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Mariners Claim Terrin Vavra, Designate Duke Ellis

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The Mariners announced they’ve claimed infielder Terrin Vavra from the Orioles. Seattle designated outfielder Duke Ellis for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Vavra is a former Colorado draftee who went to Baltimore as a prospect in a trade that sent reliever Mychal Givens to the Rox. Vavra played briefly at the MLB level in 2022-23. The left-handed hitter combined for a .254/.331/.304 slash in 67 games. He showed decent plate discipline and contact skills with minimal power. That has been Vavra’s profile dating back to his college days at Minnesota.

Baltimore passed him through outright waivers last offseason. They reselected his contract around the trade deadline but didn’t get him into a game before optioning him back to Triple-A. Baltimore designated him for assignment earlier this week as the corresponding move to grab Emmanuel Rivera off waivers from Miami. Vavra has a .243/.350/.368 line in 178 Triple-A plate appearances this year. Primarily a second baseman, he also has a decent amount of experience at shortstop and in both corner outfield positions.

Ellis is a speed and defense outfielder who has bounced around this season. The Mets and Mariners successively claimed him after he was DFA by the White Sox in June. Ellis has barely played in the majors, picking up four at-bats in eight games with Chicago. The 26-year-old is hitting .235/.315/.336 in 273 minor league plate appearances on the year. He’ll land back on waivers in the coming days.

Orioles Option Trevor Rogers, Designate Bruce Zimmermann

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Emmanuel Rivera, recently claimed off waivers, has been added to the roster. They also selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman and recalled lefty Nick Vespi. To open spots for those three, they optioned left-hander Trevor Rogers, right-hander Colin Selby and infielder Liván Soto to Triple-A Norfolk. To open a 40-man spot for Bowman, lefty Bruce Zimmermann has been designated for assignment.

Just over three weeks ago, the Orioles acquired Rogers from the Marlins in a pre-deadline trade, sending youngsters Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to Miami. The O’s have been having a strong season overall but keeping the rotation intact has been a challenge. All three of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells required surgery to address their respective ulnar collateral ligaments in their elbows earlier this year. To bolster the group, they added both Zach Eflin and Rogers prior to the deadline.

It was a buy-low situation with Rogers, who had posted a 2.64 earned run average with the Marlins in 2021 but struggled since. He dealt with various injuries in 2022 and finished that year with a 5.47 ERA. In 2023, he was only able to make four starts due to a left biceps strain and a partial tear in his right lat.

Here in 2024, he was healthy enough to stay on the mound, making 21 starts for the Fish prior to the deal. His velocity was down but the results were passable, as he had a 4.53 ERA in those 21 outings. A few days after the deal, the lefty said he had already received more analytical information relating to his pitch mix and mechanics than during his entire time with the Marlins, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner on X. Perhaps the O’s felt there was a path to getting Rogers back to his 2021 form via those analytics, or simply him getting healthier as he moved further away from his injuries.

It has not gone to plan so far, as Rogers hasn’t fared well in his first four starts with the O’s. He has allowed 15 earned runs in 19 innings, leading to a 7.11 ERA. His 13.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate are both well below league average and nowhere near his previous work.

It seems the O’s have decided that a reset in Triple-A is in order. Perhaps that will give him a chance to work on their suggested tweaks in a lower-stakes environment. He can still be retained via arbitration for two more seasons after this one, so they have some time to figure out a path forward. This isn’t a service time manipulation situation, as he already crossed four years of service time earlier this year.

Still, it’s obviously less than ideal for the club to be subtracting one of its key deadline pickups in the middle of a playoff race. The O’s are still in comfortable position with a 74-54 record, just half a game behind the Yankees in the East and currently possessing the top Wild Card spot. But the Royals and Twins are just 2.5 games back and the Red Sox trail the O’s by only six games, so nothing is set in stone with more than a month left to play.

