The Astros’ Apologies Did Little To Repair Their Image
Shortly after Astros owner Jim Crane, new manager Dusty Baker and players Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve addressed the media in a press conference regarding their sign-stealing scandal yesterday, the clubhouse was opened up for the entire roster to offer comments on the ordeal. Their comments created quite the contrast with those still emerging from others around the league.
George Springer, Josh Reddick, Bregman, Altuve and Yuli Gurriel were among the many Astros players to express varying levels of contrition. Most spoke in general terms, though, and the key phrases throughout left many of the sentiments feeling more rehearsed than genuine. Springer, Bregman and Verlander repeatedly referenced the “remorse” felt by the team, while virtually everyone interviewed spoke of the need to “move forward.”
Asked if he understood the anger that’s been expressed by players from other teams, Reddick stated: “At a point, you kind of see where it’s coming from, but you really don’t know how everybody feels about it.” Indeed we don’t have exhaustive knowledge of the views of all the league’s players, but that characterization still seems at odds with the prevailing sentiment we’re seeing early in camp. There has been an unprecedented public backlash from players and members of other organizations. (More on that below.)
The typically outspoken Verlander favored brevity Thursday, telling reporters, “I wish I’d said more” but sidestepping the question of what, if anything, he actually did say at the time: “That’s between myself and my teammates.” Both Verlander and Reddick declined to comment on how they’d have felt to be on the opposite side of the scheme.
Shortstop Carlos Correa perhaps offered the most forthcoming and reflective comments, plainly acknowledging that the sign-stealing operation gave Astros hitters an advantage. Correa also admitted that the Astros had their infamous trash-can setup in place during the World Series “if we had a chance” but added that the noise level at Minute Maid Park and the Dodgers’ usage of multiple signs rendered the system difficult to use.
Correa further denounced a recent report that Carlos Beltran spearheaded the outfit while younger players were reluctant to stand up to the veteran, emphasizing that the blame shouldn’t rest on any one player but rather the group as a whole.
“We all had a say in everything that we were doing in there,” said Correa. “We had the chance to stop it as a team. Everybody — everybody — had the chance to say something, and we didn’t.” Gurriel and Bregman offered similar sentiments regarding Beltran and the culpability of the entire team.
Astros players, like Crane, were unified in suggesting that the cheating scandal shouldn’t tarnish their World Series title from the 2017 season.
Asked if the Astros would’ve won the World Series without cheating, Springer replied, “I believe so. I believe in our team.” Lance McCullers Jr. spoke about the “great baseball” the Astros needed to play as a team to win the World Series and praised Houston’s “great pitching” against the Dodgers. Reddick, a former Dodger himself, said he “[doesn’t] feel like we should” have to reach out to any members of the Dodgers, Yankees or other teams they toppled en route to their 2017 championship. Even Correa, despite acknowledging that the trash-can system was set up, wouldn’t agree that the team’s title was tainted, citing the “special group” Houston had in 2017.
Looking beyond the Astros’ spring complex, former Houston lefty Dallas Keuchel, now of the White Sox, told reporters: “We’re always going to be World Series champs, because we were talented … To me, we earned the right to be World Series champs.” J.D. Davis struck a different chord, telling Mets reporters today that he is “ashamed” to have participated in the system. “Whoever gets crowned World Series champion has to earn it,” said Davis. “It’s unfair to the peers, it’s unfair to the fans, it’s unfair to you guys, the writers, as well. It’s terrible for baseball.”
Around the game, players and members of other organizations generally recoiled at the Astros’ apology efforts. Sean Manaea, Whit Merrifield, Andrew Heaney, David Freese and Dave Roberts were among the many names to speak up. Freese tweeted that the Astros’ media sessions were a “[expletive] joke,” while Roberts merely told reporters that he “believes in karma.” Merrifield told the Kansas City Star that the scandal “discredits everything those players have ever done” and pulled no punches in laying out the manner in which he’s lost all of the respect he once held for Astros players. Cody Bellinger spoke perhaps the strongest words of all, saying that Altuve “stole an MVP from [Aaron] Judge” and that the Astros “stole the ring from us.”
