Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves Rumors

Injury Notes: Quintana, Lugo, deGrom, Battenfield, Lee

By | at

The Mets have been without offseason pickup José Quintana all season thanks to a Spring Training rib issue that required surgery. The veteran southpaw got positive news this afternoon though. After receiving good results on a recent CT scan, Quintana told reporters he’s set to begin throwing off a mound for the first time since March (relayed by Tim Healey of Newsday).

Quintana is in for an extended rehab process. He’ll need to build up arm strength and progress to throwing live batting practice sessions before a minor league rehab stint that’s sure to encompass multiple starts. During the spring, the Mets provided a July estimate for Quintana’s return to major league action. There’s no indication that timetable has changed, but it’s a positive development his recovery is going as anticipated.

New York has had one of the least productive rotations thus far. They entered play Friday with a 5.29 rotation ERA that ranks 25th leaguewide. That should improve with Justin Verlander back from an early-season injured list stint and Max Scherzer unlikely to carry a 4.88 ERA all season. Still, with Carlos Carrasco allowing nearly an earned run per inning and underwhelming work from depth starters David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi, the Mets could certainly use some stability from Quintana in the second half.

The latest on some other health situations around the game:

  • The Padres placed starter Seth Lugo on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 17, due to a right calf strain. Southpaw Ryan Weathers was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to replace him in the rotation. Signed to a two-year free agent guarantee, Lugo has made eight starts in his move back to the rotation from relief. He’s acquitted himself reasonably well, posting a 4.10 ERA with a roughly league average 21.3% strikeout rate across 41 2/3 innings. The 33-year-old righty is looking to reestablish himself as a starter and could retest the market next winter. His $15MM contract allows him to opt out of the final year and $7.5MM at season’s end.
  • Jacob deGrom threw a 25-pitch bullpen session this afternoon, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It has been three weeks since the two-time Cy Young winner hit the injured list with elbow inflammation. deGrom told Grant and other reporters he came out of the session feeling good, opining he’s “turned a corner” in his ramp-up. Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy indicated on May 9 the club felt deGrom was two to three weeks from a return to a big league mound. While it doesn’t seem he’ll be back within the next few days, all indications are the issue isn’t as alarming as it first seemed given deGrom’s health history. Last offseason’s big-ticket free agent addition has a 2.67 ERA with an elite 39.1% strikeout percentage in his first 30 1/3 innings in a Ranger uniform.
  • The Guardians put starter Peyton Battenfield on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 18, with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The rookie righty has been a member of Cleveland’s rotation since being called up in mid-April. He’s started six of seven appearances but struggled to a 5.19 ERA through 34 2/3 innings. The Oklahoma State product has a modest 18.5% strikeout rate and has given up seven home runs. He spent virtually all of last season with Triple-A Columbus, working to a 3.63 ERA over 28 starts. Battenfield’s next turn through the rotation was scheduled for Monday, so the Guardians will need to settle on a replacement for that series opener against the White Sox.
  • The Braves placed reliever Dylan Lee on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 17, on account of shoulder inflammation. Fellow southpaw Lucas Luetge was activated from an IL stint of his own in a corresponding move. Lee was somewhat quietly among the best relievers in the game last season, when he worked to a 2.13 ERA while striking out 29.4% of batters faced in 50 1/3 innings. He’s not been quite at that pace this year but still carries a solid 3.10 ERA and 27.1% strikeout percentage in 20 appearances. Luetge, acquired in an offseason trade with the Yankees, has made just five appearances with his new team thus far thanks to a bout of biceps inflammation.

Braves Select Charlie Culberson

By | at

The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran utilityman Charlie Culberson from Triple-A Gwinnett and transferred infielder Ehire Adrianza to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Culberson will take the 26-man roster spot of prospect Braden Shewmake, who was optioned to Gwinnett after last night’s game. Adrianza had been on a rehab assignment after landing on the injured list due to elbow inflammation, but he’s now dealing with a left shoulder strain.

Culberson, 34, has struggled in Gwinnett this season, slashing just .204/.234/.255 in 107 trips to the plate. He has a lengthy track record of better output than that in the Majors, however, and is a known commodity for a Braves organization that rostered him from 2018-20. Culberson suited up for 230 games with the Braves and hit .265/.314/.454 in 473 plate appearances, including a career-best year in 2018 that saw him reach career-highs in both home runs (12) and doubles (18).

