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NL Notes: Reds, Anibal, Nats, Tulo, Darvish

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The Reds were keen on retaining Matt Harvey entering the offseason and held talks with him right up until he agreed to join the Angels on a one-year deal yesterday, Cincinnati GM Nick Krall tells Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links). However, the Reds simply weren’t comfortable matching the $11MM guarantee promised by the Halos. That said, Krall made clear that the Reds still hope to add another starting pitcher, be it via free agency or trade, and the GM also added that his club is pursuing another outfielder and some bullpen help. “We need to improve this club, and we know that,” said Krall, whose largest offseason move to date has been acquiring Tanner Roark. While the durable Roark certainly helps to shore up the back of the Reds’ rotation, there’s still plenty of question marks in the mix of in-house rotation options.

A few notes from around the National League on a quiet Wednesday evening…

  • The Nationals have had “ongoing conversations” with Anibal Sanchez’s agent, Gene Mato, since the Winter Meetings, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. That said, there are still multiple teams interested in Sanchez, who enjoyed a career renaissance with the Braves in 2018, as he pitched to a 2.83 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate. There’s no shortage of skeptics with regard to Sanchez’s resurgence, though the substantial increase in his usage of a cut-fastball and the fact that he allowed less hard contact than any qualified pitcher in baseball last season (per Statcast) should pique the interest of some clubs. Mato told MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes last week that teams interested in Sanchez “realize it wasn’t luck” that fueled his 2018 rebound.
  • Robert Murray of The Athletic writes that the Brewers sent three representatives to watch Troy Tulowitzki’s audition for MLB clubs yesterday (subscription required). Murray spoke to multiple scouts in attendance who had positive things to say about how Tulo looked on that given day, though obviously the primary question isn’t whether the 34-year-old is healthy right now, but whether he’ll be able to hold up over the course of a full season. The Brewers could utilize Tulowitzki at either third base or second base, with Travis Shaw manning the other spot. Given Shaw’s experience (and proficiency) at the hot corner, second base would be Tulowitzki’s likeliest position in Milwaukee. There were at least 11 other clubs on hand at yesterday’s showcase, however, so Milwaukee is but one of many possible landing spots for the former Rockies star. Any team that signs Tulowitzki would only owe him the league minimum of $555K in 2019.
  • Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish went through his second day of a throwing program as he works his way back from an arthroscopic debridement procedure in his right elbow (Instagram link). The Chicago organization said at the time Darvish’s surgery was announced that the right-hander is expected to be ready for Spring Training 2019, and the fact that he’s throwing in mid-December is an encouraging sign in that regard. Injuries limited Darvish to just 40 innings with the Cubs in a disappointing first season with the team. The six-year, $126MM contract for Darvish looks all the more problematic for the Cubs in light of reports that the team has extremely limited financial resources at its disposal this offseason. The fact that the Cubs spent a combined $186MM on Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Brandon Morrow last winter, then acquired the second season of Brandon Kintlzer’s contract at the deadline this summer, only to now be handcuffed by payroll issues is undoubtedly a bitter pill for Cubs fans to swallow.

AL West Notes: Felix, Lowrie, Cahill, Skaggs, Calhoun, Listach

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Mariners fans in particular will want to read up on the club’s faded ace, Felix Hernandez, in this piece from Scott Miller of Bleacher Report. The veteran hurler has taken his downfall hard, but he’s still working to rediscover the magic that once made him one of the game’s very best pitchers. Of course, his lost fastball velocity means the odds are long; it’s still in full retreat despite the fact that Hernandez says his “body feels good” after dealing with injuries over the past two seasons. It’s a well-conceived and well-paced story — at once deep and, refreshingly, not unnecessarily lengthy — with some notable observations from current and former M’s personnel and others close to Hernandez.

More from the AL West:

  • Athletics second baseman Jed Lowrie acknowledged today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that he has had some contact with the club about staying on past the present season. The team’s interest in maintaining the relationship has been known for some time, but it’s interesting nevertheless to hear Lowrie address the matter. To this point, Lowrie says, talks haven’t moved past an initial expression of interest. But he says he likes it in Oakland and believes he fits the club well, so it certainly sounds as if the good vibes flow in both directions. No doubt that’s due in some part to the immense success both player and team have found this year. It’s a second-straight eyebrow-raising season at the plate for Lowrie, who owns a healthy .276/.360/.455 slash since the start of the 2017 campaign. He has set himself up for an interesting trip onto the open market — if nothing comes together first with the A’s.
  • In yet more unwelcome health news for the Athletics, righty Trevor Cahill has gone down with a rhomboid muscle strain, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The upper-back ailment comes at an uncomfortable proximity to the postseason, though it seems as if the expectation is he won’t miss more than a single start. To be sure that things aren’t more serious, Cahill is headed in for an MRI.
  • Angels southpaw Tyler Skaggs was able to work up to a 48-pitch sim game today, skipper Mike Scioscia tells reporters including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). It’s still not clear whether he’ll return to the majors this year, though that figures to be a topic of discussion in the coming days. The 27-year-old, who is rehabbing from an adductor strain, is looking to extend his personal-best 116 2/3-inning, 3.78 ERA showing on the season. Whether or not he’s able to do so, Skaggs has impressed and now seems to be one of the club’s best bets to provide quality frames in 2019 — if he can stay healthy. Skaggs will likely command a nice raise in his second-to-last trip through the arbitration process after earning $1,875,000 this year.
  • It’s still not clear when Rangers prospect Willie Calhoun will get his first real crack at the big leagues. As T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com writes, Calhoun had seemed likely to see much more action in the 2018 season. Instead, after a relatively tepid season at the plate at the Triple-A level, Calhoun is seeing scattered time late this season. It seems the organization still wants to see more from the key piece of last year’s Yu Darvish swap before clearing the way. Beyond his known deficiencies in the field and on the bases, manager Jeff Banister seemingly hinted that there are some strength and conditioning steps that the youngster could take to improve.
  • In other Mariners news, the club will part ways with Triple-A skipper and longtime big leaguer player Pat Listach, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times recently tweeted. That’ll put an end to a four-year run at Tacoma for the former infielder, who has at times been mentioned as a future MLB managerial candidate.

Yu Darvish Undergoes Arthroscopic Elbow Surgery

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Right-hander Yu Darvish underwent an arthroscopic debridement of his right elbow today, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times). The procedure came on the heels of a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews. The surgery doesn’t impact Darvish’s timeline to return to the Cubs, as he was already down for the season due to a stress reaction in his elbow, and he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training 2019.

The operation is the latest data point in a nightmarish first season of Darvish’s six-year, $126MM contract with the Cubs. The right-hander made just eight starts for the team in 2018, missing time on the disabled list due to an assortment of arm-related injuries before news of the stress reaction in his elbow definitively brought his season to a close. Though his timeline remains unchanged, the optics won’t win Darvish any more support among a Cubs fanbase that has spent much of the season lamenting the signing as he’s struggled through his various injuries.

Neither Darvish nor fellow free-agent signee Tyler Chatwood (three years, $38MM) has paid dividends for the Cubs, though Chicago nonetheless holds a two-game lead over the Brewers in the National League Central with 18 games left to play. Though their high-priced pair of offseason additions didn’t pan out (at least not yet), president of baseball ops Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer were proactive on the trade market in looking to bolster the club this summer, most notably adding lefty Cole Hamels and infielder Daniel Murphy in a pair of swaps. Hamels, in particular, has been a godsend for skipper Joe Maddon’s rotation, hurling 50 2/3 innings of 1.42 ERA ball through the same number of starts Darvish made (eight).

Chicago still owes the 32-year-old Darvish a hefty $101MM over the next five seasons as part of his front-loaded deal, so the organization has little choice but to hope that an extended period of rest will allow him to return to form, at least to some extent, in 2019 and beyond. Darvish did average 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 2018, and his velocity was right in line with its previous levels, so there’s some cause for optimism. He’ll need to rein in his control (4.7 BB/9, 1.58 HR/9) moving forward if he’s to truly be an asset in the rotation, though.

Cubs Health Updates: Darvish, Chatwood, Morrow, Duensing

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The Cubs remain in good position in the NL Central, in no small part due to the recent heroics of recently acquired pitcher Cole Hamels. The veteran just wrapped up a complete-game performance tonight and has allowed less than one earned run per nine innings in his first five starts in a Cubs uniform. Of course, he would likely not have ended up in Chicago were it not for the difficulties experienced by a few of the team’s recently signed, high-priced starters.

