The Brewers inked veteran third baseman Josh Donaldson to a minor league deal just before the calendar flipped to September, allowing the club to bring him up sometime this month for the stretch run and possibly into the postseason should they choose to do so. Donaldson, who slashed just .142/.225/.434 in 33 games with the Yankees this year before being released in late August, is not guaranteed a roster spot by any means, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy relays that manager Craig Counsell told reporters no call-up is imminent for the former MVP.
“In order for Josh to best be prepared to make a contribution here, we need to get a foundation of at-bats for him in the Minor Leagues.” Counsell said. Things are moving somewhat slowly on that front, as Donaldson has appeared in just four games for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, with a .143/.294/.357 slash line across 17 plate appearances. Current third baseman Andruw Monasterio has provided the Brewers with roughly league average production in 254 trips to the plate this year, slashing .271/.343/.371 with a wRC+ of 97. Given the power Donaldson showed during his brief healthy stint with the Yankees this year, it’s feasible that he could provide the lineup with a boost compared to Monasterio’s low-power profile. Regardless of that possibility, however, it seems the 37-year-old will have to prove himself in the minors before joining the big league club in Milwaukee.
More from around the NL Central…
- Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman hasn’t pitched for the big league team since the end of July due to hip inflammation and a rib cartilage fracture, but continues to make progress on his return. With manager David Ross having indicated yesterday that Stroman is ahead of schedule following a successful live batting practice session on Thursday, it’s still nonetheless an encouraging sign for fans on the north side that Stroman is set to throw a second live BP at the club’s Arizona complex on Monday, per The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. It seems reasonable to expect that if Monday’s session goes well, Stroman could advance to a rehab assignment in fairly short order. While it’s not clear if there’s enough time left in the regular season for Stroman to build up to a starter’s workload, it’s becoming increasingly likely the veteran righty returns to the mound in Chicago before the season comes to a close. With the Cubs currently in the thick of the playoff hunt, it’s possible Stroman could impact the team into October even if he isn’t able to return before the end of the regular season.
- Pirates youngster Henry Davis didn’t see his big league career start off the way he surely hoped it would, as the first overall pick from the 2021 draft slashed just .213/.306/.339 (74 wRC+) in 209 trips to the plate before hitting the injured list with a muscle strain in his hand back in August. Fortunately for Davis, it seems like he’ll have a chance to end his rookie year on a high note, as Kevin Gorman of the Tribune-Review was among those to relay that the catcher-turned-outfielder will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A this evening. With Davis on the shelf, the club has mixed-and-matched between Miguel Andujar, Joshua Palacios, Ji Hwan Bae, and Connor Joe in the outfield alongside regulars Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski.
- Reds infielder Noelvi Marte was scratched from the lineup just before today’s game against the Cardinals after an incident occurred on the field during pre-game warmups. As relayed by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Marte was playing catch with shortstop Elly De La Cruz when Marte was caught unaware and struck in the face by a ball from De La Cruz. The club announced that Marte was day-to-day with a face contusion. Marte has performed decently in 70 plate appearances since having his contract selected late last month, with a .254/.329/.381 slash line that’s good for a wRC+ of 90. Infielder Alejo Lopez took over for Marte in the starting lineup this evening, with Spencer Steer sliding from second base to third base to accommodate Lopez. With Jonathan India, Matt McLain, and Kevin Newman all on the injured list already, a significant absence for Marte would be a brutal turn of events for the injury-plagued Reds.
So far, De La Cruz has Aristedes Aquino written all over him. I hope he gets it together before he suffers the same fate.
So far….. he has played a third of the games Aquino has played. Not worthy of a comparison, imo.
De La Cruz is 21 lmao
Ken Griffey Jr. was already a great player and an All Star at 19.
Age has nothing to do with it. Now maturity? That’s another subject.
Reds….what a disappointing statement that is from you. if you really believe that ridiculous statement, you’ve lost all credibility as far as im concerned. expected better from you
WTF are you talking about? And Larry Browns crank is the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. OK I made that up but there probably aren’t many.
Again, reading is a skill. What is the problem with that statement? The eye test should tell you all you need to know. It is clear he needs to work.
He has to make adjustments and has been reluctant to do so. The thing that gives me hope is he is taking more pitches lately.
Does he have talent? Oh hell yes. It is what he does with it that will make or break him at this level.
