AL Notes: Severino, Rays, Wilson, Heaney, Ferrell
Prized Yankees righty Luis Severino was roughed up today and left early after experiencing elbow pain, but the prognosis isn’t nearly as bad as might have been feared. New York announced that he has a triceps strain, but it doesn’t seem that he’s suffered any serious damage. Severino will hit the 15-day DL and won’t touch a baseball for about a week, but it remains to be seen what his path back will be beyond that. The 22-year-old may have been nearing an optional assignment as it was, as he’s failed to follow up on his sparkling debut in 2015, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he takes at least a few turns at Triple-A before returning to the majors.
Here’s more from the American League:
- With the Rays‘ offense struggling, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that the time to take some fairly drastic measures could be nearing. Entering tonight’s action, Desmond Jennings, Hank Conger and Logan Morrison were each hitting under .200 with OPS marks south of .500, and while each has seen his playing time diminish, Topkin wonders how long each can hold onto his roster spot. Jennings, he notes, does have a minor league option remaining, and fellow outfielder Mikie Mahtook is coming off the disabled list at Triple-A Durham this weekend. While Jennings was once viewed as a building block and is earning $3.3MM this season, Topkin notes that he’s already been reduced to a bench role and is in a 1-for-35 slump, so some time at Triple-A could do him some good. It’d be difficult for the Rays to part ways with Morrison ($4.2MM) when they’re already paying James Loney $8MM not to play for them, but his production has been dismal. Conger, meanwhile, hasn’t hit and has also not made strides in the throwing department, having caught just one of 13 runners. He’d been 0-for-48 prior to the one runner he caught this season.
- The Rangers prioritized defense in bringing back center fielder Drew Stubbs and catcher Bobby Wilson, GM Jon Daniels tells Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in a podcast interview. The club primarily valued Wilson over Chris Gimenez, who was traded away when the former was added, because Wilson “excels” at things like “working with the pitcher, executing a game plan and reading swings” and other softer elements of the craft of catching. Notably, though, Wilson has also been working to drive the ball more when he has the bat in hand, even at the cost of some swings and misses, and Daniels says he’s noticed an improvement offensively.
- The Angels‘ rotation remains a major question mark as the club seeks to crawl back into things in the AL West, and the status of lefty Andrew Heaney could play a big role in the team’s near and long-term outlook. At present, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, he’s waiting to see how his elbow reacts to a platelet-rich plasma treatment while using meditation to gain any advantage he can. “Right now I’m trying to will my body to heal itself,” he said. “The mind is a powerful thing. … It sounds like a crock, but it can’t hurt.”
- Astros righty Riley Ferrell, a third-round pick in last year’s draft, is likely to miss the rest of the season after undergoing a procedure to “repair an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder area,” GM Jeff Luhnow told reporters including Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports. It’s expected that Ferrell will be ready to go for a full 2017, however, and this doesn’t appear to be the kind of traditional shoulder issue that would send up red flags. The 22-year-old had been off to a nice start to his career. He threw well at the Class A level last year and opened the current season with ten innings in which he allowed just two earned runs while racking up 14 strikeouts against a pair of walks.
Yankees To Promote Gary Sanchez
The Yankees are set to promote top catching prospect Gary Sanchez, according to Shane Hennigan, a beat writer for the club’s Triple-A affiliate (Twitter link). Sanchez earned a very brief promotion last year, but that came only at the very end of the regular season.
Sanchez, 23, reestablished himself as one of the game’s best-regarded catching prospects with a strong showing last year. Over 400 plate appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A, he compiled a .274/.330/.485 batting line with 18 home runs.
Entering the current season, he landed in 36th position on Baseball America’s top 100 list, rated 55th per MLB.com, and got the #57 ranking from ESPN.com’s Keith Law (Insider link). The youngster has done nothing to diminish that billing thus far, as he’s had an even better effort thus far in 2016. Over 115 plate appearances, all at the highest level of the minors, he’s slashing .280/.330/.542 and has launched five long balls.
It’s unclear exactly what motivated the move. While Sanchez has certainly justified a call-up, the two men ahead of him on the depth chart — Brian McCann and Austin Romine — are both sporting OPS marks of over .800. As others have pointed out, New York is due to face a pair of tough lefties in the next two days, so it could be that Sanchez will only be up for a short time. On the other hand, the Yanks have several players dealing with injuries, so a somewhat lengthier showcase could be in order if someone hits the 15-day DL.
