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Lance McCullers Jr.

Lance McCullers Jr. Diagnosed With Forearm Strain

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Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. has been diagnosed with a muscle strain in his right forearm, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports on Twitter. McCullers had already been placed on the 10-day disabled list.

The 24-year-old McCullers has worked to a 3.93 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 through a personal-high 126 innings on the season. He is earning $2.45MM this year as a Super Two.

While this diagnosis certainly isn’t the best news, it’s also not the worst. McCullers is said to be likely to miss the remainder of the month of August, but it appears there is good reason to hope he’ll be able to return during the present season.

That’s not to say that McCullers and the ’Astros are out of the woods just yet. Any setbacks could threaten his availability down the stretch and in the postseason. And, in the long run, this is the latest of several injury issues that have combined to limit him to 199 2/3 innings over the prior two campaigns.

Focusing on the immediate picture, the Astros have several former starters working in their bullpen in Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock, though both are excelling in their current roles. Youngster Cionel Perez, who’s currently also in the MLB relief corps, could be among the internal options. It’s certainly also possible that the club could pursue a depth option on the August trade market, though a few possibilities have already left the shelves.

Astros Reinstate Roberto Osuna, Place Lance McCullers On DL

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2:30pm: Houston issued a statement Sunday in regards to acquiring Osuna, all of which is available here via the team’s Twitter account. Here’s a portion of it: “Our decision to acquire Roberto was based on the entirety of information that we gathered during our extensive evaluation. That included as much information as we could gather about the specific incident and the charges that were filed but it also included as much information as we could gather about his actions before and after the incident, as well as his personal reputation among his former teammates and coaches. The information regarding this specific incident weighed heavily on our decision but when evaluating the entirety of the information, we felt that Roberto deserved a second chance.”

12:12pm: The Astros have reinstated reliever Roberto Osuna from the restricted list and sent starter Lance McCullers Jr. to the 10-day DL with right elbow discomfort, per a team announcement.

Osuna is now in position to make his debut with Houston, which acquired him in a headline-grabbing deal on the eve of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. To land Osuna, the Astros gave up three players – including their former closer, Ken Giles – in a move that hasn’t been received all that well from Houston’s point of view. While Osuna has been an excellent reliever since debuting in 2015, the 23-year-old’s career may be forever tarnished by an early May arrest on a domestic assault charge. Major League Baseball then issued Osuna a 75-game suspension, which he’s just returning from now.

Although Osuna has served MLB’s punishment, he’s not out of legal hot water in Canada. Osuna had a court date on Aug. 1, though there was no resolution at that hearing and he has another one scheduled for Sept. 5, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported earlier this week. It’s not clear, then, whether Osuna will even be available toward the end of the season as the playoff-bound Astros vie for their second straight World Series title.

From solely an on-field standpoint, the Osuna addition figures to help the Astros’ cause. Osuna was a lights-out closer during his 223-inning Toronto tenure, saving 104 games on 124 tries and logging a 2.87 ERA.

Lance McCullers To Have Elbow Examined

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Houston’s the only team in the majors that has used the same five starting pitchers all season, but that may be on the verge of changing. Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. left his start against the Dodgers on Saturday in the fifth inning with discomfort in his pitching elbow, the team announced. McCullers will head back to Houston on Sunday for a medical examination, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to report.

McCullers cruised during his abbreviated outing Saturday in what proved to be a rout for the reigning champion Astros, who rolled to a 14-0 victory over their World Series opponent from 2017. The 24-year-old tossed four innings of scoreless, two-hit ball, also notching five strikeouts against two walks. But McCullers was unable to throw a single pitch in the fifth, and he told reporters after the game that there was “some abnormal soreness and stiffness” around his forearm.

Forearm issues often serve as a precursor to Tommy John surgery, a procedure McCullers hasn’t undergone to this point. The fourth-year man hasn’t been the picture of durability in the majors, though, having dealt with elbow and shoulder troubles in 2016 before going on the disabled list twice on account of back problems last year. He has only gone past the 125-inning mark twice in a season, including his career-best 126 frames in 2018.

