Injury Notes: Arenado, Simmons, Ahmed, Montgomery
After fouling a ball off his left foot today, Nolan Arenado left the game with what the Rockies described as a contusion on his big toe. The injury occurred in the top of the eighth inning, and the third baseman took his position in the bottom half of the inning before being subbed out in the bottom of the ninth. The Rockies’ announcement specified that the move was made “for precautionary reasons,” noting that Arenado suffered a similar injury against the Padres last week. Arenado told the Athletic’s Nick Groke and other reporters that today’s foul ball exacerbated the injury, though x-rays didn’t reveal any damage. Particularly with Trevor Story hitting the IL earlier today, the absolute last thing the Rockies need is to lose their other superstar infielder to injury, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Arenado misses a game or two to fully heal up.
Some more injury situations from around baseball…
- There was some thought that Andrelton Simmons could return to the Angels roster this weekend, though manager Brad Ausmus told reporters (including Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times) that Simmons won’t be returning quite so soon after coming up limping during last night’s minor league rehab game. The shortstop could still potentially rejoin the club sometime next week, Ausmus said, and may not even play any more rehab games. A Grade 3 ankle sprain put Simmons on the injured list on May 22, so even pushing back a return until next week still represents a very quick recovery from such an injury.
- Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed suffered what the club termed as a left hand contusion after being hit by a Jeff Hoffman pitch in today’s game. The injury forced Ahmed out of the game in the fifth inning, though manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters that x-rays were negative and Ahmed could still potentially play tomorrow. The defensively-gifted Ahmed has started all but four of Arizona’s games this season, and Ketel Marte would likely move from center field to shortstop if Ahmed did need to miss any time.
- The Yankees have shut Jordan Montgomery down from throwing for two weeks, manager Aaron Boone told media (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). The southpaw felt soreness while throwing a batting practice session as part of his rehab from Tommy John surgery in June 2018, and an MRI revealed inflammation in Montgomery’s throwing shoulder. Despite the setback, Boone didn’t close the door on Montgomery potentially being able to return to the Yankees at some point this season.
Latest On Athletics’ Extension Talks
After locking up Khris Davis on a three-year extension in April, the Athletics have continued to look into long-term deals with some of their key players. The A’s have approached Marcus Semien on multiple occasions about an extension, though Semien tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that there haven’t been any recent talks between the two sides. Beyond Semien, Slusser notes that the A’s have also explored multi-year contracts with Matt Chapman and Matt Olson.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Oakland’s interest in keeping any of these players, and it seems likely that negotiations will continue on an on-and-off basis for some time to come. Both Chapman and Olson are controlled through the 2023 season, and while Semien can be a free agent after the 2020 season, it could be that talks with the shortstop simply paused once the season began, as most players prefer to save contractual business for the offseason.
Both Chapman and his agent, Scott Boras, recently discussed the possibility of an extension with Slusser in separate editions of the “A’s Plus” podcast. Boras, as you might expect, took a slightly more bottom-line approach, noting that discussions with the A’s carry something of an extra hurdle. “Oakland is in a place where they have a lot of promise that requires definition, that requires sureties that they’re going to have a stadium,” Boras said. Nonetheless, the agent also said that “We keep our ears open and listen and talk to ownership regularly about” a long-term deal between Chapman and the team.
For his part, Chapman wants a deal that “has to be fair for both sides,” though he reiterated his desire to remain in Oakland over the long term. “I do want to be a part of this team and I would love to be extended and play a long time….Hopefully, we can get something done,” the third baseman said.
The Davis contract represented Oakland’s first extension in quite some time, as the team focused on something of a rebuild on the fly to amass a new group of talent. After the 2017 season, however, Billy Beane said the A’s would now start to look at identifying and then extending the true core members of the roster going forward.
Rockies Place Trevor Story On IL
7:23pm: Story’s injury won’t require surgery, though the shortstop will be out of action for “multiple weeks,” as per The Athletic’s Nick Groke (Twitter link).
