The Rockies placed left-hander Brent Suter on the 15-day injured list yesterday due to a left oblique strain, and recalled righty Noah Davis from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Suter has posted his typically low strikeout rate and his 8.1% walk rate is barely above league average, but the 33-year-old has nonetheless worked to a 2.81 ERA over 41 2/3 innings out of Colorado’s bullpen. Suter has allowed only two home runs over those 41 2/3 frames, and he has some of the best soft-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball, sitting in the 99th percentile of hard-hit ball rate and in the 97th percentile of barrel rate.
Losing Suter to the IL is another blow to the injury-riddled Rockies, but the particular timing of the oblique problem adds some doubt to the southpaw’s value as a trade chip. Suter is a free agent after the season, and thus a logical player for the Rockies to shop in what looks like another non-contending season for the club. While oblique injuries can vary greatly in severity, it appears that Suter’s issue is relatively minor, as he told MLB.com that he was still feeling good and was planning to continue playing catch.
More from around the NL West…
- Knuckleballer Matt Waldron will start today’s game for the Padres, as Michael Wacha (the original scheduled starter) will skip a turn in the rotation due to some shoulder fatigue. Manager Bob Melvin described the move as “proactive,” telling the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders and other reporters that Wacha has “got a little bit of history there with the shoulder. He’s been as good as any pitcher in the National League so this is something we don’t want to push.” Wacha has missed some time with shoulder issues in three of the last four seasons but not any truly significant time, making this seemingly more of a nagging injury than a top-tier concern. Wacha has a 2.90 ERA over 80 2/3 innings for San Diego this season, with a 1.7 fWAR that leads all Padres pitchers. Despite a below-average strikeout rate, Wacha has relied on soft contact and good control to achieve that ERA, and both his changeup and (due to some batted-ball luck) four-seamer have been premium pitches.
- Emmet Sheehan’s MLB career is off to a tremendous start, as the Dodgers prospect has a 1.50 ERA over his first 12 innings in the Show. Sheehan held the Astros to two runs over six frames in yesterday’s 3-2 Los Angeles victory, earning his first big league win in the process. Unsurprisingly, this success has earned Sheehan a continued look, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that Sheehan will get another start next week. Julio Urias, Noah Syndergaard, and Dustin May are all on the IL, and while Urias might be back within a week or so, L.A. has had to rely on younger arms to join Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin in the rotation. Sheehan and Bobby Miller have done well to pick up the slack, while Michael Grove has been less consistent. Roberts said that Grove will work as a bulk pitcher behind an opener on Wednesday, when the Dodgers play the Rockies.
He’s (Wacha) been a great signing for the Pads, and he’ll be fine.
Can’t wait for Rockies brass to proclaim they’re still in the hunt.
Only 18 games under .500 with a long way to go. Let me pretend to be Schmidt for a minute: “I like our team. These guys are a little banged up, but they all know how to bounce back. Sellers? No, we never sell. Buyers? We don’t like to do that either. We want to keep our team right where it is. I’m confident success will find us.”
Montfort must sell, plus they need to donate the Quaker State uniforms to the Salvation Army.
Montfort must sell, plus they need to donate the Quaker State uniforms to the Salvation Army..
Wacha and Eovaldi are the reigning pitchers of the month.
Nice job Mr. Bloom
Eovaldi is at 99 innings pitched this year, he only averaged 101 over his 4 years in Boston. Love the dude, but with Sale and Pax locked in for pre-season rotation spots, that’s just too much injury risk. Bloom gets a pass on that contract in my opinion.
Not picking Wacha back up on the cheap for another year or two instead of signing Kluber… that’s a whole different conversation.
Anyhow, the boys are 1 1/2 back of 3rd in the division and a wild card spot. Give it a rest and try to enjoy some baseball. If Story comes back strong and they pick up a reliever to replace Ort, who knows? It’s still a fun team to watch.
elmedius – I get what you are saying about Nate, but these days there’s injury risk with nearly every pitcher. Maybe it was Bloom’s medical staff that blew it, hard to say without being included in the internal discussions. Ironically the Rangers had two big question marks themselves with deGrom’s health issues and Perez’s fluky 2022 season, and as it turns out Nate became their savior.
It was purely bad analytics that led to Bloom not keeping Wacha. He was considered very “lucky” last year because of the BABIP, and he’s not a strikeout pitcher, those peripherals apparently mattered more than results.
Oh I’m still watching every game, enjoying as much as I can. Even if they do squeak into the postseason, it’s hard to get super excited without a healthy Sale or Houck.
elmedius: Even more encouraging is that their next two games are against the White Sox so a wild card spot will be that much closer.
“1-1/2 in back of 3rd”? This isn’t a Milwaukee, Kansas City or Detroit. This is (supposedly) a high-profile team with a rich heritage of winning. Bloomers has turned them into a dumpster-diving ship of fools. He needs to be canned October 1.
Even if they still had Eovaldi, Wacha, Bogaerts, and Betts they wouldn’t be 53-26. Look at the division, they’d be leading some as is. 1 and 1/2 back of 3rd is relative. I get why you’re unhappy but there’s no reason to be toxic. They’re a better team than expected while resetting luxury tax penalties. Whether Bloom is gone or not the future looks bright, they’ve got money to spend next year, have finally started to develop some young starting pitchers, and Marcelo is on the way. They’re not a disappointment this year in the way the Pads and Cards are, it’s still enjoyable baseball except when certain guys come out of the pen lol.
It’s no surprise Wacha has hit a wall. He hasn’t thrown more than 127.1 innings in the last 5 years and he is already up to 80.2 innings so far this year. He will probably miss significant time like he did last year.
Don’t worry about the Suter injury…..The Rockies will sign him to a 4 year extension soon.
Surprised no one’s talking about how the Padres called up a guy who’s getting absolutely annihilated in the minors…good luck
This is where the Padres could really use some of that depth they’ve traded away over the last few years
Can you make me a list of the “depth” based on how they are performing in 2023? After Gore – not even that good 4.02 era – the list gets short.
Patino, Paddock, Quantril, Lauer – which one of those guys helps the Padres this year?
At this point, I am hoping Rockies lose 100, hopefully that would shame them into getting some competent people to run things, Montfort must sell.
At this point, I am hoping Rockies lose 100, hopefully that would shame them into getting some competent people to run things, Montfort must sell..