Gregorius On Time With Phillies, Potential Yankees Reunion
Didi Gregorius‘ decision last winter to bet on himself with a one-year deal looks to have been a wise one, and he’ll now head back to free agency on the heels of a .284/.339/.488 slash with 10 home runs in a full 60 games with the Phillies. He’s already been linked to the Angels, and Gregorius himself said today in an appearance on WFAN’s Moose & Maggie Show that he’d have interest in returning to the Phillies (audio link).
“If they want me back, sure,” Gregorius said. “…I can’t force or say that I have to do this, or I have to be there. At the end of the day, it’s up to them. I really enjoyed playing with the guys over there. I had a really great time.”
Gregorius’ deal with the Phils reunited him with former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi, whom the shortstop praised multiple times throughout the interview. The 30-year-old Gregorius also had nothing but positive things to say when asked about playing alongside Bryce Harper, calling him “awesome” multiple times while discussing the experience.
While Gregorius’ positive comments on his time with the Phillies and his openness to a return are surely of note, his reply when asked about a return to the Yankees is drawing considerable attention in its own right.
“I don’t think they would want me back in New York to be honest right now,” Gregorius said when asked about whether he could envision a return to the Bronx. Asked why, he expressed confidence that Gleyber Torres would rebound from his 2020 struggles and seize the shortstop job.
“I think Gleyber is the future shortstop,” said Gregorius. “It’s just the one year and to my understanding he was hurt for some of it. Once you get hurt, it’s like a step back on everything. If he gets to next year, he’s fully prepared and ready to go, I think everything should work smoothly and he will be fine.”
It was a rather rough season for 23-year-old Torres in 2020, but he’ll surely be given every opportunity to rebound next year, whether at shortstop or second base. Torres turned in a respectable .243/.356/.368 slash through 160 plate appearances, but that was a far cry from 2019’s brilliant .278/.337/.535 line and 38 homers. More glaring, perhaps, were Torres’ defensive issues (-9 DRS, -5 UZR, -4 OAA).
Despite those defensive struggles, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last week that Torres “is our shortstop moving forward” (link via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). Cashman expressed confidence that Torres could improve his glovework but stopped short of declaring that he’d be the shortstop in 2021, instead stating that the organization will “continue to evaluate” its options.
Many Yankees fans have clamored for a reunion with Gregorius, who exceeded expectations in the Bronx as the successor to Derek Jeter at shortstop. However, Gregorius implied that he saw the writing on the wall toward the end of his time in New York and did not speak optimistically about a return tour in the near future.
Of course, Gregorius’ strong season makes him a potential qualifying offer candidate. That could impact his market and would leave him with the choice of returning to join Girardi, Harper and others on a one-year deal worth $18.9MM or hitting the market in search of a multi-year pact. Generally, when a player bets on himself with a one-year pact and delivers high-quality results, it’s expected that he’ll look to cash in on a longer-term deal the following winter. This offseason is anything but typical, though, and the league-wide revenue losses raise the question of whether the Phillies would risk making the offer and whether Gregorius would consider accepting.
Yankees Reinstate Gleyber Torres
The New York Yankees have reinstated star shortstop Gleyber Torres from the injured list, per a team release.
Torres hit the injured list on August 24th with a left hamstring strain. The move was retroactive to August 21st. It had been a slow start on the year for Torres, who was hitting just .231/.341/.295 when he went on the injured list. The 23-year-old Torres was an All-Star his first two seasons in the league while posting a combined triple slash of .275/.338/.511 with 62 home runs in 267 games.
Tyler Wade has stepped in at shortstop while Torres has been out. The 25-year-old hasn’t done much at the plate, slashing .170/.250/.264 across 60 plate appearances. Wade is a fine utility piece for New York, but he has nowhere near the upside of Torres, who will look to regain his power stroke upon returning to the field.
In a corresponding roster move, right-hander Albert Abreu was optioned to the team’s alternate training site. The 24-year-old Abreu made two appearances, surrendering 3 earned runs across 1 1/3 innings. Abreu is the Yankees’ 13th-ranked prospect per Baseball America.
