AL Central Notes: Infante, White Sox, Jimenez, AJax
It has been a long and winding path back to the big leagues for White Sox righty Gregory Infante, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. After briefly making his MLB debut at 22 years of age, the now-29-year-old had bounced around the upper minors waiting for another shot. That finally came after Infante threw 13 dominant innings at Triple-A Charlotte to open the current season, earning him a ticket back to the majors. “I am very happy and glad to get this opportunity,” Infante said. “The last seven years were tough years, but I also worked a lot in the last seven to get to this point because this is where you want to be as a player.”
- That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
- Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
- Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.
Injury Notes: Giants, Red Sox, Indians, Jays, Jankowski
The Giants announced tonight that right fielder Hunter Pence has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a left hamstring strain. Fellow outfielder Mac Williamson is up from Triple-A Sacramento to take Pence’s spot on the roster. The loss of Pence is the latest blow to a Giants roster that has seen a number of key players go down with injuries this year, though Pence’s performance hasn’t been anywhere near what one would expect from the typically productive slugger. The 34-year-old has been at least 18 percent better than the league-average hitter in each of the past four seasons, per park-adjusted metrics OPS+ and wRC+, and he’s batted a combined .281/.339/.463 in that time. However, this year, he’s mustered just a .243/.289/.338 batting line through his first 149 plate appearances.
A few more notable injury scenarios from around the league…
- Giants closer Mark Melancon is on the mend and appears to be progressing well, as the right-hander told reporters that he threw a 22-pitch mound session today (Twitter links via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle and Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Melancon said that he was “pretty much full go,” and Pavlovic notes that he can be activated as soon as tomorrow. Derek Law has been filling in as San Francisco’s closer with Melancon on the shelf.
- An MRI of Drew Pomeranz‘s left triceps didn’t reveal any new injuries, and the Red Sox lefty has been cleared to resume baseball activities, tweets Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. News on Tyler Thornburg, though, isn’t as good. The Sox are still trying to get to the bottom of the shoulder woes Thornburg is experiencing, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com tweets. Thornburg is set for additional testing and medical consultations this week. He has yet to take the hill since arriving in Boston via trade over the winter.
- The Indians will be without Brandon Guyer for the next four to six weeks due to a sprained left wrist, manager Terry Francona told reporters today (via MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian). Guyer will be completely shut down for a week before he begins the next phase of his rehab. Bastian also notes that ace Corey Kluber tossed a 20-pitch session today but still needs a more aggressive mound session and a simulated game before he’s cleared to begin a rehab assignment. And if those injuries aren’t enough for Cleveland, the Indians’ No. 2 starter, Carlos Carrasco, exited tonight’s game with tightness in his left pectoral muscle (Twitter link via Bastian). There’s no word on the severity of that issue, though it seems reasonable to expect further word following the completion of tonight’s game.
- Steve Pearce became the latest member of the Blue Jays to land on the disabled list, as the infielder/outfielder suffered a calf injury last night and was placed on the 10-day DL today following an MRI. The Jays announced the injury as a right calf strain and did not offer a timeline on Pearce’s absence. Right-hander Leonel Campos is up from Triple-A to give the relief corps a quick boost, though as Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets, that gives the Jays a two-man bench and a nine-man bullpen. As such, it seems likely that a reliever will be sent down soon. On a more positive note for Toronto fans, the team also announced that Troy Tulowitzki began a rehab assignment today, suggesting that he’s quite near to a return.
- Padres outfielder Travis Jankowski has been on the DL since late April, and MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell now tweets that it’ll be at least another six weeks before the defensive standout is ready to return to the team. Jankowski hit the DL with what was termed a “deep bone bruise,” though reports at the time suggested that doctors believed there could be a hairline fracture in his foot. Per Cassavell, Jankowski’s most recent tests did indeed reveal a fracture, which lengthens the amount of time that he’ll be away from the club.
Indians Designate Michael Martinez For Assignment
The Indians have designated utilityman Michael Martinez for assignment and selected the contract of outfielder Dan Robertson from Triple-A Columbus, per a team announcement.
[RELATED: Updated Indians Depth Chart]
The 34-year-old Martinez is in the midst of his third season as a member of the Cleveland organization, which briefly separated from in 2016 by way of a July trade with Boston. Martinez ended up returning to the Indians via waivers in August, and he went on to make the final out in the club’s Game 7 World Series loss to the Cubs. While Martinez is versatile in the field, having appeared at six defensive positions in his career (he even pitched earlier this season), he has been an especially poor offensive player in the majors. Martinez owns a .200/.246/.270 line in 592 plate appearances, though he has performed well in an extremely small sample this year (.364/.462/.455 in 14 PAs).
