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NL Central Notes: Greene, Reds, Stephenson, Pirates, Newman, Frazier, Cubs

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The Pirates’ 1-0 win over the Reds today will go down perhaps the most unusual game of the 2022 season, as Pittsburgh won without a single hit.  Reds starter Hunter Greene tossed 7 1/3 innings of hitless ball, but was pulled after 118 pitches and after issuing consecutive walks during the eighth inning.  Reliever Art Warren entered the game and issued another walk, then Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the game’s only run via a fielder’s choice.  The Reds lineup, meanwhile, was held to only four hits, with Bucs starter Jose Quintana doing much of the work in shutting Cincinnati out over seven innings.

Since the Bucs didn’t need to bat in the bottom of the ninth, the official threshold of nine hitless innings wasn’t met, so Greene and Warren won’t be credited with a no-hitter.  This oddity marks just the sixth time since 1901 that a team has won despite going hitless, and ironically, the Reds were on the other side of the equation in the first such instance.  Back on April 23, 1964, the Reds collected a 1-0 win over the Houston Colt .45s even though Houston’s Ken Johnson held Cincinnati hitless over nine full innings of work — a pair of ninth-inning errors led to the Reds’ only run.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson cleared concussion protocol after being hit in the mask with a foul ball during Saturday’s game.  Stephenson didn’t play today but isn’t expected to miss much time, even though the team will be cautious given that Stephenson already missed two weeks with a concussion earlier this season.  Manager David Bell told reporters (including The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith) that the Reds are working with Stephenson on finding new types of masks and padded helmets, and the club is committed to keeping Stephenson behind the plate.  Joey Votto already has first base spoken for anyway, plus Stephenson’s bat is more valuable from the catcher position than at first base.  However, with three concussions already in his career, Stephenson and the Reds can only hope that a position switch doesn’t eventually become a necessity for health reasons.
  • The Pirates hope Kevin Newman can start a minor league rehab assignment this week, Pirates GM Ben Cherington said during his weekly radio show (hat tip to Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).  Newman hit the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain on April 27, so the timing of a rehab assignment coincides with the rough 3-5 week timeline initially given for Newman’s recovery.  The veteran shortstop was off to a decent start before hitting the IL, batting .250/.308/.375 (96 wRC+, 98 OPS+) over his first 52 plate appearances.  Rookie Diego Castillo has seen most of the shortstop duties while Newman has been sidelined, but Pittsburgh fans continue to wait for star shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz to get an extended call-up to the majors.
  • In some Cubs-related injury news, Alec Mills will toss a live batting practice session on Tuesday.  (Meghan Montemurro of The Chicago Tribune was among those to report the news.)  Mills has yet to pitch this season due to a lower back strain, and he made one minor league rehab outing before being set back by quad tightness.  David Bote (shoulder surgery) and Clint Frazier (appendectomy) are both expected to start their own rehab assignments within a few days.  Frazier told Montemurro that he believes he’ll need five games to ramp up, which would put him on target to rejoin the Cubs when they begin a series with the Reds on May 23.

Cubs Option Alfonso Rivas, DFA Cory Abbott, Greg Deichmann

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The Cubs made a number of roster moves this afternoon, in part to make room for Mark Leiter Jr., whose addition to the roster was reported earlier. Leiter Jr. is starting today’s ballgame for the Cubbies. To make room on the active roster for Leiter Jr., first baseman Alfonso Rivas was optioned to Iowa. In other moves, Locke St. John was added to the 40-man roster and sent to Triple-A. Cory Abbott and Greg Deichmann were both designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man for St. John and Leiter Jr., respectively, per the Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma (via Twitter).

The Cubs are not long on starting pitching, hence Leiter Jr. getting the call so early in the year. They could have simply turned to Abbott, who made his big league debut last season in seven appearances (one start), but they instead chose to risk losing Abbott on waivers. The 2-year-old Abbott made 19 starts in Triple-A last year, putting up a 5.91 ERA over 96 innings.

