Archives for August 2020

Twins Designate Danny Coulombe, Select Juan Minaya

By Steve Adams | August 28, 2020 at 9:43am CDT

The Twins announced that they’ve designated left-hander Danny Coulombe for assignment in order to open a roster spot for right-hander Juan Minaya, whose contract has been selected from the alternate training site in St. Paul. Minnesota will also add lefty Lewis Thorpe from St. Paul as the team’s 29th man for today’s doubleheader against the Tigers.

Coulombe, 30, appeared in a pair of games for Minnesota, tallying 2 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and three walks. He inked a minor league contract over the winter after posting excellent Triple-A strikeout numbers with the Yankees and Brewers over the past couple season: 61 in 36 1/3 frames. This year’s small sample of data shows him relying much more on his curveball than his slider — a departure from his past big league work which could help to explain his recent jump in punchouts.

Overall, Coulombe has pitched in parts of six MLB seasons, working to a combined 4.19 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a 56.3 percent grounder rate. The Twins will have a week to run him through outright waivers or release him, and they can also trade him to another club before Monday afternoon’s deadline.

As for Minaya, he’s spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox, where he’s pitched to a combined 3.93 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 54.6 BB/9, 0.98 HR/9 and a 36.8 percent grounder rate in 128 1/3 frames. Minaya’s control has caused him troubles in the past, but he’ll give the Twins a fresh bullpen arm with some swing-and-miss abilities prior to tonight’s doubleheader.

Atkins: Blue Jays Expect To Be “Extremely Active” In Trade Discussions

By Steve Adams | August 28, 2020 at 8:43am CDT

The Blue Jays have already pulled off one trade, acquiring righty Taijuan Walker from the Mariners to bolster their rotation, but it seems they hope to add more players in the remaining three days before Monday afternoon’s trade deadline. “I would expect us to be extremely active,” general manager Ross Atkins told reporters following yesterday’s acquisition of Walker (Twitter link via TSN’s Scott Mitchell). That certainly doesn’t guarantee an additional move or moves, but if the Walker swap proves to be their only addition, it won’t be for lack of trying.

Per Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, Atkins went on to emphasize that his club’s focus will continue to be on pitching and run prevention. Supplementing the lineup sounds like more of a secondary goal at the moment, although Atkins noted the possibility of adding a defensive upgrade who also adds some punch on the offensive side of the coin.

With Walker joining Hyun Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark and Chase Anderson in the Toronto rotation, there’s still space for the Jays to pick up another rotation piece if they desire. They’d hoped top prospect Nate Pearson would step into the rotation and seize a spot, but he struggled in his two final starts before going on the injured list with what was eventually diagnosed as a flexor strain. Whether he’ll return in 2020 isn’t known, and while the Jays have some upper-level depth that could step into that vacant fifth slot, there’s some sense in picking up another more established arm — particularly if said arm is controlled beyond 2020. They’ve been linked to Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl in Pittsburgh, but they’re just two of many options to explore.

As far as the defense goes, there are myriad possibilities to explore. Simple bench options like Jarrod Dyson or Billy Hamilton could add a late-inning outfield boost to support an already thriving bullpen. A more impactful defender, Andrelton Simmons, is likely available given that the Angels are well out of contention and he, like Walker, is a free agent at season’s end. The Jays are currently without Bo Bichette and could conceivably slide him over to second or third upon returning in that scenario. Help behind the plate could come in the form of Pittsburgh’s Jacob Stallings or a more established all-around presence like Christian Vazquez (if Boston is willing to deal within the division). All of that is speculative, of course; the overall possibilities are expansive.

Whatever route they choose to pursue upgrade, the Blue Jays look to have an increasingly clear path to a postseason berth in this year’s expanded format. At 15-14, they’re in possession of the No. 8 seed in the American League, and the teams most closely trailing them are the Tigers and Orioles — each of whom is likelier to sell assets between now and Monday than to add. Forgive the cliche, but the Jays even control their own destiny to an extent in that regard, as they’re scheduled to open a four-game set against Baltimore tonight that could put further distance between the two teams in the standings. The Tigers, meanwhile open a four-game series against the first-place Twins.

