Mets outfielder Jay Bruce has been taking ground balls at first base, James Wagner of the New York Times reports. Wagner adds that the Mets may consider playing him there in order to open up room for Brandon Nimmo to receive everyday playing time again. First base incumbent Adrian Gonzalez has struggled mightily thus far, with just a .203/.300/.320 batting line on the season. It’s still only April, but in light of his struggles last year with the Dodgers, Gonzalez’s leash might be fairly short. That’s particularly true since Nimmo reached base in half of his 38 MLB plate appearances this season. It’s fair to think that the Mets are looking hard for ways to lock Nimmo into an everyday role.
Other news out of the NL…
- Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang won’t receive any discipline from MLB, nor will the team dole out any punishment, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. Kang was denied a U.S. visa for all of last year due to multiple DUI-related arrests. He’s finally able to return to the Pirates as of Thursday.
- Today, the Giants reinstated Chris Stratton from the paternity list, optioning outfielder Austin Slater to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. Within hours, however, the club reversed its reported stance on Mac Williamson’s status, placing him on the seven-day concussion DL. The move allowed the Giants to recall Slater, who’s directly replacing Williamson. Stratton sports an impressive 2.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP across five starts this season, though the fact that he hasn’t allowed any homers despite a 37.8% hard contact rate suggests he might have been a bit lucky in that regard. Stratton will take his scheduled turn through the rotation today against the Dodgers.
- In other Giants news, second baseman Joe Panik has been placed on the disabled list with a sprained left thumb. The club correspondingly purchased the contract of second baseman/outfielder Alen Hanson, who leads the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with a .403 batting average. The club moved Mark Melancon to the 60-day DL in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for Hanson.
- The Braves have reinstated left-hander Luiz Gohara from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Gohara suffered a sprained ankle during a spring training outing, and had exhausted the maximum amount of time allotted for rehab starts. He’ll likely make a couple more starts in the minors before returning to help the Braves at the major league level. Gohara had figured to be a prominent part of Atlanta’s rotation before the season began.
- The Reds announced that infielder Cliff Pennington has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Pennington, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, made the club out of spring training camp as a bench player. However, he’s struck out in nearly 40 percent of his plate appearances thus far and has yet to sock an extra-base hit.
Braves trying to gain an extra year on him? Or was there something about his rehab we missed?
His rehab starts haven’t been very good
Gohara wasn’t sharp at all in his last rehab start in AAA. I believe that the others if I recall correctly were actually pretty decent, but not outstanding, especially since they weren’t against upper minor competition.
Sending him to Gwinnett was the best course of action for now.
Gaining another year definitely doesn’t hurt them. Hope he is able to right the ship.
If you guys aren’t happy with Gohara we will take him back. We will give you Vogelbach if you don’t want a short fat 1st baseman that can’t hit how about Erasamo Ramirez? He is an MLB ready pitcher. Cough cough. Tell you what you can have them both.
LOL, I think Gohara will be quite fine over the long haul.
How about Seaver?
I think you mean Seager but we will keep him.
You have anything you can give us for Vogelbach? That was Dipoto’s worse trade I think. A LH pitcher who might be a starter but at least a BP piece for a short armed big boned 1st bm who hasn’t hit MLB pitching except in ST and has missed some one hoppers to 1st you have to catch. I think he looked at him and thought he looks like Schwarber so he might be like him. Well he isn’t he is bad. I hated the trade from day 1.
A-Gon has been rough but he has been a source of run production to some extent. At this point, hes on pace for about 72 RBI’s. (12 in a month)
The team as a whole has scored 111 (10.8% from A-Gon) with only Cespedes, Cabrera and Frazier ahead of him.
At the league minimum, you could do a lot worse
And this explains all you need to know about RBIs and how unimportant they are. They aren’t a skill.
Aren’t you the idiot!
“Aren’t you the idiot!”
No, Ernesto, he isn’t. Mr. coonce’s statement that RBI are not a skill has been well documented going back to Bill James circa 1980. It’s your ignorance which is on display here.
You actually can’t do much worse than a .620 ops 1B who can’t run or play defense.
I wish I could see what he would provide us for an entire season.
You really shouldn’t use we,our,or us when posting about a sports team. Unless you’re a player,employee,owner,or Green Bay Packer stock holder.
This is a comment board and he is a big fan of the team. Let him enjoy feeling a part of the team as that is encouraged by the team and mlb as a whole since it brings them more money.
Just because you are trying to make people’s posts better. You should be putting a space after your commas (we, our, or us …. player, employee, owner, or Green Bay Packers).
You really shouldn’t try to control how other people express themselves.
You really shouldn’t be a giant douche on comment boards
Hey Ernest—you will see A-Gon for an entire season to prove that Sandy’s expert eye is as good as ever and his open mind is focused on keeping players past their glory days so they can take care of each other. After all, who is going to babysit Reyes when he starts to bellyache?
A-Gon has been a solid RBI guy but he is up there and he probably could use a little more rest. With Nimmo in the outfield, you get a better defense in the outfield and a little more speed on the paths. If i remember right Bruce was an OK first baseman for the Mets last year but i could be wrong so you may get better outfield D at a loss of infield D. I wouldnt make it regular lineup change but maybe once or twice a week might be worth it depending on the pitcher. This would keep players fresh with rotating out Nimmo A-gon Bruce and Conforto.
Adrian Gonzalez has been a sub replacement level player the last2 seasons. Father Time and injuries have caught up to him. The mets are better off playing Nimmo in the outfield and Bruce at first. That’s just reality.
Luis Gohara is left-handed
How is Kang not receiving any punishment? Did I miss something? Just doesn’t seem right to me.
How doesn’t it? Didn’t give him a visa for a year! That not a suspension to you?
That’s not MLB. So all players on work visas commit all the crimes you want.
Did he commit a crime or crimes and just walk in the US and start playing? No! If they didn’t revoke his visa for a year I’d almost bet anything he would of be punished!
He’s already been forced to sit out over a year. How much punishment do you want? Are we supposed to lynch him or something?
“Pirates infielder won’t receive any discipline from MLB…”
Wow. They’ve handed out discipline to players who were cleared of charges, yet this guy was convicted (three times of a crime that puts many innocents in danger) and denied a visa but he gets a pass???
Exactly,and all the bleeding hearts who say differently can go take a flying leap.
Maybe they took all the time he already missed into account. If his visa wouldn’t have been rejected and he was allowed to return right away, he might have received one then?
JD that was a very insightful post.
Yeah, I considered that, but it still results in, “If the charges are dropped, we punish you. If you’re convicted, we won’t.”
I mean, he missed all of last season, and didn’t get paid for it, so I assume that’s enough punishment; it’s also worth pointing out that the BAC he was recorded with wouldn’t be a crime in the US (not that people should be driving after drinking) because the BAC levels are much stricter in Korea.
Convicted three times… What does it take for some to learn?
Still waiting for a Cobby “pitching crop” to blossom. Other than possibly Soroka, everyone else has been disappointing.
Max fried has 3 mlb innings. None of them have blossomed because none of them have MLB experience.
Hanson with the 3 run bomb in his first AB for the Giants.
To the deepest part of the yard, no less!