James Paxton Diagnosed With Grade 2 Lat Tear, Will Not Pitch This Season
Red Sox left-hander James Paxton has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 tear in his left lat muscle and will be shut down for the season, manager Alex Cora informed reporters (including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). It’ll go down as a completely lost season for the left-hander, who hasn’t pitched in a big league game since April 2021.
Paxton has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. He’s spent time on the IL in every year since 2014, including an extended absence for a left lat strain that season. Paxton has also been plagued by hand, forearm, chest, knee and elbow concerns. The arm injuries, in particular, have proven problematic over the past few years. The southpaw missed most of the shortened 2020 campaign trying to rehab from a flexor strain in his forearm. While he avoided undergoing surgery at the time, he blew out in the second inning of his first start the following year and required Tommy John surgery.
That procedure ended Paxton’s reunion tour with the Mariners last year before it got far off the ground, but the Red Sox nevertheless signed him to a $10MM guarantee this past offseason. That rather complex arrangement paid him a $6MM salary for this season and contained a pair of successive $13MM club options — essentially a two-year, $26MM deal — for the Sox to decide upon in conjunction this winter. If the team declines the options, Paxton would receive a $4MM player option for 2023 alone.
On the heels of a third straight injury-wrecked season, there’s essentially no chance the Red Sox commit $13MM salaries for the upcoming two years. It seems likely that Paxton will accept his $4MM option, although there’s at least a small possibility he foregoes that figure in search of an incentive-laden pact on the open market. If Paxton declines the player option, the Sox would’ve committed him $6MM for no return on their investment.
That’s not to say it was an entirely illogical bet for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and his staff to take last winter. At the time of Paxton’s signing in December, the club anticipated he’d contribute for the second half and a possible playoff push. Despite a minor delay as he dealt with elbow soreness in May, he indeed seemed on track to get on the mound for the season’s final month. Paxton had ramped up a throwing program and begun a rehab assignment last Thursday, but he faced just two batters before suffering the lat injury.
It has now been three years since Paxton was healthy, but he was an effective starter for the Yankees during his last extended stretch of action. He made 29 appearances in 2019, tossing 150 2/3 frames with a 3.82 ERA and an excellent 29.4% strikeout rate. A trio of teams (New York, Seattle and Boston) have taken successive shots to see if he can replicate that well above-average production in the years since then, but the series of injuries has unfortunately kept that from happening.
Boston is facing a fair bit of potential turnover in the rotation this offseason. Paxton has the aforementioned dual team/player options, while Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill will all be free agents. Chris Sale is under contract through 2024 but coming off another injury-plagued season of his own. Aside from Nick Pivetta — whose 4.24 ERA this season is a career-low — there isn’t much rotation certainty moving forward. Bloom and his staff will have their work cut out for them in overhauling much of that group, regardless of whether Paxton elects to return.
Rich Hill Discusses Possible 2023 Plans
Rich Hill is currently amidst his 18th big league season, with the long-tenured southpaw set to reach his 43rd birthday before next Opening Day. Among active players, only Albert Pujols — who has already announced 2022 as his final season — is older than the Red Sox’s hurler. Hill, however, tells Rob Bradford of WEEI he feels physically able to continue his playing career beyond this year. He nevertheless also expressed a desire to spend more time with his wife and son, pointing to the amount of time players spend away from their families over the course of a 162-game schedule.
With that in mind, Hill tells Bradford he could consider an atypical approach to next season — sitting out the first few months with an eye towards joining a contender midseason. Hill, who will be a free agent again at the end of this year, suggested he could stay in shape and continue to throw independently for the first few months of next season before pursuing an opportunity with a club around July. “If we look at the trade deadline, even for this year, everybody needs more pitching,” the pitcher noted. “Whether that be out of the bullpen and/or starting, it’s that opportunity to be able to help a team that’s going to be able to go into the postseason and make some things happen, especially with the experience I have in the postseason.”
To be clear, Hill didn’t definitively state he was committed to the half-season approach. He expressed confidence in his ability to hold up physically if he went the traditional route and signed with a team over the offseason and played a full schedule. It seems he’ll wait until the offseason for he and his family to officially settle upon their plans, but Hill pointed to some benefits that could be associated with a hypothetical half-season approach. Waiting until midseason would give him and his representatives at ACES a clearer picture of the standings to target a playoff contender. He also indicated a preemptive rest period could have performance benefits for the stretch run.
