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Latest On Brandon Morrow

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Cubs reliever Brandon Morrow received an injection of “synthetic lubricant” earlier this week in the latest bid to get him back to health, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to cover on Twitter. He’ll be shut down for at least two weeks before he can resume throwing.

Morrow had been shut down recently after experiencing a setback in his rehab effort. He underwent elbow surgery last November after problems in and around the joint cost him the latter half of the 2018 season.

The news of the injection provides another rough timeline, though it’s tough at this point to assume things will go according to plan. As Wittenmyer notes, the best-case-scenario now is probably that Morrow makes it back to the MLB mound some time in July — about a year after he went on the shelf with an issue that was then expected only to cost him a few weeks.

A fully functioning version of the 34-year-old Morrow would make for a heck of a mid-season addition. The Cubs have hit their stride of late but still face a season-long battle in a tough division. With payroll constraints and a farm system that has already been mined rather heavily for promotions and trade chips in recent years, the oft-injured Morrow may yet be the organization’s best hope for a boost in the bullpen.

Unless and until he’s fully up to speed, the Cubs will likely continue to rely upon Pedro Strop as the primary closer. Steve Cishek, Brad Brach, and Brandon Kintzler also have substantial late-inning experience in the majors.

Dodgers Place A.J. Pollock On Injured List

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TODAY: Pollock has indeed gone on the IL. He underwent an “exploratory” procedure last night, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to tweet. Depending upon what was found, further work was considered a possibility; the outcome is not yet known as of this morning.

YESTERDAY: The Dodgers are likely to place center fielder A.J. Pollock on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other assembled reporters last night. Pollock dealing with an infection in his oft-injured right elbow.

Details remain scant, but Roberts indicated that the issue is related to the prior surgical procedures that Pollock has undergone on the problematic joint. The most recent occurred just before the start of the 2016 season.

Since that time, Pollock returned to action and played two mostly full seasons. He landed with the Dodgers this past winter on a four-year pact that guarantees him at least $60MM (if he triggers a fifth-year player option).

Pollock’s tenure in Los Angeles hasn’t been off to the smoothest start, with the 31-year-old carrying a .223/.287/.330 slash and drawing negative defensive metrics through 115 plate appearances. But he has been healthy and has likely been unfortunate in the batted-ball arena. Statcast credits him with career-best exit velocity and hard-hit percentage while identifying a large spread between output and expectations based upon contact quality (.268 wOBA and .318 xwOBA).

Until we learn more, speculating on Pollock’s outlook would be just that. It’s obviously suboptimal for a potentially thorny issue to arise in that particular area of his body, though the club hasn’t exactly rushed him off to the IL. In Pollock’s absence, whatever that ends up being, Alex Verdugo could see an expanded role (if his usage over the past several days is any indication). The right-handed-hitting Chris Taylor may also stand to receive added opportunities.

Jesus Sucre Accepts Outright Assignment

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The Orioles announced Tuesday that catcher Jesus Sucre accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk after clearing outright waivers. He’ll remain in the organization but will no longer require a 40-man spot for the time being.

Sucre, who was designated for assignment over the weekend as part of a series of roster moves, inked a minor league pact with the O’s back in February but broke camp as the team’s primary backstop. In 67 plate appearances prior to that DFA, he hit .210/.269/.242 with a pair of doubles.

He’s never been much with the bat, as evidenced by a lifetime .222/.260/.302 slash line in 721 Major League plate appearances, but the defensive-minded Sucre went 4-for-8 in thwarting stolen-base attempts in his short time with the Orioles. Framing metrics weren’t particularly bullish on Sucre in his tiny sample of work this season, but he’s received quality marks in that regard in the past.

With Sucre joining Chance Sisco in Triple-A, the Orioles are relying on Austin Wynns and Pedro Severino behind the plate, though that duo’s grip on their respective 25-man roster spots is hardly ironclad. Severino, a waiver claim who is out of minor league options, has hit well in 47 PAs but had a career .560 OPS prior to being claimed by Baltimore. Wynns, meanwhile, is already 28 and has never hit much above the Double-A level. That said, with Sisco struggling in Norfolk, it doesn’t seem that there’s any current impetus for a change behind the plate at the big league level.

Diamondbacks Move Zack Godley To Bullpen

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The Diamondbacks are removing right-hander Zack Godley from the rotation and placing him in the bullpen, manager Torey Lovullo said in an appearance on the Burns & Gambo show on 98.7 FM Arizona Sports. A replacement for Godley in the rotation has yet to be decided upon.

It’s been an awful start to the season for the 29-year-old Godley, who has seen his walk rate increase as his strikeout rate and velocity have decreased over the past couple of seasons. Through six starts (29 2/3 innings), he’s limped to a 7.58 with 25 strikeouts against 18 walks, two hit batters and three wild pitches.

