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Gerrit Cole To Begin Mound Work

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The defending AL Cy Young winner will get back on a mound tomorrow. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told the New York beat that Gerrit Cole will throw from a mound on Saturday for the first time in his recovery from elbow inflammation (X link via The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner). The six-time All-Star has been throwing on flat ground in recent weeks.

Boone declined to provide a target for Cole getting back to major league readiness. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported last night that the right-hander was shooting for a mid-June return. Cole is technically eligible to return from the 60-day injured list during the last week of May, but it seems he’ll need a few weeks beyond that. Cole will need to get through multiple bullpens and live batting practice sessions before he’s ready for a minor league rehab stint, which would require a handful of starts to build his pitch count.

The Yankees are out to a 20-13 start despite losing their ace. New York’s rotation entered play on Friday with the seventh-best ERA (3.48) and fifth-highest strikeout rate (24.3%) in the majors. The quintet of Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt has taken all but one of the team’s starts. (Cody Poteet handled one spot start.) Each member of the front five has allowed between three and four earned runs per nine. That atypical level of consistency has kept the Yankees near the top of a competitive AL East.

While all of their starters have been productive, none have quite performed at an ace level. A healthy Cole should deliver that kind of production. He’s coming off a 2.63 ERA in an AL-leading 209 innings. That was the fifth sub-3.00 showing of his career. Cole punched out 222 hitters, his sixth time topping 200 punchouts.

Cole is in the fifth season of his nine-year, $324MM free agent deal. He can opt out of the remaining four seasons at the end of this year, but the Yankees could override that by triggering a $36MM club option covering the 2029 season.

Pirates Acquire Keiner Delgado From Yankees

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The Yankees have traded infielder Keiner Delgado to the Pirates as the player to be named later in the JT Brubaker trade from last month, per announcements from both clubs. The infielder wasn’t on the 40-man roster of the Yankees and therefore won’t need to go on the roster of the Pirates.

Last month, the Bucs sent the right-handed Brubaker to the Yankees, along with international bonus pool space, for a player to be named later. Brubaker has not yet pitched for the Yanks as he is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery and on the 60-day injured list.

Delgado, 20, was signed by the Yankees as an international amateur out of Venezuela in 2021. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2022, taking 238 plate appearances over 52 games. He drew walks at an incredible 24.4% rate while striking out just 11.8% of the time. He hit just three home runs but slashed .310/.504/.506 for a wRC+ of 178 while stealing 34 bases.

Last year, the Yanks moved him to the Complex League, where he got another 239 plate appearances. He again walked more than he struck out, 15.1% rate to 13% rate, while more than doubling his home run tally by hitting eight on the year. He finished the year with a line of .293/.414/.485 and 36 stolen bases. Defensively, he’s played a bit of second base, third base and shortstop.

Coming into 2024, Delgado was ranked the #22 prospect in the Yankees’ system by Baseball America, #20 by MLB Pipeline and #22 by FanGraphs. The most bullish prospect evaluator seems to be Keith Law of The Athletic, who had Delgado all the way up in the #7 spot a couple of months ago. Law praises the switch-hitter’s work from both sides of the plate and adds that there’s a chance Delgado could stick at shortstop, while other evaluators seem to think he will most likely end up at second base or in a utility role.

He will now move over to the Pirates’ system and will be a long-term project for them, given his youth and that he has yet to even crack full-season ball. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after the 2025 season, per FanGraphs.

Yankees Recall Carlos Narváez For MLB Debut

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The Yankees announced today that outfielder Alex Verdugo has been placed on the paternity list. Catcher Carlos Narváez was recalled in a corresponding move. The backstop will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Narváez, 25, was initially signed by the Yankees as an amateur out of Venezuela. He has since climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, going down on strikes a fair bit but also drawing a fair number of walks and launching a few home runs.

He got into 100 games last year between Double-A and Triple-A, stepping to the plate 419 times. He struck out in 25.8% of those trips but also walked in 15.3% of them and hit 12 long balls. That resulted in a combined slash line of .239/.370/.397, good for a wRC+ of 101.

At the end of last year, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Narváez as the #32 prospect in the club’s system. He noted that the strikeouts will probably become too much of a problem for the backstop to be an impact hitter in the majors, as he’s especially vulnerable to high fastballs. However, Longenhagen gives praise to Narváez for his strength with controlling the running game and “fair” work in terms of receiving and blocking.

