Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Latest On The Yankees’ Shortstop Battle

By | at

As top prospect Anthony Volpe continues to make a strong case to win the Yankees’ starting shortstop job this spring, Andy Martino of SNY reports that the team are not close to making a decision on who’ll start there on Opening Day.

Volpe, fellow youngster Oswald Peraza, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and to a lesser extent Oswaldo Cabrera have all been in the mix for the shortstop job this spring. The Yankees seemingly prefer Cabrera in a utility role, and the injury to starting center fielder Harrison Bader means he could be called upon for more outfield reps to start the season, so it appears safe to rule him out of the starting job at short.

Kiner-Falefa was the starter for the bulk of the 2022 season, but looks to be headed for more of a utility role himself this season, with the Yankees working him out around the infield, and even giving him starts in the outfield. He’s owed $6MM in his final year of arbitration, and has been speculated as a possible trade candidate given the Yankees’ glut of middle infielders. The Dodgers were one such team thrown around as a possible destination in the wake of Gavin Lux’ injury, but it appears that’s unlikely, with Jon Heyman of the New York Post reporting they’re not interested.

It’s perhaps not surprising that Kiner-Falefa isn’t of interest to the Dodgers. While a $6MM salary is affordable for a team like the Dodgers, it looks steep for a player who only hit for an 85 wRC+ (15 percentage points below the league average), and has a career wRC+ of 82. The team also already has a shortstop in Miguel Rojas, who doesn’t hit a ton, plays decent defense and is owed $5MM in 2023, so it may be that acquiring Kiner-Falefa would just mean bringing in another player who profiles very similar to their in-house option.

In any case, it does appear that Kiner-Falefa is an outsider in the shortstop battle, which leaves it down to Peraza and Volpe. Peraza, 22, is probably the favorite, given he impressed in a short stint in the big leagues last year, hitting .306/.404/.429 across 57 plate appearances and starting in a playoff game. Martino’s report also details how scouts have generally favored Peraza’s glove at short over Volpe’s.

Yet it seems foolish to rule out Volpe. Coming into spring it seemed he was very much a candidate for a mid-season call-up, but probably not an option for Opening Day. He has, after all, only appeared in 22 games at Triple-A. However, the 21-year-old has impressed the team with his bat, slashing .294/.415/.588 going into Saturday’s games (and Volpe is again in the lineup, leading off and playing shortstop today), and with the way he’s carried himself off the diamond, earning the praise of a number of team mates.

With Opening Day less than two weeks away now, the countdown is on to see who is manning short when the Yankees host the Giants on March 30.

MLBTR Poll: Braves’ Fifth Starter

By | at

The Braves made a surprising decision this week, optioning both Bryce Elder and Ian Anderson to Triple-A Gwinnett. That takes the duo out of consideration for the fifth spot in the rotation. Atlanta’s top four of Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright and Charlie Morton is settled, but the final slot now looks as if it’ll go to someone previously expected to open the year in the minors.

With injuries to Michael Soroka and Kolby Allard keeping them out of the season-opening mix, Elder and Anderson had seemed the favorites for the last rotation spot. Instead, it now seems the Braves will turn to a pitcher with no MLB experience out of the gate. Prospects Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd look as if they’re battling for the final spot.

Jared Shuster

The 24-year-old Shuster was Atlanta’s first-round pick out of Wake Forest in 2020. He split the 2022 campaign between Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett, working to a 3.29 ERA in 139 1/3 innings. He punched out 26.2% of batters faced compared to a modest 6.9% walk rate overall. Shuster’s strikeout numbers dropped precipitously after a midseason jump to Triple-A, however. He’d fanned 30% of opponents in 17 appearances with Mississippi but that mark fell to 19.4% over 10 outings for the Stripers.

Baseball America considers Shuster the #3 prospect in the Atlanta farm system. The outlet credits him with a plus changeup and above-average control. He’s not a particularly hard thrower and scouts peg his slider as a fringe-average pitch. Shuster has thrown 10 2/3 innings this spring, allowing only one run with 16 strikeouts and two walks.

