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Rangers Claim R.J. Alvarez From Cubs

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The Rangers have announced that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever R.J. Alvarez off waivers from the Cubs. They’ve optioned him to the Class A+ High Desert Mavericks. To clear space on their 40-man roster, they’ve moved righty Lucas Harrell (groin strain) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. The Cubs designated Alvarez for assignment earlier this week.

The 25-year-old Alvarez has spent the entire season in the minors, posting a 7.00 ERA, but with 11.7 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9, in 27 innings split between three levels in the Cubs and Athletics organizations. He spent the early part of the season recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery.

Alvarez has also struggled in parts of two seasons in the Majors, posting a 7.39 ERA, 10.3 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 in 28 total innings. It’s easy to see why he keeps generating interest after previously going from the Angels to the Padres in the Huston Street deal and from the Padres to the Athletics in the Derek Norris trade, however. Alvarez possesses mid-90s velocity, and he has an outstanding 12.6 K/9 in five career minor league seasons. He also has minimal service time, so the Rangers can keep him in their organization for the next several years if they choose.

Jeff Luhnow Reflects On Decision To Pass On Kris Bryant

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The Astros have more than their share of highly talented young players, but one player they don’t have in their system is Cubs masher Kris Bryant. Houston had the chance to take Bryant with the first pick in the 2013 draft, but they decided on righty Mark Appel instead, and the Cubs snagged Bryant with the next selection. Appel, now 25, has yet to make his big-league debut, and was traded to the Phillies in the Ken Giles deal last offseason. Bryant, meanwhile, leads the NL in home runs, runs scored and OPS+ while anchoring an intimidating Cubs lineup.

The Cubs and Astros are currently playing a series, so Astros GM Jeff Luhnow fielded questions about the Bryant-Appel decision. Here’s some of what he had to say, courtesy of Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There’s a history lesson to be learned about the risk with pitchers vs. position players,” says Luhnow, referring to the tendency of position players to be better bets in the early stages of the draft. “[T]hat’s a history lesson that’s been laid out over a long period of time. Having said that, if you want an impact pitcher, you have to gamble.”

The Astros have had plenty of experience selecting both position players and pitchers with top picks in recent years. Of their ten first-round picks from 2011 to 2016, six were position players, and three of those (George Springer, Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman) clearly look to be significant parts of their future. Another, outfielder Derek Fisher, was a later selection who doesn’t look like an impact player, but who has consistently hit well in the minors. The others, Kyle Tucker and Daz Cameron, were drafted last year and are still teenagers. Cameron has struggled so far in his pro career, but Tucker’s is off to a fast start, as he’s already advanced all the way to Class A+ Lancaster.

Meanwhile, two of four pitchers the Astros have selected in the first round, Appel and Brady Aiken, have suffered significant speed bumps even though they were both first overall picks, and the Astros famously didn’t even sign Aiken due to a disagreement regarding the Astros’ concerns about his health. One of their other first-round pitching picks was this year’s 17th overall selection, Forrest Whitley, about whom it’s way too early to pass judgment. Even granting the Astros’ success with 2012 supplemental pick Lance McCullers, their experience does seem to bear out the maxim that there are considerable risks to selecting pitchers at the top of the draft.

Nonetheless, Luhnow says the Appel/Bryant decision doesn’t keep him up nights. “We’ve got Carlos Correa. We’ve got Alex Bregman. We’ve got Lance McCullers. Our scouting department has done a nice job with the draft,” he says. “You can always look back and say I should have taken this player instead of that player, but there’s no reason to really dwell on it.”

Cubs Designate R.J. Alvarez For Assignment

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves on Tuesday afternoon, including the activation of Hector Rondon from the disabled list and the recalls of veteran infielder Munenori Kawasaki, right-hander Spencer Patton and prospect Albert Almora from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs also selected the contract of catcher Tim Federowicz from Iowa and designated right-hander R.J. Alvarez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

[Related: Updated Chicago Cubs Depth Chart]

Rondon returns to the Cubs’ bullpen after spending about three weeks on the disabled list and brings an impact arm back to the team’s setup corps, helping to soften the blow of Pedro Strop’s extended absence. In 43 2/3 innings this season, Rondon has pitched to a 2.47 ERA with a stellar 51-to-6 K/BB ratio. He lost the closer’s gig when the Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman and will return to the setup role in which he was largely excellent. Rondon served up four runs in 6 2/3 innings following Chapman’s acquisition, but all four of those runs came in one dismal outing. Aside from that hiccup, he made six scoreless appearances.

