Cole Hamels Dealing With Shoulder Fatigue
The Cubs received some welcome news Thursday when first baseman Anthony Rizzo, closer Craig Kimbrel and shortstop Addison Russell returned from injuries. But everything isn’t great on that front for the Cubs, who have scratched left-hander Cole Hamels from his Saturday start because of fatigue in his pitching shoulder, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Fellow southpaw Jose Quintana will take his place in that game – an enormous matchup against the archrival Cardinals.
There’s no word on whether Hamels will be able to pitch again this season, but his shoulder issue is one that has troubled him “for several weeks,” Bastian writes. It’s the latest health problem in what was already an injury-shortened season for Hamels, who sat out more than a month earlier in the summer because of an oblique strain. It may also help to explain the recent struggles the normally steady Hamels has endured of late. The 35-year-old hasn’t thrown more than 4 1/3 innings in any of his three September starts, during which he has yielded eight earned runs on 16 hits and 11 walks (with 13 strikeouts) in 11 frames.
Thanks in part to his woes this month, Hamels currently owns a 3.92 ERA (his highest since the end of May) with 8.83 K/9 and 3.66 BB/9 in 137 2/3 innings on the season. The fact that the longtime workhorse hasn’t held up throughout this year, not to mention his age, should bode poorly for him when he enters free agency after the season. In the here and now, though, a limited Hamels is a less-than-ideal development for Chicago, which is fighting for its life in a heated NL playoff race.
Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell Return For Cubs
In extremely relieving news for the playoff-contending Cubs, star first baseman Anthony Rizzo is already returning from an injury that looked as if it would prematurely end his regular season. Rizzo’s leading off for the Cubs on Thursday in their crucial matchup against the NL Central-leading Cardinals, Chicago announced. The Cubs also activated shortstop Addison Russell from the seven-day concussion injured list, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com was among those to report.
Rizzo, who hasn’t played since Sept. 15, is back from an ankle sprain that initially limited him to a walking boot. The fact that he’s back this soon is an enormous boon for the Cubs, who will fall a half-game behind the Brewers for the wild card if Milwaukee hangs on to the late-game lead it boasts over the Padres as of this writing.
Overtaking the Brew Crew (or the Cardinals, who lead the Cubs by three games) obviously would have been all the more difficult without the accomplished Rizzo, who has posted yet another impressive campaign in 2019. The 30-year-old has slashed .289/.404/.516 with 26 home runs in 592 plate appearances. The Cubs used catchers Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini at first base during Rizzo’s absence, but they’re now back to full strength at the position as the regular season nears a conclusion.
Russell hasn’t played since Sept. 8, and injuries to him and standout shortstop Javier Baez led the Cubs to promote high-end prospect Nico Hoerner from the minors. The 22-year-old Hoerner has more than held his own since his debut, and he – not Russell – will man short on Thursday as a result. Russell, 25, was amid yet another subpar season at the plate before his IL placement, and between that and his off-field issues, his Cubs tenure may be winding down.
Red Sox Part Ways With Frank Wren, Eddie Bane
4:45pm: Wren was fired and Bane’s contract wasn’t renewed, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).
4:31pm: In the wake of Dave Dombrowski’s firing as general manager, the Red Sox continue to make moves in their front office, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links) reports that senior VP of baseball operations Frank Wren and special assignment scout Eddie Bane were among the names who are no longer in the organization. “Many more changes are expected” to come, Heyman writes, including “some reshuffling in the amateur department.”
Such moves as par for the course whenever a GM is replaced, and it wouldn’t be surprising if more new faces are brought in should the Sox hire a new general manager from outside the organization. The changes in the amateur department could reflect particular dissatisfaction with some of Boston’s recent drafts. While the Sox have enjoyed great contributions from homegrown players in recent years, almost all of those players were already in the system before Dombrowski was hired in August 2015. Mike Shawaryn is the only player on Boston’s current big league roster was drafted by Dombrowski’s front office, though naturally, it’s far too soon to judge the 2016-19 draft classes this early.
