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Diamondbacks Place Carson Kelly On 10-Day IL With Fractured Wrist

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TODAY: Kelly has been placed on the 10-day injured list.  Varsho and infielder Josh VanMeter were called up from Triple-A to fill the spots left open by Kelly and right-hander Kevin Ginkel, who was optioned to Triple-A yesterday.

JUNE 19: Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly suffered a fractured right wrist after being hit by a pitch from the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler in tonight’s game.  Kelly was hit in the bottom of the second inning, and stuck it out for an inning before being replaced behind the plate by Stephen Vogt to begin the fourth.

Depending on the severity of the fracture, Kelly’s season could potentially be in jeopardy, and at the very least he is looking at a lengthy absence.  Kelly already missed time back in May with a toe fracture, though that resulted in only a 10-day minimum stint on the injured list.

It makes for yet another down note for Kelly and the Diamondbacks during what has become a nightmarish season in Arizona.  Kelly’s performance was one of the few bright spots, as he has a .260/.385/.460 slash line and eight home runs through 187 plate appearances.  It was a nice bounce-back showing after a lackluster 2020 season for Kelly, who was acquired from the Cardinals as part of the Paul Goldschmidt trade in December 2018.

Between his solid 2019 numbers and this year’s breakout, Kelly certainly looked to be living up to his billing as the Diamondbacks’ catcher of both the future and the present.  Arizona’s miserable season notwithstanding, it didn’t seem like Kelly (if healthy) was a realistic trade candidate, as GM Mike Hazen recently suggested that the D’Backs would look to settle upon an “anchor” group of core players as they reload and hope for better things in 2022.  Kelly would seem to fit that billing, as he is controlled through the 2024 season.

While Kelly is out of action, the D’Backs would get a chance to give top prospect Daulton Varsho more of a look behind the plate.  Varsho has only 56 games and 159 PA at the big league level over the last two seasons, with more of that playing time coming as an outfielder rather than as a catcher.  Varsho and Vogt could potentially split catching duties while Kelly is sidelined, with Varsho also playing the outfield on days when Vogt is starting.

Injury Notes: Wacha, Widener, Arroyo, Wood, Engel

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Michael Wacha will return from the 10-day injured list to start the Rays’ game against the Blue Jays today.  As noted by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the plan is for Wacha and Josh Fleming to essentially work in a piggyback capacity today, with Wacha handling the first couple of innings before Fleming takes over for a longer stint.  Brent Honeywell Jr. was already optioned to Triple-A yesterday to create roster room for Wacha’s return.

Wacha has been out of action since May 4 due to right hamstring tightness.  After signing a one-year, $3MM free agent deal with Tampa this winter, Wacha’s first 28 1/3 innings with the Rays has resulted in a 4.76 ERA/4.06 SIERA.  An above-average 6.9% walk rate is just about the only good news for Wacha advanced metric-wise, as his Statcast numbers have been quite underwhelming.

More injury updates from around baseball…

  • Taylor Widener has been activated off the 10-day injured list, the Diamondbacks announced.  The right-hander will get the start today’s game against the Rockies, and he will take the roster spot left open when Josh VanMeter was optioned to Triple-A yesterday.  Widener hasn’t pitched since April 22 due to a right groin strain, after posting some solid bottom-line numbers (a 2.82 ERA in 22 1/3 innings) in four starts for the D’Backs, though Statcast indicates Widener had quite a bit of good fortune in managing that quality ERA.  Arizona’s rotation will get a bit closer to full health with Widener back, as Zac Gallen and Luke Weaver are still on the injured list.
  • Red Sox infielder Christian Arroyo will likely be activated from the injured list on Tuesday, manager Alex Cora told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters.  A left hand contusion sent Arroyo to the 10-day IL on May 9 (retroactive to May 7) after he was hit by a pitch.  Arroyo cooled down after a strong start to the season, but he still has a respectable .275/.333/.377 slash line in 76 PA, serving as Boston’s regular second baseman.
  • Hunter Wood was removed from last night’s game due to what the Rangers termed as right elbow tightness.  Wood recorded two outs and issued a walk after entering last night’s game in the seventh inning, but then departed in the midst of an Alex Bregman plate appearance.  Wood has a 3.60 ERA in five innings out of the Texas bullpen this season, after signing a minor league deal with the team during the offseason.
  • Adam Engel told The Athletic’s James Fegan (Twitter links) and other reporters that his minor league rehab assignment will begin tomorrow.  The White Sox outfielder has yet to play this season due to a hamstring strain, as Engel explained that his rehab was slowed by a further injury that tore the muscle off his tendon, increasing his strain from a Grade 2 to a Grade 3.

Reds Acquire Archie Bradley

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The Reds have acquired closer Archie Bradley in a last-second deadline deal with the Diamondbacks, per announcements from both clubs. Utility man Josh VanMeter and outfield prospect Stuart Fairchild are headed to the D-backs in return for Bradley, and Arizona will also reportedly kick in $100K to help cover Bradley’s remaining salary.

