Newly acquired Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore will resume throwing this Friday, manager Dave Martinez told reporters this weekend (Twitter link via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). Gore, the former No. 3 overall draft pick and top pitching prospect in the sport, has been sidelined since July 25 due to elbow soreness. A previous MRI did not reveal structural damage, however, and the Nats were clearly comfortable with Gore’s medical records upon reviewing them in advance of the Juan Soto blockbuster that sent him from San Diego to Washington. Presumably, he’ll require a minor league rehab stint before jumping into the big league mix for the Nationals, but Friday’s throwing session will be an important first step to monitor as he begins that progression. Assuming good health, Gore looks poised to play a pivotal long-term role in the Nationals’ rotation, joining Josiah Gray (acquired in last summer’s Max Scherzer/Trea Turner deal) as a building block acquired at the deadline.
Gore absolutely overpowered opponents through early June, pitching to a 1.50 ERA with a 30% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate across the first 48 innings of his career. He’s been tagged for 27 runs in 22 innings since that time, however, working with diminished velocity along the way. Gore only pitched 50 1/3 innings last year (plus some work at the team’s Spring Training complex while going through a mechanical reset), so workload was always expected to be something of an issue in 2022. The Nationals have not made clear the extent to which they’ll monitor his innings moving forward.
Some more health situations to monitor around the league…
- Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant is currently in a walking boot due to a case of plantar fasciitis, and there’s no timetable for his return to the field, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes within a broader look at another disappointing season for the Rockies. Colorado signed Bryant to a seven-year, $182MM contract over the winter but have thus far received just 42 games and 181 plate appearances from the former Rookie of the Year and NL MVP. Bryant’s power was MIA early in the year while playing through a back injury that required two IL stints, but he did bat .330/.398/.567 with 13 extra-base hits (five homers, eight doubles) in 108 plate appearances between his most recent trips to the injured list.
- Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty believes issues with his mechanics led to his latest trip to the injured list, per MLB.com. The starter spent most of the season on the injured list due shoulder problems, returning to make three starts in June before returning to the 60-day IL. That means he’s ineligible to return until late August, though he has started throwing this week, trying to iron out those mechanical issues and potentially starting a rehab assignment soon. “You start doing things incorrectly for a while and then you repeat it over and over again — eventually something is going to flare up,” Flaherty says. “The goal was to clean things up and sharpen things up so that that doesn’t happen. That’s what we’ve been working on, so hopefully things stay that way.” If he can return before the season is out, he could provide a boost to the rotation down the stretch, though the Cards added Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery at the deadline to proactively address the situation.
- The Twins expect righties Josh Winder and Bailey Ober to begin throwing bullpen sessions Tuesday, tweets Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Winder has been widely regarded as a top-100 prospect this year and has given Minnesota 45 1/3 frames of 3.77 ERA ball in his big league debut, but shoulder troubles have slowed him of late (as has been the case in past seasons as well). Ober has made 27 starts for the Twins dating back to 2021, pitching to a 4.14 ERA along the way and serving as a generally solid back-of-the-rotation arm. He’s been out since June 1 due to a groin strain that proved more severe than originally believed. The Twins remain hopeful that each of Winder, Ober, outfielder Trevor Larnach and right-hander Kenta Maeda (recovering from 2021 Tommy John surgery) will be able to return in September, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North tweets that right-hander Randy Dobnak will head out on a minor league rehab assignment Thursday, giving the Twins some additional depth on the horizon.
You could see the Bryant nagging injuries starting with the Cubs. Not sure if he just isn’t very capable of playing through things like other guys can, or if he just breaks down easily. It seemed like over the last 3 years, anytime he’d start to get going, his wrist, ankle, shoulder, etc would flare up.. Was never the same guy we saw in 2016-2017.
Not sure about Bryant either, like a sunset at 6:30, he’s fading fast. Too bad, great when he had youth on his side.
Why was he worth $182M? Who were the Rockies bidding against? The Yankees got Rizzo for 2 years and $32M!! $150M extra for what??
WampumWalloper;
Two words……
Scott Boras.
Two more words, Samuel;
Colorado Rockies
Oh well, only 6.5 more years left in the contract. My suggestion is that they get the $51M check ready and trade him to the RS. He should be okay in Fenway’s LF.
Joe;
He may be OK there for a while, but with the way he plays those fans would make his life miserable. Anaheim would be a good fit. (“Watch your investments and the hits take care of themselves”…..been writing that about Angels position players since the early 80’s.)
One word: Themselves
You might as well color him out for the season if he’s in a walking boot. I’m the past few years Bryant has not stayed healthy long enough to truly get on a roll. Sadly injury issues only increase with age, so it’s gonna be a long 7 years for the Rockies.
There was a reason why the Giants didn’t give him a contract
Some good news there in the article about Twins’ players. I hope they all have solid recoveries.
Trading Gore isn’t going to look good for SD.
They’re putting all their chips on the table, for better or for worse. If they win it all, they fly that flag forever. If they don’t, they could be in serious trouble in the next 2-3 years. But I can respect what SD is doing, going for it all.
Of course you do. It’s not the Dodgers or Yankees. Either one does the same exact thing, you’d be crying about parity.
I’ve never complained about either the Dodgers or Yankees going out and putting all their chips on the table. They can do whatever tf they want with their assets if they think they can win it all by trading their prospects.
The end of the 2024 season is the end of the Padres franchise if they don’t have a championship or Soto extended. Preller traded everything they had left to get him.
It won’t be the end of the franchise, but it could be the end of Preller’s time with it.
“the end of the Padres franchise.”
That’s some serious hyperbole.
Look at how long they were in the cellar befor the last 5 yrs might as well be the end.
Soto isn’t signing an extension with SD. And even if he did it would have to be for an approximately $150m discount relative to what he could get elsewhere. That is the surplus value of Gore et al on BTV. If he doesn’t do that Preller would have been better off not trading for Soto and then handing him a blank check after 2024.
If the Padres don’t win one of the next 3 World Series Preller will never work in MLB again. Not even cleaning the toilets.
legend,
Soto’s next contract is independent of the trade to acquire him. The Padres traded for his performance through 2024 and the right to exclusive negotiation on an extension until he hits free agency.
Also, there are big error bars on BTV numbers.
“The right to exclusive negotiation on an extension until he hits free agency” is worthless. Especially with a Boras client.
Except for those who sign extensions before reaching free agency: Jose Altuve, Xander Bogaerts, Stephen Strasburg, Elvis Andrus, Carlos Gomez, Jered Weaver, Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Madson.
twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/alex-ki…
How many of those were trades? How many of those were Boras clients? How many of those were discounts?
If you read the linked article, you’d know they were all Boras clients.
I’ll give you that one. What about my other 2 questions?
Your original comment was about Boras clients. Now you’re expanding the criteria.
I’m not sure how trades relate to extensions, but at least six of the extensions were with original teams, maybe all eight.
And what qualifies as a discount?
@gbs42 I’m not expanding anything.
Being traded matters because a player is much more likely to sign an extension with the team that drafted signed/him and that he’s spent most of his career with than a team that traded for him. In Soto’s case the Nats don’t trade him until the first place if they don’t know he’s going to FA.
Money matters too because what an extension really comes down to, whether people say it or not, is money. They don’t want the player to go to the open market because then they’ll have to pay him more. You pay less on the captive market than the open market, generally speaking.
Padres gave up a lot for Soto, but if there is a player to drain the farm for.. it is him. 3 possible playoff runs is huge. Even if they wish they had the players they dealt 4 years from now.
It’s likely that trading Gore will not be good for San Diego, while trading for Soto will be good for San Diego.
Trading for Soto will be a net neutral if they don’t win 1 of the next 3 WS. You root for the name on the front of the jersey not the name on the back of it.
Kris Bryant is the king of soft tissue injuries….he has never looked like he enjoys the game and there is no way he lives out this contract in Colorado.
He needs to get away from Kleenex & start using sandpaper, get manly Kris…
As a long time Cubs fan, I have to agree. I never disliked KB or anything, still don’t have a problem with him, and I certainly don’t know what’s going on inside his head, but I will echo that he did look like he just never cared too much. Probably an unfair characterization, but I just never saw that fight. Didn’t really play through injuries. He’ll always be a key piece to my favorite baseball season of all-time, but I’m glad we didn’t lock him up.
I think he quite often played through injuries. That’s why his production tanked in 2018/2019. He just gets injured way too often/never fully recovers.
When someone has to claim or announce they’re a “fan of (insert team here)”, you know it’s either a hot or contrarian take…
An albatross contract already, less than a year in. If his body can’t handle the grind now, can you imagine how bad it will be in 2 or 3 years?
But if he has an mvp caliber season next year, as he potentially may, what a happened in year one is nothing but a footnote.
Way too early to call it a bad contract. The red flags are there tho, certainly.
Of all his accomplishments including ROY, MVP, 4x all star, and World Series champ, the feat he’s most proud of is rupturing Molina’s testicle.
I want to see the alternate timeline where the Cards put Flaherty in the Ozuna trade instead of Alcantara.
There is only one thing that the San Francisco Giants have done right all year and that is not resigning Kris Bryant. Other than that Farhan and Company haven’t done a dam thing to impress me. To much shopping at the dollar store. “No guts no glory”
Tho, lately, the dollar store has been a great place to find a bullpen on the cheap.
You could also buy any number of hitters who hit 30 home runs with a sub 200 ba. That’s buy one get one these days.
I blame it all on inflation, oh, and putin
I think Flaherty just realized he no longer has a place in the Cardinals rotation. Sorry Jack. You can be the guy designated to clean up Hudson’s messes. It’s a big job.
OMG! Are you delusional or what? Is this an intended exaggeration for comedic effect or do you like pushing lies? Maybe somebody told you this crap and you naively believe it,
That seems to be the norm with people who say such crap …. the talking points don’t have to be true or even believable … they’ll just salute any BS they run up the flag pole and call it old glory if it’s what they want to believe.
“I was always around different cultures … it was just how it was,” he says. …………I was adopted at a young age by my mother who is white, I have a brother who is white, and have grown up in predominantly white communities.
===================================
1-That was his quote. So he was apparently around different cultures, but in a predominantly white community?
2-He attended Harvard Westlake HS, one of the most expensive high schools in the country.
3-H.W. still only has 6% black students, and if he is one of the ones claiming to be black, then the 6% is probably overstated.
I grew up in The Bronx, and was born and attended school in the South Bronx. Flaherty sounds like another rich white kid trying to claim some type of entitlement.
Yes, players of other countries singing/saluting/displaying their hearts out to their respective flags and National Anthems with pride, dignity, and passion in the World Cup and other sporting events is acceptable, but ironically doing the same things as an American is wrong and bad…