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NL Notes: Cardinals, Giants, Braves, Rockies

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Right-hander Luke Weaver entered spring training with a chance to win the last spot in the Cardinals’ rotation, but that bid officially ended when they optioned him to Triple-A on Saturday. Weaver dealt with back spasms earlier this month and performed poorly when on the mound.  In five spring innings, the 23-year-old allowed seven earned runs on seven hits and eight walks, and struck out only one hitter. Michael Wacha has fared much better, meanwhile, and taken hold of the No. 5 role as a result, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It seems Trevor Rosenthal will begin the year in the bullpen, then, though the Cards aren’t yet sure how they’ll use him. Both a long relief role and a “hybrid high-leverage job” are on the table for the former closer, per Goold.

More on St. Louis and three other National League clubs:

  • After sitting out nearly all of last season and then settling for a minor league contract with the Giants in December, Michael Morse could be hitting his way to a job as a bench player with the team. Regarding Morse, who has slashed .308/.400/.615 in 26 spring at-bats, manager Bruce Bochy said Friday (via Chris Haft of MLB.com), “If the bat plays, you find a place for him.” Morse had only lined up at first base this spring until he manned left field Friday, leading Bochy to note that “he needs more time out there.” It’s possible the right-handed Morse will end up platooning with lefty-swinging left fielder Jarrett Parker, writes Haft. The 34-year-old Morse realizes he’s not exactly an ideal fit for the outfield, though. “It was fun. It was like riding a bike … with two flat tires,” he quipped after playing left Friday (Twitter link via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area).
  • Although the Cardinals’ Matt Adams has only seen action at first base since debuting in 2012, the club will give him some left field work on the back fields of its minor league complex Saturday, tweets Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. St. Louis is “curious” to see how Adams will look in the outfield, adds Langosch. With Matt Carpenter taking over at first, Adams doesn’t appear likely to receive much playing time at his typical position this season. The fact that Adams slimmed down over the winter could help make him an outfield candidate, though the Redbirds already have everyday-caliber corner options in Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk.
  • There’s “nothing happening” right now between the Braves and free agent outfielder Angel Pagan, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). The Braves have reportedly made “multiple” attempts to sign Pagan, who’s among the best free agents still on the board, though he’s holding out for a higher offer.
  • Rockies left fielder David Dahl is making progress in his recovery from a ribcage injury and could “increase activity” soon, manager Bud Black told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Dahl was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his sixth rib 12 days ago, and the Rockies said at the time they’d re-evaluate him in two weeks. The highly promising 22-year-old has only taken four at-bats this spring.

Injury Notes: Indians, Orioles, Jays, Cards, Rockies

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The sore right shoulder that has bothered Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis this spring will likely keep him out to begin the regular season, manager Terry Francona revealed Sunday (via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer). Kipnis made his Cactus League debut as a designated hitter Thursday, before which he told Hoynes that throwing the ball – not swinging the bat – has caused him pain. However, on the heels of the Indians playing Kipnis in back-to-back games as a DH (the second of which took place Friday), they’ll shut him down for two weeks. While “nothing has gone haywire” in Kipnis’ recovery, according to Francona, the team is being careful because “it’s such a long season.”

More injury updates:

