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Archives for October 2021

Phillies Fire Coaches Joe Dillon, Juan Castro

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The Phillies fired hitting coach Joe Dillon and infield coach Juan Castro this afternoon.  Assistant hitting coach Pedro Guerrero wasn’t let go but was given permission to look for other jobs, as the Phils intend to let their next hitting coach hire his own assistant.  The rest of Philadelphia’s coaching staff will return in 2021, according to manager Joe Girardi.

“I think they [Dillon and Castro] worked extremely hard, but we just felt at this time it was time to make some changes,” Girardi told The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber and other reporters.  “We always talk about, at this level, it’s a production-based business.  It’s difficult.”

Dillon was in his second season as hitting coach, and across the board, the Phillies’ offensive numbers declined.  After hitting a collective .257/.342/.439 (108 wRC+) in 2020, Philadelphia batters took a .240/.318/.408 slash line (93 wRC+) into today’s season finale.  Even with Bryce Harper enjoying an all-world season, the Phillies weren’t much beyond middle-of-the-pack in most major offensive categories.

A lack of consistent hitting was far from the only issue that plagued the Phillies this year, as poor defense may have been an even bigger problem for the team.  This cost Castro his job, though as Lauber noted, it was perhaps asking a bit much of Castro to improve an infield full of subpar defenders.  Castro (a former MLB infielder who spent parts of eight seasons each with the Reds and Dodgers) is also in his second year on Philadelphia’s coaching staff.

Rangers Designate Wes Benjamin For Assignment, Activate Matt Bush

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The Rangers have activated right-hander Matt Bush from the 60-day IL, according to John Blake, the team’s executive VP of communications. Fellow righty Glenn Otto was optioned to make room on the active roster while lefty Wes Benjamin was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man.

It’s been quite a journey for Bush, who had his 2019 and 2020 seasons wiped out by Tommy John surgery. This year, he cracked the Rangers’ roster out of spring training but went on the IL April 9th with elbow inflammation and has been there ever since. Prior to that IL placement, he got into three games and logged three innings, with four strikeouts, four hits, a walk and three earned runs. He recently started a rehab assignment and made four appearances in the minors. The club has seemingly decided to reward Bush’s hard work and patience by adding him back to the big league roster on the last day of the season. The 35-year-old can be controlled for three more seasons via arbitration but seems likely to be non-tendered, considering that he’s now three years removed from a meaningful stretch of production at the big league level.

As for Benjamin, he made his Major League debut last year, logging 22 1/3 innings over eight games, including one start. He had an ERA of 4.84 with average-ish strikeout and walk rates of 21.4% and 7.1%. This year, he’s been tossed back and forth between the majors and minors, having been optioned six times. At the big league level in 2021, he got into 22 2/3 innings with an ERA of 8.74, along with a strikeout rate of 17% and walk rate of 15.2%, both of which are worse than league average. The 28-year-old lefty will now presumably go on waivers in the coming days.

Rockies Designate Chi Chi Gonzalez For Assignment

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The Rockies announced a few roster moves today, recalling right-handed pitchers Justin Lawrence and Antonio Santos, while optioning infielder Rio Ruiz and designating right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez for assignment.

The Rockies non-tendered Gonzalez in the offseason and then re-signed him on a minor league deal just over a week later. He had his contract at the end of spring training and stayed a part of the staff until the last day of the season. In 24 games this season, 18 of them starts, he has logged 101 2/3 innings with an ERA of 6.46. That may be somewhat inflated by Gonzalez playing his home games in the most hitter-friendly park in the league, but his underlying metrics aren’t much better. His 12.5% strikeout rate is just barely half of the MLB average, which is 23.2%. His 6.3% walk rate is pretty solid though, considering the league average of 8.7%.

Based on that middling production and the fact that he had already been non-tendered by the club once, they were probably heading down the same path this winter. For the club, they decided to just move on now and use the last day of the season to give another look to some younger arms. Lawrence, 26, and Santos, 24, have each logged their fair share of miles shuttling between MLB and Triple-A this season, each one having been optioned six times. Lawrence has a bloated 8.64 ERA over 16 2/3 MLB innings this season, but a much more palatable 4.73 ERA in 32 1/3 Triple-A innings. Santos is somehow the reverse, with an MLB ERA of 4.76 in 11 1.3 innings but a Triple-A ERA of 7.94 in 45 1/3 innings.

