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West Notes: CarGo, Fowler, Pence

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A combination of poor offensive output and surging young Rockies outfielders staking claims to playing time has led to an unusual “platoon” situation for Carlos Gonzalez, as Kyle Newman of the Denver Post writes. CarGo is hitting just .236/.278/.427 on the season with three homers, while David Dahl and Noel Cuevas both boast wRC+ figures above 100 (though each has a BABIP above .420). Gerrardo Parra has also seen a reduction in playing time thanks to the young duo’s hot streaks. Newman notes that manager Bud Black is making his lineup card each day with many factors each day, including rest, pitching matchups and the hot hand. Gonzalez signed a one-year, $8MM deal with the Rockies this past season after struggling for much of 2017.

A pair of other items out of the West…

  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the Athletics could start running more often following the promotion of speedy outfielder Dustin Fowler to the big league club. Enter Thursday’s game, Slusser notes that the A’s were just 7-for-14 in steal attempts on the season; those steals and steals attempts totals both rank second to last in the majors. In the meantime, Fowler was 8-for-10 during his time in Triple-A this year. Manager Bob Melvin describes Fowler as a “true base stealer”. Said Fowler on the subject:  “That’s something I’ve worked on my whole career, so I’d like to step it up and see how I can do at the big-league level as much as I can.” 
  • Giants outfielder Hunter Pence has reportedly resumed his rehab assignment (h/t Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports). Pence, who has been on the DL since April 20th after suffering a thumb injury, was originally expected to miss no more than the ten-day minimum. However, Pence began feeling some recurring thumb soreness during his initial rehab assignment, necessitating a retreat from playing in games for a bit. That was only five days ago, so it appears the setback wasn’t viewed as particularly serious. With Mac Williamson still being held out of games following concussion symptoms, the Giants will hope they can get Pence back into their depleted outfield mix sooner than later.

Central Notes: Reyes, R. Rodriguez, Taillon, Senzel

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The presence of Rule 5 Draft pick Victor Reyes is somewhat of a strain on the Tigers’ roster. Evan Woodberry of mlive.com takes an extensive look at the topic, and notes that the speedy outfielder’s most definable job so far this season has been as a pinch runner for the aging Victor Martinez. While injuries mount for Detroit, other players have been forced to shoulder a heavier workload, including Mikie Mahtook, who had to start Wednesday’s game against the Rangers despite being jet-lagged and sleep-deprived. While Reyes certainly has a bright future, Woodberry points out that he’s clearly overmatched by big-league pitching in the present; he’s only managed to collect three soft singles so far this season and has an average exit velocity below 80 MPH. In accordance with the Rule 5 boundaries, Reyes must remain on the Tigers’ 25-man roster for the entirety of the season or be returned to his former club (the Diamondbacks). Few around baseball have any doubt that his future is bright, but rostering him for the entire season could prove a significant burden for a club that’s already going to have a hard time winning baseball games.

Onto some items from the NL Central…

  • Travis Sawchik of Fangraphs writes that the Pirates found a winning lottery ticket in the form of recent minor-league free agent Richard Rodriguez. The 28-year-old right-hander has been just about as dominant as a pitcher can be, evidenced by his 15.53 K/9 and microscopic 0.16 FIP on the young season. He’s already been worth half a win above replacement, as Sawchik points out, which is remarkable considering we’re not even halfway through May. Sawchik has plenty of other interesting facts throughout a deep look into RichRod’s dominance, including the whiff rate on his fastball, his first-pitch strike percentage and the way he’s attacking hitters.
  • In other Pirates news, right-hander Jameson Taillon exited last night’s start with a finger laceration. According to Adam Berry of MLB.com, Taillon is frustrated at the freak accident and hopes it won’t cost him a start. “It just got worse and worse. It’s tough in the short term to come out of a game, but hopefully by coming out when I did, we’ve kind of mitigated it,” Taillon said. “Hopefully I won’t miss starts down the road.” The budding Pirates ace has had something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde season so far, allowing 15 earned runs in his three losses but permitting just three across his other five starts.
  • Nick Senzel’s vertigo is back, and the Reds prospect has landed on the 7-day DL as a result. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com notes that Senzel hasn’t played since being removed from a May 3rd game after just one plate appearance. Vertigo is a condition that brings on dizziness spells and causes the victim to lose balance. Reds president Dick Williams told reporters recently that the club is “being very cautious” with their top-ranked prospect, and at the moment there isn’t a clear timetable for when he’ll be able to resume playing. The club has been playing Senzel at both second and third base this season in hopes of increasing his versatility and finding him a spot at the big league level.

MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Harvey, Buxton, Martinez, Odor, Stroman

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(May 10th-May 11th)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

East Notes: Hess, Stroman, Mets, Pedroia, Mujica

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After placing Chris Tillman on the DL earlier today, the Orioles have announced that they’ll promote David Hess to take the open spot in the rotation, as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun was among those to report on Twitter. The 24-year-old righty entered the year as a notable, if not particularly heralded prospect. He has impressed thus far in 2018 after being added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft last fall. Through 29 2/3 innings over six starts, Hess owns a 2.12 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. It remains to be seen how long a run he’ll get in the majors, but it seems there’ll be opportunity available if he throws well.

Here are some more notes from the eastern divisions, focusing on some health situations of note:

  • Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman discussed his DL placement with the media today, with MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm providing the story. Stroman acknowledged that the placement was made with consideration not just of his physical wellness, but his mental state. “Just a collective decision between me and the staff, to take a step back, do what I need to do for my shoulder, get my emotions and everything in sync, to get back to myself,” Stroman said. It seems he’ll mostly be looking to get a relatively brief respite before rejoining the staff.
  • The Mets provided a variety of health updates today to reporters, including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Infielder T.J. Rivera is not yet ready for rehab assignments but could make it back from Tommy John surgery by July. Backstop Kevin Plawecki is closer, as he’s preparing to begin rehabbing in earnest in hopes of returning from a fractured hand by the end of the month. As Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets, though, reliever Anthony Swarzak is still a little ways off. His injured oblique is still not healed enough to allow him to take the mound. Meanwhile, the club has placed reliever Hansel Robles on the 10-day DL with a sprained knee, with lefty Buddy Baumann taking his place on the active roster.
  • Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is hoping to begin a rehab assignment early next week, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. He has been building back to full strength following offseason knee surgery. While the Sox have managed just fine without the veteran star, a return from Pedroia will certainly be most welcome, as fill-in Eduardo Nunez has struggled thus far at the plate.
  • Rays righty Jose Mujica has been cleared of any significant arm issues, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The minor-league hurler will need about a month of rest after being diagnosed with a forearm strain. So long as he can get back to health, though, he could represent a much-needed option later in the year.

Twins Prospect Wander Javier Out For Season

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Twins shortstop prospect Wander Javier will undergo shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the 2018 season, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. The 19-year-old had received a top-100 nod from Baseball America entering the year.

Javier is scheduled for a procedure to repair a tear to his left labrum, per the report. With six-to-nine month anticipated rehab timeline, it seems reasonable to anticipate that he could be ready to participate in Spring Training next year.

Obviously, it’s disappointing news for the Minnesota organization, though the news does not figure to impact the team’s near-term plans. Javier, a big-bonus international signee back in 2015, has yet to play above the Rookie ball level.

The major impact, then, is on Javier’s development timeline. He impressed in 180 Appalachian League plate appearances last year, slashing .299/.383/.471 with four home runs and four steals. While there are some things to iron out — 49 strikeouts last year, for example — the future is bright for the young Dominican. He had yet to play this year while trying to work through the shoulder issue without going under the knife.

Ultimately, the Twins will still remain plenty confident in the middle-infield depth in their system. Top prospect Royce Lewis and the more advanced Nick Gordon are plenty exciting in their own right, and Javier has plenty of time still to tap into his lofty upside.

Mike Napoli Undergoes ACL Surgery, Continues To Weigh Future

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Slugger Mike Napoli has undergone a procedure to repair his anterior cruciate ligament, per Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). That has been anticipated since he was diagnosed with a torn ACL and meniscus last month.

