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Padres Place Chris Paddack On IL, Select Miguel Diaz

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The Padres have placed right-hander Chris Paddack on the injured list and selected the contract of fellow righty Miguel Diaz, the team announced.

“I can’t really disclose a lot of information,” manager Jayce Tingler said of Paddack’s IL placement (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com).

Tingler’s comment suggests Paddack is out for reasons related to COVID-19. Regardless, he’s the latest Padres starter to go on the shelf in the past couple weeks, joining righty Dinelson Lamet (forearm) and lefty Adrian Morejon (Tommy John surgery).

Paddack was a standout for the Padres in his debut campaign, 2019, but hasn’t been able to match his rookie production over the past season-plus. The 25-year-old hasn’t lasted more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his five starts this season, and across 23 1/3 overall frames, he has recorded a disappointing 5.40 ERA. However, some of Paddack’s other numbers – including a 3.22 FIP, a 3.66 xFIP, a 3.98 SIERA and a 6.7 percent walk rate – have been much more favorable.

Diaz, 26, appeared with the Padres in each season from 2017-19, but he could only muster a 6.61 ERA during that 66 2/3-inning stretch. The Padres non-tendered Diaz heading into the 2020 season, but they quickly brought him back on a minor league contract. They re-signed him to another minors deal prior to this season.

Yordan Alvarez To Return Friday

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APRIL 30: Alvarez is back in the Astros’ lineup Friday, McTaggart tweets. The team optioned Jones to its taxi squad.

APRIL 29: The Astros expect Alvarez to rejoin their lineup Friday against the Rays, Baker told McTaggart and other reporters.

APRIL 28: The Astros have placed slugger Yordan Alvarez on the injured list and recalled infielder/outfielder Taylor Jones, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle was among those to report.

The Astros didn’t provide a reason for Alvarez’s IL placement, though it seems to be related to COVID-19. Manager Dusty Baker said earlier Wednesday that Alvarez would miss the team’s game against the Mariners because of “health and safety reasons,” Brian McTaggart of MLB.com relayed.

Alvarez was one of five Astros placed on the COVID-related IL on April 14, but he returned within a week. When he has been healthy enough to play this season, the designated hitter and former American League Rookie of the Year has continued to hold his own with a .309/.355/.529 line and two home runs in 76 plate appearances.

Brewers Place Corbin Burnes, Zack Godley On IL

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The Brewers placed right-handers Corbin Burnes and Zack Godley on the injured list Thursday, the team announced. Manager Craig Counsell was unable to discuss why Burnes went on the IL, which suggests the hurler tested positive for COVID-19, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Meanwhile, Godley landed on the 10-day IL with a right index finger contusion. Milwaukee recalled righty Alec Bettinger and lefty Eric Lauer in corresponding moves.

While it’s unclear how much time Burnes will miss, the Brewers can ill afford to go without him for long. The flamethrowing 26-year-old broke through as one of the game’s premier starters last season and has continued to roll in 2021. Burnes has pitched to 1.53 ERA with even more impressive fielding-independent numbers (0.50 FIP, 1.18 xFIP, 1.24 SIERA), and he has somehow managed to avoid walking anyone over the first 29 1/3 innings of his season. Not only that, but Burnes has fanned a whopping 49 hitters – putting him two strikeouts away from tying Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen’s 51:0 K:BB ratio for the all-time record to begin a season.

The loss of Godley is much less troubling for the Brewers, though it does further subtract from their starting depth. Milwaukee, which is also without injured starter Brett Anderson, selected Godley’s contract before its game against the Marlins on Wednesday. Godley threw just three innings of three-run ball in a 6-2 loss before exiting with his injury.

Lauer, who made 54 starts between San Diego and Milwaukee from 2018-20, will slot into the Brewers’ rotation for the time being. Although Lauer faced a daunting opponent, the Dodgers, on Thursday, he rose to the occasion with five shutout innings in a 2-1 victory.

Cardinals Place Adam Wainwright, Andrew Miller On IL; Activate Harrison Bader

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The Cardinals are placing right-hander Adam Wainwright on the COVID-19 injured list, Katie Woo of The Athletic tweets. The team’s shelving Wainwright as a precautionary move after one of his family members tested positive for the virus, per Woo. In other moves, the Cardinals have activated outfielder Harrison Bader, placed left-hander Andrew Miller on the 10-day IL with a right foot blister, and recalled righty Kodi Whitley, according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.

Wainwright will miss his scheduled start Sunday in Pittsburgh as a result of this IL placement. However, the Cardinals are hopeful the 39-year-old will take the ball against the Mets on Monday.

Wainwright, a career-long Cardinal whom they re-signed to a one-year, $8MM guarantee in free agency, has given the club quality production yet again this season. While Wainwright didn’t come out of the gate particularly well, he has turned it around over his two most recent starts, including a complete game, two-run effort against the Phillies on Monday. Through five starts and 28 2/3 innings, Wainwright has put up a 4.08 ERA (with a far better 3.28 SIERA) and logged above-average strikeout and walk percentages of 26.4 and 5.0, respectively.

