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Reds Place Mike Moustakas On 10-Day Injured List

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The Reds announced this morning that they’ve placed infielder Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list with a right heel contusion and recalled fellow infielder Max Schrock from Triple-A Louisville. It’s now been nearly a week since Moustakas started a game for the Reds, but because the Reds utilized him as a pinch-hitter both Monday and Tuesday, his IL placement can only be backdated to yesterday (May 19).

With Moustakas now shelved for at least the next nine days and Joey Votto still out with a fractured thumb, Cincinnati is sending Alex Blandino out at first base today. Jonathan India is lined up at second base, with Kyle Farmer at short and Eugenio Suarez at the hot corner. We’ll likely see various permutations of the infield alignment in the absence of both Moustakas and Votto, a pair of key bats in the heart of the Reds’ lineup.

Moustakas, 32, is out to a .241/.337/.437 start that actually checks in 10 percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+, in this year’s woeful offensive climate. He’s homered four times and kicked in five doubles as well while splitting his time between the infield corners. The Reds initially signed Moustakas to play second base, but the emergence of Jonathan India and the club’s decision to move Suarez back to shortstop to begin the year slid Moustakas back over to the hot corner — at least until Votto’s injury.

The 26-year-old Schrock will give the Reds an option at any of second base, third base or left field while they await the returns of Votto and Moustakas. Schrock, just 4-for-26 in a tiny sample of play at the big league level, is a career .262/.326/.351 hitter in 775 Triple-A plate appearances.

Chris Davis Out For Season

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Orioles first baseman and designated hitter Chris Davis will miss the rest of the season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left hip, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Recovery time is projected to be four to five months.

Shortstop Richie Martin is also out for the time being with a non-displaced fracture in the radius bone of his left wrist, per Kubatko. The Orioles expect him to return after somewhere between eight and twelve weeks.

The Orioles had already gone the first month and a half of the season without Davis because of a lower back strain. Now, in light of this news, it will go down as another lost season for the former star. Baltimore re-signed Davis to a seven-year, $161MM contract prior to the 2016 season, but the move has blown up in the club’s face. Now 35 years old, Davis hit an atrocious .196/.291/.379 with 92 home runs over 2,118 plate appearances from 2016-20. The Orioles owe him annual salaries of $23MM through 2022.

This will also count as a year to forget for Martin, whom the Orioles took from the Athletics in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft. Martin totaled 309 PA as an Oriole in 2019 and hit .208/.260/.322 with six home runs and 10 stolen bases. He hasn’t played in the bigs since then.

Blue Jays Sign Casey Lawrence

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The Blue Jays have signed Casey Lawrence to a minor league contract, per an announcement from the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. Lawrence had signed with the indie ball club in March but is now returning to the affiliated ranks. He has been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

Lawrence might be a familiar name to some Jays fans. The right-hander made his MLB debut with Toronto in April 2017 but was claimed off waivers by the Mariners about a month thereafter. He went on to log a decent number of innings out of the Seattle bullpen from 2017-18. Altogether, Lawrence compiled a 6.64 ERA over 38 appearances (including two starts) in the big leagues over that two-year stretch.

Seattle granted Lawrence his release following the 2018 season so he could pursue an opportunity in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He spent much of the following year with a minor league affiliate of NPB’s Hiroshima Carp before returning stateside in 2020. Lawrence spent last season at the Twins alternate training site but didn’t get a big league call. The 33-year-old will look to work his way back to the majors for the organization with which he began his career.

Yankees Reinstate Gleyber Torres From Injured List

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Before this evening’s game against the Rangers, the Yankees announced they reinstated shortstop Gleyber Torres from the injured list. Torres is in the starting lineup tonight, hitting fifth. To create active roster space, fellow infielder Rougned Odor was placed on the paternity list.

Torres has been out of action since May 11 after testing positive for COVID-19. The 24-year-old had previously been fully vaccinated and was fortunately said to be asymptomatic. He’ll now look to turn around his season line, which currently sits at .240/.331/.304 across 142 plate appearances. It’s the second consecutive year in which Torres has reached base a fair amount but not hit for power, a surprising development after he slugged .535 and popped 38 homers during his age-22 season in 2019.

Odor had just returned from an IL stint himself- in his case, due to a left knee sprain. The 27-year-old has just a .182/.280/.379 line over his first 75 plate appearances in the Bronx. Nevertheless, the Yankees have been intrigued enough by Odor to give him 19 starts at second base, and he figures to get some more work at the position when he returns. Players on the paternity list can miss between one and three games.

Angels Select Dillon Peters

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The Angels announced that they have selected left-hander Dillon Peters and optioned righty Jaime Barria. The club outrighted Peters last winter.

