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Nick Senzel To Undergo Knee Surgery

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Reds infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, manager David Bell announced (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The Reds expect Senzel to miss approximately four to six weeks.

The news come five days after the Reds placed Senzel on the 10-day IL, and it’s the latest injury-related setback the former second overall pick and premium prospect has endured in his young career. Senzel previously dealt with issues with his shoulder (including surgery), ankle, groin, and finger, and he also missed time with an illness last season.

Thanks in part to his ongoing health woes, the 25-year-old Senzel hasn’t yet established himself as hoped in the majors. Since he debuted in 2019, Senzel has batted .246/.308/.396 with 15 home runs and 18 stolen bases in 616 plate appearances. He was off to a .252/.323/.315 start this year with one long ball and two steals over 124 PA prior to this injury.

Defensively, Senzel has been quite versatile, having made starts this season at second, third and in center field (primarily the latter). Cincinnati has mostly used Tyler Naquin in center when Senzel hasn’t played there, while the Reds have Jonathan India and Eugenio Suarez as their current starters at second and third. However, their infield is also without regulars Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas, who are on the IL.

Rangers Select Jason Martin

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jason Martin from Triple-A Round Rock. He’ll take the active roster spot of David Dahl, who is headed to the 10-day injured list with a left rib cage contusion. Righty Kohei Arihara, who is slated to undergo shoulder surgery, was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Martin, 25, is out to a fast start in Triple-A after inking a minor league deal with Texas over the winter. The former Pirates farmhand is hitting .302/.413/.755 with seven home runs and three doubles through his first 63 trips to the plate — a far cry from the lackluster Triple-A output he produced in a pair of seasons with the Pirates’ top affiliate in Indianapolis.

Pittsburgh gave Martin brief MLB looks in both 2019 and 2020, but he hit only .200/.294/.244 in 51 plate appearances. This will be his first opportunity in the Majors with any other organization. The 2013 eighth-rounder was originally drafted by the Astros but flipped to Pittsburgh as part of the Gerrit Cole trade. The Pirates placed him on waivers at the end of the 2020 season, and he opted for free agency after going unclaimed.

The 27-year-old Dahl sustained his injury in yesterday’s game when he crashed into the right field wall as he tracked a Jared Walsh fly-ball that eventually left the yard. Formerly one of the Rockies’ top prospects — one of the top prospects in all of baseball, for that matter — Dahl’s career has been ravaged by injuries that led Colorado to non-tender him this winter rather than pay him a raise in arbitration. The Rangers took a chance on a $2.7MM deal for the former No. 10 overall pick, but he’s floundered thus far with his new team, hitting just .208/.242/.340 through 154 plate appearances.

Twins Notes: Buxton, Colina, Arraez

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Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli said earlier this week that the organizational hope was for Byron Buxton, on the injured list with a hip strain, to begin a rehab assignment this weekend. It seems that won’t happen quite yet, however, as president of baseball ops Derek Falvey now tells reporters that Buxton is still having trouble decelerating without discomfort when he is running (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Dan Hayes). An exact timetable for his rehab assignment isn’t clear, but it apparently won’t begin until next week at the earliest.

The Twins have run journeyman Rob Refsnyder out to center field in place of Buxton and, in rather stunning fashion, received similar production at the plate. The 30-year-old Refsnyder, who signed a minor league deal over the winter, is hitting .438/.472/.719 in 36 plate appearances and has made the first nine appearances of his career in center field with the Twins. Obviously, that type of output won’t last, but it’s helped the Twins to patch things over in the absence of Buxton, who was hitting .370/.408/.772 with nine homers in 98 plate appearances before landing on the IL. Minnesota is arguably the game’s most disappointing team so far, but the Twins have won five of their last six.

