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Pirates Place JT Brubaker, Duane Underwood Jr. On Injured List

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The Pirates announced a handful of roster moves today, placing right-handed pitchers JT Brubaker and Duane Underwood Jr. on the injured list, both with right shoulder inflammation. A couple of fellow righties, Kyle Keller and Shea Spitzbarth, are taking their place.

Brubaker has been one of the more reliable members of a Pirates club that is enduring a dismal season. His 124 1/3 innings lead the club by a significant margin, with Tyler Anderson and Wil Crowe being the only other Pirates with more than 80. Anderson, of course, isn’t even with the club anymore after being dealt to the Mariners before the trade deadline. Brubaker’s ERA isn’t great at 5.36, though his 24% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate are both slightly better than league average. He had just been activated off the injured list yesterday, after missing some time with a thumb contusion, but left his start after three innings.

Similarly, Underwood has been a solid-yet-unspectacular contributor out of the bullpen, throwing 72 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.33. His 20.3% strikeout rate is a bit below average, though his 8.4% walk rate is slightly better than the league-wide rate of 8.7%.

With the club well out of contention, they can prioritize long-term health over short-term competitiveness at this stage of the season. Both Brubaker and Underwood are 27 years old and won’t yet be arbitration eligible by season’s end.

Nationals Place Gerardo Parra On Injured List

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The Nationals have placed outfielder Gerardo Parra on the injured list with right knee inflammation, per a team announcement. Left-handed pitcher Josh Rogers has been recalled to take Parra’s placed on the roster. Rogers was already with the team as the 29th man for yesterday’s double-header.

Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com talks to Nats’ manager Dave Martinez, who says the plan is for Parra to just rest for 10 days. At that point, there would only be a few weeks remaining in the schedule, but Martinez is still hopeful Parra can return before the season ends. It’s been a subpar season so far for the 34-year-old, perhaps somewhat attributable to the knee issues, since Parra had knee surgery in the offseason. He’s slashing .232/.288/.347 on the year for a wRC+ of 71.

The club is well out of contention and Parra is a free agent at season’s end, leaving little reason to rush him back onto the field. But if he’s healthy enough, he can get some plate appearances before the winter comes, giving both Parra and the club a chance to assess his status going into the offseason.

As for Rogers, he could have perhaps earned himself a longer look in the Washington rotation after his start last night. The 27-year-old threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, three walks and three earned runs with five strikeouts, earning a win in the process.

Red Sox Place Nick Pivetta, Danny Santana On COVID IL

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11:30AM: Yet another Boston player has been impacted by the ongoing virus situation. The team has announced that utility player Danny Santana has been placed on the COVID IL, with outfielder Franchy Cordero being recalled to take his place on the roster.

8:17AM: The Red Sox have placed starter Nick Pivetta on the COVID IL, per a team announcement. Pivetta was scheduled to start this afternoon’s game against Cleveland. Instead, 25-year-old righty Kutter Crawford will have his contract selected and start in Pivetta’s place.

Pivetta is now the 10th Boston player to land on the COVID IL in the past week as part of an outbreak that has been spreading through the team. The loss of Pivetta could potentially be a significant one for the club, as he has been one of the more reliable members of the rotation this season. As fellow hurlers such as Martin Perez and Garrett Richards have struggled enough to get moved into bullpen duties, Pivetta has held a rotation spot all year with solid, in unspectacular, numbers. Across 135 innings this season, the righty has an ERA of 4.67, with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate, both of which are within range of league average.

In more positive news, Enrique Hernandez, the first Red Sox player to hit the IL as part of this outbreak, seems to be nearing a return. According to Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe, he could be activated as soon as Tuesday.

For the club, the outbreak doesn’t seem to be hurting their playoff push much. They’ve gone 7-3 over their past ten games and are sitting on a four-game win streak going into today’s action. They’re currently holding down the second Wild Card spot in the American League, four games ahead of the Athletics and Mariners.

As for Crawford, this will be his major league debut. He’s been in the Red Sox organization since being drafted in the 16th round of the 2017 draft. He climbed up the ranks of the minors, reaching Double-A in 2019. Unfortunately, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery and missed all of the 2020 season. Since returning to the mound this year, he’s thrown 75 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with an ERA of 4.16. However, his rate stats are excellent, a huge 34.4% strikeout rate and a measly 4.3% walk rate. As a COVID replacement, he can be removed from the 40-man roster at a later date without being exposed to waivers.

