Rockies Place Adam Ottavino On 10-Day DL
The Rockies have placed righty Adam Ottavino on the 10-day DL with a left oblique strain, per a club announcement and as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. He’ll be replaced for the time being by righty Scott Oberg.
Ottavino has more or less been unhittable this year after a rough 2017 season. Through 28 1/3 innings, the 32-year-old has allowed only eight base hits to opposing hitters. He has been scored upon only three times and carries a strong 45:10 K/BB ratio. Ottavino has recorded a dozen holds while working in front of closer Wade Davis.
At the moment, it’s not know how long Ottavino will be down. The team hopes that it’s not a severe injury, per Saunders, though clearly the organization has decided to take a cautious course with a reliever who has become an integral part of the late-inning unit.
It’s unfortunate timing regardless of how long Ottavino will miss, as the Rockies are entering consecutive series against two teams (the Giants and Dodgers) chasing them in the NL West standings. The Rox have other veteran setup options, of course, but none are performing anywhere close to Ottavino’s standard thus far.
Of course, the more important matter remains the long-term outlook. Oblique injuries can be nettlesome, though that’s all the more reason to nip this one in the bud.
For his part, the 28-year-old Oberg will look to improve upon the generally middling work he has turned in at the MLB level to this point in his career. He owns a 5.15 ERA in 153 2/3 innings, with 7.6 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 but also a healthy 55.3% groundball rate.
Injury Notes: Donaldson, Nats, F. Vazquez, Reddick, Royals
Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson departed their game Monday with left calf tightness, the team announced. Jays doctors are currently evaluating Donaldson, who missed time last season with a right calf strain and was on the shelf earlier this year on account of a shoulder issue. With a playoff berth looking unlikely for Toronto and Donaldson being a free agent at season’s end, he could be a prime trade chip in the coming months. But neither the 32-year-old’s recent injury troubles nor his surprisingly mediocre production (.243/.333/.423 in 159 plate appearances) are helping his stock at the moment. Trade speculation aside, if Donaldson does head back to the DL, calls for the Jays to promote 19-year-old super prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. figure to grow even louder. [Update: Donaldson suggested to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com and other reporters that he’s not dealing with a serious injury.]
More on injury situations around the game…
- Asked Monday when Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy could make his season debut, manager Davey Martinez said, “I’m hoping it’ll be fairly soon” (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). The Nats will make sure running isn’t an issue for Murphy before activating him, given that the three-time All-Star underwent right knee surgery in the offseason. Just as Murphy’s progressing, so are fellow banged-up Nationals Adam Eaton and Ryan Zimmerman. Both players took batting practice with their teammates Monday, Zuckerman relays. Eaton, who hasn’t played since April 8, is recovering from left ankle surgery. Zimmerman has been out since May 9 with a back injury, and his absence opened the door for veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds‘ promotion to Washington. Reynolds has taken advantage of the opportunity, having slashed an otherworldly .406/.457/.906 with five home runs in just 35 plate appearances.
- There was fear on Sunday that Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez suffered a serious forearm injury, but it seems he dodged a significant blow. Vazquez told Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other reporters Monday that he’s doing fine, adding that he expects to be available again Tuesday. “I felt like a little pop, but it was not — it looked worse than it really happened,” he said.
- Astros outfielder Josh Reddick is eligible to come off the DL on Friday, but that’s not going to happen, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com writes. Reddick, who’s battling a skin infection above his left knee, hasn’t resumed baseball activities and may need to embark on a rehab assignment before he returns, according to manager A.J. Hinch.
- Royals left-hander Eric Skoglund has a Grade 1 UCL strain and “will be out a while,” Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets. Skoglund, 25, had been a fixture in KC’s rotation prior to the injury, though he struggled to a 6.70 ERA during that nine-start, 49 2/3-inning span.
Giants Designate D.J. Snelten, Release Hector Sanchez
The Giants have designated left-hander D.J. Snelten for assignment, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group reports. Additionally, the club has released catcher Hector Sanchez, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Sanchez recently suffered his eighth concussion, Pavlovic notes.
