Archives for July 2022

Pirates Acquire Manny Banuelos

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 12:40pm CDT

Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington has informed reporters, including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic, that the club has acquired left-hander Manny Banuelos from the Yankees for cash considerations. No corresponding move will be necessary as the Pirates already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster.

Banuelos, 31, was in the Yankees’ system as far back as 2008, when he was just 17 years old. He was long-considered one of the best prospects in the system, appearing on Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Yankee youngsters for seven straight years from 2009 to 2015. That was despite missing the entirety of the 2013 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

In 2015, he was traded to Atlanta for David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve and made his MLB debut that year, though injuries limited him to just 26 1/3 innings. He then bounced around the minors for a few seasons, pitching in the systems of the Braves, Angels, Dodgers and White Sox. The Pale Hose gave him his second MLB opportunity, as Banuelos threw 50 2/3 innings for them in 2019, though he underwhelmed with a 6.93 ERA in that time.

In 2020 and 2021, he took his journeyman status to another level, signing with the Mariners, before joining the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League and then the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League.

In January, the Yankees signed him to a minor league deal, bringing him back to the organization where his career began. Banuelos pitched well in Triple-A, throwing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate. Based on that strong performance, he finally got the call to join the Yankees after so many twists and turns.

He spent just over a month with the big league team, faring quite well in 8 1/3 innings. He has a 2.16 ERA on the season so far, along with a 22.9% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 62.5% ground ball rate in that small sample. Despite that solid showing, Banuelos lost his roster spot last week, likely due to the fact that he’s out of options.

Despite his long and winding career, Banuelos has only accrued about two years of MLB service time. That makes him a fairly sensible pickup for the Pirates. If he can sustain any of the promising results he’s shown so far this year, they can retain him well into the future, when they will surely hope to be more competitive than they are at the moment. He makes a lot of sense in the short term as well, given the club’s current bullpen situation. With Anthony Banda recently being DFA’d and traded to the Blue Jays, that left Cam Vieaux as the only southpaw in the club’s bullpen. The team leaned hard on Vieaux in mop-up duty recently, as he was sent out to pitch the eighth inning on Friday with the club down 9-1. The Pirates let him take a shellacking to save the rest of their arms, as he ended up throwing 56 pitches in a single inning of work, allowing eight runs (seven earned). The addition of Banuelos will give them a fresh arm from the south side to insert in their relief mix.

Angels Select Michael Stefanic, Designate Tyler Wade For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 11:45am CDT

The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Michael Stefanic. Infielder Tyler Wade has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Stefanic, 26, was signed by the Angels as an undrafted free agent back in 2018. Since then, he has worked his way up the minor league ladder, garnering attention for his contact and on-base abilities, though without offering much in the power department. In 46 games at Triple-A this year, he’s hit just a single home run but has a 11.9% walk rate against just a 5.7% strikeout rate. That’s resulted in a slash line of .320/.410/.399, 113 wRC+. He did manage 16 homers at Triple-A last year, but that’s the outlier on his ledger, as he’s never hit more than three in any other season of his career.

Despite that lack of power, the contact skills have been enough to garner some attention from prospect evaluators. Baseball America considered Stefanic the 14th-best prospect in the system in their most recent update, with FanGraphs currently ranking him 26th and comparing him to Nick Madrigal.

Defensively, Stefanic is ticketed for utility duty, as he’s played every infield position, as well as brief appearances in the outfield corners. However, the reports from both BA and FG note that he’s not an excellent defender anywhere, not even his primary position of second base.

For the Angels, they’re likely interested in taking that tradeoff, as they’ve had poor production from their non-first-base infielders this year. The infield group was weak on paper coming into the season and has since lost David Fletcher, Matt Duffy and Anthony Rendon to the IL, with Rendon’s injury being season-ending. As a result, the club’s overall second base output comes in at .227/.276/.308. That amounts to a wRC+ of 67, placing them 25th in the majors in that regard. Adding a bat-first player like Stefanic will hopefully give a boost to the offensive production from the dirt.

Stefanic is the second recent addition to the Angels’ infield, as the club signed Jonathan Villar yesterday. The two of them will bolster a group that consists of Luis Rengifo, Andrew Velazquez and David MacKinnon to cover second base, third base and shortstop. The club is 37-43, six games back of a playoff spot in the American League. With the August 2 trade deadline now less than a month away, they will surely be hoping for a solid stretch of play to get themselves into a firmer buyer position before then.

