Yankees manager Joe Girardi says reliever Andrew Bailey has had “setbacks” after his 2013 labrum injury and will not return this season, NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty tweets. The former Athletics closer and Red Sox reliever has not appeared in the big leagues since the middle of that 2013 season, and hasn’t pitched competitively for the Yankees since they signed him to a minor league deal in February. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.
- Tsuyoshi Wada could be emerging as an option for the Cubs’ 2015 rotation, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com writes. The 34-year-old has spent most of the season at Triple-A Iowa, but he’s performed well in six starts with the Cubs, with a 3.15 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 so far. After signing him to a minor league deal in the offseason, the Cubs released Wada in March and then signed him to another minor league deal that includes a 2015 option. The Cubs do have a variety of interesting rotation options for 2015 (particularly since adding Dan Straily and Jacob Turner), however, and they appear likely to hunt for a starter this offseason, so much remains to be determined.
- Astros owner Jim Crane is happy that there’s a new plan to remove Comcast SportsNet Houston from bankruptcy, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports. Under the plan, the name of the channel would change to ROOT Sports Houston, and Comcast’s partnership with the Astros and Rockets would convert into a new entity owned by DirecTV Sports Networks and AT&T. The new deal will help the Astros financially, and will also enable their games to be broadcast. “[O]ur fans will get to see the games and we can move on with our lives,” says Crane. The new company could be in place by as soon as early October.
I completely forgot the Yankees signed Andrew Bailey. The good thing is that the bullpen is doing great so he can take his time.
Bailey’s career might be done. I hope not, but it’s looking more likely.
With the exception of Trout, all of the AL ROYs after Bailey have had some kind of injury problem or some other kind of struggle.
Wada is the Option when the Cubs fail to sign Lester, Shields, Masterson, Scherzer this off season. But that is okay, because the Cubs are not ready to win. Their Rookies will be struggling at the plate, and will need a few seasons to show their power. Look at Rizzo, this is his fourth season and finally is figuring out how to hit and take pitches. The Cubs have several starting pitchers in their system who will be ready by 2016. Meanwhile, look for Arietta, Wood, Hendricks, Wada, E Jackson, Doubront, Beeler, Straily & Turner to be the Cubs starters in 2015.