Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for September 2023

Luis Rengifo Suffers Bicep Tendon Rupture, Won’t Return In 2023

By | at

The Angels placed infielder Luis Rengifo on the 15-day injured list earlier today with a bicep tendon rupture. As noted by The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Rengifo will not return in 2023 but figures to be ready for Spring Training in 2024, as Rengifo himself told reporters that he hopes to be fully recovered by the end of the calendar year. Right-hander Gerardo Reyes replaced Rengifo on the active roster.

It’s yet another in a long line of brutal injuries for the Angels this season, as virtually every key position player has spent significant time on the injured list except for Shohei Ohtani, who had his season on the mound end prematurely due to a UCL injury. While the Angels have been in a tailspin ever since the calendar flipped to August, Rengifo has been a rare bright spot for the club over the past few weeks. While the 26-year-old entered the month of July slashing a dismal .202/.292/.298 on the season, he’s been on fire ever since with a fantastic .327/.388/.592 slash line in 219 trips to the plate since the start of July. Over that 56-game stretch, Rengifo sports a strikeout rate of just 18.3% and 25 extra base hits including 12 home runs.

Rengifo’s torrid second half has lifted his season numbers up to a respectable .264/.339/.444 that’s 13% better than league average by measure of wRC+. While Rengifo has mostly played second base and shortstop in his career, he was used as something of a swiss-army knife by the Angels this year and received reps at third base and all three outfield spots in addition to his usual positions. While defensive metrics haven’t been kind to Rengifo this season, his breakout with the bat in recent months combined with his ability to play almost anywhere on the diamond makes him a huge asset for the Angels as they look ahead to the 2024 season. Rengifo, who made $2.3MM this year in his first trip through arbitration, is under club control for the next two seasons.

With Rengifo, Gio Urshela, Anthony Rendon, and Zack Neto all on the injured list, the Halos are currently relying on 21-year-old rookie Kyren Paris at shortstop while utilizing Brandon Drury, Eduardo Escobar, Mike Moustakas and 2023 first-round pick Nolan Schanuel to mix and match throughout the rest of the infield. The club’s position player group has been stretched particularly thin in recent days thanks to the absences of Ohtani and outfielder Mickey Moniak, both of whom have been considered day-to-day for several days at this point.

As for Reyes, the 30-year-old righty sports a 7.45 ERA and 6.36 FIP in 9 2/3 innings of work with Anaheim this year, with similarly rough figures at the Triple-A level. In 36 innings of work with the club’s Salt Lake City affiliate, Reyes has mustered a 6.25 ERA with an elevated 12.3% walk rate. Nonetheless, he’ll offer the club pitching depth as they finish out the remainder of the 2023 campaign.

Luis Severino Won’t Return In 2023 Following High-Grade Oblique Strain

By | at

6:44PM: The specifics of Severino’s injury have become clear, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) that the right-hander had suffered a “high-grade” left oblique strain. The injury brings a difficult 2023 campaign for Severino to an end, and leaves the 29-year-old’s health as a major question mark just two months before he’s scheduled to hit free agency for the first time in his career.

9:39AM: As expected, the Yankees placed Severino on the 15-day IL, and called up right-hander Ron Marinaccio from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  The specific nature of Severino’s injury isn’t yet known, as the club announced he was sidelined with “a left upper body injury (pending further results).”

SEPTEMBER 8: Luis Severino departed this evening’s start against Milwaukee in the fifth inning. The right-hander left in obvious pain after throwing a pitch to Brice Turang.

The Yankees didn’t provide many specifics, saying only that Severino would go for additional testing on a left side injury. After the game, the pitcher said he felt like he’d been shot, calling it “deep, sharp pain” (via Brendan Kuty of the Athletic).

More will be known in the coming days, but it seems as if Severino is trending to a trip to the injured list. With three weeks left in the regular season and the Yankees all but certain to miss the playoffs, it’s fair to wonder if his 2023 campaign will be cut short.

It has been a nightmarish season for the 29-year-old hurler. Severino spent the first six weeks of the season on the injured list after suffering a Spring Training lat injury. He returned in late May and had been healthy up until tonight, but he has posted some of the worst numbers of any pitcher in the league. Including his performance this evening, he carries a 6.65 ERA through 89 1/3 innings. He’s striking out a below-average 18.9% of opposing hitters and has allowed a staggering 2.32 home runs per nine.