Leiter Jr.’s opportunity in the Majors might not be long, however, as the Cubs could see some starters return from the injured list soon. Wade Miley three 15 pitches off the mound today, and Alec Mills, out with an injured back, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session later today, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). Both players will make their season debut when they return.

Deichmann was one of two players acquired last season from the A’s in the Andrew Chafin deal. Even at the time, Deichmann was an older prospect, but there was at least some hope that in an emptied outfield, the southpaw swinger might see some run. Deichmann made just 30 plate appearances with the Cubs last season, however, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

Fangraphs placed the outfielder/first baseman as the 22nd-ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system coming into the season, so it’s a tad surprising to see the Cubs expose him to waivers. Furthermore, Fangraphs had Abbott, a former second round pick, as the 26th-ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system, so they’re exposing two somewhat interesting players to waivers. A deal could still be worked out, and given the roster crunches all around baseball, it would not be surprising if one or both cleared waivers outright.

Besides, there’s lots of smoke and mirrors in prospect pedigree, and the Cubs’ system has not been all that highly regarded in recent years. For what it’s worth, neither Abbott nor Deichmann landed in the top-30 Cubs’ prospect by measure of MLB.com, and only Abbott made Baseball America’s list, coming in at number 23.

As for St. John, the Cubs signed the 29-year-old lefty as a free agent in November. His only time in the Majors came in 2019, when he made seven appearances for the Rangers. Last season, he tossed 58 1/3 innings for the Tigers’ Triple club in Toledo, posting a solid 2.58 ERA with a 29.2 percent strikeout rate.

Cubs Place Alec Mills On Injured List

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The Cubs are placing right-hander Alec Mills on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com was among those to pass along (Twitter link). Fellow righty Tommy Nance was selected to the 40-man roster in a corresponding move.

Mills was a key member of the Chicago rotation last season, starting eleven games and finishing third on the team in innings pitched (62 1/3). On the whole, he wasn’t particularly effective in that role (September no-hitter notwithstanding), working to a 4.48 ERA/4.81 SIERA. The offseason acquisitions of Jake Arrieta and Trevor Williams bumped Mills to a long relief role early this season. Through 22 2/3 innings, the sinkerballer has managed just a 5.96 ERA with a very low 12.7% strikeout rate. Mills has continued to throw strikes and induce plenty of grounders, but he doesn’t miss many bats and has proven susceptible to homers when opposing hitters have managed to elevate the ball.

With Mills out of action, Nance is in line to make his major league debut. The 30-year-old signed with Chicago out of indy ball in 2016 after going undrafted out of Santa Clara University. Given that non-traditional background, it’s no surprise he’s never appeared on a Cubs’ organizational prospects ranking at Baseball America or FanGraphs. Nance has been quietly productive all the way up the minor league ladder, though, working to a 3.33 ERA with decent strikeout and walk rates (25.7% and 9.5%, respectively) over 113 2/3 professional innings. Nance has pitched six stellar innings of one-run ball at Triple-A Iowa this season, strikeout out ten while allowing just one hit (a homer) and a walk.

Gold Glove Nominees Announced

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The 2020 Rawlings Glove Glove Award finalists have been released, with the Cubs netting the most nominations with seven. The Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Brewers, Rays, and Red Sox were shut out.

The awards for defensive prowess will be handed out based on defensive metrics alone this year, since managers and coaches weren’t able to see players outside their regional bubble. Moving to a metrics-based system, even for a year, certainly make for interesting television, especially since these awards can make an impact on arbitration cases. Considering the uncertainty of a 60-game season, awards could carry greater weight than usual in those proceedings, thought that’s just speculation. Without further ado, here are this year’s nominees:

AL Pitcher

NL Pitcher

AL Catcher

NL Catcher

AL First Base

NL First Base

AL Second Base

NL Second Base

AL Third Base

NL Third Base

AL Shortstop

NL Shortstop

AL Left Field

NL Left Field

AL Centerfield

NL Centerfield

AL Right Field

NL Right Field

Nicky Lopez of the Royals was originally left off the list, but he is in fact a nominee at second base, one of four nominations at the keystone in the American League. It’s the only position with four nominations.