Dylan Dodd

Dodd, also 24, was Atlanta’s third-round pick in 2021. An underslot senior signee coming out of Southeast Missouri State, Dodd moved across three minor league levels in his first full professional season. He started 16 games with High-A Rome and nine for Mississippi before closing out the ’22 campaign with one appearance in Gwinnett. The left-hander soaked up 142 innings over the three levels, posting a 3.36 ERA with a 26% strikeout percentage while only walking 5.3% of opponents.

Ranked the #6 prospect in the organization by Baseball America, Dodd has a similar pitchability profile as Shuster. His fastball also sits in the low-90s and he leans heavily on a pair of advanced breaking pitches in his changeup and slider. He’s an excellent strike-thrower who’s generally regarded as a solid bet to be a back-of-the-rotation starter. Dodd has tossed 8 1/3 scoreless innings in exhibition play, punching out 11 without handing out any free passes.

————-

The book on Shuster and Dodd is fairly similar. They’re both advanced left-handers with strong secondary stuff and control to drive the profile despite middling velocity. They’re each recent college draftees without a ton of professional experience but already in their mid-20s. Both pitchers are having excellent showings in Grapefruit League play, apparently vaulting themselves past Elder and Anderson on the immediate depth chart. Neither is yet on the 40-man roster but Atlanta has a vacancy after losing Dennis Santana on waivers last month and could clear more room by placing Tyler Matzek and Huascar Ynoa on the 60-day injured list.

It stands to reason both Shuster and Dodd will make their MLB debuts at some point this year. One of the duo now figures to break camp with the big league club and assume a key role from the season’s outset. Who will get the nod?

(poll link for app users)

Who Will Be Braves' Fifth Starter To Open The Season?

  • Jared Shuster 68% (3,049)
  • Dylan Dodd 23% (1,019)
  • Other (specify in comments) 9% (384)

Total votes: 4,452

 

Mariners Release Drew Ellis

By | at

The Mariners announced Friday evening that corner infielder Drew Ellis has been released. He’d been in camp as a non-roster invitee after being outrighted off Seattle’s roster last November.

Seattle claimed Ellis off waivers from the Diamondbacks last June. The Louisville product only played one MLB game with the M’s, going 1-3 with a strikeout. He spent 70 games at Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .231/.346/.488 with 15 home runs and a 14.2% walk rate. Ellis had posted similar numbers with Arizona’s top affiliate while playing in six big league contests for the Snakes. Despite the roughly average Triple-A production, his .141/.270/.212 line over 100 big league plate appearances led to him going unclaimed on waivers at the start of the offseason.

The M’s gave Ellis a look this spring as he looked to reestablish himself on the MLB radar. He went hitless in 17 at-bats, striking out in half of his 20 plate appearances. With Dylan Moore set to miss the start of the season due to an oblique strain, Seattle’s right-handed hitting infield depth is thinned out a couple weeks from the start of the season. Ellis’ rough exhibition showing wasn’t going to put him in position for a call-up, though, and Seattle now cuts him loose entirely.

Both Corey Brock of the Athletic and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link) suggested this evening that Moore’s injury could afford a season-opening job for non-roster invitee Mason McCoy. Like Moore and Ellis, McCoy is a right-handed hitting infielder. He’s capable of playing up the middle and coming off a .256/.332/.473 showing with 21 homers and 22 stolen bases over 503 plate appearances for Tacoma.

Ellis heads back out to free agency. Because he wasn’t on the 40-man roster, he won’t first have to clear waivers before hitting the open market. As a former second-round draftee with a .256/.374/.524 line in 826 career Triple-A plate appearances, he could find some interest on a minor league deal elsewhere.

