Catching up on notable players returning from the injured list today…
LATEST MOVES
- The Cubs activated left-hander Brandon Hughes from the 15-day IL, and outfielder Nelson Velazquez was optioned to Triple-A to create roster space. Hughes was bothered by inflammation in his left knee during Spring Training, so Chicago placed him on the IL prior to Opening Day so Hughes could recover and then complete his ramp-up progress. In an impressive rookie season, Hughes posted a 3.12 ERA and an above-average 28.3% strikeout rate (albeit with a subpar walk rate) over 57 2/3 innings out of the Cubs’ bullpen.
EARLIER TODAY
- The Cardinals activated Lars Nootbaar from the 10-day IL, and sent Juan Yepez to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Nootbaar was in the St. Louis lineup for the first time since Opening Day, when he injured his left thumb diving into a base. While the Cardinals’ outfield depth chart might prevent Nootbaar from true everyday duty, he is still expected to get a lot of playing time as a left-handed hitter capable of playing all three outfield spots. Jordan Walker’s emergence has only added to a crowded outfield picture that also includes Nootbaar, Tyler O’Neill, Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson, Yepez, and utilityman Brendan Donovan.
- The Twins activated outfielder Max Kepler from the 10-day IL, as Kepler returned after missing the minimum 10 days while recovering from right patellar tendinitis. Minnesota optioned outfielder Matt Wallner to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Kepler’s return will bring a bit of relief for the injury-plagued Twins, and he’ll look for something of a reset to his season after playing in only four games prior to his IL stint. Kepler is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, and will be a free agent this winter unless the Twins exercise a $10MM club option for 2024.
- Michael Lorenzen made his first start of the season today, as the Tigers activated the right-hander from the 15-day IL. Unsurprisingly, Lorenzen showed some rust, allowing six earned runs over four innings in what ended up being a 7-6 comeback win for Detroit over San Francisco. A left groin strain has kept Lorenzen on the shelf, but going forward, he is expected to contribute in the Tigers’ rotation after signing a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal during the offseason. Along with activating Lorenzen, Detroit also called up southpaw Tyler Holton from Triple-A, and sent righty Garrett Hill and infielder Ryan Kreidler to Triple-A.
Now I’m worried, what exactly is Jordan walker’s emergency? Lol!
Good thing he wore the brown pants that day!
Nootbar, Nyuck, nyuck,nyuck
I don’t see the grouse?
@Gwynning, I assume he was obscenely dealt with…
woob woob woob woob woob
I’m telling you, I can get the important information elsewhere but not the writing…it slays me!
I remember when Michael Lorenzen was a baby. Probably about two months old. His grandparents lived next door. It’s cool to see him in the majors today.
Nootbar’s just looking for a Payday.
*Snickers*
I hope he’s not expecting mounds of cash…if lucky he might get 100 grand
Oh, Henry Aaron made that in 1973.
“Skor” 1 4 Cards getn the Noot back
Gabe Kapler, what a guy. Was he disrespecting a future of Hall of Fame player, by pitching to him ? Or was he paying back Detroit for drafting him ? The fans loved it, so it worked out well for everyone. Giving a guy like Miguel a chance to win in a walk off is a hat tip moment to Gabe, like saying to Mantle what pitch is coming, can you do it.
Everyone in the park knew Miguel was going to do it. So thank you Gabe for remembering your roots. Miguel’s going to look awfully good on the M.L.B. channel in the English D, It was great watching the big guy do it. The Harris moves have been paying off, and the team is playing better too.
What??? Are you saying Kapler instructed his pitcher to groove one to Cabrera?
Kapler is from the Baldelli school. They believe what they think matters.
Hat tip moment? What the hll are you talking about? You sound like you are in love with these guys.
Huh?
Kreidler beginning to look like a quad A player.
Yes, it was nice to see Miggy come through. What Harris moves have been paying off though? Candelario has been playing well for the Nationals as a Full time player. Harold and Willi Castro have been contributing off the bench for their new teams. Meanwhile, the Tigers gutted bullpen has been a disaster. The players they received back have not been an improvement from the players they could have just kept. Maton is a platoon player, and Vierling has shown he’s a poor base runner, and is only getting this much playing time due to Meadows situation. He’s a platoon player too.
