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Reds Designate Conner Capel For Assignment

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Austin Wynns. In corresponding moves, they have optioned outfielder Jacob Hurtubise and designated outfielder Conner Capel for assignment.

It’s unclear why the Reds have added a third catcher to their roster, as they already have Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile on the team. It’s possible that something is up with Stephenson, as he has only been in the starting lineup twice since Saturday, serving as the designated hitter in one of those two.

This is pure speculation but he has been hit on the hand by a pitch a few times this year, which could be part of the problem. Back on June 6, x-rays on his hand came back negative, per C. Trent Rosecrans on X. But he has hit .111/.250/.185 since that date, perhaps suggesting something is amiss.

Whatever the reason, the 33-year-old Wynns has been added to the roster. In the offseason, he was signed to a major league split deal that would pay him $950K for time spent on the major league roster and $300K in the minors. He was later designated for assignment and passed through waivers. As a player with between three and five years of service time, he could have elected free agency but doing so would have meant forfeiting that money.

He therefore reported to Louisville and gets back to the majors today. He has a pretty tepid batting line of .226/.273/.324 in his major league career and his work at Triple-A this year has only been slightly better at .252/.310/.408. But he has received solid grades for his defense in recent years, with Statcast being particularly fond of his work controlling the running game, as he comes in the top ten on their catcher throwing leaderboard since the start of 2021.

To get Wynns onto the roster, the Reds have bumped off Capel. The 27-year-old was selected to the roster in early May but only appeared in five games before being optioned back down. He has been in pretty good form in Louisville, having hit eight home runs and drawn walks in 16.7% of his 192 plate appearances. He is slashing .226/.361/.439 at that level for a 109 wRC+ despite a .248 batting average on balls in play.

The Reds will now have a week to trade Capel or pass him through waivers. He is in his final option year so perhaps he will garner interest from a club with a 40-man roster spot available and a need for outfield depth. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency.

Marlins Designate Christian Bethancourt For Assignment

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June 21: The Marlins have now made it official, announcing they have selected Sánchez and designated Bethancourt for assignment.

June 20: The Marlins are designating catcher Christian Bethancourt for assignment, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (X link). De Nicola adds that the recently-acquired Ali Sánchez is likely to be selected onto the MLB roster in his place.

Miami acquired Bethancourt from the Guardians in a cash transaction over the offseason. It was one of the first moves of note for new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who had been the general manager in Tampa Bay during Bethancourt’s two-year run with the Rays. The move didn’t go as the front office hoped.

Bethancourt appeared in 38 games for the Fish and hit .159/.198/.268 over 88 plate appearances. He struck out 22 times while drawing three walks and collecting 13 hits. Miami has gotten even less offense out of starting catcher Nick Fortes, who owns a .159/.194/.225 line over 145 trips. Between that duo and a handful of reps from Jhonny Pereda, Miami has gotten an MLB-worst .155/.192/.237 slash out of its catchers.

That’s not tenable production even for a noncompetitive team. Fortes is younger than Bethancourt and still has minor league options remaining, so the Marlins will move on from the more experienced backstop as their first change behind the plate.

There’s a decent chance Miami will end up keeping Bethancourt in the organization at Triple-A Jacksonville. The Panamanian catcher is playing on a $2.05MM arbitration salary, a little over half of which remains to be paid. That’ll diminish any trade interest and could get Bethancourt through waivers unclaimed. As a player with between three and five years of major league service, he would need to forfeit what remains of that salary to elect free agency. If he clears waivers, he’d likely accept an outright assignment to Jacksonville. Even if he sticks in the organization for the time being, he’d be a straightforward non-tender candidate at the end of the season.

Sánchez, assuming he’s indeed the corresponding call-up, will get to the big leagues for the first time since 2021. The 27-year-old only has seven games of MLB experience. He has played parts of five seasons in Triple-A, where he’s a .270/.344/.400 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances. Sánchez was hitting .240/.338/.388 for the Cubs’ top affiliate when Miami acquired him for cash considerations last night.

A Venezuela native, Sánchez is a contact-oriented offensive player who has gotten decent reviews from scouts for his receiving skills. He cut down 34.3% of attempted basestealers in Triple-A last season. That dropped sharply to a 13% rate over 268 1/3 innings there this year. Sánchez is out of options, so the Marlins would need to put him on waivers to take him off the MLB roster once they select his contract.

