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Zach Britton Expected To Be Out For 6 to 8 Weeks

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5:03pm: Britton will not pick up a ball for at least ten days, Ghiroli tweets. But he says he expects to be ready to return on the early side of the estimated timeline.

4:30pm: Orioles lefty Zach Britton is expected to miss approximately 45 to 60 days of action, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter links). Britton has already been placed back on the 10-day DL with what the team has described as a forearm strain.

Britton, who established himself last year as one of the game’s truly elite relievers, has been cleared of structural issues. But the fact that his forearm ailment recurred after an initial rest-and-rehab effort obviously suggested a need for more cautious handling.

The estimated timeline seemingly builds in a lengthy period of rest. As Ghiroli reports, the plan is for Britton to be shut down for some time to allow the forearm to “completely calm down.”

Baltimore hopes to get the ace closer back by the All-Star break. Given that timeline, the organization ought to be able to assess his status before making any plans for the trade deadline. Of course, with Brad Brach providing excellent work in Britton’s stead — he has a 2.41 ERA and eight saves through 18 2/3 innings on the year — it’s unlikely the O’s will be in the market for a closer this summer.

Mets Suspend Matt Harvey

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4:22pm: It’s possible Harvey will file a grievance over the suspension, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman. “This will end up in a grievance,” one source told Heyman. However, other sources Heyman spoke with indicated that Harvey’s unsure if he’ll contest the ban.

1:20pm: Harvey did not show up at Citi Field for the Mets’ game Saturday, per FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, with a source telling him that Harvey had a migraine. The source also cited a potential miscommunication issue between Harvey and the Mets, but the club “evidently saw it differently,” writes Rosenthal (Twitter links).

12:47pm: Harvey’s suspension is the result of “a compilation of issues” going back to last season, report Seth Walder and Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Prior to Saturday’s game, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and COO Jeff Wilpon engaged in a “heated” on-field conversation that was believed to be about Harvey, an industry source told Walder and Ackert.

9:40am: The Mets have suspended right-hander Matt Harvey three days without pay for a violation of club rules, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (Twitter links here). The ban began Saturday and will run through Monday, meaning Harvey won’t make his scheduled start Sunday against the Marlins.

With Harvey temporarily unavailable, the Mets have selected the contract of Triple-A left-hander Adam Wilk, who will start against Miami. To create room for Wilk on the 40-man roster, the Mets have moved injured ace Noah Syndergaard from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day DL, which had been expected to happen.

The Mets are unwilling to reveal the reason for Harvey’s brief suspension, per DiComo, with manager Terry Collins saying, “We’ll keep it in-house, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Sunday’s development continues a less-than-ideal year-plus for Harvey, who hasn’t resembled his previous top-of-the-rotation form since the beginning of last season. Harvey logged a 4.86 ERA over 92 2/3 innings in 2016, and then underwent season-ending thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in July. In his return this season, the 28-year-old has continued to throw hard, yet his once-high strikeout rate has dropped to 5.14 per nine innings and he has posted a career-worst walk rate (3.34 per nine) over 35 frames. Thanks in part to his declining K/BB ratio and swinging-strike percentage (7.4, down from 11.7 from 2012-16), not to mention a sky-high home run-to-fly ball ratio (21.2 percent), Harvey’s ERA sits at a lofty 5.14 through six starts.

As of now, the only Mets starter who has gone through 2017 without any real issues is Jacob deGrom. Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo are all shelved with injuries, while Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler haven’t been as effective as they were previously (though it’s understandable in Wheeler’s case, as he’s returning from Tommy John surgery).

Mets Claim Tommy Milone From Brewers

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The Mets, continuing an eventful Sunday, have claimed left-hander Tommy Milone off waivers from the Brewers, reports Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter link). Milone had been in limbo since the Brewers designated him for assignment on Monday.

The 30-year-old Milone could step into the Mets’ injury-laden rotation immediately, replacing Rafael Montero, a source told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (on Twitter). Ace Noah Syndergaard went down with a partially torn right lat last week and won’t return until after the All-Star break, while Steven Matz and Seth Lugo have dealt with elbow injuries, and Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler have produced back-of-the-rotation-caliber results this year. Moreover, quality depth has been lacking behind the Mets’ healthy starters, evidenced by the miserable spot starts Montero and Adam Wilk have turned in this week.

