Rockies right-hander Jon Gray went on the injured list yesterday with the ominous-sounding diagnosis of elbow soreness/forearm tightness in his throwing arm. Fortunately, an MRI revealed no structural damage, manager Bud Black told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). That’s fantastic news for player and team alike. Gray is scheduled to reach free agency at the end of this season, so his finishing the year healthy is of upmost importance as he looks to market himself around the league. His contractual status, coupled with the Rockies 23-36 record, also makes him one of the game’s most obvious trade candidates in advance of the July 30 deadline.
A few more notes on pitchers around the league:
- Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi left last night’s start against the Angels in the fifth inning after being struck on the right knee by a David Fletcher line drive. The team announced he’s been diagnosed with a knee contusion/bone bruise. Kikuchi, who had to be helped off the field, was able to put some weight on his leg after the game manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Corey Brock of the Athletic). Servais suggested he didn’t believe there was any sort of fracture, and Kikuchi’s feeling “better than expected” today (via Brock), although it’s still possible he’ll need an IL stint. Kikuchi has been the Mariners best starter this year, tossing 66 2/3 innings of 3.92 ERA/3.64 SIERA ball.
- Brewers righty Freddy Peralta has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. The 25-year-old is among the league’s top fifteen hurlers in ERA (2.25), SIERA (3.11), and strikeout/walk rate differential (26.1 percentage points). Will Sammon of the Athletic looks back at the December 2015 trade that sent Peralta, then a low minors pitching prospect, from the Mariners to the Brewers as part of the return for first baseman Adam Lind. Matt Kleine, now the Brewers vice president of baseball operations, initially spotted Peralta on the Mariners back fields in 2013. Intrigued by his fastball shape and athleticism, Kleine pushed the Milwaukee higher-ups to bring in Peralta via trade, and the opportunity presented itself when the Mariners expressed interest in Lind. Sammon breaks down Peralta’s continued progression and evolution (including the development of a slider and changeup to diversify his once fastball-heavy repertoire) in a piece that’ll be of interest to Brewers fans.
- Red Sox reliever Ryan Brasier, who has been rehabbing from a left calf strain, was hospitalized after being struck in the head by a comebacker during a simulated game in Fort Myers this week. He has since been released, although Brasier suffered a concussion and an ear laceration, notes Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). That will halt his rehab process for the time being, although it’s certainly a relief he escaped more serious injury after the scary incident.
Reading the comments from the original trade article. Wow zkleczka19’s trade recap did not age well.
“Adam Lind…now that’s I name I haven’t heard in a long time.”
WHAT? Jerry Dipsnot lost a trade? No it can’t be true
You mean the GM who has a rebuilding Seattle club ahead of LAA in the standings despite LAA having a payroll literally 100k higher than Seattle?
100k? It’s way more than that. Maybe you meant 200m. Either way DiPoto has completely turned the farm around in record time and Angels fans think their team is actually good when they can’t pitch their way out of a wet paper bag. Angels fans are just sour because they’re wasting the career of arguably the greatest player in the history of the game. And they are owned by Disney who has all the money in the world and still can’t field a winning team. Hilarious that there’s no salary cap and baseball and you guys still can’t get pitchers while owned by a multi billion dollar company lol
Yeah, that was supposed to be 100m*. Damn my small keypad. I think everyone knew that, though.
Funny thing is that Jerry was the last GM they had to get them to the postseason.
Leave it to Mariner fans to build an argument around a non fact… Disney hasn’t owned the Angels since 2003.
And LOL at M’s fans yapping their lips about wasting careers. RJ, Arod, Griffey, Ichiro, Edgar.. At one time they had multiple HOFers on their team in their primes at the same time and failed to even reach the WS…. nobody had done less with more than the Mariners…. NOBODY.
Even funnier, bragging about being a slightly better bad team on June 6th.. LOL — Yeah baby!!!! Look at those standings !!! SCOREBOARD, ya’ll..
