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NL West Notes: Buehler, Turner, Hand, Marte

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Walker Buehler left last night’s game before he was able to get through the sixth, but it wasn’t due to poor performance. The promising young right-hander left due to a side injury. Thankfully, Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reports that Buehler is describing his injury as “bruised ribs”. There’s no word yet as to whether he’ll need to land on the DL for a stint, but the news ought to bring a mild sigh of relief to Dodgers fans. Such a description would seem to eliminate the dread of an oblique or intercostal strain, if Buehler’s self-description holds up. Bruises seem far less likely to disrupt his excellent season thus far; Buehler’s been worth 1.7 fWAR across nine starts in part thanks to a 4.91 K/BB ratio and 54.5% ground ball rate.

Other items out of the NL West…

  • The Dodgers have received news on Justin Turner that’s far less promising, however. Shaikin also reports that Turner’s performance could be diminished all season by lingering wrist issues. The slugger spent most of the season thus far on the DL after suffering a fractured wrist during a spring training game. Shaikin also points out that he’s been held out of the lineup in three of the last four games, and has managed just a .668 OPS since returning from the disabled list.
  • AJ Cassavell of MLB.com revisits the Brad Hand extension in his recent piece, reminding readers that it significantly reduced the likelihood of the reliever being traded any time soon. Hand has been one of the best relievers in baseball in recent seasons by metrics such as WPA, fWAR and ERA, and though he’d certainly fetch a hefty price for the rebuilding Padres, they now control him through 2021. That’s a season in which they could feasibly be contending for a title. For his part, Hand certainly had that in mind. “”When I signed the contract, that was the big part of it,” he said. “I wanted to be here, I wanted to help the young guys come up, and I wanted to win a World Series here.”
  • Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo believes Ketel Marte is “100% playable” in spite of a recent injury, says MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. However, Lovullo adds that he “created some tenderness” with a headfirst slide into third base this past Sunday. He was held out of the lineup on Saturday, but the move seems to have been largely precautionary; his manager reportedly wanted to give him a day to get ahead of the injury. Marte has struggled to produce offensively throughout his career, sporting a .258/.313/.364 line since debuting in 2015. However, his excellent defense has played him to 2.6 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs’ metric.

Dodgers Activate Justin Turner, Logan Forsythe

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The Dodgers announced Tuesday that they’ve reinstated infielders Justin Turner and Logan Forsythe from the disabled list today. Fellow infielders Kyle Farmer and Tim Locastro were optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to create room on the 40-man roster.

[Related: Updated Los Angeles Dodgers depth chart]

Turner will take the field for the Dodgers tonight for the first time this season after missing a quarter of the season due to a broken wrist suffered late in Spring Training. In his absence, Dodgers third basemen have combined to post a woeful .209/.291/.374 batting line in 158 plate appearances. Forsythe, Farmer, and Max Muncy have combined for all of the Dodgers’ activity at third base in lieu of Turner this season, and the largely futile results have played no small role in the team’s 16-24 start to the year.

Forsythe, meanwhile, will be returning to the club after landing on the disabled list exactly a month ago due to inflammation in his right shoulder. He’ll slot back into the mix at second base and share time with veteran Chase Utley there, though he’ll be looking to rebound from a slow start that saw him bat just .174/.224/.283 in 49 trips to the plate before his own placement on the disabled list.

In other Dodgers health-related news, Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times tweets that Clayton Kershaw played catch once again today, though it doesn’t sound as if the lefty is nearing a return to the active roster. Via McCullough, manager Dave Roberts indicated that Kershaw isn’t expected to pitch off a mound on the current road trip. It’s been reported that Kershaw will miss a matter of weeks rather than months, though a specific timeline hasn’t yet been put in place on his return to a Dodgers rotation that will also be without lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu until sometime after the All-Star break.

West Injury Notes: Dodgers, Lamb, Springer, Pence

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Barring setbacks, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner and infielder Logan Forsythe are slated to come off the disabled list Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters Saturday. They’re among a host of important Dodgers who have missed time this year during the reigning NL champs’ stunningly awful start (16-22), and Turner’s absence has been especially damaging. The superstar hasn’t played this season on account of the broken left wrist he suffered in late March. Forsythe, meanwhile, has been out since mid-April with right shoulder inflammation. He came out of the gates slowly before then, hitting just .174/.224/.283 in 49 plate appearances.

  • Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb will begin a rehab assignment at the Single-A level on Sunday, per an announcement from Arizona. Lamb has missed nearly the entire season to this point, having gone on the DL on April 3 with shoulder and elbow issues. The 24-15 Diamondbacks have still raced to the NL’s best record, though, in part because fill-in third baseman Daniel Descalso has slashed a terrific .263/.357/.516 with four home runs in 115 PAs.
  • Astros outfielder George Springer is dealing with a left elbow contusion, which kept him out of the lineup Saturday, but manager A.J. Hinch expects him to avoid a DL stint (via Christian Boutwell of MLB.com). Springer suffered the injury Friday when Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels hit him with a 92 mph fastball. The reigning World Series MVP has perhaps been the Astros’ best offensive player in the early going, having slashed .296/.363/.506 with eight homers in 182 PAs.
  • The Giants aren’t going to bring left fielder Hunter Pence off the DL during the upcoming week unless they’re convinced he’ll provide a boost to their offense, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes. The 35-year-old Pence was unable to help San Francisco before going on the DL three-plus weeks ago with a thumb issue, as he hit .172/.197/.190 and posted a minus-1 wRC+ across 61 trips to the plate. Now, thanks to his early season woes and manager Bruce Bochy’s desire to carry an extra pitcher, Pence’s return may be delayed.

NL Notes: Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Padres, Giants

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Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is slated to go on a rehab assignment Monday and come off the disabled list Wednesday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. It has been a short stay on the DL for Puig, who suffered a hip pointer and a bruised foot on April 28. Meanwhile, third baseman Justin Turner took batting practice Sunday for the first time since suffering a broken left wrist on March 20, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was among those to report. Both the Puig and Turner updates are much-needed positive news for the Dodgers, who have been victimized by key injuries all year. Ace Clayton Kershaw became their latest cornerstone player to hit the DL on Sunday.

More from the National League…

  • Mets left fielder Yoenis Cespedes exited the team’s game Sunday with a right quad issue, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets. Cespedes has dealt with right quad problems in the past, but he’s optimistic this isn’t a serious issue. The 32-year-old said after the game that he might play the Mets’ series opener in Cincinnati on Monday.
  • Braves third base prospect Austin Riley is getting closer to the majors. The Braves promoted the 21-year-old from Double-A to Triple-A on Sunday, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Riley, whom multiple outlets ranks as a top 100 prospect, slashed an incredible .333/.394/.677 (193 wRC+) with six home runs in 109 plate appearances at Double-A this year. He might push for the Braves’ starting third base job as early as next season, per O’Brien.
  • Padres righty Bryan Mitchell could lose his starting job before he’s scheduled to take the hill again on Thursday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com relays. “Going forward, we’ll sit down and talk about it,” Padres manager Andy Green said Saturday after Mitchell allowed three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. Although Mitchell’s ERA is now up to 6.47 across 32 frames, during which he has logged 4.5 K/9 against 7.31 BB/9, it doesn’t seem as if those struggles will cost him his roster spot. Rather, the Padres would move the out-of-options 27-year-old to the bullpen, Cassavell suggests. Mitchell’s output this year clearly isn’t what San Diego had in mind when it acquired him and third baseman Chase Headley (and $12.5MM of his $13MM salary) from the Yankees for outfielder Jabari Blash over the winter.
  • Giants outfielder Mac Williamson’s return from the seven-day concussion DL isn’t imminent, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests. Williamson, who suffered the injury April 24, will likely need a rehab assignment even when he’s healthy enough to play again, Schulman notes. As such, he might not suit up again for the Giants until mid-May or later.

