Rangers Outright Shane Carle
On Sunday the Rangers announced that right-handed pitcher Shane Carle has been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. He had been designated for assignment on Friday.
Carle, 27, will remain in the Texas organization, though he’ll no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Since he was acquired from the Braves, he has pitched out of the Triple-A bullpen and has yet to appear in a Major League game for the Rangers.
After a 2018 season in which Carle posted a 2.86 ERA for Atlanta, he fell out of the organization’s good graces after he regressed to a 9.64 mark in six games this year. During his career year in 2018, Carle was an interesting case, tallying relatively few strikeouts (6.1 K/9) compared to high walk totals. His 1.59 K:BB ratio alone may have been interpreted as a red flag that his sub-3.00 ERA wouldn’t hold up in the long run. However, his value came from an extreme groundball tendency that greatly limited home runs, as he allowed just two round-trippers in 63 innings of work. Despite the unspectacular strikeout and walk numbers, that ability to keep the ball in the yard contributed to a 3.54 FIP. While still a notch below his ERA, that’s a solid mark that is usually enough to hold a spot in a Major League bullpen.
This season, though, Carle’s carrying skill vanished entirely while his shortcomings were exaggerated. In just six games of work with the Braves, Carle surrendered more home runs (3) than the entire season prior. While his strikeouts remained essentially unchanged, his walks ballooned to untenable levels, conceding nine bases on balls in 9 1/3 innings. That was enough to earn him a demotion to the minors, though his performance didn’t quite return to ideal levels.
Blue Jays Announce Flurry Of Roster Moves
The Blue Jays made a series of roster moves on Sunday, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The club has optioned pitchers Brock Stewart and Justin Shafer, allowing for the activation of Clay Buchholz from the injured list and Ken Giles from the paternity list. In addition, right-hander Nick Kingham has been designated for assignment.
Buchholz last pitched for the Jays on May 5, before a shoulder strain forced him onto the 60-day injured list and kept him out of commission for more more than three months. After completing a rehab assignment in which he made three starts, the veteran will rejoin the Toronto rotation in time to start Sunday’s game. He’ll certainly face some restrictions in his workload as he works back into Major League action; his pitch count maxed out at 67 during his rehab.
After a resurgent season in Arizona last year, Buchholz hasn’t gotten much of a chance to ingratiate himself to the Toronto organization, having made just five starts with his new club. However, that five-game sample hasn’t given the Blue Jays much to be optimistic about, as Buchholz has managed to strike out just 4.4 batters per nine innings, fueling an unimpressive 5.67 FIP. Regardless, he’ll have just over a month to straighten things out and make good on the $3MM contract he earned last winter.
Giles, meanwhile, will return to the Toronto bullpen after a few days away from the game. He’s been far and away the Jays’ most reliable pitcher, enjoying his best season since he was traded out of Philadelphia. In 40 innings this year, he’s posted a 1.80 ERA while striking out batters at a career-best rate. While the 29-year-old, who can be a free agent after next season, may not be a part of the promising Blue Jays’ future plans, he certainly provides a boon to a club that has turned some heads with its young core.
27-year-old Kingham has been on the injured list since early August owing to a strained oblique, and will now be removed from Toronto’s 40-man in favor of Buchholz. While he could remain in the organization, he’ll first need to pass through waivers. He’s already done that once this year, when the Pirates designated him and later traded him to the Blue Jays. Despite his outwardly impressive 3.00 ERA in Toronto, most indicators suggest that Kingham’s performance is roughly in line with the poor numbers that earned him a ticket out of Pittsburgh.
After more than three seasons bouncing between the ranks of the Dodgers organization, Stewart now finds himself doing more of the same, only now with Toronto. Since joining the Jays, he’s already been optioned several times, though he’s shown himself to be a serviceable long-man for the starter-thin Blue Jays. Shafer, for his part, has been a solid bullpen choice for a Toronto organization that has shuttled seemingly dozens of relievers into and out of the Major League bullpen. The 26-year-old has struck out 29 batters in 31 innings, though he has had trouble keeping the walks in check, surrendering 22 free passes for an average of 6.4 per nine innings pitched.
NL Injury Updates: Ray, Swanson, Lopez, Jeffress, Cubs, Rockies
We’ll run through a boatload of injury updates from the Senior Circuit as Sunday’s games kick off.