“You’ll be 43, but there’s obviously some more to give inside, where you can take those extra couple months to rejuvenate and put the work in and the time in the gym. It could be beneficial for that second half,” he opined. “You’re trying to come back and be as productive and fresh as possible. … I’m not saying I wouldn’t be for an entire season. It just might not be ideal for my family. (It might be better) to spend half the year with my son and my wife, where we can enjoy each other, and start to move in that direction.”
Hill, who has suited up for a whopping 11 teams in his big league career, signed a $5MM guarantee to return for a third MLB stint with the Red Sox last December. He lost most of July to a left knee sprain but has been a useful back-of-the-rotation contributor when healthy. Hill has given the Sox 82 2/3 innings of 4.68 ERA ball. While his 18% strikeout rate and 8.4% swinging strike percentage are each below-average, he remains a capable strike-thrower and has held left-handed opponents to a meager .220/.278/.320 line in 54 plate appearances on the year.
Between that production and Hill’s wealth of major league experience, he should still find interest from teams during the upcoming offseason. Whether he elects to pursue a job during the winter or holds off until the middle of next season remains to be seen, but his comments to Bradford indicate he’s eyeing a 19th MLB campaign in some capacity.
Red Sox Place Nathan Eovaldi, Eric Hosmer On Injured List
The Red Sox have placed right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and first baseman Eric Hosmer on the injured list, with Eovaldi heading to the 15-day IL (retroactive to August 19) and Hosmer to the 10-day IL (retro August 21). Right-hander Josh Winckowski and first baseman Franchy Cordero were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves, and Winckowski will start tonight’s game against the Blue Jays.
Eovaldi has been bothered by soreness in his neck and right shoulder, and an IL placement isn’t surprising given that he’d already been scratched from a start against the Pirates last Thursday and tonight’s start against Toronto. Officially, Eovaldi is now on the 15-day IL due to right shoulder inflammation, and he also missed a month due to back inflammation earlier this season.
Over the weekend, Eovaldi told reporters that his soreness was improving and that he hoped to avoid another IL trip altogether. This at least gives some hope that Eovaldi can return when first eligible, though he’ll now be out of action until September, leaving the Red Sox short a major arm at the front of their rotation.
Multiple injuries within the rotation allowed Winckowski to make 12 starts and pitch 60 2/3 innings in his first Major League season. The righty has only a 5.19 ERA, as his grounder-heavy, low-strikeout approach hasn’t yet found much consistent success against MLB batters.
Hosmer has been sidelined due to lower back inflammation. Since being acquired from the Padres at the trade deadline, Hosmer has hit .225/.311/.300 in his first 45 plate appearances with Boston, continuing the prolonged slump that has lasted for the veteran first baseman since he enjoyed a huge April. Cordero and Bobby Dalbec figure to get most of the first base time in Hosmer’s absence, with the versatile Christian Arroyo also perhaps factoring into the mix.
One name not yet involved is Triston Casas, as the Red Sox continued to hold off giving the top prospect his first taste of big league action. His development was slowed by a high ankle sprain that cost him two months of the season, but Casas has hit a solid (if not dominant) .258/.367/.458 over 270 PA with Triple-A Worcester. It seems likely that Casas will make his MLB debut before the season is out, though the question is when exactly the Sox will decide to take their first look at the 22-year-old.
Nathan Eovaldi Likely To Be Placed On IL Due To Neck/Shoulder Soreness
Aug. 22: Chris Cotillo of MassLive tweets that Eovaldi will likely be placed on the 15-day injured list in order to make room on the roster for Josh Winckowski, who is taking the ball in Eovaldi’s place for tomorrow’s game.
Aug. 21: The Red Sox skipped Nathan Eovaldi‘s last turn through the rotation since the right-hander was dealing with soreness in his neck and shoulder. The issue is still bothering Eovaldi, and manager Alex Cora told MLB.com’s Ian Browne (Twitter links) and other reporters that Eovaldi won’t make his next start, scheduled for Tuesday against the Blue Jays. Another trip to the injured list hasn’t been ruled out, though Cora said the Sox haven’t yet decided how to proceed.