I disagree on the players we got from Philly. Maton has been their best hitter lately. I don’t think Candelario is playing any better than Maton, but as I said before I agree with you and wish they would have kept him too. Vierling hasn’t played badly either and if he’s a platoon player who cares as long as he plays well. The Castros weren’t going to do much for us except block young players from at bats.
Their bullpen just threw 7 innings of shutout baseball. Relax buddy.
Seriously, certain people are giving up on the Tigers way too early. I’m still predicting 75 wins this year.
Harold Castro has been horrible this year (-.4 bWAR through April 14th). Willi Castro might be contributing to his team’s defense, but that’s it. Candelario is off to a fairly good start. Harris was correct to move on from these guys (Victor Reyes, too.)
Maton and Vierling have showed some promise.
Ryan. Take xtra batting practice in Toledo.
Very glad to see Noot back. Three walks today. The Cardinals need to trade an outfielder and send Jordan Hicks along for the ride. The entire pitching staff has struggled. I’m one more loss to the Pirates away from rounding up some buddies, getting a panel van and some ski masks, driving to Arlington, TX, and “persuading” Mike Maddox to come back to St. Louis.
I was quite upset when he gave the ball to Hicks in the 10th today. I get it. The guy throws really hard. He’s still getting lit up over and over. He has to go.
I think the analytics boys in the front office are working overtime pressuring the pitchers and the coaching staff in pursuit of higher strikeout totals. Every pitcher on the staff seems to be trying to be too cute, throwing pitches out of the zone, hoping batters will chase. So far this has resulted in too many walks, pitching behind in the count too often, and throwing too many pitches overall.
This is an established group of pitchers with successful track records at the ML level. Be aggressive, throw strikes, and let this defense do it’s thing. Mo talked about wanting more strikeouts from the staff in the offseason, but you have to pay for those kinds of arms. Stop trying to make the guys we have into something they’re not.
Hooray for walks!! Just what the team needs, more runners at first base. There 90 foot game is on fleet this season. A lead off walk has a 20% chance of scoring. A walk with one or more out, the odds start dropping drastically. This team doesn’t need more walks or singles! Which by the way, that’s all Nootbar does. He had almost as many walks last year as total hits. Pepper grinders are primarily used for salads, no one goes to the restaurant for the salad.
Your just dumb, son.
That factually incorrect. And Nootbaar sucks.
I’m just curious what it will actually take for you and 57 to finally admit this team sucks. It took a 17 game win streak to make the playoffs two years ago. It took the Brewers to give up because for some reason they subtracted at the dead line last year rather than add. When they make the playoffs, they get bounced immediately and look like should have never been there. The offense is average and the pitching staff is bottom quarter. So what, they have Arenado and Goldy. Colorado had Arenado, LeMahieu, Story and Blackmon in their prime and they sucked too.
When you admit to being Slider’s burner account, I’ll consider saying this team sucks. Until then, take a shopping trip. Get a new hat. Walk right past those red ones and try on something blue. Maybe with a bright red C on it. Go crazy. Get a Nico Hoerner jersey. You’re going to feel like a guy who found out he’s lefthanded after a lifetime spent struggling as a righty.
But I am left handed. Known that my whole life. Slider is just an antagonist, I like to think I’m pragmatic. I guess your saying I should be a cubs fan. Well if I was a fair weather fan I would, because they are better than us. But instead I will go sit in a London stadium in late June, decked out in Cardinal gear and feel like an idiot when the London locals ask me why the Cardinals suck. And my answer will be, because I thought we were actually going to try and get better when I bought the tickets. They were only 4 games over .500 against non NL Central teams last year, they play less games against the division this year and the division got significantly better. A .500 at best record and kissing the playoffs has always been the reality for this season.
Fair enough. I’m as frustrated as anyone. But I think they’ll be fine. We can agree to disagree. I’ll remain mostly positive along with 57. You keep blasting away at their faults. Some days they need to hear it.
