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Phillies Option Nick Williams, Activate Jay Bruce

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If you weren’t watching the wire this weekend, the Phillies swung an early deal to add a lefty power bat. Today, the club announced that outfielder Nick Williams was optioned out to make way for veteran slugger Jay Bruce, who’s active for the team’s game this evening.

In another move, the Phils have optioned down lefty Cole Irvin. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow southpaw Austin Davis, who’ll slip into the bullpen.

The 25-year-old Williams was already optioned out after receiving few opportunities during a rough start to the season. He came back onto the active roster following the arrest of outfielder Odubel Herrera, but has since struck out six times in eight plate appearances.

For the time being, Williams will get to work on finding his bat at Triple-A. The former top prospect will serve as a near-term depth piece for the Phils, who’ll also hope he can reclaim some of his former promise. It’s certainly possible to imagine the team exploring trade options involving Williams this summer or in the coming offseason.

Latest On Dallas Keuchel

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Dallas Keuchel’s market, like that of fellow free agent Craig Kimbrel, figures to accelerate in the coming days now that he’s no longer tied to draft-pick compensation. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees, Cardinals and Braves are among the favorites to land Keuchel — though as of yesterday, Keuchel and the Yankees were still a ways apart in terms of asking price. Earlier this morning, the Twins were also reported to have had recent talks with Keuchel’s agent, Scott Boras.

The rationale behind the Yankees’ interest in Keuchel isn’t difficult to see. Luis Severino has yet to pitch in 2019, primarily due to a lat strain that will likely sideline him into next month. Both James Paxton and CC Sabathia have spent time on the injured list, and Domingo German figures to be on some type of innings limit after throwing only 94 innings in 2018 between the Majors and minors (and 123 1/3 frames the year prior). Signing Keuchel would come with notable luxury ramifications for the Yankees, who’d pay a 32 percent tax on any dollar spent on him (per Jason Martinez’s luxury projections at Roster Resource).

The Cardinals, too, have seen some rotation issues pop up. Carlos Martinez has been moved to the bullpen after spending the beginning of the season on the injured list, while free-agent-to-be Michael Wacha has also been moved to a relief following an awful start to the year. Rookie Genesis Cabrera is getting his first look at the MLB level, but the Cards are in 1.5 games back in the tightly contested National League Central — a division where the difference between first place and fifth place is a mere span of 6.5 games at the moment.

Keuchel’s shedding of draft pick compensation matters less to the Astros than to others, since they were never in line to forfeit one of their picks to retain him and have known for a while they wouldn’t end up scoring a compensatory pick. But ESPN’s Buster Olney suggests (subscription required) that there may yet be a gap between what Houston is willing to offer and what Keuchel is seeking. The Astros offered Keuchel a one-year deal worth about $15MM early in Spring Training when he was still seeking a multi-year deal, according to Olney. Even though his asking price has come down since that point, he’s still reported to be seeking a one-year deal worth the $17.9MM value of the qualifying offer he rejected last November. Any such sum would be prorated over the course of the remainder of the season.

Brewers Option Keston Hiura, Activate Travis Shaw

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The Brewers have optioned second baseman Keston Hiura, the club announced today. He’ll leave the active roster to make way for the activation of Travis Shaw, who had been rehabbing a wrist injury.

Hiura, 22, certainly hasn’t shown himself in capable of keeping up at the game’s highest level. To the contrary, he’s slashing a hefty .281/.333/.531 with five home runs in 69 plate appearances. While there’s much to be desired in his combination of 23 strikeouts and three walks, Hiura has largely confirmed that the Brewers and prospect watchers were right to expect big things right out of the gates.

It’s tough to see that batting line leave the active roster, particularly given Shaw’s struggles to open the year. He’ll presumably return to his customary duties at the hot corner, with Mike Moustakas going back to second base. The defensive alignment is suboptimal, but passable; it’s the hitting department where this decision will likely be judged.

