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The Opener: White Sox, Diaz, Dodgers, Phillies

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As MLB’s regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. How low can the White Sox go?

The White Sox are in the midst of history—for all the wrong reasons. The Twins’ 13-7 victory over Chicago yesterday marked the 20th consecutive loss for the South Siders. You may know that there have been just seven streaks of 20 or more wins in a row in MLB history and, as MLB.com’s Sarah Langs noted yesterday, 20-game losing streaks are just as rare with the current streak by the White Sox being the seventh in MLB history. Four of the other six teams (the 1906 Boston Americans, the 1916 and 1943 Philadelphia Athletics, and the 1969 Montreal Expos) saw their losing streaks end at 20, meaning that if the club loses tonight’s game against the Athletics in Oakland the losing streak will jump from a five-way tie for third place into a two-way tie for second place, joining an Orioles club that rattled off 21 consecutive losses to kick off the 1988 season. The 1961 Philadelphia Phillies lost a record 23 consecutive games.

2. Diaz day-to-day:

There was a scary moment for Rays infielder Yandy Diaz in yesterday’s game against the Astros, when he was struck in the wrist area by a 110 mph grounder off the bat of Yordan Alvarez while attempting to field the ball. The 32-year-old was pulled from the game in obvious pain and replaced by youngster Curtis Mead at first base, though the Rays later announced (as relayed by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that x-rays were negative and that Diaz had been diagnosed with a left wrist contusion. Diaz said after the game that he doesn’t expect to require a trip to the injured list but had not yet tried to grip a bat or put on a glove due to pain when closing his hand. He’s expected to get treatment for the ailment while the Rays are off today before a determination is made about his status for Tuesday’s series against the Cardinals.

3. Series Preview: Phillies @ Dodgers

Two of the National League’s best teams are set to face off this week in what could prove to be a preview of this year’s NLCS when the Phillies head to Chavez Ravine for a three-game set against the Dodgers. The series kicks off at 7:10pm local time this evening with a battle between Aaron Nola (3.43 ERA) and Tyler Glasnow (3.50 ERA). Tomorrow’s game will see breakout lefty Cristopher Sanchez (3.36 ERA) square off against veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw (5.87 ERA through two starts), and the series will wrap up with a pair of rookies on the mound as Tyler Phillips (4.39 ERA through five appearances) takes on Gavin Stone (3.63 ERA).

Live Chat With Fantasy Baseball Expert Nicklaus Gaut

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Fantasy baseball expert Nicklaus Gaut will be holding a live chat today at 11am central time, exclusively with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Use the link below to ask a question in advance, participate in the live event, and read the transcript afterward.

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Lance McCullers Jr. No Longer Expected To Pitch In 2024

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Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Athletic) this morning that it’s “pretty safe to say” that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will not pitch in the majors this year. McCullers last pitched in the majors during Game 3 of the 2022 World Sereis and has been sidelined the past two seasons due to a muscle strain in his right arm and a subsequent surgery to repair his right flexor tendon last summer.

Rehab from that surgery was expected to leave him out of action for the first half of the 2024 season, though that timeline was further delayed when the club paused his throwing program last month due to lingering arm soreness following his bullpen sessions. Club brass subsequently indicated the right-hander may be able to contribute out of the bullpen for the September stretch run this year despite the setback, though even at the time it was noted that McCullers was seeking a second opinion regarding the setback.

The right-hander seemingly has not resumed a throwing program since being shut down early last month, and with so much time off would surely need to restart his throwing program from scratch in order to get ready for MLB games. That seems like a tall order with less than two months remaining in the regular season, and it’s ultimately not yet clear if McCullers is being shut down due to a significant setback or if he has simply run out of time to work his way back to a return in the majors this year. Regardless of the specifics behind McCullers’s situation, the right-hander will now look toward a return in 2025 on the heels of back-to-back lost seasons.

It’s an especially frustrating situation given the 30-year-old’s considerable talent when healthy enough to take the mound. The right-hander owns a career 3.48 ERA in 718 2/3 innings of work since he first made his big league debut back in 2015, and his peripheral numbers look even better. His career 3.35 FIP is nothing short of excellent, and he’s struck out at least 24.7% of batters faced in every season of his career including a 26.9% rate since the start of the 2016 season. He’s also a decorated postseason hurler for the club, with a 3.47 postseason ERA in 72 2/3 innings of work across 12 playoff series. That talent earned McCullers a five-year, $85MM extension prior to the start of the 2021 season, but more than half of that extension has now come and gone with the right-hander having thrown just 47 2/3 innings total in the regular season since it began in 2022.