The 25-year-old Snelten’s exiting the Giants’ 40-man roster to make room for the addition of righty Dereck Rodriguez. Snelten, a 6-foot-7, 245-pounder, joined the Giants in the ninth round of the 2013 draft and worked his way to the majors this year. He struggled across 4 1/3 innings, though, allowing five earned runs on nine hits and three walks (with four strikeouts). Snelten has been far more effective at Triple-A since last season, having combined for a 2.84 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 69 2/3 frames.
Sanchez, 28, has spent the majority of his professional career in the San Francisco organization. He made his pro debut back in 2007 and ascended to the majors in 2011, later seeing extensive action with the Giants from 2012-14. He left the Giants after 2015 and spent the ’16 campaign with the White Sox and Padres, only to return to San Francisco the next season.
Sanchez stayed with the Giants on a minor league deal over the winter, but he hasn’t seen any major league action this year. In all, he has amassed 834 plate appearances in the majors, including 637 with the Giants, and hit .238/.273/.367.
Padres Designate Kyle McGrath
The Padres have designated left-hander Kyle McGrath for assignment, according to the team. His 40-man spot will go to right-hander Phil Hughes, whom the Padres acquired from the Twins on Sunday.
McGrath has been with the Padres since 2014, when they selected him in the 36th round of the draft, and made his major league debut last year. Across 23 innings in San Diego, including four this season, the 25-year-old has notched a 3.13 ERA with 7.83 K/9, 3.52 BB/9 and a minuscule 28.1 percent groundball rate. Additionally, McGrath has limited left-handed hitters to an ugly .152/.243/.250 line.
Should a team in need of a lefty reliever claim McGrath, it would have the ability to send him to the minors. McGrath still has three options remaining, and has spent most of this year with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.
Twins Claim Taylor Motter
The Twins have claimed infielder Taylor Motter off waivers from the Mariners, per announcements from both teams. Motter will report to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate.
Motter, whom the Mariners designated on Sunday, will now join his third major league organization. Motter debuted with the Rays in 2016 and has since racked up 390 plate appearances at the game’s highest level. While Motter hasn’t hit much (.198/.269/.326), he has done his best to offset a lack of offense with defensive versatility. The 28-year-old is primarily a shortstop, but he has also totaled at least 10 games’ experience at every corner position and second base.
Motter has spent most of this season at Triple-A, and given that he has an option remaining, he’s able to serve as minors depth without issue. But it’s possible he’ll eventually get an opportunity at short in Minnesota, where starter Ehire Adrianza has been woeful at the plate.
Pirates Place George Kontos On Release Waivers
MAY 28: The Pirates have placed Kontos on unconditional release waivers, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette tweets.
MAY 25: The Pirates have designated righty George Kontos for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot was needed for the activation of fellow right-hander Joe Musgrove from the DL.
Kontos, 32, had turned in a nice showing last year upon arriving in mid-season, and has generally produced excellent earned-run averages in the majors. But his peripherals have rarely matched his bottom-line numbers and the veteran had struggled quite a bit to open the 2018 season.
Through 19 2/3 innings in the present campaign, Kontos carries a 5.03 ERA with just 4.1 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. He had shown a breakout ability to generate whiffs last year with a 16.4% swinging-strike rate, but he’s sitting at just 8.5% in 2018.
Braves To Place Ronald Acuna On DL
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna suffered a mild ACL sprain in his left knee and a lower back contusion on Sunday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com was among those to report. The team will place Acuna on the disabled list and then re-evaluate him after the 10-day window.
Acuna exited the Braves’ win over the Red Sox on Sunday with what looked to be a potentially catastrophic injury (video here), but it appears he’ll escape disaster. Given how dire the situation looked Sunday, Bowman notes that this could be a best-case scenario for Acuna and the Braves.
The 20-year-old Acuna is only a little more than a month into his major league career, having joined the Braves with great fanfare on April 25. The all-world prospect justified the hype before landing on the DL, slashing .265/.326/.453 with five home runs in 129 plate appearances. He has also posted a .364 xwOBA, per Statcast, suggesting his actual wOBA (.332) has been a bit on the unlucky side.
