Braves Activate Nick Markakis; Johan Camargo Diagnosed With Shin Fracture
9:50pm: Camargo isn’t necessarily done for the season, according to manager Brian Snitker (Twitter link via Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). The hope is that he’ll be ready to return in about three weeks, when the playoffs will already be underway. As noted below, though, even a healthy version might not have been a lock to land on the Braves’ postseason roster.
12:16pm: The Braves announced today that they have activated outfielder Nick Markakis from the injured list, as expected. Utilityman Johan Camargo has been placed on the 10-day IL after being diagnosed with a fractured shin.
The Atlanta organization also called up some fresh arms to help the team manage innings down the stretch. Righties Touki Toussaint, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright are all heading to the active roster.
Markakis has bounced back from a fractured wrist. He’ll be tasked with getting back up to game speed without the benefit of a rehab assignment. With the Braves secure in their postseason position, they can allow him to get his cuts in without much concern for the outcome.
Meanwhile, the news on Camargo seemingly brings to an end a forgettable season. There’s no official word yet on an anticipated timeline, but it’s tough to imagine he’ll be able to heal up in time to be a factor. Odds are he’d have been left off the postseason roster regardless given his prolonged struggles.
The shin fracture — suffered on a foul ball — shouldn’t dent Camargo’s long-term outlook. But it could slow his offseason work. He’ll be trying to sort things out over the winter after turning in 248 plate appearances of .233/.279/.384 hitting while also posting a downturn in the field. The 25-year-old switch-hitter had been a 3+ WAR performer in 2018.
Yankees Outright Adonis Rosa
The Yankees announced today that they have outrighted right-hander Adonis Rosa. He cleared waivers after recently being designated for assignment.
Rosa, 24, was one of several hurlers cycled into the Yanks’ pen this year before being dropped from the 40-man roster. It’d be hard to glean much of anything from his lone appearance, in which he averaged a marginal 90 mph on his fastball but did manage some swings and misses (15.6%) in a two-inning sample.
More broadly, Rosa has shown more in his 93 career Triple-A innings. He’s a 3.58 ERA pitcher at the highest level of the minors, albeit with an unremarkable combination of 7.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9
Diamondbacks Extend Mike Hazen
The Diamondbacks have extended GM Mike Hazen, the team announced and MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert tweeted. Terms of the multi-year pact remain unknown at this time.
It’s tempting to raise an eyebrow here at the timing. Hazen was originally hired away from the Red Sox and has deep roots there. The powerhouse Boston organization has just launched a hiring search for a new head of baseball ops. But that wasn’t a factor, the team has made clear, with new contract talks having started before the BoSox seat came open.
Regardless, it’s plenty understandable that the Arizona organization was interested in settling Hazen’s long-term status — and ensuring he’d be around for years to come. His original deal ran through the 2020 season, meaning he’d have entered the ensuing offseason as a lame duck of sorts.
While the Snakes haven’t enjoyed runaway success since Hazen took the reins, it’s hard to argue with the work he has done. The long-time Boston exec originally came aboard on the heels of a brutally disappointing 2016 season. At the time, the organization faced an array of challenges: an MLB roster that had talent but wasn’t quite good enough, a few challenging payroll commitments, and a questionable farm system.
It seems fair to say that there have been improvements on all fronts to this point, with Hazen navigating some especially tricky transactional matters. Since taking over, Hazen has traded away superstars Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke. He has allowed long-time stars A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin to depart as free agents. And yet the club is closing in on a third-straight winning campaign, even as it now oversees a manageable slate of future salary obligations and features a much-improved prospect pool.
Remarkably, Hazen has yet to ink a single free agent to a contract of $10MM or more. He has added quite a few low-cost veterans, not all of which have worked out, but has done most of his most notable work via trades and extensions.
Hazen’s first deal remains fascinating. He brought in the since-extended Ketel Marte, who has now morphed into a star, along with the talented but oft-injured Taijuan Walker in a swap that cost Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura. When the Snakes made a surprise charge in his first year at the helm, Hazen landed J.D. Martinez for a relative pittance. He couldn’t get a deal done with JDM, but did extend fellow deadline acquisition Eduardo Escobar at an appealing rate. The Goldy swap netted Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly (along with prospect Andy Young) for one last season of the former MVP.
Most recently, the Greinke deal shed most of the obligations to the veteran starter while adding four promising prospects. Hazen cashed in well-regarded prospect Jazz Chisholm for intriguing young rotation piece Zac Gallen and also brought in steady back-end starter Mike Leake for cheap. Despite the loss of Greinke, the Snakes have threatened a surprise Wild Card run — though that’s a long-shot at this point.
All things considered, it has been an impressive performance to this point for Hazen, who’ll have more interesting decisions to make this winter. While the D-Backs have a lot of ground to make up if they’re to challenge the Dodgers, they have a fair bit of payroll space and young talent to work with. Odds are we’ll continue to see a strategy that largely defies simple categorization, with Hazen focusing not on “contending” or “rebuilding” so much as cost-efficient decisionmaking that enhances the organization’s overall talent base.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
David Dahl Will Not Return In 2019
Rockies outfielder David Dahl says he won’t continue pressing to return late this year, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That’s not terribly surprising with just two weeks left in a lost season.