For Eovaldi, he said that staying off the IL is “the main goal,” since he is “feeling a lot better” than earlier in the week, even if the recovery process is “going a little slower than we anticipated.” Needless to say, it has been a “frustrating” time for the righty, who said that “every day, it’s just how can we make sure that I’m 100 percent especially going down the road for this next stretch.”
Eovaldi already missed a little more than month of the season due to inflammation in his lower back, and injuries have hampered the right-hander for much of his career. 2021 was a rare healthy season for Eovaldi, and he responded with a 3.75 ERA over 182 1/3 innings and a fourth-place finish in AL Cy Young Award voting — indicative of just how high Eovaldi’s ceiling can be if he can just stay on the field.
With a 4.15 ERA over 99 2/3 innings this season, Eovaldi’s bottom-line numbers aren’t far off his 2021 totals, and he still has an elite walk rate. However, Eovaldi has allowed more hard contact than almost any other pitcher in the league, and his strikeout has dropped to a middling 22.7%. Despite this step backwards, Eovaldi is still arguably Boston’s best starting pitcher, and is critical to whatever chance the Red Sox might still have of sneaking back into the wild card hunt.
In the bigger picture, Eovaldi is also a free agent after the season, and would surely prefer to reach the open market without yet another IL stint on his resume. Eovaldi already hasn’t appeared in a game since August 12, and even with up to three days of backdating available on an injured-list placement, putting Eovaldi on the IL would keep him out of action until September. If Eovaldi is already feeling some improvement, the Sox could take the risk of leaving him off the IL, though another setback (which presumably would then make an IL stint a foregone conclusion) would delay his return even further.
Red Sox Release Danny Santana
The Red Sox have released utilityman Danny Santana, leaving the veteran free to find another organization on the open market, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com (via Twitter).
Hatfield notes that Boston signed Santana when injuries had depleted their depth, but after the trade deadline, the veteran was pushed out of the conversation for an immediate call-up. The switch-hitter was a reasonable depth option at the time, capable of playing all over the diamond. He has appeared at every position in his career except for pitcher and catcher.
The 31-year-old owns a career .255/.296/.413 line across 1,866 career plate appearances with the Red Sox, Rangers, Braves, and Twins. He stepped to the plate 127 times for the Red Sox in 2021, his only season with Boston. He struggled to make a positive impact at the plate, however, slashing .181/.252/.345 in that time.
Injury Notes: Votto, Moustakas, Strahm, Barlow, Cooper
The Reds announced today that they have activated Mike Moustakas from the 10-day injured list while transferring Joey Votto to the 60-day injured list. Votto’s transfer was a mere formality, as it had already been reported that he will be undergoing season-ending rotator cuff surgery. However, Votto underwent the surgery today and there was apparently a bit more damage than expected, with his bicep also needing to be tended to.
Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer relayed the news from general manager Nick Krall. “Joey this morning had successful surgery to repair his left rotator cuff and bicep,” Krall said. “The surgery was a little more than expected. The injury definitely limited the use of his left shoulder and affected his performance, but we expect he will be able to participate in spring training and be ready for the 2023 season.” Despite the surprise damage to Votto’s bicep, the recovery time will still reportedly be six months, meaning he should still be on pace for next season. Votto seems to be in good spirits about the whole thing, if his tweeting is anything to go by. 2023 will be the final guaranteed year of the 10-year, $225MM extension Votto signed back in 2012.
As for Moustakas, he been limited to 73 games this year due to multiple trips to the injured list. When healthy, he’s hit just .200/.289/.326. That’s fairly similar to his .208/.282/.372 output from last year, with both those lines amounting a wRC+ of 70. 2023 will also be the last guaranteed year of his deal. The Reds don’t have any financial commitments for 2024, other than the buyouts of $20MM options for Votto and Moustakas.
Other injury notes from around the league…
- The Red Sox announced that they have reinstated left-hander Matt Strahm from the injured list, optioning right-hander Josh Winckowski in a corresponding move. Strahm had been out of action for more than a month due to a wrist contusion. The southpaw is having a nice bounceback season after losing most of 2021 to injury. Through 27 2/3 innings this season, he has a 3.58 ERA with a 27.1% strikeout rate that’s the best he’s registered since 2018. He’ll look to continue with those strong results down the stretch as he’s heading back to free agency this winter and could do better than the one-year, $3MM deal he got from Boston for 2022.
