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Health Notes: Verdugo, Mikolas, Buxton, Buttrey

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As spring training gets rolling in earnest, news continues to trickle out about various players’ health situations. We’ll collect the latest here.

  • Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo has a stress fracture in his lower back, the team told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive). The organization is comfortable with Verdugo’s progression but unsurprisingly plans to take things slowly in the early going, Cotillo notes. Interim manager Ron Roenicke acknowledged to reporters (including Cotillo) that “if everything goes right, he still might not be ready for Opening Day.” That’ll surely raise some eyebrows among Sox fans, but the organization was fully aware of the issue at the time they made the Mookie Betts trade, reiterates Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (on Twitter). Surgery won’t be necessary, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, but this is the firmest indication we’ve heard yet that Verdugo is likely to start the season on the shelf. Of course, Boston finalized a deal with Kevin Pillar yesterday. He figures to take on a significant role if Verdugo ends up sidelined.
  • The prognosis seems to be better for Twins center fielder Byron Buxton. Buxton hit off a tee today and hopes to progress to soft toss by next week, per various reports (including from Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com and Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic). Per Gleeman, manager Rocco Baldelli expressed optimism earlier this week that Buxton could return from the shoulder surgery that ended his 2019 season by Opening Day.
  • Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas is working back from a flexor injury and could be delayed in spring training, the team told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Mikolas had some recurring flexor soreness last season, Goold adds, although the hope was that a postseason PRP injection and rest would alleviate the issue. With the soreness having cropped back up, Mikolas is likely ticketed for an MRI, Goold reports. Notably, manager Mike Shildt stressed to Goold that the injury is likely not indicative of any damage to the UCL, which would obviously have been quite problematic. It doesn’t seem there’s overwhelming cause for concern just yet. Of course, it’s not ideal for a key member of the St. Louis rotation to be dealing with arm soreness this early in the season. (UPDATE: Mikolas underwent an MRI this morning, Goold tweets. The exam did not reveal any ligament damage, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com).
  • Angels reliever Ty Buttrey suffered an intercostal strain and will be out for one or two weeks, manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). The club still anticipates he’ll be a full-go by Opening Day. The 26-year-old posted a 3.98 ERA with a strong combination of strikeouts (27.2%) and walks (7.4%) in 2019. The former Red Sox prospect figures to be a key bullpen piece for Maddon in the latter’s first year at the helm in Anaheim.

Angels Outright Parker Markel

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The Angels announced that righty Parker Markel has been outrighted after clearing waivers. He was designated recently to make way for the addition of another hurler.

This’ll give the Halos another arm in camp without any real commitment. Markel hasn’t actually appeared with the club; he was added in an early-offseason trade with the Pirates for cash considerations.

Markel, 29, scuffled badly last year when he first got a shot in the majors. But he earned his way up with an interesting arsenal — a 50/50 mix of a mid-nineties fastball and slider. Markel turned in a 1.74 ERA in his 41 1/3 Triple-A frames, logging an eye-popping 16.3 K/9 to go with 5.7 BB/9.

MLBTR Poll: Ohtani’s 2020 As A Pitcher

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It was revealed earlier this week that the Angels will go without the pitching of two-way star Shohei Ohtani until at least the middle of May. It’s not wholly unsurprising that Ohtani won’t be ready at the start of 2020. After all, he’s on the mend from a rather serious surgical procedure – the dreaded Tommy John – that he underwent in October 2018. Considering his value to the franchise, there’s no need for the Angels to rush Ohtani back if they’re not fully confident in his health.

All that said, it’s disappointing that Ohtani has pitched so few innings since the Angels brought him over from Japan prior to 2018. The latest news is especially damaging when considering that the team hasn’t added a front-line starter since last season, even though expectations were that it would pick up at least one over the winter. The Angels, stuck in a five-year playoff drought, did get Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran, but they’re more back-end innings-eaters than standouts. On the other hand, Ohtani has the ability to produce No. 1- or 2-type numbers for the club this year, but it’s obvious it’ll be over an abbreviated amount of innings.

The lack of frames Ohtani has racked up since he joined the Angels is no doubt a letdown – not that it’s his fault. He came to the majors as one of the most ballyhooed international free agents ever – someone often called the Japanese Babe Ruth – and has not faltered when healthy. Ohtani tossed 51 2/3 innings of 3.31 ERA/3.57 FIP ball with 10.97 K/9 and 3.83 BB/9 as a major league rookie, averaging just under 97 mph on his fastball along the way. It was a dazzling display overall, and Ohtani truly showed what he’s capable of when he threw seven scoreless, one-hit innings of 12-strikeout ball against the Athletics in his second career start.

