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Cardinals Notes: Matz, Liberatore, Marmol

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The Cardinals have been without Steven Matz all month, as the veteran lefty has been on the shelf due to a lower back strain. He’d been slated to throw a bullpen session today, but that’s now been scrapped due to ongoing discomfort, tweets Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Instead, Matz will receive an injection and be shut down from throwing for “at least” the next week — possibly longer, depending on how he responds to the latest treatment.

Matz, 33 at the end of the month, is in the third season of a four-year, $44MM contract signed in free agency. The former Mets and Blue Jays hurler rebounded from a dreadful first season of that agreement in 2022 to give the Cards 105 innings of 3.86 ERA ball last season. He did so with diminished strikeout and walk rates relative to his ’22 levels but also with a resurgent 44.8% grounder rate that helped in mitigating some of the home run troubles he’d experienced in his first year with St. Louis.

The 2024 season has seen Matz make six starts and struggle to a low tally of 27 1/3 innings as well as a grim 6.18 ERA. Matz’s 13.4% strikeout rate would easily be a career-low and stands as the eighth-lowest mark among any of the 182 MLB pitchers to toss at least 20 innings this season. His 8.7% walk rate is average, but this year’s 33.7% ground-ball rate is the lowest of his career other than a 30-inning sample from the shortened 2020 season.

With Matz now sidelined even longer than expected, a window will further open for fellow southpaw Matthew Liberatore. Manager Oli Marmol told the Cardinals beat that plugging Liberatore into Matz’s rotation spot for now “gives us the best chance to win” (X link via Jones), so it seems he’ll remain the preferred option to start in Matz’s absence. Liberatore, acquired from the Rays in the trade sending Randy Arozarena to Tampa Bay, hasn’t topped 50 pitches in an outing this year and thus figures to be limited when he takes the ball today in a road matchup with the Angels. His longest outing of the season has been 3 2/3 innings, but if he can work efficiently, it’s feasible he could get through four or five innings before the Cards go to the bullpen.

Speaking of Marmol, he’s come under quite a bit of fire as the Cardinals have followed up 2023’s surprising last-place finish with an ugly start that once again has them residing in the NL Central’s cellar. Fans have voiced plenty of criticism for the third-year skipper, and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak — who surprisingly fired former manager Mike Shildt and installed Marmol as the new skipper — seemed to choose his words carefully when asked by KMOX’s Tom Ackerman how he currently views his manager (X link with audio).

“These are times that are difficult,” said Mozeliak. “I still think he understands the job. I think he knows how to manage. I think he’s trying to put the right combination of players in, but at some level you’ve got to have some performance. I understand fans are not happy with myself. They’re not happy with Oli. I don’t think anything I say here today is going to change that, so I think we have to just keep trying to go back and try to get this to work. And look, we understand if it doesn’t, then people are going to be held accountable — and ultimately that starts with me.”

Marmol was entering the final season of his original three-year deal to manage the Cardinals this year, but the front office extended him through the 2026 season back in mid-March. That contract seemed a clear vote of confidence at the time, but less than two months later, Mozeliak is publicly noting that his skipper has “got to have some level of performance” and speaking about accountability both on the field level and in the front office.

The 16-24 Cardinals are eight games back of the division-leading Brewers and have the fourth-worst run differential in MLB (-51), leading only the Rockies, Marlins and White Sox. Cardinals hitters rank 28th in the majors in batting average (.220), 27th in on-base percentage (.298) and 29th in slugging percentage (.341). Their 136 runs are the second-fewest in MLB, and St. Louis is tied with the White Sox for the game’s fewest home runs (29).

The revamped rotation hasn’t been much better. Cardinals starters are 24th in the big leagues with a combined 4.49 ERA and rank 22nd with a 20.5% strikeout rate. The bullpen, led by closer Ryan Helsley and setup men JoJo Romero, Ryan Fernandez and Andrew Kittredge, has been better, but it’s a top-heavy group. The struggles of those in the final few spots of the ’pen have Cardinals relievers sitting at a flat 4.00 ERA on the season, ranking 15th in the big leagues.

