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CC Sabathia Not On Yankees’ ALDS Roster

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The Yankees have yet to formally announce their full roster for their upcoming Division Series matchup with the Twins, but manager Aaron Boone announced today that veteran left-hander CC Sabathia will not be a part of the mix (Twitter links via Meredith Marakovits and Jack Curry of the YES Network).

Sabathia has been dealing with a shoulder issue and underwent a cortisone injection, but he hasn’t bounced back to the point where the team considers him an option to this pont. He could potentially factor into the ALCS roster if the Yankees advance beyond the ALDS. With Sabathia off the roster, the Yankees will go to a rotation featuring James Paxton in Game 1, Masahiro Tanaka in Game 2 and Luis Severino in Game 3. They’ll rely on that trio and an exceptionally deep bullpen, which Boone says he’ll be “aggressive” in deploying.

A full roster won’t be released until the Yankees need to formally release it (tomorrow morning), though Boone also indicated that Edwin Encarnacion is “expected” to be on the roster. The slugger hasn’t appeared in a game since Sept. 12 thanks to an oblique injury, but he’s apparently made sufficient progress that he’ll be an option in the best-of-five series that’ll kick off at Yankee Stadium tomorrow evening.

Depending on how the postseason plays out, then, it’s possible that Sabathia’s scoreless outing of relief against the Rays on Sept. 24 — the lone relief appearance of his illustrious 19-year career — could mark the final time he ever sets foot on a Major League mound. Even if the Yankees do advance to the ALCS, there’s no guarantee that Sabathia would be a part of the team’s pitching staff for that best-of-seven series. And, obviously, if the Yankees’ season comes to an end within the next week, Sabathia will head into retirement and take his first official steps toward Cooperstown a bit sooner than he or the organization had hoped.

Luke Voit Not A Lock For Yankees’ ALDS Roster

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It would have been difficult to fathom for most of the year, but thanks to a late-season slump, first baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit might not make the Yankees’ ALDS roster, per George A. King III and Dan Martin of the New York Post.

Whether Voit participates in the Yankees’ first-round series will depend in part on the status of fellow first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion. An oblique strain has kept Encarnacion out for more than two weeks, but general manager Brian Cashman said (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that the Yankees “expect him to be available Friday” when the series begins.

Voit and Encarnacion were similarly productive during the regular season, but the former’s numbers dipped amid a rocky finish. A sports hernia led to multiple stints on the injured list in the season’s second half for Voit, who missed almost all of August. While Voit boasted an .886 OPS upon his return a month ago, he ended the year a .263/.378/.464 hitter after an ice-cold September in which he batted .194/.326/.347 in 86 trips to the plate. Voit inflicted a particularly large amount of damage on his numbers from Sept. 15 onward, as he closed the season on a 1-for-32 skid with 13 strikeouts.

Now, with an October matchup against the similarly home run-happy Twins looming, the Yankees may opt to shelve Voit in favor of Encarnacion and rookie Mike Ford. Unlike Voit, Ford was an offensive machine during the last several weeks of the season. One of the many unsung Yankees to step up during an injury-riddled 2019 for the club, the 27-year-old Ford slashed a power-packed .259/.350/.559 with 12 home runs, a lofty .301 ISO and a low 17.2 percent strikeout rate in his 163-PA major league debut.

Quick Hits: Pujols, Wacha, Encarnacion, Kapler

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Unsurprisingly, Angels first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols has no plans to retire prior to 2020 or ’21 – the final two seasons of his 10-year, $240MM contract. Pujols, who will turn 40 during the upcoming offseason, told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register: “Whether it’s tomorrow or in spring training, if I feel one day the fire is not there, it doesn’t matter how much money is left on my contract, it’s time to go. But I don’t see that happening. Because this year this is the most fun I had because I was healthy and I was able to do things I wasn’t able to do in the past.” Pujols underwent multiple surgeries a year ago, causing his season to end in August, but the future Hall of Famer has hung in there from start to finish in 2019. While his overall production hasn’t been good, Pujols has managed to hit 23 home runs, leaving him four short of tying the legendary Willie Mays (660) for fifth on the all-time list. If healthy, Pujols may have a shot at reaching the hallowed 700-HR mark sometime before his contract runs out. He’ll earn $59MM during that two-year span.