Brewers Place Willy Adames On Injured List, Recall Tim Lopes

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The Brewers have placed shortstop Willy Adames on the injured list with a left quad strain, per a team announcement. Utility player Tim Lopes has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

The move isn’t entirely surprising as Adames has been hampered by this quad issue for a few weeks and left last night’s game early. The club can afford to be cautious, given their 10-game lead in the NL Central. The health of Adames in the upcoming playoffs is surely more important than his health at the moment, making it perfectly logical for the Brewers to give him some time to rest.

Since coming over to Milwaukee from Tampa in a rare early-season trade, Adames has been a huge reason why the club is so comfortable in the standings right now. Though his line for the Rays this year was a paltry .197/.254/.371, his line as a Brewer is .294/.375/.529, producing a wRC+ of 141 and 3.6 fWAR. The club will surely be focussed on making sure his bat is in the lineup come October.

Luis Urias is starting at shortstop today and figures to get the bulk of the playing there in the absence of Adames. In 427 plate appearances this year, Urias is hitting .252/.338/.451, for a wRC+ of 111.

For Lopes, it’s been a bounce-around season for him, as he’s been optioned to the minors a couple times as well as having a couple of stints on the injured list. Because of that, he’s only played five games for the big league team this year. In 84 Triple-A games, he has a slash line of .224/300/.400, while splitting time between second base, third base and the outfield corners.

Twins Reinstate Luke Farrell, Designate Derek Law For Assignment

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The Twins have reinstated right-handed pitcher Luke Farrell from the 60-day injured list, per a team announcement. To make room on the active roster, lefty Andrew Albers was optioned to Triple-A. Righty Derek Law was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Farrell has been out since late June with an oblique strain. Before that, the 30-year-old was having a nice season out of the Twins’ bullpen, though in a small sample size. In 13 big league games so far this year, the righty has logged 15 1/3 innings with an ERA of 1.76, along with a strong strikeout rate of 27.0% and a walk rate of 9.5%.

As for Law, he was placed on the injured list July 17th with a shoulder impingement and just began a rehab assignment on August 28th. In 15 innings with the big league club this year, he has an ERA of 4.20 but mediocre strikeout and walk rates of 20.9% and 11.9%. He’s already been designated for assignment by the Twins once this year, accepting an outright assignment back in May. If he clears waivers again, he could elect free agency or choose to stay with the organization by accepting another assignment to Triple-A.

Yankees Place Jonathan Loaisiga On IL With Strained Rotator Cuff

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The Yankees are placing righty Jonathan Loaisiga on the IL with a right shoulder strain, per a team announcement. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that the strain is in Loaisiga’s rotator cuff and he won’t throw for at least 10 days. (Twitter links) Fellow right-handed Albert Abreu has been recalled to take Loaisiga’s place on the roster.

This is very unfortunate news for both Loaisiga and the team, as the righty is having the best season of his career so far and has been one of the most valuable pitchers on the team. Through 68 innings out of the Yankees’ bullpen this year, he has an ERA of 2.25. His 24.2% strikeout rate is actually close to league average, but his 5.5% walk rate and 61.3% groundball rate are both excellent. On the season, he’s been worth 2.2 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, third-most among Yankees pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery, and tied with Josh Hader for the most among all relievers in baseball.

It’s unclear exactly how much time he will miss, but with less than a month left in the season, there’s not a lot of wiggle room remaining. If he is to miss “at least” 10 days, that means the best-case scenario would see him start throwing again September 15th. At that point, he would presumably have to throw a bullpen or two to assess his health and perhaps go on a rehab assignment before returning to the big-league club.

The Yankees are 7 1/2 games behind the Rays in the AL East but are currently holding the first AL Wild Card spot, half a game ahead of the Red Sox and 4 1/2 ahead of the Athletics and Mariners.

Clayton Kershaw To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Clayton Kershaw will begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday, per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says the plan is for Kershaw to throw three innings for their Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City. The star lefty has been out for more than 60 days, meaning he’s eligible to come off the 60-day IL at any time. Castillo also relays that another Dodgers starter, Tony Gonsolin, began a rehab assignment of his own yesterday. Both pitchers could potentially be activated soon if they don’t experience any setbacks.

