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Padres Return Rule 5 Pick Jose Lopez To Rays; Option Brandon Dixon; Reassign Julio Teheran, and Tim Lopes

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As the Padres begin to make some of their final roster cuts ahead of Opening Day, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell reports that San Diego has returned Rule 5 draft pick Jose Lopez to the Rays, optioned utilityman Brandon Dixon, and reassigned right-hander Julio Teheran and utilityman Tim Lopes to minor league camp.

Lopez became the 12th player picked in this year’s Rule 5 draft when the Padres selected him with the 21st pick. A left-handed pitcher Lopez was dominant at Double-A with the Rays last year, striking out a whopping 38.7% of batters faced at the level en route to a 2.60 ERA in 55 1/3 innings. That dominance was enough for the Padres to take a chance on the 24 year-old Lopez, but after a difficult spring where he walked five batters in six innings of work, Lopez is being returned to the Rays, who will pay San Diego back half of the $100k fee the Padres paid to select Lopez in order to reclaim him.

Teheran, meanwhile, was a potential option to act as the sixth starter in San Diego while Joe Musgrove is on the shelf with a fractured toe. An 11-year MLB veteran, the 32 year old Teheran has a career 3.80 ERA in 1396 1/3 innings of work that came primarily as a member of the Braves rotation from 2013 to 2019. Over that period of time, Teheran showed himself to be a reliable, innings-eating back-end starter with an ERA+ of 111. Teheran struggled mightily in the shortened 2020 season with the Angels, however, and has only pitched five big league innings since then. Cassavell notes that due to the assignment clause in Teheran’s contract, he can depart the Padres organization if he receives a big league offer elsewhere. For now, though, Teheran seems poised to remain with San Diego, serving as depth in Triple-A.

Both Dixon and Lopes were in the mix to be part of the Padres bench. Dixon, 31, has a career 74 wRC+ in 201 games at the big league level but provides versatility, with experience at first, second, and third base and all three outfield spots during his major league career. However, with versatile players such as Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim already on the roster, the Padres will instead opt to send Dixon to Triple-A as depth. Lopes, meanwhile, has primarily been a corner outfielder in the big leagues but also has experience in center field, at second base, third base, and shortstop. The 29 year-old Lopes has just 94 games of big league experience to this point in his career, and hit well this spring with an .890 OPS in 55 plate appearances. Despite that solid showing, Lopes will join Dixon as depth in Triple-A.

After this round of cuts, it would appear that outfielder David Dahl and infielder Rougned Odor are in line to make the Opening Day roster in San Diego, while the sixth starter spot could go to left-hander Jay Groome or right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. Dahl had some early success with the Rockies in his career, but has battled injuries throughout his career and has struggled to just a .538 OPS in 87 games since the start of the 2021 season. Odor, meanwhile, spent seven seasons as the regular second baseman for the Rangers, posting an 86 wRC+ during that time, before spending 2021 with the Yankees and 2022 with the Royals. Despite the meager offense numbers for both players in recent years, each can provide the Padres with a left-handed swing off the bench while providing depth in the outfield and infield, respectively.

As for the sixth starter battle, Groome, whom the Padres acquired in the Eric Hosmer deal with the Red Sox last summer, has dazzled in 14 innings of work this spring with a 1.29 ERA, though he has struggled with his control, walking 10 batters while striking out 13. Honeywell, meanwhile, signed a major league deal with the Padres this offseason after the former top prospect was non-tendered by the Rays after years of injury woes. Honeywell got hit hard this spring, posting a 6.88 ERA in 17 innings, but with 22 strikeouts and just six walks in those innings, there’s reason to believe the quality arm he seemed destined to become as a prospect could still surface.

Padres Sign Tim Lopes, Rangel Ravelo To Minor League Deals

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The Padres today announced a list of players that will be in camp as non-roster invitees, with utility players Tim Lopes and Rangel Ravelo among them, indicating that they have been signed to minor league deals.

Lopes, 29 in June, got into 94 major league games over the 2019-2021 period with the Mariners and Brewers. In that time, he hit .246/.310/.352 for a wRC+ of 85. Though that offensive production was 15% below league average, he contributed in other ways by stealing 11 bases and taking the field at second, third and the infield corners. He was outrighted by Milwaukee after 2021 and elected free agency, signing a minor league deal with the Rockies for 2022. He got into 73 games on the farm for them and hit .276/.339/.476 for a wRC+ of 100. He also stole 11 bases and suited up at the three infield position to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners.

