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Injury Updates: Chisholm, Alfaro, Voit, Odor, Pinder, Puk, Luzardo

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The latest on some injury situations from around baseball…

  • Jazz Chisholm and Jorge Alfaro are both set to begin Triple-A rehab assignments on Tuesday, according to SportsGrid’s Craig Mish (Twitter links).  Chisholm was sidelined with a left hamstring strain back on April 28, following an outstanding start to the season that saw the Marlins youngster hit .290/.375/.551 with four homers in his first 80 plate appearances.  (Despite the missed time, Chisholm’s seven stolen bases still led the National League heading into Sunday’s play.)  Alfaro had only a .507 OPS at the time of his IL placement on April 21, albeit over only 36 PA.  The catcher is also recovering from a left hamstring strain.
  • Luke Voit is on pace to be activated for the start of the Yankees’ series with the Rays on Tuesday, New York manager Aaron Boone told ESPN’s Marly Rivera (Twitter links) and other reporters.  Voit has yet to play this season after undergoing knee surgery in late March.
  • It isn’t yet clear if Rougned Odor could also be joining the Yankees soon, as Boone wasn’t sure if Odor will be immediately activated after the minimum 10 days.  Odor hit the IL due to a left knee sprain back on May 5, and is at least making good progress in recovery, Boone said, noting that Odor was taking grounders.
  • The Athletics visit the Twins in a series on May 14-16, and Oakland manager Bob Melvin hopes Chad Pinder will be ready to rejoin the A’s for those games.  Melvin told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters that Pinder will play at least three games during a Triple-A rehab assignment that starts on either Monday or Tuesday.  Pinder has been out of action since April 4 due to a left knee sprain.
  • Melvin also provided updates on a pair of Athletics pitchers, telling MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos (Twitter links) and other media that A.J. Puk could begin a rehab assignment of his own this week.  Puk has been plagued by injuries throughout his young career, including a left biceps strain that sent him to the IL on April 8.  Jesus Luzardo’s timeline isn’t as clear, since A’s head trainer Nick Paparesta said Luzardo is week-to-week in his recovery from a fractured left hand.  On the plus side, Paparesta did indicate that Luzardo might be able to return by the end of the month.

NL Notes: Rockies, Cubs, Marlins, Nationals

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The Rockies announced a pair of corresponding roster moves today. They selected the contract of Connor Joe from Triple-A, while right-handed pitcher Jose Mujica was optioned to Triple-A. It’s good to see Joe back in the Majors. The 28-year-old opted out of 2020 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, writes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The Rockies like Joe as a possibility at first base or left off the bench. Joe was a first round draft pick of the Pirates back in 2014. Mujica will be a long-term rotation possibility for the Rockies, though he came out of the bullpen for both of his appearances this season. Elsewhere in the NL…

  • Cubs southpaw Brailyn Marquez has been about six weeks behind in his conditioning after testing positive for COVID-19. The Cubs’ top pitching prospect doesn’t have an official assignment yet, but it’s believed that he’ll soon head to Double-A, per Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (via Twitter). Marquez doesn’t turn 22 years old until September.
  • Both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jorge Alfaro hope to begin their rehab assignments next week and return from the injured list by next weekend, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter). Marlins fans eagerly await Chisholm’s return after the infielder posted a 154 wRC+ in 80 plate appearances this season.
  • Wander Suero will begin his own rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The Nationals’ reliever has been out since April 18th with an oblique strain. Stephen Strasburg, meanwhile, will soon pitch his second simulated game since landing on the injured list. Presumably, that means the Nats are still in an evaluation stage, and it might take some time yet before Strasburg can return to the diamond.

Marlins Select Sandy Leon, Place Jorge Alfaro On Injured List

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The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that they’ve placed catcher Jorge Alfaro on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and selected the contract of veteran Sandy Leon to take his spot on the roster. Miami had an open spot on its 40-man roster already.

Alfaro, 27, has gotten out to a slow start this year, slashing .229/.250/.257 with a dozen strikeouts against just one walk in 36 trips to the plate. He was removed from last night’s game against the Orioles after beating out an infield single. Chad Wallach replaced Alfaro last night, and he’ll now share time behind the dish in Miami with Leon while Alfaro mends.