Over the past few seasons, Culberson’s production has dropped off. He’s posted a .244/.289/.371 batting line in 402 trips to the plate dating back to 2020, mostly spending time with the Rangers during that stretch. The Braves will hope that a return to his native Georgia can also bring about a return to top form.

Culberson has appeared at every position on the diamond other than catcher and center field in his decade-long career, including 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in mop-up duty (albeit with just one strikeout). Third base has been his primary position in the Majors, but he has more than 400 innings at second base, at shortstop and in left field as well. Culberson has generally struggled against right-handed pitching (.217/.277/.348), but he’s a .285/.313/.431 hitter against lefties in his career.

Adrianza, 33, appeared in just five games with the Braves before landing on the injured list. He went hitless in 11 plate appearances during that time. The versatile switch-hitter is a career .238/.308/.352 batter in 1550 plate appearances between the Twins, Giants, Braves and Nationals. It’s not immediately clear when he’ll be expected to return. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end.

Anibal Sanchez Announces Retirement

By | at

Longtime big league starter Aníbal Sánchez took to Instagram this evening to announce his retirement. The 39-year-old wraps up a career in which he appeared in parts of 16 big league campaigns.

“Throughout these past 17 years in Major League Baseball, God has given me the opportunity to live wonderful moments on and off the field,” Sánchez wrote. “Baseball has been my great passion since I was a child, and I am extremely grateful to have been able to make that dream a reality.” He goes on to thank his teammates, coaches, managers, scouts, franchise owners and agents at Mato Sports Management, as well as his family, friends and the fans who supported him along the way.

“Today begins a new chapter where I hang up the glove and uniform to pursue my other passions,” Sánchez concluded. “I retire as a major league player; however, I will always be close to the sport I love. See you soon.”

Sánchez began his professional career with the Red Sox as an amateur signee out of Venezuela during the 2000-01 international period. Within a few years, he pitched his way to Double-A and rated as one of the top pitching prospects in the Boston system. Over the 2005-06 offseason, the Sox dealt him alongside Hanley Ramírez and two more minor leaguers to the Marlins to bring in ace Josh Beckett.

Florida called him to the majors for the first time the following June. Sánchez hit the ground running as a 22-year-old, tossing 114 1/3 innings of 2.83 ERA ball over his first 18 appearances. He threw a no-hitter in just his 13th career start, completing the feat in a six strikeout outing against the Diamondbacks that September. Sánchez finished that year ninth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

Injuries dogged the right-hander over the next few seasons. He didn’t make more than 16 starts in any of the three years between 2007-09. Fortunately, he returned to health for his first full big league campaign in 2010. Sánchez would make 32 starts with a sub-4.00 ERA in both 2010 and ’11. He was on that pace again in 2012, working to a 3.94 ERA over 19 starts as an impending free agent for a noncompetitive Miami team. The Tigers acquired him in a deadline blockbuster, adding Sánchez and second baseman Omar Infante for a package headlined by former first round pick Jacob Turner.

Sánchez was excellent down the stretch to help Detroit to an AL Central title. He pitched three quality starts in as many outings during that year’s postseason, helping the Tigers to a pennant. The Tigers brought him back on a five-year free agent deal with an $80MM guarantee over the offseason.

Detroit was immediately rewarded with the best season of Sánchez’s career. He worked 182 innings of 2.57 ERA ball over 29 starts. He won the AL ERA title and topped the Junior Circuit with a 2.39 FIP. Sánchez finished fourth in Cy Young balloting and helped the club to a repeat division title. The Tigers came up a round short of the World Series that time around, though Sánchez contributed 12 innings of four-run ball during the AL Championship Series.

The veteran hurler turned in another productive showing in 2014, working to a 3.43 ERA in 126 frames on another division-winning Detroit team. His production fell off thereafter, as his ERA jumped each season between 2015-17. He finished his Detroit tenure with a 6.41 season that led them to decline a 2018 club option. Sánchez made an unexpected resurgence upon landing with the Braves on a minor league deal in 2018. He cracked the MLB club and provided Atlanta a 2.83 ERA over 136 2/3 innings to help them to an NL East title.

