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Archives for June 2019

Seranthony Dominguez Will Attempt To Rehab UCL Injury

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Phillies righty Seranthony Dominguez has avoided Tommy John surgery — for the time being, at least. He instead will rehab through an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament after receiving a platelet-rich plasma treatment, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports on Twitter.

Dominguez is expected to receive four to six weeks of rest before trying to ramp back up. That means he could have a ball in his hand by late July, potentially making him an option down the stretch for the Phils.

It’s promising to hear that this course of treatment was recommended. Dominguez headed out to Dr. James Andrews expecting the worst, but “hoping for a miracle.” He’ll still need to respond well to treatment and avoid further injury, but it seems he’ll have a shot at avoiding TJS and its year-plus rehabilitation timeline.

The news provides another glimmer of hope for a Philadelphia relief unit that has been racked by injury. The team won’t be able to assume much of anything regarding Dominguez, and will surely be on the hunt for relief additions this summer regardless, but it should have some sense whether Dominguez is likely to be a late-season option while it weighs deadline moves.

Pirates To Select Dario Agrazal

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The Pirates will select the contract of righty Dario Agrazal, per a club announcement. He has been tapped to start the club’s game tomorrow.

Agrazal was added to the Pittsburgh 40-man roster in the fall of 2017, but lost his spot this January. He remained in the organization after clearing waivers.

With the Bucs struggling to fill innings, Agrazal will now receive his first shot at the majors. He has pitched to a 3.27 ERA in 74 1/3 upper minors innings thus far in 2019, carrying 7.0 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9.

Marlins Place Jose Urena On 60-Day IL

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3:14pm: An MRI revealed a herniated disc in Urena’s back, Wells Dusenbury of the Sun Sentinel was among those to tweet.

1:07pm: Marlins right Jose Urena is hitting the shelf for the foreseeable future, with the club announcing that he’s going to the 60-day injured list. Urena is said to be dealing with a left lower back strain.

It’s a bit of a surprising turn of events for the starting pitcher, who had been scheduled to start on Wednesday before hitting the 10-day IL. At the time, there wasn’t much indication that he’d be sidelined for a lengthy stretch. The injury is evidently more severe than is apparent from the basic description of a lower back issue.

Given the timing, Urena won’t be eligible to return from the IL until mid-August. That all but eliminates him as a summer trade target. The 27-year-old hadn’t been in top form, with a 4.70 ERA in 74 2/3 innings, but he turned in consecutive sub-4.00 ERA campaigns in the prior two seasons. With his steady mid-to-upper nineties fastball velocity, Urena could have been an interesting swingman for the right contender.

Urena is earning $3.2MM this year as a 3+ service-class arbitration player. That leaves two more arb-eligible campaigns to come. The injury will sap his ability to procure a significant raise next fall, so it’s still plausible to imagine the Marlins tendering him a contract. Whether that’ll be a sensible approach will depend upon Urena’s recovery and showing upon his return,

This move represents the corresponding 40-man roster transaction for the club’s previously reported decision to select the contract of Yadiel Rivera. He’ll help fill in for Martin Prado while the veteran infielder is sidelined.

Rangers Acquire Jake Petricka

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The Rangers have struck a deal with the Brewers for reliever Jake Petricka, per a club announcement. Cash or a player to be named later will go back in return. Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the news (via Twitter).

Petricka, 31, signed a MLB deal with a minor-league split salary. He is optionable this season but was outrighted off of the Milwaukee 40-man roster. The Rangers have assigned Petricka to Triple-A to begin his tenure with the organization.

While he allowed only three earned runs in his eight frames of big-league action with the Brewers, Petricka managed only three strikeouts to go with six walks. He has been much better during his time at Triple-A, where he carries a 1.89 ERA with a 22:4 K/BB ratio over 19 innings.

Phillies Select Brad Miller, Designate Phil Gosselin

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The Phillies announced today that they have selected the contract of recently acquired infielder Brad Miller. In a corresponding move, Phil Gosselin was designated for assignment.

Just added in a low-cost trade, the 29-year-old Miller will take his next crack at the majors as a Philadelphia reserve. The versatile performer has experience all over the field, though he hasn’t always graded well with the glove. He’ll help to balance an otherwise all-righty infield mix while also bringing much more potential pop than the man he’ll replace.

Miller produced at a just-below-league-average rate (.250/.325/.417) in forty plate appearances to open the year with the Indians. He was bumped from the roster when the Cleveland organization got back to full health and landed with the Yankees’ top affiliate. In 163 plate appearances at Triple-A, Miller carries a .294/.399/.596 batting line with ten long balls.

It’s best to temper expectations, but Miller could certainly be a useful part of the roster. He has typically produced at around a league-average rate in the big leagues, occasionally showing more power or more on-base ability but rarely putting it all together. The Phillies can hope to squeeze out some added value by utilizing Miller almost exclusively against right-handed pitching; he has a career 108-71 wRC+ spread.