  • Yu Darvish, Hamels’s former rotation mate in Texas, has already been declared out for the rest of the 2018 season. He addressed that fact with reporters today, with MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat among those on hand. The veteran righty says he felt all along “there was something else other than the tightness” he was experiencing in his pitching arm, so much so that the diagnosis of a stress reaction came as something of a relief. Darvish indicated that he’s not even thinking about the season to come so much as he is trying to care for his ailing arm. Still, he expressed confidence that he’ll bounce back and be “stronger going forward.” That’ll obviously be the hope of the Cubs organization, which still has $101MM invested in Darvish after the present season.
  • The club also announced today that righty Tyler Chatwood is headed to the DL with hip soreness, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune covers. He’ll be replaced on the roster by Dillon Maples, for the time being, with Alec Mills set to come up to start tomorrow. Chatwood has been plagued by walks all year long, racking up 93 to go with his 85 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. That’s simply not a manageable rate of free passes, as his 5.22 ERA reflects. Details of the new malady remain scant, but it certainly seems there are good reasons for the club to find cause to give Chatwood a breather regardless.
  • Another major recent open-market signee, Brandon Morrow, has performed as hoped when he has been available. But the closer has been sidelined for over a month with a balky elbow and still lacks a clear timeline. He went in for a checkup today, says Muskat. That examination evidently did not reveal anything of particular note, though it was not arranged due to any fear of a setback. It seems the hope remains that Morrow will return at some point in the final month of the regular season.
  • In other Chicago reliever news, Brian Duensing — yet another hurler who signed with the Cubs in free agency last winter — is headed for a rehab assignment. The 35-year-old southpaw, who carries an ugly 7.34 ERA on the year, has been on the shelf for the past several weeks with a shoulder ailment.

Yu Darvish Out For Season With Stress Reaction In Elbow

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Cubs righty Yu Darvish has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right elbow and will be out for the remainder of the season, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein told reporters (Twitter links via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune and Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago). The injury comes with a minimum six-week recovery timetable that won’t allow Darvish enough time to make it back in 2018.

An MRI taken today revealed the injury in addition to some lingering triceps inflammation, Gonzales adds (Twitter links). If there’s any silver lining for Darvish, it’s that the MRI determined his ligament to be in stable condition.

The hopes of Darvish returning in 2018 already looked to be dwindling, and today’s announcement from the team formally puts an end to his first season in Chicago — one that will be marked as abject disappointment for all parties involved. Darvish, signed to a six-year deal worth a total of $126MM in the offseason, managed to pitch just 40 innings in his debut season with the organization. In that time, he struggled to a 4.95 ERA with a characteristically impressive 11.0 K/9 mark but far too many walks (4.7 BB/9) and homers allowed (1.6 HR/9).

The Cubs invested heavily in hopeful rotation upgrades this past offseason, namely signing Darvish and fellow righty Tyler Chatwood for a combined $164MM in guaranteed money. Neither move has paid any semblance of dividends, though, with Darvish unable to remain healthy and Chatwood unable to throw strikes (93 walks in 101 1/3 innings). The disastrous season for that pair of high-priced rotation pieces prompted Epstein and the rest of the Cubs’ front office to pivot prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, striking a deal to acquire Cole Hamels from the Rangers which, to this point, has produced brilliant results.

It already seemed likely that the Cubs would be on the lookout for additional rotation help between now and the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility, as a productive return from Darvish appeared to be a long shot. With Darvish officially out for the season and Mike Montgomery on the disabled list, though, the likelihood is only enhanced. Chatwood is still being utilized as a starter in spite of his struggles, joining Hamels, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana in the team’s rotation. But both Lester and Quintana have hit a rough patch as of late, and the Cubs are in a tight division race, leading the Brewers by three games and the Cardinals by just a half-game more.

Yu Darvish Suffers Setback

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Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish hasn’t taken a major league mound since May 20, which may prove to be his final outing of the season. Darvish, who has been on the shelf for three months because of triceps and elbow injuries, left his Single-A rehab start on Sunday after throwing just one inning, Matthew Martell of MLB.com was among those to report. Darvish came out for the second inning, but he “was seen wincing” during his warmup, Martell writes, before indicating to the dugout that he needed to exit.

While Darvish had been making progress in recent weeks, this is now the second setback the 32-year-old has suffered since June 28, when he experienced pain during a bullpen session. Darvish’s departure Sunday came as a result of the same discomfort as his previous setback, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets, adding that his next step is to go for an MRI.

