A few notes from MLB’s Central divisions as the majority of tonight’s games come to a close…
- Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez will not be investigated by the league in connection to the civil lawsuit that has reportedly been filed against him by a Florida woman, reports ESPN’s Mark Saxon. Per Saxon’s source, Martinez’s case falls outside of the domestic violence policy’s jurisdiction, and beyond that, no police report was ever filed in connection with the matter. Martinez tells Saxon that he doesn’t consider the issue to be a distraction, noting that it’ll be handled by his agent and his lawyer.
- On the heels of a recent Ken Rosenthal report pertaining to Ryan Braun’s potential trade candidacy, Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron speculates on a handful of clubs that could make sense as a trade partner for the Brewers. The Red Sox, White Sox and Nationals, Cameron opines, are the three best fits for Braun, though there are reasons that each club would struggle to fit Braun into the books and onto the roster. Cameron makes a reasonable case for each team, noting that Braun would deepen Boston’s bench by pushing Brock Holt to a super-utility role, and he’d be an upgrade in Chicago as well, where Avisail Garcia is effectively a replacement-level placeholder on a win-now club. Cameron concedes that the Nationals are somewhat of a stretch, but it’s hard to argue with Braun serving as an upgrade over Jayson Werth and/or Ryan Zimmerman, and pairing him with Bryce Harper in the middle of the lineup would give the Nats an imposing middle of the order duo.
- The Pirates announced earlier this week that top catching prospect Elias Diaz would undergo surgery on his right elbow, but there were no further details and no timeline provided by the club. MLB.com’s Adam Berry adds some context to the report, tweeting that Diaz underwent a debridement of his throwing elbow and is currently expected to miss seven to nine weeks while recovering from the injury. While that’s still bad news for the organization, it’s fortuitous that Diaz’s ulnar collateral ligament remained intact and that he seemingly has a strong chance of returning before the 2016 season comes to a close.
- The Twins got a first-hand look at Luke Gregerson as he closed out an Astros win over them last night, but Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Minnesota wasn’t far off from seeing quite a bit more of Gregerson. The right-hander tells Berardino that the Twins pursued him heavily as a free agent in the 2014-15 offseason prior to his signing with Houston. Gregerson, of course, wouldn’t comment on the specifics of Minnesota’s offer, but he did tell Berardino that the Twins came “pretty close” to Houston’s offer of $18.5MM over a three-year term. The tipping point for Gregerson, it would seem, may have been Houston’s willingness to let him serve as the team’s closer, which he said made their offer “hard to pass up.” Said Gregerson: “I think if the situation was a little different, I think it would have definitely been able to work out. I’m happy where I ended up.”