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Dodgers Place Julio Urias On 10-Day Injured List

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The Dodgers have placed left-hander Julio Urias on the 10-day injured list due to a left calf contusion.  The open roster spot will be filled by utilityman Zach McKinstry, who has been recalled from Triple-A.

Urias was hit by a pitch in his left calf during last night’s 6-5 Dodgers win over the Mets, though the southpaw went on to pitch two more innings after sustaining the injury.  Assuming that this IL placement is only related to that incident, this could be a pretty minimal absence for Urias, who could end up missing only one start due to an August 23 off-day on the Dodgers’ schedule.  It would leave Los Angeles even more short-handed in the rotation, but the team could conceivably cover Urias’ one missed outing with a bullpen game.

Amidst all of the Dodgers’ pitching injuries, Urias (whose 25th birthday was two days ago) has been a source of stability, tossing 139 2/3 innings over 24 starts.  He has also has an above-average 26.4% strikeout rate and an outstanding 5.3% walk rate while posting a 3.29 ERA.  After playing a huge role in the Dodgers’ championship run last October, Urias looks poised to deliver more important innings for the team this postseason.

Astros Activate Yuli Gurriel, Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List

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The Astros are exchanging one offensive star for another, as Yuli Gurriel was activated off the 10-day injured list today, but outfielder Kyle Tucker is now heading to the IL.  No specific reason was given for Tucker’s placement beyond health and safety protocols.

Gurriel’s IL stint retroactively began on August 3, so he is back after a minimal absence due to neck stiffness.  The 37-year-old will now resume what has been the finest of his six MLB seasons, as Gurriel is hitting .324/.388/.490 with 12 home runs over 417 plate appearances as Houston’s everyday first baseman.  Gurriel has delivered both quality contact and quantity, as he has one of the lowest strikeout rates of any player in baseball — he has almost as many walks (41) as strikeouts (45) this season.

Tucker isn’t far off Gurriel’s overall offensive production, as the outfielder has 22 homers and a .272/.334/.519 slash line over 420 plate appearances.  The non-specific nature of Tucker’s placement would hint that his absence is related to COVID-19, though it could be due to contact tracing or general symptoms rather than an actual positive test for the coronavirus.  (As a reminder, teams aren’t obligated to publicly disclose reasons why a player is on the COVID list.)  Tucker already spent a week on the COVID list in June for precautionary reasons after he displayed flu-like symptoms.

Luis Severino To Undergo MRI On Right Shoulder

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Yankees right-hander Luis Severino reported tightness in his throwing shoulder yesterday, and was scratched from a planned Triple-A rehab start.  MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reported that Severino will see doctors on Monday, with Yankees manager Aaron Boone telling reporters (including Newsday’s Erik Boland) that Severino will undergo an MRI.  More will be known once Severino is examined, with Boone expressing hope at this point that the injury is only “something minor,” and saying “I feel awful for [Severino]” in the wake of yet another potential injury setback.

Severino missed much of the 2019 season due to shoulder and lat injuries, and then didn’t pitch at all in 2020 because of Tommy John surgery.  His return from that rehab was tentatively scheduled for around the All-Star break before he suffered a groin injury in June that pushed his timetable back another month.  The righty had already made four minor league rehab appearances, and it is possible Friday’s outing might have been his final hurdle before finally returning to the Yankees’ active roster.

Now, it is fair to wonder if Severino might be sidelined for another full season, given the timing of this shoulder issue.  Anything beyond basic soreness could require another shutdown, so it could conceivably be September before Severino again appears in a game.  It’s worth noting that Severino didn’t make his 2019 debut until September 17 (appearing in three regular-season games before starting two postseason contests), though even this usage may not be feasible depending on the nature of this new shoulder problem.  After such a long layoff, the last thing the Yankees would want is for Severino to incur yet another injury due to a desire just to get any game action in for the 2021 season.

