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Keynan Middleton To Undergo Season-Ending Flexor Tendon Surgery

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Cardinals right-hander Keynan Middleton will undergo surgery to repair his flexor tendon and will miss the entire 2024 season. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was among those to relay the news on X.

Middleton, 30, signed with the Cardinals this offseason on a one-year deal with a $6MM guarantee. He’s making a $5MM salary this year and there’s a $1MM buyout on a $6MM club option for 2025.

The Cards were hoping to install Middleton as a key piece of their relief unit after his strong 2023 season. Between the White Sox and Yankees, Middleton tossed 50 2/3 innings last year with a 3.38 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he also struck out 30.2% of batters faced and got grounders on 56.6% of balls in play.

Middleton was undoubtedly hoping to build on that campaign and put another strong year together, but it will instead be a lost year for him. He was shut down in the middle of March due to a forearm strain and began the season on the injured list. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection while trying to recover and progressed far enough that he began a rehab assignment. But he then experienced renewed discomfort and was shut down. Now that it has been determined surgery is necessary, he’ll be sidelined for the remainder of the year.

Injuries have been an unfortunately common occurrence for Middleton in his career. He underwent Tommy John surgery back in May of 2018, wiping out the remainder of that season and much of the subsequent campaign as well. In later years, he made trips to the injured list due to a right biceps strain, right elbow inflammation, a right ankle strain and a sprained left great toe. Even last year, when he was healthy enough to make 51 appearances, he missed a couple of weeks due to right shoulder inflammation.

He’s already on the 15-day IL and will be transferred to the 60-day version whenever the Cards need his roster spot for some other transaction. He’ll spend the rest of the year rehabbing and the Cards will then have to decide whether or not they want to bring him back for 2025, a net $5MM decision. Flexor tendon surgery generally has a lesser recovery timetable than other major elbow surgeries and it’s possible Middleton will be healthy by next spring, but the Cards might just take the buyout and keep the $5MM available for other moves, as they could always circle back to Middleton later in the offseason if he’s recovering well.

The Cards have Ryan Helsley as their closer and will give setup work to guys like JoJo Romero and Andrew Kittredge for now. If the club stays in the playoff race for the next few weeks, they will likely pursue some bullpen help prior to the deadline.

Tony Scott Passes Away

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Former major league player and coach Tony Scott recently passed away, per various sources, including Brent Maguire of MLB.com. Scott was 72 years old. A cause of death was not provided.

Scott was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1951. He attended Withrow High School in Cincinnati and the Montreal Expos selected him out of that school in the 71st round of the 1969 draft. He eventually made it to the big leagues with the Expos in 1973, the first of 11 major league seasons he would play in as a speed-and-defense outfielder.

That first season saw him get into 11 games but mostly as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, as he only stepped to the plate once. It was fairly similar in 1974, as he got into 19 contests but only receive eight plate appearances.

He finally got somewhat regular playing time in 1975, getting 159 trips to the plate over 92 games for Montreal that year. He stole five bases but was caught six times and hit just .182/.258/.238. He was kept in the minors in 1976 but performed well for Triple-A Denver, slashing .311/.361/.503 while stealing 18 bases in 24 tries.

In November of that year, he was traded to the Cardinals alongside Steve Dunning and Pat Scanlon, with Bill Greif, Sam Mejías and Ángel Torres going the other way. Scott got fairly regular playing time in St. Louis, getting into 487 games during the 1977-80 seasons. He hit .258/.313/.343 in his 1,663 plate appearances and also swiped 77 bags.

Midway through the 1981 campaign, the Cards traded him to the Astros for Joaquín Andújar. Scott played a fairly similar role with the Astros for a few years before being released in 1984. He returned to his original organization by signing with the Expos in June of that year, spending a couple of months with them in what eventually turned out to be his final stint as a major league player. He finished his playing career with 991 games played and 699 hits, including 17 home runs. He batted .249 and stole 125 bases.

After his playing career ended, Scott pivoted to coaching. He worked as a minor league coach in the Phillies’ system from 1989 to 2000 and was a part of the major league coaching staff in 2000 and 2001.

We at MLBTR send our condolences to Scott’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches and all those mourning him at this time.

Keynan Middleton To Receive Second Opinion On Forearm Strain

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Cardinals right-hander Keynan Middleton is set to receive a second opinion regarding his strained forearm, manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) yesterday. Denton added earlier today that Middleton is set to travel to New York to receive the second opinion from Yankees physician Dr. Christian Ahmad on Monday, with Denton noting that Ahmad is described as an “expert” on Tommy John surgery on his business website.

