The Best Fits For Nelson Cruz
As the Twins’ miserable season has continued, there’s been increasing talk of them operating as a deadline seller over the next three weeks. Nearly every contender will ask about Jose Berrios. There’s been speculation about the availability of Taylor Rogers. Josh Donaldson has been connected to the Mets. Michael Pineda is a pending free agent who could help quite a few rotations.
Over the course of the next few weeks, though, Nelson Cruz will be one of the highest-impact trade candidates to monitor. The seemingly ageless slugger is having yet another excellent season, slashing .299/.372/.553 (147 wRC+) with 18 home runs, 11 doubles and his first triple since 2018. Cruz’s 18.8 percent strikeout rate is the lowest it’s been since 2010. He just celebrated his 41st birthday, but he remains one of the game’s top threats at the plate.
Cruz is a free agent at season’s end, playing out the 2021 campaign on a one-year, $13MM contract. As of this writing, there’s about $6MM remaining to be paid out on that pact. By the time the deadline rolls around, Cruz will be owed about $4.5MM for the remainder of the season.
A bat of Cruz’s caliber will surely be in demand, but perhaps not to the extent one would imagine at first glance. As a pure designated hitter, he’ll face a more limited market than most trade candidates.
A National League club could technically acquire Cruz to DH during interleague play and serve as a vastly overqualified pinch-hitter, but it’s unlikely anyone is going to put Cruz in the outfield with any regularity. He hasn’t played an inning of defense since 2018 and has just 54 innings in the field since the conclusion of the 2016 campaign. It’s hard to ever fully rule something out as front offices get increasingly creative, but it seems overwhelmingly likely that if Cruz is moved, it’ll be to an American League club.
Of course, not all 14 American League clubs will be in play. None of the Rangers, Royals, Tigers or Orioles are in contention. The Angels aren’t going to displace Shohei Ohtani from the DH slot, nor will the Astros do so with Yordan Alvarez. The Yankees have Giancarlo Stanton serving as a primary DH. The Red Sox are enjoying the heck out of a resurgent J.D. Martinez campaign. The Indians have Franmil Reyes, and the Twins may not want to ship Cruz to a division rival anyhow.
On that note, it’s worth pointing out that there’s a decent fit with the AL Central-leading White Sox. Yermin Mercedes faded considerably after a torrid start to the season and was optioned to Triple-A this week. But the Sox have Eloy Jimenez on a rehab assignment, and he’s likely to see at least some time at DH as he eases back into the mix after surgery to repair a ruptured pectoral tendon. It’s also generally hard to imagine the Twins trading Cruz to the White Sox in order to help the South Siders seal up a division title for which Minnesota originally hoped to contend.
There are a few clubs that seem like the clearest fits if the Twins move Cruz. Here’s a look at what each of these teams has received from the DH spot in its lineup in 2021, followed by a more thorough look at the potential fit.
- Athletics: .220/.289/.381, 88 wRC+
- Rays: .226/.314/.411, 103 wRC+
- Blue Jays: .240/.321/.429, 104 wRC+
- Mariners: .237/.320/.421, 108 wRC+
Athletics: No contender in the American League could use a DH upgrade more than Oakland. Their offseason signing of Mitch Moreland has resulted in a .238/.286/.388 batting line through 175 plate appearances to date. As a team, the A’s rank 12th in MLB with 394 runs scored — 94 fewer runs than the MLB-leading Astros, whom Oakland happens to be chasing in the division.
The question with the A’s, as always, is one of payroll capacity. For most of this past offseason, it looked as though the A’s wouldn’t spend much of anything on the 2021 roster. Their late signings of Moreland, Sergio Romo, Yusmeiro Petit and Trevor Rosenthal boosted payroll up to $86MM — still well below the league average but not quite the threadbare levels seen in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Whether ownership would dish out another several million to rent Cruz for two-plus months remains to be seen, but even if the salary is deemed steep, the A’s could always pay a little more in terms of prospect capital in order to get Minnesota to cover some (or all) of the contract.
Rays: The financial element is perhaps even more notable with the Rays, who are currently operating on just a $62MM payroll. Tampa Bay also has a better in-house option than Oakland in the form of Austin Meadows. The 26-year-old Meadows can and has played some corner outfield this season, but the Rays have more defensively gifted options in Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot, Randy Arozarena and Brett Phillips.
