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Tigers Hoping For Alex Cobb To Return In Relief

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The Tigers plan to use Alex Cobb in a multi-inning relief role if he’s able to make it back from the injured list, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (link via Chris McCosky of The Detroit News). Cobb signed a one-year deal to work as a starter but has missed the entire season due to left hip issues.

“We shrunk down the expectations internally on how long he can go in a game,” Hinch told McCosky and others. “We’re trying to see how the two- and three-inning stints go and how he bounces back from that.”

It has long since passed the point for the Tigers to get the return they expected on a $15MM free agent investment. At this point, they’d welcome any contributions from the 37-year-old. Cobb has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo for the past week. He has worked between two and three innings in each of his first two appearances. He’s expected to make his next appearance this weekend.

Rehab assignments for pitchers can last up to 30 days. Using Cobb in a relief role could get him back before the end of that window. Speculatively speaking, the Tigers could view September 1 as a target for his reinstatement. That’s when active rosters expand from 26 to 28 and teams are permitted to carry a 14th pitcher.

That’d at least give Cobb a few weeks to audition for a spot on the playoff roster. Detroit’s bullpen remains arguably its biggest weakness. They’ve gotten excellent work out of deadline pickup Kyle Finnegan, while righty Will Vest has been very good all season. Tyler Holton is established as their best option from the left side.

The middle relief group remains very much in flux. Cobb and deadline acquisition Paul Sewald could each return late in the regular season. One of Jack Flaherty or Chris Paddack could move to the bullpen once the postseason begins and teams shrink their rotations in short series. The club also hasn’t closed the door on Reese Olson pitching in October, but that’s a long shot after he sustained a significant shoulder strain at the end of July.

Cobb missed almost all of last season because of issues in his right hip. He began the year with the Giants and was on the injured list through the trade deadline. The Guardians acquired him while he was rehabbing. He made three regular season starts and pitched twice in the postseason with Cleveland. A lower back injury knocked him out of the playoffs during the AL Championship Series.

Giants To Place Landen Roupp On Injured List With Knee Sprain

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The Giants are placing starter Landen Roupp on the 15-day injured list with a left knee sprain, manager Bob Melvin informed reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The right-hander is flying back to San Francisco for an MRI that’ll provide a more specific diagnosis.

Roupp suffered the injury in the third inning of tonight’s start in San Diego (video via SF Giants on NBCS). Ramón Laureano hit a comeback line drive that struck Roupp in the right thigh. While the ball itself didn’t cause an injury, the pitcher slipped on the mound as he tried to avoid it, tweaking his knee in the process. Trainers called for a cart to take him off the field.

With five weeks remaining in the regular season, it seems unlikely Roupp will make it back this year. The Giants have fallen five games under .500 and firmly out of contention. They’ll hope that testing doesn’t reveal any significant ligament damage that’d impact his offseason or threaten his availability for the early portion of next season.

Roupp, 27 next month, has had a solid first full season as a big league starter. He has taken the ball 22 times and worked to a 3.80 ERA over 106 2/3 innings. He has recorded a 21.4% strikeout rate while getting ground-balls at a league average 45.3% clip. He has looked the part of a capable mid-rotation arm until battling injuries over the past couple weeks. A minor bout of elbow inflammation sent him to the IL shortly before the trade deadline. Tonight’s start was his second since that three-week absence.

Justin Verlander pitches the finale in San Diego tomorrow. The Giants would have Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Kai-Wei Teng lined up for their weekend set in Milwaukee. An off day on Monday could allow them to skip Roupp’s turn in the rotation one time, but they might prefer to add a fifth starter to take the ball next Tuesday against the Cubs and give their rotation an extra day of rest. They’ll need another starter by the end of next week at the latest.

Unfortunately, one of their most intriguing depth arms won’t be a factor. Blade Tidwell, one of three players acquired from the Mets for Tyler Rogers, has begun his organizational tenure with 16 innings of three-run ball in Triple-A. Tidwell seemed to be on the verge of a call-up but reported shoulder discomfort yesterday (relayed by John Shea of The San Francisco Standard). He’s headed for an MRI of his own and won’t be an option for a big league call in the short term.

