Cardinals, Yadier Molina Discussing Extension
Aug. 20: Both Molina and the team are encouraged by the recent talks, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who adds that they’re making progress toward a deal.
Aug. 19: The Cardinals and catcher Yadier Molina are in talks on a one-year extension that would cover the 2022 season, per Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Molina is earning $9MM on his current one-year contract and is eyeing a guarantee of at least that same amount for next season.
Molina has spoken in the past of playing through his age-40 season, which would be the 2022 campaign. Re-signing him for the 2022 campaign would allow the Cards to use Molina and Andrew Knizner as bridges to catching prospect Ivan Herrera, who’s playing in Double-A as a 21-year-old this season.
Of course, a Molina extension would mean another year of rather sparse usage for the 26-year-old Knizner, who was a fairly well-regarded prospect himself but hasn’t had much of a look in the big leagues thanks to Molina’s heavy workload. Knizner is hitting .177/.295/.257 in 132 plate appearances this year and has just 207 total plate appearances since debuting in 2019.
The 39-year-old Molina, meanwhile, has racked up 353 plate appearances on the season and turned in a .256/.303/.378 batting line with eight home runs and 16 doubles, and he’s even gone 3-for-3 in stolen-base attempts — his first steals since the 2019 campaign. It’s a far cry from his peak production back in 2012, when he turned in an outstanding .315/.373/.501 slash and a career-high 22 home runs in 563 plate appearances, but this year’s production is more or less in line with Molina’s output in 2019-20. Molina’s 86 wRC+ indicates he’s been about 14 percent worse than a league-average hitter over that period of two-plus seasons, but his production is about in line with that of an average Major League catcher.
As usual, Molina has drawn standout marks for his defensive work this season. His 43 percent caught-stealing rate is 17 percent better than the 26 percent league average, and Defensive Runs Saved values him at plus-5 overall. Statcast and FanGraphs feel his framing work has dipped below average, but Molina rates about average in that category over at Baseball Prospectus and has a long track record of excellence in that regard.
Moreover, the Cardinals would surely value Molina’s influence over what can only be a younger pitching staff in 2022. The Cards have relied on a cast of mid- or late-30s starters this summer, due in part to injuries, but next year’s rotation ought to include Jack Flaherty, a returning Dakota Hudson (who’s been out all year after Tommy John surgery) and perhaps touted young arms like Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson. Molina’s experience and general receiving skills would be an obvious bonus to any collection of young arms.
From a payroll vantage point, a contract worth $9MM-plus for Molina shouldn’t hamper the Cards’ ability to add this offseason. They currently have about $90MM in guaranteed contracts on the books, which is nearly $80MM shy of their current payroll. That mark doesn’t include forthcoming arbitration raises for Jack Flaherty, Harrison Bader, Alex Reyes, Jordan Hicks, Giovanny Gallegos, Tyler O’Neill or the aforementioned Hudson, but even with those salary boosts the Cardinals will have tens of million in separation from their current payroll level.
It stands to reason that if the Cardinals are serious about hammering out another one-year deal with one franchise cornerstone, they’ll look to do so with the other franchise icon currently on the roster: Adam Wainwright. The 39-year-old right-hander is in the midst of a brilliant season and seemingly showing no signs of slowing down. If he wants to continue his career beyond the current season, the front office will surely explore the possibility of keeping him a lifelong Cardinal.
Judge Denies Request For Permanent Restraining Order Against Trevor Bauer
5:11 pm: As expected, Bauer’s administrative leave has been extended through August 27, per various reporters (including Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times).
3:15 pm: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman issued a ruling today denying a long-term restraining order to the woman who has accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault, per Steve Henson of the Los Angeles Times. The ruling brings to a close the civil hearing that has been ongoing throughout the current week.
Bauer did not testify at this week’s hearing, instead invoking his fifth amendment rights. He’s still the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and of an investigation under Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. Bauer is currently on paid administrative leave, which is set to expire tomorrow. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that with criminal and MLB investigations still ongoing, that leave will likely once again be extended by mutual agreement between MLB and the Players Association.
