The Phillies will receive a formal warning letter from Major League Baseball in the wake of an unusual situation from Saturday’s game, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. The league ruled that home plate umpire Jerry Layne was right to allow Phils reliever Hoby Milner some extra warm-up pitches after Milner was brought into the game seemingly without warning by manager Gabe Kapler, as Milner wasn’t even up in the bullpen. The Braves objected to Milner being allowed any warm-up pitches after being called into the game, yet Layne felt the extra time was necessary for the sake of Milner’s health. Kapler’s usage of his bullpen has already become a controversial subject in Philadelphia, as the Phillies used 21 pitchers over their first three games of the season. “Any time we have a miscommunication it’s my responsibility so I take full responsibility for it,” Kapler told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salibury and other media after the game.
Some more items from the NL East…
- The Braves are set to add both Anibal Sanchez and Carlos Perez to their 25-man roster for tomorrow’s game, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. Corresponding moves have yet to be determined, as Atlanta still isn’t certain whether Kurt Suzuki could require some DL time after he was hit in the hand with a pitch on Friday. Perez is out of options, so the newly-acquired catcher seemed likely to get an immediate placement on the MLB roster to avoid being exposed to waivers. Sanchez was signed to a minor league contract two weeks ago and will make $1MM for reaching the Braves’ big league roster.
- There could be quite a bit of roster-juggling for the Braves in the next couple of weeks, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman details in a reader mailbag piece. Bowman actually wasn’t certain the team would go ahead with promoting Sanchez since the Braves don’t need a fifth starter until April 10, and there wasn’t any major need to use Sanchez out of the bullpen since the relievers weren’t overly taxed over Atlanta’s first three games. (Plus, the Braves are off today and on April 5.) Much will depend on Suzuki’s DL status or if Johan Camargo will be immediately activated when he is eligible to come off the disabled list on April 5, or if the Braves will give Camargo some time in the minors to get fully up to speed after missing three weeks.
- The Marlins will purchase the contract of right-hander Trevor Richards from Triple-A New Orleans tomorrow in time for Richards to start Monday’s game against the Red Sox. The 24-year-old Richards will be making his Major League debut. After going undrafted out of Drury University, Richards pitched in independent ball before signing with the Marlins in 2016 and has done nothing but impress in Miami’s farm system. Richards has a 2.52 ERA, 9.5 K/9, and 4.59 K/BB rate over 200 1/3 innings, starting 34 of his 38 career appearances as a Marlins prospect.
