Archives for March 2023

Red Sox Acquire Angel Pierre From Royals

By Mark Polishuk | March 19, 2023 at 3:19pm CDT

The Red Sox announced that infielder Angel Pierre has been acquired from the Royals. Pierre is the player to be named later included along with Adalberto Mondesi in the January swap that sent Josh Taylor to Kansas City.

Pierre was an international signing for the Royals in January 2022, and the 19-year-old’s first year as professional saw him hit .300/.424/.550 with two home runs over 125 plate appearances in the Dominican Summer League. Pierre hails from “the Cradle of Shortstops” in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, but he mostly played third base in DSL action, with a handful of games as a shortstop and second baseman.

NL East Notes: Braves, Nimmo, Painter

By Nick Deeds | March 19, 2023 at 2:56pm CDT

The Braves have a handful of areas on the roster that have yet to be settled, even with Opening Day only a little over a week away. The fifth starter competition has been upended since the beginning of spring, as Michael Soroka has once again struggled with injuries while early favorites Ian Anderson and Bryce Elder fell out of favor thanks to excellent springs from prospects Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd. The final spot in the bullpen and the fourth outfielder position are other areas with uncertainty, but perhaps the most interesting camp battle at this point in the Spring is one few expected headed into the year.

As noted by Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the shortstop position is still up for grabs, though most considered youngster Vaughn Grissom all but locked into the role as camp began last month. Since then, though, prospect Braden Shewmake has paired already-excellent defense with a torrid spring at the plate as he’s slashed .333/.400/.482 in 12 grapefruit league games. While it seems that the most likely conclusion to this remains Grissom as the starting shortstop, backed up by Orlando Arcia, Shewmake has made a case for himself this spring, and it’s worth noting that his left-handed bat could serve as a better complement to the right-handed Arcia than Grissom, who also bats righty. Toscano notes that it seems unlikely the Braves would roster both players to open the season, but it’s reasonable to expect that even if Shewmake fails to take the starting shortstop gig for himself to open the season, an opportunity to make his big league debut will open up at some point this season.

Glenn Otto To Undergo MRI On Right Lat Muscle

By Nick Deeds | March 19, 2023 at 2:05pm CDT

The Rangers’s rotation depth has been dealt another blow, as right-hander Glenn Otto, who was scratched from his start yesterday with “right lat tightness”, tells reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that he is set to undergo an MRI on the muscle after feeling more soreness this morning.

Otto, who celebrated his 27th birthday last week, made 27 starts for the Rangers last year, pitching to a 4.64 ERA that was 15% below league average by ERA+. Underlying metrics further underscore Otto’s struggles last year, as he posted a strikeout rate of just 18.2% against a 10.6% walk rate, with a whopping 8.9% of his batted balls allowed resulting in barrels. All that added up to a 5.21 FIP, more than half a run higher than his ERA. Given that performance, its no surprise that Texas’s offseason spending spree on starters that saw them acquire Jake Odorizzi, Jacob deGrom, Andrew Heaney, and Nathan Eovaldi while re-signing Martin Perez pushed Otto out of the rotation picture. Still, Otto figured to compete for a roster spot with Cole Ragans and Dane Dunning following the announcement that Odorizzi would begin the season on the injured list.

Though Otto was far from the favorite to secure that roster spot, it’s worth noting that virtually every team needs depth starters throughout the regular season, and Otto was sure to make appearances in the big leagues at some point this year even if he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. That’s especially true for the Rangers, who have a starting five featuring a handful of players who have missed significant time in recent years: deGrom and Heaney both failed to clear 75 innings of work last year, while Eovaldi has pitched more than 111 innings just once since the end of the 2016 season.

Should Otto join Odorizzi on the injured list to open the season and miss significant time, that lines Ragans and Dunning up for a battle to be the long man out of the Rangers’s bullpen to open the season, with the other likely headed to Triple-A to serve as a depth starter alongside Spencer Howard. That being said, it’s worth noting that both Eovaldi and deGrom are expected to open the season on limited pitch counts, meaning it could behoove the Rangers to carry both Ragans and Dunning into the season in order to have more long relief options available to shoulder the additional workload while Eovaldi and deGrom ramp up.

