Latest On Mike Soroka
1:10 pm: Despite Snitker’s assertion that Soroka is “down for the year,” the Braves haven’t yet officially ruled out Soroka this season, O’Brien hears. He’ll be reevaluated in two weeks to define a potential timetable for his recovery.
12:46 pm: Braves manager Brian Snitker confirmed this afternoon during an interview on the MLB Network that right-hander Mike Soroka is out for the remainder of the season (h/t to David O’Brien of the Athletic). Soroka underwent exploratory surgery on his right Achilles a couple weeks ago.
It’ll go down as a completely lost season for Soroka, his second consecutive injury-wrecked year. The 23-year-old originally tore his Achilles last August, just three starts into the abbreviated campaign. While there had been hope Soroka would return to the rotation relatively early in 2021, further health woes prevented that from happening. He was shut down from his rehab process in early April due to shoulder inflammation before renewed trouble with the Achilles resulted in the aforementioned surgery.
That series of injuries has stalled a brilliant start to Soroka’s MLB career. The former top prospect held his own in his first seven MLB starts in 2018 before an All-Star 2019 effort. Soroka tossed 174 2/3 innings of 2.68 ERA/4.28 SIERA ball as a 21-year-old that year, finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting and sixth in NL Cy Young award voting. He’ll now unfortunately miss nearly two full seasons of action, although he’s certainly still young enough to regain his prior form if he returns to full strength in 2022.
Soroka had already been placed on the 60-day injured list. Players on the MLB injured list accumulate service time, so he’ll be credited with a full year of service for the 2021 season. Soroka will reach arbitration eligibility for the first time this winter and is under team control through 2024.
Cardinals To Re-Evaluate Miles Mikolas In 4-6 Weeks
Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas left his start on May 22 with forearm tightness, leading to concerns that he would need Tommy John surgery. That won’t be the case, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat was among those to report, but the Cardinals will have to go without Mikolas for the foreseeable future. Mikolas received a stem cell injection to address calcification in his flexor tendon, and he’ll be re-evaluated in four to six weeks.
The Cards expect Mikolas to pitch again this season, per Jones, but the recovery timeline suggests he’s a long way from taking the mound again. Even if he’s ready to go four to six weeks from now, Mikolas will still need time to build his arm strength back up, meaning St. Louis might not see him until sometime in July or August. The team has already gone almost the whole season without Mikolas, who made just the one start and lasted four innings. He missed all of 2020 after undergoing flexor tendon surgery and began this season behind schedule because of shoulder problems.
The Cardinals signed Mikolas, now 32, to a four-year, $68MM extension in 2019 after what looked like a breakout campaign in the previous season. Mikolas was effective again that year, but the deal didn’t kick in until last season. So, because of the injuries that have hampered Mikolas, the gamble hasn’t gone in the Cardinals’ favor at all thus far. He’s under their control through 2023 at annual salaries of $15.75MM.
Even without Mikolas, the Cardinals made the playoffs in 2020, and the National League Central leaders are on pace to do so again this year. The Cardinals’ starters rank a respectable 11th in the majors in ERA (3.63), though the group – largely Jack Flaherty, Kwang-hyun Kim, Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martínez and John Gant – has been closer to middle of the pack with respect to peripheral numbers.
Brewers Outright Josh Lindblom
MAY 28: As expected, Lindblom has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Nashville. He has indeed accepted that assignment, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
MAY 26, 5:19pm: The Brewers expect Lindblom to accept a minor league assignment and remain with the organization, according to president of baseball operations David Stearns (via Sophia Minnaert of Baily Sports Wisconsin).
MAY 26, 3:32pm: The Brewers announced that they have designated right-hander Josh Lindblom for assignment, recalled lefty Eric Lauer and outrighted infielder/outfielder Jace Peterson to Triple-A Nashville.
Lindblom spent time with a few major league teams from 2011-17, during which he posted up-and-down production, and he then left for the Korea Baseball Organization. The decision couldn’t have gone better for Lindblom, who thrived as a member of the Lotte Giants and Doosan Bears from 2018-19. Lindblom started 56 games during that stretch and recorded sub-3.00 ERAs in both seasons, also totaling 363 1/3 innings. He also earned the Choi Dong-Won Award — the top pitching award in the KBO – in each campaign, and took home MVP honors in 2019.
