Click here to read a transcript of today’s live chat with Simon Hampton.
Yankees Designate Estevan Florial For Assignment
The Yankees announced they’ve designated outfielder Estevan Florial for assignment to make room for right-hander Colten Brewer to be added to the big league roster.
It seems highly unlikely that Florial, once one of the game’s top prospects, passes through waivers unclaimed, so this is almost certainly the end of his tenure in the Bronx. The Yankees could look to trade him before he’s exposed to waivers, and given he’s still only 25 and has hit well in the minors, it’s likely teams – particularly rebuilding ones – would have interest in taking a flier on the outfielder.
Signed by the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic, Florial rose through the minors as a toolsy outfielder in the Yankees’ system. Last year at Triple-A, Florial slashed .283/.368/.481 with 15 home runs across 461 plate appearances, swiping 39 bags in the process. Unfortunately, those strong numbers in the top level of the minors haven’t translated to the big leagues, and Florial has hit just .185/.302/.278 over 63 plate appearances, striking out in exactly one third of those appearances.
In Florial’s defense, he’s never really been given an extended run in the majors to settle in, and so it’s entirely possible that a rebuilding team with less urgency could afford Florial some regular game time to find his groove.
With an off day immediately following Opening Day, the Yankees had obviously felt comfortable running a pitcher short and carrying three outfielders – Florial, Aaron Hicks and Franchy Cordero – on their bench. But with the team back in action today something had to give, and they’ll evidently remove Florial from the roster to make room for Brewer.
Brewer, 30, had been acquired from the Rays in exchange for cash last week, where he’d been in camp on a minor league deal. Brewer tossed 91 innings of relief for the Padres and Red Sox between 2018-21, working to a 5.04 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate and a 13.4% walk rate. He spent last season with the Royals on a minor league deal, but after working to a 4.76 ERA at Triple-A he was released in August after failing to crack the big league roster.
Nationals Sign Kevin Plawecki To Minor League Deal
The Nationals signed veteran catcher Kevin Plawecki to a minor league deal, per Andrew Golden of the Washington Post. Plawecki, 32, spent camp with the Pirates but was released when he failed to make the Opening Day roster.
Plawecki is coming off a 2022 season in which he hit .220/.286/.286 with eight doubles in 186 plate appearances for the Red Sox and Rangers. That a bit south of his career line of .235/.313/.341 amassed over eight big league campaigns. He was generally regarded as a decent defensive-minded backup earlier in his career, but his framing and blocking numbers have declined a bit in recent years and sit more around the league average these days.
The Nats have Keibert Ruiz as their long-term catcher in the big leagues with Riley Adams backing him up. There’s no indication yet that the Nationals are planning to alter that catching duo, but should they look to move Plawecki on to the big league roster he’s known as a strong clubhouse presence and provide a useful veteran presence on a rebuilding Nationals team.
Luis Urias Out 6-8 Weeks With Hamstring Injury
11:14am: Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Urias will miss 6-8 weeks of action.
9:47am: The Brewers announced a couple of roster moves this morning, placing infielder Luis Urias on the 10-day injured list retroactive to March 31 after he sustained a left hamstring injury on Opening Day. The team also announced that left-handed pitcher Justin Wilson has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
It opens the door for the Brewers to officially add prospect Joey Wiemer to their big league roster, as he’ll take the place of Urias, while Wilson’s move to the 60-day IL opens up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Urias hurt his hamstring in the ninth inning of Milwaukee’s 4-0 Opening Day loss to the Cubs, having gone 0-4 in the match. There’s no indication yet of how long Urias will be out for, but this opens the door for Brian Anderson to handle the hot corner in the meantime, with Wiemer taking over in right for the time being.
A fourth round pick in 2020, Wiemer has shot up the Brewers’ prospect charts in recent years, and his .287/.368/.520 line over 174 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors last season showed he was knocking on the door of his first big league call up. While scouts raised concerns over his strikeouts and swing mechanics dating back to the draft, Wiemer’s raw power and athleticism have shone through and he was placed near the back of Keith Law’s recent top-100 prospects in all of baseball.
The move to shift Wilson to the 60-day IL was likely an easy one for the Brewers. The veteran lefty underwent Tommy John surgery in June of last year, so he is expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2023 campaign. The Brewers signed him this winter to a one-year deal, but hold a club option on him for 2024.
Brandon Nimmo Week-To-Week With Low Grade Strain In Knee And Ankle
Brandon Nimmo is week-to-week with a low grade strain in his right knee and ankle, Mets general manager Billy Eppler told reporters, including Joel Sherman of the New York Post. His status for Opening Day remains unclear.
