Marlins Place Braxton Garrett On 15-Day Injured List With Forearm Flexor Strain
The Marlins announced several roster moves this morning, headlined by the club placing left-hander Braxton Garrett on the 15-Day injured list with a left forearm flexor strain. The club also optioned right-hander Shaun Anderson to Triple-A. Taking Garrett and Anderson’s spots on the club’s active roster will be right-hander Kyle Tyler and left-hander Kent Emanuel, both of whom had their contracts selected. Left-hander Jesus Luzardo and right-hander Edward Cabrera were both transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear space for the duo on the 40-man roster.
Garrett’s placement on the injured list isn’t necessarily a surprise, as the club had already scratched him from today’s start due to elbow soreness yesterday. With that being said, the diagnosis of a forearm flexor strain is a concerning one that suggests Garrett could be in for a lengthy absence, though details about his exact timeline are not yet available. For Marlins fans, it surely brings to mind September of last year, when the Marlins provided the same diagnosis for right-hander Sandy Alcantara before the ace ultimately required Tommy John surgery.
Fortunately, not all forearm strains require such drastic treatment. Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray suffered a similarly-termed strain back in April that ultimately proved to be purely muscular without damage to the UCL. Gray is currently on a rehab assignment and could factor into the Nationals’ pitching plans prior to the All Star break, roughly three months after the initial injury. A similar timeline could see Cabrera return sometime in September, prior to the end of the 2024 campaign.
Regardless of when Cabrera winds up being able to return to the club, however, the Marlins figure to be in a bit of a pickle as they look to piece together their rotation mix. Miami currently has seven starters on the injured list, leaving them with lefty Trevor Rogers, righty Roddery Munoz, and righty Yonny Chirinos as their only three established starting pitchers. That trio will be joined by Tyler, who is slated to start today’s game against the Mariners. A 20th-round pick by the Angels in the 2018 draft, the righty has made eight multi-inning relief appearances in the big leagues since he first made his MLB debut back in 2021, though he’s never started a game at the big league level.
He’s pitched fairly well in his limited opportunities in the majors with a 2.45 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 18 1/3 innings of work. That includes a single appearance with the Marlins earlier this year where he allowed one run in two frames where he allowed one hit and no walks with one strikeout. It’s unclear if Tyler will continue to pitch as part of the club’s rotation after today or if this is a spot start for the 27-year-old. Also joining Tyler on the active roster is the lefty Emanuel, who has been shuttling between the 40-man roster and the minor leagues all throughout the 2024 campaign for the Marlins. In 8 1/3 innings of work for the club this year across four appearances, Emanuel has struggled to a 7.56 ERA with an 8.19 FIP. Nonetheless, the southpaw will provide the club with a multi-inning option out of the bullpen who could piggyback with the right-handed Tyler if necessary this afternoon.
As for Luzardo and Cabrerea, the 60-day IL placements come as a mild surprise for both players. In Luzardo’s case, the lefty was placed on the IL just yesterday with a lumbar stress reaction, and manager Skip Schumaker suggested that injury typically has a 4-6 week timeline. Now that Luzardo is out for at least the next two months, it’s safe to say the Marlins believe he’ll be out for longer than that general timeline. He’ll first be eligible to return from the shelf in late August. Cabrera’s placement also somewhat surprising given the fact that he’s already built up to the 50-pitch range on a rehab assignment, though given the fact that the righty would be eligible to be activated from the shelf in just two weeks it could be a purely procedural transaction.
Orelvis Martinez Receives 80-Game Suspension Following Positive PED Test
The MLB commissioner’s office announced this morning that Blue Jays infielder Orelvis Martinez has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Clomiphene, a banned performance enhancing substance. The suspension is effective immediately. Martinez has since been placed on the restricted list, and the Blue Jays have selected the contract of outfielder Steward Berroa to replace the infielder on the active and 40-man rosters.
“The Blue Jays fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, and strongly believe in keeping the game on a level playing field,” Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said in a statement this morning. “We were both surprised and disappointed to hear of Orelvis Martinez’s suspension. We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from this mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”
Martinez released a statement of his own via the MLB Players Association:
“For the past two years, I have been trying to start a family with my girlfriend. During the offseason, we visited a fertility clinic in the Dominican Republic and after getting lab work done, we were prescribed a treatment, which included a medication called Rejun 50. Unfortunately, Rejun 50 contains a banned substance called Clomiphene.
