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Red Sox Designate Edwin Escobar

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The Red Sox have designated lefty Edwin Escobar for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for the club to add righty William Cuevas to the active roster.

Boston will be forced to expose Escobar to waivers, if it can’t first work out a trade, because of a need for fresh arms at the major league level. In addition to Cuevas, Noe Ramirez will be coming back up as Joe Kelly hits the DL. Infielder Marco Hernandez is heading down to Pawtucket on optional assignment to clear room for Ramirez.

Escobar, who’ll soon turn 24, came to the Sox along with Heath Hembree from the Giants in the 2014 Jake Peavy trade. Though he was added to San Francisco’s major league roster before the 2013 season, he has only made two major league appearances; this is his final optionable year.

Though he has previously received some top-100 prospect consideration, Escobar hasn’t been terribly impressive since coming to Boston. Last year, he worked to a 5.07 ERA in 49 2/3 Triple-A innings while seeing time as both a reliever and a starter. He issued 25 walks against just 24 strikeouts in that span — a far cry from the impressive K:BB ratios he sported at times earlier in his minor league career.

Matt Klentak Discusses Dartmouth College: MLBTR College Series

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MLBTR continues a series of interviews with top baseball executives about their college years. We’ll ask about why those chose their school, memorable moments, their favorite professor, important connections made, college learnings they still use today, etc.

We’ve already spoken to Reds GM Dick Williams and Cubs GM Jed Hoyer. Next up in our question-and-answer series is Philadelphia Phillies Vice President and General Manager Matt Klentak – a graduate of Dartmouth College.

* * * * *

Matt, thanks for talking to MLBTR. You earned an economics degree from Dartmouth College in 2002. Why did you choose Dartmouth?

“There were a few things about Dartmouth that jumped out right away. No. 1, just walking around campus – it’s one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. On top of that, it obviously had a very strong academic reputation. And Coach (Bob) Whalen did an excellent job recruiting me and selling me on their baseball program. So it was really a combination of the three factors – the campus and the community environment, the academics, and the baseball program.”

What other schools were you considering?

“I looked at a few different schools. I initially looked at some schools down south with top baseball programs, but I ultimately realized I wasn’t going to play much there. I might have been able to go there and make the team, but I wasn’t going to see a lot of action on the field. Once I realized that, I started to shift my focus to programs in the northeast where I might be able to play more regularly. I looked at a variety of the schools in the northeast, but ultimately settled on Dartmouth.”

Apr 15, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak before a game against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Being in an Ivy League school, academics definitely took precedence over athletics. What was it like playing in that type of an environment – where it was school first?

“My dad always talked to me about the fact that baseball wasn’t – by itself – going to open up doors for me. It was going to be a combination of baseball and academics. He said it to encourage me to take school seriously back in junior high and high school. It turned out that he was right. Ultimately, my success at Dartmouth was a combination of baseball and academics. Managing the Dartmouth workload and playing Division I baseball – that was a challenge. It really forced the student-athletes to be disciplined and to prioritize their time management. The academic demands required a great deal of studying and homework. And the baseball program had its own demands. But I think that the student-athletes learned about the importance of time management.”

Thinking back to your freshman campaign, what do you remember about your first year on campus?

“It was exciting. It was the first time I was living away from home, and everything was new. Meeting lots of new people. Learning about what it takes to play baseball at the Division I level. Learning how to manage academics and baseball at the same time. Everything was new. Everything was exciting. And there were challenges you were facing for the first time in your life that you never experienced living at home. Ultimately, it can be very satisfying when you find you achieved some success.”

You earned your degree in economics, and that has suited you well in baseball. If you had to choose all over again, would that have been your major – or would you have gone another route?

“I think I would have chosen economics. I think any major is going to teach a student to think critically and to improve their writing skills. There were a lot of majors that would have interested me. I think economics was the right balance for me of objective thinking and mathematics. It was the right balance for my interests and my skill set.”

What important connections did you make at Dartmouth that helped you as moved forward into a baseball career?