Crane’s inane comments seemed to spark particular ire. The Astros’ owner sounded more like Michael Scott than a contrite piece of the puzzle in making yesterday’s tone-deaf assertion: “I don’t think I should be held accountable.” And while he can continue his efforts to distance himself from the scandal and place blame on the leadership that he fired — GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch — those leaders were in place because of Crane’s own doing. Whether he was genuinely in the dark on the sign-stealing scheme or merely ignorant, the only people who seem to buy Crane’s lack of awareness work in the Astros organization or in Manfred’s office.
Crane later doubled down on his lack of accountability, stating that he believes the sign stealing “didn’t impact the game.” Less than a minute later, he claimed that he “didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.” His similarly clumsy closing remark that sign-stealing “could possibly [impact competition]” or “could possibly not” only further exemplified the extent of his dishonesty or delusion about the effect of his team’s actions. Yankees manager Aaron Boone appeared exasperated (video link) when asked about Crane’s statement that the Astros’ cheating didn’t impact the game, calling it “quite a reach.”
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Manaea torched the Astros for “skating by” and was particularly critical of Crane’s claims: “What’s the point of cheating then? Why as a team did you collectively do it? Why did no one stop it? You’re not cheating to get worse or be the same. You’re cheating to win.”
Merrifield agreed: “It definitely [tainted their championship] because they didn’t feel like they could do it by going out and playing the game. … So if they don’t think they could have won it, why should we think they could’ve won it in 2017?”
Joining the party this afternoon was Reds righty Trevor Bauer. The ever-opinionated hurler offered some well-reasoned and forcefully delivered remarks, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Given his history with some of the Houston players, and prior comments on this matter, it was hardly surprising to hear Bauer label the Astros “filthy,” “hypocritical,” and “underhanded.” He reserved added animosity for Crane, with Bauer labeling him a liar.
Executives have also weighed in. Nationals president of baseball ops Mike Rizzo and Yankees GM Brian Cashman made no secret of their disdain for the Astros’ actions, as MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman (link) and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (link) report. Rizzo said he feels the Houston organization must acknowledge that it cheated and called for a fully complete investigation. Cashman was a bit less strident but did acknowledge being upset. Both leaders also noted a need to move forward, though it still seems there’s some cleanup left for the league.
Looking back to the Houston organization itself … on the whole, the scene at Astros’ camp seemed almost satirical. Crane sat at a press conference in which he sought to absolve his players of any responsibility before immediately making them available to apologize for the same scandal he proclaimed not to be their fault. Early Thursday morning, it’d have been difficult to imagine the Astros walking away from the day somehow looking worse, but whatever contrition was displayed in the Astros’ clubhouse was overshadowed by the head-in-the-sand reaction of their owner. Perhaps Jim Crane’s master plan was to distract from his players’ role in the whole ordeal by flaunting his own public relations ineptitude. Mission accomplished, if that’s the case, but the organization looks no better today than it did before addressing the public yesterday.
Jeremy Hellickson Retires
1:02pm: Hellickson tells Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register that he has indeed opted to retire. He’d have required another surgery to repair his shoulder and opted against the arduous process of rehabilitating from that procedure. Best wishes to Hellickson in his post-playing days.
11:24am: Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson isn’t likely to pitch in the upcoming season, Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio reports (via Twitter). The 32-year-old righty battled shoulder problems for much of the 2019 season with the Nationals and suffered an offseason setback in rehabbing the injury.
Hellickson proved to be a shrewed minor league pickup for the Nats in 2018, tossing 91 1/3 innings of 3.45 ERA ball over the course of 19 starts. That showing earned him a big league deal to return to the Nationals late last winter, but his shoulder woes limited him to 39 innings, during which time he was tagged for 27 runs (6.23 ERA) on 47 hits and 20 walks with 30 strikeouts. His final pitch of the season came on May 19.
What’s next for Hellickson remains unclear. He could certainly rehab the issue between now and the offseason in hopes of pursuing a minor league deal and another comeback effort next winter. Then again, Mish at least implies that the righty has contemplated calling it a career.