While few details regarding Otto’s injury are available, MLB.com notes that lat strains come in three grades, with the mildest ones requiring a recovery time of just a few weeks while the most severe ones can require surgery and a lengthy rehab afterward. With such a wide range of possible outcomes, it’s impossible to predict the outcome of Otto’s MRI, the severity of his injury, or the timetable for his return to action.

Phillies Interested In Right-Handed Hitting Outfielders

By Nick Deeds | March 19, 2023 at 1:16pm CDT

With just over a week until Opening Day, the bench group in Philadelphia is beginning to come into focus. As discussed by The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, the Phillies view each of backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, and utilitymen Edmundo Sosa and Josh Harrison as locks to make the roster. With Bryce Harper slated to begin the season on the injured list as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery, the Phillies have no set, everyday DH, leaving them with effectively five seats on the bench. With three locked in, two spots remain available for the Phillies to fill.

Gelb notes that the Phillies are interested in acquiring a right-handed fourth outfielder to complement the starting outfield trio of Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and Nick Castellanos, but there are plenty of internal candidates also capable of securing one of the remaining bench jobs: utilitymen Scott Kingery, Dalton Guthrie, and Kody Clemens are joined by outfielder Jake Cave and first baseman Darick Hall in the hunt for a spot on the Philadelphia bench to open the season.

All five players have relatively secure spots in the organization headed into the season: Guthrie, Clemens, Cave, and Hall all are on the 40-man roster with minor league options remaining, while Kingery is not on the 40-man roster but is set to remain in the organization during the final year of his ill-fated six-year, $24MM extension he signed with the Phillies ahead of the 2018 season, before he had taken a big league at-bat. Without fear of losing any of these players by not dedicating an Opening Day roster spot to them, the Phillies have plenty of flexibility in making their final decisions about which players to roster.

Looking at external options, the best right-handed fourth outfield option remaining unsigned is likely Albert Almora. Almora played in 64 games for the Reds in 2022 with solid defense at each of the three outfield spots, but struggled at the plate as he slashed just .223/.282/.349 in 235 plate appearances, good for just a 71 wRC+. That seems to be about in line with what a club should expect from Almora should they sign him for this season, given his career 80 wRC+ drops to 71 when looking at his performance since the start of the 2018 season.

While the pickings are currently slim on the free agent market, it remains possible that a player squeezed off their current club’s roster could be made available either by trade or by opting-out of their current minor-league pact and returning to the free agent market. Jake Marisnick, Monte Harrison, and Michael Hermosillo are among the numerous players around the league for whom that is a possibility as Spring Training draws toward a conclusion.

If the Philies are unable to find anyone outside of the organization to their liking, both Kingery and Guthrie are right-handed hitters with experience at all three outfield spots. Kingery has had a better spring to this point that Guthrie, as the former has raked to a .394/.459/.515 line this spring that far outshines Guthrie’s .250/.273/.375 line. With that being said, Guthrie has advantages of his own. As previously mentioned, he already has a 40-man roster spot, while Kingery would require a corresponding move to roster. Additionally, Guthrie raked in his first taste of big league action last season, posting a whopping 184 wRC+ in his fourteen-game cup of coffee that earned him a spot on the postseason roster during Philadelphia’s NL championship run.

It’s also worth noting that Kingery has largely struggled in his major league opportunities to this point in his career, with his already mediocre 73 wRC+ in 325 career games mostly buoyed by a 2019 season where he was league average at the plate (100 wRC+) in 500 plate appearances. Since then, Kingery has posted a brutal wRC+ of just 21, indicating he’s been 79% worse than league average at the plate in 52 big league games since the start of the 2020 season. Given his long-lasting struggles, it would be understandable if the Phillies were hesitant to trust his torrid spring.

