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Archives for May 2019

Padres Seeking Front-End Starter

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The Padres have gotten ace-caliber production from rookie Chris Paddack and quality numbers from fellow young starters Joey Lucchesi and Matt Strahm this year, but they’re still not satisfied with their rotation. The club attempted to acquire Indians co-ace Trevor Bauer toward the beginning of the season, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, who reports it’ll continue to seek a No. 1 starter in advance of the July 31 trade deadline. Additionally, San Diego may look for a left-handed hitter to help balance out a righty-heavy lineup, Rosenthal says (video link).

This isn’t the first time the Padres have been tied to the Indians, having reportedly gone after another of their aces, Corey Kluber, in the offseason. The Indians ended up retaining him and Bauer, though, in part because they were expected to contend this year. At 24-20, it appears they’ll do just that, though the back-to-back-to-back AL Central champions are facing plenty of resistance from the first-place Twins. Still, barring a collapse over the next couple months, it may be unrealistic to expect the Tribe to wave the white flag and ship out any of their top pitchers during the season.

Along with Bauer and Kluber, the Padres have reportedly pursued deals for the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard and the Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman dating back to the offseason. They also had winter interest in Dallas Keuchel, who remains a free agent almost seven months after hitting the market. Even though Syndergaard hasn’t been his usual dominant self this season, it’s far from a sure thing the Mets would move him and his two-plus years of team control. Stroman, who’s thriving in his penultimate season of control, looks more likely than Syndergaard to change teams during the summer. Rangers lefty Mike Minor is also among controllable starters who may hit the trade block, given that he’s only signed through next season. As for Keuchel, it’s anyone’s guess how much he’ll wind up raking in during his seemingly endless stay on the open market. Furthermore, it’s unknown whether the Padres are still interested in the 31-year-old former AL Cy Young winner.

One thing is clear: Few teams are in better position to make hay on the trade market than the Padres, who continue to boast an enviable farm system. They’re still a work in progress at the big league level, though, as their desire for more starting pitching and offense shows. For the most part, San Diego’s best hitters are right-handed, with first baseman Eric Hosmer the sole lefty-swinging regular on the roster. The lack of balance has been a problem for the Padres, who have only managed an 83 wRC+ with a .686 OPS against right-handed hurlers.

Mickey Callaway Reportedly On Hot Seat

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The Mets hired manager Mickey Callaway in October 2017 with the hope that he’d immediately help the franchise rebound from an awful final season under predecessor Terry Collins. Nearly a season and a half later, the Mets are still waiting for Callaway’s tenure to yield positive results, and it seems they’re running out of patience with the former Indians pitching coach. Callaway will manage the Mets on Sunday, but the ax could fall on the 44-year-old after that, per reports from Joel Sherman of the New York Post, fellow Post scribe Mike Puma, and Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports.

Callaway’s seat looks particularly hot in the wake of yet another listless Mets performance Saturday, when they mustered just one hit in a 2-0 loss to the lowly Marlins. They’re guaranteed a series loss in Miami, having dropped the opener Friday, and now own a 20-24 record on the season and a 97-109 mark since hiring Callaway. Moreover, the Mets have fallen in four of seven games to a pair of struggling teams (the Nationals and Marlins) since COO Jeff Wilpon met with Callaway and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen on May 10. At that point, Wilpon reportedly let his two underlings know that the Mets’ performance wasn’t acceptable.

If Wilpon was fed up eight days ago, then he may be livid now, which could hasten a decision on Callaway. In the event Callaway does go, bench coach Jim Riggleman – an experienced manager who was the Reds’ interim skipper for most of 2018 – as well as quality control coach Luis Rojas could be names to watch, Puma relays. On the other hand, though, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal says (video link) the Mets might go outside for their next manager, listing Joe Girardi, Buck Showalter and Dusty Baker as out-of-work dugout chiefs with terrific resumes. Rosenthal notes it’s up in their whether the Mets would be willing to pay any of those guys in addition to Callaway, though Puma points out they’d be eating a relatively small sum in firing him. With an annual salary of $850K, Callaway is among the majors’ lowest-paid managers.

