MLB, Players Association Discuss Prospect Of Mandated Opioid Testing
Major League Baseball and the Players Association have no shortage of topics to talk about these days, but a new issue has forced its way onto the agenda: opioid testing. The autopsy results after the tragic passing of Tyler Skaggs turned this national conversation into a touch point for MLB, and the two sides are discussing the possibilities of including random screenings for opioids into the official drug testing program, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
Opioids do appear on the banned-substance list – a fine first step – but major league players aren’t subject to testing without reasonable cause. Tony Clark, the executive director of the Players Association, released a statement last Friday in which he said: “For several reasons, including the tragic loss of a member of our fraternity and other developments happening in the country as a whole, it is appropriate and important to reexamine all of our drug protocols relating to education, treatment and prevention.”
As drug testing has been an area of relative common ground in recent years, an accord here could inject a note of harmony to a negotiation largely fraught with skepticism. Even so, don’t expect anything contractual in the near-term. The opioid crisis is but one issue among many being discussed in the lead up to CBA negotiations in 2021. MLB and the Players Association are meeting about once a month for these “early negotiations,” per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. While these sessions could not be more foundational to the overall discussions, the goal of diplomacy at this stage is more to about gauging temperature than putting pen to paper.
Both sides cite player welfare as a primary objective of these preliminary talks, though at present, there’s little reason to suspect pervasive use of opioids throughout the game. What information they do have comes from mandated testing for minor leaguers, who lack union protection and therefore are subject to testing and discipline by the commissioner’s office. More than 78,000 tests have been conducted for minor league players, resulting in just 12 suspensions, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan.
Still, fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S., and the Skaggs autopsy provided an opportunity to be proactive. The rate and severity of injury puts players at risk for exposure through short-term surgical use, and most players certainly have the financial means to foster ongoing abuse should it become an issue. There is likely to be stronger solution in the new CBA, as leaving the safety of players to the discretion of team doctors is hardly the most comprehensive approach, not to mention the burden of responsibilities it places on the doctors themselves.
White Sox Promote Mike Shirley To Director Of Amateur Scouting
The Chicago White Sox promoted Mike Shirley to be their new Director of Amateur Scouting, per Tom Musick of the Chicago Sun Times. The move continues a bit of organizational reshuffling, as Shirley assumes the post vacated by Nick Hostetler, who himself took a new position as special assistant to GM Rich Hahn.
Shirley becomes the point man for June’s annual draft. It’s a tough assignment in some ways, as expectations will be high after the tremendous job the White Sox have done in recent years in building the #3 ranked farm system, per Baseball America. Optics should be good for a couple of years while these recent picks graduate to the majors, guys like Nick Madrigal, Zack Collins, and Andrew Vaughn, high draft picks who are either in the majors now or on their way.
In an article from The Athletic’s James Fegan, Chicago’s new Director of Amateur Scouting spoke about their prospects for the upcoming 2020 draft.“There are a lot of good players out there,” Shirley said. “The game has changed. The younger players have a lot more impact today for a reason. The kids are more advanced at younger ages. We know that and I think that’s an exciting part of what baseball is becoming.”
That jives with the direction the franchise has taken in recent drafts, as they’ve begun to take more chances on high school players. Shirley will be tasked with maintaining a high degree of success, but he’s likely running out of ultra-high draft choices with which to work. With a record of 62-79, the White Sox are in line for a late top-10 pick in next June’s draft, but if all goes according to plan, this could be the last time picking in the top-10 for quite some time.
AL Injury Notes: Cruz, Gurriel, Springer
The Twins fell 6-2 in 11 innings to their chaser in the AL Central last night, yet they remain 5 1/2 games ahead of the Indians for the division crown. Minnesota is just 6-8 head-to-head against their eastern rival with five matchups remaining, all in the next ten days. More troublesome to the Twins, they may be without Nelson Cruz for at least these next couple showdowns. Cruz exited the ballgame in the tenth inning with wrist soreness, but he’s being listed as day-to-day, per MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park (via Twitter). Cruz carries an MVP-caliber bat when he’s healthy, arguably the best DH in the game with a .305/.385/.631 mark that pairs nicely with his traditional counting stats of 35 home runs and 92 RBIs. The wrist has been an issue for Cruz, however, as it’s already landed him on the IL twice. He was diagnosed with a ruptured ECU tendon back in March, but manager Rocco Baldelli insists the injury is nothing significant, tweets The Athletic’s Dan Hayes. Even minor injuries can have significant impact this time of year, of course, so let’s check in on a couple of injury scares for Minnesota’s potential dance partner in the upcoming ALDS.
