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Aaron Civale

Indians Activate Aaron Civale From Injured List

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The Indians announced they’ve reinstated right-hander Aaron Civale from the 60-day injured list. He’ll get the start for this evening’s game against the Twins, his first big league action since he sprained the middle finger on his right hand during his outing on June 21.

Before the injury, Civale had been one of the more productive pitchers in baseball. He logged 97 2/3 innings (at the time, an MLB-leading figure) of 3.32 ERA ball, offsetting a pedestrian 19.8% strikeout rate with a tiny 6% walk percentage and a solid 45.3% ground-ball rate. Civale’s performance was among the reasons the Indians stuck in playoff contention for the season’s first half, although the White Sox have long since pulled away from the pack in the American League Central.

While Cleveland’s hopes of competing this season are all but officially dashed, getting Civale some turns through the rotation over the final few weeks should be a nice boost. He’s assured a spot in next year’s season-opening rotation, but Civale picking up another 20-30 innings could assuage any concerns the club has about his ability to log a full season’s workload in 2022. The 26-year-old reached five innings during his most recent rehab start, so he should be able to get into the middle frames in his big league return tonight.

To create space on the 40-man roster to accommodate Civale’s return, Cleveland designated catcher Gianpaul Gonzalez for assignment. The Indians had selected the minor league veteran straight from High-A to serve as additional depth behind the plate after Wilson Ramos suffered a season-ending knee injury.

At the time, Cleveland’s Triple-A backstops were unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols, so Gonzalez got his first major league call. The 25-year-old didn’t get into a game, though, and he was optioned once Triple-A catcher Ryan Lavarnway was cleared to return. The Indians selected Lavarnway to the big league club last Friday to pair with Austin Hedges, and Gonzalez now loses his 40-man roster spot with Civale returning.

Cleveland also activated infielder Ernie Clement from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. Ramos was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to accommodate Clement’s reinstatement, according to Mandy Bell of MLB.com (Twitter link).

AL Central Notes: Garcia, Rodon, Mondesi, Bieber, Civale, Teheran

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The White Sox placed utilityman Leury Garcia on the seven-day concussion injured list today, retroactive to August 13.  Infielder Danny Mendick was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  The versatile Garcia has received multiple starts at six different positions this season, including 28 games at second base and 46 games spread across all three outfield spots.  Now in his ninth season with the White Sox, Garcia’s super-utility status has made him a valuable bench piece and a semi-regular starter, even though he hasn’t contributed much at the plate.

Due to the nature of concussion symptoms, it isn’t known how much time Garcia could miss.  The Sox do have a bit more of a timeline lightly sketched out for Carlos Rodon, however, as manager Tony La Russa suggested to reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Rodon might pitch during Chicago’s four-game series against the Blue Jays that runs from August 23-26.  Rodon’s 10-day IL placement due to shoulder fatigue retroactively began on August 8, and though La Russa said at the time that Rodon would likely be out of action beyond the 10-day minimum, a return against Toronto would still represent a relatively quick comeback for the left-hander.

More from around the AL Central…

  • Adalberto Mondesi will visit with the Royals medical team after feeling tightness in his left oblique.  Mondesi has been out of action since June 21 due to an oblique strain, and due to a right oblique strain and a hamstring strain earlier in the season, Mondesi has played in just 10 games in 2021.  Royals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that the idea of shutting Mondesi down for the season “hasn’t been talked about,” and the team is for now seeing this issue as just “a little bit of a setback” until more information is known.  Mondesi had already been on a Triple-A rehab assignment for much of August.
  • Both Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale are set to throw on Tuesday as the two Indians starters continue to work their way back from injury.  Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer (Twitter link) was among those to report that Bieber tossed a bullpen session yesterday and will throw another bullpen on Tuesday.  Civale’s outing Tuesday will be a two-inning simulated game, and if all goes well, Civale could begin a rehab assignment.
  • Tigers right-hander Julio Teheran was throwing with low velocity while tossing a live batting practice session, and was shut down.  As Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press), Teheran “hasn’t been able to generate the arm speed that’s going to be needed for him to step into a rehab assignment.”  The veteran righty made just one start for Detroit before a shoulder strain put him on the 60-day IL back in April, so multiple rehab starts will be necessary for Teheran to ramp back up.  Since it is already mid-August, however, “we’re running out of time,” Hinch said.  “We’re going to have to determine what’s the next step for him if he’s going to make any part of the rest of the season.”

