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Kyle Garlick

Twins Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Twins announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably reinstating outfielders Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick from the Covid-19 list. To make room on the active roster, outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker and catcher Ryan Jeffers were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Meanwhile, infielders JT Riddle and Tzu-Wei Lin have been designated for assignment, while catching prospect Ben Rortvedt has been recalled from Triple-A for his big league debut.

Kepler, 28, hasn’t played in a game since April 16 but will now return to his role as Minnesota’s everyday right fielder. He’s not out to a great start, slashing .234/.315/.362 through his first couple weeks of play, but that’s a sample of just 54 plate appearances. From 2019-20, he turned in a much stronger .246/.332/.499 batting line and clouted 45 homers in 792 plate appearances while playing strong defense in right field.

Garlick, meanwhile, was out to a solid .280/.321/.400 start through 28 trips to the plate and was getting some run as a right-handed bat against lefties. He’ll continue on in that role, giving the Twins a right-handed bat to take some reps in left field. That spot has been occupied by top prospect Alex Kirilloff as of late, but Kirilloff can also play some first base in the absence of Miguel Sano. Luis Arraez could get some time in left field as well, now that the Twins’ middle infield is back to full strength.

Optioning Jeffers began to look increasingly necessary given the 23-year-old’s early struggles. The 2018 second-rounder has emerged as one of the game’s top catching prospects in recent seasons, ranking as a consensus top 100 talent heading into the 2021 season. Jeffers’ big debut effort last year helped to fuel that ranking, as he stepped up for a then-injured Mitch Garver and gave the Twins 64 plate appearances with a hearty .273/.355/.436 batting line and three home runs.

The 2021 season has been a disaster for the promising young backstop, however, as he’s mustered only a .147/.216/.176 slash through 37 plate appearances. Jeffers is still surely viewed as a key part of the organization’s future, but with the minor league season now slated to begin next week, sending Jeffers down for some regular at-bats — as opposed to splitting time with Garver — makes sense to get him on track. It’s also worth noting that he’s only played 24 games of Double-A ball and has never taken a single plate appearance in Triple-A, so he could simply need some more time to polish off his development.

With Jeffers going down, the Twins will now lean on the versatile Willians Astudillo and the young Rortvedt as backup options to Garver. The 23-year-old Rortvedt was Minnesota’s second-round pick back in 2016 and is a career .240/.315/.347 hitter in the minors who is regarded as a strong defensive backstop. He ranks 24th among Minnesota farmhands, per FanGraphs, and 26th on Baseball America’s rankings. BA calls him an “excellent receiver and blocker” with “standout defensive skills” but a limited offensive ceiling.

Turning to the pair of DFAs, neither comes as much of a surprise. Riddle was only selected to the big league roster when Andrelton Simmons initially tested positive for Covid-19, and he wound up being placed on the Covid list himself not long after. Once Riddle hit the Covid list, the Twins turned to Lin and brought him to the MLB roster. With Simmons now back in the fold alongside Jorge Polanco and utility man Luis Arraez, there’s little room for either Lin or Riddle.

Riddle went 2-for-6 with a run scored in four games with the Twins and is a career .223/.261/.355 hitter in 793  MLB plate appearances. Lin appeared in just one game and didn’t take a plate appearance. He was a .223/.298/.316 hitter in parts of four seasons with the Red Sox from 2017-20.

COVID Notes: 4/27/21

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Tuesday’s coronavirus-related updates from around the majors:

  • Twins outfielders Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick have cleared Major League Baseball’s COVID-19 protocols and could return by the end of the week, manager Rocco Baldelli announced (via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Both Kepler and Garlick tested positive for COVID, leading the Twins to place them on the injured list last Tuesday. Neither player has appeared in a game since April 16. Before going on the shelf, Kepler began a disappointing .234/.315/.362 with no home runs in 54 plate appearances. Garlick has also gone without a homer, but he has still hit a passable .280/.321/.400 over 28 PA.

Twins Place 3 On COVID List, Select Luke Farrell

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The Twins have placed a pair of outfielders – Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick – as well as left-hander Caleb Thielbar on the COVID-19 injured list, the team announced. Kepler tested positive for the virus, manager Rocco Baldelli announced to Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com and other reporters. Garlick tested positive over the weekend, while Thielbar is on the list as a close contact.