Rockies Reportedly Place Austin Gomber On Waivers

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The Rockies have placed scuffling starting pitcher Austin Gomber on outright waivers, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Gomber has not been designated for assignment and remains with the Rockies while the waiver process is pending. Outright waivers are irrevocable, so he’d change teams within the next 48 hours if another team places a claim.

That said, it’s frankly difficult to imagine another club picking Gomber up. A claiming team would pay the approximate $1.33MM remaining on the lefty-hander’s $6.35MM salary. Gomber is an impending free agent, so it’d make no sense for a non-contending club to do that. Contenders would have a difficult time finding a roster spot for a pitcher who has been shelled for a 7.49 earned run average in 57 2/3 innings.

Gomber missed the first two and a half months battling shoulder discomfort. He has been in Warren Schaeffer’s rotation since June 15 but hasn’t managed a single quality start in 12 appearances. Gomber did get through five innings while allowing two or fewer runs in three of his first four appearances. Opponents have tagged him for 36 earned runs across 38 innings during his past eight times out.

The 31-year-old Gomber has never thrown hard. His fastball sat in the 91-92 MPH range earlier in his career but is down to 89-90 this season. It’s possible that’s related to the shoulder discomfort, but it surely contributes to career-worst strikeout and home run rates. Nevertheless, there’s no real harm for the Rox in putting Gomber on waivers. If he clears, they can keep him on the roster. They could also decide to simply release him rather than waiting for him to hit the market in two months.

Jonathan Loaisiga Headed For Second Opinion With Likely Flexor Strain

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Jonathan Loáisiga appears to be in for another significant absence. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tells reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) that the oft-injured reliever is believed to have suffered a flexor strain. A more specific diagnosis and treatment plan will be known after the righty goes for a second opinion.

Loáisiga was already on the 15-day injured list due to mid-back tightness. That was a relatively minor issue, and the Yanks sent him on a rehab assignment after just two weeks on the shelf. He sustained the more significant forearm injury during an appearance with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over the weekend. It’s now difficult to imagine Loáisiga pitching again this season. Depending on the results of the second opinion, it’s possible his ’26 season could be impacted.

Arm injuries are unfortunately nothing new for Loáisiga. He lost most of last season to a flexor repair that kept him from making his season debut until May. Loáisiga had previously undergone a full Tommy John surgery while he was in the minor leagues. He’d spent time on the IL with shoulder problems in 2019, 2021 and ’22. A pair of elbow-related IL stints kept him to 17 games in 2023.

Loáisiga has generally been effective when he has been healthy enough to pitch. That hasn’t so much been the case this year. He carries a 4.25 earned run average through 29 2/3 innings. He has only fanned 18.5% of opponents while giving up more than two home runs per nine innings. It might’ve put him on the fringe of the Yankees’ playoff roster had he been healthy, assuming the team gets to the postseason.

The Yankees hold a $5MM option on Loáisiga for next season. His inconsistent performance made it look likelier than they’d decline that even if he were healthy. A season-ending forearm injury would make it a formality that the team cuts him loose at the beginning of the winter.

Twins’ Alan Roden To Undergo Thumb Surgery

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August 20: Roden will indeed have surgery, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

August 19: Twins rookie outfielder Alan Roden was ruled out for the season when Minnesota placed him on the 60-day injured list over the weekend. The 25-year-old sprained a ligament in his left thumb, which he aggravated last week on a headfirst slide. Roden tells Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune that he’s leaning towards undergoing surgery after meeting with a hand specialist on Monday. The procedure comes with a two-month recovery timeline, so it shouldn’t have much of an impact on his offseason.

It’s nevertheless a frustrating situation for Roden, who would have had an opportunity to play regularly down the stretch. Minnesota acquired him and pitching prospect Kendry Rojas in the surprise deadline deal that sent controllable reliever Louis Varland to Toronto. Roden was in Triple-A with the Jays, who have a deep outfield. The Twins immediately recalled him. Roden played in 12 of the team’s 13 games before suffering the injury.

