NL Notes: Voth, Haseley, Lyles
We’ll check in some NL postseason hopefuls with two weeks to play in the regular season.
- Nationals right-hander Austin Voth has pitched himself into strong consideration for a spot on the club’s postseason roster as a multi-inning reliever, manager Dave Martinez tells Mark Zuckerman of MASN. Voth has started six of his seven MLB appearances this year, but he’s thus far maxed out at 80 pitches in September as he continues to build back up from a bout of biceps tendinitis. Working 4-5 innings at a time has clicked for Voth, who has put up a 16:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12 innings this month. The Nats’ bullpen has taken its share of heat all season, so it isn’t surprising to hear Martinez contemplating giving the hot hand some important innings. Washington hasn’t yet locked down a postseason berth, of course, but Fangraphs gives them a 93.4% chance of getting to the NL Wild Card game.
- Washington’s NL East rival Philadelphia hasn’t completely closed the book on 2019, although they’re in a decidedly less favorable position. Sitting 3.5 games out in the Wild Card race with three teams to jump, Philly’s down to a 1.6% shot at the promised land, again per Fangraphs. With that in mind, the Athletic’s Matt Gelb takes a look at the Phillies’ outfield outlook for 2020, specifically through the lens of rookie Adam Haseley. The former eighth overall pick’s .263/.328/.413 slash (92 wRC+) doesn’t jump off the page at first glance, but Gelb notes it’s a surprisingly solid season for a player who was forced to the majors after just 18 Triple-A games due to unexpected developments among the big league club. The Citizens Bank Park grass could become jumbled again in 2020, depending on how the club handles Odúbel Herrera post-suspension and how they deploy utilityman Scott Kingery. It’s a worthwhile read (subscription only) for Philly fans turning their attention to next spring.
- The Brewers have climbed back to within one game of the Cubs in the NL Wild Card race, and Jordan Lyles is a big reason why, observes MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted two weeks ago that Lyles’ deadline acquisition from the division-rival Pirates was proving to be a quiet boon for the Brew Crew, and the tall righty has chipped in three sterling starts since then. As McCalvy notes, Lyles has made only small changes to his repertoire post-trade; indeed, catcher Yasmani Grandal attributed Lyles’ breakout to improved consistency in pitch execution and better sequencing. Soon to turn 29, Lyles is ticketed for free agency again this winter, where he figures to do better than the $2.05MM deal he wrapped up with Pittsburgh his last go-round.
NL Notes: Hiura, BA Awards, Freeland
With a .301/.369/.571 line, 16 home runs, and nine stolen bases in his first 295 plate appearances in the majors, Brewers infielder Keston Hiura has this season put on prominent display the skills that made him a top-10 pick in the 2017 Rule IV draft. Today comes word that the UC Irvine product is a little closer to putting those tools to further use, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets that Hiura did a full workout (including batting practice) before logging one at-bat in today’s game against the Cardinals (link). Hiura has been out with a left hamstring strain since Aug. 31. Though the club certainly awaits his return with eagerness, they have been doing just fine for themselves in Hiura’s absence. Saturday’s win brings their record to 8-2 over their last ten contests. They are now just 1.0 games back of the Cubs for the last Wild Card play-in spot.
More notes from around the NL…
- Baseball America has released their annual “Classification All-Stars” list, in which they name their All-Stars, MVPs, and Pitchers of the Year for each minor league level irrespective of league. Notably, NL prospects took home Pitcher of the Year honors at every minor league level except Double-A (a level which Tigers farmhand Matt Manning trounced in 2019). The complete list of garlanded NL pitchers includes Arizona’s Zac Gallen (Triple-A), San Diego’s Mackenzie Gore (High-A), San Francisco’s Seth Corry (Single-A), Arizona’s Luis Frias (Short Season), Miami’s Luis Palacios (Rookie), and Jerming Rosario of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization (Dominican Summer League).
- The Rockies play the Padres this weekend in a three-game series that has few relevant ramifications–aside from which team may be hung with the unflattering distinction of being the so-called cellar dweller in the NL West this year. There may be another bright spot in the offing for Colorado as their season yawns to a close, however, as word now comes that pitcher Kyle Freeland is one step closer to ending his troubled 2019 season on a positive note. Manager Bud Black told Thomas Harding of MLB.com that Freeland threw an issue-free, two-inning simulated bullpen session on Saturday–the 26-year-old’s latest step in recovery from a groin injury suffered on Aug. 21. After vexing hitters thoroughly in 2018 (2.85 ERA in 202.2 innings), this season has been a true test of faith for Freeland, as his 6.98 ERA in 99.1 innings of work was the worst mark among all pitchers who tossed more than 90 IP this year.
