It’s going to be longer than originally expected before the Reds get Nick Senzel back on the field, as manager David Bell told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon) that Senzel isn’t likely to be activated from the 60-day injured list as soon as he is immediately eligible. “I would think towards the end of July before we would see him back here,” Bell said. “That’s a bit of a guess, but just because there’s not an exact clear day right now. He’s definitely progressing the right way, but it’s just taken some time.”
Senzel was initially placed on the 10-day IL on May 21 and he underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery five days later, with Cincinnati shifting him to the 60-day IL in June when an 40-man roster spot was required. The 60-day placement backdates to May 21, so Senzel would have been eligible to return just after the All-Star break. While pushing Senzel’s return date back from mid-July to late July isn’t a huge delay on paper, it does represent even more lost time for a player who has unfortunately become an injured-list regular during his young career. On the plus side, Senzel has already started some light baseball activities, such as pre-game throwing over the last few days.
More from the NL Central…
- The Cardinals are shuffling their rotation, as manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Zachary Silver and other reporters that right-hander John Gant is moving to the bullpen. Gant has a 3.76 ERA over 14 starts and 64 2/3 innings, though a 6.00 SIERA, a host of advanced metrics and a league-high 48 walks indicate that Gant has been very fortunate to post such a respectable ERA. Though control has been an issue for Gant throughout his career, he has posted good results as a reliever in the past, so the Cards are hopeful he can help out a struggling bullpen. As for the open rotation spot, it will likely be recently-signed veteran Wade LeBlanc moving from the pen to the starting five.
- Three injured Cubs pitchers are slated to begin Triple-A rehab assignments this weekend, as The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro was among those to report that right-hander Dillon Maples (triceps strain) will begin his rehab today, while right-hander Trevor Williams (appendicitis) and left-hander Justin Steele (hamstring strain) will get underway on Sunday. In addition, infielder David Bote (dislocated shoulder) might start a rehab assignment next week.
- There isn’t yet any word on when Nico Hoerner might begin his own rehab work, though the Cubs infielder/outfielder continues to make progress a month after being placed on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain. “It was a four-to-six-week injury, and four weeks was Tuesday [June 22]. So I think we’re at the right pace,” Hoerner told Russell Dorsey of The Chicago Sun-Times and other reporters. Hoerner has been ramping up activity over the last week, taking part in base-running drills and facing live pitching from Williams during the righty’s recent bullpen session. Hoerner was off to a very nice start prior to his injury, hitting .338/.405/.432 over his first 84 plate appearances.
When Hoerner gets back I hope they stick him at lead off. Don’t know why he wasn’t there all along.
his bat to ball skills make him a good fit in that 4 or 5 slot too. But if he can keep that .400 obp going then he would be a godsend at leadoff
The Reds probably have Senzel working out at shortstop now. Because…….why not?????
Work on your brain power
i think he is working on walking first. if he can walk and not get hurt he move to the next step. he has talent, just cannot stay healthy
He can’t stay healthy because the team has treated him like garbage. The team has a responsibility to do right by the players they draft and the Reds have done the exact opposite. In 2021 this is a lawsuit…..
Nonsense
Go ahead, make your argument even though facts don’t support it. Walk through his injuries and tell me how they are caused by his position. Go back to his minor league years, when he played “at his position “ and still got injured. Compare his injuries across those years and explain why everything is the Club’s fault. Bad luck and fragile bodies exist, so it’s ok to say that’s the cause.
Watch the video of him plowing into a wall while attempting to play center field.
Players get hurt that’s not gonna change anytime soon. But the team has a responsibility to do the best they can do to put that player in a position to succeed. And anyone who tells me the Reds did that with Senzel doesn’t know what’s been going on with him.
I will give you a real life scenario that might play out.
The Brewers are interested in Trevor Story. They just traded for Willy Adames but the word is they will move him to 3b if they get Story. Adames hasn’t played an inning of 3b since 2013 when he was drafted. Not 1 inning since. If he gets hurt playing 3b are you telling me it’s NOT the team’s fault????
I get wanting to blame the Reds, but some people just get injured more often than others. If you can figure out how to prevent that, a professional organization will pay you a lot of money.
The Reds are to blame. I know the history here. Fans want to blame the player it’s simpler that way but it’s not his fault the team told him to play centerfield.
