Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

NL East Notes: Soto, Fried, Guillorme

By Mark Polishuk and TC Zencka | May 2, 2021 at 6:12pm CDT

Juan Soto was placed on the injured list on April 20, so the Nationals have already been without their superstar hitter beyond the 10-day minimum as Soto works his way back from a strained left shoulder. However, manager Davey Martinez updated reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) about Soto’s progress today, noting that Soto has started throwing from 120-foot distances. The next step is for Soto to throw to particular bases, and Zuckerman suggests that if Soto goes through this drill on Monday’s off-day, the outfielder could potentially be activated in time for Tuesday’s game with the Braves.

Throwing is the only real roadblock to Soto’s return, as Martinez said the slugger doesn’t feel any discomfort while swinging. As a result, Soto has been staying sharp at the plate by “hitting off that velo machine, we’ve got machines that throw breaking balls,” Martinez said. Soto was in the process of another big season (.300/.410/.460) in his first 61 plate appearances before heading to the injured list.

Braves Place Travis d’Arnaud On 60-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | May 2, 2021 at 3:40pm CDT

May 2: The Braves moved d’Arnaud to the 60-day injured list after it was revealed that he has a torn thumb ligament which will require surgery, tweets the Athletic’s David O’Brien. The Braves hope to get d’Arnaud back late in the season, but that’s far from a guarantee, especially with the injury on his catching hand.

May 1: Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud is headed to the injured list after suffering a left thumb injury in tonight’s game with the Blue Jays, manager Brian Snitker told David O’Brien of The Athletic and other reporters. More will be known about d’Arnaud’s injury after he undergoes tests, though Snitker bluntly described the situation as “not good.” D’Arnaud isn’t staying with the team on the road, as he is heading back to Atlanta to visit team doctors on Sunday.

D’Arnaud suffered the injury on a play at the plate in the sixth inning. The catcher tagged out Randal Grichuk on Grichuk’s attempt to score from first on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. double, but d’Arnaud immediately indicated he was hurt, and was replaced in the game by Alex Jackson.

William Contreras will be called up prior to tomorrow’s game to take d’Arnaud’s spot on the active roster. Contreras made his MLB debut with four games for Atlanta last season, and it is perhaps little surprising that the Braves are going with the inexperienced Contreras over 14-year veteran Jeff Mathis, who signed a minor league deal just prior to Opening Day.

Atlanta does have a full 40-man roster, however, and would have to open up a spot in order to officially select Mathis’ contract. Contreras is also a noteworthy prospect (ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Braves’ sixth-best minor leaguer), and it could be that the team wants to give Contreras some seasoning in advance of a potentially larger role for 2022 and beyond.

D’Arnaud was off to a slow start this season, hitting .220/.253/.341 through his first 87 PA. Though d’Arnaud has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, he was able to stay mostly healthy in 2019-20 and was very productive, including a .321/.386/.533 performance over 184 PA in 2020 that won him a Silver Slugger Award. It was a strong early return on the two-year, $16MM free agent deal the Braves made with d’Arnaud in the 2019-20 offseason.

Dodgers Place Dustin May On 10-Day IL, Select Mike Kickham

By Mark Polishuk | May 2, 2021 at 12:54pm CDT

TODAY: May’s placement is official, with the “right arm injury” designation. Left-hander Mike Kickham’s contract was selected from the alternate training site in a corresponding move. To create a 40-man roster spot for Kickham, the Dodgers moved right-hander Corey Knebel to the 60-day IL.

Kickham signed a minor league deal with L.A. in January, after a 2020 season that saw him toss 14 innings for the Red Sox. It was Kickham’s first MLB action since pitching with the Giants in 2014, as he had toiled away in the minors looking for another opportunity.

MAY 1, 11:28PM: The Dodgers will place May on the 10-day injured list on Sunday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett). In terms of a longer-term prognosis, Roberts said “we remain hopeful but we won’t know until we get an MRI,” adding that May will get that MRI when the Dodgers arrive in Chicago on Monday for the beginning of a series with the Cubs. According to the manager, May felt “a shooting sensation” in his arm.

8:34PM: The Dodgers released a very general first report on May, saying that he only left the game with a “right arm injury.”

7:05PM: Dodgers right-hander Dustin May made an early exit from his start against the Brewers tonight due to an apparent injury. After throwing a pitch to Billy McKinney with two out in the bottom of the second inning, May visibly winced in discomfort, and left the game after a visit from the team trainer.

