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Central Notes: Cardinals, White Sox, Holaday

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The Cardinals haven’t called the Braves about shortstop Erick Aybar, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network. St. Louis is looking to fill a void at shortstop left by injured veteran Jhonny Peralta. As we heard a few days ago, the Braves have a high asking price for Aybar. Given that he’s under contract for just one more season and declined last year, it’s no surprise St. Louis is exploring other options. Heyman mentions Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada as a cheaper alternative. For their part, the Mets are willing to trade Tejada despite an injury to Asdrubal Cabrera that could cause him to begin the season on the disabled list, per Adam Rubin of ESPN. The club is confident in less experienced depth pieces like Matt Reynolds and Gavin Cecchini.

  • Earlier tonight, we heard the Rangers made an offer to Austin Jackson prior to signing Ian Desmond. In an interesting bit of symmetry, the White Sox tried to sign Desmond to play shortstop for north of $4MM, tweets Heyman. The nonspecific nature of the report makes it hard for us to compare the White Sox offer with Desmond’s eventual $8MM payday with Texas. As Heyman notes, the White Sox went on to spend $10MM on Jackson, Mat Latos, and Jimmy Rollins.
  • The Tigers are considering rostering three catchers to start the season, writes Aaron McMann of MLive.com. Third string catcher Bryan Holaday is off to a 7-for-11 start to the spring with three home runs, but he’s firmly behind James McCann and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the depth chart. The club has always liked Holaday per GM Al Avila and may want to avoid exposing him to waivers. The availability of Cameron Maybin for the start of the season will affect Holaday’s bid for a roster spot. Maybin is currently sidelined for three to five weeks with a broken wrist.

Asdrubal Cabrera Shut Down For Two Weeks With Knee Injury

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12:10pm: The Cardinals are indeed interested in Tejada, reports ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin, but the injury to Cabrera decreases the likelihood that the Mets will trade Tejada, he adds.

10:43am: The Mets announced that shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has been shut down from all baseball activity for the next two weeks with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee. Cabrera is traveling to New York City today to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection in the injured knee. Per the Mets’ release, Cabrera will ease back into baseball activity “as tolerated” by his knee even when he returns to action. Cabrera initially suffered the injury while tagging up from first base in yesterday’s Spring Training contest, as he explained to reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo).

Suffice it to say, that puts Opening Day in doubt for the 30-year-old Cabrera, who signed a two-year, $18.5MM contract to serve as the Mets’ everyday shortstop this offseason. While it does appear that Cabrera has avoided a serious injury that would cost him a significant chunk of the regular season, the injury nevertheless comes with some potential roster ramifications. Ruben Tejada, for instance, has been rumored to be on the bubble of the 25-man roster this spring, but in the event that Cabrera will require a stint on the disabled list to open the season, his odds to make the Opening Day roster would seem to increase, as the Mets would likely deploy Wilmer Flores at shortstop and rely upon Tejada as their primary backup around the infield. The Mets had previously seemed like a logical trade partner for the Cardinals, should they seek an external replacement option at shortstop in the absence of Jhonny Peralta, but this injury would seem to diminish the chance of such a match.

NL Notes: Cabrera, Herrera, Cardinals, Joyce

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Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera suffered a knee injury while tagging up from first to second base in yesterday’s Grapefruit League game, and while he initially told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) that the injury was not serious, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that Cabrera is traveling to New York City to undergo a second MRI. While the extent of his injury is unknown (the Mets have yet to disclose the results of yesterday’s MRI), it seems that there was at least some cause for concern on his initial test. Cabrera did note yesterday that he was walking without pain, so it seems unlikely that there’s any sort of ligament tear. The Mets are well covered in the event that Cabrera would need to miss some time, as both Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada represent viable backups. Cabrera is gearing up for the first season of a two-year, $18.5MM deal with the Mets.