Control has obviously been a significant struggle for Godley, but his ground-ball rate is also down a whopping 14 percent from his career year in 2017. He’s also seen his average fastball dwindle from 91.9 mph in ’17 to 89.9 mph this year, and his swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates rates have each dipped at least three percent. Sending Godley to the minors to try to get back on track wasn’t on the table, as the righty is out of minor league option and would’ve needed to pass through outright waivers in order to be sent down.

As far as in-house options, top prospect Jon Duplantier is the most appealing potential replacement for Godley, but as 98.7’s Kevin Zimmerman notes, Duplantier was just optioned to Triple-A on Sunday and would need to remain in the minors for 10 days before he could be recalled (unless he came up as an injury replacement). Well-regarded prospect Taylor Widener is off to a dismal start in Reno this season, and that’s largely true of the team’s entire collection of starters in Triple-A. Righty Emilio Vargas has thrown well for Double-A to open the season and is already on the 40-man roster, but his experience above A-ball is limited.

The struggles for Godley could scarcely come at a worse time. The late-blooming righty fell just weeks shy of arbitration eligibility this past offseason and came into the season with two years, 112 days of MLB service. A solid — or even passable — season in the rotation would’ve set him up for his first seven-figure salary in pro ball. While it’s certainly possible that he’ll return to form and move back into the rotation by season’s end, the ugly start and a move to what figures to be a low-leverage relief role won’t do his earning power any favors — assuming he sticks on the roster and ultimately qualifies for arbitration.

Ichiro Suzuki To Serve As Instructor For Mariners

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Ichiro Suzuki’s role with the Mariners has expanded, as the team announced Tuesday that the future Hall of Famer will work as an instructor with the Major League and Triple-A clubs — beginning tonight.

Ichiro will have a particular focus on outfield work and baserunning, and he’ll work in conjunction with hitting coach Tim Laker as well. Per the Mariners’ release, he’ll work the majority of the team’s home games, and he’ll also continue his role as a special assistant — although he’ll now be reporting to GM Jerry Dipoto rather than chairman John Stanton.

Ichiro’s legendary career officially came to an end earlier this season when he announced his retirement as a player following the Mariners’ two-game series against the Athletics in Tokyo. The former AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player was a 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner during his career in the United States. One of the game’s all-time great hitter, Ichiro spent parts of 19 seasons in the Majors — 14 with the Mariners — and finished with a cumulative .311/.355/.402 line (on the heels of a nine-year career with Japan’s Orix Blue Wave, for whom he batted .353/.421/.522 in 4098 plate appearances).

Tigers Place Josh Harrison On IL, Select Harold Castro

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The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve placed second baseman Josh Harrison on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 27, due to a left shoulder contusion. In his place, the club has selected the contract of infielder Harold Castro. Lefty Matt Moore was moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding 40-man roster move.

Harrison, 31, inked a one-year deal worth $2MM with the Tigers this winter, reuniting him with Pittsburgh double-play partner Jordy Mercer in the Detroit infield. He’s off to an ugly start to the season, however, hitting .156/.212/.233 through his first 99 trips to the plate. Harrison’s strikeout rate hasn’t spiked to a worrisome degree, though, and over the course of a full season one would imagine that his .181 average on balls in play will bounce back even as his hard-hit and line-drive rates have fallen off from their 2018 levels.

Castro, 25, made his big league debut with the Tigers last season but tallied just 10 plate appearances (with three hits) in September before being outrighted off the 40-man roster following the season. He stuck around with the Tigers, though, and will now get another crack at the Majors on the heels of a strong start in Toledo. Through 76 PAs, Castro is hitting .353/.392/.544 with three homers and four doubles. It’s possible that his newfound spot on the 40-man roster will be in jeopardy once Harrison is ready to go, though Castro does still have three minor league option years remaining, so the organization could also keep him on the 40-man as a valuable depth option who can be shuttled between Toledo and Detroit over the course of the season.

Angels Designate John Curtiss For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they’ve designated right-hander John Curtiss for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for prospect Griffin Canning, whose contract has now formally been selected from Triple-A Salt Lake. It was reported last week that Canning would make his MLB debut today.

Acquired in a minor January swap that sent infielder Daniel Ozoria to the Twins, Curtiss made just one appearance with the Angels, tossing 2 1/3 inning and allowing a run on two hits and three walks with a strikeout. It was only one appearance, but Curtiss averaged 92.1 mph on his heater in that outing — a substantial dip from the 95.2 mph he averaged as a rookie with the Twins in 2017.

Curtiss, long one of the more promising bullpen prospects in Minnesota’s system, has also struggled quite a bit in Triple-A early in the season. Through 8 2/3 innings, the 2014 sixth-rounder has been tagged for nine runs on 11 hits and eight walks with 11 strikeouts. The Angels will have a week to trade Curtiss, release him, or try to pass him through outright waivers. Even with his early 2019 struggles, Curtiss still has a career 3.16 ERA with nearly 11 strikeouts per nine frames at the Triple-A level (88 1/3 innings); given that success and the fact that he still has a minor league option remaining, he could draw interest from other clubs — assuming the velocity drop was a blip on the radar and not part of a larger-scale issue.