As for Wade, he was traded from the Yankees to the Angels in November of last year. During his time in the Bronx, he earned a reputation as a glove-first player, hitting .212/.298/.307 for a wRC+ of 68. Despite that lackluster offensive production, he was at least a valuable bench player given his versatility, lining up at second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions. Although Wade changed uniforms, his game stayed largely the same this season. He has taken the field at those six positions again this year, while hitting .218/.272/.272 for a wRC+ of 57. The Angels are apparently looking for a little more thump in their lineup, swapping out a glove-first player for a bat-first one.

Wade surpassed three years of MLB service time last year, allowing him to qualify for arbitration for the first time. He and the Angels agreed to a salary of $825K, just a bit north of the $700K league minimum. The Angels will have one week to trade him or put him through waivers. Should he clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency, by virtue of having surpassed three years’ service time. However, doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his salary, as players need more than five years’ service to reject an assignment while still being guaranteed the money owed to them through their contracts.

J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reported the selection of Stefanic prior to the official announcement (Twitter links). Wade also revealed his DFA to reporters, including Sam Blum of the Athletic, prior to the announcement.

Guardians Select Alex Young, Designate Kirk McCarty For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 11:16am CDT

The Guardians announced to reporters, including Zack Meisel of The Athletic, a series of roster moves. Right-hander James Karinchak has been recalled to the active roster, while left-hander Alex Young has had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, lefty Anthony Gose was placed on the injured list with a left triceps strain, Anthony Castro was optioned to Triple-A and lefty Kirk McCarty was designated for assignment. (The Guardians had an active roster of 27 for yesterday’s doubleheader but needed to get it back down to 26 today, which explains why they are adding two players to the roster but subtracting three.)

Young was a second-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks in 2015, making his MLB debut with them in 2019. In 83 1/3 innings, he put up an ERA of 3.56, along with a 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate. Things went the wrong direction in subsequent seasons, however, as Young’s ERA jumped up to 5.44 in 2020 and then 6.26 with the DBacks in 2021. He was designated for assignment and claimed by Cleveland last year, putting up a 7.84 ERA with them in 10 1/3 innings after the claim.

In November, the Guardians made a huge roster overhaul prior to the Rule 5 draft, selecting ten players and designating seven for assignment. Young was one of those in the latter group, eventually clearing waivers and staying in the organization. He’s made 27 relief appearances for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers this season and has fared quite well. He has an ERA of 3.14, along with a 37.1% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate. Based on that successful run, he’ll get another crack at the majors.

McCarty, 26, was selected to the big league club in April, making it to the MLB level for the first time. He’s thrown 12 innings in the show, but with an unfortunate ERA of 9.00 in that sample. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, with a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings, but the club has decided to risk losing him. The Guardians are in the midst of a particularly gruelling portion of their schedule, after Friday’s game was rained out, leading to a doubleheader yesterday. Since they also have a doubleheader to play against the Tigers tomorrow, that means they are playing five games in three days, with two more games before the next off-day. Due to the need for fresh arms, it seems the collateral damage is McCarty losing his roster spot. The team will have seven days to trade him or put him through waivers.

Brewers Reinstate Pedro Severino

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 10:13am CDT

The Brewers announced that they have reinstated catcher Pedro Severino from the restricted list. To create space on the active roster. Outfielder Tyrone Taylor has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to July 2. The club already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move was required in that regard.

Severino spent the past three years with the Orioles but was non-tendered at the end of last season. The Brewers signed him in November to a one-year, $1.9MM deal, hoping that the right-handed-hitting Severino could form a platoon with the left-handed-hitting Omar Narvaez. However, in early April, Severino was given an 80-game suspension after failing a PED test. Severino didn’t challenge the results, admitting that the presence of Clomiphene in his system was due to fertility treatments he was undergoing in the Dominican Republic.

Knowing that they would be without Severino for an extended stretch, the club bolstered the catching position by trading for Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson. Jackson has been on the shelf for about a month with a sprained finger, but the Brewers still have a three-catcher situation now, with Severino, Caratini and Narvaez. Caratini has stepped up admirably and is hitting .248/.375/.448 this year for a wRC+ of 132. That might make it hard for Severino to force his way back into the mix.