Aroldis Chapman Activated From Restricted List
Left-hander Aroldis Chapman has finished serving his 30-game suspension, as the Yankees announced prior to tonight’s contest that Chapman has been activated from the restricted list. Right-hander Johnny Barbato has been optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in order to clear a spot on the 25-man roster, and righty Branden Pinder, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this season, has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Chapman’s reinstatement.
Chapman, 28, was suspended by commissioner Rob Manfred under the newly implemented domestic violence issue for an offseason incident in which Chapman was alleged to have struck his girlfriend and discharged a firearm while alone in his garage. Charges were never filed, however, and witnesses never offered any evidence that corroborated the initial allegations. Eventually, Chapman’s girlfriend offered a different account of the evening, stating that she didn’t recall saying Chapman had struck her, adding that she only heard one gunshot (after originally alleging eight shots were fired) and wasn’t sure if it was Chapman who discharged the firearm. Because criminal charges were never filed, Chapman did not face a trial.
The exact events of the night in question won’t ever be known to any but the involved parties, but Manfred seemed convinced of the fact that Chapman did indeed fire the weapon in his garage, saying in a statement at the time that the pitcher’s behavior was “inappropriate … particularly his use of a firearm and the impact of that behavior on his partner.” Chapman accepted the 30-game ban without appeal, issuing a statement in which he said: “I want to be clear, I did not in any way harm my girlfriend that evening. However, I should have exercised better judgment with respect to certain actions, and for that I am sorry. The decision to accept a suspension, as opposed to appealing one, was made after careful consideration. I made this decision in an effort to minimize the distractions that an appeal would cause the Yankees, my new teammates and most importantly, my family.”
With Chapman’s suspension complete, he’ll now join left-hander Andrew Miller and right-hander Dellin Betances to form what many expect to be a bullpen trio that will be as formidable as any in big league history. Miller, who has been acting as the closer but will step down into a setup role with Chapman in the picture, has yet to allow a run in 11 2/3 innings while posting a 20-to-1 K/BB ratio. Betances, meanwhile, has an outrageous 27-to-3 K/BB ratio in 14 innings, though he’s yielded four runs (due to three homers) and has a 2.57 ERA as a result. Last season, Chapman, Miller and Betances led all qualified relievers in K/9 (in that order), and they constituted three of the top four relievers in baseball in terms of pure strikeout percentage (Kenley Jansen slipped ahead of Betances to rank third).
Chapman is earning $11.35MM this season after avoiding arbitration for the final time this winter, but he lost $1.865MM of that salary as a result of the unpaid nature of his suspension. He’s slated to reach free agency at season’s end, where he’ll join Jansen and Mark Melancon atop a strong class of free-agent relievers.
AL Notes: Chapman, Trout, McCullers, Severino
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman will be eligible to make his season debut Monday after serving a 30-game suspension (29 because of a rainout) for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. The league disciplined Chapman for firing eight shots from a gun into his garage wall after an argument with his girlfriend last October, but the 28-year-old is adamant that he did nothing wrong. “I didn’t do anything. People are thinking that it’s something serious; I have not put my hands on anyone, didn’t put anyone in danger,” he told Billy Witz of the New York Times. Chapman shrugged off the fact that his frightened girlfriend called 911 while hiding in the bushes, saying, “It was just an argument with your partner that everyone has. I’ve even argued with my mother. When you are not in agreement with someone, we Latin people are loud when we argue.” Chapman added that he believes Latino ballplayers are targets because of their wealth and their lack of familiarity with the customs in the United States, though he didn’t specify whether he thinks they’re targets of the league, the police or both. “It’s easier to hurt someone who is not from here than someone who is. People think we don’t know what the laws are and they try to hurt you. Many people want money. We have to take care of ourselves,” he said.
Here’s more from the American League:
- With the Angels lacking talent at the major league level and possessing baseball’s worst farm system, some pundits have begun weighing whether the team should trade the best player in the game, center fielder Mike Trout. Sports On Earth’s Brian Kenny is vehemently opposed to the Angels moving Trout, arguing that no player they could realistically get in return for the 24-year-old would come close to approaching his otherworldly production. Kenny cites Bill James’ theory that talent is not distributed evenly; instead, it’s to be thought of as a pyramid, and Trout – given both his output and durability – is at the very top of it.
