Carlos Carrasco Done For Season
7:30pm: Carrasco is done for the year, manager Terry Francona announced Saturday (Twitter link via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal).
5:49pm: In what could be a serious blow to the Indians’ World Series hopes, the team announced Saturday that right-hander Carlos Carrasco has a nondisplaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal on his pitching hand, Jason Beck of MLB.com was among those to tweet. There’s no timetable for Carrasco’s return, which is particularly troubling with the playoffs approaching.
Carrasco suffered the injury during the Indians’ matchup with the American League Central rival Tigers on Saturday. The 29-year-old started for Cleveland, but Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler hit a line drive off Carrasco’s hand in the first inning and caused him to exit after only two pitches.
At 85-62, the Indians are theoretically in great shape. Their record trails only the Rangers’ for the AL’s best, and they lead second-place Detroit by seven games in the Central. However, losing Carrasco for an extended period of time could be crippling come October. Carrasco, who’s the Indians’ second-best starter behind Cy Young contender Corey Kluber, threw 146 1/3 innings prior to his injury and registered a 3.32 ERA, 9.23 K/9, 2.09 BB/9 and 48.5 percent ground-ball rate. Health has been an issue, though, as Carrasco missed six weeks earlier in the year with a strained hamstring.
Before Carrasco went down, the Indians were already set to finish the regular season without fellow righty Danny Salazar, who has a forearm strain. Salazar’s return next month would be welcome news for the Indians if it happens, but it’s up in the air how effective he’d be in the wake of both the injury and the 7.44 ERA he posted over 32 2/3 second-half innings. Therefore, not having Carrasco would leave Cleveland with only one front-line option, Kluber. Otherwise, their next best choices include Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger. No one from that trio has managed a sub-4.00 ERA this year, though Bauer has provided 170 2/3 respectable frames.
Yan Gomes Diagnosed With Fractured Wrist
The Indians seem unlikely to receive any further contributions from catcher Yan Gomes in 2016. He has been diagnosed with a non-displaced wrist fracture, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal was among those to tweet.
Gomes had been nearing a return from a lengthy DL stint owing to a separated shoulder. But he was struck by an errant pitch in one of his final minor league tune-ups.
Needless to say, it has been a season to forget for Gomes. Entering the year, the 29-year-old was looking to bounce back from a 2015 campaign that didn’t match up to his two strong seasons before it. Instead, he fell off yet further, posting an ugly .165/.198/.313 slash line over 262 plate appearances.
Cleveland will now have to wait for the spring to begin to assess whether Gomes can return to productivity. The club is committed regardless, as he is playing on a guaranteed deal through 2019 (and can be controlled through a pair of options for two more years beyond that).
Heyman’s Latest: Dodgers, Puig-Braun, CarGo, Cespedes, EE, Santana, Red Sox, Mariners
Dodgers righty Kenley Jansen says he is grateful to the team for all it has done for him, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports, but notes that he fully intends to explore the open market this winter. “We’ll have to see what’s good for the family,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough decision. It’s not going to only be me.” Infielder Justin Turner, meanwhile, says he’d “love to stay” in Los Angeles, as Heyman provides in his weekly notes column. Both figure to be targets for the Dodgers in free agency, but also ought to draw wide-ranging interest from other organizations.
Here are some of the other highlights from Heyman’s latest post:
- Heyman pushes back on recent reports suggesting that the Dodgers nearly shipped Yasiel Puig to the Brewers as part of a package to acquire Ryan Braun. A source tells him that “there was a lot of dialogue but [a swap] was never close.” Regardless, it seems that there’s still merit to the idea that the teams could revisit the scenario this winter.
- “No great offers” emerged last winter for Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, according to the report. But Colorado may be wise to shop him again in a few months, Heyman writes, as the team’s glut of left-handed-hitting outfielders could represent an opportunity to improve in other areas. Gonzalez is hitting a productive .300/.350/.523, even if it is aided by playing at Coors Field, and is owed a reasonable $37MM over the next two seasons. It’s worth noting, too, that the club could potentially not only turn that contract into some intriguing, younger assets, but would also free up a good bit of payroll space to deploy on the open market.