Ravelo, 31 in April, got a taste of the majors with the Cardinals in 2019 and 2020. He hit .189/.250/.351 in a small sample of 42 games while playing first base and the outfield corners and was non-tendered at the end of the latter campaign. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers for 2021 and crushed it in his first 26 Triple-A games, producing a batting line of .407/.504/.758. He then signed with the NPB’s Orix Buffaloes but only got into two games that year. In 2022, he got into 24 contests with the Buffaloes but hit just .138/.296/.207. More recently, he’s been playing for the Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, hitting .324/.441/.514 in 32 games.

Both players will give the Padres a little bit of extra non-roster depth. Lopes has a bit more positional versatility but Ravelo has occasionally impressed a bit more at the plate. The Padres have a fairly stacked lineup but their bench might feature some relatively inexperienced options in Brandon Dixon, José Azocar and Matthew Batten. Injuries are also inevitable and depth pieces will surely be required throughout the season. If either player cracks the roster at any point, they each have between one and two years of service time, meaning they could be affordably retained for the foreseeable future. Lopes also has a couple of option years, though Ravelo has exhausted his.

Rockies, Tim Lopes Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have a minor league deal in place with utility player Tim Lopes, according to the club’s transactions log at MLB.com. The transactions log also indicates that infielder Kyle Holder has been signed to a minors deal as well.

Lopes, 27, has seen MLB action in each of the past three seasons, getting into 94 games in total. 87 of those games came with the Mariners over 2019 and 2020, as Lopes spent time at second base, third base and both corner outfield spots. In that time, he hit .252/.315/.362 for a wRC+ of 89.

He was designated for assignment before the 2021 campaign and claimed by the Brewers. He started the season on the 60-day IL and missed the first couple months of the season, then spent the rest bouncing between Triple-A and the big leagues. In the end, he only got into seven MLB games. In 93 Triple-A games, he hit .226/.305/.401. He was designated for assignment in September and elected free agency after the season.

Holder, also 27, has yet to make his major league debut. He was selected by the Phillies in last year’s Rule 5 Draft and traded to the Reds, but was returned to the Yankees at the end of spring training. He spent 2021 in Triple-A for the Yankees, playing 78 games and hitting .216/.295/.276. Despite that tepid offensive production, Holder has been long-heralded for his glove and hit much better in Double-A in 2019.

The Rockies likely have three infield spots spoken for by C.J. Cron, Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers. The last spot could be claimed by Garrett Hampson, but he spent more time in the outfield than the infield in 2021. Colton Welker and Alan Trejo are also on the 40-man and got some playing time in 2021, but there’s certainly a path for a depth player to force their way into the mix in 2022.

Devin Williams Fractures Hand, May Return In World Series

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October 5: The Brewers announced Williams underwent successful hand surgery today (as reported by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt). The star reliever is currently in a splint and will rehab in the Brewers’ Arizona facility. Provided rehab goes as expected and the Brewers advance past their NL competition it’s possible Williams will be an option for the team during the World Series.

September 29: Brewers reliever Devin Williams is going on the 10-day injured list with a right hand fracture, the team informed reporters (including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com and Will Sammon of the Athletic). The injury is expected to require surgery and is likely to end his season, although Milwaukee isn’t completely ruling out the possibility he could return for the World Series if the club were to win the National League pennant.

It’s an incredible blow to the Brewers’ postseason plans, as few relievers in baseball have been better than Williams over the last two years. The right-hander broke into the majors late in 2019, but he logged few enough innings to retain rookie eligibility in 2020. Last season, Williams absurdly allowed just one earned run (four runs total) over 27 innings while striking out a laughable 53% of opposing hitters. That showing earned him the National League’s Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year awards.

It’d have never been reasonable to expect Williams to continue to dominate at quite that level again, but he’s posted another phenomenal season for the Brew Crew. Over 54 innings, he’s worked to a 2.50 ERA with a 38.5% strikeout rate that checks in seventh among the 249 relievers with 30+ frames. Williams had been expected to pair with Josh Hader to log the club’s highest-leverage postseason innings, but they’ll now have to navigate the playoff field (at least the first couple series) without one of their top bullpen weapons.

That’d be a crushing enough blow on its own, and the manner in which Williams got hurt only adds to the shock. He told reporters he suffered the injury after punching a wall on Sunday (video via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). He learned about its severity when he was unable to warm up before last night’s game. Williams’ dejection and disappointment in himself is obvious in that clip, and his potential season-ending absence was certainly similarly deflating news for the rest of the clubhouse.

