Doug Fister

Revisiting The Nats’ “Steal” Of A Deal

By Jeff Todd | April 10, 2020 at 9:00pm CDT

Back in the 2013-14 offseason, the Tigers were looking to move a veteran starter … but not because they were in a rebuild. The club had taken three consecutive AL Central titles (and would add another in the ensuing campaign).

The issue was quite the opposite: with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, Rick Porcello, Anibal Sanchez, and Drew Smyly all on the staff, the Detroit organization felt it had depth to spare. Looking ahead at the cost to retain the team’s stars — they ultimately failed to reach a deal with Scherzer but inked a monster extension with Miguel Cabrera later that offseason — the decision was made to trim some costs where possible and bring back some long-range talent.

Meanwhile, the Nationals were in search of a quality arm to plug into would land Fister in a swap that sent a largely underwhelming three-player package back to the Tigers. Utilityman Steve Lombardozzi and lefty reliever Ian Krol were each young players with MLB experience but little in the way of apparent ceiling. The Tigers hoped that they’d be affordable contributors, but neither carved out a career in Detroit. The most interesting long-term piece was a notable but not overly heralded lefty pitching prospect by the name of Robbie Ray.

This wasn’t quite how the Tigers wanted talks to play out. The club reportedly wanted a different young hurler to headline the deal: Taylor Jordan, who had emerged out of obscurity in 2013. Jordan utilized his decidedly Fister-esque skillset to compile 51 2/3 innings of 3.66 ERA work in 2013, averaging just 5.1 K/9 but limiting the walks (1.9 BB/9) and homers (0.52 HR/9) while generating lots of groundballs (57.5%). It seemed Jordan might well be a long-term rotation piece, even if it was unlikely he’d ever really dominate.

Ray, a 22-year-old former 12th-round pick, hadn’t yet reached the highest level of the minors, let alone the bigs. But he was perhaps a higher-ceiling young hurler than Jordan. In 2013, Ray worked to a 3.68 cumulative ERA over 142 frames at the High-A and Double-A levels while racking up 10.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.

For good reason, the Nationals were widely lauded for their acquisition. I characterized the deal as a value-laden, well-timed strike. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs said the Nats had paid “a shockingly low price, considering that Fister is one of the game’s most underrated pitchers.” While anything but flashy, the tall right-hander had a nice track record of high-quality rotation work — over 800 frames of 3.53 ERA ball — and came with two seasons of remaining arbitration control. The thievery metaphor was popular, beginning with the title of Cameron’s post. Plenty of people termed the swap a “steal,” especially after Fister turned in an outstanding 2014 campaign.

There’s no discounting Fister’s excellence in his first year in D.C. Though he missed some action, he still managed to spin 164 innings of 2.41 ERA ball. But as it turned out, that would be the last truly productive campaign of his career. Fister struggled with a lat injury at the start of the ensuing campaign and never really got going. He did manage a useful 4.19 ERA in 103 frames in 2015, so it was hardly a minimal contribution, but the peripherals didn’t support the results and the output didn’t account for his final arbitration salary of $11.4MM. Any thoughts of recouping draft compensation by issuing a qualifying offer went right out the window.

On the other side of the swap … well, the Tigers didn’t quite get what they hoped for either, but they only had their own ensuing actions to blame. After watching Ray struggle in a brief 2014 debut, Detroit ended up sending him out in a memorable three-team trade that really didn’t work out for the Motown side. That deal, which also cost the Tigers a decent infield prospect in Domingo Leyba, returned righty Shane Greene. While he had his moments in Detroit, they came after he transitioned to a relief role. Greene was swapped out last summer. The arrangement would have gone better had the Tigers simply taken shortstop Didi Gregorius, who ended up with the Yankees.

By that point, Ray was ready for a full test at the MLB level. He turned in a very strong debut in 2015. And while the results have taken a bit of a rollercoaster ride since, he has produced huge strikeout numbers and generally fared well in the eyes of advanced metrics. Ray has contributed 762 innings of 3.96 ERA ball in Arizona while racking up 11.3 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. The long ball has been an issue, but it hasn’t stopped him from compiling 10 rWAR and a dozen fWAR — well over twice what Fister ended up providing to the Nats (4.5 rWAR / 1.7 fWAR) — in advance of his final season of arbitration eligibility.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Doug Fister Retires

By Steve Adams | February 13, 2019 at 4:46pm CDT

Veteran right-hander Doug Fister has elected to call it a career after spending parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, agent Page Odle tells Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Fister, 35, received multiple Major League contract offers this winter, according to Odle, but is instead making a “100 percent family-driven” decision to spend time with his wife and two children.