Leon, 32, has seen Major League time in parts of nine seasons but has never provided much with the bat aside from what looks to be an anomalous 2016 campaign in Boston. The veteran switch-hitter posted an out-of-the-blue .310/.369/.476 slash with a career-best seven homers in 283 plate appearances that year, but Leon has mustered just a .194/.263/.306 line in 861 trips to the plate since that time. He spent the 2020 season with the Indians organization, hitting .136/.296/.242 in 81 plate appearances.

Leon may not be much of a hitter, but he’s a well-regarded pitch framer with a career 34 percent caught-stealing rate that is well above the league average. His throwing has deteriorated in recent years, including just a 2-for-11 effort in thwarting thieves last year, but Leon is regarded as a sound defensive backstop on the whole. The Marlins have yet to provide any kind of timeline for Alfaro’s injury, so it’s unclear just how long of a window Leon will have in Miami.

Injury Notes: Kim, Alfaro, Andujar, Schmidt, Reds

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Kwang Hyun Kim is slated to toss a 90-pitch simulated game today, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).  Kim tossed another simulated game earlier this week, so the left-hander may be just about on the verge of rejoining the Cards’ rotation during the team’s upcoming series against the Phillies from April 16-18.

Back problems sidelined Kim for a good chunk of Spring Training, requiring an injured list placement to begin the season.  The 32-year-old is looking to build off an impressive debut season in Major League Baseball, as Kim posted a 1.62 ERA over 39 innings (thanks to a 50% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact) in 2020.

More injury updates from around the sport…

  • Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to what the team described as “lingering tightness in his left hamstring.”  Manager Don Mattingly told SportsGrid’s Craig Mish and other reporters the Marlins may decide tomorrow whether or not an IL stint is required.  Counting today, Alfaro will have been sidelined for four straight games, and Miami doesn’t have another off-day until April 19.  Should Alfaro hit the injured list, Sandy Leon is the only catcher in the Marlins’ farm system with any big league experience, so the team could select his minor league deal and install Leon as Chad Wallach’s backup.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided updates on Miguel Andujar and Clarke Schmidt to reporters (including ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera and Newsday’s Erik Boland).  For Andujar, he is already hitting off a tee and will start hitting out of the batting cage next week as the 26-year-old is trying to recover from right carpal tunnel syndrome.  Schmidt, meanwhile, is getting a second opinion on his bothersome right elbow, which is still giving him discomfort after almost seven weeks.  Schmidt was shut down back in February for what was supposed to be three or four weeks due to a common extensor strain in his right elbow — for what it’s worth, Boland noted that Boone today described the injury as simply a “right elbow strain.”
  • Shogo Akiyama and Sonny Gray are each progressing well in their injury recoveries, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Akiyama has been expected to return from a hamstring injury in early-mid May, and Reds manager David Bell says the outfielder has had “zero setbacks” in his rehab. Gray, meanwhile, is in line to make his return from a back injury by the end of next week. It’s a little less clear when Cincinnati can expect Michael Lorenzen back; the right-hander’s recovery from a shoulder strain is “not as going fast as he would like,” Bell said (via Sheldon).

This Date In Transactions History: Marlins-Phillies Realmuto Trade

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On February 7, 2019, the Phillies and Marlins lined up on a monumental intra-division trade. Miami sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia in exchange for pitching prospects Sixto Sánchez and Will Stewart, as well as MLB catcher Jorge Alfaro. The then-rebuilding Marlins relinquished their final pair of seasons of club control over one of the game’s premier catchers in exchange for longer-term value. With Realmuto now having played out those two years in Philadelphia, it’s worth taking stock of the progress of the players involved.

To date, the trade is shaping up to be a rare win-win. Realmuto more than lived up to his end of the bargain. Since the start of 2019, the former third-rounder has hit an above-average .273/.333/.492, all while rating as a high-end pitch framer and throwing out an elite 42.9% of attempting basestealers. He and Yasmani Grandal are well clear of the rest of the field when looking at FanGraphs’ WAR leaders among catchers the past two seasons. The Phillies didn’t find much in the way of team success, but that’s not the fault of Realmuto, who has been one of the sport’s two most productive catchers since the trade.