“We’re going to have to be creative a little bit,” manager Craig Counsell told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com about the logjam. “Look, the two guys we’ve got are playing really well. That’s going to factor into it as well.” Severino played a few games at first base during his rehab, but it doesn’t seem like Plan A will involve a lot of time there for him. “I don’t think initially he will be a big option,” Counsell said. “We’ll continue to have him do some work there, and if we get to a situation where we need it, he’ll be a guy with some experience there.”

Due to his suspension, Severino is ineligible to play in the postseason. However, if he plays well for the remainder of the season, he can be retained for next year via arbitration.

Tigers Select Garrett Hill

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 9:05am CDT

The Tigers announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Rony Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder soreness, retroactive to June 30. To create space on the 40-man roster, Matt Manning has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Hill, 26, was selected by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. Since then, he’s climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, racking up strikeouts at each level along the way. He started this year at Double-A and made seven starts for the SeaWolves. In that time, he struck out 40.9% of the batters he faced, walking 7.9% of them and getting grounders at a 33.3% clip.

Based on those strong results, he was moved up to Triple-A and made eight starts for the Mud Hens. The higher level of competition naturally resulted in lesser results, though Hill still fared well. His Triple-A ERA is 4.06, along with a 28.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 32.6% ground ball rate. Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the system as part of a recent update. The Tigers’ plan is for Hill to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Guardians, which will be his MLB debut.

Detroit was supposed to have their rotation as a strength this year but have seen a litany of injuries derail that plan. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of the year, joining Spencer Turnbull, who underwent the procedure last year. Matt Manning has only made two starts due to shoulder issues. Eduardo Rodriguez made eight starts before landing on the IL and then the restricted list due to a personal matter. Michael Pineda spent about six weeks on the IL as well, but has since returned. Now Rony Garcia is the latest starter to land on the shelf.

Due to all of that, the Tigers have leaned hard on their starting depth this year, giving MLB debuts to pitchers such as Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Joey Wentz, with Hill now stepping up as the next rookie to get a shot.

The move for Manning is strictly procedural as he’s been on the IL for over 60 days already. He will be eligible to return as soon as his health allows, though he will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster at that time. He is close to starting a rehab assignment but will need some time to build back up into game shape.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported Hill’s promotion before the official announcement.

Rays Select Cristofer Ogando

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 8:35am CDT

The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Cristofer Ogando and optioned fellow right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. in a corresponding move. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, though Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson are currently on the restricted list due to their unvaccinated status preventing them from traveling to Toronto for this weekend’s series. Javy Guerra was selected to take one of the vacated spots and Ogando will now take the other. Once the team is in Boston for tomorrow’s game, they will have to remove two players from the roster.

Ogando, 28, has taken a long road to the big leagues. He made his debut in affiliated ball back in 2013 as part of the Marlins organization. Just 19 years old at the time, he threw 6 1/3 innings in Rookie ball but then didn’t appear in the affiliated ranks over the next few seasons. He was signed by the Diamondbacks in 2018 and pitched well enough that the Rays selected him in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in December of that year.

He’s been in the Rays organization ever since, climbing his way from A-ball to Triple-A. This year, he’s thrown 32 2/3 innings for the Durham Bulls with a 3.03 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Dodgers To Activate Mookie Betts From 10-Day Injured List Sunday

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 10:30pm CDT

Mookie Betts said earlier today that his return to the Dodgers’ lineup could come as early as tomorrow, and that scenario has now come to pass. Manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (Twitter links) that Betts will be activated from the 10-day injured list prior to tomorrow’s game with the Padres.

Los Angeles placed Betts on the IL on June 19 due to a cracked rib, so returning in only two weeks’ time is a sigh of relief for the player and the team following what could have been a much more serious injury. The Dodgers even acquired Trayce Thompson as a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Eddy Alvarez in the outfield, seemingly indicating that Betts could miss a significant amount of time. Even a week ago, Roberts didn’t have a timetable on Betts’ status and noted that the former AL MVP hadn’t yet begun any baseball activities.

Fortunately, once Betts did return to workouts, his progress went quite smoothly. There was some suggestion that Betts could return as a second baseman rather than as a right fielder in order to make it easier on him to throw, though Betts said today that he preferred playing the field to being a designated hitter.

Betts will in fact return as a right fielder, as Chris Taylor is now day-to-day with a left foot contusion suffered while attempting a catch during tonight’s game. X-rays were negative on Taylor’s foot, though the issue was serious enough for him to be removed from the game in the sixth inning.

