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Cubs Place Owen Caissie On 7-Day Concussion IL

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The Cubs announced this afternoon that they’ve placed outfielder Owen Caissie on the 7-day concussion-related injured list. Outfielder Kevin Alcantara was recalled from Triple-A to replace Caissie on the active roster.

The move comes just one day after the Cubs recalled Caissie to the big league roster and optioned Alcantara to the minors. Caissie started yesterday’s game against the Rays but exited the game after hitting his head against the outfield wall at Wrigley Field while making a catch. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun Times) that Caissie was being put through the concussion protocol after yesterday’s game. Evidently, Caissie’s symptoms were severe enough that they opted to place him on the shelf and get him time to recover.

That decision well might bring Caissie’s first season in the big leagues to an end, depending on the severity of his concussion symptoms. If that’s the case, he’ll end 2025 with just 12 games and 27 plate appearances in the big leagues, during which he collected five hits (including a double and a homer) and one walk against eleven strikeouts. That cup of coffee pairs with a strong performance with Iowa this year, where he slashed .286/.386/.551 with 22 homers and 28 doubles in just 99 games. A consensus top-50 prospect in the game, Caissie could get a lot more runway with the Cubs come next season if Kyle Tucker departs the club via free agency in the offseason.

For now, however, his roster spot will go to Alcantara. A fellow top Cubs prospect generally viewed as sitting near the back of the league-wide top 100, Alcantara has appeared in just three games this year. He’s gone 1-for-7 with three strikeouts this year and figures to serve mostly as a bench piece for the Cubs in the coming weeks, though injuries could offer him more opportunities. Both Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki are currently unavailable; Suzuki due to an illness that has left him day-to-day in recent days, and Tucker due to a calf issue that’s sent him to the injured list. Fellow top prospect Moises Ballesteros (7-for-28 with three extra base hits) is getting a look at DH at the moment, and that leaves right field open for some combination of Alcantara and Willi Castro until Suzuki is ready to return to games. Once Suzuki is back, Alcantara, Ballesteros, and Castro will all be competing for playing time until Tucker’s eventual return to the lineup.

That might not be for a while, as Counsell told reporters (including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic) on Friday that Tucker returning as soon as he’s eligible to be activated on Tuesday is “unlikely right now.” Perhaps that stance could change in the coming days, but Tucker has not yet resumed running since he was placed on the injured list. While the Cubs aren’t in danger of losing their playoff spot at this point, getting the star’s 140 wRC+ bat back into the lineup with enough time for him to get settled in before the playoffs begin seems sure to be a top priority for the Cubs over the season’s final two weeks.

Jose Altuve Exits Game With Foot Discomfort

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September 14: GM Dana Brown told the Astros’ pregame radio show today (as relayed by Kawahara) that, while Altuve is set to be out of the lineup, he’s expected to miss “two days tops” due to the foot soreness he suffered from last night.

September 13: The Astros removed veteran star Jose Altuve from their win over the Braves in the third inning today due to what the team has termed “right foot discomfort.” The specifics of Altuve’s ailment weren’t immediately clear, but manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle) after the game that Altuve’s foot began bothering him after he ran the bases in the third inning, leading them to take him out of the game as a precaution.

Espada noted that Altuve is still being evaluated, but the update seems fairly encouraging. It goes without saying that losing Altuve for any amount of time would be a substantial blow to the Astros at a crucial point in the season. They have a measly half-game lead over the Mariners pending the outcome of tonight’s game in Seattle, and the Rangers lurk just two games behind them. While most division leaders have their spot in the postseason locked up at this point, the Astros actually have just an 80.0% chance to make it to October according to Fangraphs, aren’t even favored to win the AL West despite the marginal lead they’re clinging to.

Altuve will be crucial if the club is going to avoid getting overtaken in the postseason race, much less make an impact once they get to October. The longtime second baseman has begun playing some outfield this year due to the team’s lack of quality depth on the grass, although he’s largely split time between second base and DH in more recent weeks. Altuve has been slumping recently, with a .208/.276/.383 slash line n 38 games since the start of August. Those numbers aren’t exactly encouraging, but with a 112 wRC+ on the year and no below average performances since 2013 excepting the shortened 2020 season, Altuve is a relatively safe bet to bounce back if healthy.

