KBO’s Samsung Lions Close To Deal With Daniel Palka
The Samsung Lions of the KBO League are closing in on a deal with outfielder Daniel Palka, according to DKTV’s Daniel Kim (Twitter link). The White Sox still control Palka’s rights, though since he was outrighted off their 40-man roster last November and wasn’t included on the team’s 60-man player pool this month, Palka doesn’t appear to be in Chicago’s future plans.
Palka burst into the majors in 2018 and finished fifth in AL Rookie Of The Year balloting on the strength of his 27 homers in 449 plate appearances, though his overall batting line (.240/.294/.484) didn’t hint at much beyond raw power. A brutal start to the 2019 season led to a pretty quick demotion to the minors for Palka, and he didn’t receive much more extended playing time until September, finishing with an ugly .372 OPS over 93 PA for the season.
There’s a lot of swing-and-miss in Palka’s game, as he struck out 188 times over his 542 Major League plate appearances, though he has shown considerable more promise at the plate during his minor league career. Over 2287 PA in the farm systems of the Diamondbacks, Twins, and White Sox, Palka hit .269/.349/.500 with 136 homers. A move to South Korea and the hitter-friendly KBO League could be just what Palka needs to get his career back on track and perhaps improve his stock for a future contract with a North American club.
Palka would be taking the roster spot left open by another former big leaguer in Tyler Saladino, who is out of action with a back injury. Kim notes that Saladino has been sidelined since July 14, and the fact that the Lions are already lining up a replacement would seem to indicate that the injury could be serious. Performance-wise, Saladino has an impressive .280/.411/.477 slash line through 163 PA in his first KBO season.
Saladino signed with the Lions last winter, coming on the heels of 326 MLB games with the White Sox and Brewers from 2015-19. By coincidence, Saladino and Palka were both members of the 2018 White Sox, though Saladino was already off to Milwaukee before Palka made his big league debut.
Predict The NL East Division Winner
With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway at long last, it’s time to make some predictions. We’re polling the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — though plenty more teams will crack the postseason under the rather inclusive new playoff qualification system. We’ve already surveyed the AL Central and NL Central landscapes, and now we’ll turn to the National League East.
As is the case with the National League more broadly, the NL East looks like it could end up very tightly-packed from start to finish. The Braves have claimed back-to-back division titles and their star young core only figures to get better. Fresh off a World Series win, the Nationals still boast perhaps the game’s top starting rotation. Anthony Rendon’s defection is quite the loss, but the lineup is still chock-full of talent. The Mets, too, have a strong group of bats and an uber-ace in Jacob deGrom. Their defense is questionable and there’s some volatility on the pitching staff, yet there’s no denying the upside. The Phillies have a handful of high-end players but some uncertainty on the mound. It’s a bit more of a long shot in Miami, but the Marlins have built a high-upside young rotation and added a handful of solid veteran position players over the offseason.
Which team do you think is the best of the bunch? (Poll link for app users).
Predict The 2020 N.L. East Division Winner
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Braves 63% (6,603)
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Mets 12% (1,277)
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Nationals 12% (1,266)
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Phillies 8% (790)
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Marlins 5% (485)
Total votes: 10,421
MLBTR Chat Transcript
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Nationals Place Roenis Elias On 60-Day Injured List
The Nationals placed left-hander Roenis Elias on the 60-day injured list due to a flexor strain in his left elbow, manager Davey Martinez told MASNsports.com’s Byron Kerr and other reporters. The placement is retroactive to July 13, when Elias was initially placed the 10-day IL for unspecified reasons, though Martinez said the current injury emerged when Elias was throwing a bullpen session at the Nationals’ minor league training camp.
“He threw yesterday and he didn’t feel right. Got an MRI today and it was a flexor strain,” Martinez said. Because of the backdated placement, Elias will be eligible to return in 45 days rather than 60, though Martinez noted that “we are going to be cautious” with bringing the southpaw along.
Injuries have plagued Elias since he came to Washington as part of a deadline day trade with Seattle, as a hamstring injury limited him to four appearances for the Nats and he then wasn’t included on their postseason roster. It put a sour ending on what had been a pretty solid 2019 season for Elias, as he posted a 3.64 ERA, 2.65 K/BB rate, and an 8.6 K/9 over 47 innings with the Mariners. Elias, who turns 32 later this week, is under team control via arbitration through the 2021 season.