Despite his injuries, McCullers has always posted strong production, which has continued this year with a 3.93 ERA/3.57 FIP, 9.86 K/9 and 3.57 BB/9 and a 54.8 percent groundball rate. That type of output won’t be easy for the Astros to replace if McCullers does land on the shelf, though the team’s rotation would still be a loaded group without him, evidenced by the unit’s league-leading ERA (3.00) and fWAR (16.2). Statistically, McCullers has been the worst of the Astros’ starters this year, but that’s less a knock on him than a compliment to the work Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and Dallas Keuchel have done.

Now, if Houston does lose McCullers, it’s unclear how the team would fill out its rotation. Fellow Astros righties Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock each bring plenty of starting experience, but they’ve been entrenched in bullpen roles all season and, with a few exceptions, have typically worked a maximum of two innings per appearance. Other 40-man options include Triple-A starters Brady Rodgers and Francis Martes, though neither looks ready for the big leagues right now. Rodgers has struggled in his first action since undergoing TJ surgery last year, and Martes is on the mend from elbow issues of his own.

At the Double-A level and not on the 40-man roster, the Astros have one of the premier pitching prospects in baseball in towering righty Forrest Whitley. However, he’s also working back from an injury (a strained oblique) and has only amassed 35 2/3 innings above the Single-A level since 2017. Astros manager A.J. Hinch did suggest last week that Whitley could garner consideration for a September promotion, though (via Christian Boutwell and Alyson Footer of MLB.com). In the meantime, Houston’s hope is that McCullers won’t miss any time – let alone a substantial amount – as it continues trying to maintain or build on its five-game lead over the Athletics in the AL West.

Arbitration Updates: 1/13/18

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Here are the arbitration numbers we’ve learned thus far today — all of them coming via the Twitter feed of Jon Heyman of Fan Rag unless otherwise noted:

  • The Giants’ previously known deals with two righty relievers now have dollar values attached. Sam Dyson is slated to earn $4.425MM, while the team will pay righty Cory Gearrin $1.675MM. MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected a $4.6MM award for Dyson and a $1.6MM salary for Gearrin.
  • Diamondbacks infielder Chris Owings settled out at $3.4MM, just a shade over the $3.3MM the team will pay outfielder David Peralta. Swartz had both Owings and Peralta at $3.8MM.
  • Right-hander Nick Vincent will take down a $2.75MM payday from the Mariners, coming in just north of his $2.7MM projection.
  • Astros righty Lance McCullers Jr. is set to receive $2.45MM (a bit shy of his projected $2.6MM) in his first season of arb eligibility, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
  • Infielder Hernan Perez receives $1.975MM from the Brewers, falling short of a $2.2MM projection.
  • The Athletics agreed yesterday with righty Liam Hendriks at $1.9MM, matching his projection, and catcher Josh Phegley for $905K. Swartz had Phegley at $1.1MM.
  • White Sox third baseman Yolmer Sanchez has filed at $2.35MM while the team countered at $2.1MM – the same as his projection.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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The deadline for MLB teams to exchange salary arbitration figures with their arbitration-eligible players is today at 1pm ET. As such, there will be a veritable flood of arb agreements piling up in the next few hours — especially in light of a more universal approach to the “file and trial” method for teams. (That is to say, those teams will no longer negotiate one-year deals after arb figures are exchanged and will instead head to a hearing with those players, barring an agreemenr on a multi-year deal.)