Ohtani remained really good through his initial season, though injuries were an issue, thus limiting him to two major league pitching appearances from the start of June through the end of the year. We haven’t been treated to Ohtani the pitcher since Sept. 2, 2018, and we’ll have to wait at least a few more months to get another look at that aspect of his game.

Fortunately for the Angels and baseball in general, Ohtani’s no one-trick pony. He’s also quite an offensive player, having slashed .286/.351/.532 (136 wRC+) with 40 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 792 plate appearances since he emigrated from his homeland.

At the very least, the 25-year-old Ohtani is in line to help the Angels as a designated hitter throughout the entirety of the upcoming campaign. But how much of an impact do you think he’ll make as a hurler when he officially returns from surgery? Vote in the polls below…

(Innings poll link for app users)

(ERA poll link for app users)

Angels Notes: Maddon, Cubs, Anderson, Pena, Soriano

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Joe Maddon is pleased to be returning to the Angels organization as the team’s new manager, the veteran skipper tells ESPN.com’s Alden Gonzalez.  Rumors about Maddon taking over the managerial post swirled for much of last season, and the Angels ended up being the only team Maddon officially interviewed with, after a dinner with owner Arte Moreno, team president John Carpino and GM Billy Eppler.  “I just thought it would’ve been disingenuous to accept interviews with anyone else if I truly wanted to be here.  And then, after it was all set and done, it couldn’t have been more obvious it was the right thing to do for me,” Maddon said.

Maddon also touched on his departure from Chicago, telling Gonzalez that he decided during the 2019 season that he was ready to move on from the team.  There was heavy speculation that the Cubs were planning a managerial change when no extension talks were held with Maddon prior to his last year under contract, and Maddon said some “philosophical differences” emerged following what was perceived as a disappointing 2018 season.  The front office “wanted to control more of what was occurring in just about everything,” Maddon said, as “when I started there — ’15, ’16, ’17 — it was pretty much my methods. And then all of a sudden, after ’18 going into ’19, they wanted to change everything.”

Interestingly, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein provided something of a counterpoint to Maddon’s statement, telling The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma that he didn’t feel any “philosophical differences” existed with Maddon.  Epstein didn’t entirely deny that the front office played a larger role in 2019, as while he didn’t see the extra attention as overly controlling, he felt he had to address what he saw as a “growing organizational complacency” in the clubhouse.  “I think his [Maddon’s] approach was more that things will work themselves out.  These are great players, let them play and these things will work out,” Epstein said.  “From my perspective, there was a little bit more cause for concern.  It wasn’t an everyday thing that I would try to step in and offer feedback, help and remind about expectations.”

Some more out of Anaheim…

  • Right-hander Justin Anderson will be out for four-to-six weeks and will begin the season on the injured list, Maddon told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters.  Anderson suffered a Grade 2 strain in his left oblique while playing catch on Tuesday.  The 27-year-old is entering his third season in Los Angeles and looking to improve on an injury-hampered 2019 that saw Anderson post a 5.55 ERA over 47 relief innings, while battling a trapezoid issue.
  • Maddon also provided an update (to the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters) on right-hander Felix Pena, who is expected to be ready for Opening Day.  Pena tore his right ACL last August and had a projected recovery time of six-to-nine months, though it seems as if Pena is progressing well and won’t require the long end of that projection.  Pena has a 4.38 ERA, 8.9 K/9, and 3.00 K/BB rate over 189 innings since the Angels acquired him in a deal with the Cubs during the 2017-18 offseason, with Pena starting 24 of his 41 games as a semi-regular rotation fill-in for the Halos’ many pitching injuries.  Most notably, Pena tossed the final seven innings of the Angels’ combined no-hitter on July 12, entering the game as the bulk pitcher after opener Taylor Cole.
  • Angels pitching prospect Jose Soriano will miss the entire 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports (Twitter link).  At the end of last season, MLB Pipeline ranked the right-hander as the ninth-best minor leaguer in the Angels’ farm system, praising Soriano’s “electric fastball” that sits in the 97-98mph range and a breaking ball that “trends towards being a plus pitch.”  The 21-year-old Soriano is coming off a solid season spent mostly at A-ball Burlington, posting a 2.55 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.75 K/BB rate over 77 2/3 innings (starting 15 of 17 games).

Eppler: “Nothing Active Right Now”

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Angels GM Billy Eppler addressed the media after a busy, but perhaps still incomplete roster-building effort this winter. He says there’s “nothing active right now” when it comes to trade talks, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.

That’s further indication that the team won’t be revisiting the deal that would’ve brought in Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling from the Dodgers. It also suggests that there’s no alternative arrangement already in the works.

Still, the Halos are understandably still scanning the market. Eppler says the club is “open” to bringing in another experienced rotation option — “if it fits and it makes sense.”

