Tony La Russa Won’t Return As White Sox Manager This Year
The White Sox have announced that Tony La Russa, who has been absent from the team due to a medical issue, will not return to manage for the remainder of the 2022 season. “After undergoing additional testing and medical procedures over the past week, doctors for Tony La Russa have directed him to no return as manager of the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the 2022 season,” a team statement reads. “Bench coach Miguel Cairo will continue to serve as acting White Sox manager through the remainder of the 2022 season.”
La Russa, who turns 78 next month, took a leave of absence from the club at the end of August. The exact nature of his medical ailment wasn’t specified at the time, though it was reported that he would undergo testing on his heart. He was cleared to travel to Oakland a couple of weeks ago for a ceremony honoring Dave Stewart, though not to return to any kind of active duty in the dugout. It seems that, in the opinions of his medical team, La Russa hasn’t recovered enough to return to the team over the final days of the season.
La Russa’s contract runs through 2023, though his ability to actually serve as the club’s skipper next year could depend on how he recuperates. Cairo has been at the helm the past few weeks and will continue in that role down the stretch. Though the White Sox initially surged under his leadership, they have cooled off recently. They are now eight games behind the Guardians in the Central division and 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.
Pitching Notes: Berrios, Giolito, Eovaldi, Minor
The Toronto Blue Jays may have some difficulty carving out a role for José Berríos in their postseason rotation. Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star pointed out in a Thursday opinion piece that in a scenario that sees the Jays go to a third game in the AL Wild Card Series, Berríos could find himself coming out of the bullpen.
Berríos has not been the pitcher Toronto had hoped he would be since the club gave him the second largest contract in franchise history in terms of total value last offseason. Nearly a season into his seven-year, $131 million extension, the twenty-eight year old right-hander has struggled to turn out quality outings with any consistency. Excluding a rough rookie season, Berríos is posting career worsts in ERA, WHIP, K/9, HR/9, BABIP, and HardHit%. He is also not trending in the right direction, accumulating a 6.92 ERA in the month of August and conceding six earned runs in just two innings to the Rays on Thursday night.
Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman are the presumptive choices for the Jays’ first two games of the best-of-three Wild Card Series. If that series goes to a decisive third game, barring injury, manager John Schneider will likely face a choice between starting Ross Stripling, who has had an excellent 2022, or Berríos.
More on other pitching situations from around the league…
- White Sox righty Lucas Giolito is another tenured AL ace that has not pitched to his potential in 2022. His 5.05 ERA, 1.477 WHIP, and 9.9 H/9 are his worst since he broke out in 2019. After a September 16th start in which he gutted out 4 2/3 innings of one run ball, Giolito told James Fagan of The Athletic that his stuff was “obviously just like, not really there,” as it has been for most of the season. He continued on to cite a lack of fastball velocity as a chief contributor to his 2022 struggles. Giolito’s four-seam velocity has averaged 92.9 mph this season, a full 1.5 mph slower than his 2019 peak. The Sox can retain him for one more season via arbitration before he is scheduled to reach free agency as a 29-year-old, with Giolito surely hoping to find a way to have a better campaign in his platform year.
- Nathan Eovaldi, who will be a free agent this offseason, alluded to his desire to re-sign with the Red Sox in an interview with Chad Jennings of The Athletic. “I love being here,” Eovaldi said. “It’s the front office, it’s the coaching staff, the training staff. Here, they all want to win.” It is unclear whether the 32-year old fits into Boston’s future plans. The Red Sox are on the precipice of a potentially turbulent offseason in which Eovaldi and DH J.D. Martinez are free agents and the contracts of superstars Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts have yet to be resolved. Boston’s uncertain future, in addition to the fact that Eovaldi spent so much of his 2018 pact with the Red Sox on the IL, casts some doubt on the notion that Red Sox will share Eovaldi’s interest in a reunion. However, with Rich Hill and Michael Wacha both headed into free agency as well, the club will certainly be looking to fill some rotation holes for 2023.