It’s one thing to switch a shortstop to 2b or a 3b to 1b. That’s a step down the defensive spectrum and it’s infield to infield. But you don’t put a 3b in centerfield. You don’t do that. And thats what the Reds did.
He’s been hurt in every level of ball he’s played , including high school and college, supposed that’s the Reds’ fault too…. grow up!
That’s not true at all. Making things up to win the internet is lame. What you said is false.
There is a laundry list of players who have switched positions over the years and not had the injury history of Nick Senzel.
He didn’t switch positions. They just said go out there and play whatever position they needed to fill that day week or year. And I have seen numerous players get hurt playing out of position. It’s not just him this happens often. I am a Cardinal fan. Allen Craig got hurt playing outfield when he shouldn’t have been ended his career. Rick Ankiel had came back as an outfielder but not a center fielder. We put him in center ran into a wall was never the same. This is real life its not a video game.
There is an equally long list of players that get hurt while playing the same position their entire career, some just more so than others. In Senzel’s case, he probably happily made the change rather than spending more time in AAA. That’s where the opening was and it got him to the bigs.
Explain Craig Biggie,then. C to CF to 2B. No injury problems. K.Marte playing SS, & CF. Robin Yount, SS and CF. Many players change position without spending major time on the IL.
Barry Larkin played SS through every level of his baseball career and iirc only played two or three full seasons. He was hurt almost every year, to varying degrees. Same can be said about Eric Davis (not counting time missed due to cancer). Doesn’t harm the fact that Davis is my favorite all time player, but some guys are just more prone to injury than others, often because they play harder.
@sty…..with all due respect you snagged a couple of HOF guys and then add in Ketel Marte who, this year, has already missed a month with injury and is currently hurt again.
@dockellisdee you make a good point some players are more fragile than others and it also comes down to how they play too. i can remember cards pitchers carpenter and jaime garcia both were devastating pitchers when healthy but had troubles staying on the felid especially jamie. not every player is like ryan or ripken and yes position swapping might not be the best for a lot of players but to say player x got hurt because he went from c to 3b or the of is just dumb.
Or working as a relief pitcher to help that awful bullpen
If Wade LeBlanc is the answer for your rotation, you need to ask a better question.
Seriously. It’s not like the guy has untapped upside. He has history and it isn’t good. Idk what has happened, but the Cards have tanked. And Mo and company seem to be content with mediocrity.
Maybe the Cards need Tony LaRussa back, lol.
Last time I checked Larussa was a full blown alcoholic. But is he better than Schildt??? Uh……yeah………
@rocknwell the cardinals losing Luhnow and Oscar Tavares death shifted the franchise. Mo has been a horrible gm. Reminds me of the phillies when they had utley howard and rollins. Every year adding another pieces mortgaging their future to be mediocre. Resigning Molina when they had Kelly. Trading for Goldy when they had voit. Keeping Jose Martinez over Voit. Signing fowler to a high price deal. Trading Sandy for 1 year of Ozuna. Letting Adolis Garcia walk when the outfield has been suspect for years. Thats just things off the top of my head.
You sound like an outsider not an actual fan of the team. Because no real fan complains about the Yadi contract and losing Kelly. Many mistakes have been made but keeping Yadi around is not one of them. Kelly might be hitting well but watch him play. He’s not a good defensive catcher at all. He doesn’t know how to call a game.
@isiight I agree with all of that minus the Molina/Kelly part. Molina is as valuable as anyone if not more so. But yeah, everything else I agree with. I’m not sure what their strategy is. In fact, it seems they don’t have much of one at all. Almost like they had a good group of folks in the org for a good while but then it started to crumble and they are left without any idea as to how to move forward successfully.
@rocknwell i’d argue that Kelly would have been a much better piece to have than Molina.
Molina war past 3 seasons
1.4 war 2019
0.3 war 2020
0.8 war 2021
Kelly war past 3 seasons
1.6 war 2019
-0.4 war 2020
1.7 war 2021
I’d argue Kelly has been the better player on the field and then you could get into contracts.
Kelly 2019 560k
Kelly 2020 i cant find
Kelly 2021 1.7m
Molina 2019 20m
Molina 2020 listed as 20m but whatever that is pro rated due to weird corona season
Molina 2021 9m
I’d argue that with that saved money they would have been better off with Kelly and putting some of that money towards good relief arms or a quality starter.
Not trying to be argumentative just giving my point of view on it. We agree way more than we disagree here. I think the way they run the organization is outdated and haven’t adapted to the times. They had a great run but the future does not look bright at all to me.