NL Notes: Dodgers, Brewers, Cubs, Padres
It’s “very unlikely” outfielder Alex Verdugo will return for the Dodgers’ National League Division Series matchup, manager Dave Roberts told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com and other reporters Friday (Twitter links). The rookie originally landed on the injured list Aug. 6 with a right oblique strain, but a back injury has slowed him of late. Meantime, southpaw Rich Hill – who’s dealing with a strained left MCL – will undergo an MRI on Monday. It seems iffy at best that Hill will avoid a lengthy absence, as a strained left MCL previously shelved him for the first month of the season. The injury-prone 39-year-old then missed almost two months with a forearm problem. His start Thursday, when he recorded just two outs, was his first since June 19.
Here’s more from the National League…
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel provided a couple injury updates Friday on the Brewers, who are now a game behind the NL’s second wild-card position (Twitter links). Top starter Brandon Woodruff is still on track to return in the next week, but it’s unclear whether he’ll start or relieve. Woodruff will throw a bullpen session Saturday as he continues working back from the oblique strain he suffered July 21. And catcher Manny Pina, out with a concussion since Sept. 5, isn’t recovering as quickly as the team hoped he would, according to manager Craig Counsell. The Brewers have “to stack some good days in a row” for Pina before he’s capable of returning, Counsell said. Milwaukee has been in fine shape behind the plate without Pina, of course, as it boasts one of the game’s elite catchers in Yasmani Grandal.
- The Cubs promoted executive Jason McLeod to senior vice president of player personnel, which could keep him in their front office for at least a little while longer. But McLeod said this week that his goal is to run a team’s baseball department, per Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic (subscription required). “I do aspire to someday lead an organization,” said McLeod, who has been on GM-needy clubs’ radars in the past. He interviewed for that position with the Giants last year, though they instead went on to hire Farhan Zaidi as their president of baseball operations.
- Padres rookie Chris Paddack will make at least one more start this season, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. Shutting Paddack down for the year looked like a possibility after he threw six scoreless innings against the Cubs on Wednesday. The rookie standout, 23, has now racked up 135 2/3 innings this season, easily surpassing the previous professional high of 90 he set in 2018 as a minor leaguer.
Brandon Woodruff Expected To Return Within A Week
It hasn’t been a good week for the Brewers on the injury front (obviously), but they’re on the verge of getting one of their best arms back from the IL, general manager David Stearns tells Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter link). Right-hander Brandon Woodruff threw to hitters yesterday, and the organization is “very pleased” with how Woodruff looked in that session. Stearns adds that the expectation is that Woodruff will be able to pitch in a big league game “sometime within the next week.”
Woodruff, 26, hasn’t pitched in a game since July 21 due to what is clearly a rather significant oblique strain. He’s been rehabbing for a bit now but won’t have the luxury of ramping back up with a minor league affiliate, so he could be used in short stints his first few times out, McCalvy adds. There’s not much time to build him back up to a full starter’s workload, though perhaps if the Brewers secure a Wild Card spot and advance into divisional play, he’d be an intriguing multi-inning weapon either out of the ‘pen or in a truncated (by design) starting capacity.
Prior to landing on the IL, Woodruff had been the Brewers’ most valuable starter. Through 20 trips to the hill and 117 2/3 innings, he’d turned in a 3.75 ERA with averages of 10.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 0.92 HR/9 to go along with a 43.6 percent ground-ball rate. Woodruff’s 11.6 percent swinging-strike rate and 33.5 percent opponents’ chase rate were both improvements over the 2018 campaign, as was his 96.2 mph average fastball velocity.
Fielding-independent metrics and Statcast both loved Woodruff’s work on the mound as well. He logged a 3.09 FIP and 3.46 xFIP while generally excelling at limiting hard contact. Woodruff’s average opponents’ exit velocity was in the 93rd percentile among big league hurlers at just 85.7 mph, and only five percent of MLB starters limited opponents in terms of barreled-ball rate.