Wren wasn’t expected to continue in his role, given his longstanding ties to Dombrowski. Hired for the senior VP/player personnel role soon after Dombrowski was hired, it was the third time Wren had worked with Dombrowski, as the two were also members of the Expos and Marlins front offices when Dombrowski served as general manager of those franchises. Wren is best known for being a GM himself, overseeing the Braves’ front office from 2007-2014 and also serving a single year as the Orioles’ GM in 1999.
As Heyman notes, Bane’s chief claim to fame is his tenure as the Angels’ scouting director from 2004-10, specifically his work related to the 2009 draft. That was the year that saw Mike Trout selected 25th overall, which alone would’ve been a huge achievement for Bane and his staff, yet the Halos also drafted several other players (Randal Grichuk, Tyler Skaggs, Garrett Richards, Patrick Corbin) who went onto prominent MLB careers. Bane has worked in a variety of different front office and scouting roles for the last 35+ years, and was first hired by the Red Sox in October 2012.
Cubs Activate Craig Kimbrel From Injured List
The Cubs have activated closer Craig Kimbrel from the 10-day injured list, the team announced. Kimbrel is set to pitch for the first time since September 1 (with an IL placement on September 5), after being sidelined with right elbow inflammation.
Reinforcements couldn’t come at a more welcome time for the Cubs, who are locked in a pitched battle with the Cardinals and Brewers for both the NL Central title and an NL wild card berth. Chicago is three games behind St. Louis as the two rivals begin a critical four-game series tonight, and are also set to meet in a three-game series on the final three days of the regular season. The Cubs and Brewers are tied for the second NL wild card spot, and with an increasingly comfortable cushion on other wild card contenders such as the Mets (three games back), Phillies (3.5 games), and Diamondbacks (4.5 games). Chicago and Milwaukee are also both 1.5 games behind the Nationals for the top wild card position.
While missing close to three weeks of this pennant race surely isn’t what Kimbrel had in mind, his injury absence could serve as something of a potential reset on his tenure with the Cubs. Kimbrel’s well-documented free agent sojourn kept him from signing until early June, and the former seven-time All-Star hasn’t shown anything close to that form in Wrigleyville. Over 19 innings this season, Kimbrel has a 5.68 ERA, a number inflated by both walks (5.2 BB/9) and homers (2.8 HR/9, four times’ Kimbrel’s career average).
If Kimbrel can recapture any of his past form, he’ll strengthen a Cubs relief corps that is pitching its best baseball of the season. Cubs relievers have a cumulative 2.35 ERA in September, the best of any team this month.
Mariners Notes: Felix, Dipoto, Long
The latest from Seattle….
- With Felix Hernandez likely approaching the end of his days in a Mariners uniform, The Athletic’s Corey Brock (subscription required) took a look back at the right-hander’s often-outstanding career. The piece covers Hernandez’s initial signing with the organization as a 16-year-old in 2002, noting that he rejected overtures from the Braves and Yankees because of his good relationship with Mariners scouts Pedro Avila, Bob Engle and Emilio Carrasquel. From there, Hernandez cracked the big leagues by the time he was 19, and then embarked on almost a full decade as one of the sport’s best pitchers. His production has slowed since he began his 30’s, however, due to both injuries and perhaps a hesitance to embrace changes to his conditioning and pitching repertoire. Hernandez (who turns 34 next April) has indicated that he wants to pitch next season, though it’s hard to see him landing a Major League contract this offseason in the wake of a year that has seen him post a 6.31 ERA in 61 1/3 innings while spending over three months on the injured list.
- At a recent town hall event for Mariners fans, GM Jerry Dipoto pointed towards 2021 as the potential turn-around date for the team’s rebuild, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times writes. That said, Dipoto added “There is no scientific answer to the question. I can’t give you a decimal point or a dollar amount or a date and time when it’s all going to crest. But we feel like we’re building talent in a traditional way and we’re adding, let’s call it new, modern techniques of player development and player analysis that we feel make us a little bit different. You got to do something a little bit different in order to beat the teams that are out in front of us.” Dipoto is known far more for his penchant for trades rather than big-ticket free agents, and the general manager hinted that this reluctance to fully dive into the free agent marketplace will continue even when the M’s have more payroll available. “We don’t intend to go throw that [money] at the free-agent market, because quite frankly we’re not one player away, as you can see,” Dipoto said.