We wanted to keep this matter private, even within our family, and trusted the doctor who assured us this treatment did not include performance enhancing drugs. Therefore, I made the mistake of not disclosing this to my team or the MLBPA. With that said, I took full responsibility for my actions and accepted my suspension.
I want to apologize to my teammates in both Buffalo and Toronto, the Blue Jays organization, and most importantly, the fans who have supported me during my career. I will learn from this experience and come back to the field in September.”
The news is a major blow to the Blue Jays, who recalled Martinez for his big league debut just this past week to join the club’s infield mix after shortstop Bo Bichette hit the injured list with a calf strain. Martinez has just one game under his belt in the majors so far, having gone 1-for-3 with a strikeout while playing second base in his big league debut on Friday. While Martinez’s big league career had only just begun, he’s long been considered a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport and was in the midst of an excellent showing at Triple-A this year when he received the call to the majors. In 63 games for the club’s Buffalo affiliate this year, Martinez slashed .260/.343/.523 while playing both second and third base.
Now, Martinez’s big league career is on hold just days after it first began. The earliest he’ll be able to return to play in the big leagues is September 23 against the Red Sox, although given the fact that Martinez would be ineligible to participate in the postseason due to his suspension and that date landing just six games before the end of the regular season, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Martinez did not end up returning to the majors until the 2025 campaign.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, the club has plenty of options at its disposal to fill out the club’s infield mix while Bichette is injured, even without Martinez. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has stepped into the everyday role at shortstop since Bichette hit the shelf last week, and the club figures to mix and match between Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, and Spencer Horwitz at second and third base while Bichette is away. The addition of Berroa to the roster mix should allow Schneider to mix into the infield more frequently than he has in recent weeks, as he’s split time between the keystone and left field to this point in the season.
As for Berroa, the 25-year-old made his pro debut with the Jays back in 2017 and has worked his way through the club’s minor league system since then, ultimately reaching Triple-A late last year. He struggled in that initial cup of coffee but has hit fairly well in 62 games at the highest level of the minors this season with a .295/.380/.451 slash line across 222 trips to the plate. Berroa figures to factor into the club’s outfield mix behind regulars Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, and George Springer alongside Schneider.
Phillies Place Taijuan Walker On 15-Day Injured List
The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve placed right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right index finger. Right-hander Michael Mercado was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. Mercado’s first appearance will be his big league debut.
Walker, 32 in August, has had a difficult 2024 season as he’s dealt with both injuries and ineffectiveness. A shoulder impingement delayed his season debut until the tail end of April, and he’s struggled considerably in ten starts since then. The righty sports a 5.60 ERA and 5.77 FIP overall on the season, figures that are 37% and 40% worse than the league average respectively. Just two of Walker’s ten appearances have been quality starts, and opponents have batted an eye-popping .278/.353/.511 against him in seven starts dating back to May 16. In other words, Walker’s opponents have teed off in recent weeks to achieve results roughly comparable to those Guardians star Jose Ramirez (.271/.330/.528) has posted this season.
Walker’s struggles came to a head Friday night against the Diamondbacks, when the righty allowed four runs on five hits and three walks across just four innings of work while striking out only three batters. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) yesterday that Walker was dealing with a “hot spot” on his finger and suggested that the issue has “been probably going on for a while.” Specifically, Thomson suggested that the injury may have impacted the efficacy of Walker’s splitter. The splitter was Walker’s most commonly used pitch last year, when he threw it 33.2% of the time according to Statcast. That usage has dropped to just 17.4% in 2024, and MLB.com notes that he’s thrown the pitch just sixteen times total over his past two starts.
That drop in usage has corresponded with a drop in efficacy. 2023 saw opposing hitters hit just .205 against Walker’s splitter, with a .295 slugging percentage and a .257 wOBA. Those strong results are a far cry for what the right-hander has produced with the pitch this year, as opponents have hit a whopping .426 with a .704 slugging percentage and a wOBA of .477. That .426 figure is the highest average allowed by Walker on any pitch this year, in sharp contrast to last year where his splitter boasted a lower average against than any pitch in his repertoire except for his rarely-used sweeper.
