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Manny Machado Diagnosed With Ankle Sprain

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Padres’ third baseman Manny Machado was removed from today’s game after suffering an injury. In attempting to beat out a play at first, Machado landed awkwardly on the bag and immediately collapsed in pain, eventually requiring help to depart the field of play. Despite appearing to be quite a gruesome occurrence on video replays, the Padres announced that X-rays came back negative, announcing the injury as a left ankle sprain.

The fact that Machado seems to have avoided a fracture is surely good news, but it doesn’t mean the Padres and Machado are completely out of the woods. As noted by Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune, ankle sprains can still sideline players for weeks.

Though the club has yet to make a more detailed announcement about the severity of the sprain or Machado’s expected absence, it will likely be a serious blow to the club no matter what, as Machado has been having perhaps the best season of his career and has arguably been the best player in baseball to this point of the season. Given that Machado has already been one of the better players in the sport over the past decade, the fact that he’s taken his game to new heights this year surely highlights what a great season he’s having. His .329/.401/.548 line amounts to a 164 wRC+, one of the top ten such numbers in the majors. Combined with his usual excellent defensive work, he’s accrued 4.2 wins above replacement on the year already, according to FanGraphs, putting him tops among all players in the sport.

Due to those MVP-level contributions, the Padres are having an excellent season thus far, coming into today with a 41-26 record, just half a game back of the Dodgers in the NL West. However, the infield depth will be tested without Machado, as the club has also been papering over the absence of Fernando Tatis Jr., who is still making his way back from an offseason injury. Most of the shortstop work has gone to Ha-Seong Kim, with Jake Cronenworth at second base. Sergio Alcantara has been acting as the bench/utility infielder, though he’s hitting just .171/.195/.256 on the year and hasn’t fared much better in his career. Jurickson Profar has loads of infield experience but has only played left field this year and is having the best offensive showing of his career. He could be moved into the infield mix, but the club might also be loath to disrupt his groove. C.J. Abrams struggled in his first taste of MLB action but has been playing well in Triple-A since being optioned.

Regardless of who takes over for Machado, it will be certainly be a downgrade. That’s not a shot at any of the other players, but more a testament to just how good Machado has been this year. Even Machado himself was unlikely to sustain that pace, as his .366 BABIP on the year far outpaced his career mark of .300. All teams deal with the challenge of injuries over the course of a season, of course, but for the Padres, there’s no doubting this will be one tough to bear.

Padres Place Joe Musgrove On COVID-IL, Activate Mike Clevinger

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The Padres activated right-hander Mike Clevinger from the COVID-related injury list today, while also placing righty Joe Musgrove on the COVID-IL.  In other moves, righty Reiss Knehr was called up from Triple-A El Paso, Kyle Tyler was optioned to Triple-A, and Matt Beaty was shifted to the 60-day IL.

Clevinger ended up missing a week of action, and he told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) that his symptoms were caused by a case of the flu that hit his entire household, rather than COVID-19.  For now, Clevinger is available to pitch out of the bullpen during the Padres’ weekend series against the Rockies, until San Diego can figure out how to fit him back into the rotation.

Musgrove’s situation could create an obvious opening, as Musgrove is set to start Wednesday’s game against the Diamondbacks.  It isn’t known if Musgrove has actually tested positive or if his placement was precautionary (due to symptoms or being a close contact), but in the latter situation, he could possibly be back in plenty of time to make that scheduled start.

Musgrove has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this season, while Clevinger has also pitched well over four starts, though his season has been delayed by IL stints due to a knee injury and a triceps strain.  Clevinger missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, so these additional health setbacks are surely a frustration to the 31-year-old, even if none of these injuries have been overly serious.

Once everyone is healthy, Nick Martinez will likely head back to the bullpen, as the Padres continue to manage a six-man rotation.  Blake Snell is the only member of this group that hasn’t pitched well in 2022, though Snell also missed over a month at the start of the season due to an adductor strain.

Mike Shildt Interested In Future Managerial Opportunities

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Mike Shildt has worked in a hybrid coaching/player development job for the Padres this season, monitoring the organization’s farm system while occasionally joining the MLB dugout when other coaches are unavailable. It’s a less visible role than his previous position as Cardinals manager, a job he held for three-plus seasons before being fired after the 2021 campaign.

After some time away from the managerial office, Shildt expressed a desire to return to that role in a recent chat with Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I’ve won my whole life. I’m more convinced now that I’m ready to manage again and win,” the 53-year-old told Hummel. Shildt conceded he’s “not sure what the market looks like” but added he feels he “more than (deserves) the opportunity to do it.”

