Framber Valdez Scratched From Start Due To Elbow Soreness
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez was scratched from today’s start due to soreness on the top of his left elbow after playing catch, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to relay the news. While the club is in Arlington to face the Rangers, Valdez is in Houston to meet with team doctors, manager Joe Espada said.
At this point, it’s not yet clear how significant the injury is and Valdez has not yet been placed on the injured list, but it’s nonetheless a concerning development for a number of reasons. For one thing, there has been an unfortunate streak of pitching injuries of late, with stars like Shane Bieber and Eury Pérez recently requiring season-ending surgeries. Another big name, Spencer Strider, is still trying to discover the severity of his injury but there is concern that he could be set to go under the knife as well. Guys like Shohei Ohtani, Jacob deGrom, Sandy Alcántara, Robbie Ray, Shane McClanahan and many more are each recovery from undergoing surgery last year.
The litany of injuries has led to a recent dispute between the MLBPA and the league, with the players concerned about the effects of the pitch clock while the league believes increased velocity and spin in the modern game are to blame. It’s still not clear that Valdez is going to be following those other pitchers to a significant surgery, with both Espada and general manager Dana Brown downplaying the concern, per Rome. But the fact that another star player is dealing with a possible elbow injury could only add to the ongoing tension.
Beyond the league-wide implications, it’s also a scary development for the Astros, as Valdez has emerged as a huge part of the club’s success in recent years. He has a 3.17 earned run average in 617 innings dating back to the start of the 2020 season. He struck out 23.8% of batters faced in that time, walking just 8% of them while keeping the ball on the ground at a massive 62.8% clip.
Subtracting that kind of quality performance would hurt any rotation but it would be especially noteworthy for the Astros at this moment in time. They are already without Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia Jr., both of whom underwent elbow surgery last year and each is still working back to health. More recently, each of Justin Verlander, José Urquidy and Shawn Dubin landed on the injured list due to injuries. Verlander is getting close to a return, having begun a rehab assignment over the weekend, but it’s clearly a less than ideal time for another domino to fall so they will obviously be hoping that Valdez isn’t seriously hurt. For now, Blair Henley has been called up to make a start while Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown, J.P. France and Ronel Blanco fill out the rest of the rotation.
For Valdez personally, he’s in his penultimate season of club control, currently slated for free agency after 2025. In the worst-case scenario where he requires Tommy John surgery and misses over a year, it would mean that he would be heading into the open market with hardly any innings pitched in the two seasons prior to becoming a free agent.
It’s worth reiterating that none of that has come to pass yet and Valdez is not even on the injured list. Still, even this small update of some soreness clearly has the potential to set off some ripple effects if it turns to be something serious, given the potential impacts on the Astros, on Valdez himself and the tumultuous situation between MLB and the MLBPA.
Astros Designate Miguel Díaz For Assignment
The Astros have designated right-hander Miguel Díaz for assignment, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to relay the news. This opens up a spot on both the active and 40-man rosters for Blair Henley, who was reported earlier to be getting called up.
Díaz, 29, was just claimed off waivers from the Tigers last week. He made one appearance on Friday, tossing a scoreless inning, and has now been quickly bumped off the roster for Henley. It’s still unclear with Henley is coming up to start for Framber Valdez, but whatever the reason, they need to get Henley on the roster and Díaz is the casualty.
The righty has 127 1/3 innings of big league experience with a 4.81 earned run average. Last year, he spent most of it with the Tigers’ Triple-A club, tossing 57 innings with a 5.05 ERA but better underlying metrics. His 10.2% walk rate was a tad high but he punched out 28.6% of batters faced and got grounders at a 49.3% clip. Were it not for a .340 batting average on balls in play and 59.6% strand rate, far fewer runs would have crossed the plate, which is why his 3.22 FIP was much more pleasant to look at.
He got added to the Tigers’ roster in September and tossed 14 innings at the major league level with an ERA of 0.64. The baseball gods decided to change their treatment of him once he came up to the majors, as his .242 BABIP and 92.3% strand rate were suddenly very fortunate. He obviously wouldn’t be able to sustain that ERA over a large sample but even his 2.04 FIP and 3.46 SIERA suggest he was doing good work on the mound.
The Astros will now have one week to trade Díaz or pass him through waivers. He’s out of options but has been putting up some intriguing numbers of late and could find interest. He came into this year with less than three years of service time and therefore could theoretically be retained through the 2027 season. He has a previous career outright and could reject another such assignment and elect free agency if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.
Mariners Announce Several Roster Moves
4:15pm: Bolton is dealing with kidney stones, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times.
