Notes

California Notes: Walsh, Padres, Dahl, Engel, Cruz, Morejon, Pomeranz, A’s, Blackburn, Rucinski

By Mark Polishuk | April 9, 2023 at 10:09am CDT

Jared Walsh has yet to suit up for the Angels this season, as he has been on the 10-day injured list recovering from insomnia and recurring headaches. Manager Phil Nevin provided media (including MLB.com and J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group) with an update on Walsh’s condition, saying that “He’s doing okay. He feels like he’s making a lot of progress, getting some clarity on what’s going on.” The recovery process has included a two-week stint with a specialist in Utah, which has limited Walsh’s baseball-related training activity mostly to weekends with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City.

Owing to the unpredictable nature of his problem, there isn’t yet a timeline for Walsh’s return, as Nevin noted that the first baseman will need some level of a rehab assignment or a ramp-up period before he gets onto the field. Walsh was already making a comeback from an injury-hampered 2022 season, as he struggled to a .215/.264/.374 slash line in 454 plate appearances before undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in September.

Pitching Notes: Red Sox, Kahnle, Lorenzen

By Simon Hampton | April 8, 2023 at 10:44pm CDT

The Red Sox are on the verge of a boost to their rotation, with starters Brayan Bello and Garrett Whitlock set to return. Whitlock will be the first, with Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reporting that Whitlock will pitch Tuesday against the Rays.

Whitlock has been taking a little extra time to prepare for the season following hip surgery in September. While he’s excelled mostly as a reliever for Boston, the team came into the year planning to use him as a starter and it appears they’re not deviating from that. Whitlock owns a 2.24 ERA in 112 2/3 relief innings, and a 4.15 ERA in nine starts and 39 innings over his two big league seasons.

It’s unclear yet who will drop out of the rotation, although Kutter Crawford’s spot would appear most at risk. Boston doesn’t get a day off until April 27, so the boost to their struggling rotation is timely. Whitlock’s return could be closely followed by that of Bello. The youngster is scheduled to make another rehab start on Tuesday, with the hope being he’ll go for six innings. As Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe notes, manager Alex Cora wouldn’t commit to him coming of the IL after that, but if he goes that sort of length without any issues then a return can’t be far away.

Bello, 23, worked to a 4.71 ERA over 57 1/3 innings last year. It was a promising rookie season for Bello, and underlying numbers such as FIP (2.94) looked a lot more favorably on his work. Bello had been dealing with forearm tightness during spring training, forcing his delayed start to the season. Like Whitlock, he figures to be a key part of any success Boston’s rotation might have this year.

Here’s some more from around the game:

Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle was transferred to the 60-day IL today, meaning the earliest he’ll return will be the end of May. That’s a significant blow for a banged up Yankees bullpen that also lost Jonathan Loaisiga to the IL today. Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, manager Aaron Boone did not consider Kahnle to have suffered a setback as a reason for the move to the 60-day, but instead that they just anticipated he’d have a longer buildup. Boone added that he could see Kahnle appearing in minor league rehab games in early May. Kahnle re-joined the Yankees this winter on a two-year, $11.5MM deal.
The Tiger announced (Twitter) a series of medical updates, including that right-hander Michael Lorenzen is scheduled to make a rehab start Triple-A today. Lorenzen did indeed make that start, going 2 1/3 innings (56 pitches) and giving up four earned runs. Lorenzen is returning from a left groin strain. The team also announced that right-hander Beau Brieske continues to receive further medical evaluation on his right upper arm discomfort. Meanwhile, starter Casey Mize is playing catch three times a week and Tarik Skubal is playing catch six times weekly.

Injury Notes: Loaisiga, Peraza, Hedges, McCann

By Simon Hampton | April 8, 2023 at 5:36pm CDT

The Yankees made a series of roster moves earlier today, one of which involved placing right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on the 15-day IL due to elbow inflammation. A pitcher going down with any sort of elbow problem is always a concern, and manager Aaron Boone spoke with reporters (including Jack Curry of the YES Network) and said Loaisiga had an MRI that did not show any structural damage.

