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Rockies’ Elias Diaz Placed On Restricted List After Violating Protocol

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Rockies catcher Elias Diaz was sent home to Denver by the club after violating Covid-19 protocols “around the team hotel in Houston,” Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. Diaz was placed on the restricted list for unspecified reasons Monday, with manager Bud Black only publicly divulging that Diaz “violated some team protocols, some guidelines.” Specifics surrounding Diaz’s violations aren’t known, but the Rox have been able to continue playing. Saunders adds that the club has continued its standard testing regiment and has not incurred an issue.

Diaz, 29, inked a minor league contract with the Rockies over the winter and made the club’s Opening Day roster as a backup to Tony Wolters. He’s appeared in just three games thus far, going 3-for-12 with a double. Unlike the situation in Cleveland, where the players who violated Covid-19 protocols are key contributors (Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac), Diaz is a role player whom the team can more easily replace. Veteran Drew Butera is backing up Wolters, and 25-year-old Dom Nunez is at the team’s alternate training site and on the 40-man roster, making him a readily available alternative as well.

The Rockies haven’t given any sort of indication as to when — or if — Diaz will rejoin the team.

NL West Notes: Oberg, Rockies, Bumgarner, Cueto

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Rockies reliever Scott Oberg is on the 45-day injured list due to blood clots in his throwing arm, marking the third time blood clots have interrupted Oberg’s career.  It remains to be seen if Oberg will be able to return during the 2020 season, though the right-hander told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding that he fully intends to keep pitching.  “If this is what it’s going to have to be, it’s just another hurdle to overcome.  I’ve dealt with the adversity road plenty of times,” Oberg said.  After already undergoing three different procedures in the past, it isn’t yet certain if a fourth surgery will be required; Oberg has consulted with doctors and specialists about his latest issue, with more consultations planned for the coming week.

More from around the NL West…

  • With Oberg and the struggling Wade Davis both on the IL, the Rockies’ search for a closer is still ongoing.  It seemed as if Jairo Diaz was laying claim to the job, though after a rough outing (three walks, one hit, and two unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning) today, manager Bud Black told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post and other media that the club has no “designated closer.”  It seems likely that Diaz will still get some save chances as part of the Rockies’ closing committee, though Yency Almonte, Carlos Estevez, Daniel Bard, and possibly others could all figure into the ninth inning depending on the situation.
  • Madison Bumgarner will throw a 50-pitch simulated game on Monday, a week after the southpaw was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a back strain.  Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic) that the simulated game “is a way for us to see how he looks, see how he feels and have him evaluate how his body feels and give us that information and determine what the next step is moving forward.”  Piecoro notes that Bumgarner is still expected to miss at least one more start while on the IL, though the left-hander might not miss much beyond the 10-day minimum if he reports a clean bill after the sim game.
  • Could Johnny Cueto be turning himself into a trade candidate?  With the Giants in last place and looking like deadline sellers, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Cueto could get some attention from teams looking for veteran pitching.  Cueto has a 4.62 ERA, 1.73 K/BB rate, and 6.8 K/9 through 25 1/3 innings this season, some fairly middling numbers that ERA indicators (4.72 FIP, 5.55 xFIP, 5.28 SIERA) hint could or should be worse.  On the plus side, Statcast metrics show that Cueto is doing a good job of limiting hard contact, and Cueto is averaging 91 mph on his fastball, roughly the same average velocity he was posting in the couple of seasons prior to his August 2018 Tommy John surgery.  The Giants would likely have to eat some money to accommodate a trade, given that Cueto is owed $21MM in 2021, there is a $5MM buyout of his $22MM club option for 2022, and he is also owed the prorated remainder of his original $21MM salary for the rest of this season.

Marlins Acquire Jesus Tinoco

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The Marlins have acquired right-hander Jesus Tinoco from the Rockies for fellow righty Chad Smith, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports. Tinoco will join the Marlins’ player pool and report to their alternate training site.

This is the second trade involving Tinoco, who was part of the Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster between the Blue Jays and Rockies in 2015. Tinoco reached the Triple-A and major league levels for the first time last season, though he didn’t produce great numbers in either place. The 25-year-old did pitch to a 3.97 ERA in 34 innings at the minors’ top level, but he only logged 6.1 K/9 against 4.98 BB/9. In his MLB debut, Tinoco’s control issues continued, as he recorded a 5.5 BB/9 with a 4.75 ERA and 7.0 K/9 across 36 frames.

Smith, 25, was an 11th-rounder of the Marlins in 2016 who hasn’t advanced beyond Double-A yet. He owns a 4.46 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 149 1/3 minor league innings.

West Notes: Hosmer, Rangers, Rockies, Giants

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There’s a “very good chance” the Padres will activate first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list Saturday, manager Jayce Tingler told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters. Hosmer has been out since July 28 with gastritis, which cut off an encouraging start to the season in which he was hitting more fly balls than ever and getting tremendous results. The Padres have mostly turned to Jake Cronenworth at first in Hosmer’s absence, and the rookie has been excellent in the early going.

