Robert Suarez

Padres Select Nick Hernandez

By Steve Adams | September 11, 2023 at 3:45pm CDT

3:45pm: The Friars have now made it official, selecting Hernandez and transferring Sanchez to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man. They reinstated Robert Suarez from his suspension and placed left-hander Tim Hill on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left ring finger.

1:58pm: The Padres are set to select the contract of right-hander Nick Hernandez from Triple-A El Paso, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC Channel 2. He’ll make his big league debut the first time he takes the mound.

Hernandez, 28, is a former Astros draftee (eighth round, 2016) who signed with San Diego in minor league free agency this offseason. His first year in the Padres organization has been mostly solid thus far. He’s posted sub-4.00 ERA marks with strong strikeout and walk rates in both Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 3.60 earned run average with a 33.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in 60 innings.

Hernandez has regularly posted quality ERA marks and missed bats in the minors. Command has been an issue at times, evidenced by a career 11.7% walk rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons –though he’s been quite a bit better in that regard this year. Hernandez will get the opportunity to show the Padres that he deserves a chance to stick at the big league level over the season’s final few weeks. He’ll be able to become a minor league free agent again at season’s end if he’s removed from the 40-man.

The Padres will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster in order to formally add Hernandez to the Major League club. That can be easily achieved at this stage of the calendar, however. Both Ji Man Choi and Gary Sanchez remain on the 10-day injured list despite recently suffering fractures. Choi has been trying to play through his injury in Triple-A and could still feasibly return, but moving either to the 60-day injured list would clear roster space for Hernandez.

Robert Suarez Appealing 10-Game Foreign Substance Suspension

By Anthony Franco | August 25, 2023 at 2:00pm CDT

August 25: Suarez has received the expected 10-game suspension, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, but is appealing.

August 23: Padres reliever Robert Suarez was ejected from this afternoon’s win over the Marlins following a foreign substance inspection. Called on to pitch the top of the eighth, Suarez was thrown out before throwing a pitch when umpires examined him coming in from the bullpen.

First base umpire Todd Tichenor made the call. After the game, Tichenor told reporters that the right-hander’s left wrist had been “too sticky, very sticky” (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). Suarez denied using any illicit substance, saying he’d simply applied his typical amount of sunscreen for a day game in San Diego.

Pitchers ejected after a foreign substance check are subject to an automatic 10-game suspension. MLB will presumably formally announce Suarez’s ban tomorrow. He has an appellate right, though an appeal would go in front of an MLB official for adjudication. As a result, the three players previously suspended for foreign substances this season — Max Scherzer, Domingo Germán and Drew Smith — all waived their appeals. Suarez said he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll do the same.

In all likelihood, the Friars will be without one of their better high-leverage arms for the next week and a half. Suarez posted a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 frames last season and subsequently re-signed on a five-year, $46MM free agent guarantee. He missed the first half of this year with an elbow injury. He has allowed seven runs in 13 1/3 innings since returning. Teams aren’t allowed to replace players who have been suspended for an on-field rules violation, so the Padres would have to play with a 25-man roster for the duration of Suarez’s expected suspension.

Padres Designate Jose Castillo For Assignment

By Steve Adams | July 20, 2023 at 10:41am CDT

The Padres have designated left-hander Jose Castillo for assignment and optioned righty Matt Waldron to Triple-A El Paso, per a team announcement. That pair of moves clears roster space for righty Robert Suarez, who has been formally reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Castillo, 27, posted a strong 3.23 ERA through his first 39 big league innings back in 2018-19 but has since seen that promising debut derailed by injury. His 2019 season was cut short by a torn ligament in his hand, and he missed the 2020 season due to a lat strain. Castillo’s 2021 campaign and much of his 2022 season were then wiped out by Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched just two total MLB frames dating back to 2019.