Whatever route he takes, Hellickson will have plenty of fond memories on which to look back. A fourth-round pick by the (Devil) Rays back in 2005, he burst onto the scene and won American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2011 when he racked up 189 innings with a 2.95 ERA. Hellickson was similarly excellent the following season, and although he endured some rough seasons in the next couple of years, he also enjoyed a solid bounceback effort with the 2016 Phillies in addition to his strong work with the ’18 Nats.
All told, Hellickson has pitched 1269 1/3 innings in the big leagues, compiling a 76-75 record and a 4.13 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.3 HR/9 along the way. Hellickson never made an All-Star team but did win a Gold Glove Award in 2012 and took home a World Series ring as a member of the 2019 Nationals. He’s earned more than $35MM in his career to date when factoring in his above-slot $500K bonus from the ’05 draft. Perhaps that’s not quite the career that he and many onlookers hoped for when he was ranked a top 10 overall prospect and subsequently won Rookie of the Year honors, but it’s a career that virtually any player would be thrilled to call his own.
Astros Slow Brad Peacock’s Throwing Program After Setback
Astros righty Brad Peacock entered camp as a candidate to take home a rotation spot, but he’s had a recurrence of the nerve issue in his neck that plagued him last year, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Peacock is throwing from 90 feet, but his overall program has been slowed down for the time being, lessening his chances of seizing a starting job.
Peacock, 32, has been a solid arm for the Astros in both the rotation and bullpen across the past four seasons, pitching to a combined 3.48 ERA with 10.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 320 1/3 innings of work. He’s posted a better ERA and much higher strikeout rate when working in short relief than out of the rotation, but Peacock’s 3.62 ERA and 3.72 FIP in 218 2/3 innings as a starter certainly suggests that he could be a capable back-end starter.
At present it seems to be more a question of just what his body will allow him to handle. Peacock missed significant time with shoulder and neck troubles late in the 2019 season, making only six regular-season appearances after June 27. After a month-long stint on the injured list, he returned for three appearances before quickly being placed back on the IL for close to another month. He did toss 5 2/3 innings between the ALCS and the World Series, though he walked four batters in that time.
The Houston rotation looks more vulnerable than it has in quite some time. Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke will pair to create a formidable one-two punch, and the return of Lance McCullers Jr., who had Tommy John surgery in 2018, should be a boost if he can recapture his form. Right-hander Jose Urquidy is the front-runner to nab the fourth spot, and with Peacock slowed down, newcomer Austin Pruitt could be the favorite to land the final spot to open the year. Houston has plenty of other options with starting experience — Josh James, Framber Valdez and Rogelio Armenteros among them — so the back of that group could yet change composition.
For Peacock personally, it’s a rough start to a pivotal year. The right-hander will cross the six-year threshold in terms of Major League service time in 2020, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. If he’s able to quickly put these issues behind him, Peacock could yet build a strong free-agent case, but it’s a somewhat ominous start to the new season in light of last year’s health troubles.
Indians Designate Andrew Velazquez For Assignment
The Indians announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Andrew Velazquez for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to outfielder/designated hitter Domingo Santana, whose one-year deal with the Indians has now been formally announced.
Velazquez, 25, appeared in five games with the Indians in 2019 and went 1-for-11. He’s appeared sparingly at the MLB level between the Tampa Bay and Cleveland organizations, hitting .152/.222/.242 in a minuscule sample of 36 plate appearances. The Indians acquired him just this past July in exchange for international bonus pool allotments.
The versatile Velazquez is a shortstop by nature but has also logged ample time in center field, at second base and at third base throughout an eight-year minor league tenure. He’s a career .260/.316/.415 hitter in 648 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Cleveland will have a week to trade Velazquez, place him on outright waivers or release him. He does have two minor league option years remaining, so a club seeking some versatile infield depth could place a speculative claim if it has the roster flexibility at present.
Padres Sign Seth Frankoff To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed right-hander Seth Frankoff to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training, tweets MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. He’s repped by Vanguard Sports.
