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Steven Brault

Injury Notes: Dodgers, Red Sox, Pirates, Mariners

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Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill is making progress in his effort to overcome a flexor tendon strain, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. A platelet-rich plasma injection “has promoted some healing in the tissue,” writes Plunkett, who adds “everything looked good” for Hill after an ultrasound on Friday. He’s on track to start playing catch next weekend, though a potential return is still a ways off. The 39-year-old landed on the 10-day injured list June 20, but the Dodgers transferred him to the 60-day version earlier this week. Consequently, Hill won’t factor back into the Dodgers’ pitching staff until at least August. He had been enjoying another fine season – the last of his three-year, $48MM contract – with a 2.55 ERA/4.15 FIP, 10.36 K/9, 2.04 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent groundball rate over 53 innings.

  • Sticking with the Dodgers, corner infielder David Freese is a good bet to return from the IL on Friday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. Freese went down June 23 with a left hamstring strain, temporarily halting a rousing start for the long-productive 36-year-old. He came out flying this season with a .308/.407/.592 line (162 wRC+) and eight home runs in 140 plate appearances.
  • Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland could start a rehab assignment next week, according to Bill Koch of the Providence Journal. Moreland has already been on the IL twice dating back to late May, including since June 8. He first succumbed to a lower back strain and then suffered a right quad strain upon his return. A healthy Moreland has been among many major leaguers to demonstrate an increase in power this season. The 33-year-old boasts 13 HRs, a sky-high .318 ISO and a .225/.316/.543 line (116 wRC+) in 174 trips to the plate.
  • Left-hander Steven Brault became the most recent Pittsburgh starter to head to the IL on Saturday. Brault will sit out with a left shoulder strain, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. That sounds like a concerning ailment on paper, though Brault and the Pirates are optimistic he won’t miss more than one or two starts, according to Mackey. Brault exited his start against the Brewers on Friday after four innings of one-run ball because of the injury. He has now pitched to a 4.15 ERA/4.53 FIP with 7.86 K/9 and 4.75 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings (15 appearances, nine starts) this year. Several injuries to starters, including to Pirates No. 1 Jameson Taillon, have opened the door for Brault to work from their rotation. Taillon has been out since May 4 with a right flexor strain, though in a long-awaited sign of progress, he’ll play catch Sunday, Mackey relays. Meanwhile, reliever Keone Kela threw a simulated game Saturday. Kela, also down since May 4, has been battling right shoulder troubles.
  • Greg Johns of MLB.com and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times share the latest on a trio of righty Mariners relievers. Offseason signing Hunter Strickland, out since March 30 with a right lat strain, felt “awesome” after throwing a 20-pitch bullpen Saturday. His return still appears to be a good distance away, though. Austin Adams (Grade 1 lat strain) and Dan Altavilla (ulnar collateral ligament) just joined Strickland on the IL. Between Adams and Altavilla, the former has been the better reliever this year, but the latter’s injury looks more severe. The Mariners will know more after Altavilla undergoes an MRI.

NL Injury Notes: Rendon, Dodgers, Pirates

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Checking in on the latest notable injury news from the National League…

  • Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon finally earned his first All-Star nod this season, but the 29-year-old is going to miss the game, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to tweet. Rendon will instead rest his ailing hamstring and quad, two areas that have nagged him since the Nationals’ series against the Reds from May 31 to June 2. Despite having to play through pain over the past month-plus, Rendon’s performance has remained stellar for the surging Nats. He’s hitting .304/.389/.615 (152 wRC+) with 20 home runs through 316 plate appearances.
  • The Dodgers offered updates on a slew of injured players today, with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register among those covering the news (all links to Twitter). Backstop Will Smith and righty Tony Gonsolin, present depth pieces with bright long-term outlooks, are each headed to the injured list. The former has a strained right oblique and will be placed on the MLB IL, having not played since being sent down. The latter is dealing with a left hamstring issue and will go on ice for a stretch to avoid any complications. Meanwhile, the club is awaiting the returns of infielders David Freese and Corey Seager. The former is just waiting for his hamstring to heal up; he’ll seemingly remain out through the All-Star break. The latter is also not a candidate for activation before the mid-summer festivities but could rejoin the club immediately thereafter.
  • Pirates southpaw Steven Brault exited his start against the Brewers on Friday with an ominous-sounding issue – left shoulder discomfort – per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The severity of Brault’s injury isn’t known yet, but he’s not feeling great at the moment, Will Graves of The Associated Press tweets. Should Brault require a stint on the IL, he’d become the fifth notable Pittsburgh starter to go on the shelf this season. Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams and Jordan Lyles have all missed various amounts of time. The onslaught of starter injuries is a key reason the Pirates have turned to the swingman Brault, who has done a decent job over 60 2/3 innings. Across 15 appearances and nine starts, he owns a 4.15 ERA/4.53 FIP with 7.86 K/9, though he has walked a hefty 4.75 per nine.

