pick in 2020 out of the University of Cincinnati. Amateur scouts praised his power and athleticism but raised significant questions about his strikeouts and atypical swing mechanics. Wiemer’s .264/.379/.408 slash in college was hardly overwhelming, particularly outside a Power Five conference.
Milwaukee rolled the dice on his physical upside in hopes he could iron things out in pro ball. They have to be thrilled with how that decision has played out over the past couple seasons. Wiemer hit .296/.403/.556 during his first professional season, positioning him as one of the better prospects in the Milwaukee farm system. He took that to another level with continued production against upper level pitching last year.
Wiemer spent the bulk of the 2022 season with Double-A Biloxi, where he put up a roughly average .243/.321/.440 line over 374 plate appearances. Wiemer punched out 30% of the time but connected on 15 home runs and stole 25 bases while getting caught just once. The Brewers bumped him to Triple-A Nashville in August, and he caught fire at the top minor league level. In 174 trips to the plate, he mashed at a .287/.368/.520 clip with six longballs. Wiemer cut his strikeouts to a solid 19.5% rate in Triple-A while walking 12.1% of the time.
That firmly placed him among the sport’s most interesting outfield prospects headed into the winter. Both FanGraphs and Keith Law of the Athletic slotted him near the back of their offseason Top 100 prospect lists. Wiemer didn’t crack the Top 100 at Baseball America or ESPN but finished just outside that cutoff, ranking among the top three talents in the Milwaukee system at both outlets. Evaluators credit him with plus or better raw power, speed and arm strength. He’s regarded as a high-variance type but a potential impact player on the strength of those deafening physical tools.
The Brew Crew gave the 24-year-old an extended look this spring. He held his own, putting together a .262/.319/.429 line with two homers, four walks and ten strikeouts in 42 at-bats. General manager Matt Arnold indicated towards the end of Spring Training that both Wiemer and fellow top prospect Sal Frelick were being considered for season-opening roster spots. Neither ended up grabbing a job out of camp, as both were ticketed for Nashville to start the season.
Plans changed yesterday, as starting third baseman Luis Urías hurt his left hamstring in the ninth inning of an Opening Day loss. Urías was noticeably hobbled after the game, and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that Urías is headed to the 10-day injured list. Brian Anderson, who’d opened the season as the right fielder, has a long track record as an MLB third baseman. He’ll now slide to the hot corner, with Wiemer stepping into the right field job.
That’ll presumably be the plan at least until a veteran is ready to return from injury. It’s unknown how long Urías will be out. Tyrone Taylor, who might’ve gotten the Opening Day right field nod, is expected to be sidelined into May with an elbow sprain. Wiemer should have at least a couple weeks to try to establish himself against big league pitching.
While one day of the schedule has already elapsed, players are credited with a full year of major league service if they’re in the majors for 172+ days of the 186-day season. Wiemer would still get to that mark if he’s up for good, which would put him on track to first reach arbitration after the 2025 season and qualify for free agency over the 2028-29 offseason.
Wiemer hadn’t been on the 40-man roster. Milwaukee will need to select his contract tomorrow. That’ll require a corresponding 40-man move, though players like Aaron Ashby (shoulder strain) and Justin Wilson (recovering from Tommy John surgery) are 60-day injured list candidates.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Mariners Acquire Nick Solak From Reds
The Reds have traded corner outfielder/second baseman Nick Solak to the Mariners for cash, both teams announced. Seattle had an opening on the 40-man roster and immediately optioned Solak to Triple-A Tacoma. No additional move was necessary.
Solak never played a regular season game as a Red. Cincinnati acquired the right-handed hitter from the Rangers at the beginning of the offseason. It was a cash transaction that saw the Reds add a player who was a few years removed from being a well-regarded prospect. Cincinnati gave Solak a look as part of a wide-open outfield mix in Spring Training, but he collected just two hits in 20 at-bats.
That lackluster exhibition showing pushed Solak down the outfield depth chart. Cincinnati designated him for assignment yesterday as they set their Opening Day roster, clearing a 40-man spot to add a pair of relievers and infielder Jason Vosler to the big league group. Solak’s stay in DFA limbo lasted only a little more than 24 hours, as Seattle stepped in to jump the waiver order.
