Injury Notes: Smith, Edman, Garcia, Aranda
The Mets placed reliever Drew Smith on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 24, before tonight’s win over the Yankees. The right-hander is dealing with an elbow sprain. It’s not yet clear how long he’ll be out or whether there’s a chance he’ll need to undergo surgery. It’s the second IL stint of the season for Smith, who missed around six weeks between late April and the start of June with shoulder soreness.
While there’s never a good time for a pitcher to battle shoulder and elbow concerns, it’s particularly poor timing in Smith’s case. The 30-year-old is a few months from his first trip to the open market. Smith misses enough bats to have a decent shot at a multi-year deal if he’s healthy. Between 2021-23, he combined for a 3.38 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of opposing hitters across 143 2/3 innings. That comes with a few more walks and home runs than ideal, but the former third-rounder has generally looked the part of a solid setup option. Smith has been effective this season when healthy, turning in a 3.06 ERA with 23 strikeouts over 17 2/3 frames.
A few more injury updates around the game:
- The Cardinals have been without Tommy Edman all season. The versatile switch-hitter has had a longer than expected rehab after undergoing right wrist surgery last October. As he’d finally begun ramping up baseball activity, Edman hit another snag. Manager Oli Marmol told reporters this afternoon that Edman sprained an ankle while fielding a ground ball (relayed on X by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). While there’s nothing to suggest it’s a significant sprain, his rehab will be halted for at least a few days. Edman was slated to enter the season as the everyday center fielder. Michael Siani has taken hold of the position on the strength of his glove, but he hasn’t provided much offensively. Cardinal center fielders — mostly Siani, Victor Scott II and Dylan Carlson — entered play Wednesday with an MLB-worst .198/.241/.259 batting line through 268 plate appearances.
- Astros starter Luis Garcia is likely to begin a rehab assignment with the team’s Florida Complex League affiliate this weekend (via the MLB.com injury tracker). He’s expected to throw two innings in what will be his first game action since undergoing Tommy John surgery last May. Garcia is coming up on 14 months since the procedure. He’ll likely need upwards of a month before he’s ready for MLB action but could be an option for Houston around or shortly after the trade deadline. Getting Garcia back would be the rare piece of positive injury news for an Astro rotation that has lost Cristian Javier, José Urquidy and JP France to season-ending surgeries.
- The Rays’ infield depth took a hit this week when Jonathan Aranda landed on the minor league injured list. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (on X) that the left-handed hitter suffered an oblique strain and will be down between four and six weeks. Aranda has appeared in 18 big league contests with Tampa Bay this season, hitting .213/.288/.319 through 52 trips to the plate. He’s hitting .189/.336/.295 with a massive 37.9% strikeout rate in Triple-A. While Aranda hasn’t hit big league pitching in scattered looks over the last three seasons, this year’s Triple-A struggles are uncharacteristic. The 26-year-old is a career .312/.411/.535 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances at that level. He’s in his final minor league option season and could find himself on the roster bubble next winter.
Latest On Kenley Jansen
The Red Sox have outperformed most expectations and carry a 43-37 record. They’re percentage points ahead of the Royals for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. Boston doesn’t look like a prototypical seller, yet that hasn’t completely silenced trade speculation regarding their closer.
Kenley Jansen has found his name in trade rumors going back to the offseason. It seemed like Boston wanted to offload his $16MM salary over the winter. Nothing came together before the season got underway. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote as recently as late May that the Sox were likely to trade Jansen at the deadline. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden wrote this morning that some rival executives believe the Red Sox could still look to move the four-time All-Star in a deal that nets Boston help in another area of the MLB roster.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe spoke with Jansen about the trade chatter last night. The right-hander indicated he’s happy in Boston, though he noted that whether he’s traded is beyond his control. “Listen, I can’t control my destiny. What I can tell you is, I signed here to win championships. Yes, we are a few pieces away. But I think it’s a great ball club and I’m going to continue to be a leader,” Jansen told Speier. “If I’m not here, I hope the best for them. But I will focus every single day on coming out here and helping my young guys to be better because I want to see this organization win another championship.”
