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Maddon: Mike Trout, Jo Adell Unlikely To Return This Season

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Mike Trout hasn’t played since May 18 on account of a right calf strain, as his recovery has been frustratingly slow. With just over three weeks remaining in the regular season — and with the team set to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year — it looks increasingly unlikely we’ll see Trout again in 2021.

Manager Joe Maddon acknowledged that Trout likely won’t make it back, telling reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Jack Harris of the L.A. Times) he’d be “very surprised” if the three-time MVP returned this year. However, the Anaheim skipper added that the team hasn’t made any official decision about shutting Trout down as of yet, as the 30-year-old continues to work out with the team in hopes of getting back onto the field.

There’s little reason for the Angels to push Trout unless he’s fully healthy. The team has had another lost season despite his best efforts and an MVP-caliber year from Shohei Ohtani. Over 146 plate appearances, Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 with eight home runs. That’s not only the best offensive production of any player in the league with 100+ trips to the dish, it was on pace to be the best season of Trout’s illustrious career. His 191 wRC+ suggests he was ninety-one percentage points better than the league average hitter on a rate basis. Had he carried that over a full season, that’d have narrowly edged out his 2018 output (.312/.460/.628) for his best ever offensive work.

When healthy, Trout is arguably still the game’s best overall player. The Angels plan to make another run at contending in 2022, and having him at full strength next Opening Day will be the top priority. The nine-time All-Star would love to make it back for at least a couple games in order to kick off a normal offseason, but the team surely won’t take any chances with an injury that has already proven extremely troublesome.

Jo Adell will likely be penciled in alongside Trout in next year’s season-opening outfield. The Angels placed the former top prospect on the 10-day injured list due to a left abdominal strain, though, and Maddon suggested he’s probably not going to return this year (via Fletcher). The 22-year-old mashed at a .289/.342/.592 clip in Triple-A this season, although his big league output (.246/.295/.408 over 140 plate appearances) has been a bit below average.

Adell hasn’t yet produced much in the majors, but he’s taken steps to put his disastrous rookie season behind him. Adell made his MLB debut last year but hit only .161/.212/.266 while striking out in 41.7% of his first 132 plate appearances. His bottom line numbers in 2021 represent a significant improvement, and that’s come with some encouraging process developments. Adell has cut his strikeout rate from that untenable 2020 mark to a 22.9% figure that’s right in line with the league average. He’s improved his contact rate by nearly thirteen percentage points in the process.

There’s still more to iron out, to be certain. Adell continues to be highly aggressive at the dish, chasing pitches outside the strike zone at an alarming rate. That has contributed to a very low 5.7% walk percentage that’ll need to be improved upon if he’s to reach his full potential. But Adell has made demonstrable strides this season, and he’s not much older than many of the top college prospects from this summer’s draft class. (First overall pick Henry Davis, for instance, was born in September 1999, while Adell was born in April of the same year).

Fellow top prospect Brandon Marsh should continue to get everyday reps over this season’s final couple weeks in hopes of locking down a big league job in 2022. Juan Lagares, Taylor Ward and utility men Phil Gosselin, Jose Rojas and Kean Wong are among the other options to see time on the grass through the end of the year.

Astros Designate Robel Garcia For Assignment

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The Astros are designating infielder Robel García for assignment, relays Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Reliever Rafael Montero was also transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. The moves create a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster needed to reinstate Taylor Jones and Andre Scrubb from the injured list (Jones from the COVID-19 IL, Scrubb from the 60-day version). Both Jones and Scrubb were optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land.

García has had one of the crazier career arcs of any player over the past few seasons. He spent a few years at the lowest levels of the Indians system but was released having topped out in Low-A. The Cubs spotted García playing professional ball in Italy a few years later and signed him to a minor league deal going into the 2019 season.

Assigned to Double-A, García mashed over the season’s first month before being bumped up to the minors’ top level. He popped 21 home runs in just 296 Triple-A plate appearances to earn his first big league call that July. The switch-hitting infielder hit another five homers in 80 trips to the plate at the big league level, but he also struck out 35 times.

