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Archives for June 2018

Cubs Notes: Smyly, Bullpen, Deadline

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Left-hander Drew Smyly threw a 25-pitch live batting practice session over the weekend and feels that he’s getting close to the end of his rehab from Tommy John surgery, writes Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription link). General manager Jed Hoyer and president of baseball ops Theo Epstein watched the session, and Hoyer tells Mooney that Smyly looked “free and easy” in his first throwing session against live hitters. “He is going to be in the back of our mind as we think through the rest of our season and how we approach both deadlines in July and August,” says Hoyer of Smyly, who is coming up on the one-year anniversary of his TJ surgery later this month. Mooney speaks with both Hoyer and manager Joe Maddon about the struggles of Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood thus far. Both expressed optimism that the righties can turn things around, though Hoyer acknowledged the importance of eventually getting into “sustained turn-after-turn consistency” in the starting rotation in order to best position the team to win the division and embark on a deep playoff run.

Here’s more out of the North Side of Chicago…

  • Offseason pickups Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek have been outstanding for the Cubs, writes Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score, but the team will need to eventually receive more innings out of its rotation if it is to sustain its current pace. Cishek is on pace for 80 appearances, while the trio of Brian Duensing, Pedro Strop and Justin Wilson are all on pace for 72 to 75 games pitched. Levine speculates that both Kelvin Herrera and Brad Hand will be deadline targets for the Cubs, writing that Chicago tried to pry Hand away from the Padres last summer but balked when San Diego asked for Javier Baez in return. Levine chatted with an NL East scout to get an opinion on both Herrera and Hand, each of whom is off to a brilliant start in 2018.
  • Epstein spoke with Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times about his team’s approach to the 2018 trade deadline, noting that it’s still too early to assess just what type of players the Cubs will pursue. Epstein noted that in some seasons, it’s clear what areas of need a team will need to address for months in advance, but he doesn’t feel that to be the case with his 2018 club. “[A]s talented and as deep as we are in most areas, it’s more about observation and maintenance and trying to stay ahead of the depth areas,” said the Cubs president. Epstein noted that maintaining starting pitching depth is especially important but characterized that as more of a “contingency” than a need, adding that the team isn’t looking to supplant any of its starters. Wittenmyer writes that the Cubs plan to check in with the Orioles on Manny Machado once he’s more aggressively being shopped. However, the left side of the infield isn’t a need for the Cubs like it is for other teams, and Wittenmyer feels it’s “doubtful” that Chicago will be among the most aggressive suitors.

Injury Notes: Buehler, Maeda, Cashner, Cabrera, Archer, Cahill

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve placed right-hander Walker Buehler on the 10-day disabled list with a microfracture in his right rib and recalled left-hander Caleb Ferguson from Triple-A. Pedro Moura of The Athletic tweets that Buehler made three starts with the fracture before being forced to the DL and is playing catch today. Moura adds that the Dodgers are hopeful that it’ll be a matter of a couple weeks as opposed to an extended absence.

There’s good news for the Dodgers, however, as Buehler’s spot will be filled by an established face. Manager Dave Roberts revealed to reporters Tuesday night that Kenta Maeda will be activated from the DL to start on Wednesday (Twitter link via the OC Register’s Bill Plunkett). While he’ll be limited in terms of pitch count and innings, the return of Maeda serves as a welcome breath of fresh air for a Dodgers pitching staff that has been utterly hammered by injuries of late. Even with Maeda’s return, Buehler will join Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Julio Urias and Dennis Santana on the DL.

