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Nationals Designate Tim Collins

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The Nationals have designated lefty Tim Collins for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot was needed for the activation of Matt Adams from the 10-day DL.

With the Nats stuck in a brutal run of poor results, they’ll sacrifice some bullpen depth in order to increase their offensive options with the return of Adams. The first baseman had been on the shelf after suffering a minor finger fracture on a bunt attempt.

Collins, 28, has worked to a 2.77 ERA in his 13 innings on the year — his first frames in the bigs since way back in 2014. Unfortunately, he has also managed only eight strikeouts while issuing six walks.

There were some positive signs, too. Collins is working at 93.1 mph with his fastball, right near his career average, and has managed an 11.2% swinging-strike rate. He has been tagged by righties (.455 wOBA) but been equally dominant against lefties (.191 wOBA).

For the Nats, there were simply more pressing needs than another lefty reliever. With Matt Grace on hand and Sammy Solis in reserve at Triple-A, there are other options. Plus, the club could conceivably mix and match in the late innings rather than using southpaw Sean Doolittle exclusively as a closer. Whether another team will value Collins as a MLB roster piece remains to be seen; if not, perhaps he could end up back at Triple-A in the D.C. organization.

Red Sox Activate Tyler Thornburg

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The Red Sox have officially activated right-hander Tyler Thornburg, marking his first appearance on the club’s active roster. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweeted last night that the move was set to be made and the club announced it this morning.

Now 29, Thornburg came over from the Brewers in a Winter Meetings swap in advance of the 2017 campaign. The package delivered third baseman Travis Shaw and prospects Mauricio Dubon, Josh Pennington and Yeison Coca to Milwaukee.

At the time, MLBTR contributor Burke Badenhop — who had once been traded between these same teams — interviewed Thornburg to discuss the move and give him a taste of what to expect. Unfortunately, the anticipated appearances at Fenway Park never took place in the season that followed.

Thornburg came down with somewhat mysterious shoulder troubles during the offseason and ultimately underwent a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome in July of 2017. He has been working back ever since.

Despite the uncertainty, the Red Sox staked an additional bet on Thornburg over the winter by tendering him arbitration. He’s earning $2.05MM, a repeat of his 2017 salary, and can be controlled for one more campaign through the arb process.

Thornburg’s first appearances with the Boston organization came on his just-completed rehab assignment. In 16 1/3 total upper-minors innings this year, he owns a 4.96 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. As those numbers might hint, reports on Thornburg have wavered a bit, suggesting he may still be settling in after a long layoff.

It’s hard to know what to expect at this point, certainly, but Thornburg was quite impressive in his most recent MLB season — a breakout 2016 effort. Sitting at 94 and getting whiffs on about a dozen out of every hundred pitches, he turned in 67 frames of 2.15 ERA ball with 12.1 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 along with a 32.4 percent ground-ball rate.

Now, Thornburg will be trying to reestablish himself at the game’s highest level. The Red Sox, meanwhile, will be watching closely to see if he’s capable of fulfilling an important role down the stretch, perhaps reducing the need for any outside additions to the team’s array of right-handed setup options.

Manny Machado Trade Talks Have Reportedly Accelerated

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Though there’s still four weeks until the 2018 non-waiver trade deadline, trade talks surrounding Manny Machado have “accelerated” in recent days, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Orioles, according to Rosenthal, would prefer to move Machado “sooner rather than later,” as they can extract more in a trade if the acquiring team controls Machado for three months as opposed to two months.

To this point in the summer, the teams most connected to Machado have been the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Indians. The Brewers and Cubs have been more loosely tied to Machado on the rumor mill, though Rosenthal reports that while Milwaukee is doing its due diligence, the team is unlikely to meet Baltimore’s asking price.

That, it seems, could be true of the Phillies as well. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that the Phillies should be considered “longshots” in the Machado trade sweepstakes. Zolecki writes that while the Phillies “love” Machado and plan to make a serious run at him in the offseason, the team doesn’t feel itself to be one piece away from a World Series. That, of course, makes it considerably more difficult to meet what is likely a rather lofty asking price from the O’s.