- Diamondbacks southpaw Robbie Ray has been activated from the 10-day injured list, the team announced. The club optioned right-hander Joel Paymaps in a corresponding 25-man move. Ray is back after just ten days away with back spasms to make his 27th start of the season against Milwaukee on Sunday. As always, he’s combined a huge strikeout rate (31.1%) with a few too many walks and longballs to be a true ace, settling in with a solid but not elite 3.99 ERA in 2019.
- Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson completed another rehab game without issue and should be activated from the 10-day injured list tomorrow, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The former first overall pick will be a welcome upgrade over the combination of Charlie Culberson and Adeiny Hechavarría, who make up Atlanta’s current shortstop mix. Swanson’s got a solid .265/.330/.468 slash (102 wRC+) for the NL East leaders.
- Marlins right-hander Pablo López is also slated to return to the big leagues tomorrow, tweets Venezuelan baseball writer Daniel Álvarez-Montes (later confirmed by MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro). The 23 year-old was off and running on cementing himself as a part of the Fish’s long-term rotation plans when he went down with a shoulder strain that ultimately cost him two months. On the season, López has logged 76.2 innings with a 4.23 ERA, albeit with more promising strikeout (23.3%) and walk (5.7%) rates.
- In less fortunate news, the Brewers placed right-handed reliever Jeremy Jeffress on the 10-day injured list today with a strained left hip. They’ve recalled fireballing 29 year-old righty Ray Black in his place. Jeffress has had a difficult second half, pitching to a 7.56 ERA in 16.2 innings since the All-Star Break. It’ll be Black’s second MLB stint in Milwaukee since they acquired him and Drew Pomeranz at the deadline for notable infield prospect Mauricio Dubón.
- The Cubs placed left-handed reliever Derek Holland on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist contusion. He sustained the injury when he was struck by a comebacker. Infielder David Bote is back from Triple-A Iowa to replace Holland on the active roster. Bote’s presence was needed to deepen the Cubs’ bench in the absence of star first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who’s day-to-day, tweets Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Rizzo left yesterday’s game with back tightness, the club announced.
- Finally, updates on a couple injured Rockies, courtesy of Thomas Harding of MLB.com (Twitter links): veteran right-hander Chad Bettis confirmed he’ll undergo season-ending surgery to correct a right hip impingement, marking the end of a year in which Bettis pitched to a 6.06 ERA. On the other hand, left-hander Kyle Freeland is working through a throwing program in hopes of mounting a late-season comeback from a groin strain, says Harding. Freeland’s 6.98 ERA is one of the chief reasons the Rockies have slumped to a 58-72 record in a year in which they hoped to contend.
Rangers Considering Cutting Rougned Odor’s Playing Time
While it seems no such move is imminent, the Rangers are at least contemplating cutting into the playing time of second baseman Rougned Odor, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 25 year-old is amidst his second dreadful season in three years.
Among qualified hitters, only Orlando Arcia has been less productive in the batters’ box than Odor, whose .197/.273/.406 slash (67 wRC+) is a far cry from the passable production he logged just last season. As the slash line indicates, Odor hasn’t had trouble hitting for power, as he’s bopped 21 home runs and posted a strong .209 ISO. Rather, he’s just given away way too many plate appearances, whether via strikeout (31.6%) or pop-up (15.6% IFFB). Odor ranks in the top ten leaguewide in both categories, with only Domingo Santana more strikeout-prone among qualifiers.
Given that lackluster performance and Odor’s similarly abysmal 2017 numbers, the organization’s patience is wearing thin. General manager Jon Daniels candidly acknowledged to Grant that “big ups and downs don’t work from a team standpoint, not when you are in the lineup every day,” and pointed out the organization has “some guys who overlap from a positional standpoint.”
Daniels clarified that his comments weren’t meant to be punitive or to put extra pressure on Odor, who both GM and manager Chris Woodward stressed has remained extremely diligent in trying to work out of the rut. That said, it’s impossible to continue to run out a player who makes as many outs as Odor has been making, and Texas does indeed have other interesting, if flawed, options.
As Grant notes, the Rangers swung a July deal with the Rays to acquire rookie second baseman Nick Solak. Amazingly, Solak’s only less than a year younger than Odor, who has been a big league mainstay for half a decade, but the rookie projects as a better hitter moving forward. Texas also has veteran Danny Santana, who has seen quite a bit of action at first base this year but profiles better at the keystone.
