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East Notes: Nola, Stroman, Dansby, Riley, Deivi, Lowe

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As the Phillies quest for a playoff berth intensifies, manager Gabe Kapler looks poised to increase his ace’s workload in hopes that Aaron Nola can carry the team to the promised land. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports writes, the Phillies are considering starting the 26-year-old Nola every fifth day for the stretch run, regardless of intervening off days. Last year’s third-place NL Cy Young finisher has been far and away the most reliable of the Phillies’ starting rotation, which has sorely lacked for production outside of its ace. If the Phillies were to employ such a plan, Nola would make eight more starts over the next month-plus, which would place him at a total of 35 at season’s end. As Salisbury notes, though, Nola has often benefitted from a fifth day of rest and features considerably better career numbers with the extra day off. Of course, it’s undeniable that Nola is the Phillies’ best option to start games and the club is confident that, in a playoff race that may well be decided in the waning days of the season, their chances are maximized with Nola on the mound as often as possible.

Here’s all the latest from baseball’s East divisions…

  • Mets starter Marcus Stroman left today’s start against the Indians after just four innings because of left hamstring tightness. Tim Healey of Newsday has an update, with Stroman undergoing an MRI that showed no reason for concern. Indeed, it’s only hamstring tightness for the new Met, who has now made four starts with his new club. All indications are that the injury is nothing serious, so it seems as though Stroman should be good to go for his next start.
  • A pair of young Braves regulars are slated to begin rehab assignments in the coming days, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Shortstop Dansby Swanson will join the Class-A Rome Braves on Thursday for a rehab stint, with rookie slugger Austin Riley joining him the following day. Swanson has been out since late July with a heel issue, while Riley has missed about two weeks with a partially torn right LCL. While the Braves have found capable replacements for both young stars and has gotten by without the pair, the club would no doubt welcome Swanson and Riley back to the lineup as soon as possible. Swanson has put together his best offensive season, while Riley has gotten his career off to a blistering start, slugging 17 home runs in just 66 Major League games.
  • Yankees pitching prospect Deivi Garcia has been moved to the bullpen for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, according to Connor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune. While the organization has not given an explicit explanation for the move, it seems likely that it’s motivated by one of two things: most likely, the Yankees are limiting the workload for Garcia, who is just 20 years old and has already eclipsed 100 innings pitched for the season, a threshold that he never reached prior to 2019; or, less likely, the team is preparing Garcia for the role he would have in the Majors as a potential September call-up. The club has taken a similar course of action in the past with Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams, though both were further along in their development than Garcia.
  • Injured Rays rookie Brandon Lowe may have hit a roadblock in his recovery from a right shin contusion, as he exited his rehab game with Triple-A Durham with a left quad strain, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com. That injury, of course, is separate from the shin contusion, though the severity is not yet known. Lowe will return to St. Petersburg tomorrow to be further evaluated, at which point more details will likely be made available. Lowe, who has generated buzz as a Rookie of the Year candidate, has not played for the Rays since July 2. He had previously been expected to return in late August or early September, but that timeline may have been complicated by the introduction of another, unrelated injury.

Russell Martin Discusses Possible Retirement

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Dodgers catcher Russell Martin is in the midst of his 14th and what could be his final Major League season, as the impending free agent told Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi that he might consider hanging up his spikes if he can’t land with another contending team this offseason.

“I know I can do it physically. It’s going to be, do I have the desire? Am I going to enjoy myself doing it? I don’t know….I really like competing,” Martin said.  “Being on a team like this is fun, but if I wasn’t on a winning team, I’d have to be really selective on where I would go. I’d have to have that perfect fit and who knows if that’s going to be available. There are a lot of things that are going to come into play in the decision. This could possibly be my last year. I don’t know. It could be. We’ll see.”

Martin will be 37 on Opening Day 2020, so it isn’t any surprise that he has been considering the end of his career.  He has hit .211/.332/.304 over 205 plate appearances this season, continuing an offensive decline that began to sharpen in 2018.  Martin has probably received more playing time than expected this season due to Austin Barnes’ struggles, though the emergence of Will Smith as the Dodgers’ regular catcher has firmly placed Martin back into his original veteran backup role.  Martin is still one of the sport’s better pitch-framers, and his .227 caught stealing percentage (5-of-22) is roughly middle of the pack, though Baseball Prospectus rates him as a below-average blocker.

