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Archives for June 2019

Rockies Place Trevor Story On IL

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7:23pm: Story’s injury won’t require surgery, though the shortstop will be out of action for “multiple weeks,” as per The Athletic’s Nick Groke (Twitter link).

1:45pm: Story is headed to the IL, per a club announcement, with Brendan Rodgers up to replace him on the active roster. The full outlook for the injury remains unknown at this time.

7:34am: Rockies shortstop Trevor Story left the team’s win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday with a right thumb injury. He’ll undergo an MRI on Thursday, Nick Groke of The Athletic was among those to report.

X-rays on Story’s thumb were negative Wednesday, but as Groke notes, that doesn’t guarantee he’s out of the woods. Despite a negative X-ray on a left thumb injury in August 2016, Story still had to undergo season-ending surgery on account of a torn UCL in the digit. The Rockies weren’t serious contenders at that point, though, whereas they’re in the hunt for their third straight playoff berth this season. After Wednesday’s win, the club sits 39-34 and tied with the Phillies for the National League’s second wild-card spot.

The Rockies’ success in recent years has come thanks in no small part to Story, who exploded on the scene as a big-hitting defensive standout in 2015. The 26-year-old is off to a .294/.360/.547 start this season with a 120 wRC+, 17 home runs, 12 stolen bases and 2.9 fWAR in 328 plate appearances. Story has also appeared in 72 of Colorado’s 73 games in 2019.

The Rockies replaced Story on Wednesday with Pat Valaika. However, the team could recall Brendan Rodgers or Garrett Hampson from Triple-A Albuquerque if it has to put Story on the injured list.

MLB Draft Signings: 6/20/19

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Here’s a look at the latest noteworthy draft signings, with the newest moves at the top of the post.  Click here for the full list of slot values and draft pool bonuses, and you can find prospect rankings and scouting reports from Baseball America’s Top 500,  Fangraphs’ Top 200, MLB.com’s Top 200, and the Top 50 of ESPN.com’s Keith Law….

  • The Orioles have signed Kyle Stowers, their pick from Competitive Balance Round B, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports (Twitter link).  Stowers signed for $884.2K, matching the recommended bonus price for the 71st overall pick.  Stowers received a pretty wide range of evaluations from draft pundits, with Fangraphs (32nd) rating the Stanford outfielder highest, Baseball America (102nd) putting Stowers outside their top 100 and MLB.com (78th) falling in between.  He has a big swing that has led to strikeouts in the past, though Stowers has shown some solid left-handed hitting and power potential.
  • The Angels signed third-rounder Jack Kochanowicz, Mayo tweets.  Kochanowicz signed for a hefty $1.25MM bonus worth almost twice the $637.6K slot price of the 91st overall pick, as the high school right-hander clearly needed a heavy incentive to break his commitment to Virginia.  BA (61st), MLB.com (75th) and Fangraphs (80th) all had Kochanowicz in their top 80, noting his 6’6″ height and potential for three plus pitches as he continues to develop.  This includes adding velocity to a fastball that already clocks in the low 90’s.

Dodgers Place Rich Hill On Injured List

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5:23pm: Speaking to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (Twitter links) and other reporters, Hill said he was told he had a flexor tendon strain.  The southpaw has already received a PRP injection and won’t start throwing for around a month.  Hill didn’t have any firmer details about when he could be able to return to the mound, though he does expect to pitch again this season.

5:05pm: The Dodgers have officially placed Hill on the 10-day injured list with a left forearm strain, as per a team announcement.  Infielder Matt Beaty was optioned to Triple-A, while right-handers Josh Sborz and JT Chargois will join the 25-man roster.

7:14am: Dodgers starter Rich Hill lasted just one inning Wednesday before exiting with what the team called left forearm discomfort. While the southpaw will undergo an MRI on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury, a 10-day IL stint is a certainty, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports.

A forearm injury is ominous for a pitcher because it sometimes serves as a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Hill has already undergone the procedure once, in 2011, though he’s “pretty confident” he won’t require it this time. The 39-year-old revealed that a “very preliminary ultrasound” showed his elbow ligament’s still intact.

Even if Hill has avoided a possible career-ending scenario with this injury, it will still represent the latest IL stint during his recent rebirth. A series of injuries have prevented the journeyman from throwing more than 135 2/3 innings in a season since he unexpectedly emerged as a quality starter late in 2015 with the Red Sox.

The Dodgers acquired Hill from the Athletics during the summer of 2016 and then prevented him from leaving in free agency the ensuing winter with a three-year, $48MM contract. Now in the last season of his deal, the still-effective Hill has pitched to a 2.55 ERA/4.11 FIP with 10.36 K/9, 2.04 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent groundball rate over 10 starts and 53 innings.

