Kopech needs to stay healthy
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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve reinstated center fielder Luis Robert from the 60-day injured list. Outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte in order to open a spot on the active roster. Minor league outfielder Luis Gonzalez was released in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Gonzalez’s release may initially surprise some fans, given his standing as one of the organization’s 10 to 20 best prospects over the past few years, but he’s slated to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the team’s only recourse was to either release Gonzalez or add him to the MLB roster and place him on the Major League 60-day injured list. The Sox will opt for the former path and presumably look to re-sign him to a new minor league contract, as is fairly common in these instances.
As for the dynamic Robert, he’ll return after missing more than three months due to a Grade 3 hip flexor sustained back in early May. The injury initially called for a rehab period of 12 to 16 weeks, and he’ll return on the shorter end of that timetable. Robert appeared in a dozen minor league rehab games — four in Class-A Advanced and eight in Triple-A — and notched a combined .268/.388/.390.
Robert, 24, won a Gold Glove and finished second to Kyle Lewis in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He’s played in 81 big league games to this point in his young career, batting .259/.320/.444 with 12 home runs, 17 doubles, a triple and 13 steals (in 16 attempts). Strikeouts have been an issue (30.6 percent), but Robert has been regarded as an elite prospect since he left Cuba and signed with the Sox for a $26MM bonus (that came with a $26MM overage penalty for Chicago, whose bonus pool was just north of $2.9MM at that point). He then inked a six-year, $50MM contract extension with a pair of club options before even suiting up for his first big league game.
The White Sox lost both Robert and Eloy Jimenez early in the 2021 season, but they’ve nevertheless been able to steamroll a feeble American League Central, building a 10.5-game lead over the second-place Indians as of this writing. With Robert and Jimenez now back from injury and Craig Kimbrel at the back of the bullpen, the South Siders are as strong as they’ve been at any point this season. The division title has long looked like a foregone conclusion, but the return of their promising young outfielders and a few key deadline pickups have better positioned the Sox as a postseason threat.Comment -
Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert are back in the lineup for the White Sox.Comment -
The Padres should expect more out of Hosmer than what he did last nightComment -
Sox are absolutely stacked top to bottom.Comment -
LOLComment -
Lol, I haven’t cheered for the White Sox since they had the Big Hurt Frank Thomas. I have some beautiful Frank Thomas rookie cards by the way!Comment -
The Mets have been without Noah Syndergaard over the past two seasons as a result of his March 2020 Tommy John surgery. He’d embarked upon a minor league rehab assignment in May, but renewed elbow inflammation forced the club to shut him down for an additional six weeks.
Syndergaard is throwing again in hopes of a late-season return, but it seems the setback has cost him a chance at making it back as a starter. General manager Zack Scott suggested this evening the team is hoping to get the hard-throwing righty back as a reliever at some point next month (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com).
Allowing Syndergaard to work in shorter stints upon his return would reduce the amount of time he’ll need to ramp up arm strength in preparation. The 28-year-old still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment, and he’ll surely need multiple weeks to build back up even if he’s working toward a bullpen workload. With a little less than eight weeks remaining in the season, it seems the club would rather shorten that process and get Syndergaard back in some capacity as quickly as possible.
The Mets got good work from the starting rotation early in the season, but that hasn’t been the case in recent weeks. Since July 18 — when New York placed Jacob deGrom on the injured list due to forearm inflammation — Mets starters have a 5.79 ERA that ranks 26th leaguewide. Marcus Stroman and Tylor Megill have pitched well lately, but Taijuan Walker has been bombed over his past five starts and Rich Hill hasn’t missed bats since being traded to New York.
deGrom was shut down from throwing for two weeks following his own setback on July 30. The two-time Cy Young award winner is still hoping to pitch this season, but he’s facing similar time pressures as Syndergaard. There’s no indication at this point that the Mets are considering bringing deGrom back as a reliever as well. That said, there’s still plenty of uncertainty regarding his projected timetable.
The Mets’ rotation woes have contributed to a disastrous few weeks that has seen them fall to third place in the NL East. New York is still only 2.5 games back of the Phillies (and a half game behind the Braves), so there’s plenty of opportunity to right the ship. Getting some sort of contributions from Syndergaard — even if it’s not in the role hoped for entering the season — would be a nice boon to their chances of climbing back atop the division.
The final two months of the year are also critical to Syndergaard personally. He’s slated to hit free agency at the end of the season. His late-season form will certainly have an effect on the market he’ll find. Before the injury woes, Syndergaard looked like one of the top starting pitchers in this year’s class thanks to a 3.73 ERA/3.25 FIP between 2018-19.Comment -
Yes.
But he rubbed some of the old timers the wrong way with the backwards cap and all.
But he's a real nice friendly outgoing guy.
His daddy had a little bit of a reputation of being testy, but you have to remember Senior was a teenager in the 60's.
That wasn't a fun time to be a black teen. I'm too young to remember MLK, but I can imagine Daddy Griffey heard a lot of not very nice things back then.Comment -
Will the Thrill!Comment -
I know he did because he wanted to live closer to his relatives but I wish Griffey Jr. never left Seattle for Cincy.Comment -
The Mets are signing veteran outfielder Josh Reddick to a minor league contract, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (Twitter link). Reddick was released by the Diamondbacks on Monday.
Reddick signed a minors deal with the D-Backs over the winter and was selected to the big league roster in mid-May. His stint in Arizona wasn’t especially productive, though, as the left-handed hitter posted a career-worst .258/.285/.371 line over 158 plate appearances. With the last place D-Backs wanting to give a longer look to younger players on the roster, they designated Reddick for assignment last week.
Disappointing 2021 showing aside, there’s no risk for the Mets in adding Reddick on a minor league deal. The veteran has generally been a productive hitter over the course of his career, and he was a league average bat as recently as last season with the Astros. The Mets’ starting outfielders — Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto — all hit left-handed, but New York’s bench is stocked with righty bats. Reddick joins Mark Payton and Khalil Lee as high minors options the Mets could call on if they’re looking to add a left-handed hitter to the outfield mix.
Because he signed before August 31, Reddick would be eligible for the Mets’ postseason roster if New York were to qualify. The Mets’ win over the Nationals — coupled with the Phillies’ likely loss to the Dodgers tonight — figures to pull them within a game of the Phils and Braves for the lead in the NL East.Comment -
That scrub?
Vaguely.
That’s was known as an oversight of n my part.
That was a flawless swing that had no holes in it too.
Forgot about to Mattingly too.
And I was not a big Donnie Baseball fan either.
I have no idea as to why though, he just wasn’t ‘my guy’
WHat’s the old joke Donnie was the best 1B in the AL at he time but only the second best 1B in New York.Comment -
Tony Gwynn, one of (if not) the best hitters ever, I don't know about his swing. I just remember him from RBI baseball 2.Comment -
Shawn Green had a nice swing tooComment -
Chris Davis retires, he'll always have those 2013 and 2015 seasons. Also, the $161M contract he got out of Baltimore after 2015.Comment
