Braves infielder Phil Gosselin will miss about eight weeks with a thumb fracture, the team announced. Gosselin will require surgery. Taking his place on the active roster is fellow infielder Adonis Garcia, a 30-year-old who had a rather quiet minor league career before posting strong results at Triple-A over the last two seasons. After logging 368 plate appearances with a .319/.353/.474 slash last year in the Yankees organization, the infielder/outfielder has slashed .351/.380/.455 thus far at Gwinnett. Garcia signed with New York out of Cuba back in 2012, ultimately settling for a minor league deal when early rumors of a $16MM to $18MM bonus never panned out.
Here’s more from the NL East:
- Righty Kyle Kendrick discussed his departure from the Phillies, telling Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News that the end did not come without some perceived irony. “Ruben [Amaro Jr.] called me about a week after the season and said we’re going to go in a different direction, we’re going to go younger,” Kendrick said, “and then he signs Aaron Harang and Jerome Williams. So I was like, [huh]. That’s the way it is. Honestly I think it’s just part of the game and [they] wanted some different faces. That’s the way it goes.”
- Meanwhile, the Phillies are struggling with pitching health, as the club announced that righty Chad Billingsley is headed to the 15-day DL with a right shoulder strain. The talented but oft-injured thirty year old had made his first starts since early in 2013. He has permitted 12 earned runs over 16 total frames, striking out seven and walking three, though the good news is that his fastball velocity is sitting right at career norms. While the setback is discouraging, Philly will certainly hope that Billingsley can return in relatively short order and provide innings — if not also a trade piece.
- ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick profiles the recently-extended Mets center fielder Juan Lagares, explaining that Lagares has undergone a rather interesting breakout on the defensive side of the ledger after receiving some middling scouting grades in center in the minors. It is now broadly recognized, of course, that his glove is what gives Lagares such unique value. You’ll want to give the piece a read to learn about the 26-year-old’s journey.
- Deposed Marlins manager Mike Redmond will still take home a fairly significant amount of guaranteed money from his former team, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. In addition to the remainder of this year’s $850K salary, says Heyman, the Fish owe Redmond just over $1MM annually over the next two seasons.
KK should just be thankful for his $30 M in career earnings and zip it up. He hit the jackpot getting drafted into the Phillies organization which is loyal to a fault. A lot of other organizations he would have been dfa’d after a few seasons.
Especially with that 6.70 ERA for $5.5M.
Kendrick only pitched especially poorly during his second big league season, when he was 23. Most teams would have demoted him to the bullpen or to AAA, but he never pitched badly enough with the Phillies that other teams would DFA’d him. The Rockies on the other hand are probably considering it.
Mainly talking about his last 2 years of arbitration KK made $5 m in 2013 and $8 M in 2014 after Rube offered to go to arbitration.
KK is a $1M-2M utilty/long man/ spot starter. Always was,always will be.The fact that Rube gave him $8 M explains why the Phils have been a dumpster fire the past 3 years. I dont know what the Rockies were thinking giving him $5.5M. Unbelievable.
Yeah I agree. The signing made sense at the time, and I even liked it then (hindsight is 20/20). The Rockies had no intention of contending this year and had some young and promising, though not quite big league ready, starting pitching prospects. Signing Kendrick for one year to fill out the rotation seemed like a good idea, as the Rockies could afford to be less aggressive with their prospects and let them develop. However, $5.5M is too much to pay for a guy who’s the definition of mediocrity with already pronounced homer tendencies at sea level that would be exacerbated greatly by pitching in Denver.
i dont think any other team would have offered him arbitration in his later years.
Amaro didn’t lie to him. They are trying to get younger. They brought in Harang and Williams to be traded for pieces to get younger. I mean Williams isn’t getting you much more than what Mayberry got you but still. What value did Kyle Kendrick really have? What’s the point of resigning him if he has no value to be moved for younger pieces?
Harang I can see the Cards going after him , and they won’t get much back for Williams, All I know is that Nola and the pitcher they got in return for byrd are tearing it up.
Zach Eflin: 2.74 ERA in 7 AA starts
Ben Lively: 3.06 ERA in 6 AA starts
Nola: 1.77 ERA in 7 AA starts
Nefi Ogando: 2.60 ERA in 11 AA relief appearances
Phillippe Aumont: 1.38 ERA in 5 starts and 4 relief appearances at AAA
Amaro has done some good work on the rebuild so far. Only seeming bust is Joely Rodriguez.
now he has to make the right deal for hamels
I don’t think the lack of a good Hamels deal lays on his shoulders, but the other teams. They all want Hamels but no one is willing to give up a ton of value.
“Ruben [Amaro Jr.] called me about a week after the season and said we’re going to go in a different direction, we’re going to go younger,” Kendrick said, “and then he signs Aaron Harang and Jerome Williams. So I was like, [huh]. That’s the way it is.” ….says the game’s most perfectly mediocre pitcher who will probably be released by Colorado before the seasons end. Unreal that some of these guys don’t realize how lucky they have been.
we’re going to go younger
Translation
we’re going to go CHEAPER