Indians Claim Alex Young, Transfer Aaron Civale To 60-Day IL

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The Indians on Monday claimed lefty Alex Young off waivers from the Diamondbacks and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring right-hander Aaron Civale from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list, according to a club announcement. Young was optioned to Triple-A Columbus.

Young, 27, was designated for assignment in Arizona last week after struggling over the past two seasons. The former second-round pick (No. 43 overall) had a solid rookie season back in 2019 when he tossed 83 1/3 innings of 3.56 ERA ball over the life of 17 appearances (15 starts). Young’s 20.3 percent strikeout rate that season wasn’t especially impressive, but he had strong control (7.7 percent walk rate), kept the ball on the ground at an above-average 48.1 percent clip and was generally stingy when it came to allowing hard contact. It was a generally promising debut for a 25-year-old with a strong draft pedigree.

Things haven’t panned out as hoped since that time. Young has pitched 88 innings since that time, mostly out of the bullpen (36 relief appearances, nine starts). His strikeout rate and walk rate have each gone in the wrong direction, but only by about one percent. However, Young has begun yielding hard contact in droves while surrendering more fly balls; as one might expect, he’s been immensely homer-prone since those trends began. Over his past 88 frames, Young has served up 22 home runs en route to a 5.83 ERA.

While Young’s time with the D-backs didn’t go as the organization (or the player himself) hoped, he’ll get a fresh start with a new club that has a reputation for pitching development. Young can be optioned both in 2022 and 2023, so he gives Cleveland a potential depth arm for the foreseeable future — or a potential piece to the big league pitching staff if he can indeed right the ship following his change in environs.

The move to shift Civale from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day now means that he won’t return until at least late August. We’re just over one month past Civale’s initial placement on the 10-day injured list due to a finger sprain. He was initially projected to miss four to five weeks, so the fact that he’s now shelved for a minimum of two months suggests that his rehab from that injury has not been as swift as initially expected.

With Civale and reigning Cy Young winner Shane Bieber on the shelf, the Indians have been relying on Zach Plesac, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill, J.C. Mejia, Eli Morgan and Sam Hentges to start. Despite the team’s aforementioned knack for churning out quality young pitchers, this particular group has struggled for the most part. Plesac only just returned from a broken thumb and hasn’t been as sharp as usual. Quantrill has a solid enough 3.84 ERA on the season, but he has a 5.11 ERA as a starter and a 1.88 mark as a reliever. Young could give Cleveland another option to add to that carousel, depending on how he’s used.

Indians Make Four Roster Moves

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The Indians announced a quartet of roster moves today, including the news that right-hander Aaron Civale has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to June 22) with a sprained middle finger on his throwing hand.  Also, catcher Ryan Lavarnway has been designated for assignment.  The two open roster spots will be taken by catcher Austin Hedges and right-hander Justin Garza — Hedges has been activated off the concussion-related injury list, while Garza’s contract was selected from Triple-A.

Civale is expected to be out of action for 4-to-5 weeks, in the latest blow to Cleveland’s injury-plagued rotation.  With Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and now Civale on the IL, the Tribe are missing their top three starters, leaving a makeshift starting five of very inexperienced pitchers tasked with keeping the team afloat in the AL Central race.

With several pitchers moving from the bullpen to fill these holes in the rotation, Garza gets the opportunity to make his MLB debut.  An eighth-round pick for the Tribe in the 2015 draft, Garza isn’t ranked by Baseball America or MLB Pipeline as a top-30 prospect in Cleveland’s farm system, but the righty has an 0.42 ERA over 21 1/3 combined innings at Double-A and Triple-A this season.  This is Garza’s first season working exclusively as a reliever, and the result is an uptick in his strikeout rate (to an impressive 35.36%), though also a 15% walk rate.