As Shildt alluded, the Cardinals had no small amount of success under his watch. St. Louis went 252-199 (55.9% winning percentage) during his tenure, making the postseason in two of his three full seasons. He was named the National League’s Manager of the Year in 2019, and his dismissal registered as a shock after the Cards had reeled off a 17-game win streak down the stretch to land a Wild Card spot. Nevertheless, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak pointed to “philosophical differences” between Shildt and the front office as the reason for going in another direction.

Within days of the manager’s dismissal, reports emerged that Shildt had bristled at the front office’s attempts to more rigorously incorporate analytics into in-game decisions. Katie Woo of the Athletic wrote at the time that the front office’s quiet 2021 trade deadline also “played a role in the growing disconnect” between the front office and the skipper.

In his recent conversation with Hummel, Shildt largely passed on the opportunity to revisit the end of his Cardinals tenure. He conceded the firing is still painful but said he’s “getting beyond it and ready to get back into the fray with the right opportunity.” He declined to elaborate further on the reported disconnect between himself and organizational higher-ups, stating only that “a combination of things happened. … The past is the past. It’s time to move on.”

Shildt will presumably remain in his role with the Friars for at least the rest of this season, but his name figures to be on the radar during next winter’s managerial hunts. He’d reportedly been set to interview in San Diego’s own managerial search last offseason, but Shildt tells Hummel he declined that opportunity.

The Friars eventually poached Bob Melvin from the A’s, a hiring with which they’re surely thrilled after opening the season 41-24. The Cardinals are no doubt happy with how things played out themselves. St. Louis promoted bench coach Oli Marmol and is off to a 37-28 start. The teams hold small leads in their respective divisions entering play Friday.

Shogo Akiyama, Ian Krol Opt Out Of Minors Deals With Padres

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Outfielder Shogo Akiyama and relief pitcher Ian Krol have each triggered opt-out clauses in their minor league contracts with the Padres, reports Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune (on Twitter). The players’ respective transactions logs at MLB.com indicate both have been released, suggesting the Friars declined to add either to their MLB roster.

Akiyama signed a surprising three-year, $21MM free agent deal with the Reds over the 2019-20 offseason. That came on the heels of a nine-year run with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, during which he hit .301/.376/.454 in just over 1200 games. The left-handed hitter tallied 183 plate appearances in each of his first two seasons in Cincinnati, but he didn’t hit the ball with much authority. Akiyama managed only 15 extra-base hits (14 doubles and a triple) and posted an overall .224/.320/.274 batting line.

The Reds released the 34-year-old in April after he’d been squeezed off the Opening Day roster. A few weeks later, Akiyama signed with San Diego. He wound up appearing in 16 games for their top affiliate in El Paso, hitting .343/.378/.529 with a trio of home runs in a hitter-friendly setting. However, Akiyama hasn’t played in two weeks — Sanders notes he’s been on the COVID-19 injured list — and he’ll now head back to the open market in search of a new opportunity.

Akiyama’s solid showing with the Chihuahuas seems likely to get him other minor league offers if he desires. Given his established, productive track record in Japan, he’d no doubt have NPB interest as well. Shortly after the Reds released him in April, reports out of Japan indicated the Lions were making an effort to bring Akiyama back.

Krol has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons. He suited up at the highest level each year from 2013-18, then returned with 18 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball for the Tigers last season. Krol had an excellent showing in the upper levels of the Detroit farm system, but this year’s stint in El Paso has not gone well.

Through 25 1/3 frames, the southpaw has a 7.46 ERA. He’s punched out a quality 27% of opponents, but he’s also walked batters at a 13.9% clip and given up six longballs. The 31-year-old heads back to the open market, although it’s possible that’ll be a brief stint. Sanders suggests Krol could pursue an opportunity in a foreign league.

Latest On Fernando Tatis Jr.

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The Padres continue to await the return of Fernando Tatís Jr., who hasn’t played this season while recovering from an offseason fracture in his left wrist. The club’s franchise shortstop underwent his latest set of imaging yesterday, and the results were mixed.

Tatís’ latest CT scan didn’t reveal the level of healing for which the team had been hoping, writes Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has still not yet been cleared to swing a bat, although he hasn’t suffered any sort of setback. “Another MRI scan continues to show healing, but it was not quite at the level for … a full green light,” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller told reporters (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). “Basically we’re in a spot where we’re going to progress week-to-week.”

That’s certainly not an ideal development, particularly given how long Tatís has already been sidelined. When announcing the injury and subsequent surgery in mid-March, Preller indicated the All-Star infielder could be out for three months. We’ve now hit that timetable, and the continued “week-to-week” treatment plan for Tatís to pick up a bat means he’s still not on the verge of an imminent return. As Acee points out, it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be ready to play in a major league game before the July 18-21 All-Star Break, since he’ll certainly need a rehab stint in the minor leagues even after building back into game shape physically.

