Alex Reyes

Trade/FA Notes: Cards, Hudson, Bucs, Red Sox, Mets, Ross

By Connor Byrne | December 4, 2016 at 12:24pm CDT

Opposing teams bring up right-handers Carlos Martinez and Alex Reyes more than any other Cardinals in trade talks, general manager John Mozeliak told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Unsurprisingly, though, the Redbirds are “extremely unlikely” to deal either, said Mozeliak. The Cardinals were interested in extending Martinez as of October. For now, Martinez is arbitration eligible for the first time, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $5.3MM award. The 22-year-old Reyes, on the other hand, won’t hit arbitration until after the 2019 season. Mozeliak is focusing on helping Martinez, Reyes and the rest of the Cardinals’ pitchers by improving the team’s defense this offseason, which he realizes “took a step backwards” in 2016. “We put a lot of stress on our pitchers this past year. Our whole staff is defined by ground balls. It’s a pretty simple leap to say that if we play better defense, we’re going to win more games,” he commented.

More rumblings:

Sixteen teams have shown interest in free agent reliever Daniel Hudson, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag. One of those clubs is the Diamondbacks, with whom the right-hander pitched from 2010-16. With a 5.22 ERA in 60 1/3 innings, the two-time Tommy John surgery recipient struggled to prevent runs last season, but he did show impressive velocity and post respectable strikeout (8.65) and walk (3.28) rates per nine.
The Pirates are willing to pay some of left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo’s $6.5MM salary for 2017 in order to trade him, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Bastardo’s coming off a disappointing year spent with the Mets and Bucs, as he logged a 4.52 ERA in 67 2/3 innings and allowed a .253/.321/.495 line to lefty hitters. He’s currently one of four southpaws in Pittsburgh’s bullpen, joining Tony Watson, Felipe Rivero and Wade LeBlanc.
In the event the Red Sox prefer a left-handed hitter to take over their vacant designated hitter job, they could attempt to acquire Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson from the Mets, writes Scott Lauber of ESPN.com. The Mets look likely to trade at least one of the two outfielders this offseason, perhaps as early as the winter meetings.
Free agent righty Tyson Ross will take his time signing with a team, tweets Peter Gammons, who notes that the 29-year-old should recover from October surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome between February and April. The Padres non-tendered Ross on Friday after he missed nearly all of last season with shoulder troubles.

Alex Reyes Moves Into Cardinals’ Rotation; Trevor Rosenthal Activated

By Jeff Todd | September 15, 2016 at 7:47pm CDT

The Cardinals are set to make some changes to their pitching staff, with rising young righty Alex Reyes taking the rotation slot of Jaime Garcia, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch was among those to tweet. Garcia is slated for a move to the bullpen.

[Related: Updated Cardinals Depth Chart]

Also heading to the major league relief corps is former closer Trevor Rosenthal, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Twitter. He had been sidelined by elbow and shoulder issues, but will be activated in advance of tonight’s contest.

The Cardinals’ pen certainly has a different make-up than would have been anticipated at the outset of the year. Garcia is accompanied by Michael Wacha in moving into a different role, though the latter’s switch occurred primarily because his injury issues did not allow time for him to ramp up to make it back to the rotation. Both, though, have had their share of troubles this year.

Tonight’s moves have some broader implications as well. Reyes will potentially make three starts, which could drive his innings up — when one includes his extended spring training work — to a level that could be uncomfortable if the Cards make a deep postseason run. Dealing with that issue would probably be a luxury, though, as the team faces a tough test to qualify.

Certainly, it’ll be interesting to see how Reyes fares while handling critical outings from the rotation. He only just turned 22, and has enjoyed star-caliber results thus far, allowing only four earned runs with 34 strikeouts while surrendering just 16 hits in 28 frames (including two starts). But he has also handed out 16 free passes and unleashed three wild pitches, so there still seems to be some polishing left to his mound work.

Garcia may be the most interesting element to consider. He has finally been healthy enough for a full season for the first time since 2011, but carries only a 4.65 ERA over his 164 2/3 frames. That’s rough enough to raise questions about his $12MM club option for 2017, but with a barren market for starters this winter, that’s probably a reasonable-enough price tag for the veteran southpaw.