- Astros right-hander Lance McCullers could finally be nearing his 2016 major league debut, which has been delayed because of a shoulder injury. The flame-throwing 22-year-old logged five innings (64 pitches) in a Triple-A rehab start Saturday and struck out seven, according to Angel Verdejo Jr. of the Houston Chronicle. That might end up as McCullers’ only start at that level if his body responds well in the coming days, per Verdejo. McCullers’ return will be a significant development for the Astros, whose rotation – like the team itself – has regressed from one of the league’s best last year to among its worst this season.
- CC Sabathia‘s presence on the disabled list won’t preclude the Yankees from demoting right-hander Luis Severino to the minors if his struggles continue, writes Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. “His development isn’t going to have much to do with CC’s injury,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild told Kuty. “I think what he does is what a lot of young pitchers would do and that’s try to power their way through it instead of pitching their way through it,” he continued. Severino has followed his strong 62 1/3-inning major league debut in 2015 with 25 2/3 frames of 6.31 ERA ball this season. The 22-year-old’s strikeout rate has plummeted from 8.09 per nine innings last season to 5.61, and his BABIP has risen 98 points from .265 to .363. Both of those factors have hurt Severino’s cause, though there are some positive signs: He’s walking far few hitters (1.75 BB/9 compared to a 3.18 mark in ’15) and continuing to generate ground balls over 50 percent of the time.
AL East Notes: Anthopoulos, Benintendi, Yankees
The Dodgers are currently playing a series against the Blue Jays in Toronto, which means that former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos (currently the Dodgers’ vice president of baseball operations) is back in town. Anthopoulos spoke to reporters, including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, about his time with the Jays organization. Anthopoulos notes that one trade he wonders about not making was for Ben Zobrist, who the Jays evidently were close to acquiring from Oakland last season before he ultimately went to Kansas City. He also looks back on one trade he did make, sending Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud to New York in his famous 2012 deal for R.A. Dickey. Syndergaard, of course, has emerged as a phenom, but Anthopoulos defends the deal from the Blue Jays’ perspective. The team had two sluggers in their primes, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, and faced a tough decision about whether to build around them or consider trading them and resetting for the future. The Jays opted for the former. “The thought was three years in a row, and beyond, to be able to get the playoffs and win the World Series,” Anthopoulos says. “The thought was always that it could be what it is today in terms of attendance, TV ratings, fan interest. The belief was there. It was almost like a wick and you needed to light it.” Here’s more from the AL East.
- The Red Sox could soon consider promoting top outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi from Class A+ Salem to a higher level, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. The seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft has continued his torrid hitting from last season — he’s currently batting a ridiculous .381/.442/.648 for Salem and currently has a .337/.425/.587 line for his minor-league career. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says he has no hard-and-fast criteria for the timings of minor-league promotions, instead treating them on a “case-by-case basis.” Of Benintendi, Dombowski says, “I don’t think it’s worth really speculating, but I could have to say it’s at least a situation that I’m sure will merit attention.”
- Yankees manager Joe Girardi says Alex Rodriguez‘s hamstring strain is a grade “one-plus,” MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets. There had been optimism that Rodriguez could return from the DL on May 19, the first day he’s eligible, but that might be unlikely. Carlos Beltran has played DH in Rodriguez’s absence, with Aaron Hicks in right field.
- Meanwhile, Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia is optimistic he can return from the DL in the minimum amount of time, tweets Hoch. Sabathia was placed on the DL yesterday with a groin strain, but he doesn’t believe it’s severe. Ivan Nova is replacing Sabathia in the Yankees’ rotation.
Yankees Place CC Sabathia On DL, Select Contract Of Phil Coke
The Yankees announced today that they have placed left-hander CC Sabathia on the 15-day disabled list with a strained groin and selected the contract of left-handed reliever (and, of course, former Yankee) Phil Coke to take his spot on the roster. The Yankees had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is needed to clear a space for Coke.
Sabathia, 35, has given the Yankees three solid starts in five turns this season, most recently highlighted by an outing in which he tossed seven scoreless innings with six hits, two walks and six strikeouts against a tough Orioles lineup in Baltimore. He’s currently sporting a 3.81 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 47.7 percent ground-ball rate through 28 1/3 innings.
