NLCS Injury Updates: Suzuki, Gomes, Hudson, Robles
Kurt Suzuki has been questionable since a fastball from Walker Buehler glanced off his arm and into his forehead, prompting an early exit from game five of the NLDS. Still, Suzuki is ready to return for game two, and he’ll be behind the dish to catch Max Scherzer in St. Louis this afternoon, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. The Nationals are up 1-0 in the NLCS, but they’re not without questions heading into game two…
- Yan Gomes started more games during the regular season than Suzuki, and he only caught Anibal Sanchez twice during the first 162, but he put together a stellar game in Suzuki’s stead last night. Not only did Gomes guide Sanchez and Sean Doolittle in their one-hit effort, but he also reached base three times and knocked in the game’s first run. The Nationals will have a decision to make on Gomes in the offseason regarding a $9MM club option. Gomes was one of the NL’s worst offensive performers for an uncomfortably large chunk of the season, but he hit his stride late in September when an injury to Suzuki forced Gomes to be an every-down bellcow. Suzuki will return at age-37 to play a part in the Nats’ 2020 catching picture, but after 70 starts this season, it’s likely the Nats will again need someone to carry the brunt of the catching burden. Gomes clocked out with a .223/.316/.389 batting line with 12 home runs, but he better controls the run game than Suzuki and had better marks as a receiver overall. The Nats will have upwards of $100MM to play with this winter, so unless they have a clear upgrade in mind, there’s a decent chance they pick up that option heading into the offseason.
- Anibal Sanchez put his stamp on the NLCS in a big way last night, providing 7 ⅔ huge innings of one-hit ball for the Nationals. Cardinals hitters managed an average exit velocity of just 83.1 mph off of Sanchez on the night. The length provided by Sanchez was all the more crucial on a night when they were without their most integral reliever. That Daniel Hudson is a lynchpin reliever in the championship series is amazing in and of itself, but there was near panic in DC when it was announced he was to miss game one for the birth of his third child. It all worked out for the best – healthy baby girl, game one victory – and Hudson will be in St. Louis tonight to relieve his 9th-inning tag-team partner in Doolittle, who closed yesterday’s game with a four-out save. Crazy as this sounds, all but 2 of the 118 outs recorded in wins by the Nationals this postseason have come from Hudson, Doolittle, or the the Nats four-piece rotation, tweets Dougherty.
- Victor Robles may return to the lineup soon, per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier and Anne Rogers. He will not, however, be in the starting lineup for game two, tweets MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Michael A. Taylor has been a surprisingly able replacement, though he did finally snap an 8-game postseason hitting streak with an 0-4 night in game one. Robles certainly provides more upside, and he’s arguably the best defensive centerfielder in baseball, but with so much of his game speed-dependent, there’s little reason to rush him back until his hamstring is healthy enough to be at full speed.
Victor Robles Tweaks Hamstring
The Nationals hung on for a 4-2 win over the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLDS on Friday, but they may have suffered a major loss in the process. Center fielder Victor Robles departed after laying down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth inning. He’s dealing with a tweaked hamstring and is day-to-day at the moment, Jamal Collier of MLB.com tweets.
The severity of Robles’ injury isn’t clear yet, but the Nationals know all too well that a hamstring tweak can lead to a long absence. Reliever Roenis Elias received the same diagnosis a month ago and hasn’t pitched since. If Robles’ issue is similarly severe, he might not play again in 2019.
An elite prospect during his days in Washington’s farm system, Robles has emerged as a strong contributor during his first full MLB campaign, evidenced by his 2.5 fWAR in 617 plate appearances. Robles didn’t show off Juan Soto-esque dominance with the bat in the regular season, when he hit .255/.326/.419 with 17 home runs, though he did swipe 28 bases and perform brilliantly as a defender. He led all MLB outfielders in DRS (24) and finished eighth in UZR (7.0).
When Robles exited Friday, Washington replaced him with Michael A. Taylor – a lesser hitter than Robles who also brings speed and defense to the table. Taylor and Gerardo Parra joined Robles as the only members of the club who garnered starts in center in the regular season. Parra’s also on the Nats’ five-outfielder NLDS roster, and if the team wants to keep that setup intact in the event Robles misses time, it could call on Andrew Stevenson as a replacement.