A few more notes from the division…

  • Puma also spoke with prospect Dilson Herrera and assistant GM John Ricco about the Mets’ decision to acquire Neil Walker this offseason despite the fact that some view Herrera as MLB-ready after hitting .327/.382/.511 in 81 Triple-A games last season. Herrera didn’t express any frustration, stating that he’s simply waiting for an opportunity. Ricco noted that Herrera might not be quite as big-league ready as his numbers indicate. “He’s not a guy we said, ’He’s finished with Triple-A. He’s wasting his time down there,'” said Ricco of Herrera. “I don’t think you see that yet. With each of our top prospects the last few years, whether it be [Zack] Wheeler or [Matt] Harvey or [Noah] Syndergaard or [Steven] Matz, the deal was we want them to come up here and succeed, not just come up and here and have trial by fire.” Infield coach Tim Teufel explained to Puma that Herrera still doesn’t excel at turning double plays and “tends to throw without using his legs.”
  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s not necessarily in a rush to add a shortstop in the wake of Jhonny Peralta’s injury. “Everybody is sort of pounding on this — what are we going to do?” says Mozeliak. “I think I’d like to see what we have first and then determine what’s next. Our goal is to be competitive this year and if we feel we need to go outside the organization to improve on those odds then we will.” The top internal candidates to fill in for Peralta are Jedd Gyorko, Aledmys Diaz and Greg Garcia, though each comes with some questions. Should the Cardinals ultimately decide to look for outside help, the Cabrera injury mentioned above could potentially impact the trade market, as any notable absence for the Mets’ starter would likely make the club less willing to part with a shortstop (e.g. Ruben Tejada).
  • Matt Joyce is in camp with the Pirates trying to win a bench spot on the club, but he told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times yesterday that he believed at one point this offseason that he was going to sign with the Padres (Twitter link). That match never came to fruition, for whatever reason, so Joyce will now look to reestablish himself in Pittsburgh instead. After batting a solid .251/.344/.434 from 2011-14 with the Rays, Joyce slumped to a dismal .174/.272/.291 batting line with the Angels last season.

Jhonny Peralta Undergoes Thumb Surgery

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MARCH 10: Peralta did indeed undergo thumb surgery this morning, Mozeliak confirmed to reporters, including Goold (Twitter link). Mozeliak added that clubs have called to gauge his interest in acquiring a shortstop, which he likened to “ambulance chasing.”

The aforementioned 10- to 12-week absence would point to a possible return in early June, but Mark Saxon of ESPN tweets that Peralta’s return will more likely be around the All-Star break. Peralta will be in a cast for at least the next four weeks, Saxon notes.

MARCH 8: Peralta says that he hasn’t yet decided but could well opt for a surgical route, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. That would hopefully avoid lingering issues, but would likely require at least a ten to twelve week absence.

MARCH 7: Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta left camp today with an apparent injury to his left hand, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. General manager John Mozeliak addressed the media minutes ago and told reporters, including MLB.com’s Jen Langosch, that the team’s early read is a torn ligament in Peralta’s left thumb which could result in an absence of two to three months (links to Twitter). Peralta is traveling back to St. Louis to receive a second opinion on the injury.

Any lengthy absence for Peralta would be a blow to a Cardinals club that some pundits felt was already light in terms of power production. The 33-year-old Peralta (34 in late May) appeared in 155 games for the Redbirds last season, batting .275/.334/.411 with 17 home runs. That line, while solid overall, masks what was a miserable second half of the season for the veteran infielder, though. Peralta was batting a robust .288/.345/.465 as late in the season as Aug. 4, and while the nature of that endpoint is entirely arbitrary in nature, admittedly, he slumped to a meek .246/.312/.291 batting line over his final 199 trips to the plate.

