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Cubs Activate Seiya Suzuki, Option Narciso Crook

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The Cubs activated outfielder Seiya Suzuki from the 10-day IL this morning, the team announced. He had been out since late May with a finger injury. Outfielder Narciso Crook was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room on the active roster.

Suzuki’s return will come as a welcome relief to Cubs fans, who’ve watched their team slide well out of contention in his absence. The outfielder was the toast of the game in April, bursting onto the scene with a .279/.405/.529 triple-slash through his first 84 plate appearances before cooling off significantly in May. Heading into play today, his line sits at .245/.344/.432 for the season — hardly a poor debut but also nowhere near the heights of his first few weeks.

While it’s Crook’s roster spot that Suzuki is taking, it’s Nelson Velazquez whose playing time will likely be most affected. Manager David Ross had of late largely deployed an outfield rotation of Ian Happ, Rafael Ortega, Christopher Morel, and Velazquez, with Suzuki’s return likely pushing Velazquez into Crook’s bench role. Crook had logged a .250/.222/.375 batting line in nine trips to the plate.

While 2022 may be a lost cause for the Northsiders, the second half should at least provide the club with a chance to consider the longer-term outlook. As MLBTR’s TC Zencka noted yesterday, the Cubs have a number of players (Morel, Happ, Nick Madrigal) with some positional versatility but an unclear future. Suzuki’s future at Wrigley is relatively settled, but he’s hardly been the only Cub with injury issues. A comparatively healthy backside of the season could go a long way toward settling some questions for a team beginning to look ahead to 2023.

Red Sox Recall Kutter Crawford, Option Connor Seabold

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The Red Sox swapped a pair of right-handers between Boston and Triple-A Worcester this morning, the team announced, optioning Connor Seabold and recalling Kutter Crawford. Seabold had made his third big-league start yesterday against the Cubs, tossing four innings of one-run ball.

The move gives manager Alex Cora an extra arm while his team deals with a spate of injuries in rotation: in addition to the long-term absences of Chris Sale and James Paxton, Rich Hill, Nathan Eovaldi, and Garrett Whitlock are all on the 15-day IL while Michael Wacha is, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, dealing with a dead arm that may require an IL stint. Because optioned players are allowed to return at any time if replacing a player headed to the IL, Seabold could return to start late in the week should Wacha — who last pitched on June 28th — need more time.

While Cora might have to make some uncomfortable decisions in the short term, there could be help on the way. While neither Whitlock nor Eovaldi is yet close to returning, Sale, who’s yet to pitch this season due to a stress fracture in his ribcage (and who’s covered only 42 2/3 innings since 2019, all of them last year), has already made one rehab start and is scheduled for another on Wednesday, and consensus top 100 prospect Brayan Bello appears likely to make his big-league debut the same day after Cora told reporters (including McCaffrey) that he’s probably the best option currently pitching in Worcester.

After hitting a bit of a rough patch in his first taste of Double-A last year, the 23-year-old Bello has tossed 85 innings 2.33 ERA ball across 15 appearances (14 starts) between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester. His excellent ERA is backed up by a stellar strikeout rate (33.7%), though his walk rate (9.8%) leaves a bit to be desired.

Crawford, who’s struggled while shuttling between both Boston and Worcester and bullpen and rotation this year, could also be an option to start, though he likely won’t be Cora’s first choice. In 21 2/3 career big-league innings, he’s logged an unsightly 7.89 ERA (5.66 FIP). He has consistently missed bats at every level in the minors, however, and given the tattered state of the Boston pitching staff, he may well get an extended opportunity to do so in the bigs.

Read The Transcript Of Today’s Fantasy Baseball Chat With Brad Johnson

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Brad Johnson has been writing about fantasy baseball for more than a decade and has considerable experience in Roto, H2H, dynasty, DFS, and experimental formats.  As an expert in the field, Brad participates in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold format and was crowned the league’s winner in 2020. Brad’s writing experience includes RotoGraphs, NBC SportsEDGE, and right here at MLB Trade Rumors. He’s also presented at the First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball conference.

