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Cardinals Place Yadier Molina On IL With Knee Soreness

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The Cardinals are planning to place catcher Yadier Molina on the injured list tomorrow, reports Katie Woo of The Athletic. Molina has been battling knee soreness this year and will be sidelined for “at least a few weeks.” Catching prospect Ivan Herrera will be recalled to take his place on the active roster.

Molina, 39, is a career-long Cardinal, having been drafted by the team in the year 2000. In August of last year, he and the team agreed to a one-year, $10MM extension, with Molina announcing the next day that 2022 would be his final season. It hasn’t exactly been the dream season that he and the club likely hoped for, as he has slumped to a .213/.225/.294 batting line on the campaign so far. That amounts to a wRC+ of just 47, though it seems quite likely that the knee issues are having an impact on that, as Woo reports that he’s been dealing with this soreness all year.

According to the report, Molina received multiple cortisone shots last weekend to try and quell the soreness. While the club wanted a 48-hour grace period to let the shots take effect, Molina evidently lobbied his way out of the confines of that timetable. He then caught games on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, though apparently the issue hasn’t abated enough for him to continue playing.

With Molina on the shelf, the Cardinals will now turn to a couple of other options for catching duties, both of which come with unknowns. Andrew Knizner has formed the other part of the club’s catching tandem this year, though hasn’t impressed much, producing a .198/.283/.257 line, 63 wRC+. Woo spoke to Cardinals manager Oli Marmol about Knizner’s disappointing results so far, despite getting more playing time with Molina’s knee issues. “When you’re backing up Yadi in the previous years, that’s tough,” Marmol said. “Now that (Knizner) is actually in there three times a week, four times a week, the expectations are no longer ‘trying to find my timing.’ You’re getting a real opportunity, so the expectations are different. He knows that. Now, he’s just got to get going.”

Joining Knizner on the roster will be Herrera, who is considered by many to be one of the top 100 prospects in baseball by FanGraphs, Keith Law of The Athletic and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. He was briefly called up to the big leagues earlier this year when Molina went on the bereavement list, but got into just one game and didn’t make a plate appearance. Apart from that, he’s spent the year in Triple-A, putting up an impressive .291/.388/.436 line for a 125 wRC+. He’ll now get a proper chance to see if he can carry his skills over to the majors, though it’s quite common for prospects to struggle in their first tastes of major league action, even the highly-regarded ones.

This situation now presents a big unknown for the Cardinals that will need to be resolved in the coming weeks. The club is currently atop the NL Central division standings with a 37-28 record, though it’s far from a secure perch. They are just a game and a half ahead of a Brewers team that is one game behind the Giants for the final Wild Card spot, coming into tonight. With the trade deadline now just six weeks away, the Cards will have to decide if their in-house options are sufficient enough to carry them through the final few months of the season. Of course, much of that will depend on how Molina’s knees recover and how Knizner and Herrera fare over the next stretch of play, though if none of that trio seem capable of taking the job, it’s possible the Cards will have to look for outside help.

Cardinals Activate Jack Flaherty, Designate Ali Sanchez

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The Cardinals announced they’ve reinstated Jack Flaherty from the 60-day injured list. He’s set to make his season debut tonight against the Pirates. In corresponding moves, the Cards optioned lefty Packy Naughton to Triple-A Memphis and designated catcher Ali Sánchez for assignment. Additionally, left-hander Matthew Liberatore has been sent back to Memphis after being added as the 27th man for yesterday’s doubleheader.

Flaherty went down in Spring Training with shoulder bursitis, an issue that required platelet-rich plasma treatment. He was shut down from throwing for a few weeks and the club gradually built him back into game shape once he was healthy enough to pick up a ball. That’s hardly a surprise considering the righty missed a month last season due to a shoulder strain (in addition to an extended absence because of an oblique issue). Flaherty told reporters in March he’s pitched through a small labrum tear for a while.

