Jackson only recently turned 33, so he’s not that long in the tooth. But he didn’t appear in the professional ranks in 2019 after nine consecutive MLB campaigns.

As he contemplates a comeback, Jackson says he’s looking for the “right situation” — not just any opportunity, evidently. There’s obviously no chance he’d command a big-league contract at this point, so he’d surely be looking for a minors arrangement of some kind.

It’s somewhat odd to see this news now, in the midst of a pandemic-driven hiatus, given that Spring Training had nearly wrapped up when the season was paused. But Jackson could ultimately hold appeal if a 2020 season is launched. He’s a known commodity and teams could end up needing added depth to facilitate a compressed schedule and unusual situation.

Jackson struggled badly in his last action in the majors, turning in a collective .245/.299/.326 output over 375 plate appearances with the Giants and Mets. But he was quite productive in 2017, when he slashed .318/.387/.482 for the Indians.

Jackson will give New York another outfield option in the wake of Yoenis Cespedes’ season-ending surgery. Because the Rangers are paying his salary after acquiring him from the Giants, though, the Mets only owe Jackson the pro-rated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. Jackson is earning $3MM in both 2018 and 2019, and whatever the Mets pay him this season will be subtracted from the sum the Rangers are paying.

While Jackson has had a dreadful season at the plate, hitting just .242/.309/.295 through 165 PAs, he’s only a season removed from raking at a .318/.387/.482 pace with the 2017 Indians. Jackson also still drew positive grades for his baserunning with the Giants, though he drew poor defensive ratings from Defensive Runs Saved (-10), Ultimate Zone Rating (-7.5) and Outs Above Average (-3) through just under 300 innings in center field this season. That said, Jackson’s defense would likely rate better in a corner slot.

As a bench option who can play center in a pinch and fill in against left-handed pitchers — for all his struggles, he did hit .288 against lefties and post a .360 OBP this season — Jackson could still provide some value to the Mets, especially when considering the minimal price tag. For the time being, he could share time in center field with Matt den Dekker, though it’s also possible that the addition of Jackson will come at den Dekker’s expense.

Here’s some more transactions buzz from Heyman’s Twitter account…

• The Red Sox and Giants are among the teams who are showing interest in veteran outfielder Austin Jackson.  San Francisco, of course, just traded Jackson to the Rangers as part of a salary dump, and Jackson is now available in free agency (for the prorated MLB minimum salary) after Texas released him.  Jackson has hit only .242/.309/.295 in 165 PA this season, though he could provide several teams with veteran outfield depth.  He is more natural backup outfield fit, for instance, than current Red Sox roster members Steve Pearce or Brock Holt.  The Giants have a pretty crowded outfield mix already, though Jackson is more experienced than the likes of Austin Slater or Steven Duggar.
• The Braves and Phillies have been linked to several major names this summer, and Heyman says the two NL East rivals have indeed been “involved in most/all the big stuff” on the trade front.  According to some, however, Atlanta and Philadelphia have also seemed less likely than other contenders to move their top prospects.  This jibes with recent comments from Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, who was looking to make upgrades but expressed wariness about dealing top prospects, particularly for rental players.  Both the Braves and Phils are somewhat in the same boat as teams who are somewhat unexpected contenders coming out of a lengthy rebuild, and since both are looking to begin some sustained success, they aren’t necessarily looking to make a big all-in push this year.

Perez will start against the Orioles on Saturday, which will be his first major league outing since April 29. The 27-year-old missed nearly three months with right (non-throwing) elbow problems. Prior to that, Perez got off to a terrible start with a 9.67 ERA, 5.24 K/9 and 4.84 BB/9 in 22 1/3 innings.

This disastrous season aside, Perez has been passable since debuting in 2012, evidenced by a 4.60 ERA/4.40 FIP across 698 1/3 career innings. He also tossed at least 185 frames in each of the previous two seasons. Given Texas’ need for starters, Perez’s track record could influence the team to pick up his $7.5MM option for 2019 when the offseason rolls around. Otherwise, it could try to trade Perez or buy him out for $750K.

As for Jackson, his release comes three days after the Rangers designated him for assignment and ends a very short tenure with the organization for the native Texan. In a trade with San Francisco last weekend, the Rangers agreed to take on Jackson (and his $3MM annual salary through next season) to help clear payroll for the Giants and acquire pitching prospect Jason Bahr.

