Cardinals Health Notes: Mikolas, Goldschmidt
Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas received a platelet-rich plasma injection back in February, but he’s continued to make progress over the past few months. He’s apparently nearing full recovery, as he tells reporters, including Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that he anticipates being in the club’s season-opening rotation.
Mikolas will throw approximately 40 pitches to live hitters in an intrasquad game early next week, Hummel adds. That seemingly represents the final step in his build-up toward readiness for the regular season.
Also ready for the season opener is Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy was nagged a bit by a sore right elbow in the first iteration of Spring Training, Hummel notes. Nearly four months later, Goldschmidt tells Hummel his elbow is back to 100 percent. The 32-year-old’s first season in St. Louis was a bit of a down year relative to Goldschmidt’s lofty standards. A fully healthy season from the star first baseman would go a long way towards the Cards’ hopes of repeating as NL Central champions.
2020 will mark the first year of a five-year, $130MM contract extension Goldschmidt signed at the outset of the 2019 season. Whereas Goldy might not have opened this season at full health had it begun in March as planned, it seems he has generally benefited from the three-month stoppage, allowing his elbow to get back to where it should be.
Two White Sox Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
The White Sox announced today that two players have tested positive for COVID-19 (h/t to James Fegan of the Athletic). Fortunately, both players are currently asymptomatic. Per the announcement, they are in isolation in Chicago and are being monitored by team medical staff. As is their right, each player has chosen to remain anonymous.
Those positive tests took place during the intake process, meaning that those two players did not participate in any team activities during the beginning of camp.
The players will undergo follow-up testing in the coming days, the club announced. As per MLB’s COVID-19 protocols, neither will be allowed to return to action unless and until they are free of symptoms (as these two players currently are) and twice test negative for the virus, with the tests to be administered at least 24 hours apart.
Troy Stokes Likely Out For Season With Broken Hamate
Tigers left fielder Troy Stokes, Jr. underwent surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his hand, manager Ron Gardenhire announced earlier this week (h/t to Evan Woodbery of MLive). He is expected to miss the entire season.
This explains Stokes’ omission from the Tigers’ Summer Camp player pool. He remains on the 40-man roster, although it seems only a matter of time before he’s transferred to the 45-day injured list.
Originally a fourth-round pick of the Brewers in 2014, Stokes became a prospect of some note with his original organization. On his way up the minor-league ladder, Stokes offset high strikeout rates with a fair number of walks and an enticing combination of power and speed. Unfortunately, he struggled in his first crack at Triple-A in 2019, hitting .233/.341/.385 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
It’s brutal news for the 24-year-old Stokes, whom the Tigers claimed off waivers from Milwaukee last September. He has yet to make his MLB debut but looked to have a shot at cracking a young, uncertain outfield in Detroit this season.
Royals Notes: Matheny, COVID-19, Kuntz
With positive coronavirus tests dominating the news from training camps around baseball, Mike Matheny told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan) Saturday that he also contracted COVID-19 “about a month ago.” The Royals manager said he has recovered fully, though not without first experiencing some symptoms.
“We had a family member test positive, so we knew even before the test because we had exposure, so my wife and I took off and we quarantined just the two of us,” Matheny said. “And it was just the way they said it might happen, about three days [after exposure], I started feeling it. But we laid low and quarantined and stayed away from people and it ran its course. Fortunately I’ve been tested with the right antibody and looking forward now to donating some plasma to help out however we can.”
Owing to the unpredictable nature of the virus, Matheny said his wife Kristin “never had any symptoms and never tested positive,” even though the couple stayed together during the quarantine period. Now, Matheny is at the Royals’ training camp in preparation (after several months of delay) for his first season as Kansas City’s skipper.
While it’s certainly good news that the Mathenys have a clean bill of health, the specter of COVID-19 continues to linger over every team in the league, the Royals included. News broke yesterday that Salvador Perez was quarantining after a positive coronavirus test, and the club announced Friday that longtime coach Rusty Kuntz wouldn’t be coaching first base in the coming season.
The 65-year-old Kuntz is at a greater risk for COVID-19 due to his age, and GM Dayton Moore noted the large amount of travel associated with being part of a baseball team also presented an additional danger. Instead, Kuntz will remain based out of Kansas City, still able to offer coaching and advisory tips to Matheny from the safer distance of a Kauffman Stadium suite.
Damon Hollins will move from his minor league outfield/baserunning coordinator role to take over as first base coach for Kuntz, who returned to the position just this past offseason. Kuntz previously worked as the Royals’ first base coach from 2008-10 and 2012-17, spending the last two seasons as a special assistant to Moore.
Braves Coach Eric Young Sr. Opts Out Of 2020 Season
Braves first base coach Eric Young Sr. has decided to step away from his role for the 2020 season, manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Young is reportedly a higher-risk candidate for COVID-19, though as Burns notes, the team didn’t disclose the specifics of the 53-year-old Young’s health situation.
