Aaron Sanchez To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
Aaron Sanchez won’t pitch again this season, as Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told reporters (including Mark Berman of KRIV Fox 26) that the right-hander is set to undergo shoulder surgery next week. The nature of the procedure or Sanchez’s recovery timeline isn’t yet known, as Luhnow said more details will be forthcoming after the surgery takes place.
Sanchez was already on the injured list (dating back to August 21) due to a sore right pectoral muscle, and though the severity of his shoulder problem isn’t yet established, it represents yet another troubling injury absence for the 27-year-old. Sanchez was plagued with a variety of blister, nail, and finger problems in 2017-18, and also missed over two months due to finger surgery in 2018.
These injuries derailed what was looking like a career on the rise, as Sanchez posted a league-best 3.00 ERA in 2016 for a Blue Jays team that reached the American League Championship Series. Since the end of that season, however, Sanchez has a 5.29 ERA, 7.4 K/9, and 1.54 K/BB rate over 272 1/3 innings for Toronto and Houston, as he has been unable to regain his past form even when healthy.
The Jays dealt Sanchez to the Astros as part of a four-player deal at the trade deadline, and the prevailing thought was that Sanchez could blossom with a change of scenery, particularly given how the Astros had proven to be adept at reviving pitchers’ careers or taking them to another level in recent years. This seemed like the case almost immediately, as Sanchez’s first start as an Astro saw him toss six hitless innings as part of a combined no-hitter.
After following that start up with another strong outing, however, Sanchez struggled over his next two starts, and his first season for Houston will finish with a 4.82 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 1.78 K/BB rate over 18 2/3 innings. While it’s a small sample size, Sanchez’s home run problems (already an issue in Toronto) worsened, as he surrendered five homers over those 18 2/3 frames.
Sanchez as seen as a potential relief weapon out of the Astros’ pen in October (he excelled in a similar role during the 2015 Blue Jays’ postseason run). Since Sanchez is no longer an option, it adds another question mark to an increasingly troubled Astros relief corps as the club approaches the playoffs. Ryan Pressly, Collin McHugh, and Brad Peacock are all on the IL, while closer Roberto Osuna has been rather homer-prone himself. It remains to be seen how healthy and effective the relievers will be to back up the all-world starting quartet of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, and Wade Miley.
Looking long-term, if the surgery require a long recovery period, Sanchez could even be in danger of being non-tendered by Houston in the offseason. He will be arbitration-eligible for a third and final time this winter, though he won’t carry a big price tag, after Sanchez made just under $1.271MM in 2019. With only a modest raise forthcoming, the Astros could decide to tender Sanchez a contract just to see what they can get from him next year, or perhaps work out a two-year extension to keep him into the fold for 2021 should Sanchez miss a large portion of the 2020 season.
Astros Place Aaron Sanchez On Injured List
TODAY: Right-hander Cy Sneed and shortstop/outfielder Myles Straw will be called up to replace Sanchez and Correa on the 25-man roster, as per multiple reports.
TUESDAY: The Astros have placed right-handed pitcher Aaron Sanchez on the 10-day injured list, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. As expected, he’ll be joined by injured shortstop Carlos Correa. Per McTaggart, manager A.J. Hinch said that Sanchez felt a sore right pectoral during Tuesday’s start, which resulted in a dip in velocity for the starter. A pair of corresponding roster moves will be announced tomorrow.
Following tonight’s game, Sanchez told reporters (including McTaggart) that the pectoral is not a new issue; rather, he’s been experiencing soreness for several starts dating back to his time in Toronto. He’s been trying to pitch through the injury, which finally manifested itself in the form of diminished velocity during Tuesday’s game.
With Sanchez on the shelf, the Astros will once again need to fill the fifth starter spot on the fly. Brad Peacock is at least a theoretical candidate to make a spot start, though it seems that the Astros are intent to keep Peacock in a bullpen role coming off of an injured list stint and the acquisitions of Sanchez and Zack Greinke. More likely would be to see Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, or Rogelio Armenteros make a return to the big league roster. All of those three are currently in the minors—that trio has combined to make twelve starts for the Major League club.