Dodgers Notes: Ryu, Turner, Seager, Machado

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Dodgers lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu exited tonight’s start with a groin strain after throwing a 64mph pitch that was the slowest pitch he’s ever thrown in the Majors (h/t: J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, on Twitter). The Dodgers announced a left groin strain for Ryu, and manager Dave Roberts didn’t sound optimistic about the injury postgame, calling it a “pretty good strain” and adding that Ryu is headed for an MRI (Twitter link via Pedro Moura of The Athletic). A lengthy absence for Ryu would be a major blow for the Dodgers, who’ve no doubt relished watching the southpaw bounce back to peak form with a dominant 2.12 ERA, 10.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and 56.7 percent ground-ball rate in 29 2/3 innings thus far in 2018.

The Dodgers have been hammered by injuries early this season, with Corey Seager done for the season due to Tommy John surgery and Justin Turner still yet to suit up after suffering a broken wrist in Spring Training. The Dodgers don’t sound especially optimistic on Turner at the moment, either, as Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times tweets that skipper Dave Roberts simply said tonight that he has “no idea” when Turner will be cleared to head out on a minor league rehab assignment.

A bit more out of Los Angeles…

  • Seager, Roberts and GM Farhan Zaidi spoke with reporters at Chase Field following the announcement of Seager’s devastating injury (link via McCullough). While there was immediate speculation about the possibility of the Dodgers seeking out a trade, Zaidi suggested that for the time being, the Dodgers will look to in-house options, with Chris Taylor assuming responsibilities at shortstop. (Few teams, after all, are willing to part with a difference-making infielder at this point on the calendar.) Seager told the media that he felt his elbow give out over the weekend when making a relay throw on Sunday, explaining the feeling as a sudden bout of numbness in his elbow. The 23-year-old star dealt with bone chips and inflammation in the elbow last summer, according to McCullough, though extensive testing led medical experts to recommend against surgery at season’s end. It’s not clear how much, if any, ligament damage existed in Seager’s elbow following the 2017 season, of course, and undergoing a major surgery (especially Tommy John surgery) at that point still could very well have wiped him out for most, if not all of the 2018 season.
  • In the wake of the Seager injury, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times spoke to Manny Machado about the widespread speculation of the Dodgers potentially pursuing him on the trade market. Machado said he’s not had anyone reach out to him about the possibility, and Shaikin writes that the superstar infielder didn’t sound overly amenable to granting a potential trade partner a window to negotiate an extension. “Everyone has waited for the time to become a free agent,” said Machado. “You want to go out there and explore your options.” The 25-year-old did leave the door open a bit, adding that there’s “a price for everything” before stating that he hopes to remain with the Orioles at least through the 2018 season. Of course, as Machado also acknowledged, his future is largely out of his hands; he has no say over whether he’s traded or remains an Oriole. Per Shaikin, the O’s have no plans to accelerate their timeline for a potential Machado deal now that the Dodgers have a glaring need. Certainly, it’s possible that other clubs will join the pursuit later this year, thus driving up the price. And while the O’s had a dreadful start to the season, the organization undoubtedly is still holding out faint hope for a rebound in May and early June before conceding that the season is lost.

NL West Notes: Desmond, Turner, Renfroe, Giants

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Although we’re only three weeks into the season, it’s nonetheless discouraging that Rockies first baseman/outfielder Ian Desmond is off to a horrific start after such a disappointing 2017. Desmond, whom the Rockies signed to a five-year, $70MM deal in December 2016, has batted an unsightly .153/.184/.333 and posted minus-0.5 fWAR over 76 plate appearances this month. The 32-year-old’s not panicking, however. “Even though it’s bad right now, I know (my process) works, I know it’s worked in the past, and I believe it,” said Desmond (via Kyle Newman of the Denver Post) “When you’re going through something like this right now is when you really have to believe it, because you can really get sideways if you don’t.” Desmond has the support of manager Bud Black, who stated that “He’ll find his timing, and when he does, he’ll be the Ian Desmond that we’ve seen for eight-plus seasons.” While Desmond has recorded an unappealing 73.1 percent groundball rate this season on the heels of logging a 62.7 percent figure last year, he’s not necessarily aiming to hit more balls in the air. “Looking at it throughout the course of my career, I’m a groundball hitter, I’m a line drive hitter — I don’t think I’m ever going to lead the league in launch angle,” said Desmond, even though he acknowledged that the altitude at Coors Field makes it an especially friendly place for fly ball hitters.

