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Edwin Encarnacion Leaves Game With Left Oblique Strain

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4:34PM: The initial feeling is that Encarnacion’s injury isn’t overly serious, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Newsday’s Erik Boland).

3:29PM: Yankees designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion left today’s game with the Tigers in the seventh inning due to what the team called a left oblique strain.  The slugger will return to New York to receive tests.

More will be known once Encarnacion is examined by doctors, but on the surface, it’s yet another in a seemingly endless series of injuries to Yankee players this season, and one that could have major ramifications on the postseason roster.  Most oblique injuries generally carry a recovery timeline of 3-4 weeks, though depending on the severity of the strain, Encarnacion may well have taken his last at-bat in 2019.

It already doesn’t look like Aaron Hicks will be back for the postseason, while Mike Tauchman has been more definitively been ruled out for the next 6-to-8 weeks.  One plus is the impending return of Giancarlo Stanton, and if Encarnacion is out, putting Stanton into the DH spot would be a natural move to help keep Stanton fresh and healthy after missing almost all of the 2019 campaign with a variety of injuries.  If the Yankees are okay with using Stanton in the outfield, Clint Frazier or Mike Ford could also see DH duty, or the Yankees could split first base and DH between DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit.

Encarnacion has been no stranger to the injured list since coming to New York from the Mariners in a June trade.  He only just returned from the IL on Sept. 3 after missing a month of action with a right wrist fracture.  When he has been in the lineup, Encarnacion has delivered his typically impressive performance at the plate, hitting .244/.344/.531 with 34 homers over 486 combined plate appearances for New York and Seattle this season.

Severino, Stanton Expected To Join Yankees Next Week

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10:40am: Not only are Severino and Stanton on the verge of a return, it seems that left-hander Jordan Montgomery and righty Dellin Betances could be back in the same general timeframe. Montgomery could start things off in a bullpen game for the Yankees in Toronto on Sunday (Twitter link via Newsday’s Erik Boland), while Hoch tweets that Betances will pitch once more for Trenton tomorrow and could be added to the Major League roster after that outing.

10:22am: After missing nearly the entire season due to shoulder and lat injuries, Yankees ace Luis Severino is expected to return from the injured list and start Tuesday’s game against the Angels at Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone revealed to reporters this morning (Twitter links via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). That on its own is good news, but Boone added that Giancarlo Stanton could rejoin the roster at the start of that homestand as well, meaning he could be in the lineup Tuesday as well.

A healthy Severino would be a welcome reprieve for a beleaguered Yankees rotation that has stumbled throughout the second half of the season. Since the All-Star break, Yankees starters have posted a collective 5.25 ERA and averaged fewer than five innings per outing. Those shortcomings have done nothing to endanger New York’s overwhelming lead in the American League East, but such difficulties among their starting staff are no doubt a concern with the postseason looming. Adding a healthy Severino into the fray could be a substantial boost not only for the final two weeks of the regular season but also to the team’s outlook in the American League Division Series.

The Yankees have been relying primarily on the quintet of Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, Domingo German, J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia to make their starts, but Paxton (3.90) and German (4.90) are the only members of the bunch with a sub-5.00 ERA since the All-Star break. Happ has rattled off a string of solid starts and could be rounding into form late in the year, but the Yankees’ rotation has generally been a weak point. A strong bullpen and overwhelming offensive attack have paved their road to success.

As for Stanton, it’s clear that scoring runs hasn’t been an issue for the Yankees this season. Staying healthy, however, has. Stanton is a major part of that, but he could rejoin the lineup at an opportune time. The Yankees just lost out-of-the-blue breakout outfielder Mike Tauchman for the rest of the season, and Aaron Hicks could be down for the rest of the year as well. Luke Voit, meanwhile, hasn’t hit much since returning from the injured list.

Stanton has only managed to appear in nine games for the Yankees this year, first going down with a biceps strain that sidelined him for two months and then spraining his knee in just his sixth game back from that first injury. His injury-shortened campaign has caused some Yankees fans to sour on him, but Stanton was plenty dangerous in his Yankees debut in 2018, hitting .266/.343/.509 with 38 big flies and 34 doubles in 158 games (705 plate appearances). Adding him back into the late-season and playoff picture would be bad news for whichever postseason opponent lines up against the Yanks.