Yankees Select Brody Koerner, Transfer Luke Voit To 60-Day IL

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The Yankees have selected the contract of right-hander Brody Koerner and optioned him to Triple-A, per a team announcement. To make room on the 40-man roster, first baseman Luke Voit was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

For Voit, this officially ends his season and eliminates any chance of him returning to the club at some point during the postseason. Overall, it was a disappointing campaign for the slugger, as he was hampered by injuries, with multiple trips to the IL, primarily due to his knee. He managed to get into 68 games at the MLB level and hit .239/.328/.437. That production was still 11% better than league average as measured by wRC+. However, that’s a big drop-off from the wRC+ of 153 that he put up during the shortened 2020 campaign and the 126 he had over 118 games in 2019.

It was perhaps because of Voit’s continued struggles to stay healthy that the Yankees acquired a replacement first baseman at the deadline in the form of Anthony Rizzo. However, Rizzo is a free agent at the end of this season, meaning that the Yankees could let Voit take over as the regular first baseman again in 2022. Though that will probably depend on how his health progresses over the coming months and through the winter. Voit reached arbitration for the first time last winter as a Super Two player. He and the Yankees agreed to a $4.7MM salary for 2021. He would be in line for a modest raise for 2022.

Koerner was previously selected to the roster in early August and lasted about three weeks before being outrighted back to Triple-A. In that time, he only got into two games, logging three innings with two hits, two walks, one earned run and one strikeout. In Triple-A this year, he’s logged 75 innings with an ERA of 3.48 and 60 strikeouts. He could potentially be an emergency option for the Yankees during the postseason. Players in the organization but not on the 40-man roster before September 1 can still participate in the playoffs via a petition to the Commissioner’s Office, a fairly common maneuver throughout the league.

Nationals To Promote Joan Adon

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October 3: The Nationals have announced the recall of Adon, with Luis Garcia going on the IL with a strained oblique muscle as the corresponding move.

October 2: The Nationals will promote right-hander Joan Adon prior to tomorrow’s game, manager Davey Martinez told reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post) tonight.  Adon will make his MLB debut starting Washington’s final game of the season.  The 23-year-old Adon is already on the Nats’ 40-man roster, added last November in advance of the Rule 5 draft.

While it might not be a long outing for Adon, he’ll at least get a cup of coffee in The Show to cap off his fourth professional season.  An amateur signing out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016, Adon hadn’t even pitched at high-A ball prior to 2021, but advanced up the ladder with over 105 combined innings at the high-A (87 IP), Double-A (14 IP), and Triple-A (four IP).  Adon has a 26.9% strikeout rate and 8.81% walk rate during his 2021 season, and those decent numbers have translated only to a cumulative 4.97 ERA.

MLB Pipeline rates Adon as the 22nd-best prospect in Washington’s farm system, citing his 60-grade fastball with mid-90s velocity.  Though Adon has worked only as a starting pitcher in 2021, Pipeline’s scouting report feels his future as a starter or as a reliever will depend on whether or not Adon can get consistent success with at least one other secondary pitch.

Red Sox To Activate Garrett Whitlock

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1:10 pm: Right-hander Eduard Bazardo has been optioned as the corresponding move, the Red Sox announced.

11:22 am: The Red Sox are activating right-handed pitcher Garrett Whitlock off the injured list for the final scheduled game of the season, according to manager Alex Cora, who spoke to various reporters, including Ian Browne of MLB.com. Whitlock went on the IL September 21st with a pectoral strain and now returns less than two weeks later. The corresponding move has not been announced at this time.

After being selected from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft, the 25-year-old has emerged to be one of Boston’s best bullpen arms, if not the best. In 45 games, he’s racked up 72 1/3 innings with an excellent ERA of 1.99. His 26.8% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate are both much better than the league averages of 23.2% and 8.7%.

The return of Whitlock figures to be a boost to a Red Sox team that’s mired in a four-team scramble to get to the ALDS. The Red Sox and Yankees are one game ahead of the Blue Jays and Mariners, going into the season’s final day, with the potential for multiple tie-breaking games being needed before the Wild Card game, to determine who moves on to the next round to face the Rays. Each and every pitcher could play an important role in the chaos, especially one as skilled as Whitlock.