Frankoff, 31, has spent the past two seasons pitching for the Doosan Bears in the Korea Baseball Organization. In that time, he’s logged a combined 3.68 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 over the life of 266 2/3 innings (50 starts). Prior to his time in the KBO, Frankoff pitched in the Athletics, Dodgers and Cubs organizations. He appeared in one game with the Cubs’ big league team in 2017 but has not appeared in the Majors otherwise. In 165 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball in his career, Frankoff owns a 4.46 ERA and a 152-to-68 K/BB ratio.
Frankoff gives the Friars some depth both in the rotation and in the bullpen, as he’s pitched extensively in both roles throughout a decade-long professional career. San Diego has added Zach Davies to its rotation mix and Emilio Pagan to the bullpen this winter via trade. The Friars have also dished out free-agent contracts to Drew Pomeranz (four years, $34MM), Craig Stammen (two years, $9MM) and Pierce Johnson (two years, $5MM). That slate of acquisitions dampens Frankoff’s hopes of breaking camp with the club, but he’s a reasonable depth option to have on hand in the event of injuries throughout the pitching staff.
Blue Jays Shut Down Ryan Borucki
The Blue Jays have shut left-hander Ryan Borucki down due to tightness in his left elbow, tweets TSN’s Scott Mitchell. The plan is to re-evalute the 25-year-old within the next few days, but it’s clearly an ominous development after Borucki was limited to just two MLB appearances in 2019 due to elbow troubles. General manager Ross Atkins said that an MRI on Borucki has not revealed any structural damage (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).
Borucki isn’t a household name outside of Toronto, but he’s been viewed as an important piece for the Jays as they look to emerge from a rebuilding effort. The former high school draftee ranked among Toronto’s top 20 prospects from 2014-17 before making an impressive big league debut in 2018 when he posted a 3.87 ERA in 17 starts. That season saw Borucki total 97 2/3 innings while averaging 6.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 0.65 HR/9 with a 46.8 percent ground-ball rate.
The Blue Jays invested heavily in pitching this winter, signing free agents Hyun-Jin Ryu (four years, $80MM) and Tanner Roark (two years, $24MM) in addition to trading for Brewers righty Chase Anderson. That trio was expected to be joined by a returning Matt Shoemaker — who was excellent early in 2019 prior to tearing his ACL — and Borucki. Now, however, it’s difficult to forecast that Borucki will be a go to break camp in the Toronto rotation — or even on the active roster.
Toronto isn’t shy on alternative options. The Jays also signed Japanese righty Shun Yamaguchi this winter, and the former Yomiuri Giant has experience as both a starter and a reliever. Trent Thornton, who paced the Jays in innings pitched last year, remains in the mix. The Blue Jays also have several young options on the cusp of MLB readiness; each of Anthony Kay, Sean Reid-Foley, Jacob Waguespack and T.J. Zeuch has already gotten his feet wet in the Majors and could be in line for a look. Others on the 40-man roster include Thomas Hatch, Yennsy Diaz, Hector Perez and Julian Merryweather.
Whoever opens the season in the fifth spot could end up serving as a mere placeholder anyhow. The Jays have one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects in right-hander Nate Pearson. He and his triple-digit fastball are expected to make their big league debut at some point during the 2020 campaign.
Indians Complete Deal With Domingo Santana
The Indians have completed their rumored contract with outfielder/designated hitter Domingo Santana, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Wasserman client will earn a $1.5MM guarantee, and his contract comes with a $5MM club option or a $250K buyout. Santana can earn $500K in bonuses for days spent on the roster in 2020, and each roster bonus he triggers will boost the value of next that 2021 club option. In total, the deal can reportedly max out at two years and $7.5MM.
Still just 27 years old, Santana was an offensive force with the Brewers as recently as 2017, when he slashed .278/.371/.505 with 30 home runs and 29 doubles (good for a 126 OPS+ and 127 wRC+). However, Santana was the beneficiary of a .363 average on balls in play that year, punched out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances and played a below-average right field. It’s impossible to say whether those traits gave the Brewers concern about his ability to produce moving forward or whether the team simply found the value in a pair of marquee offseason acquisitions too great to pass up. Regardless, Santana was effectively pushed to a bench role the following year after Milwaukee traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain to join Ryan Braun in the outfield.
