Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Injury Notes: Dahl, Turner, Cobb, Mariners

By | at

The Rockies announced Tuesday that they’ve placed outfielder David Dahl on the 10-day injured list due to a “left-side core injury.” Fellow outfielder Yonathan Daza has been recalled from Triple-A in his place. Dahl’s injury isn’t believed to be especially serious, and the hot-hitting 25-year-old in fact told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding that he hopes to return after a minimal 10-day stay on the IL (Twitter link). Dahl joins Daniel Murphy as a key middle-of-the-order presence whose absence will surely be felt by a Rockies lineup that entered play Tuesday tied for 20th in total runs scored (37th), 24th in batting average (.219), 26th in on-base percentage (.283) and 23rd in slugging percentage (.350). Dahl was off to a scintillating .343/.385/.629 start to the season through 39 plate appearances.

Some more notable injury updates from around the game…

  • Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic tweets that there’s a “tentative” timeline of four to six weeks for Nationals star Trea Turner (from the time of his injury). Turner landed on the injured list with a fractured index finger last week. Light-hitting Wilmer Difo has filled in for Turner since he exited last Tuesday’s game after injuring his right (throwing) hand on a bunt attempt in his first plate appearance.
  • The Orioles announced that right-hander Alex Cobb, who had been slated to start tomorrow night’s game, has instead been placed on the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain. The move is backdated to April 6. Cobb quickly follows righty Nate Karns (forearm strain) to the injured list, though there’s no timetable for a return on either right-hander. Baltimore has yet to announce a corresponding 25-man roster move for Cobb, who opened the season on the IL due to a groin strain. He’s thrown just 5 2/3 innings in one appearance so far this season. The early durability issues don’t help the Orioles’ already minimal chances of finding a summer trade partner willing to take on a portion of the $43MM still owed to Cobb through the 2021 campaign.
  • Mariners right-hander Chasen Bradford has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right shoulder, per a team announcement. The Seattle organization will turn to fellow righty Erik Swanson in his stead. There’s no immediate rotation opening for Swanson, one of the focal pieces of the trade that sent James Paxton to the Yankees, so the 25-year-old seems ticketed for the bullpen for the time being. If Swanson finds his way into a game, he’d be making his big league debut. An eighth-round pick by the Rangers in 2014, Swanson went from Texas to New York in the 2016 Carlos Beltran trade before being sent to the Mariners in the aforementioned Paxton swap. He pitched at three levels in the Yankees’ system last year, working to a combined 2.66 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 121 2/3 innings.

Dodgers Place Hyun-Jin Ryu On Injured List

By | at

April 9: The Dodgers announced that Ryu has been placed on the injured list. Righty J.T. Chargois has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City in his place and will join the Dodgers’ bullpen.

April 8, 11:45pm: Ryu said after the game that he does not feel he has suffered a significant injury, as Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter links). The southpaw characterized his exit as precautionary. That’s certainly promising, though manager Dave Roberts made clear that Ryu was nevertheless destined for a stint on the injured list.

8:25pm: The Dodgers may well send another high-priced lefty to the inured list after watching Hyun-Jin Ryu leave the mound early tonight. He’s dealing with a left groin strain, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports on Twitter.

There’s added concern here due to Ryu’s history. He suffered a torn left groin muscle last year, ultimately missing about ten weeks of action. Ryu ended up making 15 starts, pitching well enough to receive a qualifying offer — which he accepted.

For the Dodgers, issuing Ryu the QO represented a bet that he’d be on the hill enough to warrant a $17.9MM price tag on one year of his services. He’s worth that and more when healthy, but his availability has been something of a flip of the coin for much of his MLB career. Since coming to the majors from his native Korea in advance of the 2013 campaign, Ryu carries a 3.17 ERA but has averaged only 95 frames and 16 starts annually.

Ryu joins Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill on the shelf. Fortunately, those hurlers are making progress (the former in particular) and the Dodgers have an exceptionally deep group of pitchers. And the club isn’t exactly suffering in the results department at the moment. Still, the rotation resources have already been strained, so it’s worrying to see another potentially significant injury.

Royals Return Chris Ellis To Cardinals

By | at

The Royals announced Tuesday that Rule 5 pick Chris Ellis has cleared waivers and returned to the Cardinals organization. The right-hander will head to a minor league affiliate (without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster), though the Cardinals’ announcement of the move did not specify the affiliate to which Ellis is headed.

