The big storylines from today’s Padres-Dodgers game all revolve around Max Scherzer. Not only did he become just the 19th pitcher in Major League history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, he also threw an immaculate inning and carried a perfect game into the eighth inning. However, the opposing clubhouse didn’t have nearly as much to celebrate. Padres reliever Austin Adams tied a modern-day record for hit batsmen in a season and Blake Snell left the game after just 11 pitches with what the club later announced as “left adductor tightness”, also known as a groin injury.
This is very unfortunate timing for both the club and Snell, as they are in a crowded playoff race and he was just starting to turn his frustrating season around. Following a miserable outing against Oakland on July 28th, Snell was sitting on an ERA of 5.44 through 84 1/3 innings, with an elevated walk rate of 14.3%, well above this year’s league average of 8.7%. However, since that time, the lefty seemed to have got into a groove and righted the ship, throwing 43 2/3 innings with 65 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.85, along with a much-improved walk rate of 8.6%.
The severity of the injury isn’t clear at this point. But with the club currently tied with the Reds for the last National League Wild Card spot, with the Cardinals just a game back and other teams looming, every remaining game is tremendously important. Rotation health has been an ongoing issue for the club in the past few months, so much so that the club signed Jake Arrieta a few weeks ago to try and paper over the injuries. However, Arrieta landed on the IL himself and hasn’t been terribly effective in his two appearances with the Friars. Losing Snell for any amount of time, especially when he was throwing so well, would surely be a blow to their chances.
Some other injury updates…
- Matt Boyd is meeting with elbow specialist Keith Meister, Tigers manager AJ Hinch tells Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. “He is scheduled to see Dr. Meister in Dallas and then we’ll get further evaluations and opinions and see what’s next for him,” Hinch said. While a meeting doesn’t necessarily spell doom, this is a potentially concerning development, given that Meister is often associated with Tommy John surgery. McCosky points out that Meister recently performed the procedure for Tigers catcher Jake Rogers, but the doctor has also recently taken the knife to Tyler Glasnow and many others. If any kind of serious surgery is required, it would be very poor timing, given that Boyd is currently slated to reach free agency after the 2022 season. The 30-year-old is playing this year on a $6.5MM salary and can be controlled for one more year via arbitration. Boyd’s name has been often mentioned as a trade candidate for the rebuilding Tigers in recent years, though a deal has yet to come to fruition. A lengthy surgery rehab could further dent any trade value he has left and also hurt Boyd’s chances to cash in on his quality career via free agency. Since the start of 2016, Boyd had given the Tigers 727 innings with an ERA of 4.75, accruing 10.2 fWAR in that time.
- The Mets provided yet another vague update about Jacob deGrom, as manager Luis Rojas tells Anthony DiComo of MLB.com he is scheduled to throw off a mound, “maybe this week.” deGrom was on his way to a brilliant season before elbow issues put him on the shelf in July. Through 92 innings this season, he has an ERA of 1.08 with an excellent walk rate of 3.4% and an absurd strikeout rate of 45.1%. Given that there’s only three weeks remaining in the season, it seems that the chances of those winding up as his final numbers are growing.
- In better news for the Mets, the prognosis for outfielder Brandon Nimmo seems to have improved. DiComo gives some details of the onfield workout Nimmo took part in today and says that Nimmo believes he can return to face Philadelphia, whom the Mets start a three-game series with on Friday. Going into tonight’s game against the Yankees, the Mets are 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and would surely love to get Nimmo back into the mix to help with their postseason push. In 77 games this year, the 28-year-old has hit .302/420/.415, an excellent wRC+ of 139.
The Pads should make a call to Jeff Samardizja.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
They should make a call to Darren Balsely..
And hire a new hitting coach.
And a call to Andrew Cashner
Let’s throw in Corey Luebke while we’re at it. Hell, Mat Latos too.
Padres obviously need to bring in Bartolo Colon.
This is all any team needs
Every team needs Big Sexy and his magical fielding plays.
The best case scenario for DeGrom is that the Mets get mathematically eliminated sooner rather than later & the temptation to push him back goes away.
I still don’t think it makes a difference whether he gets stretched out now or next year. The chance of re-injury is the same. If it’s healed, it’s healed. If not, it’s probably never gonna be and he has to pitch through it anyway, doesn’t make a difference if he throws a handful of innings this year or not.
Nice diagnosis, Dr. Cosmo.
If it’s not healed, no use in resting that elbow ligament.
Seems a little illogical to me but you’re the expert.
He said, “if it’s healed”. I think most would be under the assumption that if he’s being allowed to pitch, it *should* be healed.
He said if it’s not healed, it’s probably never going to be.
That’s the part medical professionals would probably disagree with.