While Castillo posted solid numbers in the upper minors last year as he returned from that deluge of injuries, he’s struggled immensely in 2023. His lone MLB appearance saw him yield four runs in one-third of an inning, and he’s been tagged for a 9.82 ERA in 18 1/3 frames of Triple-A ball.

Castillo is in his final option season and will be arbitration-eligible this winter. The Padres will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. If another team picks him up, he can be optioned for the remainder of the season but would need to be carried on the active MLB roster beginning next season. That said, if he can get back on track with a new club, he’d have an additional two seasons of club control remaining.

Suarez, 32, fanned 32% of his opponents and notched a 2.27 ERA as a 31-year-old rookie in San Diego last season after a years-long run of excellence in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The Friars re-signed to a five-year, $46MM deal with an opt-out clause early last offseason, but he’s yet to pitch this season due to an elbow issue. He’ll give San Diego a high-quality arm to slot into the late innings as the Padres try to salvage an immensely disappointing start to their 2023 season.

NL Notes: Goldschmidt, Reynolds, Painter, Suarez

By Nick Deeds | July 2, 2023 at 3:07pm CDT

The Cardinals have been among the most disappointing teams in the league this season. Despite coming into the season as the shoo-in favorite for the NL Central crown, St. Louis sports just a 34-48 record and is in fifth place in the NL Central, 9.5 games out of a playoff spot. That rough first half to the 2023 campaign led president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to admit that “some changes” were on the horizon for the Cardinals late last month, even as he pushed back against the idea of the club entering a full rebuild.

The Athletic’s Katie Woo expanded upon those comments today, suggesting that the Cardinals are likely to make most of their position player group available in trade talks as they look to retool the team, though she highlights Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Walker as players who aren’t expected to be moved. Woo places the most emphasis on first baseman Paul Goldschmidt as a player who’s off-limits in trade as the deadline approaches.

The 35-year-old first baseman has posted another solid season for the Cardinals on the heels of his 2022 MVP campaign, slashing .289/.379/.498 in 359 plate appearances this season. A free agent after the 2024 campaign, speculation has swirled that the club might consider offers on Goldschmidt ahead of the trade deadline this year. Woo pushes back strongly against those rumors, arguing that a two-year extension this offseason is the “most likely scenario” regarding Goldschmidt. Such a deal would figure to take the veteran slugger through the end of his age-38 season in a Cardinals uniform.

More from around the National League…

The Pirates welcomed outfielder Bryan Reynolds back from the injured list today, per a club announcement. Pittsburgh’s star was on the shelf with a low back strain for just slightly over the minimum 10 days required, but the club struggled while Reynolds was away. Since Reynolds last appeared in a game on June 19, the club has gone 5-6 including key losses to division rivals in Chicago and Milwaukee. Reynolds, who’s slashing .279/.350/.473 in 294 plate appearances this season, will look to spark his club as they head into the All Star break with tough matchups against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. In recent days, outfielder Josh Palacios has filled in for Reynolds in the outfield alongside Henry Davis and Jack Suwinski.
Phillies managed Rob Thomson tells reporters, including Destiny Lugardo of Phillies Nation, that top prospect Andrew Painter is set to face live hitters on Tuesday for the first time since he was shut down during Spring Training with a UCL sprain. In even more encouraging news, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com adds that Painter is not only expected to pitch competitively at some point this summer, but could make his big league debut sometime this season. That’s surely a relief for Phillies fans, given Painter appeared poised to slot into the club’s Opening Day rotation prior to his injury during the spring as baseball’s consensus top pitching prospect.
Padres reliever Robert Suarez is making progress in his return to a big league mound, beginning a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League as noted by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Suarez has been on the 60-day IL all season dealing with an elbow injury, but was a key piece of the San Diego bullpen last season with a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 innings of work. Sanders adds that Suarez is expected back sometime after the All Star break. Upon his return, Suarez figures to bolster a bullpen that ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.26 FIP.

Padres Reinstate Fernando Tatis Jr.