“First and foremost, I’m still to this day very close to my college coach, Bob Whalen – and I stay in touch with him. Whenever I can, I get out to see the Dartmouth baseball team play. While I was there, I was teammates with Bryn Alderson – who works for the Mets. His father is Sandy Alderson. I had a chance to get to know the Alderson family, and they have been helpful to me in my baseball career. I met Jim Beattie while I was there; at the time, he was a general manager. As importantly as anything, I became friends – and in many cases, best friends – with my teammates, who I’m still in touch with to this day. A number of them work in the baseball industry.”

Any players on opposing teams that you came across that went on to become important connections for you?

“There’s a nice group of baseball executives that played in the Ivy League at the same time. I’m not trying to just name GMs, but there’s (Colorado GM) Jeff Bridich, who played at Harvard. (Cleveland GM) Mike Chernoff played at Princeton. (Oakland GM) David Forst was at Harvard. (Boston GM) Mike Hazen was at Princeton. (Oakland assistant GM) Dan Kantrovitz was at Brown. And (MLB senior VP) Peter Woodfork was at Harvard as well. That’s a pretty good group.”

***Read more after the break …

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Rockies Acquire Cody Decker

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The Rockies have acquired first baseman Cody Decker from the Royals, according to announcements from both teams. Cash considerations are going back in return.

Decker, 29, has minimal major league experience but was long a solid producer in the upper minors in the Padres’ organization — where he spent his entire career before signing with the Royals as a minor league free agent. Best known for his entertaining antics — particularly those involving former teammate Jeff Francoeur — Decker is also a quality hitter. Indeed, he’s been quite consistent, posting OPS tallies ranging between .819 and .865 in every MiLB season dating back to 2010.

There’s a fair bit of swing and miss to his game, but Decker has also shown a strong walk rate and good power, with several twenty home run campaigns under his belt. The issue, of course, is that he’s limited defensively. Though Decker has filled in at times at third base and the corner outfield in recent years, he’s spent the vast majority of his time at first base.

AL Central Notes: Kepler, Latos, Dyson, Soria, McCann

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ESPN.com’s Jim Caple provides some interesting background on Twins prospect Max Kepler, ranging from his professional ballet-dancing parents to his unlikely introduction to the game of baseball in Germany. Needless to say, the old ballgame still doesn’t have a very high profile in the European nation, but it may surprise some to learn that there’s a fairly notable niche of enthusiasts. As Kepler puts it, “I think since I started playing as a small kid, when it was mainly Americans who were playing baseball, now it’s actually Germans who are starting to play.” No doubt, Kepler’s own career could have a significant impact in driving future growth. (By the way, if you’re interested in the topic, check out this MLBTR podcast episode from last fall, when I chatted with Euroball expert Josh Chetwynd.)

Here’s more from the American League Central:

  • Mat Latos has paid huge dividends to the White Sox cin his first three starts for the organization, as Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune writes. Since signing for just $3MM in an effort to rebuild his career, Latos has spun 18 1/3 innings in which he’s allowed just six hits and one earned run. While there are plenty of indicators suggesting that Latos hasn’t been quite as dominant as those results would suggest, and his velocity is back down, he’s been in the zone more than ever before and has still managed to induce a lot of easy outs (35.3% soft contact rate; 11.8% line-drive rate).
  • The Royals activated Jarrod Dyson from the DL yesterday after he missed the first several weeks of the season with a strained oblique. Manager Ned Yost says he’ll be deployed in a “loose platoon” with Paulo Orlando, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweet. Of course, the left-handed-hitting speedster figures to get a solid majority of the action in that arrangement.
  • Meanwhile, the Royals’ vaunted bullpen hasn’t been quite the well-oiled machine thus far in 2016 that it was in the recent past, as Dodd explores. Really, it’s mostly a matter of some early struggles from Joakim Soria, who has allowed six earned runs on ten hits and five walks over his first seven frames. Notably, he’s only managed to get hitters to chase pitches out of the zone 14.7% of the time, which is less than half his career rate. For now, at least, the club isn’t ready to move him out of the primary set-up job, though Kelvin Herrera and Luke Hochevar have both looked strong. “Our roles are set until we need to change our roles,” Yost says.
  • The Tigers received fairly promising news on the injury front yesterday, as manager Brad Ausmus noted in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). Catcher James McCann’s absence is expected to land “on the shorter side of the two to four week timetable” that he’d been given for a sprained ankle. (Though it’s fair to note that Jarrod Saltalamacchia has filled in admirably in his stead.) Also, outfielder Cameron Maybin is nearly ready to make his season debut, opening up some options with Anthony Gose off to a slow start.

