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Injury Updates: Guillorme, Rendon, Trout, Walsh, Ohtani, Schwarber, Lamet

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The Mets placed Luis Guillorme on the IL today with a left hamstring strain, according to Mike Puma of The New York Post. RHP Geoff Hartlieb was added to the roster in a corresponding move. Guillorme has been a solid contributor on a Mets team that has dealt with its fair share of injuries this year. Across 57 games, Guillorme has racked up a wRC+ of 116 while filling in at second base, third base and shortstop. The timing isn’t so bad for the Mets, as they just strengthened their infield by adding Javier Baez in a deadline deal with the Cubs. As for Hartlieb, he’s produced solid results at Triple-A this year. Despite a walk rate of 10.5%, he has an ERA of 1.86, thanks to a hefty strikeout rate of 34.2%. His numbers at the major league level aren’t as good, but in a very small sample size of six innings.

Other injury updates from around the league…

  • Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register provides some updates from manager Joe Maddon on various injured Angels. Anthony Rendon “still isn’t doing any baseball activity,” since going on the IL almost a month ago. “I spoke with him yesterday and he wasn’t highly optimistic about things,” Maddon is quoted as saying. This seems to be yet another in a series of disappointments for Rendon this year. He’s been injured multiple times and, even when healthy, played well below his usual level from recent years. There’s also a murky update on Mike Trout and his injured calf. Doctors have told him he’s “free to do more work when he no longer feels discomfort,” which seems to imply that the discomfort remains. The update on Jared Walsh, out with a right intercostal strain, is slightly better. The first baseman “has been able to hit and throw.” As for Shohei Ohtani, who was recently hit on his thumb by a foul ball while in the dugout, Maddon says they expect him to start again on Thursday or Friday.
  • The Red Sox swung a trade before the deadline to add Kyle Schwarber, even though he was on the IL at the time with a hamstring injury. But it doesn’t seem like he’s too far removed from making his Boston debut. Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe spoke to Alex Cora, who said that Schwarber is “close” to a rehab assignment. The plan is for Schwarber to get work at first base, since the Red Sox already have their outfield and DH slots filled by Alex Verdugo, Jarren Duran, Hunter Renfroe and J.D. Martinez. The first base playing time has largely been going to Bobby Dalbec and his wRC+ of 74. Before going on the IL, Schwarber’s wRC+ was sitting at 137. Assuming he can play passable defense, that would be a tremendous upgrade for the team. But he’s played only one major league game at first, which was back in 2017.
  • Dinelson Lamet is going to begin a rehab assignment on Wednesday, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The plan seems to be to prepare Lamet for a bullpen role, since there’s not much time remaining in the season to build him back up for a full workload, and because he’s struggled to stay healthy this year. The righty was utterly dominant in 2020’s shortened season, throwing 69 innings with an ERA of 2.09 and a superb strikeout rate of 34.8%. This year, in between stints on the IL, his numbers have faded to an ERA of 3.67 and 25.5% strikeout rate. The club will be hoping that a smaller workload will help Lamet bridge some of that gap.

Angels Place Jared Walsh On Injured List

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The Angels announced they’ve placed first baseman Jared Walsh on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 27, with a right intercostal strain. Right-hander Austin Warren has been selected to the roster in his place. Additionally, Los Angeles recalled infielder Matt Thaiss and optioned righty Andrew Wantz to Triple-A Salt Lake.

There’s no timetable for Walsh’s return, although any absence is a tough blow to an Angels club on the outskirts of the Wild Card race. Los Angeles enters play tonight five games back of the Athletics for the American League’s final playoff spot, with the Mariners, Yankees, Blue Jays and Indians all above them in the pecking order. They’ll have to go at least the next week-plus without their All-Star first baseman, who has hit .266/.320/.516 with 22 home runs over 394 plate appearances.