Meadows has been the club’s primary designated hitter this year, logging 53 percent of the the Rays’ total DH plate appearances. On the whole, Meadows has been a productive hitter with a .243/.335/.485 batting line, 16 home runs, 23 doubles and a triple. However, he’s been mired in a down stretch at the plate, batting .231/.300/.374 over the past month. Cruz is an upgrade even over Meadows at his absolute best, but the Rays’ “need” for Cruz feels less acute than that of the Athletics.
Blue Jays: Adding Cruz to a lineup that already features Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, George Springer and Marcus Semien doesn’t really feel fair. Bringing Cruz into the fold would likely push Randal Grichuk back into a fourth outfielder role behind Springer, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez. Early in the year, it would’ve been difficult to justify taking at-bats from Grichuk. He got out to a blistering start, batting .289/.322/.497 through the first two months. Since the calendar flipped to June, however, Grichuk is hitting .220/.244/.423 with a 29.1 percent strikeout rate in 127 plate appearances.
The Jays’ priority to this point has been the bullpen, and that will likely continue to be a point of focus for general manager Ross Atkins. That said, it never hurts to further strengthen an already potent lineup. If the prospect price for Cruz is to the Jays’ liking, they’re one of the few AL clubs that is both contending and has an easy path to carve out regular at-bats for the Boomstick. Unlike the A’s and Rays, money shouldn’t be an issue for them.
Mariners: A Cruz reunion tour with an unexpected contender in Seattle would make for a fun story for the final months of the season. Seattle is far from a postseason lock, but the Mariners are four games over .500 and just three and a half games out of a Wild Card spot. Much of the focus surrounding the Mariners has been on whether they’ll trade Mitch Haniger, but if they continue their hot streak — they’re 15-7 over their past 22 games — this is a club that could actually look to add some pieces.
The focus for Seattle would probably be on more controllable players who can help in 2022 and beyond. Starting pitching, in particular, will be the Mariners’ primary desire — as manager Scott Servais suggested this week. But if the Mariners can acquire Cruz without paying a price they feel will compromise a very promising long-term outlook, he’s a sensible upgrade. The move would be overwhelmingly popular with fans, and the Mariners have taken a potpourri approach at designated hitter this year anyhow. Ty France leads the team with an even 100 plate appearances as a DH, but he could be slotted into the lineup regularly at first base/second base for the balance of the 2021 campaign.
Little Current Traction Between Mets, Twins In Donaldson Trade Discussions
JULY 9: There’s currently little traction between the Mets and Twins in discussions regarding either Donaldson or right-hander Jose Berrios, writes Dan Hayes of the Athletic.
JULY 4: While the Mets are expected to pursue upgrades in advance of the deadline, a Donaldson trade is not under consideration at this time, hears Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Martino, however, reiterates that the Mets continue to contemplate a potential Donaldson acquisition.
JULY 2: The Mets are targeting third base upgrades as the deadline approaches, and while many of their fans are likely hoping Kris Bryant becomes available, they’re understandably exploring every avenue. SNY’s Andy Martino writes today that the Mets have approached the Twins and “engaged in very preliminary talks” regarding Josh Donaldson.
As always, it’s worth noting that teams inquire on a wide variety of targets every year at the trade deadline and in the offseason, but preliminary talks don’t necessarily portend serious negotiations. Donaldson is in the second season of a four-year, $92MM contract signed in the 2019-20 offseason, so he’d make for an expensive acquisition for the Mets or any other club. As Martino points out, the Donaldson contract would push the Mets beyond the luxury-tax barrier, though owner Steve Cohen hasn’t been shy about his willingness to cross that threshold.
Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez currently has the Mets at about $13.5MM shy of the $210MM luxury barrier. Donaldson’s $23MM annual value — the luxury tax is based on contracts’ average annual value — would bring the Mets about $9.5MM north of the tax line. However, as a first-time offender, their penalty would be rather minimal: a 20-percent tax on the first $20MM by which they exceed the barrier, a 32 percent tax on the next $20MM and a 62.5 percent tax on anything thereafter. (Obviously, at this point in the season, it’s overwhelmingly unlikely that the Mets would take on so much salary that they’d cross the barrier by $40MM or more.)
