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Archives for September 2023

The Opener: Mariners/Rangers, NL Wild Card, Twins, Bieber, Top Prospect Debut

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With the season winding down and playoff races reaching critical junctures, here are five things to keep an eye on in the baseball world this weekend…

1. Texas/Seattle showdown

The American League West is the tightest division race in the game. The Astros hold a half-game lead over the Mariners and Rangers, who are tied for second place. The Mariners head to Arlington’s Globe Life Field today to kick off a pivotal three-game set against the Rangers. It’s a series that could determine the very fate of the American League West and one that could make or break the postseason chances for either team. The Blue Jays hold a half-game lead over both the M’s and the Rangers for the second Wild Card spot, which only heightens the importance of this series.

Game one will pit Mariners rookie Bryce Miller (8-5, 3.88 ERA) against Rangers righty Dane Dunning (10-6, 3.78). Saturday will feature a matchup of two of the division’s best starters, with Seattle righty Logan Gilbert (13-6, 3.77) facing off against Texas lefty Jordan Montgomery (9-11, 3.38). Sunday’s series finale sees the Mariners trot out rookie right-hander Bryan Woo (4-4, 3.90) against Rangers veteran Nathan Eovaldi (11-4, 3.05). A sweep would remove some of the drama in the division, but the two teams are also set to close out their season with four games against each other in Seattle, so this could all go down to the wire. Elsewhere in the division, the Astros are hosting the Royals, who have baseball’s second-worst record.

2. NL Wild Card race heats up

Similar to the AL West, the NL Wild Card chase looks like a three-horse between the Marlins, Cubs and Reds. Miami and Chicago are tied for the third and final spot, both sitting a half-game up on Cincinnati. The Fish will have their work cut out for them this weekend, as they’ll host the Brewers and face a pitching gauntlet of former NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes (9-8, 3.56), Brandon Woodruff (5-1, 1.89) and Freddy Peralta (12-9, 3.71). Miami hasn’t announced a starter for tonight’s game, but will send lefty Jesus Luzardo (10-9, 3.68) and righty Edward Cabrera (6-7, 4.35) to the bump on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The Cubs, meanwhile, play host to a last-place Rockies club for three games this weekend. They’re starting veteran Jameson Taillon (7-10, 5.27), rookie Jordan Wicks (3-1, 2.67) and rookie Javier Assad (4-3, 3.04) against the respective Colorado trio of Noah Davis (0-2, 9.58), Chris Flexen (1-8, 7.19) and Ty Blach (3-2, 5.32).

As for the Reds, they’ll send the rookie trio of Andrew Abbott (8-5, 3.68), Connor Phillips (1-0, 5.74) and Brandon Williamson (4-5, 4.56) to the mound against Luis Ortiz and a pair of yet-to-be-announced Pirates starters.

3. Twins all but certain to clinch

The American League Central race isn’t technically over yet, but that’s all but certain to change this weekend. The Twins could’ve clinched on yesterday’s off-day if both the Guardians and Tigers had lost, but both clubs picked up victories to at least mathematically keep their playoff hopes alive. The Twins host a largely dismantled Angels club this weekend and will kick off the series with their top two starters, Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, before turning things over to Joe Ryan on Sunday. The Tigers continue their four-game set in Oakland and the Guards continue a four-game series in Baltimore. The Twins would clinch simply by picking up one victory or by seeing both the Guardians and Tigers lose a game this weekend. It’s a matter of when, not if, they formally capture the division crown.

4. Bieber returns — will McKenzie follow?

While that last note is surely a sour one for Cleveland fans, the silver lining is that they’ll at least get to see their top starter back on the mound this weekend. Right-hander Shane Bieber, the 2020 American League Cy Young winner, will make his first start since July 9 tonight against the Orioles. Bieber experienced forearm discomfort and elbow inflammation midway through July, and the issue proved severe enough to effectively wipe out Bieber’s entire second half. It’ll be a welcome sight for Cleveland fans and figures to give Bieber at least some peace of mind heading into the offseason, assuming all goes well.

