Athletics Claim Richard Lovelady From Braves
The Athletics announced that they have claimed left-hander Richard Lovelady off waivers from the Braves and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Freddy Tarnok was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
There had been no public indication that Atlanta had made any kind of roster move with Lovelady, but they evidently tried to pass him through waivers at some point in recent days. Since the A’s swooped in to grab him, Atlanta’s 40-man count will drop to 39 as they also lose a bit of optionable bullpen depth. They liked the lefty enough to acquire him just a couple weeks ago by sending cash considerations to Kansas City but will now see him move out west.
For the A’s, they are adding an intriguing southpaw arm to the roster. Lovelady, 27, struggled in his first major league action but seemed to take a step forward in 2021. He posted a 3.48 ERA in 20 appearances for the Royals, striking out 27.4% of batters faced with a 7.1% walk rate and 56.6% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in September of that year. The Royals then non-tendered him but re-signed him on a minor league deal.
He returned to health and made a couple of minor league appearances late last year, which encouraged the Royals enough to add him back to their roster in November to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. But when faced with a roster crunch around Opening Day, they flipped Lovelady to Atlanta for cash. He’s made four appearances for Triple-A Gwinnett this year with a 7.20 ERA in that small sample.
Lovelady is in his final option year, which will mean the A’s can potentially keep him stashed in the minors for the rest of the year, though it’s possible he gets back to the majors by performing well or simply due to the club needing a fresh arm. The rebuilding club has a bullpen that’s light on experience and also light on lefties, with Sam Moll the only southpaw currently in the big league bullpen.
As for Tarnok, he was acquired from Atlanta in the Sean Murphy trade this winter but began the season on the injured list due to a strained right shoulder. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action but he’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which would be late May.
Jeffrey Springs Removed From Game With Ulnar Neuritis
Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs was removed from today’s game after a visit from manager Kevin Cash as well as the club’s trainer. The club later announced his injury to reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, describing it as left arm ulnar neuritis. He will undergo further evaluation tomorrow.
Until more testing is done, it will be unclear what kind of an absence Springs is facing. The ulnar nerve is commonly known as the “funny bone” due to the tingling sensation it can create in one’s arm when struck. “Neuritis” means that the nerve is inflamed. Having the diagnosis doesn’t necessarily pinpoint a timeline, as there’s still a range of possible outcomes. On the positive end, the Blue Jays placed Jordan Romano on the injured list in April of 2021 with ulnar neuritis, but he was back after just a 10-day absence.
On the other end of the spectrum, Jacob deGrom had surgery to address ulnar neuritis in September of 2016. That ended his season, which isn’t surprising as it was late in the schedule, but the Mets announced the recovery time as three months. It was a similar situation for Michael Fulmer when he was with the Tigers in 2017. He had surgery to address ulnar neuritis late in that season with the club announcing a recovery timeline of three to four months. Clearly, there’s a wide range of outcomes with this issue. The Rays and Springs will have to examine the severity of his ailment and determine the next steps before even a rough timeline can be mapped out.
However it ultimately plays out, it figures to be a blow to the Rays, as Springs has surprisingly emerged as an excellent starter recently. He had spent most of his career working out of the bullpen until the Rays stretched him out last year. He ultimately tossed 135 1/3 innings over 25 starts and eight relief appearances with a 2.46 ERA. He struck out 26.2% of batters faced against a 5.6% walk rate and 40.9% ground ball rate. The club had enough belief in those results to sign Springs to a four-year, $31MM extension this winter, though he could bump his earnings as high as $65.75MM over five years via a club option and incentives. He had looked strong so far here in 2023, not allowing an earned run over his first two starts, then letting one run cross the plate today before his exit.
The Rays have a strong starting staff, which has helped them jump out to an incredible 13-0 start to their season, as they eventually won today’s contest despite the loss of Springs. But if the lefty has to miss some time, it will further handcuff a rotation that started the season without Shane Baz or Tyler Glasnow and recently placed Zach Eflin on the injured list as well. If Springs joins that group on the IL, they will be down to two strong starters in Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen, while Josh Fleming has had mixed results so far this year. Eflin is expecting a minimum stay on the IL but still has another 10 days before he’s eligible to return, even if that’s true.
The Rays have often used bullpen games in the past but they would be challenged to get through their upcoming schedule with just three starters in McClanahan, Rasmussen and Fleming. They don’t have an off-day until April 20 and then won’t have another until May 15. That means they will likely have to lean on their depth at some point. Prospect Taj Bradley made his major league debut yesterday but was then optioned to Triple-A this morning. He isn’t eligible to return until 15 days from that optioning, though an exception is made when another player is going on the injured list. Luis Patiño and Yonny Chirinos are other options on the 40-man roster.
