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Division Series Roster Notes: Padres, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, Tigers

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We’ve already covered some notable roster additions for the Guardians and Mets as the Division Series begins, and the Royals are sticking with the same 26 players used in the Wild Card Series against the Orioles.  Now that all eight teams in the LDS rounds have revealed their rosters, here are the details…

  • The Padres made two changes from their NLDS roster, adding left-hander Martin Perez and right-hander Alek Jacob and removing Joe Musgrove and infielder Nick Ahmed.  Musgrove was obviously out due to his impending Tommy John surgery, while replacing Ahmed with a pitcher gives San Diego 13 pitchers to go with 13 position players.  Perez is one of five southpaws on San Diego’s roster, as ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (X link) was among those who noted that the Padres are guarding themselves as best they can against Shohei Ohtani and other powerful left-handed Dodgers bats.
  • The Dodgers will go with an even mix of 13 batters and 13 pitchers, and rookie Edgardo Henriquez has made the list of available arms.  Henriquez only made his MLB debut on September 24 and he has played in just three games as a big leaguer, but Los Angeles will give the hard-throwing righty a look in October to add some velocity to the bullpen.  It’s probably safe to assume that Henriquez wouldn’t have made the cut if the Dodgers weren’t ravaged by pitching injuries, yet the rookie also got the nod over veteran Joe Kelly, who had an inconsistent year but was pitching well after returning from the IL in mid-September.  On the position player side, L.A. didn’t include either Kevin Kiermaier or James Outman, so Andy Pages will be the only true backup outfielder along with utilitymen Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor in the bench mix.
  • The Phillies will use 14 position players and 12 pitchers in their NLDS matchup with the Mets, with left-hander Kolby Allard joining the relief corps.  Allard has worked as something of a swingman throughout his career, and this ability of covering multiple innings earned Allard the spot, as manager Rob Thomson told MLB.com’s Paul Casella and other reporters.  “He’s going to probably give us the most length if we get into an extra-inning game….so I just wanted as much length as we could get,” Thomson said.  Utilityman Weston Wilson also got the Phils’ last bench spot, as Casella observes that Wilson brings more positional versatility than outfielder Cal Stevenson.
  • The Yankees went heavier on position players (15) than pitchers (11) for their ALDS roster against the Royals.  Anthony Rizzo is missing the series due to two broken fingers and DJ LeMahieu wasn’t yet activated from the injured list, but New York still has plenty of room on its bench, including pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis.  The Yankees appear to be loading up on bats to take on the Royals’ tough rotation and more porous bullpen, which left right-hander Marcus Stroman off the ALDS roster as the odd man out of the starting staff.
  • The Tigers made just one change from their Wild Card Series roster, as rookie righty Keider Montero has been included in place of Casey Mize.  Montero posted a 4.76 ERA over 98 1/3 innings in his first Major League season, starting 16 of 19 games.  This doesn’t necessarily mean Montero will start against the Guardians in the ALDS, however, as Detroit’s pitching staff (apart from ace Tarik Skubal) is very malleable in terms of specific roles.

Pete Rose Passes Away

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MLB hit king Pete Rose passed away today at age 83, the Reds confirmed. One of the most accomplished players in MLB history, his decision to gamble on his team as a manager leaves behind a complicated legacy that has ultimately kept him out of the Hall of Fame.

“Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a press release. “He was one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, and every team he played for was better because of him. Pete was a Red through and through. No one loved the game more than Pete and no one loved Pete more than Reds Country. We must never forget what he accomplished.”

A Cincinnati native, Rose signed with his hometown team out of high school. The Reds called him up in 1963. Rose hit .273 while appearing in 157 games during his debut season. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award while establishing himself as Cincinnati’s everyday second baseman. That kicked off one of the most illustrious playing careers in league history.

Rose suffered through a sophomore slump but rebounded with a strong ’65 season. He led MLB with 209 hits while running a .312/.382/.446 line. He earned his first All-Star selection and a sixth-place finish in MVP balloting. That was the first of six straight seasons in which Rose would appear among the Senior Circuit’s top 10 in MVP voting.

Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Rose never hit below .300 despite the league skewing extremely favorably for pitching. He topped 200 hits in four of the final five years of the decade. Rose won consecutive batting titles in 1968 and ’69, securing his first two top-five MVP finishes in the process. He moved off second base to the corner outfield midway through that run and would secure consecutive Gold Glove nods as an outfielder in 1969-70.

Excellent as those performances were, Rose truly broke out as an all-time great in the following decade. He was an integral part of the budding dynasty in Cincinnati that would dominate the National League during the 1970s. The Big Red Machine won their first pennant in 1970, a season in which Rose hit .316 with an MLB-best 205 hits. The Reds were bounced by the Orioles in the World Series. After missing the playoffs in ’71, they returned to the Fall Classic in 1972 behind Rose and Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez. They dropped a seven-game set to the A’s.

Rose again led the majors in hits in ’72. His 1973 campaign, at age 32, was the best of his career. Rose tallied a personal-high 230 hits while hitting .338/.401/.437 over 752 plate appearances. He won his third and final batting title, secured his seventh All-Star nod and won the MVP. The Reds won another division title but were knocked out by the Mets in a closely fought NL Championship Series.

The switch-hitter’s production tailed off somewhat in ’74, although he led the majors with 45 doubles and earned another All-Star selection. The Reds won 98 games but missed the postseason thanks to a 102-win showing from the division-leading Dodgers before the introduction of the Wild Card. Cincinnati returned to the playoffs with a 108-win season in ’75. They swept the Pirates in the NLCS, setting up a showdown with the Red Sox that’d go down as one of the greatest series in MLB history.

Carlton Fisk’s heroics in Game 6 pushed that Series — which had five one-run contests — to a deserved seventh game. The Reds came back from three runs down in the decider, scoring four times in the final four innings to win 4-3 at Fenway. Rose tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the seventh before Morgan drove home the winner in the ninth. Rose’s .370/.485/.481 slash earned him World Series MVP honors.

The Reds returned to the Fall Classic following a 102-win regular season the next year. This one was a lot less of a nail biter, as Cincinnati swept the Phillies and Yankees en route to a dominant repeat. Rose didn’t hit well in that World Series but had an MLB-best 215 to earn a fourth place MVP finish in the regular season.

Rose remained in Cincinnati through the end of the ’78 season. He combined for 402 hits between 1977-78 while topping .300 in both seasons. Rose left his hometown club to sign a free agent deal with the Phillies going into ’79. That ended a 16-year run in Cincinnati, over which he hit .310 with nearly 3200 hits in more than 2500 games. He continued racking up hits and All-Star appearances over five seasons with Philadelphia, where he hit .291 across over 3200 plate appearances during his age 38-42 seasons. He was part of three playoff teams with the Phils and won his third World Series on the 1980 club.

The Expos signed Rose for the 1984 season. While his stint in Montreal was brief and generally unproductive, he picked up his 4000th career hit that April. Rose joined Ty Cobb as the only players to cross the 4000-hit threshold. A return to Cincinnati set the stage for Rose to pass Cobb’s mark of 4189 career knocks. He did just that late in the ’85 campaign with a single off San Diego’s Eric Show.

Rose finished his playing days in 1986. He retired not only as the all-time leader in hits but also games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). His durability was staggering. Rose led the league in plate appearances seven times. He had 15 seasons in which he came to the plate at least 700 times. Rose almost never missed a game despite the hard-nosed playing style that earned him his “Charlie Hustle” moniker — a reputation that endeared him to plenty of fans while no doubt earning the ire of those of other teams.

At the time of his retirement, Rose was a surefire Hall of Famer. The hits crown alone would have gotten him into Cooperstown with ease. Rose was also a 17-time All-Star, a former Rookie of the Year and MVP, and a three-time champion. He hit .303/.375/.409 with 160 home runs, 2165 runs scored (sixth all time), 746 doubles and 1314 RBI. No player got on base more often than Rose, who reached nearly 6000 times over his 24-year run.

