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Latest On Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Dellin Betances

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The Yankees have been without injured corner outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge for almost the whole season, but it appears they’ll be back in the team’s lineup soon. Manager Aaron Boone suggested Tuesday that the sluggers could return during an upcoming homestand that spans from June 17-26, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (Twitter links). In the meantime, both players will need to tune up in the minor leagues. Stanton started a rehab assignment at the High-A level Tuesday, while Judge is likely to embark on a rehab stint with either Triple-A Scranton or another affiliate this weekend.

New York’s one of nine teams that have cracked at least 100 home runs this year, but it hasn’t gotten any from the prodigious Stanton. The 29-year-old totaled only eight plate appearances before going to the injured list with a biceps strain April 1. While that problem is in the past, Stanton has since dealt with left shoulder and calf issues – the latter of which forced him back to the IL on May 22 shortly after he began a rehab assignment.

Judge, meanwhile, headed to the IL on April 21 with a significant left oblique strain. He opened his age-27 season with a flourish before that, slashing .288/.404/.521 (145 wRC+) with five homers in 89 trips to the plate.

Just as the Yankees’ offense has had to get by without Stanton and Judge, among others, their bullpen has been forced to survive without one of its best pieces. Right-hander Dellin Betances hasn’t pitched this season after being diagnosed with a bone spur in his shoulder in early April. That injury has healed, but the four-time All-Star is now battling a right lat strain. Although Boone announced it’s a low-grade strain, the Yankees will shut Betances down “for a few weeks,” Hoch writes.

“He’s still going to play a big role for us this year, just a little later than we thought,” Boone said of Betances.

Marlins To Promote Jordan Yamamoto, Place Jose Urena On IL

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9:40pm: Urena’s battling lower back tightness, Wells Dusenbery of the Sun Sentinel tweets.

7:10pm: Right-hander Jose Urena, who had been lined up to start tomorrow’s game, will be placed on the injured list, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. It’s not yet known what type of injury Urena is dealing with. The team has yet to formally announce either move.

5:16pm: The Marlins will promote right-handed pitching prospect Jordan Yamamoto to make his Major League debut tomorrow, Yamamoto himself confirmed to FishStripes.com’s Ely Sussman (Twitter link). He’s already on the 40-man roster, so the team will only need to make a 25-man roster move to accommodate his arrival.

Yamamoto, 23, is one of the four players Miami received in the 2017-18 offseason blockbuster that sent future MVP Christian Yelich to the Brewers. Being a part of such a high-profile trade will always lead to some unfair expectations, but to this point in his tenure with the Miami organization, Yamamoto has looked like a rather intriguing pitching prospect. In 68 2/3 innings split primarily between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last year, the Hawaiian-born righty notched a 1.83 ERA with a tremendous 85-to-14 K/BB ratio (11.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9). He also pitched to a 2.08 ERA in 26 inning during the Arizona Fall League.

So far in 2019, he’s turned in a strong 3.58 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9 and a 45.6 percent ground-ball rate through 65 1/3 innings of work. In all, he has a 3.28 ERA with better than a strikeout per inning and roughly average ground-ball tendencies in 82 1/3 innings of Double-A ball.

MLB.com ranks Yamamoto as the Marlins’ No. 17 prospect, calling his curveball a “consistent plus pitch” and adding that high spin rate on his fastball helps to offset the pitch’s fairly pedestrian velocity. Fangraphs tabbed him 23rd among Miami farmhands to open the season, noting that there’s a wide variety of outcomes on Yamamoto — all of which are somewhat dependent on his secondary offerings. He’s a potential back-of-the-rotation starter who could also find some success as a multi-inning reliever if he’s ultimately unable to survive multiple trips through the batting order.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Yasiel Puig

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Looking to return to relevance and break their five-year playoff drought in 2019, the Reds operated aggressively on the trade market during the offseason. The club swung multiple noteworthy deals, including a swap with the Dodgers in which they netted outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp and left-hander Alex Wood. So far, though, that trade hasn’t delivered the on-field value the Reds wanted. They released Kemp in early May after he got off to a miserable start, while Wood hasn’t taken the field at all because of a back injury. That leaves Puig, who was perhaps the Reds’ biggest acquisition of the offseason. To this point, however, the 28-year-old has been a bust in Cincinnati.