Noone is going to correct him about Ozuna playing 2 years in St Louis, not 1?
Mo isn’t the GM. It’s fine to blame him, but be informed when saying someone isn’t doing their job.
You’re right it was two years. I wouldnt have traded sandy for 2 years of ozuna either.
@joel peterson i couldn’t agree more and when it comes to the look at voit, randy, arcia, and kelly is a bad argument. other than kelly (and molina was still playing at a high level and we had kisner who is better defensively which matters more for a c than off.) non of them guys really proved themselves with the cards and when they were traded things clicked for them. who knows why they played better in there new home, it could be coaches that they mesh better with could be the pitching they face more often could be the ballparks they play in fit there hitting style better. long story short other than kelly these guys weren’t lighting up the milb or the mlb when they got there call ups, yes it sucks in hindsight but honestly these are guys that no one talked about until they got to there new teams and figured something out.
He grades as a good defensive catcher and as far as calling a game, are the Dbacks not one of the teams where most of the pitch selection comes from above?
And Gallen was in that deal too!
Father Time marches on. Great to be a left-handed pitcher, regardless of what age you are. Someone will want you. Just a really bad year for injuries all around. You will most likely see guys plucked from Indy ball to fill AAA and AA rosters as teams look for pitching depth. Shelby Miller, Scott Kazmir and even Vance Worley are making comebacks. Cards should sign Bartolo Colon. What the heck. Just do it. Have some fun this season.
As for the Cardinals it’s kind of embarrassing to trade away all the young talent they have in the last few years and now have nobody to step in. Weaver, Alcantara, Gallen and Gomber is a better big 4 than we have right now. And obviously a lot cheaper too.
Add Arozarena and Garcia to that list and you have a decent outfield.
Okay keep all those guys you two mentioned and have Matt Carpenter playing full time at either 3rd or 1st, that makes them worse
Goldy and Arenado, who they got for Weaver and Gomber, have done more to help the team than Weaver and Gomber would have.
Only one that stings is Alcantara for one year of Ozuna.
And I’d rather have O’Neill and Carlson than Arozarena and Garcia. Garcia had a hot start but is struggling.
Having Gomber, Weaver, Arozarena and Garcia in the line up, and by default Carpenter since you have no Goldy or Arenado, instead of Arenado, Goldy, And O’Neill makes the team worse. Sure pitching might be better but the offense would be worse, if that’s even possible.
Hindsight is 20/20 though, but this is how baseball works.
I don’t think you understand how baseball works. Goldschmidt and Arenado get paid a LOT of money. If the Cardinals were not paying them they would be able to spend that money on other players. So no the team could still have those players around and other players. Good lord Goldschmist isn’t worth anywhere close to 26 million.
We drafted burleson with the ozuna comp pick. Give it a couple years and that guy will be in the bugs and the ozuna trade will look less lopsided. Burlesons having a phenomenal year so far in his first professional season
Well given their recent use of money in free agency: Fowler, Leake, Miller…maybe it would hurt them to use that money.
The Goldschidt and Arenado deals were good.
The Greg Holland signing, the Dexter Folwer signing, The Andrew Miller signing were not great. The Randy Arozarena trade, The Marcell Ozuna trade, the Adolis Garcia trade were not good. The Miles Mikolas extension, the Matt Carpenter extension not good. The Randal Grichuk trade and Stephen Piscotty trade yielded nothing plus for the organization and all the pieces they received are no longer a Cardinal mean while they both still play for the teams they were traded to.
This is not hindsight, this is 3 to 4 good trades in a GMs history vs everything mentioned? The most notable things he has done were draft Albert Pujols, trade Jim Edmonds for David Freeze, trade Brett Wallace for Matt Holiday then convince Dewitt he was worth the money Boras was asking for, the Colby Rasmus trade, and the Goldschimdt and Arenado trades. The rest of everything this man has done especially since 2014 has failed that’s a 7 year track record going on now
@hippyrippercant really count the piscotty the cards only traded him because he wanted to play closer to his mom (may she rest in peace). that trade was more of a class act move so he could spend what little time he had with his mom.
voit
As a person who has had to listen to cardinals fans talk smack for years, I am thoroughly enjoying this. Arenado? World series is guaranteed! Lol. I just hope the mediocrity continues and their fans will learn some humility for once.
