West Notes: Crawford, Profar, Diaz
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford departed last night’s game with a groin strain, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports. The veteran had already been scheduled to miss a few games on the bereavement list, but the club will be anxious to see how he feels upon his return. “I really haven’t felt anything like that before,” said Crawford, “so I can’t tell you how bad it is. It just felt tight. I didn’t feel a pop, so from what I hear, that’s good news.” San Francisco will likely bring up utilityman Kelby Tomlinson to fill in for Crawford during his three-day absence, Baggarly notes.
Here are a few more notes from out west:
- With the Rangers set to give Ryan Rua additional time in left field, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, it seems that Jurickson Profar has again failed to capitalize upon a chance to lay claim to playing time. Through 46 plate appearances, he is slashing just .135/.289/.135, though at least he has managed as many walks as strikeouts (eight apiece). Now, the 24-year-old switch-hitter seems to be slotted beneath both Rua and Delino DeShields on the depth chart in left, with little apparent room to fit in the infield. There’s still time for Profar to find a way into the lineup, of course, but it also doesn’t help his cause that fellow former top prospect Joey Gallo has hit so well while filling in at third base. Profar’s future in Texas has long been in question, but that’s perhaps more true now than ever.
- The Mariners may increase the flexibility of their usage of closer Edwin Diaz, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. Deploying the high-powered youngster for multiple innings and in non-traditional situations would line up with a leaguewide movement away from fixed bullpen roles. That certainly seems to be part of the impetus here — skipper Scott Servais notes that “you don’t want to not get the game to the 10th inning because you kept your closer fresh” — but it’s also the case that, per Servais, Diaz just “needs to pitch” more than he has been.
Pitcher Notes: Pomeranz, M’s, Giants, Royals, Tigers
The Padres traded James Shields on Saturday, but they aren’t as willing to move their best starter, southpaw Drew Pomeranz, reports Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The club would need to be “overwhelmed” to deal the 27-year-old, according to Lin. Pomeranz currently ranks eighth among qualified starters in both ERA (2.22) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.66), and he’s playing this season on a meager $1.35MM salary. Thus, it would likely to take a significant haul to land him and his two-plus remaining years of team control.
More on a few other pitchers:
- The Mariners promoted their top pitching prospect, Double-A reliever Edwin Diaz, and optioned fellow reliever Cody Martin to Triple-A Tacoma to make room, per a team announcement. Diaz, 22, has posted a sterling 2.21 ERA, 11.95 K/9 and 1.55 BB/9 in 40 2/3 innings this year. Most of those numbers came as a starter, but the Mariners decided to move Diaz to the bullpen early last month because they feel his ceiling as a reliever is higher. Diaz has a high-90s fastball out of the ‘pen and has dominated in relief this season, writes The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. He’ll have a chance to earn a spot with the Mariners in the wake of veteran Joel Peralta‘s designation for assignment earlier this week.
- Before lefty Brian Duensing agreed to a minor league deal with the Orioles last month, the Giants and Royals also pushed for his services, he told Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Duensing became a free agent when he opted out of his contract with Kansas City in mid-May; as evidenced by Kansas City’s desire to re-sign Duensing, the defending World Series champions were obviously sorry to see him go.
- The Tigers’ Shane Greene made three of his four early season appearances as a starter before landing on the disabled list April 24 with a blister on his throwing hand. The right-hander is healthy again, but he will now come out of the bullpen, manager Brad Ausmus said (via Brendan Savage of MLive.com). “He’ll work out of the pen, probably sixth-seventh innings, right around there,” Ausmus stated. “Maybe eighth depending on who needs rest, who’s coming up, etc. He can work a couple innings. Availability will come into play but he can definitely work a couple of innings.” Prior to his injury, Greene put up a 6.28 ERA, 6.91 K/9 and 5.65 BB/9 in 14 1/3 innings. He worked almost exclusively as a starter last season (16 of 18 appearances), though his run prevention was even worse (6.88 ERA).