The Rangers never had any intention of using Jackson, who hit just .242/.309/.295 in 165 plate appearances as a Giant, and weren’t able to flip him elsewhere. Now, thanks to his woeful season thus far, the 31-year-old Jackson may either have to take a minor league deal (if a team offers one) or sit out the rest of 2018.

As Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News explained at the time, the swap that brought Jackson and reliever Cory Gearrin to Texas was designed from the outset as a prospect purchase. “Our primary motivation was acquiring Jason Bahr,” GM Jon Daniels said of the deal. The Giants, who are just barely south of the $197MM luxury tax threshold, were willing to give up the young hurler in order to clear over $5MM in salary from their books as part of their own deadline maneuvering.

Jackson, 31, struggled badly at the plate this year in San Francisco. Over 165 plate appearances, he carries a meager .242/.309/.295 batting line. That power outage came along with a 35.8% strikeout rate that is far higher than the ~20% level Jackson has maintained in recent seasons.

It’s still possible, of course, that the Rangers will try to line up a trade involving the veteran outfielder. He did have a productive 2017 campaign, leading the Giants to give him a two-year, $6MM contract over the winter. But it seems unlikely that there will be much of a market for his services at the moment. Certainly, no other teams will have interest in taking on the salary, if any are even willing to give him a MLB roster spot.

12:05pm: The Rangers have acquired outfielder Austin Jackson, reliever Cory Gearrin and right-hander Jason Bahr from the Giants in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations, according to Texas’ executive vice president of communications, John Blake. To clear room on their 40-man roster, the Rangers moved relievers Matt Bush and Tony Barnette to the 60-day disabled list. Meanwhile, the Giants will select both outfielder Steven Duggar and righty Ray Black from Triple-A, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

This trade amounts to a cost-cutting move for the Giants, who were narrowly under the $197MM competitive-balance tax threshold entering Sunday. Now, with the Rangers taking on the salaries of both Jackson and Gearrin (per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic), the Giants are seemingly in better position to make some moves around the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline as they try to hang in the NL West race.

San Francisco added Jackson on a two-year, $6MM free-agent contract last winter on the heels of a season in which the veteran was a key role player for the Indians. The 31-year-old Jackson has gone backward this season, though, as he took 165 plate appearances with the Giants and hit just .242/.309/.295 with no home runs, 14 unintentional walks and 59 strikeouts. He’ll now attempt to revive his season in his native Texas.

The Giants tried to get rid of Gearrin via outright waivers last month, but no one claimed him. The 32-year-old’s on an affordable $1.675MM salary in his penultimate season of team control, though he has seen his ERA increase from 1.99 in 2017 to 4.20 in 2018. Overall this year, Gearrin has tossed 30 innings and managed 9.3 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.

Along with helping the Giants get out from under the salaries of Jackson and Gearrin, the out-of-contention Rangers also added Bahr – who ranked as San Francisco’s 27th-best prospect at MLB.com. Bahr, 23, joined the Giants just last year as a fifth-round pick. He has since pitched solely at the Single-A level, including 84 2/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball this season.

With the Jackson experiment having failed for the Giants, they’ll introduce the well-regarded Duggar to their outfield mix. The 24-year-old Duggar, a 2015 third-round pick and MLB.com’s third-ranked Giants prospect, owns a .272/.354/.421 line in 356 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He’ll join a San Francisco outfield that hasn’t gotten average or better offensive production from anyone but Andrew McCutchen, Gorkys Hernandez and Austin Slater this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

With a couple months left until the start of the season, the Mariners could still complement Hernandez & Co. with more starting help – payroll’s “not an issue,” according to CEO John Stanton. However, if we’re to take Dipoto’s word, it doesn’t seem likely. “We are doing the best we can to develop our system, not to clog it,” Dipoto said. “Could we go out and sign a free agent that would be better than our current fifth starter? Absolutely. Would that be the best thing for the present of the Mariners? Maybe. Would it be the best thing through the wider lens for the present and future of the Mariners? Probably not. We’ll be able to address those needs as we go. Because the one thing we’ve not had to deal with here is a lack of resources.”

