Archives for June 2018

Marlins Select Drew Rucinski, Option Jarlin Garcia

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 2:33pm CDT

The Marlins have selected right-handed reliever Drew Rucinski’s contract from Triple-A New Orleans, according to the team. The club optioned lefty Jarlin Garcia to New Orleans in a corresponding move.

Rucinski, whom the Marlins added on a minors deal over the winter, began the season with a 2.52 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 25 innings prior to his promotion. The 29-year-old previously saw major league action with the Angels (2014-15) and Twins (2017), combining for a 7.23 ERA in 18 2/3 frames.

Garcia ranks third among Marlins pitchers in innings (51), but they chose to demote him after he managed a 4.41 ERA, 5.65 K/9 and 3.71 BB/9 in 12 appearances and six starts. That’s not what either party had in mind when the 25-year-old Garcia no-hit the Mets over six innings on April 11 and then held the Yankees’ elite offense to one hit in five frames on April 17.

Cardinals Likely To Activate Carlos Martinez, Yadier Molina On Tuesday

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 12:36pm CDT

The Cardinals, 31-25 and firmly in the National League playoff hunt, are set to get back a couple of key reinforcements. Top starter Carlos Martinez and catcher Yadier Molina are on track to come off the disabled list Tuesday, per Joe Trezza of MLB.com.

Martinez went on the DL on May 10 with a strained right lat, before which the 26-year-old opened the season with 50 innings of 1.62 ERA/3.36 FIP pitching. Thanks in part to the flamethrowing Martinez’s efforts, the Cardinals’ rotation owns the majors’ third-best ERA (3.01) and seventh-highest fWAR (5.7).

Martinez will rejoin an impressive group that has also received notable contributions from Miles Mikolas, Michael Wacha, Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty, though it did lose high-ceiling 23-year-old Alex Reyes again earlier this week. Reyes returned from February 2017 Tommy John surgery this past Wednesday for a start against the NL Central rival Brewers, who lead the Cards by 4.5 games, but he lasted just four innings and subsequently went back on the DL with a “significant” lat strain.

Molina, meantime, has been out since May 6 – shortly after he underwent surgery for what St. Louis called a “pelvic injury with traumatic hematoma.” He suffered the injury behind the plate after taking a 100 mph-plus foul tip off the bat of the Cubs’ Kris Bryant. Molina, 35, had gotten off to a fine start to the season, slashing .272/.292/.456 with six home runs in 120 plate appearances and grading as one of the majors’ best pitch framers, per Baseball Prospectus.

Fill-in catchers Francisco Pena, Carson Kelly and Steven Baron haven’t been nearly as effective as Molina offensively, and all four Cardinals backstops have failed to throw out a single base stealer this season. Runners have gone a combined 20 for 20 against the Redbirds, though Molina figures to change that in the near future. Although the potential Hall of Famer yielded seven steals on as many attempts before his injury, he has thrown out a tremendous 41 percent of would-be base thieves during his career.

Injury Notes: Murphy, Archer, T. Frazier, Graveman

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 11:53am CDT

Unfortunately for the Nationals, second baseman Daniel Murphy doesn’t seem close to making his 2018 debut. Manager Dave Martinez told Jamal Collier of MLB.com and other reporters Sunday that Murphy remains “a ways” away from coming off the disabled list. What’s more, Murphy – who underwent microfracture surgery in his right knee last October – has not looked healthy during his Double-A rehab assignment, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post hears. A scout informed Janes that Murphy has been “gimpy,” “struggling to move laterally” and lacking “straight-ahead speed” during action this weekend. Not only is that bad news for the Nats, with whom Murphy starred from 2016-17, but also for the impending free agent. While Murphy did all he could to set himself up for another nice payday over the previous couple seasons, the 33-year-old is now amid a less-than-ideal platform campaign.

