Tigers Designate Trevor Rosenthal For Assignment
The Tigers announced following today’s game that they’ve designated right-hander Trevor Rosenthal for assignment and optioned righty Eduardo Paredes to Triple-A Toledo. They’ll make a pair of corresponding moves before tomorrow’s game.
Rosenthal’s brief stint with the Tigers went a bit better than his ugly tenure with the Nationals, but a 22.74 ERA and 15 walks in 6 1/3 innings is the lowest of low bars to clear. With the Tigers, Rosenthal yielded seven runs and issued 11 walks against 12 strikeouts. He also hit a batter and uncorked four wild pitches, further exemplifying the disappearance of his ability to locate the ball in his first season back from 2017 Tommy John surgery.
With the Tigers, Rosenthal improved his swinging-strike rate and maintained an outstanding 98 mph average fastball velocity. However, his lack of ability to throw strikes on anything resembling a consistent basis handily outweighed his marginal improvements in Detroit. He’s only allowed 11 hits in his 15 1/3 innings this season and hasn’t surrendered a home run, but Rosenthal’s 2019 season is catastrophic on any level. He’ll surely clear waivers and become a free agent again, at which point he’ll be free to sign on with another organization in hopes of another run at righting the ship.
Orioles Release Nate Karns, Outright Jose Rondon
The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve released right-hander Nate Karns and outrighted infielder Jose Rondon to Triple-A Norfolk. Both players cleared waivers; Karns, however, has the requisite service time to elect free agency.
Karns will head back to free agency after missing the bulk of the 2019 season due to forearm issues. He’d made it back to the mound prior to his DFA, pitching in three rehab appearances between July 12 and July 23. The 31-year-old Karns tossed 5 1/3 innings with the O’s and yielded only one unearned run early in the season, but he was tagged for 10 runs in 10 1/3 innings of work across two rehab stints this season (the first of which was halted after a late-April setback). Injuries, most notably thoracic outlet surgery, have largely wiped out the past four seasons for Karns, making 2015’s 147 innings of 3.67 ERA ball for the Rays feel like a distant memory.
Rondon, 25, received just one plate appearance with the O’s after being claimed off waivers out of the White Sox organization. He’d previously batted .197/.265/.282 in Chicago before being designated for assignment. Rondon is a versatile infield defender but hasn’t received strong grades for his small sample of innings at shortstop. He’s a lifetime .264/.300/.463 in 508 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Blue Jays Designate David Paulino For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they’ve designated right-hander David Paulino for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Zack Godley, who has been claimed off outright waivers from the Diamondbacks (as previously reported by Nick Piecoro).
Paulino, 25, was once considered to be among baseball’s 100 best prospects but has seen his star dim in recent seasons — beginning with an 80-game PED suspension issued back in July 2017. Since that half-season ban, Paulino has also undergone surgery to remove bone spurs from his pitching elbow and generally performed at diminished levels. Toronto acquired him alongside Ken Giles in the 2018 trade that sent Roberto Osuna to Houston.
Paulino pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball with the Jays late in the 2018 season but has been limited to 28 2/3 innings in Triple-A Buffalo in 2019. He’s currently on the minor league injured list, meaning that Toronto’s only course of action with Paulino will be to release him. Clubs can no longer trade players who’ve been on 40-man rosters under the league’s new August trade restrictions, and teams are also unable to pass injured players through outright waivers. Another club could claim Paulino off release waivers, and he’ll have the opportunity to sign with a new organization if he clears. However, it’s also fairly common in these situations for the released player to sign a new minor league deal with his former club.
Alex Reyes Headed For Additional Testing, May Not Pitch Again In 2019
It appears that Cardinals righty Alex Reyes is once again threatened by the potential of a season-ending injury. Mark Saxon of The Athletic tweets that Reyes is heading to St. Louis for another round of imaging and examinations on his ailing right pectoral muscle, adding that it “appears as if his 2019 season is over.”
Reyes, 25 later this month, has been limited to just 40 1/3 innings in 2019 — only three of which came at the MLB level. He hasn’t pitched in a game since a June 23 outing and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since April 5. At the time of the injury, it was announced as a pectoral strain that was only expected to cost Reyes two to three starts, but manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday that Reyes’ arm didn’t respond well to a bullpen session this week (Twitter link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
If Reyes is indeed shut down for the season, it’ll mark a third straight season for Reyes that has been virtually wiped out by injury. He didn’t pitch at all in 2017 due to Tommy John surgery, was limited to 26 innings last year thanks largely to surgery to repair a tendon in his lat muscle and has now only totaled 40 1/3 frames in 2019. Reyes is among the most highly touted pitching prospects in recent memory and was at one point hailed as a potential ace in the making, but he’s never even reached a total of 115 innings in a season between the Majors and minors combined.
