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Miguel Sano

AL Central Notes: Sano, Berrios, Salazar, Fulmer

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Twins third baseman Miguel Sano’s MRI on his right elbow came back clean today, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The 23-year-old slugger has been playing through some soreness in his elbow that has impacted his throwing in recent weeks, he revealed over the weekend, but the issue appears to be minor in nature. Sano told reporters that the elbow is feeling better today, and he’ll have the opportunity to rest it with an off-day in the schedule. Sano has struggled tremendously at third base since opening the year in right field and then being shifted back to the hot corner, but his bat has come to life lately. Over his past 18 games, Sano is hitting .297/.368/.622 with six home runs.

More from the AL Central…

  • Fellow top young Twins talent Jose Berrios is receiving plenty of organizational attention as he struggles to complete his transition to the game’s highest level, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports. Even Hall-of-Famer and current TV analyst Bert Blyleven has chipped in as the team looks to get Berrios on track. Though he has long shown ample polish in the minors, the 22-year-old has uncharacteristically permitted 14 walks in his 28 big league frames, coughing up 29 earned runs on 39 hits — including seven long balls. On the positive side, he is still getting plenty of swings and misses with thirty punch-outs. Among the issues being explored are fastball command and tipping of offspeed pitches, per the report. Minnesota is relying heavily upon the development of players like Berrios, Sano, and Byron Buxton, and their current record reflects the uneven recent path of those hyped youngsters (among other players).
  • The Indians plan for right-hander Danny Salazar to come off the disabled list on Thursday to start against the White Sox, manager Terry Francona told reporters, including MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. Cleveland placed Salazar on the disabled list back on Aug. 2 due to inflammation in his right elbow, but the issues appears to have been minor in nature, as an Aug. 18 activation would represent a very minimal DL stint. Salazar has thrown all of his pitches to test his elbow and feels ready to get back onto a big league mound, though the Indians will be cautious with him. Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway said Salazar won’t be cleared to throw 100 pitches right out of the gate. Rather, he could be piggybacked, to some extent, with right-hander Mike Clevinger, who will move to the bullpen upon Salazar’s return.
  • Even as the Tigers continue to push hard for a post-season berth, the club faces tough impending questions on rising young righty Michael Fulmer. As Lynn Henning of the Detroit News writes, the organization still hasn’t decided precisely how to manage his workload with both the present and future in mind. The 23-year-old has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations in his rookie campaign, spinning 120 innings of 2.25 ERA pitching. But with his minor league frames included, he is already moving past his previous single-season high of 124 2/3 total innings pitched. Though manager Brad Ausmus notes that Fulmer doesn’t tend to run high pitch counts and isn’t throwing many high-stress frames, it appears that several skipped starts will be required to keep him on the bump down the stretch — and that’s all before considering a potential playoff berth.

AL Central Notes: Zimmermann, Fulmer, Sano

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Tigers fans braced for bad news after right-hander Jordan Zimmermann exited his first start since returning from the DL due to a potential lat injury, but an MRI came back clean, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. Detroit is optimistic that Zimmermann can avoid a return trip to the disabled list following the positive news, though yesterday’s six-run shellacking still comes with a fair amount of concern. Zimmermann now has a 7.30 ERA across his past 49 1/3 innings, which isn’t doing the Tigers any favors as they look to close a three-game gap for the division lead in the AL Central and a half-game deficit in the race for the second American League Wild Card slot.

A bit more from the division….