The rotation continues to be an issue as now both Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez are on the injured list, Eflin due to some shoulder discomfort and Rodriguez due to a lat strain. With Rogers now intentionally removed from the mix, the rotation is now down to Corbin Burnes, Dean Kremer, Albert Suárez, Cole Irvin and Cade Povich. Burnes is great but there are plenty of questions with the others. Kremer and Irvin are essentially back-end guys, with the latter having been passed through waivers a few weeks ago, recently being added back to the roster. Suárez keeps putting up good numbers but is a 34-year-old journeyman who is in the majors for the first time since 2017. Povich has just nine major league starts and a 5.77 ERA in those.

Ideally, the club will be hoping to get Rodriguez and Eflin back for the end of the regular season and then the playoffs as well, but they will have to try to get by with this group for now. Perhaps Rogers can also work his way back into the mix with some quick adjustments in the minors, but he can’t be recalled for the next 15 days unless replacing someone going on the injured list.

Bowman, 33, was signed to a minor league deal a week ago. That pact contained an upward mobility clause today and an opt-out next week. It seems the O’s didn’t want him to get away or simply wanted to add some a fresh arm to their bullpen, so he’s been added to their roster today.

As soon as he gets into a game for the O’s, it will be his fourth club of the year, as he’s already suited up for the Twins, Diamondbacks and Mariners. Since he’s out of options, he’s continually been squeezed out of his opportunities. Whenever he has cleared waivers, he has elected free agency and signed a new deal with fresh opt-outs, seemingly having a strong preference for flexibility.

While bouncing around, he has thrown 15 major league innings with a 5.40 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 46.8% ground ball rate. But he’s also thrown 33 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.87 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and grounders on more than half of the balls in play he’s allowed.

That minor league performance has seemingly led to plenty of interest around the league, with Baltimore being his latest stop. If he can perform like that at the major league level, he could be a nice asset for a Baltimore bullpen that hasn’t been strong this year. Their relief corps has a collective 4.18 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league. If things click, he can be retained beyond this season via arbitration, but based on the way his year has gone, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him bouncing around again soon.

Zimmermann, 29, has been in the Orioles’ organization for more than six years now. He came over from Atlanta in the July 2018 trade that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day the other way. He appeared in 38 games over the 2020-23 seasons, logging 158 1/3 innings with a 5.57 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 41.1% ground ball rate.

He’s been on optional assignment for all of 2024 so far, having tossed 69 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.41 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. With the trade deadline now passed, the O’s will have to put Zimmermann on waivers in the coming days.

This is his final option year, so he’ll be out of options next year. A claiming club could potentially stash him in the minors for the rest of this season but he would need an active roster spot by next year. He has less than two years of service time, so any claiming club could control him for five seasons beyond this one. If he were to pass through outright waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the O’s in a non-roster capacity.

Orioles Claim Emmanuel Rivera, Designate Terrin Vavra

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The Orioles have claimed infielder Emmanuel Rivera off waivers from the Marlins, per announcements from both clubs. Rivera was designated for assignment by the Marlins a few days ago. The Orioles opened a 40-man spot by designating infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment.

Rivera, 28, is in his fourth major league season and he will now be joining his fourth major league club. He’s been in 314 big league games between the Royals, Marlins and Diamondbacks, largely serving as a light-hitting infielder with strong glovework.

In 969 plate appearances, he has hit .239/.302/.354 for a wRC+ of 81. That includes a line of .214/.294/.269 and a 61 wRC+ this year. He has logged just under 2,000 innings at third base in his career, racking up 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 5 Outs Above Average.

The Orioles had a surplus of position players not too long ago but it has been thinned out in recent weeks. Jordan Westburg, Jorge Mateo and Heston Kjerstad all landed on the injured list at the end of July. Austin Hays was traded to the Phillies and the club also traded Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to the Marlins. Coincidentally, Norby’s promotion earlier this week nudged Rivera off that club’s roster.

The club recently gave Coby Mayo a shot at the hot corner with Westburg out, but sent Mayo back down after he got just one hit in his first 20 plate appearances, striking out 10 times. Ramón Urías is covering third now but his defensive metrics are oddly down this year. He has a strong reputation for his glovework but has -3 DRS and -7 OAA at third base in 2024.