Athletics Place Paul Blackburn On Injured List

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The Athletics announced that right-hander Paul Blackburn has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 11, with a stress reaction of the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. Left-hander Easton Lucas was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move.

It’s unclear when Blackburn suffered his injury, but it his results have gradually worsened as the season has gone along. He first three starts of the season were scoreless but he allowed 21 earned runs over his five most recent outings. Against the Mariners on Friday, he went four-plus innings with seven earned run allowed.

In the short term, the news is obviously a setback for the A’s. When healthy, he has been one of the pillars of their organization in recent years. As other pitchers have come and gone and many have floundered, he posted a 4.35 ERA in 2022 and 2023. This year, his hot start and subsequent struggles have led to a 4.11 ERA.

Of course, the “when healthy” qualifier is an important one for Blackburn. He was limited to 21 starts in 2022 and 20 last year, missing time due to issues with the middle finger of his pitching hand. The 111 1/3 innings he threw in 2021 are still his career high at the big league level. Now he’s in for yet another injury absence, though it’s not known how long the A’s expect that to be.

The A’s already have Ken Waldichuk, Freddy Tarnok and Luis Medina on the 60-day IL, with Joe Boyle on the 15-day IL. Blackburn is now joining them and perhaps Alex Wood as well. Manager Mark Kotsay told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (X link) that Wood has been pitching through a shoulder injury that seemed to get worse yesterday. “Alex has been grinding,” Kotsay said. “He hasn’t felt great. He gave us everything he had.” Kotsay seemed to suggest that an IL stint could be coming by saying last night: “We’ll have more news tomorrow.”

If Wood follows Blackburn to the IL, the rotation would be left with JP Sears, Ross Stripling and Joey Estes. Sears and Stripling have been effective enough. Sears has a 4.20 ERA on the year and Stripling is at 5.14, though with a .356 batting average on balls in play and 57.9% strand rate. Stripling’s 3.71 FIP and 4.50 SIERA suggest he could be better going forward with a bit more help from the baseball gods. Estes was just recalled and his one start was decent, allowing one earned run in five innings, though he had a 6.04 ERA in Triple-A before getting called up.

The club will need to figure out how to fill a rotation spot, perhaps two. Mitch Spence has been throwing multi-inning stints out of the bullpen and has a 3.65 ERA, so he could perhaps be an option. Hogan Harris or Osvaldo Bido were recently up to make spot starts and could perhaps do so again. Brady Basso and Royber Salinas are on the 40-man roster, though neither player has yet reached the majors and each has made just one Triple-A start.

In the longer term, it’s possible the injury could impact Blackburn as a midseason trade candidate. He is making $3.45MM this year and is slated for one more arbitration season before he will become a free agent after 2025. Though the A’s are performing a bit better than expected this year at 19-23, they are still most likely going to be in seller position at the upcoming deadline.

Blackburn’s results have been more passable than outstanding, but all teams need pitching at the deadline and non-rental starters tend to be the most attractive assets in the summer market. The righty therefore is one of the most straightforward trade candidates this year, given his status and that of the team he plays for. The extent of his injury will therefore be of interest not just to the A’s but to many other clubs around the league as the summer pitching market develops.

Orioles Designate Ryan McKenna For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve designated outfielder Ryan McKenna for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to veteran Austin Hays, who has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list after missing about three weeks with a strained calf. It’s the second bit of outfield shuffling by the O’s today. Baltimore previously optioned Heston Kjerstad to Triple-A Norfolk in favor of Kyle Stowers.

McKenna, 27, was only selected back to the 40-man roster for a second stint with the Orioles on April 26. He appeared in nine games and went 3-for-8 at the plate, popping a pair of home runs in his brief look with the club. Despite that productive cup of coffee, he won’t stick around on the big league roster. McKenna is out of minor league options, so the O’s had little choice but to designate him for assignment once things reached a point where they needed to open his roster spot back up. In all likelihood, McKenna knew it’d be a short stay on the active roster.

A fourth-round selection by the O’s in the 2015 draft, McKenna has now appeared in parts of four seasons with the MLB club. Despite the big showing in this year’s tiny sample, he struggled extensively from 2021-23, hitting just .222/.299/.318 in 508 plate appearances across that three-year span. He owns a productive .261/.359/.561 output in 274 Triple-A plate appearances but also a .234/.327/.357 slash in a much larger sample of 817 Double-A plate appearances.