The latest setback for Reyes comes at a poor time, as St. Louis has dropped four consecutive games after choosing not to add to its rotation at the trade deadline. Michael Wacha is currently holding the fifth spot in the rotation, but he’s lost that job twice already in 2019 and pitched poorly in his return to a starting role in his last outing.
Among internal alternatives, lefty Genesis Cabrera has struggled in the upper minors and in a pair of MLB starts. Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon made a handful of solid outings earlier this season but didn’t complete four innings in any of his three most recent starts. Lefty Austin Gomber, also on the 40-man roster, has been sidelined since mid-May. Adding depth in August is harder than ever before, and the Cardinals’ record is better than that of fellow postseason hopefuls in Milwaukee, New York, Arizona, San Francisco and Cincinnati, which lessens the likelihood of a palatable option making it to St. Louis on outright waivers.
Jonathan Lucroy Clears Release Waivers
Aug. 7: Lucroy has cleared release waivers, the Angels announced. He’s now a free agent and can sign with any team for the prorated league minimum.
Aug. 5: The Angels announced today that they have requested release waivers on veteran backstop Jonathan Lucroy. He had been designated for assignment recently.
Any team can place a claim on the veteran backstop, stepping into his contract rights if awarded. The order of priority is based upon inverse record, without reference to league.
Lucroy, 33, is guaranteed $3.35MM this season, so it’s far from certainly any team will choose to take on the remainder of what’s owed. But that’s the surest way to gain control over a player during the month of August. If Lucroy clears waivers, interested orgs will be competing for his services based upon opportunity and any other considerations he values (location, for instance).
While Lucroy struggled badly at the plate with the Halos, sporting an ugly .242/.310/.371 batting line, he remains a trustworthy veteran receiver. For a team that needs depth, an improved backup situation, or a temporary replacement, there may not be a better option.
Giants Place Joe Panik On Release Waivers
The Giants announced today that they have placed second baseman Joe Panik on unconditional relief waivers. He had been designated for assignment recently.
This was the likely outcome of the situation once Panik hit DFA limbo. He’d have had the right to elect free agency had he been outrighted. It seems most likely that Panik will end up on the open market. A claiming team would have to take on the remainder of his $3.8MM salary. Instead, they can wait and pay him only for a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary.
Either way, Panik will be eligible for arbitration one final time in the 2020 season. It’s unlikely he’ll be tendered, but perhaps that’s still possible if he catches on elsewhere and turns things around down the stretch.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Didi Gregorius
The Xander Bogaerts extension was quite surprising when signed and has only increased in value to the Red Sox since. That deal gave the Yankees’ chief nemesis extended control over a core asset. It also removed the chief potential market rival for New York shortstop Didi Gregorius.
Gregorius will presumably be basking in the glow of a long-term deal when he celebrates his thirtieth birthday at the outset of Spring Training next year. He enjoys a rather favorable free-agent outlook from a structural standpoint, though he’ll likely have to decline a qualifying offer (and take on the drag of draft compensation) to get there. Just scan the list of pending free agents and you’ll see why Gregorius is still sitting pretty despite his somewhat tepid initial showing this year.
There’s some slight possibility Elvis Andrus will opt out of his deal with the Rangers, but the smart money says he’ll stay put in Texas. Veterans like Freddy Galvis, Jose Iglesias, and Jordy Mercer will be seen only as bench or second-division fill-in options. There’s competition on the left side of the infield more generally, with Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson hitting the open market, and there are some other solid options capable of playing third or second base. But teams intent on signing a quality regular shortstop have nowhere else to turn.
The circumstances are ripe for Sir Didi to maximize his value. But the fundamentals will still drive the bidding. Gregorius has still only played about a quarter of a season’s worth of games this year, having missed the early portion of the season due to Tommy John surgery, but he’s also now nearly halfway through his platform presentation. Let’s see where things stand …
In his first three seasons in New York, Gregorius hit at a roughly league-average .276/.313/.432 clip while averaging 18 long balls annually. His power and output was trending northward, but didn’t fully arrive until a breakout 2018 campaign in which he slashed a robust .268/.335/.494, swatted 27 dingers, and posted a much-improved 69:48 K/BB ratio over 569 trips to the plate.
The difference in the offensive output is significant, obviously. Gregorius is generally perceived and graded as a solid fielder and quality baserunner. With even league-average hitting mixed in, he’s arguably a 3 WAR true-talent player. But with the 121 wRC+ performance he put up last year? Now you’re looking at a guy that’s pushing 5 WAR in a good and healthy season.
We’ve seen signs of both ends of the range for Gregorius thus far in 2019. The overall output sits right in range of league average, with a familiar blend of good pop and middling on-base skills. He’s averaging the same above-average sprint speed as usual and has mostly graded in range of average in the field — not that metrics are particularly telling with just over 300 innings as a sample.
