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Rockies Place Jon Gray On 10-Day Injured List

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The Rockies have placed right-hander Jon Gray on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 2, with shoulder inflammation, the team announced. They recalled righty Jose Mujica to take Gray’s roster spot.

Shoulder issues can lead to lengthy absences for pitchers, so it’s unclear whether Gray will return this season. Regardless, the 28-year-old – who was a key part of the Rockies’ rotation during previous seasons – has struggled in 2020 for the playoff contenders. Gray has averaged fewer than five innings per start (39 frames in eight appearances) and recorded career worsts in ERA (6.69), FIP (5.01), strikeouts per nine (5.08), groundball rate (36.7 percent) and average fastball velocity (94 mph).

Aside from Gray, the Rockies have given multiple starts to German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and Ryan Castellani this year. Marquez, Senzatela and Freeland have been respectable overall, while Castellani has allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of six appearances. A pair of five-run blowups have damaged his numbers, though.

Cubs To Sign Pedro Strop

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Free-agent reliever Pedro Strop is returning to the Cubs, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports. The right-hander will go to their alternate training site.

This will be the second stint on the North Side for the 35-year-old Strop, who was a valuable part of Chicago’s bullpen from 2013-19. He accumulated 373 innings of 2.90 ERA/3.19 FIP pitching with 10.25 K/9, 3.55 BB/9 and a 53.2 percent groundball rate during that span, though Strop’s effectiveness waned last year during his final season of team control. He was unable to secure a multiyear contract in free agency as a result, instead signing a one-year, $1.825MM with NL Central rival Cincinnati.

The Strop-Reds union didn’t go well for either party, as he battled groin issues and only threw 2 1/3 innings with the club before it designated him for assignment Aug. 26. While Strop allowed just one earned run (three total) as a Red, he issued a whopping six walks and saw his average fastball, formerly in the 95-96 range, drop below 92. He’ll now try to work his way back to the majors with the Cubs, who lead their division by 3 1/2 games despite having received uninspiring production from their bullpen. The Cubs have, however, worked to upgrade their relief corps in recent days, as they landed Josh Osich and the currently injured Andrew Chafin at the trade deadline before reuniting with Strop.

Mets Designate Billy Hamilton For Assignment

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The Mets have designated outfielder Billy Hamilton for assignment, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those to report.

New York acquired Hamilton from San Francisco just over a month ago, but the move failed to pay dividends for the Mets. The soon-to-be 30-year-old Hamilton wound up going 1-for-22 as a Met before they designated him, and his stint with the team may have ended Thursday when he came in as a pinch runner in the bottom of the ninth against the Yankees and was thrown out trying to steal third with no outs. Fortunately for the Mets, J.D. Davis then homered to tie the game, and they went on to defeat the Yankees in extra innings.

Base-running mistakes weren’t what the Mets bargained for when they landed Hamilton, who has more than held his own on the base paths since debuting with the Reds in 2013. The speedy Hamilton has 302 steals on 382 attempts on his resume, and he has also provided excellent defense in center field with 75 DRS and a 55.8 UZR. But an inability to contribute passable numbers with the bat has held back the switch-hitting Hamilton, owner of a .241/.295/.324 line with 21 home runs in 3,114 plate appearances.

Blue Jays Release Sam Gaviglio, Outright Brandon Drury

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The Blue Jays have released right-hander Sam Gaviglio and outrighted infielder/outfielder Brandon Drury, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The team designated both players for assignment Tuesday.

Gaviglio threw three innings for the Blue Jays this year and gave up three earned runs on three hits and five walks. The 30-year-old, also a former Royal and Mariner, was a more useful option across 293 2/3 frames from 2017-19, during which he amassed 94 appearances (37 starts) and pitched to a 4.84 ERA/4.95 FIP with 7.42 K/9, 2.64 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent groundball rate.

Drury, meanwhile, has fallen out of favor with multiple teams over the past few seasons. After spending 2015-17 as a member of the Diamondbacks, with whom he at times mixed league-average offensive production and defensive versatility, they traded him to the Yankees. Drury’s time in New York was short-lived, though, as he produced terrible results there. The Yankees dealt him to the Blue Jays during the summer of 2018 for lefty J.A. Happ, but Drury’s numbers have continued to spiral in Toronto.

