Phillies Announce Surgery For Outfielder Dylan Cozens
Phillies outfielder Dylan Cozens underwent surgery to remove a bone spur and repair cartilage in his left big toe, according to a team announcement. It is expected that he will miss the remainder of the season, Tom Housenick of The Morning Call reported on Twitter.
Soon to turn 25, the former second-rounder had already faced a difficult roster proposition with the Philadelphia organization. The left-handed-hitting slugger is on the 40-man, but really didn’t fit the needs at the MLB level of a team that installed Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen in the corners over the winter.
Cozens shot up prospect boards after a monster 2016 season in which he launched forty long balls at the Double-A level. But his follow-up effort at Triple-A wasn’t as impressive. Though he produced at the highest level of the minors in 2018, Cozens also struck out 124 times in 348 plate appearances and struggled in a brief attempt at the majors (including 24 strikeouts in 44 trips to the plate).
This year, Cozens opened with a .167/.333/.462 slash line and six home runs in 99 plate appearances at Triple-A. While it’s encouraging to see the walk-rate bump, that’s still a whopping volume of strikeouts.
If indeed he’s unable to return to the field of play in 2019, it’s quite possible Cozens will end up being sent elsewhere at season’s end. He’ll presumably be shifted to the 60-day IL for the time being, but would clog up the 40-man once the season draws to a close. Cozens will be out of options in 2020.
Victor Arano Headed For Further Elbow Examination
Phillies reliever Victor Arano is scheduled to be examined next week by orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Arano has already missed a month of action since coming down with elbow inflammation.
It had seemed that the 24-year-old Arano would make it back onto the MLB roster in relatively short order but the problematic symptoms in the joint arose again. That led the team to schedule an appointment with ElAttrache, who is known best for his role as the Dodgers’ team physician as well as for the many Tommy John surgeries he has performed.
Skipper Gabe Kapler says the situation doesn’t “feel” like one in which a major surgery will be required. There’s obviously enough worry to order up a closer look, though the hope will be that a non-invasive treatment approach can solve the issues.
Arano seemed to be a core pen piece for the Phils after a quality showing last year in his first full season in the majors. He opened on optional assignment after a rough spring but earned his way quickly back to the majors — where he got swings and misses on one of every four pitches he threw (albeit in a sample of just 16 batters faced).
Even if the news is relatively good, it seems the Phillies will need to give Arano a while longer to heal. And there is one intriguing replacement option filtering back, Breen further reports.
Vince Velasquez is set for his first mound work since hitting the IL on the 11th of this month. It seems the expectation is that his forearm strain won’t prevent him from bouncing back rather quickly, meaning that the team could soon be presented with some decisions in its rotation.
If the Phils decide to stick with Cole Ervin or restore Nick Pivetta to his spot in the starting five, Velasquez will be without a role. He could drop down to Triple-A to remain stretched out or perhaps function as a potentially handy high-leverage long man. Understandably, it seems the club will wait to make its moves until it is forced to commit.
Quick Hits: Clevinger, Rays, Rangers, Kelley, Phillies, Quinn
In a promising development for the injury-stricken Indians, right-hander Mike Clevinger is steadily progressing towards beginning a rehab assignment, writes Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Clevinger, who was able to make just two starts before landing on the injured list with a strained back, has thrown a couple of bullpen sessions, and will build up his workload in subsequent sessions before embarking on a minor league assignment, which should come in the near future. Expect Clevinger to conduct a few more bullpen sessions to increase his pitch count before returning to game action in the minor leagues. Certainly, the news should inspire some optimism among Cleveland faithful, for whom the presence of the intense Clevinger on the mound will be especially comforting, considering the team’s unfortunate struggles with injuries to Corey Kluber and Danny Salazar. As Bell notes, June 7 marks the earliest date that Clevinger could be activated.
Here are the latest tidbits from the baseball world…
- The Rays will deploy minor-league infielder Jake Cronenworth as a two-way player moving forward, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Cronenworth was used as the “opener” yesterday for Triple-A Durham, reportedly flashing a fastball at 94-96 miles per hour. The 25-year-old, a 7th-round selection of the Rays in 2015, pitched at the University of Michigan. It bears mentioning that Cronenworth has been plenty successful with the bat in 2019, slashing a cool .367/.460/.511 in 37 Triple-A games this season. This, of course, marks latest experiment for the innovative Rays, who also feature high-profile two-way player Brendan McKay in their farm system.
- Rangers reliever Shawn Kelley, who Thursday underwent a procedure to remove lumps from his throat, is back throwing live batting practice, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who further notes that Kelley could even be activated as early as Monday. Kelley last appeared from the Rangers on May 4, and was subsequently placed on the IL with an infection, though it was unclear just what Kelley was dealing with. Of course, the Rangers will breathe a sigh of relief as they hope to welcome back Kelley, who has been one of the club’s most productive relievers.
- Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn, currently on the injured list recovering from a strained groin, will hit exclusively from the right side when he returns to action, notes Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required). Quinn, a natural righty, began hitting from both sides at the beginning of his professional career per the Phillies’ request, but injuries have stunted his development as a switch-hitter. As a result, he has informed manager Gabe Kapler that he will bat only as a righty, where Quinn has enjoyed considerably stronger platoon splits, upon his return from the injured list.
Phillies Activate Scott Kingery, Option Nick Williams
The Phillies are set to activate utilityman Scott Kingery from the 10-day injured list, Matt Gelb of The Athletic tweets. The club has confirmed Kingery’s activation, adding that it has optioned outfielder Nick Williams to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
The Phillies have been without Kingery since he landed on the IL on April 19 with a right hamstring strain. Before that, Kingery looked to be establishing himself in the majors after a rough rookie season in 2018. Along with slashing .406/.457/.719 (208 wRC+) with two home runs in 35 big league plate appearances, the versatile Kingery has seen action at shortstop, third base, second base and in left field this year. He’ll add another position on Sunday – center field – Gelb reports.
The Phillies have gotten next to nothing from center fielder Odubel Herrera or third baseman Maikel Franco this year, so Kingery could potentially see plenty of time at those spots as the season progresses. Despite the struggles of those two starters, the Phillies are 26-19 and leading the National League East by a game and a half over the Braves.
Williams, 25, hasn’t played in the minors since 2017, making his trip to Lehigh Valley particularly notable. Since Williams’ midseason promotion to the majors two years ago, the former top 100 prospect has amassed 856 PA and offered roughly league-average offense (.262/.322/.431 with 30 home runs – good for a 101 wRC+). However, Williams has struggled in the outfield, as shown by his minus-30 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-12 Ultimate Zone Rating, thereby limiting him to replacement-level value. He’s also hitting at a career-worst level this year, with a .180/.231/.262 line (33 wRC+), a single homer and 18 strikeouts against two walks in 65 tries.
Because Williams hasn’t quite panned out since the Phillies acquired him from the Rangers as part of a 2015 trade for Cole Hamels, Philly made other corner outfield arrangements this past offseason. They brought in high-priced free agents Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen to take over for Williams and Aaron Altherr, the latter of whom joined the Giants via waivers last weekend after the Phillies designated him for assignment.
Phillies Place Edubray Ramos On IL; David Robertson Shut Down 3 More Weeks
The Phillies announced today that righty Edubray Ramos is heading to the 10-day injured list with biceps tendinitis. Lefty Austin Davis will take his roster spot.
In other news involving the Philadelphia relief corps, righty David Robertson has been advised not to throw for at least three more weeks, as Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer was among those to cover on Twitter. The hope is that rest will cure Robertson’s flexor strain, though it remains to be seen how he’ll respond when the time comes. Once he resumes throwing, the veteran will need to ramp up before he’s ready to pitch again in the majors.
Ramos, 26, had a fine showing last year for the Phis. He has not been quite as good out of the gates in 2019, however, having allowed five earned runs on a dozen hits while compiling a 7:4 K/BB ratio over 9 2/3 innings.
There’s some obvious cause for concern in Ramos’s radar-gun readings. He has dropped a full 2 mph on his average four-seamer and even more on his heavily-used slider. Unsurprisingly, his swinging-strike rate has suffered, though Ramos is still drawing loads of soft contact (32.3%).
In the aggregate, there’s quite a lot of uncertainty for a pair of hurlers who were expected to occupy significant roles in 2019. Bullpen issues haven’t kept the club from a strong overall start, and there’s still time for internal solutions to emerge, but the Phillies currently project as a clear buyer of relief pitching at this season’s trade deadline.
NL West Notes: Giants, Altherr, Anderson, Cordero, Jankowski
Yesterday’s news that Derek Holland was being moved to the Giants bullpen came with some eyebrow-raising comments from the left-hander, who was critical of the front office’s decision and claimed that his April 29 injured list placement due to a bruised index finger was a “fake injury.” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Saturday that Holland’s injury was legitimate, and further discussed the matter today with reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). “I think every organization would like to create an environment where guys feel comfortable talking about their concerns in-house,” Zaidi said. “To the extent guys don’t feel comfortable, that’s on me. Maybe I haven’t been around as much as I should be.” The entire situation, Zaidi intimated, could be due to the shared displeasure between the front office and the players over the Giants’ lackluster start to the season: “If we’re 23-16, I don’t think we’d be sitting in this room right now. I understand it. I’m as frustrated as anybody. But again, I want us to have a culture of accountability where people are looking in the mirror and asking what they can do better.”