- Yuli Gurriel‘s thunderous second half in Houston should return after just a brief interlude. The Astros first baseman left yesterday’s game with left hamstring discomfort, but he is considered day-to-day, per Mark Berman of Fox Houston. After authoring marks of .277/.314/.482 in the first half that fell just far enough below his career averages to spark fears of age-based decline for the 35-year-old, Yuli came out with a blistering second half: .351/.409/.660, pulling his overall productivity mark up to 135 wRC+, the 23rd highest mark in the majors. Gurriel’s leveling up paired with the arrival of Yordan Alvarez has made an already-strong Astros lineup certifiable.
- In a separate tweet, Berman provides video of George Springer taking batting practice and having himself a time. This should be a welcome sight for the Houston faithful, who saw Springer suffer a mild concussion while colliding into the wall Tuesday night. It’s been a career year for Springer in this, his age-28 season, as he’s put up his most complete season to date with a line of .297/.389/.573. His 155 wRC+ pegs him as the 7th most-productive hitter in the majors this season, joining four of his Houston brethren in the top-25 among qualified hitters (Alvarez doesn’t yet qualify). From the looks of it, Springer should return to the Houston lineup shortly.
Twins Select Brusdar Graterol, Ian Miller; Transfer Sean Poppen To 60-Day IL
Sunday: The Twins have officially announced Graterol’s promotion. The club has also selected the contract of speedy outfielder Ian Miller. Additionally, the club has recalled left-hander Devin Smeltzer and right-handers Zack Littell and Kohl Stewart from Triple-A Rochester. Further, the Twins activated catcher Willians Astudillo and outfielder LaMonte Wade, Jr. from respective 10-day injured list stints. To clear 40-man roster space, the club recalled minor-league right-hander Sean Poppen and transferred him to the 60-day injured list. He’d been on the minor-league IL with a right elbow contusion.
Saturday: Top Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol will see September innings at Target Field, per LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune.
A shoulder impingement took out a chunk of Graterol’s season, but since returning he’s been promoted and relegated to the bullpen in Triple-A. He has just 4 appearances thus far as he prepares for a similar role with the big league club after rosters expand. Minnesota plans for Graterol to return to a starting capacity for 2020.
Graterol will need to be added to the 40-man roster whenever he gets the call-up, though that won’t happen until sometime after September 1. Contrary to the belief of many on Twitter, not being on the 40-man roster by tomorrow does not preclude Graterol from postseason play. The Twins can petition the MLB for Graterol’s eligibility as an injury replacement for a current 40-man rosteree, such as Nick Gordon or Sean Poppen, offers MLB.com’s Dan Hayes (via Twitter).
The bigger question will be answered by Graterol’s performance on the field. The newly-21-year-old flamethrower has just 4 appearances in Triple-A and only 10 career appearances out of the pen. That the Twins are considering such a rapid promotion for Graterol in the dead heat of a pennant race speaks to their belief in his overall ability and makeup. He certainly comes with the pedigree to be an impact performer. Major prospect outlets have him as a consensus top prospect, the overall #55 prospect by MLB.com, #33 by Baseball America, and #69 by Fangraphs.
Sean Manaea To Return Sunday
Oakland A’s lefty Sean Manaea is set to return to the big leagues when rosters expand. He will get the start against the Yankees on Sunday, tweets MLB.com’s William Ladson.
Manaea was emerging as the ace of Oakland’s staff when he hit the injured list with a left shoulder impingement in late August of last season. Eventual shoulder surgery has kept him behind the scenes of the 2019 season until now. At the time of the injury, Manaea had made 27 starts, going 12-9 with a 3.59 ERA/4.26 FIP across a career-high 160 2/3 innings.
He has been on a rehab assignment since early July where he appears back to his old tricks. In eight starts across High-A and Triple-A, he’s notched 13.1 K/9 while yielding 2.5 BB/9 and an overall 4.71 ERA.
The A’s currently field a veteran-laden, if starless rotation featuring Mike Fiers, Tanner Roark, Chris Bassitt, Brett Anderson, and Homer Bailey. A healthy Manaea should certainly buoy this group, as will the potential addition of prospect Jesus Luzardo at some point in September, though Oakland plans its September additions “to come in waves,” per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
Fiers/Roark/Bassitt/Anderson boast ERAs that are a combined 3.98 runs lower than their relative FIPs, though whatever dark arts the quartet are engaged in, they’ve not shared with likely odd-man-out Bailey. With a 5.52 ERA/4.02 FIP in 8 starts since joining Oakland, Bailey is the only one of the five whose ERA has underperformed relative to his FIP. He’ll get at least one more start today, but the A’s could very well use the additional roster space to give each of their veteran hurlers an extra day of rest.