More will be known when the Dodgers release an update on May’s condition, but obviously any sort of an injury that requires an injured-list placement isn’t good news for either May or the Dodgers rotation as a whole. Though Los Angeles still has one of the league’s best rotations, the club has been hit hard by pitching injuries, with seven hurlers currently on the IL. That list of names includes David Price and Tony Gonsolin, who were competing with May for a rotation spot during Spring Training.

May won that battle and has been impressive in the early going, posting a 2.53 ERA, 57.4% grounder rate, and one of the league’s best strikeout rates (37.2%) over 21 1/3 innings heading into tonight’s start against Milwaukee. A heralded pitching prospect on his way up the Dodgers’ minor league ladder, May posted a 2.98 ERA over 90 2/3 innings in 2019-20, and finished fifth in NL Rookie Of The Year voting in 2020. As usual with their pitchers, the Dodgers have been pretty flexible with May’s usage, deploying him mostly as a starter in 2020 but moving him to the bullpen and giving him opener-style “starts” during the team’s postseason run.

Injury Notes: Yardley, Brewers, Kirk, Stripling

By Mark Polishuk | May 2, 2021 at 8:22am CDT

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Brewers placed right-hander Eric Yardley on the 10-day injured list (placement retroactive to April 30) due to a right shoulder strain. An extreme grounder specialist, Yardley posted a 1.80 ERA over 35 innings with the Padres and Brewers in 2019-20, but struggled to a 5.73 ERA over his first 11 innings of 2021.

Yardley is the seventh pitcher and the 16th player overall on an incredibly crowded Milwaukee injured list. Despite missing so many key players, the Brewers are still 16-10 and in first place in the NL Central, though one wonders if the loss of healthy manpower will eventually catch up to the team. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy provided a rundown of known or estimated return dates for the 16 players, with a few unknowns based on a lack of information (such as Corbin Burnes’ placement on the COVID-19 injured list).

More on some injury situations from around baseball…

Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk left Saturday’s game due to left hip flexor discomfort. Kirk was just 24 hours removed from his biggest performance of the season, hitting two homers in the Jays’ 13-5 victory over the Braves on Friday. For the year, Kirk is hitting .225/.326/.475 over 46 PA, good for a 127 wRC+. Danny Jansen would assume starting duties in Kirk’s absence, and since Toronto has an open 40-man roster spot, Reese McGuire or veteran Juan Graterol could be selected to the roster in the event of an IL visit for Kirk. (Riley Adams and Gabriel Moreno are the only catchers on the 40-man but neither has any MLB experience.)
In better injury news for the Blue Jays, manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith) that Ross Stripling is expected to start against the Braves on Sunday. Stripling hasn’t pitched since April 8 due to a flexor strain, and given his absence, his outing tomorrow is probably likely to be limited to a few innings rather than a full starter’s workload.

Jordan Hicks Leaves Game Due To Right Arm Tightness

By Mark Polishuk | May 1, 2021 at 9:56pm CDT

9:56PM: Hicks was experiencing soreness and inflammation in his elbow, manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Ryan Herrera and other reporters.

9:28PM: Cardinals right-hander Jordan Hicks left tonight’s game due to what the team described as “right arm tightness.” Hicks began the seventh inning and allowed a hit over two-thirds of an inning before leaving the game. As per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Twitter, “Hicks had a noticeable wince and flex of the arm” after tossing his final pitch.

The Cards’ announcement specified that Hicks was removed for precautionary reasons, though that preliminary diagnosis of arm tightness is certainly cause for concern given Hicks’ injury history. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2019 and didn’t pitch at all in 2020 — he opted out of the season due to COVID concerns as a sufferer of Type 1 diabetes, and Hicks’ rehab may have kept from returning to the mound altogether before the regular season was out.

St. Louis hasn’t rushed Hicks back by any stretch, limiting him to middle relief outings and set-up duty rather than save situations. To date, Hicks also hasn’t pitched on consecutive days.

It’s been something of a mixed bag for Hicks in the 10 innings pitched since his long layoff. He has a 5.40 ERA/5.91 SIERA that can be largely attributed to a tough outing against the Reds on April 23, as Hicks has a 2.79 ERA over his other nine appearances. Hicks has thus far been among the best in the game at limiting hard contact, and Hicks has technically lost a bit of velocity by his high standards, but it’s probably fair to say that he isn’t exactly in decline with “only” a 99.4mph average fastball after averaging in the triple digits in the 2018-19 seasons. On the downside, Hicks’ his 24.4% strikeout rate is almost exactly league average, and he has as many walks (10) as strikeouts.