Latest On Aaron Hicks

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The Yankees seem increasingly unlikely to receive a late-season (or postseason) contribution from outfielder Aaron Hicks. He’s slated to rest for several more weeks after a visit to the offices of Dr. Neal ElAttrache, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links).

This is in some respects good news, it bears noting. Hicks had initially avoided the worst-case scenario of Tommy John surgery, but suffered a recent setback in his bid to return from elbow troubles. That option was — and still is — on the table, Sherman suggests. It would certainly be optimal to avoid that outcome, so it’s relatively promising that the medical experts feel it’s still a viable possibility to do so.

Trouble is, Hicks is now in a bit of an awkward situation regarding timing. Even if he’s declared ready to work back towards playing capacity in a few weeks’ time, that’d barely make him available for a possible postseason run. That could have real value to the team, but it’s also not hard to imagine a situation where he simply isn’t ready in time to be trusted with a postseason roster spot.

Even if a late-2019 return isn’t possible, Hicks could conceivably avoid a procedure if he shows sufficient healing progress. With a full offseason of rest, perhaps he’d be able to dodge it altogether. But if surgery does prove necessary, then any delay on the front end will result in an equivalent delay on the back side. With about six months to go until Spring Training, Hicks would likely be delayed in 2020 even if he had the surgery today. (Teammate Didi Gregorius took just under eight months to return from his recent TJ procedure.)

Fortunately, team and player seem to have the same general incentives here. Hicks is playing on an extension that runs for the next six seasons (with an option for one more), so the Yankees can take the long view. He’ll earn $10.5MM annually beginning next season and $9.5MM apiece in 2024 and 2025. With ample depth options, the club can weather an absence, though that would assuredly not be the first choice after the club’s near-miraculous high-wire act in 2019.

More immediately, the Yankees’ outfield depth is again in question. Hicks and Mike Tauchman can’t be counted on, even if there’s some small likelihood that one or the other could be available if needed in a deep playoff run. Giancarlo Stanton is still not quite back. Beyond mainstays Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner, the club is looking at a mix that includes Cameron Maybin, Clint Frazier, and utility pieces such as Thairo Estrada, Breyvic Valera, and Tyler Wade.

Early Trade Deadline Re-Assessment: AL East

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It has only been a little over five weeks, so it’s too soon to judge with finality how this year’s trade deadline maneuvers will play out. That said, we’re already half of the way through the period — the regular season portion, at least — for which rental players were acquired. Even players with future control are usually added first and foremost for their immediate contributions (though there are some exceptions). It’d be awfully premature to say anything conclusive about the prospect side of any deals, but we do now have some additional information with which to work.

So, that’s why we’re going to take a glance back over our shoulders at the moves (and major non-moves) that organizations made in the run-up to this year’s trade deadline. We already covered the AL Central and NL Central; now we’ll go to the American League East …

Yankees

The Yankees did their shopping ahead of time, as it turned out. They first picked up Cameron Maybin (link) and Kendrys Morales (link) early in the season. Maybin’s stunning productivity has obviously been a boon for the Yanks, who’ve weathered countless injuries with a slew of surprise performances.

Over the summer, the New York club ultimately replaced Morales with Edwin Encarnacion in a mid-June swap and went on to pick up pinch runner extraordinaire Terrance Gore in a minor move. The Encarnacion deal gave the Yankees another fearsome slugger on a roster chock full of them. He has missed some time and hasn’t been at his absolute best, but still carries a strong .246/.320/.514 slash in 194 plate appearances with the club. Young pitching prospect Juan Then has had a nice showing since moving to the Seattle organization in the EE deal, reaching the Class A level and throwing a combined 48 1/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball with 48 strikeouts and 13 walks.

That all seemed to be prelude to a bigger deadline strike. Surely, the thinking went, the Yanks would be ready to do whatever it’d take to fully load their roster in an attempt to win the World Series for the first time since 2009. Pitching, particularly of the starting variety, was obviously in need. As it turned out, the Yankees held pat on deadline day. While they nearly landed a big relief arm in Ken Giles, they ultimately decided to roll the dice on internal options.

So, are there any regrets? The Yanks are cruising in the division, so in that sense it’s hard to argue with the way the line was drawn. But the club doesn’t feature an imposing postseason rotation. It may be supposed that the team will try to make up for the lack of high-end starters with a fearsome relief mix, but that’s still somewhat dependent upon the recovery of injured hurlers Luis Severino and Dellin Betances. The uncertainties were well-known in the run-up to the trade deadline, so the Yankees are sleeping in the bed they made. There’s immense talent on the roster, but it’ll be interesting to see if the quiet deadline ultimately haunts the club.

