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Miguel Andujar To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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The Yankees announced tonight that third baseman Miguel Andujar will undergo surgery to repair the labrum tear in his right shoulder next Monday. He’s expected to miss the remainder of the 2019 season.

The team and fans alike had huge hopes for Andujar, who finished second in 2018 American League Rookie of the Year voting, but his 2019 campaign will unfortunately come to an end after just a dozen games and 49 plate appearances. The 23-year-old originally landed on the injured list after just three games and missed the entire month of April as well as some time in early May before opting to return in an attempt to play through the injury.

Andujar, though, went just 3-for-34 at the plate with a walk and nine strikeouts in his brief return to the active roster before being placed back on the IL. Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said yesterday that Andujar was once again weighing his options and planned to talk them over with his family, though the decision apparently didn’t take all that long this time around.

The injury to Andujar is the most serious the Yankees have faced in a season that has already been permeated by health woes, but the team currently has both Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu healthy as well as Gio Urshela playing the best baseball of his professional career. The club eventually hopes to have both Troy Tulowitzki and Didi Gregorius back in the infield mix as well, and if that happens, they’ll still have a strong mix of options to pair with first baseman Luke Voit in rounding out the infield.

That said, the impact of losing a bat that produced a .297/.328/.527 batting line with 27 homers, 47 doubles and a pair of triples a year ago can’t be understated. Andujar was a key middle-of-the-order presence for last year’s 100-win Yankees club, and while there’s no shortage or internal options to replace him on a fully healthy club, it’s also unlikely that any of the alternatives can match that level of offensive output. Whoever shoulders the load at third base for the remainder of the season will likely be a defensive upgrade over Andujar, who struggled with the glove last season.

Andujar will still accrue Major League service time while he finishes out the season on the injured list, and he’ll cross the two-year mark in the months to come. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 season and won’t be a free agent until the 2023-24 offseason. The Yankees, meanwhile, will be able to easily open a 40-man roster spot by transferring him to the 60-day injured list the next time a need arises.

Carlos Torres Opts Out Of Padres Deal

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Veteran right-handed reliever Carlos Torres has opted out of his minor league contract with the Padres, MLBTR has learned.

Torres, 36, inked a minor league pact with the Padres back in January, and while he struggled in Spring Training, he’s had a solid start to his season in Triple-A El Paso. Through 25 1/3 frames, Torres is sporting a 2.49 ERA with a 23-to-10 K/BB ratio and a 50.7 percent ground-ball rate.

Torres has appeared in the Majors in each of the past eight seasons and in 10 of the past dating back to 2009. While he tossed only 9 2/3 innings in the Majors last year, all with the Nationals, he was a big league regular from 2012-17, pitching to a 3.73 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in a total of 449 innings between the Rockies, Mets and Brewers. Over that stretch, Torres averaged 56 appearances and 75 innings per season. It was a small sample of work, but last year’s 93 mph average fastball was actually an improvement over his career average of 91.7 mph.

Given his track record at the MLB level, solid showing to this point in the Pacific Coast League and the sheer number of clubs eyeing bullpen depth, Torres should be able to latch on with another club’s Triple-A affiliate at the very least.

Zack Greinke, Taijuan Walker Headed For MRIs

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The D-backs may have enjoyed a comfortable win this afternoon, but it’s quickly become a stressful day for the club and its fans due to a series of injuries. Zack Greinke and David Peralta both exited today’s game early, and The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan tweets that right-hander Taijuan Walker is slated to undergo an MRI after experiencing shoulder soreness in a rehab appearance in extended Spring Training.

The team announced during the game that Peralta departed due to tightness in his right trapezius muscle, while manager Torey Lovullo revealed postgame that Greinke will undergo an MRI on Friday after experiencing abdominal tightness. Greinke had cruised through 7 2/3 shutout innings before grimacing after a pitch in the eighth inning and calling a trainer out to the mound. He departed before throwing another pitch.

Any absence for Greinke would be significant for a D-backs club that is four games over .500, firmly in the NL Wild Card mix and still within four games of the NL West lead. His near shutout Wednesday dropped his season ERA to 2.78, and he’s complemented that mark with averages of 8.6 K/9, 1.1 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9. And although his velocity has continued to dwindle as he pitches into his mid 30s, Greinke has adjusted and served as a high-quality starter and workhorse in recent seasons; the 35-year-old tossed 410 innings between the 2017-18 regular seasons with near-identical ERAs of 3.20 and 3.21.

Fortunately, with regard to Peralta, Lovullo suggested that his outfielder will be okay with some treatment (Twitter link via Buchanan). The D-backs have an off day tomorrow, and to this point there’s been no mention of a possible IL trip for Peralta. Through 192 plate appearances, the 31-year-old is hitting .318/.359/.531 with six home runs, 16 doubles and a pair of triples — a strong followup to last year’s breakout 30-homer, .293/.352/.516 showing.

