Royals Designate Frank Schwindel For Assignment
The Royals have designated first baseman Frank Schwindel for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for infield prospect Nicky Lopez, whose previously announced promotion to the Major Leagues is now official (Twitter link via Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star).
Schwindel, 26, opened the 2019 season on the active roster with the Royal but appeared in only six games before returning to the minors. He’s had a rough go of it so far in Triple-A Omaha, hitting just .186/.237/.286 with a homer and four doubles through 76 trips to the plate. That said, Schwindel enjoyed a much more productive 2018 run in Omaha when he hit .286/.336/.506 with 24 homers and 38 doubles, and he’s generally been a productive bat since arriving on the scene in Triple-A back in 2017.
The move to designate Schwindel buys struggling veteran Chris Owings some additional time on the active roster. Kansas City signed the former D-backs utilityman to a one-year deal worth $3MM this past offseason, but Owings has mustered only a .143/.209/.244 output in 129 trips to the plate so far. For now, he’ll continue to try to sort things out at the MLB level, but Lopez’s arrival will further cut into his already dwindling playing time.
Jed Lowrie Suffers Setback
Mets infielder Jed Lowrie has suffered a setback that will delay his activation, Andy Martino of SNY.tv reports on Twitter. A “slight hamstring strain” will force Lowrie back to extended spring training for several more weeks of rehab work.
Lowrie has already spent the first six weeks of the season on the injured list with a sprained left knee. The 35-year-old played in eight games on a rehab assignment, hitting just .161/.235/.258 with ten strikeouts in 34 plate appearances.
To this point, the Mets have not received any return on their two-year, $20MM investment in Lowrie, who signed on in New York after an impressive pair of seasons with the Athletics. There’s still plenty of time for him to perform as expected, though it’s suboptimal for his tenure to open in this manner.
Furthermore, the new injury to Lowrie will quite likely prolong what has long been viewed as an impending roster crunch of sorts in Queens. A healthy Lowrie could very well have pushed wither Adeiny Hechavarria or Keon Broxton — neither of whom can be optioned to the minors without first hitting waivers — off the active roster. Instead, both players will now likely continue to hold down bench jobs, though between the lack of roster flexibility they offer and the struggles of veteran Todd Frazier, it’s not out of the question that changes are still looming on the horizon.
Braves Designate Jerry Blevins
The Braves have designated lefty Jerry Blevins for assignment, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. Righty Kyle Wright was already optioned down, thus creating two active roster openings that will be filled by relievers Jesse Biddle (back from the IL) and Wes Parsons (recalled from Triple-A).
Blevins opened the season in the Athletics organization, facing the unfamiliar position of earning his way onto a major league roster. He ended up being acquired by the Braves and installed in their relief unit.
Things haven’t worked out as hoped for Blevins, who has allowed four runs with four strikeouts and three walks in his 3 1/3 innings over six appearances. That’s too short a sample to draw any final conclusions, but Blevins was working at or near career-worst levels of velocity (89.1 mph average fastball), swinging strikes (8.1%), and hard contact (50.0%) in th ebrief showing.
Latest On MASN Dispute
MAY 14: Court filings reveal that the recent arbitration ruling largely reflected the decision of the original panel, per a recent report from Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun. If the ruling is upheld, MASN will likely be required to disburse something on the order of $60MM to $70MM in back payments to the Nationals. (The panel awarded nearly $100MM in added rights fees, but the network’s profit recalculation would reduce the net dollar amount owed.)
APRIL 23: The Orioles and Nationals have long been embroiled in a dispute regarding TV rights fees from the jointly owned (but Orioles-controlled) Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. Sorting things out with finality has taken ages, but there are finally some new developments of note.
Another arbitration proceeding before MLB’s revenue sharing committee is finally in the books, though the results aren’t yet known, per Ben Strauss of the Washington Post (Twitter links). The Nats are seeking to have the results confirmed by the New York court that has overseen the related litigation between the ballclubs.
The sides originally went to court when the Orioles challenged the committee’s first award of rights fees to the Nats, successfully arguing that the D.C. organization’s counsel had a conflict of interest. Now, the revenue sharing committee has issued a new decision regarding what constitutes fair market value for the rights to televise Nationals games.
Typically, it’s quite difficult to upset an arbitration award in court, though that didn’t stop the Baltimore organization from securing a victory way back in the full of 2015. Whether and how the O’s will attack the new award isn’t known, but it seems likely that the club will keep up what has been an all-out battle until it has exhausted all its options.
Indeed, the Orioles recently opened up something of a new front, as Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter has covered (here and here). MASN began withholding “cash flow payments” to the Nats early in 2018, then balked at a MLB-run arbitration process. While that’s called for contractually, the Orioles have taken the position that the league has an interest in the dispute because it made the Nationals a $25MM advance to deal with the long-ongoing issue discussed above.
