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Archives for June 2019

White Sox To Designate Yonder Alonso For Assignment

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2:28pm: Feinsand tweets that the move won’t become official until tomorrow because the Sox are off today.

1:31pm: The White Sox have designated first baseman/designated hitter Yonder Alonso for assignment, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction.

The trade to bring Alonso to Chicago from Cleveland this offseason simply hasn’t panned out on any front for the White Sox. In 251 plate appearances, the 32-year-old slugger has struggled to a career-worst .178/.275/.301 batting line through 251 plate appearances with the South Siders. His acquisition was also portrayed as a potential means of swaying his brother-in-law, Manny Machado, to choose the ChiSox in free agency, but Machado ultimately went to San Diego, who topped the Sox’ reported offer by a hefty $50MM in guaranteed money.

Alonso is only two years removed from a breakout All-Star campaign in which he slashed .266/.365/.501 with a career-high 28 home runs. Alonso was one of the foremost examples of the “fly-ball revolution” that season, but this year’s 43.1 percent ground-ball rate is his highest mark since the 2016 season. His 37.7 percent fly-ball rate, meanwhile, is his lowest since that same year.

Alonso parlayed that breakout effort into a two-year, $16MM contract with the Indians. Viewed as a more cost-effective replacement for Carlos Santana (who they reacquired this winter), Alonso wasn’t able to replicate his 2017 production in Cleveland but still posted a respectable .250/.317/.421 line with 23 homers last year. The Indians spent much of the offseason working to shed salary and reduce payroll, though, and dealing Alonso to the division-rival White Sox was a part of those efforts.

Chicago will have a week to trade, outright or release Alonso, who is still owed about $5.13MM through season’s end (including the buyout on a 2020 option). That salary makes a release the most likely outcome. If Alonso is indeed cut loose, he’d become a free agent who can sign with any club and would only be owed the prorated portion of the league minimum through the remainder of the season. That sum would be subtracted from what the Sox still owe him.

Orioles’ Josh Rogers Getting Second Opinion On UCL Injury

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The Orioles received some grim news regarding left-hander Josh Rogers, as an MRI revealed structural damage in his left ulnar collateral ligament, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Rogers will seek a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes that Rogers is expected to require Tommy John surgery. Rogers explained that he felt “something different” in his elbow when exiting a recent start and acknowledged that the “level of concern for everybody is pretty high.”

If Rogers does ultimately go under the knife, it’ll be his second Tommy John surgery. He also underwent the procedure during his senior year of high school before recovering to enjoy a solid two seasons at Louisville. The Yankees selected Rogers in the 11th round of the 2015 draft and traded him to Baltimore last year in the Zack Britton swap.

Rogers would be the second upper-level arm acquired by the Orioles last summer to require Tommy John surgery this season. Right-hander Zach Pop, acquired from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado deal, underwent Tommy John surgery last month after pitching just 10 2/3 frames of Double-A ball this season.

The 24-year-old Rogers hasn’t pitched well in the Majors or in Triple-A this season, although it’s certainly possible that the state of his elbow impacted his results. He’s pitched to an ERA north of 8.00 in 55 Triple-A frames and in 14 1/3 MLB innings as well. That’s a vast departure from last season, when he tossed a combined 139 2/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball between the Triple-A affiliates of the Yankees and the Orioles. While he’s not considered a premium prospect, Rogers ranked 28th among Baltimore farmhands heading into the season, according to Baseball America, who tabbed him as a potential fifth starter.

Even a serviceable fifth starter would be a welcome sight for the O’s, who haven’t received competitive outings from the final two spots of their rotation all season. David Hess is third on the team in games started but carries a 7.36 ERA. The trio of Gabriel Ynoa, the out-for-the-season Alex Cobb and the recently outrighted Dan Straily have combined for 17 starts but yielded 68 runs in 73 1/3 innings. Rogers was expected to be a rotation option in Baltimore this season but would be a non-factor until the second half of the 2020 campaign, at the earliest, if he requires surgery.

Giancarlo Stanton Likely Out Until August

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June 27: Stanton it unlikely to return in the month of July, general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Thursday (Twitter links via Joel Sherman of the New York Post and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Cashman projects an August return for Stanton.

