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Archives for 2024
Rangers Place Josh Sborz On 15-Day Injured List
6:21PM: Two sources tell Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today that Sborz’s strain “isn’t severe,” and there is even some hope that Sborz might only miss the minimum 15 days.
4:38PM: The Rangers announced that right-hander Josh Sborz has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a strain his right rotator cuff. Righty Grant Anderson has been called up from Triple-A to take Sborz’s spot on the roster.
The transaction isn’t a surprise considering how Sborz made an early exit from his appearance in last night’s Astros/Rangers game. Sborz retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth inning, but was then in discomfort after tossing his second pitch to his third batter, and departed the game after consulting with trainers.
Sborz in his fourth season with Texas, beginning with 59 innings of 3.97 ball in 2021. He followed that season up by posting a 5.79 ERA over 74 2/3 frames in 2022-23, though a 3.06 SIERA in that same span makes the case that Sborz has been one of baseball’s more unlucky pitchers of in recent years. Sborz had an unusually low 59.9% strand rate, and he had an unfortunate tendency to allow homers in inopportune times. However, his fortunes turned around at the best possible time, as Sborz had a sterling 0.75 ERA across 12 postseason innings during the Rangers’ World Series championship run last fall.
As such, he entered 2024 as one of the Rangers’ primary high-leverage options in front of closer Jose Leclerc, but Sborz will now miss some time on the IL. The extent of the strain and whether or not surgery could be on the table isn’t yet known, and it is possible Sborz might have avoided anything that would sideline him for an overly lengthy amount of time. This placement represents Sborz’s sixth trip to the IL since the start of the 2022 season, as he has previously missed time due to some elbow problems in 2022, and some relatively less serious hamstring, ankle, and biceps issues last season.
Royals Acquire Colin Selby From Pirates
The Royals have acquired right-hander Colin Selby from the Pirates in exchange for minor league left-hander Connor Oliver. Both teams have announced the trade, and Kansas City further noted that left-hander Josh Taylor has been shifted to the 60-day injured list to create space for Selby on the 40-man roster.
Pittsburgh designated Selby for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade ends Selby’s time with the Bucs after parts of seven pro seasons. A 16th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2018 draft, Selby has pitched at Triple-A Indianapolis in each of the last three seasons, with a solid 3.57 ERA and a strong 29.22% strikeout rate over 35 1/3 innings at the top rung of the minor league ladder. Selby’s strikeout totals have spiked upwards since he became a full-time relief pitcher in 2021, and he has posted very high grounder rates, including a superb 61.2% groundball rate in 30 1/3 Triple-A frames last season.
Control is Selby’s main issue, as his walks have shot upwards along with his missed bats. The right-hander has a 16.23% walk rate during his Triple-A career, as well as a 13.2% walk rate over his 24 career innings in the majors. Selby posted a 9.00 ERA in his MLB debut last season, hampered by his free passes and four home runs allowed in his small sample size as a big leaguer — even with a 48.5% grounder rate against Major League batters, Selby couldn’t limit the damage when he allowed fly balls.
K.C. was intrigued enough by Selby’s potential to arrange a trade, and the 26-year-old will now head to Triple-A Omaha so the Royals’ pitching development staff can get a closer look. The Royals felt strongly enough to use a 40-man roster spot on Selby, though Taylor’s uncertain health situation created some flexibility on the team’s roster situation.
Taylor developed both a musculocutaneous nerve issue and left biceps soreness during Spring Training, leading the Royals to place him on the 15-day IL to begin the season. The move to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset Taylor’s clock from its initial retroactive placement of March 25, but it does mean that he’ll now be out of action until at least the last week of May.
It’s another tough setback for Taylor, who has been plagued with back problems for the better part of three years. He missed the 2022 season entirely and underwent surgery last summer to address a herniated disc in his back, hopefully solving that issue once and for all. Between the back injuries, a shoulder impingement, and elbow tendinitis, Taylor has appeared in just 86 games and thrown 72 2/3 innings since the start of the 2020 season. This is Taylor’s second year in Kansas City, as the Royals acquired him from the Red Sox for Adalberto Mondesi in January 2023.
Oliver is a 22-year-old southpaw drafted in the 17th round in 2023, and his pro resume thus far consists of a single inning with the Royals’ complex league team last year. The Miami of Ohio product had a 3.89 ERA in 14 starts and 78 2/3 innings in his final year of college ball.