That’s certainly an ominous update regarding Middleton, who the Cardinals signed to be a key piece of their set-up mix this year but has yet to pitch a regular season inning in a Cardinals uniform due to the injury, which sidelined him during Spring Training. The 30-year-old seemed to be nearing a return in mid-May but the Cardinals relayed last week that he had suffered a setback and that the club was now concerned about damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. Surgery on Middleton’s UCL, whether it were an internal brace procedure or Tommy John surgery, would surely end the veteran’s season before it could begin while potentially impacting the 2025 campaign for the righty as well.

Prior to signing with the Cardinals on a one-year, $6MM deal this past winter, Middleton delivered an impressive 2023 campaign split between the White Sox and the Yankees where he pitched to a 3.38 ERA in 51 appearances. He performed especially well in 14 1/3 innings of work down the stretch with the Yankees last year that saw him post a 1.88 ERA while striking out 30.4% of batters faced. Last season constituted something of a breakout campaign for the 30-year-old, as he entered the 2023 campaign with a rather pedestrian ERA of 4.01 for his career across 143 2/3 innings of work with the Angels, Mariners, and Diamondbacks.

If Middleton were to go under the knife, it would be a tough blow for a St. Louis club that has also weathered injuries to Nick Robertson and Giovanny Gallegos in its bullpen mix. Fortunately for the Cardinals, they’re better situated to weather the loss of a high-upside relief arm than many clubs thanks to the fantastic performance the club has gotten out of closer Ryan Helsley, lefty JoJo Romero, and veteran Andrew Kitteredge at the back of their bullpen. That trio has combined to post a 2.26 ERA in 75 2/3 innings of work while racking up 75 strikeouts against just 16 walks as a group.

While the news regarding Middleton is certainly ominous, Marmol also provided a more positive injury update yesterday, as relayed by Denton (X link). Left-hander Steven Matz is set to throw what Marmol described as a “full intensity” bullpen session tomorrow, and if the veteran recovers well in the aftermath of that session he could head out for a minor league rehab assignment in the near future. That would be a significant relief for the Cardinals, who have been forced to turn to depth options like Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante to fill out the club’s rotation while Matz has been out nursing a protruding disc in his back. Matz had struggled to a 6.18 ERA in six starts with the club prior to going on the injured list but could be a valuable piece once healthy, as indicated by his 3.86 ERA (114 ERA+) and 3.75 FIP in 105 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen last year.

Cardinals Place Lars Nootbaar On Injured List

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The Cardinals announced Friday that outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with an oblique strain. Infielder Jose Fermin is up from Triple-A Memphis to take Nootbaar’s spot on the active roster. St. Louis also announced that reliever Giovanny Gallegos is headed to Memphis on a minor league rehab assignment.

Nootbaar, 26, missed the first two weeks of the season with a rib injury and will now head back to the injured list. He’s out to a .234/.337/.404 start to the season, with plenty of underlying indicators that improved performance could be on the horizon once healthy. Nootbaar’s 13.4% walk rate remains characteristically excellent, as does his 20.6% chase rate on pitches off the plate. He’s been slightly more aggressive on pitches within the strike zone this season, and Nootbaar’s 92.1 mph average exit velocity, 21.7% line-drive rate and massive 52.8% hard-hit rate are all career-high marks. Given the plate discipline and quality of contact, an uptick in his offensive output seems quite likely — provided this oblique injury doesn’t hinder him upon his return.

With Nootbaar headed to the injured list, the Cardinals will likely give more playing time in right field to Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson. The switch-hitting Carlson is the vastly superior defender but has also posted a woeful .139/.244/.139 slash in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. Burleson is a poor defender but sports a far more impactful .289/.321/.428 slash with five homers in 160 turns at the plate.

Fermin was up with the big league club earlier this season but went just 3-for-18 with a trio of singles in that brief look. The 25-year-old has decimated Triple-A pitching this season, raking at a .346/.461/.615 pace with six homers and 10 doubles to along with a 10-for-10 showing in attempted stolen bases. He’s walked 19 times — a hearty 14.8% rate — against a minuscule five punchouts in Memphis this year (3.9%).