By Anthony Franco | April 20, 2023 at 8:12pm CDT

Fernando Tatis Jr. is back in the majors. The Padres officially reinstated him from the restricted list following the completion of his performance-enhancing drug suspension on Thursday evening. San Diego optioned infielder/outfeilder Brandon Dixon to Triple-A El Paso to open room on the big league roster. The Friars transferred reliever Robert Suarez from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.

Tatis steps into the leadoff spot tonight against Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson. He’ll play right field in his first MLB contest since October 3, 2021. Tatis is expected to play right field on a near everyday basis in 2023. He lost his former shortstop position when San Diego inked Xander Bogaerts to a $280MM free agent contract over the winter. With Ha-Seong Kim, Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado rounding out the infield, Tatis gets kicked onto the grass.

While there’ll certainly be some intrigue about how he acclimates to a position at which he has just 151 1/3 innings of MLB experience, the primary question will be how quickly he finds his stride offensively. Tatis was one of the game’s best hitters over his first three seasons, combining to hit .282/.364/.611 between 2019-21. By measure of wRC+, that was the ninth-best offensive output among batters with at least 500 plate appearances.

Whether the 24-year-old can recapture that kind of production remains to be seen. Since his last MLB game, he’s undergone three surgeries — two on the left wrist he fractured in a motorcycle accident, one on his left shoulder that had ailed him back to 2021. He also tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug Clostebol and was handed an 80-game suspension at the start of last August. That carried into this season, with Tatis sitting out the Friars’ first 20 games. San Diego has opened with a middling 9-11 start, allowing ten more runs than they’ve scored.

Tatis was permitted to play in Spring Training. He got into 16 exhibition games, hitting .273/.340/.432. Shortly after the regular season opened, Tatis went on a rehab stint with El Paso. He was the best hitter in the Pacific Coast League for a week. Tatis blasted seven home runs, walked six times and struck out on just three occasions in eight games. He hit .515/.590/1.212 in 39 trips to the plate for the Chihuahuas before reporting to the Padres a few days ago.

Players on the restricted list don’t count against the 40-man roster. To clear a spot, San Diego transferred Suarez to the 60-day IL. That backdates to his Opening Day placement on the injured list but still officially rules him out until the final week in May.

Suarez opened the season on the IL with inflammation in his throwing elbow. He was shut down from throwing at the start of this month after feeling continued discomfort and is without a clear recovery timetable. It’s an inauspicious start to the five-year, $46MM contract he inked at the start of last offseason. The hard-throwing Suarez provided the Padres 47 2/3 innings of 2.27 ERA ball during his initial MLB campaign last year, emerging as one of their highest-leverage relievers by the playoffs.

Injury Notes: McKenzie, Hernandez, Suarez

By Darragh McDonald | April 10, 2023 at 1:35pm CDT

Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie was shut down two weeks ago with a strain of the teres major muscle in his throwing shoulder. The club provided an update to reporters today, including Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal, relaying that McKenzie would start a throwing program this week. His ultimate return will depend on how that throwing program goes.

McKenzie had a tremendous breakout season last year, posting a 2.96 ERA over 191 1/3 innings, striking out 25.6% of opponents while walking just 5.9%. He also made two postseason starts for the Guards last year with a 3.27 ERA over 11 innings. He’ll be looking to build on that strong campaign but will have to get healthy first. The two-week shutdown period appears to have helped alleviate the injury, allowing him to start building towards a return.

Despite the recent injury, McKenzie was listed as one of several players the Guardians were trying to sign to extensions. In the end, they got a deal done with Andrés Giménez and Trevor Stephan but not McKenzie. He will qualify for arbitration for the first time after this season and is slated for free agency after 2026. Hunter Gaddis took over McKenzie’s rotation spot in the wake of the injury, with mixed results so far. He allowed four earned runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners in his first outing, but then tossed six shutout innings against the A’s in his second turn.