Pirates Activate Gregory Polanco, Option Steven Brault

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We’re a smidge late on this one, as he’s already in action tonight, but it’s nevertheless worth highlighting that the Pirates have activated outfielder Gregory Polanco. To create active roster space, the club optioned Steven Brault.

When Polanco underwent surgery late last season with a torn shoulder labrum, it wasn’t entirely clear how long he’d be out. Indeed, that’s the sort of injury that can hamper a player even when he is back on the field.

As it turns out, Polanco was able to return to the majors at the early end of the estimates. (And he’s two-for-three with a walk already this evening.) That’s great news for his long-term outlook; clearly, he healed quickly and did not experience any setbacks or new issues during his rehab work.

It’s also critically important for the Bucs’ 2019 hopes. With Starling Marte now sidelined indefinitely, joining Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall on the injured list, the outfield was badly in need of reinforcement.

The 27-year-old Polanco had an up-and-down showing in 2018, but ended the campaign with a career-best .254/.340/.499 slash and 23 long balls over 535 plate appearances. That’s the sort of output the Pittsburgh organization had long hoped to receive. Whether Polanco can pick up where he left off will have significant bearing on the Pirates’ ability to maintain a narrow early lead in a hotly contested NL Central.

As for Brault, he has been utilized mostly in a relief capacity of late but will be stretched out at Triple-A, manager Clint Hurdle told reporters including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old hadn’t been used much at all in the early going. He is now sitting on 1.110 years of MLB service, meaning that he still needs 62 more days of MLB action this year to enter a new service class by season’s end.

Pirates Move Steven Brault To Bullpen

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The Pirates are moving left-hander Steven Brault to the bullpen, tweets Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. For the time being, that means that righty Nick Kingham will remain in the rotation and get another start on Friday on the heels of yesterday’s historic debut, during which he took a perfect game into the seventh inning.

Manager Clint Hurdle told reporters, however, that there are no guarantees for Kingham beyond his second start. The club has a number of off-days on the horizon, and righty Joe Musgrove is expected to return later this month. Of course, Kingham already bought himself a second start after what looked to be a spot start Sunday, and it stands to reason that another strong performance could further force the Pirates’ hand. Ivan Nova, Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl will continue to hold down the top four spots in the Pittsburgh rotation, with either of Kingham or Musgrove now looking to be the leading candidates for the final spot.

[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates depth chart]

Brault, meanwhile, will give the Pirates a much-needed lefty in a bullpen where closer Felipe Vazquez is the lone southpaw. Josh Smoker opened the season in the ’pen but has since been optioned to Triple-A, leaving Hurdle with a heavily right-handed relief corps.

Even if Kingham is in the Majors to stay, he’s spent enough time in the minor leagues this season to fall shy of a full year of MLB service time. He’ll be controlled through the 2024 season at the very least, though he’s currently on track to qualify as a Super Two player, meaning he’d be eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three.

NL Central Notes: Gregerson, Cubs, Neshek, Cards, Suarez, Pirates

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Before agreeing to a deal with the Cardinals, Luke Gregerson also received an offer from the Cubs, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  Chicago has already landed Brandon Morrow and has been aggressively looking at several other relief options this winter, so it isn’t surprising that Gregerson was yet another name on their list of targets.  The Cardinals are also continuing to scour the reliever market, though Goold reports that they didn’t have interest in veteran Pat Neshek, who has agreed to a new deal with the Phillies.