Injury Notes: Blackburn, Pina, Morejon, Garcia, Szapucki

By | at

The A’s will open the season with both starter Paul Blackburn and catcher Manny Piña on the injured list, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters this afternoon (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). Blackburn still can’t throw at full strength after ripping the nail on his middle finger a couple weeks ago. Piña, meanwhile, was diagnosed with left wrist inflammation after meeting with a specialist yesterday. His wrist is currently in a brace and there’s no timetable for his return to baseball activity.

Neither development comes as a surprise. Kotsay said a few days ago both players were questionable for Opening Day. Blackburn’s absence doesn’t figure to be a long-term concern but will require an adjustment to the starting five. Blackburn would have been assured of an Opening Day rotation spot, joining Drew Rucinski and Shintaro Fujinami in that regard. James Kaprielian seems as if he’ll join them, as Kotsay indicated today the righty is on track to be ready for the season after offseason shoulder surgery. The A’s will need to make a move at catcher in the next two weeks, as Shea Langeliers is the only healthy backstop on the 40-man roster.

More injury updates around the game:

  • Padres southpaw Adrián Morejón went for an MRI after departing a weekend Spring Training game with elbow discomfort. Manager Bob Melvin provided a generally positive update this afternoon, telling the media that Morejón’s MRI came back clean of structural damage (video provided by 97.3 FM The Fan). Imaging did reveal some inflammation in the joint and the young hurler will be shut down from throwing until symptoms subside. That could be within a matter of days, according to Melvin. While Morejón may still need to open the season on the 15-day injured list, that there’s no structural damage warrants a sigh of relief considering his injury history. He lost most of 2021 and the first half of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. The Friars used Morejón exclusively out of the bullpen last year. They’ve floated the possibility of moving him back to the rotation at some point, though it remains to be seen if his latest elbow discomfort will affect the club’s usage plan.
  • The Pirates announced last week that reliever Jarlín García was being shut down after experiencing some discomfort in his throwing arm. Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided an update yesterday, telling reporters the southpaw has a nerve injury in the biceps area (via Justice delos Santos of MLB.com). He’ll remain shut down from throwing for at least four to five weeks before going for more testing late next month. It’s clear García is in for an extended absence to start the season, as even a best-case scenario in which he can start throwing again in mid-April will require a ramp-up period lasting into May. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pittsburgh place him on the 60-day injured list at some point. García signed a $2.5MM free agent deal over the winter after being non-tendered by the Giants despite a 3.74 ERA in 65 innings last season.
  • Giants reliever Thomas Szapucki will meet with a thoracic outlet syndrome specialist next week, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’d been sidelined of late by discomfort in his elbow area and there’s evidently some concern it’s related to the condition. Thoracic outlet syndrome has become a fairly prevalent issue for pitchers in recent years, typically requiring a surgical procedure that involves the removal of a rib to reduce nerve pressure in the arm. The track record for players returning from that issue is mixed. While players like Merrill Kelly have come back better than ever, the likes of Stephen Strasburg and Matt Harvey have never regained their pre-surgery form.

Latest On Marlins’ Rotation

By | at

Even after trading Pablo López for Luis Arraez as part of their effort to overhaul the lineup, the Marlins go into 2023 with a strong group of starting pitchers. Defending Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara is followed by Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and offseason pickup Johnny Cueto. The fifth spot has at least been a bit up in the air, with each of Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera having a case for the job out of camp.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that Cabrera appears to have moved ahead of Garrett on the depth chart. Cabrera has had the edge with regards to Spring Training performance. He’s tossed five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and a pair of walks; Garrett, on the other hand, has been tagged for ten runs in 9 1/3 frames with seven punchouts, three walks and a hit batter.

There are certainly more important factors in the club’s decision than small-sample performances in exhibition games. One could argue Cabrera entered camp with the upper hand given his prospect status and higher-octane stuff. The right-hander worked to a 3.01 ERA over 14 starts last year, a solid rookie showing in spite of elbow tendinitis that resulted in a six-week injured list stint. Cabrera averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball and generated swinging strikes on an excellent 13.3% of his total pitches. That power stuff had previously gotten him onto Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list each season from 2020-22.