Note that you can keep an eye on all of today’s deals using MLBTR’s 2018 Arbitration Tracker, which can be filtered to show only the results of the team you follow and is also sortable by service time and dollar value of the agreement. All projections that are referenced come from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s annual compilation of projected arbitration salarie

American League West

  • The Astros and Evan Gattis agreed to a $6.7MM deal for 2018, per FanRag’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). A free agent next season, Gattis lands within $100K of his $6.6MM projection. The club also has deals (for values unknown) with starters Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr., and Brad Peacock, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
  • The Rangers agreed to a $1.05MM deal with infielder Jurickson Profar, tweets Murray. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, meanwhile, tweets that lefty Jake Diekman landed a $2.7125MM deal and righty Keone Kela will earn $1.2MM. Profar had been projected at $1.1MM and is controllable another three seasons. Diekman, a free agent next winter, was projected at $2.8MM. And Kela, still controlled for three more years, matched his $1.2MM projection on the dot.
  • The Athletics and closer Blake Treinen agreed to a $2.15MM deal for next year, tweets Murray. The A’s can control Treinen for another three years. He was projected at $2.3MM. Shortstop Marcus Semien has settled for $3.125MM, Heyman tweets; his $3.2MM projection was nearly spot-on. Oakland has announced that it has avoided arbitration with Liam Hendriks and Josh Phegley as well, but their salaries have yet to be reported.
  • The Angels have a one-year, $7.3MM agreement in place with right-hander Garrett Richards, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Richards, a free agent next offseason, tops his $7MM projection by a margin of $300K. The Halos have also avoided arb with first baseman C.J. Cron ($2.3MM) and left-hander Tyler Skaggs ($1.875MM), tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Cron’s total falls a ways shy of his $2.8MM projection, while Skaggs comes in just $25K south of his $1.9MM projection. Both are controllable through the 2020 season. Lastly, Murray tweets that Matt Shoemaker agreed to a $4.125MM deal. He’s controlled through 2020 and projected at $4.4MM. Fletcher also tweets that the club has agreed with righty J.C. Ramirez ($1.9MM salary vs. $2.6MM projection) and lefty Jose Alvarez ($1.05MM salary vs. $1.1MM projection). Finally, righty Cam Bedrosian has agreed at $1.1MM, Flecher tweets, which represents a payday close to his projection of $1.2MM.
  • Left-hander James Paxton will earn $4.9MM with the Mariners in 2018, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Murray tweets that the Mariners and David Phelps agreed to a $5.55MM deal. Paxton, controlled through 2020, projected to earn $5.6MM, while Phelps was pegged at $5.8MM. He’s a free agent next winter. Righty Erasmo Ramirez took a $4.2MM deal, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. That’s half a million shy of what the model suggested. Fellow right-hander Nick Vincent also has an agreement, but the terms aren’t yet known.

American League Central

  • New lefty Luis Avilan has agreed to a $2.45MM deal with the White Sox, Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune reports via Twitter. The recent trade acquisition came with a projected $2.3MM price tag. Fellow southpaw Carlos Rodon will receive $2.3MM, a bit of a bump over the $2MM he projected to receive. Also, utilityman Leury Garcia gets $1.175MM, which is just $25K short of his projected value.
  • The Royals and righty Nate Karns agreed to a $1.375MM deal for 2018, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports (on Twitter). That lands within $25K of his $1.4MM projection for the coming season. Kansas City controls Karns through 2020. Meanwhile, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports (via Twitter) that Kelvin Herrera will earn $7.9375MM in 2018, landing a bit shy of his $8.3MM projection. Herrera is a free agent next winter.
  • The Indians have a $5MM agreement with righty Danny Salazar, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. He had projected to earn just $200K more, this falls right in line with expectations. Cleveland also agreed with Lonnie Chisenhall on a $5.5875MM deal, tweets Nightengale. The third baseman-turned-outfielder, who was projected to earn $5.8MM, will be a free agent following the 2018 season.
  • Trevor May has a $650K agreement with the Twins for the 2018 season, according to Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. May, who missed the entire season due to Tommy John surgery (and did some writing for MLBTR during his rehab process), had been projected at $600K. The Twins also agreed to a $1MM deal with infielder Ehire Adrianza, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. Meanwhile, righty Ryan Pressly has agreed to a $1.6MM deal, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. Both deals are identical matches with their projections. Adrianza has three years of team control remaining, while Pressly has two. Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that outfielder Robbie Grossman settled at $2MM, leaving him $400K shy of his projection. Grossman is controlled for another three seasons.
  • Tigers third baseman/outfielder Nick Castellanos will earn $6.05MM, per Heyman (via Twitter). He had projected at a much heftier $7.6MM in his second-to-last season of arb eligibility. MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports (Twitter links) that the Tigers and right-handed reliever Alex Wilson settled at $1.925MM, while fellow righty Shane Greene will earn $1.95MM. Wilson was projected to earn $2.1MM, while Greene was at $1.7MM. Wilson is controlled through 2019, while Greene is under control through 2020.