The Brewers have already clinched the NL Central title, where they’ll meet up with the NL East winner (the Braves, in all likelihood) in the first round. In addition to Hader, manager Craig Counsell will have Hunter Strickland, Jake Cousins and Brent Suter as key end-of-game options. It’s also likely a productive member or two of the Brewers’ vaunted starting rotation (Adrian Houser, Brett Anderson and/or Eric Lauer) will work out of the pen as Milwaukee shortens the rotation to maximize the number of innings logged by Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff. It’s still a very strong group of arms, but there’s no sugarcoating that losing Williams deals a significant blow that’ll force most of the rest of the staff up a peg in the pecking order.

To replace Williams on the active roster, Milwaukee selected veteran righty Colin Rea from Triple-A Nashville, designating utilityman Tim Lopes to clear a 40-man roster spot. Rea signed a minors deal last month and has performed well over seven starts. Through 35 2/3 frames with the Sounds, the 31-year-old has a 2.27 ERA with a solid 24.6% strikeout percentage and a minuscule 2.8% walk rate.

That earns Rea his first big league look of the season. The former Padres and Marlins hurler didn’t appear in the majors at all from 2017-19, but he made it back for a brief look with the Cubs last season. He tossed fourteen innings of nine-run ball with Chicago, striking out ten while issuing just a pair of walks.

Rea was in the organization by August 31, so he would be eligible for the Brewers’ postseason roster. Players in the system but not on the 40-man roster at the start of September can still be added to the playoff roster via petition to the Commissioner’s Office for teams with players unavailable due to injury. Considering Rea is coming up as a direct replacement for Williams, the Brewers should have no problem getting him onto the postseason roster if they’re impressed enough with his current form to want to do so.

Brewers Activate Rowdy Tellez From 10-Day Injured List

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The Brewers announced a trio of roster moves, including the activation of first baseman Rowdy Tellez from the 10-day injured list.  First baseman Keston Hiura was optioned to Triple-A to make space for Tellez on the active roster.  Milwaukee also outrighted utilityman Tim Lopes to Triple-A, four days after Lopes was designated for assignment.

Tellez returns after missing three weeks due to a right patella strain.  The slugger and the Brewers each hope that the time off has corrected what had been a nagging knee problem for Tellez, and that he is now ready to roll for the Brew Crew’s postseason stretch.

While the Brewers’ May acquisition of Willy Adames has been rightfully lauded as a turning point in the season, the club’s trade for Tellez in early July shouldn’t be overlooked as another key move.  Tellez got off to a brutal start with the Blue Jays this year, prompting Toronto to clear its first base/DH logjam and upgrade its struggling bullpen by moving Tellez to Milwaukee for Trevor Richards.  Tellez responded to the change of scenery, hitting .270/.329/.474 with seven home runs during his first 167 plate appearances in a Brewers uniform.

The Tellez deal was necessary in part because Hiura struggled so badly, and he will likely finish the season with a .168/.256/.301 slash line over 197 PA at the big league level in 2021.  After a huge rookie campaign in 2019, Hiura didn’t hit well in 2020 before cratering this season, leaving the former top prospect as something of an unknown quantity heading into next year.  Hiura is still only 25 years old and has continued to hit well at the Triple-A level, at least, but it remains to be seen if the Brewers still view him as a potential future cornerstone.

Brewers Place Willy Adames On Injured List, Recall Tim Lopes

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The Brewers have placed shortstop Willy Adames on the injured list with a left quad strain, per a team announcement. Utility player Tim Lopes has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

The move isn’t entirely surprising as Adames has been hampered by this quad issue for a few weeks and left last night’s game early. The club can afford to be cautious, given their 10-game lead in the NL Central. The health of Adames in the upcoming playoffs is surely more important than his health at the moment, making it perfectly logical for the Brewers to give him some time to rest.

Since coming over to Milwaukee from Tampa in a rare early-season trade, Adames has been a huge reason why the club is so comfortable in the standings right now. Though his line for the Rays this year was a paltry .197/.254/.371, his line as a Brewer is .294/.375/.529, producing a wRC+ of 141 and 3.6 fWAR. The club will surely be focussed on making sure his bat is in the lineup come October.

Luis Urias is starting at shortstop today and figures to get the bulk of the playing there in the absence of Adames. In 427 plate appearances this year, Urias is hitting .252/.338/.451, for a wRC+ of 111.

For Lopes, it’s been a bounce-around season for him, as he’s been optioned to the minors a couple times as well as having a couple of stints on the injured list. Because of that, he’s only played five games for the big league team this year. In 84 Triple-A games, he has a slash line of .224/300/.400, while splitting time between second base, third base and the outfield corners.

