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NL Central Notes: Moustakas, Pirates, Senzel, Reds

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Brewers infielder Mike Moustakas will try to play through a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger, and is hopeful of avoiding an injured list stint.  (Todd Rosiak of Milwaukee Journal Sentinal was among those to report the news.)  Moustakas suffered the injury yesterday while fielding a ground ball and left the game after the sixth inning.  X-rays were negative, though Moustakas isn’t in the Brewers’ lineup today.  The third baseman-turned-second baseman has received mixed reviews at his new position depending on which defensive metric you prefer — the Moose has a +3.9 UZR/150 but minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved over 137 1/3 innings as a second baseman this season.  No matter the position, Moustakas has continued to hit, with six homers and a .239/.349/.549 slash line through 83 plate appearances.

Some more from around the NL Central…

  • Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington updated the media (including Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) on the status of several injured Bucs players.  A collision between Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez during Friday’s sent both men to the injured list, with Gonzalez on the 60-day IL with a broken collarbone and Marte to the 10-day IL with abdominal wall and quadriceps bruises.  While Marte has the shorter timeline on paper, Huntington wasn’t certain when Marte could be back in action.  Corey Dickerson isn’t yet ready for a minor league rehab assignment as he recovers from a shoulder strain, while Gregory Polanco (labrum surgery) could potentially make his season debut sometime this week.
  • In other Pirates injury news, the team placed catcher Jacob Stallings on the 10-day IL with a cervical neck strain.  Stallings’ roster spot will be filled by Einar Diaz, who was activated off the IL after recovering from a virus that sidelined him for two weeks’ worth of Spring Training action.
  • Top Reds prospect Nick Senzel is scheduled to play in his first Triple-A game of the season on Tuesday, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes.  Senzel was sidelined late in Spring Training with an ankle injury, so it will end up being roughly a month-long absence for the infielder-turned-center fielder.  Senzel has already been playing some extended Spring Training games, and will now return to Triple-A Louisville after posting an .887 OPS in 193 PA at the top minor league level in 2018.  The Reds are expected to promote Senzel at some point this season, though they’ll first want to see the 23-year-old get an extended stretch of good health, as Senzel has been plagued by a variety of injuries over the last year.
  • The Reds’ starting pitching has looked much better this season than in the last several years, and catcher Tucker Barnhart feels part of the reason for the improvement is an increased focus on analytics.  Under new manager David Bell and new pitching coach Derek Johnson, discussions with Reds coaches are “more numbers-driven now,” Barnhart tells Fangraphs’ David Laurila.  “They’re more percentage-driven, and more based on exit velocities and probable outcomes. Things like that. I still trust my eyes, but in the back of my mind there are always the percentages of what’s supposed to work. You’d be naive not to fall back on that, especially if you’re stuck calling a pitch.”

Injury/Rehab Notes: D. Duffy, Honeywell, Chisenhall

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Danny Duffy is scheduled to make what could be his final rehab appearance tonight for AA-Northwest Arkansas, writes the Kansas City Star’s Lynn Worthy. Though the 30-year-old had initially expressed interest in returning to the club as a reliever, GM Dayton Moore prefers the lefty return to a patchwork rotation: “That’s the natural question to ask for a lot of reasons as we’re looking for more consistency in our bullpen and you want to put quality arms in the back end, but we’ve gotta have guys that can start. We’ve gotta have guys that can go out there and set the tone every fifth day. We’ll be open-minded as we go forward.” Both units are again in shambles for a struggling Royals club, though the nightmare bullpen – last in the AL in all relevant park-adjusted metrics – is arguably in more dire need. Duffy’s 2018 season was his worst in years, but the eight-year MLB vet remains far and away the most talented arm on the 12-man Royal staff.