3:10pm: The Mariners shook up their bullpen with a series of roster moves Monday. Right-handers Brett de Geus and Tyson Miller were selected to the 40-man roster from Triple-A Tacoma, with righty Ty Adcock being designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Right-handers Cody Bolton and Collin Snider were both placed on the 15-day injured list — the latter due to a knee contusion and the former with what the team labeled a “general medical issue.” The Mariners also reinstated first baseman Ty France from the paternity list and optioned infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor to Tacoma.
Both Miller and de Geus have big league experience, albeit fairly minimal. The 28-year-old Miller was a fourth-round pick by the Cubs back in 2016 and has pitched for five different teams over the past four years (Cubs, Rangers, Mets, Dodgers, Brewers). In 31 career innings, he’s been tagged for an ugly 6.97 ERA, though his Triple-A work is far better. Miller was roughed up for an ERA north of 7.00 in his first taste of Triple-A as a 23-year-old back in 2019. In parts of three seasons since that time he’s logged a 3.85 ERA in just under 200 innings. That includes 43 2/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball with the Triple-A clubs for the Dodgers and Mets last year, during which he punched out 28% of his opponents.
The 26-year-old de Geus pitched 50 MLB frames between the Mariners and D-backs back in 2021 after Texas plucked him from the Dodgers in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. He made 19 appearances as a Rangers and another 26 as a D-back, struggling mightily in both stops. Given that de Geus pitched in A-ball in 2019 then didn’t pitch with an affiliate in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, it’s not all that surprising that he was hammered by MLB hitters in his debut campaign. In those 50 frames, he yielded a 7.56 ERA.
Even to this point in his career, de Geus only has 14 Triple-A frames under his belt. He’s been hit hard in that tiny sample as well, but he pitched 35 1/3 innings with a 2.80 ERA in Double-A for the Royals last season. De Geus has plenty of experience working multiple innings as a reliever and has also been a starter in the past, so he can provide some length to the Seattle bullpen while he’s up.
Adcock, 27, made his big league debut with the Mariners in 2023. The former eighth-round pick tossed 15 2/3 innings with a 3.45 ERA and 19% strikeout rate out of Scott Servais’ bullpen and didn’t issue a walk or hit any of his 58 opponents with a pitch. Adcock was never going to sustain that level of command, but he still walked only five of the 75 hitters he faced between High-A and Double-A last year (6.66%). However, he’s already issued three free passes in 2024 despite facing just a dozen opponents. The Mariners will have a week to trade Adcock, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.
Tigers To Recall Wenceel Perez For MLB Debut
3:30pm: The Tigers have placed Ibanez on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain, per Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group, with Perez recalled in the corresponding move.
2:56pm: The Tigers are calling up infielder/outfielder Wenceel Perez for his major league debut. Perez announced the news himself on his Instagram story. The team hasn’t confirmed the move themselves just yet, nor have the Tigers announced the corresponding 26-man roster move. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Perez will be replacing Andy Ibanez, who has some sort of injury. It’s not yet clear what that injury is or how significant it is.
Perez, 24, ranks as the Tigers’ No. 20 prospect at both Baseball America and MLB.com. He can provide the Tigers with an option at as many as five spots on the diamond. The versatile switch-hitter has played exclusively in the outfield in his first eight Triple-A games of the season, but he’s split the bulk of his professional career between the two middle infield slots, playing 1871 innings at shortstop and 1818 innings at second base.
While he’s out to a bit of a slow start this season, hitting .212/.297/.485 with a homer and four steals in 37 plate appearances, Pere turned in a strong .264/.394/.496 showing in his first 160 Triple-A plate appearances last year (124 wRC+). He regularly posts strong walk rates and well below-average strikeout rates in the minors. Perez may not have elite power or speed, but he popped a career-high 14 homers in 2023 and has averaged 22 stolen bases per year dating back to 2021.
Scouting reports on Perez note that he easily has the range to play second base but is hampered there by inconsistent throws. The Tigers are hopeful that top prospect Colt Keith can handle that position long-term anyhow, and they’re stuck with Javier Baez‘s contract at shortstop, so a move to the outfield makes sense as Perez deepens his defensive versatility to prep for the utility role that both BA and MLB.com suggest he can fill.
The Tigers selected Perez to the 40-man roster following the 2022 season. He’s in the second of three minor league option years and can be freely shuttled between Toledo and Detroit this year without needing to worry about waivers. He will likely replace Ibanez on the club’s bench next to Matt Vierling and Zach McKinstry.