Since he headed north of the border, Drury has totaled 525 plate appearances and hit a ghastly .208/.253/.353, which goes a long way in explaining why the Blue Jays cut him and why no other team claimed him. He’ll now report to the Jays’ alternate training site.

Rays Activate Nick Anderson, Move Jose Alvarado To 45-Day IL

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The Rays announced that they’ve reinstated reliever Nick Anderson from the 10-day injured list and outfielder Brett Phillips from the COVID-19 IL. The team also moved left-hander Jose Alvarado to the 45-day IL and optioned fellow southpaw Ryan Sherriff to its alternate site.

The Rays dodged a major injury with Anderson, who went on the IL on Aug. 23 with inflammation in his right forearm. The Rays continued to roll without Anderson, though, and at 26-12, they own a comfortable five-game lead over the Blue Jays and Yankees in the American League East. Still, they’ll be glad to welcome back the valuable Anderson, who broke out a year ago between the Marlins and Rays and has remained among the game’s top relievers this season. Anderson hasn’t allowed a run through 9 1/3 innings in 2020 and has posted 15 strikeouts against a single walk.

While Anderson’s comeback is welcome news for the Rays’ bullpen, it’s unfortunate for the club that it will go without Alvarado through the end of the regular season. The hard-throwing 25-year-old landed on the IL on Aug. 15 with shoulder inflammation, ending a second straight limited season of mediocre production for the reliever. Alvarado was terrific for the Rays from 2017-18 (especially in the second of those seasons), but he has only logged 39 innings of 5.08 ERA/4.55 FIP pitching with 12.0 K/9 and 7.62 BB/9 dating back to 2019.

Jose Altuve Undergoes MRI On Right Knee

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Sept. 4: Altuve is considered day-to-day after undergoing an MRI, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets. The exact diagnosis isn’t clear, although that certainly suggests he’s avoided a major injury.

Sept. 3: Astros second baseman Jose Altuve will undergo an MRI on his right knee, manager Dusty Baker announced Thursday (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). Altuve exited the Astros’ game against the Rangers on Thursday because of discomfort in the area.

Right knee problems aren’t anything new for Altuve, who underwent surgery on the joint after the 2018 season. The former AL MVP bounced back with another highly productive season last year, helping the Astros to a pennant, but has endured uncharacteristic struggles in 2020. So far, Altuve has amassed 155 plate appearances and batted .231/.290/.329 with three home runs and two stolen bases. His 74 wRC+ pales in comparison to the 141 mark he combined for during the previous six seasons.

Despite Altuve’s slow start, it goes without saying the Astros would rather have him out there than not, especially considering he has been their almost exclusive choice at second this season. Furthermore, although the Astros improved to 21-15 on Thursday and are in possession of the AL’s second wild-card spot, they’ve already suffered enough serious injuries to this point. The club has gone extended stretches without Justin Verlander, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Roberto Osuna and Jose Urquidy, who – along with several other Astros – are on the IL right now. Verlander and Osuna may not return this year, while Alvarez definitely won’t after undergoing surgery on both knees.

J.D. Martinez Discusses Future

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Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez will have an opportunity to return to free agency during the upcoming offseason, but the 33-year-old designated hitter admitted to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe on Thursday that he’d be leery of testing the open market off a pandemic-shortened season.

Regarding the 60-game schedule, Martinez said: “I would not want to be a free agent during this time for that reason. You just don’t know.”

As Martinez implied, a shorter season is more conducive to strange outcomes – perhaps damaging ones for pending free agents – than a 162-game slate. For instance, one of the surprises of this season has been the typically great Martinez’s underwhelming production, and he’s running out of time to boost his numbers.

After a run as one of the game’s elite offensive players from 2014-19, which he divided among Detroit, Arizona and Boston, Martinez has put up a.234/.317/.406 line with just three home runs in 145 plate appearances. Martinez’s .172 isolated power number sits 80 points under last year’s figure (.252), while his hard-hit rate and Statcast numbers have also fallen off significantly since then.