That rebound earned Sánchez a multi-year contract in his return trip to free agency. He jumped to the Nationals on a two-year, $19MM pact that paid off incredibly in the first season. He made 30 starts with a 3.85 ERA in the regular season. The Nats made the playoffs as a Wild Card club and embarked on a run to the first championship in franchise history. Sánchez was a productive contributor as the #4 starter, highlighted by 7 2/3 scoreless innings to stake Washington to a series lead against the Cardinals in the first game of the NLCS.

Sánchez posted middling numbers during the shortened season and sat out 2021 entirely. He returned last year on another run with a now-rebuilding Washington club, turning in a 4.28 ERA in 14 outings. It was a respectable finish to a lengthy, accomplished run at the highest level.

All told, Sánchez leaves the game with a 4.06 ERA in a little more than 2000 big league innings. He had seven seasons with 100+ innings and fewer than four earned runs per nine. Sánchez won 116 games and struck out a little under 1800 hitters. He chipped in a 2.93 ERA through 61 1/3 postseason innings across three franchises, helping two teams to a pennant and one to a championship. Baseball Reference valued his career around 28 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs pegged him closer to 31 WAR. He banked just over $103MM in earnings.

Congratulations to Sánchez on an excellent career and all the best in his post-playing days.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Braves Claim Dereck Rodríguez, Transfer Kyle Wright To 60-Day IL

By | at

The Braves announced that they have claimed right-hander Dereck Rodríguez off waivers from the Twins and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Fellow righty Kyle Wright was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Rotation depth has suddenly become a serious issue for the Atlanta club. Both Max Fried and Kyle Wright have landed on the injured list recently, with the former battling a forearm strain and the latter a lingering shoulder issue. The reported plan for Fried is for him to be shut down long enough that he will then have to effectively rebuild from scratch, suggesting a potential absence of a couple of months. Last week, Wright said he is expecting to be out of action even longer than Fried, so it’s not a shock to see him land on the 60-day injured list today. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was on May 4, ruling him out officially until early July.

Those injuries have cast a spotlight on the club’s starting mix, which is down to three primary members in Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder. The club has some depth starters on its 40-man roster that it could call upon, but it doesn’t seem like Michael Soroka will be up in the immediate future. He’s still looking to get into a consistent rhythm after hardly pitching since 2019 due to various injuries, including a pair of Achilles ruptures. Mark Bowman of MLB.com recently spoke to manager Brian Snitker about Soroka, though it doesn’t seem as though the club is going to let the recent injuries to Fried and Wright alter their approach to Soroka’s return to action. Other options on the roster include Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster, though neither fared especially well in their brief major league looks earlier this year. Ian Anderson won’t be an option for the rest of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last month.

All of those question marks give the club a significant challenge in navigating the next couple of months, which is surely what led to the claim of Rodríguez. The right-hander who turns 31 next month had a solid debut season with the Giants in 2018 but has struggled since. That first season in the bigs saw him post an ERA of 2.81 in 118 1/3 innings, but his ERA jumped to 5.64 in the following season. He’s only been able to scratch out sporadic major league outings since then, appearing in five games since the start of 2020.

He’s spent the past couple of seasons bouncing on and off the Twins’ roster. He was twice selected to join the club in 2022, once in April and once in September, making one appearance before getting quickly designated for assignment in each case. He returned to the organization on another minor league deal this winter and was added to the 40-man a couple of weeks ago. He pitched two thirds of an inning on Friday before getting optioned back to Triple-A. It wasn’t publicly reported that he was designated for assignment but the Twins evidently tried to pass him through waivers in recent days, which led to today’s claim.

Prior to getting called up to the big leagues this year, he had made seven appearances for the St. Paul Saints, tossing 19 1/3 innings with a 4.66 ERA while striking out 23.5% of batters faced against an 11.8% walk rate. In 94 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year, he had a 4.75 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. He’ll head to Gwinnett and will presumably be competing with the likes of Dodd and Shuster for roles in the majors over the coming months. The big league club is still in first place in the National League East but have lost four in a row and seem less of a lock in that division than they did a week ago.

Braves Sign Justus Sheffield To Minor League Deal

By | at

Left-hander Justus Sheffield has found a new organization, as the former top prospect has signed a minor league deal with the Braves, per the transaction tracker on his MLB.com profile page.

