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Yankees Place Scott Effross On IL With Shoulder Strain

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Yankees right-hander Scott Effross is going on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder strain, according to manager Aaron Boone, courtesy Lindsey Adler of The Athletic. Boone characterizes the strain as minor but says that Effross will be shut down from throwing for 7-10 days, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Fellow righty Clarke Schmidt will take his place on the active roster.

It’s yet another blow to a Yankee relief corps that has seen its fair share of them this year. Earlier in the campaign, they lost Chad Green to Tommy John surgery. In July, Michael King suffered a season-ending elbow fracture. That month also saw Miguel Castro land on the shelf due to a shoulder strain. Here in August, the club has seen Clay Holmes and Albert Abreu go on the IL due to back spasms and elbow inflammation, respectively.

Effross, 28, was acquired from the Cubs prior to the trade deadline and immediately jumped into the mix for high leverage work in the Bronx. He recorded a hold in his second appearance with the club, later tallying a save as well. Unfortunately, the club will now have to get by without him as an option, at least for a few weeks. He’s thrown 52 1/3 innings this year between Chicago and New York, registering a 2.75 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 43.1% ground ball rate.

While the loss of Effross is certainly bad news, the Yankees got good news about their bullpen elsewhere. Holmes has started throwing bullpens without physical issues, per Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network, meaning he’s on track to return soon. Miguel Castro has started throwing as well, per Marly Rivera of ESPN, and could progress to throwing a bullpen by Friday. And in non-bullpen news, Boone tells Rivera that the plan for slugger Giancarlo Stanton is to be activated from his rehab assignment on Thursday.

Yankees Transfer Luis Severino, Miguel Castro To 60-Day IL, Sign Carlos Espinal

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The Yankees announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with righties Luis Severino and Miguel Castro being transferred to the 60-day injured list. Righty Clarke Schmidt was optioned to Triple-A, while another righty, Carlos Espinal, was signed to a major league contract and selected to the active roster.

Severino, 28, was placed on the injured list July 14 due to a low-grade strain of his right lat. Today’s transfer will rule him out until 60 days from that initial placement, which would be mid-September at the earliest.  That absence is longer than most expected, and the Yankees did not reveal Severino’s timeline until after making their acquisition of Frankie Montas official.  Severino could still be a factor for the Yankees in the postseason.  Severino played catch on the field today, reports MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

Severino, 29 in February, pitched only 18 regular season innings in the Majors from 2019-21 due to a lat strain and a drawn-out recovery from Tommy John surgery that included a shoulder injury of its own.  Until this current lat strain, 2022 had marked a return to health and form for Severino, who has a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts.  The Yankees will be weighing his $15MM club option after the season.  Castro, acquired from the Mets in an April trade, pitched acceptably in lower-leverage work out of the Yankees’ pen before straining his shoulder.

Espinal, listed at 5’11” and 175 pounds, has never gotten attention from prospect experts but has demonstrated the ability to miss bats at the Double-A level.  After only a trio of appearances at Triple-A, he’s now on the cusp of his Major League debut at age 25.  Schmidt was unscored-upon over his last seven innings, but after throwing 52 pitches on Tuesday perhaps the Yankees preferred a fresher arm in the short-term.  Espinal can help bridge the gap as the Yankees wait for a pair of new bullpen additions to make their way to New York: Scott Effross, acquired from the Cubs, and Lou Trivino, added from the A’s in the Montas deal.

Yankees Place Miguel Castro On 15-Day Injured List

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The Yankees placed right-hander Miguel Castro on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain.  The placement is retroactive to July 13.  To fill the open roster spot, New York called up outfielder Tim Locastro from Triple-A.

The injury will sideline Castro well beyond the 15-day minimum, as manager Aaron Boone told The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler and other reporters that Castro will likely be shut down from throwing for four weeks.  Counting the ramp-up and rehab time necessary after that shutdown period, it doesn’t look like Castro will be back in the Yankees’ bullpen until September, assuming his recovery goes smoothly.

