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Archives for August 2018

Blue Jays Designate Brandon Cumpton For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Brandon Cumpton for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to pitching prospect Sean Reid-Foley, whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Buffalo. Right-hander Danny Barnes was optioned to Buffalo to open a spot on the active roster.

Cumpton, 29, made just one appearance for the Jays at the big league level this year, allowing a run on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings back on July 31. He joined the Jays organization as a minor league free agent six weeks ago after previously having been cut loose by the Rangers. Formerly a ninth-round pick by the Pirates, Cumpton showed some promise with a 2.05 ERA and a 22-to-5 K/BB ratio through 30 2/3 innings in his MLB debut back in 2013, but his career has been slowed substantially by both Tommy John surgery and right shoulder surgery, which combined to keep him out of the big leagues entirely from 2015-17.

Reid-Foley’s promotion was reported yesterday. He’ll be one of two intriguing young prospects joining the Jays for his MLB debut, and he’ll take the mound tonight to start for Toronto against the Royals. Ranked by Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com as the No. 10 prospect in a deep Blue Jays farm system, Reid-Foley has cut through both Double-A and Triple-A lineups in 2018, averaging better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings with impressive secondary statistics to back up his already-strong 2.98 ERA.

Yankees Select Contract Of George Kontos, Place CC Sabathia On DL

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4:00pm: The Yankees announced that they’ve selected Kontos’ contract and placed lefty CC Sabathia on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his right knee. Jordan Montgomery, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year, was moved to the 60-day DL to open a roster spot for Kontos. Additionally, the Yankees recalled Ronald Torreyes from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned Luke Voit to Triple-A in his place.

It’s not yet clear who’ll step into Sabathia’s rotation spot, although right-handers Sonny Gray and Chance Adams would appear to be the likeliest choices. Gray was recently demoted to a bullpen role after struggling for much of the season, while Adams made his MLB debut and struggled in a spot start earlier this month.

2:55pm: The Yankees have selected the contract of right-hander George Kontos, tweets George A. King III of the New York Post. A corresponding move has yet to be announced, but Lindsey Adler of The Athletic tweets that Kontos is already in the clubhouse, so a corresponding move should be revealed in short order.

It’s a full-circle promotion for Kontos, whom the Yankees drafted in the fifth round back in 2006. Kontos was taken by the Padres in the 2010 Rule 5 Draft but returned to the Yanks before appearing in the Majors, and he ultimately debuted in the Bronx during the 2011 season. However, Kontos only totaled six innings in pinstripes, as the Yankees flipped him to the Giants in exchange for catcher Chris Stewart the following April.

Kontos went on to cement himself as a quality bullpen option in San Francisco over the next six seasons, working to a 3.05 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 309 innings as a Giant before being somewhat surprisingly let go on waivers last summer. The Pirates picked him up at that point and enjoyed 14 2/3 quality innings out of Kontos down the stretch in 2017 (1.84 ERA), but his strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate and velocity cratered in Pittsburgh earlier this season, leading him to eventually be designated for assignment. Kontos had a stop in the Indians organization as well but was recently flipped to the Yankees in exchange for cash considerations.

All in all, Kontos returns to the Yankees organization with a career 3.12 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9 and a 43.6 percent ground-ball rate in 355 2/3 innings at the big league level. He’ll presumably slide into a middle-relief role, though given the general depth of the New York bullpen, it’s far from a guarantee that he’s ticketed for a lengthy stint in the Bronx.

Doug Fister Shut Down For Remainder Of Season

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The knee strain that has kept Rangers right-hander Doug Fister on the disabled list since mid-June will prove to be season-ending, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Fister’s knee hasn’t responded well to the rehab efforts, and he won’t pitch again in 2018.

Fister, 34, signed a one-year deal worth $4MM to join the Rangers this offseason. That pact comes with a $4.5MM option for the 2019 season as well, so it’s not a guarantee that the injury will ultimately end his tenure with the organization. The Texas front office will owe him a $500K buyout of the option regardless, so it’ll boil down to another $4MM decision on their end. Given his recent track record, it seems likelier to be declined, but the Rangers organization is also perilously thin on rotation depth.

