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The Opener: Lopez, Schwarber, Pitchers’ Duel

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With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. Lopez to undergo MRI:

Braves right-hander Reynaldo Lopez was pulled from his start against the Nationals yesterday due to what the club referred to as shoulder tightness. As noted by The Athletic’s David O’Brien, the right-hander’s velocity was down more than 3 mph from his season average during the abbreviated outing. Manager Brian Snitker told reporters following the game that Lopez is set to undergo an MRI.

A converted reliever who surprisingly was signed with the intent of joining Atlanta’s rotation, Lopez has been dominant since joining the Braves. He sports a 2.03 ERA and 3.08 FIP in 128 2/3 innings of work with a 26.3% strikeout rate. The thought of losing a player who has produced results that strong is always worrisome, but it’s especially so for a Braves club that’s currently tied with the Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot and will need to pull away from them to even get the chance to make a deep run this October. Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Ian Anderson are among the arms at Triple-A who could be called upon in Lopez’s stead down the stretch.

2. Schwarber dealing with elbow issue:

Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber broke the single-season MLB record for leadoff home runs with his 14th such dinger last night, but the celebratory air surrounding his accomplishment didn’t last long as he left the game during the fourth inning after suffering what manager Rob Thomson referred to (per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki) as a bruised elbow that suffered from “a little bit” of hyperextension from diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt earlier in the game.

While Thomson said he plans to pencil Schwarber into the club’s lineup against the Rays today, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb notes that they won’t make a final decision on his availability until they see how the slugger is feeling today. The loss of Schwarber’s presence would be a tough blow for the Phillies, as he’s in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career with a .251/.372/.496 slash line with 35 homers and an NL-best 98 walks in 134 games.

3. Breakout arms square off in the Bronx:

The Yankees and Royals are scheduled to wrap up a three-game set, and they’ll do so with a pair of exciting young hurlers on the mound. Kansas City will deploy left-hander Cole Ragans, who enjoyed a breakout with the Royals down the stretch last year after being acquired from the Rangers and has continued that production over a full season in 2024. In 167 1/3 innings of work this year, the 26-year-old has pitched to a 3.33 ERA (128 ERA+) with a 2.94 FIP and an eye-popping 29.6% strikeout rate that’s second to only Tarik Skubal among AL starters.

Fellow 26-year-old Luis Gil missed the entire 2023 season due to injury and entered 2024 with just 33 1/3 big league innings on his resume. He got an opportunity in the rotation due to an injury that sidelined reigning AL Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole, however, and Gil has made the most of it with a 3.24 ERA (128 ERA+) and a 3.78 FIP in 130 2/3 innings. The only starters who are 26 or younger with a lower ERA in at least 130 innings are Hunter Greene of the Reds, Javier Assad of the Cubs, and Bryce Miller of the Mariners.

MLB Mailbag: Trout, Elly De La Cruz, Cubs, Baty

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This week's mailbag addresses a potential Mike Trout trade, valuing Luis Arraez, how the White Sox and Cubs move forward, what an Elly De La Cruz extension might look like, Brett Baty's future, MLB's popularity, and much more.

Fred asks:

With the ever increasing annual salaries MLB stars are receiving, $36M just isn't what it used to be. Assuming he is amenable to a trade, is this the offseason someone (here's looking at you, Dave Dombrowski) takes a chance on Mike Trout's still tremendous upside? His salary could be offset with a bad contract or two (hello Taijuan Walker). He is far less expensive than Juan Soto will be.

$36MM is still a very large salary in MLB, currently tied for seventh all-time.  The actual CBT hit for a new team on Trout's remaining six years and $212.7MM would be similar at $35.45MM.

As an aside, four players signed contracts with $35-36MM AAVs in 2019: Trout, Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, and Anthony Rendon.  Five years later, only five players have managed to push into the $40MM realm, moving the needle modestly in this regard.

Trout said before the season that asking for a trade would be the "easy way out," but he also didn't rule out a future change of heart.  The Angels are on pace to lose about 95 games this year, they haven't been to the postseason since 2014, and there's little reason to expect the team to be good next year.  Despite his longstanding loyalty, it's plausible Trout could change his mind at some point.

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Latest On Zaidi/Melvin Contracts With Giants

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Last offseason, the Giants hired Bob Melvin away from the Padres as manager. It was reported at the time that Melvin signed a three-year contract running through 2026. CEO Greg Johnson said at Melvin’s introductory press conference that the team also had an agreement “in principle” to extend baseball operations president Farhan Zaidi through the ’26 campaign (video provided on X by NBC Sports Bay Area).