Dahl had been working steadily back from a high ankle sprain — the latest in a string of injuries that have limited the talented performer to this point of his career. Fortunately, he says that he is making good progress. And this appears to be a one-off injury, entirely unrelated to the core-muscle maladies that had plagued him previously.
This will still end up being Dahl’s most voluminous MLB campaign to date. He appeared in an even 100 games — meaning he spent sufficient time on the active roster to be eligible for Super Two status. Dahl is certain to have sufficient service time, though his lost time will certainly limit his earnings.
Dahl won’t reach his 26th birthday until next April Fools’ Day, so he’s still plenty youthful. And he’ll be under arbitration control through 2023, meaning the Rox have ample time left to accrue value.
While he doesn’t draw many walks, Dahl hits for a high average with good power. He’s a lifetime .297/.346/.521 hitter in the majors — though that translates to a good-but-not-superlative 110 wRC+ once accounted for context. Defensive metrics haven’t been particularly fond of Dahl’s glovework, though they’re especially hard to trust at Coors Field.
UZR was actually fond of Dahl’s performance in a 300+ inning sample this year in center field. It seems the Rockies agree with that assessment. Skipper Bud Black says that Dahl will play up the middle when he returns next year, as Nick Groke of The Athletic covers on Twitter.
The Rangers Need A Catcher
Set to miss the playoffs for the third straight year, the Rangers reportedly plan to make third base a priority in the offseason. Understandably so, as the position has been a sore spot for the club this year. But the problems the Rangers have faced at the hot corner pale in comparison to the issues they’ve dealt with at catcher, which should absolutely be a spot the club tries to improve over the winter.
Texas made a couple notable changes behind the plate last offseason, jettisoning starter Robinson Chirinos by declining his option and replacing him with free-agent addition Jeff Mathis. It was something of an eye-opener when the Rangers waved goodbye to Chirinos, who had been a strong offensive option for the majority of his tenure with the team, which began in 2013. Chirinos was a questionable defender throughout that period, but even still, his $4.5MM option looked eminently reasonable. The 35-year-old has since moved on to rival Houston, where he has continued his trend of hitting well while providing iffy defense.
Mathis, 36, is essentially Chirinos’ polar opposite. He’s a well-regarded defender who has never really posted big league-caliber work as a hitter. The Rangers guaranteed Mathis $6.25MM, including $3MM in 2020, but they couldn’t have imagined he’d be as close to as woeful at the plate as he has been this season. Mathis entered the year with a career batting line of .207/.274/.297 – good for a wRC+ of 49. Just a reminder that a wRC+ of 100 makes you a league-average offensive player, so Mathis was basically half of that coming into 2019. That’s obviously not good, but it’s far and away superior to the output Mathis has offered in his first season as a Ranger.
Through 244 trips to the plate in 2019, Mathis has batted .158/.209/.224. His wRC+ is 2 (!), which easily ranks last among all major leaguers who have accrued 200 or more plate appearances this season. Likewise, with minus-2.0 fWAR, Mathis sits last in that category. He’s still a decent defender, but when you’re dragging down your team’s offense as much as he has, does it really matter?
As mentioned, the Rangers are stuck paying Mathis a few million dollars next season. But if they’re going to make a real effort to contend then, they better focus on trying to better their situation behind the plate. One problem for the Rangers is that they don’t have an obvious in-house solution behind Mathis. The light-hitting Isiah Kiner-Falefa is all but done as a catcher, Jose Trevino hasn’t been any kind of offensive standout to this point, and prospect Sam Huff – although promising – hasn’t even played above the High-A level thus far. With that in mind, the Rangers will likely have to look outside the organization for a 2020 upgrade over the winter, whether via trade or the open market.
Chirinos will be a free agent again after the season, but it seems unlikely the Rangers will go back down that road one year after booting him from the organization. He’s one of just a few soon-to-be free-agent catchers who offers much at the plate, though. Current Brewer Yasmani Grandal is hands down the game’s cream-of-the-crop pending free agent at backstop, but he’ll command a significant payday, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported this week the Rangers will be hard-pressed to dole out more than one large deal over the winter. It seems that pact will go to either a starting pitcher or a third baseman, which could rule out an earnest pursuit of Grandal.
Fortunately for Texas, the club won’t need to break the bank to pick up a catcher who can outdo the meager contributions Mathis has brought to the table this year. Other free agents-to-be such as Jason Castro (Twins) and Travis d’Arnaud (Rays) are among many catchers who have crushed Mathis’ 2019 production, and either could end up on the Rangers’ radar during the offseason. Regardless, it’s clear the position should be one the Rangers dedicate quite a bit of attention to in the coming months.
Blake Snell Slated To Return Next Week
Rays lefty and reigning American League Cy Young winner Blake Snell is scheduled to return to action next week, he tells reporters including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). Snell will take the ball on Tuesday with the expectation of throwing about three innings.