Injury Notes: Judge, LeMahieu, Yankees, White, Puk, Bowden
The latest on multiple injury situations throughout the game…
- Aaron Judge‘s most recent calf injury “seems like a recurrence of what he had before,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said during an interview with WFAN (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). Judge re-injured his calf in his first game back from a minimum 10-day stint on the injured list, and Boone suggested that this latest issue “does seem minor in nature again, but certainly something that could turn into an IL stint again.”
- While Judge is a question mark, the Yankees could potentially have DJ LeMahieu back for this weekend’s series against the Mets. Boone said that LeMahieu took batting practice today at Yankee Stadium and will now report to the club’s alternate training site. Assuming the second baseman is indeed able to return against the Mets, it would represent a slightly early return from the initial 2-to-3 week timeline projected after LeMahieu was initially placed on the injured list with a thumb sprain on August 16. In other Yankees injury news, Boone said Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) also took on-field batting practice today, and that Gleyber Torres (quad/hamstring) is making good progress.
- Evan White left during the third inning of the Mariners‘ 10-7 loss to the Padres due to what the M’s termed as right shoulder discomfort. After the game, Seattle manager Scott Servais told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that White initially suffered the injury while diving for a ball in Tuesday’s game and was trying to play through the pain. The rookie first baseman entered today’s game with only a .168/.238/.379 slash line through his first 105 plate appearances in the big leagues, though White had begun to heat up over the last week.
- The next step in A.J. Puk‘s rehab will take place Friday, as Athletics manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chroncile’s Susan Slusser and other reporters that Puk will throw 30 pitches over two simulated innings against live batters. This will be the second time that Puk has faced actual hitters during his recovery from shoulder woes that have plagued him since Spring Training. There is still no clear timetable on when Puk could make his return to the A’s, though the club has already said that he will be deployed as a reliever in 2020.
- Rockies pitching prospect Ben Bowden isn’t likely to make his MLB debut this season, manager Bud Black told The Athletic’s Nick Groke and other reporters. Bowden suffered another injury he was already recovering from a back problem that sidelined him during Spring Training. A second-round pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2016 draft, Bowden didn’t have a great performance in the hitter-friendly environment of Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2019, though the southpaw has a 3.60 ERA, 13.1 K/9, and 3.15 K/BB over 127 1/3 total minor league innings, all as a reliever.
Yankees Place Gleyber Torres On Injured List
AUGUST 22: Torres will miss “at least a couple weeks…probably [in] that two to three week range,” manager Aaron Boone told the New York Daily News’ Kristie Ackert and other reporters.
AUG. 21, 3:41pm: The Yankees announced that they’ve placed Torres on the IL with Grade 1 strains of his left quad and hamstring.
3:22pm: Torres will “likely” require an IL stint, Marly Rivera of ESPN.com reports.
AUG. 20, 3:43pm: Torres will likely go for an MRI, though manager Aaron Boone doesn’t believe the injury is serious, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News relays (Twitter links).
2:30pm: The Yankees announced that shortstop Gleyber Torres left their game against the Rays on Thursday with a tight left hamstring. He’s being evaluated.
It’s too early to say how severe this injury is, though hamstring iissues often lead to fairly long absences. That would be an especially troubling development for a Yankees team whose offense is already shorthanded. Torres’ double-play partner, second baseman D.J. LeMahieu, has been out since last weekend with a thumb injury, and he won’t return for at least a couple more weeks. Slugging outfielders Aaron Judge (calf) and Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) have also sat out for roughly half of August, though the former could return in the coming days.
Torres hasn’t gotten off to the prolific starts that LeMahieu, Judge and Stanton have, as he has batted just .231/.341/.295 with one home run in 91 plate appearances. That’s highly disappointing from someone who masheed 38 homers during an All-Star 2019. Nevertheless, there’s no debating that the 23-year-old is an integral part of their roster and someone far more qualified than the rest of the shortstops the Yankees have on hand.
After Torres went down, the club subbed in Thairo Estrada at second and shifted Tyler Wade from the keystone to short. Notably, the Yankees did just sign veteran middle infielder Jordy Mercer, whom they could call on if Torres has to miss time.