More on a couple other West Coast clubs:

• In search of left-handed relief help, the Athletics “made some offers to some guys; we just weren’t able to get them here,” manager Bob Melvin informed Jane Lee of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday (Twitter link). One offer went to Brian Duensing, who turned down a deal worth $3MM more than the two-year, $7MM pact he took to re-up with the Cubs, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The A’s also attempted to pick up outfielder Austin Jackson on a one-year deal, but the Giants reeled him in with a two-year, $6MM contract. Now, Oakland’s not discussing any “significant free agents,” Slusser writes.
• Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic has an excellent, free-to-read piece on new Giants hitting coach Alonzo Powell, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer Jan. 2 and will undergo prostate removal surgery on Tuesday. Powell’s support system includes his wife, Jana, as well as both the San Francisco and Houston organizations (he was the Astros’ assistant hitting coach from 2015-17), which Baggarly details. The Giants have been invaluable to Powell, as they took over his medical care after scans showed his cancer had spread to his bones. Had that been accurate, surgery would not have been an option for Powell, who would have instead had to go through a year of chemotherapy and radiation. But the Giants’ chief internist, Dr. Robert Murray, was skeptical of those results, and he had Powell undergo another bone scan that ultimately returned good news. After his surgery, Powell will need “daily radiation treatments for several weeks,” Baggarly writes, but the hope is he’ll be with the Giants when their pitchers and catchers report to spring training Feb. 13. We join those around the game in rooting for Powell to achieve that goal.

Notably, Sabean suggests that Jackson was “probably not” signed to be the team’s everyday center fielder. “I don’t know that in his recent history he’s been able to go out there in that fashion,” Sabean says of Jackson. San Francisco is still exploring some low-salary trade options, and prospect Steven Duggar remains a candidate to win the job (if not in Spring Training, certainly later in the season). Duggar, though, has just 232 minor league games under his belt, with only 60 of those coming in Double-A and just 13 in Triple-A.

San Francisco remains confident in its ability to acquire an additional outfielder via trade, Pavlovic writes. That’ll likely require prying loose a pre-arbitration player making near the league minimum, as the Giants are now within about $2.1MM of the luxury threshold (per Cot’s Contracts). Such assets are the types with which teams are typically loath to part, though the Brewers have reportedly been exploring trade scenarios involving their potential outfield surplus, with names like Keon Broxton and Brett Phillips circulating on the rumor mill.

The waiver circuit could present another option for the Giants as rosters are shuffled leading up to Spring Training; numerous players with some degree of big league experience figure to become available in coming weeks as teams clear roster space for veteran additions. That was the manner by which the Tigers plucked Mikie Mahtook from the Rays last year, acquiring him for a player to be named later and enjoying a fairly productive year out of the former first-rounder. (Speculatively speaking, Mahtook himself could be an option for the Giants, as the rebuilding Tigers will likely be willing to listen on virtually any player.)

If the Giants don’t succeed in landing another option to take over in center field, it seems that Jackson, Duggar, Austin Slater and Gorkys Hernandez will vie for time in center field to open the season. At the very least, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to the Giants add a left-handed-hitting veteran on a minor league deal. Jackson, Hernandez, Hunter Pence and Andrew McCutchen all swing from the right side of the dish, so adding a lefty to create more matchup flexibility in the event that the left-handed-hitting Duggar opens the season in the minors seems logical.

Jan. 22: The Giants have announced the signing of outfielder Austin Jackson, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag first reported (via Twitter). It’s said to be a two-year, $6MM guarantee, but the Octagon client can also escalate his 2019 salary by as much as $2.5MM if he meets certain plate appearance-based targets, as Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic explains on Twitter.

Jackson, who’ll soon turn 31, turned in a nice bounceback campaign in 2017 after three straight seasons of subpar offensive production. Over 318 plate appearances with the Indians, he posted a .318/.387/.482 batting line with seven home runs and three steals.

Though there’s obviously some promise in that output, it comes with a few caveats. On offense, Jackson benefited from a .385 batting average on ball in play that isn’t likely to be repeated. And his is wOBA of .378 widely outpaced his Statcast-based xwOBA of .335. (For what it’s worth, too, he mostly succeeded by dominating left-handed pitching. He has typically carried reverse splits, so it’s somewhat unclear how that ought to be interpreted.)

Importantly, too, Jackson is no longer a top-end asset in the field and on the bases. He has floated in range of average in both areas in recent years, but generally has graded as a slightly below-average fielder for the past several campaigns. It seems reasonable to believe he can still handle center, at least on a part-time basis, but he’ll surely be put to the test at the spacious AT&T Park.

