AL West Notes: Luzardo, Sanchez, Gallo, Santana
Jesus Luzardo‘s second Major League appearance resulted in his first career save, as the star Athletics rookie allowed a run on two hits and two walks over three innings of work in Oakland’s 6-1 win over the Rangers today. Luzardo has tossed three innings in each of his two MLB games, both times coming directly after a starter (Brett Anderson on Wednesday after five innings, and Sean Manaea after six innings today). Should the A’s reach the postseason, there’s certainly a case that Luzardo could serve as either a multi-inning reliever or even as a proper starter. “That gives us a little pause for thought about how we potentially might do things down the road,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser. “Obviously, we have to get there, a lot of work between then and now. But you definitely think of some options, especially with Luzardo coming out of the pen doing what he’s doing.”
More from around the AL West…
- Aaron Sanchez was scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery last Friday, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said during his team’s pregame radio show today (hat tip to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Somewhat curiously, Luhnow had yet to be informed about any specifics on the procedure, or when Sanchez could potentially be back on the mound. It was already known that Sanchez wouldn’t pitch again in 2019, though the lack of information regarding the severity of his shoulder issues tends to create some doubt that the right-hander will be ready for the start of the 2020 season.
- Joey Gallo is aiming to return to the Rangers‘ lineup on September 20, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. Gallo will spend his last few remaining days on the injured list playing in simulated games and instructional league action, and will be activated prior to the Rangers’ game against the A’s on Friday if all goes well. Gallo hit .276/.421/.653 with 17 homers over his first 214 plate appearances before a variety of injuries waylaid his dream season. He missed over three weeks with an oblique problem, and then struggled with wrist issues for the better part of a month before undergoing hamate bone surgery on July 25.
- Another early-season star will also return to the field before the end of the season, as Domingo Santana is expected to be activated off the IL on Tuesday, MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes. The Mariners outfielder was (retroactively) placed on the IL due to right elbow inflammation on August 19, after struggling with elbow problems for roughly a month beforehand. Santana’s injury problems almost perfectly coincide with the All-Star break, as he hit .286/.354/.496 in 399 first-half plate appearances, but then only .131/.240/.250 in 97 PA in the second half. That July slump was one of the reasons Santana wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline, despite interest from multiple teams.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Angels, Rendon, Padres, Cole, Arenado
Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s baseball chat, moderated by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/15/19
The latest minor moves from around baseball….
- The Dodgers sent right-hander Jaime Schultz on an outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Schultz cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. Already a regular for the Triple-A affiliate this season, Schultz had a 5.85 ERA, 11.7 K/9, and 5.1 BB/9 over 47 2/3 innings at Oklahoma City, also appearing in four games for the Dodgers at the Major League level. The 28-year-old joined the Dodgers organization last January after being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay.
Injury Notes: Turner, Kipnis, Kimbrel, Gsellman
Justin Turner is expected to return to the Dodgers‘ lineup on Tuesday, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. The third baseman hasn’t played since September 7 due to a left ankle sprain, so it will end up being a seven-game absence for Turner. Still one of the game’s better hitters (.291/.370/.514 with 27 homers in 538 PA) in his age 34 season, Turner is likely to get further rest time over the last couple of weeks if necessary, as the Dodgers obviously want him fully healthy and prepared for the postseason. [UPDATE: Turner’s return on Tuesday isn’t a sure thing, as manager Dave Roberts told the Los Angeles Times’ Jorge Castillo and other media that Turner’s ankle is still bothering him.]
The Dodgers have long since punched their ticket for October, but let’s check in some teams still fighting to reach the playoffs and dealing with some injuries along the way…
- Jason Kipnis will receive an MRI on Monday after leaving today’s game due to discomfort in his right wrist, as per multiple reporters (including MLB.com’s Mandy Bell). Kipnis has been battling tendinitis in the wrist and missed a few games with the ailment earlier this month. If Kipnis is forced to miss time, he’ll be not only miss some of the stretch run of the Indians‘ pennant race, but also potentially his last two weeks in a Cleveland uniform. The former All-Star has hit only .245/.304/.410 over 511 plate appearances as the Tribe’s regular second baseman, and after three straight years of subpar batting numbers, it is widely expected that the team will decline its $16.5MM option on Kipnis’ services for 2020.
- Craig Kimbrel had no setbacks during a 20-pitch bullpen session today, Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and other reporters. Right elbow inflammation has kept Kimbrel on the shelf since September 1, though he is now tentatively slated to toss a simulated-game scenario against hitters later this week. Theo Epstein said earlier in the weekend that the Cubs are “pretty optimistic” that Kimbrel can return before the end of the season, but nothing is yet certain about the closer’s status.
- Mets manager Mickey Callaway told Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News and other reporters that there is “no timeline” on a potential return for Robert Gsellman, though they “haven’t ruled out him coming back” in 2019. A partial lat tear seemingly ended Gsellman’s season back in mid-August, though the reliever has been playing toss with no ill effects reported. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the odds are still against Gsellman getting back into New York’s bullpen, though there’s at least some hope now rather than last month’s more grim diagnosis.
