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Twins Select Drew Maggi
The Twins have selected the contract of infielder Drew Maggi, the team announced. Maggi will replace Rob Refsnyder on the active roster, as Refsnyder is headed to the 10-day injured list with a right elbow impingement. Taylor Rogers was shifted to the 60-day IL to create space on the 40-man roster.
The transaction represents the culmination of a long journey for Maggi, who is now set to make his Major League debut after 11 minor league seasons. A 15th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2010 draft, Maggi has kept hustling through 4077 minor league plate appearances (in the Pirates, Dodgers, Indians, and Twins farm systems) before finally reaching the Show at age 32.
Maggi has hit .259/.353/.356 during his minor league career, and has enjoyed a particularly strong campaign (.261/.364/.486 with 16 homers in 332 PA) at Triple-A St. Paul in 2021. A versatile player, Maggi has played mostly as a shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman over his career, but also spent time at first base and in both corner outfield positions.
Given the timing of his injury, Refsnyder might not be able to return before the 2021 season is over. The veteran utilityman hit .245/.325/.338 over 157 PA this season, appearing in 51 games with Minnesota after signing a minor league deal last winter.
Royals Shut Down Brad Keller For Remainder Of Season
Right-hander Brad Keller has been shut down for the rest of the season, Royals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. Keller hasn’t pitched since August 26 due to a Grade 2 strain in his right lat, and there isn’t enough time remaining in the season for Keller to fully rehab and return to the mound.
The news officially ends Keller’s fourth MLB season after 26 starts and 133 2/3 innings, and beyond reliably taking the ball and soaking up some innings in the K.C. rotation, 2021 was certainly Keller’s most difficult year. The righty posted a 5.39 ERA/4.84 SIERA, plus strikeout (19.6%) and walk (10.4%) rates that were well below the league average. The walk rate is the worst of Keller’s brief career while his strikeout rate is actually his best, as Keller has relied on a grounder-heavy arsenal to retire batters. Keller was aided by a .280 BABIP over his first three seasons, though the combination of a .347 BABIP and some of the worst hard-contact numbers in league contributed mightily to his struggles this year.
While the overall numbers are grim, most of Keller’s issues came in the first half of the season. Over his last nine starts and 52 2/3 innings, Keller had a much more respectable 3.42 ERA, though his strikeout and walk rates were only slightly improved. Still, if Keller had somewhat turned the corner on his season, his lat strain cost him the opportunity to make a strong finish and earn a few extra dollars in arbitration this winter. Keller will be arb-eligible for the second time this winter, after agreeing to a $3.35MM salary for 2021.
Though the Royals have several younger pitchers who will be expected to take on bigger roles in the 2022 rotation, Keller’s tough season likely won’t threaten his spot in the starting five. Keller is still only 26 himself, and the former Rule 5 Draft pick has had enough success at the MLB level that the Royals aren’t going to give up on him this quickly. However, Kansas City might still look to add another veteran starter this offseason in order to add some reliability to a rotation mix that struggled as a whole.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/18/21
The latest minor league transactions from around baseball…
- The Astros outrighted Robel Garcia to Triple-A after the infielder cleared waivers. Garcia was designated for assignment earlier this week, marking the fifth time in the last 14 months that Garcia has gone through the DFA process, though this is the first time he hasn’t been claimed by another team. After being claimed by the Astros last February, Garcia has spent the entire season in Houston’s organization, posting only a .423 OPS over 117 big league plate appearances but chipping in as a utility infielder. Garcia has a .189/.321/.422 slash line over 109 PA at Triple-A Sugar Land.
Shohei Ohtani Battling Arm Soreness, Might Not Pitch For Rest Of The Season
TODAY: After throwing a bullpen session, the Angels now believe the Ohtani is well enough to start this Sunday’s ballgame against Oakland, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (via Twitter).
Sept. 16: Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch during the Angels’ three-game series with the Athletics, though the two-way star had been tentatively slated to start tomorrow’s series opener. Angels manager Joe Maddon told MLB.com’s Ryan Herrera and other reporters that Ohtani came away with a sore arm after a game of catch on Wednesday, so the team will keep him from pitching so his condition can be further monitored. Ohtani will continue to regularly serve as the Angels’ DH, though it is possible Ohtani may have pitched his last game of 2021.
While the situation “hasn’t gotten there yet” in terms of shutting Ohtani down as a pitcher, Maddon said “we just have to wait and see” if Ohtani could take the hill for the 22nd time this season.
“He’ll continue to do his thing and be playing catch, and then we’ll determine if he feels good enough to [pitch] again,” Maddon said. “So I don’t know. I think he can, but we’ve been caught in these circumstances a lot this year.”
