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AL East Notes: Sox Pen, Wright, Hicks, Holder, Liriano

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The Red Sox were thwarted in their efforts to bolster the bullpen during August, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said today, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. That’s largely what the organization expected, he said, with blocking maneuvers becoming common in the revocable waiver trade period. “The one thing that comes to light on this is that we said after July 31, there’s been nobody that’s been making it through waivers,” Dombrowski explained. “So as we said at the time, you’re going to have to make your moves, try to help you, before the trading deadline. And that was really the case.”

More from the A.L. East:

  • Red Sox knuckler Steven Wright may miss his next start as he continues to deal with shoulder discomfort, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald tweets. A breakout ace in the first half, the righty has scuffled to a 5.06 ERA over his last seven starts. While a shift in fortune and some inevitable regression may be largely to blame, the balky shoulder appears to be an added concern moving forward.
  • The Yankees are likely to be without outfielder Aaron Hicks for all or most of the rest of the season after he was diagnosed with a grade 2 hamstring strain, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets. It’s still possible he’ll make it back in 2016, but Hicks won’t have much time to turn the tables on what has been a disappointing debut campaign in New York. He owns a .213/.273/.330 slash over 320 plate appearances, which won’t help his pending first trip through arbitration.
  • Meanwhile, the Yankees have promoted an interesting arm in Jonathan Holder, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. GM Brian Cashman didn’t intend to add a player to the 40-man unless it was strictly necessary, because of potential complications for the team’s winter roster maneuvering, but says he changed his mind. Though Holder didn’t need to be added to the big league roster to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, Cashman says that the chance at a postseason berth was too important to hold down the righty. Moreover, said Cashman, “if he is what he has been this year, then he is going to be in our pen next year anyway.” Indeed, after blowing away opposing hitters in Double-A, Holder has been even more impressive in his 20 1/3 frames at the highest level of the minors — surrendering just two earned runs on seven hits while racking up 35 strikeouts without issuing a single free pass. His first MLB frame was a good one, too, as he set down the side in order.
  • Since they don’t need him right now in the rotation, the Blue Jays intend to utilize Francisco Liriano out of the pen for the time being, skipper John Gibbons told reporters including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Things didn’t go well at all in his first relief outing tonight, as Liriano coughed up two earned runs on two hits without recording an out. The southpaw had been somewhat better over his four starts for Toronto, throwing 22 2/3 innings of 3.97 ERA ball with 9.1 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9.

Heyman’s Latest: Dodgers, McCann, Napoli, Ichiro, Colon, Price

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The Dodgers intend to pursue reunions with at least four prominent free agents, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. Excellent third baseman Justin Turner, relief ace Kenley Jansen, late-breaking lefty Rich Hill, and veteran second baseman Chase Utley would all hold interest to Los Angeles, per the report, though age considerations and the presence of internal alternatives could limit the club’s willingness to top the market for those players. The 28-year-old Jansen may be the highest priority among this group, Heyman suggests. While the Dodgers haven’t exactly broken the bank on relief arms under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, it seems Jansen could warrant an exception given his unbelievable performance level. All said, Heyman suggests it would be surprising if L.A. doesn’t bring back at least two of those four players.

Here are some more of Heyman’s latest notes, from his weekly column:

