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AL Pitching Injury Notes: Snell, Carrasco, Smyly, Estrada, Hardy

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The Rays have decided to start ace lefty Blake Snell today after he bounced back quicker than expected from a minor toe fracture, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. There are some obvious risks to bringing him back before he’s ready, but the organization obviously feels that isn’t the case. The reigning American League Cy Young winner has been outstanding once again early in 2019, with a 2.16 ERA and 13.0 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 over 25 frames.

More on the health front, focusing on some other AL hurlers:

  • Indians righty Carlos Carrasco departed his start yesterday early with some left knee discomfort and will undergo an MRI to make sure there isn’t an injury. It’s being billed as a precautionary measure, as MLB.com’s Mandy Bell reports (via Twitter). The Indians will hope it comes back clean, as he’s a key part of the team’s plan to fend off challengers in the AL Central. Carrasco has had a few rough outings this year, but has also spun a pair of 12-strikeout gems and was getting the job done yesterday before tweaking the joint.
  • Rangers starter Drew Smyly was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday with what the club described as mid-arm nerve tightness in his left arm. It seems the hope is that he’ll only miss a start or two; the placement was back-dated to April 20th. The 29-year-old Smyly hasn’t quite had the bounceback campaign he was hoping for to this point, with a 7.80 ERA, 19:10 K/BB ratio, and four home runs allowed through 15 innings over four starts. Right-handed Wei-Chieh Huang is up to take the open roster spot. He made his MLB debut earlier this season and has been throwing well at Double-A.
  • The Athletics sent righty Marco Estrada in for an “ablation procedure” on his balky back yesterday, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to cover (Twitter links). It seems he’ll be out through at least early May, though there isn’t a precise timeline just yet. The hope seems to be that this surgery will speed things up a bit. Meanwhile, the A’s hoping that reliever Lou Trivino will bounce back quickly after he was struck in the thumb by a baseball. He’s taking a few days but not slated to hit the injured list at the moment.
  • The Tigers announced yesterday that lefty Blaine Hardy was heading to the IL with a left forearm strain. Injuries to that area can be quite concerning for a pitcher, but there’s no real indication at this point of the outlook for the 32-year-old. After dabbling with the rotation in 2018, Hardy has been utilized in a multi-inning relief capacity thus far, throwing a dozen frames in eight appearances. Fellow southpaw Jose Fernandez takes his spot on the active roster.

AL Notes: Minor, Whitley, Giolito, Stewart

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The Rangers received offseason trade interest in lefty Mike Minor but opted to hang onto him to help anchor a thin rotation in 2019. And while USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted recently that both the Mets and Phillies are showing “strong” interest in Minor, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News cites three sources in reporting that the Texas organization hasn’t had any recent trade talks regarding the left-hander. It’s likely that the Phillies and Mets have each scouted Minor’s early outings, but other clubs have surely done the same, just as Philadelphia and New York have quite likely scouted numerous other starting pitchers.

For the Rangers, it’s difficult to envision trading Minor to the Mets, Phillies or any other team so early in the year — particularly given their own thin rotation. Minor, earning $9.5MM in both 2019 and 2020, will likely be an oft-discussed trade candidate later this summer, when a greater number of motivated buyers is willing to make an offer (and when additional replacement options have potentially emerged within the organization). At present, however, a trade of that magnitude seems unlikely.