The Astros will now need to weigh whether to have him play through the foot issue that’s currently ailing him, or to try and work in some extra rest for him (or even place him on the IL) despite the hotly-contested pennant race the Astros find themselves in. If Altuve does need some time off, the presence of deadline pickup Ramon Urias and longtime utilityman Mauricio Dubon as viable second base options should help to lessen the blow somewhat. Yordan Alvarez occupies the DH slot on most days at this point, leaving the outfield to some combination of Altuve, Dubon, Zach Cole, Taylor Trammell, Cam Smith, Jesus Sanchez, and Jake Meyers on any given day.

Meyers is the only true everyday player in that group, though Cole has gotten off to a hot start and could see regular playing time if he can keep the good times rolling. It seems likely that if Altuve is dealing with a nagging foot issue, the Astros will try to keep his time in the outfield to a minimum. That could mean a larger opportunity for Cole while Sanchez and Smith platoon in right field, leaving Taylor Trammell to spell Cole and see use primarily as a reserve player.

Things could get more complicated if the team makes a deep enough run in the postseason that Isaac Paredes manages to work his way back into the conversation, however. A hamstring injury that seemed as though it might be season-ending sidelined Paredes nearly two months ago, but he decided to forgo surgery in favor of rehabbing in hopes of returning for the postseason. While there’s still no timetable for his return, Espada told reporters (including Kawahara) that Paredes is taking live at-bats at the club’s Spring Training complex in West Palm Beach and has begun to run the bases. It’s not clear what intensity Paredes is currently running at, but Espada said the current plan is for him to simply continue ramping up his at-bats, running, and ground balls at third base in hopes of a return.

If Paredes were to return to action at some point this year, that would leave the Astros with a bit of a positional logjam. Paredes is capable of playing third base, first base, and DH. Carlos Correa and Christian Walker currently occupy the infield corners, however, meaning that Paredes would most likely have to push Alvarez and his lackluster glove into left field by taking up the DH role. If he’s healthy enough to play the field at some point this postseason, it’s at least plausible that the Astros could try Correa at second base with Altuve in left field to fit Paredes at first and keep Alvarez at DH, but there’s plenty of problems with that plan. Correa has no experience at the keystone as a professional, for one, and given Altuve’s own lackluster defense in the outfield it’s debatable how much of an upgrade he would even be over Alvarez.

That could leave Paredes limited to a bench/pinch hitting role in the playoffs if he returns and the Astros don’t want to risk using Alvarez in the outfield, though obviously that would be a great problem for Houston to have considering Paredes’s talent (he made the All-Star game and crushed 19 homers in just 94 games) and the fact that him becoming a factor would likely mean they made a fairly deep postseason run, given his uncertain timeline.

Rangers Activate Adolis Garcia

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The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve activated outfielder Adolis Garcia from the injured list. Dustin Harris was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to create a spot on the active roster.

Garcia, 32, has spent the entire month so far on the injured list due to a quad strain. The veteran has had a tough year this season, hitting just .235/.277/.408 with a wRC+ of 87. While he’s hit 18 homers with 13 steals and even posted a career-low 24.8% strikeout rate, walking at just a 5.1% clip with his lowest hard contact rate since he became a regular player in 2021 has led Garcia to post below-average numbers for a second straight season.

While Garcia’s numbers haven’t been anywhere near the level they were from 2021-23, when he made two All-Star appearances and won a World Series with Texas, he’s actually improved to around league average as the season has gone on. Since June, Garcia is hitting .254/.292/.432 with a wRC+ of 99,  That’s unlikely to be enough production to stop Garcia from being a non-tender candidate this winter, but with the Rangers still hanging on in the playoff picture it’s valuable to get a league average bat with power and speed back into the lineup for the final weeks of the season.

Garcia is in the lineup and batting fourth today, and he’ll likely push Michael Helman and Alejandro Osuna into a platoon with each other going forward. With the Rangers just two games back in both the Wild Card and AL West races, the Rangers will hope that Garcia can help make up for the ongoing absences of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Evan Carter from the lineup—not to mention the club’s losses in the rotation like Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle.