  • The Braves and Yankees have tabled any talks pertaining to catcher Brian McCann until the offseason, which may not bode well for New York’s chances to trade him to Atlanta. Heyman writes that the Braves have interest in Matt Wieters, Jason Castro and top free agent catcher Wilson Ramos, whom they’d love to snatch away from the division-rival Nationals. Atlanta is willing to pay half of the remaining $34MM McCann is owed from 2017-18. They’re also looking to add a rotation piece for 2017 and beyond, if not two, as a number of their top-ranked minor league arms are still a ways off from the Majors (which, of course, could make them appealing trade chips in an offseason where the free agent market is devoid of talented starters).
  • Mike Napoli, who is enjoying a rebound season at the plate with the Indians, has said he’d like to remain in Cleveland, though the two sides aren’t engaged in talks. Napoli’s defense and baserunning have torpedoed his WAR totals, but he’s batted a well-above-average .259/.345/.494 with 29 home runs in his first season with Cleveland. His bat should draw plenty of interest this winter despite the fact that he’ll turn 35 on Halloween.
  • Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki hopes to play again in 2017 and would like to stay in Miami, per the report. With his club option valued at only $2MM, that may be a fairly easy pick-up for the organization. Playing in his age-42 season in 2016, Ichiro has compiled a useful .294/.365/.366 batting line over 296 plate appearances, continues to rate as an average or better fielder and overall baserunner, and has even cracked double-digit stolen bases for the 16th-straight season.
  • Another aging veteran who intends to continue his career, says Heyman, is Mets righty Bartolo Colon. It’s not yet clear how his market will develop — we don’t know what level of interest New York will have, or whether the 43-year-old will be looking for multiple years — but there certainly ought to be ample interest given that Colon has provided 158 2/3 innings of 3.35 ERA pitching thus far in 2016. Even if the peripherals don’t quite line up with those bottom-line results, he’ll be among the more durable and effective pitchers available on a forthcoming seller’s market for starters.
  • There’s no sense that the Reds are interested in making a change at manager, Heyman says. Skipper Bryan Price’s contract does expire after the year, but with some positive signs in the second half — excluding a current four-game skid, at least — it seems he could be retained.

Yankees Acquire Eric Young Jr. From Brewers

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The Yankees announced that they’ve acquired outfielder Eric Young Jr. from the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Young, 31, is a veteran of seven big league seasons and is known for his standout speed. He’s a career .247/.314/.328 hitter in 1683 big league plate appearances and has 144 steals in 179 attempts over the course of 557 Major League contests (an 80.4 percent success rate). This season, he’s spent the entire year with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs, batting .263/.338/.339 with 23 steals in 29 attempts over the life of 116 games. He’ll give the Yankees an option as a pinch-runner off the bench late in games in September as the club hopes to remain afloat in the race for the second American League Wild Card spot. New York is currently 3.5 games behind the division-rival Orioles for that spot, but they’d have to leapfrog the Royals, Astros and Tigers in addition to Baltimore in order to secure a postseason berth.

Mariners Acquire Ben Gamel From Yankees

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The Mariners have acquired outfielder Ben Gamel from the Yankees, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes (via Twitter). Shortly after Dierkes’ report, the teams announced the trade, adding that they’re sending right-handed pitchers Jio Orozco and Juan De Paula to the Yankees in return.

Ben Gamel

The 24-year-old Gamel is the younger brother of former Brewers top prospect Mat Gamel and made his Major League debut with the Yanks earlier this year in May. He’s logged just 10 plate appearances at the big league level (eight official at-bats), collecting one hit and one walk, but turned in a very solid season at the Triple-A level with the Yankees’ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate. In 533 plate appearances, Gamel batted .308/.365/.420 with six homers and 19 stolen bases while appearing at all three outfield positions.

Prior to this trade, Gamel rated 24th among Yankees prospects in the eyes of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. That duo praised Gamel’s line-drive, all-fields approach at the plate and rated both his hit tool and speed as above-average, noting that while he lacks the plus speed of some center fielders he makes up for some of that with terrific instincts and quick reads off the bat. Gamel hit a career-high 10 home runs but is more of a threat to rack up doubles and triples — a skill set that would seem to fit well in Seattle’s spacious home park. Gamel figures to, at worst, profile as a fourth outfield candidate for the Mariners but could play his way into a bigger role if he’s able to carry over the success he’s enjoyed in 245 career Triple-A games (.304/.361/.447).

Of the two arms going back to the Yankees in this deal, Orozco appears to be the headliner. The 19-year-old rated 20th among Seattle farmhands, per Callis and Mayo, who praise the teenager’s “advanced feel for three pitches,” referencing the former 14th-rounder’s fastball, curveball and changeup. At 6’1″ and 208 pounds, Orozco is a bit undersized but has a more advanced feel for pitching than most prospects his age, per the MLB.com report. In 70 professional innings since being drafted last year (all of which have come with Seattle’s rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona League), Orozco has a 3.73 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.