While Acuna may not miss significant time, it’s still unfortunate for the Braves that they’ll have to go without one of their key near- and long-term pieces for at least the next couple weeks. Atlanta, thanks in part to Acuna and many other highly talented 20-somethings, owns the National League’s second-best record (30-21) and a half-game lead in the NL East. They’ll turn a starting outfield spot back to Preston Tucker, who occupied one alongside Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis prior to Acuna’s promotion (depth chart).
Poll: Which Surprise Team Has Best Shot At Playoff Berth?
As the 2018 MLB season nears the one-third mark, the playoff races in each league are beginning to take shape. While it’s no surprise that the majority of the sport’s so-called super teams have lived up to the billing thus far, several unexpected contenders may be emerging to challenge for postseason berths. None of the Mariners, Athletics, Braves, Phillies or Pirates were popular playoff picks entering the campaign, but all are in contention at this point, and a few of those teams even possess elite records.
The most successful of those clubs has been Seattle, which is one of just five teams with a winning percentage above .600. The Mariners have raced to a 32-20 mark (.615), the fourth-best record in the American League, even though they’ve had to go without superstar second baseman Robinson Cano for two weeks and won’t get him back in the near future. Cano suffered a fractured right hand in mid-May, but the 80-game suspension he incurred almost immediately after that injury is the more costly blow because it’ll render him ineligible for the playoffs – if the Mariners qualify, that is.
A postseason berth for Seattle would be its first since 2001, thus snapping the longest playoff drought in American sports. There’s clearly plenty of work for that to happen, particularly for a team that hasn’t been spectacular statistically and possesses a less shiny 27-25 Pythagorean record. But the Mariners’ actual record right now is so impressive that they won’t need to be great from here on out to remain firmly in the mix throughout the regular season. FanGraphs is projecting a mediocre 56-54 win-loss total over the Mariners’ final 110 games, but even in that scenario, they’d finish with 88 victories – three more than Minnesota amassed in 2017 en route to an AL wild-card berth.
The wild card is likely the M’s only path to the playoffs, as even though they’re just one game out of the AL West race, there’s little question the reigning World Series champion Astros will pull away with the division. Given the talent in the AL, a wild-card spot will be tough to come by for the Mariners, but general manager Jerry Dipoto seemingly increased his team’s odds last week when he acquired reliever Alex Colome and outfielder Denard Span from the Rays. The Mariners already owned one of baseball’s best bullpens without Colome, and his presence should make Seattle an even harder out in close games. At 15-8, the Mariners have been one of the majors’ top teams in one-run contests this season.
Staying in the AL West, Oakland has perhaps exceeded expectations at 28-25, though it has scored fewer runs than it has allowed (234 to 237). Still, despite its underwhelming Pythagorean mark (26-27), FanGraphs is projecting an above-.500 final record for Oakland (82-80) – which would be its first such season since 2014 and could keep it in the discussion into September. However, with the Yankees or Red Sox (whichever team doesn’t win the AL East), Angels and Mariners among the teams fighting for two wild-card positions, a playoff position looks a bit unrealistic for the A’s.
Over in the National League, both the Braves (30-21) and Phillies (29-21) have gone from serving as longtime NL East doormats to looking like two of the premier teams in the game. Milwaukee, arguably a surprise team but one that did garner some preseason hype after winning 86 games in 2017, is the lone NL club with a superior record to Atlanta and Philadelphia. And only the Cubs have a better run differential than the Braves, who have outscored their opponents by 60 (261 to 201).
The Braves’ arduous, years-long rebuild is clearly paying dividends now, as a host of players under the age of 25 – including Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna (who’s now on the DL), Dansby Swanson, Sean Newcomb, Mike Soroka, Luiz Gohara and A.J. Minter – have been among their driving forces this year. With that group joining a few slightly older, already established players (superstar Freddie Freeman, Ender Inciarte and Mike Foltynewicz, to name a few), Atlanta looks as if it’s going to be around for a long time. And it might be ready now to return to the playoffs, where it hasn’t been since 2013, though the NL East is going to be a dogfight with both the Phillies and favored Nationals (29-22) right behind the Braves.
