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Mariners Promote George Kirby, Place Ken Giles On 60-Day IL

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May 8: The Mariners have announced the selection of Kirby’s contract, with right-hander Riley O’Brien being optioned to create space on the active roster. To make room on the 40-man, Ken Giles was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Giles has been working his way back from October 2020 Tommy John surgery. Although it was initially hoped he would be ready for Opening Day, a strained tendon in his right middle finger set Giles back significantly during Spring Training. Based on this IL placement, it seems the club isn’t expected him to join the big league club until mid-June at the earliest.

May 7, 3:25PM: Kirby will start Sunday’s game against the Rays, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo (Twitter link).

12:54PM: The Mariners are calling up George Kirby, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tweeted earlier this afternoon that Kirby had been scratched from his scheduled start with Double-A Arkansas.

Whenever Kirby first takes the ball, he’ll be making his major league debut. The 20th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Elon University, the right-hander quickly blossomed into one of the game’s top young arms. Regarded as a polished strike-thrower with solid but not elite stuff and as an amateur prospect, Kirby has taken his raw stuff to new heights as a professional. After working with a 91-95 MPH fastball in college, he’s pushed that velocity to the 95-99 MPH range in the minors.

That improved arm speed hasn’t come at the expense of the New York native’s pristine control. Baseball America, FanGraphs and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN all credited Kirby with possible plus-plus command (a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale) over this past offseason. He’s among the best locaters in the minor leagues, and his combination of velocity and feel for pitching made him one of the sport’s most highly-regarded prospects.

BA, FanGraphs, ESPN and Keith Law of the Athletic all slotted Kirby among the game’s top 50 overall prospects heading into the season. Baseball America was the most bullish of the group, ranking him 12th overall and the #3 pitcher. Evaluators were a bit divided about the quality of his secondary offerings; most suggested each of his slider, curveball and changeup were around average, but BA graded his upper-80s slider as a plus pitch. Not coincidentally, BA suggested he could have top-of-the-rotation upside, while each of FanGraphs, ESPN, and The Athletic pegged him as more of a mid-rotation type.

Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and some missed time last year due to shoulder soreness, Kirby only has 115 1/3 pro innings under his belt. He has shined in that time, though, with the results to match the strong visual evaluations. Kirby owns an ERA between 2.30 and 2.40 at all three of his stops, including a 2.31 mark over 50 2/3 Double-A innings. He has punched out a strong 29.6% of batters faced at that level against a tiny 5.9% walk rate.

Kirby will take the rotation spot of another top prospect. Matt Brash was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma and converted to relief (at least temporarily) after struggling to throw strikes over his first five MLB starts. Kirby doesn’t figure to have the same control problems out of the gate, but Brash’s initial difficulties are a reminder that even elite prospects often scuffle in their first taste of the big leagues. There’s uncertainty with any rookie, and Kirby is headed to the majors without so much as a single Triple-A inning under his belt.

Still, the Mariners wouldn’t have turned to Kirby if they weren’t bullish on his chances of being immediately effective. Seattle is off to a disappointing 12-15 start, but they’re seeking to contend for a playoff spot this season. If Kirby can solidify the back end of the rotation right out of the gate, that’d go a long way towards hanging around in the American League. The M’s rotation has been a mixed bag in the early going. Logan Gilbert has been excellent. Chris Flexen has been effective, while Marco Gonzales and offseason signee Robbie Ray have underwhelmed. The latter two players had a lot of pre-2022 success, though, giving the M’s reason to anticipate better results over the coming months.

Enough time has passed that Kirby won’t reach a full year of service in 2022 even if his promotion proves permanent, positioning him to reach free agency after the 2028 campaign at the earliest. If he sticks in the majors from here on out, he’d be a virtual lock to reach arbitration heading into 2025 as a Super Two qualifier. Future optional assignments could impact that service trajectory, of course. Kirby is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the Mariners will need to make another move to accommodate his official selection.

Reds Select Joel Kuhnel, Designate Robert Dugger

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Joel Kuhnel. Fellow righty Robert Dugger has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Kuhnel got small bits of action with the Reds in 2019 and 2020, logging 12 2/3 MLB innings in total. In that small sample, he has a career ERA of 4.97 with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate. After the 2020 campaign, he was designated for assignment and outrighted to the minors. Last year, injuries limited him to just eight innings on the year.

This year, however, he appears to be healthy and off to a good start. Now 27 years old, he’s thrown 10 1/3 innings in Triple-A so far this season, with a 2.61 ERA. His 16.7% strikeout rate is a dip from previous seasons, but he’s got a tiny 2.4% walk rate and hefty 57.6% ground ball rate in that small sample.