It seemed as though the Rangers might be in for another injury scare last night when Chris Martin abruptly exited last night’s win over the Mets. Fortunately, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News provided a positive update on Martin’s status after the game. Grant noted that while Martin had felt some “tingling” in his hands during last night’s appearance, the Rangers do not believe the situation will require a trip to the IL for Martin. That’s surely a relief for Texas, as an IL stint at this stage in the calendar would end Martin’s regular season even if he missed only the minimum time. Martin has been a key piece of the Rangers’ bullpen when healthy this year, with a 2.54 ERA and 3.30 FIP in 39 innings of work.

As for Harris, the 26-year-old made his big league debut with the Rangers last year and has appeared in just 21 big league games over the past two seasons. A .217/.280/.435 hitter across 50 trips to the plate, Harris has experience at all three outfield spots in the majors and has showed solid pop in his bat despite a 30% strikeout rate. He has some experience at the infield corners in the minor leagues as well, but has stuck exclusively to the outfield in the majors. He’ll head back to Triple-A and wait for his next opportunity, which at this point may not come until next season.

Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut

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September 14: Yesavage will start Monday’s game against the Rays, manager John Schneider told reporters (including Nicholson-Smith) today. Schneider went on to make clear that Yesavage’s role beyond Monday’s game has not yet been decided. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet adds that Schneider told reporters that Yesavage is not on an innings limit this year.

September 13: The Blue Jays are promoting right-hander Trey Yesavage to the majors, according to a report from Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Yesavage is expected to be active on the MLB roster for Monday’s game against the Rays in Tampa.

Yesavage, 22, was selected 20th overall in last year’s draft by Toronto. Viewed by most draft prospect evaluation services as a top-15 talent in his class at the time, he earned some top-100 prospect consideration this past offseason despite not having made his MLB debut yet thanks to a dominant 40.4% strikeout rate a 2.03 ERA in 15 starts for East Carolina last year. Yesavage began his season at the Single-A level and was promoted three separate times throughout the year. He made just four starts for High-A Vancouver before he was promoted to Double-A, and despite a 4.50 ERA in 30 innings at that level 38.0% strikeout rate was enough to convince Blue Jays brass to promote him to Triple-A last month.

Since then, he’s pitched to a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of work while striking out 36.1% of his opponents. That’s an impressive enough figure that the Blue Jays decided to scratch Yesavage from his scheduled start with Buffalo tomorrow and call him up to the majors, though it shouldn’t be taken to mean Yesavage is completely without flaws. The youngster has walked 10.5% of his opponents this year, including 15.3% of his opponents at Triple-A. Those struggles with his command have generally been made up for by his impressive stuff, headlined by a fastball that sits 94-95 to go along with a splitter and a slider.

While the Blue Jays are still hard at work fending off the Yankees (who sit just three games back of Toronto in the AL East), they’re more or less assured of a spot in the postseason at this point. The club has a veteran rotation featuring Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios as things stand. Yesavage is very unlikely to bump anyone from that group from the postseason rotation. It’s at least plausible the Jays could use Yesavage in spot starts over the season’s final weeks to help them line up their ideal postseason rotation for a potential Wild Card series, but the Jays have a real shot at a bye through the Wild Card round and would most likely benefit from seeing what Yesavage can do out of the bullpen.

Toronto’s bullpen has been flagging in recent weeks. Closer Jeff Hoffman has an ERA near 5.00, and deadline acquisition Louis Varland hasn’t taken to Canada very well despite his success in Minnesota earlier this year. With the late innings looking like a major question mark for the Jays headed into the postseason, trying Yesavage out of the bullpen and seeing if he can use his impressive stuff to dominate major league hitters in short bursts could result in the Jays having another power arm for their relief corps to lean on in October if the experiment goes well.

All that talk of October may sound confusing, given that the league’s rules state that a player may not be on a club’s postseason roster if not on the 40-man roster come September 1. There are ways around that, however, and one such loophole that would allow Yesavage to make a postseason roster this year is that clubs are allowed to replace players who are eligible to be activated off the injured list but not yet healthy enough to return, so long as the replacement was active in the organization prior to September 1. Yesavage meets those conditions, and the Jays have plenty of players who he could be considered a replacement for, such as Yimi Garcia.