Darvish is still holding out hope for a return in 2018, per Gonzales, but given the nature of his injury and the lack of time remaining in the campaign, that may not be realistic. If Darvish’s season is indeed over, it’ll go down as a disastrous year for someone who was widely regarded as the majors’ top free agent last winter. The Cubs signed the former Ranger and Dodger to a six-year, $126MM guarantee expecting him to continue serving as a front-line starter, but he has instead tossed just 40 innings in eight starts this season and posted a personal-worst ERA (4.95), FIP (4.86), xFIP (4.23) and walk rate (4.73 per nine).

Despite Darvish’s lack of contributions, the Cubs still lead the NL Central by four games over the archrival Cardinals, though it has been a less-than-ideal year in general for Chicago’s starting staff. Like Darvish, fellow established starters Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana have failed to produce great results, with ERAs ranging from 3.72 to 4.46 and a combined fWAR of 2.8 among the three of them. However, they’ve been downright ace-like compared to Tyler Chatwood, another of the Cubs’ disappointing free-agent signings from last winter.

Chatwood, whom the Cubs signed to a three-year, $38MM contract, owns a 5.22 ERA/5.56 FIP with a ghastly 8.23 walks per nine over 101 2/3 innings. The Cubs pulled him from their rotation a few weeks ago, only to start him again Saturday in what ended up as a two-inning, three-run, three-walk performance during a loss to Pittsburgh. Afterward, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription required) wrote that it’s tough to imagine Chatwood “throwing another meaningful pitch this season.” But whether that’ll be the case remains to be seen, especially considering the injuries to Darvish and effective swingman Mike Montgomery – who went to the disabled list Friday with shoulder inflammation.

For now, the saving grace of the Cubs’ rotation looks to be lefty Cole Hamels, whom they acquired in a trade with the Rangers prior to last month’s non-waiver deadline. Hamels, a longtime front-end starter, was mediocre for Texas this season, but he has been utterly brilliant as a Cub. Across four starts, the 34-year-old has logged an incredible .72 ERA with a 2.40 FIP, 8.28 K/9, 2.16 BB/9 and a 59 percent groundball rate.

Considering the shaky state of their rotation and their surmountable lead on a playoff spot, it’s possible the Cubs will look for more help on the trade market in the coming weeks. It would be difficult to make an impactful move, though, particularly with the NL playoff race being a crowded one and the Cubs behind several postseason hopefuls (including three division rivals) in the waiver pecking order.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

Quick Hits: Darvish, Bartolo, Bird, Padres

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Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish could be on track to rejoin the team’s rotation in early September, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Darvish’s two-inning, 33-pitch sim game on Wednesday went well, manager Joe Maddon suggested. The next step for the 31-year-old Darvish is to embark on a rehab assignment, which may happen by the end of next week, per Wittenmyer. Triceps and elbow problems have kept the big-money free-agent signing off a major league mound since May 20.

More from around the game…

  • Rangers righty Bartolo Colon may be open to returning in 2019, when he’ll turn 46 years old. Colon became the winningest Latin American-born pitcher ever on Tuesday, when he racked up his 246th victory in a defeat of Seattle. After the game, Colon told Levi Weaver of The Athletic (subscription link): “There is one thing that I look for: Juan Marichal has more innings than me. For Dominicans, I want to beat him also, and I think I have about fifty innings left.” Colon actually has 62 innings left to pass Marichal’s 3,507 1/3 frames, Weaver points out. With time running out in 2018, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to overtake Marichal this year. Regardless, Colon has given this year’s Rangers more than they realistically could have expected upon signing him to a minor league deal last offseason, as he leads the team in innings (130 1/3) and walk rate (1.52 BB/9) even though he has only managed a 5.18 ERA/5.21 FIP.
  • Hyped Yankees first baseman Greg Bird has been a disappointment so far in 2018, having hit .211/.301/.402 in 236 plate appearances. As a result, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post wonders how much longer the Yankees can count on Bird, whom injuries have limited to 580 PAs since his 2015 debut and who has batted a modest .222/.312/.450 along the way. Bird’s still just 25 years old, though, and seems to have Yankees brass in his corner, as Davidoff notes. Angels general manager Billy Eppler, who was with the Yankees when they used a fifth-round pick on Bird in 2011, also isn’t ready to give up on the lefty-swinger, telling Davidoff that a team doesn’t know what it has in a player until he reaches 1,250 to 1,500 PAs in the majors. Bird’s not even halfway to the low end of that estimate.
  • Padres outfielders Travis Jankowski, Hunter Renfroe and Franmil Reyes are “being intensely evaluated” by team officials as the last-place club looks toward next season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. It’s possible only one of those players will remain with the team in 2019, per Acee, though it’s worth noting the Padres don’t necessarily have to part with any of them. All three have minor league options remaining, after all. Notably, both Renfroe and Reyes – a pair of power hitters – have offered above-average offensive production this year.

