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Yankees Notes: Voit, Urshela, Britton

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The Yankees hope to finally have the 2020 AL home run king in their lineup by early next week, per Lindsey Adler of the Athletic (via Twitter). Luke Voit has yet to make his debut this season, and the Yankees are struggling to find production at first base. Jay Bruce logged -0.3 fWAR before retiring, and Mike Ford has a 42 wRC+ in 38 plate appearances. DJ LeMahieu has started the most games at first this year, but that means pulling him from the keystone where neither Tyler Wade (76 wRC+) nor Rougned Odor (83 WRC+) have made much of an argument for keeping the position. Besides, even if Wade has enough glove to allow his subpar bat at second, the Yankees might need LeMahieu elsewhere…

  • Gio Urshela’s knee is healing nicely, but he’ll probably have at least another day and maybe two before returning to the lineup, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post (via Twitter). The Yankees brought up Miguel Andujar to help cover in the meantime, though it was interesting that manager Aaron Boone deployed LeMahieu at third while starting Andujar at first. LeMahieu made an error that helped open the floodgates for the Nationals in the Yankees’ 11-4 loss on Friday. Regardless, DJL is back at the hot corner again today with Ford at first.
  • Zack Britton, meanwhile, will throw a simulated game next week, but he can’t be activated from the injured list until the end of May at the earliest, per Adler. The Yankee pen has been one of their high points so far this season, leading the Majors by a mark of 2.1 fWAR. They’re also tied for ninth in usage with 121 bullpen innings. Regardless, everyone needs more bullpen help, and Britton’s long been one of the best.

Yankees Recall Miguel Andujar, Option Albert Abreu

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The Yankees recalled Miguel Andujar today, the team announced. To make room, they optioned Albert Abreu to Triple-A.

Andujar arrives as insurance for starting third baseman Gio Urshela. An MRI on Urshela’s knee came back without any structural damage, so he’ll be day-to-day for now, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (via Twitter). Urshela has once again proven himself to be a reliable bat for the Yankees. He’s slashing .287/.342/.455 with four home runs across 111 plate appearances, producing 0.7 bWAR.

Andujar himself has struggled to stay healthy. This spring he dealt with carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrist, though it hasn’t appeared to bother him so far. The minor league season is just three days old, but Andujar has already knocked three home runs while going 6-for-13.

As for Abreu, the 25-year-old right-hander made two appearances this season, both coming in the first half of April. He was placed on the roster just two days ago when Rougned Odor went to the injured list. Abreu will likely join the starting rotation in Triple-A.

Health Notes: Sale, Middleton, Odor, Ona, Graterol

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Red Sox ace Chris Sale worked off a mound today for the first time in his recovery from March 2020 Tommy John surgery, Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic was among those to relay (Twitter link). There’s still no timetable for Sale’s potential return to game action, although getting on the mound obviously represents a notable step forward. At 18-13, the Red Sox are off to a strong start and could be a legitimate contender in a tough AL East. Boston’s rotation looks to be the weak point on the roster, but it’s held up fairly well so far. Sox starters have a middle-of-the-pack 4.02 ERA/4.00 SIERA over the season’s first month-plus.

Other health situations around the league:

  • This morning, the Mariners announced they’ve placed reliever Keynan Middleton on the 10-day injured list with a right biceps strain. Fellow righty Wyatt Mills was recalled in his place. Middleton, 27, has tossed 11 2/3 innings of five-run ball in the early going, striking out nine against six walks. Middleton, who underwent a Tommy John surgery in May 2018, spent the 2017-20 seasons with the division-rival Angels.
  • The Yankees placed infielder Rougned Odor on the 10-day injured list this afternoon. He’s dealing with a left knee sprain. Right-hander Albert Abreu was recalled to take his place on the active roster. Odor, acquired from the Rangers at the beginning of the regular season, hasn’t offered a whole lot offensively in the early going. He’s hitting just .164/.271/.361 over his first 70 plate appearances with New York. To his credit, Odor has massively improved upon his strikeout and walk rates from recent seasons though.
  • Padres outfielder Jorge Oña underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow yesterday, Dennis Lin of the Athletic was among those to pass along (Twitter link). He’s expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks. Oña, 24, made a very brief MLB debut last season, tallying 15 plate appearances over five games. Other than that limited major league time, Oña only has 103 trips to the plate above the low minors (in Double-A in 2019), so he likely would’ve started the year at Triple-A El Paso even if he’d been healthy.
  • Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, placed on the injured list last week because of forearm tightness, was known to be headed for an MRI. Fortunately, testing showed no structural damage, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). That’s especially welcome news since the flamethrowing Graterol underwent a Tommy John procedure back in 2016. There’s still no indication when he might return to game action.

