The Opener: AL Central, Royals, Yamamoto
With just over a month to go in the 2024 regular season, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Rubber match for the AL Central:
The Guardians held a comfortable lead in the AL Central for much of the season, but they’ve seen that lead evaporate in recent weeks. Since the calendar has flipped to August, Cleveland has posted a record of just 10-16. Meanwhile, the Royals have surged ahead in the standings with a 15-9 record while their rival has been in free fall, culminating in Kansas City taking the first three games of their current four game set with the Guardians. That’s left them tied with Cleveland for the AL Central crown, leaving today’s fourth game to decide which club will walk away with a lead in the division with the September stretch run just around the corner. Cleveland will send right-hander Tanner Bibee (3.46 ERA) to the mound opposite veteran righty Michael Wacha (3.32 ERA) in a game scheduled for 1:10pm local time.
2. Royals undergoing testing:
While Kansas City duels Cleveland for the AL Central lead, they’ll also be anxiously awaiting the results of testing on a couple of key pieces. The most consequential of those is superstar shortstop and AL MVP contender Bobby Witt Jr., who was hit in the hand by a pitch during yesterday’s game in a moment that sparked concern for Royals fans despite their star remaining in the game. As noted by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, preliminary strength tests were encouraging, but the Royals were nonetheless sending Witt for an x-ray to make certain he hadn’t sustained a more serious injury. While it seems likely that Witt, who has slashed .346/.399/.614 while swiping 27 bases and playing elite defense at shortstop, will be able to avoid a stint on the IL, the same may not be true for right-hander Michael Lorenzen.
Lorenzen came to the Royals in a trade with the Rangers and has been excellent, posting a 1.80 ERA through five starts on his new team. Unfortunately, Lorenzen’s start yesterday lasted just 1 2/3 innings after he strained his right hamstring on a play at first base. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Lorenzen is headed back to Kansas City today to undergo an MRI that will determine the severity of the issue, but manager Matt Quatraro expressed skepticism that Lorenzen would be ready to make his next start.
3. Yamamoto to begin rehab assignment:
Dodgers phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to take a big step forward as he works toward a return from the rotator cuff strain that sidelined him back in June. Yamamoto, who was among the biggest names on the offseason free agent market despite having never thrown a pitch in the big leagues before, impressed with a 2.92 ERA and 2.68 FIP in 14 starts before his season was derailed by injury. Today, he’s set to take the mound for his first official game in more than two months when he joins the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City for a rehab start against the Rangers’ Round Rock affiliate. Yamamoto will be pitching opposite two-time top-10 draft pick Kumar Rocker in what will be his Triple-A debut, giving tonight’s minor league match up some star power on both sides of the field.
The Opener: Red Sox, Jones, Pitchers’ Duel
On the heels of some early morning transaction news, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Red Sox 40-man move incoming:
The Red Sox are poised to select the contract of veteran left-hander Rich Hill today. Hill, 44, will have participated in the 20th MLB season of his career when he next takes the mound for his hometown team. Before the team can welcome the veteran back into the fold, however, they’ll need to clear space on the 40-man and active rosters. With no obvious candidates for a 60-day IL stint currently at the club’s disposal, that space figures to come by way of a player being designated for assignment. That decision should be coming down the pipeline later today, ahead of their game against the Blue Jays that’s scheduled to begin at 7:10pm local time.
2. Jones to return to action:
The Pirates have been without one of their best rotation arms for nearly two months now, as right-handed rookie Jared Jones has been on the 15-day IL with a lat strain since early July. That’ll change today, however, as Pittsburgh plans to activate Jones ahead of a start against the Cubs in a game scheduled for 6:40pm local time. He’ll get a tough assignment in his first start back with the club as he takes the ball opposite southpaw Justin Steele (3.07 ERA). Jones is no slouch himself, of course, as the 23-year-old righty pitched to a strong 3.56 ERA through 16 starts with the Pirates prior to his injury while striking out an impressive 26.4% of batters faced. Since Jones was never placed on the 60-day IL, only an active roster move will be necessary to make room for the rookie’s return this evening.
