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Archives for 2020
Injury Notes: Mariners, Twins, Reds, Dodgers
Mariners outfielder/infielder Dylan Moore is done for the season as a result of a concussion, the team announced. Moore suffered the injury when he took a pitch off the helmet on Monday, ending what was a terrific campaign for the 28-year-old. Moore batted .255/.358/.496 with eight home runs and 12 stolen bases over 159 plate appearances in 2020.
- Twins right-hander Jake Odorizzi will “probably” be on their wild-card series roster, per manager Rocco Baldelli (via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). Odorizzi has been on the IL since Sept. 19 with a blister on his right middle finger. This is the third IL stint of the year for Odorizzi, who previously dealt with back and chest issues. As a result, the Twins – who gave him a $17.8MM qualifying offer last winter – have only gotten 13 2/3 innings of 6.59 ERA pitching from Odorizzi this season. Nevertheless, they’re on their way to a second straight playoff berth.
- Reds left-hander Wade Miley, on the IL with a shoulder strain since Aug. 28, is “pretty close to 100 percent,” according to manager David Bell (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The playoff-contending Reds are likely to use Miley out of the bullpen if he is able to return this year, Nightengale relays. Signed to a two-year, $15MM contract last winter, Miley has made four starts and thrown 12 1/3 innings of 6.57 ERA ball in a Cincinnati uniform. Fortunately for the team, its rotation has still been among the league’s best because of the work of Trevor Bauer, Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Tyler Mahle.
- The Dodgers scratched third baseman Justin Turner from their game against the Athletics on Tuesday because of left hamstring discomfort, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. The Dodgers said the move was precautionary, but it’s worth noting that Turner missed a couple weeks earlier this month with a left hamstring strain. So, this latest issue could be a concern for the Dodgers as they approach the playoffs.
Cardinals Outright Rob Kaminsky
Left-hander Rob Kaminsky, whom the Cardinals designated for assignment Sept. 16, has cleared waivers and will remain with the organization, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Kaminsky was a first-round pick (No. 28) for the Cardinals in 2013, but he is already in his second stint with the franchise. The Cardinals traded Kaminsky to the Indians in 2015 for slugger Brandon Moss, but the Redbirds brought the hurler back before 2020 on a minor league contract.
The 26-year-old Kaminsky made the first five MLB appearances of his career earlier this season and gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk in 4 2/3 innings. Kaminsky logged a 60 percent groundball rate over that small sample of work, and he has always posted high GB rates in the minors. Despite that, Kaminsky struggled to a 5.11 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in a 24 2/3-inning Triple-A debut with the Indians last season.
Andrelton Simmons Opts Out Of Remainder Of Season
6:01pm: The Angels have placed Simmons on the restricted list and selected infielder Elliot Soto in a corresponding move. Soto, whom the Angels signed to a minor league contract last offseason, is a former Cubs, Marlins and Rockies farmhand who has batted .272/.346/.389 in 1,323 Triple-A plate appearances.
5:29pm: Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons announced Tuesday that he has opted out of the remainder of the season.
“At this moment, I feel this is the best decision for me and for my family,” Simmons said in part to Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we would like to sincerely thank the Angels organization and Angels fans for welcoming and making us feel at home.”
Simmons’ decision comes amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns that have caused others to opt out, though the 31-year-old has played the majority of the 2020 campaign. He spent time on the injured list with a sprained left ankle but has otherwise appeared in 30 games and slashed a respectable .297/.346/.356 in 127 plate appearances. That represents a nice bounce-back effort by Simmons, who was unable to complement his superlative defense with a decent offensive showing during an injury-limited 2019.
Of course, considering he’s a pending free agent, Simmons’ time with the out-of-contention Angels may be over. He originally joined the Angels in a trade with the Braves prior to the 2016 season, and while Simmons has been quite successful since then (15.5 fWAR in 2,281 plate appearances), the Angels haven’t gone to the playoffs since they acquired him.
Going forward, the Angels could try to re-sign Simmons or even issue him a qualifying offer before potentially losing him in free agency during the upcoming offseason. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him reach the open market unfettered. Simmons is on track to join Marcus Semien and Didi Gregorius as the best shortstops available in free agency.
