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NL Central Notes: Reds, Weaver, Cessa, Suzuki, Wesneski, Miller

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Luke Weaver hasn’t pitched since Monday due to a sore forearm, and “I think we’d have to push pretty hard to get him ready for Opening Day,” Reds manager David Bell told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters.  Despite the ominous nature of forearm-related injuries, Weaver’s issue seems to be just soreness, and he might throw a bullpen session in a few days’ time.  However, that still doesn’t leave the right-hander with much time to fully build his arm strength in advance of the Reds’ first game on March 30.

Weaver was projected to be Cincinnati’s fourth starter, creating another wrinkle in what was already a battle for the fifth starter’s job.  Connor Overton, Luis Cessa, Brandon Williamson, and non-roster invitee Chase Anderson were all in the running for the final rotation job, and two of those pitchers might now earn jobs if Weaver indeed needs to miss any regular-season time.  Cessa is also a bit of a question mark for workload-related reasons, as he might need to build up his arm since he hasn’t pitched much as a member of Mexico’s World Baseball Classic team.  Even if Cessa doesn’t make the rotation, Bell said the right-hander will still be a member of the Reds’ bullpen.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Cubs manager David Ross provided media (including MLB.com) with an update on Seiya Suzuki, as the outfielder continues to recover from an oblique strain.  Suzuki will likely need to begin the season on the injured list to make up for his lost Spring Training time, but he has been steadily increasing his workouts, and been taking part in some light baseball activities within the last week.
  • Hayden Wesneski has become the favorite for the Cubs’ fifth starter role, The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma writes, which could mean that Adrian Sampson will begin the season as a depth starter at Triple-A.  Wesneski made his MLB debut last season, with an impressive 2.18 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, and 5.3% walk rate over the small sample size of 33 innings.  Besides Sampson, Javier Assad is also still in the competition for a rotation job, though Assad hasn’t been amassing innings in spring camp, but rather with Mexico’s WBC team.  Sharma feels Assad might also have a path to Chicago’s roster as a reliever rather than as a starter, if Keegan Thompson’s velocity continues to be inconsistent.
  • The Brewers have been working Owen Miller out in center field, as the team attempts to give itself another outfield option with Tyrone Taylor injured and top prospect Garrett Mitchell nursing a sore hamstring.  “It’s good to get game reps like that.  I’ll keep working every day to see as many balls out there as I can,” Miller told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy.  Acquired in a trade from the Guardians over the offseason, Miller has seen action at all four infield positions (but primarily first and second base) over his two MLB seasons with Cleveland, but one Triple-A game in 2021 represents the entirety of his professional experience as an outfielder.  Still, becoming even more versatile can only help Miller’s chances of carving out a spot on Milwaukee’s roster.

NL East Notes: Braves, Nimmo, Painter

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The Braves have a handful of areas on the roster that have yet to be settled, even with Opening Day only a little over a week away. The fifth starter competition has been upended since the beginning of spring, as Michael Soroka has once again struggled with injuries while early favorites Ian Anderson and Bryce Elder fell out of favor thanks to excellent springs from prospects Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd. The final spot in the bullpen and the fourth outfielder position are other areas with uncertainty, but perhaps the most interesting camp battle at this point in the Spring is one few expected headed into the year.

As noted by Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the shortstop position is still up for grabs, though most considered youngster Vaughn Grissom all but locked into the role as camp began last month. Since then, though, prospect Braden Shewmake has paired already-excellent defense with a torrid spring at the plate as he’s slashed .333/.400/.482 in 12 grapefruit league games. While it seems that the most likely conclusion to this remains Grissom as the starting shortstop, backed up by Orlando Arcia, Shewmake has made a case for himself this spring, and it’s worth noting that his left-handed bat could serve as a better complement to the right-handed Arcia than Grissom, who also bats righty. Toscano notes that it seems unlikely the Braves would roster both players to open the season, but it’s reasonable to expect that even if Shewmake fails to take the starting shortstop gig for himself to open the season, an opportunity to make his big league debut will open up at some point this season.