The five-year, $82MM contract Martin signed with the Blue Jays prior to the 2015 season is up after this year, and one would imagine the Dodgers would have some interest in re-signing Martin as an inexpensive veteran mentor to Smith.  Then again, Los Angeles also has another top catching prospect in Keibert Ruiz who could be close to the big leagues, plus the club still has to figure out what to do with Barnes, who is less than two years’ removed from himself seemingly being the Dodgers’ catcher of the future.

As Davidi notes, it’s also possible Martin could decide to retire on a high note if the Dodgers were to win the World Series, thus giving the catcher the championship ring that has eluded him through multiple trips to the postseason.  If Martin did decide to keep playing, he’d certainly get calls from several teams (including contenders) about a contract in 2020.

One theoretical option could be Philadelphia, as Davidi writes that the Blue Jays’ offseason trade talks about Martin “came down to the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.”  J.T. Realmuto is obviously locked as the Phillies’ everyday starter, though Andrew Knapp’s rough season has left the club looking for further depth options.

Injury Notes: Strickland, Elias, Ross, Arrieta, Eickhoff, Kluber

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The Nationals pitching staff has taken another hit, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). Reliever Hunter Strickland is having X-rays taken at PNC park after a bar struck him across the face. The injury stems from a weight room accident, but Strickland was up and about, playing catch ahead of tonight’s contest in Pittsburgh. It’s unclear whether he will be available out of the pen tonight. Strickland has been great since coming over to the Nats at the deadline, looking fully the part of the eighth-inning reliever they’ve longed for all season. He’s 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA/3.07 FIP and 5 holds in 8 contests. At best, Strickland’s mishap may lead to a second Washington pitcher taking the hill with more black-and-blue in the color scheme than usual. While we’re here, let’s check in on another couple of notes from Washington and beyond…

  • Strickland’s travel buddy from Seattle, Roenis Elias, remains out after injuring himself running out a groundball in his first appearance as a National. He could be close to returning from the strained hamstring, however, as he plans to throw off a mound for the first time since the injury this upcoming Thursday, tweets MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman.
  • Dougherty also provided an update on Joe Ross, who left last night’s blowout win after taking a Josh Bell one-hopper off the shin. His leg is wrapped, but Dave Martinez says the plan is for Ross to be ready to go for his next scheduled start on Saturday. Ross has pitched with newfound fervor since taking Max Scherzer’s spot in the rotation. Less four-seamers and a heavy reliance on his power sinker have at least been part of the story for the rejuvenated Ross. In four starts since the trade deadline, he’s thrown 21 1/3 innings with a hard-to-believe 0.42 ERA. Coming into August, Ross had a 9.85 ERA over 24 2/3 innings that spanned 18 games out of the bullpen and 1 start. If he’s healthy enough to go Saturday, the 5th spot in the Nats rotation appears his. If not, Erick Fedde will be ready to go.
  • The Phillies transferred Jake Arrieta to the 60-day injured list today, the team announced. Arrieta was already known to be out for the year because of a bone spur in his elbow that requires surgery. This move is but the paperwork allowing Jerad Eickhoff to be reinstated and sent to Triple-A. Eickhoff should have the final ten days or so in August to fine tune with Lehigh Valley, as he would be expected to join the Phillies when rosters expand in September.
  • Corey Kluber’s recent setback was due to abdominal tightness experience during a rehab start on Sunday, the Indians announced. The final diagnosis was an internal oblique strain. Kluber has been shut down to begin a rehab program with the hopes of being reevaluated and cleared to resume throwing in two weeks time. Obviously, that’s a very loose timetable, as Kluber’s return will depend entirely on his progress over this next fortnight.

Phillies Place Roman Quinn On Injured List

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The Phillies placed outfielder Roman Quinn on the 10-day injured list today, following his removal from Friday’s game with the Padres. It’s a right groin muscle strain for the 26-year-old Philadelphia product, as detailed by a report from Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Enquirer (link).