Assuming the Phillies would like another left-handed bat on the bench in addition to Stubbs, the spot that doesn’t go to one of Kingery, Guthrie, or an external fourth outfielder would likely go to one of Hall, Clemens, or Cave. All three have raked in Grapefruit League play, but one separator could be that Clemens has by far the most positional flexibility of the three. Cave is confined to the outfield while Hall is limited to first base and the DH slot while Clemens has experience in the four corner spots and at second base, though Gelb indicates that the Phillies don’t see Clemens as a factor at the keystone.

That being said, Cave has the advantage of a long track record of major league experience, with 335 big league games under his belt to this point and a career wRC+ of 92, though he posted just an 81 in 54 games with the Twins last year. While the most defensively limited of the three options, Hall is the most interesting bat of the three, as he posted a 119 wRC+ in 101 Triple-A games last year before carrying that success into the big leagues, where he slashed .250/.282/.550 with a wRC+ of 120. For a team set to start the season without Harper, it’s possible that Hall’s lefty power might be too attractive to pass up, even with his defensive limitations.

While pairing Hall with one of Guthrie or Kingery certainly seems like an attractive option for the Phillies right now, an external addition or injury could certainly change that over the course of the next week or so, to say nothing of the reality that all five internal options seem sure to get major league opportunities at some point this year as the roster churns through the regular season.

Rockies Notes: Grichuk, Cron, Blackmon, Gilbreath

By Darragh McDonald | March 19, 2023 at 8:55am CDT

Outfielder Randal Grichuk has been ruled out for Opening Day, reports Danielle Allentuck of The Denver Gazette. The 31-year-old underwent sports hernia surgery in early February and was given a six-week estimated recovery timeline. That would have meant that he could have been back in action prior to the March 30 opener, but Allentuck relays that he’s only recently started doing full-day workouts. Once he gets into games, he’ll need a couple of weeks or so for his spring ramp-up and to get his timing down. He expects to be back in the middle of April.

There’s a couple of other issues in the club’s lineup, as Allentuck adds that outfielder Charlie Blackmon and first baseman C.J. Cron are each dealing with back issues. Blackmon left a game on March 10 with mid-back stiffness and it has lingered longer than expected. Cron, meanwhile, was scratched from Thursday’s game with back spasms. Allentuck reports that neither player is in jeopardy of missing Opening Day at the moment, but there’s also no timeline on their respective returns.

While none of these three players seems to be facing a significant absence, it will be a situation worth monitoring for the club in the early parts of the season. They are already down a couple of players, as second baseman Brendan Rodgers and outfielder Sean Bouchard each recently underwent surgeries that have the potential to be season-ending. With Grichuk slated to miss the first couple weeks of the schedule, the outfield will be without a second member. If Blackmon’s back issue doesn’t clear up soon, it might make the timing a bit awkward with Opening Day now just 11 days out.

Kris Bryant and Yonathan Daza should have two of the outfield jobs spoken for, with Blackmon perhaps in line for the third. Even if he’s healthy, the club will likely need someone else to take regular time out there, as Blackmon made more starts as the designated hitter last year than he did in the outfield. While Grichuk is out, it perhaps opens up a spot for someone like Nolan Jones, though he’s also in the mix for the third base job, with Ryan McMahon moving to second to cover for Rodgers. Michael Toglia is on the roster and could be an option, but the club could also look to selecting a non-roster invitee such as Harold Castro. The club’s 40-man roster is full but they could easily make room for someone like Castro by moving one of their injured players to the 60-day IL, such as Rodgers, Bouchard or Lucas Gilbreath.

Speaking of Gilbreath, the lefty recently spoke with Allentuck about his upcoming year. He won’t be able to participate as a player as he underwent Tommy John surgery this month, but he already seems to have plans for how to make use of the downtime. In addition to documenting his rehab process on social media, he’s going to work with the Rockies’ research and development team, learning analytics.

“I think for me being able to learn from them and even help them out would be fun,” Gilbreath said. The southpaw says he has a desire to work in a front office after his playing career is over. That’s likely a few years off as he’s only 27 and has had some solid results so far. He made 94 MLB appearances over the past two years with a 3.78 ERA. His 13.2% walk rate is certainly on the high side, but he also struck out 25% of batters faced and got grounders at a 45.7% clip. He should still have plenty opportunities ahead of him once he’s healthy, but it seems he’s using this setback to lay some groundwork for future opportunities.