The injury occurred while Napoli was playing for the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate, which he joined after failing to find an MLB opportunity all spring. Napoli’s anticipated recovery time has been pegged at ten to fourteen months, which is not an insubstantial span for a 36-year-old player.

All things considered, it wouldn’t be surprising if Napoli decided that this was an opportune moment to hang up his spikes. But he’s not ready to declare his intentions just yet, per Cafardo, who reports that Napoli hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll attempt a comeback next season.

It’s certainly understandable that the dozen-year MLB veteran prefers to take his time making a decision. After all, he has driven 63 balls out of the yard over the past two seasons and still rates as a quality defender at first.

To be sure, that output has come with loads of strikeouts and, in 2017, an unsatisfactory .285 on-base percentage. And it’s only fair to note Napoli had managed only one hit (albeit with seven walks) in his 31 Triple-A plate appearances to open the present season, though of course that’s not much of a sample.

Still, it wouldn’t have been at all surprising had he ended up turning in some useful plate appearances in the majors had it not been for the injury. And it’s still plausible, perhaps, that he could do so in the future, should he decide to make another go of it.

Nationals Place Matt Wieters On DL, Select Contract Of Spencer Kieboom

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As expected, the Nationals have placed catcher Matt Wieters on the 10-day DL with a hamstring strain. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by backstop Spencer Kieboom, as the Talk Nats blog first reported on Twitter.

While Kieboom was previously on the Nats’ 40-man, he was bumped off the roster last spring. The Nats have selected his contract again to facilitate his move back to the active roster.

Clearing a 40-man spot wasn’t a challenge with so many injured players susceptible of moving to the 60-day DL. The Nationals made that move with outfielder Adam Eaton, who recently underwent ankle surgery and is expected to be out of commission for quite some time. Since he has been out since early April anyway, his timeline will not be impacted. (D.C. fans looking for a silver lining will note that this decision leaves Daniel Murphy eligible to return before the end of May, though it’s still not clear he’ll be ready by that point.)

At this point, it’s still unclear just what sort of absence the Nats ought to expect from Wieters. The injury has been announced as being to his hamstring, but there was some concern his knee may have incurred damage. It is not known at this point whether the joint is still an area of concern.

The 27-year-old Kieboom, who’s the older brother of Nats prospect Carter Kieboom, drew a walk in his lone prior MLB plate appearance. He has not hit all that much in the upper minors — his .250/.337/.333 slash thus far in 2018 is representative — but does possess solid plate discipline and contact skills (lifetime 8.4% walk rate and 19.2% strikeout rate). Kieboom has long been regarded as a quality defender, too, so he’s a suitable option at least for fill-in duty.

Whether or not Wieters is shelved for a significant time, the Nationals’ questions behind the dish are only getting more pressing. The club is now facing some firm challenges from within the NL East while dealing with the absences of Murphy and Eaton. Though both Wieters and now-starter Pedro Severino have produced at approximately league average offensively to this point of the season, there’s reason in both cases to suspect the output will lag over the course of the season. While the team will surely also be looking for pitching depth at the deadline, the situation behind the plate stands out as being the other area of the roster ripest for upgrade. That’s all the more true since Wieters is set to depart after the current season, meaning the Nats still need to find a near and long-term solution.

Orioles Place Chris Tillman On 10-Day DL

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The Orioles have announced that starter Chris Tillman is going on the 10-day DL with what the club is calling a lower back strain. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis.

There had been no prior indication that Tillman was dealing with a back issue, though certainly something hasn’t been right for the 30-year-old righty. He has been one of the least-effective pitchers in all of baseball, stumbling through 26 2/3 innings of 10.46 ERA pitching in his seven starts on the year.

Baltimore had promised Tillman $3MM to rejoin the organization after a disastrous 2017 season. The deal included loads of incentives, though they don’t begin to kick in until he reaches 125 innings. Tillman’s performance had already begun to make that number seem steep. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out, but any kind of extended absence would make it all but impossible for Tillman to boost his earnings for the year.