Chicago designated García for assignment last July, and he spent the campaign at the Reds’ alternate training site after Cincinnati claimed him off waivers. He briefly landed with the Mets and Angels via waiver claim over the offseason and stuck with Houston after the Astros claimed him in February. He’s taken 117 plate appearances at the major league level this season, struggling to a .151/.216/.208 line with a huge 35.9% strikeout rate. The utilityman has had similar swing-and-miss issues in Triple-A, hitting .189/.321/.422 in 109 trips to the plate.

The Astros will now place García on outright or release waivers. His combination of power and ability to cover any position on the dirt has attracted the interest of a few teams around the league, although his continued strikeout problems have kept him from producing much to date at the big league level. García still has a minor league option year remaining after this season, so it’s possible a team could claim him and keep him in the system as high minors infield depth.

Houston acquired Montero alongside Kendall Graveman as part of a deadline deal with the Mariners. Montero had underperformed in Seattle and was included in the deal largely to offset salary. He performed well over his first four appearances with the Astros, tossing six innings of one-run ball. Unfortunately, right shoulder discomfort landed him on the IL just a couple weeks after the trade.

Today’s transfer rules Montero out for sixty days from August 10, the date of his initial IL placement. It’s theoretically possible he could make it back for a postseason run, but it seems more likely he won’t return this season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the fourth and final time of his career this offseason. If tendered a contract, he’d be in line for a slight raise on this season’s $2.25MM salary.

Scrubb returns for the first time since mid-July, when he landed on the IL with a shoulder strain. The 26-year-old has worked 19 2/3 frames of 5.03 ERA ball, striking out a decent 24.4% of batters faced but issuing walks at an alarming 16.3% clip. Jones, meanwhile, is back after missing a couple weeks upon testing positive for the coronavirus. He’s hitting .245/.269/.402 across 108 plate appearances.

Royals Place Mike Minor On Injured List

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The Royals have placed left-hander Mike Minor on the 10-day injured list due to left shoulder impingement syndrome and recalled righty Scott Blewett from Triple-A Omaha, per a club announcement. Righty Carlos Hernandez is moving up in the rotation and starting tonight in Minor’s place. Left-hander Daniel Lynch will get the nod tomorrow.

Given the timing of the injury, it’s at least possible this will mark the end of Minor’s season. Minor’s placement on the IL is retroactive to Monday, so he could be back in about a week’s time, but there’d only be 12 days left in the season, at most, once Minor is eligible to return.

Minor, 33, revitalized his career as a reliever with the Royals back in 2017 — his first stint with the club. He signed a two-year, $18M contract with Kansas City this past offseason in hopes of doing so a second time, but he hasn’t been able to improve much upon last year’s 5.56 ERA.

To his credit, Minor has been a stabilizing presence in the Kansas City rotation and has been quite effective of late. He’s taken the ball 28 times this year and soaked up 158 2/3 frames, keeping the Royals from leaning too heavily on a collection of young arms whose workloads they’d hoped to closely monitor this season. And while Minor was struggling for much of the season’s first four months, he’d given the Royals a solid 3.78 ERA with a 21.2 percent strikeout rate and a brilliant 3.7 percent walk rate in 52 2/3 innings across his past nine outings.  That type of output was likely just what the Royals hoped for in signing Minor, but because of his ugly start to the season, that recent streak has only dropped his ERA to 5.05.

Minor has become increasingly homer-prone in recent years, and his strikeout rate is also down from the past two seasons, although he’s counteracted that to an extent with one of his stingiest walk rates. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP, xFIP, xERA and SIERA all peg Minor in the 4.28 to 4.44 range, suggesting there’s some hope that he can continue to the solid run he put together late in the 2021 season next year — health permitting, of course. The Royals owe Minor $10MM in 2022 , and his contract also contains a $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout.

AL West Notes: Calhoun, Yordan, Murphy

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Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun missed nearly three months of the 2021 season after suffering a broken arm upon being hit by a pitch, but he’s expected to return to the lineup this week, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The club has 18 games left to get a look at Calhoun before determining whether to tender him a contract in arbitration this winter, and manager Chris Woodward offered no certainties when discussing Calhoun’s future. “Unfortunately, he hasn’t played enough for us to really evaluate him,” Woodward said (via Grant). “So, we may have to make a really tough decision one way or the other. We’re going to have to kind of go out on a limb.”

