Latest On Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil
The Mets placed outfielder Michael Conforto and second baseman Jeff McNeil on the injured list on May 17, but both players are going to miss much more time than the 10-day minimum. Mets acting general manager Zack Scott said Monday that Conforto and McNeil have “significant hamstring strains” that will shelve them until late June, per Laura Albanese of Newsday.
Conforto has largely been an offensive standout with the Mets since he debuted in 2015, but this news continues a difficult platform season for the 28-year-old. He’s off to a so-so start (by his standards) with a .230/.356/.336 line and a pair of home runs in 135 plate appearances. It’ll now be several more weeks before Conforto can try to rebound in advance of a potential trip to free agency.
The Mets’ outfield, meanwhile, is in a tattered state. Along with Conforto, they’re down Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Pillar and Albert Almora Jr. – all of whom have been on the IL for at least a week. As a result, the team is forced to rely on a starting alignment of Cameron Maybin, Johneshwy Fargas and Khalil Lee in the grass. It’s obviously not ideal for New York, but the club is nonetheless up a game and a half in the National League East.
Like Conforto, McNeil hasn’t been at the top of his game this year, though he was enjoying a solid month prior to his IL placement. Overall, the 29-year-old has batted .242/.336/.374 with three home runs over 113 trips to the plate, and the versatile McNeil has been the Mets’ No. 1 choice at the keystone. Jose Peraza and Jonathan Villar have also racked up at least a handful of starts there, but the latter has mostly handed third base since another of New York’s top hitters – J.D. Davis – landed on the IL on May 2 with a sprained left hand.
Cardinals Place Miles Mikolas On 10-Day IL Due To Forearm Tightness
MAY 24: Mikolas will visit Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday for a second opinion, Jones tweets.
MAY 23: Mikolas has been placed on the 10-day injured list, the Cardinals announced. Right-hander Junior Fernandez was called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.
MAY 22, 9:38 pm: Mikolas is headed for an MRI tonight, manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat).
8:03 pm: Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas left this evening’s start against the Cubs before the fifth inning after a visit from the trainer. The team later announced he was removed with right forearm tightness. Daniel Ponce de Leon was called on to replace him.
Mikolas’ start today marked his return to a big league mound for the first time in nineteen months. He missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right forearm. Expected to return at the start of this year, Mikolas ultimately wound up delayed nearly two months by a shoulder issue. Any pitcher exiting in the middle of a start with forearm tightness is concerning, since that can often be a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Given Mikolas’ recent injury history, it’s especially alarming.
The 32-year-old did make three successful rehab starts with Triple-A Memphis before getting back on a big league mound. In this evening’s game, Mikolas’ fastball was in the 89-92 MPH range, topping out at 92.7 MPH. That’s below the 93-94 MPH he averaged on his heater in 2018-19, although it hadn’t seemed particularly surprising his velocity would be down a bit given his long layoff from pitching.
The Cardinals already had a five-man starting staff of Jack Flaherty, Kwang-hyun Kim, Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martínez and John Gant before Mikolas’ return. If this latest issue ends up forcing him back to the injured list, those players figure to continue taking the ball every fifth day.
Marlins Injury Notes: Marte, Sanchez, Alfaro, Cabrera
4:36pm: Miami has activated Alfaro and optioned Wallach to Triple-A, Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extrabase tweets.
3:03pm: The Marlins have been without some of their top names, but the team revealed today that Starling Marte, Sixto Sanchez, and Jorge Alfaro are all taking steps towards returning to the active roster. MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola (Twitter link) was among those to report that on Tuesday, Marte will begin a Triple-A rehab assignment and Sanchez will throw his first bullpen session of the season. Alfaro, meanwhile, has rejoined the Marlins after his own rehab assignment, but he may not be activated from the injured list for tonight’s game.
Marte suffered a rib fracture back on April 18, cutting short a great (.316/.420/.491 with two home runs) start for the outfielder over his first 69 plate appearances. After over a month away, Marte’s rehab stint will likely last at least a couple of games, but assuming no setbacks, he should be on pace to return to the Marlins lineup in relatively short order. That would be welcome news for a Miami team that is struggling to generate offense, but even with a modest 22-24 record, the Marlins are still only two games back of first place in the congested NL East.
Getting Sanchez back on the mound would also be a boost to Miami’s rotation, as Sanchez has yet to pitch in 2021. COVID protocols delayed the right-hander’s arrival in Spring Training until the middle of March, and Sanchez was then sidetracked by shoulder inflammation. As of earlier this month, the Marlins were hopeful Sanchez would return at some point in June, which still seems like a realistic timetable if Sanchez is now ready to start throwing bullpens.
Alfaro was struggling to the tune of a .229/.250/.257 slash line over 36 PA before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list on April 21. Veteran Sandy Leon has seen the majority of playing time at catcher in Alfaro’s absence, so Chad Wallach might be the odd man out when Alfaro returns since Wallach still has minor league options remaining.