The penalty on Donaldson alone would, in theory, be about $1.9MM. That’s not prohibitive in and of itself, necessarily, and even if the Mets were to make subsequent additions and cross the tax line by, say, $20MM, they’d still only be paying $4MM in penalties. The greater concern could be that under the current system, penalties increase in the second and third consecutive seasons of crossing the tax line. Taking on Donaldson — or any other players who bring them north of the line, Bryant included — would set the Mets up for stiffer penalties in 2022 and perhaps in 2023. Of course, that assumes the current luxury-tax system will remain in place with the next collective bargaining agreement, and with the current CBA set to expire Dec. 1, we can’t know that to be the case.
Turning to the player himself, Donaldson has been somewhat of a lightning rod in recent weeks (and at various other points in his career) for his outspokenness about pitchers’ usage of foreign substances. The slugger called out Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and pointed to his spin-rate drops following the league’s implementation of umpire checks, and he drew the ire of the White Sox and their fanbase for shouting “It’s not sticky anymore!” after belting a home run against Lucas Giolito this week.
Being outspoken is nothing new for Donaldson, of course, nor is the productive stretch in which he currently finds himself. The 35-year-old went down with a hamstring injury in the first game of the season for the Twins, but he’s been healthy since and has been on a tear at the plate for the past month. Donaldson is hitting .250/.345/.486 with 13 home runs overall, but he’s been on absolute fire since Memorial Day weekend, slashing .291/.383/.646 with eight homers and four doubles in his past 94 plate appearances. From a defensive standpoint, he’s not posting the elite marks that he has in recent years, but he’s been about average at the hot corner in the estimation of most metrics (-1 Defensive Runs Saved, -1 Ultimate Zone Rating, +1 Outs Above Average).
Donaldson’s contract pays him $21MM in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and he’s also owed at least the $8MM buyout of a $16MM club option for the 2024 campaign. We’re at the halfway point of the 186-game regular season today, so as of this moment, Donaldson is owed $10.5MM more on this year’s salary. Notably, his contract does include limited no-trade protection, though it’s not yet clear whether the Mets are on that list.
For the Mets, third base has been an issue all season long, due largely to injuries. J.D. Davis opened the year as the top option at the hot corner, and he posted a mammoth .390/.479/.610 slash in 48 plate appearances through his first 14 games. However, Davis is a sub-par defensive option there and drew some criticism for some key miscues (three errors in 94 innings) before going down to a hand/finger injury from which he’s yet to return. Jonathan Villar, Luis Guillorme, Brandon Drury, Jose Peraza, Jeff McNeil and even backup catcher Tomas Nido (for two innings) have all been part of the Mets’ third base carousel this season.
Donaldson would, of course, help to stabilize that roller coaster — provided he can remain healthy. He’s been on the injured list in three of the past four seasons, owing primarily to calf injuries. He did stay healthy for the duration of the 2019 season with the Braves, however, and Donaldson’s early trip to the injured list in 2021 wound up lasting just 11 days.
It’s been a miserable season for the Twins, who opened the year as expected contenders but instead find themselves at 33-46 — fresh off a sweep at the hands of the AL Central-leading White Sox. With the Twins now 14.5 games back from the division lead and 13 games out of an American League Wild Card spot, they look increasingly likely to be deadline sellers. Donaldson’s contract probably makes him too costly for most teams to consider, but the deep-pocketed Mets are at least a plausible suitor in a potential swap.
Mets Claim Geoff Hartlieb
The Mets have claimed right-hander Geoff Hartlieb off waivers from the Pirates, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (via Twitter). Pittsburgh designated the 27-year-old for assignment last weekend.
Hartlieb has spent parts of the past three seasons with the Pirates, totaling 62 innings with an unsightly 6.97 ERA. He’s fanned a below-average 20.7 percent of his opponents against a bloated 14.2 percent walk rate, though his 51.4 percent ground-ball rate is comfortably above-average. The 6’5″ righty relies primarily on a sinker that sits in the 94-95 mph range and a slider that clocks in around 84-85 mph.
While Hartlieb hasn’t had much success in the Majors to this point, he has an outstanding minor league track record. The former 29th-round pick has a 2.82 ERA in parts of six minor league seasons, including a 2.37 mark in 49 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. He’s also whiffed 31.3 percent of his Triple-A opponents with a much better 9.4 percent walk rate and a massive 64.3 percent grounder rate.