Sanchez, after falling out of favor with a Blue Jays organization for whom he was once an All-Star, has engineered an encouraging turnaround with his new club. While he’s made just four starts, his arrival to Houston has given way to important adjustments in his approach—almost certainly not a coincidence, given the Astros’ savvy in maximizing pitchers’ potential. While it’s far too early to draw conclusions about Sanchez’s reformation and viability, his acquisition has the early makings of one that could factor heavily into Houston’s postseason success.
Astros To Acquire Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini
The Astros acquired right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini for outfielder Derek Fisher, according to reports from Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun, Joel Sherman of the New York Post, and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. The deal was a precursor to a trade deadline buzzer beater, as the Astros picked up Zack Greinke from the Diamondbacks as well.
Sanchez, 27, was drafted 34th overall by the Blue Jays in 2010 and was ranked among the best 35 prospects in baseball prior to his 2014 debut. The Jays had Sanchez work out of the bullpen as a rookie, and he joined the rotation the following season. He suffered a lat strain that season and returned as a reliever. Sanchez was again moved back to the rotation for the 2016 season, and he authored his finest campaign: a 3.00 ERA in 30 starts, good for a seventh place Cy Young finish. He would never reach those heights again, dealing with a blisters and finger injuries in the ensuing years. His ERA sits at 6.07 in 23 starts this year.
Biagini, 29, was Toronto’s Rule 5 Draft selection in 2015 and enjoyed a tremendous rookie campaign in 2016, pitching to a 3.06 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.40 HR/9 and a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate in 67 2/3 innings. However, the Blue Jays’ subsequent attempt to move Biagini into the rotation in 2017 proved an ill-fated mistake, and his 2018 season spent mostly back in the bullpen didn’t yield quality results, either (6.00 ERA in 72 innings).
The 2019 season has seen Biagini bounce back to the tune of a 3.75 ERA over the life of 48 innings. He’s been homer-prone — like most of the league — but is sporting a career-high 9.0 K/9 against an even 3.0 BB/9 with a 45.3 percent ground-ball rate. There’s reason to be optimistic about further improvement, too; Biagini’s 13.7 percent swinging-strike rate is easily a career-best, as is his 36.1 percent opponents’ chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone. The spin rate on his breaking ball is elite as well, ranking 21st of 399 big league pitchers to throw the pitch at least 100 times dating back to 2016. That type of profile has yielded substantial benefits for the Astros in the past, of course, and they’ll look to elevate his profile with their data-heavy approach moving forward.
Once a top 100 prospect, Fisher hasn’t established himself in the majors since debuting in 2017. He likely wouldn’t have gotten a chance to do so in Houston, either, with the team loaded in the outfield now and with high-end prospect Kyle Tucker ahead of him in the organizational pecking order. Fisher has hit just .201/.282/.367 with 10 home runs in 312 MLB plate appearances, but he has been quite productive in Triple-A ball. The 25-year-old has slashed .289/.379/.520 with 50 HRs in 1,053 PA at the minors’ highest level.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blue Jays Fielding Interest In Aaron Sanchez
The Blue Jays are generating a high volume of interest in righty Aaron Sanchez, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). With “lots of hits” on the 27-year-old, there’s now a “real chance he moves” today via trade.
While Sanchez has long featured as a possible trade candidate, it’s rather surprising to hear of this degree of interest at this stage. Sanchez has dealt with control problems and a variety of finger issues in recent years, changing his once-promising career trajectory.
This year, Sanchez carries an ugly 6.07 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 over 112 2/3 frames. It’s promising to see the innings tally — the highest since his excellent 2016 season — but not much to be encouraged about otherwise. Sanchez’s average fastball velocity is under 94 mph for the first time in his career. He’s still generating swinging strikes at only a 8.7% rate, with a groundball rate (47.0%) well off of his once-lofty levels.
Sanchez did just turn in a ten-strikeout performance in his most recent start, though he also whiffed eleven in a mid-May outing and did not carry that forward. His 27:7 K/BB ratio over the past month is an improvement over his ugly June showing (16:19), but hardly earth-shattering. And Sanchez has actually lost velo of late.
All that being said, there has always been a perception that Sanchez has intriguing stuff. He’s earning $3.9MM this year, which is hardly an unmanageable sum, with another season of arb control remaining. It’s not implausible to imagine that a few creative front offices have ideas on how they can re-mold Sanchez’s raw tools and perhaps turn him into an effective arm. Bumping him into a relief role — he has thrown exclusively as a starter since 2015 — might well be an avenue worth exploring.
