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Archives for March 2018

Phillies Release Cameron Rupp

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The Phillies have released catcher Cameron Rupp, per a team announcement. They’ll save around $1.5MM in cutting Rupp, Matt Gelb of The Athletic notes. Rupp would have earned $2.05MM had he made the team.

Philadelphia has elected to open the season with Andrew Knapp as the backup to starting catcher Jorge Alfaro, which helped lead the club to designate Rupp for assignment on Sunday. The Phillies apparently couldn’t find a taker for Rupp via trade, but he could encounter interest on the open market at a minimum salary. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that Rupp had piqued the Rangers’ interest, and he suggested on Monday that they could pursue him on the open market. It’s worth noting, then, that Rupp is a Dallas native.

Rupp’s next team will be getting a 29-year-old who has taken 1,127 trips to the plate in the majors and slashed .234/.298/.407 (86 wRC+). Defensively, Rupp has struggled in the pitch-framing department, especially in 2017, but he has thrown out a solid 31 percent of would-be base stealers since debuting in the league in 2013.

Steven Wright Receives 15-Game Suspension

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MARCH 26: Wright is headed to the 10-day disabled list after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his surgically repaired left knee, Drellich tweets. As mentioned below, he won’t be able to serve his suspension until he comes off the DL.

MARCH 23: Red Sox righty Steven Wright has been suspended for 15 games under the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, as Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston first reported. It is believed that Wright will decline to appeal the suspension, Drellich adds.

The suspension relates to a mid-December incident in Tennessee in which Wright was arrested and charged with domestic assault and prevention of a 911 call. So far as is known publicly, Wright has not been accused of any physical harm to his wife or any other household members; rather, in a statement at the time, the family called it a “verbal argument” in a “situation” that “was purely emotional.”

Not long after, the case against Wright was “retired,” meaning the criminal case is on track to be dismissed so long as Wright does not commit any infractions in the next year. He has told reporters that he and his wife are participating in joint counseling.

Of course, those facts do not necessarily mean that Wright did not commit an act that is subject to discipline under the policy. Clearly, commissioner Rob Manfred found that he did, as he is entitled to do without respect to whether charges are ever filed or pursued in court.

Here’s the full definition from the policy itself:

“Domestic violence includes, but is not limited to, physical or sexual violence, emotional and/or psychological intimidation, verbal violence, stalking, economic control, harassment, physical intimidation, or injury. Notwithstanding this definition, a single incident of abusive behavior in any intimate relationship, or a single incident of abusive behavior involving a female member of a Player’s family who is domiciled with him, may subject a Player to discipline under this Policy.”

Manfred is vested with broad authority to issue punishments upon finding a violation. As Drellich notes, this 15-game term coincides with the shortest prior suspension issued to this point, that of Mets reliever Jeurys Familia. Wright, who may open the year on the DL owing to a knee injury, will serve the suspension once he is at full health.

Phillies Sign Alexi Amarista

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The Phillies have announced the signing of infielder/outfielder Alexi Amarista to a minor league contract. He’ll head to minor league camp with his new club.

The addition of Amarista should help make up for the loss of fellow utilityman Ryan Flaherty, who opted out of his minors pact with the Phillies last week and then signed a major league deal with division-rival Atlanta. Amarista, meanwhile, exited the Tigers last week after a failed bid to earn a big league spot with them.

A veteran of the Angels, Padres and Rockies, Amarista has never posed a threat offensively since debuting in 2011. That was again the case last year as a member of the Rockies, with whom Amarista hit .238/.269/.351 (45 wRC+) in 176 trips to the plate. He did line up at every outfield spot and three more in the infield (second, short and third), however.

Despite his defensive versatility, the 28-year-old Amarista seems like a long shot to make an impact in Philly. The team just added highly touted prospect Scott Kingery to its roster Sunday, and he’s likely to move all around the diamond. Kingery’s part of an impressive array of starting-caliber position players in Philly, which also has Pedro Florimon and Roman Quinn as infield/outfield types on its 40-man roster.