The 28-year-old Peters appeared in the majors during the previous four seasons with the Marlins and Angels. Peters has recorded a 5.83 ERA/5.22 SIERA with a 16.7 percent strikeout rate and a 9.9 percent walk rate over 132 2/3 big league frames. He has also had trouble at the Triple-A level, where he has logged a 6.15 ERA in 169 2/3 innings.

Diamondbacks Reinstate Ketel Marte

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have reinstated Ketel Marte from the 10-day injured list and optioned outfielder Nick Heath to Triple-A Reno.

Arizona has gone almost the entire season without Marte, who landed on the IL on April 8 with a right hamstring strain. The 27-year-old began the season as the Diamondbacks’ No. 1 choice in center field, and they’ve since left the position to a combination of Heath, Tim Locastro, Pavin Smith and Daulton Varsho. D-backs center fielders rank a below-average 23rd in fWAR (minus-0.2) and 24th in wRC+ (80).

Marte, 27, was red hot to begin the campaign, as he slashed .462/.500/.846 with two home runs in 28 plate appearances. That was more like the MVP-contending Marte the Diamondbacks saw in 2019, not the one who hit .287/.323/.409 with two homers in 195 PA last year.

Mets To Place Taijuan Walker On 10-Day IL

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4:55pm: McWilliams and Tarpley are on the COVID list, Healey tweets.

4:46pm: The team has officially placed Walker and fellow hurlers Sam McWilliams and Stephen Tarpley on the IL, Thosar relays. New York also activated outfielder Cameron Maybin, whom it acquired from the Cubs on Tuesday.

4:06pm: The Mets will place right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 10-day injured list, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News was among those to report. Walker is dealing with tightness in his left side.

The Mets now have four notable starters on the IL, with Walker joining Jacob deGrom (right side tightness), Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery recovery) and Carlos Carrasco (hamstring strain) on the shelf. Nevertheless, the Mets have gone 20-16 and are in possession of a one-game lead in the National League East.

For his part, Walker – whom the Mets signed to a two-year, $20MM guarantee in free agency – has more than held his own in 2021. The former Mariner, Diamondback and Blue Jay, 28, has pitched to a 2.05 ERA over eight starts and 44 innings. That’s obviously going to be difficult production to replace, but the Mets seem hopeful Walker won’t miss much time, per manager Luis Rojas (via Tim Healey of Newsday).

Keone Kela Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Padres right-handed reliever Keone Kela underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. Kela will miss the rest of this season and a sizable portion of 2022 as a result. However, because he underwent a TJ procedure, Kela will have an $800K club option for next year kick in.

Formerly with the Rangers and Pirates, the 28-year-old Kela joined the Padres on a one-year, $1.2MM guarantee in the offseason. Kela wound up throwing 10 2/3 innings of eight-run (six earned) ball with 13 strikeouts against three walks before the Padres placed him on the injured list on May 8 with a right forearm strain.

This will go down as another injury-shortened season for Kela, who hasn’t thrown more than 29 2/3 frames in a campaign since 2019. Kela has recorded a rather impressive 3.33 ERA in 227 1/3 innings, but it will unfortunately take quite some time for the 28-year-old to return to a major league mound.

Cubs DFA Tony Wolters, Select P.J. Higgins

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The Cubs made a change at their backup catcher spot today, selecting P.J. Higgins from Triple-A and designating veteran Tony Wolters for assignment, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (via Twitter).

Higgins joined the Cubs as a 12th-round pick in 2015, and he hasn’t yet played in the majors. The 28-year-old has batted .273/.359/.370 with 21 home runs in 2,014 minor league plate appearances. He’ll take over as the Cubs’ backup catcher behind Willson Contreras.

Wolters, 28, signed a minor league contract with the Cubs in March. The former Rockie opened this season with a .125/.276/.125 line in 30 trips to the plate before the Cubs designated him. He’s a lifetime .236/.322/.315 batter with seven HRs in 1,262 PA in the bigs.

Giants Activate Donovan Solano, Place Wilmer Flores On 10-Day Injured List

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The Giants have activated Donovan Solano from the 10-day injured list, placing Wilmer Flores on the injured list in his place, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). Flores has a right hamstring strain.

The Giants have gone without Solano since placing him on the IL in late April with a calf injury. Solano, who was very effective as a Giant from 2019-20, got off to a nice start this year with a .300/.333/.380 line in 54 trips to the plate before landing on the shelf.

Of course, with Solano returning and Flores going on the IL, it’s one step forward and one back for the Giants’ infield. Flores has struggled this year (.219/.308/.343 in 120 PA), but he’ll join Tommy La Stella as another second base capable-player on the IL for San Francisco.

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