The Bronx Bombers have long been counting on Severino to provide a late boost to the pitching staff, especially considering the team’s pitching ranks have been decimated by other injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak.  On the latter front, there is some good news, as Boone said Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery threw bullpen sessions yesterday and are on pace to be activated from the COVID list early next week.

Yankees Sign Sal Romano To Minors Contract

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The Yankees have signed righty Sal Romano to a minor league contract.  Conor Foley of The Scranton Times-Tribune (Twitter link) was the first to report that Romano was working out today with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.

Romano is back with the Yankees less than three weeks after being designated for assignment by New York and then claimed off waivers by the Brewers.  Romano pitched in just one game for Milwaukee before being designated again, and he chose to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Brewers’ Triple-A club.

This makes it four uniform changes in less than three months for Romano, who began the season with the Reds before declining another outright assignment to catch on with the Yankees on his previous minor league deal.  Romano is out of minor league options, so he could face yet another round of DFA limbo should New York recall him to the big leagues and then again cut ties to make roster space for another player.

Amidst all the movement, Romano has a 5.63 ERA over 24 total innings in 2021 (one with the Brewers, 2 1/3 IP with the Yankees, and 20 2/3 with the Reds).  A veteran of five Major League seasons, Romano has a 5.18 ERA over 274 1/3 career innings, all with Cincinnati prior to 2021.

Marlins Designate Shawn Morimando, Place Zach Pop On 10-Day Injured List

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The Marlins have designated left-hander Shawn Morimando for assignment and placed righty Zach Pop on the 10-day injured list.  Right-hander Jorge Guzman and left-hander Sean Guenther were called up from Triple-A to take the two spots on the active roster.  (MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola was among those to report the moves.)

Pop has been sidelined with soreness in the middle finger of his throwing hand, interrupting a very respectable rookie season for the 24-year-old.  Over his first 43 1/3 innings in the majors, Pop has a 4.36 ERA/4.05 SIERA, plus a 58.1% grounder rate that has continued his reputation from the minors as a groundball specialist.  The Marlins landed Pop via the Rule 5 Draft (acquiring the right-hander from the Diamondbacks after Arizona drafted him out of the Orioles’ organization), and Pop has certainly pitched well enough to remain on the MLB roster for the entire season, so Miami will retain his rights going forward.

This is the second time the Marlins have DFA’ed Morimando this season, with the first designation resulting in an outright assignment to Triple-A for the southpaw.  After making his big league debut with Cleveland in 2016, Morimando didn’t receive another MLB opportunity until this season, when he posted a 9.58 ERA over 10 1/3 innings for the Marlins.

Cubs Place Adbert Alzolay On 10-Day Injured List

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The Cubs have placed right-hander Adbert Alzolay on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain.  Righty Trevor Megill was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Alzolay left his start last night in the second inning due to the injury, adding to a disastrous inning for the Cubs that saw the Marlins score 11 runs en route to a 14-10 victory.  Alzolay was charged with six of those runs over his 1 1/3 innings of work, his worst performance in what has been an inconsistent season for the 26-year-old.  Alzolay has a 5.16 ERA over 106 1/3 frames in 2021, as above-average walk and strikeouts rates haven’t been enough to counter a lot of hard contact from opposing batters against Alzolay’s offerings.

After posting a 2.95 ERA over a small sample size of 21 1/3 innings last season, Alzolay was seen as a candidate to step forward and establish himself as a regular member of Chicago’s rotation.  Given how the Cubs have dealt much of their veteran pitching beyond Kyle Hendricks, Alzolay is still a candidate for the 2022 staff almost by default.  Once he returns from the IL, Alzolay will get the rest of this season to make his case heading into Spring Training and ahead of whatever pitching additions the Cubs could make this winter.

Yu Darvish Leaves Game Due To Lower Back Tightness

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Yu Darvish made a quick exit from tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks, lasting just 2 2/3 innings and allowing five runs.  Darvish was removed after a mound visit from the team trainer, and the Padres announced that Darvish left due to lower back tightness.

