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MLBTR Podcast: Matt Chapman’s Extension, Star Prospect Promotions, Bichette’s Future In Toronto

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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, pinch-hitting host Mark Polishuk is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What the heck is up with the AL wild card?  Is Minnesota going to be able to hold off the Tigers, or anyone else?  K.C. made them look pedestrian and Detroit is, scarily enough, beginning to figure things out. (49:25)

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!

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 season is coming into its final few weeks, with plenty left to be decided. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the offseason or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Luis Castillo To Undergo MRI For Hamstring Strain

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Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo left Sunday’s game due to a strain in his left hamstring, and will undergo an MRI on Monday to assess the damage.  Castillo told reporters (including Adam Jude of the Seattle Times) via interpreter that some discomfort first arose in the fourth inning when he moved on the mound to evade a throw that never came from catcher Mitch Garver on an Ivan Herrera stolen base.  Two pitches after Herrera’s steal, Castillo grimaced on the mound after his follow-through, and left the game after a visit from trainers.

“The discomfort’s there.  Tomorrow we’re going to get some [tests] done, just to see what it is, but hopefully it’s not too bad,” Castillo said.

With the Mariners battling for either the AL West title or a wild card, losing Castillo would put a serious dent in the club’s playoff hopes.  Seattle ranks at or near the bottom of the league in several major offensive categories, yet the M’s have been carried by their elite rotation.  The rotation has been both effective and durable — of the 21 starters who have tossed at least 161 1/3 MLB innings this season, four of them (Castillo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Bryce Miller) pitch for Seattle.

Bryan Woo has had a pair of IL stints, with Emerson Hancock stepping into the rotation in Woo’s place to take nine starts.  Hancock (currently at Triple-A) is the likeliest candidate to return to the staff if Castillo has to go on the injured list, yet the former top prospect hasn’t been very consistent against big league hitters.  Hancock has a 4.76 ERA in 45 1/3 innings and a 4.50 ERA in 12 innings in his 2023 debut season, and only a 13.8% strikeout rate in his brief MLB career.

While Hancock is a better sixth starter than most clubs possess, there’s still no easy way to replace Castillo.  The three-time All-Star hasn’t been quite as effective as he was when finishing fifth in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2023, but Castillo still has a 3.64 ERA over 175 1/3 innings this year.  His strikeout and walk rates are still above the league average, and while Castillo’s four-seamer has dropped in velocity from 96.3mph in 2023 to 95.5mph this season, it remains one of the most effective pitches in baseball.

AL Notes: Buxton, Correa, Lorenzen, Cortes

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Byron Buxton was feeling discomfort in his hip as recently as Wednesday, and Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes that this setback scuttled the Twins’ plans for Buxton to begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend.  Right hip inflammation has kept Buxton on the injured list since the middle of August, depriving the Twins lineup of a big bat with 16 homers and a .275/.334/.528 slash line over 335 plate appearances.  While Minnesota has dealt with a number of injuries this season, losing Buxton seems to have been a particular blow to the roster, as the Twins are only 6-14 over their last 20 games.

Reinforcements are needed, yet there’s no word on when either Buxton or Carlos Correa might be able to start a rehab assignment, as manager Rocco Baldelli told Helfand and other reporters today.  Correa hasn’t played since July 12 due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot, and the shortstop has been feeling good while taking part in running drills.  This is “some level of significant, but we still have a ways to go,” Baldelli said.  “We’ll see if we can build on that and keep moving in a positive direction.”

Some other items from around the American League….

