Injury Notes: Richards, Turner, Drew, Zych, Cishek, Price, Hill, Baez
Angels righty Garrett Richards may be due for a longer DL stint than had first been expected, as Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports. Richards has yet to pick up a ball since going down with a biceps strain. Given the time he has already missed, and the lack of progress thus far, it seems increasingly likely that some kind of rehab stint could be required. There’ll no doubt be some added caution taken given that Richards is only just returning from a lengthy rehab of a UCL injury. The Halos are going with J.C. Ramirez in his stead; he’ll take the ball to start a game in the big leagues for the first time tonight, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register writes.
- The Nationals are still waiting to determine a timeline for shortstop Trea Turner to return, as Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com writes. Manager Dusty Baker suggested that the club is willing to allow Turner plenty of rest to ensure that there isn’t a larger setback. The hope, though, is that it isn’t a significant injury. Of course, fellow infielder Stephen Drew — Turner’s would-be replacement — also went down with a hammy strain. He’s more or less in the same boat, it seems. “There’s no timetable,” said Drew. “But I’ll do the best I can to get back as soon as possible.” While it’s hardly the Nats’ preference, they’ll at least get a good look at youngster Wilmer Difo in the meantime.
- Righty Tony Zych is back in action for the Mariners, with the club announcing he has been activated from the 10-day DL. Southpaw Dillon Overton is heading out on optional assignment to open a roster spot. Shoulder issues hampered Zych last year and forced him into surgery, but he’ll look to regain the excellent form he showed in 2015 — which would be quite welcome for a Seattle club that is off to a dreadful start. Meanwhile, Steve Cishek is nearing a rehab assignment and could be back in the majors, too, after he makes three or four appearances, MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets.
- The Red Sox are beginning to chart a course for lefty David Price, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. It’s possible that Price could be ready to face live hitters in a few days, with a rehab assignment representing the next likely step. McCaffrey suggests that he’ll require at least four outings in the minors, meaning it could still be another month until Price is back in Boston.
- Southpaw Rich Hill of the Dodgers is slated for a return on Sunday, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (via Twitter), the hope was that Hill’s blister wouldn’t prove too problematic during a pen session yesterday. It seems that he has come through unscathed, so he’ll step back into the rotation for L.A.
- Meanwhile, the Dodgers have activated setup man Pedro Baez, who missed most of camp after being struck on the thumb by a batted ball. The 29-year-old righty continued to show swing-and-miss stuff last year, and somewhat quietly has compiled a 3.08 ERA over 149 MLB frames, with 9.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9, over his three years in the majors. Despite four strong appearances thus far (no runs on one hit and one walk with six strikeouts), Josh Fields is headed to Triple-A to make way for Baez.
East Notes: Buchholz, Harvey, Marlins, Price, Montgomery
It’s been an interesting game between the Mets and the Phillies, as both starting pitchers have exited the game due to injury. Phillies right-hander Clay Buchholz departed in the third inning with what the team has called a strained right forearm (via Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer), whereas Matt Harvey just exited the field with the Mets’ trainer due to an apparent leg injury. Wayne Randazzo of WOR News Talk Radio tweets that Harvey’s injury is a tight left hamstring.
Buchholz had been rocked for six runs on eight hits in just 2 1/3 frames, and the forearm strain is obviously the more serious-sounding of the two injuries. There’s no word on the extent of Buchholz’s injury, as one would expect with the game still in progress, though forearm strains frequently require DL trips and have, at times, been precursors to significant injuries for pitchers. Gelb notes that the injury will likely send Buchholz to the disabled list, however, and it stands to reason that both the Mets and Phillies will offer further context on the injuries once the game has wrapped up.
More from the game’s Eastern divisions…
- Marlins president David Samson told reporters today that there are still several parties interested in purchasing the team, writes Andre C. Fernandez of the Miami Herald. Samson was somewhat vague in detailing how far sale talks have progressed, rhetorically asking the media: “Is the fourth inning advanced? A lot can happen after the fourth inning, right? Then I’d say we’re in the fourth inning right now. We’ve never gotten past the second inning before, so it’s further than we’ve been, but a lot can still happen.” Samson went on to add that it “wouldn’t shock” him if owner Jeffrey Loria had an agreement to sell the club by season’s end, though he declined to venture into specifics on any of the potential buyers. Loria has reportedly been seeking $1.6 billion in return for the franchise, and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and former Florida governor Jeb Bush are among the most notable names to have been linked to potential new ownership groups.
