Mookie Betts left today’s game in the fifth inning due to a bruised right thumb, suffered when his own helmet was knocked off by a Lucas Duda tag attempt and landed on the thumb. X-rays were negative and Betts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Connor Mount) that he hopes to play as soon as tomorrow. Betts also added that he has been dealing with nagging thumb problems “for a couple months” but it hasn’t been serious enough to keep him off the field. While this doesn’t look like a major injury, Betts is such a major part of the Red Sox lineup that his condition bears mention as the team heads towards a likely postseason appearance. Here’s some more from around the AL East…
- The Blue Jays have put particular effort into scouting Shohei Otani but realistically, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes that Toronto looks unlikely to sign the two-way star. On the plus side for the Jays, Otani has worked out with former Blue Jay fan favorite Munenori Kawasaki and the team seems willing to let Otani both pitch and hit. Beyond those positives, however, the Jays’ relative lack of history in the Japanese player market would seem to put them behind others in the running for Otani’s services.
- Less than a year after the Yankees and Mets signed Aroldis Chapman and Yoenis Cespedes to multi-year free agent deals, Joel Sherman of the New York Post doubts either team would make those signings again given how both stars underachieved in 2017. Injuries played a part in both players’ performance, of course, and there is still lots of time for Chapman and Cespedes to deliver on their contracts. In Chapman’s case, his relative struggles also haven’t kept the Yankees from leading the AL wild card race. With Chapman owed $60MM through the 2021 season, however, it’s still an ominous sign for the Yankees that this down year came in the first season of that deal.
- The Drew Pomeranz trade is looking like a win for Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox, WEEI.com’s John Tomase writes. After the controversial deal with the Padres last year that saw top prospect Anderson Espinosa go to San Diego, Pomeranz was plagued by injury problems that continued into the offseason. This year, however, Pomeranz has delivered a 3.28 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 2.59 K/BB rate over 159 1/3 innings, emerging as a much-needed stabilizer to a rotation that has been without David Price for much of the season.
pinballwizard1969
Drew Pomeranz is having a standout season. It will be interesting to see how that affects his 3rd and final arbitration year this winter. Currently making $4.45MM probably going to get a pretty substantial raise before becoming a FA after the 2018 season.
dlevin111
Pomeranz looks better in every start. Real good trade for Dombro
jbigz12
Could be a win win. Far too early to know what Espinoza will give the padres but young pitchers are the most volatile asset you have. Only time will tell
mcase7187
Espinoza had tommy john surgery this yr so he may never really pitch for the padres
mike156
Interesting it was Red Sox who griped over health issues. Seems like it worked out just fine for them.
GaryWarriorsRedSoxx
Strange thing to say cuz dozens and dozens of guys pitch great after TJ.
padreforlife
Another Preller doozy
SixFlagsMagicPadres
Yeah I would say that Espinoza shouldn’t be counted out just yet. There are plenty of young pitchers that successfully come back from TJ surgery. Even if he never becomes a frontline ace, he could still have a chance to contribute to the next contending Padres team.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Another padreforlife brain dead comment
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
A big point in Preller’s favor is the fact that Pom is a free agent in a year so Preller can just sign him back if he wants.
Sports
@TheWestCoastRyan that’s the dumbest thing I’ve read on here. Bad way to think
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
It’s a very good way to think. If they Sox don’t win a WS this year or next they would have been better off not making that trade. The Padres weren’t going to win a WS in 2018 or before with or without Pomeranz so trading him for a guy who WOULD be around when they are contending is smart of them. Even if Espinoza doesn’t live up to the hype we know that Pomeranz wasn’t going to contribute to the next WS bound Padres team without having gobs of money thrown at him, which the Padres can still do a year from now if they want to even after trading him.
padreforlife
Nothing new from resident looking for attention Ryan, like hipster has checkbook to go all in on Pomeranz.
padreforlife
It was bad trade for kid who can’t stay healthy done nothing for young valuable pitcher, take off Preller pom poms
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
hurrrr da durrrr
*fart noises*
dlevin111
Pomeranz is awesome
JaysFan19
Jays will sign Otani
chesteraarthur
Nuh-uh [Team I root for] will sign Othani!
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Lol John Farrell says wins and losses are meaningful. What a schnook.
stl_cards16 2
Kind of like judging a trade based only on if the team wins a World Series, huh?
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
If they don’t win one this year or next then it is objectively true they would have been better off not trading for Pom
chesteraarthur
You know, unless they make the playoffs this year by roughly the margin of Drew Pomeranz’s contribution to the 2017 red sox…
chesteraarthur
and by make the playoffs, I mean win the division
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
They make the playoffs every year as it is. I think they would rather have Espinoza (even with the injury) unless they win a championship.
xabial
Sorry, I disagree “Joel Sherman of the NYPost.”
Mets are going nowhere this season, with or without Cespedes. Yankees on the other hand– without Chapman,– wouldn’t be where they are today.