The Yanks added Narváez to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They haven’t needed his services at the major league level with Jose Trevino and Austin Wells sharing the catching duties. Narváez has also seen some limited time at the infield corners, which could give him more opportunity to get into a game before Verdugo comes back. He’s currently hitting .211/.376/.342 at Triple-A this year, walking in 18.8% of his plate appearances.

Paternity list stints have a maximum length of three days, though players sometimes get transferred to the restricted list if they need to stay with their families for a bit longer. With Verdugo gone, the Yanks still have plenty of ability to cover the outfield between Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham, Giancarlo Stanton, Taylor Trammell and Jahmai Jones.

AL East Notes: Kimbrel, Irvin, Kahnle, Whitlock

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Craig Kimbrel blew a save and was charged with the loss in the Orioles’ 7-6 defeat to the Athletics today, but the veteran closer’s health may be of greater concern.  Kimbrel walked Darell Hernaiz and was then visited by the team trainer on the mound, but stayed in the game and allowed a homer to Kyle McCann.  That prompted another trainer’s visit and Kimbrel’s departure, and manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) postgame that Kimbrel was dealing with some upper back tightness.  The right-hander was still receiving treatment and it isn’t yet known if a trip to the injured list might be in order.

Kimbrel has failed to convert either of his last two save opportunities, marking his first blown save since his first appearances of the season.  In between, he reeled off seven saves and a perfect 0.00 in 10 innings of work, and even today’s outing only boosts his ERA to 3.18 for the season.  Overall, the 35-year-old has performed as expected after signing a one-year deal worth $13MM in guaranteed money last winter, as Baltimore was looking for a ninth-inning specialist after Felix Bautista was lost to Tommy John surgery.  If Kimbrel needs some recovery time, Yennier Cano or Danny Coulombe are the likeliest candidates to move into closer duties, which would then necessitate another arm being shuffled into the bullpen.  One possible relief candidate might be starter Albert Suarez, who is out of minor league options but has pitched so well in fill-in starter duty that the O’s likely don’t want to expose him to waivers in order to move him back to Triple-A.  With Kyle Bradish and John Means nearing returns from the IL, the Orioles are in the enviable position of having too many good starters, yet as we’ve potentially seen with this Kimbrel situation, injuries have a way of quickly solving any surpluses.

More from the AL East…

  • Speaking of Orioles starters, x-rays were negative on Cole Irvin’s left middle finger were negative after he was hit by a comebacker in Saturday’s 7-0 win over Oakland.  Irvin told Kubatko and other media that he isn’t feeling any pain, so there seems to be no concern that he’d miss his next start.  With a 3.49 ERA over 28 1/3 innings, Irvin has also pitched well enough to make a case for keeping his rotation job when Bradish and Means are healthy.
  • Tommy Kahnle has yet to pitch this season due to shoulder inflammation, as one setback already delayed the Yankees’ initial plan to activate him from the 15-day IL when first eligible.  However, manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters that Kahnle threw a simulated inning of live batting practice yesterday, and is planning to throw off the mound again in a few days’ time.  Kahnle posted a 2.66 ERA in 40 2/3 relief innings for New York last season, in between a season-opening 60-day IL stint due to biceps tendinitis and then more shoulder inflammation that prematurely ended his season in September.
  • An oblique strain sent Garrett Whitlock to the 15-day injured list back on April 17, and it looks as if the Red Sox righty-hander will be sidelined beyond just a minimal stint.  Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith) that Whitlock has been playing catch “but he still feels it….So no mound progression for him.”  Given the tricky nature of oblique injuries, it might’ve counted as a surprise if Whitlock had missed only 15 days, and it isn’t yet clear when he might be back in action.  Whitlock was looking tremendous prior to his injury, posting a 1.96 ERA over his first four starts and 18 1/3 innings of the season.

Yankees Outright McKinley Moore

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that right-hander McKinley Moore has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Scranton.