Tejay Antone To Undergo MRI For Elbow Problem
Right-hander Tejay Antone threw just one pitch before leaving with an injury in today’s 3-1 Reds loss to the Mets. Antone entered for a relief appearance in the sixth inning, but after his opening pitch to Tyrone Taylor, Antone stepped off the mound and was in visible discomfort. After the game, Reds manager David Bell told reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Antone will get an MRI to evaluate the soreness in his right elbow.
Given Antone’s checkered injury history, the best-case scenario here would be a 15-day stint on the injured list, as the Reds might be cautious even if the MRI comes back clean. However, it looks like Antone might be facing yet another notable injury in a career marked by significant health problems.
Antone has two Tommy John surgeries on his record — one in 2017 while on the way up the ladder in Cincinnati’s farm system, and the other in August 2021. The rehab process for the latter procedure sidelined Antone for the entirety of the 2022 season, and he then hit another roadblock with a flexor strain in February 2023. While he avoided another surgery, Antone didn’t return to big league action until last September, and he made only five appearances before hitting the IL again due to elbow discomfort.
Antone looked like a promising relief weapon in his first two big league seasons, posting a 2.48 ERA in 69 innings in 2020-21. Powered with a mid-90s fastball, a plus curveball, and a ton of spin on both pitches, Antone struck out 32.3% of batters and posted a 48% grounder rate. Since Opening Day 2022, however, Antone has thrown only 7 2/3 innings at the MLB level, and it remains to be seen if his arm can hold up long enough for the righty to deliver on his early-career promise.
The Reds have already been hit hard by bullpen injuries, as Sam Moll, Ian Gibaut, and Alex Young all began the season on the 15-day IL. Moll and Gibaut have at least started rehab outings and are on track to be back before the end of April, but if Antone is now going to be sidelined, that will leave Cincinnati further short-handed in the relief corps.
NL Central Notes: Gray, Cubs, Brewers
The Cardinals started the season without their biggest offseason signing, as staff ace Sonny Gray opened the 2024 campaign on the shelf due to a hamstring strain. The right-hander was scheduled for a final rehab start this past week before returning to big league action, but those plans were dashed by an unfortunate rainout that kept Gray from taking the mound. The club initially announced that Gray would have his Triple-A start pushed back to this coming Tuesday, but manager Carlos Marmol revealed to reporters (including The Athletic’s Katie Woo) today that Gray’s start that day will actually be for the big league club.
Per Marmol, Gray will be limited to around 65 pitches in his Cardinals debut, where he’ll take on the Phillies in the second game of a three-game set between the clubs. Gray landed in St. Louis back in November on a three-year, $75MM deal following a dominant 2023 season in Minnesota. The right-hander posted a 2.79 ERA with an MLB-best 2.83 FIP for the Twins last year in a performance that earned him his third career All Star appearance and a second-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting behind Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
The Cardinals are surely hoping Gray will bring that same form to St. Louis. The club was plagued by one of the worst starting pitching staffs in the majors last year, and the early returns haven’t been much better so far with the rotation’s 5.64 FIP in the young 2024 campaign is better than only the Rockies and Blue Jays among all big league clubs. Upon his return, Gray figures to replace struggling youngster Zack Thompson in the club’s rotation mix, slotting in alongside fellow veterans Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn.
More from around the NL Central…
- The Cubs made a surprise roster move just before the start of their game against the Dodgers this afternoon, placing right-hander Julian Merryweather on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain as noted by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. It’s a significant blow to the club’s relief corps, as Merryweather has dominated with a 3.29 ERA (136 ERA+) and a nearly matching 3.46 FIP in 73 appearances for the Cubs across the past two seasons. Merryweather’s absence will pave the way for right-hander Daniel Palencia, who pitched to a 4.45 ERA across 27 appearances in his rookie season last year, to join the club’s bullpen. Meanwhile, Merryweather’s role in the club’s late-inning mix alongside Adbert Alzolay and Hector Neris figures to be filled by Mark Leiter Jr.
- Speaking of pitching roster moves, the Brewers placed right-hander Jakob Junis on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a right shoulder impingement. Fortunately for Milwaukee, it sounds as though the issue isn’t particularly serious. According to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, an MRI on Junis’s shoulder came back clean and Junis told reporters that he hopes to begin ramping back up in a few days. That would seem to indicate an absence near the minimum for the right-hander, who’s been replaced by southpaw Aaron Ashby on the active roster while he recuperates. Ashby, 26 next month, did not pitch in the majors last year after undergoing shoulder surgery but now appears to be healthy, having already made a five-inning start at the Triple-A level this season.