De Paula, 18, signed with the Mariners as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic and made his debut in the Dominican Summer League last year. He’s pitched alongside Orozco in the Arizona League in 2016, working to an impressive 3.07 ERA with 11.6 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 41 innings (seven starts, four relief appearances).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Players That Have Cleared Revocable Waivers

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The first three two and a half weeks of August yielded only a few minor trades, featuring pickups by the Mariners (Arquimedes Caminero and Pat Venditte), a swap of veteran infielders (Erick Aybar and Mike Aviles) and the Marlins adding some left-handed depth to their ’pen (Hunter Cervenka). Since that time, several names have changed hands, though, including Carlos Ruiz, A.J. Ellis, Dioner Navarro, Jeff Francoeur, Daniel Nava, Marc Rzepczynski and Erick Aybar. A trade sending veteran outfielder Coco Crisp to the Indians should be announced on Wednesday as well.

Before diving into the names, a few items bear repeating. The majority of Major League players will be placed on trade waivers this month, with most instances going unreported. There are undoubtedly players (quite a few of them, most likely) who have already cleared waivers but have not been reported to have done so. Players can be traded into September, as well, but only those traded on or before Aug. 31 will be eligible for the postseason with their new teams, so there’s some urgency for contending clubs to complete deals by month’s end. And, of course, for those who aren’t familiar with the inner-workings of waiver trades, MLBTR published a full explanation of how August trades work earlier this month. Onto the known names…

  • Ryan Braun (link): Although Braun has slashed an excellent .315/.377/.551 with 24 homers and 14 steals through 454 plate appearances this season, his pricey contract enabled him to slip through waivers. Braun, 32, is owed $76MM through 2021, and any team acquiring him would likely need Milwaukee to pick up a sizable chunk of his contract, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. That doesn’t seem to bode well for the possibility of a trade this month.
  • Ervin Santana (link): Santana, 33, is due $13.5MM per year through 2018, which makes him a fairly expensive investment, but he’s in the midst of another fine season. The righty has been among the few bright spots for the last-place Twins, having recorded a 3.54 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 2.38 BB/9 in 147 1/3 innings. Given that he cleared waivers, the Twins might have to eat some of Santana’s contract if they wish to move him for a decent return. However, Minnesota reportedly needed to be “overwhelmed” to deal Santana in July, and it’s doubtful their bullish opinion of him has changed since then.
  • Ryan Howard (link): It seems as if any possibility of a Howard trade has gone out the window with his time with the Phillies drawing to an increasingly pleasant end. But he does still deliver more pure power than most hitters — albeit almost exclusively against righties — with 19 long balls in less than half a season worth of plate appearances.
  • Matt Wieters (link): Not only is Wieters expensive ($15.8MM salary this year), but he’s also underperforming both offensively and defensively. Thus, with fellow backstops Kurt Suzuki and Brian McCann having already cleared waivers, it’s no surprise that Wieters did, too. Regardless of his struggles, Wieters is the starting catcher for a playoff contender with no better in-house option in place, making a trade involving the impending free agent all the more unlikely.
  • Scott Kazmir (link): Kazmir is owed $16MM in each of the next two seasons, but he has the ability to opt out of his deal after this year. Kazmir’s run prevention (4.41 ERA) has been a letdown in 132 2/3 innings this season, although he has recorded an outstanding K/9 (9.02) to go with a 3.32 BB/9 and a superb 15.2 percent infield fly rate. The positives weren’t enough for anyone to claim Kazmir, though, and it’s doubtful the injury-riddled Dodgers will move out a healthy starter in the middle of a playoff race.
  • James Shields (link): The right-hander was previously a high-end option that every team would’ve loved to slot into its rotation. At 34, he’s now pitching like a DFA candidate. The White Sox, who acquired Shields from the Padres earlier this year, owe him $10MM per season through 2018. Thanks largely to a plummeting strikeout rate and a propensity for allowing HRs, Shields has run up a 7.62 ERA in 69 2/3 innings with Chicago. Overall, he has a 5.98 ERA in 137 frames this year. While Shields is on track for a 10th straight 30-start season, there’s no point in trading for someone who isn’t at least keeping his team in games every fifth day.
  • Nick Markakis (link): The negatives seem to outweigh the positives with Markakis, who’s on a $10.5MM salary through 2018 and doesn’t bring the offensive value to the table that he used to. Since leaving Baltimore for Atlanta last year, the right fielder has hit .285/.360/.384 with a mere 12 HRs in 1,200-plus plate trips. The average and on-base percentage are clearly pluses. Fact is, though, a corner outfielder who has little power, doesn’t grade well defensively and isn’t all that cheap isn’t too appealing.
  • Mitch Moreland (link): Moreland is amid his third straight 20-homer season and isn’t overly expensive ($5.7MM salary) in the last year of his contract, so it wouldn’t have been shocking had someone claimed him. Instead, the lifetime .251/.316/.481 hitter got through waivers and looks likely to remain with World Series-contending Texas for the rest of the season.
  • Matt Kemp (link): Once an MVP-level player, the 31-year-old Kemp has fallen off thanks to defensive issues and a decline at the plate. As a roughly league-average hitter on a $21.5MM salary through 2019, he was fully expected to go unclaimed had the Braves placed him on waivers. They did, and that’s exactly what happened. Atlanta’s on the hook for $18MM per year of Kemp’s money for the duration of his contract. The Padres, his previous team, make up the difference. For any deal to happen, the Braves would likely have to eat a hefty portion of that cash.
  • Joakim Soria (link): The 32-year-old Soria has become increasingly homer prone and displaying some concerning control issues in 2016, so it’s not surprising that no team risked claiming the remaining $19.72MM that he is owed through the completion of the 2018 season. Soria’s 92.8 mph average fastball is actually a career-high, and his strikeouts and ground-ball rate both remain sound, so perhaps he could be moved if Kansas City were to eat some of the remainder on that deal.
  • Eric O’Flaherty (link): Once a powerhouse out of the Braves’ bullpen, O’Flaherty’s second stint with Atlanta hasn’t gone nearly as well. He’s never fully regained his form after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2013, and his ERA in 2016 rested just shy of 7.00 when word of his clearing waivers broke. His $1.75MM salary wouldn’t be prohibitive were he pitching well, but even opposing lefties have roughed up O’Flaherty this season, and he’s been positively obliterated by right-handed opponents.
  • Kurt Suzuki (link): The Twins’ catcher was reported to have cleared waivers just yesterday. Unlike a number of players that clear waivers in the month of August, Suzuki is relatively affordable, making it something of a surprise that no teams placed a claim on him. While he’s not regarded as a highly skilled defensive backstop, he’s hitting .281/.321/.431, which is quite a step up from the league-average catcher (.242/.311/.380). He doesn’t walk much, but he’s also very tough to strike out (12.9%), and he was owed just $1.54MM through season’s end when he reportedly cleared on Aug. 16.
  • Brian McCann (link): It’s no surprise that McCann cleared waivers, as he’s owed a hefty $34MM beyond the 2016 campaign. McCann’s offensive production has wilted a bit in recent weeks, and while his .232/.333/.404 batting line and 15 homers are still solid marks for a catcher, it’s tough to imagine the Yankees moving him without absorbing a fair amount of the money that remains on his contract. Also standing in the way of a potential deal is the fact that teams looking for catching help beyond this year have a fair number of choices on the upcoming free agent market.

