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Injury Updates: Syndergaard, Cueto, DeJong, Font, Buxton

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The Mets fell to 32-48 on Saturday and now own the National League’s worst record, but here’s a rare piece of good news for the woebegone club: Noah Syndergaard may be nearing a return. The team’s co-ace, who has been on the disabled list with a strained finger ligament since May 29, is scheduled to throw a simulated game in Port St. Lucie, Fla., during the upcoming week, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Syndergaard will be opposed by fellow injured starter Jason Vargas, who went on the DL last weekend because of a strained calf. If the outing goes well for both pitchers, each would figure to make at least one rehab start before returning, DiComo adds. In Syndergaard’s case, he could be auditioning for other teams upon his comeback, as the Mets are willing to listen to any offers that may come in for the prized 25-year-old prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

Here’s more injury news from around the game:

  • Like Syndergaard, Giants front-line starter Johnny Cueto is on the cusp of a long-awaited return. Cueto, who last took the mound April 28, made a successful Double-A rehab start Friday as he works back from a right elbow sprain. Cueto will throw a bullpen session Monday, and the Giants will then decide whether to activate the 32-year-old or have him make another rehab start, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
  • Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong is on track to return to the team early in the upcoming week, Peter Baugh of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch relays. The power-hitting DeJong has been out since May 18 because of a fractured left hand, which has left shortstop to Greg Garcia and Yairo Munoz in St. Louis. Fortunately for the Cardinals, Garcia and Munoz have offered decent production in DeJong’s place. However, their output has fallen well short of the .260/.351/.473 line DeJong has posted in 171 plate appearances.
  • The Rays placed right-hander Wilmer Font on the 10-day disabled list and recalled fellow righty Hunter Wood from Triple-A on Saturday, according to Bill Chastain of MLB.com. The right lat injury Font suffered Friday is likely to keep him out for around eight weeks, manager Kevin Cash revealed. Font, whom the Rays acquired from the Athletics in late May, looked to be emerging as a find for Tampa Bay prior to the injury. The 28-year-old has made nine appearances (five starts) since the trade and logged a 1.67 ERA over 27 innings, though he has only managed 20 strikeouts against 11 walks. Now that Font’s on the shelf, the bullpen-heavy Rays are down to just two traditional starters – Blake Snell and Nathan Eovaldi.
  • Twins center fielder Byron Buxton has been out for a month because of a fractured left big toe, and there’s still no timetable for his return, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com writes. While Buxton’s making progress in his recovery, it’s possible he’ll stay in the minors beyond July 8 (when his rehab assignment ends), Bollinger explains. Even if Buxton’s healthy, the Twins don’t want to recall him until they’re confident he’ll be able to help them at the plate. With a miserable .156/.183/.200 line in 94 PAs, the 24-year-old Buxton has been a drain on Minnesota’s offense this season.

Dioner Navarro Plans To Sign With Long Island Ducks

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Free-agent catcher Dioner Navarro plans to resume his career as a member of the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Navarro will return to the field toward the end of July, Topkin adds.

The 34-year-old Navarro last played in 2016, having taken the past year and a half off to help his wife through “significant health issues,” Topkin writes. In his most recent action, the switch-hitting Navarro batted .207/.265/.322 in 334 plate appearances divided between the Blue Jays and White Sox.

While Navarro struggled in 2016, the journeyman has combined for a better career line (.250/.309/.370) across 3,551 plate appearances with eight teams, and he has thrown out a respectable 28 percent of would-be base stealers as a defender. In his best offensive season, 2013, Navarro slashed a terrific .300/.365/.492 with a personal-high 13 home runs in 266 PAs with the Cubs. Navarro also has an All-Star nod under his belt, as he earned a place on the American League team in 2008 – a year in which he hit .295/.349/.407 in 470 PAs and caught 38 percent of attempted base stealers as a member of the pennant-winning Rays.

West Notes: Beltre, Rangers, Ohtani, Giants, Buehler

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Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre spoke about his future Saturday, telling Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and other reporters that he’s unsure if he’ll return in 2019. But if Beltre does come back for what would be his age-40 season, the impending free agent only wants to play for the Rangers. “If I’m going to play next year, I want it to be here,” Beltre said. “Right now, that’s a big if. But, if I play, I think I owe it to these fans. And I want to retire as a Ranger.” The Rangers seem open to welcoming back Beltre if he continues playing, as general manager Jon Daniels said that “having him finish his career here would be an honor.” In the meantime, it’s possible Beltre will finish this season on a playoff contender if Daniels trades him. However, given that Beltre has 10-and-5 rights, he could stand in the way of a deal.