Perhaps the O’s will try Rivera at third with Urías going back to being a multi-positional guy. Liván Soto is on the roster but he has options and could be sent down when Rivera reports to the club. Rivera is on pace to qualify for arbitration this winter and could be retained if he lasts on Baltimore’s roster through the season and they decide to tender him a contract.

Vavra, 27, was once a notable prospect but has struggled in recent seasons. A third-round pick of the Rockies in 2018, he went to the O’s in the August 2020 trade that sent Mychal Givens to Colorado. Vavra then slashed .275/.406/.449 across multiple levels in 2021 for a wRC+ of 138. Baltimore added him to their 40-man roster in November of that year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

In 2022, he served as an up-and-down depth player for the O’s and performed well. He slashed .258/.340/.337 in his 40 major league games, exactly league average performance. He also had a strong slash of .324/.435/.451 in 45 Triple-A games. But in 2023, he missed time due to shoulder issues, eventually getting diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery. He only played 43 games that year, majors and minors combined.

Outrighted off the roster in November, he got his spot back in July when Mateo hit the injured list but was optioned the next day. He has a line of .243/.350/.368 in Triple-A this year, which translates to a 92 wRC+.

Vavra is in his final option year and will be out of options next season, though he has less than a year of service time. The O’s will have to place him on waivers in the coming days since the trade deadline has passed. It’s been a rough couple of years but if any club is interested in his pre-surgery form, they could control him for many years to come. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, his previous outright gives him the right to elect free agency.

Orioles Designate Nick Avila For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Nick Avila for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to lefty Cole Irvin, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A Norfolk has now been formally announced. In addition to selecting Irvin’s contract and designating Avila, the O’s optioned righty Dillon Tate to Norfolk.

Avila, 27, was claimed off release waivers from the Giants organization back in June. He was on the minor league injured list with a shoulder impingement at the time (hat tip to Christopher Correa of the Turlock Journal), and since injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, San Francisco instead requested release waivers.

Avila hasn’t looked right all season. In 2023, the 6’4″ righty posted a strong 3.00 ERA in 72 innings out of the bullpen in Triple-A Sacramento (anecdotally recording a flawless 14-0 record along the way), but he’s been rocked for 19 earned runs in 18 innings in the minors this season. That includes a staggering 10 runs on nine hits and a pair of walks in just 1 1/3 innings with the Orioles’ Triple-A club in Norfolk since returning from that shoulder impingement that kept him out of action for nearly two months.

With the trade deadline behind us, the Orioles will have no choice but to place Avila on waivers. Since he’s no longer on the injured list, they can place him on outright waivers. Given his struggles and injuries this season, there’s a good chance Avila will clear, allowing the O’s to keep him in the organization without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him.

Orioles To Select Cole Irvin

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The Orioles will call up Cole Irvin to start tomorrow afternoon’s matchup with the Mets, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner. Baltimore outrighted Irvin from their 40-man roster shortly after the trade deadline. They’ll need to select his contract again.

Baltimore needs a fifth starter after placing Zach Eflin on the 15-day injured list this evening. The O’s recalled rookie lefty Cade Povich, who started nine games earlier this season, as the corresponding move for Eflin’s placement. Povich tossed 6 1/3 innings on Saturday, so he’d be on three days rest tomorrow. Rather than push him up, Baltimore tabs Irvin for what could be a spot start in what would have been Eflin’s turn through the rotation.

Irvin last pitched for Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday, so he’ll have six days rest. He has only pitched twice for the Tides since clearing waivers, allowing four runs (three earned) in 6 2/3 innings with six walks and five strikeouts. Irvin made 21 MLB appearances (14 starts) earlier in the season. He started the year well, but opponents teed off on him in June and July. That pushed him off the roster with a 4.85 ERA in 94 2/3 innings.

The 30-year-old Irvin has had an inconsistent O’s tenure. Baltimore dealt infield prospect Darell Hernaiz to Oakland for Irvin heading into the 2023 season. He has continued to pound the strike zone with a pitch-to-contact approach but hasn’t gotten the same caliber of results as he had for the A’s. Irvin owns a 4.66 earned run average through 172 frames in an O’s uniform.

