Adam Eaton Undergoes Ankle Surgery
Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured left ankle today, reports Jack Magruder of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post had reported yesterday that Eaton was visiting a specialist in Wisconsin, and that evaluation revealed a “cartilage problem” that necessitated the operation, per Magruder. Eaton remains in a walking boot, and there is not presently a timetable for his return, per Magruder.
More specifically, Janes adds (via Twitter) that three different doctors were unable to see the source of pain in Eaton’s ankle on either MRIs or bone scans, but the scope revealed a tear in his chondral flap, explaining the pain he’d been experiencing. MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko tweets that Eaton’s ankle will be immobilized for a week, but a return this season is still “in play.”
The ankle procedure is yet another roadblock in Eaton’s short career with the Nationals since being traded over from the White Sox during the 2016 Winter Meetings. The fleet-footed outfielder missed the majority of the 2017 campaign when he tore the ACL in his left knee early last year, and he played in just eight games with the Nats in 2018 before injuring his ankle on a foot-first slide.
When healthy, Eaton has been nothing short of brilliant for the Nats, hitting .308/.400/.508 in 140 trips to the plate, but he’s unfortunately been able to suit up only 31 times for the organization. Of course, the very reason that the Nationals were willing to part with three highly touted pitching prospects — Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning — in order to acquire Eaton was that he was controlled so affordably and for such a long time. They’ll still have plenty of time to reap value from their investment in the 29-year-old, as he’s locked up through the 2021 season at a total of $34.4MM (with the final $20MM of that sum coming in the form of two club options for 2020-21).
[Related: Washington Nationals depth chart]
With Eaton now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Nats will continue to utilize Michael A. Taylor in center field, with Bryce Harper in his customary right field. Left field has been manned by a platoon of hot-hitting Matt Adams and Howie Kendrick of late, though the Nats also have Andrew Stevenson and Moises Sierra on the big league roster as outfield options at present, with Rafael Bautista in Triple-A as another 40-man option. Top prospect Victor Robles is also on the 40-man roster, but he’s nursing an elbow injury at the moment, and the Nats don’t want to recall him unless he’s able to receive everyday at-bats.
Mets, Reds Swap Matt Harvey For Devin Mesoraco
The Mets and Reds announced on Tuesday that they’ve swapped right-hander Matt Harvey and catcher Devin Mesoraco. The Reds are sending cash to the Mets to offset the difference in salary, as Mesoraco is earning $13.125MM in 2018 to Harvey’s $5.6MM. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports first reported the trade was close (via Twitter).
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Cincinnati is paying the entirety of Mesoraco’s deal, while the Mets are paying all of Harvey’s contract. In essence, then, there’s no impact on either club’s payroll, and the move simply boils down to a change of scenery for two former stars who’ve fallen out of favor and dropped down the depth chart in their original organizations.
New York also announced that Todd Frazier has been placed on the disabled list due to a strained left hamstring, while Anthony Swarzak has been transferred to the 60-day DL. The Reds, meanwhile, have selected the contract of catcher Tony Cruz from Triple-A in a corresponding move, and he’ll now serve as the backup to Tucker Barnhart, who has replaced Mesoraco in tonight’s lineup. The Mets and Reds are playing each other tonight, and Mesoraco is available to hit for his new club. Harvey will join the Reds later this week in Los Angeles, the team announced.
For Harvey, the ace will get a clean slate in a low-pressure environment as he looks to return to form with a last-place Reds club that assuredly can afford to give him an extended look in what has been a dismal rotation. Harvey hasn’t been anywhere near the pitcher he was early in his career, with injuries derailing what was one of the more promising young careers among all MLB pitchers. Specifically, Harvey has undergone both Tommy John surgery and thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in the past four years, and his production has unsurprisingly plummeted as a result.
Harvey, 29, pitched to a pristine 2.53 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 427 big league innings from 2012-15. Tommy John surgery in 2014 slowed his career, but he was able to return to prominence with a terrific 2015 season and a heroic postseason performance that was largely befitting of his “Dark Knight” moniker, even if his ninth-inning struggles in the decisive Game 5 of the 2015 World Series will live on in infamy.