One final note: outfielder Jeff Francoeur (link) and catcher Carlos Ruiz (link) were both reported to have cleared waivers as well, but each has already been traded to a new team, with Francoeur going to the Marlins and Ruiz going to the Dodgers.

Pirates, Yankees Complete Ivan Nova Trade

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The Pirates and Yankes have completed the mid-summer swap that sent Ivan Nova to Pittsburgh, per an announcement.  Outfielder Tito Polo and lefty Stephen Tarpley are headed to New York in the swap as the players to be named later.

As MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth recently examined, Nova has been every bit the buy-low, bounceback candidate that the Bucs hoped he would be. Over five starts since coming to Pittsburgh, the 29-year-old has posted a 2.87 ERA over 31 1/3 frames with 22 strikeouts against one solitary walk. Pittsburgh will only get to enjoy the fruits of the turnaround for the next month, as Nova is set to hit the open market after the season, but he has helped keep the club in contention.

In return for Nova, the Bucs will end up parting with a reasonably interesting pair of young players, both of whom cracked MLB.com’s most recent top thirty organizational prospect list. Polo, who just turned 22, cruised through the Class A level but has seen his power dissipate over 247 plate appearances at High-A (.276/.351/.346). The 23-year-old Tarpley — a 2013 third-rounder who came to the Pirates in the deal that sent Travis Snider to the Orioles — has spent the entire year at the High-A level, posting a 4.32 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 over 100 innings.

Yankees “Aggressive” On Waiver Wire

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The Yankees have been aggressive in making waiver claims, rival executives tell ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription required). New York has traditionally made many claims during the August waiver period, sometimes in pursuit of late-season upgrades themselves or simply to block players from reaching other rivals.

