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Reds Place Mike Moustakas On 10-Day IL

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The Reds have placed third baseman Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 17, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer was among those to report. The team reinstated infielder Alex Blandino from the COVID-19 list in a corresponding move.

Moustakas hasn’t been in the Reds’ lineup since April 14 because of what the team has called a non-COVID-related illness. Cincinnati did, however, list him in its starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Diamondbacks before reversing course.

Moustakas, who’s in the second season of a four-year, $64MM contract, got off to a fast start this month before his illness sidelined him. The 32-year-old has slashed an excellent .289/.404/.553 with two home runs and as many walks as strikeouts (seven) in 47 plate appearances. Since Moustakas has been out, the Reds have turned to Kyle Farmer at the hot corner.

Reds Activate Sonny Gray, Outright Cam Bedrosian

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APRIL 19: The Reds have outrighted Bedrosian to their alternate site, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. He’ll remain in the organization.

APRIL 17: The Reds are activating right-hander Sonny Gray from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against the Indians. In a corresponding move, reliever Cam Bedrosian has been designated for assignment (via C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic).

Gray has long been expected to make his return at some point this week. A back injury has kept the right-hander out of action in the early going. His return should be a boon to the Reds, since Gray pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.83 SIERA over 11 starts last season. Given the lack of a minor-league setting to build back his arm strength, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Reds be particularly cautious with his workload over his first few starts.

The return of Gray bumps the 29-year-old Bedrosian from the roster. Formerly a productive reliever with the Angels, the righty has gotten off to a disastrous start in 2021. Over 5.2 innings across six games, Bedrosian has coughed up seven runs on ten hits (including a pair of homers) with six walks and seven strikeouts.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Pirates, Reynolds, Nationals

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Major League Baseball denied Nick Castellanos’ appeal of his two-game suspension, so the Cincinnati outfielder will serve his suspension when the Reds play the Diamondbacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Castellanos was suspended for his part in a bench-clearing incident between the Reds and Cardinals earlier this month, when Castellanos scored a run and then flexed over Cards pitcher Jake Woodford, who was covering the plate.  Castellanos was on base in the first place due to a hit-by-pitch that drew a heated response from the slugger, and his reaction to Woodford at home plate led to both benches emptying.

Castellanos was the only player issued a suspension, which was a little surprising given the number of players involved in the fracas.  Fines were issued to Castellanos and five other players (Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, Jordan Hicks, Yadier Molina, and Nolan Arenado).

More from the National League…

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes’ return to the Pirates’ lineup could help address the team’s problem in center field, as Dustin Fowler and Anthony Alford have both gotten off to dreadful starts to the season.  As noted by Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Bryan Reynolds made a mid-game shift to center field yesterday, marking Reynolds’ first appearances in center all season.  Reynolds has been solid (+3 Defensive Runs Saved, +3.4 UZR/150) over 322 1/3 career innings as a center fielder, though the Bucs have preferred to use him in left, believing it to be his more optimal defensive position.  Moving Reynolds to center field, however, would allow Pittsburgh to give the red-hot Phillip Evans some time as a left fielder once Hayes reclaims third base.
  • Thanks to four upcoming off-days in the schedule, the Nationals may not need a fifth starter until May 8, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post writes.  That counts as good news for a team that has already dealt with several injuries and COVID-related absences to starting pitchers this season.  It isn’t yet clear when Jon Lester will make his season debut, but if he still needs a couple more weeks, the Nats could ride with their current starting four of Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Joe Ross, and Erick Fedde, with Austin Voth and Paolo Espino available as depth options if a spot start is required or if Washington does decide to go with a five-man rotation.  (It’s also worth noting that the Nationals have been exploring a possible reunion with Anibal Sanchez, but those plans may be on hold since Sanchez cut his finger while pitching at a recent showcase for scouts.)  D.C. won’t have its full rotation back until Stephen Strasburg returns from the injured list, and Corbin is another concern, as the southpaw was crushed in his first two outings of the season.

