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Mets Notes: Warthen, Offseason, Injuries

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Here’s the latest from Citi Field…

  • Pitching coach Dan Warthen had intended to retire after the season but now would like to return in 2018, he tells Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News.  Despite Warthen’s plans, “after this year, I want one more year. I don’t want to leave them [the pitching staff] like this.”  Warthen, who has been the Mets’ pitching coach since June 2008, is respected around the game and is popular with his pitchers and Mets owner Fred Wilpon, though he does have some critics in the organization.  Warthen and the rest of the Mets’ coaching staff (as well as manager Terry Collins) aren’t under contract for 2018, and with wide speculation about Collins’ future, it stands to reason that a coaching shakeup could take place if New York does indeed make a managerial switch.
  • The Mets face a difficult offseason, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes, as the team wants to stay competitive but may cut payroll, and planning ahead is difficult since the Mets don’t know how many of their multiple injured stars will rebound in 2018.  If the Mets “really a big-market team,” Sherman opines, they’ll bring back Asdrubal Cabrera, Juan Lagares and Matt Harvey next year at a total price tag of roughly $23MM to provide needed roster depth and flexibility.  For external help, Sherman feels that the Amazins could add some slightly less-expensive help (he lists such names as free agents Eduardo Nunez, Howie Kendrick, Logan Morrison or possible trade targets Dexter Fowler and Ian Kinsler) rather than aim for a big-ticket free agent like Mike Moustakas or Eric Hosmer.
  • Trades could be difficult, Sherman adds, since the Mets have a thin farm system and (even more troublingly) several of their younger players took hits to their trade value in 2017 due to injury or under-performance.  First baseman Dominic Smith, for instance, hasn’t produced much in first taste of MLB action, and despite being a top-50 prospect, still has some doubters who question his fitness and ability to hit for power at the big league level.  Given these concerns, as one executive puts it, “that is a hard sell and then (the rival GM) is going to ask, ‘why are the Mets willing to get rid of him?’ ”
  • The Mets don’t seem to be planning any changes to their training staff or their affiliation with the Hospital for Special Surgery in the wake of the injury-ruined season, according to Newsday’s David Lennon.  In an effort to simplify and improve how the team releases medical information to media and fans, the Mets have been publishing a daily injury report listing the progress, prognosis and forthcoming steps for each injured player.

MLBTR Poll: Giancarlo Stanton’s 2017 HR Total

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Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton continued marching toward the 60-home run mark on Saturday when he slugged his 54th long ball of the year, a 456-foot shot off Braves left-hander Max Fried. While the 68-74 Marlins lost the game and have dropped 11 of their past 13 to plummet from playoff contention, Stanton still seems likely to garner serious NL MVP consideration even if he doesn’t reach 60. The 27-year-old currently leads every other NL player by at least 17 homers, after all, and has slashed an incredible .282/.377/.646 in 604 plate appearances.

Giancarlo Stanton

The excellence Stanton has exhibited could be difficult for MVP voters to ignore, particularly if he does reach the celebrated 60 figure by season’s end. In doing so, the 27-year-old would follow Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth as the sixth player to accomplish the feat (McGwire and Sosa each did it multiple times) and the first since 2001. That was the year Bonds smashed a record 73. Remarkably, Stanton may have outdone his former hitting coach had he been as otherworldly in the season’s first half as he has been since the All-Star break.

While Stanton racked up a “mere” 26 long balls in 369 PAs between Opening Day and mid-July, he’s already at 28 through 235 attempts over the nearly two months since the Yankees’ Aaron Judge upstaged him at the Home Run Derby on Stanton’s turf in Miami. Stanton has gone yard every 8.39 trips to the plate in the second half, which would translate to 83 over a 700-PA season (Stanton’s on track for 698). Should Stanton continue to stay healthy and hammer HRs at his second-half pace, he’d finish the year with around 65 – a number only Bonds, McGwire (twice) and Sosa (twice) have matched or exceeded.

As superb as Stanton has been, it goes without saying that it will be immensely difficult for him to keep raking at his current clip over the Marlins’ final 20 games of the season. But both the slate of mostly unspectacular starting pitchers scheduled to face Stanton over the next couple weeks and the Marlins’ three-game set at Colorado’s Coors Field thereafter should aid him in his quest to go deep at least six more times this year. Clearly, Stanton’s on the verge of posting one of the most awe-inspiring offensive seasons in the history of the sport. The question is: Will he pull it off?

