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Newsstand

Marlon Byrd Suffers Fractured Wrist

By Steve Adams | June 5, 2015 at 7:25am CDT

JUNE 5: Manager Bryan Price told reporters prior to last night’s contest that Byrd will be in a soft cast for a week to 10 days and will be further evaluated once it is removed, per C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter).

JUNE 2: Reds left fielder Marlon Byrd exited Tuesday’s contest in the sixth inning after being hit by a pitch, and manager Bryan Price told reporters after the game that X-rays revealed a fracture in his right wrist (Twitter link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Further updates on Byrd will likely be available tomorrow.

Acquired from the Phillies this winter in exchange for pitching prospect Ben Lively, Byrd got off to a dreadful start with the Reds. However, after slashing just .169/.188/.273 in the month of April, Byrd came to life in May, batting a hefty .244/.353/.581 with eight homers. That production put to rest concern among some Reds fans that the 37-year-old didn’t have anything left in the tank, and it also increased the likelihood that even if Cincinnati fell out of the NL Central race, they’d have a reasonably desirable trade chip.

The severity and exact location of the fracture aren’t known, so at this point it’s difficult to know precisely how Byrd’s injury will impact the Reds’ summer plans. Even if he is back in relatively short order, though, hand/wrist injuries can sap the power production of a player upon his return. And with a severe enough fracture, it’s possible that he could be sidelined into the month of August. That wouldn’t preclude a trade — if the Reds had intentions to trade Byrd at all, of course — but it would certainly complicate the process.

Furthermore, the injury may have significant financial implications for Byrd, whose two-year, $16MM contract contains a vesting/club option. That option, valued at $8MM, becomes guaranteed if Byrd totals 1100 plate appearances between the 2014 and 2015 seasons, so long as at least half of those plate appearances come in 2015. In other words, he needed 550 plate appearances this year to guarantee himself an additional $8MM. Presently, Byrd has 184 plate appearances, leaving him 366 shy of that additional guaranteed money.

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Cincinnati Reds Newsstand Transactions Marlon Byrd

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Red Sox Acquire Alejandro De Aza

By Jeff Todd | June 4, 2015 at 12:06pm CDT

TODAY: Boston will pay around $1MM of De Aza’s remaining salary, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal report on Twitter. That’s no small amount, of course, but it does mean that Baltimore retains most of the financial burden going forward.

YESTERDAY: The Red Sox on Wednesday bolstered their outfield depth by acquiring an experienced corner option from the Orioles in the form of Alejandro De Aza, Baltimore announced. The O’s will send cash considerations to the Sox along with De Aza in exchange for Double-A right-hander Joe Gunkel. In order to accommodate De Aza on their 40-man roster, the Red Sox have transferred righty Brandon Workman to the 60-day DL, the club announced.

Alejandro  De  Aza

De Aza, added by the O’s at last year’s trade deadline, is owed $5MM this season, of which about $3.39MM remains. He’s a somewhat curious add for a Red Sox club that is already flush with outfield options and recently picked up fellow lefty-swinging corner outfielder Carlos Peguero in a trade with the Rangers. Boston also has Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Rusney Castillo on the roster as its starting trio in the outfield, with veterans Daniel Nava and Shane Victorino on the DL. (One would think that Peguero’s spot could eventually be in jeopardy when one of those veterans is nearing a return.)

The 31-year-old De Aza owns a meager .214/.277/.359 triple-slash in his 112 plate appearances thus far. But his track record is better; over the 2012-14 seasons, De Aza owns an exactly-league-average 100 OPS+ (and, if you prefer, a 100 wRC+). With average offensive production and strong defense, that has made him a solidly regular in the corner outfield.

As I noted when he was designated, the Orioles had ample reason to strike a deal to save what money they could. With more than five years of service, De Aza would have been eligible to reject an outright assignment (assuming he cleared waivers) and thereby become a free agent without sacrificing his rather significant guaranteed salary.

Gunkel is a 23-year-old who was pitching at Double-A in the Boston organization. He rated as Boston’s 26th-best prospect entering the year, per Baseball America, which says that he profiles as a reliever in the long run. Over 18 1/3 innings this year, he’s allowed eight earned runs with 22 strikeouts against eight walks.

