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Yankees Place Marcus Stroman On 15-Day IL, Select Allan Winans

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TODAY: Stroman’s MRI revealed swelling but no structural damage, Boone told the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and other reporters.  Stroman received a cortisone shot to help deal with the inflammation.

APRIL 12: The Yankees announced that right-hander Marcus Stroman was placed on the 15-day injured list due to left knee inflammation.  Right-hander Allan Winans is taking Stroman’s spot on the active roster, after Winans’ contract was selected from Triple-A.

It has been a brutal start to the season for Stroman, who has an 11.57 ERA over three starts and 9 1/3 innings.  The lowest point came in the Yankees’ 9-1 loss to the Giants yesterday, as Stroman was charged with five earned runs over an abbreviated start that lasted only two-thirds of an inning.  Following the game, New York manager Aaron Boone said Stroman was dealing with some knee soreness and had undergone x-rays.

Since the issue is being described just as inflammation, it appears as though Stroman has avoided any type of structural damage, even if an IL stint is still necessary.  If the injury ends up being relatively minor and Stroman misses around the 15-day minimum, the absence could essentially act as an unofficial reset to his difficult year.

Missing any time at all could heavily impact Stroman’s contractual future, as he has a vesting option in his contract for the 2026 season.  Stroman is in the final guaranteed season of his two-year, $37MM deal with the Yankees, but he’ll lock in an $18MM player option for 2026 if he pitches at least 140 innings this year.  Stroman logged 154 2/3 innings in 2024, while posting a 4.31 ERA, 49.2% grounder rate, 8.9% walk rate, and a 16.7% strikeout rate that was well below his career norm.

Between this so-so production and up to two years of salary commitments on the way, the Yankees made Stroman available on the trade market last winter, but no takers were found.  New York also seemingly had a rotation surplus that made Stroman expendable, but the Yankees’ pitching depth was quickly reduced when Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery), Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, and JT Brubaker were all lost to the IL.  Schmidt is expected back this coming week, but his return just as Stroman hits the injured list only adds to the Yankees’ difficulties in finding enough healthy arms to cover the rotation workload.

Winans was claimed off waivers from the Braves in January, and was then designated for assignment and outrighted off New York’s 40-man roster in February.  Winans has started all eight of his career MLB games (all with Atlanta in 2023-24) but seems much likelier to take on a long relief role in the Yankees’ bullpen.  Over 40 big league innings, Winans has an ungainly 7.20 ERA, but his minor league numbers are far more impressive.  The righty has a 3.20 ERA in 258 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level, perhaps hinting at some late breakout potential as he enters his age-29 season.

Royals Place Sam Long On 15-Day IL, Call Up Evan Sisk

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The Royals announced that left-hander Sam Long has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing elbow.  Fellow southpaw Evan Sisk was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Sisk will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.

Something has clearly seemed amiss with Long this season, as the reliever has been rocked for 10 earned runs over seven appearances.  The end result is an ugly 12.86 ERA over seven innings, with five walks and three wild pitches indicating a lack of control in the early going.  Long’s struggles are a stark contrast to his solid 3.16 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, and 9.7% walk rate over 42 2/3 relief innings last season, as the Royals got a nice bargain after inking Long to a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason.

It isn’t known if Long was trying to pitch through his elbow discomfort or not, though that could explain his lack of production in 2025.  The diagnosis of inflammation probably means that an initial round of tests didn’t reveal anything too severe, though naturally the Royals will be cautious with any elbow-related injury.

Daniel Lynch IV and Angel Zerpa are the other left-handers in Kansas City’s bullpen, and Sisk now takes Long’s place as the third southpaw in the mix.  The side-arming Sisk turns 28 on April 23, so he’ll get a great early birthday present in the form of his first call to the Show.

