The Royals have stormed out of the gate with a 16-9 start to take an early lead in the AL Central. That’s in spite of the absence of shortstop Adalberto Mondesi, who was placed on the injured list just before the regular season kicked off due to a right oblique strain. There’s still no timetable for the 25-year-old’s return to game action, but he made a notable step in his rehab process this week. Mondesi recently participated in a batting practice session, per manager Mike Matheny (via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). Royals’ shortstops (primarily Nicky Lopez) have hit .254/.325/.338 in Mondesi’s absence, which is tied for twelfth in park-adjusted offense (90 wRC+) at the position.
Some more injury situations around the league:
- Dodgers righty Tony Gonsolin has also yet to make his regular season debut- in his case, on account of inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Gonsolin has progressed to working off a mound, though, throwing a 20-pitch bullpen session earlier this week (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). The 26-year-old has emerged as another potential quality rotation option for Los Angeles, working to a 2.60 ERA/4.11 SIERA across his first 20 MLB appearances (14 starts) between 2019-20. Even before the injury, though, Gonsolin was slated to start this season in the bullpen on account of the Dodgers’ incredible rotation depth.
- Stephen Strasburg threw approximately 30 pitches in a bullpen session this morning, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to note. It’s the right-hander’s first mound work since he was placed on the injured list two weeks ago with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Washington still hasn’t offered a ton of clarity as to when Strasburg is expected to return to game action. The former World Series MVP has been limited to two unproductive starts so far this year.
- Astros right-handed pitching prospect Jairo Solis will be out approximately three months after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, per Jake Kaplan of the Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a disappointing development for a young hurler who missed the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Entering the year, FanGraphs’ Kevin Goldstein called Solis a potential future top 100 prospect, but this latest development will wipe out at least a good chunk of his 2021 minor-league season. Solis, ranked 16th among Astro farmhands by Baseball America, was added to the 40-man roster last offseason.
The Dodgers could really use Gonsolin – as Friedman loves to patch bullpens together, and then “solidify” them with signing hard throwing scrubs to big contracts (Treinen/Kelly). Hopefully Josiah Gray gets called up sometime too.
Treinen is a scrub? That is not close to being accurate.
This Strasburg contract is easily the worst contract in baseball to me. That was a ton of money to pay a guy that has really only had 1 truly healthy season. He has been really good at times but he has not lived up to his overhyped #1 overall draft status. I would much rather have Strasburg over Chris Davis but not at this contract. Of all the mega-contracts in baseball this has to be the worst. The Nats are really looking like they are on their way out. They were a last place team last season. Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber are cleary not going to hit (or field) consistently enough to work out. The Nats would have to pay a ton to keep the (currently injured) heart ond sole of their team in Juan Soto. On top of all that they still owe a TON of money to Strasburg and Scherzer even though Scherzer is a free agent at the end of this year and Stras will likely never be consistently healthy enough to make the $35 million per year difference he is being paid. Last season was the beginning of the end for the Nats and it’s only getting worse. If they sign Soto they will probably have to overpay like crazy because I can’t think of any other reason he would want to waste his talents on a team that isn’t going to really compete. If they do pay him that would be the final nail in the payroll coffin they created with Strasburg. Either way, I don’t think this team will really compete until Strasburg is off the books.
They’re tied for 1st place despite losing 4 players to covid for a week, have been without Stras for most of the season, and their superstar OF has been out for the past week+. Love the description of Soto as being “currently injured” in order to support a poorly formed argument. He’s actually been out 10 days due to a reported minor shoulder ding, and will be back after he finishes a throwing program. Run for the hills, the end is near.
If they extend Soto, that will be the “final nail in the payroll coffin”. Not exactly. Thanks to a number of guys like Schwarber and Bell being on 1 year deals, they’re about $100 million under the cap for next year. Doubt they can re-sign Soto AND Turner (be it next year or beyond) but the “beginning of the end” drama is premature.
As for the Nats having the problem of having to “overpay like crazy”, to extend Soto…that is exactly the kind of problem a club wants to have with a young superstar. But despite having a solid core of young players, I dig that crystal ball you have that predicts that the Nats arent going to compete in the future. Warren Buffett’s on Line 1.
And/or CatMan comes back soon. May leaving today’s game did not look good.
paddy0875, that old saying about never having enough pitching applies. Depth can disappear in a hurry. Where would they be without the “surprise” Bauer signing?
Strasburg first start vs Atl, 6 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit. Very productive ♂️
6.30 is on average unproductive
1 productive
1 unproductive
It pains me to say that blanking the Braves hasn’t been a big challenge this season so far. =\
I thought the article was going to be about Sammy Solis. Haven’t heard that name in a while.
Bottom, second. Dustin May leaves with an apparent arm, injury.
Looks like it had DL written all over it. Hopefully not.
Last season’s short schedule keeps on giving, doesn’t it? Pitchers dropping like crazy. Yet MLB is currently on pace for an unfathomable 7,000 more strikeouts than hits.