Quick Hits: TJ Surgery, Thor, Verlander, Torres
Even with medical facilities reeling from the coronavirus, there are still Tommy John surgeries taking place. Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale and Mets righty Noah Syndergaard have undergone the procedure in the past few days. However, famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews, who’s known for performing the operation, has put a stop to it for the time being, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe relays. The Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine is located in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis – as Speier writes – issued an executive order prohibiting “any medically unnecessary, non-urgent or non-emergency procedure or surgery which, if delayed, does not place a patient’s immediate health, safety or wellbeing at risk, or will, if delayed, not contribute to the worsening of a serious or life-threatening medical condition.” Syndergaard underwent TJS in the state last week, though he was not an Andrews patient.
- It’s hard to believe, but Syndergaard could end up as a non-tender candidate next winter, as Buster Olney of ESPN observes. Syndergaard should be in line to make around $9.7MM next season (the same salary he’s slated for in 2020), but he’s going to miss a large portion of 2021 and, as Olney explains, teams may be in cost-cutting mode with revenues sure to decline because of the coronavirus. Those realities could lead to a non-tender or a trade for Syndergaard, so it’s possible he has already thrown his last pitch as a Met. Whether or not Syndergaard becomes a non-tender victim, one executive told Olney that there will likely be an increase in such cases next offseason. “I think you’ll see more non-tenders,” the exec said. “The guys with four-plus or five-plus [years of] service time.”
- Astros ace and reigning AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander seems to be making progress in his recovery from the right groin surgery he underwent on March 17. General manager James Click told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com: “The last I heard, everything’s going great and he’s ready to get back out there as soon as he possibly can. I haven’t heard anything bad. As far as I know, he’s right on schedule and he’s recovering very well.” That’s reassuring for the Astros, who – if there is a season – will count on Verlander and Zack Greinke to carry a rotation that lost Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley in free agency.
- The Yankees aren’t known for doling out contract extensions, but if they’re going to lock up one of their own for the long haul, shortstop Gleyber Torres is a logical candidate. The 23-year-old enjoyed an especially impressive campaign in 2019, and he’s now entering his final season of pre-arbitration. That said, the Yankees are unlikely to try to extend Torres until they see how he fares as a full-time shortstop, George A. King III of the New York Post writes. While Torres has mostly played second base since his career began in 2018, he spent the majority of last season at short because now-Phillie Didi Gregorius sat out for a couple months while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Torres didn’t garner awful grades there, for what it’s worth, finishing with minus-1 Defensive Runs Saved, a minus-2.1 Ultimate Zone Rating and minus-3 Outs Above Average. Regardless of how adept Torres is in the field, it seems he’s someone the Yankees should want around at set prices for the foreseeable future. Even if that’s the case, though, there’s a leaguewide freeze on extension talks at the moment.
Quick Hits: Yankees, Urshela, Orioles, Gonzalez, Sherman
It’s an NFL day, but there’s time enough for some quick hits in MLB…
- Gio Urshela projects as the Opening Day third baseman after a breakout year in the Bronx. He put up 3.4 rWAR while Miguel Andujar missed the year with injuries, and since Andujar has minor league options remaining, Urshela’s case looks even stronger. Urshela could even expand his portfolio to include backup shortstop duties in 2020, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, though Thairo Estrada and Tyler Wade are the more likely options to take that on should Gleyber Torres need a day off.
- Second-year Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde will have a veteran voice in his ear this season now that Fredi Gonzalez has joined his staff. Gonzalez is listed as a general Major League Coach, but the veteran manager looks forward to being freed up to contribute in a lot of different areas, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Gonzalez will team with Major League Field Coordinator Tim Cossins to fill the duties traditionally assigned to a bench coach – but the important thing for the Orioles is that Hyde has another influence that he trusts as he looks to build on the development of a very young Orioles’ squad. Gonzalez certainly knows the terrain, having spent the last few seasons as the third base coach for the Miami Marlins. When the 2019 season came to a close, Gonzalez didn’t know exactly what would await him, but he decided it was time to move on from Miami and make himself a free agent. Hyde, meanwhile, managed the High-A and Double-A affiliates in Florida during Gonzalez’ managerial tenure from 2007 to 2010, and he didn’t wait long to add Gonzalez to his staff.
