We’ve already heard of one notable player making progress in his attempt to return from injury yesterday. We’ll round up a few more notes here.
- White Sox star infielder Yoán Moncada took a small step in his return from a hamstring strain that knocked him from action a week and a half ago, reports David Just of the Chicago Sun-Times. He took batting practice and infield drills and emerged feeling optimistic about his outlook. While the switch-hitter noted he still has “some discomfort,” particularly when charging ground balls or hitting right-handed, he’s “feeling better, way better” than he did when he first suffered the injury. There’s no timetable for his return, and the 52-63 White Sox will surely play things cautiously with the 24 year-old, who is a central piece of their rebuild. The former top prospect has actualized his tools this season to slash (an admittedly somewhat BABIP-inflated) .301/.358/.535 (134 wRC+).
- Johnny Cueto made his second rehab appearance in the rookie level Arizona League Friday, tweets Maria Guardado of MLB.com. Guardado notes he maxed out at 92 MPH, right in line with the low-90’s fastball he sported before going down with Tommy John surgery. While the Giants’ miserable August has all but ended any hope they had of a surprise Wild Card run, getting Cueto back on the mound this season could offer something of a morale boost for a still-important piece of the organization. The 33 year-old is guaranteed $47MM for the remainder of his six-year contract ($21MM per year through 2021 with a $5MM buyout on a 2022 club option).
- One of Cueto’s future teammates is about to embark on a rehab assignment of his own. Outfielder Alex Dickerson, who went on the injured list August 1 with an oblique strain, will begin a minor-league assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Sacramento, tweets Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic. The 29 year-old has a laundry list of injuries in his career, but he’s always been a promising offensive player, prompting San Francisco to acquire him in a minor trade with the division-rival Padres. He’s mashed since then, putting together a .386/.449/.773 line in 98 plate appearances.
- Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson, who went down in June with an elbow injury, will work out of the bullpen on rehab in Double-A San Antonio, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Nelson isn’t eligible to be activated until August 26. A burgeoning ace in 2017, Nelson has lost most of the last two seasons to arm injuries. While he returned from an 18-month absence stemming from shoulder surgery in June, his fastball velocity was down over 2 miles per hour from his 2017 peak, per Brooks Baseball, reflecting the toll the surgery had taken. While there may still be hope for the 30 year-old as a starter in the long run, any 2019 impact he can make will be in short stints for the playoff-hopeful Brew Crew.
- Like Nelson, Jonathan Loáisiga may be able to make an impact on a contending bullpen down the stretch. The 24 year-old Yankee right-hander has been out since May 10 with a strained throwing shoulder, but he threw three innings Friday with Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. As MLB.com Bryan’s Hoch tweets, manager Aaron Boone confirmed Loáisiga could return this week to bolster one of baseball’s top bullpens.
- Another promising young arm is on the doorstep of the big leagues. Jesús Luzardo, Baseball America’s #12 prospect, was unscathed through three rehab innings in the High-A California League, tweets Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’ll pitch again at the same level Thursday, Gallegos adds. A lat strain has delayed Luzardo’s big league debut, but scouting reports and his high minors performance indicate he could contribute, if healthy, to the A’s playoff push down the stretch.
Asfan0780
If luzardo has another setback it will be maddening as a fan. Hes probably a couple more rehab startd before debut. Of course he was set during spring then got shoulder strain , again july then had lat injury. So maybe late august early september this time?
Orangejedi23
Alex Reyes fans know your pain.
ChiSox_Fan
Looking forward to your return, Yoan!
Fantastic comeback year!
raz427
Comeback = qualifies if Yoan actually was hurt all of the 2018 year, and did great (which is what he is doing this year). This is actually a considered a bounce back year from his awful 2018 season. Also too early to dub a former prospect a “comeback” label this early in his career.
Priggs89
So awful that he put up 2 fWAR. I think that tells you all you need to know about Yoan’s talent level.
Idioms for Idiots
@ChiSox_Fan
I’m also looking forward to his return. It would be nice to have another legit bat in the lineup. I’m glad TA didn’t lose a step once he came back from his DL stint, hopefully the same thing happens with Yoan. I’m still waiting for Eloy to break out, but I’m starting to think his season will mirror Yoan’s last year (though not quite as severe). I’m hoping for a bounce back from Eloy next year like Yoan’s had this year.
Rallyshirt
“I’m hoping for a bounce back from Eloy next year like Yoan’s had this year.”