  • While Minnesota is struggling, the Royals rebounded from a seven-game losing streak with a three-game sweep of the Twins this weekend.  Kansas City is also getting healthier, as manager Matt Quartaro told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that Michael Lorenzen is slated to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Tuesday.  Lorezen was placed on the 15-day IL on August 28 due to a left hamstring strain, so the right-hander looks like he shouldn’t miss much time beyond the 15-day minimum.  Acquired from the Rangers in a deadline trade, Lorenzen had great results in his first five starts as a Royal, delivering a 1.85 ERA in 24 1/3 innings.
  • The returns of Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt gave the Yankees a rotation surplus, relegating Nestor Cortes to a relief role as a piggyback pitcher behind Schmidt on Saturday.  “I’m never going to leave my teammates out to dry.  You’re always going to get my best effort, no matter if I’m happy or not,” Cortes told ESPN and other media, yet the left-hander also made it clear that he was “upset” over the role change.  “I felt like I’ve been, amongst all the starters, the workhorse here,” Cortes said.  “Once [Gerrit] Cole went down, they picked me to be the Opening Day starter — not necessarily the No. 1, but the Opening Day starter.  I had to switch my routine there.  Now they do this.”  After an injury-plagued 2023 season, Cortes has a 3.97 ERA over 163 1/3 innings this year, with an unimpressive set of Statcast metrics except for an excellent walk rate.  Cortes will return to starting duty when the Yankees adopt a six-man staff for the next turn through the rotation, yet it remains to be seen how New York deploys Cortes, Cole, Gil, Schmidt, Carlos Rodon, and Marcus Stroman for the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Scherzer, Rocker

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Jacob deGrom’s 2024 debut finally appears imminent, after the two-time Cy Young Award winner completed his fourth and likely final minor league rehab outing on Saturday.  DeGrom has seemingly come out of that four-inning, 49-pitch appearance in good health, and is now set to make his return to the majors at some point during the Rangers’ upcoming six-game road trip that begins Tuesday.

“If it all goes well, he’ll be pitching for us next time around,” manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters.  “It’s pretty cool because it’s been a long road as these guys go through the rehab on the Tommy John.”

DeGrom had his Tommy John surgery in June 2023, and last pitched in a big league game on April 28, 2023.  After signing a five-year, $185MM free agent contract with Texas during the 2022-23 offseason, deGrom’s only contribution to the Rangers’ World Series season was six starts and 30 1/3 innings, albeit with a very impressive 2.67 ERA and his typically excellent strikeout and walk rates.

Statistics compiled during minor league rehab stints should always be taken with a grain of salt, but deGrom has looked quite sharp in posting an 0.84 ERA over 10 2/3 total innings in the minors.  As Landry noted, deGrom has been so dominant that he hasn’t been able to entirely hit his assigned rehab checkpoints.  In his start on Saturday, Bochy said deGrom was assigned for four innings or 60 pitches, yet deGrom breezed through Double-A opponents on just 49 pitches — the most he has thrown in any of his four rehab starts.

As the season enters its final three weeks, the Rangers’ title defense has resulted in only a 70-74 record and a longshot bid at a wild card berth.  DeGrom won’t be returning to a pennant race, but there’s some obvious benefit in getting back on a big league mound and shaking off some rust in advance of a hopefully normal offseason, and then a standard ramp-up in Spring Training.  At age 36 and with just 186 2/3 MLB innings pitched since Opening Day 2021, deGrom’s health history will always make him something of a question mark, yet he has continued to deliver whenever he has been able to pitch.

DeGrom could soon be joined by another veteran ace in Max Scherzer, whose minor league rehab stint got underway Saturday at Triple-A with four hitless innings of work on 53 pitches.  Right shoulder fatigue and then triceps discomfort has kept Scherzer on the injured list since the start of August, but a mechanical fix seems to have corrected his triceps issue, and Scherzer looked to be in good form on Saturday.

It seems possible that Scherzer could rejoin the Rangers as early as this week’s road trip, depending on whether or not the team feels he needs any more rehab work to more fully build his pitch count.  The Rangers could also activate Scherzer and then allow him to rebuild at the MLB level, either on a limited innings count or with a piggyback pitcher working behind Scherzer.

Heading into the season, Texas planned to have deGrom, Scherzer (who was then recovering from offseason back surgery), and Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgery) all back around the middle of the year, providing the rotation with some reinforcements down the stretch.  While a few setbacks delayed these pitchers on that projected timeline, the bigger problem was other injuries and a lack of hitting that torpedoed the Rangers’ season.

