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AL Injury Notes: Andujar, Eloy, Rangers, Jays, Royals

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The Yankees will open a seven-game homestand May 3, at which point injured third baseman Miguel Andujar could rejoin their lineup, manager Aaron Boone said Friday (via George A. King III of the New York Post). Whether that happens will depend on how Andujar fares in extended spring training and minor league rehab games over the next several days. For now, though, Boone is “cautiously optimistic” about Andujar’s torn right labrum, which looked like a potential season-ending injury when he went on the IL on April 1.  The 24-year-old is one of a whopping 15 Yankees who have landed on the injured list this season, but the reserve-laden club has weathered the storm with a 15-11 start. Third base subs DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela have performed well along the way, helping to ease the burden of Andujar’s absence.

  • White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez exited Friday’s game with a right ankle sprain and was wearing a walking boot afterward, per James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required). X-rays on Jimenez’s ankle came back negative, but he’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday. An IL stint seems like a distinct possibility for the 22-year-old phenom, who’s just 85 plate appearances into his career.
  • Rangers lefty Taylor Hearn endured a rough debut start. Now, he’s headed to the 10-day IL with elbow tightness. That’s not how the club drew things up when it called upon one of its most promising young pitchers to join the MLB roster. Hearn’s outlook isn’t yet known. That was just one of several moves, as fellow hurler Jeffrey Springs and infielder Patrick Wisdom were optioned out. Second bagger Rouned Odor was activated from the IL while pitchers Ariel Jurado and Wei-Chieh Huang were called up to provide some fresh arms.
  • Standout Blue Jays infield prospect Bo Bichette is down with a broken left hand, but general manager Ross Atkins said Friday he won’t require surgery, as Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. The Jays expect a four- to six-week recovery time for the 21-year-old Bichette, who’s regarded as one of the game’s premier prospects.
  • The Royals have placed first baseman Lucas Duda on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 24, and recalled third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez from Triple-A Omaha, according to Pete Grathoff and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. Duda’s dealing with a lumbar strain, which continues a rough start to the season for the 33-year-old. The free-agent pickup has hit a miserable .174/.304/.326 in 56 trips to the plate. Meanwhile, Gutierrez batted an impressive .333/.443/.439 in 79 PA prior to his promotion, and he’s now in line for his first major league action. The Royals acquired Gutierrez, 24, from the Nationals last June as part of a deal centering on reliever Kelvin Herrera. Gutierrez currently ranks as KC’s 14th-best prospect at MLB.com.

Injury Notes: Zimmermann, Smyly, Yankees

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The Tigers are holding their breath after seeing starter Jordan Zimmermann depart with discomfort in his right elbow, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press was among those to report on Twitter. More on his outlook will be known after he’s evaluated tomorrow, but it seems there’s a bit of worry from within the organization. Zimmermann’s tenure in Detroit has been nothing short of disastrous; he entered the season with a cumulative 5.24 ERA and is sitting on a 5.93 mark through six starts this year. The club owes him $25MM this year and the same for 2020.

More on the health front:

  • Rangers lefty Drew Smyly says he thinks he’ll be capable of returning after skipping only a starter or two, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan tweets. He explains that he is just dealing with arm fatigue in his first full season back following Tommy John surgery. That’s reasonably promising news, standing alone. Trouble is, the Texas organization really needs innings right away. Prospect Taylor Hearn was bombed tonight, leaving the bullpen to pick up the pieces. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes on Twitter, veteran righty Jeanmar Gomez took the brunt of the damage and may now be at risk of losing his spot on the roster as the club scrambles to cover innings in the coming days.
  • With loads of significant players on the injured list, there are always quite a few Yankees updates of note. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch rounds up the latest in one concise tweet. Aaron Hicks and Troy Tulowitzki both appear close to full (minor-league) game action, which suggests both may not be far off from a return to the MLB roster. Miguel Andujar is slated to appear at third base in extended spring action tomorrow. That represents the latest promising sign as he attempts to stave off surgery to address a shoulder injury that isn’t preventing him from hitting but has hampered his throwing. Just how that’ll all turn out remains to be seen, but it appears there is enough promise that he’s going to try to ramp back up at the hot corner.
  • As for star Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, the biceps issue that drove him to the injured list appears to be sorted. But he’s now dealing with a new shoulder malady. Per Andy Martino of SNY.tv, the hope is that this new problem will only extend his absence by a week or so. It’s all a bit foggy but seems less than concerning on the whole, at least in comparison to the club’s overall injury malaise. Having treaded water admirably thus far, the Yanks can go another week without Stanton. They are still in good position in the AL East — so long as their health fortunes finally turn, at least.