McCullers is far from the only Astros hurler done for the year, as he’ll now join Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier in looking toward the 2025 for their returns to the mound after both Urquidy and Javier underwent Tommy John surgery back in June. Justin Verlander and Luis Garcia are also on the injured list, but both of them are expected to pitch in the majors again this year. Verlander, in fact, felt good following a 37 pitch bullpen session earlier today and (according to Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle) told reporters that he expects to return to the majors after just two rehab starts amid a neck strain that’s kept him out of the rotation since mid-June.

Angels Re-Sign Adam Cimber To Minor League Deal

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Less than two weeks after the Angels released Adam Cimber, the two sides have reunited on a minor league contract, according to the righty’s MLB.com profile page.  Los Angeles signed Cimber to a one-year, $1.65MM free agent deal last winter, but was designated for assignment and then released in July while he was still on the 15-day injured list recovering from right shoulder inflammation.

It seems as though there might’ve been a handshake agreement on that initial DFA and release, as it freed up a 40-man roster spot for the Angels and came at no financial cost to Cimber since the team was still on the hook for the remainder of his 2024 salary.  Cimber has enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, so after some time to explore his options on the open market, he has now circled back to Anaheim.  On this new minor league deal, Cimber could continue to rehab or just return right to game action at Triple-A Salt Lake in something of an unofficial minor league rehab assignment.

Shoulder injuries have both limited Cimber’s participation in the last two MLB seasons, and impacted his performance to the tune of a 7.20 ERA over 45 innings in 50 appearances since Opening Day 2023.  Cimber’s 149 appearances led all big league pitchers over the 2021-22 seasons, so it could be that this heavy workload finally caught up to the veteran right-hander.  The Blue Jays non-tendered Cimber last offseason and the Angels inked him to that $1.65MM deal that has yet to yield many dividends.

These two rough seasons have come on the heels of five solid years of performance in 2018-22, as Cimber had a 3.20 ERA in 278 2/3 innings with San Diego, Cleveland, Miami, and Toronto.  If he can get healthy, return to the majors, and get back to anything like his old form, Cimber might have an outside shot at another low-cost guaranteed big league deal this winter.

California Notes: Ramos, Detmers, Edwards

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Heliot Ramos has been battling a right thumb injury for the last week, telling reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle) that the discomfort has factored into his lack of production over the Giants’ last few days.  The thumb issue forced him to make an early exit from the Giants’ 6-4 loss to the Reds on Saturday and Ramos also didn’t play in today’s game.  The outfielder is day to day for now, though since the Giants’ next off-day isn’t until August 16, the club might be forced into a 10-day injured list placement for Ramos if the swelling doesn’t come down.

A longtime staple of top-100 prospect lists, Ramos didn’t show much in limited MLB action in 2022-23, but he has fully broken out after San Francisco called him back up to the Show in early May.  Ramos is hitting .285/.344/.491 with 15 home runs in 320 plate appearances, and this production earned him a spot on the NL All-Star roster.  Ramos’ emergence has helped keep the Giants in the playoff race, so missing him for any amount of time (IL placement or not) is a blow to the lineup.