Jose Altuve Leaves WBC Game After Hit By Pitch

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 11:02pm CDT

9:43PM: The “initial concern” is that Altuve had suffered a broken right thumb, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets, but it isn’t confirmed if this is Altuve’s actual injury.

8:56PM: According to Astros GM Dana Brown, Altuve’s injury is to his right hand. The second baseman is undergoing tests now, and the Astros will have more information on Sunday. (Hat tip to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.)

8:48PM: Jose Altuve was removed during the fifth inning of tonight’s United States/Venezuela World Baseball Classic game after being hit on the right hand with a pitch. The 95.9 mph sinker from Daniel Bard sailed up and in, catching Altuve and knocking the second baseman to the ground. Altuve was in visible discomfort as he left the field, with a team trainer supporting Altuve’s right hand and wrist area.

More will be known about the nature of the injury once an official announcement is made to media, and a more in-depth diagnosis won’t be known until Altuve undergoes tests and imaging. Regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game for Venezuela, it would certainly appear as though Altuve has played his last game of the 2023 WBC, as the Astros will undoubtedly want their longtime star back in camp for fuller examination of the injury.

With Edwin Diaz’s knee surgery still lingering in the public consciousness, it would be devastating to see another marquee name lost due to another significant injury in WBC play. A hand or wrist issue may not carry the potentially season-ending weight of Diaz’s knee injury, but the worst-case scenario of a fracture or outright break could still mean a lengthy absence for Altuve.

Altuve continues to excel as he approaches his 13th Major League season, as he hit .300/.387/.533 with 28 homers in 2022 while helping the Astros capture their second World Series championship. With eight All-Star appearances and the 2017 AL MVP Award, Altuve has become the face of this golden era of Astros baseball, and one of the sport’s most prominent names.

Houston’s bench depth was already something of a question mark given the relative lack of big league experience on hand, and that could become an even more glaring problem if Altuve is out of action. Utilityman Aledmys Diaz signed with the A’s in free agency, and Houston was expected to use David Hensley and Mauricio Dubon as the primary utilitymen this season. Rylan Bannon was also claimed off waivers from the Tigers and Dixon Machado is in camp on a minor league deal, but in the event that Altuve faces a long absence, the Astros might be quickly scouring the market for any free agents available now, or who might enter the market as teams make their final spring cuts.

Jorge Polanco May Begin Season On Twins’ Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 10:19pm CDT

The Twins have “been having some internal discussions” about Jorge Polanco’s status for Opening Day, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said, since Polanco has yet to play in any Spring Training games. Left knee soreness brought a premature end to Polanco’s 2022 season, so the Twins opted to bring the second baseman along slowly this spring, allowing him to get back to full strength in his knee before taking to the field.

However, this process has taken a little longer than either Polanco or the Twins would’ve liked. “We’ve had [Polanco’s knee] looked at, to make sure we’re in a good place with him, a couple of times this spring,” Falvey told the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller and other reporters. “He’s been slowed a little bit, just a little. But we wanted to make absolutely certain there is nothing wrong….There has been no setback.”

That being said, Falvey added that Polanco is simply “running out of days” to get a necessary amount of games under his belt before Minnesota opens its season on March 30. While Polanco has taken part in some live batting-practice sessions and come away with just some “normal soreness” in his knee, the veteran surely requires some in-game reps to get himself fully prepared for his 10th MLB season.

Polanco had never been placed on the Major League injured list prior to last June, when he missed just over the minimum 10 days due to a bad back. The more pressing concern arose later in the season when Polanco’s left knee began to bother him, and August 27 ended up the infielder’s final game of the 2022 campaign.

As Falvey noted, there doesn’t appear to be anything structurally wrong with Polanco’s knee, so there isn’t any fear of a more serious injury. But, the lingering soreness is surely an annoyance to Polanco after a full offseason of rest and rehab, and his bothersome knee could now cost him more regular-season time.

