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Latest On Jimmy Nelson's Recovery

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Greg Holland’s short tenure with the Cardinals took another disastrous turn Saturday when the once-dominant reliever got the loss against the Phillies, who scored twice on him in 2/3 of an inning. Holland, whom the Cards guaranteed $14MM after he went through spring training unemployed, has now pitched to a sky-high 7.30 ERA with astoundingly poor strikeout and walk rates (6.57 K/9, 10.22 BB/9) across 12 1/3 innings this season. Nevertheless, there’s no indication the the Cardinals will ask him to head to the minors to work through his issues, Joe Trezza of MLB.com tweets. Even if the Redbirds were interested in demoting Holland, they’d need the 32-year-old’s consent to do so. It doesn’t appear they’d receive it, though, as Holland “flatly denounced the idea” of going down, Trezza writes.

  • In better news for the Cardinals, ace Carlos Martinez received “encouraging” results on the right shoulder MRI he underwent this week, according to president John Mozeliak (Twitter link via Rob Rains of STLSportsPage). Martinez is on track to begin a throwing program Monday and return to the Cards’ rotation within one or two weeks, Rains adds. The fireballer has been out since May 8, before which he notched a 1.62 ERA/3.38 FIP across 50 innings.
  • Although the Royals own the majors’ second-worst record (14-31) and look like sellers in the making, they’re not yet focused on trades, general manager Dayton Moore tells Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. “It all depends on where we’re at when that time comes,” Moore said. “Honestly, we’ve never been a team that has traded many guys off the 25-man roster. We’ll see where we are. There’s no reason to make advance decisions on that.” For now, the Moore-led Royals are more concerned about June’s draft, in which they own five of the first 58 picks, Flanagan points out. Once the draft’s in the rearview mirror, the Royals may have at least a few potential trade chips in contract-year veterans Mike Moustakas, Kelvin Herrera, Jon Jay, Lucas Duda and Alcides Escobar; speculatively, though, quality returns may be hard to come by in most of those cases.
  • The Pirates plan to activate second baseman Josh Harrison from the disabled list Sunday, manager Clint Hurdle told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other reporters Saturday. Harrison has been out since mid-April with a fractured left hand, and fellow second base options Sean Rodriguez, Max Moroff and Adam Frazier haven’t been particularly productive in his absence. The club optioned Moroff to Triple-A on Saturday.
  • As is the case with Martinez, the outlook for Brewers righty Jimmy Nelson is also positive. Nelson, who’s working back from the right shoulder surgery he underwent last September, got good news after his visit with Dr. Neal ElAttrache this week, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He’s now at the beginning of a 10-day rest period, Rosiak reports.

Brewers Place Ryan Braun On Disabled List

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  • The Brewers announced that Ryan Braun has been placed on the 10-day DL, retroactive to Monday, with tightness in his back. They’ll announce a corresponding move tomorrow. The injury doesn’t sound to be especially serious at present, but Braun has been battling the discomfort for some time now and performing poorly as a result, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. Taking even the minimum 10 days off could help to get him back on track. The 34-year-old Braun hit .258/.304/.473 in April, but his bat cratered with a .121/.167/.242 slash thus far in the month of May.

Stephen Vogt To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Brewers catcher Stephen Vogt met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache to have another examination of his ailing shoulder and received an unfortunate but largely expected diagnosis, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter links). He’ll require season-ending shoulder surgery that could threaten his career.

The 33-year-old Vogt was emotional last week when talking to reporters about the injury, which he sustained when making a throw to third base on a recent minor league rehab assignment. Vogt’s shoulder is said to have damage in each of the rotator cuff, labrum and anterior capsule, making the surgical procedure he’ll require extremely complex.

It’ll be the second major shoulder surgery of Vogt’s career, and the veteran backstop acknowledged last week that having been through a similar process before, there are “big implications” he’s being forced to think about. “I felt everything go wrong that could go wrong with a shoulder,” Vogt said at the time.

