The Rays placed reliever Collin McHugh on the 10-day injured list with a back strain, relays Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Fellow righty Chris Mazza, who had recently been optioned, was recalled to take his place in the bullpen. It’s yet another injury for the Rays’ relief core, which had already lost Nick Anderson, Chaz Roe and Pete Fairbanks in the season’s early going. McHugh, signed to a one-year deal over the offseason, has pitched 5.1 innings for Tampa Bay to this point, allowing eight runs (six earned) but striking out five with just one walk issued.
More out of the AL and NL East:
- Orioles outfielder Austin Hays looks likely to be activated from the injured list on Tuesday, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The 25-year-old was placed on the IL a little less than two weeks ago due to a hamstring strain, but it seems he’ll make a return in short order. Hays has played in exhibition games at the alternate training site in each of the past two days without issue, Kubatko notes. The Orioles also optioned right-hander Dean Kremer to the alternate site after his start last night in Texas, per Kubatko. A pair of scheduled off days obviate the need for a fifth starter, so Baltimore recalled Cole Sulser to add to the relief corps for now.
- Nationals manager Dave Martinez provided updates on a pair of sidelined pitchers this afternoon (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). Starter Jon Lester will throw an 80-pitch simulated game on Tuesday as he builds up strength from a stint on the COVID-19 injured list. Lester is the only Washington player who remains sidelined from the team’s coronavirus situation at the beginning of the year. Reliever Will Harris, meanwhile, threw a 26-pitch bullpen session this morning and is again scheduled to do so Tuesday. The veteran righty has yet to make his season debut after undergoing surgery in late March.
- The Nationals also remain in contact with the representatives for free agent right-hander Aníbal Sánchez, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). The veteran, who pitched for Washington from 2019-20, had been expected to sign earlier this month but he cut his finger during a showcase for teams, delaying those plans.
- The Blue Jays placed reliever Jordan Romano on the injured list on Thursday, but the team is hopeful he’ll return when first eligible April 25, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was among those to note (Twitter links). Fellow righty Tyler Chatwood should also return in short order, while flamethrower Nate Pearson is in line to throw live batting practice Tuesday as he builds back from the groin injury that has delayed his season debut.
Shame on MLBTR for not running a single story on the Yankees being sold to a Florida group. I saw several headlines this weekend about the Rays owning the Yankees.
Bruh! You didn’t have to do the Yankees like that. Their fans are mad enough already. Lmao
I don’t get why their roster is so highly regarded. One reliable SP will result in a taxed bullpen. The lineup is not exactly all-world. Do people really think LeMahieu will bat .360 again?
I do think pitching is ahead of hitting almost league-wide right now. So I fully expect the Yankees bats to get hot at some point, but yea…that starting pitching is gross. Not good.
The hitting always goes up when the temperature and humidity does.
–
I watched parts (some large) of at least 20 games this weekend. Fact is that the pitching on most teams is NOT good, and most defenses are terrible. It’s now gotten to the point that every single team is working counts and hitting endless foul balls (must always be toggling between at least 2 games at a time or one falls asleep). Plus batters aren’t skilled enough to hit away from the shifts, so routine outs are made where hits used to go. The action is limited and incredibly boring. The 2 Dodgers-Padres games were great, maybe a few more. But most are hard to sit through.
–
Last I saw the average BA in MB was .248. The average OBP was 323. This means that almost 1/4 of guys that get on base do it by walking. I would do the same – hit foul balls to get walks because I’d get paid more. Chancing putting a ball in play is stupid – on average more then 75% become outs. Follow the money.
–
Not content to taking the action out of the game, the MBA’s running MLB teams also have done a great job of assuring well paid positions for surgeons that can do Tommy John operations on pitchers their owners are paying millions to, while said Pitchers recuperate for 18 months.
–
On the plus side we have all the hoopla and loud music at the parks because the game isn’t worth watching. With respect to Rodney Dangerfield –
“I went to an amusement park and a baseball game broke out.”
On paper the Yankee lineup, when healthy, is definitely intimidating. Stanton is a notoriously slow starter, Voit was a huge loss, but is close to returning. Judge will put up at least a .900 OPS if he can stay healthy. Sanchez and Torres used to be really good, and still can be. I wouldn’t count them out.
That was good. Props.
Gave it an upvote. Lol
That’s last year’s news!
Ok. That was funny.
rekt
I’m a Yankee fan and I laughed almost as much as when I saw Aaron Hicks batting 3rd today….again.
I Say That The New York Yankees Trade Gleyber Torres,Estevan Florial,Alexander Vargas & Luis Gil To The Colorado Rockies For Trevor Story & Then They Trade Luis Medina,Alexander Vizcaino,Yoendrys Gomez & Miguel Andujar To The Washington Nationals For Max Scherzer.
Don’t tear an ACL on that reach
@jackjohnson52183- these trades are never happening. Any more prospects you want the Yankees to trade for a rental, who is not the answer. Smh
Yankee.. He’s been posting that same trade over and over on several threads. It was dumb the first time and hasn’t improved from multiple readings.
Can someone explain to me why the opener has become so popular among teams? What happened to the fifth starter? Teams keep saying “We’re gonna use Monday as a bullpen game” Why?
Because there’s this misguided belief that all pitchers aren’t as effective the 2nd or 3rd time they face a lineup. Boone got burned badly in last year’s ALDS when he used Garcia as an opener for Game 2 and then brought in Happ. It boils down to stat guys who think they are smarter than everyone else by going against the established norms.
Why do you think it’s a misguided belief? It’s a fact that batters numbers improve pretty dramatically when going from 2nd to 3rd time facing a pitcher.