If this all goes according to plan, it would be great news for the Dodgers and a rotation that has had to improvise for a lot of the season because of injuries. In addition to Kershaw and Gonsolin missing significant time, they lost Dustin May to Tommy John surgery. To cover for these losses, the club made the deadline additions of Max Scherzer and Danny Duffy, the latter of whom was also injured at the time and has yet to throw for his new team. They also signed Cole Hamels, only for him to suffer a season-ending injury before getting into a game.

Before going on the injured list, Kershaw was having another excellent season, throwing 106 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.39 and excellent strikeout and walk rates of 30.1% and 4.5%, respectively. Gonsolin has also been effective when healthy this year, throwing 35 2/3 innings with a 2.78 ERA and solid 26.6% strikeout rate, although his walk rate of 16.5% is well above the 8.7% league average. Getting one or both of those hurlers back would be a tremendous help for a team that, despite the injuries, is locked into baseball’s tightest and most exciting pennant race, with the Dodgers and Giants sharing both the top spot in the NL West and the best record in baseball. (The Rays are also tied for the latter distinction.)

Kershaw’s return is also important for him personally as the 33-year-old is a few months away from reaching free agency for the first time in his career. Assuming he can stay healthy and pitch up to his usual standard, he’d be sure to receive and reject a qualifying offer at season’s end, before hitting the open market.

Nationals Promote Keibert Ruiz

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Aug. 30: The Nationals have formally recalled Ruiz from Triple-A Rochester and optioned Barrera in a corresponding move.

Aug. 29: The Nationals are calling up catching prospect Keibert Ruiz to make his team debut tomorrow, per a team announcement. The 23-year-old is widely-considered one of the team’s best prospects, if not the best. MLB Pipeline and Baseball America have him as the club’s number one, while FanGraphs has him second, behind only Josiah Gray, both of whom just joined the organization as part of the trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers.

Ruiz has long been viewed as an impact prospect, having been on Baseball America’s Top 100 list for each of the past four years. However, as he reached the upper levels of the minor leagues, it was difficult for him to get playing time in Los Angeles because the Dodgers already had an excellent catcher in Will Smith. Ruiz played just eight games for the Dodgers between last season and this one, logging only 15 plate appearances. As such, it made sense for the club to use him as a trade chip and bolster other areas of the team. With the Nationals having traded away Yan Gomes, they should be able to give Ruiz the run of playing time he never got in Los Angeles.

In Triple-A this year, Ruiz has put up tremendous numbers to back up that prospect status. In 72 games between the two organizations, he has a line .310/.377/.616, producing a wRC+ of 141. If he can produce anything close to that at the big league level, that would make him one of the best offensive catchers in the game.

Since trading Gomes, the Nats have been splitting the catching duties between Riley Adams and Tres Barrera, both of whom have been playing well. In 18 games since coming to Washington from Toronto in the Brad Hand trade, Adams has put up a line of .349/.451/.581, wRC+ of 177. For Barrera, he has a line of .270/.369/.393, wRC+ of 106 in 29 games this year. Both players have options and could potentially be sent down as the corresponding move for Ruiz, but rosters are expanding from 26 to 28 on September 1st, which could allow the club to carry all three. Since the Nats are out of contention, they can use the final month of the season to evaluate their catching options and determine how to proceed for the future.

Noah Syndergaard Tests Positive For COVID-19

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Noah Syndergaard has tested positive for COVID-19, per several reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday Sports. The righty was scheduled to make a rehab appearance today as he continues his arduous journey back to the big leagues, which he hasn’t seen in almost two years. Instead, it will be yet another setback in a year full of them for Syndergaard.

Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020, it’s been nothing but stops and starts for Thor in 2021. He initially started a rehab stint in May but was shut down after just two starts due to elbow inflammation. He then began a second rehab stint on Thursday, throwing just one inning, with the aim of returning as a reliever since there’s no longer enough time in the season to get properly stretched out as a starter. Now he will have to put everything on pause again due to this positive test.

This is yet another disappointment in a month full of them for the Mets. After leading the NL East for much of the season, they’ve gone 7-19 in August and now find themselves 7 1/2 games behind the Braves, with the Phillies in between them. They were already facing a difficult decision with Syndergaard, given that he’s approaching free agency and is a candidate for a qualifying offer. If healthy, he is a potential top-of-rotation starter and certainly worth the money. But the club will have to judge his health based on whatever small sample of work he can produce in the dwindling number of remaining games. With yet another setback, the sample they will use to make that decision has now gotten even smaller.

