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Archives for July 2021
Indians Activate Zach Plesac
The Indians are reinstating right-hander Zach Plesac from the 10-day injured list to start this evening’s game against the Royals, the team informed reporters (including Mandy Bell of MLB.com). Righty J.C. Mejia was optioned to Triple-A Columbus to create active roster space.
Plesac has missed about a month and a half since suffering a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb in late May. Before the injury, the 26-year-old had tossed 58 2/3 innings of 4.14 ERA/4.50 SIERA ball over his first ten starts. That’s a step back from the sterling 2.28 ERA/3.41 SIERA he pitched to over 55 1/3 frames in 2020, but it’s still solid production.
Cleveland hasn’t gotten much decent work from the starting staff in recent weeks. The Indians lost Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale to IL stints of their own after Plesac went down, leaving them relying on an unproven rotation. Over the past month, Indians starters have pitched to a woeful 7.16 ERA that bests only the Orioles rotation (8.40). That’s contributed to a significant drop in the standings, as the Indians are amidst a nine-game losing streak that has knocked them back to .500 (42-42), eight games behind the division-leading White Sox.
Mejia has been a big part of those struggles. Over his seven starts, the 24-year-old has given up 25 runs in 25 1/3 innings. It has also been a difficult season for Triston McKenzie, who has walked 20.6% of opposing hitters en route to a 6.38 ERA. That led the Indians to option McKenzie last month, but he’ll be recalled to start tomorrow evening’s game, relays Zack Meisel of the Athletic (Twitter link).
Reds Place Sonny Gray On Injured List
3:51 pm: Gray seemed wholly unconcerned when speaking with reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) this afternoon. He said he pitched through the discomfort during his start yesterday and expects to be back when first eligible. In that case, he wouldn’t need to skip a turn in the rotation.
1:38 pm: The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Sonny Gray back on the 10-day injured list due to a rib cage strain. It’s the third IL stint of the season for Gray, who had very recently returned from a four-week absence due to a groin strain. Right-hander Tony Santillan is up from Triple-A Louisville in his place.
Cincinnati hasn’t provided a timetable for Gray’s return, though it’s possible that with the All-Star break looming, the impact of his absence could be minimal. Gray started yesterday’s game (and pitched quite well), so he wouldn’t have been in line to make another start prior to the break anyhow. He’d be eligible to return for the Reds’ third game after the break, so it’s technically possible that he won’t even miss a start.
If the injury does prove to sideline Gray for a few outings, however, it’ll be a particularly ill-timed IL trip. The Reds, winners in 10 of their past 15 games, will come out of the break to host a pivotal three-game series against the division-leading Brewers. They’ll then take on a first-place Mets club before playing a string of seven straight divisional games (four against the Cubs, three against the Cardinals) in the days leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. Getting multiple starts from Gray, who has a 3.19 ERA in 62 frames this year, would obviously be ideal.
The Reds’ recent hot streak has propelled them back to second place in the NL Central. They’re six back of the Brewers at the moment, making these next seven games in particular quite important to their season. General manager Nick Krall recently characterized his club as deadline buyers, although one would imagine that is at least somewhat dependent on how the team performs in the looming seven-game stretch against the current division leaders.
For now, Santillan will give the Reds’ staff some depth. All four of his outings with the big league club this season have been starts, but he’ll give manager David Bell a multi-inning option out of the ’pen for now, it seems. In 16 2/3 innings of big league work so far, Santillan has allowed seven earned runs (3.78 ERA) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 20 punchouts.
Mariners Notes: Trade Deadline, Sheffield, Dipoto
2:50pm: Dipoto revealed in an appearance on 710 ESPN Radio today that Sheffield has been diagnosed with a mild flexor strain in his left forearm but also a Grade 2 oblique strain (Twitter link via 710’s Shannon Drayer). The oblique injury is the more significant of the two, and based on the fact that it’s a Grade 2 strain, it seems fair to expect Sheffield to be absent from the Seattle rotation for a rather notable chunk of time. Even less-severe Grade 1 oblique strains can sideline players for around a month at a time.
