Quick Hits: Cubs, Reds, Phillies
The Cubs and Reds put on a real barn-burner today in Cincinnati. Cubs’ centerfielder Ian Happ tied the game 12-12 with a three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning – the tenth deep shot of the game. Unfortunately, in the bottom half of the inning, Happ collided with second baseman Nico Hoerner on a short pop fly. Hoerner made the catch, but Happ struggled to get to his feet and was ultimately carted off the field. He appeared cognizant, but a concussion could be in play for Happ, who had three hits in his best offensive performance of the year. With Happ out, the Cubs turned to Willson Contreras, who himself was only available in case of an emergency. Contreras, however, was the last position player on the bench, so he came in to catch while Tony Wolters moved to second, Hoerner moved to left, and Kris Bryant replaced Happ in center. While we await an update on Happ, let’s get some roster updates from around the game…
- The Reds claimed Ashton Goudeau off waivers from the Rockies and designated Phillip Diehl for assignment, the team announced. The 6’6″ righty made his Major League debut for the Rockies in 2020, tossing 8 1/3 innings across four appearances. The 28-year-old has yet to make an appearance this season. Diehl also pitched for the Rockies last season. The Reds claimed him off waivers on April 14th, but he did not appear in a game for the Reds.
- The Phillies have reinstated Roman Quinn from the COVID-related injured list, returning Mickey Moniak to the alternate site, per the team. Moniak, still just 22 years old, has just a .120/.214/240 batting line in 28 plate appearances this season. The speedy Quinn has also struggled at the plate, slashing .083/.250/.111 in 44 plate appearances this season.
Pennsylvania Notes: Hayes, Goodwin, Howard, Realmuto
The latest on the Keystone State’s two MLB teams…
- Pirates GM Ben Cherington provided reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) with an update on Ke’Bryan Hayes, saying that the third baseman hasn’t yet started to swing a bat, but is still “feeling improvement” in his bothersome wrist. Hayes has been sidelined since the second game of the season and has already been dealt with one setback in his recovery process. Cherington didn’t give a timetable on a potential return for Hayes, though he will be joining the Pirates on their upcoming road trip from May 3-9.
- Brian Goodwin wasn’t on the list of names slated for the Pirates‘ preliminary Triple-A roster, and Cherington told The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel that the team hopes to have the situation with Goodwin’s opt-out clause settled in a day or two. Goodwin’s minor league deal with the Bucs contains an opt-out clause in May, and it remains to be seen if that opt-out date could be extended, or if Goodwin could leave the organization, or even if Goodwin could be called up to the Pittsburgh roster. Gregory Polanco, Bryan Reynolds, and utilityman Phillip Evans comprise the team’s first-choice starting outfield mix, with utilityman Wilmer Difo and recent waiver claim Ka’ai Tom on the bench. The veteran Goodwin would certainly represent a more experienced, outfield-only presence on the roster, and Goodwin can play all three positions. As per the terms of the minor league deal, Goodwin would earn $1.6MM if he made Pittsburgh’s active roster.
- The Phillies announced earlier this week that top pitching prospect Spencer Howard was going to be stretched out for a rotation spot, though president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski provided a bit more detail on Howard’s role to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters. Howard might technically start a game, but “we’re talking about giving him two-, three-, maybe even a four-inning type of thing,” Dombrowski said. “But we’re not talking about stretching him out to those number of innings where you consider him as a starting-starting pitcher, per se.” Between Howard’s health history and the lost 2020 minor league season, the Phillies are being careful with their young hurler’s arm, targeting him for an unspecified innings limit in 2021. The Phils initially aimed to use Howard as a reliever this season, but plans changed given the lack of production from the fourth and fifth spots in the team’s rotation.