A seventh-round pick of the Mariners back in 2006, Fister ascended to the Majors as a largely unheralded prospect with the Mariners in 2009. After establishing himself as a quality starter over his first 378 frames with the Mariners, Fister was flipped to the Tigers in a 2011 trade deadline deal, where he’d go on to thrive over another three seasons. Fister, in fact, was somewhat quietly one of the game’s better starters from 2011-14, pitching to a 3.11 ERA (129 ERA+) with 6.5 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9.

A 2015 forearm strain led to diminished velocity and diminished results for Fister, though he managed to make 32 starts for the 2016 Astros and served as a stabilizing force in their rotation. Hip and knee injuries slowed Fister in his most recent run with the Rangers, with the latter of the two issues ultimately ending his season after 66 innings.

All in all, Fister will walk away from his baseball career with a lifetime 83-92 record, a 3.72 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 1422 1/3 big league innings. The towering 6’8″ righty also amassed an impressive postseason resume, tallying 56 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball with a 41-to-17 K/BB ratio in five separate postseasons runs (three with the Tigers, one with the Nats and one with the Red Sox). He made one World Series start, with the Tigers in ’12, where he tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Giants.

Fister earned more than $36MM in player salaries over the life of a career that both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs value at 20 wins above replacement. Best wishes to the former Tigers, Mariners, Nationals, Astros, Red Sox and Rangers righty in his life beyond baseball.

8 Low-Cost Rotation Depth Options

By Jeff Todd | February 6, 2019 at 9:09pm CDT

We ran through some of the remaining sources of offensive power yesterday. Today, we’ll do the same for rotation pieces. There are not all that many established starters left on the market, but there are still a handful who stand out as plausible candidates to gobble up some frames without costing much for an acquiring team. (Jeremy Hellickson would’ve been included here had he not agreed to terms with the Nats this morning.) As before, we’ll be ignoring those players who MLBTR predicted to secure multi-year deals entering the winter (e.g. Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez).

Presented in order of 2018 innings pitched…

James Shields: He topped 200 frames for the tenth time in 2018, so teams looking for volume will have to place Shields on the top of their value list. True, the results (4.53 ERA) and peripherals (6.8 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.5 HR/9, 35.2% GB rate) weren’t exciting, but Shields is also a respected staff member who’d be valued for his positive influence on teammates. For the right organization, he’s a viable innings eater.

Bartolo Colon: Yep, he’s back — or at least he hopes to be. Home runs were a big problem last year for Big Sexy, but he still racked up 146 1/3 frames on the year for the Rangers. As with Shields, there won’t likely be much interest from contenders, but other teams that are thin on upper-level pitching depth could look to Colon as a cheap source of innings.

Clay Buchholz: It’s quite a different story for the 34-year-old Buchholz, who had a nice turnaround campaign before it was cut short by yet another injury. Organizations that are interested in building waves of talented arms, whether or not they come with health concerns, will certainly be intrigued by Buchholz, even if his peripherals (7.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.82 HR/9, 42.6% GB rate) didn’t quite support the sparkling 2.01 ERA he carried through 98 1/3 innings last year in Arizona.

Yovani Gallardo: Though he made it through 94 1/3 innings, the outcomes weren’t pretty for Gallardo. Memories of his days as a sturdy mid-rotation starter are long faded, though perhaps there’s reason to believe in at least some amount of positive regression. Gallardo’s 6.39 ERA in 2018 was caused in some part by a low 64.5% strand rate. Of course, ERA estimators still valued his contributions in the low-5.00 realm, so there’s not a ton of room for optimism.

Edwin Jackson: Jackson ran up a productive ERA in about a half-season of work as a key member of Oakland’s patchwork rotation. But the spread in this case between his ERA (3.33) and ERA estimators (4.65 FIP, 4.88 xFIP, 4.98 SIERA) is significant. Jackson is still averaging better than 93 mph on his heater, but he likely won’t benefit again from a .240 batting average on balls in play from opposing hitters.

