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Archives for June 2019

Alex Wood Suffers Setback

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Reds left-hander Alex Wood had finally been moving toward his 2019 debut, but that’s now on hold. Wood “felt some soreness” while stretching and will see a doctor for a follow-up appointment, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports.

Wood, out all season because of back issues, had been scheduled for his first rehab start this Thursday. He was supposed to throw a bullpen session Tuesday in preparation for that outing, but it didn’t occur because of his soreness.

This is hardly the first setback of 2019 for Wood, who has been battling back troubles since late February. Those problems have stopped the 28-year-old from helping the Reds, who landed Wood as one of their key offseason acquisitions, and from making a case for a payday in free agency during the upcoming winter. Plus, while the 36-40 Reds are potentially lining up as sellers entering the July 31 trade deadline, it appears they can forget about flipping Wood for anything remotely valuable.

Wood came to Cincinnati last winter as one of the hurlers who was supposed to fix what had been a terrible rotation. Hoping Wood would help rescue their starting staff, the Reds acquired him in a late-December blockbuster with the Dodgers. Six months later, Cincy’s rotation has taken sizable steps forward, but Wood hasn’t been able to contribute at all.

Wood, to his credit, still owns an impressive 3.29 ERA/3.36 FIP in 803 1/3 career innings divided between Atlanta and LA. However, it continues to look as if Wood will have a hard time building on his 2019 salary of $9.65MM if he reaches free agency in the coming months.

Alex Meyer Retires

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Right-hander Alex Meyer has announced his retirement via Instagram, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

“After multiple surgeries and countless hours of rehab, the end of the road for my baseball career has come,” said the 29-year-old.

As Meyer noted, injuries were a problem throughout his career, which began in 2011 when the Nationals chose the ex-Kentucky Wildcat 23rd overall. The 6-foot-9 Meyer’s union with the Nationals came together three years after he declined to sign with the Red Sox for $2.2MM as a 20th-rounder in 2008.

Meyer lasted with the Nationals through the 2012 season, after which they traded him to the Twins for outfielder Denard Span. While the hard-throwing Meyer eventually blossomed into one of baseball’s top 50 prospects with Minnesota, he dealt with shoulder issues as a member of the organization and made minimal impact in the majors. Meyer totaled 6 1/3 innings as a Twin from 2015-16, and the team traded him to the Angels in an August 2016 deal that delivered Hector Santiago to Minnesota.

Meyer ultimately garnered almost all of his major league experience as an Angel, with whom he pitched to a 3.94 ERA/4.09 FIP and posted 10.01 K/9 against 5.56 BB/9 across 89 innings and 18 starts from 2016-17. Meyer then underwent surgery on a torn shoulder labrum in September 2017 and never made it back to the majors, though the Angels did re-sign him to a minor league contract last December.

Although Meyer’s time in pro baseball didn’t go the way he wanted, he still ended on a high note. In the final appearance of his career July 19, 2017, Meyer tossed seven innings of shutout, one-hit ball with seven strikeouts against one walk in a 7-0 win over his first team, the Nationals.

Marlins Activate Neil Walker

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The Marlins announced infielder Neil Walker’s reinstatement from the injured list Tuesday. Walker missed over three weeks with a right quad strain. The club optioned right-hander Jeff Brigham to Triple-A New Orleans to make room for Walker.

The fact that Walker’s healthy as the July 31 deadline draws nearer is an encouraging development for rebuilding Miami, which isn’t chock-full of potential trade pieces. But the versatile, switch-hitting Walker stands out as a Marlin who could find himself on the move over the next month-plus.

Since joining the Marlins on a $2MM contract last winter, Walker has slashed .295/.375/.443 (122 wRC+) in 168 plate appearances. As a defender, the 33-year-old has seen substantial action at first and second base this season, and has also worked at third and in the corner outfield during his career.

Aside from 2018, when Walker signed with the Yankees in mid-March after not finding a deal to his liking in the offseason, he has consistently performed well in the majors. Also a former Pirate and Met, Walker has hit a lifetime .269/.340/.430 (112 wRC+) with 145 home runs in 4,898 trips to the plate. Walker’s affordable salary, solid career production and 2019 numbers figure to make for an appealing combination leading up to the deadline.

Jordan Hicks To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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June 25, 3:54pm: Hicks will undergo Tommy John surgery Wednesday, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters.

1:10pm: The Cardinals have formally placed Hicks on the injured list and also optioned lefty Genesis Cabrera to Triple-A Memphis. Right-handers Daniel Ponce de Leon and Dominic Leone have been recalled from Memphis in a pair of corresponding moves.

