Chris Archer’s long-awaited return from the IL didn’t go as planned. The righty returned to the hill today after spending more than four months on the shelf, but then left the game after throwing 41 pitches over two innings due to hip tightness. Although Archer initially went on the IL in April because of forearm tightness, his rehab was slowed by hip soreness in recent weeks. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays word from Rays’ manager Kevin Cash, who says that today’s hip soreness was not in the same spot as the previous hip issues. Archer himself told Joey Johnston of the Tampa Bay Times that coming out of the game was precautionary. “I noticed a little drop in my fastball [velocity], and I felt the tightness in my hip,” Archer said. “…I thought it was smart to take a little breather, leave it at two innings.” The hurler has now thrown just 6 1/3 innings since the end of the 2019 season, after missing all of 2020 because of undergoing surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. Whether this is a minor setback or something more serious remains to be seen. In spite of his early exit, the Rays racked up a 9-0 victory over the White Sox, moving to 4 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.
More from the AL East…
- Nelson Cruz was placed on the COVID IL earlier today, but it seems that was mostly precautionary. Per Topkin, Cruz just didn’t feel well this morning. Assuming he doesn’t test positive, Cruz should return to the squad as soon as he feels better. (The COVID IL has no minimum stay.) The 41-year-old was in the midst of yet another excellent season at the plate when he was traded from Minnesota to Tampa, though he’s slumped a bit since then. His .198/.257/.448 line since joining the Rays is a far cry from the numbers he put up before the move, though in a small sample size of just 24 games.
- Yankees’ infielder Gio Urshela is beginning a rehab assignment tonight, per a team announcement. The 29-year-old has been on the IL for about three weeks due to a hamstring strain. It’s been a frustrating few weeks for Urshela, having only played six games since mid-July because of this hamstring issue as well as the Yankees’ lengthy COVID situation. Despite all that, Urshela still has a nice line of .274/.315/.439 on the year, producing a wRC+ of 106. That’s a drop-off from his excellent 2019-2020 production, but still above league average and would be an upgrade to the Yankees’ current lineup. With Gleyber Torres also on the IL, the Yanks have largely been using Rougned Odor and Andrew Velazquez on the left side of the diamond, neither of whom have matched Urshela’s production on the year. Since joining the Yankees, Odor’s slash line is .216/.297/.404, wRC+ of 92, whereas Velazquez is at .242/.265/.424, wRC+ of 84.
- Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi provides updates on some injured Blue Jays. (Twitter links) Catcher Danny Jansen is close to starting a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a hamstring strain. Ross Stripling has started throwing after being shut down due to an oblique injury. But of course, the most notable wounded Blue Jay is George Springer, who recently landed on the IL with a knee sprain. The star outfielder has only been able to play 49 games this year due to various injuries, but has been outstanding when healthy. His .269/.362/.610 slash line is 58% better than league average, per wRC+. Amongst MLB players with more than 200 plate appearances this year, only four of them are above Springer in that regard. In other words, his health is tremendously important to a team that is 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. But as Davidi says, despite doing some hitting, Springer still has to run the bases before being considered for game action.
What’s more important to Toronto than Springer’s health is their bullpen, which blows excellent starting pitching performances almost daily.
Our ‘pen should wears the other team uniforms!!
Is it the bullpen continuously has a lot of bad pitchers OR is it Chuckles The Minor League Manager that’s handling the choices of who to get up and when and when to bring said pitcher(s) in?
My guess is its a little from column A and a lot from column B.
Definitely both
Yes the pen has been awful lately but the offense has also completely dried up since they left the first home stand.
They don’t have the pitching to win games 2-1
The bullpen gets a lot of blame but the offense doesn’t exactly do much late in games. The bullpen has to be perfect when they stop scoring runs mid game and that’s not really a fair expectation for this group.
It also helps if MVP Guerrero could catch a short hop throw, like a real First baseman.
it sucks, but I think Archer is toast at this point
Quite the shame, had the makings of greatness
Bummer. But foresee a career for him in the Broadcast Arts
every time i hear him interviewed i think the same thing
should have a long career in broadcasting if he wants it
Now I don’t even think he has the makings of a varsity athlete.
Agreed. TOS has killed the career of almost all that have had it. It is definitely a death knell for hard throwing pitchers. A couple of crafty veterans have extended their careers a year or two with it. Archer was a similar pitcher to Tyson Ross and you can see how his career turned out after the surgery.
Shamrocks could have Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in their prime about to join and it wouldn’t matter a bit. That team folded like a cheap card table. LOL!
Who the hell are the shamrocks?
Urshela will be a serious upgrade for the Yankees when he returns. He is an excellent defender at third and is NOT a swing or miss type of hitter. He provides the Yanks with a consistently professional at bat as well as gold glove caliber defense at third. His return should be a real shot in the arms to the Yankees on their difficult upcoming 9 game road trip!
He sure will.
We should be getting Holmes back too.
Biggest thing is German & Kluber by September. (Maybe Sevy too?) Yanks getting healthier by the day. Might see our full squad sometime. I realize that’s asking a lot.
Going for 10 straight today.
Just keep winning series, man.
Archer’s return might not have gone as planned, but it did go as expected.
If the Blue Jays are smart they will leave Jansen in the minors….they don’t need another dead bat especially one that is also poor defensively.
Should they DFA Chris Archer? Zero value to the team and a wasted spot on the 40 man roster. He is a free agent at season’s end. I’d say yes.
Why ? Is he preventing Bob Gibson from coming up ? Just IL him and move on. If Bob has to come up, you can 60 day IL him and open up his spot on the 40
I don’t know about that. Archer provided the Rays quite a few wins before the Pittsburgh trade and gave them 2 solid players from the trade. If they DFA him and another team doesn’t pick him up he will get sent to the minors or most likely released. He will lose the top notch rehab he receives from the Rays. Nah, move him to the 60-day and at seasons end move on.
I’m confused! All offensive stats in the latest comments on players is data comparing those players to the league average – is that right or am I missing something? And this is probably not the right forum for this but it goes without saying, a player being above league average doesn’t mean he’s any good
Old saying…numbers lie, liars use numbers. You can set the norm to any point you want, then make your assessments. It’s a fixed evaluation.
Yes. You’re confused.
At this point I’d rather has Velasquez continue playing short in stead of Gleyber this season
Yes, quite a difference in range, agility, instincts, and throwing arm….Velasquez play has helped them tremendously over the last several games…..much more than the occasional offense you get from Torres and the very average play at SS.
Cash is going to have to do something about this in the winter as its plainly obvious that Gleyber is not a MLB upper echelon SS and in fact is barely average when you consider his entire defensive game….and his offensive game is nothing too write home about either.
My recollection of Archer was from my first game at Yankee Stadium. He threw a complete game two hit shutout for the Rays. Unfortunately, like many before him, injuries got the best of this very talented pitcher. Really, a shame.
There are countless stories of pitchers who threw their career games at the Yankees…..more like inconsistency masked by injuries that did this guy in.
Archer’s already produced more for the Rays than Mookie has for LA. Of course, Archer’s return are based on the value of Glassnow and Meadows in terms of WAR so far this year. Oh ya, and Baz is the #12 ranked prospect in MLB, and getting close; close enough that they might trade Glassnow.
So Chris Archer is a VERY valuable Ray.