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Eloy Jimenez, Garrett Crochet Exit With Injuries

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3:48pm: The White Sox announced that Jimenez exited with right foot discomfort. The news looks worse for Crochet, who left with forearm tightness.

3:20pm: White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez and left-hander Garrett Crochet exited early in the team’s make-or-break Game 3 against the Athletics on Thursday. It’s not yet clear why they departed.

Jimenez led off the third inning with a double before walking off with a trainer. It’s worth noting Jimenez missed time late in the season with a mid-foot sprain. If the White Sox advance, they’ll need him back in their lineup, as the 23-year-old turned in a brilliant second season with a .296/.332/.559 line and 14 home runs in 226 plate appearances.

Crochet, meanwhile, departed in the second inning after striking out both batters he faced. He was throwing in the 96 to 97 mph range, and his fastest pitch clocked in at 98.9, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Just about any pitcher would be pleased with that type of velocity, but it’s a notable step down for Crochet, who averaged 100.2 mph on his fastball during his brief regular season. The 21-year-old threw 85 pitches in the season after debuting a couple weeks ago, and 69 of them came in above 98.9 mph, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com (via Merkin).

Crochet, whom the White Sox chose 11th overall in this year’s draft, quickly reached the majors and, thanks in part to his all-world velocity, made a major impact for the White Sox. He ended the season with six shutout innings of three-hit ball across five appearances, in which he totaled eight strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter. He clearly looks like another young star for the up-and-coming White Sox to build around, so the hope is that Crochet didn’t suffer a serious injury in his playoff debut.

Pirates Claim Sean Poppen, Designate JT Riddle

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The Pirates have claimed right-hander Sean Poppen off waivers from the Twins, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets. Pittsburgh designated infielder/outfielder JT Riddle for assignment in a corresponding move.

Poppen, whom the Twins designated earlier this week, saw brief action with the team in each of the past two seasons, but the 26-year-old Harvard alumnus struggled along the way. He’ll join the Pirates with a 6.19 ERA (but a far better 3.33 FIP), 10.69 K/9, 5.06 BB/9 and a 48.8 percent groundball rate over 16 big league innings. Poppen was effective during his Triple-A debut a year ago, though, as he threw 61 innings of 3.84 ERA/3.92 FIP ball, notched 10.03 K/9 against 3.98 BB/9, and posted an excellent 56.9 GB percentage.

Riddle joined the Pirates on an $850K deal last offseason after logging significant at-bats with the Marlins from 2017-19. The 28-year-old recorded a woeful line with the Bucs, hitting .149/.174/.224 with one home run and a 4 wRC+ in 69 plate appearances. Overall, Riddle has batted .222/.261/.355 with 19 HRs through 787 PA in the majors.

Starling Marte Fractures Left Pinkie

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Oct. 1: Marte saw a specialist today, who confirmed a fracture of the outfielder’s fifth metacarpal in his left hand, tweets Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. He’s been fitted for a protective brace and is undergoing treatment to reduce the swelling.

The fact that today’s scheduled tilt between the Marlins and Cubs has been postponed due to the weather in Chicago could play to the Marlins’ advantage, as that will give the Fish another day to help regain some mobility in Marte’s hand and reduce the swelling. It’s still not clear to what extent he’ll be available or whether he’ll eventually need to be replaced — squeezing a glove, catching a fly-ball and gripping a bat with a broken bone in one’s hand isn’t exactly easy — but the team has yet to make a roster move. At the very least, Marte could be a potential pinch-runner.

Sept. 30: The Marlins earned their first playoff win since 2003 on Wednesday with a 5-1 victory over the Cubs in Game 1 of the teams’ wild-card series, but Miami did not come out of it unscathed. Marlins center fielder Starling Marte exited in the ninth inning after taking a pitch off the left hand from Dan Winkler. It turns out that Marte suffered a fractured pinkie, per Craig Mish of Sports Grid. This could end Marte’s season, but the Marlins are hopeful he will return at some point, according to Mish.