More from around the NL East…

  • Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo tells reporters, including Joel Sherman of the New York Post, that he was “relieved” following his diagnosis with a sprained knee and ankle that there was no structural damage in either area. Nimmo believes he will still be ready for Opening Day next week, which is surely a relief for Mets fans who recently lost fellow high-dollar returning free agent signing Edwin Diaz for the season to knee surgery. Should Nimmo miss time, it seems likely that would open up playing time for the likes of Tommy Pham and Tim Locastro.
  • Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski told reporters, including Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, that he still expects top prospect Andrew Painter to make his big league debut at some point this season. Painter was diagnosed with a UCL sprain earlier this spring which took him out of the fifth starter competition in Philadelphia, but the young right-hander has not been recommended for Tommy John surgery, instead attempting to rehab the injury after a four week shutdown. Should the rehab route prove successful, it’s no surprise that Painter would be in the mix to make his debut later this season, as he proved himself to be clearly MLB-ready with a dominant spring prior to the sprain.

Rockies Notes: Grichuk, Cron, Blackmon, Gilbreath

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Outfielder Randal Grichuk has been ruled out for Opening Day, reports Danielle Allentuck of The Denver Gazette. The 31-year-old underwent sports hernia surgery in early February and was given a six-week estimated recovery timeline. That would have meant that he could have been back in action prior to the March 30 opener, but Allentuck relays that he’s only recently started doing full-day workouts. Once he gets into games, he’ll need a couple of weeks or so for his spring ramp-up and to get his timing down. He expects to be back in the middle of April.

There’s a couple of other issues in the club’s lineup, as Allentuck adds that outfielder Charlie Blackmon and first baseman C.J. Cron are each dealing with back issues. Blackmon left a game on March 10 with mid-back stiffness and it has lingered longer than expected. Cron, meanwhile, was scratched from Thursday’s game with back spasms. Allentuck reports that neither player is in jeopardy of missing Opening Day at the moment, but there’s also no timeline on their respective returns.

While none of these three players seems to be facing a significant absence, it will be a situation worth monitoring for the club in the early parts of the season. They are already down a couple of players, as second baseman Brendan Rodgers and outfielder Sean Bouchard each recently underwent surgeries that have the potential to be season-ending. With Grichuk slated to miss the first couple weeks of the schedule, the outfield will be without a second member. If Blackmon’s back issue doesn’t clear up soon, it might make the timing a bit awkward with Opening Day now just 11 days out.

Kris Bryant and Yonathan Daza should have two of the outfield jobs spoken for, with Blackmon perhaps in line for the third. Even if he’s healthy, the club will likely need someone else to take regular time out there, as Blackmon made more starts as the designated hitter last year than he did in the outfield. While Grichuk is out, it perhaps opens up a spot for someone like Nolan Jones, though he’s also in the mix for the third base job, with Ryan McMahon moving to second to cover for Rodgers. Michael Toglia is on the roster and could be an option, but the club could also look to selecting a non-roster invitee such as Harold Castro. The club’s 40-man roster is full but they could easily make room for someone like Castro by moving one of their injured players to the 60-day IL, such as Rodgers, Bouchard or Lucas Gilbreath.

Speaking of Gilbreath, the lefty recently spoke with Allentuck about his upcoming year. He won’t be able to participate as a player as he underwent Tommy John surgery this month, but he already seems to have plans for how to make use of the downtime. In addition to documenting his rehab process on social media, he’s going to work with the Rockies’ research and development team, learning analytics.

“I think for me being able to learn from them and even help them out would be fun,” Gilbreath said. The southpaw says he has a desire to work in a front office after his playing career is over. That’s likely a few years off as he’s only 27 and has had some solid results so far. He made 94 MLB appearances over the past two years with a 3.78 ERA. His 13.2% walk rate is certainly on the high side, but he also struck out 25% of batters faced and got grounders at a 45.7% clip. He should still have plenty opportunities ahead of him once he’s healthy, but it seems he’s using this setback to lay some groundwork for future opportunities.