Almora has long been one of the Cubs’ top prospects and got his feet wet in the Majors earlier this season when he batted .265/.291/.422 across 86 plate appearances. Patton, meanwhile, has tallied 17 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA ball out of the Chicago ’pen this season and has an excellent track record at Triple-A (2.51 ERA in 125 1/3 innings). And Kawasaki, of course, is something of a cult hero due to his gregarious personality and over-the-top exuberance in interviews. He spent a bit of the time with the Cubs earlier this season and has quite a bit of MLB experience with the Mariners and Blue Jays. He’s a .234/.315/.285 hitter in 715 big league plate appearances dating back to 2012.

Federowicz will return to the Cubs after being outrighted earlier this summer. He’s a career .194/.245/.297 hitter in 298 plate appearances between the Cubs and Dodgers and will add some catching depth, though the Cubs already have Willson Contreras, David Ross and Miguel Montero on the active roster.

Alvarez, 25, came to the Cubs via waivers earlier this year. He’s been involved in a pair of high-profile trades, going from the Angels to the Padres in package for Huston Street and also going from the Padres to the A’s alongside Jesse Hahn in exchange for Derek Norris. However, he hasn’t capitalized on the upside that made him a well-regarded arm in the Angels’ and Padres’ systems, compiling a 7.39 ERA in 28 big league innings from 2014-15 and struggling to a 7.00 ERA in 27 innings across three minor league stops in 2016.

Joe Nathan Discusses Cubs Release

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  • Joe Maddon is hardly the first manager to embrace his players’ versatility, though Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes that though few have done it to the sheer extent of the Cubs’ skipper.  Chicago’s dominant lead in the standings has given Maddon some leeway to experiment, though it could also be argued that the Cubs are enjoying such a great season because Maddon has been so canny about pursuing every possible advantage to help his team win.  Sherman feels that other teams could use the Cubs as a blueprint for future roster construction, as having multi-positional players around can solve many issues.
  • Joe Nathan was understandably let down about being released by the Cubs last month, the veteran reliever tells ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers.  Nathan signed with Chicago in May and eventually pitched in three games for the Cubs after completing his rehab from Tommy John surgery.  “In their defense I don’t think they foresaw picking up [Aroldis] Chapman, picking up Joe Smith, and their bullpen shaping up the way it was,” Nathan said. “On that side of it I completely understand.  Still, it was a disappointing turn of events. Things went from ’this is the plan’ to ’now what?’ ”  Nathan said that Cubs president Theo Epstein personally informed him about the release, and the veteran reliever didn’t have any hard feelings towards his former club.  Of course, Nathan’s disappointment has been mitigated by the fact that he signed on with another contender in the Giants.

Cafardo: Cubs Hoping David Ross Doesn't Retire

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  • Cubs players and executives will try to convince catcher David Ross not to retire after the season, Cafardo writes. Ross declared in November that this would likely be his final year, and the respected team leader has since slashed a solid .241/.360/.448 with eight home runs in 182 plate appearances while grading as one of Baseball Prospectus’ top framers and blockers. If Ross doesn’t return as a 40-year-old in 2017, the Cubs have a more-than-capable heir apparent in Willson Contreras. They also owe fellow backstop Miguel Montero $14MM next season, the final year of his contract.
  • The Twins’ search for a general manager could lead them to either Cubs senior vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod or former Boston GM Ben Cherington, according to Cafardo. Of course, the club is also looking for a president of baseball operations whose role will include choosing a GM.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Cubs Activate John Lackey

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The Cubs have activated right-hander John Lackey from the 15-day disabled list, according to a club announcement. Lackey, who went on the DL on Aug. 19 with shoulder soreness, will start the finale of the Cubs’ four-game series with the Giants on Sunday.

[RELATED: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]

Aside from his DL placement, which was mostly precautionary and didn’t require a rehab stint, Lackey’s first season in Chicago has been outstanding. After leaving National League Central rival St. Louis to sign a two-year, $32MM deal with the Cubs in the offseason, Lackey has registered a 3.41 ERA, 8.87 K/9 and 2.44 BB/9 in 158 1/3 innings. This is the fourth quality season in a row for the soon-to-be 38-year-old Lackey, whose career looked to have gone in the tank as a member of the Red Sox in 2011.