More from around the NL West…
- The Giants claimed Aaron Altherr from the Phillies yesterday, though the outfielder has been on San Francisco’s radar for a while. According to NBC Sports.com’s Alex Pavlovic, the Giants first asked the Phils about Altherr two months ago, when Bryce Harper‘s arrival created a surplus in the Philadelphia outfield. Giants skipper Bruce Bochy said Altherr’s arrival won’t impact Mac Williamson‘s status as the team’s regular left fielder, as Williamson will be given an extended look as an everyday player. Altherr, meanwhile, “be eased in,” Pavlovic writes, both because Altherr hasn’t played much in recent weeks and because Altherr has struggled since the start of the 2018 season.
- Rockies southpaw Tyler Anderson will have his bothersome left knee examined by a specialist on Monday, manager Bud Black told the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler and other media. Anderson missed two weeks in April due to knee inflammation, and he been hit hard in five starts this season (an 11.76 ERA over 20 2/3 IP). He was optioned to Triple-A in the wake of another rough outing on May 3, though Anderson hasn’t since pitched. Anderson emerged as a solid, if unspectacular, innings-eater for Colorado last season, with a 4.55 ERA and league-high 30 homers over 176 frames.
- In other injury updates, Franchy Cordero and Travis Jankowski aren’t expected to return to the Padres‘ active roster anytime soon, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Cordero has begun to hit in the batting cage, though “the work is limited” as Cordero continues to recover from an elbow sprain that has kept him on the IL since April 9. Jankowski has yet to play this season after breaking his right wrist in early March, and the injury “is not healing as fast as anticipated.” Jankowski was originally estimated for a three-month IL stint, though it doesn’t seem as though he’ll meet that timeline.
Phillies Place Vince Velasquez On IL, Promote Cole Irvin
SUNDAY: Irvin’s officially up in place of Davis, the Phillies announced.
SATURDAY: The Phillies announced that they’ve placed Vince Velasquez on the 10-day injured list with a right forearm strain. In a corresponding move, the club recalled lefty Austin Davis from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. However, the Phillies will select southpaw Cole Irvin from Triple-A to start in Velasquez’s place Sunday in Kansas City. Irvin will take the last open spot on the Phillies’ 40-man roster.
This is the latest in a long line of arm injuries for Velasquez, who has logged IL time in the past for a biceps strain and a flexor strain, among other problems. Moreover, it’s worth noting a forearm strain sent budding Rays ace Tyler Glasnow to the shelf for four to six weeks on Saturday. Velasquez suggested this isn’t nearly as serious as Glasnow’s injury, though, telling Scott Lauber of Philly.com and other reporters that he only expects to miss one start.
Velasquez, 26, hasn’t turned into the front-line starter the Phillies wanted when they acquired the then-prospect in a 2015 blockbuster with the Astros, though he has generally been a capable rotation piece. But Velasquez did endure back-to-back subpar starts prior to his IL placement, and most of his production this year hasn’t been nearly as encouraging as the 3.99 ERA and 9.2 K/9 he has put up over six starts and 29 1/3 frames. Along with those numbers, Velasquez has notched a horrid 5.81 FIP with 4.6 BB/9 and, compared to 2018, seen his swinging-strike and contact rates go in the wrong direction. He’s also yielding more than two home runs per nine and benefiting from a .250 batting average on balls in play and a 90.1 percent strand rate.
With Velasquez down, the 25-year-old Irvin will make his big league debut three seasons after the Phillies chose him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. The former Oregon Duck had been enjoying his second straight sub-3.00 ERA season at the Triple-A level before his promotion, though the rest of his numbers have gone backward since 2018. While MLB.com ranks Irvin as the Phillies’ 16th-best prospect, lauding “his ability to use his four-pitch mix well to keep hitters guessing and off-balance,” the outlet adds that he only features one above-average offering (a changeup).
Details On Madison Bumgarner’s No Trade List
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has the details on Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner‘s limited no-trade list, which, per the five-year, $35MM extension (plus 2018 and ’19 option years) he signed prior to the 2013 season, may contain up to eight teams. The four-time all-star may reportedly block trades to the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies, and Cardinals at the upcoming trade deadline.
If the list seems curious for its contender bent, it’s by design: Bumgarner’s reps seem to have carefully selected the teams most apt to pursue the lefty for a pennant push later this season. High-profile players can often negotiate some sort of compensatory bonus if they’re moved to a team on their restricted list at any point during that contract, and the former World Series hero seems no exception.