While Fister didn’t pitch especially well in Texas, he did give the Rangers a dozen serviceable starts. In 66 innings, the veteran worked to a 4.50 ERA with 40 strikeouts against 19 walks to go along with a 50.6 percent ground-ball rate. His fastball, though, sat at an average of 88.4 mph — down from last year’s 89.8 mph mark — and Fister’s 5.1 percent swinging-strike rate was not only the second-worst mark of his career but also the lowest mark of any pitcher in MLB with at least 60 innings thrown.

It’s been nearly a half decade since Fister, once one of the game’s more underrated hurlers, was an above-average contributor in a rotation. He tossed 164 innings of 2.41 ERA ball for the Nationals in 2014 but struggled in 2015 and ultimately lost his rotation spot with the Nats. Since that time, he’s seen his fastball velocity drop substantially, bottoming out at 86.2 mph in 2015 before rebounding to some extent over the past two seasons. He’s struggled to a 4.68 ERA with a near-identical 4.64 FIP across the past three seasons between the Astros, Red Sox and Rangers.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/13/18

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Tigers announced today that right-hander Jacob Turner cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo. Having been outrighted in the past, the prospect-turned-journeyman will have the ability to decline that assignment in favor of free agency if he is so inclined. The 27-year-old Turner was designated for assignment over the weekend when Detroit signed Zach McAllister. Turner pitched just one inning in his return to the Tigers and allowed a whopping five runs in that outing. He soaked up 39 innings for the Nationals last season but hasn’t topped that mark since the 2014 season. In 369 career innings at the big league level, Turner has a 5.37 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.22 HR/9 and a 46.5 percent ground-ball rate.

NL East Notes: Bruce, Soroka, Marlins

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The emergence of Brandon Nimmo has left Jay Bruce as something of an odd man out with the Mets, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman notes that the Mets’ outfield in 2019 and beyond is likely to include Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes, making it more difficult for Bruce to secure regular at-bats (barring a move to first base, which would come at the expense of the younger Dominic Smith). According to Sherman, Bruce can block trades to the Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays, Rays and Athletics, but he can be shipped anywhere else without his consent. Sherman runs through some speculative possibilities in which Bruce, who is owed $28MM from 2019-20, could be swapped out for a player earning at a comparable rate. Of course, it’s also worth noting that Nimmo’s bat has declined in each month of the season since a torrid start, while Cespedes and (to a lesser extent) Conforto come with injury question marks.

A few more notes out of the NL East…

  • David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that Braves righty Mike Soroka still hasn’t begun a throwing program as he continues rehabbing his right shoulder, which makes it increasingly unlikely that he’ll pitch again in 2018. If that’s the case, O’Brien notes that the organization could have Soroka pitch in the instructional league this fall before shutting him down for the winter in hopes of a healthier 2019 campaign. Soroka, who turned 21 last week, was impressive despite his young age in five starts earlier this season before shoulder woes landed him on the disabled list.
  • Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald recently wrote that any of Derek Dietrich, Dan Straily or Starlin Castro could yet be trade candidates for the Marlins in the month of August. Castro didn’t draw any serious interest prior to the non-waiver deadline, Jackson notes, but the Cubs and Indians checked in on Dietrich while the Athletics chatted with the Marlins about a potential re-acquisition of Straily (though those talks came prior to Oakland’s trade for Mike Fiers). Jackson notes that the Fish would want quality prospects in return for Straily if they moved him, as he’s controlled beyond the 2018 season. That seems like a tough sell, given Straily’s diminished strikeout, chase and swinging-strike rates as well as his drastic increase in walk rate.

Braves Promote Touki Toussaint

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The Braves announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of top pitching prospect Touki Toussaint from Triple-A Gwinnett. He’ll serve as the 26th man in today’s doubleheader and is slated to start the first game of that twin bill.