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Acuna, Braves, Cubs, D-backs

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Braves outfield prospect Ronald Acuna earned Minor League Player of the Year honors from Baseball America on Friday, before which BA’s Matt Eddy noted that the 19-year-old had one of the finest offensive seasons ever put together by a teenager. Acuna, who climbed from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A in 2017, combined for a .325/.374/.522 batting line and a 155 OPS+ in 612 plate appearances. Only seven other teenage players – all household names in Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez (twice), Jason Heyward, Gregg Jefferies, Justin Upton and Mike Trout – bettered Acuna’s OPS+ in an individual season, Eddy notes. Based on Acuna’s Double-A and Triple-A production, Eddy writes that he stacks up closely with where A-Rod, Sheffield, Jones, Jefferies, Heyward, Trout, Melvin Upton, Justin Upton, Adrian Beltre and Delmon Young were at similar stages of their minor league careers. For the most part, that’s special company.

A bit more from the NL…

  • Cubs catcher Willson Conteras has been out with a hamstring strain since Aug. 9, but manager Joe Maddon suggested Saturday that he’s closing in on a return. “It’s not impossible [he could be activated on Sunday], but I don’t know that it’s going to happen,” Maddon said, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “It’s just a matter of when you talk to him, ’How are you seeing the ball? What do you feel like at the plate? How does the leg feel?'” Although Conteras has been among the majors’ best catchers this year, the first-place Cubs have managed to increase their lead in the NL Central during his absence from 1.5 games to three. Among the reasons: Fellow backstops Alex Avila and Rene Rivera, both of whom joined the Cubs as recent acquisitions, have filled in with aplomb offensively.
  • Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced Saturday that the team has shut down right-hander Randall Delgado and added that he could miss the rest of the season, according to Kellan Olsen of Arizona Sports 98.7. Delgado hasn’t pitched for the D-backs since July 15 on account of elbow issues. He underwent an MRI this week that showed a flexor strain, and the club will send him to famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion. Flexor strains sometimes portend Tommy John surgery, of course, and having to undergo the procedure at this point would likely keep Delgado out until the 2019 campaign. The swingman was having a nice year before the injury cropped up, as he pitched to a 3.59 ERA with 8.62 K/9 against 2.01 BB/9 across 62 2/3 innings (26 appearances, five starts).

Jimmy Nelson Out For Season

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7:32pm: If Nelson does require surgery, the procedure he’d undergo carries a success rate of better than 90 percent, Rosiak tweets.

12:46pm: The Brewers announced that Jimmy Nelson will miss the rest of the season with a right rotator cuff strain and a partial anterior labrum tear. General manager David Stearns said Saturday that it’s unclear whether Nelson will require surgery, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter).

The premature end to Nelson’s year is a devastating development for the 73-68 Brewers, who trail the NL Central-leading Cubs by four games and sit three games back of the Rockies for the league’s last wild-card spot. The Brewers are currently in the midst of a three-game series against the Cubs and took the opener on Friday, 2-0, behind Nelson. The 28-year-old tossed five innings of four-hit, two-walk ball and added seven strikeouts, and he threw one of those frames with a labrum tear, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets. Nelson suffered the injury on the base paths after hitting a fifth-inning single.

Like his team, Nelson has been a surprising success story this season. The emergent ace posted spectacular numbers across 175 1/3 innings and currently ranks fourth among major league starters in fWAR (4.9), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.21), 10th in groundball rate (50.3 percent) and 15th in ERA (3.49). While Nelson’s brilliant work this year came at a near-minimum salary, his price tag will rise in the offseason. Nelson will take his first trip through arbitration, where the ERA, innings, strikeouts and 12-6 record he logged in 2017 should each help his cause.

As for the Nelson-less Brewers, they’ll likely look to their minor league system for down-the-stretch rotation help, Stearns announced (via McCalvy, on Twitter). Candidates to come up include Triple-A right-hander Taylor Jungmann and Double-A righty Aaron Wilkerson, per McCalvy.

AL Injury Notes: Price, Mariners, Twins, Gomez, Angels

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Red Sox southpaw David Price threw a two-inning sim game Saturday as he continues to work back from forearm problems, Scott Lauber of ESPN.com was among those to report (links here). While Price hasn’t taken the mound for the Red Sox since July 22 and only threw 32 pitches Saturday, they’re hopeful he’ll be able to come back this year as a starter, Lauber notes. The Sox will have a clearer idea about Price’s future after he throws another sim game midway through next week, but the likelihood is that he’ll finish 2017 as a reliever because he won’t have enough time to ramp back up as a starter, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes.

More injury news from around the American League:

  • The Mariners will welcome James Paxton and Felix Hernandez back to their rotation during the upcoming week, Greg Johns of MLB.com relays (on Twitter). Both hurlers will hover around the 50- to 60-pitch marks during their first starts back. Paxton went on the disabled list with a strained left pectoral on Aug. 11, depriving the Mariners of a burgeoning ace for a key stretch. Hernandez, who preceded Paxton as the Mariners’ top starter, landed on the DL on Aug. 5 with shoulder bursitis. The 31-year-old previously missed all of May and most of June with the same injury.
  • Twins manager Paul Molitor told reporters Friday that left-hander Hector Santiago is likely done for the season (via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). Santiago, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 2 because of a shoulder strain, threw just 84 mph to 87 mph in a Triple-A rehab start Sunday (down from his usual low-90s velocity) and is undergoing further testing in Minnesota, according to Bollinger. With his contract set to expire at season’s end, the 29-year-old Santiago may be done as a Twin. Formerly a capable starter with the White Sox and Angels, Santiago has posted unsightly numbers – including a 5.61 ERA and a 28.4 percent groundball rate – over 131 2/3 innings since the Twins acquired him from Los Angeles last summer.
  • Rangers center fielder Carlos Gomez could miss a fair amount of time after suffering a high ankle sprain Saturday against the Yankees, per Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Gomez, who departed the game in the second inning after injuring his right ankle, was on crutches and in a walking boot afterward. A lengthy Gomez absence would be the second notable loss in recent weeks for a Texas offense that saw superstar third baseman Adrian Beltre go down with a hamstring strain Sept. 1. While he’s not nearly as impactful as Beltre, Gomez has still had a decent contract year (.251/.337/.459, 2.0 fWAR in 407 plate appearances) for a team that’s three games out of a wild-card spot.
  • Angels third baseman Yunel Escobar had another setback in his rehab from an oblique injury, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. Nevertheless, manager Mike Scioscia still expects to see Escobar again this season. The impending free agent hasn’t played since Aug. 6 and was in the middle of a mediocre season at the time of his injury (.274/.333/.397 in 381 PAs).

5 Key Stories: 9/3/17 – 9/9/17

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Recapping the top stories from the past week at MLBTR:

Juan Nicasio on the move again: Nicasio went from the Phillies to the Cardinals in a rare September trade, thus continuing a peculiar week-plus for the right-hander. After they couldn’t put together a trade for him via revocable waivers, the Pirates placed Nicasio on outright waivers Aug. 29 in a cost-cutting move, leading the out-of-contention Phillies to claim him on the final day of the month. The Phillies then flipped him to playoff-contending St. Louis this past Wednesday for a quality prospect, infielder Eliezer Alvarez, whom MLB.com ranked 19th among the Redbirds’ farmhands prior to the trade. As an impending free agent, Nicasio might only be a Cardinal for a few weeks. Even if the Cards overcome a four-game NL Central deficit or a three-game disadvantage in the wild-card race, Nicasio won’t be able to pitch in the postseason because they acquired him after the Aug. 31 waiver trade deadline. Nicasio did his part to help the Cardinals play into October in his first appearance, though, as he picked up a four-out save Friday against a familiar team – the Pirates.

Jimmy Nelson

Brewers lose their ace: The Brewers’ already low playoff odds took a hit Saturday when they announced that Jimmy Nelson will miss the rest of the season with a right rotator cuff strain and a partial anterior labrum tear. All the more frustrating for Milwaukee and Nelson is that he suffered the injury while running the bases. The breakout star, 28, was in the middle of another excellent start at the time, one that saw him shut out the NL Central-leading Cubs for five innings in a 2-0 victory.

Pirates retain their brain trust: The Bucs on Tuesday announced extensions for Neal Huntington, the general manager who cut Nicasio, and skipper Clint Hurdle through 2021. While the Pirates are on track to finish under .500 for the second straight season, the seven-year Huntington-Hurdle partnership has mostly yielded positive results. Pittsburgh made the playoffs each season from 2013-15, with the first of those berths ending a 21-year drought for the franchise. Further, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler tweeted this week, the low-payroll club has won the fifth-most games in the majors over the past half-decade.

Potential stars debut: The Nationals, Dodgers and Phillies each called up a top 100 prospect this week. Washington controls the highest-ranked member of the trio, 20-year-old outfielder Victor Robles, who divided this season between the High-A and Double-A levels before the soon-to-be NL East champions selected his contract Thursday. He has collected one plate appearance since his promotion, while the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler and the Phillies’ J.P. Crawford have also seen action. One of baseball’s elite pitching prospects, the 23-year-old Buehler threw two scoreless innings in relief against the Rockies on Thursday. Crawford, a 22-year-old shortstop, is off to a slow start through a meager 16 PAs.

More misfortune for David Wright: The longtime Mets captain and third baseman suffered yet another setback in his rehab and will need rotator cuff surgery. Wright, who previously went under the knife to repair a herniated disk in his neck, won’t play this year after combining to appear in only 75 games from 2015-16. His most recent big league showing came May 1 of last year. With $47MM still owed to him through 2020, the 34-year-old isn’t considering retirement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Cashner, Rangers, Moore, Giants, Reds

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The latest rumblings from FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link)…

  • Impending free agent right-hander Andrew Cashner told Rosenthal that he hasn’t discussed a new deal with the Rangers and expects to test free agency in the offseason. Cashner also expressed confidence that his production this season should lead to plenty of interest on the open market. The 30-year-old owns an excellent 3.19 ERA and a solid 48.1 percent groundball rate through 146 2/3 innings, though he ranks second last among starters in strikeouts per nine innings (4.79) and third from the bottom in swinging-strike percentage (5.7). While Cashner has been a mixed bag this year, he had a worse 2016 between San Diego and Miami but still landed a $10MM guarantee in the offseason.
  • It’s a safe bet that the Giants will exercise left-hander Matt Moore’s $9MM option for 2018 and retain his $10MM option for 2018 in the offseason, says Rosenthal. Although the 28-year-old Moore has recorded the NL’s highest ERA (5.31) through 162 2/3 innings this season, the Giants would rather bet on a bounce-back 2018 at a reasonable cost than subtract from their pitching depth. Buying Moore out would cost the Giants $1MM next year and $750K in 2019.
  • Reds manager Bryan Price will return next season, but his future beyond then is in question, per Rosenthal, who adds that the club could cut the cord if it doesn’t make legitimate progress in 2018. The Reds have gone just 269-359 in three-plus years under Price and are currently one loss away from guaranteeing their fourth straight sub-.500 season during his reign. There hasn’t been much pressure on Price to this point, though, given Cincinnati’s rebuilding status and its lack of pitching.

Cafardo’s Latest: Machado, Nunez, Red Sox, Giants, Moose

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The Orioles may have to shop superstar third baseman Manny Machado in the offseason if there’s no hope of reaching a long-term deal with the 25-year-old, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe contends. General manager Dan Duquette revealed that the Orioles have made at least two attempts to lock up Machado and will likely try again, per Cafardo. However, given that a historic payday could await Machado in free agency after next season, it’s difficult to imagine him eschewing a chance to shop his services around the league. While Machado’s numbers this year aren’t quite up to par with his spectacular 2015-16 output, he has gone on a second-half tear and is enjoying his third straight 30-home run season.

More from Cafardo:

  • Red Sox utilityman Eduardo Nunez is likely to find a better contract and a bigger role elsewhere in the offseason, Cafardo suggests. The 30-year-old has slashed an outstanding .311/.343/.528 with eight homers in 169 plate appearances since the Red Sox acquired him from the Giants on July 26. Most of Nunez’s work in Boston has come at second base, where Dustin Pedroia was out from July 29 until the end of August. Pedroia is now back, though, and is obviously the team’s top option at the keystone. He’ll continue to man second next season, and Boston also has everyday players locked in at Nunez’s other positions (third base, shortstop and the corner outfield). A team with less certainty in any of those areas could be a more realistic fit for Nunez going forward, then, and Cafardo lists the Mets as a possible suitor. With the exception of shortstop, where the Mets figure to stick with top prospect Amed Rosario, they’ll enter the offseason with questions at all of Nunez’s positions.
  • Considering Nunez is gone and their reunion with Pablo Sandoval hasn’t yielded positive results, the Giants will enter the offseason with a need at third base. They could address that by signing soon-to-be free agent Mike Moustakas, notes Cafardo, who lists several other teams as potential landing spots. In 2017, perhaps his final year with the Royals, Moustakas has slashed .278/.318/.543 with career-high power numbers (36 homers, .264 ISO) across 528 PAs. Set to turn 29 on Monday, Moustakas figures to be among the most coveted players available in the winter.
  • Red Sox Triple-A outfielder Bryce Brentz is drawing interest from Japan, according to Cafardo. However, the 28-year-old would like to parlay his .271/.334/.529 line with 31 home runs in 494 plate appearances into a major league contract during the offseason. Brentz has been a member of the Red Sox since they used a first-round pick on him in 2010, but he has accrued just 90 PAs with the club and hasn’t seen the majors this year. Despite his 2017 power surge, the Red Sox didn’t summon Brentz to the majors Sept. 1, perhaps sealing his fate with the organization.