Marlins Outright Kent Emanuel
The Marlins have assigned left-hander Kent Emanuel outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the transactions log on Emanuel’s MLB.com player profile. Emanuel was designated for assignment last week in order to make room for right-hander Matt Andriese on the club’s 40-man roster. Emanuel has the right to reject the assignment after being outrighted to the minors previously in his career by the Phillies back in November of 2022, though it’s unclear if he intends to exercise that right and test free agency or remain with the Marlins.
Emanuel, 32 in June, was a third-round pick by the Astros in the 2013 draft who made his big league debut with Houston back in 2021. Emanuel pitched decently across ten appearances in the majors, posting a strong 2.55 ERA in 17 2/3 innings of work despite a lackluster 19.1% strikeout rate and a whopping four home runs allowed leaving him with a much higher 5.49 FIP. That cup of coffee with the Astros would be the southpaw’s only big league experience until last week, when he pitched three innings for the Marlins against the Angels. The appearance didn’t go well as Emanuel was lit up for four runs on three walks and four hits, including a homer, while striking out just two of the 15 batters he faced.
Between his two stints in the majors, Emanuel spent the 2022 season with the Phillies and 2023 with the Pirates. He pitched primarily as a starter in the minors for both Pennsylvania clubs, impressing with a 2.37 ERA in ten starts at the Triple-A level with the Phillies but struggling badly across 84 1/3 innings of work in a swing role with Pittsburgh’s affiliate at the level. Over 20 appearances (13 starts) in Triple-A last year, Emanuel struggled to a 6.12 ERA while striking out just 20.1% of batters faced.
Despite those lackluster numbers last year, it’s easy to imagine a team in need of starting pitching depth having interest in Emanuel as an optionable, left-handed depth option on a non-roster deal. That could make free agency a tempting possibility for the southpaw, though it’s worth noting that few teams need pitching depth more than the Marlins themselves at this point in the season. With Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez set to miss the 2024 campaign while Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera both began on the injured list themselves, the club’s entire projected starting five outside of Jesus Luzardo is on the shelf as things stand, leaving the club to rely on the likes of Ryan Weathers and prospect Max Meyer.
New York Notes: Belt, Martinez, Cole
Veteran slugger Brandon Belt’s free agency has surprisingly dragged into the regular season, with the soon to be 36-year-old reportedly “baffled” by the lack of offers he’s received to this point. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly provided additional details on Belt’s free agency recently, noting that the Mets were the only club to offer Belt a guaranteed contract this winter, though he added that the deal was “almost entirely” incentives-based.
Belt is coming off an excellent season with the Blue Jays that saw him slash .254/.369/.490 with 404 trips to the plate. That included a fantastic 146 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, the eleventh-best figure among all qualified hitters last year which trailed only Shohei Ohtani among this winter’s free agents. The performance was more or less par for the course for Belt, who’s hit .258/.369/.503 since the start of the 2020 season and is a career .261/.357/.460 hitter for his career. That type of production certainly would’ve made sense for the Mets, though the club ultimately landed slugger J.D. Martinez on a one-year deal to plug the hole in the lineup at DH.
With that said, it’s somewhat surprising that the Mets were the only club to offer Belt a big league deal this winter. The only player on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 free agents list still unsigned, Belt was predicted for a one-year, $15MM deal this winter. That would’ve been a small bump over the one-year, $9.3MM deal he landed with Toronto prior to 2023 on the heels of a below-average showing at the plate during his final season with the Giants. Belt recently indicated that he still hopes to play in 2024, but also noted that he doesn’t want to settle for a minor league contract after his strong season last year.
More from the New York teams…
- Sticking with the Mets, Martinez was expected to make his debut with the club during this week’s series against the Braves, but that plan appears to have been scuttled. As relayed by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Martinez is dealing with “general body soreness” and is not yet ready for his big league debut. Now, DiComo reports that the plan is for Martinez to take the next two days off and return to minor league action on Tuesday, with Friday as the earliest Martinez could make his big league Mets debut. The 36-year-old slugger slashed an impressive .271/.321/.572 with 33 home runs in 113 games with the Dodgers last year and figures to provide a major boost to the big league lineup, which ranks 28th in the majors with a 64 wRC+ so far in the young 2024 campaign.