Sheffield, who will celebrate his 27th birthday tomorrow, was the 31st overall pick in the 2014 draft, taken by Cleveland in the first round. Sheffield was long a staple of top 100 prospect lists as he made his ascent throughout the minors, appearing on Baseball America’s top 100 list as early as 2016 before eventually climbing to the 27th spot on the ranking ahead of the 2019 season. In addition to his prospect pedigree, Sheffield was a headliner in multiple significant trades: the Yankees acquired him in the 2016 deadline trade that sent Andrew Miller to Cleveland before sending him to Seattle in the deal that brought James Paxton to the Bronx ahead of the 2019 campaign.

Unfortunately for both Sheffield and the Mariners, the dream of Sheffield anchoring the rotation for the next competitive team in Seattle was never realized. Sheffield struggled badly during the 2019 season, posting a 5.50 ERA with a 4.71 FIP in his first 36 innings with his new club. While he would see a stretch of success during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, with a solid 3.58 ERA and an excellent 3.17 FIP in ten starts, he was unable to carry that success over into the 2021 season. In 92 innings between 2021 and 2022, Sheffield struggled mightily to a 6.46 ERA, 37% below league average by measure of ERA+.

Those struggles led the Mariners to outright Sheffield to Triple-A during the offseason. Unfortunately, Sheffield’s struggles grew even deeper in the early going of the 2023 campaign. In 10 outings with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, the lefty surrendered 17 runs in just 8 1/3 innings while walking more batters (11) than he struck out (4). That lead the Mariners to pull the plug on their former top prospect at the end of April, releasing him to pursue opportunities in another organization.

Two weeks later, Sheffield has found a home in the Braves organization. Atlanta has seen its rotation ravaged by injuries in recent days, with both lefty Max Fried and right-hander Kyle Wright expected to miss significant time due to injury. That said, Sheffield figures to be below Michael Soroka, Dylan Dodd, and Jared Shuster on the organization depth chart at the very least, and has worked primarily out of the bullpen in recent years.

While Sheffield seems unlikely to provide the Braves useful rotation depth that can solve their current conundrum at the big league level, a minor league deal for a player with Sheffield’s prospect pedigree is rarely a bad decision, given the lack of risk associated with such a deal and the massive potential upside Sheffield showed as a youngster. While it would be a surprise to see Sheffield rebound to the heights he was expected to reach as a prospect, it’s certainly possible that a change of scenery from the organization Sheffield spent the past four seasons with will help him recapture some of the talent that made him such a tantalizing prospect earlier in his career.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Willson Contreras Out At Catcher For Cardinals, Braves Rotation, Rays, Astros

By | at

Episode 6 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Katie Woo of The Athletic to discuss:

  • The Cardinals’ decision to move Willson Contreras out of the catching position for the time being (3:16)
  • Nolan Arenado’s early-season struggles (8:22)
  • Will the Cardinals trade an outfielder to fill other needs? (9:49)
  • Jordan Montgomery, possible extension candidate? (12:06)

After Katie talked Cardinals with Simon, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald comes on the podcast to dig into:

  • The Braves’ rotation in the wake of Max Fried’s forearm strain (15:56)
  • Why have the Rays been so good? (19:17)
  • The Astros’ sluggish start to the season (25:16)

Check out our past episodes!

Kyle Wright Expecting To Miss Significant Time

By | at

Braves right-hander Kyle Wright spoke to members of the media today, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, saying that he expects to remain on the injured list longer than his teammate Max Fried. He doesn’t provide a specific estimate but it’s a notable guess given that there was no previous timeline for Wright and the reported plan for Fried is to shut him down for long enough that he’ll need to completely build back up from scratch.

The club hasn’t provided any kind of specifics for what they expect for the two hurlers, but Mark Bowman of MLB.com interprets the situation by saying that the “expectation has been” that they will miss two months while O’Brien says that it appears Wright isn’t likely to be back until August.

The details are all murky at the moment but there seems to be little doubt that the club will be proceeding without two of its best starters for some significant amount of time that will likely be measured in months rather than days or weeks. The 27-year-old Wright got very limited big league action from 2018 to 2021 but had a breakout last year, posting a 3.19 ERA in 180 1/3 innings over 30 starts. He struck out 23.6% of batters faced while walking 7.2% and getting grounders at a 55.6% clip.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on that here this year, beginning the season on the injured list due to this shoulder issue. He was activated off the IL and made five starts but it’s now apparent that he wasn’t right in that time. His 93.6 mph fastball velocity was well down from last year’s 95.1 and he posted a 5.79 ERA.