Having signed a seven-year, $42MM contract with the Dodgers back in 2012, when he left Cuba for the majors, Puig already cashed in once earlier in his career. Although Puig was inconsistent in LA, he lived up to his pact as a member of the Dodgers, with whom he slashed .279/.353/.478 (129 wRC+) and totaled 108 home runs, 60 steals and 16.7 fWAR over 2,765 plate appearances from 2013-18.

The Reds were surely expecting Dodgers-esque production from Puig, but instead, he has managed a terrible .212/.256/.385 line with 11 HRs in 242 trips to the plate. His 63 wRC+ is eighth worst among 170 hitters who have amassed at least 200 PA.

Unfortunately for Puig and the Reds, his massive downturn in offensive production isn’t simply a byproduct of bad luck. Sure, Puig’s measly .230 batting average on balls in play is likely to climb, and his weighted on-base average (.270) sits far below his expected wOBA (.312). Nevertheless, Puig ranks around the middle or lower half of the league in xwOBA, expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and hard-hit rate, according to Statcast. The right-hander’s also walking at a career-worst rate, striking out more than ever, chasing way more pitches outside the zone, not making nearly enough contact and, for the first time, getting stymied by same-handed pitchers. Relative to last season (heatmaps via FanGraphs: 2018, 2019), righties have been operating less in the middle of the plate against Puig, who hasn’t been able to come up with an answer.

When Puig has put the bat on the ball this season, the majority of his connections have ended up in the air. However, while many players have benefited from elevating the ball more, the opposite has been true for Puig. He’s racking up far more flies and far fewer grounders than he ever has, but that isn’t a great approach if you’re not hitting the ball with authority. Puig’s exit velocity on flies and line drives has fallen from 93.7 mph to 91.7 since last year, while his mean FB distance has dropped from 328 feet to 316.

It’s clear Puig’s offensive game is suddenly rife with red flags, though he has remained a capable defender and base runner in Cincinnati. Since his MLB career began, Puig has logged 44 Defensive Runs Saved with a 12.5 Ultimate Zone Rating, including four and 1.3 in those categories as a right fielder this season. Meanwhile, even though his sprint speed has decreased, Puig has swiped nine bases on 11 attempts.

Although it’s nice that Puig can flash the leather and run the bases, his ability to produce at the plate has been his calling card thus far. And if Puig doesn’t rebound in that aspect soon, it’s going to further drive his trade value into the ground as the July 31 deadline approaches. Worsening matters for Puig, it could make it difficult for him to secure anything more than a one-year, prove-it deal upon reaching the open market in the winter. With Marcell Ozuna, Nicholas Castellanos, Avisail Garcia, Corey Dickerson and perhaps Kole Calhoun also among corner outfielders set to hit free agency, Puig will have serious competition off what could go down as a nightmarish platform season for him.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Braves Sign First-Rounder Braden Shewmake

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8:54pm: Shewmake signed for full slot value, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets.

7:48pm: The Braves have announced the signing of first-round draft pick Braden Shewmake. Bonus details aren’t yet known.

Shewmake was taken with the 21st overall selection, which came with a $3.13MM bonus pool allocation. The Texas A&M infielder becomes the second of the two Atlanta picks to put pen to paper. The Braves already tied the knot with Shea Langeliers, who was taken with the compensatory pick (ninth overall) from the club’s failure to agree to terms with last year’s first-rounder.

While he didn’t draw pre-draft grades as high as his eventual selection, Shewmake was seen as a potential first-round talent. ESPN.com’s Keith Law (#26) and Baseball America (#27) were highest on him among the pundits.

Though he’s a highly accomplished collegiate hitter, some wonder whether Shewmake will ever have much power as a pro. He’s also a candidate to move off of the shortstop position in the long run — particularly if he adds the strength necessary to increase his pop. There are several potential paths available for Shewmake; the Braves obviously feel that one of them will lead to a productive MLB career.