More injury news from around the game…

  • Orioles righty Andrew Cashner landed on the 10-day disabled list due to a lower back strain, per a club announcement. Left-hander Donnie Hart is up from Triple-A Norfolk to take his roster spot for now. Cashner, 31, signed a two-year deal worth $16MM this offseason but has struggled through his first 13 starts in Baltimore. The well-traveled righty has a 4.98 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 and a 38.9 percent ground-ball rate in 72 1/3 innings. While Cashner’s strikeout rate is up noticeably from 2017, he’s also seen his walk rate rise substantially and has also been plagued by a 1.62 HR/9 mark. Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman, Alex Cobb and David Hess remain active in the Baltimore rotation, and there’s been no announcement as to who’ll start tomorrow in Cashner’s place.
  • The Tigers announced that Miguel Cabrera left tonight’s game against the Twins with a biceps tendon strain. He’s undergoing an MRI to evaluate the extent of the damage, per the announcement. The 35-year-old Cabrera has had a bounceback season at the plate in terms of his average and on-base percentage, but he’s hit just three homers in 155 plate appearances and hasn’t shown much power. Cabrera is hitting .301/.394/.451 on the season overall and has already missed nearly a month of the season due to a strained hamstring.
  • Chris Archer has had a minor setback in his rehab from an abdominal strain, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Rays manager Kevin Cash stated Tuesday that Archer woke up feeling “not that great” and added that the team is taking a more “conservative” approach in light of the news. Archer clarified to Topkin (Twitter links) that he hasn’t had a major setback but some post-bullpen soreness that could slow him for a few days. Topkin notes that that could be enough to push Archer into a minor league rehab assignment, which would delay his return to the Tampa Bay staff. After a terrible start to the season, Archer has turned in a 2.47 ERA with a 40-to-15 K/BB ratio in 43 2/3 innings across his past seven appearances.
  • Athletics righty Trevor Cahill hasn’t seen any improvement in his ailing Achilles tendon and is likely headed to the disabled list, manager Bob Melvin told reporters Tuesday afternoon (Twitter links via Jane Lee of MLB.com). If that likely outcome does come to pass, then right-hander Chris Bassitt will “certainly be the first option” to step into Cahill’s spot in the rotation, the skipper adds. Cahill, who signed a one-year deal worth $1.75MM late in Spring Training after Jharel Cotton went down with Tommy John surgery, has been excellent when healthy enough to take the hill for the A’s. In 48 2/3 innings, he’s notched a 2.77 ERA with 47 punchouts against 11 walks.

Angels Promote David Fletcher

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The Angels have called up infield prospect David Fletcher, officially selecting his contract from Triple-A Salt Lake, the team announced. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the Angels moved Blake Wood from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Jefry Marte has been placed on the 10-day DL with a sprained left wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot for Fletcher.

Angels fans have been anxiously awaiting the debut of Fletcher, who isn’t considered one of the organization’s elite prospects (No. 21, per MLB.com) but has laid waste to Triple-A pitchers thus far in 2018. The former sixth-round pick (2015) has slashed .350/.394/.559 with six homers, 25 doubles, five triples and seven steals (in nine tries) so far in the Triple-A season. Incredibly, he’s punched out just 21 times in 274 plate appearances.

As the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate tweeted over the weekend, the 24-year-old Fletcher was leading all of Minor League Baseball with 85 hits, 36 extra-base hits, 25 doubles and 138 total bases. That superlative production landed him on a recent edition of Jason Martinez’s Knocking Down the Door here at MLBTR.

Exactly where Fletcher lines up on the diamond in the big leagues remains to be seen. He’s split his time between the two middle infield positions in the minors thus far in 2018, and while Ian Kinsler slumped badly early in the season, he’s been swinging a much better bat of late. Kinsler has a .797 OPS over the past month, and in his past 13 games, he’s slashing a ridiculous .352/.397/.759 with six homers and four doubles in 58 plate appearances.

The Angels had to place Andrelton Simmons on the disabled list due to a freak ankle sprain recently — Simmons injured himself on the dugout steps — and Zack Cozart has shifted over to shortstop in the interim. It’s possible, then, that Fletcher could see some time at shortstop, with Cozart sliding back over to the hot corner on days when Fletcher is penciled in at short.

Luke Gregerson Undergoes Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

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Cardinals reliever Luke Gregerson is already on the disabled list due to an impingement in his right shoulder, but MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that Gregerson also had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn right meniscus yesterday. He’ll be out for at least an additional four to six weeks following that procedure.