This year, the club is in a somewhat different position, as a series of mid-season trades proved that the focus isn’t on 2016. Still, the Yanks have rather remarkably maintained a 15-10 record since the calendar flipped to August, and sit only 3.5 games out of Wild Card position and 6.5 back in the AL East.

Interestingly, Olney suggests that New York’s position just behind Baltimore — but ahead of its division-rival in waiver priority — has created problems for the O’s as they seek to make last-minute additions. The Yankees, it seems, have been able to open possibilities for their own new acquisitions while also cutting off the supply lines of their competitors.

All said, then, the Yanks could be juggling any of three primary sources of motivation in making any single claim: adding players for the final month of 2016, preventing A.L. rivals from doing the same, and/or picking up assets for 2017 and beyond. While there’s not much time remaining for the aggressive waiver wire strategy to work, it seems that New York has at least largely succeeded in maintaining the status quo — leaving the club in position to make a surprising late run at a Wild Card, if not the division itself.

AL Notes: Sox, Rangers, Choo, Girardi

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After dealing away Dioner Navarro on Friday, the White Sox may have further moves to make before the end of the month. As Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago tweets, GM Rick Hahn says that there are some other irons in the fire as contenders move to add players to their organization before the August 31 deadline to bring in postseason-eligible outsiders. “We were having dialogue with a lot of different clubs on a handful of different players,” says Hahn.

More from the American League:

  • Rangers right fielder Shin-Soo Choo’s chances of playing again this year are ostensibly poor after suffering a fractured left forearm Aug. 15, but he’s aiming to return in October. “I want to try for the postseason,” he said (via Ryan Posner of MLB.com). “I have a plan, I have a goal, I have the confidence.” Choo underwent forearm surgery Aug. 17, and the Rangers’ physician told him then that he’d need eight weeks to recover. That would set Choo up for a mid-October comeback, though the first-place Rangers might not be alive at that point. In the event they are, Choo could have difficulty working back into game shape if he’s unable to embark on a minor league rehab assignment sometime in September. Choo’s injury opened the door for the signing of Carlos Gomez, who has taken over as the Rangers’ everyday left fielder.
  • Red Sox setup man Koji Uehara hasn’t looked like a sure bet to return this season since landing on the shelf with a strained pectoral in late July, but there is progress on that front, per Scott Lauber of ESPN.com. Uehara threw 53 pitches off a mound “with good intensity” Friday, said manager John Farrell. Uehara will throw again Monday and is “making some pretty good strides,” Farrell added. With a 4.50 ERA to accompany a bloated home run to fly ball rate (16.3 percent) and a minuscule ground-ball percentage (19.0), the battle-tested Uehara hasn’t been nearly as effective in 2016 as he was in previous seasons. On the positive side, the 41-year-old has posted outstanding strikeout and walk numbers (12.75 K/9 and 2.25 BB/9) across 36 innings.
  • Yankees manager Joe Girardi spoke out Saturday against September roster expansion, telling reporters (including Brendan Kuty of NJ.com), “I think during the most important time of the year you look for advantages for matchups. You do that for five months and all of a sudden some of those advantages are gone because of all the call-ups.” Girardi also offered a year-round alternative to the 25-man roster, which is in effect from April through August, as well as the 40-man edition. “I think you should have to designate maybe 27 players to a roster, 28 players to a roster that day,” he said.

Latest On Brian McCann, Braves

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With red-hot prospect Gary Sanchez in the midst of taking over the Yankees’ starting catcher role, an offseason deal sending veteran Brian McCann back to Atlanta is a legitimate possibility, writes Randy Miller of NJ.com. In theory, the teams could work out a deal sometime this season, as McCann cleared trade waivers two weeks ago. At the time, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported that the Yankees and Braves engaged in McCann-related discussions prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.

Atlanta likes the idea of adding the 32-year-old McCann as a leader of a young team, Heyman reported. Further, general manager John Coppolella told Jim Bowden of Sirius XM on Sunday that, along with finding a manager and upgrading his club’s rotation, improving at catcher will be a high priority during the offseason (Twitter link).

“We need to win games next year,” Coppolella said of the Braves, who will move to a new ballpark in 2017.