Archie Bradley |Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Bradley, 28, is in his second season as Arizona’s primary closing option and has been a quality member of the ’pen for the past four years now. The former No. 7 overall pick was long one of the game’s most highly regarded pitching prospects, but he struggled in 34 big league starts before finding a home in the D-backs’ relief corp. Dating back to 2017, Bradley has pitched to a strong 2.98 ERA and 3.17 FIP with averages of 10.1 strikeouts, 3.2 walks and 0.7 homers per nine innings (despite pitching in a hitter-friendly home park).

Controlled through the 2021 season, Bradley agreed to a $4.1MM salary in arbitration this past winter. That’s been prorated to about $1.48MM in this year’s shortened schedule, and roughly $617K of that sum remains to be paid out. He’ll be eligible for arbitration once more this winter.

Bullpen help has been a major area of need for the Reds throughout the 2020 season, as their relievers have combined to post a grisly 5.48 ERA and 5.20 FIP. Closer Raisel Iglesias has struggled to an ERA north of 5.00, while some of his top projected setup men, Michael Lorenzen (6.75 ERA) and Pedro Strop (designated for assignment) have not risen to the occasion. Cincinnati has received strong showings from Amir Garrett, Lucas Sims and Tejay Antone, but an established arm has long looked a sensible addition as they look to tread water in a disappointing NL Central that has seen the Cubs pull away from the pack for the division lead. The Reds, Cardinals and Brewers are all sub-.500 clubs vying for a second-place seed and perhaps a Wild Card spot.

As with most of the Diamondbacks’ trades today — Arizona also sent Starling Marte to the Marlins, Robbie Ray to the Blue Jays and Andrew Chafin to the Cubs — they’ll pick up an MLB-ready asset who can jump right onto the roster in VanMeter. The D-backs also added lefty Caleb Smith in the Marte swap and lefty Travis Bergen in the Ray deal. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen and his staff have regularly chosen to prioritize controllable MLB pieces as the returns in their trades rather than pure prospects, and that trend carries over to the Bradley swap as well.

VanMeter, 25, is out to a 2-for-34 start in 2020 but posted a .237/.327/.408 slash in 260 plate appearances last year. He’s also a career .287/.353/.536 hitter in 573 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, pointing to potential for growth at the plate. Beyond his minor league track record, VanMeter possesses plenty of positional versatility, which is another hallmark of D-backs players under Hazen’s watch. He’s primarily been a second baseman in the big leagues but also carries experience at all four corner positions (plus 810 minor league innings at shortstop).

That said, Fairchild is very arguably the bigger get for the D-backs in this deal. A second-round pick in 2017, he’s regarded as an above-average runner with an above-average arm and the ability to play all three outfield slots. Fairchild posted big numbers in two very pitcher-friendly leagues last year, slashing .258/.335/.440 (130 wRC+) in Class-A Advanced and .275/.380/.444 (142 wRC+) with just a 12.8 percent strikeout rate in Double-A.

Fairchild was generally ranked in the Reds’ top 15 prospects, landing 10th at Baseball America, 11th at MLB.com, 13th at FanGraphs. That there’s not a more highly regarded prospect within the deal likely speaks to several factors: the team’s opinion of VanMeter and Fairchild as well as some possible pressure from ownership to reduce payroll.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the deal (via Twitter). John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports reported the return (Twitter link). The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan added that the D-backs were sending $100K to Cincinnati as well.

Reds Select Mark Payton’s Contract

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The Reds announced that outfielder Mark Payton’s contract has been selected to the Major League roster.  Payton’s move was one of a few transactions made official by the club, as the Reds also optioned infielder Josh VanMeter to their alternate training site and made a change to their taxi squad — righty Jose De Leon joins the taxi squad, while outfielder Robel Garcia is out.

Payton now seems set to make his MLB debut, which he probably thought was in the cards back in December when the Reds plucked him out of the Athletics’ system via the Rule 5 draft.  In July, however, the Reds returned Payton back to Oakland seemingly as part of a roster crunch, yet then re-acquired the outfielder two weeks ago.  Since Payton is now officially a member of Cincinnati’s roster, he is free of any Rule 5 restrictions, so the Reds can freely option him between the majors and their alternate training site if they so choose.

A seventh-round pick for the Yankees in the 2014 draft, Payton has hit .286/.363/.455 with 62 home runs over 2248 career minor league plate appearances.  Those career numbers are heavily fueled by Payton’s 30 homers and .334/.400/.653 slash line over 447 PA for the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019, though that performance carries some caveats.  2019 was the most hitter-friendly year in the history of Triple-A baseball, the Pacific Coast League was a notoriously hitter-friendly league even prior to 2019, and Payton (then in his age-27 season) was older than most Triple-A pitchers.