Brett Anderson: Some will be surprised to learn that Anderson only celebrated his 31st birthday earlier this month. The lefty debuted as a 21-year-old and has had a tumultuous career, but he put forth a solid effort in 80 1/3 frames with the A’s in ’18. Anderson registered a 55.6 percent grounder rate and notched a career-best 1.46 BB/9. He doesn’t miss many bats and has a long injury history, but the southpaw’s knack for keeping the ball on the ground and his typically low walk rates could be appealing for a team seeking depth rather than a candidate to make 30 starts.

Doug Fister: A knee injury wrecked Fister’s 2018 season, but the righty displayed his typical penchant for keeping the ball on the ground (50.4 percent) and avoiding free passes (2.5 BB/9). Fister managed a 4.50 ERA in 66 innings — nearly half of which came at the launching pad that is Globe Life Park in Arlington. It’s an extraordinarily small sample, to be sure, but the righty did notch a 2.82 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 35 2/3 innings on the road. As far as depth options go, clubs could do far worse than the 35-year-old veteran.

Ervin Santana: Only 10 pitchers threw more innings than Santana between the 2016-17 seasons, but an injured tendon in his pitching hand that required surgery last offseason more or less wiped out his entire 2018 campaign. It’s perhaps heartening that the injury wasn’t specific to the his elbow or shoulder. Santana’s results in 24 2/3 innings were awful (22 runs on 31 hits and nine walks), though it’s unlikely that he was healthy when on the hill. He may be 36 now, but Santana posted a combined 3.52 ERA in 907 2/3 frames from 2013-17. If his hand is healed up, he could be the best bet for a productive season on this list.

Rangers Decline Club Options Over Chirinos, Fister, Moore, Perez

By Jeff Todd | November 2, 2018 at 3:05pm CDT

The Rangers have declined club options over catcher Robinson Chirinos and pitchers Doug Fister, Matt Moore, and Martin Perez. That’s a surprising move on the veteran backstop, though all three hurlers seemed destined to be sent onto the open market.

The Texas organization has also announced a long list of players who were outrighted from the 40-man roster. Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Clayton Blackburn, Brandon Mann, Carlos Perez, and Ryan Rua are all weighing outright assignments after seemingly clearing waivers.

Chirinos, 34, had seemed a fairly easy choice to remain behind the dish in Texas. His option had risen in value to $4.5MM due to plate-appearance escalators, Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes on Twitter, but the team will pay him $1MM just to walk away.

While Chirinos is not noted for his skill behind the dish — in particular, he slipped to dreadful framing ratings in 2018 — he’s a highly respected player. And he also has consistently delivered much more offensive than the average catcher, with a .233/.324/.438 career slash and 35 home runs over the 735 plate appearances he has accrued since the start of 2017.

All three pitchers will be looking for bounceback opportunities after forgettable seasons. Fister will receive a $500K buyout; his option was priced at $4.5MM. The Moore deal included a $750K buyout, which he’ll take home in lieu of a $10MM payday. Perez, meanwhile, gets $1MM in total buyouts as the club passes on its chance to keep him in 2019 ($7.5MM) and 2020 ($9MM).

Doug Fister Shut Down For Remainder Of Season

By Steve Adams | August 13, 2018 at 3:40pm CDT

The knee strain that has kept Rangers right-hander Doug Fister on the disabled list since mid-June will prove to be season-ending, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Fister’s knee hasn’t responded well to the rehab efforts, and he won’t pitch again in 2018.

Fister, 34, signed a one-year deal worth $4MM to join the Rangers this offseason. That pact comes with a $4.5MM option for the 2019 season as well, so it’s not a guarantee that the injury will ultimately end his tenure with the organization. The Texas front office will owe him a $500K buyout of the option regardless, so it’ll boil down to another $4MM decision on their end. Given his recent track record, it seems likelier to be declined, but the Rangers organization is also perilously thin on rotation depth.

While Fister didn’t pitch especially well in Texas, he did give the Rangers a dozen serviceable starts. In 66 innings, the veteran worked to a 4.50 ERA with 40 strikeouts against 19 walks to go along with a 50.6 percent ground-ball rate. His fastball, though, sat at an average of 88.4 mph — down from last year’s 89.8 mph mark — and Fister’s 5.1 percent swinging-strike rate was not only the second-worst mark of his career but also the lowest mark of any pitcher in MLB with at least 60 innings thrown.