- The Rangers announced that reliever Joe Barlow has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right index finger blister, with A.J. Alexy recalled to take his place on the roster. Barlow already went to the IL earlier this year due to a blister on the same finger, returning just two days ago. Now he’ll head back to the IL due to the same issue in what is surely a frustrating development for the hurler. Prior to these setbacks, he got some time as the club’s closer, racking up 13 saves. He has a 3.16 ERA on the season through 31 1/3 innings.
- The Marlins announced to reporters, including Christina De Nicola of of MLB.com, that first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL. Cooper’s hitting .269/.345/.415 on the year, good enough for a wRC+ of 118. He’s somewhat quietly been a consistently above-average hitter in recent years, producing a wRC+ of 111 or higher in four straight season now.
Big Hype Prospects: Grissom, Walker, Holliday, Lee, Painter
This week on Big Hype Prospects, we check in with a couple recently-promoted Major Leaguers, peek at a couple more on the cusp, and introduce ourselves to some hot-hitting 2022 draftees.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Vaughn Grissom, 21, 2B/SS, ATL (MLB)
35 PA, 2 HR, 2 SB, .406/.457/.656
Grissom was just playing his way into consensus Top 100 status when the Braves tabbed him for a Major League promotion instead. He had just 98 plate appearances in Double-A after spending much of the season in High-A (344 PA, 11 HR, 20 SB, .312/.404/.487). His numbers have actually improved slightly at each stop. As many have noted (unpleasant noise warning), he’s the second player the Braves have skipped straight past Triple-A. Of course, 35 plate appearances is hardly the basis for Major League success – the true challenge is proving the ability to counter-adjust once the league figures him out. We might not get to that point since Ozzie Albies is approaching a rehab assignment. Grissom will probably hold down the fort until then.
His arrival also has long-term implications. He mostly played shortstop in the minors. So too did Albies back in the day. The club could be using this opportunity to further their postseason bid by using a more dynamic player than Ehire Adrianza while at the same time assessing if a shortstop signing is an urgent need this winter. If they like what they see from Grissom, the Braves might opt to target a lesser free agent like Jose Iglesias or even skip the market altogether.
Jordan Walker, 20, 3B, STL (AA)
430 PA, 15 HR, 17 SB, .310/.393/.522
On Thursday, Walker had his third double-dinger game since July 29. He appears to have accomplished all that he can in Double-A by both improving upon his walk and strikeout rates while continuing to punish the baseball. One of the big impending storylines of free agency is Nolan Arenado’s player option decision. Will he stay or hit the open market? Judging by the ascendancy of Walker, St. Louis might be alright with letting Arenado walk. After all, they can always use Nolan Gorman at third base if Walker isn’t ready in early 2023.
There are still some issues with Walker’s game hidden underneath the beautiful surface level stats. For one, he has a 16.1 percent swinging strike rate. That’s roughly on par with Adolis Garcia, Ryan Mountcastle, Jorge Mateo, and Patrick Wisdom – not exactly the most contact-oriented collection of batters. Moreover, Walker has these whiff issues while running a 45 percent ground ball rate. One of the “tricks” for striking out less is to flatten a swing plane. That adds grounders at the expense of fly balls. Walker has nothing left to give on that front. For what it’s worth, some of the next guys up on the swinging strike rate list are Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez, Rafael Devers, and Byron Buxton. Stars can sometimes have whiff problems without dreadful strikeout rates.
Jackson Holliday, 18, SS, BAL (CPX)
6-for-15, 1 HR, 1 SB, 5 BB, 1 K
The number one overall pick of the 2022 draft, Holliday arrived with a bang in the complex league this week. He hit his first professional home run on Friday and has a five-to-one walk-to-strikeout ratio. MLB Pipeline already rates him the 14th-best prospect in the league – an aggressive ranking compared with the recent updates from Baseball America (39) and Keith Law (42). Scouting notes on Holliday remain sparse, mostly focusing on his excellent pre-draft conditioning as well as a need to see him against more advanced competition. With the way he’s playing in his first week, a promotion could come soon.
