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Central Notes: Cain, Bell, Cardinals, Schafer

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Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain says that the Grade 2 wrist strain that ended his season won’t require surgery this winter, writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Cain explained that he’s already had a month of recovery under his belt and expects to have a typical offseason, as he usually doesn’t begin his primary hitting program until January anyhow. Cain moved from center field to right field late in the season after returning from a hamstring injury, but Dodd writes that the Royals’ preference is to continue to deploy him in center field, where he’s graded out as one of the game’s premier defensive players over the past few seasons. However, Dodd also notes that the Royals will consider giving Cain more time in right field next season if they believe that will help to keep him healthier.

More from the the game’s Central divisions…

  • While much has been made of Josh Bell’s bat, defense will be the primary focus for the promising young Pirates slugger this offseason, writes MLB.com’s Adam Berry. GM Neal Huntington spoke to Bell at season’s end about his desire for Bell to become proficient both at his natural position of right field and his more recently adopted position of first base. “That’s going to be my main focus, making sure I’m more versatile next year,” Bell told Berry. “You have a few guys in every lineup that can play all over the field. Those guys are your most valuable players. I hope to be one of those guys next year.” While Bell obviously won’t be lining up in the middle of the diamond anytime soon, there’s an obvious benefit to freely being able to move him between the corner outfield and first base without fretting much over defensive issues. As Berry points out, a crowded outfield and the presence of first baseman John Jaso on the roster as well could lead to an offseason trade but could also make for some nice depth in the 2017 season if everyone is retained.
  • A lack of bullpen depth proved to be a glaring deficiency for the Cardinals this season and must be addressed by general manager John Mozeliak over the winter, opines Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gordon points out that with Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake, Alex Reyes, a returning Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia (whose option seems likely to be picked up) all in the rotation picture, the rotation looks to have good depth (though further depth could be added on minor league pacts or small deals this winter), but the ’pen took hits with the loss of Zach Duke and Seth Maness to Tommy John surgery. Potential replacements for Duke like Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales battled injuries this season, and Trevor Rosenthal’s inconsistencies and injury problems render him a question mark as well. Gordon calls for multiple arms capable of pitching high-leverage innings and makes his case that said relievers should be a focal point in the Cardinals’ mission to improve their run-prevention skills this winter.
  • Outfielder Logan Schafer, who was outrighted off the Twins’ 40-man roster earlier this week, confirmed that he’ll elect free agency to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. That was all but a foregone conclusion for a veteran of nine professional seasons that lost his roster spot. Schafer tells Berardino that the Twins “treated me well and with great respect” and says he’s open to a return, though he recognizes that they’re in for a busy offseason and he’s probably not on their list of priorities. The 30-year-old center fielder hit .238/.342/.317 in 75 PAs with the Twins after slashing .264/.340/.361 in 64 games for their Triple-A affiliate. Schafer should find the opportunity to compete for a bench spot with a big league club somewhere this winter. You can check out MLBTR’s full list of 2016-17 MLB free agents for a refresher on who’s available this offseason.

NL Central Notes: Bell, Peraza, Senzel, Capuano, Nolin

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The Pirates recalled top first base prospect Josh Bell over the weekend, and he’ll have a larger role than he had in his brief initial call-up earlier this season (three brilliant pinch-hit plate appearances), GM Neal Huntington tells Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We brought Josh up to play a decent amount,” said Huntington of the 24-year-old Bell, who has batted a .295/.382/.468 with 14 homers in 114 Triple-A games this season. Bell’s prospect pedigree and strong minor league production, paired with a .167/.306/.250 second half from John Jaso, could well pave the way to everyday at-bats (or something close to it) down the stretch. If he can prove himself to be a consistent hitter in the Majors and one capable of playing a passable first base — Huntington tells Brink that Bell’s defense will “continue to be a work in progress” — Bell could unseat Jaso and lead the team to shop the veteran (and his two-year, $8MM contract) over the winter.