Calhoun, 27 this offseason, was the headlining prospect the Rangers received from the Dodgers in 2017’s Yu Darvish trade. He’s yet to establish himself as a consistently productive hitter, however, and was batting a rather pedestrian .254/.323/.385 in 226 plate appearances before heading to the injured list. Calhoun’s lack of playing time and career .248/.304/.418 batting line to date will limit his arbitration price. That, coupled with the fact that he has a minor league option remaining in 2022, could be a saving grace. So long as the Rangers don’t mind carrying him on the 40-man roster, there’s little downside in tendering him a contract, but Woodward’s mention of a “tough decision” appears to indicate that there’s at least some debate on how to proceed.

Some more notes from the division…

  • Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is getting increased defensive reps in at first base and could begin seeing time there in games, manager Dusty Baker told reporters this week (link via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Alvarez, 24, played some first base in the minors but hasn’t appeared there in the Majors yet. He’s only played 317 innings of defense since debuting in 2019 — all of which have come in left field. The ’Stros have Yuli Gurriel as their everyday option at first base, and his $8MM club option for the 2022 season is a no-brainer to be exercised after a terrific 2021 season. Still, getting Alvarez some work at first would provide a safety net should Gurriel need to miss time and would also give the Astros an option on days where they hope to rest Gurriel, who’ll turn 38 next June. Looking beyond the ’22 campaign, at which point Gurriel will be a free agent, it’d obviously be a bonus if the ’Stros felt comfortable playing Alvarez at first base on at least a part-time basis. Given the knee troubles he’s already had in his career, Alvarez might not be a full-time option either in left field or at first base for Houston, but the more ways they have to keep him and his outstanding career .293/.375/.584 batting line (906 plate appearances) in the lineup, the better.
  • Mariners catcher Tom Murphy chatted with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times about his rebound from an awful start to the year — a stretch he called “the lowest point in my baseball career.” Murphy’s roster spot looked to be in jeopardy at one point, but he’s rebounded since mid-May, hitting .236/.346/.408 with eight homers in his past 208 trips to the plate. His season line still rests at an ugly .205/.304/.373, but that’s weighed down by those first six weeks. Murphy didn’t play in 2020 after fouling a ball into his foot and suffering a fracture during Mariners “Summer Camp,” so the slow start after such a long layoff is somewhat understandable. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for a second time this winter, giving the Mariners three potential options behind the dish alongside Luis Torrens and prospect Cal Raleigh. Had Murphy’s struggles continued, he’d have been a clear non-tender candidate. That possibility can’t be expressly ruled out even with the rebound, but the forthcoming raise on his modest $875K salary figures to be relatively minimal. Murphy hit .273/.324/.535 in 281 plate appearances with the Mariners back in 2019.

Mets Expected To Make Qualifying Offer To Michael Conforto

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It’s been a poorly timed down year at the plate for Mets outfielder Michael Conforto, who’ll reach free agency for the first time this winter. He’s begun to turn things around at the plate over the past five weeks or so, however, and Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes that the team is “primed” to make a qualifying offer to Conforto — an offer he’s quite likely to reject, per DiComo.

MLBTR’s Anthony Franco wrote a month ago when previewing the qualifying offer market that Conforto was a likely recipient, even prior to his recent hot streak, so the notion of Conforto being tagged with that one-year offer in the $19MM range isn’t necessarily a surprise in and of itself. Given Conforto’s age — he’ll turn 29 next March — and down season, some might have wondered whether there was a chance he’d accept the qualifying offer. Doing so would’ve come with the possibility of reentering the market in advance of his age-30 season, in 2023, without draft compensation attached to his name and on the heels of a hopeful rebound effort.

As Anthony noted in that previously referenced qualifying offer preview, Conforto still seemed like a decent bet to land a long-term deal based solely on his age and track record. He’s been on a tear over the past month-plus, however, which only figures to increase the chances he’ll both receive and reject the offer.