- J.T. Realmuto has been out of the Phillies‘ starting lineup for two straight games due to a sore left hand. The catcher suffered the injury while trying to block a wild pitch in Thursday’s game, with the ball hitting the heel of Realmuto’s hand. It isn’t yet known how much more time Realmuto will miss, though it might not be too serious a situation, considering Rafael Marchan was optioned back to the alternate training site earlier today — Realmuto and Andrew Knapp are the only catchers on Philadelphia’s 26-man roster.
Phillies Place Roman Quinn On COVID IL; Reinstate Didi Gregorius
MAY 1: The Phillies announced that Gregorius has been reinstated from the IL and Marchan was optioned back to the alternate site. Additionally, outfielder Roman Quinn has now been placed on the COVID IL, while fellow outfielder Mickey Moniak was recalled in a corresponding roster move.
APRIL 30: The Phillies have placed shortstop Didi Gregorius on the COVID-19 injured list and recalled catcher Rafael Marchan from their alternate site, according to a team announcement.
There’s no word on how much time the 31-year-old Gregorius will miss. Regardless, this news adds to a rough start to 2021 for Gregorius, whom the Phillies re-signed to a two-year, $28MM guarantee in free agency. Across 83 plate appearances, Gregorius has batted .250/.277/.355 with two home runs – down quite a bit from the .284/.339/.488 line he logged in 2020. With Gregorius out, the Phillies will start Nick Maton at short Friday.
The 22-year-old Marchan made a brief MLB debut in 2020, and though FanGraphs ranks him as the Phillies’ No. 6 prospect, he’ll have a tough time carving out a regular role with them. Marchan is stuck behind starting catcher J.T. Realmuto, an elite player at his position and the recipient of a five-year, $115.5MM guarantee during the winter.
Latest On Anibal Sanchez
April 29: Sanchez is still evaluating his options and will throw a four-inning bullpen on Friday, Rosenthal tweets. He wants to build up to the 100-pitch mark before he signs anywhere.
April 28: Sanchez is planning to sign this week and could settle on a team as early as tomorrow, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
April 23: The Yankees, Phillies, Marlins, Tigers, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays were among the teams at Sanchez’s showcase this morning, Heyman tweets.
April 21: Sanchez will throw yet another bullpen session for teams this Friday, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He worked out for clubs in the offseason and reportedly turned down a couple offers, opting instead to see how health-and-safety protocols played out. He then worked out for teams early in the season but suffered the aforementioned finger laceration midway through his bullpen.
April 20: Free-agent righty Anibal Sanchez has been working out for clubs around the league and is drawing interest from several of his former employers, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The Braves, Nationals and Marlins have all looked into Sanchez, whose last bullpen session was truncated by a laceration on his middle finger that ought to have healed up by now. There’s interest from a couple of AL clubs as well, per Rosenthal.
Interest from any of the clubs linked to Sanchez this morning makes plenty of sense, given the pitching situations on each of the three. The Braves have recently placed Max Fried and Drew Smyly on the injured list, where they’ve joined Mike Soroka, whose recovery timeline recently hit a setback. None of the injuries is thought to be especially long-term, but the team’s depth has been tested early on.
The Nationals placed Stephen Strasburg on the injured list this week and have watched as left Patrick Corbin has been crushed by opposing lineups (15 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings). Last night’s rough start from Joe Ross only added fuel to the fire, sending the team’s collective rotation ERA to a disastrous 6.24 that ranks last among all big league teams. Currently, Max Scherzer is the only Nats pitcher who has started more than one game and has an ERA south of 5.00.
Meanwhile, Marlins righties Sixto Sanchez and Elieser Hernandez have dealt with injuries early in the 2021 season. They’re also carrying a pair of Rule 5 right-handers, Zach Pop and Paul Campbell, who have been hit hard in their first exposure to big league pitching.
Sanchez, 37, didn’t sign over the winter and is coming off a rough 2020 showing. The veteran right-hander was tagged for a 6.62 ERA in 53 innings with the Nationals last summer, although he’s only a season removed from 166 innings of 3.85 ERA ball during his first season with Washington.