Gosselin, 30, has only a .245/.260/.306 slash in fifty plate appearances this year and has never rarely done much damage at the plate in 629 career trips to the MLB dish. The former fifth-round pick does keep receiving opportunities, so teams obviously trust his glove and feel he provides competitive at-bats. Having previously been outrighted, Gosselin will have the right to elect free agency if he isn’t traded or claimed.

Aaron Judge To Begin Rehab Assignment

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The Yankees announced Friday that right fielder Aaron Judge will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight. Additionally, Giancarlo Stanton’s rehab assignment will be moved up from Class-A Tampa to Triple-A as well.

It’s a breath of fresh air for a Yankees team that has been without its top two sluggers for nearly the entire season. Stanton has been on the injured list since April 1, while Judge was placed there alongside him 20 days later. The two have combined for just 23 games and 104 plate appearances between them, although that hasn’t stopped the Yankees from putting together the fourth-best record in the Majors as they jostle with the Rays for the AL East lead. The now-looming return of both Judge and Stanton only strengthens their position within the division.

Clint Frazier has had some misadventures patrolling right field in absence of Judge and Stanton, while the Yankees have turned to a host of others for shorter glimpses in right field and at designated hitter. Mike Tauchman, Kendrys Morales, Cameron Maybin and Mike Ford have all seen some time in one or both of those spots as New York has capably patched over the lineup in absence of arguably its two biggest bats.

There’s still no official timetable on the return of either Judge or Stanton. Given that Stanton’s already played a pair of games in Tampa, he seems likelier to return first, but it stands to reason that both will be back in the Yankees’ lineup within the next couple of weeks (barring any setbacks).

Marlins Expected To Place Martin Prado On IL, Select Yadiel Rivera

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The Marlins expect Martin Prado to miss some time due to a hamstring injury, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. It’s not clear yet just how serious an injury he’s sustained nor how long he’ll be out, but Frisaro tweets that Miami is expected to bring infielder/outfielder Yadiel Rivera up from Triple-A in Prado’s absence. Rivera isn’t on the Marlins’ 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a 40-man move in order to formally select his contract.

Prado, 35, is in the final season of a three-year, $40MM extension that has not panned out as the organization had hoped. When he initially signed the extension, Prado was putting the finishing touches on a .305/.359/.417 campaign in which he took the field for 153 of the Marlins’ 162 games. Injuries, however, have not only limited Prado to just 142 total games dating back to the 2017 season — they’ve also dramatically reduced his productivity. He’s made just 519 plate appearances while playing on his current contract and has produced an unsightly .244/.277/.319 batting line in that time.

The 27-year-old Rivera appeared in a career-high 111 games with the Marlins in 2018 but was used primarily as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner and defensive replacement. He accrued just 160 plate appearances in those 111 contests, batting .173/.269/.216. Rivera, though, is enjoying a strong start in Triple-A New Orleans, where he’s batted .318/.333/.516 in 233 trips to the plate.

Athletics, First-Rounder Logan Davidson Agree To Terms

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The Athletics have agreed to terms with Logan Davidson, their top pick in the 2019 draft, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). A shortstop out of Clemson, Davidson will receive the full slot value of his No. 29 overall selection — a $2,424,600 bonus.

Davidson, 21, hit .291/.412/.574 with 15 home runs, 18 doubles, two triples and 17 stolen bases (in 20 attempts) during his junior year at Clemson. This marks the second time he’s been selected in the draft, as the Phillies picked him in the 30th round back in 2016 but were unable to persuade him to forgo his college commitment.

Heading into the draft, the team at Baseball America was most bullish on Davidson, ranking him 19th on their Top 500. He checked in at No. 21 at MLB.com, No. 27 per ESPN’s Keith Law and No. 29 at Fangraphs. BA praises Davidson as a legitimate shortstop with power and speed while noting that there are questions surrounding his hit tool. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo wrote in their report at MLB.com that if scouts were convinced Davidson will hit with a wood bat, he might’ve been the first college shortstop off the board. Concerns surrounding Davidson’s performance with wood bats in last summer’s Cape Cod League are a recurring theme, but the general upside of his power, speed and glove at shortstop nonetheless made him a consensus first-round talent in pre-draft projections.

Cubs Likely To Target Left-Handed Relief Upgrades

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Within a broader look at the potential return of Ben Zobrist later this season, The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney writes (subscription required) that the Cubs believe they can shift their trade-deadline focus to acquiring left-handed relief help now that they’ve addressed their biggest need by signing Craig Kimbrel.