As for Rosenthal, reports of his progress have been encouraging. But he had been a major question mark before the injury issues came to light. Despite striking out 13 batters per nine innings, Rosenthal lost his hold on the closer role with a 5.13 ERA and troubling 7.3 BB/9 over 33 1/3 frames on the year. He’ll be due a raise on his $5.6MM arbitration salary, making for an expensive tender decision. It still seems likely that St. Louis will take the risk on a pitcher who has been excellent for the bulk of his major league career, but any ongoing struggles or added injury concerns might conceivably shift the analysis.

Cardinals Activate Michael Wacha For Pen Duty, Consider Rotation Change

By Jeff Todd | September 14, 2016 at 11:22am CDT

The Cardinals have activated righty Michael Wacha today, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. While that represents a welcome return, he will not slot into his accustomed spot in the rotation. After missing over a month with shoulder issues, there simply isn’t time for him to build up to a full workload.

[Related: Updated Cardinals Depth Chart]

When Wacha moves into the pen, he may soon find company from another starting stalwart. According to ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon, St. Louis is still undecided whether to allow Jaime Garcia to take the ball when he is next scheduled. The 30-year-old lefty has struggled to a 4.65 ERA over 164 2/3 innings on the year, and has been hit hard particularly of late.

Instead, the Cards may turn to young righty Alex Reyes, who continues to impress in multiple roles. Whether functioning as a single-inning reliever, starting, or taking a long relief role, Reyes has racked up the strikeouts (34 in 28 innings) and kept runs off the board (1.29 ERA). After opening the year with a suspension for marijuana use, Reyes has still yet to hit 100 frames — a fair bit shy of his prior career-high of 116 1/3. While he also threw in extended spring training, St. Louis ought to have some flexibility in utilizing him without concern of over-use.

Though the team certainly faces some tough decisions, it seems at least two starters will end up in the pen. That could come in handy down the stretch and (the team hopes) in the postseason, giving skipper Mike Matheny the ability to piggyback starters, get multiple quality relief innings, and generally stay flexible in managing his pitchers’ workloads.

Regarding Garcia, it’s tempting to wonder whether a potential move out of the rotation could be the beginning of the end of his time with the Cardinals. His $12MM club option isn’t exactly a slam dunk given his rough year and past injury issues, though a barren market for starting pitching likely makes that a reasonable value. Even if it is picked up, St. Louis could conceivably market the talented lefty.

Central Notes: Leake, Rosenthal, Jimenez, Hamilton

By Jeff Todd | September 6, 2016 at 9:13am CDT

The Cardinals announced yesterday that righty Mike Leake will be activated from the 15-day DL to start on Wednesday, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. His return from a bout of shingles is welcome news as the team battles for a Wild Card berth. Leake had struggled rather notably of late — he carries a 5.71 ERA and has allowed a .824 OPS over his last seven starts — but he’ll look to get back on track and contribute some solid innings down the stretch. If he can’t get it going, the Cards will be able to turn back to sensational 22-year-old Alex Reyes, who will be bumped from the rotation for the time being but figures to be available for high-leverage innings or lengthier outings from the bullpen.

Here’s more from the central divisions:

Meanwhile, injured Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal may have a shot at joining Leake in returning to the club this year, ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon reports. He just returned to the mound for the first time since he was shut down with a forearm strain, Saxon notes. While he’ll obviously need a chance to ramp back up before there’s any chance of a major league return, it would seem wise for the organization to do everything possible to get Rosenthal in action before season’s end. After all, the 26-year-old could yet be an important contributor if he can overcome his sudden command problems, and the Cards need to gather all the information they can before deciding whether to tender him a contract for 2017.
Despite the Tigers’ need for bullpen help, the club has decided not to promote intriguing righty Joe Jimenez, as Evan Woodberry of MLive.com reports. It seems the club isn’t sure that the 21-year-old yet possesses the secondary offerings needed to succeed in the majors, as he certainly has the numbers to support a promotion. After opening the 2016 season at the High-A level, the Puerto Rican hurler pushed his way to Triple-A. He didn’t maintain his gaudy 14+ K/9 strikeout rate there, but the overall results were quite promising for a pitching of his age. In his 15 2/3 frames at the highest level of the minors, Jimenez allowed four earned runs on just nine hits and four walks while retiring 16 opposing hitters via the K.
Billy Hamilton will likely make it back this year for the Reds after suffering a strained left oblique, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Still, though, he won’t resume any baseball activities for five to seven days, and seems likely to be out at least some time beyond that as the out-of-contention Reds play things safe with their speedy center fielder. The silver lining here may be that Cinci will find it easier to plug versatile prospect Jose Peraza into the lineup. He has been on a tear since his most recent big league promotion, and seems in need of regular time as the organization assesses its offseason plans.