The hope is that Sabathia will only miss about three weeks, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets, but his placement on the disabled list further thins out what was already a fairly sparse rotation. The Yankees currently have Masahiro Tanaka, Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino and Michael Pineda in the rotation, though there’s been talk of Severino needing additional time at Triple-A, and Pineda and Eovaldi have each struggled quite a bit as well. For the time being, right-hander Ivan Nova will transition from his long-relief role into the rotation. Nova has already made multiple four-inning appearances this season, and he has a lengthy background as a starter with the Yankees as well.
Coke, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees a couple of weeks ago after a brief stop on the independent circuit last month. Pitching for the Atlantic League’s Lancaster BarnStormers, Coke tallied four innings and yielded a pair of earned runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts. He’s yet to allow an earned run in seven innings for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, where he’s surrendered just three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Coke has a 4.20 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 411 Major League innings, and opposing lefties have batted .245/.298/.356 against him in 816 plate appearances.
AL East Notes: Gallardo, Sandoval, Swisher, Sowers
Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo tells reporters, including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link), that there’s still no timetable for him to begin throwing. However, the 30-year-old did somewhat vaguely say he believes his return to throwing to be just “around the corner.” Gallardo hit the disabled list back on April 23 due to shoulder tendinitis and was originally projected to miss around four weeks. It’s been nearly two weeks since that time, though, so it’s looking like he may miss that window by a bit, as one has to figure that he’ll require a minor league rehab assignment after not throwing for several weeks. Gallardo agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles this winter but saw that reduced to a two-year, $22MM pact over concerns with the same shoulder that now has him on the disabled list.
- Red Sox chairman Tom Werner elaborated on the lack of insurance on Pablo Sandoval‘s contract earlier this week in an appearance on WEEI’s Ordway, Merloni and Fauria show, writes Rob Bradford. Werner said that the decisions to take out insurance policies on contracts are made on a case-by-case basis and that while the club does have insurance on some contracts, Sandoval’s five-year, $95MM deal isn’t one of them. “The fact is this guy played in 157 games with the Giants the year before we signed a deal with him, and that doesn’t include postseason,” said Werner. “…You know there is wear and tear. You could look at an MRI on 80 percent of players and there would be something that you would notice. … We don’t know what happened. I’m going to surmise that he did something this year that injured it because he woke up one day and he couldn’t lift his arm above his stomach. He’s not saying at the moment.”
- Nick Swisher is off to a solid start with the Yankees‘ Triple-A affiliate, batting .299/.324/.463 with three homers in 71 plate appearances, but the 34-year-old is having some difficulty running, one evaluator told the New York Post’s George A. King III. The person to whom King spoke described Swisher’s running as “hard to look at,” which is perhaps unsurprising for a player of his age coming off multiple knee surgeries. Nonetheless, the limited mobility likely restricts Swisher to first base, King writes, so the likeliest means by which Swisher could be recalled would be in the event of an injury to Mark Teixeira, although even than New York could turn to Dustin Ackley, King notes.
- Fangraphs’ David Laurila interviews former MLB left-hander Jeremy Sowers, who is now working for the Rays after obtaining an MBA from the University of North Carloina. Sowers discusses the end of his career, his transition to the other side of the game, his future in front offices and the openness he has to data and analytics as a new way of looking at pitching in an excellent Q&A with Laurila. “After about two weeks with the Rays, and hearing some of the information they could bring to me, I kind of began wishing I had approached pitching differently,” said Sowers of the Rays’ use of data and analytics. “…It was just another way of thinking about first-pitch strikes, or trusting my breaking ball, or understanding sink versus carry. It’s all stuff you could think about in 2009, but not in the same way we can look at it now. … I’m not going to look at data and say that it is, for lack of a better word, ‘crap.’ I’m going to try to understand what it means.” The entire interview is well worth a read.
AL East Notes: A-Rod, Phelps, Hanley, Rays
A strained hamstring will send Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez to the 15-day disabled list, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Rodriguez, who had previously been slowed by an oblique injury, expressed frustration at the timing of the injury, as he’d begun to emerge from an early slump. Over the past 12 games, the 40-year-old Rodriguez is hitting .262/.311/.619, and he’d homered in three of his five games as well. Hoch notes that the brief hiatus could give the Yankees the opportunity to play Carlos Beltran at DH and get offseason acquisition Aaron Hicks some extra time in the outfield, which would be a defensive upgrade. Left-handed reliever James Pazos was recalled from Triple-A to fill Rodriguez’s spot on the roster for the time being.