Of course, those financial considerations aren’t really on anyone’s minds at present. The real question is whether the O’s can somehow find a way to get Tillman back to being a serviceable pitcher. If he is on the shelf long enough, he may end up getting some time in the minors on a rehab assignment to try and sort things out.

Answers won’t come easy. His average fastball velocity has continued to fall and now sits below 90 mph. Never much of a strikeout pitcher, Tillman is now only generating a career-low 5.2% swinging-strike rate, with a brutal combination of 4.4 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9. Opponents are swatting more than two homers per nine. Statcast calculations suggest Tillman has deserved to be knocked around, as he’s credited with a .458 xwOBA that’s nearly identical to the .455 wOBA rate at which opposing hitters are producing against him.

As for Yacabonis, he has been starting at Triple-A, so could offer the O’s some length from the pen or a fill-in rotation option. Interestingly, though his, six outings for Norfolk are the first six starts he has ever made as a professional, so odds are he’ll work from the pen. The 26-year-old, who spent some time in the majors last year and has one appearance this season as well, has coughed up 11 earned runs in twenty innings in the highest level of the minors thus far in 2018, with an unfavorable mix of both a dozen walks and strikeouts.

Rangers Activate Rougned Odor, Designate Renato Nunez

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The Rangers have activated second baseman Rougned Odor from the 10-day DL, the club announced. To create an opening, the club has designated infielder/outfielder Renato Nunez for assignment.

Odor has missed much of the still-young season with a hamstring injury. The 24-year-old is still looking to get back on track after a miserable 2017 campaign. It’s promising, at least, that he showed much-improved plate discipline (seven strikeouts and four walks) in his 41 plate appearances, though he wasn’t delivering much of his trademark power.

Clearly, it’s too soon to read much into that brief showing. Odor’s struggles in the on-base department are not new. Even when he swatted 33 home runs with an above-average overall batting output in 2016, he sported a sub-.300 OBP. But he reached base at a piddling .252 rate last year, which left him as one of the league’s least-useful regular hitters despite the fact that he put the ball over the fence thirty times.

Texas has plenty riding on the outcome. He’s owed $43.5MM from 2019 through 2022 (including the buyout on a 2023 option) under the extension he signed before the 2017 seas. Odor only recently turned 24 and the club is not contending at the moment, so there’s ample reason to exercise patience and allow him to continue getting reps.

As for Nunez, also 24, he was claimed last month off waivers from the Athletics. He has received brief MLB time in each of the past three seasons. In total, Nunez carries only a .167/.222/.273 slash in 72 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, though he was productive (.249/.319/.518 with 32 home runs) last year at Triple-A.

Twins Release Mason Melotakis

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The Twins have released 2012 second-round pick Mason Melotakis. The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, the affiliate with which Melotakis had been pitching, made the announcement (h/t LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune, on Twitter).

Soon to turn 27 years of age, Melotakis first reached the upper minors back in 2014. He missed all of 2015 with Tommy John surgery but was added to the 40-man roster thereafter and returned to post strong results. The southpaw followed up on a strong effort at Double-A in 2016 with 11 innings in the Arizona Fall League, over which he allowed just two earned runs while compiling 11 strikeouts against a single walk.

Melotakis was seemingly off to a solid start to the 2017 season, posting a 2.28 ERA while generating plenty of grounders to go with 10.4 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, when he was designated and eventually outrighted. He ended that year with a 3.22 ERA and has carried a 3.07 ERA with 14 strikeouts against five walks in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2018.

Evidently, despite the useful numbers, Melotakis has not convinced the current Twins front office that he’s capable of holding down a MLB bullpen spot. Otherwise, he’d surely have been kept, as he wasn’t occupying a 40-man spot and the team hasn’t exactly received top-line results thus far from southpaw relievers Zach Duke and Taylor Rogers. Melotakis was long credited with a big fastball from the left side, but perhaps his arsenal has not been as impressive of late to the Minnesota brass. Other organizations will now have their own shot at adding him.

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