As for Walker, the setback is unsettling for an organization that hoped he’d eventually return to the rotation this summer. The 26-year-old right-hander is working back from 2018 Tommy John surgery and had progressed to pitching in a game setting. The fact that his shoulder is the problematic area suggests that there’s no immediate cause for concern in his surgically repaired elbow, though that’s not really any kind of consolation — particularly given that Walker has previously dealt with shoulder issues in his career.

Marlins’ Drew Steckenrider Out Indefinitely

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Marlins righty Drew Steckenrider will be sidelined for a yet-to-be determined period of time after Dr. James Andrews confirmed the team’s initial diagnosis of a right flexor strain, the team told reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel). For the time being, rest has been recommended rather than surgery. The team moved Steckenrider to the 60-day injured list recently, so he’ll be out until at least early July.

Entering the season, Steckenrider looked primed to hold down a prominent late-inning role — if not as the team’s closer then as one of its top setup options. The 28-year-old carried a 3.35 ERA with 11.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and 1.0 BB/9 through 99 1/3 career innings into the 2019 season. However, Steckenrider slumped late in the 2018 season and had a tough Spring Training, and it seems those troubles carried into the 2019 campaign. Through 14 1/3 innings this season, he’s toting a 6.28 ERA and has surrendered a jarring six home runs.

A healthy Steckenrider would make for an interesting trade piece, given the strong showing he displayed in 2017 and up through the All-Star break in 2018. But with no timetable for his return to the mound at present, it seems unlikely that he’ll be moved. He’s under club control all the way through the 2023 campaign and won’t even be eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 season, so he could certainly present a potential trade asset somewhere down the line as the Marlins continue plodding through what seems likely to be a lengthy rebuilding endeavor under new ownership.

With Steckenrider on the shelf indefinitely, Miami will continue to lean heavily on a collection of largely unproven bullpen pieces. Tyler Kinley and Tayron Guerrero have each displayed impressive strikeout numbers but each averaged seven walks per nine innings pitched. Offseason trade acquisition Nick Anderson has racked up a ridiculous 31 strikeouts through 17 1/3 innings but has also been too prone to home runs. Righty Austin Brice has turned in a solid 2.20 ERA in 16 1/3 innings but ha control issues of his own, while veteran Sergio Romo hasn’t yet been the stabilizing force Miami hoped to acquire when signing him over the winter.

Rangers Recall Willie Calhoun, Place Elvis Andrus On Injured List

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The Rangers announced that they’ve recalled outfielder/designated hitter Willie Calhoun from Triple-A Nashville and placed shortstop Elvis Andrus on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. Texas also optioned righty Wei-Chieh Huang to Nashville and recalled left-hander Jeffrey Springs.

Calhoun, of course, isn’t going to step into shortstop duties in Andrus’ absence. He’s in the lineup at designated hitter tonight, while veteran utilityman Logan Forsythe is getting the first look at short in place of Andrus. Calhoun figures to split his time between left field and designated hitter; he played second base earlier in his minor league career but has logged just three games there in 2019 and didn’t play the position at all in 2018.

It’ll be Calhoun’s third straight season of at least partial duty with the Rangers since being acquired as the centerpiece of the trade that sent Yu Darvish to the Dodgers. At the time, Calhoun was considered to be one of the game’s premier minor league hitters but lacked a defensive home. While the questions about his glovework haven’t subsided, his 2018 struggles at the plate in the Majors (.222/.269/.333) and a decrease in his production in Triple-A (.294/.351/.431) caused his stock to slip a bit.

Still just 24 years of age, however, Calhoun has begun to rebuild his credentials with a robust .304/.416/.557 start to the season in Nashville. After hitting just nine home runs in 470 Triple-A plate appearances in 2018, he’s already slugged eight long balls in 138 trips to the plate so far in 2019. He’s still viewed as a potential long-term piece for the Rangers, and Delino DeShields’ recent demotion to the minors has pushed Joey Gallo from left field into center field, thus creating some room for Calhoun to join the roster. So long as Calhoun hits, today’s promotion could prove to be a move with long-term ramifications.

As for Andrus, it’s not yet clear just how much time he’s expected to miss, but any trip to the injured list is critical for a player with an opt-out clause at season’s end. The 30-year-old had gotten out to a terrific .325/.373/.510 start to the season. Through 169 plate appearances so far, Andrus has tallied six home runs, nine doubles, a triple and eight stolen bases while striking out at just a 16.6 percent clip. He’ll have the ability to opt out of the final three years and $43MM remaining on his contract after the season, though given the fact that he’d receive a qualifying offer in that scenario and would be entering his age-31 season in 2020, exercising that provision could be a long shot.