Guardians Recall Angel Martínez For MLB Debut

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The Guardians announced that infielder Gabriel Arias has been placed on the family medical emergency list. In a corresponding move, the club has recalled infielder Angel Martínez, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Martínez, 22, has been a notable prospect in the club’s system for some time. Baseball America ranked him as one of the top 30 prospects in the organization back in 2020 and each year since. In 2022, he hit .278/.378/.471 between High-A and Double-A for a 135 wRC+ while also stealing 12 bases.

The Guards selected him to their 40-man roster after that season, in order to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He had a down year in 2023, slashing .251/.321/.394 between Double-A and Triple-A for a 92 wRC+. This season then got off to a rocky start, as he began the year on the injured list due to a right foot contusion and then suffered a left hamate fracture. He was reinstated from the IL at the end of May.

Despite the injury setbacks, he’s been in good form this year. He has taken 74 trips to the plate with Triple-A Columbus, walking more than he has struck out and hitting three home runs. His current batting line at that level is .333/.438/.550 this year.

Martínez has primarily played the three infield positions to the left of first base, with a brief showing in center field as well. The Guardians have José Ramírez, Andrés Giménez and Brayan Rocchio getting regular playing time at those infield spots with Daniel Schneemann bouncing around to multiple spots and Tyler Freeman getting semi-regular work in center. Arias has been serving in a bench role that Martínez should jump into.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 3:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on the Mariners' deadline, a hypothetical A's/Pirates trade involving JJ Bleday and Jack Suwinski, the Yankees' priorities this summer, whether the Nationals will push for a top-of-the-market free agent, baseball podcast recommendations and more.

 

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Mets Claim Duke Ellis From White Sox

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The Mets have claimed outfielder Duke Ellis off waivers from the White Sox and optioned him to Double-A Binghamton, with Tim Healey of Newsday among those to relay the news on X. The Sox designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Mets have had a 40-man vacancy since catcher Tomás Nido was designated for assignment last week and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Ellis, 26, was just selected to the White Sox roster earlier this month, largely on account of his speed. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2020, he has stolen 117 bases in the minor leagues while getting caught just 16 times. While with the big league club, the Sox put him into eight games but mostly as a pinch runner as he only stepped to the plate four times, though he stole four bags in four tries.

His work at the plate has been less impressive, as he’s hit .241/.328/.333 throughout his minor league career for a wRC+ of 88. His 10% walk rate is solid but he has also been punched out at a 25.7% rate. He has just 13 home runs in 961 plate appearances.

For the Mets, it’s an understandable claim. They had an open roster spot to use and Ellis clearly has game-changing baserunning abilities. Since he has a full slate of options, they can give him regular plate appearances in the minors but could perhaps consider bringing him up at some point as a pinch running specialist. Rosters expand in September and clubs often use the extra space for a player like this to improve the chances of scoring in a tight game, particularly in this age with the free runner in extra innings.

Marlins Release Burch Smith

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The Marlins have released right-hander Burch Smith, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That was the expected outcome after he was designated for assignment a week ago. He’s now a free agent and can sign with any club.

Smith, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason. He didn’t crack that club’s Opening Day roster but had an upward mobility clause in his contract. Such a clause meant that the Rays had to send him to another team if any of them wanted to give Smith a roster spot. The Marlins wanted him and so the Rays traded him for cash considerations.

The righty went to make 25 appearances with the Fish with a 4.25 earned run average and subpar strikeout rate of 17%. However, his 6.7% walk rate and 47% ground ball rate were both a few ticks better than average. A .376 batting average on balls in play may have pushed some extra runs across the plate, which is why his 3.04 FIP and 4.00 SIERA were both more pleasant than his ERA. The Marlins are one of the worst defensive clubs this year, as their -24 Outs Above Average is dead last and their -19 Defensive Runs Saved is better than just three clubs.

Perhaps Smith would have fared better in different circumstances but he got nudged off the roster regardless, likely not helped by allowing five earned runs in his final three appearances before getting designated for assignment a week ago.