There isn’t much left for the Angels to play for this season, so it wouldn’t make much sense for the team to take a risk with Ohtani during what has already been an injury-riddled campaign for the Halos. Losing Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon for the majority of the season spelled doom for a club that needed all the offensive help it could get considering the Angels’ pitching and defensive struggles.
The one big bright spot has been Ohtani’s season for the ages. Combining excellent pitching with elite offense, Ohtani has a 3.36 ERA and 28.8% strikeout rate over 115 1/3 innings on the mound this year, and a .254/.336/.599 slash line and 44 home runs over 564 plate appearances. This incredible performance has evoked comparisons to Babe Ruth, turned Ohtani into a household name, and made him the presumptive frontrunner for the AL MVP Award.
Quite a bit of Ohtani’s production, however, came in the first half of the season. Ohtani has hit only .191/.331/.376 with seven home runs over his last 172 PA, and his most recent pitching outing (on September 10) saw him allow six runs over 3 1/3 innings of work against the Astros. Some decline was probably inevitable given Ohtani’s meteoric start, and his unique workload in staying prepared to both pitch and regularly hit against Major League competition.
Ohtani also pitched only 1 2/3 innings total in 2019-20 due to injuries, including a recovery from Tommy John surgery. That said, whatever wear and tear Ohtani might be feeling has seemingly impacted his bat more than his arm. Apart from that one mediocre start against the Astros, Ohtani has otherwise posted a 2.20 ERA over 45 innings since the All-Star break.
Injury Notes: Cronenworth, Cruz, Baz, Odorizzi
After suffering a small fracture in his left ring finger after being hit by a Julio Urias pitch on September 10, Jake Cronenworth’s status was in question, though the Padres were holding off putting Cronenworth on the injured list. It now looks like the utilityman will return this week for the Padres’ critical series with the Cardinals, San Diego manager Jayce Tingler told The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and other reporters. The versatile Cronenworth has mostly played second base and shortstop this season, and Tingler said that Cronenworth could see action at both positions as well as some first base time.
Between an All-Star appearance this season and a second-place finish in the 2020 NL Rookie Of The Year vote, Cronenworth has emerged as a big force in San Diego’s lineup. Beyond just his multi-positional ability, the 27-year-old has also batted .274/.350/.369 with 24 homers in his first 773 plate appearances at the MLB level, and this season took another step forward by hitting left-handed pitching almost as well as he has performed against right-handers. Though Cronenworth (like pretty many of the Padres) had been in a hitting slump over the last few weeks, he had collected two hits in each of the three games prior to his injury.
More injury updates from around baseball….
- Nelson Cruz left tonight’s game due to a right forearm contusion after being hit by a Tyler Alexander pitch. X-rays were negative on Cruz, and Rays manager Kevin Cash told The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin (Twitter link) and other reporters that the slugger should be “fully available” for tomorrow’s game against the Tigers. That said, Cruz might not play just for precautionary reasons and because Cash said Cruz might have been due for an off-day even before the minor injury. After being acquired in a July trade with the Twins, Cruz got off to a slow start in Tampa, but has started to heat up again over the last couple of weeks.
- After Shane Baz was scratched from a Triple-A start today, there was speculation that the Rays might give the star pitching prospect his big league debut during this series against Detroit. However, reporter Patrick Kinas tweets that Baz was actually scratched due to back spasms, though the issue might only sideline Baz for a few days. Baz has only continued to impress since making his Triple-A debut earlier this season, as the right-hander has a 1.76 ERA and a very impressive strikeout (36%) and walk (6.2%) rates over 46 innings with the Durham Bulls. MLB Pipeline ranks Baz as the 20th-best prospect in the game, and he stands out as a very intriguing x-factor of a weapon for the Rays heading into the playoffs.
- The Astros placed Jake Odorizzi on the 10-day injured list earlier this week due to a foot injury, and Odorizzi more directly described the issue to reporters (including The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome) as “a mid-foot sprain.” The injury was caused by a “flukey” bad step that forced Odorizzi out of Monday’s game in the second inning. Fortunately, Odorizzi didn’t think the problem was serious, and the right-hander believes he’ll be able to return from the IL when first eligible on September 24.
Phillies Notes: Realmuto, Gregorius, Neris
Trailing 7-0 after three innings against the Cubs today, the Phillies ended up rolling to a 17-8 blowout win. It wasn’t a perfect day for the Phillies, however, as J.T. Realmuto is “sore” after being hit by a pitch in his left elbow/triceps area, manager Joe Girardi told NBC Sports’ Jim Salisbury and other reporters. X-rays were negative on Realmuto though he might be held out of the lineup tomorrow as a precaution.