[Related: Updated New York Mets depth chart | Updated Cincinnati Reds depth chart]
The 2016 season, however, was a struggle for Harvey, as he pitched just 92 2/3 innings of 4.86 ERA ball before ultimately succumbing to the aforementioned TOS surgery. The track record of pitchers returning from TOS surgery is not good, to say the least, and Harvey is one of the more prominent data points exemplifying that fact. Since returning from that surgery in 2016, he’s pitched to a 6.77 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and 2.0 HR/9 in 119 2/3 innings. Harvey’s average fastball velocity is a career-low 92.6 mph so far in 2018, and he’s also posted career-worsts in chase rate (21.1 percent) and opponents’ hard-contact rate (43 percent) while notching the second-lowest swinging-strike rate of his career (8.2 percent).
Reds starters have posted an MLB-worst 5.68 ERA in 2018, and the team is unsurprisingly buried in the NL Central with an 8-27 record due in no small part to the inadequacies of its rotation. Young righties Tyler Mahle and Sal Romano have turned in ERAs in the mid-4.00s, but no other Reds starter has an ERA south of Homer Bailey‘s 5.61 mark. Mahle, Romano, Bailey, Luis Castillo and Brandon Finnegan have been the primary starters for Cincinnati to date, though there’s been some suggestion that Finnegan’s spot could be in jeopardy. With an 8.27 ERA and more walks than strikeouts so far in 2018 through 20 2/3 innings, he’s been the worst offender in a stunningly bad collection of starting pitchers.
Viewed through that lens, there’s a very low bar for Harvey to clear in his new environs. Without the expectation of contending, he’ll be able to start regularly with the Reds and try to get straightened out even if he initially struggles. However, it’s also worth noting that from a ballpark perspective, Harvey is landing in one of the worst spots possible for a pitcher that has had home run issues since TOS surgery. Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park is known as a hitters’ haven and is especially home-run friendly for hitters, so Harvey will have his work cut out for him in rebounding in a park with dimensions that won’t do him any favors.
Turning to the Mets, in Mesoraco they’re acquiring a former All-Star catcher who once looked to be a breakout star but is now a reclamation project in his own right following a brutal series of injuries. A former first-round pick (15th overall in 2007), Mesoraco long rated as one of the game’s top overall prospects. And while he took longer than most expected to realize that potential, he announced his presence as the Reds’ catcher of the future — or so they thought — in 2014 when he hit .273/.359/.534 with 25 homers and 25 doubles, making his lone All-Star appearance along the way.
That season was enough for the Reds to sign Mesoraco to a four-year, $28MM contract extension that covered what would’ve been his first free-agent season (2018). However, a left hip injury in 2015 prevented Mesoraco from following up on that breakthrough season, limiting him 23 games and eventually necessitating surgery. A torn labrum in his shoulder prompted season-ending surgery in 2016, and a year later Mesoraco underwent surgery on his other hip in a third consecutive injury-ruined season. Along the way, Cincinnati entrusted defensive standout Tucker Barnhart as its new primary catcher, relegating Mesraco to the role of an expensive backup.
Since playing in 114 games in that stellar 2014 campaign, Mesoraco has played in a combined 113 games from 2015-18, hitting just .195/.291/.318 in 316 plate appearances along the way. He’s off to a .220/.289/.341 start to his 2018 season through a total of 45 plate appearances, but he’ll likely receive ample opportunity to bounce back with his new club. Travis d’Arnaud has already undergone Tommy John surgery and is out for the season, while Kevin Plawecki remains shelved with a hairline fracture in his hand that he suffered upon being hit by a pitch late last month. New York has been relying on journeyman Jose Lobaton and rookie Tomas Nido to handle catching duties in the absence of d’Arnaud and Plawecki, but neither backstop has provided even a shred of offensive value. Lobaton is hitting .163/.265/.256, while Nido has slashed just .147/.197/.176.