A bit more from the NL Central…

  • Reds manager Bryan Price tells MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon that Jose Peraza could remain with the team for the rest of the year even if Zack Cozart returns quickly from a minor Achilles injury, but he stopped short of committing to the notion of Peraza sticking in the Majors through the end of the Triple-A season on Sept. 5. As Sheldon notes, Peraza was scarcely used when he spent a month and a half in the Majors earlier this summer, but he’s had a pair of multi-hit games since being recalled to fill in for Cozart at shortstop and could get looks at second base, in left field and in center field over the course of September in an effort to see what he can do with consistent playing time against MLB pitching. It would be somewhat strange for the Reds not to work him into the lineup as much as possible in order to get a better evaluation of Peraza, especially considering the fact that he can be deployed at a number of positions.
  • Having watched Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman and Andrew Benintendi go from the 2015 draft to the Majors less than a year later, Reds third base prospect Nick Senzel said on the MLBPipeline.com podcast that he hopes for a similarly quick ascent (also via Sheldon). Senzel, the No. 2 overall pick in this season’s draft, is hitting .309/.400/.545 with seven homers in 46 games with Class-A Dayton. He hasn’t been moved quite as aggressively as Bregman, who played at Class-A Advanced during his debut season, but neither Swanson nor Benintendi topped Class-A last season and both still made it to the bigs this year. “You look at those guys … get there their first full year, as a player and a college hitter that makes you hungry to get up there,” said Senzel.
  • Brewers left-hander Chris Capuano isn’t likely to return to the team in 2016, GM David Stearns tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The 38-year-old has been sidelined by an elbow injury since late May, and a platelet-rich plasma treatment hasn’t sped along his recovery as much as had been hoped. Stearns notes that Capuano “is still very motivated to make it back and continue his career,” so it sounds as if there’s a good chance he’ll aim to return in 2017 if he can’t do so at the tail end of the present season.
  • Another Brewers southpaw, Sean Nolin, recently underwent Tommy John surgery after trying to stave off the procedure, Haudricourt further reports. He, too, tried a PRP treatment but did not improve enough to avoid a UCL replacement. Milwaukee outfielder Rymer Liriano, meanwhile, has faced slow going after being struck by a pitch in the face this spring. Though he has now begun baseball activities, Liriano won’t be able to make it to the majors this year. Instead, says Stearns, he may be able to participate in fall instructional league action.

Pirates To Place Jung Ho Kang On DL, Recall Josh Bell

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The Pirates have announced that they will place third baseman Jung Ho Kang on the 15-day DL and will recall first baseman Josh Bell to take his place on the active roster. Kang sustained a left shoulder injury while sliding into second base during yesterday’s game against the Marlins.

Kang has batted a robust .243/.326/.481 in 267 plate appearances this year, although those numbers have dipped and his defense has flagged in the past two months (although he has three home runs in the past week). He has also faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a Chicago hotel earlier this summer.

With Kang on the shelf, David Freese will likely take most of the Pirates’ playing time at third base. Meanwhile, Bell will likely share time with John Jaso at first. Bell, one of the Bucs’ top prospects, had a brief stint in the Majors earlier in the summer and didn’t disappoint, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances and hitting a grand slam. But the Pirates opted to return him to the minors and continue playing Jaso, despite Jaso’s underwhelming performance at the plate. For the season, Bell has batted .295/.382/.468 at Triple-A Indianapolis, although his glove, rather than his bat, appeared to be the main source of the Pirates’ reluctance to give him regular playing time.

NL Notes: Jeffress, Bell, Nationals, Braves

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The bullpen market has been picking up some steam lately, with the Red Sox acquiring Brad Ziegler from the D-backs and the Marlins landing Fernando Rodney in a trade with the Padres. Miami was apparently in the market for some more controllable bullpen help prior to landing Rodney, though, as MLB Network’s Peter Gammons reports (on Twitter) that the Marlins also spoke with the Brewers about Jeremy Jeffress. Milwaukee had a significant asking price on its closer, however, as Gammons hears that the Brewers asked for right-hander Chris Paddack (the pitcher Miami traded to get Rodney) and two more prospects in exchange for Jeffress. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd has long listed Jeffress on his weekly rankings of trade candidates, noting that it’s understandable for the Brewers to have a steep ask with another three years of club control remaining beyond 2016.

