Playoff Notes: Wright, Barnes, Hicks
Steven Wright won’t pitch again in the ALDS, per Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston via Twitter. Wright, arbitration eligible for the second time this winter, returned in 2018 to post a 2.68 ERA (4.37 FIP) in sixteen relief appearances and four starts after losing most of 2017 to invasive surgery that repaired cartilage in his knee. The knuckleballer had an MRI after feeling discomfort in the surgically repaired knee before the game, making him a last minute scratch from Alex Cora‘s bullpen in Friday’s ALDS game one, and he will see a knee specialist when the team arrives in New York. In an earlier piece, Drellich noted that Wright’s replacement on the ALDS roster would likely come from a pool of Bobby Poyner, Heath Hembree, Hector Velazquez or Brian Johnson. For last night at least, even Rick Porcello was surprised to hear his name called, per this fun peak behind the curtain from Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Boston manager Alex Cora recognized the need for improvisation during the playoffs – as using Porcello in relief was plan “C and a half.” The injury likely affects Boston’s playoff rotation, as mid-season acquisition Nathan Eovaldi could slide up a day to take Porcello’s scheduled start in game three if the latter isn’t ready to go on two days rest.
More from the Red Sox, Yankees ALDS…
- Drellich also writes that now might be the time for Matt Barnes to step up as the potential stopper the Red Sox need. With Craig Kimbrel an impending free agent, Barnes’ moment could extend through next season. Boston’s offseason decisions do not probably hinge on playoff performance – he’s been in the organization since 2011 and they likely have a sense for his abilities – but it’s an interesting narrative to track. The 28-year-old reliever would certainly be a cheaper option over Kimbrel – he’s arb eligible for the first time this offseason – and his stuff compares – Barnes’ 14.01 K/9, 4.52 BB/9, 53 GB% to Kimbrel’s 13.85 K/9, 4.48 BB/9, 28.2 GB % in 2018. Collecting saves in 2019 would certainly net Barnes a larger pay bump his second time through arbitration. For next season, however, he provides Boston with a lower-cost option to close out games.
- Across the diamond, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports Aaron Hicks aggravated his bothersome right hamstring Friday. Hicks was forced to leave the game after singling off Chris Sale in the fourth and was scheduled for an MRI. Hicks has struggled with a series of nagging injuries during his Yankees tenure, to his oblique, intercostal muscle and now his hamstring – which he injured on September 24th before being cleared of a tear two days later. Brett Gardner is likely to get the start in game two if Hicks can’t go. More concernedly for Hicks, hamstring injuries are notoriously tricky as they often lead to overcompensation and further injury down the line if tested too early. One hopes Hicks can get healthy and stay healthy, lest he earn the ever-ominous label of “injury prone” leading up to his 2019 free agency. Hicks will be arbitration eligible for the final time this offseason and due a raise after hitting .247/.368/.465 with a 127 wRC+.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Showalter, Duquette, O’s, Brasier
While many simply point to the Yankees‘ payroll as the reason for their success, general manager Brian Cashman has spent over a decade quietly assembling an analytics department that rivals any in baseball, as Marc Carig and Eno Sarris detail in a fascinating piece for The Athletic (subscription required). Current assistant GM Michael Fishman was hired as the Yankees’ first full-time analyst in 2005, and today, New York has an estimated 20 employees on their analytics team. This ties them with the Dodgers as the largest such staff in baseball by Carig and Sarris’ count, though they note that teams are notoriously secretive in providing any details about their information-gathering practices. The increased focus on analytical data has impacted all levels of the baseball operations and scouting departments, with the results apparent in how the Yankees have built their outstanding bullpen, all their pitchers’ high velocity and spin rate on their four-seam fastballs, and in the sheer number of current Major League players that the Yankees originally signed or drafted.