As for the remainder of the roster moves announced today, it’s not yet clear just how long Frazier will be sidelined with his injury. With Frazier out of action, the Mets seem likely to turn to Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores to handle duties at the hot corner. The transfer of Swarzak to the 60-day DL doesn’t necessarily impact his timeline to return, either; he’s already been out of action since April 1 due to an oblique injury and has to go out on a rehab assignment. He’ll be eligible to come back to the active roster in another 22 days, having already spent 38 days on the disabled list.
In Cincinnati, Cruz will get his first look in the big leagues since a brief cameo with the 2016 Royals. The 31-year-old is no stranger to the NL Central after serving as the backup to Yadier Molina in St. Louis from 2011-15. He’s a career .218/.260/.308 hitter in 638 MLB plate appearances. Cruz has a solid track record in Triple-A and hit .280/.341/.458 with San Diego’s top affiliate last season, though he was off to an ugly .170/.268/.255 start to his 2018 season in Louisville.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Roberto Osuna Charged With Domestic Assault, Placed On Administrative Leave
Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested early this morning, per John Lott of The Athletic (subscription link). Osuna has been charged with domestic assault of his girlfriend, according to Hazel Mae of Sportsnet (via Twitter).
Osuna has been placed on administrative leave by the commissioner’s office, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Jake Petricka.
Details are scant at this point, so it’s far too soon to assess the situation. The precise nature of the allegations, possible range of legal ramifications, and potential for league punishment are all completely unknown publicly.
That said, given that this matter reportedly arose in the context of a domestic relationship, it falls within the purview of the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. It is worth reviewing some of the most salient aspects of that agreement, which has been deployed several times since it was implemented in August of 2015.
Under that policy, commissioner Rob Manfred has the authority to “place a player accused of” such behavior “on paid Administrative Leave for up to seven days while the allegations are investigated before making a disciplinary decision,” though players also have a mechanism to challenge that treatment “immediately.” That provisional authority was previously exercised in the middle of the 2016 season with regard to Hector Olivera and has again been utilized here. It does not suggest any particular final determination, however.
Manfred also has the power to oversee the full-scale investigatory and punitive regime set forth in the policy. Any ultimate punishment is subject to arbitration, with a “just cause” standard applied to any determinations made by the commissioner’s office. Olivera was ultimately convicted of a crime and suspended for 82 games. Other cases have involved quite different fact patterns and generally resulted in less significant suspensions. Most recently, for example, Steven Wright was suspended for 15 games. Following another recent investigation, it was determined that Miguel Sano would not receive punishment given the evidence compiled. Criminal charges or convictions are not required for Manfred to issue discipline, though surely that’s weighed in the balance.
MLB Announces London Series
As expected, Major League Baseball has announced that it is taking its show across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom next year. The Yankees and Red Sox will play a two-game set on June 29th and June 30th at London Stadium, the facility that hosted the 2012 Olympics.
This initiative is the latest in a line of MLB overseas adventures, but the first that is located in Europe. Previously, the league has held regular season contests in Japan, Mexico, and Australia. (Additionally, games have been held on U.S. territory in locales that lack MLB franchises, with recent events in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.) That’s all in addition to the World Baseball Classic.
It’s not surprising that the league has first focused on other international markets. The game of baseball has a greater foothold, of course, in Asia and Latin America. That’s not to say that it’s completely unknown in Europe, though. Those interested in learning more about Euroball may enjoy listening to the MLBTR Podcast episode on the topic, featuring subject matter expert Josh Chetwynd, from a few years back.
International engagement is hardly a new concept in baseball or other professional sports, of course. Even the NFL has recently been holding games in London of late. But staging games that actually count in the standings is a relatively more challenging undertaking — and one that was specifically contemplated in the most recent collective bargaining agreement. That’s particularly true for baseball, with its intense travel schedule and near-daily games.
Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On DL With Biceps Tendinitis
8:39pm: The diagnosis of biceps tendinitis has been confirmed by an MRI, according to several reporters (including The Athletic’s Pedro Moura). Kershaw will begin his injury rehab tomorrow.