Whether either of those players is good enough to unseat Odor remains to be seen. Solak is a well-regarded hitting prospect but comes with a spotty at best defensive reputation, while Santana’s already 28, has a mediocre track record and has been quite BABIP-reliant in 2019. Utility prospect Eli White, meanwhile, is expected to be out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury in Triple-A.
All things considered, it seems Odor will get a little more run in Arlington. He’s starting again today, for one, and Texas’ brass continued to express optimism in his nascent ability, presumably referring to his raw power. Odor does still sport an 85th percentile hard contact rate and has 127 home runs (and counting) through his age-25 season. There are clearly still things to like about him as a player.
Nevertheless, Odor’s through over 3,000 career plate appearances with a subpar .241/.292/.435 slash (87 wRC+). He’s due another $36MM guaranteed through 2022 (with a 2023 club option) on the six-year extension he inked in March 2017, a deal that looks questionable for the team in hindsight. That price tag, while not crippling, could make an offseason trade difficult, so Texas has little recourse but to keep him on the roster. If they’re to keep running him out onto the field, though, he’ll need to tighten up his plate approach sooner rather than later.
Edwin Diaz Likely To Avoid Injured List With Trapezius Injury
Sunday: Manager Mickey Callaway told reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, today that Díaz is “slightly improved.” He’s unavailable for today’s series finale against Atlanta, but he should avoid a trip to the injured list.
Saturday: After Mets closer Edwin Diaz was removed from tonight’s 9-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves, manager Mickey Callaway indicated post-game that the embattled pitcher was dealing with “trap” tightness. When asked by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com if Diaz’s ailment was serious enough to necessitate a trip to the injured list, Callaway could only offer that it was “really hard to say” (link).
In speaking with Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News about the injury, Diaz struck the tone of an athlete frustrated by near season-long turmoil: “That’s the first time it’s happened,” Diaz said. “I don’t understand why it happened. Yesterday I felt good. When I felt like I was starting to finally get it going, something like this happens.”
It’s easy to feel sympathy for the 25-year-old hurler, who has posted the worst results of his career in 2019 after being propped up as something of a savior for the beleaguered Mets bullpen. In his final pre-arb campaign, Diaz has posted a 5.55 ERA (3.33 xFIP) through 48.2 innings. Public calls to remove Diaz from closing duties have reached near-cacophony at various points this year, but Callaway, perhaps realizing that the righty maintains solid underlying peripherals (16.2% SwStr rate and 14.79 K/9 rate), has maintained faith to this point.
If Diaz does indeed miss games, Seth Lugo would seem to be the logical choice for fill-in duties as the team seeks to gain ground in the NL Wild Card race–a race in which they are only 2.0 games back from first. Lugo has already chipped in 3 saves this year and had a 2.65 ERA as recently as Aug. 14–a date on which he was drubbed for 5 runs by the Braves. Since then, Lugo has compiled five consecutive scoreless innings, dialing back this season’s ERA figure to a tidy 3.14 in 63.0 innings.
Jose Alvarado Heading Back To Injured List
Sunday: Alvarado felt the injury after yesterday’s game, not on any specific pitch during the contest, he tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll undergo an MRI Monday, Topkin adds. The team confirmed his IL placement today, calling his injury “left elbow inflammation.”
Saturday, 9:33 pm: Topkin confirms the move, adding that infielder Joey Wendle will return to the active roster on Sunday to take Alvarado’s place (Twitter link). Specifics on Alvarado’s injury are still forthcoming.
Saturday, 9:02 pm: Rays manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that reliever Jose Alvarado is heading for the injured list once again after the lefty complained of elbow pain following Tampa’s 7-1 loss to Baltimore today (Twitter link). Alvarado was previously activated from the injured list on Aug. 13 after missing time with an oblique strain.
The tides of injury are currently running against the Rays, who recently lost key infielder Brandon Lowe for the rest of the season. Now, this report indicates that Cash will again be without the services of one of his more imposing bullpen arms.
