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Could Lucas Giolito Be This Year’s José Berríos?

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On this date one year ago, the Minnesota Twins were 39-50, placing them 15 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central and 11 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot. They fell a little bit further back by the deadline and decided they had to do some selling. This was surely a disappointing result after two straight division titles and three postseason berths in four years, but they didn’t have much choice. Injuries and underperformance forced them to punt the season for the sake of the future. However, they still wanted to return to competing in 2022, selling only rentals like Nelson Cruz, J.A. Happ and Hansel Robles. The one exception was José Berríos, who had a year and a half of team control at the time.

The Twins traded Berríos to the Blue Jays, adding a couple of blue chip prospects to the system in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson. The hope at the time was that they could bolster their farm but still leave the big league club intact enough to take another shot in 2022. Despite Kenta Maeda’s subsequent Tommy John surgery, it’s still largely gone to plan so far. The club added Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray and Chris Paddack this offseason. Even though Paddack followed Maeda down the Tommy John path, the Twins are 49-41, tops in the division, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians.

This year’s White Sox are in a somewhat analogous position to last year’s Twins, although not quite as desperate. They, too, are coming off two consecutive trips to the postseason and had hopes of competing that have been hampered by injury and underperformance. They are currently 43-45, five games behind the Twins in the division and 3 1/2 games out in the Wild Card race. With about three weeks until the deadline, there’s still plenty of time for them to gain some ground and get back in the thick of things. But if things go the other direction and they slip further back, they might consider following the playbook of the Twins last year, picking up some prospects but without destroying the team, and then giving it another go next year.

In a conversation this week between Alyson Footer, Mark Feinsand and Jon Morosi at MLB.com, Morosi shared this thought: “I think it would take a significant tumble for the White Sox for Lucas Giolito to become truly available, but that’s a situation worth watching.” It doesn’t seem like Morosi’s sharing any insider information there, merely speculating on what could become possible in that scenario. Giolito is in the same position as Berríos last year, being a year and a half away from free agency, making him perhaps Chicago’s best chance at recouping a significant prospect return. In terms of rentals, José Abreu is the biggest name but doesn’t seem likely to be dealt given his status within the organization. Johnny Cueto is having a nice season but is 36 years old and probably won’t net a massive haul. Vince Velasquez is doing his usual thing. AJ Pollock is having a poor season, giving him negligible trade value and making it likely he exercises his $10MM player option for next year. Josh Harrison is having an okay-ish season but the 35-year-old utility guy won’t be a hot commodity at the deadline. He also has a $5.5MM club option for next year that comes with a $1.5MM buyout.

Giolito, with his excellent results in recent years and extra control, is perhaps the team’s best shot at really cashing in. One slight problem is that Giolito, like the White Sox, is having a down season. From 2019 to 2021, he put up an ERA of 3.47 over 72 starts, with a 30.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 35.6% ground ball rate. This year, through 16 starts, his ERA has jumped up to 4.69. His 27.1% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate are a bit worse than recent seasons, but not by much. BABIP seems to be a factor here, as his .338 mark on the season is well above his .272 career rate. That’s not pure bad luck, however, since he’s definitely getting hit harder. His 10.4% barrel rate is well above last year’s 6.7% and the 5.6% from the year before. Giolito is only in the 19th percentile of pitchers in terms of hard hit percentage and 29th in terms of average exit velocity.

Those struggles will likely put a dent in the return the White Sox would get in any trade, but they might need to consider it anyway if they truly slip from the race, as their farm system is generally regarded to be in poor shape. Baseball America recently ranked them last in the majors in their most recent list of organizational talent. Ditto for The Athletic and ESPN and MLB Pipeline. FanGraphs places them 29th, ahead of only Atlanta, with no White Sox prospects on their Top 100 list. In the upcoming draft, they are selecting 26th overall and have the 28th-highest total draft pool.