3. Pitchers’ Duel in Philadelphia:
After a close series opener in Philadelphia last night, Astros and Phillies fans are in for an exciting starting pitching matchup in Game 2 this evening. On the mound for Houston will be future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in his second start since returning from the injured list. The 41-year-old veteran of 19 MLB seasons hasn’t quite pitched to the level that earned him his third career Cy Young Award back in 2022, but he’s still be an effective hurler overall with a 3.92 ERA and a 22% strikeout rate in 11 starts this year. Verlander is also coming off a solid performance against Boston his last time out, where he posted five innings of two-run ball while striking out six.
Opposite Verlander will be longtime Phillie Aaron Nola, who is enjoying a nice performance in the first season of the seven-year deal he signed back in November. In 159 1/3 innings of work across 26 starts this year, Nola has pitched to a strong 3.45 ERA with a 22.6% strikeout rate. While that production has arguably made him only the third or fourth starter in a vaunted Phillies rotation this year, it’s still a strong record commensurate with Nola’s reputation as one of the league’s top arms. The 31-year-old’s last time out was quite similar to that of Verlander, as he posted 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball while striking out five opponents. The pair are scheduled to begin their duel at 6:40pm local time this evening.
Red Sox To Select Rich Hill
The Red Sox are selecting the contract of veteran left-hander Rich Hill, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. Corresponding moves will be necessary to make room for Hill on both the 40-man and active rosters.
Hill, 44, is now poised to pitch in the 20th major league season of his career once activated. The veteran hurler reportedly turned down major league offers over the winter in order to take an unorthodox approach to continuing his career and sign with a club in need of pitching in the second half to contribute down the stretch. Boston gave him just that opportunity after losing recently-acquired veteran southpaw James Paxton to a calf strain that ended his regular season after just three starts with Boston. Thanks in part to that injury, Hill is now back in the majors with his hometown team for the fourth time in a lengthy career that’s seen him pitch for 13 of the league’s 30 clubs. The lefty first pitched for the Red Sox from 2010-12 before returning for one-year stints with the club in both 2015 (when he shared a clubhouse with current Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow) and 2022.
It’s not yet clear what the lefty’s role in Boston will be once added to the roster, though with a relatively full rotation that features Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Cooper Criswell, and Brayan Bello it seems most likely that Hill is ticketed for a multi-inning relief role. That’ll be a major change of pace for the lefty, who hasn’t pitched in relief on a regular basis since 2014 outside of a five-appearance stint with the Padres last year after he struggled badly as a member of the rotation in San Diego. Out of the rotation, Hill has largely been a run-of-the-mill back-end starter by the results in recent years, with a 4.38 ERA (96 ERA+) and 4.36 FIP to match in 468 innings of work since the start of the 2020 season.
That might not immediately make Hill seem like an appealing candidate for a relief role, particularly when considering that he averaged just 88.4 mph on his fastball last year. With that being said, it’s worth noting that Hill’s first exposure to a relief role in a decade last year actually went fairly well: he posted a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings down the stretch with the Padres, though a 19.1% strikeout rate against a 10.6% walk rate in that limited sample size left something to be desired. Hill’s lone appearance with the Triple-A WooSox in preparation for his return to the majors saw him start the game but pitch just two innings on 28 pitches where he allowed no hits and one walk against two strikeouts. If the veteran lefty can offer that sort of production out of the Boston bullpen on a semi-regular basis, he’d be a considerable upgrade over Brad Keller in a long relief role.
The Red Sox aren’t currently in the playoff picture as they currently sit five games back of the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. That being said, Hill will be eligible for the postseason in the event that Boston manages to sneak in with a strong final month of the regular season. That would’ve been true even if he didn’t have his contract selected before the start of September because the league routinely allows players on minor league deals to participate in the postseason as substitutes for injured players, but that exception won’t be necessary for Hill because he’s now poised to join the 40-man roster before September 1.
The Opener: Crews, Moore, Waivers
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Crews to debut:
Just a few months after Pirates right-hander and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes made his big league debut, he’s now set to be joined in the major leagues by his former LSU teammate and No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft: Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews. The 22-year-old Crews was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport entering the year and has slashed .270/.342/.451 in 100 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Crews has swatted 13 home runs, posted an impressive 25-for-30 record on the basepaths, walked at an 8% rate and fanned in 20.5% of his plate appearances.
