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Nick Burdi Suffers Season-Ending Forearm Strain; Surgery Not Yet Being Considered

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Aug. 12: Burdi won’t require surgery to repair what is being termed as a significant forearm strain, Tomczyk tells reporters (Twitter link via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The Pirates believe the injury is related to Burdi’s prior TOS procedure. He’ll receive a platelet-rich plasma injection and be shut down for the next 10 to 12 weeks before being reevaluated.

Aug. 5: The Pirates announced today that they’ve placed reliever Nick Burdi on the 45-day injured list. He’s said to be dealing with a right elbow injury. Utilityman JT Riddle has been activated from the injured list to take the open roster spot.

While the full outlook isn’t yet known, this is just wretched news for Burdi. The team already has seen enough to know he won’t be able to return in 2020, director of health medicine Todd Tomczyk told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (Twitter link).

The 27-year-old flamethrower has dealt with numerous significant arm issues over his halting career. He has already rehabbed through Tommy John and thoracic outlet surgeries. Burdi was once a top 50 draft pick and a high-profile prospect in the Twins’ system, but those arm woes have prevented him from capitalizing on his talents. Burdi has a career 3.44 ERA and better than 12 punchouts per nine innings pitched in the minors. He picked up his first big league save in 2020 and held opponents to a run on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.

Tigers Place C.J. Cron On Injured List

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The Tigers have placed first baseman C.J. Cron on the 10-day injured list, per a club announcement. Infielder Willi Castro was recalled to take the open roster spot.

The organization says that Cron has been diagnosed with a left knee sprain. It remains to be seen if there’s any greater damage to the joint.

Cron left last night’s game after attempting to field a liner. The 30-year-old left the field gingerly. Hopefully he has avoided significant damage.

The Tigers find themselves in competitive position a couple weeks into the season, thanks in no small part to contributions from their new first bagger. Cron has turned in a .190/.346/.548 batting line in 52 plate appearances. Despite the sub-Mendoza batting average, that’s good for a 146 wRC+.

Ken Giles May Soon Resume Throwing

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Blue Jays closer Ken Giles appears to be making progress in his effort to work back from a forearm strain. He’s “recovering well” and “could be throwing soon,” GM Ross Atkins informed reporters including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter).

This sounds quite promising, though there are still some hurdles left to clear. Giles is due for an MRI and a checkup tomorrow. And he’ll still need to ramp back up without incident once he gets the green light.

The Toronto organization will surely hope for a fairly rapid return. If the team is to make a surprise run, which seems unlikely but can hardly be ruled out, it’d surely help to have the 2019 version of Giles at the back of the pen. Perhaps it’s still possible he could throw well enough to warrant a qualifying offer at season’s end, though that would represent a fairly spendy bet on a player who has had a few injury questions of late.

The more intriguing possibility, of course, is that Giles could get back in the saddle in time to be traded. It’d be a rather tight timeline, and would surely require some faith on behalf of a potential trade partner, but a swap is still possible.

Yankees Recall Clint Frazier

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With Giancarlo Stanton sidelined, the Yankees have recalled young outfielder Clint Frazier. He had been on optional assignment at the team’s alternate training site.

While hardly a surprising move under the circumstances, it’s a notable moment for team and player. Soon to turn 26, Frazier has long seemed ready for extended MLB action but has not yet received a full shot with the power-packed Bronx Bombers.

Given the timing of the move, Frazier obviously won’t have a chance to accrue a full year of MLB service. He’s likely to stay up long enough to push past the line into two full seasons, at least, and may log enough to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two in the ensuing offseason.

Frazier did take 246 plate appearances last year at the MLB level. The former top prospect turned in a .267/.317/.489 slash with a dozen long balls — good but not world-beating production from a bat-first player.

The question remains whether Frazier can carve out a permanent role in New York. If not, and if Stanton is able to return to health, this could end up functioning as an audition for a potential trade.

Royals Place Franchy Cordero On 45-Day IL

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AUGUST 11: Cordero required a surgical procedure to repair damage to his right hamate bone, manager Mike Matheny told reporters including Alec Lewis of The Athletic (Twitter link). Young infielder Jeison Guzman will get his first crack at the majors. He was already on the 40-man roster but has now been tapped for active duty.

AUGUST 10: The Royals have placed outfielder Franchy Cordero on the 45-day injured list, per a club announcement. He is sidelined with a wrist injury.

While this won’t officially end Cordero’s season, it makes it quite unlikely he’ll return to action. He originally hit the injured list on August 9th, so he won’t be eligible to return until late September.

Soon to turn 26, the recently acquired outfielder struggled to a .154/.185/.231 slash in his first 27 plate appearances with the Royals. He’ll be eligible for arbitration over the offseason.

Latest On Giancarlo Stanton

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The Yankees got some promising news on sidelined slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The burly outfielder was diagnosed with a relatively mild grade 1 hamstring strain, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).

With little reason to push Stanton now, the front-running Yanks already placed him on the injured list. He’ll no doubt be sidelined longer than the requisite ten days. But there’s now at least cause for hope that he can make it back to the roster in time to contribute down the stretch and into the postseason.

Stanton, 30, had turned in a resurgent effort at the plate in the early going. After missing the bulk of 2019, he was turning heads with a .293/.453/.585 batting line through 14 games this year. Better still, he had drawn ten walks to go with 11 strikeouts, a marked turnaround from the strikeout concerns that had cropped up since Stanton arrived in New York.

Now it’s back to the trainer’s room for a player who has been no stranger to it. Stanton has had prior hamstring issues, though that wasn’t among the particular problem areas that kept him off the field in 2020.

