Mets second baseman Robinson Cano will begin a rehab assignment at the Single-A level on Saturday, Tim Healey of Newsday reports. Cano suffered a torn left hamstring on Aug. 5, which looked like a potential season-ending injury at the time. But Cano has progressed far quicker than expected and now appears likely to return before the original six- to 12-week timeline. If so, he’ll attempt to close the year out in solid fashion after struggling for most of it. The eight-time All-Star has batted a career-worst .252/.295/.415 with 10 home runs in 346 plate appearances during his first season with the Mets.
More on New York and a pair of other NL franchises:
- The Mets have given special assistant to the general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. permission to look for a job elsewhere, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. They are willing to keep Amaro, per Puma, though Andy Martino of SNY relays that he will indeed leave when his contract expires. The executive’s not in for an “immediate” exit, though, and his departure will be “amicable,” Martino writes. Amaro has been with the Mets for two seasons – he worked as their first base coach and outfield/baserunning coach a year ago – but he’s best known for his run as the Phillies’ GM from 2009-15.
- The Braves will activate catcher Brian McCann from the IL on Sunday, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. It’ll be a quick return for McCann, who went to the shelf Aug. 21 because of a left knee sprain. The 35-year-old has gone on the IL twice this season (he previously missed time with a hamstring issue), but the Braves icon has still managed respectable production in his return to Atlanta. McCann has hit .264/.336/.423 with 10 HRs across 274 trips to the plate, and has earned positive reviews as a defender from Baseball Prospectus and StatCorner.
- The season-ending right shoulder surgery Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta had this week went according to plan, general manager Mike Hazen announced (via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Hazen revealed it was a fairly minor “cleanup” procedure of Peralta’s AC joint, and it shouldn’t prevent him from participating in a normal spring training. Peralta’s shoulder troubles forced him to the IL three times this season and limited him to 99 games, in which he batted .275/.343/.461 and hit 12 homers in 423 PA.
I think it will be smart to carry 3 catchers going forward and into the postseason. Cervelli needs to be the #1 guy though.
100% Cervelli needs to be #1. With Flowers #3.
It will likely be split 50/50 between Cervelli and McCann. The Braves have pretty much done it that way for the last couple years and I doubt that changes.
Cervelli just joined the team like a week ago. How’s he been in a 50/50 split with McCann for the last couple years?
obviously means 50/50 split of two catchers regardless of which catchers they have been
I haven’t seen enough of Cervelli to totally agree. Need to see him call a few more games for the young guys before I want that. But McCann can’t throw anybody out, and until last night, Flowers couldn’t hit.
His defense is horrible and we need someone who can throw out runners against the good teams. I love Flowers for his framing but until everyone else is healthy and firing on all cylinders we can’t have that black hole in our lineup. Our lineup is staunch and if there are 2-3 holes it will be exploited and used as a rally killer
The guy has had 10 plate appearances and some of you guys are already sure he is our best catcher..smh
Fire DD and give Amaro a look
Please tell me you’re joking? There is a reason he hasn’t been in the front office since 2015!
Yes I agree with this!
Has anyone ever been GM of a good team for that long and then been a base coach for their next MLB job? That always seemed odd to me. I wouldn’t want him near my teams front office either, but I suppose I respect RAJ for sticking around the game by whatever means necessary.
Most of Amaro’s bad moves were ownership influenced. So he’s guilty to not standing up to the boss, in order to keep his job. So he joins about 2,000 other GMs in history who have done the same. Not every GM has the cart blanche that the “geniuses” do. Navigating past success with future planning is a tough road; ask Dayton Moore, just as an example.
Amaro wasn’t a great GM, but he wasn’t a bad one either. Kind of “meh”. But I’m not sure the current gang in Philly is any better.
Well said.
Amaro was the guy in the wings for many years before he took over in Philly and he was a glad hander. We saw what he could do his last year and half and he did pretty well.
Pivetta for Papelbon
Zach Eflin for Jimmy Rollins
Odubel Rule 5
Hamels deal
I made a lot of noise about Yoán Moncada and one of the beat writers asked Amaro about Moncada while he was still available and Amaro raved about him.
No Yoán Moncada = John Middleton not gonna pay that kind of money.
Cano gets busted for PEDS, then after that his torn hamstring is fixed in 3 weeks?
