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Astros Place Yordan Alvarez On Injured List

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The Astros have placed outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic, retroactive to September 16th. That open an active roster spot for infielder Isaac Paredes. It was reported earlier that Paredes would be reinstated from the 60-day IL. To open a 40-man spot for Paredes, reliever Kaleb Ort has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Earlier this week, Alvarez slipped on home plate while coming around to score a run against the Rangers, as seen in this video from MLB.com. After the game, manager Joe Espada said Alvarez would be going for an MRI and Alvarez was seen in a walking boot and on crutches. The next day, Espada described the injury as “pretty significant” and that Alvarez would be “out for a while.”

The Astros didn’t initially place Alvarez on the IL as they waited to evaluate his progress, but now have decided to do so. IL placements can be backdated by three days, so Alvarez can be reinstated in a week.

It’s unclear if the injury will actually allow that to be a real possibility, however, making it a situation to watch going forward. Alvarez has been one of the best hitters alive in recent years. He slumped earlier this year but it was later revealed he had an undiagnosed finger fracture. He spent some time on the IL healing up and seemed to be back to his old self once he returned. He slashed .369/.462/.569 in 78 plate appearances between that previous IL stint and this new one.

Losing that kind of bat is obviously less than ideal for the Astros, especially when they are still playing meaningful games. They are tied with the Mariners for the West division lead and the two clubs begin an incredibly important series against each other tonight. If the Astros lose that series and fall back of the M’s, they would still be in possession of a Wild Card spot, but that would put them at risk of missing the playoffs completely. The Guardians are the top team outside the postseason spots right now and they are only 2.5 games back of Houston.

Even if the Astros hang on and make it to October, they will be hamstrung unless Alvarez can make it back. In the event he can return to the club for the final days of the regular season or in the postseason, it could create a bit of a lineup clog. Paredes is coming back after a lengthy injury absence of his own due to a hamstring strain. He has been taking batting practice lately but hasn’t played any rehab games. He’s serving as the designated hitter tonight but it’s unclear if the Astros have any intention of having him play the field in the coming weeks.

Getting Alvarez back to a state of semi-health where he can hit would be great, though it’s less than perfect if both he and Paredes are in that bucket. That would mean one of them would have to sit or be forced into the field each day. Jose Altuve is also ideally suited for a DH role these days since his glovework isn’t great anywhere, but he’ll have to be out there in the field somewhere if Paredes or Alvarez are in the DH spot going forward.

As for Ort, this transfer definitively ends his season. He landed on the 15-day IL in early September due to right elbow inflammation. It was reported shortly thereafter that he wasn’t likely to return during the regular season. This transfer also wipes out any chance of him appearing in the postseason, even if the Astros make a deep run. He finishes the year with a 4.89 earned run average in 46 innings. He can be retained for four more years after this one but is out of options and may be on the roster bubble this winter, given his mediocre results this year and uncertain health status.

Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images

Royals Place Lucas Erceg On IL With Shoulder Impingement

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The Royals announced today that right-hander Steven Cruz has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. He will take the roster spot of fellow righty Lucas Erceg, who has been placed on the 15-day IL due to right shoulder impingement syndrome.

There aren’t a lot of details around Erceg’s injury just yet. He recorded the win in Wednesday’s game, pitching the eighth inning against the Mariners. He entered a 3-3 game and allowed a run, but then the Royals scored four in the eighth. Closer Carlos Estévez allowed another run in the ninth but the Royals hung on to win 7-5. Presumably, Erceg felt some shoulder pain after the game or at some point yesterday and got checked out.

The impingement will end his regular season, which hurts the Royals’ already-slim chances at making the postseason. They hung around the playoff race for most of the summer and acted as deadline buyers, extending Seth Lugo while acquiring rentals Mike Yastrzemski, Adam Frazier and Randal Grichuk. They also added controllable pieces Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek in the Freddy Fermin trade.

But they have fallen back in the standings since then, with pitching injuries playing a notable role. Berget, Lugo, Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic, Bailey Falter and Alec Marsh have all been on the IL in the second half, with many of them still there. Those injury absences have naturally hampered the club’s performance in recent weeks.

The Royals are now seven games back of the Red Sox, with the Guardians and Rangers in between, with most teams having just nine games left to play. Their odds of a miracle run are now pretty close to zero and losing Erceg doesn’t help any.