7:28pm: Kershaw has already met with Dr. ElAttrache, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets, and the Dodgers are hopeful of getting the test results either tonight or tomorrow.
1:52pm: Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman discussed Kershaw’s injury with reporters, saying there’s “no indication it’s anything more serious than biceps tendinitis” (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register).
11:43am: The Dodgers have placed left-hander Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Kershaw’s headed back to Los Angeles to be examined by famed surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, McCullough adds. The team will replace him on the 25-man roster with righty Brock Stewart, whom it recalled from Triple-A.
While it’s not yet clear just how serious this injury is, seeing arguably the top starter in the game go down with an arm issue is obviously cause for alarm – especially given his career workload (2,101 innings, including playoffs). Moreover, this marks the third straight season in which Kershaw has hit the DL, as hip and back issues prevented him from enjoying full campaigns in 2016 and ’17. Still, unless this is a catastrophic injury, Kershaw’s recent durability concerns won’t necessarily stop him from opting out of the two years and $65MM remaining on his contract after the season. However, they could give the Dodgers and other teams pause if the 30-year-old reaches the open market in search of a megadeal.
While Kershaw’s future will be sorted out during the winter, the Dodgers are currently focused on trying to rebound from a surprisingly poor start. The reigning National League champions came out of the gates at just 15-18 with a healthy Kershaw, putting them seven games behind the NL West-leading Diamondbacks. Injuries were partly to blame for the Dodgers’ struggles even before Kershaw went down, as they’ve seen several household names hit the DL this season in Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Logan Forsythe, Yasiel Puig, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill. Seager, LA’s star shortstop, won’t play again this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last month, while a left groin strain will prevent Ryu from returning until after the All-Star break.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, Hill will come back Tuesday from a finger injury that has kept him out since mid-April. But that can’t be of much consolation to LA, which has encountered almost nothing but bad luck since Turner broke his wrist in late March. As the Dodgers hope for good news on Kershaw, who has pitched to a typically stellar ERA (2.86) over 44 innings this year, they’ll go forth with a rotation consisting of Hill, Alex Wood, rookie sensation Walker Buehler, Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling (depth chart).
Yadier Molina Undergoes Surgery, Will Miss At Least Four Weeks
9:55am: Molina will miss at least four weeks after suffering a “pelvic injury with traumatic hematoma,” the Cardinals announced (Twitter links via Joe Trezza of MLB.com). They’ve placed him on the DL and recalled Kelly. The club also recalled reliever Mike Mayers, who will take Dominic Leone‘s place. Leone is headed to the DL with “right arm upper nerve irritation.”
8:11am: Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina underwent surgery Saturday after being hit in the groin by a foul tip, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak confirmed to Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals are now expected to go without Molina for at least a month.
Molina suffered the injury during the Cardinals’ victory over the Cubs, which was St. Louis’ fourth straight win to open the month of May. The Cardinals, now 19-12, own a half-game lead over the Brewers in what has been a rather competitive NL Central to this point. As usual, their success has come thanks in part to the revered Molina, who has slashed .272/.292/.456 (103 wRC+) with six home runs in 120 plate appearances. Behind the plate, the 35-year-old Molina has ranked as one of the game’s top pitch framers in the early going, and has helped the Cardinals’ staff to the majors’ fourth-best ERA (3.36).
While Molina has been eminently durable during what could be a Hall of Fame career, this injury may help lead to his lowest games played total since 2014, when he appeared in 110 contests. He has otherwise seen action in at least 136 games in each season since 2009. The Cardinals aren’t exactly accustomed to life without Molina, then, though they’ll have to make do with their reserve backstops for at least a few weeks.
Without Molina, it seems likely St. Louis will go forward with the 28-year-old Francisco Pena and the well-regarded Carson Kelly, 23, the only other catchers on its 40-man roster. The Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate scratched Kelly from its game Saturday, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch tweeted then, indicating he’s on his way back to the majors after logging a combined 89 PAs at the game’s highest level from 2016-17.