So, that would be Eloy hitting somewhere around 65 hrs in 2020 then?
Idioms for Idiots
@Rallyshirt
That would definitely be nice, but I was thinking more of getting his BA around .300. I don’t want him to be a HR-or-nothing guy. You can see glimpses of greatness from him, hopefully he will blossom into a star next year (or even starting late this year).
I’m surprised trolls aren’t already labeling Eloy a bust. Maybe they learned their lesson from prematurely labeling Yoan a bust.
Rallyshirt
@83sox
I agree, and anyone labeling Eloy a bust is an idiot. Eloy is very interesting to watch develop. Right now he seems to be taking advantage of mistakes, which is great, but pitch recognition and putting good swings on corner pitches for oppo basehits would probably be a good start to get him a higher average.
That, and I’d like to see him showcase his speed a little more. He’s not super fast, but he’s young and should be getting dirty. I think WSox are being a little careful with him right now.
Herm is going to have his work cut out for him as he learns all the new players coming. And Ricky needs to take a few more chances on the basepaths. This team is so fast and we’re not stealing bases?
Idioms for Idiots
@Rallyshirt
Yes, I don’t understand why the Sox aren’t stealing more bases either. They were stealing a lot of bases early in the season, and now they’re lucky if they get more than a couple SB’s in a week. And it’s not like they’re getting thrown out a lot either. They’re 57 of 79 in SB attempts (72% success), not a bad percentage at all.
They have nothing to lose at this point, they should be far more aggressive on the basepaths. Yet, since the ASB, the Sox are 13 of 14, with Leury swiping almost half of those.
TA’s a good base stealer, he should be going far more than he has (67 of 82 for almost 82% success in his career). Maybe TA’s a little hesitant from his injury, but even before that, his last SB before the A’s game on Friday was June 1.
I don’t get it.
Rallyshirt
I’m also looking at Jose Abreu and can’t figure out how his WAR is 1.0 per baseball reference. He is 5th in AL in RBI and number one in at 1st base in AL. Who exactly is replacing that? Bringing in runs isn’t that important? Oh, okay.
Idioms for Idiots
@Rallyshirt
Exactly. The whole object of the game is to score runs (or prevent them). And to me, driving in runs is one of the most important stats there are out there. Sure, there are ways of getting an RBI where you don’t deserve that RBI. But if you’re getting over 100 RBI in a season, only a handful are undeserved.
I never understood how they come up with the actual number for WAR. WAR is a stat that was a good concept, a good effort, but never should’ve seen the light of day. Trout is the best player in the game today, but the fact that he’s only halfway through his career and he’s already passing HOFers for career WAR proves the WAR stat is severely flawed. Trout’s great, but he’s not that good.
In this, his 8th full season, he’s going to get only his 2nd 40-HR season (41 HR in ’15) and 3rd 100-RBI season (career high 111 RBI), and 2 seasons where he hit above .320 (career high .326). I would take the first 7 full seasons of Frank Thomas in a heartbeat over Trout’s first full 7 seasons. Thomas AVERAGED .330 those 7 seasons, 3 40-HR seasons, all 7 were 100+ RBI and 100+ BB (Trout is about to get his 4th 100+ BB season). The only stats Trout had on Thomas were runs scored (by a few), triples, and SB. BTW Trout K’d over 400 times more than Thomas. And that’s just Frank Thomas. Imagine guys like Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Ted Williams, whose numbers dwarf the Big Hurt’s, let alone Trout’s.
This is why I don’t like the WAR stat. Nothing against Trout, he’s great for the game, but he’s nowhere near the point where he should even be put in the same sentence as these all-time greats. And the WAR stat does just that.
KnicksFanCavsFan
I wonder if Loaisiga will ever be healthy enough to settle in and learn to get the most out of his stuff. He has an above average FB and his curve and change ranked as slightly above average with above average control. But in the majors his walks and inconsistent health have been a problem. I hope he can be more than just another power am in the pen unless they see him as a potential closer to replace Chapman. I guess Mo was in a similar state of flux before discovering the cutter and failing as a starter. I wonder if Mo could mentor him a bit. Great stuff tho.
larry2bernandez
Considering he hasn’t even pitched in the majors yet, it seems really premature to say “in the majors his walks and inconsistent health have been a problem”.
His slider and changeup have both ranked as potential plus pitches. I haven’t heard about him throwing a curve.
larry2bernandez
Oops, sorry. I’m over here getting Loaisiga and Luzardo mixed up.
Would agree with what you said about Lasagna.