Rays

There weren’t any headline-making moves, but that doesn’t mean the Rays weren’t busy at the deadline. The organization’s mid-season acquisitions didn’t jump-start a run at the Yanks, but have subtly altered their array of talent and helped the club stay out in front of the AL Wild Card race.

Parting with Nick Solak helped clear the deck on the position-player side while bringing in interesting righty Peter Fairbanks. Both have turned in impressive initial showings at the MLB level — 78 plate appearances of .949 OPS hitting and 5 1/3 innings of pitching with just one earned run — and could play significant roles on their respective new clubs in 2020.

The Rays then sent out Hunter Wood and Christian Arroyo for faraway outfielder Ruben Cardenas and $250K of international signing capacity. This seemed primarily to be a roster-clearing move, but it cost the team a cost-efficient reliever who has turned in solid results on both sides of the swap. That’s also what happened with lefty Adam Kolarek, who has made 17 scoreless appearances since being traded to the Dodgers. Outfielder Niko Hulsizer, acquired in return, remains a long-term project. In another roster-management deal, outfielder Joe McCarthy went to the Giants for youthful pitching prospect Jacob Lopez. The former has struggled at Triple-A; the latter has been successful in limited action both before and after the deal, but hasn’t yet moved past the low-A level.

Having parted with Solak and Arroyo, the Rays turned around and added a veteran in the same essential utility mold. Eric Sogard has hit well since coming down to Florida, turning in a .284/.348/.431 slash in 112 plate appearances. Indeed, he’s out-slashing fellow acquisition Jesus Aguilar, who’s hitting competently but hasn’t returned to his slugging ways since coming from the Brewers. That deal, too, saw a big-league-capable hurler leave the Tampa Bay org, though Jake Faria hasn’t yet distinguished himself in Milwaukee.

That was all prelude to the team’s biggest swap. Solid reliever/opener Ryne Stanek was packaged with quality outfield prospect Jesus Sanchez in exchange for righties Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards. The long-term key to this deal is Sanchez, who hasn’t yet turned on the jets but is seen by some as a future regular. Despite his relatively high-profile role in Tampa Bay, nobody has missed Stanek, who has struggled since moving south. Any thought of what has departed has been overwhelmed by what the Rays have gotten back. Richards has been excellent in a Raysian swingman sort of role, throwing 19 1/3 innings of 2.33 ERA ball. And Anderson? He has quietly racked up two strikeouts for every one of his 15 innings pitched with nary a free pass. Anderson is already 29 years of age, but his remaining control rights — he won’t be eligible for arbitration until 2022 — look to be quite valuable.

Red Sox

Not unlike their bitter New England rivals, the Red Sox acted early and then went quiet. But the situations weren’t the same: there was greater need in Boston, but also less cause to press the issue given the team’s perilous place in the standings.

It had been hoped that acquiring veteran Andrew Cashner would represent a low-cost means of shoring up a leaky Red Sox pitching staff. He was intended to start, with Nathan Eovaldi heading to the bullpen. As it turns out, both have pitched poorly while spending time in both starting and relief roles.

There’s no question that adding to the bullpen would’ve boosted the chances for the Red Sox. It’s tempting to believe that a bold strike might even have jolted a turnaround. But the Boston organization had largely played its cards in the offseason. Ultimately, a roster weary from the prior season’s World Series run just wasn’t up to the task. It’d be hard to say a different deadline approach would likely have changed the outcome.

Blue Jays

It was always clear how this deadline would go for the Blue Jays, who’ve almost fully turned over their roster over the past few years and are now looking to build around premium young talent. It remains a bit surprising that the club couldn’t find a home for Justin Smoak and Freddy Galvis — the latter ultimately departed via waiver claim — but the Jays did swing several sell-side deals.

First came the surprising Marcus Stroman swap. It was all but inevitable he’d be moved, but the destination came as a surprise. Some observers were underwhelmed by the return, but the Toronto organization seemed excited to add pitching prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson. So far, so good. Kay turned in seven quality outings at Triple-A and recently made his MLB debut, with eight strikeouts against three walks and two earned runs on the board over 5 2/3 solid frames. And the 18-year-old Woods Richardson has thrived after receiving a promotion to the High-A level, compiling 28 1/3 innings of 2.54 ERA ball with 9.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9.