- Shed Long is one of several young players who have been given a chance on the young Mariners this season, and Long is making a case for himself as an everyday player in 2020, Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes. With three more hits in today’s game against the Pirates, Long is now batting .284/.357/.466 over his first 129 career plate appearances, also filling a void for the M’s as a leadoff man. It’s been an impressive rookie season for Long, even despite the fact that his Triple-A development was slowed by seven weeks on the IL with a broken finger. While Long could bounce around the diamond between left field, third base, and second base, he has spent the bulk of time in Seattle as a second baseman, and could be the future at the position if the Mariners were to part ways with Dee Gordon this winter.
Dellin Betances Suffers Partial Achilles Tear
TODAY: After Betances visited another doctor for a second opinion, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters that surgery wasn’t recommended. Betances will wear a walking boot for the next four weeks.
TUESDAY: Yankees reliever Dellin Betances has suffered a partial tear of his left Achilles’ tendon, Jack Curry of the YES Network was among those to report. Betances incurred the injury Sunday in Toronto, per the New York Times’ James Wagner, who adds that surgery’s currently under consideration. The right-hander will go for a second opinion, according to Wagner.
This figures to conclude an injury-ruined season for Betances, a four-time All-Star setup man whose sole 2019 outing came Sunday, when he struck out both batters he faced. Betances missed the first five-plus months of the season as a result of shoulder and lat problems. The soon-to-be 32-year-old’s newest injury could bring to an end a fruitful Yankees tenure for Betances, who’s set to become a free agent after the season. Regardless, it’s safe to say the significant health issues that have haunted Betances this year will tamp down his earning power if he does reach the open market in a couple months.
No matter what the future holds for Betances, this is yet another monumental injury for a New York club that has dealt with one after another all season. While the Yankees have barely received any contributions from the likes of Betances, ace Luis Severino (who made his 2019 debut Tuesday) and outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, and have battled plenty of other injuries, they nonetheless own the majors’ best record at 99-53. The club’s on the cusp of its first division championship since 2012, and even though it’s shorthanded, it’s undoubtedly on a small list of the game’s World Series favorites with the postseason around the corner.
It stands to reason the Yankees would boast an even better record with a healthy version of Betances, who was in an elite class of relievers from 2014-18. The normally durable Betances made no fewer than 66 appearances in any of those five seasons, during which he combined for a league-high 373 1/3 innings of 2.22 ERA/2.26 FIP pitching with 14.63 K/9 against 3.91 BB/9. New York’s relief corps has done well to weather the storm without its premier pre-ninth inning arm this season, evidenced by its overall 4.11 ERA/4.18 FIP, though it’s clearly less formidable without the towering Betances looming.
Relievers Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle have helped fill Betances’ void in front of closer Aroldis Chapman this season. They’ll obviously have to continue their standout work into the fall if the Yankees are going to claim their first championship since 2009.
Orioles Outright Ty Blach To Triple-A
The Orioles announced that Ty Blach has been outrighted to Triple-A, after the left-hander cleared waivers. Blach was designated for assignment on Monday, clearing roster space for the O’s to claim Eric Hanhold away from the Mets.
Blach was himself a waiver claim for the Orioles back in August, though after coming from the Giants, Blach didn’t add much help to Baltimore’s rotation. He posted an 11.32 ERA over five starts in an O’s uniform, surrendering six home runs over his 20 2/3 innings of work. Between those struggles and a similarly rough performance in his brief time on the Giants’ big league roster in 2019, Blach has a cumulative 12.00 ERA over 27 total innings.