  • As is the case with Kipnis, the latest news on Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman’s shoulder isn’t ideal. The O’s shut Tillman down after he made approximately 10 throws during a long toss session on Sunday, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The next update on Tillman will come Monday, notes Kubatko, who reported Saturday that he’s likely to open the season on the disabled list. Baltimore won’t need a fifth starter until April 15, though, and it’s possible Tillman will be ready to go by then. If not, it would make for an inauspicious start to the final year of his contract.
  • With Opening Day nearing, Blue Jays superstar third baseman Josh Donaldson is beginning to ramp up activities as he works his way back from the strained right calf he suffered three weeks ago, writes Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. “I’m probably at 40 percent or 50 percent running right now,” said Donaldson. “And obviously, it’s got to get to the point where I can run 100 percent. I feel like, hopefully, that should be sometime next week, the way that it’s progressing now.”
  • It appears the right lat muscle soreness Cardinals righty Trevor Rosenthal has been battling will kill his chances of winning a place in the team’s rotation. Moreover, it could stop the ex-closer from beginning the year as a multi-inning fireman, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Rosenthal – now, saying could he get the innings he needs to contribute as a starter or a multiple-inning relief appearance? “I think that is still in question,” said manager Mike Matheny. “It’s very important that at some point this week he gets into a game and we can get that pitch count up.” Regardless of whether Rosenthal is well enough by April to toss multiple innings in an appearance, someone figures to serve as that type of weapon for the Cardinals. General manager John Mozeliak called it “very appealing” to Matheny, and Goold adds that John Gant, Matthew Bowman, Miguel Socolovich, Tyler Lyons and Sam Tuivailala are possibilities to fill that role.
  • Rockies reliever Chad Qualls has been on the shelf since suffering an elbow injury March 1, and his return isn’t imminent, skipper Bud Black told Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Qualls is still feeling “elbow discomfort,” leading the Rockies to take a cautious approach with the 38-year-old. Even though Qualls is due a $3.25MM salary this season, his roster spot was in jeopardy before the injury and that remains the case, according to Groke. Despite having induced grounders at a 55 percent clip and limiting walks (2.48 per nine), Qualls pitched to an ugly ERA (5.23) over 32 2/3 frames last season.

Central Notes: Brantley, Rosenthal, Brewers Catchers, Haley

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Indians outfielder Michael Brantley partook in a live batting practice session yesterday, which seems to have gone as hoped. The resulting optimism was still guarded, however, given his history. As Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets, skipper Terry Francona heaped praise upon Brantley while remaining wary of how things will proceed. “I mean, if this ends up where he’s not healthy, there is nothing more that he could have done,” said Francona. “He has worked his [tail] off. I’ve been proud of him. Now, I’m starting to get excited for him, because he’s getting closer. But, I think you have to temper it … .”

Here’s more from the central divisions:

  • There was a bit of a scare for the Cardinals when righty Trevor Rosenthal went in for an MRI after experiencing discomfort in his shoulder and back, but as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, the news was good. The hope is he’ll be ready to begin throwing again by the end of the week, though GM John Mozeliak noted the hurler will begin “preventative care” right away. It’ll hopefully be little more than a blip, but the time off does impact Rosenthal’s effort to work as a starter in camp. Whether he’ll move back to relief work upon his return isn’t yet known.
  • The Brewers are pushing their trio of catching competitors hard in camp, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. Manager Craig Counsell says that’s by design, as the club seeks to find out just what it has in backstops Manny Pina, Andrew Susac, and Jett Bandy. With the Brewers still haven’t tipped their hand as to which will make the roster and how the time will be shared, but Counsell says he’s pleased with how things have gone thus far. “As young players, we’re putting a lot of responsibility on them, also,” he said. “We’re all pleased with how they’ve accepted that responsibility.”
  • Twins Rule 5 pick Justin Haley is impressing the organization with his attitude in camp, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press writes. Skipper Paul Molitor praised the righty’s quiet competitiveness, which seems to be by design. “I’ve definitely made it a point, to kind of put it crudely, to shut up and listen,” Haley explains. “I came over here with open eyes and open ears.” Haley will be looking to carve out a role in the pen, but could still factor as a starter if he’s able to stick on the roster. He split his time last year between Double-A and Triple-A, combining for 146 2/3 innings of 3.01 ERA ball with 7.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.

Injury Notes: Kazmir, Cashner, Rosenthal, Naquin, Angels

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Scott Kazmir left today’s Cactus League start in the second after a mound visit from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and the team’s trainer, Doug Padilla of ESPN.com was among those to report. Kazmir’s departure, which came just one pitch into his second inning of work, was the result of tightness in his left hip, per Sportsnet LA’s Alanna Rizzo (Twitter link). The southpaw is headed for an MRI that the team is terming “precautionary” at this point, per Rizzo, though certainly given Kazmir’s extensive injury history, the situation is worth keeping an eye on. Kazmir is slated to slot into the fourth or fifth spot in the Los Angeles rotation this season and has a guaranteed $32MM remaining on his contract over the next two seasons (though $8MM of that sum is deferred to 2019-21).