Ironically, this planned surplus of pitching has now come at a time when the Rangers might prefer to look at their future arms.  One such hurler is top prospect Kumar Rocker, who has opened some eyes since his own return from a May 2023 Tommy John surgery.  The third overall pick of the 2022 draft has an 0.46 ERA over 19 2/3 innings in Double-A ball this season, and an 1.80 ERA in 10 innings since being promoted to Triple-A Round Rock.

These numbers have been impressive enough that Rangers GM Chris Young told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that the team hadn’t closed the door on the possibility of Rocker making his big league debut at some point before the 2024 campaign is over.  Grant ran through the various factors involved, including Rocker’s rough 50-inning cap in his first season back from TJ surgery, and the fact that Texas would be putting Rocker on the 40-man roster perhaps earlier than necessary.  With three weeks remaining in the season, there’s still time for Rocker to bank a few more Triple-A innings, and if he keeps forcing the issue, the Rangers still have time to perhaps have the right-hander make a cameo after the minor league season is over.

Orioles Notes: Rodriguez, Coulombe, Camden Yards

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It has been just over a month since the Orioles placed Grayson Rodriguez on the 15-day injured list due to a right lat/teres strain, and pitching coach Drew French provided reporters (including MLB.com’s Jake Rill) with an update on Rodriguez’s recovery process.  Rodriguez threw his first bullpen session earlier this week, and French said “we’re hopeful that we’ll get a live [batting practice session] in and a rehab assignment started pretty soon.“

This would seem to put Rodriguez on pace for the late-September return that was projected by GM Mike Elias last month, though French left some wiggle room in stating whether or not Rodriguez would return as a starting pitcher.  “We’re very hopeful to have him back in that capacity,” French said, but “obviously everything is on the table at this point, so [we] just kind of take it day-by-day and see where we’re at at the end.”

The calendar is naturally the issue, as the minor league season concludes on September 22.  The Orioles don’t want to rush Rodriguez’s throwing progression for fear of aggravating his injury or causing a setback, yet as French put it, “we know we’re coming up against it right now” in terms of having enough time for Rodriguez to build up his pitch count through minor league rehab starts.  On paper, Rodriguez could perhaps bank a minor league start and then continue his ramp-up in the majors, perhaps as a piggyback starter at first.

Since this would all have to come amidst the Orioles’ battle for the AL East title, it wouldn’t be an ideal situation for either the team or the player.  While Baltimore is a virtual lock to reach the playoffs, winning the division and earning a first-round bye is the Orioles’ preferred method of entry.  That bit of extra break would allow the O’s to line up their ideal postseason rotation, and gauge whether or not Rodriguez is fully fit enough to be part of said rotation.

Rodriguez’s spot as a playoff starter was all but assured at the time of his injury, as the second-year right-hander has a 3.86 ERA and above-average strikeout and walk rates over 116 2/3 innings.  Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin have playoff rotation spots booked, and any of Rodriguez, Albert Suarez, or Dean Kremer could be line for other starts depending on health, effectiveness, matchups, or however long Baltimore’s playoff run lasts.

Another pitcher’s timeline is a little clearer, as Danny Coulombe is set to start a rehab assignment this Wednesday with Triple-A Norfolk.  Coulombe went on the 60-day injured list in June after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow, and appears to be on pace to return to the Orioles’ relief corps before the season is over.  Coulombe has been nothing short of outstanding since joining the O’s in March 2023, becoming a trusted setup man on the strength of a 2.68 ERA in his 77 1/3 innings in a Baltimore uniform.

Seranthony Dominguez has emerged as the Orioles’ top closing candidate since he was acquired from the Phillies at the trade deadline, helping stabilize a Baltimore bullpen that has been a relative weak link in terms of its overall middle-of-the-pack performance.  Losing Coulombe for a big chunk of the year didn’t help the bullpen’s cause, but his return should help further bolster the reliever depth chart heading into October.