Baltimore is stacked with outfield talent — and with position players in general — leaving little room for McKenna to wrest everyday at-bats from the team’s other outfield options. Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and the now-reinstated Hays are all in the mix for at-bats, as is the aforementioned Stowers, who’s joining the club for his 2024 debut after smacking 11 Triple-A homers in his first 165 plate appearances there this season. Mullins has been in a deep slump of late, and Hays struggled a good bit before landing on the injured list himself. However, both veterans have lengthy track records of production that date back several years. Neither was going to be displaced because of a brief hot streak from McKenna.

The Orioles have a week to trade McKenna or else place him on outright waivers or release waivers. He went unclaimed on outright waivers at the end of March, and in doing so gained the right to reject any additional outright assignments for the remainder of his career. As such, if he clears waivers, he’ll have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency. Given the glut of outfield talent on the Baltimore roster, it’s possible he’d prefer to latch on with another organization that has far less depth and thus a better opportunity for him to get an earnest look at the big league level.

Orioles Claim Corbin Martin, Recall Kyle Stowers

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1:23pm: Baltimore will option top outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad to Norfolk to make room for Stowers, tweets Ghiroli.

12:50pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Corbin Martin off waivers from the Brewers. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s 40-man roster had an open spot and is now at capacity. It seems as though this will be just one of multiple moves for Baltimore today, as Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic also reports that the O’s are calling up outfielder Kyle Stowers from Norfolk. The team has yet to announce that move or any corresponding transactions.

Martin, 28, was a second-round pick of the Astros in 2017 who went from Houston to Arizona as one of the headline pieces in 2019’s Zack Greinke blockbuster. His career trajectory has been impacted by injuries — Tommy John surgery most notably. Martin pitched in the big leagues in 2019, 2021 and 2022 but has just 57 2/3 MLB frames under his belt. He’s limped to a 6.71 earned run average in that time, fanning a well below-average 19% of his opponents against a weighty 13.6% walk rate.

Entering that 2019 season in which he was traded, Martin ranked 78th and 81st on the respective top-100 prospect lists published by Baseball America and MLB.com. He was touted as a high-probability mid-rotation arm, having just wrapped up a season that saw him toss 122 innings of 2.51 ERA ball with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate between High-A and Double-A. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early July and was included in the aforementioned Greinke trade just weeks later — a deal that was completed and filed just seconds before the deadline. Martin missed the entire 2020 season as a result and hasn’t looked the same in any of his post-surgery seasons.

In parts of three seasons since that ligament reconstruction, Martin has pitched to an ERA north of 6.00 in Triple-A. Hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League caveat notwithstanding, that type of performance simply doesn’t measure up to his prior promise. He was tagged for 21 runs in 16 big league innings with Arizona in 2021, posted a 6.08 ERA in 77 frames with the D-backs in 2022, and missed the entire 2023 season after suffering a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi during spring training.

More concerning than the poor ERA marks was the evaporation of Martin’s command post-elbow surgery. The 7.3% walk rate he posted in 2018 feels like a distant memory. Martin issued a free pass to 11.4% of his opponents in 2021-22 (MLB and Triple-A combined). He walked a massive 13 of 50 opponents thus far in 2024 (26%).

All of those struggles aside, it’s not entirely surprising to see the Orioles claim Martin. Baltimore general manager Mike Elias was the Astros’ scouting director in 2017 when they selected Martin with the 56th overall pick in the draft and paid him a $1MM signing bonus. Elias is keenly familiar with Martin — both as the pitcher he was shaping up to be prior to his injuries and as a person.

As for Stowers, he’ll return to the big leagues for a third straight season. He hit fairly well in a small sample of 98 plate appearances in 2022 before floundering through a 2-for-30 stretch at the plate in the majors last season. The lefty-swinging 26-year-old is out to a .240/.315/.541 start in Norfolk this season and has already socked 11 home runs in 165 trips to the plate.