  • Flying somewhat under the radar amid the considerable chatter surrounding Aaron Sanchez’s innings total is the workload of AL Rookie of the Year candidate Michael Fulmer, as MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes. In the case of Fulmer, however, his uncanny efficiency — he’d rank 10th in the league in terms of fewest pitches per inning if he qualified — has the Tigers more focused on limiting his pitch counts on a start-to-start basis than taking a more general approach and monitoring his innings. A 25 to 30 percent increase in innings would cap Fulmer, who has thrown 119 1/3 innings between Triple-A and the Majors, at between 155 and 162 innings, but his low pitch counts could allow him to exceed that count in the event of a lengthy postseason run for Detroit.
  • Demoting struggling slugger Miguel Sano is a “real option” for the Twins, writes Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Twins will get Trevor Plouffe back from the disabled list after this weekend series, and Sano’s recent woes in the field have been difficult to ignore. Of course, the Twins certainly compounded the issue by moving Sano to the outfield in the first place when it was clear even after last season that he had some work to do on his defense at third base, and asking him to move back to third midseason after not taking many reps there since last year has indeed yielded ugly results. Sano has made 12 errors in 27 games at third base this year. “He’s trying to make the changes that he needs to make to where he can walk out of here every day saying he did what he could do that day to become a better player,” said manager Paul Molitor. “It doesn’t happen every day, I’m sure.”

Injury Notes: Hill, Gallardo, Wheeler, d’Arnaud, Simmons, Sano

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There’s a lengthy list of names whose injury situations warrant mention tonight:

  • Rich Hill will miss his next scheduled start for the Athletics, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports. He’s dealing with groin soreness, and while that doesn’t appear to be a major concern, manager Bob Melvin made clear that the team “want[s] to make sure he is as close to 100 percent as he can be” before putting him back on the MLB bump. Hill is both a key to Oakland’s hopes and a top potential trade chip, but he’s already recorded more major league innings this season than in any single campaign since 2007.
  • The Orioles may finally welcome back righty Yovani Gallardo late next week, as Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Baltimore hopes that he’ll be ready for activation after his next Triple-A rehab start on Tuesday, per skipper Buck Showalter. Headed in the other direction is reliever Darren O’Day, who is expected to miss something close to the minimum after hitting the 15-day DL with a hamstring strain.
  • The Mets have updated timetables for two important young players of their own, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports (here and here). Righty Zack Wheeler is not expected back until mid-July at this point. That’s a few weeks later than had been expected, but he is said to be progressing as hoped and there certainly isn’t much of a rush from the team’s perspective. The catching position is one where New York could use some help, though, and it’s certainly promising to hear that Travis d’Arnaud is ready to begin a rehab assignment this weekend. That would put him on track to return to the majors within the twenty-day period allowed for position-player rehab stints.
  • Likewise, Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons is “close” to undertaking his own minor league assignment, as Mike Scioscia tells reporters including MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez (via Twitter). The basement-dwelling Halos badly need Simmons not only to return, but to pick up his pace at the plate when he does.
  • Padres righty Cesar Vargas has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). He won’t even get another check-up for three weeks, so it certainly seems that a fairly lengthy absence is to be expected.
  • Miguel Sano of the Twins has a moderate hamstring strain that will keep him out for longer than the 15-day minimum, per LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (via Twitter). While Minnesota’s hopes for the present season appear to have all but evaporated, Sano remains both a critical future piece and a possible factor in the team’s deadline plans. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe looks like a plausible trade piece, which could lead the way to a return to the hot corner for Sano.
  • Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira left today’s action with right knee pain, as Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog reports. He’s headed for an MRI to get a clearer idea of the issue. Teixeira was already dealing with a neck ailment, so the health questions continue to compile for the veteran. If a DL stint is required, New York could conceivably dip into its minor league system for Chris Parmelee or Nick Swisher — either of whom would require a 40-man spot. It doesn’t help that catcher (and occasional fill-in first baseman) Brian McCann is day-to-day with some elbow pain, as Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweets.
  • Three-time Tommy John surgery recipient Jonny Venters is set to be activated by the Rays’ High-A affiliate on Saturday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 31-year-old was once one an electric reliever for the Braves, but he last pitched professionally way back in 2012.