The Yankees say Loaisiga does have some swelling in the joint though, and he won’t throw for a couple of weeks. With that in mind, even Loaisiga returns to throwing in two weeks he’ll need a bit of time to ramp up before the Yankees can call on him out of their big league bullpen, so while it doesn’t appear that this is an overly serious injury it seems Loaisiga’s stay on the IL will extend a bit beyond the minimum 15 days.

That’s a blow for a Yankees bullpen that is already without Tommy Kahnle, and has seen the usually dominant Michael King dealing with some drops in velocity. Loaisiga has been one of the best relievers in the game, and as Curry notes, owns a 1.56 ERA over his past 37 games.

Here’s some more injury notes from around the game:

Sticking with the Yankees, and Boone said infield prospect Oswald Peraza is dealing with a hamstring issue which is why he hasn’t played the last few games for Triple-A Scranton (via Curry). While Boone says it’s not a serious injury, it probably ruled the youngster out of being called up to the big leagues when they placed Josh Donaldson on the IL today. The team opted to instead select the contract of Willie Calhoun, but it’s also possible they’d have rather kept Peraza at Triple-A getting everyday at-bats. Peraza’s gone 7-24 with three walks and seven strikeouts over his first six games with Scranton.
The Pirates provided an update on catcher Austin Hedges today, with manager Derek Shelton telling reporters (including Justice delos Santos of MLB.com) that Hedges is “trending in the right direction.” The veteran catcher caught a bullpen today and will hit in the cage. Hedges was placed on the seven-day concussion list during the week. It’s still unclear if the Pirates will be comfortable activating Hedges immediately after the seven days are up. Hedges has appeared in three games so far, failing to tally a hit in nine plate appearances. In his absence, the Pirates called up Tyler Heineman to catch alongside regular backup Jason Delay.
Finally, the Orioles should have veteran backstop James McCann back with the team shortly, per Roch Kubatko of MASN. McCann is yet to debut for the Orioles as he works his way back from an oblique strain. McCann has been playing in an rehab assignment at High-A, and will catch there again tonight. Kubatko suggests it’s possible that McCann is activated as early as tomorrow.

Cardinals Notes: O’Neill, Marlins, Naughton, Nootbaar, Wainwright

By Mark Polishuk | April 8, 2023 at 10:31am CDT

Tyler O’Neill’s name was part of trade talks with the Marlins and other teams this winter, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports. Back in January, Rosenthal wrote that St. Louis had shown interest in the Marlins’ pitching, and since Miami was known to be looking for outfield help, it stands to reason that O’Neill was part of those discussions. No trade materialized between the two sides, of course, and it isn’t known if O’Neill was necessarily one of the Marlins’ top targets on the St. Louis roster, or if the Cards were more open to moving O’Neill than any of their outfielders.

Given all of the Cardinals’ outfield depth and the Marlins’ rotation depth, any number of names or potential trades could’ve been floated in negotiations — likewise, any team engaging the Cardinals in outfield-related trade talks might’ve had a few options in mind. While O’Neill was coming off a relative down year in 2022, that doesn’t mean rival clubs wouldn’t have still had trade interest, perhaps hoping to nab the two-time Gold Glover in a buy-low situation.

With this all in mind, Rosenthal wonders if O’Neill could potentially be tangled in trade talks again, perhaps in an outfielder-for-pitching swap similar to the deal that sent Harrison Bader to the Yankees for Jordan Montgomery at last year’s trade deadline. As The Athletic’s Levi Weaver noted, Bader was traded within a couple of months after Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol removed him mid-game for a perceived lack of effort. On Wednesday, O’Neill wasn’t in the Cards’ starting lineup, which Marmol publicly said was due to what the skipper felt was a lack of hustle on O’Neill’s part in running the bases in Tuesday’s game. O’Neill both denied that charge, and also wasn’t pleased that Marmol went public with the criticism.