A second-round pick of the Yankees in 2016, Solak has now been a part of five different organizations as a professional. He’s only ever played in an MLB game with Texas, tallying 974 plate appearances as a Ranger between 2019-22. Solak broke into the majors with an impressive .293/.393/.491 showing over 33 contests as a rookie, showing the offensive promise which prospect evaluators had long noted.
The Louisville product hasn’t managed to build off that strong debut. He’s been a below-average hitter in each of the three seasons since then, combining for a .246/.317/.354 line in 839 plate appearances dating back to 2020. He’s shown decent contact skills but not drawn many walks or hit for a significant amount of power.
That tepid offense has come as Solak has increasingly moved down the defensive spectrum. Drafted as a second baseman, he’s long been regarded by scouts as a below-average defender there. Defensive Runs Saved graded him six runs worse than par in a little more than 1000 innings in 2021. Texas pushed him to left field with the Marcus Semien signing in 2022.
In spite of his lackluster big league showings of late, the 28-year-0ld has continued to perform well in the minors. He spent most of last season with the Rangers’ top affiliate in Round Rock, where he hit .278/.371/.489 with 10 longballs, a strong 11.6% walk rate and a 19.7% strikeout percentage over 57 games. He’s now a .293/.370/.510 hitter over parts of three Triple-A campaigns.
Solak has one minor league option year remaining. The M’s can keep him in Tacoma as needed for the rest of this season if he holds a spot on the 40-man roster. He adds a right-handed bat who could potentially join Sam Haggerty and, when healthy, Dylan Moore as complements to Kolten Wong at second base. Seattle also has a left field platoon of Jarred Kelenic and AJ Pollock, with Solak stepping in behind them and Cooper Hummel in that regard.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Mets Place Justin Verlander On Injured List
March 31: The Mets have now officially placed Verlander on the IL and recalled Megill, per Tim Healey of Newsday. The move is retroactive to March 28.
March 30: The Mets announced that they will place right-hander Justin Verlander on the 15-day injured list with a “low-grade teres major strain.” According to the team, Verlander “will continue throwing at moderate intensity” and be reevaluated in a week. They’ll provide a further update at that time. Righty Tylor Megill will be recalled from Triple-A and take Verlander’s spot in the rotation for the time being, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
The 40-year-old Verlander’s velocity was down in his final outing of spring training, but the team hadn’t hinted at any type of injury until today’s out-of-the-blue announcement. General manager Billy Eppler tells the Mets beat that Verlander first reported discomfort last night and had an MRI this morning (Twitter link via Newsday’s Tim Healey). Verlander himself said he was working through some things that he initially attributed to routine spring discomfort (video link via DiComo). However, when he felt continued discomfort into his final bullpen of spring training and “connected the dots” with his decreased velocity in his most recent spring outing, he decided to get checked out.
Until next week’s follow-up MRI, it’ll be impossible to know just how long Verlander might be sidelined. He’s voiced confidence that it’s minor in nature and said he’d pitch if this occurred during the postseason. That’s encouraging, but even a brief absence is notable.
The Mets are already without one of Verlander’s fellow offseason signees, left-hander Jose Quintana, who will miss upwards of half the season following a bone graft procedure to remove a benign lesion from his ribcage. Quintana’s injury pushed sixth starter David Peterson into the rotation, and they’ll now already be tapping into Megill, their No. 7 option, before a single inning of their season has transpired.
Verlander lost the 2021 season to Tommy John surgery and not only returned in 2022 but improbably stormed back to ace status at age 39, winning the American League Cy Young Award on the heels of a 1.75 ERA over 175 innings. He punched out 27.8% of his opponents against a masterful 4.4% walk rate, averaging 95.1 mph on his heater along the way and generally looking like his typical, dominant self. That brilliant comeback prompted the Mets to make a two-year, $86.66MM offer, matching the annual value on the record-setting contract they’d given to co-ace Max Scherzer.
Assuming Verlander’s absence indeed proves brief, he’ll still be expected to pair with Scherzer and give the Mets two of this generation’s most accomplished arms atop the starting staff. Still, it’s surely a gut-punch to a team that moved on from now-former ace Jacob deGrom largely for durability reasons in recent years. Verlander can be placed on the IL retroactive to March 27 — three days is the largest backdating permissible under MLB rules — so he’ll be shelved for at least the first 12 days of the season.