It’s a tough break for both Castro and the Yankees, as the 27-year-old has posted some respectable numbers in his first season in the Bronx.  Acquired from the Mets for Joely Rodriguez just prior to Opening Day, Castro has a 4.00 ERA, 46.6% grounder rate, and an above-average 24.8% strikeout rate over 27 relief innings.  As has been the case for much of his career, walks have been an issue for Castro, but his 10.7% walk rate (while only the 18th percentile of all pitchers this season) is actually his best number since 2017.

Looking at other Yankee relievers on the IL, Zack Britton is expected to return from Tommy John surgery rehab in September, while righty Ron Marinaccio (shoulder inflammation) could be back for the start of the second half.  New York was already expected to explore pitching options prior to the trade deadline, with both starting and relief candidates likely on the radar.

Yankees Outright Ryan Weber

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TODAY: The Yankees outrighted Weber to Triple-A

JULY 6: The Yankees announced Wednesday that right-hander Ryan Weber has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to righty Miguel Castro, who’s been reinstated from the paternity list.

Weber, 31, appeared in just one game in his latest Yankees stint, tossing a scoreless inning of relief on just 11 pitches. He’s totaled 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball with the Yankees this season, spending the remainder of the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Scranton. This is the second time Weber has been designated for assignment this season. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and quickly re-signed with the Yankees the first time around. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the same sequence play out once again, as it’s fairly common for journeyman pitchers of Weber’s nature. (See also: Drew Hutchison in Detroit this season)

The Yankees are the seventh Major League team for which Weber has pitched since debuting with the Braves back in 2015. He’s logged big league time each season since that debut but has never appeared in more than 14 games and has maxed out at 43 Major League innings in any given season. Through 171 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer, Weber has a 5.19 ERA with a well below-average 14.8% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.3% walk rate and a strong 52.9% grounder rate.

The Yankees will have a week to trade Weber, attempt to pass him through waivers or release him.

Mets Trade Miguel Castro To Yankees For Joely Rodriguez

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The Mets have traded Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, Rodriguez was signed as a free agent this offseason and thus ineligible to be traded prior to June 15th without his consent. He and his agent gave that consent in exchange for a $500K assignment bonus, which will be paid by the Mets as part of this deal. (Twitter links) Rodriguez is represented by Daniel Szew of LA Sports Management.

For the Mets, they have had an extremely busy offseason, upgrading their lineup with the likes of Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to their rotation and Adam Ottavino to their bullpen. However, the one area of the roster they hadn’t really addressed was left-handed relief. With Aaron Loup joining the Angels, the only southpaws on the roster were candidates for the starting rotation. The club gave minor league deals to veterans like Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, but they clearly view Rodriguez as a meaningful upgrade, based on the fact that they were willing to give up Castro to get him.

After a couple of seasons with the Phillies in 2016 and 2017, Rodriguez headed overseas for a stint with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. After two solid seasons in Japan, Rodriguez was able to come back to North American via a two-year deal from the Rangers. In the shortened 2020 season, he put up an ERA of 2.13 over 12 2/3 innings. Things seemed to be going in the wrong direction last year, as his ERA shot up to 5.93 in July. However, the Yankees seemed to believe that was a small sample blip, as they acquired him as part of the Joey Gallo trade. He fared much better after the swap, with a 2.84 ERA in 19 innings in pinstripes. At the end of the season, the club declined their $3MM option in favor of a $500K buyout, but then quickly re-signed him to a $2MM salary, saving themselves $500K. With this trade and the assignment bonus, Rodriguez has made back that difference.