His strikeout rate has backed up this year but his grounder rate is up and he’s still been effective on the whole. Last year, he tossed 61 2/3 innings with a 3.36 earned run average, 28.5% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate. This year, the punchouts dropped to just a 19.3% clip but he got grounders on 52.8% of balls in play as he produced a 2.64 ERA.

He is still under club control for another four seasons after this one. He has a decent chance at qualifying for arbitration as a Super Two player. Assuming he can get healthy and have a normal offseason, he should playing a key role in the Kansas City bullpen again next year.

Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images

Orioles Designate Scott Blewett For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve reinstated right-hander Scott Blewett from the 60-day injured list and, rather than adding him back to the roster, designated him for assignment. Baltimore also recalled righty José Espada from Triple-A Norfolk and placed right-hander Chayce McDermott on the bereavement list. The O’s added that infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, cleared outright waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Blewett, 29, was acquired at the start of June. He had been pitching for Atlanta but that club designated him for assignment when they called up Craig Kimbrel and then flipped Blewett to Baltimore for cash.

After that deal, Blewett gave the O’s 16 1/3 innings over 11 appearances, allowing 5.51 earned runs per nine. Right elbow discomfort then put him on the 15-day injured list in the middle of July. He was transferred to the 60-day IL a few weeks ago when the O’s needed 40-man spots to claim Shawn Dubin and reinstate Kyle Bradish from the 60-day IL.

Blewett started a rehab assignment in early September but didn’t look sharp. In 6 1/3 Triple-A innings, he allowed six earned runs via 13 hits and one walk while striking out just three opponents. It seems the O’s didn’t have much interest in putting him back on the roster. Since he is out of options, he has been sent into DFA limbo.

With the trade deadline having passed a long time ago, the Orioles will have to place Blewett on waivers. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency, since he has a previous career outright.

It’s theoretically possible he garners interest based on his previous results. Last year, he gave the Twins 20 1/3 innings with a 1.77 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate. Here in 2025, he got out to a good start. Through 24 innings to start the year, he had a 2.25 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 58.5% grounder rate. However, he allowed five earned runs in his final game with Atlanta, prompting them to move on. The O’s had interest in him at that time but the pairing didn’t work out. If Blewett is claimed, he is out of options but can be controlled for five seasons beyond this one and would be cheap since he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration.

As for Rivera, he and the O’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1MM salary. His service clock is between three and five years. That means he has the right to reject outright assignments but would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to exercise that right.

Since he is out of options, he has followed a pattern of roster moves this year. The O’s have frequently bumped him off the roster and onto the waiver wire. Each time, he has gone unclaimed and then accepted an outright assignment. Each time, he has been selected back to the roster at a later date, only to repeat the cycle. This is his fourth outright of 2025.

Around the transactions, he has appeared in 43 big league games. In his 127 plate appearance, he has produced a tepid .250/.291/.283 batting line, which has presumably kept him from getting claimed by other clubs. He’s only owed about $50K of his $1MM at this late point in the season but he might as well report to Norfolk for a few more days to collect that. He can then elect free agency at season’s end if not added back to the roster.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Darragh McDonald

  • Hello, everyone. Anthony is off today, so I'm doing the Friday chat this week. Sorry to the Francoists out there.
  • We'll be getting started a bit earlier than usual since I'm covering the afternoon news. Apologies to the West Coasters if that's annoying.
  • Anyway, feel free to drop questions and I'll be back at 11 Central to answer them.
  • Okay, happy Friday, everyone.
  • If you're at work, I hope you're doing a good job pretending like you're doing something.
  • Let's talk baseball.

Joe Baseball

  • Will Zach Eflin will get a multi year contract if he doesn’t get a QO from Baltimore, or have to take a one year prove it deal? He should be fully recovered by January and he had back surgery, and his arm isn’t a problem. Thoughts?

Darragh McDonald

  • I would guess one-year prove-it deal. He's been fairly injury-prone in his career and is coming off a pretty rough year.

Michael

  • Do you think a trade between the Pirates and Mets for Mitch Keller is possible? Mets seem to have a glut of young infielders they could spare between Acuna, Baty, Mauricio, Acuna, etc that would be an immediate upgrade over what the Pirates have been trotting out there

Darragh McDonald

  • I suppose there's a chance. Stearns kept adding more starters last offseason even when it seemed like they had plenty.
  • Going into 2026, they've got McLean, Tong, Sproat, Holmes, Peterson, Senga, Megill, Manaea, Scott, and others.
  • Doesn't seem like they need much more but I could have said the same thing last year when they kept adding Montas, Canning, etc.
  • I wouldn't be surprised if Keller is available but I probably wouldn't pick the Mets as the most likely landing spot.

