Mets To Option Luis Guillorme
The Mets are going to option infielder Luis Guillorme, per Andy Martino of SNY. Guillorme’s roster spot will go to infielder Mark Vientos, whose promotion was reported on earlier today.
Guillorme, 28, debuted with the Mets in 2018. He served as a frequently-optioned depth piece in his first couple of seasons but has generally been a fixture of the club since the 2020 season. Though not a superstar, he has been a useful member of the club as a guy who can do a lot of things well.
From the start of 2020 to the present, Guillorme has appeared in 228 games for the Mets and stepped to the plate 627 times. He only has three home runs but has drawn walks in 12% of those appearances while striking out just a 16.1% rate. His .273/.362/.335 batting line in that time translates to a 105 wRC+, indicating he’s been a bit above average. He’s done all that while moving between second base, third base and shortstop, generally considered to be a passable defender or better at any of those spots.
Guillorme’s bat has taken a bit of a step backward here in 2023, as he has been punched out in 22.1% of his plate appearances while slashing .233/.324/.267 for a wRC+ of 77. The Mets are off to a sluggish start this year, currently 20-23 and in fourth place in the National League East. It seems they are looking to shake things up to try to find some more offense, bringing up Vientos and his .333/.416/.688 Triple-A batting line.
It’s easy to see why the Mets see that as an upgrade worth pursuing, but there will be a bit of risk on the defensive side of things. Guillorme was backing up several infield positions and the club will be a bit short-handed there, particularly up the middle. Vientos and Baty will have third covered but neither has any recent work at second or short. With Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil getting the starts up the middle most days, it would appear Eduardo Escobar is the backup there. He has plenty of shortstop experience but only two innings at the position since 2018, while McNeil has just one career inning there, which was earlier this season.
Guillorme will head to the minors to try to get back into good form at the dish. From a service time perspective, he came into this season with three years and 167 days, meaning he’s already gone over the four-year mark. Assuming the Mets recall him again at some point this season, he’ll remain on track for free agency after the 2025 season. However, once he spends 20 days in the minors, he’ll burn his final option season and be slated to be out of options in 2024. He’s making $1.6MM this year and would be eligible for an arbitration raise this winter if the Mets tender him a contract.
Dodgers Select Dylan Covey
1:37pm: The Dodgers formally announced the selection of Covey’s contract from Triple-A Oklahoma City. In a pair of corresponding moves, lefty Justin Bruihl was optioned to Triple-A and right-hander Jimmy Nelson was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Nelson hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season as he recovers from 2022 Tommy John surgery, and his rehab assignment was recently halted due to some soreness, so his move to the 60-day IL was largely a formality and not a particular surprise.
1:06pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The righty isn’t currently on the 40-man, so the club will need a corresponding move or moves to get him a spot there and on the active roster.
Covey, 31, pitched for the White Sox from 2017 through 2019, primarily as a starter. He logged 250 1/3 innings over those three seasons but registered an unimpressive 6.54 ERA. He got grounders at a solid 50% clip but struck out just 15.3% of batters faced while walking 10.1%. The Red Sox gave him eight relief appearances in 2020 but he put up a 7.07 ERA in those.
He then spent the next two years with the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, faring quite well. He made 33 starts there over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings. He returned to North America this winter by signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers and currently has a 4.22 ERA through 32 Triple-A innings over six starts and one relief appearance, getting grounders on 62.2% of balls in play.
He will add a fresh arm to a bullpen that has been busy this week. The club played a 12-inning game on Monday and then saw Clayton Kershaw last just four innings yesterday, leading to the relief corps getting plenty of work. Covey can slot in and potentially cover multiple innings if need be, with the club’s next off-day not until May 25, next Thursday.
Diamondbacks Option Alek Thomas
The Diamondbacks announced today that they have optioned outfielder Alek Thomas to Triple-A Reno, recalling right-hander Luis Frías in a corresponding move.
Thomas, 23, has been one of the club’s most notable prospects in recent years. He was selected in the second round of the 2018 draft and featured on Baseball America’s top 100 list in three straight years starting in 2020, with his speed and defense drawing particularly high praise.
He’s now been in the majors for roughly a full season of work, getting into 152 games between last year and this year. The speed and defense parts of his game have been apparent, with Statcast pegging his sprint speed in the 89th percentile among qualified position players this year, though he’s stolen just seven bases in 11 attempts in his career thus far. In terms of his glovework, he’s already accrued nine Defensive Runs Saved and seven Outs Above Average in center field in his short career, as well as earning a grade of 3.7 from Ultimate Zone Rating.