Of course, it also bears considering that Bieber could be making one of his last starts for the only team he’s known. Cleveland has a history of trading its top starters before they reach free agency, and Bieber is controlled only through the 2024 season. The Guardians also have a burgeoning crop of young arms emerging, with Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen all finding success in their rookie seasons. That trio and currently injured righty Triston McKenzie give the Guards a strong foundation in 2024 even if Bieber is moved. And speaking McKenzie, there’s a chance he could also return from the 60-day injured list for Sunday’s game. He’s been out since mid-June with a UCL sprain but has made a pair of minor league rehab starts in the past 10 days.

5. Caminero arrives

The Rays’ seemingly interminable pipeline of top prospects is set to produce another big leaguer, as top prospect Junior Caminero will be promoted for his debut today. He’s considered among the sport’s top all-around prospects, ranking fifth at The Athletic, ESPN and Baseball America, sixth at MLB.com and 11th at FanGraphs. The 20-year-old third baseman has decimated High-A and Double-A pitching this year, slashing a combined .324/.384/.591 with 31 homers.

Royals Outright Matt Beaty

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The Royals have sent Matt Beaty outright to Triple-A Omaha, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. The left-handed hitter was designated for assignment on Tuesday.

Beaty appeared in 26 games after re-signing with K.C. on a minor league pact in June. He’d also signed with the Royals in Spring Training before being traded to the Giants on Opening Day. San Francisco immediately called him up but only played him four times before waiving him. After going unclaimed, Beaty chose free agency and circled back to Kansas City.

In 67 trips to the plate, Beaty hit .232/.358/.304. He walked six times with 12 strikeouts but only had four extra-base hits, all of which were doubles. Beaty is best suited for first base or a corner outfield position, putting extra pressure on his bat.

The former 12th-round draftee posted above-average offensive numbers in a part-time role with the Dodgers from 2019-21. He hit .262/.333/.425 in 240 contests. Los Angeles nevertheless DFA him before the start of the 2022 campaign. Beaty hasn’t hit well in scattered looks over the two seasons since then. He’s a .173/.271/.240 hitter in 119 big league plate appearances since the Dodgers dealt him.

Beaty has the right to again test free agency. He’d be a minor league free agent at the beginning of the offseason anyhow unless the Royals add him back to the roster.

MLBTR Poll: Michael Wacha’s Option

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Among last winter’s notable free agents, few remained unsigned as long as Michael Wacha. The veteran right-hander was on the market until mid-February. He eventually inked a four-year, $26MM guarantee to join the Padres, although the contract structure was rather complex.

Wacha was guaranteed $7.5MM for this season between his salary and a signing bonus. (He subsequently earned an additional $500K for starting 20 games.) This winter, the Padres will have to decide whether to trigger successive $16MM options — essentially a two-year, $32MM pact. If the Friars decline, Wacha would have a $6.5MM player option for next season (with two additional $6MM player options thereafter). If neither side exercises its end of the option, he’d return to free agency.

The 32-year-old’s production is quite similar to last year’s work. After posting a 3.32 ERA in 23 starts for the Red Sox a year ago, he’s allowed 3.44 earned runs per nine over 22 appearances this season. As was the case last season, estimators like FIP (4.02) and SIERA (4.49) are less enthused than his ERA would suggest. That reflects fine but unexceptional strikeout and walk marks. Wacha’s 22.2% strikeout percentage and 8.2% walk rate are right in line with the respective 22.1% and 7.9% league averages for starting pitchers.

Last season, Wacha had slightly lower than average strikeout and walk figures. His fastball speed has dipped from 93 MPH to 91.8 MPH, though he’s compensated by leaning a little more on his cutter and changeup. His overall swinging-strike rate is up one percentage point.

Those are minor changes. In aggregate, Wacha looks largely the same as he did a season ago. The market didn’t seem to materialize the way he’d anticipated last winter, leading to his extended free agent stay. It’s possible teams are more inclined to buy into Wacha’s stronger bottom line results after a second sub-3.50 ERA showing, though his production has tailed off down the stretch.