There are several key points to be emphasized with regard to where things stand at present. As previously noted, Bauer is still the subject of multiple investigations. Today’s ruling was neither a declaration of Bauer’s innocence nor guilt with regard to the woman’s allegations. Rather, it was a ruling from the court that Bauer does not pose a continued threat to the alleged victim. Similarly, the determination that the accuser does not require long-term protection against Bauer is not legally reflective of his guilt or innocence; the alleged victim and the district attorney can still bring forth charges pursuant to Bauer’s purported actions.
Just as the absence of a restraining order does not preclude criminal charges, the ruling also does not preclude a suspension from commissioner Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball. The league’s sexual assault policy gives Manfred the power to implement a suspension even in the absence of criminal charges, as we’ve seen on numerous occasions where domestic violence charges were dropped by the alleged victims. It’s also unclear whether newly surfaced allegations from a woman in Ohio that date back to last summer will be factored into the league’s decision on any punitive measures against Bauer.
While today’s ruling represents a notable step in the process, it does not bring about anything in the way of resolution for Bauer or the Dodgers. The pitcher’s long-term outlook remains unclear, and the league could well wait until the criminal investigation (and any subsequent charges, if pressed) is resolved before determining whether to levy its own suspension.
MLB Reportedly Proposes $180MM First Luxury Tax Threshold, $100MM Salary Floor To MLBPA
With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire on December 1, 2021, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been in talks regarding the potential structure of the next CBA. MLB made its first core economic proposal to the MLBPA this week, report Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic.
MLB’s proposal included a lower threshold for taxes on team spending, with teams subject to a 25% tax on any spending above $180MM, report Drellich and Rosenthal. There would be three additional tax brackets at some point above that mark (for a total of four tax brackets), with the tax rate increasing as teams hit those higher overage levels. As a trade-off, MLB proposed that teams be subject to a $100MM salary minimum. MLB’s entire proposal was presented as a package deal as opposed to a series of one-by-one potential provisions.
For comparison’s sake, the current CBA contains three tiers of luxury tax penalization. For the 2021 season, the first tier begins at $210MM and contains a 20% tax on overages up through $230MM. There’s a 32% tax on overages between $230MM and $250MM and a 62.5% tax on any payments beyond $250MM. Those penalties escalate for teams that pay the tax in multiple consecutive seasons.
(Under the current CBA, a team’s luxury tax number is calculated by tabulating the average annual values of its financial obligations — not its actual payroll in any given season. It’s not clear whether MLB’s proposal would continue to be based on contracts’ AAV’s as opposed to current-year obligations).
The luxury tax has become an obvious deterrent to spending for most high-payroll teams. Only the Dodgers have been comfortable blowing by the thresholds to incur the loftiest penalties associated with the third bracket this season. Teams like the Padres, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox and Astros all have CBT numbers hovering right around the $210MM lowest threshold and either contemplated or were seemingly dead-set upon avoiding the tax during their offseason and trade deadline maneuvering. Of that group, it seems only San Diego might have exceeded the threshold by a narrow margin, although it’s not yet clear that’s the case. Even if the Friars did go over the first threshold, they didn’t exceed it by enough to incur particularly meaningful financial penalties this year.
Given that the luxury tax has served as a de facto salary cap for some of the league’s top spenders, it doesn’t seem likely the MLBPA will be particularly enamored with the idea of lowering that first threshold such a substantial amount. Indeed, it’s widely expected the MLBPA will be pushing for a dramatic increase to those thresholds during the current session of CBA talks. MLB also offered the union an option to leave the luxury tax status quo, report Drellich and Rosenthal, although it’s not clear what other conditions would be involved in that scenario.
MLB is obviously aware that getting the MLBPA’s assent on lower tax thresholds will be extremely difficult (if not impossible). That’s likely the reason for the inclusion of the proposed salary floor, with the league reasoning that setting a minimum payroll would increase some teams’ spending and more equally divide team payrolls for competitive balance reasons. Twelve teams (Pirates, Indians, Marlins, Orioles, Rays, Mariners, Tigers, A’s, Royals, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Brewers) entered the 2021 season with an actual payroll below $100MM, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. (Seven had an estimated luxury tax payroll below $100MM). The league’s proposal contained some method of redistributing tax money collected from the higher spenders to spur spending among those lowest-payroll clubs, Drellich and Rosenthal report.