Atlanta came into the season with a strong front four in its rotation, with Fried and Wright joined by Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider. The fifth spot was left open and Bryce Elder has seemingly taken the job over in recent weeks, posting a 1.74 ERA in seven starts so far this year. The club will now need to find replacements for Fried and Wright for the foreseeable future, with their depth having also taken a hit earlier this year when Ian Anderson required Tommy John surgery.

Options on the 40-man roster include lefties Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster as well as righty Michael Soroka. The two lefties have each made a few starts in the big leagues this year but Dodd has a 6.46 ERA in his three outings whereas Shuster has an 8.31 ERA in his two. Soroka has hardly pitched at all since the 2019 season, mostly due to twice tearing his achilles tendon. He’s made five Triple-A starts this year, logging 20 2/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA in a once-a-week pitching schedule.

Looking outside the organization doesn’t provide many enticing options. Most teams are reluctant to part with valuable players at this time of the year when it’s too early for most to raise a white flag and start selling. Some players decently designated for assignment include Chase Anderson, Luis Cessa and Chase De Jong.

Braves, Chad Pinder Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Braves are in agreement with free agent utilityman Chad Pinder, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). It’ll be a minor league contract, tweets Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

It’s the third minor league deal of the season for the longtime A’s utilityman. He signed with the Reds over the winter but struggled in Spring Training, hitting just .103/.167/.154. After being informed he wouldn’t make the Opening Day roster, he opted out and quickly signed with the Nationals. Pinder spent a little over a month in the Washington system playing for Triple-A Rochester. He hit .218/.308/.309 over 62 plate appearances before being released last week.

While it hasn’t been the best start to the year, Pinder brings plenty of upper level experience. He played for Oakland between 2016-22, compiling a .242/.294/.417 line over 553 games. He’s struggled to reach base — particularly against right-handed pitching — but offers some power when holding the platoon advantage. Pinder is a career .264/.322/.456 hitter against lefties.

On the other side of the ball, the 31-year-old is capable of covering virtually anywhere on the diamond. Pinder has over 250 innings of big league experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop and in both corner outfield positions. The majority of his time has been spent at the keystone and in the outfield corners. He’ll add a versatile right-handed bat to the upper minors.

Max Fried Facing Notable Absence Due To Forearm Strain

By | at

9:04am: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that while an MRI did not raise concern about Tommy John surgery for Fried, the Braves still don’t expect this to be a short-term absence. Fried will be shut down from throwing while his forearm heals, and while there’s no concrete timeline, it’ll likely be long enough that he’ll need to build back up from scratch.

8:31am: The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve placed left-hander Max Fried on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left forearm. His placement on the IL is retroactive to May 6. Fellow left-hander Danny Young has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett in his place.

It’s the second IL trip of the young season for Fried, who exited his Opening Day start due to a hamstring strain that required an absence of a couple weeks. The Braves hadn’t given a concrete indication that Fried was dealing with an injury prior to this morning’s announcement, though manager Brian Snitker somewhat cryptically said over the weekend that the team was “going through some things” when determining the timing of Fried’s next start.

Fried, 29, entered his most recent start having yielded just one run through his first 20 innings of the 2023 season before being trounced by the Orioles for seven runs (five earned) in six innings. After averaging 94.8 mph on his fastball through the season’s first three starts, that velocity dipped to an average of 93.5 mph over his two most recent turns.

The Braves haven’t provided a timetable for Fried’s return or given any indication as to the severity of the strain at this time. Even if it’s only a minimal absence for Fried, it’s still a blow to an Atlanta club that was already operating with only four healthy starters. Right-hander Kyle Wright is out indefinitely due to a shoulder strain, and the Braves lost righty Ian Anderson to Tommy John surgery earlier in the 2023 season.

That slate of injuries had already left the Braves with Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder as their rotation options. Fried going down will likely require the team to call up two of Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster and Michael Soroka from Gwinnett to step onto the starting staff.

Both Dodd and Shuster have been hit hard in limited MLB action this season, however, and both have displayed uncharacteristically shaky command in their handful of Triple-A starts as well. Soroka, meanwhile, pitched just 13 2/3 innings from 2020-22 (big leagues and minors combined) due to a series of injuries — namely a pair of Achilles tears. He’s gone more than four innings in just one of his five starts with Gwinnett and has been hit hard in each of his past two appearances, yielding a combined ten earned runs in seven innings of work.