Some more injury updates from around the league…

  • With Opening Day just four weeks away, Rangers right-hander Andrew Cashner has not yet progressed to throwing off a mound, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Cashner is currently playing catch from 85 to 90 feet, but he’s been slowed this spring by tendinitis in his right biceps. The 30-year-old inked a one-year, $10MM contract with Texas this offseason and had been penciled into the back of the team’s rotation, but if he’s delayed much further, Opening Day could certainly be a question mark for Cashner. A.J. Griffin, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Nick Martinez, Eddie Gamboa and Dillon Gee are among the Rangers’ candidates to round out the rotation; Yohander Mendez and Connor Sadzeck were both optioned to Triple-A today, per a club announcement.
  • Trevor Rosenthal was scratched from today’s start due to a tight right lat muscle, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny tells Langosch that Rosenthal will need a bit of extra rest but didn’t consider the injury to be serious in nature. Brian Stull of WGNU 920AM in St. Louis tweets that an MRI performed on Rosenthal came back clean, and the closer-turned-starter is now targeting Friday of this week for his first start of the spring.
  • The Indians breathed a collective sigh of relief today as x-rays on Tyler Naquin’s foot came back negative, per Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (on Twitter). The 25-year-old former first-round pick exited yesterday’s spring contest after fouling a ball off his foot. Naquin surprised many with a breakout rookie season and an excellent .296/.372/.514 batting line with 14 homers in 365 plate appearances last year. With Michael Brantley’s health an ongoing question mark and Rajai Davis now in Oakland, a significant absence for Naquin would been a highly unfortunate hurdle for the reigning AL Champs to face early in the year.
  • J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group provides a couple of health updates on some mending Angels (Twitter links). Albert Pujols is set to run the bases today for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair his plantar fascia, while right-hander Cam Bedrosian will face hitters for the first time this spring as he throws to minor leaguers on a back field at the Halos’ complex. Pujols underwent surgery in early December and was given a rough four-month timeline for his return to the playing field. Bedrosian, meanwhile, was slowed a bit by a groin strain earlier in camp but looks to be getting back up to speed. The ninth-inning hopeful hit the DL last season due to a finger injury and ultimately required surgery to repair a blood clot in his right arm. With Huston Street going down for the next three to four weeks, Bedrosian’s main competition for the closer’s gig looks to be veteran Andrew Bailey.

NL Central Notes: Reds, Cardinals, Brewers

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Reds first baseman Joey Votto turned in yet another all-world season at the plate last year, but that accompanied an uncharacteristically poor defensive campaign. After finishing with fewer than four Defensive Runs Saved in just one season from 2008-15, Votto logged a ghastly minus-14 DRS to finish worst among first basemen last year. In regards to his most recent output in the field, Votto told Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer: “I didn’t prepare properly. I had to do a lot of catching up during the season. The unfortunate thing of hitting versus defense is I’m probably a more natural hitter than I am a defensive player. When I don’t prepare to the utmost in one aspect of my game that’s not a strength, I’m way behind everybody else.” Votto wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so he spent the offseason doing unspecified work to improve his defense, relays Buchanan.

More on Cincinnati and two of its division rivals:

  • Jumbo Diaz was among the few Reds relievers who prevented runs at a respectable rate in 2016, when he registered a 3.14 ERA in 43 innings (that did mask an unappealing 5.24 FIP, granted), yet he’s not a lock to make their bullpen this year, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Diaz is out of options, so his four-year tenure with the Cincy organization could be in jeopardy. Having yielded six earned runs on eight hits in three spring innings, the 33-year-old is cognizant of the fact that he’s not in an ideal situation. “I know I am fighting for a spot here,” he told Sheldon. “So far in my outings, I’m not doing so well. But I think I’m throwing hard and can get on track and be ready for the season. I feel good right now. I think I will do everything I can [to get] ready for my outings every time I go to the mound.” Diaz will join the Dominican Republic team in Miami on Sunday for this year’s World Baseball Classic, and manager Bryan Price wonders if the right-hander will see enough work in the tournament. “My only concern is [that] he gets regular work in the Classic, and if they’re playing for a long time that he’s being used on a regular basis,” Price said.
  • After nearly three years as the Cardinals’ primary closer, right-hander Trevor Rosenthal is vying for a spot in the team’s rotation, though it’s unlikely he’ll end up a starter, suggests Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Redbirds “don’t really know” what Rosenthal’s role will be in 2017, per manager Mike Matheny, but given that they’re stretching him out, odds are he’ll end up as something between a starter and a closer, writes Goold. The hard-throwing 26-year-old could give the Cardinals their own version of Cleveland’s Andrew Miller – someone capable of handling high-leverage situations and tossing multiple innings in an appearance.
  • The Brewers had six starters throw at least 100 innings last season. While all of them remain with the organization, only  righties Junior Guerra and Zach Davies are locks to crack the major league rotation again this season, according to manager Craig Counsell (via Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com). The others – 2016 innings leader Jimmy Nelson (179 1/3), Matt Garza, Chase Anderson and Wily Peralta – are competing with newcomer Tommy Milone for the Brewers’ final three starting spots. “It’s the best way,” said Counsell, who’s “happy” with the rotation depth Milwaukee possesses.

Cardinals Not Expected To Pursue Pitching Additions Following Reyes Injury

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The Cardinals took a significant hit this week with the news that Alex Reyes will require Tommy John surgery, but the team doesn’t expect to pursue remaining free-agent arms to replace the touted 22-year-old, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com offers a similar take, noting that the organization will utilize Spring Training to evaluate right-handers Michael Wacha, Luke Weaver and Trevor Rosenthal (formerly the team’s closer, though Seung-hwan Oh now owns that title) as options.

Certainly, the free-agent market still bears a number of alternatives, though the majority of arms that are still available at this juncture of the offseason come with perhaps as many questions as any of St. Louis’ internal candidates. Doug Fister, Colby Lewis, Jake Peavy and Jered Weaver are among the top right-handed names left on the market, while Jorge De La Rosa and Jon Niese are the two available lefties that have most recently enjoyed big league success. None of the names in that group enjoyed a fully productive or healthy 2016 campaign. The trade market, of course, bears a far more appealing name in White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, but the asking price on the excellent southpaw remains extremely high.

Per Langosch, Wacha appears to be the early front-runner to join Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn and Mike Leake in what will be an all-right-handed rotation. Still just 25 years of age, Wacha has been plagued by shoulder injuries in recent seasons and posted a disheartening 5.09 ERA in 138 innings last year. However, his strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates all remained fairly consistent relative to his more successful 2013-15 seasons, and his average fastball (93.2 mph) was the same as it was in a very solid 2014 campaign.

ERA alternatives pegged Wacha for a mark much closer to 4.00 than his 5.09 mark, with FIP leading the charge at a solid 3.91. Wacha did experience a stark increase in BABIP last season, as his average on balls in play rose from .272 in 2015 to .334 last year. Also working against him was a strand rate (64.7 percent) that sat six percent below his career mark. Wacha logged a 3.21 ERA in 353 innings from 2013-15, so it’s certainly plausible that he can return to form if his shoulder holds up.

As for Weaver (Luke, not Jered), the young right-hander was the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2014 and has received some Top 100 prospect fanfare from pundits around the game. He posted a sensational 1.30 ERA in 83 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last season, averaging 10.0 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 before struggling in his MLB debut. The 23-year-old was charged with 23 earned runs on the strength of 46 hits and a dozen walks in 36 1/3 big league innings, resulting in a dismal 5.70 ERA. Weaver threw just six innings in Triple-A last season — his only experience at that level — so it’d hardly be a surprise if the preference among St. Louis decision-makers was for him to get a bit more minor league seasoning.

