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Quick Hits: Puig, Sandoval, G. Hernandez, Indians, Mets

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Congrats to all the players who were named 2018 All-Stars tonight, including 14 players who will be making their first-ever appearances at the exhibition game! The Red Sox, Astros and Indians lead the way with five All-Stars apiece, while Mike Trout, Craig Kimbrel, Chris Sale and Justin Verlander lead all players in this years cast in experience; it’s the seventh selection for each of those veterans.

The All-Star selections aren’t the only news of tonight, though. Here are a few other quick hits to take note of…

  • Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig departed tonight’s game after experiencing pain in his side during an at-bat. According to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, the team is calling it a “right intercostal oblique strain.” It’s not clear yet how much time Puig will miss (particularly since the intercostals and obliques are completely different muscles), but he seems likely to require a DL stint. There’s no firm news yet on the teams plans, though.
  • The Giants got some good news and some bad news today regarding a pair of players who were hurt in today’s game; Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group was among those to tweet the specifics. The bad news is that Pablo Sandoval is believed to have suffered a thumb sprain. He’s set to be evaluated tomorrow in order to determine the extent. of the injury. The good news, however, is that Gorkys Hernandez’ situation is being described as simply a “tight left calf”. The club doesn’t think it’s anything serious, so it’s likely he’ll miss little time, if any.
  • Center field and right field for the Indians have been “somewhat of a mess, a revolving door without much consistency,” writes Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lewis notes the injury situations of Bradley Zimmer and Lonnie Chisenhall in particular, and lists external options such as Adam Jones, Nick Castellanos, Billy Hamilton and Adam Duvall as theoretical trade targets for the Tribe. Manny Machado has also been on the club’s radar, and could theoretically push Jason Kipnis into the outfield mix, as he has some experience there.
  • David Lennon of Newsday has some strongly-worded opinions about what he thinks the Mets ought to do with Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard prior to the trade deadline, writing that, “To stand pat with this group, in a market nearly devoid of reliable starters, would make the Mets guilty of criminal negligence in their efforts to put this debacle of a season behind them.” Though Lennon’s phrasing seems a bit hysterical, he does make a solid point in noting that the emergence of Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz makes it easier to part with either of their more established (and less controllable) starters.

Rangers Acquire Austin Jackson, Cory Gearrin; Could Trade Jackson

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12:47pm: Jackson may never even play for the Rangers, per Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. General manager Jon Daniels told the outfielder “to hold off on reporting,” Fraley writes. It seems they’ll try to trade him.

12:05pm: The Rangers have acquired outfielder Austin Jackson, reliever Cory Gearrin and right-hander Jason Bahr from the Giants in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations, according to Texas’ executive vice president of communications, John Blake. To clear room on their 40-man roster, the Rangers moved relievers Matt Bush and Tony Barnette to the 60-day disabled list. Meanwhile, the Giants will select both outfielder Steven Duggar and righty Ray Black from Triple-A, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

This trade amounts to a cost-cutting move for the Giants, who were narrowly under the $197MM competitive-balance tax threshold entering Sunday. Now, with the Rangers taking on the salaries of both Jackson and Gearrin (per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic), the Giants are seemingly in better position to make some moves around the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline as they try to hang in the NL West race.

San Francisco added Jackson on a two-year, $6MM free-agent contract last winter on the heels of a season in which the veteran was a key role player for the Indians. The 31-year-old Jackson has gone backward this season, though, as he took 165 plate appearances with the Giants and hit just .242/.309/.295 with no home runs, 14 unintentional walks and 59 strikeouts. He’ll now attempt to revive his season in his native Texas.

The Giants tried to get rid of Gearrin via outright waivers last month, but no one claimed him. The 32-year-old’s on an affordable $1.675MM salary in his penultimate season of team control, though he has seen his ERA increase from 1.99 in 2017 to 4.20 in 2018. Overall this year, Gearrin has tossed 30 innings and managed 9.3 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.

Along with helping the Giants get out from under the salaries of Jackson and Gearrin, the out-of-contention Rangers also added Bahr – who ranked as San Francisco’s 27th-best prospect at MLB.com. Bahr, 23, joined the Giants just last year as a fifth-round pick. He has since pitched solely at the Single-A level, including 84 2/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball this season.

