The Astros had interest in trading for catcher Martin Maldonado before the Cubs acquired him from the Royals on Monday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link). Maldonado was a pre-deadline pickup for Houston last July, when it acquired him from the division-rival Angels, but the Astros’ attempt to re-sign him during the offeason failed. The Astros then brought in free agent Robinson Chirinos, who has been their No. 1 backstop all year but has slumped of late. Chirinos is a better hitter than Maldonado, but the latter is far and away the superior defender. Astros backup catcher Max Stassi is another defense-first option, though he’s having a much worse season at the plate than Maldonado. For Houston, re-acquiring Maldonado could have brought about the end of the out-of-options Stassi’s time on its 40-man roster.
More on a few other American League clubs…
- Indians ace Corey Kluber’s recovery from the fractured right forearm he suffered May 1 took a significant step Wednesday, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. Kluber threw an all-fastball, 20-pitch bullpen session – his first since incurring the injury – without any issues. “Everybody came out smiling,” manager Terry Francona said. Kluber will throw a bullpen again Sunday, though there’s still no timetable for his return to the majors. Despite having to deal with long-term absences of Kluber and fellow rotation stalwarts Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger this season, the Indians are 54-40 and tied for the AL’s second wild-card spot.
- Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi went to the injured list with a left shoulder subluxation Wednesday. Fortunately, the injury isn’t as severe as Mondesi initially feared, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star tweets. With that said, it remains unknown how much time the 23-year-old cornerstone will miss. A former stud prospect, Mondesi has developed into an untouchable major leaguer for the Royals, having combined passable offense with plus defense and excellent base running since a breakout 2018.
- Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman left their win over the Mariners on Wednesday with left ankle soreness, Oakland announced. Chapman is day-to-day, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. Winners of eight of 10 and tied with Cleveland for the AL’s second wild-card position, the A’s are rolling thanks in part to Chapman, who’s enjoying another superstar-caliber campaign. The 26-year-old has torched the opposition for a .279/.363/.552 batting line with 22 home runs and 4.2 fWAR over 405 plate appearances in 2019.
- The Twins designated reliever Mike Morin for assignment Tuesday, which came as somewhat of a surprise considering the 3.18 ERA and .79 BB/9 the right-hander has posted in 22 2/3 innings this season. Manager Rocco Baldelli admitted it was a “very difficult” decision to jettison Morin, who did “his job very well” (via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). With 37 players on their 40-man roster after Morin’s DFA, the Twins “will almost certainly” select a reliever from the minors (recent pickups Cody Allen and Carlos Torres are among the candidates) or acquire one via trade to replace him.
Procedural question: If the Twins have 3 open spots on the 40-man, why would they feel the need to DFA Morin if the plan was to send him down to AAA? Would he have had to pass through waivers, and if so, does the DFA give the Twins more leverage in getting some sort of compensation while they have the 10 days to trade or release him outright?
….in lieu of just allowing someone to claim him on the option waivers, I mean, as I assume he would be snatched up by someone.
No idea boss. With the way he’s been pitching, they could have just traded him.
He will for sure get picked up now.
Wouldn’t say it’s a lock he gets picked up. 4.49 FIP/4.86 xFIP, 4.7 K/9 and below average velocity. He’s not an extreme groundball guy either. Also a Right hander to top it all off. Twins clearly found him expendable.
Yeah, I think there’s definitely a chance Morin gets claimed and the Twins will probably work out a trade. If you shun old fashioned metrics like ERA in favor of FIP or xFIP, Morin doesn’t look great, but if you dig really deep into his peripherals over the past couple years… lots of ground balls. Lots of popups compared to fly ball rate. Not much hard contact. FIP / xFIP might not be real good indicators for him.
Not every team is going to pass on a guy with a 3.18 ERA in 23 games this year…
Well, no. This year has been m the most GB’s he’s managed to generate. And that’s 47%. That’s not special in anyway. There’s a reason he’s played on 4 different teams in 3 years. He’s posted very run of the mill numbers. The IFFB% is about the only thing that isn’t run of the mill to below average.
It was more about the 25 man roster than the 40 man. They needed 2 spots on the active roster and he ended up as the odd man out. A player on the 40 man roster that is out of minor league options has to be DFA first to remove him from the 40 man roster before they can attempt to send him down.
As far as leverage it really wouldn’t give them any. At most they could be contacted by a team that is high up the waiver wire that wants him and feels he might get picked up by another team. But in that case if they don’t agree to a trade the team that contacted them just submits a claim and hopes for the best if they still want him. Also a player can only be out righted once in his career without his consent. I’m not sure if he was but if he has then he has the right to decline and become a free agent.
Simple. He’s a veteran player who’s out of options. You can’t just send any player to the minor leagues unless it’s a rehab assignment.
Do-Hyoung Park? That might be the coolest name I have heard all year.
Tribe might sell big contract at the trade deadline, because the owner bob dolan doesn’t want to pay phenomenal players or win I guess, but they will be looking to add pieces in those trades to stay alive in the wild card hunt with no one really running away with divisions or wild card races! Twins need starting pitching to go with berrios, Gibson, odorizzi!
Wrong Dolan, but I got your point
Tribe staying alive in wild card hunt? Have you paid attention to the actual division standings?
I came here to say exactly this. Central could be overtaken by the Tribe in a week or two. Minnesota regression is in full effect.
Chapman’s ankle injury might have been from a collision the day before yesterday. Pinder stepped up and did everything Chapman would have in that situation.
For being a premier defender behind the plate, Maldonado sure let a lot of balls past him in the playoffs.