- David Price is set to throw a 35-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday after tossing a 20-pitch session yesterday, Red Sox manager John Farrell said today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link via Soundcloud). Farrell says that there’s yet to be any further rehab schedule laid out, as the current week is a critical one in determining exactly how long Price will be sidelined and the team “doesn’t want to get too far ahead” of itself. Farrell does note, however, that Price is feeling strong, which is certainly a positive sign for Sox fans after yesterday’s bullpen session.
- Left-hander Jordan Montgomery will make his Major League debut for the Yankees tomorrow in a start against the Rays, as George A. King III of the New York Post writes. The Yankees weren’t planning on using a fifth starter until this weekend, King writes, but an arduous start for Masahiro Tanaka this past weekend prompted the team to shuffle its staff and give the rest of the rotation a bit of a breather. Montgomery wasn’t even being discussed as an option heading into Spring Training — the candidates for the final two slots were widely considered to be Luis Severino, Chad Green, Luis Cessa and Bryan Mitchell — but an excellent performance thrust him into the mix. Montgomery, 24, pitched to a 3.20 ERA with a 17-to-3 K/BB ratio in 19 2/3 innings — a fine followup to last season’s 2.13 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 139 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.
Injury Notes: Bradley, Posey, Segura, Osuna, Desmond, Gray/Bassitt, Weaver
The Red Sox have placed center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. on the 10-day DL, as Ian Browne of MLB.com was among those to report. Bradley was diagnosed with a knee sprain caused by a misstep while running the bases. An MRI did not reveal more significant damage, so the hope is he won’t miss much more than the minimum.
Let’s check in on a few health situations of note from around the game …
- Giants star Buster Posey departed the club’s game today after being struck in the head by an errant pitch, but thankfully indications are he escaped any significant injury. As Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News writes, Posey passed a concussion test and told teammates he was fine. That’s not conclusive, of course, but for now the team does not plan to make a roster move to fill in for the stellar backstop, as Baggarly further notes on Twitter.
- Mariners shortstop Jean Segura was also pulled today with an injury, though it doesn’t appear to be a major concern. Manager Scott Servais told reporters, including MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter link), that it’s a “very mild” hamstring issue. For now, at least, the key offseason addition won’t be headed for the DL, with Servais calling him day to day.
- The Blue Jays anticipate that closer Roberto Osuna will be able to return to action tomorrow, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports. The excellent young reliever opened the year on the 10-day DL owing to a cervical spasm, though that placement was backdated. He made it through a sim game and now seems ready to return to the majors — where he’ll try to pick up where he left off in a strong 2016 season.
- There are several important Rockies players still working back from injury, and Nick Groke of the Denver Post has the latest. Ian Desmond, Tom Murphy, and David Dahl all seem to be progressing, with the trio possibly slated to return by the end of the month. Desmond, who’ll suit up at first base for the first time when he’s ready, seems to have the clearest progression at this point. Per Groke, Desmond will start to throw and field at some point this week.
- Athletics righties Sonny Gray and Chris Bassitt are making strides in their rehabs, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Grey’s lat strain is healing well enough that he was able to work up to 35 pitches from the bullpen today. That could leave him on track to return tot he majors before April is out, per the report. Bassitt, meanwhile, is on the cusp of a rehab stint, though Slusser notes that he’s likely to take a full month in the minors since he’s working back from a year-long layoff owing to Tommy John surgery.
- Though he’s currently stashed at Triple-A, Cardinals righty Luke Weaver is a key piece of the organization’s depth (and future rotation plans). He is headed for a DL stint with lower back stiffness, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports on Twitter. At present, it’s not clear what kind of an absence is anticipated.
AL East Notes: Machado, Price, Barnes, Rasmus
Manny Machado‘s capability to play shortstop could impact the Orioles in both the short- and long-term picture, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The 24-year-old Machado will hit the open market following the 2018 season, and he tells Rosenthal that he still thinks about playing his natural position of shortstop even though he’s spent the bulk of his career at third base (and become one of the best defensive third basemen in the game — if not of all-time). Asked about the thought of playing shortstop on a consistent basis, Machado replies: “I’m not going to lie. It’s always been there. … I played a little bit there (last year). That was fun. I trained this year to play there just in case anything happened.” Machado also acknowledges, though, that he’s experienced great success at third base, rhetorically asking, “So why change?”