Some other injury situations from around the majors…

Royals right-hander Carlos Hernández departed last night’s game accompanied by the trainer, as relayed by Anne Rogers of MLB.com, who noted that the issue appeared to be his hamstring. The hard-throwing Hernandez has averaged around 97 mph in his career thus far but has mixed results to show for it. He had a 3.68 ERA in 2021 but that number jumped to 7.39 last year. The latter figure was likely affected by some bad luck, given his .339 batting average on balls in play and 59.4% strand rate. He has started well here in 2023 with a 2.45 ERA in a small sample of 3 2/3 innings. The status of his health is still unclear at the moment, with updates surely to be revealed in the coming days.
Padres right-hander Robert Suarez began the season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and doesn’t appear close to a return. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Suarez has had his progression slowed because he “felt something” while playing catch recently. It’s not certain what the issue is or how long Suarez will be delayed, but it’s not an ideal start to his new contract. After many years in Japan, Suarez played for the Padres last year and posted a 2.27 ERA while striking out 31.9% of batters faced. He opted out of his contract but re-signed with the Friars on an aggressive five-year, $46MM pact. With Suarez out of action, the club has been giving its high-leverage work to pitchers like Josh Hader, Luis Garcia and Steven Wilson.

Padres Select Rougned Odor, Domingo Tapia

By Anthony Franco | March 30, 2023 at 11:53am CDT

The Padres announced a few transactions as they set their Opening Day roster. Rougned Odor and reliever Domingo Tapia both made the team, with San Diego formally selecting their contracts. The Friars also confirmed the previously reported addition of outfielder David Dahl to the 40-man. San Diego needed to create two 40-man vacancies. They’ve done so by designating righty Michel Báez for assignment and placing southpaw Adrián Morejón on the 60-day injured list with an elbow sprain.

Additionally, San Diego placed a handful of pitchers on the 15-day IL. Joe Musgrove, Robert Suarez, Drew Pomeranz and José Castillo will all start the season on the shelf.

Odor is entering his tenth season at the big league level. The longtime Ranger second baseman has bounced around the league over the past few seasons. He’s been a below-average hitter overall due to dismal on-base numbers but continued to draw interest thanks to some left-handed power. Odor appeared in 135 games for the Orioles last season, hitting 13 homers but posting just a .207/.275/.357 line in 472 plate appearances.

Signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, Odor impressed in Spring Training. He put together a .316/.422/.474 slash with a pair of homers in 38 at-bats. The career second baseman also saw some corner outfield action in exhibition play to broaden his defensive flexibility off the bench. He could join Dahl and Matt Carpenter in taking some right field work until Fernando Tatis Jr. returns from suspension.

Tapia, 31, inked a minor league deal over the winter. He threw 17 innings for the A’s last year, allowing 16 runs with more walks than strikeouts. While it wasn’t a particularly encouraging season, Tapia averaged around 98 MPH on his fastball and posted a 1.76 ERA in 30 2/3 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas. He nabs an Opening Day bullpen job in San Diego after tossing eight innings of two-run ball with 11 strikeouts and no walks this spring. Tapia still has a minor league option year remaining, so the Friars could bounce him between San Diego and Triple-A El Paso throughout the season.

Báez has pitched at the MLB level in three of the last four seasons. The bulk of that came in 2019, when he made 24 appearances. Báez pitched only twice in the majors last year. He threw 21 1/3 innings for El Paso, allowing an 8.44 ERA while walking a huge 16.7% of opposing hitters. The Padres will now have a week to deal him or put him on waivers.

Morejón is now officially out until the end of May. He returned from Tommy John surgery to make 26 appearances out of the bullpen last season. Elbow soreness cropped back up this spring, an alarming development considering that history. Initial imaging didn’t reveal any structural damage, with the club first calling the issue inflammation. Terming it a sprain — which inherently involves some stretching of the ligament — is a little more concerning and will keep him out of action for a while.