Yankees Sign Ronny Rojas

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The Yankees have signed Dominican shortstop Ronny Rojas to a contract with a $1MM bonus, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports. New York had been the front-runner to land Rojas dating back to July 2, the opening of this year’s international signing period. Rojas wasn’t eligible to ink a deal until his 16th birthday on Aug. 23.

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The Yankees entered July with $4.75MM available to spend on the international market and quickly signed a few touted prospects, yet they nonetheless increased their total to around $8MM after acquiring pool money in various summer trades. In the 6-foot, 170-pound Rojas, they’ll get a player whom both Baseball America and MLB.com rank as this year’s 11th-best international prospect.

Despite his young age, the switch-hitting Rojas already carries plenty of offensive polish from both sides of the plate, per Badler (subscription required and recommended), who notes that he has 15- to 20-home run potential and a chance to play either short or second base in the majors.

NL Notes: Mets, Phillies, Giants, Dodgers

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Infielder Jose Reyes told reporters on Friday that he’d like to finish his career with the Mets, but it doesn’t appear the team will re-sign the impending free agent. Mets officials are “lukewarm” about bringing back the 34-year-old, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post, while Marc Carig of Newsday adds (on Twitter) that he’s unlikely to be in their plans next season. Reyes’ fate with the Mets could ultimately hinge on whether they exercise fellow veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera’s $8.5MM option (or buy him out for $2.5MM), writes Puma, who notes that Reyes is immensely popular in their clubhouse. Along with his behind-the-scenes presence, including his close relationship with Amed Rosario, Reyes has recovered from a subpar first half to provide a .288/.355/.468 batting line in 155 post-All-Star break plate appearances to make his case for another Mets contract. He signed his current deal last summer after serving a domestic violence suspension as a member of the Rockies, who released him.

More from the National League:

  • Phillies general manager Matt Klentak indicated Friday that he’ll emphasize acquiring pitching in the offseason, leading Todd Zolecki of MLB.com to suggest that the team could deal from its logjam of infielders for help in that area. That could mean moving struggling third baseman Maikel Franco, though Klentak still has a high opinion of the 25-year-old. “I absolutely believe in Maikel Franco’s future,” Klentak said. “I think there’s too much talent there. He has the bat speed, the strength, his defense has taken a step forward. All the components are there for Maikel to still be a really good player. I know his numbers right now aren’t what a lot of people expected or hoped, but we still believe strongly in his future.” Despite Klentak’s vote of confidence, Franco simply hasn’t given the Phillies much in the way of results since what looked like a breakout rookie year in 2015. This season has been particularly ugly for Franco, who has slashed a weak .224/.279/.392 and accounted for minus-0.7 fWAR in 559 trips to the plate.
  • Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has been out since Aug. 4 on account of a concussion, and the likelihood is that he won’t return this season, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. While Belt has suffered four documented concussions during his career and is still having vision problems related to his latest brain injury, doctors have informed him he’ll make a full recovery. As such, the 29-year-old Belt insists his career isn’t in jeopardy. “It’s not like I’m repeatedly banging my head against something,” Belt told Pavlovic. “If that was the case, it might affect me more in the long term. This is more sporadic and the hits aren’t too terrible. Once I get over these concussions, they tell me that I won’t have to worry about them anymore.”
  • The Dodgers have shut down reliever Adam Liberatore and outfielder Franklin Gutierrez for the season, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets.  A left elbow strain limited Liberatore to just four innings this year and has kept him from taking a major league mound since May 30. Gutierrez, meanwhile, has been on the shelf since June 25 with arthritis in his spine. He was on the disabled list earlier in the year with a hamstring strain, making this another injury-marred campaign for someone who hasn’t played 100 games in a season since 2010. After reviving his career in Seattle from 2015-16, the Dodgers inked Gutierrez to a $2.6MM contract over the winter, but the 34-year-old hit just .232/.317/.389 in 63 PAs this season.

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