Mookie Betts tells WEEI’s Rob Bradford that nothing has changed on his end regarding a potential extension with the Red Sox, as the 25-year-old still has no intention of discussing a long-term deal during the season. Controlled for just two years beyond the current campaign, Betts’ increasing proximity to free agency and his continually elevated level of play have priced a theoretical extension out of bargain territory and into a massive financial undertaking, as Bradford examines. Certainly, that’s the case with any young star as he navigates through the arbitration process, but Betts already has one record arbitration payday in his back pocket, and he’s turning in the best season of his young career thus far. The $30MM annual rate that Jose Altuve secured on his recent extension with the Astros seems like an increasingly relevant comp, if not a baseline, Bradford posits in highlighting the difficulties that the Sox could face in locking up their brightest young star.
More from the game’s Eastern divisions…
- Adam Eaton’s ankle injury doesn’t appear to be healing as well as the Nationals’ might’ve hoped, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports that Eaton is traveling to Wisconsin to be evaluated by a specialist. He’ll meet with orthopedic surgeon Robert Anderson, currently on the Green Bay Packers’ medical staff but also a renowned surgeon who has worked with high-profile athletes ranging from Steph Curry to Cam Newton to Derek Jeter. Eaton has been on the disabled list for nearly a month after suffering an ankle injury on a slide early in the 2018 season.
- The Phillies announced tonight that they’ve activated right-hander Ben Lively from the 10-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 26-year-old Lively opened the season in Philadelphia’s rotation but struggled to a 6.85 ERA in 23 2/3 innings before landing on the disabled list with a back strain. In his absence, fellow righty Zach Eflin stepped into the rotation and has been outstanding in two starts, yielding a run on seven hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. He’ll remain in the rotation over Lively for now, and as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki noted yesterday, a continued hot streak from Eflin could force the Phils to make some tough decisions. GM Matt Klentak has already stated that Jerad Eickhoff will be in the rotation when he returns from the DL later this month, thus pitting Eflin against righties Vince Velasquez and Nick Pivetta for the final two rotation spots behind Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta. Of course, things can change quickly in the coming weeks, either with a downturn in Eflin’s performance or another injury elsewhere on the roster.
- With Roberto Osuna on administrative leave and under league investigation, the Blue Jays turned to Tyler Clippard with their first save opportunity. Jays manager John Gibbons deployed setup men Seung Hwan Oh, John Axford and Ryan Tepera in the middle innings on Wednesday evening with his team trailing before handing the ninth inning over to Clippard, who worked a scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts. While Wednesday’s sequence of events doesn’t necessarily anoint Clippard the closer during Osuna’s absence, it does at least suggest that he’s the early favorite for the role. Signed to a minor league deal this March, Clippard has given the Jays 19 1/3 innings of 1.40 ERA ball with 10.2 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and 1.4 HR/9. He’s running up a staggeringly low 18.6 percent ground-ball rate, however, which could well be a portent for further homer troubles down the line. As a reminder for fantasy players, you can track ninth-inning situations throughout the game by following MLBTR’s @CloserNews account on Twitter and by utilizing Jason Martinez’s closer depth chart over at Roster Resource.
Tyler Clippard is a poor man’s Osuna talentwise as closer. The league will catch up with him. Once the batters start figuring out that they can lean on their back leg in the batter’s box and look changup it will be like the first time in 2018 that Clippard faced the Yankees – a team that knew him well. – going, going gone!
A closer Tyler Clippard is not.
OH might be able to do a passable job, as can Axford. Oh has lost a few feet off his fastball since closer days so he’ll get it done in heart attack fashion.
Axford has been a surprise. Health will be the issue. If he stays healthy with the new two seamer he is throwing, he can miss a few bats. Health will be the key for him.
The Jays really need to acquire or produce a home made closer. Dombrowski maanged to do that and so did Cashman when needed. Let’s see if Atkins/Shapiro can find a real closer now that Osuna is on the shelf for a while..
Poor overachieving Giants. What happen after getting a lucky sweep from the Braves?
Hahahaha he said “lucky sweep” I heard of getting lucky and winning one game. But a lucky sweep? Haha. That’s a lot of luck huh.
Not trying to troll.. but would Mookie be singing same tune, if he lost Arb?
I feel like Red Sox fans should be more happy Mookie won his Arb case, as it will further help Boston’s chances for an extension.
Honestly, the world in which Eflin sticks around in the rotation and Velasquez goes to the pen, is a pretty good one for the Phillies.
At this stage of the season what do the RSox need?
1.. A set-up guy not named Matt Barnes–how close is Thornburg to being activated?
2. A manager willing to pinch hit for his catcher, Vazquez, in appropriate situations with two other catchers on the bench.
3. Not trying to make Kimbrel into something he isn’t–He’s a 9th inn. CLOSER!!!!!
1. I heard Thornburg is pitching in rehab and is set up to pitching games a triple A real soon.
2. Vasquez hit almost 300 last year so he will come around and the manager knows that. His two backups are hitting around 200 so why pinch hit with them?
3. Baseball is trying to move away from using your best one inning guy only in the ninth. If you need him in the eighth, throw him out there and get the job done because perhaps the 9th would be a less critical situation for instance bases empty different part of the order Etc.
“Vasquez hit almost 300 last year so he will come around and the manager knows that”
He is a lifetime .253 AVG and .304 OBP, he hit .290 last year not .300, the previous two years he hit .240 and .227. So this is not much worse then what he is…
I wish that the White Sox would have advised the Nationals that Eaton was so fragile, now it looks like we gave up prospects for a player that plays in a few games each year. I understand last years brutal injury, but this years injury is the type that old time player used to play through.
He played an average of 144 games per season in Chicago…
Old-time players used to play games in walking boots? Please stop with this nonsense. “Old-time” players weren’t better athletes than today’s players, and if they played through injuries it was out of a fear of being released, as contracts weren’t guaranteed.
This Nationals franchise had no problem protecting their ace while sabotaging their World Series chances. I’m sure they did their homework on Adam Eaton’s durability.
Eaton trade was a BUST! His durability is very much in question. Nats Gave up great “ready” prospects – Rizzo blew this one.
Time to keep current great OF “rookies” on the roster… Robles, etc & Taylor in CF. Look for better closers and prepared for Harpers exit. Nats vs Yanks in WS !!
Dude my comment wasn’t meant to be taken too serious…No S*** the trade was a bust….
That Eaton trade is not looking good so far.
I was watching the game when Eaton was hurt. He was clearly gimpy on the bases yet the 3B coach waved him home displaying a ridiculous lack of judgment. It was a meaningless run in an early April game. I yelled “Noooo!!” at the television the second he began waving him, and I’m not even a Nats fan. Then the foolish Nats announcers get all excited and talk about how the 3B coach at the second was the most popular guy in the stadium and commented on how much fun Eaton was having. I said, yea right, now watch him miss the next 2 months. All involved should be flogged.