It marked a big step down for a pitcher who looked like a serviceable swingman in 2018, after he delivered a 4.25 ERA over 118 2/3 frames for San Francisco while starting 13 games and coming out of the bullpen on 34 other occasions. Blach has never been a particularly hard thrower or a big strikeout pitcher (only a 4.91 career K/9), and while he had done a decent job of keeping the ball in the park in prior seasons, home runs became a larger issue for Blach both at the MLB and Triple-A levels in 2019. He was far from the only pitcher to suffer through such a homer spike this season, though Blach’s pitch-to-contact arsenal made him particularly susceptible to the long ball.
Domingo German Placed On Administrative Leave Under Domestic Violence Policy
1:04pm: The Yankees announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Michael King to fill German’s spot on the 40-man and active rosters. King pitched 46 innings across four minor league levels in 2019 but hasn’t appeared in a game since Sept. 1.
12:43pm: Yankees right-hander Domingo German has been placed on administrative leave under the Joint MLB-MLBPA Domestic Violence Policy, the league announced Thursday. Details surrounding any allegations against German have yet to surface. The Yankees have issued the following statement on the matter:
We fully support all measures being undertaken by the Commissioner’s Office pursuant to the Policy on Domestic Violence. We support this policy which reinforces that domestic violence has no place in our society and cannot be tolerated. We have followed the lead of Major League Baseball and will continue to provide our complete cooperation throughout the investigative process. We reserve any further comment until the investigation reaches its conclusion. All questions pertaining to this matter should be directed to the Office of the Commissioner.
Players placed on administrative leave are paid during their absence unless a suspension is deemed necessary by the Commissioner’s Office, at which point pay issued during said leave is rescinded. The standard period of length for administrative leave is seven days, although the league can continue to extend that period as required by the status of the investigation as it unfolds.
If German is indeed disciplined, any suspension would leave him on the restricted list during the Yankees’ forthcoming postseason run, marking a costly loss for the AL East champions. German, who turned 27 last month, has given the club 143 innings of 4.03 ERA ball while averaging 9.6 strikeouts and 2.5 walks per nine innings pitched.
Further details on the situation will be provided as they emerge.
Edinson Volquez Open-Minded About Returning To Rangers In 2020
As recently as late July, veteran right-hander Edinson Volquez‘s goal was simply to rehabilitate an elbow injury sufficiently enough to return to a big league mound before season’s end. After that, he suggested, retirement was his likeliest path. However, a return to health appears to at least have him reconsidering that trajectory. Volquez tells Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News that he “might” consider a return, though likely only to the Rangers organization. “If they want me around to help the young guys, that’s a possibility,” said Volquez.
It’s been a pretty smooth return to the mound for Volquez, who has allowed two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in six innings of relief since returning from the injured list. He’s managed to average a hefty 95.6 mph on his heater in that short-relief role — an increase over the 93-94 mph he averaged while working as a starter with the Pirates, Royals and Marlins from 2014-17. Texas has been judicious in affording Volquez ample rest between relief outings; he’s yet to pitch on consecutive days and hasn’t tossed more than 27 pitches in a single appearance.
Whether the Rangers have interest in Volquez retaining Volquez remains to be seen, though the Texas organization certainly has prioritized instilling some veteran experience in its clubhouse in recent seasons. And the team thought highly enough of Volquez to not only sign him to a two-year minor league contract after his 2017 Tommy John surgery but also select his contract last November to prevent him from being eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. (Yes, even at 35, he’d have been eligible for a team to take and plug into its pitching staff.)
Any reunion with Volquez would surely be on an affordable deal. He’s pitched just 13 2/3 innings in the Majors since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2017 when he was a member of the Marlins’ rotation and turned 36 years old back in July. But there’s enough uncertainty on the Rangers’ pitching staff — both in the rotation and in the bullpen — that Volquez could be a sensible low-cost depth piece.
In the rotation, the Rangers are currently slated to be led by veterans Mike Minor and Lance Lynn. Young lefty Kolby Allard has likely done enough to cement himself as a favorite for one of the three remaining spots, and the Rangers seem likely to pursue some additional veteran upgrades this winter as they look to field an improved team in the first season of a new ballpark. It’s unlikely they’d simply commit a rotation spot to Volquez, but allowing him to battle for the fifth spot in camp with the fallback of a bullpen role could make sense.
