Reds right-hander Sonny Gray doesn’t appear far from making his 2021 debut. Gray will throw a simulated game Saturday, and if that goes well, he’ll start for the Reds next week, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic tweets. Gray has been behind schedule for about a month because of a back injury, thus robbing the Reds of one of their top starters. The 31-year-old has thrived with the Reds since they acquired him from the Yankees before 2019, having recorded a 3.07 ERA with a 29.4 percent strikeout rate and a groundball percentage of 50.9 over 231 1/3 innings.
- The Diamondbacks activated outfielder Kole Calhoun from the 10-day injured list before their game against Cincinnati on Friday. Calhoun had been on the shelf for over a month after undergoing surgery on a torn right meniscus. He was a vital part of the Diamondbacks’ offense last season, when he batted .226/.338/.526 with 16 home runs in 228 trips to the plate.
- Angels outfielder Dexter Fowler departed their game Friday with a left knee contusion, per the team. Fowler left on a cart after stepping awkwardly on second base, though manager Joe Maddon indicated afterward that he dodged a serious injury. Fowler has been the Angels’ primary choice in right field this year, and if he does need to sit out for an extended period of time, they have Jared Walsh, Juan Lagares and Jose Rojas on hand as potential subs on their MLB roster.
- The Blue Jays sent Tyler Chatwood to the 10-day IL on Friday with right triceps inflammation, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Chatwood, a former Angel, Rockie and Cub whom the Blue Jays signed to a $3MM guarantee in the offseason, has thrown 2 2/3 scoreless innings this year with three strikeouts.
- The Tigers scratched righty Julio Teheran from his start Friday because of tightness in his triceps. The team replaced Teheran with lefty Derek Holland, who surrendered three earned runs in 2 2/3 frames in a loss to Cleveland. It’s unclear whether Teheran will miss any more time. The Tigers signed Teheran to a non-guaranteed deal in the wake of a terrible 2020 with the Angels, and after earning a roster spot with Detroit during the spring, he debuted with a five-inning, one-run performance in a win over Cleveland last Saturday.
- The Astros placed righty reliever Enoli Paredes on the 10-day IL and recalled fellow righty Nivaldo Rodriguez, the team announced. Paredes’ placement on the IL was expected after he left his appearance Thursday with discomfort in his side.
Fowler going down is probably a benefit for the angels. They can’t now use Larages full time who’s a better fielder and equally good at the plate.
Or because Maddon doesn’t see reality. Walsh will move to RF and Pujols will play 1B
jabronieramone
Haha. That’s exactly what I said earlier today. Can we please stop giving Pujols at bats?
Jays going to have another throw away season … absolutely ridiculous. Springer deal looks worse and worse by the day
Imagine feeling this way with 155 games left LOL
The Jays look alright on paper. They just need another starter and maybe a veteran LH bat off the bench. Hey! How about Carlos Martinez and Matt Carpenter?
DonO if the Cards can take Roark then I’m all for that trade.
I’d be okay with Roark for C-Mart as a base for a deal
Roark’s first start didn’t look like a big league start. You may want to hold off on that trade because he looked like he could be DFA’d and released by May.
I mean yeah, Roark sucks. But so does C Mart so he would need to be included to make the $$ work
So Roark is on an expiring contract, which is good. C-Mart is healthy (for now), and hasn’t embarrassed himself this year which is good. Ya, I’d say we have a good foundation. So now all we have to do is pass it along to the brass and…..bam! Good doing business with you guys!
@ Marlo
Not sure about a throwaway season but Bichette’s struggles at short are a bit painful. Would it not make sense to swap positions with Semien? Bichette’s got time at 2nd in Milb. I wouldn’t want his fielding affecting his hitting…
.There’s so much potential in the Blue Jays organisation – Nate Pearson will be healthy soon – the farm is still top tier in spite of the recent graduates. It’ll be a bit awkward for them moving home three times in a season admittedly. Springer, Robbie Ray should be healthy in the next week….
So I wouldn’t be throwing the season on the fire just yet. Just hoping the virus outbreak (awooooga!) is reined in sharpish.
Peter in London, the ever optimistic A’s fan…
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld
Bichette’s defensive problems aren’t anything that 2B would help with. He makes the spectacular plays, he has the range and arm, he just messes up a few routine plays. Worth remembering he graded out as above average defensively last year though.
Mario both you and dusty have valid points. Not doing the little things good teams can do is killing the Jays. Not adequately addressing pitching is killing the Jays.
Covid can be an excuse for part of last night’s game but they aren’t winning without execution on both sides of the ball. Concerned, yes. Not quite full blown panic.
Agreed, a lot to be concerned about, but it’s still early. A step in the right direction would be to move Bichette off short, at least help the pitchers out a bit. He does not look good out there.
Hello @ Guests above – I enjoy reading your posts but you’re going to have to take a raspberry as strike one…..
Scratching my head a wee bit and the echoes are terrible….
Guests – you say ..
“Not doing the little things good teams can do is killing the Jays. Not adequately addressing pitching is killing the Jays.”