The 26-year-old has gotten through a brief rehab stint without incident, however, making a start apiece with Double-A Springfield and Memphis. He tossed 59 pitches last Friday, and manager Oli Marmol figures to play things cautiously with his pitch count in the early going. It’s unlikely Flaherty will toss 100+ pitches out of the gate, but he’ll offer an immediate boon nonetheless to a rotation without Steven Matz. The left-hander has been on the injured list since May 23 due to a shoulder impingement, and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters yesterday he recently underwent a second cortisone injection to manage continued discomfort (via John Denton of MLB.com).

Flaherty is one of the game’s top starters, owner of a 3.34 ERA in just under 500 career innings. He has punched out a strong 28.7% of opposing batters on the back of an excellent 13.3% swinging strike rate. It was more of the same last season when Flaherty was on the mound, as he pitched to a 3.22 ERA with a 26.4% strikeout percentage across 17 outings. He’ll join Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson among the top four in the starting staff.

Sánchez loses his spot on the 40-man roster to accommodate Flaherty’s return. The 25-year-old backstop has been on the 40-man since being acquired from the Mets in February 2021, but he’s only appeared in two games with the big league club. Sánchez has spent the majority of his time in the organization on optional assignment to Memphis, where he’s hitting .255/.333/.409 through 123 plate appearances this season.

The Cardinals will have a week to trade Sánchez or look to run him through waivers. He’s never been an impact offensive player, but scouting reports praised his defense during his time climbing the New York farm system. He’s in his final option year, so another club could stash him in the upper minors for the rest of the season if they were to devote him a spot on the 40-man roster.

Cardinals Place Corey Dickerson On 10-Day Injured List

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The Cardinals placed outfielder Corey Dickerson on the 10-day injured list due to a left calf strain.  Right-hander Jake Walsh was called up from Triple-A to take the open spot on the active roster, and in another move, Jake Woodford was also optioned back to Triple-A after serving as the 27th man for yesterday’s doubleheader.

Dickerson left the first game of that doubleheader in the second inning, so it isn’t surprising that he’ll now head to the IL.  The injury adds to what has been a rough season for Dickerson, as he has hit only .194/.245/.286 over 106 plate appearances since signing a one-year, $5MM free agent in March.  In a cruel twist of fate, Dickerson’s injury comes just a day after his best performance in a St. Louis uniform, as Dickerson hit his first two home runs of the season in Friday’s 14-5 win over the Cubs.

While Dickerson’s absence leaves the Cardinals more shorthanded in the outfield, Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson could be back from their own IL stints within a few days.  Brendan Donovan has also emerged as a multi-position option, and Lars Nootbaar is on hand to more specifically fill Dickerson’s role as a left-handed complement within a largely right-handed lineup.  Tommy Edman could also factor into the outfield picture when not playing shortstop, and Albert Pujols could get more DH at-bats against right-handed pitching while Dickerson is out.

Braves Claim Kramer Robertson From Cardinals

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The Braves announced that they have claimed infielder Kramer Robertson off waivers from the Cardinals and optioned him to Triple-A. To make room on the 40-man roster, outfielder Eddie Rosario was transferred to the 60-day IL.

A fourth round selection of the Cards in the 2017 draft, Robertson worked his way up to the bigs mostly by taking walks, as well as stealing a few bases. This year, in 38 Triple-A games, he’s walked in 19.3% of his plate appearances, producing a slash line of .220/.398/.371, 120 wRC+, along with 12 steals. He was able to make his MLB debut with the Cards but got into just two games, getting only a single plate appearance, which resulted in an RBI groundout.

Robertson’s played second, third and short at Triple-A this year, meaning he’ll provide some infield depth for the Braves. The club has Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley as their regulars and Orlando Arcia as the primary bench infielder. Robertson will likely be jockeying with Joe Dunand, himself a recent waiver claim, to be the next call-up whenever the need arises.

As for Rosario, it was announced in late April that he was undergoing a laser procedure to deal with “blurred vision and swelling in the right retina.” The expected recovery timeline for that procedure was listed as 8-12 weeks, which would likely mean Rosario won’t be returning before July. With today’s transfer, he won’t be eligible to return until 60 days from the initial IL placement, which would be late June. Though he recently started hitting in a cage, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he’s not on pace to return in the next few weeks, making today’s transaction a mere formality.