Joe Kelly To Be Placed On DL With Shoulder Impingement

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The Red Sox have placed right-hander Joe Kelly on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder impingement, manager John Farrell told reporters, including the Providence Journal’s Tim Britton (Twitter link), following tonight’s game. Kelly left the game in the first inning after facing just four batters and walking two of them. He’ll join left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez on the disabled list and further deplete the Sox’ rotation for the time being, though it’s not clear exactly how long Kelly will be sidelined. The taxing night on the relief corps, though, will likely lead to another move for the BoSox, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald tweets that Farrell said the club will discuss making an additional roster move to offer some reprieve to a beleaguered bullpen that worked 9 1/3 innings of relief in tonight’s 10-inning game.

A timetable on Kelly, or at least further details on the matter, should be available in the coming days, but Scott Lauber of ESPN Boston tweets some potential context for the ailment, noting that Kelly’s teammate, Travis Shaw, tells him that he went more than four weeks without even throwing a ball upon being diagnosed with an impingement in his own right shoulder last October. Of course, it’s entirely possible that Kelly will face a shorter layoff from throwing, but Farrell did concede that it “looks like he’s going to miss some time,” Britton tweets.

The Sox do have a number of alternatives to step into Kelly’s spot in the rotation, and it’s also worth noting that Rodriguez is nearing a minor league rehab assignment, as he’s said to be slated for a 70- to 75-pitch appearance in an extended Spring Training game on Saturday. In the interim, the Sox will have David Price, Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello and Steven Wright in their rotation, and that quartet could be joined by one of Roenis Elias, Henry Owens or Brian Johnson — each of whom is currently in the rotation at Triple-A Pawtucket and is on the 40-man roster. Owens pitched most recently (yesterday), so his current schedule would seem to align the best with the big league club’s need for a fifth starter, which will arise on Sunday in Houston.

East Notes: Kelly, Ozuna, Harper, Inciarte, Sox

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Red Sox right-hander Joe Kelly left tonight’s start in the first inning after walking two of the first four men he faced. As Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes, Kelly has been diagnosed with a right shoulder impingement, though little else beyond that point is known. Boston has already been without left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who had been expected to fill one of the spots at the back of the rotation but suffered a patellar subluxation during Spring Training. It remains to be seen if Kelly will require a DL stint, though it’s worth noting that Rodriguez is slated to throw 70 to 75 pitches in an extended Spring Training game this weekend, as Scott Lauber of ESPN Boston tweets, and he could progress to a rehab stint if all goes well in that outing.