The Brewers have rattled off six consecutive wins and suddenly find themselves tied with the Cubs for the second Wild Card spot in the National League. Not only that, they’re just four games back of the Cardinals for the NL Central lead and have a three-game series in St. Louis set to begin tomorrow. It doesn’t sound like Woodruff will factor prominently into that series, but his looming return is all the more important to the Brewers now that they’re squarely back in both the Wild Card and division races with 17 games to play.
Christian Yelich Fractures Kneecap, Out For Season
Sept. 12: Milwaukee general manager David Stearns confirmed that Yelich won’t need surgery but placed a timeline of eight to ten weeks on his recovery (Twitter links via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Stearns described the injury as a “small” fracture and added that it’s not expected to impact Yelich in the long run.
Sept. 11: The Brewers can breathe a small sigh of relief. Yelich won’t need surgery, and he’ll be out just six weeks, according to Jim Bowden of SiriusXM.
Sept. 10: The Brewers announced devastating news Tuesday: Superstar outfielder Christian Yelich suffered a fractured right kneecap in their win over the Marlins and will miss the rest of the season. He incurred the injury after fouling a ball off his knee in the first inning.
This will cut short a phenomenal season for Yelich, who may have been on his way to Most Valuable Player honors in the National League for the second straight year (and could still win the award). Yelich’s campaign will conclude with a .329/.429/.671 line, 44 home runs, 30 stolen bases and 7.7 fWAR/7.1 rWAR in 580 plate appearances. The 27-year-old currently leads all of baseball in OPS (1.100), paces the NL in wRC+ (172), and stood a legitimate chance to post the first 50-30 season in the history of the sport.
The fact that the Brewers are firmly in the NL postseason race makes the loss of Yelich all the more horrific. After its latest victory, Milwaukee sits 76-68, just 1 1/2 games back of the division-rival Cubs for the league’s second wild-card spot. Now, with Yelich joining fellow offensive linchpin Keston Hiura on the shelf, it’s especially difficult to imagine the Brewers rallying to clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive year.
At this point, it’s safe to say one of the main concerns for the Brew Crew is whether this injury will affect Yelich going forward. President of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday (via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that there’s not yet “a definitive time frame” for Yelich’s recovery, nor is it clear whether he’ll need surgery. The Brewers will reevaluate Yelich on Wednesday, per Stearns, who called the injury “a gut punch” but expressed hope the club will overcome what could realistically amount to a death blow for its 2019 hopes.
Injury Notes: Hiura, Cubs, Ender, Rockies, Mariners
The playoff-contending Brewers received terrible news Tuesday when their best player, all-world outfielder Christian Yelich, suffered a season-ending broken kneecap. Fortunately for the club, though, one of its other top players is on the way back from the injured list. Second baseman Keston Hiura, out since Aug. 31 with a left hamstring strain, could get “some at-bats maybe over the weekend and more game action and field action on the home stand, is what it’s looking like,” according to manager Craig Counsell (via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). The Brewers, who are now tied with division-rival Chicago for the Nl’s second wild-card spot, will open up a seven-game home stand next Monday. They’re in contention thanks in part to the rookie Hiura, who has slashed .301/.369/.571 with 16 home runs and nine stolen bases in his first 295 plate appearances in the majors.
- More unwelcome news for the Cubs, who are in real danger of missing the postseason: They won’t get closer Craig Kimbrel back from the injured list for “at least” another week, Scott Miller of Bleacher Report tweets. The club has been without Kimbrel since Sept. 1 because of right elbow inflammation. Meanwhile, the Cubs will evaluate shortstop Addison Russell when they return home Friday, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com relays. Russell has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms since last weekend.
- Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte likely won’t return until the last week of September, David O’Brien of The Athletic suggests. Inciarte has been on the shelf since mid-August with a hamstring strain. It’s the second long-term injury of the year for Inciarte, who previously missed two months with a back issue. Inciarte had been amid a hot streak when he suffered his current ailment, as his OPS skyrocketed from .605 to .740 in the month between his IL stints. He and the soon-to-return Nick Markakis could act as a pair of important outfield reinforcements for the Braves as they gear up for the postseason.
- Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson underwent season-ending left knee surgery back on June 11, but he still won’t be at full strength at the beginning of next year, per manager Bud Black (via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). The hope is that Anderson will come back “within the first couple of months” of 2020, Black said. The 29-year-old Anderson’s procedure wrapped up a nightmarish campaign for a hurler who was a respectable member of the Rockies’ rotation from 2016-18. He yielded 27 earned runs on 33 hits, including eight homers, in 20 2/3 innings this season.