Diamondbacks Acquire Anthony Misiewicz
The Diamondbacks have acquired left-hander Anthony Misiewicz from the Cardinals, per announcements from both clubs. The D’Backs will send cash considerations to St. Louis in exchange. To open a spot on their roster, Arizona transferred right-hander Corbin Martin to the 60-day injured list.
Misiewicz, 28, has pitched in the past three big league seasons, mostly with the Mariners but also with the Royals. In 103 2/3 innings, he has a career 4.43 ERA, striking out 23.9% of batters faced, walking 7% and getting grounders at a 38.6% clip. The Royals designated him for assignment when they re-signed Zack Greinke in February, then flipped Misiewicz across Missouri for cash.
The southpaw had a decent spring, allowing two earned runs in seven innings, striking out eight batters against one walk. However, he got squeezed off the roster by a couple of factors. One is that prospect Jordan Walker‘s meteoric rise led to him needing an Opening Day roster spot. Second, the Cards had a bunch of lefty relief options on the roster in Zack Thompson, Packy Naughton, Génesis Cabrera and JoJo Romero. When the time came to add Walker to the roster, it seems Misiewicz was considered the most expendable and was designated for assignment earlier this week.
He’ll now head to the Diamondbacks, though he may not be ticketed for the active roster since he still has a couple of options. The club currently has Andrew Chafin and Kyle Nelson as their left-handed relief options in the big leagues. Misiewicz could make it three but they could also send him to Triple-A to serve as depth until needed. Misiewicz has between two and three years of MLB service time and can be controlled via arbitration through the 2026 season, though optional assignments could push that back.
In order to open up a spot for Misiewicz, Martin has been moved to the 60-day IL. That move doesn’t come as a surprise since he recently underwent lat tendon surgery and will likely miss the entire 2023 season.
Mariners, César Hernández Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mariners and infielder César Hernández are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. Hernández had been in camp with the Tigers until recently but didn’t make their Opening Day roster.
Hernández, 33 in May, had been a fairly steady and reliable presence at second base for many years, primarily with the Phillies. From 2015 to 2020, he played in at least 127 games in each full season and 58 games in the shortened 2020 campaign. He hit 48 home runs, stole 79 bases and walked in 10.1% of his plate appearances in that time. His wRC+ of 101 in that span indicates he was just barely above league average.
However, he’s coming off a couple of strange campaigns, relative to his previous work. In 2021, he had a power spike with 21 home runs, though his on-base percentage dropped with a lower walk rate and a .232 batting average. Despite the extra homers, his wRC+ ended up at 90. Last year, that power vanished, as he hit just one dinger all year long. He finished with a .248/.311/.318 batting line and 79 wRC+.
He settled for a minor league deal with Detroit this winter and hit .234/.321/.383 this spring, but didn’t make the club’s roster out of camp. As an Article XX(B) free agent, he had the ability to opt out of his minors deal if not selected. It’s not clear if he triggered that opt-out or not, but the result is the same as the Tigers released him a few days ago, returning him to the open market.
Hernández has had brief time at third base, shortstop and the outfield in his career but the vast majority of his work has been at second base. The Mariners have Kolten Wong and Tommy La Stella on the roster as second base options, though both players dealt with lower body injuries last year. Dylan Moore and Sam Haggerty were set to play bench/utility roles but Moore is currently out of action with an oblique strain. Hernández will presumably head to Triple-A Tacoma, giving them a veteran presence and providing the M’s with an extra layer of depth.
Tigers Acquire Dillon Paulson From Rays
The Tigers have acquired minor league first baseman Dillon Paulson from the Rays in exchange for cash, tweets Chris McCoskey of the Detroit News. It’s the second cash swap that’s sent a minor leaguer from Tampa Bay to Detroit this week, as the Tigers also purchased outfielder Grant Witherspoon from the Rays a couple days ago. Paulson isn’t on the 40-man roster, so the Tigers don’t need to make a corresponding transaction.
The 25-year-old Paulson is a left-handed hitter who was originally selected by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2018 draft. He landed in Tampa Bay as part of the three-team trade that sent Jose Alvarado from Tampa Bay to Philadelphia.
Paulson has been productive throughout his minor league career and got out to a terrific start with the Rays’ Double-A club in 2021, slashing .340/.373/.396 but in a tiny sample of just 59 plate appearances. Unfortunately, he sustained a torn ACL that required surgery and wiped out the remainder of his ’21 campaign. He was limited to just 24 games in 2022, batting a combined .224/.382/.448 in 89 plate appearances between Rookie ball and High-A.