Smith came into this season with his service time count at four years and 92 days, putting him 80 shy of the five-year mark. He hit that line on June 15, the day after he was designated for assignment, as players still collect service time while in DFA limbo. By getting over that mark, he earned the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of his $1MM salary. Unless some club wanted to grab him off waivers, he was bound for the open market, which prompted the Marlins to release him.

Now that he’s freely available, he could attract interest from clubs looking to make a low-cost buy. The Marlins remain on the hook for what remains of that salary, while another club could sign him and only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Fish pay.

Perhaps one of the other teams will feel Smith could find a bit more success with some better batted ball luck or by pitching in front of a better defense. If so, he could be grabbed for a minimal cost and no real commitment.

Latest On Mike Trout

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Angels outfielder Mike Trout’s recovery timeline seems to be growing. Earlier this week, Sam Blum of The Athletic relayed on X that the superstar says he still hasn’t started running and doesn’t have a target for his return date.

At the end of April, the Angels announced that Trout would require surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. They didn’t provide a recovery timeline but some reporters suggested a timeline of four to six weeks based on previous surgeries of this nature.

Trout’s surgery took place on May 3, seven weeks ago today. The fact that he’s still not running suggests that he’s nowhere close to a return. Even once he crosses that bridge, he will have to gradually ramp up activities and will likely need some kind of rehab assignment after such a long layoff.

It’s the latest frustrating setback as the recent period of Trout’s career has unfortunately come to be defined by injury absences. From 2012 to 2019, there was only one season in which Trout played less than 134 games. He also played 53 out of the 60 games in the shortened 2020 season. But he hasn’t hit the 120-game mark in any season since then and only got into more than 82 contests once.

The 2021 season saw Trout hit the injured list with a right calf strain that lingered and lingered, limiting him to just 36 games that year. The following year, Trout was healthy enough for 119 games but did deal with some back problems. Last year, a left hamate fracture capped him at 82 games. This year, he was only able to get into 29 contests before the meniscus surgery and it’s anybody’s guess how much he’ll be able to add to that number later in the year.

Those injuries have reduced the quantity of his playing but the quality has still been good. He has slashed .276/.376/.575 since the start of 2021 and has a line of .220/.325/.541 this year despite a .194 batting average on balls in play. But the mounting injuries are a significant problem for the organization.

The Angels had two of the best players in the world on the same team for six years with Trout and Shohei Ohtani both on the roster. But their attempts to build a winner around those two continually fell short, as the Halos haven’t even finished above .500 since 2015.

Now Ohtani is gone, having reached free agency and signed with the Dodgers, while Trout has become an ongoing question mark. The Angels are one of the worst clubs in baseball this year, with a 29-45 record that is ahead of just four clubs.

All in all, very little about the franchise is in good shape. In addition to the struggles at the major league level, most prospect evaluators rank their farm system as one of the worst. Owner Arte Moreno pared back the payroll this winter and it’s unclear when it will ramp up again. A lot of the money they are spending is tied up in Trout and Anthony Rendon, with each of them making more than $35MM annually while frequently injured. Rendon’s deal goes through 2026 and Trout’s through 2030. Trout will reach his 33rd birthday in August of this year.

Brooks Raley Planning To Continue Pitching Post-Surgery

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Left-hander Brooks Raley underwent Tommy John surgery last month and won’t be able to return to the mound until around his 37th birthday, but he’s not planning on hanging up his spikes. “I know it’s going to be a long recovery, as everyone has told me. Slow and steady, slow and steady,” he told Tim Healey of Newsday. “But I think at some point, you turn the page and keep moving. I think I have a place in the sport.”

It would have been fair to wonder if Raley was thinking about calling it quits, given his age and this long layoff. But on the other hand, he’s no stranger to the winding road to success. He debuted with the Cubs back in 2012 but struggled in his first exposure to major league hitters, posting a 7.04 earned run average in 38 1/3 innings during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. He spent 2014 stuck in the minors, going to the Twins and Angels on waivers.

He then went to Korea and joined the KBO’s Lotte Giants, reinvigorating his career over there. He worked as a starter for that club for five years, tossing 910 2/3 innings with a 4.13 ERA. He returned to North America in 2020 but had to settle for a minor league deal with the Reds. He made that club’s roster but was designated for assignment after just four innings.