Cardinals Notes: Flaherty, Dickerson

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  • Jack Flaherty is also set to start his own rehab assignment, as the Cardinals right-hander is scheduled to pitch Sunday for Double-A Springfield.  Cards manager Oliver Marmol told MLB.com’s John Denton and other reporters that Flaherty will throw 40-45 pitches, and depending on his status following that outing, will then throw either 40-45 pitches or 55-60 pitches in his next rehab start.  Shoulder problems have plagued Flaherty in each of the last two seasons, and he has yet to pitch in 2022 due to inflammation in his right shoulder during Spring Training.
  • Jack Flaherty is also set to start his own rehab assignment, as the Cardinals right-hander is scheduled to pitch Sunday for Double-A Springfield.  Cards manager Oliver Marmol told MLB.com’s John Denton and other reporters that Flaherty will throw 40-45 pitches, and depending on his status following that outing, will then throw either 40-45 pitches or 55-60 pitches in his next rehab start.  Shoulder problems have plagued Flaherty in each of the last two seasons, and he has yet to pitch in 2022 due to inflammation in his right shoulder during Spring Training.
  • In other St. Louis injury news, Corey Dickerson made an early exit from the first game of the Cardinals’ doubleheader with the Cubs.  Dickerson was replaced in right field prior to the bottom of the second inning due to left calf discomfort, and it isn’t clear if the injury was triggered by anything in the game, as Dickerson had yet to make a play in the field or take an at-bat.  After signing a one-year, $5MM free agent deal with St. Louis in March, Dickerson has hit only .194/.245/.286 in his first 106 plate appearances, though he is coming off his best game of the season — Dickerson hit his first two home runs of 2022 in the Cardinals’ 14-5 victory over the Cubs on Friday.

Cardinals Promote Zack Thompson, Designate Kramer Robertson

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The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably selecting the contract of 2019 first-rounder Zack Thompson, who’ll join the pitching staff with the Cards slated to play four games in the next three days. Infielder Kramer Robertson was designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man roster move. The Cards also optioned lefty Matthew Liberatore and right-hander Kodi Whitley to Triple-A Memphis and recalled righty Johan Oviedo from Memphis. Furthermore, the Cardinals announced that outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson will begin minor league rehab assignments — O’Neill in Triple-A and Carlson in Double-A.

Thompson, 24, was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and has ranked among the Cardinals’ best pitching prospects since being selected that day. He’s not as highly touted as Liberatore, who was just optioned out, but ranks 15th in their system at Baseball America and ninth at MLB.com. The lefty saw his stock drop in 2021, when he posted an ERA just north of 7.00 and walked 12.8% of his opponents in Triple-A. However, that came after an aggressive jump from Class-A Advanced, where he’d thrown just 13 1/3 innings, and on the heels of a year-long layoff from pitching in a game setting due to the canceled 2020 minor league season.

Thompson has gotten out to a much better start in 2022. He’s still far from dominant in Triple-A but has worked to a 4.67 ERA in a hitter-friendly setting while sporting dramatically improved K-BB numbers. His strikeout rate is up from 18.5% in 2021 to 30.1% in 2022, while that 12.8% walk rate has been curbed to a very solid 8.1%. He’s induced grounders at a 44% clip — very slightly above the MLB 43.1% average — which should pair nicely with the Cardinals’ elite infield defense.

Scouting reports on Thompson note that his velocity took a step back in early 2021, though BA notes that it improved over the season. At his best, Thompson sits in the low 90s but can reach back to dial it up as high as 97 mph on the radar gun, and both BA and MLB.com tout his plus curveball and its elite spin rate. If he’s back on track in terms of velocity, there’s a chance for Thompson to eventually settle in as a mid-rotation starter in St. Louis, where the team’s overall defensive mastery can help to boost any pitcher’s raw run-prevention numbers.

Injuries to Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz have thinned out the St. Louis rotation at the moment, so Thompson could parlay this first big league look into a more prominent opportunity if he impresses early on. Looking forward, Adam Wainwright is only on a one-year deal, and it’s not clear what the future holds for him. Thompson and Liberatore could be vying for permanent rotation spots alongside Flaherty, Matz, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas before long, now that both have reached the Majors for the first time.