Here’s more from around the AL East…
- We could know more about Buck Showalter’s future with the Orioles today, as The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (Twitter link) reports that the manager is expected to meet with ownership and the “sense is” Showalter will be offered some type of job to remain with the franchise. It isn’t clear if that job would be a front office role or if Showalter could continue on as manager in the wake of Baltimore’s 115-loss season.
- Questions also surround the job status of Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette, though Duquette didn’t give any hints about his situation, simply telling Dan Connolly (subscription-only piece) “that’s an appropriate question for ownership.” Though Duquette’s contract is up at the end of October, he is still proceeding as if he’ll still be with the organization in 2019. For instance, Duquette is considering joining at least five other Orioles talent evaluators in attending the showcase for top Cuban prospects Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr., and Sandy Gaston on Friday. The O’s have been heavily linked to these youngsters due to the space in the team’s international bonus pool, which Connolly estimates as roughly $6MM available to be spent.
- Hard-throwing Ryan Brasier has become a key contributor to the Red Sox bullpen, posting a 1.60 ERA, 4.14 K/BB rate and 7.8 K/9 over 33 2/3 frames for the AL East champs. It has been quite the showing for the unheralded 31-year-old, who had just nine innings of MLB experience (with the Angels in 2013) prior to this season. As The Athletic’s Chad Jennings (subscription required) writes, it was less than a year ago that a homesick Brasier was pitching in Japan and intent on returning to North America for the 2018 campaign. He sent e-mails to all 30 MLB teams over the offseason in search of a job, finally landing a minor league deal with the Sox, and then excelling after his contract was selected in July.
AL Notes: Yanks, A’s, Twins, O’s, Davis, Rangers
The Yankees and Athletics have named their starters for Wednesday’s American League wild-card game. New York will turn to right-hander Luis Severino, the team confirmed, while Oakland will open the game with reliever Liam Hendriks, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The fact that the A’s are counting on Hendriks in such an important role would’ve been a shock back in July, when they outrighted him, but the 29-year-old reemerged as an effective member of the team’s pitching staff in September. Severino, meanwhile, is in line to start his second straight AL wild-card contest. Last year’s showing was disastrous, as Severino allowed three earned runs and only recorded one out against the Twins before exiting what proved to be a comeback win for the Yankees. In an MLBTR poll over the weekend, the plurality of voters expressed that J.A. Happ should start the game over Severino. The Yankees disagree.
Here’s more on a few other AL clubs:
- Surprisingly, Twins manager Paul Molitor lost his job on Tuesday. More changes appear to be coming to the team’s staff, too, as Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets that bullpen coach Eddie Guardado and third base coach Gene Glynn are “likely” to exit their posts. The club also announced that it has parted with both strength and conditioning coordinator Perry Castellano and strength and conditioning assistant Erik Beiser. As for Molitor, who may stay in the organization, the Twins have offered him a job in player development, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune relays. Molitor’s bench coach, Derek Shelton, is seen as the top in-house candidate to become the Twins’ next manager, Heyman reports.
- Sticking with the Twins, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said Tuesday that he expects to discuss both an on- and off-field job for franchise icon Joe Mauer for 2019, per Miller. The 35-year-old Mauer may have concluded his playing career this past Sunday, when he had what could go down as a memorable send-off. Mauer’s not under contract heading into 2019, so if the first baseman decides to play again, the Twins will need to re-sign him.
- As of now, it appears first baseman Chris Davis will be back with the Orioles in 2019, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com hears. The soon-to-be 33-year-old owns one of the majors’ worst contracts, so the Orioles’ only chance to get rid of Davis would be by releasing him. It appears the rebuilding club will continue with Davis on its roster, however, even after he posted an all-time worst season in 2018. Formerly an elite slugger, Davis hit a shockingly terrible .168/.243/.296 with 16 home runs in 522 plate appearances. He easily finished last in the majors in fWAR (minus-3.1) and wRC+ (46).
