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Rangers Add Juan Nicasio, Edinson Volquez To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Rangers announced today that they have added right-handed pitchers Juan Nicasio and Edinson Volquez to their 60-man player pool. That leaves the team with three remaining openings to work with at the outset of Summer Camp.

Both of these hurlers had already been inked to minor-league deals with the Texas organization. Their inclusion on the list was expected, but the club had waited to make the formal moves until the veterans had entered the United States and made it through testing protocols.

Nicasio, 33, has topped forty MLB frames in each of the past nine seasons. He hasn’t been terribly effective of late; last year, he finished with a 4.75 ERA in 47 1/3 innings with the Phillies. But Nicasio has had his share of success and carried eye-popping peripherals in the 2018 campaign (despite a substandard 6.00 ERA).

As for Volquez, who turns 37 tomorrow, it once seemed he’d already be retired by this point. But he chose to return last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery and was able to reacquire all of his arm strength. The results weren’t there in his brief 2019 action and he struggled early in camp, but the Rangers obviously feel there could still be some gas in the tank.

In each case, the MLB opportunity is perhaps greater than might have been expected. The new three-batter minimum rule and shortened second training camp give these veteran pitchers added appeal. Both have experience as starters and historically carry neutral platoon splits. With extra active roster spots to work with early on, the Rangers could well carry and frequently utilize both Nicasio and Volquez.

Phillies Place Four Players On COVID-19 Injured List

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4:03pm: These four players were indeed placed on the COVID-19 injured list, per Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). That does not necessarily mean that the players have tested positive for the virus; the list also houses players that have shown symptoms consistent with infection or that have had contact with someone else that is infected.

1:54pm: The Phillies appear to have placed four players on the 10-day injured list. While the team has yet to make a formal announcement, the MLB.com transactions page indicates that Scott Kingery, Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter and Ranger Suarez have all been placed on the IL. No reason was listed.

Given the lack of a formal announcement and the lack of specified injuries, there’s bound to be speculation about COVID-19 among these four players. The league has already made clear that teams will not be required to name players who go on the injured list for COVID-19 reasons. In a statement to ESPN’s Marly Rivera yesterday, MLB offered the following:

Because COVID-19 is not considered an employment-related injury, we will respect the privacy of the players who test positive or who are under evaluation, and we will defer to their wishes regarding public updates about their status. Without their voluntary permission, we will not disclose any COVID-19 related information.

It should be emphasized that a player does not need to test positive for the virus to be placed on the IL for COVID-19. Players exhibiting symptoms and those who have come into contact with people who’ve tested positive can also be placed on the IL for precautionary reasons. Once on the IL for a positive COVID-19 test or for symptoms/contact reasons, a player will need to twice test negative in order to be reinstated.

Additional context may eventually come to light, but for now we know that the Phillies have several key players sidelined until at least the end of next week (the IL placements are retroactive to June 30). Kingery is expected to fill an everyday role in the infield this year, although his superlative defensive skills would allow skipper Joe Girardi to plug him virtually anywhere on the diamond while providing solid glovework. Neris entered the season as the clear closer in Philadelphia, and the veteran Hunter would’ve filled a setup role. Suarez gave the Phils 48 2/3 frames of 3.14 ERA out of the bullpen last year and had positioned himself as an important member of the staff as well.

An extended absence for Kingery could conceivably open the door for top third base prospect Alec Bohm (with Jean Segura manning second base). Non-roster veterans like Neil Walker, Logan Forsythe and Josh Harrison are also in the Phillies’ 60-man player pool. Absent the three arms that were placed on the IL, an already injury-plagued bullpen would become even more problematic. It’s not clear who’d step into the ninth inning should Neris be unavailable, but the trio of Neris, Suarez and Hunter could all play vital late-inning roles in 2020, health permitting.

Phillies To Pay Minor Leaguers Through Season

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Phillies Release, Re-Sign Anthony Swarzak

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The Phillies included just 53 players in their initial pool over the weekend, but right-hander Anthony Swarzak will soon be added as the 54th player, per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb (Twitter link). General manager Matt Klentak revealed to reporters that the Phils released and re-signed the veteran Swarzak to a new minor league contract.