Here’s more from the American League…

  • Jake Kaplan of The Athletic explores the manner in which the Astros will manage the workload of top pitching prospect Forrest Whitley (subscription required). The highly touted righty totaled just 52 1/3 innings between the regular season and the AFL last year, owing to a 50-game drug suspension and a pair of injuries, so Houston will monitor his pitch and inning counts closely. Thus far, Whitley has been limited to five innings or 80 pitches per appearance. Houston opted to have him take the final turn in what is a six-day rotation consisting of three solo starters and three tandem pairings (one including the pairing of Whitley and Cy Sneed). While the organization has a rough idea of where they’d like Whitley’s innings count to land, president of baseball ops Jeff Luhnow suggested that it’s a context-dependent guideline rather than a hard cap. It’s plausible that he could debut as either a starter or reliever, depending on team needs. In general, Houston’s at times unorthodox approach to player development makes for a fascinating read, and that’s all the more true when the focus is placed on arguably the game’s top pitching prospect.
  • The White Sox announced Thursday morning that they’ve placed right-hander Lucas Giolito on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. To replace Giolito and outfielder Daniel Palka, who was optioned to Triple-A following last night’s game, they’ve recalled righty Carson Fulmer and outfielder Ryan Cordell. Giolito tells reporters that he expects to only miss a pair of starts with the injury (Twitter link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Sun Times), but it’s still a discouraging setback for the former top prospect. The 24-year-old had an awful first full season in 2018, stumbling to a 6.13 ERA in 173 1/3 innings, but he’s shown some encouraging signs early in 2019. His fastball velocity is up nearly a mile per hour over his 2018 average, while his swinging-strike rate is up from a pedestrian 8.3 percent to a well-above-average 12.4 percent. After averaging just 6.5 K/9 in 2018, Giolito has already punched out 23 hitters in 18 2/3 frames. He still needs to improve his control, but the early improvements in velocity and missed bats are encouraging even if his ERA is still at an elevated 5.30 mark.
  • Tigers outfielder Christin Stewart landed on the injured list Thursday thanks to a right quad strain, per a club announcement. Infielder/outfielder Brandon Dixon is up from Triple-A Toledo to take his spot on the roster. The 25-year-old Stewart’s bid for an everyday spot in Detroit’s long-term lineup is off to a decent start, as he’s batting .246/.346/.465 through 136 plate appearances dating back to his late-2018 debut. Stewart has drawn a free pass in 12.5 percent of his trips to the plate and smacked five homers, six doubles and two triples in his limited experience, showing off the patience and power that make him an intriguing prospect. He’s unlikely to provide much in the way of defensive value, but he has the makings of a bat-first corner outfielder or designated hitter moving forward.

Rangers Sign Jen-Ho Tseng To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed right-hander Jen-Ho Tseng to a minor league contract. The former Cubs righty, who was designated for assignment released recently, will head to extended Spring Training begin a throwing program, per Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake.

Tseng, 24, was a fairly high-profile signing for the Cubs back in 2013, receiving a $1.625MM signing bonus as an 18-year-old amateur out of Taiwan. He was considered one of the Cubs’ more promising young arms for years after his signing and breezed through much of his minor league tenure, posting quality numbers against older, more experienced competition en route to a brief cup of coffee with the big league team in 2017.

The 2018 season, however, was a disaster for Tseng. After logging a 1.80 ERA in 55 1/3 Triple-A innings in 2017, Tseng was tattooed for a 6.27 earned run average in 136 1/3 frames there last year. He allowed a career-high 2.9 walks per nine innings pitched and a career-worst 1.32 homers per nine frames in last year’s ugly showing. While Tseng’s modest strikeout rate made that 2017 ERA look ripe for at least some regression even at the time, few would’ve expected such a stark downturn in his performance. Spring Training wasn’t any prettier in 2019, as Tseng yielded eight runs on eight hits and two walks with just one strikeout in 4 2/3 innings in Major League camp.

Those struggles were enough for the Cubs to move on, but the Rangers, known to be on the lookout for rotation depth, are in a better position to give a chance to a young arm not far removed from success in the upper minors. Unlike the Cubs, the Rangers didn’t enter the season with legitimate postseason aspirations. Given the patchwork nature of their rotation (plus injuries to Yohander Mendez and Edinson Volquez), Texas not only has a need for depth but also a relatively clear path to an opportunity for Tseng if he can get out to a strong start once he joins a minor league affiliate.

AL Notes: Indians, Miller, Forsythe, Gio

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Veteran infielder Brad Miller was understandably frustrated by the news that the Indians had opted to designate him for assignment over the weekend, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The 29-year-old Miller hit .250/.325/.417 with a homer and three doubles in his short time with the organization but lost out on his roster spot with the impending return of fellow left-handed-hitting second baseman Jason Kipnis. “It’s a tough trend,” Miller said of his DFA. “They acknowledge that it wasn’t fair. … I really enjoyed playing for Tito (Terry Francona). That’s why I’m frustrated. I want to be here. I like this group. It’s a good team and I was hoping I’d be a part of it, but they have other plans.”

Per Hoynes, Miller’s $1MM salary with the Indians wasn’t fully guaranteed by virtue of the fact that he agreed to a 45-day advance consent clause. (Full details on those clauses are explored in this 2014 piece from Trade Rumors’ Zach Links, though in essence, they allow teams to cut players with five-plus years of service at any point within the season’s first 45 days for any reason other than injury.) Miller will still be paid for the time he spent with the Indians, but he’ll receive the pro-rated portion of that $1MM salary while losing out on the rest of it. Notably, Hoynes reports that designated hitter Hanley Ramirez also has such a clause in his contract.