Atlanta, it seems, is the dead giveaway here – Bumgarner grew up deep in the North Carolina hills, the nether regions of the far-reaching heart of Braves country, and was raised a die-hard Atlanta devotee. He’d surely jump at the opportunity to join a pennant-chasing Braves team, one that will likely have rising stars Mike Soroka and Max Fried on a strict innings limit as the season progresses, though whether the suddenly stingy Atlanta front office will have interest is an altogether different conversation.
As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Bay Area explains, there’s been no indication that Bumgarner will block deals to any of the teams included on his list, though explicit comments from the hurler on the matter are as yet in the dark. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the Yankees, Bumgarner’s most-connected suitor, are “not particularly high” on the lefty, an impression that could certainly shift with another couple months’ strong performance, coupled with a continued depletion of the team’s starting staff.
After two injury-riddled seasons, in which Bumgarner’s peripherals slumped considerably, the one-time ace has rekindled some of his mid-decade mojo: his 84 xFIP- and 91.8 average fastball velocity are his best marks in the categories since the 2015 season, and his 11.5% swinging strike rate has jumped to above his career average. He’s again striking out over a batter per nine, and his BB rate has swung back to barely-traceable levels, with the 1.45 mark actually the lowest of his career.
If there’s an area of concern, it’s the ground-ball rate, which has plummeted to a career-low 36.8%, leaving the 10-year vet more vulnerable than ever to the longball. There’s also, of course, his status as a rental: teams are more loath than ever to give up high quality talent for just two-plus months of even a star player, and Bumgarner, even during his heyday, was always closer to third starter than ace.
His postseason reputation precedes – no, surrounds – him, though modern front offices won’t fall prey to the blue ox beside his Paul Bunyan October lore, and are now much more likely to consider the sample in which it was done. Indeed, Bumgarner’s 93 career xFIP- in the postseason – interestingly a mark considerably worse than late-season whipping boy Clayton Kershaw‘s 82 figure – is a fact which, if ever relevant at the outset, almost certainly won’t be dismissed in considerations.
There’s also the matter of Giants majority owner Charles Johnson, of whom Bumgarner is said to be a favorite, and an ownership group that’s always willing to shell out for hometown stars of seasons past. The Bumgarner saga may drag on well into the summer, but it’s still a distinct possibility the lefty will stay in San Fran for the long haul.
Phillies Chairman David Montgomery Dies At 72
Phillies chairman David Montgomery died this morning at 72 years of age after a five-year battle with cancer. MLBTR extends its best wishes to his loved ones.
Montgomery was a self-made Philadelphia native who earned his way into the University of Pennsylvania and then worked up the ladder in the Phillies organization. He ultimately bought the club along with Bill Giles in 1981, becoming president in 1997.
Montgomery was forced to the sideline upon the initial diagnosis of cancer of the jaw in August of 2014. But he was able to take on some of his prior duties as president and CEO of the ballclub by early 2015.
In recent years, Montgomery has helped to oversee a leadership transition. John Middleton stepped into a much more visible role as the leader of the ownership group (of which Montgomery was also a part). Andy MacPhail was hired as president in the summer of 2015, taking over fully from Pat Gillick that fall and installing Matt Klentak as GM.
Over his many years in baseball, Montgomery developed a stellar reputation. Tyler Kepner of the New York Times documented his story in 2008. As Jayson Stark of The Athletic puts it, “baseball has never had a classier, more dignified, more respected, more upbeat ambassador.”
Phillies Designate Aaron Altherr For Assignment
Per a team release, the Phillies have designated OF Aaron Altherr for assignment after activating OF Odubel Herrera from the 10-Day IL.
Altherr, 28, has shown promise since his 2015 debut, most notably slugging .516 en route to a stellar 121 wRC+ across 418 plate appearances in 2017, but has too often been dogged been inconsistency and a climbing strikeout rate. In 285 PAs for the club last season, Altherr slashed a meager .181/.295/.333 (75 wRC+) and didn’t bring much back on defense, where a -2.6 UZR in 427 right-field innings resulted in an ugly -0.4 fWAR.
Though he accrued just 30 plate appearances in his short time with the Phillies this season, the trajectory wasn’t encouraging: Altherr had already managed to worsen his hideous fWAR mark from the season prior, and hadn’t showed even a glimpse of the career-best plate discipline he’d flashed in ’18.
This’ll likely be the end of the line for Altherr in Philadelphia – 28-year-olds with the ability to play center field and multiple 120 wRC+ or better seasons (albeit in limited action) under their belt aren’t often designated, and he’d seem to represent a clear outfield upgrade for at least a handful of teams. The Indians, with a league-worst 69 wRC+ and a cast of scattered disappointments in the outfield, may already be hot on the trail.