NL Notes: Collins, Reyes, Barrett, Maeda

By charliewilmoth and Jeff Todd | August 27, 2016 at 11:05am CDT

Manager Terry Collins led the Mets to a World Series just last year, but he acknowledges he could be fired after the season, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. “They may fire me at the end of the year,” says Collins. “Whatever happens at the end of the year, I’ll walk out of here with a smile on my face, and get ready for spring training, or get ready to play golf, either one.” The Mets have had a tough, injury-riddled season, with Lucas Duda, David Wright, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler and others missing or set to miss significant time. “We had no idea we’d break down like this. None. It’s hard to believe,” says Collins. Here’s more from the National League.

Cardinals righty Alex Reyes will get his first major league start Saturday in place of Mike Leake, who is sick, the club has announced (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Twitter). Reyes, the team’s top-rated prospect, was promoted earlier this month and has made five relief appearances, striking out 13 batters and walking four in 9 1/3 innings while throwing in the high 90s.
Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett suffered a significant setback in his return from Tommy John surgery, as Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com notes on Twitter. He broke his elbow five weeks ago while working his way back. That obviously takes the talented righty out of the mix for a late-season return, and further clouds his future. The 28-year-old has swing-and-miss stuff, but will now need to overcome a second major surgery.
The Dodgers have demoted righty Kenta Maeda in order to gain an extra pitcher until his next start, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. The move appears to be procedural in nature. Maeda will be assigned to the club’s Rookie ball affiliate; with that season coming to a close, he can permissibly be brought back before the typical ten-day waiting period.

Cardinals Place Michael Wacha On DL, Promote Alex Reyes

By Steve Adams | August 9, 2016 at 3:32pm CDT

The Cardinals announced today that they’ve placed right-hander Michael Wacha on the 15-day disabled list due to inflammation in his right shoulder and purchased the contract of top prospect Alex Reyes to fill Wacha’s spot on the roster. Brayan Pena has been transferred to the 60-day DL in order to clear a 40-man spot for Reyes. Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that Reyes will pitch out of the bullpen for the Cardinals, so he won’t be stepping directly into Wacha’s now-vacant spot in the starting five.

Reyes, 21, rates as one of the game’s top overall pitching prospects in the eyes of Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN thanks largely to a fastball that touches triple digits, a very highly regarded curveball and a solid third offering in his changeup. He introduced himself to a national audience when he appeared in this summer’s Futures Game and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. His biggest fault, to this point, has been a lack of control that has led him to average 4.6 walks per nine innings pitched throughout his minor league career. This season, his first at Triple-A, has been somewhat of a struggle, as Reyes has posted a 4.96 ERA with 12.8 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate in 14 starts.

The Cardinals will control Reyes through at least the 2022 season via the arbitration process, and the earliest he’d be eligible for arbitration right now would be upon completion of the 2019 season, as the remaining 54 days of service time that he can accrue will leave him well shy of Super Two status.

Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM first tweeted that Reyes had been promoted.

Cardinals Seeking Late-Inning Reliever On Trade Market

By Steve Adams | July 28, 2016 at 8:51am CDT

The rapid decline of Trevor Rosenthal, who has now been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder injury following his season-long struggles, has the Cardinals in the market for a late-inning arm to add to their relief corps, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

St. Louis has turned to right-hander Seung-hwan Oh, whose modest offseason signing has proven to be one of the savviest investments of the winter, to handle ninth-inning duties in Rosenthal’s stead. Oh has lived up to his “Final Boss” nickname in the Majors, pitching to a brilliant 1.72 ERA with 11.9 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent ground-ball rate in 52 1/3 innings. Those are dominant numbers out of the rookie relief ace, but the absence of Rosenthal’s typically high-quality innings has stretched the Cardinals a bit thin at the back of the ’pen.

Behind Oh, the Cardinals have relied heavily on Seth Maness, Tyler Lyons, Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton and Matt Bowman in the bullpen this season. Maness, though, missed more than a month with inflammation in his right elbow and has seen his average fastball velocity dip from 89.5 mph to 87.9 mph this season. Siegrist and Lyons have been outstanding from the left side, though Siegrist recently missed a couple of weeks with a bout of mono. Broxton looks more like a middle reliever than the standout closer he once was, and Bowman doesn’t miss many bats, though he’s been a ground-ball machine and has a 2.98 ERA on the year.