Convinced Lindblom’s high spin rate and KBO success would transfer to the bigs, the Brewers signed him to a three-year, $9.125MM pact prior to 2020. But the move didn’t go as planned for Milwaukee, as Lindblom has struggled to a 6.39 ERA with a 25.0 percent strikeout rate and a 9.4 percent walk rate over 20 appearances (10 starts) and 62 frames since returning stateside. As a result, the Brewers are willing to eat a fairly significant chunk of money – around $4.6MM, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com notes – in order to cut ties with Lindblom. They’ll have a week to trade, release or outright him.
Peterson – who has been with the Brewers since 2019 – has been an on-base threat with the club, albeit over a small sample of work. The 31-year-old has collected 89 plate appearances (28 this year) with Milwaukee and batted .203/.371/.391 with four home runs.
Marcell Ozuna Expected To Miss At Least Six Weeks
MAY 28: The Braves have placed Ozuna on the IL. Utilityman Johan Camargo is up from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his place on the active roster.
MAY 26: Braves left fielder Marcell Ozuna revealed in his Instagram story today that he’ll likely be sidelined for at least six weeks after dislocating two fingers on his left hand during yesterday’s win over the Red Sox (hat tip: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, on Twitter). The Braves have yet to formally provide their own timeline, though manager Brian Snitker will surely have more details when he meets with the media today.
It’s an unwelcome development for a Braves club that has lost several key players to injury in the season’s first two months. Mike Soroka required exploratory surgery after experiencing a setback in his recovery from last year’s Achilles tear, while Travis d’Arnaud underwent surgery to repair a thumb ligament and breakout righty Huascar Ynoa is sidelined with a broken pitching hand.
The 30-year-old Ozuna was one of baseball’s best hitters in the shortened 2020 season, pacing the NL in home runs, RBIs, total bases and plate appearances while hitting .338/.431/.636. His decision to sign with Atlanta on a one-year, $18MM deal rather than take a lesser multi-year offer elsewhere last winter paid off, as the “Big Bear” wound up securing a four-year, $65MM deal to return to the Braves this past winter.
Unfortunately, the first year of that season couldn’t have gotten out to a much worse start. Ozuna was hitting just .213/.288/.356 through 208 plate appearances. He’s still connected on seven homers and six doubles, but Ozuna’s .144 isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) is less than half last season’s career-high .298. His walk rate, exit velocity and hard-hit rate have all tumbled thus far in 2021 as well.
With Ozuna now sidelined, the Braves can lean on a combination of Ronald Acuna Jr., Cristian Pache, Ender Inciarte, Guillermo Heredia and Ehire Adrianza in the outfield, though the Braves also have toop outfield prospect Drew Waters looming in the upper minors. The 22-year-old Wates is out to a .250/.342/.453 start through 73 plate appearances in Gwinnett.
Mets Shut Noah Syndergaard Down For Six Weeks
Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard will be shut down from throwing for the next six weeks due to inflammation in his right elbow, manager Luis Rojas announced to reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com).
Syndergaard, who is working his way back from 2020 Tommy John surgery, exited his most recent minor league rehab start due to elbow discomfort. Tests did not reveal any damage to Syndergaard’s ulnar collateral ligament, but today’s announcement still marks a substantial setback. He’ll need to build back up once he resumes throwing in mid-July, meaning the earliest he’d be able to return to the big league rotation is likely some point in August.
The Syndergaard setback is the latest in a rather remarkable deluge of injuries the organization is attempting to weather. While the pitching staff hasn’t been hit as hard as the lineup, the looming promise of a Syndergaard return nevertheless stood as a potential boon for the club as it tries to patch the roster together while a whopping 17 players are on the injured list.
The Mets’ rotation has been excellent, anchored by yet another dominant performance from two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom. Mets starters have pitched to a collective 2.94 ERA on the season, ranking fifth in baseball. They also have the game’s fifth-best strikeout percentage (28.1 percent) and the seventh-lowest walk percentage (7.1 percent).
That said, it’s been a top-heavy group. Each of deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman has turned in a sub-3.00 ERA (sub-1.00, in deGrom’s case), but young David Peterson has worked to a 4.91 mark in 44 innings while the fifth spot has been a revolving door. Carlos Carrasco, like Syndergaard, has yet to pitch this season and is said to still be “weeks” away from his potential Mets debut, and another rotation option, Jordan Yamamoto, was placed on the 60-day injured list yesterday.
