The Cardinals announced yesterday that righty Mike Leake will be activated from the 15-day DL to start on Wednesday, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. His return from a bout of shingles is welcome news as the team battles for a Wild Card berth. Leake had struggled rather notably of late — he carries a 5.71 ERA and has allowed a .824 OPS over his last seven starts — but he’ll look to get back on track and contribute some solid innings down the stretch. If he can’t get it going, the Cards will be able to turn back to sensational 22-year-old Alex Reyes, who will be bumped from the rotation for the time being but figures to be available for high-leverage innings or lengthier outings from the bullpen.
Here’s more from the central divisions:
- Meanwhile, injured Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal may have a shot at joining Leake in returning to the club this year, ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon reports. He just returned to the mound for the first time since he was shut down with a forearm strain, Saxon notes. While he’ll obviously need a chance to ramp back up before there’s any chance of a major league return, it would seem wise for the organization to do everything possible to get Rosenthal in action before season’s end. After all, the 26-year-old could yet be an important contributor if he can overcome his sudden command problems, and the Cards need to gather all the information they can before deciding whether to tender him a contract for 2017.
- Despite the Tigers’ need for bullpen help, the club has decided not to promote intriguing righty Joe Jimenez, as Evan Woodberry of MLive.com reports. It seems the club isn’t sure that the 21-year-old yet possesses the secondary offerings needed to succeed in the majors, as he certainly has the numbers to support a promotion. After opening the 2016 season at the High-A level, the Puerto Rican hurler pushed his way to Triple-A. He didn’t maintain his gaudy 14+ K/9 strikeout rate there, but the overall results were quite promising for a pitching of his age. In his 15 2/3 frames at the highest level of the minors, Jimenez allowed four earned runs on just nine hits and four walks while retiring 16 opposing hitters via the K.
- Billy Hamilton will likely make it back this year for the Reds after suffering a strained left oblique, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Still, though, he won’t resume any baseball activities for five to seven days, and seems likely to be out at least some time beyond that as the out-of-contention Reds play things safe with their speedy center fielder. The silver lining here may be that Cinci will find it easier to plug versatile prospect Jose Peraza into the lineup. He has been on a tear since his most recent big league promotion, and seems in need of regular time as the organization assesses its offseason plans.
I know there is a lot of money tied to Leake but at this point I’d take my chances with Reyes over Leake or Garcia in the starting rotation
You can do so with Garcia, although he is your lefty, but there is no way they do so with Leake considering not only the money, but the long term track record.
Ummmm, When Garcia is healthy he is a much better pitcher than Leake. The track record is clear on this.
I can’t imagine the Cardinals NOT giving Rosenthal a contract for 2017. Every other team would gratefully snatch him up if they did.
Yeah thats a ridiculous notion… Yes he will be expensive, but lets not forget the guy was a top closer in baseball for several seasons. Id understand if his arm fell off… Get him healthy and confidence back…
Seeing Jose Peraza at SS is preferably to time in CF, but seeing him in the starting lineup is far better than seeing him on the bench. Scott Schebler, acquired in the same trade as Peraza, also plays some CF (albeit not as well).
If Billy Hamilton is finished for the year he can be happy that he put together a strong year… a year in which he looked like a true leadoff hitter for the first time, and is very deserving of winning his first Gold Glove.
Reds Put more stock into Billy when he can string together several above .300 OBP months together. .5 months out of 18 in MLB Billy carried an OBP above .300. IF he could get his contact rate up and just get the bat on the ball he would make so many things happen.
The Tigers not calling up Joe Jimenez makes no sense, whatsoever. Maybe he doesn’t have the secondary pitches needed at the major league level, but they wont know without trying. The option is to keep running Mark Lowe out with the game in the balance. Jimenez is the most worthy of a call up, but they need to call at least one or two more right handers up, just to be able to keep up with the moves of the rebuilding teams. The bullpen would be more effective if it was more rested. Using Greene or Alex Wilson in mop up duty is taxing, and should be unnecessary when in the hunt in Sept.
Reds are competitive and will get better. Can’t wait until next year!