Before he hit the shelf, the 29-year-old Shaw managed only a .163/.266/.281 slash in 154 plate appearances. That’s far shy of the output he delivered in his first two seasons in Milwaukee, during which he launched 63 home runs and batted a cumulative .258/.347/.497.

GM David Stearns explained to reporters that the club made this move to “preserv[e] organizational depth.” (Via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; links to Twitter.) Of course, Shaw could have been optioned down instead of Hiura, but Stearns says the veteran has earned the right to step back into the MLB lineup. That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to stay there. The pressure will be on Shaw and struggling first baseman Jesus Aguilar, who is out of options.

Stearns rejected the notion that service time played a role in the decision. Whether or not that was a motivating factor, there are implications for both players. Hiura’s initial promotion occurred on May 14th, meaning he could have run up 139 days of service by remaining in the majors all year long. That would have set him up for potential future Super Two qualification. Unless he comes back rather quickly, that’ll no longer be the case. On Shaw’s side, he’ll get the opportunity to reestablish his stock and boost his arbitration earning power by returning to the MLB roster. He has a strong starting point with this year’s $4.675MM salary, though that also means he’ll need to improve in order to be tendered by the Brewers (or command good money in free agency if he isn’t).

Royals Place Hunter Dozier On 10-Day IL

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The Royals have placed third baseman Hunter Dozier on the 10-day injured list, per a club announcement. It’s backdated to May 31st, meaning Dozier could be activated by June 10th.

Details of the injury aren’t really clear, though Dozier has been limited by chest tightness. It seems to be a relatively minor muscular issue. The hope was that he’d bounce back quickly enough without an IL placement, but that obviously proved optimistic.

Any disruption to Dozier’s current run is unwelcome. The former top draft pick had failed to accomplish much at all in the majors until breaking out early this season at 27 years of age.

Through 216 plate appearances this season, Dozier carries a .314/.398/.589 slash with 11 home runs and 41:26 K/BB ratio. He still needs to prove that he can keep things up, particularly as opposing pitchers increasingly focus on him as a threat, but it’s obviously quite a promising run of results.

It doesn’t seem as if the present injury will present much of an obstacle. While Dozier is down, the Royals will presumably rely upon the just-recalled Cheslor Cuthbert at the hot corner. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Kelvin Gutierrez come back up to help fill out the infield mix; promoting him would not require a 40-man roster move.

Zac Rosscup Elects Free Agency

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12:05pm: The team announced that Rosscup has elected free agency rather than take an outright assignment, as is his right as a player with more than three years of big league service time.

10:20am: Left-hander Zac Rosscup cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo by the Blue Jays following last week’s DFA, per the team’s transactions page.

Rosscup, 31 next week, appeared in just two games with the Jays after being claimed off waivers out of the Mariners organization, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in one inning. Rosscup has posted huge swinging-strike rates over the past couple of seasons and demonstrated an ability to rack up strikeouts in bunches — 42 in his past 26 innings — but his control has been evaporated in 2019. Through 15 innings of work this year, he’s allowed 16 walks and thrown two wild pitches.

Control issues notwithstanding, Rosscup averages 92.4 mph on his fastball and has generated a gaudy 23.7 percent swinging-strike rate on his slider since the start of the 2018 campaign. He’s also out of minor league options, so any club that eventually puts him back on the big league roster would need to expose him to waivers again if it wished to then send him back to the minors.

Orioles Promote Chance Sisco

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The Orioles announced that they’ve promoted catcher Chance Sisco from Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll join the club for the team’s upcoming series against the Rangers and will presumably have the opportunity to prove himself as a viable everyday option for the club moving forward.

Sisco, 24, was widely regarded as one of the game’s top 100 prospects in 2017-18 and looked impressive in a late-season cup of coffee with the O’s in 2017. He wasn’t able to seize the team’s starting role in 2018, however, as he struggled to a dismal .181/.288/.269 slash through 63 games and 184 plate appearances. It’s not uncommon for a young player to flounder through his first extended look at the big league level though, and catchers in particular are often a bit slower to develop offensively.