It should be noted that O’Neill still appeared in Wednesday’s game as a pinch-hitter, and after Thursday’s off-day, O’Neill was back as the starting center fielder in the Cardinals’ 4-0 loss to the Brewers on Friday. Talking to Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters, Marmol said it was “one hundred percent” important to have O’Neill back in action, calling him “one of the most talented players in that clubhouse. There’s a next step for Tyler in his career, and my job is to get him there.”

The manager also explained his perspective on “holding someone accountable” as it related to his decision to call O’Neill out, saying “it’s your ability to sit down with a player before the lights come on before the stadium is packed and ask them what they want for themselves and what they want for the team. And allowing them to articulate that and then asking for permission to hold them to that. And when it doesn’t look right, you hold them to that.”

Beyond O’Neill’s return and the shutout loss, Friday’s game was also notable for what might be a significant injury to left-hander Packy Naughton. After pitching to three batters in his relief outing, Naughton left the game with what the club later described as forearm tightness. Goold wrote that Naughton was slated to have his left arm examined last night.

It seems like Naughton is headed for the injured list at the very least, and he and the team can only hope that a serious injury has been avoided. Naughton is just a few days shy of his 27th birthday, and he is in his third MLB season. St. Louis claimed Naughton off waivers from the Angels in March 2022, and his first season with the Cardinals saw Naughton post a 4.78 ERA over 32 innings, working mostly as a reliever.

In other injury news, Lars Nootbaar might be activated from the 10-day IL as early as Monday, since Marmol told MLB.com and other reporters that the club will wait to see how Nootbaar’s injured left thumb feels after batting practice. However, Nootbaar said that his thumb is more of an issue when trying to catch a ball or even when wearing a glove, moreso than any pain caused by taking swings.

Adam Wainwright is on the 15-day IL recovering from a groin strain, and is slated for his second 28-pitch bullpen session on Sunday. If all goes well, Wainwright might throw more pitches in another bullpen tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, and a minor league rehab outing could then follow in the coming days.

Injury Notes: Haniger, Taylor, Severino, Rodon, Moore, Trammell

By Anthony Franco | April 7, 2023 at 8:47pm CDT

The Giants have been without offseason signee Mitch Haniger thus far. The veteran outfielder opened the season on the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain. He tells Evan Webeck of the San Jose Mercury News his recovery timeline was slightly delayed by recent back tightness, which shut him down for around a week (Twitter link). Haniger is back to hitting off a tee now but still a bit off from potentially beginning a minor league rehab assignment.

With Haniger out of action, the Giants have pushed Rule 5 draftee Blake Sabol into left field alongside Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Conforto. Sabol and Roberto Pérez are the only catchers on the active roster. Pérez left this afternoon’s loss to Kansas City with a right shoulder strain (as relayed by Maria Guardado of MLB.com), which could necessitate a roster move if he’s unavailable in the coming days.

In other injury situations around the game:

The Brewers lost Tyrone Taylor to a sprained right elbow at the start of Spring Training. Milwaukee announced at the time that Taylor would be sidelined into May. Manager Craig Counsell informed reporters today the outfielder recently had a minor setback and is midway through a week-long shutdown before he resumes a throwing program (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). It’s unclear to what extent Taylor’s recovery timetable is delayed but it doesn’t seem a significant concern. Milwaukee turned to Brian Anderson in right field with Taylor sidelined. After the Brew Crew lost third baseman Luis Urías to an Opening Day hamstring strain, they moved Anderson to the hot corner and brought up top prospect Joey Wiemer to man right field.
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone provided reporters (including Chris Kirschner of the Athletic) an update on a pair of rehabbing pitchers this afternoon. Luis Severino, who has been sidelined by a lat strain, will throw a bullpen session this weekend. Offseason free agent pickup Carlos Rodón will throw a live batting practice session on Monday. Rodón was diagnosed with a mild forearm strain during Spring Training, though the Yankees downplayed any long-term concern.
The Mariners provided updates on a pair of injured position players this afternoon (relayed by Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). Utilityman Dylan Moore and outfielder Taylor Trammell are both going to start participating in extended spring training games at the start of next week. Manager Scott Servais indicated that Moore could potentially return during the club’s April 14-23 homestand. Trammell is further behind, as he fractured the hamate bone in his right wrist in mid-February. That robbed him of any Spring Training reps; Moore also didn’t appear in any exhibition games but he’d done some backfield work before straining his oblique in mid-March.