Yankees Acquire Cameron Maybin

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1:59pm: The Yankees announced that they have acquired Maybin from the Indians and immediately selected his contract to the Major League roster. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Luis Severino was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

11:31am: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees are sending cash to the Indians in return for Maybin.

11:06am: The Yankees have acquired veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Indians, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter link). He’d been with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league contract and was not on the club’s 40-man roster.

It seems quite plausible, however, that Maybin could be added to the big league roster in New York. The Yankees placed Clint Frazier on the injured list this morning and are also without Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Jacoby Ellsbury, leaving them with an outfield mix comprised of Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman and Tyler Wade.

Maybin, 32, has opened the season in Triple-A Columbus with a .229/.397/.292 batting line through 63 trips to the plate. He is, of course, a seasoned big league veteran who has logged parts of 12 seasons at the MLB level and compiled a career-long .254/.322/.368 slash line. Most recently, Maybin split the 2018 season between the Marlins and Mariners, hitting .249/.326/.336 with four homers and 10 steals in 384 plate appearances. He spent Spring Training with the Giants organization, but poor performance and a DUI arrest while in camp unsurprisingly led the Giants to move in another direction.

Defensively, Maybin isn’t the player that he once was, but he still boasts well above-average speed and has ample experience playing all three outfield spots. Last year’s 28.5 ft/sec average sprint speed, as measured by Statcast, ranked Maybin in the 84th percentile of all big leaguers.

The move seems likely to be a short-term boost for the Yankees’ outfield depth. If the team can manage to get each of Hicks, Judge, Stanton and Frazier healthy, there’d be little room with Gardner and Tauchman also in the fold. And if injuries to any of the Yankees’ key outfield assets prove to ultimately be more severe than initially feared, it’s likely that the New York front office would pursue a more impactful upgrade down the line.

Yankees To Place Clint Frazier On 10-Day IL

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced after last night’s game that outfielder Clint Frazier will be placed on the 10-day injured list with an ankle injury, as Erik Boland of Newsday was among those to report (Twitter links). He joins a dozen other players on a talent-laden Yankees IL.

It seems that Frazier won’t be sidelined for much longer than the minimum; indeed, Boone suggested that the player himself feels he’s close to being ready to return. With the MRI showing some cause for concern, though, the club elected to take the cautious course and free up the roster spot for a healthy replacement.

Reliever Joe Harvey is being called up to take the roster spot, but that may only be a precursor to another move to get an outfield-capable position player onto the roster. The situation could ultimately force a 40-man roster move — possibly a 60-day IL placement for one of the already-injured players — as the club is otherwise fresh out of options.

It’s possible to imagine some kind of minor trade coming together, or the Yanks might call upon one of the veterans it has stashed at Triple-A on minor-league deals. Brad Miller has limited experience in the outfield but would be a flexible option with an established bat. Cliff Pennington is another infielder who has appeared briefly on the grass, though his chief attribute is his glovework on the dirt. Billy Burns would offer a capable defender but little at the plate.

This should only be a road bump for team and player, though there are still some legitimate concerns. The Yanks have managed to roll through the injuries and win eight of their last ten games, but their only three healthy outfielders at the moment are Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman, and Tyler Wade. Frazier was finally hitting his stride at the game’s highest level, turning in 73 plate appearances of .324/.342/.632 hitting with six home runs. Now he’s nursing yet another injury.

Yankees Option Chad Green, Activate Gary Sanchez

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The Yankees have announced a few notable roster tweaks. Struggling reliever Chad Green was optioned down to Triple-A to sort things out, with southpaw Stephen Tarpley recalled to take his active roster spot. And the club activated catcher Gary Sanchez while optioning down fellow backstop Kyle Higashioka.

