-
Comment -
Kershaw another fine late season performance..... Then he kicks the cooler after getting pulled
Comment -
Ugly loss for St. Louis tonight. What makes it worse is I was backing them...
Comment -
The Indians don’t seem to have much hope of getting veteran starter Corey Kluber back at any point in the 2019 season. As Ryan Lewis of the Beacon Journal recently reported, Kluber is still limited to doing aquatic exercises as he works to recover from an oblique injury.
That status hasn’t changed in the past few days, leading MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian to tweet that it’d be a surprise to see Kluber back in the regular season. Perhaps a postseason return can’t be ruled out entirely — remember Kyle Schwarber? — but it feels quite unlikely.
Trouble is, there just isn’t much time for Kluber to rebuild his arm strength even if he can get past the oblique issue. As skipper Terry Francona put it, “He’s got a ways to go.” Given that Kluber was already working back from a forearm fracture when he suffered the new injury, it’d be difficult to justify an aggressive build-up.
If indeed Kluber is done pitching for the year, it would mean the Indians won’t have a chance to glean further information before deciding on his club option. On the one hand, given Kluber’s still-recent history of dominance, it’s hard to imagine the team passing on the $13.5MM price tag in favor of $2MM in total buyouts. That’s particularly true with another option year still to come for 2021. On the other, the 33-year-old struggled even before he went down and will now be working back from a completely lost campaign. And the cost is far from insignificant to the budget-watching Cleveland organization.Comment -
Former Cardinals OF Chris Duncan dies at 38
ST. LOUIS -- Chris Duncan, a former outfielder who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 2006 World Series, died Friday. He was 38.
Duncan, the son of former St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan and brother of former major leaguer Shelley Duncan, died of brain cancer in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
"The Cardinals are deeply saddened by the passing of Chris Duncan and extend our heartfelt sympathy to his wife, Amy, the entire Duncan family, and his many friends," Cardinals Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. "Chris was an integral part of our 2006 championship team and a great teammate and friend to many in the organization."
Duncan hit .257 with 55 home runs and 175 RBIs in 381 games in five seasons with the Cardinals. After his playing career, he worked as a sports radio host at 101ESPN (WXOS-FM) in St. Louis.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.Comment -
Sad, too young for Dunc....RIPComment -
Too young to die.Comment -
I doubt Giants win two in a row.Comment -
Max Muncy’s wrist fracture wasn’t thought to be an overly serious injury, and the Dodgers infielder is now aiming to be back on the field on Friday when Los Angeles begins a series against the Mets. As Muncy told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter links) and other reporters, he felt “better than I expected” after taking regular swings in the batting cage today. Needless to say, the Dodgers will be careful with their slugger’s progress, as there’s no urgency to get Muncy back in immediate fashion since the team is running away with the NL West. Still, it’s an excellent sign that Muncy has seemingly avoided what initially looked like a season-threatening injury.
More from around the division…
- A blister issue forced Robbie Ray to leave during the fifth inning of the Diamondbacks’ win over the Reds on Friday, though he told media (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic) that the removal was somewhat precautionary, as the blister hadn’t actually formed. As a result, Ray feels he’ll be able to make his next scheduled start. Ray didn’t want to leave the game but “at that point I’ve got to look at the bigger picture. It’s tough, but you understand it’s the right thing to do.” With the red-hot D’Backs on a run of 11 wins in their last 12 games, Ray (now the rotation’s veteran stalwart in the wake of the Zack Greinke trade) certainly wants to remain able to contribute to the team’s push for a wild card berth.
- Franchy Cordero has suffered another setback while rehabbing a quad injury, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Padres manager Andy Green told Sanders and other media members that Cordero’s bothersome left leg “just doesn’t feel as explosive as the other leg,” and that Cordero has “been slowed down to hopefully ramp him up again in a couple days, but I think we know where the clock is on this season. It’s ticking. I don’t know if he or isn’t going to get back.” Elbow and quad problems have limited Cordero to only nine games in 2019, and since Green said that the club’s priority is to get Cordero healthy for the offseason, the outfielder likely won’t be brought back for a few token appearances if there’s any hint he might not be 100 percent.