Rays To Release Dan Jennings

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The Rays will release left-handed reliever Dan Jennings, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. In doing so, they’ll pay one-fourth of Jennings’ $2.375MM salary (~$584K), a non-guaranteed arbitration award.

The Rays finished slightly below .500 last year (80-82), but they were in the playoff hunt in July, which led them to trade first base prospect Casey Gillaspie to the White Sox for Jennings. Despite both that decision and Jennings’ productive career to this point, he wasn’t able to earn a spot in Tampa Bay this season. The Jennings-less Rays will go forward with Jose Alvarado and Ryan Yarbrough as the only lefty relievers on their 40-man roster.

Jennings, who will turn 31 next month, debuted with Miami in 2012 and has since thrown a combined 279 2/3 innings of 2.90 ERA ball with the Marlins, White Sox and Rays. While Jennings’ strikeout and walk rates haven’t been pretty (7.31 K/9, 4.09 BB/9), he has managed to induce ground balls at a 55.2 percent clip. And since 2015, Jennings has been among the game’s most effective relievers at generating infield pop-ups, having done so at a 15.8 percent rate – good for 15th in the league. Adding to his appeal, Jennings has been roughly as effective against both right- and left-handed hitters. He has a small reverse platoon split, in fact, as lefties have posted a .690 OPS against him and righties have logged a .687 mark.

Padres Outright Carter Capps

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Padres reliever Carter Capps has been outrighted to Triple-A El Paso after clearing waivers, according to a team announcement. The move frees up a spot on the Padres’ 40-man roster.

Earlier in his career, the right-handed Capps looked like one of the game’s next great relievers. He was electrifying across 31 innings with the Marlins in 2015, when he recorded a 1.16 ERA/1.10 FIP with a ridiculous 16.84 K/9 against 2.03 BB/9. Capps then had to undergo Tommy John surgery prior to the 2016 campaign, keeping him out that entire year, and his career hasn’t gotten back on track since.

In July 2016, when he was recovering from surgery, the Marlins traded Capps to the Padres in a seven-player deal that also involved the likes of Andrew Cashner and now-Red Luis Castillo. Capps returned to the mound with the Padres last season, but the near-invincibility he showed in 2015 wasn’t on display. Thanks in part to a significant drop in velocity, Capps yielded nine earned runs on 12 hits and two walks, with just seven strikeouts, in 12 1/3 innings. He then underwent another serious procedure, thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, in late September.

Capps returned to action this spring and struggled again, allowing four earned runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. While Capps didn’t walk anyone, he only fanned four. Now, given that there aren’t any MLB teams that believe this version of Capps is worthy of a 40-man spot, he’ll have to rebuild his stock in the minors.

Mariners Re-Sign Hisashi Iwakuma To New Minor League Deal

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The Mariners released right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma from the minor league contract he signed over the winter and immediately re-signed him to a new one, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The club made the move to avoid paying Iwakuma, an Article XX(B) free agent, a $100K retention bonus. As was the case with his previous pact, Iwakuma’s new deal comes with a $2.5MM salary if he makes the majors and a chance at $6MM in incentives.

The 36-year-old Iwakuma has spent his entire major league career with the Mariners since leaving his native Japan prior to the 2012 season. Iwakuma has enjoyed a terrific career in Seattle, where he has pitched to a 3.42 ERA/3.87 FIP across 883 2/3 innings, but whether he’ll continue to be effective is in question. Right shoulder problems limited Iwakuma to six starts in 2017, when he posted a 4.35 ERA/6.42 FIP in 31 innings, leading the Mariners to decline his $10MM club option in favor of a $1MM buyout early in the offseason.

Iwakuma’s still on the mend from the arthroscopic shoulder surgery he underwent in September, so there’s no chance he’ll make it back to a big league mound during the first month of the season. When the Mariners re-signed Iwakuma in late November, the hope was that he’d be healthy enough to return to the majors by May or June. He’s seemingly on track to do that, as TJ Cotterill of the Tacoma News Tribune wrote over the weekend.