Roberto Perez Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
For a second straight year, catcher Roberto Perez‘s season is over before it had much of a chance to get underway. The Giants announced Thursday that Perez underwent surgery to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder and will miss the remainder of the season. Perez, who played in just five games before sustaining the injury, was limited to 21 games with the Pirates in 2022 before a torn hamstring required season-ending surgery.
The injury to Perez was rather sudden, as a week ago he was still suiting up for the club. He exited their April 7 contest with what the team originally termed a shoulder strain, but further imaging revealed extensive enough damage that surgical intervention was required. He’d already been placed on the 60-day injured list, but the Giants hadn’t indicated until today that Perez’s entire season was even in jeopardy — let alone finished.
Signed to a minor league contract with a $2.5MM base salary back in early February, the 34-year-old Perez parlayed a decent spring showing (.261/.292/.391) into a spot on the Giants’ Opening Day roster. Long considered one of the premier defenders in the game at the catcher position, he appeared positioned for at least a backup role and — depending on Joey Bart and Rule 5 outfielder/catcher Blake Sabol fare — perhaps even a slightly larger role. Instead, he’ll spend the season on the Major League injured list.
The Giants didn’t do much to address their catching depth this offseason, with Perez and Sabol standing as their primary additions. They re-signed Austin Wynns to a non-roster deal and selected him to the big league roster when Perez hit the injured list, but he’s already since been designated for assignment. San Francisco did pick up Gary Sanchez on a minor league contract a week or so into the season, though he’s just 2-for-17 with seven strikeouts in 19 Triple-A plate appearances.
Sanchez could still factor into the Giants’ plans behind the dish, but at least for the time being, it’ll be Bart and Sabol splitting time behind the plate. Sanchez’s deal comes with a weighty (by minor league deal standards) $4MM base salary in the Majors and affords him the opportunity to opt out and re-enter the free-agent market on May 1 if he’s not been added to the big league roster by that point.
Padres Notes: Catcher, Musgrove, Snell
Padres catcher Austin Nola has struggled through a slow start to the season, perhaps still feeling the effects of a broken nose suffered when he was hit in the face by a Michael Fulmer fastball late in spring training. The 33-year-old is out to just a 3-for-29 start, and manager Bob Melvin conceded after last night’s game that the Padres “might need to do things a little differently” with regard to their catching setup (link via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). As Melvin points out, Nola enjoyed a strong spring before that unfortunate plunking; in 30 plate appearances he slashed .333/.487/.467.
Presumably, “differently” entails allotting more time to longtime top catching prospect Luis Campusano. The 24-year-old hasn’t exactly set the world on fire himself in this season’s small sample, going 4-for-16 with a double and five punchouts in 17 plate appearances. In parts of four seasons in the Majors, Campusano has received just 109 plate appearances and posted a .198/.239/.277 batting line. However, he’s also posted excellent batted-ball metrics (90.9 mph average exit velocity, 48.6% hard-hit rate) and owns a .296/.364/.511 batting line in 684 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s never been given a legitimate run as the team’s primary catcher.
To this point, Acee notes, Campusano has been the catcher for righty Michael Wacha and lefty Ryan Weathers, with Nola lining up behind the dish to catch Yu Darvish, Nick Martinez, Seth Lugo and Blake Snell. Whether the Friars will continue to deploy their catchers based on specific pitcher pairings remains to be determined, but Melvin’s comments suggest that Campusano is likely in for a larger workload to an extent.
As far as the rotation is concerned, the Padres have had to patch things together a bit with Joe Musgrove opening the season on the injured list due to a broken toe he suffered in the weight room during spring training. He’s already made one rehab start, but Musgrove landed awkwardly on his shoulder while making a play in the field during that start and had his second rehab start pushed back as a result. The right-hander had a cortisone injection in that shoulder earlier this week, and he’ll be evaluated again today, Melvin said earlier in the week (link via FriarWire’s Bill Center).
If things go well today, Musgrove could make a second rehab start as soon as tomorrow. Given that he already tossed 4 1/3 innings in his first rehab outing, Musgrove could plausibly be ready for activation following a second rehab appearance, although the team has not yet indicated whether the plan is for him to make two or three rehab starts. Even if Musgrove makes another pair of rehab appearances, he could still be in line for his season debut in the final week of April, assuming all goes well from a health vantage point.