There are other options to consider, though they’d require an additional 40-man roster move. Twenty-seven-year-old righty Allan Winans, for instance, has pitched to a solid 2.90 ERA in six appearances (four starts) with impressive strikeout and walk rates. He tossed six quality innings on May 3 and, speculatively speaking, could be an option in the next couple weeks if the Braves want to make space for him on the 40-man roster. Lefty Domingo Robles and righty Tanner Gordon were both recently bumped up to Triple-A after strong starts to the season in Double-A, but both have been hit hard in their first appearances with Gwinnett and neither is on the 40-man.

Certainly, in the event of a prolonged absence for Fried, it’s easier to envision the Braves going outside the organization to address the sudden vacancies in the rotation. That’s a scenario most Braves fans would prefer not to think about. The team figures to have more updates on Fried’s status in the near future.

In the meantime, Young’s recall from Gwinnett will give Atlanta an extra arm in the bullpen. He’s appeared in four games for the big league club already this season, holding opponents to a run on three hits and no walks with six punchouts in 3 2/3 frames. Things have been a bit rockier in Gwinnett, where he’s surrendered four runs on nine hits (two homers) and two walks with six punchouts in 4 2/3 innings. Young, 28, is a pure reliever whose lone professional start was with the Blue Jays’ Low-A affiliate back in 2015, so he won’t be a rotation option while Fried is on the mend.

Pitching Notes: Suarez, Sanmartin, Wood, Fried

By | at

Jose Suarez will receive an MRI after leaving today’s game in the third inning due to discomfort in his left shoulder.  The Angels starter was rocked for seven runs over 2 2/3 innings, with Suarez telling reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian Wright) that he first started feeling the shoulder soreness during the second inning but he tried to keep going.

Between the Angels’ six-man rotation and an off-day on May 11, Suarez could get over a week of recuperation time before he is next needed to pitch, so it’s possible he might avoid the injured list if the MRI comes back clean.  However, it seems more likely that the IL might be in order to get Suarez feeling better, and to perhaps act as a reset button on the left-hander’s season.  After posting decent results as a swingman for Anaheim in 2021-22, Suarez has a 9.62 ERA over 24 1/3 innings in 2023.

More on other pitchers around baseball…

  • Reds southpaw Reiver Sanmartin left today’s game due to elbow soreness, and he told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that a trip to the 15-day injured list is likely in order.  Sanmartin said his elbow issue has been bothering him “for a couple of weeks now.  I’ve tried to pitch through it….I don’t feel like I have full control of where I want to put it in the zone.”  The lingering injury probably explains Sanmartin’s lack of results, as he has an ungainly 7.07 ERA over 14 appearances and 14 innings for the Reds this season.  Sanmartin is in his third MLB season, and had very strong numbers as a reliever in 2022 (despite a 6.35 ERA over 57 innings that was inflated by four disastrous starts).  Assuming Sanmartin hits the IL, Alex Young will be the only left-hander in the Reds’ bullpen.
  • Alex Wood began a Triple-A rehab assignment today, allowing two runs (one earned) over 3 2/3 innings of work.  It’s probably safe to assume that Wood will make one more rehab outing before returning to the Giants’ rotation, unless the club wanted to bring him back in a limited capacity or perhaps in piggyback situation with Ross Stripling.  Either Stripling or Sean Manaea seems like the odd man out when Wood does return at full health, and it already seems like Wood will beat the much longer initial timeline given when he first went on the IL with a hamstring strain on April 18.  Wood was off to a nice start, posting a 1.80 ERA of his first three games and 10 innings this season.
  • While not exactly an injury update, Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman) that “we’re just going through some things right now” in regards to when staff ace Max Fried might make his next start.  Fried won’t pitch against the Red Sox as initially scheduled on Wednesday, and Snitker also didn’t say whether or not Fried might be available to face the Blue Jays on Friday.  Since Atlanta has off-days on both Monday and Thursday this week, it’s possible the Braves are figuring out how to align its rotation, especially since Kyle Wright’s injury has left the club with just four starters.  That said, Snitker’s rather vague comment created some doubt about Fried’s status.  While nothing was reported health-wise following Fried’s last start on Friday, he did have a rough outing in allowing seven runs (five earned) over six-plus innings against the Orioles.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top