More from three of the Golden State’s teams…

  • Reid Detmers posted a 6.19 ERA over his first nine Triple-A outings since he was optioned to the majors at the start of June, and the tough stretch continued when he allowed six runs in 3 2/3 IP in a start today with Triple-A Salt Lake.  Prior to today’s game, Angels pitching coach Barry Enright told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he felt Detmers’ slider and his mentality on the mound had been showing improvement, but it isn’t yet known if Detmers’ latest result might lead to at least one more tune-up outing rather than a promotion back to the majors.  Detmers also had a 6.14 ERA in 63 big league innings this season, after solid results in 2022-23 had seemingly established him as a key piece of the Angels’ rotation.  As Fletcher notes, if the Angels didn’t call Detmers back up until August 20, the team would lock in an extra year of control over Detmers.  The southpaw therefore wouldn’t have enough MLB service time to qualify for free agency until after the 2028 season.  While this is certainly a factor in whatever decision Los Angeles makes about Detmers’ development, it can be argued that the Angels have justifiable reason to keep Detmers in the minors, given his struggles.
  • The Padres signed Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league contract last month, and Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the veteran reliever is taking a new step in his career by working as a starting pitcher.  The right-hander has a 4.91 ERA over 22 innings and six starts, throwing at least four innings and 80 pitches in each of his last three games.  Edwards began his minor league career as a starter, but he started just one minor league game from 2015-23, and never started any of his 295 career games or rarely even went beyond a single inning of work.  As he approaches his 33rd birthday in September, Edwards’ ability to now work as a starter (or at least as a bulk pitcher or long reliever) could add a new wrinkle to his career, and provide the Padres with some unexpected rotation depth.

Rockies Sign Chasen Shreve To Minors Contract

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The Rockies have signed Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract, as per the left-hander’s MLB.com profile page.  Shreve was released from his previous minors deal with the Yankees just last Thursday, and he has now quickly landed with the ninth different big league organization of his 15-year pro career.

Shreve has seen action with seven of those teams at the Major League level, with 174 2/3 of his 356 career big league innings coming in two earlier stints with the Yankees.  Minors deals with the Rangers and Yankees in 2024 didn’t lead to any time in the majors for the 34-year-old, so Shreve will look to crack the Rockies’ roster and officially appear in a game to lock in what would be an 11th MLB campaign.

For such a journeyman’s resume, Shreve has some solid results in the form of a career 3.97 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate.  His most recent two seasons have been quite shaky, however, as Shreve had a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 frames with the Mets in 2022 and then a 4.63 ERA in 44 2/3 combined innings with the Tigers and Reds last year.  A combined 3.64 SIERA over the 2022-23 seasons perhaps paints a better view of Shreve’s performance, as an uncharacteristically high homer rate in 2022 particularly hurt his numbers.

Shreve has looked sharp in his time at Triple-A this year, posting a 1.89 ERA in 33 1/3 total innings for the Rangers’ and Yankees’ top affiliates.  His ability to pitch that well in the Pacific Coast League (with Triple-A Sugar Land) provides some hope that he can keep it up in another hitter-friendly environment in Albuquerque.  It might not be long before Shreve is back in the majors, as the Rockies’ woeful bullpen needs all the help it can get, and the club doesn’t have a single left-hander in its relief corps.

AL West Notes: Carter, Rendon, Wilson, Astros

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Rangers GM Chris Young stated earlier this week that Evan Carter’s recurring back problems would likely end his 2024 season, and Carter confirmed as much when speaking with Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and other reporters today.  Carter said he doesn’t think surgery will be required to address the lumbar strain in his back, and he should have a normal offseason and a regular path to the start of Spring Training once he begins swinging in 9-10 weeks.

Carter’s official rookie season will now end with 45 games played, and a .188/.272/.361 slash line over 162 plate appearances.  It was a tough follow-up to Carter’s incredible run in 2023 after his late-season MLB debut, but hopefully a full offseason of rest and recovery can help him move past the back problems that ruined his year.

More from around the AL West…

  • The Angels intend to activate Anthony Rendon on Tuesday, so the lower-back inflammation that sidelined Rendon will result in just a minimal stint on the 10-day injured list.  Rendon already missed around two and a half months earlier this season due to a hamstring strain, so the veteran third baseman has clocked just 33 games this season.  Hitting only .227/.289/.273 over 142 PA, Rendon has plenty of time to post more respectable numbers the rest of the way, but 2024 is looking like another lost year for Rendon in the fifth season of his seven-year, $245MM deal with the Halos.  Rendon has hit only .245/.349/.380 over his 999 PA in an Angels uniform, and a variety of injuries have limited him to 233 games.
  • Jacob Wilson’s first Major League game on July 19 was cut short by a hamstring strain, and reporter Jessica Kleinschmidt writes (via X) that the Athletics don’t yet have a concrete timeline on when Wilson might be able to return to action.  That said, the shortstop has been taking part in baseball activities and has ramped up his running drills, so Wilson looks to be making progress.  The sixth overall pick of the 2023 draft, Wilson earned the quick call-up to the Show due to a huge .438/.475/.687 slash line in 200 PA at three different minor league levels this season.  Returning in relatively short order and getting some more exposure against big league pitching would further help Wilson establish himself as a cornerstone of the Athletics’ future.
  • The Astros didn’t add any first base help at the trade deadline, and in fact subtracted from their depth by moving Joey Loperfido to the Blue Jays as part of the Yusei Kikuchi trade package.  In an appearance on the Astros’ pregame radio show today, GM Dana Brown said that the club could continue to look within to bolster their first base ranks, as Zach Dezenzo and Shay Whitcomb could be called up from the minors to make their MLB debuts.  Both are right-handed hitters that could team with the left-handed hitting Jon Singleton in a platoon situation, and Dezenzo might be the preferred choice of the two prospects because he has more experience than Whitcomb as a first baseman.  (Hat tip to Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle.)