Ellis, 26, was a roster casualty when the Royals selected the contract of Homer Bailey. Though Kansas City manager Ned Yost stated that the organization tried to get as long a look as possible at Ellis, he was designated for assignment after just one scoreless outing to begin the season. Ellis was hit hard during Spring Training, though, allowing 10 runs on 16 hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts through 10 Cactus League frames.

Originally a third-round pick of the Angels back in 2014, Ellis went to the Braves alongside Sean Newcomb in the Andrelton Simmons blockbuster before making his way to the Cardinals in the trade that sent Jaime Garcia to Atlanta. He was torched in his first two brief exposures to the Triple-A level but had a solid season there in 2018 when he pitched to a 3.76 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 79 innings of work. He’ll likely head back to Triple-A Memphis to continue working toward a spot with the Cards at the MLB level.

Royals Select Contract Of Richard Lovelady

By | at

The Royals have selected the contract of lefty Richard Lovelady, as Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM first reported (Twitter link). Right-hander Heath Fillmyer is also on his way up to the active roster.

To create active roster space, the Kansas City organization has optioned down lefty Tim Hill and righty Kevin McCarthy. Both of those hurlers were knocked around in yestreday’s loss.

Lovelady, 23, took an open 40-man spot, so a corresponding move was not rquired there. In some respects, it’s surprising that it has taken him this long to make it up to the majors, as Lovelady has already produced stellar results for three full seasons at all levels of the minors.

Last year, Lovelady mowed down Triple-A hitters in 73 innings over 46 appearances. He finished with a 2.47 ERA and 8.8 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9. He was impressive again this spring, turning in an 11:3 K/BB ratio and allowing just two earned runs in 8 2/3 frames, and has already turned in two more quality outings at the highest level of the minors.

Health Notes: Moore, Karns, Padres, Red Sox

By | at

Here are the latest notes on some health situations from around the game …

  • The Tigers and lefty Matt Moore are hopeful that he won’t need to undergo surgery after being diagnosed with a meniscus injury, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News was among those to report. Damage to the joint was diagnosed after Moore experienced some issues in his last outing. While a procedure on the meniscus wouldn’t likely be season-ending, it would make for a fairly lengthy absence. With rather mild symptoms, Moore suggests he’s optimistic he can instead rehab briefly and then pitch through the injury.
  • Orioles righty Nate Karns has gone on the injured list with a forearm strain, the club announced. The severity isn’t know, but it’s obviously rather worrying to see another arm issue for a pitcher that has dealt with significant health issues in recent years. Reliever Evan Phillips, who was acquired in last year’s Kevin Gausman swap, has been called up to take the open roster spot. Phillips struggled in brief MLB action last year but had a nice showing this spring.
  • The Padres announced last night that lefty Aaron Loup and outfielder Franchy Cordero were headed to the injured list. Infielder Luis Urias is taking one of the open roster spots, thus putting another top San Diego prospect at the MLB level, with southpaw reliever Brad Wieck occupying the other. As Jason Freund of the East Village Times explains, arm issues drove both IL placements. The severity isn’t known in either case, but Loup’s forearm strain and Cordero’s elbow strain each echo injuries that those players dealt with last year.
  • Red Sox ace Chris Sale isn’t one for excuses, but skipper Alex Cora did offer up a possible explanation for Sale’s otherwise concerning recent velocity drop. The star lefty was dealing with illness in the run-up to his last start, which reduced his intra-start work and may also have affected him on gameday, Cora told reporters including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter links). Sale’s velocity has trended back up in the first inning of today’s game, which is certainly a promising sign. There was also generally encouraging news for southpaw Brian Johnson, who was feared to have suffered a significant elbow injury. He’s actually just dealing with inflammation, so it seems reasonable to hope that a rest and rehab approach will allow him to get back to the mound in relatively short order.

Cubs To Place Jon Lester On Injured List

By | at

The Cubs are preparing to place starter Jon Lester on the 10-day injured list, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com (via Twitter). He was due to undergo further medical examination today after suffering a hamstring injury yesterday.

It still isn’t known how serious the injury is. Lester indicated after the game that he felt optimistic, even suggesting he might not need to miss a start. But he’ll be shelved for at least an outing or two with the IL placement.

Losing Lester, even for a brief stretch, will present another obstacle for a Cubs team that has stumbled out of the gates. He has been the anchor of the Chicago rotation ever since he landed with the organization, continuing to produce good results of late even as his stuff and peripherals have faded.