Vogt, commonly cited as a significant clubhouse fixture for both the Athletics and the Brewers (who acquired him last summer) is by all accounts beloved by both teammates and fans, as evidenced by the popular “I believe in Stephen Vogt” chants at O.Co Coliseum and the corresponding t-shirts created by fans. A two-time All-Star, Vogt is a career .251/.310/.416 hitter in parts of six big league seasons and slashed .254/.281/.508 with eight homers in just 129 plate appearances for the Brewers down the stretch last season.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers depth chart]

With Vogt now decidedly out of the catching mix in Milwaukee, the Brewers will continue to rely on Manny Pina and Jett Bandy behind the plate. However, neither player has produced much offensively this season, which could push the Brewers to eventually give a longer look to either Jacob Nottingham or Christian Bethancourt. Giving Bethancourt a look would require a 40-man roster move for the Brewers. Vogt is already on the 60-day DL, so he couldn’t be transferred there as a means of clearing room.

Brewers To Place Chase Anderson On DL

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The Brewers will place right-hander Chase Anderson on the 10-day disabled list because of a stomach illness, according to a team announcement. His roster spot will go to righty Freddy Peralta, who’s coming up from Triple-A to make his major league debut Sunday.

Anderson was scheduled to take the ball Saturday in Colorado, but he was physically unable to pitch, leaving the Brewers to plug in lefty Brent Suter for a spot start. Suter struggled over five innings, and the Brewers dropped a 4-0 decision to fall to a still-solid 23-17 on the season. Some of Milwaukee’s success in 2018 has come thanks to Anderson, who leads the team in innings pitched (45.1) and ranks second among its starters in ERA (3.97).

While Anderson has prevented runs at a palatable clip, his other numbers aren’t particularly encouraging. Anderson’s strikeout (5.96 K/9) and walk (3.18 BB/9) rates have gone in the wrong direction since a breakout 2017, when he managed 8.47 and 2.61 in those categories, and he has only induced ground balls at a 36.4 percent clip. Thanks partially to his fly ball tendencies, Anderson has allowed 1.99 home runs per nine – up from .89 last season.

Anderson may well regress toward his subpar 6.02 FIP when he returns from the DL, but this is still an unfortunate development for the Brewers. They now have four established starters on the DL, with Jimmy Nelson, Zach Davies and Wade Miley being the others. Their injuries have opened the door for the 21-year-old Peralta, acquired as part of a 2015 trade with the Mariners centering on first baseman Adam Lind.

Peralta, who began his Brewers tenure at the Single-A level, now ranks as the club’s ninth-best prospect at MLB.com. He opened the year at Triple-A Colorado Springs, a difficult environment for pitchers, and posted a 3.63 ERA/3.12 FIP with 11.94 K/9, 4.41 BB/9 and a 53.6 percent grounder rate over 34 2/3 innings (seven starts).

Brewers Select Alec Asher, Wade Miley To 60-Day DL

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The Brewers have selected the contract of 26-year-old right-hander Alec Asher from Triple-A Colorado Springs. They’ve optioned right-hander Jacob Barnes to Triple-A while transferring lefty Wade Miley to the 60-Day DL to make room for Asher on the 25- and 40-man rosters, respectively.

Asher will be making both his 2018 debut and his Brewers debut if and when he pitches for the club. While he sports a very low career K/9 (5.86) across 116 2/3 career innings, he’s also somewhat stingy with walks (2.85 BB/9). Asher’s also pitched in the majors for the Phillies and Orioles, and has spent time in the farm systems of the Dodgers and Rangers.

The news of Miley going to the 60-day DL isn’t earth-shattering. Reports yesterday surfaced saying that the lefty’s updated timetable to return from an oblique strain involved a late-June target, despite an earlier rough estimate that he’d only be out four to six weeks. Miley opened the season rehabbing a groin injury, so he’s already taking his second trip to the DL since signing a minors deal with the Brew Crew in the offseason.