The Cardinals picked up Jedd Gyorko in an offseason swap with the Padres in part to help keep Peralta fresh and avoid a similar second-half decline. Gyorko has limited experience at shortstop but could be in line for significant playing time at the position in the event of a prolonged stint on the disabled list for Peralta. St. Louis also has infielder Greg Garcia as an option at short, and Aledmys Diaz, who signed a four-year deal as a free agent in 2014, could surface in the Majors after rebuilding his stock with a strong rebound campaign in 2015.

The timing of Peralta’s injury is terrible for the Cardinals not only in terms of proximity to the season but also because as recently as eight to nine days ago, a viable replacement sat on the free agent market in the form of Ian Desmond. Desmond, however, inked a one-year deal to play left field with the Rangers, removing him as a possible alternative.

Central Notes: Arrieta, Cardinals, Gennett, Hunter, Venable

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The Cubs needn’t be in a rush to extend ace Jake Arrieta, opines ESPN’s David Schoenfield. Arrieta’s camp is said to be seeking a seven-year deal, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, while the pitcher himself mentioned hoping to remain in Chicago for six or seven seasons. Though Arrieta’s 2015 results stack up with any pitcher in the game, Schoenfield notes that the righty hasn’t first proven himself capable of delivering consecutive 200-inning, 30-start seasons — unlike other pitchers to command seven-year deals. Arrieta will hit free agency at the age of 32, which makes him older than a typical free agent. However, he’s also thrown fewer innings in the Majors and minors combined than his peers that have inked seven-year deals by a fairly wide margin. Schoenfield also points out that president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer seem to prefer to build around position players, as evidenced by their young core. Of course, the duo shelled out $155MM for Jon Lester just over a year ago, so it’s not as if the Cubs’ top decision-makers are entirely averse to long-term deals for pitchers.

Here’s more from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Despite the fact that the Cardinals will be without Jhonny Peralta for what looks to be a span of two to three months, the team has yet to call other clubs on potentially available shortstops, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark, as it awaits a final decision on Peralta’s recovery. One exec told Stark that he feels Braves shortstop Erick Aybar “has to be at the top of their list,” adding that “of the guys out there, he’s far and away the best player.” The Braves have shown a willingness to trade virtually anyone other than Freddie Freeman, so it would stand to reason that Aybar, a free agent at season’s end, could be had despite sitting atop Atlanta’s depth chart at shortstop. I took a look at a number of speculative shortstop options for the Redbirds shortly after Peralta’s injury.
  • Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett was shut down recently due to persistent pain in his right (throwing) shoulder, but an MRI performed today revealed nothing more than mild tendinitis, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Knowing that there’s no structural damage, the Brewers will ease Gennett back into action, starting with drills, per manager Craig Counsell. Counsell did note that Gennett would essentially be starting “from the beginning,” though he made no mention of the second baseman’s readiness for Opening Day being jeopardized.
  • Indians right-hander Tommy Hunter may open the season on the disabled list due to lingering effects from offseason hernia surgery, but that issue is not what caused a two-year deal with Hunter and the Yankees to fall through, reports MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (on Twitter). The Yankees reportedly had an agreement in the $11.5MM to $12MM range with Hunter disintegrate because of concerns over his physical, but the problem was not related to Hunter’s surgery nor his previous groin injuries, per Bastian. Whatever gave the Yankees pause didn’t curb the Indians’ interest, says Bastian, although considering the fact that the Yankees were initially going to offer a guarantee six times greater than the one Hunter received from Cleveland, it’s probably not surprising that they were a bit stingier with their medical evaluation.
  • News of the Indians’ signing of Will Venable to a minor league deal broke within hours of Abraham Almonte’s 80-game suspension for a failed PED test, but president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told Cliff Floyd and Casey Stern of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM that his club had been in negotiations with Venable for awhile before they learned of Almonte’s suspension anyway (audio link). “Thankfully, at that point, in Almonte’s case, we had been engaged with a number of free agents, including Will Venable, and were able to bring that to conclusion, coincidentally about the same time, but that actually had been something we were working on for quite awhile,” said Antonetti.