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Clayton Kershaw To Retire After 2025 Season

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Left-hander Clayton Kershaw is going to retire as a player after the current campaign, per an announcement from the Dodgers. His final regular season start at Dodger Stadium will be on Friday.

“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for all of his profound charitable endeavors,” said Mark Walter, owner and chairman of the Dodgers, in a club press release. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

In the next few weeks, Kershaw will be wrapping up a surefire Hall-of-Fame career. He will have spent the entirety of that span with one club, an increasingly rare phenomenon in today’s game. The Dodgers selected him with the seventh overall pick back in 2006 and he’s never been a part of any other franchise.

Kershaw was up in the majors by 2008 and he had a solid enough debut season. He tossed 107 2/3 innings for the Dodgers that year, allowing 4.26 earned runs per nine. He took a big step forward the following year, with a 2.79 ERA in 171 frames. There was another step forward in terms of workload in 2010, as he got up to 204 1/3 innings, with a 2.91 ERA.

From there, he kicked off the strongest stretch of his career and one of the best of any pitcher in the modern era. From 2011 to 2015, he tossed at least 227 innings in four of those five campaigns. The lone exception was 2014, where a shoulder strain limited him to 198 1/3 innings. For that five-year span, he tossed 1,128 innings with a 2.11 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 47.4% ground ball rate. FanGraphs credited with 37.1 wins above replacement for that span, more than seven wins per season. That was easily the most in the majors for that stretch. Félix Hernández was second with 26.2 fWAR.

From there, injuries limited Kershaw’s production in terms of quantity, but the quality was still there. He never again hit 180 innings in a season, with back problems being a recurring theme, but still kept his ERA in the 2.00 to 3.00 range most of the time. Though it was a step down from his peak, he tossed 140-180 frames in each season from 2016 to 2019, never finishing with an ERA higher than 3.03. He made ten starts with a 2.16 ERA in the shortened 2020 season.

Kershaw’s run as one of the best pitchers alive, often the very best, coincided with a golden age for the franchise. It’s hard to believe now, as the Dodgers have been so consistently good lately, but they were spinning their wheels for a while in the earlier parts of this millenium. They didn’t make the playoff in the 1997 to 2003 seasons, mostly hovering around .500. Things improved a bit from there but still weren’t amazing. They made the playoffs in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009, but then missed in three straight years from 2010 to 2012.

But they made the playoffs in 2013 and have continued to do so in every season since then. Assuming they eventually clinch a spot here in 2025, it will be 13 seasons in a row. There was a lot of playoff heartbreak in there but the Dodgers did win it all in 2020 and again in 2024.

More recently, Kershaw’s injury absences have become more pronounced as he has pushed into his late-30s. He was limited to 120-130 innings in the 2021 to 2023 campaigns, though still with good results on a rate basis. He only made seven starts last year, initially held back by offseason shoulder surgery before later having his season finished by dual surgeries on his toe and knee to repair a ruptured plantar plate and a torn meniscus.

He’s been able to get back to health here in 2025 and go out on a decent note. His strikeout rate is way down to 17% but he has managed to post a 3.53 ERA in 102 innings. As mentioned, he’ll be making another start tomorrow and could perhaps take the ball once more as the Dodgers finish the season with a six-game road trip.

Kershaw became a free agent a few times and occasionally seemed to flirt with the idea of signing with his hometown Rangers, but he always ended up back with the Dodgers. His first significant payday was back in 2014, when he and the Dodgers agreed to a seven-year, $215MM extension. That’s still the largest guarantee given to a pitcher on an extension. Only six free agent deals for pitchers (Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Max Fried, David Price) have surpassed that guarantee.

That deal allowed Kershaw to opt out after 2018, which he did, but he and the Dodgers agreed to a new pact. A three-year, $91MM deal covering the 2019 to 2021 seasons kept him in Los Angeles and was the first time a pitcher hit the $30MM mark in terms of average annual value. His subsequent deals were more modest one- or two-year pacts as he seemed to go year-to-year with deciding whether or not he wanted to keep going.