Yankees Place Darren O’Day On Injured List

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11:34 am: O’Day will be shut down from throwing for a few weeks, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News).

9:15 am: The Yankees are placing righty reliever Darren O’Day on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 30, with a right rotator cuff strain, the team announced. Fellow righty Michael King has been recalled from the alternate training site in a corresponding move.

New York signed O’Day to bolster their already-strong bullpen over the winter. The submariner enjoyed a pair of highly-productive seasons with the Braves from 2019-20 and has continued to pitch well (albeit not quite at his Atlanta level) in New York. O’Day has made ten appearances and worked nine innings, allowing three runs on eight hits (including a homer) and a pair of walks with nine strikeouts. The team did not provide a timetable for his potential return.

With O’Day on the shelf, the Yankees bring back King, who has gone back-and-forth between Yankee Stadium and the alternate training site over the past two seasons. Altogether, King has compiled a 5.22 ERA/4.42 SIERA over 39.2 MLB innings. The 25-year-old has yet to allow a run through eleven frames of long relief this year, but his ordinary strikeout and walk rates (21.4% and 9.5%, respectively) are virtually unchanged from last season.

The Yankees are off to a 12-14 start, but that underwhelming performance hasn’t been the fault of the bullpen. New York relievers have league-best marks in ERA (2.24), SIERA (2.90) and K% minus BB% (22.7 points).

Quick Hits: Zimmermann, Voit, Dodgers, Red Sox

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Veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann was on the brink of calling it a career Thursday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes, but he changed his mind when the Brewers selected his contract. “I think I was retired for about two hours,” said Zimmermann, a Wisconsin native whom the Brewers promoted as a result of recent injured list placements for fellow pitchers Corbin Burnes, Brett Anderson, Zack Godley and Josh Lindblom. Now that Zimmermann will continue on, the former Nationals star will try to get his career back on track after a subpar run with the Tigers from 2016-20.

  • Yankees first baseman Luke Voit could make his 2021 debut as early as May 11, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays. In the meantime, Voit – who underwent left knee surgery in late March – will start a rehab assignment at Double-A next week. The Yankees’ offense has improved since an ice-cold start to the season, but there’s no doubt the unit is better with a healthy Voit. The 30-year-old slugger led the majors with 22 home runs over 234 plate appearances last season and slashed .277/.338/.610 (152 wRC+).
  • The Dodgers’ bullpen has gone the first month of the season without righty reliever Joe Kelly, who’s on the IL with a shoulder issue. While Kelly is finally nearing his season debut, it turns out he has been dealing with a rather severe injury that required surgery in November, he revealed to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. “We found some cysts,” Kelly said. “My shoulder hasn’t been good since the end of 2019. But during my suspension after the thing with the Astros (early August) my arm was super weak. If I was laying on a table I couldn’t lift my arm past gravity. They asked me how long it was going on for and I told them forever. I couldn’t sleep at night and it felt like fire ants were eating my arm from the inside-out.” Kelly’s shoulder troubles helped limit him to 10 frames in the 2020 regular season, though he did contribute five appearances of 3 2/3-inning, one-run ball during the Dodgers’ World Series-winning playoff run.
  • The minor league contract that utilityman Danny Santana signed with the Red Sox initially included an opt-out date for today, but the two sides have agreed to push it back to the middle of May, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. On March 15, less than two weeks after joining the Boston organization, Santana was hospitalized with a foot infection that required surgery. Santana is still working back from that and will begin a minor league rehab assignment at the High-A level next Tuesday, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com.

Latest On Anibal Sanchez

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April 29: Sanchez is still evaluating his options and will throw a four-inning bullpen on Friday, Rosenthal tweets. He wants to build up to the 100-pitch mark before he signs anywhere.