Here’s more from around the NL Central…

  • In another piece from Goold, Cardinals president of baseball ops John Mozeliak discussed his team’s first day at the Winter Meetings, saying that he mostly focused on trade talks, including in-person meetings with two unnamed teams.  The Cards are known to be shopping their outfield surplus, with Goold writing that the team is looking for a two-for-one outfielder swap to gain an everyday bat.
  • Eugenio Suarez would want an extension of at least six years and worth more than $45MM in guaranteed money, a source tells Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Suarez is just entering his first of three arbitration-eligible seasons (MLBTR projects him for a $4.4MM salary in 2018), so given the timing and his strong 2017 season, he stands out as a potential long-term piece for the Reds.  A six-year deal wouldn’t necessarily be an issue for the club, Buchanan writes, though the source feels the Reds’ stance in contract talks will focus on Suarez gaining financial security for his family now rather than risk an injury or drop in performance.  There’s also the possibility that Cincy could look to trade Suarez if an extension can’t be worked out, though Buchanan doubts a trade would happen this winter.
  • The Reds are currently more focused on adding relievers than starters, president of baseball operations Dick Williams told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and other reporters.  “I do think we’ll find some good pitching and spend some money just to supplement the pitching a little bit,” Williams said.  “Ideally, we’d maintain some flexibility there as to how guys are used. We think we have more starting pitching, guys that have the ability to stick as starters.”
  • While the Pirates are on the lookout for left-handed relievers, GM Neal Huntington suggested to reporters (including Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that the club could also fill that need internally in the form of Steven Brault.  The Bucs could explore using Brault or other starters that don’t win rotation jobs in the pen, with Brault perhaps capable of either a LOOGY specialist role or a multi-inning role.  While adding a southpaw reliever would be a “perfect world” result for the team, Huntington said any type of quality reliever would do: “we’d rather have a good right-hander than a mediocre left-hander.”

Central Notes: Quintana, ChiSox, Reds, Pirates

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The White Sox are primed to open the season with top starter and well-known trade candidate Jose Quintana in their rotation, notes Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). Chicago has been shopping Quintana over the past few months, but it still hasn’t found a proposal to its liking and likely won’t by Opening Day. Few teams, if any, have drawn more connections to Quintana than the Astros since he has been on the block, though they’re “not budging” from their offer, Nightengale hears.

Several more items from the Central divisions:

  • The Reds have officially tabbed Amir Garrett and Rookie Davis to start the year in their rotation, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Neither hurler has any major league experience to this point. The 24-year-old Garrett, Baseball America’s 81st-ranked prospect, ascended to Triple-A last season and put up a 3.46 ERA with 7.18 K/9 against 4.12 BB/9 in 67 2/3 innings. Davis, 23, was part of the Aroldis Chapman trade between the Reds and Yankees in 2015. Like Garrett, he reached Triple-A in 2016, though his results over a small sample weren’t ideal (7.50 ERA, 5.63 K/9, 2.63 BB/9 in 24 innings). In 134 1/3 Double-A frames, Davis owns a 3.28 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.
  • The Pirates optioned left-hander Steven Brault to Triple-A on Tuesday, thereby cutting a contender for the final spot in their rotation. They’ll now choose among Tyler Glasnow, Drew Hutchison and Trevor Williams to slot in behind Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Ivan Nova and Chad Kuhl in what will be an all-righty rotation.
  • The Reds reassigned veteran outfielder Desmond Jennings to the minors on Tuesday, which could bring about the end of his short tenure with the organization. Jennings, who joined the Reds in February on a minor league contract, can opt out of his deal before Opening Day, and Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer expects that to happen (Twitter link).
  • Carlos Rodon, the second-best lefty in the White Sox’s rotation, received good news on his bicep Tuesday, relays Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Rodon got a second opinion from Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who confirmed that the 24-year-old doesn’t have any structural damage. El Attrache diagnosed Rodon with bursitis, and he’ll embark on a throwing program the next two weeks before the team reevaluates him. Given that timeline, Rodon will open 2017 on the disabled list.
  • Yet another note on the Reds, whose manager, Bryan Price, expects reliever Raisel Iglesias to be ready for Opening Day (Twitter link via Rosecrans). The righty hurt his elbow and hips when he fell in the shower a few weeks ago, thus putting his status for the start of the season in question. Undoubtedly the Reds’ premier relief weapon, Iglesias posted a 1.98 ERA, 9.72 K/9 and 3.42 BB/9 in 50 innings out of the bullpen after transitioning from the rotation a year ago.

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