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Quick Hits: Farquhar, Machado, Cardinals, Duffy

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White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar has been placed on the 10-day disabled list after passing out in the club’s dugout. According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, the sudden collapse was caused by a brain aneurysm. He was immediately hospitalized following the incident, and is currently in stable but critical condition. We at MLBTR will be keeping Farquhar in our thoughts during what is certainly a scary situation.

More notes from around MLB…

  • Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports suggests that the White Sox could be a team to watch in the upcoming Manny Machado sweepstakes this offseason. A rival GM tells Heyman that the Sox could be a “dark horse” to sign the superstar shortstop. Concurrent with this rumor, via Heyman, is the pattern of owner Jerry Reinsdorf being occasionally willing to make a big splash in the free agent market (though I’d like to point out that they’ve never made a splash of anything close to this size).
  • A pair of Cardinals relievers are making progress in their returns from injury, which would provide a welcome cavalry to the club’s bullpen. Left-hander Ryan Sherriff is scheduled to throw a live bullpen session on Wednesday at Triple-A Memphis, according to Joe Trezza of MLB.com. He’s currently still wearing a metal shank in his shoe under the fractured toe in order to protect it. Meanwhile, Trezza adds, righty Sam Tuivailala threw two bullpen sessions this week, and will throw a third one tomorrow. The downside of these imminent returns is that the Cardinals will be facing a difficult roster decision when they decide to activate these two relievers.
  • Bill Chastain of MLB.com tweets that Rays third baseman Matt Duffy is “cautiously optimistic” that he’ll be able to be activated from the 10-day disabled list when he’s first eligible on April 27th. He did some soft-toss hitting yesterday along with a few throwing drills, and is progressing nicely in an attempt to return quickly from a hamstring injury suffered in Monday’s game.

Paul DeJong Showing Swing And Miss Early

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  • Fresh off an offseason extension, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong has continued to carry above-average overall offensive numbers in his sophomore campaign, due mostly to a healthy .477 slugging percentage. But as Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observes, DeJong is also exhibiting a worrying rise in strikeouts. Indeed, a league-leading thirty of his seventy plate appearances have ended with a K thus far. And DeJong has drawn only four walks, leaving him with a .286 OBP on the young season. As Frederickson notes, the 24-year-od is showing much greater selectivity thus far in 2018 than he did last year, but he’s also swinging and missing at rates typically procured only by elite relief pitchers. Much like young Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, DeJong still needs to show he can get on base consistently enough to be a compelling offensive player.

Cardinals Promote Tyler O’Neill

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April 19: The Cardinals have formally announced the promotion. Right-hander John Brebbia was optioned to Memphis in place of O’Neill.

April 18: The Cardinals plan to promote outfield prospect Tyler O’Neill, according to MLB.com’s Joe Trezza. A corresponding move is not yet known, but will occur before tomorrow’s scheduled contest.

Tyler O'Neill | Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images

O’Neill, who was acquired last summer in a swap that sent young pitcher Marco Gonzales to the Mariners, will receive his first shot in the majors. The former third-round pick was widely rated as one of the game’s hundred best prospects entering each of the past two seasons.

Though O’Neill only received a dozen plate appearances this spring owing to injury, he has certainly earned the chance after going on a tear to open the season at Triple-A. Over his 52 plate appearances, the right-handed hitter carries a .388/.385/.837 slash with six home runs. He carried .800+ OPS marks in the upper minors in 2016 and 2017, so there’s little left for him to show at the plate.

Of course, whether he’ll carry that productivity into the majors is the big question — as it is for any prospect. O’Neill draws walks at a decent rate but has shown some swing and miss. If he can make enough contact, O’Neill is viewed as having a chance at becoming an everyday right fielder at the game’s highest level.

It’s also not yet clear whether O’Neill is slated to receive a full opportunity to prove he belongs. He may just provide some depth while the club evaluates Tommy Pham’s status after he experienced groin tightness in last night’s game. The Cards’ outfield mix currently includes three right-handed hitters (Pham, Marcell Ozuna, and Harrison Bader) and the switch-hitting Dexter Fowler, so there isn’t a clear opportunity in the near-term.

Regardless of how long he stays in the Majors this time around, be it for one day or for the remainder of the season, enough time has already passed that the Cardinals will be able to control O’Neill through at least the 2024 season.

*An earlier version of this post mistakenly identified O’Neill as a left-handed hitter.

NL Notes: Blackmon, Gyorko, Gregerson, Glasnow, Hellickson

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Though recently-extended Rockies slugger Charlie Blackmon is a star outfielder, he spent his early career trying to make it as a pitcher. Kyle Newman of the Denver Post details Blackmon’s story, beginning with his high school tenure in Atlanta. After struggling to gain any significant attention early on, Blackmon began experiencing arm troubles in his junior year at Georgia Tech. The following season, however, saw him excel as a hitter en route to being drafted by the Rockies. He’s now set to earn nine figures throughout the course of his MLB career. There are some insightful quotes and tidbits in Newman’s article, including this quote from manager Walt Weiss: “I didn’t foresee the power — he’s made some adjustments, and there’s lightning in the bat now because his power numbers are pretty amazing considering the type of player he was when he broke in.”