The problem has been his work at the plate. Though Thomas hit very well in the minors, he hasn’t produced much in his 534 major league plate appearances thus far. He has 10 home runs but has walked in just 5.6% of his trips to the plate and has slashed .223/.270/.340 for a wRC+ of 68. That includes a paltry .195/.252/.327 line here in 2023. A career .257 batting average on balls in play likely suggests there’s a bit of bad luck in there, but it’s been a fairly uninspiring showing overall.
The Diamondbacks went into the winter with a surplus of young outfielders, including Thomas, Corbin Carroll, Jake McCarthy and Daulton Varsho. They felt good enough about the group that they were frequently rumored to be discussing those players in trades, eventually sending Varsho to the Blue Jays for Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. However, Thomas is now the second member of that group to wind up back in the minors after posting disappointing results, as McCarthy was sent down last month.
In addition to his own struggles, the demotion of Thomas seems to have been spurred by the ascendance of Dominic Fletcher, who was promoted a few weeks ago and has hit .377/.400/.604 in his first 15 games. He won’t sustain a .429 BABIP forever but it seems the D’Backs are riding the hot hand and will give Fletcher a chance to stretch his results over a longer sample of playing time. He figures to be the regular center fielder for now, flanked by Gurriel and Carroll with Pavin Smith in the fourth outfielder slot.
Thomas, meanwhile, will head to Reno and try to get back into a groove at the plate. From a service time perspective, he came into this season with 151 days and has already gone over the one-year mark, which is 172 days. Assuming he’s recalled at some point this season, today’s option won’t affect his free agency trajectory but it could impact his ability to reach arbitration after 2024 as a Super Two player, depending on the eventual length of time between now and his next recall.
Royals Select Mike Mayers
The Royals announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Mike Mayers from Triple-A Omaha. Lefty Amir Garrett was placed on the family medical emergency list in a corresponding 26-man roster move, while left-hander Ryan Yarbrough was transferred to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Yarbrough has been on the 15-day IL since May 7, when he was struck in the face by a comeback line-drive off the bat of A’s first baseman Ryan Noda. The Royals announced on May 9 that Yarbrough would not require surgery but had sustained multiple facial fractures and was entering concussion protocol. Today’s shift to the 60-day IL means he’ll be out until at least early July.
Mayers, 31, has seen big league time in seven prior MLB seasons — all split between the Cardinals and Angels. He posted strong numbers with the 2020-21 Halos, logging a combined 3.34 ERA with a 30.5% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate, 35.9% ground-ball rate and 1.11 HR/9 in 105 innings — picking up four saves and 22 holds along the way.
Unfortunately, Mayers’ 2022 campaign more closely mirrored his rough four-year stretch with the Cardinals; in 50 2/3 innings last year, Mayers was tagged for a 5.68 ERA with diminished strikeout abilities and fastball velocity. He also yielded a career-worst 2.66 homers per nine frames with lofty opponents’ exit velocity and hard-hit rate marks (91.2 mph and 48.1%).
The Royals inked Mayers to a minor league contract over the winter, and he’s spent the 2023 season in their Triple-A rotation, where he’s been hit hard. In eight starts, Mayers has lasted just 34 innings with a 6.88 ERA, a sub-par 18.1% strikeout rate and an elevated 10.6% walk rate.
Kansas City has an off-day today and, as such, won’t need a starter in the near future. They’re lined up with Zack Greinke, Jordan Lyles, Brad Keller and Brady Singer to make their scheduled turns Friday through Monday, so it seems likely that Mayers will step into the bullpen and provide some length. The Royals’ pitching staff as a whole has flopped in 2023, as their collective 5.32 ERA ranks 28th in the sport and leads only the White Sox (5.44) and Athletics (7.18).
Rockies Notes: Kauffmann, Rolison, Anderson
The Rockies don’t have a starting pitcher listed for Friday’s game against the Rangers yet, as the team’s rotation has been decimated by injuries through the first quarter of the season. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets that 25-year-old righty Karl Kauffmann was scratched from his most recent Triple-A start, however, and is expected to make his big league debut Friday. He’d need to be added to the 40-man roster, though the Rockies could easily accommodate that by moving German Marquez to the 60-day injured list.
Colorado entered the 2023 season with one of the weakest starting pitching groups in all of baseball, and they’ve quickly been stretched even thinner. Marquez is done for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Antonio Senzatela returned from last year’s ACL tear but pitched just 7 2/3 innings before heading back to the IL with an elbow strain. The Rox are also without Ryan Feltner, who suffered a concussion and small fracture in his skull over the weekend when he was hit in the head by a comebacker. Righty Noah Davis is on the shelf with elbow inflammation, and the Rockies already released one member of their Opening Day rotation, Jose Urena, after a dismal start to the season.