Swarzak, 34, was one of many veterans in Phillies Spring Training on a non-roster deal prior to the league’s shutdown. He’ll vie for a spot on the Phillies’ expanded pitching staff after a pair of rough seasons split between the Mets, Mariners and Braves. An oblique strain in 2018 and shoulder issues in both 2018 and 2019 likely contributed to some of Swarzak’s recent struggles. Over the past two seasons, he’s pitched to a combined 5.08 ERA in 79 2/3 frames, although he’s managed to strike out more than a batter per inning in that time.

Swarzak’s results did improve following a trade from Seattle to Atlanta last year, as he gave the Braves 39 2/3 innings of 4.31 ERA ball — albeit with shakier peripherals. Consistency has been an issue for Swarzak throughout his career, but he’s had his share of success in the big leagues. He was a multi-inning bullpen workhorse for the Twins back in 2013 (2.91 ERA, 3.28 FIP in 96 innings of relief) and was a dominant setup man for the ChiSox and Brewers as recently as 2017 (2.33 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 91-to-22 K/BB ratio in 77 2/3 frames).

Phillies GM Matt Klentak On Potential J.T. Realmuto Extension

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The Phillies and pending free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto discussed a contract extension before Major League Baseball put a freeze on transactions in March because of the COVID-19 shutdown. That freeze lifted last week, but the Phillies and Realmuto have not restarted talks, as Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays.

Addressing Realmuto’s status Monday, general manager Matt Klentak said: “Candidly, we’ve been kind of nose to the ground — intake screenings and getting people here — so I haven’t touched base with [Realmuto’s camp]. As fas as a timeline, I just don’t know. I need to talk to them.”

Realmuto expressed optimism about a potential extension just a month and a half ago, but the game’s financial situation has certainly worsened since then. Therefore, it’s highly questionably whether any soon-to-be free agent – even a star like Realmuto, who’s regarded as the sport’s foremost backstop – will do as well on his next contract as he would have before the pandemic.

Klentak, for his part, acknowledged that the game has changed from a monetary standpoint in the past few months, saying “The landscape that we left in March is different from the one we return to now.” And while the Phillies would “still love to have [Realmuto] in red pinstripes for the long haul,” according to Klentak, he added that “there’s a lot of uncertainty in the game right now on a variety of levels. We just need to play that out.”

Before extension talks came to a halt, Realmuto’s agent, Jeff Berry of CAA Sports, may have been seeking a contract in the five-year, $130MM range for his client, Lauber reports. That payday – one that would average $26MM per year – would make Realmuto the highest-paid catcher in baseball history on an annual basis, surpassing the $23MM the now-retired Joe Mauer collected from the Twins on the mega-deal he inked in 2010 (Mauer, though, was on a much longer and more expensive contract worth $184MM over eight seasons). Whether that was a realistic asking price in the first place is debatable, but considering the sport’s less favorable financial circumstances – not to mention that Realmuto will turn 30 before the 2021 campaign begins – it will likely be even more difficult to obtain in the coming months.

Phillies Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

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Today marks the deadline for teams to submit their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.

The Phillies’ initial 53-player pool consists of the following…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Phillies Release Drew Storen, Matt Szczur

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The Phillies announced they have released right-handed reliever Drew Storen and outfielder Matt Szczur. Both were among a large group of veterans in camp on minor-league deals this spring.

Storen is most famous for his run with the Nationals, where he combined for a 3.02 ERA/3.09 FIP in 334 relief innings between 2010-15. He fell on tough times after leaving Washington and hasn’t seen big league action since suiting up with the 2017 Reds, partially due to Tommy John surgery.

Szczur, meanwhile, hit well in limited time with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to earn him another shot in the majors, where he logged a bit of time every season from 2014-18. The 30-year-old has a career .231/.312/.355 slash (81 wRC+) in 667 plate appearances.

Phillies Sign First-Rounder Mick Abel

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The Phillies have signed their first-round pick, right-hander Mick Abel, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. As the 15th overall pick, Abel’s selection came with a recommended slot value of $3,885,800, but he’ll earn $4,075,000, according to Callis.

Abel played high school baseball in his native Oregon and committed to Oregon State before the Phillies signed him. While the coronavirus led to the cancellation of what would have been his final high school season, Abel was nonetheless the top prep pitcher available in this year’s draft, writes Callis. The 6-foot-5 hurler offers a “terrific” combination of stuff and polish, per Callis, as well as a 93 to 98 mph fastball and a promising slider-changeup combo.

With Abel under wraps, the Phillies have now signed four members of their five-player draft class. Third-round shortstop Casey Martin hasn’t officially signed, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia notes, though the two sides did reportedly reach an agreement earlier this month.