[RELATED: Updated Giants Depth Chart]

There’s plenty of reason to wonder whether Jackson will be capable of coming close to repeating his output from 2017. But the contract seems to be a reasonable one for a player who has had success in both the recent and the more distant past. Certainly, the price is right for the Giants. This move dovetails with the team’s reported preference to fill out a roster without going past the luxury line.

As things stand, Jackson arguably sits atop the San Francisco depth chart in center field. That said, Giants GM Bobby Evans says that Jackson will “provide additional depth at all three outfield positions,” suggesting that the club does not expect to hand him the reins to the regular job in center. (Via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Twitter).

The question, then, turns to what other options the Giants have to round out their outfield mix. Internally, right-handed hitters include Gorkys Hernandez, Austin Slater, and Mac Williamson. While the first two of those players are capable of  seeing time in center, they wouldn’t add much functionality beyond what Jackson provides, particularly since the team’s veteran corner outfielders — Hunter Pence and Andrew McCutchen — both hit from the right side. The lefty-swinging, out-of-options Jarrett Parker is another option, up the middle, though his recent output does not inspire much confidence.

So, what options remain for the Giants? If a golden opportunity arises to add a higher-end player, particularly a left-handed hitter, then perhaps a move past the luxury tax line could still occur. Alternatively, as Baggarly notes on Twitter, the club could chase a pre-arb player while staying just shy of the tax, though that’d presumably mean either taking a risk on a less-than-certain asset or giving up good value in return. Free agents like Ben Revere could still be pursued, but anyone achievable at a bargain rate likely won’t be a good enough performer to bump Jackson into reserve duties. Of course, the team also surely hopes that left-handed-hitting prospect Steven Duggar will prove himself ready for a MLB trial in relatively short order. If the team truly believes in him but also wants a more established player to open the season without bypassing the luxury line, it’ll have to get rather creative.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

• The Twins and Aaron Boone recently had mutual interest in a front office role before Boone was hired to be the Yankees’ new manager, according to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (hat tip to 1500ESPN.com’s Darren Wolfson).
• The Indians are interested in a reunion with Austin Jackson “but at the right price,” according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Jackson proved to be a big bargain for the Tribe in 2017, as he signed a minor league deal and then hit an outstanding .318/.387/.482 over 318 plate appearances while seeing time at all three outfield positions.  Jackson would bring a right-handed presence to a projected Cleveland outfield that currently features three left-handed hitters (Michael Brantley, Bradley Zimmer, Lonnie Chisenhall), though there’s certainly question as to whether Jackson can sustain his production, given his .385 BABIP from last season and his recent history of subpar offensive numbers.
• The Tigers figure to add multiple starting pitchers this winter, though as The Athletic’s Katie Strang notes, those arms will come in the form of inexpensive MLB and minor league signings and possibly a Rule 5 Draft pick.  Names like Clay Buchholz, Drew Smyly or Nick Burdi could fit, though the latter two are recovering from Tommy John surgery and could be tough fits on the 40-man roster.

Broadly, Antonetti suggested that he thinks the organization’s processes remain sound. He also cited strong performance by the roster in all three major facets of the game, while emphasizing a commitment to continue “look[ing] to get better.”

In terms of how much cash the Indians will have to work with, that evidently isn’t yet known. Unsurprisingly, though, there’s no inkling that the organization will do anything other than continue to try to win with the current core.

The group of organizational leaders discussed a variety of players and situations in the lengthy dialogue, which is well forth a full read at the above link. There’s ongoing interest in bringing back Carlos Santana, though Antonetti was non-committal on how that would progress. He did suggest that Santana could be considered for a qualifying offer, which has been set at $17.4MM. Who’s on first if he departs? Per Antonetti, the team has internal options, plus “there’s a litany of guys on the trade and free-agent market that we’ll explore.”

Jay Bruce proved a big presence for the club after his mid-season acquisition, but he’ll hit the open market as well. Chernoff expressed satisfaction with Bruce’s performance and noted there is some “mutual interest,” though it certainly seems that both sides will also explore their alternatives as well. Francona offered high praise for pending free agent reliever Bryan Shaw for his steadiness and constant readiness to enter the game. Given that, it seems possible to imagine a return, though that wasn’t addressed directly. Antonetti did say the team will “absolutely” consider re-signing Austin Jackson, who he credited for a strong bounceback year.