American League East

  • The Yankees have knocked out some of their biggest arb cases, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links). Shortstop Didi Gregorius receives $8.25MM and righty Sonny Gray checks in at $6.5MM. The former had projected to earn $9.0MM while the algorithm was just $100K high on the latter.Backstop Austin Romine will earn $1.1MM, Heyman also tweets, which is also $100K below the projection. Righty Adam Warren and the Yankees have a $3.315MM deal, per Murray (Twitter link). This is Warren’s final season of eligibility before hitting the open market next winter. He’d been projected at $3.1MM. Meanwhile, fellow right-hander Dellin Betances has agreed to a $5.1MM deal, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). That’s just $100K more than Betances had sought last year, when he took his case to a hearing that he ultimately lost. But it’s quite a bit more than the $4.4MM he projected to receive after a subpar season in which he played at a $3MM salary.
  • The Red Sox have agreed to pay $8.5MM to southpaw Drew Pomeranz, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). That’s short of the $9.1MM that had been projected after Pomeranz turned in a productive 2017 season. Boston and Jackie Bradley Jr. settled at $6.1MM, tweets Murray. That’s a bit north of the $5.9MM at which he’d been projected for the upcoming season. Bradley Jr., a Super Two player, has another three seasons of club control remaining. Nightengale tweets that righty Joe Kelly ($3.6MM projection) agreed to a $3.825MM deal. He’ll be a free agent next winter. Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez ($2.375MM salary vs. $2.7MM projection) and righty Brandon Workman ($835K salary vs. $900K projection) are two other Sox hurlers that have agreed to terms, Speier reports (Twitter links). On the position player side, catcher Sandy Leon falls a bit under his projection $1.95MM (via Speier, on Twitter) while utilityman Brock Holt just beats expectations at $2.225MM (per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, on Twitter). The team also agreed with shortstop Xander Bogaerts for $7.05MM, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston tweets, which comes in a bit shy of his $7.6MM projection. Boston also announced agreement with backstop Christian Vazquez, who’ll earn $1.425MM, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne (via Twitter). That’s just under the projection of $1.5MM.
  • The Blue Jays and righty Aaron Sanchez agreed to a $2.7MM deal for 2018, according to Nightengale (Twitter link). That crushes his $1.9MM projection, which was likely suppressed due Sanchez’s lack of innings (just 36) in 2017. He’s under Jays control through 2020. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, meanwhile, tweets that second baseman Devon Travis will make $1.45MM next year, falling a bit shy of his $1.7MM forecast. Other Toronto players agreeing to terms include Kevin Pillar ($3.25MM vs. $4.0MM projection) and Dominic Leone ($1.085MM vs. $1.2MM projection), MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets.
  • The Rays and closer Alex Colome settled at $5.3M, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (on Twitter). He’d been projected at $5.5MM and is controllable for three more years. They also settled at $5.95MM with outfielder/DH Corey Dickerson ($6.4MM projection) and $4.5MM with infielder Brad Miller ($4.4MM projection), per Murray (all Twitter links). Steven Souza, according to Murray will earn $3.55MM, placing him right in line with his $3.6MM projection. Dickerson and Miller are controlled through 2019. Souza is controlled through 2020.