In other Orioles news, chairman and CEO David Rubenstein shared some details on the renovations planned for Camden Yards as part of an interview with FOX 5’s Steve Chenevey (hat tip to Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun).  The process is tentatively slated to begin during the 2025-26 offseason and “take about four years before it’s completed….hopefully by the end of ’28 we will complete all the retrofit of the stadium,” Rubenstein said.  The exact range of renovations isn’t yet known, though Rubenstein suggested that the work will add a few more modern touches and amenities to Camden Yards.

Reds Place Sam Moll On 15-Day Injured List

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The Reds placed left-hander Sam Moll on the 15-day injured list today, and called up righty Casey Legumina from Triple-A Louisville in a corresponding move.  Moll is dealing with a left shoulder impingement, and it is “not likely” that he’ll return before the season is over, as the southpaw told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Moll has been trying to pitch through the injury for a few weeks, and the issue might even date back to last season, when Moll said he was also trying to pitch through some shoulder discomfort in order to contribute to a contending Reds team.  Coming into this season, Moll began the year on the 15-day injured list and didn’t make his season debut until April 23.

“I obviously don’t want it to snowball to what it did last offseason, where it screwed up my offseason as far as preparation and leading into obviously what I dealt with earlier this year,” Moll said.  It isn’t yet known if Moll will just need to rest his shoulder, or if some kind of procedure could be needed to address the problem.

Despite the lack of a proper ramp-up in the spring, Moll still delivered some quality innings out of Cincinnati’s bullpen.  If this is indeed it for his 2024 campaign, he’ll finish the season with a 3.35 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate, and 46.9% grounder rate over 37 2/3 innings and 48 appearances.  Moll isn’t a particularly hard thrower, but his sinker and sweeper are plus pitches that induce a lot of soft contact.  Left-handed batters have only a .430 OPS in 63 plate appearances against Moll this year, and he has also been effective against righty swingers to the tune of a .719 OPS in 89 PA.

This solid 2024 season comes on the heels of the 0.73 ERA Moll posted in the 24 2/3 innings he pitched for the Reds in 2023 after Cincinnati acquired him from the A’s at the trade deadline.  A veteran of five MLB seasons, Moll will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter as he enters his age-33 season.  If no injury-related complications interfere with the Reds’ decision to tender Moll a contract, he’ll be in line for a nice raise to get him out of the minimum-salary range.

Jeff McNeil To Miss Rest Of Regular Season Due To Wrist Fracture

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September 8: The Mets officially placed McNeil on the injured list this morning, and recalled outfielder DJ Stewart to replace McNeil on the big league roster. Stewart has slashed .175/.326/.299 in 190 trips to the plate with the club this year.

September 7: Mets second baseman/outfielder Jeff McNeil had to leave Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist, and tests revealed a wrist fracture, as manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman and other reporters today.  McNeil will be sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks, so he’ll miss the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs unless the Mets reach the postseason and make a deep run.

McNeil will be placed on the 15-day injured list at some point today or tomorrow, though the official news of the injury came close enough to the Mets’ 3:10pm CT start time today that Mendoza said the team will play a man short against the Reds.  Jose Iglesias figures to take over second base for the remainder of the season, and Mendoza said infield prospect Luisangel Acuna is one of the candidates to be called up to take McNeil’s spot on the active roster.

New York is right in the thick of the wild card race, sitting in a tie with Atlanta for the third and final NL wild card slot but also within three games of San Diego for the first wild position.  Passing any of the Braves, Padres, or Diamondbacks will be a lot trickier for the Mets without a lineup regular like McNeil, who has gotten the bulk of time at second base this season while also playing at both corner outfield slots.

McNeil will finish his 2024 season with a .238/.308/.384 slash line and 12 home runs over 472 plate appearances, translating to a 98 wRC+ that matches his seesaw of a year.  Hitting just .214/.271/.308 over his first 300 PA, McNeil’s bat finally caught fire in July, and he proceeded to hit .294/.368/.566 in his next 163 PA before cooling off again in September.  McNeil has remained one of baseball’s toughest hitters to strike out, though not much his contact has resulted in hard-hit balls, and a .256 BABIP also hasn’t helped his cause.

