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Jacob deGrom Shut Down For Four Weeks Due To Stress Reaction In Shoulder

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Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom was to undergo an MRI today, and the news isn’t positive for the former NL Cy Young Award winner.  As per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, deGrom suffered a stress reaction in his right scapula.  The Mets announced that DeGrom will be re-evaluated after being shut down for the next four weeks.

Between the shutdown, the necessary ramp-up period, and probably some natural caution given all of deGrom’s recent injuries, a 60-day IL placement seems likely.  That would put deGrom on track for a June debut in a best-case scenario, and thus it will mean that the ace will be going roughly 11 months between Major League outings.  DeGrom last pitched on July 7, 2021 before then suffering a forearm issue that wound up ending his season.

Between that forearm problem and multiple smaller injuries beforehand, deGrom pitched only 92 innings in 2021, though he was spectacular in that abbreviated campaign.  DeGrom had a 1.08 ERA, 45.1% strikeout rate, and a 3.4% walk rate, and seemed to be on pace for a season for the ages.  Despite all his missed time, deGrom’s performance still earned him a ninth-place finish in NL Cy Young voting.

If there is any silver lining to today’s news, a stress reaction is at least preferable to a more serious shoulder injury, as Passan writes that “typically, stress reactions are healed through rest.”  Retired right-hander Brandon McCarthy (who suffered the same injury early in his career) also chimed in, tweeting that the stress reaction “really isn’t a big deal.  Not as big as it seems.  [DeGrom will] be just fine.”

With deGrom out of action, the Mets’ rotation depth will be tested again.  Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, and the newly-acquired Chris Bassitt will now form the top four, and one of Tylor Megill, Trevor Williams, or David Peterson will step into that fifth starter’s role.  It could be that the Mets use more than one of those hurlers as a starter, and as always, a new acquisition can’t be ruled out given how aggressive the Mets have been this winter.  However, GM Billy Eppler told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News) that deGrom’s injury doesn’t necessarily make a trade for pitching any more likely.

Beyond the short-term impact of the injury on deGrom’s status and on the Mets’ season, there is also a longer-term contractual situation looming.  DeGrom has already stated that he plans to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract following the season, though naturally this latest injury could change his thinking.  DeGrom is owed $33.5MM this season and $30.5MM in 2023, and New York has a $32.5MM club option on his services for 2024.  If deGrom returns from his injury and posts his usual numbers, he’ll still surely opt out in search of a lengthier and more lucrative deal with the Mets or another team.  Should he miss more time, however, or struggle following his return, it will create more of a decision for deGrom in choosing whether or not to test the open market.

Athletics Outright Grant Holmes To Triple-A

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The Athletics announced that right-hander Grant Holmes has been outrighted off the 40-man roster, and been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.  Such a move was necessary to remove Holmes from the 40-man since the 26-year-old is out of minor league options.

Holmes was the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 draft, and a regular on top-100 prospect lists for his first few minor league seasons.  Originally selected by the Dodgers, he was dealt to Oakland as part of a deadline-day swap in 2016, as the A’s picked up Holmes, Frankie Montas, and Jharel Cotton from Los Angeles in exchange for Josh Reddick and Rich Hill.

Arguably the best prospect of that three-player package at the time, Holmes has yet to reach the majors due to a lot of inconsistent performances down on the farm.  Holmes has a 4.43 ERA over 592 2/3 career minor league innings, including a 7.61 ERA over 71 frames at the Triple-A level.  Some shoulder problems have impacted him along the way, and Holmes was of course one of countless players whose careers were set back by the canceled 2020 minor league season.  With outright waivers now cleared, Holmes will try again in Triple-A and see if he can finally get on track.

The move opens up a spot on Oakland’s 40-man roster, which forecasts that the Athletics will be selecting at least one of their non-roster invites to the big league roster.  Eric Thames, Justin Grimm, Dany Jimenez, and Austin Pruitt are among the notable names in camp on minor league deals, and any or all have a case to break camp, so the A’s might need to carve out some more 40-man space between now and Opening Day.  Injuries could play a role, as both of Deolis Guerra and Brent Honeywell Jr. could be headed for the 60-day injured list.

Blue Jays Select David Phelps’ Contract

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The Blue Jays announced that David Phelps will break camp with the team, and that his minor league contract has been selected to the active roster.

The veteran right-hander will receive a $1.75MM salary, and Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (via Twitter) reports that Phelps can earn another $1.75MM in incentives.  Phelps gets an extra $250K for appearing in 35 games, and then additional $250K bonuses for every additional five appearances, topping out at the 65-game plateau.