NL Notes: Alvarez, Chisholm, Sánchez

By Darragh McDonald | April 6, 2023 at 10:28am CDT

Mets catching prospect Francisco Álvarez is joining the club in case fellow backstop Omar Narváez has to go on the injured list, per a report from Mike Puma and Ted Holmlund of The New York Post. The latter was removed from yesterday’s game with calf tightness and replaced by Tomás Nido. The Mets will have an extra day to let Narváez rest and assess the situation since their home opener was postponed until tomorrow due to inclement weather, though Andy Martino of SNY adds that the club is not optimistic about Narváez avoiding the IL.

Álvarez, 21, is one of the top prospects in the sport and is generally considered to be ready for the majors when it comes to his offense. He hit 27 home runs in the minors last year and also walked in 14.1% of his plate appearances, leading to a .260/.374/.511 and 136 wRC+. He also got promoted to the big leagues late in the year, getting into five regular season games and one postseason contest. He’s currently ranked among the top 10 prospects in the league by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, and just outside the top 10 at FanGraphs.

However, he’s still quite young and his glove is considered to be a bit behind his bat. He also struggled a bit in spring on the heels of October ankle surgery. All those factors led the club to option him to Triple-A to start the season, relying on the more established players in Narváez and Nido. If the tightness in Narváez’s calf doesn’t clear up and he needs a spell on the injured list, Álvarez might get another crack at the big leagues sooner than expected.

Some more notes from the National League…

The Marlins got a bit of a scare yesterday when outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. departed their game against the Twins with an apparent injury. While sliding into second base on an attempted steal, his shoulder collided with the leg of Kyle Farmer. Chisholm was in obvious pain and left the contest after a visit from the trainer. The club later announced Chisholm’s injury as a stinger and listed him as day-to-day, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. A “stinger” is a burning or stinging sensation of the nerves in the neck and shoulder area. Though the initial situation may have caused some hearts to skip a few beats, it seems he’s avoided a significant injury, which is great news for the club. Chisholm had a huge breakout last year, hitting .254/.325/.535 for a wRC+ of 139, though he was limited to 60 games by a stress fracture in his back. He’s now attempting to make the challenging transition from second base to center field this year, an experiment that might be put on hold for a few days. Bryan De La Cruz replaced Chisholm in center yesterday and could get more time there, though Jesús Sánchez and Garrett Hampson could also be options.
The Giants recently brought Gary Sánchez aboard on a minor league deal to bolster their catching depth and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi spoke to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle about the move this week. “We’re excited to see how he does,” Zaidi said. “At his best, he’s been one of the handful of best offensive catchers in baseball. If he can show signs of that kind of feeling, I think he can really be an impactful addition.” Sánchez hit .284/.354/.568 in 2016 and 2017 for a wRC+ of 143 but has fallen off from those heights in subsequent years. Since the signing, Joey Bart went on the injured list due to back tightness but isn’t expected to be gone long. In the meantime, Roberto Pérez and Blake Sabol are handling the catching duties, though Sabol is also playing some outfield and Zaidi admits that Pérez is “not an everyday player at this stage of his career, and we have to make sure that whoever we have complementing him can carry a pretty big workload as well.” The club will have to make a decision on Sánchez fairly soon, as he has a May 1 opt-out on his contract, which would come with a $4MM salary if added to the big league club. “We have a few weeks before we have to make a decision. It’s all about: Does he have the chance to bring it all together?” Zaidi said. “And if he does, it’d be pretty good.”