Though Alvarado hasn’t been battle-tested enough to be called a bullpen stalwart, his left arm features a blazing fastball that Cash has felt comfortable deploying against both same-sided and right-handed batters this year. His healthy 12.6% Swinging Strike rate hints at the effectiveness of his 98 mph sinker and his nearly untouched cutter, the latter of which has induced a .080 BA when used against opposing hitters this year. Alvarado had amassed just 3.0 scoreless innings this second-half following his return from injury, and now, ominously, comes this news of an ailing elbow. The lefty had been used as the “opener” in tonight’s game–an appearance which, possibly due to injury, saw Alvarado unleash two wild pitches en route to an ineffective .1 IP of work.
Oliver Perez’s 2020 Option Vests
Oliver Pérez came on in the sixth inning of yesterday’s Indians game to strike out Royals first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. In the process, he locked in $2.75MM, as Zack Meisel of the Athletic points out (via Twitter).
Cleveland’s biggest signee of this past offseason, Pérez was guaranteed just $2.5MM for 2019. However, that pact came with a 2020 option that vested for $2.75MM yesterday, as the lefty appeared in his 55th game of the season. It would escalate to $3MM if he entered 60 contests.
As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted when taking inventory of every vesting option around baseball, Pérez seems likely to take home that $3MM maximum salary, with over a month remaining to get into five more games. Given his production, the club will no doubt be happy to keep cutting the checks.
While he hasn’t been quite as otherworldly in 2019 as he was last season, Pérez has been more than effective, again putting up sparkling strikeout (29.3%) and walk (6.1%) rates with run prevention numbers to match (2.83 ERA). While that production has been in short stints (he’s logged just 35 innings in those 55 games), his per-batter dominance has been a boon to a bullpen that’s been the league’s best at keeping runs off the board. There’s no doubt the 38 year-old will be happy to be back next season, as he recently told Meisel he planned to continue playing regardless of his contract status.
If there’s any reason for concerns about this development, it could be that pitchers with Pérez’s skillset will be diminished by the forthcoming three-batter minimum for relief pitchers. Left-on-left specialists, particularly, seem most threatened by the rule, which is likely to kick off in 2020 and could enable opposing managers to stack their lineup with opposite-handed pinch hitters to put the pitcher at a platoon disadvantage. While Pérez handled right-handers reasonably well between 2017-2018, they’ve teed off on him this season, and pitchers as reliant on a slider as Pérez is tend to have sizable platoon splits.
That said, $2.75MM (or $3MM) remains a reasonable price to pay for a pitcher who’s been so effective in his time in Cleveland. In pursuit of a playoff spot, whether it be the AL Central or Wild Card game, expect Terry Francona to lean heavily on the wily southpaw down the stretch.
AL Notes: Benintendi, Calhoun, Rays
As the American League wild card race gets closer by the day, we’ll take a look at some other news and notes from the Junior Circuit.
- Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi left last night’s game against the Padres in the sixth inning with left side tightness, as relayed by Chris Cotillo of Mass Live. For now, he remains day-to-day, with manager Alex Cora telling Cotillo he’ll be evaluated on Monday’s off day. Benintendi won’t be available today, per Cora, although he was due for a maintenance day regardless, the skipper noted. The University of Arkansas product hasn’t quite emerged as the superstar many envisioned when he was one of baseball’s top prospects, but he’s no doubt a valuable and important piece of Boston’s outfield mix, boasting a solid .283/.357/.462 slash line (112 wRC+). The Sox have won seven of their last ten games, but as Rob Bradford of WEEI points out, they haven’t made up much ground in their pursuit of a Wild Card spot in recent weeks. Fangraphs gives the defending champions just a 6.4% shot of getting to the play-in game, and any long-term absence for Benintendi would only deplete those odds further. Fortunately, the club is optimistic at this point he’ll return Tuesday for the start of a series against the Rockies, per Cotillo.
- Willie Calhoun is beginning to look like a core piece for the future, opines Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Following a slow start to his MLB career, Calhoun has mashed since this year’s All-Star break, and his .292/.333/.579 line on the season is awfully impressive, even considering Globe Life Park’s hitter-friendly tendencies (128 wRC+). Calhoun tells Grant he made a swing adjustment this offseason hoping to elevate the ball and take advantage of his cozy home environment. He’s done exactly that, pushing his average launch angle from 11.6° in 2018 to 18.4° this season. Calhoun’s not without question marks- he’s not well-regarded defensively anywhere on the diamond and his batted ball metrics don’t quite line up with his stellar results- but he’s nonetheless worked his way into the organization’s good graces, as manager Chris Woodward raved to Grant about the slugger’s improved focus and plate approach.