- Looking toward the Bronx, Yankees fans received positive news regarding ace right-hander Gerrit Cole this morning, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Greg Joyce of the New York Post) that Cole is nearing the beginnings of a throwing program. Cole started the season on the injured list while rehabbing nerve inflammation on his elbow, and now is expected to begin playing catch as soon as tomorrow. Cole, 33, is the reigning AL Cy Young award winner and a six-time All Star who pitched to a sterling 2.63 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate in 209 innings of work. If the right-hander can make a relatively speedy return from his rehab, it would surely provide a major boost to the Yankees as they look to return to the postseason.
Diamondbacks Designate Corbin Martin For Assignment
The Diamondbacks announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Corbin Martin for assignment. Martin’s spot on the club’s 40-man roster will go to infielder Kevin Newman, whose contract has been selected to replace injured shortstop Geraldo Perdomo on the active roster as was reported earlier this morning.
Martin, 28, was a second-round pick by the Astros in the 2017 draft and is perhaps best known as one of the prospects Arizona acquired in the Zack Greinke trade at the 2019 trade deadline alongside first baseman Seth Beer, right-hander JB Bukauskas, and infielder Josh Rojas. What appeared at the time to be a strong return for the ace righty’s services proved to be underwhelming over time, as only Rojas made an impact for the Diamondbacks at the big league level. Now all four players acquired in the Greinke deal will no longer be a part of the Dbacks organization, unless Martin clears waivers and is assigned outright to the minor leagues.
The right-hander’s time with Arizona was fraught with injuries and ineffectiveness. Martin underwent Tommy John surgery shortly before being acquired by the Diamondbacks and as a result did not make his team debut until 2021, when he struggled to a 10.69 ERA (8.42 FIP) in 16 innings of work with the big league club. Those struggles were paired with additional injuries, as Martin spent the entire second half of 2021 on the injured list in the minor leagues. 2022 was more of the same as Martin pitched to a below-average 4.84 ERA and 4.59 FIP in seven appearances for the big league club and spent the majority of the season in the minors before once again being shut down due to injury in August of that year.
Martin’s struggles in a starting role and numerous injuries led the Diamondbacks to move him to the bullpen full time during Spring Training last year in an effort to keep the right-hander healthy, but those hopes were dashed just a month later when Martin suffered a lat tendon in his right shoulder that required surgery. Martin went on to miss the entire 2023 season. He’s made just two appearances at Triple-A Reno so far in 2024 and has allowed three runs on three walks and three hits (including a home run) in three innings of work while striking out three.
Moving forward, the Diamondbacks will have one week to waive, trade, or release Martin. It’s possible the right-hander’s previous prospect pedigree could earn him the interest of another club as a potential reclamation project, though his lengthy injury history and general ineffectiveness in the majors may keep rival clubs from dedicating a roster spot to the former top-100 talent. If Martin passes through waivers unclaimed, Arizona will have the opportunity to retain him in the organization as non-roster depth going forward. As for the club, the Dbacks still have the likes of Justin Martinez and Andrew Saalfrank available as depth options on the 40-man roster behind their current bullpen mix while Paul Sewald recovers from an oblique strain.
Diamondbacks’ Geraldo Perdomo Suffers Torn Meniscus
Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo has a torn meniscus that will require surgery, per The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro. The procedure will sideline Perdomo for at least a month. Piecoro suggests that rookie Blaze Alexander will get the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop while Perdomo is on the shelf, though he adds that the club is expected to select the contract of veteran Kevin Newman to replace Perdomo on the active roster. The club’s 40-man roster is currently full, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary to officially add Newman to the roster assuming Arizona doesn’t place Perdomo or another injured player on the 60-day IL,
Perdomo, 24, earned an All Star nod last year on the back of a strong first half that saw him slash an excellent .285/.388/.435 through the end of June, though he struggled the rest of the way with a line of just .205/.318/.280 after July 1. Even so, Perdomo’s switch-hitting bat offered the Diamondbacks roughly league average offense and defense overall last year in addition to strong baserunning that saw him go 16-for-20 on the basepaths. Perhaps most impressive was Perdomo’s plate discipline; he struck out just 17.4% of the time last year while walking at an excellent 12.9% clip, and those numbers largely held up even as his production cratered in the second half.