Given the fact that Walker’s finger issue has seemingly impacted his ability to throw his most important pitch, it’s hardly a surprise that the right-hander has suffered such extreme difficulties to this point in the season. Going forward, the Phillies will sit the righty down for at least the next two weeks in order to give the inflammation time to settle down. It’s surely a fairly easy decision for Philadelphia to not have Walker continue to try and play through the issue given the presence of right-hander Spencer Turnbull. Turnbull has been excellent for the club this year while swinging between the rotation and the bullpen, with a 2.63 ERA and 3.57 FIP in 51 1/3 innings across 16 appearances (six starts).
While Turnbull has not started a game since late April, the righty threw 49 pitches in his most recent outing on Friday and figures to be able to step into the rotation and offer the Phillies solid production in Walker’s stead. That leaves the long relief role out of the bullpen to Mercado, who is set to replace Walker on the club’s roster. Mercado was the Rays’ second-round pick in the 2017 draft but did not make an appearance at the big league level with the club before being traded to the Phillies back in November. Philadelphia swiftly placed Mercado on their 40-man roster and sent him to Triple-A to open the season, where he’s excelled with a 1.71 ERA and a 22.8% strikeout rate in 47 1/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen at the level.
Dave Dombrowski Discusses Cristopher Sanchez Extension, Ranger Suarez’s Future
When the Phillies announced a four-year extension with young left-hander Cristopher Sanchez yesterday, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski revealed to reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) that the deal isn’t one they would have considered making if Sanchez and his agent, Gene Mato, hadn’t approached him about the possibility of a long-term deal. Even at that point, Dombrowski noted that he had some reservations about negotiating in-season.
“As much as we’d love to have him, during the middle of the season, it’s not normally something that I would like to get into,” Dombrowski said, as relayed by Gelb. “Because it can be a distraction for the player.”
Fortunately, the extension talks didn’t take very long as Gelb notes that it took just one week of negotiations before the sides settled on the four-year, $22.5MM guarantee with two club options that could extend the club’s window of control over Sanchez through the end of the 2030 campaign. The smooth negotiations between Dombrowski and Sanchez’s camp appear to have been crucial in pushing the deal across the finish line given the Phillies’ stated concerns that a protracted negotiation process could become a distraction from the season at hand.
That apparent trepidation with regards to in-season extensions could serve as a clue for how the Phillies will approach left-hander Ranger Suarez, who Gelb notes the Phillies have interest in extending. Suarez is currently slated to hit free agency following the 2025 season, but Gelb notes that talks have yet to progress between the sides and appear likely to wait until after the 2024 campaign has concluded. For his part, Dombrowski noted that the club “love[s]” Suarez and that they “hope that he’s part of the organization for a long time,” but also declined to discuss the state of negotiations with the lefty.
If the Phillies want to extend Suarez, it’s sure to come with a much heftier price tag than the Sanchez extension. Sanchez’s deal is more or less in line with the low end of what pitchers in his service time bracket have received in extensions, just ahead of the $18.8MM guarantee the Red Sox gave to right-hander Garrett Whitlock but a far cry from the $50M+ guarantees afforded to Boston’s Brayan Bello and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene. Suarez, who will be just one year from free agency this offseason, is in a completely different realm of contract expectations.
The two hurlers to sign extensions with just one year to go before free agency in recent memory are Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo and Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios, both of whom did so shortly after being dealt to new teams the previous summer. Castillo signed a $108MM guarantee over five years with Seattle, while Berrios signed in Toronto on a seven-year deal that guaranteed him $131MM. Both hurlers had a much longer track record of success in the starting rotation at the time of their extensions than Suarez, who didn’t become a full-time starting pitcher until the 2022 season.
On the other hand, however, Suarez has undeniably been more dominant than either hurler in the years leading up to the start of extension negotiations. The lefty has pitched to a 2.91 ERA (142 ERA+) with a 3.39 FIP in 478 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2021 season. That eclipses the work of both Berrios (118 ERA+, 3.78 FIP) and Castillo (132 ERA+, 3.43 FIP) on a rate basis in their final four years before signing, though both Castillo and Berrios had 120+ additional innings of work over that same timeframe. Much of Suarez’s ultimate price tag will surely depend on how he finishes the 2024 campaign; the lefty currently leads all of MLB with an incredible 1.75 ERA through 15 starts this year and figures to find himself in the thick of the Cy Young conversation at year’s end if he can keep anything close to this production up over a full year.
