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AL Notes: Benintendi, Calhoun, Rays

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As the American League wild card race gets closer by the day, we’ll take a look at some other news and notes from the Junior Circuit.

  • Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi left last night’s game against the Padres in the sixth inning with left side tightness, as relayed by Chris Cotillo of Mass Live. For now, he remains day-to-day, with manager Alex Cora telling Cotillo he’ll be evaluated on Monday’s off day. Benintendi won’t be available today, per Cora, although he was due for a maintenance day regardless, the skipper noted. The University of Arkansas product hasn’t quite emerged as the superstar many envisioned when he was one of baseball’s top prospects, but he’s no doubt a valuable and important piece of Boston’s outfield mix, boasting a solid .283/.357/.462 slash line (112 wRC+). The Sox have won seven of their last ten games, but as Rob Bradford of WEEI points out, they haven’t made up much ground in their pursuit of a Wild Card spot in recent weeks. Fangraphs gives the defending champions just a 6.4% shot of getting to the play-in game, and any long-term absence for Benintendi would only deplete those odds further. Fortunately, the club is optimistic at this point he’ll return Tuesday for the start of a series against the Rockies, per Cotillo.
  • Willie Calhoun is beginning to look like a core piece for the future, opines Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Following a slow start to his MLB career, Calhoun has mashed since this year’s All-Star break, and his .292/.333/.579 line on the season is awfully impressive, even considering Globe Life Park’s hitter-friendly tendencies (128 wRC+). Calhoun tells Grant he made a swing adjustment this offseason hoping to elevate the ball and take advantage of his cozy home environment. He’s done exactly that, pushing his average launch angle from 11.6° in 2018 to 18.4° this season. Calhoun’s not without question marks- he’s not well-regarded defensively anywhere on the diamond and his batted ball metrics don’t quite line up with his stellar results- but he’s nonetheless worked his way into the organization’s good graces, as manager Chris Woodward raved to Grant about the slugger’s improved focus and plate approach.
  • The Rays are getting some help on the injury front, rounds up Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In addition to the returns of Joey Wendle and Avisaíl García, the club is seeing some progress on the pitching side. Ace Blake Snell, out since July 22 with a left elbow injury, is on track to throw a bullpen session this week, while potential ace Tyler Glasnow just wrapped up a ’pen of his own. Glasnow, who’s hoping to return from a forearm strain as a reliever, is on track for a rehab assignment and could return during the club’s next homestand, which spans August 30 to September 8. Contributions from those two, as well as solid starter Yonny Chirinos, who’s feeling better three weeks after hitting the shelf with finger inflammation in his pitching hand, would be a boon to a club up half a game on Oakland for the AL’s final playoff spot.

Health Notes: Carrasco, B. Lowe, R. Hill, Tigers, Mariners

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The Indians and right-hander Carlos Carrasco are gaining hope he’ll be able to help their bullpen this year, Ryan Lewis of Ohio.com reports. Carrasco’s amid a remarkably encouraging recovery from leukemia, an illness that put a stop to his season in late May. Since beginning a rehab assignment at the Double-A level, the 32-year-old has tossed 2 2/3 innings of no-hit, five-strikeout ball, showcasing solid velocity in the process. The Indians will now move Carrasco’s rehab stint to Triple-A Columbus, where he’ll throw around two innings Sunday, according to manager Terry Francona.

  • Rays infielder Brandon Lowe’s season is seemingly over, but he’s not giving up on a return, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays. Lowe, who has dealt with shin and quad injuries over the past couple months, explained Friday that he’s aiming to rejoin the Rays during the postseason. A playoff berth isn’t a certainty for the Rays, but at half a game up on the AL’s top wild-card spot, they’re on track to earn a spot. Although he hasn’t played in a while, Lowe’s among the reasons for the club’s success. The 25-year-old rookie wrapped up his regular season with a terrific .276/.339/.523 line, 16 home runs and 2.5 fWAR in 307 plate appearances.
  • Dodgers lefty Rich Hill will throw a bullpen session Saturday for the first time since landing on the IL on June 20 with a flexor tendon strain, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Hill estimates he’ll rejoin the Dodgers’ staff in two weeks, per Castillo, though it’s doubtful he’ll start for them again this season. The 39-year-old could at least be an asset out of LA’s bullpen heading into the playoffs, however.
  • The Tigers have placed utilityman Niko Goodrum on the IL with a left groin strain, the team announced. Goodrum, one of the few reasonably effective hitters in the Tigers’ lineup, has put up a .248/.322/.421 line with 12 homers and a dozen stolen bases across 472 plate appearances. Not only that, but the versatile 27-year-old has totaled double-digit appearances at first, second, short and in the outfield.
  • The Mariners have shut outfielder Mitch Haniger’s rehab down temporarily as he deals with a back issue, according to Greg Johns of MLB.com. It’s a new injury for Haniger, who suffered a ruptured testicle June 6 and hasn’t suited up for a major league game since. He appeared in three rehab games before the back problem cropped up.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Price, Orioles, Rays