While Polanco had been a stranger to the IL, he does have an injury history, as he underwent relatively minor ankle surgeries following both the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Polanco played through pain for most of the 2020 season, and his desire to stay on the field cost him production-wise, as he hit only .258/.304/.354 over 226 plate appearance during the shortened season. In the last two years, Polanco has looked far better (.256/.332/.465 in 1089 PA) at the plate, and surely he is hoping to get his knee issue behind him rather than risk struggling through another injury-hampered year.

If Polanco does have to miss time, the Twins do have a good amount of second base depth to cover the position for at least a short-term absence. Nick Gordon and new acquisitions Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano can all play multiple positions, giving Minnesota some versatile options coming off the bench.

Arte Moreno Discusses Ohtani, Luxury Tax, Angels Stadium, Ownership

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 6:49pm CDT

In the wake of Arte Moreno’s decision to abandon plans to sell the Angels, the owner has been somewhat uncharacteristically willing to discuss team matters with the media. Moreno has already spoken with the New York Post’s Jon Heyman in February and Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci over the last month, and today the Halos owner engaged in his first open Q-and-A with Angels beat writers (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and The Athletic’s Sam Blum) in over three years.

Today’s media session covered some of the same ground as the Heyman and Verducci interviews, though Moreno did confirm that the team is willing to exceed the luxury tax in order to keep Shohei Ohtani in the fold. The two-way superstar is scheduled to be a free agent after the 2023 season, and with speculation swirling that Ohtani could command as much as $500MM in his next contract, going beyond the tax threshold would seem like almost a necessity for any team serious about retaining his services.

Since Moreno bought the team almost exactly 20 years ago, the Angels have only once (in 2004) surpassed the Competitive Balance Tax limit. That said, Anaheim has also spent big to extend or sign the likes of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Anthony Rendon, and several other marquee names, so Moreno is no stranger to paying for premium talent.

The Angels are projected for roughly a $226.7MM tax figure in 2023, under the $233MM CBT threshold. Moreno was non-committal about the idea of exceeding the tax this season, but said that “if we’re in it at the [All-Star] break, I want to be able to have enough cash to pick up somebody.” In terms of future CBT commitments, Moreno felt “we really positioned ourselves well” to potentially retain Ohtani, and Moreno noted that “after four [remaining] years for Rendon, we really have no long-term contracts. So we have to position ourselves and work to put ourselves in a position to have that financial flexibility.”

Having Trout, Rendon, and Ohtani all on the books through the 2026 season (when Rendon’s deal is up) would mean that those three players in all likelihood take up at least half of the Angels’ room under the tax threshold. That seems to be a bridge Moreno is willing to cross, though quite a bit of work seemingly has to be done before an Ohtani extension becomes a reality. Moreno said the team hasn’t yet spoken with Ohtani and his camp about future plans, and the owner noted that “Ohtani has to want to be here, too. It’s a two-way street.”

“When we started talking to Mike [Trout], I spent a lot of time with Mike. I just said, ’You have to make a decision. This is where you want to be.’ This is where you want your family to be. We started sitting down with the agent. And Ohtani, he has to figure out if this is where he wants to be.”

Moreno said that the Angels were likely to spend over 60 percent of their revenues on payroll this season, and the team’s current approximate payroll of $212.1MM is a new club record. Beyond these expenditures, Moreno said that GM Perry Minasian has “basically an unlimited budget to try and build our minor-league system. So those guys get cut, and we try to sign minor-league deals with them. Continue to build the depth.”