Green has simply not been himself this year. After two outstanding campaigns in the New York bullpen, he has been bombed for 14 earned runs on 15 hits (including four dingers) in his 7 2/3 innings this season.

It’s tough timing for Green , as he is trying to set the stage for his first season of arbitration eligibility. With 2.077 years of service accrued through yesterday, he can only afford to miss 64 of the remaining potential MLB service days before the season ends if he’s to cross the threshold to a third year of service. (If he falls short of that, he could potentially still qualify for arb as a Super Two, though that’d put free agency one season further in the distance.)

The Yankees will hope they can figure out what is going on with Green. His velocity is down a bit, though he’s still sitting just under 95 with his heater, and his swinging-strike rate has dropped to 10.4%. While his groundball rate has shot up to 48.4% — a level he hasn’t worked at since he was in the minors — Green is giving up loads of hard contact.

Meanwhile, the club will welcome the return of Sanchez to a lineup that has been racked by injuries. The slugger bounced back quickly from a calf strain. Several other key players remain sidelined, but the hope is that a variety of fill-in pieces can keep the team above water in the meantime.

Yankees Sign Brad Miller

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The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve signed veteran infielder Brad Miller to a minor league contract. The ISE Baseball client was recently designated for assignment by the Indians and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues.

The 29-year-old Miller hit .250/.325/.417 with a homer and three doubles in his short time with the Indians but lost out on his roster spot when Cleveland activated Jason Kipnis from the injured list. Miller isn’t a strong defender but has experience all over the infield as well as in the outfield corners, making him an interesting depth pickup for an injury-decimated Yankees club. The lefty-swinging utilityman is a career .240/.313/.409 hitter in 2545 plate appearances, including a .243/.322/.433 line against right-handed pitching.

At present, the Yankees have Greg Bird, Troy Tulowitzki, Miguel Andujar and Didi Gregorius all on the injured list, which has forced the club to carry a hodgepodge of largely unproven replacements. Mike Ford, Gio Urshela and Tyler Wade are all logging at-bats around the infield right now (in addition to DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres), and things in the outfield aren’t necessarily any better; Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton are all on the IL for the Yankees, leaving Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner and Mike Tauchman in the starting lineup. To their credit, however, both Frazier and the relatively unknown Tauchman have performed quite well.

Yankees Grant Gio Gonzalez His Release

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The Yankees announced that veteran left-hander Gio Gonzalez was not added to the team’s 40-man roster after exercising his opt-out clause over the weekend. The team had 48 hours to add Gonzalez to the roster once he triggered that clause, but he was instead allowed to become a free agent and is now able to sign with any club.

Bringing Gonzalez to the Majors would’ve been a fairly expensive bit of speculation for the Yankees, as the southpaw’s contract contained a $3MM base salary and called for him to earn an additional $300K per start made. With the decision to move on from Gonzalez, the Yankees will rely on James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, CC Sabathia and Domingo German while awaiting the return of top starter Luis Severino, who is recovering from a lat strain.

Gonzalez, 33, made three starts with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton before opting out of his contract. Although he was shelled in the season opener (eight runs in four innings), the veteran rebounded with a pair of excellent outings, yielding a combined two runs with an 18-to-2 K/BB ratio in 11 innings. He threw 93 pitches in the most recent of those outings (April 14), so Gonzalez is plenty stretched out and could even be ready to join a big league staff in short order. He was slated to make a fourth appearance over the weekend but had that start rained out.

While Gonzalez found a tepid market for much of the offseason (to put things mildly), he should have no shortage of interested clubs this time around. Many teams have seen their rotation struggle early in the season, with some losing key arms for much (or all) of the season and others having to send younger rotation hopefuls back to the minors. The Brewers, Angels, Mets, Red Sox, Cardinals, Phillies, Athletics, Indians and Twins have all endured varying levels of disappointment from their starting rotations and could conceivably look to the durable Gonzalez as an alternative option.