Elsewhere around baseball…

  • Still just one game up on the Brewers in the NL Central, the Cardinals might not even make it to the NLDS this year. If the Redbirds do get that far, though, it’s “unlikely” injured right-hander Michael Wacha will factor into their plans, according to general manager Michael Girsch (via Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Wacha, who suffered a mild strain of his pitching shoulder Wednesday, won’t be able to pick up a ball for at least five to seven days, per Hummel. Fortunately, Wacha doesn’t have any structural damage, nor is this shoulder injury related to previous issues he has dealt with in that area. Manager Mike Shildt is optimistic Wacha will pitch again this season, but it appears that will require the Cardinals to advance to the NLCS.
  • Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion still hasn’t returned from the left oblique strain he incurred Sept. 12, and it doesn’t look like a sure bet he’ll play in either of the team’s last two regular-season games. Encarnacion said Friday that he’s not “mentally over” the injury, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News relays. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to overcome the issue by the time the Yankees’ ALDS matchup against the Twins starts Oct. 4.
  • The Phillies have folded in back-to-back years under manager Gabe Kapler, leading to speculation that the club could fire him at season’s end. Kapler spoke about his status Friday, telling Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters: “It’s not something I’m thinking about right now. It’s not something I’m worried about and haven’t had any conversations about it.” Kapler at least “seems safe for the weekend,” Breen writes, but the Phillies could choose to go in another direction after that. The Phillies finished 80-82 under Kapler in his rookie campaign as a manager in 2018, and even after an incredibly active offseason, they’ll wind up with an almost identical record this year. They’re an even 80-80 with two games remaining.

Yankees Notes: Gleyber, Encarnacion, Sabathia

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Gleyber Torres holds the dubious distinction of being the only member of the Yankees Opening Day lineup to not spend time on the injured list this season–a distinction that it appears he will maintain now that Aaron Boone has said he expects Torres back in the lineup on Tuesday (link). Torres was out of the lineup on Saturday and Sunday due to a hamstring issue, but Boone told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that Torres is going to avoid an IL stint (link).

“Gleyber’s good. I just decided yesterday that I wanted to give him one more day going into the off day, but I’m obviously encouraged by the MRI and just from speaking with him, he feels good,” the Yankees manager told Ackert.

In less insightful news, Torres is very good at baseball. In this, his second full big league season, the Venezuelan has hit .284/.343/.546 with 38 bombs while playing passable defense at short and second.

More news from around the Yankee clubhouse…

  • Torres’ teammate Edwin Encarnacion may be ready to return to action as soon as this Wednesday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (link). After suffering a “mild” oblique strain on Sept. 12, Encarnacion has been sitting benchside as New York prepares for the postseason. Limited to just 44 games with the Yankees since they acquired him from Seattle in June, Encarnacion has recorded a  .249/.325/.531 line with 13 home runs in pinstripes this year. Of course, now that fellow mashers Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Luke Voit are back healthy, it remains to be seen how Encarnacion will be deployed moving forward.
  • In a rare piece of non-injury-related Yankee news, today marked a very special afternoon for laureled New York hurler C.C. Sabathia. Similar to those offered to Yankee legends Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera before their final games in New York, a video tribute before Sunday’s game looked back fondly on Sabathia’s decade-long career in the Bronx. Interestingly, the emotional occasion provided an opportunity for Sabathia to disclose to Ackert that he may be interested in a Yankees front office role after his playing days are up–much like former Yankee players and current employees Andy Pettitte and Carlos Beltran. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens. But yeah, for sure,” Sabathia told Ackert when asked if such a role would interest him. “I talk to Carlos all the time, I talk to Andy all the time, obviously. It seems like they have a pretty fun role. It’s something like I feel like I can do.” The 39-year-old Sabathia holds a 4.99 ERA (5.73 FIP) through 106.1 innings and 22 starts this year.

Latest On Edwin Encarnacion, Gary Sanchez

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Despite the litany of injuries they’ve dealt with this season, the Yankees earned their 100th victory of the season and clinched the American League East on Thursday. Now, with the playoffs looming, they’ve got a couple of injured sluggers on the way back. Designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion should rejoin the team on a season-ending road trip that runs from Sept. 24-29, per manager Aaron Boone, while catcher Gary Sanchez could be ready for the Yankees’ Division Series matchup (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

Encarnacion hasn’t played since he suffered an oblique strain on Sept. 12. Those injuries often require players to sit for several weeks (as was the case with Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge earlier this season, for instance), but it appears Encarnacion will come back from his in relatively short order. One of the game’s most prolific sluggers in recent memory, Encarnacion has slashed a respectable .249/.325/.531 with 13 home runs in 197 plate appearances since the Yankees acquired him from the Mariners back in mid-June. He has, however, battled multiple injuries since he first donned the pinstripes, including a right wrist fracture that shelved him from Aug. 4-Sept. 3. The Yankees have rotated Luke Voit, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton at DH during Encarnacion’s current absence.