Some more from the American League…

  • Infielder Logan Forsythe spoke with MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan about his decision to sign with the Rangers, specifically how the opportunity to play on a near-everyday basis by rotating through a number of positions spoke to him. “Most teams that looked at me had a pretty set infield,” said Forsythe. “There weren’t too many everyday jobs out there, or there were, but not too many guys were signing them. More teams were going for the utility or the platooning matchup type players.” As Sullivan details, Forsythe starts at second base against lefties and first base against righties, and he’s also available as a backup to Asdrubal Cabrera and Elvis Andrus, should either left-side infielder need a day off.
  • Veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez is awaiting an opportunity in the Major Leagues with the Yankees as an opt-out clause in his minor league contract looms, Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post writes. The Yankees, according to Gonzalez, were the only club to even make him an offer this winter and didn’t do so until midway through Spring Training after an injury to Luis Severino. The southpaw had a brutal first start in Triple-A but has bounced back with a pair of strong outings, yielding just two runs through 11 innings with an 18-to-3 K/BB ratio. Gonzalez didn’t shy away from voicing his displeasure with the manner in which the offseason unfolded but also said he doesn’t feel he needs to pitch as though he has a point to prove: “No. I have nothing left to prove to people. [I] throw 180 innings, do your thing, I’m durable, doing it for the last 10 years. If I still have to prove a point, that’s embarrassing in this sport.”

Rangers Place Rougned Odor On 10-Day IL, Select Danny Santana

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Per a team release, the Rangers have placed 2B Rougned Odor on the 10-Day IL with a right knee sprain. IF/OF Danny Santana was selected to the 40-man from AAA-Nashville and will join the club in his place. To make room for Santana, the club moved righty Edinson Volquez to the 60-day IL. Per Jeff Wilson of the Fort-Worth Star-Tribune, Odor will miss “at least” two weeks of action.

Odor, 25, was off to a dreadful start at the plate this season for Texas, slashing .167/.255/.214 over his first 47 plate appearances. He rebounded with a solid .253/.326/.424 (97 wRC+, 2.5fWAR) 2018 after an awful showing the previous season; perhaps most encouragingly for the six-year vet, he nearly doubled his career-best walk rate, to 8.0%, and ranked among the best in the league with an outstanding 45% hard-hit rate. Odor’s shown an even further increase in plate discipline this season, so perhaps the early-season malaise can be chalked simply up to small-sample bad luck.

Santana, 28, was off to a strong start for AAA-Nashville over his first 40 plate appearances, but hasn’t hit much – in the minors or majors – since a .319/.353/.472 (132 wRC+) showing in 430 PAs for Minnesota in 2014, a performance fueled by a startling .405 BABIP. He has experience at nearly every position on the diamond, though, and should infuse a thin Ranger roster with some much-needed flexibility.

Health Notes: Trout, Jeffress, Murphy, Tuivailala, Volquez

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It doesn’t seem as if the Angels will end up needing to place superstar Mike Trout on the injured list. The club indicated in an announcement today that he’s recovering well after tweaking his groin muscle recently, with an MRI showing that the swelling is subsiding and Trout “report[ing] daily improvement.” Another medical review is scheduled for Sunday. It’s not known whether Trout could be activated thereafter, but a decision will need to be made sooner than later. While the club obviously prefers not to go without him any longer than necessary, the worst outcome would be for Trout to make things worse by rushing back.

More on the injury front from around the game:

  • Late-inning man Jeremy Jeffress is expected to return to the Brewers after one more rehab outing, skipper Craig Counsell tells reporters including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). Jeffress has been moving at about the pace that was hoped when it was announced he’d open the year on the injured list with a somewhat balky shoulder. He has been knocked around a bit on his rehab assignment, though that’s hardly the focus. Jeffress says he’s gaining velocity and feeling stronger as he goes. He’ll soon get the chance to try to replicate his magnificent 2018 season.
  • Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy will not require surgery to repair his fractured left index finger, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That seems generally promising, if only because it’s always preferable to avoid the risks of a procedure. It’s not clear exactly how long he’ll be sidelined; at last look, the club expected he’d be out of commission through at least the end of the month, but that seems like the bare minimum. Whatever the duration, it’ll be more than desirable for a team that currently sports the league’s worst offense.
  • While there’s still no precise timeline, a return to action is now in sight for Mariners reliever Sam Tuivailala. He’s still at least a month away from the majors but is nearing live BP sessions, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports via Twitter. The 26-year-old hurler, who is working back from a torn Achilles, appears to be a bit ahead of schedule as compared to expectations last fall. He still has a fair number of additional hurdles yet to clear, of course, but it’s generally promising for the increasingly interesting M’s.
  • The Rangers still lack clarity regarding the severity of the elbow injury to veteran starter Edinson Volquez. For now, the plan is to put him on the shelf for the next four to six weeks before bringing him in for imaging and a medical review, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was among those to cover (Twitter link). It’s a bit of an unusual situation, but it seems the hurler preferred to wait; the team agreed since he’d be sidelined regardless and the results would be more reliable after swelling has gone down. Volquez has suggested he’ll retire if he has again blown out his ulnar collateral ligament. If that’s not necessary, he could presumably return to pitch this year in Texas. It seems we’ll all wait a while longer to learn the outcome.

Previewing 2019-20’s Opt-Out Clause Decisions

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Some few contracts include provisions giving the player control over one or more seasons by affording the chance to opt out of the remainder of the deal. Take the bird in hand or see how many you can net from the free-agent bush? Market changes have impacted the math for some players, but the open market still has riches to offer. We don’t know how things will look for any given player at season’s end, but here’s how it’s shaping up at the outset of the 2019 campaign:

Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers: Three years, $43MM: The 2016-17 version of Andrus — and the one we saw through the season’s first two weeks in 2018 — looked every bit like a player who would exercise the first of two opt-out clauses in his contract (which came at the end of the 2018 season). From Opening Day 2016 through April 11 last year, Andrus posted a terrific .301/.352/.459 batting line with 30 homers, 78 doubles, 11 triples and 49 steals through 1318 plate appearances. Paired with his glovework at shortstop, he looked very capable of topping the remaining four years and $58MM on his contract. Unfortunately, he suffered an elbow fracture, missed two months, and returned to hit only .245/.289/.347 in his final 367 plate appearances. An offseason of rest looks to have done him some good, as he’s hitting .380/.392/.500 through 51 PAs. Unlike several players on this list, there’s an actual chance that Andrus could test the open market, though free agency hasn’t been kind to players on the wrong side of 30 in recent years.

Jake Arrieta, RHP, Phillies: One year, $20MM (unless Phillies exercise two-year, $40MM option for 2021-22): Arrieta’s first season with the Phils was solid, if unremarkable. He tallied 172 2/3 innings and gave the team a 3.96 ERA with fielding-independent metrics that didn’t stray too far from that ERA (4.26 FIP, 4.08 xFIP, 4.29 SIERA). The former Cy Young winner’s velocity is down a couple miles per hour from its peak levels, and while Arrieta showed good control and ground-ball tendencies in 2018, he no longer appears to be a strikeout pitcher. Given that he’ll pitch next season at age 34, it doesn’t seem all that likely that the Phillies will sign up to tack on another pair of $20MM seasons. With a strong 2019 effort, it’s possible that Arrieta positions himself to land a two-year deal with a larger guarantee but lower annual rate (e.g. two years, $30MM), so it’s not out of the question that he’d opt out at season’s end, even if seems unlikely at present.

Yu Darvish, RHP, Cubs: Four years, $81MM: Darvish’s first season in Chicago was an unmitigated disaster, as a series of arm injuries limited him to just 40 innings of work. His velocity isn’t where it was in previous seasons, and in this season’s small sample of three starts, he’s walked more batters than he’s punched out. It’s hard to envision any scenario in which Darvish opts out of his contract; even if he stormed back to ace status and won an NL Cy Young Award, I’m not sure he’d top $81MM as a 33-year-old free agent with a qualifying offer hanging over his head. The Cubs appear stuck with the contract and will need to simply hope for a rebound.

Jason Heyward, OF, Cubs: Four years, $86MM (assuming he makes 550 PAs): Heyward has had a scalding hot start to the season, mashing at a .351/.444/.676 pace. Through 45 plate appearances, he’s already halfway to his home run total from a 2018 season in which he came to he plate 489 times. Even if Heyward’s bat proves to be rejuvenated to its 2015 levels, however, it’s virtually unfathomable that he’d walk away from the remaining $86MM on this contract. His poor results in his first three seasons with the Cubs still loom large enough that a monster year at the dish would be met with a heavy dose of skepticism, and he’ll turn 30 in August.