Ken Giles To Undergo MRI On Right Elbow
Blue Jays closer Ken Giles left today’s game with what the team described as right elbow soreness. Called in to preserve a 4-2 Toronto lead in the ninth inning, Giles retired the first two Rays batters he faced before allowing a Joey Wendle double and then two walks, and was then removed from the game. In a post-game chat with Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters, Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Giles would undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the problem.
Any elbow issue is a bad sign for a pitcher, of course, and Giles’ injury could be particularly troublesome given that he was bothered by that same elbow last season. Montoyo didn’t know whether Giles’ current problems were similar to his inflammation issues in 2019, which included an minimal IL stint in June and then a cortisone shot in late July that didn’t lead to a shutdown or another injured list placement, though the timing likely prevented Toronto from dealing Giles to a playoff contender.
Trade speculation continued to swirl around Giles heading into the offseason, and though that talk seemed to diminish once the Jays made some moves (i.e. the Hyun Jin Ryu signing) indicating a push towards contention in 2020, he certainly still stood out as a potential trade candidate if the club fell out of a postseason race. Of course, between the expanded playoff structure and the new August 31 trade deadline, it is hard to know if the Jays will consider themselves true sellers in any scenario besides a total collapse over the next few weeks of play.
A potential injury not only hurts Giles’ trade value and the Blue Jays’ chances of contending, but it also hurts his market value as the closer heads into free agency this winter. Despite his elbow concerns in 2019, Giles still enjoyed an outstanding season, posting a 1.87 ERA, 4.88 K/BB rate, and 14.1 K/9 rate over 53 innings in his first full season with Toronto.
Red Sox Claim Robert Stock
The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Robert Stock off waivers from the Phillies, as per a team press release. Philadelphia designed Stock for assignment earlier this week.
Stock represents the latest new arm in Boston’s organization, as the Sox have also added the likes of Zack Godley, Dylan Covey, and Stephen Gonsalves in recent days in an attempt to shore up a pitching staff thinned by injuries, COVID-related absences (i.e. Eduardo Rodriguez) and opt-outs (Collin McHugh). The Red Sox have optioned Stock to their minor league training site, though it isn’t hard to imagine him getting a call to the MLB roster at some point, as the Sox continue to figure out their optimal bullpen mix.
The hard-throwing Stock has a 4.11 ERA over 50 1/3 career innings, all as a reliever, and all with the Padres from 2018-19. After posting a 2.50 ERA in 39 2/3 frames in 2018, Stock struggled to a 10.13 ERA over 10 2/3 innings last season as his walk rate and homer rate both ballooned, and he also hit the injured list with a biceps strain in September.
Stock was a second-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2009 draft, though he pitched for a few different organizations (as well as stints in Mexico and independent baseball) before finally reaching the Show in 2018. The 30-year-old has a 3.74 ERA, 1.54 K/BB rate, and 8.5 K/9 over 327 career minor league innings, working as a reliever in 210 of his 217 appearances.
Justin Verlander Shut Down With Forearm Strain
Astros ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander has been diagnosed with a forearm strain and has been shut down, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. An MRI yesterday revealed the strain. Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Verlander will be shut down “for a couple of weeks” before he is re-evaluated.
Verlander started the Astros’ season opener on Friday and notched his first win of 2020, throwing six innings of two-run baseball, allowing just three hits and striking out seven. In that start against the Mariners, Verlander’s fastball averaged 94.9 mph and reached as high as 96.7, according to Statcast. Last year, his average fastball velocity was 94.6 mph. He threw 73 pitches, but there weren’t any outward signs that the 37-year-old suffered an injury. Per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, Verlander later told the Astros that his right arm was “tender” during Friday’s game.
He was scheduled to make his next start on Wednesday against the Dodgers. As of now, Baker and the Astros haven’t decided who will replace Verlander on the bump.
Verlander had already encountered his fair share of health troubles during the spring, with a lat strain and right groin surgery forcing him to rehab during the season’s coronavirus-necessitated delay, but he recovered well and was a full go in Spring Training 2.0.
Needless to say, any injury to the staff ace is a crippling blow to one of this year’s World Series favorites. Even with Verlander anchoring the staff, there were doubts about the Astros rotation after the departure of co-ace Gerrit Cole in the winter. With Lance McCullers Jr. coming off Tommy John surgery and Josh James and Jose Urquidy yet to prove themselves capable of shouldering a bigger workload, it was no secret that the Astros rotation would be unable to replicate last year’s historic success.
Of course, Baker’s phrasing means there’s hope that Verlander will be back on the field in a matter of weeks, and if that’s the case, the Astros’ depth would likely allow them to patch together a rotation in the meantime. But if the forearm strain necessitates a long-term IL stint, as we know any arm injury can, the Astros will face much greater problems.