  • The Rangers announced that they’ve activated righty Rafael Montero and placed lefty Joe Palumbo on the IL with an ulcerative colitis flareup. Montero hasn’t pitched this season, but as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in April, he has been a real find for the club. The former standout Mets prospect amassed 29 innings of 2.48 ERA pitching with 10.55 K/9 against 1.55 BB/9 in his first year with the Rangers last season.
  • The Rockies placed RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez on the IL on Friday with right biceps tendinitis and recalled fellow righty Ryan Castellani, per a team announcement. Gonzalez has made one start for the club this year, but he yielded three earned runs during that three-inning performance. Castellani, meanwhile, ranks as Colorado’s 18th overall prospect at MLB.com. He’s finally in line to make his Rockies debut six years after the team selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft. Castellani struggled to an 8.31 ERA with 9.76 K/9 and 6.23 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings in his first Triple-A action last year.
  • Righty Reyes Moronta and outfielder Hunter Bishop have reported to the Giants’ alternate site, the club announced. Moronta’s continuing to work back from right shoulder surgery, while Bishop has been down since late June because of a positive coronavirus test. Bishop is now a part of the Giants’ 60-man player pool. There’s a chance Moronta will get into the Giants’ bullpen this season, manager Gabe Kapler said (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Moronta has been highly effective since he debuted in 2017, having recorded a 2.66 ERA/3.38 FIP with 11.22 K/9 and 5.12 BB/9 across 128 1/3 innings.

Mariners Option Bryan Shaw, Jose Marmolejos

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The Mariners have optioned veteran righty Bryan Shaw and infielder/outfielder Jose Marmolejos, the club announced. Both will go to the team’s alternate training site.

It isn’t entirely clear whether Shaw has consented to the assignment. With more than five years of MLB service, he has the right instead to reject it in favor of free agency.

Shaw, 32, is still being paid by the Rockies under his free agent contract. He landed with the Seattle organization after being cut loose. After one initial scoreless appearance, the once-excellent setup man has surrendered three or more runs in each of his past three outings.

Injury Notes: Cano, Puk, W. Davis, M’s

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Let’s check in on a few injury notes from around the majors…

  • Mets second baseman Robinson Cano is hopeful that he’ll come off the injured list when he’s eligible on Aug. 14, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. Cano went to the IL on Tuesday with a Grade 2 left adductor strain, which halted what may have been a redemption story for the 37-year-old. While Cano endured a nightmarish first season as a Met in 2019, he got off to a blistering .412/.462/.559 start in 39 plate appearances this year prior to his injury.
  • Athletics left-hander A.J. Puk remains an exciting prospect for the club, but various arm injuries have prevented the 25-year-old from making a major league start. It doesn’t appear as if that will change in 2020. Manager Bob Melvin said that Puk, who’s working back from shoulder inflammation, is expected to pitch out of the bullpen if he takes the hill this year, per Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News. However, the A’s still don’t have a timetable for Puk’s season debut.
  • It appears the right shoulder strain that sent Rockies reliever Wade Davis to the IL over the weekend will keep him on ice for the foreseeable future. Manager Bud Black said Wednesday that Davis still hasn’t begun throwing yet, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post relays. Davis’ injury is the latest setback in what has been a horrid Colorado tenure since he signed a three-year, $52MM deal with the club going into 2018. The three-time All-Star has recorded a 6.18 ERA/4.67 FIP in 110 2/3 innings as a Rockie.
  • With right-hander Kendall Graveman on the injured list because of neck issues, the Mariners are calling on lefty Nick Margevicius to step into their rotation, according to manager Scott Servais (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The 24-year-old Margevicius picked up 12 starts as a Padre in 2019, but his year didn’t go well. He wound up with 57 innings of 6.79 ERA/5.64 FIP pitching and 6.63 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9.

Rockies Add Brian Serven To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Rockies have added catcher Brian Serven to the 60-man player pool, per a team announcement. He’d still need to be added to the 40-man roster in order to be brought onto the active roster.

Serven, 25, was taken in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. He had a rough offensive season in 2019, turning in a .202/.286/.364 slash in 276 Double-A plate appearances. The organization is obviously still holding out hope that his abilities at the plate will catch up to his skill behind it.

Rockies V. Padres: Who’s More Likely To Make Playoffs?

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Neither Colorado nor San Diego entered the season as teams expected to contend for playoff berths, but both the Rockies and Padres have been among the National League’s best teams a week-plus into what will go down as a strange 2020 campaign. The NL West rivals met over the weekend, and the Rockies took two of three to vault them into first place in the division – yes, even ahead of the mighty Dodgers – with a 6-2 record. The Padres, who are trying to snap a 13-year playoff drought, are now a game back at 6-4.

When the dust settles at year’s end (if a full season actually happens), there’s little doubt that the Dodgers will be the top team standing in the NL West. Frankly, they’re too loaded to expect otherwise. But it would still be a major accomplishment for the Rockies or Padres to earn wild-card berths. Colorado’s not far removed from back-to-back playoff spots, having played meaningful October ball in 2017-18, though the team fell on hard times during a 71-win effort last season and did little to nothing to improve during the offseason. San Diego was pretty aggressive, meanwhile, though it entered the winter as a 70-win team with a similarly high hill to climb.