Speculative Jhonny Peralta Replacements For The Cardinals

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The Cardinals are still reeling from the loss of Jhonny Peralta, perhaps for as long as three months, due to what is believed to be a torn ligament in his left thumb. While the book isn’t closed on Peralta’s recovery timeline just yet — he’s still headed to St. Louis to receive a second opinion on the injured digit — it would appear that Jedd Gyorko will step into the vacancy. Acquired in an offseason swap with the Padres that was made in part to keep Peralta fresh and in part to subtract Jon Jay (and his remaining salary) from a crowded outfield picture, Gyorko is the favorite to absorb Peralta’s at-bats, with Greg Garcia and Aledmys Diaz also representing internal options.

The problem with that scenario, of course, is that Gyorko isn’t a shortstop. He played some short out of necessity for the Padres last year after their widely panned platoon of Alexi Amarista and Clint Barmes failed to yield dividends. Gyorko was about three to four runs below average in 220 innings at the position in the estimation of Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved, and UZR pro-rated his defensive contributions to -17.6 runs over a 150-game spell. Clearly, there’s danger in extrapolating a small sample of 220 innings in that manner and treating it as fact, but Gyorko wasn’t even perceived as a plus defender at his more natural positions of second and third base, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he graded out very poorly at the most difficult infield position on the defensive spectrum.

Over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron provided a quick glimpse at the injury and listed Erick Aybar as perhaps the most logical stopgap the Cardinals could pursue in an effort to upgrade. Aybar is a free agent at season’s end on a rebuilding Braves club, so the fit certainly stands out as logical. Cameron also noted that the Mets have a potential infield surplus with both Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada slated to fill reserve roles (the latter of those two is rumored to be on the bubble when it comes to the 25-man roster, anyhow), though he aptly notes that the Mets may not want to help strengthen another National League contender.

As MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes, GM John Mozeliak acknowledged that, depending on the severity of the issue, the club could pursue outside help at the shortstop position. Each of the names suggested by Cameron is indeed a logical fit for the Cardinals. Here’s a look at a few names from around the league that could potentially be looked at if the Cardinals wish to address the unexpected void with a player from outside the organization…