 

Injury Notes: ERod, d’Arnaud, Carrasco, Sano, Pennington

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The Red Sox received a highly promising start from southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez last night, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. While Rodriguez wasn’t quite up to the top velocity he showed last year, he was working comfortably at 93 mph and said he expects to see gains in that department as he continues to build up. The youngster made his 2016 debut just one day before the calendar flipped to June after a prolonged absence due to a knee injury. Boston will surely hope that Rodriguez can provide a boost to a rotation that has had its share of concerns over the season’s first two months.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the game:

  • Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud could head out on a rehab assignment this weekend, Rubin reports. His return could provide a big boost to a New York club that has suffered some notable health issues of late. Fellow young receiver Kevin Plawecki has struggled at the plate in d’Arnaud’s stead and could end up being demoted, per Rubin, who says that the team is pleased with what it’s getting from veteran Rene Rivera behind the dish even if he, too, isn’t hitting much.
  • There was good news also for the Indians, who expect to start righty Carlos Carrasco on Thursday, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets. It seems that Carrasco will be limited to around eighty pitches in his first outing back, but will obviously be expected to ramp up from there. The 29-year-old allowed just six earned runs in his first 22 frames on the year before suffering a hamstring injury.
  • The Twins will place third baseman Miguel Sano on the 15-day DL after he suffered a left hamstring strain. As MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter, Sano is hopeful that he won’t be out any longer than the minimum, though we’ve certainly seen hamstring issues linger and the organization will want to ensure it doesn’t turn into a bigger issue. Prospect Max Kepler will return to the majors to take his roster spot.
  • The Angels appear to have lost infielder Cliff Pennington to an aggravation of his own left hamstring injury, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports, with a DL stint seemingly likely. That could means that Kaleb Cowart or Brendan Ryan will be headed back to the big league club, though the former was just sent down and the latter requires a 40-man spot.

Central Notes: Mesoraco, Maybin, Sano

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Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco’s spring debut will come later than expected due to a groin injury, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes. Mesoraco missed most of last season due to hip trouble, and he characterizes his current injury as a minor and expected result of the rehabilitation process. “We had a very small minimal amount of groin and hip flexor tightness, soreness,” he says. “The doctor kind of said this was something that would probably happen once I got back into it. We just slowed things down but everything is feeling fine. I feel good now. It shouldn’t be too much longer.” The absence of Mesoraco, who batted .273/.359/.534 in his 2014 breakout, was one of many disappointments for the Reds last season. Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • The Tigers are hopeful Cameron Maybin will return by Opening Day and won’t be looking outside the organization for extra outfield help, tweets Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. It was reported earlier this week that Maybin would miss four to six weeks due to a hairline fracture in his left hand. Of course, even the full six weeks would only cause Maybin to miss the first couple weeks of the season, hardly the kind of devastating blow that might require the Tigers to pursue an outfielder with any sort of urgency.
  • Twins slugger Miguel Sano got to the big leagues and thrived in 2015 despite the loss of his daughter the previous offseason, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times writes. Sano’s daughter Angelica died in December 2014 due to a heart defect. “Last year in Double-A, I cried a lot,” says Sano. “I was really sad. I don’t concentrate too much on playing because I think a lot about my baby.” Sano struggled badly through April at Double-A Chattanooga, batting just .159/.303/.381. He turned his season around from there before his promotion to the bigs, culminating in a 20 at-bat stretch following the All-Star break in which he had seven extra-base hits. “He came back after the All-Star break, and it was just completely different,” says his Double-A manager, Doug Mientkiewicz. “He embarrassed Double-A baseball. I called Terry [Ryan], and I was like, ’I don’t know where he can go, but he needs to go somewhere, because it’s not normal what he’s doing to this league.'” The Twins, of course, promoted Sano to the Majors, where he hit 18 home runs in 80 games and finished third in AL Rookie of the Year balloting.