It’s been nearly a half decade since Fister, once one of the game’s more underrated hurlers, was an above-average contributor in a rotation. He tossed 164 innings of 2.41 ERA ball for the Nationals in 2014 but struggled in 2015 and ultimately lost his rotation spot with the Nats. Since that time, he’s seen his fastball velocity drop substantially, bottoming out at 86.2 mph in 2015 before rebounding to some extent over the past two seasons. He’s struggled to a 4.68 ERA with a near-identical 4.64 FIP across the past three seasons between the Astros, Red Sox and Rangers.

Rangers Select Yovani Gallardo’s Contract

By Jeff Todd | June 17, 2018 at 10:58am CDT

TODAY: The move is official, as announced by Rangers executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link). To create space on the 25-man and 40-man rosters, lefty Brandon Mann was optioned to Triple-A while Doug Fister was moved to the 60-day DL. Fister hit the DL with a knee strain last weekend, and now won’t be eligible to return to the Rangers’ roster until August.

FRIDAY: The Rangers will select the contract of veteran righty Yovani Gallardo, per a club announcement. He’ll join the team in time to make a start on Sunday, at which time corresponding moves will be made.

Gallardo, 32, enjoyed his last run of success in the majors when he turned in 184 1/3 frames of 3.42 ERA pitching for the Rangers back in 2015. Through 251 MLB innings since that time, he has limped to a 5.81 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.

Since coming back to the Texas organization earlier this year on a minors deal, following a very brief and unsuccessful stint with the Reds, Gallardo has taken the ball for ten starts at Triple-A. He has been in solid form there, working to a 3.81 ERA with forty strikeouts and 14 free passes.

The Rangers will turn to Gallardo with Doug Fister hitting the DL and Matt Moore being pushed to the pen. If Gallardo throws well enough to stick, he might help the team cover for potential trade deadline moves (or, less likely, turn into an asset himself). The Texas pen is also increasingly hurting, with Chris Martin and Matt Bush going on the DL today.

West Notes: Giants, Trout, Fister, Astros

By Connor Byrne | June 10, 2018 at 11:31am CDT

The Giants placed reliever Cory Gearrin on outright waivers last week, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (video link). No one claimed Gearrin, however, and he remains a member of the Giants. The luxury-tax threshold helped influence the decision to waive Gearrin, per Rosenthal, who points out that San Francisco is $2MM-plus above the $197MM figure. Had someone taken Gearrin off the Giants’ hands, it would have saved the team upward of $1MM and helped give it more flexibility as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. It’s no surprise the 32-year-old Gearrin went unclaimed, though, given that he has recorded a 5.11 ERA over 24 2/3 innings with unappealing walk, groundball and home run rates (4.74 BB/9, 34.2 GB percentage, 1.82 HR/9).

Now the latest from the AL West:

The Angels haven’t capitalized on center fielder Mike Trout’s presence, evidenced by their zero playoff wins since he burst on the scene in 2012, leading Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times to wonder if he’d consider signing an extension with the team if it doesn’t become a major contender soon. Trout, who’s under control through 2020 on the six-year, $144.5MM deal he signed in 2014, isn’t sure about his future at this point. “I don’t know the answer,” he told Shaikin. “I want to get to the playoffs. That’s my mindset. I can’t predict the future. So I just take it one game at a time now and see what happens.” The Trout-led Angels (37-28) are firmly in the playoff hunt this year, but in spite of their impressive record, they’re still 3.5 games out in both the AL West and the wild-card race. While Shaikin opines that the Angels could use some outside help around the trade deadline to help snap their three-year playoff drought, general manager Billy Eppler offered: “It’s tough to get that starting pitcher. It’s tough to get that everyday bat, or impact bat. Those are harder to acquire.” On the other hand, Eppler noted that the trade market’s typically “flush with relievers whose contracts are expiring at the end of the year.”
The Rangers announced that they’ve placed right-hander Doug Fister on the disabled list, retroactive to Saturday, and recalled infielder Hanser Alberto from Triple-A. It’s the second DL stint of the year for Fister, who’s dealing with a right knee strain. He previously missed time in April with a right hip strain. Thanks in part to his injury issues, it hasn’t been a particularly good season for the 34-year-old Fister, whom the Rangers added on a $4MM guarantee in free agency. Despite a 50.4 percent groundball mark and a low walk rate (2.59 per nine), Fister has logged 4.50 ERA/5.19 FIP over 66 innings and 12 starts. Given that Texas won’t be in contention around the deadline, the team could market the veteran if he’s healthy, though it seems unlikely he’ll have much of any value.
The Astros have placed reliever Joe Smith on the DL and recalled lefty Reymin Guduan from Triple-A, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets. Smith’s battling “elbow discomfort,” which obviously isn’t the most reassuring ailment for a pitcher. Like Fister, Smith inked a free-agent contract over the winter and has endured a down season. The recipient of a two-year, $15MM pact, the normally solid Smith has put up a 5.49 ERA in 19 2/3 innings, but he has managed quality strikeout, walk and grounder rates (9.15 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 49.0 GB percentage).