A waiver claim by the Astros was an opportunity to revive his career yet again. He finished the shortened season with that club and then made 58 relief appearances for them in 2021 after the Astros picked up a $2MM club option. His 4.78 ERA that year wasn’t especially impressive but an unlucky strand rate of 59.7% played a part in that. His 31.7% strikeout rate was quite strong and his 7.8% walk rate slightly better than average.

The Rays overlooked the ERA and signed Raley to a two-year, $10MM deal and were able to get strong results from the left-hander. He had a 2.68 ERA for Tampa in 2022, earning six saves and 22 holds. He was traded to the Mets prior to 2023 and had another good year, posting an ERA of 2.80 while earning another three saves and 25 more holds.

The Mets picked up a $6.5MM option for this year instead of going for the $1.25MM buyout. They were hoping Raley could continue his strong stretch of play but he was only able to toss seven innings before hitting the injured list and eventually requiring surgery.

It’s been quite a journey for Raley but he now has another obstacle to overcome. Interestingly, he tells Healey that he wasn’t recommended surgery right away but decided to just get it over with and begin the rehab process. “There was no solution that didn’t make this year shot. This is just a longer-term plan and the best one for me.”

Pitchers can sometimes return from an injured UCL without surgery. Masahiro Tanaka was diagnosed with a partially torn UCL in 2014 but kept pitching well for years without going under the knife. Seth Lugo was found to have a slight year in his UCL in 2017 but avoided the surgeon’s table. Last year, Mason Miller had a UCL sprain and spent a few months on the IL but is currently one of the best relievers in the league.

Given the long recovery time, players usually prefer to exhaust non-surgical options as long as possible, but this can sometimes just delay the inevitable. In the most recent example, Kyle Bradish of the Orioles was diagnosed with a UCL sprain in mid-February. He got a platelet-rich plasma injection and returned to the mound a few weeks later. He was able to rejoin the O’s and made eight good starts before landing back on the IL. He underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this week.

Raley seemingly didn’t want to follow that Bradish path. He turns 36 year old next week and will be 37 by next summer. If he stuck to the non-surgical options but eventually underwent the procedure later this year, perhaps he would not have been able to return at all in 2025, delaying his return until his age-38 season. By getting the operation out of the way last month, he at least has a chance to participate in the second half of the 2025 season.

He will spend the next few months rehabbing and will be a free agent at season’s end. Pitchers sometimes sign two-year deals while recovering from Tommy John surgery, with the signing club aware they may not get much return on their investment in the first season but hoping for a nice bounceback in the second. Raley’s age may dissuade teams from considering such a deal but it seems he’s committed to coming back one way or another, as he tells Healey he wants to pitch until he’s at least 40. Since coming back from the KBO in 2020, he has thrown 184 1/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate.

Andrew McCutchen Planning To Continue Playing Beyond 2024

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Outfielder/designated hitter Andrew McCutchen has seemingly been reinvigorated by a return to the Pirates in recent years and he doesn’t plan on stopping. “In my mind, this isn’t my last year,” McCutchen said to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “As long as my body holds up and I’m not embarrassing myself out there, I wanna keep going.”

McCutchen, now 37, has spent most of his career as a Pirate. He was drafted by Pittsburgh back in 2005 and went on to rack up huge accolades from his 2009 major league debut through the end of the 2017 season. In that time, he hit 203 home runs and slashed .291/.379/.487 for a 137 wRC+. He also stole 171 bases while serving as the club’s regular center fielder. He was an All-Star five times in that stretch and was the National League MVP in 2013, the first of three straight years in which he guided the Bucs to the postseason.

The club then slipped from contention for a few years and traded the final season of McCutchen’s contract to the Giants and he would bounce to the Yankees, Phillies and Brewers for a few seasons. With Milwaukee in 2022, he hit just .237/.316/.384 for a wRC+ of 98 in his age-35 season.

He returned to Pittsburgh in 2023 via a one-year, $5MM deal. Given the downward trend of his performance, some expected his return to PNC Park to be little more than a feel-good story for a rebuilding club with little to cheer for in recent years.

