Cleveland Sports Forum

Surprise: Josh Tomlin released by the Brewers.
Is he ready for minor league pitching coach role? Indians are likely to come calling.

Tomlin signed a minor league with Atlanta.

that's what I saw. We'll have to hold the minor league pitching coach role open awhile longer.

White Sox just cut Brandon Guyer. A move we should have done this time last year.

Since half of last year's team is now on a team OTHER THAN the Tribe, there's lots to look at here.

Yandy Diaz 1=4 today and hitting leadoff and playing 1st, is now hitting 333
Erik Gonzalez 167, hitless so far today, but drew a walk [remember when Indians hitters used to draw lots of walks?]
Gomes 0-2 so far today, hitting 200
Brantley didn't start; he's batting 385

Adding to that list ... Watched the end of the Tigers-Blue Jays game with my wife, since the Tribe game become unwatchable. Pannone took the loss in the 11th inning. But bad break. He gave up 3 hits but two were weak bloopers that happened to fall in.

Francisco Mejia is for now the Padres backup catcher, has started one game and is 0-4. I don't imagine he'll stay that inactive all year. Dont' think I saw him in the OF or at 3B during spring training so not sure what role they have in mind for him. Since he's only 23, there's no rush to play him, and maybe they think they work with him on his defense while backing up Austin Hedges. But since Hedges is only 26 himself, I'd guess they'd be looking for another role for Mejia to get his bat in the lineup.

civ - have you seen this Hedges kid play catcher? Holy crap, Mejia is in trouble. I agree, time to move elsewhere for him.

I'm surprised the padres are simply stashing him as a backup.

and Yandy has NOW, of course, mastered the launch angle. Hit his 2nd homer of season matching his total in about 300 at bats for the Indians.

Yikes, I saw that. Seems we might be going to take a real hit on that one!

Topped Cookie Carrasco with this one:

Steven Matz had a nightmarish outing in Philadelphia on Tuesday, allowing eight runs – six earned – while failing to record an out.

Amed Rosario committed an error to kick off the game and made another error later in the inning, which obviously didn’t help. Still, this was an unmitigated disaster for Matz, who had allowed only three earned runs in three starts coming into tonight.

He gave up four hits – including two home runs – and one walk, seeing his ERA jump from 1.65 all the way up to 4.96. Matz is currently slated to face the Phillies again next, although it’s possible they could bring him back on short rest since he threw just 31 pitches

Hey whatever happened to the Boston RedSox? Unlike the Yankees they're not all injured, they just stink. Of course it's early, but the starting pitching is looking really bad. I guess neither Sale and Kluber is in the April Cy Young competition.

Looks like the Pirates are turning SS to a top prospect and Erik G goes back to the utility role

Rosenthal: Secrets to the Rays’ success; a very special advisor; draft picks holding Braves back from Kimbrel?; more notes


By Ken Rosenthal Apr 19, 2019 63
Oh,​ they’re not​ going to​ brag. Baseball executives know​ the game is​ forever humbling, and​ the​ good people​ who run​​ the low-revenue Rays live in particular fear, never knowing if the Yankees and Red Sox might wake up one day and spend more money to fix a single problem than Tampa Bay spends on its entire team.

Alas, the Rays’ secret is out.

Their $60.1 million Opening Day payroll is the lowest in the majors, yet the team is 14-5, leading the Yankees by 5 1/2 games and the Red Sox by eight in the AL East.

The Tampa Bay farm system ranks No. 2 in the game, according to Baseball America. And the team’s trades over the past 11 months . . . well, even with the season barely 10 percent complete, let’s just say the Rays are looking good.

Funny how quickly things turn. At the start of spring training 2018, the Rays drew criticism from their own players for cutting approximately $10 million in salary by trading right-hander Jake Odorizzi to the Twins and designating DH Corey Dickerson for assignment while acquiring first baseman C.J. Cron. But even then, the Rays had a plan.

The Odorizzi deal only brought back infielder Jermaine Palacios, a non-prospect, but it created innings for younger pitchers such as Ryan Yarbrough and Yonny Chirinos. The Dickerson move – the Rays eventually sent him to the Pirates for infielder Tristan Gray, now at the low end of their top 30 prospects, and reliever Daniel Hudson – created more at-bats for outfielder Mallex Smith, who became part of the next wave of trades.

The better wave.

Starting last June 10, the Rays’ fun began with their trade of infielder Brad Miller to the Brewers for first baseman Ji-Man Choi. They then hit the jackpot on July 31 – three prospects to the Cardinals for outfielder Tommy Pham, and right-hander Chris Archer to the Pirates for righty Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows and righty Shane Baz, the No. 12 pick in the 2017 draft.