Of course, there’s plenty about the league’s proposal that’s unknown. Drellich and Rosenthal note that it’s unclear how the league would penalize teams that don’t reach the spending minimum, or even in what season that minimum would go into effect. It’s also debatable whether the presence of a salary floor would actually increase free agent spending or truly disincentivize teams from conducting long-term rebuilds. It’s equally easy to envision a low-payroll rebuilder acquiring an underperforming veteran player on an expensive contract — along with prospect talent — from a high-payroll club looking to duck under the tax threshold.
For instance, the Padres and Rangers reportedly had pre-deadline discussions about a deal that would’ve sent first baseman Eric Hosmer (who’s on an eight-year, $144MM contract) and top outfield prospect Robert Hassell III to Texas to acquire Joey Gallo. That obviously didn’t come to fruition, but it’s a useful illustration of the creative ways teams could work around the lower tax thresholds/salary floor. The Rangers picking up Hosmer would’ve pushed their payroll up over $100MM while shedding money from San Diego’s books — without having any direct impact on the free agent market.
Of course, there’s still a few months for the two sides to bandy about proposals before the expiration of the current CBA. The MLBPA made its first proposal back in May, report Drellich and Rosenthal, with one emphasis being on earlier arbitration eligibility for younger players.
There’s obviously a significant amount of each proposal that hasn’t yet been made public. Drellich’s and Rosenthal’s report sheds some early light on both sides’ vision for the long-term future of the sport, but there’ll be plenty more back-and-forth between the league and the MLBPA over the coming months in what’s widely expected to be a fairly contentious negotiation. The full piece is worth a perusal for subscribers to the Athletic interested in the sport’s labor dynamics.
Blue Jays Place George Springer On Injured List
Aug. 18: Springer has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain in his left knee, the Blue Jays announced. While it’s encouraging that he’s dealing with a low-grade sprain, it’s still not clear when the Jays expect him to be able to return to the field.
Aug. 17: The Blue Jays are placing outfielder George Springer on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left knee, manager Charlie Montoyo announced to reporters (Twitter link via TSN’s Scott Mitchell). Springer recently complained of discomfort in his knee, and an MRI revealed the current issue. There’s no timetable being provided for his return at the moment. Toronto is calling up infield/outfield prospect Otto Lopez to replace Springer on the active roster.
It’s a major blow to the Blue Jays, particularly given the lack of timeline on Springer’s return. The 31-year-old slugger inked a franchise-record six-year, $150MM contract with the Jays over the winter and has spent considerable time on the IL this season owing to a prior quadriceps strain. He’s looked every bit like the high-end slugger the Jays hoped to be acquiring when he’s been healthy enough to take the field, however; in 49 games and 211 plate appearances, Springer has posted a .269/.362/.610 batting line with 16 home runs, 12 doubles, a triple and a pair of steals.
Springer’s return to the injured list likely means the Jays will go with a combination of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Randal Grichuk, Teoscar Hernandez, Corey Dickerson and Lopez between the outfield and designated hitter slots in the lineup. The trio of Gurriel, Grichuk and Hernandez was quite productive early in the 2021 campaign while Springer mended that quad injury, but Grichuk’s bat has wilted considerably over the past couple months. Still, he’s the only real center field option on the roster at present, although the Jays could select the recently acquired Mallex Smith to the MLB roster as an alternative.
Lopez, 22, ranks as the Blue Jays’ No. 23 prospect over at FanGraphs and has enjoyed a strong season split between Double-A and Triple-A. In 359 plate appearances, mostly coming in Double-A, he’s slashed .324/.398/.451 with three home runs, 25 doubles, three triples and a dozen stolen bases (in 15 tries).