Jansen has held up his end of the bargain since signing a two-year deal over the 2022-23 offseason. The 15-year veteran turned in a 3.63 ERA across 44 2/3 innings during his first season. He has been excellent this year, working to a 2.30 earned run average through 27 1/3 frames. Jansen has locked down 15 of 16 save chances while striking out 29.1% of batters faced. He hasn’t allowed a home run all season.
While he doesn’t have the velocity or pristine command he brandished during his peak days with the Dodgers, the 36-year-old remains an effective closer. Jansen pointed to those results when Speier asked him whether he’d be willing to vacate the ninth inning if he were traded to another team with an established closer.
“My question is, what did I do that I can’t close? You know what I do the best,” he replied. “I close ballgames, man. That’s what I’ve got to tell you. I’m getting close to another milestone. I’m closing down, trying to get to 500 saves. That’s still very important to me. … At the end of the day, if the situation comes, we’ll figure it out. But I think I’ve been doing this for so long. And also, my body has been more battle-tested season-wise and playoff-wise as a closer. I don’t know how to deal with the mix-and-match situation. Like, no.”
Jansen is fifth on the all-time leaderboard with 435 saves. He’ll pass Francisco Rodríguez (437) for fourth place within the next few weeks. (Craig Kimbrel is narrowly behind him with 433 saves.) If Jansen holds down a ninth inning job for another season or two, he could finish behind only Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman when all is said and done.
For the time being, he’ll continue trying to add to that tally at Fenway Park. WEEI’s Rob Bradford tweeted last night that opposing teams find the Sox’s asking price in trade talks to be “currently unrealistic.” With more than a month until the deadline and the team still squarely in contention, that’s not all that surprising. Even if first-year chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff aren’t interested in retaining Jansen beyond this season, there’s a straightforward argument for playing out the year and letting him walk in free agency.
Boston’s bullpen has been a strength. They entered play Wednesday ranked ninth in the majors with a 3.45 ERA from their relief corps. Sox relievers are seventh in innings pitched and 11th with a 23.6% strikeout rate. Rule 5 pick Justin Slaten has been a great find, while the Sox have gotten solid work from their unheralded left-handed duo of Cam Booser and Brennan Bernardino. Top setup man Chris Martin has a 3.70 ERA with 27 strikeouts and only two walks in 24 1/3 innings around a brief injured list stint for anxiety. Greg Weissert, acquired from the Yankees in the Alex Verdugo trade, has contributed a 2.65 mark with impressive strikeout and walk numbers over 34 frames of his own.
Giants Designate Raymond Burgos For Assignment
The Giants announced they’ve designated left-hander Raymond Burgos for assignment (X link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The move opens the necessary 40-man spot for Hayden Birdsong, who has officially been selected onto the big league roster. San Francisco optioned Mason Black to Triple-A Sacramento to clear an active roster spot for Birdsong.
Burgos only occupied a spot on the 40-man roster for two days. San Francisco selected his contract on Monday. He pitched one inning during his MLB debut, allowing a run on three hits while fanning Tomás Nido for his first strikeout. San Francisco optioned him yesterday and will take him off the roster altogether now that Birdsong is up to start tonight.
A 25-year-old southpaw, Burgos has signed minor league deals with the Giants in each of the last two seasons. He has worked in long relief for Sacramento this year. Burgos has turned in a 1.64 ERA over 22 innings across nine appearances. He has fanned 27.4% of batters faced against a tidy 2.4% walk rate while inducing ground-balls at a lofty 53.6% clip.
Burgos isn’t a hard thrower, averaging 91.2 MPH on his sinker during his big league debut. His Triple-A numbers have been strong enough that another team could give him a look on a waiver claim, though. San Francisco has five days to trade him or try to run him through waivers.
Guardians Recall Jhonkensy Noel For MLB Debut
The Guardians recalled first base/corner outfield prospect Jhonkensy Noel from Triple-A Columbus before this evening’s game with the Orioles. Cleveland optioned outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez in a corresponding move. Noel is starting at first base tonight against Grayson Rodriguez in what’ll be his major league debut.