- As of last weekend, offseason thumb surgery looked like a possibility for Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara. It turns out that he won’t need it, though, Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram tweets. Mazara’s thumb was a problem during the second half of the season, when he spent roughly a month on the disabled list and saw his production decline to a notable extent upon his return. All told, the 23-year-old hit .258/.317/.436 (96 wRC+) with 20 HRs in 536 trips to the plate.
East Notes: Mets, Cespedes, Yanks, Sanchez, Braves
With Yoenis Cespedes set to miss some portion of next season as he recovers from two heel surgeries, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon admitted on Sunday that the team will have to plan as if he won’t play in 2019 (via Tim Healey of Newsday). “You probably do have to plan that way, given the fact that it’s uncertain,” Wilpon said of Cespedes, who will enter the penultimate season of a four-year, $110MM contract in 2019. Fortunately for the Mets, it appears they have at least two starting-caliber corner outfielders on hand in 2018 breakout star Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto, and their presences should make Cespedes’ absence less noticeable for however much time he misses next year.
Here’s more from New York and one other East Coast city:
- The re-signing of Cespedes in 2016 has been the Mets’ biggest free-agent splash in recent years, but Wilpon suggested that hasn’t been because of an unwillingness to spend on the team’s part; rather, it was outgoing general manager Sandy Alderson recommendation that the club avoid high-priced free agents, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports. Mets fans don’t seem to buy it, though, as the responses to Puma’s tweet indicate.
- Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez has come under fire for his difficulty with blocking pitches – he was the majors’ third-worst catcher in that department during the regular season, according to Baseball Prospectus – but general manager Brian Cashman isn’t overly concerned about that aspect of his game. “Believe it or not, that falls down (the list) compared to the other things he brings to the table, including his bat,” Cashman told NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty, who goes into detail about Sanchez’s subpar regular season. After establishing himself as an elite offensive catcher from 2016-17, his first two seasons, Sanchez fell flat during an injury-shortened year with a .186/.291/.406 line in 374 plate appearances. The 25-year-old continued to provide considerable power, though, evidenced by his 18 home runs and .220 isolated slugging mark, and may have deserved better production in general. Not only did Sanchez post a .220 batting average on balls in play, down from .308 over the previous two years, but he logged a .357 expected weighted on-base average – up 53 points from his .304 wOBA (per Statcast). And for all the handwringing over his defense, Sanchez actually earned a positive overall mark from BP.
- From a statistical standpoint, Braves utilityman Ryan Flaherty had a less-than-stellar 2018, though he told ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick over the weekend that he’s interested in continuing his playing career next season. The 32-year-old also added that he has already thought about his next chapter in baseball, which could include working as a coach, manager or in a front office role, Crasnick relays. Flaherty’s fluent in Spanish, which is an obvious plus, and his father, Ed, has been eminently successful as the manager at Division III Southern Maine. Of course, those factors alone don’t mean Ryan Flaherty’s qualified to coach, but Braves skipper Brian Snitker believes he’s cut out for such a role. “I think he’d be a great coach or manager,’‘ Snitker told Crasnick. “He has a good feel for the game. He knows the game. He’s a baseball guy, and he loves everything about it. I think it would be awesome if he stayed in the game. The game needs people like that.”
Poll: Yankees’ Wild-Card Starter
While we know the Yankees will host the Athletics in the American League wild-card game on Wednesday, it’s not yet clear which pitcher will start for either team. The A’s seem poised to take an unconventional path and roll with their bullpen all night, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday, while the Yankees are likely to take a more traditional path. New York’s brass is currently debating whether to start Luis Severino, J.A. Happ or Masahiro Tanaka, who comprise the top three in the team’s rotation.
No matter who starts for the Yankees, one thing’s obvious: He’s in for an extremely difficult test against Oakland, whose offense ranks fourth in the majors in runs scored. The A’s have been death on both right-handers (112 wRC+) and lefties (106), meaning the Yankees can’t base their pick largely on pitcher handedness, and own the majors’ best road wRC+ (116). They also lead the league in fly ball rate (38.9 percent) and rank third in home runs, which bodes well for a team set to play at HR-friendly Yankee Stadium.