Also….. Congratulations on that farm system — no doubt it will turn it all around .. pay no attention to the fact it’s crown jewel has failed to hit even his girlfriends weight….Still, I’m sure he’ll turn in around before asking for a trade or leaving as a FA like every halfway decent player not named Edgar has done for them to actually be able to win something.
And really… that’s the rub… Only team in MLB who hasn’t so much as sniffed the WS… longest playoff drought in all three major sports… Lowest winning percentage among all active AL teams in MLB history… There really is no end to the Mariner superlatives… No wonder you guys all feel the need to constantly pop off.
Seriously… temper the smack until your team has won something… anything… because no fanbase has less to crow about than Mariner “fans” and less room to talk crap about other teams.
Well they did set the MLB win record…so there’s that
Seattle’s future is soo soo soo much brighter than the Angels right now.
If I could be gifted taking over an org from the entire AL West Id take Seattle’s right now hands down
You can try and rain on their parade but it won’t age well
@SodoMojo90—This is more than you not keeping up on current events, it has been *18 years* since Disney owned the team. If you’re going to attempt smack talk, you should at minimum have your references be from the current decade.
anglesfan4life –
Yeah, that is weird. Most GM’s win every single trade they’ve ever made
I’ll give Dipoto his due—his trades are frequently successful, though are often long plays. He tried to assemble an Angels rotation to provide years of stability, when he added Skaggs, Heaney, and Shoemaker to Richards. It was not his fault Shoemaker was victim to horrible luck with injuries (including nearly being killed on a comebacker), and the others all succumbed to UCL problems.
What I do fault him on was quitting on the team.
Low level prospect for an established MLB veteran… The prospect developing into a quality major leaguer is always a risk in these sorts of trades. All-in-all, Mariners fans are very pleased with the work that Dipoto has done. Turning the worst farm system in baseball into a top 3 farm. Also unloaded Cano’s albatross contract for some quality prospects. Also has acquired several diamonds in the rough such as Austin Nola, Ty France, the games top reliever in Kendall Graveman, in addition to a plethora of solid bullpen arms that have kept the M’s competitive in the AL West thus far. And they remain competitive with probably the most injured roster so far in 2021.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
But I don’t want Brasier back.
Brasier has an option, so if his rehab does not go well he can be optioned to Worcester.
3 different injuries now this season for Brasier since he showed up for ST, None connected to each other, which is kind of crazy.
They could sure use him, he’s nasty with the high 90’s FB and slider combo.
Workman is the problematic one may not last unless he finds some part of his lost mph from the FB again. For 2-3y after he had TJ, would take him until well after ST to get it back to 93 or so, but I don’t ever remember him throwing it 88-89mph, which is where most of his have been since they signed him to the MiLB deal and now back with the MLB team. He’s got to throw the curve, or be eaten alive with that thing. No submarine style to add “funk”, like Steve Cishek gets away with on his of that velocity. Workman doesn’t hide the ball at all. It’s curve, or bust right now for him.
Workman’s line from 2019 has to be one of the strangest I have ever seen…
IN – 71 2/3
H – 29
BB – 45
SO – 104
ERA – 1.88
HRs allowed – 1
…there is no way he repeats this. It was a total outlier
Great guy though! A friend of mine son had cancer and Workman spent most of a day showing the boy around Fenway and introducing him to the players. Really awesome thing to do for the boy!
Those blasting the Cubs haul for Yu Darvish trade should pay close attention to the way Peralta has turned out
to be fair, not every prospect is a Peralta. some end up being Luiz Gohara or Phillipe Aumont (to name two other ex-Mariners prospects)
Brasier’s just had a nightmarish year. sucks.
If the Sox can get both Sale & Brasier back in July, that would be such a lift to this team! A lot of people knock Brasier but he has been great for Boston given what they pay him. He’s a great 6th or 7th inning guy who can slide into the setup role as well when you need him to. His FB was hitting 98mph last year. I’ll welcome him back with open arms.