Marte, whom the Marlins surprisingly acquired from the Diamondbacks before the Aug. 31 trade deadline, got off to a solid start in Arizona this year before his production fell in Miami. He posted an .827 OPS as a Diamondback and a .701 mark as a Marlin, leading to a .281/.340/.430 line with six home runs and 10 stolen bases in 250 plate appearances.

No matter how their season ends, the Marlins will have to decide how to proceed with Marte once the winter comes. The soon-to-be 32-year-old Marte has a $12.5MM club option or a $1MM buyout for 2021, the former Pirate’s last season of team control. It seems like a reasonable enough figure for the Marlins to put on their books in a year, but it’s worth noting the D-backs were reportedly leaning against exercising it before they traded Marte. If it’s severe enough (and there’s no indication it is), this injury could affect Miami’s plans.

Mutual Interest Between Twins, Nelson Cruz

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Oct. 1: Asked about Cruz’s comments today, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey tells Park: “The feeling is mutual. We don’t feel any differently than Nellie does. We see a fit for him here, and we’re hopeful that can work out.”

It’s worth noting that GM Thad Levine said back in January that the two sides discussed a new deal. Such business is typically completed in Spring Training, though, and the league’s shutdown and ensuing transactions freeze surely impacted negotiations. Cruz’s camp will undoubtedly be very interested to see whether the 2020 advent of the universal DH becomes a permanent rule change, as that would open up a whole new list of potential suitors. If nothing else, that could create negotiating leverage even if Cruz is intent on a third season in Minnesota.

Sept. 30: Twins superstar designated hitter Nelson Cruz may have played his final game with the team Wednesday in a season-ending defeat against the Astros. If the pending free agent has it his way, though, he’ll remain with the Twins.

“Hopefully, I’ll be back next year,” Cruz said after the Astros swept the Twins in a best-of-three series, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweets.

Despite yet another all-too-early playoff exit, it’s hard to believe the Twins won’t do everything within reason to retain Cruz. They signed the former Rangers, Orioles and Mariners slugger to a one-year, $14.3MM guarantee with a 2020 option back in January ’19, and he has continued to be a source of nightmares for opposing pitchers since then. After Cruz turned in another dominant season in his only guaranteed year of the deal, the Twins made the easy decision to pick up a $12MM club option last winter.

Cruz, despite having turned 40 in July, repaid the Twins with what may have been the best regular season of his career. He wound up with a career-high 164 wRC+ (tied with Mike Trout for the majors’ seventh-best mark among qualified hitters) and a .303/.397/.595 line with 16 home runs across 214 plate appearances. Cruz hasn’t finished any season with a worse wRC+ than 133 since 2013, so it’s hard to imagine that his production will suddenly fall off a cliff in the near future. And age will limit Cruz’s earning power as heads toward another trip to free agency, which should increase the Twins’ chances of re-signing him to a reasonably priced short-term pact.

Giants Interested In Re-Signing Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly

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The Giants spent a combined $13MM on right-hander Kevin Gausman and southpaw Drew Smyly in free agency last winter, and those short-term, buy-low deals worked out well for a club that narrowly missed a playoff berth. Now, the Giants are hoping to retain the pair, according to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area).

“It’s obviously their prerogative to play out the market, but we certainly have interest in bringing both of those guys back,”said Zaidi, who added that the Giants are “going to be shopping for some starting pitching this offseason.”

The Giants’ rotation was a middle-of-the-pack unit in 2020, but Gausman and Smyly were bright spots. Gausman, a former Oriole, Brave and Red whom the Giants signed for $9MM, gave the club 59 2/3 innings of 3.62 ERA/3.09 FIP pitching with 11.92 K/9 against 2.41 BB/9. Pound for pound, the hard-throwing Gausman was among the most effective starters in the NL, so his next deal should be far more lucrative than the one he signed last winter. For what it’s worth, Gausman said last week he’s interested in staying with the Giants, who could tender him a qualifying offer before he returns to free agency.

Smyly only tossed 26 1/3 innings as a Giant after inking a $4MM contract, but the results were highly encouraging. He concluded with a 3.42 ERA/2.01 FIP, 14.35 K/9 and 3.08 BB/9. All of those numbers represented major rebounds for a hurler whom injuries have ravaged in recent years – including during a 2020 in which he missed over a month with a left index finger strain. Smyly also recorded a career-best 93.8 mph as a Giant, and that’s another reason he should draw a good amount of interest if he gets to free agency.