It’s a huge drop-off for a pitcher who worked to a 3.18 ERA with a 27.7% strikeout rate in 102 innings a year ago. Severino battled injuries (most notably a February 2020 Tommy John procedure) going back to 2019. Yet his rate statistics last season weren’t much worse than those of his 2017-18 peak when he made consecutive All-Star games and finished as high as third in Cy Young balloting.

Even if Severino were to finish this year healthy, it’d be a tough time for his first career trip to free agency. He already looked like a candidate for a one-year, bounceback deal in hopes of a better platform season going into the 2024-25 offseason. If he requires a stint on the injured list to close out the year, he’d head into the winter with an additional question mark.

Rays Owner Discusses Stadium Deal Progress, Sale Inquiries

By | at

Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg recently spoke to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times regarding the club’s progress in its search for a new stadium and rumors earlier in the year of bids from outside investors to buy the team, with Sternberg providing clarity regarding both matters.

Perhaps most importantly, Sternberg noted that the Rays are willing to cover the costs of more than half of a proposed domed stadium in St. Petersburg, with the project estimated to cost $1.2 billion in total. The comments give fans a window into what the Rays’ total commitment might look like if a deal is worked out for the first time while providing an update on the negotiations, which Sternberg says he is “highly optimistic” about. Topkin notes that a deal could get done before the end of the year.

Such a deal would seemingly leave the Rays owing over $600MM for the stadium, which Topkin notes would open in 2028, the year following the expiration of Tampa’s lease at Tropicana Field. Sternberg says that the club has been seeking investors to raise the necessary funds in exchange for a stake in the team. Topkin adds that those discussions have been the catalyst for inquiries regarding the possibility of a sale of th entire team, and Sternberg has not shut those offers down entirely.

Regarding the possibility of selling the team, Sternberg told Topkin that he doesn’t intend on selling and expects to remain the club’s principal owner. That said, Sternberg expressed a willingness to listen to offers, saying that “when you’re talking about people raising potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, they’re going, ‘Well, maybe we can buy the whole damn thing.’ So they take a run at you.” Sternberg likened his approach to inquiries regarding the team to that of his front office regarding the club’s players, saying that “if you want to make an offer, I always listen” but adding that no deal is in the works despite the club receiving plenty of offers over the years.

Sternberg added that he has no intentions of moving the team, though he did simultaneously indicate that without a new stadium agreement the Rays would likely be on the move, explaining that he would sell the team if the club fails to reach a new stadium agreement in the Tampa Bay area and that he would expect a hypothetical new owner to explore relocation for the team following the expiration of the club’s current lease in 2027. Fortunately for Rays fans, that eventuality seems unlikely to come to fruition as things stand. Sternberg describes the negotiations with St. Petersburg as “moving along at a very nice pace” and says that he “feel[s] pretty good” about where the talks are at with just under four months left in the year.

Along with the A’s, who seem all but certain to relocate to Las Vegas in the coming years, the Rays’ stadium situation has been perhaps the biggest roadblock to an expansion effort by MLB. Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated as recently as last year that he would “love” to see the league expand to 32 teams, though he’s previously noted that the league won’t considering expanding beyond its current 30 teams until stadium issues in both Oakland and Tampa are resolved.

With the timeline for expansion uncertain and fees exceeding $2 billion being floated as a possibility, it’s hardly a surprise that potential ownership groups would also have interest in purchasing and relocating the Rays. Topkin notes that a Nashville-based investor explored buying the Rays this past summer with a potential price tag of $1.85 billion. Massive as that figure is, it would still be less expensive than the aforementioned rumored expansion fees, lending credence to Sternberg’s suggestion that potential buyers have interest in exploring relocation for the franchise.

Austin Meadows Will Not Return This Season

By | at

Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows won’t return from the injured list this season, as manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) this afternoon. Meadows initially was placed on the injured list back in April due to anxiety, and has been away from the team since June.

It’s been a long road for Meadows since the Pirates selected him with the ninth overall in the 2013 draft. He made his MLB debut in 2018 with Pittsburgh but was traded to the Rays as part of the Chris Archer deal after just 165 plate appearances in the majors with the club that drafted him. Once in Tampa, he quickly rose to prominence as an All Star in 2019, even garnering down-ballot MVP votes thanks to a sensational .291/.364/.558 slash line across 138 games that season.