Signed to a two-year, $11MM contract this offseason, Gregerson has been limited to just 8 1/3 innings so far in 2018. He’s been hit hard in that time, yielding eight runs on eight hits (two homers) and three walks with eight strikeouts.

While he’s never been a flamethrower, Gregerson’s average fastball was sitting at just 87.8 mph in his limited 2018 sample — a decrease of nearly two miles per hour from last season’s average of 89.5 mph. To his credit, Gregerson’s 16.7 percent swinging-strike rate was actually the second-best mark of his career, and his 60.9 percent ground-ball rate remained considerably ahead of the league average for relievers (43.3 percent).

[Related: St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]

Gregerson is one of several Cards relievers on the shelf, joining Matt Bowman, Greg Holland, Dominic Leone and Tyler Lyons. In his absence, the Cards have leaned heavily on surprise closer Bud Norris. Young flamethrower Jordan Hicks has been the most highly used piece of a largely unproven collection of arms that have been utilized in high-leverage spots, with John Brebbia, Mike Mayers and Sam Tuivailala all being asked to pick up meaningful innings (and performing quite well in the process).

Rangers Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Cole Winn

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June 12: Sullivan tweets that Winn has agreed to a $3.15MM value that comes in below the recommended slot value.

June 10: The Rangers are in the final stages of an agreement with first-round pick Cole Winn, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and Wesley Dodson.  Winn was on hand to watch the Astros/Rangers game today at Globe Life Park, and is scheduled to undergo a physical on Monday.  Assuming no complications, he’ll be officially introduced at a Tuesday press conference, with Sullivan/Dodson noting that Winn is expected to sign for close to the $3,738,500 slot value attached to the 15th overall pick.

The 18-year-old Winn was one of the draft’s most highly-touted high schoolers and pitchers, coming off a very strong season for Orange Lutheran High School in Southern California.  He was a consensus top-11 pick in pre-draft rankings from ESPN’s Keith Law, MLB.com, Fangraphs, and Baseball America, with Law placing Winn highest as the seventh-best overall prospect in this year’s draft class.  Winn has three-plus pitches to his name — a fastball that has touched 96mph and a strong curveball and changeup — as well as a gradually-improving slider.

Law described Winn as “the best command guy in the high school class this year,” and wrote that “his delivery is one of the simplest in the draft as well, giving hope that his command will hold up in pro ball and that he’ll stay healthy.”  His easy delivery adds to the common consensus among evaluators that Winn is a very safe pick for a high school pitcher.  As Fangraphs’ scouting report puts it, “Winn is the only prep pitcher in a deep class with no yellow or red flags on his resume. He’s a near finished product with mid-rotation stuff, feel and consistency.”

That Fangraphs report also cited some rumors during the lead-up to the draft about Winn potentially being one of the first picks off the board, as his stock was high enough that the Giants reportedly gave some consideration to Winn as the second overall selection.  Given this projection, the Rangers should feel quite pleased at Winn falling to the 15th spot.

Winn could be the first of several forthcoming draft signings for the Rangers, as Sullivan/Dodson write that most of all of the club’s top 10 draft picks are expected to finalize deals this week, pending physicals.  The Rangers have an overall draft bonus pool of $7.356MM to spend on this year’s picks.

Carson Smith To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Red Sox reliever Carson Smith is set to undergo shoulder surgery tomorrow, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via Rob Bradford of WEEI.com). The operation will likely put an end to the 28-year-old’s season.

It’s the latest setback in what is becoming an increasingly injury-plagued career for Smith, who missed the majority of the 2016 and 2017 seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tomorrow’s surgery will repair a subluxation in his throwing shoulder, which the right-hander reportedly incurred after angrily tossing his glove out of frustration following a poor outing last month. However, there’s additional damage in his shoulder, it seems, as head athletic trainer Brad Pearson tells reporters that Smith also has some tearing in the labrum (Twitter link via the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier).