Latest On Yu Darvish’s Recovery

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Although Cubs president Theo Epstein suggested last month that the team can’t rely on the injured Yu Darvish to finish 2018 on a high note, it appears the right-hander will factor in for Chicago in the coming months as it pursues another World Series title. Darvish, who has been out for over two months with triceps and elbow issues, threw a 55-pitch side session Saturday and then took an optimistic tone when speaking with Bruce Levine of 670 The Score and other reporters.

“Yeah, certainly [this is the best I’ve felt]. I think all my pitches, velocity-wise were up there at the highest and then I was able to follow through with my arm motion,” Darvish said through an interpreter.

Darvish went on to reveal that he dealt with “pain and discomfort” until “about 10 days ago,” when he “switched from treating the elbow to the spine,” continuing: “That triggered a more positive flow. Everything in this whole process is better from the beginning until the end.”

As Levine notes, Darvish wasn’t referring to a new injury to his back or spine. Rather, Levine writes that the hurler “was talking about using more of his whole body in his delivery.”

Now, barring a setback, Darvish could be within three or four days from throwing a simulated game, per Levine. It’s unclear how long it would take Darvish to return to the Cubs thereafter, though it’s not a slam dunk that he will. After all, Darvish already seemed to be on the comeback trail several weeks ago, only to suffer a setback in late June. The 31-year-old hasn’t taken the ball for the Cubs since May 20, when he made one of his best starts with the team. During that game, a win over the Reds, Darvish logged six innings of one-run, two-hit ball, struck out seven and issued three walks.

Starts like the one Darvish posted against the Reds have been atypical this season for him, which wasn’t what he or the Cubs expected when the two sides agreed to a six-year, $126MM guarantee in February. At that point, Darvish was an established star who had stood out with the Rangers and Dodgers. But in his first action with the Cubs, Darvish has endured two DL stints (including one for the flu) and posted a career-worst ERA/FIP/xFIP (4.95/4.87/4.24) over 40 innings and eight starts. He has also issued a personal-high 4.73 walks per nine, somewhat offsetting a typically outstanding strikeout rate (11.03 K/9).

Thanks in part to Darvish’s lack of availability so far, the Cubs made an attempt to bolster their rotation prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline by acquiring one of his former Rangers teammates, left-hander Cole Hamels. Like Darvish, Hamels hasn’t been anywhere close to his best this season. However, he did show well in his Cubs debut in a win over the division-rival Pirates this past Wednesday.

Including Hamels’ victory, the Cubs have registered a 64-46 record, giving the back-to-back NL Central champions a 1 1/2-game lead over the Brewers in the division. Some of the Cubs’ success has come on account of lefty swingman Mike Montgomery, who has offered respectable production in Darvish’s absence and relegated another struggling offseason signing, righty Tyler Chatwood, to a bullpen role. Should Darvish return, he’d presumably join Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Hamels in the Cubs’ rotation, which means Montgomery would work in relief if the club sticks with a five-man starting staff.

NL Central Notes: Epstein, Cubs, Pirates, Martinez

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The latest from around the NL Central…