Those qualities were enough to earn Perdomo the nod as the club’s starting shortstop over top prospect Jordan Lawlar this spring. Unfortunately, Arizona will now be without both players as Lawlar is set to miss at least the first two months of the season after undergoing surgery on his thumb last month. The pair of injuries set the stage for Alexander, a 24-year-old who the club drafted in the 11th-round of the 2018 draft, to take over as the club’s starting shortstop for the time being.
Six games into his major league career, Alexander has held his own with an impressive .278/.350/.444 slash line in 20 trips to the plate while splitting time between shortstop and second base. A career .288/.408/.464 hitter at the Triple-A level, Alexander has posted walk rates above 10% consistently throughout his career despite struggling to make consistent contact but figures to offer a quality glove and decent on-base skills to the Diamondbacks at shortstop.
Should Alexander falter in his first run of regular playing time at the big league level, the Diamondbacks appear poised to turn to Newman. Once a first-round pick by the Pirates in the 2015 draft, the 30-year-old has generally been a below average hitter through his career, slashing a collective .259/.304/.358 (77 wRC+) in six seasons with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. While those offensive numbers certainly leave something to be desired, Newman makes up for it with a 12% career strikeout rate, a roughly league average 96 wRC+ against lefties, and strong defense all around the infield. Newman should act as a right-handed complement to left-hitting bench piece Jace Peterson, who has struggled to a .553 OPS against southpaws in his career, once selected to the roster.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Paxton, LeMahieu, Blue Jays
The Red Sox largely failed in their pursuit of starting pitching this winter, swapping lefty Chris Sale out for Lucas Giolito only for the latter to miss the entire 2024 season due to a UCL injury, making right-handed depth options Chase Anderson and Cooper Criswell the club’s only starters added this winter with a chance to impact the 2024 club. The club coming up empty is not an indication they weren’t involved in the pitching market at all, however, with Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reporting that the club was a finalist for southpaw James Paxton, per the lefty himself.
Paxton, 35, spent the past two seasons in the Red Sox organization but only pitched in 2023. He made 19 starts for the club last year, pitching to a 4.50 ERA (101 ERA+) and 4.68 FIP overall. While he posted a strong 2.73 ERA and 3.63 FIP in ten starts prior to the All Star break, Paxton’s brutal final three starts in August and September caused his numbers to balloon as he allowed a whopping 17 runs in 9 2/3 innings of work before being shut down for the season due to knee inflammation.
Abraham relays that, according to the left-hander, there was mutual interest in a reunion between his camp and the Red Sox before he ultimately settled on pitching closer to his West Coast home in Seattle. Adding the veteran southpaw to Boston’s heavily young and right-handed rotation mix would have made plenty of sense for the club, but instead the team is set to rely on internal youngsters like Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck to round out the rotation alongside Brayan Bello and Nick Pivetta.
More from around the AL East…
- Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu spoke to reporters (including those at MLB.com) yesterday regarding his rehab from a non-displaced fracture in his right foot and provided a positive update, suggesting that he could be nearing a return to action. LeMahieu indicated that he’s “making progress” after running at roughly 90 percent effort and taking batting practice on the field at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. Per manager Aaron Boone, the next step for LeMahieu is further imaging later in the week before a potential minor league rehab assignment. If the veteran can avoid further setbacks, it’s possible he could return before the end of the month. In the meantime, the club figures to continue relying on Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at the hot corner.
- Blue Jays manager John Schneider spoke to reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) yesterday to provide an update on right-hander Erik Swanson, who started the season on the injured list due to a bout of forearm tightness last month. Per Schneider, Swanson is scheduled to be evaluated today after throwing a rehab inning at the Double-A level last night to decide if he’s ready to be activated when first eligible on Tuesday, though Davidi adds that Schneider indicated an additional rehab appearance is possible. If Swanson is to make another appearance in the minors before returning to the big league roster, it likely won’t come for a few days, as the right-hander is scheduled to be in Toronto for the club’s home opener tomorrow evening. Swanson joined the club during the 2022-23 offseason as part of the return in the Teoscar Hernandez trade and quickly established himself as the top set-up option for closer Jordan Romano, pitching to a 2.97 ERA with a 3.51 FIP in 69 appearances last year.