NL Central Notes: Hayes, Akiyama, Contreras, Hicks

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Rookie third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes will soon compete in alternate site games, and he should thereafter return to the Pirates’ roster, per Kevin Gorman of Triblive.com. Hayes jammed his wrist in the second game of the season. The Pirates have surprisingly held their heads above water in his absence; A win in extras yesterday put their record to 7-9 on the young season. Hayes apparently left some rookie magic behind at the hot corner, as 28-year-old Phillip Evans has slashed .275/.373/.490 in 59 plate appearances as Hayes’ stand-in. Evans has already made 2021 the most prolific campaign of his career, a strong argument to keep a roster spot even after Hayes returns.

Let’s hang out in the NL Central this morning…

  • Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama is working on running drills, per C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic (via Twitter). Manager David Bell wants to see Akiyama in game action at the team’s alternate site this weekend. Even with Aristides Aquino on the injured list, the Reds have no shortage of outfielders thanks to the surprising play of Tyler Naquin. Still, if Akiyami can return as he finished last season, he’s undoubtedly an asset. Akiyama posted a 135 wRC+ in September and October of last season while slashing .317/.456/.365 and providing capable defense at all three spots in the outfield.
  • Whether or not the Cubs are headed towards a rebuild, it’s a good time to work on extending catcher Willson Contreras, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports. Contreras continues to be one of the more dynamic catchers in the game, both in terms of his personality and his play on the field. The Cubs long-time backstop is off to a hot start at the plate, slashing .273/.400/.614 with five home runs through 55 plate appearances. Contreras will be a free agent after 2022, heading into his age-30 season. Appealing as it may be to keep Contreras in Chicago, extensions for positions players have not been part of the Cubs’ current operating procedure.
  • Jordan Hicks is on the Cardinals roster and pitching valuable innings, but he’s also still completing his ramp-up process as he returns from a 22-month layoff, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hicks has tossed seven innings over six appearances, giving up just one earned run on two hits while walking six and striking out seven. More importantly, his stuff has looked as electric as ever, averaging 99.2 mph on his sinking fastball.

Jay Bruce Announces Retirement

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Yankees first baseman Jay Bruce has announced he’s retiring from baseball (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic). Today’s game against the Rays will be the final outing of Bruce’s 14-year MLB career.

“After 14 incredible seasons, I’ve decided to make the very difficult decision to retire from baseball. All I ever wanted to be ’when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say that I got to live out my dream would be the understatement of a lifetime. This sport gave me more than I could’ve ever asked for,” Bruce wrote as part of his announcement (the full statement is available at the above link).

A first-round pick of the Reds in 2005, Bruce would quickly become one of the sport’s most promising young talents. He was a top 100 prospect in each of his first three years in pro ball, eventually becoming Baseball America’s #1 farmhand entering the 2008 season. Bruce made his major league debut in May of that year and hit a decent .254/.314/.453, earning a fifth-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Two years later, Bruce settled in as the middle-of-the-order bat many evaluators expected he’d become. Between 2010-13, the left-handed slugger hit a very productive .262/.337/.489 (119 wRC+), earning back-to-back All-Star selections in 2011-12 and a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP support in 2012-13. Bruce fell off a bit in 2014-15, but he rebounded offensively in 2016 and earned his third and final All-Star selection.

The bulk of Bruce’s career was spent with the Reds, but he continued to produce for a few years after leaving Cincinnati. He hit a career-high 36 home runs during a 2017 season split between the Mets and Indians and popped 26 homers as recently as 2019. He was an above-average hitter during his time with the Mets, as well as in his brief stints in Cleveland and Seattle.

Unfortunately, Bruce’s production has fallen off as he’s entered his 30’s, with increasing struggles to reach base at a passable clip. He didn’t perform well with the Phillies last year and had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Yankees over the offseason. A Spring Training injury to Luke Voit opened up an opportunity for Bruce to begin the year as New York’s first baseman, but he’s stumbled to a .118/.231/.235 line in 39 plate appearances as a Yankee.

Struggles in his final couple seasons notwithstanding, Bruce had a very strong career. Not including any stats he may accrue in this afternoon’s game, the Texas native concludes with a .244/.314/.467 slash line across 6642 MLB plate appearances, making him six percentage points better than the league average hitter by measure of weighted runs created plus.