Nationals Notes: Victor Robles, Justin Miller, Trevor Rosenthal
Good news for the Nationals – relatively speaking – as X-rays came back negative on Victor Robles‘ injured wrist, per Todd Dybas of NBC Sports (via Twitter). He incurred a wrist contusion in last night’s ballgame when Cole Hamels hit him with a pitch in Robles’ second at-bat. It is not yet clear whether Robles will spend time on the injured list, though it seems likely.
Robles – whose 22nd birthday is tomorrow – joins a long list of injured Nats this season, most notably Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner, who also missed time this season after being hit by pitches. As a team, Washington has been plunked 22 times season – or about once every other game – tied with the Twins for 4th most in the league.
The timing is a particular bummer for the Nationals, who just got Turner back from injury last night for the first time since the season’s first week. Robles has been one of the more consistent performers for a disappointing Nats offense, hitting .255/.302/.465 with a team-leading eight long balls and eight stolen bases. The approach is lacking at times, he continues to be frustratingly bunt-happy, and more than once mental mistakes on the basepaths have demonstrated his youth and put him on the wrong end of the highlight reel. Still, the Nationals need Robles healthy if they are going to turn things around this season. Michael A. Taylor can replace him defensively, but Michael A. is lost at the plate and there’s not another natural replacement on the 40-man roster (not with Andrew Stevenson also on the IL). The Nats could use Adam Eaton in center with Gerardo Parra and Howie Kendrick seeing more time in the outfield.
Further adding to the injury ledger, Justin Miller appears headed to the injured list for the second time this season with a rotator cuff strain (per Dybas). Miller has pitched well in stretches across 17 appearances this season, going 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA. The ERA may be buoyed by a .256 BABIP, as FIP paints a decidedly different picture for the bearded righty (7.01 FIP). His fastball has been down a tick at 92.2mph from 93.9 mph last year, though his back pain early in the season – and the current shoulder strain – certainly deserve consideration as part of that story. More to the point for Miller, he has struggled to keep the ball on the ground or in the park (2.87 HR/9, 19 GB%), as was the case last night when he surrendered the first of Kris Bryant‘s three home runs.
Despite continued struggles from the bullpen ahead of Sean Doolittle, major personnel changes do not appear in the offing, per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier. With Erick Fedde likely ticketed for the rotation at least for a start, they’ll need another arm in the bullpen as early as before tonight’s game. In a perfect world, Trevor Rosenthal would be ready to contribute, but as Collier notes, his wildness has continued during a rehab stint with Double-A Harrisburg, and it’s hard to imagine trusting him with major league innings at this juncture. Per Mick Reinhard, the host of @MinorConvsPod (via Twitter), Rosenthal pitched on third of an inning in his last outing, giving up one hit, walking one, and throwing two pitches to the backstop. Austin Voth, Tanner Rainey and James Bourque are the most likely 40-man candidates to take Miller’s roster spot.
NL Notes: Wainwright, Robles, Braves
37-year-old Adam Wainwright, who re-upped with the club on a one-year pact earlier this month, was elated with the progress of his balky right elbow over the season’s last two months, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details in a lengthy overview of the situation. Wainwright, who had Tommy John surgery in 2011 and has dealt with discomfort in his elbow on multiple occasions, has apparently had issues with “deep” bone bruises in the area for a number of years now, an ailment for which he could not seem to find a solution. That appears to have changed, as Goold notes, with Wainwright’s adoption of a new, longer arm swing in the middle of his delivery. “Whole new avenues are back in play that I haven’t been able to do in years,” Wainwright said. “I left this season, I left that last start feeling motivated and feeling better than I have in a long time.” The stats do seem, at least in part, to reinforce Wainwright’s perspective: in 22 1/3 IP after his return from the DL on September 10, Wainwright struck out 25 batters and walked just three. His 8.93 K/9, albeit in an extremely small, 40 1/3 IP sample, ranks as the highest in his career, though the rest of his peripherals (a 4.02 BB/9 that led to a career-worst 106 xFIP-) leave little to shout about.
In other news from other around the league . . .
- Mark Zuckerman of MASN peers into Victor Robles’ place in a potentially crowded Washington outfield next season. The consensus top five overall prospect’s status as a coveted trade chip will likely be on hold until the impending Bryce Harper sweepstakes have reached their conclusion, it seems, as the Nats will almost certainly plug Robles into the center field role should Harper depart. Zuckerman notes that Robles, in addition to possessing a near limitless all-around ceiling, is a “gregarious” personality who brims with confidence in all aspects of his play. Indeed, after an uninspiring start to the season at Triple-A Syracuse and in a short stint with the parent club, the 21-year-old unleashed his dormant offensive ability, slashing .359/.405/.718 over the season’s last two weeks after recovering from a hyperextended elbow suffered earlier in the year. The Nats, of course, could both re-sign Harper and make room for Robles by trading outfielder Adam Eaton, though that scenario does not seem to be on the club’s table at the moment.