Lavarnway signed a minor league deal with the Indians this past offseason, and his contract was selected from Triple-A last week when Hedges was placed on the concussion-IL.  Lavarnway played in four games, officially putting him in the books as appearing (if sparingly) in ten different Major League seasons.  The journeyman backstop has appeared in just 160 games total over those 10 seasons, suiting up for eight different teams at the big league level.

Aaron Civale Expected To Miss Four To Five Weeks With Finger Sprain

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JUNE 23: Civale has been diagnosed with a sprained right middle finger, Mandy Bell of MLB.com was among those to relay. He’ll be shut down from throwing for the next week or two and isn’t expected to return to the field for four-to-five weeks.

JUNE 22: Indians right-hander Aaron Civale left last night’s start with an injury to his right middle finger, and it seems it’ll keep him out of action for a while. Manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Zack Meisel of the Athletic) Civale will meet with a hand specialist tomorrow. The club will know more specifics about his condition then, but Francona added they’re “prepared that he’s going to miss some time.”

An extended absence for Civale is a tough blow to a Cleveland staff already without Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac. Civale has tossed an MLB-leading 97 2/3 innings this year and been quite effective. The 26-year-old has a 3.32 ERA/4.31 SIERA. Civale doesn’t miss many bats (19.8% strikeout rate) but he also rarely hands out free passes (6.0% walk percentage) and does a decent job of keeping the ball on the ground (45.3% grounder rate).

At 40-30, Cleveland has stayed in close contention in both the American League Central and Wild Card races. That’s largely been on the strength of that top half of the rotation, though. Bieber, Plesac and Civale have all been better than average at keeping runs off the board, but there’s been little in the way of reliability behind that now-injured trio. Cal Quantrill has been good when called upon but worked mostly out of the bullpen this year. The rest of Cleveland’s depth starters (Triston McKenzie, Sam Hentges, Logan Allen, Jean Mejia and Eli Morgan) have struggled.

It remains to be seen if the Indians can weather this series of injuries to their top pitchers and stay in contention. In addition to their now-exclusively unproven group of starters, the Cleveland lineup has been below-average all season. To their credit, Indians relievers have been quite good, helping them to a 12-7 record in one-run ballgames. They’ll need continued excellence from the bullpen (and perhaps some unexpected contributions from their young starters and/or the bottom of the order) to stick with the White Sox, who lead the division by two games.

AL Central Notes: Civale, Buxton, Duran, Burger

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The Indians’ rotation depth has been tested already, and they could now be facing another injury. Right-hander Aaron Civale exited tonight with two outs in the fifth inning with an injury to his right middle finger. The Score’s Travis Sawchik notes, via Twitter, that the medical staff was testing the mobility of Civale’s finger as opposed to looking at a potential blister. There’s no official diagnosis, but for a Cleveland club that already has Shane Bieber (shoulder strain) and Zach Plesac (fractured hand) on the injured list, any injury scare for the club’s most proven starter is particularly noteworthy.

Cleveland has cycled through myriad young options in hopes of churning out another quality starter, as they’ve seemingly been able to do at will in recent years. However, each of Triston McKenzie, Sam Hentges, Logan Allen, Eli Morgan and Jean Carlos Mejia has an ERA north of 6.00 after multiple starts. Swingman Cal Quantrill gave the Indians a much-needed five innings of shutout ball his last time out but hasn’t had much success overall in four starts. The Indians are still nine games over .500 despite those injuries and an offense that ranks among the worst in MLB (88 wRC+), but it’ll be increasingly difficult to maintain that standing if questions about the rotation continue to mount.