- The Rays are getting some help on the injury front, rounds up Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In addition to the returns of Joey Wendle and Avisaíl García, the club is seeing some progress on the pitching side. Ace Blake Snell, out since July 22 with a left elbow injury, is on track to throw a bullpen session this week, while potential ace Tyler Glasnow just wrapped up a ‘pen of his own. Glasnow, who’s hoping to return from a forearm strain as a reliever, is on track for a rehab assignment and could return during the club’s next homestand, which spans August 30 to September 8. Contributions from those two, as well as solid starter Yonny Chirinos, who’s feeling better three weeks after hitting the shelf with finger inflammation in his pitching hand, would be a boon to a club up half a game on Oakland for the AL’s final playoff spot.
West Notes: Flores, Laureano, Mariners
Utilityman Wilmer Flores isn’t the most heavily deployed player in Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo‘s stable, but it’s been nonetheless strange to see the veteran–who is hitting .421 in sixteen August games–sit out since Tuesday’s game against the Rockies. The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro now sheds a little light on that curious state of affairs, as the scribe relays that Flores has been dealing with a back issue (link). Apparently, Flores doesn’t consider the ailment “overly serious”, and Lovullo informed Piecoro that the former Met has been available over the last few days.
That the club is exercising caution with Flores is interesting, considering that Arizona holds a $6MM option on Flores’s multidimensional services next year. It’s possible that the club is nursing Flores and his injured back with an eye on keeping him in the club’s employ next year–then again, it’s just as possible that the sliding club, with a 3-7 record in their last ten games, is simply playing out the string on what promises to be a developmentally oriented close to the 2019 season.
More notes from around the left coast…
- Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano will get at-bats in Arizona in the next several days, according to information from manager Bob Melvin relayed to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser (link). Laureano has been out since July 28th with a leg injury, and previous reports indicated that he would get some at-bats with High-A Stockton before ultimately being activated. In his first extended big league look, Laureano provided the club with 419 at-bats of .284/.334/.518 production in 2019 while doing some nice things on the outfield grass (his 8 outfield assists rank him 3rd among centerfielders).
- Mariners great Felix Hernandez returned to big league confines on Saturday, drawing standing ovations from fans while dialing up 5.2 innings of two-run ball in a 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays. While it was a welcome return for M’s fans, it did mean that lefty Wade LeBlanc would be transitioning back into a multi-inning relief role. LeBlanc has gamely offered the Mariners 8 starts and 21 appearances in 2019, although the 5.52 ERA he’s amassed in 109.1 innings goes a long way toward explaining his demotion back to a bullpen-only role moving forward.
Jose Ramirez Removed From Game, Undergoes MRI
It was in the first inning of tonight’s game with the Royals that Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez swung and missed on a high fastball from pitcher Glenn Sparkman. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be news–except for the fact that Ramirez signaled for trainers following his swing and was promptly removed from the contest.
Shortly thereafter, the Columbus Clippers–the Indians Triple-A affiliate– removed infielder Yu Chang from their lineup in a game against the Toledo Mud Hens. If you’re reading tea leaves, the conjunction of these two events would seem to be related, and a tweet from MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince confirms that Chang will be called up in the event of an IL placement for Ramirez (link). Castrovince goes on to reveal that Ramirez underwent an MRI on his right wrist tonight, but that it doesn’t appear as if the team will issue a “substantial” update this evening. Meanwhile, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal heard from manager Terry Francona tonight that Ramirez has been dealing with wrist discomfort for “a while” (link).
A sustained absence for Ramirez would seem to spell some level of doom for the Tribe. After back-to-back poor halves to close last season and open this one, Ramirez has reemerged this summer as an offensive beast. His .327 batting average, 13 home runs, and 6 steals through 40 second-half games have gone a long way toward maintaining the team’s position atop the AL Wild Card race–despite a 3-7 record in their last 10 games entering play Saturday. At time of posting, the Indians sit in a three-way tie with the Tampa Bay Rays and the surging Oakland Athletics in a battle for the postseason’s two final play-in spots.