- MLB.com’s Mark Bowman outlines the Braves’ prospective payroll next season, estimating that the club will have “at least” $60MM with which to maneuver this offseason. Atlanta, who boasts one of the game’s deepest farm systems, a unit stacked with high-upside starting pitchers of all kinds, could look to the trade market – as GM Alex Anthopoulos seemed to suggest in a recent summit with reporters – to address a thin big league rotation and question marks behind the plate and (at one spot) in the corner outfield. Third base, manned mostly by a resurgent Johan Camargo, who slashed just .278/.333/.372 across parts of seven minor league seasons, could also be an area of need, as projection systems will likely not be kind to the 24-year-old. For his part, David O’Brien of The Athletic believes the Braves will have far less than Bowman’s $60MM estimate to spend, placing the figure at nearly half the stated mark.
Nationals Outright Tommy Milone, Promote Victor Robles, Activate Joe Ross
The Nationals announced today that they have outrighted lefty Tommy Milone after activating him from the 10-day disabled list. That move opened a roster spot for the team’s promotion of righty Kyle McGowin, as had been expected.
In addition to McGowin, the Nats will call up outfielder Victor Robles, infielder Adrian Sanchez, and righty Austin Voth. Notably, too, the organization has activated righties Joe Ross and Erick Fedde from the DL.
It’s not terribly surprising to learn that Milone’s roster spot was put to use in another way. The 31-year-old returned to the organization with which he got his start, but functioned as a depth piece. He ended up throwing 26 1/3 innings of 5.81 ERA ball, with 23 strikeouts and only a single walk, in the majors. Milone will have the right to elect free agency now or at season’s end.
While it’s obviously quite common to see a few younger players filter up to the majors at this point in the season, the Nats have some fairly notable names moving onto the MLB roster. In particular, Robles is returning after missing a big chunk of the season due to injury. He could be an important part of the outfield picture next year.
Of arguably greater importance, as concerns the organization’s offseason plans, is the return of Ross and Fedde. The former underwent Tommy John surgery last July, while the latter had been sidelined by shoulder problems. It’s clear the Nats will be looking for starters over the coming winter, but the showing of this pair could help dictate how many and what level of arms are pursued.
Nats Fielding Offers On Rental Relievers, Also Still Involved In Realmuto Negotiations
3:24pm: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the Nationals are indeed taking offers on impending free-agent relievers such as Herrera, Madson and Kelley. However, Rosenthal adds that Washington is trying to pry more away from rival teams than it gave up to acquire Herrera in the first place, seeking top-tier prospects in return.
Passan, meanwhile, tweets that he’s heard even further since writing this morning’s column that the Nationals’ clubhouse is a growing problem, and organizational confidence in Martinez has faded. Nationals ownership has been notoriously fickle with its managerial preferences, and the reported discord between Martinez and higher-ups is merely the latest data point in that bizarre trend.
Beyond all that, Janes now reports (via Twitter) that the Nationals and Marlins have held “extensive” negotiations regarding Realmuto in recent days, but Washington still deems the price tag to be too high. At the same time, they’re also listening to offers on rental players whose subtraction would help to reduce payroll, she adds.
1:27pm: The 52-53 Nationals have emerged as one of the most interesting teams to watch with just under 26 hours remaining before the non-waiver trade deadline. The presumptive NL East favorites sit six games back in a divisional race that has seen them outplayed by the upstart Phillies and Braves to this point in the season.
It was reported late last week that the Nats were preparing for the possibility of selling some veteran pieces in the event that their four-game set against the Marlins didn’t go well. Washington took the first two games of that series, only to see Miami rally and salvage a 2-2 split. The Nats have actually made up a game in the standings since the time of that report, but the talk of a potential sale persists.
For instance, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan kicks off his weekly 10 Degrees column with a lengthy, fascinating exploration of the apparent disarray in the clubhouse of a Nationals team that has underperformed in a transitional year both in terms of on-field management (where rookie skipper Dave Martinez replaced veteran Dusty Baker) and in terms of ownership (after owner Ted Lerner ceded control of the organization to his son, Mark). One source bluntly told Passan that the Nats’ clubhouse “is a mess,” and three others backed that sentiment. The details are well worth a full read-through for anyone, though Nats fans in particular should take a look.
