Padres outfielder Tommy Pham is less than a month out from a broken hamate bone, but he’s making rapid progress. Pham resumed live on-field batting practice today, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. The 32-year-old had been off to a sluggish start to the year but will still have some time to make his presence felt as the Pads try to angle for postseason position.
More injury updates from the National League …
- The Giants are preparing to welcome back southpaw Drew Smyly tomorrow, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). It’ll be interesting to see what the veteran hurler can deliver down the stretch. Though he hasn’t been available for many innings, he turned in a few interesting outings that hinted at a resurgence.
- While there’s little reason to rush, the Dodgers are close to activating rehabbing third baseman Justin Turner. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter link) that Turner still hasn’t put his tender hamstring through the full paces. Nevertheless, the club expects to have him active within the week, though Turner could initially function as a DH.
- The Pirates provided a few pitching rehab updates, some more promising than others (via MLB.com’s Adam Berry, on Twitter). Mitch Keller (side injury) and Jameson Taillon (Tommy John) are each throwing sim games, while reliever Keone Kela is now participating in mound work. It’s still unclear how much MLB action each of those hurlers will be capable of late this year, but that’s generally encouraging news. The situation is different for fellow righty Yacksel Rios, who remains sidelined by shoulder woes. He was shut down after symptoms flared up.
Then they can finally get rid of almonte
They really shouldn’t ever start Almonte like they did tonight. Give those ABs to Ona or even Mateo and see what you have at least rather than just trotting out a guy you already know isn’t good.
When they get either Pham or Campusano back next week then Almonte has got to be the first to go off the active roster. Probably first to get DFA’ed too if they need to bring someone off the long term IL and on the the 40 man.
Exactly LH DH should’ve been Castro… definitely not Almonte. Almonte is not a MLB talent… let Mateo and Oña hey those reps
I was shocked Almonte was still in baseball. It’s beyond me why teams keep picking him up because there really never was a time in his career when he was legitimately productive.
When JT feels he can run the bases, he’ll be back as DH imo. Doubt he wants to take too much time off hitting before the playoffs
Wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t play 3B for a week or more after returning honestly. Main concern is timing with his hitting
It’s hard not to feel bad for Jameson Taillon. He has the stuff to be a #2 or better pitcher, but the poor kid can’t catch a break. 2x Tommy John victim and a cancer survivor.
Dennis Lin writes for the Athletic, not the UT.
He wrote for the UT though
“The news is less encouraging on Yacksel Rios, as he remains Yacksel Rios.”
Pham’s “slow start” was due in part to some tough luck. He was making hard contact and had a number of line drive outs. Usually when a player is going through that, it’s just a matter of time before the hits start falling.
It wasn’t bad luck, they were shifting the heck out of him and he wasn’t adapting.