As Rosenthal notes, the Orioles hold a $14MM option over J.J. Hardy at season’s end, and the ability to move Machado to short could impact their thinking. (Although the option would vest and become guaranteed if Hardy tallies 600 PAs.) Beyond that, though, Rosenthal wonders if Machado would be enticed by the opportunity to play shortstop on an everyday basis when he reaches free agency in the 2018-19 offseason, whether in Baltimore or elsewhere.
A few more notes pertaining to the AL East…
- Red Sox left-hander David Price threw a 20-pitch bullpen session today and came away from the workout feeling good, he told reporters (via Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald). The key for the former AL Cy Young winner, however, will be seeing how he feels tomorrow. Price has yet to pitch for the Sox this season after a forearm issue led to a scare during Spring Training and, prior to today, hadn’t thrown off a mound since Feb. 28, Jennings notes. Farrell said that if Price feels strong tomorrow, another mound session would be lined up for Wednesday. There’s still no definitive timeline when it comes to Price’s return, but Jennings notes that he won’t pitch in the Majors until at least May.
- In a Red Sox bullpen that has quite a bit of uncertainty throughout its ranks, right-hander Matt Barnes has emerged as the primary setup option for closer Craig Kimbrel, writes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal. That could change, potentially, when Tyler Thornburg is ready to come off the disabled list, but Barnes’ early showing and the struggles of many of his teammates have him primed for a big role in the Boston ‘pen. ““A guy that’s maybe a little bit more seasoned than some others in some of those big spots, he’s going to be a pivotal guy in our bullpen,” said Sox manager John Farrell to MacPherson. The 26-year-old Barnes averaged 9.6 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 with a 45.6 percent ground-ball rate out of the bullpen last season, and he’s logged a 5-to-1 K/BB ratio through his first 3 2/3 shutout innings in 2017.
- Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Colby Rasmus‘ rehab assignment with the Rays‘ Class-A Advanced affiliate in Charlotte is still on hold for a few more days, likely pushing the outfielder’s debut back until next week. Rasmus was involved in an outfield collision in Charlotte last Thursday, as Topkin reported, and while he remained in that game, the team is now proceeding rather cautiously. Topkin also suggests that speedster Mallex Smith will likely head to Triple-A Durham once Rasmus is healthy enough to rejoin the Major League roster. Rasmus, who signed a one-year, $5MM contract with Tampa Bay this winter, is recovering from offseason hip surgery.
Inside The Draft Room: The 2005 Red Sox
Put on a scouting director hat and ask yourself this question: Do you want your team to do poorly so you can have the maximum number of opportunities to select a premium draft pick, or do you want your team to win – knowing all the supposed “top of the line” talent will already have been taken?
The question is purely rhetorical. For the person directing the draft and all the scouts out scouring for talent in the smallest of towns, the ring is the thing.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t win and have fun on the scouting side, too.
In 2004, the Boston Red Sox – down 3 games to 0 in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees – rallied to win their final eight postseason games in eliminating the Yankees and sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals. In the process, they won their first World Series since 1918.
On paper, if no free agents switched clubs, the Red Sox would have picked 28th overall in the ensuing 2005 amateur draft – with a second pick coming in at No. 58. But baseball isn’t played on paper. After the annual free agent signing frenzy, the world champs lost Orlando Cabrera, Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez, and now – thanks to compensation selections and supplemental picks – found themselves with six draft choices from No. 23 to No. 57.
So … to the victors did go the spoils.
Oh, there’s just one thing. They were about to restock with a first-time scouting director.
– – –
In November 2002, Theo Epstein – just 28 years of age at the time – was named general manager of the Red Sox. Earlier that year, he had joined the organization as the assistant GM after coming over from the San Diego Padres.
During his time in San Diego, Epstein struck up a friendship with Jason McLeod, a former minor league pitcher who began his Padres career as a Community Relations intern in 1994 – before moving over to Stadium Operations that winter and to the Baseball Operations Department in the fall of 1995 (Epstein had joined the team earlier that year). McLeod’s time with the Padres later included three years as a minor league coach, a return to the front office as the assistant director of scouting and player development, and two years as an area scout in Southern California.