“This guy is far from done,” pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told Cotterill.

If Iwakuma ultimately does rejoin the Mariners and perform well, it would be a significant gain for a team with some question marks in its rotation. Ace James Paxton, former ace Felix Hernandez and the steady Mike Leake represent a capable trio (though durability issues have beset Paxton and Hernandez in recent years), but the M’s don’t have any other proven MLB starters on their 40-man roster.

Latest On Jose Bautista

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MARCH 26,11:17am: The Rays are “unlikely” to sign Bautista, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

10:28am: The Braves are no longer in the mix for Bautista, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman, who adds that it’s unclear if the Rays are still interested in him.

MARCH 25: Jose Bautista continues to discuss one-year contracts with multiple teams, ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera reports (Twitter link), with the Braves and Rays among the teams in talks with the veteran outfielder.  When last we checked in on Bautista’s market, he said he was considering several Major League offers, focusing on finding a good fit for his family and playing for a winning team as his primary criteria.

Neither the Rays or Braves seem like obvious contenders in 2018, with Atlanta still in (perhaps the final stages of) a rebuild and Tampa Bay shuffling the roster this winter to save money while still hoping to remain competitive in the AL East.  Both teams could be better fits from a personal standpoint, however.  Bautista lives in the Tampa area, and he has expressed interest in joining the club both this offseason and last winter during his previous trip through the free agent market.  Playing in Atlanta would also keep Bautista relatively close to home, plus he and Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos have a longstanding connection from their time together with the Blue Jays.

Bautista would fit the Rays’ desire to add a right-handed hitting outfielder, though Bautista’s right field defense has been below-average for the last three seasons.  He could also provide a platoon partner for Brad Miller at DH or first base, and perhaps even take the odd appearance at third base in a pinch.

There isn’t such an obvious path to playing time for Bautista on the Braves’ roster, and it could be that the team’s signing of Peter Bourjos to an MLB contract earlier today could have closed the door on Bautista’s chances with Atlanta.  Bourjos and Bautista offer almost entirely different skillsets, of course, though the Braves now have Bourjos, Lane Adams, and Preston Tucker in the left field mix alongside regular center fielder Ender Inciarte and right fielder Nick Markakis.  Elite prospect Ronald Acuna is also expected to be promoted possibly as early as mid-April (i.e. when the Braves can be sure of gaining an extra year of control on his services), leaving even less room in the outfield.  Freddie Freeman obviously has first base spoken for, plus the Braves don’t have a DH spot to offer.

It remains to be seen if Bautista has anything to offer in even a semi-regular role, given his sub-replacement level numbers in 2017.  Bautista hit just .203/.308/.366 over 686 plate appearances for the Blue Jays, and between that ugly performance and his already-declining numbers in 2016, it would be rather surprising to see Bautista rebound to anything close to his old form as he enters his age-37 season.  That said, given Bautista’s excellent track record prior to 2016, one can also understand why teams would consider taking an inexpensive, one-year flier to see if he has something left in the tank.

Pirates Place Jordan Milbrath, Jack Leathersich On Waivers

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The Pirates have placed right-hander Jordan Milbrath and lefty Jack Leathersich on waivers, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

As a Rule 5 draft pick, the Pirates will have to offer Milbrath back to his previous organization, the Indians, if no one claims him on waivers. If a team does claim the 26-year-old Milbrath, it must commit to carrying him on its 25-man roster. Otherwise, he’d head back to the waiver wire and would have to be offered to Cleveland upon clearing.

The side-arming Milbrath struggled in camp during his spring training stint as a member of the Pirates, with whom he allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits and eight walks (with eight strikeouts) in 8 1/3 innings. He fared much better than that last year, which he divided between the Indians’ High-A and Triple-A affiliates, with a 3.02 ERA and 10.0 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 in 56 2/3 innings.