AL Notes: Price, McCullers, Sano, Castro

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Time is running out for David Price to return to the Red Sox, and manager John Farrell conceded today that it would be “aggressive” to bring Price back as a starting pitcher in 2017, Evan Drellich of CSN New England writes. Farrell suggested that Price would require at least one more simulated game before being ready to start. The skipper alluded to the possibility of giving Price a fairly short start and allowing the expanded bullpen to cover whatever innings are needed beyond that point, though he noted that no decision has been made. “[T]hese are things we have to sit down and discuss and determine what’s best for him.” As for Price himself, he told reporters that, more than anything else, he just wants to get back onto a Major League mound regardless of his role: “I just want to pitch. Whatever it is, that’s fine.”

A bit more from the American League…

  • Astros righty Lance McCullers was scratched from tonight’s game due to arm fatigue, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes. His inability to go has already proven costly, as the Angels jumped onto spot starter Mike Fiers for five runs in the first inning. McCullers indicated that he feels “fine” and the decision wasn’t his, and manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that he’s not overly concerned about McCullers’ health. Houston has the division all but clinched even with some recent struggles, but obviously any uncertainty surrounding McCullers’ health with the postseason looming would be an ominous sign for the eventual AL West champs.
  • Miguel Sano’s return from a stress reaction in his left shin has been slow to progress, though the Twins slugger did some running drills Monday and took batting practice Tuesday, as Chad Graff of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes. If and when Sano is ready to return — which could come in the next week, per Graff — it’s likely that he’ll be back in the lineup as the designated hitter. Manager Paul Molitor told reporters that he’s more concerned about the absence of Sano’s bat from the lineup than he is about his ability to return to the hot corner. The Twins are 11-10 in Sano’s absence, Graff points out, though certainly the Twins must be eager for the return of Sano’s .267/.356/.514 batting line and 28 homers as they look to hang onto the American League’s second Wild Card slot.
  • Orioles manager Buck Showalter tells Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun that he’s spoken at length with pitching coach Roger McDowell to develop a plan for young right-hander Miguel Castro. While Castro has delivered solid run-prevention numbers in a multi-inning relief role, Showalter acknowledged that there’s been “a lot” of thought put into the possibility of Castro starting. “Like all of young pitchers, they are precious commodities and we want to make good decisions about them,” said Showalter. “Because we don’t have many to pick from right now.” Since a scoreless six-inning relief appearance on Aug. 3, Castro has posted a pristine 2.37 ERA through 30 1/3 innings. He’s limited opponents to a meager 18.8 percent hard-contact rate in that time but has also logged an ugly 19-to-15 K/BB ratio.

AL West Notes: Correa, McCullers, Servais, Profar

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Both Carlos Correa and Lance McCullers are headed out on minor league rehab assignments this week. Correa told reporters that he’s going to Triple-A Fresno tomorrow to begin his rehab assignment (Twitter link, with video, from FOX 26’s Mark Berman). Yesterday, Correa said he expected that he’d need 20 to 30 at-bats to get back up to speed, which would suggest that he could return to the Astros in about a week’s time. As for McCullers, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle tweets that he’s slated to make a rehab start with Fresno on Friday. Berman also tweets that in addition to that pair of key players, righty Will Harris, lefty Tony Sipp and righty Michael Feliz are all headed to Triple-A Fresno for rehab work. Beyond that, Brian McCann is ready to be activated tomorrow.