It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out over the next few hours. If offers aren’t good enough, the Blue Jays can certainly afford to hang onto Sanchez in hopes that he’ll finally turn the corner, with the idea of carrying him on the roster next year or spinning him off in an offseason trade.
Aaron Sanchez’s Diminishing Trade Value
Trade rumors have swirled around both Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman for months, though teams considered the Blue Jays’ asking price for either young right-hander to be “uncomfortably high” during the offseason. The Jays were thought to still be looking for a premium return in any deal, despite the fact that both Sanchez and Stroman were coming off inconsistent, injury-shortened seasons. The prevailing wisdom was that the Jays would be counting on both pitchers to be healthy and effective in the first half of 2019, paving the way for the duo to become prime trade chips at the July 31st deadline.
For Stroman, it’s been all systems go in amassing a 3.04 ERA over 100 1/3 innings, including his six shutout frames against the Red Sox today. For Sanchez, however, his first 16 starts have only led to more frustration. Sanchez has managed only a 5.49 ERA over 78 2/3 innings this season, with ERA indicators (5.48 FIP, 5.30 xFIP, 5.43 SIERA) and hard-contact numbers (a .355 xwOBA just slightly below his .359 wOBA) providing evidence that Sanchez’s struggles are far removed from simple bad luck.
Counting his abbreviated 2017 season, Sanchez is now in his third straight year of issuing at least five walks per nine innings. While he has a 50% grounder rate, 16.4% of the fly balls he has allowed have left the yard, leading to an unimpressive 1.4 HR/9. Never a big strikeout pitcher even at his peak in 2016, Sanchez has a 7.44 K/9 this season.
Speaking of Sanchez’s 2016 season, that excellent year stands out as the most recent bit of evidence that the right-hander has be a front-of-the-rotation type of starter, as Sanchez has since been consistently hampered by a variety of finger problems. Between cracked and removed fingernails, surgery to repair a right index finger injured after being caught in a suitcase, and constant blister problems, Sanchez has been fraught with the type of hard-to-diagnose yet persistent injury concerns that would give any team pause.
As Sanchez told The Athletic’s John Lott (subscription required) last winter, the finger problems led to mechanical issues, as Sanchez tried to adjust for a new grip on the baseball. This led to a steep increase of Sanchez’s use of a changeup in 2018 that has continued into this season, and Sanchez’s curveball usage has also spiked to a career-high 22.7% this season (his previous high was 16.6% in 2017).
Though Sanchez is averaging 94mph on his fastball, he has only been throwing it 58.3% of the time in 2019 due to a lack of effectiveness. As per Fangraphs’ fastball runs above average metric (wFB), Sanchez has gotten less than his heater (-12.1 wFB) than all but two other qualified pitchers in baseball. Lott noted back in January that Sanchez’s sinker was a plus pitch for him in 2016, yet it has become an increasingly smaller part of the righty’s arsenal — after throwing it 54.9% of the time in 2016, that total dropped to 37.9% last season and 36.3% this year.
With all this in mind, Sanchez would need a big turn-around over the next four weeks to merit the type of return that the Blue Jays want for a young (Sanchez turns 27 on July 1) pitcher who is controlled through the 2020 season. Controllable arms have enough value in baseball that the Jays would surely still get some type of decent offers for Sanchez, especially if there’s a team out there that believes it has a fix for Sanchez’s grip problems.
The trouble is, a “decent” offer would still be seen as a big disappointment for a rebuilding Jays team that hasn’t been able to maximize its return on several of its veterans. Josh Donaldson would’ve been the Blue Jays’ biggest trade chip of 2018 yet shoulder and calf problems kept the third baseman off the field for much of the season, leaving the Jays forced to settle for just one prospect coming off Tommy John surgery (Julian Merryweather) in a trade with Cleveland. J.A. Happ was dealt at last year’s trade deadline for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney, neither of whom have done much for the Jays this season. Roberto Osuna was sent to Houston last July for a three-pitcher package that included current closer Ken Giles, though Osuna surely would’ve netted more were it not for his off-the-field legal issues.
