Rockies Claim Wes Parsons
The Rockies announced that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Wes Parsons off waivers from the Braves, who had designated him for assignment over the weekend. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Rox moved Scott Oberg from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL, definitively ending his season. Oberg went on the IL over the weekend due to a blood clot.
With an immediate need for fresh arms and a longer-term interest in finding cost-efficient relief pitching, it’s no surprise that the Rox made a strike here. Parsons hasn’t quite reached his 27th birthday, has options remaining, and is still a long way from arbitration. It’s possible he’ll be given a chance to pitch his way into the team’s plans for 2020.
If he’s to take advantage of the opportunity, Parsons will need to improve upon his initial showing in Atlanta. He carried a 3.52 ERA through 15 1/3 MLB innings this year, but didn’t get there in style. With 13 walks to go with a dozen strikeouts, along with a lowly 6.9% swinging-strike rate, it was clear that Parsons wasn’t fooling MLB hitters.
That said, there’s still reason to hope for better. Parsons has a history of quality results in the upper minors; this year, at Triple-A, he worked to a 2.86 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 along with a 56.8% groundball rate. No doubt the Rox are particularly intrigued by the fact that Parsons has typically induced quite a few worm burners and limited the long ball as a minor-leaguer.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
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Athletics To Promote A.J. Puk
The Athletics will promote left-hander A.J. Puk from Triple-A Las Vegas prior to tomorrow’s game, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). Puk, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2016 draft, will need to have his contract formally selected. Oakland has an opening on its 40-man roster to accommodate him.
Puk, 24, is considered by virtually every major prospect outlet to be among the game’s top 50 prospects. He’s viewed as a potential key piece to the Athletics’ rotation down the road, but he’s been working primarily in relief this season as he works back from 2018 Tommy John surgery. The towering 6’7″ southpaw has a lackluster 4.97 ERA in 25 1/3 minor league innings this season, but he’s also punched out 38 hitters against 10 walks in that time.
Fangraphs currently rates Puk as baseball’s No. 21 prospect, putting a 65 grade on his fastball, a 60 on his slider and giving him the potential for two more average or better offerings in his changeup and curveball. MLB.com lists Puk 43rd among MLB prospects and dropped a 70 grade on his heater with a 65 on his slider. Puk, who paced all minor league starters with 13.2 K/9 in his last full season back in 2017, is touted as a potential No. 2 starter at the Major League level. He’ll likely get the opportunity to make good on those bullish forecasts in 2020, alongside the likes of Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and perhaps fellow ballyhooed left-hander Jesus Luzardo, but for now he’ll step into Bob Melvin’s bullpen and look to help shut things down in the late innings.
Oakland has three left-handers in the ‘pen at the moment, with Jake Diekman, Wei-Chung Wang and Ryan Buchter all giving Melvin southpaw options. All three of those southpaws have had issues with commanding the strike zone, though, and none can match Puk’s overall ceiling as a game-changing relief weapon. Taking a broader look, Oakland has seen closer Blake Treinen follow up a dominant 2018 campaign with a dismal 2019 showing. Fellow righty Lou Trivino has taken similar steps backward, leaving the A’s with a bullpen that’s been weaker than they anticipated.
By promoting Puk now, the A’s will be positioning themselves to control him through 2025 season, although future optional assignments to the minors could yet impact that timeline. If he’s in the big leagues from Tuesday through season’s end, he’ll accrue 41 days of big league service, though, meaning in order to push his path to free agency back until the 2026-27 offseason, the A’s would need to keep him in Triple-A for nearly two months next season. In other words, this appears quite likely to be a chance for Puk to cement himself as a big leaguer and leave the minor leagues behind. If he is indeed in the Majors for good, he wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2022 season.
Diamondbacks Sign Michael Tonkin
The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Michael Tonkin out of the independent Atlantic League, per an announcement Long Island Ducks GM Michael Pfaff (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A Reno for now,
Tonkin, 29, allowed just one earned run with a 31-to-9 K/BB ratio in 26 2/3 innings with the Ducks prior to signing with the D-backs. The 6’7″ righty went to Spring Training with the Rangers organization and latched on with the Brewers late in Spring Training after he didn’t make the cut in Texas. Tonkin headed to Triple-A San Antonio with the Brewers and posted a 4.26 ERA with 14 strikeouts and nine walks in 12 2/3 innings before being cut loose a second time.