After managing a 97 wRC+ in 50 games in his rookie 2018 season, 2019 has been nothing short of a trial for the center fielder from Florida. Quinn already missed a month this season due to a similar injury, and he has only output a .213/.298/.370 slash when healthy. However, August had seen Quinn getting into a serious groove, with a .368 batting average, three homers, and four stolen bases on the month.

The pervasiveness of these lower-body injuries is especially troublesome for a player of Quinn’s profile, who bases much of his game on his 30.1 ft/sec sprint speed (6th among active players this year). In his stead, it is expected that fellow rookie Adam Haseley will receive a larger share of up-the-middle playing time.

Veteran Jared Hughes, whom the Phillies claimed off waivers from the Reds this week, was brought onto the 25-man roster to replace Quinn for the time being. The righty pitched a clean frame in tonight’s 5-3 loss to San Diego.

Jake Arrieta To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

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Phillies righty Jake Arrieta will undergo season-ending surgery later this month to remove a bone spur in his right elbow, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.

Arrieta, 33, had been pitching through the injury since early in the summer, to less-than-stellar results. The 2019 season was the hurler’s worst since his days in Baltimore: though the righty somehow maintained a fastball velocity in the 92-93 MPH range despite the injury, he again struggled to miss bats, command the baseball, and keep it in the park. Though the second half of Arrieta’s season didn’t much differ from the first – apart from his outings often being truncated upon his reaching the 75-80 pitch mark – the pain seemed to intensify, and both team and player finally pulled the plug following a disastrous Sunday outing in San Francisco in which the 2015 Cy Young Award winner was touched for five earned in just three innings pitched.

Arrieta signed a three-year, $75MM deal prior to his age 32 season in 2018. The Chicago reclamation project anchored the Cubs staff for years, but his ERA, on the back of an otherworldly Cub defense, had long outpaced his peripherals, a gap which reached a head in his 2017 walk season, where ERA estimators pegged the righty at the top end of the fourth-starter range. He’s been about that or worse in Philly, where despite steady grounder and walk rates, the former fifth-rounder has seen his strikeout rates slide to worse than eight per nine and his gopher-ball rate ascend to below-league-average totals.

Like its bullpen, the Phillies’ rotation is mostly in shambles now. It can always count on ace Aaron Nola, but it’s now Vince Velasquez, Drew Smyly, Jason Vargas, and Zach Eflin beyond, a quartet that won’t inspire much confidence as the group charges toward its first playoff appearance since 2011.

David Robertson Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Phillies righty David Robertson, who negotiated a two-year, $23MM deal prior to the season on his own behalf, has undergone Tommy John Surgery and will miss the rest of this season and all of 2020, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Robertson, 34, had been one of baseball’s premier relievers for nearly the entire decade, posting 12.8 fWAR since his breakout 2011 season, fourth highest among all MLB relievers over that span. He’d also been among the most heavily-used, tying Kenley Jansen for fourth in the majors with 521 2/3 IP over the same stretch. Add 33 2/3 postseason innings to that mark, and only Indians righty Tyler Clippard has thrown more reliever innings this decade than the 5’11 righty.

Barring an unforeseen extension or re-up clause, Robertson’s tenure with Philadelphia has likely come to an end after just 6 2/3 total IP. It’s unclear if Robertson will aim to re-stake his claim at the back-end of a big-league bullpen in coming seasons, but elbow reconstructive surgery has not been kind to mid-30s arms, and Robertson’s cutter-heavy repertoire, the staple of a unheralded mix that baffled AL hitters for years on end, may be affected more than most.

It’s the second major elbow injury in the Philly bullpen this season – youngster Seranthony Dominguez also hit the shelf in June with a UCL injury of his own. The club’s also seen lynchpins Pat Neshek, Tommy Hunter, and Adam Morgan beset with maladies themselves in recent months, leaving a shaky back-end mix of Hector Neris, Nick Pivetta, Juan Nicasio, and Jose Alvarez. Not much was done to help the beleaguered pen at the deadline, so the club’ll have to hope its patchwork unit doesn’t come apart at freshly-stitched seams down the stretch.