KnicksFanCavsFan
No problem
athleticsnchill
I know we wanna act like Luzardo and Puk coming up saves our playoff race, but it really doesn’t. I would prefer to not start Luzardo’s service time this year when what we need are upgrades both offensively and defensively behind the plate and at second base. Getting rid of Herrmann and Profar and bringing up Heim and Neuse or giving Corban Joseph a well deserved chance, with how his season in Triple A has been, is a lot more appealing than bringing up Luzardo right now.
Our offense is honestly hot garbage at the moment. We’re not nearly as deep as we could be because Khris Davis is still working back from injury, Profar is a home run or nothing guy and Herrmann is not clutch, and while Khris Davis doesn’t have to field a position all 3 of those guys also impact this team negatively on defense.
Starting pitching hasn’t really been our problem. Our offense is stagnant, and that is what is losing us games. I suppose we could do both, since the 40 man slots will come from guys that really have no future with this team anyways, but we don’t really need Luzardo right now.
A'sfaninLondonUK
;Hello Chill,
Sorry I’m an ignorant English guy, but I thought less than 45 days on the roster wouldn’t start the mlb clock?
Apart from that – I agree – I think more could have been made of Mateo and/or Barreto instead of signing Profar. They chose – with remarkable foresight – not to re-sign Lowrie but the Profar signing feels as if they’ve wasted the money they’ve saved…
There will be 15 spots available from Sept 1st so I guess the blocked Neuse. and Puk, Lozardo will get high tension cups of coffee.
More than anything our schedule is against us = the Rays are playing 21 games straight against teams that are under 500…
athleticsnchill
I mean I’m down for letting Luzardo get his feet wet, I just don’t want it to be because “he could save the A’s playoff chances” this year because he absolutely wouldn’t. He likely starts next season in our rotation anyways so it doesn’t really matter, I just don’t see a point in doing it when pitching isn’t our main concern and we can DFA a couple of starters in Triple A for 40 man slots and fix up our lineup for the push into October.
VTGiant
Good lord, anything could happen but the Giants are only 3.5 games out, but their Wild Card hopes have all but ended. LOL, not yet!
scottn59c
Yes, too early to write them off so matter-of-factly, but it is looking like more of a stretch to reach the WC with each passing game.
Idioms for Idiots
I guess the writer of this article isn’t expecting any more winning streaks from SF this year. If SF wins 7 or 8 of their next 10 (far from an impossible task), they’re right back on the doorstep of the WC. It’s not like any of the WC teams are pulling away from the pack right now.
Tim Newport
This is a small bone to pick, not so much with this writer but with a ubiquitous take by sports journalists. Hopefully Jimmy Nelson didn’t lose a couple miles per hour off his fastball because of “the toll the surgery had taken.” Let’s hope it was the injury that harmed his ability to pitch and the surgery helped him to recover to some extent.
JayRyder
“The Giants miserable run in August has all but ended any hope of a wild card.”
– What a foolish statement. The Mets won 9/10 and are in it. With over a month n a half to go. Too soon to crown them wild card winners. ? The Giants are 4 back of Washington. A lot of teams Still In It.
Blatant Foolish Assessment. In Early August. Even The Reds are Right there…
Talk later with two weeks left. I’m sure a few of those teams still have September Runs in Them…
Idioms for Idiots
@JayRyder
I completely agree with you. I can’t believe the writer of this article is already burying the Giants. 4 games out with 7 weeks to go (44 games before tonight’s game). A little early to be ending their season. I could see if they were 14 games out, but only 4 games out? Silly.
Brian the Foley
Anthony Franco must be a Dodgers fan. Hope he is happy when they don’t win a world series again this year.
coachbrad
They’re relying on Fangraphs stats, which put the Giants at less than 1% to make the playoffs.
Brian the Foley
Well took 3 out o’ 4 from the Harper big bucks. Hope Franco of the Anthony plus your pham grapths prove all.
athleticsnchill
The Phillies have been a .500 team in their last 18 games. Wouldn’t say beating them signifies some great accomplishment towards a magical postseason run for the Giants.
Gobbysteiner
FanGraphs incorrectly predicted all of the giants 3 WS wins so id take them with a grain of salt
Brian the Foley
Well took 3 out o’ 4 from the Harper big bucks. Hope Franco of the Anthony plus your pham grapths prove all.
WarrenSpahn
Gints have to jump over 5 teams to get the second wild card slot
what signs do you see that they can do that?