Blue Jays Acquire Paxton Schultz From Brewers

By Mark Polishuk | May 1, 2021 at 8:08pm CDT

The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Paxton Schultz from the Brewers, according to a Jays team announcement. The move completes a past move between the two clubs, as Schultz is the player to be named later in the February trade that saw Derek Fisher head from Toronto to Milwaukee.

Schultz was a 2019 draft pick, selected in the 14th round by the Brewers out of Utah Valley University. He mostly worked as a starter in college, though he has thus far worked out of the bullpen for 15 of his 17 pro games.

Schultz posted a 3.86 ERA over 23 1/3 innings in rookie ball in 2019, but since the 2020 minor league season was canceled, he was one of six Milwaukee prospects sent to the Australian Baseball League as per the team’s partnership with the ABL’s Brisbane Bandits. The righty got to appear in eight games with Brisbane, posting a 3.29 ERA over 17 1/3 innings and posting a 17-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Pennsylvania Notes: Hayes, Goodwin, Howard, Realmuto

By Mark Polishuk | May 1, 2021 at 6:21pm CDT

The latest on the Keystone State’s two MLB teams…

Pirates GM Ben Cherington provided reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) with an update on Ke’Bryan Hayes, saying that the third baseman hasn’t yet started to swing a bat, but is still “feeling improvement” in his bothersome wrist. Hayes has been sidelined since the second game of the season and has already been dealt with one setback in his recovery process. Cherington didn’t give a timetable on a potential return for Hayes, though he will be joining the Pirates on their upcoming road trip from May 3-9.
Brian Goodwin wasn’t on the list of names slated for the Pirates’ preliminary Triple-A roster, and Cherington told The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel that the team hopes to have the situation with Goodwin’s opt-out clause settled in a day or two. Goodwin’s minor league deal with the Bucs contains an opt-out clause in May, and it remains to be seen if that opt-out date could be extended, or if Goodwin could leave the organization, or even if Goodwin could be called up to the Pittsburgh roster. Gregory Polanco, Bryan Reynolds, and utilityman Phillip Evans comprise the team’s first-choice starting outfield mix, with utilityman Wilmer Difo and recent waiver claim Ka’ai Tom on the bench. The veteran Goodwin would certainly represent a more experienced, outfield-only presence on the roster, and Goodwin can play all three positions. As per the terms of the minor league deal, Goodwin would earn $1.6MM if he made Pittsburgh’s active roster.
The Phillies announced earlier this week that top pitching prospect Spencer Howard was going to be stretched out for a rotation spot, though president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski provided a bit more detail on Howard’s role to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters. Howard might technically start a game, but “we’re talking about giving him two-, three-, maybe even a four-inning type of thing,” Dombrowski said. “But we’re not talking about stretching him out to those number of innings where you consider him as a starting-starting pitcher, per se.” Between Howard’s health history and the lost 2020 minor league season, the Phillies are being careful with their young hurler’s arm, targeting him for an unspecified innings limit in 2021. The Phils initially aimed to use Howard as a reliever this season, but plans changed given the lack of production from the fourth and fifth spots in the team’s rotation.
J.T. Realmuto has been out of the Phillies’ starting lineup for two straight games due to a sore left hand. The catcher suffered the injury while trying to block a wild pitch in Thursday’s game, with the ball hitting the heel of Realmuto’s hand. It isn’t yet known how much more time Realmuto will miss, though it might not be too serious a situation, considering Rafael Marchan was optioned back to the alternate training site earlier today — Realmuto and Andrew Knapp are the only catchers on Philadelphia’s 26-man roster.

Mariners Designate Jacob Nottingham

By Mark Polishuk | May 1, 2021 at 4:44pm CDT

The Mariners have designated catcher Jacob Nottingham for assignment, the team announced. Right-hander Wyatt Mills was called up from the alternate training site in a corresponding move.

It’s the second DFA in a little over a week for Nottingham, who was only just claimed by Seattle off the Brewers’ roster on April 28. Nottingham might now be moving on without ever officially appearing in a Mariners uniform if another team makes a claim. (Given how Milwaukee just lost starting catcher Omar Narvaez to the injured list, one wonders if the Brewers could reunite with their former backstop.) Nottingham is out of minor league options, which is why neither the Mariners or Brewers could simply stash him in the minors.

The 26-year-old Nottingham has a .203/.306/.432 slash line over 85 career plate appearances in the majors, appearing in 30 games total with Milwaukee from 2018-20. A sixth-round pick for the Astros in the 2013 draft, Nottingham played in the minors with the Astros and Athletics before going to the Brewers as part of the Khris Davis trade in February 2016.