Giants Place Tony Watson On 60-Day IL
The Giants have placed left-handed pitcher Tony Watson on the 60-day injured list and have promoted right-hander Enderson Franco in his place. Watson suffered a small fracture in his left wrist in early September.
With Watson’s season effectively over, he may well have played his last game in a Giants uniform. He holds a $2.5MM player option that comes with a $500K buyout. It seems that the likeliest course of action for the 34-year-old southpaw will be to opt for the buyout and test the free agent waters. While 2019 was the worst season of his career, he is still the owner of an impressive track record and there should be ample demand for veteran lefties, making it a decent bet that he’ll be able to eclipse the value of his player option.
He finishes the season with a 4.33 ERA in 54 innings of work. His strikeout numbers were the lowest they’ve been since 2013; that, coupled with a heightened susceptibility to the home run (he conceded 1.5 HR per nine innings), contributed to a 4.81 FIP. For his career, his ERA sits at a solid 2.83 in 573 Major League innings.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Franco will join the big league team in line to make his Major League debut. He’s been toiling away in the minor leagues since 2010, when he was signed as a 17-year-old international amateur. After brief stints at Triple-A in the previous two seasons, he got his first extended look at the level this year. His numbers haven’t been overly impressive, but evidently it’s enough to earn him a crack at the next level. In 113 innings at Triple-A, he owns a 5.97 ERA while striking out 7.8 batters per nine innings.
Charlie Culberson Fractures Cheek Bone, Out For Season
Sunday: Culberson fractured a bone in his cheek on the play, tweets David O’Brien of the Athletic. While he won’t require surgery, he will miss the remainder of the season.
Saturday: A very heated scene ensued in D.C. this afternoon after a fastball from Washington’s Fernando Rodney struck Atlanta’s Charlie Culberson squarely in the face. Though Culberson, 30, was turned to bunt when at-bat in the top of the seventh, Rodney’s fastball apparently got away from him and connected near Culberson’s eye. Culberson was placed onto a medical cart by the Atlanta training staff and eventually motioned a “thumbs-up” to the crowd, but manager Brian Snitker would soon follow him off of the playing field after an ejection. Apparently incensed that home plate umpire Tim Timmons called the pitch a strike, Snitker vociferously mirrored much of the Twitter community’s feeling that, despite the fact that Culberson was indeed squared to bunt when the pitch hit him, the umpire should have spared the strike call in consideration of the bloody scene. Atlanta’s Fox Sports affiliate has video of the incident which shows both the aftermath of the HBP and Snitker’s ejection (Twitter links).
As for the potential, on-field ramifications of this incident, Atlanta can ill-afford to lose more position player depth. Johan Camargo was just this week felled by a fractured shin, and a lengthy absence for Culberson would further test Atlanta’s bench corps as the group gears up for postseason play.
Since the beginning of 2018, Culberson has provided the Braves with 466 plate appearances in which he has recorded a .267/.316/.457 slash line with 17 home runs and 65 RBI. Even more usefully, Snitker has employed the veteran at every position save for center field and catcher over the last two years, including some garbage-time relief pitching work. Further updates on Culberson’s injury will be provided as they become available.
Anthony Rizzo Leaves Game With Sprained Ankle
Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo left Sunday’s matchup with the Pirates in the third inning after he rolled his right ankle attempting to field a bunt. He underwent preliminary X-rays after the game, which revealed that he avoided a fracture, but suffered a sprained ankle, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. He’s ticketed for an MRI on Monday, which will determine with greater precision the severity of the injury.
Of course, Rizzo and the Cubs aren’t out of the woods yet: though he didn’t fracture the ankle, a sprained ankle could still keep the slugger out for an extended period of time, depending on its severity.
If indeed Rizzo is required to miss time, it would only compound the Cubs’ injury frustrations that have taken hold of late. As the team takes aim at a postseason berth, star shortstop Javier Baez has been ruled out for the regular season, with his replacement Addison Russell landing in concussion protocol shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, closer Craig Kimbrel is fighting through elbow inflammation and has been unavailable for the last two weeks.
And while the Cubs are deep enough to tread water without team leaders and lineup stalwarts Baez and Rizzo, such a formula is less than ideal for the September stretch run, let alone in a postseason series. As the Cubs collectively hold their breath on the results of Rizzo’s MRI, look for Ian Happ and Victor Caratini to cover for him in the near-term.
For the season, Rizzo has slashed .289/.402/.516 with 26 home runs. Since joining the Cubs, he’s been a paragon of consistency and durability, playing 140 games or more in every year from 2013-2018 (He currently sits at 139 for this year).
Mike Trout To Undergo Season-Ending Foot Surgery
The Angels’ Mike Trout, who has been sidelined for the last week due to a neuroma in his right foot, will undergo surgery later this week, the Angels announced. The procedure will remove the neuroma and prematurely end his MVP-caliber season.