More news from the division…

  • Twins center fielder Byron Buxton just returned from the injured list, but he exited tonight’s game against the Reds after five innings. Buxton was hit by a pitch on the left hand in his prior at-bat and played a couple innings of defense before ultimately exiting the game. Minnesota has won four straight games and can ill afford to lose Buxton if the team wants to cling to any faint hope of clawing its way back into the race. It stands to reason that the club would likely have Buxton undergo x-rays, even if his removal were deemed precautionary. They’ll presumably have an update after the game on Buxton, who is 4-for-10 with a homer and a double since returning from the IL two days ago.
  • The Twins have shut down top pitching prospect Jhoan Duran due to an elbow strain, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters (Twitter link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). He’s undergoing imaging to determine the severity of the issue. Minnesota has been attempting to weather injury troubles for two of its top three starters (Kenta Maeda, Michael Pineda) while getting awful results from fourth and fifth starters J.A. Happ and Matt Shoemaker. The Twins’ miserable rotation performance is perhaps the primary reason for their surprisingly poor record, and an injury to Duran would rob the club of a high-profile prospect who entered the season as a candidate to make his MLB debut this summer. Duran ranked as the game’s No. 83 prospect at The Athletic and No. 86 at FanGraphs, but he’s been limited to just 16 innings this season. Duran allowed one run with a 14-to-3 K/BB ratio in his first seven innings but has since been tagged for eight runs on 11 hits and an alarming 10 walks in nine innings.
  • The White Sox are without Nick Madrigal for the remainder of the season, and while it appears they’re exploring the market for infield help, they’re also taking some looks at creative in-house options. Third base prospect Jake Burger is getting some work at second base in Triple-A, writes Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago. Burger, 25, is in the midst of his first season since 2017 after a pair of Achilles injuries wiped out his 2018 and 2019 campaigns. The 2017 first-rounder has left little doubt that he’s a talented hitter, batting .277/.320/.555 with eight homers, 12 doubles and a triple in 147 plate appearances in his first in-game action after a three-year layoff. The 6’2″, 230-pound Burger would be one of the larger players you’d see at second base, but manager Tony La Russa notes to Duber that with Yoan Moncada hitting so well at the hot corner, at-bats there won’t be easy to come by if Burger’s bat does force its way to the big leagues: “I think it’s really smart, and it’s smarter if you do it down there where it’s not such a microscope. … I like that they’re exposing him to second base down there.”

Indians Set Rotation

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The Indians have set their rotation to open the 2020 season, manager Terry Francona told reporters including MLB.com’s Mandy Bell (Twitter link). Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac have made the five-man unit.

That decision leaves righty Adam Plutko on the outside looking in. He’ll jump into the relief unit to begin the season. With the short run-up to the season, there ought to be plenty of frames to go around.

The 28-year-old Plutko made twenty starts for the Indians last year, working to a 4.86 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. He had a lot of ground to make up to catch the other two hurlers.

Both Civale and Plesac are 25-year-old righties who debuted with aplomb in 2019. The former limited opponents to 2.34 earned per nine in his first ten starts. The latter posted a 3.81 ERA in 115 2/3 frames.

In both cases, there’s some cause to question the repeatability of the output. Civale benefited from a .250 BABIP-against, though Statcast suggests he has a real skill for inducing soft contact — related, no doubt, to his exceptional spin rates. Plesac’s own .255 BABIP-against doesn’t seem quite as sustainable. Opposing hitters produced a .315 wOBA against him last year, but Statcast spit out a far-less-promising .343 xwOBA based upon the quality of contact.

Indians Option Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, James Karinchak, Brad Zimmer To Triple-A

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The Indians announced today that four players have been optioned to Triple-A (Twitter link), as outfielder Bradley Zimmer and right-handers Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, and James Karinchak were all cut from the 26-man roster.

Of all the roster assignments we’ve seen in recent days as teams make procedural tweaks well in advance of when the 2020 season could actually begin, the Tribe’s moves may have been the ones least likely to happen had the season begun today as scheduled.  Optioning this quartet of players gives the Indians a bit more flexibility in determining tougher roster decisions, and obviously any can (and likely will) be recalled prior to the beginning of official games.

