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Haniger, Hernandez Heading Back To Seattle To Have Injuries Examined

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10:20pm: Not only did Haniger exit with an injury, but top starter Felix Hernandez departed the game with what manager Scott Servais said after the game was a “dead arm” (Twitter link via Divish). Both players are leaving Detroit and headed back to Seattle to get looked at by doctors, with Hernandez’s shoulder apparently the primary area of focus. Divish tweets that Hernandez asked not to speak to the media before leaving the clubhouse and was “visibly upset” upon exiting.

Suffice it to say, any notable absence for Hernandez will be a significant blow for a Mariners rotation that is already without Drew Smyly for at least the first two months of the season. The Mariners did stock up on optionable, upper-level pitching depth this offseason — Chris Heston, Robert Whalen, Dillon Overton and Chase De Jong were all acquired in trades — but asking two of those names to replace the likes of Smyly and King Felix for any amount of time is a tall order.

From 2015-16 (and so far in 2017), the 31-year-old Hernandez hasn’t been the dominant Cy Young candidate that most had come to expect throughout his mid-20s. However, he still notched an ERA comfortably south of 4.00 in both of those seasons and entered play Tuesday with a 3.65 mark and a brilliant 20-to-1 K/BB ratio in 24 2/3 innings. Hernandez, though, was shelled by the Tigers tonight, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks before departing after just two innings of work.

8:39pm: Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger, one of the early candidates for American League Rookie of the Year honors, exited tonight’s game with a strained oblique muscle, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. While there’s no further word on the severity of the injury, oblique strains have a reputation for lingering for a month or more. The Mariners, of course, won’t provide further updates until tonight’s game is wrapped up. However, Divish adds in his column that Triple-A outfielder Ben Gamel is expected to replace Haniger on the 25-man roster, thereby suggesting that a trip to the disabled list is in Haniger’s future.

The 26-year-old Haniger is off to an astonishing start to the season, having compiled a robust .338/.442/.600 batting line through his first 95 plate appearances (including two hits in his two plate appearances tonight). Acquired alongside Jean Segura in the offseason trade that sent Taijuan Walker to the D-backs, Haniger has also clubbed four homers and stolen two bases. On the defensive side of the coin, both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating consider his work to be above-average (superlative, in the case of DRS, which already pegs him at +5 runs through just 176 innings).

[Related: Seattle Mariners Depth Chart]

The Mariners have plenty of outfield depth, although that depth took a bit of a hit over the weekend when the team rather surprisingly designated Leonys Martin for assignment. Even with Martin currently in DFA limbo, however, the Mariners have Guillermo Heredia, Jarrod Dyson, Taylor Motter and Danny Valencia as outfield-capable assets on the 25-man roster. In the minors, Gamel and Boog Powell are both on the 40-man roster. Top organizational prospect Tyler O’Neill, too, opened the season in Triple-A, though he’s played just 18 games at that level and has not gotten off to a strong start to the year (.208/.266/.417, 21 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances).

Twins’ Ryan O’Rourke To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Twins left-hander Ryan O’Rourke, who has been on the disabled list all season, will undergo surgery to repair a tear in his left elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament, the team announced today. “We were all holding on to a little hope that he might get a couple options to how he should proceed instead of having to undergo the Tommy John procedure, but unfortunately didn’t get that news,” manager Paul Molitor told reporters (link via Dave Sessions of MLB.com).

O’Rourke, 28, has spent parts of each of the past two seasons with the Twins, appearing in 54 games out of the bullpen in total. His 2016 efforts resulted in a 3.96 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 and a 45.3 percent ground-ball rate. Though there didn’t appear to be an immediate spot in the Twins’ bullpen for O’Rourke, with Taylor Rogers and Craig Breslow already serving as lefty options for Molitor, though he could’ve emerged later in the season as a southpaw option if healthy. O’Rourke has held left-handed opponents to a .134/.244/.239 batting line through 80 plate appearances thus far in his Major League career.

O’Rourke did research Tommy John alternatives, including the “primary repair” procedure that Seth Maness underwent last August, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. However, as Berardino notes, even that abbreviated seven-month recovery period would’ve sidelined O’Rourke until late November or early December.

The Twins already transferred O’Rourke to the 60-day disabled list yesterday as a means of clearing a 40-man roster spot for right-hander Nick Tepesch, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Rochester. O’Rourke will rack up a full year of big league service time while on the disabled list, though he’ll still finish the season with two years and six days of service time, leaving him short of arbitration eligibility. O’Rourke joins right-hander Trevor May as the second Twins hurler to undergo Tommy John surgery this season. The club’s 2016 first-round pick, outfielder Alex Kirilloff, has also gone down with a UCL tear that required Tommy John.