Phelps is now set to play in what will be his 10th Major League season, and looks to rebound from an injury-shortened 2021.  A ruptured lat muscle ended Phelps’ season after only 10 1/3 innings of work, and the 35-year-old said he even considered retiring rather than face such a lengthy recovery process.  However, Phelps decided to give it another chance, and ended up re-signing with Toronto on a minors deal.  It isn’t the first time Phelps has overcome a major injury, as he missed a big chunk of 2013 due to a forearm strain, and then all of the 2018 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

These stops and starts have perhaps made Phelps something of an underrated pitcher, especially since he became more or less a full-time reliever in 2016.  Since the start of the 2016 campaign, Phelps has a 3.12 ERA and 29.9% strikeout rate over 207 2/3 innings with six different teams.  Phelps is prone to some free passes (he also has a 10.4% walk rate over the last six seasons), but he has generally been a solid bullpen weapon when healthy.  Toronto is hopeful that Phelps can continue this form in 2022, and add some depth to a relief corps that is pretty much unchanged from last year, barring the acquisition of Yimi Garcia.

White Sox Avoid Arbitration With Lucas Giolito

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve avoided arbitration with right-hander Lucas Giolito by signing him to a one-year deal worth $7.45MM. The two sides recently exchanged arbitration figures, with Giolito’s camp submitting at $7.5MM and the Sox at $7.3MM. The Sox will settle a bit north of the midpoint to avoid a hearing with their top young starter.

Giolito, 27, is in his second season of arbitration eligibility after earning $4.15MM in his first trip through the process. The Sox and Giolito discussed extension scenarios prior to the 2021 season, but Giolito reportedly turned down a four-year deal worth a guaranteed $50MM plus a fifth-year club option. In turning down the deal, Giolito bet on himself and, at least through the first year of that bet, looks to have done well.

The 2021 campaign saw Giolito post a career-best 178 2/3 innings while pitching to a 3.53 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate against a similarly strong 7.2% walk rate. The former first-round pick made 31 starts for the South Siders, marking the third time in four years since being traded over from the Nationals that he’s started at least 29 games. The lone exception was the shortened 2020 season, during which Giolito started a full slate of 12 games.

After a dismal first season with the ChiSox in 2018, Giolito broke out to the tune of a 3.41 ERA through 176 2/3 frames the following season. He’s largely matched that performance each year since, solidifying himself not only as Chicago’s most consistent starter but also one of the better young arms in the American League.

The jump from $4.15MM to $7.45MM represents a raise of nearly 80% for Giolito, and if he’s able to achieve a similarly sized boost next year, he could see his salary vault into the $12-13MM range in what would be his final season before free agency. At that point, assuming good health, Giolito would be poised to reach the open market in advance of his age-29 season and with nearly $25MM in arbitration earnings already in his pocket. Viewed through that lens, it’s easy to see why Giolito wasn’t swayed by the team’s $50MM offer, which could’ve kept him from reaching the market until he was set to enter his age-31 season.

Diamondbacks Extend Merrill Kelly

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The Diamondbacks announced Friday that they’ve signed right-hander Merrill Kelly to a two-year contract extension, covering the 2023-24 seasons. There’s a club option for the 2025 season as well. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that Kelly will be guaranteed $18MM in new money on the contract. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds that the right-hander will receive a $1MM signing bonus and earn $8MM in each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The 2025 club option is valued at $7MM and comes with a $1MM buyout. Kelly is represented by Apex Baseball.

Merrill Kelly | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The new contract for Kelly  ought to put any trade speculation to rest for the foreseeable future. Kelly was an oft-mentioned trade candidate prior to the 2021 deadline given his solid production for a noncontending D-backs club and a contract that, prior to today’s announcement, only ran through the 2022 season. Instead, he’ll join recently extended Ketel Marte as a consistent presence for a D-backs team that clearly has no plans to tear down or take a step back despite last year’s poor showing and a stacked division.

Kelly, 33, had been slated to earn $5.25MM this season before reaching free agency for the first time next winter. That $5.25MM salary was locked in after Arizona picked up a club option on Kelly, who originally joined the D-backs on a two-year, $5.5MM deal with a pair of options after a strong run pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Prior to signing in Arizona, Kelly had never thrown a pitch in the Majors. An eighth-round pick of the Rays back in 2010, Kelly never got a look in the Majors with Tampa Bay before being lured to the KBO after a strong run in the upper minors. He spent the 2015-18 seasons pitching for the KBO’s SK Wyverns — now the SSG Landers — where he logged a 3.86 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate and a 6.6% walk rate.

That showing was enough to entice the D-backs to bring him back stateside on a guaranteed multi-year deal, and Kelly has rewarded the D-backs with three years of solid performance to date. In 427 2/3 innings, he’s posted a 4.27 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate, a 6.6% walk rate and a 43.1% grounder rate. Kelly made 32 starts in his first big league season and another 27 last year. His 2020 campaign was cut short by thoracic outlet surgery, but he was the rare pitcher who immediately bounced back from TOS to produce quality results the following season.