There are things I like. I like Montgomery. I think O’Niel is the best option for CF. Walker comps to Jason Heyward and I’ll take that for the part of his career. Arenado will hit his baseball card numbers. Burleson looks like a decent hitter, maybe a poor man’s Schwarber. I really like Gorman but he’s also a huge liability. Not sure why he doesn’t play first when Goldschmidt doesn’t. But the sum of the parts isn’t very exciting. But as much as I like Montgomery, he is a number three at best and the rest of the rotation is worse. Bullpens are 50/50 any given year and this one is going to get burnt out early. Carlson, Nootbaar and Edmond are all the same hitter and none of them are good at it. Goldschmidt is 35 and will slump June on. Donovan is too steamy and the league will adjust to him, Walker, Burleson and Gorman. Contreras I thought was a great signing, but he struggles to catch pitches, much less block balls. I don’t think he can hold up catching a full season in the Saint Louis heat though. And to top it all off, the manager is in way over his head and the GM is more narcissistic than me.
I’ll worry when they are under .500 on June first. Until then, I think the pitching is thin but it’s the best offense the team has had since 2004. The hitting is there. It hasn’t been timely. Some of the outs with men on base were very hard hit outs. That’s bad luck which will even out over time.
We’ll, they will be under .500 on June 1. They will probably get swept by the Diamondbacks next. It’s very early to declare what kind of offense this is. Its certainly no where close to the 2012 team, much less 2004. Looks to me to be about exactly middle of MLB this year.
Thanks for the middle of April doomsday report.
Sure, it’s only the middle of April, but most of the team already looks flat, unenthused, and pessimistic, in my opinion. Where would the Cards be right now without Gorman? Last place, still talking about their potential while doing so little to prove it exists.
Well 678, I’m starting to get discouraged. This team is hard to watch. They find new ways to lose every night by sucking in every facet of the game.
Tell me honestly. Did you think the defense would crater like it has? I did NOT see that coming. At this point I blame the front office for trying to reinvent the wheel both offensively and with the pitching philosophy. I also think a lack of leadership in the clubhouse is really starting to show.
It’s not 100% the manager’s fault – unless it’s Matheny it never is – but it’s time for a new voice. You can’t fire the players and the players are actually quite good yet something simply isn’t working right now and it starts with the top.
How many more chances will Hicks get? It’s absurd that he wasn’t sent down after last night’s game. Enough is enough and the outcome felt predetermined when he came in. The analytics team can be obsessed with strikeouts all they want, but he’s not getting those either.
This team and the decision making does not look good right now. I think back to last week when they broke their losing streak by putting Edman at leadoff, Motter had a great game, and the lineup overall seemed more balanced and focused. The very next day Marmol runs an entirely different lineup out there and Edman was batting 9th again.
The players absolutely need to do their job, but the manager has certain items he can affect and right now he’s not doing his job either.
They can’t just send him down. He has to clear waivers and then accept the assignment or choose free agency and give up all remaining money on his contract. That takes a few days and they don’t always make that information public until he clears waivers. I do believe that unless he gets claimed and pulled back, you won’t see him for a few days.
I’d like to see a Moneyball 2.
Head scout Grady Fuson smacks the crap out of Billy Bean. Then he overturns the table in the meeting room, and helicopter-spins Pete before body slamming him to the floor, and finishing him with a pile-driver elbow smash.
Safe travels. If you leave now, you’ll avoid traffic.
“Lars Nootbar” sounds like a Star Wars character
Holton was fantastic in his first game as a Tigers. I hope it wasn’t a fluke, they need the bullpen help.
There was a brief article on mlb.com about the transactions that said he gave up 4 HRs in the minors but then had settled down. Let’s hope he doesn’t revert to the former. I’m still hoping Wingenter figures it out. Lange, Foley, Alexander and Shreve have been decent. Diaz should be next man up after the good spring training showing. Wentz looked good the other day but Lorenzen sure didn’t. Lorenzen could be ticketed for the bullpen too if he keeps pitching like that. Just his first start so hopefully better things to come.
Along with a refurbished clubhouse and new field lighting, the Tigers bought new tires for the Detroit-Toledo shuttle bus.
One of those tires will come down with a radial strain soon and be out for a month.
The cardinals are 23rd in runs scored but Mr Half Season Wonder Lars Nootbar will fix that right up.
They are dead last in hits allowed and 18th in ERA. but again, no worries. 2013/2014; staff ace Adam Wainwright to the rescue.
Cardinals got punk-slapped by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Thoughts?
Pull my waivers.