More from around the National League…

  • The Cardinals have a pair of players set to return soon in Jedd Gyorko and Luke Gregerson, as Joe Trezza of MLB.com reminds us. In fact, both could come off the DL as early as this coming week. Trezza adds that Gyorko’s situation will complicate the infield alignment in St. Louis, as he could sap some playing time from either Kolten Wong or Matt Carpenter (both of whom are currently ice cold at the plate). Gregerson has thrown four scoreless rehab appearances; he began the season on the DL with a hamstring strain.
  • Tyler Glasnow’s first season in relief has yielded good results so far for the Pirates, writes Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The fireballing righty has allowed just a run across six innings in his first three appearances, in part due to an increase in his spin rate. Brink notes that he’s averaged 2,859 revolutions per minute on his curveball, a mark that’s presently 12th in all of MLB. Glasnow’s also increased his average fastball velocity to 96 MPH. “He’s a little bit more free at ease out there on the mound and being himself,” said Ray Searage, renowned pitching coach for the Pirates. “When you have confidence in yourself and try to execute at the best of your ability, you’re going to be more free and easy.”
  • Jeremy Hellickson will officially start for the Nationals tomorrow, Dan Kolko of MASN reports on Twitter. That falls in line with earlier reports that suggested the possibility. Nats fans are surely glad to see anyone but A.J. Cole, who sports a 12.00 ERA through two starts so far this season. There’s a $2MM salary to gain for Hellickson if he sticks in the rotation, as the terms of his minors pact with the club dictate.

Cardinals Place Sam Tuivailala On 10-Day DL, Recall Mike Mayers

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  • The Cardinals announced that they’ve placed right-hander Sam Tuivailala on the 10-day disabled list with a strain in his left knee and recalled right-hander Mike Mayers from Triple- A Memphis. Mayers isn’t required to spend the 10-day minimum in the minors following an optional assignment because he’s directly replacing a player who was placed on the big league DL. Tuivailala, 25, quietly stepped up with a nice season in St. Louis last year, pitching to a 2.55 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 48.8 percent ground-ball rate. The Cards didn’t give a timeline on Tuivailala’s return, though the DL placement is backdated to April 10, so he can return in just over a week.

Jose Martinez Suffers Achilles Injury

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  • The Rangers announced that second baseman Rougned Odor left his club’s game today with a left hamstring strain. We’re still awaiting word on a full assessment, but it certainly seems as if the organization is anticipating a DL stint. Likewise, Blue Jays DH Kendrys Morales has received a diagnosis of a grade 1 hammy strain, per a club announcement. That said, skipper John Gibbons struck an optimistic tone after the game, as Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com reports (Twitter link). Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez also had to depart after a collision with Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain. While it seems the latter will be just fine, the former has been diagnosed with a right Achilles tendon contusion, per the club. Hopefully, that ends up representing the extent of the injury.

Cardinals Activate Greg Holland

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2:29pm: Holland has indeed been activated, with Mayers being optioned out to Memphis to clear a spot on the 25-man roster, tweets MLB.com’s Joe Trezza.

9:40am: Monday marks the day that Greg Holland is eligible to be activated and added to the Cardinals roster, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cards intend to do just that in advance of tonight’s game against the Brewers.

Holland signed a one-year, $14MM contract with the Cardinals on Opening Day and figures to slide into the team’s closer role, where he’ll supplant the struggling Dominic Leone. Goold notes that a roster move will need to be made and suggests that right-hander Mike Mayers, who has pitched sparingly thus far in 2018, could be optioned out to open a spot for the new St. Louis closer. The Cardinals would prefer Mayers to log regular innings, per Goold, as opposed to receive sporadic work as a long man. One reliever who, unsurprisingly, isn’t presently in danger of being optioned for Holland or for the eventual return of Luke Gregerson is flamethrowing young righty Jordan Hicks, whom manager Mike Matheny praises in Goold’s piece.

The Cardinals punted their second-round pick in order to add Holland on his one-year deal, taking advantage of a collapsed market for the 2017 NL saves leader. In doing so, they’re banking on the belief that Holland’s disastrous August — 14 runs and four homers in 9 2/3 frames — was attributable to some arm fatigue in his first season back from Tommy John surgery and is not a portent for similar struggles down the line.

Holland will likely be eased into things with the Cardinals, as he’s still made just two appearances for the Cardinals’ Class-A Advanced affiliate, during which he was tagged for a solo homer but also recorded a pair of strikeouts without issuing a walk. For the time being, though, it’s easy to imagine that the Cardinals could be reluctant to pitch him on back-to-back days — and certainly not on three consecutive days.

[Related: St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]

With Holland now on board, he’ll front a relief corps also featuring Leone, Hicks, Tyler Lyons, Bud Norris, Matt Bowman, John Brebbia and Sam Tuivailala. That group is hardly set in stone, as Gregerson’s return will push one of the less-experienced arms off the active roster. (Brebbia was only just recalled over the weekend and could potentially be optioned back to Memphis down the line.) St. Louis is also light on left-handed relief at the moment due to the fact that both Brett Cecil and Ryan Sherriff are also on the disabled list. There’s no hard timeline on the return of either southpaw, though Sherriff’s outlook is less troubling, as he’s on the shelf with a fractured toe. Cecil, meanwhile, hit the DL with a shoulder strain in late March and, as Goold notes, felt pain in his ankle yesterday and was prescribed at least a day in a walking boot.