That sequence has already prompted the Rockies to claim Chase Anderson following his DFA with the Rays — Anderson was excellent in last night’s team debut — and it’ll now ostensibly set the stage for Kauffmann’s MLB debut. He’ll join Anderson, Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Connor Seabold if he indeed is called up and given a legitimate run in the rotation.
Kauffmann was the Rockies’ Competitive Balance (Round B) pick in the 2019 draft, coming off the board with the No. 77 overall selection. The right-hander had a decent showing in Double-A last year, posting a 4.06 ERA with more impressive strikeout and ground-ball rates (25.6% and 46.3%, respectively), but he’s been hit hard since moving up to Triple-A midway through that ’22 campaign. In 101 Triple-A frames dating back to last year, Kauffmann has a 6.68 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate against an 11.9% walk rate. The Rockies’ Albuquerque affiliate plays in a notoriously hitter-friendly setting, but it’s still been a rough showing.
That said, Kauffmann’s most recent start was sharp (six innings, seven hits, two runs, no walks, five punchouts), and the Rockies are thin on alternatives. General manager Bill Schmidt recently told Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette that the team tried to add more rotation depth throughout the offseason but was generally unsuccessful in those pursuits. Pitching at Coors Field, of course, is no pitcher’s first choice, and even minor league depth options might bristle at the notion of playing home games in Albuquerque (and the Pacific Coast League at large).
The Rockies could soon have some reinforcement on the way, as left-hander Ryan Rolison embarked on a rehab assignment this week and tossed three shutout innings with three strikeouts and a walk for the Rockies’ Class-A affiliate. While the 25-year-old Rolison has never pitched in the Majors, he climbed to Triple-A in 2021 and likely would’ve been an option in 2022 had it not been for a torn labrum that required surgery and wiped out his entire season.
Rolison was the Rockies’ first-round pick back in 2018, going with the No. 22 overall selection. He’s been limited to just 234 2/3 professional innings thanks primarily to the canceled 2020 minor league season and last year’s shoulder surgery. In that time, he’s pitched to a 4.30 ERA with more encouraging ratios: 24.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate, 45% ground-ball rate.
Baseball America ranked Rolison second, third and fourth among Rockies prospects from 2020-22, respectively, calling him a potential “steady, reliable starter at the back of the rotation” in their 2022 report. How Rolison recovers from last year’s surgery is an open question, and his workload will likely be monitored this year — but that’s precisely the type of arm the Rockies could use with their starting staff currently in shambles. One would imagine that Rolison could be an option before too long if he can avoid any setbacks in his recovery.
In the meantime, it seems the Rockies will continue to give Anderson opportunities in the rotation, which is no surprise after he blanked the Reds — who traded him to the Rays for cash last month — and allowed just one hit through five innings in his team debut. Anderson told Allentuck that the Rockies “want me to start here” and added that he’s grateful for the opportunity to step back into a big league rotation. Interestingly, Anderson told Harding that both the Rockies and Reds hoped to claim him following his DFA with the Rays, but the Rockies had higher priority given their inferior record. At least for the time being, it seems the 35-year-old veteran will be leaned on to stabilize the starting staff.
Mets To Recall Mark Vientos
The Mets are set to recall infield prospect Mark Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). It’ll be Vientos’ first appearance at the MLB level this season, though he did have a brief 16-game call to the Majors late in the 2022 campaign as well.
The 23-year-old Vientos was the Mets’ second-round pick in 2017 and has ranked among the organization’s top prospects regularly since that selection. He’s out to a massive .333/.416/.688 start through 166 Triple-A plate appearances, during which he’s already slugged 13 home runs and tallied 11 doubles. Vientos has drawn a walk in 11.4% of his plate appearances and, after fanning at a 28.6% clip in 101 Triple-A games last season, punched out in just 20.5% of his trips to the plate in 2023.
The Mets have underperformed to begin the season and are currently in the midst of a woeful 6-16 stretch that has seen them plummet to fourth place in the National League East standings. They’re currently six and a half games behind the division-leading Braves and also trail both the Marlins and Phillies by margins of one and one and a half games, respectively.
