Padres face Scherzer today, not a great recipe for their cold bats 
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1:59pm: The Yankees announced that they have acquired Maybin from the Indians and immediately selected his contract to the Major League roster. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Luis Severino was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.
11:31am: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees are sending cash to the Indians in return for Maybin.
11:06am: The Yankees have acquired veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Indians, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter link). He’d been with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league contract and was not on the club’s 40-man roster.
It seems quite plausible, however, that Maybin could be added to the big league roster in New York. The Yankees placed Clint Frazier on the injured list this morning and are also without Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Jacoby Ellsbury, leaving them with an outfield mix comprised of Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman and Tyler Wade.
Maybin, 32, has opened the season in Triple-A Columbus with a .229/.397/.292 batting line through 63 trips to the plate. He is, of course, a seasoned big league veteran who has logged parts of 12 seasons at the MLB level and compiled a career-long .254/.322/.368 slash line. Most recently, Maybin split the 2018 season between the Marlins and Mariners, hitting .249/.326/.336 with four homers and 10 steals in 384 plate appearances. He spent Spring Training with the Giants organization, but poor performance and a DUI arrest while in camp unsurprisingly led the Giants to move in another direction.
Defensively, Maybin isn’t the player that he once was, but he still boasts well above-average speed and has ample experience playing all three outfield spots. Last year’s 28.5 ft/sec average sprint speed, as measured by Statcast, ranked Maybin in the 84th percentile of all big leaguers.
The move seems likely to be a short-term boost for the Yankees’ outfield depth. If the team can manage to get each of Hicks, Judge, Stanton and Frazier healthy, there’d be little room with Gardner and Tauchman also in the fold. And if injuries to any of the Yankees’ key outfield assets prove to ultimately be more severe than initially feared, it’s likely that the New York front office would pursue a more impactful upgrade down the line.Comment -
The Tigers are holding their breath after seeing starter Jordan Zimmermann depart with discomfort in his right elbow, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press was among those to report on Twitter. More on his outlook will be known after he’s evaluated tomorrow, but it seems there’s a bit of worry from within the organization. Zimmermann’s tenure in Detroit has been nothing short of disastrous; he entered the season with a cumulative 5.24 ERA and is sitting on a 5.93 mark through six starts this year. The club owes him $25MM this year and the same for 2020.
More on the health front:
- Rangers lefty Drew Smyly says he thinks he’ll be capable of returning after skipping only a starter or two, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan tweets. He explains that he is just dealing with arm fatigue in his first full season back following Tommy John surgery. That’s reasonably promising news, standing alone. Trouble is, the Texas organization really needs innings right away. Prospect Taylor Hearn was bombed tonight, leaving the bullpen to pick up the pieces. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes on Twitter, veteran righty Jeanmar Gomez took the brunt of the damage and may now be at risk of losing his spot on the roster as the club scrambles to cover innings in the coming days.
- With loads of significant players on the injured list, there are always quite a few Yankees updates of note. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch rounds up the latest in one concise tweet. Aaron Hicks and Troy Tulowitzki both appear close to full (minor-league) game action, which suggests both may not be far off from a return to the MLB roster. Miguel Andujar is slated to appear at third base in extended spring action tomorrow. That represents the latest promising sign as he attempts to stave off surgery to address a shoulder injury that isn’t preventing him from hitting but has hampered his throwing. Just how that’ll all turn out remains to be seen, but it appears there is enough promise that he’s going to try to ramp back up at the hot corner.
- As for star Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, the biceps issue that drove him to the injured list appears to be sorted. But he’s now dealing with a new shoulder malady. Per Andy Martino of SNY.tv, the hope is that this new problem will only extend his absence by a week or so. It’s all a bit foggy but seems less than concerning on the whole, at least in comparison to the club’s overall injury malaise. Having treaded water admirably thus far, the Yanks can go another week without Stanton. They are still in good position in the AL East — so long as their health fortunes finally turn, at least.
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Yankees are playing great given the circumstances, next man up.Comment -
All eyes on Guerrero Jr.'s debut as Jays host A's
The Oakland Athletics will try to avenge a three-game sweep last week when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night and in the process spoil the major league debut of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Blue Jays, who swept the A's April 19-21 to complete a 6-1 road trip, announced after their 4-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday that Guerrero would be called up from Triple-A Buffalo to play Friday in the opener of the three-game series against Oakland.
Both teams had Thursday off. The A's are coming off a 6-5 walkoff win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday to complete a sweep of the three-game series.
Toronto will start right-hander Marcus Stroman (1-3, 1.76 ERA) who pitched into the ninth inning to defeat the A's April 19 and Oakland will start Mike Fiers (2-2, 8.28), who took the loss April 20.