Now that he’s back, Lackey will once again slot into an elite-level rotation that features several other viable starters in Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and Mike Montgomery. Thanks in part to their work, the Cubs enter Sunday 87-48, giving them the majors’ top record and an insurmountable 16.5-game lead over the second-place Cardinals in the NL Central.

Cubs Notes: Strop, Arrieta, Left-Handed Bats

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Cubs setup man Pedro Strop has suffered  a setback in his rehab from a torn meniscus in his left knee, as Bruce Levine of 670 The Score/CBS Chicago writes. Strop suffered a groin strain while rehabbing the knee and, rather than going out on a minor league rehab assignment in the near future as had been planned, will now be pushed back until the third week of September. The Cubs still expect Strop to return before season’s end and to pitch in the playoffs, but his delay could continue to put a tax on some of the Cubs’ current late-inning arms. Levine notes that manager Joe Maddon used Aroldis Chapman three straight days, culminating in a 31-pitch outing on Wednesday this week and prompting young Carl Edwards to get a save opportunity (which he converted) in Thursday’s contest. There’s better news on John Lackey and Hector Rondon, with the former expected to come off the DL to make a start on Sunday and the latter expected to return to the relief corps early next week.

More on the NL Central leaders…

  • Jake Arrieta has looked downright mortal in 70 innings since late June, logging a 4.37 ERA with some middling rate stats (6.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9), and Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan dives into the right-hander’s recent struggles. Notably, Sullivan points out that Arrieta’s slider has become less effective, and the result is that left-handed hitters have begun to have a considerably easier time with him at the plate. Arrieta’s overall number of strikes to lefties has plummeted, while opposite-handed batters have seen a significant uptick in hard contact, exit velocity and launch angle against the 2015 Cy Young winner. Sullivan examines some minor distinctions between Arrieta’s 2015 delivery and his delivery in his recent starts, noting that the Chicago ace is dropping his back leg earlier in his delivery than during his dominant run and over-rotating his upper half. It’s not a definitive cause of Arrieta’s struggles, of course, but Sullivan’s entire analysis is well worth a look for Cubs fans that have been befuddled by Arrieta’s recent decline.
  • ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers writes that while many fans have wondered why the Cubs haven’t moved on from hitters Tommy La Stella, Chris Coghlan and Miguel Montero — in La Stella’s case, due to his stepping away from the team for a time following a demotion and in the others’ case simply due to their offensive struggles — each of the three could play an important role in September and October. With so many impact right-handed relievers on the teams they’ll face down the stretch and in the playoffs, each presents Maddon with a potential late-inning matchup. Moreover, the Cubs won’t need a 12- or 13-man pitching staff for a best-of-five series and could choose to carry an extra position player off the bench — and La Stella or Coghlan could fill that role. Montero may still be the odd man out in that scenario, Rogers notes, as the club could elect to carry a more speed-oriented player such as Albert Almora in his stead.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/29/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (except where otherwise noted):

  • The Braves have released backstop George Kottaras, who’ll re-enter the open market not long after he left it to join the Atlanta organization. Kottaras, 33, has only been at Triple-A Gwinnett for about six weeks, but his .196/.328/.294 batting line over 61 plate appearances wasn’t enough to warrant a lengthier stint. The veteran has seen action in seven major league campaigns, posting a useful .215/.326/.411 overall slash in 858 trips to the plate, but he hasn’t seen substantial time at the game’s highest level since 2013.
  • Outfielder Chris Dickerson has signed on with the Orioles on a minor league deal after sitting out the entire season to date. As Dan Connolly of Baltimore Baseball reports, the O’s seem to be looking for another possible major league piece from an unlikely place with this signing. Dickerson, 34, is still working back from shoulder surgery and hasn’t seen the majors since 2014. But he was hitting well before his injury last year, and VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette suggested that he could move into a “fifth outfielder” role at the major league level.
  • The Cubs have cut ties with left-handed reliever C.J. Riefenhauser, per Badler. The 26-year-oldhad briefly reached the majors in each of the last two years. But he was having trouble at the Triple-A level with the Chicago organization, compiling a 4.55 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 over 27 2/3 innings.
  • Left-hander Jason Gurka has been released by the Rockies. He was bombed in brief stints at the majors in each of the last two seasons. But the results were much more promising at Triple-A, where Gurka had a solid campaign in 2015 and was largely lights out this year. In his 21 1/3 innings, he racked up 31 strikeouts against just six walks and permitted only four earned runs.