With regular right fielder Alex Call hitting the 10-day IL over the weekend, it seems likely that Crews will take the lion’s share of starts there alongside fellow top prospect James Wood in left and glove-first speedster Jacob Young in center. That will likely leave struggling veteran Joey Gallo relegated to a part time role as a first baseman and DH alongside Juan Yepez and Andres Chaparro. Crews’ first big league appearance is set to come at home in D.C. against the Yankees, who will be starting southpaw Nestor Cortes (4.00 ERA) in tonight’s game.
2. Moore being evaluated for elbow issue:
Veteran southpaw Matt Moore is dealing with an injury scare after exiting yesterday’s loss to the Blue Jays in the middle of an at-bat against infielder Ernie Clement. Moore’s departure was preceded by a two-run homer served up to Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk, but Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to note after the game that the lefty’s exit was due to an elbow issue rather than his performance. Angels manager Ron Washington told reporters after the game that the club’s current plan is to re-evaluate Moore today after they travel to Detroit for tomorrow’s game, so it’s possible an update on the 35-year-old’s status won’t be available until then. It’s been a tough season for Moore, who was one of the best lefty relievers in baseball from 2022-23 but has seen his ERA balloon to 5.03 in 48 1/3 innings this year. His strikeout rate has dipped below 20% while his walk rate has crept up to a hefty 12.4%.
3. Taylor on waivers—with more to come?
Yesterday saw the Pirates place center fielder Michael A. Taylor on waivers, offering any of the league’s other 29 clubs the opportunity to claim the veteran for nothing other than the remainder of his contract. Taylor figures to be the first of several veterans waived in the coming days, as out-of-contention clubs hoping to shed a bit of salary while presenting veterans an opportunity to join a postseason push for the season’s final month.
Given the fact that players acquired after the calendar flips to September are not eligible for postseason rosters, players placed on waivers over the next few days are likely to have the best odds of being claimed. Just under a year ago, the Angels were the most proactive team in parting ways with players via the waiver wire when they allowed a handful of veterans headlined by Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to hit the waiver wire.
Cardinals Place Willson Contreras On 15-Day IL Due To Finger Fracture
TODAY: The Cardinals officially announced the IL placement for Contreras, and Herrera’s promotion to the active roster.
AUGUST 24: Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras has suffered a fracture to his right middle finger and is headed for the injured list, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Per Goold, catcher Ivan Herrera is expected to replace Contreras on the active roster tomorrow. Contreras suffered the injury when he was hit by a pitch during the club’s loss to the Twins this evening, and a specific timetable for his return is not yet available. Per Goold, Contreras is set to undergo scanning on the injured finger on Monday that could help determine the length of his absence.
While it’s not yet clear exactly how long Contreras figures to be out due to the injury, the news is nonetheless an incredibly frustrating development for the Cardinals. The 32-year-old has been among the club’s most reliable hitters this season with an excellent .263/.379/.470 slash line (141 wRC+) this season but has struggled to stay on the field between this latest injury and a broken arm suffered back in May when he was struck with a backswing after St. Louis coaches suggested he move closer to the plate to improve his pitch framing. With just over a month remaining in the regular season, a lengthy absence for Contreras could spell the end of his 2024 campaign.
Even if Contreras manages to return before the year comes to an end, it’s a worrisome omen for the Cardinals’ dwindling playoff aspirations. The club dropped to a 64-65 record today that puts them below .500 and in third place in the NL Central behind both the Brewers and Cubs. Given Milwaukee’s near-insurmountable 10.5 game lead in the division, however, the club’s playoff hopes have been more focused on the Wild Card in recent weeks. Unfortunately, the Cardinals are now six games back of the Braves for the final NL Wild Card spot and would not only need to make up that deficit but also surpass the Cubs, Giants, and Mets in the standings to claim a spot in the postseason.
Much of the club’s struggles this year have been due to an offense that has been rather lackluster this season. The club’s collective wRC+ of 97 is 18th in the majors, down from 13th with a 103 wRC+ when compared to last year’s 91-loss team. Improvements in the club’s rotation have helped to make the club more competitive than they were last year, but improving the starting staff’s collective ERA from 5.08 last year to 4.46 this season has not been enough to overcome the struggles of key offensive players from last year’s club like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Nolan Gorman.