Continuing their run, the Rays completed two more significant deals during the offseason – Smith and outfielder Jake Fraley to the Mariners for catcher Mike Zunino and left-hander Michael Plassmeyer; and first baseman Jake Bauers to the Indians for infielder Yandy Díaz and righty Cole Sulser, with the Rays also sending $5 million to the Mariners as part of a three-team exchange. For good measure, the Rays also added free-agent right-hander Charlie Morton for two years, $30 million and outfielder Avisail García for one year, $3.5 million.

It will be years before any of the trades can be properly assessed, but at this point the Archer deal seems like the biggest win for the Rays – and that’s with Archer under control for a below-market $27.5 million over the next three seasons and performing well for the Pirates, whose 2.09 rotation ERA is second in the majors only to the Rays’ 1.51.

The Pham trade also looks like a win. Of the prospects the Rays traded, left-hander Genesis Cabrera could become another Felipe Vázquez (a pitcher originally signed by the Rays) if the Cardinals make him a reliever and everything clicks. But Pham recently completed a franchise-record, 48-game on-base streak, sets a positive example with his intensity and is under team control for two more seasons after this one.

Choi, too, is already a win – he has an .857 OPS in 256 plate appearances since joining the Rays, and three teams have dropped Miller since the trade. The Zunino and Díaz moves, on the other hand, still could prove net losses for the Rays, though they certainly do not appear that way at the moment.

Zunino, a defensive stalwart, has brought stability to a long-unstable position for the Rays, but his offense remains in question and he is under control only through 2020. Smith, who offers two additional years of control, might prove the more valuable player. Fraley, the other outfielder who went to the Mariners, had a big spring and is off to a good start at Double A.

Díaz, meanwhile, always hit the ball hard, and his slightly improved launch angle, though still well-below league average, has helped him hit four home runs, three more than his previous career total in 299 plate appearances with the Indians. The Rays, though, do not believe they unlocked Díaz mechanically – they do not pretend to be any smarter than the Indians, another of the game’s most analytical clubs, they simply think Díaz is benefiting from more consistent playing time – and that there is still every chance that Bauers, who at 23 is four years younger than Díaz, will prove the better asset.

Baseball executives rarely take time to consider how much has gone right, thinking only about what next might go wrong. Rays execs forever will be small-market, nervous-nellies, knowing they operate on the thinnest of margins. Others in the industry can’t help but notice, however. Baseball’s little engine that could is turning into a runaway train.

An emerging pitcher, an unlikely advisor
The breakout of Braves left-hander Max Fried, 25, stems in part from the influence of a surprising mentor – former Red Sox, Cardinals and Dodgers outfielder Reggie Smith, who recently turned 74.

Fried first met Smith as a young boy playing in the Encino (Ca.) Little League. Smith, who runs an academy and camps at the Encino field, became close with Fried’s father, Jonathan.

Growing up, Fried played mostly first base and outfield, but Smith continued to advise him even after he became more of a pitcher at Harvard-Westlake H.S. in Los Angeles, leading to his selection by the Padres with the seventh pick of the 2012 draft.

“He’s someone I can throw ideas off of,” Fried says. “Obviously, he’s extremely knowledgeable. It’s a really, really nice relationship.”

Smith could not teach Fried how to pitch, but he understood throwing mechanics, and how hitters attacked pitchers. The two continue to talk about once a week, and this spring – at the suggestion of Braves director of pitching Dave Wallace, who is good friends with Smith from their time working as instructors in the Dodgers’ minor-league system – the Braves invited Smith to spring training.

Wallace organized a meeting that included himself, Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz and farm director Dom Chiti, along with Smith and Fried. The group spoke for about 30 minutes, with Wallace emphasizing, “This is to let you know we are all on board for you.”

The gathering made a powerful impression on Fried.

Said Wallace: “Max finishes up by saying – I don’t know the exact words – but it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is the first time in my career I feel everybody is in my corner. And therefore, it’s the first time mentally, I feel like I’m a big-league pitcher and I’m ready for this.’”

Fried, whom the Braves acquired in the Justin Upton trade in December 2014, missed the entire ‘15 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But at long last, he appears ready to fulfill his potential, producing a 0.92 ERA in 19 2/3 innings.

“I told him that sports does not determine your character, it reveals it,” Smith says, recalling Fried’s surgery. “So, it’s how you deal with adversity. What do you want to do about it?

“He wanted to come back. He wanted to play. That bumpy road, that’s the road you needed to take to get where you are today. That’s how he looks at it. ‘I’m here today. I want to pitch. Give me the ball.’ That’s his attitude.”

The draft pick: how much should it matter?
Signing free-agent closer Craig Kimbrel currently would cost the Braves the 60th overall pick in the draft and $1.157 million in accompanying pool money. The extra pool money would increase the Braves’ flexibility in negotiating with their top two picks at Nos. 9 and 21, and every pick takes on added importance at a time when the team is under strict limitations in the international market until 2021 because they circumvented the rules.

But hold on.

It’s one thing if the Braves do not want Kimbrel because they believe his asking price is too high, or because they fear his performance at the end of last season is the start of a downward trend. But for a team in contention – a team that has not won a postseason series since 2001 – the draft-pick excuse goes only so far.

First, the Braves would be catching a break, losing their third-highest selection rather than their second-highest because they were a revenue-sharing recipient last season, albeit a small one.

The team is expected to switch to a revenue-sharing contributor this season, reflecting increased income from SunTrust Park and its surrounding retail development, The Battery Atlanta. Yet, the Braves’ Opening Day payroll of $117.8 million was the 17th highest in the majors, according to USA Today.

Here’s the other thing about the pick: If the Braves trade for a reliever – and, by golly, they could use at least one, considering the early performance of their bullpen – they likely would give up a more advanced prospect than the No. 60 overall selection. So, again, the choice should be whether the Braves want to pay for Kimbrel. The pick figures into the acquisition cost, but only so much.

Astros: In need of a starter?
The Astros’ rotation, ranking third in the AL with a 3.19 ERA, should be more than good enough for the team to win the AL West. But right-hander Brad Peacock’s 3 1/3 innings in relief of lefty Wade Miley in last Friday’s 10-6 victory over the Mariners was a reminder of just how valuable Peacock is in the bullpen.

Translation: To succeed in the postseason, the Astros might need another starter.

The team currently is set with Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Collin McHugh at the top of its rotation, with Miley and Peacock in the fourth and fifth spots. Neither McHugh nor Miley can be expected to be mainstays through October, based upon their recent workloads. Rookie righty Forrest Whitley will contribute at some point, but his innings are certain to be restricted, as The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan recently wrote.

Peacock pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the save in Game 3 of the 2017 World Series and two scoreless innings in Game 7, relieving right-hander Lance McCullers in both games. The Astros have rebuilt their rotation commendably after losing McCullers to Tommy John surgery and Charlie Morton and Dallas Keuchel to free agency. But they still might need to do more.

Marcus Stroman? Aaron Sanchez? Madison Bumgarner?

The Astros figure to be in the market.

Around the horn
*One candidate to keep in mind if the Marlins replace manager Don Mattingly at the end of the season: Astros bench coach Joe Espada, a native of Puerto Rico who worked in the Marlins’ farm system from 2006 to ‘09 and served as the team’s third-base coach from 2010 to ‘13.

Espada, 43, joined the Yankees as a special assistant to GM Brian Cashman in ‘14, the last season of Marlins CEO Derek Jeter’s playing career with New York. He then served as the team’s third-base and infield coach from 2015 to ‘17, when Marlins vice-president of scouting and player development Gary Denbo was the Yankees’ farm director.

*As noted by The Athletic’s Julian McWilliams, both Khris Davis’ $16.5 million salary this season and $16.75 million average in his two-year extension with the A’s are more than David Ortiz and Nelson Cruz ever earned annually as designated hitters.

Davis, who already has 10 homers, could have hit the open market coming off what potentially will be his fourth straight 40-homer campaign. But in such a scenario, the A’s likely would have made him a one-year qualifying offer, which in 2020 figures to be in the $18 million to $19 million range.

By accepting the extension, Davis gets additional security in a place where he is comfortable, and avoids facing the uncertainty of being a 32-year-old free-agent DH. The A’s gain control over him for two seasons instead of one (the outcome that would have resulted if he had accepted a qualifying offer) and at a lower salary.

*The Red Sox, consistent with their usual policy, did not insure the contracts of their two most expensive pitchers, left-handers David Price and Chris Sale.

The Sox review each contract on a case-by-case basis, but generally are disinclined to purchase insurance, believing the chances of collection do not justify the high premiums.

Sale underwent a physical before he signed his five-year, $145 million extension in March.

*Trading Edwin Encarnación still would make sense for the Mariners, enabling them to clear more at-bats for Daniel Vogelbach. Problem is, the team did not receive an offer it liked for Encarnación in the offseason and still would want what it considers fair value – be it in prospects, competitive-balance picks or international signing space.

For now, the Mariners will continue rotating Jay Bruce between first base and the outfield, using their surplus of hitters to give players the time off they need.

*Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker, who was waived by the Orioles, Braves and Reds in a one-month span during spring training 2017, continued his hot start on Thursday, hitting his sixth homer in the D-Backs’ 4-1 victory over the Braves.

Walker, 28, is playing every day as Jake Lamb recovers from a left quad strain, and already has shown progress in two areas in which the D-Backs wanted to see improvement – his defense at first base, and his ability to hit right-handed pitching. Five of his six homers have come off righties.

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)