This makes their position outside the playoff race particularly uncomfortable. Since they’re not that far out, they might want to make a big splash at the deadline in order to give the club a boost and get them back into the race. But doing so would involve further weakening a system that is already in very poor shape. At some point, there must be a point where they consider turning their attention to the future for a few months and then trying to reload in the offseason.

In the scenario where Giolito is moved, the rotation wouldn’t be in awful shape next year. Cueto would also be gone as he’s on a one-year deal, but they would still have Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech. That’s still a strong front three to work with. Davis Martin is having a nice season as a depth starter and could perhaps earn a spot at the back of the rotation for next year. Of course, there’s the risk of an injury further depleting the staff, as happened to the Twins when Maeda went down. But they were still able to pivot and overcome that with a busy offseason.

The odds of any of this coming together are still long. With the Sox just 3 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot, one hot week can completely wipe out any thoughts of selling. But the same is true in the other direction, as one bad week could suddenly have them six, seven or eight games out. While trading Giolito now would be selling a bit low given his mediocre year, there would surely be clubs who could look to his past results and feel they could turn him around. Just about every contender is looking for starting pitching, with most clubs being connected to Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas and Tyler Mahle. But many teams will miss out on those three and be looking for other options. If the White Sox want to give a quick boost to their weak farm but then try to compete again while they still have the core of Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Andrew Vaughn and those aforementioned pitchers, this might be their best bet.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

List Of Home Run Derby Contestants

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July 14: Rangers shortstop Corey Seager will return to Dodger Stadium as the final Derby participant, Texas announced. Seager, who was also named to the American League All-Star team this afternoon as an injury replacement, has hit 21 homers on the season. He also appeared in the 2016 Home Run Derby.

July 13, 6:25pm: Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez will also participate, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (on Twitter). Ramirez has never participated in the Derby before, but he’ll join the event amidst a 17-homer season. Like Rodriguez, he’ll be part of the American League All-Star team the following night.

July 13, 3:50pm: Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez announced on social media that he will be joining the contest. As a rookie, this will naturally be his first appearance in the derby.

July 12: Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber has joined the field, with Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relaying that he himself posted about it on Instagram.

July 11, 9:21pm: Nationals star Juan Soto will also participate. The Talk Nats blog first reported (on Twitter) that Soto would accept an invitation if offered and Héctor Gómez of Z101 confirmed he’d be in the event. Soto, who was a part of last year’s event, has hit 17 longballs on the season. He’ll also be part of the NL All-Star Team the following night.

7:06pm: The 2022 Home Run Derby will take place next Monday, and the field is beginning to take shape. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. each announced this afternoon that they’d be participating, while Katie Woo of the Athletic reports that Cardinals designated hitter Albert Pujols will partake as well.

Pujols’ participation is the most surprising (and notable) of the three. He’s a four-time contestant but hasn’t appeared in a Derby in more than a decade. He’s only hit five longballs this year but twice led the National League during his first stint in St. Louis and is fifth all-time in homers. In his final big league season, Pujols is already set to head to the All-Star Game in recognition of his career. He’ll add the Derby to the celebration.

Alonso is hoping to defend his two straight titles. The New York slugger won in 2019, then backed that up with another championship last year. (The 2020 Derby was canceled). Along the way, he knocked off Acuña in the semifinals during the 2019 event. Atlanta’s star outfielder will join the festivities for a second time. Both Alonso and Acuña will team with Pujols on the NL All-Stars; Alonso is a reserve, while Acuña will be in Brian Snitker’s starting lineup.

Mets Designate Ender Inciarte For Assignment

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The Mets have designated outfielder Ender Inciarte for assignment, tweets Tim Healey of Newsday. The move clears an active roster spot for second baseman Jeff McNeil, who’d be on paternity leave. New York’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.

New York signed Inciarte to a minor league contract last month, then selected him to the majors not long after. The move afforded the club a defense-oriented depth outfielder while Travis Jankowski was on the injured list, but the latter returned a few days ago. Jankowski will reassume his role as the speed and glove option off the bench, while Inciarte’s time in the organization could come to a close.