1:45pm: Story is headed to the IL, per a club announcement, with Brendan Rodgers up to replace him on the active roster. The full outlook for the injury remains unknown at this time.
7:34am: Rockies shortstop Trevor Story left the team’s win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday with a right thumb injury. He’ll undergo an MRI on Thursday, Nick Groke of The Athletic was among those to report.
X-rays on Story’s thumb were negative Wednesday, but as Groke notes, that doesn’t guarantee he’s out of the woods. Despite a negative X-ray on a left thumb injury in August 2016, Story still had to undergo season-ending surgery on account of a torn UCL in the digit. The Rockies weren’t serious contenders at that point, though, whereas they’re in the hunt for their third straight playoff berth this season. After Wednesday’s win, the club sits 39-34 and tied with the Phillies for the National League’s second wild-card spot.
The Rockies’ success in recent years has come thanks in no small part to Story, who exploded on the scene as a big-hitting defensive standout in 2015. The 26-year-old is off to a .294/.360/.547 start this season with a 120 wRC+, 17 home runs, 12 stolen bases and 2.9 fWAR in 328 plate appearances. Story has also appeared in 72 of Colorado’s 73 games in 2019.
The Rockies replaced Story on Wednesday with Pat Valaika. However, the team could recall Brendan Rodgers or Garrett Hampson from Triple-A Albuquerque if it has to put Story on the injured list.
MLB Draft Signings: 6/20/19
Here’s a look at the latest noteworthy draft signings, with the newest moves at the top of the post. Click here for the full list of slot values and draft pool bonuses, and you can find prospect rankings and scouting reports from Baseball America’s Top 500, Fangraphs’ Top 200, MLB.com’s Top 200, and the Top 50 of ESPN.com’s Keith Law….
- The Orioles have signed Kyle Stowers, their pick from Competitive Balance Round B, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports (Twitter link). Stowers signed for $884.2K, matching the recommended bonus price for the 71st overall pick. Stowers received a pretty wide range of evaluations from draft pundits, with Fangraphs (32nd) rating the Stanford outfielder highest, Baseball America (102nd) putting Stowers outside their top 100 and MLB.com (78th) falling in between. He has a big swing that has led to strikeouts in the past, though Stowers has shown some solid left-handed hitting and power potential.
- The Angels signed third-rounder Jack Kochanowicz, Mayo tweets. Kochanowicz signed for a hefty $1.25MM bonus worth almost twice the $637.6K slot price of the 91st overall pick, as the high school right-hander clearly needed a heavy incentive to break his commitment to Virginia. BA (61st), MLB.com (75th) and Fangraphs (80th) all had Kochanowicz in their top 80, noting his 6’6″ height and potential for three plus pitches as he continues to develop. This includes adding velocity to a fastball that already clocks in the low 90’s.
Dodgers Place Rich Hill On Injured List
5:23pm: Speaking to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (Twitter links) and other reporters, Hill said he was told he had a flexor tendon strain. The southpaw has already received a PRP injection and won’t start throwing for around a month. Hill didn’t have any firmer details about when he could be able to return to the mound, though he does expect to pitch again this season.
5:05pm: The Dodgers have officially placed Hill on the 10-day injured list with a left forearm strain, as per a team announcement. Infielder Matt Beaty was optioned to Triple-A, while right-handers Josh Sborz and JT Chargois will join the 25-man roster.
7:14am: Dodgers starter Rich Hill lasted just one inning Wednesday before exiting with what the team called left forearm discomfort. While the southpaw will undergo an MRI on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury, a 10-day IL stint is a certainty, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports.
A forearm injury is ominous for a pitcher because it sometimes serves as a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Hill has already undergone the procedure once, in 2011, though he’s “pretty confident” he won’t require it this time. The 39-year-old revealed that a “very preliminary ultrasound” showed his elbow ligament’s still intact.
Even if Hill has avoided a possible career-ending scenario with this injury, it will still represent the latest IL stint during his recent rebirth. A series of injuries have prevented the journeyman from throwing more than 135 2/3 innings in a season since he unexpectedly emerged as a quality starter late in 2015 with the Red Sox.
