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Bo Bichette Nearing Return

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The 24-19 Blue Jays are firmly in possession of a postseason spot at the moment, and an already-strong roster could soon get a major reinforcement. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that young shortstop Bo Bichette could return from the injured list in tie for this weekend’s series against the Mets. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet tweeted yesterday that Bichette was 2-for-3 in a simulated game Tuesday before taking four plate appearances and playing six inning at shortstop in another sim game Wednesday.

Bichette, 22, has been nothing short of amazing through his first 60 big league games, hitting .323/.366/.595 with 16 homers, 22 doubles and eight stolen bases through 276 trips to the plate. He was particularly remarkable in 14 games this season before suffering a knee sprain, as he’d slashed .361/.391/.672 through his first 64 plate appearances. The Jays are off today, but a return tomorrow could mean Bichette returns for as many as 17 games to close out the regular season.

In Bichette’s absence, the Blue Jays have relied on the trio of Santiago Espinal, Joe Panik and recent trade acquisition Jonathan Villar have worked to hold down the fort at shortstop — with mixed results. Panik has hit quite well since Bichette went down (.327/.444/.423), though he’s spent more time at his customary second base than on the other side of the bag at shortstop. Espinal carries a .282/.326/.359 slash in 44 plate appearances dating back to Bichette’s injury. Villar, the most established player of the bunch, has struggled to a .194/.306/.194 slash in 33 plate appearances over his eight games in Toronto.

With 17 games remaining on the schedule and none against the division-leading Rays, the Blue Jays are a long shot to overtake Tampa Bay for the division lead. However, they’ll follow up this weekend’s three-game series against the Mets with three games at Yankee Stadium, and they still have another four-game set against the Yankees later this month. With the Yanks trailing the Jays by two games and seven contests between the two clubs still to come, Bichette’s impending return carries all the more consequence.

NL Injury Notes: Pham, Smyly, Turner, Pirates

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Padres outfielder Tommy Pham is less than a month out from a broken hamate bone, but he’s making rapid progress. Pham resumed live on-field batting practice today, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. The 32-year-old had been off to a sluggish start to the year but will still have some time to make his presence felt as the Pads try to angle for postseason position.

More injury updates from the National League …

  • The Giants are preparing to welcome back southpaw Drew Smyly tomorrow, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). It’ll be interesting to see what the veteran hurler can deliver down the stretch. Though he hasn’t been available for many innings, he turned in a few interesting outings that hinted at a resurgence.
  • While there’s little reason to rush, the Dodgers are close to activating rehabbing third baseman Justin Turner. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter link) that Turner still hasn’t put his tender hamstring through the full paces. Nevertheless, the club expects to have him active within the week, though Turner could initially function as a DH.
  • The Pirates provided a few pitching rehab updates, some more promising than others (via MLB.com’s Adam Berry, on Twitter). Mitch Keller (side injury) and Jameson Taillon (Tommy John) are each throwing sim games, while reliever Keone Kela is now participating in mound work. It’s still unclear how much MLB action each of those hurlers will be capable of late this year, but that’s generally encouraging news. The situation is different for fellow righty Yacksel Rios, who remains sidelined by shoulder woes. He was shut down after symptoms flared up.

American League Injury Updates: Piscotty, Cobb, Keuchel, Pearson

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Here are the latest updates on a few injury situations from around the American League …

  • The Athletics will go a few days without full participation from outfielder Stephen Piscotty, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle covers on Twitter. (He’s pinch running as we speak.) Thankfully, it seems there’s reason to hope he’ll bounce back quickly after receiving a cortisone shot to his balky wrist. Piscotty has turned in a useful but hardly world-beating .264/.308/.438 batting line on the season.
  • Orioles righty Alex Cobb is days away from a return, with outfielder Austin Hays seemingly not far behind, as skipper Brandon Hyde tells reporters including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Cobb’s absence is as yet not fully explained; the quick turnaround could indicate that he had to step away owing to coronavirus protocols. Regardless, it’s good news that he’s expected to jump right back into active duty.
  • The White Sox don’t appear overly concerned with the health status of lefty Dallas Keuchel. He’ll plan to miss a start after taking an early exit from his last outing due to lower back issues, but that’s expected to be the extent of the missed time, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times and others mentioned on Twitter. Keuchel has thus far justified the South Siders’ faith in signing him, running up 53 1/3 innings of 2.19 ERA ball.
  • Exciting young Blue Jays hurler Nate Pearson is likely not going to build back to a full starter’s role, skipper Charlie Montoyo told reporters including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm (Twitter links). That’s sensible for a variety of reasons. For one thing, there really isn’t much time to ramp him up. For another, it’s not clear that’d be the right role after Pearson ran into some early MLB struggles. The firmly contending Toronto outfit can certainly make use of Pearson in a relief role while still getting him valuable work at the game’s highest level.