Yankees Designate Clayton Andrews, Select Josh Maciejewski
The Yankees announced today that they have selected the contract of left-hander Josh Maciejewski. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Jake Cousins and designated lefty Clayton Andrews for assignment.
The Yankees may be looking for an extra multi-inning option to have out of their bullpen. They leaned on Luke Weaver for 47 pitches on Saturday while Cousins threw 32 yesterday and three other hurlers also took the mound. Closer Clay Holmes and setup guy Ian Hamilton were able to stay on ice yesterday and each has only pitched once in the past four days, but many of their other relievers have seen heavy usage of late.
To get a fresh arm in the mix, Cousins has been optioned out and has been replaced by Maciejewski. The 28-year-old Maciejewski was a tenth-round selection of the Yankees in 2018. He’s never been one of the club’s top prospects but had a solid season last year. He tossed 45 2/3 innings over 30 appearances at three different levels, finishing the year with a collective earned run average of 2.96. He struck out 22.9% of batters faced while walking 8.5%. He’s made two Triple-A appearances already this year, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk.
To get Maciejewski onto the 40-man, the Yanks removed Andrews, who they acquired from the Brewers in February. Andrews, 27, has a tiny sample of major league experience. He made four appearances with the Brewers last year, allowing ten earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
His work was naturally more impressive at the Triple-A level last year, as he had a 2.53 ERA in 57 frames. His 13% walk rate was definitely on the high side but he struck out 31.1% of batters faced and kept 45.7% of balls in play on the ground. But this year, he’s logged 3 2/3 innings for the Yankees’ Triple-A club, having allowed six earned runs while walking six opponents and striking out just two.
The Yanks will now have a week to trade Andrews or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of options and was racking up strikeouts in the minors last year, which could give him appeal to a club looking for some extra depth. But if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Yankees would be able to keep him around as non-roster depth.
Reds’ Tejay Antone To Undergo Elbow Surgery
The Reds announced Monday that right-handed reliever Tejay Antone has been placed on the 15-day injured list. Righty Carson Spiers has been recalled from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster. While Cincinnati initially announced the injury as “elbow inflammation,” manager David Bell now tells the Reds beat that Antone tore a tendon completely off the bone and suffered a partial ligament tear in his right elbow (X link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). He’ll undergo surgery Friday. It’s a brutal setback for Antone, who previously had Tommy John surgery both in 2017 and again in 2021.
The surgery will unsurprisingly end Antone’s season. However, despite the slew of elbow troubles that have plagued him throughout his career, Antone’s intention is to continue pitching once he’s again navigated a lengthy and arduous rehab process, tweets Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
It’s hard not to feel for Antone, who was quietly one of baseball’s best relievers in 2020-21 before this latest batch of arm troubles surfaced. He pitched 69 innings across those two seasons and recorded a pristine 2.48 ERA with a huge 32.3% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. Antone averaged 97 mph on his heater and induced swinging strikes at a hearty 13% clip along the way. His 48% ground-ball rate was well north of the league average. It was a brief peak, but it’s easy to see how the Reds felt that Antone could be a major part of their bullpen based on those first 36 appearances of his career.
Antone didn’t pitch in 2022 and got back on a big league mound for only 5 2/3 innings last season. He tossed 9 2/3 spring frames and another two regular-season innings in 2024 before the injury. Since making it back from his last Tommy John procedure, Antone has averaged a diminished 94.2 mph on his fastball.
Remarkably, Antone will finish the current season with five years of major league service time despite only having pitched 76 2/3 big league innings. It’s possible that this latest injury spells the end of Antone’s time with the Reds. It won’t cost much to retain him via arbitration this offseason, as he pitched just two innings on an $830K salary this year. Whether the Reds tender him a contract will depend on how much of the 2025 season he’s expected to miss.
Even if they want to free up his 40-man roster spot over the winter, however, the Reds could non-tender Antone in November and quickly re-sign him to a new minor league deal so he can continue rehabbing in a familiar setting. For now, the focus will be on fixing the damage in his elbow and working through the early phases of the rehab grind. He’ll surely have not just Reds fans throughout the sport in his corner, given the admirable level of perseverance he’s displayed as he continues working through his elbow problems.
Astros To Select Blair Henley
The Astros will select the contract of right-hander Blair Henley, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2, with Henley starting in place of left-hander Framber Valdez. At this point, it’s unclear if Valdez is injured or if this is simply a spot start situation to give everyone extra rest. Henley will need to be added to the 40-man roster but they could easily move Oliver Ortega, who is out for several months due to elbow surgery, to the 60-day injured list.