It seems that’s not entirely accurate. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the guaranteed portions of Melvin’s and Zaidi’s contracts actually run through the end of next season. According to Shea, both contracts have the equivalent of team options covering 2026.

That isn’t necessarily a big deal. If the Giants are satisfied with their leadership group, they can keep Zaidi and Melvin in place for at least another two years as anticipated. Yet it also means that ownership is only committed to next year’s salaries if they decide to make a change before ’26.

There’s no indication that the Giants are considering a shakeup. Just last week, ownership signed off on a six-year, $151MM extension for third baseman Matt Chapman. That’s the largest contract of Zaidi’s tenure. Chapman has longstanding ties to both Zaidi and Melvin dating back to their time with the A’s. That seems to be a vote for organizational stability on ownership’s part.

That said, there could be more pressure on the front office a year from now. This will be the fifth time in Zaidi’s six seasons that the Giants missed the playoffs. The exception was one of the greatest seasons in franchise history, a stunning 107-win campaign to snag the NL West from the Dodgers in 2021. The Giants have been an average team in each of the three seasons since then, never pulling much above or below .500.

A middle-of-the-pack finish is a particularly disappointing outcome this year. The Giants adeptly waited out the free agent market and brought in Blake Snell, Jorge Soler and Chapman late in the offseason. They signed KBO center fielder Jung Hoo Lee to a six-year, $113MM contract — the largest deal of the Zaidi era until Chapman’s extension. The Giants blew past the base luxury tax threshold for the first time since 2017. Hanging with the Dodgers was always going to be a tough ask, but the Giants at least envisioned themselves as Wild Card contenders.

They’ve instead dropped to fourth place in the NL West and are eight games back of a playoff spot. Losing Lee to a season-ending shoulder surgery in May didn’t do them any favors, particularly defensively. A healthy Lee alone would not have bridged an eight-game gap in the standings, though. San Francisco’s hitters rank 18th in on-base percentage and 19th in slugging.

They entered the season with questionable rotation depth behind Snell, Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison. Free agent pickup Jordan Hicks didn’t hold his stuff over his first full season as a starter. Between Hicks tailing off and the reliance on a few young pitchers (e.g. Keaton Winn, Hayden Birdsong, Mason Black), the Giants have gotten the second-fewest innings from their rotation. That has put a lot of stress on a solid but unexceptional bullpen.

Melvin recently addressed the disappointing year in a wide-ranging interview with Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic. The veteran manager and childhood Giants fan called it “probably the hardest year” of his career and discussed some decisions (pinch-hitting matchups, sticking with Camilo Doval as closer until last month) with which he has wrestled. Giants’ fans, in particular, are encouraged to read Melvin’s comments in full.

Rockies Outright Ty Blach

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The Rockies announced this morning that Ty Blach cleared outright waivers. Colorado had designated him for assignment on Sunday. Blach has the right to elect free agency, though there’s no indication he’ll do so.

In either case, the 33-year-old southpaw will likely be a free agent during the offseason. Blach has more than enough service time to qualify for minor league free agency after the season even if he reports to Triple-A Albuquerque for the time being. If the Rox were to call him back up in the final couple weeks, they’d likely waive or non-tender him at the start of the winter.

The sides might work out another minor league deal going into next season. The Denver native has spent the past three seasons bouncing on and off the roster. He has started 12 of 20 appearances this year, allowing an earned run average near 7.00. Blach has yet to post an ERA below 5.54 in any of his three seasons in Colorado. Still, the organization has valued his willingness to work out of the rotation or in long relief and has retained him as a depth arm. He owns a 6.13 ERA across 193 2/3 innings in a Rox uniform.

Blach has pitched well this year in a limited stint in Albuquerque. He has managed a 2.48 ERA through 32 2/3 innings despite the extremely hitter-friendly setting. While he’s never going to miss many bats, Blach throws a ton of strikes and has kept the ball on the ground at a strong 54.2% clip in Triple-A.

Fantasy Baseball: I’ve Got My Eye on You

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Hello friends.

Some of you may still be chasing championships but for many that time has officially come and gone. You know it, your league knows it, all that's left is for the official horn to sound. Before you totally check out, though, and head on over to the land of big hits, exciting actions, and pudding brains, let's pause to appreciate a few excellent performances from some new starting pitchers on the scene.