From a service time vantage point, Thompson’s promotion comes far too late in the season for him to accumulate the service time needed to reach a full year in 2022. As such, the earliest he could potentially reach free agency would be after the 2028 season. If he sticks in the big leagues from here onward, he’d likely reach Super Two status and be arbitration-eligible four times rather than three, but one look at the manner in which Liberatore has already been shuttled back and forth a few times suggests that Thompson could be handled similarly.

As for the 27-year-old Robertson, he was selected to the 40-man roster back in early May but appeared in just two games before being optioned back to Memphis. Robertson went hitless in his lone plate appearance, though he did pick up an RBI. The 2017 fourth-rounder is a career .242/.367/.396 hitter in 222 Triple-A games and has routinely turned in elite walk rates throughout his minor league tenure. He’s never hit for a high average or displayed much power, however, and he’s been primarily a second baseman and third baseman rather than a shortstop, which curbs his appeal as a utility option. Robertson does have all three minor league option years remaining, so it’s possible another club will look at that and his gaudy OBP marks and see some optionable infield depth.

The Cards will have a week to trade Robertson or attempt to pass him through outright waivers, at which point all 29 other clubs would be able to place a claim.

16 Impending Free Agents Off To Slow Starts At The Plate

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The Padres cut ties with Robinson Cano this morning, just as the Mets did before them. It was a tougher decision for the Mets, given the financial obligation they have toward Cano through the 2023 season. However, his lack of production and the presence of younger, better options forced the hand of both parties.

We’re coming up on a third of the way through the 2022 season, and it’ll become increasingly difficult for teams with struggling veterans in the Cano mold to continue trotting them out there. That’s especially true of players who are impending free agents. While fans can (and do) disagree with the thinking, a player like Aaron Hicks, whom the Yankees owe $30.5MM from 2023-25, will get a longer leash than an impending free agent due to that multi-year commitment. So while there are plenty of struggling veterans on long-term deals, those with the thinnest grasp on their current roster spots are those who’ll be off the books at season’s end anyhow.

With that in mind, here’s a look at some names to watch and, when applicable, some of the names behind them who could aid in pushing them out the door (all stats entering Thursday’s play):

Carlos Santana, Royals: I’m not sure anyone other than the Royals’ front office understands the thinking behind continuing to trot Santana out to the field at this point. The 36-year-old is hitting .161/.293/.250 through 147 plate appearances, and it’s not as though that enormous slump is an entirely new development. Santana hit just .214/.319/.342 while playing in 158 of 162 games for the Royals last year and .199/.340/.350 in Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season.

Santana’s very presence on the Royals is due to the team’s effort to return to win-now mode after a rebuild focused on drafting college arms. He signed a two-year, $17.5MM contract heading into the 2021 season but hasn’t been able to bounce back to the form that long made him one of the game’s biggest on-base threats and most underrated offensive performers.

Signing Santana might’ve been a “win-now” move, but it’s hard to argue that continuing to run him out there is in the Royals’ best interest. That’s doubly true with top prospects Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino mashing in Triple-A Omaha. Both are in the same first base/designated hitter mold as Santana, and both Pratto (55) and Pasquantino (61) rank prominently in Baseball America’s updated Top 100 prospect rankings. Pratto got off to a slow start but is hitting .246/.392/.483 over his past 148 plate appearances. Pasquantino burst out of the gates and hasn’t slowed down; he’s hitting .298/.392/.667 with 15 home runs in 204 plate appearances.

The Royals owe Santana the balance of his $10.5MM salary whether he’s on the roster or not, but he’ll start racking up incentives when he reaches 300 plate appearances.

Joey Gallo, Yankees: Gallo was one of the Yankees’ biggest trade-deadline additions in recent years, but he’s never found his footing in the Bronx. His status as a three-true-outcomes player is well-documented, but he’s trended more aggressively toward the least-desirable of those outcomes since donning pinstripes. Gallo has fanned in 38% of his plate appearances as a Yankee while seeing both his power and his walk rate dip. Since the Yankees acquired him, he’s batting .167/.295/.370.