Injury Notes: Healy, Sheriff, Rizzo, J.C. Ramirez

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Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy showed up to the team’s clubhouse today in a walking boot; he twisted his ankle in a postgame workout, says Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. It’s been described as a “pretty bad sprain”, and Healy will have an MRI soon. The expectation seems to be that he will require a DL stint, though the severity of the injury is unclear at this time. Healy provided the heroics in last night’s win; it seems likely that Dan Vogelbach will receive everyday at-bats in his absence.

More injury items from around the league…

  • Cardinals left-hander Ryan Sheriff has been placed on the DL with a toe injury; the team has recalled right-hander John Brebbia from Triple-A Memphis in a related move. Sheriff was added to the roster with the news that Brett Cecil would be out for an extended period of time; he allowed one earned run in his 2 2/3 innings of work this season. Sheriff also managed a 3.14 ERA last season in 14 1/3 innings of work for the Cardinals.
  • Anthony Rizzo has missed a couple of games for the Cubs due to back tightness, says Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. The first baseman’s back has evidently been bothering him ever since the club’s trip to Cincinnati. Rizzo has just three hits (including one home run) in 32 plate appearances to begin the season.
  • J.C. Ramirez is officially headed to the DL with forearm issues, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. We noted earlier that the righty had been experiencing forearm tightness; he now joins fellow Angels starters Matt Shoemaker and Andrew Heaney on the disabled list, leaving the club incredibly thin in the rotation beyond Garrett Richards, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Skaggs. Parker Bridwell and Nick Tropeano seem to be the likeliest candidates to get rotation attention, but for the time being the club has recalled relievers Felix Pena and Eduardo Paredes (righty reliever Akeel Morris was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake).

Cardinals Notes: Wainwright, Holland, Pham

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  • Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch spoke with Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM about the team’s late signing of closer Greg Holland (Twitter link, with audio). While the Cards were in touch with agent Scott Boras about Holland as far back as the GM Meetings, nothing between the two sides became serious until late in camp. “It really wasn’t until the last week or 10 days of Spring Training when it became more apparent that there might actually be a possibility of finding some common ground,” said Girsch. “…His expectations were changing, and our willingness to find someplace that we could make something happen made it so we could actually get something done.” Notably, Girsch said that Luke Gregerson’s injuries didn’t play much of a role in the decision to add Holland, as he’s not dealing with arm troubles and is only expected to be out for a few weeks. More important, it seems, was the length of the contract. Girsch notes that the Cards have some younger arms “who are future back-of-the-bullpen arms” that aren’t far from big league readiness.
  • The Cardinals announced that Adam Wainwright will be activated from the 10-day disabled list on Thursday and start the team’s game against the Diamondbacks. In a corresponding move, top prospect Jack Flaherty has been optioned to Triple-A Memphis. Wainwright opened the season on the shelf due to a strained left hamstring. He’ll be looking to bounce back from an uncharacteristic season in which he struggled to a 5.11 ERA in 123 2/3 innings.
  • Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch spoke with Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM about the team’s late signing of closer Greg Holland (Twitter link, with audio). While the Cards were in touch with agent Scott Boras about Holland as far back as the GM Meetings, nothing between the two sides became serious until late in camp. “It really wasn’t until the last week or 10 days of Spring Training when it became more apparent that there might actually be a possibility of finding some common ground,” said Girsch. “…His expectations were changing, and our willingness to find someplace that we could make something happen made it so we could actually get something done.” Notably, Girsch said that Luke Gregerson’s injuries didn’t play much of a role in the decision to add Holland, as he’s not dealing with arm troubles and is only expected to be out for a few weeks. More important, it seems, was the length of the contract. Girsch notes that the Cards have some younger arms “who are future back-of-the-bullpen arms” that aren’t far from big league readiness.
  • Tommy Pham chatted with MLB.com’s Bill Ladson about his rise to prominence and his ongoing battle with keratoconus — an eye disorder characterized by the progressive thinning of the cornea. Interestingly, Pham said he gives a huge amount of credit to current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who, during his days in the Cardinals front office, was the first to set up the initial test that diagnosed Pham with his condition. “He just always believed I was too good of an athlete to struggle in this game,” said Pham. “…I hit a lot of home runs, but I struck out a lot, and Jeff thought it was my vision rather than my actual swing. … sure enough, he was right.”

Cardinals Place Jedd Gyorko On Disabled List

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  • Also heading to the DL is Cardinals infielder Jedd Gyorko, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. His hamstring issue is not believed to be a serious one, but the team may need to make the move to bolster the bench in the meantime. For now, then, it seems likely just to be a temporary blip for a player who’ll likely take the lion’s share of the time at third this year in St. Louis. Outfielder Harrison Bader has been recalled to take the open roster spot.
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