Springer’s new injury comes at a time when the Jays are nine games over the .500 mark but nevertheless eight games behind the division-leading Rays in the American League East. They’re a more manageable four games out of the hunt for the second AL Wild Card spot. The loss of Springer, even for a short time, puts a serious dent in their hopes of overcoming that deficit. Eleven of Toronto’s next 15 games come against clubs with sub-.500 records, but Springer’s absence will surely be quite palpable.
Dodgers Sign Shane Greene To Major League Deal
11:30 am: Los Angeles is indeed signing Greene to a major league contract, reports Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic (on Twitter).
11:12 am: The Dodgers are nearing agreement with free agent reliever Shane Greene on a major league contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 32-year-old was released by the Braves over the weekend. Greene is represented by the Ballengee Group.
Despite quality work between 2019-20, Greene remained on the free agent market over the entirety of last offseason. That was a bit surprising but perhaps explainable by the difference in the right-hander’s run prevention numbers and peripherals. Greene pitched to an elite 2.39 ERA across 90 1/3 innings between those two seasons, but that came with a slightly below-average 23.5% strikeout rate. The disconnect is even more stark when looking at 2020 alone; his ERA was a still-great 2.60, but his strikeout percentage dipped to 19.3%. Teams clearly seemed reluctant to buy into Greene as a high-end late innings option despite his success keeping runs off the board.
The 2021 season has been a disaster no matter which metric one uses to evaluate pitcher performance. Signed to a big league deal by Atlanta in May, Greene was called up in early June after spending a few weeks in Triple-A to build up arm strength. He tossed seventeen innings for the Braves but was tagged for sixteen runs (an 8.47 ERA) on 22 hits, including five homers. Greene’s 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk percentage aren’t too different from last season’s marks, but he’s seen his groundball rate fall to a career-low 30.4% and served up far too much hard contact.
Clearly, the Dodgers feel his horrible 2021 numbers to date don’t reflect that Greene’s ability to be effective has disappeared. It’s a rather limited amount of time for a pitcher who had a multi-year track record of success before this season. Greene didn’t have a typical offseason ramp-up period because of his protracted stay in free agency. Perhaps most importantly, the velocity and spin on his sinker and cutter are nearly identical between 2020 and 2021. With his raw stuff still intact, Greene could be primed for a bounceback under a new coaching staff and environment in L.A.
There’s no financial risk for the Dodgers in taking that chance. The Braves will remain on the hook for the bulk of Greene’s prorated $1.5MM salary, with the Dodgers paying the veteran just the prorated league minimum for the stretch run (which will be subtracted from Atlanta’s payroll). The 32-year-old will hit the open market again at the end of the season.
Dodgers’ Cole Hamels Out For Season With Shoulder Injury
9:39 pm: Hamels felt shoulder pain during a recent simulated game, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).
9:17 pm: The Dodgers announced they’ve selected the contract of veteran reliever Neftalí Féliz. To create space on the 40-man roster, they placed left-hander Cole Hamels on the 60-day injured list. The move ends Hamels’ season before he could make an official appearance. Hamels recently suffered some form of arm injury, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).
Additionally, Los Angeles recalled right-handed pitching prospect Andre Jackson to make his major league debut. Jackson was selected to the 40-man roster over the offseason to keep him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, so no corresponding move was needed in that regard. To open active roster space, Darien Núñez and Edwin Uceta were optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Hamels missed almost all of last season with the Braves dealing with triceps and shoulder issues. He stayed on the free agent market for the entire offseason and the first half of the 2021 campaign before conducting a showcase in mid-July. That led to a one-year, $1MM deal with the Dodgers two weeks ago, with the hope that Hamels could build up as a late-season rotation option for Los Angeles. Unfortunately, he’s now dealing with another injury that’ll keep him from taking the mound in 2021.
There’ll surely be forthcoming updates on Hamels’ specific diagnosis and outlook. It’s not clear whether this latest issue stands to affect his readiness for the 2022 campaign. The 37-year-old will again hit free agency at the end of the season, and he’ll surely need to conduct another showcase for teams if he’s able and decides to pursue opportunities this winter.