April 28: Sanchez is planning to sign this week and could settle on a team as early as tomorrow, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

April 23: The Yankees, Phillies, Marlins, Tigers, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays were among the teams at Sanchez’s showcase this morning, Heyman tweets.

April 21: Sanchez will throw yet another bullpen session for teams this Friday, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He worked out for clubs in the offseason and reportedly turned down a couple offers, opting instead to see how health-and-safety protocols played out. He then worked out for teams early in the season but suffered the aforementioned finger laceration midway through his bullpen.

April 20: Free-agent righty Anibal Sanchez has been working out for clubs around the league and is drawing interest from several of his former employers, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The Braves, Nationals and Marlins have all looked into Sanchez, whose last bullpen session was truncated by a laceration on his middle finger that ought to have healed up by now. There’s interest from a couple of AL clubs as well, per Rosenthal.

Interest from any of the clubs linked to Sanchez this morning makes plenty of sense, given the pitching situations on each of the three. The Braves have recently placed Max Fried and Drew Smyly on the injured list, where they’ve joined Mike Soroka, whose recovery timeline recently hit a setback. None of the injuries is thought to be especially long-term, but the team’s depth has been tested early on.

The Nationals placed Stephen Strasburg on the injured list this week and have watched as left Patrick Corbin has been crushed by opposing lineups (15 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings). Last night’s rough start from Joe Ross only added fuel to the fire, sending the team’s collective rotation ERA to a disastrous 6.24 that ranks last among all big league teams. Currently, Max Scherzer is the only Nats pitcher who has started more than one game and has an ERA south of 5.00.

Meanwhile, Marlins righties Sixto Sanchez and Elieser Hernandez have dealt with injuries early in the 2021 season. They’re also carrying a pair of Rule 5 right-handers, Zach Pop and Paul Campbell, who have been hit hard in their first exposure to big league pitching.

Sanchez, 37, didn’t sign over the winter and is coming off a rough 2020 showing. The veteran right-hander was tagged for a 6.62 ERA in 53 innings with the Nationals last summer, although he’s only a season removed from 166 innings of 3.85 ERA ball during his first season with Washington.

Yankees Reducing Gary Sanchez’s Playing Time

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Gary Sanchez gave Yankees fans hope when he launched a pair of homers in the season’s first two games, but he’s batting just .146/.281/.167 in 57 plate appearances since that time and is currently mired in a 2-for-28 slump. In light of those struggles, Yankees skipper Aaron Boone acknowledged last night that Kyle Higashioka will see increased playing time at the expense of some of Sanchez’s starts (link via the New York Post’s Dan Martin).

Boone declined to name Higashioka the new starter and said decisions on who’ll start behind the plate will be made on a “day-by-day” basis, but he made clear that Higashioka has “earned more playing time.” Higashioka has already drawn the start in four of Gerrit Cole’s five appearances this season, so it seems fair to assume that pairing will continue. Corey Kluber also had his best start of the season last night with Higashioka behind the dish, so perhaps that’ll set the tone moving forward. There’s no concrete definition of how playing time will be divided up, but at the very least fans ought to expect closer to even timeshare for now. Boone noted that he’s already spoken to Sanchez about Higashioka receiving increased playing time.

Of course, while Sanchez’s struggles are likely the primary driver of this shift in playing time, it also has to be emphasized that Higashioka has put himself into position for an increased role. He’s out to a strong start in 2021, hitting .320/.414/.880 with four homers and a pair of doubles through 29 trips to the plate.

The power may seem like a sudden development for the 30-year-old Higashioka, but that’s really not the case. He hit .250/.250/.521 with four homers in 48 plate appearances last year, and back in 2019 his ISO (slugging minus batting average) of .250 highlighted plenty of pop as well. Since Opening Day 2020, Higashioka is slashing .274/.312/.644 in 77 plate appearances.

Higashioka’s batted-ball profile gives some optimism that this isn’t a total small-sample fluke, too. Statcast credits him with 10 barreled balls in those 77 PAs dating back to 2019 and 13 in 134 PAs dating back to 2020. He’s being credited with a barrel in 9.7 percent of his plate appearances dating back to ’19 and 12.9 percent since the start of the 2020 season; either would rank among the game’s very best over a full season. It’s unlikely that Higashioka is going to continue to make premium contact at quite such a high level, but those results certainly merit a larger opportunity — particularly when his counterpart is struggling to this extent.