Meadows struggled badly during the shortened 2020 season, slashing just .205/.296/.371 while being limited to 36 games by an oblique strain. He bounced back somewhat in 2021, posting a 112 wRC+ as the Rays’ everyday left fielder. That said, he was rated brutally by defensive metrics that season, and combined with the reduced offense relative to his peak in 2019 he was worth just 1.6 fWAR that season. With Meadows due to be eligible for arbitration for the first time in 2022, the Rays shipped him to Detroit in exchange for struggling infielder Isaac Parades before the season began.

While Parades has taken off with the Rays, Meadows has made it into just 42 games with Detroit since the trade. He was limited to just 36 games of league average offense (100 wRC+) with the Tigers last year due to vertigo. Meadows then managed just six games this year before heading to the injured list. Overall, the 28-year-old outfielder has slashed just .248/.333/.322 in 168 trips to the plate since first suiting up for the Tigers. With Meadows likely due for a raise on his $4.3MM salary in his final trip through arbitration this offseason and the Tigers flush with young outfield talent like Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Meadows’ younger brother Parker Meadows, it’s fair to wonder if Detroit will consider non-tendering the elder Meadows brother this offseason, allowing him to hit free agency rather than retaining him for the 2024 campaign.

That being said, Hinch’s comments indicated nothing but support for Meadows as he works through his struggles. As relayed by MLB.com, Hinch said that “We have to continue to be supportive of him and others that are going through experiences that none of us really know unless you’ve done it… And so, rather than judge him, we need to support him, and we’ve continued to do that as an organization. We will continue to do it.”

Reds Make Several Roster Moves

By | at

The Reds made a handful of transactions this afternoon, placing outfielder Stuart Fairchild on the COVID-19 injured list while transferring left-hander Alex Young to the COVID IL. Players on the COVID IL do not count against the 40-man roster, allowing the club to add infielder Alejo Lopez to the big league roster from Triple-A as a replacement player. As a replacement, Lopez can be taken off the 40-man roster and returned to the minors without being placed on waivers.

The news serves as a continuation of Cincinnati’s injury woes, with sixteen players now on the injured list. Fairchild, 27, is in his third season as a big leaguer and has looked like a decent fourth outfielder in 242 trips to the plate with a .223/.322/.379 with a wRC+ of 87, ten stolen bases, and solid outfield defense. Young, meanwhile, posted a 3.31 ERA in 49 innings of work for the Reds this year before going on the injured list with a hamstring issue back in August. He had just begun a rehab assignment earlier this week but now will surely be delayed in his comeback attempt.

Joining the roster for the time being is Lopez, who appeared in 59 games for Cincinnati last season, slashing .262/.314/.331 while playing second base, third base, and the outfield corners. While Lopez is hardly an impact bat, a 13.5% strikeout rate in the majors last year indicates he could provide contact off the bench, and his walk rate at Triple-A this year has ballooned to a career-high 13.4%. If that improved discipline can carry over to the majors and earn him extra free passes at the big league level, it’s possible that Lopez could be an interesting contributor for a Cincinnati infield that is currently without Matt McLain, Jonathan India, and Joey Votto.

That being said, Lopez’s stay on the active roster may be a short one, as Reds manager David Bell indicated to reporters (including those at MLB.com) yesterday that both Votto and India have begun rehab assignments and Triple-A and could be nearing a return to action, with Votto in particular a potential option as soon as tomorrow’s game against the Cardinals. Also likely to return tomorrow is right-hander Hunter Greene, who is currently on the COVID IL but is listed as tomorrow’s probable starter opposite St. Louis righty Miles Mikolas.

Athletics Claim Buddy Kennedy

By | at

The A’s announced that they’ve claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Diamondbacks.  Kennedy was designated for assignment by Arizona earlier this week, and he now been optioned to the Athletics’ Triple-A club.

The 24-year-old is changing organizations for the first time in his pro career, as Kennedy has been with the D’Backs since he was a fifth-round selection in the 2017 draft.  His time in Arizona has resulted in 40 games at the Major League level, with ten of those appearances coming this season.  Kennedy hasn’t done much hitting (.206/.293/.299) over his 123 plate appearances in the bigs, and his minor league numbers are somewhat inconsistent.  However, Kennedy has taken full advantage of the hitter-friendly environment at Triple-A Reno this season, batting .318/.444/.481 over 417 PA for the Diamondbacks’ top affiliate.

Defensively, Kennedy has mostly played as a third baseman but has increasingly gotten time at second base over the last two years, plus he has seen sparing action at first base and in left field.  The waiver claim gives the A’s another versatile player to take a look at over the last few weeks of the season, and as they look ahead to 2024.