While those records and accolades will never change, Rose’s seemingly inevitable Hall of Fame induction was halted by a bombshell revelation. Rose had acted as a player-manager with the Reds beginning in 1984 and continued to manage after his retirement from playing. Late in the ’89 season, MLB announced that an investigation determined Rose had bet on baseball. That included bets on the teams which he’d been managing. While Rose only bet on Cincinnati to win and there’s no indication he ever tried to fix any games, that’s a violation of MLB’s biggest rule.

A finding that a player or coach had bet on games in which their team was involved — whether to win or lose — warrants a lifetime ban. (That remains the case today and came back into play this past June when MLB banned Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life for placing bets on the Pirates while he was a member of the team in 2023.) In 1991, the Hall of Fame announced a policy that any person who had been hit with a lifetime suspension by MLB was ineligible for induction. Rose never got on the ballot.

Getting into the Hall clearly would have meant a lot to Rose, who unsuccessfully pushed for reinstatement in the decades following his suspension. That continued well into Rob Manfred’s tenure as commissioner. Manfred, maintaining that betting on baseball warrants a true lifetime ban, rejected Rose’s appeals. The commissioner did not directly weigh in on the Hall of Fame’s policy against considering induction for those on the ineligible list. With neither the league nor the Hall budging, Rose was and remains ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration.

Rose remained tangentially involved with the game as a media personality. He worked as an analyst for Fox Sports between 2015-17. His tenure with Fox came to an end after a woman alleged in a court filing that Rose had had sexual relations with her while she was a minor in the 1970s. The allegations surfaced well after the statute of limitations for criminal action had passed and Rose was never charged. Rose filed a defamation suit against former MLB investigator John Dowd, who first publicly alleged in 2015 that Rose had relations with underage girls during the 70s. The suit was dropped by mutual agreement in 2017.

Rose’s worthiness for the Hall of Fame has been a divisive topic among fans for decades. What is indisputable is that he was one of the most iconic figures in baseball history. His hit record will probably stand the test of time, as league batting averages have dropped sharply with the proliferation of strikeouts and velocity. Rose was among the best players of the 1960s and 70s and an instrumental figure on a Big Red Machine team stacked with Hall of Fame talent that won multiple championships. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, loved ones, friends and former teammates.

TMZ Sports was first to report Rose’s death. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

From Minor League Deal To Top Reliever In The Upcoming Free Agent Class

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Perhaps you haven't heard this before, but relief pitching is volatile. Reliever performance often fluctuates wildly from year to year. At times, that leads to rapid ascensions from obscurity to stardom for players. Look no further than last year's three-year, $33MM deal for Robert Stephenson with the Angels. He'd been designated for assignment less than a calendar year prior but was so dominant in 42 games with the Rays that the Angels ponied up that weighty three-year deal.

Stephenson is just one of many instances of this, of course. Liam Hendriks had been designated for assignment by four different teams before breaking out with the A's. In fact, Oakland was one of the four teams who'd chosen to DFA him. He went unclaimed on waivers. Drew Pomeranz had been bounced from the Giants' rotation in 2019 and was potentially on the cusp of being cut loose himself when a stretch of just four relief appearances prompted the Brewers to give up a legitimate infield prospect (Mauricio Dubon) to acquire him in a trade. Pomeranz dominated for Milwaukee for two more months and went on to ink a four-year, $34MM deal in free agency.

Reliever fortunes can turn quickly, and the upcoming free agent class offers the latest example. It's always fun to wonder who might be the next Hendriks, Pomeranz or Stephenson -- and in this instance, it's even more fun because the buzz name on the market was traded for one of those very relievers just a few years back.

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Phillies Notes: Hays, Turnbull, Painter

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Now that the Phillies have officially clinched a spot in the postseason, manager Rob Thomson spoke to reporters (including Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer) earlier today about the club’s plans for the postseason roster. Per Coffey, the club appears to be leaning towards a 12-man pitching staff and an expanded bench for the playoffs this year.