As for Canning, he’ll ascend to the Majors less than two years after being the Angels’ second pick in the 2017 draft. The Mission Viejo, Calif. native skyrocketed up three levels in the Angels’ system last season and has torn through Triple-A lineups early in 2019, pitching to a 0.56 ERA with a 17-to-2 K/BB ratio in 16 innings out of the rotation. He entered the year as a consensus Top 100 prospect and is viewed by the organization as a potential mid-rotation piece who could help to stabilize the rotation for years to come.

Mariners Option Mallex Smith To Triple-A

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned center fielder Mallex Smith to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled outfielder Braden Bishop in his place.

Certainly, that’s not the outcome Seattle hoped for when reacquiring Smith from the Rays as part of the offseason’s Mike Zunino swap. Smith, fresh off a .296/.367/.406 performance and controlled for another four years, was viewed as the hopeful center fielder of the future for the Mariners. That may very well be the case, but it had become increasingly difficult for the organization to look past the fleet-footed 25-year-old’s early struggles in 2019.

Smith has taken 110 plate appearances with the Mariners this year but managed only a .165/.255/.247 batting line in that time. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed from just 18 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2019, while his line-drive rate has fallen by nearly 10 percent as well. The drop in liners and hard-hit balls notwithstanding, Smith’s .234 average on balls in play still seems like it should bounce back, particularly given his considerable speed, but the contact issues he’s experiencing are something he’ll try to remedy in a lower-pressure environment in Tacoma.

From a service time perspective, the injury to Smith isn’t likely to change his trajectory. He entered the season with two years, 125 days of MLB service time already under his belt, meaning he need only acquire 47 days of service in 2019 to surpass the three-year mark and remain on track for free agency following the 2022 season. Smith has already acquired nearly that much service time, so he’s essentially a lock to reach three years of service time if he returns to the Majors at any point in 2019 (which seems quite likely). He’ll be arbitration-eligible in each of the next three offseasons.

With Smith in the minors for now, the Mariners can rely on Bishop in center field or slider Mitch Haniger from right field to center. In the latter scenario, Domingo Santana and Jay Bruce could man the outfield corners, with Daniel Vogelbach and Edwin Encarnacion working at first base and at designated hitter.

Josh Fields Opts Out Of Brewers Contract

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The Brewers announced Tuesday that righty Josh Fields has been released from their Triple-A affiliate in San Antonio. Per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (on Twitter), Fields exercised the April 30 opt-out clause in the minor league deal he signed with Milwaukee last month.

The former Dodgers righty was off to a miserable start to the season in San Antonio, where he’d yielded eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Fields allowed runs in six of his first seven Triple-A appearances this year, though he did finish out that otherwise forgettable stint with three shutout innings across three appearances (one hit, no walks, three strikeouts), so perhaps he’s begun to turn a corner.

Since being acquired by the Dodgers in 2016, the now-33-year-old Fields has racked up 117 1/3 innings of relief and pitched to a terrific 2.61 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 1.22 HR/9. Beyond that recent track record, Fields generally averages nearly 95 mph on his heater with strong swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, all of which should be alluring to other clubs. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher thanks to a heavy reliance on a four-seam fastball, but Fields has allowed well less than a homer per nine innings pitched dating back to 2014 (even when factoring in an outlier 1.58 HR/9 mark in 2017).

Marlins Option Lewis Brinson, Activate Garrett Cooper

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The Marlins have optioned down struggling outfielder Lewis Brinson, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro was among those to tweet. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Garrett Cooper.

It’s quite a disappointing outcome for Brinson as he prepares to celebrate his 25th birthday. The hope was that he’d have translated his obvious abilities into MLB production by this point. At the moment, Brinson has one year and 58 days of MLB service on his odometer, meaning he can only stay in the minors for 39 days if he’s to crack two full years of MLB service by season’s end.

Brinson turned in a disappointing first season in Miami after arriving as a major part of the Christian Yelich swap. Things have gotten even worse in 2019, as Brinson’s already meager power and walk numbers have cratered yet further.

All told, Brinson is sitting on a .190/.240/.321 slash line with a 30.4% strikeout rate and 4.8% walk rate through 543 plate appearances at the game’s highest level. That’s a fair sight shy of what he has produced over a similar stretch at Triple-A: .342/.398/.560 with 18 home runs and 18 steals in 497 plate appearances. And it’s well short of expectations for a player long tabbed as one of the twenty or so best prospects in baseball.

As for the 28-year-old Cooper, he’ll hope to finally get back to full health and stay that way. He was sidelined most recently with a calf strain. The Marlins have hoped for some time to give him an opportunity to prove he’s capable of hitting in the majors, but he has played in only 36 total games at all levels since joining the organization via trade in the 2017-18 offseason. Cooper will likely see time in the corner outfield and at first base.

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