The fact that the league added three extra playoff teams in each league for 2020 obviously helps the causes of every club, especially those that have started well this year. The Rockies have charged to first in their division on the strength of some of the usual suspects (Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, German Marquez and Jon Gray), and they’ve done so despite struggles from team MVP Nolan Arenado. Surprisingly, though, veterans Daniel Murphy, Matt Kemp and Daniel Bard – whose best days seemed long gone when the season started – have picked up some of the slack.

The Padres are playing .600 ball in the early going thanks in no small part to continued marvelous performances from second-year stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack, but they’ve also gotten excellent production from other sources. Outfielder and offseason acquisition Trent Grisham has been fantastic; so have currently injured first baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Wil Myers, both disappointments in recent years, as well as righty Dinelson Lamet. To the surprise of no one who has paid attention to his career, newcomer and outfielder Tommy Pham has also thrived. The Padres also sport an impressive bullpen on paper, though the unit’s off to a surprisingly poor start. Regardless, in order to upgrade their cast of pitchers, the Padres could pick from a deep well of prospects (MacKenzie Gore? Luis Patino?) if they need to bolster their roster in the next couple months.

It’s going to be interesting to see if either of these rival clubs will emerge as playoff teams in 2020. They’ve certainly begun well, but which one is more likely to keep up its current pace? (Poll link for app users)

Rockies Place Wade Davis On 10-Day IL, Move Scott Oberg To 45-Day IL

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The Rockies made some significant bullpen moves today, moving closer Wade Davis to the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain.  Right-hander Joe Harvey has been recalled to take Davis’ spot on the active roster.  In more troubling news, right-hander Scott Oberg has been moved from the 10-day IL to the 45-day IL due to blood clots in his throwing arm.

Oberg was previously on the injured list due to a back strain, though a throwing session on Saturday was ended early after Oberg was had “a little discomfort in the hand” and “had a hard time gripping the ball,” as manager Bud Black told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding and other reporters.  Further tests revealed the blood clots, marking the second time in two seasons and the third overall time in Oberg’s career that he had dealt with such a problem.

The right-hander has had to undergo three separate surgeries in efforts to dissolve the clots, and a fourth procedure could quite possibly be in the cards given the seemingly perpetual nature of the issue.  Black hinted today that Oberg might not take the field in 2020, telling Harding and other media “it’s going to be awhile if at all for Scott this season.”

Despite all the health concerns, the Rockies signed Oberg to a three-year, $13MM extension this past winter, covering his final two arbitration-eligible years, his first free agent year, and potentially the 2023 season as well via an $8MM club option.  It was a commitment the Rox were comfortable making given how well Oberg performed in 2018-19, as he posted a 2.35 ERA, 3.29 K/BB rate, 9.0 K/9 over 114 2/3 innings.

Davis recorded saves in his first two outings this season but blew up in two-thirds of an inning against the Padres on Friday night, surrendering four earned runs in the form of home runs from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Tommy Pham.  A shoulder issue could be the reason for Davis’ poor showing, though it marked an unwelcome continuation of Davis’ disastrous form from the 2019 season.  He managed only an 8.65 ERA over 42 2/3 innings, though things didn’t really go south for Davis until after he returned from an oblique injury last June, so health could potentially have been a factor.

2020 is the last guaranteed year of the three-year, $52MM contract Davis signed with Colorado prior to the 2018 season.  The $15MM mutual option in the deal for 2021 can vest into a player option, though it still isn’t entirely clear what new number of games finished Davis would have to accumulate in order to gain control over his 2021 salary.  That said, it might be a moot point given that Davis’ injury and his overall struggles will leave the Rockies turning to another option for the ninth inning.  Jairo Diaz is the top closer candidate at this point, though Carlos Estevez or comeback kid Daniel Bard may also get consideration for save opportunities.

Predict The NL West Division Winner

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With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway, it’s time to make some predictions. We’re polling the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — though plenty more teams will crack the postseason under the rather inclusive new playoff qualification system. We’ve already surveyed the AL East, AL Central, AL West, NL Central, and NL East landscapes, so it’s time to wrap things up with the National League West.

The Dodgers have owned this division for some time now and are perhaps more laden with star-level talent than ever with Mookie Betts on board. Then again, they may be more vulnerable than ever in a short-season format. There’s a nice assembly of talent on the Diamondbacks roster, which includes an elite young player in Ketel Marte and a sturdy slate of veterans now highlighted by intra-division transferee Madison Bumgarner. Then again, you could argue that the Padres have the greatest capacity to surprise with their own budding legend in Fernando Tatis Jr., still-youthful star Manny Machado, and a potential-laden rotation. The Rockies have an excellent core unit in their own right and perhaps have more upside than is generally recognized. And while the Giants don’t really appear primed to compete, they managed to do so last year and still have a lot of players with lofty established performance ceilings at the game’s highest level — even if it has been a few years.

Which team do you think is going to take the division title? (Poll link for app users.)

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