Unsurprisingly, Gregorius has chased both high four-seamers (as he has long been wont to do) and low offspeed offerings (ditto). Pitchers have long attacked him in this manner — and for good reason. Chasing lots of pitches out of the zone has been a part of the Gregorius way since he landed with the Yankees. But he’s doing so now at heretofore unseen levels: 42.2%, up from 36.2% last year. Gregorius is also swinging and missing more now (11.1%) than he did in 2018 (9.2%).
As a result, there has been a notable and somewhat concerning backslide in the plate discipline department. That’s where Gregorius really thrived in 2018, driving his career year. Last season: 12.1% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate. Thus far in 2019: 13.5% strikeout rate, 4.5% walk rate.
But let’s slow down. Gregorius was coming back in the middle of the season after his long rehab effort. And he has already shown notable mid-season plate-discipline improvement. Through his first 22 games, Gregorius maintained a .298 on-base percentage. In his next 20? Um, also a .298 OBP. But he’s getting there in a different way. Gregorius went down on strikes 17 times while drawing just three walks in the first period. In the past twenty contests he has seven strikeouts and five free passes. While his BABIP has taken a downturn in period #2, that’s all but assuredly happenstance (not least of which since his slugging percentage is up to .500, suggesting he’s having little trouble putting the barrel on the ball).
In the power department, Gregorius is carrying the same dozen-plus-percent HR/FB rate and steep average launch angle (17.1 degrees, currently) we’ve become accustomed to. Statcast doesn’t love Gregorius’s batted-ball profile any more than it has in recent seasons, but it also still shows that he isn’t exactly getting by on cheap dingers. While he isn’t making consistently loud contact, with an 87.0 mph average exit velo and .294 xwOBA, he can put a charge in a ball. Gregorius’s eight long balls this year have left the yard at an average 101.1 mph velocity and 28.1 degree launch angle.
All things considered, it seems Gregorius is at worst much the same player he was before his uptick last year. Depending upon how one grades his anticipated future glovework, it’s quite possible to believe he’s a solid 3.5 WAR shortstop who is worthy of being installed as an everyday option for the next several seasons. Given his showing at the plate over the past three weeks, it also seems possible that he’ll end the present season looking more like his 2018 self — the best version we’ve yet seen of Didi.
Either way, we already have a pretty good hint as to one element of Gregorius’s market valuation. The Yanks tendered him a contract last winter, ultimately agreeing to a substantial $11.75MM payday, despite knowing in advance that Gregorius would miss a significant amount of time and face some rehab uncertainty. Gregorius won’t challenge Bogaerts (even at the reduced rate he settled for) in terms of annual salary or years, but the Yankees shortstop is in position — especially with a strong finish — to line up a strong three or four-year pact at a relatively hefty AAV.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Acquire Drew Hutchison
The Angels have acquired right-hander Drew Hutchison from the Twins, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. Cash considerations went in return, per Morrie Silver of the Rochester Red Wings (via Twitter).
Hutchison, who’ll soon turn 29, will add to the depth for an Angels organization that has had to work to keep its MLB staff afloat. The staff has been taxed again recently by more injuries.
Conditions are tough for hurlers in the International League, where Hutchison has pitched all year long. He owns a 5.55 ERA in 108 2/3 frames, with 9.4 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9. Through 460 1/3 career innings at the game’s highest level, Hutchison carries a 5.10 ERA.
Marlins Select Contract Of Deven Marrero
The Marlins announced today that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Deven Marrero. He’ll take the roster spot of fellow infielder Miguel Rojas, who is heading to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain.
Marrero, 29, is a former first-round pick who has yet to show he has the stick to hang in the big leagues. The shortstop owns a .197/.250/.283 slash line through 343 plate appearances at the game’s highest level.
There has been a notable change for Marrero this year at Triple-A, where he has cracked 14 long balls in 380 plate appearances after never previously finishing a season with even a double-digit tally. Of course, that’s the sort of thing we’ve seen from quite a few other players in the homer-friendly International League, so it’s hard to put too much stock in this particular development.
Have The Yankees Found A Keeper In Mike Tauchman?
The story of this Yankees season hasn’t been one of larger-than-life stars (though some of those have played significant roles as well). It’s one of savvy organizational decisionmaking and depth, of unheralded players stepping up when called to the big stage. A future team biographer might well frame them The 2019 Yankees: Humble Savages. It’s all enough to make even the staunchest fan of an Evil Empire rival start rooting for the New York leviathan. (No? Okay, okay, just checking.)
But what does it all mean? We can and should tip our caps to GM Brian Cashman and his front office, for starters. There are a whole lot of well-conceived individual decisions snowballing here, involving smart roster management, wise player acquisition and development, and deft deployment of talent. Overcoming the injuries — the roster is still riddled with them — has been an impressive feat.