Brewers Add Darren Seferina On Minors Deal

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  • The Brewers announced late Thursday that they’ve signed second baseman Darren Seferina to a minor league deal. The former Cardinals’ farmhand was a fifth-round pick back in 2014 and opened the 2018 season in Double-A, where he struggled considerably. But Seferina, 24, split the 2017 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, faring well at both levels and hitting a combined .278/.357/.409 with seven homers, 17 doubles, 10 triples and 19 stolen bases. He’s never been considered one of the Cardinals’ premium prospects, but he’s hit fairly well throughout his minor league tenure with the exception of the first few weeks of the 2018 season.

Brewers Activate Corey Knebel; Wade Miley Out Four To Six Weeks

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3:30pm: Miley has been told he’ll miss four to six weeks with the oblique strain (Twitter link via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

May 9, 9:44am: Milwaukee has announced the moves. Franklin is indeed going to the DL, with infielder Tyler Saladino called up to take his place on the active roster.

May 8: The Brewers announced that Wade Miley left tonight’s start with a strained right oblique muscle. He’s headed to the disabled list (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy), while closer Corey Knebel is set to be activated from the DL tomorrow. It’s also possible that infielder Nick Franklin is headed for the DL after incurring an injury on the very day he returned to the big leagues. McCalvy tweets that he left tonight’s game with a quadriceps strain and is “likely” to hit the DL.

Miley’s injury comes less than a week after he was activated from the disabled list for a groin strain that cost him the first month of the season. The 31-year-old veteran notched a very solid quality start in his first outing, allowing one run through six innings, but he exited tonight’s game after recording just one out when he injured his oblique while delivering a pitch. There’s no timeline on his return, but it’s common for players to spend around a month on the disabled list for Grade 1 strains and considerably longer for Grade 2 strains.

With Miley heading to the DL and likely to miss several starts, the Brewers may once again turn to southpaw Brent Suter. The 28-year-old lefty just moved to the ’pen to accommodate Miley, but he showed that he’s still plenty stretched out by coming in and posting 4 2/3 innings of quality relief in Miley’s place tonight. Zach Davies is also on the DL with some mild inflammation in his right shoulder, so the Brewers will need to fill two spots for the time being, although Davies’ absence is expected to be extremely minimal. Prospect Brandon Woodruff is on-hand in Triple-A and could be viewed as an option for the Brewers to step into the starting mix alongside Suter.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers depth chart]

Knebel landed on the disabled list on April 6 after collapsing on the mound while delivering a pitch. He had to be helped off the field and looked to be in excruciating pain, though the diagnosis ultimately proved to be more favorable than expected upon seeing the initial injury. The Brewers initially believed that Knebel would miss “at least” six weeks, but he’ll return to the club in a bit under five weeks after suffering his injury.

If Franklin requires a DL trip, the Brewers could give Eric Sogard another look, though he consented to an optional assignment today in an effort to get his swing sorted out in the minors. Tyler Saladino would be another option who is already on the 40-man roster and has plenty of middle infield experience in the Majors. And Jonathan Villar, of course, is still with the big league club as well, though he’s had a lackluster season at the plate so far in 2018.

It’s been an eventful day on the injury front in Milwaukee. The Brewers learned earlier today that Mauricio Dubon, one of their top infield prospects who’d been in the mix for a call to the Majors, will miss the remainder of the year following a torn ACL. And the news is somehow even more grim for veteran catcher and beloved clubhouse leader Stephen Vogt, who suffered damage to his anterior capsule, rotator cuff and labrum in his throwing shoulder and is now faced with the possibility of career-threatening surgery.