- Mariners outfielder Jake Fraley will miss the remainder of the season because of sprained ligaments in his right thumb, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Fraley got his first taste of major league action in recent weeks, though he struggled to a .150/.171/.200 line with no home runs in a span of 41 trips to the plate. The 24-year-old offseason acquisition was far better in the minors, though, as he slashed a combined .298/.365/.545 with 19 long balls in 427 plate appearances between the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
Injury Notes: Tauchman, Moose, Laureano, Kelly
Mike Tauchman departed during the fourth inning of Sunday night’s game with what the Yankees described as left calf tightness. The outfielder suffered the injury while fielding a Brock Holt single, though he told reporters (including James Wagner of the New York Times) that he had recently been dealing with a sore calf and thought he was beyond the problem after a pair of pain-free games. Tauchman will undergo an MRI on Monday in New York to determine the extent of the issue.
One of many unsung heroes who have stepped up in the wake of a cavalcade of Yankees injuries, Tauchman hit his 13th homer of the season Sunday, improving his slash line to .277/.361/.504 (128 wRC+) over 296 plate appearances. After two seasons as a spare-parts outfielder with the Rockies, Tauchman has broken out in a major way, which would make it all the more unfortunate if a potential injured list stint were to cut into his availability for the postseason roster. If Tauchman does have to miss time, the Yankees still have Clint Frazier and Cameron Maybin (himself just returned from a wrist injury) as left field options, and Giancarlo Stanton looms as a potential late-season reinforcement at some point in September.
More on other injury situations from around the game…
- “I can’t take a swing without pain,” Mike Moustakas told reporters (including JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) about the deep wrist bruise that has limited him to a non-hitting role. “I can hit flips, I can hit BP, and there’s still pain there, but that’s not what’s concerning. It’s when I swing and miss or I check swing and I have to hold my bat.” The Brewers third baseman sat out seven games within a recent nine-game stretch while trying to recover, and has appeared in each of the club’s last two games but only as a defensive replacement. While he is happy to help in any way possible while recovering, Moustakas is understandably eager to more fully contribute, and hopes he is getting close to feeling normal at the plate. “When I’m in an at-bat facing a major league pitcher, you don’t want to be thinking about how bad your hand hurts when you’re trying to hit,” Moustakas said. “You want to have a clear mind and go out there able to compete. I wasn’t able to do that the last week or so.“
- As Ramon Laureano works his way back to full health after suffering a stress reaction in his right shin, Athletics manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Laureano will likely play in only two of every three games. “This probably isn’t going to be an everyday proposition for him for a while,” Melvin said. Laureano didn’t go through a rehab assignment before returning from his five-week stint on the IL, and left Saturday’s game after suffering a cramp in his right leg.
- Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has been battling a lower-body injury, manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and other reporters. The problem is “not a red flag for us,” Roberts said, though he noted that Kelly’s delivery is still being somewhat altered by the injury. Kelly pitched on Saturday after sitting out the Dodgers’ previous five games. After signing a three-year, $25MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter, Kelly badly struggled over his first two-plus months but then stabilized things, posting a 2.00 ERA over his last 27 innings (28 outings).
Mike Moustakas Struggling To Recover From Wrist Injury
Veteran Brewers infielder Mike Moustakas is struggling to make his way back from a recent injury in the vicinity of his left wrist, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports on Twitter. The club is “not making progress” in getting Moustakas back to full health, says skipper Craig Counsell.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see Moustakas still dealing with what Counsell calls “significant pain.” At the time of the injury, indications were that he had avoided a notable malady. While Moustakas was able to appear in two contests in the interim, he has sat out six games completely and evidently still isn’t making progress despite the wrist.
There’s little doubt that the club would like to get Moustakas back in action. He is a key part of the Brewers roster and there’s still an outside chance of the club staging a dash back into the Wild Card picture. At the same time, there’s little reason to force the issue if he won’t be at full speed. Meanwhile, Moustakas is again preparing to enter the free-agent market. That comes with its own pressures — both to get back on the field and to avoid injury.