Of course, the Phillies-Realmuto relationship didn’t end once he reached free agency. Philadelphia brought back the franchise backstop on a five-year contract last month. The Realmuto acquisition would have been a successful one for the Phils regardless of whether they managed to re-sign him; trading for Realmuto during his arbitration years is a separate decision from the one to sign him to a long-term deal in free agency. Still, the Phillies acquiring Realmuto two years ago certainly couldn’t have hurt their chances of winning the bidding for him this winter.

The Marlins’ end of the deal is a bit more uncertain (as one would expect when a team trades away an established star for a group of talented younger players) but certainly looks bright. Sánchez was seen as the prize of the package at the time of the deal, and he’s only elevated his stock since then. The young righty spent most of the 2019 season in Double-A, where he was very good, and then made his MLB debut last season.

Over his first seven starts at the big league level, Sánchez pitched to a 3.46 ERA/4.18 SIERA. His strikeout rate (20.9%) was a bit below-average, but Sánchez posted better than average marks in both walk rate (7.0%) and ground ball rate (58.0%) as a 22-year-old. It may be too early to definitively declare the flamethrower a future ace, but he’s clearly a central piece of a young rotation the Marlins hope will allow them to perennially reach the postseason, as the Fish did in 2020.

Alfaro and Stewart remain in the Miami organization, but their respective stocks have fallen since the trade. After a decent 2019 season, Alfaro struggled in 2020 and was eventually supplanted on the depth chart by Chad Wallach. Stewart, meanwhile, had a difficult 2019 season in High-A. Eligible for this offseason’s Rule 5 draft, Stewart was left off Miami’s 40-man roster but went unselected.

Even if neither of the secondary pieces in the deal become core pieces for the Marlins, the Realmuto-Sánchez central framework of the trade will be fascinating to follow. There figures to be plenty of times for broadcasters and fans to rehash the details of the blockbuster when the two square off against one another over the coming years.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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NL Notes: Bell, Pirates, Boras, Cubs, Marlins

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Before the Pirates traded Josh Bell to the Nationals, the team had some cursory negotiations about an extension with the first baseman’s agent Scott Boras, Bell told reporters (including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic).  The two sides went “back and forth” on a long-term deal, Bell said, “but in regards to numbers or anything like that, I don’t think it ever got to that point.”  Bell is eligible for free agency after the 2022 season, when he’ll be 30 years old. 

Given how the Pirates appear to be open to dealing virtually anyone as they rebuild their team, it’s fair to wonder whether even an extension might have kept Bell in Pittsburgh — some clubs might have intrigued at having additional years of control and added cost certainty.  Then again, given how Bell struggled in 2020, trade suitors might have balked at paying significant guaranteed money to a player coming off such a tough year.  Regardless, Bell will need a strong bounce-back year with the Nationals to ensure himself at least a bigger arbitration raise in 2022, and to help build his case for either an extension with Washington or a notable free agent payday in two years’ time.

More from the National League…

  • Speaking of Boras, the agent recently appeared on a podcast with NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer and Maddie Lee to discuss the Cubs and Boras client Kris Bryant (and former Cub and current free agent Jake Arrieta), plus also several bigger-picture issues surrounding the game.  The podcast explores such topics such as the offseason free agent market, the upcoming CBA talks and the relationship between the league and the players’ union, the business of baseball at the ownership level, and much more.
  • Francisco Cervelli provided the Marlins with some pop behind the plate last season, but after the veteran’s season was cut short by a concussion (that led to Cervelli’s retirement), neither Jorge Alfaro or Chad Wallach delivered much hitting-wise.  However, while another catcher could still be added, it looks like the Marlins are still planning to deploy Alfaro and Wallach as the primary catching duo going into 2021, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald writes.  The team is hopeful that Alfaro can become a more reliable defensive option and also unlock the batting potential that made him such a highly-touted prospect — Alfaro has delivered some decent numbers in his young career but with a lot of strikeouts and not much consistency.  Wallach, meanwhile, offers more solid glovework, but little in the way of offensive production.