He carried a 2.84 ERA over 85 2/3 innings into the All-Star Break. He’s allowing just under five earned runs per nine in 34 2/3 frames in the second half. Wacha’s strikeout and ground-ball rates have improved as the season has gone on, but he has paired that with a few more walks of late. His production also tailed off in the second half of the 2022 campaign, when he posted a 4.11 ERA after running a 2.69 mark through the break.

The Padres’ call on a two-year, $32MM option looks as if it could go either way. There were a handful of veteran pitchers who signed in that range last winter. Nathan Eovaldi got $34MM over two seasons from the Rangers, who also surrendered a draft choice after he declined a qualifying offer. Eovaldi had pitched to a 3.80 ERA over 291 2/3 innings in the preceding two seasons but had superior strikeout and walk marks to Wacha.

The Giants inked Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea to matching two-year, $25MM guarantees with an opt-out after the first season. Stripling is perhaps the closest comparison point to Wacha, as he was coming off a 3.01 ERA in his platform season despite a modest 20.7% strikeout rate. As with Wacha, Stripling’s career track record has been inconsistent. Manaea was more of a rebound flier, as he’d had a dismal second half preceding his free agent trip.

José Quintana (two years, $26MM) and Tyler Anderson (three years, $39MM after rejecting a qualifying offer) each had a sub-3.00 ERA in their platform seasons. Both had mixed results in the few years leading up to 2022 and were older than Wacha is now. They each showed strong command last season with roughly average swing-and-miss rates and low-90s velocity.

Wacha fits in that category of back-end starter, which generally received around $12-13MM annually over two or three years last winter. Wacha’s $16MM club options are a bit above that, but the player option values are well below it. If the Padres decline their end, Wacha is very likely to opt out and test free agency. He at least shouldn’t have any issue topping the respective $17MM and $19MM two-year guarantees secured by Jordan Lyles and Drew Smyly last offseason.

The Padres are one of the league’s higher-spending franchises and already facing ample uncertainty in their rotation. Blake Snell is going to be a free agent. Seth Lugo is almost certainly going to decline a player option and test the market. Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish are the only veteran starters guaranteed to be in next year’s rotation; both ended this season on the injured list. Nick Martinez could opt out of his own deal if the Friars decline a two-year, $32MM extension.

None of the other pitchers to log any kind of rotation time for San Diego are clear answers. Ryan Weathers was traded away at the deadline. Rich Hill has been knocked around and seems likely to sign elsewhere as a free agent. Pedro Avila and Matt Waldron have ERA’s around 6.00 when working as starters. If the Padres don’t retain Wacha, they’ll likely need to add one or two similar pitchers in free agency or trade.

Is it worthwhile for the Padres to preserve some stability by locking Wacha back in at the start of the offseason, even if the annual salary is a bit beyond what he’d likely receive on the open market? Would they be better served preserving that flexibility going into the winter as they sort through other rotation possibilities?

(poll link for app users)

 

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brewers Notes: Counsell, Ashby, Stadium

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With a magic number of three to clinch the NL Central, the Brewers could punch their ticket to the postseason this weekend. It’ll be their fifth playoff appearance in eight full seasons under Craig Counsell, the longest-tenured active skipper in the National League. Nevertheless, Counsell’s future in Milwaukee beyond October isn’t clear. He’s in the final season of a contract extension he signed in January 2020.

Owner Mark Attanasio told reporters last month that Counsell and the team had agreed to defer talks about an extension until after the ’23 campaign. That has led to plenty of speculation about the 53-year-old potentially going elsewhere or leaving the dugout entirely. Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Counsell is expected to continue managing in 2024, though his future obviously won’t be entirely clear until the offseason. According to Heyman, Counsell is making $3.5MM with Milwaukee this season.

Attanasio has made clear the Brewers hope to retain Counsell, who has led the team to a 701-621 record (53% win percentage) over his tenure. There aren’t any teams with a current managerial vacancy, though there’s been plenty of chatter about Terry Francona potentially stepping away from the Guardians after this season. The Mets are set to hire David Stearns away from the Milwaukee front office to lead baseball operations at year’s end, which figures to fuel some speculation regarding Counsell until his situation is resolved and/or the Mets make a firm commitment to current manager Buck Showalter.