- As they say, the ball don’t lie, and that’s good enough for Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who marks the Nationals as the winners of last year’s offseason thanks to their championship in October. Of course, a year makes all the difference, as Sherman names the Red Sox the top loser of last year’s offseason for their ill-fated attempt to keep the good vibes going after their 2018 World Series title. Sherman makes this particularly interesting note about the fates of those giving multi-year offers to relief pitchers: “There were 11 relievers who signed for multiple years last season. Six had zero or negative WAR (Baseball Reference version). Just two improved on their WAR from 2018 to 2019, and just three ([Zack] Britton, [Adam] Ottavino and Justin Wilson) improved their ERA.” For what it’s worth, the Nationals can be counted among the group of team’s handing out multi-year deals to a reliever this offseason.
Yankees Notes: Gleyber, Encarnacion, Sabathia
Gleyber Torres holds the dubious distinction of being the only member of the Yankees Opening Day lineup to not spend time on the injured list this season–a distinction that it appears he will maintain now that Aaron Boone has said he expects Torres back in the lineup on Tuesday (link). Torres was out of the lineup on Saturday and Sunday due to a hamstring issue, but Boone told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that Torres is going to avoid an IL stint (link).
“Gleyber’s good. I just decided yesterday that I wanted to give him one more day going into the off day, but I’m obviously encouraged by the MRI and just from speaking with him, he feels good,” the Yankees manager told Ackert.
In less insightful news, Torres is very good at baseball. In this, his second full big league season, the Venezuelan has hit .284/.343/.546 with 38 bombs while playing passable defense at short and second.
More news from around the Yankee clubhouse…
- Torres’ teammate Edwin Encarnacion may be ready to return to action as soon as this Wednesday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (link). After suffering a “mild” oblique strain on Sept. 12, Encarnacion has been sitting benchside as New York prepares for the postseason. Limited to just 44 games with the Yankees since they acquired him from Seattle in June, Encarnacion has recorded a .249/.325/.531 line with 13 home runs in pinstripes this year. Of course, now that fellow mashers Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Luke Voit are back healthy, it remains to be seen how Encarnacion will be deployed moving forward.
- In a rare piece of non-injury-related Yankee news, today marked a very special afternoon for laureled New York hurler C.C. Sabathia. Similar to those offered to Yankee legends Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera before their final games in New York, a video tribute before Sunday’s game looked back fondly on Sabathia’s decade-long career in the Bronx. Interestingly, the emotional occasion provided an opportunity for Sabathia to disclose to Ackert that he may be interested in a Yankees front office role after his playing days are up–much like former Yankee players and current employees Andy Pettitte and Carlos Beltran. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens. But yeah, for sure,” Sabathia told Ackert when asked if such a role would interest him. “I talk to Carlos all the time, I talk to Andy all the time, obviously. It seems like they have a pretty fun role. It’s something like I feel like I can do.” The 39-year-old Sabathia holds a 4.99 ERA (5.73 FIP) through 106.1 innings and 22 starts this year.
Gleyber Torres Headed For MRI
11:47am: Per Hoch, the MRI on Torres’s right hamstring came back negative, revealing some good news for the Yankees. Assuming that he continues to feel better in the coming days, Torres shouldn’t be required to miss an extended period of time.
10:14am: Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres, who exited Friday’s game against the Blue Jays with an injury to his right leg after he slipped and fell on the outfield grass, will have an MRI done today on his right hamstring, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. The 22-year-old Torres told skipper Aaron Boone that he felt good this morning, but the team wants to be sure that there wasn’t any serious damage incurred on the fall.
While the Yankees season has been defined by an improbable run of injured stars, Torres has been one of the few regulars that has managed to stay on his feet all year, leading the team with 140 games played. That alone makes it doubly frustrating that the budding star’s health might be compromised so late in the season. However, with Torres citing improvement today and the results of the MRI yet to come, there may well be no reason to panic.
After a fantastic rookie season in 2018, Torres has followed that up with an even better 2019, in which he has slugged 38 home runs. He’s seen his OPS jump to .889 and has even managed to hold his own at shortstop, posting respectable advanced defensive stats in more than 650 innings there. Of course, those metrics are imperfect and ought to be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s nonetheless a surprising development for a player who was forced off of shortstop and only returned as a result of injury.
With the postseason right around the corner and home-field advantage still at stake, another injury scare is surely the last thing the Yankees need in late September. However, one might at least point to the return of Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino, along with the impending arrivals of Edwin Encarnacion and Gary Sanchez, as silver linings in the situation.