With San Diego already short-handed in the rotation, the last thing the Padres need is an injury to Darvish, the team’s leader in innings despite a minimum 10-day trip to injured list in July (Darvish’s absence covered the All-Star break).  Left hip inflammation was the cause of that IL visit, and tonight’s rough outing continues an inconsistent run for the right-hander since the start of July.  Darvish had a 6.34 ERA over his previous six starts, though he seemed to have turned a corner with a very strong performance (7 IP, two ER, 12 K, no walks) in his last game on August 7, also against the Diamondbacks.

Darvish’s next scheduled start is on Tuesday against the Rockies at Coors Field, and it is possible the Padres could push Darvish back a couple of days even if an IL trip isn’t required.  However, that only further hampers a rotation already down to four regular starters in Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell, and Ryan Weathers.  Craig Stammen is being stretched out for starter or opener duty in tandem with rookie Reiss Knehr, as San Diego continues to look for ways to fill innings with Chris Paddack and Dinelson Lamet still on the injured list.

Latest On Shane Bieber

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TODAY: Bieber is tentatively slated to throw a bullpen session tomorrow or Saturday, Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told MLB.com’s Mandy Bell and other reporters.

AUGUST 8: Indians ace Shane Bieber was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a shoulder strain back on June 14, then moved to the 60-day IL two weeks ago.  That sets August 15 as the earliest Bieber can make his return to Cleveland’s rotation, yet it doesn’t look at the moment like the right-hander will be ready until well beyond that date.

Bieber was recently shut down from throwing altogether, though that shutdown only lasted a few days, as the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner was making tosses from 90 feet on Friday.

“I’m not super enthused about the fact that it’s taken a little bit longer than expected, but it is what it is and we gotta think safety and long-term,” Bieber told The Akron Beacon Journal’s Ryan Lewis and other reporters.  “So it came down to getting a little bit of rest and I’m sure you can tell that I’m excited and want to come back as soon as possible….I don’t know too much on a timeline or whatever, but I’m just trying to progress as smoothly and quickly as possible and get back as soon as possible.  Whether it’s a couple innings this season, who knows?”

Given that we’re now into the second week of August, Lewis notes that it might not be either possible or feasible for Bieber to pitch again this season.  Between pitching off a mound, bullpen sessions, and rehab outings, Bieber isn’t likely to be ready until the start of September at the earliest.

Cleveland currently has a 53-55 record and is well behind in both the AL Central and wild card races, so unless the Tribe considerably closes either gap in the near future, the Indians could opt to shut Bieber down and look ahead to the 2022 season.  On the other hand, if Bieber is indeed healthy and ready to pitch by (for instance) mid-September, there also might not be any harm in him getting “a couple innings” under his belt just so he can fully put his shoulder injury behind him, rather than wait until Spring Training in February.

The Tribe were racked by pitching injuries this season, with Bieber’s shoulder issue robbing him of a chance to fully follow up on his outstanding 2020 campaign.  The right-hander wasn’t quite at his all-world Cy Young form in 2021, but he still delivered a 3.28 ERA and a 33.9% strikeout rate that ranked among the league’s best.  With Bieber only entering arbitration eligibility for the first time this winter, he is still a major building block for a Cleveland team that will look to return to contention as they begin the Guardians era next year.

Angels Notes: Ohtani, Trout, Rendon, Stassi

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Shohei Ohtani’s epic season has made him one of the most fascinating players in recent memory, and his contract status may only add to that intrigue.  Ohtani is controlled through the 2023 campaign (via the final year of his current two-year contract with the Angels and then a final arbitration-eligible season) and as ESPN’s Buster Olney writes, speculation has already begun about whether a potential Ohtani extension would set new precedents.  Rival evaluators feel the Angels could be best served to work out an extension with Ohtani this winter, in order to figure out as soon as possible how to best manage a difficult payroll situation.