Alternatively, the club could just look to try Volquez in a relief role for the whole season. As previously noted, his velocity has improved in that role. It’s also not as if the Rangers’ relief corps is largely solidified. Jose Leclerc and Jesse Chavez are under contract for next season, and the Rangers hold a reasonable $2.5MM option on another veteran righty who has voiced a “Rangers or retire” mentality: Shawn Kelley. Beyond that veteran trio, 24-year-old lefty Brett Martin has thrown rather well, while reclamation project Rafael Montero has posted exceptional K/BB numbers in a smaller sample of work. As with the rotation, the bullpen has a few veteran locks but some room for competition further down the ladder. Texas seems likely to pursue some established offseason upgrades but could at the very least have Volquez compete for a spot in 2020 — particularly with MLB rosters set to expand to 26 players next year.
Orioles Notes: Cobb, Harvey, Castro
The Orioles are hopeful that right-hander Alex Cobb will be ready to go for Spring Training 2020, manager Brandon Hyde tells Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The 31-year-old righty (32 next month) is recovering from surgery to repair a labrum tear in his right hip as well as a separate procedure that repaired a meniscus tear in his knee. “We’ve missed Alex and having a veteran starter like that, there’s a lot of value to that,” Hyde added. There’s little hope of moving Cobb and the $29MM remaining on his deal (which is heavily deferred), though a healthy start to the 2020 season could eventually put him back on the map as a trade candidate. Beyond Dylan Bundy and breakout lefty John Means, the Orioles have virtually no certainty in their rotation, so Cobb should have plenty of opportunity to reestablish himself. The Orioles still seem likely to add some rotation depth in the offseason, although the new-look front office somewhat surprisingly made very few additions in that area last winter when Nate Karns was the team’s lone Major League free-agent signing.
Some more notes out of Baltimore…
- Hyde also informed reporters yesterday that right-hander Hunter Harvey has been shut down for the season (Twitter link via Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun). Harvey pitched just 6 1/3 innings at the MLB level (with an 11-to-4 K/BB ratio), but even that brief debut was a significant step forward for the oft-injured former top prospect. Baltimore selected Harvey with the No. 22 pick in the 2013 draft and he quickly came to be ranked among the game’s elite pitching prospects before injuries wiped out several key developmental years. Harvey missed the entire 2015 season and was barely able to compile any innings in 2016 (12 2/3), 2017 (18 2/3) or 2018 (32 1/3). To this point in his career, he’s undergone Tommy John surgery and batted shoulder troubles, making this year’s modest total of 82 innings between Double-A, Triple-A and the big leagues an encouraging sign of progress. That represents Harvey’s largest workload since tossing 87 2/3 frames back in 2014. It might be tempting to try Harvey as a starter again, but he pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 33-to-7 K/BB ratio in 25 2/3 innings upon moving to the ‘pen in the minors.
- Speaking of intriguing bullpen pieces, while Miguel Castro‘s bottom-line numbers aren’t immediately eye-catching, Joe Trezza of MLB.com observes that there’s some reason for significant optimism when looking at some secondary metrics. Castro has improved his strikeout rate by six percent in 2019 while slightly trimming back his walk rate, and he’s seen a nearly two mile-per-hour increase in his sinker velocity. He’s also made substantial improvements in the quality of the contact he’s allowed, as measured by Statcast. In fact, the gap between Castro’s expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) in 2018 and his 2019 mark is the second-largest improvement among qualified pitchers, trailing only Lucas Giolito. Castro is still averaging 5.1 walks per nine innings and has been plagued by a well-below-average 68.5 percent strand rate, both of which have contributed heavily to his ugly 4.73 ERA. If he can restore his 2016-17 levels of control (3.6 BB/9) while maintaining some of the gains on his ability to miss bats and limit hard contact, there’s some breakout potential. At the very least, that profile seems intriguing enough to tender Castro a contract in his first offseason of arbitration eligibility — particularly given that his first-year salary will be rather modest.