As of now, the Giants’ rotation is facing a slew of questions as the team heads into the offseason, which is why Zaidi will work to address it. Along with Gausman and Smyly, Jeff Samardzija and Trevor Cahill are on track to reach the open market. Those four amassed 25 starts for the Giants in 2020, and nobody remaining (Johnny Cueto, Logan Webb and Tyler Anderson) recorded particularly strong numbers.

Latest On Matt Klentak

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The Phillies hired Matt Klentak as their general manager before 2016. They were amid a four-year playoff drought then, and they haven’t gone to the postseason since. Even in 2020, a year with expanded playoffs, the Phillies finished just 28-32 and didn’t go anywhere, so Klentak’s job security seems to be in question. With that in mind, Phillies owner John Middleton is deciding what to do with Klentak, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports. Meanwhile, a team source told Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the club’s likely to retain Klentak.

The Phillies haven’t had a single above-.500 campaign under Klentak, whose clubs’ best season came during an 81-81 effort in 2019. Manager Gabe Kapler then fell on the sword, leading Klentak and the rest of Philly management to replace him with Joe Girardi, but the bottom-line results certainly weren’t better this past regular season. The Phillies never got more than four games over .500 in 2020, and they finished with seven losses in their final eight games en route to another failed campaign.

There’s no doubt the Klentak-led Phillies have come up short of expectations; to Klentak’s credit, though, he has been in charge since they’ve brought in some of their premier players. Outfielder Bryce Harper, who signed what was then a record contract worth $330MM over 13 years, joined the club on Klentak’s watch heading into 2019. The Phillies also added well-compensated veterans such as Zack Wheeler, Andrew McCutchen and Didi Gregorius in free agency, and they’ve traded for the likes of J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura. For whatever reason, though, those pickups haven’t led to the Phillies earning another playoff berth.

Regardless of whether Klentak remains at the helm after this season, the Phillies will have to work to keep Realmuto and Gregorius – a pair of pending free agents. The Phillies are in for a difficult winter as they try to keep those two, who will be among the best available players at their positions.

David Dahl Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Rockies outfielder David Dahl, whose season ended Sept. 23 because of a right shoulder strain, underwent surgery on Tuesday, Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets. The surgery was a success, and the Rockies expect that Dahl will be ready for spring training, per Harding.

It’s a relief for the Rockies that Dahl’s on track for next season, as the 26-year-old has largely been a quality member of their offense since his career began in 2016. Dahl owns a .286/.334/.494 line with 38 home runs in 1,020 plate appearances, though his production went off the rails during a 2020 in which he batted a horrid .183/.222/.247 without a homer across 99 trips to the plate.

Of course, injuries have been the main problem for Dahl since his pre-MLB days started. He has never played more than 100 regular-season games (in 2019) with the Rockies and has appeared in just 264 dating back to his first year. Dahl appeared in a meager 24 of a possible 60 games this year, but the hope is that he’ll have a healthy, bounce-back campaign next season.

Athletics Interested In Re-Signing Tommy La Stella

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The American League West champion Athletics’ postseason got off to a less-than-ideal start Tuesday with a loss to the Lucas Giolito-led White Sox, who held the A’s to just three hits in a 4-1 defeat. One of those hits came from infielder Tommy La Stella, whom the A’s could see depart in free agency once their season ends, though they’re interested in re-signing him.

Oakland executive vice president Billy Beane lavished praise on La Stella this week, saying (via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle), “I’ve known about La Stella going back to the Braves (2014), but you don’t realize how good this guy is until you see him on an everyday basis, he just puts a good at-bat on you every single time.”

As far as possibly retaining La Stella goes, Beane stated: “I would normally say, ‘We’ll deal with it at the end of the season.’ But based on what I just said about him — well, you’d be crazy not to put him at the top of your list. I normally kind of hedge on everything because you never know, but goodness, he’s been so impressive it would behoove us to put him at the top of the list, at least have a discussion with him.”