- Reds lefty Mike Minor told Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he is considering retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 season. “I’d have to feel good, and I’d have to want to play and want to be away from my family again,” Minor said. Three years removed from an All-Star nod with the Rangers, Minor battled injuries for the first two months of 2022. In total, he has thrown 98 innings to the tune of a 6.06 ERA for a non-competitive Reds team. Minor will face free agency this offseason should he elect to return to the big-leagues for a 12th year.
White Sox Place Michael Kopech On 15-Day Injured List
The White Sox have placed Michael Kopech on the 15-day injured list, as the right-hander is dealing with right shoulder inflammation. Righty Davis Martin has been called up from Triple-A to take Kopech’s spot on the active roster.
Though Kopech hasn’t pitched since September 13, there wasn’t any retroactive date attached to Kopech’s IL placement, and thus his 15-day clock starts today. That means Kopech will be out of action until at least October 2, and it is quite possible his season could be over if his shoulder issue isn’t healed. White Sox GM Rick Hahn told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that tests didn’t reveal any structural damage, but while Kopech’s injury isn’t a long-term problem, his absence will hamper a Chicago team fighting to get into the 2022 postseason.
In his first full season as a starting pitcher, Kopech has a 3.54 ERA over 119 1/3 innings, but also a much less-flattering 4.73 SIERA. A tiny .229 BABIP has helped Kopech overcome below-average strikeout and hard-hit ball rates, as well as an 11.5% walk rate that is only in the tenth percentile of all pitchers.
This is Kopech’s second IL stint of the season, as he previously missed the minimum 15 days while recovering from a knee sprain in late August and early September. Since Kopech missed all of 2019-20 and then only threw 69 1/3 innings in 2021, there was some question about how much Kopech would pitch this season, and he has only hit the seven-inning threshold in two games. However, assuming that this shoulder injury is indeed just inflammation, Kopech has been relatively healthy in the wake of his increase in workload, and should be on pace for more of a normal starter’s routine in 2023.
Martin is the logical candidate to fill in for Kopech, and Martin will actually take the hill today against the Tigers — regular starter Johnny Cueto has been scratched due to a non-COVID illness. Martin has a respectable 4.09 ERA over 44 innings in his first MLB season, though counting on a rookie down the stretch isn’t an ideal situation for Chicago. After the Guardians’ win today, Cleveland holds a 4.5-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central, and the White Sox are also 6.5 games back in the wild card race.
Central Notes: Francona, Anderson, Bednar, Cubs
Terry Francona’s contract is up after the season, and the veteran manager told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that he has been in talks with team officials about his future with the Guardians. It seems basically a foregone conclusion that Francona will remain as the Guards’ skipper beyond 2022, and yet given Francona’s multiple health issues, he is cognizant about the potential end of his managerial career. “I want to enjoy what I’m doing. It’s getting harder to do that, just because physically it’s harder,” Francona said. “I just want to be careful. And at the same time, I want to be fair to the team.” The respect goes both ways with Cleveland’s front office, as president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said that “I want to make sure [Francona] never feels he has this obligation to keep doing the job because he owes us anything. I want him to do what’s best for him.”
Antonetti and team owner Paul Dolan have both said in the past that Francona can manage the Guardians for essentially as long as he feels up to the job, while Francona told Rosenthal that he might have already retired if he had been with any other team. Speculatively, it would seem like any sort of formal contract extension between the two sides could perhaps take the form of a one-year deal with a rolling option, to be exercised should Francona feel he is ready to keep managing beyond 2023. A decision might not be made until after Francona’s latest medical procedure takes place in the offseason — he is scheduled to have drains removed from his back, and Francona estimates that this will be roughly his 46th surgery.
Some items from around both the AL and NL Central divisions….