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Left-hander David Price had been a candidate to come off the injured list and start for the Red Sox on Sunday, but that won’t happen, Scott Miller of Bleacher Report was among those to report. Price, out since Aug. 8 with a left wrist problem, is instead another several days from returning. He’ll throw a 55-pitch simulated game Tuesday, after which the Red Sox will decide a next course of action, according to manager Alex Cora. That’s unfortunate news for Boston, which is a potentially insurmountable seven games back of the American League’s last wild-card spot and whose rotation has been an issue throughout the season. Price didn’t help the Red Sox’s cause in his most recent starts, as his ERA skyrocketed from 3.16 on July 14 to 4.36 after the last time he took the ball. But the 33-year-old has still been among the club’s most effective starters this season. His K/BB ratio (4.06) ranks 26th out of 103 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings in 2019.

  • The Orioles fired a combined 11 members of their front office and scouting departments Friday, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com relays. Tripp Norton, who had been the Orioles’ director of baseball operations dating back to 2012 (and was with the O’s since 1998), was the most prominent member of the organization to lose his job. The club also parted with scout Nathan Showalter, son of ex-Baltimore manager Buck Showalter. First-year general manager Mike Elias, who’s attempting to remake the front office in his image, said the team will “be very busy bringing people into this organization” to replace those it let go.
  • Red Sox infielder Michael Chavis started a rehab assignment Friday, according to the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket. Chavis went to the IL on Aug. 12 with an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder, continuing what has been a rough month for the 24-year-old. While Chavis was amid a slump when he landed on the shelf, he has enjoyed a respectable rookie year overall. Chavis has batted .254/.322/.444 with 18 home runs in 382 plate appearances and 95 games, during which he has split time between first and second base.
  • The Rays activated lefty Anthony Banda from the 60-day injured list Friday and optioned him to Triple-A Durham, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. They placed infielder Brandon Lowe (out for the season) on the 60-day IL in a corresponding 40-man move. Banda hasn’t pitched in the majors since undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2018, though perhaps he’ll serve as a late-season reinforcement for the Rays. The 26-year-old has struggled at the Triple-A level this season, though, evidenced by a 5.57 ERA/6.14 FIP across 21 innings.

Brandon Lowe Out For Remainder Of Season

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The Rays were hit with rough news today, as manager Kevin Cash informed reporters that infielder Brandon Lowe will not be able to return this season. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times covered the news on Twitter.

Out since early July with a shin injury, Lowe had been tracking towards a return on a rehab assignment. Unfortunately, he suffered a strained quadriceps. It seems the new malady is severe enough to preclude a late-season rebound.

Lowe will join fellow infielder Yandy Diaz on the shelf for the rest of the 2019 campaign. The two had been among the club’s best offensive performers before going down. While the Tampa Bay organization has quite a few alternatives on hand, it’s obviously disappointing to see two bright young players taken out of commission instead of contributing to what promises to be a thrilling final five weeks of action.

East Notes: Nola, Stroman, Dansby, Riley, Deivi, Lowe

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As the Phillies quest for a playoff berth intensifies, manager Gabe Kapler looks poised to increase his ace’s workload in hopes that Aaron Nola can carry the team to the promised land. As Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports writes, the Phillies are considering starting the 26-year-old Nola every fifth day for the stretch run, regardless of intervening off days. Last year’s third-place NL Cy Young finisher has been far and away the most reliable of the Phillies’ starting rotation, which has sorely lacked for production outside of its ace. If the Phillies were to employ such a plan, Nola would make eight more starts over the next month-plus, which would place him at a total of 35 at season’s end. As Salisbury notes, though, Nola has often benefitted from a fifth day of rest and features considerably better career numbers with the extra day off. Of course, it’s undeniable that Nola is the Phillies’ best option to start games and the club is confident that, in a playoff race that may well be decided in the waning days of the season, their chances are maximized with Nola on the mound as often as possible.