O’s GM Elias Discusses Trade Availability Of Trey Mancini

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Orioles GM Mike Elias addressed the media today regarding an unfortunate development for the team’s pitching staff. The conversation also drifted into the upcoming trade deadline — Elias’s first at the helm of the Baltimore baseball operations department.

In particular, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com covers, the rookie GM discussed the potentially tricky issue of how to handle young outfielder Trey Mancini. The 27-year-old has been the club’s most productive player this year, as Elias readily volunteered. Mancini is controllable through 2022 and will reach arbitration for the first time this fall.

Elias looked to walk a line in his comments, inviting offers while also making clear that he’s not going to just take whatever he can get for the team’s best trade chip. “We’re not looking to part with Trey,” said Elias. “That said, as I’ve said all along, we’re open to anything.”

Elias called Mancini “an integral part of this team.” He also left rather a wide door in discussing what it would take to make a deal. Rather than suggesting that the club would need to be overwhelmed or specifying the type of return he’d want, Elias said a trade would at least be possible if his front office “feel[s] that what we’re getting back is better for the organization than what we’re giving up.”

The rebuilding O’s are focused on the future, giving them ample reason to consider deals while Mancini is in good form. (After all, he wasn’t in 2018.) But it’s not the only option by any stretch. There is still some time left to enjoy Mancini. It never hurts to have at least one popular, homegrown star to please the fans that show up and help bridge to a new period of competitiveness.

If that’s the path that Elias takes, then it certainly would make sense for the club to check in on the possibility of an extension. It doesn’t sound as if talks have occurred to this point, but Elias said that it’s “certainly a thought that’s crossed my mind.” Labeling Mancini a player the team would like to keep “around for the long haul,” the new chief baseball decisionmaker certainly opened the door to that possibility without setting any expectations. Mid-season deals for younger players are rather rare, but some chatter over the winter or next spring would hardly be surprising — if Mancini remains in Baltimore.

This Date In Transactions History: Cubs Land Jorge Soler

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It has been seven years since the Cubs landed a player they thought would become a long-term linchpin. On June 11, 2012, they won the bidding for free-agent Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler. At least a few teams bid upward of $20MM for Soler, who had just turned 20 a few months prior, but Chicago emerged victorious with a nine-year, $30MM offer. At the time, Soler was seen as a top 50 prospect in the sport.

The power-hitting Soler tore through the Cubs’ minor league system beginning the summer he signed and wound up debuting in Chicago two years later. When the Cubs promoted him late in the 2014 season, Soler was even more of a celebrated prospect. He justified the hype initially, slashing a strong .292/.330/.573 (148 wRC+) with five home runs in 97 plate appearances. Thanks to that run, Soler cemented himself as the Cubs’ everyday right fielder heading into 2015; however, his numbers took a dive that season, during which he hit .262/.324/.399 (95 wRC+) with 10 homers in 404 trips to the plate.

Despite his underwhelming output in 2015, Soler was once again in the Cubs’ season-opening lineup in ’16. The franchise ultimately won its first World Series in 108 years that season, but Soler didn’t play a huge role. While Soler turned in decent production in the regular campaign and the playoffs, injuries helped limit him to 264 PA during the season. After celebrating their championship that fall, the Cubs elected to part with Soler, deciding there was no longer a place for him in an outfield that also had Ben Zobrist, Albert Almora, Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward, Jon Jay and Matt Szczur in the fold.

On Dec. 7, 2016, just over a month after it won the World Series, Chicago traded Soler to the Royals for reliever Wade Davis. Although Davis only had another year of control left, the Cubs needed a replacement for departed closer Aroldis Chapman. That helped deem Soler expendable in the Cubs’ eyes, and though Davis lasted just one season in their uniform, they haven’t really missed Soler.

Since he joined the Royals in 2017, Soler has batted .234/.310/.450 (101 wRC+) and swatted 28 HRs in 633 attempts. Soler was particularly subpar during his first year in KC, in which he endured a lengthy minor league demotion, but bounced back in 2018 before suffering a season-ending left toe fracture in mid-June. In his return from that injury, Soler’s once again giving the Royals respectable offensive production this season, though his paltry .293 on-base percentage somewhat overshadows his 17 homers. The same is true of Soler’s defense (minus-7 DRS, minus-2.0 UZR), which has graded negatively for most of his time in the majors.