The A’s power could help steer the Yankees away from Tanaka, a homer-prone righty whose HR-to-FB rate (17.7 percent) is the majors’ sixth highest among pitchers who have thrown at least 150 innings this year. The left-handed Happ’s 30th in that category (13.4 percent), while Severino sits 45th (11.4 percent). On the other hand, the fact that Tanaka tends to shy away from fastballs could work in his favor. Tanaka has thrown his splitter 32 percent of the time this year, and according to Statcast, the A’s have only managed the majors’ second-worst weighted on-base average (.162) against that pitch. The 29-year-old’s main offering is his slider, which he has gone to 33 percent of the time. Oakland does place third in the majors in wOBA versus that pitch, though its .287 mark still doesn’t look that threatening. The A’s have also held their own against four-seam fastballs, evidenced by their .361 wOBA (ninth in the game), and that’s the pitch both Severino (50 percent) and Happ (59 percent) rely on the most.
The above numbers may factor into the Yankees’ decision for Wednesday, though if they make their call largely on upside, Severino will be the choice. The hard-throwing 24-year-old has been one of the sport’s most electrifying starters since last season, after all, and looked like an AL Cy Young front-runner during the first half of the season. Severino has experienced some turbulence since then, as he posted a horrid 5.57 ERA in the second half. At the same time, though, the righty still recorded excellent secondary numbers (10.86 K/9 against 2.00 BB/9, 3.37 FIP/3.06 xFIP), which suggests he deserved much better than his unsightly ERA, and finished the regular season allowing two or fewer earned runs in three straight starts.
Like Severino, Happ has been hot lately. Not only does Happ own a 2.62 ERA in the second half, but the 35-year-old has helped the Yankees to wins in nine of his 11 starts since they acquired him from the Blue Jays on July 26. However, his 4.21 FIP as a Yankee indicates fortune has been on his side. Tanaka, meanwhile, enjoyed a lights-out second half of the season in which he put up a 2.85 ERA/2.98 FIP with 9.41 K/9 and 1.61 BB/9. But it’s worth pointing out he’s fresh off back-to-back rough starts that saw him yield a combined eight earned runs in as many innings.
Based on numbers, selecting a starter against the A’s may not be a slam dunk for the Yankees. But in the end, the club’s choice might not even be on the mound for long. Whether it’s Severino, Tanaka or Happ, New York won’t gives its first-inning pick much rope Wednesday, largely because its bullpen is loaded with appealing choices. That relief corps was put to the test early in the Yankees’ wild-card game win last year, when the Twins teed off on Severino and chased him off the mound after he recorded just one out and allowed three earned runs. The Yankees’ bullpen saved them in a comeback victory in the Bronx that night, and they can only hope they won’t need that kind of help again in this season’s sudden death round.
(poll link for app users)
Who should start for the Yankees on Wednesday?
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JA Happ 45% (4,176)
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Luis Severino 34% (3,117)
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Masahiro Tanaka 13% (1,206)
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Go with a bullpen game instead 8% (743)
Total votes: 9,242
East Notes: Phillies, Quinn, Herrera, Yanks, CC, Rays, Jays, Estrada
Thanks to the presence of rookie Roman Quinn, Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera has recently shifted from center field to right. It’s unclear whether that alignment will hold up in 2019, but manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday (via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) that he wants both players to enter next season prepared to handle center. Kapler also suggested that Herrera hasn’t been at top physical condition this season, per Zolecki, saying: “I think he can come into camp in better shape in 2019 than he came in 2018. … This is something that he and I have discussed and will continue to discuss. I think he can be in incredible physical shape. We’ve seen it from him in the past. If you look back a couple years you see a version of him that is fast, athletic, explosive and I think that’s in there and I’m excited about helping him and supporting him to bring that out.”
