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Archives for April 2018

Injury Notes: Price, Shoemaker, Ervin, Trumbo, Yankees

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Red Sox left-hander David Price exited tonight’s game after one inning for what the team called “precautionary” reasons due to a “sensation” in his left hand (Twitter link via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). It was a night to forget for the lefty, who was hammered for four runs on three hits (one homer) and a pair of walks in his lone inning before being replaced by rookie southpaw Bobby Poyner. Elbow problems cost Price a substantial portion of the 2017 season, but he’d kicked off the 2018 campaign with a pair of scoreless, seven-inning gems against the Rays. Presumably, the Sox will have further updates on his condition after tonight’s game and/or tomorrow morning.

Some more injury news from around baseball…

  • The Angels announced tonight that right-hander Matt Shoemaker has been shut down for “a few weeks.” Shoemaker, on the DL for a forearm strain, underwent an EMG and a “nerve conduction study,” though the tests revealed no nerve irritation, per the announcement. Shoemaker is “treatment only” at this time as he awaits further testing. The Halos’ pitching staff has been hammered by injuries over the past couple of seasons, and they’ve already lost right-hander J.C. Ramirez for the season, as he’s likely to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair ligament damage in his right elbow. The Angels are on the verge of getting Andrew Heaney back, but they’ve already had to turn to 21-year-old prospect Jaime Barria, who is making his big league debut tonight. At present, it seems as if the Angels will deploy Shohei Ohtani, Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs and Heaney in their rotation moving forward, with righties Barria, Parker Bridwell and Nick Tropeano on hand as additional options. However, the loss of Ramirez and now an absence of undetermined length for Shoemaker, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Angels keep an eye out for some pitching depth.
  • Right-hander Ervin Santana has been cleared to begin a throwing program, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Twins’ top starter, Santana has yet to pitch in 2018 after undergoing surgery to repair his right middle finger back in February. At last check, skipper Paul Molitor conceded that Santana was “a bit” behind schedule, though the start of a throwing program is a positive step for the 35-year-old. Berardino notes that Santana could require as much as six weeks to get back up to speed, however, so it seems as through the Twins will be without his contributions until at least mid-May.
  • The Orioles have halted Mark Trumbo’s rehab assignment, manager Buck Showalter told reporters, including Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. While Showalter wouldn’t state that Trumbo had a setback, he did reveal that Trumbo “wasn’t quite comfortable” going full speed in the first game of a rehab stint with Double-A Bowie. The team didn’t provide a new timeline for Trumbo. Pedro Alvarez and Danny Valencia figure to continue platooning at the DH spot in his absence.
  • It appears as though Aaron Hicks has completed his rehab assignment. The outfielder tells reporters that he’s excited to rejoin the Yankees tomorrow (Twitter link Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune). Hicks walked and doubled in his second Triple-A rehab game tonight. He’s been out for two weeks with an intercostal strain that he suffered in the season opener. Meanwhile, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweeted yesterday that Jacoby Ellsbury will be shut down for 72 hours after receiving a cortisone shot in his ailing hip, so it seems the Yankees will likely have an update on him later this week once he attempts to resume baseball activities.

Rays To Select Contract Of Johnny Field

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The Rays announced tonight that they’ve optioned right-hander Ryan Weber to Triple-A Durham and will formally select the contract of minor league outfielder Johnny Field prior to Thursday’s game. Tampa Bay will have to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to accommodate Field, although that announcement won’t be made until tomorrow, per the team.

Field, 26, was the Rays’ fifth-round pick back in the 2013 draft and will be making his Major League debut when he first finds his way into the lineup for Tampa Bay. While he’s not considered to be among the organization’s top prospect at present, Baseball America did rank him 27th among Rays farmhands a couple offseasons ago, praising his feel for hitting and superb work ethic. Field had a lackluster season in 2017, but he’s posted an overall line of .268/.318/.437 in parts of three Triple-A campaigns (including a fast start in 2018).

The 27-year-old Weber pitched just a third of an inning for the Rays yesterday after being brought up to the big league club a day prior. Given that he has options remaining and experience in both the rotation and bullpen, he could be shuttled back and forth between St. Petersburg and Durham for much of the season as the Rays work with an unconventional alignment of their pitching staff that’ll assuredly require the club to frequently tap into its minor league system.

Athletics’ A.J. Puk Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The A’s announced on Wednesday that top pitching prospect A.J. Puk underwent Tommy John surgery yesterday to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the procedure on the highly touted southpaw, who will now be out for the entirety of the 2018 season.

The news isn’t a shock at this point, as Puk was originally recommended for Tommy John surgery back in late March after initially complaining of biceps soreness. Further testing revealed the problem to be ligament-related, and two doctors recommended that he undergo the season-ending procedure.