Sisco opened the season in Triple-A to continue rounding out his game and hit his way back to the Majors with a .289/.383/.530 showing in 193 plate appearances. He’s homered 10 times, hit 10 doubles and collected 19 walks (9.8 percent) against 43 strikeouts (23.3 percent) on the season so far. He’s been average or a tick below in terms of framing over the past couple of seasons and has struggled to control the running game (6-for-33 in 2019), but Sisco’s bat merits another audition at the MLB level as the rebuilding Orioles continue to assess his long-term role in the organization.

With Baltimore, Sisco will team with Pedro Severino to handle the catching duties. His left-handed bat and Severino’s right-handed bat make for a natural platoon if the O’s wish to divide playing time in that manner, and it’d be hard to completely scale back Severino’s at-bats based on how well he’s played. The 25-year-old has proven to be a waiver steal out of the Nationals organization, hitting .273/.360/.475 with five long balls and five doubles in 115 plate appearance and throwing out nine of 15 potential basestealers. He’s allowed five passed balls and posted slightly below-average framing marks, which hurts his all-around value, but the O’s have to nonetheless be thrilled with the results of that particular claim.

Beyond Severino, the Orioles have relied on the light-hitting duo of Jesus Sucre and Austin Wynns behind the dish. Wynns was optioned to Norfolk yesterday, while Sucre was removed from the 40-man roster earlier in the season but accepted an outright assignment to Norfolk. That pairing will now handle regular catching duty in Triple-A and serve as depth.

Cubs Select Carlos Gonzalez, Designate Jim Adduci For Assignment

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The Cubs have selected the contract of veteran outfielder Carlos Gonzalez from Triple-A, per a team announcement. His promotion was first reported by Daniel Alvarez Montas of El Extra Base (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, outfielder/first baseman Jim Adduci has been designated for assignment (as ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers suggested would be the case).

Gonzalez, 33, began the season on a minor league deal with the Indians but cracked the big league roster there in late April. His time with Cleveland didn’t prove fruitful, however, as he struggled to a .210/.282/.276 batting line with a pair of home runs, a double and 33 strikeouts in 117 plate appearances. The former All-Star, batting champion and MVP candidate signed a minor league deal with Chicago last week. His power and overall offensive performance has waned in recent seasons, but Gonzalez did hit .276/.329/.467 with 16 homers for the Rox a season ago.

The Cubs are essentially taking a free look at Gonzalez to see if he can help to provide some left-handed punch to their lineup. At the moment, with Ben Zobrist away from the team indefinitely and Ian Happ posting pedestrian numbers in Iowa, the Cubs’ only lefty bats off the bench were Adduci and backup catcher Victor Caratini (a switch-hitter). He’ll get a new chance to prove he still has some fuel left in the tank and will be thrown right into the mix; Gonzalez is hitting fifth and playing right field for the Cubs today.

Adduci, 34, went hitless in five plate appearances with Chicago after joining the roster last week. He batted .261/.306/.478 through 41 games in Iowa prior to his call back to the Majors and hit .267/.290/.386 in 185 plate appearances for the Tigers last season.

Twins Activate Nelson Cruz From IL

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The Twins announced Monday that they’ve reinstated designated hitter Nelson Cruz from the injured list and optioned infielder Luis Arraez to Triple-A Rochester in order to create roster space.

Cruz, 38, missed nearly three weeks with a left wrist strain but will return to the lineup prior to the opening of a three-game series against the division-rival Indians in Cleveland. The slugger, signed in the offseason to a one-year deal worth $14.3MM (plus a 2020 team option), was off to a .270/.354/.508 start when he was placed on the IL. In 144 plate appearances, Cruz has connected on seven homers and nine doubles. With Cruz now healthy, the Twins will have their lineup at full strength for the first time in 2019; he and Miguel Sano have yet to have their time on the active roster overlap.

