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Adam Eaton Undergoes Ankle Surgery

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Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured left ankle today, reports Jack Magruder of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post had reported yesterday that Eaton was visiting a specialist in Wisconsin, and that evaluation revealed a “cartilage problem” that necessitated the operation, per Magruder. Eaton remains in a walking boot, and there is not presently a timetable for his return, per Magruder.

More specifically, Janes adds (via Twitter) that three different doctors were unable to see the source of pain in Eaton’s ankle on either MRIs or bone scans, but the scope revealed a tear in his chondral flap, explaining the pain he’d been experiencing. MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko tweets that Eaton’s ankle will be immobilized for a week, but a return this season is still “in play.”

The ankle procedure is yet another roadblock in Eaton’s short career with the Nationals since being traded over from the White Sox during the 2016 Winter Meetings. The fleet-footed outfielder missed the majority of the 2017 campaign when he tore the ACL in his left knee early last year, and he played in just eight games with the Nats in 2018 before injuring his ankle on a foot-first slide.

When healthy, Eaton has been nothing short of brilliant for the Nats, hitting .308/.400/.508 in 140 trips to the plate, but he’s unfortunately been able to suit up only 31 times for the organization. Of course, the very reason that the Nationals were willing to part with three highly touted pitching prospects — Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning — in order to acquire Eaton was that he was controlled so affordably and for such a long time. They’ll still have plenty of time to reap value from their investment in the 29-year-old, as he’s locked up through the 2021 season at a total of $34.4MM (with the final $20MM of that sum coming in the form of two club options for 2020-21).

[Related: Washington Nationals depth chart]

With Eaton now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Nats will continue to utilize Michael A. Taylor in center field, with Bryce Harper in his customary right field. Left field has been manned by a platoon of hot-hitting Matt Adams and Howie Kendrick of late, though the Nats also have Andrew Stevenson and Moises Sierra on the big league roster as outfield options at present, with Rafael Bautista in Triple-A as another 40-man option. Top prospect Victor Robles is also on the 40-man roster, but he’s nursing an elbow injury at the moment, and the Nats don’t want to recall him unless he’s able to receive everyday at-bats.

Royals Release Kyle Lohse

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The Royals have released veteran right-hander Kyle Lohse, tweets Rustin Dodd of The Athletic. He’d been pitching with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate in Omaha after signing a minor league deal back in March.

Lohse, 39, didn’t pitch in the Majors or minors in 2017 and only notched 9 1/3 big league innings in the 2016 season (all coming with the Rangers). He’d had a rough time adjusting to pro ball again to this point in the 2018 season, yielding a dozen runs on 17 hits and five walks with five strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings with the Storm Chasers (12.46 ERA).

Lohse was a workhorse for the Twins, Cardinals and Brewers at various points in his career, though he hasn’t experienced much in the way of success at the big league level since posting a strong 3.54 ERA in 198 1/3 innings with the Brew Crew back in 2014. Lohse struggled in 2015, the final season of a three-year $33MM deal with Milwaukee, losing his rotation spot and being shifted to the bullpen late in a season that saw him post a 5.85 earned run average (albeit with a slightly more encouraging 4.40 xFIP).

It’s possible, of course, that he’ll look to latch on elsewhere in a continued pursuit of returning to the Majors as his 40th birthday approaches, though he’ll have a ways to go before convincing a team that he’s capable of pitching in the Majors again.

Orioles Notes: Machado, Brach, O’Day, Vielma

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In his latest Inside Baseball notes column, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports writes that while many expect the Orioles to focus on pitching help in the seemingly inevitable event that they shop Manny Machado to contending clubs, some familiar with the team’s thinking also believe they’ll be keen on pursuing additional infield talent. With Machado hitting the market at season’s end and Jonathan Schoop only controlled through 2019, the O’s are set to lose two of the league’s better infielders in a short period of time. Prospect Ryan Mountcastle could conceivably emerge as an option in the infield, though he began the season on the DL with a fractured hand, and there’s been quite a bit of debate as to where he’ll fit on the field. Heyman also notes that he spoke to a scout who said that setup man/closer Brad Brach’s stuff is “a little down” thus far in 2018, though the same scout offered no hesitation in stating that he’d “still take” Brach in his team’s bullpen.