Kershaw’s career numbers aren’t final yet because he still has at least one more game to go. As of today, he has 2,844 2/3 innings under this belt with a 2.54 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate. He has tallied 222 wins and 96 losses, 25 complete games, 15 shutouts and 3,039 total punchouts. FanGraphs credits him with 78.7 WAR with Baseball Reference at 80.4. He also tossed 194 1/3 postseasons innings, though with a 4.49 ERA.

He made 11 All-Star teams and won three Cy Young awards. He was the National League Most Valuable Player in 2014, a rare feat for a pitcher. He also tossed a no-hitter that year. He won the World Series in 2020 and 2024, though he was on the injured list during the second of those titles. MLBTR salutes Kershaw on an excellent career and wishes him the best for his post-playing days.

Photos courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Neville E. Guard, Imagn Images

Twins Make Cuts To Scouting Department

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The Twins have eliminated four of the five jobs on their pro scouting staff, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Ken Compton, John Manuel, Keith Stohr and Jose Marzan will not have their contracts renewed at the end of the current season. That will leave Wesley Wright as the club’s lone remaining pro scout.

As Hayes mentions in the article, cutting down on pro scouts is a league-wide trend. He uses the Cubs as an example, linking to a November 2024 article from Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic detailing that club’s move to more analytics and less reliance on traditional scouting. Hayes writes that the Twins, like the Cubs, have been relying more on video in recent years with far less travel for in-person scouting.

However, even in that example, the Cubs dropped their pro scouting department to seven employees. That’s more than the five the Twins had this year, before dropping down to just one individual going forward.

The decision to rely more on analytics and less on scouting is one that is often debated in baseball circles, going back at least to the Moneyball days and surely even beyond that. However, Hayes says the Twins scaling back the department is about cutting costs, which is potentially ominous for the club’s future.

Money has been hovering around the Twins in many ways recently. The club’s regional sports network deal with Diamond Sports Group, now known as Main Street Sports, was not renewed after 2024. That left Major League Baseball in charge of the club’s broadcasting in 2025. Those league-run arrangements are believed to give clubs less revenue than a healthy RSN agreement.

Regardless, the club came into 2025 hoping to contend and they did so for a while. The Twins were in the playoff race for the early months of the current season but fell out of the race as the trade deadline approached. Many expected that the club would trade impending free agents with the goal of contending again in 2026 but the sell-off ended up being more notable than anticipated. In addition to the impending free agents, they also sold controllable players like Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax.

From a financial point of view, the most notable trade was the one sending Carlos Correa to the Astros. Though the Twins ate some money in the swap, they moved the majority of his contract off the long-term books. He was owed approximately $103.4MM through 2028 at the time of that trade, with the Twins staying on the hook for $33MM of that. There were more marginal financial notes as well. For instance, the Twins included Randy Dobnak in the deal sending Chris Paddack to the Tigers, which was seemingly to save them the roughly $2MM still owed to Dobnak.

A couple of weeks after the deadline was another notable development. The Pohlad family, which had been pursuing a sale of the franchise, decided to take the club off the market. They were looking for about $1.7 billion, though reportedly were carrying over $425MM in debt. They didn’t seem to find anyone willing to meet their asking price and instead sold minority stakes to a pair of new parties. The infusion of cash from selling those stakes to the new partners will reportedly help pay down the debt somewhat, though it’s unclear to what degree. Hayes notes that the new owners haven’t yet been officially approved by Major League Baseball.

Going into the winter, it’s not confirmed which direction the club will go for the 2026 season. They did target a lot of MLB-ready talent at the deadline, including players like James Outman, Alan Roden, Mick Abel and Taj Bradley. That arguably points to the club hoping to remain relevant next year but the continued penny pinching doesn’t bode well.

If further cost-cutting is a priority, that presumably increases the chances of players like Pablo López or Joe Ryan being made available this winter. López is making $21.5MM annually through 2027. Trading him could be big savings for the Twins but would still have plenty of appeal for other clubs. Ryan is even more of a bargain as he’s still in his arbitration years. He is making just $3MM this year and will be owed a raise in the two coming campaigns before he’s slated to reach free agency after 2027.

Players like Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober, Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis are also in their arb years and could be candidates for cost-cutting moves if that’s the road the Twins go down. Byron Buxton is the club’s other significant salary commitment, next to López, though he has a no-trade clause and has said he would like to remain a Twin for life.