Phillies Announce Four Additional Coronavirus Cases

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The Phillies last Friday announced that five players and three staff members — all of whom had been at their Clearwater, Fla. facility — had tested positive for the coronavirus. At the time of the announcement, the Phillies indicated that 32 more tests were still pending results. Of that bunch, two more players and two staff members also tested positive, the Phillies announced today, bringing their total to a dozen cases. One of today’s positive tests was from a player at “a location other than Clearwater.” The rest of those pending tests were negative.

Over the weekend, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that 40 players and staff members throughout the league tested positive for the coronavirus just last week. These additional positive results from the Phillies appear to add to that total.

Word of the latest group of positive tests was announced as the MLBPA pores over the league’s health and safety protocols and prepares to offer a response within the next four hours. The league asked for a reply by 5pm ET today. The wave of positive tests throughout the sport won’t prevent the league from attempting to orchestrate a 60-game season, but the manner in which MLB and the Players Association are planning to both address and hopefully minimize positive results, to this point, is largely unknown.

Some of the precautions the league plans to take — daily temperature checks, testing multiple times per week, barring players from spitting, high-fiving, etc. — have come to light. However, the procedures that will be in place for positive tests when the inevitably do occur have been kept closer to the vest. Details on those protocols, crucial to the chances of playing out a 2020 season, figure to emerge late this afternoon and perhaps into tomorrow, depending on the MLBPA’s response to the league’s proposal.

Amateur Draft Signings: 6/20/20

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Let’s catch up on the latest draft signings …

  • The Astros were able to wrap up all of their draft business, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. In addition to picking up some undrafted free agents, the Houston organization inked its four draftees. The key signing was Alex Santos, a high school hurler who’ll turn pro after being offered $1.25MM — a fair bit over the $870,700 slot he was chosen at. Zach Daniels and Tyler Brown each signed for near their slot amounts, while fifth-rounder Shay Witcomb took just $56K and left the team with room to ink Santos.
  • Also inking for $1.2MM was Rangers’ choice Dylan MacLean. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported the news on Twitter. MacLean was a fourth-round pick in the draft, signing for more than double his slot amount. MacLean is a southpaw hurler out of Central Catholic High School in Oregon.
  • The Braves went well over slot to sign fifth-rounder Bryce Elder, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis (Twitter link). Elder will receive $850K, far north of the $336,600 allocation for the 156th overall pick.
  • As he said he would, Tigers fourth-rounder Gage Workman has reached agreement on a deal with his new team. The Detroit organization announced the signing, though it isn’t yet known what the Arizona State infielder will receive to forego a return for another run with the Sun Devils. Still just twenty years of age, Workman posted a lifetime .298/.372/.496 mark at ASU. He’s likely to begin his pro career as a shortstop.
  • The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed third-rounder Levi Prater. He’ll earn $575K ($627,900 slot value), Callis tweets. Callils notes that Prater is a right-handed hurler with a 90-93 mph fastball.
  • The Phillies added fourth-rounder Carson Ragsdale and fifth-rounder Baron Radcliff, per Callis (Twitter links). Ragsdale will earn $225K, well under the $497,500 slot value. Radcliff, a Georgia Tech outfielder, is slated to take home $100K, which will also leave some savings since his draft slot came with a $371,600 pool allocation.
  • The White Sox chased some serious mid-round savings. Third-round choice Adisyn Coffee has inked for $50K and fourth-rounder Kade Mechals went for $10K, Callis reports (Twitter links). Both are right-handed hurlers, Coffee from Wabash Valley College and Mechals out of Grand Canyon. It’s not hard to interpret these signings: the White Sox wish to reallocate the rest of the slot money ($733,100 and $517,400, respectively). The club is believed to be lining up a big bonus with second-rounder Jarred Kelley, though he hasn’t yet signed.
  • Rays third-rounder Hunter Barnhart is heading to Tampa Bay on a $585K bonus, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. The Rays saved some cash in inning Barnhart, whose third-round slot carried a value of $604,800.
  • High school righty Marco Raya has agreed to terms with the Twins. Callis tweets that he’ll receive a $410K bonus, which isn’t far shy of the $442,900 slot value. Raya is foregoing a commitment to Texas Tech. Though he’s hardly a power hurler, he’s said to have an “interesting four-pitch mix.”
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