- Back on August 11, Tim Anderson underwent surgery to fix a torn ligament in his left middle finger, and White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo told reporters (including Ryan Taylor of NBC Sports Chicago) today that Anderson was scheduled to visit a hand specialist on Tuesday. “We’re going to see from there” what the next step is in Anderson’s rehab, Cairo said, adding that the shortstop is “doing good.” Anderson was hitting .301/.339/.395 over his first 351 plate appearances of the season. Assuming the visit with the specialist goes well, there should still be time for Anderson to properly rehab and get back to the White Sox before the season is over, thus giving the Sox a big late boost in their push for the AL Central crown.
- While the Pirates aren’t in a pennant race, they’re also expecting a key player back in closer David Bednar, as GM Ben Cherington said in an interview with 93.7 The Fan radio (hat tip to MLB.com’s Justice delos Santos). Bednar has been out of action since late July due to lower back inflammation, but Bednar threw a bullpen session yesterday and Cherington said Bednar could begin a rehab assignment this week. The right-hander has emerged as a major bullpen weapon (and popular trade ask) over the last two seasons, with Bednar posting a 2.70 ERA and a superb 33.5% strikeout rate over 46 2/3 innings in 2022.
- The Cubs‘ season “has been a success” in the view of chairman Tom Ricketts, who told The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan and other reporters that he has been impressed by the team’s progress in bringing along its young players and young pitchers. Since the Cubs’ last rebuild resulted in the 2016 World Series championship, Ricketts feels that “having done it once, and largely with the same people, it gives me a lot of confidence that we’ll do it the right way again.” As to whether or not the Cubs will start to invest more into payroll this winter, Ricketts somewhat vaguely said that president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has “got a lot of flexibility, and we’ll let him do it,” adding that the “ball is in Jed’s court when it comes to how and where” any funds are invested. Of course, this isn’t exactly a full-on declaration that the Cubs are ready to start spending big, as while Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman were two more expensive additions last winter, Hoyer stuck mostly to less-costly, shorter-term free agents.
Tony La Russa Discusses Health Situation, “Uncertain” About Possible Return
White Sox manager Tony La Russa has been on a health-related leave of absence since August 30, but he met with his team in person in Oakland this weekend. La Russa was given the go-ahead by doctors to make the trip from his home in Arizona, as La Russa wanted to be in attendance when Dave Stewart had his number retired by the Athletics today.
Meeting with reporters (including Janie McCauley of The Associated Press and Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times) today, the 77-year-old La Russa said it was still “uncertain” about whether or not he would be able to return to the White Sox dugout.
“I don’t plan to be in uniform until [doctors] say it’s time to be in uniform,” La Russa said. “I don’t know if they want me at the park or not. The most important thing for me is you don’t want to be a distraction. I don’t want to be a distraction. That’s why it’s best to let it run its course, and in the meantime [the team is] concentrating on the game they’re playing.”
The exact nature of La Russa’s health problem wasn’t known, but he told McCauley that he had a pacemaker inserted. The manager told the media that he also had a heart issue during Spring Training, and on August 30, doctors “had some information they needed to address” about the problem that required La Russa to immediately step away from the White Sox. “They fixed it, now it’s a question of regaining strength….I’ve had my issue fixed, I’m mending,” La Russa noted.
La Russa hasn’t entirely stepped away, as he said he still makes multiple calls per day to bench coach and acting manager Miguel Cairo. The Sox have posted a 9-3 record in La Russa’s absence, a surge has kept Chicago in the hunt for the AL Central title and on the outskirts of the wild card race. Apart from three games against the Padres and four games against the division-leading Guardians, the White Sox have one of the easier remaining schedules of any team in baseball, making them a team to watch down the stretch.
Edwin Jackson Announces Retirement
Former All-Star Edwin Jackson took to Instagram this evening to officially announce his retirement from Major League Baseball. The right-hander pitched parts of 17 seasons in the majors, getting to the highest level every year between 2003-19. Jackson suited up for 14 different MLB teams, setting the all-time record for most uniforms donned.