The only area of concern for the 24-year-old Cabrera was some inconsistency in his strike-throwing. He walked an elevated 11.3% of batters faced, relying on an unsustainable 86.1% strand rate and .207 batting average on balls in play to keep his ERA around 3.00. Cabrera’s season was overwhelmingly positive overall, though, and the organization no doubt anticipates him pitching alongside Alcantara and Luzardo towards the top of the staff for years to come.

Garrett, 25, is a former seventh overall pick and top prospect in his own right. His stock had dimmed a bit in recent years thanks to inconsistent minor league performances. Garrett had a quietly strong 2022 campaign, though, posting a 3.15 ERA in seven Triple-A starts. More impressively, he worked to a 3.58 ERA with better than average strikeout (24.1%), walk (6.4%) and ground-ball (47.8%) numbers in 17 big league outings. Garrett’s 11.8% swinging strike percentage was solid despite a pedestrian 91.4 MPH average fastball.

Both Cabrera and Garrett figure to get into the Miami rotation throughout the season, as virtually no team goes through a 162-game schedule without any injuries. It’d seem Cabrera is trending towards first crack, with Jackson suggesting that Miami is likelier to option Garrett to Triple-A Jacksonville than have him start the season in long relief at the MLB level. The Alabama native has one minor league option year remaining, as does Cabrera.

Dylan Moore Diagnosed With Grade One Oblique Strain

By | at

Mariners utility player Dylan Moore was diagnosed with a Grade One strain in his oblique, he informed reporters this afternoon (relayed by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). While that’s the lowest degree, any oblique strain typically comes with a recovery time of multiple weeks.

Moore indeed indicated he’ll be shut down from baseball activity for between two and four weeks. While the earlier end of that timeline could have him beginning to ramp back up around Opening Day, he certainly won’t jump right into game action as soon as he’s cleared to start working out. It seems a lock he’ll open the season on the injured list and, considering he didn’t play in a single Spring Training game, likely head out on a minor league rehab assignment to get some game action before his 2023 debut at the MLB level.

This will be Moore’s fifth big league campaign. He has posted alternate below-average and above-average showings at the plate, typically in a part-time capacity. He’s coming off a strong 2022 campaign. Moore hit only .224 but worked walks at a 13.3% rate, resulting in a .368 on-base percentage that was well better than the .312 league average. He also swiped 21 bases in 104 contests, his second consecutive season topping 20 steals.

The Mariners signed Moore to a three-year, $8.875MM deal over the offseason to buy out his final two arbitration seasons and a would-be free agent year. He’d been set to reprise his role as one of Scott Servais’ top options off the bench. Moore has played everywhere aside from catcher in his career, with the majority of his work coming in the middle infield and corner outfield spots.

Seattle has Kolten Wong and J.P. Crawford lined up for middle infield work. The lefty-hitting Wong and right-handed Moore were expected to platoon at second base and while that could eventually still be the case, that’ll be put on hold for the time being. Tommy La Stella offers some insurance at second base but, like Wong, hits from the left side.

Sam Haggerty is a switch-hitter who has been far better against left-handed pitching, though he’s worked far more in the outfield than at second base as a big leaguer. Drew Ellis and Mason McCoy are right-handed hitting infielders in camp as non-roster players. Ellis has struck out in 10 of 17 at-bats this spring, while McCoy is 9-25 with four strikeouts and a walk.

Tony Gonsolin Expected To Open Season On Injured List

By | at

Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin won’t be ready for the beginning of the season due to his current ankle injury, manager Dave Roberts announced Friday (Twitter link via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times). He’s expected to open the season on the 15-day injured list. Righties Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are the favorites to break camp as the Dodgers’ fifth starter with Gonsolin on the IL.