From a defensive standpoint, Higashioka is the superior of the two and is generally regarded as a plus defensive option. He’s drawn strong framing marks and positive totals in Defensive Runs Saved each season since 2018 in a limited workload, though his career 20 percent caught-stealing rate is below the league average of around 27 percent. Sanchez, to his credit, is at a hefty 32 percent in that regard, but he’s more prone to passed balls and draws inferior framing ratings to Higashioka. Catching coordinator Tanner Swanson told reporters yesterday that Higashioka’s defensive skills are “elite.”

The shuffle in playing time only further shines a spotlight on what has been a mounting issue for the Yankees for years. Sanchez’s ceiling is obviously an All-Star caliber slugger, but he’s been maddeningly inconsistent — to the point that the Yankees mulled whether to trade him or even perhaps non-tender him this past offseason. They opted to tender him a contract and eventually agreed to a one-year deal that pays Sanchez $6.35MM for the 2021 season. He’d be arbitration-eligible for a third and final time this winter, but the early shuffle behind the dish seems like a portent for greater change down the road.

If Higashioka struggles with an increased workload or goes down to injury, Sanchez may yet be given another opportunity to snap out of his current swoon and recapture his 2019 form. But if Higashioka proves capable of handling a larger role and/or Sanchez continues to struggle, the questions about Sanchez’s future will only grow louder. At the very least, taking a closer look at Higashioka now gives the Yankees more information on how to address the catcher position moving forward. Higashioka is controlled through 2024 via arbitration. Sanchez is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2022 season.

Yankees Trade Mike Tauchman To Giants For Wandy Peralta

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The Yankees have traded outfielder Mike Tauchman to the Giants for left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports. New York will also receive a player to be named later, the team announced.

This deal sends the 30-year-old Tauchman back to the National League West, where the former 10th-round pick played with the Rockies from 2017-18. Tauchman was unable to establish himself in Colorado, which traded him to the Yankees for lefty Phillip Diehl shortly before the 2019 season.

At first, the Tauchman pickup looked like a steal for the Yankees, as he appeared in 87 games as a reserve in his initial year with the team and slashed a terrific .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs, six steals and 2.6 fWAR over 296 plate appearances. Tauchman blended that offensive performance with great work among all three outfield positions, combining for 19 Defensive Runs Saved in the grass.

While the 2019 version of Tauchman was a gem, his production and playing time have significantly dwindled since then. Tauchman did appear in 43 games and total 111 PA last season, but he failed to hit a homer, batted a below-average .242/.342/.305 and essentially broke even in the field with zero DRS and a minus-2.2 Ultimate Zone Rating. Meanwhile, fellow Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner each recorded far superior production, which helped lead Tauchman to fall out of favor.

With Judge, Frazier, Hicks and Gardner returning, Tauchman became an afterthought for the Yankees this year. So far, he has picked up a meager 16 trips to the plate and batted .214/.267/.286 without a homer. Now, the out-of-options Tauchman will provide versatile depth in a Giants outfield that has used Mike Yastrzemski (though he’s currently dealing with a mild oblique issue), Austin Slater, Alex Dickerson, Mauricio Dubon and Darin Ruf, among others, this season. Tauchman won’t reach arbitration for the first time until the upcoming winter, so he could be a multiyear piece for the Giants if he performs to their liking this season.

Peralta, 29, started his career in 2016 with the Reds, who lost him on waivers to the Giants late in the 2019 campaign. Despite 95-96 mph fastball velocity and a career 50.4 percent groundball rate, Peralta has typically had trouble keeping runs off the board. Through 192 2/3 innings, including 8 1/3 this season, Peralta has recorded a 4.72 ERA/4.58 SIERA with unspectacular strikeout and walk percentages of 18.5 and 10.8, respectively.