Mills was a third-round pick for Seattle in the 2017 draft, and is a local product who hails from Spokane and attended Gonzaga. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the 22nd-best prospect in the Mariners’ farm system, with Mills showing some extra intrigue after displaying a velocity bump (up to 97mph) in Arizona Fall League play. Mills has “primarily relied on a fastball-slider combination to miss bats and generate a ton of groundouts,” according to Pipeline, with “high spin rates” on both pitches. Mills has a 3.57 ERA over 126 minor league innings, all as a relief pitcher.

Rockies Place Antonio Senzatela On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | May 1, 2021 at 4:22pm CDT

The Rockies announced that righty Antonio Senzatela has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right groin strain. Left-hander Lucas Gilbreath has been called up from the alternate training site in the corresponding move.

The injury compounds a tough beginning to the season for Senzatela, who has a 5.76 ERA through six starts. The ERA is perhaps a bit deceptive, as he allowed seven runs over 3 1/3 innings in his first outing of the season and a 4.10 ERA in in his five outings, though Senzatela’s Statcast metrics aren’t terribly impressive. The grounder specialist has his typically strong ground-ball rate (52.4%) but his 13.1% strikeout rate is among the league’s lowest. Senzatela’s arsenal has made him a decent back-of-the-rotation option for Colorado over the last three seasons, and he had a 3.44 ERA over 73 1/3 frames in 2020.

It isn’t known if Senzatela will miss much time beyond the minimum 10 days, and with Kyle Freeland already on the IL, Colorado is facing an early test of its pitching depth. In filling Senzatela’s rotation spot, the Rockies could turn to Jhoulys Chacin on the big league roster, or perhaps Jose Mujica, Ryan Castellani, or Antonio Santos from the minor leagues. Veteran Ivan Nova was also recently signed to a minors deal.

Gilbreath isn’t likely an option, since MLB Pipeline’s scouting report notes that the Rockies moved Gilbreath to a relief role in 2020. A seventh-round pick for Colorado in the 2017 draft, Gilbreath has a 5.35 ERA and 21.6% strikeout rate over 303 minor league innings, none above the high-A level. Gilbreath has started 59 of his 66 career games down on the farm, but his two-pitch combo of a plus fastball and slider could make him better suited to bullpen work going forward. Pipeline ranks Gilbreath as the 26th-best prospect in the Rockies’ farm system.

Nationals’ Luis Avilan Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | April 28, 2021 at 9:28pm CDT

APRIL 28: Avilan has undergone the procedure, per Martinez (via Camerato). The 31-year-old is planning to rehab and continue his career.

APRIL 19: Avilan has decided to undergo Tommy John surgery, Martinez told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman).

APRIL 17: Nationals left-hander Luis Avilan suffered a tear in his left UCL, and the veteran reliever is now going to “weigh his options” in deciding how to address the injury, manager Davey Martinez told MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato and other reporters.

“He’s got options whether to sit out and see if it heals or, when you talk about a UCL, it usually has Tommy John surgery,” Martinez said. “I feel awful, as we always do when somebody gets hurt. But we wish him well and wish him a quick recovery, whichever way he decides to go.”

The injury occurred on Thursday, when Avilan tossed two shutout innings in Washington’s 11-6 loss to the Diamondbacks. It was seemingly a solid bounce-back outing after a brutal inning of work (six earned runs allowed) against the Cardinals two days earlier, though it now might result in a significant setback to Avilan’s career.

Avilan signed a minor league contract with the Nats in December, and locked in a $950K salary after he made the team’s Opening Day roster. After posting solid numbers over his first seven MLB seasons, Avilan struggled to a 5.06 ERA over 32 innings with the Mets in 2019 and then a shoulder problem limited him to 8 1/3 innings with the Yankees in 2020. The Nationals are the seventh different team of Avilan’s ten-year career in the bigs.

The Nats placed Avilan on the 10-day injured list yesterday, and even if Avilan opts against TJ surgery, he’ll still need quite a bit of recovery time (and likely a shift to the 60-day IL) before returning to the mound. In the worst-case event of a Tommy John procedure, Avilan faces a layoff of 13 to 15 months.

With Avilan sidelined, closer Brad Hand and Sam Clay are the only left-handers in the Nationals’ bullpen. Seth Romero and Ben Braymer are also on the 40-man roster, though Braymer could be seen more as rotation depth.

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