Cardinals Place Dakota Hudson On 45-Day IL
The Cardinals have placed right-hander Dakota Hudson on the 45-day injured list, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. They activated righty Kodi Whitley from the IL to take Hudson’s place on their roster.
This will end Hudson’s season, though it’s not a surprising outcome for someone who suffered a right flexor tendon injury last week. The hope is that Hudson will return to health once next season rolls around, especially considering he has been an important member of the Cardinals’ rotation since his first full campaign in 2019.
While fielding-independent metrics such as FIP (4.73) and xFIP (4.55) haven’t been enamored of Hudson’s work, the bottom-line results have been highly encouraging for the 26-year-old throughout his career. So far, thanks in part to a sterling 57.3 percent groundball rate, Hudson has managed a 3.17 ERA across 241 innings and overcome weak strikeout/walk numbers (6.95 K/9, 4.44 BB/9). Hudson’s ability to induce grounders at a high clip helped him to a 2.77 ERA in 39 frames this year.
Marlins Outright Sean Rodriguez
SEPT. 22: The Marlins announced that Rodriguez has been outrighted to their alternate site after clearing waivers.
SEPT. 20: The Marlins have designated utilityman Sean Rodriguez for assignment, the team announced. Utilityman Jon Berti has been activated from the 10-day injured list to take the open roster spot, while southpaw Braxton Garrett has also been added to the roster as the extra 29th player for today’s doubleheader with the Nationals.
Rodriguez was only activated from the injured list last Tuesday, as he had spent the rest of the season out of action for unspecified medical reasons. Rodriguez appeared in four games for the Marlins, recording two hits in 13 plate appearances and playing second base and left field. The 35-year-old has now been a part of 13 consecutive Major League seasons, the bulk of which with the Rays and Pirates from 2010-18. Rodriguez inked a minor league contract with Miami last winter.
The club is essentially swapping one multi-purpose bench piece for another in welcoming Berti back into the fold. Berti hit the 10-day IL on September 10 due to a right finger injury, so he’ll return after only a minimal absence. Over two seasons with the Marlins, Berti has already appeared at six different positions, and it seems likely he’ll mostly play second base the rest of the way this season in a semi-platoon with rookie Jazz Chisholm. Beyond his versatility, Berti has also been a useful hitter for the Fish, batting .267/.350/.392 with eight homers over his 401 PA in a Miami uniform.
Athletics Outright Daniel Mengden
The Athletics have outrighted hurler Daniel Mengden after he cleared waivers, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com was among those to report.
The A’s previously designated the right-handed Mengden for assignment Sept. 20, which came a little over a month after his most recent appearance on Aug. 18. Mengden threw 12 1/3 innings of five-run ball earlier this year, but he spent time on the COVID-19 injured list before the A’s designated him.
Now 27, Mengden debuted in 2016 and emerged as a respectable piece of the A’s staff the next season. In fact, from 2017-18, Mengden combined for a 3.80 ERA/4.57 FIP with 5.73 K/9 and 1.99 BB/9 over 158 2/3 innings and 29 appearances (24 starts). Mengden’s output has dropped since that two-year stretch, though, largely because of a major increase in walk rate. He has issued 4.25 free passes per nine, logged 6.5 K/9 and posted a 4.63 ERA/4.85 FIP over 72 innings since 2019.
Yankees Select Tyler Lyons
The Yankees have selected left-hander Tyler Lyons, placed right-hander Ben Heller on the 60-day injured list with a biceps nerve issue and optioned righty Michael King, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com tweets.
Lyons has been a member of the New York organization since August 2019, but he only threw 8 2/3 innings as a Yankee a year ago and hasn’t pitched for them this season. That said, the 32-year-old – a former Cardinal and Pirate – has been a fairly successful reliever in the majors, where he has logged a 4.20 ERA/4.04 FIP with 9.26 K/9 and 2.85 BB/9 in 281 innings. He could now factor into a Yankees bullpen that has a pair of higher-profile southpaws in Aroldis Chapman and Zack Britton.
Heller, meanwhile, has been a Yankee since they acquired him from the Indians as part of a trade for southpaw Andrew Miller in 2016. Heller hasn’t seen much action in the majors since then (31 1/3 innings), but he did throw six frames of two-run ball this year before his season came to an end.