Garrett Stubbs, Edmundo Sosa, Kody Clemens, Weston Wilson, and Cal Stevenson currently make up the club’s bench mix. Stubbs and Sosa are all but guaranteed spots on the postseason bench as the club’s backup catcher and primary utility infielder respectively, but if the club plans to utilize a five-man bench in the postseason then there are still three spots up for grabs. In addition to Clemens, Wilson, and Stevenson, Coffey notes that recently-optioned infielder Buddy Kennedy could be in the mix for a spot on the postseason bench as well.

Perhaps most notably, outfielder Austin Hays also figures to factor into the club’s bench conversation this postseason despite having spent the entire month of September to this point on the IL due to a kidney infection. Hays began a rehab assignment at Triple-A earlier today and while that rehab stint only figures to last two days with the Triple-A season set to end tomorrow, Thomson indicated to reporters (including Coffey) that the club isn’t concerned about the lack of in-game reps due to the fact that, if the Phillies secure a bye through the Wild Card round as they currently seem poised to do, Hays would be able to get plenty of at-bats in intra-squad games during that layoff prior to the NLDS.

Hays, 28, started the season with the Orioles but was dealt to the Phillies in the trade that sent right-hander Seranthony Dominguez to Baltimore ahead of the trade deadline back in July. Overall, he’s been a roughly league average bat this year with a .254/.305/.388 slash line (96 wRC+), though he was above average before slumping in Philadelphia as he adjusted to a bench role. With that said, he’s still an excellent source of offense against left-handed pitching, as demonstrated by his sensational 166 wRC+ against southpaws this season. That could make him a perfect platoon partner of sorts for Brandon Marsh, who the Phils have worked to protect from same-handed pitching for much of the year.

If Hays joins Sosa and Stubbs on the club’s bench, that would leave two spots available for the other four names that seem to be in discussion. Stevenson has enjoyed semi-regular playing time in a platoon with Johan Rojas in center field over the past month and could continue in a similar role into the playoffs, while Clemens has the strongest record of the group as a pinch hitter this year and could therefore be an attractive option as well. That being said, both Wilson and Kennedy could be viable alternatives if the club prefers more right-handed options on the bench beyond Sosa and Hays.

Set to join Hays on a rehab assignment tomorrow is right-hander Spencer Turnbull, who MLB.com’s Injury Tracker notes is expected to start the season finale at Triple-A before continuing his rehab at the club’s complex in Florida. It’s a step in the right direction for the 32-year-old, who has been shelved since late June due to a lat strain but could still return to the club during the postseason. The right-hander was nothing short of excellent for the Phillies in a swing role early this year, pitching to a 2.65 ERA with a 3.85 FIP in 54 1/3 innings of work.

Speaking of injured right-handers, Coffey noted that top pitching prospect Andrew Painter could be in the conversation to participate in the Arizona Fall League as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery, per president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Painter has been throwing to live hitters in the club’s Florida complex, but Dombrowski noted that the club has avoided making a firm decision on his availability for the AFL so as to not put pressure on the 21-year-old to get ahead of himself in his rehab.

The club’s top pitching prospect and a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport, Painter was in the conversation for the club’s Opening Day roster after a dominant Spring Training last year but ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery before being sidelined by injuries and eventually going under the knife. The youngster figures to be ready to return in time for the 2025 season, but a return this fall in Arizona would be an encouraging development for a youngster who has lost plenty of reps over the past two seasons due to injury.

Phillies Outright Aramis Garcia

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The Phillies announced that catcher Aramis Garcia, who was designated for assignment a couple of days ago, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not yet clear if he has chosen to do so.

Garcia, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the offseason. He got into 74 games at the Triple-A level but without much to show for it. He did hit eight home runs and steal six bases but he only walked 4.4% of the time and was punched out at a 35.6% rate. His overall batting line was .163/.219/.287.

Despite those rough results, the Phils needed an extra catcher earlier this month. J.T. Realmuto had fouled a ball of his knee and needed to take a few days off, leaving Garrett Stubbs as the club’s primary catcher, at least temporarily. Rafael Marchán is also on the club’s 40-man but was dealing with a shoulder impingement recently, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic on X. Garcia was selected to the roster to back up Stubbs and got into three games, going hitless in seven plate appearances, striking out three times. As Realmuto got past his knee injury, Garcia became expendable and was nudged off the roster.