Epstein brought McLeod to Boston as an associate scouting director in the fall of 2003, assisting David Chadd. After the Red Sox won the 2004 Fall Classic, Chadd moved on to Detroit to become the Tigers’ vice president of amateur scouting – and McLeod was promoted into the scouting leadership position. Epstein wasn’t concerned about inserting his former Padres cohort into that role despite McLeod’s relative lack of experience in the draft room.
“Jason and I grew up together in the Padres organization,” Epstein said in an email, “so I knew he could really evaluate and was a great leader.
“It was a seamless transition because Jason had worked with us in 2004. The entire organization was focused on the draft with all the picks we had, and Jason did a great job as always leading the department. We had a lot of fun all scouting season and in the draft meetings.”
McLeod acknowledges that he didn’t have a boatload of experience from a draft-day perspective when he took over.
“In ’04, I was instilling and re-doing the processes of it,” McLeod says. “David was absolutely the scouting director; he was pounding it out on the road. But from the front office side of things, we were kind of co-directing that department that year.
“During my time in San Diego, I had sat in on many draft meetings, but I hadn’t been in the director’s seat or calling the shots or instituting processes or things like that until I got to Boston.”
The Red Sox had broken the curse. Now, just a few months later at their January scouting meetings, McLeod was presiding over the group and putting a game plan into place.
“There was a lot of excitement, obviously, coming off the World Series year,” he says. “For those of us in amateur scouting, we were just as excited knowing that we had two first-round picks and three sandwich picks. We felt that we were going to get a couple impact players with the volume of picks that we had. And coming out of the prior summer – after scouting the Cape, scouting the Team USA juniors – we knew that it was going to be a really good draft.
“We told our guys, ‘Let’s get after it and go crush it and find as much impact and upside as we can.’”
– – –
The top tier of the 2005 draft was considered to be very deep, and the results continue to speak for themselves.
Eight of the first 12 selections have appeared in the All-Star Game. Five of the first seven – Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki – have career WAR above 25.0.
The Red Sox knew they had no chance of landing any of those five – or high school outfielders/future all-stars Andrew McCutchen and Jay Bruce, who went 11-12. But there was still a lot of talent out there to be had. Boston had the No. 23 and No. 26 selections in the first round – along with the Nos. 42, 45 and 47 slots in the supplemental round. The team’s second-round pick was No. 57 overall.
The key was to be prepared for anything and everything. Back in 2005, the draft was conducted via a conference call – and there was very little time between picks.
“At that time, we did a lot of mock drafts,” explains McLeod, who is now the Cubs’ senior vice president of scouting/player development. “We would run a mock draft where different scenarios were happening. I think at that time we maybe had 30 seconds before the next pick. So we ran a lot of simulations in the room. Theo liked to try to set up scenarios where … there were 12 of us in the room, and he’d set up scenarios and go worst case. I’m sitting there watching the board, and he’d set it up and say, ‘Now this guy and that guy are gone. Where are you going here?’ And he put you on a timeclock. We probably did that about five or six different times where we ran those simulations.
“We felt good about the information that we had. We felt good about the performance metrics we were looking at, and about how we had the board stacked. So at that point, let’s run the simulations. ‘Now, he’s gone. Now these two guys are gone.’ We also ran some where we knew there would be no way the board would fall that way, but if it all blew up, ‘Now where are you going? Why are you doing that?’ So you do those things prior to draft day. You trust the process and you trust the preparation.
“At the same time, just like every draft year … as the pick is getting close, there is some anxiety and anticipation that you feel. But again, you just trust your process. You do all the work to be prepared for every situation.”
– – –
By draft day, the Red Sox had narrowed their focus to three collegians for the No. 23 selection – Oregon State outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Arizona outfielder Trevor Crowe and Texas A&M shortstop Cliff Pennington.
“We spent so much time talking about those three players in particular, because we were really hopeful that one of them got to us,” McLeod said. “We spent an inordinate amount of time in the weeks leading up to the draft meetings on them. We kept stacking them and stacking them and talking about their strengths and weaknesses.
