Brewers minor league infielder Julio Mendez suffered a cardiac event after being hit by a pitch during a rookie-level game Saturday in Tempe, Ariz., the team announced (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The 20-year-old Mendez is currently in critical but stable condition at a Tempe hospital. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with Julio and his family,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said in a statement. “We will provide updates as soon as we know more.”
MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball world in wishing Mendez the best.
Here’s some lighter news from around the NL:
- Trading right fielder Giancarlo Stanton and his massive contract would improve the Marlins’ financial situation, but dealing the franchise cornerstone shouldn’t be a consideration for the Derek Jeter-led ownership group that will soon take over in Miami, Buster Olney of ESPN opines. Just as Jeter was the face of the Yankees during his playing days, Stanton is the Marlins’ franchise player, writes Olney, who argues that moving the potential 60-home run man would get the new ownership team off on the wrong foot. But if Jeter & Co. do attempt to part with Stanton, Olney lists several potential fits for the 27-year-old in his column.
- While the Rockies did offer outfielder Carlos Gonzalez a contract extension during the offseason, the reported four-year term is “not true,” according to the player. “They offered me an extension, but it was not a four-year deal,” Gonzalez told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “I was looking for something bigger, for more years.” Without knowing the details of the offer, it’s tough to say whether Gonzalez erred to a significant degree in declining it. Regardless, it’s clear his stock has tanked thanks to an uncharacteristically poor year – one likely to be his last in Colorado, Saunders notes. Known for his bat, the 31-year-old CarGo has hit a meek .240/.308/.359 in 432 plate appearances.
- Reds rookie right-hander Luis Castillo has already earned a place in their 2018 rotation, manager Bryan Price told Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer and other reporters Saturday. “In his case, he’s not only pitched really well in our system in Double-A, but he’s continued to pitch well and get better during his time in the big leagues. For me, he’s a guy that’s in our rotation,” Price said of Castillo, who fired seven innings of three-hit, one-run, nine-strikeout ball against the Pirates on Saturday. That will go down as one of the last appearances of the year for Castillo, whom the Reds will soon shut down for the season because of an innings limit, per Buchanan. The flamethrowing 24-year-old has pitched to a 3.26 ERA and posted 9.66 K/9 against 3.61 BB/9, with a 57 percent ground-ball rate, across 77 1/3 major league frames this season.
If only the Marlins didn’t trade Luis Castillo for Dan Straily
Straily been good, but for whatever reason the Marlins were itching to trade Castillo. He’d be a Padre had Colin Rea not been damaged goods.
I bet it wasn’t on purpose, but this shows that it is unacceptable to ever throw balls at batters
Not sure the reason for the down – vote. This shows the potential negative side effects of even getting hit in a “good” area, but, yeah, I doubt this was on purpose
Cargo back to A’s on year deal so he can help mentoring a young but talented core of athletics outfielders…
Who might that be in said core?
Davis is under TC through ’19
Brugman hit rather well in his first go-round
Dustin Fowler also has upside
I think thats what he meant.
Boog powell is also hitting really well too.
Davis will be 30 for the 2018 season…
Fowler used speed but is coming off a major knee injury and might not be ready.
Brugman is a fourth outfielder at best…
82 PA,no power threat,average to below average glove…
Matt Olson (even though he projects as a first baseman, but you never know with Davis and Healy), Chad Pinder will prob play outfield due to Seimian
They have a decent crop of outfielders, they don’t have a “core”, but they have young, controllable outfielders that could supplant the outfield for some time.
Whether it was 3 or 5 years they offered him, the Rockies must be doing cartwheels down the hallways of the executive offices whenever they think about him saying no. He is going to have to take a $8-10 million one year deal somewhere and hope he can rebuild his value, because he isn’t even worth a QO. He has a negative 2.0 WAR and a 56 wRC+. He is so far below replacement level that just about anyone would be better for the team in terms of creating runs and wins/ The Rockies have 2-3 better options in the OF in Albuquerque.
Tapia sucks but Dahl is definitely better when he’s healthy. Desmond playing LF Blackmon in center and Dahl/parra in right is just fine for the rox next year though.
Is tapia not a top prospect or am I confusing him with someone else? Still plenty of time for him to figure things out.
Tapia sucks? That’s laughable. He’s one of the 5 fastest players in the league with great bat to ball ability and a good throwing arm.
He’s not a top prospect any longer and he’s far off from being a starting right fielder in the big leagues. His defense and plate discipline arent great either. You can jump on me for “sucks” but he’s not a starting outfielder on a playoff team. im not writing off a 23 year old with some promise but if you think you want to start that on any playoff team next year,
Goodluck.
Hold on, Tapia is not one of the 5 fastest players in the league. I must’ve missed that the first time, idk where you pulled that out of. he’s a 60 grade runner if that’s top 5 in the league, the league has gotten real slow. He’s also not very efficient stealing bases at this point in his career.
Not sure he gets $8m-$10m with the season he’s having, could settle for $5m or less. Marlins would be a good fit if they trade Ozuna to start rebuilding the farm.
In Charlotte, a man was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he threw a baseball and hit a man the head during an altercation at a stoplight. I cannot see why people think its ok to throw at a man’s head in a baseball game. It has no place in baseball. Players will get hit on occasion, but bean balls as part of some stupid retaliation have no place in the game.
The nicknames are dumb.
Says the guy whose birth name is obviously not “SixGuns.”
Lol yes