Clayton Kershaw threw a simulated game today as he continues to work toward a return from his back injury, and Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the Dodgers’ ace is now scheduled for a minor league rehab start this coming Saturday. McCullough cites Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt in reporting that Kershaw is slated to throw four innings and 60 pitches in what will be his first live game action since landing on the disabled list last month. It’s encouraging news for the Dodgers, as that timetable should line Kershaw up for a return in early or mid-September, giving him at least two to three weeks before the postseason begins.
More from the game’s western divisions….
- Left-hander Robbie Ray will return to the Diamondbacks’ rotation on Thursday of this week, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The 25-year-old breakout lefty was in the midst of an outstanding season when he was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Cardinals first baseman Luke Voit on July 28. Ray exited the game and went on the concussion DL, where he’ll ultimately have spent just under a month if he is activated as planned on Thursday. Ray made a rehab start with Class-A Advanced Visalia over the weekend and struck out 11 of the 21 batters he faced, which had to be encouraging for the D-backs. Through 118 2/3 MLB innings, Ray has a 3.11 ERA with 11.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 38.9 percent ground-ball rate.
- MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tackles a number of Rangers-related topics in his latest Rangers Inbox piece, ranging from the possibility of re-signing Carlos Gomez to the PTBNL in the Jonathan Lucroy trade with the Rockies and Jurickson Profar’s future in Texas. Of Gomez, Sullivan notes that before committing to another contract with Gomez, the Rangers first need to definitively determine a position for Joey Gallo. Sullivan also opines that the Rangers should commit left field to the fleet-footed Delino DeShields, though that would leave the team needing to effectively choose between Gomez and Drew Robinson. Per Sullivan, the Rangers view the 25-year-old Robinson “as a frontline talent,” though they’ve also been reluctant to hand starting roles to players without a veteran safety net. Robinson hit .268/.369/.494 with 11 homers and seven steals in Triple-A this year, but he’s batted .209/.382/.442 in 55 big league PAs. Robinson has never cracked Baseball America’s top 20 Rangers prospects and isn’t among Texas’ top 30 at MLB.com at present, though certainly that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a quality MLB future ahead of him.
- Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune has a mailbag column of his own up that Padres fans will want to check out. Within, Lin notes that Hunter Renfroe’s recent demotion wasn’t about service time — the optional assignment is highly unlikely to impact his path to arbitration or free agency — but rather about sending a message to improve his plate discipline. Manager Andy Green spoke recently about how a similar option to the minors did wonders for Cory Spangenberg, and the organization’s hope is that Renfroe will benefit similarly. Lin also touches on Jose Pirela’s long-term fit with the team, various speculative offseason trade scenarios and the Padres’ shortstop needs. Notably, he opines that the team’s 2018 Opening Day shortstop is not currently in the organization.
he is not currently on the Rangers top 30 for MLB prospect because he is no longer eligible
He has 21 games in the Majors and 55 plate appearances, meaning he is still rookie/prospect-eligible.
he is not on MLB Rangers top 30 because he’s no longer eligible
More like his playing is subpar and he got bounced from the top 30
Subpar? His OBP is nearly .385, SLG% nearly .450 and he’s playing great defense. Batting average is low as he adjusts to the top level of the game but he’s been a really nice piece since getting called up. Either you don’t know what subpar means or you haven’t watched Robinson play and only looked at his batting average before making a judgment.
I remember when most people thought 2 years of Doug Fister at $10 million a year for Robbie Ray may be the steal of the century because Ray wasn’t on anybody’s top 100 list. There is no substitute for great scouting. Dave Dombrowski got crucified for that.
The hottest ticket in AAA
Let’s send Wil Myers down also lol
Renfroe won’t qualify for super two status, so if he stays in the minors for the rest of the season the Padres gain an extra year before he qualifies for arbitration by 4 days.
Wrong. As it stands now, Renfroe is on pace to be eligible for free agency after the 2022 season but doesn’t have enough service time to qualify as a Super Two. If he spends the rest of the year in the minors that will delay his free agency by a year but because he will just barely miss a full year of service time he will be just about a lock for Super Two status. In either scenario, Renfroe will be arb eligible for the first time after the 2019 season. The question is whether he is arb eligible a fourth time after the 2022 season or becomes a free agent at that point.
He had 12 days of service time last season and since he was optioned to the minors on August 19th he has 16 days of service time he will miss while in the minors. If he had stayed up 4 more days and assuming he plays in the majors all of next season, he would have been eligible for arbitration after the 2019 season.
There are an additional 26 days of major league service time after the end of the minor league season that he will miss if he is not called back up.
Renfroe staying down the rest of the year will cost him 42 days of service time. He had 12. He is down 30. That puts his free agency back a year and it puts his arbitration eligibility back a year unless he qualifies for super two. He won’t have enough service time to be in top 22% of players with between 2 and 3 years of service time. He won’t qualify for super two status for that reason.
Kris Bryant had to stay down for 12 days in 2015 to delay his free agency even tho he had never played in the Majors before. Renfroe entered the season with 12 days of service time so I believe he has to stay down until September 12th to delay his free agency as that is 24 days after August 19th.
I know the Super Two cutoff varies from year to year but if Renfroe just barely misses a full year of service time he would likely qualify.
Hmm. Downvoted for speaking the truth. Pads Fans is that you?
The ? is can he adjust and get back to bigs and hit .270. I think he can.
Ultimately, it’s a good move for the team. Renfroe gets to work on his approach and the team gets to manipulate his service time a little bit. Hopefully it will help him out.
It’s not about service time it’s about hitting .200 last couple of months