Going by fWAR (1.1), this has been a dud of a season for Herrera, who posted between 2.9 and 3.8 in that category from 2015-17. Perhaps Herrera will be an offseason trade candidate, then, though the Phillies would be “selling low” on him, Zolecki points out. He also notes Quinn’s history of injuries could make it all the more difficult to part with Herrera, who’s set to turn 27 in December and has four guaranteed seasons left on the five-year, $30.5MM extension he signed prior to 2017.
Here’s more from the East Coast…
- Major League Baseball has issued a five-game suspension to Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and a three-game ban to Rays right-hander Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com was among those to report. Both players will serve their suspensions at the beginning of the 2019 season, if they’re upheld through the appeals process. Sabathia was ejected from a win over the Rays on Thursday after throwing at catcher Jesus Sucre, a retaliatory move which served as a response to Kittredge nearly hitting Yankees backstop Austin Romine in the previous half-inning. Sabathia’s ejection may have cost him a significant amount of money, considering he was cruising through five innings and was only two frames away from notching 155 for the season. Had Sabathia reached that mark, he’d have secured a $500K bonus. It’s still possible the 38-year-old will earn that money, though, with George A. King III of the New York Post noting the Yankees could use him for a couple innings Sunday in Boston in a postseason tuneup. However, Sabathia told reporters on Saturday that he’s not interested in doing that (via Erik Boland of Newsday). “Nah, man, the season’s over for me. I’m ready for the lights to come on,” he said.
- Blue Jays righty Marco Estrada won’t make his scheduled start Sunday on account of a sore back, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, meaning the pending free agent may have thrown his last pitch as a member of the team. The 35-year-old Estrada, a Blue Jay since 2015, said he’d “love to hear from” the club again and is “comfortable” in Toronto, though he’s not sure whether the club’s interested in re-signing him. Thanks in part to the Jays’ youth movement, not to mention Estrada’s struggles this season, a parting of ways may be in order. Estrada had been a quality starter for the Jays from 2015-17, but he only managed a 5.64 ERA/5.44 FIP over 143 2/3 innings this year.
East Notes: Rays, O’s, Kapler, Severino
The 2018 season was a banner one in Tampa, where the resurgent Rays will miss the playoffs but have assembled perhaps the most enviable collection of young talent in the sport. As Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times details, the once talent-parched organization now faces a new, far more alluring problem: how to keep its young core intact. As Topkin notes, the Rays are set to face a challenging 40-man roster crunch, what with just two set-to-be free agents in Carlos Gomez and Sergio Romo, and only one player (Kevin Kiermaier) with contract in hand for the upcoming season. In addition to seven arbitration-eligible players for 2019, the Rays will return a staggering 27 pre-arb contributors at the MLB level, and will still need to protect top prospects Jesus Sanchez and Brent Honeywell, as well as make room for the oft-injured but highly touted Jose De Leon. With so many capable performers, and more on the way (Topkin lists five other valued prospects who will require Rule-5 shelter this offseason, only one of whom rates in the system’s top 20 in FanGraphs’ latest update), the 40-man issue figures to reprise itself in offseasons to come. It’ll surely be a winter to watch in central Florida: the Rays, as a franchise, seem as well-positioned as any in recent memory to make multiple star-laden upgrades via trade.
In other news from the East . . .
- Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun ruminates on depressing times in the Charm City, where the Orioles, on the verge of wrapping up the franchise’s worst season since the club moved East in 1954, face questions nearly everywhere on the diamond in 2019. After a mid-season firesale that sent would-be ’19 fixtures Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day elsewhere, Meoli posits that the club is likely finished with the jettisoning of its regulars this offseason, owing simply to the group’s poor performance and bloated contracts. Non-performers Chris Davis and Alex Cobb are owed a combined $228MM over the remainder of their deals, and Andrew Cashner and Mark Trumbo, ill-fated signings from the outset, aren’t likely to fetch anything of value this offseason. The rest of the group, highlighted by Dylan Bundy and Trey Mancini, entered with promise but sputtered severely this season, combining for just 0.6 fWAR, though Bundy’s 102 xFIP- and solid K/BB ratio does offer some hope. Perhaps Mychal Givens, the top performer on an otherwise putrid Oriole staff this season, could bring back a decent return, but it appears the Orioles will rely on a burgeoning farm to fill most of their needs this offseason.
- Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, a polarizing figure long before his managerial debut this season, faces questions surrounding whether or not prospective free agents will play for him, writes Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Kapler’s innovative style – which attaches the shortest of leashes to most starting pitchers, relies heavily on day-to-day matchups, and is subject to change at the most unconventional of times (Kapler removed Scott Kingery for a pinch-runner in the second inning of a mid-September clash against the Marlins) – has drawn the ire of players and fans alike, but the headstrong skipper isn’t concerned that courted stars will be turned off: “I think free agents want to be treated with respect, I think they want to be shot straight, I think they want to know where they stand, and I think they want a voice,” he said. “That’s something that we do better than any other team, and I think that will come through loud and clear during the process.”
- Luis Severino will not be taking the ball for the Yankees on Sunday, reports Bryan Hoch of mlb.com. The Bombers are still undecided as to who will start Wednesday’s Wild Card game against the A’s, but today’s decision seems to hint strongly at the most likely candidate.
AL East Notes: Sabathia, Sale, Yankees Pen, Showalter
Yankees lefty C.C. Sabathia cost himself a $500K bonus during today’s matchup against the Rays after he was ejected for plunking catcher Jesus Sucre in retaliatory fashion. As Steve Gardner of the USA Today details, Sabathia’s contract included incentive bonuses in the amount of $500K for eclipsing each of the 155, 165, 175, and 185 inning plateaus. As it stood, Sabathia, who sat at 54 pitches in the 6th inning of game in which the Yankees led 11-0, was a near sure bet to hit the first mark, standing just six outs from the total at the time of the incident, though later he confessed ignorance regarding the matter in a soirée with reporters. The 38-year-old, who’s earned upwards of $250MM in his MLB career, turned in another solid campaign for the Bombers this season, comfortably outperforming his peripheral marks (4.22 FIP, 4.28 SIERA) for the third consecutive year on the way to 3.77 ERA, all while posting his highest strikeout rate since 2012. Sabathia has already expressed a desire to pitch next season, and figures to be in line for a similar (one year, $10MM) deal to the one he inked before the ’18 campaign, should he choose to continue.
In other news from around the division…
- Chris Sale‘s radar gun readings are sounding alarm bells in Boston, where the left-hander sat at a career low 90.1 MPH with his fastball in Wednesday’s outing against the Orioles, the fourth in a series of diminished-velocity starts since his return from the DL after a bout with left shoulder inflammation. For his part, Sale insists that a balky shoulder is not to blame, placing much of the onus on an out-of-sync lower body, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe explains in an information-packed overview of the situation. As Speier notes, Sale’s extension toward home plate has lessened a bit since his return from the disabled list, and is a good deal lower than the 6.19 ft average he established during his lights-out run of mid-summer. A correlation between the extension figures and Sale’s overall performance is somewhat murky, though it’s certainly a mark worth monitoring as the Red Sox enter the 2018 postseason on the heels of their most successful campaign in franchise history. Sale, whose $13.5MM option for 2019 will almost certainly be picked up before he hits Free Agency the following offseason, appears to have capped off a sensational 2018 campaign that saw the hurler post otherworldly marks across the board – his 1.97 FIP and 48 FIP- each rank in the top three in AL history during the live-ball era, and his 13.5 K/9 stands as the best total for a starter (min. 150 IP) since stats were first compiled in 1871.