Young has been Atlanta’s first base coach for the last two seasons, and has six prior years of first base coaching experience with the Diamondbacks and Rockies before joining the Braves organization. Of course, Young is probably best remembered for his 15-season playing career, which saw him rack up 465 steals (tied for 48th in baseball history) playing with seven different teams from 1992-2006. Young’s son, Eric Jr., is also a ten-year MLB veteran.
“It was a tough decision for [Young]. He’s a gamer,” Snitker said. “We’ll miss him dearly because of what he brings inside this clubhouse, the energy. He’s chosen to opt out, we respect that. I respect him even more for doing that and (being with) his family.”
DeMarlo Hale will step into Young’s role as the first base and outfielders coach. Hale joined the Braves as a special assistant and minor league coach last season, and he has a long relationship with GM Alex Anthopoulos from their time together in Toronto (when Hale was the Blue Jays’ bench coach and Anthopoulos was the general manager). Young will continue to work with the team in a consulting role, with Snitker saying that Young “will be available for the club (virtually). He’ll be in constant communication with DeMarlo and the outfielders.”
Felix Hernandez Opts Out Of 2020 Season
Felix Hernandez is the latest player who has opted against participating in the 2020 season, as his agent Wilfredo Polidor tweeted this evening. The longtime Mariners ace and former AL Cy Young Award winner signed a minor league deal with the Braves in January, and was named on Atlanta’s initial 60-man player pool.
Concerns over the COVID-19 crisis prompted Hernandez’s decision, as has been the common theme among other players (David Price, Ian Desmond, Joe Ross, Tyson Ross, Mike Leake, Ryan Zimmerman, and Welington Castillo) who have also declined to play in the abbreviated 2020 season. That list will surely grow in the coming days and weeks as more players consider their personal situations and health situations around the United States.
In Hernandez’s case, he will be foregoing what was shaping up as an interesting semi-comeback attempt back in Spring Training. The right-hander has struggled with both injuries and ineffectiveness over the last three seasons, including a 6.40 ERA over 71 2/3 innings in 2019. Departing Seattle after 15 years, Hernandez caught on with the Braves and posted a 1.98 ERA over 13 2/3 frames of Spring Training work, creating some excitement that “King Felix” had a bounce-back performance left in the tank.
Hernandez was one of the favorites for the rotation spot left open by Cole Hamels‘ injury, though the delayed start to the 2020 season has meant that Hamels will likely be available by the new Opening Day (projected for July 23). This left only the fifth starter job open, with Kyle Wright and Sean Newcomb in competition with Hernandez. It’s possible the Braves could join other teams in deploying a six-man rotation or more creative methods like openers or piggybacked starters in order to keep everyone fresh, though they will have one less option on hand with Hernandez now unavailable.
Retirement was rather definitively not on Hernandez’s mind last September, and while sitting out the season doesn’t mean Hernandez is any closer to calling it a career, he’ll face a tougher path in finding another minors deal this coming winter. Despite his past track record, the righty will be hampered by his lack of recent results, his age (35 next April), and the fact that Hernandez will have gone over 18 months without a big league appearance. The 2020-21 free agent market is also likely to be the most unusual and competitive in history, as team financial restraints could result in a lot of veterans having to settle for lower-than-expected deals, squeezing the market even further for reclamation projects like Hernandez. That said, there’s no risk to a team in taking a flier on Hernandez on a minor league contract and seeing what he has next spring.
4 Marlins Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
Four Marlins players have tested positive for COVID-19, president of baseball operations Michael Hill told reporters (including the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson) today. The players’ identities aren’t known since they didn’t consent to having their names publicly released, as per league COVID-19 protocols, though all four are members of the Marlins’ 60-man player pool.
Three of the players are already “nearing the end of their quarantine,” Hill said, as the trio tested positive within the last two weeks and prior to their arrival in Miami for the start of the Marlins’ training camp. The fourth player produced a positive test on Wednesday during the intake screening that all players must pass before taking part in Summer Camp, and that player is now in quarantine himself. Any positive test requires a mandatory two-week isolation period, and if a player is then symptom-free, he must deliver negative results on two different COVID-19 tests before being allowed back into team activities.
“We’ve very pleased that a majority of our players made it through intake without it, but this is a daily battle, the disease is still out there,” Hill said. “The pandemic is still out there. Florida’s recording record highs and daily reports of the virus. We have to continue to be mindful. We have to continue to be smart.”
Ryan Braun: “It’s More Likely That I Play” In 2021
2020 is the final guaranteed year of Ryan Braun‘s contract, and the longtime Brewers slugger hinted last January that he could potentially retire at season’s end. However, in comments today to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak and other reporters Braun said “I feel like it’s more likely that I play another year than I anticipated a few months back.”