Puk, 23 later this month, was the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft out of the University of Florida. The former Gators ace quickly ascended through the Athletics’ minor league system, tossing a combined 125 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season. In that time, he logged a 4.03 ERA with a gaudy 13.2 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 while displaying above-average ground-ball tendencies. Entering the season, Puk was touted as one of the game’s top overall prospects, with Baseball America, Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus all tabbing him 30th overall, while MLB.com pegged him 32nd. ESPN’s Keith Law was the most bullish on Puk, ranking him 13th overall.

The towering 6’7″, 220-pound lefty showed well in Spring Training, working to a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 frames in big league camp and prompting some to speculate upon whether he could be an option for the Opening Day rotation — or at the very least a candidate to join the starting mix early on in the 2018 season. Instead, the A’s will now see their top prospect lose a full year of development, though it’s not difficult to envision him making an impact late in the 2019 season if his rehab goes according to plan.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/11/18

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Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Right-hander Jacob Turner has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A New Orleans by the Marlins, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Turner, 26, was designated for assignment over the weekend after yielding 10 runs on 13 hits and five walks through his first 5 2/3 innings to open the season. The former top prospect has previously been outrighted in his career, so he had the opportunity to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, though it doesn’t seem as though he’s chosen to go that route. He’ll give a thin Marlins pitching staff some depth at the Triple-A level, where has a 4.17 ERA in 336 1/3 career innings to go along with averages of 6.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

Travis d’Arnaud Diagnosed With Partial UCL Tear

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Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been placed on the 10-day DL, the team announced. He has been diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets.

Needless to say, that’s not good news for the backstop, who has dealt with a long run of injuries in his relatively short MLB career. Youngster Tomas Nido has been called up to take his spot on the active roster.

At the moment, it isn’t clear just what the course of treatment will be for d’Arnaud. But it is possible he’ll require surgery, per Britton. If it turns out he needs a Tommy John procedure, it would likely cost d’Arnaud the remainder of the season.

UCL injuries are not as devastating for position players as they are for pitchers, of course. But a full replacement would still mean a lengthy rehab timeline. Miguel Sano, for instance, missed the rest of the 2014 season after undergoing a TJ fix at the beginning of March.

At times, d’Arnaud has shown plenty of promise in the majors — especially with a .268/.340/.485 slash in his 268 plate appearances in 2015. But he has never returned to that level of productivity with the bat. In the three seasons since, d’Arnaud carries a .244/.297/.393 slash.

Entering the current season, the plan was for the Mets to share time between d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. Now, the latter figures to occupy the primary duties behind the dish. He, too, has shown promise at times but hasn’t fully established himself as a regular to this point.

For the time being, at least, Nido will have a shot to show he, too, belongs. The former eighth-round pick, who turns 24 on Thursday, is said to be profile as a quality defender but has a less-than-certain offensive profile. Nido touched the majors last year but spent most of the season at Double-A, where he hit .232/.287/.354 over 404 plate appearances.

It’s possible that the Mets could eventually turn to Jose Lobaton, a veteran of eight MLB campaigns. The switch-hitting career reserve is available at Triple-A after signing a minors deal over the winter. Of course, he is also coming off of a brutal (.170/.248/.277) season at the plate.

The injury certainly casts some doubt on d’Arnaud’s future in the organization — particularly if it spurs a UCL replacement. He is earning $3.475MM this year with one more season of arbitration eligibility remaining.

Giants Promote Andrew Suarez, Move Madison Bumgarner To 60-Day DL

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The Giants announced today that they have promoted lefty Andrew Suarez, as expected. To create space on the 40-man roster, the club moved star hurler Madison Bumgarner to the 60-day DL. An active roster spot was opened by optioning reliever Steven Okert.

Suarez, 25, will follow Tyler Beede in making his debut for a San Francisco organization that has been hit hard by rotation injuries. There is a bit of good news on that front, as Jeff Samardzija is on track to return next week, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. For now, though the club will see what it has in some young hurlers.

Suarez, 25, was a second-round pick in the 2015 draft. He has been a steady performer while climbing the ladder in the Giants’ farm system, first reaching the top rung last year. In his 155 2/3 total innings in 2017, split between Double-A and Triple-A, he carried a 3.30 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 while generating grounders on nearly half the balls put in play against him.

As for Bumgarner, it is not exactly a surprise to see him put on ice for the full sixty days while he returns from a fractured pinky finger. That injury, which occurred late in camp, was expected to keep him out until early June anyway. Though the veteran had hoped to return sooner than initial projections, he could still conceivably beat the target by a few weeks after today’s placement.