Garcia has never hit much in his career. In addition to his stint with the Phils this year, he has also suited up for the Giants, Athletics and Reds in previous seasons. He currently sports a batting line of .211/.248/.325 in 327 big league plate appearances. But his defense is fairly well regarded, making him a capable depth option despite the lackluster bat.

Players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency. Garcia qualifies on both counts and can return to the open market. However, at this stage of the calendar, he might decide to simply stay with the Phils. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any other club, while playing playoff games with the Phils could be possible if either Realmuto or Stubbs get hurt in the coming weeks.

If he isn’t selected in the coming weeks, he would be eligible for free agency in the offseason. That’s the case for all players with at least three years of service time who are outrighted off a 40-man roster during the campaign and not re-selected before the winter.

Phillies Moving Taijuan Walker Back To Rotation

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Taijuan Walker will make his return to the Phillies’ rotation on Thursday against the Mets, manager Rob Thomson told reporters (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). Philadelphia had moved the veteran righty to the bullpen at the end of August.

Walker made three relief appearances. He gave up two runs in three innings against the Blue Jays on September 3 and surrendered three runs in two innings to the Marlins four days later. Walker is coming off a better showing on Saturday, when he held the Mets scoreless over three frames. In total, he has allowed five runs (four earned) with only two strikeouts in eight innings since the bullpen move.

That’s not exactly a dominant performance, but the Phils haven’t had a better answer for the fifth starter role. Tyler Phillips, Seth Johnson and Kolby Allard each got one look in the #5 rotation spot. Phillips didn’t make it out of the first inning and gave up six runs against Toronto. Johnson allowed nine runs and didn’t get through the third inning versus Miami in his MLB debut. The Mets tagged Allard for four runs over three innings on Saturday. Johnson and Phillips have already been optioned back to Triple-A; Matt Gelb of the Athletic tweets that Allard will move to the bullpen.

Philadelphia’s fifth starter role has been a mess since Spencer Turnbull suffered a lat strain in June. Walker has a 6.50 earned run average across 14 starts. Cameos for Michael Mercado and the aforementioned trio of Phillips, Johnson and Allard have yielded disastrous results.

Fortunately, that shouldn’t be a big deal in the postseason. Thomson can cut down to his excellent top four of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez. Walker should return to the bullpen in October if he makes the playoff roster. An injury to any of Philadelphia’s top four starters would make things a lot less comfortable, but they’re trending towards a first-round bye with the kind of high-end rotation talent they can rely upon in the postseason.

For now, Walker will have a couple chances to try to finish the regular season on a high note. After Thursday’s start in Queens, he’ll be lined up for a home outing against the Cubs. The Phils only need to turn to their fifth starter twice more in the regular season. They could try to line Walker up for the final start against Washington on September 29 if they’re already locked into the #1 or 2 seed in the National League and want to give an extra day of rest to their projected postseason rotation.

Latest On Alec Bohm

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11:01am: The Mets told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com) that Marte’s x-rays came back negative, though he’s out of the lineup due to soreness for today’s game. Meanwhile, the Phillies have activated Bohm from the IL ahead of schedule and will bat him fifth in today’s lineup.

  • The Phillies have been without third baseman Alec Bohm since late August due to a strained hand, but it seems that may change in the coming days as manager Rob Thomson recently told reporters (including The Athletic’s Matt Gelb) that Bohm has “shown progress” in his recovery. He’s currently on a rehab assignment at Triple-A but could be back with the big league club as soon as Monday. The return of Bohm to the starting lineup would provide a huge boost for Philadelphia, as with Edmundo Sosa also on the IL (and, coincidentally, joining Bohm on his Triple-A rehab assignment) the big league club has had to rely on a combination of Kody Clemens, Weston Wilson, and Buddy Kennedy at the hot corner in recent weeks. 2024 has been something of a breakout season for Bohm, who has slashed a strong .290/.343/.462 in 131 games this year.