Surely, all interested parties would like to simply get to the bottom of the matter and gain some clarity. At this point, though, the next steps aren’t clear. Regardless of how things shake out on the injury front, Moustakas has turned in impressive work this season. Through 520 plate appearances, he’s slashing .260/.331/.522 with 31 long balls. He
Latest On Jeremy Jeffress
Right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, officially released by the Brewers yesterday, has drawn some level of interest from several teams, tweets Yahoo’s Matt Ehalt. The Reds, Mets, Phillies, Rays and even the Brewers are among the teams who’ve inquired about the 2018 All-Star.
Jeffress isn’t postseason eligible, having been cut loose in September, but some of the interested teams would apparently like to proactively lock him up to a deal that covers the 2020 campaign (perhaps via a club option). That’d help to explain Milwaukee’s reported interest in bringing the righty back; the Brewers clearly had no intention of exercising Jeffress preexisting $4.3MM option for the 2020 season, but they (or another suitor) could conceivably try to hammer out an option at a lower base salary with some additional incentives. Any team signing Jeffress would only owe him the prorated league minimum for the remainder of the current season.
It’s also possible, though, that Jeffress could simply sit out the remainder of the season and explore opportunities this winter. He was on the injured list due to a hip ailment at the time of his release, and there’d surely be some benefit to an extended period of rest for the righty. He’ll likely have offseason minor league offers with decent base salaries (though less than the previous $4.3MM) at the very least, meaning there’s no rush to sign at the moment. There’ll surely be teams who are only interested in adding him after the current season draws to a close, so waiting until November to take a deal would widen his market.
Open-market circumstances surrounding Jeffress will always be somewhat atypical, given the right-hander’s history. He’s served multiple minor league suspensions for drugs of abuse (i.e. marijuana) and was charged with a DWI while pitching for the Rangers in 2016. That track record surely contributed to the club-friendly deal Jeffress signed with Milwaukee prior to the 2018 season, which came with two team options at relatively low base rates and plenty of yearly incentives based on innings pitched and games finished.
Jeffress’ release earlier this week marked the end of a radical downturn in performance. The right-hander logged a 1.29 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.59 HR/9 and a 56.4 percent ground-ball rate in last year’s All-Star season before unraveling in the playoffs. He then missed the first several weeks of the 2019 season due to shoulder fatigue.
Upon activation in mid-April, Jeffress pitched well for two months, logging a 2.52 ERA and a 26-to-9 K/BB ratio through his first 22 appearances (25 innings). Since that time, he’s scuffled with an ERA north of 7.00 and a deflated strikeout rate. Jeffress’ velocity has actually improved a bit as he’s distanced himself from the early shoulder fatigue, but the aforementioned hip ailment has added another injury to the ledger. In all, he’s turned in 52 innings with a 5.02 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 1.00 HR/9 and a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate while enduring a pair of IL stints in 2019. The upside a healthy Jeffress brings to the table is enormous, but he’s struggled to produce consistent results over the past three seasons.
Outrighted: Ramirez, Wilkerson
The tidal wave of September call-ups earlier this week resulted in nearly two dozen players being designated for assignment to create space on 40-man rosters throughout the league. While some of those players will be claimed by new organizations, we’ll track Wednesday’s collection of players who went unclaimed in this post:
- Right-hander Neil Ramirez cleared waivers and was assigned outright to the Blue Jays‘ Triple-A affiliate, per the International League transactions log. Ramirez averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched with the Indians in 2018 (51 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings) but has bounced all over the league dating back to 2016. His ability to miss bats has continually intrigued clubs, but Ramirez has also been far too prone to both walks and home runs. In 25 innings between Cleveland and Toronto this season, he posted a 5.40 ERA with a 24-to-15 K/BB ratio and seven home runs allowed.
- The Brewers assigned right-hander Aaron Wilkerson to Triple-A San Antonio after he went unclaimed on waivers, per a team announcement. The 30-year-old was very good in 76 1/3 innings spanning 17 starts in San Antonio in 2019, logging a 3.42 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.18 HR/9 and a 37.5 percent grounder rate. However, Wilkerson also allowed 13 runs in 16 big league innings this year and was tagged for 10 runs in nine MLB frames a season ago. He’s enjoyed plenty of success in the upper minors dating back to 2017 but owns just a 6.88 ERA with 28 strikeouts, 13 walks and nine home runs allowed in 35 1/3 innings as a Major Leaguer.