If not addressing the little things is pitching, what the blue blazes are the big things?
Have they not got nine out there when they’re fielding? You’d think the sabermatricians (definitely sic, erm the counters) would be up on this sort of thing. Satchel Paige allegedly got his outfield to sit down but I don’t ever recall a story of him disappearing them altogether.
That F/O job we’re all yearning for is definitely out there if the Canadians can’t count to nine.
Have great weekends.
Peter in London
Hey UK,
Fielding would be one. Situational hitting another. Moving runners over another.
You should take a raspberry on your comment. For someone who doesn’t know baseball you sure make a strong attempt at pretending. I look forward to more ignorance from you, Pete.
@Guest
Confusing situation is confusing.
Just want to point out that there is an “A’sfaninUK” & an “A’sFaninLondonUK” on the board.
One of them sucks but the London variety would be welcomed into my home.
I was a bit taken aback by your level of vitriol (seemed out of character) & I’m wondering if perhaps something from another thread is perhaps (understandably erroneously) leaking into this one.
Hello Guests,
I fully accept your raspberry with the utmost deference & thanks.
The fascination (as an English idiot) with baseball is partly the game itself – it’s a cruel beautiful beast – but the social history aspect of it too. I’ve read loads – and loads – and went through a phase of just buying any baseball book I could find. So in effect there might be 10000 jigsaw pieces but I’ve got a real good appreciation for about 25 of them. Mickey Lolich for the Hall of Fame.
The nice thing is that I always know more about the game today than I did yesterday.
I’d be interested to hear how/where other UK fans got into it too.
The other thing I really should mention is that in the ten or so ballparks I’ve been to (only 20 to go) I (and my lady wife & other weird English friends) have always been made incredibly welcome by the fans in the stands.. This includes me wearing A’s gear away in Detroit – for example – at play off games. Baseball fans can truly be a class apart.
Back to the point – re the Jays – fielding – yep – situational hitting – yep. Thing is they’re fielding an infield of kids and Semien as matron. That’s potentially a bit nervy for a pitcher. I’d have Semien SS all day long and let him train Bo on the job for a year. Semien was horrendous at SS for about three years and thanks to Wash and a pallet load of hard word turned himself into an above average defender. He can instill that in Bichette
Again take care – great weekends….
Hello Guests,
I fully accept your raspberry with the utmost deference & thanks.
The fascination (as an English idiot) with baseball is partly the game itself – it’s a cruel beautiful beast – but the social history aspect of it too. I’ve read loads – and loads – and went through a phase of just buying any baseball book I could find. So in effect there might be 10000 jigsaw pieces but I’ve got a real good appreciation for about 25 of them. Mickey Lolich for the Hall of Fame.
The nice thing is that I always know more about the game today than I did yesterday.
I’d be interested to hear how/where other UK fans got into it too.
The other thing I really should mention is that in the ten or so ballparks I’ve been to (only 20 to go) I (and my lady wife & other weird English friends) have always been made incredibly welcome by the fans in the stands.. This includes me wearing A’s gear away in Detroit – for example – at play off games. Baseball fans can truly be a class apart.
Back to the point – re the Jays – fielding – yep – situational hitting – yep. Thing is they’re fielding an infield of kids and Semien as matron. That’s potentially a bit nervy for a pitcher. I’d have Semien SS all day long and let him train Bo on the job for a year. Semien was horrendous at SS for about three years and thanks to Wash and a pallet load of hard word turned himself into an above average defender. He can instill that in Bichette
Again take care – great weekends….
Ducky, if this is not the same one that trashed America a couple days ago then I apologize. Although I am Canadian I do not understand how anyone from the UK can rail against a superior country – one that brought baseball to the forefront. If I am mistaken I will own it.
That aside, the Blue Jays cannot compete with a perennial powerhouse like the Yankees without fundamental baseball on both sides of the ball. To use a term like “raspberry” on an obvious statement is rather absurd even from an Englishman possessing a vast vocabulary.
Care to explain by what measure the US is superior to the UK . Every standard of living survey for 20-21 has them within 1-2 spots of each other.
I thought that’s what was going on.
No.
They are vastly different posters with an unfairly similar screen name. The “America & Americans suck” (A’sfaninUK) one is the one whom is one of all of our least favorite posters (sorry for awkward wording).
Peter – however – (A’sFaninLondonUK) is one of my favorite posters on the board. & – as such – would never post that type of inflammatory garbage.
As far as the “raspberry” thing goes, I’m going to let you two work that out. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate the sentiment of where you are coming from but it was misdirected.
Hello @ Guests above – I enjoy reading your posts but you’re going to have to take a raspberry as strike one…..
Scratching my head a wee bit and the echoes are terrble….
Guests – you say ..
“Not doing the little things good teams can do is killing the Jays. Not adequately addressing pitching is killing the Jays.”
If not addressing the little things is pitching, what the blue blazes are the big things?
Have they not got nine out there when they’re fielding? You’d think the sabermatricians (definitely sic, erm the counters) would be up on this sort of thing. Satchel Paige allegedly got his outfield to sit down but I don’t ever recall a story of him disappearing them altogether.