MLBTR Poll: Sustainable Hitter Breakout

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The trade deadline is approaching. Heck, the postseason races are already taking shape. But it’s still exceedingly early in this oddest of MLB seasons. With the action unfolding on a tightened timeline, it’s more necessary than ever not to ignore the short-sample alerts.

That said, it’s hard to ignore some of the unexpected names near the top of the WAR leaderboard with a quarter of a (partial-) season in the bag. Each of these six guys ranks among the top twenty fWAR accumulators in baseball. Four of ’em have added more value to this point of the season than living legend Mike Trout.

So … which player is likeliest to sustain something approaching their early 2020 star turn? (In alphabetical order.)

JaCoby Jones, OF, Tigers: .333/.391/.786 through 46 plate appearances. The 28-year-old hadn’t done much with his first thousand or so MLB plate appearances, but he’s suddenly knocking the socks off of the ball. Though his K/BB numbers are about as shrug-worthy as before, Jones is suddenly showing a whole lotta slug. He’s in the top ten percent leaguewide in barrel percentage and hard contact rate.

Kyle Lewis, OF, Mariners: .373/.440/.567 through 75 plate appearances. An elite draft prospect, Lewis saw his development stunted by injuries. He’s now coming into his own, though it’s hard to look past that glaring .512 batting average on balls in play. There are a lot of strikeouts, too, though Lewis is also walking at a decent clip (10.7%). While Statcast isn’t impressed with how hard he hits the ball, it does credit him with a strong barrel percentage and good wheels.

Dylan Moore, OF, Mariners: .333/.388/.689 through 49 plate appearances. This looks to be a pretty clear instance of a nice dozen-game hot streak that’ll be hard to keep up. Moore is carrying a 30.6% walk rate and 4.1% K rate while benefiting from a hefty .423 BABIP. Then again, Moore is legitimately hammering the ball, ranking among the league leaders in hard-hit rate, barrel percentage, and exit velocity. Perhaps he’s on to something here.

Austin Slater, OF, Giants: .333/.450/.667 through 40 plate appearances. Slater is running and gunning thus far, logging three homers and four swiped bags while sporting a solid 12.5% walk rate. That 208 wRC+ really pops for a guy that contributes in other areas of the game. Slater has had his chances before and hadn’t ever put it all together. But he was quite good at Triple-A and held his own in the majors in 2019. Could he be turning into a quality big leaguer?

Donovan Solano, INF, Giants: .458/.476/.661 through 63 plate appearances. This isn’t necessarily a whole new thing so much as a surprising continuation of a nice 2019 showing. But holy smokes, look at that batting average! It’s riding on a mind-blowing .520 BABIP … which follows a .409 mark from last year. Solano isn’t exactly mashing, but he sure is translating his contact ability into results — and not just because of good fortune. Statcast credits him with a 97th percentile expected batting average.

Mike Yastrzemski, OF, Giants: .306/.442/.629 through 77 plate appearances. Just another San Francisco superstar slugger, no big deal. Like Solano, Yaz 2.0 did turn in very good numbers last year. But we were all prepared to see him step back in 2020, right? Instead, there’s something all the more intriguing going on. Yasztrzemski has already drawn 15 walks to go with his 16 strikeouts on the season, providing yet more evidence that he has really figured things out.

So, which player is most likely to carry this forward? (Poll link for app users; response order randomized.)

Braves Option Sean Newcomb

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The Braves optioned lefty Sean Newcomb to the team’s alternate training site after tonight’s game. He’ll remain on the 40-man roster and in the 60-man player pool.

This is the latest in a series of hits to the Atlanta rotation. In this case, as with Mike Foltynewicz, it’s simply a matter of inadequate performance.

Newcomb, 27, was bombed in a forgettable start this evening. He recorded only four outs while doling out a pair of walks and a pair of long balls and permitting eight total earned runs.

That performance represented another segment of a roller coaster season … which is itself but a part of a rather topsy-turvy career. The southpaw has had his share of success but never quite fully found his groove in the majors.

In 2018, Newcomb emerged as a solid rotation piece, running a 3.90 ERA in 164 frames. He ended up spending most of last year in the bullpen, where he worked to a 3.04 ERA in 51 appearances.

The Braves had cause to hope that Newcomb might step up when the opportunity arose to return to the rotation. Instead, he’ll have to earn his way back to the active roster. It’s back to the drawing board for the club, which will have to dip into the farm for another arm to start (or help man a bullpen game).

Dodgers Outright Terrance Gore

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The Dodgers have outrighted outfielder Terrance Gore, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. He had recently been designated for assignment.

Gore will remain in the Dodgers’ 60-man player pool. He will remain available to the team if and when there’s another opportunity at the MLB level.

In addition to potential fill-in duty, Gore could be a late-season or postseason option. He’s a fleet-footed, highly regarded fielder who hasn’t been allowed to swing the bat much at the MLB level. Gore has appeared in each of the past seven campaigns, logging forty stolen bases and just 77 plate appearances (including two this year with L.A.).

Angels Designate Jose Rodriguez

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The Angels have designated righty Jose Rodriguez for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for southpaw Jose Suarez, who was reinstated from the injured list and optioned to the team’s alternate training site.

Soon to turn 25, Rodriguez first reached the majors in 2019 as a swingman for the Halos. He has only allowed six earned runs in 21 1/3 MLB innings, but he has managed only a 13:12 K/BB ratio and has also coughed up five long balls. The Angels obviously don’t expect that high-wire act to continue succeeding.

If and when he earns his way back to the bigs, the 22-year-old Suarez will hope to improve upon a challenging debut season. He was tagged for 23 long balls and limped to a 7.11 ERA in 81 frames last year. The Los Angeles organization will certainly remain patient given Suarez’s history of high strikeout rates as a minor-league starter.

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