With news emerging that Shohei Ohtani won’t be in the rotation to open the season, the need is even more clear. As things stand, the staff is fronted by veterans Andrew Heaney, Julio Teheran, and Dylan Bundy. Younger pitchers such as Griffin Canning, Jaime Barria, Patrick Sandoval, and Jose Suarez would battle for the other two spots.

It’s still reasonable to hope that Ohtani will provide top-end results once he is back. And most of these hurlers have some degree of upside. But there’s an awful lot of uncertainty for a club that has clear designs on a return to the postseason this year.

Shohei Ohtani Expected To Return To Mound In Mid-May

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The Angels hope to turn Shohei Ohtani back into a two-way performer rather early in the 2020 season — just not quite as soon as might have been hoped. He’s presently on track to step back into the rotation in mid-May, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (Twitter link).

It’s generally promising to hear that Ohtani has a course charted for polishing off his Tommy John surgery rehab. But it’s not an especially speedy track. Ohtani received his new ulnar collateral ligament on October 1st of 2018 — a procedure that was delayed to allow him to continue serving as a DH late in that immensely impressive rookie campaign.

It was all but inevitable that Ohtani wouldn’t be able to pitch in 2019. There was never any effort to rush him back — for obvious reasons, given his immense long-term value. But it always seemed reasonable to presume that the uber-talented 25-year-old would be ready to roll at the start of the 2020 campaign, at which time he’ll be more than 18 months removed from his surgery.

Ohtani will still be able to serve as a DH from the jump. But missing another six weeks of his mound work — if indeed he’s able to throw in the majors at the projected point — dents the Halos’ hopes to turn in an impressive start-to-finish season that breaks a postseason drought. Toppling the Astros obviously won’t be easy.

This news adds to the impetus to get another arm in the stable. We discussed that matter earlier today in the context of the team’s collapsed bid to acquire Ross Stripling.

Details On Collapse Of Dodgers-Angels Trade

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The second (or perhaps third) prong of the Mookie Betts blockbuster involved a cross-town swap between the Dodgers and Angels. But when the first iteration of the Betts agreement became bogged down in health concerns and re-negotiations, the intra-LA deal fell apart.

Accordingly, as things stand, the Dodgers still employ outfielder Joc Pederson and swingman Ross Stripling — two rather talented players — along with prospect Andy Pages. And intriguing young infielder Luis Rengifo remains with the Halos, along with whatever other players would’ve been included.

In theory, there’s nothing stopping the teams from resurrecting this agreement. It arguably would suit the Dodgers even better now, as the final version of the Betts swap cost the team an upper-level infielder and brought in a high-ceiling swingman with some MLB experience to go with veteran starter David Price. Adding Rengifo while parting with Stripling would restore much of the prior balance in the Dodgers’ roster situation. While Pederson is hardly extraneous now that Betts is on hand, his role obviously won’t be as robust.

Given the nature of the termination of talks, though, a revival doesn’t seem likely. Per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (subscription link), Angels owner Arte Moreno personally halted the prospective agreement as uncertainty lingered. His specific intentions aren’t known entirely, though as Ardaya writes, he has certainly operated with vigor and urgency of late after a string of disappointing seasons.

It’s interesting to wonder what could come next. For the Angels, there’s obviously a desire to add a rotation piece and perhaps pick up some more offense. And the club is willing to part with Rengifo in the right circumstances. It stands to reason that the Halos will continue working the phone lines even as Spring Training opens. Some rather notable candidates remain available, at least in theory, though at this point teams have likely already made their prices known.

And what of the Dodgers, who had notified Pederson that he was being sent out to Anaheim? These two veterans are still quite useful but will now enter uncertain situations with the knowledge they had been deemed expendable. No doubt the club would rather shed some salary and cash them both in for a younger, more flexible asset — as had been the plan when this deal came together. It’s possible the team will have shifting interest in talks involving these players. The ultimate Betts deal involved different pieces than had been expected. No doubt the Dodgers will be interested in any scenario that conveys long-term value and roster flexibility.

Whether there’s more action to come over the coming weeks is anyone’s guess. But the potential energy for movement is undeniable.

Angels Claim Jose Quijada, Designate Parker Markel

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The Angels announced that they have claimed lefty Jose Quijada off waivers from the Marlins. Righty Parker Markel was designated to create roster space.

The Halos will try to tap into the upside of Quijada, who got quite a few swings in his 2019 debut despite relying heavily upon his fastball. He also coughed up 26 walks, 19 earned runs, and 10 home runs in his first 29 2/3 MLB frames. Over seventy career Triple-A innings, Quijada carries a 3.73 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9.

Markel also debuted in 2019, though he’s already 29 years of age. He throws a 95+ mph heater and a slider with about equal frequency, but didn’t draw a stand-out number of swinging strikes (just over ten percent) in the majors last year. He was hammered in his 22 debut innings, surrendering 19 earned runs with a 24:17 K/BB ratio. But Markel was much better in the upper minors last year, throwing 41 1/3 innings of 1.74 ERA ball with a hefty 16.3 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9.