AL East Notes: Manoah, Bautista, Yankees’ Injuries

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The Blue Jays made a “contract suggestion” to star right-hander Alek Manoah this winter, but apparently the sides were not close, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Manoah is part of a young core, alongside Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr., that have been speculated as possible targets for long-term extensions.

Manoah, 25, put up a quality season last year, working to a 2.24 ERA over 196 2/3 innings and finishing third in AL Cy Young voting. That followed on from a strong rookie year in 2021, and cemented Manoah as one of the sport’s brightest young starting pitchers. As such, it’s not a huge surprise that the Blue Jays would have some level of interest in locking up the former eleventh overall pick long term. For his part, Manoah is still five years away from free agency but four of those should be arbitration-eligible, as Manoah is likely to qualify as Super Two player at the end of the season.

Here’s some more notes from around the AL East:

  • The chances of Orioles closer Felix Bautista making the Opening Day roster appear to be growing, with manager Brandon Hyde looking to get Bautista into three or four more games before the team breaks camp, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN. He’s been highly effective in his two outings to date, displaying his triple-digit fastball. Bautista’s camp had been slowed by shoulder and knee injuries to start, but he looks to be on track now. That’s a huge positive for the Orioles, as the closer worked to a 2.19 ERA over 65 appearances last season.
  • Bryan Hoch of MLB.com provides an update on some of the injured Yankees in camp. Starting with the bad news, reliever Tommy Kahnle has been unable to throw as scheduled as he battles biceps soreness. Kahnle re-signed with the Yankees this winter on two-year, $11.5MM deal after a few seasons with the Dodgers. He had been projected as a vital late-inning member of the Yankees’ bullpen, but it appears the start of his season will be delayed. It’s not known yet when Kahnle is next scheduled to pitch, but obviously it’s not great news for his recovery timeline.
  • Left-hander Carlos Rodon returned to throwing yesterday and was feeling good, according to Hoch. There were plenty of fears after the Yankees announced that the oft-injured starter would be shutdown for 7 to 10 days with a forearm strain, but an MRI showed no UCL damage and it seems Rodon is back on track to start ramping up for the season. It’s already been confirmed that Rodon will start the season on the injured list, but a positive return to throwing for the six-year, $162MM free agent signing hopefully means it won’t be a long wait before he can make his Yankees debut.
  • Hoch also reports that Harrison Bader is doing “better than anticipated,” relaying a quote from manager Aaron Boone. It’s a rather vague statement and there’s no indication that Bader is on track any sooner than the initially projected six week recovery timeline (three weeks of regular season action), but it’s at least a positive development as the Yankees look to overcome a number of injuries early in the season. Bader impressed in the playoffs for the team after coming over from the Cardinals at the deadline last year, crushing five home runs in nine games before the team was eliminated in the ALCS.

Injury Notes: Blackburn, Pina, Morejon, Garcia, Szapucki

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The A’s will open the season with both starter Paul Blackburn and catcher Manny Piña on the injured list, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters this afternoon (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). Blackburn still can’t throw at full strength after ripping the nail on his middle finger a couple weeks ago. Piña, meanwhile, was diagnosed with left wrist inflammation after meeting with a specialist yesterday. His wrist is currently in a brace and there’s no timetable for his return to baseball activity.

Neither development comes as a surprise. Kotsay said a few days ago both players were questionable for Opening Day. Blackburn’s absence doesn’t figure to be a long-term concern but will require an adjustment to the starting five. Blackburn would have been assured of an Opening Day rotation spot, joining Drew Rucinski and Shintaro Fujinami in that regard. James Kaprielian seems as if he’ll join them, as Kotsay indicated today the righty is on track to be ready for the season after offseason shoulder surgery. The A’s will need to make a move at catcher in the next two weeks, as Shea Langeliers is the only healthy backstop on the 40-man roster.