“19 years ago today I was blessed with an opportunity to tie up my laces and step on the field to make my debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Jackson wrote. “Today I am happily hanging up my cleats and closing a 22-year baseball career.” Jackson went on to thank his wife, parents, sisters, children and the rest of his family before expressing his gratitude to various coaches, trainers and doctors who assisted him. “This game has taught me many life lessons and allowed me to evolve into the person I am today! I will forever have memories that will live within me from the game I love and dedicated my life to. Thank you baseball for an amazing life experience I will never forget,” he concluded.
A sixth-round draftee of the Dodgers out of a Georgia high school in 2001, Jackson emerged as one of the sport’s best pitching prospects not long thereafter. He broke into the big leagues exactly 19 years ago on his 20th birthday, starting three of four appearances down the stretch. He bounced on and off Los Angeles’ active roster for the next couple seasons before being traded to the then-Devil Rays over the 2005-06 offseason.
Jackson worked primarily as a reliever for his first season in Tampa Bay, but he took a full turn of starts by the 2007 campaign. That kicked off a stretch of seven consecutive seasons in which he surpassed 30 starts and 160 innings. Jackson pitched in Tampa Bay through 2008 before being dealt to the Tigers for outfielder Matt Joyce. He tossed a career-best 214 innings the next year, posting a 3.62 ERA. Jackson earned an All-Star nod with a 2.52 mark through that season’s first half.
The next offseason, his nomadic career continued. Detroit flipped Jackson to the Diamondbacks as part of a three-team blockbuster that netted Detroit Max Scherzer and sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. His stint in the desert was rather brief — he’d wind up traded again at that summer’s deadline — but it provided one of the more memorable moments of his career. On June 25, 2010, he tossed a no-hitter against his former team at Tropicana Field. He threw a staggering 149 pitches in the outing, striking out six but issuing eight walks. Then-manager A.J. Hinch stuck with Jackson despite his high pitch count, and he completed one of the more remarkable single-game performances by a player in recent memory.
Not long after, the last-place club dealt Jackson to the White Sox in a trade that landed Arizona Daniel Hudson. Jackson pitched well in 11 starts down the stretch, and he got off to another solid start in 2011. The White Sox fell out of contention the latter season, though, and he was on the move again. The Blue Jays acquired Jackson from the White Sox on the morning of July 27, but his stint in Toronto lasted only a few hours. Toronto promptly flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal that sent Colby Rasmus north of the border.
Jackson played in St. Louis for the second half, pitching to a 3.58 ERA through 12 starts. He made four starts in the postseason, and while his playoff numbers weren’t great, the Cardinals secured the World Series title in a dramatic series win over the Rangers. Fresh off winning a title, Jackson signed with the Nationals during his first trip through free agency. He spent the 2012 campaign in the Nats rotation, helping Washington to their first playoff appearance since moving to D.C.
The next winter, Jackson inked a four-year, $52MM pact with the Cubs. He continued to soak up innings but didn’t post especially strong numbers in Chicago. After two and a half seasons, he was released. That kicked off an even more rapid trip around the league, as Jackson suited up with the Braves, Marlins, Padres, Orioles, Nationals (again), A’s, Blue Jays and Tigers (again) over the next four years. He alternated between the rotation and the bullpen throughout that time, generally serving as a depth option.
While Jackson signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in 2020, he didn’t make it back to the majors. He did appear on the U.S. Olympic team last summer and expressed a desire to get back to the big leagues, but he didn’t get another opportunity with an affiliated organization.
Altogether, Jackson pitched in 412 major league games. He tossed 1960 innings with a 4.78 ERA, striking out a bit more than 1500 batters and winning 107 games. According to Baseball Reference, Jackson banked upwards of $66MM in earnings and incredibly logged some action for almost half the league. MLBTR congratulates Jackson on his lengthy, accomplished career and wishes him all the best in retirement.
