With MLB’s 2024 regular season officially underway, here are three things worth keeping an eye on for MLBTR readers headed into the weekend:
1. Montgomery deal to be made official:
The Diamondbacks landed the last top-tier free agent on the market earlier this week when they signed southpaw Jordan Montgomery to a one-year deal that includes a vesting option for the 2025 season. Montgomery, 31, helped the Rangers defeat Arizona in the World Series just five months ago but now figures to join the Diamondbacks’ rotation alongside Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Brandon Pfaadt when the group is at full strength. Montgomery’s deal with the Snakes is expected to be made official today with a press conference to introduce the club’s newest arm, as noted by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The club won’t need to make a corresponding move to add Montgomery to its 40-man roster after designating infielder Emmanuel Rivera for assignment yesterday.
2. Steele headed to the IL?
It was a rough Opening Day for the Cubs, as the club not only fell 4-3 in extra innings against the Rangers in Texas last night but staff ace Justin Steele exited the game in the fifth inning due to what manager Craig Counsell termed a hamstring strain. Counsell did not sound optimistic about Steele’s odds of avoiding a trip to the injured list over the issue and declined to speculate on a timetable for the lefty’s return to a big league mound in the immediate aftermath of the injury. Instead, Counsell indicated that the club will know more after Steele undergoes an MRI scheduled for today.
The 28-year-old hurler has been a major bright spot for the Cubs in recent years and finished fifth in the NL Cy Young award race last season. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Steele has pitched to an excellent 3.09 ERA with a nearly identical 3.08 FIP in 297 innings of work across 55 starts. Steele’s dominance continued in his first start of the 2024 campaign, as he held the reigning World Series champions to just one run on three hits and a walk across 4 2/3 innings of work while striking out six. While Steele is out of commission the Cubs figure to either rely on Drew Smyly, who took the loss last night after entering the game in the tenth inning last night, or else turn to a younger arm currently at Triple-A such as Hayden Wesneski or Ben Brown to fill the gap in their rotation mix.
3. LeMahieu to undergo second MRI:
Veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu began the 2024 campaign on the Yankees’ injured list after fouling a ball off his foot during Spring Training. While it once appeared likely that the injury would result in only a minimal absence, Brendan Kuty of The Athletic earlier this week reported that the swelling in LeMahieu’s foot had yet to go down. The club scheduled a second MRI for today in hopes of confirming the severity of the issue after the injury hadn’t improved as much as both player and club were hoping. It’s possible today’s testing will provide more clarity on the veteran’s timetable for return, but in the meantime New York figures to turn to Oswaldo Cabrera and newly-acquired utilityman Jon Berti at the hot corner in LeMahieu’s absence. The 35-year-old LeMahieu was roughly league average at the plate in a down season last year but has a strong .285/.358/.430 slash line since joining the Yankees prior to the 2019 season.
Are the three stooges running the Yankees medical department? This is getting ridiculous.
Soitenly!! Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk!!
Doctor Moe, Doctor Larry, Doctor Curley
How do other medical staffs prevent batters from fouling pitches off their body?
It’s about them constantly having to go back and readdress injuries. It’s just never ending.
LeMahieu is an accident waiting to happen!!
When was the last season he ever completed a season without having to be on the IL for long— extended periods of time??
LeMahieu can not be depended on as a starting lineup player. If so—— he will let the team down every season with no exceptions !
So he ‘let the team down’ when he came in 4th then 3rd in the MVP voting, and in the four years he won a GG?
Huh.
—– If you had nine DJLMs in your lineup at his career rate stats and fielding, you’d never lose a division title.
Who cares. I much rather see a platoon of Berti and Cabrera than this over the hill, injured prone stiff. Yankees need to either start making plans for DJ being a bench piece or after the season eat the remaining 2/30 and send him home. I’ll guarantee you Berti puts up superior numbers to DJ while adding much needed speed and OBP to that lineup.
DJL is old. He was signed to a longer-term-than-needed contract to keep AAV down, and it was an overpay, like a lot of them are for older players. The Yankees roster needs to take a chance and plug in younger players–unfortunate, but this injury opens a slot for a bit. BTW, this also tells you, again, with what’s wrong with the CBT. Carrying the full hit when a player is on the injured list and has to be replaced is unreasonable.