Rosenthal suggests that the D-backs and Indians could be the “most motivated” teams in the Machado market, and Zolecki, too, specifically lists the D-backs as a club likelier to acquire Machado than the Phillies.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, meanwhile, tweets that the Dodgers continue to “aggressively” pursue Machado, adding that the Orioles have been scouting L.A.’s system heavily and are particularly interested in Class-A Advanced right-hander Dustin May. There’d obviously be more at play than a mere one-for-one swap, but May, a third-round pick in 2016, is generally considered to be among the Dodgers’ more promising young arms. He’s off to a strong start in 2018 as well, having pitched to a 3.18 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 54.1 percent ground-ball rate through 65 innings (12 starts).

Of course, there could still be other organizations involved in discussions. Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweets that eight teams have had at least some engagement with the O’s regarding Machado within the past ten days. That would suggest that there are at least a few mystery teams hanging around the periphery of talks.

MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Chapman, McCann, Ohtani, Vizcaino

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(July 3rd)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

  • KANSAS CITY ROYALS | Depth Chart
    • Placed on 10-Day DL: SP Ian Kennedy (strained oblique)
      • No word on who will take Kennedy’s scheduled turn on Wednesday.

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

Royals Sign First-Rounder Brady Singer

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The Royals announced today that they have signed first round pick Brady Singer, as Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com first reported on Twitter. Kansas City will spend $4.25MM, well over the $3,349,300 slot value for the 18th overall selection, to land Singer.

Singer will join teammate Jackson Kowar (who reportedly agreed to terms yesterday) in going from a powerhouse University of Florida staff into the K.C. system. The pair  drew ample attention in the run-up to the draft. Both pitchers ended up being among the first six college hurlers to leave the board. (UVA product Daniel Lynch went to the Royals one pick after Kowar, at #34.)

Most draft pundits agreed that Singer was, at a minimum, among the twenty or so best prospects. But there was certainly a range of opinion as to just how rosy his future outlook is. MLB.com rated him second only to unquestioned top prospect Casey Mize among all draft-eligible players. ESPN.com’s Keith Law, meanwhile, had Singer at 21st on his board.

The optimists argue that Singer has just about everything you could want in a pitching prospect, with a good frame and track record of durability combined with good command, oft-lauded competitiveness, and a projection of three quality pitches. On the other side, Law questions whether Singer will shake out in the rotation at the game’s highest level, citing concern with his delivery and ability to maintain his best stuff.

The Royals obviously believe in Singer, who is the most visible member of the team’s draft class — the composition of which reflects a clear strategy to add advanced amateur arms to the system. All of the players the Royals selected in the first ten rounds of the draft are now under contract, as fourth-rounder Eric Cole has also agreed to terms.

Phillies To Sign Ryan Goins

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The Phillies have signed infielder Ryan Goins to a minor-league pact, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll head to the team’s Triple-A affiliate.

Goins joined the Royals over the winter after wrapping up a five-year run with the Blue Jays. He ended up seeing 41 games of action before being designated for assignment, turning in a .226/.252/.313 slash in 120 turns with the bat.

While the thirty-year-old has long earned plaudits for his glovework, that offensive output is all too familiar. Goins is a .228/.274/.333 hitter through over fifteen-hundred MLB plate appearances.

Mariners Extend Wade LeBlanc

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The Mariners have announced an extension with southpaw Wade LeBlanc. It’ll include a guaranteed salary for the 2019 season and a trio of club/vesting options thereafter. LeBlanc is represented by Joe Rosen.

LeBlanc, 33, will be guaranteed $2.75MM in total, according to reports from ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter links). That includes a $300K signing bonus and $2MM salary for 2019.

The club options are priced at $5MM apiece and come with $450K in total buyouts. They’ll vest if LeBlanc reaches 160 innings in the immediately preceding season or 310 innings in the two prior years. If all the options are exercised and all potential bonuses and escalators are achieved, the deal could reach a total of $32MM over its four possible seasons.

For the Mariners, the move adds three seasons of control without much in the way of risk. LeBlanc was actually slated to be eligible for arbitration in 2019, so the deal will technically buy out an arb year and give the Seattle organization control over three would-be free agent campaigns.

Needless to say, this is rather an unusual contractual arrangement. Then again, LeBlanc isn’t a typical extension target. He’ll soon turn 34 years of age and is earning just $650K this year after joining the M’s in the middle of camp when he was released from his minors deal with the Yankees.