While the 2018 season certainly wasn’t one of Gonzalez’s best, he topped 170 innings and 30 starts for the eighth time in the past nine seasons, working to a 4.21 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 along the way. Gonzalez has averaged 31 starts per season dating back to 2010 and hasn’t made fewer than 27 appearances in a given season since that time. As recently as 2017, he notched a 2.96 ERA in 201 innings of work, though he did lead the National League in walks that season. Nevertheless, Gonzalez has regularly been an average or better starter in the Majors for the past decade; that strong track record made it nothing short of bewildering to onlookers that he faced such a seemingly minimal market, but he’ll now venture into free agency for a second time with new representation as he looks to find a quick path back to the Major Leagues.

AL East Notes: Sanchez, Orioles, Draft, Red Sox, Jays

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The injury-plagued Yankees could welcome Gary Sanchez back to the lineup as soon as Wednesday, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Sunday (link via Newsday’s Laura Albanese). He’ll suit up for a rehab game with Class-A Charleston today, and barring any kind of setback, that’ll line him up for a midweek return against the Halos. Boone spoke optimistically but also vaguely about injured regulars Aaron Hicks, Miguel Andujar, Giancarlo Stanton and Troy Tulowitzki, declining to put a specific timetable on any of the bunch.

Here’s a look around the division…

  • The Orioles, who hold the No. 1 overall pick in this June’s draft, currently are considering high school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman but haven’t made any firm decisions as to who they’ll take, per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubtako. It’s of course worth noting that with more than a month to go until the draft, a different player could soar up the pre-draft rankings and thrust himself into the mix for the top selection. Similarly, a currently projected top pick could still give teams cause for concern and/or incur an injury. Both Rutschman and Witt were pegged as top-three overall picks in the first of what will be several mock drafts over at Baseball America, where Rutschman was projected to go to Baltimore.
  • The Red Sox expect to stick with internal options in the rotation following Nathan Eovaldi’s injury, writes Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Hector Velazquez will be the leading candidate to step into the rotation, though Marcus Walden could also be an option. Manager Alex Cora downplayed the possibility of opting for a bullpen day in place of Eovaldi, voicing a clear preference for someone who can go out and pitch at least five innings. If the Sox want to go with a nonroster option, Cotillo notes that righty Erasmo Ramirez could again be selected (he’s already cleared waivers following last week’s DFA and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Pawtucket).
  • With Matt Shoemaker down for the season due to an ACL tear, the Blue Jays are weighing options to replace him in the rotation, writes Laura Armstrong of the Toronto Star. The top traditional starting pitching candidates look to be righty Sam Gaviglio (who made 24 starts for Toronto a year ago), lefty Thomas Pannone, right-hander Sean Reid-Foley and right-hander Jacob Waguespack. However, the Jays could also more creatively look to deploy an opener — a strategy with which skipper Charlie Montoyo is quite familiar from his time in Tampa Bay. In that instance, someone such as Gaviglio or Pannone could handle multiple innings in relief of an opener, thus shielding the team’s weakest starter from the opposing lineup’s most dangerous hitters the first time through the order. For now, the Jays have several off-days looming on the schedule, limiting their need for a fifth starter and lessening the urgency of the decision.

Mets “Keeping A Close Eye On” Gio Gonzalez

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The Mets again appear to have interest in left-hander Gio Gonzalez, Kevin Kernan of the New York Post writes.  The Mets are “keeping a close eye on” Gonzalez’s situation, as the southpaw opted out of his minor league contract with the Yankees yesterday, creating a 48-hour window for the Yankees to either add Gonzalez to their 25-man roster or release him.

This isn’t the first time that Gonzalez has been on the Mets’ radar screen, as the Amazins considered signing the veteran hurler in the offseason.  Though the Mets and a few other teams were linked to Gonzalez in rumors, the Yankees were “pretty much” the only team to come through with an actual offer, as Gonzalez said last month.  That offer was a non-guaranteed deal that would have paid the left-hander $3MM if he had reached the Yankees’ 25-man roster.  Despite Luis Severino’s injury, the Yankees seemingly haven’t seen the need to utilize Gonzalez in their pitching staff, and thus it seems as though Gonzalez will hit the open market once more.