Astros Activate Zack Greinke

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The Astros have activated Zack Greinke, according to manager Dusty Baker, as relayed by Mark Berman of Fox 26. Right-handed pitcher Brandon Bielak was optioned in a corresponding move.

Today’s game has no meaning for the club in terms of the standings, as they have already clinched both a division title and home-field advantage for their upcoming ALDS matchup with the White Sox. That means they will be free to deploy Greinke in whatever manner they feel best prepares him for his role in that series. Recently, Baker acknowledged the possibility of Greinke being used out of the bullpen during the postseason. This is partially due to the fact that Greinke’s routine has been disrupted by two separate IL stints in recent weeks. He first went on the COVID-related IL August 31st and returned September 14th. However, after making just two starts, he then went on the IL with neck soreness, retroactive to September 19th. Greinke then pitched a rehab outing in the minors on September 30th, throwing just 34 pitches over two innings.

However, even if Greinke were fully stretched out, it could be reasonably argued he is not one of Houston’s top four starters this season, despite his lengthy track record of success. In 168 2/3 innings this year, the 37-year-old (turning 38 on October 21st) has an ERA of 4.11 with a flimsy strikeout rate of 17%, although his walk rate is still superb at 5.2%. That performance seems to put him behind Houston’s other hurlers such as Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Jake Odorizzi, for consideration to be in the playoff rotation.

Greinke being healthy and effective would help the club by giving them another option out of the bullpen, but it also has ramifications for Greinke himself, as he is slated to reach free agency after this season. A quality playoff performance, or lack thereof, could impact the amount of interest he garners in the offseason.

Yankees Place DJ LeMahieu On Injured List

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The Yankees are placing infielder DJ LeMahieu on the injured list with a sports hernia, according to manager Aaron Boone, as relayed by several reporters, including Marly Rivera of ESPN. LeMahieu last played September 30th, missing the past few games with the injury, meaning the soonest he could return to the club would be if they qualified for the ALCS. Right-handed pitcher Luis Gil is taking his spot on the active roster.

This is very unfortunate timing for the Yankees, as they are currently trying to wriggle out of a four-team logjam for the two American League Wild Card spots. They and the Red Sox are going into the final scheduled day of the season just one game ahead of the Blue Jays and Mariners in the standings. With the potential for various one-game tiebreakers and then the Wild Card game itself, each team will be taking an all-hands-on-deck approach in order to survive. Boone says, as relayed by Rivera in a separate tweet, that LeMahieu worked out today before the very late decision was made. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com quotes Boone as saying LeMahieu is “too compromised” to play right now.

It’s been a disappointing season for the 33-year-old, perhaps because of the injury. In his first Yankees contract, over 2019 and 2020, LeMahieu hit an excellent .336/.386/.536, which amounts to a wRC+ of 146, all while having the versatility of playing multiple positions around the infield. On the heels of that excellent performance, the Yankees re-signed LeMahieu to a six-year, $90MM contract in the most recent offseason. Unfortunately, the first year of the deal has seen LeMahieu’s production drop off to a line of .268/.349/.362, a wRC+ of 100. Nevertheless, that league-average production being put on the shelf is still a loss for the club. Rougned Odor is slotting into third base for the Yanks today, and he has a 2021 slash line of .201/.286/.379, wRC+ of just 82.

As for Gil, he adds another arm to the Yankees’ stable at a time when they might need a lot of them over the next few days. In six starts at the big league level this year, he’s logged 29 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.07. He’s likely to be used as a long-relief option, though, as Jameson Taillon is starting today’s game, with Gerrit Cole the planned starter for whatever game the Yankees play next, be that some kind of tie-breaker or the Wild Card game.

Nick Castellanos Undecided About Opt-Out

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Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos says he has not made a decision about his ability to opt out of the remainder of his contract this winter. He recently discussed the matter with Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and said, “I don’t know what I want… There is so much information that I’m going to take in. I also have to take into mind the status of the game. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is now coming up. Once I take a step back from the season and have some days at home with my family and I’m able to just hang out with my wife, dog and kid, and we can just talk about what happened and get as much information as I can.”