In more Marlins injury news, pitching prospect Edward Cabrera threw a 20-pitch, live batting practice session on Saturday, and he will have a similar session at some point this week. Cabrera has been sidelined by an inflamed nerve in his biceps since February. The right-hander is regarded as one of the Marlins’ top minor leaguers and a top-100 prospect in all of baseball, but thanks to his injury setback, it doesn’t seem likely that Cabrera will make his MLB debut in 2021. Cabrera reached the Double-A level in 2019, acquitting himself well with a 2.56 ERA and 27.56% strikeout rate in 38 2/3 innings.
Padres To Place Trent Grisham On 10-Day IL
The Padres will place center fielder Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a heel bruise, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune was among those to report. They’ll recall outfielder Brian O’Grady to take his roster spot.
This adds to an already injury-shortened year for Grisham, who began the season on the IL because of a strained hamstring and didn’t make his debut until April 9. When healthy, though, the 24-year-old has been fantastic. In his second season as a Padre, Grisham has slashed .301/.383/.515 with six home runs and seven stolen bases in 154 plate appearances. And Grisham, who won a Gold Glove Award in 2020, has accounted for four Defensive Runs Saved and put up a 0.9 Ultimate Zone Rating in the field in the early going.
On the rare occasions the Padres haven’t used Grisham in center this year, they’ve mostly turned to Tommy Pham at the position. Pham has had a difficult start to the season (.193/.342/.216 in 149 trips to the plate), though his production has taken a turn for the better this month.
Tigers Place Wilson Ramos On 10-Day IL, Reinstate Derek Holland
The Tigers placed catcher Wilson Ramos on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar spine strain. Ramos will be replaced on the active roster by southpaw Derek Holland, who is returning from an IL stint of his own due to a shoulder strain.
This is the second time this month that Ramos has been sidelined by the same injury. Ramos’ previous IL stint lasted the minimum ten days before he was activated on May 17, but clearly something wasn’t quite right, as he hit only .087 over 24 plate appearances after his return.
Ramos signed a one-year, $2MM free agent deal with the Tigers during the offseason, and got off to a very strong start in his first few weeks in Motown before cooling off at the plate. With the brutal stretch between his IL stints now severely weighing down his numbers, Ramos has a .200/.238/.392 slash line over 128 PA in 2021.
Ramos had mostly been serving as a designated hitter after his return from the injured list, and thus the Tigers have already had three catchers on the roster. Eric Haase and Jake Rogers will now officially be handling all the catching duties until Ramos is healthy.
Holland signed a minors deal with Detroit and ended up making the Opening Day roster, giving the veteran left-hander a 13th Major League season under his belt. Holland has struggled to a 13.00 ERA over nine innings, pitching mostly as a reliever.
Brewers Recall Keston Hiura
2:20PM: Hiura has been officially called up, with the Brewers announcing that right-hander Alec Bettinger was optioned to Triple-A. In addition, Jace Peterson was reinstated from the 10-day injured list and then designated for assignment.
10:19AM: The Brewers are returning infielder Keston Hiura to the big league club, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). The Brewers have not yet announced the move, nor do we know the corresponding roster move at this time.
Hiura had one of the more disappointing starts to the season, slashing just .152/.247/.266 in 89 plate appearances before his demotion. The 24-year-old seems to have figured something out in Triple-A, however. In nine games with the Nashville Sounds, Hiura mashed to the tune of .438/.526/.906 with three home runs in 38 plate appearances. Obviously, that doesn’t guarantee that Hiura has fixed whatever ails him, but it’s a step in the right direction.
With the recent Willy Adames trade, the Brewers now feature a full infield. Adames, Kolten Wong, Daniel Vogelbach, Luis Urias, Travis Shaw, and Daniel Robertson are all in the mix for infield reps. With Hiura, that’s seven players for four positions. Hiura also makes 14 position players, which is almost certainly one more than the team is willing to carry at a time, so somebody will be on the move. Urias and outfielder Tyrone Taylor are the only two players with options remaining.
Mariners Claim Travis Blankenhorn
The Mariners claimed infielder Travis Blankenhorn off waivers from the Dodgers, as per a team press release. Blankenhorn has been assigned to Triple-A.
This is the second time this month that Blankenhorn has changed teams on the waiver wire, as he was previously designated for assignment by the Twins and then claimed by the Dodgers. Blankenhorn’s time in the Dodgers organization consisted of just three games at Triple-A Oklahoma City before Los Angeles also DFA’ed him on Friday.
A third-round pick for Minnesota in the 2015 draft, Blankenhorn has hit .256/.324/.429 over 1955 career plate appearances in the minors, mostly playing second and third base but also seeing some time at first base, shortstop, and in left field. Only six of Blankenhorn’s 468 minor league games have come at the Triple-A level. He also has two MLB appearances on his resume, appearing in exactly one game with the Twins in both 2020 and 2021.