Cubs’ Jason Hammel Unhappy With Joe Maddon

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Cubs starter Jason Hammel struggled during his outing in a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday, yielding three earned runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings, but the right-hander was upset with manager Joe Maddon for pulling him so early. As a result, Hammel and Maddon had a closed-door meeting after the game, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I didn’t even pitch today in my mind. I barely threw 40 pitches,” said Hammel, who tossed 39 pitches and was a victim of a quick hook at times last year. “It was a side day for me pretty much.”

Maddon, who also managed Hammel in Tampa Bay, stated after the meeting, “Of course he didn’t like what I told him, but I had to tell him. He was not happy with me taking him out that early.”

Saturday’s start was the second poor one in a row for Hammel, who allowed 10 runs (six earned) on 10 hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings of an 11-4 loss to the Rockies last Sunday. Hammel had previously gone three straight starts (20 innings) without giving up a run, though, and has produced quality results for the Cubs this season. The 33-year-old has compiled a 3.21 ERA, 7.52 K/9, 2.88 BB/9 and 44 percent ground-ball rate in 137 2/3 frames, but his future in Chicago doesn’t seem secure, as Wittenmyer notes.

The Cubs have four strong bets to occupy rotation spots next season in Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and John Lackey, and recent acquisition Mike Montgomery could jockey for position behind them.

Regarding Montgomery, Maddon said Friday (via Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago), “I think he is a major league starter, regardless of what happens tonight. This guy has the ability to be a solid major-league starter based on his strength level, his delivery, the variety of pitches that he throws. The strike-throwing ability is exceptional. He’s got all those different things going on.”

Montgomery ended up surrendering three earned runs, six hits and four walks against five strikeouts Friday, so it was merely a mediocre performance. Nevertheless, he seems to have Maddon’s confidence, and the lefty’s presence could help push Hammel out of Chicago after the season.

Hammel will not reach the 200-inning mark necessary for his $12MM option for 2017 to automatically vest. Thus, it will become a club option and leave the Cubs to decide after the season whether to exercise it or buy Hammel out for $2MM. Given that Hammel has been a more-than-capable starter in recent years, he should have trade value – particularly during a winter set to feature few appealing choices in free agency. The Cubs, therefore, could pick up Hammel’s reasonably priced option and shop him around the majors, writes Wittenmyer.

Hammel is in the midst of his second stint with the Cubs, who signed him to a one-year contract entering the 2014 season and then sent him and Jeff Samardzija to Oakland in a July deal that brought shortstop Addison Russell to Chicago. Hammel subsequently returned to the Windy City in free agency the next winter. In 417 innings with the Cubs, Hammel has logged a 3.32 ERA, 8.44 K/9 and 3.21 BB/9.

Cubs Place John Lackey, Hector Rondon On 15-Day DL

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The Cubs have placed right-handers John Lackey and Hector Rondon on the disabled list for precautionary measures due to arm injuries, as MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reported. The Cubs have the luxury of placing both pitchers on the DL to avoid risk of worsening their minor injuries and will recall left-hander Rob Zastryzny and right-hander Felix Pena from Triple-A Iowa.

[Related: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]

Lackey, 37, is dealing with shoulder soreness, while the 28-year-old Rondon has a triceps issue. Neither is believed to be serious, with Chicago acting to add some fresh arms while taking a cautious approach with two of their better arms.

The veteran Lackey has been one of the offseason’s better free agent additions, as he has already run up 158 1/3 innings of 3.41 ERA pitching with 8.9 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. That strikeout-per-nine rate represents a career-best mark for the 14-year big leaguer, which is no small feat given his age. His two-year, $32MM contract looked like a solid buy upon signing, and seems an even better bargain with nearly half of it already in the books.

As for Rondon, 2016 has been another stellar campaign. Though he was bumped from the closer’s role with the addition of Aroldis Chapman, that wasn’t due to any performance issues from the former Rule 5 pick. Far from it. Over his 43 2/3 frames this year, Rondon carries a 2.47 ERA. He has compiled that mark while racking up 10.5 K/9 versus just 1.2 BB/9 — improving upon his two excellent prior seasons in both regards.

If any team can weather the loss of two such significant hurlers, it is the Cubs. That’s not necessarily due to any kind of unique pitching depth as it is the team’s likely-insurmountable 13-game lead in the NL Central. Chicago is also in excellent shape in securing home field advantage, pacing the Nationals by six games for the National League’s top record.

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