As much as the free agent market has been increasingly hostile to veteran players, it was still surprising that Gonzalez wasn’t able to land a Major League contract over the winter.  While his peripheral numbers indicated some decline in 2018, the 33-year-old has still been a durable and effective mid-rotation starter for the last nine seasons.  Since the start of the 2010 campaign, Gonzalez has posted a 3.49 ERA, 2.37 K/BB rate, and 8.6 K/9 over 1681 1/3 innings for the A’s, Nationals, and Brewers.

Now that the season has begun, however, Gonzalez may have a better shot at a guaranteed deal since teams suffering from early-season pitching woes may be more amenable to such a contract.  In the Mets’ case, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday (Twitter link) that New York is more likely to sign Gonzalez than either Dallas Keuchel or Craig Kimbrel because Gonzalez’s price tag would still be considerably lower than those other two available hurlers.  Plus, signing Gonzalez wouldn’t cost the Mets a draft pick, unlike the qualifying offer-rejecting Keuchel and Kimbrel.

Mets starting pitchers have combined for a 5.56 ERA this season, sixth-highest of any team in baseball.  Jason Vargas and his 9.58 ERA is the most glaring weak link, though Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard have also struggled, and Steven Matz’s promising early results were stained by a nightmarish outing on Tuesday (six earned runs without a batter retired).

Yankees Place Aaron Judge On Injured List

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TODAY: The Yankees have officially recalled Estrada and placed Judge on the IL with a left oblique strain, as per a team announcement.  Manager Aaron Boone described Judge’s injury as “pretty significant” in comments to reporters (including Jack Curry of the YES Network), and said the outfielder would be re-evaluated in two weeks, though no specific timetable was given on when Judge could return.

SATURDAY, 5:38pm: The Yankees expect to recall infielder Thairo Estrada to replace Judge on their 25-man roster, per a team announcement.

5:08pm: An already packed, talent-rich Yankees injured list is on the verge of adding another household name. Superstar right fielder Aaron Judge left Saturday’s win over the Royals with an oblique injury and is likely heading to the 10-day IL, manager Aaron Boone told Sarah Langs of MLB.com and other reporters. Judge will go for an MRI in the meantime.

Judge’s impending IL placement continues an absurd early run of injuries for the Yankees, who, at 10-10, have tread water sans a slew of cornerstones. They’ve been without fellow starting outfielders Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton for all or most of the year, while catcher Gary Sanchez, third baseman Miguel Andujar, ace Luis Severino, setup man Dellin Betances, and shortstops Didi Gregorius and Troy Tulowitzki are also among the walking wounded. The only players nearing returns in that group are Stanton and Sanchez, who, like Judge, rank among the Yankees’ premier power threats.

As far as position players go, no one is of greater importance to the Yankees than the hulking Judge, one of the game’s foremost producers since he burst on the scene in 2017. Dating back to his transcendent rookie season, Judge ranks third in the majors in wRC+ (161) and fifth in both fWAR (14.1) and home runs (83). Factoring in Saturday, when he picked up a homer and a single, Judge is off to a dazzling .288/.404/.521 start (150 wRC+) with five HRs in 89 plate appearances.

Should Judge miss significant time, as is often the case with oblique issues, it will be the second straight year in which an injury has shelved him for a long period. Judge missed all of August and half of September last season after suffering a chip fracture in his right wrist, which also came against the Royals. By then, though, the Yankees had all but sewn up a playoff spot, making his absence easier to handle. They’re now left to hope he makes it back in short order; otherwise, Stanton’s forthcoming return will become all the more timely.

Stanton aside, the Yankees will need reserve outfielders Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier and Mike Tauchman to continue offering the solid to great production they’ve posted this season. Tyler Wade replaced Judge in right on Saturday, though he hasn’t hit at all in 157 major league PA. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ 40-man roster doesn’t include any other healthy outfield options, and their most experienced veteran in Triple-A Scranton, Billy Burns, hasn’t produced in either the majors or the minors since a respectable rookie season with the Athletics in 2015.

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