The latest on a few well-known major league hurlers…
- The Angels have placed right-hander Julio Teheran on the 10-day injured list for an undisclosed reason, J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register was among those to report. “I have not heard from him specifically and I have not heard from the medical group either,” manager Joe Maddon said of Teheran. “For me, there’s been no contact.” That obviously doesn’t sound encouraging for Teheran or the Angels, who signed the ex-Brave to a one-year, $9MM guarantee in the offseason. The 29-year-old Teheran has effectively chewed up innings for the majority of his career, which is one of the reasons the Angels added him to a staff that has been low on reliable options in recent seasons. But it’s now unknown when Teheran will be in position to make his debut with the club.
- Once among the game’s elite relievers during his younger, pre-injury days with the Royals, righty Greg Holland is now fighting for a chance to make the team. Holland, whom the Royals reunited with on a minor league contract in the offseason, looked as if he’d earn his way back during the spring, but it’s up in the air whether he’ll do enough in Summer Camp to crack the club’s 30-man Opening Day roster, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com writes. Fortunately for Holland, he has a fan in pitching coach Cal Eldred. “What I’ve seen here is just as good as his body of work was in spring,” Eldred told Flanagan. “Actually, the ball is coming out even better. I think he’s been really sharp. I think he’s in a great spot.” The 34-year-old three-time All-Star hasn’t pitched in the majors since last August, when the Diamondbacks released him after he tossed 35 2/3 frames of 4.54 ERA ball with 10.35 K/9 and 6.06 BB/9.
- Mariners righty Taijuan Walker took the hill for the first time at camp Tuesday and was hitting 90 to 93 mph with his fastball, per Greg Johns of MLB.com. Walker has averaged 94 mph on his heater during his career, but serious arm injuries limited him to just 14 innings with Arizona from 2018-19. He’s now back in his old stomping grounds in Seattle, where he was once a top prospect and a capable starter. And as Johns explains in his piece, while many players are understandably nervous about participating this year because of the coronavirus, Walker’s champing at the bit to reestablish himself after two lost seasons. He’ll open 2020 in what figures to be a six-man M’s rotation after signing a one-year, $2MM pact in free agency.
Angels have been really tight lipped on COVID so I’m not surprised. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious
Jeff Fletcher
@JeffFletcherOCR
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Julio Teheran tells ESPN that he is awaiting results of a coronavirus test. He said members of his family had symptoms. He said he is hoping to be in Anaheim by the weekend. #Angels
Jeff Fletcher
@JeffFletcherOCR
If my Spanish is accurate, Teheran said: “My arm is fine. If the results of the COVID-19 come out negative, I will be with the team soon.”
Top secret extra credit double bonus points for “champing”. Stay strong.
Is mlb testing for antibodies before the season starts or testing for active COVID?
My guess would be both. This many players couldn’t possibly have this many active cases of covid. There’s probably a mixture.
But even if they test positive take some cases with a grain of salt as false positives are always a chance. But they’d take precautions anyways.
I totally agree. Take the chance now and make sure that your team is good by opening day.
It only feels like it’s to many. Do far, they have reported 41 cases out of 750ish MLB players. At least that would have been before rosters have expanded.
Some of them may not have tested positive, but may have been in contact with someone who had it (or may have had it). I think the rules are a little different for them, but they still have to quarantine for a time. That’s what happened with Aaron Nola.
I think you have it backwards –
Theres less than a 2% chance of false positives
There is a 30% chance of false negative though
its active. theyre testing to make sure players dont pass it on. if they dont have an active case then they arent passing it to someone else.
I wonder if Walker started going to driveline up in Seattle, if he would see noticeable improvements (if he doesn’t already). Players have said great things about them, I’ve seen videos of the different drills and such that they do, and they seem to help build velocity, strength, and overall ability. It’d be nice to such Walker get back to his top-prospect form, but it will take a lot of work. I hope he gets there.
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Driveline’s results can be hit or miss. They typically help if there is a mechanical or physical inefficiency on the player’s part, but they haven’t had any consistent evidence of permanently adding velo unless one of the two preceding instances were true. So if Taijuan isn’t physically performing to his ability, then it can help, but if he is just losing velo due to age or injuries driveline probably wont help. I’d love to see it help him if it can though.
I don’t think he’s a Driveline client, but I can tell you his problem the first time around was trusting process. He’s suggested as much and it sounds like he’s far more open and motivated now.
Hopefully he’ll rebound well and reach his true potential. He’s still just 27 and the early velocity figures are promising.
Now that 710 espn isn’t allowing comments, what other cites are you and others having conversations about Mariner and Seahawks news?
Hoping dirty south pitches close to what he once did. Always liked him.
As an Angels fan I don’t. As a baseball fan I do. I hate seeing talented guys get derailed by injuries
A suggestion from someone who uses MLBTR site on phone, is it possible to have reports of all COVID-19 positive tests in one post that gets updated when there is someone new testing positive instead of individual post? I browse headlines and most are about some player testing positive. Not saying it is not a significant report, I would just like to see some other baseball news as well. Thank you for all your hard work guys.
Baseball-wise, it’s at least as important as somebody going on the IL with a pulled hamstring, and they’ve typically reported those individually.
It is the same reason so that’s why I suggested one post instead of multiple. No other reason.
So essentially Teheran is missing.
No, he is not missing. While the manager may claim not to know, the team knows. Otherwise he would not have gone on the 10 day. The restricted list is used when a player goes AWOL. He’s now a member of the Angels, so probably just a precursor to TJ surgery.
The team does likely know, but one of the obstacles in fighting this is our laws do not allow the sharing of information.
If Teheran doesn’t want the information out, it has to be kept silent.
Yeah, that’s called HIPAA.
And Stymee, I was being facetious. Also, I don’t think there has been any indication that Teheran has had elbow troubles. What are you referencing to suggest it is probably a precursor to TJ?
I’m tempted to say, “and so it begins.” It sure would feel bad if a guy who consistently starts 30+ games a season signs with the Angels and goes down before throwing a single meaningful pitch.
But lets take the high road and assume Terhan is ok in all respects and will be with the team later this week. Get well soon, Julio.
It kind of sounds like Teheran has Covid but didn’t choose to release it right? I mean hypothetically anyway… this is what would happen in the event a player tests positive but doesn’t opt to disclose? I know on the local sports talk here they were talking about how impossible it was going to be to actually keep it confidential because if someone goes on the DL randomly without a reason it’s obviously going to be for Covid? it doesn’t matter and he obviously doesn’t owe us any explanation. just find it interesting either way. Regardless of whatever is ailing him hope he recovers soon for his sake!
Even if Holland doesn’t make the 30-man, he’ll be a significant player in our pen this year.