- The upcoming market for free agents is obviously short on star power, but Heyman provides some preliminary guesses on the contracts for the top players. He suggests four years and $100MM for Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets as the biggest deal that could be had (assuming, as seems likely, that he’ll opt out of his deal). From my perspective, another star campaign from Cespedes has likely boosted his market beyond that level. The Cuban slugger rates as the top overall free agent on the free agent power ranking of MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes.
- Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays is fourth on Dierkes’s most recent list — he rates Aroldis Chapman and Jansen higher — while Heyman rates him second to Cespedes. But the veteran slugger is headed for a monster contract regardless, and Heyman notes that the continued belief around the game is that Toronto won’t extend itself to retain him. Instead, the Jays seem to be angling to put together a younger roster.
- Whether Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons is interested in staying on with more change possibly afoot remains to be seen, but Heyman says that the club has been impressed with his work. An internal team source suggests that the team will attempt to retain him — at least as long as a postseason berth is secured — and sources with ties to the skipper say that he likely prefers to stick in the position rather than hunting for another opportunity elsewhere.
- Carlos Santana is highly likely to return to the Indians, per the report. His $12MM club option is a “no-brainer” for the club, a source says. The 30-year-old never seemed very likely to be allowed to test the market: he carries a .243/.353/.471 batting line with 31 long balls and has struck out only one time more than he has walked thus far in 2016.
- The Red Sox are expected to pursue relief help on the upcoming free agent market, Heyman says. That’s not surprising to hear, of course, as depth and quality have both been in question at times and the team is set to watch pitchers such as Brad Ziegler, Koji Uehara, and Junichi Tazawa depart via free agency.
- With a group of talented, high-performing players on hand, the Mariners are “talking behind the scenes” about taking advantage of a window of contention, according to Heyman. That could position the club to strike out on the free agent market in search of a “complementary piece,” he says. There are several areas the team could target, but I wonder whether the time may be right to add a slugging first baseman; there are several available, and the team is set to lose its primary tandem of Adam Lind and Dae-ho Lee to free agency.
Derek Falvey “Finalist” For Twins Front Office Job
The Twins view Indians assistant general manager Derek Falvey as a “strong candidate” for a front office job, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (links to Twitter). Indeed, he is said to be a finalist to join the Minnesota brass.
Falvey has worked for the Cleveland organization for eight years prior to this one. He received a promotion to the AGM level last October at just 32 years of age. That move up the ladder coincided with the rise of Chris Antonetti to president of baseball operations and Mike Chernoff to GM.
The Twins are said to be looking at employing both a PBOp and GM, and it isn’t immediately clear whether Falvey is under consideration for the top post in the Minnesota baseball ops hierarchy. While many organizations have taken to utilizing the title of president of baseball operations, it isn’t applied in a uniform manner. Still, it would be somewhat novel for an executive to take that title without first serving as a GM.
Regardless of the nomenclature, Falvey joints a still largely unknown group of names under consideration. The Twins interviewed Royals AGM JJ Picollo, and are said to have interest in Jason McLeod of the Cubs (among other young Chicago baseball ops personnel). But it’s not yet clear what other candidates can be considered finalists for a gig with the Twins.
AL Central Notes: Gomes, Sano, Royals, Fulmer
The return of catcher Yan Gomes to the Indians‘ roster looks to have hit a snag, as Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Gomes was hit on the right wrist by a pitch in the fifth inning of his final rehab game at Double-A Akron last night. Hoynes further reports that Gomes will receive an MRI today to determine the extent of the damage done, though the team won’t have definitive results on the testing until tomorrow (links to Twitter). If he’s unable to return, the Indians will continue to rely on Roberto Perez and veteran Chris Gimenez behind the dish. That pairing has produced little in the way of offensive value on the season as a whole, but Perez’s bat has caught fire since late August; he’s slashing .306/.358/.531 with a pair of homers, three doubles and a triple in his past 55 plate appearances.