Robert Suarez Likely Headed To Injured List

By Nick Deeds | March 25, 2023 at 6:06pm CDT

Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Padres reliever Robert Suarez is expected to begin the 2023 campaign on the injured list with arm stiffness and joint inflammation. An MRI revealed no structural damage, but the right-hander has remained shut down since March 12 nonetheless. A timetable for his return is currently unknown, though Acee notes that Suarez could resume throwing soon. If Suarez opens the season on the IL, he would first be eligible to return on April 7.

Suarez, who made his major league debut last season at the age of 31 following a lengthy run in Japan’s NPB, dominated to the tune of a 2.27 ERA (166 ERA+) and 3.22 FIP in 47 2/3 innings with the Padres last year. Following the 2022 season, Suarez re-upped with San Diego on a five-year, $46MM deal deal and entered the spring as the top option to set-up for closer Josh Hader. With Suarez likely starting the season on the IL, Luis Garcia and Tim Hill seem likely to see work in the late innings until Suarez and left-hander Drew Pomeranz are ready to return from injury.

With Suarez, Pomeranz, Jose Castillo and Adrian Morejon all set to start the season on the injured list, the door is wide open for San Diego’s pitching depth to make the roster, as Acee notes that in addition to one of Julio Teheran, Jay Groome, Ryan Weathers, or Brent Honeywell making the team as the sixth starter while Joe Musgrove recovers from a fractured toe, as many as two more of the aforementioned names could be rostered to open the season as long men out of the bullpen, as the number of pitching injuries plaguing the Padres leave plenty of innings to cover. Michel Baez and Jose Lopez are among other options who could stand to benefit from the available innings.

Without a clear picture of how much time Suarez will miss, it’s hard to say how much this injury will impact the Padres, who figure to lock horns with the Dodgers as frontrunners for the NL West this season. While injuries have tested San Diego’s pitching depth this spring, LA has struggled with injuries of its own, losing Gavin Lux for the season to a torn ACL while also expecting to start the season without right-hander Tony Gonsolin.

Padres Re-Sign Robert Suarez

By Anthony Franco | November 17, 2022 at 11:51am CDT

Nov. 17: The Padres formally announced a five-year deal for Suarez, which indeed includes an opt-out after the 2025 season.

Nov. 12: The Padres have made a massive strike to keep one of their top free agents. San Diego is reportedly in agreement with reliever Robert Suarez on a five-year, $46MM guarantee that allows him to opt out after the 2025 campaign. Suarez, a Don Nomura client, had declined a $5MM player option earlier this week.

That was a formality, as he was always likely to land a significant multi-year pact on the open market. Just as the time came for him to potentially speak with other teams, he and the Padres pushed a new deal across the finish line.

The new contract will reportedly pay Suarez $10MM in each of the next three seasons. If he were to opt out after 2025, he’d be leaving $16MM on the table, which breaks down as $8MM salaries in each of the 2026 and 2027 campaigns. There is also some notable annual bonus money available related to games finished, and those incentives kick in whenever Suarez finishes at least 25 games in a season. The bonuses max out at $3MM if he reaches 55 games finished.

Suarez had never played in the majors before this year. The Venezuela native had spent five seasons at Japan’s highest level, working late innings for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. The Friars signed him to a two-year deal last winter that allowed him to opt out after the 2022 season, taking a shot on a live arm with a history of success in Japan. The gamble his stuff would play against big league hitters paid off in spades, as he emerged as one of manager Bob Melvin’s top late-inning weapons.

During his first MLB appearance, Suarez walked two batters and hit a third. He failed to record an out and all three runners came around to score. It was a nightmarish debut, but the 31-year-old bounced back in a huge way. From the second day of the season onward, he pitched to a 1.70 ERA through 47 2/3 innings. Suarez punched out an elite 32.4% of batters faced along the way. His 10.1% walk percentage was still a bit higher than ideal, but he had no issue overpowering opponents while brandishing eye-popping stuff.