Both the shorter 60-game schedule and the ability to serve as a designated hitter are contributing to Braun’s mindset. “For me personally, playing a smaller number of games is something that’s beneficial,” Braun said, and “where I’m at in my career, it’s very appealing to me to have the option to DH for a decent percentage of my at-bats.” Though no decision has been made about whether or not the DH will remain in the National League beyond the 2020 season, it has been widely speculated that MLB could adopt the DH across both leagues in 2021 pending another single-year deal between the owners and players, and then from 2022 and beyond depending on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
A universal DH would obviously be a boon to older players like Braun, who turns 37 in November. An outfielder for much of his career, Braun has missed his share of time to the injured list due to back and leg injuries, and was originally slated for part-time first base duty (as well as some time in the outfield) for the Brew Crew back when the 2020 season was expected to proceed as scheduled.
Now, Braun projects to get the bulk of Milwaukee’s DH at-bats, which could perhaps lead to a late-career surge. While Braun’s injuries have somewhat limited his production over the last three seasons, he has still been an above-average bat (111 wRC+, 112 OPS+) over 1380 PA from 2017-19, hitting .270/.331/.488 with 59 home runs.
If Braun does want to play next year, of course, the next hurdle could be in finding a team. Braun and the Brewers share a $15MM mutual option on his services for 2021 and, like most mutual options, it is a near-certainty to be declined. While the Brewers wouldn’t want Braun at a $15MM price tag, however, Rosiak notes that the two sides could work out a less expensive one-year contract for Braun to return for his 15th Major League season. The x-factor is the complete unknown that is the 2020-21 free agent class, as it remains to be seen how teams will operate in the wake of a season that saw such a massive decline in revenues, and whether non-superstar free agents will see a real squeeze on contracts.
Phillies Keep Nola, Haseley, Bethancourt Out Of Camp Due To COVID-19 Protocols
7:55PM: Updating his initial story, Breen reports that Nola, Haseley, and Bethancourt haven’t been placed on the COVID-19 injured list. The three players have been kept out of camp due to coronavirus protocols, however, and could end up on the IL at some point.
5:41PM: Right-hander Aaron Nola, outfielder Adam Haseley, and utilityman Christian Bethancourt have been placed on the Phillies’ coronavirus injured list, according to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team has yet to publicly announce the placements, and aren’t required to specify the reason for each player’s IL stint unless given permission by the players.
Placement on the COVID-19 IL doesn’t necessarily mean a player has the virus, as it could be that any or all of the trio only have symptoms, or came into contact with someone who was positive for coronavirus. None of the three players have reported to the Phillies’ Summer Camp, as manager Joe Girardi said that Haseley was away “due to a medical condition,” and that in Nola’s case, “we’re trying to work our way through that.”
Nola, Haseley, and Bethancourt join Scott Kingery, Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter, and Ranger Suarez on Philadelphia’s already troublingly-large COVID-19 injured list. It isn’t known if any of the players were among the dozen positive tests of players and staffers stemming from an outbreak at the Phillies’ Spring Training facility in Clearwater, though the Phils have certainly been the team hardest-hit by the virus to date. A positive test results in a two-week quarantine, and the player must be symptom-free and have two negatives tests before returning to the field, so it’s possible the Phillies could be missing a significant chunk of their regular roster if even a few of these seven indeed have the virus.
Nola is Philadelphia’s projected Opening Day starter, while Haseley was penciled in for at least a share of center field duties. Since Kingery was expected to cover the rest of the center field playing time, the Phils could be very short-handed up the middle if both Haseley and Kingery are out of action.
DJ LeMahieu, Luis Cessa Test Positive For COVID-19
Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu and right-hander Luis Cessa have both tested positive for the coronavirus, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including ESPN’s Marly Rivera). Cessa has mild symptoms, while LeMahieu is asymptomatic. Neither player has arrived at the Yankees’ Summer Camp, as both were tested before making the trip to New York.
As per the league’s COVID-19 policy, LeMahieu and Cessa are under quarantine for a two-week period, and will then have to exhibit no symptoms and test negative twice for the virus before being cleared to play. With Opening Day tentatively scheduled for July 23, that leaves some time for either player to make the initial 30-man roster, though Cessa might need a bit more time to get his arm in proper shape.
LeMahieu is coming off a superb debut season with the Yankees, as the veteran finished fourth in AL MVP voting and collected Silver Slugger honors after hitting .327/.375/.518 with 26 home runs in 655 plate appearances. After getting a lot of playing time at first, second, and third base last season, LeMahieu is expected to be New York’s regular second baseman now that Gleyber Torres is taking over at shortstop, though LeMahieu’s versatility will give Boone some valuable flexibility in juggling his lineup.
Cessa has worked as a reliever and occasional starter for the Yankees over his four MLB seasons, and posted a 4.11 ERA, 2.42 K/BB rate, and 8.3 K/9 over 81 innings (all as a reliever) in 2019. This workhorse-like ability to eat innings is particularly valuable in a short season, where New York’s entire staff will be called upon while the starters get ramped up.