Because the D’Backs outrighted Kennedy off their 40-man roster last winter, Kennedy now has the ability to choose free agency in the event of a future DFA and clearance of waivers, which adds another wrinkle for the Athletics in whether or not they want to keep him on their 40-man roster.

White Sox Select José Ureña

By | at

TODAY: The Sox have officially announced Urena’s selection, and right-hander Declan Cronin was placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 6) in the corresponding move.  Cronin is dealing with blisters on his throwing hand.

SEPTEMBER 8: The White Sox are planning to select José Ureña’s contract from Triple-A Charlotte, allowing the veteran to start on Saturday against the Tigers, as first reported by Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Chicago has an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding transaction will not be necessary. However, the White Sox will have to make a move to open up space on the active roster.

Ureña last pitched in the majors for the Rockies in April. He signed a major league deal with Colorado during the offseason but was designated for assignment and subsequently released after just five starts. The Rockies are still on the hook for his guaranteed salary, so the White Sox will only need to pay him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary for as long as he stays with the MLB club.

The right-hander signed a minor league deal with the Nationals in May but failed to earn a promotion back to the majors, pitching to a 6.31 ERA in 15 starts at Triple-A Rochester. He was released in early August and quickly signed a new deal with the White Sox, reporting to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. Ureña has looked much better in his four outings with the Knights than he did with the Rochester Red Wings, posting a 3.37 ERA in 21 1/3 innings. He has increased his strikeout rate while decreasing his walk rate, and he has not allowed a home run in his last three games.

His recent turnaround at Triple-A is promising, but Ureña still has a ways to go to prove he can be a capable big league starter once again. He gave up 22 runs across 18 1/3 innings with the Rockies this year, and he owns a 5.61 ERA and 5.16 SIERA over the last five seasons.

Be that as it may, the White Sox will take any help they can get in the rotation right now. Their starters rank last in baseball with a 6.26 ERA since the trade deadline. Michael Kopech, who is moving to the bullpen in favor of Ureña, has been the number one culprit, walking 26 batters and pitching to an 8.10 ERA in his last six starts. It wasn’t so long ago that manager Pedro Grifol said, “[Kopech] not being a starter is not anywhere close to what we’re thinking.” However, Kopech’s poor performance has forced the team’s hand. Grifol confirmed to reporters, including Merkin, that the White Sox still view Kopech as a starter long-term, but he will spend the rest of the 2023 season in the bullpen.

With just over three weeks remaining in the regular season, Ureña will have the chance to earn another three or four starts. If he continues to perform like he has at Triple-A Charlotte, he could pitch his way to another major league contract for 2024.

Royals Make Four Roster Moves

By | at

The Royals announced that Brad Keller has been reinstated from the club’s 60-day injured list, and that catcher Tyler Cropley’s contract has been selected from Double-A Arkansas.  In corresponding moves, Kansas City placed left-hander Austin Cox on the 60-day IL with a left knee sprain, and catcher Freddy Fermin will go on the 10-day IL due to a fracture in his right middle finger.

The 60-day placement will end Cox’s season, though suffering “only” a sprain might be something of a relief given the obvious pain on the southpaw’s face when he suffered the injury in Friday’s game.  Cox was running to cover first base on a grounder when a bad step caused his left leg to give out, and he had to be helped off the field.

It’s a rough end to Cox’s first Major League season.  A fifth-round pick for the Royals in the 2018 draft, Cox made his MLB debut in May and has a 4.79 ERA over 35 2/3 innings, working out of the bullpen in 21 of his 24 appearances (though he functioned as an opener in one of his three starts).  Cox’s strikeout (22.1%) and walk (11.4%) rates aren’t overly impressive, though he has done an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two homers all season.

Fermin’s injury also must have been a recent occurrence, as he was the starting catcher throughout Friday’s game, a 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays.  After a three-game cup of coffee in 2022, the rookie has gotten a longer look this year, appearing in 70 games and hitting .281/.321/.461 with nine home runs over 235 plate appearances.  This solid play has increasingly given Fermin more time behind the plate, as Salvador Perez has been used more often as a first baseman or DH over the last five weeks.

Perez figures to return to regular catching duty with Fermin out, and MJ Melendez could also get some playing time even though he has primarily been used in an outfield role.  Since K.C. seems to prefer Melendez as an outfielder, it opens the door for Cropley to get his first taste of the big leagues after five pro seasons.