Considering how much excitement there was when Soler signed with the Cubs, the 27-year-old has posted a somewhat disappointing big league career. Soler may move on to a third team soon, given rumors that the non-contending Royals are open to trading just about anyone on their roster. Wherever he plays next season, it’ll be the final year of the contract Soler agreed to with the Cubs seven years ago.

Rays Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Greg Jones

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JUNE 11: Jones receives the full slot value of $3,027,000, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).

JUNE 7: The Rays have agreed to an at-slot deal with 22nd overall selection Greg Jones, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The UNC-Wilmington shortstop will receive just over $3MM.

Jones was a bit of a polarizing player entering the draft. All agreed that Jones has true standout speed and base-running ability, with at least average raw power. His prospect value depends upon whether you believe he’ll ultimately make full use of his tools.

The Fangraphs prospect team was far and away the most bullish, ranking Jones 27th overall. MLB.com and Baseball America were slightly more concerned with the profile, grading Jones in the top-fifty range. ESPN.com’s Keith Law did not include Jones in his own top fifty list, but did mention that he anticipates an eventual move to the outfield.

Going to the outfield grass isn’t necessarily a problem, as Jones seems to have the promise of becoming a high-grade defender in center. The question remains whether he’ll ever hit enough to be a big-league regular. The Rays obviously see a path to that outcome.

Twins Sign Keoni Cavaco

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The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve signed first-round pick Keoni Cavaco. The deal will pay Cavaco $4.05MM according to Jim Callis of MLB.com, who first reported the signing (via Twitter). That comes in $192K under slot value for the No. 13 overall pick. Cavaco will head to the Twins’ Rookie-level affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, the team announced in today’s release.

An 18-year-old out of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif., Cavaco’s draft stock soared this spring. He wasn’t considered to be a first-round talent earlier in the year and was ranked a bit further down the board than the Twins’ selection. Fangraphs tabbed Cavaco as the draft’s No. 22 prospect, while MLB.com ranked him 28th and Baseball America ranked him 31st. Reports in the days leading up to the draft strongly tied Minnesota to Cavaco, though, and it’s highly unlikely that he’d have lasted to the Twins’ next pick.

Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen wrote that a growth spurt boosted Cavaco’s draft stock, adding that he has the “best frame” in the class and had grown into a considerable power surge. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com wrote that Cavaco has potential plus power and could develop into a plus defender at third base, but he’s a work in progress both in the field and at the plate. He’s a high-risk, high-reward prospect who’ll add to a well-regarded Twins farm system that is headlined by 2017 No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis.

Braves Place Gausman On IL; Donaldson Appeals One-Game Suspension

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The Braves announced Tuesday that right-hander Kevin Gausman has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Lefty A.J. Minter is up from Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move. Meanwhile, the league announced that third baseman Josh Donaldson has received a one-game suspension for his role in last night’s benches-clearing incident with the Pirates, but he’s appealed the punishment and is in Tuesday’s lineup.

With Gausman shelved for the time being, lefty Sean Newcomb will likely make at least a one-off return to the rotation in Atlanta this weekend, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. That’d change in the event that Newcomb is needed out of the bullpen Friday, but he won’t pitch out of the ’pen for at least the next couple of days after picking up a win with 4 2/3 innings of exceptional relief yesterday.

It’s been a nightmare of a season for Gausman, whom the Braves acquired from the Orioles at last year’s non-waiver trade deadline. Acquired to be a piece of the rotation for multiple years, Gausman has instead pitched like a non-tender candidate thus far in 2019. He’s posted a 6.21 ERA through 62 1/3 innings, albeit with more promising K/BB numbers. Gausman has averaged 9.2 strikeouts and 3.5 walks per nine innings while actually logging the lowest full-season home run rate of his career (1.16 HR/9). He’s been plagued by a somewhat elevated .339 average on balls in play, but the greater problem has been an inability to strand runners; Gausman’s 57.6 percent strand rate is nearly 20 percent lower than his career mark (74.2 percent).