Cano and Nelson Cruz should be more thoroughly tested, its clear whats going on with those two…
Really? How do u think? I’m sure they want to be risky at this point and be kicked out of the league and lose all their money. Especially cano.
It’s all been proven the lifetime ban for PED use will not stick (Jennry Mejia). But it’s ok to ban the all time hits leader Pete Rose for life!
You expect Cano to take PEDs and risk losing his $100M contract?
How’s Mejia doing these days after sitting out multiple years due to his ban? Yeah, Cano has the time to get reinstated like Mejía did.
(Cano would need, at minimum, a full calendar year to get a lifetime ban since he’s only tested positive once. But you knew that, I’m sure…)
todd76……
There is a difference between the two. Rose was placed on the permanently ineligible list and while some who were placed on that list were reinstated by the commissioners office or through arbitration, no one who has violated Rule 21d has ever been reinstated. I doubt anyone ever will be, including Rose. Besides do you really want a gambling pedo in baseball?
The penalty under the JDA states…… “Permanent suspension from Major League and Minor League Baseball; provided, however, that a Player so suspended may apply, no earlier than one (1) year following the imposition of the suspension, to the Commissioner for discretionary reinstatement after a minimum period of two (2) years. The Commissioner shall hear any such reinstatement application within thirty (30) days of its filing and shall issue his determination within thirty (30) days of the closing of the application hearing. A Player may challenge the Commissioner’s determination on such application under
the Grievance Procedure set forth in Article XI of the Basic Agreement and any such challenge may include a claim that a suspension beyond two (2) years would not be for just cause; provided, however, that the Arbitration Panel shall have no authority to reduce any suspension imposed pursuant to this Section 7.A.3 to a period of less than two (2) years.”
This is disrespectful. They have new testing now and because guys perform you just assume its PEDs. Unfortunate fan.
Cano and Nelson Cruz should be more thoroughly tested”
Every player has 3 mandatory urine samples taken during the season and off season combined plus there are 5,150 random tests done during that time. Additionally every player has 1 hGH Biomarker blood test per season as well as the 500 random blood samples during the season and 400 random tests in the off season.
As a player who has tested positive before he is subject to “Six (6) unannounced urine collections and three (3) unannounced blood collections over the twelve (12) months following the violation that resulted in the follow-up testing, and six (6) unannounced urine collections and three (3) unannounced blood collections in every subsequent year in the Player’s career during which he is on a Club’s 40-man roster.”
If you are at all familiar with Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry testing in addition to the longitudinal profile system MLB has in place you would know that it’s more than enough. The only sport with tougher testing is MMA
They should be subjected to Sequentially Quantitative Uniform Isotope Ratio Mass Spectometry test to see if it makes them nervous.
They tried the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Quantum Spinning Chicken Test but that failed.
Point is, testing today is not like it was pre-Biogenesis. Back then if guys cycled properly or used a new “designer” roid to increase testosterone they could get away with it as long as their Testosterone to Epitestosterone ratio fell in the 4:1 range Most guys are 1:1, and a 4:1 allowed a lot of wiggle room.
Now it’s based on a players longitudinal profile (aka biological passport). In layman terms, the lab tracks every T:E ratio of a player and any odd variation triggers a failed test and an IRMS test. The mass spec can detect the bio-markers of drugs months and months after it has “cleared” the system.
That Cano/Diaz deal was idiotic from Day 1. Now it looks just atrocious and like it was handled by a 1st grader from the Mets. Just ridiculous thinking, and not to mention Cano was coming off a PED suspension the prior year and he’s old man river. SMH..
I’m with salary cap on Cervelli. I mean I like that guy but he’s barely hanging on to his career. You know how many concussions he’s had? McCann will catch most of the postseason games with the negatives concerning Flowers. But he does have power and will at times hit in the clutch… 2 Catchers McCann/Flowers. We don’t need 3 guys who can’t run. Billie Hamilton is the secret weapon.
The whole postseason 25 roster thing will get really tough for Snit if Markakis and Ender get healthy. Duvall, Ortega, Cervelli, Camargo and maybe even Riley don’t make it. I hope it’s 13 position players and 12 pitchers. You go with a 4 man rotation and make Folty the long reliever. Somebody in the pen will be left out. It’s all a good problem to have. All this is conjecture if somebody else gets hurt or Markakis & Ender don’t make it back. Your 3rd catcher is Charlie Culbertson by the way.