RE Mike
“He was signed to a longer-term-than-needed contract to keep AAV down, and it was an overpay, ”
Man, I would be embarrassed if my readership was this uninformed
Per FG, DJLM has produced about $50 million in value so far on the deal that has paid him $45 million
He has three years left to go on his contract at $15M per. These contracts overpay at the end.
As to the insult…..look to your own house, and in any event, zip it. Uncalled for.
The insult was unnecessary, but in whose mind is it an overpay? I’d bet it’s only in the fan’s mind that deals are an overpay at all. The clubs run the numbers before they even offer them and they wouldn’t if they didn’t think it was worth it.
He re-signed before the 2021 season, has an aggregate of 6.4 BWAR since then, Three more years to go on contract.–his years 35-37 seasons. Agree entirely with your point that teams pay what they pay and place a value before their offer. Wealthy teams like the Yankees can afford to pay more for stability than, say, the Rays, who’d have a hard time swallowing $45 more million for 3 years that, with aging curves, probably won’t return as much as the first three years.
Yet, the Yankees continue to play those that have the biggest contracts. If you spread the money out over more years to reduce the hit, shouldn’t you plan for someone else to be playing the position when you get to the “more years” part? They Yankees just continue to play them, and then wonder why they play like they do.
Mmm
“These contracts overpay at the end.”
And they underpay at the beginning
Just as players are underpaid for the first like decade of their career.
My statement stands. For a website that writes about things like player contacts, it is embarrassing how little their readers know about player contacts
Think of how wonderful it would be if MLBTR purged readers like me, the folks who don’t measure up to your standard of intellectual excellence.. Like a Royal Society of the finest minds, except for baseball instead of the sciences. You had your shot the first time, knock it off. You want to disagree, do it, but resist the urge to gratuitously insulting.
Mnm
Or, you know, they could post content that educates.
No need to purge
Stating the truth isn’t an insult
They should’ve let him walk. By signing him, that forced Gleyber to SS, which was a horrible decision. Even now, they don’t really have a position for him. Gleyber is better and cheaper.
One of the hallmarks of the Cashman age, especially in the later years, is that the Yankees don’t trust their homegrown talent. Part of that is what they see as an imperative–we have to compete for a championship so we’d rather go for tried and true. Part is mediocre drafting and development. But a lot is a mindset–and your point about Gleyber is absolutely right. They make the trade for him, everyone oohs and ahhs over it, and they don’t implement it well.
That Steele injury looks bad. Tough for him and the Cubs cause that just doesn’t look like a quick heal.
Too bad
Only a low life troll celebrates a player’s injury. You never fail to live up to my low expectations.
I know this is off topic but is anyone going to address these horrid new uniforms? This is Major League Baseball not beer league softball..epic fail
The players reportedly complained during spring training but since Nike is calling the shots they are stuck with them, at least for this season
I saw the post that some teams (specifically road grays) where 2 different colors between pants/tops. Evidently, they use a different vendor & different fabrics between the two, so it is a known issue, but you can see on-camera how different they look. Is this a new issue this year b/c I don’t ever remember this being a problem, but woah, it’s gotten bad.
bleedcubbieblue.com/2024/3/1/24087481/nike-mlb-uni…
That’s what happens when 8 year olds are making your uniforms…
The Diamondbacks are positioning themselves for another successful season. Fun to watch a team that has an owner who will step up and support their players. Looking forward to them beating the Dodgers soundly.
All while your Angel’s finish 5th in the ALW again?
1. I’m sure Emmanuel Rivera is thrilled about being designated for assignment to make room for Montgomery.
2.. What a fantastic start to the season for the Cubs! Losing a key player to injury on Opening Day is exactly the kind of luck every team hopes for. I’m sure Craig Counsell’s vague statements about Steele’s injury timeline will really put fans’ minds at ease. Maybe they can ask the Magic 8-Ball for an update on when Steele will return.
3. It’s heartwarming to see the Yankees’ optimism fade as they schedule a second MRI because, you know, the first one wasn’t quite clear enough.