Yesavage’s September call-up means that he’ll get at least a bit of major league service time this year, but we’ve long past the time where he would be in danger of losing rookie eligibility for the 2026 campaign. Toronto will need to create space on their 40-man roster in order to officially call Yesavage up to the majors on Monday by designating someone for assignment.

Braves Select Luke Williams, Place Jake Fraley On Injured List

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The Braves announced a pair of roster moves this morning. Outfielder Jake Fraley was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique muscle in a move backdated to September 11. To replace Fraley on the roster, Atlanta has selected the contract of infielder Luke Williams. The team already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster, so no additional corresponding move was necessary to accommodate Williams.

Fraley, 30, began his career as a second-round pick with the Rays back in 2016. He was swapped to Seattle in the Mike Zunino trade in 2018 and spent parts of three seasons with the big league Mariners before being shipped to the Reds as part of the return for Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez prior to the 2022 season. Fraley had blossomed into a solid enough platoon bat by that point, and in 373 games from 2021 to 2024 he hit a respectable .254/.340/.416. He finished just shy of a 20/20 season in both 2023 and ’24, with 18 homers and 21 steals in the former campaign followed by a 19-homer, 20-steal effort in the latter.

Taken together, that all paints a picture of Fraley as a perfectly solid contributor to an MLB club. He suffered a bit of a slump this year, however, and hit just .232/.332/.387 for the Reds this year with numbers that got progressively worse as the season continued. That led to Cincinnati designating him for assignment, and the Braves jumped at the opportunity to claim him off waivers given their struggles to find adequate production in the outfield this year.

Fraley’s role ended up being a fairly minor one, however, as Jurickson Profar’s return from his early-season suspension and Michael Harris II’s late-season resurgence at the plate largely pushed him out of the conversation for regular playing time. He’s made just nine appearances for Atlanta this year, hitting .304/.333/.348 across 24 trips to the plate. He’ll now miss at least the next week due to this oblique strain, though with the Braves out of the postseason and minimal time left in the regular season it’s possible his 2025 campaign has now come to an end.

Replacing Fraley on the active roster is Williams, who played in 38 games for the Braves earlier this year before being outrighted to the minors. Now in his fifth MLB season, Williams bounced between the Phillies, Giants, Dodgers, and Marlins before settling with Atlanta in a depth role for the 2023 season. He’s a career .213/.271/.281 hitter who offers virtually no value with the bat, but does possess a solid, versatile glove that allows him to play quality defense all over the diamond as needed. Williams will join Eli White, Vidal Brujan, and Nick Allen in the bench mix as the Braves head into the final weeks of the season.

Latest On The Orioles’ Managerial Plans

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The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde back in May, and since then Tony Mansolino has taken over managerial duties on an interim basis. Mansolino has done reasonably well in the role, as the Orioles have gone on to post a 54-50 record during his time as their interim manager. Turning a team that had one of the worst records in baseball around enough that they’ve won more games than they’ve lost over the past four months is an impressive feat, but Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball suggests that this success doesn’t necessarily mean that Mansolino is a lock to be hired on a permanent basis.

Instead, Dubroff suggests that newly-minted president of baseball operations Mike Elias is likely to conduct a “lengthy” search, and while Mansolino could still be hired in the end the vacancy is likely to attract interest from a number of interesting candidates. It’s easy to see why that would be the case, when comparing Baltimore to the other teams with managerial vacancies. The presence of Paul Skenes gives the Pirates tantalizing potential, but they’ve already wasted his first two seasons under club control and have shown little interest in investing in the team’s payroll to improve the on-field product. The Rockies may not be quite as bad as the 2024 White Sox, but they’re close enough with 108 games already lost this season. The Nationals, meanwhile, have been mired in a rebuild for years and have struggled to get consistency out of even their most talented pieces.

By contrast, the Orioles have an impressive group of positional talent led by a legitimate star in Gunnar Henderson. Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman are reliable, proven pieces, and young talents like Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, and Colton Cowser offer reason for optimism that more offensive output is on the way in future seasons. While the club’s pitching staff needs work and the offense is perhaps a little too reliant on young talent stepping forward next year, Baltimore seems likely to be more aggressive in improving the team this offseason than any of the aforementioned clubs on top of having a stronger baseline of talent.