AL Central Notes: Sano, Indians, Gurriel, Tigers

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On this day in 2005, the Twins signed Johan Santana to a four-year, $39.75MM extension in the wake of the southpaw’s Cy Young Award season.  The deal not only gave the small-market Twins some cost certainty through Santana’s arbitration seasons and his first free agent year, it also proved to be a nice bargain as Santana put up sterling numbers from 2005-07 (including another Cy Young in 2006).  He didn’t finish out that deal in a Twins uniform, however, as Santana was traded to the Mets in February 2008.  Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

  • The Twins’ signing of Miguel Sano is chronicled by Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a transaction that the team hopes will not only help the Major League roster if and when Sano becomes a star slugger, but one that also cemented the Twins as players on the international market.  Minnesota encountered several obstacles in its pursuit of Sano, including a lengthy investigation into his age and the team’s willingness to go beyond its international spending comfort zone to land a prospect that seemingly everyone in the Twins organization believed was an elite talent.
  • The Indians have scouted Yulieski and Lourdes Gurriel and will check in on the two Cuban stars, though Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn’t think the Tribe has the money it will take to land either player.  Hoynes also addressed several other Tribe-related topics as part of this mailbag piece.
  • The Tigers like drafting hard-throwing college pitchers, yet as ESPN’s Keith Law tells George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press, nobody who fits that description is likely to be available when the club makes the ninth overall pick in June.  Law suggests that the Tigers could opt for a high school pitcher instead (such as Forrest Whitley or Greg Veliz) or they could possibly go for position player talent instead with Puerto Rican shortstop Delvin Perez.

Sherman’s Latest: Cespedes, Ramirez, Castro, Sano

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Several teams are gambling on successful position changes for core players, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. While it’s not uncommon for a team to sign a player like Jason Heyward and shift him to a new position for a couple seasons, these transitions don’t always go swimmingly. Sherman examines some of the biggest names to watch this season, and we’ll touch upon a few of them here.

  • The Mets were wary about committing to Yoenis Cespedes in part because of his shaky history in center field. As Sherman writes, Cespedes’ top defensive attribute is his arm. However, in center, range tends to be more valuable than arm strength.
  • Last season, the Padres attempted to shift Wil Myers from an outfield corner to center. His experience could serve as a chilling example for Mets fans. When he wasn’t battling injury, Myers graded out as an atrocious center fielder. This season, San Diego plans to shift Myers to first base. It’s yet another position at which he has limited experience. Interestingly, Myers has moved all over the field in his professional career – he started out as a catching prospect, and he also has experience at third base.
  • Another failed outfielder moving to first base, Hanley Ramirez, will be critical to the Red Sox success this season. Ramirez was a disaster in left field, but there is hope he can be more focused and healthier in an infield role. David Ortiz occupies the designated hitter role. He’s expected to retire after the season, meaning Ramirez could be shifted to a bat-only role after 2016.
  • The Yankees are taking a gamble of their own on Starlin Castro. The former Cubs shortstop hit much better after a shift to second base, but his defense still graded out as below average. Unlike Cespedes, Myers, or Ramirez, Castro looked merely below average rather than nightmarish. The Yankees hope that more experience at the position and smoother actions can lead to defensive improvement in 2016.
  • In an attempt to manage their corner infield and designated hitter surplus, the Twins are going to try prospect slugger Miguel Sano in the outfield. Sano, a third baseman by trade, doesn’t have professional experience in the outfield. However, his shift will allow the club to start Sano, Joe Mauer, Byung-ho Park, and Trevor Plouffe. In my opinion, the Twins might have been smarter to move Plouffe into the outfield. He has experience as a utility man and an established bat. Sano will now need to learn a new position while adjusting to major league pitching.

Miguel Sano Hires Roc Nation Sports

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Young Twins slugger Miguel Sano has announced that he’s hired Roc Nation Sports as his new agency. Roc Nation represents several other high-profile baseball players, including Robinson Cano and Yoenis Cespedes.

Sano, 22, had an impressive debut last year for Minnesota after long occupying prime real estate on top-prospect charts. In 335 trips to the plate, he slashed a robust .269/.385/.530 with 18 long balls. While his 119 strikeouts are certainly cause for some concern, and Sano benefited from a sky-high .396 BABIP, there’s no denying his huge talent and remarkable power with the bat.