The lefty-hitting Roden struggled in that limited look, batting .158 with a lone home run while striking out 13 times in 40 plate appearances. Roden hadn’t hit much during an early-season MLB stint with the Jays either. He finishes his debut campaign with a .191/.261/.294 slash in 55 games. That won’t be enough to guarantee him a starting spot in next year’s outfield. Roden destroyed Triple-A pitching, though, batting .331/.423/.496 with more walks than strikeouts in 32 games. The former third-round pick has hit at every minor league stop and owns a career .302/.409/.457 slash below the MLB level.

Roden still has a pair of minor league option years after this one. The Twins can keep him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. He should be healthy entering Spring Training and can compete for an Opening Day roster spot. Minnesota has nine outfielders who’ll be on the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason.

Byron Buxton is the only one locked into a starting role. Matt Wallner should get a lot of playing time but could see more time at designated hitter rather than playing every day in right field. Former first-rounder Trevor Larnach stands out as a speculative change-of-scenery candidate. Roden could vie with Emmanuel Rodriguez and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. for roles. It also seems likely the Twins will add at least one veteran (ideally a right-handed bat) to raise the floor with so many unproven players.

Which Other Players Could End Up On Waivers This Month?

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The second half of August brings an uptick in waiver placements. Beyond the trade deadline, waivers are the only real option for player movement from one team to another. A few teams that were fringe contenders at the end of July know now that they're almost certainly going to miss the postseason. Placing veterans with semi-notable salaries on waivers gives them a chance to dump the final few weeks of a contract. Other teams aren't going to claim a terrible contract, but there's sometimes a balance where the player's salary is solid value but isn't of much use to a team that is going to miss the playoffs anyway.

This can take on added importance for teams that are right up against the luxury tax. The Angels kicked this practice into gear two years ago, offloading Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and Matt Moore to slide narrowly below the CBT threshold. That at least allowed them to recoup a better draft pick when Shohei Ohtani walked in free agency. It's not only about tax avoidance, though. A lot of teams would welcome the opportunity just to cut a few hundred thousand dollars off the books in a losing season.

Within the past week, Rangers righty Jon Gray has already gone unclaimed on waivers. He was subsequently placed on the injured list due to thoracic outlet syndrome and will probably remain on the IL for the rest of the season. Marlins starter Cal Quantrill hit waivers within the past day or two; it's to be seen whether another team will pick up the approximate $734K that he's owed through season's end. Waiver placements that are not preceded by a DFA aren't publicly announced by teams. They're often leaked to reporters, but it's entirely possible there have already been a few notable names who have cleared or are on waivers that haven't gotten out.

The late-August timing isn't coincidental. Players must be in an organization by the start of September to be eligible for postseason play. Teams can still go the waiver route in September, but other clubs are less likely to place a claim next month because those players cannot help in the playoffs. Waiting until the end of August gives the current team as much time as possible to see where they're at in the standings. It also reduces the cost to a potential claiming team to around four weeks of salary, perhaps making someone more likely to place a claim at the end of the month than they would have been a few weeks ago (when the remaining salary would be around twice as high).

It's worth reiterating that the teams placing the player on waivers are hoping another team makes a claim. Sending a veteran through unclaimed has little to no benefit. Most of them have the five-plus service years to refuse a minor league assignment, so teams usually proceed as if nothing happened if the player goes unclaimed. They could place them back on waivers in a week or two to see if another club is more willing to bite because of the lower remaining salary and/or intervening injuries.

Which players could find themselves on waivers within the next 10 days? There's a clear team with which to start -- a club that bought at the deadline but has been in a free fall ever since while they sit right against the luxury line.

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Guardians To Promote Parker Messick

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The Guardians list left-hander Parker Messick as the probable starter for tomorrow’s series finale in Arizona. He’ll go opposite Brandon Pfaadt in his major league debut. Cleveland has an opening on the 40-man roster after outrighting reliever Trevor Stephan last week. They’ll only need to make an active roster transaction tomorrow.