Henley, 27 next month, will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The righty was selected by the Astros in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. He cracked the Baseball America list of the top 30 farmhands in the system in 2020 and 2021 but has slipped off in subsequent versions. In 2021, he posted a 7.02 earned run average in 16 2/3 innings at High-A before requiring Tommy John surgery, wiping out the rest of that season and his 2022 as well.
He returned to the mound last year and tossed 106 2/3 innings at the Double-A level with a 5.06 ERA. His 11.1% walk rate was on the high side but his 22.3% strikeout rate was solid and his 51.2% ground ball rate quite strong. He was sent to Triple-A to start this year and has already made one start there, allowing three earned runs in five innings with six strikeouts and four walks.
He will now get a chance to come up and pitch at the major league level. Henley isn’t one of the club’s top pitching prospects so it’s a bit unusual that he’s the one getting the call today, but perhaps more information will be forthcoming on that decision as the game draws closer.
Mets Designate Yohan Ramírez, Select Cole Sulser
The Mets have selected the contract of right-hander Cole Sulser and designated fellow righty Yohan Ramírez for assignment, with Tim Healey of Newsday Sports among those to relay the transactions.
Ramírez, 29 next month, was acquired by the Mets from the White Sox in a December cash deal. He’s made three appearances for the club so far this year but allowed seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six opponents but also gave out four walks. His outing on Saturday was particularly rough, as he entered the game in the bottom of the seventh with the Mets up 5-4 on the Reds. Ramírez pitched a scoreless frame but came back out for the eighth and then allowed five earned runs on four hits and two walks.
It seems that performance will get the righty bumped off the active roster and off the 40-man as well, since Ramírez is out of options. The Mets will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He could garner interest based on his work in previous seasons, as he has a career earned run average of 4.31 in 129 1/3 innings with the Mariners, Guardians, Pirates, White Sox and now the Mets. His career walk rate of 12.6% is on the high side but his 23.1% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate are both solid and he’s generally done well at limiting hard contact.
As pitching injuries mount around the league, perhaps some club will be willing to take a chance on him. Ramírez has under three years of service time and therefore comes with years of potential club control. But if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Mets as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have the service time or the previous career outright that would allow him to elect free agency instead of accepted an outright assignment.
His spot will go to Sulser, 34, who signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He appeared to be in good form during the spring, tossing six scoreless innings while striking out ten opponents without issuing a walk. He’s made one Triple-A appearance since then, allowing an earned run while striking out one and walking one.
He has 132 2/3 innings of big league experience with a 3.87 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. Injuries have often played a role in limiting him from taking on larger workloads. He tossed 63 1/3 innings for the Orioles in 2021 with a 2.70 ERA but was held back by shoulder strains in each of the two subsequent campaigns. He still has an option remaining and could be sent back to the minors at a future date without being exposed to waivers.
Angels Hire Torii Hunter As Special Assistant To The GM
The Angels announced over the weekend that former player Torii Hunter has joined the organization as a special assistant to general manager Perry Minasian. “It means a lot,” Hunter said, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “This is a team that when I was in Minnesota and was a free agent, they adopted me and brought me in and treated me like a king here.”
Hunter, now 48, played in the big leagues from 1997 to 2015. As he alluded to, he began his career with the Twins and was with that club through the 2007 season, but he signed with the Angels and was with that club for the 2008 to 2012 campaigns. He then spent two years with the Tigers before returning with to the Twins in 2015.
Those five years that he spent with the Halos seem to have led to a strong relationship with the organization that continues to this day. The club had a managerial vacancy back in the fall after parting ways with Phil Nevin, and Hunter appeared to get serious consideration for the gig. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported at that time that Hunter is “tremendously regarded” by Angels owner Arte Moreno, though the job eventually went to Ron Washington.
From there, the club seemed interested in making Hunter first base coach but he declined to be considered for that position, citing his non-baseball commitments to business pursuits such as barbecue restaurants and cafes, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Now he will join the club in this special assistant role with unknown responsibilities, though the workload presumably allows him to be involved with the club but without having to travel with the team for the entire season, as he would have to do if he were part of the coaching staff.
Hunter played in 2,372 games in his career, collecting 2,452 hits, including 353 home runs.
MLB, MLBPA In Dispute Over Pitch Clock’s Impact On Injuries
One of the unfortunately defining storylines of Spring Training and the first couple weeks of the regular season has been the prevalence of significant injuries to key pitchers. While that is a concern every year — particularly early in the schedule as players build their arms back up — the number of big names suffering arm injuries led the league and Players Association to trade barbs over the weekend.