The Dodgers acquired Hill from the Athletics during the summer of 2016 and then prevented him from leaving in free agency the ensuing winter with a three-year, $48MM contract. Now in the last season of his deal, the still-effective Hill has pitched to a 2.55 ERA/4.11 FIP with 10.36 K/9, 2.04 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent groundball rate over 10 starts and 53 innings.
After Hill departed Wednesday, the Dodgers’ bullpen worked eight solid innings to help the first-place club cruise to a 9-2 win over the Giants. The Hill-less Dodgers will turn to fellow lefty Julio Urias to start Thursday, with righty Ross Stripling backing him up, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. With Urias and Stripling among fallbacks behind Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers’ rotation should continue to perform like one of the majors’ best as it awaits Hill’s return.
Phillies Likely To Place Pat Neshek On Injured List
TODAY: Neshek has been placed on the 10-day IL, the Phillies announced today. Left-hander Ranger Suarez was called up from Triple-A to take Neshek’s roster spot.
YESTERDAY: Phillies reliever Pat Neshek suffered a left hamstring strain in the team’s loss to the Nationals on Wednesday night. He’s likely heading to the 10-day injured list as a result, manager Gabe Kapler said (via Scott Lauber of Philly.com).
This will be the second IL placement of 2019 for Neshek, who went down May 25 with rotator cuff inflammation and just returned June 16. The 38-year-old hasn’t been available enough to the Phillies’ liking since they reunited with him on a two-year, $16.25MM pact entering 2018, nor has he been as effective as the team hoped.
Shoulder and forearm problems shelved Neshek until last July after he signed his deal. Dating back to then, the soft-tossing Neshek has posted a 3.46 ERA/4.32 FIP with 5.18 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 in 41 2/3 innings. Neshek was coming off a 62 1/3 inning-season of 1.59 ERA/1.86 FIP ball with 9.96 K/9 against .87 BB/9 divided between Philly and Colorado when the Phillies re-signed him.
The Phillies already have key relievers in David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Adam Morgan and Tommy Hunter on the IL. Like Neshek, Robertson and Hunter recently joined the Phillies as pricey free-agent signings, though they also haven’t quite worked out for the club yet.
Cubs DFA Tim Collins, Promote Adbert Alzolay
TODAY: The Cubs have officially announced the move. Alzolay tells 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine and other reporters that he was informed by the team that he’ll be pitching tonight.
YESTERDAY: The Cubs have designated reliever Tim Collins for assignment, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. His 25-man roster spot’s going to promising pitching prospect Adbert Alzolay, who’s coming up from Triple-A Iowa.
The more notable move here is the call-up of Alzolay, a 24-year-old who rates as one of the Cubs’ best farmhands. Now 24, the right-handed Alzolay joined the Cubs as an international free agent out of Venezuela for just $10K in 2012. MLB.com currently ranks Alzolay fourth on the Cubs’ list of prospects and notes the team’s of the belief he could develop into a mid-rotation starter.
Alzolay has thrived this year at the Triple-A level, where he has pitched to a 3.09 ERA/3.10 FIP with 12.94 K/9 and 1.69 BB/9 in six starts and 32 innings. However, even though key starter Kyle Hendricks is on the injured list, the Cubs aren’t planning to have Alzolay join their rotation immediately. He’ll instead back up No. 5 starter Tyler Chatwood, who’s set to take the ball Thursday against the Mets.
Collins, meanwhile, has gone back and forth between Chicago and Iowa since the club signed him to a major league deal in late March. The 29-year-old lefty has thrown 7 2/3 innings this season in Chicago, with which he has allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks (with four strikeouts). Collins also owns a 2.12 ERA (with a far less encouraging 5.45 FIP) and 9.53 K/9 against 4.76 BB/9 in 17 Triple-A frames this season.