More from the AL Central…
- Twins slugger Miguel Sano won’t travel with the team to New York and will instead undergo testing on his ailing back in Minneapolis, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Sano took some swings in the batting cage yesterday, but Berardino writes that the cage work “didn’t go well,” adding that there’s no certainty that Sano will be able to return to the lineup before the end of the 2016 season. The loss of Sano can’t hurt the Twins much more in terms of their overall performance, as Minnesota is currently poised to land the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft after a disastrous 2016 campaign, but Sano remains a work in progress at the hot corner, so the remaining 16 games could prove beneficial from a development standpoint.
- The struggles of Joakim Soria could make the bullpen an offseason priority for the Royals, writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Soria’s 4.19 ERA is the worst mark of his career, and the seven blown saves he’s suffered this season are also a career-worst. Manager Ned Yost attributes much of his team’s 2016 struggle to the fact that, “we’re not the same bullpen we were last year.” Indeed, Yost noted that the club knew what it could expect on a nightly basis from the likes of Greg Holland, Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera. The 2016 season is another story entirely. Holland underwent Tommy John surgery late last year and had to be non-tendered, while Davis has missed time on the DL due to a pair of forearm injuries and Luke Hochevar has been shut down due to thoracic outlet syndrome. The signing of Soria was supposed to deepen the ‘pen, but the right-hander’s return to the Royals organization has gone poorly, making his three-year, $25MM contract look even more questionable than it did at the time of the signing.
- The Tigers are knowingly taking a risk with right-hander Michael Fulmer, writes Tony Paul of the Detroit News. Tigers management had hoped to cap Fulmer’s innings at 160 this season, but he’ll pass that mark in tomorrow’s start and figures to surpass it by a considerable amount when all is said and done — especially if the Tigers can secure a postseason berth. However, as Paul points out, the Tigers would be in no position to even compete for a postseason spot at this juncture were it not for Fulmer’s remarkable breakout. Manager Brad Ausmus spoke to Paul about the handling of the Rookie of the Year front-runner, acknowledging the risk but also highlighting that the protection of young arms is at best an inexact science. “Guys are getting Tommy John surgeries at an unbelievable rate, even with the protection,” said Ausmus. “…The 25-percent (innings bump), maybe there’s proof out there that it protects pitchers. I haven’t seen it.”
AL Notes: Gomes, Pearce, Despaigne, Judge, Sale, Medlen
The Indians expect to welcome back catcher Yan Gomes on Friday, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer reports on Twitter. Gomes had been sidelined with a separated shoulder that was considered a threat to end his campaign, but it seems he’ll have a chance to come back online in advance of a likely postseason berth. That’s welcome news for Cleveland, which has struggled to find production from the catching position. Of course, Gomes himself has scuffled to a .165/.198/.313 batting line, but the club can at least hope he’ll return to providing quality glovework while hopefully swinging out of his malaise.
Here’s more from the American League:
- Orioles utility slugger Steve Pearce is set to visit Dr. David Altchek tomorrow for his arm injury, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports. Pearce’s elbow/forearm issues have failed to abate, leaving the club unsure of his status as the postseason push intensifies. The 33-year-old has managed only 70 trips to the plate since he was picked up at the trade deadline, with his production trailing off with the injury.
- Meanwhile, the Orioles have placed righty Odrisamer Despaigne on waivers, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter links). Given that Despaigne was designated on the fifth, Kubatko suggests that the O’s were trying to work out a deal before settling for the wire. The 29-year-old carries a 5.60 ERA over his 27 1/3 innings on the year, with 5.6 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9, so he doesn’t figure to hold much appeal at present.
- The Yankees have ordered an MRI for outfielder Aaron Judge after he came down with an oblique injury, Jack Curry of YES Network reports (Twitter links). It remains to be seen whether the 24-year-old will be able to make it back to finish out his late-season promotion. He has struggled thus far in the majors, with 41 strikeouts in 93 plate appearances, and New York will surely hope to get him as much work as possible to assess his readiness to contribute in 2017.