With the Jackson experiment having failed for the Giants, they’ll introduce the well-regarded Duggar to their outfield mix. The 24-year-old Duggar, a 2015 third-round pick and MLB.com’s third-ranked Giants prospect, owns a .272/.354/.421 line in 356 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He’ll join a San Francisco outfield that hasn’t gotten average or better offensive production from anyone but Andrew McCutchen, Gorkys Hernandez and Austin Slater this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Giants Aren't Trading Madison Bumgarner

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It’s well known that the Yankees are looking to bolster their rotation, though the cost to acquire a starter is “out of control right now,” a source close to the team informed Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Nevertheless, Feinsand goes on to list a few starters the Yankees could pursue, including Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. As you’d expect, though, Bumgarner’s not going anywhere. A Giants executive told Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that any trade speculation centering on Bumgarner is “California dreaming.”

Giants Activate Jeff Samardzija

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The Giants announced a collection of roster moves today, including the news that right-hander Jeff Samardzija has been activated from the 10-day DL to start today’s game against the Cardinals.  Infielder Chase d’Arnaud will also join the 25-man roster after his contract was purchased from Triple-A.  In corresponding moves, second baseman Joe Panik was officially placed on the 10-day DL with a left groin strain, righty Chris Stratton was sent down to Triple-A, and Hunter Strickland was moved from the 10-day to the 60-day DL.

[Updated Giants depth chart at Roster Resource]

Samardzija suffered some right shoulder tightness during a start on May 29 and ended up missing over a month of action while recovering.  The time off could serve as a virtual reset on Samardzija’s season, as he had a 6.56 ERA and almost as many walks (23) as strikeouts (26) in eight starts and 35 2/3 IP prior to his injury.  Injuries have plagued San Francisco’s rotation for much of the year, though the Giants finally have their projected top three of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Samardzija all active at the same time.  The rotation could go from a problem area to a strength for the Giants in the pennant race, particularly since Andrew Suarez and Dereck Rodriguez have both pitched well in fill-in duty.  Indeed, it was Stratton rather than Rodriguez who was sent down to Triple-A to make room for Samardzija’s return.

d’Arnaud signed a minor league deal back in January and now get his first taste of big league action in 2018.  He’ll take Alen Hanson’s spot as the utilityman while Hanson gets more regular duty filling in for Panik at second base.  Versatility has been the watchword for d’Arnaud over his six MLB seasons, as the 31-year-old has played at least one game at every position except pitcher and catcher.

Giants To Place Joe Panik On 10-Day DL

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The Giants will place second baseman Joe Panik on the 10-day disabled, skipper Bruce Bochy told reporters after tonight’s game. The injury took place when Panik was running the bases this evening, forcing him out of the contest.

As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to tweet, Panik is headed for an MRI tomorrow to fully assess the injury. Clearly, though, it’s not promising that it’s already clear he’ll require a stretch on the DL.

As Bochy put it, Panik “did a pretty good job on” the muscle. It’s impossible to guess at the duration of an absence, but certainly a significant strain could lead to a lengthy stretch away from the field.

News of this sort is never welcome, but it’s especially unfortunate for a Giants club that was finally nearing full health. It always seemed a tough task for this roster to hang in the NL West race, but it has done so to this point.

For the time being, it seems likely that Alen Hanson — who has been quite the pleasant surprise this year in San Francisco — will step in for Panik. Of course, Hanson has been deployed recently in left field, so there’ll be a trickle-down effect on the roster.

Giants Release Roberto Gomez

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The Giants have released right-hander Roberto Gomez to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Johnny Cueto’s reinstatement from the 60-day disabled list, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. The team had already announced earlier tonight that Kelby Tomlinson was optioned to Triple-A in order to open a spot on the 25-man roster.

Gomez, 28, has been on the minor league disabled list since early May. Because injured players can’t be outrighted during the season, the Giants instead opted to release Gomez in order to clear a spot on the roster. It’s not uncommon in this type of situation for the player in question to strike up a new minor league contract with the organization, so it’s possible that he could yet return to the Giants’ minor league ranks.

Gomez ha pitched a total of 14 2/3 innings for the Giants over the past two seasons, and while he hasn’t yet found success in the Majors (13 runs allowed in that time), he does have an impressive 14-to-2 K/BB ratio in the big leagues. Gomez also has a solid track record at the Triple-A level, where he’s worked to a 3.93 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 over the course of 103 innings.

Giants Activate Johnny Cueto

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The Giants announced that they’ve activated Johnny Cueto from the 60-day disabled list on Thursday. Infielder Kelby Tomlinson was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento in order to open a spot on the active roster. Cueto’s activation will also require a 40-man move, though the team has yet to make that announcement.

Cueto, 32, has been out since late April due to a sprain in his right elbow. While the right-hander said that he initially feared he’d require Tommy John surgery, that level of damage wasn’t revealed in the subsequent MRI, and he instead is now able to return after missing a bit more than two months.