On an offense that’s seen only Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn, and Brendan Donovan post numbers more than 5% better than league average by wRC+ among its qualified hitters, it’s hard to overstate the importance of Contreras as a middle-of-the-order power bat for the Cardinals. With the veteran backstop now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the club will now need to hope for improvements from pieces like Arenado and Lars Nootbaar down the stretch to keep what little playoff hopes the club has alive.
They’ll also need young catchers Herrera and Pedro Pages to step up and perform in Contreras’s absence. Pages, 25, has been a suitable back-up for Contreras this year with a .250/.299/.364 slash line that’s good for an 86 wRC+, and his .326/.356/.442 slash line since the All-Star break is encouraging, though it comes in a limited sample size of just 14 games. That leaves Herrera as perhaps the better bet to draw regular starts behind the plate. The 24-year-old youngster has seen action in parts of three big league seasons but got his first extended look earlier this year and performed solidly with a .279/.340/.378 slash line (105 wRC+) and excellent peripheral numbers such as a 9.0% barrel rate that suggest the possibility of positive regression in his future. Herrera has continued to hit quite well since he returned to Triple-A early last month, with a .280/.402/.473 slash line in 112 trips to the plate since being sent back down.
Hunter Greene Avoids UCL Damage, MRI Reveals Elbow Inflammation
When Reds ace Hunter Greene was first placed on the 15-day injured list last week, there was some optimism that the right-hander would only require a minimum stay on the shelf to combat the issue. Unfortunately, that hope has faded in the aftermath of an MRI on Greene’s elbow that revealed inflammation. As noted by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the club received three medical opinions on Greene’s arm confirmed that the ace’s UCL has not been damaged in what Bell and Greene have described as a “best case scenario.”
While that’s certainly heartening news for Reds fans, Wittenmyer notes that Greene now appears to be ticketed for an absence that will extend well past the minimum 15 days previously hoped for, as the right-hander is now not expected to resume throwing until the inflammation dissipates, which Greene suggested could take as long as two weeks. With just over a month left to go in the regular season and Cincinnati’s playoff hopes this season remote at best, that timeline could call into question whether or not the hard-throwing righty will be able to return this year. As relayed by Wittenmyer, Greene was noncommittal about his timeline for return, though he did note he hopes to pitch again this year:
“I have no clue,” Greene said when asked when he’ll be able to return. “I’d like to be able to finish with two or three more starts, but I’ve got to see how I feel in a few days or a week.”
While it does not currently appear guaranteed that Greene will be able to return to the big league mound this season, it certainly can’t be ruled out. If Greene remains shut down for two weeks, he would resume throwing in early September. It’s at least feasible to imagine that he would be able to go out for a brief rehab assignment in the middle of the month before making a couple of starts in the final weeks of the season, though such a timeline would likely require no setbacks and a somewhat limited pitch count for Greene upon his return.
Regardless of whether or note Greene is able to make it back to the big leagues this year, the fact that his UCL remains undamaged and he figures to be fully healthy for Spring Training 2025 is surely heartening news for the Reds. Even if he doesn’t throw another pitch for the club this year, Greene’s 2024 season has been an unequivocal success as he’s posted a dominant 2.83 ERA in 143 1/3 innings across 24 starts. While Greene’s 9.1% walk rate and batted ball profiles have left advanced stats somewhat less impressed with his work this year (3.41 FIP, 3.75 SIERA, 4.16 xFIP), his excellent results are backed up by premium stuff that’s allowed him to post a 27.8% strikeout rate this year.
With Greene’s breakout allowing the Reds to pencil a bonafide top-of-the-rotation arm into their rotation next season, it’s not hard to imagine much brighter days ahead in Cincinnati despite their lackluster 63-67 record this season. After all, the club figures to benefit not only from the dynamic duo of Greene and Elly De La Cruz but also returns to action from key youngsters like Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand who were hampered by injuries this year.