Rosenthal was at one point a vaunted starting pitching prospect broke but into the league as a reliever in 2012 and never looked back. He posted a 2.78 ERA with a 25-to-7 K/BB ratio in 22 2/3 innings of relief as a rookie and was entrenched in the ninth inning less than two calendar years later. Rosenthal, though, saw his control dissipate in 2016 (6.5 BB/9) and surrendered considerably more hits (on a rate basis) than he ever has in his career. A .425 average on balls in play against him assuredly didn’t help his cause, but throwing strikes and commanding the ball within the zone were both obvious issues for the former All-Star in 2016. Beyond that, his season was shortened by shoulder inflammation. In his absence, the newly signed Oh (who formerly starred as one of the best closers in KBO and NPB history) seized hold of the Cardinals’ closer role.

Looking past that trio, the Redbirds have options in the form of southpaws Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales as well as right-hander John Gant (who came over to the Cards in the Jaime Garcia trade). While the addition of depth on minor league deals should probably never be ruled out for any club, the Cards do seemingly possess enough depth to weather the loss of Reyes. Should further injuries arise in camp, the team could always look to external options, but significant additions don’t seem likely at this point.

Cardinals Notes: Outfield, Rosenthal, Third Base

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We’ll add to a Cardinals–heavy Sunday here at MLBTR with more out of St. Louis, courtesy of Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com:

  • The Redbirds have an impressive selection of outfielders with Dexter Fowler, Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham on hand, but they’re looking to add to the group. General manager John Mozeliak is specifically seeking a left-handed hitter (Piscotty, Grichuk and Pham are righties) who can play multiple positions in the grass. There’s a wide array of current free agents who match that criteria.
  • The Cardinals still intend to stretch out erstwhile closer Trevor Rosenthal, a plan which Mozeliak first revealed in November, but it doesn’t seem as if he’ll have a chance to crack their rotation. Instead, the goal is for Rosenthal to serve as a versatile bullpen option. “I think all of us were intrigued by how the postseason went this past year and how pitchers were being used,” said Mozeliak, surely referring to the Indians’ October deployment of Andrew Miller. “I’m not one who thinks that’s really something you can replicate in a 162-game season, but clearly it could be a weapon down the road if you do get to the postseason.”
  • There “will be a competition” for the starting third base job this spring, according to Mozeliak. Jedd Gyorko and Jhonny Peralta will vie for the role after experiencing vastly different 2016 campaigns. Gyorko hit a solid .243/.306/.495 and popped a personal-best 30 home runs in only 438 plate appearances, whereas the normally steady Peralta may have endured the worst year of his career. While battling injuries, the 34-year-old batted .260/.307/.408 and posted a negative fWAR (minus-0.5) in 313 PAs.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Quite frankly, there were too many arbitration agreements today to reasonably stuff into one post. So here’s a rundown of the National League players that have avoided arbitration on smaller deals (American League deals here). You can see all of the arbitration “action” thus far in a sortable, filterable format by checking out MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. All projections referenced in this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Wily Peralta and Carlos Torres have agreed to one-year deals, according to the team’s Twitter account. Peralta will earn $4.275MM (compared to $4.4MM projection), per Heyman. Torres was projected to make $2MM, but will get slightly more at $2.175MM, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter).
  • Reliever George Kontos gets $1.75MM from the Giants, Heyman tweets. He had projected at $1.7MM.
  • The Diamondbacks also reached agreement with lefty Patrick Corbin, righty Randall Delgado, and catcher Chris Herrmann, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (links to Twitter). Delgado gets $1.775MM and Herrmann receives $937,500. As for Corbin, he’ll take home $3.95MM, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), which falls a bit shy of his $4.2MM projection.
  • Infielder Eduardo Nunez will receive $4.2MM from the Giants, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). San Francisco has also reached agreement with lefty Will Smith, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). He’ll receive $2.5MM, just over his $2.3MM projection, Heyman tweets.
  • The Phillies settled at $4.2MM with righty Jeanmar Gomez, per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He falls just a big shy of his $4.6MM projection.
  • The Cardinals have announced arb deals with Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist. Rosenthal receives $6.4MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which is just $100K over his projection. Siegrist projected at $1.9MM, but his salary has yet to be reported.
  • Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom have each avoided arbitration with the Mets. Harvey gets $5.125MM in his second arb year, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Meanwhile, deGrom will receive $4.05MM in his first trip through the arb process, per ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin (via Twitter). New York has also agreed with lefty Josh Edgin, Rubin tweets, though terms remain unreported.

