Veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann was on the brink of calling it a career Thursday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes, but he changed his mind when the Brewers selected his contract. “I think I was retired for about two hours,” said Zimmermann, a Wisconsin native whom the Brewers promoted as a result of recent injured list placements for fellow pitchers Corbin Burnes, Brett Anderson, Zack Godley and Josh Lindblom. Now that Zimmermann will continue on, the former Nationals star will try to get his career back on track after a subpar run with the Tigers from 2016-20.
- Yankees first baseman Luke Voit could make his 2021 debut as early as May 11, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays. In the meantime, Voit – who underwent left knee surgery in late March – will start a rehab assignment at Double-A next week. The Yankees’ offense has improved since an ice-cold start to the season, but there’s no doubt the unit is better with a healthy Voit. The 30-year-old slugger led the majors with 22 home runs over 234 plate appearances last season and slashed .277/.338/.610 (152 wRC+).
- The Dodgers’ bullpen has gone the first month of the season without righty reliever Joe Kelly, who’s on the IL with a shoulder issue. While Kelly is finally nearing his season debut, it turns out he has been dealing with a rather severe injury that required surgery in November, he revealed to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. “We found some cysts,” Kelly said. “My shoulder hasn’t been good since the end of 2019. But during my suspension after the thing with the Astros (early August) my arm was super weak. If I was laying on a table I couldn’t lift my arm past gravity. They asked me how long it was going on for and I told them forever. I couldn’t sleep at night and it felt like fire ants were eating my arm from the inside-out.” Kelly’s shoulder troubles helped limit him to 10 frames in the 2020 regular season, though he did contribute five appearances of 3 2/3-inning, one-run ball during the Dodgers’ World Series-winning playoff run.
- The minor league contract that utilityman Danny Santana signed with the Red Sox initially included an opt-out date for today, but the two sides have agreed to push it back to the middle of May, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. On March 15, less than two weeks after joining the Boston organization, Santana was hospitalized with a foot infection that required surgery. Santana is still working back from that and will begin a minor league rehab assignment at the High-A level next Tuesday, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com.
Vanilla Good
Brewers keep winning and keep getting hurt
BrittinghamSports
Jordan Zimmerman is coming back?! Man. His contract with the Detroit Tigers was one of the worst pitchers contracts I have ever seen
TroyVan
Subpar sounds a lot better than his tenure with the Tigers really was.
jagonza
I think it was superior – for him !!!! Lol
johnsilver
Think it was reported about a week ago Conner that Santana and the club had come to an “informal” agreement regarding his opt out. i still think he’ll be getting a shot soon with the black hole offensively that has been both Renfroe and Cordero early on.
Mlb1971
Red Sox finish April 17-10 with the BEST RECORD IN THE MLB! This is for all the Bloom haters who wanted him fired and last place predictions. Will they win the AL East…probably not, but they are not the last place terrible team many of you predicted. Lmao at all of you who predicted it.
luckyh
…and the Yanks are the cellah dwellahs! LOL you don’t get anything for winning April, but they are better than we thought they would be. No question.
jmi1950
Santana/Durran/Sale/Houck could turn this crew into a true contender.
letimmysmoke55
Brandon Crawford just got hit in the calf, he’s out of the game. Go ahead and hire me.
brandons-3
Maybe just noticing it more this year, but it seems like there’s more-than-usual April retires. I get at the end of season or even Spring Training, but weird that you’d think guys would go through an entire offseason and Spring of getting ready to call it quits.
averagejoe15
I think more vets have been taking non-guaranteed deals with early season opt outs or are still sitting in FA waiting for an ML offer to come and it doesn’t which makes it more likely they retire once the season has started.
FletcherFan66
Joe Kelly injured while holding fight club?
Brew’88
Interesting how a team can conceal type of injury for so long.
paddyo furnichuh
Maybe it was Kelly’s choice until now? Who knows. Medical info about an individual cannot be shared without the individual’s consent. The prying of media and sports fans is just that. Meanwhile, there is HIPAA. Thankfully, there is no such law protecting the thirst of fans or sports media.
paddyo furnichuh
*Choice to maintain his right of privacy until now*
Brew’88
Yes I know, and that right to privacy is respected (unless of course you play fantasy leagues). But do you happen to recall how the Dodgers described in jury over the past few months? Not saying they were misleading, I just don’t recall…
BeforeMcCourt
After watching the Boston media eat guys alive for being hurt on big deals, you can certainly understand why Joe Kelly would prefer to avoid an offseason of pundits talking about how horrible his signing has been, while using his latest injury to justify their stance. Lad simply said he had an injured shoulder. He had been on the IL before for shoulder problems so no one blinked.
Truth didn’t come out until Kelly decided to talk about it, thats props to the dodgers for not having media leaks within their team releasing stuff that shouldn’t be released
paddyo furnichuh
Brewer88….I’d describe their description as vague. It’s one of those sports PR strategies we see from managers/head coaches in many sports for reasons that seem to lean on the idea:
communicate to the media while maximizing competitive advantage and promoting team cohesion/chemistry by not airing private info to the public.
One wonders about Puig and what else went on behind the scenes that was concealed that may have contributed to his MLB career stalling.
gbs42
FF69 – You never talk about fight club! Rule #1, man…
ElysianPark
The Dodgers said it was a shoulder issue. They left it at that.
PutPeteinthehall
Shoulder surgery. Six months rehab. Interesting to see if he can regain form. Definitely not a sure thing.
Not impressed
As long as the Yankees can match up with rookie pitchers they will rake. It’s the veteran pitchers that have been shutting them down.
spitball
Cora says Santana can’t be ready for at least 2 weeks! How about Chavis for Dalbec?
Mlb1971
Curious why the Red Sox did not make a single player move other than JD 2 days for COVID and a 27th man for 2 doubleheaders the entire month of April….no DL/IL, but no one was bad enough for Cora and Company to send down??? Well AAA games start tomorrow (5/4), hopefully Cordero can get some reps in down there and Boston can get someone who can produce better than a .500 OPS.
Armando ceja
Mookie is a bust..