A case can be made that Toronto could opt to just hang onto Sanchez to see if he can ever get on track either after July 31st or in the first few months of the 2020 season. Sanchez is earning only $3.9MM this year and will only get a modest raise on that salary in his final season of arbitration eligibility, plus the Blue Jays will still need some kind of veteran rotation help next year.
There’s nothing stopping the Jays from continuing to explore trades for Sanchez over the winter, though then the team runs the risk that his rebound performance simply never comes around (or simply won’t come in a Toronto uniform if a change of scenery is required). The Jays face an increasingly tough decision leading up to the trade deadline, as the team will have to weigh whether settling for a modest trade return for Sanchez now might be preferable than getting even less, or nothing at all, for Sanchez down the road if his underwhelming 2018-19 performance represents his new normal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
The Blue Jays Should Soon Have Starters For Sale
It almost goes without saying that once the draft passes, teams shift their focus to the summer trade market. It happens every season, and there’s plenty of speculation that this year’s One True Trade Deadline will spur teams into action a bit sooner than in years past. It’s only logical, as clubs now know they won’t be able to augment their roster in August.
Nary a season goes by where pitching isn’t in extreme demand on the midseason market, and Madison Bumgarner‘s impending free agency (paired with the Giants’ generally poor play) has fans of pitching-needy clubs frothing at the mouth as the wonder where the postseason legend will land and what he’ll net the Giants. But Bumgarner isn’t the only near-lock to be traded in the next two calendar months.
The Blue Jays are widely expected to field offers for both Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, and The Athletic’s Jayson Stark even wrote today that Toronto has “signaled they could be aggressive” in trying to move both. For a team in their position, there’s little reason to hang onto the duo beyond the 2019 season and plenty of reason to explore the market earlier rather than later. The Jays aren’t contending this season, both starters are healthy, and it’s unlikely that an additional month is going to dramatically alter a rival team’s evaluation of the righties.
That’s not to say they’re going to shove the pair out the door, but the Jays are also surely cognizant of the fact that an interested buyer would be willing to part with more for Stroman’s final 17 to 18 starts of the season than they would for his final 10 to 11 starts of the season — the difference between a mid-June swap and a late-July swap. Of particular note in this instance, both Stroman and Sanchez are controlled through 2020.
Stroman, 28, is earning $7.4MM in 2019 — an eminently affordable sum when considering the fact that he’s thrown 69 innings with a 2.74 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a sizable 57.6 percent ground-ball rate. That grounder rate is in elite territory already, but it’s actually down a bit for Stroman, who has topped 60 percent in each of the four prior seasons. He’s among baseball’s premier ground-ball specialists and, after an injury-wrecked 2018 campaign looks to be back on track — if not better than ever.
Stroman’s 10.4 percent swinging-strike rate is the best of his career, and his 30 percent chase rate on pitches out of the zone is his second-best mark. He’s throwing his slider more often than ever before and doing so quite effectively, which may explain the uptick in whiffs and the slight downgrade in grounders. Stroman has never limited home runs better than he has so far in 2019 (0.65 HR/9), and Statcast pegs his expected weighted on-base average at a career-best .304. No one is going to mistake Stroman for a shutdown ace, but pitchers of his caliber are still difficult to come by midseason — particularly when they’re more than just a rental piece.
As for Sanchez, the 26-year-old may never again match his peak 2016 form and will always come with concerns surrounding the blister and fingernail issues he cannot seem to escape. He exited his last outing with a fingernail issue, in fact, but there’s no indication he’s headed for the injured list. Sanchez is also throwing his breaking ball at a career-high rate and, like Stroman, has enjoyed a career-high swinging-strike rate (plus a career-best 8.4 K/9). Sanchez’s control has been wobbly in the seasons since his 2016 All-Star season (5.0 BB/9 over his past 201 innings), but he’d be more affordable than his teammate both in terms of salary ($3.9MM) and prospect cost.
A team might be able to dream on that ’16 season and hope that some mechanical tweaks can help to improve upon his control, but the aforementioned finger issues will also be considered when determining what to surrender. So far in 2019, Sanchez has a 3.75 ERA in 60 innings, though his control troubles lead fielding-independent metrics to peg him more in the mid-4.00s. He’s not a Stroman-level grounder specialist, but he’s above average in that regard (51.2 percent in 2019; 54.1 percent career).