Here’s more from the division…

  • Details surrounding the contract of Mariners skipper Scott Servais weren’t reported or announced when he was initially hired, but MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports today that Servais is signed through the 2018 season (Twitter link). That would indicate that the first-time manager inked a three-year deal in his first term at the helm in Seattle. While Servais’ Mariners aren’t guaranteed a postseason spot, they’re right in the thick of the Wild Card hunt, sitting just two games back. That’s an impressive feat for a Mariners team that has seen Felix Hernandez, James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma all spend significant time on the DL while projected rotation member Drew Smyly was lost for the year due to injuries without ever throwing a regular-season pitch.
  • It’s looking more and more like Jurickson Profar’s future will be with a team other than the Rangers, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Profar was again passed over for a call-up when Texas placed Joey Gallo on the disabled list with a concussion, and he’s blocked all over the infield by the likes of Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre. Grant notes that Profar has only played shortstop on consecutive days in the Majors twice in his career, and he often sits against lefties in the bigs. One knock on him has been his lack of production as a right-handed hitter, Grant notes, but he’s hitting .404/.457/.649 against lefties in 109 plate appearances this season. Profar will be out of options entering next year, meaning the Rangers will either have to find a role for him or find a trade partner for him.

Injury Notes: Astros, Kershaw, Price, Richards, Nats, Rays

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Astros superstar shortstop Carlos Correa is progressing toward a return from the torn left thumb ligament he suffered July 18. Correa will take batting practice on the field Tuesday for the first time since succumbing to the injury, and he could then embark on a rehab assignment, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters, including Ben DuBose of MLB.com. Teammate Lance McCullers, who has been on the shelf for three weeks with back discomfort, threw a three-inning simulated game Sunday, but there’s no timetable for the right-hander’s return. Hinch informed Mark Berman of FOX 26 (via Twitter) and other reporters that McCullers will need to make multiple rehab appearances before coming back.

More injury updates from around the majors:

  • Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is likely to rejoin their rotation Sept. 1, relays Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter links). Kershaw, who’s rehabbing from a late-July back injury, will throw a three-inning sim game in Pittsburgh on Monday, manager Dave Roberts announced. If all goes well, he’ll make a rehab start at either the Double-A or Triple-A level next weekend (Twitter link via Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times).
  • Arm stiffness has prevented Red Sox left-hander David Price from throwing since Tuesday, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, according to Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com. Price has dealt with forearm problems off and on since spring training, though Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told MLB Network Radio on Sunday that he’s “hopeful” the hurler will be a factor again this season (Twitter link). Time’s running out, however, as McCaffrey notes.
  • The Angels are targeting a September return for righty Garrett Richards, who will face live hitters Sunday for the first time since he made his lone start of the year on April 5, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. Biceps nerve irritation has sidelined Richards, who missed nearly all of last season with elbow troubles. With roster expansion forthcoming, manager Mike Scioscia suggested that the Angels won’t need to stretch Richards out fully in order for him to rejoin the playoff hopefuls’ rotation. “I don’t think it’s realistic to get Garrett stretched out to the 75-, 90-, 100-pitch range, but I do see a scenario if he gets to 60 pitches, we might use him to come to our rotation and see how far he gets because we’ll have plenty of pitching to follow up at that point,” Scioscia said.
  • Along with the previously reported Jayson Werth, Nationals shortstop Trea Turner will start a Triple-A rehab assignment Monday, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Both players have been out since June (Werth went to the DL on June 5, Turner on June 30), and they’re slated to return next week, according to Zuckerman. Turner’s lengthy DL stint came as a result of a broken right wrist.
  • The Rays placed righty Jacob Faria on the 10-day DL on Sunday with a left abdominal strain, clearing roster space for just-claimed outfielder Cesar Puello.  Faria revealed that he has battled the injury over his past several starts, though he doesn’t believe it’ll be a long-term problem or even a season-ending issue, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link). Prior to the DL stint, the 24-year-old Faria was amid a quality rookie season with a 3.32 ERA and 8.81 K/9 against 3.32 BB/9 across 78 2/3 innings.

Astros Place Lance McCullers On 10-Day DL

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The Astros have announced that they’ve placed righty Lance McCullers on the 10-day DL with back discomfort. To take his place on the active roster, they’ve recalled righty Michael Feliz from Triple-A Fresno.

The move is a blow to an Astros club that apparently did not add any starting pitching — well, besides Francisco Liriano, who they’ll reportedly use as a reliever — at this year’s deadline. The Astros had been connected to a number of top pitching targets. Dallas Keuchel’s return from the disabled list last weekend looked like a boon to the club, but that addition will be canceled out somewhat by McCullers injury, particularly if McCullers requires a significant amount of time on the DL.