Brooks Lee, 21, SS, MIN (A+)
30 PA, 1 HR, .333/.400/.444
Another recent first-round draftee, Lee made short work of the complex league. The Twins liked his hit tool so much they assigned him straight to High-A. There, he’s more than held his own albeit with more swing-and-miss than expected. Given the aggressive assignment – nearly every player in High-A has years rather than a few scant weeks of professional experience – Lee’s early success is encouraging. Law believes Lee “is the ne plus ultra” of fast-moving college draftees, meaning we could see him broach the Majors as early as next season. Law also considers a move to third base likely while other sources think Lee can stick at shortstop so long as he’s well-positioned.
The ”fast-mover” middle infield profile typically consists of a near-elite hit tool and nonexistent power. Think Nick Madrigal. Lee’s power is more aptly described as nascent. He’s expect to grow into 10 to 20 home runs annually to go with a disciplined, high-average approach.
Andrew Painter, 19, SP, PHI (A+)
(A+) 36.2 IP, 12.03 K/9, 1.72 BB/9, 0.98 ERA
Last week, we covered Ricky Tiedemann in this spot. Many of the same superlatives apply to Painter. He’s the same age as Tiedemann and rapidly ascending towards Top 10 prospect status. He’s one of the best pitchers left in the minors. At present, Painter has a fastball-slider combo that evokes Spencer Strider. Painter lives upstairs with 98-mph heat then drops sharp sliders into the strike zone. Scouting reports indicate his ability to locate the slider outside of the zone is still a work in progress as are the development of a curve and changeup. Given Strider’s success with the same toolkit, Painter might just find his way to the Majors next season as a two-pitch 20-year-old.
Five More
Josh Jung, TEX (24): Last week, we noted Jung’s successful return to Triple-A. Since then, he’s gone 10-for-20 with four home runs, three doubles, two walks, and a strikeout. A promotion should come any day now.
Sal Frelick, MIL (22): Speaking of hot bats, Frelick is hitting .440/.525/.540 through his first 60 Triple-A plate appearances with more walks than strikeouts. The Brewers have fallen three games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and two games back of the Phillies in the Wild Card race. Milwaukee could consider taking a page from the Braves by promoting Frelick before he’s ticked all the usual developmental boxes. Center field and leadoff hitter are their biggest areas of need. Frelick profiles as Steven Kwan-like.
Brayan Bello, BOS (23): Bello is slated to make a rehab start at Triple-A on Friday. If all goes well, he could return to the Majors in short order. While it’s trendy to count the Red Sox out of the playoff hunt, they’re only five games behind the Rays and Jays. They’re six back of the Mariners. A recovery is certainly possible. Bello, with his domineering stuff and over-60 percent ground ball rate, could be an important piece if Boston is to salvage their season.
Kerry Carpenter, DET (24): A late-bloomer who only started generating hype this season, Carpenter thrashed the upper-minors for 30 home runs in 400 plate appearances. He’s since tacked on two dingers in 25 Major League plate appearances. As expected, he’s shown signs of below average plate discipline and a modest swinging-strike issue in his small sample of big league experience. Overall, his debut has been a rousing success to date so the Tigers have every reason to continue trotting him out on a daily basis.
Marcelo Mayer, BOS, (19): In recent years, we’ve been spoiled with precocious play from young, top prospects. Of all the Top 10 prospect candidates, we’ve had the least to say about Mayer in this column. The long and short of it is he’s having a typical season for a prospect of his age and repute. He hasn’t done anything jaw-dropping while at the same time assuring onlookers of his eventual role as a Major League shortstop of some quality. Personally (remember, I’m not a scout), I see similarities to J.P. Crawford with eventual power outcomes being a tad more accessible/plausible. Since a recent promotion to High-A, he’s hitting .243/.333/.405 in 42 plate appearances.
James Paxton Diagnosed With Lat Strain
Aug. 19: Cotillo tweets that the strain appears to be mild, though Paxton will undergo an MRI to confirm. He’s shut down from throwing for the time being.
Aug. 18: Red Sox lefty James Paxton began a rehab assignment today but left after facing just two batters. This was initially reported to be lat tightness by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, with manager Alex Cora later telling Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe that Paxton has a lat strain.