Brewers Notes: Wong, Fisher, Trade Deadline

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The Brewers have fought through a pile of injuries to post a 38-30 record, good for a tie with the Cubs for first place in the NL Central.  While still far from fully healthy, the Brew Crew are starting to get closer to full strength, as outfielder Derek Fisher was activated off the 10-day injured list today.  (Utilityman Tim Lopes was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.)  In addition, manager Craig Counsell is “somewhat optimistic” that second baseman Kolten Wong is ready to return from his own trip to the IL.

As Counsell told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters, Wong took part in a pregame workout today.  Wong hit the injured list on June 4 due to a left oblique strain, which was the second such injury the former Gold Glover has suffered this year.  Wong has been limited to 44 games and 178 plate appearances due to the two IL stints, though given the nature of oblique injuries, it’s at least fortunate that both of his strains have been on the mild side, rather than more severe issues that would require months of recovery time.

Wong has been a tremendous all-around force for the Brewers, hitting .280/.343/.441 in those 178 PA while delivering more strong defense at the keystone.  With Wong out, Luis Urias got most of the second base reps, before Travis Shaw’s dislocated shoulder required Urias to see more time at third base.  Jace Peterson, Daniel Robertson, and Lopes have also been part of the second base picture.

Shaw is on the 60-day IL and won’t be back until at least mid-August. Urias and Daniel Vogelbach have both been around league-average hitters at third and first base, respectively, and Milwaukee is hopeful that the struggling Keston Hiura can get himself on track and again factor into the first base mix.  Still, unless Urias, Vogelbach, and Hiura all really get rolling, the corner infield positions figure to be target areas for the Brewers heading into the trade deadline, FanSided’s Robert Murray writes.

The Brewers have already made one early strike into the trade market, landing Willy Adames and Trevor Richards from the Rays in exchange for righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen back in May.  Adames has been excellent since coming to Milwaukee, filling the shortstop hole in the infield and allowing the Brew Crew with some flexibility in how they deploy Urias.  Murray also writes that the Brewers will look to add relief help at the deadline, likely to fill in the depth left by the absences of Feyereisen and Rasmussen.

Fisher could also provide some help, as the outfielder is finally healthy after spending the entire season on the IL.  After being acquired in a trade from the Blue Jays in February, Fisher picked up a hamstring injury during Spring Training, and then a calf injury while rehabbing in the minors.  Lorenzo Cain and Tyrone Taylor are both on the injured list, so Fisher steps right in as Milwaukee’s primary backup outfielder.

Brewers Place Tyrone Taylor On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Tim Lopes

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Brewers place Tyrone Taylor 10-day injured list with right shoulder strain, per the Athletic’s Will Sammon (via Twitter). Tim Lopes has been recalled from Triple-A.

Taylor himself has been a key injury replacement for the Brewers this season. Their four-man first team of Christian Yelich, Jackie Bradley Jr., Lorenzo Cain, and Avisail Garcia have dealt with a variety of injuries this season. Ultimately, Taylor has played a role at each outfield spot, accounting for four percent of the playing time in left, five percent in center, and three percent in right. The 27-year-old is generally regarded as a strong defender, but he’s also posted a 111 wRC+ in exactly 100 plate appearances.

With Yelich, Bradley Jr., and Garcia all healthy right now, Taylor has not had as much playing time of late. In his absence, Pablo Reyes becomes the primary backup outfielder, but Jace Peterson, Daniel Robertson, and Lopes are capable of playing in the grass.

As for Lopes specifically, the 26-year-old right-hander has logged playing time in Majors with the Mariners in each of the past two seasons. He put together a .252/.315/.362 line across 279 plate appearances while mostly playing in the outfield corners. He has a .193/.308/.330 line at Triple-A this season.

Injured List Returns: Fraley, Lopes, Wahl

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As injury news continues to dominate baseball, here’s the latest on a few players who are returning to action…

  • The Mariners reinstated outfielder Jake Fraley from the 10-day injured list, with infielder Eric Campbell heading to Triple-A to make room for Fraley on the active roster.  Fraley has been on the IL since suffering a left hamstring strain while making a diving catch in Seattle’s 10-4 loss to the White Sox on April 6.  He has seen action at all three outfield positions during his 24-game MLB career, and he’ll provide the Mariners with some depth behind the regular outfield trio of Kyle Lewis, Mitch Haniger, and Jarred Kelenic.
  • The Brewers announced that utilityman Tim Lopes and right-hander Bobby Wahl were optioned to Triple-A after being reinstated from the 60-day IL.  Both players have been sidelined by oblique strains suffered during Spring Training.  Lopes is still looking to make his Brewers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Mariners back in December.  Wahl has appeared in parts of three MLB seasons with the A’s, Mets, and Brewers, tossing 2 1/3 innings for Milwaukee in 2020 after missing the entire 2019 campaign recovering from a torn ACL.