Trusting starters without an appreciable body of work is one of the most dangerous games in fantasy baseball and can burn you, year in and year out. Sometimes it's believing in a repeat performance that never materializes; sometimes it's the cost of the lost opportunities if you instead keep your heart closed to new blood and assume regression that never comes. Regardless, wouldn't it be nice to not be doomed to a season of haunting questions like, "What if I'd drafted Jack Flaherty instead of Bobby Miller?", and "Maybe Merrill Kelly had to go to South Korea for a reason?"

The world will never know, my friends, but let's still try to get out in front of next year's pain by digging in on some guys who could possibly continue their breakouts into the future.

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Dodgers Activate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Designate Nick Ramirez

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8:23pm: Los Angeles also activated Brusdar Graterol from the 15-day IL and placed Anthony Banda on the injured list. Banda broke his left hand. That interrupts a solid year for the 31-year-old southpaw. Banda has pitched to a 3.23 ERA while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents in a personal-high 47 1/3 innings.

4:41pm: The Dodgers reinstated Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the 60-day injured list to start tonight’s game against the Cubs. Los Angeles designated lefty reliever Nick Ramirez for assignment to create space on the active and 40-man rosters.

Manager Dave Roberts announced last week that Yamamoto would make his return tonight. It’ll be the Japanese star’s first big league appearance since June 15. Yamamoto missed nearly three months on account of a rotator cuff strain. He should get a few trips through the rotation to continue building his shoulder strength going into the postseason.

Outside of his disastrous first major league start, Yamamoto has pitched like the top-of-the-rotation arm the Dodgers envisioned. He sports a 2.34 earned run average with a 28.1% strikeout rate through 73 innings over his past 13 starts. If he finds that form quickly now that he’s healthy, he could start the first game of a playoff series.

Ramirez loses his roster spot for the second time this season. The Dodgers had DFA him to accommodate their trade deadline pickups. He cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles called him back up on Sunday. Ramirez pitched the final two innings of a 10-4 loss last night. He allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits.

Acquired from the Yankees in April, Ramirez has pitched in eight games for the Dodgers. The 35-year-old has surrendered 11 runs with seven walks and five strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings. He was an effective middle relief arm for New York skipper Aaron Boone a year ago, when he turned in a 2.66 ERA with a meager 5.2% walk rate over 40 2/3 frames.

The Dodgers will put Ramirez on waivers again this week. He’ll likely clear and would have the right to elect free agency, though he could stick with the organization as non-roster depth if he’s outrighted to OKC. Ramirez would become a minor league free agent in the offseason anyhow if the Dodgers don’t call him back up.

Mariners Place Luis Castillo On Injured List

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The Mariners placed Luis Castillo on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 9, with a left hamstring strain. GM Justin Hollander told reporters this evening that the strain is of a Grade 2 variety. Seattle also transferred reliever Yimi García from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list, ending his season. Catcher Seby Zavala was selected onto the 40-man roster.

Castillo exited his start against the Cardinals on Sunday after three innings because of the injury. He went for imaging yesterday. That revealed the strain, which is evidently of moderate severity. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets that Castillo received a platelet-rich plasma injection and is hopeful of returning when first eligible.

That may well be determined as much by how the team plays over the next two weeks as by Castillo’s recovery. The M’s are holding onto faint playoff hopes. They’re tied with the Tigers and Red Sox at three games back of the Twins for the American League’s last Wild Card spot. Seattle is 4.5 games behind the Astros in the AL West.

Castillo would first be eligible to return on September 24. There’d be five games left in the regular season — two at Houston and a three-game set at home against the A’s. Seattle would surely need to make up ground on either the Twins or Astros before then to have any hope of a playoff berth. If they don’t do so, there’d be little reason to get Castillo back before the end of the year.

It’s the first injured list stint in two years for the three-time All-Star. Castillo hadn’t missed a start since the M’s acquired him at the 2022 deadline. He pitched 11 times down the stretch that year and made 33 appearances last season. Castillo is tied for the MLB lead with 30 starts this year. He owns a 3.64 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate across 175 1/3 innings. While this has been a slight step down from last season — when he finished fifth in Cy Young balloting — Castillo remains one of the more valuable starters in the game. Emerson Hancock will probably take his rotation spot alongside George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller.

Seattle also loses one of their top relievers for the year. García has been shut down from throwing after experiencing elbow soreness during a recent bullpen session, the team announced (relayed on X by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). The right-hander has been on the IL since August 24 due to elbow inflammation. García, an impending free agent, has been on the IL twice this year with elbow problems.