June 24: Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks has suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the team announced. Hicks may need to undergo Tommy John surgery as a result, though the club noted it’s still determining the next course of action.

Should the 22-year-old Hicks have to go under the knife, he’d miss the rest of this season and likely the majority of 2020 on top of it. Hicks would continue to accrue service time in the process, meaning he’d stay on track to reach arbitration after 2020 and free agency at the end of the 2023 campaign. More importantly, though, Hicks’ loss would be a devastating near-term shot to St. Louis’ bullpen, which has seen him turn into one of the game’s most imposing relievers since he debuted in 2018.

Hicks didn’t log impressive strikeout and rates as a rookie last season, when he put up 8.11 K/9 and 5.21 BB/9 in 77 2/3 innings, but still recorded a 3.59 ERA/3.74 FIP with a 60.7 percent groundball rate. He also saved six of seven chances and amassed 24 holds, thanks in part to devastating velocity. Hicks was the only pitcher in the majors to average upward of 100 mph on his four-seam fastball and sinker last season. He has clocked in just below 101 mph on his four-seamer and at 101.1 mph on his sinker this year, and enjoyed even better results before suffering his injury. Hicks made good on 14 of 15 save chances for the Cardinals this season and notched a 3.14 ERA/3.18 FIP with 9.73 K/9, 3.45 BB/9 and a fantastic 67.2 percent grounder rate in 28 2/3 innings.

Losing Hicks is all the more troublesome for the Cardinals given their place in the National League playoff race. The 40-37 Redbirds haven’t been great this season, but they’re still just two games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs and tied with the Rockies for the NL’s second wild-card spot.

Fortunately for the team, it does have at least a few other reliable late-game relievers. John Gant, Giovanny Gallegos and John Brebbia have joined Hicks in turning in good to excellent results, while Andrew Miller has been better of late after a rough start. The Cardinals also have former starter Carlos Martinez, who has been effective in 15 relief innings since making his season debut in May. Still, in the wake of the awful news on Hicks, St. Louis’ relief corps may well end up as an area of focus for the club’s front office as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.

Brewers Sign First-Round Pick Ethan Small

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The Brewers have signed first-round pick Ethan Small, the team announced. Smith inked a deal worth $1.8MM, below the $2,493,900 slot value of his selection, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets.

The 22-year-old Small’s a former Mississippi State University left-hander who, according to pundits, didn’t rank as highly as the Brewers viewed him entering the draft. Baseball America rated Small 45th in the 2019 class, while ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 50), MLB.com (No. 56) and FanGraphs (No. 58) placed him lower. Small’s a former Tommy John surgery patient whose velocity hasn’t returned since the procedure, per Law, though he notes the hurler “has improved substantially as a pitcher.”

With Small under wraps, the Brewers have now agreed to deals with each of their first three draft picks. They previously inked second-round pitcher Antoine Kelly ($1.03MM) and fourth-round catcher Nick Kahle ($325K). The club entered the draft with the second-lowest pool available at $5,148,200.

Rangers Activate Joey Gallo

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The Rangers announced that they’ve activated outfielder Joey Gallo from the injured list. Gallo went on the IL on June 2 with a left oblique strain.

Texas posted a 13-9 record without Gallo, which is an excellent outcome considering his importance to the team. The 42-36 club is sitting a game back of an American League wild-card spot as it gears up for Gallo’s return.

While Gallo was a 40-home run hitter in each of the previous two seasons, the 25-year-old has truly busted out in 2019 with an exemplary .276/.421/.653 line and 17 home runs in 214 plate appearances. Among those who have amassed at least 200 PA this season, Gallo ranks fifth in wRC+ (168) and eighth in fWAR (3.2). Although offense is Gallo’s calling card, his defense shouldn’t be overlooked. Gallo has helped drive up his value this season with six Defensive Runs Saved and a 5.4 Ultimate Zone Rating across 394 innings divided between center and left field, making him one of the game’s top all-around players.

The Rangers deployed only Danny Santana and Delino DeShields in center during Gallo’s absence, while Santana, Hunter Pence, Shin-Soo Choo and Willie Calhoun handled left. Santana helped fill Gallo’s void of late by going on a hot streak, and DeShields has also performed better recently. Meanwhile, Pence, Choo and Calhoun have held their own at the plate this year over disparate sample sizes. Pence is unavailable at the moment, though, having gone to the IL on June 16 with a strained groin.

Nationals Select Jonny Venters

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3:25pm: To make room for Venters and Rodney, the Nationals moved injured right-hander Jeremy Hellickson to the 60-day IL and optioned fellow righty Kyle McGowin to Triple-A Fresno.