A 16th-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2018 draft, Sisk pitched in the St. Louis and Minnesota farm systems before he joined the Royals organization prior to the 2023 season.  Working almost exclusively as a reliever during his minor league career, Sisk is a grounder specialist who can also miss bats, as evidenced by his 27.86% strikeout rate over 157 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.  Sisk also has a 3.48 ERA and a more troubling 12.32% walk rate, as control has been something of an issue throughout his career.

Sisk struggled with Triple-A Omaha in 2023 before blossoming to a 1.57 ERA over 57 1/3 innings with Omaha last season.  This performance still didn’t give Sisk a look on the Royals’ big league roster, but K.C. did add him to the 40-man roster last November as a way of keeping him from minor league free agency.

Astros Notes: Arrighetti, Gusto, Rodgers

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“A really, really freak accident” is now Spencer Arrighetti described the batting-practice incident that resulted in a broken right thumb for the Astros pitcher.  Last Monday, Arrighetti was in the outfield playing catch while the Mariners were taking BP, and a line drive from the batter’s box struck the right-hander before Arrighetti could properly react.  As the pitcher told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, he instinctively covered his head with his hands after someone called out about the incoming line drive, only for the ball to hit Arrighetti’s thumb.

While a broken thumb is still a tough outcome, Arrighetti said “the road back is really clear-cut….We’re going to continually image it over the course of the next few weeks, and as soon as we feel it’s in a place where I’m ready to throw the ball, I’ll throw the ball again.”  Houston general manager Dana Brown said on Friday that the team believes Arrighetti can be back in action in around six weeks’ time, if all goes well with the recovery process.

With Arrighetti sidelined, Ryan Gusto received the opportunity for his first MLB start, though things didn’t exactly go swimmingly for Gusto in Houston’s 4-1 loss to the Angels yesterday.  Gusto allowed three earned runs over his four innings (72 pitches) of work, with two of those runs coming early when Gusto surrendered hits to his first three batters of the game.

The Astros have an off-day on Thursday, so the team technically doesn’t need a fifth starter again until April 22 if the other four starters are kept on their regular rest schedule.  This gives the Astros some time to determine if Gusto will get another start, or if they could return him to bullpen action and use another starter in his stead.  As noted by the Houston Chronicle’s Sam Warren, Brown said on Friday that Triple-A starter Colton Gordon could be called up (in what would be Gordon’s big league debut) to start if the club ultimately decides to keep Gusto in a relief role.

Gusto also made his MLB debut earlier this season, and he posted a 1.13 ERA over his first eight innings and four appearances out of Houston’s pen.  While the Astros don’t want to close the door on Gusto’s potential as a starter in the near term, there is obvious appeal in deploying him as a quality multi-inning reliever.  The fact that Arrighetti will miss at least the next six weeks does allow the Astros some flexibility in figuring how exactly they’ll address the fifth starter spot, as there’s enough time for Gusto to start games and then get moved back into a long relief or swingman role.

Brendan Rodgers hasn’t played in either of the Astros’ last two games due to some left hip soreness, manager Joe Espada told Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle and other reporters.  The injury appears to be pretty minor, as Rodgers felt well enough to take some grounders before Saturday’s game.  Rodgers is off to a respectable start (.250/.351/.313) over his first 37 plate appearances in a Houston uniform, as he went from minor league signing to starting second baseman due to the Astros’ decision to use Jose Altuve primarily as a left fielder.

Blue Jays Notes: Burnes, Bregman, Scherzer, Varsho, Swanson, Burr

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The Blue Jays were one of the kings of the rumor mill this winter, seemingly linked to just about every notable name on the free agent market.  Corbin Burnes was one of those targets, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale sheds some light on the Jays’ pursuit in his notes column today while also countering his own past reporting on the matter.

Back in December, Nightengale wrote that the Jays and Giants offered Burnes more than the six-year, $210MM he received from the Diamondbacks.  Burnes himself described Arizona’s offer as “by far the best offer that we had,” as Nightengale’s latest report notes that the “Giants’ pursuit of Burnes stopped before it really got started.”  As for Toronto, Nightengale now writes that the Jays’ offer “was not only low, but was 75% deferred.”