Though he hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2017, Tonkin does have experience in parts of five different MLB campaigns — all coming with the Twins from 2013-17. Once a relatively well-regarded bullpen prospect in Minnesota’s system, Tonkin pitched 146 1/3 innings for the Twins in that five-year span, compiling a 4.43 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.54 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent ground-ball rate. Tonkin generated more grounders as he rose through the Twins’ ranks, but he favored his four-seamer over his sinker/two-seam fastball in the Majors. He averaged 94 mph on that four-seamer and 83.4 mph on a slider, his primary secondary offering.
Tonkin has been too homer-prone at the big league level to find consistent success, but he has a career 2.55 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 173 Triple-A innings. He’ll give the Diamondbacks some additional pitching depth with Yoshihisa Hirano and Robbie Ray on the big league injured list and righties Greg Holland, Zack Godley and Ben Lively no longer in the organization.
AL West Notes: Haniger, Tucker, Manaea
While Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger was deemed close to untouchable in trade talks last offseason, some around the game expect him to be available in the coming offseason, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. That’s hardly a firm indication that Seattle will push to move Haniger when his value has diminished, but the 28-year-old (29 in December) would make an interesting addition to the winter trade market should the Mariners entertain offers on him. Haniger has been out for more than two months due a to a ruptured testicle that required surgical repair, and he wasn’t anywhere near his best when healthy, hitting .220/.314/.463 with 15 home runs in 283 trips to the plate. But he logged a combined .284/.361/.492 batting line (134 OPS+) in 2016-17 with the Mariners and can still be controlled through the 2022 season. Add in quality defensive marks in right field plus the ability to man center field when needed, and it’s easy to see why Haniger would hold appeal throughout the league even on the heels of a down campaign. Broadly speaking, Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto is as open-minded about trades as any baseball ops leader in the game, so it stands to reason that Haniger and others will be oft-cited trade candidates this winter, whether a deal comes to fruition or not.
More from the AL West…
- Astros top prospect Kyle Tucker‘s wait to return to the big leagues will be over in the near future, writes Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (subscription required). At the very least, the 22-year-old will be in line for a September call-up (perhaps after the Triple-A season ends), and he could factor into Houston’s postseason plans as well, depending on how many pitchers the club plans to carry. Tucker took a professional tone when discussing the fact that he understands why he’s still in Triple-A, given then outfield depth the Astros have on the big league roster, adding: “…obviously, I wish I’d be up there helping out, too.” Tucker’s recent exposure to playing first base came at his own request in an effort to enhance his versatility, Kaplan notes, and that added position could be a ticket to carving out more regular at-bats in the Majors next season. Houston has Josh Reddick, George Springer, Michael Brantley and Jake Marisnick all under control for next season and has Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Diaz in the mix as first base/DH options. Despite that wealth of options, though, president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow has effectively made Tucker off limits when other teams have inquired about his availability, signaling that he’ll eventually be leaned upon as a key contributor in the Astros’ lineup.
- Left-hander Sean Manaea threw 91 pitches and picked up a win in his latest start for the Athletics‘ Triple-A club in Las Vegas. Manaea, on the mend from shoulder surgery, had his rehab assignment halted briefly this month due to some discomfort in his side but has now made a pair of outings since returning and looks to be largely stretched out. In his past three rehab appearances with the Aviators, Manaea has a 2.70 ERA and a 24-to-4 K/BB ratio in 16 2/3 innings of work. When and how he’ll be worked back into the rotation remains unclear, but the A’s will have to make a decision on that front relatively soon. The most logical candidate to lose a rotation spot would be veteran righty Homer Bailey, who is slated to take the mound tomorrow night when the Yankees visit the A’s. Each of Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson and Chris Bassitt have pitched well in 2019, and recently acquired righty Tanner Roark has a better track record than Bailey in recent years as well. Rosters are set to expand in September, which will give the A’s more flexibility with how they structure their pitching staff.