Broadly speaking, Passan goes on to suggest that the Nationals had hoped to win three of four games in the series they split with Miami this weekend, and though the one-game difference may not prove to be pivotal, ownership will be involved as the club weighs potential trades of short-term veterans. There’ll be a substantial swath of names for decision-makers to consider, with Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson, Shawn Kelley, Gio Gonzalez, Mark Reynolds, Matt Adams, Daniel Murphy, Brandon Kintzler and Jeremy Hellickson all serving as potential free agents.
The Nationals have not, to this point, given any real consideration to trading Bryce Harper, Passan adds, which aligns with last week’s comments from Mike Rizzo to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, in which the general manager suggested that it’d take “something extreme” in order to consider trading Harper. Heyman, meanwhile, tweets that rival teams believe there’s virtually no chance the Nats will consider moving Harper, whom they hope to retain long-term.
Heyman adds, though, that other clubs expect the Nats to “investigate” possible trades of Herrera, Madson, Kelley and Of course, with so many relievers available on the market, it’s worth wondering just how much the Nationals could even extract for the majority of those bullpen rentals.
Given the sheer volume of rental players the Nationals could potentially peddle to other clubs, it’s also unlikely that there’d even be time to orchestrate an all-out sale. To that end, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweeted even after yesterday’s loss that she’d still be “stunned to see a major fire sale.” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that other teams expect the Nationals to largely stay the course, perhaps preferring to try to pass some players through waivers next month. It’s possible that some smaller-scale moves will come together, but it hardly seems that the Washington front office is prepared for any type of significant tear-down.
In fact, it seems it’s not yet entirely out of the question that the Nats would make a significant addition. Heyman tweets that they haven’t completely closed the door on a late push for Marlins star J.T. Realmuto. More interestingly, he suggests that the Nationals would at least consider parting with prized outfield prospect Victor Robles or top shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom, but the Marlins have been pushing for both to be included in a deal (as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reported Saturday). Whatever talks have taken place have not been serious enough that anything has been brought to Marlins ownership, tweets Craig Mish of SiriusXM.
Though this isn’t any real indication that a Realmuto deal has a legitimate chance of coming to fruition, Josh Norris of Baseball America tweeted last night that Miami had vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo in Durham, where Robles and the rest of the Nationals’ Triple-A club squared off against the Rays’ top affiliate. As ever, it’s probably best not to read too much into one specific scouting assignment, but the timing of the two reports is of at least some note.
Suffice it to say, the Nats seem to have a number of avenues they can explore. While trading short-term veterans and acquiring a big-name player such as Realmuto would seemingly run counter to one another, the two ideas could coexist. Adding Realmuto would give the Nationals a boost for two years beyond the current season, as he’s controllable through 2020. Trading some veteran rentals, meanwhile, would modestly supplement the farm while saving some money that could be put toward adding to a core of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Adam Eaton, etc. this coming offseason. With just over a day to make so many crucial decisions, the Nats will be at the center of much of the intrigue surrounding the 2018 deadline.
NL Notes: Mesoraco, Cubs, Bucs, Nats, Brewers
There’s not much “momentum” on a trade involving Mets catcher Devin Mesoraco, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets, though he notes that a deal still may come together by the non-waiver deadline on Tuesday. Mesoraco has already been part of one trade this year, as he joined the Mets in May in a deal for now-Reds righty Matt Harvey. The 30-year-old Mesoraco has batted .230/.206/.393 with eight home runs in 219 plate appearances and caught 26 percent of would-be base stealers this season. He’ll be a free agent in the offseason.
More from the National League…
- Cubs right-hander Tyler Chatwood is headed to the team’s bullpen to make room for just-acquired starter Cole Hamels, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com was among those to report. Chatwood joined the Cubs on a three-year, $38MM contract last winter, but the deal hasn’t worked out as planned for the club. Prior to his demotion to a relief role, Chatwood walked a ridiculous 8.14 batters per nine innings across 94 frames (19 starts) and pitched to a 4.98 ERA/5.57 FIP.