Here’s all the latest from baseball’s East divisions…

  • Mets starter Marcus Stroman left today’s start against the Indians after just four innings because of left hamstring tightness. Tim Healey of Newsday has an update, with Stroman undergoing an MRI that showed no reason for concern. Indeed, it’s only hamstring tightness for the new Met, who has now made four starts with his new club. All indications are that the injury is nothing serious, so it seems as though Stroman should be good to go for his next start.
  • A pair of young Braves regulars are slated to begin rehab assignments in the coming days, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Shortstop Dansby Swanson will join the Class-A Rome Braves on Thursday for a rehab stint, with rookie slugger Austin Riley joining him the following day. Swanson has been out since late July with a heel issue, while Riley has missed about two weeks with a partially torn right LCL. While the Braves have found capable replacements for both young stars and has gotten by without the pair, the club would no doubt welcome Swanson and Riley back to the lineup as soon as possible. Swanson has put together his best offensive season, while Riley has gotten his career off to a blistering start, slugging 17 home runs in just 66 Major League games.
  • Yankees pitching prospect Deivi Garcia has been moved to the bullpen for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, according to Connor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune. While the organization has not given an explicit explanation for the move, it seems likely that it’s motivated by one of two things: most likely, the Yankees are limiting the workload for Garcia, who is just 20 years old and has already eclipsed 100 innings pitched for the season, a threshold that he never reached prior to 2019; or, less likely, the team is preparing Garcia for the role he would have in the Majors as a potential September call-up. The club has taken a similar course of action in the past with Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams, though both were further along in their development than Garcia.
  • Injured Rays rookie Brandon Lowe may have hit a roadblock in his recovery from a right shin contusion, as he exited his rehab game with Triple-A Durham with a left quad strain, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com. That injury, of course, is separate from the shin contusion, though the severity is not yet known. Lowe will return to St. Petersburg tomorrow to be further evaluated, at which point more details will likely be made available. Lowe, who has generated buzz as a Rookie of the Year candidate, has not played for the Rays since July 2. He had previously been expected to return in late August or early September, but that timeline may have been complicated by the introduction of another, unrelated injury.

Rays Select Aaron Slegers’ Contract

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The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Aaron Slegers from the Triple-A Durham Bulls, as per a team announcement.  Righty Hoby Milner has been optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move, and Tampa Bay already had open space on its 40-man roster.

Slegers was acquired from the Pirates in late March, and the 6’10” right-hander has had his share of struggles for Durham this season, with a 5.49 ERA, 6.2 K/9, 2.72 K/BB rate, and 20 home runs allowed over 98 1/3 innings.  Slegers has started 13 of his 24 games, though he has pitched somewhat better out of the bullpen (4.75 ERA in 36 IP) than the rotation (5.92 ERA).

It could be that Slegers will only receive a cup of coffee with the Rays, given how the team so often shuttles pitchers back and forth between Triple-A and the majors to get fresh arms into the mix.  Milner, for instance, had his contract selected on Monday, he tossed two innings in Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the Mariners, and is now already headed back to Durham.

Assuming Slegers gets into a game in due course, it will mark his third straight season of MLB action.  Originally a fifth-round pick for the Twins in the 2013 draft, Slegers posted a 5.90 ERA over 29 innings for Minnesota in 2017-18.

Rays Select Hoby Milner’s Contract

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The Rays have selected the contract of left-hander Hoby Milner from Triple-A Durham, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets. Milner will take the 25-man spot of lefty Brendan McKay, whom the Rays optioned.

The Rays took a 9-3 beating at the hands of the Mariners on Monday, when McKay yielded seven runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks over two innings of work. McKay has regularly shuttled between the majors and minors in what has been a promising but frustrating debut campaign for the touted 23-year-old. While McKay has pitched to a weak 5.55 ERA in 35 2/3 innings, he has logged 10.35 K/9 against 3.03 BB/9 at the same time.

Milner, whom the Rays acquired from the Phillies in July 2018, threw just 7 1/3 major league innings last year and hasn’t pitched in the bigs yet this season. The 28-year-old has, however, thrived at Durham, where he has put up a 3.32 ERA/3.09 FIP and 13.11 K/9 against 2.05 BB/9 across 57 frames.

Latest On Tyler Glasnow

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With the Rays seeking to hang on to a Wild Card spot, they will need whatever contributions they can get from several injured players — among them, righty Tyler Glasnow. Today’s update on the situation delivers a bit of a mixed bag of news on the exciting young hurler, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links).