At the same time, Tatís has continued to make incremental progress. He was cleared to play catch today, the first time he’s been able to snag balls out of the air after previously being limited to taking grounders (video provided by Annie Heilbrunn of the Union-Tribune). Asked how he feels about his current status, Tatís conceded “It’s a little of both. A little bit happy because I’m still progressing. And a little bit sad, because it’s not what everybody wants, including myself” (Cassavell link).

As Tatís was quick to point out, the team hasn’t missed much of a beat in his absence. Despite losing one of the sport’s top players, San Diego enters play Tuesday with a 38-24 record. They’re the top Wild Card team in the National League at the moment, and they sit just percentage points behind the Dodgers in the NL West. That’s largely on the strength of the pitching staff, though, as the Friars place 13th in the majors in runs scored (272) and 21st in park-adjusted hitting (94 wRC+). San Diego shortstops have an awful .170/.271/.257 slash line on the season, as Ha-Seong Kim has cooled after a strong start and top prospect C.J. Abrams struggled badly enough he was optioned back to the minor leagues.

Whenever Tatís is able to return, the position should go from a weakness to an unqualified strength. Preller unsurprisingly indicated the club isn’t feeling any pressure to make an outside addition over the coming weeks, telling Acee and others “we’re expecting to have him back, it’s just a matter of when. I don’t think (the recent imaging) changes anything to where we need to do something form a roster standpoint.“

Padres Select Kyle Tyler

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The Padres selected the contract of right-hander Kyle Tyler prior to today’s game with the Rockies.  Righty Reiss Knehr was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Tyler has become a familiar name on MLBTR’s pages in recent weeks, as he has been designated for assignment five times in less than three months, and claimed off waivers on four of those occasions.  This flurry has seen Tyler go from the Angels, to the Red Sox, to the Padres, back to the Angels, and then finally back to San Diego for his latest stop.

All of these transactions have taken place without Tyler ever seeing any big league action, but the 25-year-old is now in line to follow up on his 2021 rookie season.  Debuting with the Angels last year, Tyler posted a 2.92 ERA over 12 1/3 innings of relief work, with six strikeouts and walks apiece.

Working as both a starter and reliever over his minor league career, Tyler has a 3.40 ERA over 248 2/3 professional innings since Anaheim selected him in the 20th round of the 2018 draft.  This includes a 5.51 ERA over 16 1/3 innings with Triple-A El Paso this season, though even beyond that small sample size, Tyler’s 2022 performance is understandably hard to gauge given all the starts and stops involved in his unusual season.

Quick Hits: Canha, Escobar, Marte, Mets, Perez, Suarez

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Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Eduardo Escobar are all playing well for the first-place Mets, making the team’s investment in the trio look like a canny move.  The New York Post’s Joel Sherman looks back at how the Mets added all three players during a frenzied span of around two days prior to the lockout, and how newly-hired GM Billy Eppler “emphasized on-base percentage, defense, versatility and players with strong reputations as good teammates,” with a particular focus on how well such free agents could adapt to Citi Field.  Sherman’s piece contains several interesting details about the Mets’ pursuit of the three players, as well as some other info on some of the other suitors.

The Rangers (another of the winter’s more aggressive teams) and Dodgers were interested in Canha, while “the Mets saw the Giants as a threat” due to Canha’s ties to the Bay Area.  As for Marte, New York was a relatively late entry into that chase, as agent Peter Greenberg said he met with roughly 20 other teams before touching base with the Mets, since Eppler wasn’t officially hired until midway through November.  However, the Mets made up plenty of ground by offering Marte a big four-year, $78MM contract that outpaced the other bidders.  “What stands out to me is that the Mets came in and in less than 24 hours we had a deal,” Greenberg said.

More from around baseball….

  • Martin Perez has been one of the surprises of the 2022 season, as the veteran lefty has an AL-best 1.56 ERA over 69 1/3 innings, plus a 54.7% grounder rate and just a single home run allowed.  With encouragement from Rangers coaches, Perez has re-established his sinker as a big part of his arsenal, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News writes, and Perez also took a tip from the legendary Pedro Martinez about throwing more pitches outside the strike zone, to induce more chases from batters.  The results speak for themselves, as Perez is having a career year at age 31, and setting himself up for a much more lucrative trip to free agent this winter.  After the Red Sox declined their club option on Perez last fall, he told Grant that the Pirates and Nationals each had interest prior to the lockout, but Perez instead chose to return to a familiar environment and signed with Texas for a one-year, $4MM pact in March.
  • The Padres placed right-hander Robert Suarez on the 15-day injured list due to right knee inflammation earlier this week, and manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including reps from 97.3 The Fan radio) that Suarez recently had surgery to remove “loose impediments.”  A specific recovery timeline isn’t known, but Suarez will miss “at least a couple of weeks before we see him back throwing.”  The 31-year-old rookie has been a solid performer out of San Diego’s bullpen this year, with Suarez contributing a 3.09 ERA and 30.9% strikeout rate over 23 1/3 innings, though with a high 13.8% walk rate.