Dodgers Notes: Kershaw, May, Graterol
Longtime Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has been sidelined for the entirety of the 2024 season to this point after undergoing shoulder surgery over the offseason, but recently began a rehab assignment as he eyes a potential return sometime next month. That rehab assignment has already hit a snag, however, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) today that the veteran southpaw has felt “a little bit of soreness” in the aftermath of his rehab start for the club’s High-A affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga earlier this week.
That soreness continued today for the veteran lefty when he threw a light bullpen session, and Roberts indicated that the club is considering pushing back his next rehab start- which is currently scheduled for Tuesday- depending on how he feels in the coming days. Kershaw is expected to play catch tomorrow, and how he feels after that session could determine whether or not the Dodgers go ahead with the planned outing. The potential setback is a frustrating one, as a relatively speedy return by Kershaw would be hugely impactful for a rotation that recently lost both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler to the injured list.
Those injuries left the Dodgers to turn to rookie right-hander Landon Knack in the fifth starter role behind Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, and James Paxton. Outside of that group of five, however, the club is lacking in starting depth meaning further injuries could prove problematic for the club. Even setting aside L.A.’s quickly evaporating rotation depth, it’s worth noting that the 36-year-old lefty is almost assuredly one of the club’s five best starters to begin with; after all, the future Hall of Famer hasn’t posted an ERA north of 3.55 since his rookie campaign back in 2008 and managed to put together a 2.46 ERA across 24 starts last year despite playing through shoulder issues.
Roberts also provided more positive injury updates to reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) this evening regarding right-handers Dustin May and Brusdar Graterol. The manager indicated that both pitchers have begun to throw bullpen sessions and called the sessions “promising.” While the timelines for each player’s return are still unclear, Roberts expressed confidence that both would return to action before the 2024 season comes to a close.
May, 26, has had a frustrating MLB career to this point. The righty debuted late in his age-21 season back in 2019 and enjoyed some success over his first two big league campaigns, with a 2.98 ERA and 3.96 FIP in 90 2/3 innings of work, first out of the bullpen in 2019 and then as a member of the rotation during the shortened 2020 campaign. May went on to win the World Series with L.A. during the pandemic-shortened campaign while pitching out of the bullpen during the postseason but returned to the rotation in 2021.
Unfortunately, he made it just five starts into the 2021 campaign before undergoing Tommy John surgery and has not put together a wire-to-wire big league season since. While the right-hander has pitched to an impressive 3.21 ERA and 3.59 FIP since the start of the 2021 campaign, he’s also been limited to just 101 innings across 20 starts during that time by the aforementioned Tommy John and a flexor tendon procedure he underwent in last July. It’s not clear whether the Dodgers hope to return May to the rotation upon his return to action or if he’ll be ticketed for the bullpen, but if healthy he figures to be an impactful arm for the club in whatever role he takes on.
As for Graterol, the 25-year-old hurler has been one of the club’s most reliable relievers since he was acquired from the Twins prior to the 2020 season. In 173 2/3 innings of work for the club since then, Graterol has pitched to an exceptional 2.69 ERA with a 3.24 FIP. He’s struck out just 18.9% of batters faced during that time but has generated an extraordinary 62.5% groundball rate as a Dodger while limiting free passes to just a 5.5% rate. Graterol figured to once again factor into the club’s high-leverage plans at the back of the bullpen this year until those plans were scuttled by a shoulder injury during Spring Training that eventually led the club to shut the righty down in late April. Should he return before the end of the season, he’d likely return to the back of the club’s bullpen alongside closer Evan Phillips.
Yankees Sign Chasen Shreve To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have signed left-hander Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal, as reported by Dan Martin of the New York Post. The southpaw had previously been pitching for the Rangers’s Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock on a minors deal but evidently opted out of that deal and returned to the open market at some point since his last appearance with them on June 14.
Shreve, who will celebrate his 34th birthday next month, is a veteran of ten MLB seasons who first made his big league debut with the Braves back in 2014. Shreve was swapped to the Bronx the following offseason alongside David Carpenter in exchange for Manny Banuelos. In parts of four seasons with the Yankees, Shreve pitched to a 3.92 ERA with a 4.99 FIP across 180 relief appearances. He was then packaged with right-hander Giovanny Gallegos and shipped to the Cardinals in exchange for first baseman Luke Voit partway through the 2019 season.