As of now, the Braves’ leading in-house candidate to start behind the dish next season is likely Tyler Flowers, who has been out since mid-July after suffering a broken hand. Flowers hit a solid .254/.343/.422 with seven homers in 210 plate appearances before the injury, but the Braves clearly aren’t buying into him as a solution.

Brian McCann (vertical)

Before joining the Yankees on a five-year, $85MM deal in December 2013, McCann was a star with the Braves. As a full-time member of the team from 2006-13, he batted .277/.350/.477 with 171 home runs in 4,150 PAs. That stellar production hasn’t quite transferred to New York, where McCann has posted a league-average .233/.311/.418 line in 1,452 trips to the plate. Still, McCann’s on-field mix of respectable offense and well-regarded defense (StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus have mostly given him good pitch-framing marks, and the latter is fond of his blocking skills) could make him an appealing option.

Moreover, the Yankees are amid a youth movement, making a McCann deal seem like an inevitably. Of course, McCann would first have to agree to waive his full no-trade clause. Money could also complicate matters, as he’s owed $34MM through the 2018 season. However, McCann’s best chance to continue as an everyday catcher will likely be in another uniform. The writing is on the wall in New York, which has turned to Sanchez lately and shifted McCann to designated hitter. The 23-year-old Sanchez is doing his best to seize the backstop role for good, having recorded a videogamelike .379/.419/.776 line with six long balls in 62 trips to the plate.

“It was always the case that Sanchez at some point was going to come up and hopefully come up to stay,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said earlier this week. “So we’ll cross that bridge in the offseason when we come to it, but McCann’s a great player, too.”

McCann is taking the Yankees’ future-oriented approach in stride, telling Miller, “This is the best young group I’ve seen.”

He’ll soon get a look at a different group of young players if a potential return to Atlanta becomes a reality.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nathan Eovaldi Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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AUG. 19: The Yankees announced today that Eovaldi underwent Tommy John surgery and also had his right flexor tendon repaired during the operation. Yankees head physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad performed the procedure, which figures to sideline Eovaldi for the remainder of this season and the entirety of the 2017 campaign as well.

AUG. 16: Yankees righty Nathan Eovaldi is set to undergo surgery to repair both a torn flexor tendon and a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, ESPN New York’s Wallace Mathews was among those to report (Twitter links). The pair of procedures will prevent him from pitching in 2017.

The news could well spell the end of Eovaldi’s tenure with the Yankees. He is entering his final season of arbitration eligibility, and will surely command at least some kind of a raise on his current $5.6MM salary. Unless New York looks to work out some kind of multi-year arrangement, then, Eovaldi will likely be non-tendered this fall.

Presuming that Eovaldi is fitted with a new UCL as part of the work being done, this will be his second trip through the Tommy John process — with his first coming during his amateur days. That prior procedure increased the 26-year-old’s likelihood of requiring Tommy John surgery this year, as MLBTR contributor Bradley Woodrum explained in his recent statistical study. That — along with the concurrent flexor tendon injury — also likely means that he’ll face a longer and more difficult road back than a typical, first-time TJ patient.

This crushing injury brings a disappointing end to what had already been a frustrating campaign. Eovaldi averaged 97.0 mph with his fastball and ran up a 9.3% swinging strike rate — both personal highs — but managed only a 4.76 ERA over his 124 2/3 innings. Despite a 49.6% groundball rate, Eovaldi surrendered a lot of hard contact and coughed up 1.66 home runs per nine innings.

Long an intriguing talent, Eovaldi has not yet managed to fully harness his gifts at the major league level. He has never previously had home run issues — quite the contrary, in fact — but still underperformed his fairly promising peripherals in each of the last two years, when ERA estimators valued him as a sub-4.00 pitcher.

Eovaldi carries a 4.21 ERA over his 739 lifetime innings, though a 3.85 career FIP also leads to a solid accumulation of 9.3 fWAR. That kind of output makes him a useful back-of-the-rotation arm with some room to grow, but it’s fair to wonder whether the bullpen lies in his future. After all, Eovaldi’s big-time fastball would likely play up in a relief role, where he could also limit his often-inconsistent secondary offerings and reduce the toll on his arm. And over his career, Eovaldi has limited batters to a sub-.700 OPS the first and second times through the order, with that number shooting up to .887 for hitters seeing him the third time in a day.

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