Moore, 25, was a 24th-round pick by the White Sox in the 2019 draft but made his big league debut as a member of the Phillies last year after coming to Philadelphia as part of the return for outfielder Adam Haseley back in 2022. The righty struggled badly in his first taste of big league action and was lit up for seven runs on five hits, five walks, and two hit batsmen against just two strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Those three relief appearances are Moore’s only big league action to this point in his career. The right-hander was retained by the Phillies on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason but was designated for assignment early in Spring Training to make room for the addition of Spencer Turnbull to the club’s roster. The Yankees took the opportunity to claim him off waivers and bring him into the organization, though he has continued to struggle since jumping organizations. In just 2/3 of an inning of work for Scranton this year, Moore has allowed two runs while walking six and hitting a batter while recording just one strikeout.

Despite Moore’s obvious control struggles, the right-hander has flashed enticing stuff including an upper-90s fastball during his limited big league action. The 6’6” power arm could be an impactful relief arm for a club if he can find a way to rein in his control, and now the Yankees will get the opportunity to work with the 25-year-old throughout the year without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him. While it’s not impossible to imagine Moore pitching for the big league club at some point this year, with non-roster veterans such as Phil Bickford and Duane Underwood Jr. currently available to the Yankees in the minor leagues it seems more likely that Moore will have to iron out his control issues to get another shot at the major league level.

AL Notes: Robert, Berti, Sano

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White Sox fans received a positive update from GM Chris Getz regarding the status of injured center fielder Luis Robert Jr. over the weekend, with MLB.com’s Injury Tracker noting that the club believes Robert could return to the lineup in Chicago as soon as the middle of May. According to Getz, Robert’s rehab has “been really positive” as he’s progressed to both running and hitting without issue.

If Robert could be back with the big league club in as little as two weeks, that would be excellent news for the White Sox. The 26-year-old suffered a grade 2 strain of his left hip flexor three weeks ago that was initially expected to sideline him for at least at weeks, with some club officials reportedly worrying that Robert would miss the entire first half. Fortunately, the slugger appears to have avoided those worst-case-scenarios.

While Robert had been hitting a relatively pedestrian .214/.241/.500 through seven games at the time of his injury, he’ll nonetheless be an immediate upgrade to the outfield mix in Chicago upon his return even if he doesn’t regain the form that saw him finish 12th in AL MVP voting last year. The White Sox are currently relying on newly-signed veteran Tommy Pham in center field in Robert’s absence, with Andrew Benintendi and Robbie Grossman holding down the outfield corners.

More from around the American League…

  • Yankees third baseman Jon Berti is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset today, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. The utilityman, who the club acquired from the Marlins in a three-team trade just before Opening Day, has been shelved for two weeks due to a left groin strain. Prior to the injury, Berti had been operating as part of a platoon at third base with Oswaldo Cabrera, though the 34-year-old veteran was just 4-for-19 when he was placed on the IL. Cabrera has taken over regular duties at third base in the absence of both Berti and DJ LeMahieu, posting a respectable .258/.294/.404 in 95 trips to the plate.
  • The Angels had an injury scare this weekend when Miguel Sano was pulled from Friday’s game during the sixth inning due to a bout of knee soreness. The slugger remained out of Anaheim’s lineup last night while undergoing an MRI on his knee but indicated to reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) that he is day-to-day and expects to avoid a trip to the injured list after the test revealed inflammation in his left knee. That Sano won’t require a trip to the IL is surely a relief for the Angels, as the soon-to-be 31-year-old has taken over the third base job with the club while Anthony Rendon is out with a partially torn hamstring. Through 71 trips to the plate this season, Sano has hit a respectable .262/.352/.361 (110 wRC+), though much of that production has been thanks to an unsustainable .441 BABIP.

Yankees Claim Michael Tonkin, Designate McKinley Moore

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed right-hander Michael Tonkin off waivers from the Mets. He had been designated for assignment by the Mets earlier this week. To open a roster spot for Tonkin, right-hander McKinley Moore was designated for assignment.

Tonkin, 34, has been getting passed around the league so far this year. He was non-tendered by Atlanta at the end of last season and then signed a major league deal with the Mets. Shortly after the season started, he was designated for assignment and went to the Twins on a cash deal but then returned to the Mets on waivers. Now he’s on the move yet again and will join the Yankees.

Amid all those transactions, he has managed to throw nine innings on the year. He’s allowed six earned runs for a flat earned run average of 6.00, which obviously isn’t too impressive, but the peripherals are solid. He has struck out 23.9% of batters faced while walking 8.7% of them and keeping 44.4% of balls in play on the ground, with all of those rate stats coming in fairly close to league averages.