Arraez, 22, did nothing to sway the organization’s hope that he can be an important part of their infield mix for years to come. In 30 plate appearances, he hit .375/.467/.583 with five walks against just one strikeout while seeing action at second base, third base and shortstop. Arraez has still played only three games at the Triple-A level in his pro career, so he’ll return to that level to continue accruing everyday at-bats as he works toward a long-term spot on the Twins’ active roster.

Twins Have Held Discussions With Craig Kimbrel, Dallas Keuchel

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The Twins have shown interest in both Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The organization is “believed” to hold more interest in Kimbrel than in Keuchel at the moment, but the Twins have spoken with both players’ representatives about potential deals.

Once the clock struck midnight last night, the draft-pick compensation tied to both pitchers expired, meaning the Twins (or any other club) can now sign either pitcher without forfeiting any future draft selections or international spending allocations. As we noted late last week, Minnesota was one of the most logical landing spots for Kimbrel, and the fact that the Twins took the final three games of a four-game road set against the Rays should only serve to further embolden the front office.

Twins relievers rank 20th in the Majors with a 4.60 ERA in 2019, and while their 4.05 FIP (ninth-best) and 4.25 xFIP (11th) paint a more optimistic pitcher, the relief corps is top-heavy. Lefty Taylor Rogers has continued last year’s summer breakout with a brilliant start to the season, while Trevor May and 30-year-old rookie Ryne Harper have each been effective as well. Offseason signee Blake Parker has posted a strong 2.61 ERA, but his K/BB numbers and velocity have gone in the wrong direction while fielding-independent metrics forecast substantial regression. Righties Matt Magill, Tyler Duffey and Mike Morin have all been effective in smaller samples, with Magill and Duffey in particular posting encouraging strikeout numbers.

But the Twins have cycled through numerous options in the final couple spots of their ’pen, receiving poor results from Chase De Jong, Andrew Vasquez, Zack Littell, Austin Adams, Adalberto Mejia and Trevor Hildenberger. High hopes were held for former top prospect Fernando Romero as he moved from a starting role to the ’pen, but he’s struggled in both the Majors and in 19 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Adding Kimbrel would ideally help slow that revolving door for the final couple of bullpen spots and deepen the team’s relief mix for what looks like an increasingly likely ALDS run.

There’s certainly an argument to be made in favor of signing Keuchel, as well. The Twins have received terrific results from their top four starters, as each of Jake Odorizzi, Jose Berrios, Martin Perez and Kyle Gibson  have posted ERAs and FIPs south of 4.00. Michael Pineda has struggled as the fifth starter in his return from Tommy John surgery and is currently on the injured list. He’ll need to have his innings limited anyhow, and moving him to the bullpen could net some interesting results. He’s held opponents to a .237/.283/.419 line the first time through the order and would likely see his 92.1 mph average fastball play up in shorter stints. Keuchel isn’t the ace he was when he won the AL Cy Young Award in 2015, but he’d be an upgrade over Pineda and, if Pineda takes to a bullpen role, could help to solidify both the starting pitching and relief pitching for the Twins.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that the Twins will actually sign either pitcher, but back in January, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine spoke of supplementing the team’s core when its window was “wide open.” With an 11.5-game lead in the American League Central and a 94 percent chance to take the division, per the odds at both Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus, that would certainly appear to describe the current situation in Minnesota.

From a payroll vantage point, the Twins opened the 2018 season with a payroll just under $129MM but trimmed close to $10MM off that sum to begin the 2019 season. Signing either Kimbrel or Keuchel would quite likely push the Twins into franchise-record payroll territory, though attendance at Target Field has unsurprisingly been on the rise as the Twins have widened their division lead over the past month. There’s no indication that the team is facing any payroll constrictions, and Levine said in recent MLB Network appearance with Chris Russo (video link) that owner Jim Pohlad is “completely supportive of augmenting this team” over the course of the summer.

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