Realmuto already had to hit out Tuesday’s game after receiving an injection in his bothersome right shoulder, and needless to say, the Phillies can hardly afford to lose one of their best hitters while in the thick of the playoff race. Realmuto was 1-for-4 with two RBI in today’s victory, bumping his slash line up to .267/.353/.443 over 479 plate appearances this season.
The latest from Philly….
- “It’s been frustrating basically the whole year with what’s going on,” Didi Gregorius told Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer, as the shortstop said a misdiagnosed elbow injury and then lingering elbow soreness have led to his underwhelming performance. Gregorius spent over six weeks of the season on the injured list due to a form of arthritis in his right elbow known as pseudogout, though he was initially listed as having only an elbow impingement, and the pseudogout diagnosis wasn’t known until Gregorius had already missed around three weeks. Even after returning from the IL on July 2, the Phillies shortstop said he continues to feel lingering soreness in his elbow. Gregorius said his personal doctor felt that a COVID-19 vaccine could be responsible for the elbow issues, as Gregorius said the soreness developed shortly after he was vaccinated in late April. However, Gregorius also noted that his doctor “didn’t give me like 100%” certainty that the vaccine was the cause, and Breen quotes two other medical experts who state that there was little to no evidence that vaccination would lead to gout or pseudogout, and certainly not a case that continues to linger for months. (Breen writes that the Phillies “declined to comment on Gregorius’ claim about the vaccine.”) Gregorius’ own doctors have recommended an arthroscopic procedure to fix his elbow once and for all, though somewhat curiously, Gregorius hasn’t yet discussed offseason treatment plans with the Phillies or their medical staff. Gregorius came into today’s action hitting only .217/.276/.377 over 351 plate appearances.
- In another COVID-related item, the Phillies announced that 85% of players and staff at the big league and Triple-A levels have been fully vaccinated. This meets the league threshold for relaxed coronavirus protocols, such as less social distancing within the clubhouse and less travel restrictions. The exact number of MLB teams to meet the 85% threshold isn’t officially known, though the Phils are known to be one of the last teams to reach that number.
- Hector Neris is a free agent this winter but “I have been available all the time” for a potential reunion with the Phillies, the reliever tells The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. The struggling Phils bullpen figures to undergo a major overhaul, so re-signing Neris could be a possibility just because he has pitched well on the whole this year, if not well enough to keep his job as closer back in June. Neris has posted a very strong 31.4% strikeout rate but a below-average 9.5% walk rate while posting a 3.39 ERA over 63 2/3 innings. Neris is open about pitching in any bullpen role with his next team, saying “You have to try to help the team where you are….If you are flexible, if you are a guy a team can use everywhere, you are more valuable.”
Poll: Who Will Be The NL’s Second Wild Card Team?
The Giants and Dodgers have both booked their tickets to the 2021 playoffs, though it remains to be seen which club will be NL West champions and which will have to walk the one-game tightrope that is the wild card game. While the identity of the first NL wild card entry is an either/or situation, the battle for that second wild card slot is still completely wide-open with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Cardinals held a one-game lead in the standings heading into today’s action, and since the Cards aren’t playing today, they’ll still retain at least a half-game edge when they resume play tomorrow in a crucial three-game series against the Padres. St. Louis wasn’t even a .500 team (53-55) on August 5, but the team has since gone 23-14 to re-establish itself as a contender. Both Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill have been on fire at the plate since that August 5 date, while Adam Wainwright has continued to turn back the clock with an excellent season. The Cardinals were criticized for a lack of big moves at the trade deadline, though new additions Jon Lester and J.A. Happ have been solid enough to help stabilize the rotation. Following the three games with San Diego, the Cardinals’ remaining schedule is entirely against the Brewers and Cubs.
The Padres enter that pivotal St. Louis series going in the opposite direction. For much of the season, it looked like both NL wild card slots would come from the West division, as San Diego battled alongside the Giants and Dodgers for supremacy. However, San Diego’s 22-30 record since the All-Star break has left the Padres battling just to get into the postseason. It has been more or less a team-wide funk over those 52 games, as the Padres rank 24th in baseball in both wRC+ (92) and pitching fWAR (2.5) in the second half, though the rotation at least has the excuse of multiple injuries. It doesn’t help that the Padres also have a very tough remaining schedule — all of their remaining games are against the Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, and Braves.
