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NL East Notes: Nimmo, Conforto, Cooper, Sanchez

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The imminent return of Michael Conforto could force one of his deserving Mets teammates out of a job, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes. Specifically, leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo (who reached base four times on opening day) could end up being displaced to the bench, as the Mets also have Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce at the outfield corners. Nimmo, who was the club’s first-round selection in 2011, leapfrogged Juan Lagares on the depth chart with a fantastic spring. However, he doesn’t carry the upside of Conforto or the track record of Bruce or Cespedes. DiComo adds that the Mets are not considering shifting Bruce to first base, as the club seems content with Adrian Gonzalez at that position for the time being. For his part, Nimmo isn’t thinking about the outfield crunch at this time. “When Conforto comes back, we’ll deal with that,” he said. “But as far as right now, I’m just going to try to be me, and be the best me I can.”

Other items from the NL’s eastern teams…

  • In other Mets news, Anthony Swarzak left today’s game with an apparent injury. Said injury was later described as a “sore oblique”, and he’s considered day-to-day for the time being (h/t Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). For Swarzak’s part, he’s “not panicking” about the soreness and is hoping it’ll disappear tomorrow.
  • After being hit by a pitch on the wrist in yesterday’s 17-inning marathon, Marlins outfielder Garrett Cooper was replaced by fellow outfielder Cameron Maybin. After the game, the club described the injury as a “wrist contusion”, writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. It’s good news for Miami to hear that Cooper’s wrist isn’t broken, but he’s day-to-day for the time being, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to the lineup. “I took the sleeve off, and it was pretty purple,” Cooper said of the injury. “No fracture. Just day-to-day right now. I can move it around. Just a little swollen.”
  • The Braves currently have three catchers on the roster, but manager Brian Snitker says that one of them could give way to right-hander Anibal Sanchez soon. David O’Brien of the Atlantla Journal-Constitution writes that while Sanchez has been tabbed for the fifth spot in the rotation (when necessary) for some time, the club may add him sooner than that in case they need to deploy him as a reliever. Sanchez pitched to a horrific 5.67 ERA across 415 2/3 innings across his last three seasons with the Tigers, though his strikeout (8.14 K/9) and walk (2.84) ratios remained generally good during that time.

Blue Jays Outright Sam Moll

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Left-hander Sam Moll cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, the Blue Jays’ PR account has announced. Moll was designated for assignment earlier this week when the club selected the contracts of John Axford and Tyler Clippard.

Moll worked his way through the 40-man rosters of the Athletics, Pirates, Mariners and Blue Jays this offseason, but less than a week into the season he’ll be forced to settle for a Triple-A salary. The southpaw allowed eight earned runs in just 6 2/3 innings last season in his first taste of major league action.

Still, there’s some semblance of upside for the 26-year-old Moll, who managed a 3.64 ERA between the Triple-A affiliates of the A’s and Rockies last season. He’s long been effective at inducing ground balls, and topped 70% for his ground ball rate last year at Triple-A.

Braves Designate Akeel Morris

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The Braves have designated right-hander Akeel Morris for assignment. Morris’ 40-man spot will go to Josh Ravin, whose contract the club has purchased from Triple-A Gwinnett. Left-hander Rex Brothers has been optioned to make room for Ravin at the big-league level.

Morris, 25, made his big league debut with the Mets in 2015, but didn’t appear again in the majors until last July. He struck out nine hitters and allowed just one earned run across 7 1/3 innings for the Braves during his second stint, though he did walk four hitters. Even in Triple-A last season, the righty only managed a 32% ground ball rate and sported a 4.44 BB/9 mark.

Similarly, the right-handed Ravin walked nine hitters in just 16 2/3 innings with the Dodgers last season, and ended the campaign with a bloated 6.48. He did, however, manage to strike out 10.62 batters per nine innings. That’s where the 33-year-old’s upside lies; he had a whopping 14.01 K/9 across 35 1/3 Triple-A innings last season.

Royals Sign Kyle Lohse To Minor-League Deal

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2:58pm: FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets that Lohse stands to make $800K if he makes the club’s MLB roster, with $700K in incentives also available.

9:04am: The Royals have announced the signing of right-hander Kyle Lohse to a minors deal. Lohse hasn’t pitched at the big-league level since 2016.