Since leaving the Bronx, Shreve has pitched for the Mets, Pirates, Tigers, and Reds at the big league level in addition to the aforementioned Cardinals. He’s posted a 4.26 ERA that’s exactly league average by measure of ERA+ over 169 innings of work, including a roughly league average performance with Detroit and Cincinnati last year. In 44 2/3 innings of work across 50 appearances, Shreve pitched to a 4.63 ERA and 4.28 FIP with a solid 23.3% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate.
During his time on a minor league deal with Texas, Shreve has looked nothing short of dominant at Triple-A with a 1.61 ERA in 22 1/3 innings across 20 appearances while striking out 29.6% of batters faced. If he could recreate anything close to those numbers at the big league level he’d certainly be a welcome addition to the Yankees bullpen, which has lost Jonathan Loaisiga, Nick Burdi, and Ian Hamilton since the season began while also watching pieces like Caleb Ferguson and Ron Marinaccio struggle. It seems likely that Shreve will head to Triple-A for the time being, although it would hardly be a surprise to see the club call upon the veteran at some point in the near future, particularly after they recently DFA’d lefties Clayton Andrews and Victor Gonzalez earlier this week.
Braxton Garrett Scratched From Sunday Start Due To Elbow Discomfort
Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett has been scratched from his scheduled start against the Mariners tomorrow due to discomfort in his left elbow, as noted by MLB.com’s Christina DeNicola earlier today. DeNicola adds that Garrett is set to undergo further evaluation on his elbow.
It’s not currently clear how severe Garret’s ailment, which he reportedly felt following his bullpen session on Friday, will wind up being. That being said, elbow issues are always anxiety-inducing for fans and players alike given the fact that serious elbow injuries often require season-ending surgery, as has been the case for a number of star pitchers of late, ranging from Spencer Strider of the Braves to Kyle Bradish of the Orioles to Garrett’s teammates Eury Perez and Sandy Alcantara. Of course, it’s important to remember that elbow issues can also be relatively minor, as was the case for Astros lefty Framber Valdez when he was placed on the IL with elbow soreness back in April and ended up requiring only a minimum stay.
Regardless of if Garrett misses an extended period or is down for just one start, it’s the latest difficult injury news for a Miami franchise wracked with pitching injuries. The club already has six starting pitchers on the injured list after placing left-hander (and potential top trade candidate) Jesus Luzardo on the injured list due to a lumbar stress reaction earlier today. Luzardo joined right-handers Perez, Alcantara Edward Cabrera, and Sixto Sanchez as well as fellow southpaw Ryan Weathers on the IL. That massive group of injured starters has left the Marlins scrambling to fill out a rotation that on paper should have been the deepest part of the club’s roster entering the season.
Trevor Rogers, Roddery Munoz, Yonny Chirinos, and Shaun Anderson currently occupy rotation spots alongside Garrett, and it’s possible that top prospect Max Meyer could replace Garrett in the rotation in the long-term if needed. DeNicola notes that Meyer last started in Triple-A on Thursday, however, meaning he would not be lined up to pitch tomorrow even if the club did want to call him up for a spot start in Garrett’s stead. DeNicola floats the possibility that the club could turn to multi-inning reliever George Soriano, who pitched three innings at the Triple-A level on Tuesday, to open a bullpen game tomorrow. Soriano is already on the 40-man roster, and an alternative spot starting option such as Kent Emanuel or Devin Smeltzer would require the Marlins to make space on the 40-man.
While the Marlins are widely acknowledged to be one of the game’s few clear sellers this summer after already shipping Luis Arraez to the Padres earlier this year, an injury of significance for Garrett would surely all but guarantee that he remains with the Marlins for the remainder of the 2024 season. After all, the July 30 trade deadline is just over a month away at this point, and even a minimum stint on the IL for Garrett would sideline him for long enough to allow him just three more starts prior to the trade deadline.
For a pitcher who was already shelved with a shoulder impingement earlier this year and has struggled to a 5.35 ERA in the seven starts he’s been healthy enough to make this year, that timeline makes it difficult to imagine Garrett convincing an interested club of his health and effectiveness enough for them to be comfortable dealing for the lefty prior to the deadline. Fortunately for the Marlins, there’s no real urgency to move Garrett given that the southpaw is under team control through the end of the 2028 season. That gives the lefty plenty of time to return to the form he flashed over 48 appearances between 2022 and 2023, when he pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 3.64 FIP with a 23.8% strikeout rate.