The Jays also dealt away another once-featured hurler in Aaron Sanchez. He went with fellow righty Joe Biagini to the Astros in exchange for outfielder Derek Fisher. This has the feeling of a trade that could be a complete non-factor in the long run … or one that could turn out to be quite significant in retrospect. Sanchez showed a brief spark but is now down for the year with a shoulder injury, while Biagini has struggled badly. Fisher will get a longer look, but the former first-rounder has struggled to a .167/.277/.403 slash to this point in his Blue Jays tenure.

Two more relievers went out the door as well. David Phelps has been a big contributor for the Cubs since he was dealt. But the deal brought the Jays back a potentially useful piece in righty Tom Hatch. He finished off his season with a strong 35 1/3 inning run at Toronto’s Double-A affiliate, over which he pitched to a 2.80 ERA with an exceptional 34:2 K/BB ratio. Finally, there was the swap that sent veteran reliever Daniel Hudson to the Nationals. Unlike the other deals, this was a classic rental scenario. It’s anyone’s guess what the team will get out of 23-year-old Kyle Johnston, the hurler added in return. He took a sharp turn for the worse upon arriving in his new org, allowing 22 earned runs with a terrible 13:20 K/BB ratio in 19 2/3 innings of action, but will have a chance to go back to the drawing board in the upcoming offseason.

Orioles

It turned out to be quite the quiet deadline for the Orioles. On deadline day itself, the club simply shipped Dan Straily to the Phillies in a minor move. Before that came only the aforementioned Cashner deal, which brought in a pair of 17-year-old Venezuelans. Elio Prado and Noelberth Romero. Those recent signees continued to play in the Dominican Summer League after the trade; whether they’ll ultimately deliver value to the Baltimore organization won’t be known for quite some time.

So far as the O’s were concerned, the most notable aspects of the deadline were the moves not made. It seemed that reliever Mychal Givens would draw interest, as he was carrying strong peripherals despite an ugly ERA. No doubt the Orioles received offers, but they ultimately elected to hold him in hopes that he’d boost his value. That’s just what has happened so far: opposing hitters have mustered only seven singles and two walks against him over his past 13 appearances, during which time Givens has racked up 19 strikeouts.

Otherwise, the non-moves weren’t terribly surprising, but there are a few of note. There was never much of a build-up surrounding young outfielder Trey Mancini. It’ll be interesting to see whether that occurs this winter. He’s also an extension possibility. The O’s also elected to hang onto infielders Hanser Alberto and Jonathan Villar. Both have hit quite well since the deadline, are on track to be tendered contracts, and could be traded away at any point moving forward.

Yankees Designate Adonis Rosa

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The Yankees announced today that they have designated Adonis Rosa for assignment. His roster spot will go to fellow right-hander Ben Heller, who was activated from the 60-day injured list.

Rosa, 25, appeared in one MLB contest this year with the Yanks — his first as a professional. He spent most of the season in the upper minors, pitching to a cumulative 4.18 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 103 1/3 innings. Clearly, the New York organization didn’t view him as a significant near-term contributor.

The Yankees also announced that outfield Mike Tauchman has been placed on the 10-day injured list. He is not expected to return to action this year.

Mike Tauchman Out Six To Eight Weeks With Grade 2 Calf Strain

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The Yankees have lost outfielder Mike Tauchman for the remainder of the regular season and quite likely for the entirety of the postseason. The team announced to reporters that Tauchman has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 calf strain (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

Initial indications are that Tauchman will be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks. That spells big trouble for his hopes of being a part of the Yankees’ postseason roster. It’s theoretically possible that Tauchman could be ready if the club makes it into the World Series, but it seems likelier that he won’t suit up again this season.

If this is the last we’ve seen of Tauchman in 2019, his last impression was a good one. Tauchman was two-for-two before departing last night, bringing his season-long batting line to a hefty .277/.361/.504 slash with 13 home runs over 296 plate appearances. That’s stunning production from a player who was acquired late in Spring Training when he became a Rockies roster casualty.

