After a long recovery from Tommy John surgery, Chris Paddack was activated from the Twins’ 60-day injured list today and was ready to appear in his first big league game since May 8, 2022. Technically, Paddack did “appear,” though he didn’t actually play. Paddack entered today’s game out of the bullpen prior to the start of the seventh inning, but as he was warming up on the mound, a rain delay halted the action for 50 minutes. As a result, Minnesota brought Louie Varland in to pitch once play resumed, leaving Paddack credited in the official box score with a rare appearance of zero innings pitched and zero batters faced. While it makes for a quirky bit of trivia for Paddack, the righty will probably appreciate it more once he gets a chance to properly complete his comeback with a real pitching appearance, which could happen as early as Tuesday when the AL Central champion Twins begin a series with the Athletics.
Some more from around the AL Central….
- The Royals activated Salvador Perez from the concussion-related injury list today, as the veteran catcher returned free of symptoms after the minimum seven days. Perez returns for a few more games to complete his 13th Major League season, and even after hitting a homer in today’s 6-5 Kansas City win over the Astros, it has been a tough year for the backstop. Beyond the Royals’ struggles, Perez has had a down year at the plate, hitting .252/.291/.419 with 22 homers over 555 plate appearances.
- Prior to today’s rain-shortened 3-2 victory over the Red Sox, the White Sox placed right-hander Jesse Scholtens on the 15-day injured list due to a left calf strain, and called righty Declan Cronin up from Triple-A. The injury officially ends Scholtens’ first MLB season, as he started 11 of 26 games for Chicago after debuting on April 7 and posted a 5.29 ERA, 15.4% strikeout rate and eight percent walk rate. The White Sox moved Scholtens up and down from Triple-A on a few occasions, using him primarily as a reliever before giving him a longer look as a starter over the last couple of months.
- While Terry Francona and the Guardians have stopped short of making it entirely official, all signs are pointing to Francona retiring at the end of the 2023 season. As the winningest manager in franchise history, Francona leaves a high bar for the Guards’ next skipper to reach, and Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that the club is planning “a wide-ranging managerial search.” The implication seems to be that the Guardians will look outside the organization for the new hire, though Hoynes pushes back against the perception that the front office is aiming to take a fuller control of in-game duties in the name of analytics. “It would be a mistake to think the next manager will be a human computer/yes man,” Hoynes writes, noting that the front office “want someone who will challenge them, someone they can learn from” as they have during Francona’s 11 seasons in Cleveland.
That makes Cleveland’s front office a unicorn.
Eunich-horn?
Albert Belle for manager. Fernando Vina for bench coach. Izzy Alcantara and Pedro Guerrero to round out the Challenger Coaching Team.
Phil Hughes and Todd Sears are both better plays than Paddack.
Brian Buchanan too.
So apparently the requirement that a pitcher must face three batters when he enters the game does not apply if there is a sudden rain delay? Is that mentioned specifically in the rule? If so, kudos to whoever wrote the rule for anticipating that possibility.
Is there a scenario where Paddack could be eligible for the win without pitching a pitch?
Would not have happened in this case but there have been a few zero-pitch wins. In 2009, Alan Embree came in to a game for the Rockies with 2 outs in an inning. Picked the runner off first without throwing a pitch. Rockies took the lead in their turn at bat and brought in another pitcher. Embree gets the win without throwing an official pitch.
Good stuff!
Why does Sandy Alomar keep getting passed over? He has been under Francona for some time. He was an all-star catcher. Catchers make good managers. He comes from a baseball family. What are we missing here?
If Alomar doesn’t at least get a look, they are crazy.
Then again, they may be looking for someone all in on analytics rather than a traditional baseball man, or they know Sandy won’t let the front office run the team based on that.
You never know what happens behind the scenes.
Sandy would have got the job when they hired Francona if Francona wasn’t interested. Cleveland couldn’t pass on Francona.
I’m not sure that he’d even be interested at this point. If they stay internal, I’d guess Mike Sarbaugh gets a look.
If they go outside the organization, I’d guess it’s someone who already has some sort of connection to the team already. Will Venable (college teammate of their GM), Tony Mansolino (coached in the organization before and comes from a winning team), or maybe even Mike Napoli could make sense but I’d imagine it’s a long list.
Alomar recently said (maybe this past spring) he would only consider interviews where he was a serious candidate. It seems like he has a good rapport with the players but maybe some question his game management. He was Actas replacement for the rest of the 2012 season…where he got a 6 game audition. Doesn’t really seem a fair assessment if that’s whats going on.
I was thinking the same thing. Sandy Alomar is due for a chance to coach at the major league level and a change of scenery from first base. My vote is for SA Jr.
I want to congratulate and say thanks to Tito for 11 great seasons in Cleveland. His tenure was memorable and he came so close to ending the Tribe’s World Series drought in 2016. Tito is the winningest coach in franchise history, he will definitely be missed in years to come.
~ A Canadian Cleveland fan
It was a great run of competitiveness. 2018 was probably the biggest disappointment as they clearly had a superior team that didn’t show up in the playoffs. The trash cans didn’t help.
Tito Francona — one of the all-time greats. He was synonymous with Cleveland baseball for over a decade and gave us, his competitors in the AL Central, more than a fair fight every year. His teams were tough and scrappy and always fought to the bitter end. There were years where my Tigers dominated and then years where Cleveland was untouchable (by the Tigers at least). It was a recipe for a rivalry that lasted a decade. Despite being a foe, you couldn’t help but respect a Francona squad.
Francona will be remembered for the heart and determination he instilled in his teams and, by me, the fantastic 2016 AL pennant which resulted in a world series for the ages. So long, Terry. You will be missed!