The Yanks evidently felt they had enough lefties to part with Rodriguez, given the presence Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge, along with closer Aroldis Chapman. For their part, they are receiving Miguel Castro, a right-handed reliever. Despite being just 27 years old, he has appeared in part of seven MLB seasons thus far in his career, spending time with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles and Mets. Those first couple of seasons were a bit shaky, which is not surprising given that Castro was just 20 and 21 years old during that time. However, over the past five seasons, he’s established himself as a quality big league reliever. Since the start of the 2017 season, he’s thrown 321 innings with an ERA of 3.93. His strikeout rate was just 14.6% over 2017-2018, but has jumped up to 25.2% over the past three campaigns. Walks have been a concern, with his annual rate coming in between 10 and 15% in each of the past five seasons. He and the Mets agreed to a $2.62MM salary for this season, his final arbitration year before hitting free agency at the end of this year. He will slot into a bullpen that will be headlined by Chapman, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green and Clay Holmes.

Jose Alvarado To Serve Two-Game Suspension

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TODAY: Alvarado and the league have agreed to a reduced suspension of two games.  He will begin serving his suspension tonight.

SUNDAY: Jose Alvarado has been suspended three games for his part in Friday’s fracas between the Mets and Phillies, per an MLB release. Alvarado will appeal the decision.

In case you missed it, the Phillies were leading 2-1 in the top of the eighth inning when Alvarado hit Jeff McNeil on the elbow with his second pitch. With two outs and first base open, the Phillies elected to intentionally walk J.D. Davis to bring up Dominic Smith. A wild pitch moved up the runners as Alvarado struggled with his command. Smith appeared to disrupt Alvarado’s timing a couple of times in the at-bat, leading to an emotional celebration from Alvarado when he finally coaxed Smith into striking out to end the inning. Alvarado was amped, yelling at Smith and throwing his glove down. Though no punches were thrown, Alvarado’s incendiary behavior earned him an ejection.

On the Mets’ side, Smith was fined an undisclosed amount. Reliever Miguel Castro was also fined. Castro entered the game in the bottom of the inning. With one out, he walked Rhys Hoskins on back-to-back inside fastballs that were well off the plate. Hoskins took exception, and though the benches did not clear again, the game was brought to a halt as the umpires met to discuss. No other action was taken, however, and Castro was able to finish the inning.

Mets, Edwin Diaz Avoid Arbitration

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The Mets are avoiding arbitration with relievers Edwin Díaz, Seth Lugo and Miguel Castro. Díaz will make $7MM next season, reports MLB.com Mark Feinsand (Twitter link). Lugo comes in at $2.925MM, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Castro, meanwhile, will make $1.6875MM, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post. All three pitchers are controllable through the end of the 2022 season.

Díaz comes in above his projected salary range of $5.1MM — $6.5MM. After a rocky first season in Queens, he was brilliant last year. The 26-year-old pitched to a 1.75 ERA with a 45.5% strikeout rate that ranked third among qualified relievers.

Lugo and Castro, meanwhile, fall within their projected ranges. Lugo had some tough bottom line results last year but much more impressive underlying numbers. Castro was adequate for the Mets, who acquired him midseason from the Orioles. Earlier today, New York also came to terms with Robert Gsellman and Dominic Smith.

Orioles Acquire Victor Gonzalez From Mets, Release Chandler Shepherd

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The Orioles have acquired infield prospect Victor Gonzalez from the Mets as the player to be named later in the August trade that sent Miguel Castro to New York.  The 17-year-old Gonzalez has been added to Baltimore’s 60-man player pool, while right-hander Chandler Shepherd was released to make room.

Gonzalez, hailing from the Dominican Republic, signed for a $250K bonus as a member of the Mets’ 2019-20 international signing class.  With the 2020 minor league season canceled, Gonzalez has yet to officially begin his pro career, and he wasn’t part of the group working out at the Mets’ alternate training site.  Baseball America’s Ben Badler described Gonzalez as having “a good chance to stay at shortstop” since he has “a quick first step, covers ground well and has a strong arm for the position.”