Steer and McLain are much better major leaguers at this stage and they are rookies too.
reds…..tell me what you think: off season….trade India for Alec Manoah, sign Nola. theres money this off season. Manoah can be fixed.
Larry, can’t dispute that and if they pulled it off that would be good.
There’s two veteran starters that are productive. The young guys desperately need some veteran guidance. I agree Manoah can be fixed. I think a lot of it is upstairs now.
India would be a DH at this point if he stayed.
I will be interested to see if they finally put some money in the club. We have not seen that for two years now really.
I agree with your assessment at this point on De La Cruz. He has a tremendous amount of talent but he has to counter adjust to the adjustments the pitchers have made on him hitting wise. We will have wait and see on CES also. I agree that Steer and McClain are further along with the bat at this point. It is still early however and we will see if they can turn it up a notch or two with the bat.
What a sad statement. And not even close. You insist on commenting on every reds post and you’re wrong all the time.
Cruz living up to al the hype? No, but who could the way they build him up. But the kid has talent. Loads of it. Aquino had one skill. Mash the ball. And a huge hole in his swing which they found.
Cruz has elite speed. A canon for an arm. Good range. Great power. And if you’ve actually watched him lately you’ll see him finding a much better eye for the strike zone. Still striking out a lot but chasing much less. He’s learning. Oh and he’s 21. Really foolish of you and anytime I read your comments I see how little you understand the game.
good take, rigged……dont you know he’s supposed to start great and STAY great daily? what a failure! I bet none of the 29 other teams would even start him!
De La Cruz plays competent middle infield defense and has exceptional speed – his skills play even if he is a career 0.210 hitter. The punisher is just not a comp here.
You can’t strikeout that much and be successful at the ML level
He’s a rookie. Rookies often strike out a ton once pitchers get the book on them. The good ones are then able to make their adjustments and there is a leveling off. EDLC will probably never meet the expectations set after the call up but he could easily be an all star caliber player moving forward. Check back in 9 months.
not true look at Joey Gallo … led the league in strikeouts and was an all star and GG. He is anomoly for sure but still possible.
Not saying im betting the farm that he is going to be a hall of famer but with his speed and he actually has a decent average unlike a billy hamilton who has all the speed in the world but probably couldnt hit a base ball with a barn door. His speed and ability to play a tougher position competently can get into a role player like a better jorge mateo. Remember also he is only 21 which is pretty young for the league so there is room for improvement as well.
Manny- So far he’s Patrick Wisdom who plays better defense. OK that was harsh Maybe Javy Baez.
“Injury plagued Reds” could actually be an understatement. EDLC probably unwittingly did Marte a favor, preventing Noelvi from being in a horribly umpired farce. Why would someone spend the time and money to attend a game when it’s common knowledge that the umpiring is not on a par with the players performance? And isn’t being addressed by MLB?
Bad umpiring has got incrasingly worse and you are right, MLB should have addressed it long ago.
You always had the Angel Hernandez’s of the world but the guy last night was an arrogant punk. Umps get chirped at all the time. This guy had what we used to call rabbit ears.
Back in the day, if I was catching, I would have got tossed too. I thought Stephenson was there for a second too because I saw him say something.
Angel was in the zone today.
Angel was in a zone today.
While enjoying the pre-game festivities Noelvi was star struck!
I actually asked that question in the chat yesterday. Naturally it wasn’t posted. I don’t know when Manfred and the Owners are going to grow a pair and confront the Umpires union. The baseball Ump system of ” Tenure” where you can’t be fired no matter how bad you are has got to go. They need to set up some standard of competency so they can weed out the Angel Hernandez, CB Buckner and Larry Vanover’s of the world. Hernandez actually had the gall to sue baseball saying they had a conspiracy to keep him from umpiring Playoff games. Can you imagine an umpire crew for the World Series with those 3 idiots in it? Jordan Baker isn’t far behind. It would literally be chaos. There would be no players or managers left after the 3rd inning, They’d all have been tossed telling those fools what’s what. Some level of professionalism isn’t too much too ask. The owners control the money. Let them go on strike and trot out the robots if the Umps union won’t agree. With robots and challenges anybody could ump the bases.
You forgot Laz – he might be the worst of all
That’s the problem. There are way too many to remember them all.
Henry David is NOT an RF. he’s is the future DH on any team. He gives me the Nelson Cruz vibe