Mets Designate Matt Harvey
TODAY: The move is now official, thus starting the seven-day clock on Harvey’s period of DFA limbo. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by righty Hansel Robles.
YESTERDAY: The Mets will designate Matt Harvey tomorrow, GM Sandy Alderson tells reporters including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (via Twitter). The decision was made after Harvey declined to accept a minor-league assignment — as he has the ability to do given his MLB service time.
It’s stunning, on the one hand, to see the end of Harvey’s tenure in New York take place in this manner. As recently as 2015, after all, he was considered one of the game’s very best starters. But ongoing injury problems combined with performance lapses — along with some off-field issues and not-infrequent tension with the organization — led to this moment.
In Alderson’s words, the decision represents “the end of an era.” But it was also “a long time coming,” per the team’s top decisionmaker, as conveyed by Tim Britton of The Athletic (via Twitter). Alderson says that the team was guided by considerations of “pragmatism and realism,” while suggesting the ultimate driver of Harvey’s fall from grace was his slate of poor fortune in the health department.
While Harvey’s time is up with the Mets, he’ll surely find an opportunity elsewhere. He only just turned 29, after all. But with a $5.6MM salary this year, and free agency beckoning thereafter, it may be hard for Alderson to find a taker for the salary. The club will have seven days to work out a swap — perhaps involving an underperforming player from another organization — or otherwise put Harvey on waivers. Whether by way of trade, claim, or signing, it’s possible to imagine plenty of other organizations weighing a crack at getting Harvey back to being a useful pitcher — if not something approaching his former glory.
Looking back at the stats, Harvey’s peak was much shorter than it seemed. In 65 starts between 2012 and 2015, on both sides of a 2014 season lost to Tommy John surgery, he worked to a 2.53 ERA in 427 innings. In the three seasons since, Harvey has limped to a 5.93 ERA with a pedestrian 6.9 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 over just 212 1/3 frames.
What’s most frustrating, in some regards, is the fact that Harvey made it back from the TJ procedure. He was great in 2015 after a long layoff. With the Mets pushing down the stretch in a breakout campaign for the organization, though, an innings controversy arose that involved two of the game’s most famous names (agent Scott Boras and surgeon Dr. James Andrews) that aren’t affiliated with an MLB organization.
Harvey ended up pitching a career-high 189 1/3 innings in the regular season before spinning another 26 2/3 in the postseason — at least one too many, as it turned out. He has never been the same since. In the ensuing campaign, Harvey exhibited a reduction in fastball velocity that has continued ever since. After averaging 96.6 mph in his 2015 campaign, Harvey is now down to 93.0 in the current season. His swinging-strike rate has similarly collapsed. Harvey ultimately underwent a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome and has dealt with other arm troubles. And, as already noted, the results have been uniformly poor.
The timing of the demise left Alderson wondering whether the innings thrown in 2015 were the root cause of the ensuing health and performance problems (also via Britton, on Twitter). Though the GM is no doubt correct that there’s no way of knowing with any degree of certainty, Harvey himself wrote that he was aware of the risks when he decided to keep taking the ball back in 2015.
Perhaps a new organization will have ideas on finding a new path for Harvey, if not reversing the deterioration of his mound work. But the former first-rounder’s tools not only carry reduced specs, but show ongoing signs of rust. Indeed, pitching coach Dave Eiland says that Harvey’s stuff was deteriorating as his arm stiffened up throughout the course of the 2018 season, as James Wagner of the New York Times reports on Twitter.
Eiland’s assessment was ultimately borne out on the field. When he lost his rotation spot, Harvey carried a 6.00 ERA on the year. After four relief appearances, it had reached 7.00 earned per nine. His most recent outing was the most demoralizing yet, as Harvey allowed five opposing baserunners to cross the plate on three hits and three walks while recording a single strikeout in two frames. Despite the many highlights that came before, it seems now that will be the last image of Harvey as a member of the Mets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Braves Select Jose Bautista’s Contract, Option Preston Tucker
1:38pm: The Braves have now announced that Bautista’s contract has been select. Outfielder Preston Tucker was optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster for Bautista.