Elsewhere in Milwaukee:

  • Left-hander Aaron Ashby will join Triple-A Nashville on a minor league rehab stint, the club informed reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Journal-Sentinel). He’s trying to work back from early-April arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Ashby has been on the injured list all season and has battled shoulder woes at least as far back as last August. While the 25-year-old has shown the ability to rack up strikeouts and grounders at the big league level, his efforts to secure a rotation spot have been held back by inconsistent control and frustrating injury issues. The Brewers are presumably hoping for Ashby to work in short relief stints if he can make it back this fall.
  • The club also continues efforts to secure funding for renovations to American Family Field, as chronicled by A.J. Bayatpour of CBS 58. Earlier this week, state legislators proposed a spending plan that’d see north of $700MM in renovations as part of an agreement to extend the club’s lease by 20 years to run through the 2050 season. Under that proposal, the team would put in $100MM, the city/county would contribute just over $200MM combined, and the state would pay roughly $411MM. According to Bayatpour, the legislature could vote on the proposal at some point next month.

Guardians To Activate Shane Bieber From Injured List

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The Guardians are listing Shane Bieber as the probable starter for tomorrow evening’s matchup with the Orioles. He’ll go up against Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer.

That indicates that Cleveland will reinstate Bieber from the 60-day injured list tomorrow. As reflected on the MLB.com injury tracker, the club is hoping for Bieber to throw around 80 pitches. The 2020 AL Cy Young winner tossed 64 pitches on Sunday in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Columbus.

Bieber hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 9. Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Guardians announced he’d been dealing with forearm discomfort. An MRI revealed elbow inflammation that led the club to shut him down entirely for a few weeks. While there was never any suggestion he could require surgery, the issue was serious enough to cost him almost all of the second half.

His return comes too late for Cleveland to make a move in the standings. They’ll be eliminated from postseason contention with their next loss or a Minnesota win. Barring a nine-game win streak to close out the year, they’ll finish with a sub-.500 record. Bieber’s return won’t mean much in the standings, though he’ll get to make two or three starts to hopefully demonstrate a clean bill of health heading into the offseason.

Assuming he’s healthy, Bieber figures to be a popular target in trade discussions. The Guardians have shown a willingness to move quality starters as they get close to free agency, dealing away the likes of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco. There was some thought they’d do the same with Bieber this summer, though his injury took that off the table. Cleveland did flip Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay for top first base prospect Kyle Manzardo instead.

Bieber is making just north of $10MM this season. He’ll be due a raise on that sum for what’ll be his final arbitration campaign next year. Bieber is coming off a relative down year by his standards. Prior to the stint on the injured list, he’d turned in a 3.77 ERA with a career-low 19.4% strikeout rate through 19 starts.

Opposing teams will surely still have interest in prying him from Cleveland. It remains to be seen if the offers will be strong enough for the Guardians to make a move. Cleveland figures to make another run at competing in the AL Central. The second-year trio of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen makes for a strong rotation nucleus, but Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie have struggled through injury-plagued 2023 campaigns.

McKenzie could also make it back in the coming days. MLB.com notes that the Guardians are hopeful the righty could take the ball in Sunday’s series finale; the club still lists their probable starter for that game as to be determined. The Guardians already have an opening on the 40-man roster for Bieber after waiving Matt Moore this week. They’d need to create a spot for McKenzie if he comes back this weekend, which could be accomplished by transferring Bibee to the 60-day IL due to his season-ending hip issue.

Braves Outright Dereck Rodríguez, Lucas Luetge

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The Braves have sent right-hander Dereck Rodríguez outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. The same is true for left-hander Lucas Luetge, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Rodríguez, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in May and made one appearance before heading to Atlanta on a waiver claim. He spent most of his time on optional assignment before being passed through waivers in July. He stuck with the organization and was added back to the roster this past weekend. He was sent in for some mop-up duty on Sunday and didn’t exactly get the floor clean, allowing eight earned runs in two innings before being designated for assignment again.