Inciarte appeared in 11 games for the Mets, primarily as a late-game defensive substitute. He tallied eight plate appearances, his first MLB action of the season. Prior to latching on with the Mets, he’d spent the 2022 campaign on a minor league deal with the Yankees. Through 34 Triple-A games in the Yankees’ system, he hit a decent .252/.336/.408 with four home runs and stolen bases apiece.

The past few seasons have been a struggle for Inciarte, who combined excellent defense with near league average hitting at his peak with the D-Backs and Braves. Going back to the start of the 2020 campaign, the left-handed hitter owns a .197/.262/.271 line across 228 plate appearances. He’s continued to make a fair amount of contact, but his ball-in-play results have dropped precipitously.

The Mets will have a week to trade the three-time Gold Glove winner or place him on waivers. The latter course of action seems likely, and Inciarte would have the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of free agency if he passes through unclaimed.

Nationals Activate Anibal Sanchez, Transfer Stephen Strasburg To 60-Day IL

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The Nationals have activated Aníbal Sánchez from the 60-day injured list, setting him up to start tonight’s game against the Braves. Reliever Mason Thompson was optioned to Triple-A Rochester to free an active roster spot. To create a 40-man roster vacancy, Washington transferred Stephen Strasburg from the 15-day to the 60-day IL.

Sánchez will return to a big league mound for the first time since 2020. The 38-year-old righty sat out all of last season after not finding a contract offer to his liking on the heels of a 6.62 ERA showing during the shortened campaign. He made a comeback effort last offseason, returning to the Nats on a minor league deal. Sánchez made the club out of Spring Training, locking in a $2MM salary in the process, but he suffered a cervical neck impingement just before his first scheduled start.

That ultimately cost him three months of action, but the veteran is set to appear in the big leagues for a 16th year. He’s made three rehab starts with Rochester in recent weeks, topping out at 5 1/3 frames, so he should be capable of working into the middle innings. Sánchez joins a Washington rotation that has by far the league’s worst ERA (5.73) on the season.

Strasburg has contributed just one start to that group. He opened the year on the IL as he continued his rehab from last summer’s thoracic outlet syndrome procedure. The three-time All-Star returned in June, tossing 4 2/3 innings against the Marlins. He felt renewed discomfort in his rib area during a between-starts bullpen session, however, and he was again shut down.

Washington manager Dave Martinez suggested at the time he’d head for further evaluation and the club was concerned he’d had a recurrence of the TOS issues. The club hasn’t provided an update since that point, but he’s now gone over a month without reports of meaningful progress. Today’s IL transfer will officially rule him out for 60 days from his initial placement on June 11. He’ll technically be eligible to return around three weeks from now, but it seems likely he’ll be out well beyond that date given the lack of word on his status.

In another disappointing injury development, Martinez said today that rehabbing reliever Sean Doolittle will meet with doctors after experiencing elbow soreness during a recent bullpen session (via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). The veteran southpaw has been out since mid-April with an elbow sprain. He’s already on the 60-day IL. Doolittle, who signed a $1.5MM guarantee during Spring Training, made six scoreless appearances before the injury.

Yankees Place Luis Severino On 15-Day IL, Select Ryan Weber

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The Yankees announced they’ve placed starter Luis Severino on the 15-day injured list due to a low-grade strain of his right lat. Righty Ryan Weber was selected onto the big league club in his place. New York also reinstated reliever Jonathan Loáisiga from the 15-day IL, optioning JP Sears to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last night to clear a roster spot. New York already had a 40-man roster vacancy after designating Weber for assignment last week, a job he’ll now reassume.

Severino left last night’s start against the Reds with shoulder tightness. He’d dealt with slightly diminished velocity and was sent for an MRI this morning. That revealed some degree of injury to his lat, though the Yankees’ specification that it’s a low-grade strain is seemingly a positive development. New York hasn’t provided any specifics on a timetable for his return, but he’ll at least miss a start or two coming out of the All-Star Break.

It’s the first time all season the Yankees are dealing with an injury to one of their top five starters. Severino had joined Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Jordan Montgomery and Jameson Taillon in staying healthy to this point. Depth starter Luis Gil was lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery, but New York seems likely to welcome back Domingo Germán coming out of the Break. Out all season due to shoulder concerns, Germán has been on a minor league rehab assignment for the past few weeks. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Lindsey Adler of the Athletic) the righty will make another start with Scranton tomorrow, but he could be in consideration for activation not long thereafter.

Weber rejoins the active roster as a multi-inning option out of the bullpen. The journeyman has been on and off the roster a couple times, twice soaking up some frames of relief but being DFA quickly thereafter. Weber has spent the majority of the year with the RailRiders, pitching to a 2.55 ERA through 24 2/3 innings. He has a modest 18.8% strikeout rate in the minors, but he’s walked only one of 101 batters faced while inducing ground-balls at a solid 47.4% clip. That’s also been the general trend over Weber’s parts of eight seasons in the majors — excellent control and a fair number of grounders but below-average velocity and whiff rates.

Guardians Claim Kirk McCarty, Designate Alex Young

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The Guardians have claimed left-hander Kirk McCarty off waivers from the Orioles, according to an announcement from Baltimore. It’s a reversal of a transaction from just last week, when the O’s nabbed him from Cleveland. Mandy Bell of MLB.com relays a series of additional transactions for the Guardians (on Twitter). They’ve also selected the contract of southpaw Tanner Tully from Triple-A Columbus, placed starter Aaron Civale on the 15-day injured list with a sprained right wrist and designated lefty Alex Young for assignment. Additionally, outfielder Óscar Mercado has gone unclaimed on waivers and sent outright to Columbus.

McCarty has spent the bulk of his five-year professional career in the Cleveland system. A 7th-round pick in 2017, he reached the majors for the first time in April as a COVID replacement. The following month, the Guardians selected him permanently onto the 40-man roster, and he started two of his three big league appearances. McCarty allowed 13 runs in his first 12 MLB innings, and Cleveland designated him for assignment two weeks ago. Baltimore grabbed the Southern Miss product off waivers, but he made just one start for their Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk before being taken off their 40-man roster earlier in the week.

Now that he’s been reclaimed by Cleveland, McCarty will resume his role as a depth swingman. He’s been optioned to Columbus, where he posted a 3.77 ERA with a modest 18.7% strikeout rate but a strong 7.1% walk percentage through 43 innings before his first DFA. He’ll no doubt hope to stick on the 40-man for a more extended stretch this time around. McCarty is only in his first minor league option year, so the Guardians can move him between Cleveland and Columbus for the next few years if he holds a 40-man spot.

Tully, an Ohio State product, has followed a similar path. First added to the roster as virus substitute, he was formally selected last month. Cleveland designated the former 26th-rounder for assignment a few days later, and he passed through waivers unclaimed. Tully has been hit hard in five MLB innings, but he’s been a strike-throwing rotation arm in Columbus.

Through 14 starts with the Clippers, the 27-year-old owns a 4.95 ERA. He’s only fanned 16.9% of batters faced, but he has a pristine 3.3% walk percentage and has induced grounders on over half the batted balls against him in the minors. Like McCarty, Tully has all three options remaining. He’ll join a rotation mix that has to navigate an injury to Civale, who left yesterday’s start against the White Sox early with wrist soreness. The club hasn’t provided a firm table for the righty’s return, but he’ll at least miss the next couple weeks.

It’s the second IL stint of the season for Civale, who has had a rough year even when able to take the mound. Through 12 starts, the 27-year-old sports a 6.17 ERA. That’s easily a career-worst and more than two runs higher than the 3.84 mark he put together through 124 1/3 innings last year. Civale’s strikeout and walk numbers are virtually unchanged relative to last season, but he’s seen a marked decrease in ground-balls and given up quite a bit more hard contact.

Young, meanwhile, loses his roster spot after a lone appearance as a Guardian. Cleveland selected the former Diamondback southpaw on July 3, and he recorded an out in a game against the Tigers a day later. He was promptly optioned back to Columbus and now will be made available to other teams. That’s in spite of his strong production with the Clippers, as Young owns a 3.77 ERA through 31 innings of relief. He’s punched out an excellent 35.9% of opponents, walked only 5.5% of hitters and racked up grounders at a 51.4% clip.

That stellar minor league showing could draw Young some attention from other clubs in the next week, as Cleveland will have to deal him or try to run him through waivers. The former second-round pick hasn’t had much big league success (4.90 ERA through 182 career innings), but he’s not yet arbitration-eligible and still in his second option year. Young has been outrighted in his career before, so he’d have the right to elect minor league free agency even if he goes unclaimed on waivers.

That isn’t the case for Mercado, who has never previously cleared waivers nor eclipsed three years of big league service time. He’ll have to accept an assignment to Columbus and hope to play his way back onto the roster before the end of the year. It’s at least a temporary end of a roster flux for Mercado, who’d been designated for assignment three times in fairly rapid succession. He was let go by Cleveland late last month, claimed off waivers by the Phillies, then brought back by the Guardians before being DFA again.

Mercado, 27, is still a strong defensive outfielder, but he’s run into marked offensive troubles since a solid rookie season in 2019. Over the past three years, he has a .200/.258/.330 line in 459 trips to the plate. The extent of those struggles eventually squeezed him off the roster. Mercado is out of options, so he first needed to clear waivers before he could be sent back to the minors. Now that he’s done so, he’ll get his first crack against Triple-A arms this year and try to right the ship.

Royals Add Nick Pratto, Seven Others To Major League Roster

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The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve recalled top first base prospect Nick Pratto from Triple-A Omaha as one of eight players joining the Major League roster. Also coming to the Majors are catcher Sebastian Rivero, infielder Maikel Garcia and lefty Angel Zerpa, who’ve been recalled from Double-A Arkansas. Additionally, the Royals selected the contracts of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton, catcher Freddy Fermin, outfielder Brewer Hicklen and infielder Michael Massey from Omaha.

The deluge of additions comes in conjunction with the previously announced slate of ten current Royals heading to the restricted list in advance of the team’s road series against the Blue Jays, where travel restrictions prevent unvaccinated athletes from entering Canada. Andrew Benintendi, Dylan Coleman, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, Kyle Isbel, Brad Keller, MJ Melendez, Whit Merrifield, Brady Singer and Michael A. Taylor are all now formally on the restricted list.

As MLB.com’s Anne Rogers tweets, the roster spots of starting pitchers placed on the restricted list (i.e. Singer, Keller) cannot be filled until four days after they last pitched, per MLB rules, which explains the discrepancy between eight players being added versus the ten who went on the restricted list.

The Royals indicated in today’s announcement that they expect to add “up to two more players” to the big league roster over the course of the series. They’ll make another addition tomorrow and another on Sunday. Any players whose contracts were selected to the 40-man roster for this series can be returned to Triple-A without first needing to clear waivers, due to their status as Covid-19-related replacements.

Pratto’s promotion is the most notable of the bunch. The 14th overall pick in the 2017 draft, the California high school product slowly progressed up the minor league ladder. He had an awful 2019 showing in High-A, and the cancelation of the following minor league season dealt his prospect stock a hit heading into 2021. The lefty hitter rebounded in a huge way last year, blasting 36 home runs in a season split between the minors top two levels. That came with some alarming strikeout numbers, but Pratto’s combination of power and huge walk totals was enough to put him firmly in top prospect consideration. He entered the season as Baseball America’s #43 overall farmhand.

Assigned to Omaha to open this year, Pratto has essentially picked up where he left off. He’s hit 17 more longballs and drawn walks at a massive 15.1% clip, but he’s fanned in over 30% of his trips to the plate. The end result — a .240/.374/.484 line through 337 plate appearances — is still excellent. The Royals nevertheless brought up fellow top prospect Vinnie Pasquantino ahead of Pratto, seemingly preferring he get a long leash to iron out the strikeout concerns in the upper minors. It’s very possible he’ll head back to Omaha after the Jays’ series, but Kansas City fans will at least get their first glimpse at a player they hope eventually develops into a middle-of-the-order bat.

It’ll almost certainly be a brief stint for the group of players temporarily added to the 40-man roster. Hicklen was called up briefly as a COVID replacement earlier in the season. Fermin, Massey and Eaton all have opportunities to make their big league debuts in the coming days. Fermin, a former international signee out of Venezuela, is hitting .242/.357/.422 with Omaha this season.

Massey, a fourth-round pick out of Illinois in 2019, was recently named the #8 prospect in the Kansas City system by Baseball America. He owns a .348/.408/.630 line with six homers in 24 games since being bumped up to Omaha last month, and he’ll almost certainly land a permanent 40-man roster spot by next offseason (when Kansas City would need to add him to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft). Eaton is a former 21st-round pick out of VMI. BA recently slotted him 29th in the farm system in recognition of his .329/.388/.591 showing with the Storm Chasers.

Giants Place Jake McGee On Release Waivers, Claim Aaron Fletcher

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The Giants announced Thursday that left-hander Jake McGee, whom they designated for assignment over the weekend, has been placed on unconditional release waivers. San Francisco also claimed lefty Aaron Fletcher off waivers from the Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. Lefty Jose Alvarez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

McGee, 35, is in the second season of a two-year, $5MM contract that pays him $2.5MM and contains a $4.5MM club option (with a $500K buyout). He’s still owed the balance of that salary and the full weight of the buyout. It’s quite rare for players with any salary of note to be claimed off outright waivers or release waivers during the season, making it likely that he’ll clear and become a free agent. At that point, any team could sign McGee and owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the Majors. The Giants would remain on the hook for the remainder of his salary.

The contract looked brilliant last season, when McGee turned in 59 2/3 innings of 2.72 ERA ball. The lefty led the Giants with 31 saves, struck out 24.3% of his opponents against a tiny 4.2% walk rate, and served as a key member of a bullpen that propelled San Francisco to an MLB-best 107 wins.

Things haven’t gone nearly as smoothly in 2022, however. Though his velocity has remained mostly the same, McGee’s strikeout rate has plummeted to 11.5% as his walk rate has jumped to 6.3%. Beyond the freefall in his strikeout rate, McGee has been unable to strand runners this season, with his 49.7% left-on-base rate checking in miles below the 74.4% career rate he carried into the season. The end result is a disastrous 7.17 ERA through his first 21 1/3 innings.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle spoke to McGee in the wake of the move. The southpaw called it a “letdown” to be cut loose, given how much he’s enjoyed his time there, but he took the move in stride and was understanding of the team’s decision. Once he clears waivers, he’ll be able to sign with any team he wishes, and there are quite likely several clubs who’d be in the market for an effectively free look at a reliever with McGee’s track record.

Fletcher, meanwhile, will step into McGee’s place as a lefty relief option for the club. The 26-year-old split his time between Pittsburgh and their top affiliate in Indianapolis, making nine appearances with the Bucs and 14 in Triple-A. Fletcher allowed nine runs in 11 2/3 innings with the big league club, striking out six while walking four. He allowed just six runs (three earned) through 18 2/3 frames in Indianapolis, however, apparently catching the Giants’ attention in the process.

While Fletcher has yet to have success in brief big league stints with the Mariners and Pirates, he owns a 2.56 ERA in parts of four minor league campaigns. He’s typically posted gaudy ground-ball numbers throughout his professional tenure, including a 55.2% clip in Triple-A this season. Fletcher is in his second minor league option year, so he can bounce on and off the active roster for the foreseeable future.

As for Alvarez, he’ll be out for an extended period. The veteran southpaw just landed on the IL on July 5 with elbow inflammation, and he’ll now be ineligible to return until early September. Signed to a one-year guarantee heading into 2021, Alvarez posted a sparkling 2.37 ERA through 64 2/3 innings. The club exercised a $1.5MM option on his services for this year, but he posted a 5.28 ERA in 21 outings. He’ll now miss at least the bulk of the second half of the season, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be healthy enough to take the mound again before hitting free agency next winter.

Rays Shut Shane Baz Down For Four Weeks Due To Elbow Sprain

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The Rays announced Thursday that right-hander Shane Baz has been placed on the 15-day injured list after being diagnosed with a sprained right elbow. Baz felt discomfort while playing catch this week. He was evaluated by Dr. Keith Meister, received an injection, and will be shut down from throwing for at least four weeks. Righty Luke Bard is up from Triple-A Durham in his place.

It’s the second unfortunate bit of pitching news the Rays have gotten in the past 24 hours, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that lefty Josh Fleming could be out as long as six weeks due to an oblique strain. It’s a Grade 1 strain, which is the least-severe, but it Topkin notes that it was bad enough that doctors nearly termed it a Grade 2. Fleming won’t throw for the next two to three weeks and will need to build back up after that point.

It’s a brutal day of news for an already injury-ravaged Rays roster. Baz missed the first two months of the season following an arthroscopic procedure on his right elbow back in Spring Training. The righty, who was recently ranked as the game’s No. 2 overall prospect on Baseball America’s latest Top 100 list, returned from that injury and made five starts with a 2.92 ERA before being shelled for seven runs in a July 10 start in Cincinnati.

In addition to Baz and Fleming, the Rays are without Tyler Glasnow (2021 Tommy John surgery), Yonny Chirinos (2021 elbow fracture), Brendan McKay (2021 thoracic outlet surgery), Luis Patino (strained oblique) and Jeffrey Springs (leg injury). That septet would make up a potentially strong big league rotation on its own, were they healthy.

With those seven sidelined, however, Tampa Bay will lean heavily on ace and American League Cy Young favorite Shane McClanahan, veteran righty Corey Kluber and up-and-coming right-hander Drew Rasmussen for the foreseeable future. Lefty Ryan Yarbrough will likely be recalled from Durham this weekend to help cover some innings, and the Rays have already recalled right-hander Tommy Romero, who could also step into the big league rotation.

The Rays, in addition to that litany of rotation injuries, are also without catcher Mike Zunino, second baseman Brandon Lowe, shortstop Wander Franco, outfielders Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot, and five relievers (Nick Anderson, J.P. Feyereisen, Andrew Kittredge, Pete Fairbanks, JT Chargois). It’s a mammoth spate of injuries, with several of the team’s best players sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Even with the miserable luck on the health front this year, however, Tampa Bay is eight games above .500 and squarely in possession of the top Wild Card spot in the American League. There’s little to no hope that they’ll run down the Yankees, who boast a massive 14-game lead over the second-place Rays, but Tampa Bay’s current standing makes them a candidate to tap into the trade market for some reinforcements, be they on the pitching front or at any number of suddenly thin spots in the lineup.

As for Baz, the hope will be that a four-week shutdown provides sufficient healing. That said, a sprain — by definition — involves some degree of stretching or tearing in an elbow ligament, which obviously brings about concern of a more grim long-term outlook. Since we’re already midway through July, there’s little harm in Baz taking a rest-and-rehab approach for the time being. Even in a worst-case scenario that saw him require Tommy John surgery, he’d likely be out for the entire 2023 season at this point. The Rays, to be clear, have not indicated that such an outcome is on the table, but elbow sprains are often an unfortunate portent for surgery of some degree.

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