That seems like a decent get for the O’s, though we’ll need to learn how much money has changed hands before really evaluating the deal.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the trade (on Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Newsstand Transactions Alejandro De Aza

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Mariners Acquire Mark Trumbo In Six-Player Deal

By Steve Adams | June 3, 2015 at 6:34pm CDT

With an offense that is again struggling to score runs in Seattle and a logjam of corner outfield types in Arizona, the Diamondbacks and Mariners have agreed to a rare, significant early-June trade that will send Mark Trumbo from Arizona to Seattle, the teams announced. Left-hander Vidal Nuno is also heading to the Mariners, who will send catcher Welington Castillo, right-hander Dominic Leone and prospects Gabby Guerrero and Jack Reinheimer to the D-Backs.

Mark  Trumbo

From the Mariners’ perspective, Trumbo will add significant power to a lineup that has struggled to score runs, as they rank 28th in the Majors with 191 runs. However, Seattle has thrived as a collective unit against left-handed pitching, which is where Trumbo does most of his damage. The 29-year-old is a lifetime .263/.311/.528 hitter against southpaws but owns a more pedestrian .242/.293/.444 line against same-handed pitching. Despite questionable OBP skills and his so-so numbers against right-handed pitching, Trumbo does figure to make the Mariners’ offense more formidable, though it may come at the cost of some defensive value. The acquisition of Trumbo also forces the team to either displace Logan Morrison at first base or utilize one of Trumbo or Nelson Cruz in the corner outfield, where both are regarded as defensive liabilities. Trumbo, who is earning $6.9MM in 2015 and is under team control through 2016 via the arbitration process.

Looking at the trade from Arizona’s perspective, it’s not difficult to see why the team felt the need to move Trumbo. The signing of Yasmany Tomas this offseason gave them a pair of slow-footed corner outfielders whose most appealing asset was right-handed pop. The D-Backs have been playing Tomas at third base while highly regarded prospect Jake Lamb is on the disabled list, but Lamb is nearing a return, and Tomas’ defensive work in the infield has not been particularly strong. With this move, Tomas can shift to right field in Trumbo’s place, joining A.J. Pollock and a combination of Ender Inciarte and David Peralta in the outfield. The move also saves the D-Backs some significant money; Trumbo is owed $4.68MM for the remainder of the 2015 season, compared to Castillo’s $1.43MM, making for a total savings of about $3.25MM.

Nuno has been told that he will be joining the Mariners’ rotation, the lefty himself told reporters, including MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has struggled throughout his brief MLB career as a starter, but he’s pitched quite well in a long relief capacity for Arizona this season, posting a 1.88 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings. Of course, that small sample consists of just three appearances, and Nuno’s larger body of work is relatively suspect. He’s tallied 196 innings at the Major League level between the Yankees and Diamondbacks, posting a 4.13 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate.

As a fly-ball pitcher, his first stint in an expansive, pitcher-friendly environment figures to benefit Nuno, but his peripheral profile doesn’t exactly indicate that he’s been the recipient of much poor luck. Metrics such as FIP (4.36), xFIP (4.15) and SIERA (3.97) all feel that Nuno’s ERA are more or less reflective of his talent level. The Mariners will hope that he can produce improved results in a more favorable setting, however, and if not, he seems like he could at least be a useful bullpen piece. Nuno has stifled opposing lefties to this point in his career, yielding just .191/.271/.317 batting line in 190 plate appearances. The Mariners will be able to control him through the 2019 season.

Castillo is the most established player headed back to Arizona in the trade, and he will pair with Jarrod Saltalamacchia behind the dish to form the D-Backs’ new catching tandem. That’s a far more established duo than Tuffy Gosewisch and Jordan Pacheco, who have handled the bulk of Arizona’s catching duties this season. Arizona GM Dave Stewart stated on multiple occasions this offseason that he had no intent of adding a catcher, and he held to his word through Opening Day, but he’s since seen Gosewisch go down for the year due to a torn ACL, while a back injury has ended veteran Gerald Laird’s season. Rule 5 pickup Oscar Hernandez is on the shelf as well, creating an even larger dearth of catching options for the Diamondbacks.