So far, the beleaguered Wilpons have gotten the type of basement-level results commensurate with Callaway’s salary, though that’s not to suggest he’s the lone source of blame for this mess. Van Wagenen’s aggressive offseason maneuverings haven’t really panned out to this point, and a neglect of pitching depth has helped doom the club. Second baseman Robinson Cano, relievers Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson, and catcher Wilson Ramos – all expensive additions – have each struggled. Meanwhile, $20MM infield signing Jed Lowrie hasn’t been healthy enough to debut, and center fielder Keon Broxton is now in DFA limbo after bombing over 53 plate appearances.

While other winter pickups Edwin Diaz and J.D. Davis have done their part, neither their quality performances nor the presences of Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman – all inherited by Van Wagenen – have been enough to pull the Mets from the doldrums. Now, with the team in dire need of a quick turnaround, Van Wagenen’s solution may be to throw Callaway overboard. Van Wagenen did not hire Callaway, whom previous GM Sandy Alderson put in place, which may make it easier for BVW to go in another direction.

Latest On Clay Buchholz, Devon Travis, Ryan Borucki

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Blue Jays right-hander Clay Buchholz went to the injured list May 10 with a shoulder injury, but a back problem could keep him out for a while longer. Buchholz is dealing with a Grade 2 strain of his teres major, per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, who adds that the hurler will see famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews early next week for a second opinion. Assuming the initial diagnosis holds up, Buchholz could stay on the shelf for a “significant” amount of time, Chisholm writes.

This is the latest negative turn in what has been a forgettable Blue Jays tenure for Buchholz, who parlayed a bounce-back 2018 with Arizona into a $3MM guarantee from Toronto this past March. An elbow issue kept Buchholz from making his season debut until April 13, however, and though he performed well in his first start with the Jays, his overall production has left plenty to be desired. Buchholz has averaged fewer than five innings during his five appearances and logged a disastrous 6.57 ERA/5.51 FIP with a career-low 4.38 K/9 and personal-worst velocity.

The 34-year-old Buchholz hasn’t been the picture of durability throughout his career, nor has teammate Devon Travis. The oft-injured second baseman, who underwent left knee surgery March 17 and hasn’t played this year, has suffered a setback and is without a timetable to return, Chisholm reports. Travis’ knee doesn’t have any structural damage, but he did undergo a platelet-rich plasma injection to tamp down inflammation.

Travis, 28, looked like a legitimate building block for Toronto during an excellent rookie showing in 2015. However, a series of lower body injuries and a decline in production have torpedoed Travis’ career since then and limited him to 254 of a possible 531 games.

In further unfortunate news for Toronto, injured lefty Ryan Borucki may not make his 2019 debut until mid- to late June, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Borucki has recovered slowly from an elbow ailment that surfaced toward the end of March and was only supposed to keep him out for a small amount of regular-season time. Two months later, though, the 25-year-old Borucki hasn’t yet gotten the opportunity to build on a solid rookie campaign in which he managed a 3.87 ERA/3.80 FIP with 1.6 fWAR over 97 2/3 innings and 17 starts.

Shawn Kelley Undergoes Throat Surgery

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The Rangers placed reliever Shawn Kelley on the injured list May 9 (retroactive to May 6) because of an infection, though details of the condition weren’t publicly known at the time. It turns out Kelley had to undergo surgery Thursday to remove at least two lumps from his vocal cords, the right-hander announced Saturday (via Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram and TR Sullivan of MLB.com).

“I went on the IL originally to get them biopsied, and I guess the biopsy wasn’t conclusive enough,” Kelley revealed. “So they removed them. I still don’t know the results of what’s in my throat, but it’s out and I’m going to get back to pitching.”

Doctors are biopsying the masses to determine whether they’re malignant, but they’ve expressed optimism that Kelley will be fine, he said. Encouragingly, Kelley and the Rangers are hopeful he’ll come off the IL during the upcoming week – perhaps as early as this Sunday. The 35-year-old’s return will be a welcome one for the Rangers, who benefited from Kelley’s quality output before this health scare.  MLBTR wishes Kelley well in his recovery and hopes to see him back on the mound in short order.