Most importantly, Glasnow was able to make it through a 15-pitch bullpen session without incident. Indeed, he indicated that he’s feeling great about his chances of making it back to the majors after that session. The odds are “very high” that he’ll be ready to roll down the stretch, the hurler says just days from his 26th birthday.

It’ll still be some time before Glasnow has built up a pitch count and crossed a few other barriers (including reintroducing his full repertoire). But that process will be eased by the other major facet of today’s news on Glasnow. He indicated that he will not try to build fully back up to work as a starter. That’ll obviously be the long-term goal, but for the time being Glasnow will target a return in a short-relief capacity.

While that’s obviously disappointing to an extent, it reflects the simple realities of the situation. The Rays will surely be wary of taking too much risk with a major long-term piece, even in a season in which they’re in good position to crack the postseason. And there simply isn’t enough time (especially given the forthcoming end of the minor-league campaign) to stretch Glasnow out on anything less than an aggressive timeline. Bringing him back as a reliever — even an opener, Topkin notes — likely offers the best route to getting some impact and balancing the competing demands. If all goes well, perhaps it’s possible that Glasnow will be able to work more than one frame in key situations late in the year and/or in the postseason.

Poll: Who Will Be The AL’s Wild Card Teams?

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The Twins hold a 2.5-game lead over the Indians in the AL Central after today’s action, and in addition to fighting for the division crown, both clubs are desperately trying to avoid facing even more competition in the AL wild card hunt.  Cleveland (74-51) is currently in possession of the top wild card spot, with the Rays (73-52) in the second slot, just a game behind.

Despite taking three of four games from the Astros, the Athletics are still 7.5 games behind Houston in the AL West, leaving the wild card as Oakland’s most realistic shot at a postseason berth.  The A’s (71-53) are 1.5 games behind the Rays.

Had this poll been posted even a couple of days ago, the Red Sox would likely have been omitted, yet a five-game winning streak merits them a mention.  Boston (67-59) is still 6.5 games behind Tampa Bay, and don’t have many head-to-head opportunities remaining against their division rivals, as the Sox and Rays only play four more times this season.  The Red Sox do have a three-game set against Minnesota on September 3-5 at Fenway Park.

The Twins have six critical September games lined up against the Tribe, but beyond those two series, Minnesota has a clear advantage over Cleveland in terms of benefiting from their weak division.  Twenty-six of the Twins’ remaining 38 games are against the White Sox, Royals, and Tigers, while the Indians only face the AL Central’s lesser lights 16 times in their final 37 games.

It all adds up to a wild final six weeks of action, particularly since injuries, roster shuffles, and players on both incredible hot streaks and cold streaks continue to change the narrative on a near-daily basis.  In particularly, all three non-AL Central teams face looming questions about their pitching staffs.  Can the A’s get their long-awaited influx of young pitching reinforcements once multiple arms return from the injured list?  Can the Rays get by three-fourths of their regular rotation (Blake Snell, Yonny Chirinos, Tyler Glasnow) still hurt?  Can the Red Sox mount a late-season comeback even as their own inconsistent rotation has suffered perhaps a critical blow?

Which two teams do you think will emerge from the fray to play in the one-game Wild Card playoff in October?  (Poll link for app users)

Rays Expected To Call Up Trevor Richards

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The Rays are expected to call up pitcher Trevor Richards to start Sunday’s game against the Tigers, according to a tweet from Juan Toribio of MLB.com (link). Peter Fairbanks was optioned to Triple-A Durham in an accommodating move.

This will be Richards’ first appearance in a Rays uni since being acquired by the club in a deadline deal. A Marlins product who started 45 games for Miami since his debut in 2018, Richards was sent to Tampa along with reliever Nick Anderson in exchange for righty Ryne Stanek and outfielder Jesus Sanchez on July 31st. While Anderson has already appeared in six games for a 72-52 Rays club, Richards has been plying his craft in Triple-A, where he has mostly been working in short spurts (5.1 innings through three minor league appearances).

Perhaps most noted for his past employment as a public school substitute teacher, Richards has been mostly passable as a major league starter thus far in his career–even if free passes have been problematic for the 26-year-old righty. In 238.1 big league innings, Richards has posited a 4.46 ERA and 4.37 FIP. His 10.2% career walk rate sits notably above the 8.3% MLB average.

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