Phillies Activate Alec Bohm, Designate Aramis Garcia For Assignment

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The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve activated third baseman Alec Bohm from the 10-day injured list. Catcher Aramis Garcia was designated for assignment to make room for Bohm on the club’s active roster. Bohm was previously expected to return to action later this week but will now join the team ahead of schedule, batting fifth in today’s starting lineup.

Bohm, 28, has been on the injured list for just over two weeks due to a hand strain. The third baseman has enjoyed something of a breakout season this year, slashing .290/.343/.462 with a 122 wRC+ that stands as the best of his career over a full season. He’s also made major strides defensively at third base, developing from a fringe defender at the position (+1 Outs Above Average, -9 Defensive Runs Saved) in 2023 to a well above average glove (+6 Outs Above Average, +1 Defensive Runs Saved) at the hot corner this year. In all, Bohm’s steps forward on both sides of the ball this year have made him the fourth most valuable third baseman in the sport by fWAR in 2024 behind only Jose Ramirez, Matt Chapman, and Rafael Devers.

As the Phillies wrap up the regular season with an eye toward their third consecutive playoff appearance, the club is surely hoping that Bohm will be at full strength going forward. The infielder began to slump a bit in the weeks leading up to his placement on the injured list, with a lackluster .232/.283/.304 slash line over his final 15 games before being placed on the shelf. With that said, even a somewhat diminished version of Bohm would be a substantial improvement for the Phillies going forward, as an injury to Edmundo Sosa shortly after Bohm’s own injury left the club to cobble together a solution at third base between Kody Clemens, Weston Wilson, and Buddy Kennedy. That experiment hasn’t gone over well, as that trio has slashed a collective .107/.167/.143 since Sosa was placed on the IL earlier this month.

As for Garcia, the 31-year-old has participated in parts of five big league seasons since making his MLB debut with the Giants back in 2018, primarily acting as a reserve catcher who fills in for clubs facing injuries. His longest stint in the majors was with the Reds back in 2022, when he hit a lackluster .213/.248/.259 in 115 trips to the plate across 47 games. Overall, Garcia is a career .211/.248/.325 hitter in the majors. He was added to the Phillies’ roster last week to provide some depth behind Garrett Stubbs while J.T. Realmuto was out of commission due to a day-to-day injury. Realmuto has returned to the lineup in recent days, however, rendering Garcia’s continued presence on the roster unnecessary.

Phillies Outright Nick Nelson

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September 11: Philadelphia announced this evening that Nelson again cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Lehigh Valley. There’s no indication that he’ll elect free agency, though he’ll be a minor league free agent at the end of the year unless the Phils call him back up.

September 7: The Phillies announced a quartet of roster moves in advance of their game with the Marlins, as catcher Aramis Garcia is joining the big league roster after his contract was selected from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  Right-hander Jose Cuas is also joining the organization on a waiver claim from the Blue Jays and has been assigned to Triple-A.  In corresponding moves, Philadelphia designated right-hander Nick Nelson for assignment and placed infielder Rodolfo Castro on the 60-day injured list.  Castro was first called up from Triple-A before the IL placement, and it was already known that his season would be over after he tore a thumb ligament at the end of August.

Garcia is back in the Show to give the Phillies some extra catching depth since J.T. Realmuto is a little banged up.  Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that Realmuto will need “a couple of days” to rest up after fouling a ball off his knee in yesterday’s game, but the Phils don’t think Realmuto will need to visit the 10-day injured list.  Garcia and Garrett Stubbs will therefore handle catching duties for what the team hopes is just a short time until Realmuto is feeling better.

This is the second time this season that Cuas has changed teams via the waiver wire, as the Blue Jays claimed him off the Cubs’ roster back in June.  Cuas tossed three innings across four appearances for Toronto before the Jays DFA’ed him earlier this week, and the righty has a rough 7.71 ERA in 16 1/3 total innings this season with the Blue Jays and Cubs.  It has been a big step down from the 3.84 ERA Cuas posted over 103 innings with the Royals and Cubs during the 2022-23 seasons, and even that respectable number was undermined by some shaky secondary metrics.