“The funny thing about Jacoby … that year, he had such a great year, and I saw four or five of his games – and he probably had his worst games when I was there. I actually took Theo to a game at the University of Washington when the Red Sox were in Seattle. Of course, Jacoby’s first two at-bats, he was 0-for-2 – and Theo was like, ‘Jason, you’re not allowed to watch his next at-bat. You’re bad luck. Please, turn around or something.’ So I literally turned around and heard the crack of the bat; I turned back and the ball was in the gap. Theo and I are standing down the third-base line, and I remember watching this kid round second turning on the afterburners as he’s coming into third. It was just something. You watch a lot of games and see a lot of fast guys, but then you see stuff that makes you say ‘Wow.’ That was one of those moments, just watching this guy fly around the bases. So I knew I wasn’t totally bad luck. I was in the ballpark. I didn’t see the contact, but at least I heard it.
“I literally saw him go 2-for-15 in a year that he hit over .400 and had an on-base of almost .500. But our scouts were so convicted on him – from the area guy (John Booher) to the regional guy (West Coast cross-checker Fred Peterson) to our national cross-checker (Dave Finley). They were all like, ‘This is our guy. This is it.’
“He was already doing the things that we were looking for … the ability to get on base … the fact that he was an outstanding athlete who was going to play in center field … he had a low K (strikeout) rate. My question was just going to be the strength. I remember seeing him in the Cape, and I was worried a little bit about how the ball was going to come off the bat.
“But there’s a really good story from that year. Oregon State was down at the University of San Diego, and it was one of the only days in the history of the University of San Diego that they actually had a rainout. San Diego’s coach, Rich Hill – who we had a really good relationship with – was gracious enough to let us work out Jacoby. So a couple of our scouts got to see him hit in the cage. Then they took him up to the Jenny Craig Pavilion, and there’s Jacoby Ellsbury throwing down gorilla dunks for our scouts – showing them his explosiveness and his athleticism. I wasn’t at that workout, but our cross-checker just called me and was blown away with the explosiveness in Jacoby’s body. He was like, ‘You will not believe what Jacoby just did.’
“If you looked at his performance, all the makeup we got on him, the fact that we felt that he was going to be ultra-disruptive on the bases … we thought he was going to be a shutdown center fielder. All of that aligned with someone that we absolutely wanted to bring into the organization. That’s why we liked Pennington. That’s why we liked Crowe. They were all these dynamic athletes that played in the middle of the field.”
Crowe went No. 14 to Cleveland. Pennington was chosen at No. 21 by Oakland. The Marlins, drafting after the Athletics and before the Red Sox, selected high school second baseman Aaron Thompson – and Ellsbury was Boston-bound.
McLeod literally had about 30 seconds to breathe. Houston was on the clock (selecting Brian Bogusevic), then came Minnesota (Matt Garza). It was now time to make another decision.
Injury Notes: Mets, Jays, Red Sox, Nats, Padres
Mets left-hander Steven Matz announced Monday that he has a flexor strain, but members of the organization are skeptical of the diagnosis, reports Bob Klapisch of NorthJersey.com. The Mets’ two orthopedists “found nothing wrong” with Matz, a source told Klapisch, who writes that the team doesn’t believe the 25-year-old is faking the injury. They are under the impression, though, that Matz received another opinion from outside the organization – which he’s allowed to do – thus leading to the flexor strain diagnosis. Regardless, New York’s hope is that Matz will be healthy enough to make his season debut in May.
More injury updates:
- The right calf tightness that forced Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson to exit Sunday’s loss to the Rays early doesn’t appear to be a serious issue. After the game, Donaldson told reporters, including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, that it’s “realistic” to think he’ll play in the Jays’ home opener Tuesday (Twitter link). That’s certainly a relief for Toronto, which went without Donaldson because of a calf strain for most of spring training and has started the regular season 1-5.
- An MRI on Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. revealed a sprained right knee, according to manager John Farrell (Twitter link via Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal). The team will send Bradley back to Boston for further evaluation, meaning he’ll sit out Monday’s game in Detroit after missing Sunday’s contest. Bradley noted, however, that he’s able to move his knee without experiencing any pain, tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.
- Nationals shortstop Trea Turner left Saturday’s loss to the Phillies with hamstring trouble, but manager Dusty Baker indicated afterward that the speedster wouldn’t miss much time. Baker wasn’t as confident when discussing Turner’s status Sunday, describing his hamstring as “so-so,” per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). The Nats will reevaluate Turner on Monday.