- The Pirates placed outfielder Corey Dickerson (left hamstring strain) and first baseman Josh Bell (left oblique strain) on the 1o-day disabled list Saturday, per Jerry DiPaola of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review. The club recalled outfielder Austin Meadows and first baseman Jose Osuna from Triple-A to take their places. If not for Pittsburgh’s recent hot streak, it may have been in position to sell Dickerson prior to the deadline. The 29-year-old, who’s on a $5.95MM salary in 2o18 and has one arbitration-eligible season left, has batted a terrific .318/.351/.517 with 11 home runs in 367 plate appearances.
- The Nationals reinstated outfield prospect Victor Robles from the disabled list Friday and activated him at the Triple-A level, according to Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The 21-year-old Robles has missed nearly all of this season after suffering an elbow injury early in the spring. He continues to rank as one of the majors’ premier prospects, though, as evidenced by Baseball America grading him as the game’s sixth-best farmhand in its most recent top-100 list.
- Brewers first base prospect Jake Gatewood will undergo season-ending surgery after suffering a torn left ACL, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets. The 22-year-old Gatewood, Milwaukee’s 14th-best prospect at MLB Pipeline, hit .244/.302/.466 with 19 home runs in 388 PAs at the Double-A level this season.
Frisaro’s Latest: Straily, Ziegler, Barraclough, Realmuto
Following this past offseason’s fire sale of MLB assets, the Marlins are likely to ship out a few more players in the coming days prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has some updates on the market for a wide number of Miami assets as we approach July 31st.
- An Athletics scout paid a visit to Marlins Park this past Thursday, and Frisaro reports that he was there to watch right-hander Dan Straily pitch. Straily fell just short of a quality start in that outing, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts against three walks. Astonishingly, Straily’s been able to hold together a 4.07 ERA this season despite a cataclysmic 5.41 FIP. After flashing improved control across the past two seasons, Straily has relapsed back to a 4.29 BB/9 and dealt with right forearm inflammation at the outset of the season, so it remains to be seen whether he’d be an attractive trade target to the A’s organization that drafted and developed him.
- After a rough start to the season that saw him lose his job as the team’s closer, sidewinder Brad Ziegler has rebounded nicely to post a 3.08 ERA in 39 appearances since the start of May (though peripherals paint a worse picture). The Marlins have plenty of potential suitors for the right-hander, Frisaro says, and lists the Cubs, Indians, Red Sox and A’s as potential fits. It’s worth noting that the latter two clubs are already familiar with Ziegler, as he’s spent time pitching for both organizations. The 38-year-old has already been traded twice in his lengthy career, and is playing out the final months of a two-year, $16MM deal.
- Ziegler’s not the only reliever fielding interest, Frisaro notes, as nearly a dozen scouts have been in Miami recently to watch Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley pitch. Last we heard, the Marlins had placed a high price on each of the three, but it’s still certainly plausible that many teams would be willing to pay that price for relievers that come with such controllable relief arms; each of the aforementioned three is under team control through at least 2021.
- The Nationals still aren’t having any luck trying to pry catcher J.T. Realmuto from the hands of the Marlins. Frisaro reports that Miami’s NL East rival once again checked in on the club’s best trade asset, but were told that any package for Realmuto would require Washington to fork over both outfield prospect Victor Robles and shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom, both of whom are generally seen as top 100 prospects. Unsurpringly, conversations didn’t go far.
NL East Notes: Realmuto, Nationals, Eovaldi, Anthopoulos
The Nationals could be willing to “revisit” talks with the Marlins about J.T. Realmuto, according to Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman. The Nats have long been connected to Realmuto, though GM Mike Rizzo seemingly threw cold water on the potential of a trade a few weeks ago by saying that his team wasn’t willing to meet Miami’s very high asking price for the star catcher. Now, there is some belief that Washington could be open to dealing star outfield prospect Victor Robles, though Heyman notes that this is unconfirmed. The Nats were firmly against the idea of dealing Robles or Carter Kieboom to the Marlins for Realmuto, which is what brought talks to a halt in the first place.
Robles entered the season as a consensus top-10 prospect in baseball, and after making his MLB debut in 2017, there were whispers that he could emerge (like Juan Soto has) as an everyday option in Washington’s outfield this season. Instead, however, Robles has missed almost the entire year due to a hyperextended elbow, and has only recently begun a rehab assignment. He’ll have only a couple of weeks to fully return to action and prove his health prior to the July 31 trade deadline, though one suspects that Robles’ stock is high enough that he would have to appear drastically limited (or suffer another injury) to lose too much value as a trade chip.