On Saturday, the players union put out a brief statement (on X) that implied the pitch clock was a key contributing factor:
“Despite unanimous player opposition and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the commissioner’s office reduced the length of the pitch clock last December, just one season removed from imposing the most significant rule change in decades,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said. “Since then, our concerns about the health impacts of reduced recovery time have only intensified. The league’s unwillingness thus far to acknowledge or study the effects of these profound changes is an unprecedented threat to our game and its most valuable asset — the players.”
This is the second season in which the pitch clock has been in use at the major league level. In 2023, pitchers had 15 seconds between pitches when no runner was on base and 20 seconds to begin their delivery with runners aboard. Over the winter, the competition committee passed a rule change cutting the latter time from 20 to 18 seconds. That measure was approved by the six league representatives on the rule committee; all four players on the panel voted against it. The MLBPA released a statement at the time calling the changes “unnecessary” and saying the 2024 season “should be used to gather additional data and fully examine the health, safety and injury impacts of reduced recovery time.”
Unsurprisingly, MLB quickly fired back after Clark’s latest protestation. The league argued that there has been no empirical backing pointing to the clock as a contributing factor to pitcher injuries. MLB instead suggested the main issue is the increased stress which pitchers are putting on their arms to improve the quality of their arsenals.
“(The MLBPA’s) statement ignores the empirical evidence and much more significant long-term trend, over multiple decades, of velocity and spin increases that are highly correlated with arm injuries,” the league said in a statement of its own. “Nobody wants to see pitchers get hurt in this game, which is why MLB is currently undergoing a significant comprehensive research study into the causes of this long-term increase, interviewing prominent medical experts across baseball which to date has been consistent with an independent analysis by Johns Hopkins University that found no evidence to support that the introduction of the pitch clock has increased injuries.
In fact, JHU found no evidence that pitchers who worked quickly in 2023 were more likely to sustain an injury than those who worked less quickly on average. JHU also found no evidence that pitchers who sped up their pace were more likely to sustain an injury than those who did not.”
Concerns about pitcher health are an annual event, although there hasn’t been much consensus about which factors are more responsible than others. Last month, noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister told Ken Rosenthal and Eno Sarris of the Athletic that he considered the sweeping breaking ball and power changeup to be problems, pointing to the tighter grip that pitchers use on those offerings. A few players and other injury experts pushed back against Meister’s hypothesis, arguing that increased effort to maximize velocity (on both the fastball and breaking stuff) was the more notable driver.
Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that pitcher injuries have been a major story in recent weeks. Gerrit Cole (elbow inflammation), Lucas Giolito (internal brace surgery), Eduardo Rodriguez (lat strain), Anthony DeSclafani (flexor tendon surgery) and Trevor Stephan (Tommy John surgery) were among the pitchers to suffer notable injuries during Spring Training. Giolito, DeSclafani and Stephan underwent season-ending surgery before Opening Day.
Since the season began, Eury Pérez, Shane Bieber and Jonathan Loáisiga have all been lost for the year due to elbow ligament repairs of their own. Things are still up in the air for Braves ace Spencer Strider, who landed on the injured list over the weekend after imaging revealed UCL damage in his elbow.
It’s not an issue for which there are simple solutions. Justin Verlander, who has been one of the preeminent workhorses of his generation but lost the 2021 season to a Tommy John procedure, discussed the issue over the weekend. Verlander, on a minor league rehab stint to build up after a seemingly minor bout of shoulder soreness, pointed to a confluence of factors (relayed by Ari Alexander of KPRC 2).
While he noted “it would be easiest to … blame the pitch clock,” the three-time Cy Young winner spoke about pitchers’ desire to maximize their swing-and-miss acumen even if it comes with a higher chance of injury. Verlander pointed to the increase in home runs over the past few seasons and teams’ heavier reliance on their bullpens — which he acknowledged is supported by data indicating that relievers tend to be more effective than a starter navigating a lineup for the third or fourth time — as reasons for pitchers to avoid pitching to contact. Those interested in the subject should check out the veteran righty’s thoughtful response in full.
Team decision-makers also need to wrestle with the balance between protecting their most talented pitchers without sapping their effectiveness. That’s an inexact science for medical and coaching staffs. Mariners manager Scott Servais pointed to the early-season spate of injuries as a factor in pulling young righty Bryce Miller at 78 pitches after seven scoreless innings in a win over the Brewers on Saturday (link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).
Servais cited a desire to minimize the amount of potentially high-stress innings that Miller faces early in the season as one of a number of variables in making what seemed to be an atypically quick call to the bullpen. That’s just one example, of course, but it’s illustrative of the kind of concerns which front offices and coaching staffs face as they try to keep their best pitchers healthy.