Given the likely attractiveness of the Orioles job, Dubroff suggests that a wide range of potential names could emerge as candidates. He specifically name-checks a handful of former managers such as Brad Ausmus and Scott Servais and a trio of active bench coaches (Ryan Flaherty of the Cubs, Danny Lehman of the Dodgers, and George Lombard of the Tigers). One name Dubroff makes clear will not be leading the Orioles’ dugout in 2026 is former manager Buck Showalter, who he notes would “not be a good match” with Elias.

One internal candidate aside from Mansolino gets a mention from Dubroff, as well: John Mabry. Mabry was hired as a senior advisor not long after Hyde’s firing, and brings 14 years in the big leagues to the table as well as stints as a hitting coach for the Cardinals, Royals, and Marlins. Dubroff describes Mabry as a “long-shot” candidate for the role, however, which makes some sense; it would be something of a surprise if the Orioles decided to go with an internal hire and didn’t simply retain Mansolino in the role, given his overall success this year.

While it stands to reason that the Orioles are at least considering many of the names Dubroff mentioned, it should be noted that with two weeks to go in the regular season it’s very likely that the full field of managerial vacancies and candidates won’t come together for a while yet. Atlanta skipper Brian Snitker, for example, has not yet decided on whether he’ll retire following the 2025 campaign. There’s always the possibility that another position or two open up as we get closer to the end of the season, when teams around the league take the annual opportunity to evaluate their dugout and front office personnel.

Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List

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The Dodgers announced this evening that they’ve placed catcher Will Smith on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 10, due to a right hand contusion. Catcher Chuckie Robinson was recalled to replace Smith on the active roster.

Smith, 30, has enjoyed a career year with the Dodgers this season as he’s hit .296/404/.497 and landed his third consecutive All-Star appearance. Unfortunately, he was struck by a foul ball on his throwing hand on September 3. He sat out for nearly a week before he returned on September 9, but he hasn’t appeared in a game since. Manager Dave Roberts had previously described the issue as a matter of pain tolerance for Smith, as his ailing hand won’t heal before the end of the year at this point.

That seemed to suggest that Smith and the Dodgers were ready to have him play through the injury while talking days off when possible, but Roberts today told reporters (including Sonja Chen of MLB.com) that “not enough improvement”  has occurred in Smith’s ability to play at this point to continue giving him a spot on the roster and playing without a true backup catcher. Dalton Rushing is already on the injured list due to a shin contusion, which meant that third-string catcher Ben Rortvedt was the only option on the roster who was available in recent days.

Now that Smith has been placed on the shelf, there was room to get Rortvedt some help in the form of Robinson. Robinson has just 51 games in the big leagues to his name, and in that time has hit just .132/.170/.194 with a career wRC+ of -3, meaning he’s 103% worse than a league average hitter. It’s hardly a robust offensive profile, but he’s a very well-regarded defender and his right-handed bat could pair with Rortvedt’s lefty bat to form something of a platoon behind the plate, though neither player is offering much with the bat from either side of the plate.

Solid as Robinson and Rortvedt are defensively, it goes without saying that another week without Smith is a major blow to the Dodgers. He’s arguably been second only to Shohei Ohtani as the team’s most important player this year, and without him impacting the club on both sides of the ball everyday it’s been difficult for the Dodgers to lock up the NL West this September even while the Padres have gone 6-12 over their last 18 games. Surely, L.A.’s lead would be much larger than 2.5 games at this point if they had Smith in the middle of the lineup alongside Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

That makes losing Smith for at least another week a tough pill to swallow, but at this point the Dodgers seem to view it as a necessary sacrifice in order to get Smith as healthy as possible in time for the start of the postseason. The Dodgers have just a 6.8% chance of clinching a bye through the Wild Card series according to Fangraphs, which means that Smith won’t get a substantial break between the regular season and the postseason to rest. The remaining regular season games are far less important than that three-game Wild Card set coming up in October, so it’s understandable that the Dodgers would be prioritizing getting Smith ready for that series at all costs at this point.

Given the nagging, day-to-day nature of Smith’s injury, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him activated after a minimum stay on the injured list. With that being said, it’s possible the Dodgers will want to give him as much time to heal up as possible over the final two weeks of the regular season, so perhaps they’ll take a more careful route with him and wait to bring him back until it’s time for him to tune up ahead of the postseason.