  • Angels star Shohei Ohtani took part in a simulated game consisting of 10 at-bats on Saturday, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “It all went well. It’s definitely a positive step for him,” said manager Mike Scioscia, leading Fletcher to posit that Ohtani could be within a week of returning if he doesn’t suffer any setbacks. Damage in Ohtani’s ulnar collateral ligament has kept the two-way standout off the field since early June, and he might not pitch again this season as a result. It appears the 23-year-old rookie will factor into the Angels’ offense again in 2018, though, and that would be a boon for the club. Before going on the DL on June 8, Ohtani slashed an excellent .289/.372/.535 with six home runs in 129 plate appearances.
  • As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, staying under the $197MM competitive-balance tax figure is “a target, not a mandate” for the Giants, according to general manager Bobby Evans (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). At the moment, the Giants are under the threshold, per Evans. If they stay under it through the end of the season, the Giants would lower their tax rate from 50 percent to 20 percent in time for the offseason, when rumored target Bryce Harper is scheduled to be among the majors’ available free agents. Indeed, “there are a lot of incentives to stay below it,” Evans added. But it could be difficult, Shea explains, especially if the Giants remain in playoff contention around the deadline. They entered Saturday at 43-40, putting them just 1 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot.
  • Dodgers rookie righty Walker Buehler had worked exclusively as a starter this year until Thursday, when he came out of the bullpen in his return from the disabled list. That outing – Buehler’s first with the Dodgers since June 8 – didn’t go well, and after yielding five earned runs over an inning against the Cubs, LA optioned him to the Single-A level on Friday. Now, Buehler will have to make a minimum of two minor league rehab starts before returning to the Dodgers’ rotation, manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers’ plan was for Buehler to work three innings Thursday in lieu of a rehab assignment, but that blew up in their faces.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Brewers, deGrom, Phils, Rockies, Tigers, Jays

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This week in baseball blogs…

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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/30/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Nationals opened up a spot on their 40-man roster Saturday by transferring first baseman Ryan Zimmerman from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. The club made the move to create 40-man room for catcher prospect Raudy Read, whom it reinstated from the restricted list after he served an 80-game suspension. Zimmerman has already been on the DL for nearly two months (since May 10) on account of a strained right oblique, though there’s hope he’ll return in the near future, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. He’ll be eligible to rejoin the Nats on July 9.
  • The Angels have acquired catcher Joe Hudson from the Reds for cash, per an announcement from Cincinnati. Hudson had been with the Reds since they chose him in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. Now 27, Hudson has seen his first Triple-A action this year and hit .235/.339/.294 in 60 plate appearances.

Amateur Draft Signings: 6/30/18

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Here are today’s most notable signings from the first few rounds of the draft.  Scouting reports and pre-draft rankings can be found courtesy of MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law (the latter two available to subscribers only)…

  • The Orioles have agreed to a deal with the 37th overall pick, Oregon State shortstop Cadyn Grenier, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com tweets. Financial details aren’t yet available, but the 37th choice comes with a slot value of $1,923,500. The 21-year-old Grenier was one of the heroes for an OSU team that just knocked off Arkansas to win the College World Series. Grenier hit an impressive .319/.408/.462 in 273 at-bats this season, though Law was the only one of the abovementioned prospect evaluators to place him in the top 50 entering this year’s draft (No. 46). Law noted then that Grenier could end up as a starting shortstop or a quality utility infielder in the majors.

Earlier updates:

  • The Royals have signed 12th-round pick Rylan Kaufman for a hefty $722.5K bonus, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports (Twitter links).  Kaufman is an 18-year-old high school left-hander from Texas, and he stands 6’4″ and owns a fastball in the 92-93mph range.  Since Kaufman was picked beyond the 10th round, $597.5K of his bonus will be counted against Kansas City’s draft bonus pool.  While the Royals entered this year’s draft with the most pool space ($12,781,900) of any team, they already have over $7.6MM of those funds spent (hat tip to Clint Scoles of Baseball Prospectus) and still need to sign their three of their top seven picks.  Two of the unsigned players are Kansas City’s top two selections — 18th overall pick Brady Singer and 33rd overall pick Jackson Kowar.