Here’s more from the NL West:

  • Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner told reporters Saturday that he still hasn’t swung a bat since suffering a broken left wrist in late March (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). As such, there’s still no timetable for Turner’s return, which is unfortunate for an LA team that has felt his absence during a slow start. Dodgers third basemen have only managed a .208/.274/.338 line in 84 PAs this season.
  • Prior to their game Saturday, the Padres activated center fielder Manuel Margot from the disabled list and sent right fielder Hunter Renfroe to the DL (retroactive to April 18) with elbow inflammation. Margot, who suffered bruised ribs when he took a pitch to the chest, returned quickly after going on the DL on April 11. Renfroe, meanwhile, “played with one arm for about a week and a half,” manager Andy Green told Justin Toscano of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. The 26-year-old power hitter got off to a .200/.281/.440 start with two home runs in 57 PAs before going on the shelf.
  • The Giants expect left-handed reliever Will Smith back by May 1, manager Bruce Bochy announced Saturday (per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group, via Twitter). Smith underwent Tommy John surgery prior to last season, meaning he hasn’t pitched in a major league game since the Giants’ NLDS loss to the Cubs in October 2016. The 28-year-old was a well-regarded reliever before his injury, which led the Giants to trade a couple of prospects to Milwaukee for him in August 2016.

West Notes: Astros, Dodgers, A’s, Giants, Mariners

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In a lengthy Q&A with Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required), Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow touches on a slew of topics relating to the defending world champions, including the futures of shortstop Carlos Correa, center fielder George Springer, left-hander Dallas Keuchel and right-hander Justin Verlander. There’s no word on whether the Astros have begun extension talks with any of those players, but Luhnow would unsurprisingly like to retain each of them for the long haul. “If I could wave a magic wand and keep all three of those guys, plus others here for the foreseeable future and possibly for their entire careers, I would do it! It’s amazing to watch them,” he said of Correa, Springer and Keuchel. Luhnow added that he’d also like for Verlander to finish his career in Houston, which only has him under wraps through next season. Correa’s under control through 2021, meanwhile, and Springer isn’t slated to hit free agency until after the 2019 campaign. Keuchel could be gone sooner, though, as he’s scheduled to reach the open market next winter.

More from the majors’ West divisions…

  • Injured Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner is taking dry swings, but the team remains unsure when he will make his 2018 debut, manager Dave Roberts told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. The superstar has been out since late March with a broken left wrist, and the defending NL champion Dodgers have clearly missed him during a 4-8 start. In Turners’s absence, their third basemen have hit an ugly .250/.293/.382 (65 wRC+) in 82 plate appearances.
  • The Athletics sent righty reliever Liam Hendriks to the disabled list on Saturday with adductor tendinitis in his groin. Before that, he was in danger of being designated for assignment, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Hendriks was a solid reliever for the A’s from 2016-17, but he then gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks over his first three innings this year and dealt with a drop in velocity. The injury had something to do with that, according to Hendriks. “It was always kind of there and I felt like I was doing everything right,” he said, “but I went back and looked at the video and my mechanics were completely different, trying to overcompensate.”
  • The Giants expect righty Johnny Cueto to come off the DL for a start Tuesday against Arizona, manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters, including Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News, on Saturday. Cueto landed on the shelf this past Tuesday, retroactive to April 7, with a sprained ankle. As a result, the Giants have been missing their three best starters – the injured Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija are the others – though the only one who’s not nearing a return is Bumgarner, whom the club moved to the 60-day DL earlier this week (fractured finger).
  • The Mariners activated designated hitter Nelson Cruz prior to Saturday’s game against Oakland, sending right-hander Casey Lawrence to Triple-A to clear roster space, the team announced. Cruz went on the DL on April 3 with an ankle sprain, before which he opened the year with two home runs in just six at-bats.