Hartlieb was a starter in his college days at the Division-II Lindenwood University, but he’s worked exclusively as a reliever in pro ball. He has a minor league option remaining beyond the 2021 season, so he gives the Mets some flexibility in the ‘pen beyond the current campaign as long as he sticks on the 40-man roster.
Cardinals Sign Luis Garcia
The Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve signed free-agent righty Luis Garcia to a Major League contract. He’ll take the 26-man roster spot of Johan Oviedo, who was optioned to Triple-A Memphis yesterday. Carlos Martinez has been moved to the 60-day injured list in order to create a roster spot.
Garcia, 34, spent the first part of the season in the Yankees organization and pitched well for their Triple-A affiliate before being granted his release a couple days ago. In 17 1/3 frames with Scranton, he pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 27.5 percent strikeout rate and a 4.3 percent walk rate.
While Garcia didn’t make it to the big leagues with the Yankees, he’s racked up 315 innings across parts of eight Major League seasons — mostly coming with the Phillies. From 2013-18, Garcia was an oft-used member of the Philadelphia bullpen, pitching to a 4.15 ERA over the life of 244 2/3 innings. His age-30 season, in particular, was an excellent campaign that saw the righty post a career-best 2.65 ERA in a career-high 71 1/3 innings.
Garcia has struggled in the three seasons since that outstanding effort, however, posting a combined 5.26 ERA and 4.94 FIP with the Phillies, Angels and Rangers in that time. He’ll look to right the ship with his fourth big league organization and also give the Cards some depth at a time when their pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries.
Martinez’s move to the 60-day injured list comes just two days after he was placed on the 10-day IL, so he’ll spend the remainder of the 2021 season on the shelf. A lengthy absence was expected to be in store for the right-hander, however, given that he tore a ligament in his right thumb. Martinez has had a roller coaster of a season, pitching to a 6.23 ERA overall, but the overwhelming bulk of the damage against him has been confined to a pair of starts: a 10-run drubbing by the Dodgers on June 2 and an eight-run meltdown in Atlanta just two starts later.
Outside of those two starts, Martinez has been a serviceable member of an increasingly injury-marred Cardinals rotation. He has a combined 4.46 ERA in his other 14 outings and has at the very least kept the Cards in the game more often than not. He’ll now join Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas on the injured list, however, leaving the Cardinals with just three starters on the roster at the moment: Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Wade LeBlanc.
Rotation upgrades figure to be the main focus for the Cards as the July 30 trade deadline approaches — at least if they don’t pivot the other direction and sell off some veteran pieces.
Indians Release Rene Rivera
The Indians have released veteran catcher Rene Rivera, per the transactions log at MLB.com. Cleveland designated him for assignment this past weekend after activating Roberto Perez from the injured list.
Rivera, who’ll turn 38 at the end of the month, was signed to a minor league deal earlier this year and made his way to the big leagues when Perez first landed on the injured list. He logged 21 games behind the plate with Cleveland, batting .236/.300/.400 in 63 plate appearances. Rivera connected on a pair of homers and three doubles, but he also fanned in 24 of those 63 trips to the plate (38 percent).
The Indians currently have fellow veterans Ryan Lavarnway and Wilson Ramos (who recently signed with Cleveland) on their Triple-A roster, which left Rivera without much of an opportunity even in the upper minors. He’ll head back to the free-agent market and look for another opportunity. In parts of 13 seasons split between nine different clubs, Rivera is a .221/.273/.355 hitter who boasts an elite 36 percent caught-stealing rate and a generally strong defensive reputation (though his defensive marks were down during his brief Cleveland run).
Reds Place Sonny Gray On Injured List
3:51 pm: Gray seemed wholly unconcerned when speaking with reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) this afternoon. He said he pitched through the discomfort during his start yesterday and expects to be back when first eligible. In that case, he wouldn’t need to skip a turn in the rotation.
1:38 pm: The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Sonny Gray back on the 10-day injured list due to a rib cage strain. It’s the third IL stint of the season for Gray, who had very recently returned from a four-week absence due to a groin strain. Right-hander Tony Santillan is up from Triple-A Louisville in his place.