Angels Designate Scott Kingery For Assignment, Promote Denzer Guzman

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The Angels announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Denzer Guzman from Triple-A. Utility infielder Scott Kingery was designated for assignment to make room for Guzman on the 40-man and active rosters. In addition, Anaheim announced that they’ve optioned outfielder Matthew Lugo to Triple-A and recalled infielder Christian Moore.

Guzman, 21, was signed by the Angels as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic and made his professional debut during the 2021 season. After hitting his way out of rookie ball in late 2022, Guzman began to climb the minor league ladder but generally didn’t show much promise with the bat. That was, at least, until this year, when Guzman enjoyed a breakout at the Double- and Triple-A levels. He’s slashed .247/.343/.426 in 129 games between those two levels this year, with 30 doubles, 17 homers, and a 14-17 record on the bases. Some of that breakout seems to have been fueled by the inflated offensive environment found in the Pacific Coast League, but given Guzman’s youth it’s still impressive that he’s been able to hold his own offensively in the upper minors.

The overwhelming majority of Guzman’s work over the years has come at shortstop, though he does have a small amount of experience at third base as well. In the short term, Guzman figures to fill in for Zach Neto at short while the latter player nurses a day-to-day injury. Looking into the future, however, Neto’s presence leaves a long-term roadblock to Guzman getting much time at the position in the majors. Perhaps other spots around the infield could become available as soon as next year with Luis Rengifo and Yoan Moncada ticketed for free agency this winter, and if that comes to pass then a strong first impression for Guzman could get him into the conversation for a larger role in the majors in 2026.

To make room for Guzman on the roster, the Angels are cutting ties with Kingery. The 31-year-old journeyman got his first MLB work since 2022 in with Anaheim this year after signing an MLB deal, though he only ended up appearing in 19 games as he slashed a brutal .148/.207/.185 with a 37.9% strikeout rate in 29 trips to the plate. A former top prospect who signed an ill-fated extension with the Phillies to begin his career, Kingery seemed to take a step forward and become an average regular in 2019 but hit just .144/.205/.250 across 52 MLB games from 2020 to 2022. Assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, Kingery will have the option either elect free agency or stick with the Angels organization in the minors for the remainder of the year.

As for Moore, the rookie returns to the majors without having even used a minor league option, since his assignment lasted less than 20 days. The eighth overall pick of last year’s draft debuted back in June and hit .195/.287/.336 in 39 games for the Angels this year between trips to the injured list and Triple-A. As for Lugo, the 24-year-old made his MLB debut this year but has hit just .232/.243/.464 in 70 appearances, with his excellent slugging numbers boosted by six extra-base hits in his first eight games as a big leaguer.

Giants Place Dominic Smith On Injured List

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5:23pm: Smith has officially been placed on the injured list with a right hamstring strain. Outfielder Jerar Encarnacion was recalled to the roster in a corresponding move.

2:24pm: Patrick Bailey’s walkoff grand slam gave San Francisco a memorable 5-1 win over the Dodgers yesterday, but it wasn’t an entirely perfect night for the surging Giants.  First baseman Dominic Smith had to make an early exit in the fourth inning after suffering a thigh strain, and manager Bob Melvin said postgame that Smith would undergo an MRI.

“Usually those things are a little bit tougher, but I think it’s higher [on his hamstring], which is a little bit better.  We’re not sure where it’s going to go,” Melvin told MLB.com’s Maria Guardado and other reporters, before praising Smith’s determination in completing the play that led to his injury.

Matt Chapman made a diving stop of an Andy Pages grounder in the top of the fourth, and then rocketed a throw across the diamond that was aimed just a bit short of first base.  However, Smith made a big stretch to snag the throw just before Pages hit the bag, and the inning-ending out was upheld after a replay challenge from the Dodgers.  Smith was in obvious discomfort after making the play, and Wilmer Flores pinch-hit for Smith in the bottom half of the fourth.

2025 has been a resurgent season for Smith, who hit only .241/.311/.360 over 1538 plate appearances with four different teams from 2021-24.  Starting this year on a pair of minor league contracts with the Yankees, Smith didn’t receive a call-up, and triggered an opt-out clause to re-enter free agency in June, with the Giants quickly signing the first baseman to a Major League deal.