Weathers and Lugo have exceeded expectations in joining the starting staff, but the Padres are surely eager to get Musgrove back nonetheless. Musgrove would’ve likely been in line to serve as San Diego’s Opening Day starter, but that title wound up going to lefty Blake Snell, who’s struggled through his first three starts of a contract season.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic spoke with Snell about those struggles, noting that the lefty began his offseason throwing program earlier than usual in hopes of shaking off some of his increasingly characteristic early-season struggles. Snell tells Lin that he’s made a concerted effort to throw more fastballs in an effort to “get out of my own way” and to remind him of the quality of his secondary pitches. “My curveball and slider are really good because of how good the fastball is,” says Snell.
Thus far, it hasn’t worked out in Snell’s favor. He’s lasted just 13 total innings across three starts, pitching to a 6.92 ERA while walking 10 of is 66 opponents (15.2%). Command and pitch efficiency have been issues for Snell throughout his career, which helps to explain his penchant for relatively short starts. (Snell has averaged just 5.09 innings per start in his career.)
Snell, the 2018 American League Cy Young winner with the Rays, has stumbled out of the gate in each of the past two seasons before ultimately righting the ship and dominating late in the year. In 2021, he pitched to a 5.44 ERA with a 14.3% walk rate in 19 starts through late July before rebounding with 44 1/3 innings of 1.83 ERA ball and an 8.4% walk rate over his final seven starts (44 1/3 innings). His 2022 season played out similarly: a 5.60 ERA and 12.2% walk rate through late June, followed by a 2.53 ERA, 35.1% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in his final 17 starts.
Snell’s raw abilities are unquestionable. He’s a former Cy Young winner who can miss bats at an elite rate and, when he’s at his best, look like one of the game’s best pitchers. His ability to reach those peak levels with any degree of consistency, however, are far more questionable. Nonetheless, that repeatedly demonstrated ability to overwhelm opposing lineups — however inconsistent it may be — is what landed him in the No. 10 spot on yesterday’s edition of MLBTR’s 2023-24 Free Agent Power Rankings.
If he’s able to uncage his dominant form earlier than usual, Snell has the potential to be one of the most in-demand arms on next offseason’s market. His all-too-familiar peaks and valleys may give teams trepidation even he can round into form sooner than later, but left-handers who throw 96 mph and punch out nearly 30% of their opponents don’t grow on trees. And, other clubs will surely have their own ideas about how to get Snell to tap into that No. 1 starter upside with more regularity.
Twins Select Kyle Garlick
April 13: The Twins have made this official today, selecting Garlick and moving Celestino to the 60-day IL. A spot on the active roster was opened by placing Farmer on the 10-day IL with a facial laceration. The club’s communications director Dustin Morse relayed last night on Twitter that Farmer had successful surgery on his lower lip and bottom four teeth.
April 12: The Twins are expected to select Kyle Garlick onto the big league roster, tweets Dan Hayes of the Athletic. Doing so would require a 40-man roster spot, which Hayes indicates would likely be achieved by transferring Gilberto Celestino from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Garlick has appeared at the big league level for Minnesota in each of the past two seasons. He’s combined for a .233/.283/.446 line in 269 plate appearances over that stretch. Garlick has popped 14 home runs in less than half a season’s worth of playing time, though his on-base percentage has been deflated by few walks and a strikeout rate pushing 30%.
The right-handed hitter has gotten nearly equal run in his career against left and right-handed pitching alike. He’s been far more productive with the platoon advantage, hitting .251/.301/.538 against southpaws but limping to a .203/.258/.324 line against righties. The 31-year-old is best deployed in the lesser half of a corner outfield platoon, where his power against left-handed pitching has played.
Minnesota and Garlick agreed to $750K contract at the start of the offseason to avoid arbitration. The Twins nevertheless ran him through waivers over the winter, though he accepted a minor league assignment to hold onto that guaranteed salary. He’s picked up eight hits (including two homers and a double) over seven games this year with Triple-A St. Paul.
The Twins could find themselves down a right-handed bat in the next couple weeks. Utilityman Kyle Farmer was hit in the face by a Lucas Giolito offering during this afternoon’s win over the White Sox. He walked off the field with a towel pressed up against his face. Hayes notes that initial indications are that Farmer fortunately avoided a fractured jaw, though he has a laceration around his mouth. It seems likely he’ll require a stint on the 10-day IL.