Rays right-hander Chris Archer dealt with groin tightness during his start Saturday, helping lead to his exit after five innings of two-run ball, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. It doesn’t seem to be a major concern, but “he’ll probably get checked out here in the next day or two and see how it is,” manager Kevin Cash said. Thanks in part to Saturday’s performance, Archer has seen his ERA plummet from a season-worst 7.84 on April 14 to 4.24 over his past nine starts. That should help the hard-throwing 29-year-old’s stock if the Rays make him available in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, as some expect them to do.
Mets third baseman Todd Frazier is primed to come off the DL in time for the team’s series against Baltimore, which begins Tuesday, Matt Ehalt of The Record suggests. Indeed, Frazier tweeted Sunday that he’s on his way back to New York, thus wrapping up a Triple-A rehab assignment. His return will be a rare positive development for the free-falling Mets, who placed Frazier on the DL with a hamstring strain on May 8. Prior to suffering the injury, the offseason free-agent signing opened 2018 with a helpful .237/.357/.412 line and five home runs in 140 plate appearances.
The Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville has placed righty Kendall Graveman on the DL with a forearm strain, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Fortunately, Graveman doesn’t have any structural damage and should only miss 10 days, Slusser reports. Nevertheless, the injury continues a difficult year for Graveman, who entered 2018 off three straight respectable campaigns but has spent a large portion of the season in the minors. The 27-year-old worked to a 7.60 ERA in 34 1/3 innings prior to his demotion and also hasn’t been great in Nashville, where he has posted a 4.50 ERA in 24 frames.

Indians Sign George Kontos

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 10:24am CDT

The Indians have signed reliever George Kontos to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from the team.

Kontos debuted in the majors with the Yankees in 2011 and has since pitched for the Giants and Pirates. The Bucs released the 32-year-old this week after he opened the season with 18 2/3 innings of 5.03 ERA ball. Kontos has generally been successful in the majors, however, as he carries a 3.11 ERA with 7.25 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 43.3 percent groundball rate over 350 innings. Along the way, the righty has held same-handed hitters to a a paltry .228/.270/.374 line and limited lefties to a .236/.325/.381 mark.

Kontos seemingly stands a chance of returning to the bigs in Cleveland, whose bullpen has been a disaster this year. Indians relievers rank dead last in ERA (5.92) and third from the bottom in fWAR (minus-0.6). The club has been on the lookout for established relievers as a result, and already signed Oliver Perez this weekend before adding Kontos.

Braves Outright Miguel Socolovich

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 9:47am CDT

The Braves have outrighted right-handed reliever Miguel Socolovich to Triple-A Gwinnett, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets. His 25-man roster spot will go to left-hander Luiz Gohara, whom the Braves reinstated from the bereavement list.

Because Socolovich has been outrighted in the past (a few times since last season, in fact), he has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. It seems he’ll accept it, though, and remain in the Atlanta organization. The 31-year-old Socolovich joined the Braves over the winter after spending the previous three seasons with the Cardinals.

Socolovich had his moments in St. Louis, where he registered a 3.80 ERA with 7.73 K/9 and 2.58 BB/9 in 66 1/3 innings, though his performance dropped off significantly last season with an 8.68 ERA in 18 1/3 frames. His struggles have continued this year as a member of the Braves, with whom he has allowed six earned runs on eight hits and two walks (with four strikeouts) over five innings. Some of the damage came Saturday, when Socolovich took the loss against the Nationals. On the heels of that showing, he’ll head back to Gwinnett, where he has logged a 2.63 ERA, 7.88 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 24 innings this year.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Brian Dozier

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 9:10am CDT

Twins star Brian Dozier entered 2018 off an extraordinary three-year stretch of power hitting for a second baseman. Dozier combined for 104 home runs during that 2,100-plate appearance span, including 42 in 2016 – an American League record at his position. Although Dozier became a household name because of his ability to hit the ball over the fence, he has been a well-rounded player since his first full season (2013), evidenced by the 22.2 rWAR/21.7 fWAR he racked up between then and this year.