The Twins have been hit hard by COVID over the past several days, as their games against the Angels on Saturday and Sunday were both postponed. The club was previously scheduled to face the Athletics on Monday, but they were also unable to play then. However, the Twins will return to action Tuesday with a doubleheader in Oakland.

To fill their empty roster spots, the Twins reinstated outfielder Brent Rooker from the 10-day IL, added lefty Lewis Thorpe as the 27th man for their doubleheader, recalled infielder Travis Blankenhorn and selected righty Luke Farrell. The 29-year-old Farrell appeared with four different teams – most recently Texas – from 2017-20 and combined for a 5.00 ERA in 63 innings. The Twins signed him to a minor league deal during the offseason.

Latest On Twins’ COVID-19 Situation

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APRIL 18: All four of the Twins’ positive cases (Simmons’, Garlick’s, and the unnamed player’s and staff member’s) are linked to one of the COVID-19 variants, Hayes writes.

APRIL 17, 8:03PM: Sunday’s game will also not take place, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter).

ARPIL 17, 7:53PM: Talking to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters, Baldelli confirmed Garlick’s positive test.  Another unnamed player has also tested positive, as well as the aforementioned staff member on Friday.

APRIL 17, 7:13PM: Kyle Garlick has tested positive for COVID-19, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (Twitter link), and “the Twins have concern there could be additional positives within their group.”  At least one Twins player tested positive for COVID-19 today, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.  The virus problems don’t seem to be related to Simmons’ case, as The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that Simmons hasn’t been around the team since Tuesday, and contact tracing revealed “little crossover” between the shortstop and the currently-affected parties.

APRIL 17, 6:56PM: Tonight’s scheduled game between the Twins and Angels has been postponed due to unspecified issues related to COVID-19, the league announced.  According to MLB’s media release, the postponement was made “to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization.”

Minnesota shortstop Andrelton Simmons was placed on the COVID list earlier this week, and manager Rocco Baldelli had a false positive for the virus that almost prevented him from joining the team on their West Coast road trip.  Last night’s opening game of the series went ahead as planned (a 10-3 victory for the Angels) even though another Twins staff member did test positive.

Today, Baldelli told reporters (including Megan Ryan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) that “The details of what’s going on and who it is and who is potentially in contact-tracing and things like that, we’re still working through all of that, and we’re not prepared to discuss it all until we’ve had all of the conversations that we need to.  Just more challenges that we have to deal with, and that’s what we have to do.  We have to kind of keep our heads up.”

MLB’s statement made no mention of Sunday’s scheduled afternoon tilt in Anaheim, though the league “will continue to provide updates as available.”

Twins Claim Kyle Garlick, Designate Brandon Waddell

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The Twins have claimed outfielder Kyle Garlick off waivers from the Braves, per a team announcement. Left-hander Brandon Waddell was designated for assignment in order to open a space on the 40-man roster.

It’s the latest stop in a growing list of organizations for Garlick, 29, whose stay with the Braves will only prove to last for a few days. Garlick was the Dodgers’ 28th-round pick back in 2015, but in the past calendar year he’s been traded to the Phillies, claimed by the Braves and now claimed by the Twins.

Minnesota still needs a 40-man spot to make Alex Colome’s one-year deal final, so it’s far from a sure thing that Garlick will last on the roster for too long. It’s fairly common for clubs to claim a player and then try to pass him through outright waivers shortly thereafter — thus allowing the team to retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot.

Garlick spent most of the 2020 season at the Phillies’ alternate site in Lehigh Valley, though he did appear in a dozen games at the MLB level. He went just 3-for-22 with a double and seven strikeouts in that time, however. Garlick showed a bit of promise with the Dodgers in 2019 when he made his big league debut and hit .250/.321/.521 with three long balls and four doubles in a small sample of 53 plate appearances. He’s a career .281/.332/.568 hitter in 645 Triple-A plate appearances and does have a minor league option remaining as well.

As for the 26-year-old Waddell, he was a 2015 fifth-rounder by the Pirates out of Virginia. He made his MLB debut last year with Pittsburgh and tossed 3 1/3 innings with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. The Twins claimed him off waivers back on Oct. 30.