Messick, 24, was a second-round pick out of Florida State in 2022. The 6’0″ southpaw has never blown evaluators away with his velocity, but he has carved through minor league hitters behind an excellent changeup. Messick has only used the changeup around a quarter of the time in Triple-A this year. He has gone to his four-seam fastball, which sits between 92 and 93 MPH, half the time. He has both a slider and curveball, neither of which get more than fringe-average grades from scouts, and infrequently uses a sinker.

It has seemingly left evaluators split on his value. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each rank him between 12th and 15th in the Cleveland farm system, projecting him as a stable back-end arm. Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs has him much higher, slotting him fourth among Guardians prospects and among the top 50 prospects in the sport. Longenhagen projects Messick as a league average starter and grades the changeup as a potential plus-plus offering. While it doesn’t seem there’s a huge gap in his perceived upside, FanGraphs appears to place a higher value than do the other outlets on Messick’s big league proximity and minor league success.

That’s all the more true now that Messick has shown it at the top minor league level. After recording 165 strikeouts between High-A and Double-A a year ago, he has spent this whole season at Triple-A Columbus. Messick has turned in a 3.47 earned run average across 20 starts, striking out 29% of batters faced. He has issued walks at a career-high 10.3% clip while averaging fewer than five innings per start, but he has worked at least into the sixth inning in six of his past seven appearances.

Messick last pitched on Thursday, so he’ll be operating with an extra day of rest. The Guardians optioned Joey Cantillo over the weekend, giving Messick a good chance to hold a rotation spot for the rest of the season. John Means could be a late-season factor as he works back from elbow surgery, though that could also come in long relief. For now, Messick slots behind Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi and Logan Allen in Stephen Vogt’s starting five. The Guardians have fallen three games back in the Wild Card picture after being swept by Atlanta over the weekend.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Rotation, Jung

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The Rangers will skip Jacob deGrom’s scheduled start Wednesday, president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). Young framed it as a workload management decision after the star righty experienced minor shoulder fatigue. Manager Bruce Bochy noted that deGrom has already visited team physician Dr. Keith Meister and been cleared of injury.

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise that deGrom is battling fatigue late in the season. He’s up to 24 starts and 140 1/3 innings. It’s a workload that he hadn’t come close to approaching since 2019. The truncated ’20 schedule limited him to 12 starts. deGrom was limited to 15 appearances the following year by elbow inflammation. Shoulder issues kept him to 11 starts in his final season with the Mets. His first two seasons in Texas were largely wiped out by Tommy John surgery.

That makes it all the more remarkable that deGrom has continued to dominate during his age-37 campaign. He owns a 2.76 ERA while striking out 27.3% of batters faced with a huge 14.3% swinging strike rate. His fastball is back into the 98 MPH range on average. deGrom did have his two worst starts in consecutive appearances on July 28 and August 3, but he has rebounded to toss 11 2/3 frames of three-run ball over his past two outings.

Texas has yet to announce a starter for tomorrow’s game. They don’t have a team off day until next Thursday, so even one skipped start won’t be easy to work around. A bullpen game would put a lot of stress on the pitching staff. Kumar Rocker is their only starter who is on optional assignment to Triple-A Round Rock. While there’s no indication that Rocker is dealing with an injury, he hasn’t pitched in the minors since August 7. Jacob Latz has made a few spot starts this season and could be recalled, but he hasn’t gone past two innings in an appearance in a month.

The short-term is less important than taking precautions with deGrom’s health. He’s signed for another two seasons with a club option for 2028. Meanwhile, this season increasingly looks like a lost cause. Texas lost again tonight to drop three games below .500. They’ve lost 10 of 12 and fallen six games back in the Wild Card race.

As their season appears to be slipping away, Opening Day third baseman Josh Jung finds himself on the bench. Bochy has left the former All-Star out of the lineup in each of the past three games. He did make a pinch-hit appearance midway through Tuesday’s contest. Young didn’t sugarcoat things when discussing Jung’s recent lack of playing time.