Arizona values prospect Peter O’Brien’s bat quite a bit, but scouts have long questioned whether or not he can handle catching from a defensive standpoint. Late in Spring Training, those questions became even more pronounced when O’Brien developed an issue throwing the ball back to the mound. He’s seen more time in the corner outfield this season at Triple-A than he has behind the plate.

Therefore, Castillo and Saltalamacchia give the Diamondbacks a more experienced tandem without forcing them to try O’Brien at catcher before he is ready (if he ever is). Castillo is a career .250/.316/.392 hitter that posted a combined 105 OPS+ from 2012-13 before taking a step back in 2014. All told, his bat has been about five percent below the league average over the course of his career, which is solid offensive output from a catcher. Castillo has also caught an above-average 30 percent of attempted base stealers in his career, though like Saltalamacchia, he does not grade out well in terms of pitch-framing metrics. Castillo is under team control through the 2017 season.

In Leone, the Diamondbacks will acquire a 23-year-old reliever who was dominant in his 2014 rookie campaign but has struggled to repeat that success. Leone emerged from out of nowhere in 2014 to post a 2.17 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate in 66 1/3 innings for the Mariners. Both FIP and xFIP pegged him at 3.07, while SIERA was more bullish at 2.81. Entering the 2015 season, Leone looked like a potential long-term bullpen cog. However, he’s seen his control erode dramatically, issuing nine walks in 11 1/3 innings against just seven strikeouts. The 94.6 mph he averaged on his heater in 2014 has dropped to 93.3 mph, leading to further cause for concern. His ERA to this point is a sky-high 6.35, while ERA estimators peg him for a mark in the 5.40 to 5.80 range. Put simply, Leone is a reclamation project for the Diamondbacks, but if he can return to anything close to his 2014 output, he’d be one of the most effective pieces in Arizona’s relief corps, if not the most effective piece.

Guerrero, 21, is the best prospect in the deal, despite a rough year at Double-A so far (.215/.262/.305). The nephew of famed slugger Vladimir Guerrero, Gabby has ranked among the Mariners’ Top 15 prospects in each of the past three offseasons, topping out at seventh this past winter. In their most recent scouting report, BA noted that Guerrero has plus-plus raw power, a plus-plus arm in right field (sound familiar?) and plus range as well, but he’s overly aggressive at the plate and swings too hard too often. Guerrero has baseball in his genes and is a high-risk, high-reward type of prospect; BA and other outlets such as MLB.com (where he ranks fifth among Mariners prospects) and Fangraphs (eighth) all feel that he could ultimately be an everyday right fielder, but the likelihood isn’t great without adjustments to his approach.

The 22-year-old Reinheimer reached Double-A for the first time this season and has slashed .277/.323/.351 thus far. Ranked as Seattle’s No. 17 prospect by BA, he also ranks 19th per Fangraphs and 14th per MLB.com. Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis at MLB.com call Reinheimer a singles hitter at the moment, noting that he has above-average speed and the range/arm to handle shortstop defensively. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs agrees for the most part and comps him to Mariners shortstop Chris Taylor, noting that there’s very little power and a utility player might be the ultimate outcome.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that Trumbo and Nuno had been traded to Seattle in exchange for Castillo, Leone and two prospects (Twitter links). 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Newsstand Seattle Mariners Transactions Dominic Leone Gabby Guerrero Jack Reinheimer Mark Trumbo Vidal Nuno Welington Castillo

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Jordan Lyles Out For Year With Toe Injury

By Jeff Todd | June 3, 2015 at 4:03pm CDT

Rockies righty Jordan Lyles will miss the rest of the season after suffering an injury to his left big toe, the club announced (via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). The digit’s medial collateral ligament and capsule require repair.

Acquired as part of the pre-2014 Dexter Fowler trade, Lyles had something of a breakout season in his first year with Colorado. An unfortunate left hand fracture caused him to miss significant time, and he was far less effective after the season’s first month, but things were pointing up on the whole.

After agreeing to a $2.48MM deal to avoid arbitration, Lyles figured as one of the Rockies’ best starters. The results have not been there, as his ERA sits at a somewhat disappointing 5.14 and he’s dropped back to 5.5 K/9.

But the 25-year-old has maintained his velocity and approximately 50% groundball rate. And FIP credits him with his lowest annual mark (an evaluation not shared by xFIP and SIERA, however).