Kenley Jansen, RHP, Dodgers: Two years, $38MM: After seven seasons as a near-unstoppable force in the Dodgers’ bullpen, Jansen looked mortal in 2018 when he logged a 3.01 ERA (his first time ever topping 3.00) and 10.3 K/9 (his first time south of 13.0). A strong enough rebound campaign could embolden Jansen to seek out a three-year deal at a lower annual salary than the $19MM remaining on his contract; the Rockies gave Wade Davis a total of $52MM for the same three-year age span that Jansen will be entering (32-34). He’s already rejected one qualifying offer in his career, so he wouldn’t be eligible to receive a second one (even though he landed with the same team that winter).

J.D. Martinez, DH/OF, Red Sox: Three years, $62.5MM: The general expectation in the 2017-18 offseason was that Martinez’s 2017 season (.303/.376/.690, 45 home runs) would be a peak year. Instead, he turned in an arguably even more productive 2018 season with the Red Sox, hitting a ridiculous .330/.402/.629 with 43 home runs in 649 PAs — the second-highest total of his career. Martinez is off to another strong start in 2019, and despite a frosty climate for free agents, one can only wonder if he’d be tempted to once again test free agency if he can post a third consecutive season of 40-plus homers with an OPS north of 1.000. One wrinkle to consider is that barring an unexpected midseason trade, Martinez would have a qualifying offer attached to him this time around; that wasn’t true of his last trip through free agency, as he’d been traded from Detroit to Arizona midseason.

Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Nationals: Four years, $100MM: Strasburg is still a strikeout machine who posts big totals in swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, but his 93.1 mph average fastball in 2019 is well south of last year’s 94.5 mph (to say nothing of his career 95.3). The former No. 1 pick was a big part of the Nats’ rotation in 2018 and should be again this year, but he was more good than great last year (130 innings, 3.74 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 43.6 GB%). Moreover, Darvish and a much younger Patrick Corbin are the only two pitchers who have topped $100MM in guarantees over the past two offseasons. Strasburg would be hit with a qualifying offer if he opted out, and he’d be betting against recent trends as a 31-year-old pitcher looking to cash in on a nine-figure contract. He can ask Dallas Keuchel how well that strategy works.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Heaney, Peacock

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The Rangers are looking at adding some depth options for the rotation to their minor league ranks, president of baseball operations Jon Daniels told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). Texas recently lost Edinson Volquez to an elbow sprain that could potentially threaten the veteran righty’s career.

At this point, the free-agent market for starting pitching has been largely picked clean, although there are still a few notable names available. Edwin Jackson remains unsigned, as does old friend Bartolo Colon, who has reportedly sought to continue his career into the 2019 season. Veterans James Shields, Chris Tillman and Yovani Gallardo all remain unsigned. As with Colon, the Rangers have had both Tillman (late 2018) and Gallardo (2015, 2018) in the organization before. The Cubs recently designated righty Jen-Ho Tseng for assignment as well, and he could be another option given several years of rotation experience in the minors. Unsurprisingly, Wilson notes that Dallas Keuchel is not viewed as an option despite the Rangers’ search for rotation help.

Here’s more from around the division…

  • Angels southpaw Andrew Heaney resumed throwing today, but he’s still expected to be sidelined for a month or more, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. A recent CT scan revealed what the team announced as “chronic changes” to Heaney’s left elbow, but it doesn’t appear as though there’s any threat of surgery for the left-hander. Heaney tossed 180 solid innings for the Halos in 2018 but has yet to take the mound in 2019 after being limited to just 1 2/3 innings in Spring Training.
  • With a series of off-days on the horizon, the Astros will move Brad Peacock to the bullpen for the next couple of weeks, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Houston has been operating with a shorter bullpen than usual in order to carry two out-of-options players on its bench in Tony Kemp and Tyler White. Whether that arrangement proves sustainable over the course of the entire season remains to be seen, as manager A.J. Hinch even spoke of distinctly noticing a difference in carrying a 12-man pitching staff as opposed to a 13-man pitching staff in the early stages of the 2019 season.

Ronald Guzman Placed On IL With Hamstring Strain

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After suffering a right hamstring strain, the Rangers have placed first baseman Ronald Guzman on the 10-day injured list, per a team announcement. To fill his roster spot, the team has recalled infielder Patrick Wisdom from Triple-A.