Here’s more out of Baltimore…

  • Eduardo A. Encina provides some insight into the injury that sent righty Darren O’Day to the 10-day disabled list with a hyperextended right elbow. O’Day explains that a “freak accident” occurred during the middle innings of Tuesday’s game as he began stretching and getting loose. A teammate inadvertently ran into his arm while he was stretching it, hyperextending the right elbow and initially causing O’Day to fear that he’d suffered a serious injury. An MRI revealed no structural damage in O’Day’s right arm, and manager Buck Showalter actually said that the MRI was “remarkably good” for a pitcher in his mid-30s.
  • Showalter also addressed the media about an injury sustained by infielder Engelb Vielma while playing with Triple-A Norfolk (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Vielma suffered a broken patella when chasing down a foul pop and tripping over a bullpen mound in foul territory, ultimately smashing his knee into a portion of exposed concrete at the Durham Bulls’ field (the Rays’ top affiliate). Showalter was not shy about expressing his anger over the matter calling the injury both “brutal” and suggesting it could have easily been avoided. “It’s hard for me to imagine in today’s game that we can’t make that mandatory, Triple-A and Double-A and the big leagues,” said the skipper. “We have mounds on the playing field. Really? It just infuriates me.” There’s no timeline on Vielma’s return, though Showalter said it’ll be “an extended period.” The 23-year-old defensive whiz made his big league debut with the O’s earlier this season, though he made just eight plate appearances in six games. Both pieces from Encina and Kubatko have additional quotes from a lengthy Showalter rant that expresses his frustration with the circumstances that led to the injury.

Reds Promote Nick Krall To General Manager

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The Reds announced this afternoon that assistant general manager Nick Krall has been named the club’s new general manager. President of baseball operations Dick Williams will continue to oversee the club’s entire baseball operations department, per the announcement. The Reds, then, will be employing the president/general manager tandem that has become increasingly popular throughout the game, with organizations such as the Cubs, Dodgers, Athletics and numerous others have adopted in recent seasons.

It’s been a steady climb through the Reds’ ranks for Krall, who broke in with the organization in 2003 when he was hired to run the club’s advance scouting department. Since that time, Krall has been the team’s assistant director of baseball operations, the senior director of baseball operations and, most recently, a vice president and assistant GM. The LSU grad has been working in professional baseball since getting a foot in the door with the A’s back in 2001-02.

“Moving forward, Nick will be more heavily involved in the decisions we need to make to improve our product on the field both at the Major League and minor league levels,” Williams said in a statement announcing the promotion.

In addition to his advance scouting work earlier in his career, Krall’s previous duties as a VP and AGM saw him involved in a wide range of baseball ops responsibilities, including arbitration, contract negotiations, player acquisition and rules/waiver compliance. He’ll bring a wide range of experience to his newfound title, though it appears that final say on baseball operations decisions will still lie with Williams.

Cardinals Place Carlos Martinez On 10-Day DL

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The Cardinals have placed righty Carlos Martinez on the 10-day DL with a right lat strain, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster for the time being by reliever Mike Mayers.

At this point, it’s not clear how long Martinez will be down. Clearly, though, the Cards can ill afford to go without a pitcher who has been a steadily excellent presence in the rotation. He’s off to a great start, leading National League starters with a 1.62 ERA on the season.

As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out (Twitter links), with an off-day coming, the Cards can juggle their rotation to accommodate the addition of Jack Flaherty. Though the top prospect just made a start in Triple-A yesterday, the time off will allow the Cards to move the rest of their starters up a day and slide Flaherty into the back end of that mix. In that sense, Mayers’ promotion to the big leagues could be relatively short-lived.