Stephen Vogt Suffers Career-Threatening Shoulder Injury; Mauricio Dubon Tears ACL

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6:47pm: Vogt’s injury puts not only the remainder of the 2018 season in jeopardy but could also be career-threatening, Haudricourt explains in a full column on the matter. Vogt suffered damage to the anterior capsule, the rotator cuff and the labrum in his right shoulder while making a throw to third base in a rehab game this weekend. The veteran fought back tears when describing the injury to reporters (Twitter link with video, via McCalvy). He’ll head to L.A. to be evaluated by renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache later this week.

“The biggest emotion is sadness,” said Vogt. “It’s hard. I’m upset. … Obviously, there are big implications here with a second shoulder injury like this that I don’t like to think about but I am thinking about. I felt everything go wrong that could go wrong with a shoulder.”

4:02pm: The Brewers announced on Tuesday that infield prospect Mauricio Dubon has suffered a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the season. The tough injury news didn’t stop there, either, as GM David Stearns told reporters that catcher Stephen Vogt has re-injured the anterior capsule in his right shoulder and also has some damage in his rotator cuff (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). He’s headed for a second opinion, but season-ending surgery is possible for Vogt, McCalvy adds. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, meanwhile, tweets that surgery is “inevitable.”

Both bits of news are significant for the Brewers. Stearns revealed today that Dubon was in consideration for his first call to the Major Leagues when he incurred the injury. The 23-year-old, acquired alongside Travis Shaw in the Tyler Thornburg swap with the Red Sox two winters ago, was hitting .343/.348/.574 with four homers, nine doubles, two triples and six stolen bases in 114 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs. He’d have been just the second native of Honduras to reach the Majors, per Baseball-Reference, though that distinction will now be placed on hold for at least a season. (Former Astros outfielder Gerald Young was the first.)

As for Vogt, there won’t be any definitive word on his status until he receives further opinions from additional medical experts, but the outlook certainly isn’t promising. He’d been near a return prior to aggravating the shoulder in a rehab appearance with Double-A Biloxi over the weekend, per Haudricourt. Vogt’s return might’ve come at the expense of struggling backup Jett Bandy, who is out of minor league options, but Bandy’s spot on the club now looks more secure with Vogt sidelined indefinitely. (Christian Bethancourt and Jacob Nottingham are both hitting quite well in Triple-A, however, providing additional in-house alternatives.)

Brewers Select Nick Franklin, Option Eric Sogard

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The Brewers have selected the contract of utilityman Nick Franklin, per a club announcement. He’ll take the active roster spot of infielder Eric Sogard, who has been optioned.

To open a 40-man spot, the club has shifted catcher Stephen Vogt to the 60-day DL. That means he won’t be eligible to return until the end of the month. It seems, though, that the veteran receiver has suffered a setback in his efforts to return from a shoulder injury, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets. We’ll have to await further word before assessing.

The news represents a disappointing turn for Sogard, who signed a one-year, $2.4MM deal to return to Milwaukee before he even formally reached free agency. Sogard, 31, had turned in his best season at the plate at the MLB level in 2017. But he’s off to a brutal start this year, with a .100/.194/.150 slash over 68 plate appearances.

As for Franklin, he’s back in the majors for a sixth-straight season. Once a top prospect, Franklin has never quite consistently produced at the game’s highest level. In his 921 total plate appearances in the bigs, he’s a .213/.285/.360 hitter.

Prospect Mauricio Dubon Headed For Tests On Injured Knee

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  • Some Brewers fans have clamored for a promotion of infield prospect Mauricio Dubon, who has a 23-game hitting streak going in Triple-A, but Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Dubon incurred a knee injury over the weekend and is headed to Milwaukee to be examined by team physician Dr. William Raasch. Farm director Tom Flanagan tells Haudricourt that the hope is that Dubon is dealing only with a strain, though the organization won’t know until further testing and imaging is performed. Dubon suffered the injury while executing a rundown in Saturday’s game. Acquired alongside Travis Shaw in the Tyler Thornburg deal with the Red Sox, Dubon is hitting .343/.348/.574 with four homers and six steals in 114 plate appearances this season.
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