Celestino, meanwhile, underwent thumb surgery during Spring Training. That initially came with a recovery timetable in the six to eight week range. Celestino lost most of exhibition play and will have to work back into game shape. A transfer to the 60-day IL could be backdated to Opening Day and would keep him out until at least late May.
MLB Agency Update
As you know, we maintain an MLB agency database here at MLB Trade Rumors, consisting of all players who played in the Majors in the last three completed seasons (currently 2020-22).
We currently have 559 players for whom we do not have an agency, and they’re listed if you hit the “Read More” button. If your company represents any of these players, or you know of their agencies through media reports or social media, please reach out through our contact form.
In the database, you will find the 1,742 players for whom we do have an agency, but errors are possible. If you see any errors please contact us about that as well!
Here’s the list of players for whom we do not have an agency:
Rays Select Braden Bristo, Option Taj Bradley
The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Braden Bristo from Triple-A Durham and optioned top pitching prospect Taj Bradley, who made his MLB debut against the Red Sox, back to Durham in his place. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay transferred righty Shane Baz from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Baz is recovering from September’s Tommy John surgery and could miss the entire season, so his move to the 60-day IL was a formality.
If the 28-year-old Bristo makes it into a game with the Rays, it’ll mark his big league debut after an eight-year minor league journey. The longtime Yankees farmhand was New York’s 23rd-round selection back in 2016, and he spent the next seven years climbing the ranks in their system. Bristo topped out at Triple-A in 2021-22 and never made it to the Majors with the Yanks, however. He elected minor league free agency at the end of the 2022 campaign.
In five innings with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham thus far, Bristo has yielded three runs on six hits with an appealing 7-to-1 K/BB ratio. He’s had little problem missing bats in parts of three Triple-A seasons overall, fanning a strong 27.3% of his opponents. His 12.8% walk rate in Triple-A, however, is far more concerning. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has previously noted Bristo’s high-spin curveball and a heater that can reach the mid-90s in short stints, but command has been an issue for Bristo in the upper minors — at least until this season. It’s a tiny sample, of course, but Bristo has walked just one of his 22 opponents so far.
For now, Bristo will give the Rays an extra arm in the ‘pen. Tampa Bay used Jalen Beeks as an opener in a bullpen game on Monday, and their ‘pen has covered a combined eight innings in the two games since.
Bradley won’t be able to return to the Majors for at least 10 days unless he’s recalled in place of someone who’s being placed on the injured list. Barring that scenario, yesterday’s MLB debut will go down as a spot start for Bradley, who ranks among the sport’s top 50 overall prospects. He tossed five innings against Boston and allowed three runs on five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.
The Opener: Rays, Twins, Brewers
As the regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Rays approach history:
With yesterday’s win over Boston, the Rays improved to 12-0 on the season. That twelve-game winning streak not only ties the record for longest in franchise history, it puts them just one win away from tying the modern MLB record for a win streak to open the season. The 2004 Devil Rays won 12 straight games in 2004, while the aforementioned MLB record is held by the 1987 Brewers and 1982 Braves, both of whom went 13-0 to open the regular season. The Rays will try to tie the Brewers and Braves today at 12:10pm CT this afternoon, as Jeffrey Springs takes on former Ray Corey Kluber.
2. Twins injury struggles continue:
The Twins opened the 2023 season dealing with a heap of injuries to their positional group, as each of first baseman Alex Kirilloff, second baseman Jorge Polanco, shortstop Royce Lewis, and outfielder Gilberto Celestino opened the season on the injured list. Two weeks into the season, that quartet has been joined by outfielders Max Kepler and Joey Gallo. Now, infielder Kyle Farmer is set to join them after being struck in the jaw by a fastball in yesterday’s game against the White Sox. He underwent surgery on his lower lip and bottom four teeth following the game. Star outfielder Byron Buxton was involved in a collision at second base in yesterday’s game, but appeared to avoid serious injury. The Twins will likely have an update on him today.
The club is expected to select outfielder Kyle Garlick later today to replace Farmer on the active roster, joining Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, and Edouard Julien in holding down the fort while much of Minnesota’s everyday lineup battles injuries.
3. Who’s taking the ball for the Brewers?
Following ace Brandon Woodruff‘s placement on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, the Brewers called up right-hander Janson Junk to replace him in the rotation. Junk struggled through his start yesterday, allowing five runs (four earned) over 4 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks. After the game, manager Craig Counsell did not name a starter for today’s game against the Padres. With Aaron Ashby, Adrian Houser and Jason Alexander all on the IL and Ethan Small pitching in relief this season at Triple-A, the club may be forced to settle for a bullpen game today unless they’re willing to clear space on the 40-man roster to further tap into their minor league depth. Speculatively speaking, veteran righty Colin Rea, in Triple-A with the Brewers, would be properly rested if the team wants to go that route.