With a 4.21 ERA, 6.46 K/9 and a 2.23 BB/9 over 709 1/3 major league innings (135 appearances, 121 starts), Milone’s resume suggests he’ll serve as an upgrade over the likes of Montero and Wilk. However, Milone has struggled mightily to prevent runs dating back to last season, having combined for a 5.88 ERA across 90 1/3 frames with the Twins and Brewers. Nevertheless, with just over $1MM in salary remaining on the $1.25MM he signed with Milwaukee in the offseason, Milone comes at a low price for the Mets. He’s also controllable via arbitration through 2018.

Dodgers Place Adrian Gonzalez On DL, Activate Joc Pederson

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Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is headed to the 10-day DL with ongoing forearm tendinitis, the club has announced, with center fielder Joc Pederson being activated from his own stint. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported earlier that the move was very likely forthcoming.

Remarkably, this represents the first time he has required a DL stint in his 14 MLB seasons. Gonzalez, who’ll turn 35 in a few days, has played in no fewer than 156 games annually ever since he established himself as a regular back in 2006.

While it’s sad to see that outstanding run of durability come to something of an end, Gonzalez was not looking himself in the early stages of the season. The forearm problem, which limited him this spring, has very likely played a role in his .255/.327/.309 batting line through 105 plate appearances. Gonzalez is also suffering through some lower-back problems, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times adds on Twitter.

Manager Dave Roberts had hinted the DL stint was likely in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (audio link). He had stated previously that the team would need to sit down with the highly respected veteran before making a move. But now that it has been made, the path is cleared for exciting prospect Cody Bellinger to stay on the active roster after his impressive start.

“I had a conversation with Adrian yesterday on our off day,” Roberts said earlier today, “and I think that right now where we’re at, we’re leaning toward putting him on the disabled list.  We haven’t made that decision officially but I think that’s where we’re going to go and give Cody a little runway to play some first base.”

While there’s still quite a bit of uncertainty in how things will play out the rest of the way, there is now clearly a path for Bellinger to stake a permanent claim to a roster position — if not the first base job. (He is also capable of playing all over the outfield.) Through 36 plate appearances, the hyped youngster has slashed .303/.361/.576 with two home runs. While his proclivity to go down on strikes was the biggest question about him as a player, Bellinger has only been retired by strikeout six times thus far — though certainly it’s a minuscule sample at this point.

If Bellinger can stick on the active roster the rest of the way, he’d set himself up to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player, meaning he could reach eligibility in advance of the 2020 season. Though he’d add an extra year of arb earnings, with boosted salaries the rest of the way, Los Angeles would still control him through at least 2023.

Dave Stewart Part Of Romney-Led Ownership Group In Pursuit Of Marlins

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Former D-backs general manager Dave Stewart has joined the Tagg Romney-led ownership group that is aiming to purchase the Miami Marlins from current owner Jeffrey Loria, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Major League Baseball officials have been informed that Stewart has been added to a group that already includes Hall of Fame lefty Tom Glavine, per Nightengale.

According to Nightengale, Stewart had initially assembled his own team of investors in an effort to purchase the Marlins but has now instead joined the Romney team. Moreover, Nightengale writes that it is believed that Stewart would run the Marlins’ baseball operations department if Romney’s group ultimately succeeds in buying the team. Specific details of the arrangement aren’t yet known and may not even be firmly established just yet, however; for instance, FanRag’s Robert Murray tweets that Stewart would be an advisor but would not have a direct seat in the front office. It’s possible that there are various scenarios being bandied about, though further clarity will surely emerge with MLB’s owners meetings looming later this month.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported on Tuesday that Romney’s group upped its bid from $1.1 billion to top the reported $1.34 billion offer of the Bush-Jeter group, and Nightengale indicates that he’s heard the same thing.

The Romney-led group and the Bush-Jeter group are reportedly the two most serious suitors for the Marlins, though FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported earlier today that there could be at least one more serious group in the mix: a team of investors led by Dana Pawlicki of Stonington Capital Partners. Heyman also noted, though, that Pawlicki’s group could also be vying to join up with one of the two perceived front-runners.

