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Michael Lorenzen

Pitching Notes: Kimbrel, Cubs, Braves, Lorenzen, Gray, Astros, MadBum

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The Cubs dealt Joc Pederson to the Braves tonight, though a prominent former Brave wasn’t part of the talks between the two teams, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link) reports that Craig Kimbrel’s availability wasn’t discussed.  Kimbrel would obviously have been a major boost for an inconsistent Atlanta bullpen, but Kimbrel is both considerably more expensive than Pederson and the Cubs surely would’ve demanded a much higher prospect return for the All-Star closer.  Acquiring Kimbrel also would have been a clear all-in move for a Braves team that is still only 44-45, and perhaps only in contention by dint of a congested NL East.  It’s possible that Atlanta might still pivot and start selling by the trade deadline if the team sinks further under the .500 mark over the next two weeks.

More on various hurlers around the sport…

  • Kicking off the second half with a big series against the Brewers, the Reds expect to activate Michael Lorenzen and Sonny Gray from the injured list, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer writes.  After missing the entire season due to a shoulder strain, Lorenzen will likely be activated prior to Friday’s game, while Gray (rib cage strain) will start Sunday after missing only the minimum 10 days on the IL.  Lorenzen’s return will be welcomed by a Reds bullpen that has struggled all season, while Gray has pitched well despite three separate IL trips that have limited him to 62 innings.  Cincinnati placed reliever Art Warren on the 10-day IL today due to a left oblique strain, but a 40-man roster move will be necessary to reinstate Lorenzen from the 60-day IL.
  • The Astros are “going to entertain the idea of [acquiring] starting pitchers” at the trade deadline, GM James Click told The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome and other reporters.  Zack Greinke and Jose Urquidy are battling sore shoulders, Framber Valdez’s control has been shaky, and Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier might be approaching innings thresholds.  These issues have combined to turn what had been an area of strength for the Astros into a potential concern down the stretch.  On the plus side, relievers Josh James, Austin Pruitt, and Pedro Baez are all on rehab assignments and are expected to be activated from the injured list soon, with James and Pruitt coming perhaps as early as Friday.  That trio and perhaps Garcia could all fortify the bullpen from within, allowing Houston to pursue rotation help.
  • Madison Bumgarner will be activated from the 10-day injured list to start the Diamondbacks’ game with the Cubs on Friday, according to multiple reporters (including The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan).  Bumgarner has been out of action due to shoulder inflammation since June 3, continuing what has thus far been a disastrous tenure in Arizona for the veteran lefty.  Since signing a five-year, $85MM free agent deal in the 2019-20 offseason, Bumgarner has battled injuries and posted only a 6.04 ERA over 101 1/3 innings.  It is very unlikely that a team will come calling about Bumgarner at the deadline given the size of his remaining contract, so the left-hander’s second half will just be about staying healthy and posting some solid numbers as a platform for better things next year.

Reds Notes: Lorenzen, Antone, Trade Deadline

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The Reds could welcome right-hander Michael Lorenzen back from the injured list this weekend, manager David Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The 29-year-old is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville.

Lorenzen hasn’t pitched all year on account of a right shoulder strain. While the Reds intended to give him a shot to earn a spot in the starting rotation entering the year, Lorenzen’s now expected to come back in his customary relief role. Bell told reporters last month Cincinnati didn’t feel it was worthwhile to try to build his workload up to a level sufficient to take on a starting job, given the injury.

His return will be a welcome development for a Cincinnati bullpen that has been among the league’s worst this season. Reds relievers have a cumulative 5.22 ERA; only the Rockies bullpen (5.44) has had a tougher time preventing runs. The peripherals look a bit better — Cincinnati relievers are eighteenth in strikeout/walk rate differential (14.5 percentage points) and 21st in SIERA (4.01) — but the bullpen has nevertheless been one of the weaker position groups on the roster.

The issues have been exacerbated by recent injuries to Lucas Sims and Tejay Antone. Sims suffered an elbow sprain in late June that came with an expected one-month recovery timetable, and it now seems Antone’s looking at a similar return date. Antone has yet to resume throwing after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection on his ailing right forearm and isn’t expected back until late July, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com was among those to relay.