NL West Notes: Lucchesi, Turner, Souza, D-backs

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The Padres rotation — like other parts of the roster — came with some surprises. As Dennis Lin of the Athletic tweets, Joey Lucchesi is going to take the ball for the team’s second game of the season. And while veteran righty Tyson Ross didn’t open the season on the active roster, he’s expected to be added in short order, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune adds on Twitter. Acee notes that there’ll be some competition early in the season to see who’ll be able to stick as a long-term piece in the unsettled rotation mix, noting that Lucchesi has a chance to stay if he performs well.

Lucchesi, 24, was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft and will be the first pitcher taken that season to appear in the Majors. He ranks ninth in a stacked Padres farm system according to both MLB.com and Baseball America, having turned in a combined 2.20 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and 50 percent ground-ball rate in 139 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season.

More from the NL West…

  • Justin Turner is moving closer to swinging a bat, but he’s not yet been cleared to do so, reports Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times. The Dodgers’ third baseman was diagnosed with a nondisplaced fracture in his wrist late in Spring Training after being hit by a pitch, and Turner tells McCullough that he was initially projected to require two to three weeks of rest before being cleared to swing at all. McCullough writes that Turner will be out until at least May, though his exact timeline remains rather nebulous at present. Turner says that upon being diagnosed with the fracture, he was told the recovery could take anywhere from four to 10 weeks depending on how his wrist responds. “There really is no timetable,” says Turner.
  • The Diamondbacks may not need to fill in for outfielder Steven Souza for quite as long as had been feared, as Zach Buchanan of The Athletic reports on Twitter that Souza’s pectoral strain is progressing better than anticipated. That’s promising near-term news for the D-backs, but the team’s long-term outlook remains subject to quite a lot of uncertainty, as Buchanan explores in a subscription piece. The key question, perhaps, is whether the organization can find common ground on a second extension with Paul Goldschmidt. As Buchanan explains, there’s no real indication at this point whether that’ll take place, though CEO Derrick Hall does tell him that “neither side feels an urgency” to explore a new deal at the moment.

Justin Turner Diagnosed With Broken Wrist

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TODAY: Turner will not require surgery to repair the fracture, he tells MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (Twitter link). In fact, he’ll be able to begin working on regaining his range of motion after spending a few days in a brace. That seems like generally promising news, though clearly Turner will still be out to open the season.

YESTERDAY: Star Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner has been diagnosed with a broken left wrist after being hit by a pitch in tonight’s spring game, manager Dave Roberts said after the contest. (H/t Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, via Twitter). The unfortunate news strikes a blow to the defending National League champs less than two weeks before the start of the 2018 season.

Turner says it’s a “small, non-displaced fracture,” as Pedro Moura of The Athletic tweets, though we’ll need to await further information before it’s clear how long he’ll be out. Precise details of the injury, as well as its course of treatment and how the veteran proceeds through rehab, will obviously dictate the timeline. It seems clear, based upon generally similar past injuries, that Turner won’t be available for Opening Day and will be out for at least six weeks or so.

The 33-year-old Turner has been among the game’s more productive players in recent seasons. While he has dealt with some injuries, only once appearing in over 130 games since breaking out in Los Angeles, Turner has racked up 18.8 rWAR and 18.2 fWAR over the past four campaigns. He was never better at the plate than in 2017, when he posted an outstanding .322/.415/.530 slash with 21 home runs and more walks (59) than strikeouts (56) over 543 plate appearances.

Replacing that production isn’t reasonably possible, though the Dodgers are about as well-equipped as any team to do so. The club can bump Logan Forsythe to the hot corner while utilizing any number of players at second base. Veteran Chase Utley will no doubt see plenty off time against right-handers, as had already been expected, while versatile right-handed hitters Austin Barnes and Enrique Hernandez will surely also factor into the infield mix.

The injury to Turner will open an opportunity for another player to join the roster to open the season. It’s possible the club could carry an infielder such as Jake Peter or Donovan Solano, neither of whom is on the 40-man, though perhaps the likelier scenario is to keep another outfielder while utilizing Hernandez more on the dirt. Los Angeles is facing tough decisions on players such as Matt Kemp, Joc Pederson, Andrew Toles, and the out-of-options Trayce Thompson, so the injury to Turner could allow the club to keep one more of those names. Alternatively, the Dodgers could break camp with Kyle Farmer as a reserve catcher while giving Barnes more time at second base. Needless to say, there are plenty of possibilities.