Many Cardinal fans nowadays are entitled whiners who have never cheered for a team that wasn’t winning.
On the other hand I live in Denver. It’s not a baseball town there are better things to do here. St Louis sucks it’s really all they have besides the Blues and bad weather.
What an idiot comment from a butt hurt loser.
Amen. This dude is almost as bad as the A’sfaninuk. All they do is log on to talk sh—
Having Tony LaRussa as your manager for a long period, will lead to your whining and sense of false entitlement.
@Joel Peterson You seem to know as much about fans as you do the inner workings of baseball operations.
@binnington50 i couldn’t agree more while stl isn’t the sexiest city i mean we don’t have mountains or beaches but is still a fun city to cut louse in. i’ve been all around the states and other than new orleans there isn’t a friendlier city to party in.
St Louis really sucks, I watched Cardianls teams during the 1990’s that featured Ray Lankford, Mike Matheny, Ron Gant, Shawn Dunston, Eric Davis, Fernando Tatis, Royce Clayton, Edgar Renteria, Craig Paquette, Placido Polanco, Daren Oliver, Ken Bottenfield, Mark McGuire, and Eli Marrero who did their fair/fare share of losing.
The economy here really took a turn for the worse when the Rams left. Its a really depressed place, to bad the GM of the one great thing we have is a Manchurian Candidate. InBev hostile take over of Anheuser-Busch in 2012? 2013 also is partly to blame
“You see there’s something you poor fools just dont understand here, that’s a European owned company, THAT MONEY GOES TO ITALY!”
Yeah, but you got Nolan and Goldy for the next four years. You’re set!
They need to find a way to put Carlos Martinez in the bullpen and move someone different into the rotation in his spot also.
Who? We put LeBlanc in for Gant. Pretty sure LeBlanc sucks but that was the move. Who????
at this point i would take a guy out of the stands than have carlos start another game. carlos is the the prime example of all the talent in the world and should be a top 5 pitcher but can’t figure out the stuff right in between the ears.
They need to do that with Martinez, Gant, and maybe KK as well? Yeah scientist predicted alot of pitchers would be effected by Covid 19 shutdown, seems they were right? Why is everyone so hung up on what they say about climate change as well?
What about Carlos Martinez? He’s got an ERA of 6.78 and he’s been worth -1.6 WAR yet he’s still in the rotation?
Carlos should of been the first move, he’s killing us. Woodford isn’t great, but I could see him starting over Martinez at the moment. At least his ERA isn’t 6+.
He’s a healthy pitcher? For the moment? There have been tons of UCL tears this year, have you noticed that? The asking point for decent starting pitching is going to be sky high with how many playoff contenders are going to be looking. John Mozeliak has already traded away to much of the future of our organization (Alcantara, Gallen, Weaver, Gomber, Arozarena, Garcia, to name a few in the past 4 years) its NOT the cardinals way to trade away the future of the originzation which is why they did so much winning from 2000-2015, they actually LIVED by the MOTO they perpetually spew when it comes time to sign a free agent in the off-season because of all the gaping holes due to the short sold trades they have made since 2014 off-season!
Nolan and Goldy and 40 year old Wrainwright as staff ace and only legit starter. Going far for sure…..
You forgot the first ballot Hall of Famer.
O’Neal has been good, Carlson and Edmond are solid players too
I’ve seen a few articles throwing Edmond under the bus, scapegoating him for the lack of offense and its like he’s doing better than Kolten Wong did at his age? Then after his candid comments during post game highlighting the coaching staff not preparing them pregame then also not helping them make mid game adjustments… Surprised he’s not already a Tampa Bay Ray like Arozarena? Shildt response was okay buddy boy welcome to 6th in the lineup cause having Dylan Carlson get pissed when he strikes out on a fastball up over and over again cause of the lack of a real hitting coach will fix the offensive struggles? Definition of insanity
I’m gonna listen to the players in this situation, the coaches have lost my faith, and look as lost as the batters on a nightly basis when the Cardinals Mysteriously always face a opposing pitcher at his best even WHEN they have a stat line as atrocious as KUHL
Like every year the Cards will get a few pitchers back late and make a surge. I don’t see it carrying over to playoff success but they always find a way to make it interesting.
Cardinals get a new hitting and pitching coach and you will improve your team. Call Ray Searge
This line up is a joke and just say it once and for all Moseliak ” the joke’s on us “