Indeed, it wasn’t long ago that LeBlanc joined the MLBTR podcast to discuss his search for another MLB opportunity. He has thrown 202 frames in the majors since that time, but it wasn’t until recently that he showed enough to make an agreement of this kind seem possible.

Thus far in 2018, LeBlanc carries a 3.38 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 72 frames for the Mariners. In addition to five relief outings, he has now taken the ball for 11 starts. That level of success isn’t likely to continue. He doesn’t throw a pitch that averages even 87 mph and has below-average rates of swinging strikes (8.8%) and groundballs (35.6%).

That said, LeBlanc has looked like a solid MLB hurler this year. Despite the frequency of fly balls, he has not surrendered too many dingers (1.13 per nine but on a below-average 9.8% HR/FB rate). And though he has likely been fortunate on batted-ball results, his spread of Statcast numbers (.337 xwOBA vs. .309 wOBA) isn’t particularly extreme.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Indians Sign First-Rounder Noah Naylor

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The Indians have announced a deal with first-round draft choice Noah Naylor, as MLB.com’s Jim Callis first reported (via Twitter). He’ll receive a $2,578,138 bonus that lands just over the $2,332,700 allocation that came with the 29th overall pick.

Naylor, a Canadian high-school backstop, had committed to Texas A&M. A consensus top-thirty talent, he garnered particularly notable support from ESPN.com’s Keith Law. Naylor rated 14th on Law’s pre-draft board, owing to excellent overall hitting ability and a quality all-around toolset.

Those that aren’t quite as optimistic question whether Naylor really has much power upside and, particularly, whether he’ll add value defensively. Law believes that the youngster will settle in as a quality third or second baseman, while some scouts aren’t sold on Naylor’s potential with the glove. It’s still not entirely clear whether or not he will remain behind the plate to begin his career in the Cleveland organization.

Naylor will now join his older brother — Padres prospect Josh Naylor — in the professional ranks. The Cleveland organization also announced that it has signed all of its first twenty picks from the draft.

Angels Activate Shohei Ohtani

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The Angels have announced the activation of Shohei Ohtani from the 10-day DL. He stayed on the shelf for just under a month after being diagnosed with a grade 2 UCL strain.

Though he is not expected to resume pitching at this time, Ohtani will at least bolster the Halos lineup. Indications are that he can swing freely without concern of further injuring his elbow.

The burgeoning star has outperformed the hype in all regards since coming over from Japan over the winter. As a hitter, Ohtani carries a .289/.372/.535 slash with six home runs in 129 plate appearances.

Ohtani will slot into the sixth slot of the lineup tonight, serving as the club’s designated hitter. In all likelihood, he’ll see quite a lot of time in that role until he’s able to begin throwing in earnest and, hopefully, get back on the mound.

The Angels have also called up righty Miguel Almonte. To create roster space, fellow right-handers Deck McGuire and Eduardo Paredes were optioned down.

Orioles Place Colby Rasmus On Restricted List

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The Orioles announced today that they have placed outfielder Colby Rasmus on the restricted list. He informed the team that he has decided not to continue playing, Jon Meoli of the Baltmore Sun tweets.

This is the second time that Rasmus has elected to leave his current team in the middle of the season. Last July, the Rays made a restricted list placement when Rasmus decided he would leave the organization. But he ended up pursuing a comeback with the O’s over the ensuing winter, signing a minors pact that included a $3MM salary and $2MM in potential incentives if Rasmus cracked the MLB roster.

It was long apparent that Rasmus would likely go north with the O’s out of camp, and that’s just what happened. But he went onto the disabled list only ten days into the season, with a hip strain that cost him a long stretch.

Unlike last year, when Rasmus was quite effective when on the field, he has struggled quite a bit in 2018. Through 49 plate appearances, he has just six base hits — only two of which went for extra bases.

It is a bit difficult to imagine that Rasmus will resume playing after this decision, though there’s no indication as of yet that he has formally retired. Prior to his more recent teams, Rasmus played with the Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Astros over a ten-year career.

If this is the end of the line, the former first-round pick and top prospect will wrap things up with a mixed record. On the one hand, Rasmus turned in a few substantially above-average seasons as a hitter and defender. That said, he rarely put it all together on a consistent basis and ended several of his stops on less-than-favorable terms. In the aggregate, Rasmus compiled an approximately league-average .241/.310/.436 batting line and hit 166 home runs over 4,119 career MLB plate appearances.

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