Even with the short porch in right field, Gallo has only five home runs through 141 plate appearances this season. He’s also seen his average exit velocity, launch angle and barrel rate drop in 2022. Gallo is still making loads of hard contact when he hits the ball in the air, per Statcast, and perhaps that’s helping to keep him both in the lineup and on the roster. New York isn’t getting any real offense from Hicks, Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Kyle Higashioka, however. Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson are once again on the injured list. Anthony Rizzo had a massive April but is batting just .162/.274/.303 in his past 117 plate appearances. The Yankees’ AL East lead has begun to shrink, as the Jays have rattled off eight straight wins, and they can’t realistically count on Aaron Judge to carry the offense all season long.

Gallo doesn’t have a high-end outfield prospect breathing down his neck, but if he can’t get things going at the plate, the calls for change are only going to grow louder. He’s earning $10.275MM in his final arbitration season before free agency, and another club might view him as a change-of-scenery candidate with the hopes that he’ll be the position-player equivalent of Sonny Gray and thrive following a rocky stint in the Bronx.

Adam Duvall, Braves: Like Gallo, Duvall’s skill set and offensive profile were well established when the Braves opted to retain him via arbitration. He was coming off a 38-homer campaign, so there was never much doubt he’d be tendered a contract, but Duvall’s brand of huge power/bottom-of-the-scale OBP always left him with a pretty low floor should the power ever evaporate.

That’s been the case in 2022, as Duvall still isn’t walking or hitting for average, and he’s only slugged two homers on the season. Paired with a career-worst 31.9% strikeout rate, those troubling trends have resulted in a .191/.257/.272 slash for Duvall, who has also already been tasked with playing more center field in 2022 than he had in his entire career to date.

Atlanta has already called up Michael Harris II, one of the sport’s fastest-rising outfield talents, and former top prospect Drew Waters is at least putting together respectable, if unexciting results in Triple-A. The Braves have also tinkered with catcher William Contreras in the outfield. Duvall has been MLB’s second-worst qualified hitter, by measure of wRC+, and it’s fair to wonder how long the leash will be.

Miguel Sano, Twins: Sano isn’t technically a free agent at season’s end, but barring a Herculean push to finish the season, it’s nearly impossible to fathom the Twins picking up a $14MM option on him. To Sano’s credit, he hit quite well from June through season’s end (.251/.330/.503, 21 homers, 21 doubles in 373 plate appearances), but he looked absolutely lost at the plate in 2022 before landing on the injured list due to a torn meniscus. Sano hit just .093/.231/.148 in 65 plate appearances.

When Sano does return, he’ll come back to a retooled roster that has seen versatile Luis Arraez rake while picking up regular at-bats at first base. Former No. 1 pick Royce Lewis is getting looks at third base and in left field — though Lewis is on the 10-day IL himself now — and top outfield/first base prospect Alex Kirilloff is hitting well in Triple-A following his return from a wrist injury.

The Twins can keep Sano in Triple-A for 20 days on rehab assignment when he’s ready, and they may want to do just that to give him a chance to show he can recapture some of his late 2021 form. But the clock on Sano’s three-year, $30MM deal is running out, and the first-place Twins have plenty of options to fill out the lineup. None of them have Sano’s raw power — almost no one in MLB does — but the big man’s ongoing contact issues tend to lead to protracted slumps like the one he slogged through earlier this year. If he can’t turn it around quickly upon his return, it’d be difficult to justify playing him over Arraez, Kirilloff and others.

Enrique Hernandez & Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox: Hernandez was a revelation in 2021 when he smacked 20 homers, hit .250/.337/.449, and delivered all-world defense in center field. But as good as year one of his $14MM contract was, the second and final campaign of that deal has been nightmarish. Hernandez is hitting .203/.269/.340 with a career-low hard-hit rate and exit velocity. He’s still playing great defense in center and helping shoulder the second base workload, but the offensive deficiency is glaring.