We’ll be hosting fantasy baseball-focused chats with Brad regularly, and feel free to drop him some questions on Twitter @BaseballATeam as well.

Click here to read a transcript of today’s fantasy baseball chat with Brad!

Rays Reinstate Brooks Raley, Ryan Thompson, Transfer J.P. Feyereisen To 60-Day IL

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The Rays made a flurry of moves this afternoon following a weekend series in Toronto, reinstating left-hander Brooks Raley and right-hander Ryan Thompson from the restricted list and returning righties Phoenix Sanders and Javy Guerra to Triple-A Durham. Raley and Thompson were not allowed to enter Canada due to their vaccination status but will rejoin the team for tonight’s opener of a three-game series in Boston.

The team also recalled left-hander Josh Fleming and optioned right-hander Cristofer Ogando to clear a spot on the active roster. To make room on the 40-man roster for the recently selected Ogando, the Rays transferred J.P. Feyereisen to the 60-day IL. The move pushes the return of the high-leverage righty — who’d logged 24 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run before hitting the IL in early June —  to early August at soonest.

The return of Raley and Thompson will come as something of a relief to a bullpen that covered 17 innings over the course of winning three of four in Toronto, including three innings by Sanders, one by Guerra, and two by Ogando (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, manager Kevin Cash even joked that Raley and Thompson might go a combined 9 innings in their return). While Thompson has struggled to a 5.33 ERA (4.62 FIP) across 25 1/3 innings so far this season, the 34-year-old Raley has been something of a revelation in 2022, posting a sparkling 2.22 ERA (2.09 FIP) behind an elevated strikeout rate (31.7% against 27.2% for his career) and improved walk rate (7.9% against 8.6%).

Nationals Place Jackson Tetreault On IL With Stress Fracture In Shoulder

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Prior to today’s game, the Nationals announced that starter Jackson Tetreault has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a stress fracture of the right scapula. His roster spot has been given to reliever Jordan Weems, who has been recalled.

The Nationals have seen their rotation options dwindled by injuries throughout this season, as Stephen Strasburg, Joe Ross, Anibal Sanchez and Seth Romero are all currently on the injured list. That’s created opportunities for younger players to get auditions at the big league level, with Tetreault being one of them.

Tetreault, 26, began his season with the Triple-A Rochester RedWings and made 12 starts. Over 58 innings, he registered a 4.19 ERA, along with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 42.3% ground ball rate. That was enough to get him up to the majors, making four starts for the Nats. He has a 5.14 ERA so far, but with a paltry 9.4% strikeout rate, elevated 10.4% walk rate and a 40.4% ground ball rate. His ERA is likely being suppressed by a .260 BABIP and 65.7% strand rate, leading all of the advanced metrics to place him about a run higher, give or take.

The club didn’t provide an estimate on how long they expect him to be sidelined. It’s perhaps worth nothing that a stress fracture of the scapula is the same ailment that’s kept Jacob deGrom out of action for the past three months. However, each injury is different and there’s no guarantee that Tetreault’s rehab will take the same amount of time as deGrom’s. Still, the scapula, or shoulder blade, is a significant part of a pitcher’s throwing motion. With the Nats well out of competition this year, there will be no real need to rush Tetreault back to the mound.

With Tetreault out of action, the club will need to patch a hole in their rotation in the coming days. The recall of Weems won’t help in that regard, as he’s strictly a reliever. Joan Adon and Cory Abbott are among two of the options, as they are on the 40-man roster and have been starting in the minors.

NL East Notes: Soto, Mets, Rocker

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In addition to the 13-year, $350MM extension offer that Juan Soto reportedly turned down prior to the lockout, it was recently reported that Soto rejected a second offer after the lockout. The specific financial details of that second offer haven’t been publicly revealed, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that it was for “at least” $400MM.