While starting pitching has been a bigger issue for the Mets, due in no small part to considerable injury troubles, the offense is hardly a juggernaut. The Mets rank 21st in MLB with 179 runs scored, and their collective .240/.322./382 slash line leaves them sitting 19th in batting average, 14th in on-base percentage and 24th in slugging percentage. Veterans Tommy Pham, Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar, in particular, have struggled at the plate.
With fellow prospect Brett Baty hitting decently at third base and Pete Alonso entrenched at first base, Vientos’ two positions are largely spoken for. However, he could still mix in at designated hitter, provide a right-handed complement to the lefty-swinging Baty at the hot corner, and perhaps occasionally spell Alonso at first base. The Mets have taken a short look at Vientos in left field in the past as well, though he has just 109 career innings there and hasn’t played the position since the 2021 season, when he was still in Double-A.
The Mets have received just a .220/.327/.340 slash line out of their DH spot so far in 2023, with a considerable amount of that production coming from Alonso, who’s gone 3-for-10 with a homer and two walks out of the DH slot. Daniel Vogelbach has logged a .247/.370/.364 line out of the designated hitter spot, showing his characteristic keen eye at the plate but hitting for less power than is typical for the slugger. New York has also mixed in Pham, Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo and Tim Locastro (one plate appearance) for varying levels of action at DH. When facing a left-handed pitcher, Mets designated hitters have combined for a miserable .180/.250/.320 output, so that’s one easy area to view Vientos as an upgrade.
Regardless of where Vientos plays, manager Buck Showalter figures to mix him in with a good bit of regularity, particularly with the Mets struggling as a whole lately. Over the past two weeks, the team carries just a .236/.297/.360 batting line.
As far as service time is concerned, while Vientos picked up 26 days during the 2023 season, that still left him 146 days shy of a full year. At this stage of the season, the most service time he could accrue would be an additional 137 days, meaning he’ll wind up shy of one year even if he’s in the big leagues to stay. Were he to stick on the roster for the rest of the year, he’d be on track to be a slam-dunk Super Two player, making him arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three, beginning in the 2025-26 offseason (barring future optional assignments). The earliest he can become a free agent would be in the 2029-30 offseason.
The Opener: German, Guerrero, MLBTR Chat
As the 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. German facing discipline:
Yankees right-hander Domingo German was ejected from last night’s game following a foreign substance inspection. Home plate umpire James Hoye told reporters following the game that German’s hand was “the stickiest (he) had ever felt,” noting it “was definitely not rosin.” That leaves German almost certainly facing a 10-game suspension during which the Yankees would not be allowed to replace the 30-year-old righty on the roster. It’s the second time this season that German has been questioned for foreign substance use. He was twice warned — also by Hoye — to wash his hands in a game against the Twins last month, during which German flirted with a no-hitter. Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected after the umpiring crew allowed German to continue pitching and criticized the crew’s decision after the game.
German has had a solid 3.75 ERA in nine starts for the Yankees this season, but now a club that’s already missing Luis Severino, Carlos Rodon, and Frankie Montas figures to go without yet another starter for ten days. If German does end up suspended, right-hander Randy Vasquez is on the 40-man roster as a potential depth option for the rotation, though he’s posted a concerning 5.50 ERA in eight starts at the Triple-A level. Long reliever Ryan Weber could also get a start. Severino has already made a pair of minor league rehab starts, he’s another option if the Yankees feel he’s had sufficient time to build back up.
2. Guerrero to undergo MRI:
Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. left last night’s game against the Yankees dealing with right knee discomfort, as manager John Schneider tells reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). Guerrero will undergo an MRI, with the Blue Jays likely to make decisions regarding the path forward for Guerrero afterwards. Toronto’s superstar first baseman is off to a phenomenal start in 2023, with a .312/.385/.516 slash line that’s good for a 150 wRC+.
Losing Guerrero for any amount of time would be a sizable blow for a Blue Jays club that currently slots in at third place with a 24-18 record in a very competitive AL East. Should Guerrero miss time, Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio could see more playing time off the bench, though the club does have first base prospect Spencer Horwitz, who is slashing .317/.443/.442 at the Triple-A level this season, on the 40-man roster.
3. MLBTR chat today:
Yesterday, MLBTR’s Steve Adams fielded questions during yesterday’s live chat, the transcript of which can be found here. If you still have unanswered questions about the first seven weeks of the 2023 season, you’re in luck, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco will be hosting a live chat of his own today at 5pm CT. You can submit a question in advance here, and you can use the same link to check back in this evening and participate live once the chat begins.