Trade Possibilities

  • Erick Aybar, Braves: As noted above, Aybar is one year from free agency on a rebuilding club that has shown a willingness to trade virtually any veteran piece it has (Freddie Freeman excluded). Atlanta has internal options that it could consider long-term pieces (Dansby Swanson, Ozhaino Albies), and while they’re not particularly close to the Majors, the Braves could slot someone like Daniel Castro or a minor pickup of their own in at short in the event of an Aybar trade.
  • Ruben Tejada/Wilmer Flores, Mets: Tejada was recently awarded an extra day of service time, making him a free agent following the season. He’s said to be on the fringe of New York’s 25-man roster this spring, and Flores could serve as the club’s primary backup all over the infield even if Tejada were to be traded. It seems far less likely that the Mets would move Flores, who has a fairly productive season last year and offers more offense in a reserve capacity with multiple years of club control remaining, but the team was famously open to trading him last summer.
  • Nick Ahmed/Chris Owings, D-backs: As recently as last spring, this combination looked like a potential long-term alignment for the Diamondbacks, but that’s less the case this spring. For one, Arizona went out and acquired Jean Segura to field one of the spots — likely shortstop — thus displacing the defensively gifted Ahmed from an everyday role. Beyond that, Brandon Drury had a strong season and worked his way onto multiple top 100 prospect rankings, giving the D-backs another potential option at second. Drury could play third base as well, though Arizona has Jake Lamb as a big-league-ready option at third base — one that could handle the spot long-term. With Segura, Ahmed, Owings, Drury and Lamb, the Snakes seemingly have five infielders for three spots.
  • Eduardo Nunez/Danny Santana, Twins: While Nunez isn’t known for his glovework himself, he’s more experienced than Gyorko at the position and is coming off a solid season with the bat, having slashed .282/.327/.431 in 204 plate appearances with Minnesota. Santana is out options and has yet to proven himself in the field or at the plate. After a BABIP-fueled rookie season, Santana cratered in 2015 and now looks like a utility player for the Twins. Neither player is a definitive upgrade, but both would deepen the club’s infield mix and provide greater shortstop experience than the Cards’ incumbent options. Minnesota wouldn’t be anxious to shed either player, but doing so could create a utility role for top prospect Jorge Polanco. Their preference, though, could be to get him everyday at-bats in the minors.
  • Chris Taylor/Luis Sardinas, Mariners: Both infielders are competing for the right to back up Ketel Marte at shortstop. Taylor, a career .313/.394/.460 hitter at Triple-A, struggled badly in the Majors this past season but offers more offensive upside than Sardinas. On the other hand, Sardinas is probably a more sure-handed defensive option despite his own big league struggles at the plate and a more pedestrian .285/.315/.365 batting line in his Triple-A career.
  • Freddy Galvis, Phillies: Galvis doesn’t bring much to the table from an offensive standpoint, and the returns on his defensive work at shortstop are mixed. Ultimate Zone Rating feels that Galvis has been about average over the life of his 1567 career innings there, whereas Defensive Runs Saved feels he’s cost his team 10 runs there. If Cardinals scouts feel that Galvis is a passable shortstop, then perhaps they’ll overlook last year’s .263/.302/.343 batting line, which rated more than 20 percent worse than the league average after adjusting for his home park (76 wRC+, 77 OPS+). For what it’s worth, he did homer seven times and swipe 10 bases in his 603 plate appearances.
  • Nick Franklin, Rays: Considering how long Franklin’s name has been bounced around, it almost feels like he should be in his late 20s. That comes with the territory for a player who made his big league debut and played a whole season before he even turned 23 years old, though. Franklin only turned 25 last week, and while he hasn’t developed into the everyday infielder that he was projected to, he hit .266/.353/.500 in 221 PAs at Triple-A Durham last year. The presence of Brad Miller and Tim Beckham could effectively block Franklin in Tampa Bay.

Free Agents

  • Everth Cabrera: The former NL stolen base champ barely played in 2015, hitting .208/.250/.229 in 105 plate appearances with the Orioles. He wasn’t much better in the minors, batting just .230/.302/.259 in 150 PAs between the Orioles and Giants. Cabrera is nearly three years and a PED suspension removed from providing value at the Major League level, but the Cards could take a look on a minor league deal and hope to benefit from a resurgence.
  • Willie Bloomquist: At 38 years old with a .238/.262/.287 batting line across his previous two seasons in Seattle, Bloomquist probably isn’t on radars as anything more than a veteran on which to take a minor league flier with a utility role in mind.

Suffice it to say, there aren’t any enticing options currently on the free agent market, though the Cardinals could find some options late in camp as veterans on minor league deals with out clauses begin to exercise those provisions.

NL Notes: Cubs, Heyward, Pirates, Morton, Span

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The Cubs have several players, including Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, Dexter Fowler and Trevor Cahill that turned down more money elsewhere to sign in Chicago, tweets Jon Heyman. The Cardinals’ best offer is to Heyward is “thought to [have been]” $200MM over 10 years, while the Nationals, as previously reported, offered the outfielder $200MM+ over 10 years, albeit with significant deferrals, Heyman tweets. The three bids between the two teams were pretty much comparable (link), but Heyward simply preferred the Cubs over the other clubs. The outfielder, he adds, liked the team’s nucleus and, personally, he has a good history of playing at Wrigley. Heyman also notes that the other teams would have been willing to give him an opt-out as well.