Waddell has a strong track record up through the Double-A level and was solid at Triple-A in 2018 as well. Like most Triple-A pitchers in 2019, however, his season was an unmitigated disaster as offensive levels spiked to all-time highs in that league amid the widely held belief that the ball was juiced. (Triple-A adopted the same ball used in MLB that season.) Even after being clobbered for 59 runs in 61 innings of Triple-A ball that year, Waddell has a 4.12 ERA in 478 minor league frames with a 20.4 percent strikeout rate and a 9.8 percent walk rate. He’s not a huge strikeout pitcher but induces grounders at an above-average clip and has two minor league options remaining.

Braves Re-Sign Marcell Ozuna

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7:56pm: The Braves have designated outfielder Kyle Garlick for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Ozuna’s re-signing, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic. Formerly a Dodger and Phillie, Garlick joined the Braves as a waiver claim on Jan. 23.

7:27pm: The Braves are re-signing outfielder Marcell Ozuna to a four-year deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. The club has announced the move, and it’s a $65MM guarantee that could reach $80MM if the Braves pick up an option in Year 5, per Robert Murray of Fansided. Hector Gomez reported earlier Friday that Ozuna was close to returning to Atlanta. The buyout in 2025 is worth $1MM, Craig Mish of SportsGrid relays. Ozuna is a client of CAA Sports.

This is an enormous raise for Ozuna, a former Marlin and Cardinal who parlayed a history of above-average production into an $18MM guarantee with the Braves last winter. It ended up as a great move by Atlanta, as Ozuna slashed a monstrous .338/.431/.636 with 18 home runs in 60 games and 267 plate appearances. Along with his stellar bottom-line numbers, Ozuna ranked as an elite hitter by Statcast’s standards.

If there’s any criticism of Ozuna’s 2020, it’s that he didn’t play much defense, only lining up in the outfield 21 times during a year in which the National League featured the universal designated hitter. It remains unclear whether the NL will keep the DH around in 2021, but even if it doesn’t, the Braves will bank on the 30-year-old Ozuna’s offensive abilities remaining intact. The back-to-back-to-back NL East champions clearly needed to either re-sign Ozuna or pick up another big bat to replace him this offseason, and now they have succeeded in retaining one of MLB’s premier hitters.

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos isn’t known for signing players to long-term deals, but he made an exception in this case to keep together an offense built around Ozuna, 2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr. The Braves made earlier notable free-agent signings when they added starters Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly on shorter pacts. Considering what the Braves have done this offseason, they ought to be a force again in the NL East next season, though the Mets, Nationals, Phillies and Marlins should make it difficult on them to win the division yet again.

The MLB offseason got off to an incredibly slow start, but high-end free agents have come flying off the board in the past few weeks. Ozuna’s re-signing means none of MLBTR’s top 10 free agents from the beginning of the winter are left without jobs. MLBTR ranked Ozuna fourth among available players and predicted he would earn a four-year, $72MM deal.

Braves Claim Victor Arano, Kyle Garlick

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The Braves have claimed right-hander Victor Arano and outfielder Kyle Garlick off waivers, the Phillies announced.  Philadelphia recently designated both players for assignment.  The claims fill the final two open spots on Atlanta’s 40-man roster.

A member of the Phillies organization since August 2014, Arano has a 2.65 ERA, 26.3 K%, and 18.8 K-BB% over 74 2/3 career innings in the big leagues, all from 2017-19 (and mostly in 2018, when Arano tossed 59 1/3 frames).  Unfortunately, elbow surgery sidelined Arano for much of 2019 and kept him from making any MLB appearances in 2020.  If healthy, Arano could certainly be an interesting weapon for the Atlanta bullpen, as he has shown an ability to miss a lot of bats both in the majors and in the minors.

The right-handed hitting Garlick also gives the Braves another option as they figure out their outfield situation.  With no sign that a reunion with Marcell Ozuna is forthcoming, the Braves have Ronald Acuna as a lock for one starting position in either center field or right field, and then a combination of Ender Inciarte, top prospects Cristian Pache and Drew Waters, and bench candidates Abraham Almonte and Johan Camargo all in the mix for outfield duty.  Garlick could conceivably share platoon duty with Inciarte (a left-handed hitter) or switch-hitters Almonte and Camargo, or Atlanta could just stash him in the minors as depth.