While both hurlers will generate their share of interest, Stroman should have the broader appeal and bring in a larger return. In fact, while the most frequent pitcher mentioned by fans in our weekly MLBTR chats is without question Bumgarner, it’s arguable that Stroman is even more appealing than the Giants’ lefty when looking at the total package. He’s earning $4.6MM less in 2019, controlled for an additional season and, over the past three years, has thrown more innings with similar results. The two pitchers get those results in different ways — Bumgarner more through punchouts and pristine control; Stroman through extreme grounders and limiting homers — but both are generally quality arms.
This needn’t turn into a debate over who is the better target (though feel free to do so if you wish). The broader point that’s worth underscoring is that the Jays will have a pair of very available arms in the near future — including a pitcher who figures to be among the more desirable targets on the market this summer. For a team that’s building around a nucleus of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and other young players (Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette, etc.), having two controllable starters — and a very good closer — ready to sell to the highest bidder puts the organization in position to further add some exciting pieces to that emerging core.
Aaron Sanchez Leaves Start With Finger Issue
In what has become an all-too-frequent occurrence for Aaron Sanchez, the Toronto right-hander left his start Monday with a finger injury. It’s a “right middle finger nail avulsion,” to be exact, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.
Sanchez threw three innings and 64 pitches against the Rays on Monday, yielding one earned run on six hits and two walks prior to his exit. Monday’s start was Sanchez’s second since May 17, when he departed an outing against the White Sox with a blister.
Finger problems consistently haunted Sanchez from 2017-18, during which he only totaled 141 innings, and have continued to weigh him down this year. Thanks in part to those troubles, Sanchez hasn’t been able to replicate the outstanding 192-inning season he enjoyed in 2016. Sanchez registered a 3.00 ERA/3.55 FIP with 7.55 K/9, 2.95 BB/9 and a 54.4 percent groundball rate that year, which stands as the Blue Jays’ most recent playoff campaign.
Toronto was a contender earlier in Sanchez’s career, but it’s now in a rebuild. As such, Sanchez could be a summer trade candidate if teams are remotely confident in his health. With a 3.75 ERA/4.54 FIP, 8.4 K/9 and a 51.7 percent grounder mark in 60 innings, Sanchez hasn’t pitched poorly this season. The soon-to-be 27-year-old’s walk rate (4.95 per nine) is far too high, but that alone may not scare off other clubs. At $3.9MM, Sanchez is affordable, and he’s under control through next year.
Blue Jays Starter Aaron Sanchez Leaves Start With Blister
10:50pm: Thankfully, it sounds as if the initial outlook is fairly positive. The hope is that Sanchez will be ready for his next star, Chisholm tweets.
9:08pm: Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez was pulled from tonight’s outing with a blister, the team announced to reporters including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm (via Twitter).
While the outlook isn’t yet known, and finger blisters aren’t necessarily devastating injuries, it’s a particularly concerning development for this particular hurler. Sanchez has missed extensive time dealing with finger problems in recent seasons.
Entering today’s game, Sanchez had turned in 48 innings of 3.75 ERA pitching over nine starts. The 26-year-old has generated a solid number of grounders and boosted his swinging-strike rate to a career-high 9.9% this year. He has also doled out five free passes per nine since the start of the 2018 season and rates as a prime regression candidate.
It’s tough news for the organization as well as the player. Sanchez, who’s earning $3.9MM this year in his second-to-last season of arbitration eligibility, could be a trade or extension candidate if in top form. Instead, this injury adds to the question marks in the pitching department. The Jays already brought in Edwin Jackson to help fill out innings and may again be forced to seek outside help.
Injury Notes: deGrom, Cano, Scherzer, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Sanchez
Following a recent elbow scare, Mets ace Jacob deGrom may not be headed for an MRI after all, according to Newsday’s Tim Healey. After being scratched from his most recent start and placed on the 10-day injured list with elbow soreness, deGrom was able to play catch on Saturday, with the pitcher saying that he felt “completely normal.” DeGrom cited his illness, which prevented him from maintaining his usual routine throughout last week, as the primary source of his soreness. Both deGrom and manager Mickey Callaway expressed little concern over the soreness, leading the Mets to reconsider the previous plan to schedule an MRI for Monday. To be sure, that remains on the table, as doctors will continue to monitor the 2018 Cy Young Award winner; however, the organization has expressed confidence that additional imaging will not be necessary, and deGrom has stated that he intends to start on Friday, when he can be activated from the IL.