Joc Pederson To Angels Trade Falls Through

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At least one leg of the Mookie Betts marathon trade has fallen through. The Dodgers and Angels will not complete their previously agreed upon deal, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The nails of the deal would have sent Joc Pederson , Ross Stripling and prospect Andy Pages to the Angels in exchange for Luis Rengifo.

Angels owner Arte Moreno was reportedly unhappy with the delay of the original deal, but it’s unclear if that’s the driving factor in the breakdown of this deal. Per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the terms of the original deal were dependent upon the original Betts trade. The final iteration of the deal that landed Betts in Los Angeles made this subsequent trade “unnecessary.” It’s entirely unclear at this time if the Dodgers or Angels are putting the kibosh on the deal at this stage, per Rosenthal.

It doesn’t make a lot of intuitive sense that the newest iteration of the Betts trade would make the Pederson leg moot. The new trade actually sends an additional outfielder to the Dodgers (Luke Raley from Minnesota), as well as an additional pitcher in Brusdar Graterol who could fill much the same role that Stripling has in years past. They are also sending money to Minnesota, which would presumably encourage the egress of player payroll in the form of Pederson and/or Stripling. With Betts, Cody Bellinger, and some collection of A.J. Pollock, Chris Taylor, Matt Beaty and Enrique Hernandez on hand to man the outfield (before dipping into their depth in Triple-A), Pederson certainly represents a moveable piece.

He should be an attractive trade chip at that, given his affordable $7.75MM expiring contract this season and ~127 wRC+ over the past two seasons. The Dodgers shouldn’t struggle to find a trade partner for Stripling either, should they reengage on that front. Stripling is owed just $2.1MM this season and he’s controllable for another two beyond. The Dodgers have been able to somewhat protect the 30-year-old because of their depth, but he has nonetheless put up solid numbers: 3.51 ERA/3.60 FIP across 387 innings over the past four seasons with an All-Star appearance to his credit. It certainly makes sense for somebody to give Stripling the opportunity to start full-time, should the Dodgers look to move him again.

Quick Hits: Joc, Graterol, Mets, Cohen

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Outfielder Joc Pederson is currently in limbo, waiting to find out whether the Dodgers will actually trade him to the Angels. He’s still a member of the Dodgers for now, though, and they defeated him in arbitration Friday. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) sheds more light on the process, writing that the Dodgers bolstered their case by arguing that Pederson’s merely a platoon player. They’re not necessarily wrong – the 27-year-old left-handed hitter has fared miserably versus southpaw pitchers since he made his major league debut in 2014. However, those on the MLBPA side feel it was problematic that the Dodgers were even in position to battle Pederson, per Rosenthal. There’s an argument that Pederson’s hearing should have been tabled because of the holdup in the Dodgers-Angels trade centering on him. Indeed, Rosenthal reports that the union and Pederson’s representatives at Excel Sports Management filed a motion for a delay in his arbitration hearing. Nevertheless, it ended up taking place on schedule, and the Dodgers – who could soon be his ex-team – came out on top.

  • The reason the Pederson trade hasn’t gone down yet is the delay in the Mookie Betts swap featuring the Red Sox, Dodgers and Twins. The Red Sox are reportedly wary of the health of Twins righty Brusdar Graterol, who’s one of at least two players they’ll get back in the deal. They seem worried he’s destined to be a reliever, not a starter. But Graterol’s agent, Scott Boras, insisted Friday that his client still has an opportunity to become a starter in the majors (via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe).  “I had this conversation with the Minnesota staff,” Boras said. “There’s a very clear probability that this player will return to be a starting pitcher.” While Graterol’s a past Tommy John surgery patient who missed a large chunk of time last year with a shoulder impingement, doctors have informed Boras that the 21-year-old will be fine going forward. “No doctor has told me that there is anything about his future going forward other than that it is very bright and he has no limitations,” Boras stated.
  • The Mets’ potential sale to minority owner Steve Cohen fell through Thursday, and now it’s possible he won’t be able to purchase another team, according to Josh Kosman and Thornton McEnery of the New York Post. The belief of the Mets and MLB is that Cohen “acted in bad faith” during negotiations, Kosman and McEnery write. Cohen had been working to buy the franchise for $2.6 billion, but he attempted to change the payment schedule, and he may have wanted to lower the overall sum. And while Cohen wouldn’t have been in line to become New York’s control person until 2025, he’d have wanted input into how the Mets were run before then. That didn’t fly for the Wilpons, the Mets’ current owners. However, the Wilpons still plan to sell the club to a different buyer.
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