West Notes: Tucker, Darvish, Doval
The Astros have surged ahead of the free-falling Mariners to take control of the AL West after a rough start to the season, and they’ve largely done that without one of their best hitters. Outfielder Kyle Tucker was nothing short of incredible early in the season with a .266/.395/.584 slash line in 60 games that helped to keep Houston afloat in the midst of their early-season struggles, but hasn’t appeared in a game since June 3 after suffering a shin contusion that’s kept him out of action ever since.
Now, it appears the 27-year-old may finally be nearing a return to action after an initial target of a return early in the second half quickly turned into doubt over whether or not he’d contribute in the majors before September. In his latest update regarding the situation, GM Dana Brown suggested that he thinks Tucker will be able to return to the big league lineup during the first week of September. While a specific timeline for Tucker’s return is surely encouraging for Astros fans, The Athletic’s Chandler Rome cautions that Tucker has not yet begun running the bases or sprinting at full speed yet, and that he won’t be able to begin a rehab assignment until those boxes have been checked.
With that being said, Brown seemed to suggest yesterday (as relayed by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) that the club could start pushing Tucker more aggressively in the near future, noting that the outfielder is currently “push[ing] a little harder” to “see where it goes.” Whenever he’s ready to return, Tucker is sure to provide a spark to an Astros lineup that will be looking to create more space between themselves and the Mariners, who currently sit 4.5 games back of them in the AL West race.
More from around MLB’s West divisions…
- Moving over to the NL, the Padres reinstated veteran right-hander Yu Darvish from the restricted list yesterday. Darvish is not yet back on the big league roster, however, as he was placed back on the 15-day injured list. The 38-year-old hurler had been shelved due to hamstring and elbow issues prior to his placement on the restricted list due to an undisclosed family matter in early July. Fortunately, manager Mike Shildt clarified to reporters (including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union Tribune) earlier today that Darvish is no longer dealing with any physical issues and that his placement on the injured list is instead a mechanism to allow him time to build up toward returning to the club’s rotation. Darvish last threw an official pitch during a minor league rehab assignment back in June and last pitched in the majors on May 29, so it’s hardly a surprise that he’ll need time to build his stamina back up before he can return to the rotation. The veteran was pitching quite well prior to his lengthy layoff, with a 3.20 ERA and 3.52 FIP in 11 starts, and figures to be a major asset for the Padres down the stretch and into the postseason once he’s built up enough stamina to return. The righty will face live hitters tomorrow before the club determines his next steps.
- The Giants optioned longtime closer Camilo Doval to Triple-A earlier this month amid struggles that saw the 27-year-old’s ERA balloon up to 4.70 after sitting at an excellent 2.78 at the end of May and a decent 3.93 as recently as mid-July. With a 6.75 ERA from the month of June onward and a disastrous run of eight appearances prior to his option where he posted an 8.59 ERA and walked 16.7% of opponents, San Francisco sent their star reliever to reset in the minor leagues. As first reported by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic this morning, however, Doval is now back in the majors after impressing in five appearances at the Triple-A level. The right-hander threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings against the Mariners tonight, during which he struck out two on one hit and no walks. Despite his return to action, however, Doval will not be returning to the closer’s role, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to note that manager Bob Melvin is planning to keep Ryan Walker as the club’s primary ninth-inning option going forward.
Dodgers Notes: Ohtani, Yamamoto, Glasnow
Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani just took the first major step towards his anticipated return to pitching next season. As noted by The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, Ohtani threw off the mound for the first time since he underwent elbow surgery just over eleven months ago. While today’s ten-pitch bullpen session won’t change the fact that Ohtani isn’t going to pitch in the majors this year, it’s the latest indicator that the league’s biggest star is well on his way to returning to two-way play in time for the Dodgers to open the 2025 regular season with a two-game set against the Cubs in Japan next year.
While Ohtani won’t throw an official pitch for the Dodgers in the first year of his record-shattering ten-year deal with the club, that hasn’t stopped the 30-year-old from being a dominant force for the club as they head for their 12th-consecutive playoff appearance. Ohtani is currently the consensus favorite for this year’s NL MVP award, which would be the third MVP of his career after he captured the AL MVP award in both 2021 and 2023 with the Angels. In 126 games with the Dodgers this year, Ohtani has slashed an incredible .292/.378/.614 (170 wRC+) across 578 trips to the plate. He became just the sixth player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season last night, joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, and Ronald Acuna Jr.
