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Seranthony Dominguez

Phillies Notes: Harper, Dominguez, Realmuto

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There’s plenty of negativity on which to dwell in times such as these, but many of the game’s top players continue to their efforts to help those in need and inspire hope. To that end, Bryce Harper announced Thursday (via Twitter) that he and his family are donating $500,000 in partnership with Direct Relief, Three Square Las Vegas and Philabundance to “those in most immediate need” of aid against the spreading COVID-19 virus.

“Now is the time to come together and adhere to the guidelines of medical professionals!” wrote Harper. “We are wishing the best to all with our prayers during this time.” Harper joins Dexter Fowler, Freddie Freeman, Adam Wainwright, Shin-Soo Choo and dozens upon dozens of other big leaguers who have been active in their communities and made charitable contributions in the fight against the pandemic.

A couple more notes out of Philadelphia…

  • A decision on right-hander Seranthony Dominguez’s right elbow is on “pause” for now, general manager Matt Klentak told reporters Thursday (link via Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer). The Phillies’ medical staff recommended Tommy John surgery after an MRI, and Dominguez was slated to receive a second opinion shortly thereafter. However, that recommendation coincided with the implementation of travel restrictions in Dominguez’s native Dominican Republic, and the righty quickly traveled back home to be with family while he was still able. Now, Dominguez’s second opinion and potential surgery are both on hold. Klentak acknowledged that Tommy John is still a definite possibility but stressed that the situation is not black-and-white. “For a lot of players, surgery is the last option they want to consider,” said Klentak. “…Before we go down that road we just want to make sure that everybody’s in agreement that [Tommy John surgery] is the right course of action.”
  • Also on hold for the time being are the team’s extension talks with star catcher J.T. Realmuto. The league mandated that extension talks be halted during MLB’s league-wide roster freeze, so the two sides can’t even talk about a potential long-term deal. Klentak emphasized today, though, that he hopes to eventually rekindle talks with Realmuto’s camp. “I think you all know that we love J.T., and he’s a player that we would love to have with us for the long haul,” said the GM. Realmuto was reportedly seeking to top Buster Posey’s $159MM guarantee and set a new average annual value precedent for catchers — which could’ve meant an asking price upwards of $26-27MM annually over a six-year term. He’s slated to become a free agent in the 2020-21 offseason.

Seranthony Dominguez Considering Tommy John Recommendation

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Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez has battled elbow problems for some time now, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Still, it’s disappointing to learn that doctors have recommended he undergo Tommy John surgery, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dominguez is still weighing his options at the moment. There’s some uncertainty in the underlying test results, it seems, so Dominguez is holding out hope that rest and rehabilitation will offer an alternative path back. Per Lauber, the right-hander plans to pursue further testing once a second Spring Training begins.

Even if Dominguez had a change of heart, it may be tough for him to get the work done at this point. He’s back home in the Dominican Republic and travel isn’t exactly straightforward. And scheduling a non-essential procedure such as TJS during the coronavirus pandemic may or may not be possible. (Several pitchers have managed, though circumstances are changing daily.)

The ulnar collateral ligament has long proved problematic for the 25-year-old. He tried a PRP treatment and rehabilitation course last year but ultimately made only 27 appearances and didn’t return to action after hitting the injured list in early June. While he showed some promise this spring, Dominguez ultimately suffered a setback. The postponement of the 2020 season leaves additional time for further rehab efforts, though it’s fair to wonder whether he’ll finally be able to get over the hump without an invasive treatment.

Seranthony Dominguez Slated For MRI Following Setback

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March 12: Dominguez has an MRI scheduled for this afternoon, he tells Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The right-hander said the discomfort he feels isn’t as bad as last season but added that he’s “really concerned” about the upcoming tests.

March 11: Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez has experienced a setback in his elbow rehab efforts, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports. Details on his anticipated timeline remain unknown.

Dominguez had hoped to be ready for Opening Day and has appeared in some spring action. Unfortunately, he is said to have experienced some issues during his most recent outing on Sunday.

As Salisbury details, Dominguez went through a lengthy rest and rehab process last year after being diagnosed with an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament. He seemed to be ramping up well this spring after a nice long layoff, raising hopes that he’d be a notable part of the pen picture early in the season.

The Phillies would obviously benefit from the 2018 version of Dominguez. As a rookie, he threw 58 innings of 2.95 ERA ball. He took a step back while battling injury woes last year but still managed 10.6 K/9.

Perhaps it’s still possible that this’ll mostly be a blip. Whether or not Tommy John surgery will go back on the table remains to be seen.