What is clear is that Hamels’ setback will remove another potential starting pitching option for the Dodgers down the stretch. Los Angeles trails the Giants by four games in the NL West, and they were already without Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Danny Duffy and Tony Gonsolin due to injury (as well as Dustin May, who underwent Tommy John surgery in May). Kershaw, notably, did play catch today for the first time since being shut down due to forearm soreness (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com), although he’s still not expected back until September.
Féliz is back in the majors for the second time this season. The former All-Star appeared in two games for the Phillies in late June, his first big league action in four years. Féliz was tagged for four runs in an inning of work with Philadelphia before being let go. The 33-year-old latched on with the Dodgers on a minor league deal shortly thereafter.
The veteran righty has spent the past six weeks at Oklahoma City, pitching his way back to the bigs with a 3.38 ERA across 18 2/3 innings. That’s a continuation of the stellar work he logged at the minors’ highest level with the Phillies’ affiliate in Lehigh Valley. Between the two organizations, Féliz has a 2.45 ERA in Triple-A with a huge 38.8% strikeout rate and an average 9.7% walk percentage.
Jackson, meanwhile, is one of the better pitching prospects in the Dodgers’ system. He fell to the twelfth round in the 2017 draft after undergoing Tommy John surgery during his final season at the University of Utah, where he spent more time as an outfielder than he did on the mound. The righty made his professional debut the following year and struggled with his control, but he had a breakout 2019 season split between two levels of A-ball.
Each of Baseball America, Keith Law of the Athletic and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Jackson among the Dodgers’ top fifteen minor leaguers either before or during the 2021 season. Evaluators praise his four-pitch mix and athleticism, with a general expectation he’ll continue to improve due to his relative lack of experience as a pitcher.
The 24-year-old has spent most of the year with Double-A Tulsa, pitching to 3.27 ERA across 63 1/3 innings. Jackson punched out a strong 29.6% of opponents while walking a career-low 7.9% of batters faced to earn his first big league call.
Padres Sign Jake Arrieta
The Padres are taking a flier on Jake Arrieta, announcing a deal with the veteran right-hander this afternoon. While San Diego technically inked Arrieta to a minor league contract, the club announced they plan to formally select him to the big league roster on Wednesday, when he’ll get make his team debut with a start against the Rockies. San Diego already has a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard unless they add somebody to the roster in the intervening two days. Arrieta is repped by the Boras Corporation.
San Diego suddenly finds itself desperate for innings — a scenario few would’ve anticipated after an offseason in which the Friars acquired Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove to strengthen a rotation that already looked to have a fair bit of depth. However, Darvish was placed on the injured list yesterday owing to back issues, and the Padres are also currently without Chris Paddack (oblique strain), Dinelson Lamet (forearm inflammation, hip surgery) and Adrian Morejon (Tommy John surgery). Touted prospect MacKenzie Gore hasn’t pitched in a game since June 13, as he was sent back to the team’s Spring Training complex to work on mechanical issues not long after.
Arrieta will give the Padres a veteran option to soak up some innings, but the extent of his struggles with the Cubs underscore the dire nature of the need for arms in San Diego at the moment. While Arrieta got out to a nice start after signing a one-year, $6.5MM deal to return to the Cubs, his production cratered after a handful of solid outings to begin the season.
Arrieta pitched to a 2.57 ERA through his first five starts but has since been shellacked for 58 runs in 58 1/3 innings. He completed six innings just one time in those 15 outings and completed five frames in just six of them. And while a few poor outings can always skew a few months’ worth of numbers, that isn’t necessarily the case here; Arrieta allowed at least four runs in 10 of those 15 starts. This year’s 90.8 mph average fastball is the lowest of his career and represents a two mile-per-hour drop from last year’s levels.
Of course, Arrieta was once one of the game’s best arms. He followed up a strong first half in 2015 with a historically dominant second half, cruising to a National League Cy Young Award and a sixth-place finish in NL MVP voting. He went on to throw a shutout in his postseason debut in 2015. That was followed by All-Star campaign in 2016, which featured 197 1/3 innings of 3.10 ERA ball, and Arrieta posted a 3.63 ERA in 22 1/3 postseason frames as the Cubs marched to a World Series victory. Broadly speaking, he was one of the primary drivers behind the Cubs’ transformation into a perennial contender during his initial run there.