Originally acquired by the Red Sox in the Dec. 2015 trade that sent Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro to the Mariners, Smith has spent three seasons in the organization but pitched just 20 innings at the Major League level. Obviously, the Sox had higher hopes when trading for him, as he was coming off a dominant rookie campaign in Seattle that saw him pitch 70 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a hefty 64.8 percent ground-ball rate.

Smith drew some ire from Boston skipper Alex Cora last month after suggesting that heavy usage may have contributed to the wear and tear on his shoulder. Cora bluntly said that he “doesn’t agree” with Smith’s comments and spoke at length about the frequency with which the Red Sox staff checks in on its relievers to see who is and isn’t available to take the hill on a given night.

Given Smith’s ongoing injury woes and the fact that he’s arbitration-eligible for a second time this offseason, it’s possible that the Sox could move on from Smith via non-tender this offseason. But, he won’t be in line for much of a raise on this season’s $850K salary after pitching just 14 1/3 innings, so they may also opt to hang onto the affordable depth even with the health concerns.

AL Central Notes: Zimmermann, Mauer, Royals, Giolito

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There was some (exceedingly mild) AL Central intrigue this morning, as reliever Matt Belisle bounced from the Indians over to the Twins, but otherwise it has been a quiet news day. Let’s take a look in at the latest items out of the AL Central:

  • Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann says he’s ready to return to the majors after his latest minor-league start, as Peter Wallner of MLive.com reports. Zimmermann has been out for just over a month with a shoulder impingement, but he says he “feel[s] strong” and has now worked up to 89 pitches in his third rehab outing. As we noted upon his DL placement, Zimmermann has continued to post mediocre results but had at least boasted much/improved strikeout and walk numbers (9.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9). The Tigers are still milling around in an uninspiring AL Central race, though the odds of true contention this year remain long. Zimmermann’s hefty salary commitment and full no-trade protection — it converts to partial protection after the season — make him a difficult trade candidate, though a swap at some point can’t be ruled out entirely.
  • Twins first baseman Joe Mauer is just launching his own rehab assignment, MLB.com’s Jarrid Denney reports. Concussion-like symptoms have kept the 35-year-old out for the past several weeks. He has dealt with similar problems in the past, of course, which represents a major reason that he no longer plays behind the plate. Though he has not contributed enough on-field value to justify his lofty salary in quite some time, Mauer has been a productive hitter over the past two years. Thus far in 2018, he is slashing .283/.404/.355 with 28 walks against 22 strikeouts but just one home run through 167 plate appearances. Meanwhile, young outfielder Byron Buxton is going through some running and baseball activities, but still evidently remains some ways away from returning from a fractured toe.
  • Giving up lefty Sean Manaea helped the Royals win a World Series, but his rise in Oakland has surely left some K.C. fans wondering what might have been. As Rustin Dodd of The Athletic writes in a subscription piece, though, GM Dayton Moore has no regrets whatsoever about how things turned out. He explains how it was that the club sent Manaea to the A’s for utility star Ben Zobrist, saying that “Billy Beane was persistent” while the Royals “weren’t going to be outbid” for a key asset after coming up just shy the season prior. Now, though, Moore says the goal is to create a broad-based array of talent that will allow the organization to “compete for a long time,” hopefully without pursuing such drastic, win-now swaps.
  • Meanwhile, Lucas Giolito continues to fall shy of expectations for the White Sox. Through a dozen starts this year, including his latest yesterday evening, he carries a 7.08 ERA with just 31 strikeouts to go with 39 walks and a league-leading ten hit batters. As Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes, Giolito is getting plenty of leash with the rebuilding South Siders, though it’s tough to know whether or not that’s for the best given just how much he has struggled. There’s still some hope that the former top prospect will develop into a quality big league starter, writes Greenstein, and Giolito is only due to reach his 24th birthday this summer. Still, it’s fair to wonder just how long the club will keep trotting him out if things don’t improve. Skipper Rick Renteria says there haven’t been any recent discussions about sending Giolito down, though he did hint that the club has contemplated the possibility in the past.

