Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Cubs await Imanaga imaging:
The Cubs already lost one ace lefty this year when Justin Steele underwent elbow surgery last month. Now, they’re facing another injury scare for their other top southpaw. Shota Imanaga departed in the sixth inning of his start against the Brewers yesterday due to what was immediately termed by the Cubs a hamstring strain. Imanaga is undergoing tests and imaging ahead of Chicago’s decision regarding a trip to the injured list. With Steele and Javier Assad already on the shelf, a third injury in the rotation would put the team’s depth to the test. Jordan Wicks and top prospect Cade Horton are available at Triple-A, while Chris Flexen could step from his role as a long reliever into the rotation, as Colin Rea did when Steele went down a few weeks ago.
2. Blue Jays 40-man roster moves incoming:
Over the weekend, the Blue Jays reportedly signed a pair of right-handers to major league deals: Spencer Turnbull and Jose Urena. The moves should give Toronto bolstered pitching depth once added to the roster. Both are capable of pitching either in the rotation or out of the bullpen. In the meantime, the Jays will need to officially announce the signings and make the corresponding 40-man roster moves that will come with that announcement. Max Scherzer, Nick Sandlin, and Erik Swanson are all currently on the 15-day injured list, though the timetable for their returns isn’t fully clear. If the Jays don’t want to move any of that trio to the 60-day injured list, they’ll either need to designate someone for assignment or work out some sort of trade that clears 40-man roster space before Turnbull and Urena can officially be brought into the fold.
3. Series Preview: Padres @ Yankees
An interleague series between two teams firmly in the mix for the playoffs this year is set to start this evening, when the Padres head to Yankee Stadium at 7:05pm local time. San Diego right-hander Nick Pivetta has enjoyed a brilliant season so far (1.78 ERA in six starts), though now he’ll be tested by Aaron Judge and the rest of the Yankees lineup while squaring off against Carlos Rodon (3.43 ERA in seven starts). Tuesday’s game is expected to pit former Yankee Michael King (2.09 ERA in seven starts) against Clarke Schmidt (5.52 ERA in three starts) after Schmidt’s start was pushed back over the weekend. The series will close out with Dylan Cease (5.61 ERA in seven starts) against Yankees ace Max Fried (1.01 ERA in seven starts). Cease’s ERA went soaring to 7.98 when the A’s pounced on him for nine runs on April 8, but he’s dropped that earned run average in each of his four subsequent starts. Can he make it five in a row? The 22-11 Padres currently sit a half-game behind the division-leading Dodgers and one game ahead of the third-place Giants. The 19-15 Yankees hold a two-game lead in the American League East.
Dont know what the mri says
But merrill suffered hamstring strain & missed exactly 1 month
My guess is imanaga will be back in june
Really looking forward to tonight’s Padres/Yankees game, go get ’em Nick Pivetta!!!
Fever,
As soon as Pivetta left Boston, he turned into a great pitcher with the Padres lol
Acoss – Yep, I had said all offseason he just needed the proper tweaking to reduce his homeruns allowed.
Sure playing half his games in Petco will help, but the talent was always there.
Padres SUCK!
And you are the reason why Dodgers Fans get so much crap.
That’s interesting. Do you read your Padre BFF’s commentary ?
Probably most of it. How is that relevant to when a Dodger fan makes a completely useless and unnecessary post and I commented that he is the reason why Dodger fans get so much crap.
As a dodgers fan, surely you don’t want other fans to go out of there way to make you look like crap.
I don’t think all fans are equal and I submit that this guy isn’t a positive image for a fan base.
Am I wrong?
No. But consistency indicates you should look inwards. Not your doing personally, but you guys have a rep for being the bitchiest on here. At least the Dodger
…fans have a “we just won” licence.
Fop – everyday you get to wake up and decide if you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem.
“Somebody else did it too” is not an adult solution.
I didn’t target Dodgers fandom or LA and I did not generalize.
1 guy made an unnecessary and not even called for comment and I suggested he is why Dodgers fans gets so much crap (for his comment).
“License” if it matters to you and well, a license to be a- holes? Not really.
Ok. Point taken. I wish more Padre fans would be part of their solution.
The licence exists where I come from. Obviously it’s within the bounds of social responsibility, but the winners are grinners concept exists. They get a year of throwing some shade without persecution. The vanquished have to suck it up. Part of the deal.
Fop agree that you get to wear the crown all year and should do so proudly. Flags fly forever as they say!
One of my favorite NFL guys said something once that I always remembered after scoring a TD: “act like you been there before.”
You can wear the crown with the dignity of a winner focusing on your team, or with the classless approach of denigrating others.
All in the perspective.
True that. Good chat.
What do they suck, DodgerG?