Dozier’s recent excellence has come under the team-friendly extension he signed as a less established player heading into the 2015 season. That contract – a four-year, $20MM pact – has been one of the biggest bargains in baseball lately, but unfortunately for the Twins, it’s on the cusp of expiring. Dozier is now two-plus months into the last year of his deal, and indications are that he’ll test the open market after the season. The 31-year-old made it clear over the winter that he was interested in an extension – “I’ve said I wanted to stay here since forever, but I’ve really vocalized it the last couple years,” he declared – but the Twins didn’t reciprocate and talks on a new deal died.

Because he hasn’t been able to secure another long-term accord from the Twins, Dozier is now trying to prove to them and other teams that he’ll be worth a significant investment in the coming months. But unfortunately for Dozier, his platform year hasn’t begun in ideal fashion. With a .241/.313/.420 batting line in 249 PAs, Dozier’s offensive production has been 3 percent below average, per FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric. He was an above-average hitter in each of the previous four seasons, including when he recorded his two highest wRC+ figures – 131 and 125 – in 2016 and ’17.

Encouragingly, Dozier’s walking at a 9.2 percent clip (in line with a career 9.4 mean) and striking out less than he did in previous years. He has fanned 18.1 percent of the time, which is both better than the ever-increasing league rate (22.4 percent) and his career mark (19.4). Dozier’s also chasing less than ever, having registered a 22.6 percent out-of-zone swing rate that easily outdoes his lifetime figure (27.8).

Dozier’s offensive game clearly isn’t devoid of positive signs, then, though there has been cause for alarm when he has put the bat on the ball. He has only hit eight homers thus far, to go with an ISO (.179) that has declined substantially from the .238 mark he combined for from 2015-17. Further, Dozier’s line drive percentage is at a personal-worst 14.4 – compared to 19.9 during his career – and after averaging a 94.4 mph exit velocity on liners last season, Dozier’s at 91.4 this year. Thanks in part to that, not to mention an increase in grounders, Dozier’s percentage of balls hit at least 95 mph has fallen from 34.5 percent in 2017 to 28.1 this season. Dozier currently ranks toward the bottom of the majors in those Statcast metrics (via Baseball Savant), making it no surprise that he has only registered a .303 xwOBA and a .267 batting average on balls in play to this point. While Dozier’s BABIP is close to his career total (.276), it’s a far cry from the personal high (.300) he put up in that department last year.

When Dozier’s contact has eluded defenders this year, he hasn’t been nearly the threat on the base paths that he was in previous seasons. Dozier collected anywhere from 12 to 21 steals in each year from 2013-17, and he entered the campaign with a career success rate near 76 percent. But Dozier has only converted on two of four attempts in 2018, perhaps in part because he’s not as fleet of foot as he had been. Dozier’s average sprint speed is 26.8 feet per second, per Statcast, placing him just below the league mean (27) and down from the slightly above-average marks he managed in each of the three prior seasons.

Dozier’s production at the plate and on the bases does warrant some concern, but his defensive numbers look normal so far. Dozier had essentially been a scratch defender from 2012-17, according to both Defensive Runs Saved (three) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-0.3), and that has also been the case in 2018 (two DRS, minus-1.5 UZR). And Dozier’s impressive durability has once again been on display, as he hasn’t missed any of the Twins’ 54 games after amassing between 147 and 157 appearances in each of the previous five seasons.

Dozier’s outstanding track record of availability will undoubtedly appeal to teams as he seeks another payday in the coming months, though he won’t max out his earning potential at his current offensive pace. There’s time for Dozier to turn it around at the plate, of course, and it’s especially important for him to do so given the competition he could face on the market. As things stand, there will be no shortage of veteran second basemen available in free agency, including DJ LeMahieu, Daniel Murphy and Asdrubal Cabrera. Thanks to that fact – not to mention Dozier’s age, the unkind way free agency has been trending for 30-somethings and the potential of a qualifying offer hanging over his head – his first trip to the market may come at an inopportune time.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/2/18

By Connor Byrne | June 2, 2018 at 10:49pm CDT

The latest minor moves from around baseball:

The Mariners have signed left-handed reliever Daniel Schlereth to a minor league deal, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. Schlereth spent the previous few weeks with the independent Long Island Ducks, who signed him May 10. Now 32, Schlereth was once a promising prospect, evidenced in part by the fact that the Diamondbacks chose him 26th overall in the 2008 draft. He made his Arizona debut a year later, though the club then traded him (and Max Scherzer) to Detroit in the ensuing offseason as part of a blockbuster deal that also included the Yankees. Schlereth stayed with the Tigers through 2012, the last time he saw major league action. In all, he has posted a 4.35 ERA with 8.81 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 across 93 big league innings.