Dodgers Notes: Rosario, Betts, Freeman, Yamamoto

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TODAY: Chelsea Freeman posted the great news on Instagram that Maximus has returned home from the hospital.

AUGUST 3: For the second time in as many years, the Dodgers have acquired Amed Rosario ahead of the trade deadline. Coming off a down season in Cleveland last year that left him as a below-average hitter overall, Rosario was used almost exclusively against left-handed pitching during his time with L.A. last season. Despite the fact that he’s hit both righties and lefties quite well with the Rays this year, however, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that Rosario’s role with the club will be similar to last year.

“Honestly, to be quite frank, he’s not on this team, and we didn’t acquire him, to be an everyday player — he didn’t play every day in Tampa — and to hit righties,” Roberts said (as relayed by Plunkett) when asked about Rosario’s role this year.

Rosario has improved considerably in terms of both his overall slash line, which sits at .308/.332/.421 (116 wRC+) in 277 trips to the plate, and in boosting his slash against righties to a respectable .299/.324/.395 (107 wRC+). Even so, it’s worth noting that the 28-year-old is still hitting lefties better than same-handed pitching. With lefty-swinging Gavin Lux at second base, Shohei Ohtani locked into everyday at-bats at DH, and a trio of lefty-swingers in James Outman, Jason Heyward, and Kevin Kiermaier all part of the club’s deep outfield mix, it’s fair to wonder where exactly Rosario would fit into the club’s lineup against right-handed pitching.

Rosario has plenty of experience at shortstop and played a bit of third base for Tampa this year, but the club seems satisfied with Kiké Hernández at third base and Nick Ahmed at shortstop for the time being. Perhaps more importantly, each of those pieces are only stopgap options to begin with. Plunkett goes on to note that Roberts indicated the club hopes to see superstar Mookie Betts return to the lineup on August 12 or 13. Betts has been sidelined since mid-June after an errant pitch fractured his left hand.

Betts was in the midst of a MVP-caliber season prior to his injury, slashing an incredible .304/.405/.488 in 72 games that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that he was simultaneously making a relatively seamless transition to becoming the everyday shortstop in L.A. this season. While it seemed at one point that veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas had staked his claim to regular starts at short in Betts’ absence, a forearm issue sent him to the shelf as well and seemingly leaves the position for Betts to slide back into upon his return.

While third base figures to be an option for a while longer with Max Muncy still out due to a strained oblique, Freddie Freeman’s impending return from the restricted list could lessen opportunities for Rosario at the hot corner as well. Freeman has been out for about a week now as he tends to his family following the hospitalization of his son, Maximus, due to Guillain-Barré syndrome but Roberts notes that he could return to the club as soon as this week when they face the Phillies in a three-game set that starts on Monday. Freeman’s return to action would free up Cavan Biggio from regular reps at first base, giving the club a left-handed infield option with plenty of experience at third base the club may prefer to utilize over Rosario against right-handers.

Sticking with news regarding currently-unavailable stars, Plunkett notes that right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a 20-pitch bullpen session today in his first time taking the mound since being sidelined with a strained rotator cuff back in June. Roberts told reporters (including Plunkett) that the bullpen was a “big step forward” and that Yamamoto is slated to throw another bullpen on Tuesday as the club angles for a return to action for the righty sometime next month. The right-hander received the biggest pitching contract in MLB history before throwing a single pitch in the big leagues this past winter and immediately made good on it with a 2.92 ERA and 2.68 FIP in 14 starts for the Dodgers before being shelved due to the injury. Injuries to Yamamoto and Walker Buehler led the club to fortify their rotation at the deadline by adding right-hander Jack Flaherty, but it seems possible that Yamamoto and Flaherty could join forces down the stretch and into the postseason at the front of L.A.’s rotation alongside Tyler Glasnow.

