The Phillies announced on Tuesday that left fielder Howie Kendrick has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to an abdominal strain, thus making him the second veteran Philadelphia addition to go down with an injury today. (Clay Buchholz will miss anywhere from four to six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon.) “It’s like upper abdomen, lower rib cage,” Kendrick told reporters, including MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “Hopefully it’s something that’s not a nuisance, but we’ll see. It hasn’t gotten any worse over the past couple days, so hopefully it’s something that’ll be done pretty quickly.” Fellow veteran Daniel Nava could be the primary substitute for Kendrick, though certainly the injury could lead to a bit of extra playing time for Aaron Altherr or Brock Stassi as well. As noted earlier tonight, the Phils selected the contract of right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. to fill Kendrick’s spot on the roster.
Elsewhere in the NL East…
- The Nationals are considering a change in the ninth inning, manager Dusty Baker told reporters after he had to remove Blake Treinen in the ninth inning of tonight’s game (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Jamal Collier). “This ain’t working,” said Baker of the current alignment. Indeed, the Nats entered the day with a collective 6.25 ERA out of their bullpen — fourth-worst in all of baseball. Treinen lasted a third of an inning tonight and yielded a run on two hits and two walks before giving way to Shawn Kelley, who managed to salvage a 3-1 win for the defending NL East champs. Kelley and young right-hander Koda Glover seem like the two most plausible replacement options for Baker, though it’s unlikely that there’ll be definitive word on the situation until tomorrow. (Those chasing saves in fantasy baseball can follow @closernews on Twitter for updates on ninth-inning situations around the game.)
- Right-hander Joe Ross will join the Nationals’ rotation tomorrow night after opening the year in Triple-A Syracuse, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (Twitter links). The Nats optioned Ross to Syracuse in an effort to help limit his innings early in the year, though Baker acknowledged that the decision backfired on them. (Jeremy Guthrie was shelled in his lone appearance for the Nationals when he started in place of Ross.) It’s worth debating exactly how much the decision even worked toward the Nationals’ stated goal, as Ross has already thrown 9 2/3 innings in a pair of Triple-A outings. Regardless, he’ll be a welcome addition to the D.C. rotation if he can approximate the 3.52 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and 45.5 percent ground-ball he posted through his first 181 2/3 Major League innings in 2015-16.
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick interviewed Mets right fielder Jay Bruce about the slugger’s struggles following the 2016 trade that brought him to New York and the hot start he’s experienced in 2017. Bruce brushes off any previous suggestions that he “couldn’t handle” the move to the big city and the more imposing media market. Rather, he explains to Crasnick the difficulty he had being uprooted from his daily routine in Cincinnati. Bruce calls himself a “routine-oriented guy” and details that he stayed with six different teammates in addition to living out of hotels during his first few months with the Mets — all with his wife and infant son remaining behind in Ohio. “I understand how people come up with their thoughts,” Bruce tells Crasnick. “…I think it’s a pride thing with people from New York, and I get it. It’s an amazing city. It’s chewed a lot of people up and spit them out. That doesn’t even exist to me, though. This is the team I’m playing baseball for, with an incredible opportunity. I was just bad at baseball for a month.” As of this writing, Bruce is hitting a robust .275/.362/.529 with four homers in his final year before free agency.
- There’s more concern in the Mets organization surrounding Jose Reyes’ woeful start to the 2017 season than the team is publicly expressing, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Reyes picked up a double in tonight’s loss to the Phils but is still hitting just .100/.182/.140 on the season. Reyes, Ackert notes, was brought back with the hope that he could solidify the leadoff spot and allow Curtis Granderson’s 30-homer bat to hit lower in the order, but Reyes has been dropped to the bottom third of the order due to his poor performance. Michael Conforto hit leadoff for the second time this season on Tuesday, and Granderson has been in the leadoff slot three times in the past five games as well.
Interesting points from Bruce.