He now has an earned run average of 15.19 this year over four appearances, though that’s mostly due to that recent drubbing. He has a career 4.49 ERA in 234 1/3 innings dating back to 2018, mostly with the Giants. He has thrown 64 Triple-A innings this year with a 5.91 ERA.

Since he has a previous career outright, Rodríguez has the ability to reject this assignment and elect free agency. It’s not clear whether or not he has chosen to do so, but given that the season is almost over and he accepted an outright a few months ago, it’s possible he reports to Gwinnett for a few more outings before the winter arrives.

Luetge, 36, was acquired from the Yankees in the offseason and has bounced on and off the roster all year, with this being the third time Atlanta has passed him through waivers. In the first two instances, he was able to elect free agency since he has more than three years of service time. But since he’s shy of the five-year mark, doing so would have meant forfeiting what was left of his $1.55MM salary.

By sticking around, he kept that money and got selected back to the roster later. Around those transactions, he made 12 big league appearances with a 7.24 ERA. In 20 Triple-A outings this year, he has a 3.91 ERA. He now has the chance to elect free agency again but will likely accept as he has done earlier this season, giving the club some non-roster relief depth for the final weeks of the season.

Cardinals To Place Willson Contreras On Injured List

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The Cardinals are going to place catcher Willson Contreras on the injured list, with manager Oli Marmol relaying the news to reporters, including Katie Woo of The Athletic. The issue is tendonitis in his left wrist, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.

Contreras left yesterday’s game with discomfort in that wrist and didn’t play in today’s contest. It’s unclear how significant this wrist issue is, but it will end his season strictly based on timing since there’s just over a week left on the schedule.

After spending his entire career with the Cubs, Contreras reached free agency after last season. The Cards had a vacancy behind the plate for the first time in years after the retirement of Yadier Molina and eventually moved Contreras across the division by signing him to a five-year, $87.5MM deal with a club option for 2028.

The results of his first year in St. Louis were mixed, to say the least. He has long been considered a bat-first catcher and that continued this year. He hit 20 home runs and walked in 10.3% of his plate appearances, leading to a batting line of .264/.358/.467 and wRC+ of 128. But he was given a grade of -9 Defensive Runs Saved, the worst such mark of his career. Both FanGraphs and Statcast gave him negative grades for his framing, though Statcast did like his blocking and throwing.

Concerns about his defense were seemingly the issue as he was moved off his position in May, serving exclusively as the designated hitter for a time. The club’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak described the issue as a “lack of confidence” from the pitching staff, but Contreras was put back behind the plate a week later.

That ended up being one strange blip in a disappointing season for the Cards, who are currently 67-86 and in last place in the National League Central, guaranteed to finish with a losing record for just the second time in this century. It’s hard to know how much of those results are part of the transition from Molina to Contreras, but pitching was clearly a problem area for the club. They have a collective 4.81 earned run average at the moment, which places them 25th in the league in that category.

Going forward, it’s possible that the Cards could look to trade a catcher this winter, with Contreras still under contract for four more years. They are looking to add three starting pitchers in the offseason and could do some of that via free agency, but trading from their position player mix will likely have to be a consideration as well. Iván Herrera has always hit well in the minors and that continued to be the case this year, as he slashed .297/.451/.500 in 83 Triple-A games. Andrew Knizner had a serviceable season as well, hitting .241/.284/.433 in his 64 major league games. His 94 wRC+ indicates he was a bit below average in a vacuum but that’s quite good by backup catcher standards.

Herrera doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors and will be out of options next year anyway, meaning he’ll need to hang onto an active roster spot. Knizner still has an option year remaining, which could allow the club to hang onto all three, but gauging league interest could be one path to finding the pitching upgrades they seek.

Reds Release Hunter Renfroe

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The Reds announced that Hunter Renfroe, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released. He’ll head to the open market and will be free to sign with any club.