Dodgers Designate Joe Gunkel For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated Triple-A right-hander Joe Gunkel for assignment, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link). His 40-man spot will go to vaunted prospect Cody Bellinger, who will make his Major League debut tonight in left field for the Dodgers. To clear a spot for Bellinger on the 25-man roster, the Dodgers optioned outfielder Brett Eibner back to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).

Gunkel has a solid minor league track record, having tossed 104 1/3 innings with a 2.59 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and a strong 1.3 BB/9 rate for the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate in 2015. The 2016 season wasn’t as strong for Gunkel, though he did still post a 4.02 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9 in 161 innings between Baltimore’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. Baltimore designated Gunkel for assignment earlier this month to clear a spot on the roster for hard-throwing reliever Miguel Castro after picking him up from the Rockies. Shortly thereafter, he was flipped to the Dodgers for cash or a player to be named later.

Dodgers To Promote Cody Bellinger

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The Dodgers will promote top prospect Cody Bellinger, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (via Twitter). The 21-year-old will provide a left-handed-hitting option at first base and the corner outfield, though it’s unknown how long he’ll remain in the majors.

Cody Bellinger | Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Bellinger flew up top prospect charts with a strong 2016 season, in which he slashed .271/.365/.507 over 477 plate appearances, the vast bulk of them coming at Double-A. After an excellent stint in the Arizona Fall League, Bellinger sat at seventh among all prospects leaguewide in the ranking of Baseball America.

Since that time, Bellinger has taken Triple-A by storm. Through 77 trips to the plate, he owns a .343/.429/.627 batting line with five home runs and seven steals. Adding him to the active MLB roster, though, will require the creation of a 40-man space.

The Dodgers fielded trade inquiries on the blue-chip prospect over the winter, as they have recently for other hyped youngsters such as Corey Seager, Julio Urias, and Joc Pederson. But Los Angeles has held firm on those players, all of whom will now have reached the majors. With Pederson on the DL, a need arose for another outfield bat, and it’ll be Bellinger who gets the call — at least temporarily. As Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets, Bellinger is expected to see time in left and center.

Looking longer term, Bellinger’s promotion comes late enough into the season that his path to free agency would be delayed by one year, but not so late that he’d avoid Super Two status. If Bellinger remains in the Majors to stay, he’d accrue 159 days of Major League service time, putting on track to reach arbitration after the 2019 season and free agency upon completion of the 2023 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Braves Designate Chase d’Arnaud, Select Lane Adams

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The Braves have designated infielder Chase d’Arnaud for assignment, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Atlanta has summoned outfielder Lane Adams from Triple-A to take the roster spot.

d’Arnaud, 30, has bounced around the league over his six seasons in the majors, but received his most extensive action yet last year with the Braves. Over 262 plate appearances, he slashed .245/.317/.335. While he had managed three hits and two walks in his ten trips to the plate thus far in 2016, the Braves evidently elected to go in another direction for the time being.

The 27-year-old Adams has seen the majors, but only briefly. He was off to a strong start at Triple-A, though, with a .333/.352/.588 slash line — but also 16 strikeouts against just a pair of walks — over his 54 plate appearances. He’ll join Emilio Bonifacio in the reserve outfield mix, though it’s also possible that the former could see more action in the infield with d’Arnaud’s departure from the roster.

Marlins “Moving Forward” With Jeter/Bush Group

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The Marlins are “moving forward” in negotiations with the would-be ownership group headlined by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (links to Twitter). The organization is said to be “optimistic” that a deal will be reached to transfer control from current owner Jeffrey Loria to Bush, who’d be the new control person, and the four other members of the group. It’s said to be an “agreement in principle” that sets a $1.3B purchase price.

This report follows some conflicting signals sent throughout the day. Earlier, a report suggested that the Jeter/Bush group was the only possible bidder left due to a lack of interest. But even that group was said not to have submitted a firm offer, with financing still in the works. Marlins president David Samson flatly rejected this report, saying it was strewn with errors but declining to specify or correct them.

Later, Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg reported that the Jeter/Bush group had “won the auction” for the organization — which presents quite a different picture of the entire process. In addition to framing it as an “auction” for the first time, this report says that there were multiple other bidding groups, including one headed by businessman Wayne Rothbaum and another led by Tagg Romney (which included Hall-of-Fame hurler Tom Glavine). When asked to respond, Samson stated that he would not offer any comment, as Tim Healey of the Sun-Sentinel tweets.

Notably, none of the reports suggest that any paperwork has been signed. It’s important to bear in mind, too, that even in the event that a preliminary agreement is struck, it would still be subject to a lengthy finalization process — between the parties and also involving authorization from Major League Baseball.

Central Notes: Cards, Hosmer, Rodon, Nova

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The broad health arena appears to offer great potential for competitive advantage to individual MLB organizations. We have heard of medical and dietary advancements for various teams, for example, and there’s surely lots going on that isn’t being discussed fully in public. For the Cardinals, one area of focus is on training, but it’s all happening as part of a broader initiative, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. The club is building up a “department of performance” that will combine training, medical, and other related functions under one roof.