Still, at some point the club is going to pick a 25-man postseason roster. And then there’ll be the eventual wave of 40-man roster culling at the end of the campaign. Fringe roster members — even those that factored prominently this year — can and will be traded or decommissioned to suit the needs of the Yankees machine.
Which leads us to wonder about those heart-and-soul types, those scrappy unknowns who have given so much to this year’s Yanks. Which of them has earned a place in the future plans of the vaunted franchise — or at least a ticket out of town to a greater opportunity elsewhere? And which may ultimately look back on this time not as the start of a long and prosperous Yankees career, but as a blissful-but-fleeting moment when it all came together?
Put otherwise, in the words of the fans of rival clubs (I can only presume): are you serious with this Mike Tauchman guy?
Tauchman landed with the Yanks late in camp when it became clear he wasn’t needed in Colorado. He was already 28 years of age and had only just tasted the majors. All it cost the Yankees was a decent but hardly overwhelming reliever prospect who wouldn’t tie up a 40-man spot for the Rockies.
You know what happened next. It didn’t occur right away, as Tauchman didn’t thrive in his first fill-in work in New York earlier this year. But he has been ablaze since being recalled just after the All-Star break and is currently enjoying something like near-regular playing time in the absence of Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton, and Edwin Encarnacion.
Tauchman’s numbers of late have indeed been ridiculous. He has strode to the dish with bat in hand seventy times over a twenty-game span, driving in twenty runs along the way. Five of those plate appearances have ended in home runs. There are 28 base knocks and six walks. Tauchman has thrown in a pair of steals for good measure.
When you add up all of Tauchman’s contributions this year, he sits at a .299/.371/.563 slash line with ten long balls over 194 MLB plate appearances. That’s a 143 wRC+ — quite good! It’s only fair to note that defensive metrics are also fans of his glovework in left field, boosting him to an eye-popping 2.0 fWAR over just sixty games of action.
There was a reason the Yanks targeted Tauchman in the first place. He had struggled in two brief runs with the Rox, but that’s easy to dismiss. Heck, now that we can put it all in context … was this the inevitable rise of an excellent hitter? Tauchman devastated Triple-A pitching at Albuquerque for two-straight seasons, posting consecutive .331/.386/.555 and .323/.408/.571 batting lines. Even with league context, those were strong numbers. Tauchman’s numbers this year with the top New York affiliate are also strong: .274/.386/.505 with as many walks as strikeouts (16 apiece).
All good so far. But what does a look under the hood show us? There’s not much of particular interest in the K/BB department. Tauchman is walking at a 10.3% clip, which is slightly above-average these days. He’s also going down on strikes at a 27.3% rate. That’s rather elevated, though not to the point of being a major concern in and of itself. Tauchman’s 9.8% swinging-strike rate isn’t alarming and he has a high-contact history in the minors, having typically sat in the fifteen-percent K-rate range. He’s also carrying a meager 22.8% chase rate, so he’s obviously seeing the ball well at the moment.
It’s somewhat intriguing to wonder about a version of Tauchman that maintains the power — he owns a hefty .264 ISO — while drawing down the strikeouts closer to his upper-minors levels. But that probably isn’t realistic. True, he has done it before, but never to this extent … and only in high-powered offensive environments against sub-MLB pitching.
The biggest red flags come when you look at the contact outputs. Tauchman is carrying a .378 batting average on balls in play — an obviously unsustainable number, but one that can reflect the fact that a player is absolutely stinging the baseball.
That’s not really the case here. Tauchman does have a strong 9.2% barrel rate, but he’s carrying an unremarkable 88.5 mph exit velocity. Statcast credits him only with a .316 xwOBA, vastly lagging his .384 wOBA and suggesting that there has been no shortage of good fortune in outcomes. Indeed, Tauchman’s ten long balls have flown an average distance of only 384 feet — a Sogardian level that doesn’t exactly portend an ability to sustain a whopping 27.0% HR/FB rate.
Odds are, Tauchman’s hot streak will subside. This probably isn’t a true breakout; it’s not the result of some major change to mechanics or approach that might support a sustainable power boost. But that doesn’t mean Tauchman is destined to be dumped at season’s end. It’s possible he’ll feel the roster crunch and end up elsewhere — notably, he’ll be out of options next year — but it isn’t too hard to imagine the Yanks giving him an ongoing role. Tauchman has an excellent hit tool and at-least-decent pop. He comes with loads of minor-league experience in center field and (as noted) has graded quite well this year with the glove. There’s a potential path to a left-handed-hitting fourth outfielder role that’d fit the roster quite nicely… depending upon how things turn out with long-time Yankees stalwart and pending free agent Brett Gardner, who has enjoyed a renaissance year at the plate thus far.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.