It’s not clear how long Gausman is expected to be out, but even if he’s facing an extended absence, this figures to be a brief return to the rotation for Newcomb. Atlanta signed Dallas Keuchel last week, and he’s slated to make a second minor league appearance on Saturday, per David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link). Keuchel tossed seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts in his first appearance with Class-A Rome this week as he continues to build toward a return to the big league mound.

As for Donaldson, he clearly took exception to being hit by a Joe Musgrove offering in last night’s contest and voiced his thoughts toward Musgrove as he walked toward first base. The two eventually had to be separated by Pittsburgh catcher Elias Diaz, and the incident led to ejections for Donaldson, Musgrove and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.

Howie Kendrick Is Killing The Ball

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Howie Kendrick has been a quality major leaguer throughout most of his career, which began in 2006. Kendrick’s a lifetime .292/.335/.427 hitter with a 108 wRC+ and 29.9 fWAR in a combined 6,129 plate appearances with the Angels, Dodgers, Phillies and Nationals. But now, a month from his 36th birthday, the infielder/outfielder may be better than ever.

Kendrick collected two hits and a pair of walks in the Nationals’ win over the White Sox on Monday, raising his line to .333/.376/.604 (149 wRC+) in 178 trips to the plate this season. That’s impressive for anyone, let alone an aging player who missed nearly all of 2018 thanks to the ruptured right Achilles he suffered last May. Kendrick’s output is all the more extraordinary when considering there doesn’t appear to be anything particularly fluky about it.

Never known for striking out much, Kendrick’s doing it almost less than ever this season, having gone down on strikes a meager 14.6 percent of the time. At the same time, Kendrick has never quite rivaled Mike Trout at drawing walks. That has remained the case in 2019, though his current rate (6.7 percent) stands as one of the highest figures of his career. And the righty-swinging Kendrick has always been tough on both same- and left-handed pitchers, which has certainly been true this season.

Kendrick’s increase in production stems largely from an uptick in power. His ISO (.270) is twice his career number (.135), in part because of a greater emphasis on hitting fly balls. Kendrick’s pulling the ball more than ever, going less to the opposite field than he ever has, and his newfound power reflects that. His FB rate (32.6 percent) is more than 8 percent his lifetime figure (24.1), and his launch angle – which was in the one-degree range from 2015-17 before climbing to 7.9 during his injury-limited 2018 – has skyrocketed to 9.2.

Kendrick’s effort to put the ball in the air more has paid serious dividends. He already has 11 home runs, seven fewer than his most in a season; although his 24.4 percent HR-to-FB rate isn’t going to hold, both Kendrick’s approach at the plate and the way he’s hitting the ball suggest a massive drop-off may not be in the offing. Kendrick’s swinging and missing a career-best rate and making more contact than he has at any point, particularly on pitches outside the strike zone. When Kendrick has connected, he has posted the majors’ 14th-best weighted on-base average (.408), per Statcast. And that’s hardly just a product of good fortune, as shown by his 11th-ranked expected wOBA (.424). Kendrick’s xwOBA ranks in the majors’ 96th percentile, while his expected slugging percentage (.610; 96th), expected batting average (.328; 99th), hard-hit rate (50 percent; 93rd percentile) and exit velocity (91.7 percent; 88th) also reside toward the top of the league.

If there’s one problem with Kendrick’s offensive game, it’s a lack of speed. While Kendrick has been a double-digit stolen base threat for the majority of his career, he has swiped a mere two on four attempts dating back to last season. According to Statcast’s sprint speed metric, Kendrick is now one of the majors’ slowest runners. Kendrick’s .331 batting average on balls in play may decline as a result, especially considering he’s hitting the ball on the ground most of the time, and the lack of speed won’t help his cause in the field either. To Kendrick’s credit, though, he’s still a versatile defender, having logged double-digit appearances at first, second and third base this season.

Kendrick’s superb late-career showing looks like an important development for him and the Nationals. Not only is Kendrick helping his future earning power a few months away from another trip to free agency, but he could aid in a playoff push for the Nats. Worst-case scenario for Washington: If the club falls out of the postseason race and decides to sell before the July 31 deadline, it’ll likely have a solid trade chip on its hands in Kendrick. The veteran’s on a non-prohibitive $4MM salary, making him all the more enticing to potential suitors.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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