The Padres announced that right-hander Mike Clevinger has been reinstated from the injured list, with outfielder Brent Rooker being optioned in a corresponding move. After a lengthy absence from the majors while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Clevinger had to return to the IL after just three starts due to a triceps strain. Thankfully, he only required a minimum stay on the shelf and is quickly back on the roster, starting today’s game.
While many teams around the league are dealing with mounting injuries to their pitching staffs, the Padres now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their starting rotation. Clevinger joins Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea, Joe Musgrove, MacKenzie Gore and Blake Snell, with Nick Martinez likely getting bumped into a long-relief role. The club is off to a great start, sporting a record of 32-21, just three games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. The strength of their rotation has played a big role in that, as their collective 3.11 ERA is fourth-best in all of baseball, trailing only the Yankees, Dodgers and Astros.
Some other IL reinstatements from around the league…
- The Rays announced that righty Andrew Kittredge has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Calvin Faucher being optioned to make room for him. Kittredge was slowed by some lower back tightness but is able to return after a minimum stay on the injured list. Last year, he threw 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 53.5% ground ball rate. That success earned him a key role in the bullpen, as he eventually earned eight saves and seven holds. He wasn’t able to continue that this year, possibly due to this back injury. Over 18 innings, his ERA is an even 3.00, with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 44.2% grounder rate, though he’s limited walks to just 1.5% of batters faced.
- The Orioles reinstated righty Dean Kremer from the injured list today, with fellow righty Denyi Reyes being optioned in a corresponding move. Kremer landed on the injured list back in April due to an oblique strain. He is starting today’s ballgame for the O’s, which will be his season debut. His MLB time has been on the rough side so far, as his career ERA is currently 6.84 through 72 1/3 innings. However, while rehabbing from this injury, he’s thrown nine scoreless innings in the minors with a whopping 18 strikeouts against just two walks.
- The Phillies announced that they have reinstated Didi Gregorius from the IL, with Nick Maton trading places with him, heading to the IL due to a right shoulder sprain. Gregorius returns after about a month on the IL due to a left knee sprain. Prior to that, he was hitting .288/.338/.356 on the season. The resulting 97 wRC+ indicates that his bat has been about 3% worse than league average, though it’s still a big improvement over last year’s wRC+ of 68. Maton was just recalled a few days ago to provide help in the middle infield when Jean Segura landed on the IL, but will now join him on the shelf after just two games. Without those two options, it’s likely that Gregorious, Bryson Stott and Johan Camargo will now share the middle infield duties.
Can Clevinger play OF?
Brent Rookie, we hardly knew ya….
Is that Chris Paddock and Esteuary Ruiz’s roommate?
I think he’s Cleavenger’s cousin
And Eric Laurer’s brother-in-law
Kremer. Amateur hour here. That said, I don’t get what the O’s see in him. And to add “gasoline to the fire”, he gave up 3 runs today in the first inning (opponent is Cleveland)
Hard to believe a team can trade for a whopping five starting pitchers in two years and still have some decent prospects left. This is a huge benefit of having a strong farm, you know not everyone will pan out, and while you’ll lose some good ones, you somewhat mitigate risk by trading them in for established guys. Snell and Clevinger haven’t offered much though.
Every team has some decent prospects. But the Padres went from having the #1 farm system to being ranked #17 and not much to show for it with Darvish, Snell, and Manaea all being less than spectacular.
If by less than spectacular you mean not CY candidates like Musgrove, but really good, then okay. The Darvish/Caratini and Manaea trades are especially hard to criticize, given that both were with teams dumping salary. Unless you’re in love with Zack Davies. Who knows what Owen Caissie (now age 19) will become.
Manaca, Clevinger and Joe Musgrove are all free agents at the end of the year. That “embarrassment of riches” will largely evaporate in 2023.
They will likely sign one of those? Then Morejon returns. Bet they also trade or sign another FA SP too.
Musgrove will cost the most of the trio but I’d pony up for him. He’s turning into a number 1 or 1.5 since coming over.
Mlbtr FA power rankings have Java Joe as top FA pitcher, ahead of deGrom and Rodon. The Pads need to sign him before he wins a CY.