Like Encarnacion, injuries have hampered Sanchez on more than occasion this season. He hasn’t played since Sept. 12 because of a left groin strain – the same issue that shelved him for two weeks earlier in the summer. The powerful Sanchez has enjoyed a productive season when healthy, as his .233/.318/.531 line with 34 home runs in 440 PA shows, and is far and away the most talented offensive catcher the Yankees have. Backup Austin Romine has held his own with the bat this month, but the Yankees would obviously prefer to have Sanchez back in the fold come playoff time.

Edwin Encarnacion Expects To Return Before End Of Regular Season

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Alarm bells were raised when Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion turned up with an oblique strain recently, as a significant version of that injury could easily spell a lengthy absence. But the progress has been so promising that the veteran says he believes he’ll return to the field of play in the next two weeks, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch covers on Twitter.

Encarnacion, 36, says that he’s “feeling better every day.” So long as he continues to ramp up, he ought to have a chance to pick up some plate appearances before the club wraps up play on the 29th. It doesn’t matter much to the Yanks whether they have Encarnacion’s bat in the lineup down the stretch, but the club will certainly hope to have him at full speed in the postseason.

The Yanks still have quite a few interesting potential roster questions to resolve before playoff action gets underway. Giancarlo Stanton joins Encarnacion as a rehabbing righty power bat, with a bevy of other possibilities for roster spots. And the team has a variety of hurlers — Luis Severino, Dellin Betances, Jordan Montgomery — trying to show they’re ready to roll, with other pitchers waiting in the wings.

One of those other key players, Betances, just had his first outing. As Hoch tweets, the power righty was not only happy with the outing — he struck out the two batters he faced — but how he feels the day after. Montgomery’s own season debut wasn’t quite so promising, as he gave up three earned in two innings. Both pitchers worked well below their previously established levels of fastball velocity. Severino will take the ball in the majors tomorrow for the first time this year.

AL East Notes: Rays, Yanks, Red Sox, Hazen, Mayza

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The latest on four of the American League East’s five teams…

  • As of three weeks ago, the Rays expected injured infielder Brandon Lowe to miss the rest of the regular season. That might not happen, though, as manager Kevin Cash suggested Friday that Lowe and right-hander Yonny Chirinos could return, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets. Lowe was amid one of the league’s best rookie seasons when he went down July 3 with a shin injury, while Chirinos was among the Rays’ top starters before landing on the shelf Aug. 5 with a finger injury. Despite their ongoing absences, Tampa Bay continues to hold an American League wild-card spot, albeit by the thinnest of margins. The Rays are a half-game up on the Indians for the league’s No. 5 seed.
  • It’s in question how much more the injury-plagued Yankees will get from catcher Gary Sanchez and designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion this season. Sanchez suffered a strained groin Thursday, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. The Yankees are “hopeful” he’ll come back this year, Ackert writes. Meanwhile, Encarnacion incurred a mild internal oblique strain Thursday, though it’s not yet clear how much time Encarnacion will miss. The 36-year-old already sat out almost all of August because of a fractured right wrist.
  • Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen was a speculative target for the Red Sox after they fired president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski on Sunday. But Hazen, who worked under Dombrowski in Boston before going to Arizona in 2016, is officially out of the picture after signing an extension Friday. Even before Hazen agreed to that deal, the Red Sox didn’t reach out to the Diamondbacks to request an interview, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. Extension or not, Hazen was already under contract with the D-backs, so they could have shot down the Red Sox had they approached the Snakes with interest in talking to him.
  • Reliever Tim Mayza left the Blue Jays’ win over the Yankees on Friday with a left elbow injury, the team announced. It was an ugly scene: Mayza threw a pitch way behind New York shortstop Didi Gregorius, went to the ground clutching his forearm and looked to be in tears (video via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). Mayza will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relays, but it won’t be a surprise if his wayward pitch to Gregorius goes down as his last of 2019. At this point, Mayza and the Jays are surely hoping the issue doesn’t prove severe enough to shelve him for any portion of next season.

Edwin Encarnacion Leaves Game With Left Oblique Strain

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4:34PM: The initial feeling is that Encarnacion’s injury isn’t overly serious, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Newsday’s Erik Boland).

3:29PM: Yankees designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion left today’s game with the Tigers in the seventh inning due to what the team called a left oblique strain.  The slugger will return to New York to receive tests.

More will be known once Encarnacion is examined by doctors, but on the surface, it’s yet another in a seemingly endless series of injuries to Yankee players this season, and one that could have major ramifications on the postseason roster.  Most oblique injuries generally carry a recovery timeline of 3-4 weeks, though depending on the severity of the strain, Encarnacion may well have taken his last at-bat in 2019.

It already doesn’t look like Aaron Hicks will be back for the postseason, while Mike Tauchman has been more definitively been ruled out for the next 6-to-8 weeks.  One plus is the impending return of Giancarlo Stanton, and if Encarnacion is out, putting Stanton into the DH spot would be a natural move to help keep Stanton fresh and healthy after missing almost all of the 2019 campaign with a variety of injuries.  If the Yankees are okay with using Stanton in the outfield, Clint Frazier or Mike Ford could also see DH duty, or the Yankees could split first base and DH between DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit.

