Guardians Reinstate Owen Miller
The Guardians are activating Owen Miller from the Covid-related injured list prior to today’s game, per Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. Konnor Pilkington is being optioned to make room for Miller on the active roster. Players on the Covid-IL don’t count against a team’s 40-man roster, but the club had an open spot, meaning they won’t be required to make a corresponding move in that regard.
Miller was one of several Guardians players who went on the Covid-IL last week. That interrupted an otherworldly start to the season for Miller, who hit .500/.545/.964 in his first nine games. That amounts to a wRC+ of 334. That’s obviously a very small sample, but it’s nonetheless encouraging for a Cleveland team that was widely expected to have strong pitching but mediocre offense. In order to stay competitive in a strong American League playoff race, they will need some of the young players on their roster, like the 25-year-old Miller, to take steps forward.
With Miller’s return, the club’s 40-man roster is now full. However, Yu Chang and Anthony Castro aren’t currently occupying spots due to being on the Covid-IL and will need to be added back once they are available to return.
As for Pilkington, the 24-year-old was just called up in recent days and made his MLB debut, throwing five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and just a single walk.
Padres Place Luke Voit On 10-Day IL, Recall Luis Campusano
The Padres have announced that first baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a biceps tendon injury. Catcher Luis Campusano has been recalled to take his place on the roster.
After excellent campaigns with the Yankees in 2019 and 2020, injuries have been the focus of the Luke Voit story since then. Last year, he made multiple trips to the IL due to various injuries, only getting into 68 games on the year and hitting a disappointing .239/.328/.437. That still amounted to a wRC+ of 111, or 11% better than league average, but was a drop from his 126 in 2019 and 153 in the shortened 2020 season.
The Yankees seemed to give up on considering Voit their everyday first baseman, acquiring Anthony Rizzo in a deadline deal last year and then re-signing him in the offseason. That was followed by flipping Voit to San Diego. In his short time as a Padre, Voit has been dealing with this bicep issue and struggling to a line of .143/.315/.167 in 13 games. He’ll take some time off and try to heal, hopefully coming back more productive.
As for Campusano, he’s considered one of the best catching prospects in baseball. He made his MLB debut last year, struggling in a tiny sample of 11 games. The club already has Austin Nola and Jorge Alfaro available on the roster for catching duties. However, with Voit on the shelf, the DH slot could be used to spread some of the at-bats around. Campusano is off to a great start at the plate this year, hitting .359/.375/.487 in 9 Triple-A games.
Pirates Select Beau Sulser, Designate Anthony Alford
The Pirates have announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Beau Sulser. To make room for Sulser on the 40-man roster, outfielder Anthony Alford was designated for assignment. (Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had the news of Sulser’s promotion before the official announcement.)
Sulser, the younger brother of Marlins hurler Cole Sulser, was a 10th round selection of the Pirates in 2017. He’s never gotten a ton of attention from prospect evaluators but has shown well so far in this young season. He got his first taste of Triple-A in 2019, making 24 starts and a pair of relief appearances, putting up a 5.65 ERA in 122 2/3 innings. This year, however, he’s made three starts, logging 12 2/3 innings with a 2.13 ERA. His 26.9% strikeout rate on the young season is greatly improved over the 18.1% rate he had at Triple-A in 2019. He’s also dropped his walk rate from 9.4% to 3.8%. Based on those improved results, the Bucs want to see how he fares against big league hitters. Sulser will turn 28 next month.
Alford, on the other hand, is a former top prospect, getting as high as #25 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list in 2016. Unfortunately, injuries have largely kept him from getting into a good rhythm over the years. He’s appeared in each MLB season from 2017 to 2022 but his career high for games in a season is 49, which he set last year. He was designated for assignment in April last year, clearing waivers and being outrighted to the minors. He showed enough promise to earn his roster spot back and finished well. However, yet another injury, a right wrist sprain, put him back on the injured list to start this season. He was activated and got into two games before being sent into DFA limbo for a second time.
Players who have previously been outrighted in their careers have the ability to reject an outright assignment and declare free agency. If Alford were to clear waivers again, he could opt to see if there are any other opportunities available to him. He’s still only 27 years old and has that prospect pedigree attached to his name, which could potentially lead to some interest, despite the length injury history.
Mike Yastrzemski Tests Positive For Covid-19
The Giants have informed reporters, including Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, that Mike Yastrzemski has tested positive for Covid-19. The club doesn’t have time to bring in anyone else as a corresponding move before today’s game, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Baggarly adds that Yastrzemski had a sore throat yesterday and tested positive today, despite feeling better.
Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician).