The setback, of course, is worrisome for Syndergaard on a personal level as well. He’s in his final season of club control and was already facing a best-case scenario of just under four months to showcase his health in advance of free agency. He could now be looking at closer to a six-week audition window — perhaps longer if the Mets reach the postseason.
Mickey Callaway Placed On Ineligible List Through At Least 2022
Major League Baseball has placed Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway on its ineligible list through at least the 2022 season, commissioner Rob Manfred announced. The league made the decision after investigating Callaway for harassment allegations that were levied against him. The Angels have fired Callaway, per a team announcement. Maanfred issued the following statement on his ruling:
My office has completed its investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Mickey Callaway. Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Callaway violated MLB’s policies, and that placement on the Ineligible List is warranted. We want to thank the many people who cooperated with our Department of Investigations (DOI) in their work, which spanned Mr. Callaway’s positions with three different Clubs. The Clubs that employed Mr. Callaway each fully cooperated with DOI, including providing emails and assisting with identifying key witnesses. Harassment has no place within Major League Baseball, and we are committed to providing an appropriate work environment for all those involved in our game.
The allegations against Callaway first came to light in a report from Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic, who explained that five women in sports media accused him of lewd behavior. The Angels subsequently suspended Callaway, and Ghiroli, Strang and colleague Ken Rosenthal soon reported that even more women had come forward to make allegations against Callaway. In one case, Callaway was said to carry on an extramarital affair with a woman whose husband found out and made Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff aware. The husband also reportedly contacted another of Callaway’s former employers, the Mets, to make a complaint, but nothing was done back then.
In response to the reports, Callaway admitted in March to multiple “infidelities” but maintained that some of the reporting was “inaccurate.” He also denied using his position to harass women, but MLB concluded otherwise during its lengthy investigation. Now, Callaway is facing a year-plus ban, and it seems hard to believe any MLB team will hire him when he’s eligible to return.
Corey Kluber To Miss At Least 8 Weeks; Luke Voit Suffers Oblique Strain
4:30pm: It gets worse for the Yankees, as Boone has since said Kluber will miss at least eight weeks (via Jack Curry of YES Network). He’ll be shut down from throwing for four weeks and then will have to build up his arm strength for another four.
4:12pm: Yankees right-hander Corey Kluber has a sub-scapular strain in his rotator cuff and will miss at least four weeks, manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and other reporters. Meanwhile, first baseman Luke Voit has a Grade 2 oblique strain and will go on the 10-day injured list.
Kluber had to leave his start early on Tuesday as a result of this injury, which will at least put a temporary halt to what has been an outstanding season for the two-time American League Cy Young winner. After signing a one-year, $11MM contract with the Yankees in the offseason, Kluber has opened the year with 53 1/3 innings of 3.04 ERA ball, and he fired a no-hitter against Texas last week. It’s by far the best Kluber has looked since earlier in his career, which has been hampered by multiple injuries over the past few years. The former workhorse, 35, totaled just 35 2/3 innings in 2019, his last season with the Indians, because of a fractured forearm. And he was unable to bounce back last year as a member of the Rangers, with whom he threw one inning and was then shut down for good with a shoulder problem.
The loss of Kluber for at least two months (if not more) is obviously a significant blow to the Yankees’ rotation, which has been a strength during the team’s quality start. Ace Gerrit Cole, Domingo German and Jordan Montgomery have all pitched well, while Jameson Taillon‘s peripherals are a lot more encouraging than his 5.06 ERA. The Yankees could also get back Luis Severino from Tommy John recovery sometime during the summer, but in the meantime, they’ll turn to Deivi Garcia to fill the last spot in their starting staff.
The loss of Voit is another troubling development for the Yankees, and it continues a difficult, injury-shortened campaign for him. After leading the majors with 22 home runs a season ago, he opened this year on the IL with a torn left meniscus that required surgery. Since he made his season debut in May, Voit has hit an uncharacteristically poor .182/.280/.250 with shockingly little power in 50 plate appearances. Voit has just one home run and a meager .068 ISO thus far. The Yankees seem likely to use Mike Ford and DJ LeMahieu at first base while Voit is absent.
In better news for the Yankees’ offense, slugger Giancarlo Stanton could come off the IL on Friday, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic was among those to report. Stanton, who has been out since May 14, slashed a superb .283/.347/.534 with nine homers in 144 PA before going down with a quad strain.