Of course, Sano accumulated most of those numbers while slotting in as Minnesota’s DH. There’s some uncertainty as to how the team will utilize him moving forward. He has spent most of his minor league career at third base, but all indications are that the towering youngster is going to be tried in the corner outfield for the 2016 season.

Because he was held down for much of last season, Sano is still controllable through 2021 and does not project to qualify for Super Two status. That means he won’t even be arb-eligible until 2019, though if he continues to drive the ball as he has then he could get expensive very quickly once he reaches eligibility.

Roc Nation will presumably focus its initial efforts on marketing the budding star, although it’s not impossible to imagine some extension interest from the Twins coming sooner rather than later. Teams have increasingly broached the concept of long-term arrangements with rather raw and unproven talent over recent years. Of course, such arrangements require motivation on both sides. In this case, Sano still comes with his share of risk. And it’s worth bearing in mind, on the other side of the coin, that he already landed a big bonus as an amateur.

Terry Ryan: Twins Plan To Keep Trevor Plouffe

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Twins GM Terry Ryan does not intend to deal third baseman Trevor Plouffe, he told reporters today at the press conference announcing the signing of Byung Ho Park. (Via LaVelle A. Neal III of the Star Tribune, Twitter links.)

Plouffe, 29, has emerged as a sturdy option at the hot corner over the last several years. In 2015, he put up a league-average .244/.307/.435 slash, with 22 home runs, while showing a solid glove at third.

A deal of Plouffe had seemed a distinct possibility with the addition of Park, who will see significant time at DH and thus push top young slugger Miguel Sano onto the field. Sano has long been considered a third baseman, but Ryan says the hefty 22-year-old will be moved to the outfield, as the team has previously suggested could be the case.

If Minnesota holds firm in its stance, then the third base trade market will lose one of its most appealing potential options. And the Twins will keep Plouffe’s projected $7.7MM salary on the books.

For Ryan, the possibility of freeing some payroll and getting something back for Plouffe isn’t worth the trade-off. “We had trouble scoring runs last year,” he said. “We’re going to go with what we’ve got.”

AL Notes: Twins, Park, Soria, Tigers’ Pen

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It was a bit of a surprise to learn that the Twins emerged with the winning posting bid for Korean slugger Byung-Ho Park. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that there were multiple other bids of $10MM or greater, suggesting that Minnesota did not go much beyond the rest of the market to secure the rights. GM Terry Ryan explained that the club’s “evaluators think [Park] can make the transition” to the big leagues, as John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Minnesota sees the 29-year-old as a primary DH who is capable of filling in at first or even third. Ryan said that adding Park did not necessarily mean that third baseman Trevor Plouffe would need to be traded to keep exciting young power hitter Miguel Sano in the lineup. Explaining that the team is “adding, not subtracting,” Ryan said that it is “serious about the possibility of Sano playing in the outfield.”

Here’s more from the Twin Cities and their AL Central rivals in Detroit:

  • Righty Joakim Soria has drawn early interest not only from the Tigers, but also from the Twins, according to Wolfson (via Twitter). Minnesota has put out feelers on other relief arms as well, with the pen representing one priority along with the team’s catching situation.
  • Tigers GM Al Avila left no doubt in his comments today that his club intends to play at the top of the relief market, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. “We’re trying to get a closer,” Avila said. “Who that guy is right now, I can’t tell you. There might be a guy there that you might not think is a closer but we do, or we might go after a guy that’s already been a closer. I don’t know where it’s going to take me right now.” 
  • The new general manager did stress, though, that starting pitching remains the priority. He also added that Detroit could also shift those starters who don’t make the rotation into the pen, possibly including recent trade addition Michael Fulmer, as Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets.
  • The Tigers are also continuing to make good on the promise to build out their analytical department, and have hired former Blue Jays assistant GM Jay Sartori to run that area, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
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