Baltimore’s 40-man roster is at capacity. They’ll need to make corresponding active roster and 40-man moves tomorrow. Irvin is out of options, so the Orioles would again need to place him on waivers if this represents a spot start and they want to send him back to Norfolk at any point.

Orioles Place Zach Eflin On Injured List

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The Orioles placed Zach Eflin on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 17, on account of shoulder inflammation. Baltimore also placed Keegan Akin on the paternity list. Rookie Cade Povich and reliever Dillon Tate are up from Triple-A Norfolk to take the open spots on the active roster.

Baltimore acquired Eflin in their biggest move at the deadline. The righty had carried a 4.09 earned run average through 19 starts with the Rays in the season’s first half. He has gotten out to a fantastic start to his O’s tenure. Eflin has surrendered only six runs through his first four starts. He’s averaging nearly 6 1/3 innings per appearance and has turned in a stellar 25:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

That positions Eflin as the O’s #2 or #3 starter in a hypothetical playoff series. Corbin Burnes would surely get Game 1, while Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez are the presumptive choices for the next two appearances if they’re healthy. Both pitchers are currently on the injured list, though it doesn’t seem Eflin’s issue is as worrisome as Rodriguez’s is. While the youngster is shooting for a late September return after sustaining a lat strain, Eflin might not miss much more than the minimum 15 days. Skipper Brandon Hyde told the Baltimore beat he’s hopeful that it’ll be a short-term stay (X link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com).

Even a brief absence could have a significant impact on the AL East race. Baltimore is only half a game behind the Yankees for both the division lead and the best record in the American League. The O’s rotation depth has long been the biggest question mark on a very strong roster. With Kyle Bradish and John Means done for the season, Baltimore has deadline pickup Trevor Rogers, Dean Kremer and Albert Suárez as their next three starters behind Burnes.

Rogers struggled for much of the season with the Marlins and has been hit especially hard in four starts since landing in Baltimore. Kremer looks like a fifth starter. Suárez has proven an excellent find in his return to the big leagues after seven years, but he’s probably best suited for a back-end or swing role on a contender. The Orioles will need to land on a fifth starter with Eflin out of action and only one off day between now and September 5. Povich, one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, seems like the choice. He has had a rough opening to his MLB career, allowing a 5.77 ERA with a similarly underwhelming strikeout and walk profile across his first nine starts.

Danny Coulombe Aiming For Late-September Return

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  • Danny Coulombe is “on track” in his rehab process and is aiming to return in late September, the Orioles left-hander told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko.  Coulombe is on the 60-day IL after undergoing surgery in June to remove bone spurs from his left elbow.  While he is still a few weeks away from getting onto a mound, Coulombe is up to throwing from 90 feet in games of catch.  The Orioles’ bullpen has struggled badly in August, leaving Baltimore in even greater need for whatever the ace setup man can provide whenever he is able to return to action.
  • The Yankees activated catcher Jose Trevino from the 10-day injured list on Friday, and Carlos Narvaez was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Yesterday’s game marked Trevino’s first action since a left quad strain forced him out of the Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Orioles on July 12.  Trevino figures to resume his catching platoon with Austin Wells, though Wells’ hot bat over the last month might have earned him a larger share of the playing time.

Orioles, Matt Bowman Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have agreed to a minor league pact with right-handed reliever Matt Bowman, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The ZS Sports client recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Twins. Bowman’s deal in Baltimore pays him a prorated $1MM base salary and contains an upward mobility clause next week (Aug. 22) and a straight opt-out clause on Aug. 28.

Baltimore will be Bowman’s fourth organization of the season. He’s pitched in both the majors and minors for each of the Twins, D-backs and Mariners as well in 2024. His big league work includes a 5.40 ERA in a small sample of 15 innings, but he’s posted an excellent 2.05 ERA with a 28.9% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate in 30 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Originally a 13th-round pick out of Princeton by the 2012 Mets, Bowman has pitched 200 1/3 MLB frames across parts of six seasons. He owns a career 4.22 ERA, 18.8% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 55.6% grounder rate in the majors.