Garlick (who turns 29 later this week) has appeared in each of the last two MLB seasons, amassing a .214/.276/.414 slash line over 76 total plate appearances with the Dodgers and Phillies.  Originally a 28th-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2015 draft, Garlick hit a very impressive .288/.345/.536 over 1846 PA in the Los Angeles farm system, though with the caveat that he was mostly playing against younger competition and that the Pacific Coast League is very hitter-friendly.

Phillies Designate Kyle Garlick For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Monday morning that they’ve designated outfielder Kyle Garlick for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Archie Bradley, whose previously reported signing to a one-year deal has now been confirmed by the club.

Garlick, 29 next week, was acquired from the Dodgers last February in exchange for minor league left-hander Tyler Gilbert (whom the Dodgers lost to the D-backs in the minor league phase of this year’s Rule 5 Draft). Garlick spent most of the 2020 season at the Phillies’ alternate site in Lehigh Valley, though he did appear in a dozen games. He went just 3-for-22 with a double and seven strikeouts in that time, however.

Garlick showed a bit of promise with the Dodgers in 2019 when he made his big league debut and hit .250/.321/.521 with three long balls and four doubles in a small sample of 53 plate appearances. He’s a career .281/.332/.568 hitter in 645 Triple-A plate appearances and does have a minor league option remaining, so it’s not out of the question that a team that is particularly thin on upper-level outfield depth could place a claim on the right-handed hitter.

Phillies Place Jake Arrieta On 10-Day IL

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Sept. 17: Arrieta’s strain is a Grade 1 strain, manager Joe Girardi tells reporters (Twitter link via Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer). He won’t pitch again during the regular season but could still be a potential option in the playoffs, should the Phillies get there.

Sept. 16: The Phillies announced that they’ve placed right-hander Jake Arrieta (right hamstring strain) and outfielder Kyle Garlick (right oblique strain) on the 10-day injured list. Those moves helped clear space for the promotion of outfielder Mickey Moniak. The Phillies also recalled righty Connor Brogdon.

Arrieta’s injury makes it possible that we’ve seen the last of him in a Phillies uniform, as he’s due to reach free agency after the season. The Phillies signed the former NL Cy Young winner and ex-Cubs star to a three-year, $75MM shortly before the 2018 campaign began, but the returns haven’t been positive for the club. Arrieta has missed time with multiple injuries and performed like a back-end starter when healthy, having logged a 4.36 ERA/4.55 FIP over 352 2/3 innings in a Phillies uniform. He has thrown 44 1/3 frames of 5.08 ERA/4.67 FIP ball with 6.5 K/9, 3.25 BB/9 and a 51.8 percent groundball rate this season.

Arrieta’s disappointing production in 2020 is one of the reasons the Phillies are fighting for their playoff lives at 24-23. Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have given the team top-level numbers out of its rotation, but Arrieta, Spencer Howard, Zach Eflin and Vince Velasquez have all failed to prevent runs at an acceptable level in a combined 28 starts.

Phillies Place Roman Quinn On IL

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The Phillies have placed outfielder Roman Quinn on the COVID-19 injured list and have recalled Kyle Garlick, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Quinn, however, has not tested positive for the coronavirus. Rather, the outfielder cited minor symptoms this morning and will sit out as a precautionary measure. As such, there’s no minimum time that Quinn must spend on the injured list; he may be activated as soon as he is cleared to play.

With Quinn landing on the injured list, the Phillies are left without a true center fielder on the active roster. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the position in the coming days; Garlick has no experience in center, though Bryce Harper does. Even so, it seems more likely that Scott Kingery will serve as Quinn’s replacement.

Either way, we’re hopeful that it’s a brief absence for Quinn and that he’s avoided contracting COVID-19. If that’s the case and he tests negative, it shouldn’t be long before he’s back in the lineup for Philly. With Adam Haseley on the injured list, Quinn has been a capable starter for the Phillies, batting .278/.297/.500 in 37 plate appearances this year.

Even though they haven’t had any cases during the regular season, they’ve had to work around several postponements due to their proximity to the Marlins at the outset of the outbreak within the Miami organization. Having played their 17th game this afternoon, they’re still slightly behind most MLB teams, but are largely caught up by now.

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