While the exact dollar figures aren’t known, it seems possible that the Blue Jays might have technically offered more than $210MM, yet the heavy amount of deferred money involved lowered the contract’s current value to below what Burnes got from the D’Backs.  It should be noted that Burnes’ Arizona deal also involves $64MM in deferrals, and the fact that Burnes can opt out of his deal after the 2026 also impacts the financial structure.

Alex Bregman was another name reportedly on the Blue Jays’ target list, yet Nightengale writes that “they didn’t make a single offer to Bregman, let alone engage with him.”  The Jays entered the offseason without a clear answer at second or third base, so it made sense on paper that Toronto would at least check in on Bregman as a solution to the need at the hot corner.  Instead, the Jays acquired Andres Gimenez to become the new everyday second baseman, and stuck with internal options (i.e. Will Wagner, Ernie Clement) to split time at third base.

One free agent Toronto did sign was Max Scherzer, who inked a one-year, $15.5MM contract.  Unfortunately, the longtime star’s Jays debut ended after just three innings due to continued issues with his right thumb, leading to a trip to the 15-day injured list.  The righty received a cortisone shot just under two weeks ago, and Jays manager John Schneider told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that a fresh set of imaging tests taken Friday didn’t reveal any damage.

While this represents some good news, both the team and Scherzer remain in day-to-day mode as they try to figure out the injury that has now bothered Scherzer for the better part of a year.  Scherzer is playing catch and throwing off of flat ground for now, but has yet to bump up his throwing program to prepare for a return to action.

Moving onto some more injury updates, Daulton Varsho will start playing in full extended Spring Training games this coming week.  Varsho underwent rotator cuff surgery last September and began the season on the 10-day injured list as he continued his rehab work.  Throwing remains the final step in the process, as Varsho has yet to start making full throws from the outfield, but presumably he’ll check that box before returning to proper game action.

Despite his semi-injured status, Varsho still got a good deal of work in during the Jays’ actual Spring Training, as he had 37 plate appearances as a designated hitter.  The fact that Varsho has been able to partake in other baseball activities beyond throwing could mean that it might not take him long to get fully ramped up for his eventual return to the Blue Jays’ active roster.  He’ll still surely need a Triple-A rehab assignment, but it appears as though Varsho is on pace to meet his expected timeline of an IL activation before the end of April.

Erik Swanson is also on the road to recovery after a median nerve entrapment in his right arm led to a season-opening stint on the IL.  Swanson will face live hitters this week and is expected to then start a minor league rehab assignment.  Ryan Burr threw a bullpen session yesterday, in the latest step of his rehab after he also started the year on the 15-day IL due to shoulder fatigue.

Pirates Call Up Henry Davis From Triple-A

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5:01pm: The Pirates announced this evening that right-hander Chase Shugart was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Davis on the club’s roster. That will leave Pittsburgh to carry three catchers on the big league roster for the time being, with Davis joining Bart and Rodriguez.

10:41am: The Pirates are calling catcher Henry Davis up from Triple-A Indianapolis, MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports.  No corresponding move is yet known, though Davis’ arrival is likely related to Joey Bart leaving yesterday’s game due to lower back discomfort.

Bart was the starting catcher in Pittsburgh’s 5-3 loss to the Reds, but he was replaced in the field prior to the bottom of the second inning.  The Pirates described Bart’s status as day-to-day, yet having Davis on hand is a wise move even in the short term, so the team wouldn’t be entirely shorthanded behind the plate if backup catcher Endy Rodriguez also picked up an injury.  More will be known later today on Bart’s status, and whether or not he might be headed to the 10-day injured list.