That’s also somewhat true of Bradley Jr., who returned to Boston after one ill-fated season in Milwaukee. To Bradley’s credit, he has actually picked up the pace quite a bit, hitting .291/.328/.491 since mid-May, but that surge still only brings his overall season line to .227/.284/.353. If Bradley can sustain some of this production, he’ll surely hang onto his roster spot, but it’s hard not to look at young Jarren Duran’s .309/.391/.523 output in Triple-A and start thinking of ways to insert him into the big league lineup. Duran struggled in his debut last year but is still a touted young prospect whom the Sox envision as a long-term building block.

Hernandez is earning $8MM this season. Bradley is on a $9.5MM salary and is still owed an $8MM buyout on a mutual option for the 2023 season.

Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado & Jason Castro, Astros: Gurriel won a batting title and looked like one of the game’s best pure hitters in 2021, but he’s started his 2022 season with a woeful .223/.261/.361 performance through 176 plate appearances. His strikeout rate is up about four percentage points, while his walk rate has halved and his hard-contact numbers have plummeted. Gurriel is also chasing more pitches off the plate (36.4% in 2022, 29.8% in 2021) and making contact on pitches out of the zone at a far lower rate (74.5% in 2022, 81.9% in 2021).

Houston’s catchers, meanwhile, have been the least-productive in baseball. Maldonado has never been much of a hitter but is batting only .133/.208/.239 this season. Castro hasn’t even been able to match that, batting .104/.228/.146. If catching prospect Korey Lee weren’t enduring immense struggles of his own in Triple-A, a change might’ve already been made.

It seems unlikely that the Astros would cut bait on Gurriel, who’s been a prominent presence and one of the team’s most productive hitters since signing more than a half-decade ago. A reduced role is something they’ll have to consider if he can’t right the ship, however. The catchers seem far more vulnerable, and there figure to be some prominent names available on the trade market (Willson Contreras, most notably). That Houston is leading the AL West by 5.5 games despite having the least-productive catchers (29 wRC+) and 29th-ranked offensive output from its first basemen (74 wRC+) is both a testament to their pitching and indictment on the play of their divisional opponents thus far.

Gurriel is being paid $8MM in 2022, while Maldonado is earning a $5MM salary and Castro is at $3.5MM.

Andrew McCutchen, Brewers: Milwaukee added McCutchen on a one-year, $8MM contract this offseason with the idea of installing him as their primary designated hitter. McCutchen tormented the Brewers during his early years with the Pirates, which included an NL MVP win, but he’s hitting .214/.263/.312 to begin his tenure in Milwaukee. Even McCutchen’s typically outstanding production against lefties has gone up in smoke this year, as he’s managed a .196/.224/.391 slash against them.

Despite McCutchen’s ineffectiveness, the Brewers are leading the Majors in homers (70) and sit fifth in total runs scored (238). But if McCutchen, who’s hitless in six straight and has been 73% worse than average at the plate since a return from the Covid list (27 wRC+ in 57 plate appearances), can’t begin to show some signs of life, the Brewers could be on the lookout for some offensive help as the Aug. 2 trade deadline draws nearer.

Robbie Grossman & Tucker Barnhart, Tigers: Between Grossman, Austin Meadows and Victor Reyes, the Tigers have an entire outfield on the injured list. Underwhelming play from young options like Daz Cameron, Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill will probably extend Grossman’s leash, but he was hitting a career-worst .199/.311/.241 in 167 plate appearances prior to landing on the IL due to ongoing neck soreness. Grossman has a solid track record, but the Tigers will also want to get a look at top prospect Riley Greene soon, and they’re giving Kody Clemens an opportunity after a nice start down in Toledo.

Behind the plate, the Tigers are probably content with Barnhart’s glovework and leadership. There was talk of a potential extension after he was acquired, but a .229/.263/.257 start might have tempered that. Backup Eric Haase isn’t hitting enough to force a change, and the Tigers’ Triple-A catchers are journeymen Dustin Garneau and Ryan Lavarnway. They have a well-regarded prospect at Double-A in Dillon Dingler, but Barnhart shouldn’t be in imminent danger of losing his spot at this time.