More from the NL…

  • Josh Bell has been quite impressive in his limited big league experience, going 2-for-2 with a walk and a monstrous grand slam in three pinch-hit appearances over the weekend. However, Ron Cook of the Pittburgh Post-Gazette writes that the Pirates will option Bell back to Triple-A in spite of his strong first impression, as the team informed him from day one that he was being promoted for the weekend only. “I don’t see moving him to first base in front of [John] Jaso right now with the job [Jaso] has done,” said manager Clint Hurdle to Cook. “I think down the line we’ll see what a little bit more [of Bell] would look like. I don’t know when down the line is.” General manager Neal Huntington tells Cook that he still kicks himself for rushing Gregory Polanco and Pedro Alvarez to the Majors and doesn’t want to make the same mistake with Bell.
  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo tells Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post that he doesn’t see a glaring need anywhere on his roster that needs to be addressed at the trade deadline. “That’s not to say that we’re a perfect team and we couldn’t upgrade if the right possibility comes,” says Rizzo of his club, however. As far as payroll is concerned, Rizzo adds that the Nationals would be able to take on payroll in order to lessen the prospect cost of a trade.
  • Braves catcher Tyler Flowers is having an MRI on his hand today after aggravating an injury that he sustained a week ago when he was hit by a pitch against the Marlins, writes MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. If a trip to the disabled list is necessary, the Braves could turn to Triple-A backstop Blake Lalli, though doing so would require a 40-man roster move. Bowman has updates on a number of injured Braves, noting that right-hander Shae Simmons has seen improvements in his shoulder since he resumed throwing off a mound. He’s been sidelined all season recovering from Tommy John surgery and twice had setbacks involving his right shoulder.

Pirates To Promote Josh Bell

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The Pirates will promote top first base prospect Josh Bell to the Majors to make his big league debut tonight, according to multiple reports (Logan Stout first tweeted word of Bell’s promotion).

[Related: Updated Pirates Depth Chart]

Josh Bell

In Bell, the Pirates are promoting a player that ranks 38th on Baseball America’s just-updated Top 100 prospects list (published today). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com currently have Bell rated as the game’s No. 43 prospect. A 23-year-old switch-hitter that was selected 61st overall in the 2011 draft, Bell has had a monster season at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .324/.407/.535 with 13 homers, 19 doubles and four triples in 359 plate appearances. BA notes that Bell’s defense at first base is somewhat questionable — he just transitioned to the position in 2015 after previously playing right field — but both BA and MLB.com write that he could be a difference-maker at the plate and has middle-of-the-order potential. The 2016 season marks the first in which Bell has truly tapped into the power potential that led the Bucs to give him an over-slot bonus of $5MM back in 2011 when he slipped out of the first round due to signability concerns.

Bell’s promotion could mean that incumbent first baseman John Jaso will move into a bench role. Jaso, inked to a two-year, $8MM contract as a free agent this offseason, has provided his typical brand of steady production against right-handed pitching, but he’s limited to a strict platoon and is more good than great against righties (.285/.362/.413 this season). As Bell’s excellent Triple-A production (which recently landed him on Jason Martinez’s “Knocking Down the Door” series) indicates, he carries significantly higher upside at the plate. And, with an OPS north of .900 against both lefties and righties in Triple-A this season, Bell could be a long-term option that doesn’t require a platoon partner.

Bell becomes the latest top prospect to join the Pirates’ ranks, as they’ve promoted Top 100 mainstays Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow this year and also called up highly regarded organizational prospects such as Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault to make their big league debuts. Even if he’s in the Majors to stay, Bell will accrue just 86 days of big league service time in 2016, which would leave him well shy of eventually achieving Super Two designation. If this promotion to the big leagues proves to be permanent, the Bucs will control Bell through the 2022 season and he won’t be arbitration eligible until the completion of the 2019 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Central Notes: Reds, Searage, Bell, Piscotty

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Here’s the latest from around the NL Central…