In more injury and rehab news from around the game…

  • Rays top prospect Brent Honeywell, on the mend from a February 2018 Tommy John surgery, couldn’t make it through his first start in extended spring training without a setback, Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report. The 24-year-old, who was on track for a late-May/early-June return to competition, felt soreness in his forearm, the same symptom that was a surgery precursor 14 months ago. The team was quick to note that it’s “fairly common” for TJ rehabbers to experience similar issues, though the thinly-veiled unease wasn’t hard to detect. Honeywell be shut down indefinitely for the time being, though there’s no word on whether or not the club will ask him to shelve his said-to-be arm-shredding screwball, which has baffled minor leaguers high and low throughout his professional tenure.
  • The Pirates lost another outfielder to injury yesterday in center fielder Starling Marte, the club’s fourth in an early-season string of maladies at the positions. Offseason acquisition Lonnie Chisenhall, though, is finally on the mend: the 30-year-old began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis yesterday, and appears set to rejoin the club in the coming days.  The oft-injured lefty will apparently see time at third base and first base, in addition to the corner outfield spots, writes MLB.com’s Adam Berry, and will look to add his much-improved bat (128 wRC+ over his last 365 MLB PA) to a surging Pirate club.

Pirates Select Bryan Reynolds, Recall Cole Tucker, Place Starling Marte On 10-Day IL

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1:45 pm: Per a team release, Marte will hit the 10-day IL with an “abdominal wall contusion,” while Gonzalez will be placed on the 60-day IL with a fractured left clavicle.

11:57 am:The Pirates have recalled shortstop Cole Tucker and selected the contract of outfielder Bryan Reynolds, adding both to the 25-man roster, the team announced. Reynolds will take the final remaining spot on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. There has been no corresponding roster moves announced, but it’s been widely speculated that Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez may both be headed to the IL after their collision in last night’s ballgame.

Fangraphs puts Tucker and Reynolds as the #5 and #9 ranked prospects, respectively. Both will be making their major league debuts after strong showings in Spring Training this year. Tucker, 22, hit .259/.333/.356 in Double-A last year, but he’s torn his way through the Arizona Fall League, Spring Training, and his first thirteen games with Triple-A Indianapolis so far this season, where he was hitting a robust .333/.415/.579 in 66 plate appearances.

Reynolds, you may remember, joined the Pirates as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade. As MLB.com’s Adam Berry points out (via Twitter), the Pirates 25-man roster is now populated by the Pirates’ returns from the McCutchen and Gerrit Cole trades, with Michael Feliz being the only piece from either deal not currently in Pittsburgh. Kyle Crick recently returned from the injured list, Jason Martin is hitting .333/.391/.429 in limited playing time in left, Colin Moran platoons at third, and Joe Musgrove ably holds down a rotation spot for the Pirates.

NL Central Notes: Burnes, Wood, Pirates

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A fourth ugly start to open the season has put Corbin Burnes’ spot in the Brewers’ rotation in jeopardy, writes Tom Haurdricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I think we’re going to have a longer conversation this time, and try to figure out what the best way to get him on track is,” said manager Craig Counsell after today’s loss. Counsell wouldn’t guarantee another start for Burnes and spoke of how he thought Burnes threw the ball well but had some mistakes punished in his first few starts; regarding Wednesday’s loss, however, Counsell suggested that Burnes didn’t throw as well and left far too many pitches in the middle of the plate — an assessment with which Burnes himself agreed. With Freddy Peralta hitting the injured list, bouncing Burnes from the rotation would create even more uncertainty in a starting staff that is already accompanied by plenty of questions.

Here’s more from the division…

  • The Reds don’t expect Alex Wood to make his team debut until sometime in May, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Acquired to help round out a revamped rotation, Wood hasn’t pitched in a game setting since late February due to back spasms. A setback at the end of camp pushed his timetable for a return back even further, but he’s now slated for a bullpen session Saturday. The lefty will need multiple rehab starts before he can be considered a big league option, though for the time being, Wood tells Nightengale he’s only focused on coming out of his upcoming bullpen session feeling strong. Given how long it’s been since he’s pitched in a game, the latter half of May seems more plausible than the early portion for a return.
  • The Pirates’ lack of a move to truly address shortstop this offseason has led to some early questions at the position, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addresses in his latest mailbag column. Trade acquisition Erik Gonzalez is hitting just .217/.308/.304 through 54 plate appearances, while prospect Kevin Newman has made a pair of errors in 17 innings a year after grading poorly there in a small sample of 182 innings. Brink notes that Cole Tucker could be a consideration at some point, but he likely won’t be promoted until he’s past the potential cutoff for Super Two status in mid June. Brink also notes that moving Jung Ho Kang to shortstop and playing Colin Moran at third base full time doesn’t appear to be in the cards now. He goes on to look ahead to next year’s free-agent market as well as Tyler Glasnow’s success in Tampa Bay in a column that has plenty of interesting info for Buccos fans.

