MLBTR extends its best wishes to Giants skipper Bruce Bochy and Diamondbacks bench coach Ron Gardenhire, each of whom underwent surgery today, according to a pair of club releases. Bochy had a “minor ablation procedure this morning to alleviate some discomfort he was experiencing due to an atrial flutter,” the Giants said in a statement. Bochy is expected to rejoin the team on Friday, and in the interim, bench coach Ron Wotus will assume managerial duties. Gardenhire’s surgery was part of his ongoing treatment for prostate cancer, which he was diagnosed with during Spring Training. Both veterans are among the most respected and well-liked managers/coaches in the game, and we join those around the industry in wishing Bochy and Gardy full recoveries.
A few notes from around the NL West…
- The Dodgers announced that left-hander Grant Dayton has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to an intercostal strain. Right-hander Josh Fields has been recalled from Triple-A to take his spot on the active roster. The injury to Dayton, who has provided L.A. with 32 2/3 innings of 1.65 ERA ball dating back to his MLB debut last season, leaves Luis Avilan as the lone southpaw in manager Dave Roberts’ bullpen (as their depth chart at RosterResource.com shows). To this point, there’s no word on whether Dayton will be able to return in the minimum 10 days or if he’ll require a lengthier stay on the shelf.
- Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register writes that Rich Hill’s lack of blisters during Spring Training and immediate blister flare-up early in the season has left the Dodgers’ training staff “baffled” about what could’ve caused the issue. Roberts said that “everything” is on the table when it comes to getting Hill back up to speed, and the manager elaborated a bit on the notion of a temporary bullpen role for the left-hander to get him through the current issue. While some will question the decision to bring Hill back so quickly only to see the issue pop back up, Roberts doesn’t think insufficient rest isn’t to blame. “Put it this way – he shut down all winter and we didn’t see this blister until his first start,” said Roberts. “You can argue that resting it isn’t the solution because he had as much rest as he could and there wasn’t a sign of this until he made his first start.”
- The Padres are looking for more production at shortstop but are hoping for one of Erick Aybar, Allen Cordoba or Luis Sardinas to step up for the time being, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. There’s some optimism in the organization that prospect Luis Urias could emerge as a viable option, though he could be a ways off from the Majors. Urias opened the year at Double-A but is just 19 years of age. He did post a very strong .333/.404/.446 batting line as one of the youngest players in the Class-A Advanced California League last season, though, and even got a brief cup of coffee in Triple-A in 2016 (three games). In the meantime, manager Andy Green praised Aybar’s eye at the plate (he’s walked six times) and voiced confidence that hits will begin to fall in for the veteran. Aybar is hitting just .147/.293/.206, while Sardinas comes with less of a big league track record and Cordoba is swimming with sharks after jumping directly from Rookie Ball to the Majors as a Rule 5 pick.
Oh gee, who would have guessed Cardoba wouldn’t be able to provide much of anything.
His is hitting
.400 plus ba is a microscopic sample sizes with 5 hits
5 for 12 with a HR and 2 walks. Have only seen the videos that have been on MLB.com, but he looks really good in those. Maybe you should read the article Steve Adams links to or take a look at the videos of him or at least know what his stats are before saying he isn’t able to provide much of anything. Wish we had a backup for Hardy like him. Doubt Mountcastle or Ortega would have done as well as that kid has so far.
Solid hits… glove needs work
That’s one reason he isn’t the short stop
Needs to work on his fielding
Needs more cage time with hitting coaches to get better at hitting.
Good luck to Boch and Gardy. Two of the good guys in the game.
LMAO. Some lamebrain downvoted that? Talk about total lack of class.
Córdoba has actually looked really good in his limited playing time so far. He isn’t over-matched by big league pitching and he has a nice approach at the plate. The homer he hit it Jaime Garcia yesterday was smoked. They just need to let him play, what is the point of letting Aybar play everyday, I think we all know what he can do at this point.. Let the kid play, might have found a nice gem in a very unexpected place.
Oh what do you know? Cordoba with another hit in his only at bat tonight. 6-13 with 2 walks in his first 2 weeks in the bigs, I mean the guy won 2 batting titles in the Cardinals organization the last few years, the kid can hit. The glove just has to translate as well hopefully.
Pretty thrill and stoked about this kid, but that ball was hardly smoked. It went into the 3rd row in Atlanta… would have died on track in petco.
He’ll need a lot of work on his glove but he is very promising
And, let’s just be honest, it was hit off Jaime Garcia, That guy kind of sucks most of the time. Cordoba has looked alright in the tiny sample size of 13 ABs. I’m still wary of a guy who took so long to get out of rookie ball (5 years) but maybe there’s something there. Certainly there’s no reason to be running Aybar out there every day. He’s just awful, and that line about the walks is conveniently ignoring that #8 hitters in the NL generally have a higher walk rate, because, well, you know. Cordoba’s defense doesn’t look good but he certainly couldn’t be any worse than the Amaristas and Ramirez and Barmes types the Padres have been playing at short for the last, what, decade?
Its time to give Cordoba a week’s worth of starts at SS. He’s hit the ball hard and no one else has. He is our future compared to the other two. Aybar isn’t gonna help us in the long term. I know they are hoping he will be trade bait come July, but its just not gonna happen unless there is a major injury out there.
100% Agree. Cordoba’s stats are going to come back to Earth, he’ll slump at some point because he’s not used to this level of pitching, and I’m sure the glove will leave a lot to be desired. At least Cordoba will get a chance to develop and the Pads can see what they have in him if they give him a little regular play time.
Aybar is Alexi Ramirez 2.0. An older SS who’s a lock to finish the year with a negative WAR. He has zero trade value. His only value to the Padres is his ten years in the league is more service time than the rest of the position players combined and someone has to mentor the younger guys.
Hill is the one screaming at the end of Helter Skelter “I got blisters on my fingers”
Haha yes.
i avoided the shovel all winter and rested my arms. first hole i dug this spring, i got a blister. can’t figure it out. i rested three months. dave roberts must have never done any manual labor.