Rhys Hoskins Undergoes X-Ray On Hand

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The Phillies staged one of the most memorable comebacks of the season Thursday, rallying from a 5-1 ninth-inning deficit against the Cubs to pull off a 7-5 victory. The game ended on a walk-off grand slam from outfielder Bryce Harper, with first baseman Rhys Hoskins among the players he knocked in. Hoskins got on base after taking a Pedro Strop pitch off the right hand, and it’s possible he suffered an injury in the process. The slugger underwent an X-ray on his hand afterward, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia was among those to report. Hoskins is optimistic he’ll be OK, but there’s no official word on his status yet.

Although Thursday was a resounding success for the Phillies, losing Hoskins would dampen enthusiasm in regards to their outlook. The club’s Harper-led triumph Thursday completed a three-game sweep of Chicago and raised Philadelphia’s record to 63-55. The Phillies are now just a game back of the Cubs for the National League’s second wild-card spot. Although Hoskins has been cold in August, the 26-year-old has still been one of the driving forces behind the Phillies’ solid record. Hoskins has batted .241/.381/.485 (125 wRC+) with 24 home runs and 2.4 fWAR across 532 plate appearances.

Along with posting quality production, Hoskins has been among the Phillies’ most durable players. To this point in the season, only two of the team’s other players – catcher J.T. Realmuto and third baseman Maikel Franco – have started games at first, and they’ve each done so just once. It’s unclear which Phillie would receive the bulk of the work at first in the event of a Hoskins injured list stint, but just-promoted veteran Logan Morrison seems like a strong bet.

NL East Notes: Zimmerman, Phillies, Lowrie, Marlins

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Ryan Zimmerman is in the final guaranteed year of his contract, and the longtime Nationals staple tells MLB.com’s Bill Ladson that he has yet to speak to GM Mike Rizzo or team ownership about what he hopes will be a continued relationship in 2020 and beyond.  The Nats hold an $18MM club option ($2MM buyout) on Zimmerman for next season that is highly unlikely to be exercised, given the veteran’s injuries and declining production in recent years.  Zimmerman is very eager to finish his career with the only franchise he has ever known, and reiterated that he is open to playing the rest of his career by ear, even returning just in a platoon situation at first base.

“I’m willing to come back [to Washington] and do one year, year by year, for a lot less money,” Zimmerman said.  “I don’t think the money matters to me anymore.  I just want to continue to play baseball and keep playing baseball in D.C.  I’m lucky that my kids are here.  My family is here.”  If the Nats didn’t want to keep Zimmerman on the roster, he stopped short of saying he’d retire, though “it would be a tough decision to leave my family and not be around” while playing in another city.

Here’s more from around the NL East…

  • The Phillies’ surprise hire of former manager Charlie Manuel as the team’s new hitting coach is explored by Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required), who wonders if it could be a harbinger of future moves if the Phils continue to underachieve.  Owner John Middleton, as per Gelb, “has solicited opinions in recent weeks from inside and outside the organization to gain a clearer picture of his franchise’s warts,” and Middleton also “became a decisive voice in” Manuel’s hiring.  It stands to reason that further coaching changes could be made, or manager Gabe Kapler could be on the hot seat, as he is only under contract through the 2020 season.
  • Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen gave reporters (including the New York Post’s Mike Puma) an update on Jed Lowrie on Wednesday, saying that Lowrie has been participating in simulated games, including running, fielding, and hitting drills.  Due to a string of knee, hamstring, and calf injuries, Lowrie hasn’t played at all this season, and despite his recent progress, it still isn’t clear if he’ll be able to make it onto the field.  Van Wagenen is still hopeful Lowrie can play in 2019, though he also didn’t reveal any plans for a minor league rehab assignment.  Since Lowrie would obviously need a good deal of time to ramp up, there isn’t a lot of opportunity left for an overly-lengthy rehab assignment, given that the minor league season comes to a close in early September.
  • Marlins CEO Derek Jeter was non-committal about the idea of moving in the fences at Marlins Park for 2020, telling MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro and other reporters that the organization would “maybe” consider such an idea.  As Frisaro notes, Marlins Park has allowed the second-fewest home runs of any stadium in baseball since the start of the 2012 season (when the Miami ballpark opened), and while the Marlins’ oft-disappointing lineups have undoubtedly played a role in this power outage, players on all teams have been constantly bedeviled by the ballpark’s big dimensions.