As for Dugger, it will prove to be a very short stay on the Reds roster, as he was just claimed off waivers from the Rays on Wednesday. The Rays had selected his contract just before active rosters were about to shrink from 28 to 26. They threw him out out on the mound for 87 pitches of mop-up duty over 5 1/3 innings before designating him for assignment. The Reds put in a claim and treated him similarly, giving him a three-inning, 59-pitch appearance in the second game of yesterday’s doubleheader before cutting him from the roster. He’ll now likely head back onto the waiver wire and see if another team in need of arms will give him a chance.

Red Sox Place Michael Wacha On 15-Day Injured List

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The Red Sox are placing right-hander Michael Wacha on the 15-day injured list due to left intercostal irritation, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The move is retroactive to May 5. Fellow righty Tyler Danish has been recalled in a corresponding move. (Twitter links)

This is yet another in a series of frustrations for the Red Sox so far this year. After a 92-win campaign a year ago, the club is off to a dismal 10-18 start here in 2022, dropping them into the basement of the AL East. They also got some bad news yesterday, when it was reported that Chris Sale and James Paxton have both suffered setbacks in their attempts to rehab from their respective injuries.

Wacha has been one of the few bright spots for Boston this year, as he has an ERA of 1.38 over his first five starts. There might be some good fortune in there, as Wacha’s strikeout rate of 19% and walk rate of 11% are both a bit worse than league average. His surface-level success is probably connected to his unsustainable .162 batting average on balls in play and 94.3% strand rate. Still, it’s a blow to a club that has had little to feel good about over the first month of the campaign. The rotation also lost Rich Hill, who went on the Covid-related injured list recently, though it’s unclear how long he is expected to be out for.

With Wacha being scratched from today’s start, the club gave the ball to Tanner Houck instead. Houck opened the season in the rotation but was gradually usurped by Garrett Whitlock. He’s been piggybacking behind Hill for the past few turns through the rotation but could get more starts now with the recent openings. He was pitching on just two days’ rest today and was only able to throw 39 pitches over 2 2/3 innings but could get further stretched out in the weeks to come. Unless Hill can return soon, the club might need another arm down the line, as they are down to a four-man rotation of Houck, Whitlock Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta. That will do for now, as the club has off-days tomorrow and on Thursday. But after that, they will play ten days in a row, followed by one off-day and then a stretch of ten games in nine days, thanks to a doubleheader on May 28.

Diamondbacks To Promote Alek Thomas

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The Diamondbacks are bringing one of baseball’s most highly-ranked prospects, as Jeff Passan of ESPN reports they are promoting outfielder Alek Thomas. The club had an opening on the 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move will be necessary in that regard. To make room on the active roster, catcher Carson Kelly was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 5, with a strained left oblique.

Thomas was selected by the D-Backs in the second round of the 2018 draft out of Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. Just 18 years old at the time, he played 56 rookie ball games that year, 28 each on two different teams, hitting .333/.395/.463, wRC+ of 133, with a walk rate of 8.9% and strikeout rate of just 13.7%.

In 2019, he got bumped up to A-ball, playing 91 games and hitting .312/.393/.479. His walk and strikeout rates were 10.7% and 17.9%, culminating in a 153 wRC+. He got promoted to High-A that year and struggled a bit, which isn’t terribly surprising given that he was more than three years younger than the average age for that level and it was also a small sample of just 23 games.

The pandemic wiped out the 2020 season but didn’t slow Thomas down at all. In 2021, he started his season in Double-A and played 72 games there, hitting ten home runs and stealing eight bases. Along with a walk rate of 11.2% and strikeout rate of 19.8%, he hit .283/.374/.507 for a wRC+ of 134. He got promoted to Triple-A and took his game up another notch. Despite his walk and strikeout rates slipping to 9% and 20.5%, he hit eight home runs in just 34 games, adding five steals, finishing with a line of .369/.434/.658, wRC+ of 168. Thomas is now considered one of the top prospects in the game, coming into this season with Baseball America ranking him #32, MLB Pipeline #40 and FanGraphs #23.

Thomas, who turned 22 years old just over a week ago, is off to a fine start to this year. Although not quite as blistering as his first taste of Triple-A, he’s hitting a solid .277/.362/.495, wRC+ of 117. It’s possible that Thomas is being held back by some bad luck, as he’s lowered his strikeout rate to 13.8% this year, increased his walk rate to 11.2%, but has just a .293 batting average on balls in play, well below his numbers in previous seasons.