10:20am: After slipping a few games below .500 in mid-June, the Mariners have rallied back with a 14-7 showing that has them three games over .500, at 45-42. That still places them nine games back in a tough AL West, but they’re only three and a half games down in the Wild Card standings. Seattle has looked like one of the many teams whose deadline trajectory could very well be determined by how the team fares in its next 10 games or so, but manager Scott Servais suggested in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that he expects the front office to operate as buyers (Twitter link, with audio).
“We’ve got a ton of prospect capital, and we’ve got young players in our system — our minor league system has improved so much,” Servais told hosts Mike Ferrin and Jim Duquette. “…Our Major League team is moving in the right direction, so the possibility to add players to help this year and to help going forward is really important for us. I’m sure [GM Jerry Dipoto] and [assistant GM] Justin Hollander are talking to everybody out there and seeing what they can do to better us now and then also take a look into 2022 and beyond.”
Asked about specific areas of need, Servais said with a chuckle that “every manager out there says he needs more pitching.” While that was something of a tongue-in-cheek comment, the rotation is a fairly obvious area of focus if Dipoto and the front office do indeed look to add to the roster. The Mariners have received solid results from Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Dunn, offseason signing Chris Flexen and top prospect Logan Gilbert, but on the whole, their starters are 23rd in the Majors with a 4.76 ERA.
Opening Day starter Marco Gonzales missed more than a month with a forearm injury and hasn’t looked like himself when healthy enough to take the mound. The typically steady left-hander has posted a career-worst nine percent walk rate, which has been exacerbated by the fact that he’s been one of MLB’s most homer-prone pitchers in 2021 (2.29 HR/9).
Fellow left-hander Justus Sheffield, meanwhile, has recently struggled through a brutal stretch — a slump that looks all the more alarming after the Mariners announced last night that he was headed to the injured list with a forearm strain of his own. No timetable for the southpaw’s return was provided.
The 25-year-old Sheffield pitched to a 4.17 ERA and 3.97 FIP from Opening Day 2020 through June 3 of this season and looked to be settling in as a reliable member of the Seattle rotation. But over his past five starts, Sheffield has managed only 19 1/3 innings and been hammered for 24 runs on 33 hits (seven homers) and 12 walks. His velocity hasn’t dipped in that time, but it’s still the worst stretch of his young career — one that’s ballooned his 2021 ERA to 6.48 in short order.
Looking long-term, the Mariners have some high-end arms still on the way. Recent first-rounders George Kirby and Emerson Hancock were both drafted as polished college arms, but they’re currently pitching at Class-A Advanced and aren’t immediate options to help round out the MLB group. The Mariners have some depth options in Triple-A — Robert Dugger is already on the 40-man roster — but they’ve also lost a lot of their depth to injuries. Dunn is currently on the IL with a shoulder strain. James Paxton’s return to Seattle lasted just 1 1/3 innings before he required Tommy John surgery. Righty Ljay Newsome also went down with a UCL tear, and lefty Nick Margevicius underwent thoracic outlet surgery earlier in the year.
Given that slate of injuries and new concerns surrounding Sheffield, it’d only be natural for the Mariners to look for some help on the trade market. And while that’ll be especially likely if they remain within arm’s reach of a postseason berth, the Mariners are the type of team that could look to add longer-term pieces to their MLB group even if they begin to fall back in the standings. Servais foreshadowed as much when mentioning “[taking] a look into 2022 and beyond” — a nod to the possibility of acquiring a pitcher with multiple years of club control remaining.
Regardless of how the Mariners finish in the standings this year, the offseason expectation will be that they’re going to start adding to the roster via free agency and trades. Much of the team’s young core has either emerged in the big leagues already or will do so over the next calendar year. Acquiring a pitcher with multiple years of club control would only serve to jumpstart that process for Dipoto & Co.