- The Padres have placed right-hander Trevor Cahill on the disabled list, retroactive to April 6, with a lower back strain and recalled Zach Lee from Triple-A El Paso. Either Lee or Jarred Cosart could start in place of Cahill against the Rockies on Monday, as Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource points out (Twitter link). In his first start of the year, a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday, Cahill allowed two earned runs on five hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings, also notching seven strikeouts.
AL East Notes: Bradley, Upton, Osuna, Yankees
Jackie Bradley Jr. underwent an MRI on his right knee this morning and he isn’t in today’s Red Sox lineup, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link). Bradley took an awkward step while rounding first base during a flyout in the ninth inning of yesterday’s 4-1 loss to the Tigers, though he told Abraham and other reporters after the game that he was “all good…everything is intact” and joked that he was “built like Secretariat.” Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Abraham that the MRI didn’t reveal anything that would require a DL stint for Bradley, so it seems like Boston is simply being careful with its center fielder. Given how the Red Sox roster has already been decimated by a flu bug, it’s hard to blame the team for guarding against Bradley potentially aggravating a minor injury. Here’s more from around the AL East…
- The Rays didn’t seek out a reunion with Melvin Upton for multiple reasons, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes, one of which was the club’s desire to give Peter Bourjos a chance. Bourjos was only just acquired in a late-March trade with the White Sox, and like Upton, is a right-handed hitting outfielder capable of playing all three outfield spots. Upton has been the much better hitter than Bourjos over the course of his career, though Upton’s own run-creating numbers have been well below the league average in three of the last four seasons. Upton signed a minor league deal with the Giants after being released by the Blue Jays at the end of Spring Training.
- Roberto Osuna reported no pain during a 24-pitch simulated game yesterday, the Blue Jays closer told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other media. Osuna began the season on the DL due to a cervical spasm, though the injury was thought to be fairly minor and Osuna is on pace to be activated for Toronto’s home opener on April 11.
- With so much uncertainty within the Yankees lineup, ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand opines that an extended DL stint for Gary Sanchez could ruin the team’s chances of contending. The Yankees are off to a rough start both on the field and with the injury bug, as Sanchez and Didi Gregorius are on the DL and Greg Bird has been bothered by a sore ankle. (Not to mention the concerning reports on the elbow of top pitching prospect James Kaprielian.) Speaking of Bird, the first baseman tells MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link) and other reporters that his ankle is feeling better, though he is currently bothered by the flu.
Cafardo’s Latest: Beane, Marlins, Royals, Upton, Las Vegas
Here are the highlights of the latest from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:
- 15 years after rejecting an offer from the Red Sox that would have made him the highest-paid GM in the game, the Athletics‘ Billy Beane says he doesn’t regret staying in Oakland. “It turned out pretty well for the Red Sox and I have had a great run here and have enjoyed it here a great deal,” says Beane, citing a desire to be closer to his family as one reason he stayed. The Red Sox, of course, instead hired Theo Epstein, who led them to their first two World Series since 1918.
- The Marlins feel they’ve made a significant upgrade in replacing hitting coach Barry Bonds with Mike Pagliarulo. Bonds obviously knew how to hit, as Cafardo notes, but “communicating it and devoting himself to it became an issue.” Pagliarulo has been proactive about developing plans for Marlins hitters. The Giants, meanwhile, hired Bonds as a special advisor.
- Melvin Upton Jr. might not remain a free agent for long, Cafardo writes. Upton hit poorly in his brief stint with the Blue Jays, but had previously revived his career in San Diego, and there’s hope he can once again turn things around. “You just never know when you get him on the uptick and that feeling is what teams are going to look for when they need an outfielder,” says one American League evaluator. The Padres are paying most of Upton’s remaining salary, so he’ll be a cheap addition for his next team.
- The Royals began their season by getting swept by the Twins and will have to perform well in the next few months, or else the team could move quickly to deal free-agents-to-be like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain. Jason Hammel and Ian Kennedy could also hit the market if the Royals were to struggle.