The 23-year-old McCullers was the Astros’ top starter for the first few months of the season, and he’s posted an overall line of 3.92 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 over 105 2/3 innings this year. He has struggled badly so far this month, however, allowing 22 runs (20 earned) and walking 11 batters over 18 2/3 innings.

Injury Updates: Hendricks, Trout, V-Mart, McCullers, Segura

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The right hand tendinitis that has kept Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks out since June 8 will likely shelve him for a while longer, reports Gorden Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Thanks to the setback he suffered Tuesday, Hendricks’ absence “will be measured in weeks,” not days, writes Wittenmyer. Hendricks is “sore,” said manager Joe Maddon, who added that his injury is “awkward” and “just not going away.” Like most of his Cubs teammates, Hendricks has taken steps backward this year on the heels of a magical 2016. After contending for the NL Cy Young last season, when he logged a 2.13 ERA, 8.05 K/9 and 2.08 BB/9 over 190 innings, the soft-tossing 27-year-old has experienced a velocity drop and recorded a 4.09 ERA, 7.44 K/9 and 3.08 BB/9 over 61 2/3 frames in 2017.

The latest on several other notable major leaguers dealing with injuries:

  • The top player in the game, Angels center fielder Mike Trout, will resume swinging next week and travel with the Halos during their visits to New York and Boston, relays ESPN.com. Trout, who underwent surgery on torn left thumb ligaments May 31, hopes to return before the six- to eight-week recovery timeline and play in next month’s All-Star Game. “It would be pretty cool just to, hopefully, be back by then,” Trout said. “Before the All-Star break, right at the All-Star break, just depending on how it goes.”
  • Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez, diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat this week, was released from a Detroit-area hospital on Saturday, according to Jason Beck of MLB.com. It’s unclear whether Martinez will come off the disabled list when he’s first eligible on June 27, per Beck. For now, “the thought process is probably a week of rest,” said manager Brad Ausmus.
  • Astros manager A.J. Hinch announced Saturday that righty Lance McCullers will come off the DL during the upcoming week (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). McCullers just hit the DL on Monday with discomfort in his lower back, so his stay will end up as a short one. He’s one of four Astros starters on the DL – Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Collin McHugh are the others – and arguably the best of the bunch. McCullers has been superb over his first 76 2/3 innings this season, having posted a 2.58 ERA, 10.45 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 63 percent ground-ball rate. His teammate Morton, out since May 25 with a lat strain, also seems to be progressing toward a return. Morton is set to make a two-inning rehab start for the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate on Thursday.
  • After a high ankle sprain forced Mariners shortstop Jean Segura to the DL on June 2, general manager Jerry Dipoto suggested he could miss two months. However, fortunately for the Mariners, it appears Segura will return much sooner than that, perhaps as early as next week if a Triple-A rehab assignment goes well, relays Greg Johns of MLB.com. Segura batted .341/.391/.462 in 198 plate appearances before his injury, which helped convince the Mariners to sign the offseason trade acquisition from Arizona to a five-year contract extension.
  • The Angels have placed righty Matt Shoemaker on the DL, retroactive to Friday, with a forearm strain and activated reliever Cam Bedrosian, per Kaelen Jones of MLB.com. Forearm injuries are scary for pitchers, but Shoemaker’s tightness is in his extensor muscle, making it less likely to be related to his elbow. Still, even if Shoemaker’s only out for a little while, the Angels are in the unenviable position of having a full rotation on the DL with him, Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs and Nick Tropeano. On the other hand, Bedrosian’s return is welcome news for the Angels, whose bullpen has been surprisingly effective without him. Bedrosian dominated over 6 2/3 innings before a groin strain forced him to the DL in late April, and the 25-year-old was also a lights-out option in a breakout 2016 campaign.
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