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Nationals To Place Shawn Kelley On 10-Day DL

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The Nationals are lining up a series of roster moves as they continue to deal with a barrage of early-season maladies. Most notably, righty Shawn Kelley is heading to the DL after departing last night’s game with an injury, Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reports on Twitter.

It seems Kelley is dealing again with a bout of ulnar nerve irritation, MLB.com’s Jamal Collier of MLB.com tweets. Just how long he’ll be down isn’t clear, but he’ll at least need to allow the problem to subside and could ultimately require some rehab outings.

Kelley has shown some signs of a revival in his first six innings on the season, recording nine strikeouts without issuing a single walk. But he has also continued to surrender home runs at an unacceptable level, with three leaving the yard thus far in 2018 after he coughed up a dozen in 26 frames last year.

Outfielder Rafael Bautista and infielder Adrian Sanchez will head onto the active roster, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted. Both are already on the 40-man after debuting last season. Infielder Matt Reynolds will be optioned out to make way, as Collier suggested on Twitter and Castillo confirms in a tweet.

Perhaps the Nats will hope that the young call-ups can provide some energy, but neither holds out much promise of boosting a lagging offense. Bautista has rarely posted quality numbers with the bat in the minors and is hitting .304/.342/.362 through 75 plate appearances in 2018. Sanchez has an even lighter track record but is off to a .286/.349/.411 start to the current season at Syracuse.

Yankees Acquire A.J. Cole, Designate David Hale

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The Yankees have acquired righty A.J. Cole from the Nationals, per club announcements. Cash considerations will go to the Washington organization in return. To clear a roster spot, the Yankees designated fellow right-hander David Hale for assignment.

Cole, 26, had recently been designated by the Nats after a poor start to the current season. Originally a fourth-round pick, he was a part of two notable trades swung by the organization, first going to the Athletics in the Gio Gonzalez swap and then returning to D.C. (along with Blake Treinen and Ian Krol) in the three-team arrangement in which the Nationals sent Michael Morse to the Mariners and the A’s picked up John Jaso.

Entering the season, the Nationals planned to utilize Cole as their fifth starter. But he struggled in two turns through the rotation, leading the club to bump him to the pen in favor of Jeremy Hellickson. Cole ultimately made two relief appearances but failed to show signs of improvement. In his 10 1/3 innings on the season, he has allowed 15 earned runs and six home runs while compiling ten strikeouts against six walks.

Cole is out of options, so he’ll go directly onto the Yankees’ MLB roster, where he could work as a longman from the bullpen. He’ll replace Hale, who threw two scoreless innings tonight for the Yanks but had opened the year at Triple-A. In his three starts there, he worked to a 5.52 ERA with a 10:2 K/BB ratio in 14 2/3 innings. He has not seen the majors since 2016; in parts of four seasons in the bigs, Hale owns a 4.48 ERA over 178 2/3 frames.

Nationals Place Anthony Rendon On 10-Day DL

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The Nationals announced that third baseman Anthony Rendon has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a left toe contusion, retroactive to April 19.  Righty Austin Adams has been recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

The DL placement concludes a frustrating week for Rendon, who hasn’t played since fouling a ball off his toe on April 13.  Both Rendon and the Nats were hopeful that Rendon could return without the need for a DL stint, though in effect, this decision led to Washington playing with a 24-man roster for over a week (though the Nats have gone 4-3 over their last seven games).  Rendon told the Washington Post’s Jorge Castillo and other reporters that his toe is still bothering him when he’s running or in the field, so it was clear that a roster decision needed to be made.  DL stints can only be backdated as far back as three days, hence the April 19 timing of the move.

[Updated Nationals depth chart at Roster Resource]

While the injury still doesn’t seem terribly serious, obviously the Nats want their star third baseman back as quickly as possible, especially with Adam Eaton and Daniel Murphy both still missing from the lineup.  Wilmer Difo has been filling in for Rendon at the hot corner, with utilityman Matt Reynolds also providing depth off the Nationals’ bench.

Nationals To Re-Evaluate Anthony Rendon

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  • Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon hasn’t played since April 13 because of an injury to his left big toe, which remains “pretty sore,” manager Davey Martinez told Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com and other reporters Saturday. As a result, the Nationals will “re-evaluate” Rendon, according to Martinez, who was unsure whether the star could be headed to the DL. The Nationals would only be able to backdate a DL stint to Thursday, Zuckerman notes, so Rendon wouldn’t be eligible to return until April 29.