Peralta still has a minor league option remaining, though he’ll only be eligible for arbitration one more time. For now, Peralta will give the New York organization a third southpaw relief option behind closer Aroldis Chapman and Lucas Luetge. The Yankees have had to go this season without key lefty setup man Zack Britton, who’s on the mend from arthroscopic elbow surgery and probably won’t return until the summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Marte, Soroka, Yankees, Galvis

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Marlins center fielder Starling Marte went on the injured list with a fractured left rib a week ago, and he’s continuing to deal with “discomfort,” Craig Mish of SportsGrid tweets. The Marlins still don’t have a timetable for when Marte will restart baseball activities, according to Mish. Miami has given center field starts to Lewis Brinson, Magneuris Sierra and Adam Duvall in the absence of Marte, who got off to a great start this year with a .310/.414/.483 line and two home runs in 70 plate appearances before he went to the IL. Brinson, Sierra and Duvall haven’t been nearly as successful, as all three have logged production ranging from below average to terrible.

Here’s more from the East Coast…

  • Braves right-hander Mike Soroka’s injured pitching shoulder is “structurally sound,” per David O’Brien of The Athletic. However, Soroka still has not returned to throwing almost three weeks since the Braves shut him down with inflammation on April 7, so it remains unclear when he could make his season debut. The last year-plus has been unfortunate on the health front for Soroka, who missed most of 2020 with a torn right Achilles before his current issue cropped up. As a result of his injuries, Soroka hasn’t really gotten a chance to follow up on an All-Star 2019 in which he recorded a 2.68 ERA in 174 2/3 innings.
  • The Yankees suffered their 13th loss in 22 games Monday, falling 4-2 in Baltimore, but manager Aaron Boone did issue some positive injury updates beforehand (Twitter links via Marly Rivera of ESPN). First baseman and 2020 major league home run king Luke Voit is ramping up his activities as he works back from knee surgery. Left-handed reliever Zack Britton, who’s recovering from the arthroscopic elbow surgery he underwent in March, is slated to begin throwing from the mound at the end of the week. Based on the three- to four-month timeline the Yankees provided when Britton went under the knife, he won’t rejoin their bullpen until June or July. Meanwhile, righty Clarke Schmidt – who’s also on the mend from elbow trouble – has begun a throwing program, which is “going well,” per Boone.
  • Orioles shortstop Freddy Galvis exited their win over New York with left adductor soreness, the O’s announced. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) that Galvis is day-to-day with groin tightness. Galvis, whom the Orioles signed to a one-year, $1.5MM guarantee in free agency, has been quite durable during his career – including this season. He has started all 22 of Baltimore’s games thus far and batted a solid .264/.321/.458 with a pair of home runs in 79 trips to the plate. When Galvis went down Monday, the Orioles moved Ramon Urias from second to short and brought in Rio Ruiz to handle the keystone.

East Notes: Andujar, Nelson, Smith, Turner

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The Yankees announced a pair of roster moves after today’s 7-3 loss to the Indians. For starters, they optioned Nick Nelson to their alternate site. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in six games, once as an opener, giving up 10 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. The demotion comes after a two-inning, three-earned-run outing in today’s ballgame. In addition, the Yankees activated third baseman Miguel Andujar from the injured list and optioned him to their alternate site. Andujar was beset by a bout of carpal tunnel syndrome in his right wrist. Slowed largely by injures, the 26-year-old has hit just .193/.219/.257 across 114 plate appearances since his breakout rookie season in 2018. Let’s stay on the East Coast, but move over to the Senior Circuit…

  • The Mets activated right-hander Drew Smith from the injured list and optioned him to their alternate site, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 27-year-old has been spotty, but intriguing in small samples for the Mets. Though he made just eight appearances last year, he has logged 35 innings in 35 appearances with a 4.11 ERA/4.08 FIP going back through 2018. Injuries have been the bugaboo for Smith, who missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. His shoulder has been the issue of late, though hopefully, with some time at the alternate site, Smith can prove his readiness and soon get back to a big league mound.
  • Star shortstop Trea Turner was removed from today’s game after getting plunked in the arm. He has a contusion on his left forearm, but testing came back negative, per Jesse Doughtery of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Turner may miss a game, but it sounds as if the Nats expect him to be okay. That’s critical for the Nationals, as Turner has taken over as their 3-hole hitter with Juan Soto on the shelf. The speedy shortstop looks at home in the middle of the order with a 120 wRC+ and 1.0 bWAR produced through 75 plate appearances prior to today’s game.
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