Cropley was an eighth-round pick for the Nationals in the 2018 draft, and he has the spent the last three years in the Kansas City organization.  The 27-year-old has a modest .235/.329/.359 slash line over 168 PA for Arkansas this season and he has never played any Triple-A ball, so the Royals could be viewing Cropley purely as a depth option in Fermin’s absence.

After posting a 4.36 ERA over his first nine starts and 43 1/3 innings of the season, Keller was sidelined with right shoulder impingement syndrome in mid-May and is only now returning to the K.C. rotation.  He’ll get the chance to log a few more appearances before the season is out, and perhaps take his final bows in a Royals uniform since Keller is a free agent this winter.  The right-hander has a 5.12 ERA over 316 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 season, and with this injury-marred season on his record, Keller may have difficulty finding a guaranteed big league contract from the Royals or any other team.

Twins Notes: Kirilloff, Gallo, Buxton, Taylor, Stewart

By | at

The Twins activated Alex Kirilloff from the 10-day injured list Friday, and the first baseman marked his return by going 1-for-4 in Minnesota’s 5-2 victory over the Mets.  In the corresponding move, the Twins placed Joey Gallo on the 10-day IL due to a left foot contusion, with Gallo’s placement retroactive to September 6.

Kirilloff was playing in his first MLB game since July 29, as a right shoulder strain forced the former top prospect to the sidelines.  Since recovery from wrist surgery already delayed Kirilloff’s season debut until May 6, he has played in only 70 games this season, though Kirilloff has hit a solid .270/.355/.439 over 262 plate appearances.  A hefty .353 BABIP has certainly aided that production, but it still represents a very nice step forward for Kirilloff after wrist problems hampered his first two seasons in the majors.

Now back on the active roster, Kirilloff figures to resume his role as Minnesota’s primary first baseman, with Donovan Solano stepping in to spell Kirilloff against left-handed pitching.  Gallo was also a significant part of the first base mix, but he’ll now miss some time after fouling a ball off his foot, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Signed to a one-year, $11MM free agent contract last winter, Gallo has to some extent rebounded from his rough 2022 season, as his .177/.301/.440 slash line and 21 homers in 332 PA does translate to an above-average 103 wRC+.  However, most of Gallo’s production came in April, and he has been in a pronounced slump for the rest of the season.  Gallo’s ability to play first base and all three outfield positions has made him a useful asset for a Minnesota team that has been hit with multiple injuries over the course of 2023, but it remains to be seen if Gallo will be part of a postseason roster, should the Twins hold on to win the AL Central.

Byron Buxton’s status is also an x-factor at this point, as the former All-Star hasn’t played since appearing in a minor league rehab game on September 1.  Buxton was playing in his first game as an outfielder in over a year, as recurring knee problems resulted in arthroscopic surgery late in the 2022 season, and the Twins’ decision to use Buxton exclusively as a designated hitter this season.  With Buxton currently on the IL due to a hamstring injury, the Twins were trying to ease Buxton back into fielding duty, only to be set back by this latest case of patella tendinitis.

Baldelli didn’t have any new update on when Buxton might be able to play again, at either the minor league or MLB levels.  There’s something of a holding pattern situation until Buxton is healthy, but as Baldelli noted, “that doesn’t mean he’s not going to play for us.  We’re anticipating him working his way back and taking the field for us.”

In other Twins injury news, Michael A. Taylor and Nick Gordon each took part in a live batting practice session against Brock Stewart, as all three players continue to make some progress in their rehab work.  Gordon still isn’t expected back until closer to the end of the regular season, but Taylor might be back in relatively short order, after being placed on the IL last Sunday due to a right hamstring strain.

In addition to the live BP session, Taylor also said he did some baserunning work on Friday.  Taylor has hit a career-high 20 homers and has been one of baseball’s best defensive center fielders, putting him in line for his second career Gold Glove and giving Minnesota some much-needed relief up the middle with Buxton relegated to DH work.

Stewart last pitched in the majors in 2019 before resurfacing with the Twins this year, and he returned in grand fashion by posting an 0.70 ERA over 25 2/3 relief innings.  Unfortunately, Stewart’s season was cut short by elbow soreness in late June, which has now led to a lengthy stint on the 60-day injured list.  Stewart is likely to need some minor league rehab work given the longer layoff, but he should be able to get back before the regular season is over.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top