There are a few other interesting things of note. Perennial candidates like Andrelton Simmons and Matt Chapman did not make the list this year due to shortened seasons, nor did last season’s Outs Above Average leader Victor Robles. Both Gurriel brothers earned nominations this year, with the younger Lourdes (LF) joining perennial candidate Yuli (1B).

There are also a couple of largely part-time players that made the cut, like Hoerner of the Cubs and Mendick for the White Sox. Neither was the everyday second baseman, but they did reach the inning minimum of 265 total defensive innings. They qualified at second because that’s where they played the most innings. Mendick, for example, registered just 226 innings at second, but with 27 innings at third and 15 at shortstop, he ended the year with 268 total defensive innings played.

Catchers required a minimum of 29 games, which is how we got a pair of White Sox catchers making the top-3. Pitchers had to throw a minimum of 50 innings.

The winners will be selected using the SABR Defensive Index and announced on November 3rd, per sabr.org.

Quick Hits: Mills, Kim, McCullers, Hernandez

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Alec Mills entered the record books today when the Cubs right-hander tossed a no-hitter in Chicago’s 12-0 victory over the Brewers.  Mills issued three walks and struck out five over his gem of an outing, recording his first career complete game to go along with his no-hit bid.  Today marked only the 15th start of Mills’ Major League career, as the 28-year-old has worked as something of a swingman during his four seasons in the bigs, though he became a full-time starter this year in the wake of injuries within the Cubs’ rotation and now owns a piece of baseball history.

More from around the Show…

  • Kwang Hyun Kim is scheduled to start the first game of the Cardinals’ doubleheader with the Brewers on Monday, marking his return from an injured list stint that retroactively began on September 2.  Kim was sidelined with a kidney problem that required a short stay in hospital, but as MLB.com’s Anne Rogers explains, Kim is now taking a blood thinner and observing other precautions that will allow him to return to action after slightly beyond the 10-day minimum IL absence.  In his first season in Major League Baseball, Kim has thus far had no problem adjusting, as the southpaw has an 0.83 ERA over his first 21 2/3 innings, starting four of his five appearances.
  • Speaking of returning starters, the Astros listed Lance McCullers Jr. as the starter for Wednesday’s game against the Rangers, indicating that the right-hander’s time on the injured list is nearing an end.  McCullers hit the 10-day IL on September 6 due to neck nerve irritation, a rather concerning-sounding issue that left a return date up in the air.  After taking an anti-inflammatory injection, however, McCullers now seems on track to get back on the mound after only a minimal IL stint.  The former first-rounder has a 5.79 ERA over eight starts and 37 1/3 innings this season, though the Astros will surely welcome whatever McCullers can contribute to a rotation mix that has managed middle-of-the-pack numbers despite multiple injuries.
  • There haven’t yet been any contract talks between Cesar Hernandez and the Indians, but the second baseman “would be looking to be part of the team for the coming years,” as he told Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Hernandez was non-tendered by the Phillies last winter and signed a one-year, $6.25MM deal with the Tribe, delivering a .266/.337/.383 slash line over 210 plate appearances in 2020.  While this offensive production is slightly below average (95 wRC+), his bat in combination with his strong second base defense has made for a solid 1.0 fWAR contribution over his 46 games in a Cleveland uniform.  There are some other interesting middle infield options in the free market, plus this player pool is likely to grow once teams make their own non-tender decisions.  Hernandez is the type of decent but unspectacular player who could potentially be squeezed into a one-year contract this winter if teams tighten their budgets in the wake of this pandemic season, so the Indians (certainly a team looking to limit its payroll) could have room to re-sign Hernandez if the price is right.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Cubs, Chatwood, Mills, Nats, Ross, Voth