Gallegos, 32, allowed a dozen runs in nine innings this season before landing on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement. It was a wildly out-of-character showing for the typically solid Gallegos — one that included a career-low 92.5 mph average fastball. From 2019-23, Gallegos was one of the Cardinals’ steadiest bullpen arms, logging a combined 3.14 ERA with a very strong 30.7% strikeout rate against just a 6.4% walk rate in 238 1/3 innings.

Gallegos is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract that includes a $6.5MM club option. If he looks like his typical self in his return from the IL, that’ll be an easy call for the Cardinals to pick up, but the right-hander’s disastrous start to the 2024 season has rendered what looked like a straightforward call something of an open question.

Keynan Middleton To Undergo MRI Following Setback In Rehab

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Cardinals right-hander Keynan Middleton is headed for an MRI on his right elbow and forearm this Friday, manager Oli Marmol tells the Cardinals beat (X link via John Denton of MLB.com). There’s now concern that he could require a repair or replacement of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Denton adds.

Middleton, 30, signed a one-year, $6MM free agent deal over the winter but has yet to pitch in the majors this season. He began the year on the injured list with a forearm strain suffered in spring training. The right-hander had recently progressed to a minor league rehab assignment, tossing four innings between May 14 and May 23. However, Middleton walked three of the six batters he faced and tossed a wild pitch in his final rehab appearance on May 23. He’s now headed for imaging after reporting renewed discomfort.

Any UCL procedure, be it a repair (likely an internal brace) or a replacement (Tommy John surgery) would sideline Middleton for the remainder of the season and prevent him from throwing a single big league pitch in a Cardinals uniform (barring a reunion on a minor league deal in the offseason). The Cards hold a $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout, but that’s sure to be declined if he winds up requiring elbow surgery. Even if Middleton is able to avoid going under the knife, the latest updates make it fair to expect a lengthy absence.

The Cardinals signed Middleton hoping he could be a key member of the bullpen. The former Angels setup man and closer took several years to get his career back on track following 2018 Tommy John surgery and only reemerged as a viable late-inning arm last season. From 2020-22, Middleton pitched just 60 major league innings and logged a 5.10 ERA with a 19.1% strikeout rate against a 10.7% walk rate. That led to a minor league deal with the White Sox in the 2022-23 offseason — a move that paid off handsomely for both player and team.

Middleton wound up pitching well enough with the Sox to emerge as a trade candidate. He was flipped to the Yankees in exchange for minor league pitcher Juan Carela, a now-22-year-old righty who’s tossed 66 2/3 innings of 3.24 ERA ball in High-A since the swap. Middleton continued to pitch well in pinstripes down the stretch, although he missed about three weeks in September due to shoulder inflammation. Ultimately, he finished out the season with a combined 50 2/3 innings of 3.38 ERA ball between the two clubs, fanning 30.2% of his opponents against a less-encouraging 10.8% walk rate.

For the Cardinals, Middleton is one of several bullpen arms on the shelf. Right-handers Giovanny Gallegos (shoulder impingement), Nick Robertson (elbow inflammation) and Riley O’Brien (flexor strain) are each on the injured list as well — the 60-day IL in the latter’s case. They’ve again leaned on strikeout machine Ryan Helsley in the ninth inning, but the setup corps doesn’t look the way the club expected with both Middleton and Gallegos out.

Offseason trade acquisition Andrew Kittredge has joined lefties JoJo Romero and Matthew Liberatore in picking up meaningful leverage work recently. Liberatore has also started three games but owns an 8.10 ERA out of the rotation compared to a 3.63 mark in the ’pen. It’s possible Rule 5 pickup Ryan Fernandez could work his way into more prominent spots as well. The 25-year-old notched his first MLB hold and his first save within the past two weeks. He’s sitting on a 3.32 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 44.6% grounder rate. That strong production, coupled with his recent late-inning usage, could be a portent for a bigger role as the season wears on.

Injured List Transactions: Beck, Robertson, Saucedo

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Rockies outfielder Jordan Beck suffered a fracture in his left hand while making a diving catch of a Nick Castellanos line drive in Colorado’s 8-4 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.  The injury naturally forced Beck out of the game, and the Rockies placed him on the 10-day injured list today, with outfielder Sean Bouchard called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Beck told reporters (including the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders) that he’ll undergo more tests today, and might then have a better idea of his recovery timeline.

Beck has been Colorado’s everyday left fielder since he made his MLB debut on April 30, as the Rox have wanted to take a long look at the top-100 prospect.  It hasn’t been a smooth transition for Beck, who was hitting only .190/.198/.316 with 30 strikeouts over his first 81 plate appearances in the big leagues.  The broken hand only adds to these woes, though getting to bank Major League service time while on the IL might represent some small silver lining for the 23-year-old.

