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Archives for June 2021

Mets Designate Jerad Eickhoff For Assignment

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The Mets announced they’ve recalled left-hander Thomas Szapucki from Triple-A Syracuse. Righty Jerad Eickhoff was designated for assignment to create active roster space.

It’s the first big league call for Szapucki. New York’s fifth-round pick out of a Florida high school back in 2015, he’s been regarded as one of the more promising pitching prospects in the system for the past few years. Szapucki carved up low minors hitters over his first few pro seasons, drawing praise from scouts for low-mid 90s velocity and a pair of quality breaking balls. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in July 2017, knocking him out of action for almost two seasons.

Szapucki returned in 2019 and performed well across two levels of A-ball before earning a brief promotion to Double-A at the end of the season. Obviously, he didn’t log any game action last year due to the COVID-19 forced cancelation of the minor league season. Instead, he spent all of 2020 at the alternate training site, where reports suggested his velocity had fallen into the high 80s.

The injuries and diminished velocity took a small hit to Szapucki’s prospect status. He entered 2021 as Baseball America’s #16 farmhand in the organization, while Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted him tenth in the system. Both outlets offered continued praise for his curveball, and Longenhagen noted that Szapucki’s velocity had bounced back into the low 90s during Spring Training 2021. He’s tossed 34 2/3 innings with Syracuse this season, working to a 4.41 ERA with a decent 23.8% strikeout rate but an elevated 13.8% walk percentage. Szapucki could be an option for a Mets rotation that lost Joey Lucchesi to Tommy John surgery last week.

When Lucchesi first went down, the Mets turned to Eickhoff. They were plenty familiar with the 30-year-old, who pitched for the division-rival Phillies from 2015-19. Eickhoff looked like a competent back-of-the-rotation starter early in his Philadelphia tenure, but he struggled over his last three seasons there and didn’t pitch in the majors last year.

Eickhoff’s return with the Mets lasted just two starts. Across ten innings, he allowed five runs on eleven hits (including an alarming four homers) with six strikeouts and four walks. The Mets will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers. Should Eickhoff clear outright waivers, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment and become a free agent.

Giants’ Gregory Santos Suspended For Performance-Enhancing Drug Use

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Giants’ right-hander Gregory Santos has been suspended for eighty games after testing positive for the banned substance Stanozolol, Major League Baseball announced this afternoon. He has been on optional assignment to Triple-A Sacramento.

Santos, who entered the season as Baseball America’s #23 prospect in the Giants organization, made his MLB debut in April. He’s appeared in three big league games, tossing two innings of six-run ball. Santos has spent most of the year with Sacramento, where he’s worked to a 5.17 ERA with worse-than-average strikeout and walk rates (20.5% and 12.3%, respectively) across 15 2/3 relief innings.

The River Cats only have 74 games remaining this season, so today’s suspension will end Santos’ 2021 campaign. He’ll be placed on the restricted list, which will open up a spot on the Giants 40-man roster.

Marlins To Select Steven Okert

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The Marlins are selecting the contract of reliever Steven Okert, general manager Kim Ng told reporters (including Craig Mish of SportsGrid). The club has vacancies on both the active and 40-man rosters following today’s trade of Corey Dickerson and Adam Cimber to the Blue Jays.

When he takes the mound, Okert will be making his first major league appearance in three years. The left-hander pitched for the Giants between 2016-18, tossing 48 1/3 innings of 4.28 ERA/4.01 SIERA ball. San Francisco outrighted him off the 40-man roster just before the start of the 2019 season, though, and he spent the entire year at Triple-A Sacramento. Okert elected minor league free agency after 2019 but didn’t sign anywhere during last year’s COVID-19 impacted campaign.

Okert returned to affiliated ball on a minors deal with the Marlins in February. He’s earned his way back to the highest level with a stellar 20 innings at Triple-A Jacksonville. The 29-year-old has pitched to a pristine 1.80 ERA with the Jumbo Shrimp, striking out an elite 38.2% of batters faced while walking a minuscule 5.3% of opponents.

MLB Suspends Hector Santiago 10 Games For Foreign Substance

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3:10pm: The league actually did not further inspect Santiago’s glove, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter link). The ejection and suspension are based solely on the umpire’s discretion. That’s a rather surprising development and one that, speculatively speaking, could prompt some union pushback.

2:20pm: Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Mariners lefty Hector Santiago has been suspended 10 games and been fined an undisclosed amount for possessing a foreign substance on his glove in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the White Sox. Santiago is appealing the decision.

Mariners manager Scott Servais said after the game that umpire Phil Cuzzi was mistaken and that there was no illegal substance on Santiago’s glove — only rosin (which is permissible under MLB rules) and sweat. The league, after conducting an analysis of Santiago’s glove, clearly does not agree and has elected to punish the veteran lefty. Santiago’s suspension will be held in abeyance until the appeal process is complete. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets, Santiago’s case will now be heard by an arbiter  who works for Major League Baseball, which all but eliminates the possibility of the suspension being overturned. It could potentially be reduced, Passan suggests.