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Nicholas Castellanos spoke eloquently about his experience dealing with the Cubs this offseason – which is to say, he experience not dealing with them. And yet, the Cincinnati Red appears to harbor no ill will towards the Cubs. Instead, he offered nuanced insight and thoughtful considerations about the challenges facing ownership, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. Said Castellanos, “I don’t know the intricacies of owning a team. The only thing I can speak on when it comes to the Cubs is what a tremendous and incredible soul that organization has when it has life. The only thing I would care about if I owned the Cubs would be to give it as much life as possible. It’s hard, I don’t know what it’s like to own a business.” Polite and diplomatic as he may be, Castellanos does offer an implicit criticism of a Cubs organization that has exhibited, shall we say, less “life” than in years past. Though Castellanos seems to understand and accept why the Cubs made no contact with him after his exit interview, he did wonder broadly about the lack of interest from teams league-wide. Let’s check in on some fifth starter races..

  • Cubs’ manager David Ross gives Tyler Chatwood the lead in the race for the Cubs’ fifth starter role, tweets MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. Alec Mills is also a contender for the role, though whoever wins the spot on opening day is likely to keep it until performance dictates otherwise. Ross has no interest in modernizing his approach to the fifth starter role, preferring to let players earn a role in spring training and enter the season thusly, per Bastian. Mills is out of options, but he’s a heavy favorite to land a bullpen spot if he can’t unseat Chatwood for the rotation.
  • Joe Ross has pole position to break camp as the fifth starter for the World Champion Washington Nationals, per MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Austin Voth has pitched well enough to provide a legitimate challenge, but given that both players are likely to make the team, Ross has the track record to give him an edge. He also has the gaudy bullpen ERA to suggest he’s best utilized in the rotation. It’s fair to question the significance of rotation/bullpen splits, but few can boast a Jekyll-and-Hyde routine like Ross’ 2019. The 26-year-old put up an 11.17 ERA over 19 1/3 innings as a reliever, only to counter with a 3.02 ERA in 44 2/3 innings as a starter during the second half. Voth, meanwhile, is more of a late-bloomer at age-27, and he has yet to be tested in a relief capacity. Since making his professional debut in 2013, he has just 3 minor league relief appearances to go with 3 major league appearances out of the pen. Since the right-hander is out of options (as is Ross), Voth is likely to get his first real taste of bullpen life in 2020.

Cubs Rotation Candidates

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There’s a chance the Cubs begin the 2020 season with Tyler Chatwood back in the rotation, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. In the final season of the three-year, $38MM deal signed before 2018, Chatwood arguably represents the most reliable option currently on the roster. Chatwood recovered from a disappointing first season in Chicago with 76 2/3 innings of 3.76 ERA/4.28 FIP baseball while mostly serving as a long man out of the pen. In a year in which the Cubs tested out numerous young arms, Chatwood emerged as a reliable alternative for intermittent opportunities in high-leverage situations, though most of his usage came in the middle innings. He did start five games in 2019, going 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA while averaging between four and five innings per start.

Despite Chatwood’s bounceback – at this stage of his career – there’s probably not a lot of unrealized upside to unearth as a rotation arm. The Cubs will look to add arms to push Chatwood for that rotation spot in the spring. Given their financial situation and the volume of competition for the top remaining arms in free agency, it’s unlikely they’ll be players in that space.

Internally, Adbert Alzolay represents the stiffest competition for the fifth starter’s job. He’s also probably the most exciting candidate for Cubs’ fans, who would love to see a 25-year-old homegrown pitcher earn a turn every fifth day. Theo Epstein and company would surely love to get that monkey off their backs as well. The Epstein regime has somewhat famously failed to develop any homegrown pitching over their Chicago tenure. After an uneven 2019 in which he made his big league debut, Alzolay will need a strong spring to take the role outright. With only 12 1/3 innings at the big league level last season, Alzolay maintained his rookie status and remains the Cubs fifth-ranked prospect per MLB.com.