García had pitched very well for the Blue Jays earlier in the season. He turned in a 2.70 ERA with a 36.5% strikeout rate across 30 innings before the M’s acquired him in a deal sending rookie outfielder Jonatan Clase to Toronto. That didn’t pan out for the Mariners. García managed only nine innings in a Seattle uniform and allowed six runs. There’s no indication he’ll need any kind of surgery, but a forearm injury is a frustrating end to what had been shaping up as a strong walk year for the veteran righty.

Zavala returns to the MLB roster for his third stint of the season. The out-of-options catcher has hit .154/.214/.282 in 18 games. He’s hitting .188/.325/.376 across 33 appearances with Triple-A Tacoma. Zavala can work as a third catcher behind Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver for the time being. It may be a short stay on the roster, though, as Seattle could jettison a position player to add a 14th pitcher to the active roster once they need a fifth starter this weekend.

Angels Select Eric Wagaman, Place Anthony Rendon On IL

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The Angels made a few moves before tonight’s game in Minnesota. Los Angeles selected corner bat Eric Wagaman onto the 40-man roster. The Halos also recalled reliever Guillo Zuñiga from Triple-A Salt Lake. They step onto the MLB club in place of Anthony Rendon and Ben Joyce.

Rendon lands on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 8, with a left oblique strain. Joyce is on the 15-day IL with a retroactive placement date of September 7. The fireballer is dealing with shoulder inflammation. The Halos moved veteran reliever Matt Moore to the 60-day injured list, officially ending his season, to create the necessary 40-man spot.

Wagaman, who turned 27 last month, gets to the big leagues for the first time. Any major league call would have been rewarding, but debuting with the Angels is particularly sweet. Wagaman is an Orange County native who grew up as a Halos fan. He attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and entered pro ball as a 13th-round pick of the Yankees in 2017.

The right-handed hitter played parts of six seasons in the New York system. Wagaman posted middling numbers in the low minors but seemed to hit his stride in Double-A. He hit well in limited looks there between 2022-23. The Angels selected him with their first pick of the Triple-A phase of last winter’s Rule 5 draft. That got him his first extended upper minors opportunity with his hometown club.

Wagaman has taken advantage. He has split his time between the top two minor league levels and combined for a .274/.339/.469 slash through 495 plate appearances. He has connected on 28 doubles, four triples and 17 homers while striking out at only a 16.8% clip. Primarily a first baseman, Wagaman has branched out a bit defensively this year. He has logged a few hundred innings in the corner outfield and at third base. He should work as a bat-first player off Ron Washington’s bench for the season’s final few weeks as he tries to maintain his 40-man roster spot in the offseason.

Rendon goes on the IL for the third time this season and the 12th stint of his Angels tenure. He’s not officially out for the season, but an oblique strain with less than three weeks to play could result in him being shut down. If that ends up being the case, he’ll close the year with a .218/.307/.267 batting line and no home runs. Rendon has appeared in 57 games this season and hasn’t topped 58 games in any of his five years with Los Angeles (though he likely would’ve beaten that number if not for the shortened schedule in 2020). He’s under contract for $38MM annually for another two years.

Joyce hasn’t pitched in a week because of the shoulder issue. He’ll be out until the final week of the season. It doesn’t seem to be a major concern. The second-year righty told Erica Weston of Bally Sports West (X link) that he expects to pitch again this season. Joyce has been a rare bright spot for the Angel bullpen. He owns a 2.08 ERA with a massive 58.9% ground-ball rate across 34 2/3 innings. The Tennessee product throws harder than anyone else, touching 105.5 MPH in his most recent appearance. With Carlos Estévez gone, he could get the first look in the ninth inning next season.

Moore has been out since late August with a forearm injury. The severity isn’t known, but it’s a suboptimal way to go to free agency. The southpaw played this year on a $9MM salary. He struggled to a 5.03 ERA across 51 appearances. He’ll return to the market at age 35 and might be limited to minor league offers.

White Sox Select Sean Burke

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The White Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Sean Burke from Triple-A Charlotte. Fellow right-hander Nick Nastrini was optioned to Charlotte in a corresponding move. The Sox already had multiple vacancies on the 40-man roster to accommodate Burke’s promotion.