Warren is now set to make his major league debut. The 25-year-old has worked 36 1/3 innings of relief with Salt Lake this season. While his 6.19 ERA isn’t appealing, Warren has struck out a lofty 27.1% of opposing hitters against a slightly elevated 10.8% walk rate.

Angels Outright Taylor Cole, Option Four Players

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves Wednesday, revealing that recently designated right-hander Taylor Cole cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. The Halos also optioned right-hander Luke Bard, left-hander Ryan Buchter, outfielder Michael Hermosillo and first baseman Jared Walsh to Salt Lake.

Cole, 30, will technically have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency due to the fact that he’s been previously outrighted (by the Blue Jays in 2017), but given the uncertain state of the game it’d be a surprise to see him venture into the open market. The righty posted an ugly 5.92 ERA in 51 2/3 innings with the Halos last year and doesn’t have a history of success in Triple-A (4.96 ERA in 81 2/3 innings).

That said, Cole probably wasn’t as bad as his ERA appeared; Cole was weighed down by a .366 average in balls in play and a fluky low 60.3 percent strand rate. Assuming he does indeed head to Triple-A, he’ll provide some experienced depth to an organization that has been utterly hammered by injuries to the pitching staff over the past few years.

Of the players optioned to Triple-A, Buchter is the most surprising. The former Athletics, Royals and Padres southpaw inked a minor league deal with the Angels this winter but was selected to the MLB roster on Sunday, making it seem like he’d punched his ticket to the big league roster. Instead, it appears that whenever the season does begin, he’ll bide his time in Triple-A as he waits for an MLB look. In 214 MLB innings, Buchter has a 2.86 ERA with nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Bard pitched 49 innings with the Angels last year but narrowly kept his ERA under 5.00. The former second-round pick is proof that spin rate alone won’t bring about success — he led the Majors in fastball spin — and he’ll head down to Salt Lake for additional work. Hermosillo has yet to hit in the Majors and saw his production dip in a second Triple-A season last year. Walsh hit 36 home runs in 98 games with Salt Lake last year, slugging nearly .700 amid Triple-A’s own juiced ball bonanza. The 26-year-old’s output didn’t carry over to the Majors, but he received only 87 plate appearances. He’ll probably get another shot in the big leagues at some point in 2020.

Angels Notes: Boras, Moreno, Trades, First Base

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The latest on the Angels, who could be one of baseball’s busiest teams this winter…

  • There have long been rumors of animosity between Angels owner Arte Moreno and agent Scott Boras, stemming from the Angels’ fruitless pursuit of Mark Teixeira (a Boras client) in the 2008-09 offseason.  Any hard feelings seem to have either been exaggerated or a thing of the past, however, as Boras told the Los Angeles Times’ Maria Torres and other reporters that he had recently had lunch with Moreno, and has kept up a good working relationship with the owner.  “I sit down with the guy every year. I see him all the time. We have a common restaurant that we run into one another. So I wouldn’t read much into it,” Boras said.  With the Halos in need of pitching, keeping up relations with the agent would seemingly be a necessary step this winter, as such top arms as Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Dallas Keuchel (not to mention position players like Anthony Rendon, Nicholas Castellanos, and Mike Moustakas) are all Boras Corporation clients.
  • Rather than free agents, Angels GM Billy Eppler also indicated that his team could be active on the trade front, noting the several young and controllable players both on the big league roster and in the upper levels of the farm system.  “We have probably the most valuable type of players you can trade,” Eppler told reporters, including the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher.  “They are 0-to-3 (service time) players that we’ve stripped out a lot of the risk because they are pretty much there.…I think we can match up in deals, just about any deal.  If clubs are willing to engage, we can engage.”  As Fletcher notes, the odds of the team trading top prospect Jo Adell seems very unlikely, though players like Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval, Jose Suarez, Jaime Barria, Dillon Peters and Felix Pena, David Fletcher, Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward, Matt Thaiss, or Jared Walsh could all be potential trade chips.
  • Of course, several of those same names could play important roles for Los Angeles in 2020.  For instance, since Albert Pujols will see more DH time on days that Shohei Ohtani is pitching, Eppler said Walsh or Thaiss could help fill the void at first base.  The rookie duo “had some pretty good moments and showed that they were taking that first step and competing…I’d like to see how those guys respond to more at-bats and see how they go from there,” Eppler said.  Thaiss, the 16th overall pick of the 2016 draft, has the higher pedigree of the two and also has spent a lot of time at third base, while Walsh has crushed minor league pitching over his five pro seasons.  Both are left-handed hitters, making either solid fits to partner with the right-handed hitting Pujols.  Of course, it could certainly be argued that the Angels should seek out a more established first baseman given how Thaiss and Walsh both lack experience, and Pujols is no longer a consistent offensive threat.