With Yaz on the shelf, this will add to the challenges the Giants are facing in the outfield. LaMonte Wade Jr. has yet to make his 2022 debut due to a bone bruise in his left knee, although he’s not terribly far away as he did begin a rehab assignment last night. Steven Duggar was placed on the 60-day IL on Friday, meaning he won’t be an option until late June at the earliest. That means the Giants will have an outfield mix of Joc Pederson, Luis Gonzalez, Darin Ruf, Austin Slater and Mauricio Dubon, at least until Yaz and/or Wade can return.
The club will be able to make a corresponding move before their next game, which could help the outfield depth. However, the pitching staff is also a bit short-handed right now, as both Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani are currently on the injured list. That means the Giants may need Yaz’s roster spot for a fresh arm instead of another outfielder.
Rays Place Jeffrey Springs On Covid-IL, Reinstate Yandy Diaz
The Rays have placed left-handed pitcher Jeffrey Springs on the Covid-related injury list due to a close contact situation, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll swap places with Yandy Diaz, who comes off the Covid-IL after just a day.
The virus seems to be floating around the Rays team, as some staff members have tested positive in recent days. That was followed by catcher Francisco Mejia testing positive on Friday, which landed him on the injured list. Diaz was placed on the injured list yesterday after experiencing some symptoms. However, he must have tested negative due to his quick return.
As for Springs, the 29-year-old is off to a great start this year. He’s thrown seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the Rays, with a 34.6% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. Until he returns, the club will have Brooks Raley, Colin Poche and Jalen Beeks as the available lefties in their bullpen.
Diaz is off to a fairly standard start to the year for him, hitting for contact but not a lot of power. His .275/.383/.326 line adds up to a 127 wRC+, with his 10.6% strikeout rate well below his career rate of 16.2%, which was already better than league average.
Ramon Laureano Begins Rehab Assignment
The Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics, announced yesterday that Ramon Laureano was joining the club on a rehab assignment. He started last night’s game, batting second and playing center field. The outfielder was given an 80-game suspension in August, serving the bulk of that last year but with 27 games remaining going into the 2022 campaign. If everything goes according to plan, Laureano could finish the suspension May 8.
Since that suspension, the club underwent a fire sale in the offseason, trading away their best and most-expensive players for younger and cheaper ones. The center field duties have been largely going to Cristian Pache so far this year, acquired from the Braves in the Matt Olson trade. Pache has been living up to his glove-first reputation, playing excellent defense but hitting just .208/.222/.340, 68 wRC+.
In his time in the majors, Laureano has shown himself capable of being above average both defensively and with the bat. It’s unclear how the playing time in center will be divided up when Laureano returns, though the A’s will likely want to have both players in the lineup as much as possible. For Pache, regular at-bats will be needed for the 23-year-old to continue to develop as a hitter. For Laureano, the club will surely want him to get back into a groove after his layoff, which included core surgery in September, and re-establish himself as a trade candidate. Chad Pinder, Seth Brown, Tony Kemp, Stephen Piscotty and Billy McKinney have been rotating through the outfield corners and designated hitter slots so far this year.
Players who violate the MLB – MLBPA Joint Drug Agreement are placed on the restricted list and do not receive MLB service time for the duration of their suspension. Laureano is currently sitting on three years and 14 days, enough for him to have reached arbitration for the first time for this year. However, since he will end up missing about a month of this season, he will likely finish the campaign shy of the four-year mark. That means he won’t reach free agency until after the 2025 season, giving the club one extra year of control over him.
For a team like the A’s that’s taking a step back, that could be viewed as making him more or less likely to be traded. On the one hand, the extra year of control increases the chances that the club can return to contention within his time with them, making it sensible to hang onto him. On the other hand, Laureano will now be going through arbitration four times instead of three, giving him more chances to increase his salary. He’s only set to make $2.45MM this year, which isn’t a prohibitive sum, even for a low-payroll team like the A’s. But the past few months saw them trade away players projected to make salaries just a bit higher than that. According to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, Matt Olson was going to be earning around $12MM this year, with Matt Chapman a touch lower at $9.5MM. Chris Bassitt was pegged at $8.8MM and Sean Manaea at $10.2MM. The club went into the offseason determined to unload those projected salaries and eventually did so. Over the next couple of years, Laureano could push his salary into that range and become a little pricey for the club, especially if Pache seems capable of taking over for him, as he likely won’t reach arbitration until after the 2024 campaign.
The Marlins were known to have interest in Laureano during the offseason as they looked to upgrade in center field. However, they may have found a solution in Jesus Sanchez, who has been providing cromulent defense while mashing at the plate. The season is still quite young, but Sanchez is hitting .340/.386/.623, 194 wRC+.