Robertson, 31, made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2014 and has also seen action with the Angels and Mariners, hitting .273/.322/.325 with no home runs in 298 PAs. He has been far more successful at the Triple-A level, having slashed .290/.365/.393 in 1,929 trips to the plate.
Injury Notes: Hill, Ethier, AGon, Bailey, Melancon, Mariners, Kluber, Gray
Here’s the latest on some notable health situations from around the game:
- The Dodgers have updates on a number of players. Lefty Rich Hill is going to return as a starter, but if his blister issue recurs then the team will consider moving him into some kind of relief role, manager Dave Roberts tells MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). The timeline remains a ways off for outfielder Andre Ethier, meanwhile. He’s still not able to run without feeling pain in his back, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports, making it seem unlikely he’d be able to return early July. Finally, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is expected to begin a rehab assignment next week, Alanna Rizzo of Sportsnet LA tweets. He may only require two or three games before returning.
- On the other side of the city, the Angels are sending righty Andrew Bailey for a visit with Dr. David Altchek, as Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The reliever “felt something” in his shoulder during a recent throwing session. Shoulder issues have kept him on the DL all year.
- Further north, the Giants have cause for hope that closer Mark Melancon will require only the brief DL timeline the club had charted when he was taken off the active roster. As Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter, Melancon is reporting reduced symptoms in his forearm. The righty will test things out by playing catch tomorrow.
- Continuing up the coast, the Mariners also have a smattering of health updates of note, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports. Key young talents James Paxton and Mitch Haniger are moving in the right direction, with the hope still being that they’ll return before the month is out. Reliever Steve Cishek is also close. But Felix Hernandez is going to rest his ailing shoulder a bit more, leaving his timeline somewhat cloudy, and it’s still not clear what to expect from Hisashi Iwakuma.
- Indians righty Corey Kluber is moving slowly in his rehab, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Out with lower back issues, Kluber has begun throwing from flat ground but still hasn’t taken the hill. Manager Terry Francona did say that the team is seeing progress, though perhaps the biggest test is yet to come.
- Rockies staff ace Jon Gray is also taking longer than had been hoped, as Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes. Gray is still in a walking boot while his broken left foot heals, though the hope seems to be he’ll be ready to shed that soon. While Gray has been able to continue throwing, he’ll obviously need to boost his conditioning and ensure his foot is at full health before undertaking at least some kind of rehab assignment.
Yankees Acquire Yoiber Marquina To Complete Nick Goody Trade
The Yankees have acquired righty Yoiber Marquina from the Indians, the clubs have announced. His transfer completes the offseason trade that sent righty Nick Goody to Cleveland.
Marquina, 21, has yet to appear this season and just underwent Tommy John surgery, as the Yankees announced in their press release. But he showed promise last year at the Class A level, throwing 31 1/3 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with 12.4 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9. Marquina is still developing after moving to the mound from behind the dish, as Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs has written, but he seems to be a reasonably intriguing arm — so long as the health issues can be overcome.
That seemingly represents a relatively strong return for a player who had been designated for assignment, as was the case for Goody — suggesting there may have been interest from other teams at the time. But Cleveland is faring rather well in the deal thus far. Goody, who has long shown plenty of swing-and-miss ability in the upper minors and even the majors, has been sensational in the early going. Through nine innings over six appearances, he has allowed no earned runs and just five total baserunners while recording nine strikeouts.
Indians Place Corey Kluber On 10-Day DL
The Indians have placed righty Corey Kluber on the 10-day DL with lower back discomfort, per a team announcement. He’ll be replaced for the time being by righty Joe Colon.
Kluber has reportedly been dealing with the back issue throughout the early portion of the season, so it seems the hope is that some rest will help him move past it. He has struggled somewhat thus far, perhaps due in part to the nagging discomfort.
Though Kluber is still carrying a strong 9.9 K/9 on the year, he has allowed more walks (3.1 BB/9) than usual and has coughed up seven long balls through 37 1/3 innings. His velocity has dropped a bit, with his four-seamer sitting at 91.5 mph and his sinker averaging 92.1 mph.