Some other comings and goings from injured lists around baseball….

  • The Cardinals placed right-hander Nick Robertson on the 15-day IL (retroactive to May 23) and called up righty Andre Pallante from Triple-A Memphis.  Robertson is dealing with inflammation in his throwing elbow, but he told Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (X link) that he doesn’t believe the injury is too serious.  St. Louis acquired Robertson from the Red Sox as part of the trade package for Tyler O’Neill last December, and he has posted a 4.38 ERA over 12 1/3 innings out of the Cardinals’ bullpen.  A .364 BABIP and three homers allowed have inflated Robertson’s ERA, as his walk (3.8%) and strikeout (26.9%) rates have been impressive.
  • The Mariners reinstated left-hander Tayler Saucedo from the 15-day IL, and created roster space by optioning righty Eduard Bazardo to Triple-A.  Saucedo returns after missing just shy of three weeks due to a hyperextension of his right knee.  After emerging as a solid member of Seattle’s bullpen last year, Saucedo has been even better this season, with a 2.70 ERA and 52.8% grounder rate over his first 14 appearances and 13 1/3 innings in 2024.

Cardinals Outright Alfonso Rivas

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May 23: Rivas cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.

May 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Ryan Loutos, whose previously reported selection to the MLB roster has now been confirmed by the club. Righty Chris Roycroft was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to open space for Loutos on the active roster.

Rivas was claimed off waivers out of the Angels organization back in January. The 27-year-old has continued to show his typical keen eye at the plate in Memphis this season, walking at a hearty 12.8% rate, but he hasn’t hit for his usual average or power. Overall, he’s batting just .246/.364/.323 in 158 plate appearances with the Redbirds.

The well-traveled Rivas played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.

Tepid as his output in Memphis has been, Rivas entered the season with a lifetime .313/.424/.492 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s walked in nearly 15% of his plate appearances across five campaigns at the Triple-A level, and while he’s more of a gap hitter than true slugger — 48 doubles to just 15 homers in nearly 800 Triple-A plate appearances — he’s nevertheless been quite productive there outside this season.

Rivas has primarily been a first baseman in the minors but has a few hundred innings of corner outfield experience as a professional. He’s in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility. A club looking for a left-handed bat with strong on-base skills could potentially take a look. Rivas has been designated for assignment three prior times in his career but has never made it through waivers, so MLB clubs are clearly intrigued by his bat — even if he hasn’t yet been all that productive in the majors.

The Cardinals will have a week to trade Rivas or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can succeed in getting him through waivers, they can keep him in the organization without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. Rivas has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.

Cardinals To Promote Ryan Loutos

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The Cardinals are calling up right-hander Ryan Loutos, according to the WashU Baseball Updates X feed.  The team will need to make adjustments to both its 26-man and 40-man rosters, as Loutos isn’t on the Cards’ 40-man.

This will be the first MLB exposure for Loutos, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis who signed with the Cards as an undrafted free agent in 2021.  It means that the 25-year-old has now beaten the vast majority of players from that draft class to the majors, marking another step in Loutos’ unusual baseball career.  As Geoff Pontes of Baseball America wrote in a 2022 interview with the right-hander, “the Cardinals coveted Loutos as much for his potential fit as a front office candidate as they did for his skill as a baseball player.”  Loutos is a computer science major who has already been working with the Cardinals’ analytics department.

In terms of on-field contributions, Loutos pitched pretty well in 2022 before struggling to a 6.40 ERA over 71 2/3 relief innings at Triple-A Memphis in 2023.  Loutos had a solid 24.1% strikeout rate but also a 11.3% walk rate, and that latter number has actually gotten worse to the tune of a 13.6BB% this season.  However, Loutos also hasn’t allowed any homers, has generated a 50% grounder rate, and upped his K% to 27.3% in posting a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 frames for Memphis in 2024.

It was enough to merit Loutos a ticket to the Show, even if it might be just a short-term stint to provide a fresh arm to the St. Louis bullpen.  The Cardinals have leaned pretty hard on their pen over the last few games, so some extra help could be required when the Cards begin a series Monday with the hot-hitting Orioles.