Bryce Harper “Feels Good” After Being Hit By Pitch
10:32 pm: The Phillies sent Harper to a hospital for evaluation, manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Fortunately, Harper himself offered a positive update on Instagram, noting he “feels good,” that tests “came back good,” and he’ll “see (the fans) soon.”
8:59 pm: In a scary development, Phillies star outfielder Bryce Harper left thi”s evening’s game against the Cardinals after he was struck in the face by a 97 MPH fastball from St. Louis reliever Génesis Cabrera (via Matt Gelb of the Athletic). Harper was bleeding but left the field under his own power and was replaced on the bases by Matt Joyce.
It’s obviously far too early to know if Harper will be forced to miss any time. The 28-year-old is off to an incredible start to the season, mashing at a .321/.448/.615 clip with six home runs over his first 96 plate appearances. The left-handed hitting slugger entered today’s game with a 190 wRC+ that ranked eighth among qualifiers.
Brad Miller and Joyce would seemingly be the likeliest candidates to pick up starts in right field if Harper winds up needing some time off. Both have been productive offensive players within the past couple seasons and Miller, in particular, is off to a strong start at the dish this year.
Phillies Plan To Move Spencer Howard Into Rotation
The Phillies optioned righty Spencer Howard to their alternate site this week, but it’s not the demotion it might appear to be upon first glance. Rather, they’ll get him stretched out to work as a starter over the next few weeks with an eye toward adding him to the rotation next month, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
It’s a quick change in direction for a Phillies club that had previously planned to keep Howard, the organization’s top pitching prospect, in a bullpen role for the 2021 season. President of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski plainly said as much prior to the season, but as Breen highlights, the team’s fourth and fifth spots in the rotation have yielded dreadful results.
Lefty Matt Moore, signed to a one-year deal on the back of a solid showing in Japan last year, has yet to give the Phillies a competitive start. He’s been tagged for a dozen earned runs on 17 hits with an ugly 12-to-9 K/BB ratio through 11 innings of work. Righty Chase Anderson was mostly solid during his first three starts, yielding two runs apiece, but those starts lasted just five, four and four innings, respectively. He was clobbered for six runs in 3 2/3 innings in his most recent turn (albeit at Coors Field). Vince Velasquez has made only one start, lasting four innings, and hasn’t fared especially well in relief.
Fortunately for the Phillies, the top three starters in their rotation have each been excellent. Ace Aaron Nola is sitting on a 2.84 ERA through 31 2/3 innings and recently hurled a shutout in which he punched out 10 Cardinals. Zack Wheeler‘s strikeouts are back after a 2020 hiatus, and he’s sporting a 3.13 ERA through an identical 31 2/3 inning workload. Zach Eflin leads Philadelphia starters with a 2.77 ERA and a brilliant 19-to-2 K/BB ratio in 26 innings.
Ideally, Howard will get stretched out and turn that strong trio into a formidable quartet. The 2017 second-rounder has ranked among the game’s Top 50 prospects for the past two seasons, according to each of Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com. He hasn’t exactly thrived in the Majors to this point (6.28 ERA, 4.44 SIERA), but he’s only tallied 28 1/3 MLB innings and is still just 24 years of age. We don’t have 2020 minor league numbers to look at for obvious reasons, but back in ’19, Howard tallied 71 innings across four levels and logged a combined 2.03 ERA with a brilliant 34.8 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.9 percent walk rate.
Of course, the Phillies’ initial reason for wanting to use Howard in the ‘pen was to limit his 2021 workload after he battled shoulder troubles in both 2019 and 2020. He’s not going to be plugged into the rotation and given the go-ahead to toss six or seven innings every fifth day through season’s end. Breen suggests the righty could be tasked with working the first four or perhaps five innings of a game every fifth day. Perhaps both he and Anderson — if Anderson can continue working in mostly solid four- or five-inning blocks — could then round out the starting staff, with the Phils leaning more heavily on the ‘pen on those days.