Control problems have contributed to Cuas’ struggles in both the majors and minors this year, as he has a 6.67 ERA across 27 combined Triple-A frames.  Still missing a lot of bats despite those walks, the Phillies will take a look at Cuas and his plus sweeper, and Cuas will essentially replace Nelson as a depth arm.

Nelson was also designated for assignment last month before he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Lehigh Valley.  This prior outright means that Nelson can now decline another outright assignment in favor of free agency, if he is perhaps looking for a fresh start after three seasons with the Phillies.  He pitched 68 2/3 innings over 47 appearances with Philadelphia in 2022 but he has made just five MLB appearances since, totaling 10 2/3 frames at the big league level.  A couple of injuries contributed to some of Nelson’s missed time on the Phils’ roster, but the club seemed to just view Nelson as a depth pitcher, first as a starter in 2023 and then back to relief work this season.

Rays’ Edwin Uceta Suspended Two Games

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4:36pm: The suspension was reduced to two games, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). Uceta also received an undisclosed fine.

3:56pm: Uceta will not appeal the decision, Cash tells Topkin. The right-hander’s three-game suspension will begin tonight.

2:55pm: Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that Rays righty Edwin Uceta has received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for throwing at Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos in last night’s game. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash has received a one-game suspension. Uceta can appeal if he chooses and would still be eligible to take the field while the appeal process plays out. Cash is serving his suspension tonight, per the league’s announcement. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the details surrounding the suspensions.

Uceta entered last night’s game in the eighth inning with two men on base and one out in what was then a 4-4 tie. He promptly yielded a two-run double to outfielder Cal Stevenson, struck out catcher Garrett Stubbs, allowed an RBI single to infielder Buddy Kennedy and then served up a two-run homer to Trea Turner. Bryce Harper followed with a double. Uceta then hit Castellanos on the hip with a 96.2 mph sinker on the first pitch of the next plate appearance, prompting both benches to clear (video link). Castellanos and Harper, in particular, were animated with their anger and what they clearly believed to be intent behind the pitch.

Castellanos said after the game that he had “an overwhelming sense that I was about to get drilled,” before even stepping into the batter’s box (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). Harper was also vocal in the aftermath, stating that throwing at a player with intent “is not something that you should accept as Major League Baseball” — particularly in an era where today’s pitchers can throw so hard. “We’re in a race right now,” Harper continued. “We’re doing our thing. We’re trying to get into the postseason. A guy wants to drill him. It’s not right.”

Uceta, naturally, maintained while speaking through an interpreter that he did not intend to plunk Castellanos — the first batter he’s hit all season in 36 1/3 innings (138 batters faced) and just the third batter he’s hit in his MLB career (314 plate appearances).

Even with that dismal outing, Uceta’s ERA on the season stands at 1.49. He’s quietly emerged as an important bullpen piece for Tampa Bay since signing a minor league deal in the winter and having his contract selected to the big league roster back in May. Part of Uceta’s success this season has been impeccable command. He’s walked just 4.3% of the opponents he’s faced (against a  massive 37% strikeout rate).

That alone doesn’t signal intent, of course; it was a pressure-filled situation wherein Uceta had missed spots badly on both the double to Stevenson and the home run to Turner. He’s also struggled with command in the past, entering the season with a career 11.9% walk rate. It’s certainly feasible that he was rattled by the moment in an outing where he’d already lacked command, but it’s simultaneously understandable that the Phillies took exception and believed there to be intent.

Regardless, Cash will be absent from tonight’s dugout, and Uceta could miss up to three games. Castellanos thankfully didn’t sustain any type of injury on the play. He remained in the game and is back in tonight’s lineup. Leadoff slugger Kyle Schwarber, who tweaked his elbow on a dive back into first base last night and was set for further evaluation today, was originally in the lineup but was scratched just minutes ago after informing the team of lingering soreness in his elbow (X link via Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Harper will serve as the designated hitter tonight, and Kody Clemens will get the nod at first base.

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