Cincinnati hasn’t provided a timetable for Gray’s return, though it’s possible that with the All-Star break looming, the impact of his absence could be minimal. Gray started yesterday’s game (and pitched quite well), so he wouldn’t have been in line to make another start prior to the break anyhow. He’d be eligible to return for the Reds’ third game after the break, so it’s technically possible that he won’t even miss a start.
If the injury does prove to sideline Gray for a few outings, however, it’ll be a particularly ill-timed IL trip. The Reds, winners in 10 of their past 15 games, will come out of the break to host a pivotal three-game series against the division-leading Brewers. They’ll then take on a first-place Mets club before playing a string of seven straight divisional games (four against the Cubs, three against the Cardinals) in the days leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. Getting multiple starts from Gray, who has a 3.19 ERA in 62 frames this year, would obviously be ideal.
The Reds’ recent hot streak has propelled them back to second place in the NL Central. They’re six back of the Brewers at the moment, making these next seven games in particular quite important to their season. General manager Nick Krall recently characterized his club as deadline buyers, although one would imagine that is at least somewhat dependent on how the team performs in the looming seven-game stretch against the current division leaders.
For now, Santillan will give the Reds’ staff some depth. All four of his outings with the big league club this season have been starts, but he’ll give manager David Bell a multi-inning option out of the ‘pen for now, it seems. In 16 2/3 innings of big league work so far, Santillan has allowed seven earned runs (3.78 ERA) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 20 punchouts.
Mariners Notes: Trade Deadline, Sheffield, Dipoto
2:50pm: Dipoto revealed in an appearance on 710 ESPN Radio today that Sheffield has been diagnosed with a mild flexor strain in his left forearm but also a Grade 2 oblique strain (Twitter link via 710’s Shannon Drayer). The oblique injury is the more significant of the two, and based on the fact that it’s a Grade 2 strain, it seems fair to expect Sheffield to be absent from the Seattle rotation for a rather notable chunk of time. Even less-severe Grade 1 oblique strains can sideline players for around a month at a time.
10:20am: After slipping a few games below .500 in mid-June, the Mariners have rallied back with a 14-7 showing that has them three games over .500, at 45-42. That still places them nine games back in a tough AL West, but they’re only three and a half games down in the Wild Card standings. Seattle has looked like one of the many teams whose deadline trajectory could very well be determined by how the team fares in its next 10 games or so, but manager Scott Servais suggested in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that he expects the front office to operate as buyers (Twitter link, with audio).
“We’ve got a ton of prospect capital, and we’ve got young players in our system — our minor league system has improved so much,” Servais told hosts Mike Ferrin and Jim Duquette. “…Our Major League team is moving in the right direction, so the possibility to add players to help this year and to help going forward is really important for us. I’m sure [GM Jerry Dipoto] and [assistant GM] Justin Hollander are talking to everybody out there and seeing what they can do to better us now and then also take a look into 2022 and beyond.”
Asked about specific areas of need, Servais said with a chuckle that “every manager out there says he needs more pitching.” While that was something of a tongue-in-cheek comment, the rotation is a fairly obvious area of focus if Dipoto and the front office do indeed look to add to the roster. The Mariners have received solid results from Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Dunn, offseason signing Chris Flexen and top prospect Logan Gilbert, but on the whole, their starters are 23rd in the Majors with a 4.76 ERA.
Opening Day starter Marco Gonzales missed more than a month with a forearm injury and hasn’t looked like himself when healthy enough to take the mound. The typically steady left-hander has posted a career-worst nine percent walk rate, which has been exacerbated by the fact that he’s been one of MLB’s most homer-prone pitchers in 2021 (2.29 HR/9).
Fellow left-hander Justus Sheffield, meanwhile, has recently struggled through a brutal stretch — a slump that looks all the more alarming after the Mariners announced last night that he was headed to the injured list with a forearm strain of his own. No timetable for the southpaw’s return was provided.
The 25-year-old Sheffield pitched to a 4.17 ERA and 3.97 FIP from Opening Day 2020 through June 3 of this season and looked to be settling in as a reliable member of the Seattle rotation. But over his past five starts, Sheffield has managed only 19 1/3 innings and been hammered for 24 runs on 33 hits (seven homers) and 12 walks. His velocity hasn’t dipped in that time, but it’s still the worst stretch of his young career — one that’s ballooned his 2021 ERA to 6.48 in short order.