Presumably, the bullpen will be a key target area for the Reds to address in the next few weeks. In an interview with C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic on Friday, general manager Nick Krall said the club would be “aggressive” in acquiring help from outside the organization. Krall suggested then the front office wasn’t giving consideration to selling pieces off the big league roster, and that’s certainly all the more true after Cincinnati swept the Cubs in a three-game set to take over second place in the NL Central last weekend. At 43-40, the Reds still trail the division-leading Brewers by 6.5 games, and they’re 5.5 back of the Padres in the race for the league’s second Wild Card spot.

One question that remains is how much financial flexibility the front office has in exploring midseason upgrades. Krall told Rosecrans the team could add salary “within reason,” a bit of an equivocation that’s likely to concern some fans after payroll constrains led the Reds to trade closer Raisel Iglesias to the Angels for very little return over the winter.

Latest On Michael Lorenzen

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Michael Lorenzen has yet to pitch this season due to a shoulder strain suffered during Spring Training, and it will still be a while before the right-hander takes the field.  Reds manager David Bell told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon) that Lorenzen could “maybe” return to action around the All-Star break, though Lorenzen did provide a positive update on his rehab work.  “He said everything he did yesterday felt like he was never injured,” Bell said.

When Lorenzen does get back to Cincinnati, Bell noted that the right-hander “will come back as a reliever.  He’s not going to have to build up to be a starter.  We’ll get him back quicker that way.”

The shoulder strain was initially thought to be relatively minor when Lorenzen was sidelined back in March, though a setback during his rehab led to multiple PRP injections and a move to the 60-day injured list.  It also cost Lorenzen a potential chance at a rotation spot, as he was auditioning as a starter during Spring Training.  Lorenzen has also been used as a pinch-hitter and fill-in outfielder in recent years, but Bell didn’t mention whether or not Lorenzen would continue in any sort of two-way role upon his return.

The righty is no stranger to relief pitching, of course, after spending several seasons as a prime set-up weapon out of Cincinnati’s bullpen.  Lorenzen had never entirely closed the door on starting pitching, however, making three starts during the 2018 season and two turns in the Reds rotation last September, which led him to firmly set his sights on being a full-time starter in 2021.

Assuming he does get back around the All-Star break, Lorenzen will at least have the second half of the season to bank some quality innings and hopefully help the Reds compete for a postseason berth.  However, Cincinnati is just 25-29 at the moment, sitting in fourth place in the NL Central and six games back of the first-place Cubs.  If the Reds can’t get into the playoff race and decide to sell at the trade deadline, Lorenzen is scheduled for free agency this winter and would be an obvious trade chip.

Lorenzen would only have a couple of weeks between the All-Star break and the July 30 deadline to pitch effectively and prove his health for any interested suitors.  That said, he does have a solid track record as a reliever, and would be inexpensive — a team acquiring him on July 30 would be on the hook for roughly $1.49MM remaining on Lorenzen’s $4,437,500 salary for the year.  Even if Lorenzen is a bit shaky in his first couple of outings back from the injured list, it’s easy to imagine another team taking the calculated risk of trading for him anyway.

The Latest On Jonathan India, Mark Payton, Michael Lorenzen

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The Reds will activate Jonathan India and return him to their active roster today. Mark Payton will be optioned back to their alternate site, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). While on the roster, Payton has been utilized more-or-less solely as a pinch-hitter, going one-for-seven with a walk and a strikeout in ten games.

India has been out for just a couple of days, last appearing in a game on April 26th. India just went on the injured list on April 30th without an injury designation, which suggests his placement could have been COVID-19 related. India also took a pitch to the head last Sunday, but he passed all the necessary medical tests at that time, per Nightengale. The Reds’ rookie second baseman has hit .239/.316/.358 over 79 plate appearances.

In his absence, Nick Senzel has returned to second base with Tyler Naquin stationed in center. While there was a time when it seemed Senzel would be the Reds’ second baseman of the future, Friday’s game was his first-ever start at the position in the Majors. Senzel is slated to start at second again today, though presumably, India will take the position back shortly.

In other Reds’ news, Michael Lorenzen will begin his rehab shortly after responding well to PRP treatment (platelet-rich plasma). It’s still a long road back for Lorenzen, however. Manager David Bell set a timeline of a couple of months for Lorenzen’s return, per Nightengale (via Twitter). The athletic 29-year-old was moved to the 60-day injured list in mid-April because of an ongoing shoulder strain.