Kumar Rocker To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Rangers prospect Kumar Rocker will have Tommy John surgery, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
Rocker, 23, has a higher profile than the typical High-A prospect given the drama that has surrounded him in recent years. He was one of the most highly-touted youngsters going into the 2021 draft and was selected 10th overall by the Mets. Shortly after the draft, it was reported that he and the club were going to agree to a $6MM signing bonus, above the $4.7399MM slot value for the pick. However, the two sides would eventually be unable to come to an agreement when the club reportedly grew concerned by something in Rocker’s right elbow.
Having his plans to jump into affiliated ball scuttled, Rocker pivoted to sign with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League, eventually tossing 20 innings for them last summer. The Rangers then selected him with the third overall pick in last year’s draft, quickly agreeing to terms on a $5.2MM bonus that was below the $7,587,600 slot value of the pick.
After all of that runaround, Rocker was finally able to join the affiliated ranks this year. He made six starts for the High-A Hickory Crawdads, posting a 3.86 ERA in 28 innings. He struck out a huge 37.8% of batters faced against a 6.3% walk rate, getting grounders at a 51.6% clip. Earlier today, MLB Pipeline tweeted that they had just added Rocker to their list of the top 100 prospects in the league, just about 25 minutes before the news dropped that he would have to go under the knife.
Rocker will now be out of action for the rest of 2023 and at least part of 2024 as well, given the typical 14 to 18 months required to rehab from Tommy John surgery. It’s an unfortunate setback for a pitcher who has already dealt with a few twists and turns on his road to the big leagues. He isn’t yet on the club’s 40-man roster and won’t even be Rule 5 eligible until after the 2025 season.
A’s Mason Miller Shut Down With Mild UCL Sprain
A’s rookie starter Mason Miller has been diagnosed with a mild sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, the team informed reporters (including Martín Gallegos of MLB.com). He’ll be shut down from throwing for an indeterminate period of time until he’s no longer feeling discomfort.
Miller landed on the 15-day injured list with forearm tightness last week. It was almost immediately clear he’d be out beyond two weeks and the team announced yesterday that he was going for a second opinion. That raised some concern about a possible surgery. Miller will fortunately avoid going under the knife, though he seems likely to be out of action for an extended stretch. Gallegos notes the A’s are hopeful he’ll be able to pitch again at some point this season.
Injuries have unfortunately been a theme of Miller’s professional career. A third round pick in 2021, the 6’5″ righty pitched only six rookie ball innings during his post-draft summer. He lost most of the 2022 campaign to a shoulder injury, tallying only 14 innings between three minor league levels. Miller returned to log 16 2/3 frames in the Arizona Fall League to close out the year.
After two minor league starts in 2023, the A’s called him to the big leagues for the first time. It was an aggressive promotion but the 24-year-old had shown well early on. He tallied 21 2/3 innings of 3.38 ERA ball over his first four starts, striking out more than a quarter of opposing hitters. Miller showed blistering velocity and looked to be the most intriguing starter in an A’s rotation that has been the league’s worst.
The organization will have to wait a while to get a longer look at the young hurler. Miller is clearly among the most talented pitchers in the system but he’s logged just 66 2/3 innings in two years as a professional. He’ll collect major league service and be paid at the MLB minimum rate while he rehabs. Miller won’t reach a full service year in 2023 and is controllable through at least 2029.
Kevin Plawecki Opts Out Of Deal With Nationals
Veteran catcher Kevin Plawecki triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Nationals, reports Andrew Golden of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Unless Washington selects him onto the big league roster, he’ll return to the open market.
Plawecki signed with the Nats on April 1. It was his second non-roster pact of the year, as he’d previously opted out of a deal with the Pirates after being informed he wouldn’t make the Pittsburgh roster in Spring Training. Plawecki has appeared in 24 games with the Nats’ top affiliate in Rochester. He hit .256/.354/.341 through 94 trips to the plate. The right-handed hitter homered just once but walked at a strong 11.7% clip against a manageable 16% strikeout rate.
Now 32, Plawecki is looking to reach the majors for a ninth straight year. He’s a career .235/.313/.341 hitter in 447 MLB games between the Mets, Indians, Red Sox and Rangers. He split last year between Boston and Texas, combining for a .220/.286/.286 mark over 186 trips to the plate. He had a very tough time controlling the running game last season, catching just five of 51 attempted basestealers. He’d been off to a better start in Rochester, cutting down 10 of 42 runners (a slightly below-average 23.8% rate) through 201 1/3 innings.
The Nationals have relied on a catching tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams. The former has gotten the bulk of the playing time and is off to a .242/.308/.356 start through 146 plate appearances. Adams has struggled in seven games scattered over the season’s first six weeks.