The Dodgers have seemingly had a revolving door of players getting injured or healthy all season long, and yet without their first-choice lineup, L.A. is still leading the National League with a 49-28 record. Naturally, Betts has been a big part of that success, hitting .273/.349/.535 with 17 home runs over his first 275 plate appearances. Even with two missed weeks on the IL, Betts’ 3.3 fWAR still ranks him 12th among all hitters in baseball this season.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 10:11pm CDT

Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat.

Cubs Notes: Mills, Stroman, Smyly, Suzuki

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 7:56pm CDT

Alec Mills threw only seven pitches in today’s start against the Red Sox before being forced out of the game due to lower-back pain. More will be known once Mills undergoes testing, but it would seemingly appear as though the right-hander’s bad back could again be forcing him to the injured list.

Mills missed a little over three weeks of the 2021 season with a lower back strain, and a similar injury also put him on the IL to begin the 2022 campaign. Unfortunately for Mills, he then suffered a quad injury while rehabbing earlier this season, which delayed this season debut until June 7. This missed time has clearly had an adverse effect on Mills’ pitching, as he has struggled to a 9.68 ERA over 17 2/3 innings since coming off the IL. Today’s abbreviated outing was only the second time in seven appearances that Mills hadn’t allowed multiple earned runs.

It was also only Mills’ second start in those seven games, as Chicago had primarily been using him as a reliever until injuries forced Mills back into rotation duty. Should Mills be headed to the IL again, the Cubs will be in need of a starter in the short term, though help could be on the way soon.

Marcus Stroman is set to make a rehab start on Sunday for Triple-A Iowa, as the righty looks to be on the verge of returning from a stint on the 15-day IL. Shoulder inflammation sidelined Stroman back on June 10, and he also missed around two weeks earlier this season due to a placement on the COVID-related IL.

The stop-and-start nature of his season has contributed to Stroman’s disappointing 5.32 ERA. While his 3.71 SIERA is more palatable, Stroman’s strikeout rate is barely above the league average and he has some of the worst hard-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball. It could be that this IL visit serves as a reset on his season, as Stroman told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian that he feels he more “proper build-up” after two bullpen sessions and a live BP session. The right-hander hopes that he’ll only need the one rehab start before returning to the Cubs, which would line Stroman up for a start in Chicago’s upcoming series against the Dodgers.

Drew Smyly is also set to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Monday, following a similar ramp-up pattern of two bullpens and a live BP session. Smyly has missed a little over a month due to an oblique strain. The veteran lefty’s first season in Wrigleyville has seen him post a 3.80 ERA/4.09 SIERA over 42 2/3 innings, with a strong 5.6% walk rate, but also a career-low 18.9% strikeout rate. That latter figure could give rival teams some pause in considering Smyly as a deadline pickup, though if he is able to return quickly and pitch well in July, Smyly figures to get some attention by August 2.

On the position-player side, manager David Ross told Bastian and other reporters that Seiya Suzuki should be activated from the IL as early as Monday. Suzuki has a third minor league rehab game scheduled for today, which could be the final step in his recovery from a sprained left ring finger. The outfielder has now missed over five weeks of action, interrupting his first MLB season. Suzuki had gotten off to a red-hot start in the first few weeks of play, but came down to earth in the 23 games prior to his injury — Suzuki has hit only .183/.253/.293 in his last 91 plate appearances.

AL Central Notes: Twins, Guardians, Blitzer, Ilitch, Tigers

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 6:49pm CDT

The bullpen will be a focus for the Twins heading into the trade deadline, even though “the reliever (trade) market is always the toughest one to navigate and always the toughest one to pin down,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman and other reporters. “It all depends on what’s available, but this year we’ll be more open-minded to adding whatever what we think will be something that will help us more toward the middle or the back end, ideally.”

However, it doesn’t seem like a trade may come together quickly, as with a month still left before the trade deadline, Falvey noted that many teams still haven’t decided if they’ll be buying or selling. “You can’t really accelerate that part of the conversation,” Falvey said. “Sometimes it’s ’all right, we’ll wait and see, we’ll put you down as interested in Player X and we’ll circle back if we’re moving in that direction.’ ” While the Twins could push the market with an aggressive offer, that only increases the risk of overpaying for a player now when they could get the same pitcher for less in a few weeks’ time. Getting at least one of Emilio Pagan or Tyler Duffey pitching well would greatly help Minnesota’s bullpen and trade leverage, but until that happens, the club may need to continue to explore outside options.

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