Burke, 24, was Chicago’s third-round pick back in 2021 and has spent the season in the Charlotte rotation, making 16 starts and pitching to a 4.62 ERA with a weighty 31% strikeout rate but an ugly 13% walk rate. The 6’6″ righty was a two-sport star in high school, also shining as a basketball player, and has drawn praise for both his athleticism and a lively heater that sits mid-90s and reaches 97 mph. He complements the offering with a curveball, slider and changeup.

Baseball America ranked Burke 14th among Sox prospects entering the season but has since dropped him off their list. He’s currently their No. 29 prospect at MLB.com and No. 23 at FanGraphs. Each of Burke’s secondary offerings has drawn average or better ratings, but his entire arsenal is undercut by a lack of command.

Splitting time between two sports in high school, missing a year of his NCAA career at Maryland due to Tommy John surgery, and missing much of the 2023 campaign due to shoulder troubles have all cut into some potential development time for Burke. Optimists might argue his command could yet realistically be expected to improve as a result of this, but the pair of arm injuries is also a clear concern.

To his credit, Burke has indeed cut back on his walk rate, going from 16.3% in Triple-A last year to 13% this year. He’s improved particularly as of late, logging a 3.66 ERA, 37.4% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate across his past seven starts. It’s clear there’s still work to be done on his command, but he’s trending in the right direction the further he distances himself from last year’s shoulder woes.

Now, Burke will be the next man up for what could be a historically poor White Sox season. There’s no immediate spot in the rotation, with Jonathan Cannon slated to start tonight and Davis Martin going tomorrow, followed by a Thursday off-day. However, the Sox used four relievers to cover 6 1/3 innings yesterday, including 3 1/3 from Nastrini. He wouldn’t have been available to pitch after that lengthy relief appearance, so he’ll head to Triple-A while the South Siders summon a fresh arm to potentially provide length out of the ’pen. It’s conceivable that Burke could get a start or two down the stretch, particularly if he doesn’t pitch today or tomorrow.

Red Sox Outright Bobby Dalbec

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Sept. 10: Dalbec went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Worcester, per a team announcement. He’ll remain in the organization.

Sept. 8: The Red Sox announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Richard Fitts, whose promotion was reported last night. The club designated infielder Bobby Dalbec for assignment to make room for Fitts on the 40-man roster and optioned right-hander Chase Shugart to Triple-A in order to clear space on the active roster.

Dalbec, 29, was a fourth-round pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft who earned plenty of attention with a dominant debut during the shortened 2020 season. After being called up halfway through the 60-game campaign, he emerged as the club’s regular first baseman down the stretch and slashed a torrid .263/.359/.600 with an eye-popping eight home runs in just 92 trips to the plate. Though the Red Sox ultimately finished fifth in the AL East that year and no one expected Dalbec to continue slugging at a 63 homer pace in his first full season in 2021, there was nonetheless optimism regarding the then-25-year-old’s future.

While Dalbec didn’t hit at the same otherworldly level he did during his first taste of big league action, his first full big league campaign in 2021 was a productive one nonetheless. In 453 trips to the plate across 133 games, Dalbec hit a respectable .240/.298/.400 with 25 home runs, 21 doubles, and 5 triples as Boston’s primary first baseman. That strong power production helped to offset his massive 34.4% strikeout rate and make him an above average (106 wRC+) bat overall, but things took a turn for the worse for Dalbec when his power evaporated during the 2022 season. As his isolated slugging dropped nearly a hundred points year-over-year while his strikeout rate held fairly steady, his production cratered and he wound up slashing just .215/.283/.369 with a wRC+ 20% worse than league average in 117 games in 2022.

That wound up being Dalbec’s final opportunity as a regular with the Red Sox, as he spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons primarily in Triple-A as optionable infield depth. He hit quite well for Triple-A Worcester in both of those years, but his opportunities at the big league level were sparse and did not see him succeed. In a combined 146 trips to the major league plate over the past two years, Dalbec hit a ghastly .159/.234/.235 while striking out at a whopping 48.6% clip and slugging just two home runs. While Dalbec has increased his versatility these past two years, appearing at all four infield spots and right field in the major leagues, no amount of versatility was able to overcome that brutal production at the plate.

With Dalbec set to be out of options and potentially arbitration-eligible headed into the 2025 campaign, it’s hardly a surprise that the Red Sox have decided to cut bait on the once-promising infielder. Should he go unclaimed on waivers, the Red Sox will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues for the remainder of the 2024 season, though Dalbec will have the opportunity to elect minor league free agency in search of a change of scenery at season’s end.

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