A few more notes from around the NL…

  • Charlie Morton is hopeful that his groundball-inducing ways will translate to hitter-friendly Citzens Bank Park, PhillyVoice’s Ryan Lawrence writes. Morton produced a 4.81 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 pitching with the Pirates, although with an excellent 57.3% ground ball rate. “I had a theory about smaller parks, and the ground that outfielders have to cover, it’s minimized when you have a smaller park,” Morton says. “So if you can pitch to contact and pitch to weak contact, especially ground balls, I think you’ll do really well. Knock on wood, but I’ve had some success at Great American Ball Park, Great American Small Park. I think some of the reason why that is is because if I’m inducing weak contact or ground balls.” Morton has, indeed, posted a career 3.83 ERA in 54 innings at “Great American Small Park,” better than his career 4.54 ERA. That could merely be a sample-size issue, however. In any case, if Morton succeeds in the tight confines of Citizens Bank Park, he could perhaps, as Lawrence points out, fetch a prospect or two for the Phillies this summer.
  • Highly touted minor league right-handers Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow represent options this season should any pitcher in the Pirates’ rotation fall to injury or struggle significantly, GM Neal Huntington told Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. However, while the Pirates recognized that Taillon and Glasnow could factor into the club’s rotation in 2016, they didn’t bank on that fact. Pittsburgh added veterans Jon Niese (via trade with the Mets) and Ryan Vogelsong (via free agency) to round out the rotation. Huntington noted that Glasnow still needs to refine his changeup before making it to the Major Leagues, saying Glasnow is “still doing minor league hitters a favor” when he turns to his changeup over his electric fastball. Taillon is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery and will have his innings monitored this year.
  • Giants outfielder Denard Span talked with MLB Network Radio’s Cliff Floyd and Casey Stern about his free agency this winter and his goals for his first season with the Giants (audio link). “This team, they took a chance on me,” said Span. “A lot of other teams were shying away, but the Giants just showed how much they really wanted me, and so it made it an easy decision for me. … The fact that they pursued me and pursued a couple other guys — [Jeff] Samardzija and [Johnny] Cueto — it makes me feel good that they feel like, they didn’t go to the postseason last year, and I’m one of the missing pieces to help them get back there.” Among the other topics covered by Span are his first impressions of future Hall of Fame skipper Bruce Bochy and how he plans to work on outfield communication with the man he displaced in center field — Angel Pagan (who will now slide over to left field).

Quick Hits: Cubs, Cahill, Davis, Judge

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Yesterday, we heard about several Cubs free agent signees who took less money to play in Chicago. Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter) illuminates a few of the teams that missed out. We know the Orioles were in on Dexter Fowler as well as the Nationals and Cardinals interest in Jason Heyward. Ben Zobrist turned down better offers from the Nationals and Mets while Trevor Cahill declined to join the Pirates on a stronger offer. Of course, the details of those hypothetical deals are unknown. For example, the Nationals probably made heavy use of deferred money in their offers, reducing the present day value of their proposals. Heyman also has some contract details for reserve clause signees (on Twitter).

Here’s more from around the league:

  • The Pirates offer to Cahill was to pitch as a starter, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. However, rumors of a two-year offer may have been exaggerated. Cahill himself claims to be unaware of any two-year proposals. In my opinion, Cahill was smart to remain in Chicago as a reliever. His skill set plays particularly well out of the bullpen and could set up a strong multi-year offer in free agency next winter.
  • New Athletics outfielder Khris Davis is happy with his new ball club, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The former Brewer saw the writing on the wall when Milwaukee dealt away several veterans in the last calendar year. Davis, originally picked in the 2009 draft, was the second-to-last player from that draft class with the club. The Brewers still have Scooter Gennett penciled in to play second base.
  • When Yankees prospects Aaron Judge and Jorge Mateo homered earlier today, they offered a glimpse of the future, writes Wallace Matthews of ESPN. The pair rank first and second in the Yankees farm system. Judge, 23, has a shot to contribute to the club in 2016 while Mateo, 20,  is a little way off. Judge is a power hitting outfielder who hit 20 home runs in 540 plate appearances last season.  Mateo is a speedy shortstop with 82 stolen bases in 2015 (500 plate appearances).