The result has been a .284/.333/.417 slash line across 225 plate appearances for Smith in a San Francisco uniform.  A .329 BABIP has helped Smith overcome some uninspiring hard contact numbers, but Smith has been making a lot of contact (18.7% strikeout rate) in general.  The majority of his playing time has come against right-handed pitching, as the Giants utilized the lefty-swinging Smith in a first base platoon initially with Flores.

Rafael Devers’ emergence as a first baseman didn’t knock Smith out of the lineup, and Flores has increasingly been the odd man out with Devers and Smith splitting time between the first base and DH slots.  Should Smith have to miss time on the injured list, Flores is the most logical candidate to step into his role.

Smith’s signing didn’t draw much buzz back in June, yet in classic “you just never know” fashion, his health may play a significant factor in the playoff race.  The red-hot Giants have won 14 of their 18 games and the Mets are on a seven-game losing streak, leaving San Francisco just a half-game behind New York for the final NL wild card slot.  With things finally clicking for the Giants, the last thing they need is an injury to a player who has become a lineup staple.

Phillies Notes: Wheeler, Romano, Turner, Bohm

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The Phillies have been without ace right-hander Zack Wheeler in their rotation since August 15, and late last month it was announced that he had been recommended for surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. Today, the Phillies revealed to reporters (including Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic) that Wheeler is set to go under the knife on September 23.

At the time of the club’s original announcement about Wheeler needing surgery, it was suggested that the procedure typically came with a 6-8 month recovery timeline. Assuming that holds true, Wheeler going under the knife later this month would mean that he could return to the Phillies’ rotation sometime in the first half of 2026. A best case scenario would seem to suggest that he’d miss the first few weeks of the regular season, with the longer end of that projected timeline getting Wheeler back on the mound a couple of weeks before the All-Star break. Of course, timelines like this are all largely hypothetical until the procedure actually occurs, and even afterwards there’s always the possibility of a setback or other developments changing the time table even further.

Still, the idea that Wheeler should be back on the mound at some point in the first half next year should surely be encouraging for fans in Philadelphia. The unquestioned ace of the club’s rotation, Wheeler has become more important to the team than ever as Ranger Suarez enters what could be the final weeks of his Phillies tenure with free agency coming up in November while Aaron Nola scuffles through a career-worst season. Cristopher Sanchez’s emergence as a legitimate front-of-the-rotation arm will go a long way to helping the team get by without Wheeler to take the lead, but it nonetheless goes without saying that the sooner the 35-year-old can return to the mound, the better off the organization will be.

The club’s news on injured right-hander Jordan Romano offers less reason for optimism. Romano has been on the shelf since August 26 due to finger inflammation, and today manager Rob Thomson provided the update to reporters (including Varnes) that Romano has been feeling numbness in his middle finger and stiffness in his neck. Thomson went on to suggest that it could be a “nerve thing” that Romano is dealing with, though he did not elaborate beyond that.

Romano has had a tough season with the Phillies after signing a one-year deal this winter. He’s pitched to a brutal 8.23 ERA in 42 2/3 innings of work this year despite solid peripherals (including a 3.65 SIERA) thanks in large part to an unbelievably low 49.0% strand rate after entering the season with a career 81.3% figure. While it’s not impossible to imagine Romano righting the ship if he can only come back healthy, the possibility of a lingering nerve problem being the cause of his inflammation would seemingly create pessimism about his ability to return this season and help the Phillies out during the postseason before he returns to free agency in November.

There’s more optimistic news to be had on the positional side of things, at least, as both Alec Bohm and Trea Turner are both making progress as they look to return from the injured list. Both players were placed on the shelf on September 8. Bohm was dealing with shoulder soreness, while Turner had been diagnosed with a grade 1 hamstring strain. With the Phillies in the thick of the playoff race and in position to claim a bye through the Wild Card round of the postseason, getting the left side of the club’s infield back in action as soon as possible would be a massive boost. Fortunately, Varnes relays that Turner did some running and played catch today with an eye towards swinging a bat later this week, while Bohm is already set to hit off a tee today.

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