More from Major League Baseball’s Eastern divisions…

  • Marlins center fielder Marcell Ozuna drew trade interest from the Reds, Indians, Mariners, Rangers and Orioles this offseason, reports Jim Bowden of ESPN in listing 10 players that stand out as change-of-scenery candidates. The Marlins sought big-league-ready starting pitching to insert into their rotation in any deal, though, and when no one offered up a pitcher that met their desires, the club instead turned to the free-agent market and signed left-hander Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year deal (with an opt-out clause). Bowden also notes that both manager Don Mattingly and hitting coach Barry Bonds were interested in holding onto Ozuna, believing that they could help him rebound to his 2014 levels.
  • Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post opines that the time is now for the Lerner family, who own the Nationals, to step up and make a record-setting extension offer to Bryce Harper. Boswell notes that in addition to proving himself on the field with last season’s dominant MVP campaign, Harper has proven to have matured as well, taking the initiative to bury the hatchet with Jonathan Papelbon even after Papelbon took the blame for last season’s dugout altercation with Harper. Boswell acknowledges that Harper and agent Scott Boras, of course, may not be amenable to a long-term deal. However, a “career contract” that shatters Giancarlo Stanton’s record $325MM pact with the Marlins could potentially grab his attention. The Post scribe adds that the Nats right now have about as much leverage as they’ll ever have, as Harper’s current MLB earnings are still relatively minimal, the club is contending and he’s nearly three full seasons from free agency.
  • The Braves could be without center fielder Ender Inciarte for another two weeks, writes David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Manager Fredi Gonzalez tells O’Brien that an “optimistic” timeline for Inciarte would be late April or early May, though Gonzalez says he’s not certain how much the club will push its newly acquired center fielder and lineup catalyst. Rookie Mallex Smith and veteran Drew Stubbs have been patrolling center field in Inciarte’s absence, though neither has hit much.
  • WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford spoke to Red Sox manager John Farrell about his working relationship with new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Farrell said that while he’s aware of some front offices that play a larger role in daily lineup decisions, Dombrowski isn’t involved at that level (nor did Alex Anthopoulos when Farrell managed in Toronto or Dombrowski’s predecessor, Ben Cherington, in Boston, he added). Farrell said that he doesn’t consider his relationship with Dombrowski to be drastically different than with his previous bosses, though he did note that his conversations with Dombrowski are in-person more often due to Dombrowski’s larger travel schedule.

George Kontos Headed To DL With Flexor Strain

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7:20pm: Tests have revealed that there’s no damage to Kontos’ ulnar collateral ligament, tweets Shea’s colleague, Hank Schulman. Furthermore, Kontos tells Schulman (link) that he’s hopeful of returning in just two weeks, calling his injury “mild tendinitis” as opposed to Bochy’s previousy stated flexor strain. Kontos was officially placed on the disabled list this afternoon.

8:04am: Giants righty George Kontos is destined for a trip to the DL after suffering a flexor strain in his right elbow, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He’ll join pen mate Sergio Romo in rehabbing from the same injury.

Kontos, 30, has quietly delivered excellent results in a middle relief role for San Francisco. He was leaned on heavily early in 2016, leading all MLB relievers with eight appearances. Over his 5 2/3 innings, Kontos has allowed just one earned run on five hits and two walks while striking out four opposing batters.

Skipper Bruce Bochy says that the roots of the injury trace to the spring, when Kontos experienced some elbow discomfort. He was obviously able to battle through, but now is set for at least a 15-day absence. Indications are that Kontos will not be able to throw for at least a week, but it remains unclear precisely how long he’ll be out. Generally, flexor strains require fairly lengthy absences.

Even after dipping into their pitching depth to account for Romo’s absence — Derek Law received the call-up — the Giants have a host of available arms. 40-man relievers at the Triple-A level include righty Mike Broadway and lefty Steven Okert. The club could conceivably turn to a young starter as well, with Clayton Blackburn, Ty Blach, and Chris Stratton all on optional assignment to the Giants’ top affiliate.

AL West Notes: Heaney, Santiago, Beltre, Zunino

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Angels manager Mike Scioscia tells reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link) and Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (Twitter link) that left-hander Andrew Heaney has “plateaued” in his rehab from left forearm tightness. Heaney is “still feeling something when he throws harder,” per Fletcher. Gonzalez adds that Heaney is stuck playing catch from 60 feet and unable to ramp up his workouts from that point. The 24-year-old Heaney hit the disabled list earlier this season after experiencing a drop in velocity over the course of his lone start of the season. The Halos, who are without C.J. Wilson for an indefinite time and have seen Jered Weaver’s velocity dip to the very low 80s, and a prolonged absence would only further raise questions about the starting staff. On the plus side, Nick Tropeano has stepped up with a pair of excellent starts for the Angels in Heaney’s stead.