He’s played primarily in center field so far this year, making 22 starts there along with a couple in right. Although some evaluators think he may need to move into a corner in the long run, it’s possible the team lets him stick in center field at first to see how he fares. Daulton Varsho has taken most of the starts in center field so far this year. However, he has the unusual distinction of being both a center fielder and a catcher. With Kelly’s placement on the injured list, it seems Varsho might start spending more time behind the dish with Thomas taking over the center field duties. Jose Herrera is the only other catcher on either the active roster or the 40-man roster. The club hasn’t provided a timeline for Kelly’s return.

After a brutal 52-110 finish last year, the Snakes are off to an encouraging start this year, currently sitting on a 14-14 record. Despite hovering at the .500 level, they’re still in last place in a very competitive NL West, but the better record has to feel good for those in the organization. Thomas is one of many exciting prospects that give the club hope of better results this year and in the years to come. He is one of five D-Backs on the Top 100 prospect lists of both Baseball America and FanGraphs.

A’s Reinstate Ramon Laureano, Designate Jorge Juan

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The Athletics have announced that outfielder Ramon Laureano has been reinstated from the restricted list after completing his 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. To make room on the active roster, Stephen Piscotty has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain. To create room on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Jorge Juan was designated for assignment.

After debuting in 2018, Laureano was in the midst of a fourth consecutive season of quality production when he was served his suspension in August of last year. He missed the remainder of that season and the first month of this one due to a positive test for Nandrolone, a banned performance-enhancing substance.

That put Laureano’s career on pause, with him sitting on a career batting line of .263/.335/.465. That amounts to a wRC+ of 118 and, combined with his speed and excellent defense, has allowed him to produce 8.9 fWAR over 313 career games. He will now be able to get back into action and try to pick up where he left off as an all-around contributor.

Players who violate the MLB – MLBPA Joint Drug Agreement are placed on the restricted list and do not receive MLB service time for the duration of their suspension. That means Laureano has been sitting on three years and 14 days of service time since receiving his suspension in August of last year. Players are credited for a full year of service for spending 172 days on an MLB roster or injured list, meaning Laureano would need 158 days to reach the four-year mark by the end of this campaign. Oakland’s final game of the season is on October 5, which is 150 days from now. That means Laureano’s suspension will lead to his free agency being delayed by a year, until after the 2025 campaign.

A lot has changed for the organization during the span of the suspension. When it was first handed down, the A’s were in the midst of a playoff race. They eventually came up just short and then went into the offseason determined to cut payroll. Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea were all sent away in trades for younger and cheaper players. Whether you want to call it a rebuild or a retool or something else, the club is using 2022 as a year to evaluate some of these younger players and determine the next steps forward. They have a 10-17 record so far on the campaign.

Laureano’s status makes him something of an in-between player. The fact that he can be kept around for this season and then three more means that he could potentially be a part of the club’s return to competition down the line. On the other hand, he’s making $2.45MM this year (prorated to $2.033MM due to the suspension) and will continue to earn raises through arbitration in the years to come. For a team that frequently moves on from its players as they get more expensive, it’s possible that Laureano could find himself on the trading block just like his former teammates. Cristian Pache, acquired in the Olson trade, has been manning center field so far this year. He’s provided excellent defense but hasn’t done much with the bat, hitting .176/.195/.282 so far this year for a wRC+ of 41. Laureano is in right field today with Pache in center.

As for Juan, he was just selected to the club’s roster in November of last year. The 6’8″ 23-year-old has a penchant for racking up strikeouts but also struggles with command. Last year, he threw 26 2/3 innings in the minors with a 5.40 ERA, 35.4% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. He has been on the minor league injured list this year and has yet to make his season debut. The nature and severity of his injury are not known, but injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. That means that Oakland, if they cannot work out a trade, will have to place Juan on release waivers.

Mets To Select Stephen Nogosek, Transfer Sean Reid-Foley To 60-Day IL

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10:45 am: Mike Puma of the New York Post relays that the corresponding move is Sean Reid-Foley being transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. The righty was placed on the IL May 1 due to a partial UCL tear and wasn’t expected to return anytime soon.

9:24 am: The Mets are going to be selecting the contract of right-hander Stephen Nogosek, manager Buck Showalter tells Tim Healey of Newsday. He isn’t on the 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary in that regard. Since the team is playing a doubleheader today, the active roster swells from 26 to 27 for the day. Healey adds that Adonis Medina has technically been optioned but will stay with the team today as that 27th man.