Pitching Injury Notes: Shields, Rodon, Hamels, Volquez, Kluber, Nats
The White Sox will put righty James Shields on ice for a bit after he experienced soreness while throwing, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. Shields is on the 10-day DL with a lat strain that hasn’t improved as rapidly as had been hoped. While it would obviously be preferable to have the veteran in the rotation, it seems a slow and steady course will now be required.
Here’s more on some pitching health issues from around the game:
- It has been a long wait for the White Sox as young lefty Carlos Rodon, who hasn’t yet pitched in 2017 due to a biceps injury. Skipper Rick Renteria was somewhat coy when asked about the southpaw, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports on Twitter. While Renteria emphasized that the club was “very happy” with Rodon’s progress, he declined to say whether the 24-year-old has been cleared to work off of a mound.
- Southpaw Cole Hamels was scratched from his outing for the Rangers today, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweeted. Oblique tightness was given as the reason, though the severity isn’t yet clear. Texas can scarcely afford anything less than a healthy and effective Hamels as the team seeks to dig itself out of the AL West basement. The veteran has managed just 4.1 K/9 on the year, less than half his career average, with a 7.5% swinging-strike rate that’s well off his typical pace (12.3% lifetime). That said, he still carries a 3.03 ERA through 32 2/3 innings.
- Also leaving with an injury today was Marlins righty Edinson Volquez. As MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes, Volquez had an incredibly unusual stat line, compiling an unprecedented combination of eight walks and nine strikeouts through 4 1/3 innings before departing with a thumb blister. After the game, manager Don Mattingly said that Volquez could miss his next scheduled outing, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweets.
- Corey Kluber of the Indians failed to make it through his start, too, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports on Twitter. The righty was dealing with lower back issues that have been a nagging problem of late. He had struggled through three innings before being pulled. Kluber is off to an uncharacteristically slow start to the year, with a 5.06 ERA through 37 1/3 innings.
- The Nationals have thrived despite subpar work from their bullpen, but the team would no doubt prefer to see some improvement. It would surely help to get Koda Glover and Sammy Solis back from the DL, though as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports (Twitter links), the outlook seems better for the former than the latter. Glover, who’s out with a hip issue, says he expects to return after the minimum ten days on the DL. But Solis has yet to begin playing catch. While there’s still no reason to fear a significant injury, elbow nerve inflammation has yet to subside.
AL Central Notes: May, Jackson, Jimenez, Smith
The White Sox announced that Opening Day center fielder Jacob May has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. A corresponding roster move will be made tonight. As CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes writes, May winning the Opening Day gig in center was a surprise that was fueled by a strong spring performance, but his 2-for-36 start to the season ended his first taste of the Majors. “He might have been a little overmatched,” manager Rick Renteria said of May. “That’s just the bottom line. You want to make excuses for it. Might have been a little overmatched right now. … His energy has always been the same. It’s very consistent. He’s done everything for the work in the field and working with the guys in the cages and everything else we could have asked of him.” With May in Triple-A, Leury Garcia figures to continue to receive quite a bit of time in center field. The 26-year-old is off to a .306/.323/.484 start to his season through 65 plate appearances.
More from the AL Central…
- Indians outfielder Austin Jackson exited last night’s game with an apparent injury, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes. Jackson seemingly injured his left leg or foot when attempting to leg out an infield single, as he landed awkwardly on the first base bag. As Bastian points out, Jackson had left knee surgery last season, though manager Terry Francona said after the game that Jackson’s foot would be examined rather than his knee. Jackson was able to walk off the field under his own power, though he was in noticeable pain after beating out the throw to first base. The 30-year-old Jackson is off to a nice start with Cleveland, hitting .273/.368/.485 through 38 plate appearances.
- The Tigers optioned right-hander Joe Jimenez back to Triple-A on Sunday, and MLive.com’s Evan Woodberry writes that he was sent down with the specific goal of improving his slider. The 22-year-old Jimenez was knocked around for six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his most recent stint with the big league club. “…[T]hat slider could be the difference-maker, in terms of making the jump to the big leagues and sticking,” said manager Brad Ausmus. Tigers relievers have a league-worst 6.19 ERA on the season, and Jimenez is the team’s most promising relief prospect, so it stands to reason that he’ll likely be back with the big league club in the relatively near future.