MLB Announces Archer, Puig Suspensions

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APRIL 14: Archer will begin serving his five-game suspension today, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets.

APRIL 9: Major League Baseball announced several suspensions today arising out of a review of Sunday’s bench-clearing brawl between the Pirates and Reds. You can take your own look at the incident in question right here.

Pittsburgh right-hander Chris Archer was hit with a five-game ban, with the league determining that he intentionally threw at an opposing player (Derek Dietrich). Cincinnati outfielder Yasiel Puig received a two-game suspension while skipper David Bell will sit out one contest.

All of the punishments also came with undisclosed fines. It is not yet clear whether Archer will appeal, but Puig and Bell are planning to begin serving their bans beginning with this evening’s contest.

Rehab Notes: Polanco, Kershaw, Taylor

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A grueling seven-month rehab process is finally nearing its end for Gregory Polanco, reports MLB.com’s Adam Berry, as the Pirates outfielder is set to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow for High-A Bradenton. The initial rehab outlook for the torn labrum on Polanco’s left shoulder was seven to nine months, so even a full 20-day rehab stay will have him set to return on the short end of the timeframe. The 27-year-old’s imminent return will be manna from the proverbial heaven for the run-starved Pirates, who’ve already lost outfielders Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall to injuries at the season’s outset. Polanco’s status as a perennial breakout candidate finally came to fruition last year, as the big lefty slashed a career-best .254/.340/.499 (123 wRC+) in 130 games before suffering the injury in early September. His hard-hit rate, which had dipped to a shockingly pedestrian 25.9% in 2017, jumped nearly nine percentage points, and the newfound plate discipline he exhibited reaped huge benefits.

In further rehab news from around the game…

  • Clayton Kershaw’s dominant rehab performance on minor-league Opening Night doesn’t mean he’s ready for the show, writes Bill Plunkett of the OC Register. The three-time Cy Young award winner will need at least another rehab outing – this one in the 75-80 pitch range – before rejoining the big club in the coming weeks. Dampening the much-needed flames throughout the outing were the stadium’s radar gun readouts, which reportedly had the seven-time all-star sitting at a frightening 88-91 MPH with the fastball. A career-low 90.9 MPH average fastball velocity in ’18 led to the lefty’s lowest strikeout rate since his rookie season of 2008, and the once-untouchable ace was again vulnerable to the longball. The club may not need a halcyon Kershaw to contend for the pennant, and may not need him at all to run through a sloppy NL West. Still, even a compromised version of the lefty should be quite effective, and the Dodgers, who doubled down on their substantial investment this offseason, will continue to hold out out hope for the ace of seasons past.
  • Per Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, Nationals outfielder Michael A. Taylor will play seven innings in a rehab game today. It’s good news for the Nationals, who expected the extra OF to miss “significant time” after he sprained his knee and hip mid-March. There seems to be precious little playing time in the Nats outfield for Taylor, who followed up a solid 2017 season with a .227/.287/.357 stinker last year. Strikeouts have long been an issue for the speedy centerfielder, who’s posted a K rate of 30% or higher in each of his four major-league seasons.

Pirates Place Kyle Crick On 10-Day IL, Recall OF Jason Martin

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Yesterday, the Pirates placed right-hander Kyle Crick on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 4th. Outfielder Jason Martin was recalled to take his place on the 25-man roster.

Crick is suffering from right triceps tightness after making just two relief appearances this season. A former first round pick of the Giants, Crick joined the Pirates before last season as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade. While he may not be a household name, Crick was an effective piece for the Pittsburgh bullpen after being called up in mid-April.  Appearing in 64 games, Crick went 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA (3.14 FIP, 4.00 xFIP) across 60 1/3 innings – good for exactly 1.0 fWAR. He throws a 95.8 mph heater, augmented with a hard-driving sinker and a slow-down slider, effectively used to put away right-handed batters last season (44.4 K%, 50% whiff rate).