Bader is finally set to make his 2021 debut after missing the first several weeks of the season with a forearm injury. He earned the lion’s share of starts for the Cardinals in center last year and batted .226/.336/.443 with four homers 125 plate appearances. Dylan Carlson has handled the position this season, but he’s capable of lining up at both corner outfield spots. Carlson has gotten off to an excellent start, while utilityman Tommy Edman and Tyler O’Neill have put up decent production in the Cards’ outfield, and Justin Williams has struggled mightily.

Miller, once an elite reliever, has seen his career take a negative turn since he signed a two-year, $25MM guarantee with the Cardinals heading into 2019. Miller’s earning $12MM this year on a club option that vested, but his performance hasn’t matched his salary. He yielded two earned runs on two hits in a third of an inning in a win over the Phillies on Thursday, thereby raising his ERA to 8.59 over 7 1/3 innings. Miller has given up 12 hits, including two homers, and walked four in the early going.

Dodgers Place Brusdar Graterol On 10-Day IL

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The Dodgers have placed right-hander Brusdar Graterol on the 10-day injured list with forearm tightness, per a club announcement. To take Graterol’s roster spot, the Dodgers recalled righty Edwin Uceta.

A forearm issue is particularly unwelcome news regarding Graterol, who underwent Tommy John surgery as a Twins prospect in 2016 and also battled shoulder problems as a member of the organization. Minnesota bid adieu to the flamethrowing Graterol before last season, when it sent him to Los Angeles in a trade centering on righty Kenta Maeda.

Graterol emerged as an important part of the Dodgers’ bullpen during his first year with the organization. He totaled 23 1/3 innings of 3.09 ERA/3.70 SIERA pitching, and though his 99 mph fastball velocity only led to a 14.8 strikeout percentage, he offset that with elite groundball and walk percentages of 62.3 and 3.4, respectively. Graterol added another 7 2/3 innings of three-run ball during the Dodgers’ postseason run to the World Series.

Health setbacks have stood in the way this season for the 22-year-old Graterol, who opened the campaign on the IL after battling COVID-19. Graterol didn’t make his first appearance until April 18, and he has since allowed three earned runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout over three outings and 1 1/3 frames. He’s now the third Dodgers reliever to land on the shelf in the past week, joining Corey Knebel and David Price.

The Dodgers will now get their first major league look at the 23-year-old Uceta, who divided the 2019 minors season between High-A and Double-A. Uceta thrived during that 123 1/3-inning span, in which he recorded a 2.77 ERA and racked up 141 strikeouts against 49 walks. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Uceta 35th among Dodgers farmhands over the winter, writing that he could turn into a No. 4 or 5 starter at the MLB level.

Brewers Select Jordan Zimmermann

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The Brewers have selected right-hander Jordan Zimmermann and optioned fellow righty Patrick Weigel to their alternate site, the team announced.

Zimmermann’s promotion comes with the Brewers dealing with a rash of health problems, including in their rotation. Left-hander Brett Anderson went on the 10-day injured list with a strained hamstring last week, while replacement Zack Godley landed on the 10-day IL after one start because of a finger issue. Worst of all, the Brewers placed star righty Corbin Burnes on the IL on Wednesday, likely on account of a positive COVID-19 test.

Zimmermann was a standout in his own right earlier in his career, though his production has tanked since he left the Nationals for the Tigers on a five-year, $110MM contract prior to the 2016 campaign. The former workhorse threw 514 1/3 innings with Detroit, including just 5 2/3 last year, and pitched to a woeful 5.63 ERA. As a result of that miserable stretch, Zimmermann was unable to land a guaranteed contract during his trip to free agency this past offseason. The 34-year-old sat on the open market for a few months before signing a minor league deal with the Brewers in February.

Blue Jays Activate, Option Nate Pearson

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The Blue Jays have activated right-hander Nate Pearson from the 10-day injured list, the club announced. Pearson will report to the Blue Jays’ alternate site and join their Triple-A team.

Pearson suffered a right groin strain at the beginning of camp last month, though Toronto initially didn’t expect it to lead to a long absence. Roughly two weeks later, Pearson re-aggravated the injury, and he has spent the past month and a half working back from it.

While Pearson is one of the game’s prized young hurlers, evidenced in part by his 16th-place ranking on Baseball America’s list of top 100 prospects, staying healthy has been an issue of late. The hard-throwing 24-year-old made his major league debut last season, though a flexor strain in his elbow limited him to five appearances (four starts) and 18 innings. He struggled across that small sample of work, allowing 15 runs (12 earned) and issuing 13 walks. Pearson only gave up 14 hits, but five of those went for home runs, and he finished with a below-average 19.8 percent strikeout rate.

Although Pearson’s first regular-season action didn’t go well, he did end 2020 on a high note. Pearson made one appearance in the Blue Jays’ wild-card round loss to the Rays and threw two perfect innings with five strikeouts and 12 swings and misses. That’s the type of dominance the Jays are hoping Pearson will provide out of their rotation whenever they recall him this season and over the long haul. The club’s staff could use the help in the near term, as only Hyun Jin Ryu (who’s on the 10-day IL with a right glute strain), Steven Matz and Robbie Ray have made three or more starts and produced positive results this year.