Collin McHugh Headed To Injured List
11:15am: McHugh will indeed be placed on the injured list today, tweets Chandler Rome. Jose Urquidy will return from Triple-A to take his place on the roster. The team has not yet announced the roster move.
9:29am: Collin McHugh was pulled from yesterday’s game against the Blue Jays after facing just two batters. Manager A.J. Hinch noticed a lack of life from McHugh’s pitches, which is backed up by diminished velocity on both his heater and slider, writes Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.
The hope would be that the couple ticks of missing velo are a single game aberration or simple fatigue, though McHugh does have one IL stint this season for elbow soreness. The Astros have not indicated an injury as of yet. While this may not light your hair on fire, McHugh’s status will be worth monitoring as the Astros look to identify who in the pen besides Will Harris and Roberto Osuna can be trusted come playoff time.
With a gauntlet of Cy Young candidates in their rotation and a lineup that legitimately resembles an All-Star team, the Astros don’t have many question marks entering the season’s final month. The bullpen, however, is one potential area of concern if setup man Ryan Pressly isn’t able to return in time for the postseason.
Houston will use September to gauge the readiness of their remaining potential playoff arms, of which a healthy McHugh would be a leading candidate, despite a down year. Joe Biagini, Chris Devenski, Hector Rondon, and Joe Smith will get their turns in coming days while Pressly, Aaron Sanchez, Brad Peacock and Josh James make their way back from the injured list.
There’s no shortage of potential options for the Astros, but they still need to figure out which seven or eight guys will make the playoff roster. Like McHugh, Devenski’s 5.34 ERA/4.78 FIP are higher than we’ve seen in years past. Rondon has a 3.81 ERA and 92 career saves for the Cubs and Astros, but both clubs removed him from the closer’s role and appeared hesitant to use him in crunch time. Biagini’s had just 7 appearances since being acquired at the trade deadline, and outside of a stellar 2016 rookie season (which did include 6 scoreless appearances in the playoffs for Toronto), he holds just a 5.17 ERA/4.70 FIP. The 35-year-old Smith might be the closest to a playoff lock after a strong season in which he’s posted a 1.65 ERA/3.59 FIP with 6.5 K/BB across 19 appearances.
Brewers Place Keston Hiura On IL, Recall Travis Shaw, Ben Gamel
As expected, Brewers rookie Keston Hiura has landed on the injured list with a strained left hamstring, per a team announcement. Hiura pulled up lame while running out a groundout in a costly loss to the Cubs on Friday. It is a grade 2 strain, per The Athletic’s Robert Murray, which will keep Hiura out a minimum of two weeks and certainly puts the rest of his inaugural season in jeopardy.
In corresponding roster moves, Ben Gamel and Travis Shaw are on their way back from Triple-A. Both Gamel and Shaw played major roles for the Brewers this season, though their contributions have been relatively punchless. Gamel’s been the better of the two with a .243/.330/.376 line while providing capable defense across all three outfield positions and popping a couple big home runs.
Shaw’s season has been an unmitigated disaster. He’s run out a .162/.276/.279 line across 229 plate appearances – a frankly shocking output for a career .255/.333/.475 hitter. After back-to-back big year’s for the Brewers (3.5 fWAR in 2017, 3.6 fWAR in 2018), Shaw detracted from Milwaukee’s playoff hopes with -1.0 fWAR before being supplanted in the everyday lineup by Hiura.
On the bright side, he’s gotten his game back on track in San Antonio by hitting .286/.437/.586 with 12 home runs in 42 games. The Brewers will need Shaw to bring the good vibes to Milwaukee to keep the Brew Crew’s thinning playoff hopes alive.
To make room for Shaw, right-hander Devin Williams was optioned to Triple-A San Antonio. Williams, 24, has a 4.00 ERA across a small sample 9 innings, though it’s been a bit of a breakout year for Williams in the minor leagues. Across Double-A and Triple-A, Williams pitched to a 2.21 ERA with 12.9 K/9 in 34 outings.
Yankees Place CC Sabathia On 10-Day Injured List
The Yankees placed lefty CC Sabathia on the 10-day injured list for the fourth time this season, the team announced. Jonathan Loaisiga has been recalled from Triple-A.
This news hardly comes as a surprise after Sabathia exited Friday’s start after three innings. Right knee inflammation is the diagnosis, but it’s certainly worth wondering if Sabathia will be healthy enough to pitch again, in this the final season of an epic career.