Looking long-term, the Mariners have some high-end arms still on the way. Recent first-rounders George Kirby and Emerson Hancock were both drafted as polished college arms, but they’re currently pitching at Class-A Advanced and aren’t immediate options to help round out the MLB group. The Mariners have some depth options in Triple-A — Robert Dugger is already on the 40-man roster — but they’ve also lost a lot of their depth to injuries. Dunn is currently on the IL with a shoulder strain. James Paxton‘s return to Seattle lasted just 1 1/3 innings before he required Tommy John surgery. Righty Ljay Newsome also went down with a UCL tear, and lefty Nick Margevicius underwent thoracic outlet surgery earlier in the year.
Given that slate of injuries and new concerns surrounding Sheffield, it’d only be natural for the Mariners to look for some help on the trade market. And while that’ll be especially likely if they remain within arm’s reach of a postseason berth, the Mariners are the type of team that could look to add longer-term pieces to their MLB group even if they begin to fall back in the standings. Servais foreshadowed as much when mentioning “[taking] a look into 2022 and beyond” — a nod to the possibility of acquiring a pitcher with multiple years of club control remaining.
Regardless of how the Mariners finish in the standings this year, the offseason expectation will be that they’re going to start adding to the roster via free agency and trades. Much of the team’s young core has either emerged in the big leagues already or will do so over the next calendar year. Acquiring a pitcher with multiple years of club control would only serve to jumpstart that process for Dipoto & Co.
Then again, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times points out, there’s at least some degree of uncertainty surrounding the organization’s top decision-maker himself. Dipoto is in the final season of a three-year contract right now and has yet to sign a new deal. Divish reports that the Mariners have “floated” the idea of a one-year extension for the 2022 season, which would give Dipoto a chance to finish off his rebuild and ownership the chance to take a look at a more finished product, so to speak.
For the time being, however, Dipoto is approaching a pivotal trade deadline with no guarantee he’ll still be at the helm this coming offseason. It’s still possible that ownership will get something done this month — Dipoto’s last three-year extension was signed in early July, 2018 — but it’s not clear whether there’s been any formal offer made.
Marlins Pick Up Don Mattingly’s Option For 2022 Season
Don Mattingly will return as the Marlins’ manager in 2022. General manager Kim Ng announced on today’s broadcast that Mattingly’s mutual option for the 2022 campaign has been picked up by both parties (Twitter link, with video, via Bally Sports Florida).
“Donnie’s been steady at the helm,” Ng said when asked about the job Mattingly has done. “I think that’s one of his greatest attributes. He’s incredibly patient. I think he’s got a great way with the young players. He’s very positive with them.”
The 2022 season will be Mattingly’s seventh as the Marlins’ manager. He joined the Fish in 2016 on the heels of a five-year run as the Dodgers’ skipper and has since managed the team to a 345-446 record. Of course, the manager of a club that has gone through yet another broad-reaching fire sale, turned over its front office and gone through an ownership change can’t be judged solely on wins and losses. Mattingly has stuck with the club through all of those sweeping changes, convincing multiple front offices and ownership groups alike that he’s the right person to be leading an up-and-coming Marlins club.
Mattingly’s Marlins made a surprise postseason bid last year in the expanded format and did so in spite of a Covid outbreak that gutted the roster and left him with a host of replacement players for several weeks. That unexpected playoff berth contributed to Mattingly’s first NL Manager of the Year win. His club toppled the NL Central champion Cubs in the Wild Card round of play before falling to the Braves in the NLDS.
The 2021 season hasn’t gone exactly according to plan for the Marlins, who’ve fallen into a prolonged stretch of losses and dropped to 38-47 in the standings. The loss of touted young right-hander Sixto Sanchez due to shoulder surgery has been a particularly tough hit for Miami, and they’ve also been without third baseman Brian Anderson and promising righty Elieser Hernandez for much of the 2021 campaign as well.
Still, there are some important pieces in place for the franchise moving forward. Jazz Chisholm is enjoying a nice season in the middle infield, and the Marlins’ rotation has the makings of an impressive group, headlined by Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Trevor Rogers. Miami has several interesting prospects just breaking into the Majors or on the cusp of doing so, including outfielders Jesus Sanchez and JJ Bleday. Last year’s first-round pick, righty Max Meyer, has utterly dominated the Double-A level and could be a quick-to-the-Majors arm.