Here’s the latest on other injuries from around baseball…
- DeGrom’s teammate Robinson Cano exited Sunday’s matchup with the Cardinals after he was hit in the hand with an Andrew Miller pitch. X-rays returned negative results, but Healey notes that Cano was wearing a cast after the game and will likely undergo further testing to determine the seriousness of the injury. Off to a slow start with his new club, Cano certainly does not need an injury to complicate an already challenging April.
- Nationals ace Max Scherzer suffered an unusual injury earlier today when he tweaked his left intercostal while dodging a foul ball that found its way to the Nats’ dugout. Per Byron Kerr of MASN, Scherzer is optimistic that the injury will only keep him out of commission for a couple of days and will not require an IL stint. Scherzer started Saturday’s game in Miami, so such a time frame would not require the righty to miss any scheduled starts.
- According to Pedro Moura of The Athletic, the Dodgers will activate southpaw Rich Hill and catcher Russell Martin this weekend when the Pirates visit Dodger Stadium. Both veterans are currently on the 10-day IL, with Martin suffering from lower back inflammation and Hill, who has yet to make his 2019 debut, recovering from a left knee sprain. The Dodgers’ rotation has excelled even without Hill, but the club will certainly welcome the 38-year-old back into the fold, further strengthening the pitching staff.
- Bad news for the Blue Jays’ rotation continues to pile up, with right-hander Aaron Sanchez exiting Sunday’s game due to a broken fingernail on his right middle finger. Notably, Sanchez has a history of finger issues, which have led to IL stints in each of the previous two seasons. However, manager Charlie Montoyo told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link) that he is hopeful the injury will not force Sanchez to miss any starts.
AL East Notes: Sanchez, Thornburg, Orioles
It has been a confounding few years for Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez, who has seen his promising career sidetracked by a series of finger problems. Of course, at just 26 years of age, there’s still every chance he can regain his trajectory — so long, that is, if he’s able to get back to full health. As John Lott of The Athletic examines (subscription required), Sanchez is preparing for Spring Training with ample optimism after undergoing surgery on his right index finger last fall. He first threw earlier this month but says he feels immense improvement already. Lott explains that Sanchez has found initial success with a steady, daily stretching program to prepare his joints — one that’ll need to be integrated into a new, broader preparation regime once camp opens (and the season begins thereafter). Pitching through pain last year, Sanchez exhibited some velocity loss and a distinct lack of effectiveness. Though he actually managed a career-high 9.5% swinging-strike rate, due perhaps to ramped-up usage of his change at the expense of his once-dominant sinker, Sanchez drew less grounders than usual (a still-strong 49.1%) and struggled with free passes (5.0 per nine) as he struggled to stay in the zone (career-worst 40.5% zone rate). Needless to say, it would benefit both the Jays and Sanchez himself quite a bit if he’s able to author a turnaround. He’s slated to earn $3.9MM in his second-to-last season of team control.
A few more notes from the AL East …
- Speaking of injured hurlers from the division, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets that Red Sox righty Tyler Thornburg began his offseason throwing program earlier than usual this winter, adding that Thornburg’s shoulder has “tested out well” in the early-going. Boston has done nothing to address its bullpen this offseason after Joe Kelly left to sign with the Dodgers and Craig Kimbrel hit the open market, and if that pattern holds, they’ll need Thornburg and others to step up and contribute more than most would’ve expected heading into the offseason. Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently went on record to suggest that he doesn’t anticipate spending heavily on a closer, and recent reports have implied that the Sox may prefer to remain south of the top luxury tax line.
- There’s still very little certainty on the Orioles‘ coaching staff, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com provides an update on a series of potential (in some cases likely) hires that could filter in as the Baltimore organization sets it staff. Kubatko writes that assistant hitting coach Howie Clark is expected to return in his previous role, while the organization may very well promote at least one staff member from the minor league ranks to help round out manager Brandon Hyde’s staff — specifically, Triple-A field coach Jose Hernandez, a 15-year MLB veteran who has since become a fixture in the O’s system. There’s other chatter in the post regarding how the Orioles may end up filling out their slate of coaches.