Anaheim’s busy offseason was seen as a little bit of a surprise, given how teams seemingly on the verge of being sold are sometimes in a bit of roster limbo until the ownership question is settled. That said, Moreno took the opposite route, saying that “we never stopped doing anything” despite the talks with potential buyers. “I was communicating with [Minasian] almost every day….I told him, no matter what happens, I want this team prepared to play and win. We invested a lot of money. I wanted to make sure that if I changed my mind that we were, ’OK, go.’ ”

This stance speaks to Moreno’s customary aggressiveness in trying to field a winning team, though obviously those efforts have been in vain through seven consecutive losing seasons. Moreno denied the common perception that he is too hands-on with his front office’s moves, saying that “every player that we’ve ever signed has been with a discussion of the general manager all the way through….If there’s a decision that Perry wants to sign someone, if we’re going to negotiate and we want to get a deal done, I need to be there because I need to make the call or [else] he’s running back and forth. He and I talk about the money before we make any decision.”

The fact that Moreno approached the offseason thinking he might eventually opt to keep the Angels likely speaks to his reticence about a sale, and his ultimate decision to take the team off the market. Moreno left the door open to possibly sell a minority share in the club at some point, but “I do not have a successor” in mind as the Halos’ next owner.

The club’s future at Angel Stadium (and perhaps in Anaheim altogether) was also a topic of discussion, given how back in May, the Anaheim city council voted against an agreement that would’ve seen the city sell the 150 acres of land surrounding the ballpark to a Moreno-owned management company. Moreno said he will soon be meeting with newly-elected Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken “and we’re going to work with that administration” in regards to whatever next steps might come with the ballpark and development situation.

The Angels’ lease at the stadium runs through the 2029 season, and the team can also exercise an option to extend that least through 2038. Moreno didn’t offer any comment on the idea of a potential move, saying “We’ve been there a long time, and we’ll see what happens.”

Red Sox Notes: Rodriguez, Paxton, Meneses

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 5:08pm CDT

Red Sox reliever Joely Rodriguez left today’s game with what the team described as right torso pain. The discomfort was visible, as The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link) described Rodriguez as “groaning in pain as he went to the clubhouse and was holding onto his side.” The somewhat vague wording of the club’s official announcement is perhaps a positive sign that Rodriguez didn’t suffer an immediate oblique strain, or it could simply indicate that a fuller battery of tests has yet to be run to determine the left-hander’s status.

At the very least, Rodriguez’s injury creates some doubt about his availability with Opening Day just 12 days away. Rodriguez signed a one-year deal worth $2MM in guaranteed money back in November, and the Sox also hold a $4.25MM club option on his services for the 2024 campaign. Rodriguez and Richard Bleier (also new to the Red Sox, via a January trade with the Marlins) were penciled in as the bullpen’s left-handed options, but if Rodriguez has to miss any time, minor league signings Ryan Sherriff or Matt Dermody could have a sudden path to the MLB roster, or the Sox could opt for in-house prospects Chris Murphy or Brandon Walter.

Reds Release Austin Romine

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 3:23pm CDT

The Reds announced that catcher Austin Romine has been released from his minor league deal. Romine inked his contract in December, re-signing with Cincinnati after initially being acquired from the Cardinals at last August’s trade deadline.

The release gives Romine a bit of extra time to try and land a new contract with another team, before another wave of players — Spring Training roster cuts, and the March 25 opt-out deadline for Article XX(b) free agents — hit the market as Opening Day approaches. Romine is one of those Article XX(b) players, and perhaps agreed to the early release since the Reds let him know in advance that he wouldn’t be breaking camp.

During a quiet offseason overall for the Reds, the team was relatively busy at the catcher position, signing Curt Casali and Luke Maile to guaranteed big league deals. Cincinnati plans to use both veteran backstops and Tyler Stephenson at catcher, with Stephenson seeing the majority of his time as a first baseman or DH in order to help him stay healthy. Between this trio and Chuckie Robinson (who also has some MLB experience) at Triple-A, there didn’t seem to be much room for Romine to make the roster.

A veteran of 11 MLB seasons, Romine has spent much of his career with the Yankees in a backup role, though Romine ended up getting a good chunk of playing time from 2017-19 as a defensive-minded fill-in for Gary Sanchez. Romine hasn’t hit much over his 484 games and 1449 career plate appearances, but as an experienced and respected backstop, the 34-year-old will surely get some looks from teams in need of extra catching depth.

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