Nogosek, 27, was drafted by the Red Sox but was sent to the Mets in the 2017 Addison Reed trade. He made it to the big leagues in 2019 and was able to throw 6 2/3 innings that year. At the end of that season, he was outrighted off the roster but made it back in 2021, logging another 3 innings. Those 9 2/3 frames mark the sum total of his big league experience so far. He was non-tendered and re-signed to a minor league deal in the offseason.

He’s off to a great start so far this season, throwing 10 2/3 innings over seven Triple-A appearances. His ERA is 1.69 in that time, along with an excellent 31% strikeout rate. Although walks have often been an issue for him in his career, his rate is just 4.8% in the early going. If he can sustain that type of production, he could be a nice piece for a bullpen that was been one of the only weak points on a strong Mets team. The team’s relievers have a 3.72 ERA, placing them 20th out of the 30 MLB teams in that department. However, the advanced metrics are more bullish, with FIP placing them at 3.30 (8th), xFIP at 3.21 (3rd) and SIERA at 2.83 (4th).

Mets Release Robinson Cano

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May 8: As expected, Cano has now been released, per Tim Healey of Newsday.

May 2: The Mets designated second baseman Robinson Cano for assignment, according to an announcement from the team.  The club also optioned Yoan Lopez to Triple-A to get down to 26 players on the active roster.

The Mets owe Cano about $37.6MM through 2023, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  The Mets have set Cano’s eventual release in motion, so they’ll be eating the money owed to him.

Cano, 39, kicked off his career with nine seasons for the Yankees that included five All-Star appearances and MVP votes in six campaigns.  In a deal brokered by agent Brodie Van Wagenen with involvement from newly-certified agent Jay-Z, Cano left the Yankees for a landmark ten-year, $240MM free agent contract with the Mariners.  After a strong start to his Seattle career, things started going south for Cano in May of 2018 with an 80-game PED suspension.

Months later, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, who hadn’t been in the organization when Cano was signed, set to work trading him.  In December 2018, Dipoto sent Cano, reliever Edwin Diaz, and $20MM to the Mets for outfielder Jay Bruce, right-hander Anthony Swarzak, right-hander Gerson Bautista and prospects Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn.  At the time, the Mets’ new GM was none other than Van Wagenen.  The trade, which was more about Diaz than Cano for the Mets, came at the high cost of Kelenic, who went on to become one of the game’s top prospects.  For more on this disastrous trade, check out Jeff Todd’s superb YouTube video.

Though Cano was able to muster up a strong but brief 2020 season for the Mets, the hits kept coming with a 162-game PED suspension in November 2020 – not long after Steve Cohen bought the team and fired Van Wagenen.  With Cohen, Mets president Sandy Alderson, GM Billy Eppler, and manager Buck Showalter having no connection to the Cano deal, the clock was ticking if he didn’t produce this year after returning from his second suspension.

With a .195/.233/.268 line in 43 plate appearances, Cano struggled in his first big league action in more than 18 months.  As Tim Healey of Newsday and other Mets reporters have noted, even with Dominic Smith, J.D. Davis, and Luis Guillorme having minor league options, the correct baseball decision was to move on from Cano.  At 16-7, the Mets own the best record in the National League and chose not to let Cano’s contract dictate their roster.  Cano, who will eventually be released, will have the rest of his contract paid by the Mets less the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum if he hooks on elsewhere.

Cano indeed plans to continue searching for opportunities. Van Wagenen, who has again assumed a role in Cano’s representation upon joining Roc Nation Sports after being fired by the Mets, tells Sherman the 39-year-old “absolutely still wants to play. Given the right situation, he can still make a meaningful contribution for a team.”

It remains to be seen whether there’ll be a ton of interest in Cano’s services. In addition to the lost 2021 season and rough bottom-line numbers this year, he’s seen his contact rate plummet to a career-worst 73% in this season’s early going. He has chased nearly half the pitches he’s been thrown outside the strike zone, and he’s probably limited defensively to a rotation between second base, first base and designated hitter. It’s not the easiest profile for a team to roster unless they’re confident Cano can match or improve upon the .275/.321/.463 line he managed between 2019-20 as he gets further from his second suspension.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Phillies Place Zach Eflin, Zack Wheeler On Covid List

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10:00am: Phillies manager Joe Girardi has told reporters, including Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, that Zack Wheeler is also going on the Covid list. The club will now be doubly challenged to get through their next stretch of games with their rotation down two key members. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com adds that Connor Brogdon will be taking Wheeler’s spot on the roster.