The 33-year-old Santiago has been quite effective with the Mariners thus far in 2021 after not pitching in the big leagues last season. He’s worked to a 2.65 ERA with a 23-to-7 K/BB ratio in 17 innings of work. This year’s 32.4 percent strikeout rate is easily a career-high, which will raise some eyebrows in light of the suspension, but it should be noted that Santiago hasn’t seen any appreciable uptick in spin rate this year. The spin on his four-seam fastball, in fact, has dropped from its previous levels, while the spin on his slider is right in line with his career marks.

Under the league’s new enforcement policy for foreign substances, the Mariners won’t be able to replace Santiago on the roster if his suspension is indeed upheld. They’ll have to play a man down while he serves his punishment.

Baker: Astros Don’t Expect Bregman Back For At Least A Month

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The Astros have been rather vague with their timeline for Alex Bregman’s return from the injured list, but manager Dusty Baker said in an appearance on Sports Talk 790 today that he doesn’t expect Bregman back for at least another month (Twitter link).

Injury updates on Bregman have been handled somewhat clumsily from the beginning. The third baseman himself initially said there was no timetable, which isn’t particularly surprising, but he also added at the time of the injury that he wasn’t sure whether he was dealing with a Grade 1 or Grade 2 strain of his hamstring. Last week, Baker told reporters that the expectation was for Bregman to be out “two to three works or more,” and while today’s statement doesn’t technically invalidate that tentative timeline, it certainly paints a more pessimistic outlook with regard to Bregman’s return.

The first-place Astros have a 1.5-game lead over the second-place Athletics, so the absence of one of their best all-around players is a particularly notable blow. The 27-year-old Bregman is enjoying another strong year at the plate, hitting .275/.359/.428 with seven homers and 14 doubles through 262 plate appearances. That’s in line with last year’s production, but his bat has fallen off since 2019’s ridiculous .296/.423/.592, 41-homer showing that earned him a second-place finish in AL MVP voting.

With Bregman sidelined, the Astros have turned to young Abraham Toro to handle the bulk of the work at the hot corner. The 24-year-old Toro has ranked as one of Houston’s better prospects for the past few years, and after a rough showing at the plate early in the season, he’s returned from Triple-A with a .294/.385/.471 in 39 plate appearances. That follows up on a massive .352/.485/.593 performance in 68 Triple-A plate appearances.

Blue Jays Designate Travis Bergen For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that they’ve designated lefty Travis Bergen for assignment. Toronto needed to open a roster spot after this morning’s four-player trade, which sent righty Adam Cimber and outfielder Corey Dickerson from Miami to Toronto in exchange for infielder Joe Panik and minor league right-hander Andrew McInvale.

Bergen, 27, has a pristine 1.69 ERA in 10 2/3 innings this year, but the rest of his numbers don’t paint as rosy a picture. He’s yielded five hits (one homer), walked eight batters and plunked another pair while recording just six strikeouts. Bergen has faced 46 hitters this season and walked or hit 22 percent of them.

This marks the third season in which the left-handed Bergen has logged some Major League time. He’s totaled 38 2/3 frames of MLB work and notched a solid-looking 3.96 ERA, but a 20.9 percent strikeout rate and sky-high 15.6 percent walk rate are both notable red flags.

To his credit, Bergen has been excellent in the minors — when he’s been healthy enough to take the mound. Despite being a 2015 draftee, he’s only totaled 109 1/3 innings of minor league ball. Bergen tossed just five innings after being drafted in 2015 and spent the rest of that season on the injured list. He then had Tommy John surgery in 2016, which limited him to five innings that season and 18 frames in his return effort in 2017.

Bergen worked a healthy and dominant season in 2018, logging 56 1/3 innings with a 0.95 ERA, a 32.0 percent strikeout rate and a 6.5 percent walk rate between the Jays’ Class-A Advanced and Double-A affiliates. Toronto still left him off the 40-man roster, and the Giants took him in that December’s Rule 5 Draft. Bergen’s Rule 5 status in 2019 further limited his innings, and San Francisco eventually returned him to the Jays in August — shortly before the minor league season ended.

There were, of course, no minor league games for Bergen to work in 2020. He spent the summer at the Jays’ alternate training site before being traded to Arizona in return for Robbie Ray. The D-backs designated him for assignment over the winter — the trade of Ray was more about dumping the remainder of his salary at a time when he was struggling badly and had little trade value — and the Jays reacquired him for cash.

The end result of all this is a pitcher who, despite being six-plus years removed from his draft date, has just 148 professional innings under his belt. Bergen has a 1.81 ERA and 31.1 percent strikeout rate in the minors, but he’s also set to turn 28 in October and has far less experience than most in his situation would. That said, based on the minor league numbers and the fact that he has multiple minor league options remaining, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another club take a chance on Bergen — even with the spotty command and lack of experience. The Jays will have a week to trade him or try to pass him through outright waivers.

KBO’s LG Twins Sign Justin Bour

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The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they’ve signed former big league first baseman Justin Bour for the remainder of the 2021 season (link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency). Bour will be paid $350K for the remainder of the season.