Photo courtesy of Brad Rempel, Imagn Images

MLB Orders Winter Scouting Moratorium For Draft-Eligible Players

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Major League Baseball has ordered a new policy, the Amateur Recovery Period Policy, which adds some new rules applying to the scouting of amateur players over the winter. Reports from Jeff Passan of ESPN and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America provide the details.

There are plenty of complicated nuances involved, but the gist of the new policy is that no team employee is to scout amateur players, either with their own eyes or video/data-tracking equipment, for a period of the winter. This is to encourage players to rest, rather than staying in top game shape for showcases. This applies only to domestic, draft-eligible players. It doesn’t apply to international players or undrafted free agents.

The moratorium covers a period from October 15th to January 15th for high school players. There is a slightly narrower window for college players, going from November 15th to January 15th. During those windows, MLB team personnel are not allowed to see any draft-eligible player in a baseball setting. That includes games, showcases, training sessions “and any other activities related to throwing, hitting, catching or fielding.” They are also not allowed to procure video or data-tracking info on players. If any player submits unsolicited video to a team, the club must notify MLB within 24 hours. Cooper notes that the NCAA also has a quiet period for off-campus recruiting of baseball players from October 13th to February 28th, which also gives players less incentive to stay in game shape during the winter.

All baseball fans are surely aware that arm injuries have become increasingly common in the modern era. Major elbow and shoulder surgeries that require absences of more than a year — particularly for pitchers — are a regular occurrence nowadays. The amateur ranks have not been spared this trend, as the frequency of injuries has also impacted high school and college players.

Both articles cited above mention a December 2024 study from MLB which looked into this problem. Cooper cites an American Sports Institute study which found that pitchers were five times more likely to require surgery if they did not have an offseason rest period. Under these new rules, players can still work out if they choose to, but the hope is that the lack of scouting opportunities will encourage them to take a break and create a “dead period” of scouting.

There are some exceptions. Employees are allowed to watch players in a non-baseball setting, which includes playing other sports such as basketball. Cooper notes that there are four fall ball games scheduled on November 15th, which are grandfathered in. Additionally, scheduled regular-season games played before January 15th are eligible to be scouted. Team personnel can also watch their own children play baseball but only in a non-professional setting, meaning no data can be collected for a team’s database. Scouts can also visit players at their homes as long as no baseball activity is involved.

As mentioned, this policy does not apply internationally. Only players from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico are eligible for the MLB draft. Players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico and other countries are part of the international signing bonus system. The policy also does not cover agents, who are regulated by the MLB Players Association and not the league.

Any employee who violates the rules could face individual punishment, such as fines or suspensions. Their team could potentially face penalties in terms of sanctions in the draft or in the amateur signing system.

MLB’s memo, sent to all 30 teams, states that the hope is to “reduce the incentive for amateur players to perform at maximum effort year-round by designating a period in the calendar, during which time clubs are prohibited from evaluating amateur players, to ensure appropriate rest, recovery and development for players.” Cooper notes that all 30 amateur scouting directors were consulted, along with coaches and medical experts. The policy also has the support of the MLB Owners Competition Committee.

Photo courtesy of Greg Derr, Imagn Images

Nationals Have Interviewed Red Sox’ AGM Eddie Romero

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The Nationals are continuing to their attempts to get a front office in place before the offseason. Per a report from Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, the Nats recently interviewed Eddie Romero, assistant general manager of the Red Sox. In a tweet, Ghiroli also mentions Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp, though it’s unclear if Sharp has interviewed for the job.

Romero was been with the Red Sox a long time, having been hired in a scouting role back in 2006. He has since risen through the ranks, getting the assistant GM and executive vice-president titles in 2018. His work in Boston is clearly respected within the Red Sox franchise. In the fall of 2023, after the Sox had fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, Romero interviewed to be his replacement. That job ultimately went to Craig Breslow.

Romero is the second Boston assistant GM to be connected to the opening in Washington. It was reported last week that Paul Toboni is also a candidate. Today’s reporting confirms that Toboni did indeed interview for the job. However, Breslow is planning to a hire a GM to work as his second-in-command and Tim Healey of The Boston Globe writes that Toboni is a strong candidate for that position. If Toboni ultimately gets tapped for the GM role in Boston, that takes him off the table in Washington and could also lead to increased speculation about someone like Romero leaving.

Like Romero, Sharp has been with his club for many years, having been hired by the Royals in 2006. The Kansas City front office is currently headed by general manager J.J. Picollo. Sharp has been connected to a number of vacancies over the years, including the Mets’ GM search back in 2018, the Angels’ GM search in 2020 and the Giants’ GM search last year.