Braves Designate Jesse Biddle For Assignment

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The Braves announced that they’ve designated left-hander Jesse Biddle for assignment on Wednesday and placed center fielder Ender Inciarte on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar strain. Biddle’s 40-man roster spot will go to top prospect Austin Riley, whose previously reported promotion has now been made official. Atlanta also recalled Touki Toussaint from Triple-A Gwinnett to round out tonight’s series of roster moves.

Biddle, 27, gave the Braves 63 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA ball with 9.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.85 HR/9 and a 55.6 percent ground-ball rate in 2018, but virtually nothing has gone right for the southpaw so far in 2019. Through 15 appearances and a span of 11 2/3 frames, Biddle has served up seven earned runs (and another four unearned runs) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts. As I noted last week, Biddle’s struggles were compounded by the fact that he’s out of minor league options, thus preventing the Braves from merely optioning him to Gwinnett to sort things out. Given the team’s win-now status, a move of this nature felt almost inevitable.

Given last season’s success and the fact that he’s a lefty who still pumps fastballs at an average of 94.1 mph, it’s possible that another club will take a run at correcting the control issues that have torpedoes Biddle’s season. Hard-throwing lefties in their mid-20s that have had some degree of MLB success are hard to come by, after all, and if a team can straighten Biddle out he’d be controllable all the way through the 2023 season.

As for the other moves, Riley will step into left field with Ronald Acuna Jr. shifting into center field in place of Inciarte. The 22-year-old Riley had already slugged a ridiculous 15 home runs on the season and has more broadly been one of the best hitters in all of minor league baseball. He’ll likely get some work at his natural position, third base, on days when Josh Donaldson gets a breather.

Twins’ Mitch Garver Diagnosed With High Ankle Sprain

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Twins catcher Mitch Garver exited tonight’s game after a play at the plate and has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). He’ll be further evaluated tomorrow.

Garver was injured on what ultimately proved to be a game-saving play in the eighth inning; Byron Buxton threw out Shohei Ohtani to end the frame in a 4-3 game, but Ohtani slid into Garver’s planted leg. Garver had to be helped off the field and was unable to place weight on his left leg (video link).

While Garver is hardly a household name, any notable injury for the 28-year-old would be a sizable loss for the Twins. He’s off to a blistering start to the 2019 season, hitting at a .329/.418/.747 clip with nine long balls — including a two-run shot that proved to be the difference tonight — through his first 91 plate appearances. Combined with infielder/catcher Willians Astudillo (.290/.303/.484) and a resurgent Jason Castro (.245/.362/.612), Garver has helped to comprise a highly productive trio of catching options for the first-place Twins.

The presence of both Castro and Astudillo on the roster suggests that the Twins wouldn’t need to call up a catcher in the perhaps likely event that Garver requires a stint on the injured list. Minnesota doesn’t have any other catchers on its 40-man roster anyhow, so it seems likely that they’d continue with the Astudillo/Castro pairing, perhaps with Astudillo working in a slightly more conventional role in a two-catcher setup.

Angels Option Justin Bour, Will Select Jared Walsh

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The Angels announced following tonight’s game that they’ve optioned first baseman Justin Bour to Triple-A Salt Lake. They’ll make a corresponding roster move prior to tomorrow’s game, which, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link), will be to select the contract of first baseman/left-handed reliever Jared Walsh.

Though Bour is a veteran of parts of six big league seasons, he’s still a couple of months shy of the five full years of MLB service time. Players with five or more years of MLB service can only be optioned to the minors with their consent, but Bour entered the year at four years, 64 days of MLB service and is now at four years, 111 days.

Bour, 30, was non-tendered by the Phillies in the offseason and inked a one-year deal worth $2.5MM with the Halos. At the time, the hope was that he could help fill in for Shohei Ohtani early in the season and then move into some kind of timeshare at first base and designated hitter. But while he entered the year as a career .260/.344/.466 hitter with 84 home runs in 1563 Major League plate appearances, Bour has batted only .163/.268/.316 through 112 plate appearances with his new club. He’s drawn 13 walks in that time, demonstrating strong knowledge of the strike zone, but has also shown questionable contact skills with a 27.7 percent strikeout rate.

If Bour is able to eventually turn things around, the Angels will be able to control him through the 2020 season as an arbitration-eligible player this winter, but that’s a long way from being a consideration at this point. For now, he’ll simply work to earn another crack at the big league roster.