It remains to be seen precisely what would happen with Stewart’s agency, Sports Management Partners, in the event that the Romney group is approved by Major League Baseball. Certainly, Stewart wouldn’t be allowed to continue on as the head of the agency and a partial owner of the club and a lead decision-maker for a franchise’s baseball operations department. When Stewart was named GM of the Diamondbacks, his agency was turned over to business partner Dave Henderson, so perhaps a similar arrangement would follow suit should he land with the Marlins.

Steven Wright To Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

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The Red Sox have announced that righty Steven Wright will undergo season-ending left knee surgery. The precise surgery is a cartilage restoration procedure. Wright is expected to be ready for the 2018 campaign.

The 32-year-old Wright was a revelation for the Sox last season, breaking out with a 3.33 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 43.7 percent ground-ball rate in 156 2/3 innings. The knuckleballer began wearing a knee brace late in Spring Training, telling reporters at the time that he’d been dealing with on-and-off soreness but considered the brace precautionary. At the time, Wright said that he didn’t believe any singular issue had led to the knee pain. Clearly, however, that discomfort continued to mount, and it’ll now end up costing him roughly an entire year’s worth of innings.

[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox Depth Chart]

With Wright sidelined for the remainder of the season and David Price still yet to make his 2017 debut, Boston’s rotation will consist of Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez and Kyle Kendrick for the time being. Southpaws Brian Johnson and Henry Owens remain on the 40-man roster as depth options in Triple-A, and fellow lefty Roenis Elias will give the Sox another optionable starter once he returns from an intercostal strain.

Wright, at some point, will be shifted to the 60-day disabled list to clear a 40-man roster spot for the Sox, and he’ll accrue an entire year of service time while on the shelf. That’ll push him beyond the three-year mark, thereby making him eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career next offseason. Boston can still control Wright through the 2020 season via the arbitration process.

Cole Hamels Expected To Miss About Eight Weeks With Oblique Strain

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The Rangers have placed lefty Cole Hamels on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He was scratched from his most recent start with an oblique strain; the injury is expected to cost him around eight weeks, per the club.

Hamels, 33, was expected to anchor the rotation alongside Yu Darvish. But he has struggled to open the season, recording only 4.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 over his 32 2/3 innings. Hamels has still managed a strong 3.03 ERA, so the bottom-line looks good, but his swinging-strike rate (7.5%) is lagging far behind his career average (12.3%) and he is benefiting from a .219 BABIP.

Righty Anthony Bass has been brought up to take the open roster spot. While his first (and so far, only) MLB outing of the year went poorly, he has been pitching well at Triple-A since returning from a 2016 stint in Japan. Over 9 1/3 innings, Bass has allowed just one earned run and only four hits while recording an outstanding 17:4 K/BB ratio.

Rangers starters currently rate third in the Majors with a 3.45 ERA, but their 4.68 FIP and 4.71 xFIP rank among the bottom third of the league, and their 4.89 SIERA is the second-worst mark in baseball. In other words, regression from this unit already looked likely, and subtracting Hamels from the mix doesn’t figure to do Texas any favors. As can be seen on their depth chart at Roster Resource, the top internal candidates to fill in for Hamels are A.J. Griffin, Clayton Blackburn, Eddie Gamboa and Dillon Gee.

Romney Group Still Pursuing Marlins

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Just when it seemed all the momentum was lining up toward a sale of the Marlins to a group led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush, things have taken another turn. The alternative bidding group, led by Tagg Romney and also including Tom Glavine, has upped its offer to exceed the $1.3B sale valuation offered by the Jeter/Bush team, according to Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel.

Confirming the general situation, commissioner Rob Manfred told the Sun Sentinel that there are “two very strong groups” still in play. While he obviously did not tip his hand in any way, it’s certainly possible the league’s preferences could tip the scales here. Importantly, at present, we know nothing about the deep-pocketed, background investors who’d participate in either ownership group.

To be sure, the competing offers could shift the calculus for Loria and the league, though it seems they aren’t drastically different. While the new price would beat the $1.3B offer of Jeter and Bush, sources tell Barry Jackson and Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald that it is still shy of $1.4B. With both the league and the team looking over the competing bids, a decision is said to be likely to come soon.