As for those Phillies, they own an even longer playoff drought than the Braves (six years), but that streak doesn’t look as if it’ll last much longer. Like Atlanta, Philadelphia went through a few years of suffering while simultaneously managing to stockpile young talent (Aaron Nola, Odubel Herrera, Rhys Hoskins, Seranthony Dominguez, Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, Scott Kingery) that has either already established itself in the majors or is in the midst of doing so. Philly’s also a sleeping giant in terms of payroll, a club capable of spending alongside other big-money juggernauts, and it’ll put that advantage to use in the coming years. It already started last winter with the expensive free-agent signings of Jake Arrieta and Carlos Santana, two additions which have paid off so far (Santana did endure a poor April, but he’s gotten off the mat this month).
As with the Braves, the Phillies should be around for a while, and a playoff spot this year certainly isn’t out of the question. Although, despite their tremendous starts, FanGraphs is projecting both teams to finish with 82 wins and extend their playoff droughts.
Baseball’s other Pennsylvania-based team, the low-payroll Pirates, lost the battle for public opinion over the winter when they traded two veteran cornerstones (Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole) for younger players and didn’t sign any free agents to major league contracts. Some Pirates fans even called for owner Bob Nutting to sell the team in the wake of those deals, but he didn’t oblige.
Now, the Pirates are a solid 28-24 (plus-22 run) and have gotten there with some help from Colin Moran and Joe Musgrove, two players acquired in the Cole package. Fellow offseason acquisition Corey Dickerson – whom general manager Neal Huntington stole from the Rays in another trade – has been even better, while veteran holdovers Starling Marte and Francisco Cervelli are also amid excellent seasons. Pittsburgh may be able to hang in the race all year, then, for the first time since 2015 – its most recent playoff berth. It’s going to be an extremely tall task to actually return to the postseason, though, with six NL teams – including the division-rival Brewers, Cubs and Cardinals – ahead of Pittsburgh in the standings and several more breathing down its neck.
Every year in baseball, surprise teams emerge to upset the preseason apple cart. Just as the Twins, Diamondbacks and Rockies crashed the playoff party last year, at least one of the Mariners, Athletics, Braves, Phillies or Pirates could do it in 2018. The question is: Which team has the best chance to play into the fall?
(poll link for app users)
Who's most likely to make the playoffs?
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Braves 50% (6,627)
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Mariners 20% (2,670)
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Phillies 20% (2,626)
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Pirates 5% (710)
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Athletics 5% (632)
Total votes: 13,265
Angels Designate Ian Krol
The Angels have designated left-hander Ian Krol for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group tweets. The Halos recalled righty Akeel Morris from Triple-A in a corresponding move.
Krol is in his first year with the Angels, who signed him to a minor league deal over the winter. The 27-year-old made his debut appearance with the club on Sunday and tossed two scoreless innings of one-hit ball, but that wasn’t enough to keep him on its roster. Krol previously threw 21 effective innings at Triple-A, where he posted a 1.71 ERA with 8.57 K/9, 3.56 BB/9 and a 50.9 percent groundball rate.
Also a former National, Tiger and Brave, Krol has produced passable numbers at the major league level, having combined for a 4.50 ERA with 8.43 K/9, 3.46 BB/9 and a 45.2 percent grounder rate in 190 innings. He’s out of minor league options, though, so if a team does claim Krol, it’ll need to put him on its 25-man roster or try to sneak him back through waivers.
Giants To Select Dereck Rodriguez
The Giants will select right-hander Dereck Rodriguez from Triple-A Sacramento on Monday, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. San Francisco already has a full 40-man roster, so it’ll have to create a spot for Rodriguez.
The 25-year-old Rodriguez comes with an interesting backstory, as Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com detailed in 2017. Not only is Rodriguez the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, but he’s still relatively new to pitching. The younger Rodriguez entered the pro ranks as an outfield prospect in 2011, when the Twins selected him in the sixth round. That didn’t work out, however, leading the Twins to turn Rodriguez into a pitcher back in 2013.
Rodriguez took to his position change quickly and eventually reached the Double-A level with the Twins, but his time with the organization ended after last season. He then signed a minors pact over the winter with the Giants, and has since pitched to a 3.40 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 50 1/3 Triple-A innings (nine appearances, all starts). Rodriguez will work out of the Giants’ bullpen in his first major league call-up.