Nationals Designate A.J. Cole, Select Carlos Torres

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The Nationals have designated righty A.J. Cole for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by veteran reliever Carlos Torres, whose contract was selected.

It has long been evident that this was a make-or-break season for Cole, who the organization long felt would be a major-league contributor. He was given a shot at a rotation spot out of camp but lasted only two starts and two relief appearances before the team was forced to make a move.

Cole’s once bright star had already ebbed over recent seasons, as he continued to spend more of his time at Triple-A than in the majors. He reached the highest level of the minors in 2014 and cracked the bigs in the following campaign, but has thrown only 110 total MLB frames.

A major factor in Cole’s lack of chances was the fact that the competing Nationals couldn’t simply give him innings without concern for how they went. Perhaps the leash would’ve been longer this year, though, were it not for the fact that the Nats have endured a tepid opening few weeks that have left them looking up at three teams.

With a need for fresh relievers, there just wasn’t more time to let Cole work through his early struggles. Make no mistake, they were pronounced. He paces the N.L. with a whopping six home runs allowed in just 10 1/3 innings and has coughed up 15 earned runs.

Torres, meanwhile, is a sturdy veteran pen arm who is capable of pitching multiple innings. The 35-year-old, who joined the Nats organization on a minors deal just before the start of the season, has thrown more than fifty MLB innings in every season since the 2012 campaign and has a 3.73 ERA in 449 total innings in that span. He has thrown five scoreless and hitless innings at Triple-A thus far in 2018.

Nationals Place Brian Goodwin On 10-Day DL

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  • The Nationals have made another DL placement as the organization continues to deal with a barrage of position-player injuries. As Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com reports, Brian Goodwin’s sore wrist has forced him onto the shelf. The expectation, though, is that it’ll be a short stint. Andrew Stevenson will replace him for the time being. In more hopeful news, skipper Dave Martinez says that third baseman Anthony Rendon is making steady progress from a toe injury suffered on a foul tip. That’s certainly good news for the Nats, who are currently going without several of their best players.

Victor Robles Will Not Require Surgery For Arm Injury

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Top Nationals prospect Victor Robles has avoided the worst-case scenario after recently suffering a worrisome arm injury, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post was among those to report on Twitter. While details remain scant, skipper Dave Martinez suggested that the team anticipates Robles will avoid surgery and be back at some point in the current season.

It seems that the Nats had largely resigned themselves to losing one of the game’s very best prospects for all of the 2018 season — which would have removed a key security blanket for a club that has endured an underwhelming opening to the new campaign. While he had been cleared of any fractures, the club evidently anticipated that an MRI would reveal some damage to Robles’s elbow, which was injured when his glove was trapped on a diving attempt at a catch in the outfield. The belief now appears to be that Robles will still need to spend a few months rehabbing, but will be able to get back into playing form this year after being cleared of any torn ligaments.

Though Robles obviously wasn’t on the MLB roster to open the year, this still registers as significant news for the Nationals’ near-term plans. With Michael Taylor limping to a .193/.233/.246 slash line out of the gates and Adam Eaton landing on the DL on the heels of a lengthy rehab, it’s certainly possible Robles would already have been called upon had he not been hurt.

Even if the plan called for him to stay at Triple-A for a while — he had skipped the level last year when he made a late-season debut in D.C. — Robles has long seemed to be a key potential mid-season addition. It’s arguable he could function as a major trade chip, too, though that always has felt unlikely given the organization’s near-term outfield needs, its unwillingness to deal Robles in the past, and his readiness to make his own contribution to a postseason push.

While the Nationals still need to get back to full health and find some improvements from within the current active roster, it’s something of a relief for the team to know that Robles could conceivably still be a factor at the MLB level this year. Even if that does not come to pass, the organization ought to be able to get some comfort with Robles’s status heading into the offseason, when some highly consequential decisions will be made on the future of the outfield.

Nationals Select Contract Of Jeremy Hellickson

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The Nationals announced that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Jeremy Hellickson and transferred catcher Jhonatan Solano to the 60-day disabled list (bone chips in right elbow) to create a spot on the 40-man roster. The Nats opened an active roster spot for Hellickson, who’ll start tonight’s game, by optioning righty Trevor Gott to Triple-A Syracuse.