Renfroe, 31, began the year with the Angels, hitting 19 home runs but otherwise producing underwhelming results at the plate. His .242/.304/.434 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 98, indicating he was just below average overall.

As the Halos fell out of contention in August, Renfroe was one of six impending they put on waivers, hoping for other clubs to take on their contracts as a way to save money and dip under the luxury tax. The Reds took a flier on him but Renfroe’s production tailed off significantly after switching jerseys, as he hit .128/.227/.205 for Cincinnati. That was in a small sample of 44 plate appearances in which he had a .154 batting average on balls in play but the club nonetheless decided to move on.

The slugger is making $11.9MM this year and had about $1.98MM left on his deal when the Reds decided to grab him. That will now go down as a sunk cost, as they will remain on the hook for the approximately $702K left to be paid out. No club was willing to absorb that by claiming him off waivers but perhaps one will be willing to sign him now that they would only be responsible for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Reds pay.

He’s not having his best season and wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any signing club, but perhaps someone is willing to give him a shot, hoping to give their lineup a boost for the final few weeks. Renfroe has 177 homers in his career and an overall batting line of .239/.300/.478 for a wRC+ of 106. It’s a fairly limited profile since he doesn’t get on base much, steal many bags or provide quality glovework, but many clubs have been intrigued by the power. Since 2019, he’s played for the Padres, Rays, Red Sox and Brewers, before bouncing to the Angels and Reds this year. If he doesn’t find a new club in the next week or so, he can at least start to gauge the interest level for this winter, when he will be a free agent.

Giants Place Brandon Crawford On Injured List, Release Paul DeJong

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The Giants announced a slate of roster moves Thursday, most notably placing shortstop Brandon Crawford on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain and requesting unconditional release waivers on fellow shortstop Paul DeJong. San Francisco has also selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Tyler Fitzgerald, recalled right-hander Tristan Beck and infielder Marco Luciano from Triple-A Sacramento, and optioned right-hander Sean Hjelle to Sacramento. Crawford will be eligible for reinstatement on the final day of the season.

Crawford, 36, exited yesterday’s contest after experiencing discomfort and acknowledged his frustration with the injury following the game (link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). A free agent at season’s end, Crawford is perhaps playing out his final days as a Giant. That he’s eligible to return on the final game of the season could give him the opportunity to still get back in front of the home crowd for a potential sendoff. The Giants host their archrival Dodgers on Oct. 1. “It’s the most frustrating timing I’ve probably ever had with an injury,” Crawford told Slusser.

The 2023 season has been the least-productive of Crawford’s career. He’s posted a .197/.276/.319 batting line with a career-high 25% strikeout rate in 316 plate appearances. It’s a step down from last year’s output and a major departure from the 2021 season, when Crawford was a bona fide MVP candidate, placing fourth in the National League voting that year. Crawford’s .298/.373/.522 slash and world-class defense in ’21 prompted the Giants to sign him to a two-year, $32MM extension covering his age-35 and age-36 seasons, but he’s batted just .217/.295/.334 in 774 plate appearances over the life of that contract.

It’s not clear whether Crawford will continue his playing career beyond the current season. He’s spoken in the past about the possibility of spending his entire career with the Giants, which surely holds extra appeal given that he’s a Bay Area native who grew up following the team. However, Luciano has ranked among the organization’s top prospects for several years now and could be ready for a full-time audition.

It’s possible the Giants could bring in a stopgap in the event that the 22-year-old still needs more minor league seasoning, but that’d likely be an awkward role for both Crawford and the organization; it’s feasible he could shift to a bench role if and when Luciano proves ready, but it’d be hard for the Giants to carry Crawford in a part-time role if his production mirrors his 2023 output. Similarly, it’d be hard for them to move on somewhat unceremoniously midway through the ’24 campaign. The Giants faced a similar situation with Crawford’s longtime teammate Brandon Belt this past offseason and ultimately opted to let him walk. Belt signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays and has had a highly productive but also injury-marred season.