Phillies Notes: Lineup, Hunter, Dominguez

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With the recent news that Andrew McCutchen will open the season on the IL, Phillies manager Joe Girardi will have to decide on what to do about the leadoff spot, as Todd Zolecki of MLB.com observes. Girardi mentioned Scott Kingery, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn as options. But Girardi also “did not rule out” J.T. Realmuto, and he went on to note that he is taking the new three-batter minimum into consideration when thinking about lineup construction. “You want to bring in your lefty to face Bryce (Harper),” he says, “but I’m going to have him surrounded with my best two right-handers around him. So pick your poison.” Regardless of the solution, Girardi and Phillies fans will be hoping for McCutchen to return in short order and retake his position at the top of the lineup.

  • Per reports from Matt Gelb of The Athletic and Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports, expectations are that right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter will begin the season on the IL. The 33-year-old will be ready “a month or so into the season,” Salisbury adds. Hunter’s 2019 season was ended by elbow surgery in July. But that didn’t stop the Phillies from giving him an incentive-laden deal in February. Hunter was quite effective for the Phillies in 2018, providing 64 innings with an ERA of 3.80. However, he was limited to just 5 1/3 innings in 2019 before the aforementioned elbow issues. It remains to be seen which version the Phillies will get in 2020.
  • Like Hunter, righty Victor Arano also seems ticketed for the IL to open the year, according to Gelb. Arano appeared in just three of Philly’s games last season (all in April) before elbow surgery knocked his year off the rails and stopped him from building on a quality 2018. That season, Arano notched a 2.73 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 2.58 BB/9 over 59 1/3 frames.
  • With Hunter and Arano joining David Robertson on the IL, that could create high-leverage opportunities for other relievers, such as Seranthony Dominguez. However, it’s still not clear if he can avoid the IL himself. Salisbury notes that Dominguez himself “believes he will be ready for opening day, but officials will be cautious.” The reliever emerged as a weapon out of the Philly bullpen in 2018, putting together 58 innings of work with a 2.95 ERA, even compiling 16 saves in the process. The following year, however, saw that ERA balloon to 4.01 over 24 2/3 innings before a ligament strain in his right elbow finished his season on June 5th. The 25-year-old pitched in a simulated game on Sunday, with Girardi noting that his fastball got up to 94 mph. That’s still short of his normal average of 98 mph, according to StatCast. But Philly fans will surely take solace in the fact that he is seemingly healthy and still has some time to ramp up to full strength.

Health Notes: White Sox, Leake, Perez, Dominguez

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The White Sox opened camp with a series of unwelcome injury developments, as each of Yasmani Grandal, Lucas Giolito and Gio Gonzalez are all dealing with minor injuries (link via Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times). Grandal injured his calf in the weight room last week, and an MRI revealed a minor calf strain. Giolito is working through a strained muscle in his chest, and Gonzalez is battling some discomfort in his left shoulder. However, GM Rick Hahn expects all three to be good to go by Opening Day and referred to the injuries as “minor.” Grandal clearly isn’t overly worried about his status, as he joked with reporters that he was merely trying to get out of some running drills in Spring Training (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin). Giolito, meanwhile, is already throwing from 120 feet and said he’s “zero percent” concerned about his injury.

Some more health/injury notes from early on in camp…

  • Diamondbacks right-hander Mike Leake is undergoing an MRI after experiencing soreness in his left wrist following a fall at his home, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters today (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan). Lovullo described the MRI as precautionary in nature, so it doesn’t seem as though the organization is overly concerned at the moment. Leake, 32, landed in Arizona following a deadline swap with the Mariners and pitched to a 4.35 ERA in 60 innings (10 starts). Leake fanned just 27 hitters in those 60 frames but was quite stingy in terms of issuing free passes as well, surrendering just eight bases on balls. The ever-durable righty made at least 30 starts for the eighth consecutive season in 2019, eating up 197 innings between Seattle and Arizona.
  • After missing the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery, Royals stalwart Salvador Perez is ahead of schedule and expected to be ready for Opening Day, new manager Mike Matheny told reporters (link via MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan). Perez is already throwing to second base without issue and is slated to meet with his doctors tomorrow for another check-in. Interestingly, Matheny suggested that Perez would not only see some time at designated hitter early in the season but also at first base, as the Royals look to be cautious with his throwing workload.
  • Phillies right-hander Seranthony Dominguez managed to avoid Tommy John surgery last year after an elbow scare, and he now appears to be on track for Opening Day, tweets Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dominguez resumed throwing in December and has now thrown three bullpen sessions — including one earlier today. The 25-year-old was lights out in his debut effort back in 2018 and took a step back in limited action in 2019 before hitting the injured list. In 82 2/3 innings between those two seasons, he’s pitched to a 3.27 ERA with 11.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 16 saves.