Given the solid nature of Kelly’s work since that big league debut, it’s a rather risk-averse decision to take a reasonably priced extension with free agency just a few months away. That said, given his recent injury and the fact that he didn’t cash in on his first Major League deal until his age-30 season, it’s plenty understandable that he’d opt for the security of a new deal right now. The $18MM in new guarantees will more than double his career earnings, after all. And, in putting pen to paper on this deal, he’ll further establish himself as an aspirational benchmark for little-known players who sign overseas in hopes of eventually cashing in upon a return to North American ball.

With Kelly now locked into a steady back-of-the-rotation spot, he’ll be counted on alongside Madison Bumgarner, Zac Gallen and Luke Weaver to round out the starting staff both this year and into future seasons. Veteran right-hander Zach Davies, signed to a one-year deal in March, non-roster righty Dan Straily (another KBO returnee), lefty Tyler Gilbert and prospect Corbin Martin are among the other options for the Diamondbacks as they look to rebound from last year’s woeful 52-110 showing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blue Jays Extend Manager Charlie Montoyo

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9:00am: The Blue Jays officially announced Montoyo’s extension.

7:35am: The Blue Jays have agreed to a contract extension with manager Charlie Montoyo, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (via Twitter). Montoyo, who’d been set to enter the final season of his contract, is now signed through the 2023 season on a contract that also gives the Jays club options for the 2024  and 2025 seasons.

Montoyo, 56, is entering his fourth season as the Blue Jays’ skipper. The former Rays bench coach replaced John Gibbons, who’d managed the Jays for six seasons (2013-18) in his second stint with the team. Montoyo inherited a Jays roster that was still in the finishing stages of a rebuild and posted the type of record one would expect from such a club (67-95), but the Jays have enjoyed winning a pair of winning seasons in Montoyo’s second and third years at the helm. The 2020 Jays reached the playoffs in 2020’s expanded 16-team field but did not advance beyond the first round of play.

Expectations for the Jays are wildly different now than when Montoyo was first hired. No longer are the Jays viewed as an up-and-coming postseason darkhorse. Fresh off a 91-win season, the Jays are buoyed by an explosive core featuring young stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Alek Manoah, in addition to veteran acquisitions such as George Springer, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Matt Chapman (among others). The Blue Jays are clear-cut postseason contenders in a stacked American League East, and anything shy of a postseason berth will be seen as a disappointment — particularly in light of the expansion from a 10-team field to a 12-team field (which would’ve been enough for the ’21 Jays to get into the playoffs).

MLB Umpires To Begin Announcing Replay Decisions

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Major League Baseball announced this morning that beginning in the 2022 season, Major League umpires “will conduct in-park announcements during the replay review process.”

It’s an overdue update to a replay system that has often been confusing for fans viewing at home and, particularly, for fans at the the park. The NFL-style announcements regarding the nature of the challenge and the reasoning behind the umpires’ rulings will lend some clarity for all spectators. The league announced that training for this process is already underway both in Arizona and in Florida, where Spring Training games are being held. All indications are that the practice will be in place come Opening Day next week.

Under the prior system, viewers were at times unclear as to what specifically was being challenged, and it was not always immediately clear to viewers (particularly those at the park) whether a call had been confirmed or simply not overturned due to a lack of sufficient video evidence. The additional transparency provided by simply giving the umpiring crew with a microphone to explain the review and its outcome should be a welcome addition moving forward.

Jacob deGrom Undergoing MRI After Experiencing Shoulder Tightness

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The Mets have officially scratched ace Jacob deGrom from today’s scheduled Grapefruit League appearance, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. He’ll instead undergo an MRI after experiencing tightness in his right shoulder while playing catch yesterday. While there’s no indication yet that deGrom is dealing with a major injury or expected to miss significant time, the mere fact that he’s been scratched in favor of imaging is an obvious source of concern.

Expected to pair with newly signed Max Scherzer to form one of the great one-two punches, the 33-year-old deGrom has already cemented himself as one of the most talented pitchers of this generation. If he does miss time with this shoulder ailment, however, it’ll mark a second straight season with an absence due to arm-related injuries.

In 2021, deGrom appeared well on his way to a third Cy Young in four years, pitching to an inhuman 1.08 ERA with a 45.1% strikeout rate against just a 3.4% walk rate through his first 92 innings. He hit the injured list with a forearm strain in early July, however. The injury wasn’t initially believed to be season-ending in nature, but after a series of setbacks and delays in his rehab work, the Mets eventually shut deGrom down for the season in late September.