There was no such commitment or legacy to ponder in the decision to cut ties with the veteran DeJong. San Francisco signed the former Cardinals shortstop to a Major League deal one month ago after he was released by the Blue Jays, who’d acquired him at the deadline when Bo Bichette sustained an injury.

DeJong gave the Giants 114 innings of strong defense at shortstop but hit just .184/.180/.286 in 50 plate appearances. He had a relative bounceback year at the plate with the Cardinals prior to his trade, but since leaving St. Louis he’s batted a combined .129/.128/.183 with no walks and 34 strikeouts in 94 plate appearances between Toronto and San Francisco. He’ll be a free agent once he formally clears release waivers, although at this point of the schedule, he may simply wait until the offseason to find a new club.

Fitzgerald, 26, was the Giants’ fourth-round pick in 2019 and will be making his big league debut when he first takes the field. He’s had a nice season in the minors, batting .324/.410/.588 in a small sample of 78 Double-A plate appearances before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .287/.358/.499 in 466 trips to the plate. Fitzgerald has smacked a combined 22 home runs and swiped 32 bags in 35 tries this year. His 9.7% walk rate in Triple-A is an above-average mark, while his 23.8% strikeout rate was also slightly higher than average.

San Francisco has bounced Fitzgerald all over the diamond in 2023. He’s logged time at shortstop, second base, third base and in center field this season, in addition to occasional stints at designated hitter. While he’s never been considered one of the Giants’ top prospects, Fitzgerald has been an above-average hitter at virtually every minor league stop and clearly possesses above-average speed (career 70-for-79 in stolen bases). He’ll add a versatile defensive repertoire and right-handed bat to the club’s bench mix.

Sandy Alcantara To Make Rehab Start Tonight

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Reigning National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara was diagnosed with a UCL sprain earlier this month, but he’s set to make a rehab start in Triple-A Jacksonville tonight, the team announced. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald, who first reported that Alcantara would start in Jacksonville tonight, tweets that Alcantara has had multiple pain-free bullpen sessions. If things go well in tonight’s rehab appearance, it would seem there’s a real chance that Alcantara could return to the active roster before the end of the season.

It’s surely welcome news for Fish fans, though also perhaps the source of some trepidation. With any injury to the ulnar collateral ligament — the ligament that is replaced in Tommy John surgery — there’s concern of a potential yearlong absence in a worst-case scenario. The majority of UCL injuries tend to result in surgery, though that’s certainly not a universal outcome. Masahiro Tanaka, Ervin Santana, Aaron Nola and Anthony DeSclafani are among the pitchers who have been diagnosed with UCL injuries but avoided surgery. The 28-year-old Alcantara will hope to add his name to that list.

It’s been a tough year for the Miami ace so far. Alcantara has taken the ball 28 times and eaten up 184 2/3 innings, but his 4.14 ERA is nearly two full runs higher than the 2.28 mark that fueled last year’s Cy Young win. Alcantara hasn’t experienced a velocity drop, but his strikeout rate, walk rate, ground-ball rate and home run rate are all worse than in 2022’s career-best season. He’s also given up hard contact at higher levels.

With Alcantara on the shelf, the Marlins have been using Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera and the returning Eury Perez — who’d previously been optioned to the minors to monitor his workload — as their regular starters. Reliever Bryan Hoeing took the ball this past weekend, tossing 4 1/3 innings in his first start since early July. Miami’s starter for tomorrow’s series opener against the Brewers is currently listed as TBD.

The Marlins don’t have any shot at winning the division. The Braves sport MLB’s best record and clinched the NL East some time ago. However, Miami is only a half game out of the third Wild Card spot in the National League. They’re trailing the Cubs for that spot and are one game up on the Reds in the standings. This weekend’s series against the Brewers is a tough task — particularly with Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta lined up to start for Milwaukee — but the Fish close out the season with seven games against the Mets and Pirates, who currently share identical 71-81 records. The Cubs finish with three games in Atlanta and three in Milwaukee. The Reds’ final games will be against the Pirates, Guardians and Cardinals.

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