It’s fair to ask whether Tauchman’s output is sustainable. We did just that in early August, and he responded by ripping off another strong month at the plate. While there’s still cause for some wariness, there’s also little doubt that Tauchman deserves to enter camp in 2020 with a presumption of an active roster spot. (It’s worth noting that he’ll be out of options.) Whether or not that’ll be with the Yanks remains to be seen; the Bronx Bombers could take any number of different directions in compiling their outfield unit over the offseason to come.

Injury Notes: Tauchman, Moose, Laureano, Kelly

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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).

Yankees Activate Gio Urshela From IL

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As expected, the Yankees announced today they have activated third baseman Gio Urshela from the 10-day injured list. The 27-year-old missed the minimum amount of time due to a left groin injury.

Urshela’s breakout stands as one of the most surprising and remarkable stories of the 2019 season. A career .225/.274/.315 hitter entering the year, Urshela was forced into unexpected action by a rash of injuries, most notably Miguel Andújar’s season-ending labrum surgery. To say Urshela took advantage doesn’t come close to doing him justice.

Over 414 plate appearances this season, Urshela has mashed to the tune of a .331/.370/.555 line (142 wRC+), putting him in position to contend for the AL batting crown before this recent IL stint ended his chances of reaching the requisite number of plate appearances to qualify. To be sure, he’s not likely to keep up this level of output. His .366 BABIP seems unsustainable and dwarfs any batted-ball results he’d managed in his career pre-2019. It’s also fair to look askance at MLB’s twelfth-highest chase rate (minimum 400 plate appearances), although players like Javier Báez and Rafael Devers have made similarly aggressive approaches work in recent seasons.

Even if Urshela won’t be quite this good a hitter moving forward, he’s certainly set himself up as a valuable piece for a Yankee franchise that couldn’t have anticipated him doing so a few months back. Statcast loves him, for instance, crediting him with an 80th percentile average exit velocity and above-average hard contact rate, helping to explain his strong ball-in-play results. Urshela also comes with a reputation as a strong defender at the hot corner, even if his advanced metrics suggest he’s more competent than Gold Glove-worthy. What’s more, he comes with four years of team control beyond this season and won’t be arbitration-eligible until after next year, making him an affordable option throughout his prime seasons.

Urshela’s 2019 performance seemingly gives him the inside track on the 2020 third base job in the Bronx, which will lead to an interesting offseason for Brian Cashman and company to decide how to handle Andújar as he returns to a crowded corner infield/DH mix next season. More immediately, Urshela will look to help the Yankees secure home field advantage in the postseason, as they enter Sunday tied with Houston for the AL’s best record.

Severino, Betances Closing In On Returns

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Luis Severino and Dellin Betances each pitched on rehab Friday night with the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate in Trenton. According to manager Aaron Boone, Severino is the further along of the two hurlers. In fact, Boone tells Dan Martin of the New York Post, Severino’s next appearance might be on a major-league mound.

“Overall, it was pretty successful,” Boone told Martin of Severino’s rehab outing. “We’ll talk about whether one more is beneficial or [if he will] come with us.” The Yankees, tied with the Astros for the AL’s best record, are amidst a ten-game road trip.

Interestingly, it’s possible Severino returns as more or less a traditional starting pitcher. While we’ve seen a few teams bring back injured arms to work short stints in September, typically as openers, the Yankees seem determined to build their injured ace back up. “I think there’s a chance with where the calendar is, he could get built up pretty high,” Boone said of Severino, although he quickly cautioned that “we could always throttle him back and I could see him in a variety of roles for us.”

For his part, Severino, who has missed the entire season with lat and shoulder trouble, seems optimistic about his chances of building up the requisite arm strength to work deep into games by the time the postseason comes around. He only threw 50 pitches Friday for Trenton but told local reporters he believed he could ramp up to 90-100 pitches in a start by season’s end, Martin adds. While the Yankees have marvelously weathered myriad injuries this season, the starting rotation has proven to be something of a weak spot. Yankees’ starters rank 14th leaguewide in park-adjusted ERA, while the other top five teams in the AL standings all rank among the top seven in rotation run prevention.

In the wake of C.C. Sabathia’s most recent IL placement, the Yankees turned to a bullpen game to fill out the fifth slot in their rotation, so there seems to be an ideal opportunity for building up Severino’s workload at the MLB level. Notably, pitching coach Larry Rothschild raved to Martin about Severino’s shape, praising his fastball velocity and slider spin. Taking Rothschild at his word, it seems plausible the 25 year-old could be in position to handle major league hitters quite shortly.