Sharp withdrew himself from the Giants’ GM search about a year ago, per Rosenthal. That was reportedly due to family considerations, though Rosenthal noted at that time that Sharp had an interest in running a front office at some point in the future.

The Nationals have been rebuilding for years now but the lack of progress led to president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, and manager Dave Martinez, getting fired in July. Assistant GM Mike DeBartolo was given the GM title on an interim basis. He is a candidate to run the front office beyond the 2025 season, though the Nats have also considered a number of external candidates.

In addition to Romero, Toboni and Sharp, Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes and D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye have been tied to the Nats. Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins was also in the mix but is reportedly no longer in the running.

Per Rosenthal and Ghiroli, the Nats are considering hiring both a president of baseball operations and a general manager. It’s therefore possible they hire two of these aforementioned executives, though there are perhaps others in the mix who haven’t been publicly connected to the club.

The Nats want to have those decisions made by the end of the regular season so that they can then pivot to the managerial search. Miguel Cairo has been in the interim skipper since Martinez was fired. Whether or not Cairo is a candidate to stick around is presumably dependent on who is eventually picked to run the front office and how that person wants to go about the managerial search.

Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage

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The latest episode 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 Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will the Astros trade Christian Walker in the offseason and move Isaac Paredes over to first base? (38:45)
  • Will the Braves make any shocking trades of their core this offseason? (47:40)
  • Will the Red Sox nab a postseason spot and can they make a deep postseason run? (55:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Brewers Place Jose Quintana On IL Due To Calf Strain

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The Brewers announced that left-hander Jose Quintana has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 15th, due to a left calf strain. Right-hander Nick Mears has been reinstated from the 15-day IL as the corresponding move.

Quintana started Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. He was pulled after throwing 67 pitches over four innings, having allowed three earned runs. After the game, manager Pat Murphy told members of the media that Quintana had been pulled due to a calf injury, adding that the lefty was in a walking boot and would require an MRI.

The Brewers took a few days to see how Quintana’s calf responded but have evidently decided that he’ll need to sit out a while longer. Even with the backdating, his regular season is over. He finishes the year with a 3.96 earned run average in 131 2/3 innings, though his underlying numbers are a bit less impressive than that ERA. His 9% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate are close to average but he only struck out 16% of batters faced. A low .259 batting average on balls in play seemed to help him, which is why his 4.83 FIP and 5.05 SIERA are both about a run higher than his ERA.

Even before the injury, Quintana wasn’t especially likely to be playing a meaningful role for Milwaukee in October. With the off-days in the postseason, teams are able to rely on just three or four starters instead of the usual five or six. Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski are all having better seasons than Quintana.

In the short term, the Brewers are still in a good position. They have already clinched a playoff spot and seem highly likely to get a bye through the first round. They are currently 4.5 games up on the Cubs in the Central. The Brewers are eight games clear of the Dodgers, who lead the West division at the moment, in addition to being a game and a half clear of the East-leading Phillies.

To finish the job, they will need to replace Quintana in the rotation for the near term. They have Woodruff, Priester and Misiorowski taking the ball in the next three games. Peralta started yesterday and won’t be available on normal rest by Saturday. Milwaukee doesn’t have an off-day until the 25th, next Thursday.

Chad Patrick has had success as a starter this year but he is currently in the bullpen. His two most recent appearances have been of the single-inning variety but he did pitch 4 1/3 innings as recently as September 9th, so perhaps he could cover multiple innings. It’s a somewhat similar situation with guys like Erick Fedde and Tobias Myers, who have done some starting but have been in shorter stints more recently.

Another option to help out fairly soon is Robert Gasser, who is nearing a return from last summer’s Tommy John surgery. He was reinstated from the IL at the end of August but was optioned to the minors. Most of his recent minor league outings have been around three innings, at intervals of three days or so. He won’t be available for a traditional start but could cover a few frames in some capacity. “I think you’ll see him soon,” Murphy said today, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Turning back to Quintana, he will presumably be trying to get healthy for the postseason. Assuming the Brewers eventually do secure a bye through the Wild Card round, he’ll have over two weeks until the Division Series begins. As mentioned, the Brewers probably don’t need him in their postseason rotation, though an injury to one of the other arms could always change that. Even if he’s not needed to make a start, he could perhaps work out of the Milwaukee bullpen.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

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