White Sox Claim Nicholas Padilla, Designate Anderson Severino
The White Sox have claimed right-hander Nicholas Padilla off waivers from the Cubs and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Southpaw Anderson Severino was designated for assignments to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Padilla, 25, has one big league game under his belt. He was called up by the Cubs late last month, and he worked 1 2/3 innings of one-run ball during his lone relief appearance. He leaned primarily on a 93 MPH cutter during that outing, per Statcast, and was optioned after the game. The Cubs designated him for assignment earlier this week when the need for a 40-man roster spot arose to bring back Michael Hermosillo from the injured list.
A former Rays draftee, Padilla has spent the past two seasons in the Cubs organization. He’s had a breakout showing across three minor league levels this year, pitching at High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He owns a cumulative 2.11 ERA in 47 innings over that stretch, striking out a quality 30.5% of batters. Padilla’s 13.7% walk rate is a red flag, but the Sox are intrigued enough by his swing-and-miss capabilities to add him as a depth player. This is the first of three minor league option years, so Chicago can keep him in the minors for the foreseeable future if he holds a spot on the 40-man roster.
Severino, who turns 28 later this month, has made his first six MLB appearances this year. The southpaw has struck out nine batters and averaged 96.6 MPH on his heater, but he’s also walked four opponents. He’s had a dismal season throwing strikes in the minors, walking a staggering 27.3% of batters faced over 22 2/3 innings with Charlotte. The abundance of free passes has translated to a 12.31 ERA that pushes him out of the immediate mix.
The White Sox will place Severino on waivers in the next few days. The Dominican Republic native has never been outrighted and doesn’t have a requisite three years service time to refuse a minor league assignment, so he’d remain in the organization if he goes unclaimed.
The Changing Landscape Of The AL Cy Young Race
Two weeks ago, the Cy Young race in the American League looked like a two-horse race, with both Houston’s Justin Verlander and Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan hovering at or below the 2.00 ERA mark and racking up innings atop their teams’ respective rotations. McClanahan has the larger strikeout percentage and subsequently superior marks from fielding-independent metrics that some voters increasingly weigh. Verlander was averaging one extra out recorded per start prior to being lifted early his last time out, and his 16-3 win-loss record might hold some sway with traditionalist voters.
Or, all of that could be rendered moot.
Both Verlander and McClanahan are on the 15-day injured list, and Verlander, who had been improbably leading the Majors in ERA as a 39-year-old in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, sounds as though he’ll miss several weeks rather than just the 15-day minimum. McClanahan, a late scratch from his last start, is already throwing and seems likelier to make a quick return. However, the Rays could very well take a cautious approach and limit his innings after a two-week absence due to a shoulder impingement.
At the very least, the door is now open for further competition in Cy Young voting, ostensibly setting the stage for the closest AL vote we’ve seen since 2019, when Verlander and then-teammate Gerrit Cole finished in the top two positions on the ballot. Last year’s NL Cy Young voting sparked plenty of controversy and debate as well, and as things currently stand, we could get an encore of that scene in the AL this year.
If not Verlander or McClanahan, who are the top names to consider? Let’s dive in.
Dylan Cease, RHP, White Sox
Cease, following a near-no-hitter against the Twins that saw him go 8 2/3 before Luis Arraez cracked a ninth-inning single, may have leapfrogged both Verlander and McClanahan as the odds-on favorite in the American League. He’s sitting on MLB’s third-lowest ERA — sandwiched right between Verlander and McClanahan, no less — and that 2.13 mark is complemented by a 31.4% strikeout rate that ranks as the fourth-highest of any qualified starting pitcher in baseball.
At 5.5 wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference), Cease already leads American League pitchers — even over Verlander and McClanahan. That’d due largely to the fact that Cease is putting up these numbers in front of one of the game’s bottom-10 defenses.
It’s not all roses, as Cease has a 10.4% walk rate that sits dead last among qualified starters. He hasn’t been terribly efficient, either; where both Verlander and McClanahan have averaged comfortably more than six innings per start, Cease has averaged 5.77 innings per appearance this year.