Martinez’s 2o20 woes may just be a product of a much smaller sample size than normal, though he nonetheless hasn’t done himself any favors as a potential opt-out candidate. Once the offseason arrives, Martinez will have a chance to leave behind the remaining two years and $38.7MM of the five-year, $110MM contract he signed with Boston before the 2018 campaign. Martinez also had an opt-out chance last winter, but he decided to stay put on the heels of another fantastic season at the plate.

Considering how his season has gone, not to mention the economic uncertainty in the game, it’s hard to envision Martinez testing the market in a couple months. Regardless, Martinez emphasized to Speier that he’s “focusing on right now,” not his opt-out decision, and he lavished praise on the Red Sox and their fan base.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/20

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Marlins have outrighted hurler Brett Eibner and catcher Brian Navarreto to their alternate training site, per a team announcement. The 31-year-old Eibner, formerly an outfielder with the Royals, Athletics and Dodgers from 2016-17, reinvented himself as a pitcher and signed with the Marlins a month ago. The right-hander’s time with Miami hasn’t gone well, though, as he made two appearances and allowed three earned runs on four walks and two hits before the team designated him for assignment Aug. 29. The Marlins designated Navarreto, 25, on the same day as Eibner. Navarreto made his big league debut with the Marlins this year and went 2-for-5 in two appearances prior to his DFA.

Alex Rodriguez Reportedly Unhappy With Mets’ Sale Process

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It appears the Mets’ next owner will be Steve Cohen, who entered exclusive negotiations to purchase the franchise from Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon last Friday. Cohen became the favorite after beating out multiple big-money groups, including one headlined by former major leaguer/current television analyst Alex Rodriguez and famous fiancee Jennifer Lopez. The Rodriguez-Lopez team was willing to offer $2.3 billion for the Mets before losing out to Cohen, according to Josh Kosman and Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.

Now, after falling short, A-Rod is crying foul on the process, as he believes bidding was rigged in Cohen’s favor, Kosman and McEnery report. Mets banker Steve Greenberg asked Rodriguez what his group was willing to pay before final bids were due, per Kosman and McEnery, who write that the 14-time All-Star “reluctantly” gave Greenberg the information. Cohen then offered $2.35 billion for the franchise, which will apparently end up as the winning bid.

“They took the bids and showed them to Cohen,” a source close to Rodriguez told the New York Post. Another source said the sale “was fixed” because Rodriguez & Co. did not get a chance to match Cohen’s offer. Rodriguez has tried contacting Fred Wilpon since last Friday but to no avail, Kosman and McEnery report.

With Rodriguez out of the picture, it should only be a matter of time before Cohen finalizes a deal, though Major League Baseball will spend three months investigating his background before a sale goes through, Kosman and McEnery relay. If Cohen does get the team for $2.35 billion, though, it would represent a lower amount than the $2.6 billion he was willing to fork over in the winter before negotiations between him and the Wilpons fell apart.

White Sox Outright Ryan Goins, Release Drew Anderson

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The White Sox have outrighted infielder Ryan Goins to their alternate site, James Fegan of The Athletic reports. Goins is now a member of their taxi squad. Additionally, Chicago released right-hander Drew Anderson.

The White Sox designated Goins for assignment on Monday, which came just over a month after they re-signed him to a minor league pact and selected his contract. The 32-year-old Goins took 14 trips to the plate as a member of the White Sox this season before they designated him, and he went hitless during that span. Of course, offense has never been a strong suit for Goins, who has combined for a .228/.278/.333 line across 1,690 plate appearances among the White Sox, Blue Jays and Royals.

The 26-year-old Anderson, formerly with the Phillies, was a minor league offseason pickup for Chicago who made just one appearance with the team this year. It went rather poorly for Anderson, who gave up six earned runs on four hits (including two homers) and two walks in 1 1/3 innings of an Aug. 8 loss to the Indians. The White Sox outrighted him shortly after that.

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