That all feels like a distant memory after three lackluster years in Philadelphia, an elbow surgery, and this year’s unsuccessful Wrigley reunion. The Padres will hope a change of scenery can lead to some late-season lightning in a bottle, but the mounting number of rotation injuries has left their grip on the second NL Wild Card spot feeling more tenuous than ever. What was a six-game lead over the Reds as recently as July 27 has been whittled away to a 2.5-game lead over their closest competitors in Cincinnati.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the sides were close to a deal. Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first to report the Padres were among the teams with interest in Arrieta. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the sides had an agreement and that Arrieta would get the start on Wednesday. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Rays Sign David Robertson
The Rays are adding some big-name bullpen depth for the final six weeks of the season, announcing on Monday that they’ve signed right-hander David Robertson to a Major League contract. Robertson, who just pitched for Team USA during the Summer Olympics, will head to Triple-A for a tune-up for the time being. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who’d been out with a knee sprain, has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Robertson, 36, will be aiming to return to a big league mound for the first time since early in the 2019 season. He reached free agency for the second time of his career on the heels of a strong season with the Yankees in 2018 and wound up inking a two-year, $23MM deal to serve as the Phillies’ closer. He was entering his age-34 season at the time and had been the game’s most durable reliever in the nine prior seasons — averaging 65 appearances and 65 innings per year without ever incurring a major arm injury.
As has so often been the case with relievers acquired by the Phillies in recent years, however, things simply didn’t go according to plan. The ultra-durable Robertson hit the injured list early in the 2019 campaign, and by season’s end it was clear that he’d require Tommy John surgery. He missed the entire 2020 campaign as well and ultimately only pitched 6 2/3 frames as a member of the Phils.
Robertson received some interest from clubs during Spring Training but opted not to sign prior to the season. Instead, he wound up as one of a handful of highly recognizable veterans who pitched for the United States during the Olympic Games this summer, eventually earning a Silver Medal. Robertson tossed three innings during tournament play and yielded a pair of runs — not ideal results, but the event also served to demonstrate his health for contenders in need of bullpen depth.
From 2010-18, Robertson was one of the game’s most consistent and most successful relievers. He racked up 583 innings between the Yankees and White Sox in that time, pitching to a 2.72 ERA with a brilliant 32.6 percent strikeout rate and a 9.3 percent walk rate. He served as a setup man for Mariano Rivera for much of that time but eventually stepped up as the Yankees’ closer in their first post-Rivera season before inking a four-year, $46MM deal to serve as the White Sox’ closer.
Time will tell what type of form Robertson is in at this juncture of his career, but for the Rays there’s no reason not to take a look and see if Robertson can recapture some of his old form. If he’s able to do so, he’d not only be a major boost to the team down the stretch but also in pivotal postseason games. Tampa Bay currently leads the American League East by three games.
As for Springs, it’s an unfortunate outcome for the 28-year-old southpaw, who’d had a career year in Tampa Bay. Acquired in a deal that sent former top catching prospect Ronaldo Hernandez to Boston, Springs worked to a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 frames with the Rays before going down with a knee sprain. While he said at the time of the injury that he hoped to be back in a matter of two to four weeks, it seems the damage was either worse than initially expected or perhaps worsened during Springs’ rehab efforts. He underwent surgery to repair an ACL tear today, which will end his season and call for a rehab process that could potentially linger into 2022.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the move (Twitter link).
Drew Pomeranz To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
Padres left-hander Drew Pomeranz will undergo surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon, manager Jayce Tingler told The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Annie Heilbrunn (Twitter links) and other reporters. The procedure will end Pomeranz’s season.