9:00 am: The Phillies have announced that right-hander Zach Eflin has been placed on the Covid-related injured list. Fellow righty Francisco Morales has been recalled to take his place on the roster. Additionally, with the club playing a doubleheader today, left-hander Cristopher Sanchez will be up with the club as the team’s 27th man.

Players can be placed on the Covid list if they test positive, are exhibiting symptoms or due to contact tracing measures. The club hasn’t provided further information about which of these applies to Eflin. Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician). Players who are experiencing symptoms but do not test positive can return in shorter order if their symptoms abate.

The Phillies were rained out both yesterday and Friday, meaning their pitching staff should be fairly rested, but also that they are playing a doubleheader today. They will then be traveling out west to play three games against the Mariners and four against the Dodgers, before their next off-day on May 16th. As long as Eflin is out of action, the rotation will be down to the foursome of Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson, Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler. Sanchez and Morales both have started in the minors but have been working out of their bullpen so far this year.

Gibson should be able to handle one game today, as he last started April 30. Eflin would have been in line to start the other game but will need to be replaced. Suarez last pitched on May 3, meaning he could theoretically slot in and take another game on regular rest, although the club hasn’t yet another their plans for today. In that scenario, both Gibson and Suarez would be lined up to pitch again on regular rest on Friday. Wheeler and Nola can then take the ball on Monday and Tuesday, but then the club would need a plan for both Wednesday and Thursday. Another option would be to have a bullpen day in the second game of the doubleheader today, saving Suarez for Monday and bumping Wheeler and Nola down the line. Regardless of how it plays out, the club will need to strategically maneuver through the week, unless Eflin is able to return quickly.

Yankees Place Tim Locastro On Injured List

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The Yankees announced a few roster moves prior to today’s doubleheader. Outfielder Tim Locastro is going on the injured list with a left latissimus dorsi (back) strain. Right-handed pitcher Ron Marinaccio has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. Outfielder Estevan Florial will be the team’s 27th man for today’s twin bill.

The outfield mix in the Bronx is a bit crowded, with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks and Joey Gallo usually sharing the three spots on the grass as well as the designated hitter slot. As such, the speedy Locastro has been mostly coming off the bench for pinch running and defensive replacement duties. As such, he’s played 15 games this year but only made 15 plate appearances. He’s made the best of that time, hitting .231/.333/.462 for a wRC+ of 139, as well as swiping four bags.

Locastro was acquired from the Diamondbacks last year but then injured his ACL after just nine games with the Bombers. In the offseason, he was non-tendered but then re-signed after the lockout. Although the club hasn’t provided a timeline for his recovery, this injury will mark another frustrating step in his Yankees tenure.

Angels To Select Aaron Whitefield

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The Angels are going to select the contract of outfielder Aaron Whitefield, according to Darren Wolfson of Skor North. A corresponding move will be required to open up a spot for Whitefield on the roster.

Whitefield, 25, was signed out of Brisbane, Australia by the Twins in 2015. His best asset has long been his speed, which he has used to provide excellent outfield defense, primarily in center, as well as stealing bases. Baseball America put him in the back half of their lists of top 30 Minnesota prospects in both 2018 and 2019.

In 2020, he was called up to the big leagues and got a three-game cup of coffee, often as a pinch runner/defensive replacement, only getting a single plate appearance. (He grounded out.) He was outrighted in August and then spent 2021 in Double-A. He hit a modest .257/.327/.353, 84 wRC+, with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 36 stolen bases.

He reached free agency at the end of the year and signed a minors deal with the Angels. He’s started this year with the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas and is off to a great start. In 111 plate appearances over 24 games, he’s hitting .301/.400/.538, increasing his walk rate to 14.4%. That amounts to a wRC+ of 149, or 49% better than league average. He’s also still got the wheels, notching 13 stolen bases in those 24 games.

The Angels will now add a player to their roster that comes with a high floor. As the old saying goes, speed doesn’t slump. Whitefield should be able to provide excellent speed and defense in any scenario. With his bat seemingly taking a step forward so far this year, there’s also the potential for Whitefield to be even more valuable, should he able to carry any of that up to the majors with him. The club has a solid everyday group in the outfield, with Mike Trout, Brandon Marsh and Taylor Ward all playing very well so far this season. However, with the recent demotion of Jo Adell, there’s room for Whitefield to be a fourth outfielder, coming off the bench as a pinch runner or giving any of that trio the occasional day off.

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