11:30am: The Nationals will select the contract of left-hander Jonny Venters prior to tonight’s game against the Marlins, reports Grant Paulsen of NBC Sport Washington (via Twitter). He’ll join fellow veteran Fernando Rodney in a constantly changing Nats bullpen mix; the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty reported yesterday that Rodney is also set to have his contract selected. Both promotions will require corresponding 40-man and 25-man roster moves.

Venters, 34, was the National League Comeback Player of the Year in 2018 after he returned from three Tommy John surgeries and a five-year MLB absence in 2018 to give the Braves 34 1/3 innings of 3.67 ERA ball. Along the way, the southpaw averaged 7.1 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and 0.26 HR/9 to go along with a superlative 69.1 percent ground-ball rate while holding left-handed opponents to a laughable .133/.200/.200 batting line.

The Braves naturally tendered a contract to Venters following that performance, but the 2019 season was nothing short of a nightmare. Venters appeared in just nine games with the Braves, pitching a total of 4 2/3 innings but surrendering nine earned runs (plus another four unearned runs). He faced 31 batters and allowed more to reach than he retired (nine hits, eight walks) before being released in May.

Since signing with the Nats on May 29, Venters has been pitching for the team’s Double-A club. While he’s allowed just one run in seven innings, the control problems that dogged him in Atlanta earlier this season have persisted. Venters has issued six walks in seven innings and also hit a batter. He’s generated grounders at a ridiculous 72.7 percent clip in that tiny sample, and lefties are hitting just .194 against him with a .323 slugging percentage between the Majors and Minors in 2019. However, he’s also walked 11 of the 43 lefties he’s faced (against 10 strikeouts), so he’ll need to quickly rediscover some semblance of control if he’s to have much hope of sticking in the Washington ’pen.

As has been well documented, the Nationals’ bullpen has been an unmitigated disaster so far in 2019, although they no longer lay claim to the league’s worst collective ERA, having narrowly squeaked ahead of Baltimore for that onerous distinction (6.29 to 6.34). Nationals relievers have the game’s fifth-worst collective FIP and second-worst xFIP, and they rank in the bottom third of MLB in BB/9 and HR/9 as well.

Twins Sign Carlos Torres

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The Twins have signed free-agent right-hander Carlos Torres to a minor league contract, MLBTR’s Steve Adams tweets.

Torres will now stay in the American League Central, where he spent the previous month before the Tigers designated him for assignment this past weekend. The 36-year-old could have stayed in the Detroit organization after clearing waivers, but he elected for free agency on Monday. It proved to be a good decision for Torres, who quickly found another opportunity.

Torres totaled six innings with the Tigers before they cut the cord on him, allowing five earned runs on nine hits (two home runs) with one walk against eight strikeouts. Also a former National, White Sox, Rockie, Met and Brewer, Torres has recorded a 4.09 ERA/4.23 FIP with 7.94 K/9, 3.41 BB/9 and a 44.3 percent groundball rate in 506 2/3 innings in the majors. Although he hasn’t logged much major league experience since 2017 in Milwaukee, he’ll try to catch on with a contending Twins team.

Orioles Claim Tayler Scott, Designate Sean Gilmartin

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Tayler Scott off waivers from the Mariners and designated left-hander Sean Gilmartin for assignment in order to open a 40-man roster spot, per a club announcement. Scott has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

The South African-born Scott, 27, made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2019, pitching 7 2/3 innings but yielding eight earned runs on 11 hits and six walks with seven strikeouts. Scott’s bottom-line numbers in Triple-A aren’t much more appealing — 6.43 ERA in 35 innings — but he’s posted a 57 percent grounder rate across his past two Triple-A campaigns and averages roughly 95 mph on his sinker. That, it seems, piqued the interest of the new-look Orioles front office. Because Scott only just had his contract selected for the first time in 2019, he has all three minor league option years remaining (2019 included).

Gilmartin, 29, yielded five runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout across 2 1/3 innings in his lone start for the O’s. The former first-round pick was once a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect but hasn’t found much MLB success outside a solid 2015 rookie season with the Mets when he was a Rule 5 pick out of the Twins organization. In 107 2/3 innings in the big leagues, Gilmartin has a 4.18 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 (5.90 ERA in 50 1/3 frames from 2016-19). He’s struggled throughout much of his time in Triple-A as well, though he did give the Orioles’ top affiliate 36 1/3 sharp innings this year prior to his selection to the MLB roster. The O’s will have a week to trade Gilmartin or run him through outright waivers.

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