More injury updates around the game:

  • Padres southpaw Adrián Morejón went for an MRI after departing a weekend Spring Training game with elbow discomfort. Manager Bob Melvin provided a generally positive update this afternoon, telling the media that Morejón’s MRI came back clean of structural damage (video provided by 97.3 FM The Fan). Imaging did reveal some inflammation in the joint and the young hurler will be shut down from throwing until symptoms subside. That could be within a matter of days, according to Melvin. While Morejón may still need to open the season on the 15-day injured list, that there’s no structural damage warrants a sigh of relief considering his injury history. He lost most of 2021 and the first half of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. The Friars used Morejón exclusively out of the bullpen last year. They’ve floated the possibility of moving him back to the rotation at some point, though it remains to be seen if his latest elbow discomfort will affect the club’s usage plan.
  • The Pirates announced last week that reliever Jarlín García was being shut down after experiencing some discomfort in his throwing arm. Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided an update yesterday, telling reporters the southpaw has a nerve injury in the biceps area (via Justice delos Santos of MLB.com). He’ll remain shut down from throwing for at least four to five weeks before going for more testing late next month. It’s clear García is in for an extended absence to start the season, as even a best-case scenario in which he can start throwing again in mid-April will require a ramp-up period lasting into May. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pittsburgh place him on the 60-day injured list at some point. García signed a $2.5MM free agent deal over the winter after being non-tendered by the Giants despite a 3.74 ERA in 65 innings last season.
  • Giants reliever Thomas Szapucki will meet with a thoracic outlet syndrome specialist next week, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’d been sidelined of late by discomfort in his elbow area and there’s evidently some concern it’s related to the condition. Thoracic outlet syndrome has become a fairly prevalent issue for pitchers in recent years, typically requiring a surgical procedure that involves the removal of a rib to reduce nerve pressure in the arm. The track record for players returning from that issue is mixed. While players like Merrill Kelly have come back better than ever, the likes of Stephen Strasburg and Matt Harvey have never regained their pre-surgery form.

Phillies Notes: Strahm, Suarez, Plassmeyer

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The Phillies are stretching lefty Matt Strahm out to handle a multi-inning relief option, tweets Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Manager Rob Thomson said this week that the organization’s goal is for Strahm to be built up to the point that he can handle three-inning stints by the end of camp, Lauber notes. He’s slated to start one of the Phillies’ split-squad games today.

Stretching Strahm out is of particular note given the lefty’s previous work as a starter, his five-pitch repertoire, and his previously vocal stance about wanting to return to that role at some point in his career. As The Athletic’s Matt Gelb further writes, Strahm is open to any and all roles with the Phils this season.

Strahm’s career 3.11 ERA as a reliever trounces his shaky 5.08 mark as a starter, though that’s come in a sample of just 25 starts spread across four seasons. Whether he emerges as a legitimate rotation option for the Phillies at some point over the course of his current two-year, $15MM deal will likely depend greatly on the health of the team’s other options. With that in mind, it’s notable that the move to stretch Strahm out comes in conjunction with Andrew Painter’s month-long shutdown due to a UCL sprain and Ranger Suarez’s delay due to forearm tightness.

Thomson told reporters yesterday that Suarez is back on a throwing program and feeling good (Twitter link via Gelb), but he won’t be fully built up by the time the season gets underway. The Phils aren’t planning to place Suarez on the injured list to begin the season, however. As such, it seems likely his per-start workload would be capped for at least his first few turns through the rotation. Having Strahm stretched out to three or more innings would allow the Phillies to piggyback the two if they choose to go that route, and there’s obvious benefit in having Strahm stretched out in the event that the Philadelphia rotation sustains an injury of note.

For now, the likely plan in the event of another injury in the rotation would be to give 26-year-old southpaw Michael Plassmeyer a chance, Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia writes. The 2018 fourth-rounder, acquired in the trade that sent catcher Austin Wynns to the Giants, made his MLB debut with the Phils last season (three runs in 7 1/3 innings) and posted a 2.41 ERA in 16 starts with their Triple-A affiliate following that swap. Plassmeyer has tossed seven scoreless frames this spring, though he’s issued six walks and punched out just four hitters in that time.