Angels Place Simmons, Canning And Pena On IL

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11:20 am: DiGiovanna provides further updates on Simmons (via Twitter). The star shortstop has a bone bruise and left ankle sprain (in a different area of the ankle which sidelined him earlier in the season) and will be out “a least a couple of weeks,” according to manager Brad Ausmus.

10:36 am: Peña and Canning each have worrisome prognoses, DiGiovanna relays. Peña tore his ACL and is out for six to nine months, ending his season and putting his 2020 start in jeopardy. Canning, meanwhile, has inflammation in his throwing elbow. Fortunately, DiGiovanna adds that Canning’s UCL does not appear to be injured, so it seems he’ll avoid an especially serious absence.

9:38 am: The Angels have lost three key contributors, announcing the IL placements of Andrelton Simmons, Griffin Canning and Félix Peña, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). To replace that trio on the active roster, the club has recalled Wilfredo Tovar, Jared Walsh and Luke Bard, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

The news represents a devastating series of blows for the Halos, particularly the loss of the unmatchable Simmons. The defensive whiz was scratched from yesterday’s lineup with foot soreness, which has evidently proved more serious than initially hoped. It’ll be the second IL stint of the season for Simmons, who has otherwise put together a decent season. His .274/.315/.382 slash (88 wRC+) is unremarkable, but even that is reasonable when coupled with his otherworldly glove. Simmons also boasts one of the league’s lowest strikeout rates and had been a slightly above-average hitter over the past two seasons, so there was reason to believe he could offer even more offensively. That’ll be on hold for an undisclosed amount of time.

Peña left yesterday’s start with a sprained right knee, so it’s unsurprising to hear he’ll hit the shelf. He’s been serviceable in a swing role for the club this season, logging 96.1 innings with a 4.58 ERA. Peña’s strikeout, walk and ground ball rates are all solid but unremarkable.

The Canning news comes most surprisingly, as he just polished off a strong start against the Tigers Tuesday, although it explains the upcoming call-up of prospect Patrick Sandoval to start tomorrow night in his place. Canning, a former first-rounder, had some injury concerns as a draft prospect stemming from a heavy workload at UCLA, but his professional health record had been spotless until today. Regarded as a potential #3 starter as a prospect, Canning hasn’t been quite that good as a rookie but has nevertheless been dependable. Like Peña, Canning’s strikeout and walk numbers have hovered around average, although his 37.3% ground ball rate has led to some home run worries. Canning’s injury and prognosis aren’t yet clear.

Tovar is a utility infielder who can offer some shortstop assistance in Simmons’ absence. He’s never hit much, but he’ll be on hand to back up David Fletcher, who seems likely to handle the position in the near term. Walsh is a two-way player, a power bat who has raked in Triple-A this season and has come out of the Angel bullpen four times this year. He’s a uniquely versatile asset for the club. Bard, meanwhile, is a more traditional, fastball-slider reliever who’s been up-and-down during a challenging season.

Angels Designate Matt Harvey For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have designated righty Matt Harvey for assignment. The move comes on the heels of yet another rough outing for the 30-year-old former ace.