The Dodgers are hoping for a relatively minimal absence for the 28-year-old Gonsolin, who improbably injured his ankle walking off the field following pitchers’ fielding practice earlier in camp. He’s only just recently resumed a throwing program, and there’s simply not enough time for him to get built back up enough to break camp in the rotation 13 days from now.

[Related: The Dodgers’ Rotation Options if Tony Gonsolin Misses Time]

Gonsolin started a career-high 24 games during the 2022 regular-season, pitching to a sensational 2.14 ERA with a quality 23.9% strikeout rate against a strong 7.0% walk rate over the life of 130 1/3 innings. He undoubtedly benefited from a .207 batting average on balls in play that he won’t sustain over a larger sample, but even with some expected regression he’s still a well above-average big league pitcher. The 132 1/3 innings he pitched between Triple-A and the Majors last year was the highest total he’s reached in any pro season since being drafted in 2016, however, so there are some durability concerns with the talented righty.

Both Pepiot and Grove are well-regarded prospects, though the former has drawn more national fanfare than the latter. Pepiot, 25, ranked among Baseball America’s top-100 prospects both last offseason (No. 99) and this offseason (No. 55). He pitched to a 3.47 ERA in his first MLB cup of coffee last season and a 2.56 mark in Triple-A, combining for a total of 127 2/3 innings. Pepiot’s command has never been his strong point but was particularly troubling in his brief debut last year, when he walked 27 of 160 batters (16.9%). He’ll obviously need to improve upon that mark to have success over the long run.

As for the 26-year-old Grove, he also made his big league debut in 2022, tossing 29 1/3 innings of 4.60 ERA ball. Grove’s 18% strikeout rate was well below average, but he recorded a solid 7.5% walk rate in his first big league audition. He also logged a 3.79 ERA in 76 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, displaying strong strikeout and walk rates along the way as he rose to the Majors.

Either Pepiot or Grove seems capable of filling what’s likely to be a short-term absence for Gonsolin behind a projected top four of Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Dustin May. There’s plenty of injury concern amid that group, and May’s workload will likely be monitored in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, so it stands to reason that Pepiot and Grove could both be called upon multiple times over the course of the season. Further down the depth chart, top prospects Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone are joined by veterans Robbie Erlin and Dylan Covey. None are on the 40-man roster, but both Miller and Stone are top-100 prospects themselves and viewed as potential long-term options in the Los Angeles rotation.

Mets Claim Dennis Santana

By | at

The Mets have claimed right-hander Dennis Santana off waivers from the Twins, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Santana is out of minor league options, and the Twins apparently attempted to pass him through waivers after deciding he wouldn’t break camp with the club. Minnesota claimed Santana off waivers from the Braves earlier in spring training.

Santana, 27 next month, once ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in a stacked Dodgers system but has begun to bounce around the waiver circuit after tough stints both in Los Angeles and Texas. He’s appeared in parts of five big league seasons but logged a 5.12 ERA (4.43 SIERA) in 139 innings.

Last season with the Rangers, Santana averaged a blistering 97.7 mph on his four seamer and 96.7 mph on his sinker. However, he still posted a below-average 21.2% strikeout rate with a bloated 11% walk rate en route to a 5.22 earned run average. Command has been an issue throughout his big league career, evidenced by his penchant for free passes (career 11.8% walk rate). That said, he’s consistently generated swinging strikes at an above-average rate (11.4% in 2022, 11.7% career) and induced chases on pitches off the plate at a high level as well (34.3% in 2022, 33.3% career).

Since Opening Day 2021, Santana has gone from the Dodgers to the Rangers (by way of a small trade), to the Braves (in exchange for cash), to the Twins (via waivers) and now to the Mets. This latest claim certainly doesn’t mean he’s a lock to win a bullpen spot with the Mets over the next two weeks, although the injuries to Edwin Diaz and Sam Coonrod have thinned out the Mets’ relief corps and opened up some competition.