After Hill departed Wednesday, the Dodgers’ bullpen worked eight solid innings to help the first-place club cruise to a 9-2 win over the Giants. The Hill-less Dodgers will turn to fellow lefty Julio Urias to start Thursday, with righty Ross Stripling backing him up, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. With Urias and Stripling among fallbacks behind Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers’ rotation should continue to perform like one of the majors’ best as it awaits Hill’s return.

Phillies Likely To Place Pat Neshek On Injured List

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TODAY: Neshek has been placed on the 10-day IL, the Phillies announced today.  Left-hander Ranger Suarez was called up from Triple-A to take Neshek’s roster spot.

YESTERDAY: Phillies reliever Pat Neshek suffered a left hamstring strain in the team’s loss to the Nationals on Wednesday night. He’s likely heading to the 10-day injured list as a result, manager Gabe Kapler said (via Scott Lauber of Philly.com).

This will be the second IL placement of 2019 for Neshek, who went down May 25 with rotator cuff inflammation and just returned June 16. The 38-year-old hasn’t been available enough to the Phillies’ liking since they reunited with him on a two-year, $16.25MM pact entering 2018, nor has he been as effective as the team hoped.

Shoulder and forearm problems shelved Neshek until last July after he signed his deal. Dating back to then, the soft-tossing Neshek has posted a 3.46 ERA/4.32 FIP with 5.18 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 in 41 2/3 innings. Neshek was coming off a 62 1/3 inning-season of 1.59 ERA/1.86 FIP ball with 9.96 K/9 against .87 BB/9 divided between Philly and Colorado when the Phillies re-signed him.

The Phillies already have key relievers in David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Adam Morgan and Tommy Hunter on the IL. Like Neshek, Robertson and Hunter recently joined the Phillies as pricey free-agent signings, though they also haven’t quite worked out for the club yet.

Cubs DFA Tim Collins, Promote Adbert Alzolay

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TODAY: The Cubs have officially announced the move.  Alzolay tells 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine and other reporters that he was informed by the team that he’ll be pitching tonight.

YESTERDAY: The Cubs have designated reliever Tim Collins for assignment, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. His 25-man roster spot’s going to promising pitching prospect Adbert Alzolay, who’s coming up from Triple-A Iowa.

The more notable move here is the call-up of Alzolay, a 24-year-old who rates as one of the Cubs’ best farmhands. Now 24, the right-handed Alzolay joined the Cubs as an international free agent out of Venezuela for just $10K in 2012. MLB.com currently ranks Alzolay fourth on the Cubs’ list of prospects and notes the team’s of the belief he could develop into a mid-rotation starter.

Alzolay has thrived this year at the Triple-A level, where he has pitched to a 3.09 ERA/3.10 FIP with 12.94 K/9 and 1.69 BB/9 in six starts and 32 innings. However, even though key starter Kyle Hendricks is on the injured list, the Cubs aren’t planning to have Alzolay join their rotation immediately. He’ll instead back up No. 5 starter Tyler Chatwood, who’s set to take the ball Thursday against the Mets.

Collins, meanwhile, has gone back and forth between Chicago and Iowa since the club signed him to a major league deal in late March. The 29-year-old lefty has thrown 7 2/3 innings this season in Chicago, with which he has allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks (with four strikeouts). Collins also owns a 2.12 ERA (with a far less encouraging 5.45 FIP) and 9.53 K/9 against 4.76 BB/9 in 17 Triple-A frames this season.

Mets Fire Pitching Coach Dave Eiland

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4:11pm: The Mets officially announced the coaching changes, including the additional news that Jeremy Accardo has been named the team’s “pitching strategist,” a newly-created role.  Accardo had previously been working as New York’s minor league pitching coordinator following two years as a pitching and bullpen coach in the Mets’ farm system.

2:35pm: Phil Regan will take over for Eiland, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). The former MLB hurler managed the Orioles for one season (1995) and has plenty of coaching experience. The 82-year-old has been involved with the Mets organization for some time and had been listed as pitching coordinator of the team’s minor league/player development group.

Ricky Bones will take over as the bullpen coach; he had served in that role last season but was replaced by Hernandez.

2:07pm: The Mets have parted ways with pitching coach Dave Eiland, per a report from James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez is also on his way out, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Plans for replacements aren’t yet known.

Eiland had been hired in advance of the 2018 season. He was a key hire for the staff of then-rookie skipper Mickey Callaway, who was himself a former pitching coach. Before coming to New York, Eiland had long guided the hurlers for the Royals.

This move comes as the Mets continue to sink in the standings. Their rotation hasn’t been quite the exceptional unit it was expected to be, while the bullpen has been an unmitigated disaster. That’s obviously not entirely the fault of these pitching instructors, but they’ll take the fall in hopes that a mid-season shakeup can deliver improved results.

Angels Select Dustin Garneau, Place Kevan Smith On 10-Day IL

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The Angels have selected the contract of catcher Dustin Garneau from Triple-A, the team announced today.  Garneau will take over the backup catching role from Kevan Smith, who will hit the 10-day injured list due to a metacarpal strain in his left hand.  Garneau will take the 40-man spot left open after Cody Allen was released on Tuesday; the Halos officially confirmed that release today.