Here’s more from the game’s central divisions:

  • Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer tells Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that he’s not looking for changes to break out of his early-season slump. “I know I’ve been through it long enough now to realize you’ve just got to stick with your approach and it will change,” said Hosmer. Of course, the 27-year-old’s offensive malaise ties into a broader picture of uneven production over his seven-year MLB career, which has continued to raise questions about his earning power on the upcoming free-agent market. And as Dodd writes, Hosmer has several teammates who are also struggling quite a bit early on. If there’s a silver lining to the club’s 7-and-12 start, though, it’s the fact that the division leaders haven’t exactly sprinted out of the gates. Entering today’s action, the Indians and Tigers sit just 3.5 games up.
  • The White Sox were able to get a look at lefty Carlos Rodon yesterday, as he played catch under the watch of pitching coach Don Cooper, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. But that doesn’t mean there’s any further clarity to the question of when the talented southpaw will be back to the majors. Details are murky on Rodon, whose biceps injury initially seemed minor. As Hayes notes, the club had initially hoped to see Rodon push past 200 frames this year, but that’s obviously no longer a viable target.
  • As righty Ivan Nova continues to produce good results for the Pirates, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post looks at why things didn’t quite turn out that way when he was pitching for the Yankees. Though Nova did have his share of success in New York, he was dealt last summer on the cusp of free agency and re-signed in Pittsburgh after eleven impressive outings. He doesn’t blame the Yankees’ handling for his uneven stint there, but does say that a lack of confidence in his standing in his old organization was partially at fault. “It’s very different when you know that you’re going to pitch every five days, that’s for sure,” says Nova. He continued to explain that he previously would worry about being dropped to the bullpen or Triple-A, explaining: “It wasn’t because they told me what’s going to happen after. It was something I put in my mind. It was my mistake, my fault, to think that way instead of keeping positive all the time.”

Latest On Marlins’ Sale Efforts

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12:32pm: Marlins president David Samson calls the Forbes story “inaccurate,” as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes, though he did not provide details on bidding parties.

11:56am: Casting doubts on recent reports of keen interest from multiple bidding groups, Mike Ozanian of Forbes writes that the Marlins are currently drawing attention from just one potential suitor. And even that group — a team of investors led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush — has only yet made a “non-binding indication of interest” and is still hunting for cash to support a bid.

According to Ozanian, other potential bidders have not continued their initial pursuit of a deal with current Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. Former hurler Tom Glavine was said to have joined forces with Tagg Romney (Mitt’s son), but that pairing has apparently fizzled already. That’s particularly problematic, per the report, since the group held out the promise of bringing a significant amount of cash to the table.

We have heard talk at times of at least one more possible challenger to take the reins in Miami. But Ozanian says that interest has also seemingly dried up beyond the two recognizable bidding groups noted above. There’s doubt, it seems, as to where an alternative to the Jeter/Bush team might come from.

If there’s truly just one passable pursuer of the organization, that surely doesn’t bode well for Loria’s sale price. As the report notes, there already seems to have been a precipitous fall in the numbers being discussed publicly. Just ten weeks ago, the club was said to be headed for a $1.6B sale.

Red Sox Place Pablo Sandoval On 10-Day DL

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1:00pm: Manager John Farrell provided some details in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com recounts. The injury was to the “medial side of the right knee,” said Farrell, who says that significant swelling forced the DL move. It is still not known how long of an absence is to be expected.

11:07am: The Red Sox have placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day DL with a right knee sprain, the club has announced. He’ll be replaced by infielder Josh Rutledge, who has been activated from his own DL stint.

Sandoval, 30, has produced uneven results thus far upon returning from a long layoff. Through 67 plate appearances, he is hitting .213/.269/.377 with three home runs. And there are some questions about his glovework, with four errors on his ledger and poor grades from advanced metrics (in quite a small sample).

Still, there are some reasons for hope with the bat. Sandoval’s .164 isolated slugging mark matches his work from 2012, which would seem to be a positive development. But it remains to be seen whether he can right the ship in the on-base department. Sandoval is suffering from a .217 BABIP despite making plenty of hard contact, though his strikeout rate is up to 19.4% on a 14.6% swinging-strike rate — well above his career figures in both areas.

While Boston will be glad to get Rutledge back, the hope had been to see both players on the roster at the same time. The switch-hitting Sandoval has continued to struggle badly against left-handed pitching, making the pair a theoretically useful platoon match. (Rutledge hits from the right side, though he hasn’t carried noticeable splits historically.)

Instead, the Sox will lean on Rutledge — along with left-handed-hitting utilityman Marco Hernandez — to cover third base during Sandoval’s absence. It’s not clear at this point just how long the organization expects to be without the veteran.

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