Santana will join a group of candidates including righties Jeff Brigham and Stephen Ridings — both on the 40-man roster — as well as non-roster veterans like Tommy Hunter, T.J. McFarland and Jimmy Yacabonis. If he doesn’t win a spot, the Mets could attempt to pass him through waivers to retain him as organizational depth, just as both the Twins and Braves have unsuccessfully attempted to do this spring It wouldn’t at all be surprising to see GM Billy Eppler add further pieces from outside the organization. The Mets are known to have scouted Zack Britton as recently as yesterday — their third time watching him throw since the calendar flipped to 2023.

As for the Twins, Santana’s departure could re-open the door for hard-throwing righty Trevor Megill — the brother of Mets righty Tylor Megill — to make the Opening Day roster. It’s also possible that a non-roster player like Jeff Hoffman, Danny Coulombe or Jose De Leon could take that spot. Additionally, Minnesota has at least mulled the possibility of a six-man rotation, and there’s now an open roster spot that could be allocated to towering righty Bailey Ober, who looks like the sixth starter behind the projected front five of Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda.

Phillies Notes: Strahm, Suarez, Plassmeyer

By | at

The Phillies are stretching lefty Matt Strahm out to handle a multi-inning relief option, tweets Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Manager Rob Thomson said this week that the organization’s goal is for Strahm to be built up to the point that he can handle three-inning stints by the end of camp, Lauber notes. He’s slated to start one of the Phillies’ split-squad games today.

Stretching Strahm out is of particular note given the lefty’s previous work as a starter, his five-pitch repertoire, and his previously vocal stance about wanting to return to that role at some point in his career. As The Athletic’s Matt Gelb further writes, Strahm is open to any and all roles with the Phils this season.

Strahm’s career 3.11 ERA as a reliever trounces his shaky 5.08 mark as a starter, though that’s come in a sample of just 25 starts spread across four seasons. Whether he emerges as a legitimate rotation option for the Phillies at some point over the course of his current two-year, $15MM deal will likely depend greatly on the health of the team’s other options. With that in mind, it’s notable that the move to stretch Strahm out comes in conjunction with Andrew Painter’s month-long shutdown due to a UCL sprain and Ranger Suarez’s delay due to forearm tightness.

Thomson told reporters yesterday that Suarez is back on a throwing program and feeling good (Twitter link via Gelb), but he won’t be fully built up by the time the season gets underway. The Phils aren’t planning to place Suarez on the injured list to begin the season, however. As such, it seems likely his per-start workload would be capped for at least his first few turns through the rotation. Having Strahm stretched out to three or more innings would allow the Phillies to piggyback the two if they choose to go that route, and there’s obvious benefit in having Strahm stretched out in the event that the Philadelphia rotation sustains an injury of note.

For now, the likely plan in the event of another injury in the rotation would be to give 26-year-old southpaw Michael Plassmeyer a chance, Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia writes. The 2018 fourth-rounder, acquired in the trade that sent catcher Austin Wynns to the Giants, made his MLB debut with the Phils last season (three runs in 7 1/3 innings) and posted a 2.41 ERA in 16 starts with their Triple-A affiliate following that swap. Plassmeyer has tossed seven scoreless frames this spring, though he’s issued six walks and punched out just four hitters in that time.

As it stands, the Phillies still project to have one of the NL’s stronger rotations. Each of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker and Bailey Falter have been healthy this spring, and it seems the forearm tightness that sent Suarez home from the World Baseball Classic has proven to be minor in nature.

Beyond Strahm and Plassmeyer, top prospects Mick Abel and Griff McGarry will open the season in the upper minors, but both have limited innings above A-ball to this point in their young career (23 for Abel, 40 2/3 for McGarry). Lefty Cristopher Sanchez and righty Nick Nelson are both on the 40-man roster but were both shut down earlier this week due to triceps and hamstring injuries, respectively. The Phils did receive one positive injury update yesterday, as backup catcher Garrett Stubbs told Lauber and others that he’s dealing with only a minor knee sprain and expects to be ready for Opening Day.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top