Health Notes: Tatis Jr., Upton, Price, Diaz, K. Davis

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The Padres are hoping shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. will return May 24, the start of a six-game road trip for the club, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Tatis went to the injured list on April 30 with a hamstring strain, temporarily derailing a phenomenal start to the 20-year-old rookie’s career. The Padres have had the luxury of using Manny Machado at short to fill in for Tatis, but moving the former off third base has left the hot corner to the light-hitting Ty France.

Here’s more on several other household names dealing with injuries…

  • Angels left fielder Justin Upton remains a ways off from making his 2019 debut, as he explained to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters Saturday. That’s not surprising, though, considering Upton was slated to miss eight to 12 weeks when he went down with a toe injury at the end of March. While Upton is one of the Angels’ best complements to Mike Trout, his absence hasn’t been ruinous thanks to the surprisingly great offensive production waiver pickup Brian Goodwin has offered in his place.
  • Red Sox left-hander David Price will come off the IL to start Monday, manager Alex Cora told reporters, including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Price will end up missing exactly two weeks after heading to the shelf with elbow tendinitis May 6. Before that, Price followed up last fall’s playoff heroics with a 3.75 ERA/3.42 FIP and a career-high 10.5 K/9 across 36 frames.
  • Utilityman Aledmys Diaz left the Astros’ game Friday with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain, manager AJ Hinch announced (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). The injury doesn’t seem as if it will require an IL stint, though, as Hinch noted Diaz “could possibly be back as early as next series.” Diaz had been filling in at second base since last weekend, when the team placed starter Jose Altuve on the IL, and produced at a white-hot clip before going down with his own injury. Hinch indicated the Astros will turn to Yuli Gurriel at second and Tyler White at first for however long Diaz is out.
  • Athletics designated hitter Khris Davis incurred a left hip injury on May 5, and the issue continues to trouble him nearly two full weeks later, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com relays. Davis said Saturday he’s “not 100 hundred percent,” which caused the Athletics to scratch him from their lineup. Manager Bob Melvin admitted there’s “a little bit of concern” for the 31-year-old Davis, who was eminently durable with the A’s from 2016-18, though he’s hopeful the slugger will be OK by Sunday.

Johnny Cueto Could Return This Season

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Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto is making quick progress in his recovery from August 2018 Tommy John surgery and could return this September, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters Saturday (via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic).

After Cueto threw a bullpen session, Bochy declared: “He surprised a lot of us with how hard he was throwing and command. He’s in great shape —about the best shape I’ve seen him to be honest. What you saw today, you’ve got a believe he’ll be pitching before the season is over.”

That’s a welcome bit of positive news for the Giants, who, at 18-25, are on pace for their third straight sub-.500 season. The team’s woes this year have come thanks in part to its disappointing starting staff, which entered Saturday last in the majors in fWAR (minus-0.5) and 25th in ERA (5.20). Only Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija have offered decent run prevention numbers to this point, though the latter’s peripherals aren’t nearly as encouraging. Meantime, 2018 success stories Dereck Rodriguez and Derek Holland recently lost their spots in the Giants’ rotation, while free-agent addition Drew Pomeranz floundered before heading to the injured list with a lat strain on May 9.

Going forward, it’s unclear which members of that five-man group will even be on San Francisco’s roster come next season. Bumgarner, the best of the bunch, is an impending free agent whom the non-contending team could trade this summer, and Holland and Pomeranz are on track to join him on the open market in the winter. With that in mind, someone will need to eat innings for the Giants in 2020, and if he’s at full strength by then, Cueto could be the top option on a Bumgarner-less staff.

Unfortunately for San Francisco, the 33-year-old Cueto has not been a durable performer since the team handed him a six-year, $130MM guarantee in free agency entering the 2016 season. The former ace did record 219 2/3 innings of 2.79 ERA/2.96 FIP ball in Year 1 of the contract, but he has combined for just 200 1/3 – including 53 in 2018 – since then. When Cueto was able to take the hill during that two-year span, he was nowhere near the front-end starter he used to be, evidenced by his 4.18 ERA/4.55 FIP. Nevertheless, the Giants can only hope for a late-2019 return and an immediate rebirth from Cueto, who has a guaranteed $47MM left on his deal (including a $5MM buyout in 2022) beyond this season.