He figured to serve in a primary setup role after tallying 16 holds last year, second on the team to only Edgar Santana, who is out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Trade deadline acquisition Keone Kela will be relied upon even more heavily in his stead to set up closer Felipe Vasquez. Elsewhere in the pen, tule 5 pick Nick Burdi is getting looks early this season, while Richard Rodriguez will claim whatever high leverage innings aren’t taken by Kela/Vasquez. The Pirates bullpen was generally middle of the pack last season, finishing 14th in ERA, 12th in xFIP and 14th in fWAR.

Taking Crick’s roster spot is outfielder Jason Martin, who will make his major league debut. Martin, 23, came over in the Gerrit Cole trade. He ranked 24th on Fangraphs’ list of top Pirates prospects coming into this season. With a roughly even split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, Martin hit a combined .274/.337/.429, though with a stark difference between the levels. After raking in Double-A to the tune of .325/.392/.522, Martin hit only .211/.270/.319 in Indianapolis. While he’s being pressed into duty with the big league club a little earlier than the Pirates likely hoped, he had a strong spring, and they are definitely in need of outfield depth after injures to Gregory Polanco, Lonnie Chisenhall and Corey Dickerson.

Pirates Place Corey Dickerson On 10-Day IL

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The Pirates have placed outfielder Corey Dickerson on the 10-day injured list, per a club announcement. A right posterior shoulder strain is the cause of the placement.

It’s not entirely clear what kind of absence is to be anticipated. Dickerson will cease throwing for at least ten days, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link). Whether there’s any possibility of an activation after the minimum absence isn’t known.

Righty Jordan Lyles was activated from his own season-opening IL stint to take the open roster spot. He’ll step into the rotation, but obviously won’t be much help to a lineup that is now missing another of its best bats.

For now, the Bucs won’t add another outfielder to the active roster, preferring instead to lean on Melky Cabrera, JB Shuck and Pablo Reyes in the corners. Infielders Colin Moran and Kevin Newman are each getting some preparatory work in the outfield in case they’re needed, MLB.com’s Adam Berry notes on Twitter.

Yankees Acquire Jake Barrett

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The Yankees announced today that they have claimed righty Jake Barrett off waivers from the Pirates. Fellow right-hander Ben Heller was shifted to the 60-day injured  list while he continues to recover from Tommy John surgery.

Barrett already spent the offseason bouncing between rosters; now he’s doing so again to open the season. He’ll start things off at Triple-A with the New York organization, where he’ll represent a depth option should a need arise in the big league pen.

As we’ve now discussed several times in recent months, Barrett is looking to rediscover the form he showed back in 2016, when as a 24-year-old rookie, he gave the Diamondbacks 59 1/3 innings of 3.49 ERA ball with nearly a strikeout per inning. He’s posted a 5.03 ERA in 34 big league innings since that time and spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, pitching to a 2.87 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 over 53 1/3 innings.

Rays Acquire Aaron Slegers From Pirates

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Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays have acquired righty Aaron Slegers from the Pirates for cash considerations. To make room on the 40-man, Tampa has transferred lefty Anthony Banda to the 60-day IL.

Slegers, 26, was designated for assignment Thursday by the Pirates after being claimed off waivers from Minnesota in January. At a towering 6 foot 10, Slegers stands as one of the tallest pitchers in MLB history; despite the relative enormity, though, he’s not a fireballer: the longtime Twin’s averaged just 90.3 MPH on the four-seam in his brief MLB career thus far.

Deployed mostly as a starter during his six-year minor-league career with Minnesota, the Indiana product consistently struggled to miss bats, cratering to a caeeer-low 6.01 K/9 in 15 starts with Triple-A Rochester last season. He didn’t crack the organization’s top 30 prospects, per Baseball America, at any point during his tenure with the club.

The Rays will assign Slegers to Triple-A Durham, the team announced immediately, where he’ll slot in with a host of capable others in offering starter (or post-opener) depth for the parent club.

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