A few more notes from the AL West…

  • Hector Santiago of the Angels is showing an early velocity bump, as MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez explains. The southpaw matched a career high of ten strikeouts in a sterling start yesterday, aided by a heater that touched 96 mph. He has posted an average fastball velocity of over 92 mph over his first three starts after hovering below 91 mph in the past two seasons. Notably, Santiago is showing significant improvement in other important areas, with a 12.0% swinging strike rate and 47.3% ground-ball rate that dwarf his career marks.
  • Fangraphs’ Craig Edwards examines the two-year, $36MM contract extension to which Adrian Beltre agreed with the Rangers, writing that Beltre’s steady excellence at the plate and in the field gives the contract significant bargain potential. Perhaps more interestingly to some, Edwards juxtaposes Beltre’s age-31 through age-36 seasons with some of the game’s all-time great players and does the same with projections for his upcoming seasons, noting that Beltre is building quite the Hall of Fame case.
  • Mariners catcher Mike Zunino is off to a blistering start at Triple-A Tacoma this season, batting .447 with six homers through his first nine games/40 plate appearances. However, manager Scott Servais tells Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune that Zunino isn’t in line for a quick promotion to the Majors as a result of his torrid opening stretch. “It needs to be a process for (Zunino),” said Servais.“And if he does take an 0-for-10, how is he responding to that? … But Mike needed to get off to a good start, which he did. Have success and (experience) confidence-building. It’s really, really good for him. And for us.” For the time being, Chris Iannetta and Steve Clevenger are the catching options for the Mariners on the 25-man roster.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/19/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Tigers announced that they have signed veteran catcher Humberto Quintero to a minor league contract and will assign him to Triple-A Toledo. The 36-year-old,  who was released by the Blue Jays earlier this week, will step into the Triple-A roster spot that was vacated when the Tigers summoned Bobby Wilson to fill in for the injured James McCann. Quintero briefly saw the Majors in 2014, but his last significant big league action came in 2013 with the Mariners and Phillies. Quintero is a veteran of 12 big league seasons and has a lifetime .234/.267/.327 batting line in 1423 trips to the plate. Quintero is repped by Octagon.

Earlier Updates

  • The White Sox have inked righty John Holdzkom to a minor league deal, as Robert Murray of Baseball Essential reported on Twitter. The towering 28-year-old, a client of the Ballengee Group, was designated for assignment and subsequently released by the Pirates earlier this season. Holdzkom came out of nowhere in 2014 with Pittsburgh, dominating at Triple-A and then allowing just two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out 14 opposing batters in nine MLB innings. But he struggled with his control at the highest level of the minors last year while battling through injuries and a loss of velocity. Chicago will hope that Holdzkom can get back on track and re-discover the mid-90s heater that made him such an intriguing independent ball find for the Bucs.

Hector Olivera’s Administrative Leave Extended By Two Weeks

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Major League Baseball has extended the paid administrative leave period of Braves outfielder Hector Olivera by two weeks to allow further investigation of his arrest for alleged domestic violence, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). Olivera is facing charges in Virginia for misdemeanor assault and battery.

Olivera had been placed on the preliminary one-week leave period contemplated under the domestic violence policy by commissioner Rob Manfred, which was due to expire tomorrow. Rosenthal says that the policy contemplates extension of that time, with the union agreeing to the two week period in this case.

Manfred has issued decisions on two matters that arose under the domestic violence policy since its inception, handing Aroldis Chapman a 30-game suspension and finding no cause for discipline relating to Yasiel Puig. But he has yet to act on the recently-arising Olivera matter or the late 2015 arrest of Jose Reyes. The Rockies infielder has been on paid administrative leave since the start of spring camp, and his status remains in limbo — despite the fact that charges against him were dropped at the end of March because the alleged victim (his wife) declined to cooperate.

It bears stressing that neither conviction nor criminal charges are necessary for a violation of the policy to be found to have occurred; indeed, neither took place in Chapman’s case. The commissioner is vested with broad powers to investigate and punish offenders.

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