Nimmo, 30 later this month, re-signed with the Mets on an eight-year, $162MM deal this winter. The left-hander is coming off another stellar year in which he hit .274/.367/.433 with 16 home runs over 151 games. That last figure is important, as it was the first time Nimmo had topped 100 games since the 2018 season, and only the second time of his career. With that in mind, there’s reasonable cause for concern when an injury-prone player is dealing with any injury, even if this one doesn’t appear to be overly serious.
Having said that, Opening Day is now less than two weeks away, and with Nimmo set to be reevaluated in a week this development would throw a fair amount of doubt over his status for the Mets’ opener. If that is the case, the Mets could use Starling Marte in center field to begin the year, with Tommy Pham and Mark Canha handling the corners. Tim Locastro would likely be the first cab off the rank as a backup outfielder, although one other option for the team would be to use Darin Ruf as their fourth outfielder until Nimmo returns, paving the way for rookie Brett Baty to make the Opening Day roster.
While it remains unclear how much, if any, of the regular season Nimmo will miss, it’s another blow for a Mets side that recently lost star closer Edwin Diaz to a season-ending injury and veteran starter Jose Quintana to a long-term injury.
AL East Notes: Manoah, Bautista, Yankees’ Injuries
The Blue Jays made a “contract suggestion” to star right-hander Alek Manoah this winter, but apparently the sides were not close, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Manoah is part of a young core, alongside Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr., that have been speculated as possible targets for long-term extensions.
Manoah, 25, put up a quality season last year, working to a 2.24 ERA over 196 2/3 innings and finishing third in AL Cy Young voting. That followed on from a strong rookie year in 2021, and cemented Manoah as one of the sport’s brightest young starting pitchers. As such, it’s not a huge surprise that the Blue Jays would have some level of interest in locking up the former eleventh overall pick long term. For his part, Manoah is still five years away from free agency but four of those should be arbitration-eligible, as Manoah is likely to qualify as Super Two player at the end of the season.
Here’s some more notes from around the AL East:
- The chances of Orioles closer Felix Bautista making the Opening Day roster appear to be growing, with manager Brandon Hyde looking to get Bautista into three or four more games before the team breaks camp, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN. He’s been highly effective in his two outings to date, displaying his triple-digit fastball. Bautista’s camp had been slowed by shoulder and knee injuries to start, but he looks to be on track now. That’s a huge positive for the Orioles, as the closer worked to a 2.19 ERA over 65 appearances last season.
- Bryan Hoch of MLB.com provides an update on some of the injured Yankees in camp. Starting with the bad news, reliever Tommy Kahnle has been unable to throw as scheduled as he battles biceps soreness. Kahnle re-signed with the Yankees this winter on two-year, $11.5MM deal after a few seasons with the Dodgers. He had been projected as a vital late-inning member of the Yankees’ bullpen, but it appears the start of his season will be delayed. It’s not known yet when Kahnle is next scheduled to pitch, but obviously it’s not great news for his recovery timeline.
- Left-hander Carlos Rodon returned to throwing yesterday and was feeling good, according to Hoch. There were plenty of fears after the Yankees announced that the oft-injured starter would be shutdown for 7 to 10 days with a forearm strain, but an MRI showed no UCL damage and it seems Rodon is back on track to start ramping up for the season. It’s already been confirmed that Rodon will start the season on the injured list, but a positive return to throwing for the six-year, $162MM free agent signing hopefully means it won’t be a long wait before he can make his Yankees debut.
- Hoch also reports that Harrison Bader is doing “better than anticipated,” relaying a quote from manager Aaron Boone. It’s a rather vague statement and there’s no indication that Bader is on track any sooner than the initially projected six week recovery timeline (three weeks of regular season action), but it’s at least a positive development as the Yankees look to overcome a number of injuries early in the season. Bader impressed in the playoffs for the team after coming over from the Cardinals at the deadline last year, crushing five home runs in nine games before the team was eliminated in the ALCS.
Austin Slater Suffers Strained Hamstring
Giants outfielder Austin Slater has suffered a strained hamstring, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters, including Evan Webeck of Mercury News. It’s not known yet how this injury affects Slater’s status for Opening Day, now just 12 days away. Slater’s injury is another blow to the Giants’ outfield depth chart, with Mitch Haniger already recovering from an oblique strain and in doubt for Opening Day himself.
Haniger and Slater have not been officially ruled out of Opening Day, so it remains possible that both could feature. Yet should both miss time, the team’s depth in the outfield would take a bit of a hit. Joc Pederson, Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski would likely line up as the starting three outfielders, likely opening up the DH spot for another option, such as J.D. Davis.