- In more promising Padres health news, Green is hopeful that both Garrett Richards and Jacob Nix will be able to get onto a Major League mound before the 2019 campaign is out. Richards is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, while Nix has been working through a small UCL tear in an attempt to avoid his own TJ procedure.
- Alex Dickerson has missed the Giants’ last four games due to a right oblique injury, and the outfielder will miss more time after receiving a cortisone shot, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). There isn’t yet indication that Dickerson could miss the season’s final few weeks, though this is the second time in Dickerson’s brief San Francisco tenure that he has been slowed by a right oblique injury — he spent two weeks on the IL in August due to a strain. When Dickerson has been able to play, he has something of a revelation, hitting .308/.374/.579 with six homers over 147 plate appearances in a Giants uniform. This has put him into the mix for regular outfield duty in 2020, though as Bochy noted, the club would like to get some more evaluation time on Dickerson before the season is out.
Comment -
Good luck to any of those heading into fantasy baseball playoffs!Comment -
Cubs' Baez dealing with hairline fracture in thumb
MILWAUKEE -- The Chicago Cubs' postseason hopes were dealt a significant blow on Saturday, when an MRI revealed that star shortstop Javier Baez has a hairline fracture in his left thumb.
Baez, 26, will see a hand specialist on Monday to determine how long he'll be out of the lineup, but it's safe to say the rest of his regular season is in jeopardy.
"It's a big blow," veteran teammate Jon Lester said before the Cubs played the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. "Middle-of-the-order guy and our shortstop. It's tough.Comment -
Dodgers will be ok without Muncy.Comment -
Dodgers finally turned up tonight, didn't sweatComment -
Red Sox out unless they can get a 10 streakComment -
Mike Tauchman departed during the fourth inning of Sunday night’s game with what the Yankees described as left calf tightness. The outfielder suffered the injury while fielding a Brock Holt single, though he told reporters (including James Wagner of the New York Times) that he had recently been dealing with a sore calf and thought he was beyond the problem after a pair of pain-free games. Tauchman will undergo an MRI on Monday in New York to determine the extent of the issue.
One of many unsung heroes who have stepped up in the wake of a cavalcade of Yankees injuries, Tauchman hit his 13th homer of the season Sunday, improving his slash line to .277/.361/.504 (128 wRC+) over 296 plate appearances. After two seasons as a spare-parts outfielder with the Rockies, Tauchman has broken out in a major way, which would make it all the more unfortunate if a potential injured list stint were to cut into his availability for the postseason roster. If Tauchman does have to miss time, the Yankees still have Clint Frazier and Cameron Maybin (himself just returned from a wrist injury) as left field options, and Giancarlo Stanton looms as a potential late-season reinforcement at some point in September.
More on other injury situations from around the game…
- “I can’t take a swing without pain,” Mike Moustakas told reporters (including JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) about the deep wrist bruise that has limited him to a non-hitting role. “I can hit flips, I can hit BP, and there’s still pain there, but that’s not what’s concerning. It’s when I swing and miss or I check swing and I have to hold my bat.” The Brewers third baseman sat out seven games within a recent nine-game stretch while trying to recover, and has appeared in each of the club’s last two games but only as a defensive replacement. While he is happy to help in any way possible while recovering, Moustakas is understandably eager to more fully contribute, and hopes he is getting close to feeling normal at the plate. “When I’m in an at-bat facing a major league pitcher, you don’t want to be thinking about how bad your hand hurts when you’re trying to hit,” Moustakas said. “You want to have a clear mind and go out there able to compete. I wasn’t able to do that the last week or so.“
- As Ramon Laureano works his way back to full health after suffering a stress reaction in his right shin, Athletics manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Laureano will likely play in only two of every three games. “This probably isn’t going to be an everyday proposition for him for a while,” Melvin said. Laureano didn’t go through a rehab assignment before returning from his five-week stint on the IL, and left Saturday’s game after suffering a cramp in his right leg.
- Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has been battling a lower-body injury, manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and other reporters. The problem is “not a red flag for us,” Roberts said, though he noted that Kelly’s delivery is still being somewhat altered by the injury. Kelly pitched on Saturday after sitting out the Dodgers’ previous five games. After signing a three-year, $25MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter, Kelly badly struggled over his first two-plus months but then stabilized things, posting a 2.00 ERA over his last 27 innings (28 outings).
Comment -
Laureano is interesting, who loses ABs? Canha? Khris Davis?Comment -
That was a stupid move by the Red Sox firing there GM.Comment -
Cole's 15-K birthday gem powers Astros' 21-1 win
HOUSTON -- Gerrit Cole celebrated his 29th birthday by allowing one hit with 15 strikeouts in a season-high eight innings, and the Houston Astros routed Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 21-1 on Sunday to complete a four-game sweep.
Cole (16-5) won his 12th straight decision and joined Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers in major league history with 14 or more strikeouts in three straight games. Cole leads the major league with a career-high 281 strikeouts, and his 2.73 ERA in second in the AL behind the 2.52 for teammate Justin Verlander.
Chris Devenski struck out two in a perfect ninth, finishing a series in which Houston outscored the Mariners 41-15.Comment -
Cubs out in San Diego.Comment -
Red Sox got another nice ass whopping. For now they've run out of GM's to fireComment -
Cole finished me off in style in my h2h money league in the semi-finals. At least I'm in the playoffs in my Yahoo h2h league with a bunch of guys I've been playing with for about 15 years. Even though we're not playing for anything other than bragging rights I always want to win this league because its so darn competitive and everybody knows their stuff.Comment -
The Yankees have lost outfielder Mike Tauchman for the remainder of the regular season and quite likely for the entirety of the postseason. The team announced to reporters that Tauchman has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 calf strain (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).
Initial indications are that Tauchman will be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks. That spells big trouble for his hopes of being a part of the Yankees’ postseason roster. It’s theoretically possible that Tauchman could be ready if the club makes it into the World Series, but it seems likelier that he won’t suit up again this season.
If this is the last we’ve seen of Tauchman in 2019, his last impression was a good one. Tauchman was two-for-two before departing last night, bringing his season-long batting line to a hefty .277/.361/.504 slash with 13 home runs over 296 plate appearances. That’s stunning production from a player who was acquired late in Spring Training when he became a Rockies roster casualty.
It’s fair to ask whether Tauchman’s output is sustainable. We did just that in early August, and he responded by ripping off another strong month at the plate. While there’s still cause for some wariness, there’s also little doubt that Tauchman deserves to enter camp in 2020 with a presumption of an active roster spot. (It’s worth noting that he’ll be out of options.) Whether or not that’ll be with the Yanks remains to be seen; the Bronx Bombers could take any number of different directions in compiling their outfield unit over the offseason to come.Comment -
Big Papi surprises fans with 1st pitch at Fenway
David Ortiz made a surprise appearance at Fenway Park on Monday night for the first time since he was shot in a botched assassination attempt in his native Dominican Republic in June.
Ortiz, a beloved figure among the Boston Red Sox faithful, got a standing ovation before throwing out the first pitch prior the game against the New York Yankees.
Ortiz, introduced on the public-address system as a symbol of "resilience, strength, triumph and love," ran up the steps from the dugout to the field, appearing strong and healthy, before throwing a pitch to former teammate Jason Varitek.
"I want to thank God for giving me a second opportunity in my life to be here with all of you," Ortiz said to the crowd. "I want to thank the Red Sox, my real family. They always have been there for me, supporting me. ... They were the first ones there supporting me."Comment