Contact remains something of an issue, as Stowers is still punching out in just shy of 27% of his plate appearances against a 7.9% walk rate. Nonetheless, he’ll add some left-handed pop to Baltimore’s outfield mix for the time being. Stowers has spent the bulk of his pro career in right field but has experience in all three spots and has spent more time in center this year (115 innings) than either right field (89) or left field (54).

David Peralta Opts Out Of Cubs Deal

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Veteran outfielder David Peralta opted out of a minor league contract with the Cubs and elected free agency, as indicated on the MiLB.com transaction log. He’ll now be an option for any club seeking some left-handed-hitting and/or corner outfield depth.

The 36-year-old Peralta is a former Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner who’s spent the bulk of his career with the Diamondbacks, for whom he played a pivotal role over the course of nine seasons. From 2014-22, Peralta batted .283/.340/.463 in 961 games and 3728 plate appearances as a member of the D-backs. He belted 110 homers — including a career-high 30 in 2018 alone — and added another 191 doubles and 46 triples for good measure.

By measure of wRC+, Peralta was 12% better at the plate than the average hitter during his Arizona tenure. Couple that with strong overall defensive ratings in the outfield corners, and Peralta was a quietly valuable player for the Snakes for upwards of a decade. The Diamondbacks rewarded his consistency with a three-year, $22MM contract extension heading into the 2020 season, buying out a pair of free-agent seasons in the process.

Arizona wound up trading Peralta to Tampa Bay prior to the 2022 trade deadline, and he’s had subsequent struggles both with the Rays and (in 2023) with the Dodgers. Since leaving Phoenix, Peralta has batted .258/.301/.368 in 602 big league plate appearances.

Peralta inked his minor league deal with the Cubs back in February. As Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote last month, he wasn’t immediately ready for game action, as he was still wrapping up the rehab process from an October procedure to repair the flexor tendon in his left forearm back in October. Peralta got into six games late in spring, going 8-for-18 with a homer, a double and triple, but he opened the season in extended spring training as he wasn’t yet fully cleared to throw from the outfield. He wrapped up a rehab/throwing program and joined the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate on April 11.

In 20 games and 85 plate appearances with Iowa, Peralta has posted a .217/.341/.348 batting line. He’s been dinged by a .232 average on balls in play that’s more than 100 points shy of his career .326 mark in the majors, which has surely played a role in the pedestrian offensive rate stats he’s produced. Peralta’s approach and plate discipline seemingly remain quite sound; he’s walked at a 14.1% clip against just a 15.3% strikeout rate.

Peralta has notable platoon splits in his career, with a .289/.343/.474 slash against righties in his big league career against a .241/.303/.361 line versus fellow lefties. Speculatively speaking, a team with multiple injuries and/or struggles in the outfield (e.g. Giants, Royals, Cardinals) could make some sense for Peralta on another minor league deal, as he’ll likely prioritize signing somewhere with a relatively clear path to a big league opportunity.

Astros Notes: Verlander, Pressly, Brown

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The Astros are out to a slow start this year, currently sitting 15-25, ahead of just the White Sox and Angels in the American League standings. That’s led to early speculation about them possibly trading some pieces at this summer’s deadline.

General manager Dana Brown was recently on MLB Network and said that he “can’t predict any scenario” where the Astros sell at the deadline. But as noted by Chandler Rome of The Athletic, that channel is usually on in clubhouses and he may have decided to portray public confidence with the players watching.

There will be many interesting decisions for the club to make this year, though the on-field performance will obviously play a huge factor in how they make those choices. There is still time for them to climb back into contention, with the Playoff Odds at FanGraphs currently giving them a 39.6% chance to make the postseason while the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus have them slightly better than a coin toss at 51.3%.

If the club does end up in selling position, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to tear the roster down to the studs. Cristian Javier is under contract through 2027, Yordan Alvarez and Josh Hader through 2028 and Jose Altuve through 2029. Players like Luis Garcia, Chas McCormick and Bryan Abreu are arbitration-eligible through 2026, Jeremy Peña and Jake Meyers through 2027, while Yainer Diaz, Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco are controllable even beyond that.