The 24-year-old Guzman has started off the season hitting just .231, though he has shown more reason for optimism with 4 doubles and 2 home runs through nine games, good for a .615 slugging percentage. The Rangers are hoping for the big first baseman to improve on his 2018 rookie season, in which he posted a .235/.306/.416 slash line that, while respectable, is rather pedestrian for a corner infielder. A power surge from Guzman would be a welcome development for the Rangers, who will also miss Guzman’s defense at first base. It appears that veteran Logan Forsythe will take over as the primary first baseman in Guzman’s absence, with Wisdom assuming a utility infield role off the bench.

Wisdom, 27, was an offseason acquisition from the Cardinals, where he had previously spent his entire career after St. Louis used a first-round pick on Wisdom in the 2012 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut in 2018, playing in 32 games and posting an impressive .260/.362/.520 batting line. Wisdom, who has played third base and first base in the big leagues, boasts an impressive minor-league track record, including the 2017 season, in which he hit 31 home runs in 127 games—albeit in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Expect to see Wisdom earn himself a spot start here and there while the Rangers await the return of their everyday first baseman.

Quick Hits: Epstein, Cubs, Hunter, Straily, Japan

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After a 1-6 start to the Cubs’ season, Chicago fans are already pointing fingers in many directions, including criticism of ownership for not greenlighting more offseason spending, or of the team’s desultory pitching performance.  President of baseball operations Theo Epstein, however, told ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers and other reporters that the blame falls with him.  “There is always a search for scapegoats when you get off to a tough start.  [Pitching coach] Tommy Hottovy is not the problem. He’s a big part of the solution,” Epstein said.  “[Owner] Tom Ricketts is not the problem. It’s not a resource issue. I know he’s another one that’s been taking a lot of heat. It’s not a resource problem. If people have a problem with the allocation of resources, then that’s on me. And it has been ever since I got here, with a lot of good and some bad.”

While it’s obviously still early in the season, the Cubs are already facing a big deficit in the NL Central due to the Brewers’ 7-1 start, as Rogers notes.  The Cubs can make up some of that ground in their ongoing series with Milwaukee, plus there’s also really nowhere to go but up after this opening week.  “It’s been real close to, if not, a worst-case scenario for us, defensively and in terms of our pitching….We’re sorry we’re putting our fans through this,” Epstein said.

Some more from around the National League…

  • Phillies reliever Tommy Hunter has been shut down from throwing after receiving a PRP injection in his right arm.  (MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki was among those to report the news.)  Hunter won’t resume throwing for three weeks, so factoring in those days plus the time Hunter would require to get into game readiness after missing much of Spring Training, the veteran righty might not be back in the Philadelphia bullpen until late May or perhaps early June.  A flexor strain sidelined Hunter during the spring, and while the injury wasn’t thought to be overly serious at the time, it will result in a lengthy absence for the 32-year-old.  Hunter was a solid contributor for the Phils last season, posting a 3.80 ERA, 3.40 K/BB rate, and 7.2 K/9 over 64 relief innings in the first year of a two-year, $18MM contract.
  • The Rangers and Blue Jays were two of the teams that had interest in Dan Straily before the right-hander signed with the Orioles last week, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Both Texas and Toronto are dealing with rotation injuries, though the Rangers had a more immediate need for starting help now that Edinson Volquez has been sidelined with a UCL injury.
  • Japan used to be seen as something of a last resort for players that couldn’t crack the Major Leagues, though as The Athletic’s Peter Gammons writes (subscription required), more and more players are returning from stints in Nippon Professional Baseball capable of thriving at the MLB level.  Colby Lewis, Ryan Vogelsong, Miles Mikolas, and Ryan Brasier are some of the pitchers who revived or kickstarted their careers while playing in Japan, which some players and executives feel is a more conducive environment than Triple-A.  NPB not only offers a higher level of competition, but just competition in general — players are playing to win in pressurized games in front of large crowds, rather than the more developmental nature of the minor leagues.  Plus, players can earn much more in guaranteed NPB deals than in playing for meager minor league salaries or even minimum-level Major League contracts, and the extra security allows more focus on performance.  “I’m not looking over my shoulder after every outing,” said Frank Herrmann, who is in his third season as a star reliever for Rakuten Golden Eagles after tossing 135 1/3 innings for the Indians and Phillies between 2010-16.  “When you are that ’4A guy,’ a bad outing or even an extra-inning game in which you did your job could potentially be a demotion to the minors. That’s a grind mentality.”
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