Padres Activate Franchy Cordero, Place Manuel Margot On 10-Day DL

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The Padres have announced that outfielder Franchy Cordero has been activated from the disabled list and will lead off and play center field in today’s day game at Coors Field. He’ll take the place of Manuel Margot, who is going on the DL with bruised ribs.

Cordero, 23, has been on the 40-man roster since late in 2016, so no further roster maneuvers will be required to facilitate his arrival. The toolsy youngster entered the season rated tenth by MLB.com among the prospects in a deep San Diego farm system.

This will be the second attempt at the big leagues for Cordero, who received a thirty-game run last year. He’ll obviously need to improve upon the .276 OBP he carried in that short sample. Despite his less-than-excellent first look at the majors, Cordero posted a big 2017 season at Triple-A, with a .326/.369/.603 batting line and 17 home runs in 419 plate appearances, and is off to a hot start there again this year. (He had technically opened the season on the MLB disabled list and was playing on a rehab assignment.)

Meanwhile, Margot is set for an early-season respite after taking a pitch to the chest. He was already cleared of any fractures, so it seems likely this’ll be a relatively short stay. Margot has struggled to post just seven hits through his first 49 plate appearances, only two of which have gone for extra bases. The organization will surely exercise patience, though, with a player who is already a premium asset in the field. Margot showed a fair bit of promise last year, when he slashed .263/.313/.409 with 13 home runs and 17 steals in his 529 plate appearances.

Nationals Designate Miguel Montero

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The Nationals have designated catcher Miguel Montero for assignment, per a club announcement. That’ll open an active roster spot for the activation of backstop Matt Wieters and clear a 40-man place for Moises Sierra, whose contract was selected with fellow outfielder Adam Eaton hitting the DL.

[RELATED: Updated Nationals Depth Chart]

Montero, 34, received the nod as the reserve catcher to open the season after signing a minors deal over the winter. His contract included a $1.3MM salary in the majors, though according to Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (Twitter link) it was not fully guaranteed.

While he was once a solid regular behind the dish, Montero has trailed off in recent seasons. He still knows how to draw a walk, but is just a .211/.316/.343 hitter since the start of the 2016 season and didn’t quite reach that standard in his Grapefruit League action this spring. On the defensive side, Montero’s once-sparkling framing numbers dropped in 2017 and he had marked difficulty controlling opposing runners on the bases.

Of course, some of those same sorts of questions are still also facing Wieters, who is coming off of a forgettable 2017 season in D.C. He’ll look to get back on track now that he has recovered from a minor oblique injury, though it’s possible he will increasingly need to share time with the younger Pedro Severino, who bypassed Montero after Wieters went down. It’s questionable at best whether Severino will hit consistently in the majors, but at this point the Nats have good cause to give him an opportunity to show he can. On the whole, the catching situation remains a major source of uncertainty for the D.C. organization.

Brewers Designate J.J. Hoover

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The Brewers have designated righty J.J. Hoover for assignment, per a club announcement. Milwaukee cleared another roster spot by optioning outfielder Brett Phillips.

These departures will make way for the addition of two new righties to the active roster. Junior Guerra and Jorge Lopez are both coming up to supplement the pitching staff.

[RELATED: Updated Brewers Depth Chart]

Hoover did not make the Milwaukee Opening Day roster out of camp, but was brought up just a week into the season. He ended up coughing up a game-ending home run last night. Even if the Brewers were willing to look past that performance, the club needed fresh arms and evidently decided that Hoover was the most expendable player on the roster.

The move could cost the Brewers the chance to hang onto Hoover, who turned in a solid performance this spring. In his 10 1/3 frames, he allowed just one run on six hits, though he also recorded only five strikeouts. He also filled some useful innings last year for the Diamondbacks, posting a 3.92 ERA with 11.8 K/9 (on a career-high 12.0% swinging-strike rate) and 5.7 BB/9 in 41 1/3 innings.

Instead, the team will give Lopez a shot at helping to bolster a relief unit that has worked more innings than those of all but three other teams. He spent most of 2017 as a swingman at the Double-A level, working to a 4.25 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. With a background as a starter, Lopez can perhaps offer some length to the Milwaukee pen.

Guerra, meanwhile, is scheduled to start tonight’s game. The 33-year-old struggled last year after his astounding, late-career breakout in 2016. But he turned in a strong showing in camp and a nice first outing at Triple-A. The Brewers would obviously love to see Guerra return to something like the form he showed in ’16, when he ran up a 2.81 ERA in 121 2/3 innings, after watching their rotation limp to a 4.92 ERA through its first dozen collective starts on the season.

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