Pirates Notes: Skenes, Jones, McCutchen, Rodriguez

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As noted by Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pirates GM Ben Cherington made his weekly radio appearance on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh earlier today. In that appearance, Cherington suggested that right-hander Paul Skenes is in “good shape” in regards to his innings workload to this point in the season. The star rookie has thrown 108 innings so far this year between the major and minor leagues, just below his career high of 129 1/3 between LSU and the minor leagues last year. Cherington went on to suggest that while the club could consider lowering Skenes’s pitch counts at some point but didn’t commit to that path, instead noting that the right-hander’s intense preparation between starts puts him in a good position to handle volume, and that the club’s focus is on how well he recovers between starts rather than his pitch counts or total innings of work.

That’s surely a relief for Pirates fans, as Pittsburgh will need every inning they can get from their young ace as they look to work their way into the playoff conversation. The Pirates currently sit at a decent 56-54 record after buying at the trade deadline. While they’re six games back of the Brewers for the NL Central crown as things stand, Pittsburgh sits just 2.5 games back in a crowded NL Wild Card picture that also features the Braves, Diamondbacks, Padres, Mets, and Cardinals. Skenes has been a huge part of the club’s resurgence this year, as the club has won nine of the 13 games he’s started for them since debuting in mid-May. Team record during a pitcher’s starts is an imperfect measure of that pitcher’s effectiveness, but it’s obvious that Skenes has helped the Pirates in a big way by posting a sparkling 1.90 ERA in 80 2/3 innings of work in the majors while striking out exactly one third of batters faced entering play today.

Skenes isn’t the only young arm that Cherington commented on, as he indicated that right-hander Jared Jones is “real close” to a rehab assignment at Triple-A following a 45-pitch live bullpen session. Cherington suggested that Jones’s first rehab outing is likely to be of a similar pitch count before moving up from there. Pittsburgh’s other front-of-the-rotation rookie has been on the 15-day IL since Independence Day due to a lat strain, but prior to that injury had looked excellent in his first season as a big leaguer with a 3.56 ERA and a 26.4% strikeout rate in 91 innings of work. Jones’s return to action should not only provide the club with a boost down the stretch, but would offer them a daunting and entirely homegrown playoff rotation alongside Skenes and Mitch Keller should the club manage to make the postseason for the first time since 2015.

While the news regarding Jones and Skenes is undoubtedly positive, a turn towards the lineup yields more mixed results. Veteran slugger Andrew McCutchen is out of today’s lineup after being pulled from yesterday’s game due what the team announced as tightness in his left quad muscle. It’s unclear as of yet whether or not the 37-year-old veteran will require a trip to the injured list due to the issue or not, but a lengthy absence for McCutchen would be a frustrating turn of events for a Pirates club that had just begun to fire on all cylinders in the lineup after adding Bryan De La Cruz and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the trade deadline. The veteran, who has slashed a decent .228/.328/.383 with a 102 wRC+ as the club’s primary DH this year, could be replaced by Connor Joe or a youngster currently at Triple-A like Edward Olivares in the starting lineup if an IL stint is required. Catcher Joey Bart is DH’ing in today’s game, making room for Yasmani Grandal behind the plate.

Speaking of catchers, Cherington offered some positive positional news today when he indicated that there’s a “chance” that longtime catching prospect Endy Rodriguez could play in minor league games before the end of the year despite undergoing what was thought to be season-ending UCL surgery back in December. Cherington cautioned that any such rehab games would first come at DH and then first base due to the excessive pressure put on a player’s arm by the catcher position, though he didn’t completely shut the door on the possibility of Rodriguez getting time behind the plate before the year comes to a close. The 24-year-old switch hitter hit just .220/.284/.328 in his first taste of the majors last year but is a career .282/.361/.442 hitter at Triple-A who was a consensus top-50 prospect in the game prior to his debut and subsequent injury last year.

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