A few other players could present interesting questions. Somewhat notably, Antonetti said it was a “significant decision” whether to exercise Michael Brantley’s $11MM option. While he credited Brantley’s work ethic, he noted that “just getting healthy” remains a priority for the oft-injured outfielder. Likewise, there’s some uncertainty surrounding Jason Kipnis, who is under contract but doesn’t have a clear position. The versatility is a good thing, says Antonetti, but the organization also needs to consider “what opportunities are out there externally for us” in all regards before deciding how it will line up its roster. Yandy Diaz is another versatile asset, Chernoff notes, though Francona suggested he hopes to give the youngster a single position to focus on — indicating he may best be suited to the hot corner.

Also, Francona (who will, as expected, remain in his position) fielded some questions on the team’s postseason performance. In particular, he emphasized that there’s no reason to believe at present that Corey Kluber — who faltered in Game 5 and has dealt with arm slot difficulties — is anything other than healthy. Francona also noted that he has never before been so physically drained by a baseball season, saying that he intends to work on his own conditioning over the offseason. You’ll want to check out the link for more on that and other topics of discussion.

]]> 18 https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/06/injury-notes-bird-austin-ahmed-gsellman-anderson-jackson.html https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/06/injury-notes-bird-austin-ahmed-gsellman-anderson-jackson.html#comments Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:30:15 +0000 https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/?p=96041 There’s concern within the Yankees organization that Greg Bird won’t make it back at all this season, manager Joe Girardi admitted to the YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits (Twitter link). Bird is still feeling soreness in his injured foot/ankle — an injury that has limited him to just 25 games between the Majors and Triple-A this season. Further complicating the situation is that Tyler Austin could be DL-bound, per Girardi (via ESPN’s Andrew Marchand). Marchand notes that if Austin does indeed land on the disabled list, Chris Carter could make a quick return to the lineup after accepting today’s outright assignment to Triple-A.

More injury news from around the game…

• The Diamondbacks announced today that backup infielder Nick Ahmed has been placed on the 10-day DL with a fractured right hand, and offseason acquisition Ketel Marte has been recalled from Triple-A Reno in his place. Per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, Ahmed had three pins inserted into his hand and will be shut down from baseball activity for the next six weeks (Twitter link). It could be eight weeks before Ahmed, the team’s best defensive infielder, returns to the team. Ahmed is hitting just .251/.298/.419, but his glove will be missed. From 2015-16, Ahmed posted a +32 mark in Defensive Runs Saved and a +19.9 mark in Ultimate Zone Rating. As for Marte, the second key piece acquired in this offseason’s Taijuan Walker/Jean Segura/Mitch Haniger trade, he’ll debut in Arizona on the heels of a .338/.391/.514 batting line thus far in Triple-A.
• The Mets will be without Robert Gsellman for a few weeks, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Gsellman landed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, becoming the seventh Mets starting pitcher to land on the DL this year. Gsellman is the 17th Mets player to land on the DL this season, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo notes. Rafael Montero will assume Gsellman’s spot in the rotation, though Ackert notes that the Mets were already considering that move due to Montero’s strong results as of late. Gsellman, meanwhile, has a 6.16 ERA in 76 innings this year, though that mark is partially skewed by a pair of outings this month in which Gsellman allowed a combined 14 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings.
• Right-hander Chase Anderson exited tonight’s game with what the Brewers have announced as a strained left oblique muscle. There’s no word on how long he’ll miss and won’t be until after the game, but oblique injuries more often than not mean a month or so on the disabled list for a Grade 1 strain and even longer for more severe strains. That’s a brutal loss for the Brewers, who have enjoyed a breakout year from the 29-year-old Anderson thus far. Through 90 1/3 innings, Anderson has a 2.89 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate. There are occasionally oblique injuries that don’t require such a lengthy absence, though history isn’t on Milwaukee’s side there.
• The Indians placed Austin Jackson on the 10-day disabled list yesterday after an MRI revealed a strained quadriceps, president of baseball ops Chris Antonetti told reporters (via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Antonetti said that the team’s expectation is that it’ll be three to four weeks before Jackson is able to return to the big league roster. Jackson, 30, is in the midst of a rather quiet rebound season, as he’s hitting a robust .304/.383/.500 through 120 plate appearances this season.