Bour, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Giants after Spring Training had begun and opened the 2021 season with their top affiliate in Sacramento. He’s out to a .213/.346/.426 start to the season with six homers, five doubles, a strong 15.4 percent walk rate and a 23 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A. The former Marlins, Phillies and Angels first baseman spent the 2020 season with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hanshin Tigers in Japan, hitting at a .243/.338/.422 clip with 17 long balls and eight doubles in 379 trips to the plate.

It’s been a couple years since we’ve seen Bour in the Majors and a bit longer than that since we saw him at his best. From 2014-17, Bour hit .273/.346/.489 as the Marlins’ primary first baseman — including a monstrous .289/.366/.536, 25-homer showing back in 2017 (134 wRC+, 143 OPS+). Bour was an above-average hitter in each of his five seasons with the Fish, but his production dropped precipitously following a 2018 trade to the Phillies and fell off even further with the Angels in 2019.

Bour is replacing first baseman Roberto Ramos on the roster for the Twins. Ramos, 26, took the KBO by storm last year in his debut campaign when he hit .278/.362/.592 with 38 home runs, 17 doubles and a pair of triples. The former Rockies prospect has been hindered by a lower back injury throughout the 2021 season, however, and has now been out of action for the Twins since June 9. He batted .243/.317/.422 through 205 plate appearances before the injury sidelined him.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/28/21

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Some minor news and notes from around baseball:

  • Right-handed pitcher Chris Smith announced his retirement this afternoon (on Twitter). Smith appeared in the big leagues in 2017, tossing five innings over four games with the Blue Jays. He spent parts of five seasons in the minors. The 32-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Tigers last year, but he was released after the season was canceled. MLBTR wishes him the best in his future endeavors.
  • The Brewers announced that they’ve acquired minor league outfielder Matt Lipka from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. The 29-year-old was selected by the Braves with the 35th overall pick way back in 2010, but he has yet to make the majors. Lipka has spent parts of four seasons at Triple-A, and he’s been especially productive there in 2021. Through 118 plate appearances with the D-Backs’ affiliate in Reno, the right-handed hitting Lipka has compiled a .333/.393/.505 line with a pair of home runs. He was not on the Arizona 40-man roster, so he’ll serve as non-roster organizational depth in the Milwaukee system.

Angels’ GM Perry Minasian Discusses Team’s Approach To Trade Deadline

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The Angels again find themselves in a difficult position with the trade deadline just more than a month away. At 38-40, Los Angeles sits ten games back of the division-leading Astros. They’re eight back in the AL Wild Card race, with four teams in between them and the Athletics, who currently hold the second Wild Card spot.

Barring a fantastic run in the coming weeks (at least three of which will come without superstar center fielder Mike Trout), the Angels don’t look like a team that’ll be seeking to acquire impending free agents for the stretch run. Even if they wind up out of the market for rentals, general manager Perry Minasian suggested the Angels could acquire players with years of control remaining beyond the 2021 season.

“There’s short-term and long-term [buys], depending on what you’re buying and how much control it has,” Minasian told Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times last weekend. “If you’re looking at shorter-term rentals, then obviously we need to be in a position where we feel like that add is going to really push us. If we’re looking at players with control that can not only help us throughout the rest of this season, going into next year, it’s something we’ll entertain. I’ve been with clubs that you might not necessarily think are buyers, per se, but then a certain player pops up and makes sense for the long-term for that club and they go and buy. So I don’t really categorize it as buyer or seller. I think we’re looking for ways to improve our team, both short-term and long-term.”

Unsurprisingly, Minasian didn’t tip his hand as to how a flexible approach to the deadline could manifest itself. Looking at the Angels financial outlook beyond this season, though, it seems the starting rotation is the area most open to some creative management. Each of Dylan Bundy, Alex Cobb, Andrew Heaney and (current reliever) José Quintana is slated to hit free agency at the end of the year.

If multiple members of that group wind up signing elsewhere, the Angels would have a void to fill over the winter as they retool for 2022. (There’s certainly no thought of rebuilding with Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon in the fold). If the Angels don’t make much headway in the standings over the next few weeks, it’s possible Minasian and the rest of the front office trade away one or more of the impending free agents while exploring acquisitions of starting pitchers who are under team control in 2022 (and perhaps beyond).

Such an approach would allow the Angels to bolster the roster for future seasons without completely punting on this year, especially with Trout tracking towards a mid-late July return. That kind of balancing act can be tough to strike but isn’t unheard of; the out-of-contention Reds acquired Trevor Bauer just before the 2019 trade deadline with an eye towards 2020, to give one prominent example.

As Minasian was quick to point out, much can change for the Angels during the next month. The front office’s exact course at the deadline will no doubt be shaped by how the team performs in their next 25 games, many of which will come against teams in front of them in the AL postseason picture. The Angels have three more games against the Yankees this week, followed by sets against the Orioles, Red Sox, Mariners (twice), A’s (twice), Twins and Rockies before July 30.

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