Reds Claim Phillip Diehl, Transfer Michael Lorenzen To 60-Day Injured List

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2:28pm: Lorenzen had a setback in his initial recovery from the shoulder strain and, after getting a second opinion from a specialist, recently received a plasma-rich platelet injection, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. He’s scheduled for a second such injection in two weeks, and the Reds are hopeful that he’ll be able to return sometime in the month of June. That, of course, is dependent on how his shoulder responds to the pair of injections, though.

2:21pm: The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed lefty Phillip Diehl off waivers from the Rockies and optioned him to their alternate training site. Righty Michael Lorenzen was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Lorenzen has been battling a shoulder strain, and manager David Bell recently told reporters that the right-hander’s recovery was “not going as fast as [Lorenzen] would like.”

The waiver claim represents a homecoming for the 26-year-old Diehl, a Cincinnati native who attended Moeller High School before playing his college ball at Louisiana Tech. The Rockies acquired Diehl from the Yankees in exchange for Mike Tauchman — a trade they’d surely like back — and Diehl has been tagged for 13 runs in 13 1/3 innings to this point in his brief career. It’s a small sample, so take this with a grain of salt, but all 13 of those runs have come in 6 1/3 innings at Coors Field; Diehl is unscored upon on the road.

Diehl was hit hard in his lone season of Triple-A ball, recording a 6.75 ERA and serving up a staggering 16 home runs in 45 1/3 frames. That came in 2019’s juiced ball season, however, and he was excellent throughout his minor league career to that point. He boasts a 0.90 ERA in 40 innings of Double-A ball and a 3.15 mark across two Class-A levels. On the whole, he’s punched out a hefty 30.5 percent of the hitters he’s faced in the minors against a similarly impressive 7.1 percent walk rate. Diehl also has a minor league option remaining, so it’s not too tough to see why the Reds were intrigued.

With regard to Lorenzen, it’s an unfortunate development for one of the game’s more interesting players. Lorenzen has been one of the Reds’ top setup men in recent years but was also a part-time outfielder — a strong defender in center field with a career .235/.284/.432 batting line in 146 career plate appearances. He’s belted seven homers in that time and also chipped in a trio of doubles, a triple and even five stolen bases (in seven attempts).

The Reds were planning to give Lorenzen an audition in the starting rotation this year, but it seems the shoulder troubles will table that experiment through at least the season’s first two months. Lorenzen’s initial 10-day IL placement was on Opening Day, retroactive to March 28 — the maximum three days allowed when backdating an IL stint. He’ll be eligible for return 60 days from that point, not from today’s transfer.

In the meantime, the Reds will look forward to getting Sonny Gray back in the near future. He’ll join Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Wade Miley as locks in the rotation. Jeff Hoffman has gotten a pair of early looks, too, but at some point one would expect electric multi-inning reliever Tejay Antone to get an opportunity to show he’s worthy of a rotation job.

Injury Notes: Kim, Alfaro, Andujar, Schmidt, Reds

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Kwang Hyun Kim is slated to toss a 90-pitch simulated game today, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).  Kim tossed another simulated game earlier this week, so the left-hander may be just about on the verge of rejoining the Cards’ rotation during the team’s upcoming series against the Phillies from April 16-18.

Back problems sidelined Kim for a good chunk of Spring Training, requiring an injured list placement to begin the season.  The 32-year-old is looking to build off an impressive debut season in Major League Baseball, as Kim posted a 1.62 ERA over 39 innings (thanks to a 50% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact) in 2020.