AL East Notes: Machado, Sabathia, Blue Jays

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With the Orioles having failed to extend Manny Machado in the past, the shortstop noted this weekend (via Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun) that “they never reached out and showed that appreciation like the Angels did to (Mike) Trout. It was a totally different situation.” Machado was referring to the Angels’ decision in 2014 to give the then-22-year-old Trout a six-year, $144.5MM extension – one that canceled out three arbitration-eligible seasons and three free-agent years. Now, Machado says he’s “grateful” he’ll hit free agency this offseason at the age of 26. So, while the Orioles are all but guaranteed to trade Machado to a contender in the next few months, it doesn’t sound as if his next employer will have a legitimate chance to prevent him from reaching the open market with a new contract. Of course, given that Machado is in line to sign one of the majors’ richest deals ever, it’s no surprise he’s eager to test the open market.

Here’s more on a couple other AL East teams:

  • Left-hander CC Sabathia suggested last month that he’d retire at year’s end if the Yankees were to win the World Series. But the 37-year-old now seems more open to returning in 2019 even if the Yankees aren’t the last team standing this season. “If we win the World Series and I pitch well and I’m healthy at the end of the year, then it’s 50-50 that I come back,” Sabathia said (via Marc Carig of The Athletic; subscription required). “It’s not an absolute.” Considering how well he’s pitching, it stands to reason the Yankees would welcome back a healthy Sabathia next year if he decides to keep pitching. In his age 37-season, Sabathia has pitched to a 3.02 ERA/4.04 FIP in 83 1/3 innings, thanks in part to his ability to limit hard contact. Sabathia ranks third among qualified pitchers in average exit velocity against (84.2 mph).
  • The value of Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak’s 2019 club option has climbed from $6MM to $7MM, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. In order for that to happen, Smoak needed to accrue 950 plate appearances from 2017-18. He surpassed that figure Saturday. And Smoak’s option will go from $7MM to $8MM if he amasses 150 more PAs this year (1,100 total from 2017-18), Davidi notes. Whether his salary ends up at $7MM or $8MM, both numbers look like reasonable salaries for Smoak – who’s enjoying his second straight above-average offensive season. Although, Smoak’s .235/.359/.438 line in 315 PAs falls well short of last year’s .270/.355/.529 showing.
  • More on the Blue Jays, whose willingness to eat portions of veterans’ contracts in trades has them in a good position as the July 31 non-waiver deadline nears, Davidi observes. When Toronto sent infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce to Boston this week, it acquired infield prospect Santiago Espinal in part because it ate $1.66MM of Pearce’s remaining salary. With Pearce gone, the Jays still have several other veteran trade candidates, and paying some of their contracts would improve the team’s returns in deals. Notably, the Jays “have the support of the organization to do it,” general manager Ross Atkins said.

Red Sox Notes: Iglesias, Deadline, Lind, Chavis

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The Red Sox and Astros are among the teams with interest in Reds closer Raisel Iglesias, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Houston, in particular, is “looking hard at Iglesias,” Cafardo writes. The Astros had been eyeing fellow late-game option Kelvin Herrera, per Cafardo, though he’s no longer on the market after the Royals traded him to the Nationals earlier this month. Unlike Herrera, a free agent at season’s end, Iglesias could be a multiyear solution for an acquiring team. The 28-year-old standout is under control through 2020 for affordable salaries ($4.5MM this season, $5MM in each of 2019 and ’20), though he could elect to opt into arbitration over the winter in hopes of securing a raise. Given Iglesias’ track record and remaining team control, the Reds would surely require an impressive haul to consider moving him. It’s worth noting, then, that the Astros have Baseball America’s 10th-best farm system, while the Red Sox’s prospect pool is just 24th.