In any case, the situation has led to another big-league look for Davis, the first overall pick of the 2021 draft.  Heralded for his batting ability at the University of Louisville, Davis has yet to show anything at the plate at the MLB level.  After hitting .213/.302/.351 in 255 plate appearances in his 2023 rookie season, Davis had only a .144/.242/.212 slash line in 122 PA last year.  His 2024 campaign was also marred by a pair of IL stints — one on the concussion-related injured list, and another due to hand inflammation.

Davis’ development has taken a few twists and turns, chiefly due to the Bucs’ experiment with Davis as an outfielder, as the team looked for ways to fit both Davis and another top catching prospect in Rodriguez into the lineup at the same time.  This long-term view hit some immediate roadblocks, however, as Rodriguez missed the entire 2024 season due to UCL surgery, plus Bart (also a former top prospect during his time with the Giants) also broke out with solid numbers last year to claim the starting catching job.

The Pirates have now recommitted Davis to a catching-only path, while Rodriguez has seen a good chunk of action at first base in addition to serving as Bart’s backup this season.  Perhaps regardless of how the fielding situation might develop, Davis isn’t going to stick in the Show unless he can hit, and it is still far too early to write Davis off at age 25.  His minor league numbers also hint at the potential, as Davis has a .316/.417/.548 slash line and 15 homers over 346 career PA at the Triple-A level.

Mariners Outright Jesse Hahn

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Jesse Hahn has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.  Hahn cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.  Since Hahn has more than three years’ worth of MLB service time, he has the right to reject that outright assignment in favor of free agency, but there isn’t yet any word on whether or not Hahn will test the market or stick in Seattle’s organization.

Hahn already quickly re-signed with the Mariners on a fresh minor league deal after they released him from a previous minors contract at the end of March, which might hint that Hahn will again stick around in Triple-A.  Hahn’s return to the M’s ended up landing the righty his first taste of Major League action since 2021, after the Mariners selected his contract and deployed him in two games last week.  Hahn threw four scoreless frames in those two appearances, albeit with three hits and four walks in that limited sample.

The 35-year-old Hahn has a 4.17 ERA over 315 1/3 career innings with the Padres, A’s, Royals, and Mariners.  Health issues have cost him big chunks of his career, as Hahn has undergone two Tommy John surgeries, and he also didn’t pitch at all in 2022-23 while recovering from a shoulder issue.  He returned to action to post a 4.29 ERA across 50 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level for the Dodgers and Mariners, as control issues continued to limit Hahn’s effectiveness.

Luis Severino Discusses Offseason Talks With Mets

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Luis Severino is scheduled to start for the Athletics on Sunday when the Mets and A’s face off in Sacramento, and as the veteran righty gets set to face his old team, Severino opened up about New York’s limited pursuit of a reunion last winter when Severino was a free agent.  Severino told SNY and other media members that he had interest in re-signing with the Mets last winter, and said he “told my agent that I’d stay for two years and $40MM.”

This is notably less than the three years and $67MM than Severino received from the Athletics, but the righty was open to the lesser payday.  “I knew it was going to be less money, but I just liked the environment there,” Severino said.  “The trainers were unbelievable, everything there, it was good.  So I was trying to sacrifice more money by staying in a place that I know…I can get better.  But by the end, like I said, I was not in their plans.”

From the Mets’ perspective, the club had some level of interest, though apparently only at an even lesser price.  Severino said he heard from his agent that the Mets’ “only offer they were going to give me was the same deal that they gave [Frankie] Montas.  So I think for me that was not fair.”

New York signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM deal that allows Montas the ability to opt out of the contract following the season.  (Severino’s deal with the A’s also has an opt-out clause following the 2026 season.)  The $17MM average annual value of that contract is also well below the $22.333MM AAV Severino is getting from the Athletics, and also less than the Mets’ one-year, $21.05MM qualifying offer that Severino turned down last fall.