Even after today’s 1-0 victory over the Pirates, the Reds still have just five wins in their last 17 games, stumbling back in the standings after a nice surge in late July and early August. Speaking of scheduling, Cincinnati hasn’t done well to take advantage of some weaker opponents, as that 17-game window has included losing series to such weaker opponents as the Marlins, Cubs, Tigers, and Pirates (and a 2-4 record against the Cardinals). With 10 remaining games against the Pirates and Nationals, the Reds’ schedule still offers plenty of opportunity to bank wins, and the impending return of Jesse Winker should be a major boost to the Cincinnati lineup.
The Phillies still have a shot at the NL East even if they can’t capture the wild card, but after going 2-6 in their last eight games, the bottom line is that Philadelphia needs to get hot in a hurry. The Phils begin a three-game set against the Mets tomorrow and face the Braves in a three-game series at the end of September, but the schedule is otherwise not difficult on paper — 10 games against the Orioles, Pirates, and Marlins. While the bullpen and the back of the rotation continue to be an issue for the Phillies, MVP candidate Bryce Harper is doing his best to try and carry this inconsistent team into the playoffs.
The old “Miracle Mets” nickname might need to be dusted off if 72-75 New York can somehow squeak into the playoffs as either a wild card or as the NL East champions. The Mets are five games out of the division lead and 5.5 games out of the wild card entering today, leaving them with essentially no margin for error the rest of the way. Losing this series with the Phillies might all but officially end the Mets’ chances, but nine games against the Braves, Brewers, and Red Sox still loom on the upcoming schedule.
Just to cover our bases, the NL East-leading Braves will also be included in the poll just in case the Phillies or Mets do steal the division. (Though one would imagine that in that scenario, the Braves would have to slump badly enough to take them out of wild card contention as well.) Following a scorching hot 16-2 stretch in August, Atlanta is only 8-12 over its last 20 games, which is just enough to make things interesting in September. The Braves end their season with six games against the Phillies and Mets, and also have a ten-game road trip featuring six games against the Padres and Giants sandwiched around a four-game set with the cellar-dwelling Diamondbacks.
Who do you think will capture that second wild card slot? (Link to poll for app users)
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/16/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball….
- The Athletics announced that Burch Smith has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, after clearing waivers. Smith was designated for assignment two days ago, and while he could have elected free agency (as a player who has been previously outrighted in his career), the 31-year-old will remain in the Oakland organization. Smith has a 5.40 ERA over 43 1/3 relief innings this season, as while Smith has cut down on the home runs and walks that plagued him earlier in his career, he is missing far fewer bats than usual in 2021. Smith has only a 14.9% strikeout rate this season, after posting a 23.1% strikeout rate over his first 147 2/3 innings in the majors.
- The Nationals announced that infielder Adrian Sanchez cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. Like Smith, Sanchez also could have declined the assignment since he was previously outrighted, as the Nats cut him from their 40-man last October. Sanchez was DFA’ed earlier his week after hitting .257/.316/.314 over 38 plate appearances for Washington, all since being added to the active roster following the trade deadline. Though he just turned 31 last month, Sanchez is already in his 14th season in the Nationals organization, appearing in 106 Major League games since the start of the 2017 season.
Brewers Place Rowdy Tellez On 10-Day Injured List
The Brewers placed first baseman Rowdy Tellez on the 10-day injured list due to a right patella strain. Catcher Luke Maile was called up from Triple-A to fill Tellez’s spot on the active roster.
Tellez has been bothered by the knee problem for a while, manager Craig Counsell told media last night after Tellez was removed during the second inning of Milwaukee’s 3-0 win over the Indians. Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters (including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) today that the team felt the IL was necessary for Tellez even as the team awaits the results of an MRI.
With only three weeks remaining in the regular season, Tellez and the Brewers are certainly hopeful that the slugger’s knee will be ready to go for the postseason. Tellez has become the Brew Crew’s everyday first baseman in the second half of the season, and while he has been rather streaky over his three-plus months in Milwaukee, Tellez has been good enough to stabilize a shaky first base situation.
Since being acquired in a trade from the Blue Jays on July 6, Tellez has hit .270/.329/.474 with seven home runs over 167 plate appearances, good for a 112 OPS+. That would be a significant bat to lose for the playoffs if Tellez’s injury proves serious enough to sideline him into October, though that scenario might not yet be a consideration, at least until Tellez’s MRI results are known.
Daniel Vogelbach can step in as another slugging left-handed first base bat while Tellez is out of action, though Vogelbach’s inconsistency was one of the reasons the Brewers acquired Tellez to shore up first base. Utilityman Jace Peterson and infielder Eduardo Escobar are also options, with the switch-hitting Escobar likely to get some looks at first base when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound.
