Phillies Place Juan Nicasio On 10-Day Injured List
The Phillies announced that right-hander Juan Nicasio has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left groin strain. Southpaw Austin Davis has been called up from Triple-A to take Nicasio’s spot on the 25-man roster.
Acquired as part of the blockbuster trade with the Mariners that also brought Jean Segura and James Pazos to Philadelphia, Nicasio came to his new team looking to rebound from a 6.00 ERA (albeit with some very impressive peripheral numbers) over 42 innings in 2018. The results haven’t been quite been there this season either, as Nicasio has a 5.24 ERA, 8.1 K/9, and 2.07 K/BB rate over 34 1/3 frames.
Some of this damage has only recently been inflicted, and could potentially have been related to his injury — Nicasio has allowed six earned runs over his last two outings, totaling only two-thirds of an inning. Nicasio’s advanced metrics are again outperforming his real-world ERA, though his walks are up and his strikeout rate is down from his 2018 numbers.
The Phillies have been hit hard with reliever injuries this season, with Nicasio joining Seranthony Dominguez, David Robertson, Jerad Eickhoff, and Pat Neshek on the injured list. It isn’t known how much time Nicasio will miss, though the Phillies were already likely to be targeting bullpen upgrades at the deadline anyway given the middling numbers posted by their undermanned relief corps this season.
Twins Outright Andrew Vasquez Off 40-Man Roster
The Twins have outrighted southpaw Andrew Vasquez off their 40-man roster, according to multiple reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Vasquez has been outrighted to Triple-A, where he has already been pitching for much of the season.
Vasquez made his MLB debut last September, appearing in nine games for Minnesota and posting a 5.40 ERA over five innings of work. He has only made one big league appearance in 2019, a very rough outing against the Mets on April 10 that saw Vasquez allow three earned runs without recording an out. The 25-year-old has also been dealing with injury, spending two separate stints on the Triple-A injured list this year due to shoulder problems.
Mets Notes: Matz, Ramos, Allan
Steven Matz has been a staple in the Mets’ rotation (when healthy) since his 2015 debut, but he’s recently been shifted to the bullpen in a move that manager Mickey Callaway hasn’t fully termed as temporary, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes. While Callaway called Matz one of the team’s top five starters, the manager also declined to definitively state that Matz will return to the rotation. “I expect that after the All-Star break [he’ll be back in the rotation],” said Callaway, “but we’ll adjust if we need to.” That statement came prior to Matz’s bullpen debut last night — a scoreless outing. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes that after the game, Callaway “hesitated multiple times” when asked about Matz’s return to the rotation and did indicate that he could stay in the ‘pen for a longer period of time. Matz himself spoke to DiComo and other reporters about the different feel of relief pitching and took a team-first approach, stating that he’s willing to pitch in any role the club feels will help win games.
More Mets talk…
- SNY’s John Harper opines that trading Wilson Ramos should be a priority for the Mets at the deadline, citing defensive issues that have led multiple pitchers to prefer throwing to Tomas Nido. Both Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard look like they’ll be paired with Nido moving forward, Harper writes. He quotes one unnamed official who suggests that part of Syndergaard’s 2019 struggles have come from pitching up in the zone more, some of which could be tied to Ramos’ struggles to block pitches in the dirt following a significant knee surgery late in his Nationals tenure. There’s no clear indication in the report that New York will actually look to jettison Ramos, who is an objectively better hitter than Nido even in a down season. Ramos has slashed .275/.348/.414 with nine homers while the 25-year-old Nido has displayed a continued inability to get on base. In 180 career plate appearances, Nido is a .209/.233/.308 hitter, including a .263 OBP in 80 trips to the plate in 2019. Defensive prowess aside, a .233 OBP is a tough sell even for a backup. Nido has walked only six times in his career despite primarily hitting eighth ahead of the pitcher.