Pat Neshek Undergoes Hamstring Surgery

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Veteran righty Pat Neshek has undergone surgery to repair his injured right hamstring, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on Twitter. Neshek had been weighing a procedure against other potential courses of action.

Obviously, this news means that the hurler isn’t going to return to the field of play in 2019. It’s all but certain he won’t be back with the Phillies next year, at least not under his existing contract. The club will surely pay him a $750K buyout rather than picking up an option at $7MM.

Whether Neshek will attempt to work back and continue pitching remains to be seen. He doesn’t have anything to prove after 13 productive years in the majors, even if this last campaign did not go according to plan. But the crafty hurler would be sure to find an opportunity to compete for a job in camp if he’s interested.

This was Neshek’s worst campaign in quite some time. He ended up with a 5.00 ERA over 18 innings with just nine strikeouts and five home runs allowed. But he had been on an extended run of productivity before that, including an injury-shortened ’18 effort in Philadelphia in which he pitched to a 2.59 ERA over 24 1/3 innings.

In other Philly bullpen news, the club is seeing progress from righties Juan Nicasio and Seranthony Dominguez, though it still seems that any contributions will come quite late (if at all). The former got back on the bump today while the latter is ten days out from his first work from the hill. Though Nicasio is slated to reach free agency at season’s end, Dominguez could be an important part of the 2020 Phillies relief corps if he can continue to make progress with his elbow health.

Injury Notes: Dyson, Cueto, Polanco, Dominguez, Morejon

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The Twins are waiting to see how reliever Sam Dyson responds to some time off to deal with recurring biceps soreness. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey discussed the matter with reporters including Phil Miller of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). It’s an effort to “get out ahead” of things, says Falvey. The Twins need their most significant trade deadline acquisition at top form with a major postseason clash beckoning. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been himself since coming over. Dyson owns a 7.15 ERA in a dozen appearances in Minnesota.

More injury updates from around the game …

  • Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto, on the mend from 2018 Tommy John surgery, experienced a setback in his most recent rehab outing, tweets Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News. He’ll be reevaluated in the next few days but won’t be an option for the team as soon as originally hoped. Manager Bruce Bochy had previously put a tentative date of Sept. 8 on a return for Cueto, but that no longer appears to be a plausible timeline. Back tightness, rather than arm issues, has caused the revised timeline. While there’s still hope that Cueto will make it back to the big-league bump this season, the organization will surely avoid any unnecessary risks.
  • A few Pirates outfielders won’t return to action this year, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twitter links). Gregory Polanco will receive platelet-rich plasma injections in a bid to spur healing in his troublesome shoulder. That’ll be a key situation to monitor in the offseason for the Pittsburgh organization. Jason Martin now has his own shoulder malady to deal with: a separation suffered yesterday. He’s expected to miss the rest of the year. Infielder Kevin Kramer will come up to the active roster due in part to Martin’s absence. Though Bucs righty Mitch Keller was hit in the wrist with a batted ball yesterday, he was able to play catch today. his timeline isn’t clear, but that certainly seems like promising news.
  • The Phillies got some promising news on righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez, who has at times seemed destined to miss the rest of the season. Despite a recent scare, he has shown enough progress in his elbow health to resume throwing, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters including Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philly (via tweet). It’s still not clear that Dominguez will have enough time to ramp up and return to active duty, though perhaps there’s still an outside shot.
  • Padres southpaw Adrian Morejon will not make it back to the bigs in 2019, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. That’s not to say that the widely hailed 20-year-old isn’t making progress. His injured shoulder is in good enough shape to allow Morejon to resume throwing. Though he struggled quite a bit in limited MLB action, Morejon has generally shown all the skills that made him a consensus top-100 leaguewide prospect. He’ll likely again factor into the San Diego plans next season, though he’ll do so without much of an innings base to work from. Morejon has not yet thrown more than 65 1/3 frames in a given campaign and fell shy of that mark this year.

Latest On Seranthony Dominguez

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Phillies right-hander Seranthony Dominguez has spent much of the 2019 season trying to avoid Tommy John surgery, though an upcoming medical examination could finally send the former closer under the knife.  As manager Gabe Kapler told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury and other reporters, Dominguez will be examined by the head of the Phillies medical staff this week after the righty experienced elbow soreness during his most recent throwing session.

Dominguez has been sidelined since early June, and it seemed like surgery was all but assured after tests revealed a damaged ulnar collateral ligament.  Instead, Dominguez opted for a PRP treatment after a consultation with Dr. James Andrews, in the hopes that the reliever could potentially heal in time for a return before season’s end.  Now, “one would suspect that surgery is a strong possibility” if Dominguez is still sore after all this time, Salisbury writes.