That F/O job we’re all yearning for is definitely out there if the Canadians can’t count to nine.
Have great weekends.
Peter in London
Man.
I really think some of the fellas would benefit a great deal from taking up waterfowl &/or turkey hunting.
Our teams have been playing for…one week!
& all over the board, dudes are melting down, pronouncing their clubs season’s to be over, rearranging batting orders, lineups, bullpens, firing managers, trading guys off to a slow start for a “bag of baseballs”, etc.
Now, I mostly hunt on my own (with the dogs of course) but if someone exhibited this lack of patience on one of my boats I’d push them overboard. No idea how some of you guys are going to make it through 155(!) more games, man. Marathon not a sprint, it’s only April, long season, etc, etc…
Deeeeep breath.
In with the good air, out with the bad.
Wotcha Duckster,
As an A’s fan I’d have to agree. Been tearing my hair out at our rotation (til yesterday) but I’ve got to remember that with the exception of Manaea, they’re kids or rookies (appreciate Irwin isn’t a kid). Make an allowance or so for Montas.
I reckon it’s a combination of things – we’ve had the “difficulties” for 12 months, we’ve had a fast food season of 60 games (and I do believe the right team won it all and have the right to say they won it all) and finally we get something worthy of optimism – the shiny new season. And when your first week represents pitching doom (in our case) the temptation to put a manager’s/GMs/both head on a spike is understandable.
But you’re right. After seeing off the Astro’s and improving to an intimidating 2-7, my Elvis Andrus voodoo doll is safe especially after keeping Mitch Moreland out of the line up yesterday.
One day they’ll thank me.
With a full pardon.
2-7 is definitely a problem in football.
In baseball, every team will go through similar – or markedly worse – stretches. Even the eventual pennant winners.
But, good points. It’s a confluence of things probably. Way too early for panic button pushing for me, though.
What’s ridiculous is saying a long term deal looks worse and worse by the day when a guy starts the year with minor injuries and hasn’t played yet. It’s April 10th in the first year of his contract.
Yeah, that’s probably a little reactionary, uh?
I wish the best for Fowler but I’d like to see the angels bring up from the alternate site
Left handed Hitter Scott Schebler Who had a great spring and Platoon with Larages
Schebby seems like a great dude and a really hard worker. I hope he can find a team that can use him.
Jo Adell? Of has Marsh passed him?
I know it doesn’t have anything to do with the article, but watching Joe Musgrove throw that no hitter tonight was really fun. I’m happy for him and I still believe he’ll end up having a better year than either Snell or Darvish. Just hope that Hudson Head turns out to be as good as he’s projected to be, but Bednar looks like a potential future closer.
Watching no-hitters is always fun even when one is thrown against the team you root for.
Musgrove has been more or less unhittable in two starts this season. He was very nearly perfect. If only Joey Gallo had gotten out of the way. Pitching has carried the Padres so far these first few games, their offense without Tatis has been scuffling a bit.
He’s quite underrated mainly because he’s been on some pretty non-memorable Pirates teams. Truly can be an ace. I think the Pirates got back his full value, but I’ll always root for him. He’s a good guy to from all the interviews I’ve seen and what others have said.
And to think the Jays traded Musgrove away about 7 years ago because they felt he was destined to be no better than a bullpen arm.
Bet I’m not the only poster on the board who immediately thought of you when I found out, @mlb1225.
what did the angels see in fowler?
Fowler wasn’t all that bad of a hitter in 2019. .326 wOBA, 101 OPS+, 103 wRC+, .170 ISO. Plus the Cards paid off $14.75 million of the $16.5 million that was left on his contract. Overall, they were taking a $1.75 million risk on a guy who was almost as close to league average as you can get the last time the MLB played a full season. Not much of a gamble.
it was a waste for a team trying to go deep in the postseason for the first time in years. especially when the team still has a lot of money under tax threashold.
Are they really? Fowler isn’t really as bad as you make it. He’s replacement level (plus) so there’s value in that.
are the yankees willing to trade for him considering their outfielders never can stay healthy?
In all likelihood, they see him as a bridge for Marsh and Adell. They likely don’t want to commit long term to an outfielder when both Adell and Marsh could flank Trout late this year or early next year.
@Vizionaire It is not what the saw in Fowler, it is what they didnt see in Adell. The goal is still an outfield of Marsh, Trout, and Adell. Unfortunately, Adell didnt hit enough to stay in the show. Fowler won a championship with Maddon in Chicago, so he has that trust with Fowler that he doesnt have with Adell yet. Fowler is a low cost, place holder until Adell/Marsh get called up.
I’ve always thought that KOLE CALHOUN sounds like the name of a western gunslinger.
One of The bggest problems I see with the Jays is certain players are up swinging for the fences on every pitch. Just hit the $&@#ing ball. I don’t care if they lose but they are playing bad baseball at the moment. Hard to watch.
The only bright spot for the Jays so far this season has been Vladdy’s play at the plate – it’s looking like this might be the year he realizes his potential.