Rockies Select Matt Adams, Designate Ashton Goudeau

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The Rockies announced that they have selected first baseman Matt Adams, designated right-hander Ashton Goudeau for assignment and optioned outfielder Sam Hilliard.

The 32-year-old Adams joined the Rockies on a minor league last month, which came after he posted career-worst production with the Braves in 2020. Adams hit .184/.216/.347 over 51 plate appearances with Atlanta, causing the team to release him in early September. It was the second straight down year for Adams, who struggled with the Nationals in 2019.

While his most recent output has been poor, the well-traveled Adams has enjoyed a few solid seasons in the majors. The left-hander has logged four seasons with a wRC+ north of 100, including a personal-high 135 (.284/.335/.503) in 2017 with the Cardinals, and has hit 20 or more home runs on three occasions. Overall, Adams has batted .259/.367/.467 (106 wRC+) in 2,574 trips to the plate in the majors.

Now that he’s returning to the bigs, Adams will serve as a bench bat for Colorado, whose offense ranks dead last in the majors in wRC+ (77). He’ll give the team some depth at first base behind C.J. Cron, the Rockies’ most productive hitter this year.

The past several months have been quite an adventure for Goudeau, whom the Rockies previously designated for assignment last November. The Pirates then claimed Goudeau before losing him on waivers to the Orioles. The O’s later lost Goudeau to the Giants, who lost him to the Dodgers, who lost him to the Rockies less than two weeks ago. If that trend continues, someone will claim Goudeau in the next week.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old Goudeau made his MLB debut with Colorado last season, but opposing offenses crushed him for 15 hits and seven earned runs in 8 1/3 innings, and he issued as many walks as strikeouts (two). Goudeau was, however, highly effective at the Double-A level in 2019, when he notched a 2.07 ERA with fantastic strikeout and walk percentages of 30.1 and 4.0, respectively, across 78 1/3 frames.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/28/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Rangers have traded 24-year-old right-hander Leon Hunter to the American League West rival Mariners for cash considerations or a player to be named later, according to an announcement from Texas. Hunter was a 35th-round pick of the Rangers in 2019 who pitched at the rookie and Low-A levels that year. He notched a minuscule 1.38 ERA and amassed 30 strikeouts against just five walks in 25 innings during his first professional action, but with no minor league campaign in 2020, Hunter was unable to build on that quality showing last season.
  • The Mets announced that they’ve claimed catcher Deivy Grullon off waivers from the Rays. New York then optioned the 25-year-old to its alternate site. Grullon, whom the Rays designated on April 24, totaled 13 major league plate appearances between the Phillies and Red Sox from 2019-20. In his Triple-A debut in 2019, Grullon batted a productive .283/.354/.496 with 21 home runs in 457 PA.

Rob Manfred On CBA, Vaccinations, All-Star Game

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With Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire Dec. 1, the league and the MLBPA held their first set of talks on a new deal last week. The two sides still have several months to work out an agreement, but considering how contentious their relationship has been over the past few years, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a work stoppage for the first time since the 1994-95 strike. However, commissioner Rob Manfred is optimistic it won’t come to that.

Speaking at a SporticoLive event this week, Manfred said the owners are “committed to the process” of preventing a stoppage, according to Barry M. Bloom of Sportico. Manfred then noted that he has worked in labor relations for most of his career and added: “The varying nature of labor relations is kind of ups and downs. You’re going to have various times of conflict when you don’t see eye to eye. The trick is getting past those areas of conflict and finding a way to make an agreement and find common ground.”

On the other hand, the union’s executive director, Tony Clark, admitted to Bloom that a work stoppage is “a possibility,” saying MLB could “shut the door and lock us out.”

Although a work stoppage may cause severe damage to the sport, there are several roadblocks that could prevent the league and its players from finding common ground by the time December arrives. Playoff expansion, the universal designated hitter, individual teams’ payrolls, revenue distribution and players’ service time are sure to be some of the main items on the table during negotiations. If the parties can’t settle their differences on those issues and other matters of importance, MLB could experience a shutdown in seven months.

While the league has plenty on its plate with the CBA soon to expire, it’s also trying to navigate through a global pandemic and a divided political climate. On the subject of COVID-19, Manfred said 70 percent of players, on-field staff and support personnel have been fully or partially vaccinated, the Associated Press reports. Once MLB hits the 85 percent threshold, it will loosen its restrictions.

Earlier this month, the Manfred-led league moved this summer’s All-Star Game and amateur draft from Atlanta to Colorado, which many inferred as a rejection of Georgia’s SB 202 voting law. However, Manfred stated that the league made the decision to help its players avoid political controversy.

“We were injected into a very politicized situation. I think we did the right thing,” Manfred said (via the AP). “We thought our players were going to be in an extraordinarily difficult situation given how politically charged it was. And we think that the decision we made will actually be player protective.”

This year’s All-Star and draft festivities will take place from July 11-13.

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