Then again, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times points out, there’s at least some degree of uncertainty surrounding the organization’s top decision-maker himself. Dipoto is in the final season of a three-year contract right now and has yet to sign a new deal. Divish reports that the Mariners have “floated” the idea of a one-year extension for the 2022 season, which would give Dipoto a chance to finish off his rebuild and ownership the chance to take a look at a more finished product, so to speak.
For the time being, however, Dipoto is approaching a pivotal trade deadline with no guarantee he’ll still be at the helm this coming offseason. It’s still possible that ownership will get something done this month — Dipoto’s last three-year extension was signed in early July, 2018 — but it’s not clear whether there’s been any formal offer made.
Marlins Pick Up Don Mattingly’s Option For 2022 Season
Don Mattingly will return as the Marlins’ manager in 2022. General manager Kim Ng announced on today’s broadcast that Mattingly’s mutual option for the 2022 campaign has been picked up by both parties (Twitter link, with video, via Bally Sports Florida).
“Donnie’s been steady at the helm,” Ng said when asked about the job Mattingly has done. “I think that’s one of his greatest attributes. He’s incredibly patient. I think he’s got a great way with the young players. He’s very positive with them.”
The 2022 season will be Mattingly’s seventh as the Marlins’ manager. He joined the Fish in 2016 on the heels of a five-year run as the Dodgers’ skipper and has since managed the team to a 345-446 record. Of course, the manager of a club that has gone through yet another broad-reaching fire sale, turned over its front office and gone through an ownership change can’t be judged solely on wins and losses. Mattingly has stuck with the club through all of those sweeping changes, convincing multiple front offices and ownership groups alike that he’s the right person to be leading an up-and-coming Marlins club.
Mattingly’s Marlins made a surprise postseason bid last year in the expanded format and did so in spite of a Covid outbreak that gutted the roster and left him with a host of replacement players for several weeks. That unexpected playoff berth contributed to Mattingly’s first NL Manager of the Year win. His club toppled the NL Central champion Cubs in the Wild Card round of play before falling to the Braves in the NLDS.
The 2021 season hasn’t gone exactly according to plan for the Marlins, who’ve fallen into a prolonged stretch of losses and dropped to 38-47 in the standings. The loss of touted young right-hander Sixto Sanchez due to shoulder surgery has been a particularly tough hit for Miami, and they’ve also been without third baseman Brian Anderson and promising righty Elieser Hernandez for much of the 2021 campaign as well.
Still, there are some important pieces in place for the franchise moving forward. Jazz Chisholm is enjoying a nice season in the middle infield, and the Marlins’ rotation has the makings of an impressive group, headlined by Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Trevor Rogers. Miami has several interesting prospects just breaking into the Majors or on the cusp of doing so, including outfielders Jesus Sanchez and JJ Bleday. Last year’s first-round pick, righty Max Meyer, has utterly dominated the Double-A level and could be a quick-to-the-Majors arm.
Mattingly will get the chance to work with that upcoming wave of talent, and if all goes according to plan next season, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see Ng, principal owner Bruce Sherman and CEO Derek Jeter extend Mattingly beyond the 2022 campaign.
A’s Select Jacob Wilson, Place Chad Pinder On IL
The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Jacob Wilson from Triple-A Las Vegas and placed Chad Pinder on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. A’s skipper Bob Melvin tells reporters that Pinder’s injury is going to sideline him “awhile,” noting that the strain is in the middle of the hamstring muscle and that such injuries are “probably at least a month” (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle).
Wilson, 30, will be making his MLB debut nine years after being selected by the Cardinals in the 10th round of the 2012 draft. He’s since bounced to the Nationals for a few seasons and also spent a year with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants. After inking a minor league deal over the winter, he headed to Vegas and has mashed at a .288/.385/.630 clip while slugging 14 home runs, 17 doubles and a pair of triples in 218 plate appearances.
Wilson has played all over the diamond in his pro career, though his primary positions have been second base and third base. He’s also logged nearly 500 innings at first base, and the A’s have been giving him time in left field so far in 2021 as well. He’ll give them a right-handed bat to help cover for Pinder’s absence. In 1409 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Wilson is a .263/.341/.462 hitter.