JB Shuck Trying To Become Two-Way Player

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The Pirates will attempt to convert veteran outfielder JB Shuck into a two-way player, director of player development Larry Broadway told Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Shuck will begin honing his pitching skills at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he has been playing since the Pirates outrighted him May 8.

The journeyman Shuck, 31, cracked Pittsburgh’s injury-plagued outfield entering the season after signing a minor league pact during the winter. However, as has been the case throughout his career, he didn’t provide much at the plate. The lefty-swinging Shuck, a lifetime .243/.296/.314 hitter in 1,289 major league plate appearances, batted .213/.339/.255 in 57 PA before the Pirates removed him from their 40-man roster.

Although Shuck’s hasn’t established himself as an offensive asset since debuting in the majors with the Astros in 2011, the Pirates aren’t abandoning hope that he’ll be able to help them down the line. Broadway explained to Biertempfel that the Pirates’ goal is for Shuck to emerge as a two-way contributor in the majors, not just the minors. Shuck’s on board with Pittsburgh’s outside-the-box thinking, telling Biertempfel he’s “all for trying it” if it’s for the betterment of his career. He also thinks “more two-way guys” could become “a new trend,” thanks in part to a rule that will enable teams to designate “two-way players” effective next year. But Shuck will first have to total 20 appearances with at least three PA as a position player (he’s at 10 right now) and 20 innings as a pitcher to become eligible for the two-way designation in 2020.

Contributing as a pitcher isn’t foreign to Shuck, who was a two-way player in high school and college. As an Ohio State Buckeye, Shuck amassed 223 innings of 3.87 ERA ball. The southpaw has since totaled a pair of mop-up appearances in the majors, including a scoreless, one-hit, one-walk frame in a blowout loss to the Diamondbacks earlier this season.

Latest On James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka

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Yankees southpaw James Paxton has been on the injured list since May 5 because of left knee inflammation, but it’s up in the air whether a return is imminent. Paxton said he still felt “something” in his knee during a bullpen session Friday, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. While Paxton added he “woke up this morning feeling pretty good,” he’ll face an important test Sunday during another bullpen session.

As if injuries to Paxton and other key cogs haven’t troubled the Yankees enough this year, right-hander Masahiro Tanaka departed his start Saturday against the Rays after six innings with a right shin contusion, James Wagner of the New York Times was among those to tweet. X-rays came back negative, but Tanaka expressed uncertainty after the game whether he’ll be able to make his next start.

Although the Yankees have gone without injured ace Luis Severino all season, Paxton and Tanaka have done their best to keep the team’s rotation among the majors’ top staffs thus far. In the process, they’ve helped New York not only stay afloat in the standings, but thrive.

The heat-throwing Paxton, a former Mariner who’s in his first year as a Yankee, tossed 37 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA/2.51 FIP ball and posted a lofty 12.42 K/9 prior to landing on the IL. Tanaka, meanwhile, was brilliant Saturday, continuing a strong season in which he has notched a 3.09 ERA/3.80 FIP across a team-best 58 1/3 frames. It’s unclear how the Bombers would replace Tanaka should he miss time. The Yankees are already set to deploy reliever Chad Green as an opener Sunday because they’re lacking a healthy fifth starter behind Tanaka, Domingo German, C.C. Sabathia and J.A. Happ, having just lost Jonathan Loaisiga for several weeks because of a shoulder strain.

J.D. Martinez’s Ex-Representative Suing Over Agency Switch

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In November 2017, at the start of what became a lucrative but drawn-out trip to free agency, slugger J.D. Martinez changed representation and hired famed agent Scott Boras. Now, 14-plus months after Martinez scored a five-year, $110MM guarantee from the Red Sox in February 2018, his former rep –  RMG Sports Group president Bob Garber – is crying foul on his ex-client’s switch. Garber is suing Merrill Lynch; Bruce Lee, one of Merrill Lynch’s Chicago-based financial advisers; and Pierce Fenner & Smith, “alleging tortious interference with contractual relations,” Scott Holland of the Cook County Record reports.