We already looked at some minor-league signees who have impacted their organizations’ bullpens. Now, let’s check in on some hitters who signed for little but have been rather useful through about two months of action:

• Alexi Amarista, INF, Rockies — The 28-year-old has helped cover for the injured Trevor Story, and he’s doing more than just keeping the team afloat. Through 69 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .338/.348/.515. There’s obviously quite a lot of room for regression baked in — Amarista has drawn just one walk and carries a .412 BABIP — but he’s been a big help for the emerging Rockies team at the meager cost of $1.25MM.
• Daniel Descalso, INF, Diamondbacks — After Colorado let the utilityman go over the winter, Descalso landed only $1.5MM despite a solid 2016 season. That has worked out just fine for Arizona, which has received 92 plate appearances of .218/.337/.410 hitting from the veteran, who is walking at a 13.0% clip and succeeding despite a .250 BABIP.
• Chris Iannetta, C, Diamondbacks — Also earning a meager $1.5MM, Iannetta has helped the DBacks feel better about the decision to allow Welington Castillo to walk. Though the typically patient Iannetta is walking at about half of his career rate, he’s driving the ball like never before. Over eighty plate appearances, Iannetta has smacked six long balls and owns a .288 isolated slugging mark.
• Franklin Gutierrez, OF, Dodgers — Taking home a modest $2.6MM salary, Gutierrez has been quite productive when healthy. While Los Angeles will only ask him to play a limited role, the team will be thrilled if he can keep producing at a .257/.350/.429 rate the rest of the way.
• Austin Jackson, OF, Indians — After settling for a minor-league deal over the winter, Jackson came with low expectations. But he made the Opening Day roster and owns a .273/.327/.523 batting line that points back to his days as one of the game’s more promising young players.
• Adam Lind, 1B, Nationals — Lind languished on the market along with a variety of other sluggers, eventually scoring just $1.5MM to function as a lefty complement to Ryan Zimmerman at first base. While the Nats have received plenty of production from Zimmerman, the team is also enjoying Lind’s robust output off the bench. He owns a .340/.400/.604 slash over sixty plate appearances, with as many walks as strikeouts (10.0% apiece).
• Mark Reynolds, 1B, Rockies — Expected to land on the bench after returning to Colorado on a minors deal, Reynolds was thrown into a more significant role when Ian Desmond opened the year on the DL. He has responded with outstanding production: .313/.388/.555 with 13 home runs in 206 plate appearances.
• Kurt Suzuki, C, Braves — At just $1.5MM, Suzuki has been quite the bargain. He’s outhitting most of the league’s catchers in his 88 plate appearances, with a .257/.379/.457 slash. Interestingly, Suzuki is walking 11.4% of the time — nearly double his typical levels — while also hitting for good power (.200 ISO).
• Chase Utley, INF, Dodgers — The former star took home just $2MM in exchange for his services this year, and seemed ready to take a smaller role on the Dodgers’ bench. After a slow start, though, he has begun to deliver. 125 plate appearances into the season, he’s batting .252/.347/.430 with three dingers and three steals — the type of production not seen since back in 2013, when he was still with the Phillies.

• That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
• Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
• Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.

More from the AL Central…

• Indians outfielder Austin Jackson exited last night’s game with an apparent injury, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes. Jackson seemingly injured his left leg or foot when attempting to leg out an infield single, as he landed awkwardly on the first base bag. As Bastian points out, Jackson had left knee surgery last season, though manager Terry Francona said after the game that Jackson’s foot would be examined rather than his knee. Jackson was able to walk off the field under his own power, though he was in noticeable pain after beating out the throw to first base. The 30-year-old Jackson is off to a nice start with Cleveland, hitting .273/.368/.485 through 38 plate appearances.
• The Tigers optioned right-hander Joe Jimenez back to Triple-A on Sunday, and MLive.com’s Evan Woodberry writes that he was sent down with the specific goal of improving his slider. The 22-year-old Jimenez was knocked around for six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his most recent stint with the big league club. “…[T]hat slider could be the difference-maker, in terms of making the jump to the big leagues and sticking,” said manager Brad Ausmus. Tigers relievers have a league-worst 6.19 ERA on the season, and Jimenez is the team’s most promising relief prospect, so it stands to reason that he’ll likely be back with the big league club in the relatively near future.
• Minor League Baseball announced yesterday that former Twins general manager Bill Smith has been hired as an assistant to president and CEO Pat O’Conner. “[Smith’s] wealth of experience in all aspects of Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball will be helpful as we continue to grow our operations and improve the teams’ ability to serve our fans and partners at Major League Baseball,” said O’Conner of the hiring. “Bill is respected throughout the industry and his abilities are unquestioned.” Per MiLB’s release, Smith will focus on facility improvements, scheduling and minor league baseball’s international leagues.