The Bombers have had an easier time replacing Betances thanks to a never-ending shuttle of quality relief arms. Like Severino, the big righty hasn’t pitched in the majors this season, with a shoulder impingement explaining his absence. Boone told Martin the Yankees expect Betances will need some more minor-league time to build up strength, but his season debut also seems to be in the near future, Martin adds. It’ll be important for the 31 year-old to show his trademark power stuff when he does return, as Betances is scheduled to hit free agency for the first time this offseason.

Quick Hits: Montas, Laureano, JDM, Yankees, Mendez

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Once the ace of the Athletics’ rotation, Frankie Montas has been something of a forgotten man since being issued an 80-game PED suspension on June 21.  Montas will be eligible for the last five games of Oakland’s regular season, however, could still help the A’s get into the playoffs.  GM David Forst told Chris Townsend of the A’s Cast podcast (partial transcript from Ben Ross of NBC Sports Bay Area) that the team is prepared to use Montas as either a starter or reliever, and has kept him stretched out in simulated games in case a start is required in one of those five games.  Montas could also get a minor league game under his belt if Oakland’s Double-A or Triple-A affiliates advance in the postseason, as Montas is eligible to begin a rehab assignment beginning on September 10.

Montas was in the midst of a breakout campaign at the time of his suspension, with a 2.70 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 4.62 K/BB rate over 90 innings.  Though he won’t be eligible for the postseason if the Athletics are able to claim a wild card, Montas could certainly still be a valuable x-factor during what could be a very tense final week of action as the A’s, Indians, and Rays battle for the two wild card slots.

Some stray items from around baseball…

  • After returning from the injured list just yesterday, Ramon Laureano left the Athletics’ 10-2 win over the Tigers tonight due to what the A’s described as a right leg cramp.  After a leadoff double in the sixth inning, Laureano made it into second base despite “limping right out of the box,” as MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos described the situation.  Manager Bob Melvin told Gallegos and other reporters that he hoped Laureano would be back on Monday, as the outfielder was already scheduled for a planned day off on Sunday.  Laureano missed over five weeks due to a stress reaction in his right shin, and another absence would be the last thing he and the A’s need as the club chases down a wild card berth.
  • Amidst the speculation about whether or not J.D. Martinez will exercise the opt-out clause in his Red Sox contract after the season, Ken Rosenthal (in his latest video report for FOX Sports) points out that Martinez doesn’t necessarily have to decide right now if he wants to leave Boston.  The slugger also has opt-out clauses after both the 2020 season and (assuming he can avoid another Lisfranc-related right foot injury) 2021 season, so he could perhaps wait one more year to see if his market evolves.  Despite Martinez’s hitting prowess, there aren’t too many obvious suitors for a mostly DH-only player….unless the National League were to become involved, as Rosenthal wonders if Martinez would stay in his contract to see if the NL adopted the designated hitter in the next collective bargaining agreement.
  • Also from Rosenthal’s video, he makes a case for why Didi Gregorius could be “the odd man out” for the Yankees even if he performed well for the remainder of the season.  New York might simply prefer to use Gleyber Torres at shortstop in 2020 rather than re-sign Gregorius, who is almost seven years older than Torres.  Recovery from Tommy John surgery kept Gregorius from playing until June 7, and he is one of the few Yankees not tearing the cover off the ball, with a .252/.282/.462 slash line and 14 homers over 280 plate appearances (for a below-average 90 wRC+).  If the Yankees did decide to move on from Gregorius, however, Rosenthal figures the team would still need to extend another veteran infielder, as DJ LeMahieu (who’d play every day at second base if Gregorius departed) is only under contract through the 2020 season.
  • The Rangers and Yohander Mendez will learn in the offseason whether the left-hander’s one remaining minor league option will still be retained for 2020.  Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram details the situation, as the league already granted Mendez a fourth option for this season, though the lefty only made his 2019 debut today after missing the first five-plus months rehabbing a sprained UCL.  This means Mendez hasn’t accumulated the 20 days of optional minor league assignment necessary to burn an option year.  If Mendez is ruled to be out of options, the Rangers would then have to designate him for assignment (and thus expose him to a waiver claim) if they wished to remove him from the 40-man roster.
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