Bruce had five separate seasons in which he was at least fifteen points above average at the plate. The well-respected veteran had 1455 hits, including 319 home runs, scored 839 times and drove in 951 runs. Altogether, Bruce was worth around 20 wins above replacement and accrued just shy of $103MM in career earnings, per Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Bruce on a fine career and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Aristides Aquino Undergoes Surgery To Repair Hamate Fracture

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Reds slugger Aristides Aquino was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday after undergoing surgery to remove the hook of the hamate bone in his left hand, per a team announcement. Infielder Max Schrock is up from the taxi squad to take his spot on the active roster.

A timeline for Aquino’s absence wasn’t provided by the Reds in their initial announcement. A hamate fracture is a relatively common injury around the league, so we do have some historical precedent as a point of comparison; hitters typically miss somewhere in the vicinity of four to six weeks with this injury. Every case is unique, however, so we can’t simply assume that’ll be the case with Aquino. The Reds figure to have further updates on him in the near future.

The 26-year-old Aquino has found himself in a tough spot to begin the season. The Reds had hoped to secure a fourth option on the slugger, but an arbiter ruled the other way in Spring Training, meaning Aquino can’t be sent to the minors without first being exposed to waivers. Cincinnati has held onto him despite a crowded outfield mix that includes Jesse Winker, Nick Senzel, Nick Castellanos and red-hot Tyler Naquin.

The Reds’ top four outfielders — Winker, Senzel, Castellanos and Naquin — have been the most productive outfield group in Major League Baseball by a mile, leaving Aquino with minimal playing time. He’s appeared in 10 games but taken just 14 plate appearances, going 3-for-13 with a pair of homers, a double, five strikeouts and a walk.

At a certain point, one can imagine the Reds will have to make a tough call on what to do with Aquino. It’d take multiple injuries to open a path to regular playing time for him, and with Shogo Akiyama also on the mend, it’s possible that once Aquino has healed up, he’ll have yet another outfielder ahead of him on the depth chart.

The Reds surely don’t relish the idea of selling low on a slugger who mashed a remarkable 13 home runs in his first 27 MLB games back in 2019 — a rookie season that saw him bat .259/.316/.576 in 225 plate appearances. At the same time, the Reds have acquired multiple bats to play ahead of Aquino since that debut effort. He’s tallied just 70 plate appearances dating back to 2020, with a combined .183/.300/.417 line to show for it. Add in a woeful September swoon in that rookie season, and Aquino has batted just .191/.261/.395 in his past 180 trips to the dish.

Reds Claim Phillip Diehl, Transfer Michael Lorenzen To 60-Day Injured List

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2:28pm: Lorenzen had a setback in his initial recovery from the shoulder strain and, after getting a second opinion from a specialist, recently received a plasma-rich platelet injection, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. He’s scheduled for a second such injection in two weeks, and the Reds are hopeful that he’ll be able to return sometime in the month of June. That, of course, is dependent on how his shoulder responds to the pair of injections, though.

2:21pm: The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed lefty Phillip Diehl off waivers from the Rockies and optioned him to their alternate training site. Righty Michael Lorenzen was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Lorenzen has been battling a shoulder strain, and manager David Bell recently told reporters that the right-hander’s recovery was “not going as fast as [Lorenzen] would like.”

The waiver claim represents a homecoming for the 26-year-old Diehl, a Cincinnati native who attended Moeller High School before playing his college ball at Louisiana Tech. The Rockies acquired Diehl from the Yankees in exchange for Mike Tauchman — a trade they’d surely like back — and Diehl has been tagged for 13 runs in 13 1/3 innings to this point in his brief career. It’s a small sample, so take this with a grain of salt, but all 13 of those runs have come in 6 1/3 innings at Coors Field; Diehl is unscored upon on the road.

Diehl was hit hard in his lone season of Triple-A ball, recording a 6.75 ERA and serving up a staggering 16 home runs in 45 1/3 frames. That came in 2019’s juiced ball season, however, and he was excellent throughout his minor league career to that point. He boasts a 0.90 ERA in 40 innings of Double-A ball and a 3.15 mark across two Class-A levels. On the whole, he’s punched out a hefty 30.5 percent of the hitters he’s faced in the minors against a similarly impressive 7.1 percent walk rate. Diehl also has a minor league option remaining, so it’s not too tough to see why the Reds were intrigued.