There are several other pitching moves coming for Los Angeles. Righty Jake Jewell was optioned out, creating room for the team to recall right-hander Jaime Barria and first baseman/left-handed pitcher Jared Walsh.

The Halos also announced that Keynan Middleton has been diagnosed with mild ulnar neuritis. While the good news is that he isn’t dealing with a structural issue, the reliever has been returned from his rehab assignment. His timeline for a full return remains unclear.

Harvey has posted brutal numbers for much of the season, struggling to find any kind of consistency. His one-year, $11MM contract has simply not worked out. It’s much the same story for the other veterans inked to one-year contracts over the winter, with Cody Allen ($8MM) long since released and Trevor Cahill ($9MM) limping along at much the same pace as Harvey.

While those signings are all disappointing, it remains particularly jarring to see the former Mets star Harvey struggling to stay afloat in the bigs. He lost yet more velocity this season and was near the bottom of the league in statistics ranging from strikeout percentage (14.7%) to the expected batting average (.302) and slugging percentage (.524) of opposing hitters, as measured by Statcast.

All told, Harvey has managed only 59 2/3 innings of 7.09 ERA pitching this year for the Angels. With 5.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 and nearly two long balls per regulation game, ERA estimators did not take a much more optimistic view of his contributions. He graded out with a 6.35 FIP, 5.43 xFIP, and 5.78 SIERA.

It’s not at all clear where Harvey will go from here. Perhaps an effort to rebuild his repertoire or otherwise find a new approach will be necessary. Even if his arm speed won’t ever fully return, there’ll surely be teams interested in seeing if they can unlock some of the immense talent that Harvey showed during his heyday with the Mets.

In a 65-start run from 2012-2015, Harvey threw 427 innings of 2.53 ERA ball for the New York organization that drafted him. That included exceptional work both before and after the Tommy John procedure that cost him the 2014 campaign. After extending himself in the Mets’ 2015 World Series run — he kept pitching down the stretch and threw 26 2/3 excellent postseason innings after a memorable dispute arose over his availability — Harvey’s health took a turn for the worse. He ultimately underwent a procedure to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome in the summer of 2016. While Harvey has had stretches of useful MLB work since, he has never come close to regaining his early form.

Angels Option Justin Bour, Will Select Jared Walsh

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The Angels announced following tonight’s game that they’ve optioned first baseman Justin Bour to Triple-A Salt Lake. They’ll make a corresponding roster move prior to tomorrow’s game, which, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link), will be to select the contract of first baseman/left-handed reliever Jared Walsh.

Though Bour is a veteran of parts of six big league seasons, he’s still a couple of months shy of the five full years of MLB service time. Players with five or more years of MLB service can only be optioned to the minors with their consent, but Bour entered the year at four years, 64 days of MLB service and is now at four years, 111 days.

Bour, 30, was non-tendered by the Phillies in the offseason and inked a one-year deal worth $2.5MM with the Halos. At the time, the hope was that he could help fill in for Shohei Ohtani early in the season and then move into some kind of timeshare at first base and designated hitter. But while he entered the year as a career .260/.344/.466 hitter with 84 home runs in 1563 Major League plate appearances, Bour has batted only .163/.268/.316 through 112 plate appearances with his new club. He’s drawn 13 walks in that time, demonstrating strong knowledge of the strike zone, but has also shown questionable contact skills with a 27.7 percent strikeout rate.

If Bour is able to eventually turn things around, the Angels will be able to control him through the 2020 season as an arbitration-eligible player this winter, but that’s a long way from being a consideration at this point. For now, he’ll simply work to earn another crack at the big league roster.

As for Walsh, the 25-year-old is off to a .302/.398/.604 slash with 10 homers and a dozen doubles on the season so far. He’s also pitched five innings of relief and allowed a pair of runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He’s more of a position player than a pitcher — Walsh has just 13 2/3 professional innings under his belt in the minors — but he’s an intriguing player to monitor as he gets his first call to the big leagues.

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