Brewers Sign Jackie Bradley Jr.

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TODAY: The Brewers officially announced Bradley’s deal.  To create roster space, utilityman Tim Lopes (oblique) has been moved to the 60-day injured list.

MARCH 4, 1:05pm: Bradley’s 2021 salary is $13MM, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He’ll earn $11MM in 2022 if he declines to opt out.

10:45am: Some of Bradley’s salary is deferred, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

As to the defensive alignment with Bradley in the fold, Brewers manager Craig Counsell spoke to reporters today and firmly indicated that Cain is the team’s center fielder (Twitter links via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Counsell wouldn’t mention Bradley directly, as his deal has yet to be formally announced, but he said his club doesn’t “…have any fourth outfielders. We have a lot of starting outfielders and we have to figure out how that works. But there’s playing time, absolutely.”

7:08am: The Brewers and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. are in agreement on a two-year, $24MM contract, reports Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. The second year on that deal is a player option, so Bradley will have the opportunity to return to the open market next winter if he performs well during his first season in Milwaukee. Bradley is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Jackie Bradley Jr. | Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

It’s the second major free-agent signing for the Brewers this winter and the second that provides the team with a huge defensive upgrade. Milwaukee also inked former division rival Kolten Wong, arguably the game’s premier defender at second base, on a two-year deal that guarantees him $18MM.

Bradley, 31 in April, figures to slide into the outfield alongside Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich. His acquisition could push Avisail Garcia, who struggled in 2020 during the first season of a two-year contract of his own, into a lesser role. It appears quite unlikely that there’ll be a universal designated hitter in 2021 at this point, but Garcia could still work as a DH during interleague games at American League parks. He could also slot into the mix against tough lefties and spell any of the other three on a given day.

Cain, meanwhile, carries a sterling defensive reputation much like Bradley, but he’ll turn 35 the same week Bradley turns 31. The Brewers could turn center field over to the younger of the two and slide Cain, who opted out of the 2020 season after just five games last year, into a less demanding corner outfield spot.

Prior to their deal with Bradley, the Brewers didn’t have much in the way of proven outfield depth in the event that a starting outfielder went down with an injury. The only other outfielders on the 40-man roster were Tyrone Taylor, Corey Ray and a trio of offseason DFA pickups: Billy McKinney, Derek Fisher and Tim Lopes. Bringing Bradley into the mix now gives them cover for a potential injury and allows them to rest Cain (returning at 35 after opting out of 2020) and Yelich (major knee injury at the end of 2019) with more regularity. More broadly speaking, the signing also simply improves both the defense and the lineup.

Detractors may brush aside the notion that Bradley can help to improve Milwaukee’s offense, but over the past six seasons he’s batted .247/.331/.438 — good for a slightly above-average 102 wRC+ and 101 OPS+. That line includes a .283/.364/.450 showing through 217 plate appearances last year. Bradley struggled in 2019 as his strikeout rate spiked to an unpalatable 27.3 percent, but he cut that mark by more than five percent last season in a rebound effort during the shortened campaign.

Bradley shouldn’t be problematic from a payroll standpoint, as the Brewers had been set for a decrease from their 2019-20 spending levels prior to the deal. The new agreement will take them to $105MM if the contract is evenly distributed and a bit more if the deal is front-loaded (which, speculatively speaking, seems likely). Either way, they’ll still be well shy of 2019’s franchise-record $122.5MM Opening Day mark.

The Bradley deal, in many regards, is reminiscent of Milwaukee’s surprise agreement with catcher Yasmani Grandal in the 2018-19 offseason. Grandal, like Bradley, was an elite defender at a premium position who didn’t find long-term offers to his liking and instead bet on himself by signing a one-year deal at a higher annual rate with the Brewers. Bradley’s deal doesn’t match Grandal’s $18.25MM guarantee (although it could afford him more than $12MM depending on the structure), but it gives him a nice safety net with the player option in the event that he struggles in 2021 or deals with a notable injury.

Aside from the Cardinals’ blockbuster acquisition of Nolan Arenado, it’s been a rather quiet offseason in the NL Central. The Cubs have made a handful of small-scale, one-year additions — but only after trading away Yu Darvish — while the Reds and Pirates have been mostly idle. Late agreements with Bradley, Wong and lefty Brett Anderson don’t make the Brewers a clear favorite even in a potentially lackluster division, but they certainly improve what looks to be a competitive club. And given the current payroll level and this front office regime’s penchant for late-offseason value plays, it’d be unwise to completely rule out any further additions.

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