- White Sox ace Chris Sale has already seen his name tossed around quite a bit in trade talks, and he figures to be an intriguing trade candidate this winter, but he tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago that he hopes to stay in Chicago. “I don’t worry about that stuff,” Sale said. “That will shake out on its own. I wear this uniform with a lot of pride. I hope I can continue to do that.” Of course, the South Siders will not part with the star southpaw lightly, if at all. The 27-year-old has turned in another strong campaign, putting up a 3.03 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 over 201 2/3 innings.
- Righty Kris Medlen hopes to return to the Royals in 2017, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports on Twitter. The former standout hurler struggled badly in limited action this year, and hasn’t pitched since May owing to shoulder issues. That makes it an easy decision for the team to pay him a $1MM buyout rather than picking up his $10MM option, but something else could be worked out if Kansas City sees cause for optimism. “I feel like I’m not done yet with this team,” said Medlen. “I feel like I owe them something.”
Danny Salazar Out 3-4 Weeks With Mild Forearm Strain; No Ligament Damage Found
An MRI has revealed a mild strain of the flexor musculature in Danny Salazar‘s right forearm, the Indians announced today. Salazar will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection tomorrow and be shut down from all throwing for 10 days thereafter. Cleveland’s announcement indicates that his projected recovery time is three to four weeks, effectively ending Salazar’s regular season. On the plus side, if he’s able to recover in the allotted time frame, he could rejoin the team’s postseason rotation.
While the news is certainly worse than the initial report that Salazar would miss one start due to the forearm issue, there were certainly more frightening potential outcomes for Cleveland. Salazar had Tommy John surgery while working his way up through the minors, but the examination of his forearm and elbow showed that his reconstructed ulnar collateral ligament remains intact.
Salazar, 26, has delivered another strong campaign for the Indians, working to a 3.87 earned run average with 10.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate in 137 1/3 innings of work to his credit thus far. However, this isn’t the first brush with injury that he’s had in 2016, either; inflammation in Salazar’s right elbow cost him two weeks last month, and he’s now set to miss a wider slate of games than for his previous arm issue.
While Salazar’s injury calls into question whether he’d be able to take the ball in the ALDS — and with a seven-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central, it seems safe to assume that Cleveland will indeed find itself in that series — Cleveland can rely on Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco to serve as its one-two punch in that first postseason round. While it’s been an up-and-down season for the other members of the rotation, Trevor Bauer has looked plenty sharp over his past seven appearances (3.30 ERA) and could take the ball in Game 3 if Salazar is unable to return by that point.
Danny Salazar To Miss Start Due To Forearm Injury
Indians manager Terry Francona says righty Danny Salazar will travel to Cleveland tomorrow for followup testing for tightness in his forearm, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. Salazar is expected to miss at least one start. There’s no indication that the Indians plan to place him on the DL (and also no reason for them to hurry to such a determination, since rosters expanded last week).
Salazar left yesterday’s start against the Twins due to the condition. The team described Salazar’s departure as precautionary, but as MLBTR’s Steve Adams and Jeff Todd noted yesterday, this isn’t the first time this year Salazar has had arm trouble — he missed time in August due to elbow inflammation and also had minor elbow and shoulder issues earlier in the year.
There is currently no hint that Salazar is seriously hurt, but a bout of arm trouble for a pitcher of Salazar’s caliber is clearly worth monitoring, and losing Salazar for a significant period of time would be a significant blow to the Indians’ hopes of advancing in the playoffs. Salazar has used his mid-90s fastball and terrific changeup to strike out opposing batters at an outstanding rate of 10.6 batters per nine innings this season. Notably, though, he has struggled lately, with a 7.75 ERA over 38 1/3 innings since July 9.
AL Central Notes: Verlander, Molitor, May, Milone, Salazar, Cain
In his latest column, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan chronicles Justin Verlander‘s return to prominence as one of the game’s most dominant pitchers. Passan spoke to a very candid Verlander, who explained that during the 2014 season — the worst of his career — he felt pain in his shoulder through virtually every pitch he delivered. However, as Passan notes, Verlander was keenly aware of the expectations that came along with signing a $180MM contract and was resolved to pitch so long as he was physically capable. Verlander admitted to Passan that for awhile, baseball was no longer fun for him. The Detroit ace walked Passan through his recovery, beginning with recovery from surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle (which was, perhaps the root of all of his problems, as his mechanics were drastically altered to compensate). As Passan points out, Verlander’s velocity is sitting around 93 mph, and he’s now throwing his slider harder than in the past as a means of differentiating it from his curve. The result is one of the finest stretches of Verlander’s career: a 2.09 ERA and a 102-to-19 K/BB ratio over his past 90 1/3 innings that has firmly inserted Verlander into the mix for the AL Cy Young Award.