Happy about injuries and heart-warmed about the fading optimism of others? Yikes. Happy holy week to you, too
Obviously differing MRI machines will produce different results. DJLM will be back next week based off the 2nd machine. 1st one had a foggy lense.
The Yankees MRI machine was made by Fisher Price.
Why would you expect the MRI machines to differ? I wouldn’t expect X-Ray or cat scans to differ. More likely its the human reading it that differs.
Operated and sold them. They differ plenty. Different manufacturers, different models with differing prices, different hardware tech and levels of innovation, different software, Some are better at brains, not so good at knees and spines etc. They are all running different performance specs within a regulated range. Typically each manufacturer will have a certain “look” to their images and readers become comfortable with a manufacturers look. I spent 10 years trying to convince Siemens trained radiologists that although their preferred images look smoother, GE’s grainier look actually show more diagnostic detail. Tough sell.
After going 2-2 with a first-inning HR, Twins Royce Lewis excited game with quad injury running the bases. MRI results pending. Just thought some people would be interested in knowing
If you have more MRIs than RBIs, you have a problem.
Along those same lines, I had a coach that used to say its ok to make an error, “just knock in more than you let in.”
Nothing more sad than watching the A’s introduction of their team in Oakland last night. No fans there because why support a owner that hates you. Even the players looked sad and unmotivated. We can thank MLB Manfred and A’s owner Fisher for destroying a team because of greed and no leadership.
ARC – I watched Moneyball the other night, just for the laughs. Fisher and John Henry are two birds of a feather.
A’s should have had Eck throw out the first pitch, that would have brought in a few more fans.
The announced attendance for the game was 13,522 but that number likely included the players on the field, the coaches, the umpires, whatever team executives that actually stuck around, security guards, parking lot attendants, the grounds crew, other stadium employees, possums and any other vermin they could find…
They never had attendance. Most of the people whining about the As moving have probably never been to an As game,
These days people avoid Oakland for fear of their safety. Glad the A’s moved. It was long, long, long over due.
Rsox – Attendance should have been one more, they probably counted the couple all alone in the far end of the left field upper deck as one person.
Joe – I don’t know about that. Every longtime franchise has a core fanbase going back decades that still attend the games no matter what. For people old enough to remember Oakland’s last ALCS game victory, way back in 1992, their life probably revolves around the team.
Dave Rubenstein, a great guy BTW, was talking about fans attending their 50th consecutive home opener in Baltimore yesterday.
@Fever, congrats on the win last night. It’s always nice winning that first one. My M’s looked a little lackluster and made a couple mistakes. Boston’s offense could be really fun to watch this season, especially if Tyler and Story can revert to pre-injury levels. Cheers!
JoeBrady is seemingly a Red Sox fan who lives in Las Vegas and somehow is also a Raiders fan. He has an agenda against Oakland and it shows in every A’s “relocation” post.
I remember watching the A’s win the 1972, 1973, and 1974 World Series. They were always at the top of the AL West along with the KC Royals in the 1970s and 1980s….wow, have times changed!
A’s owner had a fan introduction for the team in Vegas a few weeks ago and less than 100 showed up. Vegas doesn’t want the A’s but the casino owners hoping to get gamblers into their establishment.
To remind A’s fans when they had a real owner? Even Eck blasted the current owners so i doubt they will invite him to anything. Its so bad the owner had no fan fest for fans and raised up prices.
The A’s would be better with a better owner! It doesn’t change how pathetic and dangerous Oakland has become.
So should Royals move out of KC because at parades innocent people get shot and killed for nothing? Oakland is like every big city in the IUS they have their good parts and bad parts. Stop watching fox news and you will see the truth.
Arc – lol
1971…the truth hurts so walk away from the right media bubble.
Congrats to Tyler O’Neill
Slider – I don’t know what was cooler, him breaking the record or the DBacks dropping 14 in one inning.
The Diamondbacks serving notice. Dodgers billion dollar off-season is going to buy them second place.
It’s possible today’s testing will provide more clarity on the veteran’s timetable for return.
Wow. Pigs just flew.
Fix the shoes to be protected always
Keep Nick Deeds around MLBTR, he’s probably your best writer.
Wyatt the Riot