It is possible McNeil’s numbers could be related to the partial UCL tear in his left elbow that was revealed near the end of last season, though McNeil only received a PRP shot rather than surgery and was able to be part of the Mets’ Opening Day lineup.  Or, it could be that a traditionally soft-contact hitter like McNeil is reliant on batted-ball luck to be especially productive at the plate, and it isn’t any surprise that his best seasons have involved BABIPs all north of the .330 mark.  When McNeil isn’t finding holes in the field, he has been closer to a league-average bat, as evidenced the 99 wRC+ he has posted since the start of the 2023 season.

This downturn followed the signing of McNeil’s four-year, $50MM contract extension, so the Mets haven’t gotten what they were expecting following McNeil’s All-Star season in 2022.  However, as a left-handed hitter who can play multiple positions, McNeil has still been a useful player to have as a regular part of the lineup, and his absence forces New York to fill a couple of holes.  Iglesias has been excellent in part-time duty this season and now faces an extra challenge in an everyday role, while Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker figure to get more outfield time.

Teoscar Hernandez Expected To Avoid Injured List

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5:07pm: Hernandez is not in the lineup today, but told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) that he expects to avoid the injured list after testing on his foot came back clean and he woke up today feeling better. Hernandez added that he hopes to back in the lineup during next week’s series against the Cubs, which begins on Monday.

9:07am: Teoscar Hernandez left Friday’s 3-1 Dodgers loss to the Guardians in the first inning, after the slugger was hit on the left ankle by a pitch from Cleveland starter Matthew Boyd.  Hernandez was in obvious discomfort when leaving the field, though the injury has been termed a foot contusion for now since initial x-rays were negative.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio) that more tests will be done on Hernandez’s ankle, but a trip to the injured list seems unavoidable.  “[Hernandez is] as tough as they come and he could barely move his foot….He doesn’t come out of games,” Roberts said.  “Afterwards, the pain typically subsides for him, but it didn’t.  It’s concerning.”

More will be known about Hernandez’s status later today, yet since it seems like he’ll certainly be going on the IL, the question is now whether or not we’ll see Hernandez on the field again in 2024.  Beyond just the regular season, the Dodgers certainly hope to be playing deep into the playoffs, yet such an extended run would obviously be a lot more difficult if Hernandez isn’t available.  Winning the NL West is also not a foregone conclusion, as the Dodgers hold a four-game lead on the Padres and a 5.5-game lead on the Diamondbacks.

Considering how Hernandez is also a free agent this winter, it is also conceivable that Friday might’ve marked the end of the left fielder’s tenure in Los Angeles altogether.  After a down year with the Mariners in 2023, Hernandez inked a one-year, $23.5MM contract with L.A. last winter with the idea that he could make a quick return to free agency this coming offseason on the heels of a rebound year.  That scenario has played out exactly as Hernandez had intended, as he has hit .266/.331/.488 with 28 homers over 581 plate appearances and earned a spot on the NL All-Star team.

Perhaps the key number in that statline is simply the number of plate appearances, as Hernandez has been one of the Dodgers’ pillars of stability amidst an injury-plagued season.  Almost literally every member of the L.A. pitching staff has spent time on the IL or had their season already ended by injuries, and Mookie Betts (fractured hand) and Max Muncy (oblique strain) also each missed months of time before returning in August.

Just when it seemed as though Los Angeles finally had its first-choice lineup all intact, however, the position-player depth will again be tested if Hernandez misses time as expected.  Any of Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor, Andy Pages, or Tommy Edman could be cycled into left field, though the Dodgers had also been using the right-handed hitting Hernandez and Taylor at second and third base, to shield the lefty-swinging Muncy and Gavin Lux against some southpaw pitching.  James Outman is the most probable Triple-A call-up, as Outman’s presence would further add to the outfield mix while perhaps keeping Lux and Enrique Hernandez more limited to infield duty.

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