There are also some guys closer to free agency that the club may have to think about trading if they can’t climb in the standings in the next two months. Alex Bregman is an impending free agent. Justin Verlander is as well, though he has a conditional player option for 2025. Ryan Pressly is in the final guaranteed year of his deal, though his 2025 mutual option becomes guaranteed if he makes 50 appearances this year. That’s a number he’s hit in the past seven full seasons and he’s already at 16 this year, meaning he’ll vest that option as long as he’s healthy. Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez and José Urquidy each have one more arbitration season remaining before they are slated for free agency after 2025.

Though the club may have to at least field some calls on that group, there will be some complications with Verlander and Pressly. As mentioned by Rome, both players have opt-outs and would prefer to stay in Houston. That tracks with last week’s report from Bob Nightengale of USA Today, who also highlighted Verlander’s love of Houston.

Perhaps that means the most likely scenario is both players stay for next year. Verlander will have a player option if he gets to 140 innings this year and could trigger it, or perhaps re-sign even if he doesn’t make it to that line. With Pressly on pace to lock in another year on his deal and not jazzed about being traded, perhaps he just stays as well. Verlander is now 41 years old and Pressly is 35, so they may have to think about whether their love for Houston is strong enough for them to stick around and play out the string on a lost season, as opposed to competing for another ring elsewhere. But they have a few months to think that over.

For now, the club has to ponder its roster construction as they try to win the ball games in front of them. At the start of the month, the club began a stretch of playing 29 games in 30 days and manager Joe Espada said that the club would be considering a six-man rotation.

They haven’t exactly stuck to that plan initially. Javier started Saturday’s game and only recorded four outs, which led to Brown throwing five innings of long relief. Whether Brown will stick in the bullpen for a while or make another start seems undecided right now. The next three contests are slated to be started by Spencer Arrighetti, Blanco and Valdez, per Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle on X, but with Espada telling Kawahara that either Javier or Brown could take the ball on Thursday. The club doesn’t have an off-day until May 23, and then plays another 13 straight after that. Espada says they will have a six-man rotation at some point but it’s not exactly clear how often Brown will be starting or relieving.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s MLB Trade Rumors Podcast!

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we’ll frequently answer questions from our readers and listeners.  With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 season is now over a month old, with the trade deadline just over two months away. If you have a question about the ongoing 2024 season, a future transaction or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you!  You can send your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it.  iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Live Chat

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Nicklaus Gaut is holding a live fantasy baseball chat with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers at 11am central time today.  You can find the link below.

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The Opener: Lee, Wood, Pitchers’ Duel

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With one-quarter of the 2024 season now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Lee undergoes MRI:

Giants center fielder and marquee free agent signing Jung Hoo Lee suffered a worrisome injury during last night’s game against the Reds when he leapt at the wall in an attempt to rob Jeimer Candelario of extra bases in the top of the first inning. The Giants later revealed that Lee had suffered a dislocated shoulder and that he would undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the issue, the results of which should be available today.

The 25-year-old is hitting .262/.310/.331 in his first 37 games of stateside action with quality defense in center field, and the already unfortunate prospect of losing his services for an extended period is further compounded for San Francisco by recent injuries to fellow outfielders Michael Conforto and Austin Slater. If Lee requires an absence of note, Mike Yastrzemski, Luis Matos, and Heliot Ramos figure to be the club’s primary outfield group.

2. Wood headed for the IL?

A’s manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including Martin Gallegos of MLB.com) that veteran southpaw Alex Wood has been attempting to pitch through a shoulder injury that contributed to Wood’s lack of velocity in last night’s short start against the Mariners, where Wood allowed five runs (one earned) in just two innings of work. Kotsay implied that a trip to the injured list could be in the works for the lefty, saying that Wood “gave us everything he had” and that the club would “have more news” about the situation today.

If Wood has been plagued by a nagging shoulder issue, that could help to explain his difficult start to the 2024 campaign. Through nine starts, the left-hander has a 5.26 ERA and a nearly identical 5.27 FIP. He’s struck out just 17.7% of batters faced against an elevated 10.2% walk rate and has already surrendered a whopping six home runs in just 39 1/3 innings of work. Lefty Hogan Harris and righty Osvaldo Bido are among the possible candidates to take Wood’s spot in the rotation in the event he faces an extended absence.