- The Mets reached a deal last week with their third round pick, highly-touted high school right-hander Matthew Allan. The signing was the culmination of a bold gambit from the club’s front office, as The Athletic’s Tim Britton (subscription required) details how carving out the bonus pool space to meet Allan’s high asking price led to the Mets “manipulating our entire draft” to accommodate Allan, as GM Brodie Van Wagenen put it. After the third round, the Mets spent the rest of their picks in rounds 4-10 on college seniors, who had less negotiating leverage and thus signed for bonuses of $20K or less. A strong endorsement from scout Jon Updike also gave the Mets confidence that Allan would ultimately sign and begin his pro career, rather than attend college.
Yankees Release Logan Morrison
TODAY: Morrison has been released, Sherman tweets.
TUESDAY: Veteran first baseman Logan Morrison, who had a July 1 opt-out date in his minor league contract with the Yankees, has requested his unconditional release, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link).
The Yankees placed Luke Voit on the injured list due to an abdominal strain earlier today but turned to Mike Ford, who was already on the 40-man roster, to replace him. After being passed over, Morrison’s camp apparently prefers to seek out a new opportunity.
Morrison, 31, had his 2018 campaign ruined by a hip injury that ultimately required surgery, but his outstanding Triple-A numbers suggest that he’s plenty recovered. In 164 plate appearances, LoMo raked at a .289/.341/.658 clip with 15 home runs and 11 doubles. He struck out just 26 times (15.9 percent) in that span as well. Unfortunately, those gaudy numbers only made him the second-most productive first base option in the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate; Ford has posted a whopping .318/.426/.650 slash in a larger number of plate appearances (263) and didn’t require a corresponding 40-man move like Morrison would have.
While last season’s poor numbers with the Twins are still fresh in everyone’s mind, they seem quite likely attributable to the labrum tear through which Morrison attempted to play. His last healthy campaign came with the Rays in 2017, when he hit .246/.353/.516 with a career-high 38 long balls. Given his production in Scranton, Morrison should have little difficulty finding another organization — likely one with a clearer path back to some Major League at-bats.
Mariners Acquire Matt Wisler
The Mariners have acquired right-hander Matt Wisler from the Padres in exchange for cash, the teams announced. Seattle had an opening on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding DFA or 60-day IL placement isn’t necessary. Wisler was designated for assignment by San Diego last week.
Wisler, 26, was once one of the game’s premier pitching prospects but has yet to find his footing at the MLB level. He’s shifted to a full-time relief role for the first time in 2019, and while the bottom-line numbers aren’t great — 5.28 ERA, five homers allowed in 29 innings — there’s also reason for optimism. Wisler is striking out a career-best 26.4 percent of opponents (10.6 K/9) thanks to a career-high 15.6 percent swinging-strike rate and 35.1 percent opponents’ chase rate. He’s also been plagued by a bloated .363 average on balls in play despite substantial drops in his opponents’ hard-hit rate and average exit velocity.
Opponents have batted .291/.344/.479 against Wisler in 2019 — good for a .349 weighted on-base average. But based on the quality of contact allowed and his enhanced strikeout tendencies, Statcast projects a more palatable .252 expected batting average, .394 expected slugging percentage and .314 weighted on-base average. Whether he’s able to turn things around in his new environs remains to be seen, but he’ll give the Mariners yet another fresh arm to trot out into an ever-changing bullpen mix. Wisler is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to improve at the MLB level or else once again be designated for assignment before he can potentially be sent to Triple-A.
Rays Place Brandon Lowe On Injured List
The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve placed second baseman Brandon Lowe on the 10-day injured list due to a right shin contusion. Lowe, who was only recently named a All-Star replacement, fouled a ball off his shin Tuesday but remained in the game after talking things over with a trainer. Upon singling to left field with a shift-beating grounder, however, he was unable to run down the line and instead limped his way to first base. He exited the game thereafter. First baseman Nate Lowe is up from Triple-A Durham to take his roster spot. Tampa Bay also optioned righty Austin Pruitt to Durham and recalled fellow righty Jake Faria.