More injury updates from around the sport…

  • Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to what the team described as “lingering tightness in his left hamstring.”  Manager Don Mattingly told SportsGrid’s Craig Mish and other reporters the Marlins may decide tomorrow whether or not an IL stint is required.  Counting today, Alfaro will have been sidelined for four straight games, and Miami doesn’t have another off-day until April 19.  Should Alfaro hit the injured list, Sandy Leon is the only catcher in the Marlins’ farm system with any big league experience, so the team could select his minor league deal and install Leon as Chad Wallach’s backup.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided updates on Miguel Andujar and Clarke Schmidt to reporters (including ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera and Newsday’s Erik Boland).  For Andujar, he is already hitting off a tee and will start hitting out of the batting cage next week as the 26-year-old is trying to recover from right carpal tunnel syndrome.  Schmidt, meanwhile, is getting a second opinion on his bothersome right elbow, which is still giving him discomfort after almost seven weeks.  Schmidt was shut down back in February for what was supposed to be three or four weeks due to a common extensor strain in his right elbow — for what it’s worth, Boland noted that Boone today described the injury as simply a “right elbow strain.”
  • Shogo Akiyama and Sonny Gray are each progressing well in their injury recoveries, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Akiyama has been expected to return from a hamstring injury in early-mid May, and Reds manager David Bell says the outfielder has had “zero setbacks” in his rehab. Gray, meanwhile, is in line to make his return from a back injury by the end of next week. It’s a little less clear when Cincinnati can expect Michael Lorenzen back; the right-hander’s recovery from a shoulder strain is “not as going fast as he would like,” Bell said (via Sheldon).

Injury Notes: Engel, Lorenzen, Antone, Reds, Kelly

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Adam Engel will begin the season the injured list, as White Sox manager Tony La Russa told reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times) that Engel will miss “at least a couple of weeks” due to a right hamstring strain.  Long known for his glovework moreso than his bat, Engel hit .295/.333/.477 over 93 plate appearances in 2020, and was projected to serve as Chicago’s fourth outfielder this year, also getting his share of right field platoon duty with the left-handed hitting Adam Eaton.  [UPDATE: Engel told The Athletic’s James Fegan and other reporters that his injury carries a normal recovery timeline of 2-4 weeks, though that projection will depend on how his body responds to treatment.]

Utilityman Leury Garcia could fill Engel’s role, and La Russa also mentioned three other candidates in camp — prospect Luis Gonzalez, and non-roster invitees Billy Hamilton and Nick Williams.  Mikie Mahtook is another center field-capable player with MLB experience in camp.  If Engel does make good progress before Opening Day, it’s possible his IL stint could be fairly minimal, so the Sox might just use Garcia or Gonzalez as short-term replacements rather than make a 40-man roster move to accommodate one of the players on minor league deals.

More injury situations from around baseball….

  • With Sonny Gray already slated to begin the season on the IL, two more pitching concerns arose for the Reds on Saturday.  Michael Lorenzen suffered a minor shoulder strain while pitching in an intrasquad game, and Tejay Antone ended a side session due to hip flexor irritation.  GM Nick Krall told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that “we got as good of news as possible” on the two right-handers, saying “I think we’re hopeful that both will start the season on time, but we’re still monitoring the situation.”  Lorenzen was taken out as something of a precaution, while Antone may perhaps be taken along a bit slower, considering that he was already trying to recover from a slight groin strain.  Since the Reds have two off-days in the first eight days of the schedule, they could get by with just a starting four of Luis Castillo, Wade Miley, Tyler Mahle, and Jose De Leon should Lorenzen to miss time.  If Antone is healthy and isn’t instead ticketed for the bullpen, he could also pitch as a starter rather than De Leon.
  • Brewers pitching prospect Antoine Kelly underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last November, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes, and it isn’t yet certain when the southpaw might be back on the mound.  “I think it’s unlikely for him to be ready by the start of the Minor League season….I think we do envision him pitching over the summer. Exactly when, we don’t know,” Milwaukee president of baseball ops David Stearns said.  Kelly was a second-round pick in the 2019 draft, and he made 10 starts (nine in rookie ball, one in A-ball) that year before working out at the Brewers’ alternate training site last summer.  Baseball America ranks Kelly as the fourth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, citing his plus fastball and plus slider, and saying he “has the attributes to develop into a mid-rotation or better starter.”

Central Notes: Bryant, Odorizzi, Reds, Gose

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Kris Bryant has continued to express openness to a contract extension with the Cubs, but he reiterated today there’s not yet been any discussion between his representatives and the organization (via Patrick Mooney of the Athletic). The 29-year-old isn’t ruling out the possibility of a long-term deal coming together eventually, even though he’s currently on track to reach free agency after the season. “I’m not looking at it as my last year (as a Cub),” Bryant said (via Mooney). “Who knows what year it could be? I could have 10 more years here. Who knows? I could come back as a coach. I could live in Chicago. I don’t know.” Regardless of what happens after 2021, it’s clear Bryant will open the season with the Cubs after an offseason of trade rumors didn’t result in a deal.