It does not seem like the Rockies are going anywhere this year, with or without Lyles, but the loss of another competent arm could make a date at the auction block more likely for several veterans. In the long run, Colorado will probably not be too concerned about Lyles’ ability to bounce back, particularly since the injury isn’t to his arm.

With the Rockies having tendered a contract to TJ patient Tyler Chatwood last year, I’d expect they’ll do the same next fall with Lyles.

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Colorado Rockies Newsstand Jordan Lyles

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Latest On David Wright Back Injury

By Jeff Todd | June 3, 2015 at 3:31pm CDT

Star Mets third baseman David Wright, who has been diagnosed with a condition called spinal stenosis, joined GM Sandy Alderson in addressing the situation with the media yesterday (via Newsday’s Mark Carig). While Alderson says the club is “comfortable” in expecting that Wright will return, it also appears more and more likely that the problem will be a concern even if he does make it back to action.

“It literally is a week-to-week process,” Wright said, explaining that he is regularly undergoing tests of his back condition that must be passed before he can even begin working back to on-field action. “I’m not there right now,” he said. “They run me through the tests and I flat-out can’t do it.”

Surgery is only on the table as a last resort, in the event that rehabilitation proves unavailing. “There’s never been a question in my mind that not only am I going to come back but I want to come back sooner rather than later,” Wright said. “It’s just a matter of being symptom-free.”

In spite of that positivity, and Alderson’s statement that he was not planning to go outside the organization to find a replacement, the GM hinted at an uncertain (and possibly lengthy) timeline when he said the team is “not on the edge of our seat waiting for David to come back.” And he acknowledged the long-term concerns: “I’m not sure we can have any assurance at this point that when he comes back it will be incident-free for the rest of the season.”

Wright is earning $20MM this year and is promised an additional $87MM from 2016-2020. While the club reportedly has insurance that would cover a significant portion of that tab if Wright misses a large chunk of time, that would not offer much relief if he is able to play but can’t return to his former levels (or if, say, he needs scattered DL stints to deal with flare-ups).

In the immediate term, the team does have options, as David Lennon writes for Newsday. Daniel Murphy can occupy third, with some combination of Wilmer Flores, Ruben Tejada, and Dilson Herrera (when he returns from his own injury) playing up the middle. Or, of course, a more established option could be added at the deadline. Regardless, it would now seem a major surprise if Murphy — who has sometimes been discussed as a trade chip — was to be made available this summer.

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New York Mets Newsstand David Wright

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Rangers To Promote Joey Gallo

By Jeff Todd | June 1, 2015 at 4:36pm CDT

The Rangers will promote power-hitting third base prospect Joey Gallo to the big league roster tomorrow, GM Jon Daniels tells the Ben & Skin Show on CBS Dallas Fort-Worth (h/t Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, Twitter links).

Mar 2, 2015; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo (70) poses for a portrait during Photo Day at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Daniels stressed in his comments that the move is designed only to be a short-term patch. In announcing the move, executive VP of communications noted that Gallo will occupy an active roster spot created by placing Adrian Beltre on the 15-day DL with a sprain and laceration on his left thumb.

Gallo was on the prospect map prior last year, owing to his unmatched raw power, but show up the charts when he put it into action with a monster age-20 season. He hit 21 home runs apiece at High-A and Double-A, splitting his time about evenly between those levels. Of course, Gallo’s overall batting line was far superior at the lower level, and he struck out a troubling 115 times in his 291 plate appearances for Frisco.

While injury delayed his start to 2015, he’s only delivered more promise since healing. Gallo continues to deliver plenty of pop after starting the year back at Double-A, and has improved his plate discipline rather markedly (16.4% BB vs. 33.6% K, as opposed to the 12.4% BB vs. 39.5% K he put up in the last half of 2014).

Contact and strikeout rates are still a significant concern for Gallo’s long-term outlook, of course, but he as things stand he is walking at a healthy rate and squaring up enough balls to provide plenty of value. Whether he can stick at third is also something of a question: he is said to have an outstanding arm, but sub-par range.

He’s far from a sure thing, the upside is tremendous. Indeed, Gallo is a consensus top-ten prospect leaguewide. While Texas appears inclined only to give him a taste of the big leagues, a hot start would make it hard to drop him back to the minors (though his left-handed bat doesn’t have an obvious role with Mitch Moreland performing and Josh Hamilton now in the fold).

