Astros Double-A outfielder Danry Vasquez has been placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball as the Corpus Christi Police Department and the MLB Commissioner’s Office investigate a domestic violence incident, according to a statement from the Astros. Fares Sabawi of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times has obtained an arrest affidavit, which reveals that video footage from the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks’ stadium shows Vasquez striking his girlfriend on three separate occasions during an argument. A Hooks employee also claims to have been threatened by Vasquez on the day in question, and video does show a “heated conversation” between the two, per the affidavit. Said the Astros in a statement: ” The Houston Astros and all of our affiliates, including the Corpus Christi Hooks, are governed by and strongly support MLB’s domestic violence policy. We take this allegation very seriously, and have taken swift response as we do not condone violence in our organization.”
A few other items pertaining to the division…
- The Astros promoted Yulieski Gurriel to Triple-A Fresno yesterday, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes. The previous expectation had been that Gurriel would make his big league debut this week, but after he struggled considerably at the Double-A level, the organization made the decision to give him some additional time to get up to speed and bumped him up another level. General manager Jeff Luhnow told McTaggart that there’s “no specific timeline” for Gurriel to be promoted to the Majors at this point but did add that the infielder “is getting close.” Gurriel collected just two hits in 19 plate appearances at the Double-A level, but he went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run in yesterday’s Triple-A debut.
- Athletics prospect Chad Pinder has been told he’ll be joining the team on Wednesday, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s not entirely clear yet how Pinder will be utilized, Slusser notes, and he could potentially be a short-term sub while Marcus Semien departs on paternity leave. However, Slusser also notes that fellow right-handed-hitting infielder Tyler Ladendorf is mired in a dismal 0-for-19 slump and is 0-for-26 against left-handed pitchers this season, so Pinder could replace him on the roster. The 24-year-old Pinder was Oakland’s second-round pick in 2014 and has batted .258/.310/.425 in 465 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He rates ninth among Oakland farmhands, per MLB.com, and sixth per Baseball America.
- The Rangers’ injury woes seem to have continued, as Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News writes that righty Lucas Harrell is likely ticketed for the DL due to a groin strain that forced him to exit last night’s start after two innings. Harrell hasn’t performed well since being acquired by the Rangers (5.60 ERA in 17 2/3 innings) but was nonetheless occupying a spot in the rotation and will now force Texas to scramble a bit. Nick Martinez is likely to be brought back to the Majors to serve as a long reliever today, per Fraley, and the Harrell injury will have an impact on Texas’ decision as to when Derek Holland will be activated from the 60-day DL. He’s eligible to join the team this coming Saturday, and Holland himself tells Fraley that feels “very confident” in where he’s at in terms of recovery. Holland last tossed 75 pitches over four innings in a minor league rehab start. Manager Jeff Banister wouldn’t commit to exactly when Holland will rejoin the team, and Fraley points out that a pair of upcoming off-days gives the Rangers some flexibility with the rotation.
The A’s as usual promoting lower level prospects while keeping their top prospects from reaching the Majors. Chapman can’t get a shot? Nunez can’t get promoted? In fact Matt Olson now has a great shot at reaching the big club now that he went from being the #2 prospect to #18
Maybe they know a little more than you do. What does it matter who they promote? They aren’t contender and maybe they are showcasing some guys
Pinder has often been compared to Jed Lowrie, who the A’s just lost for the season. Yes Olson, Nunez, and Chapman are probably better players, but they are also all corner infielders. Especially with Healy playing really well, they don’t need more corner guys, they need someone who can play second base better than Max Muncy (which is literally everyone). Pinder is the right guy. Best case scenario is a younger Jed Lawrie clone. Worst case is a older Jed Lawrie clone. Both of which are better than whoever the A’s would deploy at 2B instead.
Dude, you have no idea what your talking about. Olson and Nunez are struggling. Olson especially, Chapman just got moved up to AAA. None of them has any business being called up yet. Pinder is not a Lowrie clone, he has more pop and a better arm
Pinder is there as a Lowrie replacement up the middle, and probably not much more, although getting a look at him at 2B wouldn’t hurt. Chapman isn’t on the 40 man roster, so you’d have to DFA someone to get him on, plus you’d burn an option year. Nunez is still very young and hasn’t set the world on fire in Nashville. The 21 HRs are nice, but the .287 OBA…not so much. Plus he’s primarily played 3B and they are trying to get a good look at Healy there.
With this many Texas Rangers players on the DL, the staff in charge of the player conditioning needs to be reevaluated.
That’s been the case for several years.
I think you’re a little out there right now. You can’t blame staff for Choo being hit by a pitch. You can’t blame staff for Hamilton’s knees. It’s hard to blame staff for Holland and Colby being injury prone. And you sure can’t blame them for Prince… so there’s not much of a DL left when you factor all of this in. It’s sure not even close to what happened in 2014.
Trust me, I don’t know anyone who’s been more frustrated with injuries than I have been over the last month. I have a 32 man dynasty team with 5 DL slots and I have 8 guys on the DL, and I just dropped 2 other DL guys last week. This is not where you want to be heading into the end of the season.
i think gammaraze is correct. These are not really conditioning factors. Choo was a freak thing. Hamilton, Holland, Colby and Prince have had more than their share of physical problems the last few years. Texas started the year with six projected starters this year—-five having significant health issues. Cole has been fine, but Derek, Yu, Colby, Perez and Griffin all spent a lot of time on the DL.
Rangers can have Two pitchers from the Phillies if their willing to pay!
We’ve got the pitching depth and division lead to limp through the next week or two. No need to pay crazy amounts to Philly again. I will say it would sure be nice if JD had given Philly Chi Chi instead of Eickhoff. It would be nice to have him right about now
Chi Chi got off to an amazing MLB career but I guess the “book” caught up with him quick and he’s just been terrible after his first four starts. Same thing with Nick Martinez who was awesome the first two months last year—but reality set in and he hasn’t been the same or even close.