60-Man Player Pool Additions: 9/9/20

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Here are the latest players added to their team’s 60-man player pool …

  • Hurlers Penn Murfee and Ian McKinney are now a part of the Mariners’ 60-man group, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. The 26-year-old Murfee had a strong 2019 showing, producing good numbers at the High-A level and then dominating Arizona Fall League hitters. It’s possible he could be an option at the MLB level if he shows well at the alternate training site. The same holds true of McKinney, 25, who joined Murfee as a productive member of the Modesto rotation last year. McKinney is a 2013 draftee who joined the Seattle organization as a minor-league free agent in advance of the 2019 season.
  • The Rays brought aboard a pair of youngsters in righty Seth Johnson and infielder Ford Proctor, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times covers on Twitter. The 40th overall pick of the 2019 draft, Johnson hasn’t pitched above the Rookie ball level and is likely being added for developmental purposes. Proctor, 23, is a 2018 third-rounder who has shown strong on-base ability but little power in the low minors. He appeared this year in the Constellation Energy League, knocking out a healthy .346/.500/.679 slash in 28 games.
  • The Padres have added youngster Owen Caissie to their pool at just 18 years of age, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports via Twitter. It’s quite the vote of confidence in the recent second-round pick, who obviously won’t be expected to make his professional debut this year at the MLB level. The Canadian outfielder will get some excellent experience at the Friars’ alternate training site before joining an affiliate in 2021.

Latest On Jed Lowrie

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It doesn’t appear Mets infielder Jed Lowrie will end up playing for the club this year, Tim Britton of The Athletic relays. The regular season is only a couple weeks from ending, but manager Luis Rojas said Wednesday he’s not sure whether Lowrie is participating in baseball activities.

“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Rojas said of Lowrie, who Britton notes has been eligible to come off the 45-day injured list for a week.

Lowrie has missed all but nine games since last season as a result of leg problems, including to his left knee this year. Since signing a two-year, $20MM contract with the Mets before 2019, Lowrie has totaled zero hits over eight plate appearances. That obviously wasn’t what the Mets had in mind when they picked up the switch-hitting Lowrie, now 36, off two straight healthy and highly impressive seasons with the Athletics.

Lowrie spent his best seasons in Oakland at second and third base (primarily the keystone), but New York hasn’t been without solutions at those positions during his prolonged absence in 2020. The Mets have mostly given second to a resurgent Robinson Cano and third to J.D. Davis, while Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme have been among those to fill in at those spots when necessary. The club’s still a disappointing 19-24, but it’s certainly not because Lowrie has been unavailable. And after back-to-back frustrating seasons, it seems likely the Mets will wave goodbye to Lowrie in free agency during the upcoming winter, ending what has been a regrettable union for the club.

Marlins Designate Justin Shafer For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they’ve designated right-hander Justin Shafer for assignment and reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the restricted list. The club sent Diaz to its alternate training site, and it also added outfielder Connor Scott to its 60-man player pool.

The 27-year-old Shafer joined the Marlins via waivers from the Reds in late July, when Miami was dealing with a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak. Shafer came to the team as someone with a 3.75 ERA in 48 major league innings, all with the Blue Jays, but his Marlins tenure has gone terribly so far. He threw 5 2/3 innings of eight-run ball while allowing eight hits and eight walks (against four strikeouts) before they designated him.

Scott, the Marlins’ 15th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, was the 13th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The 20-year-old topped out last season at High-A, where he batted .235/.306/.327 with one home run in 111 plate appearances.