  • “Pitching is our main need” heading into the trade deadline, Theo Epstein told 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine and other reporters.  The Cubs were known to be looking for bullpen help even before Brandon Morrow hit the DL with biceps inflammation, and since Morrow’s injury isn’t expected to keep him out for long, Epstein said that the closer’s absence didn’t impact the team’s deadline plans.  Yu Darvish’s return from the DL theoretically helps a rotation that has been inconsistent, though Epstein gave a realistic view of what Darvish could contribute, given the right-hander’s own struggles this season.  “You can’t be overly reliant on someone who hasn’t been able to go out there and perform this year….if you put yourself in a position where you are overly reliant and defending on it at this point, it is on you then,” Epstein said.
  • Beyond pitching, Epstein also noted that “we will probably look in August for someone who can play defense or steal a bag.”  He predicted multiple moves prior to September 1, and felt the team would make one more trade prior to the July 31 deadline.  Though the president of baseball operations doesn’t “think it’s impossible” that the Cubs make a big-ticket transactions, smaller deals seem more likely, as Epstein felt “we are going to be a little more selective and opportunistic” with their options after dealing top prospects in other trades in recent years.  For instance, the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney writes that it seems “highly unlikely” that the Cubs would move catching prospect Miguel Amaya for a rental player like Baltimore’s Zach Britton.
  • With the Pirates on a run of 10 wins in their last 11 games, GM Neal Huntington said in a radio appearance today (hat tip to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that his team “would love to add” at the trade deadline.  “If there’s something out there that makes sense and makes us better, we’re absolutely open to that,” Huntington said.  The Pirates are still just a modest 51-49 on the season and are battling several other teams in a crowded NL playoff picture, though the Bucs are now four games back of the Braves for the final wild card slot (and 4.5 games behind the struggling Brewers, who hold the first wild card position).
  • Jose Martinez’s poor defense has made him a part-time player with the Cardinals, despite 13 homers and a .295/.361/.471 slash line this season.  Martinez tells Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he understands the team’s decision, and that he “would love to be a Cardinal for my career” even though he seems far more suited for a DH role with an American League team.  With the Cards not really positioned to be buyers or sellers, Frederickson suggests that the club could approach the coming trade deadline as “an overdue round of roster maintenance that addresses the easiest-to-solve problems and optimizes returns on pieces that don’t fit into the puzzle moving forward.”  This would include dealing Martinez, as “his value to AL teams might never be higher” given his current success and his long-term controllability through the 2022 season.

NL Central Notes: Cardinals, Girardi, Cubs, Darvish, Cervelli, Villar

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The Cardinals’ players are now “on notice” after the team fired manager Mike Matheny on Saturday, Mark Saxon of The Athletic tweets. If the Cardinals (47-46) don’t turn things around during the coming weeks under interim manager Mike Shildt, there may be “sweeping changes” to their roster, per Saxon. St. Louis’ front office, for its part, “has pined for years to be a seller and stock up for the future,” Saxon writes. With the All-Star break on the doorstep and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline soon to follow, the Cardinals won’t have a lot of time to reverse course on the field in the next couple weeks, though they’re only four games out of a wild-card spot.

  • Since Matheny’s ouster, former Yankees and Marlins skipper Joe Girardi has come up frequently as a speculative fit for St. Louis. The Cardinals will indeed consider Girardi, who already has a “good rapport” with president John Mozeliak and is thought of highly by the organization, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. It’s unknown whether Girardi will want to get back into managing after a long, successful run in New York, however. Girardi was unwilling to comment on St. Louis’ managerial situation when Joel Sherman of the New York Post contacted him.
  • Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish, out since late May with triceps tendinitis, told Carrie Muskat of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday that he’s hopeful he’ll be able resume throwing off a mound next weekend. However, there’s still no timetable for Darvish’s return to the Cubs’ rotation. With Darvish unavailable (and having struggled before his injury) and Tyler Chatwood in the throes of a rough year, the Cubs are looking for pitching as July 31 nears, according to general manager Jed Hoyer. “No matter what happens [with Darvish], we’re going to be trying to acquire pitching and try to acquire depth,” Hoyer said. “That’s our focus no matter what.”
  • Head injuries have been an all-too-common occurrence for Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli, whom concussion issues forced to the disabled list on Saturday for the fourth time since last June. It doesn’t appear his playing days are in peril right now, though. Asked Saturday if Cervelli’s career could be in jeopardy, Pirates director of sports medicine Tom Tomczyk said (via Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic): “A good question. We have the head of neurology (at Allegheny Health System) leading the direction and advising our internal team of doctors … and that recommendation hasn’t been relayed to him as of yet.” One way the Pirates could make Cervelli’s life easier is by giving him some playing time elsewhere on the field, and they are considering using him at first base on occasion, Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays.
  • The Brewers announced that they’ve placed second baseman Jonathan Villar on the 10-day DL with a right thumb injury and recalled outfielder Brett Phillips from Triple-A. It’s not known how much time Villar will miss, but it’s the latest disappointing development for a player who has experienced a marked drop-off since a great 2016. Villar has bounced back since a disastrous 2017 to some extent, though he has still batted a subpar .261/.315/.377 with six home runs and 14 steals in 279 plate appearances. The 27-year-old has been a key part of a generally weak middle infield, an area Milwaukee may bolster with a trade for Orioles shortstop Manny Machado. [UPDATE: An MRI revealed that Villar had just a sprained thumb and no structural damage, Brewers manager Craig Counsell told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters.]
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