June 26: The Yankees will place right fielder/designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day injured list due to a strained posterior collateral ligament in his right knee, manager Aaron Boone announced to reporters (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler). He won’t travel with the team to London for the upcoming  series against the Red Sox. Mike Tauchman is on his way up to replace Stanton on the active roster.

Stanton, of course, had only just returned from the IL last week after missing more than two months due to a biceps strain. He went 7-for-23 (.304) with a homer, a double and seven runs knocked in during his brief return to the Bronx, but he’ll now be sidelined for at least another 10 days in what has become an increasingly frustrating campaign for the four-time All-Star and 2017 National League MVP. The latest injury occurred on the basepaths in yesterday’s game; Stanton exited prior to the fourth inning of said contest.

With Stanton once again headed to the shelf for a yet-unspecified period of time, the Yankees will likely lean on Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge as the primary outfielders with newly acquired Edwin Encarnacion lining up as the primary designated hitter. Even a Stanton-less New York lineup is quite formidable now that Judge, Hicks and Didi Gregorius are all healthy at the same time, but the drop in offensive output from Stanton to Gardner is nevertheless notable.

The Yankees have not only weathered but thrived in the face of an exceptional number of injuries thus far in 2019. Despite their substantial injury woes, they’ve opened up a comfortable 6.5-game lead over the second-place Rays, whom they swept at Yankee Stadium last week.

John Stanton Discusses Mariners’ Direction

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After general manager Jerry Dipoto oversaw a future-driven retooling of the Mariners’ roster over the winter, there was little expectation they’d break their 17-year playoff drought in 2019. The club then got off to a sizzling 13-2 start this season, perhaps creating a glimmer of hope that it would enjoy a Cinderella campaign. Two and a half months later, though, it’s clear this will indeed go down as another lean year for the Mariners. They’ve lost 45 of 69 games since they came bursting out of the gates and now own the majors’ eighth-worst record at 37-47.

The trajectory of the Mariners’ season surely hasn’t gone to their liking, but the franchise isn’t discouraged. Quite the contrary, Mariners owner John Stanton recently told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times in an in-depth interview that’s worth checking out in full (interview links: 1, 2). We’ll take a look at a few of the highlights.

Stanton’s of the belief the Mariners are executing their plan properly, saying: “I think we’ve done exactly what we’ve set out to do. I try to resist the temptation to take a snapshot of a movie — even the midpoint of the movie. I view us as on a journey to have a sustainable, championship-caliber team as soon as we can.”

In the Mariners’ estimation, they’ve done a great deal to improve their long-term outlook dating back to the winter, even though it has come at the expense of immediate success.

“We’ve gotten younger,” Stanton offered. “And I don’t really like the word controlled, but from a contractual point of view they are players we know will be here for a longer period of time. We’ve gone from being one of the oldest teams in baseball to being middle of the pack in age”

Pricey 30-somethings such as Robinson Cano, Jay Bruce (originally acquired as part of the Cano deal) and Edwin Encarnacion (also acquired in the offseason) are gone. Their departures opened up varying degrees of financial flexibility for the Mariners. Meanwhile, shipping out the likes of James Paxton, Edwin Diaz, Jean Segura, Mike Zunino and Alex Colome during the winter went a long way toward adding capable younger players to the organization – including shortstop J.P. Crawford, center fielder Mallex Smith and catcher Omar Narvaez at the MLB level.

Reflecting on the December blockbuster that sent Cano and Diaz to the Mets, Stanton told Divish, “I personally love Robbie Cano, but having a 40-year old second baseman or probably DH by that time isn’t ideal, and even though I think Robbie will be better than any other 40-year-old at that time, we needed to do something.”

It does appear the Mariners got the better end of that deal thus far. Cano, who will earn $24MM per annum through 2023, is having a brutal season at the age of 36. Diaz has been good, on the other hand, though not the game-ending buzzsaw he was in 2018. And the centerpieces of the Mariners’ return – 19-year-old High-A outfielder Jarred Kelenic and 23-year-old Double-A righty Justin Dunn – are their top two prospects. More than that, Kelenic and Dunn are a pair of the game’s best prospects in general.