He’s a good guy who plays his heart out. Maybe the NY fans will appreciate that this year. I’ve never seen people campaign so hard to get rid of a guy who hits 30 homers and 100 RBI. For a team with crappy offense, it makes no sense.
Because he hit a bunch of homers in the easiest park to hit homers in (outside of coors) plays bad defense, and is a bad baserunner. On top of that he’s paid quite a bit. He’s basically the weaker version of Curtis Granderson
You obviously don’t know as much about baseball as you think you do.
As David Wright continues to rake in millions as the Mets’ appointed captain trying to come back. As a non-Mets fan in Queens, I really don’t know why people are burning his jerseys on Queens Blvd. Time to turn the page. Julio Franco has a better shot at returning (and being productive) than Wright.
Just use Kelley. He’s been the obvious choice this whole time
Everyone in baseball saw the Nats bullpen issues coming except the Nats.
No, just Dusty.
Pretty sure Dusty saw it coming too. If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t Dusty the one complaining about them not having an established closer during the offseason, which led to the pursuit of Robertson? As of now, it seems like the front office underestimated their bullpen needs.
Dusty mismanaged a pitching staff? Say it isn’t so!
A part of me wants the Marlins – and their hopes of building an incredible bullpen – would hire Dusty Baker away and then have Fredi Gonzalez as their bullpen coach. That 1-2 tandem could give so much business to Dr. James Andrews.
How is a 6.25 bullpen ERA only 4th worst in baseball?
Because it’s April.
You are such an optimist Eventually. Eventually you will accept reality and your fate. Then you will get smart and become
Metsrealistic and start accepting reality. The Mets have sucked for almost 50 years.
You’ve heard of Sam Dyson, right?
True
And the Mets…
Isujedi – 4th worst, as in 26th best. Think it through.
27th best*. Think it through.
It’s becoming obvious that Reyes’ struggles might not just be a slump anymore…he goes up there with triple in mind every single at bat, the swings at the first pitch in the dirt. Amed Rosario, June 7th!
You are catching on. Can’t wait for your comments in June when he continues to cost you and becomes an utter embarrassment.
Reyes is done. Can’t hit, can’t field, can’t run anymore. DFA before the seasons over
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
He’s your 3b man for the balance of the year. Why? Cheap ownership. His skills haven’t diminished. Jose is finished. It’s plain and simple. Enjoy watching Jose Metsies fans…as your final season of relevance through starting pitching dissolves and you are left in ruins.
Bruce’s remarks strike me as odd. Rent an apartment for a year–there are plenty of them in Manhattan. Has to feel a little better than couch-surfing or hotels. I’m surprised he didn’t look for some sort of stability that way. If he was worried about privacy, Gretzky lived in NYC (quietly) for years. I
It probably all happened so quickly being traded midseason. Hard to find a stable place while traveling every other week with possibility of it only lasting 2-3 months.
Jay Bruce has made 64 million dollars playing baseball. I’m assuming he could buy an apartment pretty easily, and sell it for a profit if and when he is traded.
Why would he buy a place he’d have to flip possibly in a couple months, and why would it raise in value over that short time? Doesn’t matter how much $$ you have, that’s just not a wise move.
Yeah. He would have so much support from his prima Donna teammates. NOT
Face the facts. More DL visits coming. Conforto relegated to playing behind washed up outflielders. Duda becomes Dodo again. D’arneau destroys the defense. TC blows smoke up nobodys’ rear ends. Game over. Season over. Relevance was only a make believe wish. Time to flip on the Jets’ highlights.
This comment reminded me of all the reasons I’m happy I don’t live in the NYC area anymore.
As someone who travels a lot I can appreciate the idea that some players are naturally more comfortable with the travel and temp housing aspects of the job. Many of them obviously have plenty of money to solve for most issues but there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed with your wife and in the same house with your kids.
I agree. On top of this, Bruce has always been streaky. So, he hits a rough patch at the same time he’s traded — it’s the perfect explanation for an inexplicable streak.