Pomeranz went on the injured list earlier this week due to forearm inflammation, marking the second time that particular injury resulted in an IL stint and the third time overall this season that Pomeranz was sidelined by injury — he missed almost seven weeks in May and June due to a shoulder impingement. When he has pitched, the southpaw has still been very effective, delivering a 1.75 ERA over 25 2/3 relief innings out of San Diego’s bullpen.
Now, the Padres will have to make do without one of their best relievers, as the snake-bitten team has now lost yet another notable pitcher to a season-ending injury. Within the last year, Mike Clevinger, Adrian Morejon, Jose Castillo, Keone Kela, Michel Baez, and Dan Altavilla have all undergone Tommy John surgeries, while Javy Guerra has yet to pitch this season due to a sprained UCL.
A specific timeline on Pomeranz isn’t yet known, as recovery from flexor tendon surgeries can vary depending on the amount of damage. Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas underwent a similar procedure in July 2020 and might have been ready for Opening Day, though Mikolas is something of an imperfect comparison because of several other injury setbacks that delayed his eventual return. As a relief pitcher, Pomeranz wouldn’t have to rebuild quite as much arm strength as a starter, though Pomeranz has had other arm issues throughout his career that could factor into his recuperation.
Pomeranz was a very promising rotation prospect on his way up the minor league ladder, and he showed quite a bit of that promise throughout his first seven seasons but injuries kept hampering his career. The Brewers converted Pomeranz to full-time relief work in 2019 and the results were immediately impressive, as the left-hander posted a 2.39 ERA over his 26 1/3 innings with Milwaukee.
This led the Padres to make a sizable investment in Pomeranz’s bullpen future, as San Diego inked him to a four-year, $34MM free agent deal in November 2019. Between salary and signing bonuses, $20MM remains owed to Pomeranz in 2022-23. As well as Pomeranz pitched when healthy in his first two seasons, this signing might loom as a bit of an albatross depending on Pomeranz’s future health and the Padres’ flexibility under the luxury tax threshold. Ownership is reportedly okay with paying the tax, though we won’t know the limits of this openness until the Padres actually do end up over the tax line.
Dodgers Place Mookie Betts On 10-Day Injured List
TODAY: Betts has a bone spur in his right hip, Roberts told ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and other reporters. It’s possible surgery could be required to fully correct the injury, though Betts and the team are looking to hold off until the offseason. Betts recently received an injection, and “hopefully this shot has a longer-lasting effect,” Roberts said, “but we won’t know until we look up seven, 10 days, a month from now, and once he starts ramping up more with the physical activity.” There still isn’t any real timetable for when Betts could return, as Roberts said “my assumption is we’re gonna keep managing it day by day.”
AUGUST 11, 5:25 pm: The Dodgers officially placed Betts on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 8, with right hip inflammation. He’s first eligible for reinstatement a week from today.
4:16 pm: Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts is going on the 10-day injured list with a right hip injury, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). Reliever Edwin Uceta will be reinstated from the 10-day IL to take his place on the active roster. Betts is being sent back to L.A. for further examination.
This was the generally expected outcome after Betts was scratched from last night’s lineup with hip soreness. Roberts didn’t specify any sort of timetable, although it stands to reason that’ll become clearer after he’s examined by doctors tomorrow. It’s an unfortunate time to lose one of the sport’s best players, as the Dodgers trail the Giants by four games in the National League West with 49 contests remaining on the season. There’s little doubt L.A. will make the playoffs, but losing Betts makes their effort to avoid the single-elimination Wild Card game all the more difficult.
Betts got off to a slow start to the year, by his lofty standards. After a good but unspectacular April, the 28-year-old kicked his game back into peak form. He’s been blistering hot lately, hitting .373/.422/.720 since the start of July. That scorching streak has brought his season line back to a fantastic .277/.378/.521 (143 wRC+) over 397 plate appearances.
No team is better suited to withstand the loss of an MVP-caliber player than the Dodgers, who still boast a star-studded collection of talent. That said, there’s no way to truly replace someone like Betts, and his time on the shelf coincides with a difficult stretch on the schedule. Twelve of Los Angeles’ next fifteen games come against teams — Phillies, Mets and Padres — in the playoff hunt, although New York has been struggling of late.