AL East Notes: Torres, Jays, Rays, Red Sox
Another day, another alarming health situation for the Yankees. Second baseman Gleyber Torres left the team’s game against Toronto on Friday after slipping on the outfield grass and potentially suffering an injury to his right knee (video via MLB.com). Torres initially stayed in the game in the wake of his fourth-inning fall, but the Yankees removed him after the sixth. Injuries to stars has been one of the main themes of the Yankees’ season, but they’ve weathered all of them en route to 100 wins and an American League East championship. The Yankees are still playing for homefield advantage throughout the postseason, though, and will obviously aim for a World Series title once the playoffs arrive. With that in mind, New York can ill afford to lose one of the best middle infielders in baseball in the 22-year-old Torres. [UPDATE: Torres “felt a little weak in his lower legs,” manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and other reporters. He’ll get checked out Saturday.]
Here’s more from the division…
- Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun profiles Justin Smoak‘s evolution into a clubhouse leader and mentor for the Blue Jays’ wave of upstart talents. Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are among the teammates who effuse praise for Smoak and the impact he’s already had on their young careers. “He’s a guy who has a relationship with every single guy in this locker room, no matter if they’re an up-and-down guy or if they’re playing every day,” Biggio says of Smoak. “It just shows how much he emphasizes being a good teammate and it just shows the kind of person he is overall.” Smoak fondly reminisces of the 2015-16 playoff runs and discusses how he and his family have come to consider Toronto a second home, though he also sounds like a veteran who recognizes the writing on the wall. MLBTR examined the pending free agent’s 2019 season earlier Friday.
- The Rays are likely to activate right-hander Yonny Chirinos from the injured list Sunday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Chirinos has been a starter for most of the year (a solid one at that), but he’ll work as a reliever for at the least the initial part of his return, according to Topkin. The Rays have been without Chirinos since they placed him on the IL on Aug. 5 with an inflamed middle finger on his pitching hand.
- The Red Sox are “likely” to shut injured infielder Michael Chavis down for the season, per Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald. Chavis will next take the field during winter ball in Puerto Rico, Hewitt adds. An oblique strain has kept the 22-year-old Chavis out of action since Aug. 11, and it appears his rookie campaign will end with a .254/.322/.444 line and 18 home runs in 382 plate appearances.
- Blue Jays minor league righty Luis Quinones received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drugs Nandrolone, John Lott of The Athletic reports. The ban will take effect at the beginning of the 2020 season. The 21-year-old Quinones was a 34th-round pick of the Jays this past June who produced stellar results in 36 2/3 innings between the rookie and low-A levels. He wrapped up his first professional season with a 2.95 ERA and 14.0 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9.
AL Notes: O’s, Davis, Yanks, Torres, A’s, M. Chapman
A quick look around the American League…
- Not only did Baltimore drop an embarrassing 14-2 decision to New York on Wednesday, but there was an all-too-public dugout altercation between struggling Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and manager Brandon Hyde during the game (video via Joe Trezza of MLB.com). Orioles hitting coach Don Long and injured slugger Mark Trumbo had to restrain Davis, whom the O’s then removed for a pinch-hitter. Hyde didn’t want to go into detail about it afterward, telling Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com and other reporters that the team will “keep it in-house.” He didn’t seem overly concerned about the matter, though, chalking it up to frustrations boiling over during what has been an adverse season. Davis wasn’t available for comment.
- Second baseman Gleyber Torres was not in the lineup for the Yankees’ latest win, but the club’s not planning to put him on the injured list, per George A. King III of the New York Post. Although Torres exited the Yankees’ victories Sunday and Tuesday because of core issues, tests on the 22-year-old didn’t reveal anything serious, manager Aaron Boone said. Torres underwent an MRI for a sports hernia and other strains Wednesday, but no cause for his recent problems was discovered.
- Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman has collected two hits and 19 strikeouts in his last 47 at-bats, perhaps because he’s dealing with knee and ankle issues. Chapman has been battling soreness in those spots, manager Bob Melvin revealed Wednesday (via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). The superstar exited a game early with left ankle soreness on July 18, at which point he was slashing .279/.363/.522 on the season. Now, thanks to his ice-cold stretch, Chapman’s hitting .252/.340/.504.