Michael Conforto Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
Michael Conforto underwent surgery on his right shoulder earlier this week, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Conforto will be sidelined for the entire 2022 season but is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Agent Scott Boras revealed his client’s shoulder problems in late March, saying that Conforto suffered a strain while training in January, but he had since resumed hitting. Just yesterday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that Conforto still hasn’t been able to throw, and was initially presented with the option of surgery earlier this offseason, but was choosing to hold off on going under the knife. In a follow-up tweet from Heyman, Conforto was deciding between either getting the “cleanup” procedure done now, or waiting until after the season.
Undergoing the surgery now makes sense given Conforto’s still-unsigned status. If he did land a one-year deal with a team for a prorated salary, it is quite possible the shoulder issues would prevent from Conforto from performing at an acceptable level. Coming off a middling 2021 season, a down 2022 season, and then a shoulder surgery in the offseason would essentially crater Conforto’s market in the 2022-23 free agent sweepstakes, whereas now, he can get the surgery and then head into next winter with a slightly cleaner slate.
Sitting out 2022 also removes the qualifying offer as a factor in Conforto’s market. He turned down the Mets’ one-year, $18.4MM QO last fall, and thus any team signing Conforto would have to had to give up at least one draft pick as compensation. Since Conforto now won’t be signing until after the 2022 draft anyway, the attached compensation no longer applies, and players are only eligible to be tagged with the QO once in their careers. (Though the qualifying offer system might be abandoned anyway, pending on international draft negotiations between the league and the MLBPA later this summer.)
Passing on the QO now seems like an error in hindsight for Conforto, and the decision even carried its share of controversy prior to his injury. Conforto hit an unspectacular .232/.344/.384 with 14 home runs over 479 PA with New York last season, leading to speculation that he would either take the qualifying offer, or sign a one-year pillow contract of a similar value. (This was MLBTR’s theory, predicting a one-year, $20MM pact for Conforto on the open market.) With a one-season payday secured, Conforto would then look to bounce back and deliver a season similar to his 2015-20 prime years, thus setting him up for a bigger multi-year contract next winter.
The Marlins, Blue Jays, Yankees, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Padres all had some level of interest in Conforto this past winter, and up to a dozen teams at least checked in on his services closer to the start of the free agent period. Again, it is easy to say in hindsight that Conforto “should have” signed somewhere earlier in the offseason, though we don’t know what types of actual offers (if any) were on the table prior to the lockout.
Given Conforto’s production prior to 2021, it seems likely that he should be able to land a one-year, guaranteed big league deal in the offseason if he recovers well from his surgery, even if that salary is well south of $18.4MM. Whether he’ll finally land that big multi-year pact remains to be seen, as Conforto will need to post some big numbers to settle any lingering doubts about his health, or his age (he’ll be 31 on Opening Day 2024). In more immediate business, however, Conforto will simply have to focus on rehabbing his shoulder and getting himself fully back up to par.
Eloy Jimenez Leaves Game With Hamstring Injury
9:56PM: The “initial diagnosis” on Jimenez is a hamstring tear or strain, Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets.
7:07PM: Jimenez’s injury is thought to be “significant,” manager Tony La Russa told The Athletic’s James Fegan and other reporters. While more testing is taking place, the team believes for now that Jimenez won’t miss the rest of the season, and this absence won’t be as long as his four-month IL stint following his pectoral surgery last year.
4:03PM: White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez left today’s game with what the team described as right hamstring soreness. While trying to beat out a grounder in the second inning, Jimenez seemingly took a bad step after hitting first base and had to lay down on the grass. A cart was required to take Jimenez off the field.
Considering how ominous the situation looked, “only” a sore hamstring would seem to represent a best-case scenario for Jimenez and the team, though the outfielder is continuing to undergo more tests. It would certainly seem like Jimenez will miss at least the next couple of games for rest and evaluation purposes, and a trip to the injured list seems like a possibility.
Losing Jimenez would represent yet another major absence in what has already been an injury-riddled season for the White Sox. While most of the injuries have come on the pitching side, Yoan Moncada (oblique strain) and Yermin Mercedes (hamate surgery) have yet to play in 2022, and AJ Pollock only just returned from a hamstring injury of his own. Luis Robert and Josh Harrison have also recently missed time, leaving the Sox particularly shorthanded for this weekend’s series against the Twins.
Jimenez is no stranger to the IL, as he played only 55 games in 2021 due to a ruptured left pectoral tendon that delayed his season debut until July 26. Between this layoff and some other minor injuries, it isn’t surprising that Jimenez hit a modest .249/.303/.437 over 231 plate appearances last season. While the White Sox were still able to win the AL Central even without Jimenez (and Robert) for big portions of 2021, all of this year’s injuries have contributed to Chicago’s 6-7 record heading into play today.