3. Pitchers’ Duel in Atlanta:

For the second time during the young 2024 season, the best left-handed starter by ERA is poised to take on the best right-handed starter by ERA (min. 30 innings). Last time this happened, left-hander Shota Imanaga of the Cubs faced right-hander Kutter Crawford of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Imanaga, who sports a 1.08 ERA and 2.37 FIP through seven starts, is once again on the bump for today’s match. This time, he’ll be pitching in Atlanta opposite Braves right-hander Reynaldo Lopez.

The 30-year-old righty hadn’t been a full-time member of a big league starting rotation since the 2020 season but has returned to the role with the Braves this year with fantastic results. In 35 1/3 innings of work across six starts, Lopez boasts a 1.53 ERA with a 3.02 FIP and a solid 25.5% strikeout rate. He’ll be challenged by a Cubs lineup that recently returned both Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki from the injured list, while Imanaga will face a stacked Braves lineup featuring heavy hitters such as Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, and current NL home run leader Marcell Ozuna. The game is set to begin at 7:20pm local time.

Jung Hoo Lee Leaves Game Due To Dislocated Shoulder

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6:51PM: Lee suffered a dislocated shoulder, as per a team announcement (correcting an earlier statement from manager Bob Melvin).  Lee will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the damage, and a more severe dislocation could possibly put his season in jeopardy.

4:38PM: Giants center fielder Jung Hoo Lee left today’s game with the Reds after suffering what the Giants later announced was a left shoulder strain.  Lee made a leaping attempt to catch a Jeimer Candelario fly ball in the first inning, but the ball hit the top of the wall for a three-run double, while Lee’s arm made hard contact with the padding atop the fence.  The awkward collision left Lee in obvious pain, and he was favoring his left arm as he left the field with the team trainer.

Manager Bob Melvin will surely provide media with an update on Lee following the game, but it certainly looks like a trip to the 10-day injured list is in order.  Lee was just making his return to the lineup today after missing San Francisco’s previous three games with a minor foot injury, after he fouled a pitch off himself in Wednesday’s 8-6 win over the Rockies.

Lee’s situation adds to the Giants’ recent injury woes, as the team has lost five position players to the IL in a little over a week’s time.  Michael Conforto was just placed on the 10-day IL earlier today due to a hamstring strain, with Conforto joining Austin Slater (concussion symptoms), Nick Ahmed (wrist sprain), Jorge Soler (shoulder strain), and backup catcher Tom Murphy (knee sprain) on the sidelines.  Patrick Bailey was activated from the seven-day concussion-related IL yesterday, but was a late scratch from today’s lineup, as the catcher is dealing with a viral illness and could possibly miss a few more days.

Losing all of these regulars isn’t good news for a team that was already having trouble generating offense, and the Giants will have a particular issue in the outfield with Lee, Conforto, and Slater all out.  Luis Matos was called up to take Conforto’s roster spot today, so he’ll join Mike Yastrzemski, Heliot Ramos, and utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald in trying to fill in all the gaps in the outfield depth chart.  LaMonte Wade Jr. and Brett Wisely could also chip in for corner outfield duty, and Wade Meckler might be the next call-up from Triple-A since Meckler is already on the 40-man roster.

For Lee himself, a significant injury would be a very unfortunate way to begin his first season in Major League Baseball.  The outfielder signed a six-year, $113MM deal (the fourth-largest contract for any free agent last winter) with the Giants back in December, with the team also adding a $18.825MM posting fee to the Kiwoom Heroes, Lee’s old Korea Baseball Organization club.  Lee doesn’t turn 26 until August, so the combination of his youth and his big numbers in the KBO League made him an attractive commodity in free agency, and the priciest acquisition of a very busy San Francisco offseason.

The results have been mixed over Lee’s first first 37 games, which isn’t surprising for a player getting his first taste of North American baseball whatsoever, let alone the majors.  Lee entered today’s action hitting .262/.310/.331 over 158 plate appearances, translating to an 89 wRC+.  The pluses include some solid center field defense and a lot of contact, as Lee has been one of the hardest hitter in the league to strike out this season.  However, Lee hasn’t done much with all his contact, as his hard-hit ball rate is only slightly above average, and he isn’t generating much power.

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