Alec Mills and Jharel Cotton are two other names to keep an eye on. Mills, 28, doesn’t have the prospect pedigree, but he’s been quietly solid when called upon the last two seasons. The former Royals farmhand is a sleeper favorite should Alzolay prove unready. He also happens to be out of options. Cotton was recently acquired from the A’s in the type of low-cost, high-risk move that has become a staple of the Epstein Cubs. Cotton went to Oakland in the mid-2016 deal that sent Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Dodgers. For what it’s worth, the Cubs saw enough in Cotton to add him to the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft.

In terms of long shots, the Cubs added another former Dodgers farmhand, Brock Stewart, during the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Justin Steele was also added to the 40-man roster. The 24-year-old southpaw made 11 starts in Double-A with a 5.59 ERA. Steele and Stewart rank pretty far down the totem pole, but they’ll have an opportunity to impress the brass in Spring Training.

As of right now, it’s looking like a fairly open competition to take Cole Hamels recently vacated rotation slot. Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, and Jose Quintana make up the front four, and that’s unlikely to change, barring a Quintana trade. Lester and Darvish have no-trade clauses, and Hendricks ranks among the least-likely Cubs to be traded given the affordable contract that keeps him in Chicago through the 2024 season.

Injury Notes: Scherzer, Kluber, Hamels

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Nationals ace Max Scherzer will push back his first post-All-Star-break start from Sunday to Tuesday due to back tightness, per Sam Fortier of the Washington Post. At 5.5 fWAR on the season, Scherzer trails only Mike Trout (6.4 fWAR) and Cody Bellinger (5.7 fWAR) while leading all pitchers by a fairly significant margin (Lance Lynn is next at 4.4 fWAR, while Charlie Morton, Gerrit Cole, and Nats-teammate Stephen Strasburg follow with 3.4 fWAR). Scherzer has been beyond mortal over the last two months, winning seven consecutive starts over which he sports a 0.87 ERA while limiting opposing hitters to .157/.196/.249 at the dish (his 79:6 K:BB ratio isn’t half bad either). Needless to say, Mad Max is an essential cog in the Nationals revamped playoff hopes, no less so due to their lack of organizational depth. The scheduling adjustment should give Scherzer the extra rest he needs, as he and the team anticipate he will be ready by Tuesday’s opener at Baltimore. Let’s check in on the health of a couple other star hurlers…

  • Corey Kluber intends to pitch again for the Indians this summer, and he’s progressing as planned, per Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes. Kluber is playing catch at a distance of 150 feet, and he looks like he’ll be ready for bullpen sessions soon. He’s not there yet, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel for Kluber, who has been out since May 1 with a fracture in his right forearm. The Indians hope he’ll have time to course correct after an aberrant seven starts in which he posted a 5.80 ERA (4.04 FIP).
  • Cole Hamels has begun playing catch as well, with the next steps being a team evaluation sometime today, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. Hamels hit the shelf in late June after scoring a 1.22 ERA for the month. On the whole, Hamels’ Chicago rejuvenation has kept pace into 2019 with a 6-3 record and 2.98 ERA (3.57 FIP). The Cubs need only replace Hamels spot in the rotation once until early August, at which point a return is conceivable. In the meantime, Tyler Chatwood has held the line in three spot starts, though the Braves hit him hard the last time he got the nod. Alec Mills, 27, has looked ripe as ever with a 2.72 ERA over his last eight starts in Triple-A, where he holds a 4.72 ERA for the season. Mills doesn’t figure as a long-term piece for the Cubs, but he’s more than adequate for this brand of spot start. Before you ask, no, Adbert Alzolay won’t take Hamels next time through the rotation, as his rest days won’t align with the Cubs’ need after starting last night’s game for Iowa.

Cubs Health Updates: Darvish, Chatwood, Morrow, Duensing

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The Cubs remain in good position in the NL Central, in no small part due to the recent heroics of recently acquired pitcher Cole Hamels. The veteran just wrapped up a complete-game performance tonight and has allowed less than one earned run per nine innings in his first five starts in a Cubs uniform. Of course, he would likely not have ended up in Chicago were it not for the difficulties experienced by a few of the team’s recently signed, high-priced starters.