- Marc Carig of the The Athletic dives deep into the Yankees bullpen and the manner in which it’s deployed in a fabulously detailed piece that’s unquestionably a must-read for all Pinstripe fanatics. The Yankee pen of ’18 ranks, per fWAR and K/9, as the best in baseball history, a fact that likely comes as little surprise to anyone who’s followed the incredible collection of talent assembled in the unit over the last few seasons. Notably, Carig also canvasses the depths to which the unit is influenced by new analytics, making particular mention of rookie manager Aaron Boone‘s number-crunching preferences: Boone, it seems, has bucked convention by eschewing previous batter/pitcher history and platoon advantages in favor of new-wave proprietary data based primarily on pitch types, spin rates, and recent velocity totals while aiming to deploy the best possible arm for the situation. Though the Bombers have a firmly entrenched reputation as one of the league’s most data-hungry franchises, it no doubt helps to feature a cavalcade of relievers capable of setting down batters from both sides at almost any point throughout the game.
- Orioles manager Buck Showalter, whose contract is set to expire at the end of a disastrous 2018 campaign, addressed his future status for the first time in an interview with reporters (link via Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com), praising the team for “how good they’ve been” and claiming that the uncertainty regarding his future job status is “[not that] difficult.” Showalter, who led the club through a series of overachieving campaigns in the middle part of the decade, sports a 668-681 record with the O’s since his start in 2010, and figures to be in high demand this offseason should the club decide to move on.
AL East Notes: Kiermaier, Sanchez, Didi, Biagini
Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was hit on the foot by a pitch tonight and later diagnosed with a hairline fracture, per a team announcement. Kiermaier originally stayed in the game after being plunked, but with only a handful of games remaining, it seems likely that he’ll get an early start on his offseason. The 28-year-old already missed more than two months earlier this season with a torn ligament in his thumb and has averaged just 97 games per season across the past three years due to injury. His 2016 season was shortened by a pair of fractures in his hand sustained while diving for a ball in the outfield, while his 2017 season was truncated by a fractured hip incurred while sliding. Kiermaier is one of the game’s premier defenders and an outstanding baserunner, but tonight’s news won’t do anything to quell the “injury-prone” label that has been attached to him in recent years. He’s set to earn $8MM in 2019, $10MM in 2020, $11.5MM in 2021 and $12MM in 2022 as part of the six-year, $53.5MM extension he signed in 2017.
More from the division…
- Yankees skipper Aaron Boone acknowledged tonight that Gary Sanchez‘s ongoing troubles with passed balls are a “concern” but left no doubt that Sanchez is expected to be the starter for the team in the postseason (Twitter link via the YES Network’s Jack Curry). Sanchez, 25, has an MLB-worst 17 passed balls this season despite catching just 631 innings heading into tonight’s game. The issue is hardly unique to 2018, either, as he led the league with 16 passed balls last year (in 881 innings). He’s also taken a step back in nearly all facets with his bat in 2018, hitting .181/.281/.393 through 365 PAs. Sanchez is still among baseball’s most powerful catchers and, to his credit, has improved his walk rate to a robust 11.8 percent this season.
- Sticking with the Yankees, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com writes that shortstop Didi Gregorius was cleared to resume baseball activities on Wednesday. Gregorius, who is dealing with a cartilage injury in his right wrist, is optimisitc about returning before the end of the regular season. Even if he doesn’t return before season’s end, Boone said that wouldn’t rule out a possible appearance in the AL Wild Card Game, though the manager generally spoke with caution rather than putting down a definitive timetable on Gregorius’ return.