Cotillo adds that Paxton is seeing a doctor tomorrow to determine the severity of the issue, but there’s no question this is a significant setback for the hurler. Today was his first attempt to pitch in an organized game since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April of last year. He was still going to need some time to ramp up for a starter’s workload and will now have to push that further down the road. Even a mild lat strain usually requires a recovery period of 2-3 weeks, which means the southpaw will likely be sidelined until some time in September even in a best case scenario.
It’s another disappointing development for Paxton, one of many in recent years, following on the heels of an excellent four-year stretch of effectiveness. From 2016 to 2019, he threw at least 121 innings in each season, keeping his ERA under 4.00 in each campaign as well. He had a 22.9% strikeout rate in 2016 but got it up near 30% for the latter three years of that stretch.
Unfortunately, injuries limited him to just five starts in 2020 and then just a single outing in 2021 before landing on the injured list. Despite two essentially lost seasons, the Red Sox took a chance on him this past winter, hoping he could recover his previous form once he returned to health. The contract reflected his uncertain status, with Paxton receiving a $6MM salary here in 2022 while rehabbing. At the end of the year, Boston will have to decide whether or not to trigger two $13MM club options for 2023 and 2024, effectively a two-year, $26MM deal. Should they decline, Paxton will then get to decide on a $4MM player option for next season.
If Paxton had come through this rehab looking like the solid mid-rotation arm he had been previously, there would have been good reason for the Red Sox to consider triggering their option, especially with Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill and Michael Wacha slated to reach free agency this fall. There’s also the uncertainty surrounding Chris Sale, who has thrown less than 50 total innings over the past three seasons due to his own injury concerns. However, the longer Paxton remains out of action, the more the needle will move towards the club declining their end of the deal. As for Paxton’s side of things, that will also surely depend upon the severity of his injury and whether he thinks he can top $4MM in the open market this offseason.
In the short-term, the Red Sox surely would have loved for Paxton to come back and help them with the stretch drive here in 2022, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely with today’s setback. Boston is currently four games behind Toronto and Tampa Bay for the final Wild Card spot in the American League, with three other clubs in between them.
Rangers Notes: Young, Jung, Venable
It’s been a tumultuous week in the world of the Texas Rangers, with manager Chris Woodward getting fired on Monday and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels following him out the door on Wednesday. With the departure of Daniels, general manager Chris Young took over as the chief baseball decision maker in Texas. However, Young apparently didn’t see this changed role coming, with the club’s managing partner Ray Davis telling Kennedi Landry of MLB.com that Young was “shocked” by the dismissal of Daniels.
It’s certainly been an unusual journey for Young in recent years. The 43-year-old former big league hurler pitched through the 2017 season and even signed a minor league deal with the Padres for 2018. He was eventually released and was hired by MLB in May of that year to be a vice president of on-field operations. Just over two years later, December of 2020, he was hired to be the Rangers’ general manager. In the tweet above, Landry relays that he and Daniels had been working pretty much side-by-side since then. Given his less than two years of experience working for the front office of a major league baseball team, it seems fair to assume that he learned a lot from Daniels, who was hired to be the Rangers’ general manager 17 years ago. Given that difference in their respective résumés, it’s hardly surprising that Young was taken off-guard by the news, suddenly finding himself atop the decision making pyramid after such a short time on the job.
Young spoke to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News about his hectic week. “I was trying to make sure that collectively, everybody, especially the longest-tenured employees, had a show of support in terms of just knowing the emotions they are going through,” Young said. “But I want to keep everybody focused on the task at hand. We have great things happening.”
Young was also asked about the future plans for the front office, perhaps hiring a new president of baseball operations or maybe a new general manager with Young getting promoted to the POBO role. “We’ll assess our needs as we go,” Young said on that topic. “It’s a natural part of the seasonal cycle. We will see what our needs are, what it looks like moving forward. We’ll probably lose some good employees to other organizations. That is just part of the hiring process. The first steps are making sure we get all our ducks lined up. But it will be part of the discussion.” With the offseason now just over two months away, Young will have to act quickly to align those ducks.