It is hard to imagine that the Angels would trade Ohtani or let him walk in free agency, yet Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are also committed to huge salaries and not going anywhere.  Olney estimates that retaining that trio of stars could put Los Angeles on the hook for roughly $120MM-$130MM per year, which wouldn’t leave the Angels with much wiggle room in filling out the rest of the roster.  While the luxury tax thresholds could rise in the next collective bargaining agreement and owner Arte Moreno has been willing to spend big, the Angels haven’t paid a tax bill since 2004.  With Albert Pujols’ deal still on the books until the end of the season, the Angels are used to top-heavy payrolls, but that tactic has left the team unable to amass much in the way of depth (especially on the pitching side) and the Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015.

More from the Halos…

  • The team hasn’t yet any discussions about the possibility of shutting Trout down for the season, GM Perry Minasian told MLB.com’s Daniel Guerrero and other reporters.  Trout is continuing to recover from a right calf strain that has kept him off the field since May 17, and the three-time AL MVP already experienced one setback last month that added a lot of uncertainty to his timeline.  Since the Angels are a longshot in the postseason race, there wouldn’t seem to be any urgency to get Trout back for what amount to just a few weeks of meaningless September games.  Minasian said that “we will not rush [Trout].  We want him to feel good about how his calf feels,” though he noted that the outfielder is “doing everything he can in his power to get back as soon as he can.”
  • Rendon talked to The Athletic’s Sam Blum (Twitter links) and other reporters about his season-ending hip surgery, which is scheduled to take place next week.  Rendon spent much of the season on the injured list with a variety of injuries stemming from his hip problem, leaving the third baseman feeling “weak” and like he “had no legs” throughout his 58 games played.  The idea is that the surgery will fix the problem once and for all, and Rendon is hopeful that he’ll be ready for the start of Spring Training in February.
  • X-rays were negative on Max Stassi’s forearm after the catcher was hit by an Alek Manoah pitch yesterday and was forced to leave the game.  Angels manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group) that Stassi is undergoing some more tests but is feeling better, and he might be available to come off the bench in a defensive capacity tonight.  Stassi has rather quietly been on fire since the start of the 2020 season, hitting .285/.362/.511 with 17 home runs over his last 309 PA.  Of players with at least 300 PA in 2020-21, only 23 players have a better wRC+ than Stassi’s 139 mark.

Dinelson Lamet Undergoes Procedure For Hip Infection

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Dinelson Lamet’s right arm has been an injury concern for the better part of a year, but the Padres hurler has now hit another roadblock in his recovery from forearm inflammation.  Manager Jayce Tingler told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) that Lamet underwent a procedure yesterday to have a hip infection “cleaned out,” and it will result in more missed time.  “It’s gonna be a little while, because they had to go in and cut some things out,” Tingler said.  “Is that a week or 10-day setback?  I don’t know yet.”

While Tingler’s mention of a 7-10 day timeframe would seemingly indicate that this might not be a major delay for Lamet, there is obviously still uncertainly, considering that Lamet will have to recover from this procedure on top of his planned forearm rehab.  Lamet began a minor league rehab assignment on August 4 that has consisted of one in-game appearance and a pair of live batting practice sessions.  Since the Padres were already planning to bring Lamet back as a reliever rather than as a starter, he didn’t need to build as much strength in his arm, so there was some thought that Lamet might have been activated off the injured list within a week or so.

Lamet suffered a UCL strain near the end of last season, which delayed his 2021 season debut until April 21.  From there, he had a 10-day stint on the IL due to forearm inflammation prior to his current injured list visit, which began on June 27.  All in all, Lamet has tossed only 34 1/3 innings, and his absences have been a major factor in the Padres’ lack of rotation depth.

When Lamet has pitched, he has performed pretty well — a 3.67 ERA/3.88 SIERA and above-average strikeout and walk rates, though opposing batters were making a lot of hard contact against the right-hander’s offerings.  While it represents a step backwards from Lamet’s outstanding 2020 numbers, it certainly stands to reason that he can be a big weapon out of San Diego’s bullpen, once he eventually gets back onto a big league mound.

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