- Right-hander Joe Biagini has bounced between the bullpen and rotation since being selected in the Rule 5 Draft by the Blue Jays prior to the 2016 season, but he tells Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling that he’s now focused on a relief role moving forward. “I’m looking forward to having one role for the whole season to see if that helps,” said Biagini. The struggles to which Biagini alludes there have been pronounced; the righty pitched to a brilliant 3.06 ERA with strong peripherals as a rookie in 2016 while working exclusively as a reliever. He’s bounced between the ‘pen and the rotation in the two seasons since, however, and been tattooed for a 5.51 ERA in 189 1/3 innings. As Zwelling notes, the Jays will be on the hunt for both rotation and relief help this offseason, so knowing where Biagini will fit into the equation should help when plotting their offseason trajectory.
Injury Notes: Altherr, Correa, Hicks, Bryant, Swanson, Harvey, Walker
Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr has been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his big toe, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (via Twitter). He suffered the injury on Monday when crashing face-first into the left field wall while chasing a ball that ultimately cleared the fence. The Phillies were optimistic about Altherr coming into the season after a .272/.340/.510 showing in 2017, but he struggled out of the gate with -0.7 fWAR before being sent back to AAA in July. The injury may factor in to some extent to the Phils’ decisionmaking process this offseason, when Altherr reaches arbitration for the first time. Altherr has struggled with consistency and health across three seasons in the majors, but this year set the low-water mark as he closes out the 2018 campaign with an ugly slash line of .181/.295/.333 over 285 plate appearance. Philly could non-tender him in November; conversely, he’s unlikely to break the bank the first time through arbitration, and with money to spend, Philadelphia may prefer staying the course to see if the 27-year-old can regain the pop he flashed in 2017.
In other injury news around the league…
- Astros star Carlos Correa will be ready to DH tomorrow night after taking 30-40 swings today, per the Athletic’s Jake Kaplan via Twitter. Houston skipper A.J. Hinch will be looking to see “freedom in his swing,” according to Kaplan. Getting Correa healthy is surely a priority for the Astros as they prepare to defend their World Series title, starting with a matchup against the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. Battling through back troubles for much of the year, Correa owns only a .238/.323/.400 slash on the season. When he’s right, though, Correa is a game-changer.
- On another playoff-related injury note, the Yankees received good news today from an MRI on Aaron Hicks‘ hamstring. The outfielder has been cleared of a tear, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com was among those to tweet. Manager Aaron Boone still plans to rest Hicks for a few days. Certainly, with Didi Gregorius tearing cartilage in his wrist, the Yanks would like to avoid any more injuries leading up to the AL Wild Card game against Oakland. Hicks has proven himself an important, if undervalued piece of the Yankees outfield, hitting .247/.368/.465 on the year with a 15.8% walk rate and a career-high 26 dingers.
- Meanwhile, it seems the Cubs avoided a truly worrying injury to Kris Bryant. He exited with a wrist injury after being hit by a pitch, but was cleared of a fracture, as ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers was among those to tweet. In further wrist news with NL playoff implications, the Braves are still awaiting further news on shortstop Dansby Swanson after he was pulled from today’s game for precautionary reasons, as David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets.
- In decidedly non-playoff-related injury news, Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey was cleared of structural damage in his right elbow after being examined recently. Still, the Orioles will keep their former first-round pick out of the Arizona Fall League, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Harvey has dealt with ongoing arm issues that have kept him from finishing his development. Though he has multiple option years remaining, and the most recent news suggests there’s still hope for a healthy 2019 season, Harvey still needs to prove that his body is capable of withstanding the rigors of a full season.
- Diamondbacks first baseman/outfielder Christian Walker is done for the year as well. Per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), Walker sustained a sinus fracture after getting hit by a pitch last night. It’s a disappointing finale for Walker, who rebuilt his stock with two quality offensive seasons in Reno with the Diamondbacks’ AAA affiliate. Walker was drafted in the 4th round of the 2012 amateur draft by the Orioles, with whom he got cups of coffee in 2014 and 2015. Three waiver claims and five years later, Walker found himself back in the bigs last season, albeit quite briefly. This year, in the most extensive MLB time of his career, Walker has limped to a .163/.226/.388 slash with 22 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances spread over 37 games.