AL West Notes: Parker, Shoemaker, Rangers, Cook

By Steve Adams | May 21, 2018 at 11:07am CDT

The Angels’ closer role has been something of a carousel all season, and just when it looked to be settling on Keynan Middleton, the 24-year-old righty was diagnosed with a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register notes, Blake Parker looks to be first up in line after recording a save last night and now rattling off nine consecutive scoreless innings. “It feels good to finally be back a little bit and command the zone better than I was early on,” said Parker of his recent run of success. Manager Mike Scioscia hasn’t yet re-tabbed Parker as the team’s closer, though given last night’s clean outing and his recent run of success, it seems likely that he’ll receive additional opportunities at the very least.

Fletcher also provides some health updates on Matt Shoemaker and Blake Wood, most notably reporting that Shoemaker played catch for the first time in two weeks yesterday and is headed for a followup visit with a nerve specialist today. Shoemaker was moved to the 60-day DL over the weekend when the Halos selected Ian Krol from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Rangers Open To Trading Veteran Players

By Steve Adams | May 18, 2018 at 1:01pm CDT

Though we’re only a bit more than halfway through May, the Rangers have already informed other clubs that they’re open to selling off some veteran pieces, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports in his latest notes column. The report doesn’t characterize talks as serious, which isn’t surprising given that it’s not even June (the Draft is still a larger focus for most teams), though Rosenthal notes that some rivals have begun to tell Texas that they’re interested in various players.

The Rangers, off to just a 17-28 start to the season, find themselves buried under an 11-game deficit in the AL West and 8.5 games out of a Wild Card spot in the American League. Only three AL clubs — the Orioles, Royals and White Sox — have lower winning percentages than the Rangers.

Rosenthal lists left-hander Cole Hamels as the “most prominent” name that is likely to move, though he also suggests that Adrian Beltre would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to head to a contender once he’s back from his second DL stint of the season (both due to a strained left hamstring).

The Rangers aren’t exactly teeming with useful veterans, but Doug Fister, Bartolo Colon, Jesse Chavez and Tony Barnette have all enjoyed above-average starts to their seasons. Lefty reliever Jake Diekman, too, is sporting a solid ERA and an impressive strikeout rate, though he’s walked a staggering 14 batters in 14 2/3 innings, which will surely make other teams leery.

On the position-player side of the coin, the Rangers have fewer appealing assets, outside of the currently injured Beltre. Rosenthal notes that the organization isn’t keen on listening to offers for young players like Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara or Delino DeShields Jr., and that leaves little in the way of productive assets. Speculatively speaking, perhaps Robinson Chirinos would be appealing for a club in need of catching help like the Nationals or Twins. While he’s hitting just .198/.280/.414, he’s again showing good power (six homers, .216 ISO in 125 plate appearances) after hitting .255/.360/.506 last season. He’s controlled through 2019 and would only be owed the remainder of this season’s $2.25MM salary plus a cheap $2.375MM option for next season ($1MM buyout).

If Hamels is indeed the likeliest name to go, he’s provided interested teams with a mixed bag of results so far in 2018. Hamels struggled with his velocity early in the season but has seen his fastball surge back to life recently. After averaging less than 90 mph on his heater in his first three starts, he’s now sitting comfortably in the 91-92 mph range, including a season-high 92.2 mph in his most recent appearance. The lefty’s 9.9 K/9 rate and overall 25.1 percent strikeout percentage would be his highest since his rookie campaign in 2006, and his 12 percent swinging-strike rate is up considerably from last season’s career-low 9.7 percent.