Lowe’s placement on the IL is retroactive to July 3, so he’ll be eligible to return to the club next Saturday for a doubleheader against the Orioles. That said, there’s no immediate timetable placed on his return, so it’s possible he’ll require a bit more than the minimum stay on the shelf. His injury initially looked remarkably similar to that of injured All-Star Tommy La Stella, who’ll miss up to 10 weeks with a fracture, so the Rays surely feel fortunate to have dodged that type of blow.
With Lowe on the injured list, the American League once again had an opening on the All-Star roster. Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres has been named to the All-Star team in place of Lowe, per a league announcement.
Brewers Select Deolis Guerra
The Brewers announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Deolis Guerra prior to today’s game, which fills the vacancy on their 40-man roster. Righty Aaron Wilkerson was optioned to Triple-A San Antonio to make room on the 25-man roster.
Offense in Triple-A is through the roof in 2019, but the 30-year-old Guerra nonetheless possesses a strong 2.61 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.09 HR/9 and a 39.3 percent ground-ball rate. The former Mets and Twins prospect was a key part to the Johan Santana blockbuster way back in 2008 (raise your hand if you expected to see Guerra and Carlos Gomez, the headliner in that deal, garner headlines on consecutive days in 2019).
While Guerra never made it to the bigs in either New York or Minnesota, he’s seen MLB action with both the Pirates and the Angels, tossing 95 1/3 inning with a 4.17 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. His most recent action came with the Halos back in 2017, and while he didn’t post impressive bottom-line numbers that season (4.68 ERA), he did show off a 14.9 percent swinging-strike rate. Guerra has 167 punchouts in his last 146 2/3 Triple-A innings, so he’ll add a swing-and-miss arm for manager Craig Counsell — at least in the short term.
MLBTR Poll: Will The Padres Trade Kirby Yates?
We’ve seen signs that the Padres are pondering a move this summer involving Kirby Yates. At least, that’s how I interpret recent reports from the team’s beat writers on just how hesitant the team is to move a player who has arguably been the game’s best reliever to this point of the season.
Sure, the Friars are putting out word that it’d take an “overwhelming offer” or an “unforeseen haul” to part with Yates. This is roughly like putting up your house on Zillow’s “Make Me Move” listings, but requesting blind bids instead of posting a zany asking price. Yates is totally not available … unless …
Let’s just say the Padres are interested in seeing how interested their rivals are in making a deal.
This is a familiar strategy with regard to controllable closers. And it’s one that often, but doesn’t always, lead to a swap. It feels as if Felipe Vazquez and Raisel Iglesias have been trade candidates for years. Surely, the Pirates and Reds have fielded offers, both before and after inking those two relievers to extensions. They haven’t moved … yet. The Padres have intimate, recent experience with just this sort of thing, having held onto Brad Hand, then signed him to an extension, and then traded him. Likewise, the Yankees hemmed and hawed and finally dealt Andrew Miller (like Hand, to the Indians) only after securing an offer of “two twin firstborns.”
In this case, there are certainly some strong reasons to think the Pads will have interest in a deal. Yates is already 32 years of age. The club is two games under .500 and has already been buried in the NL West (along with the rest of the division) by the powerhouse Dodgers.
On the other hand, Yates is also still controllable for another season — one in which the San Diego team hopes to be fully competitive. Heck, Yates could even be an extension candidate in the mold of Hand.
It’s hard to imagine Yates will ever look better on paper. He has racked up 27 saves in 35 1/3 innings of 1.27 ERA pitching, with an exceptional combination of 14.3 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9. He has allowed just 21 hits and one home run this year. He’s earning only $3MM and change for the present campaign.
Yates has quite a lot of trade value. He also holds no shortage of appeal to a Padres team that needs to be efficient with its spending after making some uncharacteristically massive free agent outlays.
How do you see this one turning out? (Poll link for app users.)