After bursting into the majors with an impressive 2018 rookie season, Dominguez’s performance took a step back, though he was still largely an effective reliever over 24 2/3 frames for the 2019 Phillies.  Dominguez posted a 4.01 ERA, 10.6 K/9, 54.5% grounder rate, and 2.42 K/BB, though an increased homer rate and big BABIP jump (.220 in 2018 to .323 in 2019) conspired to boost the 24-year-old’s ERA over a full run beyond his 2.95 mark from last season.

Though Dominguez wasn’t expected to factor into save situations quite as often, the Phillies were still excited to see what the homegrown product with the 97.8 mph fastball could do in his sophomore campaign.  Instead, Dominguez was one of a seemingly endless string of injured Philadelphia relievers, and should Tommy John surgery indeed be his fate, he’ll also miss the entire 2020 season.

NL Notes: Nimmo, Phillies, Guerra

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The words “bulging cervical disc” are likely to produce a wince from even the most stoic of readers, but it seems that Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo has managed that exact injury well enough to make a return to playing baseball in the coming days. Per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News, it seems that Nimmo, who hasn’t appeared with the Metropolitans since mid-May, could rejoin the team as soon as tomorrow according to manager Mickey Callaway (link). After a brilliant 2018 in which the 26-year-old slashed .263/.404/.483 with a 149 wRC+, Nimmo was expected to be a large part of New York’s playoff push; instead, his injury largely opened the door for an emergent J.D. Davis, who has more than helped account for Nimmo’s absence with a 131 wRC+ in 374 trips to the plate this year.

Still, fellow Mets outfielder Michael Conforto is excited about Nimmo’s return: “He can be a gamechanger,” Conforto told Thosar. “He gets on base and there are days where he just doesn’t get out. If he’s feeling 100% healthy, he’ll be a serious weapon for us.”

More notes from around the National League on the last day of August…

  • The Phillies were just 3.0 games back in the NL Wild Card race entering play Saturday, but the team can count out three of their pitchers for the rest of the year. According to a tweet from Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (link), Philadelphia hurlers Seranthony Dominguez (elbow soreness), Adam Morgan (elbow), and Pat Neshek (hamstring) will all be held out through season’s end. None of these pitchers have appeared in August action; all were expected to be key contributors to the Philadelphia staff this year, which helps explain how the Phillies pen has struggled to a collective 4.70 ERA on the year (20th in MLB).
  • San Diego Union-Tribune writer Kevin Acee says it “sounds like” the Padres are set to promote relief prospect Javy Guerra when rosters expand tomorrow (link). That a 23-year-old Double-A reliever would receive a September cup of coffee on a losing team is hardly an earth-shattering development–except for the circuitous route that Guerra has taken to this point. When the club acquired Guerra in 2015 as part of the Craig Kimbrel deal, he was seen as the second key piece in a four-player package headlined by outfielder Manuel Margot. Of course, Guerra was a shortstop at the time–and one highly touted enough to slot in immediately as San Diego’s third-ranked overall prospect following the deal. Several years of putrid offensive production followed before Guerra finally started pitching full-time this season. Early results are promising: his first taste High-A yielded a 3.71 ERA and 12.18 K/9, and Double-A results through 4.1 innings included a 2.08 ERA and 14.54 K/9 mark.

Phillies Acquire Mike Morin From Twins For Cash Considerations

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The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired right-handed pitcher Mike Morin from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for cash considerations, the team announced. Seranthony Dominguez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Morin on the 40-man roster.

The Twins designated Morin for assignment earlier this week in order to activate Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron from the injured list. The 28-year-old gave the Twins two solid months of production out of the bullpen. He ends his Minnesota tenure after 23 appearances with a 3.18 ERA across 22 2/3 innings.

In contrast with his sparkly ERA figure, fielding independent pitching pegs Morin’s runs per nine at 4.50. Taken in conjunction with a 4.4 K/9 and .230 BABIP, and there’s cause enough to suspect Morin benefited from a tough of good luck while pitching for the Twinkies. Still, by pounding the zone (5.5 BB%) with an arsenal of downward driving sinkers, changeups, and sliders, Morin has suppressed opponents’ launch angle to a below-average 8.2 while limiting hard contact to just under 30% (league average is 34.4%).

If Morin keeps generating groundballs as he has for the Twins (47.4 GB% versus a career mark of 42.3%), he would fit the profile of someone capable of outperforming his FIP with some regularity – but that’s not been the book on Morin in the past. He is, however, prominently featuring a sinker for the first time in his 6-year career. Morin’s career resume includes a 4.48 ERA across 209 relief appearances for the Angels, Royals, Mariners and Twins.

For the Phillies, Morin provides another low-cost option for a pen that has thus far been unspectacular. Phillie relievers rank in the bottom-10 league-wide in ERA and FIP while pulling 29th with a -0.7 fWAR so far in 2019.

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