The Baltimore organization then launched a proceeding before the American Arbitration Association. Their unhappy partners to the south responded by putting the matter to the New York court. The initial decision was in favor of the O’s, but it’s of limited moment: the court determined that the AAA panel has the authority in the first instance to determine whether the matter is properly before it, since the contract contemplates a AAA proceeding in the event of a conflict of interest.
Head spinning yet? It should be, as this is all now several layers removed from the underlying issue: what’s fair market value for the Nats’ TV rights? The Orioles have successfully introduced quite a few procedural roadblocks to the D.C. organization’s ability to receive stepped-up pay-outs and even created some possibility of securing a friendlier forum to decide the matter. As things stand, there’s a competing arbitration proceeding even as an award has come down from the revenue sharing committee, with ongoing litigation overlaying things. When and how it’ll all be resolved remains anyone’s guess.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Trea Turner Begins Rehab Assignment
Nationals shortstop Trea Turner is set to launch a rehab assignment today, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports on Twitter. He’ll open at High-A Potomac.
Turner was off to a scorching start to the season before he suffered a broken right index finger, with two home runs and four steals in just four games of action. The club’s ensuing struggles can’t be blamed entirely on the absences of Turner and others, but it has most assuredly not helped.
It isn’t yet known how long Turner will need to ramp back up, but his rehab assignment is capped at twenty days. It seems reasonable to hope that the Nats will have Turner in action for most or all of the month of June; they’ll need him to be at his best if they’re to regain ground in the NL East.
Brewers Promote Keston Hiura
12:34pm: Hiura’s promotion is official, along with the corresponding moves to open roster space.
9:33am: The Brewers will promote exciting second base prospect Keston Hiura, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Precise timing and corresponding roster moves aren’t yet clear.
Hiura, 22, entered the present season as a consensus top-twenty prospect leaguewide. Baseball Prospectus was particularly bullish, ranking him sixth. If the promotion occurs in advance of today’s game, Hiura can accrue as many as 139 days of service this year, setting him up for potential future Super Two qualification.
The ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft, Hiura has done nothing but hit since becoming a professional. That’s more or less what was expected out of the UC-Irvine product, who was seen as a highly advanced college batter. But he has perhaps exceeded expectations with a breakout start to the 2019 season.
Through 147 plate appearances this year at the highest level of the minors, Hiura carries a hefty .333/.408/.698 slash line with 11 long balls. It’s not entirely surprising to see the power emerging, though this is certainly whole new level of pop for a player who tallied 13 homers in 535 total plate appearances last year. That power surge comes as part of a PCL-wide jump, though Hiura still owns an impressive 164 wRC+.
That’s not to say that there aren’t any concerns at all. Hiura has boosted his walk rate a bit, topping ten percent for the first time, but doesn’t draw a notable number of free passes. And he’s carrying a 27.2% strikeout rate this year, a significant step up from his prior levels and a potential area of concern as he adapts to MLB pitching.
Hiura isn’t seen as a particularly impressive defender, and does have a history of elbow woes, though he’s generally expected to provide solid-enough glovework at second base. Just how the Brewers will allocate playing time will be interesting to observe. Mike Moustakas will presumably continue to see more time at third base, creating added uncertainty for the struggling Travis Shaw.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Brewers To Designate Cory Spangenberg; Travis Shaw Likely Headed To IL
The Brewers appear to have lined up roster moves to accommodate the promotion of second baseman Keston Hiura. Milwaukee will designate utilityman Cory Spangenberg for assignment, per an announcement from the club’s San Antonio affiliate. And it appears likely that third baseman Travis Shaw will head to the IL with a wrist injury, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Spangenberg had been stationed at San Antonio to open the year after signing onto the MLB roster (albeit on a split contract) over the offseason. The former first-round draft pick struggled to a .212/.305/.317 batting line in his 118 plate appearances, tallying forty strikeouts along the way.
It hasn’t been a pleasant start to the season for Shaw, either. The 29-year-old is carrying only a .163/.266/.281 batting line with four home runs and fifty strikeouts. That’s well shy of the strong offensive output he has provided the Brew Crew over the past two campaigns. Shaw played last night without evident issue; the severity of his wrist issue isn’t yet known.
Indians Promote Oscar Mercado
TODAY: Mercado’s promotion has been announced. Naquin will indeed hit the IL with calf tightness.
YESTERDAY: The Indians are calling upon a top minor-league performer, per MLB.com’s Mandy Bell (via Twitter). Young outfielder Oscar Mercado is heading up to the MLB roster, with Tyler Naquin likely headed to the 10-day injured list.
Mercado, a former second-round pick who was picked up in a trade last summer from the Cardinals, has been on a tear for most of the season at Triple-A. He’s slashing .294/.396/.496 over 140 plate appearances, with four home runs and 14 stolen bases in 17 attempts.
The Cleveland organization is badly in need of a boost after watching two of its best players go down to injury and spotting the Twins four games in the AL Central. To this point of the season, just one of the team’s outfielders (Jordan Luplow) has managed to produce offensively at better than an 87 wRC+ rate.