Checking in elsewhere in the division…
- The trade that sent Martin Prado and David Phelps from the Yankees to the Marlins looked to be a win for New York as recently as last August, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but early 2016 results for those involved serve as a reminder that judging the “winner” of a trade is a long-term (and imperfect) process. Last year, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi had taken some steps forward, while the main components sent to Miami had delivered solid but inferior returns. However, Eovaldi has struggled this season, while Prado is leading the NL in hitting and Phelps has blossomed under the tutelage of pitching guru Jim Benedict (hired by the Marlins from the Pirates this winter). Sherman writes that the Yankees would probably do the trade again even today, as they still believe in Eovaldi’s upside, but Phelps’ emergence and remaining club control (through the 2018 season) bode quite well for the Fish. Phelps has allowed just two runs through 16 innings with a 19-to-7 K/BB ratio and a fastball that is 2.5 miles per hour faster than it was in his New York days. Marlins assistant GM Mike Berger spoke to Sherman about Phelps’ breakout, favorably drawing some parallels with another former Yankee farmhand: Mark Melancon.
- Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez nearly had shoulder surgery late last year, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. He ended up taking a rehab approach, which seems to have worked out, but did undergo a similar procedure to teammate Pablo Sandoval back in 2011. “The hardest thing is not the surgery. The hardest thing is the rehab,” Ramirez explained. “My advice to Pablo is that it’s going to take a lot of work. A lot of work, a lot of education and a lot of discipline because you use your shoulder for everything. I know that he can do it.”
- Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has pitched so well in relief that the Rays may not move him back to the rotation, even though that was the initial plan, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “Once we were going to go to a four-man rotation, we knew that we were going to use Erasmo in some pretty high-leverage situations,” manager Kevin Cash tells Topkin. “I don’t think any of us could have said he was going to be pitching this good at this point. Not discounting him at all, he’s just been unbelievable.” Ramirez has fired 10 1/3 innings of one-run ball since April 19, striking out seven hitters against just one walk with a 60.7 percent ground-ball ratio. His overall relief numbers are even more impressive, as Ramirez has tossed 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this year and yielded just three runs on 11 hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts. The Rays have Alex Cobb on the mend and could could turn to Blake Snell or Matt Andriese as rotation options in the interim. If Ramirez can sustain his success, it’ll only be a boon for a Tampa Bay ‘pen that is also on the verge of getting closer Brad Boxberger back as well. Boxberger is nearing a return from offseason hernia surgery.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Headley, Blue Jays, Smith, Harvey, Britton
Less than one-sixth of the season is in the books, but the Yankees already find themselves looking at a six-game gap in the AL East. GM Brian Cashman acknowledged that the start is concerning, telling Ken Davidoff of the New York Post that “we urgently need to stop the bleeding now.” But doing that is more a matter of minor adjustments and improvements than significant changes to the roster or field staff, the veteran executive suggests — at least for now. “We’ll continue to do the work necessary to put ourselves in position to succeed, and eventually that worm will turn. In the event things don’t turn I’m going to have to make it turn and be forced to do things that weren’t part of the game plan, whatever that would be,” Cashman said. “The best answer would come from this mix of players.”
- Perhaps no Yankees player has scuffled as badly as third baseman Chase Headley, who has been among the worst regulars in baseball. In Cashman’s view, Headley isn’t so much a victim of batted ball luck as he is simply struggling to hit the ball with authority (as his lack of a single extra-base hit would suggest). “He’s getting his walks, and thank God for that because it would be worse [without them],” said Cashman. “He has not been able to impact the baseball like he’s capable of. We have problems all over, but … he’s definitely someone you can point to and say we have to figure it out. He’s struggling the most.” While Headley has dealt with back issues at times, Cashman says that’s “definitely not an issue” right now. Headley is in the second season of a four-year, $52MM free agent contract.
- The Blue Jays are in better position than their division rivals from New York, but also have played beneath their high expectations in the early going. That doesn’t mean that manager John Gibbons is at risk, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Instead, Toronto’s new front office is focused on finding a way to improve the results from the bullpen, per Heyman. Gibbons is under contract through 2017 under a reworked deal he agreed to this winter.