Not a fan of NYPost coverage. Far too negative- I honestly think Chapman opts out after three years if he has mid 3 ERA he’ll finishes with this season, with his usual SO #’s. (Chapman is #1 in baseball last four years in K/9 among all qualified RP)
mikeyank55
Joel Sherman is a Mets fan who enjoys the soap opera in Flushing and tries to pull the Yankees over the RFK Bridge any time he can.
Chapman’s season was affected by being overworked last post season. That’s not a complaint against Madden-managers need to do whatever it takes (within reason) late in the post season.
However one interesting comparison is to his pathetic metsies, who are probably scratching their heads how Yankees management and staff dealt with the injuries. The Yankees shut Chapman down for a long time and once he returned they pulled him from the closer role because he was ineffective. Without pressure and with Larry Rothschilds coaching, he got back on top of his pitches and has been lights out in the closer role ever since.
Compare to Shermans metsies, there would have been misdiagnoses, pitching in the heat too long and ruining a season or career.
And please when you look at Cespedes you see a complete train wreck. He has never been able to stay healthy and playing on the field. The hippocracy of it all is the revelation that he doesn’t drink enough water.
Huh? He didn’t know that water intake was critical when a player is prone to pulling muscles? No trainers, coaches not the numscull “TC”‘ didn’t observe him nor draw any conclusions?
So Joel, it’s time to hang them up. You need work in the daytime soap operas. Stop trying to drag the Yankees into flushing mud.
BronxBombers14
Bingo. The workload from last season/post season is definitely a factor in chapman’s “down season,” IMO. A lot of guys from that Cubs team are having subpar seasons.
costergaard2
Chapman looked plenty good tonight in a 15 pitch, 5 out save
mikeyank55
Even during spring training as well as early in the season including opening day you could tell that something was not right.
He is back 100% because the Yankees used the right formula. The ball is exploding out of Chapman’s hand.
Joel Sherman’s team would have handled everything completely the opposite. That’s why their dream team starting pitchers have yet to recover from 2015.
wahoomaniac
Aren’t there tax implications for playing for a Canadian team? That seems like it would be worth mentioning (if true). Yeah, money isn’t foremost on Otani’s mind, but it’s still bound to be an issue.
rmwrmwrmw
There are tax implications but they are not nearly as great as many believe, and there is no city athlete tax as is the case with many US cities, a category which is virtually never reported.
Also , all player contracts are in $us but in season costs are in the lower $cdn.
Many US athletes are initially leery of coming to Toronto, not knowing what to expect. But most who do seem to think it is a positive experience in the end. And it’s no colder than say Detroit, Minnesota ( north of Toronto in latitude) and close to Cleveland and Chicago . The greater metro area has more people than Houston, making it the 5th largest city in North America , behind New York, Mexico City, LA and Chicago.
And it is easily one of the ten most culturally diverse cities on the planet, with a crime rate a fraction of most US cities. No doubt there are many issues leading an athlete to choose one city over another , but taxes are overblown ( rates for all forms of tax are higher in some California cities).
stymeedone
Based on this report, only teams with experience signing Japanese players need bother to scout Otani. Obviously, if you haven’t signed a player from Japan by now, those players won’t think your money is green enough. What hogwash!
tim815
Nobody has any idea what will tip the scales for Otani, beyond a decent/friendly front office and a proper looking financial bottom-line.
mikeyank55
Joel Sherman is such a Mets’ fan. The comparison between Cespedes and Chapman is as weak as his favorite team. And he writes in such a Mets’ style. He should retire and see if he can become a writer for afternoon soap operas.
Chapman has been injured for most of the season. Last year took a lot out of him; pitching deep into the post season and maddens overuse as well.
Notice that he was given plenty of time to rest and rehab and that when they realized that he was still not right took him out of the closers role. With the pressure and spot light removed Larry Rothschild worked with him in his delivery. Since then he has been lights out.
Compare to how the Mets handle their pitchers.
EatabagaDeez
Joel sherman is writes for the NY post nuff said.
cardoso97
Why do we put such emphasis on a team’s lack of Japanese market experience? So since a team hasn’t signed a lot of guys from Japan, they won’t sign this guy? If we use this logic, those teams will never sign Japanese players ever since they’ll never have that reputation of signing them
kingjenrry
Pretty sure the Mets and their fans are still happy they made the Cespedes signing. The one everyone’s regretting is Mike Barwis, who forces baseball players to train like football players, resulting in injuries to something like 80% of the starting day 25-man roster.
mikeyank55
Hey king…the Blame starts at the top with over the hill sandy being so out of touch with today’s game and players. Don’t you think with cespedes injury history that someone should have looked into his water intake? He’s been pulling hammys and quads for years.
Pathetic “TC” allows him to go golfing when he is in the DL. He is great at running a country club atmosphere.
Michael Birks
I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong about Pomerantz