Marlins Activate Jorge Alfaro, Designate Ryan Lavarnway For Assignment

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The Marlins made a series of roster moves Friday, announcing that catcher Jorge Alfaro and lefty Richard Bleier have been reinstated from the injured list. Fellow catcher Ryan Lavarnway was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Alfaro. Miami also confirmed its previously reported promotion of top outfield prospect Jesus Sanchez, optioned fellow outfield prospect Monte Harrison to the alternate training site and placed infielder Eddy Alvarez on the paternity list.

Alfaro, 27, is being activated for his first action of the 2020 campaign after spending the entire season to date on the injured list. He’ll take over primary catching duties from veteran Francisco Cervelli. Acquired as one of the main pieces in the blockbuster deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia, Alfaro hit .262/.312/.425 with a career-best 18 home runs in his first season with the Fish last year. He’s controlled through the 2023 season.

The well-traveled Lavarnway was 4-for-11 in his limited time with the Marlins, but his stay on the active roster always figured to be limited. Such is the life for the journeyman 33-year-old, who has appeared in the Majors in nine separate seasons for seven teams but never tallied more than 46 games or 166 plate appearances. Lavarnway is a career .215/.272/.344 hitter in 456 Major League plate appearances and a .272/.364/.426 batter in parts of nine Triple-A campaigns. The Marlins have a week to trade him, release him or run him through waivers.

Multiple Marlins Players Reportedly Test Positive For COVID-19

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12:30pm: First baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Harold Ramirez are also among the Marlins who have tested positive, according to Robert Murray and Jon Heyman of MLB Network. And since these results were discovered on the road, the Marlins find themselves in an unfortunate position; Cooper and the other players will have to quarantine in their Philadelphia hotel for about two weeks and, for the time being, are unable to travel back to Miami with the rest of their team. From a purely baseball perspective, the news represents a considerable blow to the Marlins’ depth: Between Alfaro, Cooper, and Ramirez, they’re losing three regulars, not to mention a key piece of the rotation in Ureña.

11:32 am: “Multiple” Miami players are dealing with COVID-19 issues, tweets Craig Mish of Sportsgrid. Heyman hears the same, tweeting that two of the club’s starting position players have also tested positive for the coronavirus. Catcher Jorge Alfaro was placed on the injured list for an undisclosed reason Friday, although it remains unclear if he is among those who have tested positive.

11:08 am: Marlins right-hander José Ureña was scratched from today’s scheduled start, as noted by various reporters (including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Ureña tested positive for COIVD-19, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. Fortunately, Ureña “feels fine,” Heyman adds, but this is simply the latest reminder of the threat the coronavirus continues to pose to players and teams leaguewide.

Even if Ureña remains asymptomatic, he’ll need to twice test negative at least 24 hours apart before he’s permitted to return to the club. Miami has not yet made any roster moves related to the situation, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. With there being no minimum length for stints on the COVID-19 injured list, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Miami decide to place Ureña on the IL, even if they believe he’ll be ready to return in short order.

Ureña is ticketed for a return to the Miami rotation after splitting last year between the starting staff and the bullpen. Right-hander Robert Dugger, who started seven games for Miami down the stretch last season, will take the ball in Ureña’s stead this afternoon against the Phillies.

Marlins Place Jorge Alfaro On IL, Select Sean Rodriguez

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The Marlins announced that they’ve placed catcher Jorge Alfaro on the injured list, meaning he’s out of action for Opening Day. A reason was not given for the surprise move.

Replacing him on the active roster will be veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez, whose contract was selected. The Fish also announced the signing of outfielder Travis Snider to a minor-league pact. He’ll head to the team’s alternate training site.

It’s obviously disappointing to see Alfaro hit the shelf right at the start of the season. The 27-year-old has established himself as a solid MLB backstop, though he’s hoping to take another step forward after posting consecutive 95 OPS+ efforts at the plate. Alfaro is also playing to set himself up for his first run at the arbitration process.

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