NL Injury Notes: Soroka, Hoskins, Bailey, Cards

By Connor Byrne | June 2, 2018 at 9:35pm CDT

A few injury updates from the National League:

Right-hander Mike Soroka could return to the Braves’ rotation as early as June 16, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports. Soroka, who has been on the disabled list since May 14 with shoulder inflammation, made a successful rehab start Friday at the Single-A level and will throw two more – the first with Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday. The 20-year-old rookie began his major league career in impressive fashion prior to the injury, tossing 14 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with 9.2 K/9 and 2.45 BB/9 over three starts.
Despite suffering a fractured jaw this past Monday, Phillies left fielder Rhys Hoskins told reporters (including Matt Breen of Philly.com) that it’s possible he’ll be able to return as early as June 9. Whether that happens will depend on the news Hoskins receives during his follow-up appointment with the Phillies’ oral surgeon next week, per Breen.
The Reds have placed righty Homer Bailey on the DL, retroactive to May 30, with right knee inflammation, Jay Paris of MLB.com relays. Interim manager Jim Riggleman revealed that Bailey has been dealing with a knee issue “for about a month,” though the club doesn’t regard it as a serious injury. In any case, the DL placement continues a tough week for Bailey, whom the Reds demoted to a relief role on Wednesday. To this point, all 204 of Bailey’s MLB appearances have come as a starter. Unsurprisingly, then, Bailey’s “not thrilled” about shifting to the bullpen, according to Paris.
Cardinals reliever Dominic Leone went on the DL on May 5 with a nerve issue in his right biceps. Nearly a month later, Leone has shown some improvement, but there’s still no timetable for his return, Joe Trezza of MLB.com writes. Leone’s injury is an unusual one, as Trezza details, and the righty noted that “I still have yet to receive a true diagnosis as to why it happened, and it might never come. Any other injury, you have a timetable.” That’s certainly a letdown for both Leone and St. Louis, which acquired him from Toronto as part of a trade for outfielder Randal Grichuk in the offseason. Leone was coming off an outstanding 2017 at the time, though he has only been able to chip in 13 innings of 4.15 ERA ball this year.

AL News & Rumors: Shields, Herrera, Red Sox, O’s, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | June 2, 2018 at 7:35pm CDT

White Sox right-hander James Shields is drawing interest from playoff contenders as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline creeps closer, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports. The 36-year-old turned in his fourth straight quality start Saturday and has pitched to a 4.48 ERA/4.28 FIP with 6.01 K/9, 3.66 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent groundball rate in 76 1/3 innings this season. Shields is on a $21MM salary – though his previous team, San Diego, is paying $11MM of that – and has a $16MM club option for 2019. His employer is sure to decline that in favor of a $2MM buyout, as Levine notes.

Giants Outright Gregor Blanco

By Connor Byrne | June 2, 2018 at 6:39pm CDT

The Giants have outrighted outfielder Gregor Blanco to Triple-A Sacramento, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report. Blanco accepted the assignment and will report to Sacramento on Tuesday. His roster spot in San Francisco will go to fellow veteran outfielder Hunter Pence, whom the team activated from the disabled list.

The 34-year-old Blanco could have elected free agency after clearing waivers, but he’ll remain in the Giants organization as depth. Blanco’s in his second stint with the Giants, with whom he was a successful role player at times from 2012-16 – a stretch in which they won two championships.

After spending last season with the NL West rival Diamondbacks, Blanco returned to the Giants over the winter on a minor league pact. Blanco did enough in camp to win a season-opening spot in San Francisco, but he ended up struggling to a .242/.289/.350 line in 129 plate appearances before the club removed him from its 40-man roster.

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