Bowman’s Orioles deal continues a dizzying string of transactions involving the journeyman righty this season. He originally signed a minor league deal with the Twins but was designated for assignment not long after being selected to the MLB roster and traded to the D-backs for cash. Upon being designated for assignment in Arizona, he cleared waivers and elected free agency, going on to ink a minor league deal with the Mariners. He was back in the majors shortly thereafter but designated for assignment a third time. Bowman elected free agency, re-signed with Seattle, triggered an opt-out a few weeks later, then re-signed with Minnesota on a new minor league deal — only to opt out of that minor league contract earlier this week.

The clauses in Bowman’s contract could lead to further movement in the two weeks ahead. Next week’s upward mobility clause would require the Orioles to gauge whether any of the other 29 clubs around the league is willing to put Bowman on the 40-man roster. If so, the O’s would need to either add him to their own 40-man roster or facilitate a move sending Bowman to the organization that’s willing to do so. His Aug. 28 out date would again give the O’s 48 hours to add Bowman to the roster and, if they choose not to, give Bowman a brief window to sign with a new team before Aug. 31 — the deadline for players to be eligible for their organization’s postseason roster.

Orioles Option Coby Mayo

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Top Orioles prospect Coby Mayo will see his initial taste of the majors draw to a close after just seven games and 20 plate appearances. Baltimore announced Thursday that Mayo has been optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk. Infielder Livan Soto was recalled from Norfolk in his place.

Mayo, regarded as one of the top prospects not just in Baltimore’s system but in all of baseball, was called up shortly after third baseman Jordan Westburg suffered a fractured hand when he was hit by a pitch. Expectations were high, considering his prominent placement on national prospect rankings and his gaudy .301/.375/.586 batting line through 341 Triple-A plate appearances during just his age-22 season. However, like fellow top prospect Jackson Holliday before him, Mayo stumbled out of the gate with a strikeout-laden showing and was sent back to Triple-A in fairly short order. He went just 1-for-17 with three walks and 10 strikeouts in those 20 trips to the plate.

There’s no sense in making any long-term judgment on Mayo based on a tough week in his first glimpse of the majors. Many detractors were quick to write Holliday off after similar early struggles, and he’s returned from Norfolk with a .255/.314/.596 line and five home runs in 51 plate appearances. Twenty ugly plate appearances don’t say anything about Mayo’s long-term future other than that he might yet need a bit more work in the upper minors before he gets his next big league audition.

In sending Mayo back to Norfolk, the O’s seem to be committing to Ramon Urias as the primary third baseman in Westburg’s absence — although Soto could also see some run at the hot corner. The Orioles could also retain Mayo’s prospect/rookie status for the 2025 season as well, which would put them in position to potentially land a draft pick if he finishes well enough in ’25 Rookie of the Year voting. So long as Mayo finishes with fewer than 130 at-bats and fewer than 45 days on the active roster, he’ll still be eligible for that benefit. If that were a primary concern for them, they likely wouldn’t have brought Mayo to the big leagues in the first place, but retaining that possibility is now surely seen as an ancillary benefit of today’s move.

Urias, 30, seems likeliest to garner additional playing time. He drew sensational defensive marks at third base just two seasons ago, but both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have soured on his glovework at the position. At the plate, Urias has turned in a .236/.306/.372 slash at the plate this season, sitting about 5% worse than league-average overall (by measure of wRC+).

As for Soto, he’s hit extremely well in a small sample of 74 plate appearances, batting .358/.397/.507 dating back to 2022. It should be emphasized that his line is propped up by a gargantuan .451 average on balls in play that he won’t sustain, and Soto has a much more modest track record in Triple-A, where he’s hit .267/.364/.386 in 709 plate appearances as a utilityman.

AL East Notes: Orioles, Casas, Story, Schmidt

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Orioles general manager Mike Elias spoke to reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports) ahead of today’s game against the Rays, offering updates on several injured players. First and foremost, he expressed optimism regarding starter Grayson Rodriguez, who landed on the 15-day IL last week. Elias described Rodriguez’s right lat/teres injury as “pretty mild” – much less serious than the similar injury he suffered in 2022 – and said the team is hoping to have him back in the rotation by late September. The young right-hander has a 3.86 ERA across 20 starts this season, and Elias made it clear that the Orioles are still hopeful he will play an “enormous” role for the team come October.