Here’s some more from around the NL East…
- The Nationals are also one of the many teams interested in Rays starter Nathan Eovaldi, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Washington won’t necessarily have any room in the rotation once assuming Stephen Strasburg returns from the DL when expected, though Eovaldi could conceivably replace Jeremy Hellickson or the struggling Tanner Roark. The Yankees, Brewers, and Braves have also been linked to Eovaldi, and scouts from at least five other teams have been watching his recent outings.
- Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos discussed his team’s trade deadline approach with Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in the first part of a wide-ranging interview (the second part will be published on Monday). While the Braves have a deep farm system, the GM aren’t keen on dealing from that prospect depth for players only under contract through 2018. “We would prefer not to go after rentals unless the acquisition cost just makes so much sense for us,” Anthopoulos said. “There’s a lot of pain that has gone into putting together this young talent. We’re not ready to throw that all away just because of one season. That said, I do think we owe it to the players and the fan base and the organization to make this team better, one way or another.” Anthopoulos said that the trade market is currently flooded with teams shopping their pending free agents, estimating that “90 percent of the players that are actively available right now are rental players.”
- The Braves will be able to afford some upgrades at the deadline, as Anthopoulos said that the team set aside some payroll space before the season should some more spending be required midway through the year. That original total has now increased since team revenues have also risen as a result of the Braves’ success. “I’ve been given very specific instructions, and I can shop in any aisle. I can at least have a conversation. I can tell you right now in all the discussions and all the players we’ve discussed, there’s no single player that we can’t afford,” Anthopoulos said. “Where ultimately we’d have an (in-house) discussion is if we’re looking at adding three or four big-league guys at big contracts. That’s when maybe the numbers start to add up and we’d have to evaluate it. But one or two guys right now would not be a problem at all.”
NL Notes: Kershaw, Cespedes, Strasburg, Robles, Machado
In a surprise move, the Dodgers announced today that ace Clayton Kershaw will start the club’s game tomorrow, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times was among those to tweet. Kershaw, who is coming back from a lower back strain, had been scheduled for a rehab outing but evidently felt up to the task of jumping back to the bigs after missing about three weeks of action. That’s promising news for the Los Angeles organization, which will hope that the southpaw can not only avoid a third trip to the DL this year, but return to form after a less-than-dominant (by his lofty standards, at least) start to the season.
More from the National League:
- The Mets, on the other hand, will face off against Kershaw without one of their key players. Slugger Yoenis Cespedes has been down longer than might have been hoped with a hip injury. While the club announced today that Cespedes is still not running or taking part in baseball activities due to ongoing symptoms, GM Sandy Alderson suggested it’s possible the veteran outfielder may get moving again early next week. (Via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, on Twitter.) At this point, though, it’s still anyone’s guess just when he may make it back to the bigs.
- For the Nationals, health has been a major problem all season long. The club has received reasonably promising news of late regarding two key assets, though. Stephen Strasburg has now thrown the ball twice this week without apparent incident, as Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com was among those to tweet. That seems to indicate that his shoulder inflammation is beginning to subside, though the real tests are surely yet to come. Meanwhile, president of baseball ops Mike Rizzo said in an appearance on 106.7 The Fan (via TalkNats.com) that outfield prospect Victor Robles is nearly ready to resume baseball activities after a long layoff from a hyper-extended elbow. If he’s able to progress from there, Robles may yet be back in action this year. The club may not call upon him to play a role in the majors in 2018, but having Robles available would surely be beneficial, and getting him back in action would also help with sorting the plans for 2019.
- The odds seem rather long, to say the least, but Jon Heyman of Fan Rag wrote yesterday that the Padres have at least checked in with the Orioles on star infielder Manny Machado. That connection might make greater sense if the Padres were a more plausible contender or, at least, if Machado was not slated to reach free agency at season’s end. As it stands, it’s tough to fathom the Friars unloading young talent in an attempt to chase the postseason this year. Doing so in earnest, in all likelihood, would mean adding multiple other pieces as well. It could still make sense, though, for the Padres to get a gauge on Baltimore’s situation. The Pads could face some 40-man pressures this winter, so there could be an opportunity to function as a part of a three-team arrangement. If the club is really feeling bold, perhaps it could make an early strike for Machado with plans to flip him if a sudden run up the standings doesn’t ensue, though a mid-season gambit of that kind involving a rental player of Machado’s caliber would be sui generis.