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Daulton Jefferies

A’s Reinstate James Kaprielian, Option Daulton Jefferies

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The A’s have activated James Kaprielian from the IL and optioned Daulton Jefferies to Triple-A, per a team announcement. This reverses the roster move from 10 days ago, where Kaprielian was placed on the IL with a shoulder impingement and Jefferies being recalled to take his place. At the time, it was hoped that the shoulder issue was a minor one and wouldn’t require a long absence, a hope that has indeed come to fruition.

The return of Kaprielian strengthens Oakland’s rotation as they try to hold onto the American League’s last playoff spot. Going into Sunday’s action, they are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the surging Yankees. The 27-year-old has forced his way into the rotation with an excellent season thus far, throwing 72 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.24, strikeout rate of 26.5% and walk rate of 9.1%.

As for Jefferies, he only got a single emergency start, going five innings, allowing three earned runs off three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. He’ll now return to Triple-A, where he has a 5.19 ERA over 59 innings this year.

Pitcher Notes: Dodgers, Gray, E-Rod, Yankees, Fiers

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The Dodgers are still deciding among fifth starter options, manager Dave Roberts informed Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times and other reporters Friday. Southpaw David Price is competing against righties Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, who impressed as rookies during the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series-winning campaign. As a five-time All-Star and a former AL Cy Young winner, Price certainly carries the best track record of the three – not to mention the highest salary – but he didn’t pitch at all last season after opting out over COVID-19 concerns. Any of those three would join Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urías in what will be a loaded season-opening starting five.

The latest on a few more pitchers around the game:

  • Reds righty Sonny Gray, who has been dealing with a back problem for a couple of weeks, came out of a sim game unscathed Friday, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. After throwing two innings and 30 pitches, Gray said, “I felt good. It was definitely a step in the right direction.” Gray will start the season on the injured list, but he doesn’t expect to miss much time. That’s uplifting news for a Reds starting staff that lost the aforementioned Bauer during the offseason.
  • Eduardo Rodríguez was recently set back by a dead arm but seemed to make some progress this morning. The Red Sox left-hander came out of a bullpen session feeling good about his chances of soon returning to game action, although a season-opening injured list stint remains a possibility (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). Manager Alex Cora says the club will evaluate how Rodríguez feels tomorrow before making any decisions about his recovery timeline.
  • The Yankees have optioned right-hander Deivi García to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to a team announcement. The move suggests Domingo Germán will enter the season as the No. 5 in the Yankees’ rotation behind Gerrit Cole, Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery, though odds are that García will make his share of starts this season. The 21-year-old, a former top 100 prospect, made his debut last season with a 4.98 ERA/4.21 SIERA with a 22.6 percent strikeout rate against a stingy 4.1 percent walk rate in 34 1/3 innings.
  • Athletics righty Mike Fiers will begin the season on the injured list, manager Bob Melvin announced to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters. Fiers has been dealing with left hip inflammation since midway through the month and hasn’t faced live hitters during his recovery. His injury could open the door for any of Daulton Jefferies, Cole Irvin or A.J. Puk to at least temporarily join the A’s rotation. Fiers tied for the A’s lead in starts (11) and finished second in innings (59) last season, but he struggled to a 4.58 ERA/5.41 SIERA and managed a personal-worst 14.4 percent K rate.

AL West Notes: Mariners, Fiers, Adell, Whitley, Astros

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The December 2018 trade that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the Mets was a transformational moment in Mariners history, as it allowed Seattle to both escape a major salary commitment to Cano and also re-stock its farm system with some prime minor league talent in Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn.  Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto recently discussed the trade with The Athletic’s Corey Brock, looking back at how talks with the Mets developed, and how concurrent discussions with the Phillies about a Diaz trade helped make the Mets even more aggressive about swinging a deal to one-up their NL East rival.

More from around the AL West…

  • An MRI revealed hip inflammation for Athletics righty Mike Fiers, and manager Bob Melvin told Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links) that Fiers will receive an injection and be rested for a couple of days.  Fiers making the Opening Day roster is “a little bit of a long shot” for now, Melvin said.  The manager said yesterday that A.J. Puk or Daulton Jefferies are candidates to fill in for Fiers if an IL trip is required, with Puk the favorite if he is able to get enough innings under his belt during Spring Training.
  • Jo Adell is day-to-day with a knee contusion and will work out today, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter).  Adell had to leave Saturday’s game after a collision with the outfield wall, but the star Angels prospect doesn’t appear to have suffered any major injury setback.
  • Top Astros pitching prospect Forrest Whitley will miss the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery, but he won’t be moved from the 40-man roster to the 60-day injured list due to a roster rule, as The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan explains.  Because Whitley doesn’t have any MLB service time and because he was optioned to the minors before March 16, the Astros can simply place him on the minor league IL.  This means Houston will have to use a 40-man roster spot on Whitley all season, but the Astros are unlikely to burn a season of Whitley’s service time by moving him from the 40-man to the 60-day Major League injured list.

A’s Rotation Options For 2021

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The Oakland A’s have grown accustomed to finding year-by-year stopgaps to fill their starting rotation. Flyball pitchers fair well in the spacious dimensions of the Coliseum, and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane and General Manager David Forst apply their ballpark as an advantage by targeting under-market contact veterans like Mike Fiers, Homer Bailey, Brett Anderson, and Tanner Roark. They’re also one of the best in the game at making mid-year adjustments to keep the roster competitive.

For the first time in a while, however, they’re looking at a mostly-holdover rotation in 2021, writes Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Jesus Luzardo, and Chris Bassitt are all under contract, and all four should be guaranteed rotation roles, assuming good health. Daulton Jefferies also made his debut this year, and they hope to see A.J. Puk return healthy enough to threaten for a rotation role.

Given Puk’s injury history, they might prefer to go a year leaving him in the bullpen – especially considering that’s looking like a greater need at the moment. Along with lockdown closer Liam Hendriks, relievers Joakim Soria, Yusmeiro Petit, and T.J. McFarland are heading towards free agency. Leveraging a high-impact arm like Puk in relief could be a more economical way to backfill those bullpen departures. As we noted above, the A’s have a knack for finding back-end rotation types for a reasonable fee on the free agent market. They could easily look to bring Fiers back, for instance, if he were amenable to taking a pay cut from the $8.1MM full-scale contract he was set to earn in 2020.

Quick Hits: Schedule, Twins, A’s, Minor League Pay

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The Nationals and Yankees are tentatively scheduled to play on July 23, according to Joel Sherman and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, which would make for a big Max Scherzer vs. Gerrit Cole pitching matchup to highlight Opening Day.  It might still be at least a week or two before the 2020 schedule is officially finalized, however, as the league is still considering a number of factors, chief among them coronavirus outbreaks around the United States.  “Better, the league believes, to take its time, see how the [COVID-19] testing of personnel goes this week and the preferences expressed in feedback from clubs,” Sherman and Marchand write.  “So the current schedule can change drastically and, if it does, the union will have to provide its blessing again.”

More from around baseball…

  • Tomorrow is the deadline for teams to submit their initial 60-man player pool, and details are already beginning to emerge about which players may or may not be included.  The Twins’ taxi squad will include top prospects Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, and Brent Rooker,  SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson tweets.  Caleb Thielbar, who rejoined Minnesota on a minors contract last winter, is also expected to be on taxi squad duty.
  • The Athletics will initially split their player pool into two groups, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports, with much of the big league roster training in Oakland and the taxi squad potentially training in nearby Stockton — the home of the Athletics’ Class-A affiliate — if a deal can be finalized with Stockton city officials.  Offseason minor league signings Ryan Goins, Carlos Perez, Jordan Weems, and Lucas Luetge will all be in Oakland, while taxi squad players include such notable prospects as Tyler Soderstrom, Daulton Jefferies, Nick Allen, Dustin Fowler and (as per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez) Robert Puason.
  • Slusser also provides updates on some Athletics players who were battling injuries during the spring but are now on track to be ready for Opening Day.  A.J. Puk “has been throwing bullpen sessions for months” following a shoulder strain in the spring, and looks to be ready to begin the season in Oakland’s rotation.  Right-hander Daniel Mengden is also ready to be part of the pitching mix after recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery in February.  After being sidelined with an intercostal strain during Spring Training, Stephen Piscotty said he is now “100 percent with no limitations.”
  • The Rays and Rangers are the latest teams to commit to paying their minor leaguers through the end of July, as respectively reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Minor leaguers in each organization will continue to receive their $400 weekly stipends for at least another month.

West Notes: Astros, Giants, Ramos, A’s, Jefferies

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The Astros can’t rule out making an external addition to their starting rotation mix, writes Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. General manager James Click has a somewhat uncertain stable of starters upon whom he can rely, with his Astros losing a considerable chunk of innings via the departures of Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley. The rotation currently projects as Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Lance McCullers, and some combination of Jose Urquidy, Josh James, and Framber Valdez. However, given the potential limitations on McCullers’s workload and the unproven back-end options, Click may dip into the free-agent pool for insurance. That said, pickings are slim this time of year, with the likes of Marco Estrada, Clayton Richard, and Danny Salazar (to name just a few) representing the most experienced free agents. For what it’s worth, minor-leaguers Bryan Abreu and Cristian Javier have impressed Click thus far and could contribute to the rotation this year.

Here’s more from baseball’s West divisions…

  • Giants prospect Heliot Ramos is expected to be out of commission for at least a few weeks after suffering an oblique strain on Friday, reports John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The 20-year-old outfielder sustained the injury while making a throw home during the Giants’ matchup with the Rockies. Per Shea, Ramos will be re-evaluated this weekend, but is likely to be on the shelf for two weeks at minimum. Ramos is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the number 65 prospect in baseball, and the third-best in the San Francisco organization. He’s reached as high as Double-A and appeared in last year’s Arizona Fall League. He wasn’t invited to Major League camp this year, but has been brought up to participate in a couple of the Giants’ Cactus League games.
  • An MRI of Athletics prospect Daulton Jefferies showed no issues with the elbow, though the right-hander does have a strain in his upper bicep, reports Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The Oakland organization had some fear that Jefferies may have sustained an elbow injury when he exited a February 24 game prematurely. Per Gallegos, we won’t know exactly when Jefferies will be able to throw again until he visits a specialist tomorrow. Jefferies, 24, is coming off a solid 2019 season in which he made it to Double-A, throwing 64 innings of 3.66-ERA baseball at that level.

 

Pitcher Notes: Twins, Wacha, Mariners, A’s

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Veteran right-hander Jhoulys Chacin had to settle for a minor league contract with the Twins at the outset of the month, but he may be impressing the club enough to end up on its season-opening roster. Manager Rocco Baldelli said (via the Star Tribune) that Chacin has “done everything he can to this point to put himself in position to eventually win a spot.” As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored earlier this week, the 32-year-old Chacin is one of a few candidates in the running. Lefty Lewis Thorpe is also in the mix, but he tweeted Tuesday: “I’ve left camp for a week or 2 for personal matters. I’m healthy and excited for this year. I’ll be back shortly.” Baldelli wasn’t willing to divulge why Thorpe’s taking a leave of absence. However, he noted that the Twins do believe Thorpe will return “at some point during camp, [but I] can’t tell you when that’s going to be” (via Dawn Klemish of MLB.com).

  • The Mets reportedly aren’t sure how the No. 5 spot in their rotation will look this year, but righty Michael Wacha made a strong case for the job Tuesday, as Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. Wacha’s fastball ranged from 94 to 96 mph during his outing. “They told me I am a starter, so that is what I am here for,” Wacha said. The former Cardinal, 28, has worked almost exclusively as a starter to this point, but he did yo-yo between St. Louis’ rotation and bullpen during a rough 2019 campaign. The Mets then added Wacha for a $3MM guarantee in free agency, and he’s now competing against lefty Steven Matz for the last place in their starting staff.
  • Mariners righty Kendall Graveman has made good progress in his recovery from July 2018 Tommy John surgery, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times details. Graveman was with Oakland when he underwent the procedure, but he hooked on with the Cubs as a free agent for 2019 and didn’t end up pitching for the club. Now healthy, the 29-year-old Graveman – whom the Mariners signed for $2MM in November – figures to begin 2020 in the M’s rotation. It has been quite some time since Graveman turned in a full, effective season; at his best, he totaled 186 innings of 4.11 ERA/4.39 FIP ball with a 5.23 K/9, 2.27 BB/9 and a 52.1 percent groundball rate in 2016.
  • Athletics righty Daulton Jefferies is dealing with a biceps strain and will undergo an MRI later this week, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. However, manager Bob Melvin suggested it’s not an especially serious injury. The 24-year-old Jefferies, who originally joined the Athletics as the 37th overall pick in 2016,  was a standout in Double-A ball last season. In his first experience at the level, he posted a 3.66 ERA/3.19 FIP with 10.13 K/9 and 0.98 BB/9 in 64 innings.

Athletics Designate Jharel Cotton For Assignment

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The Athletics announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Jharel Cotton for assignment and selected the contract of right-hander Daulton Jefferies from Double-A Midland. Oakland’s 40-man roster remains full.

Cotton, 27, joined the A’s alongside righties Frankie Montas and Grant Holmes in the 2016 trade that sent Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Dodgers. At the time, he was considered a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect and a potential long-term rotation piece, but things haven’t panned out that way. While Cotton impressed with a 2.15 ERA in 29 1/3 innings with the A’s in 2016 following that trade, he was unable to replicate that over a larger sample in 2017.

That 2017 season saw Cotton limp to a 5.58 ERA in 129 innings, due largely to an alarming 2.0 HR/9 mark. He missed the entire 2018 season due to Tommy John surgery, and his 2019 comeback season was shortened by a hamstring issue that eventually required surgical repair. At this point, it’s been more than two years since Cotton has thrown an inning in a Major League game.

Jefferies, 24, was a Competitive Balance selection (No. 37 overall) by the A’s back in 2016. He split the 2019 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, where he worked to a combined 3.42 ERA with an otherworldly 93-to-9 K/BB ratio in 79 innings (10.6 K/9, 1.0 BB/9). Jefferies barely pitched from 2016-18 thanks to a shoulder injury during his junior year at Cal Berkeley and Tommy John surgery in 2017. But the 2019 campaign was a resounding comeback year that has moved him firmly into the ranks of the Athletics’ most promising young arms.

Athletics To Sign Comp A Pick Daulton Jefferies

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The Athletics have agreed to terms with competitive balance Round A selection Daulton Jefferies, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. He’ll receive a $1.6MM bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).

Jefferies, a righty out of the University of California, faced medical questions after dealing with shoulder problems this year. MLB.com still rated him 56th among draft prospects, explaining that Jefferies holds plenty of promise for a shorter (6’0) hurler. He was able to restore some of his draft stock by returning late in the year, and will bring a solid three-pitch mix with him to Oakland.

Other prognosticators were slightly more concerned, but had him in the same general range. Baseball America placed Jefferies 61st on its list, noting that his change-up grades as a plus pitch with a slider rating as an average or better offering. Jefferies also features a low-90s fastball that at times touches 95 mph. He fell to 74th on the board of ESPN.com’s Keith Law.

Oakland will save $145,700 against the slot value for the 37th overall selection. The club also drafted collegiate starters with its other two top selections, both of whom played at the University of Florida: A.J. Puk (first round, 6th overall) and Logan Shore (second round).

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