Encarnacion has been no stranger to the injured list since coming to New York from the Mariners in a June trade.  He only just returned from the IL on Sept. 3 after missing a month of action with a right wrist fracture.  When he has been in the lineup, Encarnacion has delivered his typically impressive performance at the plate, hitting .244/.344/.531 with 34 homers over 486 combined plate appearances for New York and Seattle this season.

Yankees Activate Edwin Encarnacion

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TODAY: As expected, Encarnacion has been activated.

YESTERDAY: The Yankees are set to welcome Edwin Encarnacion back to the big league roster after a month-long absence due to a fracture in his right wrist, Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune tweets. Encarnacion cleaned out his locker with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton following today’s game and told Foley that he feels “100 percent” and is “ready to go.”

Encarnacion, 36, hit .238/.327/.497 with nine home runs an 10 doubles through 36 games and 162 plate appearances between his mid-June acquisition and his IL placement on Aug. 3. It’s a step back from the .241/.356/.531 pace he managed with the Mariners prior to the swap, but his return will nonetheless provide a boost to a Yankees lineup that continues to hit even as it deals with the absence of numerous regulars.

The Yankees recently welcomed Luke Voit back from the injured list and have been enjoying a torrid hot streak from Mike Ford, who has belted six home runs in his past 10 games. Major League rosters have expanded to 40 players this month, so the Yankees won’t need to option anyone out to accommodate Encarnacion’s return. Given the health of Voit and Ford’s recent excellence, Encarnacion could be eased back into action, as that trio is each restricted to first base/designated hitter duties only. As such, manager Aaron Boone can now play matchups as he sees fit with that trio — Ford has hit just .176/.278/.318 against lefties — and always have another dangerous bat on the bench.

Encarnacion is owed the balance of this year’s $20MM salary between now and season’s end — some of which is being paid by both the Rays (who were involved in the three-team Encarnacion trade in the winter) and the Mariners. Encarnacion’s contract comes with a $20MM club option for the 2020 season, which includes a $5MM buyout.

East Notes: Yankees, Cano, Nationals, Marlins

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Injured Yankees ace Luis Severino is set to begin a rehab assignment at the Double-A level Sunday, manager Aaron Boone told George A. King III of the New York Post and other reporters. It’ll be a long-awaited return to game action for Severino, whose shoulder and lat issues have prevented him from taking the hill this season. He’ll “probably” throw around 35 pitches in the contest, per Boone. Meanwhile, in encouraging news for the first-place Bombers’ lineup, first basemen/designated hitters Luke Voit and Edwin Encarnacion are progressing in their rehabs. Voit, who hasn’t played since July 30 because of a sports hernia, is “on track” to come back Friday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. The 36-year-old Encarnacion’s not as close, but Boone “believes” he’ll come off the shelf soon, per Hoch. Encarnacion has been down since Aug. 3 with a fractured right wrist.

Here’s more from NYC and a couple other cities:

  • Mets second baseman Robinson Cano is making notable progress as he works back from a torn hamstring, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. Cano – out since Aug. 5 – “appears likely” to return sometime next month, per DiComo, which would represent a best-case recovery for someone who was expected to miss six to 12 weeks at the time of the injury. The longtime star, 36, has posted weak production in his first year as a Met, with whom he has slashed .252/.295/.415 with 10 home runs in 346 plate appearances. But Cano’s bat seemed to be waking up in the days before his injury, which aided New York during a white-hot stretch in which it raced into wild-card contention. The Mets are now mired in a four-game skid, though, and sit three out of playoff position.
  • Nationals left-hander Roenis Elias could rejoin their bullpen “by the end of the week,” Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com writes. Elias has only made one appearance and recorded two outs for the Nationals, who acquired him from the Mariners at the July 31 trade deadline. He succumbed to a hamstring strain on the base paths, of all places, back on Aug. 2. Teammate Ryan Zimmerman has been out for even longer (plantar fasciitis in his right foot has kept him out since July 23), but his return also appears imminent, Zuckerman relays. This has been a tough age-34 season for the first baseman, who has been on the IL twice thanks to foot issues and has mustered a subpar .246/.311/.390 line over 132 plate appearances.
  • After suffering a broken bone in his left hand last Friday, Marlins third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson will indeed miss the rest of the season, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. However, Anderson won’t need to undergo surgery, and will go through “a normal winter” as a result, manager Don Mattingly announced. That’s a silver lining for the Marlins and Anderson, one of their few offensive threats over the past couple years.
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