That dominant offensive performance has allowed Ohtani to emerge as the most consistent threat in a star-studded Dodgers lineup. That’s thanks in part to his sturdiness; while fellow superstars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have both missed time this year, Ohtani has appeared in 126 of the Dodgers’ 129 games, leaving him tied with Teoscar Hernandez for the club lead in games played this year. With the surging Diamondbacks and Padres sitting just 3.5 and 4.5 games back respectively of L.A. in the race of the NL West, the Dodgers figure to continue leaning on Ohtani to lead their offense to their 11th NL West title in the past 12 years.
More from the Dodgers…
- While Ohtani sets his sights on returning to the mound in 2025, his fellow nine-figure free agent addition from this past offseason is hoping to pitch in the majors much sooner than that. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is making significant progress toward a return to action after being sidelined by a rotator cuff strain back in June. According to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Yamamoto threw a two-inning simulated game earlier this week and is scheduled to throw his next bullpen session on Monday. Should that session go well, manager Dave Roberts indicated to reporters yesterday that Yamamoto would be in line to begin a rehab assignment this coming Wednesday. The 25-year-old righty was as-advertised in 14 starts prior to the injury this year with a 2.92 ERA and 2.68 FIP with an excellent 27.9% strikeout rate in 74 innings of work to this point in his big league career. [UPDATE: Roberts said on Sunday that Yamamoto will indeed start his rehab assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday.]
- The future is significantly murkier regarding the Dodgers’ third major offseason addition, however, as manager Dave Roberts today described the rehab plan for right-hander Tyler Glasnow as a “slow process” to reporters (including Ardaya). The righty was placed on the 15-day injured list just last week due to elbow tendinitis and while Roberts relayed that he has already resumed playing catch from 60 feet, he did not provide a timeline for the hard-throwing ace’s return to action beyond saying that Glasnow’s regular season is not in jeopardy as things stand. With the Dodgers extremely well-positioned for a postseason berth headed into the regular season’s final month, it’s not necessarily a shock that the club would be extremely careful with the 31-year-old in hopes of ensuring his healthy return for the playoffs this October.
Mariners Notes: Servais, Robles, Rodriguez, Crawford
6:41pm: Crawford is beginning his rehab assignment earlier than expected, as Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto relayed this evening that the shortstop will be in the Rainier’s lineup this evening batting second and playing shortstop.
6:00pm: The Mariners parted ways with longtime manager Scott Servais earlier this week, and the now ex-manager spoke with reporters on the club’s beat (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) yesterday regarding his time in Seattle and the club’s decision to part ways with him.
Servais indicated during his remarks that he had previously thought that if the club missed the playoffs this year, that could lead to the end of his nine-year tenure as the Mariners’ manager. Even, so Servais expressed surprise at the club’s decision to part ways with him midseason, noting (as relayed by Kramer) that his “expectation was that [he’d] get to finish out the year” while also adding that he first heard of his dismissal via news alert on his phone prior to his in-person meeting with Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, an experience that Servais described as “alarming.”
The 57-year-old was first hired to lead the Mariners back in 2016. Servais had a 681-642 record during his time at the helm of the Mariners, good for a .515 winning percentage despite the fact that his teams made the postseason just once back in 2021 and never won the AL West under his guidance. Despite that relative lack of on-field success, Servais received votes for the AL Manager of the Year award three times during his tenure with the Mariners, including a third-place finish in 2022 and a second-place finish behind two-time winner Kevin Cash back in 2021.
Per Kramer, Servais indicated to reporters that he hopes his split with Seattle won’t mark the end of his managerial career. At least one job opportunity is set to be available this winter after the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol earlier this month. Grady Sizemore is currently acting as the club’s interim manager, although White Sox brass have already indicated that the club expects to look for a long-term solution outside of the organization. There’s also some level of uncertainty in the Rockies dugout as the club waits until after the season to discuss the future of manager Bud Black amid what officially became the club’s sixth consecutive losing season yesterday with their 0-3 loss to the Yankees.