Mets Fire Pitching Coach Dave Eiland
4:11pm: The Mets officially announced the coaching changes, including the additional news that Jeremy Accardo has been named the team’s “pitching strategist,” a newly-created role. Accardo had previously been working as New York’s minor league pitching coordinator following two years as a pitching and bullpen coach in the Mets’ farm system.
2:35pm: Phil Regan will take over for Eiland, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). The former MLB hurler managed the Orioles for one season (1995) and has plenty of coaching experience. The 82-year-old has been involved with the Mets organization for some time and had been listed as pitching coordinator of the team’s minor league/player development group.
Ricky Bones will take over as the bullpen coach; he had served in that role last season but was replaced by Hernandez.
2:07pm: The Mets have parted ways with pitching coach Dave Eiland, per a report from James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez is also on his way out, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Plans for replacements aren’t yet known.
Eiland had been hired in advance of the 2018 season. He was a key hire for the staff of then-rookie skipper Mickey Callaway, who was himself a former pitching coach. Before coming to New York, Eiland had long guided the hurlers for the Royals.
This move comes as the Mets continue to sink in the standings. Their rotation hasn’t been quite the exceptional unit it was expected to be, while the bullpen has been an unmitigated disaster. That’s obviously not entirely the fault of these pitching instructors, but they’ll take the fall in hopes that a mid-season shakeup can deliver improved results.
Angels Select Dustin Garneau, Place Kevan Smith On 10-Day IL
The Angels have selected the contract of catcher Dustin Garneau from Triple-A, the team announced today. Garneau will take over the backup catching role from Kevan Smith, who will hit the 10-day injured list due to a metacarpal strain in his left hand. Garneau will take the 40-man spot left open after Cody Allen was released on Tuesday; the Halos officially confirmed that release today.
This is the second time in a month that Garneau replaced an injured Smith, as the Angels made the same move in late May after Smith was placed on the seven-day concussion IL. Garneau was subsequently DFA’ed and then outrighted off Los Angeles’ 40-man roster after Smith returned. Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, Garneau has appeared in seven games for the Halos this season, hitting .250/.455/.313 over 22 PA.
Smith has swung an even mightier bat, with a .296/.387/.469 slash line over 93 plate appearances. While Smith posted roughly league-average production over 187 PA with the White Sox in 2018, his rather unexpected offensive outburst this year has been a boon for the Angels, who gave Smith more playing time as Jonathan Lucroy continued to scuffle at the plate.
Yankees To Activate Aaron Judge On Friday
The Yankees will activate star outfielder Aaron Judge off the injured list on Friday, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports (Twitter link). Judge has already joined the team in New York as the Yankees begin an important four-game series against Houston starting tonight.
The slugger has spent the last week playing in Triple-A rehab games, as Judge puts the final touches on his recovery from a left oblique strain. That injury sent Judge to the IL back on April 21, interrupting what had been a strong start (.288/.404/.521 and five homers over 89 PA) to the 2019 campaign for the former Rookie Of The Year.
Judge now rejoins a Yankees lineup that, incredibly, barely seemed to slow down despite the long-term absences of several notable starters — despite missing Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius for long stretches and losing Miguel Andujar to season-ending shoulder surgery, New York still ranks within the top ten in most team offensive categories. Between these returning star hitters and the newly-acquired Edwin Encarnacion, the Yankees now boast arguably the game’s most impressive lineup.
Cameron Maybin‘s continued roster status could now be in question with Judge returning, unless the Yankees choose to option a reliever to Triple-A and keep both Maybin and Brett Gardner as backup outfielders. The latter option would allow the Yankees to perhaps spell Judge and Stanton in the later innings to keep them fresh as they return from their long IL absences, since DH duty isn’t as much of an option now with Encarnacion in the fold. Maybin is playing on a minor league contract this season, and was acquired from Cleveland in late April as a response to the Yankees’ injury-depleted outfield. Maybin, for his part, has hit very well since donning the pinstripes, taking a .307/.383/.491 slash line over 128 plate appearances into today’s action.