The 39-year-old Sabathia finally showed signs of slowing down this season as he’s struggled to stay healthy and productive. At 5-8 with a 4.93 ERA/5.97 FIP across 20 starts and 100 1/3 innings for the Yanks this year, he’s posted just 0.5 rWAR and 0.3 fWAR on the year.
Loaisiga, 24, has 3 starts and 3 relief appearances under his belt so far this year. A lackluster 5.12 ERA/5.50 FIP can be traced to 4.7 BB/9 and 1.9 HR/9 in the small sample. He hasn’t done much more in Triple-A in an injury-shortened season, though believers can point to 11.2 K/9 to 2.5 BB/9 in Scranton Wilkes-Barre as a sign of returning to form.
Max Scherzer Not Yet Back To Full Health
Max Scherzer is back in the Nationals rotation, but he’s not yet back to full health, per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier. How he feels the day after a start is a touchstone for Scherzer, who classified his own health status as “not out of the woods yet.”
In what amounted to a rehab start, Scherzer went four innings in a series finale win in Pittsburgh on Thursday, but as he gutted out a 4-inning, 71-pitch return, he was clearly working a gear or two below normal. It’s uncertain how long it will take before he’s back to full-blown Mad Max status.
Still, Scherzer remains ever-confident in his ability to not only bounce back, but potentially emerge stronger. “You know, heck, in some ways this might make me a better pitcher,” Scherzer said, per Collier. “When I come out on the other side, I may be a better pitcher because of this because of what I’m learning how to do right now and how to still be sharp and yet still be controlled. So let’s look at this glass half full.”
While that’s certainly a scary proposition for opposing hitters, simply returning to full health as one of the two or three best pitchers in the game would be more than enough progress for the Nationals.
Scherzer’s understudy has also been dealing with an injury scare, but Joe Ross is set to make his scheduled start today at Wrigley Field. Ross had been immaculate in holding the line with a 0.42 ERA in four starts before a Josh Bell line drive off his shin forced him to leave his last start early.
As for Erick Fedde, the presumptive fifth starter before Ross’ recent run, he could eventually move to the bullpen. For now, he will likely get at least one more turn in the rotation. Dave Martinez suggested the Nats might keep a 6-man rotation for the next week or so. Even with days off already built in, the Nats would err on the side of caution in giving everyone an extra day or two between turns as they gear up for the final push in September. After all, even the Nats healthy contingent of starters – Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez – have dealt with injuries in the past. Of course, if the Nats offense keeps this up – they’re averaging 10 runs per game over their last 9 games – Scherzer can take all the time he needs.
Diamondbacks To Audition Catching Prospect Daulton Varsho In Centerfield
The Diamondbacks have begun to experiment moving Daulton Varsho out from behind home plate, per Nick Pecoro of the Arizona Republic. Varsho is the Diamondbacks #3 ranked prospect per Baseball America, #5 per MLB.com, while Fangraphs has him as the #77 overall prospect in their latest rankings.
Varsho’s bat has long been his calling card. Baseball America’s Best Hitter For Average in the Diamondbacks system following the 2018 season, he made the jump to Double-A this year and continued producing a rare combination of power and speed. His 20 stolen bases make him the first catcher in the upper reaches of the minors to hit that threshold since 2006. His overall numbers suggest he’ll reach Triple-A by next year at the latest (.301/.377/.527 with 25 doubles and 17 home runs).
The party line remains that Varsho can and will catch at the major-league level, but a move out from behind the plate has long been rumored for the Wisconsin native. Perhaps most telling is the fact that the Diamondbacks are now putting that plan into action: he started two games in centerfield this week, his first looks at game action from behind the mound. The Dbacks believe Varsho’s athleticism will allow for a smooth transition to the outfield.
Carson Kelly‘s emergence as the full-time backstop in Phoenix has as much to do with this move as anything. Arizona is presumably preparing for a future in which Kelly and Varsho are in the same batting lineup. Kelly, 25, has shined in his first season as a regular starter, slashing .254/.349/.531 with 18 home runs. Defensively, he’s not the quickest off the mat, but he grades as an excellent pitch framer and he’s long been held in high regard as a game-caller.
The Diamondbacks have a solid collection of potential future centerfielders, but the likes of Alek Thomas, Kristian Robinson, and Corbin Carrol are years away from the major leagues. Ketel Marte started 78 games in centerfield, but he’s also a capable second baseman. As a franchise, take a look at the moves they’ve made in free agency and trades over the last year, and they clearly value versatility. Recent acquisitions with the utility gene include Wilmer Flores, Eduardo Escobar, Andy Young, and Josh Rojas. Varsho joining this group of highly flexible position players fits the organizational scheme, and for what it’s worth, it should make him a more marketable trade asset.