After a blistering start to the season, Tucker’s bat has unsurprisingly come back down to Earth in recent weeks. He’s posted a .218/.246/.364 slash over his past 57 plate appearances with the Braves.
9:32am: David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets that the Braves are adding Bautista to the MLB roster today.
9:24am: The Braves are expected to add Jose Bautista to their lineup tonight, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (via Twitter). Atlanta will need to formally select the contract of Bautista, who signed a minor league deal with the Braves last month. Atlanta announced in April that the longtime Blue Jays star will play third base in their organization. The Braves currently have three openings on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 25-man roster move to add Bautista.
Bautista, of course, was primarily a third baseman before breaking out with the Jays and settling in as their right fielder for the better part of a decade. He’s played just 38 innings at the position in the four years prior to signing with Atlanta, however, all of which came last year in Toronto. Bautista hasn’t seen even semi-regular action at the hot corner since 2011, and even then he logged just 205 innings at the position in that entire season.
The 37-year-old slugger has gotten off to a solid start with Atlanta’s top affiliate, hitting .250/.386/.361 with a homer, a double and six walks against eight strikeouts through 44 plate appearances. As Bowman notes, the home run and double came within the past few days, as Bautista’s bat has begun to heat up a bit as he’s shaken off some of the rust after sitting out Spring Training entirely.
Bautista will be looking to rebound from a dreary 2017 season in which he hit just .203/.308/.366. While Bautista still slugged 23 homers and walked at an above-average 12.2 percent clip, his strikeout rate jumped to a career-worst 24.8 percent as his contact rate plummeted from 80.2 percent to 73.3 percent. The biggest flaw for Bautista was a sudden inability to hit fastballs; a career .246/.374/.519 hitter against four-seamers, Bautista flailed ineffectively at four-seam fastballs in 2017, hitting just .198/.294/.365 against them.
Ichiro Suzuki Moves To Front Office Role, Will Not Continue Playing In 2018
The Mariners announced today that future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki has is moving to a front office role where he’ll serve as a special assistant to the chairman, effective immediately. While the Mariners’ release does not formally declare that Ichiro is retiring, the new role precludes him from returning to the active roster in 2018, per the team. The Mariners have selected the contract of right-handed reliever Erik Goeddel from Triple-A Tacoma to take Ichiro’s spot on the 40-man and 25-man rosters.
“We want to make sure we capture all of the value that Ichiro brings to this team off the field,” Marines general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a press release announcing the news. “This new role is a way to accomplish that. While it will evolve over time, the key is that Ichiro’s presence in our clubhouse and with our players and staff improves our opportunity to win games. That is our number-one priority and Ichiro’s number-one priority.”
The plan for the current season appears to be that Ichiro will remain with the MLB club, but will not be on the roster. As MLB.com’s Greg Johns explains things (in a tweet), Ichiro will “continue doing everything he’s doing now (taking BP, mentoring, working with teammates, advising, etc.),” but won’t be utilized in a playing capacity. But that’s not to say the arrangement will continue in that precise form past the current season.
Dipoto goes on to add that the Mariners hope to retain Ichiro in some capacity into the 2019 season and beyond, noting that the remainder of the current season will “inform the team and Ichiro on his best fit” with the organization moving forward. However, Ichiro’s agent, John Boggs, tells Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that his client is not yet retiring as a player (Twitter link).
“He is not retiring,” says Boggs. “He’s taking on a different role for 2018, and 2019 has yet to evolve.” Asked by Rosenthal if Ichiro could potentially return to make an appearance next year, when the Mariners and A’s will kick off the 2019 season in Tokyo, Boggs replied: “There is always that possibility. … The future has yet to be determined.”