Nick Senzel To Undergo Knee Surgery
Reds infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, manager David Bell announced (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The Reds expect Senzel to miss approximately four to six weeks.
The news come five days after the Reds placed Senzel on the 10-day IL, and it’s the latest injury-related setback the former second overall pick and premium prospect has endured in his young career. Senzel previously dealt with issues with his shoulder (including surgery), ankle, groin, and finger, and he also missed time with an illness last season.
Thanks in part to his ongoing health woes, the 25-year-old Senzel hasn’t yet established himself as hoped in the majors. Since he debuted in 2019, Senzel has batted .246/.308/.396 with 15 home runs and 18 stolen bases in 616 plate appearances. He was off to a .252/.323/.315 start this year with one long ball and two steals over 124 PA prior to this injury.
Defensively, Senzel has been quite versatile, having made starts this season at second, third and in center field (primarily the latter). Cincinnati has mostly used Tyler Naquin in center when Senzel hasn’t played there, while the Reds have Jonathan India and Eugenio Suarez as their current starters at second and third. However, their infield is also without regulars Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas, who are on the IL.
Phillies Place Bryce Harper On Injured List
The Phillies announced that right fielder Bryce Harper is headed to the 10-day injured list with a forearm contusion. Harper was out of the team’s lineup both Sunday and Monday. Outfielder Roman Quinn is up from Triple-A to take Harper’s spot on the roster for now.
Harper, 28, got out to a brilliant start and still touts a very strong .274/.395/.489 slash through his first 162 trips to the plate. However, that slash line sat at .318/.449/.582 mark as recently as 10 days ago, before Harper fell into a 2-for-25 tailspin.
Manager Joe Girardi maintained yesterday that his absence from the lineup was not due to injury (link via MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki), but Harper was previously said to be battling various arm ailments (including shoulder and wrist troubles) and hasn’t looked right at the plate at all, punching out in 13 of 26 plate appearances during that woeful slump. The team will surely have more on his IL placement later today.
Erik Kratz Makes Sign-Stealing Allegations
Former catcher Erik Kratz recently levied some eyebrow-raising allegations of sign-stealing against a couple of National League teams while a guest with John J. Filippelli and Kevin Sullivan on Curtain Call of the YES Network. When asked for his opinion about the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, Kratz said, “I can tell you that a team that has been to the World Series often recently, we caught them doing something almost similar.”
Since the Dodgers are the only team to have been to the World Series multiple times in recent years (besides the Astros), it seems Kratz is implying the Dodgers took part in some kind of sign-stealing during the 2018 season. He did not expound any further about their specific actions in this podcast, and did not name the Dodgers directly.
Robert Murray of The Athletic wrote in October 2018 during the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers, “There is concern among some Brewers that the Dodgers are using video to pick up their signs,” adding, “Others in the organization are unsure.” That article made clear that the Brewers understood that stealing signs from the dugout or basepaths was fair play, while the use of technology would be crossing a line – the commonly held stance on the issue. Murray reported that the Brewers told MLB’s video room security people of their suspicions, but “The security personnel responded that they had not detected anything.”
On the recent podcast, Kratz made a more specific claim against the Rockies, saying, “…And I can also tell you, cause I don’t really care, I don’t know anybody over there: the Colorado Rockies were doing the exact same thing in 2018…They used to take a Theragun and bang it on their metal bench. And they were doing the exact same thing from the TV. So, there you go. If you think no one else was doing it, you are wrong. The difference is, the Astros may have taken it a little too far.”
Kratz’s point on the whole seemed to be that he thought the Astros were being singled out for actions that were more widespread throughout the game. Certainly, the treatment of sign-stealing as a singular instance of misconduct has been a concern expressed elsewhere. That said, Kratz’s comments are certain to require some follow-up by MLB, given the specific allegations.
For context, Kratz was a member of the Brewers during the 2018 season. The Brewers played both the Rockies and Dodgers that postseason, defeating Colorado in the NLDS and falling to Los Angeles in a seven-game NLCS. He was also a member of the Astros briefly during the 2016 season, prior to the time of the sign-stealing allegations.
Kratz last played in 2020 in a part-time capacity for the Yankees. He made the decision not to play in 2021, presumably ending his playing career. Over 11 years since 2010 when he made his debut as a 30-year-old for the Pirates, Kratz played for nine teams, slashing .209/.256/.355 over 951 plate appearances.