With regard to Lorenzen, it’s an unfortunate development for one of the game’s more interesting players. Lorenzen has been one of the Reds’ top setup men in recent years but was also a part-time outfielder — a strong defender in center field with a career .235/.284/.432 batting line in 146 career plate appearances. He’s belted seven homers in that time and also chipped in a trio of doubles, a triple and even five stolen bases (in seven attempts).

The Reds were planning to give Lorenzen an audition in the starting rotation this year, but it seems the shoulder troubles will table that experiment through at least the season’s first two months. Lorenzen’s initial 10-day IL placement was on Opening Day, retroactive to March 28 — the maximum three days allowed when backdating an IL stint. He’ll be eligible for return 60 days from that point, not from today’s transfer.

In the meantime, the Reds will look forward to getting Sonny Gray back in the near future. He’ll join Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Wade Miley as locks in the rotation. Jeff Hoffman has gotten a pair of early looks, too, but at some point one would expect electric multi-inning reliever Tejay Antone to get an opportunity to show he’s worthy of a rotation job.

NL Central Notes: Sonny, Hendricks, Kim, Cain

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Here is the latest out of the National League Central:

  • Reds right-hander Sonny Gray will make his 2021 debut Friday or Saturday, manager David Bell told C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic and other reporters. The Reds have gone without Gray because of a back injury, depriving them of one of their best starters. Their Gray-less rotation has received quality work across a combined six starts from Wade Miley, Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Mahle. On the other hand, ace Luis Castillo has been surprisingly inconsistent.
  • Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks wasn’t feeling well heading into Tuesday’s start, so the Cubs made him a late scratch against Milwaukee and gave the ball to Alec Mills instead. The team said it scratched Hendricks “out of an abundance of caution,” which is understandable when considering the Cubs’ current health situation. They’ve sent four players to the COVID list this week, and coaches Craig Driver and Chris Young have tested positive for the virus in recent days. [UPDATE: Manager told Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago and other reporters that Hendricks tested negative. An IL placement is a possibility, though.]
  • Lefty Kwang Hyun Kim will join the Cardinals’ rotation on Saturday in his first appearance of 2021, while righty Daniel Ponce de Leon will move to their bullpen, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Kim, who began dealing with back problems last month, was an eminently valuable part of the Cardinals’ pitching staff as a rookie in 2020. Across eight appearances (seven starts) and 39 innings, Kim notched a miserly 1.62 ERA. Some of his other numbers weren’t nearly as impressive (examples: 7.8 K-BB percentage, 5.00 SIERA), but he helped his cause by tamping down hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground at a 50 percent clip.
  • Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain exited their game versus Chicago with “left quad discomfort,” Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets. The Brewers shifted Jackie Bradley Jr. to center and brought in Billy McKinney to handle left when Cain departed. Cain also dealt with a quad issue (on his right side) in spring training, but that didn’t prevent him from debuting on time this season. It remains to be seen whether this will cost him any time.

Marlins Rumors: Yermin, Greene, Dickerson

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The Marlins’ offseason trade interest in Willson Contreras was fairly well documented, but it appears he wasn’t the only Chicago catcher pursued by the Fish. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Marlins also made an “aggressive” attempt to acquire Yermin Mercedes from the White Sox but couldn’t convince the South Siders to part with him. “Aggressive” is a relative term, but in the case of Mercedes, nearly any focused effort to pry him away could’ve been seen as such prior to Opening Day. He’d logged only a single MLB plate appearance prior to the 2021 season and entered the year as a 28-year-old with 53 Triple-A games under his belt. Scouting reports on Mercedes have universally tabbed him as a DH-only prospect who lacks a true defensive position.

There’s been no ignoring Mercedes’ remarkable breakout at the plate to begin the season, however. The bat-first characterization of his skill set looks to be well deserved, as he opened the year with an incredible eight consecutive hits and is now 16-for-32 with a pair of homers, three doubles and four walks to match his four strikeouts. Mercedes obviously won’t sustain a .538 average on balls in play, but at least early on, he looks the part of a strong DH option. Even with some regression to be expected, the torrid start has surely quelled any temptation for the White Sox to trade the “Yerminator.” The Marlins, meanwhile, figure to continue looking for catching help this summer and into next offseason, per Mish and Jackson.