As it stands, the Phillies still project to have one of the NL’s stronger rotations. Each of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker and Bailey Falter have been healthy this spring, and it seems the forearm tightness that sent Suarez home from the World Baseball Classic has proven to be minor in nature.

Beyond Strahm and Plassmeyer, top prospects Mick Abel and Griff McGarry will open the season in the upper minors, but both have limited innings above A-ball to this point in their young career (23 for Abel, 40 2/3 for McGarry). Lefty Cristopher Sanchez and righty Nick Nelson are both on the 40-man roster but were both shut down earlier this week due to triceps and hamstring injuries, respectively. The Phils did receive one positive injury update yesterday, as backup catcher Garrett Stubbs told Lauber and others that he’s dealing with only a minor knee sprain and expects to be ready for Opening Day.

Cubs Notes: Madrigal, Wesneski, Leiter Jr.

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Cubs infielder Nick Madrigal has only played second base in his big league career thus far, but he’s not likely to see a lot of time there this year. The club’s major investment this offseason was signing shortstop Dansby Swanson, thus pushing Nico Hoerner over to second base. That nudged Madrigal into a competition for time at third base this spring, one in which he seems to have held himself well.

“He’s got to hit,” manager David Ross tells Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “He still has to perform. That goes for just about everybody. He has missed a lot of time, but he looks really good and his timing looks good. We’ll see how camp plays out, but I definitely think he’s answered questions at third base. There’s no hesitation to put him in there.”

For his part, Madrigal also feels good about how things are going. “I’m focused one day at a time,” Madrigal said. “I’m feeling really good at the plate. Defensively, I feel like it’s all coming together. My body’s in a completely different spot this year compared to last year. I’m just looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Madrigal was hitting .305/.349/.425 for the White Sox in 2021 when a significant hamstring injury ended his campaign. Nonetheless, the Cubs acquired him in the Craig Kimbrel trade at that year’s deadline. Unfortunately, injuries hampered him yet again in 2022, as he made multiple trips to the IL and hit just .249/.305/.282. As noted by Ross, Madrigal will have to hit to hold onto that third base job, but it sounds like the club is fine with him from a defensive standpoint. Should he struggle at the plate, he’ll likely be fending off challenges from players like Christopher Morel, Zach McKinstry and Miles Mastrobuoni. Patrick Wisdom could also be a factor, though he might be getting some more time in the outfield corners with Seiya Suzuki set to begin the season on the IL.

More news out of Cubs camp…

  • The Cubs will also be deciding who their fifth starter is, with Marcus Stroman, Jameson Taillon, Drew Smyly and Justin Steele taking the first four spots. It’s viewed by many to be a race between Hayden Wesneski and Adrian Sampson, but Mooney reports that Wesneski is pulling away right now. Sampson, 31, had a nice season for the Cubs in 2022, posting a 3.11 ERA in 104 1/3 innings. However, he’s struggled badly so far this spring, giving up eight home runs in 8 1/3 innings, leading to a 14.04 ERA. Wesneski, 25, has been much better, throwing 8 2/3 scoreless frames with 11 strikeouts. Spring stats tend not to mean too much in the grand scheme of things, but it could be enough to push Wesneski ahead in this case. He also has the higher upside of the two, given he’s younger, has six remaining years of club control and is generally considered one of the club’s top prospects.
  • Another decision the Cubs will have to make is whether or not to give right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. a roster spot. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune reports that Leiter has an opt-out in his contract that would allow him to return to free agency if he’s not added by March 30, which also happens to be Opening Day. The righty has a solid season for the Cubs last year, tossing 67 2/3 innings over 35 appearances with a 3.99 ERA. However, he exhausted his final option year and had reduced roster flexibility, perhaps contributing to getting outrighted off the roster in January. He elected free agency but returned to the Cubs on a minor league deal.