NL Injury Notes: McKirahan, Walden, Hamilton

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Braves lefty Andrew McKirahan has a torn UCL and will likely have Tommy John surgery, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets. McKirahan will visit with Dr. James Andrews, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (on Twitter). McKirahan left Wednesday’s game with discomfort in his left forearm and had an MRI. He had previously had Tommy John surgery in 2012. Since then, he headed from the Cubs to the Marlins in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, then to the Braves on a waiver claim. He posted a 5.93 ERA (albeit with a decent 7.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9) in 27 1/3 innings in 2015, missing a significant portion of the year after a PED suspension. Here are more quick notes on injuries.

  • Cardinals righty Jordan Walden’s return from the shoulder issues that sidelined him for most of last year appears to be going well so far, writes MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. Walden pitched a scoreless inning against the Astros Friday. Walden was a key part of the Braves’ bullpens in 2013 and 2014 and was expected to help the Cardinals after arriving in the late 2014 trade involving Jason Heyward and Shelby Miller. He only pitched 10 1/3 innings last season, however, none after April 29.
  • Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton was scratched from yesterday’s game with a stiff right shoulder, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon tweets. Hamilton had surgery on the shoulder near the end of last season to fix a torn labrum and had conceded late last month that the shoulder wasn’t completely healthy (although he did say it was “feeling good” and that he wouldn’t be limited in Spring Training). There’s no indication yet, however, that the speedster’s current shoulder stiffness is serious.

Peter Bourjos Eager For Fresh Start With Phillies

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In December, the Phillies added to an already stacked outfield mix when they claimed Peter Bourjos off waivers from the Cardinals.  The outfielder’s time in St. Louis was not terribly memorable and many pointed to his lingering hip injury as the culprit for his struggles.  However, Bourjos says it was something else keeping him from playing his best with the Cards. Peter Bourjos (vertical)

“I think it was more just being in and out of the lineup.  It was tough getting into a rhythm,” Bourjos told MLBTR in Clearwater, Florida on Thursday. “That’s the role I was in, that was the role I accepted, and you just try to do your best with it.  It’s tough coming in and facing the set-up guy or the closer in pinch hit at-bats.  It’s tough to get something going.”

Because of his inconsistent playing time, it was no surprise to Bourjos when he was exposed to waivers in the offseason.

“I didn’t really think I’d be back there, just because of how things played out down the stretch.  I think I had three or four starts in the second half of the year.  I didn’t really have a lot of at-bats.  You can just kind of see the writing on the wall, that they had a lot of good young outfielders coming and it probably just wasn’t going to be a good fit,” said Bourjos.

Realizing that he wouldn’t be back with the Cardinals, Bourjos and agent Curtis Dishman huddled up to discuss potential landing spots and which teams would make the best fit for him.  With the potential for significant and consistent playing time, the Phillies were “at the top” of his personal wish list.  General Manager Matt Klentak told MLBTR back in December that his familiarity with Bourjos from their shared Angels days played a role in acquiring him, but the outfielder says that the Phillies have actually had interest in him for years, dating back to the Ruben Amaro-led front office.

It’s easy to see why the Phillies would have coveted Bourjos for so long.  In 2011, the defensive wizard made a name for himself in baseball when he slashed .271/.327/.438.  Now on his third big league team, Bourjos is determined to make the most of his fresh start.

“Whenever I’ve had consistent at-bats, I’ve played pretty well, and that goes back to 2013.  The at-bats were consistent, but I got hurt.  I was playing pretty well up until that point.  It’s about getting out there and being consistent in the lineup.  It kind of goes both ways, I have to prove that I can do that.  I can’t get off to a bad start, I have to prove that I belong out there.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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