Due to injuries to Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco, Civale and Plesac were both penciled into Cleveland’s Opening Day rotation, and it’s a fair bet that both pitchers could have remained in the starting five throughout the year.  Adam Plutko was also in the mix for a starting job and, since he is out of options, perhaps had some advantage over Civale and Plesac in that regard, though the Indians could also have kept Plutko on the 26-man roster as a reliever.

Likewise, the hard-throwing Karinchak was expected to play an important role in the Tribe’s bullpen in the wake of a solid Spring Training and an impressive brief cameo (5 1/3 innings) during the 2019 regular season.  Karinchak has dealt with some control issues through his three pro seasons, though the righty’s minor league strikeout totals are nothing short of outstanding, with a whopping 186 strikeouts over 102 1/3 innings in the Cleveland farm system.

Carlos Carrasco Questionable For Opening Day

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Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco has been slowed by inflammation in his right elbow (and, earlier, a hip flexor strain) this spring. And while an MRI confirmed that Carrasco is not dealing with any structural damage, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters today that it could be a “stretch” for Carrasco to be ready for Opening Day (Twitter thread via Mandy Bell of MLB.com). Carrasco will be held back from throwing for a few more days.

It’s mixed news for Indians fans, as nothing from Antonetti’s comments suggested that Carrasco is expected to require a significant absence. But the Cleveland organization already has Mike Clevinger on the shelf as he recovers from surgery to repair a partial meniscus tear, and this winter’s slate of rule changes upped the minimum IL stint for pitchers from 10 days back to 15 days. If Carrasco is indeed placed on the injured list, that stint can still be backdated up to three days, but he’d be looking at missing at least the first dozen days of the 2020 campaign.

With Clevinger and Carrasco perhaps both sitting on the IL to begin the season, the Indians will likely give 2019 breakout righty Shane Bieber the Opening Day nod. He’d be followed by a quartet of relatively inexperienced arms: Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Adam Plutko and Logan Allen. (Civale has been bothered by a groin issue himself, though Antonetti indicated today that he’s expected to be ready for the opener.)

The Indians’ rotation is in somewhat of a transitional state — at least as pertains to the final couple of slots. Each of Bieber (controlled through 2024), Clevinger (controlled through 2022) and Carrasco (signed through 2023) should be locks for the next few years, health permitting. However, two of Civale, Plesac, Allen, Plutko and prospects Triston McKenzie and Scott Moss will likely be counted on to eventually seize permanent starting jobs. Viewed through that lens, even brief absences for the club’s top arms early in the season could serve as a continued audition for many arms the organization hopes will emerge as core pieces.

Health Notes: Suarez, Piscotty, Archer, Clase/Civale

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Fortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of negative health news to this point of Spring Training. Let’s check in on a few issues that have arisen …

  • Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez is feeling both excitement and some trepidation as he nears readiness to test his recently tweaked shoulder, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Indication remains that Suarez could conceivably be ready to roll on Opening Day. He says he’s getting his timing down even as he avoids throwing or swinging full-bore. But there are also some nerves as he prepares to ramp up. “Just a little bit because I know I have something there,” Suarez said when asked whether he’s nervous. “I don’t want to get hurt again. I have to be careful. We’ll see what happens.”
  • After a disappointing 2019 season, the last thing Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty wants to deal with is another injury issue. Right now, the hope is that his oblique/rib cage problem isn’t going to represent a major limitation, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. But Piscotty might be down for another week and it’s beginning to look like Opening Day readiness could be in doubt. That’d be a disappointment, of course, but it’s surely better than rushing back and ending up with a bigger problem.
  • Neck tightness kept Pirates righty Chris Archer from making a scheduled outing today, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. There hasn’t been a substantial update just yet, but there’s no reason to believe that this is more than a minor blip.
  • It’s a similar situation in Indians’ camp, where righties Emmanuel Clase and Aaron Civale have been limited. As MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets, the former is dealing with lat discomfort and the latter a sore groin. While Clase is going to slow his build-up to let things calm down, Civale is preparing to throw a sim game.
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