Still, Chicagoans can no doubt see the parallels between Cease’s 2022 showing and the 2016 performance of another Chicago hurler — crosstown righty Jake Arrieta, when he rode a historic summer surge to Cy Young honors. Over his past 15 starts, Cease has tallied 93 innings of 1.45 ERA ball and held opponents to one or zero runs on a dozen occasions. Cease isn’t quite in Arrieta territory (0.86 ERA in his final 147 innings), but he’s not terribly far off, either. If he can sustain anything close to this pace, Cease will finish the season at or near the top of the AL in terms of innings pitched, ERA, total strikeouts and strikeout rate.
Alek Manoah, RHP, Blue Jays
Manoah looked borderline unhittable for the season’s first two months, carrying a 1.67 ERA in that time and allowing just 55 hits and a 0.59 HR/9 mark through June 13 (75 2/3 innings). He had a solid but closer-to-average run for much of the summer but has now yielded just three runs in his past 28 1/3 innings.
At 171 innings of 2.42 ERA ball on the year, the 24-year-old is on the periphery of the race at present. He ranks fourth in American League ERA but trails McClanahan, Cease and especially Verlander in that department. He lacks the gaudy strikeout ratios boasted by both Cease and McClanahan but limits hard contact better than any non-McClanahan pitcher in the AL, evidenced by a 31.3% hard-hit rate. (McClanahan leads qualified AL starters at 30.1%.)
However, Manoah’s 171 are second-most in the American League, and if he continues this hot streak, there’s a chance he could wind up among the league leaders in ERA, innings pitched and other key categories. In terms of wins and losses, everyone’s trailing Verlander’s 16 victories, but Manoah’s 14 are tied with Framber Valdez for second in the league. Speaking of which…
Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros
It’s easy to be overshadowed by the season Verlander is enjoying, but we should all probably be discussing Valdez’s outstanding year more than we are. The 28-year-old southpaw is just one-third of an inning behind Manoah at 170 2/3, and he also sits sixth in ERA (2.64) and ninth in bWAR (3.4).
Valdez has emerged as baseball’s preeminent ground-ball starting pitcher, and it’s not close; he leads all qualified pitchers in ground-ball rate at 66.7%, and Logan Webb‘s 57.5% rate is second-best. Even dropping the minimum to 50 innings as a starter, he still leads Alex Cobb (61.9%) and Andre Pallante (61.4%) by a wide margin.
In an age where starters are yanked from the game earlier than ever before, Valdez is a throwback. He’s worked at least six innings in every one of his starts since April 25, completing seven or more innings on 11 occasions and twice going the distance with a complete game. Over his past five starts, Valdez has 35 2/3 innings of 1.77 ERA ball. It’ll be a challenge for him to drop his ERA into the low 2.00s, and he can’t match Cease or McClanahan in terms of strikeouts, but Valdez will likely be the American League innings leader and finish with a mid-2.00s ERA and MLB-leading ground-ball rate.
Shohei Ohtani, RHP, Angels
When Ohtani pitched to a 3.99 ERA through the first six weeks of the season, it looked as if we were in for an (almost) mortal season out of the two-way phenom. He averaged just over five innings per start, and while the strikeouts were still there in droves, he was also unusually homer-prone. A Cy Young pursuit did not appear to be on the horizon.
In 88 2/3 innings since that time? Ohtani has a 1.83 ERA with fewer homers allowed (six) than in his first 47 1/3 innings (seven). He at one point rattled off six consecutive starts with double-digit strikeout totals, and opponents have batted .199/.249/.301 against him during this stretch.
Ohtani’s 33% strikeout rate on the season leads qualified starting pitchers (though would trail Braves phenom Spencer Strider by a good margin if Strider had a few more innings), and while many fans and Ohtani detractors bristle at the notion, it’s hard not to consider that he does all this while also serving as a middle-of-the-order slugger who ranks among the league’s top power threats.