This is the second IL stint of the season for Pinder, who missed more than a month earlier in the year thanks to a left knee sprain. The 29-year-old has been a versatile and valuable role player for the A’s in recent years, but he’s struggling through the least-productive season of his MLB tenure to date, batting just .216/.269/.358 with the second-highest strikeout rate (27.6 percent) and second-lowest walk rate (5.5 percent) of his career.
Eloy Jimenez To Begin Rehab Assignment
The White Sox announced this morning that slugger Eloy Jimenez has been cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. Jimenez, who suffered a ruptured pectoral tendon during Spring Training and has yet to play in 2021, will start out with Class-A Advanced Winston-Salem.
Minor league rehab assignments can last up to 30 days, so this doesn’t necessarily mean that Jimenez will be back with the Sox in the very near future, but it effectively places a clock on his return to the roster (barring any kind of setback). Assuming all goes well with the rehab, it seems he’s on track to return on the more optimistic end of the four- to five-month recovery period the White Sox placed on him after he underwent surgery back on March 30.
It’s a welcome development for a White Sox club whose roster has been hammered by injuries to key players. Center fielder Luis Robert suffered a Grade 3 hip flexor strain in early May that came with a 12- to 16-week recovery period. Nick Madrigal’s season is over due to a torn hamstring that required surgery. Yasmani Grandal underwent surgery to repair a tendon in his knee this week.
Despite losing some of their best players for half the season or more, the Sox have run away with the feeble American League Central. The rival Twins have been perhaps baseball’s most disappointing team in 2021, while the Indians have lost their top three starters to injury and have plummeted in the standings while their replacements have posted a combined 6.87 ERA over the past month. Kansas City’s offseason spending hasn’t produced a winner on the field, and the Tigers are in what they hope to be the final stages of what has felt like an interminable rebuild.
That’s not to detract from what the ChiSox have accomplished. Few would have been surprised to see the team wilt with so many major injuries. The front office deserves credit both for bringing in veteran Brian Goodwin, who has helped to stabilize the outfield with a .253/.349/.493 batting line in his first 22 games, and for generally cultivating a deep farm system over the past several years. Prospects Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger have both hit the ground running in their big league debuts, for instance.
The Chicago pitching staff, meanwhile, has been the backbone of the club’s success. Spearheaded by offseason acquisition Lance Lynn and a remarkable breakout by Carlos Rodon, Sox starting pitchers rank seventh in the Majors with a collective 3.62 earned run average.
The general thought has been that the White Sox will be looking for help in the outfield and/or at second base in the three weeks leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. That Jimenez is already on the mend and perhaps on track to be back in the lineup by early August could directly impact the team’s strategy. The Sox recently designated Adam Eaton for assignment, but they’ve been more prominently linked to infield acquisitions thus far — namely Eduardo Escobar and Adam Frazier. An apparently looming Jimenez return can only make GM Rick Hahn and his staff feel better about the outlook in the outfield, whereas second base is still a fairly obvious area to upgrade.
Dodgers Select Darien Nunez
The Dodgers announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of lefty Darien Nunez and optioned right-hander Mitch White to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Their 40-man roster is now full.
Nunez, 28, signed with the Dodgers out of Cuba back in 2018 and has consistently posted solid numbers out of the bullpen as he’s risen through their system. He’s gotten his first experience at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2021, pitching to a combined 2.70 ERA with a 35.3 percent strikeout rate and a 12.6 percent walk rate in 30 innings. Obviously, the Dodgers will hope his control of the strike zone improves — he’s also hit a batter and tossed three wild pitches — but it’s a generally encouraging showing for the lefty.