Noel, who turns 23 next month, has occupied a spot on Cleveland’s 40-man roster dating back to 2021. The Guardians kept him out of that winter’s Rule 5 draft even though he had yet to play above High-A. They’ve patiently allowed him to progress through the minor league ranks. Noel spent almost all of 2022 between High-A and Double-A. He played the entire 2023 season with Columbus, hitting .220/.303/.420 over 138 games.
The Guardians kept Noel on the 40-man roster through some pedestrian offensive performances. They’ve clearly anticipated a breakthrough from the 6’3″, 250-pound slugger. That indeed has come to pass this season. Noel has blasted 18 home runs across 284 trips to the plate, tying for second among International League hitters in longballs. The native of the Dominican Republic owns a robust .295/.359/.578 batting line on the year. After striking out 24.8% of the time during his first look at Triple-A pitching, he has trimmed that to a 21.1% clip this year.
Noel ranked 27th among Cleveland prospects at Baseball America entering the season. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him 35th in the system in April. As one would expect for a player of his size, Noel draws praise for massive raw power potential. Both scouting reports question his plate discipline and note the high offensive bar to clear for a player with limited mobility who fits best at first base.
This is Noel’s final option year, so the clock is ticking for him to establish himself as a key piece of Cleveland’s roster. He’ll get that opportunity after his massive start to the season in Columbus. Top first base prospect Kyle Manzardo struggled in his first crack at MLB pitching earlier in the year and was optioned back to Triple-A last week. That leaves an opening at designated hitter alongside first baseman Josh Naylor if Noel hits his way to regular playing time on a Cleveland team that leads the American League with a 51-26 record.
Astros’ JP France To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
Astros right-hander JP France will undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder, according to his agent Nate Heisler of Klutch Sports (X link). Details of the procedure, which will be performed by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, aren’t clear. France will miss the rest of the 2024 season.
It doesn’t come as a huge surprise. France last pitched in a Triple-A game on April 30 because of the shoulder injury. He’d ramped up to long toss as he tried to rehab. General manager Dana Brown said over the weekend that France had a setback and no longer had a clear timeline for a return.
This will be a nearly completely lost season for the 29-year-old. France opened the year in Houston’s big league rotation. He was tagged for a 7.46 ERA across 25 1/3 innings spanning five starts. The Astros optioned him to Triple-A Sugar Land in hopes of getting him back on track. France only made it through one outing before the injury.
It’s another hit to an Astro rotation that has been torn apart. Houston lost José Urquidy and Cristian Javier to Tommy John procedures. They’ve been without Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. as they rehab from 2023 surgeries. Justin Verlander has had a pair of injured list stints. He’s on the 15-day IL with neck discomfort. In part because of the injuries, the Astros hurried last year’s third-round pick Jake Bloss to the majors. Bloss left his MLB debut with shoulder soreness and went on the IL himself, though that’s expected to be a fairly brief absence.
France struggled during the first month of the season, but he entered the year as a key depth arm. He’d emerged as a somewhat surprising contributor as a 28-year-old rookie. France logged 136 1/3 frames with a 3.83 earned run average during his debut campaign. While he had a pedestrian 17.4% strikeout rate, he showed good control and did a solid job avoiding hard contact.
Since the injury occurred after he was optioned, France has spent the last couple months on the Triple-A injured list. He’s not entitled to a major league salary or service time while he’s on the minor league IL. The Astros could recall him and place him on the MLB 60-day injured list if they want to open a 40-man roster spot (at which point France would be paid at the major league minimum rate). The Astros would need to reinstate him onto the 40-man over the offseason or put him on waivers.
Marlins Select Valente Bellozo
TODAY: The Marlins have selected Valente Bellozo from Triple-A Jacksonville, the team announced. In a corresponding move, left-hander Kent Emanuel has been designated for assignment. Emanuel will likely clear waivers and be sent outright to Jacksonville. He has already accepted multiple outright assignments to Triple-A this season.