Shepherd joined the Orioles on a waiver claim in May 2019 and made his MLB debut last season, posting a 6.63 ERA over 19 innings for the O’s.  The righty was outrighted off the 40-man roster after the season but remained in the organization, and was briefly called up to the Orioles’ roster this season but didn’t appear in a game before being designated for assignment in August.

Originally a 13th-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2014 draft, Shepherd has a 4.17 ERA, 3.44 K/BB rate, and 8.6 K/9 over 455 2/3 career minor league innings in the Boston and Baltimore organizations.  Somewhat unusually, he began his pro career as a reliever before becoming mostly a full-time starter prior to the 2018 season.  (Three of Shepherd’s five Major League games were starts.)

Mets Acquire Miguel Castro From Orioles

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The New York Mets swung another deal just before the trade deadline, acquiring Miguel Castro from the Orioles, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The Orioles will receive southpaw Kevin Smith, per Robert Murray (via Twitter). In addition, the Mets will be sending a player to be named later or cash to Baltimore, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The Mets completed a flurry of deals at the last minute, also acquiring catcher Robinson Chirinos and third baseman Todd Frazier from the Rangers. In Castro, the Mets are getting another power arm from the right side to help out late in games. The 25-year-old owns a 4.02 ERA/3.71 FIP across 16 appearances this season. He strikeout to walk numbers have blown up in the 15 2/3 innings he’s logged this year with 13.8 K/9 to 2.9 BB/9. Those numbers are far better than his career norms, so at least some regression is to be expected. With just another month to go in the season, the Mets are betting the overall profile holds up.

Castro was set to make $1.05MM before prorating for the shortened season in his first season of arbitration eligibility. The Mets will retain his rights for two more seasons after 2020. Given the injury to Dellin Betances and Edwin Diaz’s struggles since joining the Mets, Castro figures to see some high-leverage opportunities over the final month of the season. Retaining his control for two years beyond this season is a win for the Mets as well. They have continually sought bullpen reinforcements in recent seasons.

Smith was the Mets’ 12th-ranked prospect per Baseball America and MLB.com. The 6’5″ Smith spent 2019 between High-A and Double-A tossing 117 innings across 23 starts with a 3.23 ERA. That showing prompted Smith to jump up the Mets prospect boards before the start of 2020. Smith, 23, could be given a look as early as this season, given the trend of debuting youngsters we’re seeing throughout baseball, but it’s more likely Smith stays in the development pool for now.

The Orioles sent a number of pitchers out in trades before the deadline, also dealing Mychal Givens to the Rockies and Tommy Milone to the Braves. They continue to rebuild under second-year GM Mike Elias.

Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Miguel Castro

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The Orioles have avoided arbitration with right-hander Miguel Castro, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter).  The two sides agreed to a one-year, $1.05MM deal with the right-hander, which falls just below the $1.2MM salary projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz.

A first-time arbitration-eligible player, Castro is coming off a season that saw him post a 4.66 ERA, 8.7 K/9, and 1.73 K/BB rate over 73 1/3 IP out of Baltimore’s pen.  The hard-throwing righty enjoyed a big boost in strikeouts over the 5.6 K/9 he posted over the 2017-18 seasons, though control continued to be an issue for Castro, as he hit the 5.0 BB/9 plateau for the second consecutive year.  On the plus side, Statcast’s xwOBA metric indicated that Castro did a much better job of limiting hard contact in 2019 (.294 xwOBA) than he did in 2018 (.353), even though Castro’s ERA jumped from 3.96 in 2018 to his 4.66 figure last year.

With contracts for Castro and Richard Bleier now settled, the Orioles have three arbitration-eligible players remaining, as per MLBTR’s Arb Tracker — Trey Mancini ($5.7MM projected salary), Mychal Givens ($3.2MM), and Hanser Alberto ($1.9MM).  Teams have until 11am CT tomorrow to exchange figures with their arb-eligible players.

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