Earlier Updates

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Cardinals Eyeing New Role For Trevor Rosenthal

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The Cardinals intend to stretch out former closer Trevor Rosenthal as a starter, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. While it seems he’ll have at least some chance of earning a rotation spot, it may be that a more flexible relief role could be the end result of the experiment.

Rosenthal has long been seen as a candidate to attempt a return to starting, but it has never really been pursued since he held such a critical role in the Cards’ pen. But skyrocketing walk rates and some injuries pushed Rosenthal out of the ninth inning last year, and Seung Hwan Oh has now firmly taken the reins as the closer. Still, St. Louis has a lot riding on Rosenthal, who MLBTR projects to earn $6.3MM in arbitration.

“It terms of role we’re going to see how things go, but we’re open to anything,” GM John Mozeliak says of Rosenthal. “It was something that he has had a desire to do. As we were looking at all the different moving pieces it doesn’t hurt to have an extra arm, and in the past we’ve felt like an extra arm would help. As you start to think about bullpen structure and multiple innings it makes sense to have people prepared to do more than just a one-inning stint.”

Rosenthal certainly has the high-octane stuff to possibly feature in the kind of flexible, sometimes multi-inning role in which Andrew Miller flourished for the Indians. Michael Wacha, too, could evolve into that kind of weapon for the Cards, Goold notes, even if the team hopes he’ll be prepared to take a full starter’s load in 2017. With at least five other viable rotation candidates, though, perhaps a modified role could be a way to receive value from Wacha while allowing him to build his strength and return to his prior form.

It’s notable, too, that the Cards have yet another theoretical option for a multi-inning role that’s more than just long relief. Jaime Garcia had his share of struggles last year, as did Wacha, but has produced top-tier results when healthy in the recent past. Of course, his balky shoulder may make flexible relief usage a dicey proposition. Garcia could still be flipped in a trade, but the team already exercised his option and seems currently slated to utilize him in some kind of relief capacity (assuming, at least, that Lance Lynn returns healthy next spring).

Quick Hits: McCann, Cards’ Pen, Salazar, Rea

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We’ve long heard chatter about a possible reunion between Yankees catcher Brian McCann and the Braves, and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman provides some hints about where things stand. New York has asked for righty Mike Foltynewicz or center fielder Ender Inciarte to part with the veteran receiver, which certainly sounds like a non-starter from here. An arrangement could yet make sense, Bowman writes, but Atlanta won’t include either of those two players.

Here are a few more notes from around the game:

  • Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes a long look at the question of whether the Cardinals can mimic some of the Indians’ success in finding a top-notch relief pitcher to throw in a flexible capacity, as Andrew Miller has done for Cleveland. Goold wonders whether either Trevor Rosenthal or Michael Wacha might be positioned to function in the role that he dubs the “fixer.”
  • Indians righty Danny Salazar may not just be a part of the World Series roster; he may be able to start. Manager Terry Francona wouldn’t rule out that possibility to reporters including Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. Francona has cast doubt previously on Salazar returning at all, noting that he had yet to throw at full capacity; this time, though, he says the prized righty was able to ramp up his arm speed and “threw the ball really well.” A three-inning sim game this weekend may decide Salazar’s postseason fate.
  • The Padres are still finding cause to hope that righty Colin Rea can stave off Tommy John surgery, which he has sought to do through a combination of platelet-rich plasma treatment and rehab/rest. As AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets, the team is deciding just how to give him some postseason pitching work to help make a final decision. Rea could appear in the Arizona Fall League, take part in live BP, or even head out for a partial winter ball run. Regardless, Rea is set to throw competitively in about three weeks’ time.
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