Rockies Claim Rio Ruiz, Designate Bret Boswell
The Rockies announced that that infielder Rio Ruiz has been claimed off waivers from the Orioles. Infielder/outfielder Bret Boswell has been designated for assignment to create roster space for Ruiz.
Ruiz was a waiver claim himself back in December 2018, when the Orioles plucked him away from the Braves. Ruiz has been a regular in his two-plus seasons in Baltimore, appearing in 213 games and receiving 718 plate appearances, but he has hit only .220/.292/.380.
Third base has been Ruiz’s primary position, both with the Orioles and in three previous seasons with the Braves. However, Ruiz has also seen action at both second base and third base, so he brings some versatility to Colorado’s depth chart. The Rockies have a lot of right-handed hitters on their bench, though Ruiz has actually hit lefty pitching better than righties over his career.
Boswell was selected out of the University of Texas in the eighth round of the 2017 draft. After posting some big numbers in his first two pro seasons, Boswell spent the 2019 season with the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate, but hit a modest .219/.290/.397 over 404 PA.
No Extension Talks Between Brandon Crawford, Giants
Star shortstops abound in the 2021-22 free agent market, but of all the shortstops slated to hit the open market this winter, Brandon Crawford leads the way in fWAR. In fact, Crawford’s 1.6 fWAR ranks fourth among all shortstops in baseball, as the longtime Giants fixture is enjoying a career year at age 34. Crawford is hitting .256/.336/.543 with 11 homers in 146 plate appearances, with a 138 wRC+ and 144 OPS+ that would both easily be new personal bests if Crawford can keep it going throughout the 2021 season.
Between his unexpectedly strong bat and his still-solid glove, Crawford has been a big part of the Giants’ success to this point. Now in his 11th season in the Bay Area, Crawford “would definitely love to finish my career here with the Giants,” he told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. However, “there haven’t been any talks or anything like that. I’m focused on winning the game each night and playing my best throughout the years. These things will fall into place.”
It is still early in the season, of course, but there appears to be some stability in Crawford’s underlying metrics. He ranks in the 90th percentile of all hitters in barrel rate (14.9%), and his hard-hit ball numbers have been on the rise over the last two seasons. Crawford’s .353 xwOBA is above average, and not far below his .372 wOBA.
Crawford told Slusser that the Giants’ coaching staff made some changes to his batting stance and his swing, in an attempt to “keep my swing more on plane for a longer time,” Crawford said. “So you’re able to hit the fastball but then if you’re a little bit out front, you’re able to stay on plane with the baseball a little bit longer and still drive an offspeed pitch.” The result is that Crawford has been crushing four-seam fastballs this season, and he’s generally succeeded against all types of pitches except some below-average numbers against curveballs.
Crawford is in the final season of a six-year, $75MM extension signed in November 2015. For a while, it seemed like this contract was becoming an albatross, as he posted below-average offensive numbers from 2017-19 and even his glovework started to drop off in 2018 and 2019. This season, however, the Giants have gotten quite a bit of production from not only Crawford, but all of the other high-priced veterans (Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria, Johnny Cueto, and Buster Posey) who all seemed to be a decline phase, though Crawford and Belt also hit well in 2020.
It creates an interesting dynamic for Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, whose quiet rebuild of the team is already starting to bear fruit a bit early, as the Giants are 28-19 in Zaidi’s third season running the front office. Crawford and Belt are free agents and the Giants hold club options on Posey and Cueto for 2022, so the expectation has been that San Francisco would have a ton of salary coming off the books this winter, and plenty of room to spend on some higher-priced upgrades.
While it’s unlikely that all four veterans are back at Oracle Park next season, it stands to reason that the Giants might have interest in retaining at least one of these familiar faces going forward. Slusser writes that Crawford would “certainly consider a hometown-discount type deal,” which could make sense given that Crawford is both a local product (from nearby Mountain View, California) and because he has been so open about being a Giant for life. While there haven’t been any contract talks thus far, Zaidi and GM Scott Harris could be taking a wait-and-see approach with Crawford’s hot start.
If Crawford is open to a below-market contract, that could certainly help his chances of a new deal with the team. Top prospect Marco Luciano is a looming factor, but Luciano is currently in Single-A and doesn’t turn 20 until September, so he still might be a couple of years away from the big leagues. It’s certainly possible to consider a scenario where the Giants re-sign Crawford for another year or two as a bridge to Luciano as the shortstop of the future.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/24/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Reds announced that right-hander Carson Fulmer has been outrighted to Triple-A Louisville. Fulmer cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Saturday. It marks a rare trip through DFA limbo for Fulmer that didn’t result in a change of address, as the righty has been claimed off waivers five times since July 2020. The Reds were the fifth team to claim Fulmer, and he has a 6.66 ERA over 25 2/3 relief innings for Cincinnati this season.