Granted, Conforto’s .227/.344/.375 batting line isn’t much to look at (104 wRC+), but he’s walking at a strong 12.5 percent clip with similar exit velocity, launch angle and barrel rates to those he’s logged in recent, more-productive seasons. His 41.2 percent hard-hit rate is the second-best of his career, and Conforto has posted his best marks of the past five years in swinging-strike rate and contact rate this season. Last year’s mammoth .322/.412/.515 line in 54 games was a clear outlier (.412 BABIP), but Conforto’s batted-ball and K-BB profiles look quite similar to the hitter who posted a .257/.363/.492 line from 2017-19.

Beyond that, Conforto’s age shouldn’t be understated when looking at his qualifying offer candidacy. Few free agents reach the market prior to their age-30 seasons, and Conforto is particularly young when compared to the rest of the offseason outfield class. Kyle Schwarber is the only other everyday option who’ll play next season at 29. Nick Castellanos, who’s likely to opt out of the remaining two years on his contract with the Reds, will play next year at 30 years of age, but the bulk of the outfield class is a good bit older. Potential everyday options like Starling Marte (33 in 2021), Mark Canha (33) and Tommy Pham (34) are all four or more years older than Conforto.

Conforto is one of two possible qualifying offer candidates for the Mets this winter, with Noah Syndergaard standing as the only other plausible candidate. (Marcus Stroman cannot be issued a second qualifying offer, and Javier Baez is ineligible due to his midseason trade.) Syndergaard’s case isn’t as straightforward, as he hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2019 due primarily to last year’s Tommy John surgery. There’s still a case to be made, based on his track record and upside (plus the Mets’ payroll capacity), that it’s a worthwhile gamble for the team to take, however.

Ryan Braun Announces Retirement

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Longtime Brewers slugger Ryan Braun formally announced his retirement as a player Tuesday, thanking Brewers fans and the organization in a video announcement shared by the team (on Twitter). Braun didn’t sign with a club last offseason but hadn’t formally retired prior to today.

Now 37 years old, Braun was selected by Milwaukee with the No. 5 overall draft pick out of the University of Miami back in 2005. He was immediately tabbed as one of the game’s top-ranked prospects and would go on to make his big league debut not even two years after being drafted.

Braun hit the ground running, as he led the National League in slugging percentage as a rookie and batted .324/.370/.634 overall en route to narrowly edging out Troy Tulowitzki for National League Rookie of the Year honors. Braun hit 30-plus home runs in each of his first three big league seasons, despite not making his MLB debut until late May in 2007, and received All-Star nods and Silver Slugger Awards each season from 2008-12.

It’s impossible to look back at Braun’s career without remembering the controversy surrounding his 2011 MVP Award. Braun batted .332/.397/.597 with 33 home runs, 38 doubles, six triples and 33 stolen bases that season, eventually being named Most Valuable Player over then-Dodgers superstar Matt Kemp. It was a clear two-horse race, with Braun receiving 20 first-place votes and Kemp, who’d posted a very similar .324/.399/.586 batting line, receiving 10. (Prince Fielder and Justin Upton each received lone first-place votes as well.)

At the time, “Braun or Kemp?” was the type of spirited debate sports fans have relished for years: two elite players at the top of their game posted similar seasons… who was better? Who was more valuable? Not even two months later, that changed. An ESPN report revealed that Braun had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, and he was reported to be facing a 50-game suspension.

As with the majority of players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs, Braun appealed the suspension and fought the punishment. In an extreme rarity, however, he indeed had the suspension overturned on something of a technicality. The test collector who’d picked up Braun’s urine sample did not deliver the sample to the lab on time, prompting Braun to question the legitimacy of the result and the collection process.

“There were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way that the entire thing worked, that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened,” Braun said following the appeal.

The identity of the collector, Dino Laurenzi Jr., was leaked and his reputation tarnished — even in spite of a lengthy, detailed statement explaining the delayed nature of the delivery which Laurenzi claimed was in line with MLB protocols.