Touki Toussaint | Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Toussaint, who turned 22 in late June, ranked as the game’s No. 76 prospect on the midseason update from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, while Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs currently peg him 56th overall.

Atlanta infamously acquired — or, more accurately, purchased — Toussaint from the D-backs barely a year after Arizona had selected him with the 16th overall pick in the 2014 draft. The Braves took on the remaining half season of Bronson Arroyo’s contract in order to extract the well-regarded Toussaint from the D-backs organization in a trade that saved Arizona roughly $10MM.

While it’s taken nearly three years (as was to be expected when purchasing a recent high school draftee), the Braves appear poised to reap the benefit from that Arizona misstep. Through 117 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, Toussaint has been excellent, working to a combined 2.68 ERA with 10.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. He’s allowed only seven home runs in that time. Callis and Mayo praise both his fastball and curveball as plus offerings, adding that his changeup could be an average or better third pitch.

Toussaint will become the latest arm from the Braves’ vaunted collection of pitching prospects to surface at the MLB level over the past couple of seasons. While the results have been mixed to this point, the team has seen positive signs from that group — most notably from Sean Newcomb but also Mike Soroka (prior to his shoulder troubles) and Max Fried. Kolby Allard and Luiz Gohara, meanwhile, are still waiting for earnest looks in the rotation after brief exposure to big league opponents, while others such as Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson are still awaiting their first call to the big leagues.

It seems likely that Toussaint’s promotion will simply be a spot start, though the fact that he’s serving as the 26th man would mean that he’s eligible to return whenever the Braves next need a fifth starter. There’s no predicting yet exactly how Toussaint’s service clock will play out, as it remains to be seen when the Braves will bring him to the Majors on a permanent basis, but he’s currently controlled through at least the 2024 season. If he finishes the 2019 campaign with less than one full year of MLB service, that’d allow the Braves to control him through the 2025 season, although Atlanta likely hopes that Toussaint is capable of securing a long-term spot on the MLB roster in quicker fashion.

Braves Release Fernando Salas

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The Braves have released veteran right-hander Fernando Salas from their Triple-A club in Gwinnett, as was first reflected on the Triple-A International League transactions page. His tenure with the organization will last just under a month in total.

Atlanta signed Salas, 33, to a minor league contract in mid-July after he’d been cut loose by the D-backs. The veteran reliever had worked to a 4.50 ERA with 30 strikeouts against nine unintentional walks (13 total) in 40 innings with Arizona this season, though he slumped late in his time with the Diamondbacks after a more promising start to the season. His 90.5 mph average fastball velocity with the D-backs didn’t represent a significant decline from his career marks or from his 2017 levels, though his swinging-strike rate did suffer a more noticeable drop (12.9 percent in 2017, 9.3 percent in 2018).

Salas’ limited time in the Braves organization didn’t go well, as he was tagged for eight runs in six innings with Gwinnett. He did post a 9-to-2 K/BB ratio in that brief stretch of Triple-A work and, of course, carries a good bit of MLB  success on his resume as well. In 487 frames at the Major League level, Salas owns a 3.90 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. He’ll once again be available to 29 other clubs on a minor league pact as he looks to latch on with a new team for the final couple months of the 2018 campaign.

MLB Weekend Roster Roundup: Encarnacion, Ramirez, Sale, Skaggs

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(August 11th-August 12th)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

  • CHICAGO CUBS | Depth Chart
    • Activated from 10-Day DL: RP Anthony Bass
      • Bass was outrighted off the 40-man roster.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

Quick Hits: Padres, Galvis, Rangers, DeShields, Trade Deadline, Tigers

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Padres shortstop Freddy Galvis is on track to reach free agency in the offseason, but that may not happen if the team has its druthers. San Diego has “serious interest” in re-signing Galvis, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. However, considering the Padres have an excellent shortstop prospect in 19-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. – who has held his own at the Double-A level this season – it doesn’t seem Galvis is destined to be their long-term starter at the position. Acquired from the Phillies last winter for young right-hander Enyel De Los Santos, the 28-year-old, switch-hitting Galvis has amassed 477 plate appearances in 2018 and batted an unimpressive .237/.296/.355 (79 wRC+) with eight home runs, also drawing mixed reviews in the field (seven Defensive Runs Saved, minus-2.2 Ultimate Zone Rating).