As for Walsh, the 25-year-old is off to a .302/.398/.604 slash with 10 homers and a dozen doubles on the season so far. He’s also pitched five innings of relief and allowed a pair of runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He’s more of a position player than a pitcher — Walsh has just 13 2/3 professional innings under his belt in the minors — but he’s an intriguing player to monitor as he gets his first call to the big leagues.

Rangers Notes: Ragans, Odor, Mazara, Miller

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The Rangers received yet even more terrible news on the prospect front Tuesday, as 2016 first-rounder Cole Ragans will undergo the second Tommy John surgery of his young career, per a team announcement. Ragans underwent Tommy John surgery last March but re-tore the ligament in his right elbow and will now miss a second season of development. The Rangers have already lost 2018 second-round pick Owen White and 2018 fourth-rounder Mason Englert to Tommy John surgery this season, thus wiping out the 2019 campaigns for three intriguing young prospects within the team’s minor league ranks. Ragans ranked as the team’s No. 10 overall prospect, per MLB.com, while White checked in at No. 12 and Englert sat at No. 23.

Some more news and notes out of Arlington…

  • Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News examines the struggles of both Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara thus far in 2019. It’s been a catastrophic season for Odor, who entered play today with an almost unfathomable .137/.212/.253 batting line through 105 plate appearances. Mazara, meanwhile, is in a substantial funk that has dropped his overall line to .227/.287/.417 through yesterday’s game. Odor’s struggles have gotten to the point where an optional assignment almost has to be considered as a means of getting him back on track. He’s signed through the 2022 season but has yet to consistently produce at the big league level. He had a similar run of poor results in 2018 before snapping out of his slump and catching fire for much of the summer, and some work in the minors could help to clear his head and point him in that direction. Mazara likely has a longer leash given his more consistent track record and the need to evaluate him heading into his next arbitration raise. Even if the organization decides it best to shop Mazara this winter, demoting him would tank his trade value, so it seems best to allow him to continue trying to sort things out at the MLB level. It’s worth noting, of course, that as of this writing both Mazara and Odor have a pair of hits in tonight’s game.
  • Shelby Miller’s hold on a spot in the rotation would appear to be tenuous, at best. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote yesterday that the organization’s plan was to keep Miller in the rotation but cap him at 70 pitches per start, but he wasn’t even able to last that long in tonight’s outing against the Royals. Kansas City jumped all over Miller on Tuesday, clobbering him for eight runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout in just 1 2/3 innings. Grant tweeted shortly thereafter that Miller seemed likely to be moved to the bullpen in favor of the younger Ariel Jurado, who has a 3.57 ERA through 22 2/3 innings in Triple-A and has fired off 9 2/3 scoreless innings out of the big league bullpen. Texas signed the 28-year-old Miller to a one-year deal this offseason in hopes that he could rebuild some stock and perhaps turn himself into a trade chip, but he’s allowed 31 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings with more walks allowed (23) than strikeouts recorded (20).

Yankees Acquire Kendrys Morales

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The Yankees announced that they’ve acquired first baseman/designated hitter Kendrys Morales from the Athletics in exchange for cash or a player to be named later. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, New York transferred righty Jonathan Loaisiga from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list.

Kendrys Morales | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Morales, 35, was designated for assignment by the Athletics yesterday. Oakland had picked him up early in the season after losing first baseman Matt Olson to a hand injury for more than a month. However, the veteran Morales struggled quite a bit in limited time with the A’s, hitting at a .204/.310/.259 clip and connecting on just one home run. With Olson and fellow first baseman Mark Canha healthy in Oakland alongside designated hitter Khris Davis, there simply wasn’t a place on the Athletics’ roster for the struggling Morales.

That’s not necessarily the case up in the Bronx, however. While Luke Voit has solidified himself as the team’s primary first baseman, the outfield/designated hitter mix is considerably less certain. Morales could see fairly regular time at DH in the short term, leaving the Yankees with a starting outfield of Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier, while Cameron Maybin shifts into a reserve role. Although Morales’ 2019 production has been nonexistent, he’s just a year removed from a respectable .249/.331/.438 batting line and is a combined .270/.330/.465 hitter dating back to the 2009 season — when he first established himself as a Major League regular.

Of course, that alignment isn’t anywhere near what the Yankees had envisioned heading into the season, but the team’s jaw-dropping list of injuries has been well documented by now. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar, Greg Bird, Troy Tulowitzki and Didi Gregorius are all on the injured list, while Aaron Hicks was only just activated from the IL and has yet to make his season debut. To their credit, despite that slate of injuries, the Yankees are hitting .253/.333/.430 (104 wRC+) as a team and rank right in the middle of the pack in terms of total runs scored among MLB clubs.

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