Latest On Mets Video Incident, Apologies From Brodie Van Wagenen & Mets Ownership

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 11:54pm CDT

While Mets and Marlins players took part in a moving on-field statement before deciding to postpone tonight’s game, a bizarre incident was taking place behind the scenes that resulted in public statements being issued by, separately, Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, Mets CEO and owner Fred Wilpon, his son and Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, and league commissioner Rob Manfred.

Less than two hours prior to game time, when it was still publicly unclear whether or not the teams would play, a video featuring Van Wagenen making some off-the-record comments was accidentally streamed to the Mets’ official website. Van Wagenen said that the Mets weren’t going to play, and expressed incredulity at an apparent suggestion from Manfred’s office via Jeff Wilpon that the Mets and Marlins make their protest as planned but then return to the field an hour later to play the game. “And I said, ’Jeff, that’s not happening. These guys are not playing.’….But that’s Rob’s instinct and Rob…at the leadership level, he doesn’t get it. He just doesn’t get it,” Van Wagenen said on the video.

Details about how the video was mistakenly uploaded (or perhaps leaked, as Newsday’s Tim Healey noted that the 70-minute video was blank other than a few minutes that included Van Wagenen’s comments) remain scarce, though they naturally sent a storm of controversy around the baseball world. Shortly after the Mets and Marlins left the field, the general manager released a statement saying he erred in thinking the idea came from Manfred. Van Wagenen’s full statement:

“Jeff Wilpon called Commissioner Manfred this afternoon to notify him that our players voted not to play. They discussed the challenges of rescheduling the game. Jeff proposed an idea of playing the game an hour later. I misunderstood that this was the Commissioner’s idea. In actuality, this was Jeff’s suggestion. The players had already made their decision so I felt the suggestion was not helpful. My frustration with the Commissioner was wrong and unfounded. I apologize to the Commissioner for my disrespectful comments and poor judgement in inaccurately describing the contents of his private conversation with Jeff Wilpon.”

In a later interview with the New York Post and other media outlets, Van Wagenen expanded on his apology to include the Mets players. “This conversation is about the players making a statement,” Van Wagenen said. “This conversation is about recognizing the pain and the anguish that black people are experiencing every day in this country. The fact that I’ve put myself and this organization in the conversation in a way that takes away from the real point, I’m disappointed in myself…and I accept responsibility for that.”

For his part, Manfred released his own statement later, with the Commissioner stating:

“Over the past two days, players on a number of Clubs have decided not to play games. I have said both publicly and privately that I respect those decisions and support the need to address social injustice. I have not attempted in any way to prevent players from expressing themselves by not playing, nor have I suggested any alternative form of protest to any Club personnel or any player. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong.“

Adding to the surreal nature of the hot mic incident were a pair of statements from the Wilpons, which each included misspellings of Van Wagenen’s first name.

From Fred Wilpon: “I am very stressed and disappointed to learn tonight that our General Manager, Brodie Van Wagenen, made disrespectful and inaccurate comments about our Commissioner, a long-time close friend of mine. I hold Rob in the highest regard and in no way are Brody’s remarks reflective of my views or the organization’s. Rob continues to be a great leader of Major League Baseball. I apologize for any harm this incident has caused Rob.”

From Jeff Wilpon: “To clear up any misunderstandings, it was my suggestion to potentially look into playing the game later because of scheduling issues. Brody’s misunderstanding of a private conversation was and is inexcusable. We fully respect our players and the Marlins players decision to not play tonight and appreciate the sincerity of all those who wish to draw attention to social injustices and racial inequalities that must be addressed. The entire Mets organization remains committed to creating meaningful change in our society.”