The Phillies have one of the game’s bottom 10 farm systems by most rankings (including BA and MLB.com), so it’s not a huge surprise that they’re lacking in upper-level alternatives to plug into the rotation. Left-hander Bailey Falter and righty Adonis Medina give them a pair of candidates, and both have already very briefly cracked the big leagues.
The Phils will surely have some other internal arms pop up, and they have some depth pieces like Bryan Mitchell and Enyel De Los Santos slated to begin the year in Triple-A. They were also among the teams to watch Anibal Sanchez’s workout last Friday. Still, if they continue to hover around .500 and remain in the playoff hunt, it’s easy to envision Dombrowski hitting the summer trade market in search of some arms to augment his starting staff.
Phillies Activate Jose Alvarado, Matt Moore; Select Odubel Herrera
The Phillies have activated left-handers Jose Alvarado and Matt Moore from the injured list and selected the contract of center fielder Odubel Herrera, per a club announcement. The team optioned lefty Bailey Falter, righty Spencer Howard and outfielder Mickey Moniak in corresponding moves.
The Phillies went the past week without Alvarado and Moore, whom they placed on the COVID list along with infielder Ronald Torreyes on April 19. None of those players tested positive for the virus.
The most noteworthy move here is the return of Herrera, a 29-year-old who last appeared in the majors in 2019. Herrera was a standout with the Phillies earlier in his career, leading the team to sign him to a five-year, $30.5MM extension heading into the 2017 season. Two years later, though, Major League Baseball issued an 85-game suspension to Herrera for a violation of the MLB-MLBPA joint domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy. The Phillies outrighted Herrera in January 2020, and he was off their 40-man roster until today.
Philadelphia’s hope is that Herrera will provide a spark in center, which has been a problem position for the club this season. The Phillies have divided playing time among Moniak, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn, though their production has been horrid. They’ve hit a combined .114/.213/.177, which pales in comparison to Herrera’s lifetime .276/.333/.423 mark through 2,492 plate appearances.
NL East Notes: Fried, Maton, Duvall
Sunday was a day to forget for the Braves, as the team had only one hit in the first game of a doubleheader against the Diamondbacks, and then had zero hits against Madison Bumgarner in the nightcap. As per the official record, Major League Baseball is not recognizing Bumgarner’s feat as a no-hitter since the game was only a seven-inning contest, so the Braves avoided being no-hit for the 18th time in their franchise history. (Though there has already been enough controversy over the league’s ruling that one wonders if Bumgarner could be retroactively awarded a no-hitter in time.) The Braves did achieve one infamous distinction, however, as they now hold the record for fewest hits by any team in a doubleheader.
More from the NL East…
- Max Fried‘s stay on the injured list has already gone beyond the minimum 10 days, though MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that there’s a chance Fried could be available to pitch in this weekend’s series between the Braves and the Blue Jays. Bowman wrote last Friday that there wasn’t yet a timeline on Fried’s recovery from a hamstring strain, though the southpaw was taking part in fielding drills and he threw a side session. Facing the Jays in an AL ballpark would also keep Fried from having to take any at-bats — he suffered his hamstring injury while running the bases. It has been a very rough start to the season for Fried, between the IL stint and the 11.45 ERA he has posted over his first 11 innings.
- Nick Maton‘s MLB career has gotten off to a dream start, as the 24-year-old has hit .500/.542/.636 over his first 24 plate appearances as a big leaguer. Maton was initially called up to fill in for Didi Gregorius and then Jean Segura while the two were nursing injuries, though the Phillies are now looking for ways to get Maton into the lineup whenever possible. “I told him to take flyballs everywhere. You never know in the National League game what’s going to happen,” manager Joe Girardi told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman and other reporters. A seventh-round draft pick for the Phils in 2017, Maton mostly played shortstop in the minors and saw some action at second and third base, though he has never played the outfield as a professional. Maton has been working out at all three outfield spots, though Seidman notes that center field has been the biggest problem area for the Phillies, as Adam Haseley, Roman Quinn, and Mickey Moniak have all struggled at the plate.