The Cubs would typically just turn the ball over to Mike Montgomery, but he’s hurt. That could mean that Tyler Chatwood will reenter the rotation, though his control problems have yet to abate in a relief role. Alec Mills represents another 40-man possibility.

Mike Clevinger Likely Out More Than Two Months

By | at

10:06am: It turns out the injury is much worse than had initially been expected. Clevinger is going to be sidelined for six to eight weeks before he’s able to resume a throwing progression, manager Terry Francona tells reporters including Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). Since he’ll still need to build back to full pitching strength from that point, it seems all but inevitable that Clevinger will miss more than two months.

9:32am: The Indians have placed starter Mike Clevinger on the 10-day injured list. He’s said to be dealing with a “right upper back/Teres major muscle strain.”

Reliever Nick Wittgren is coming up to the active roster to fill the opening and provide some innings, but obviously won’t fill Clevinger’s role. The Cleveland org will ultimately need another hurler to step into the rotation, at least for a couple of starts.

Glancing down the Indians’ 40-man roster, there are several pitchers with MLB experience that could ultimately be called upon. Cody Anderson has spent the most time in the big leagues but is still building back after missing virtually all of the prior two seasons. Adam Plutko might get the nod but is not at 100 percent. Jefry Rodriguez and Chih-Wei Hu have also pitched at the game’s highest level, as have non-roster hurlers A.J. Cole and Asher Wojciechowski.

Filling in shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The real question is: for how long? It did not seem that Clevinger had suffered a significant injury when he left his most recent start, and there’s still no indication that he’s expected to be sidelined for a lengthy stretch. The Indians will take a cautious approach while hoping that Clevinger is able to get back to action quickly. The 28-year-old righty has been nothing short of outstanding of late, with a ridiculous dozen innings (two hits, 22:4 K/BB) to begin the new campaign.

White Sox Select Contract Of Ervin Santana

By | at

The White Sox announced today that they have selected the contract of veteran righty Ervin Santana. He’ll make his first start for the club today after inking a minor-league deal this spring.

The groundwork for Santana’s ascension to the MLB roster had already been laid by the Chicago front office. There was already a 40-man roster spot to work with and the team optioned righty Carson Fulmer back to Triple-A yesterday.

It’ll be interesting to see what the 36-year-old Santana has left in the tank. He was sidelined for much of 2018 with a lingering finger injury and wasn’t effective when he was able to pitch. But he was stellar in the prior two seasons, turning in a 3.32 ERA over 392 2/3 total innings. The peripherals didn’t support quite those results, and expectations ought to be tempered, but there’s reason to hope he can return to being a solid MLB starter.

As for Fulmer, he’ll need to earn his way back into the majors or await an opening. He has now seen action in parts of four MLB seasons but hasn’t come close to fully harnessing the talent that led the South Siders to pick him eighth overall in the 2015 draft. Through 70 1/3 innings at the game’s highest level, Fulmer owns a 6.53 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9.

Red Sox Activate Dustin Pedroia

By | at

The struggling Red Sox will get a boost as they finally play their 2019 home opener, as the club announced today that second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been activated from the injured list. Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin was optioned to Triple-A to create roster space.

The 35-year-old Pedroia played in just three games last year and saw only limited action in camp. His surgically repaired left knee remains a long-term concern, but it’s evidently in good enough form to enable him to get back onto the active roster — and into the lineup. He’ll line up at his customary second base and hit seventh.

When last we saw him in extended action, back in 2017, Pedroia was still capable of turning in a league-average performance at the plate. While he popped just seven home runs in 463 plate appearances and carried a marginal .099 isolated power mark that just barely topped his prior low point, Pedroia still displayed impeccable plate discipline and contact skills.

Pedroia ended the ’17 campaign with a .293/.369/.392 slash. He continued to draw stellar grades for his glovework from Ultimate Zone Rating, though Defensive Runs Saved took a dimmer view. Baserunning was an issue, according to Fangraphs’ BsR measure, which graded Pedroia as a clear negative.

He surely won’t ever be as spry as he once was, but Pedroia could still be quite a useful player for the Boston organization — if he can keep his knee in working order. The hard-nosed star remains under contract for $15MM this year and $25MM combined for the ensuing two seasons. Eduardo Nunez will surely spell him rather often to keep the joints fresh. Lin and Brock Holt (currently on the injured list) are among the options to fill in or supplement Pedroia as the season unfolds.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top