Nationals Activate Daniel Murphy

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The Nationals have activated veteran second baseman Daniel Murphy from the disabled list, per a club announcement. He’ll bat fifth and serve as the DH in today’s interleague contest. Murphy takes the roster spot of infielder Adrian Sanchez, who was optioned down to Triple-A.

The 33-year-old Murphy has been out all season while recovering from offseason microfracture surgery to his right knee. Indications are that he’s not at full speed in the field and on the bases, but evidently the team determined that he was ready to chip in at the MLB level and would not unduly risk further injury.

It’s a tough spot for all involved. Entering the year, the plan was for Murphy to take his time working back to health, with veteran Howie Kendrick filling in for the meantime. But Kendrick is among the many notable Nats players who have gone down with injuries of their own, and Murphy has seemingly not come along quite as smoothly as might have been hoped.

In the meantime, even despite the various losses, the Nationals have a bit of a roster logjam on their hands. It’s still not quite pressing, particularly since Murphy is likely not to resume playing every day immediately upon his return, but all the makings of a tough call are in place. The D.C. organization is working with a five-man bench that won’t be sustainable once Ryan Zimmerman is ready to be activated and when the team is finally forced to add some pitching back onto the roster, which will happen in short order.

If and when the Nationals are at full health on the position-player side, the team will have to make some tough decisions. One or two current position players will need to be moved out. Reserves Mark Reynolds and Brian Goodwin could both be at risk, but both would have to be exposed to waivers if removed from the active roster. Optioning Wilmer Difo is a possibility, but that’d mean going without a reserve capable of playing shortstop. Michael Taylor also has an option year left, but he’s been on fire and is the team’s best defender in center and lone right-handed-hitting outfielder.

That leaves one glaring, but unappealing possibility: optioning young outfielder Juan Soto. The nineteen-year-old was called up to the majors as something of a desperation move when Goodwin, Adam Eaton, and then Kendrick went down, representing the culmination of a remarkable early-season sprint through the farm. Having played in only 32 games in 2017 due to injury, Soto opened the current season at Class A. After 16 games there, he moved to High-A. He played 15 more before a quick bump to Double-A, with his promotion coming on the same day that Eaton’s surgery was announced. After just eight contests at the Double-A level, Soto was in the majors. Through 19 big-league games, he carries a .328/.431/.541 slash with three home runs and as many walks as strikeouts (11 apiece).

Generally, it’s preferable to deal with this situation than the one that presented itself earlier in the season, when the position-player picture looked rather bleak for the Nationals. Perhaps the club will even find a way to resolve some of its roster crunch in a manner that will help bolster its pitching staff, which is newly in need of buttressing even as the health situation improves on the other side of the roster.

In the meantime, the Nationals and their medical staff will watch Murphy closely to see how he’s progressing. If he can produce anything like the .334/.387/.569 output he carries through two seasons in D.C., it’ll be easy to look past some limitations in other aspects of his game. Other teams will be watching as well, as Murphy is slated for a return trip onto the open market at the close of the 2018 campaign.

Amateur Draft Signings: 6/12/18

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We’ll use this post to track Tuesday’s notable agreements from the top few rounds of the draft (rankings referenced are courtesy of Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs and ESPN’s Keith Law — with the scouting reports from MLB and Fangraphs both coming free to the general public) …

  • Rangers second-rounder Owen White will take a $1.5MM bonus to bypass his commitment to the University of South Carolina, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). White ranked just inside the top fifty on Law’s board and just a shade lower on the others. Analysts believe he has some room to grow into his frame and better maintain the mid-nineties velocity he has shown at times. Plus, there are hints of four potentially useful pitches for the Texas developmental staff to work with. Taken 55th overall, White will secure a bonus that’s $242,500 over the slot value of the selection.

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