Braves Notes: Iglesias, Anderson, Wright

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2023 at 8:17pm CDT

The Braves have been without closer Raisel Iglesias in the early going. The veteran reliever was sidelined during the final week of March with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The club announced he’d be shut down for at least a week and he opened the season on the 15-day injured list.

It appears that stint will linger beyond the minimal two weeks. Manager Brian Snitker informed reporters on Monday that Iglesias has yet to resume throwing (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution). The Braves have continued to evaluate the righty’s progress, though Snitker noted they won’t have any kind of recovery timetable in place until Iglesias is able to pick up a ball.

A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez have each picked up a save this season. The latter’s was a one-out appearance during today’s 5-2 win over the Cardinals after Collin McHugh had thrown 27 pitches. The highest-leverage work in the season’s first week has fallen to Dylan Lee, McHugh and Chavez. Minter and righty Joe Jiménez also figure to be in the mix for important work as the year goes along. They’ll all be up a peg in the pecking order so long as Iglesias is on the shelf.

Injuries have also been a story on the rotation front. Atlanta placed Ian Anderson on the minor league injured list this morning. Toscano tweets that Anderson has a right elbow injury and is being evaluated.

There’s no word on the issue’s severity, though any problem with a pitcher’s throwing elbow raises some amount of concern. Anderson will miss at least the next week of action at Triple-A Gwinnett. It’s possible he’s sidelined beyond the minimal stay, which would further thin an Atlanta rotation that has faced some questions early in the season.

The Braves were already set to rely on a pair of pitchers who had never previously pitched in the majors as part of the season-opening rotation. Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd jumped Anderson and Bryce Elder on the depth chart in Spring Training. Ace Max Fried landed on the 15-day IL after straining his hamstring on Opening Day. The Braves recalled Elder, pushing Anderson into the #6 role on the depth chart before the elbow soreness.

Fortunately, Atlanta should soon welcome back Kyle Wright from an IL stint of his own. The righty was slowed in camp by a sore shoulder. He opened the season on the 15-day IL to buy him a bit more time to build strength. He made a rehab start for Gwinnett this evening. The bottom line results weren’t great — he allowed five runs in a 6-3 loss — but Wright worked six innings and tossed 84 pitches. That indicates he’s mostly stretched out and figures to make his next start at the MLB level. He’s first eligible to return on April 11, which would be a home start against Cincinnati.

Cardinals Notes: O’Neill, Nootbaar, Wainwright, DeJong

By Darragh McDonald | April 5, 2023 at 12:47pm CDT

Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill is not in today’s lineup, with Dylan Carlson taking his center field spot. It appears as though this is relation to a play in last night’s game where O’Neill was thrown out at home, trying to score from second on a single by Brendan Donovan (Twitter link with video from the Braves). Manager Oli Marmol is of the opinion that O’Neill wasn’t running with full effort on the play and spoke on the record about it last night and again today, as relayed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Katie Woo of The Athletic.

“There is a standard,” Marmol said. “You meet it, you play. You don’t meet it, you don’t play.” He further commented: “There’s going to be a style of play that we are known for. It’s going to involve effort and it’s going to involve being relentless. It’s going to involve being smart. We’re going to hold guys to that, because that’s how you sustain being good for a long time. There’s a lot of good players in that clubhouse, and down below, and I love competition. And the last thing you want to do when you’re in competition is open up a window.”

O’Neill doesn’t agree with Marmol’s view of the situation. “I’m trying to do everything I can to stay on the field and give it my best effort,” O’Neill said. “I’ve never been known to be a dogger in any caliber. So for him to say that is very strong words.” The outfielder also took exception to Marmol talking to the media about the situation. “I don’t think it should’ve been handled that way,” O’Neill said. “I think if there’s internal issues they should be handled internally. We should have each others backs out there. Sometimes it doesn’t go that way I guess. Live and you learn.”