Maikel Franco, Nationals: Franco is probably only in this everyday role because Carter Kieboom suffered an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery, but he hasn’t done much with his latest opportunity. The former Phillies, Royals and Orioles third baseman is hitting .258/.284/.374 (82 wRC+) through 208 plate appearances. The Nats have an ultra-thin farm system without much in the way of third base options in the upper minors, and they’re clearly not winning anything this year anyhow. That might keep Franco safe, but if an even semi-interesting option presents itself on the waiver wire, there’s little reason not to take a look.

Corey Dickerson, Cardinals: Prior to the 2022 season, Dickerson had never been worse than five percent below-average with the bat in any full year (by wRC+). That’s all but certain to change now, as the typically steady lefty has posted an uncharacteristic .183/.238/.215 slash in 101 plate appearances. For a lifetime .283/.327/.488 hitter who was coming off a solid 2021 campaign, it’s a rather astonishing swoon.

Dickerson has been in a platoon with Albert Pujols at DH for the most part, logging only 110 innings on defense in the outfield corners recently due to injuries elsewhere on the roster. He’s also only on a one-year, $5MM contract, so if he can’t find his swing in the near future, it’s easy to see the Cards giving more at-bats to Pujols’ long-shot chase for 700 home runs and to young standout Juan Yepez. Dickerson is safe for now with both Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson on the injured list, but he needs a hot streak sooner than later.

Mike Zunino, Rays: Zunino’s career-high 33 home runs from a year ago feel like a distant memory, as he’s off to a .147/.193/.294 start in 109 plate appearances in 2022. He’s still drawing excellent marks for his defensive contributions, which the Rays value heavily, but Zunino isn’t even hitting against lefties, whom he’s handled well throughout his career — particularly in recent seasons.

Backup Francisco Mejia isn’t hitting much himself, going just 6-for-42 without a walk over the past month or so. Were he producing at the plate, it’d be more tempting for Tampa Bay to significantly reduce Zunino’s playing time. The Rays do have 25-year-old Rene Pinto mashing in Triple-A, and he’s made his big league debut already this year. As with the Astros, however, the Rays are in firm win-now mode and entered the season with World Series aspirations. If the in-house options aren’t performing up to par, the trade market beckons.

Austin Hedges, Guardians: Hedges has never hit and has always been one of the game’s premier defensive players, so his 2022 season is nothing new. Still, a .155/.223/.282 output from your primary catcher is just difficult to stomach, no matter how strong the defense is. Veteran backup Luke Maile has hit well in a tiny sample of 35 plate appearances, but he’s a career .208/.264/.317 hitter himself.

Prospect Bryan Lavastida got a brief MLB cup of coffee in April and is hitting .225/.330/.360 so far in Triple-A. His performance will bear monitoring, because if the Guardians are intent on pulling into the playoff picture, Hedges’ production might be too light to overlook. And if they end up selling at the deadline, Hedges could draw interest from a team seeking a glove-first backup option — which could open a door for Lavastida.

J.A. Happ Retires

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Veteran lefty J.A. Happ has retired after spending parts of 15 seasons in the Major Leagues. The 39-year-old discussed his career, his journey to pro ball and his decision to step away from the game in an appearance on the Heart Strong Podcast with Jessica Lindberg.

J.A. Happ | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Happ acknowledges that he went “back and forth for pretty much the whole winter” trying to determine whether he wanted to return for another season, going through his usual training regimen to be ready in case he felt a pull to return to the mound.

“It got to the point where it was Opening Day, and I turned the first game on, and I talked to my wife, Morgan, and I said ’What are you feeling?’ She just kind of looked at me and said, ’A little anxiety.’ I wanted to turn it on to see what I felt, too, and I didn’t maybe feel what I needed to feel in order to think I wanted to keep doing this. I felt like that was a sign, like ’OK, it’s time to go.’ Even though I had put the work in to be ready if the right situation came, I felt like it was time to move on and be a dad and dive into the kids. … It was emotional — something I didn’t expect. I called my agent that day, right after we turned that game on, and said, ’I think this is it.’ I told the people I feel like I needed to tell. I think I’m still processing it, but I do wake up feeling good about it, and I’m happy to start the process of being a full-time dad, for the time being, at the very least.”