The 2018 season wasn’t a great one for Santana. One can point to the fact that he was already a regression candidate or suggest that his newfound limited role was a difficult adjustment. Whatever the reason, Santana’s .265/.328/.412 slash through 235 plate appearances marked a substantial downturn. He was traded to the Mariners for Ben Gamel last winter.
In Seattle, Santana once again found himself in a near-regular role, and his production bounced back to an extent. In 507 plate appearances, he hit .253/.329/.441 with 21 homers, 20 doubles and a triple. It wasn’t the same level of pop that he displayed in 2017, but it was a nice bounceback effort all the same. Santana’s strikeout rate only worsened, though, as he fanned in 32.3 percent of his trips to the plate. And, his already shaky glovework bottomed out in 2019 when defensive metrics graded him as one of baseball’s worst defenders at any position (-17 Defensive Runs Saved, -16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating, -13 Outs Above Average).
Santana’s fit in Cleveland is admittedly something of a curious one, as the Indians already have an extremely similar player in Franmil Reyes. Both lumbering, defensively-challenged sluggers hit from the right side of the dish and profile better as a designated hitter than as an outfielder. Santana draws more walks and runs slightly better; Reyes has more power, strikes out a bit less and boasted 99th-percentile marks in exit velocity and hard-hit rate in 2019. Overall, they bring comparable skill sets to an already-crowded Indians outfield mix (though Reyes would seem to have more offensive upside).
Oscar Mercado should have center field locked down after a strong debut campaign in 2019, leaving Santana and Reyes as two options in the outfield corners. The problem is that right-handed-hitting Jordan Luplow is also in the corner mix, and his otherworldly production against lefties should at least ensure him a platoon role. Cleveland also acquired Delino DeShields Jr. — another right-handed bat — in the Corey Kluber salary dump. The switch-hitting Greg Allen is in the mix, too, as are lefty-swinging Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer and (once recovered from last year’s ACL tear) Tyler Naquin.
Santana is an affordable addition to the fray, to be sure, and there’s little doubt that he deepens the club’s reservoir of options in the corners and at DH. That said, it’s also not clear that Santana is an upgrade over what they already had in house.
Orioles To Sign Tommy Milone
The Orioles have agreed to a minor league deal and invitation to Major League Spring Training with veteran left-hander Tommy Milone, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (via Twitter). Milone, a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management, will presumably join the competition to secure a spot in a paper-thin Baltimore rotation.
Milone, who’ll turn 33 this Sunday, spent the 2019 season with the Mariners, for whom he soaked up 111 2/3 innings while compiling a 4.76 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 36.7 percent ground-ball rate. Long known to be a fly-ball pitcher, Milone struggled to keep the ball in the yard — as did a great many pitchers — averaging 1.85 long balls per nine innings pitched. His excellent control helped to minimize the damage of those home runs, but dropping a pitcher with a career 1.49 HR/9 mark into the American League East could prove problematic even if Milone does end up as a starter for the O’s.
That said, Milone has been a generally durable source of innings, although his year-to-year totals in the Majors don’t reflect that trait due to his considerable time in the minors in recent seasons. Milone has missed small batches of time due to elbow, biceps and shoulder troubles, but the only time he’s missed even a month on the injured list came as a result of a knee injury with the Mets back in 2017.
In total, Milone has pitched to a career 4.47 ERA in 874 2/3 innings split between the Nationals, Athletics, Twins, Mets, Mariners and Brewers. Along the way, the soft-tossing southpaw has averaged 6.7 strikeouts and 2.2 walks per nine innings pitched. He’s the same type of control-over-stuff lefty that the Orioles recently added in Wade LeBlanc, albeit one who is a few years younger and coming off a superior showing in 2019.
The Orioles’ rotation currently consists of John Means, Alex Cobb and Asher Wojciechowski, which should give Milone ample opportunity to seize a spot if he impresses during Spring Training.