At the beginning of June, six months after the trade with the Mets brought Bruce to Seattle, the Mariners flipped him to Philadelphia for minor league infielder Jake Scheiner. However, the Mariners had to pay the Phillies $18MM of Bruce’s remaining $21.6MM salary to take him off their hands. Similarly, the Mariners paid the Yankees in mid-June to take the more valuable Encarnacion, who has about $16MM in guarantees left on his contract. They and the Yankees are essentially splitting the money, which may have driven down the Mariners’ return for Encarnacion. The M’s only acquired 19-year-old Low-A pitching prospect Juan Then, whom Dipoto once traded away.

Stanton defended the Encarnacion trade, saying: “I will tell you categorically that situation was not about the money. It was about the pitching prospect we got. He was a guy that we felt really good about and were really excited to get back. We wanted that kid back.”

The fact that the Mariners are paying Bruce and Encarnacion to play elsewhere is “fine” with Stanton because “the value of our flexibility is greater than the dollars that we have to pay.”  Stanton continued: “We bunched up some salary dollars now and probably overpaid some salary dollars in some respects, but then we’ve freed ourselves up so that we if he need another starting pitcher — and I’m not saying we will — but if we need an additional starting pitcher in 2021 then we are giving Jerry the budget to be able to get the best guy he can.”

Stanton mentioned 2021-22 as a potential time frame for the Mariners to return to contention, in part because AL West juggernaut “Houston has a lot of their really becoming free agents” then. At the same time, though, Stanton’s “resistant to being too specific on it. I think the intent is for us to get better and be more in control of players. There will be signs that we believe it’s time when you’ll see us step up on a free agent to fill a gap. That’s a pretty good indication.”

For now, the Mariners’ win-loss record “isn’t, for me, the important metric on how we are doing,” insists Stanton, who’s instead focused on the growth of their young players in the majors and minors. In Stanton’s view, the team’s “exceeding expectations overall in terms of the quality of guys that we have added.”

Twins Call Up LaMonte Wade Jr.

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10:00am: The Twins have called up Wade and placed utilityman Willians Astudillo on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain.

7:11am: The Twins are calling up outfield prospect LaMonte Wade Jr. from Triple-A Rochester, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News first suggested Wade would receive a promotion). Wade is already on the Twins’ 40-man roster, though they will need to make a corresponding 25-man move.

The 25-year-old Wade’s first major league call-up comes as first-place Minnesota is dealing with injuries in its outfield. Starting center fielder Byron Buxton and the outfield-capable duo of Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza have all landed on the injured list over the past two weeks. The club also saw No. 1 left fielder Eddie Rosario suffer an ankle sprain in Wednesday’s win over Tampa Bay, though manager Rocco Baldelli indicated afterward it’s not a serious injury, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Wade joined the Twins as a ninth-round pick in 2015. He debuted in Rochester last season and has since posted a .238/.366/.351 line with nine home runs and 11 stolen bases in 590 plate appearances. While that’s not stellar aggregate production, Wade’s plate discipline and on-base skills have opened eyes this year. The lefty swinger has collected more walks (50) than strikeouts (42), which has helped lead to a lofty .395 OBP. FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen credited Wade’s walk-drawing ability and “rangy, corner outfield defense” when they ranked him as the Twins’ 16th-best prospect back in April.

Astros Select Cy Sneed, Transfer Joe Smith To 60-Day IL

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9:30am: The Astros have transferred Smith to the 60-day IL, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Smith’s still working back from the surgery he underwent on a ruptured left Achilles last December. He won’t return until sometime after the All-Star break.

8:28am: The Astros will select right-hander Cy Sneed’s contract from Triple-A Round Rock, according to Jake Kaplan of The Athletic. Sneed will replace the optioned Framber Valdez on Houston’s 25-man roster, but the team will need to create a 40-man spot for him. Kaplan suggests the Astros will shift injured reliever Joe Smith to the 60-day IL to make room for Sneed’s promotion.