Leatherich, 27, joined the Pirates last September after they claimed him from the division-rival Cubs. He then got into six of the Pirates’ games, working 4 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts against two walks. Overall, Leathersich has tossed 16 2/3 frames of five-run ball in the bigs since debuting with the Mets in 2015. However, he hasn’t been nearly that effective over a much larger sample of work at the Triple-A level, where he has offset a sky-high strikeout rate (14.5 per nine) with an ugly walk rate (6.9) en route to a 4.68 ERA in 100 innings.

AL Notes: Betts, Astros, Tigers, Angels

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The Red Sox made an attempt to extend franchise cornerstone Mookie Betts during the offseason, but the right fielder isn’t interested in signing a long-term deal at this point, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports. Betts revealed to Bradford that he discussed the extension process with teammates who have signed them, saying: “I talked to some people about it, how the process went. But I didn’t really ask details about what they got or what was offered. It was more just about how the process went. It can be a tough process. You’re dealing with a lot of money.” Betts will make a lot of money in 2018 even without a new deal – $10.5MM after a resounding victory over Boston in arbitration – and will be under team control through at least 2020. The 25-year-old’s current salary is the second-highest award ever given to a first-time arb-eligible player, and Betts should rack up a couple more significant paydays via that route if he continues without an extension.

More from the AL…

  • Astros right-handers Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock have come up as speculative trade pieces, and Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets that the team would be more open to moving the former than the latter. There’s nothing eye-opening about that, though, as McHugh is now working in a foreign role as a reliever after losing his rotation spot during the offseason. He’s also in a contract year, whereas Peacock – who was an elite swingman last season – is under Houston’s control through 2020.
  • Tigers outfielder Victor Reyes, the first pick in last December’s Rule 5 draft, is likely to earn a spot on the club’s bench, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com relays. While Reyes has only hit .250/.291/.288 over 52 at-bats this spring, the 23-year-old has done enough to convince Tigers brass that he could be a long-term cog. “We’re very encouraged with Reyes,” general manager Al Avila said. “He’s not given us any reason to think that he can’t handle it. We’re pretty excited about him, actually.” 
  • The Angels plan to enter the season without naming a closer, manager Mike Scioscia suggested to Doug Padilla of MLB.com. “We have a number of guys we think are going to be able to pitch in the ninth inning if we have a lead,” Scioscia said. “But let’s wait and see how the game plays out.” The only highly experienced closer on the Angels’ roster is offseason acquisition Jim Johnson, who has 176 saves on his resume, but he has been inconsistent in recent years and struggled mightily in Atlanta last season. Blake Parker, who had a tremendous 2017, and Cam Bedrosian are other candidates to grab the role if the Angels do eventually decide to establish a consistent game-ending option.

Giants Hire Dusty Baker As Special Advisor

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The Giants are expected to bring back former manager Dusty Baker as a special advisor to CEO Larry Baer, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Baker will report to executive vice president Brian Sabean in his new role, which the Giants are likely to announce Monday.

The 68-year-old Baker will return to work in his home state of California, where he played with the Dodgers, Giants and Athletics from 1976-86. He has since enjoyed an accomplished career as a manager, and a large portion of his success as a skipper came during his San Francisco tenure.

Baker was atop the Giants’ dugout from 1993-2002, a decadelong span in which the Barry Bonds-led club went 840-715 during the regular season, posted six plus-.500 campaigns and made three trips to the playoffs (Bonds is also a special advisor to Baer nowadays). During Baker’s last season at the helm, the Giants took home the National League pennant before falling to the Angels in a seven-game World Series.

Shortly after the Giants came up short in the Fall Classic, Baker departed to manage the Cubs, with whom he served from 2003-06 (including for the infamous Steve Bartman incident against the Marlins during the ’03 NLCS). He then went on to hold the same position with the Reds (2008-13) and Nationals (2016-17).

While a championship has eluded Baker during his 22-year career as a manager, which is potentially over, his teams have combined for an impressive 1,863-1,363 regular-season record and nine playoff berths. Only 13 other managers are ahead of Baker on the all-time wins list, and 12 are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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