Paulson will turn 26 in June, but because of the canceled 2020 season and that ACL tear, he’s only played in 15 games above A-ball. He’ll give the Tigers a lefty bat to stash in the middle of their system in hopes that with better health, he can build upon his career .257/.374/.458 output in 214 minor league games.
Braves, Charlie Culberson Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent utilityman Charlie Culberson, as first indicated on the MLB.com transactions log. Culberson, a Ballengee Group client, opted out of a minor league deal with the Rays earlier this week. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
It’ll be an overwhelmingly popular move among Braves fans, many of whom grew to love Culberson during his 2018-20 stretch with the club. The versatile infielder/outfielder has spent more time in a Braves uniform than any other in his 10-year career. In 230 games, he’s tallied 473 plate appearances and batted .265/.314/.454 with Atlanta. The best season of Culberson’s career came in 2018, when he set personal highs in games played (113), plate appearances (322), doubles (18) and home runs (12).
The past three seasons, including his brief final showing with Atlanta, have seen a pronounced downturn in Culberson’s production, however. Dating back to 2020, he’s slashed just .244/.289/.371 in 402 trips to the plate. The bulk of that action has come with the Rangers, for whom he played in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Culberson has appeared at every position on the diamond other than catcher and center field in his decade-long career, including 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in mop-up duty (albeit with just one strikeout). Third base has been his primary position in the Majors, but he has more than 400 innings at second base, at shortstop and in left field as well. Culberson has generally struggled against right-handed pitching (.217/.277/.348), but he’s a .285/.313/.431 hitter against lefties in his career.
The Braves currently have Ehire Adrianza on the big league roster as a utility infielder, but Culberson could work his way up to the big league club in the event of injuries in the Atlanta infield.
Royals Sign Daniel Mengden To Minor League Deal
The Royals announced their Triple-A Omaha roster this morning, which includes veteran right-hander Daniel Mengden. He spent the 2022 campaign in the organization but elected minor league free agency at season’s end after being removed from the 40-man roster. He’s now back on a new minor league pact, which was just agreed upon two days ago, per the Royals’ transaction log at MLB.com.
Mengden, 30, pitched in five games for Kansas City last year, allowing four earned runs on ten hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings overall. That was his first big league work since 2020, as he spent the 2021 campaign pitching for the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization.
From 2016-20, Mengden was a regular on the Athletics’ pitching staff, tallying 302 2/3 frames of 4.64 ERA ball between 49 starts and 26 relief appearances. He’s punched out a below-average 17.5% of his opponents in 309 2/3 career innings but also boasts a solid 7.8% walk rate. Mengden generally sits just over 92 mph with his four-seamer and complements the pitch with a cutter, curveball and changeup. He posted a 5.20 ERA in 109 innings with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate in 2022 but has a career 3.79 ERA at that level and was effective in his lone KBO season in ’21 (3.60 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate in 120 innings).
Braves, Scott Blewett Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves agreed to a minor league contract with Scott Blewett yesterday, according to the right-hander’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Blewett, 27 next month, pitched in five big league contests with the Royals between 2020-21. A former second-round pick of Kansas City, he changed organizations for the first time last year. Blewett signed a minor league deal with the White Sox, spending most of the season in Double-A. He started 22 of 24 appearances, working to a 5.03 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate across 111 innings. Blewett never got a big league look in Chicago and returned to minor league free agency over the offseason.
The New York native will try to work his way back to the MLB level in Atlanta. He’s surely a fair ways down the depth chart after a middling showing in Double-A, but he’ll add some organizational depth as the Braves navigate a number of rotation injuries. Kyle Wright opened the season on the injured list, while Michael Soroka started the year in Gwinnett after a hamstring issue set him back in Spring Training. Atlanta already tabbed a pair of rookies, Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd, for season-opening rotation spots.
The injury troubles continued today, as ace Max Fried appears ticketed for the IL after straining his hamstring during his start against Washington. Blewett’s signing predated the Fried injury and is unrelated, but the Braves now look likely to count on one of Bryce Elder or Ian Anderson to temporarily step into the rotation alongside Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Shuster and Dodd.