I have rodon and pivetta on my fantasy team….this wont go well for one of them…
I have Fried & Cease on mine, so trying to decide who to start this week
Hopefully Rodon,since Pivetta is on my team
Shota is probably out a month, that’s usually the timeframe for a hamstring. Guess Flexen will get the first shot at filling in and then depending how bad it goes, we’ll see what Hoyer does.
Acoss – Cubs have the best RPI in MLB, they will be fine.
Fever,
The offense is really doing it’s job so hopefully it can weather the small storm while Shota is out and with a shaky bullpen.
What the Cubs should do is get through this week with their 4 guy rotation. Bring up Shaw, Horton and Long. Get rid of Lopez and Brujan. Shaw can play 3B, SS and 2B. Long can play 1B and 3B. Horton can start his career by pitching against the Marlins and White Sox. I can think of no better teams to get your career started. I guarantee you you they’ll do something less intelligent. Long killed the AFL, and AAA so far. Ballesteros is killing it but I don’t see a spot for him. He’s a DH basically. His catching is getting a little better but still leaves a lot to be desired. There’s pieces but no trust in them at all by this management. Need a new POBO.
If Shota is only gone a month, and then comes back fine – they should be fine. But I doubt they really want to call up Horton until after the ASB.
I feel optimistic because it seems they are slowly getting the bullpen figured out.
Hodge, Palencia, Keller – have been solid lately. I’m still on the fence about Pressly.
I’m pessimistic about the Cubs going forward. I look at the situation holistically: I just don’t think a Taillon-Boyd-Brown-Rea-Flexen rotation is the kind of rotation that a team that wins more than it loses features. Fellow Cubs fans, if some other team had that rotation, we’d disregard that team, maybe even laugh at it. We have to step back and be realistic; the Cubs are in trouble.
And the fact that an “easy” part of the schedule is coming up is not something that we should cling to. Even those bad teams are good enough to hit a rotation like that.
I’m with ya dogbone.. I hope they’ll at least give Flexen a shot before bringing up Horton. It might not work, but I didn’t think Rea could fill in and so far, he has done very well. If they can get to summer, maybe Hoyer can pull off a trade.
You know the first guy he’s going to want to trade is Horton right? Horton has a 1.24 ERA so far this year. What are they waiting for? Him to be good? LMAO
RIDICULOUS take as usual!
You got a reason or do you just blow like Yosemite once in awhile?
@uncmike,
Mike, Horton didn’t have a normal season in 2024. You can’t expect him to come up to Chicago now, and throw 120 innings. I think they’d love if they could recall him later in the year and use him as a RP and an occasional spot starter.
If Shotas gone only until June first – – No Problem. And I know you don’t seem to have any faith in Assad – but I disagree with you on that point. I feel with Shota and Assad back in June – and Horton from mid July, they might not need to look for another front end guy.
Every team deals with this stuff.
And I guarantee you that Horton would never be the likely one traded.
Why not and wrong. Who do you think the first name will be when the Cubs bring up a name and then they ask for…..? If the idiot would cave on Cam Smith I see no reason why he wouldn’t trade Horton for a rental? And who said anything about Horton pitching 120 innings? I said let him make a couple of starts, Unless the games last 60 innings each. Wow
Spank the Yanks! LFGSD
Roll over Rodon!
@Fever- Ro-done? At least Soto is gone!
I have it on good authority that the winner of this series will win the WS…
Clip – I thought Sports Authority closed years ago?
Tough place to debut (Queens) if it is Horton who gets the call when Shota’s turn comes up this weekend. As Haray Caray would say, “hold everything.”
Cubs will be going from May Grey to June Doom. It’s their jam.
@hanley c’mon, man. Really?
He’s probably all excited since his Sox won 2 games.
The Yankees are going to struggle this year That doesn’t mean they won’t make the playoffs, possibly win the Division, but there are a lot of holes. Some are the result of injuries/bad luck, some underperformance, some too much of an investment in a player to bench him.
I got a question how can Trent Grisham have been a “salary dump” in the Juan Soto trade when he was (and still is) in arb at that time which means the Padres could have simply non-tendered him if they wanted to “dump” his salary?
Shota shouldn’t run so hard to first base especially with his body..
Bauer accuser arrested 2 Saturdays ago for public intoxication, disorderly conduct, 3rd degree assault, driving on a suspended license and cruelty to animals.
Not surprising that the people he hung around with were also of questionable moral character. He’s been sufficiently blackballed for awhile even if he pitches great overseas.
Ha ha. That’s a big night.
Lindsay is a hot mess, Goosey. The good news is she’s single since you always seem interested in bringing her up…
Good luck!
I might take a shot with her after Goose.
No one’s single in prison.
Yankees lost the serie again Baltimore and Tampa,,so,,what to spect from the Padres?