Even if Severino was willing to drop to a $20MM AAV with his proposed two-year, $40MM contract, a further haircut down to $17MM was a bridge too far for the 31-year-old, especially given the interest he was garnering from other teams.  The Cubs and Blue Jays were publicly linked to Severino’s market before he surprised many by joining the low-payroll A’s, whose uncharacteristic spending spree this winter was more than a little related to the team’s desire to post a minimum luxury tax number related to its revenue-sharing recipient status.

Apart from the unique circumstances of the Mets’ record-setting splurge to add Juan Soto, president of baseball operations David Stearns was otherwise relatively measured in his offseason transactions, as evidenced by the lengthy staring contest of a negotiation with Pete Alonso before the slugger returned to the fold.  It could be that Stearns simply didn’t value Severino beyond a particular price point, or that the Mets prioritized Alonso and Sean Manaea (who both also received qualifying offers) moreso than Severino.

The QO perhaps factored into the Mets’ decision process in another fashion, as the Mets ended up down one draft pick overall for the winter despite having three players rejecting QOs.  The compensatory pick the Mets received for Severino ended up being one of the two picks the Mets had to surrender as compensation for signing Soto.  Of course, the club didn’t get any compensation for re-signing their own free agents — Alonso re-upped for two years and $54MM (with an opt-out after this season), and Manaea for a three-year, $75MM deal that contains $23.75MM in deferred money, dropping the current value in terms of luxury tax numbers to roughly $22MM per season.

Severino signed a one-year, $13MM deal with New York in the 2023-24 offseason, which he viewed as a bounce-back contract after several injury-plagued years with the Yankees.  The plan worked out well, as Severino had a solid 3.91 ERA over 182 innings with the Mets that paid off in the form of his three-year commitment from the Athletics.  It proved to be a win from the Mets’ perspective as well, as Severino provided steady rotation work for a team that made the NLCS, and New York even get an extra draft pick back for its investment.

Time will tell if the A’s made a wise move in locking up Severino, or if the Mets made a good call in letting him walk.  In the short term, however, some second-guessing is inevitable since both Manaea and Montas are hurt.  Manaea will be out until late May at the earliest after suffering an oblique strain and then a setback in his rehab, while Montas also figures to be out until roughly mid-May after a lat strain cost him all of Spring Training.  Severino has a modest 4.74 ERA over his three starts in an Athletics uniform, but he is at least healthy and on the mound, whereas the Mets have already had their rotation depth stretched in the early going.

White Sox Place Austin Slater On 10-Day IL Due To Right Meniscus Tear

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Austin Slater has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a meniscus tear in his right knee.  The IL placement is retroactive to April 11.  Outfielder Greg Jones was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

With Andrew Benintendi (groin strain) and Mike Tauchman (hamstring strain) already on the IL, Chicago’s outfield has now been further reduced by Slater’s injury, which looks to be significantly longer term in nature depending on the severity of the tear.  The best-case scenario could see Slater back on the field in a few weeks’ time, while he might be shelved for a couple of months if surgery is required.  Manager Will Venable told SoxMachine’s JamesFegan and other reporters that the team doesn’t have a timeline yet for Slater.

This is actually the second injury Slater has suffered during his brief tenure with the White Sox, after an oblique issue cost him a couple of weeks during Spring Training.  Slater signed a one-year contract worth $1.75MM in guaranteed money back in November, as the Sox aimed to use the right-handed hitting Slater in a platoon capacity in one or both of the corner outfield positions.  Now, all of Chicago’s planned corner outfield candidates are on the IL, leaving Michael A. Taylor, Brooks Baldwin, Joshua Palacios, and now Jones as the makeshift group flanking center fielder Luis Robert Jr.

Slater posted solid to very good numbers as a part-timer with San Francisco from 2020-23, but his production cratered badly last year, as he slashed just .209/.321/.266 over 212 combined plate appearances with the Giants, Reds, and Orioles.  He has actually logged more big league innings as a center fielder than he has in left or right field, though defensive metrics indicate that Slater is much better suited to corner outfield work.