Though Ichiro clearly remains open to continuing his playing career, it nonetheless seems possible that this could mark the end of the road for one of the game’s most beloved figures. The 44-year-old debuted with the Mariners back in 2001 and promptly won both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors, kickstarting what will unequivocally go down as one of the greatest careers of this generation or any other. In parts of 18 Major League seasons, Ichiro batted .311/.355/.402 with a whopping 3,089 hits, including 362 doubles, 96 triples and 117 home runs. He went 509-for-626 in career stolen-base attempts (81.3 percent success), scored 1420 runs and 780 RBIs despite roughly 80 percent of his MLB plate appearances coming out of the leadoff spot.
That, of course, only covers Ichiro’s career in North America. Prior to coming to the United States, Ichiro had already achieved legendary status in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he debuted as an 18-year-old and went on to spend nine seasons starring for the Orix Blue Wave. Ichiro batted .353/.421/.522 in 4098 NPB plate appearances, tallying 1278 hits in establishing himself as one of the most gifted players on the planet and a generational talent that is nearly peerless.
Ichiro’s accolades are virtually limitless. Before even coming to Major League Baseball, he’d racked up seven NPB All-Star appearances, three Pacific League MVP Awards, seven Pacific League batting titles and seven Gold Glove Awards. His achievements in MLB closely mirror that mountain of hardware, as in addition to Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in 2001, Ichiro made 10 MLB All-Star Games, won 10 Gold Gloves, collected three Silver Slugger Awards and won a pair of American League batting titles as well.
Ultimately, while the 2018 season may not have been as productive as either team or player would’ve hoped, it’s still all too fitting that Ichiro received an opportunity to once again don a Mariners jersey and to receive a hero’s welcome upon being introduced at Safeco Field on Opening Day. And whether Ichiro plays another game in MLB or NPB again — he did have interest from multiple Japanese clubs this offseason — he’s already ensured that Hall of Fame enshrinement awaits him on two different continents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hyun-Jin Ryu Out Until Second Half; Walker Buehler Joining Dodgers’ Rotation
12:37pm: The diagnosis is brutal for the Dodgers, as Roberts revealed to reporters that Ryu won’t return before the All-Star break (Twitter links via Pedro Moura of The Athletic). The injury sounds rather gruesome. Roberts explained that a muscle in Ryu’s groin tore completely off the bone.
Ryu will be replaced in the rotation by top prospect Walker Buehler (Twitter link via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times). J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group adds that Buehler is on an innings limit, however, so he although he will nominally be the team’s fifth starter, he may not technically start every fifth day.
12:12pm: The Dodgers announced that they’ve placed left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu on the 10-day disabled list with a left groin strain and optioned infielder Breyvic Valera to Triple-A on Thursday. In a pair of corresponding moves, utilityman Tim Locastro and right-hander Yimi Garcia have been recalled from Triple-A.
The press release didn’t include any sort of timetable for Ryu’s return, though manager Dave Roberts said after last night’s game that the strain was a “pretty good” one and called the injury a “big loss” for the team, which doesn’t exactly exude optimism regarding a minimal DL stay for Ryu. Roberts is hardly exaggerating when he calls any absence for Ryu significant, as the 31-year-old has dominated opposing lineups in 2018, working to a 2.12 ERA with 10.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and 56.7 percent ground-ball rate in 29 2/3 innings.
Garcia, 27, will give the Dodgers the potential for a quality boost to the relief corps in what will be his first MLB action since undergoing Tommy John surgery back in 2016. Garcia possesses a 3.12 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 1.2 HR/9 and a 30.6 percent grounder rate in 75 innings at the Major League level and looked to be an emerging key cog in the L.A. bullpen before incurring his torn ligament. So far in Triple-A, he’s allowed three runs in 7 2/3 innings of work and picked up seven strikeouts without issuing a walk.
Locastro, 25, has experience at both middle-infield slots and in the outfield corners. He has just one MLB plate appearance under his belt but was off to a fast start in Triple-A, hitting .342/.448/.507 there. Valera, 26, has similarly impressive Triple-A numbers this season and was hitless in four MLB plate appearances. Locastro, though, has more recent experience at shortstop, so it seems he’s viewed as the better option to help provide depth in Corey Seager‘s absence for the time being.