The return of Cueto will be a welcome boon to the San Francisco rotation; the right-hander had gotten off to an outstanding start to the 2018 season, pitching to a 0.84 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 0.28 HR/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate in 32 innings before landing on the shelf. He’ll now slot into the rotation alongside Madison Bumgarner, Chris Stratton, Andrew Suarez and Dereck Rodriguez. That composition is likely to change though, as Jeff Samardzija is also slated to be activated from the disabled list this weekend.

Cueto’s return will likely be one of the more significant additions the Giants make in the coming weeks. With the team pressed right up against the luxury tax threshold, they’ll only be able to add players if their trade partners either agree to pay the entirety of the remaining salary on a player’s contract or take back some meaningful salary in return. Despite the significant injuries they’ve dealt with in the rotation this season, the Giants are sitting at 45-43 — just 3.5 games behind the division-leading Diamondbacks and three games behind the second-place Dodgers.

Avoiding Luxury Tax "Is A Must" For Giants

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  • Giants GM Bobby Evans recently described the team’s desire to keep payroll under the $197MM luxury tax threshold as “a target, not a mandate” in terms of making roster upgrades, though a source tells MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that avoiding the tax “is a must” for the club.  After passing the tax limit for multiple seasons, San Francisco could be charged only a 20 percent tax on the overage rather than 50 percent if it can keep its payroll in check for the season.  This didn’t keep the Giants from some big offseason spending, and they have very little room for further additions at the deadline if they want to make a playoff push, which could greatly complicate things for Evans and the front office.  “They’ll have a better feel for what they need at the [All-Star] break, but they may very well have to move money to add money,” the source said.

Notable International Prospect Signings

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With the 2018-19 international signing period kicking off today, there will be dozens of six- and seven-figure bonuses handed out to teenage prospects, primarily out of Latin America, filtering in throughout the day today. Many of these have been in the works for quite some time, as is reflected by the fact that most of the top players’ destinations and signing bonuses have been previously reported/projected (and by the fact that the top agreements will all be reported in one swift avalanche today).

We’ll keep track of the notable National League signings here and the notable American League signings in a separate post. Note that you can read up on each of these players with the dedicated international coverage available from Ben Badler of Baseball America (subscription required), Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com and Kiley McDaniel & Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs, each of whom has scouting info on the top echelon of international amateurs. Badler is also tracking the all of the signings from all 30 teams.

Onto some of the more notable signings…

Read more

Injury Notes: Tommy John Surgeries, Sanchez, Thornburg, Sandoval

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Tommy John surgeries have become alarmingly common in today’s baseball climate, but the most disturbing trend is the age at which the bulk of these procedures are performed. Craig Davis of the Sun Sentinel sheds some spotlight on a recent study showing that teens between the ages of 15 and 19 account for 75% of all Tommy John surgeries. Davis cites the words of Dr. Tommy John (son of the former major league pitcher and the procedure’s namesake), who bluntly says, “The success rate after Tommy John surgery is not good. You don’t want this surgery, especially if you have it in your teenage years.” One possible reason for the dramatic increase in youth Tommy John surgeries is single-sport specialization; Dr. Randolph Cohen of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood seems to believe it’s a big issue. “There’s an overall kind of irrational push by parents on children who are playing sports for such long hours and such long durations and such great repetition that we’re seeing an increase in the injuries in children than say we saw 20 years ago, where injuries like that were much more rare,” he said.

A few injury-related notes from around major-league baseball…

  • Though injured Yankees star Gary Sanchez hasn’t begun running drills yet, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that his recovery is going well. The Bombers are apparently hopeful he’ll be able to return around the All-Star break. Though he’s currently batting below the Mendoza line, the young Sanchez leads all MLB catchers with 14 homers to this point in the season.
  • The Red Sox are set to add a valuable reliever even before the July 31st trade deadline hits, as Chris Cotillo of masslive.com reports that Tyler Thornburg is expected to return to the club this week. The 29-year-old right-hander has yet to pitch in a game for the Red Sox since being acquired from the Brewers in exchange for Travis Shaw and a pair of minor-leaguers. There wouldn’t appear to be a great chance of salvaging the trade at this point, but if Thornburg can return to post something close to the 2.15 ERA and 12.06 K/9 he posted with Milwaukee back in 2016, he could be of great help to an already-strong bridge to Craig Kimbrel.
  • The Giants got some good news today, as it appears Pablo Sandoval has avoided any serious injury. Panda’s x-rays showed no fractures (according to a tweet from Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic), so his diagnosis is simply an elbow contusion after being hit by a Zack Godley pitch during today’s matchup against the Diamondbacks.
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