That collection of relief arms has delivered mostly strong results, but Oh is the only truly dominant arm of the bunch, so it’s not a surprise to see the Cardinals tied to relief help. The exact quality of the arm they’re looking for, however, isn’t entirely certain based on Heyman’s report. Heyman writes that either Angels closer Huston Street or Royals closer Wade Davis “could make sense for St. Louis” if traded, though he stops short of saying that the Cardinals have actually inquired on either arm, and there’s obviously a wide gap overall talent and 2016 performance between those two arms. The Cardinals have looked into Halos right-hander Joe Smith, he writes, and have in fact been seeking help for the back of the bullpen for some time now, as their search predates Rosenthal’s placement on the disabled list.

Of course, many Cards fans feel that the best possible upgrade the team could make to its bullpen is already in the organization. Right-hander Alex Reyes has emerged as one of the very top pitching prospects in all of baseball and opened plenty of eyes with his 100+ mph fastball in this year’s Futures Game over the All-Star break. However, Reyes’ recent results haven’t been overly encouraging, as he’s posted a 6.52 ERA in his past 29 innings (six starts) with Triple-A Memphis. He has a 5.07 ERA overall on the season and has averaged 12.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in 55 innings out of the rotation since serving a 50-game suspension for a drug of abuse. Reyes’ overpowering stuff leads some to believe that he could thrive in the Majors right now in a short-relief role despite his rotation struggles in Memphis, but the Cardinals are reportedly being cautious with regards to their prized righty and may not wish to rush him to the Majors. (Reyes was pulled from his most recent start after three innings, prompting some speculation about a call-up, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Reyes’ quick hook from the game was “insurance” in the event that Lyons is unable to make a needed spot start for St. Louis on Saturday.)

If the Cardinals do ultimately feel that the trade market presents the best route to an upgrade, they’ll face plenty of competition, as the majority of contending clubs in the league are said to be eyeing upgrades for their relief corps. Within the past two or three days alone, we’ve heard the Giants, Nationals, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Indians, Rangers, Dodgers and Mets all tied to varying degrees of bullpen help, and other clubs figure to be more quietly on the lookout as well.

NL Notes: Padres, Upton, Cards, D-backs, Rockies

By Connor Byrne | July 16, 2016 at 9:32pm CDT

The resurgence of Padres outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. is “opening eyes,” according to Friars general manager AJ Preller, who told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that the 31-year-old is garnering trade interest as a potential 30/30 player (Twitter link). Upton has racked up 16 home runs and 20 steals this year, so he at least has an outside shot at joining the 30/30 club. Overall, he has hit an above-average .262/.311/.454 through 353 trips to the plate this season. Dating back to last year, Upton has accounted for 3.2 fWAR while logging 581 plate appearances, thereby reviving his career after back-to-back poor seasons in Atlanta. The longtime Ray is expensive, though, with a $15.45MM salary this year and $16.45MM coming his way next season.

NL Notes: Mets, Nats, Pirates, Cardinals, D-backs

By Connor Byrne | July 10, 2016 at 1:29pm CDT

With right-hander Matt Harvey’s season over thanks to thoracic outlet syndrome, the reigning National League champion Mets are unsure if it makes sense to deal prospects for major league help at this year’s trade deadline, according to the New York Daily News’ John Harper. “There’s a lot of grey area right now,’’ a Mets source told Harper. Only two Mets prospects – shortstop Amed Rosario (No. 18) and first baseman Dominic Smith (No. 76) – cracked Baseball America’s just-released midseason top 100 prospects, notes Harper, who points out that the 47-40 team lacks blue-chip pipeline talent to trade. Harper’s also skeptical of the quality of starters set to move by the deadline, though he adds that the Wild Card-holding Mets might be willing to part with Smith for a capable rotation piece.

More on New York and four other NL cities:

The Mets’ tough-it-out approach with injured young starters Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz is backfiring on them, while the Nationals are benefiting from a more guarded method, opines Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post. Harvey missed the entire 2014 season because of Tommy John surgery and then responded with a 238 2/3-inning workload last year, writes Boswell, who points out that Harvey and agent Scott Boras expected the Mets to shut him down late in the campaign. However, general manager Sandy Alderson had no such expectation and Harvey elected to keep pitching after dealing with backlash from fans and media. Meanwhile, the Nats have taken care of ace Stephen Strasburg, another Boras client, having shut him down early during their 98-win showing in 2012. They also sent Strasburg to the disabled list last month rather than take a chance with his upper back injury. Strasburg dominated before landing on the DL and has continued doing so since returning July 3. Moreover, while Strasburg might have been this year’s NL All-Star starter, he and the club made the “mutual decision” to keep him out of the game, per president and GM Mike Rizzo.
Having won 12 of 15, the 46-42 Pirates now sit just 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. Thus, they’re approaching the trade deadline as buyers. “Our expectation is we are going to add,” GM Neal Huntington told Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Our mindset is we are going to add and put ourselves, for the first time in the franchise history, in position to make the postseason four consecutive years.” The Pirates’ resurgence has come without ace Gerrit Cole and catcher Francisco Cervelli, of which Huntington is cognizant. “We’ve gone through this toughest part of our schedule,” he said. “We’re going to get guys back healthy.”
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak acknowledged that the idea of promoting Baseball America’s second-ranked prospect, Triple-A right-hander Alex Reyes, as a bullpen option is an enticing one. “So when you think about that type of tool set and putting it in the bullpen it’s certainly exciting,” Mozeliak told Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “You’d be hard pressed to find that type of talent in the trade market and let alone (it would be a) zero acquisition cost.” On the other hand, the flame-throwing 21-year-old hasn’t totaled more than 116 1/3 frames in a season since joining the Cardinals organization in 2013, and they want him to accrue innings so he can help their rotation in 2017. “If all he ended up with is 75 innings what can we expect from him as a starter next year?” Mozeliak said. Reyes, who served a 50-game marijuana suspension to begin the season, has racked up 41 1/3 innings this year.
Before the Diamondbacks traded Brad Ziegler to Boston on Saturday, they asked the pending free agent reliever if he’d be open to a contract extension. Ziegler said yes, but, “Next time I heard from them, they told me I was traded” (via ESPN’s Scott Lauber).

Cardinals Surveying Bullpen Market

By Steve Adams | July 5, 2016 at 1:37pm CDT

The Cardinals have endured their share of bullpen woes this season, with closer Trevor Rosenthal’s demotion and control problems looming large among the team’s relief troubles. St. Louis has also seen Kevin Siegrist diagnosed with mononucleosis, and right-hander Jordan Walden has yet to throw a pitch for the big league club this season. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch spoke to general manager John Mozeliak, and Goold writes that while the GM said he has not yet been “knee-deep” in the market for relievers, the Cardinals are indeed surveying the market.

Goold lists D-backs right-hander Brad Ziegler as a potential option for the Cards and also notes that Yankees lefty Andrew Miller has been of interest to the Cardinals in the past, though demand for Miller would of course be extreme and the asking price figures to be exorbitant. It’s not entirely clear that either will be available, as D-backs GM Dave Stewart has expressed interest in extending Ziegler, while the Yankees haven’t given any indication of selling just yet and control Miller for another two seasons at a reasonable rate.

Mozeliak did voice some confidence that the club would eventually have a healthier Siegrist to help the relief corps, and he acknowledged top prospect Alex Reyes as “the most dynamic thing that we could add to this club with the least acquisition cost, for sure.” Optioning Rosenthal to sort out his control issues isn’t yet on the Cardinals’ radar, per Mozeliak, although as Goold points out the club hasn’t been afraid to take that type of measure with either Kolten Wong or Randal Grichuk this season.

If the Cardinals do ultimately decide that the trade market is the best avenue by which to upgrade its relief contingent, there will be no shortage of options available. A number of the players listed on Jeff Todd’s most recent collection of the league’s top 20 trade candidates are of the relief variety, as are several of the 10 under-the-radar trade candidates he profiled just yesterday. While a number of clubs haven’t yet made a firm determination as to whether they’ll be buyers or sellers on the summer trade market, the Padres and Braves have already sold off big league pieces, while the Twins, Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Athletics and Angels could all follow suit to varying degrees in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline. The Cardinals don’t always dive headfirst into the trade market with high-profile additions, but the team has a history of adding bullpen pieces as necessary. In recent years, St. Louis has added pieces such as Jonathan Broxton, John Axford and Steve Cishek on the summer trade market.

In light of Rosenthal’s struggles, offseason signee Seung-hwan Oh has been shifted into the closer’s role. They’ve also received quality innings from right-handers Broxton and Matt Bowman as well as lefties Siegrist and Tyler Lyons. Regardless, there’s room for some improvement, as the team’s overall bullpen has a 3.78 ERA that is weighted heavily by Oh’s dominant 1.71 ERA.

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