Hellickson, 31, will step into the fifth spot of the Nats’ rotation in place of struggling right-hander A.J. Cole, who has been tagged for a dozen runs on 13 hits (four homers) and five walks through his first nine innings of the season. Cole couldn’t be sent to the minors to clear space for Hellickson due to the fact that he’s out of minor league options and would’ve first needed to be exposed to waivers. As such, he’ll head to the bullpen for now.

Hellickson will be eyeing a rebound from a disastrous 2017 season that saw him struggle with the Phillies before completely coming unglued following a trade to the Orioles. In 51 2/3 innings with the O’s down the stretch, the 2011 AL Rookie of the Year allowed an average of 2.26 home runs per nine innings pitched while notching just 5.40 strikeouts against 2.96 walks per nine frames. The resulting 6.97 ERA and overall body of Hellickson’s struggles were concerning enough that he had to settle for a minor league contract with an invite to MLB camp with the Nats in free agency this winter.

Of course, Hellickson isn’t far removed from a full season of work as a quality big league starter. Pitching for the division-rival Phillies in 2016, Hellickson parlayed 189 innings of 3.71 ERA ball with 7.33 K/9, 2.14 BB/9, 1.14 HR/9 and a 40.7 percent grounder rate into a $17.2MM qualifying offer. He accepted that QO rather than testing the open market but wasn’t able to further build his stock and cash in on a multi-year pact as he likely hoped.

NL Notes: Blackmon, Gyorko, Gregerson, Glasnow, Hellickson

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Though recently-extended Rockies slugger Charlie Blackmon is a star outfielder, he spent his early career trying to make it as a pitcher. Kyle Newman of the Denver Post details Blackmon’s story, beginning with his high school tenure in Atlanta. After struggling to gain any significant attention early on, Blackmon began experiencing arm troubles in his junior year at Georgia Tech. The following season, however, saw him excel as a hitter en route to being drafted by the Rockies. He’s now set to earn nine figures throughout the course of his MLB career. There are some insightful quotes and tidbits in Newman’s article, including this quote from manager Walt Weiss: “I didn’t foresee the power — he’s made some adjustments, and there’s lightning in the bat now because his power numbers are pretty amazing considering the type of player he was when he broke in.”

More from around the National League…

  • The Cardinals have a pair of players set to return soon in Jedd Gyorko and Luke Gregerson, as Joe Trezza of MLB.com reminds us. In fact, both could come off the DL as early as this coming week. Trezza adds that Gyorko’s situation will complicate the infield alignment in St. Louis, as he could sap some playing time from either Kolten Wong or Matt Carpenter (both of whom are currently ice cold at the plate). Gregerson has thrown four scoreless rehab appearances; he began the season on the DL with a hamstring strain.
  • Tyler Glasnow’s first season in relief has yielded good results so far for the Pirates, writes Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The fireballing righty has allowed just a run across six innings in his first three appearances, in part due to an increase in his spin rate. Brink notes that he’s averaged 2,859 revolutions per minute on his curveball, a mark that’s presently 12th in all of MLB. Glasnow’s also increased his average fastball velocity to 96 MPH. “He’s a little bit more free at ease out there on the mound and being himself,” said Ray Searage, renowned pitching coach for the Pirates. “When you have confidence in yourself and try to execute at the best of your ability, you’re going to be more free and easy.”
  • Jeremy Hellickson will officially start for the Nationals tomorrow, Dan Kolko of MASN reports on Twitter. That falls in line with earlier reports that suggested the possibility. Nats fans are surely glad to see anyone but A.J. Cole, who sports a 12.00 ERA through two starts so far this season. There’s a $2MM salary to gain for Hellickson if he sticks in the rotation, as the terms of his minors pact with the club dictate.

Jeremy Hellickson Could Start For Nationals On Monday

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  • Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson could take the ball for the Nationals on Monday when they open a series against the division-rival Mets, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com suggests. Righty A.J. Cole is penciled in at the moment, though signs are pointing to Hellickson making his Nats debut, Zuckerman explains. Promoting Hellickson, whom Washington signed to a minors deal before the season, would require the team to add him to its 40-man roster and jettison someone else. That wouldn’t be the out-of-options Cole, per Zuckerman, who expects him to move to the bullpen in the event of a Hellickson call-up. The 31-year-old Hellickson, a veteran of 197 starts, will earn a $2MM salary if he lands a spot with the Nats.

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