Trout, who hasn’t played since September 7, planned to return to the lineup today as a DH, but experienced pain while testing the foot on the field. While Trout and the Angels hoped that he would be able to play out the remainder of the season—if only as a designated hitter—the team has already been eliminated from playoff contention and, with surgery recommended, there’s no reason to push it.
With Trout now on the shelf for the rest of the season, the Angels’ laundry list of injuries only grows: he’ll join Justin Upton and Shohei Ohtani to form a trio of offensive cornerstones that won’t return this year, to say nothing of Andrelton Simmons, who has likewise missed considerable time this year. Those injuries have derailed the Halos’ postseason chances after entering the year as a popular choice to sneak into the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Trout finishes his superb season with 134 games played, notching yet another season of otherworldly numbers, including a career-best 45 home runs. His .291/.438/.645 slash line gives him a 184 OPS+, the third-best mark of his Hall-of-Fame career.
With the Angels’ season effectively over, one of the few remaining questions was whether Trout would capture his third AL MVP Award. He’s already built a sturdy case, leading the AL in WAR, OBP, SLG, and OPS. He’s not likely to be caught on those fronts, though his closest competition, Alex Bregman, will surely benefit from the additional volume. The Yankees’ D.J. LeMahieu has gotten some buzz, while analytics-driven voters could show some love to Matt Chapman or Marcus Semien, though only Bregman figures to have a real shot at taking votes from the injured Trout.
Pirates Shut Down Chris Archer
The Pittsburgh Pirates plan to shut down injured right-hander Chris Archer for the remainder of the season, general manager Neal Huntington told reporters including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archer landed on the injured list on August 21 after prematurely exiting a start the previous day with shoulder discomfort.
While Archer’s season is over, he remains a near-lock to return to the Pirates next year. The team holds a relatively affordable $9MM club option for the 2020 season, and Huntington has given every indication that he intends to exercise that option and bring back Archer for another year.
Regardless, the 2019 season will go down as a forgettable one for Archer, who finishes the year with a 5.19 ERA, the worst mark of his career. He was able to maintain an above-average strikeout rate, but trouble with walks and home runs neutralized that impact. It’s worth noting that in August, prior to the injury, Archer had been enjoying his best month of the season and seemed to finally be trending upward. However, any progress will now be put on hold until next season.
Unfortunately for Archer, he will always be judged in the face of the blockbuster trade that sent him to Pittsburgh. As Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and even Shane Baz have flourished with Tampa Bay, Archer’s struggles make the deal look like one of the most lopsided in recent memory. With that in mind, the decision to pick up his option is at the very least an effort to mitigate the bad optics of the trade, which would look even worse if the Pirates cut ties with the prized starter after just one full season.
As for the Pirates, they have been rolling with right-hander Dario Agrazal since Archer hit the shelf. Unfortunately, the rookie hasn’t fared much better than Archer, having struck out just 30 batters in 62 1/3 innings.
Quick Hits: Free Agency, Dodgers, General Managers
Who is this offseason’s top free agent? MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand posed that question to a handful of executives, who came back pretty well split between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon. Those who pointed to Cole as the likely recipient of the winter’s biggest deal pointed to Rendon’s lengthy injury history and the leaguewide scarcity of ace-level starting pitching. On the other hand, Rendon’s backers pointed out that the highest ceilings in free agency belong to star-level position players, who are generally viewed as less risky from a health perspective than pitchers are.
- Which organizations pursue each player will no doubt dictate their respective market values in the coming months. To that end, ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription link) is hearing chatter the Dodgers figure to be in the Rendon market. The idea, per Olney, would be move Justin Turner to first base to split time with Max Muncy while deploying Cody Bellinger solely on the grass. Whether the Dodgers would be best-served beating what is sure to be a robust market for Rendon when their internal options are already formidable is debatable, but Olney notes that the Dodgers’ collection of cheap young stars gives the team ample financial flexibility to make a splash in free agency. Further, he argues that Rendon is the Dodgers’ ideal hitter- patient, with contact and power skills- although of course LA wouldn’t be the only organization to appreciate a player with Rendon’s superstar track record.
- In the wake of the Red Sox parting ways with Dave Dombrowski, WEEI’s Rob Bradford sat down with Giants’ special advisor (and former Blue Jays’ GM) J.P. Ricciardi to discuss how the position has changed in recent seasons. Ricciardi pointed to a number of differences in heading a front office now versus the 2000’s, when he was running things north of the border. Perhaps most interestingly, Ricciardi opined that front offices in 2019 have become extremely averse to trading young players, which he attributes partially to fear of being second-guessed with fans and media more attuned to the transactional landscape. Ricciardi’s thoughts are worth checking out in full for fans interested in how the role of MLB executive has changed over the past decade.
- One person who won’t be taking over for Dombrowski is former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, reports Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Cherington and the organization parted ways after Dombrowski was brought aboard in August 2015. Nevertheless, as Mastrodonato explores in detail, Cherington deserves some credit for the Sox’s 2018 World Series roster, which certainly had the imprints of the vaunted farm system he and his staff had put together before his exit.