Ultimately, with just 136 innings pitched this season, it’s hard to imagine that Ohtani will actually garner many (if any) first-place Cy Young votes. Yes, he’s sporting a 2.58 ERA, leading the league with a 33% strikeout rate and sitting second among AL starters with 4.7 bWAR. But Ohtani is ultimately going to be up against multiple starters with better bottom-line run prevention numbers and as many as 40 to 50 additional innings pitched. Corbin Burnes won an NL Cy Young last year with just 167 frames, but the top names in the American League this year have had better seasons.
Kevin Gausman, RHP, Blue Jays
Gausman will be the analytic darling in this year’s field. I debated whether to mention him at all for this breakdown, as he’d need a pretty dominant finish to push his way in among the leaders in more traditional categories, but the right-hander is second in the American League at FanGraphs with 5.2 wins above replacement. fWAR is based on fielding-independent pitching rather than actual runs allowed, and Gausman has been quite good this season — 3.12 ERA in 147 innings — despite being one of the game’s least-fortunate pitchers in terms of balls in play. He’s lugging around an MLB-worst .368 BABIP, and the next-highest mark (Jordan Lyles at .323) isn’t even close.
There’s perhaps some temptation to think that Gausman is then yielding far too much hard contact, but that’s not necessarily the case. He’s not managing contact as well as any of the others profiled here, but his 89 mph average exit velocity and 39% hard-hit rate are barely north of the respective 88.6 mph and 38.3% league averages in those regards.
Gausman has the game’s third-best walk rate (3.8%), the tenth-best strikeout rate (27.9%) and is sixth-best in the differential between those two (24.1 K-BB%). He’s averaging just 5 2/3 innings per start, however, and isn’t particularly helping his cause down the stretch (3.99 ERA over his past five outings… again, with a .370 BABIP).
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A lot can (and will) change between now and season’s end, but since this is all just for debate anyhow, I’ll include a poll to close this out:
Who will win the American League Cy Young Award?
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Justin Verlander 36% (657)
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Dylan Cease 26% (472)
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Alek Manoah 14% (250)
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Shane McClanahan 10% (177)
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Shohei Ohtani 9% (170)
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Framber Valdez 3% (46)
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Other (specify in comments) 2% (31)
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Kevin Gausman 1% (17)
Total votes: 1,820
Injury Notes: Carpenter, Gonsolin, Kopech, Lowe
The miraculous Matt Carpenter comeback was put on pause last month when the infielder/outfielder for the Yankees fractured his foot. On August 10, it was reported that he would need surgery and be reevaluated in a month, with the club hopeful he could return in 6-8 weeks. Here we are almost a month later and Carpenter has made progress but not much. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that Carpenter underwent some X-rays that showed healing but it isn’t enough to get him out of his protective walking boot. He’ll be reevaluated again in 10-14 days, says manager Aaron Boone.
That essentially eliminates any chance of Carpenter returning at the short end of that 6-8 time frame and even puts the longer end of it in doubt. By the time that next evaluation rolls around, it will already have been six weeks since the injury. Even if Carpenter gets good news at that point, he will surely need some kind of rehab assignment to get him back into game shape after such a long layoff. That could also be a challenge if the injury lingers, as most minor league teams will be winding down their seasons in the coming weeks. The Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are the Yankee affiliate that goes the latest, though their last scheduled game is September 28, three weeks from today.
Prior to the injury, Carpenter was on an absolute tear, hitting 15 home runs in 47 games and slashing .305/.412/.727 for a wRC+ of 218. It’s all the more remarkable given that Carpenter was hitting at a below-average rate in the previous three seasons. The club has seemingly missed that hot bat, going 10-13 since August 10. They have a 4 1/2 game lead over the Rays and a six game cushion on the Blue Jays in the AL East race.