The report also provides some details on the earlier agreement struck between Loria and the Jeter/Bush group, which some characterized as a sale agreement but really falls well shy of that. In fact, it’s just a “handshake deal” that was to allow that group “first opportunity” to get the club if financing was found and a deal was signed quickly. But it did not provide exclusivity, per the report; whether it was an agreement that bound the parties in any manner at all isn’t even clear.

Since there’s still no sale agreement in place — and, according to the Herald, the financing has still yet to be proven — it’s all still an open situation. Indeed, Jeter and Bush are now said to be working to bring in Wayne Rothbaum — who had previously led a third bidding effort — to infuse cash needed for their efforts, per Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg (via Twitter).

Noah Syndergaard Diagnosed With Partially Torn Lat Muscle

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11:55pm: There was plenty more discussion of Syndergaard’s situation today, though details on what to expect remain scant. As MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports, Alderson suggested only that the absence is “going to be measured in weeks” rather than days. He also defended the organization’s medical staff and decisionmaking process while making clear that he decided to allow Syndergaard to take the hill.

For more, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times discusses the broader build-up to the injury, while Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record argues that the club mishandled the situation.

11:05am: MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (via Twitter) that the Mets are planning to start Montero in place of Syndergaard this coming Friday, though the long-term option in Syndergaard’s absence remains unknown. Neither Matz nor Lugo is expected back until at least the end of May, so the Mets will need some form of bridge until the end of the month, at the earliest.

10:22am: The Mets announced on Monday that the MRI performed on right-hander Noah Syndergaard this morning revealed a partial tear of his right lat muscle. Per the team, there’s no timetable on his return, but Syndergaard will be placed on the 10-day disabled list. General manager Sandy Alderson will further address the media at 4:00pm ET, according to the Mets’ release.

Syndergaard becomes the second member of the Mets’ rotation and the third Mets starting option to land on the disabled list less than one month into the season. Left-hander Steven Matz is on the shelf due to a elbow/flexor issue, while right-hander Seth Lugo is currently on the disabled list due to a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Though it’s not certain how long Syndergaard will be sidelined, Newsday’s David Lennon points out that Matz missed roughly two months of the 2015 season with a similar injury to the one revealed by Syndergaard’s MRI (Twitter link).

The injury is not without controversy, as Syndergaard appeared to suffer the injury this past Sunday after refusing an MRI on his ailing biceps. The 24-year-old had been slated to take the hill last Thursday but was scratched from that start and pushed back to Sunday. After it was learned that Syndergaard declined to undergo an MRI, he told the media: “I think I know my body best. I’m pretty in tune with my body, and that’s exactly why I refused to take the MRI.”

With Syndergaard headed to the disabled list, the Mets’ rotation will now consist of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Robert Gsellman. It’s not immediately clear who’ll step into the starting five in his absence, although Sean Gilmartin and Rafael Montero have both worked as starters with Triple-A Las Vegas and are both already on the 40-man roster.

Tyler Skaggs Expected To Miss 10-12 Weeks

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The Angels announced that they will be without lefty Tyler Skaggs for approximately ten to twelve weeks, as Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets. Skaggs has been diagnosed with a grade 2 oblique strain and received a PRP injection.

Coming into the year, the big question was whether the Halos’ pitching health would hold up. Thus far, it hasn’t. Staff ace Garrett Richards is already on the DL, as are the three pitchers who arguably represent the top three closer options (veterans Huston Street and Andrew Bailey along with excellent youngster Cam Bedrosian).

[Related: Los Angeles Angels Depth Chart]

Skaggs, 25, had been looking for his first complete MLB campaign. Though he reached the majors way back in 2012, as a hyped prospect at twenty years of age, he has managed only 260 total major league frames and has yet to make more than 18 starts in a single season.

The silver lining here is that there’s no new injury to Skaggs’s surgically repaired left elbow. He made it back from Tommy John surgery last year, and has thrown rather well over the 15 outings since his return. In that span, Skaggs had thrown 79 frames of 4.10 ERA ball with 9.0 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. Through five starts this year, his walk rate (2.8 BB/9) and swinging-strike rate (10.1%) stand at career-best levels.

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