Will the Padres trade Kirby Yates?
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No 58% (3,160)
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Yes 42% (2,297)
Total votes: 5,457
Greg Holland’s Closer Job At Risk After 2nd Consecutive Blown Save
Diamondbacks reliever Greg Holland‘s hold on the club’s closer role appears to be tenuous after a second-straight blown save. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes, skipper Torey Lovullo declined last night to confirm that the veteran hurler will keep the job moving forward.
To his credit, Lovullo wasn’t willing to make a rash decision in the immediate aftermath of another late-inning collapse. “I’m in an emotional state right now,” he said. “I want to probably think through it with a clear head.”
At the same time, the skipper acknowledge that he’s “concerned” with his veteran closer. That stands in contrast to Lovullo’s words after Holland’s hard-to-watch meltdown the night prior, when he nearly shut the door on the rival Dodgers before summoning a cavalcade around the bases with a series of free passes.
As Piecoro documents, Holland’s steady start to the year has given way to increasingly shaky performances. He has blown three of his last five save opportunities. Since a scoreless appearance against the Los Angeles club on June 5th, Holland’s earned run average has shot up from 1.31 to 3.21. Worse, he has managed just five strikeouts against seven walks in that 7 1/3-inning span.
It’s not entirely surprising that Holland has failed to sustain the early success. He’s no longer a dominating pitcher: his arm speed continues to trail off (career-low 92.2 average fastball, 84.8 mph slider) and his swinging-strike rate has fallen to levels (12.3%) not seen since his debut campaign. Free passes continue to be an issue, with Holland dishing out 5.2 per nine since the start of the 2015 season.
That said, there was (and perhaps still is) hope that Holland would be a key piece for the Snakes the rest of the way. Statcast suggests that he has been legitimately excellent at limiting hard contact, crediting him with a .253 xwOBA-against that is actually a shade better than his .256 wOBA-against.
No matter the course the team takes, Holland is an important player to the organization. Should the club elect to hang in there and continue fighting, despite a yawning divisional deficit and tough Wild Card competition, then it’ll need to take more than its fair share of tight contests. If it decides instead to cash in some chips at the deadline, Holland would be the team’s most obvious rental piece to sell. The difficulties, then, come at an awkward time for Arizona. At the moment, Holland is neither helping the team keep pace nor boosting his own trade value.
While it’d be silly to overplay the notion of the proven closer, contending teams still value late-inning experience and steadiness (and not all that infrequently will give up notable prospects in search of certainty in the 9th). Now, it’s increasingly hard to imagine the Arizona franchise successfully marketing Holland as a reliable veteran who could handle closing duties down the stretch.
Holland is guaranteed only $3.25MM on the year and needs not feature as a closer to have trade appeal. But that’s where his greatest potential value lies to the team. Odds are, he’ll be given a shot to regain his standing over the next several weeks even if he’s removed temporarily from the role.
There are also some direct financial considerations worthy of note. With thirty appearances and twenty games finished, Holland is also already in the meat of his contract’s incentive package. He has already picked up $300K in extra earnings. He can earn $100K upon reaching 35, 40, 45, and 50 appearances, with $200K apiece if he logs a 55th and 60th. And there’s $150K promised for finishing games number 25, 30, 35, and 40, with even bigger numbers thereafter ($300K at 45 and 50, $600K for 55 and 60).
Injury Notes: Lowrie, Manaea, D-backs, Scooter, Tigers
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Mets infielder Jed Lowrie still isn’t close to making his 2019 debut, manager Mickey Callaway told Tim Healey of Newsday and other reporters Wednesday. Lower body injuries have kept Lowrie from playing this season after he joined the Mets on a two-year, $20MM contract over the winter. With the season now at the halfway point, Callaway doesn’t even seem willing to commit to Lowrie taking the field at all in 2019. Asked if he expects to see Lowrie this year, Callaway said: “That’s hard to say. There’s so much of the season left. We’ll just have to play that by ear.”