Bell: Suarez Could Be Ready For Opening Day
Despite undergoing shoulder surgery to remove some loose cartilage in late January, Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez could potentially be ready to go by Opening Day, manager David Bell told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
The injury was never expected to sideline Suarez for too much of the 2020 campaign; the Cincinnati organization announced at the time of the procedure that Suarez would be ready to play in games “near the beginning of the regular season.” That’s a relatively nebulous statement, but Bell suggests that recent tests/updates have encouraged the team.
Suarez’s injury status will be notable to follow for several reasons. Beyond the simple fact that he’s emerged as one of the National League’s better players and is on a club that enters the 2020 season more poised to contend that at any point in the past five years, Suarez’s status figures to have a ripple effect throughout the organization. Offseason signee Mike Moustakas was added with the idea that he’d move to second base on a full-time basis, but it’s conceivable that he could see action at third base early in the year should Suarez need some IL time. That could open the door for a non-roster player such as Derek Dietrich to again break camp with Cincinnati or for a younger player like Josh VanMeter to get some regular reps early in 2020.
The Reds surely want Suarez in the lineup as soon as possible, given that the 28-year-old broke out with a massive .271/.358/.572 slash and 49 home runs this past season. At the same time, the club also has to resist the temptation to rush him back into the fold, as a healthy Suarez figures to be a key anchor in a lineup that was bolstered by the offseason additions of Moustakas, Nick Castellanos and Shogo Akiyama.
The 2019-20 offseason saw the Pirates take a step back, the Brewers scale back payroll (while still making numerous low-cost moves), the Cardinals make only minimal additions and the Cubs barely even try to improve at all. The Reds look to be the most improved club in the division, and the extent to which Suarez is able to contribute should be an important factor in their chances of returning to contention in 2020.
Health Notes: White Sox, Leake, Perez, Dominguez
The White Sox opened camp with a series of unwelcome injury developments, as each of Yasmani Grandal, Lucas Giolito and Gio Gonzalez are all dealing with minor injuries (link via Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times). Grandal injured his calf in the weight room last week, and an MRI revealed a minor calf strain. Giolito is working through a strained muscle in his chest, and Gonzalez is battling some discomfort in his left shoulder. However, GM Rick Hahn expects all three to be good to go by Opening Day and referred to the injuries as “minor.” Grandal clearly isn’t overly worried about his status, as he joked with reporters that he was merely trying to get out of some running drills in Spring Training (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin). Giolito, meanwhile, is already throwing from 120 feet and said he’s “zero percent” concerned about his injury.
Some more health/injury notes from early on in camp…
- Diamondbacks right-hander Mike Leake is undergoing an MRI after experiencing soreness in his left wrist following a fall at his home, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters today (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan). Lovullo described the MRI as precautionary in nature, so it doesn’t seem as though the organization is overly concerned at the moment. Leake, 32, landed in Arizona following a deadline swap with the Mariners and pitched to a 4.35 ERA in 60 innings (10 starts). Leake fanned just 27 hitters in those 60 frames but was quite stingy in terms of issuing free passes as well, surrendering just eight bases on balls. The ever-durable righty made at least 30 starts for the eighth consecutive season in 2019, eating up 197 innings between Seattle and Arizona.
- After missing the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery, Royals stalwart Salvador Perez is ahead of schedule and expected to be ready for Opening Day, new manager Mike Matheny told reporters (link via MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan). Perez is already throwing to second base without issue and is slated to meet with his doctors tomorrow for another check-in. Interestingly, Matheny suggested that Perez would not only see some time at designated hitter early in the season but also at first base, as the Royals look to be cautious with his throwing workload.
- Phillies right-hander Seranthony Dominguez managed to avoid Tommy John surgery last year after an elbow scare, and he now appears to be on track for Opening Day, tweets Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dominguez resumed throwing in December and has now thrown three bullpen sessions — including one earlier today. The 25-year-old was lights out in his debut effort back in 2018 and took a step back in limited action in 2019 before hitting the injured list. In 82 2/3 innings between those two seasons, he’s pitched to a 3.27 ERA with 11.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 16 saves.