Injury Notes: Bell, Voit, deGrom, Walker
Josh Bell left today’s 5-2 Nationals loss to the Giants due to tightness in his right hamstring. Bell walked and advanced to third base during the bottom of the second, but was replaced in the field for the top of the third inning. Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Bell was undergoing an MRI, which would mark the second MRI of the week for the first baseman after tests were negative on his left knee. Soreness in that left knee also forced Bell to make an early exit from Washington’s game on Wednesday.
Given that previous injury, Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com) that “I want to be cautious” with Bell’s status. More will be known when the MRI results are in, but the Nationals might still opt to sit Bell on Sunday with an off-day coming up Monday, in the hopes that two days of rest will get him ready for Tuesday’s game with the Marlins. Apart from Bell and Juan Soto, the Nats are almost entirely off to a slow offensive start, so any time missed for Bell (batting .345/.446/.509 over his first 67 plate appearances) is a big loss for the D.C. lineup.
More injury news from around baseball….
- Luke Voit has been bothered by a lingering right biceps problems, the Padres first baseman told The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Saunders and other reporters. With only a .143/.315/.167 slash line over his first 54 PA, Voit bluntly described himself as “a waste of an at-bat right now. I’m not doing the team any good. I played through injuries last year and it’s really hard.” Voit isn’t in tonight’s lineup, and while manager Bob Melvin indicated that Voit could be available to pinch-hit, a trip to the injured list might be necessary.
- In an update on Jacob deGrom, the Mets ace underwent MRI and CT scans yesterday, manager Buck Showalter told The New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters. The MRI came a few days earlier than initially expected, though regardless, it doesn’t seem as though the Mets will have a plan of action in place anyway until doctors have fully reviewed the results. A stress reaction in deGrom’s right scapula during Spring Training resulted in a four-week shutdown, and these test results will mark the next step in the right-hander’s recovery process. If all goes well, deGrom could be cleared to start throwing, and a possible timetable could be floated for deGrom’s 2022 debut.
- Taijuan Walker is much closer to his return, as Showalter told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jake Rill) that the right-hander is tentatively set to face the Phillies on either Friday or Saturday. Walker tossed two innings in his first Mets start of the season but has since been on the 10-day IL recovering from shoulder bursitis. After throwing a side session yesterday, Walker is now lined up for either a minor league rehab start or a simulated game on Tuesday.
Rays Notes: No-Hit Bid, Suzuki, Yarbrough
The Rays tossed nine no-hit innings against the Red Sox today, but while the no-no was erased during a wild tenth inning, Kevin Kiermaier‘s walkoff homer gave Tampa a 3-2 victory. Six different Rays pitchers combined to hold Red Sox batters without a hit or a run over the game’s first nine innings, yet the Tampa Bay lineup was also shut out (on two hits) against Boston pitching. The Sox finally broke out for two hits and two runs in the top of the 10th, yet the Rays roared back in the bottom half of the inning for what might already be the most unusual win of their season.
This is the 15th time in Major League history that a would-be no-hitter wasn’t broken up until extra innings, and only the second time that such a game was tossed by more than one pitcher. Matt Garza‘s gem on July 26, 2010 remains the only no-hitter in Rays franchise history. Tampa has been on the wrong end of no-hit games on five occasions, with three of those five being perfect games (from Mark Buehrle, Dallas Braden, and Felix Hernandez).
Some more notes from St. Pete…
- Seiya Suzuki was known to be on the Rays’ target list during the offseason, and the club was apparently prepared to make a big investment. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Rays’ offer to Suzuki was “close” to the five-year, $85MM deal the outfielder eventually landed from the Cubs. Between this push for Suzuki and the Rays’ even more surprising interest in Freddie Freeman this past winter, it could hint that Tampa Bay is prepared to be more financially aggressive than usual in its pursuit of a World Series, which might set the stage for some interesting trade possibilities as the deadline approaches. It also seems like the Rays were onto something with Suzuki, given how he has been on fire for the first two weeks of his Major League career.
- Ryan Yarbrough is set to throw a rehab start at Triple-A today, Rays manager Kevin Cash told The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters. If all goes well, it could line Yarbrough up to be activated from the 10-day injured list in time to start the Rays’ game with the Mariners on Thursday. Yarbrough has yet to pitch this season due to a groin injury. Working as a reliever, opener, bulk pitcher, and traditional starter over his four MLB seasons, Yarbrough has a 4.30 ERA over 499 2/3 career innings with Tampa.