Injury Notes: Padres, Rangers, Rockies

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The Padres placed Mike Clevinger and Adrian Morejon on the COVID injured list, recalling Ray Kerr and Reiss Knehr from Triple-A, per the team. Kerr, 27, will give the Friars a third southpaw out of the bullpen behind closer Taylor Rogers and Tim Hill. Though Clevinger has been starting, Knehr, 25 will probably pitch in relief for now. Knehr has been tagged with a 5.84 ERA across 51 2/3 innings in Triple-A so far this season while making 10 starts and appearing twice in relief. The Padres rotation currently goes six deep, even with Clevinger out. Brent Rooker was also added to the active roster to serve as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader.

  • Rangers outfielder Steele Walker was placed on the COVID injured list, per the team. Zach Reks has been placed on the active roster to take his place. This will be Reks’ third go-round with the Rangers already this summer, though he’s been limited to just 22 plate appearances over nine games. Reks has torn it up for Round Rock, however, slashing .340/.433/.631 in 120 Triple-A plate appearances. Walker was only recently recalled for his big league debut. He’s gone just 1-for-14 at the plate with a pair of walks over five games. His lone hit was a solo shot. Walker, 25, was a former second-round pick of the White Sox, acquired straight-up in the deal for Nomar Mazara in December of 2019.
  • The Rockies have placed southpaw Ty Blach on the 15-day injured list with a left wrist sprain, per the team. Ryan Feltner was recalled from Triple-A to take his roster spot. Justin Lawrence was also added to the active roster to serve as the 27th man for today’s twin bill. Blach, 31, has made 15 appearances on the year (one start) with a 6.61 ERA over 31 1/3 innings.

 

Padres Sign Robinson Cano To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have announced that they have signed Robinson Cano to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A El Paso.

It was just over a week ago that Cano lost his spot on the Padres’ roster, with the club reportedly asking Cano to accept a trip to the minors. As a veteran with over five years of MLB service time, Cano had the ability to reject that offer and return to free agency. It appears that he didn’t find any better opportunities on the open market, as he will now indeed report to the Chihuahuas after all.

It’s been a tumultuous season Cano, on the heels of missing the entirety of the 2021 campaign due to a PED suspension. After a mediocre showing of .195/.233/.268 in 12 games to begin the year, he was released by the Mets. Due to the fact that Cano’s contract runs through 2023, any team in the league could sign him for the prorated league minimum, with the Mets covering the bulk of his salary. The Padres, looking for offense but dealing with a budget crunch, stepped up and gave Cano an opportunity. However, his 12 games for the Padres went even worse than his 12 games for the Mets, as he hit just .091/.118/.091, eventually leading to his release.

After all that bouncing around, it seems the goal of this deal is for Cano to get into a groove and see if he can get some of the old magic back. Padres’ manager Bob Melvin explained to Dennis Lin of The Athletic that Cano essentially views it that way. Despite the fact that Cano is 39 years old, he’s not too far removed from being a productive major leaguer. In 2020, he hit .316/.352/.544, wRC+ of 142. Of course, a pessimist could point to the positive PED test and dismiss that line, but regardless, Cano will head to El Paso and see if some regular playing time can get him back on track.

Yusmeiro Petit Granted Release From Padres

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Reliever Yusmeiro Petit was released from his minor league contract with the Padres yesterday, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports (Twitter link) that he exercised an opt-out clause in the deal.

The 14-year MLB veteran returns to the open market in search of a new opportunity. He spent a bit more than a month in the San Diego organization but struggled over 11 appearances with Triple-A El Paso. Through 11 2/3 innings, he surrendered ten runs on 18 hits (including three homers). Petit’s 10:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio was fine, but he allowed too much damage on contact to keep runs off the board.

Recent Triple-A struggles aside, Petit has a generally strong track record over a much larger body of work in the big leagues. He’s posted an ERA under 4.00 in each of the past five seasons and in eight of the last nine years. The righty has been an innings-eating workhorse out of the bullpen. No pitcher recorded more outs in relief between 2017-21 than Petit, who soaked up 363 frames across 317 appearances.

The 37-year-old has never been a hard-thrower, succeeding on plus control and a knack for consistently inducing weak contact. Petit has no doubt been aided in recent years by pitching in a spacious ballpark and in front of an elite defensive unit with the A’s, but it was still a bit surprising he didn’t land a big league deal over the winter given his durability and consistency.

On the heels of a tough showing in El Paso, Petit figures to again be limited to minor league offers during his next trip to the market. There should be no shortage of clubs with interest on a non-roster deal, though, considering how effective he’s been throughout his time in the majors despite lacking overpowering stuff.

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