Discussing his club’s minor league rotation depth while Rodriguez is out, Elias named Cade Povich, Cole Irvin, and, interestingly, Brandon Young of Triple-A Norfolk. Povich, 24, is a top prospect and has a spot on the 40-man roster, while Irvin, 30, has six seasons of MLB experience. Young, 25, doesn’t have Povich’s prospect pedigree or Irvin’s big league resume, but he is enjoying a strong season; he has a 3.82 ERA and 2.92 FIP across 20 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Barring another injury, the Orioles rotation is set with Corbin Burnes, Zach Eflin, Trevor Rogers, Dean Kremer, and Albert Suarez. Still, Young is a name worth keeping an eye on.

Elias also provided some good news about several Orioles relievers. Jacob Webb hit the IL last week with inflammation in his right elbow, but tests revealed no structural damage. The club is hopeful his IL stint will be a short one, perhaps no longer than the minimum 15 days. Webb has pitched well for Baltimore since joining the club last August. In 71 2/3 innings, the 30-year-old has a 3.14 ERA and 3.98 SIERA as a middle relief option for manager Brandon Hyde. The Orioles are also planning to have Danny Coulombe back in late September. Coulombe, who has a 2.68 ERA over the past two seasons, has been out since June, when he had surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow. Finally, Elias touched on Félix Bautista’s rehab, explaining that things are “going really well” for the star closer as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. He will not pitch for Baltimore this year, in the regular season or the playoffs, but he is set to throw off a proper mound next week as he prepares himself for a full and healthy 2025 campaign.

On the position player side of things, Elias noted that there is “still time” for Jordan Westburg to get back on the field before the end of the regular season. The All-Star infielder has been out since he fractured his right hand on July 31. He has 18 home runs, an .815 OPS, and 2.8 FanGraphs WAR over 101 games this year. Elias also expressed hope that Heston Kjerstad won’t be out for “too much longer” as he continues to recover from a concussion. The GM acknowledged that it’s “pretty mild” as far as concussions go, but the team is still taking his symptoms “really seriously” and will not bring him back until they make sure he is “totally out of the woods.” The Orioles had previously optioned Kjerstad back to Triple-A, but placing him back on the injured list reverses the option.

In additional injury news from around the AL East…

  • Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas is reportedly “close to returning” from his rib cage injury, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. He is currently on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester, and Cotillo suggests Casas could be back in the majors as soon as Thursday. Boston will need to activate him once he maxes out his minor league rehab time on August 18, but it appears the slugger could be back in the lineup a few days sooner. Casas hit six home runs over his first 22 games this season before suffering his injury, and his big lefty bat will undoubtedly be a huge boost to the Red Sox’s lineup.
  • Meanwhile, Trevor Story is about to take what manager Alex Cora describes as a “huge step” toward returning this season, according to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. The shortstop, who has been out since April after undergoing shoulder surgery, will take batting practice on Monday. His surgery seemed to be season-ending back in April, but Cora now believes the two-time All-Star will be back with the Red Sox before the end of the year. Story himself suggested that his return has gone from “a maybe” to “a reality.” He is already ready to return defensively, and he is making excellent progress swinging the bat. He says his swings have felt “really good” with “no hesitation or hold back.”
  • Finally, Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt told reporters (including Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post) that it is “very realistic” to expect he will return to the club before the end of August. The right-hander has been out since May with a right lat strain. Over his first 11 starts, Schmidt pitched to a sparkling 2.52 ERA and 3.64 SIERA. Meanwhile, since his last appearance, Yankees starters rank second-last in the AL with a 5.22 ERA. Their problems go far beyond Schmidt’s injury, but it will surely help to have him back in the fold. It’s not clear how manager Aaron Boone will arrange his rotation once Schmidt returns, but Boone was reportedly “thrilled” with Schmidt’s performance in a live batting practice session earlier today (per Joel Sherman of the New York Post). There will be a job for Schmidt when he’s ready, even if he has to push a more established arm – like Marcus Stroman or Nestor Cortes – out of the rotation.
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