But as mentioned, the reunion has coincided with a nice bounceback for the veteran. That’s not to say that he’s back to MVP levels but he was able to slash .256/.378/.397 last year, good enough for a 115 wRC+. He and the Bucs then doubled down, reuniting on another one-year, $5MM deal. To emphasize that McCutchen is committed to continuing his playing career, Mackey relays that he actually lobbied for a multi-year deal this offseason. However, the Bucs had a bit of hesitation since the 2023 season ended with McCutchen on the injured list due to a partial tear of his left Achilles tendon.

That injury seems to be long forgotten, as McCutchen has been back in good form here in 2024. He already has ten home runs, just two shy of last year’s total, and is hitting .241/.338/.401 for a wRC+ of 112.

With the results still coming, it’s perfectly understandable that he wants to keep things rolling. Mackey suggests there’s at least some hesitation on the club’s part, as they may prefer to have the designated hitter slot open in order to rotate other players through. McCutchen has played 20 innings in right field this year but has otherwise been in the DH slot. Though Mackey also reminds readers that owner Bob Nutting has said McCutchen can stay a Pirate as long as he wants.

There may come a time when the goals of the franchise clash with those of McCutchen as an individual. He said multiple times in 2023 that he didn’t intend on playing for another club for the rest of his career. The Bucs are gradually creeping out of its long rebuild, as they hovered around the Wild Card race last year and are doing so again this year. But for now, he’s a key part of the reason why they are competing, as his 112 wRC+ is second on the team among qualified hitters, trailing only Bryan Reynolds.

The Opener: Hamels, Yastrzemski, Astros

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As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. Phillies to honor Hamels:

Left-hander Cole Hamels announced his retirement back in August of last year after spending much of the 2023 campaign attempting a comeback in the Padres minor league system. After playing in parts of 15 seasons in the majors with the Phillies, Rangers, Cubs, and Braves the southpaw is set to return to Philadelphia this evening where, as noted by Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, he’ll be honored with a retirement ceremony prior to the club’s game against the Diamondbacks.

The veteran of ten seasons with the Phillies is set to throw out the first pitch of the game, which is schedule for 6:40pm local time, before D’backs lefty Jordan Montgomery (6.00 ERA) and Phillies righty Taijuan Walker (5.33 ERA) take over. Hamels pitched to a 3.30 ERA and 3.47 FIP in nearly 2,000 innings of work with the Phillies from 2006 to 2015 and helped lead the club to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2008 and 2009, where he secured MVP honors for both the 2008 World Series and that same year’s NLCS.

2. Yastrzemski sidelined:

Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski departed yesterday’s game against the Cardinals at Rickwood Field due to a bout of side tightness, as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker. Acquired from the Orioles just before Opening Day 2019, Yastrzemski has been a staple of the outfield in San Francisco for six seasons now with a .239/.325/.456 slash line in 621 games for the club to this point in his career. The club’s plan is currently to re-evaluate the 33-year-old in St. Louis after the clubs take a day to travel from Birmingham to Missouri, though it would be a tough blow to the Giants if the veteran were to miss time.

The Giants are already down one key lefty bat in the form of LaMonte Wade Jr. after the first baseman was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained hamstring last month. If Yastrzemski joins Wade on the IL, the club could turn to Luis Matos to replace the veteran in the outfield mix alongside Heliot Ramos, Michael Conforto, and Austin Slater. Another option would be to simply stick with utility man Tyler Fitzgerald, who served as the 27th man in last night’s game.

3. Astros hurler to debut:

The Astros are set to select the contract of right-hander Jake Bloss prior to today’s home game against the Orioles. It’ll be the 22-year-old’s MLB debut, where he’ll be tasked with facing a difficult Baltimore lineup opposite fellow youngster Grayson Rodriguez (3.20 ERA). The club’s 40-man roster is full currently, so Houston will need to make corresponding moves to clear space for Bloss on both the 40-man and active rosters prior to tonight’s game, which will start at 7:10pm local time.

Bloss is set to skip the Triple-A level entirely as he heads to the majors after starting the season in High-A earlier this year. Despite that minimal experience, the right-hander looked fantastic in eight starts at the Double-A level with a 1.61 ERA and a 21.2% strikeout rate in 44 2/3 innings of work. That limited body of work was enough to earn Bloss his first call up to the big leagues amid a string of injuries to the Astros rotation that has seen both Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier suffer season-ending injuries, while veteran ace Justin Verlander recently joined them on the injured list due to a bout of discomfort in his neck.

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