JUNE 25: The Marlins will select the contract of right-hander Valente Bellozo before tomorrow’s game with the Royals, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). He’ll take the ball opposite Brady Singer in the series finale. Miami will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
It’ll be the major league debut for Bellozo, a 24-year-old native of Mexico. He signed with the Astros as an amateur free agent back in 2017. Bellozo pitched through Double-A in the Houston farm system. The Astros dealt him to Miami for depth infielder Jacob Amaya in April. Bellozo has split his time with the Fish between the top two minor league levels.
The 5’10” hurler hasn’t had great numbers this season. Bellozo has allowed a 5.02 ERA in 52 innings between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville. He has decent strikeout and walk numbers, punching out more than a quarter of batters faced against a tidy 6.7% walk percentage. Home runs have been an issue since he was promoted to Triple-A, though. Bellozo has given up seven longballs in 20 2/3 frames with Jacksonville.
Bellozo has never gotten much prospect fanfare. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave him a brief mention on his write-up of the Miami system earlier this month, crediting him with a solid changeup but few other weapons. The Fish have needed to dig into their rotation depth this season after being pummeled by injury.
They placed Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett on the shelf last week. That duo joins Eury Pérez, Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers and Sixto Sánchez on the injured list. Trevor Rogers has been the lone consistent presence. Bellozo will be the 14th starting pitcher they’ve used over the course of the year as they’ve cycled through depth arms.
Royals Sign Jesus Tinoco To Minor League Deal
The Royals signed reliever Jesús Tinoco to a minor league contract. The move was announced by Kansas City’s Triple-A team in Omaha. Tinoco elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Rangers last week.
A 29-year-old righty, Tinoco has pitched in parts of five MLB campaigns. That includes nine appearances with Texas this season. Tinoco had a rough go during that stretch, surrendering nine runs across 10 innings. He struck out nine, walked seven and hit a pair of opponents. Tinoco had turned in solid results for Triple-A Round Rock, working to a 3.80 earned run average through 21 1/3 innings. He fanned upwards of 30% of batters faced with a 47.1% ground-ball rate.
Tinoco owns a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 big league frames. His underlying marks are quite a bit worse, as Tinoco has a career 18.1% strikeout rate while walking 14% of opponents. The 29-year-old has a 4.46 earned run average in 153 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a solid 2.83 mark over 35 frames in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball a season ago.
The Royals have had one of the worst bullpens among postseason contenders. GM J.J. Picollo has made clear that upgrading the late innings will be a deadline priority. Tinoco isn’t going to impact the deadline calculus, but the mediocre bullpen could afford him a path back to the big leagues.
Mariners Place Bryan Woo On Injured List
The Mariners placed Bryan Woo on the 15-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain before tonight’s loss in Tampa Bay. Seattle recalled reliever Collin Snider from Triple-A Tacoma to take the vacated active roster spot.
Woo left last night’s start in the fourth inning after experiencing the leg discomfort. The M’s sent him for imaging today. Woo told reporters he was diagnosed with a lower-grade variety of strain, though he wasn’t sure of the recovery timetable (X link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).
It’s the second injured list stint of the season for the second-year righty. Woo started the year on the IL with elbow inflammation. He had another scare a couple weeks ago when forearm discomfort led the team to scratch him from a scheduled start and send him for testing. An MRI fortunately came back clean and Woo was able to make two more starts before the leg issue.
A hamstring strain is far less of a long-term concern than any elbow or forearm injury would be. It’s nevertheless a disappointing setback for a pitcher who has been amidst a potential breakout season. Woo owns a sparkling 1.77 ERA in 40 2/3 innings. While he’s running a modest 18.7% strikeout rate, he has only walked three out of 150 batters faced. Woo has only allowed three runs in two of his eight starts.
Manager Scott Servais was noncommittal on who will step into the rotation spot (link via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). The M’s have off days on Thursday and next Monday, so they could get by without a fifth starter until late next week. Emerson Hancock has been Seattle’s top depth arm, taking eight starts. The former sixth overall draftee has struggled to a 4.79 ERA while striking out 13.5% of opposing hitters. The M’s tabbed left-hander Jhonathan Diaz for a spot start when Woo was scratched a couple weeks ago, but Hancock would’ve been on short rest that day.