- The city of Las Vegas “really wants” an MLB team, particularly after landing an NFL team in the Raiders, Cafardo writes. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has previously expressed interest in Las Vegas as an MLB market.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/6/17
Here are the latest minor moves from around the game, all via Matt Eddy of Baseball America unless otherwise noted:
- The Blue Jays announced on Thursday that right-hander Mike Bolsinger has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Buffalo. The 29-year-old was designated for assignment on Sunday after a shaky Spring Training and a down year in 2016. Last year, Bolsinger logged a 6.83 ERA in 27 2/3 big league innings due largely to a troubles with the long ball. He did have solid K/BB numbers in both the Majors and the minors last year, but control issues contributed to a 6.23 ERA this spring. Bolsinger had a strong season in the Majors as recently as 2015, when he logged a 3.62 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 53.1 percent ground-ball rate in 109 1/3 innings for the Dodgers. He’ll stay on hand as a depth piece in Toronto and could very well resurface in the Majors later this season.
Earlier Moves
- Lefties Nick Maronde and Caleb Thielbar have been released by the Marlins, who are going with an all-righty pen to open the year. Maronde hasn’t seen the majors since 2014, but did work to a 3.19 ERA over 48 Triple-A innings last year. The 30-year-old Thielbar, once a mainstay in the Twins’ bullpen, got good results last year in an indy ball stint.
- The Phillies have released infielder Taylor Featherston. The 27-year-old, who had already been outrighted off of the 40-man, slashed .254/.311/.428 with 13 home runs in his 439 Triple-A plate appearances last year. But he didn’t have much of an avenue to contributing at the major league level in Philadelphia.
- Outfielder Jake Goebbert has been released by the Diamondbacks. The 29-year-old saw action in the majors back in 2014 with the Padres, but hasn’t been back since. He slashed just .217/.301/.356 in 399 Triple-A plate appearances last year with the Rays organization, well shy of his usual productivity in the upper minors.
- The White Sox have cut ties with righty Mayckol Guaipe. He has spent time in the majors in each of the past two years with the Mariners, but wasn’t able to earn more than temporary time.
- The Red Sox evidently didn’t see enough to keep veteran slugger Carlos Quentin around in the minors for the upcoming season, though it could be he wasn’t interested in taking an assignment. Either way, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter, Quentin was released from the minor-league deal he signed over the offseason. The 34-year-old hasn’t played in the majors since 2014 and received only minimal Grapefruit League action during camp.
- Righty Chris Anderson is heading to the Twins on a minors deal, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets (confirming what reader Jerry Anderson had heard). He was released recently by the Dodgers after struggling in recent campaigns, including a messy effort in the Arizona Fall League. Anderson hails from Minnesota.
East Notes: Lugo, Price, Cabrera, De Leon, Rays
While Mets righty Seth Lugo doesn’t believe he’ll ultimately require surgery for his partially torn UCL, GM Sandy Alderson is calling it “a possibility,” as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports. The veteran executive also notes that there’s optimism from the medical experts that Lugo can avoid going under the knife, but it does seem notable that the potential for a procedure is being publicly acknowledged. New York will hope for the best — Lugo could resume throwing in as few as two weeks — but will need to account for the possibility of a more significant absence. The club will at least keep an eye out for some starting pitching depth after learning of the partial UCL tear suffered by righty Seth Lugo, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter).
Here’s more from the game’s eastern divisions:
- Red Sox lefty David Price is back on the mound, though it doesn’t seem he’s back to pitching yet, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com reports. After a long-toss session, he took the hill to throw to a standing catcher, which represents the latest step forward. “The most encouraging thing is each throwing session he goes through, he comes out feeling good physically,” says Farrell, who added that the team will continue to push Price forward incrementally.
- Braves righty Mauricio Cabrera has been cleared to begin throwing, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. The high-octane youngster has been dealing with arm fatigue, relegating him to the DL to open the year. It’s still unclear how long it’ll take to get him back to the majors, but it seems there’s continued optimism that the layoff isn’t anything to worry about in the long run. Still, the Braves will likely continue to take a cautious course before adding Cabrera back to the late-inning mix.
- The Rays have placed righty Jose De Leon on the minor-league DL, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Flexor mass discomfort is to blame, though the club says the issue has already been resolved. Still, with De Leon set to face an innings limit in his first season with his new organization, he’ll ramp up slowly before heading on assignment to Triple-A.
- St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman laid out the city’s plan for the Rays to build a new ballpark on the existing site of Tropicana Field, as Charlie Frago and Mark Puente of the Tampa Bay Times report. As the story notes, “financial details” remain unknown, though Kriseman suggested that the money side can be managed. The plan set forth is based upon the premise that broader development of the Trop site, in conjunction with a new park, could open avenues for revenue for the club, the municipality, and local businesses.