West Injury Notes: Paddack, Gray, Ibanez, Ohtani, Astros

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Padres starter Chris Paddack appears to be ready to come off the IL to start Monday’s game in Arizona, according to Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Acee says that Padres manager Jayce Tingler didn’t confirm the plan, but then later listed Paddack as Monday’s starter on Twitter.

For Paddack, his third big league season has been a disappointing one, logging an ERA of 5.13 over 93 innings. That’s a spike from last year’s 4.73 and his 3.33 mark from 2019. His strikeout rate has also gone in the wrong direction. After a solid 26.9% rate in his debut season, it dropped to 23.7% last year and sits at 22.5% so far this year. However, his walk rate has stuck around 5% in every season, which is excellent. (MLB average is 8.7% this year.)

Despite those struggles, the team has certainly missed Paddack. Since the righty went on the shelf July 31st with an oblique issue, the team has been on a disastrous slide. They’ve gone 9-15 so far in the month of August, surrendering the final National League playoff spot to Cincinnati. During that time, the rotation was missing not only Paddack, but also Yu Darvish. They tried to patch over those absences with the addition of Jake Arrieta, only to see him land on the IL himself after just one start of 3 1/3 innings. With Darvish having already returned and Paddack on the way, that could allow the team to steady the ship and finish strong, as they try to retake the Reds over the season’s final weeks.

Other notes from the west…

  • Rockies starter Jon Gray left last night’s start after 48 pitches. Manager Bud Black told reporters, including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, that the move was precautionary and related to some forearm tightness. Nick Groke of The Athletic gets a bit more granular, explaining that the injured area appears to be away from the ulnar collateral ligament, hopefully negating the worst fears of Rockies fans. Though the extent of the injury remains to be seen, it makes sense for the club to be cautious, as they are 11 games out of a playoff spot. Gray is a free agent at year’s end, but the Rockies are reportedly hoping to sign him to an extension. They will also have to decide on whether or not to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. Gray would surely warrant the offer if he’s healthy. Over 806 2/3 career innings, Gray has an ERA of 4.52 while pitching primarily in the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the league, producing 15.7 fWAR.
  • Rangers infielder Andy Ibanez left last night’s game with left hamstring tightness, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. She quotes Rangers manager Chris Woodward as being “not optimistic” about the injury. Regardless of the eventual severity of the injury, the club has every reason to be cautious, as they have one of the worst records in the league and no shot at contending. If this is the end of the season for Ibanez, it will go down as a solid rookie campaign for the 28-year-old. He’s hit .260/.304/.415, wRC+ of 96, while splitting time between first, second and third base, as well as one game in left field.
  • Shohei Ohtani was hit on the hand by a pitch in last night’s game, while serving as the designated hitter. However, he stuck around for the remainder of the contest and x-rays on the hand came back negative. Angels manager Jeff Madden told reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, that Ohtani should be fine to make his scheduled start on Tuesday. That is good news for the club and baseball fans in general, as Ohtani is having the most unique and fascinating season that baseball has seen in quite some time, if not ever. He’s currently the MLB home run leader with 41, and has an overall slash line of .264/.363/.623, producing a wRC+ of 160 which is currently bested by only two other qualified hitters. (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bryce Harper) All of that is combined with Ohtani’s 105 innings in the Angels’ starting rotation with an ERA of 3.00.
  • The Astros could be getting a couple of players back this week. Jose Urquidy is pitching in a rehab game tonight, which could be his last before returning, according to Jake Kaplan of The Athletic. Urquidy has only been able to make 14 starts this season because of injuries but has been excellent when healthy, putting up an ERA of 3.38. It’s unclear who would be bumped from the rotation in his absence, but some have speculated that Luis Garcia could be an option. Garcia has already set a career high in innings pitched this year and has seen his results slip a bit recently. Since July 26th, he has an ERA of 4.22. The club has already moved another young starter, Cristian Javier, to the bullpen as a way to manage his workload. The Astros could also be welcoming Chas McCormick back later this week. General manager James Click told various reporters, including Mark Berman of Fox 26, that the outfielder could be back as soon as Friday. The club hasn’t suffered much in McCormick’s absence, given that Jake Meyers has been manning center field and has been on a tear. Since having his contract selected last month, in the first 20 games of his career, Meyers is slashing .323/.348/.523.

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