- The Red Sox are finally in position to call upon reliever Carson Smith, as he’s officially been activated from the DL. Smith has been expected to hold down a significant late-inning role since coming over this winter via trade, but first had to battle through a flexor strain. Boston will undoubtedly hope that Smith can avoid further elbow complications.
- Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey will be delayed yet again, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports, as he will undergo sports hernia surgery this week. Now, it’s not clear that Harvey will have a shot at making his next regular season, minor league appearance before passing the two-year anniversary of his last. Harvey is still just 21, and remains a highly-regarded prospect, but has yet to move past the Class A level due to a litany of injuries. He’s expected to begin working back to action in July.
- Meanwhile, the Orioles got promising news on closer Zach Britton, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports (via Twitter) that an MRI revealed no major cause for concern. The southpaw relief ace is hopeful that he’ll avoid the DL entirely after turning his ankle recently.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Rays, Paredes, Smith
With the Yankees off to a woeful 8-15 start to the season, the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff opines that it’s time to make some significant changes to the lineup. Chief among them, writes Davidoff, is the benching of struggling third baseman Chase Headley in favor of Ronald Torreyes. While he notes that such a move wouldn’t be a long-term fit, Davidoff feels Torreyes would provide quality at-bats on a more consistent basis. Davidoff also calls for a demotion for right-hander Luis Severino if his struggles persist much longer, writes that aging veterans (Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira) should receive less playing time and adds that the Yankees should make it known that they’ll eat a large portion of Jacoby Ellsbury‘s salary in a trade.
While the Yankees could certainly look to move Ellsbury, that’s far easier said than done, even if they’re eating a huge portion of his contract. Ellsbury has nearly $107MM remaining on his contract through the end of the 2020 season (including the $5MM buyout on his 2021 option). While the Dodgers were able to move Matt Kemp with nearly an identical amount remaining on his deal, Kemp was significantly more productive at the plate prior to his trade, and the Dodgers still had to eat $32MM of his deal. L.A.’s inability to move Carl Crawford and the longtime struggles the Braves faced in trying to shed Melvin Upton Jr. serve as reminders that it would be exceptionally difficult to move Ellsbury.
More from the AL East…
- Fangraphs’ David Laurila spoke with Headley about his struggles at Yankee Stadium. Headley explained that he’s in somewhat of a catch-22, as with the exception of the short porch in right field, Yankee Stadium plays fairly large. His swing from the left side is more geared for power to center field or to left field, which negates some of the advantages of hitting left-handed there. However, because of the increased shifting against him, he does feel the need to try to hit the ball in the air, which has resulted in a number of fl-ball outs. Headley tells Laurila that he’s working on pulling the ball in the air with more authority, though clearly he’s still enduring some troubles at the plate.
- Also within Laurila’s notes column, he speaks to Rays right-hander Danny Farquhar about the increase of data that he’s received now that he’s in the Tampa Bay organization. “They’re presenting me with more than anyone I’ve been with,” said Farquhar. The former Mariners setup man feels that the increased data is good information to have to provide context when he’s struggling.
- Orioles infielder/DH Jimmy Paredes will see his minor league rehab assignment end in two weeks, and Baltimore will face a decision on the out-of-options 27-year-old at that point, writes MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Kubatko doesn’t see how the O’s can keep Paredes on the roster unless they view him as their backup second baseman over Ryan Flaherty, who is expected to be recalled from Triple-A this week. It does indeed seem as if Baltimore has some trepidation about playing Paredes in the field with any form of regularity. Last season, he logged just 72 2/3 innings in the field despite appearing in more than 100 games. The Orioles, in fact, elected to play Steve Pearce at second base over Paredes despite a complete lack of experience for Pearce at the position. With Pedro Alvarez locked in at DH, Paredes does appear to be squeezed out of a role unless the club feels comfortable with his glove, which hasn’t been the case in the past.
- The Red Sox optioned infielder Marco Hernandez to Triple-A, which will clear a spot on the 25-man roster for right-hander Carson Smith to be activated from the disabled list tomorrow, tweets ESPN Boston’s Scott Lauber. As the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich writes, manager John Farrell explains that he plans to be careful with Smith early in his season. “We’ve got to be mindful that Carson comes back to us with a limited rehab (stint), so we’ve got to be careful on his frequency of use,” said Farrell. “It’s not being ruled out that we would go with an extra pitcher for the short term.”