- Minor League Baseball announced yesterday that former Twins general manager Bill Smith has been hired as an assistant to president and CEO Pat O’Conner. “[Smith’s] wealth of experience in all aspects of Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball will be helpful as we continue to grow our operations and improve the teams’ ability to serve our fans and partners at Major League Baseball,” said O’Conner of the hiring. “Bill is respected throughout the industry and his abilities are unquestioned.” Per MiLB’s release, Smith will focus on facility improvements, scheduling and minor league baseball’s international leagues.
Steve Delabar Suspended 80 Games For Failed PED Test
Right-handed reliever Steve Delabar, who signed a minor league deal with the Indians this winter, has been suspended 80 games after testing positive for the banned substance Ostarine, the league announced Monday. Delabar hasn’t been active with the club in Triple-A due to the pending suspension, the Indians added in their own announcement.
The 33-year-old Delabar has fallen off the radar somewhat in recent years, but he’s a veteran of six Major League seasons, most recently tossing eight innings with the Reds in 2016. Delabar was an All-Star with the Blue Jays back in 2013 and served as a very effective member of Toronto’s relief corps from 2012-13 before declining in 2014-15. (Of anecdotal note, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince reminds, on Twitter, that the Jays initially acquired Delabar from the Mariners by trading a fairly promising young outfielder by the name of Eric Thames to Seattle.)
Given the depth of Cleveland’s bullpen, it didn’t seem especially likely that Delabar would resurface on their big league roster in the near future, though a strong performance and/or injuries at the Major League level could certainly have created an opportunity. In 194 2/3 Major League innings, Delabar has a 4.07 ERA with 11.2 K/9, 4.7 BB/9 and a 36.6 percent ground-ball rate.
AL Central Notes: Twins, Bonifacio, Mondesi, Hosmer, Kipnis
Twins vice president and assistant general manager Rob Antony appeared on Darren Wolfson’s 1500 ESPN Podcast earlier this week (audio link, with Antony talking Twins aroung the 35:00 mark) and covered a number of topics. Antony talks about the current lack of bench options and an unfortunate early injury to Byung Ho Park, Phil Hughes‘ early lack of velocity, Jose Berrios‘ timeline back to the Majors and the possibility of once again demoting the struggling Byron Buxton.
Antony adds that “there was never any thought” of eating some of the money on Ervin Santana‘s contract to facilitate a trade. “I think he’s on a really good contract, and he’s pitched that way,” says Antony. “You look up his numbers since the midway point of last season or almost the course of almost the last entire year, he’s been one of the best pitchers in the league, and he does it day-in and day-out.” Indeed, Santana has a 2.99 ERA over the past calendar year and a ridiculous 2.06 ERA in his past 22 starts dating back to June 19 of last year.
Here’s more from the AL Central…
- The Royals announced on Friday that they’ve optioned Raul Mondesi and Paulo Orlando to Triple-A Omaha and recalled left-hander Matt Strahm and outfield prospect Jorge Bonifacio from Omaha. Bonifacio, the younger brother of veteran big leaguer Emilio Bonifacio, rates as the organization’s No. 12 prospect at MLB.com, No. 10 over at Fangraphs and No. 9 on the lists from both Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law. He’s pegged mostly as a corner outfielder with a nice hit tool but questionable power and limited defensive prowess. The demotion of Mondesi is obviously something to which the Royals were not hoping to resort with their top-regarded minor leaguer, but his .103/.167/.179 batting line through 46 plate appearances may have left them with little choice. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez first reported that Bonifacio was on his way up.
- Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer rates as one of the upcoming offseason’s most interesting free agents, but he isn’t a particularly good player and should consider accepting a qualifying offer if the Royals extend one, FanGraphs’ David Cameron argues. Hosmer has been well below average offensively over the past year, exacerbating mediocre overall hitting with a glaring tendency to ground into double plays, Cameron writes. Overall, Hosmer’s production is comparable to that of Mitch Moreland, who mostly went overlooked on the free-agent market last winter and ultimately signed a $5.5MM deal with the Red Sox. Hosmer is still young and could potentially improve, but there have been few recent indications of that happeneing. It will be interesting to see how teams value him next winter.
- Second baseman Jason Kipnis is back for the Indians, as Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer reported on Twitter. He had been slowed by a shoulder injury, but will now try to pick up where he left off in a solid 2016 season in which he hit a career-high 23 home runs. Yandy Diaz, who had filled in at third, is heading back to Tripe-A to clear room. He struggled to a .236/.295/.255 batting line in his first 61 MLB plate appearances.