Less than two years later, Braun was again linked to performance-enhancing drugs — this time for his involvement with the infamous Biogenesis clinic scandal in 2013. Braun eventually received a 65-game suspension — down from the original 100 the league reportedly sought — and did not appeal. He later apologized both privately and publicly to Laurenzi, stating that he “deeply” regretted his comments and his actions in light of the original positive test.

Braun’s production following his suspension notably remained strong — albeit not at its prior levels. Detractors will naturally point to the PED correlation, although Braun would hardly be the first high-level slugger to settle in as an above-average but no-longer-elite bat in his early to mid-30s. From 2014-20, Braun batted .276/.338/.492 and tacked on another 141 home runs to his career totals.

All told, Braun will be remembered fondly by many Brewer fans who were willing to move past the PED scandals but will of course be viewed in a different light by the majority of other fans. He spent 14 years in a Brewers uniform, batting .296/.358/.532 with 1963 hits, 352 home runs, 408 doubles, 49 triples, 216 stolen bases, 1080 runs scored and 1154 runs batted in. Baseball-Reference valued his career at 47.1 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs pegs him at 43.9 WAR.

Rays Outright Shawn Armstrong, David Hess

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The Rays announced that right-handers Shawn Armstrong and David Hess have each cleared outright waivers (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Both pitchers had the right to elect free agency, but they’ve each chosen to accept an assignment to Triple-A Durham. Tampa Bay had designated Armstrong and Hess for assignment last week.

Armstrong began the season with the Orioles, where he struggled badly and wound up designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers. He performed well with Baltimore’s top minor league affiliate, and the Rays acquired him for cash on the day of the trade deadline and selected him to the big league club a few weeks later.

The 30-year-old Armstrong worked sixteen innings over eleven frames of relief with Tampa Bay, pitching to a 4.50 ERA with rather bizarre peripherals. Armstrong’s strikeout and walk rates with the Rays have been stellar, as he’s punched out 33.8% of opponents while issuing free passes at only a 7.7% clip. But Armstrong was tagged for five home runs in that limited body of work, with an extremely low opponents’ batting average on balls in play and high rate of stranding baserunners keeping his ERA at a respectable level.

Hess has been up and down with a few teams this season. Originally signed by the Rays to a minor league deal, he was traded to the Marlins and made eighteen appearances with Miami. After being designated for assignment, he returned to Tampa Bay on another minors pact, and he’s already been selected and outrighted twice more since landing back in the Rays’ organization.

Between the two clubs, Hess has logged twenty innings with a 9.90 ERA. Like Armstrong, Hess has been plagued by the long ball, as he’s served up ten homers in his MLB action this season. Despite the nightmarish results at the big league level, Hess has been quite impressive with Durham. Over 35 2/3 frames with the Bulls, he has a 3.28 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk numbers (27.2% and 5.4%, respectively).

Red Sox Release Brandon Brennan

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The Red Sox have released reliever Brandon Brennan, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). He’d been with Triple-A Worcester after passing through outright waivers a couple months ago.

A Rule 5 draftee of the Mariners over the 2018-19 offseason, Brennan was a frequently-used bullpen option in Seattle in 2019. That year, he tossed 47 1/3 innings of 4.56 ERA ball, issuing a few too many walks but missing a fair amount of bats and racking up ground-balls at a 55.2% rate. The right-hander missed most of last season due to a severe oblique strain, though, and Seattle designated him for assignment this April.

The Red Sox claimed Brennan off waivers, but he’d only make one appearance with the big league club. He tossed three innings of scoreless relief but was designated for assignment the following night when Boston needed a fresh arm. Otherwise, Brennan has spent the year with Worcester, tossing 37 2/3 frames of relief for the WooSox. He’s only managed a 5.97 ERA, but his strikeout and walk rates (21.4% and 8.7%, respectively) weren’t far off the league average.

Brennan was plagued by opponents’ elevated .363 batting average on balls in play in Worcester and probably didn’t pitch as poorly as that run prevention mark would indicate. Nevertheless, he’d clearly fallen down the organizational depth chart, as the front office called upon other hurlers to come up in recent weeks while the big league pitching staff dealt with a series of COVID-19 related absences. Brennan will now be free to sign elsewhere, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see another club add the 30-year-old on a minor league deal to bolster their bullpen depth.