Some other tidbits from around the league…
- Dodgers righty Tony Gonsolin was placed on the IL due to a forearm strain August 29, but since the move was retroactive to August 26, he’s eligible to come off in a few days. Gonsolin has been playing catch in recent days, which is perhaps a sign that he’s not far from returning. However, it’s not all good news, with Juan Toribio of MLB.com relaying word from manager Dave Roberts that Gonsolin isn’t progressing as quickly as they initially hoped for. The Dodgers are virtually guaranteed a bye through the first round of the playoffs and can take their time with Gonsolin, though it’s at least noteworthy that the plan isn’t on schedule so far. The righty had enjoyed a tremendous breakout season, throwing 128 1/3 innings with a 2.10 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 43.2% groundball rate.
- White Sox righty Michael Kopech landed on the IL August 23 due to a knee strain but was activated today after a minimum stint. After missing all of 2019 and 2020, Kopech threw 69 1/3 innings last year and has already jumped up to 110 2/3 here in 2022, coming into today’s action. He’s fared well overall on the season, registering a 3.58 ERA, though his 21.4% strikeout rate and 12% are both a bit worse than league average, with a .228 BABIP likely helping him keep that ERA down. The club will be looking for a strong finish from Kopech and the team overall, as they are currently three games back of the Guardians in the Central and 7 1/2 out of a Wild Card spot.
- The Rays have reinstated infielder Brandon Lowe from the IL, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Lowe landed on the shelf due to a right triceps contusion but has now returned after a minimum stay. It was the second IL stint of the year for Lowe, who also missed about two months due to a back issue. Despite the multiple ailments, he’s still hitting .234/.319/.405 on the season for a wRC+ of 114. That’s a bit of a drop-off from his previous seasons but still 14% above league average. Tampa is in the thick of all the American League action, sitting 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the East while grappling with the Mariners and Blue Jays for the top Wild Card spot.
White Sox Reinstate Aaron Bummer, Outright Tobias Myers
The White Sox announced that reliever Aaron Bummer and third baseman Yoán Moncada have been reinstated from the injured list prior to this afternoon’s game against the Mariners. Outfielders Adam Haseley and Mark Payton were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte to create active roster space. Bummer had been on the 60-day injured list, so the Sox needed to clear a 40-man roster spot for him. That’s been achieved by sending righty Tobias Myers — whom the club hadn’t previously announced was designated for assignment — outright to Charlotte after he went unclaimed on waivers.
Bummer is in position to make his first MLB appearance in three months. The left-hander last pitched on June 7, then landed on the IL with a left lat strain a couple days later. Bummer’s absence led the Chicago front office to target southpaw bullpen help in advance of the trade deadline, and they eventually sent catcher Reese McGuire to Boston for Jake Diekman. Bummer will reassume his role as the primary lefty for acting manager Miguel Cairo, as he’d been off to another strong start. Through 17 2/3 innings, he posted a 3.06 ERA with a solid 26.3% strikeout rate and an elite 58.3% ground-ball percentage.
Moncada missed the minimum amount of time after suffering a left hamstring strain during the final few days of August. It was the third IL stint of the year for the switch-hitting infielder, who also landed on the shelf with an oblique injury and a strain of his other hamstring earlier in the year. Those injures have seemingly prevented Moncada from getting into any sort of groove, as he’s slumped to a career-worst .197/.269/.313 line over 324 plate appearances this season.
The Sox added Myers on deadline day, claiming him off waivers from the Giants. The 24-year-old has started five games with Charlotte since then, allowing a staggering 16 runs (15 earned) with 11 walks and eight strikeouts. It’s the continuation of a nightmarish season for Myers, who has worked exclusively at Triple-A between the Guardians, Giants and White Sox organizations. He owns a 7.35 ERA in 71 frames between the three clubs’ top affiliates.
Those struggles have come largely out of nowhere, as Myers posted a slid 3.90 ERA with a huge 30.5% strikeout rate in 117 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2021. That led Cleveland to acquire him from the Rays last November and immediately add him to the 40-man roster to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft, but things have since unexpectedly gone backwards. Myers, who has yet to make his MLB debut, will now have to try to work his way back onto a 40-man roster. He’ll be eligible for minor league free agency at the end of this year if Chicago doesn’t first reselect him onto the 40-man.