Elsewhere in the game’s central divisions:

  • Jake Odorizzi is moving on from the Twins after a three-year run in Minnesota, but the right-hander said during yesterday’s Astros introduction that the Twin Cities “hold a special place” in his heart and left the door open for a return down the road (link via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Phil Miller). “I loved my time in Minnesota,” said Odorizzi, whose two-year deal with the Astros became official this week. “Maybe there’s a time to circle back after this stint [in Houston] is done.” Odorizzi noted that he originally hoped a new deal would come together, but he saw the writing on the wall when the Twins inked fellow free agent J.A. Happ to a one-year, $8MM deal earlier in the winter.
  • A few teams have announced their intention to start out with a six-man rotation. That doesn’t seem to be on the table for the Reds, who are going to open the season with a five-man starting staff, manager David Bell said (via MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon). Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Tyler Mahle are obvious locks, while Bell suggested Wade Miley is likely to get a shot at a rebound season as a starter. That leaves Michael Lorenzen, Tejay Antone, Jeff Hoffman and José De León in a battle for the final job. The pitchers who don’t earn the season-opening rotation spot figure to start off as multi-inning relief options.
  • Reliever Anthony Gose is impressing the Indians as a non-roster invitee, writes Zack Meisel of the Athletic. Continuing to throw in the upper-90’s and now incorporating a slider, Gose has struck out four without issuing a walk through his first three Cactus League innings. The former outfielder has attracted the attention of a few teams since moving to the mound in 2017 but has yet to get back to the big leagues as a pitcher. Continued strike-throwing is the key for Gose, who walked an untenable 21.5% of opposing hitters during his most recent minor league action in 2019.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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Lorenzen Expects To Pitch Out Of Reds’ Rotation In 2021

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Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson suggested in late September that right-hander Michael Lorenzen had “put himself in the conversation” for a rotation job in 2021. Lorenzen echoed that idea and perhaps took things a step further today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, telling hosts Jim Duquette and Jon Morosi that plans to report to Spring Training as a starting pitcher (Twitter link, with audio).

“My expectation is to show up as a starter and to finish the season as a starter,” said Lorenzen. “That’s where my mind is at, and I’m excited for it.”

The 28-year-old Lorenzen (29 in January) isn’t exactly a stranger to the starting rotation, having started 21 games as a rookie back in 2015. He made a pair of September starts for the Reds in 2020 as well, although he spent the entirety of the 2016-19 seasons working in relief as one of the team’s top setup men.

Lorenzen is a hyperathletic player who has been utilized in two-way fashion by the Reds. He’s an oft-used pinch-hitter and pinch-runner who carries a career .235/.284/.432 batting line and seven home runs through 146 plate appearances. Lorenzen is also 5-for-7 in career stolen base attempts and has graded out as an above-average defensive outfielder. The Reds think highly enough of his glove and bat that they started him as their center fielder six times in 2019,

Things haven’t panned out for Lorenzen in the rotation to this point in his career, though his only real chance came back in that 2015 rookie effort. His two starts in 2020 netted positive results: three runs on seven hits and two walks with 14 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings against the Pirates and White Sox.

That Lorenzen will be given this opportunity is also notable given the potential greater implications for the Reds. Cincinnati could see both Trevor Bauer and Anthony DeSclafani depart via free agency, and plugging Lorenzen into one of those spots would make for an affordable alternative solution. He’s arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter and projected to earn a modest bump to a $4MM salary. A successful move to the rotation would certainly bode well for the right-hander’s earning power next winter, too.

The Reds have suggested that they’ll do everything in their power to retain Bauer, the clear-cut top arm on the free-agent market this winter, but it’s widely expected that he’ll land a more lucrative deal elsewhere. If that indeed proves to be the case, the Reds will head into 2021 with a still-strong group of Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Wade Miley atop their starting staff.

Lorenzen won’t simply be penciled into the starting mix, but he joins Tyler Mahle and Tejay Antone (among others) as potential in-house options to round out the group. It still wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Reds pick up a veteran starter this winter — particularly if Bauer departs — but a role change for Lorenzen could play a role both the club’s rotation and bullpen pursuits this winter.

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