World Series Notes: Data, Granderson, Hill, Turner, Hinch, Roberts

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The 2017 World Series pits two of Major League Baseball’s top-regarded analytics departments against one another, writes Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Plunkett speaks with Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten about the decision to hire president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the importance that decision played in catching his team up to speed in an increasingly data-driven baseball environment. Dodgers reliever Brandon Morrow, in the midst of a breakout season, chats with Plunkett about the Dodgers’ presentation of data and how it’s helped to turn his career around. “The way that they take those numbers and present them simply is a big deal – because a lot of those numbers can be overwhelming and confusing, to be honest,” says Morrow. Plunkett also speaks with lefty Tony Watson and Astros outfielder Cameron Maybin about the data presentation of both clubs and the way in which it differed from their previous teams.

A few notes on the teams’ respective rosters…

  • The Dodgers informed Curtis Granderson last night that he would not be a part of the World Series roster, tweets Plunkett. Manager Dave Roberts said that Granderson was “obviously disappointed but still supportive” as the team geared up for Game 1 of the series. Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that despite his struggles with the Dodgers — Granderson posted a .654 OPS in the regular season following his trade from the Mets and was just 1-for-15 in the playoffs — the 37-year-old veteran hopes to play in 2018. “Mentally and physically, I feel as if I want to,” Granderson tells Sherman. He acknowledged, though, that it’ll depend on whether clubs throughout the league feel he still has enough to offer at the plate. Granderson posted an above-average OBP (.334) and showed well-above-average pop (.481 slugging, .252 ISO) with the Mets before the trade.
  • Rich Hill turned in 135 2/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball with 11.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 with the Dodgers during the regular season, but the remarkable 37-year-old late bloomer told reporters today that L.A.’s World Series opponents made a serious push to sign him last winter. J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets that Hill said today that he “went pretty far” into negotiations with the Astros last winter before ultimately agreeing to his three-year, $48MM contract to return to Los Angeles.
  • Mets general manager Sandy Alderson recently commented on non-tendering Justin Turner back in 2013, writes Newsday’s Marc Carig. Turner recently told the media that he declined to attend workouts with Mets strength and conditioning coach (then consultant) Mike Barwis about a week before being non-tendered. (Turner had already lined up hitting lessons with Southern California-based Doug Latta, Carig notes.) Alderson denied that there was any correlation between Turner declining to work with Barwis and the decision to non-tender him. “Justin simply didn’t have a position with us . . . simple as that,” Alderson said to Carig — a reference to the presence of David Wright at third base and Daniel Murphy at second base at the time. The Mets, of course, were hardly the only team to let Turner slip through their fingers. The Reds drafted Turner and traded him to the Orioles as part of the deal to acquire catcher Ramon Hernandez. Baltimore waived him 14 months later. Even the Dodgers, Carig notes, didn’t guarantee Turner a 40-man spot, instead signing him to a minor league contract.
  • Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle both penned columns on the close friendship between Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Astros manager A.J. Hinch. The two were both played college ball in California but only crossed paths once in the Majors, Kaplan notes, before they began working together in the Padres’ front office. (Roberts stole a base against Hinch, though Hinch takes plenty of credit for a Roberts strikeout that game.) As Nightengale points out, it was current Dodgers vice president Josh Byrnes who planted the seeds of Hinch’s managerial career. Byrnes, the D-backs’ GM in 2009, made a then-eye-opening decision to name Hinch a 34-year-old manager. After both Byrnes and Hinch were dismissed by D-backs ownership, Byrnes became the Padres’ general manager and brought Hinch to the front office in San Diego, where he began his friendship with Roberts. As Nightengale details, it was also Byrnes who recommended Hinch for the Astros’ managerial vacancy. “I admired Josh for being bold and making him his manager,” Astros GM Jeff Luhnow tells Nightengale. “He was just ahead of his time. The industry wasn’t ready for it.”
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