Given their plans, the Rangers are probably not terribly concerned with Gallo’s service time status. Even if he does stay on the active roster all year, he probably would not be set up to qualify for Super Two status. And while all service accumulated this year will force Texas to wait longer next year in order to preserve an additional season of club control, the Rangers have other corner options (particularly, left-handed hitting ones) — and good reason to allow Gallo to further develop.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Newsstand Texas Rangers Top Prospect Promotions Transactions Joey Gallo

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Phillies Open To Taking On More Of Cole Hamels’ Salary In Trades

By Mark Polishuk | May 31, 2015 at 11:41pm CDT

The Phillies are willing to cover more of the approximately $88.5MM remaining on Cole Hamels’ contract in a possible trade than they were earlier in the season, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports.  What hasn’t changed, however, is Philadelphia’s demand for elite prospect talent in exchange for the ace left-hander.

The shift in negotiating stance is not a surprise, as many pundits assumed that the Phils would eventually bend from their initial demand that a team take on all of Hamels’ salary and also part ways with multiple blue-chip prospects.  Bending on the salary demand rather than the prospect return makes sense for a wealthy franchise like the Phillies; adding impact minor league talent is of greater import to a rebuilding team than saving money.

In offering to take on a bit more salary, the Phillies may also be widening the Hamels market to medium-payroll teams who previously may have been unable to absorb the southpaw’s contract.  This is purely my speculation, but perhaps this description could fit teams like the Royals or Orioles, or maybe even surprise contenders like the Twins or Astros.  The amount of salary the Phillies offer to cover, as well, could vary depending on the team, or what prospects they’d be getting back.

Bradford touches on the Red Sox and notes that the Sox and Phillies have been scouting each other’s major and minor league teams, as Boston has been widely linked to Hamels for months now.  Salary wasn’t the main obstacle to a Boston/Philly trade, however, but rather the fact that the Sox were refusing to trade the likes of Mookie Betts or Blake Swihart to Philadelphia.  While the Red Sox have several other impressive prospects, it remains to be seen if the Phillies would accept a Sox deal without one of those two players, or if the Phils would turn elsewhere to find their desired prospect return.

Ironically, this news of the Phillies slightly lowering their asking price comes at a time when their bargaining position may be better than ever, considering the number of big-name teams looking for pitching help in the wake of injuries to star hurlers.  Additionally, the likes of Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir have faced some recent injury problems, which only helps Hamels’ case as possibly both the healthiest and the most accomplished potential trade chip on the pitching market as we approach the July 31 deadline.

Hamels is set to earn roughly $15MM for the remainder of this season, $22.5MM in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the Phillies hold a $20MM club option on his services for 2019 that can be bought out for $6MM (the 2019 option can also vest if Hamels avoids the arm injuries and reaches innings thresholds).  Hamels has a 20-team no-trade list, and it has been speculated that he could seek to have his 2019 guaranteed in order to okay a deal to any of those 20 clubs.  By this token, the Phillies’ offer to cover more salary could be a way of facilitating some of that extra $14MM for 2019.

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Newsstand Philadelphia Phillies Cole Hamels

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Rafael Soriano Changes Agents

By Jeff Todd | May 30, 2015 at 2:05pm CDT

TODAY: Soriano has hired Alan Nero and Ulises Cabrera of Octagon Baseball, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The righty tells Sanchez that he is “working out every day” in preparation “to get back to playing baseball and helping a team win in whatever role I’m asked.”

YESTERDAY: Free agent reliever Rafael Soriano is set to replace agent Scott Boras, according to James Wagner of the Washington Post (Twitter link). It is not clear whether he has chosen a new agent.

Soriano hopes to sign a deal and return to big league action, per the report. He has been inactive for the first two months of the year despite plenty of apparent interest. Presumably, the fact that he has yet to do so had something to do with the parting.

Boras has negotiated Soriano’s contracts since the fall of 2010 — as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times then reported on Twitter — and has done rather well for his now-former client. Soriano has earned a total of $49MM over four years, exercising an opt-out clause negotiated into his deal with the Yankees and overcoming a qualifying offer to find better money over two years with the Nationals (though a significant piece of that was deferred).