More from the AL Central…
- Manager Paul Molitor has given the Twins every indication that he intends to return in 2017, tweets Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. While that in and of itself may not be overly newsworthy — owner Jim Pohlad has gone on record as stating that he wants Molitor to remain the team’s skipper even after hiring a new president of baseball ops — Walters does report that Molitor is slated to earn $2.5MM in the final season of the three-year deal he signed with Minnesota prior to the 2015 campaign.
- Earlier today, the Twins activated righty Trevor May and lefty Tommy Milone from the DL, per a club announcement. The 26-year-old May has had an interesting season, racking up 12.5 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 but compiling only a 4.89 ERA in his 42 1/3 innings. Milone, meanwhile, seems headed for a non-tender barring a stirring performance over the last several weeks of the year. He has posted a rough 5.68 earned run average in his 65 frames thus far.
- The Indians pulled Danny Salazar from tonight’s contest due to forearm tightness, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian was among those to tweet. The club emphasized that it was a precautionary move, but this isn’t the first time this year that forearm/elbow issues have sidelined the prized righty. He declined to speak to reporters after the game, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets, with manager Terry Francona saying that the team hopes to “know more tomorrow when he comes to the park.” Salazar lasted only four frames in his latest outing, and hasn’t reached six innings in a start since mid-July. The 26-year-old did manage to rack up 11 strikeouts in his prior appearance, but it has been quite an uneven second half for a pitcher who could be a key part of the club’s hopeful postseason run. Entering his first year of arbitration eligibility — he’ll qualify as a Super Two — Salazar has thrown 137 1/3 innings of 3.87 ERA ball, with 161 strikeouts but also 63 walks on his ledger.
- Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain was back in the lineup this evening after sitting out several contests due to a sprained hand, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports (Twitter links). It “doesn’t feel good” to swing, said Cain, who nevertheless managed to reach three times on a hit and two walks. Per skipper Ned Yost, the club will keep running Cain out so long as he can tolerate playing, with hopes that his glove, legs, and savvy at the plate will make up for any limitations with the bat. Asked by MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link) whether he had caused any further damage by playing with the injury, Cain offered a somewhat resigned response: “It’s already torn. So I don’t know if it made it worse, unless I get another MRI.”
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/2/16
We’ll use this post to keep tabs on any notable minor moves today:
- The Blue Jays recently inked outfielder Quintin Berry to a minor league deal, the team’s Triple-A affiliate announced. With the move, the 31-year-old will be available to reprise his now-familiar role as a late-season baserunning option, this time in Toronto. As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to tweet, Berry was actually added on the 31st of August, so he could conceivably be utilized in the post-season. He hasn’t seen more than nine plate appearances in a season since his run with the Tigers in 2012, and hit only .270/.348/.325 in his 395 plate appearances at Triple-A this year for the Angels, but has nevertheless received MLB action in each of the last three Septembers due to his baserunning prowess. Back in 2013, Berry entered three postseason contests for the Red Sox — one in each round — and swiped a bag each time without stepping up to the plate.
- Outfielder Collin Cowgill has accepted an outright assignment with the Indians after clearing waivers, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer reports on Twitter. Designated for assignment yesterday, the 30-year-old will remain an option for Cleveland, particularly with rosters now expanded. He saw minimal time at the big league level this year, and struggled at Triple-A, but could still provide the club with a solid outfield glove and additional righty bench bat down the stretch — if the team deems it worthwhile to free up a 40-man spot. Over his 759 career plate appearances in the majors, Cowgill owns a .234/.297/.329 slash line with a dozen home runs and 14 steals.