Sneed entered the pros as a third-round pick of the Brewers back in 2014, but they traded him to the Astros the next year for infielder Jonathan Villar. He reached Triple-A ball for the first time in 2017 and has pitched exclusively at that level since then. Across 70 1/3 innings and 14 appearances (eight starts) this season, the 26-year-old Sneed has logged a 4.48 ERA/5.34 FIP with 7.55 K/9, 2.82 BB/9 and a 40.2 percent groundball rate.

Phillies To Sign First-Rounder Bryson Stott

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JUNE 27: The two sides have an agreement, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Stott will sign a below-slot deal worth $3.9MM, according to Callis.

JUNE 24: The Phillies expect to sign first-rounder Bryson Stott this week, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports. As the 14th overall pick, Stott’s slot comes with a recommended value of $4,036,800.

Stott’s a 21-year-old shortstop from UNLV whom draft pundits ranked even higher than where the Phillies selected him. Entering the draft, MLB.com put Stott at No. 9, while Baseball America (No. 10), FanGraphs (No. 11) and ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 13) viewed him similarly.

In their free scouting report of Stott, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com liken him to Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and credit his “solid all-around tools.” They add the lefty-swinging Stott’s “never overmatched” as a hitter, which could make him a plus offensive player in the majors, though there is some question as to whether he’ll stick at shortstop in the bigs.

Stott was by far the Phillies’ highest pick in this year’s draft, as they forfeited their second-rounder when they signed Bryce Harper in free agency last winter. The club didn’t pick again until the 91st selection, with which it chose high school shortstop Jamari Baylor. He’s already signed.

Gio Gonzalez Suffers Setback

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Brewers left-hander Gio Gonzalez went on the 10-day IL on June 1 with a dead arm, an injury that’s going to cost him at least a month and a half of action. Gonzalez felt soreness during a recent bullpen session and won’t return until after the All-Star break as a result, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Gonzalez’s issue isn’t serious enough to warrant a complete shutdown, per McCalvy, but it’s still not what the Brewers need when they’re fighting for a playoff spot. Milawaukee had expected to get Gonzalez back for a start prior to the break. Instead, it’ll have to continue turning elsewhere.

The 33-year-old Gonzalez joined the Brewers on a $2MM guarantee April 27 to cap off an unusual several months. Even though Gonzalez owns a quality MLB track record, there was little interest in him during free agency. Consequently, the former Athletic and National sat out until late March, when he settled for a minor league pact with the Yankees. He opted out of his Yankees contract after a month and three Triple-A starts in order to sign with the Brewers.

Gonzalez’s long stay on the open market prevented him from participating in a normal spring training, which may help explain the longtime workhorse’s current injury troubles. To his credit, though, Gonzalez did turn in a 3.19 ERA/3.22 FIP with 7.55 K/9, 2.61 BB/9 and a 45.1 percent groundball rate in his first six starts and 31 innings as a Brewer before going on the IL. On a per-inning basis, Gonzalez has been one of the most effective arms in a shaky Milwaukee rotation. Despite their lack of dependable starters, the Brewers are in possession of a wild-card spot at 42-38 and just a game behind the NL Central-leading Cubs.

Cubs Call Up Craig Kimbrel, Option Tony Barnette

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11:15pm: The Cubs have called Kimbrel up to the MLB roster for tomorrow’s game and optioned Tony Barnette to Triple-A Iowa, Maddon announced post-game (Twitter link via Gonzales).

4:50pm: Manager Joe Maddon announced to reporters that Kimbrel is on his way to meet the Cubs right now (Twitter link via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune). There won’t be a formal announcement or an official corresponding roster move until at least tomorrow, it seems.

3:54pm: Kimbrel is “no longer with” the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate, reports Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. Birch calls Kimbrel’s debut with the Cubs “imminent.” Like Wittenmyer, Birch suggests that Kimbrel is expected to be officially called up this week.

10:20am: Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel appears on the cusp of making his long-awaited 2019 debut. The Cubs could activate the seven-time All-Star as early as Thursday or Friday, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Kimbrel is already on the Cubs’ 40-man roster.

