The Twins’ demotion of Miguel Sano to the minors yesterday came as a surprise to many, but the slugger seems to be taking the move in stride, as Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes. “It’s the decision they take and I take too,” said Sano of the demotion. “I’m not mad. They gave me an opportunity. No reason I can get mad. … I’m going to take pride of going down there and working hard so I can come back and be better.” Sano said he didn’t want to blame his struggles on his recent injury history, though it’s worth noting that he required offseason surgery to repair a stress reaction in his shin and has also missed time in 2018 due to a hamstring injury. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said that improving Sano’s conditioning, specifically in his lower half, is part of the move, though the organization’s greater hope is to try to give Sano a fresh start in an environment where he can focus in on some areas for improvement identified by hitting coach James Rowson and others.
Here’s more from the AL Central…
- The Tigers have no plans to move Nicholas Castellanos in the wake of Miguel Cabrera’s season-ending injury, manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters this week (Twitter link via Jason Beck of MLB.com). Castellanos ranks among the game’s worst defenders in the outfield according to each of Defensive Runs Saved (-11), Ultimate Zone Rating (-2) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-10). However, the Tigers organization remains committed to improving Castellanos’ work in right, it seems. “Castellanos is our right fielder,” Gardenhire said. “We’re trying to make him a right fielder and he’s still working at it, and he’s working really hard.”
- Looking further at Cabrera’s injury, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports that the future Hall of Famer is expected to be able to return to baseball activities in about six months, which should leave him with ample time to prepare for Spring Training. He’ll begin his rehab work in Detroit, rather than at the team’s spring complex in Florida, which will allow him to be closer to his teammates. Cabrera is taking the injury as well as can be expected, Tigers trainer Doug Teter tells Woodbery. In a second column, however, Woodbery writes that the organization and its fans may need to concede that their former iron man, who averaged 155 games per season and made 11 All-Star teams from 2004-16, is beginning to break down and enter a decline over the final few years of his career. There’s no escaping his albatross contract, though Woodbery rightly notes that it’s also not likely to serve as a major hindrance to the club anytime soon. The Tigers are well south of the luxury tax, and given their rebuilding status, they’re not likely to spend aggressively in the next couple of winters anyhow.
- Right-hander Dylan Covey has emerged as a surprise contributor in the rotation for the White Sox just months after clearing waivers and being outrighted, writes James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required). Covey has had unsustainable good fortune in terms of home runs, as he’s yet to allow one this season after being perhaps the most homer-prone pitcher in the Majors last season. But he’s also working with an improved ground-ball rate, better control and more strikeouts as he’s significantly upped the usage of his two-seamer to great effect. Covey has only made six starts at the big league level thus far, but he’s impressed to the point that he’ll be afforded a long leash in proving that he is capable of holding down a long-term spot in the rotation. Considering the fact that the ChiSox acquired Covey in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft (out of the Athletics organization), even if he settles in as a useful back-of-the-rotation starter it’d be a nice bonus.
Covey’s 2-Seamer is absolutely nasty. This guy could be legit, as his peripherals are even better than his current numbers.
Agreed.
V-Mart is likely retiring after this season. Why not move Castellanos to first if he’s that bad in the outfield with Miggy moving towards a full-time DH role in ‘19?
I agree and I understand the organization’s commitment to making Castellanos a better OF. However, I don’t see any improvement in his OF play since the time they moved him off 3B. If he had great natural range or speed I could understand, but he’s still has a ways to go to even approach JD Martinez’ level of play in the OF. It just makes a lot of sense to move him to 1B now.
Yes, and call Stewart up to play RF.
The reluctance to call up Stewart this season is borderline criminal. He’s raked at every level of the minors for 5 years now.
First basemen are a dime a dozen these days. I understand letting him have time to learn a new position. Regardless of the “statistics”, his range is much improved this season, from last. As long as the coaches see improvement, let him continue.
I think I might have figured it out while watching the game tonight. Hicks is primarily playing 1st when he’s in he lineup(other than when he’s catching) I think if Nick moves to 1st it takes starts away from Hicks since I don’t think he can handle the OF and he’s been hitting well this year. This defensive allignment allows for their best hitters to be in the lineup at the same time.
They probably want 1B to be a last resort because the one good thing defensively he has going for him is his arm which would be largely wasted at 1B Also 1B is not a throw away defensive position it is actually pretty vital.
There’s only a couple reasons I could think why they wouldn’t move him to 1st. First, I wonder if Miggy has told management that he would prefer not to DH. If that’s the case, they might not want to change Nick’s position for just a couple months. Second, maybe Nick has told them he doesn’t want to play 1st, and they’re willing to work around him in hopes he resigns after next year. Other than that, I can’t see why they wouldn’t just move him to 1st and Miggy to DH after this year.
I don’t know ANYTHING about the Tigers farm system… maybe he’d block someone at first?
They don’t really have any prospects coming up strictly as a 1st baseman. I think Christian Stewart has some defensive issues as an OF and could see them possibly transitioning him to 1st, but I can’t see that as being the issue.
The last Detroit prospect that hit like Stewart in the minors was Stephen Moya. Unfortunately, they are about the same defensively (poor), except Moya had a better arm. Hopefully, Stewart will adapt to major league pitching, and replace Victor as DH.
Cabrera will be missing a lot more than a few months. He was removed from 5-7 games already this season with varying ailments. I don’t see him playing more than 60% if team games the next few years.
Clearly Dylan Covey has some upside talent and potential. The Brewers though enough of him as a high school pitcher to select him in the first round of the 2010 Draft (#14) immediately after the White Sox selected Chris Sale. Covey didn’t sign and opted to pitch at the University of San Diego instead where he was a teammate of Cubs 3B Kris Bryant. Both Bryant and Covey were drafted in 2013, the former as the overall #2 pick and the latter in the 4th round by the A’s.
Covey also is a Type 2 diabetic. Another obstacle he has overcome. I’m pulling for him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Covey
Covey was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round of the 2010 MLB draft. However, a physical examination performed by the Brewers diagnosed Covey with Type I diabetes. He, instead, chose to enroll at the University of San Diego, near his Pasadena, California, home, and played college baseball for the San Diego Toreros prior to being selected by the Oakland Athletics.
Sano took that demotion better than most IMO.
I am tired of the press razing on Chicago players. If Covey was on the Yankees or Red Sox, they would be praising him without any negative comments, but because he is on the White Sox, we hear ‘Covey has had unsustainable good fortune in terms of home runs,…’
ALL pitchers tend to give up homers in some numbers.. Covey made some changes and was a high selection two times for a reason. The guy also has a 95 MPH fastball in addition to his split finger and sinker. He took his lumps last season and Im guessing that players facing him last year and then this year are likely saying ‘it is not the same guy’ . I get it is only 6 six starts, but He is starting to look like another ‘Arrieta’ in Chicago
Comparing Arrieta to Covey is like comparing apples to nuclear warheads. Arrieta always had the stuff, but couldn’t figure out how to pitch. He was always considered a top of the rotation guy. A better comparison is Kyle Hendricks.
It’s silly to compare Dylan Covey to either Jake Arrieta or Kyle Hendricks at this point in time. Arrieta won a Cy Young Award in 2015 with an historical season while Kendricks was the NL ERA leader a year later. Both should be considered top of the rotation caliber pitchers based on their numbers since 2014 which was also Hendricks debut season in the big leagues.
That being said, Covey was a higher draft pick twice (1st and 4th round) than either Arrieta (31st, 26th, 5th round) or Hendricks (39th and 8th round) so as an amateur prospect Covey possessed more upside, no?