This situation has only intensified speculation that Van Wagenen’s days in the GM role may be numbered, even with New York still in the NL wild card race with a 13-16 record. Van Wagenen’s contract runs through the 2022 season, though his future is thought to be uncertain given that the Wilpon family is preparing to sell the franchise (final bids are due by Monday) and a new ownership group might very well prefer to make its own pick for the general manager job. The Mets had a solid 86-76 record in 2019, Van Wagenen’s first season running the Mets’ front office, but his tenure has been marked with the off-the-field drama that has come to define the team under the Wilpons’ ownership.

NL Notes: Mozeliak, Cards, Pina, Gausman, Bumgarner

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 10:46pm CDT

While the Cardinals are still going to explore trade deadline opportunities, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told The Athletic’s Mark Saxon and other reporters that his club faces something of a unique roster crunch due to the coronavirus outbreak that ravaged the Cards earlier this month. “I think that’s the biggest issue at hand for us, sort of navigating the health of the club vs. what potentially we could do in a trade,” Mozeliak said. “Candidly, the timing of it [the deadline] is not ideal for us, as we start to unwind people coming off of COVID back onto the roster….What it is to say is we haven’t been a team together, with the exception of the first five days together.”

With a whopping seven players still to be activated from the COVID-19 injured list, 40-man roster considerations will start to become a mounting concern for the Cardinals in the coming days, and certainly not everyone will be back before Monday’s trade deadline. One potential wrinkle, Mozeliak said, is that “other teams might be dealing with roster crunches, too, as they navigate Aug. 31,” and thus these rivals might not be as eager to make claims on any players the Cards might be forced to expose to waivers.

MLB Sends Postseason Bubble Proposal To Players Union

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 9:57pm CDT

Major League Baseball has submitted a proposal to the MLB Players Association about potentially holding at least part of the 2020 playoffs inside a multi-city “bubble” environment, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link). It isn’t yet known if the entire postseason would be played at neutral sites, or if the best-of-three first round series would remain in the home ballparks of the higher-seeded teams.

As initially reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), the league has been in talks with the union about how to manage and conduct games at these “controlled sites” in order to limit city-to-city travel and thus limit the chances of a COVID-19 outbreak in October that would delay the entire postseason. While details are “nothing close” to being finalized, as Rosenthal notes, MLB began preparing an operations manual regarding such a postseason scenario earlier this month. As outlined by ESPN.com’s Emily Kaplan and Jeff Passan, the baseball’s plan would bear a strong resemblances to the NHL’s staging of the Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto and Edmonton.

While the NHL is holding all games at two arenas, however, baseball’s plan may seem to involve five different stadiums and civic areas. Southern California (San Diego and the two L.A. ballparks) and Texas (Arlington, Houston) still seem to be the favored candidates for these sites, as noted in the Kaplan/Passan piece, with Rosenthal adding that National League’s postseason teams would play in Texas while the American League teams went to California. The World Series would be held in Arlington at the Rangers’ new ballpark.

It is quite possible that the framework of this plan would be changed over the coming weeks, and as talks develop with input from the MLBPA. As of today, however, we are exactly one month away from the last day of the regular season. One would think negotiations would need to progress pretty quickly to get a bubble environment launched by the start of the playoffs on September 29, though the possibility of the first round being played at home ballparks does allow some extra flexibility.

Dodgers To Option Gavin Lux Back To Taxi Squad

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 9:39pm CDT

9:39PM: Lux will be optioned back to the Dodgers’ taxi squad, Roberts told Gurnick (Twitter link) and other media after the game.

5:45PM: The Dodgers have called up infielder Gavin Lux from their alternate training site, with Lux set to serve as the extra 29th man for Game 2 of today’s doubleheader with the Giants.

Lux will appear on the Los Angeles roster for the first time this season, after he was somewhat surprisingly not included on the club’s roster for its July opener. Lux did miss part of Summer Camp for unexplained reasons, and while there was speculation that Lux may have been kept in the minors for service-time reasons, manager Dave Roberts explained in early August that the Dodgers didn’t “feel he’s ready right now.”

“It was a short ramp-up for Gavin and he wasn’t right mechanically,” Roberts told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other media on August 5. “And he knows that, we know that. He’s still getting there at [alternative training site] USC, getting at-bats daily, it’s coming. I see video every day, it’s getting better.”