Prospect Promotions & Super Two Timing
Super Two status opens the door to an extra season of arbitration eligibility for certain younger players. Among players in the 2+ service class that spent at least 86 days in the prior season on an active MLB roster (or the injured list), the top 22% in terms of total service receive the Super Two designation. We won’t know the specific service level required until the class has been fully defined.
The ability to achieve that status is dictated primarily by early-career promotion decisions. It’s a factor for teams to consider as they manage their rosters. But it isn’t as strong of a motivator as the math that strongly disincentivizes teams from placing top young prospects on Opening Day rosters. (Kris Bryant recently labeled that a “loophole” that needs to be closed.) Super Two players are still controllable for the same duration as any others, thus preserving teams’ abilities to control the prime years of their best young talent and maintain timing-based bargaining leverage in long-term contract talks.
It’s tempting to think that Super Two status doesn’t matter all that much. True, some teams can largely afford to throw such considerations out the window, figuring that any future payroll impacts can be dealt with if and when they arise. It’s unlikely that the Red Sox worried too much about Super Two status when they decided to bring up Michael Chavis recently. If it turned out he wasn’t quite ready or needed for the duration of the season, he’d go back down anyway. And if he produced — as he has thus far — the long-term sacrifices would be well worth it even for just another month or two of immediate production.
For many teams, it’s tough to be cavalier when the stakes can be so significant. Since the arb system rewards players via raises once they are in the system, the ability to start with a big number and add to it three times vastly increases a player’s potential cumulative pre-free agency earning power. It’s not always obvious at the time the decision is being made, but don’t doubt for a second the degree of potential impact.
Consider Edwin Diaz, the stud closer who was traded over the offseason from the Mariners to the Mets. You may recall that money was a significant aspect of that deal (even moreso than your average MLB swap). Seattle was able to shed a big chunk of Robinson Cano‘s remaining salary and add some intriguing young talent by agreeing to part with Diaz. Beyond his abilities on the mound, why was it that Diaz was such a desirable asset? Since Diaz fell shy of arbitration, the Mets were able to renew his contract at just $607K. MLBTR’s arbitration projections would have valued things quite differently had Diaz made it through the door, predicting a whopping $7.5MM salary due to his rare combination of dominant innings and saves. Diaz should still be able to command a big first-year arb salary this fall, but he’ll have to stay healthy to do so and will be starting from scratch rather than building off that massive starting point. The M’s, meanwhile, are enjoying a significantly different payroll situation; had Diaz been a Super Two qualifier, the Mets would’ve had a completely different view of how much Cano salary they’d be amenable to absorbing.
It works the other way, of course. Nationals shortstop Trea Turner snuck in with 2.135 years of service and earned $3.725MM. Tigers southpaw Matt Boyd checked in with a 2.136 service clock and got $2.6MM. And Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr., who landed on the dot at 2.134, took home $1.5MM. Things can change quickly in baseball. Turner has been hurt early this year, so his extra arb year will help prop up his ability to earn this fall and beyond. Boyd has taken an ace turn early; if he’s able to sustain even this one monster big-league season, he could be able to secure life-long financial security as soon as this fall. As for Edwards, he was optioned down earlier this year, which demonstrates another of the perils that’s protected against by early arb qualification.
So, we’d love to know which young players will ultimately obtain that status. When is this year’s cutoff? Well, that’s a bit of a misnomer. There’s no way to know in advance how much service it will take. Even if you look at the other players being promoted, you can’t assume they’ll all remain in the majors. And others could still drop back into the 2+ service class if they’re demoted in the future.
Over the past decade, the Super Two cutoff level has ranged from a low of 2.122 to a high of 2.146. Last year’s 2.134 cutoff lands smack dab in the middle. Players that were promoted on or before May 7th of this year were in line to accrue 146 days of service this season, thus putting them on track to clear all the bars we’ve seen in recent campaigns. Players promoted today could accrue as many as 139 days of service this season. And a player can top out at 122 days if they make it onto the active roster on the last day of May. Generally, a June promotion point should be “safe” for teams that want to avoid eventual Super Two status (that is, for prospects that haven’t previously accumulated any time).
Of course, coming up doesn’t always mean staying up. Nationals infielder Carter Kieboom was optioned back after 11 days; Rays first bagger Nate Lowe logged ten. They could still return and boost those tallies. Or, the days could come into play for 2020 promotion considerations; that’s how Turner ended up with his tally. A fair number of other younger players are firmly on track for eventual Super Two status so long as they can stay up. Chavis, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Griffin Canning, and Nick Senzel are all tracking to reach 150 or more days of service this year. With his promotion on Sunday, Astros righty Corbin Martin could max out at 141 days in 2019. Most recently, youngsters Nicky Lopez (link) and Oscar Mercado (link) were tapped for call-ups, though the precise dates aren’t yet clear.