The injury to Martinez also puts increased importance on the recovery of both Adam Wainwright and Alex Reyes, the latter of whom, Goold notes, is preparing to return as a starter for the time being. While the Cards have said in the past that they don’t expect him to expose Reyes to the rigors of an every-fifth-day schedule in the rotation, stretching him out as a starter and then scaling back his workload in a transition to the ’pen would be easier than easing him back in via the bullpen and stretching him out in the Majors. Wainwright, meanwhile, could return this weekend.

[Related: St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]

With Martinez out for an undetermined period of time, the Cards will rely on Miles Mikolas, Luke Weaver and Michael Wacha in addition to Flaherty, once he is presumably called up next week. If Wainwright is indeed activated over the weekend, he’ll be added to that group and round out the rotation. If it’s deemed that the veteran needs additional time to rehab, then perhaps John Gant would receive a second spot start at some point next week.

Indy Ball Signings: 5/10/18

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Here are a few recent indy ball signings of some notable former major leaguers:

  • The St. Paul Saints announced that they have added 34-year-old righty Tom Wilhelmsen. He spent most of spring camp with the Padres before being released. Once a quality reliever with the Mariners, Wilhelmsen has struggled in the past two seasons to get on track. All told, he owns a 3.53 ERA in 385 MLB innings over seven seasons.
  • Joining the Long Island Ducks are infielder Emilio Bonifacio and lefty Daniel Schlereth. At times, the 33-year-old Bonifacio has been a heavily-used contributor at the game’s highest level, but he was largely functioning as organizational depth in recent seasons. Still, Bonifacio has appeared in each of the past 11 MLB seasons. He carries a .256/.313/.333 slash in nearly three thousand trips to the plate in the majors, the majority of which came with the Marlins. As for Schlereth, a former first-round pick of the Diamondbacks, he hasn’t seen the big leagues since appearing in 2012 with the Tigers. He spent the 2017 season with the Marlins organization, working to a 2.38 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 over 41 2/3 in the three highest levels of the minors.

One-Year MLB Deals Paying Dividends: Pitchers

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We looked in at the top-performing one-year MLB contracts for position players from the 2017-18 offseason just this morning. Now, we’ll perform the same exercise for the hurlers.

It’s still early, of course, but there’s a fairly short period of time for one-year deals to pay off or fizzle out. We’ll identify those hurlers who have posted strong bottom-line results to date. Of course, the picture could still change quite a bit in a few months’ time; as we’ll see, some of the players cited below may well fade, while there’s still ample opportunity for others to deliver value. The six pitchers are ordered from lowest to highest guarantee:

  • Trevor Cahill, SP, Athletics ($1.5MM): Signed late as a replacement for the injured Jharel Cotton, Cahill has been a revelation. He carries 11.6 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9, with a hefty 59.6% groundball rate, through 24 innings of 2.25 ERA pitching. Cahill is getting swings and misses at a 16.0% rate — rare air for a starter. We’ll have to see to what extent he can keep it going once he’s back from a brief DL stint, but it’s a fascinating showing for the 30-year-old veteran.
  • Seung-hwan Oh, RHP, Blue Jays ($2MM): Swinging strikes are worthy of considering with regard to Oh, as well. Unfortunately, he’s again sitting in the ~12% range rather than the 18% rate he showed in his first season in the majors. Oh has also lost some fastball velocity. All told, it seems unlikely he’ll keep up his current pace after carrying a 1.65 ERA through 16 1/3 innings. Still, he looks to be a solid value for the Jays.
  • Bud Norris, RHP, Cardinals ($3MM): The brilliant start to the season from Norris seems rather more sustainable. He’s averaging about a dozen K’s and one free pass per nine innings, with a 15.5% swinging-strike rate and a first-strike rate (72.1%) that’s easily a career-high and near the top among all relievers. This one seems to be a bargain.
  • Doug Fister, SP, Rangers ($4MM): To be sure, 31 1/3 innings of 4.02 ERA pitching is not exactly exciting. Fister is humming along with a solid ~50% groundball rate to go with a middling mix of 7.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. But that’s a nice initial showing on a limited investment. Fister has, however, rather handily outperformed the contact he’s allowed. Statcast credits the hitters that have opposed him with a .352 wOBA that lands far shy of the corresponding .400 xwOBA, so the veteran righty could be in for some regression.
  • Francisco Liriano, SP, Tigers ($4MM): Another veteran hurler who is sporting a yawning x/wOBA gap (.049 in this case), Liriano nevertheless carries a promising .313 xwOBA. Contact management helps explain how the southpaw has managed to throw 40 1/3 innings of 3.35 ERA ball to open the season despite a pedestrian combination of 6.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and a 47.7% grounder rate. Still, it’d be a surprise if he’s able to keep up quite this rate of productivity.
  • CC Sabathia, SP, Yankees ($10MM): It’s a bit unfair to include a player this costly here, but nevertheless it is notable that the Yanks got Sabathia to return for only a single-season commitment. He’s thriving through six starts, over which he has given 32 1/3 innings with a 1.39 ERA that’s the best of any hurler on this list. While a .211 BABIP screams good fortune, Sabathia has allowed a meager .238 wOBA (against a still-low .266 xwOBA) and has been quite stingy with the free passes (just 1.4 per nine). He’s not going to keep getting mid-prime results, but the 37-year-old is maintaining his arm speed and seems a good bet to continue providing quite a few quality frames over the 2018 season.

MLB Hires Chris Young As VP Of On-Field Operations

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Former MLB hurler Chris Young has joined Major League Baseball as vice president of on-field operations, initiatives, and strategy, per a league announcement. It seems fair to presume, then, that his playing days are over.

Young, who turns 39 later this month, spent Spring Training with the Padres. But he was released after triggering his opt-out clause when the team decided he would not crack the Opening Day roster.

The towering hurler pitched in parts of 13 MLB campaigns, working to a 3.95 ERA over 1,297 2/3 total frames. He spent a plurality of his time with the Padres after debuting with the Rangers. Young also pitched for the Royals, Mets, and Mariners. His best overall season came in 2007 with the Padres, when he earned his lone All-Star nod and ended with 173 innings of 3.12 ERA ball.

While he dealt with some injuries along the way, the former third-round pick from Princeton ended up with a quality major-league career. He tallied 16.7 total rWAR in the majors — leaving him with a narrow lead in that regard over his still-active, like-named contemporary Chris Young (the outfielder).

In his new job, Young will have input in a variety of areas. Per the announcement, he’ll deal with “play on the field, including the application of playing rules and regulations, on-field standards and discipline, pace of play and other special projects.” The definition seems broad enough to suggest that Young’s role will likely take form over time.

Royals Release Seth Maness

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The Royals have released righty Seth Maness from his minor-league deal, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Maness requested the release, per the report, in hopes of finding a chance to work as a starter with another organization.

From 2013 through 2016, Maness was mostly a steady and productive reliever for the Cardinals. But he underwent a primary repair procedure to address UCL damage back in 2016 and has not been able to regain his former standing since.

Though he received some MLB time last year with the Royals, Maness has been knocked around a fair bit since his return. In 58 2/3 Triple-A frames since the start of the 2017 season, he has allowed eighty hits (nine of which left the yard) and 38 earned runs. Maness has recorded a 43:9 K/BB ratio in that span while drawing grounders on about half of the balls put in play against him, echoing his low-BB/high-GB history, but evidently he has not shown enough to warrant an extended stint in the majors.

It seems that Maness would now like to revisit his roots as a starter. He did have success working from the rotation in his only full season of the minors, way back in 2012, when he pitched to a 2.97 ERA with 112 strikeouts and just ten walks over 169 2/3 innings split between High-A and Double-A. That was quite some time ago, but it would not be surprising to see an organization give him a shot at returning to a starting role in the minors.

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