Kimbrel, who has been pitching with Triple-A Iowa since June 16, threw a perfect, two-strikeout inning Tuesday in what could go down as his last tuneup performance. The 31-year-old right-hander has made four appearances with Iowa, including back-to-back outings over the weekend, and given up two hits, a walk and a run against four strikeouts. Kimbrel’s fastball has sat in the 95 mph range along the way. That’s down from Kimbrel’s ~98 mph career average, though there’s understandably no concern on the Cubs’ part.

“It’s not about results or velocity, it is getting in game shape and building that foundation,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said this week (via Bruce Levine of 670 The Score).

If the Epstein-led Cubs get the version of Kimbrel they’re expecting, the potential Hall of Famer could make a substantial impact on the National League playoff race. Chicago has managed a 43-36 record and a one-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central as the season approaches the halfway point, though the Cubs’ success has come despite an unspectacular bullpen. Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler and Kyle Ryan have recorded solid numbers, but most of the Cubs’ other relievers have been shaky this year. It hasn’t helped the Cubs have gone without the injured Brandon Morrow, a 2018 force who went down last July and still hasn’t returned. Morrow piled up more saves than any other Cub a year ago, and his absence has left Cishek and Pedro Strop to rack up the majority of game-ending opportunities to mixed results. Strop has endured an uncharacteristically subpar season and will try to right himself in a return to a setup role when Kimbrel enters the mix.

While Kimbrel’s an all-time great with 333 saves and a 91 percent success rate for his career, his performance fell back a bit last year as he concluded his Red Sox stint. Kimbrel still posted a 2.74 ERA/3.13 FIP with 13.86 K/9 and 4.48 BB/9 over 62 1/3 innings, which is production every team would sign up for late in games. But clubs had their limits in free agency with Kimbrel, who reportedly had designs on becoming the first-ever $100MM reliever early in the offseason. Clubs scoffed at that asking price and Kimbrel’s subsequent requests, which left him without an employer for seven months.

The Kimbrel saga came to a merciful end when he agreed June 5 to join the Cubs on a three-year, $43MM deal. The draft had passed by then, meaning the Cubs didn’t have to surrender compensation other than money for the qualifying offer recipient. Chicago’s about to begin finding out whether the Kimbrel signing will go down as a wise investment.

Astros Option Framber Valdez

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The Astros have optioned lefty Framber Valdez to Triple-A following tonight’s game, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome). The move creates a vacancy in the Houston rotation, as Valdez had been serving as the fifth starter. A corresponding roster move will be announced tomorrow.

Valdez had a rough night in Houston’s 14-2 loss to the Pirates, as he was ambushed for six runs on eight hits and a walk in three innings of work. That marked the second straight clunker for the 25-year-old southpaw, who served up five runs in 3 1/3 innings to the Yankees his last time out. Prior to those rough two outings, though, Valdez had turned in two strong performances (albeit against lackluster Orioles and Blue Jays lineups).

The ’Stros have a pair of off days baked into the schedule next week, so they can navigate a trip through the rotation without needing to rely on a fifth starter. Still, it’s worth wondering whether they’ll give Valdez another look or explore another possibility. The team did just activate Collin McHugh from the injured list, though he struggled in the rotation earlier this season. The Astros have also tried righty Corbin Martin in that role, but he was hit hard in the big leagues and hasn’t exactly thrived in three starts since being sent back down. Rogelio Armenteros won’t be an option for another nine days (barring an injury on the MLB roster), as he was just optioned to Triple-A yesterday. He hasn’t excelled in Triple-A himself, anyhow. Top prospect Forrest Whitley, meanwhile, has battled shoulder issues recently and isn’t close to being an option at this point.

All of that uncertainty could lead the Astros to eventually look outside the organization for some rotation help. They’re currently leading the Rangers by 5.5 games, so there’s no urgency to strike up a deal in the short term, but that’s a closer race than many anticipated in the American League West. Injuries to some star players (e.g. Jose Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa) haven’t helped Houston, although they’re close to full strength in the lineup at this point, with only Correa absent among the team’s regulars. Still, the rotation was largely viewed as a piecemeal operation heading into the season, and it seems reasonable to expect that the Astros will at the very least explore their options — particularly with Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley set to become free agents at season’s end.

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