Snell last appeared in late July, at which time he was sidelined with loose bodies in his pitching elbow. He has been working back since undergoing surgery to alleviate the issue. The absence has been a bit longer than initially anticipated.
It’s great news for the Rays, who’ll allow Snell to get his competitive rehab work in at the MLB level. There aren’t any more Triple-A games for Snell to appear in. And the Rays’ adaptable pitching staff is accustomed to covering for short starts and bulk appearances.
Snell will join righty Tyler Glasnow in returning with partial availability. Unlike Glasnow, who had been firmly on the rise when he hit the shelf, Snell had taken a step back early in the season. Through 101 innings over his twenty starts to this point, Snell carries a 4.28 ERA.
That said, the Tampa Bay organization has every reason to believe that Snell can get back to being the monster he was in 2018. He had been much the same pitcher by most measures — if not better. He maintained a 3.1 BB/9 walk rate while raising his strikeout game (12.1 K/9, 17.8% swinging-strike rate) and lowering his xwOBA (.263).
There isn’t much time left for Snell to build up his pitch count. He’ll be able to make three total outings before the end of the regular season, so it’s reasonable to presume he’ll still be climbing northward come crunch time. But he’d likely be nearing full availability. And if he goes every fifth day, Snell will be on turn to start the Wild Card game.
Athletics Release Chris Herrmann
The Athletics announced today that catcher Chris Herrmann was released. He had rejected an outright assignment after clearing release waivers.
Herrmann was dropped from the MLB roster recently when the A’s decided to add backstop Beau Taylor. The club preferred the long-time minor-leaguer, who has a notable amount of experience with some of the organization’s recently promoted young pitchers.
While Herrmann was and is earning at a $1MM rate this year, the Oakland org wasn’t getting what it had hoped for out of the 31-year-old. He drew that deal after a strong offensive showing last season, but was slashing just .202/.280/.274 in 94 plate appearances this year before being cut loose.
Indians Designate Josh Smith
The Indians have designated lefty Josh Smith for assignment, per MLB.com’s Mandy Bell (via Twitter). That’s the corresponding move for the club’s already announced promotion of James Karinchak.
Smith seemingly found another gear at 29 years of age. The long-time minor-leaguer earned his first MLB call-up after racking up a 74:24 K/BB ratio in 52 2/3 innings at Triple-A.
Unfortunately, the walks also piled up in Smith’s brief big-league showing. Over 8 1/3 frames, he struck out a dozen batters but also doled out eight free passes and recorded a lowly 7.5% swinging-strike rate.
Pirates Claim Williams Jerez
The Pirates have claimed southpaw Williams Jerez off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. Righty Kyle Crick — another former Giant who was injured recently in memorable fashion — was moved to the 60-day injured list to create roster space.
Jerez had been designated for assignment after a brief MLB showing with the San Francisco club, during which he walked six hitters over six innings. He had earned the promotion with a promising showing at the Triple-A level. In 56 innings on the year, Jerez carried a 3.86 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. He limited left-handed hitters to a paltry .174/.260/.314 collective batting line.
The Bucs will utilize Jerez in the majors late in 2019, the team has announced. He’ll have an opportunity to stake a claim to holding a 40-man spot throughout the winter. Ironically, he’ll also join Chris Stratton in Pittsburgh after being dealt for him late in Spring Training, as Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group notes on Twitter.
Indians Recall Bradley Zimmer
2:11pm: This move is now official.
12:16pm: The Indians are “expected” to recall outfielder Bradley Zimmer from Triple-A Columbus, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. He’ll join righty James Karinchak as a late September call-up for an Indians club that is hosting the division-leading Twins for a pivotal three-game series this weekend. Cleveland currently trails Minnesota by 3.5 games.
It’ll be the first time that Zimmer, 26, has been on the active Major League roster since last June, when he incurred a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery and an eight- to 12-month recovery timetable. The 2014 first-round pick has played in 15 minor league games, including an impressive .364/.440/.636 run in six games with Columbus.
Zimmer debuted to great fanfare with the 2017 Indians. Heralded as a top prospect for most of the interim between that 2014 draft and his MLB debut, he announced his presence with a .308/.388/.518 slash through his first 100 plate appearances before fading badly with greater exposure to MLB pitching. Over his final 229 plate appearances that season, Zimmer hit .212/.271/.327 and struck out at a 30.5 percent clip. He couldn’t snap out of that funk in 2018, either, hitting .226/.281/.330 through 114 plate appearances prior to injuring his shoulder.
Zimmer returns to a vastly different outfield mix than the one he left. At the time of his injury, none of Oscar Mercado, Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, Jake Bauers or Jordan Luplow were even in the organization. And while Puig is a free agent at season’s end, the rest of that group is controllable for the foreseeable future. That’s also true of speedster Greg Allen and the currently injured Tyler Naquin, which further complicates Zimmer’s path back to a prominent role with the team. He’s likely to be utilized in a limited capacity down the stretch, given that glut of outfield options, so he may have a difficult time making an impression on the club’s decision-makers this month. Zimmer does have a minor league option remaining beyond the 2019 season, so the club can send him to Triple-A next spring if that’s determined to be the best course of action.