  • Yu Darvish, Hamels’s former rotation mate in Texas, has already been declared out for the rest of the 2018 season. He addressed that fact with reporters today, with MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat among those on hand. The veteran righty says he felt all along “there was something else other than the tightness” he was experiencing in his pitching arm, so much so that the diagnosis of a stress reaction came as something of a relief. Darvish indicated that he’s not even thinking about the season to come so much as he is trying to care for his ailing arm. Still, he expressed confidence that he’ll bounce back and be “stronger going forward.” That’ll obviously be the hope of the Cubs organization, which still has $101MM invested in Darvish after the present season.
  • The club also announced today that righty Tyler Chatwood is headed to the DL with hip soreness, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune covers. He’ll be replaced on the roster by Dillon Maples, for the time being, with Alec Mills set to come up to start tomorrow. Chatwood has been plagued by walks all year long, racking up 93 to go with his 85 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. That’s simply not a manageable rate of free passes, as his 5.22 ERA reflects. Details of the new malady remain scant, but it certainly seems there are good reasons for the club to find cause to give Chatwood a breather regardless.
  • Another major recent open-market signee, Brandon Morrow, has performed as hoped when he has been available. But the closer has been sidelined for over a month with a balky elbow and still lacks a clear timeline. He went in for a checkup today, says Muskat. That examination evidently did not reveal anything of particular note, though it was not arranged due to any fear of a setback. It seems the hope remains that Morrow will return at some point in the final month of the regular season.
  • In other Chicago reliever news, Brian Duensing — yet another hurler who signed with the Cubs in free agency last winter — is headed for a rehab assignment. The 35-year-old southpaw, who carries an ugly 7.34 ERA on the year, has been on the shelf for the past several weeks with a shoulder ailment.

Cubs Notes: Butler, Mills, Hammel

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The Cubs continued adding to their starting pitching depth in the past two weeks by trading for righties Eddie Butler and Alec Mills, both of whom had been designated for assignment by their old teams. Notably, the Cubs gave up prospects of at least modest value to acquire those players — righty James Farris went to the Rockies with an international bonus slot in the Butler deal, and outfielder Donnie Dewees headed to Kansas City for Mills. But the Cubs felt Butler and Mills were attracting enough interest to justify giving up talent to get them, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

“Both were getting phone calls,” Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said Thursday in an interview with ESPN 1000. “They have options. They can make starts for you. Finding guys who can make starts for you is very difficult and very expensive. We showed the appropriate urgency to get those guys.”

The fact that both pitchers had options was clearly important to the Cubs, as Rogers notes. But the team also thinks Butler, in particular, has a chance to be more than a depth starter.

“He’s an excellent change-of-scenery guy,” said Hoyer. “Our best example is Jake Arrieta. Sometimes a talented guy needs a change of scenery, and that was our logic with Eddie Butler.”

As Rogers notes, Mills was only designated for assignment when the Royals signed Jason Hammel, whose option the Cubs declined earlier in the offseason. The team’s pursuit of starting depth now raises the question of whether the team would have been better off had it simply exercised the option. But Rogers says a key reason the two sides parted ways was that Hammel had a conflicted relationship with manager Joe Maddon, who Hammel felt didn’t have appropriate faith in him and who frustrated him by pulling him out of games before he would have liked to depart. Though the option on Hammel’s contract was a team option, the Cubs allowed him to decide whether he wanted to leave, and Hammel made the call. Rogers’ sources tell him that was due primarily to his relationship with Maddon.

In any case, beyond Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey, the Cubs now have Mike Montgomery and Brett Anderson, along with Rob Zastryzny, Ryan Williams and now Butler and Mills. Of the last four, it has yet to be determined who the Cubs will turn to first should they need extra rotation help in the big leagues.

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