With Atlanta last year, he tossed 80 innings over 45 appearances. He had a 4.28 ERA in that time, as well as a 23.1% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 38.3% ground ball rate. He’s clearly an attractive enough bullpen arm that teams keep grabbing him but he’s also out of options and keeps getting squeezed.

Since he’s out of options, the Yankees will need to make room for him on the active roster whenever he reports to the team. Of their bullpen arms, Ian Hamilton, Ron Marinaccio and Cody Morris all have options and could be sent down. Hamilton isn’t likely the one to be packing his bag since he’s entered a high-leverage role for the Yankees. He had two saves and five holds last year and has already added four more holds this year.

To get Tonkin onto the 40-man, the Yankees have bumped off Moore. He’s only been with the Yanks a short time, having been claimed off waivers from the Phillies in February. He has made two appearances for the Triple-A club but walked six of the nine batters he faced.

That continues a pattern of control problems for the righty. He walked 23.8% of batters faced in his major league debut last year. In his 20 1/3 innings of minor league work in 2023, he struck out 40.7% of batters faced but also gave free passes to 24.2% of them.

The Yankees will now have one week to trade McKinley or pass him through waivers. The control problems will obviously be a concern to other teams but Moore’s also struck out 32.6% of batters faced throughout his entire minor league career. He averaged 97.2 miles per hour on his fastball during his MLB debut last year while also throwing a sweeper and a changeup. He still has a couple of options and could perhaps appeal to a club looking for a long-term project.

Latest On DJ LeMahieu

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6:23pm: LeMahieu experienced right foot soreness and was removed after one inning, the Yankees announced (X link via Joyce). He’ll return to New York for further evaluation tomorrow.

5:31pm: The Yankees announced that infielder DJ LeMahieu has been sent to Double-A Somerset to start a rehab assignment. LeMahieu is leading off tonight’s game and playing third base, per the X account of the Patriots.

LeMahieu, 35, was supposed to be the club’s everyday third baseman here in 2024 but a Spring Training injury scuttled those plans. The veteran fouled a ball of his foot and was initially diagnosed with a bone bruise. After the swelling didn’t go down, he went for a second MRI, which revealed a non-displaced fracture. He was set to begin a rehab assignment this past weekend but his foot still wasn’t healing enough and the rehab assignment was pushed back by a few days.

Manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that the plan is for LeMahieu to play four games and possibly rejoin the Yanks in time for their series against the Orioles next week.

The club is surely excited to welcome LeMahieu back but they will have a bit of a tricky decision to make in terms of distributing playing time. The veteran has hit .258/.345/.375 since the start of 2021 while battling various injuries. That’s still amounts to a 106 wRC+, indicating he was six percent better than league average in that time. But the Yankees were surely hoping for more, especially since he hit .336/.386/.536 for a 146 wRC+ over 2019 and 2020, before they re-signed him to a six-year, $90MM contract.

To start this year, Oswaldo Cabrera has taken over at the hot corner and is out to a great start. He’s hitting .290/.324/.478 so far on the young season, production that leads to a wRC+ of 133. That’s a small sample of 74 plate appearances, which means it likely doesn’t carry as much weight as LeMahieu’s career numbers, but the Yanks probably want to keep riding the hot hand.

Each of Cabrera and LeMahieu are capable of playing different positions, so the club will have some flexibility. First baseman Anthony Rizzo and second baseman Gleyber Torres are both out to slow starts, so perhaps they could get some breathers when LeMahieu and Cabrera are both healthy and looking for playing time.

Elsewhere in Yankee news, Gerrit Cole threw 50 pitches from a distance of 120 feet today, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. It hasn’t yet been decided when he’ll move to mound work, but Boone said it could be as soon as next week, per Greg Joyce of The New York Post.

Needless to say, any progress from Cole is a good development for the Yankees. The reigning American League Cy Young made just one official appearance during Spring Training before some elbow issues popped up. Since he wasn’t recovering as expected between throwing sessions, the club shut him down and sent him for testing. He was eventually recommended for non-surgical rehab and has been on that path for the past month or so.

Cole is on the 60-day injured list and won’t be eligible to return until late May at the earliest. Even if he begins throwing off a mound soon, he’ll likely need to redo Spring Training from scratch, meaning he’ll be out beyond that timeframe anyhow. His eventual return date will naturally be determined by how his arm holds up as he continues building up in the weeks to come.