More from around Seattle…
- The club was dealt a bit of an injury scare earlier today when outfielder Victor Robles was struck by a pitch on his right hand during today’s game against the Giants. He exited the game after the incident, but the club fortunately announced shortly thereafter that x-rays had come back negative on the former top prospect’s hand and that he had been diagnosed with a right index finger contusion. The 27-year-old has impressed with a .280/.340/.413 slash line and a 14-0 record on the basepaths in 50 games with the Mariners since signing with them back in June, and while losing their leadoff hitter for any amount of time will surely be a blow, Seattle is a bit better equipped to handle an absence from Robles after young phenom Julio Rodriguez returned to center field yesterday. The 23-year-old has been back from a recent high ankle sprain for two weeks now but had been relegated to DH-only duties until yesterday, when he was finally cleared to return to the field. That kicked Robles over to right field, which now figures to be covered by some combination of Mitch Haniger, Dominic Canzone, and Luke Raley as he nurses his injured finger.
- While it’s possible that today’s finger contusion could keep Robles out of the lineup for the time being, the Mariners did receive some refreshing injury news yesterday when reporters spoke to shortstop J.P. Crawford as relayed by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker. Crawford took batting practice on the field yesterday and, in conversation with reporters afterwards, indicated that he could begin a rehab assignment early in this next coming week. Crawford has been out for just over a month now while nursing a fractured pinkie finger. The 29-year-old was in the midst of a down season when bitten by the injury bug, with a .204/.299/.347 slash line in 77 games this year, and switch-hitting rookie Leo Rivas has impressed in 26 games while covering for the club’s regular shortstop. Still, Crawford’s return should improve the club’s overall infield mix by allowing Rivas to help carry the load at second and third base alongside Jorge Polanco and Josh Rojas.
Orioles Outright Bruce Zimmermann
The Orioles announced this afternoon that left-hander Bruce Zimmermann has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A. The 29-year-old was designated for assignment earlier this week amid a flurry of roster moves that saw recently-acquired southpaw Trevor Rogers optioned to the minor leagues.
Zimmermann was selected by the Braves in the fifth round of the 2017 draft but was traded to the Orioles during the summer of 2018 as part of the package that brought Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta. The lefty reached the Triple-A level the following year after dominating to the tune of a 2.58 ERA in 101 1/3 innings of work at Double-A earlier in the year, and that stint at the highest level of the minors teed him up for his big league debut with Baltimore during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That debut didn’t go quite as well as Zimmermann and the Orioles were surely hoping for, however, as he struggled badly with a 7.71 ERA in his seven-inning cup of coffee that year.
The lefty enjoyed a larger role with the Orioles over the next two seasons as he stepped into a rotation role with the club, though he was limited to about half of a full season’s workload in both years by injuries and occasional trips to Triple-A. Zimmermann’s results were about what you’d expect from a part-time starter for a club in the midst of a lengthy rebuild, as he struggled to a 5.54 ERA that was 25% worse than league average with a 5.74 FIP across a combined 138 innings of work in those years.
Zimmermann was removed from the rotation entering the 2023 campaign and spent most of the campaign at the Triple-A level, although he did make a brief appearance in the big leagues as a multi-inning reliever that summer. He performed passably in the new role, with a below-average 4.73 ERA in his 13 1/3 innings of work but a solid 23% strikeout rate that stood as a considerable step up from his lackluster 17.4% strikeout rate during his time as a starter. The lefty has not yet appeared in the big leagues in 2024 after undergoing core muscle surgery last October, although he has made it back to the minor leagues where he’s pitched to a middling 4.64 ERA in 66 innings of work at the Triple-A level with a somewhat concerning 8.5% walk rate that’s quite a bit higher than the 5.2% clip he’s posted in the big leagues to this point in his career.
Now that Zimmermann is off the 40-man roster, he figures to remain with with Orioles as non-roster depth through the end of the season, at which point he’ll have the opportunity to elect free agency if he hasn’t been added back to the 40-man by then. The lefty is currently in his final option year, meaning that Baltimore would have the opportunity to shuttle him between Triple-A and the majors as needed down the stretch if they were to add him back to the roster at some point.