Signing the 39-year-old Lohse even to a minors pact represents something of a desperation move for the pitching-thin Royals, who currently have Eric Skoglund penciled in as their fifth starter and watched Danny Duffy struggle mightily on opening day. While Lohse did make two starts for the Rangers in 2016, he struck out just three batters in 9 1/3 innings and allowed 13 earned runs en route to being designated for assignment in late July. Prior to that, Lohse’s last full season in the majors came with the Brewers in 2015, when he pitched 152 1/3 innings of 5.85 ERA baseball.

Still, Lohse will seemingly the the club’s second-best reserve option at Triple-A behind Clay Buchholz; those two are the only other starters in the Royals organization beyond the team’s starting five who have any significant MLB experience to speak of. Other starters on the club’s 40-man roster include Heath Fillmyer (acquired in an offseason trade with the Athletics), along with Scott Barlow, Miguel Almonte and Trevor Oaks. Bearing this in mind, there’s a very real chance that Lohse could crack the roster at some point this season.

Royals Outright Wily Peralta

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Right-hander Wily Peralta cleared waivers and has been outrighted from the Royals’ 40-man roster, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports. He’ll head to Triple-A Omaha.

As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted earlier this week, Peralta was signed to a fully-guaranteed MLB deal. As such, the Royals will be on the hook for his entire salary unless he lands elsewhere, in which case his new team will pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary. Peralta allowed 14 earned runs across just eight innings during spring training. His 2017 campaign with the Brewers wasn’t much better, as the righty posted a cataclysmic 7.85 ERA across 18 appearances (nine starts) with the Brewers. The 28-year-old saw his walk rate skyrocket to a career-high 5.02 BB/9, while his HR/9 ended the year at a 1.57 figure.

Poor recent performance aside, Peralta’s designation was likely affected in part by Kansas City’s desire to hold Rule 5 picks Burch Smith and Brad Keller on the roster. The team is in a bit of a rebuilding period, so the upside of keeping these two young players for the long term probably outweighs the value of holding onto the struggling Peralta.

 

Yankees Sign Oliver Perez To Minor-League Deal

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The Yankees have added left-hander Oliver Perez on a minors pact, tweets Marc Carig of The Athletic. He’ll make just over $1MM if he cracks the MLB roster.

The 36-year-old Perez signed a minor league deal with the Reds earlier this offseason, but allowed ten earned runs in just 6 2/3 innings and as such was not named to the club’s opening day roster; the club released him on March 22nd. But perhaps the Yankees found some small reason for optimism in his 2:1 ground ball to fly ball ratio and nine strikeouts across those innings.

Perez has long been effective against opposing left-handed hitters. He’s faced them a total of 1,541 times, and they’ve managed just a .228/.318/.365 batting line against him. Even as he’s aged, he’s maintained that skill, as evidenced by his .227/.301/.364 batting line versus lefty opponents in 2017. On the whole last season, Perez posted an impressive 10.64 K/9, but with a 4.64 ERA.

 

Delino DeShields To 10-Day DL With Broken Hamate Bone

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1:30pm: The Rangers have officially placed DeShields on the 10-day disabled list, tweets John Blake, the club’s Executive Vice President of Communications. DeShields is expected to miss four to six weeks. Right-hander Nick Gardewine has been recalled from Triple-A Round Rock to take his place on the roster in the immediate term.

12:51pm: A source close to Evan Grant of SportsDay tells him that Delino DeShields has a broken hamate bone, though the Rangers haven’t made any official announcement on the subject.

If the report is true, it represents a huge blow to the Rangers, or as Grant puts it, “a lineup-changing, alignment-shaking injury situation.” DeShields left Friday’s game with discomfort in his hand after a swing during the eighth inning; he’s set to undergo an MRI today after experiencing significant swelling. The loss of their center fielder for any length of time would not only subtract their leadoff hitter and most significant threat on the basepaths, but dramatically affect the club’s outfield defense as well.

As things stand at present, Rule 5 pick Carlos Tocci is the club’s next-best defensive option in center field; he’s got just 54 plate appearances above Double-A to speak of. It remains to see whether the Rangers would be willing to deploy the 22-year-old Tocci in a full-time role (indeed, Grant adds that the club doesn’t believe he’s ready to do so), though it’s worth noting that they did the same thing with DeShields himself in 2015 after taking him in the Rule 5 draft. At this point, it’s worth noting that no viable center field options remain on the free agent market, with Ben Revere having signed a minors deal with the Angels just earlier today.