A few more notes out of South Florida…

  • While the Marlins may be seeking catching help now, they had one of the game’s top all-around backstops not long ago. Miami traded J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies prior to the 2018 season, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal sheds some light on talks that took place with another interested party: the Reds. Talks between Cincinnati and Miami weren’t a secret at the time, and it’s been previously reported that current second baseman Jonathan India and catcher Tucker Barnhart were among the players who could’ve potentially been sent to the Marlins in a Realmuto deal with the Reds. The breaking point in talks, according to Rosenthal, was that the Reds staunchly refused to part with flamethrowing righty Hunter Greene in the deal. Greene was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 Draft, and while he’s since had Tommy John surgery, he remains a highly regarded pitching prospect. Then again, righty Sixto Sanchez, whom the Marlins actually did pick up in their eventual trade of Realmuto, is widely considered among the game’s top overall young talents.
  • Corey Dickerson doesn’t appear to be in the Marlins’ plans beyond 2021, Jackson and Mish add in the previously linked Herald column, making a trade at this year’s deadline appear possible. Dickerson stood out as a rather logical on-paper trade candidate in the first place, as a veteran on an expiring contract with an up-and-coming team that most do not expect to contend for a playoff berth. Dickerson, who’ll turn 32 in May, has batted just .259/.314/.402 through his first 243 plate appearances as a Marlin dating back to 2020. He inked a two-year, $17.5MM deal to serve as Miami’s primary left fielder, and while his power and exit velocity have dropped off, his strikeout and walk rates have actually improved a bit with the Fish. As of this year’s July 30 trade deadline, Dickerson will still have $2.97MM remaining on this year’s $8.5MM salary, plus an additional $1MM owed to him in the form of a deferred signing bonus. The Marlins could need to absorb a portion of that sum in order to bring about a trade.

Injury Notes: Kim, Alfaro, Andujar, Schmidt, Reds

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Kwang Hyun Kim is slated to toss a 90-pitch simulated game today, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).  Kim tossed another simulated game earlier this week, so the left-hander may be just about on the verge of rejoining the Cards’ rotation during the team’s upcoming series against the Phillies from April 16-18.

Back problems sidelined Kim for a good chunk of Spring Training, requiring an injured list placement to begin the season.  The 32-year-old is looking to build off an impressive debut season in Major League Baseball, as Kim posted a 1.62 ERA over 39 innings (thanks to a 50% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact) in 2020.

More injury updates from around the sport…

  • Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to what the team described as “lingering tightness in his left hamstring.”  Manager Don Mattingly told SportsGrid’s Craig Mish and other reporters the Marlins may decide tomorrow whether or not an IL stint is required.  Counting today, Alfaro will have been sidelined for four straight games, and Miami doesn’t have another off-day until April 19.  Should Alfaro hit the injured list, Sandy Leon is the only catcher in the Marlins’ farm system with any big league experience, so the team could select his minor league deal and install Leon as Chad Wallach’s backup.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided updates on Miguel Andujar and Clarke Schmidt to reporters (including ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera and Newsday’s Erik Boland).  For Andujar, he is already hitting off a tee and will start hitting out of the batting cage next week as the 26-year-old is trying to recover from right carpal tunnel syndrome.  Schmidt, meanwhile, is getting a second opinion on his bothersome right elbow, which is still giving him discomfort after almost seven weeks.  Schmidt was shut down back in February for what was supposed to be three or four weeks due to a common extensor strain in his right elbow — for what it’s worth, Boland noted that Boone today described the injury as simply a “right elbow strain.”
  • Shogo Akiyama and Sonny Gray are each progressing well in their injury recoveries, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Akiyama has been expected to return from a hamstring injury in early-mid May, and Reds manager David Bell says the outfielder has had “zero setbacks” in his rehab. Gray, meanwhile, is in line to make his return from a back injury by the end of next week. It’s a little less clear when Cincinnati can expect Michael Lorenzen back; the right-hander’s recovery from a shoulder strain is “not as going fast as he would like,” Bell said (via Sheldon).
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