Some more notes on the club…

  • Falvey also revealed that hard-throwing righty Edwar Colina underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure on his right elbow today and will be shut down from throwing for at least the next couple months (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Colina would obviously need time to then build back up, so it would seem fair to wonder just how much he’ll be able to pitch at all in 2021. The now-24-year-old Colina tossed a combined 97 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball across three minor league levels in 2019, topping out with a four-inning showing in Triple-A. He faced seven batters in the big leagues with the Twins last year but retired only one in that ultra-brief MLB debut. Colina averaged 97.3 mph on his heater last year and fanned more than a quarter of his opponents in that solid 2019 campaign. He’s ranked 21st among Twins prospects over at Baseball America and at FanGraphs, while MLB.com tabs him 17th in the system.
  • Minnesota announced today that utilityman Luis Arraez is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain. He first incurred the injury while sliding headfirst into second base in this past weekend’s series against the Indians. The versatile Arraez is an atypical hitter in today’s brand of three-true-outcome baseball. He’s fanned in just 11.1 percent of his plate appearances this year while walking at a 10.5 percent clip and using an all-fields approach with virtually no power. The 24-year-old is a career .318/.382/.406 hitter with more walks than strikeouts in 649 trips to the plate. His placement on the IL creates an avenue for the Twins to reinstate right-hander Michael Pineda from his own 10-day IL stint. Pineda is on the hill for today’s series finale against the Orioles.

Cubs, Dee Strange-Gordon Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are in agreement with veteran infielder Dee Strange-Gordon on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Rep 1 Baseball client will head to Triple-A Iowa and give the Cubs some additional depth in the infield following last night’s hamstring strain for Nico Hoerner — an injury that could very well send Hoerner back to the injured list.

NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer tweets that Hoerner underwent an MRI this morning. Meanwhile, Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports that outfield Rafael Ortega is leaving the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate to either join the taxi squad or the big league club, which could serve as further evidence that an IL trip for Hoerner is on the horizon.

Strange-Gordon appeared in 33 games with the Mariners in 2020 but tallied only 82 plate appearances with a dismal .200/.268/.213 batting line. The 33-year-old was a two-time All-Star with the Marlins from 2014-15, when he was among baseball’s most prolific threats on the basepaths, but his base-stealing and overall offensive prowess have taken considerable steps back in the years since.

The Mariners acquired Strange-Gordon from the Marlins with the idea of putting him in center field, but despite his excellent speed Strange-Gordon never seemed to take to the position switch. Seattle moved him back to second base in 2019 after he posted poor defensive numbers in center field during the 2018 campaign.

Strange-Gordon batted .308/.341/.375 with an NL-best 60 steals in 2017, but his three seasons with the Mariners proved forgettable, as he managed only a .266/.293/.343 output. He signed a minor league deal with the Reds over the winter but didn’t land an Opening Day roster spot and was eventually released. He briefly signed with the Brewers organization as well, but Milwaukee went in another direction for its infield needs, acquiring Willy Adames from the Rays. Strange-Gordon was released the next day despite having batted .333/.375/.500 in 10 games and 45 plate appearances with the Brewers’ Triple-A club in Nashville.

Diamondbacks, Dario Agrazal Agree To Minor League Deal

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The D-backs recently agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Dario Agrazal, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Arizona also added righty Josh Lucas, per the report. They’ll add some depth to a club that currently has Zac Gallen, Taylor Widener, Luke Weaver and J.B. Bukauskas on the injured list.

Agrazal, 26, started 14 games for the 2019 Pirates and pitched to a 4.91 ERA through 73 1/3 innings. That’s his only big league experience to date, although he’d have gotten an opportunity with the Tigers in 2020 were it not for injury. Detroit claimed Agrazal off waivers from Pittsburgh after the ’19 campaign and announced him as part of last summer’s Opening Day roster, but Agrazal was diagnosed with a forearm strain just days after the season began. That injury wound up shelving him for the entire season.

While he doesn’t miss many bats, Agrazal sports a 51 percent ground-ball rate in parts of seven minor league seasons and, more impressively, has walked just 88 of the 2513 hitters he’s faced in parts of seven minor league seasons (3.5 percent). He carries a 3.62 ERA in 608 2/3 innings spread across those seven campaigns and has worked almost exclusively out of the rotation.

