Padres pitcher Josh Johnson had Tommy John surgery Thursday, MLB.com’s Corey Brock notes. The surgery marks the end of another lost year for Johnson, who the Padres signed to an $8MM deal over the offseason. Because Johnson will start fewer than seven games this year, the Padres will have a $4MM option on him for 2015. It’s not yet clear whether they’ll exercise it, however. “We still have a lot of hurdles to clear before we make a decision on that,” says assistant GM A.J. Hinch. Here are more notes from the National League.
- After being designated for assignment by the Pirates, Travis Ishikawa became a free agent and signed with the Giants, who sent him to Triple-A Fresno. That’s an assignment with which Ishikawa is familiar, Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee reports. Ishikawa also played for Fresno in the 2008 and 2011 seasons. Ishikawa is, of course, aiming higher than Triple-A, however. “When I was looking around, the Giants made contact, and I noticed there wasn’t a lot of left-handed hitting on the bench up there,” he says. “Figured this was a good chance to get back up there and try to repeat what I was able to do before with the Giants.”
- Matt Garza, now with the Brewers, “[ran] out of hope” when he was with the Cubs, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. “You go through three years of constantly hoping (with the Cubs), you kind of run out of hope,” he says. “You come to a team like this [the Brewers] where every day we’re going to win. We’re not going out to hope to win. We’re going out with the attitude we’re going to win.” Garza, who signed a $50MM contract with Milwaukee in the offseason, defeated his former team on Friday.
As a Cub fan I’ve never liked Garza but I have to admit he’s never been afraid to tell it like it is.
What’s not to like about Garza?
It’s the spitting lol
The weird thing with his mouth guard is my vote
I will take that over watching Dusty Baker and his toothpick any day.
He loved giving shaving cream pies to his teammates who were “hoping” to win. Don’t kid yourself, he’s a me guy.
Brewers have won most games but only 1 win for gArza. They are now but cream always rises to the top and sAint Louis will pass them. Cubs will win and olt and Edwards will be part of it.
oh please, pitching wins games and the Cubs have none. As it stands right now their future isn’t very bright. Everyone gets so focused on their offensive prospects they totally forget they have no pitching in the pipeline.
You look ahead to 2017(a year people think they can contend) and I would question if they have any of those 5 starters currently in their system…MLB or Minors. Pierce Johnson is a nice mid rotation starter someday, but other than him it is murky. Vizcaino will never last as a starter and CJ Edwards weighs 155pounds.
Big papi a pitcher? Because he won the World Series last year for sox? How do u know none of these pitchers will be any good? Shark gets traded for pitching prospects and who knows? Cubs would be winning now if they had a couple if sluggers. Dodgers have pitching how is kershaw doing right now? White sox have sale how is he doing ? Hitters make a differs come every day while pitchers pitch every 5. Cubs could trade any of the big. 3 some day for a ace pitcher if and when needed. Be sure and be the first in line for a cub shirt when they are winning