Most recently, the Marlins were said to be dabbling in the Soriano market, though no deal was completed and the team apparently no longer has interest. MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth provided a complete look at the possible suitors last weekend (with our readers voting the Cubs as the odds-on favorite to bring him in).

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Newsstand Rafael Soriano Scott Boras

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Cubs Expected To Pursue Ben Zobrist

By Jeff Todd | May 29, 2015 at 6:57pm CDT

The Cubs are expected to pursue a trade for Ben Zobrist of the Athletics this summer, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Zobrist recently returned to action after missing time for knee surgery.

Zobrist, who just turned 34, has played all over the diamond in his career, registering stellar defensive marks at numerous positions. In recent years, he’s spent most of his time at second base and the corner outfield, though he played at short quite a bit earlier in his career. Of course, Zobrist has also consistently delivered well-above-average production on offense, with a career .264/.354/.429 batting line.

All said, Zobrist has been one of the ten most valuable all-around position players in the game since the start of 2011. He is still a bargain with only a $7.5MM salary this season, though he’ll hit the open market after the year.

A trade would, of course, render Zobrist ineligible for a qualifying offer, and Oakland will surely be looking for a return that exceeds the value of a compensatory draft pick if it decides to move him at the trade deadline. That is no sure thing, as Wittenmyer notes, as Oakland still hopes to get back into contention.

From the Cubs’ perspective, adding Zobrist would make obvious sense, though that can be said of many other teams as well. The veteran thrived under skipper Joe Maddon when both were with the Rays, and he’d offer the team ample flexibility while deepening its lineup. While Chicago has enjoyed strong production at many spots in the everyday lineup, its bench has been underwhelming.

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Athletics Chicago Cubs Newsstand Ben Zobrist

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Matt Adams Out At Least 4 Months With Quad Tear

By Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | May 29, 2015 at 5:09pm CDT

FRIDAY: The surgery revealed a complete tear of the quad muscle, tweets Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, which will likely extend his recovery time to over four months.

While the news does not shift the timeline too significantly, it already seemed there was a fairly slim chance that Adams would return for the regular season or even postseason. Now, that seems all but impossible unless Adams can beat expectations.

WEDNESDAY, 11:04pm: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that Adams will undergo surgery to repair the tear on Friday.

8:01pm: GM John Mozeliak just discussed the injury in an appearance on KMOX radio, stating: “We anticipated this being a DL, but now we have to look at how we look at this club long-term,” (Twitter link via KMOX’s Benjamin Boyd).

7:43pm: The Cardinals announced tonight that Adams will miss an estimated three to four months with the injury. Given that timeline, it’s fair to suggest that there’s a chance he could miss the remainder of the regular season. MLB.com’s Jen Langosch hears that the team is still deciding whether or not Adams will undergo surgery (Twitter link).

A recovery timeline of that significance would seem to increase the chances that the Cardinals will look outside the organization eventually in order to address the need. Reynolds has plenty of power and could serve as a stopgap, but he batted just .209/.297/.394 from 2013-14 with the Indians, Yankees and Brewers in fairly regular duty, making him a questionable long-term solution.

4:05pm: Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams will miss significant time with a torn quadriceps, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Twitter. Surgery is a possibility for the 26-year-old.

The injury is said to be worse than that of fellow St. Louis outfielder Tommy Pham, who is on the 60-day DL with his own quad injury. The Cardinals had already decided to rely on Mark Reynolds at first for the immediate future, but the severity of the injury could potentially contribute to additional roster planning over the summer.

Of course, Adams has been off to a rough start, hitting just .243/.281/.375 over his first 153 plate appearances on the year. But the team certainly had good reason to expect better the rest of the way: after all, Adams averaged a .287/.327/.474 line over the prior two seasons.

Reynolds could ultimately be paired with Dan Johnson, who is in the fold at Triple-A, or a similarly available left-handed bat such as Travis Ishikawa. The team could in theory consider sliding an outfielder like Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty in at first, but none of them have played the position before (at least professionally).

But if Adams will miss much of the rest of the season, it certainly seems at least plausible that the Cards will dabble in the summer trade market. Adam Lind, Justin Morneau, and Ryan Howard are among the players that could be marketed at the deadline.

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Newsstand St. Louis Cardinals Matt Adams

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