$400MM would be a significant symbolic barrier to cross, as it would be the first time an MLB player surpassed that threshold. The current record for the largest guarantee is the $365MM in new money given to Mookie Betts when he agreed to an extension with the Dodgers. Soto says that he’s still open to an extension, but it seems like it might take more than a record-breaking contract to get it done.

Other notes from the NL East…

  • From the same Nightengale piece, he relays that the Mets plan on being aggressive at the trade deadline but without giving up their top prospects. Instead, they would prefer to make deals by taking on large contracts from other teams. This wouldn’t be the first time they considered this approach, as the Mets reportedly were in discussions with the Padres this offseason on a deal that would have sent Dominic Smith to San Diego in exchange for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, Eric Hosmer and $30MM to help cover Hosmer’s salary. The deal ended up falling through due to the Mets’ medical staff growing concerned with the medical records of Paddack, who ended up requiring Tommy John surgery after being traded to the Twins instead. The new CBA added a fourth luxury tax line at the $290MM mark, which the Mets have pushed themselves right up against. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates their current luxury tax number to be $289.4MM, but it seems the division-leading Mets are willing to push over the line in order to bolster the club for the final push. They apparently won’t be dipping deep into their farm system, which is ranked the 16th in the league by Baseball America, but should get a boost at the upcoming draft when they will make two out of the first 14 picks.
  • The reason the Mets have an extra first round draft pick is because of last year’s Kumar Rocker saga. The Mets selected him 10th overall and were apparently going to offer him a $6MM bonus, $1.26MM above slot value, until they grew concerned by something in his throwing elbow during a post-draft medical evaluation and withdrew their offer. Now a report from Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan of ESPN relays that Rocker underwent shoulder surgery in September. Rocker’s agent Scott Boras characterized the procedure as “a minor scope” in the piece. Rocker signed with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League in preparation for re-entering the draft this year. Through five starts, he’s pitched 20 innings with a 1.35 ERA, 32 strikeouts and four walks. Despite the surgery, Jim Callis of MLB.com believes that Rocker has shown himself healthy enough to be selected at some point in the first round of the draft, which begins on July 17.

Braves Trade Touki Toussaint To Angels For Cash Considerations

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The Braves have traded right-hander Touki Toussaint to the Angels for cash considerations, the Angels announced. To make room on the active roster, Jack Mayfield was designated for assignment.

The Braves had to make a move with Toussaint, whom they recently designated for assignment. Atlanta had high hopes for Toussaint, but things did not break his way and he’ll now have the opportunity for a fresh start with a perennially pitching-hungry Los Angeles organization.

Toussaint has not pitched in the Majors this season. He owns a career 5.46 ERA/5.37 FIP over 145 career innings spanning four seasons. He has pitched both out of the rotation and the bullpen for Atlanta since his debut in 2018. This season, Toussaint has a 6.26 ERA in 41 2/3 innings in Triple-A.

The Angels will see if they can get Toussaint on the right track. He made Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list in 2015 (#71), 2016 (#90), and again in 2019 (#53). Despite the promise, Toussaint hasn’t been able to carve out a regular role on talented Braves’ teams.

As for Mayfield, the 31-year-old infielder is hitting a mere .186/.230/.271 over 74 plate appearances. He’s been a player that the Angels have turned to often this season. The right-hander has also played for the Mariners and Astros in his career. He’ll have to pass through waivers now before the Angels can outright him to Triple-A.

Guardians Promote James Karinchak, Place Anthony Gose On 15-Day Injured List

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The Guardians have called up flamethrowing reliever James Karinchak from Triple-A, per Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal. Karinchak was activated from a rehab assignment and optioned to Triple-A only yesterday, but an injury in the bullpen prompted Cleveland to call on their one-time stopper. He will make his season debut for the big league club whenever he first gets into a game.

Karinchak was briefly the preeminent fireman in the game during a breakout 2020 campaign that saw him post a 2.67 ERA in 27 appearances over the final two months of the season. Karinchak picked up eight holds and a save while striking out an absurd 48.6 percent of opposing batters. There seemed little doubt that the former ninth-round draft pick would be a key part of the Guardians’ end-of-game formula moving forward.