Roberts said at the time that Lux would only be called up to the Dodgers on an everyday basis, so though the “29th man” designation could imply some fluidity with Lux’s status, it would seem like the star prospect will now be part of the team’s regular mix. Lux is in tonight’s starting lineup as a second baseman, which was also his position during his 23-game debut with Los Angeles last season.

Corey Seager obviously has Lux’s normal minor league position of shortstop covered at the MLB level, so Lux now looks to be the first-choice option at the keystone. Enrique Hernandez, Max Muncy, and Chris Taylor have split time at second base this season with Hernandez getting the bulk of the playing time at that particular position, though all three players have been deployed elsewhere around the diamond given the Dodgers’ penchant for versatility. With the DH spot in play for the 2020 season, Roberts should be able to find enough at-bats to keep everyone satisfied and rested as the Dodgers are already essentially in tune-up mode for the postseason.

Lux hit .240/.305/.400 over 82 PA with the Dodgers last season, plus an .856 OPS over 10 postseason PA. A consensus top-five prospect in baseball coming into the 2020 campaign, Lux has dominated minor league pitching since being selected 20th overall in the 2016 draft, and now aims to be the next homegrown Dodgers prospect to find stardom in the majors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/27/20

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 9:14pm CDT

Catching up on some minor moves from around baseball…

The Rangers outrighted Rob Refsnyder off their 40-man roster and assigned him to their alternate training site after the utilityman cleared waivers. Texas designated Refsnyder for assignment earlier this week. Refsnyder signed a minors contract with the Rangers back in November and has appeared in 15 games this season, marking his first Major League action since the 2018 campaign. With only a .200/.265/.233 slash line through 34 PA, however, Refsnyder became expendable. The five-year veteran will remain in the organization as a depth option at first base and both corner outfield slots.

Injury Notes: Judge, LeMahieu, Yankees, White, Puk, Bowden

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 7:52pm CDT

The latest on multiple injury situations throughout the game…

Aaron Judge’s most recent calf injury “seems like a recurrence of what he had before,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said during an interview with WFAN (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). Judge re-injured his calf in his first game back from a minimum 10-day stint on the injured list, and Boone suggested that this latest issue “does seem minor in nature again, but certainly something that could turn into an IL stint again.”
While Judge is a question mark, the Yankees could potentially have DJ LeMahieu back for this weekend’s series against the Mets. Boone said that LeMahieu took batting practice today at Yankee Stadium and will now report to the club’s alternate training site. Assuming the second baseman is indeed able to return against the Mets, it would represent a slightly early return from the initial 2-to-3 week timeline projected after LeMahieu was initially placed on the injured list with a thumb sprain on August 16. In other Yankees injury news, Boone said Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) also took on-field batting practice today, and that Gleyber Torres (quad/hamstring) is making good progress.
Evan White left during the third inning of the Mariners’ 10-7 loss to the Padres due to what the M’s termed as right shoulder discomfort. After the game, Seattle manager Scott Servais told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that White initially suffered the injury while diving for a ball in Tuesday’s game and was trying to play through the pain. The rookie first baseman entered today’s game with only a .168/.238/.379 slash line through his first 105 plate appearances in the big leagues, though White had begun to heat up over the last week.
The next step in A.J. Puk’s rehab will take place Friday, as Athletics manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chroncile’s Susan Slusser and other reporters that Puk will throw 30 pitches over two simulated innings against live batters. This will be the second time that Puk has faced actual hitters during his recovery from shoulder woes that have plagued him since Spring Training. There is still no clear timetable on when Puk could make his return to the A’s, though the club has already said that he will be deployed as a reliever in 2020.
Rockies pitching prospect Ben Bowden isn’t likely to make his MLB debut this season, manager Bud Black told The Athletic’s Nick Groke and other reporters. Bowden suffered another injury he was already recovering from a back problem that sidelined him during Spring Training. A second-round pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2016 draft, Bowden didn’t have a great performance in the hitter-friendly environment of Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2019, though the southpaw has a 3.60 ERA, 13.1 K/9, and 3.15 K/BB over 127 1/3 total minor league innings, all as a reliever.