Suarez averaged 97-98 MPH on his fastball, backed up by an upper-80s changeup that served as his put-away offering. He only picked up one save, but he held 11 leads and worked in high-leverage situations throughout the year. Aside from the Opening Day blip, the only negative in his regular season showing was a two-month absence due to right knee inflammation. His stuff was no worse for wear upon his return in mid-August and the Friars clearly don’t harbor any concerns about his long-term health projection.

The postseason ended on a sour note for both Suarez and the Padres, as he was on the mound for what proved to be a season-ending home run allowed to Bryce Harper in the NLCS. He’d pitched his way out of a number of jams earlier in the playoffs before that dramatic at-bat against Harper, and he finished the postseason with a respectable three runs allowed in nine innings. The power stuff he showed along the way bolstered his market value on the eve of his return trip to free agency, and Suarez now cashes in with one of the best free agent deals for a non-closing reliever.

Suarez becomes the fourth reliever in the past decade to land a five-year guarantee. The previous three — Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman and Edwin Díaz (who inked his deal last week) — each had closing experience and multiple seasons of big league success under their belt. That’s also true of players like Wade Davis, Liam Hendriks, Mark Melancon and Raisel Iglesias — who all bested a $46MM total over four or fewer seasons. Suarez’s track record of one-year dominance in the middle innings perhaps most closely compares to his now-teammate, Drew Pomeranz, who landed $34MM over four years during the 2018-19 offseason after an incredible second half in his platform campaign.

It’s a strong milestone for Suarez and his representatives that also keeps him with the club that gave him his first big league opportunity. He’ll return as a high-leverage piece for Melvin, joining Josh Hader, Luis García and a hopefully healthy Pomeranz in the late-game mix. Meanwhile, the successive early re-signings of Díaz and Suarez remove arguably the two best relievers from this winter’s free agent class.

The specific financial breakdown has yet to be reported. The Friars currently have around $203MM on next year’s books, in the estimation of Roster Resource. Their projected luxury tax ledger sits just shy of $225MM, and Suarez’s deal will add another $9.2MM to that tab. A contract’s luxury tax hit is determined by its average annual value, and the final two years of the deal are still considered guaranteed even though Suarez will have the chance to opt out of the arrangement. The Padres look likely to surpass next season’s $233MM base tax threshold, but ownership and the front office have shown no qualms about doing so in an effort to build one of the best rosters in the National League.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com was first to report Suarez and the Padres were in agreement on a five-year, $46MM deal. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported the specific salary breakdown.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Quick Hits: Astros, Blue Jays, Martin, Robertson, Suarez, Giants, Pirates

By Mark Polishuk | November 12, 2022 at 10:39pm CDT

The Astros are making a pair of in-house promotions, as FOX 26’s Mark Berman reports (via Twitter) that Charles Cook and Bill Firkus are each being promoted to assistant general manager. Cook was the senior director of player evaluation and has been a member of the organization since 2016, while Firkus has been with the Astros since 2013, taking a unique path to the assistant GM role. Firkus began with the team as a medical analyst and then worked as the Astros’ director of sports medicine and performance from 2015-19 before moving into his job as the senior director of baseball strategy.

Firkus and fellow assistant GM Andrew Ball are also now temporarily running Houston’s front office until a replacement for James Click can be found, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Under Click, the Astros had two AGMs in Ball and Scott Powers, though Powers was fired yesterday shortly after news broke that Click wouldn’t be returning as the general manager. It is possible that the promotions of two long-time employees in Cook and Firkus might be a step towards also ousting Ball, who previously worked with Click in Tampa Bay and has only been with the Astros organization for less than a year. Regardless, there will continue to be plenty of controversy surrounding the World Series champions’ front office until a new president of baseball operations or GM is officially hired. [UPDATE: Firkus is the Astros’ current point person for any free agent talks, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi]

Headlines

Robert Suarez

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect