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Braves Place Albies, Adams On Injured List; Markakis Activated

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The Braves announced this morning that they’ve placed second baseman Ozzie Albies and first baseman Matt Adams on the 10-day injured list. Albies is dealing with a bone contusion in his right wrist, while Adams is hobbled by a hamstring strain. In a pair of corresponding moves, Atlanta reinstated outfielder Nick Markakis from the restricted list and recalled catcher Alex Jackson from their alternate training site.

Albies, 23, has gotten out to a slow start this season, hitting at just a .159/.196/.273 clip through his first 46 plate appearances. That, and the fact that he batted left-handed against a left-handed pitcher in last night’s game, seem like clear evidence that the issue has been hampering him of late. Jeff Schultz of The Athletic tweets that the Braves expect Albies’ wrist troubles to be a season-long issue; that’s not to say they expect him on the IL all year, of course, but rather that the issue likely won’t fully heal until he can rest it in the offseason. For now, there’s no timetable on Albies’ return to the active roster. Charlie Culberson and Johan Camargo can handle second base in his absence.

Adams strained his hamstring on the basepaths in last night’s game. He’s gotten out to a slow start as well, hitting just .212/.234/.425 with a pair of home runs. One of those long balls came against a lefty, but the Braves have unsurprisingly limited Adams to just three plate appearances against southpaws. He is, after all, a lifetime .211/.239/.381 hitter against same-handed opponents.

As for Markakis, he’ll return in rapid fashion after an unexpected about-face on his decision to opt out of the 2020 season. He’d previously cited the absence of fans and teammate Freddie Freeman’s struggles with Covid-19 symptoms in his decision to sit the current season out. He only just returned to the club a week ago, so there’s likely some rust that’ll need to be shaken off. Thankfully for the Braves, they have a relatively deep outfield mix that features Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte, Ronald Acuna Jr., Adam Duvall, Scott Schebler, the aforementioned Culberson and now Markakis. That’ll give manager Brian Snitker ample time to ease Markakis back into the fold as he ramps back up with the big league club.

By recalling Jackson, the Braves give themselves not only a third catcher behind Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Flowers, but also a potential backup at first base and in the outfield corners. Jackson opened the season as the club’s catcher after both d’Arnaud and Flowers exhibited Covid-19 symptoms and went 2-for-7 with a double and four strikeouts. He was optioned back to the team’s alternate site after d’Arnaud and Flowers ultimately tested negative.

Latest On Cardinals’ Potential Roster Additions

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The Cardinals placed six players on the injured list yesterday following the team’s Covid-19 outbreak, and they’ll likely be adding infielder Rangel Ravelo to the IL as well. The team confirmed yesterday that he is also among the current players to have tested positive (but did not formally place him on the injured list).

That drops the Cardinals’ roster to 23 players, meaning they’ll still need to make five additions between now and Friday. (Rosters reduce from 30 to 28 players for the remainder of the season tomorrow.) To this point, only one spot has been formally filled: infielder/outfielder Brad Miller was activated from the injured list yesterday. Four more players will still need to be added to the roster between now and Friday.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch runs through many of the possibilities, reporting within his morning column that infielder Max Schrock will likely be selected to the active roster. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News points out on Twitter that lefty Genesis Cabrera has already revealed via Instagram that he’s in St. Louis, so he’ll fill another of the spots. Alex Reyes will also be called up, per Goold. Jones adds that Cabrera and Reyes are likely to be the only two pitchers added to the roster. Those additions have not yet been announced by the club.

The Cards’ final open roster spot figures to be of particular intrigue among fans — and with good reason. Top prospect Dylan Carlson is among the names available within the 60-man player pool for St. Louis, and at this point in the season, the Cardinals have already delayed his path to free agency by a year. He’d need to be added to the 40-man roster, but the team can easily accommodate some additions due to the fact that players on the Covid-19 injured list don’t count against the 40-man.

Carlson has been widely expected to debut at some point in 2020, and considering that the Cardinals were struggling to score runs even before losing Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina, there is (on paper, at least) some extra incentive to get his bat into the lineup. It’s a small sample, clearly, but St. Louis has batted just .217/.281/.382 as a team through five games. Carlson, meanwhile, raked at a .292/.372/.542 clip with 26 homers, 28 doubles, eight triples and 20 steals in 562 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A last year.

Jones tweets that the final spot could well come down to Carlson, fellow outfielder Justin Williams and infield prospect Elehuris Montero. Both Williams and Montero have been ranked among the organization’s top 20 or so farmhands for the past couple seasons, though neither has generated the expectations associated with Carlson, who entered the season as a consensus Top 25 league-wide prospect. It’d be the first real look in the Majors for any of that trio, and all three would be controllable all the way through the 2026 season should the stick in the Majors following their promotion. Carlson and Montero have yet to appear in the big leagues, while Williams received just a single plate appearance with the 2018 Rays.

Tommy Kahnle Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Aug. 5: Kahnle’s surgery was performed yesterday, Heyman tweets.

July 31: Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Friday that right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle will undergo Tommy John surgery, Marly Rivera of ESPN reports.

This isn’t surprising news, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported just minutes ago that Kahnle was probably going in this direction. Still, the fact that it’s now official is unfortunate for him and the Yankees. Kahnle, 30, has been an important part of their bullpen since they acquired him from the White Sox in a 2017 blockbuster trade. Since rejoining the Yankees, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, Kahnle has logged a 4.01 ERA/3.23 FIP with 12.58 K/9, 3.69 BB/9 and a 44.8 percent groundball rate over 112 1/3 innings.

While Kahnle won’t be easily replaceable for the Yankees, the World Series contenders are well-equipped to soldier on without him. After all, the team also has Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino and Chad Green as other prominent late-game arms.

Kahnle’s season-ending injury takes a quality option away, though, and now it’s in question whether he will pitch for the Yankees again. Considering the timing of this surgery, Kahnle may not be ready to return until very late next season or at the beginning of 2022. In the meantime, the Yankees will have to decide whether to tender him a contract for his final arbitration-eligible season in 2021. He’s on a prorated $2.65MM salary this year, and that number should stay the same next season.

Angels To Activate Julio Teheran

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The Angels will activate right-hander Julio Teheran from the injured list Wednesday, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The team has yet to formally announce the move, but Fletcher notes that manager Joe Maddon indicated as much on a pre-game radio appearance last night. It’ll be Teheran’s 2020 debut and mark his first start as an Angel. The longtime Braves righty inked a one-year, $9MM contract as a free agent this past offseason.

Teheran, 29, opened the season on the injured list after receiving a positive Covid-19 test just before he was slated to report to Summer Camp. Teheran told the L.A. Times’ Mike DiGiovanna that he was symptomatic in late June and early July, but he was eventually able to join Angels summer camp about three weeks ago. He’s previously stated that he only believed himself to be about a week behind schedule, and Teheran reportedly tossed a three-inning simulated game with about 55 pitches thrown last week. He may not be fully stretched out just yet, but he should be able to up his pitch count from that level in tonight’s debut against the Mariners.

An early return from Teheran is a welcome sight for the Angels, who have already been dealt a brutal blow in the rotation after Shohei Ohtani suffered a strained flexor mass. He’s not expected to pitch again this year, leaving the Angels with a rotation mix of Teheran, Andrew Heaney, Dylan Bundy, Griffin Canning and a slew of fifth starter candidates. The Angels have enjoyed strong starts to the season from Bundy, Canning and Heaney, creating some hope that the staff will be able to withstand the loss of Ohtani. Lefty Patrick Sandoval and right-hander Matt Andriese have each started a game apiece as well.

Teheran once rated not only as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball but as one of the top five overall prospects in the game according to each of Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. He posted a terrific 3.03 ERA in his first two full seasons back in 2013-14 but ultimately settled in as a durable mid-rotation workhorse. Over the past seven seasons in Atlanta, Teheran has averaged 32 starts and 190 2/3 innings per season, logging a cumulative 3.64 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.16 HR/9 and a 38.3 percent ground-ball rate.

Royals’ Brad Keller To Make Season Debut Thursday

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Royals starter Brad Keller will make his season debut Thursday against the Cubs, manager Mike Matheny announced (via Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com). The right-hander has been behind schedule because of a positive coronavirus test.

The 25-year-old Keller is about to begin his third season as a member of the Royals, who grabbed him during the December 2017 Rule 5 Draft. While Rule 5 picks rarely turn into productive major leaguers, Keller has proved to be a steal for the Royals. He has totaled 2.0-plus fWAR in each of his two seasons in Kansas City, with which he has amassed 305 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA/3.98 FIP pitching with 6.42 K/9, 3.53 BB/9 and a 52 percent groundball rate.

Getting Keller back won’t suddenly turn a 3-9 club into a a contender, but it should at least make KC more competitive. The Royals’ rotation hasn’t been particularly productive this year, but Danny Duffy and rookie Brady Singer have performed respectably over a combined six starts.

Edwin Encarnacion, Nick Madrigal Exit With Shoulder Issues

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10:55pm: Manager Rick Renteria announced that Madrigal’s dealing with a jammed shoulder, Fegan relays.

9:27pm: The White Sox suffered a pair of potentially alarming injuries in their game against the Brewers on Tuesday, per tweets from James Fegan of The Athletic and Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion and second baseman Nick Madrigal departed early with left shoulder problems. The team will reevaluate both players Wednesday.

Encarnacion was one of several key offseason pickups for the White Sox, who signed him to a one-year, $12MM deal in free agency. At the time, they surely expected the eight-time 30-home run hitter to continue as a powerful force in their uniform. That hasn’t happened in the early going, as the 37-year-old has slashed an unimposing .200/.250/.300 with one homer in his first 33 plate appearances this season. That’s obviously not a large enough sample size to pass judgment, however, and there’s plenty of time for Encarnacion to get on track if he’s healthy enough to do so. Chicago replaced him with Zack Collins on Tuesday.

Madrigal, meanwhile, was only in his fifth major league game before he exited. The recently promoted 23-year-old, who’s regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects, got off to a .294/.333//.294 start in 18 PA prior to his injury. Chicago called on Danny Mendick to fill in for Madrigal at the keystone.

Mets Place Robinson Cano On Injured List, Activate Billy Hamilton

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10:41pm: Cano will be on the shelf “until at least mid-August,” DiComo tweets.

6:15pm: The Mets have placed second baseman Robinson Cano on the 10-day injured list due to a Grade 2 left adductor strain and selected the contract of Billy Hamilton, who’ll be on the bench for tonight’s game (Twitter links via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). DiComo adds that Jeff McNeil (intercostal strain) and Amed Rosario (quad tightness) are both day-to-day.

There’s no telling just how long Cano will be sidelined at this point, but any type of Grade 2 strain (as opposed to a more mild Grade 1 strain) is cause for concern regarding an extended absence. His injury is particularly unfortunate for the Mets given that the 37-year-old had gotten out to a blistering start. In his first 39 plate appearances, Cano was hitting at a torrid .412/.462/.559 clip with a homer and two doubles. While it’s inevitable that he’d have cooled off to some extent, Cano also ranked among the game’s best in terms of hard-hit rate and average exit velocity, and his swinging-strike rate was among the lowest in MLB.

Despite the addition of the designated hitter in the National League, Cano has been the team’s primary second baseman. Yoenis Cespedes had been serving as the regular designated hitter, but he opted out of the remainder of the season over the weekend. With Cano, Jed Lowrie and Jeff McNeil all on the injured list, regular second-base duties for the Mets seem likeliest to fall to top prospect Andres Gimenez and veteran Brian Dozier, who inked a minor league deal late in Summer Camp and was selected to the Mets’ roster last week. Dozier is batting sixth in tonight’s lineup against lefty Patrick Corbin, but the makings of a natural platoon with the left-handed-hitting Gimenez are present. Of course, that’s contingent on Rosario returning to the lineup; Gimenez and Dozier could each draw regular starts as double play partners while Rosario is out.

As for Hamilton, he was acquired over the weekend in a trade that sent recently outrighted reliever Jordan Humphreys to the Giants. He’ll jump right onto the Mets’ big league roster and provide some speed and elite glovework off the bench. Brandon Nimmo is still lined up for everyday work in center, and he’ll be flanked by J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto to begin most games. Hamilton’s role is perhaps the same role the Mets envisioned for offseason acquisition Jake Marisnick, but he’s currently on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

No New Positive COVID-19 Tests For Marlins, Cardinals

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8:39pm: The Cardinals have been cleared to travel and return to the field, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. They’re in line to resume their season Friday.

10:12am: There was finally some good news on the coronavirus front, with Jon Heyman of MLB Network reporting (Twitter links) the latest test results from two hard-hit teams. Neither the Marlins nor the Cardinals registered any new positive tests for COVID-19.

That means that the Marlins will finally get back to action this evening. That had been the expectation, but the team still needed to log another day without any new positive coronavirus tests.

The Marlins ultimately had 18 players test positive, gutting their active roster. They’ll hope there isn’t another infection lurking in the clubhouse while returning to action with an entirely different roster.

As for the Cards, who had seven positive player tests (among others in the organization), they’re still waiting anxiously in a hotel in Milwaukee. It’ll take another clean set of tests before the team can get back to the playing field, but that’s now a distinct near-term possibility.

As Heyman notes, the St. Louis club could resume play on Friday. That would give the league a full 15-game slate … if nothing goes askew in the meantime.

Rangers Activate Joely Rodriguez, Place Greg Bird On IL

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The Rangers announced that they’ve activated left-hander Joely Rodriguez from the injured list and placed first baseman Greg Bird on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Aug. 1. Bird’s dealing with a right calf strain.

The 28-year-old Rodriguez is now in position to make his Rangers debut after dealing with lat issues. The former Phillie spent 2018-19 in Japan, where he parlayed excellent production into a two-year, $5.5MM contract with Texas over the winter. Rodriguez wasn’t successful during his previous big league stint, but if all goes according to plan for the Rangers, he’ll be a steal for their bullpen.

Bird, whom the Rangers signed to a minor league contract in February, looked as if he’d debut with the club when it selected his contract July 31. Instead, another injury has cut down Bird, who has rarely been healthy during his big league career. Now 27, Bird looked like a legitimate building block for the Yankees as a rookie in 2015, but availability and production have lacked since then. Bird still hasn’t taken an at-bat as a Ranger, and considering this news, there’s a chance he won’t ever play for the team.

Angels Don’t Expect Shohei Ohtani To Pitch Again In 2020

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Angels right-hander Shohei Ohtani went down Monday with a Grade 1-2 flexor pronator mass strain. It looked then as if Ohtani wouldn’t make a return to the mound this year because of his four- to six-week timeline to begin throwing again. Manager Joe Maddon confirmed Tuesday that Ohtani is likely done as a pitcher for 2020, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (Twitter links). The team will reevaluate his forearm Wednesday, according to Maddon (via Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times).

Fortunately, as an ultra-rare two-way talent, Ohtani’s not finished contributing for the year. Even though he probably won’t pitch again in 2020, Ohtani’s healthy enough that he’ll continue factoring in as a designated hitter. He has been quite successful in that role (not so much in the early going this year), though it’s nevertheless a loss for the Angels and the sport itself that the 26-year-old hasn’t been able to complete a season as a pitcher. The former Tommy John surgery patient has just 53 1/3 innings under his belt since he emigrated from Japan before the 2017 campaign.

Elsewhere on the roster, Maddon revealed that just-promoted outfield prospect Jo Adell will play every day. The elite farmhand, 21, will make his much-anticipated debut against the Mariners on Tuesday. The hope is that Adell and the return of all-world center fielder Mike Trout, who has been on paternity leave, will give the 3-7 Halos a desperately needed shot in the arm.

With Adell now in the mix, the Angels will platoon fellow corner outfielders Justin Upton (a right-handed hitter) and Brian Goodwin (a lefty) through year’s end. That isn’t the outcome the Angels envisioned when they signed Upton to a five-year, $106MM contract before 2018, but his production has been lacking since last season. Goodwin has been a bright spot dating back to 2019, on the other hand, and he’s off to a dazzling .333/.412/.667 start over 34 plate appearances this year.

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