It began that way in 2021 as Karinchak picked up 11 saves and didn’t even allow an earned run until his 14th outing of the season. Things took a turn for the worse, however, and Karinchak ended the year on the injured list. Not to draw a direct correlation, but it was certainly a point of interest that Karinchak began to struggle around the time of MLB’s crackdown on sticky stuff. From June 21 when MLB started checking for banned substances until the end of the season, Karinchak’s ERA bloated to 5.70 ERA/6.09 FIP. Of course, he also sustained an injury, and there could be any number of mitigating circumstances that led Karinchak’s effectiveness to wane down the stretch.

In the corresponding move, Anthony Gose was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left triceps. The injury isn’t thought to be serious. Ridenour provides this quote from pitching coach Carl Willis, who said of the roster move, “Unfortunately we had to go the IL route just because with the doubleheaders and the schedule as it is, we can’t go short one day.”

Gose is perhaps the heartwarming, this-is-why-we-love-this-game story of the year. The 31-year-old former outfielder has successfully pulled off a reverse Rick Ankiel and made himself into a valued piece of Cleveland’s bullpen. The southpaw has appeared in 22 games, logged 21 innings of work, and posted an overall 4.71 ERA/5.07 FIP while striking out an impressive 30.4 percent of enemy combatants. He has struggled a bit with his command, however, walking 15.2% of batters, almost double the Major League average 8.2 percent walk rate. Based on Willis’ comments, the Guardians likely expect Gose to return once his 15 days are up.

Dodgers, Austin Barnes Agree To Two-Year Extension

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7:40 PM: Barnes’ new deal is worth $7MM over the two years, giving the backup catcher a slight yearly raise over his current $2.65MM salary, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (via Twitter).

2:40 PM: The Dodgers and catcher Austin Barnes have agreed to a two-year contract extension, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The financial terms of the deal aren’t yet publicly known. Barnes was slated to reach free agency at the end of this season but will instead stick around Los Angeles a while longer.

Barnes is already in his eighth season with the Dodgers, where he’s found the rare situation of being both a backup and a franchise stalwart. Barnes has never had more than 262 plate appearances in a given season. For his career, he currently owns a .224/.334/.356 line across 1,242 plate appearances. Of course, the Dodgers value him for his defense and intangibles more than his offensive prowess.

The Dodgers thought enough of Barnes that they sent top prospect Keibert Ruiz to the Nationals to acquire Trea Turner and Max Scherzer. One can’t help but wonder if they might at some point do the same with prospect Diego Cartaya. Cartaya coincidentally left today’s game with an injury, though that had no bearing on this deal.

Anthony DeSclafani Out For The Season

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Giants righty Anthony DeSclafani will be out for the rest of the season. He was placed on the injured list on June 28 for what, at the time, was judged to be right ankle inflammation.

It’s now been determined that he needs surgery to “set the peroneal tendon in his right ankle,” per MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado (via Twitter). Recovery time is expected to be four to five months. As his surgery is set for July 12, he will not return to the hill this season.

DeSclafani seemed to find himself last season in a prove-it contract year. He made 31 starts for the Giants, logged 167 2/3 innings, and pitched to a 3.17 ERA/3.62 FIP with career-best strikeout and walk rates.

The 32-year-old is in the first year of a three-year, $36MM deal that he signed this past winter. Both parties certainly hoped for more than five starts and the 9.95 ERA DeSclafani currently owns. Of course, those five starts (19 innings) hardly means much in the grand scheme of things. Even so, a 4.86 FIP certainly provides a touch of promise for team and player to dream on as they look to 2023.

The Giants have survived without DeSclafani thanks to a strong front four of Logan Webb, Carlos Rodon, Alex Wood, and Alex Cobb. Jakob Junis and Sammy Long have been the primary stand-ins for DeSclafani so far, with seven and five starts, respectively. Both have performed well. Still, as the year wears on, it would not be surprising to see the Giants explore adding reinforcements from outside the organization.

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