The club came into the season with a glut of outfielders, including O’Neill, Carlson, Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez. Nootbaar is currently on the injured list but there’s still plenty of guys for three spots, while Nolan Gorman has been the designated hitter most days so far this year. Marmol’s comments suggest that his feelings about the play in question are strong enough that O’Neill is at risk of losing playing time beyond just today’s benching. Time will tell as to how it plays out in the long term, but O’Neill didn’t seem to have a good answer when asked how they will move past this. “I don’t know,” O’Neill said. “Continue with our communication. But really? I don’t know.”

O’Neill can be an excellent player when healthy, which he showed in 2021. He hit 34 home runs that year and slashed .286/.352/.560 for a wRC+ of 144. He also stole 15 bases and was given strong grades for his outfield defense, leading to a tally of 5.6 wins above replacement by FanGraphs. Last year, injuries limited him to 96 games and he wasn’t as impactful while on the field. He’s making $4.95MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration in 2024 before he’s slated to reach free agency.

Moving to less dramatic and more standard fare, Katie Woo also relayed some updates on injured members of the team. As mentioned, Nootbaar is currently on the IL, which is due to a thumb contusion. It seemed like he would likely have a short stay on the shelf and Woo relays that he may not even require a rehab assignment, though the club still isn’t sure about that. His return would further complicate the already-crowded outfield mix.

Adam Wainwright, on the injured list with a groin strain, will throw a bullpen tomorrow as he works his way back to health. Infielder Paul DeJong, who’s been out with a back issue, will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow, taking the designated hitter spot for Palm Beach.

AL West Notes: McCullers, Blackburn, Taveras

By Nick Deeds | April 4, 2023 at 8:54pm CDT

Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. is making progress in his rehab, with the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome noting the right-hander is currently ahead of schedule. McCullers, who is currently rehabbing from an elbow strain, is throwing from 90 feet off flat ground and is on the verge of starting to throw on back-to-back days. Rome notes that it’s possible McCullers begins throwing off the mound sometime this month, providing a bit of clarity to McCullers’s timetable, which to this point has involved few details.

McCullers, 29, is entering the second season of his five-year, $85MM extension with the Astros this year. The right-hander has struggled badly with injuries in recent years, having pitched just 265 innings since the end of the 2018 season, and having made more than 22 starts just once in his career to this point, in 2021. When he has managed to pitch, however, McCullers has been excellent. He sports a career 3.48 ERA that drops to 3.16 when looking at his work following his 2019 Tommy John surgery. For his career, he’s posted a fantastic 55.1% groundball rate in addition to a solid 25.6% strikeout rate, though he has walked 9.8% of batters faced in his career, a figure that’s jumped to 11.1% over the last two seasons. Still, McCullers stands clearly as among the best starters in the game when healthy. Houston is currently using a rotation of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy, and top prospect Hunter Brown while McCullers is on the shelf.

Cubs Notes: Happ, Leeper, Suzuki, Hughes

By Nick Deeds | April 4, 2023 at 6:07pm CDT

On the heels of the recent extension agreement between the Cubs and second baseman Nico Hoerner, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic checked in on the status of negotiations with the other Cubs hitter who found himself in the extension rumor mill this offseason: outfielder Ian Happ.

No extension got done ahead of Opening Day between Happ and the Cubs, through president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer noted that the sides has “really productive and really cordial” negotiations in the run up to the start of the season. While Hoyer refused to say negotiations had come to an end, he admitted to the difficulties of negotiations during the season, saying, “I know how hard it is to perform, in general, and having negotiations going on can be really difficult for some guys, so I respect the fact that guys won’t do it.”

Happ, who Mooney notes is not only the team’s representative to the MLBPA but also advised Hoerner during his extension negotiations with the Cubs, is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. He sports a career wRC+ of 115, and though his 120 mark from last season isn’t far off from that figure, he considerably changes his approach at the plate last season. Though he sacrificed some power, posting a career-low .169 ISO, he cut his strikeout rate down to just 23.2% from his career 30.8% mark headed into the 2022 season. Should Happ be able to replicate his 2022 performance this season, he figures to join the likes of Matt Chapman and Teoscar Hernandez as among the best bats on the free agent market this offseason not named Shohei Ohtani.

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