Hamels, though, is also walking more batters than ever before (3.7 BB/9, 9.3 percent overall walk rate), and his 43.7 percent hard-contact rate allowed to opposing hitters is among the highest in all of baseball. He’s also earning $22.5MM this season and is guaranteed at least a $6MM buyout on next year’s $20MM option.

In addition to that sizable sum of money, Hamels also has the power to block trades to 20 teams; MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported earlier this year that the only teams to which Hamels can be traded without his consent are the Mariners, Cardinals, Nationals, Astros, Cubs, Phillies, Royals, Rays and Braves. So while a team like the Yankees will be an oft-speculated and reported fit for Hamels, he’ll have the ability to try to negotiate a bit, perhaps by saying he’d only approve the deal if next year’s option were to be guaranteed.

Looking around the rest of the roster, Fister is playing on a $4MM salary that includes a $500K buyout of next year’s reasonable $4.5MM club option. His 3.43 ERA isn’t supported by fielding-independent metrics, but he’d be a nice steadying force at the back of someone’s rotation. The timeless and affable Colon signed a minor league deal with a $1.75MM base salary, and while he’s not as good as his 2.82 ERA would indicate, he’s demonstrating elite control and inducing grounders at a 50 percent clip while racking up plenty of innings (51 through nine appearances, including seven starts).

In the bullpen, Chavez’s 4.81 ERA sells him short, considering the fact that he’s averaged 10 strikeouts and just 1.9 walks per nine frames. He’s on a one-year deal worth $1MM. Barnette has missed time with inflammation in his elbow, but his velocity is holding at 93 mph. He owns a 9-to-2 K/BB with a career-best 56.7 percent grounder rate in 10 1/3 innings. With a $1.5MM salary and a similarly affordable club option, he’s fit nicely into a contending bullpen’s middle relief corps.

As ever, it remains unlikely that anything too significant will happen in mid-May. The Rangers are undoubtedly only in the preliminary stages of gauging the market for their veterans, while some clubs throughout the league have yet to determine whether they’ll actively acquire talent this summer, end up in a holding pattern or wind up selling off pieces themselves. Contending always looked like a long shot for a Texas club that put together a patchwork pitching staff, however, and it seems they’ve largely accepted their fate as summer approaches.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Miranda, Sipp, Bedrosian

By Steve Adams | April 10, 2018 at 9:53pm CDT

The Rangers announced tonight that second baseman Rougned Odor (left hamstring strain) and right-hander Doug Fister (right hip strain) have both been placed on the 10-day disabled list. In their place, the team has activated reliever Tony Barnette from the DL and recalled catcher/infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa from Triple-A Round Rock. There’s no indication that either injury is considered to be long-term, with both Odor and Fister eligible to return from the DL on April 20. Kiner-Falefa will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game; the former fourth-round pick hit .288/.350/.390 through 569 trips to the plate in Double-A last season.

Some more AL West news…

Lefty Ariel Miranda will remain the Mariners’ fifth starter for the time being, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll take the ball on April 17 when the fifth spot in the rotation next comes up, Divish notes, rather than right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, who is working his way back from a lat strain. However, the team doesn’t want to rush Ramirez back and will keep him on a slower progression while entrusting Miranda with a larger role. The 29-year-old Miranda is no stranger to the Seattle rotation, having made 39 starts for the M’s over the past two seasons after being acquired in a one-for-one swap that sent Wade Miley to Baltimore.
The Astros announced today that they placed left-hander Tony Sipp on the 10-day DL and recalled righty James Hoyt from Triple-A in his place. (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart first reported that Sipp would hit the DL.) With Sipp on the shelf, the Astros are going with an all-right-handed bullpen for the foreseeable future, though the ’Stros do have options in that regard if they decide to change course. Lefties Buddy Boshers and Reymin Guadan are both on the 40-man roster and both pitching for Triple-A Fresno.
The Angels are keeping an eye on Cam Bedrosian’s velocity, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The struggling setup man, however, insists that he’s not injured, though he acknowledges that the drop from an average of 96 mph to 93 mph on his fastball is an issue. Bedrosian feels that he developed some bad mechanical tendencies upon returning from a groin strain last season and is trying to get back to his old delivery. Pitching coach Charles Nagy noted that the dip in velocity is a “concern,” though Bedrosian also attributes his early results to simply not locating his pitches effectively.

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