Pushing deGrom out there for a shot at the WC seems silly to me.
Almost as silly as Dr. Cosmos’ medical diagnosis.
Rest and rehab has healed a few torn ligaments but I defer to you two for medical opinions
Many UCL tears don’t heal with an off season of rest. Examples: Tanaka, Lugo. So take yer snark and stuff it.
Kirk,
His situation unfortunately reminds me of Garrett Richards 2016 – 2018 who was attempting to avoid TJS and then ultimately relented and finally returned to action at the end of 2019.
Hope Richards in the future decides to go at it as a reliever instead as a starter, but some team will probably give him some incentive laden deal and he’ll take it next year as a SP. He’s looked much better since being sent to the BP tho, which should convince other teams that his future is as a long reliever.
Richards was a solid performer on my Fantasy Team until he couldn’t but was a really hard thrower.
sucks the Phillies are rolling over when the teams in front of them are falling appart too. WC2 looking like a mess right now.
Yeah. The Phillies honestly have been given every opportunity. They just don’t deserve a playoff spot.
Vince Velazquez
Enyel De Los Santos
If Snells going to miss more than 1 start they should put a claim in and see if a change of scenery will help.
Maybe you strike gold. Maybe you hit a septic tank.
lol
Once again West Coast Ryan has nothing of value to contribute to the discussion. Shocker.
We’ve been over this before Ryan. You could at least contribute to the discussion instead of acting like a teenage girl responding to a text message.
Not sure who “West Coast Ryan” is or how it is relevant here. But ad hominem attacks like that are the calling card of someone who is losing an argument. So is it fair to conclude that you realize that you are wrong?
Vinny Velo has decent stuff. He can be fixed IMO. Just not in Philly. I can see San Diego taking a chance.
I remember he pitched a 16 strikeout complete game against the Padres back in 2016.
if you want to lose that WC spot maybe
They are all ready in a free fall. It might be worth either dropping it for the season and getting the slightly better draft slot and coming back next year knowing WC is more likely.
Padres have already given up on the wild card. They really suck right now manager will be next to go.
Avila pretty much pissed away 2 good assets in a rebuild in Fulmer and Boyd.
Criminal
Reds were worse. Pissed away Chapman, Cueto, Leake, Cozart, Harvey, etc. It was actually kinda painful to watch them year after year refuse to trade a player coming off a strong season only to see that player get injured, regress, or be two months out from FA with it being a buyer’s market at his position.
Remove but the Reds did trade for Kemp, Puig and Woods and all the Dodgers got were a couple of minor league players.
A couple of minor league players? You mean the minor league players that the Dodgers turned into Mookie Betts, Max Scherzer, and Trea Turner? I think the Dodgers are okay with that trade.
The Dodgers should have won 120 games this year. That’s how much talent they have. That’s how much depth the have, But, anything short of winning it all is a failure. Get ready for some bad news.
To win 120 games in one year, you not only have to have depth, you have to be incredibly lucky. You can’t have Kershaw miss 2 months. You can’t have Bauer be gone for the entire second half. You can’t lose a Dustin May one month into the season. You can’t have a rotating cast of bullpen relievers that haven’t pitched in years. Grabbing random guys off waivers and throwing them into extra innings games the next day. Some serious cast offs that were and are getting huge innings.
This has been a trying season for most teams, but with the injuries being what they are, no Dodgers fan should have expected so many wins. The Dodgers are lucky enough to have the 2nd best record in baseball with having two bullpen games every 3 days. That shows the amazing depth the Dodgers do have.
And with the Dodgers getting somewhat healthy, Kershaw pitching today and Gonsolin tomorrow. Add in the fact that Scherzer is dominating. I think every Dodgers fan at this point, can expect them to be in the World Series. Whether they play the wild card game or not.
I think excuses have always been their greatest strength. Every team has to deal with injuries. The Dodgers have pitchers on top of pitchers, and an everyday lineup with depth like no other. The Giants have over performed. The Dodgers never over perform.
“anything short of winning it all is a failure” is an absurd perspective. The “best” team often doesn’t survive three rounds of playoffs.
Miles I was being sarcastic. The Reds have none of those players on their team but the minor leaguers were key trade components in obtaining Betts AND Scherzer AND Turner.
No one remembers who came in second. The Dodgers have all the tools. No roster compared to theirs. No pitching staff. If they don’t win it all it’s a failure. Nothing absurd about that statement.
You act like they’ve been bad. They are top 5 in every offensive category except BA where they’re 6th. They lead the NL taking 19 more walks than #2, SF
Oh and their pitching, with all those injuries, has the best ERA in MLB. There’s no reason to think they can’t make a deep run into October.