Nunez has never ranked among the Dodgers’ best prospect, perhaps in part due to his age, but he’ll nevertheless get his first look at the MLB level. Since he’s only just been selected, he’ll be optionable for all of this year and each of the two subsequent seasons, which could make him an up-and-down bit of depth while he looks to establish himself. The Dodgers frequently turn over the edges of their pitching staff — as White, who has now been optioned five times in 2021 aloone, can attest. Nunez will now be part of that churn for the foreseeable future, and he’ll give manager Dave Roberts a third lefty alongside David Price and Garrett Cleavinger while Victor Gonzalez is on the injured list due to plantar fasciitis.
Trevor Rosenthal To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery
Athletics reliever Trevor Rosenthal tore a labrum in his hip and will require surgery, manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News). He won’t pitch at all in 2021.
It will go down as a completely lost season for Rosenthal, who began the year on the injured list with shoulder soreness. Further evaluation revealed he’d need to undergo surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, which he did in early April. The hope had been that Rosenthal would be able to return at some point in August, but his new injury obviously forecloses that possibility.
It’s a horrible development for Rosenthal, who has had a few recent seasons derailed by injury. The former Cardinals closer suffered a UCL tear in 2017 that required Tommy John surgery. He lost all of 2018 rehabbing and looked nothing like himself when he returned the following season. Rosenthal walked an astounding 30.6% of opposing hitters with the Nationals and Tigers that year, forcing him to settle for a minor league contract with the Royals over the 2019-20 offseason.
Remarkably, Rosenthal completely reversed his fortunes to be among the top relievers in baseball last year. He cracked the Kansas City roster and pitched well enough to attract the interest of the contending Padres, who acquired him in advance of the trade deadline. Between the two clubs, Rosenthal pitched to a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings, striking out a whopping 41.8% of opponents while walking a lower than average 8.8%.
That positioned Rosenthal as one of the top free agent relievers in last winter’s class. He lingered on the market until late February, when the A’s stepped up and landed him on a one-year, $11MM contract. It was a surprising reversal from Oakland’s otherwise thrifty offseason, which included the team declining to make $18.9MM qualifying offers to star reliever Liam Hendriks and shortstop Marcus Semien.
The A’s will ultimately get no return on that investment, as Rosenthal’s unfortunate injury woes will keep him from donning the green and gold in a meaningful game. His contract contained a series of deferrals — Rosenthal is making just $3MM in 2021, followed by $3MM in 2022 and $5MM in 2023 — but he’ll again reach the open market this winter.
It’s not yet clear whether Rosenthal is expected to be ready for Spring Training in 2022. Given the injury-wrecked campaign, it’s plausible he’ll need to throw in front of scouts to demonstrate his health before he lands a new deal. Rosenthal is still just 31 years old and was brilliant when last able to take the mound, so it stands to reason there’ll be interest from teams if/when he works his way back to full strength.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/7/21
Today’s minor transactions:
- Left-hander Ryan Buchter has cleared outright waivers, the Diamondbacks announced. Arizona designated the veteran reliever for assignment earlier in the week. Buchter was a generally productive middle innings arm between 2016-19, but he didn’t see much action in 2020 and has had a poor season in 2021. Buchter tossed 14 2/3 innings with the D-Backs, pitching to a 5.52 ERA with 13 strikeouts and walks apiece. As a player who has previously been passed through outright waivers, he has the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
- The Red Sox have released left-hander Bobby Poyner, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). Poyner tossed 34 innings out of the Boston bullpen between 2018-19, working to a 4.50 ERA/3.68 SIERA. Boston passed him through outright waivers in January 2020, and he’d spent the 2021 campaign with Triple-A Worcester. Poyner has struggled in 13 innings at the minors’ highest level this year, allowing 15 runs on 22 hits (including six homers), two walks and three hit batsmen.
- Nationals infielder Humberto Arteaga has apparently cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment over the weekend. Arteaga has been back in action for the Nats Triple-A affiliate in Rochester the past two nights. He’s spent most of the year with the Red Wings but was selected to the major league roster for a day last week, going 0-3 with a sacrifice fly. Arteaga was waived after the Nats acquired Alcides Escobar from the Royals to fill their vacant utility infield role.