Soto: Plan To Address Contract “In The Offseason”
Juan Soto will be the top free agent in the upcoming class and is trending towards the largest contract in MLB history — assuming one counts the Shohei Ohtani deal based on its approximate $461MM net present value. There has never been much doubt that the 25-year-old superstar would test the market, even after Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner left open the possibility of discussing a midseason extension last month.
Soto implied as much this evening in a conversation with Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Asked by Heyman whether he expected the Mets to be involved in the bidding, Soto replied “we will see. In the offseason we will figure it out. I’ll let [agent Scott Boras] do his thing. We’re going to see.” The three-time All-Star followed up by speaking glowingly of his time with the Yankees.
Steinbrenner’s comments aside, the Yankees presumably haven’t been all that optimistic about keeping Soto off the market. GM Brian Cashman said in February that the team fully anticipated Soto would test free agency (link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). The Yankees will certainly make a significant effort to keep him in the Bronx next winter.
Soto famously declined a 14-year, $440MM extension offer from the Nationals before Washington traded him in 2022. The Padres similarly expressed a desire to work out a long-term arrangement in the early portion of last offseason. That obviously didn’t materialize and he was traded again. There aren’t any publicly reported specifics on contract terms that either San Diego or the Yankees have floated. Heyman said last month (X link) that Soto had declined seven extension offers within the last five years. That has long made it seem like a foregone conclusion that he and his camp would take things to free agency.
He may well do so coming off the best season of his career. Soto hit his 19th home run of the season tonight and is on pace to top last year’s personal-high 35 longballs. He carried a .305/.431/.563 slash line into today’s game. That’d be the highest slugging percentage he’s posted in a 162-game schedule. It’d be the second-best on-base mark he has managed in a full season.
Giants To Promote Hayden Birdsong
The Giants will call up pitching prospect Hayden Birdsong to start tomorrow against the Cubs. Manager Bob Melvin announced the news this evening (X link via Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle).
It’s the first major league call for the 6’4″ right-hander. Birdsong was a sixth-round pick out of Eastern Illinois in 2022. He has quickly outperformed that modest draft stock. Birdsong pitched quite well in the low minors during his first full professional season. While he ran into a bit of trouble during his first crack at Double-A, he established himself as one of the more intriguing arms in the organization.
Baseball America ranked Birdsong the #5 prospect in the San Francisco system entering the season. The Athletic’s Keith Law slotted him 10th in February, while Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked him 17th on their organizational write-up in April. All three outlets credit him with a velocity jump into the mid-90s during his first season in pro ball. Evaluators praise Birdsong’s 12-6 curveball and slider as well, though scouting reports haven’t been especially keen on his changeup.
FanGraphs writes that Birdsong is likely to end up in relief because of subpar command. The reports at BA and The Athletic were more optimistic on his chances of sticking in the rotation, though both outlets noted that he’ll need to continue improving to profile as a starter. Baseball America writes that the development of Birdsong’s command could be the x-factor, while Law suggests the biggest question is whether he’ll find a pitch with enough lateral movement to complement his north-south breaking stuff.
Even if Birdsong does wind up as a bullpen piece, that’d be a very good outcome for a sixth-round draftee who signed for less than $200K. The Giants will give him an opportunity to stick as a starter before considering that possibility. Birdsong has turned in excellent numbers for Double-A Richmond this year. In 11 starts, he worked to a 2.05 earned run average while punching out 30.7% of opposing hitters. While he issued walks at a lofty 10.1% clip, his stuff was clearly too advanced for Double-A.
The Giants bumped the 22-year-old to Triple-A Sacramento 10 days ago. Birdsong allowed five runs on eight hits and six walks over his first nine innings in the Pacific Coast League. Despite his limited experience at the top minor league level, he’ll get a look against MLB hitters. The Giants lost Keaton Winn to the injured list over the weekend, necessitating a fifth starter if they weren’t going to use a bullpen game.
Birdsong is not on the 40-man roster. The Giants will select his contract tomorrow and will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster transactions. They don’t have any obvious candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list, so they’ll likely designate someone for assignment.