This is the second time in a month that Garneau replaced an injured Smith, as the Angels made the same move in late May after Smith was placed on the seven-day concussion IL.  Garneau was subsequently DFA’ed and then outrighted off Los Angeles’ 40-man roster after Smith returned.  Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, Garneau has appeared in seven games for the Halos this season, hitting .250/.455/.313 over 22 PA.

Smith has swung an even mightier bat, with a .296/.387/.469 slash line over 93 plate appearances.  While Smith posted roughly league-average production over 187 PA with the White Sox in 2018, his rather unexpected offensive outburst this year has been a boon for the Angels, who gave Smith more playing time as Jonathan Lucroy continued to scuffle at the plate.

Yankees To Activate Aaron Judge On Friday

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The Yankees will activate star outfielder Aaron Judge off the injured list on Friday, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports (Twitter link).  Judge has already joined the team in New York as the Yankees begin an important four-game series against Houston starting tonight.

The slugger has spent the last week playing in Triple-A rehab games, as Judge puts the final touches on his recovery from a left oblique strain.  That injury sent Judge to the IL back on April 21, interrupting what had been a strong start (.288/.404/.521 and five homers over 89 PA) to the 2019 campaign for the former Rookie Of The Year.

Judge now rejoins a Yankees lineup that, incredibly, barely seemed to slow down despite the long-term absences of several notable starters — despite missing Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius for long stretches and losing Miguel Andujar to season-ending shoulder surgery, New York still ranks within the top ten in most team offensive categories.  Between these returning star hitters and the newly-acquired Edwin Encarnacion, the Yankees now boast arguably the game’s most impressive lineup.

Cameron Maybin’s continued roster status could now be in question with Judge returning, unless the Yankees choose to option a reliever to Triple-A and keep both Maybin and Brett Gardner as backup outfielders.  The latter option would allow the Yankees to perhaps spell Judge and Stanton in the later innings to keep them fresh as they return from their long IL absences, since DH duty isn’t as much of an option now with Encarnacion in the fold.  Maybin is playing on a minor league contract this season, and was acquired from Cleveland in late April as a response to the Yankees’ injury-depleted outfield.  Maybin, for his part, has hit very well since donning the pinstripes, taking a .307/.383/.491 slash line over 128 plate appearances into today’s action.

Blue Jays Activate Ken Giles From Injured List

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The Blue Jays have activated closer Ken Giles from the 10-day injured list, as noted by multiple reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca).  Righty Justin Shafer was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Giles will end up missing only the 10-day minimum after being sidelined with elbow inflammation.  While obviously the good health news is appreciated by both the player and the club, Giles’ quick return could also have an impact on his status as a trade candidate.  The closer has been almost untouchable over 25 innings this season, with a 1.08 ERA, 6.00 K/BB rate, and a stunning 15.1 K/9.  Between these excellent numbers and the fact that Giles is controllable through the 2020 season, the rebuilding Jays will look to extract a nice return on the right-hander before July 31.

Orioles Designate Dan Straily, Place John Means On IL

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The Orioles have designated right-hander Dan Straily for assignment, as per a team announcement.  The move is one of a series of transactions for the O’s, as the club also placed southpaw John Means on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to June 17) with a left shoulder strain, reinstated Dwight Smith Jr. from the 10-day IL and recalled righty Evan Phillips from Triple-A.

Today’s news ends Straily’s brief time in Baltimore after 47 2/3 innings and a disappointing 9.82 ERA.  After the Marlins surprisingly released Straily near the end of Spring Training, the O’s inked the righty to a $575K one-year deal to fill a hole in their shaky rotation.  Unfortunately, Straily simply never got on track either as a starter or as a reliever, as his career-long flyball tendencies bit him especially hard at Camden Yards.  Straily has already allowed a whopping 22 homers during his brief time on the mound this season — for perspective’s sake, Dylan Bundy allowed a league-high 41 homers in 2018, though that was over 171 2/3 innings.

There was enough interest in Straily after his release from Miami that you would figure he’d get some looks now that he is on the market again, as the veteran posted decent numbers for the Reds and Marlins from 2016-18.  Another Major League contract doesn’t seem as likely, however, as Straily seems like a candidate for a minor league deal with a team that will try to iron out his flyball problems down on the farm.

In terms of pure results, Means has been the lone bright spot on the Orioles’ struggling rotation this year, with a 2.67 ERA, 2.81 K/BB rate, and 7.5 K/9 over 70 2/3 innings.  ERA indicators (4.08 FIP, 5.07 xFIP, 4.67 SIERA) hint at some serious regression, though Means hasn’t allowed much in the way of hard contract, with only a .309 xwOBA and .299 wOBA.

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