Lucas was with the A’s, Cardinals and Orioles from 2017-19 but hasn’t found much success at the MLB level, posting a 5.54 ERA in 37 1/3 frames. He’s been primarily a bullpen arm who, like Agrazal, generates grounders at an above-average clip. In parts of 10 minor league seasons, he’s pitched to a 3.61 ERA. Lucas actually made his debut with Arizona’s top affiliate this week, tossing a scoreless frame in his first outing before being tagged for four runs yesterday.

Mets Acquire Billy McKinney

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The Mets announced that they have acquired outfielder Billy McKinney from the Brewers for minor league left-hander Pedro Quintana. New York also transferred righty Jordan Yamamoto to the 60-day injured list.

McKinney will add some much-needed outfield depth to a Mets club dealing with a rash of injuries in that area (and just about everywhere else). Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Pillar and Albert Almora Jr. are all on the injured list, and Johneshwy Fargas is about to join them on the shelf. As a result of its injuries, the team went with a starting alignment of Dominic Smith in left, Cameron Maybin in center and Brandon Drury in right during its win over the Rockies on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old McKinney, whom the Brewers designated for assignment on May 22, comes with a fair amount of major league experience at both corner outfield spots. The former first-round pick (No. 24 to the Athletics in 2013) has seen time with the Yankees, Blue Jays and Brewers since he debuted in 2018, and he has hit .226/.285/.422 with 21 home runs in 511 plate appearances. He picked up 100 PA with Milwaukee this year but batted just .207/.260/.359 with three homers. McKinney has no minor league options left, so the Mets won’t be able to send him down without possibly losing him.

Quintana, still just 17 years old, joined the Mets in the winter as a free agent from Venezuela. There’s otherwise little information on Quintana that’s available, but the Brewers think he’s worth taking a chance on in exchange for an outfielder whom they deemed expendable.

Yamamoto went to the 10-day IL on the 23rd with shoulder soreness, and his shift to the 60-day version means he won’t return until at least the end of July. Acquired from the Marlins in the offseason, Yamamoto has made two appearances this year and allowed six runs (five earned) over 6 2/3 innings.

NL Injury Notes: Ozuna, Mets, Jazz, Hoerner

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Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna dislocated two fingers on his left hand during the team’s win over the Red Sox on Tuesday, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. The Braves aren’t sure whether they’ll have to place Ozuna on the injured list. Ozuna was one of the game’s premier hitters a season ago, leading the Braves to re-sign him to a four-year, $65MM guarantee in free agency, but he has been slow out of the gates in 2021. The 30-year-old has hit a disappointing .213/.288/.356 with seven home runs in 208 plate appearances.

  • The last thing the Mets need is more negative news on the injury front, but here it is: Third baseman J.D. Davis has returned to New York from his Triple-A rehab assignment “to receive treatment on his left hand from our health and performance team, as well as determine next steps,” according to the club (Twitter links via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Davis, who last played May 1, has inflammation and won’t resume his rehab for at least another few days. He’s one of several notable Mets hitters on the IL, with first baseman Pete Alonso, second baseman Jeff McNeil, and outfielders Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Pillar unavailable as well. They’re also missing outfielder Johneshwy Fargas, who suffered a left AC joint sprain Monday. He’s “week to week” and will go on the IL on Wednesday, per manager Luis Rojas.
  • Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm suffered a mild ankle sprain in their loss to the Phillies on Tuesday, manager Don Mattingly told Christina De Nicola of MLB.com and other reporters. “We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow,” Mattingly said of Chisholm, who spent time on the IL earlier this season with a strained left hamstring. When healthy, Chisholm has helped lead the Marlins’ offense this year with a .275/.336/.480 line, five home runs and eight stolen bases across 113 trips to the plate.
  • Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner strained his left hamstring during their victory over the Pirates on Tuesday, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to report. Whether that will lead to a trip to the IL remains to be seen, but Hoerner has already been there this season. He sat out earlier this month with a left forearm strain, but the 24-year-old has otherwise enjoyed a productive campaign. Although Hoerner hasn’t homered in any of his 84 PA, he has batted .338/.405/.432.