Astros Notes: Gurriel, McCullers, Bullpen

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As Yuli Gurriel’s free agency lingered into the late stages of the offseason, many Astros fans wondered whether there might be potential for a reunion between the two parties. Houston GM Dana Brown candidly acknowledged last month that while the organization loved Gurriel as both a person and a player, it would be difficult to get him at-bats with the current construction of the roster, however. Gurriel, who signed a minor league deal with the Marlins last week, spoke further about his former team’s interest — or lack thereof — in an interview with Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle. The Astros, according to Gurriel, never made an offer for him to return for an eighth season.

The 38-year-old Gurriel told Young that “leaving my teammates behind after seven years is something that truly affects you” but added that he’s looking forward to starting a new chapter with a new club. The Astros, of course, signed Jose Abreu to a three-year contract early in the offseason, apparently deciding that it was simply time to move on from Gurriel after a down year in 2022.

More on the ’Stros…

  • Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who’ll open the season on the injured list due to a forearm strain, says he’s been cleared to resume lifting weights and throwing a baseball (link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). McCullers started a throwing program on Saturday and is playing catch every other day. He’ll sit down with the training staff at some point over the next week and map out a more concrete plan to ramp up for a return, assuming the light throwing and lifting he’s doing right now continue to proceed without issue. A forearm strain also limited McCullers to just eight regular-season starts in 2021, and he missed the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery. When healthy, he has of course been a highly productive pitcher, evidenced by a 3.39 ERA over his past 393 1/3 MLB frames, dating back to 2018. McCullers is entering the second season of a five-year, $85MM contract extension that was signed two years ago (nearly to the day). Top prospect Hunter Brown is expected to open the season in Houston’s rotation in his place.
  • Manager Dusty Baker said this week that southpaw Parker Mushinski is “probably not” going to be ready in time for Opening Day, Young writes in a separate piece. The 27-year-old has been out with back spasms and has yet to pitch in a spring game. He allowed three runs in 7 1/3 frames during last year’s MLB debut after pitching to a 2.66 ERA in 40 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Fellow lefty Blake Taylor has also been sidelined due to elbow troubles, and while he’s on a throwing program, he’s not even a lock to get into a spring game. That pair of injuries could create an opportunity for February waiver claim Matt Gage to open the season in the Houston bullpen. The Astros don’t have another lefty on the roster, though Austin Davis is in camp as a non-roster invitee after agreeing to a minor league deal over the winter. Gage has thrown five shutout innings with a 5-to-1 K/BB ratio this spring. Davis has tossed five innings of one-run ball but walked six along the way.

Yankees Notes: Kiner-Falefa, Volpe, Trevino

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Yankees infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been at the center of plenty of speculation this spring. That’s both revolved around whether he’d hold onto the starting shortstop job with youngsters Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe on the horizon and whether he could be traded to an infield-needy team like the Dodgers or Rockies. Now, Kiner-Falefa’s role for the Yankees may be coming into focus as he has begun taking reps in center field, as noted by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

Kiner-Falefa doesn’t offer much with the bat, as demonstrated by his career 82 wRC+, indicating he’s been roughly 18% worse than league average for his career. Despite that, he’s still been a valuable player throughout his career due to his defense. In the infield, he’s won a Gold Glove at third base while also playing a quality shortstop and the occasional second base. He even caught 586 innings for the Rangers early in his career and now could add center field to his positional versatility.

For a Yankees team already utilizing versatile players such as DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera, Kiner-Falefa seems poised to provide yet another versatile bench piece in the Bronx, allowing manager Aaron Boone to mix and match as he sees fit in his infield. The Yankees lost center fielder Harrison Bader to an oblique strain last week. It’s generally expected that Aaron Judge will slide over from right field until Bader returns, but Kiner-Falefa taking well to center field would give Boone some additional flexibility if he wanted to slide Judge back to the corner on certain days.