Padres Notes: Campusano, Tatis, Profar
The Padres placed catcher Luis Campusano on the 10-day injured list today with a thumb contusion, per a team announcement. Catcher Brett Sullivan was recalled to the big league roster in a corresponding move. Fortunately, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays that the Padres don’t expect Campusano’s stay on the shelf to be a long one as it likely won’t require more than a minimum stay of ten days.
After a 2023 season where Campusano was limited to just 49 games by injuries but appeared to break out at the plate with a .319/.356/.491 slash line (good for a 134 wRC+), the former top prospect’s 2024 campaign has been somewhat disappointing. He’s appeared in 66 of the club’s games this year but has mustered only a .234/.282/.371 slash line, which even in the game’s current deflated offensive environment is good for a wRC+ of just 89. That’s hardly a terrible mark for a catcher, but it’s nonetheless a far cry from the offensive output San Diego was surely hoping for after Campusano flashed the ability to be a star-level bat behind the plate when healthy enough to take the field last year.
With the 25-year-old sidelined for the time being, veteran backup Kyle Higashioka figures to step in as the club’s regular behind the plate while Campusano heals up. That leaves backup duties to Sullivan, 30, who had a three-game stint with the Padres earlier this year after making his MLB debut with the club last season. In a 33-game cup of coffee with San Diego last year, Sullivan struggled to a .210/.244/.284 slash line in 86 trips to the plate and appeared to be below average defensively behind the plate both in terms of framing and controlling the running game, although he does have a reputation as a solid blocker.
While Campusano was the only player the Padres placed on the shelf today, he’s not the only member of their starting lineup nursing an noteworthy injury. As MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell explored last night, both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar exited yesterday’s game against the Brewers due to injuries. Profar departed due to tendinitis in his left knee that he’s been dealing with throughout the season to this point, while Tatis left because of a left triceps contusion, though Cassavell notes that he also appeared to be favoring his right quad, which he notes the young star has been playing on despite an injury for weeks.
Both players were out of the lineup today, though Profar told reporters (including Cassavell) today that he would be available off the bench for today’s game against Milwaukee and that he’s been managing the injury successfully to the point where it isn’t getting worse. Manager Mike Shildt, for his part, indicated to reporters last night that the club wasn’t especially concerned about either Profar or Tatis and that both believed they could play through their current ailments.
It’s easy to see why the Padres wouldn’t want to lose either player to the injured list. In 80 games this season, Tatis has looked good with a .279/.354/.468 slash line (139 wRC+) with eight stolen bases, while Profar leads all NL hitters with a .415 on-base percentage and sports an even more impressive 162 wRC+ as the club’s everyday left fielder. With the duo standing out as perhaps the club’s two biggest run producers in a strong lineup that also features Manny Machado, Luis Arraez, and Jackson Merrill, it’s hard to measure how difficult things could get for the Padres if they were to lose Profar and Tatis for a significant period. After all, that strong offense has only translated to a 40-40 record to this point in the season that leaves them in the mix for an NL Wild Card spot among a group of eight teams that are within three games of .500.
Pirates Owner Bob Nutting Discusses Deadline Outlook
The race for the final two Wild Card spots in the National League is quickly becoming a dogfight, and the Pirates are one of a whopping eight teams all within two games of each other in the standings currently vying for those final two spots in the postseason picture alongside the division-leading Phillies, Dodgers, and Brewers as well as the Braves, who have a firm grasp on the top Wild Card spot with a 5.5 game lead. That positioning in the thick of the playoff hunt comes in spite of Pittsburgh’s lackluster 36-39 record to this point in the season, but club owner Bob Nutting nonetheless recently indicated to reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that he believes the club can contend for the playoffs this year.
“I think we’ve shown it’s attainable,” Nutting told reporters (as relayed by Gorman) when discussing the possibility of postseason berth this year, before going on to acknowledge that the club needs more production from its offense, which ranks fourth from the bottom in the majors with an 85 wRC+. Nutting went on to suggests that the club is currently working to determine how much the offense can improve internally and how much of the improvement will need to come from external acquisitions.
Nutting went on to suggest that those external acquisitions won’t necessarily have to wait until the July 30 trade deadline is imminent, even as the league has generally gravitated towards making the bulk of its major summer transactions in the days and hours leading up to the deadline in recent years. As noted by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the club’s owner suggested that the Pirates could “have opportunities well in advance of the deadline” this year.