“There’s been a lot of volatility with Josh,” the front office leader said on Monday (link via Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News). “There are times when he’s dialed in and the performance is strong, but when it hasn’t been as dialed in, it’s been a little bit more undisciplined. And just inconsistent. Given the kind of team our team is and the way a lot of guys have struggled this year, you can only tolerate so much volatility.”

It’s clear Jung has fallen out of the lineup for performance reasons, not any kind of nagging injury. Rookie Cody Freeman started at the hot corner on Sunday and Monday. Tonight, Josh Smith moved into third base from the right field spot he’d manned of late, drawing Alejandro Osuna into the outfield.

Jung entered play with a .241/.290/.376 batting line over 372 plate appearances. As Young mentioned, he continues to chase would-be balls at a high rate and hasn’t taken many walks. Jung had nevertheless hit fairly well through the end of May, but an atrocious June (.158/.208/.221) led Texas to send him back to Triple-A for a reset. Jung recorded a 10-game hit streak with three home runs immediately after being recalled on July 21. He has dropped back into a slump over the past two weeks, batting .143 with 11 strikeouts in 10 games.

A former eighth overall pick, Jung is on track to surpass the three-year service threshold and will reach arbitration this offseason. The Rangers wouldn’t non-tender him, but it doesn’t seem out of the question that they could consider a change-of-scenery trade. They’ll certainly need to make some changes to a lineup that ranks 24th in MLB in scoring.

Anthony Bender Sustains Season-Ending Leg Injury

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Marlins reliever Anthony Bender will miss the remainder of the season, manager Clayton McCullough told media (including Kevin Barral of Fish on First). Miami had placed the righty on the 15-day injured list before tonight’s game with a stress reaction in his right tibia.

Bender tossed 50 innings for the Fish this season. He turned in a personal-best 2.16 earned run average despite striking out a career-low 20.6% of opposing hitters. Bender did a solid job keeping the ball on the ground but had a very difficult time missing bats. He got swinging strikes on just 8% of his offerings, also a personal low. Opponents hitting .213 on balls in play was a big factor in his success.

The 30-year-old Bender was nevertheless one of McCullough’s most trusted relievers. He leads the team with 19 holds and trails only Calvin Faucher in appearing in high-leverage situations. Bender had punched out an above-average 26% of batters faced a season ago and was continuing to generate strong bottom line results, so it’s unsurprising he remained one of their top bullpen arms.

Miami fielded trade interest in Bender this summer, with the Padres and Yankees among the teams reportedly in the mix. They ultimately elected to hold onto him. Bender is under arbitration control for another two seasons and will be due a modest raise on this year’s $1.42MM salary. Even with the diminished swing-and-miss rates, it should be an easy decision for the front office to tender him a contract.

Greg Allen Elects Free Agency

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The Orioles announced that outfielder Greg Allen declined a minor league assignment in favor of free agency. He’d cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment on Saturday when the O’s called up prospect Dylan Beavers.

Allen had a brief stay with Baltimore. He’d signed a big league contract on August 8, a couple days after being granted his release from a minor league deal with the Cubs. He made seven appearances but went 0-14, striking out five times while grounding into a pair of double plays. Allen probably wouldn’t have been long for the roster even if he’d played well in a tiny sample.

The O’s were planning to promote Beavers around the middle of August. At that point, he’d spend fewer than 45 days on the MLB roster and would remain rookie eligible next season — potentially allowing the team to recoup a draft pick if they carry him for a full service year and he plays well enough to earn awards consideration. Baltimore also welcomed Colton Cowser back from a minimal injured list stint on Sunday. Allen was always going to be a stopgap outfielder.

This marked Allen’s first MLB action in two years. He last appeared in the big leagues with the Yankees, suiting up 22 times during the ’23 season. Allen’s speed and ability to cover all three outfield positions has gotten him to the majors in parts of eight seasons, almost always as a fourth or fifth outfielder. He was hitting .270/.355/.440 in Triple-A with the Cubs earlier in the year and should land elsewhere on a minor league deal.

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