For the time being, the Mets will send non-roster righty Felix Pena to the hill to make today’s spring start. Manager Buck Showalter is currently speaking with reporters on the matter and indicated that deGrom’s MRI will be conducted around 9:30am ET (Twitter link via Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). No determination on deGrom’s availability for Opening Day will be made until that imaging is performed. DeGrom felt the tightness in his shoulder on the final few throws of a long-toss session yesterday, Showalter added.

The Mets are relying on deGrom, Scherzer, trade acquisition Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco to handle the bulk of rotation work this season, though they have several solid depth options beyond that quintet. Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Jordan Yamamoto are all on the 40-man roster already, while veteran southpaw Mike Montgomery gives them another experienced option who’s in camp as a non-roster invitee.

MLB, MLBPA Announce Rule Changes For 2022 Season

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Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association jointly announced a series of rule changes for the upcoming 2022 season Thursday. There are no real surprises, as all of today’s changes had already reportedly been under discussion. Among them is an amended designated hitter rule — already commonly referred to as the “Shohei Ohtani Rule” — that allows a starting pitcher to remain in the game as the designated hitter even after he has been removed from the game as a pitcher. Similarly, a two-way player can also be lifted from the game as the designated hitter but remain in the game as a pitcher (though instances of that figure to be less common).

MLB also unveiled some tweaks to the active roster limits in an effort to cut down on injuries following a shortened Spring Training. Rosters will expand from 26 players to 28 players from Opening Day (April 7) through May 1. During that time, teams will be permitted to carry 29 players on days that doubleheaders are played. (It’ll be 27 players per doubleheader day thereafter.) The standard 13-pitcher limit per roster will not apply from April 7 through May 1 but will resume on May 2, when rosters revert to 26 players.

While the minimum length of stay on the injured list for pitchers and two-way players is increasing to 15 days this season, that won’t go into effect until May 2, either. From April 7 through May 1, pitchers and two-way players can be placed on the 10-day injured list. Today’s release also indicates that optional assignments prior to May 2 will not count toward the newly implemented maximum of five optional assignments per player, per season.

Most controversially, the league and the union announced that the extra-inning rule automatically placing a runner on second base will remain in place “in an effort to preserve player health and safety during the condensed schedule.” Notably, today’s announcement specifies that this rule is remaining in place “for the 2022 season” and makes no mention of 2023 and beyond. Of course, it’s certainly possible the two parties will discuss its continuation down the line. Automatic runners who score will not count as an earned run for the pitcher; they’ll be treated as a player who reached on a fielding error (although no error will be credited to the opposing team).

Today’s release also specifies that last year’s new rookie eligibility thresholds will remain in place. Per MLB’s press release, rookie qualification is defined thusly: “A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he had (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League Club or Clubs during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List).”

Mariners Expected To Sign Tommy Milone

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The Mariners are expected to sign Tommy Milone to a minor league contract, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). The veteran left-hander will presumably open the year with Triple-A Tacoma.

Milone is a familiar face to Mariners fans, as he spent the 2019 campaign in Seattle. That season, he tossed 111 2/3 innings as a swingman, pitching to a 4.76 ERA. The M’s are one of nine different teams for which the 35-year-old has suited up at the big league level. The USC product has bounced around the league in true journeyman fashion, but he’s continued to earn big league looks along the way. Milone has pitched in the majors in each of the past eleven seasons, although his 14 frames with the Blue Jays last year marked a personal low.

One of the softer throwers in the game, Milone has never been known for his bat-missing prowess. Bizarrely, he did punch out an above-average 26.2% of opposing hitters on a strong 12.4% swinging strike rate last season despite averaging a career-low 84.2 MPH on his fastball. That’s probably little more than a sample size blip, as his 16.4% strikeout percentage in Triple-A more closely aligned with his career track record.

Without overpowering stuff, Milone has gotten by on excellent control. He’s never walked more than 7.1% of batters faced in a given season, and he’s doled out free passes at just a 5.6% clip for his career. (Last year’s league average walk percentage for starters, for reference, checked in at 7.8%). That strike-throwing reliability has made Milone a frequently-used depth option throughout his career. He has started 146 of his 189 MLB appearances, posting a 4.59 cumulative ERA.

The Mariners look likely to open the year with a top four of Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. Top prospects Matt Brash and George Kirby look the likely options for the final spot, with Brash seemingly having the upper hand by virtue of last season’s late selection onto the 40-man roster. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic wrote yesterday that Seattle brass would prefer to add another starter to that group, but it’s not clear that’s possible at this stage of the offseason. Regardless of whether the M’s make another rotation move in the next week, Milone figures to begin the season in Tacoma and remain on hand in the event injuries necessitate a midseason call-up.

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