More from the Yankees…

  • Boone tells reporters, including Jon Heyman of the New York Post, that Volpe is “definitely in the mix” to be the starting shortstop this season. Volpe, a consensus top 15 prospect in the game, is regarded as the best hitter of the options available to the Yankees at shortstop, and a capable defender (though fellow youngster Peraza grades out better defensively at the position). Volpe split last season between the top two minor league levels, hitting .249/.342/.460 with 21 home runs in 132 games. He only played 22 of those contests at the Triple-A level, while Peraza got into 99 Triple-A contests before playing in his first 18 MLB games.
  • Boone tells reporters, including Hoch, that catcher Jose Trevino has been out of action with a right wrist sprain recently. Boone notes that while Trevino is expected to resume play sometime this week, an injection is still possible to speed up his recovery. Regardless, Boone says Trevino is expected to be ready for Opening Day. Trevino was a breakout player for the Yankees in 2022, making an All Star appearance and winning a Gold Glove while playing in 115 games as the primary catcher in the Bronx. In the event that Trevino ends up missing time, Kyle Higashioka figures to be in line for more work behind the plate.

Nationals Notes: Ruiz, Arano, Harris

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The Nationals’ eight-year, $50MM contract extension with catcher Keibert Ruiz was, somewhat incredibly, the first time the team has agreed to a long-term deal with a pre-arbitration player, Andrew Golden of the Washington Post points out. General manger Mike Rizzo noted at the press conference over the weekend that while it was the first such time the team had reached a deal, it was not the first time they’d attempted to get a contract of this nature worked out (Twitter link via MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman).

As Golden writes, Ruiz drew praise from Rizzo, manager Dave Martinez and teammates (including Cade Cavalli) for his leadership prowess in addition to his tools behind the plate. Perhaps of greater note for Nats fans, Golden notes that Rizzo suggested there are other candidates for this type of deal on the roster and said that there’s no real limit to the number of these type of deals the team can pursue. The team’s unsteady ownership situation and years-long battle over television rights fees with the Orioles loom over any major financial decisions, but that didn’t stand in the way of Ruiz’s eight-year deal. Only time will tell whether subsequent extensions for the Nats’ young core will follow, but it’s a notable shift for an organization that has previously been unable to hammer out this type of early-career pact with key players.

A bit more on the Nats…

  • The Nationals are shutting righty Victor Arano down for 10 days due to an impingement in his right shoulder, tweets Golden. He’ll be reevaluated at that point. The 28-year-old Arano returned to the Majors in 2022 after a three-year layoff that was partially attributable to elbow surgery. He tossed 42 frames for the Nats, working to a 4.50 ERA but posting much more promising rate stats: a 23.5% strikeout rate, a 6.4% walk rate, a 51.6% grounder rate and 1.07 HR/9. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (3.71) and particularly SIERA (3.14) felt he was vastly better than his earned run average would otherwise indicate. Arano was very likely ticketed for a spot in Washington’s Opening Day bullpen, but his availability for the season is now clearly in doubt. Notably, his 2022 season ended in early September due to a strain in this same shoulder.
  • Any open spots in the bullpen could create opportunities for the remaining non-roster pitchers in camp. One who’s garnered some attention from Nats brass thus far, per Jessica Camareto of MLB.com, is right-hander Hobie Harris. The former Yankees 31st-round pick is on his fourth organization in pro ball after signing with Washington on a minor league deal this offseason, and he’s tossed five shutout innings with one hit, no walks and six punchouts. Martinez spoke with Camareto about Harris’ impressive splitter, his game-planning and his command so far in spring training. “I love the fact that he comes in there and pounds the strike zone,” said Martinez. “When you’re in the bullpen, I always tell them all the time, ’Walks are not your friends. Those walks kind of beat you up.'” Command has been an issue for Harris in the past, evidenced by a 12.5% walk rate in two Triple-A seasons, but he still pitched to a pristine 2.04 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate in 53 innings for the Brewers’ Triple-A club in 2022.
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