At this point, it would be incredibly surprising if Castellanos decided not to opt out, given that he’s enjoying the best season of his career. Going into the last day of the campaign, the 29-year-old is currently hitting .308/.360/.574. That all adds up to a wRC+ of 139 and 4.0 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs. Both of those numbers are well beyond his previous best season of 2018, when his wRC+ was 129 and he was worth 2.9 fWAR. In 2019, he was almost as good, putting up a wRC+ of 122 and 2.8 fWAR.

After those two consecutive excellent campaigns, he signed with the Reds on a four-year, $64MM contract that contained opt-out provisions after both 2020 and 2021. He didn’t use that first opt-out opportunity as last year proved to be a slight down year for him, hitting just .225/.298/.486, wRC+ of 100. But when that shortened season is combined with the full campaign of 2021, his numbers are right in line with his previous production. His 2020-21 slash line is .283/.342/.548, wRC+ of 127.

The contract contains two more guaranteed years, with a salary of $16MM in each of 2022 and 2023. There’s also a $2MM buyout on a $20MM mutual option for 2024, meaning that Castellanos, if he opts out, would be leaving two years and $34MM in guaranteed money on the table in exchange for the open market. If he does, the Reds would certainly extend him a qualifying offer, which will be in the range of $20MM.

Even with that taken into consideration, it seems likely Castellanos could find more money in free agency now as a 29-year-old than he would if he waited until the end of this contract, when he would be 31. For example, Marcell Ozuna has a similar bat-first outfielder profile. He turned down a qualifying offer after a mediocre 2019 season wherein he hit .241/328/.472 for a wRC+ of 110. He was still able to get himself a one-year, $18MM contract with the Braves for his age-29 season. Then he had a tremendous campaign in the shortened 2020 season and parlayed that into a four-year, $65MM contract to return to Atlanta.

However, as Castellanos himself points out, this coming offseason has the added uncertainty of the CBA negotiations. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and players’ union expires December 1st, which leaves the door open for all kinds of unknown paths for the offseason to take. Perhaps Castellanos would rather not go through all of that while temporarily unemployed, even if that means potentially limiting his overall earning power somewhat. As he himself put it, “You have to balance everything that you possibly can: How much you like where you’re playing, how close it is to home because I’m co-parenting, where the organization is in the spot to compete, and obviously, the financial part of it is important as well. It’s a balance of all of that.”

Hanley Ramirez To Return To Dominican Winter League

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37-year-old Hanley Ramirez has reported to los Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Winter League, as announced by the team on Twitter. This will be his first competitive action since playing for the same club in the winter of 2019-20.

Ramirez, who turns 38 in December, has played for los Tigres sporadically over his career, suiting up for them in the winters of 2006-07, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The fact that he is back for another season doesn’t necessarily mean he is attempting to return to MLB, although Jon Heyman of MLB Network did use the word “comeback” on Twitter. However, the timing is interesting, given that it is widely expected that this winter’s collective bargaining will result in all 30 teams being able to implement a designated hitter next season. Since he has been primarily a designated hitter or first baseman since 2016, that would increase the odds of Ramirez finding some playing time, if he’s healthy enough to contribute with his bat.

That’s a big if, though, given that shoulder injuries derailed his last attempt at playing in the big leagues. Ramirez was released by the Red Sox June 1st, 2018, the last guaranteed season of the four-year, $88MM contract that he signed prior to the 2015 campaign. He didn’t latch on with another club for the rest of that year and later revealed that he turned down offers in order to try to get back to full health. He then signed a minor league deal with Cleveland in February of 2019 and was later selected to their opening day roster. Through 16 games, he was hitting .184/.298/.327, when he was designated for assignment by the club. In July of that year, he underwent shoulder surgery with the hopes of coming back for the 2020 season. It was a few months later, in November of 2019, that Hanley joined los Tigres, getting into 13 games and hitting .273/.298/.418.

Ramirez had an incredible run in the big leagues from 2006 to 2014, playing 1,221 games and hitting .300/.373/.500 in that time, producing a wRC+ of 133 and 40.6 fWAR. After that, his production fell off dramatically, although he was an above-average hitter as recently as 2016, hitting .286/.361/.505 with the Red Sox that year. If he’s managed to put his shoulder issues behind him and show any glimpses of his past performance, some team could be intrigued enough to give him a minor league deal and invite him to spring training to see if he can hit enough to fill a bench bat/designated hitter role.

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