Latest On Justin Verlander

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This season hasn’t gone as hoped for the reigning American League champion Astros, who have started 22-21 while dealing with several notable injuries. They have gone nearly the entire campaign without 2019 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who made one start in July and has been out since with a forearm strain, but it seems there is hope the right-hander will return this year. Manager Dusty Baker told Jake Kaplan of The Athletic and other reporters that Verlander was in line for a 50- to 55-pitch bullpen session Wednesday.

It remains to be seen whether Verlander will get through the session without setbacks, but it’s nonetheless encouraging that he has progressed to this point. Should he get through it unscathed, Verlander could be close to rejoining the Astros, who would make the playoffs if the season ended now.

Thankfully for Verlander-less Houston, Framber Valdez has established himself as a solid starter this year, which has helped complement Zack Greinke in their staff and make up for the loss of Verlander to a degree. Rookie Cristian Javier has stopped runs at a good rate (3.46 ERA over 41 2/3 innings), meanwhile, but his peripherals aren’t as encouraging. And though the Astros did just get back Jose Urquidy back from the injured list, they had to place Lance McCullers Jr. on the IL on Sept. 6 with neck issues. So, while the Astros would be thrilled to welcome a healthy and effective Verlander back under any circumstance, he may be especially helpful in the next few weeks.

Mariners Select Jimmy Yacabonis

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The Mariners have selected the contract of right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis from their alternate training site, the team announced. They optioned fellow righty Brady Lail in a corresponding move.

The 28-year-old Yacabonis is new to the Seattle organization, which acquired him from San Diego for cash on Aug. 19. Yacabonis previously signed a minor league contract with the Padres last offseason, but he didn’t wind up seeing any major league action as a member of the club. He did, however, appear in the bigs with the Orioles in each season from 2017-19. During that 101 2/3-inning span, Yacabonis pitched to a 5.75 ERA/6.01 FIP with 6.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9.

Yacabonis will now join a Mariners bullpen that, as Greg Johns of MLB.com points out, may need some fresh arms at the moment. Their relief corps pitched most of Tuesday’s loss to the Giants after Ljay Newsome left with an injury following just 1 2/3 innings of work.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On 10-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks have placed second baseman Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list with wrist inflammation, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. They also recalled infielder/outfielder Josh VanMeter and right-hander Joel Payamps, and optioned lefty Joe Mantiply.

The Diamondbacks are arguably the majors’ most disappointing team at an NL-worst 15-28, and with their playoff hopes all but dead, it’s possible we have seen the last of Marte in 2020. His presence was among the reasons Arizona was a popular pick as a contender entering this year. After all, just a season ago, Marte posted an MVP-level 7.1 fWAR with a .329/.389/.592 line and 32 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 628 plate appearances.

On the heels of last season’s tremendous performance, there wasn’t much reason to believe Marte would fall off dramatically this year. But he, like his team, has. Thanks in part to a significant decrease in walk percentage (8.4 to 2.9) and a massive drop in power (.264 ISO versus .117), he has hit a relatively underwhelming .290/.342/.407 with two homers and a single steal over 173 PA. Marte has also endured a roughly 6 percent decrease in hard-hit rate, per FanGraphs, and has seen his expected weighted on-base average fall from .379 to .327.

Blue Jays Place Rowdy Tellez On 10-Day IL

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4:39pm: The Blue Jays have placed Tellez on the IL and recalled outfielder Billy McKinney, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.

3:28pm: The Blue Jays are likely to place first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez on the 10-day injured list with a right knee strain, Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star tweets.

At 24-18 and in possession of an American League playoff spot, Toronto has been one of the game’s pleasant surprises this year. The 25-year-old Tellez has been among the reasons the Blue Jays have jumped out to such a quality record and have scored the majors’ ninth-most runs (210). Tellez has slashed an excellent .283/.347/.540 with eight home runs in 127 plate appearances in 2020. Of course, with such a small amount of time left in the regular season, it’s unknown if Tellez will be able to return in the coming weeks. For now, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Travis Shaw will take up the lion’s share of playing time at first base.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, this is the second major injury their offense has dealt with this week. They previously lost outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who has been an elite hitter this season, to a left oblique strain. Nevertheless, the Jays will go for a sweep against the division-rival Yankees on Wednesday.

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