Orioles Select Ryan O’Hearn, Designate Anthony Bemboom
The Orioles announced this morning that they have selected the contract of first baseman/corner outfielder Ryan O’Hearn from Triple-A Norfolk. In a corresponding move, the club has designated catcher Anthony Bemboom for assignment.
Baltimore acquired the 29-year-old O’Hearn from the Royals in exchange for cash back in early January, after he’d been designated for assignment in Kansas City. The O’s quickly passed O’Hearn through waivers themselves, gaining the right to retain him in Triple-A without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him. He’s now back on the 40-man roster and in the big leagues after a strong .300/.349/.725 start to his season in Norfolk. O’Hearn has collected four homers, three doubles and a triple in 43 plate appearances with the Tides thus far in 2023.
Early in his career, O’Hearn looked like a breakout candidate with the Royals. The 2014 eighth-rounder made his big league debut in 2018, posting a torrid .262/.353/.597 batting line and belting a dozen home runs in 170 plate appearances that season. He floundered in 41 plate appearances against fellow lefties, but O’Hearn looked to have the makings of a righty-mashing platoon option at first base.
Things haven’t panned out at all since that outstanding debut, however. The Royals repeatedly showed faith in the slugger, tendering contracts to him in each of the past two offseasons when he’d appeared to be a strong non-tender candidate. In 901 MLB plate appearances from 2019-22, O’Hearn mustered only a .211/.282/.351 batting line with a 26.9% strikeout rate against an 8.7% walk rate.
O’Hearn is being paid a $1.4MM salary in 2023 under the terms of that contract he agreed to with the Royals. He’ll be arbitration-eligible again next offseason if he sticks on the Orioles’ roster for the remainder of the season, although given his struggles since 2019, that’s far from a sure thing. For now, he’ll give them a lefty bat off the bench who can mix in at designated hitter, first base or in either of the outfield corners. The vast majority of his defensive innings as a pro have come at first base (5248 innings), but between the big leagues and the minors, O’Hearn does have a combined 498 innings in left field and 546 innings in right field.
Turning to the 33-year-old Bemboom, he’s appeared in just two games this season and gone 0-for-2 with a walk in three plate appearances. The journeyman backstop has 78 Major League games under his belt, with a tepid .158/.233/.262 batting line through 206 plate appearances along the way.
Bemboom has served as a backup option with the Angels, Rays and O’s over the years, and while his big league production isn’t much to look at, he does carry a more palatable .247/340/.392 slash in just shy of 1100 plate appearances over the course of 291 Triple-A games. He’s generally drawn above-average framing marks, boasts a strong career 34% caught-stealing rate (MLB and minors combined), and has a career mark of 3 Defensive Runs Saved in 513 big league innings behind the dish.
The O’s will have a week to trade Bemboom or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, Bemboom would have the right to reject an outright assignment, although the O’s agreed to a split big league deal with him last October that presumably comes with a larger rate of pay in Triple-A than he might otherwise receive upon rejecting an assignment and electing minor league free agency. That was seemingly done in large part because the O’s value him as a depth option and want to incentivize him to stick around even if he’s not on the 40-man roster.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Rays, Angels, Prospect Promotions
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast has relaunched! Simon Hampton is now your host, and we’re very excited to bring the new show to you every week.
Episode 2 is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well; use this link to find the show on Spotify and this one for Apple. You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Steve Adams to discuss a wide range of topics around the baseball world:
- A look at the Rays hot start to the season, and why they’re impressing (1:03)
- As Grayson Rodriguez debuts for the Orioles, Taj Bradley is called up to the Rays, and a raft of other highly touted young players make their mark on the season, we take a look at whether the new top prospect service time rules are working (7:47)
- The Angels have made a solid start to the season, and with a deeper lineup and a promising rotation is this finally the year they get back to the playoffs? Or will their bullpen hold them back? (13:21)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Who will be a surprise seller at the deadline, and who’s a surprise player that could be made available? (18:33)
- Is Gary Sanchez the answer to providing a bit more thump in the Giants’ lineup? (23:08)
- How will Francisco Alvarez do with the Mets? Will he force his way into the starting lineup on a regular basis, or will the Mets wind up sending him back to Triple-A and bringing in an external catcher? (25:55)
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!