  • The Reds’ rebuild has unsurprisingly been a big subject among fans during the team’s winter caravan tour, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes.  In response to one fan question during a Q & A session, president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty said the decisions to trade Aroldis Chapman and Todd Frazier were made since neither player was likely to re-sign a long-term deal to remain in Cincinnati.  “We felt they were at the peak of their value for what we’d get in return. These were not easy decisions,” Jocketty said.  In another response, Jocketty said that the team was able to accomplish “most of” its offseason goals, as the team’s lack of success in finding trade partners for Brandon Phillips or Jay Bruce is “not necessarily” an impediment to their rebuilding plans.
  • Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage is entering the last year of his contract and wants to remain with the club, he tells Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Searage is universally regarded as one of baseball’s best pitching coaches, as his track record with veteran reclamation projects has been a major part of the Pirates’ recent success and also played a part in their offseason strategy.  As Cook notes, the “Ray will make him better” mantra undoubtedly informed the Bucs’ acquisitions of Jon Niese, Ryan Vogelsong, Juan Nicasio, Neftali Feliz and Kyle Lobstein.
  • Josh Bell is the Pirates’ long-term answer at first base and he could begin to help at the position as soon as the 2016 season, Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes.  Bell still has some questions to answer (namely about his defense, ability to hit left-handed pitching and whether he can consistently generate power) but he carries a lot of potential to solidify what has been a revolving door position for the Pirates.  As Sawchik notes, 44 different players have played at least one game at first for Pittsburgh since 2004.
  • Stephen Piscotty has big shoes to fill in taking over from Jason Heyward as the Cardinals’ everyday right fielder, but as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes, the Cards are confident Piscotty can continue his development from highly-touted prospect to star rookie to Major League regular.
  • In other NL Central news from the last 24 hours, the Brewers swung a big five-player trade with the Diamondbacks that sent Jean Segura to Arizona and brought Aaron Hill and Chase Anderson to Milwaukee…there haven’t been any new Brandon Phillips trade talks, so it looks like Phillips will begin the season with the Reds…we collected some Brewers notes containing comments from Mark Attanasio, Matt Garza and Ryan Braun.

Prospect Notes: Dodgers, Cuba, Reed

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The Dodgers’ Triple-A squad made a remarkable 334 transactions last season with 84 different players appearing in a game, writes Bill Plunkett of Baseball America. Director of player development Gabe Kapler implied that the big league club will continue to make frequent use of their minor league rosters as a way to shuffle depth around. Such a strategy can be particularly useful with back-of-the-roster pitching like spot starters and over-taxed young relievers.

  • Cuba’s Ciego De Avila club will represent the island nation in the upcoming Caribbean Series, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. The tournament begins on February 1. International tournaments are a commonly used opportunity to defect and join the majors. The most notable players in attendance will be Yulieski Gourriel, his young brother Lourdes Gourriel, and Alfredo Despaigne. Badler calls Yulieski, 31, the top player in Cuba, citing a .494/.586/.861 line in 215 plate appearances. Lourdes better fits the role of prospect – he’s 22 with a .340/.400/.561 slash. Badler calls him one of Cuba’s top five players. Despaigne is the best Cuban slugger. He hit .258/.352/.462 in 409 plate appearances last season for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines. While those are the biggest names to watch, there’s no telling which, if any, players will defect.
  • MLB.com’s Jim Callis has unveiled his first base prospect rankings with the Astros’ A.J. Reed taking the top spot. Reed’s excellent first full season included some truly gaudy stats – 34 home runs, 113 runs, and 127 RBI. Callis notes that he still has to prove he can hit advanced left-handed pitching. Pirates prospect Josh Bell and Mets first baseman Dominic Smith are next up in Callis’ Top 10.

Pirates Notes: Morton, Pitching, Melancon, Niese, Nicasio, Kang

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The Pirates are one of several teams holding a FanFest today. Reporters, including MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth, were on hand for the Q&A with GM Neal Huntington. The Pirates’ GM admitted that today’s Morton swap was mostly about payroll relief, although the club does like David Whitehead.