“I think we should be prepared to move early,” Nutting told reporters (as relayed by Hiles). “I think we should be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. I know [club GM Ben Cherington] has that flexibility to look across a broader range of alternatives, options but also a timeline of when it makes sense to strike.”
Hiles goes on to note that Nutting reaffirmed his past remarks that more funds would be made available to the baseball operations department now that the club is, in his view, in a position to contend for a spot in the postseason. That’s good news for Pirates fans, as the club’s current payroll of just over $86MM is already the highest payroll they’ve posted since 2017 according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. The following offseason saw the departures of key players like Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole that served as a clear sign the club was entering the rebuild they’ve only just now begun to fully come out of.
The club has a strong starting pitching apparatus with Paul Skenes and Jared Jones offering top-of-the-line stuff at the front of the rotation while Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter serve as solid mid-rotation arms behind them. Between that strong pitching staff and the club’s aforementioned difficulties on offense, it’s hardly a surprise that Robert Murray of FanSided recently reported that the Pirates are expected to making buying offense a “high priority” this summer. As things stand, the only clubs that are currently clear sellers are the White Sox, Rockies, Marlins, Angels, and A’s. Those clubs certainly have some interesting potential targets available, ranging from Chicago’s star center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to late-blooming A’s slugger Brent Rooker.
Either of those targets make sense on a speculative level for a Pirates club that has clear room for improvement in the outfield, and it’s also certainly possible to imagine the club having interest in adding at first base, where Rowdy Tellez has a 71 wRC+ in 61 games this year. Star first basemen Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have both found their names in the rumor mill fairly frequently this winter, although even a smaller acquisition such as long-time Pirate (and currently Marlin) Josh Bell or recently DFA’d A’s corner bat J.D. Davis could potentially constitute an upgrade for the club over Tellez.
Rockies Select Austin Kitchen
The Rockies announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Austin Kitchen. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb was designated for assignment in order to make room for Kitchen on both the 40-man and active rosters in Colorado.
Kitchen, 27, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game with the Rockies. The southpaw went undrafted out of Coastal Carolina University back in 2019 and spent the 2020 season pitching for the independent Washington League as a member of the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies. After impressing with a 1.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work as a reliever in indy ball that year, the Rockies decided to bring Kitchen into the fold and assigned him to Single-A Fresno during the 2021 season.
Kitchen’s first season in affiliated ball left something to be desired, as he struggled to a 4.97 ERA while striking out just 16.6% of batters faced across 50 2/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen. From 2022 onward, Kitchen moved into something closer to a full-time relief role and saw his results improve noticeably. That first season after moving out of the rotation saw Kitchen strike out a far more respectable 21.2% of batters faced while surrendering an ERA of just 3.32 between the High-A and Double-A levels, and the following season saw him return to Double-A with similar numbers across 59 2/3 relief frames. Kitchen got a taste of Triple-A action at the end of last year but was blown up for six runs in a single inning of work across two appearances.
This year, the southpaw has made 18 relief appearances at the Triple-A level that have gone much better. Kitchen sports a 3.00 ERA that’s all the more impressive given the fact that he plays in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, although his strikeout rate has dipped to a somewhat worrying 17.6% figure in 33 innings of work this year. Nonetheless, Kitchen’s performance has been enough to get him an opportunity in the majors with the Rockies, who could certainly use all the help they can get given their disastrous 5.75 ERA out of the bullpen this year, good for dead last among all big league clubs.
Making room for Kitchen on the active and 40-man rosters is Hartlieb, a 30-year-old righty who has pitched in parts of five big league seasons since making his debut with the Pirates back in 2019. Hartlieb’s big league opportunities have been relatively few and far between since the end of the 2020 season, as he’s appeared in just 14 big league games over the past four years. He’s not exactly impressed in those 22 innings of work, however, surrendering an ERA of 8.59 and striking out just 17.2% of batters faced. That includes a rough stint with Colorado this year, where he’s allowed ten runs (nine earned) on 13 hits and five walks while striking out seven in nine innings of work.
The Rockies will now have one week to either work out a trade involving Hartlieb or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Hartlieb clears waivers, the Rockies can attempt to outright him to the minor leagues, although the right-hander would have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency after being outrighted previously in his career.