Other notes out of Texas…
- A promotion of prospect Josh Jung doesn’t appear to be close, with interim manager Tony Beasley saying as much to Jeff Wilson of Rangerstoday.com. This past winter, the young third baseman seemed like a candidate to crack the club’s Opening Day roster or at least make his major league debut shortly after. However, he required shoulder surgery in February, which was expected to keep him out of action for six months and thereby kick his debut down the road. He began a rehab assignment at the end of July and has been tearing the cover off the ball ever since. In eight games in the Complex League, he hit .240/.345/.600, followed by seven Triple-A games with a line of .414/.485/1.034. That’s an incredible showing in that small sample, but the club considers this to be Jung’s Spring Training, which means they’re focused on getting his body re-acclimated to regular playing time. That news might be disappointing to fans of the club who are looking forward to seeing Jung tackle big league pitching before the offseason begins. However, it’s worth pointing out that these things can change quickly. Just a few days ago, the Mets insisted they weren’t promoting their own young third baseman, Brett Baty, before announcing the very next day that he was indeed getting called up. Jung isn’t yet on the 40-man roster but will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in a few months, meaning the Rangers will need to add him soon either way.
- With Woodward’s firing, the club will have to think about who they want to be in the manager’s chair next year. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that Red Sox bench coach Will Venable is one potential candidate. The 39-year-old played nine seasons in the majors, mostly with the Padres, before transitioning into other roles. In 2017, he joined the Cubs, first as a special assistant to president Theo Epstein, then spending some time as first base coach and third base coach. He became the Red Sox bench coach prior to the 2021 season and has been in that job since. This wouldn’t be the first time his name has been floated in managerial rumors, as he was connected to the Cubs, Giants and Astros prior to 2020, the Tigers and Red Sox prior to 2021 and the A’s prior to 2022. Given that repeated interest, it seems he has a strong reputation around the league and could get consideration for vacancies again this winter. In addition to the Rangers, the Blue Jays, Phillies and Angels have fired their managers and hired interim replacements this year.
Mets Claim Yolmer Sanchez, Designate Patrick Mazeika
The Mets announced Thursday that they’ve claimed veteran second baseman Yolmer Sanchez off waivers from the Red Sox and opened a spot on the roster by designating catcher Patrick Mazeika for assignment.
The 30-year-old Sanchez is a former Gold Glove winner at second base who never got going with the bat in his brief time with the Red Sox. In a small sample of 37 plate appearances, he went just 4-for-37 with an 11.4% walk rate, 29.5% strikeout rate and no extra-base hits.
Sanchez’s peak years with the bat came in 2017-18 with the White Sox, when he posted a combined .253/.312/.390 batting line while playing second base on a near-everyday basis. Granted, even that career-best production was about nine percent worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+, but for a player with Sanchez’s speed and defensive skills, that was plenty to make him a solid regular. His line dipped to .252/.318/.321 in 2019, but Sanchez also won a Gold Glove that year, so the Sox likely didn’t mind the tepid output at the plate.
In the time since winning that Gold Glove, though, Sanchez has barely seen the Majors. He logged just 21 plate appearances with the ChiSox during the shortened 2020 season and spent the 2021 season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate where he posted a grisly .216/.309/.352 line in 355 plate appearances. Things were going much better for Sanchez with Boston’s Triple-A club, for whom he’d turned in a .247/.377/.413 line in 305 trips to the plate.
The Mets’ infield is banged up at the moment, with Luis Guillorme out as long as six weeks and Eduardo Escobar on the injured list due to an oblique strain. New York recently called up top infield prospect Brett Baty to man the hot corner — Baty homered in his first MLB at-bat last night — and have Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso to round out the infield. Guillorme’s absence takes away the Mets’ primary backup to Lindor at shortstop, however, but Sanchez can give them a capable bench option to back up any of Baty, Lindor and McNeil while they work toward getting back to better health.
As for Mazeika, the 28-year-old has had some brief looks with the Mets over the past two seasons but has never provided anything with the bat. He’s a .190/.236/.279 hitter in 159 plate appearances at the MLB level. Mazeika does have a more palatable .272/.367/.414 output in parts of two Triple-A seasons, and the Mets have been pleased with his defensive skills. He’ll be placed on waivers within a week. Any team that claims Mazeika could option him freely in 2022, but he’ll be out of minor league options next season.