Here’s more Pirates notes:

  • Today’s trade of Charlie Morton will likely instigate “multiple moves,” tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. After the move, the Pirates payroll is around $88MM with a target of about $105MM per Biertempfel (tweet). Huntington told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (tweet), “A big part of the motivation was to free some dollars to allow us to deepen the club, to reestablish some depth.“
  • Industry sources implied to Biertempfel (tweet) that pitchers like Scott Kazmir, Mike Leake, or others over $10MM per season are not on the Pirates radar. However, there is no doubt that at least one starting pitcher is on the agenda. The rotation presently consists of Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Jon Niese, and Jeff Locke. Presumably, the club prefers for Locke or Niese to fill a long relief role with Allen Webster serving as minor league depth. Top prospect Tyler Glasnow is not expected to reach the majors early in the season.
  • Closer Mark Melancon is expected to earn $10MM in arbitration per MLBTR estimates, but the club is under no pressure to trade him, tweets Biertempfel. The team could potentially get by in the late innings with Tony Watson, Arquimedes Caminero, and new acquisition Juan Nicasio. However, a bullpen with Melancon is certainly more robust. With the market for quality closers at a premium, Pittsburgh would find it difficult to replace Melancon. Per Huntington, “if somebody steps up and gives us a return that’s significant enough to motivate us to get a little bit uncomfortable, then we get a little bit uncomfortable.” (h/t to Wilmoth for the quote).
  • In commenting on Nicasio, Huntinton told Wilmoth, “We do think there are some things we can help him with. Now, is it going to be enough to make him a good starter? Time will tell. Is it going to be enough to make him a really good reliever? Time will tell.” The Pirates have developed a reputation as a haven for reclamation projects which could make Nicasio an interesting player to watch.
  • Comparing recent acquisition Jon Niese to the market, Huntington said “he’ll continue to put up numbers similar to guys who are getting sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety million dollars in free agency — we have three, essentially, one-year contracts with Jon Niese.” While Niese comes with less cachet than somebody like Mike Leake, it’s true that they project to perform similarly. As such, Huntington may very well beat the market with this swap.
  • Huntington says Jung-ho Kang is more likely to return in April than May, per Berry (tweet). If true, this is a lucky break for the club. They currently have some combination of Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, Alen Hanson, and Pedro Florimon penciled in for second base, shortstop, and third base. An injury or poor performance from Hanson could leave the club scrambling for reinforcements.
  • The Pirates will retrench in 2016 with an aim to contend again in 2017, writes John Perotto of the Beaver County Times. While the club will still pursue a postseason berth next year, they’ll have their eyes on developing top prospects like Josh Bell, Glasnow, and Jameson Taillon.

Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday

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Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.

In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).

Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …

Earlier Updates

Pirates Notes: Analytics, Walker, Alvarez, Park

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Much like every other team, the Pirates are striving to adjust to a pitcher friendly era, writes Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Pitchers have benefited greatly from the inflow of data. They’ve learned about specific hitters tendencies, strengths, and weakness in ways that weren’t available in the past. Now hitters are beginning to get more of that same information about pitchers. Per Pirates GM Neal Huntington, “So much of the advance work gave an advantage to pitchers in identifying hitters’ weaknesses…We…have worked hard to try to capitalize on how to give our hitters some advantage back.”

Here’s more from the Pirates as they gear up for free agency:

  • Pittsburgh hopes to improve their offense over the offseason, writes Sawchik in a separate article. Sawchik suggests that power could be a priority. Interestingly, the club has tough decisions to make on Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker. Both players are non-tender candidates – Alvarez is projected to earn $8.1MM via arbitration while Walker is pegged for a $10.7MM payday. However, they’ve also accounted for 84 of the club’s 296 home runs in the last two seasons (28%). If power is truly a priority, then it will be hard to replace their production for less money. It’s trendy to look to the Royals as an example, but they’re probably a great model for the Pirates. Pittsburgh has focused on pure hitters in the draft rather than power, and their cavernous ball park plays similarly to Kauffman Stadium. Perhaps aggression and athleticism are better traits to target.
  • Byung-ho Park of the Nexen Heroes will be posted tomorrow, but he’s unlikely to join the Pirates, writes John Perrotto of Today’s Knuckleball. Obviously, the Pirates have already received great value from fellow KBO import Jung-ho Kang. That’s part of the reason Pittsburgh won’t win the bidding for his services. Kang provided a successful use case for transition from the KBO to the majors. Teams should be willing to bet more upon Park’s success. With Michael Morse under contract for 2016 and top prospect Josh Bell lurking at Triple-A, the club also has some solid in-house first basemen.
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