Still, obviously the Reds saw enough in Payton’s breakout year to make him a priority in the Rule 5 draft.  Payton does have some center field experience, though he has mostly played as a corner outfielder in recent years.  He will join Travis Jankowski as a left-handed hitting backup outfielder on a roster that also includes Shogo Akiyama and Jesse Winker as more regular lefty-swinging outfielders.

Reds Sign Ryan Lavarnway, Designate Jesus Reyes

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The Reds have signed catcher Ryan Lavarnway to a one-year, Major League contract, as per a team announcement (Twitter link).  Lavarnway’s signing was one of a flurry of moves from Cincinnati, as the club also designated right-hander Jesus Reyes for assignment and placed righty David Hernandez and catchers Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer on the injured list.  Taking their places on the roster are Lavarnway, and Triple-A callups Lucas Sims and Josh VanMeter.

Farmer is headed to the seven-day version of the IL due to a concussion, while Casali is on the 10-day IL (retroactive to Tuesday) due to a right knee sprain.  With starting catcher Tucker Barnhart also injured, the Reds were left in sudden need for help behind the plate, opening the door for Lavarnway to land a guaranteed deal almost immediately after he was released from his minors contract with the Yankees.

Lavarnway has recorded some big league playing time in each of the last two seasons, appearing in six games each with the A’s in 2017 and Pirates in 2018.  Best known as a former top prospect in the Red Sox system, the 31-year-old Lavarnway has a .208/.268/.326 slash line over 426 career plate appearances in the majors.  He’ll join Juan Graterol as the Reds’ makeshift catching duo until some reinforcements come off the injured list.

Reyes made his MLB debut in 2018, posting a 3.18 ERA over 5 2/3 relief innings.  Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014, the 26-year-old has a 3.65 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 1.88 K/BB rate over 406 2/3 career innings in the minors, though Reyes has struggled badly at Triple-A this season.

Reds Place Amir Garrett On 10-Day Injured List

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Prior to this afternoon’s 1-0 win over the Brewers, the Reds placed left-hander Amir Garrett on the 10-day injured list due to a left lat strain.  The placement was retroactive to July 3.  Outfielder Josh VanMeter was called up from Triple-A to take Garrett’s spot on the 25-man roster.

Formerly a top-100 ranked prospect in 2016 and 2017, Garrett struggled as a starting pitcher in his 2017 rookie season but has since blossomed as a reliever.  Garrett has a 1.70 ERA, 13.1 K/9, 51.9% grounder rate, and 2.70 K/BB rate over 37 frames out of Cincinnati’s bullpen this season.  His walk rate (4.86 BB/9) is a bit high and Garrett’s 93.5% strand rate is likely unsustainable, but he has been a very solid weapon overall out of the Reds’ pen, dominating both right-handed and left-handed hitters.  Garrett’s signature pitch, a slider that he has used 58.8% of the time this season, has been virtually untouchable — batters have a .098 average and a .146 slugging percentage against Garrett’s slider.

The injury isn’t considered to be too serious, as Garrett told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and other reporters that it was only a case of “regular soreness,” perhaps due to throwing more fastballs than usual in Tuesday’s outing.  Between Friday’s off-day on the Reds schedule and the All-Star break, Garrett might end up missing only five games if he requires only the minimum 10-day IL stint.

As Shelton notes, however, the Reds still have a short-term issue in a lack of left-handed relievers in the pen with Garrett and Wandy Peralta both on the IL.  Alex Wood and Cody Reed are the only other southpaws on the 40-man roster, and they are both working their way back from their own injuries.  With Cincinnati increasingly looking like they’ll stay close enough in the NL Central race to be deadline buyers, one would think the team will target left-handed relief help even if Garrett is back in pretty short order.

Reds Select Josh VanMeter

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SUNDAY: Cincinnati has announced VanMeter’s promotion. The club made room for him by optioning lefty Cody Reed.

SATURDAY: The Reds will select infielder Josh VanMeter’s contract from Triple-A Louisville, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. VanMeter’s promotion will give the Reds a full man 40-man roster.

VanMeter has made a case for a call-up by serving as one of the minors’ best hitters and the International League leader in OPS early this season. Thus far, the 24-year-old has slashed a remarkable .346/.432/.757 (191 wRC+) with 13 home runs, five stolen bases and 15 walks against 23 strikeouts in 126 plate appearances. The lefty-swinging VanMeter was also effective in his first Triple-A exposure last year, albeit with numbers that pale in comparison to this season’s eye-popping output, as he hit .253/.309/.464 (114 wRC+) with 11 homers and five steals across 362 PA.

Despite his excellence in 2019, no outlet ranks VanMeter among the Reds’ top farmhands. Back in January 2018, FanGraphs prospect guru Eric Longenhagen wrote that emerging as a versatile bench piece may be VanMeter’s “absolute ceiling” in the majors.  VanMeter has played first, second and third this year alone, and has also garnered significant experience at shortstop and in the outfield since the Padres chose him in the fifth round of the 2013 draft. He later joined the Reds in a December 2016 trade for catcher Luis Torrens, who debuted in the majors in 2017 but is currently in Double-A.

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