Ivan Nova Open To Re-Signing With White Sox
Ivan Nova‘s tenure with the White Sox began in shaky fashion, as he allowed five or more runs in four of his first six starts to the season. However, the former Yankees and Pirates righty has settled into a run of success and tells Doug Padilla of the Chicago Sun-Times that if the opportunity to return to the White Sox presents itself, he would take it.
There’s no guarantee that the Sox would make Nova an offer to return, but the 32-year-old’s performance with the club since a miserable start to the season has been rather solid. Nova’s past month has garnered plenty of attention, as the righty owns a pristine 0.49 ERA over his past 37 innings (including an improbable shutout of the Astros in his most recent trip to the hill). The right-hander attributes his hot streak to “controlling my command a little bit better and making a little bit better pitches that what I was making earlier in the year,” though a .186 average on balls in play and a nearly 92 percent strand rate have buoyed his production. To his credit, Nova’s walk rate has dropped over this current stretch, and his hard-hit rate has plummeted, so there’s clearly some truth to the fact that he’s refined his command.
Beyond that, Nova’s numbers have somewhat quietly been pretty solid over a larger sample dating back to mid-May. He’s only allowed more than four runs on two occasions in his past 16 starts, and one of those featured multiple unearned runs. Nova has averaged nearly 6 1/3 innings per start in that time and posted a 3.14 ERA along the way. His 5.1 K/9 mark is obviously nowhere near the league average in today’s strikeout-charged brand of ball, but he’s averaged just 1.9 BB/9 in that time and managed a reasonable (again, by 2019 standards) 1.26 HR/9. He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a 50.2 percent clip.
Whether those 100 1/3 inning generate enough interest from the White Sox remains to be seen. Nova has a 4.70 FIP even in that 16-start stretch, so there’s some reason to take the bottom-line numbers with a grain of salt. Still, the White Sox have minimal certainty with regard to next year’s rotation. Lucas Giolito will front the group, but Reynaldo Lopez has yet to establish himself as a viable big league starter. Dylan Cease is still looking for his first run of sustained MLB success. Michael Kopech will be returning from Tommy John surgery but has made only four MLB starts. Carlos Rodon isn’t likely to be a factor until the summer, as he also underwent Tommy John surgery back in May.
It’s easy to dream on that quintet, but it’s also not realistic to expect any group of up-and-coming pitchers to hit their stride in unison. There’s room for Nova to return to the staff if the Sox value him as a veteran leader who can provide some stability as a fifth starter. He’d very likely be looking at a cut from this season’s $8.5MM salary, but as a low-cost option who’s already familiar with the coaching staff and many of the team’s young players, Nova could have some appeal.
Then again, there’s an equal if not stronger argument that the team should be prepared to move on sooner rather than later. Nova’s recent success has surely been noted throughout the league, and it’s extremely difficult for teams to deepen their rosters at the moment. It’s possible that were Nova to hit outright waivers, another club would claim the remaining $1.95MM on this season’s salary and save the Sox that chunk of cash. Chicago could always try to re-sign Nova in the winter if desired, but with so many high-upside arms ticketed for rotation auditions, perhaps a low-ceiling veteran isn’t the type of winter addition the Sox will seek. The ChiSox have a mere $14MM in guaranteed salary on next year’s payroll, so they can afford to pursue any starting pitcher on the market as aggressively as they wish.
Injury Notes: Kluber, Gallo, Dietrich, Casali, Robinson
After just one inning of work in a rehab start on Sunday, Corey Kluber was removed from the game due to left abdominal tightness. (Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga was among those to report the news.) Kluber is expected to receive further tests on Monday, though the early word is that Kluber was simply removed as a precaution. While the Indians and their fans won’t fully exhale until those tests come back clean, it’s at least some measure of good news that Kluber didn’t have a setback involving his forearm, which was fractured back on May 1. Sunday’s start could potentially have served as Kluber’s final rehab outing before being activated from the injured list, and now it seems as if he’ll likely have to get one more minor league start under his belt before the Tribe can be fully prepared to bring him back to the 25-man roster.
