Mining the News (1/19/22)

• It seems like Seiya Suzuki will wait out the labor dispute and sign with a major league team.

The labor impasse almost assuredly will continue past Feb. 1, when Hiroshima opens its spring camp in Okinawa. But the Carp are expected to be without their former franchise star, who left little doubt that he’s committed to coming to America despite the current stalemate between MLB and the union.

“I’m just going to wait until both sides agree,” said Suzuki, who arrived in Okinawa last week to conduct workouts on his own. “There’s no date I set on myself. In Japan, you don’t experience a lockout so it’s a first for me. At first, I was a little worried about it. But when you think about it, it’s going to end sometime soon. Just having that positive mindset that it will end sometime has allowed me to keep my head up.”

Since the first of the month, he has an NFBC ADP of 209 and that should shoot up once he signs.

American League

Angels

• Here are some notes on Luis Rengifo, José Suarez, and Reid Detmers.

Rengifo is the big key in determining how the infield alignment will look. If he comes to spring training and plays well, he’ll be an easy choice to start at shortstop. If he’s not as capable, it seems possible for Fletcher to slide into that position.

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If that happens, it will be a good competition between Suarez and Detmers for the sixth spot. At the end of the 2021 season, manager Joe Maddon said he thought Suarez had earned a rotation spot for 2022. He did not say the same for Detmers. That being said, it would be hard to keep Detmers out of the rotation if he comes in and dominates.

I thought the Rengifo news was a joke, but the Angels have no talent at shortstop.

If Rengifo gets a 600 PA, he would be projected for 15 HR and SB with a .247. There are worse options for a fantasy team to roster.

As for the two pitchers, I’m not a fan of either one, but since Suarez might get the nod, he should be rostered first.

Astros

• More news on the possibility of Jeremy Peña being the Opening Day shortstop.

Do you get the sense the Astros are prepared to give Jeremy Peña a shot to win the starting shortstop job? If so, is his glove really as good as they say? Is his bat as much of a question mark as it seems? — Andrew G.

I do get the sense that the Astros are prepared to give Peña a shot to win the job. If one was setting odds on the identity of their Opening Day shortstop in 2022, he would be the favorite.

It’s somewhat reminiscent of last year, when the Astros didn’t acquire a center fielder despite George Springer’s free agency and turned the position over to an unproven Myles Straw. Straw already had some major-league experience at that point, and Peña does not. But it would be another example of the Astros trusting their player development pipeline and trying to make up a drop-off in value at an up-the-middle position through other areas of the roster.

Currently, our Steamer projection has Pena at 15 HR and 9 SB with a .246 AVG. It also has Chris Taylor for 18 HR and 9 SB with a .244 AVG. One has an NFBC ADP of 170 and the other is going 300 picks later.

• Alex Bregman is swinging a bat.

"Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1)cleared to hit today for the 1st time since having wrist surgery in Nov.For Alex it was like Christmas & Hanukkah at the same time:“Definitely,this is my present..Hopefully day 1 of spring training I’ll be ready to rock" Alex’s story tonight FOX26 News @ 9 pic.twitter.com/ZmN9zyL1hK

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) January 14, 2022

Blue Jays

• Nate Pearson will start the season in the bullpen.

The club is still dedicated to developing Pearson into a starter, but after so much missed time, his workload will have its limits. In the immediate future, Pearson will likely function in a hybrid role as a pitcher who can throw 100 to 120 innings and falls somewhere between a starter and a reliever. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Pearson open the 2022 season in Toronto’s bullpen and if all goes well, perhaps eventually he’ll earn a few spot starts or even a place in the rotation.

• Gabriel Moreno might be called up mid-season.

One scout told The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan that Moreno is a “future superstar,” and another said, “The game is so easy for him.” The next level he has to conquer is Triple A, but given his trajectory to this point, his rise to the majors could be as soon as midseason, which may force the Blue Jays to figure out what to do with their three other catchers.

The “news” here is not so much on Moreno, but with Danny Jansen and/or Alejandro Kirk seeing their playing time take a hit. — Ed. note: AND Reese McGuire. They have to figure out something to even get Kirk consistent playing time let alone finding space to bring Moreno up!

Orioles

• Recent signing, Cesar Prieto, might join the club at some point this season.

While most members of the 2021-22 international signing class are teenagers who are years away from the major leagues, 22-year-old infielder Cesar Prieto could potentially help the Orioles as early as this season. It makes Prieto a particularly intriguing player to watch from this signing period, as noted in separate pieces by The Baltimore Sun’s Nathan Ruiz and MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko.

Yankees

• The team believes DJ LeMahieu’s struggles were injury-related.

Yankees officials believe DJ LeMahieu’s lackluster 2021 could be traced to a sports hernia that the infielder tried to play through before finally getting surgery after the season, The New York Post’s Dan Martin writes.

The key going forward: will he be 100% from day 1 or will the injury still bother him?

National League

Brewers

• J.C. Mejía has a couple of effective pitches.

According to those who have watched him pitch, Mejía has primarily used a mid-90s fastball and slider. That’s interesting because in his 2021 season with the Guardians (8.25 ERA in 52 1/3 innings), Mejía threw a sinker 42 percent of the time. Perhaps less usage of the sinker would be a good thing; statistically, it wasn’t effective (batters slugged .624 against it). On the other hand, the slider was Mejía’s best pitch. With his slider — which has terrific movement — Mejía held batters to a .319 slugging percentage and produced an encouraging 42 percent whiff rate.

There is a chance he might become a decent two-inning reliever if he’s able to just go sinker-slider by dumping his four-seamer and curve. And he needs to start throwing strikes (4.1 BB/9).

Marlins

• Miguel Rojas did not need surgery to repair his finger.

Marlins news: Miguel Rojas (@MRojasOfficial) tells me he will NOT need off-season surgery on his injured finger

He explains where he stands in the recovery process — and talks Marlins off-season, personal growth & success, and more — on Miami Mic’d Up 👇https://t.co/z291RhOqUK

— jeremy taché (@jeremytache) November 3, 2021

I could see the lack of surgery being good (the problem wasn’t major) or bad (the finger continues to bother him). I guess we’ll find out.

Rockies

• The team is not looking to add a bat-first slugger as the DH, but instead one with more versatility.

That’s an opinion shared by Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt. The Rockies are desperate to find more punch in their lineup this winter. But Schmidt is not trying to find a David Ortíz-type to fill a full-time designated hitter role. Instead, Schmidt wants to add depth, ideally a multi-positional hitter who can move around the field and rotate other players into the DH spot. Chris Taylor, it seems, would have been an ideal fit before he re-signed with the Dodgers.

Misc. 

Josh Harrison is still a free agent.