Not at all. Considering Avila’s trade record, he would’ve just got worse players with worse health issues.
Also, knowing his trade record, other GMs know he will settle for waiver wire trash in return.
Instead of Boyd and Fulmer. The Tigers could have another daz Cameron or Franklin Perez.
LOL
BobGibsonFan Or they could have hit a jackpot and wound up with a franchise star… we’ll never know.
Al’s biggest mistake is.not taking advise/hiring the superfife.
He is pushing the team too fast because of his contract.
He is likey to sink the team.l into mediocrity by not facing the. TRUTH.
Hoping to get lucky is not a good strategy.
RnR Baseball is hugely impacted by luck. Most prospects are misses, often top 10 draft picks. Sometimes a guy just figures it all out one day, like JD Martinez did… that was luck for the Tigers who got him for nothing. Injuries… lucky teams are less impacted by them.
I thoughts it was a typo when you put Mets 3.5 games out of playoffs. NL East has been so bad this year I had stopped watching wild card completely and just assumed it was the division or nothing.
With all the teams they’d have to jump, those 3.5 games is still too much to make up, but I was surprised to see they were even that close.
They’re closer via the WC than the division, yet they have multiple teams to jump for the last WC position. Odds poor.
with how most of them have been bad lately, a good run could do it
Article links to the wrong Austin Adams.
Padres have Arrieta they should be fine
Welcome to the NL 2nd WC, where one team will back in. Quite possibly the dumbest idea ever made by MLB. There’s going to be a 100 win team having to play a one game playoff against another team that has no business being there.
It’s because people complained about a 100 win team being left out because there was a 101 win team. This has been a problem for 100 years. But let’s make up stupid rules to shorten the game.
Then they should make the two WC teams play a 3 game series. A one game, win or go home is insane. Anything could happen in that game. It’s not a legit way to declare a winner after a 162 game season. They don’t play one game series during the season. And I agree, the other rules need to go. Runner on 2nd in extra innings is a joke. 7 inning DH is a bigger joke.
The 2 wild card teams play each other in a one game series. That team would then play the top team in a 5 game series.
Tdat, what’s your point? I know the playoff format? The one game “series” is a joke. I don’t care that the winner gets to play 5 in the next series. My point is to play a 3 game series between the two WC teams.
A team that is 15 games worse than SF or LA can move on because of one game. One bad umpire call. That is why this current setup is a joke
They should be ordered by record. Worse two records play the 1 game playoff. Not punish teams because their divisional opponent had a good year too
To be fair the reverse can be true. For example one weak division can have an 85ish-win team in, while the 2nd WC could have 90+. But unfortunately, we’ve been seeing the scenario you outlined.
Austin Adams has 23 HBP in just 48 2/3 innings of work. That’s about 4.25 HBP per 9 innings. That is insane.
Adams had 2 career hbp entering the year. He must have learned to pitch inside.
Why has MLB not suspend Padres Austin Adams ? They suspended some pitchers that hit one player how can they not suspend Adams for hitting 23 players in 48 innings. Do Padres just bring him in when they want other teams’ players hit? Why would Padres’ manager keep bringing him in and hope for different results? Why is Adams on the MLB roster, and how many players has he caused to go on il.
I am a Dodgers fan who watched that game yesterday and I can tell you that there was no intent in any of those pitches that would warrant a suspension. Dude is just straight up wild and has no idea where the ball is going.
He has a slider that is dominate when he’s on. Filthy. But the thing is he’s like the rest of the Padres bullpen. He’s worn out.
I’d like to see Scherzer play long enough to put up the kind of numbers where he won’t have to wait as long as Bert Blyleven to get admitted to the HOF
don’t worry, Max already has more Cy Youngs, more AS appearances, more top-10 MVP appearances, a better winning percentage (FWIW), a better ERA & ERA+, better WHIP, better K/9, about the same BB/9, and…well, you get the point. It would take something drastic for Max to not be first-ballot, IMO.
Max is as much of a lock as a 1st ballot HOF as Pujols.
And Kershaw
I still don’t understand the concept behind a “first ballot Hall of Famer.” For me, you either are a Hall of Famer or you aren’t. If I think you’re a Hall of Famer, I’m not going to make you wait a year or two to get in because “reasons.” And if I don’t think you’re a Hall of Famer, I’m not going to change my mind unless you show up to my kid’s birthday party or something.
The HOF is watered down, and it’s going to start drowning in very good players moving forward.
Reality is many guys don’t get 75% year 1 but eventually get in. Putting your foot down and saying you don’t get it doesn’t mean it’s not how things work. You can disagree with it, but we all know that is reality
Heck. Look at this years class. Jeter, a 1st ballot guy while Walker was over a decade I believe?