Nationals Place CJ Abrams On 10-Day Injured List

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The Nationals announced that shortstop CJ Abrams has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hip flexor strain.  Infielder Nasim Nunez was called up from Triple-A to take Abrams’ spot on the active roster.

Abrams’ injury has been bothering him for the better part of a week, as he didn’t play on Monday or Tuesday before returning to action on Wednesday.  The Nationals didn’t play on Thursday, but that extra day of rest didn’t help Abrams, as he made an early exit during the fourth inning of Friday’s game with the Marlins.  Manager Davey Martinez told reporters (including MLB.com’s Santos Perez) that Abrams had hip discomfort while trying to steal a base in the top of the third, and then again when fielding a grounder in the bottom half of the inning.

Given the lingering nature of the injury, it isn’t surprising that the Nats decided to shut Abrams down entirely for at least 10 days to let him fully shake the hip issue.  Paul DeJong will likely shift over from third base to take over most of the starting duties at shortstop, with Amed Rosario and Jose Tena probably handling things at third.  Nunez also has a lot of shortstop experience in the minor leagues, and the former Rule 5 Draft pick figures to get some playing time in his second MLB season.

Not that there’s ever a great time to visit the IL, but the placement cuts short Abrams’ heavy-hitting start to the 2025 campaign.  Abrams has already hit four homers and delivered a .585 slugging percentage in his first 46 trips to the plate, even if his batting average (.244) and OBP (.289) are far more modest.

Abrams also had a big first half in 2024, earning the shortstop a spot on the NL All-Star team.  Just when it looked like Abrams was having a proper breakout year, however, his production tailed off in the second half, and he was optioned to Triple-A for the last week of the season as a disciplinary response to an off-the-field issue.  Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo made a point of confirming his team’s commitment and belief in Abrams during the Nats’ end-of-season press conference, and the matter might end up being a footnote if Abrams continues as a cornerstone piece for a Nationals team that is emerging from the end of a rebuild.

Athletics Designate Angel Perdomo For Assignment

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The Athletics announced that left-hander Angel Perdomo has been designated for assignment.  Right-hander J.T. Ginn was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move, and Ginn will get the start today against the Mets in West Sacramento.

Perdomo has only been in West Sacramento for two weeks, after the A’s claimed him off waivers from the Angels following another DFA.  This brief stint saw Perdomo make four relief appearances for the Athletics, posting a 5.40 ERA across 3 1/3 innings of work.  Perdomo pitched in yesterday’s game (albeit with only nine pitches in one-third of an inning), so he was the odd man out given the Athletics’ need to open up a roster spot for Ginn today.

Perdomo is out of minor league options, so the A’s had to designate him and expose him to the waiver wire before sending him to Triple-A.  If he does clear waivers, Perdomo has the ability to reject an outright assignment and become a free agent, since he has been previously outrighted off a 40-man roster during his career.

Tommy John surgery kept Perdomo off the mound entirely in 2024, and his return to action hasn’t seen an answer to the control problems that have plagued the southpaw for much of his limited MLB career.  Perdomo has a 16% career walk rate across his 52 career big league innings with the Brewers, Pirates, and Athletics, and a 5.54 career ERA reflects the lack of control.  Perdomo has only two strikeouts in 19 batters faced this year, but owns a whopping 34.2% strikeout rate over his time in the majors.

This ability to miss bats has gotten Perdomo attention from multiple teams.  The Braves took a flier on Perdomo with a split contract in the wake of his 2023 TJ procedure, but after getting a look at him in action this spring, Atlanta dealt Perdomo to the Angels late in camp.  The lefty’s time in the Angels’ camp was also limited to just a few days before he was designated and claimed away by the A’s.  It could be that another team in need of southpaw depth could be willing to make a claim and take a shot at fixing Perdomo’s control, since even an average amount of walks combined with his strikeout power could make him an interesting bullpen weapon.

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