The Athletics paid a fairly high price for La Stella when they acquired him from the division-rival Angels before the July 31 deadline, as they gave up former top infield prospect Franklin Barreto in a one-for-one deal. Barreto never got much of a chance to establish himself in Oakland, whereas La Stella broke out as an Angel a year ago and has kept that momentum going between the Halos and A’s this season. The soon-to-be 32-year-old has slashed .289/.353/.483 with 20 home runs over 438 plate appearances dating back to 2019.

Along with providing well-above-average offensive production since last year, La Stella has logged a significant amount of innings at second and third, which should up his earning power if he reaches free agency. If La Stella stays with the A’s, he probably won’t get much playing time going forward at the hot corner, where Matt Chapman should return from hip surgery in 2021. On the other hand, there’s far less certainty for Oakland at the keystone. La Stella has been the team’s top producer there, outdoing Tony Kemp and Chad Pinder.

Rangers’ Jon Daniels On Rotation, Infield

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On the heels of another disappointing season, one that saw the Rangers finish 22-38 and extend their playoff drought to four years, general manager Jon Daniels spoke to media, including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and TR Sullivan of MLB.com.

With their starters having ended 2020 with the majors’ seventh-worst ERA (5.32), Daniels said the Rangers are interested in bringing in a veteran rotation member during the offseason. The only starter on the team who provided high-end production across a large number of innings in 2020 was Lance Lynn, who’s only signed for another year and whom the Rangers could trade for a solid haul. Kyle Cody gave the team outstanding results, albeit over a small number of innings, and the Rangers traded Mike Minor to the A’s before the Aug. 31 deadline.

Texas has Lynn, Cody, Jordan Lyles and Kyle Gibson (he and Lyles had rough years) among their most proven starters going into next season. Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber’s still on the roster, but as someone who missed nearly the entire season with shoulder troubles, he seems like a shoo-in to be bought out for $1MM (as opposed to guaranteeing him $18MM).

Turning to the offensive side, the Rangers aren’t planning on gifting starting spots to second baseman Rougned Odor or shortstop Elvis Andrus going forward, per Daniels. Frankly, neither player deserves one. Both players could be trade candidates in the coming months, and if that’s the case, the Daniels-led Rangers are confident they won’t have to eat any of their contracts. That may be wishful thinking, as Odor has two more seasons and $27MM left on his contract, while Andrus has $28MM over two years remaining.

Odor has three seasons of two-plus fWAR in his past, and he’s someone the Rangers signed to a six-year, $49.5MM guarantee entering 2017, but his production has been terrible of late. Despite 10 home runs in 148 plate appearances, the 26-year-old ended 2020 with a .167/.209/.413 line. His 51 wRC+ ranked second to last among 223 hitters who racked up at least 140 PA this season.

Andrus was even worse than Odor this year, as he logged a 48 wRC+ in 111 trips to the plate. Like Odor, Andrus looked like a cornerstone for the Rangers in his earlier days, which is why they extended him to an eight-year, $120MM contract in early 2013. However, his production has fallen flat over the past few seasons.

Latest On Ronald Acuna Jr., Chris Martin

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Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. and reliever Chris Martin dealt with injuries at the end of the regular season, but both players will be available when the team starts its playoff series against the Reds on Wednesday, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets.

Acuna missed the Braves’ regular-season finale with left wrist irritation, but he’s now “fine,” according to manager Brian Snitker. That’s obviously excellent news for the Braves, with whom Acuna slashed .250/.406/.581 and totaled 14 home runs and eight stolen bases in 202 plate appearances. Acuna, potential MVP Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna, who each managed a wRC+ of no worse than 159, give the NL East-winning Braves a terrifying offensive trio as the team heads into the playoffs.

Along with their high-powered offense, the Braves’ bullpen was among the reasons they reigned supreme in their division for the third straight time. Their relief corps ranked fourth in ERA and ninth in fWAR, owing in part to Martin’s work. After re-signing with the Braves last winter on a two-year, $14MM contract, Martin fired 18 innings of 1.00 ERA/2.36 FIP ball with 10.0 K/9 against 1.5 BB/9. Martin left the Braves’ last game with groin troubles, but it appears he dodged a serious problem.

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