Originally a third-round pick by the Phillies back in 2004, Happ made his MLB debut with Philadelphia in 2007, appearing in just one game. He pitched in eight games the following year, earning enough trust to make the team’s NLCS roster and turn in three sharp innings of relief. By the 2009 season, Happ not only established himself as a member of the Phillies’ rotation but took home a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting after logging a 2.93 ERA in 166 innings of work. He began that year in the bullpen but moved into the rotation in late May, going on to hurl shutouts against the Blue Jays and Rockies in just the seventh and fourteenth starts of his big league career.

Strong as Happ’s early work was, the Phillies couldn’t resist the temptation to include him as part of the return for right-hander Roy Oswalt — a three-time All-Star and regular Cy Young contender at that point in his career. That 2010 swap proved to be the first of several notable trades in which Happ was involved over the course of his career. The Astros included him in a massive 11-player swap with the Jays that saw Happ land in Toronto and a then fresh-faced prospect named Joe Musgrove among the most notable names sent to Houston. Happ was also swapped straight up for outfielder Michael Saunders in 2014, and after returning to the Blue Jays on a three-year, $36MM deal as a free agent, he was flipped to the Yankees for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney in the final season of that pact.

Happ was never a flamethrower or a perennial All-Star, but he carved out a lengthy career as a mid-rotation starter in the perennially dangerous American League East, spending six of his 15 years with the Jays and another three with the Yankees. From Happ’s peak in 2014-20, he notched 1058 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball — a strong run that included an All-Star nod in 2018 and a sixth-place finish in 2016 American League Cy Young voting. His consistency netted him a trio of sizable free-agent contracts: his aforementioned $36MM deal with the Blue Jays, a two-year Yankees deal worth $34MM, and a one-year deal with the Twins that promised him $8MM just last season.

All in all, Happ steps away from the game with a lifetime 133-100 record, a 4.13 ERA, 1661 strikeouts, four complete games and three shutouts compiled while suiting up for eight teams: the Blue Jays, Phillies, Yankees, Astros, Twins, Mariners, Pirates and Cardinals. He reached the postseason six times, winning a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies and pitching well in four of those six playoff runs. (He made one start with the Yankees both in 2018 and 2020, neither of which went particularly well.) Between the three previously referenced free-agent deals and his arbitration seasons, Happ earned more than $97MM in a career pegged at 21.5 wins above replacement by Baseball-Reference and 21.8 WAR by FanGraphs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images/Imagn.

Matz Has Cortisone Injection

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  • Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports that Manny Machado’s absence from the final two games of the Padres’ weekend series against the Pirates was a result of a cortisone injection he’d received to alleviate issues with tennis elbow, a repetitive strain injury to upper forearm muscles most commonly seen among tennis players. The injection was evidently successful, as Machado is back in the Padres lineup in today’s game against the Cardinals. Ha-Seong Kim took Machado’s place at third in his absence.
  • Left-hander Steven Matz, who hit the IL a week ago with a shoulder impingement, has received a cortisone injection in his left shoulder, reports Katie Woo of The Athletic. Matz has gotten off to something of a slow start in St. Louis since signing a four-year, $44MM deal with the Cardinals a week ahead of the lockout, posting a 6.03 ERA (4.29 FIP) in 37 1/3 innings prior to his current IL stint. It’s a tiny sample, of course, and his issues seem to have been driven largely by bad luck, including a .350 BABIP (against a .310 career mark) and an elevated home run rate of 4.9%  (3.7% career) without a significant change in his fly ball rate. Both his strikeout rate of 26.8% and walk rate of 4.9% have been better than his career marks (22.5% and 4.9%, respectively). The timeline for his return remains unclear.

Latest On Tyler O'Neill

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  • Tyler O’Neill received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder after additional testing revealed some fluid buildup, the Cardinals outfielder told reporters (including Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat).  O’Neill has been on the 10-day IL since May 20 due to a shoulder impingement, and after some rest, he hopes to begin a rehab assignment sometime this week.  After what appeared to be a breakout 2021 season, O’Neill has slumped out of the gate this year, slashing just .195/.256/.297 over 133 plate appearances.
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