In light of Verlander’s injury, the likes of Zack Greinke, McCullers, James, and Jose Urquidy will step into bigger roles in the Houston pitching staff. That’s not a bad unit, and Greinke has the track record of an ace, but Houston’s depth will undoubtedly be challenged by Verlander’s absence, however long it may be.
An earlier version of this story stated that Verlander would miss the remainder of the season, as per this report. As of now, that is not correct; the only timetable given by the Astros is that Verlander’s forearm strain will be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks.
Blue Jays’ Buffalo Opener Set For August 11
The Blue Jays’ first home game in Buffalo will be played on August 11 against the Marlins, reports Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. Their first “home” games were set to take place July 29-August 2, but those two series will in fact take place in Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Blue Jays won’t be able to instantly move into their temporary home, as Buffalo’s Sahlen Field will require some modifications in order to accommodate Major League Baseball.
As a result, the Blue Jays will take on the unique circumstance of playing “home” games in their opponent’s ballpark, at least for a few days. This week, the Nationals and Phillies will be designated as visitors in their native ballparks, so expect the cardboard cutouts in Philly to take no prisoners while Bryce Harper‘s at bat.
One would imagine the Blue Jays’ early-season schedule becomes that much tougher without a real homestand to fall back on—to say nothing of tough opponents like the Rays and defending champion Nats to open the season, plus the rest of MLB’s East division.
At the very least, Sahlen field should represent some familiarity for many of the team’s young players, who would’ve passed through Triple-A Buffalo while climbing the Jays’ minor-league ranks. Still, there might be some challenges in that its facilities aren’t intended for MLB play, though of course work is being done to meet those standards as best as possible.
Teams won’t benefit from the support of fans in the seats, but there’s something to be said for the luxury of waking up in one’s own bed as opposed to a hotel room. Regardless, it will be interesting to watch the Blue Jays’ season play out in their new, temporary home.
Reds Claim Robel Garcia
The Reds have claimed infielder Robel García off waivers from the Cubs, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. García had been designated for assignment by the Cubs on Thursday. He has been optioned and assigned to the Reds’ alternate training site
The 27-year-old made a name for himself with his hot hitting in the upper levels of the Cubs’ minor-league system. In 98 games between Double- and Triple-A last year, García hit .284/.369/.586 and slugged 27 home runs. He forced his way into the Cubs’ Major League plans, appearing in 31 games and making 80 plate appearances.
His hitting slowed down some at the MLB level, and he struck out in a whopping 43.75% of plate appearances. Nonetheless, he managed a respectable .775 OPS, thanks to his 5 home runs and a passable 8.75% walk rate. Primarily a second baseman, García also played both corner outfield positions during his rookie season.
With an already crowded outfield mix in Cincinnati, he figures to see most of his playing time at second base, which is currently something of a toss-up with Mike Moustakas hitting the injured list; Josh VanMeter occupied that spot this afternoon. VanMeter, a left-handed hitter, could form a platoon with the switch-hitting García, though the latter fared considerably better as a lefty in his first taste of big-league action (to be fair, he got just 20 plate appearances against southpaws).
Corey Kluber Leaves Start With Shoulder Tightness
Corey Kluber made his Rangers debut this afternoon, but it turned out to be an abbreviated one: Kluber exited his start after just one inning and 18 pitches. Rangers Executive VP of Communications John Blake later revealed that Kluber’s premature departure was due to “tightness in the back of his right shoulder.” He’ll be evaluated further on Monday.
Needless to say, we’ll have to wait at least a day for a more detailed evaluation of Kluber’s shoulder, but it’s troubling to see Kluber’s first appearance with his new team cut short. Without a doubt, it’s frustrating for Kluber, who was in need of a fresh start after last year.
Kluber’s Rangers debut was much anticipated not only because of the new threads he’d be wearing, but also because an injury-riddled 2019 campaign limited the two-time Cy Young Award winner to just 7 starts. A forearm fracture and an oblique injury meant that Kluber didn’t get a chance to improve on the lackluster numbers he put up in those 7 games, so Rangers fans had their fingers crossed that it’d be a smooth debut for their big offseason acquisition.
Today marked Kluber’s first time on a Major League mound since May 1 of last year, but it looks like he’ll have to wait even longer to make a real mark on a game. It’s unknown if the tightness in Kluber’s shoulder had been present at any point in training prior to today’s game. Of course, we hope there’s no significant injury here and that Kluber can return to the mound for the Rangers in short order