Mattingly will get the chance to work with that upcoming wave of talent, and if all goes according to plan next season, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see Ng, principal owner Bruce Sherman and CEO Derek Jeter extend Mattingly beyond the 2022 campaign.
A’s Select Jacob Wilson, Place Chad Pinder On IL
The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Jacob Wilson from Triple-A Las Vegas and placed Chad Pinder on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. A’s skipper Bob Melvin tells reporters that Pinder’s injury is going to sideline him “awhile,” noting that the strain is in the middle of the hamstring muscle and that such injuries are “probably at least a month” (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle).
Wilson, 30, will be making his MLB debut nine years after being selected by the Cardinals in the 10th round of the 2012 draft. He’s since bounced to the Nationals for a few seasons and also spent a year with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants. After inking a minor league deal over the winter, he headed to Vegas and has mashed at a .288/.385/.630 clip while slugging 14 home runs, 17 doubles and a pair of triples in 218 plate appearances.
Wilson has played all over the diamond in his pro career, though his primary positions have been second base and third base. He’s also logged nearly 500 innings at first base, and the A’s have been giving him time in left field so far in 2021 as well. He’ll give them a right-handed bat to help cover for Pinder’s absence. In 1409 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Wilson is a .263/.341/.462 hitter.
This is the second IL stint of the season for Pinder, who missed more than a month earlier in the year thanks to a left knee sprain. The 29-year-old has been a versatile and valuable role player for the A’s in recent years, but he’s struggling through the least-productive season of his MLB tenure to date, batting just .216/.269/.358 with the second-highest strikeout rate (27.6 percent) and second-lowest walk rate (5.5 percent) of his career.
Eloy Jimenez To Begin Rehab Assignment
The White Sox announced this morning that slugger Eloy Jimenez has been cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. Jimenez, who suffered a ruptured pectoral tendon during Spring Training and has yet to play in 2021, will start out with Class-A Advanced Winston-Salem.
Minor league rehab assignments can last up to 30 days, so this doesn’t necessarily mean that Jimenez will be back with the Sox in the very near future, but it effectively places a clock on his return to the roster (barring any kind of setback). Assuming all goes well with the rehab, it seems he’s on track to return on the more optimistic end of the four- to five-month recovery period the White Sox placed on him after he underwent surgery back on March 30.
It’s a welcome development for a White Sox club whose roster has been hammered by injuries to key players. Center fielder Luis Robert suffered a Grade 3 hip flexor strain in early May that came with a 12- to 16-week recovery period. Nick Madrigal‘s season is over due to a torn hamstring that required surgery. Yasmani Grandal underwent surgery to repair a tendon in his knee this week.
Despite losing some of their best players for half the season or more, the Sox have run away with the feeble American League Central. The rival Twins have been perhaps baseball’s most disappointing team in 2021, while the Indians have lost their top three starters to injury and have plummeted in the standings while their replacements have posted a combined 6.87 ERA over the past month. Kansas City’s offseason spending hasn’t produced a winner on the field, and the Tigers are in what they hope to be the final stages of what has felt like an interminable rebuild.
That’s not to detract from what the ChiSox have accomplished. Few would have been surprised to see the team wilt with so many major injuries. The front office deserves credit both for bringing in veteran Brian Goodwin, who has helped to stabilize the outfield with a .253/.349/.493 batting line in his first 22 games, and for generally cultivating a deep farm system over the past several years. Prospects Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger have both hit the ground running in their big league debuts, for instance.
The Chicago pitching staff, meanwhile, has been the backbone of the club’s success. Spearheaded by offseason acquisition Lance Lynn and a remarkable breakout by Carlos Rodon, Sox starting pitchers rank seventh in the Majors with a collective 3.62 earned run average.
The general thought has been that the White Sox will be looking for help in the outfield and/or at second base in the three weeks leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. That Jimenez is already on the mend and perhaps on track to be back in the lineup by early August could directly impact the team’s strategy. The Sox recently designated Adam Eaton for assignment, but they’ve been more prominently linked to infield acquisitions thus far — namely Eduardo Escobar and Adam Frazier. An apparently looming Jimenez return can only make GM Rick Hahn and his staff feel better about the outlook in the outfield, whereas second base is still a fairly obvious area to upgrade.