Some more on injury situations from around baseball…
- Rangers slugger Joey Gallo is targeting a mid-September return from hamate bone surgery, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. The procedure back on July 25 was expected to keep Gallo out for four-to-six weeks, though since he only just started taking light swings off a tee, his recovery will be at the long end of that projected timeline. “I don’t want any setbacks, but I think I’m going to be able to play before the season is over. That’s the hope,” Gallo said.
- Two injured Reds are working their way back to the club, as manager David Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Derek Dietrich will begin a Triple-A rehab assignment on Monday, while catcher Curt Casali starts a rehab assignment of his own on Tuesday. Both players could be back in time for the Reds’ series against the Pirates that begins on Friday. Dietrich hit the IL due to left shoulder inflammation on August 5, while this will actually be Casali’s second rehab stint since first being placed on the IL on July 18 with a right knee sprain. Casali’s previous assignment was halted after two games due to soreness in his left hamstring.
- Cardinals utilityman Drew Robinson recently underwent a season-ending, “progressive” version of Tommy John surgery on his left elbow, manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. The surgery was only a partial version of the normal Tommy John procedure and it was on Robinson’s non-throwing arm, so Shildt believes Robinson will be ready for Spring Training. Acquired in the trade that sent Patrick Wisdom to the Rangers last December, Robinson appeared in five MLB games for the Cardinals and hit .265/.385/.423 over 234 PA for Triple-A Memphis this season before hitting the injured list on June 24. Robinson has some very solid minor league numbers over his ten pro seasons, though he hasn’t hit much over 253 Major League plate appearances with Texas and St. Louis from 2016-18.
Angels Select Miguel Del Pozo’s Contract, Option Jose Suarez To Triple-A
Prior to Sunday’s game, the Angels selected the contract of left-hander Miguel Del Pozo from Triple-A. Fellow left-hander Jose Suarez was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Del Pozo didn’t pitch in the Angels’ 9-2 victory over the White Sox, so he is still looking for his first official Major League appearance.
Originally signed as an 18-year-old prospect by the Marlins in 2010, Del Pozo spent his entire pro career in Miami’s organization until last offseason, when he was outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster and he chose to become a free agent. After signing a minors contract with the Rangers, Del Pozo was dealt to Los Angeles earlier this month in a post-deadline trade (allowed since Del Pozo wasn’t on a Major League contract).
Despite his long stretch in the minors, Del Pozo didn’t even pitch at the Triple-A level until this season. The 26-year-old lefty has a 4.28 ERA, 10.4 K/9, and 2.53 K/BB rate over 332 minor league innings, working out of the bullpen for 191 of his 207 career games. Del Pozo will join Adalberto Mejia as the only left-handers in the Halos’ righty-heavy pen.
Suarez’s first taste of Major League action wasn’t a smooth one, as the rookie southpaw posted a 6.75 ERA over 53 1/3 innings, starting 11 of his 12 games. While Suarez managed an 8.9 K/9 and a respectable 2.41 K/BB rate, he was bedeviled by home runs, as Suarez allowed 16 big flies in his brief time in the Los Angeles rotation.
Fangraphs (79th) and Baseball America (97th) each ranked Suarez within their list of the game’s top 100 prospects at the time of his promotion in late May, so his rocky start was something of a letdown for an Angels team that is starved for pitching. Still, Suarez is only 21 years old and only in his fifth season in pro ball. His issues may have also stemmed not from inexperience, but from a tendency to tip pitches, manager Brad Ausmus told media (including Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times).
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/18/19
The latest minor moves from around the game…
- The Marlins outrighted Deven Marrero to Triple-A after the infielder cleared waivers, the team announced. Marrero was designated for assignment on Friday. Formerly a highly-touted prospect during his days in Boston’s farm system, Marrero didn’t produce much at the plate in limited Major League action (343 PA) with the Red Sox and Diamondbacks from 2015-18. He inked a minor league contract with Miami last winter, and he has hit .249/.324/.420 over 380 PA for Triple-A New Orleans while also appeared in five big league games for the Marlins.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Jays, Ryu, Soto, BoSox, Cole, Braves
Click here for the transcript of tonight’s baseball livechat, moderated by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk