Astros second baseman and franchise face Jose Altuve is set to begin a rehab assignment this evening with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sugar Land. Altuve has been on the injured list all season after undergoing surgery on his right thumb after suffering an injury during the World Baseball Classic this spring. Though Altuve was initially expected to miss at least the first two months of the season, his rehab process gone quite well, allowing him to begin a rehab assignment somewhat ahead of schedule.
That’s great news for the Astros, who have scuffled to a 19-18 record in the early going this season, behind both the Rangers and Angels in the AL West. While Mauricio Dubon has filled in adequately at second base during Altuve’s absence, his .287/.306/.357 slash line in 134 plate appearances this season pales in comparison to the .300/.387/.533 line Altuve put up last season en route to the third top-5 finish in AL MVP award voting of his career. Houston is certainly hoping their 33-year-old superstar can jog a lineup whose .672 OPS as a team ranks bottom three in the majors.
More from around the American League…
- Carlos Rodon has yet to throw a regular season pitch for the Yankees this season after signing a six-year, $162MM deal with the club this past offseason, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post provides some clarity on the lefty’s timetable for return. Heyman notes that with Rodon resuming throwing today after the cortisone injection he received earlier in the week, the 30-year-old figures to be six weeks away from his Yankees debut, should everything go according to plan. The sooner Rodon is able to return to the Yankees, the better, as the club has fallen to fifth place in the AL East with a 21-18 record to open the season. Rodon, who has posted a 2.67 ERA in 310 2/3 innings since the beginning of the 2021 season, would surely bolster a Yankees club that has been forced to rely on Clarke Schmidt, Jhony Brito, and Domingo German to fill out the club’s rotation behind Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes.
- Twins reliever Ronny Henriquez has been reinstated from the 15-day IL and optioned to Triple-A, per the club’s communication director Dustin Morse. Henriquez, 23 next month, pitched to a 2.31 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work with the Twins as a rookie last season, striking out just 18% of batters faced, though he generated an impressive 52.8% groundball rate. That being said, Henriquez struggled during his rehab assignment this season, with a 4.76 ERA in 5 2/3 innings during that time. Henriquez will look to get right in the minors on a more permanent basis going forward while acting as bullpen depth for the Twins alongside Josh Winder.
Brian Cashman is top 3 worst GMs in baseball. Bad trades and seems to love injury prone players. Unacceptable to not win anything significant for over a decade with that payroll AND farm system.
He has THAT payroll and THAT farm because he built it. The Angels would have that too if they didnt waste half a bil on Rendon and Pujols
I agree with your farm point, but building a big payroll that doesn’t win championships is not a positive achievement
The big payroll is a positive achievement in and of itself.
I agree, the money has not been spent wisely at all.
Obviously bronx Mac. all you have to do is look at the results over the last 10 years. It does not impressed me if you squeeze into the postseason every year, only to be beaten by the same team every single year.
He has that payroll and farm because he’s in the largest market, and he had nothing to do with that. He just happens to work for a money machine.
That’s pretty ignorant, stymee.
Where did this Cano guy come from for the Orioles? Is he for real? Shows an ERA of 11.50 in 2022.. limited innings and 29 years old. Can he keep this up?
Pitched sort of for the Twins last year. Was in the Lopez trade.
Keep it up? Meaning finishing the season with 60 more innings like his first 18 with a zero ERA and a WHIP under 0.2? Probably not, because no one has ever come close to that?
But Baseball Savant has analyzed his pitches and the results and they are historic. Someone will figure out how to deal with him at least in part, But will he finish with an ERA under 1, a WHIP under 0.5 and a WAR of around 7? Do not bet against it.
Farm doesn’t produce any stars, unlike the teams they are looking up at. That is what separates them.
It’s hard for the farm to produce stars when they are constantly picking in the bottom half of the first round. That guy Judge did fall to them one year though.
In Cashman’s defense he did lay out all of that Yankee money to aquire the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI Tube so I am sure he signed Rodon precisely to insure they get plenty of use out of it. There is no other reason to give an almost 30 year old pitcher who couldn’t stay healthy in his mid 20s a 6 year 9 figure contract. Remember when Scherzer first hit free agency from Detroit? Cashman didn’t even invite him to New York. But Rodon hits FA and Cashman is falling all over himself to sign him. Also Cashman is actually fairly decent in evaluating AAA/AAAA talent. He got some productive years out of Voit, Gio and Didi. It’s when he attempts to trade at the top of the market where he falls on his face. He would be an excellent GM for a mid market team like Baltimore or St Louis. He just sucks in New York always trying to make under the radar moves and signing top of the market players that are questionable..
Is there any truth to Altuve’s shock therapy sessions giving him flashbacks to his buzzer? Inquiring minds want to know…
Astros used trash cans. Yanks used nip buzzers. Derp.
The Yankees want to have it both ways; they want to cry about the Astros “sign stealing” and then go and hire the RING LEADER of the sign stealing scheme, Carlos Beltran, to broadcast their games.
The trash cans were for cheating.
The nip buzzers were for, um, pleasure.
John Sterling uses one too.
“The-UH-uh-UH-uh- (BUZZ!) YANKEES…WIN!’
Dorp.
Never forget that MLB never released that sealed letter!! Yankees cheated too, but that lost lol
If it was never released then you don’t know what was in it, do you? No. No you do not. So you’re just in wishful thinking mode right now.
It was never released because they didn’t cheat, take off the tinfoil hat.
This was not a rehab of his reputation
Winning cures your reputation.
-Kobe
Imagine how garbage the rest of the league is when the bottom two teams in the AL East would be competing for 1st or 2nd in the other divisions.
That doesn’t mean the Yankees are any good.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
That means the rest of the league is trash. Yankees are riddled with injuries and they could still be 2nd in the other divisions. That’s pathetic.
Agreed. The Yankees need a good ol fashion tear down. They need to stop retooling every year and trade whomever has value, tank a year or two and get some decent draft picks. The constant top free agent bandaid isn’t winning championships and it won’t as long as Cashman is the GM. All of the opportunities that were available to sign top FA the last couple years and he chose Rodon to give the 9 figure contract to.
Brian Cashman sucks. No World Series title since 2009 despite staggering top 3 payrolls (frequently the #1 payroll) year after year after year. Terrible contract after terrible contract after terrible contract/acquisition, with the latest 1 given to the oversized, 31 year old, fragile, playoff choker Aaron Judge, who immediately fell off a cliff in terms of production.
Withering analysis and inarguable facts laid down by…..ahem…..
The ACE!!
That’s enough out of you, DC. You will stop now.
Astute observation DCart! Time to lay down more Combat roach traps.
Yankees haven’t had the #1 payroll in over a decade. That has routinely been the Dodgers until the Mets got Cohen. You are living in the past. The Yankees routinely get under the luxury tax now.
Rodon was like with my history of getting hurt u want to give me 162mil. Yep I will rip you off and sign
Article says will take him six weeks to be ready for major league action. He will be hurt again by then. Guess there’s always 2024.
I hope Sugar Land enjoys higher attendance due to Altuve’s rehab.
I’m sure that Altuve is literally buzzing (…..with excitement?) to get back into uniform!
At least they’re finally done with carlos beltran’s sorry ass.
Sorry, I just time travelled from two years ago and this is the first sentence I have seen. FINALLY! Now nobody will hire Carlos Beltran. Out of baseball!!!
>=}
Maybe it’s just me but I think a healthy Montas will be the best add the Yankees can make in the second half
You’re right. It’s just you.
Haha! queenie the meanie.
Solid maybe on that. He’s not due back until September, and that’s if he suffers no setbacks. I’m just having a hard time swallowing that Rodon will be on the shelf for another 6 weeks – end of June.
They can squeak into the playoffs with their current pitching. It’s the anemic offense against good pitching which has hurt them. I can’t see Josh Donaldson’s return helping. So all of it falls on Stanton who is productive WHEN healthy.
YBC,
Hoping at this point, to slip into the playoffs. I agree elimination has been mostly due to the inability to hit good pitching, last night being the most recent example. I’m interested in seeing more of Jake Bauers. The real problem this year has been starting the season with known holes (LF, left handed hitter, lack of true depth in the pitching staff) and hoping you would get lucky. Time to give up on that strategy!!!
Agreed bleacher creatures. having a healthy stanton back though is a big if, you know how long it takes him to recover from an injury. And he can always get re-injury, as his wont. I don’t think we could count on him at all.
I’ll happily take a WC, healthy Stanton and a Cole, Rodon, Sevy, Cortes rotation in Oct.
Bregman will start getting into a groove right when Altuve and Brantley come back. Gonna be a great summer.
but but but the Giants didn’t treat Dubon right
Those Rays just keep playing last place teams… When will it end?
The Rays are 13-7 against teams above .500. That’s the best record in the division.
This isn’t difficult.
Yankees just scored nine runs in 2 innings to take the lead. Now, lets watch Boonehead try to give it back.
Yep. 9-8. Boone’s a friggin genius. Take out a catcher whose homer helped ignite a comeback, and a pitcher who was cruising, just to watch two relief pitchers cough up a lead inside of 1/3 of an inning.