- Speaking of new center fielders, Adam Duvall got his first-ever start at the position in yesterday’s 4-3 Marlins loss to the Giants. Duvall played the first seven innings up the middle before moving over to right field for the bottom of the eighth. Miami skipper Don Mattingly told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters that the move was made to add more offense, since “obviously we’re having a battle trying to put some runs on the board,” though Mattingly admitted that “it’s a catch-22 that we make ourselves a little different defensively in center.” With Starling Marte on the injured list due to a rib fracture, the Marlins have mostly gone with Lewis Brinson as the center field replacement, but Brinson hasn’t been hitting. Duvall has been mostly a corner outfielder and first baseman over his eight-year MLB career, though he did make one other appearance as a center fielder; Duvall played an inning at the position on August 11, 2020 when he was a member of the Braves.
Phillies Sign Greg Garcia To Minor League Deal
The Phillies have signed Greg Garcia to a minor league contract, the infielder confirmed to Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Garcia, who will report to the Phillies’ alternate site, will have a chance to opt out of the deal on May 2.
The 31-year-old Garcia had been available since the Tigers released him from a minors pact on March 25. Although he hasn’t been able to secure a guaranteed contract since the Padres non-tendered him in December, Garcia has appeared in the majors in every season since 2014. Also a former Cardinal, Garcia has hit .245/.354/.339 in 1,303 big league plate appearances and provided defensive flexibility in the infield. While Garcia is primarily a second baseman, he has also seen a fair amount of action at shortstop and third during his career.
For now, Garcia will give the Phillies some extra infield depth in their organization as they battle through a couple of health issues. Second baseman Jean Segura went on the 10-day IL on Wednesday with a strained right quad, and reserve Ronald Torreyes hit the COVID list earlier this week. Shortstop Didi Gregorius hasn’t played since last Sunday because of an elbow problem, but he’s expected to return Friday.
Phillies Announce Several Roster Moves
The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve placed infielder Jean Segura on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right quadriceps and optioned righty Ramon Rosso to their alternate site in Lehigh Valley. In their place, the Phillies have recalled infielder/outfielder Scott Kingery and right-hander Spencer Howard.
The loss of Segura even for a brief period — the team has yet to provide a timeline — stings for the Phillies. The 31-year-old is out to an excellent start this season, slashing .333/.359/.450 with a homer, four doubles and a stolen base in his first 64 trips to the plate. The Phillies have bounced him around the diamond the past couple of seasons, but he’s been their everyday second baseman early in the 2021 campaign.
Second base duties will now likely fall to Kingery and utilityman Brad Miller. Kingery is looking for a rebound after a disastrous 2020 season that began with a three-week stint on the Covid-19 injured list. Kingery didn’t have any real ramp-up period to the shortened season, and the .159/.228/.283 slash he posted in 124 plate appearances was miles away from the solid .258/.315/.474 slash he logged through 458 trips to the plate in 2019. He also spent time on the IL with back spasms last season.
The hope was that a full, healthy Spring Training would get Kingery back to his 2020 form, but Kingery struggled mightily in Grapefruit League play. Through 15 games and 49 plate appearances, he cobbled together just a .159/.229/.295 slash that looked eerily similar to last year’s woeful showing. The Phils optioned him to their alternate site near the end of camp, and this will be his first chance at a rebound.
Howard, like Kingery, has long been regarded not only as one of the organization’s best prospects, but one of the best in the league. The 24-year-old struggled through 24 1/3 innings last year during his MLB debut effort and has logged just one inning thus far in 2021. While Howard has been a starter throughout his minor league career, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski indicated at the end of Spring Training that the plan for the 2021 season was to use Howard primarily out of the bullpen.