Here’s more on Boston…

  • Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski told Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com and other reporters on Saturday that he’s talking trades with multiple teams, but he suggested he’s content with his roster as it is. Regardless of whether Boston makes more moves (it picked up infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce in a deal with Toronto this week), Dombrowski expects trade action to continue across the league well before the July 31 non-waiver deadline. “I will tell you, as we talk to various clubs, there are a lot more clubs that are motivated to do things quickly from a trading perspective, if they get what they want,” said Dombrowski, who added that the Red Sox’s desire to keep their payroll under $237MM won’t necessarily stop them from making further additions. Should the team exceed that figure, its top pick in the 2019 draft would drop 10 spots.
  • First baseman Adam Lind will have a chance to opt out of his minor league deal with the Red Sox on Sunday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic tweets. McCaffrey adds that Dombrowski is hopeful Lind will remain at Triple-A Pawtucket, where he has batted .263/.321/.455 in 109 plate appearances since inking his minors pact May 29. Given the presences of first basemen Pearce and Mitch Moreland – a fellow left-handed hitter – and corner outfield/designated hitter options Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and J.D. Martinez, major league playing time looks as if it will be hard to come by for Lind if he stays with the organization.
  • The Red Sox will activate infielder Michael Chavis, their top-ranked prospect at MLB.com, on Sunday, Dombrowski announced (via Cotillo). Chavis served an 80-game suspension after testing positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a performance-enhancing drug. The 22-year-old will start with Class-A Lowell and eventually work his way back to Double-A Portland, where he played most of last season.

Danny Salazar To Undergo Exploratory Shoulder Surgery

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Indians right-hander Danny Salazar will undergo exploratory surgery on his bothersome right shoulder on Monday, as per a team announcement (hat tip to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian).  Details on when, or if, Salazar could be back on the mound this season won’t be known until after the procedure.

Salazar first suffered shoulder problems prior to Spring Training, with an issue that was described as rotator cuff inflammation, and later diagnosed as an impingement.  The injury has kept him out of action for the entire season, and after rest and a pair of plasma injections didn’t lead to any progress, it seems as though surgery was the only logical next course of action.

Today’s announcement creates fresh doubt about whether or not Salazar will see any action at all in 2018.  Even if nothing serious is discovered during the procedure, he would still need several weeks to recover and build up arm strength after not pitching since February.  The best-case scenario would seem to be a September return, though the Tribe would most likely deploy Salazar out of the bullpen rather than rely on him for a starter’s workload.

Cleveland has largely managed to withstand Salazar’s absence this season, as the team’s rotation ranks at or near the top of most starting pitching categories.  Over the long term, however, Salazar’s future with the Tribe may now be in question due to continued injuries.  This is the third straight year that Salazar has faced shoulder problems, and he also had forearm and elbow issues in 2016.  As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted in our last update on Salazar’s condition, the Indians could decide that Salazar is too risky a proposition to be tendered a contract in his third year of arbitration eligibility.  Even after potentially missing an entire season, Salazar would still be in line for a token raise of his $5MM salary for 2018, which would be a tough fit for a payroll-conscious team like Cleveland.

Rockies Option Jon Gray To Triple-A

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The Rockies optioned right-hander Jon Gray to Triple-A Albuquerque today, as noted as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (Twitter link) and other reporters.  Outfielder Raimel Tapia was promoted in the corresponding move.

Though Gray has struggled this season, the demotion still counts as a surprise on a number of levels.  Formerly one of the game’s top prospects, Gray posted solid numbers in 2016 and then took another positive step with an even better performance (3.67 ERA, 9.1 K/9, 3.73 K/BB) over 110 1/3 innings in an injury-shortened 2017.

The hope in Colorado was that Gray would further establish himself as the front-of-the-rotation arm that the franchise has long sought after, though instead, Gray ran into some rough waters.  Over 92 innings, Gray leads the league in both hits and earned runs allowed, to go along with an ugly 5.77 ERA.  He is allowing more hard contact (34.4%) than in either of the past two seasons, while his home run rate is a career-high 15.5%.  One can’t blame Coors Field for Gray’s issue, as his home and road ERAs are basically identical.

These numbers notwithstanding, there is a lot more evidence that Gray’s 5.77 ERA is the product of terrible luck.  Looking at his ERA predictors (3.07 FIP, 2.77 xFIP, 3.14 SIERA), one would think that Gray was enjoying a breakout season.  He owns a 11.6 K/9 and a 4.1 K/BB rate, and while his hard contact percentage is up, the quality of that contact translates to only a .301 xwOBA.  His xOBA is .342, however, and Gray has been similarly snake-bitten by a whopping .386 BABIP as well as a low 63.1% strand rate.

The Rockies are hoping Gray will be back sometime in July, as MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi tweets that the “team views this as a reset” in the midst of what surely must be a frustrating stretch for the 26-year-old.  Antonio Senzatela and Jeff Hoffman are the likeliest Triple-A candidates to fill Gray’s place in the short term, with rookies Sam Howard and Harrison Musgrave also longer shot options.

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