Phillies Claim Jared Hughes

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The Phillies announced that righty Jared Hughes has been claimed off waivers from the Reds.  To make room on the 40-man roster, the Phils placed right-hander Edubray Ramos on the 60-day injured list.

In claiming Hughes, Philadelphia absorbs the roughly $531K still owed to the right-hander for the remainder of the season.  Hughes is in the last guaranteed season of a two-year, $4.5MM contract, though the Phillies have a club option on his services (for $3MM with a $250K buyout) for the 2020 season.  For the present, Hughes is a relatively low-cost pickup for a Phillies team that has sorely needed some help for its injury-riddled bullpen, though Hughes hasn’t been in the best of form in recent weeks.

After an outstanding debut year in Cincinnati that saw him post a 1.94 ERA over 78 2/3 innings, Hughes came back to earth in 2019, posting a 4.10 ERA, 6.3 K/9, and 1.79 K/BB rate over 48 1/3 frames.  The extreme ground-ball pitcher has continued to keep the ball out of the air, as evidenced by a 60.7% grounder rate, but he has suffered when batters have gotten some arc — Hughes has a 20% homer/fly ball rate, far above his 12.3% career average.

Despite the extra homers, however, Hughes only really started to run into some struggles recently.  He had a 2.88 ERA as late as July 24 before enduring a nightmarish inning against the Rockies on July 26 that saw him allow six runs.  That began a stretch of six outings that saw Hughes post a 10.57 ERA over 7 2/3 innings of work, with as many walks (five) as strikeouts, and not a single home run allowed to account for that damage.  Hughes also served a three-game suspension for his role in the already-infamous brawl between the Reds and Pirates on July 30.

The Reds have been one of the league’s more active teams since the trade deadline, particularly on the pitching front.  Cincinnati claimed Kevin Gausman off waivers from the Braves, signed veterans Brad Boxberger, Junichi Tazawa and Tim Collins to minor league contracts, and parted ways with Hughes and David Hernandez.  Since it seemed Hughes was no longer in the club’s plans for 2020, the Reds save a bit of cash by letting him go to the Phillies now rather than paying a buyout at season’s end.

Phillies Select Logan Morrison

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4:26pm: Morrison’s contract has indeed been selected, per a club announcement. He’ll fill the 25-man roster spot that was vacated with Jake Arrieta landing on the 10-day IL with what looks to be a season-ending elbow issue. Righty Jerad Eickhoff was moved to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Morrison.

1:33pm: The Phillies will select the contract of veteran first baseman Logan Morrison from Triple-A Lehigh Valley today, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He’ll join the roster a day after fellow lefty slugger Corey Dickerson exited the game with an apparent hand injury after being hit by a pitch from Jose Quintana.

The 31-year-old Morrison had an awful season in 2018 when he tried to play through a hip injury with the Twins. That issue, initially believed to be an impingement, wound up being far more severe, as season-ending surgery also revealed a torn labrum in Morrison’s hip. Morrison still managed to swat 15 home runs with the Twins in 359 plate appearances last year, but his overall .186/.276/.368 batting line was obviously an eyesore.

Morrison inked a minor league deal with the Yankees earlier this summer once he was sufficiently recovered from that procedure, but he didn’t make it to the big leagues in the Bronx despite laying waste to Triple-A pitching in Scranton. He then signed on with the Phillies and hasn’t missed a beat in Triple-A. In fact, he’s been even better with the Phillies’ top affiliate. Overall, in a combined 233 Triple-A plate appearances, Morrison has ripped 18 home runs and 16 doubles while putting together a superlative .308/.369/.640 batting line. Even in a league-wide, supercharged offensive environment in Triple-A this season, Morrison’s bat has been more than 50 percent better than that off an average hitter (by measure of wRC+).

With the Phils, Morrison will look to sweep last year’s woeful ratios under the rug and bounce back to the 2017 form that saw him hit .246/.353/.516 with a career-high 38 home runs as a member of the Rays.

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