Seven Games Postponed On Thursday

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2020 at 6:23pm CDT

6:23PM: Tonight’s game between the Marlins and Mets will not be played. As relayed by several reporters, players on both teams took part in a powerful symbolic moment, with Mets players taking their usual positions in the field and the other Mets and Marlins players standing outside their dugouts. After a 42-second moment of silence in honor of Jackie Robinson, all players tipped and waved their caps at one another before departing the field, with a Black Lives Matter t-shirt left atop home plate.

5:41PM: The game between the Orioles and Rays will also not be played. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter site) was among those to note the lack of normal pregame activity between the two clubs, and equipment being packed up from both dugouts.

5:06PM: Tonight’s game between the Rockies and Diamondbacks has also been postponed, as per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).

3:51PM: Players on the Nationals and Phillies collectively decided to postpone tonight’s game, as per a Phillies media release.

3:21PM: The Red Sox have decided not to play their game against the Blue Jays tonight, Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reports (via Twitter).

3:04PM: Tonight’s game between the Twins and Tigers will also be postponed, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Twins and Tigers players each voted against playing the game, as respectively reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and MLB.com’s Jason Beck.

1:42PM: Phillies players have voted against playing their scheduled game versus the Nationals tonight, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports (via Twitter). ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that the Rangers/Athletics game will also be postponed tonight. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted shortly prior that the A’s were giving strong consideration to opting not to play. Passan tweeted earlier that Red Sox players were also considering a decision not to play against the Blue Jays.

Today’s decisions follow several clubs who declined to play yesterday in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In total, three MLB games — Brewers/Reds, Mariners/Padres and Dodgers/Giants were postponed yesterday. All three are expected to be made up in doubleheaders today.

Last night, Major League Baseball issued the following statement in response to teams’ decisions to protest:

“Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. MLB remains united for change in our society & we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”

Similar protests were made in the NBA, where the scheduled postseason games Wednesday and Thursday were all postponed. The current expectation is for the NBA to resume play Saturday (link via HoopsRumors).

Cardinals Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | August 27, 2020 at 5:37pm CDT

The Cardinals placed lefty Andrew Miller on the 10-day injured list due to shoulder fatigue, the team announced. Right-hander Junior Fernandez was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move.

Miller’s IL visit is apparently “just a recovery thing,” manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. Like many other Cardinals players, Miller is still getting back up to full speed following the team’s coronavirus outbreak-driven stoppage in play. To that end, Fernandez himself is returning after a positive COVID-19 sidelined him for much of the season, as the rookie has only appeared in one game this season. Rogers also notes that infielder Edmundo Sosa was assigned to the Cardinals’ alternate training site after being activated today from the team’s coronavirus injured list.

Shildt feels Miller will be back after the 10-day minimum stay, saying that “he’s been a warrior and just was honest and said, ’I could probably keep going and pushing through it,’ but I think we’d all feel better if we could get it behind him.”

Miller has a 4.76 ERA through 5 2/3 innings this season, with the bulk of that damage coming in one tough outing (two earned runs over one-third of an inning) against the Cubs on August 19. The left-hander has held opponents scoreless in five of his other six appearances this season.

Even a minimal visit to the injured list will create a bit of extra drama in regards to Miller’s contractual status. His original two-year, $25MM deal carries a $12MM club option for 2021 that was originally set to become guaranteed with at least 110 games pitched over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Rogers writes that Miller is seven games short of triggering his vesting option, meaning that the 37 appearances he still required (after pitching in 73 games in 2019) was prorated down to 14 appearances, as per the normal prorated rate of a 60-game schedule. Assuming Miller is back in 10 days or not much beyond, however, he should still have time left to bank his remaining seven games, though his usage down the stretch could be worth observing in the season’s final weeks.

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