Red Sox Activate Martin Perez

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SEPTEMBER 14: As expected, Boston reinstated Pérez from the injured list before Tuesday’s game against the Mariners. To create roster space, righty Kaleb Ort has been removed from the active and 40-man rosters and returned to Worcester.

SEPTEMBER 13: The Red Sox have activated reliever Hirokazu Sawamura from the COVID-19 injured list. Fellow reliever Austin Davis is also back from paternity leave. In corresponding moves, Brad Peacock and Stephen Gonsalves were returned to Triple-A Worcester. Peacock and Gonsalves had each been selected to the roster as COVID replacements, so they can be removed from the active and 40-man rosters without being exposed to waivers. Additionally, right-hander Eduard Bazardo has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Worcester.

Sawamura has been out since August 31 after testing positive for the virus as part of the spread throughout the Sox’s clubhouse. Signed to a two-year deal over the offseason after a nine-year career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Sawamura has a 3.09 ERA over 46 2/3 innings during his first MLB season. The 33-year-old has shown some worrying control issues, walking 14.2% of opposing hitters, but he’s also punched out an above-average 26.5% of batters faced.

Peacock has made two appearances (including one start) since being acquired from the Indians and called up in the early stages of the outbreak. He has allowed nine runs in 5 1/3 innings. Gonsalves, meanwhile, has worked 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball in relief, his first big league action since he tossed 24 2/3 frames as a rookie with the 2018 Twins.

Manager Alex Cora provided updates on a few more players on the COVID IL (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). Lefty Martín Pérez is expected to make it back tomorrow, while closer Matt Barnes will make a couple minor league rehab appearances and is expected to return to the big league club this weekend. The team hopes that ace Chris Sale, who tested positive on September 9, will make it back to start a game against the Orioles this weekend.

Padres Sign Ross Detwiler To Major League Contract

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The Padres announced they’ve signed reliever Ross Detwiler to a major league contract. Righty Shaun Anderson was optioned to Triple-A El Paso to clear active roster space. San Diego already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no move was necessary in that regard.

Detwiler had previously spent the entire 2021 campaign with the Marlins, who signed him to a one-year, $850K guarantee over the offseason. The veteran southpaw spent the year as a bullpen option for Miami manager Don Mattingly, working primarily in lower-leverage situations. Detwiler made 46 appearances (including five starts as an opener) and worked 45 1/3 innings of 4.96 ERA ball.

It has been an interesting season for Detwiler, who has revamped his plan of attack. Generally a low-strikeout, ground-ball oriented hurler, he’s tweaked his pitch mix and gotten wildly different results than he has in years past. Detwiler has cut his sinker usage nearly in half in favor of a more four-seam heavy approach. That has resulted in a career-best strikeout rate (28%), with hitters taking a career-high 19.2% of his offerings for called strikes. But it’s come with an accompanying dip in ground balls, as Detwiler has gone from inducing grounders on more than half the balls in play against him between 2019-20 down to 39.7% this season.

With Detwiler nearing free agency anyways, the non-contending Marlins designated him for assignment and released him over the weekend. Miami will remain on the hook for the majority of Detwiler’s remaining salary, with the Friars responsible for paying him only the prorated portion of the league minimum for his final couple weeks of work.

Detwiler signs with San Diego after August 31, so he won’t be eligible for the Padres’ postseason roster if the team makes it to the playoffs. The 35-year-old will get an opportunity to pitch in meaningful games down the stretch, though, as he tries to help the Friars get into the postseason before again reaching free agency this winter.

For the Padres, there’s no real harm in bringing Detwiler aboard. They enter play tonight tied with the Cardinals, half a game behind the Reds for the National League’s final playoff spot. Their season quite obviously hangs in the balance over their final nineteen games, but the pitching staff continues to deal with injuries. Chris Paddack landed on the injured list last night, and Blake Snell left his most recent start early. Detwiler’s not a true rotation option at this stage of his career, but he’s capable of shouldering an inning or two to deepen an overall pitching staff that might have to rely on a few bullpen games down the stretch.

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