Angels Place Ian Kinsler on 10-Day DL

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The Angels have placed second baseman Ian Kinsler on the 10-day disabled list, Maria Guardado of MLB.com reports. The club has recalled fellow second baseman Nolan Fontana in a related move.

Kinsler had been battling a groin injury that kept him out of the club’s final two exhibition games of the spring. Though he’d managed to play in last night’s game, the Halos will now be without him for at least ten days.

As part of a busy offseason for the Angels, the club traded two minor-leaguers to the Tigers while agreeing to take on Kinsler’s entire salary for the 2018 season. It was a lauded move for the club considering their second basemen had hit just .207/.274/.318 last year, but they’ll have to wait a bit for the Kinsler boost to kick in.

For the time being, the Halos have a couple of options. Jefry Marte and the newly-recalled Fontana could both get reps at the keystone. The team could also shift fellow offseason acquisition Zack Cozart to second base and give increased playing time to Luis Valbuena.

Fontana, 26, has just 23 MLB plate appearances to his name. His lone hit in the majors came in the form of a home run. He did, however, hit .271/.396/.449 with a whopping 16.6% walk rate at Triple-A last season, so it seems there’s some upside on Fontana’s bat to speak of.

Athletics Acquire Josh Lucas From Cardinals

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The Cardinals and Athletics have swapped a pair of right-handers. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that reliever Josh Lucas is headed to the A’s, with the Cardinals receiving minor-league starter Casey Meisner in exchange.

The 27-year-old Lucas made his majors debut last season with St. Louis, tossing 7 1/3 relief innings across five appearances. He struck out seven hitters and walked four while allowing three earned runs. Across the past two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system, the righty posted a K/9 north of 10 and a ground ball rate of nearly 50%. He has 49 career MiLB saves, but was designated for assignment by the Cards earlier this week, a move that came as something of a surprise considering that Lucas seems to carry some upside.

The towering 6’7″ Meisner had a solid showing with the A’s High-A affiliate last season, posting a 3.98 ERA with 9.64 K/9. However, he struggled a bit upon a midseason promotion to Double-A; after that point, the 22-year-old averaged fewer than five innings per start while seeing his walk rate nearly double and his strikeout rate plummet to 5.64 K/9. Meisner was selected by the Mets in the third round of the 2013 draft, and subsequently traded to the A’s in exchange for reliever Tyler Clippard.

Reds Sign Yovani Gallardo

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The Reds have inked free agent right-hander Yovani Gallardo to a one-year major league contract, according to Robert Murray of FanRag Sports. Chris Cotillo of SB Nation confirms, tweeting that he’ll earn a guaranteed $750K, and his contract includes incentives that could boost the total value of the deal to $1MM. The club has optioned right-hander Zack Weiss to Triple-A in a corresponding move, and designated catcher Stuart Turner for assignment in order to make room on the 40-man roster.

It’s a quick turnaround for the 32-year-old Gallardo, who earlier this offseason settled for a partially-guaranteed contract with a Brewers organization that drafted and developed him. Soon after being informed that he wouldn’t make the team, Gallardo was released by Milwaukee.

After just five days back on the open market, the righty has found a new home with a rebuilding Reds organization that finds itself wondering when Anthony DeSclafani and Brandon Finnegan might return to the rotation. The signing figures to push left-hander Cody Reed to the bullpen, leaving the club with a starting cast of Homer Bailey, Luis Castillo, Sal Romano, Tyler Mahle and Gallardo.

While Gallardo’s 5.57 ERA, 6.48 K/9 and 4.38 BB/9 across the past two seasons with the Orioles and Mariners represent rather uninspiring marks, the righty had long been an effective rotation piece for the Brewers and Rangers. Prior to 2016, his ERA had only exceeded 4.00 once in a full season, and according to Fangraphs his full-season WAR never dipped below 2.0 from 2009-2015. If he can regain some semblance of his former ground ball-inducing and hard contact-limiting ability, he could yet prove a steady presence in the Reds’ rotation.

 

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