More notes from around the game…

  • Rangers center fielder Delino DeShields may be running out of time to show he’s capable of holding down the position in Texas, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News observes. DeShields, now 25, joined the Rangers in the 2014 Rule 5 draft and subsequently performed well as a rookie in 2015, only to flop in 2016. While DeShields returned to being a decent contributor in 2017, the speedster’s now in the throes of a forgettable season in which he has hit a lackluster .208/.310/.279 (63 wRC+), endured a short minor league demotion and taken multiple trips to the disabled list. Meanwhile, the Rangers like fellow center fielders Drew Robinson and Carlos Tocci, and they have good prospects at the position, notes Grant – who writes they’re “determined” to retain Tocci for the long haul. Like DeShields, Tocci hooked on with the Rangers as a Rule 5 pick. The soon-to-be 23-year-old Tocci has been in way over his head at the plate during his initial MLB action this season, though.
  • “There’s a movement within baseball” to extend the non-waiver trade deadline from July 31 to mid-August, and eliminate the August waiver period, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “The way it is now is just futile. If you’re a good team, you constantly get blocked for players that could be useful to you,” one NL official tells Cafardo.  From a league standpoint, eliminating the trade waiver process would also cut down on a lot of paperwork and red tape.  It isn’t clear if there is sentiment from both the owners and the MLBPA to change the August trading process, as such mutual agreement would be required for the deadline to be extended.
  • Veteran reliever Zach McAllister chose to sign with the Tigers earlier this week not only because of the on-field opportunity they presented, but because they were “aggressive” in pursuing him, the righty tells Max Bultman of The Athletic (subscription required). Even though McAllister’s not under control past this season, the fact that Detroit put forth such an effort to add him suggests it could be open to retaining him beyond 2018, Bultman notes. In the meantime, McAllister, 30, will use the rest of the season to try to rebuild his once-solid stock after struggling this year with the Indians. If the hard-throwing McAllister succeeds and puts himself back on other teams’ radars heading into the winter, his tenure with the rebuilding Tigers could go down as a short-lived union.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/12/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Athletics announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Chris Hatcher to Triple-A Nashville after he cleared waivers. The club previously designated Hatcher for assignment on Friday to make room for just-acquired reliever Fernando Rodney. The 33-year-old Hatcher’s stay in the minors won’t be a long one, it seems, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests he’ll return to Oakland in either September or sometime later this month. Since the Athletics acquired Hatcher from the Dodgers almost exactly one year ago (on Aug. 15, 2017), the right-hander has recorded 57 innings of 3.95 ERA/4.71 FIP ball with 7.58 K/9, 4.11 BB/9 and a 42.1 percent groundball rate.

Earlier updates:

  • Cubs reliever Anthony Bass has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic was among those to tweet. The move came after the Cubs activated Bass from the 10-day disabled list, where he had been since July 21 on account of a back muscle issue. Because he has been outrighted in the past, Bass has a right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but there’s no indication that he’ll head back to the open market. The 30-year-old has been a good find this year for the Cubs, who signed him to a minor league deal last December, having pitched to a 2.93 ERA with 8.22 K/9, 1.76 BB/9 and a 53.3 percent groundball rate in 15 1/3 innings.
  • The Royals have reinstated reliever Blaine Boyer from the 60-day disabled list and transferred outfielder Jorge Soler to the 60-day DL, per a team announcement. But Soler – who hasn’t played since June 15 because of a left toe fracture – could still return as early as Aug. 16. Meanwhile, Boyer has struggled to a horrendous 11.76 ERA with 3.92 K/9 and 5.23 BB/9 in 20 2/3 innings this year with the Royals, who added him on a minor league pact last offseason.

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