Guerrero batted .367/.424/.700 in going 11-for-30 with three homers and eight RBI in eight games with Buffalo.Comment -
Good luck tonight gents i'll be watching nba tonight.Comment -
frick madbum down already...Comment -
Yankees guys stepping upComment -
Weird seeing Cameron Maybin in a Yankees uniform tonight after the Giants signed him to a minor league deal this offseason and subsequently released him a month later. The Yankees are so banged up they'll take anybody right now I guess.Comment -
Vladdy jr already making the game more fun for the fans.Comment -
Dodgers homer in record 33 straight home games
LOS ANGELES -- Cody Bellinger's one mighty swing of the bat was loaded with historical significance.
Bellinger hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers set a major league record with homers in 33 consecutive home games in a 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Bellinger's blast was noteworthy for other reasons, too. He moved into a tie for the major league lead for home runs with the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich at 13 and set the major league record for total bases in the months of March-April with 88. He also set a Dodgers record for home runs in March-April, moving past Matt Kemp.
With his total-base mark, he moved past former teammate Chase Utley, who had 85 total bases before the start of May in the 2008 season as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. Utley now works in baseball operations for the Dodgers.Comment -
Mark Melancon giving up a 2 run bomb to center field. Unreal.Comment -
Per a team announcement, Braves righty Mike Foltynewicz will be activated from the IL in time to make his first start of the season tonight against Colorado. Right-hander Bryse Wilson will head back to AAA-Gwinnett.
The hard-throwing Foltynewicz, 27, whose 96.4 MPH average fastball velocity was tops among all NL starters last season, was sidelined at the end of spring with a balky right elbow. Atlanta’ll hope his return quenches what’s been a parched Brave rotation in the early going – the club’s starters have thus far posted the NL’s highest walk rate, at 4.08 men per nine, with an ugly 4.50 xFIP that collectively ranks second-to-last in the Senior Circuit.
With shaky command from rookies Wilson, 21, Kyle Wright, and Touki Toussaint, plus the all-over-the-place nature of the recently demoted Sean Newcomb, Atlanta may need to move rotation help to the top of its mid-season shopping list.Comment -
Can't believe I was on the Mariners, 15 - 1, yikesComment -
Gary Sanchez's slam helps Yankees power through their injuries
SAN FRANCISCO -- Just when life was beginning to get pretty good for the mostly no-name New York Yankees, it got even better with one booming swing Saturday afternoon. Hello, big leagues, meet the healthier, rejuvenated Gary Sanchez.
With the bases loaded in the top of fifth inning Saturday at Oracle Park, Sanchez did something he had struggled with his past two games: He turned on a two-strike pitch. Not only did he make contact with it, he made monster contact, putting the baseball in a place no defender could even dream about getting it.
"The past couple of games I've had some struggles at the plate, and when I'm able to connect like that, I feel happy, and I'm going to show some emotion," Sanchez said through an interpreter, reflecting on the way he dropped his bat, clapped his hands and yelled into his dugout as he began a home run trot.
Sanchez turned so well on the 90.6 mph middle-in sinker from veteran lefty Derek Holland that he dropped the ball a whopping 467 feet away from home plate, way up into the left-center bleacher seats. Daytime, nighttime, anytime, it's hard to hit a ball that far in one of the best pitcher's parks in the majors.Comment -
Baby Vlad does have some Junk in the trunk.Comment -
Padres going for the sweep in Washington this afternoon
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Mariners coming crashing back down to Earth after that incredible startComment -
The White Sox announced that they have placed outfielder Eloy Jimenez (high right ankle sprain) and reliever Nate Jones (right elbow inflammation) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Saturday in both cases. The club recalled left-hander Aaron Bummer and righty Thyago Vieira in corresponding moves.
There’s no timetable for the return of Jimenez, whom the White Sox will re-evaluate in two weeks, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. They’re left to hope the 22-year-old makes it back in relatively short order thereafter, and Jimenez seems optimistic that will be the case.
“Yeah, it feels much better,” he said Sunday (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). “The first day, I couldn’t even walk. Now, I feel better. I can walk better. There’s no pain a lot now, just a little bit.”
Jimenez is one of the keys to Chicago’s rebuild, someone the team signed to a six-year, $43MM guarantee before he ever set foot on a major league diamond. And though Jimenez has gotten off to a slow start as a rookie, having hit .241/.294/.380 with three home runs in 85 plate appearances, that subpar production shouldn’t dampen the enthusiasm about his long-term outlook.
Jones’ latest ailment is troubling considering the laundry list of injuries, including to his pitching arm, he has battled during his career. Now 33, Jones has been among the game’s finest relievers at times, though this season has been another story. While Jones owns a 3.48 ERA and a 51.7 percent groundball rate in 10 1/3 innings, he has accompanied those respectable figures with a dip in velocity and declining strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates (8.71 K/9, 6.1 BB/9, 9.1 percent).Comment
they've been money thus far