Lefty relief has indeed been an issue for the Cubs in 2019, as they’ve had somewhat of a revolving door to the bullpen while cycling through southpaws. Kyle Ryan has been a relatively steady presence, pitching to a 4.37 ERA (3.55 FIP) with a strong 27-to-8 K/BB ratio in 22 2/3 innings. Beyond him, the club has received sub-par results from Mike Montgomery, who has also missed time due to injury. Xavier Cedeno, signed in Spring Training, has only been healthy enough to tally a pair of innings but began a minor league rehab assignment this week. Randy Rosario hasn’t fared well in a small sample of work, nor has Tim Collins.

One key but yet-unknown variable in the Cubs’ search will be just how much financial leeway the front office has at its disposal. Cubs ownership plainly stated it had nothing more to spend on the roster back in February; it was largely because of the money saved from placing Zobrist on the restricted list that Kimbrel even became a viable option. That said, Mooney notes that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and his front office typically set aside a “significant” amount of money for in-season additions each winter.

If the Cubs do have some reserve funds at the ready, then acquiring a half-season of a lefty reliever’s salary could well be feasible. Even if that’s not the case, it’s always possible to convince a potential trade partner to include some cash in a deal. Doing so would likely require a greater prospect package, though, and the Cubs’ farm system is not among the game’s most highly regarded.

As for lefty relievers that can be expected to become available, the market should bear plenty of options. Giants southpaw Will Smith will headline the rental class, though his teammate, Tony Watson, is a highly appealing alternative. Kansas City’s Jake Diekman is in the midst of a strong season and should be available, too. Depending on how the next several weeks play out for their respective clubs, either Sean Doolittle or Brad Hand could become available, though each would have a substantial price tag attached to his name in negotiations. Either San Diego’s Robbie Erlin or Seattle’s Roenis Elias could be more affordable alternatives. Both are controlled beyond the 2019 campaign and in the midst of solid seasons. Other names will surely emerge — particularly if some current fringe Wild Card contenders fall out of the race and sell off pieces.

In speaking with Mooney, Epstein voiced a willingness to be “proactive” while noting that this year’s one true trade deadline could create a unique market environment. “It’s very competitive out there, so we’ll see,” said Epstein. “…The new rules this year, too, will probably make for a higher volume across the industry, even if there are a lot of small deals.”

AL Central Notes: Mize, Indians, Pineda

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Tigers fans are holding their collective breaths as top prospect Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, exited last night’s Double-A start with an apparent injury (link via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). After a third-inning pitch — a fastball that was clocked at 85-86 mph, per Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times-News (Twitter link) — catcher Kade Scivicque went to the mound and called out the training staff and skipper Mike Rabelo. Mize departed the game at that point. There’s been no formal update on his condition, though Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle tweets that Mize didn’t have his elbow or shoulder wrapped upon leaving the clubhouse and lifted his own bags onto the team’s bus — none of which seem indicative of a major injury. Presumably, the Tigers will have further updates on Mize in the near future.

Here’s more from the division…

  • The Indians are facing an 11-game deficit in the AL Central, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggests that the team won’t act as an aggressive buyer this summer unless it feels there’s a real chance at winning the division. That’s become increasingly clear in recent weeks. As the gap in the AL Central has grown, so too have rumors about the potential availability of coveted pitchers such as Trevor Bauer (controlled through 2020) and Brad Hand (signed through 2021). Morosi notes that Cleveland would be “poised” to listen to offers on that pair, as well as the resurgent Carlos Santana, barring a sudden climb back into the division race. Santana is hitting .286/.406/.530 with 14 homers and more walks (46) than strikeouts (45) through 281 plate appearances in his return to Cleveland. He’s earning $17MM in 2019 and$17.5MM in 2020, though the Mariners are on the hook for $5MM of the salary still owed to him. Santana’s contract also contains a $17.5MM club option, but that’ll be his age-35 campaign.
  • Twins righty Michael Pineda used his recent stint on the injured list to focus on the release point on his slider, he tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic (subscription required). “I’m focusing especially on my release point and finishing my pitches, especially my slider, because this is my pitch for swings and misses,” said Pineda. “I love my slider.” As Hayes observes, Pineda’s rediscovered confidence in the pitch was apparent. He threw just five sliders in his final start prior to landing on the injured list before uncorking 26 sliders in yesterday’s win over the Mariners. Manager Rocco Baldelli and pitching coach Wes Johnson both feel that Pineda looked more impressive yesterday, and Johnson spoke of his satisfaction with the incremental improvements in Pineda’s progression back from 2017 Tommy John surgery and 2018 knee surgery. Notably, the right-hander’s velocity was up a couple miles per hour yesterday as well. A revitalized Pineda would only add another weapon to an already strong Twins club. Pineda has a 5.04 ERA in 69 2/3 innings but yielded just one run in 5 2/3 frames on Thursday.

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