This development could also open the door for non-roster invitee Stephen Piscotty to make the team out of camp as a bench outfielder. The former Athletic and Cardinal has had a solid spring, slashing .333/.391/.476 going into Saturday’s games. It’s been a few seasons since he was an above-average MLB player, but he could give the Giants a solid veteran option until Slater and/or Haniger return. Rule 5 pick Blake Sabol might’ve been another option for the Giants as he spent time in the outfield in the minors, but it’s been reported that they view him as strictly a catcher.
Slater, 30, slashed .264/.366/.408 with seven home runs for the Giants last season. He appeared in 125 games last season, largely handling center field but also spending time in the corners. The signings of Conforto and Haniger looked set to relegate him to a bench role this season, but the latter’s oblique strain had initially made him a good chance to start on Opening Day.
Luke Voit Pushes Back Opt-Out Date
First-baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit has pushed back the opt-out date on his minor league deal with the Brewers until Friday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports. Voit told reporters he likes the fit with Milwaukee, and that the team likes him, but they are trying to maintain maximum 40-man roster flexibility going into the season.
Voit was one of the more high profile players to settle for minor league deals this winter, and it always appeared he had a decent chance to crack the Brewers’ active roster. That he’s agreed to extend the deadline by a week suggests that’s very much still in play, and it may come down to straight decision between Voit and Keston Hiura as to who makes the roster for Opening Day.
With left-handed hitters Rowdy Tellez and Jesse Winker set to occupy a lot of time at the first-base and DH spots, it makes sense for the team to have a right-hander to balance them out, but it may be a stretch for the team to carry both Voit and Hiura, given they’re both defensively-limited right-handed hitters. Of course, they could, in theory, carry both players, but it may leave the bench a little too limited in versatility.
Voit, 32, hit 22 home runs on the way to a .226/.308/.402 over 568 plate appearances for the Padres and Nationals in 2022. That’s a fair drop from the days of him being one of the better right-handed sluggers around. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Voit mashed 22 home runs in 56 games and finished ninth in AL MVP voting. That was part of a stretch from 2018-20 where Voit hit .278/.371/.541, largely for the Yankees. Things dropped off in 2021, as injuries restricted Voit to just 68 games that year, before the Yankees flipped him to the Padres ahead of the 2022 season.
While it’s unwise to glean too much from spring training numbers, Voit has hit .357/.379/.643 with two home runs so far, so is certainly doing everything he can to make an impression with the Brewers.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of this morning’s live MLBTR chat with Simon Hampton.
Mets, Nine Other Teams Attended Zack Britton’s Showcase
The Mets were among the ten teams that attended free agent left-hander Zack Britton’s showcase on Friday, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. While the Mets have just lost their closer to a long-term injury, Heyman notes that the Mets’ level of interest in Britton is still unknown.
Britton, 35, was once one of the game’s top relief pitchers, but injuries have held him back in recent years, and he’s only thrown 21 innings over the past two seasons. That small sample was highly uneffective as well, as Britton owned a 6.16 ERA over those two seasons for the Yankees. Last year, in particular, was a frustrating one for the veteran, as Britton worked his way back from 2021 Tommy John surgery to throw, only to walk six of nine batters in his return and wind up back on the injured list for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
With those injury concerns fresh in the memory, it’s tricky to predict just what sort of pitcher Britton can be moving forward. There’s no question about his dominance during his prime, as Britton put in year after year of consistently elite relief work between 2014-20, working to a 1.84 ERA over 367 1/3 innings.
With that sort of track record, a healthy Britton would make sense for a number of teams to take a chance, including the Mets. Brooks Raley is the only left-hander currently projected to make their bullpen, so another southpaw would make some sense. They do have TJ McFarland and Zach Muckenhirn as left-handers in camp with the team, but Britton would represent a clear upgrade on both. They’re also down a man after Edwin Diaz’ season-ending injury suffered in the World Baseball Classic. One case against signing a veteran like Britton is the fact that out of their currently projected bullpen, only John Curtiss and Drew Smith have minor league options remaining, so the team may prefer to add an arm with options remaining to allow for a bit more flexibility in the bullpen ahead of a long season.
Of course, that’s only looking at the Mets, and it’s worth remembering that nine other teams also attended his showcase and would have some level of interest. It’s also worth noting that attendance at a showcase is far from a confirmation of any firm interest in a player, and there’s no indication yet that the Mets are actively pursuing the two-time All Star, although they do make a fair bit of sense.