Cardinals Notes: Liberatore, Gallegos, Middleton

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Cardinals manager Oli Marmol announced yesterday that left-hander Matthew Liberatore will be taking the ball for tomorrow’s game against the Red Sox, adding to reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) that Liberatore will remain in the rotation “for now” as the team continues to deal with the absence of left-hander Steven Matz, who is on the injured list due to a strained lower back.

The news comes on the heels of a difficult start for Liberatore earlier this week where he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings of work against the Angels while striking out just one. The lefty threw a season-high 60 pitches during the outing and appears likely to be similarly limited against Boston tomorrow, given the fact that he was moved from short relief in the bullpen to a starting role with minimal time to stretch out. Before moving to the rotation, Liberatore had been among the club’s more valuable relief arms this season, pitching to a 2.76 ERA despite a lackluster 16.4% strikeout rate in 16 1/3 innings of work.

The combination of Liberatore’s limited pitch count, struggles in the rotation, and success out of the bullpen this year make the decision to stick with him as the fifth member of the rotation a somewhat puzzling one. The club has plenty of potential alternatives to take the ball on the 40-man roster at Triple-A, as well: Left-hander Zack Thompson filled in for Sonny Gray in the rotation to open the season, albeit with shaky results of his own, while righty Andre Pallante has plenty of experience swinging between the rotation and the bullpen and has impressed in the minors so far this season. Also off to an impressive start at Triple-A is right-handed prospect Sem Robberse, who the club acquired in the Jordan Hicks trade last summer and sports a 2.64 ERA and 4.05 FIP through eight starts. Should Liberatore’s struggles in the rotation continue, it’s possible that any of those options could replace him as a member of the starting five in St. Louis.

While Liberatore’s move to the rotation has taken a solid relief option out of the equation for the Cardinals, it appears likely that reinforcements are on the way as veteran right-handers Giovanny Gallegos and Keynan Middleton both appear to be making progress toward returns from the injured list. Middleton appears to be further along between the two veterans as Jones relays that he’s scheduled to make three more rehab appearances in the coming days, including back-to-back outings on Tuesday and Wednesday, before the club makes a decision on whether or not he’s ready to return to the big league bullpen.

That timeline could see Middleton make his Cardinals debut by the end of the week after he missed the start of the season due to a forearm strain. The right-hander pitched to a 3.38 ERA and 4.20 FIP in 50 2/3 innings of work between the White Sox and the Yankees last year, including a dominant 14 1/3 inning stretch run in New York that saw him allow just three runs while striking out 30.4% of batters faced. Upon his return, Middleton figures to be in the mix for late inning opportunities alongside the likes of JoJo Romero, Ryan Helsley, and Andrew Kittredge.

Gallegos, on the other hand, was shelved earlier this month due to a shoulder impingement but appears to be on track to return in fairly short order. MLB.com’s John Denton relayed this afternoon that Gallegos is feeling better and threw a bullpen yesterday but, according to Marmol, is still building up his arm strength ahead of a return to big league action. It appears he’ll continue to do that while on a rehab assignment to the minor leagues, as Denton indicates that Gallegos is expected to head out for one in the coming days.

After many years as one of St. Louis’s most reliable set-up men, Gallegos suffered a down season in 2023 as he struggled to a roughly league average 4.42 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 55 innings of work. While even a repeat of that disappointing performance would still make him an adequate middle relief arm, Gallegos’s 2024 season got off to an awful start as he was blown up for 12 runs in just nine innings of work across 14 appearances before he was placed on the IL. While he was striking out a respectable 27.1% of batters faced, Gallegos’s walk rate ballooned to 14.6% and he allowed an whopping five home runs in those nine innings of work. Now that the righty appears to be getting healthier, he’ll look to get his season back on track as he rehabs in hopes of contributing more positively to the Cardinals bullpen upon his return.

MLBTR Podcast: Paul Skenes, The Prospect Hype Machine, Willson Contreras And Rising Catcher’s Interference Rates

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Astros continue this horrible start through the summer months, who are some players that they might swap? (33:15)
  • With the Phillies having one of the best rotations in baseball and six pitchers deep, it seems to make a guy like Mick Abel expendable. Do you think the Phillies possibly move him at the deadline? Say for a bat to possibly platoon with Nick Castellanos in right? (38:45)
  • Is there any chance the Tigers may try and sell high on Tarik Skubal? He’s an ace and it would take a lot to pry him away but Detroit just doesn’t seem like a place that’ll pay him the big bucks under Chris Ilitch’s regime. Not sure his value will ever be higher especially if they continue to play how they have in recent weeks. (46:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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