Garber had represented Martinez since 2010, the year after the Astros drafted him, but he claims in the lawsuit that Lee helped influence Martinez to hire Boras. According to Garber, he introduced Martinez to Lee, and the outfielder later hired Lee and Merrill Lynch “to provide wealth management services,” Holland writes. However, Garber alleged, “Upon learning of Boras’ impressive book of clients. Lee decided to grab an opportunity to get a foothold into the lucrative list of baseball clients represented by Scott Boars by using Martinez as his bait.”

Garber continued that in October 2017, shortly before Martinez defected to the Boras Corporation, the player engaged in phone discussions with Lee in which Lee “told Martinez to terminate his contractual relationship with RMG and Garber, telling Martinez, among other fabrications, that Bob is done, Bob is a hack and that Bob will sell him short.” As Holland writes, Garber added that Lee met with the Boras Corporation in November “to discuss referrals for his financial advising services,” indicating the two sides employed underhanded tactics that led to Boras stealing Martinez’s business from Garber.

This is somewhat of a similar situation to one in 2018 that saw Juan Carlos Nunez sue the ACES Agency, where he formerly worked as an independent contractor. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explained at the time, Nunez alleged that “ACES founders Sam and Seth Levinson guided and funded him in a scheme to attract clients and connect them with performance-enhancing drugs.” Nunez sought “millions” in damages, but wrongdoing on the part of ACES was never proven.

Likewise, it may be difficult to show real evidence that Lee did anything to help sway Martinez to Boras. Regardless, though, Martinez’s switch to Boras had negative financial ramifications for Garber. Had Garber kept representing Martinez, RMG Sports Group would have continued to earn a 5 percent commission on his baseball-related income. Therefore, had Martinez inked the same $110MM contract with Garber on his side, RMG would have raked in $5.5MM.

It’s anyone’s guess whether Martinez would have landed the same deal had he kept Garber in place, of course. Even though Martinez entered the market as a superstar-caliber hitter, concerns over his defense and age (30 at the time) helped lead to a lack of suitors on the open market. He and the Red Sox wound up engaged in a months-long standoff, during which it seemed like only a matter of time before he’d head to Boston. That’s exactly what happened, and the Red Sox have since reaped the rewards in the form of elite production from Martinez and a World Series championship in his first season with the club.

Going forward, it’s possible the Boras-repped Martinez will collect another major payday in the coming years. His current pact includes a pair of opt-out chances, one after this season and another at the conclusion of the 2020 campaign. But if Martinez takes advantage of that opportunity during the upcoming offseason, he’d be leaving a guaranteed $62.5MM on the table.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/18/19

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The latest in minor moves from around the game…

  • Cory Spangenberg, designated for assignment Tuesday by Milwaukee, cleared waivers and has been outrighted to AAA-San Antonio, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. It’s a bit of a surprise that Spangenberg wasn’t claimed, given his versatility and near-league-average offensive performance when afforded full-time play. The former tenth overall pick’s plate discipline continues to slide, however, and this year his strikeout rate had plummeted to a career-worst 33.9% at San Antonio. In 329 plate appearances for San Diego last season, the 28-year-old slashed .235/.298/.362 with a 32.4% strikeout rate, though his output in 2015 and ’17 for the team – his two previous seasons uninterrupted by injury – was far better. Spangenberg has MLB experience at nearly every non-catcher position on the diamond, so any prolonged hot streak should afford him another big-league opportunity in the near future.
  • The Royals have requested unconditional release waivers on 1B Frank Schwindel, tweets Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star. Schwindel, 26, was in his seventh season in the KC system but had plunged to unfortunate depths in ’19, slashing just .186/.237/.286 over 76 plate appearances in the surface-of-the-moon environs of the Pacific Coast League. Schwindel was designated for assignment by Kansas City on Tuesday.

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