Corey Kluber To Undergo MRI On Shoulder

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9:21pm: Kluber offered some positive news after the game, telling Andy Martino of SNY and other reporters that he didn’t feel any pain during his outing. He added that this problem “doesn’t feel at all like what I dealt with last year.”

7:46pm: The Yankees announced that right-hander Corey Kluber left his start against the Blue Jays on Tuesday with tightness in his pitching shoulder. He’ll undergo an MRI on Wednesday.

Kluber, making his first start since throwing a no-hitter against the Rangers last Wednesday, went just three innings before departing. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks (with five strikeouts), raising his season ERA to a still-excellent 3.04 over 53 1/3 innings. To this point, the two-time American League Cy Young winner has been a tremendous signing for the Yankees, who gave him a one-year, $11MM guarantee in free agency. They took that gamble after the former Indians ace missed nearly the entire 2019 season because of a fractured forearm and then totaled a mere one inning last year with the team he just no-hit, Texas. Kluber left his first start with the Rangers on account of shoulder tightness and then sat out the rest of the year with a Grade 2 tear of the teres major muscle.

The fact that the 35-year-old Kluber’s shoulder is acting up again is clearly a worrying sign for him and the Yankees, whose rotation has posted a sterling 3.31 ERA and helped them to a 28-19 record. Kluber, Domingo German and Jordan Montgomery have served as highly capable complements to all-world righty Gerrit Cole, and Jameson Taillon’s peripheral numbers suggest his 5.06 ERA will trend in a better direction. But the Yankees now have to wonder how much more they’ll get from Kluber this season as a result of this news.

Noah Syndergaard Leaves Rehab Start With Elbow Soreness

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8:03pm: Syndergaard will have an MRI, but the Mets don’t seem overly concerned about his status, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

6:47pm: Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard was supposed to throw at least four innings in a Low-A rehab start on Tuesday, but he exited after tossing just one frame. The Mets have since announced that Syndergaard left “for precautionary reasons due to right elbow soreness” (via Tim Britton of The Athletic).

Syndergaard is working his way back from the Tommy John surgery he underwent in March 2020, making this news especially troubling. It’s also another unsettling development for an injury-riddled Mets team that has a slew of other important players on the IL, including two of Syndergaard’s fellow rotation members in Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker.

If this doesn’t prove to be another serious health problem for Syndergaard, he’ll serve as a key summer reinforcement for a New York team that currently has a tenuous hold on the National League East lead. The hard-throwing 28-year-old has enjoyed a terrific career with the Mets going back to 2015, having pitched to a 3.31 ERA with a 26.4 percent strikeout rate, a 5.6 percent walk rate and a 49.1 percent groundball rate across 716 innings. Unfortunately, Syndergaard hasn’t taken a major league mound since Sept. 29, 2019. On a personal level, Syndergaard is facing a pivotal season as a free agent-to-be, making it all the more important that he’ll recover quickly from this issue.

Brian Anderson To Miss Several Weeks

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The Marlins have placed third baseman Brian Anderson on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder subluxation, the team announced. They reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move.

This is the second IL placement of the year for Anderson, who went on the shelf on April 21 with a left oblique strain. Anderson missed about two weeks then, but this appears to be a much more significant injury. General manager Kim Ng told Craig Mish of SportsGrid and other reporters that Anderson will sit out several weeks this time.

A key member of the Marlins since he debuted in 2017, the 28-year-old Anderson had an unproductive April this season but bounced back this month before returning to the IL. Overall, Anderson has batted .250/.316/.371 with three home runs and a trio of stolen bases in 136 plate appearances, and he has been an asset at the hot corner with two Defensive Runs Saved and a 1.9 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Winners of three in a row, the Marlins sit 23-24 and just a game back in the wide-open National League East. They’ll now have to go for the foreseeable future without Anderson, which will leave third to Diaz and Jon Berti, Ng said (via Mish). The position’s uncharted territory for Diaz, who has never played there in the majors. Additionally, he and Berti have gotten off to poor starts at the plate this year.

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