Kris Bryant Suffers Oblique Injury
SEPT. 22: The Cubs are optimistic Bryant won’t require an IL stint, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets.
SEPT. 21, 9:34pm: Bryant is day-to-day for now, though manager David Ross said he’s “worried” about the injury, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets.
8:07pm: Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant left their game against the Pirates on Monday with right oblique tightness, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic was among those to report. The Cubs replaced Bryant with David Bote.
Any oblique issue to a regular is a red flag for a team, especially for a 31-22 Cubs club leading the NL Central by 3 1/2 games and nearing a playoff berth. It remains to be seen whether Bryant will play again this year, but it’s especially troubling that the three-time All-Star and former MVP hasn’t come anywhere close to his usual form this season. Bryant is hitting a woeful .195/.283/.301 with two home runs and a career-worst .106 ISO in 138 plate appearances.
Despite his uncharacteristic struggles this year, the Cubs obviously still want Bryant in their lineup on a daily basis. They’re on their way to the playoffs, after all, but however the postseason goes, the Cubs will have to decide in the offseason whether to keep Bryant, who was the subject of trade rumors last winter. He’s making a prorated $18.6MM in 2020 and won’t be eligible for free agency until after the ’21 campaign
Multiple Reports Link Angels To Dave Dombrowski
Angels general manager Billy Eppler is in the final season of his contract, and with the Angels assured of a fifth straight losing season, multiple reports have linked the team to veteran executive Dave Dombrowski as a potential replacement. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal calls the Halos the “most likely” team to make a switch at GM, adding that Dombrowski is the most frequently mentioned replacement option. Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes that the “widely held belief” is that the Angels are in for yet another front-office regime change and that the “industry consensus” is that owner Arte Moreno will pursue Dombrowski.
It’s been five years since Eppler took over for Jerry Dipoto, who resigned from his post in the wake of a highly publicized rift with then-manager Mike Scioscia. Los Angeles has yet to return to the postseason or even put together a winning record in that time. Instead of postseason wins built around the game’s best player, Mike Trout, much of the focus has been on the Angels’ perennial struggles to keep an underachieving pitching staff healthy enough to take the mound.
Since Eppler took the helm, the Angels rank 23rd among MLB teams in rotation ERA (4.74), 27th in FIP (4.84) and 29th in overall innings pitched. Angels starters have tallied just 3490 1/3 innings over those five seasons — a mark trailed only by a Rays club that has used openers more aggressively than any team in the Majors. The trade to acquire Dylan Bundy looks superlative at the moment, but most of the other attempts to patch the rotation have fizzled. Free agents Julio Teheran, Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill, Doug Fister and Tim Lincecum didn’t bear fruit. Landing Shohei Ohtani was a clear feather in Eppler’s cap, but Ohtani has been far more impactful at the plate than on the mound thanks to numerous injuries.
From acquiring Andrelton Simmons in his first winter on the job to Bundy this past offseason, Eppler has made his share of strong moves while controlling the Halos’ baseball ops outfit. However, the team is still in need of upgrades both in the rotation and bullpen. The salaries of Trout, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon and Justin Upton weigh down next year’s payroll already, though the Pujols deal will finally be off the books post-2021. Supplementing the many holes on the roster could prove difficult with $118MM already on the books and a sizable arbitration class. Whether Eppler will make those additions seems cloudy at best.
Hiring Dombrowski or any other experienced front office exec would be something of a departure from the norm, Shaikin points out. The Angels’ past three GMs have all been rookies — Eppler, Dipoto and Tony Reagins — and each had something less than 100 percent autonomy over baseball operations decisions. It is well documented that Moreno spearheaded the team’s acquisitions of Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells, and Shaikin adds that it was Moreno who made the decision to dump Brad Ausmus (Eppler’s chosen skipper) after just one season in order to pursue Joe Maddon.
Dombrowski, of course, knows plenty about putting together win-now rosters with an “at all costs” mentality, as evidenced by a lengthy run of contending Tigers clubs and his quick World Series win with the Red Sox. In both instances, Dombrowski had an owner who was willing to spend money and sacrifice young talent for short-term gains on the trade market. That seems likely to be the position in which the Angels find themselves this winter, as pressure to win will build considerably following a six-year playoff drought.