Yankees Outright Kevin Smith

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that infielder Kevin Smith has been assigned outright to Triple-A. The news comes on the heels of Smith being designated for assignment earlier this week to make room for recently-claimed outfielder Taylor Trammell on the 40-man roster.

Smith, 27, was a fourth-round pick by the Blue Jays in the 2017 draft and is perhaps best known as part of the four-player package Toronto sent to the A’s in exchange for third baseman Matt Chapman. Smith made his big league debut with Toronto in 2021 prior to being moved and ultimately appeared in 96 games with Oakland across two seasons before he was non-tendered by the club back in November.

Smith eventually joined the Yankees on a minor league deal back in January and managed to crack the club’s major league roster last weekend following the placement of utility veteran Jon Berti on the injured list, leading the Yankees to replace Smith’s minor league deal with a fresh big league contract. Unfortunately for Smith, he made just one appearance in a Yankees uniform and did not record a plate appearance before being designated for assignment last week.

When Smith has found playing time at the big league level, he’s generally struggled offensively. In 114 games with the Blue Jays and A’s dating back to his debut in 2021, Smith has hit a lackluster .173/.215/.301 with a 31.2% strikeout rate and a wRC+ of 44 throughout his big league career. While those numbers leave much to be desired, Smith’s respectable .282/.352/.523 career slash line at the Triple-A level and his experience at all four infield spots as well as both outfield corners leave reason for hope that he could be a useful depth piece for a big league club in need at some point.

For now, however, Smith will return to the minor leagues with the Yankees as the infielder has neither the requisite service time nor a previous outright assignment on his resume that would allow him to reject the move in favor of free agency. Going forward, Smith will serve as non-roster depth for the Yankees and hope for another opportunity to join the club’s bench mix at some point this season, competing with youngster Jorbit Vivas as well as fellow non-roster veterans Rougned Odor, Josh VanMeter, and Jordan Groshans.

AL East Notes: Pivetta, LeMahieu, Tiedemann

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Nick Pivetta threw a bullpen session today, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) a rough timeline of when the righty might return from the right flexor strain that sent Pivetta to the 15-day injured list on April 6.  Cora outlined that Pivetta is around 10 days away from facing live hitters and then will get probably two minor league rehab starts, so if all goes well, Pivetta should be back in Boston’s rotation by around the middle of May.

There was some initial hope that Pivetta could miss just the minimum 15 days when he first went on the IL, yet it isn’t surprising that Pivetta and the Sox are showing extra precaution with a flexor injury.  Cora said that Pivetta “felt good today” after the bullpen, which is a nice first step in the recovery process.  The IL stint interrupted a great start to the season for the righty, who looked flat out dominant in posting an 0.82 ERA over his first two outings and 11 innings of the 2024 campaign.

Some items from around the AL East…

  • DJ LeMahieu was set to begin a minor league rehab assignment yesterday, but an MRI revealed that his right foot fracture hadn’t entirely healed.  The infielder could still begin his assignment as early as Tuesday, though “we’re just being conservative with this thing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told ESPN News Services and other media.  “He’s doing really well and I know he feels ready to go, but the foot specialist has weighed in.  We want to make sure this thing’s 100 percent.”  LeMahieu suffered the injury about a month ago after fouling a ball off his foot in Spring Training, and is healthy enough to partake in such baseball activities as batting practice and fielding drills, even if he hasn’t gotten the green light for rehab games just yet.
  • Blue Jays pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann underwent an MRI on Thursday to explore discomfort in his throwing elbow, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reports (X link).  Tiedemann was already placed on the Triple-A injured list earlier this week, and perhaps ominously, there haven’t yet been any updates over the MRI results.  Shoulder and biceps problems limited Tiedemann to only 44 total minor league innings in 2023, and while a potential Major League debut is seemingly on the horizon for the southpaw this season, the Jays’ first priority is just rebuilding Tiedemann’s arm strength and getting him back in the groove of regular starting assignments.  Tiedemann is ranked as both Toronto’s top prospect and one of the better pitching prospects in all of baseball, though he has been shaky in posting a 5.63 ERA over three starts and eight innings for Triple-A Buffalo this season, with more walks (nine) than innings pitched.
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