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Moved SP Woodruff for George Springer and Luke Voit. Could easily backfire if Springer elbow issues are worse than initially thought but my team needs offense and should be getting Sale and/or McCullers back soonComment -
Phillies get the Padres in the night capComment -
11:54am: Judge and the Yankees have agreed to a $19MM guarantee, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). That’s the exact midpoint between the filing figures, although the deal contains additional possible incentives. Judge would make an additional $250K each were he to win the AL MVP and World Series MVP awards this season.
11:35am: The Yankees and Aaron Judge have agreed to a contract to avoid arbitration, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). They’d been slated to go through a hearing this afternoon, but the last-minute settlement dodges that necessity.
Judge and the Yankees had been set to proceed through the process with the largest gap in filing figures between any player-team pairing this season. Judge’s camp had filed for a $21MM salary, while the Yankees countered at $17MM. MLB’s arbitration system doesn’t permit adjudicators to land on a midpoint; had they gone to a hearing, the arbitrators would’ve had to set Judge’s salary at either $17MM or $21MM. By avoiding the process, the parties can come together at a mutually-agreeable middle ground. That avoids any potential acrimony arising in an adversarial hearing for the face of the franchise.
This was the final season of arbitration-eligibility for Judge, who’s a few months away from his first trip to the open market. He turned down a seven-year, $213.5MM extension offer during Spring Training. Betting on himself looks as if it’ll pay off handsomely, as the slugger will be arguably the top talent available.
Judge topped MLBTR’s initial Power Ranking of the upcoming class a month ago, and he’s mashed at a .288/.369/.606 clip since that point. He enters play Friday owner of a .302/.379/.663 line overall, and his 27 home runs are six clear of anyone else in the game. He’s set to hit free agency in advance of his age-31 campaign and looks to be on track for an eight-plus year deal if he continues performing at an elite level for the season’s final three-plus months.
As most are probably aware by now, Judge’s incredible 2022 production would not have been admissible in his arbitration case. The arb process typically takes place over the offseason, with salaries decided in advance of Opening Day. Last winter’s lockout froze league business for over three months, leaving insufficient time for players, teams and arbitrators themselves to sort out all the cases during Spring Training. Hearings thus lingered into the season, but MLB and the Players Association agreed that all cases had to based on the player’s pre-2022 body of work.
Judge, of course, had a robust career track record even before this season’s MVP-caliber first half. He entered the year a career .276/.386/.554 hitter, collecting a trio of All-Star appearances and two Silver Slugger awards in the process. The Fresno State product hit .287/.373/.544 with 39 homers and 98 runs batted in last season, a platform performance that’d set him up for a lofty raise relative to his $10.175MM salary from 2021.
The resolution of Judge’s case officially closes the books on the 2021-22 arbitration class. 31 players had situations that lingered into the season, although the majority reached in-season agreements or multi-year contract extensions. Of the 13 players who proceeded to hearings this season, four won their case, according to the Associated Press.Comment -
Sounds like a bargain for Judge.Comment -
Reds visiting the Giants today and I'm sure Pham is hearing it non stop from the fans in the bleachers. He's certainly getting booed every time he steps to the plate in Oracle Park this weekend.
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Pham is not playing with a full deck.
Guy always angry about something feeling like he is slighted...Comment -
Hedricks with a gem last nightComment -
Vintage Hendricks fun to see.Comment -
I'm going with the Phillies tonight. Snell hasn't won a game.Comment -
Judge is waaaay under paid.Comment -
Judge will be a Yankee for life imo. I think he loves it there and the Yankees know he sells tickets plus he more than lives up to the contract. Plus they can actually pay him whatever it takes to keep him in pinstripes. I'd be very surprised if he played anywhere else the rest of his career.Comment -
Snell is a mental midget...had good stuff but unraveled after hitting Harper
Padres have lost every single one of his starts
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They will sign Judge to a monster contract after the season.Comment -
After years of declining offense, the Cardinals optioned Paul DeJong to the minors in early May. Since that time, he’s showed some improved results, relatively speaking. Through 37 games with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, he’s hitting .230/.276/.500. The resulting 95 wRC+ is still below league average, but is miles ahead of the 25 wRC+ he posted at the MLB level this year.
Even if DeJong were to take a step forward and get into a nice groove, it will be difficult for him to force his way back to the big leagues due to the success of those already there. John Mozeliak, the team’s president of baseball operations, spoke to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the situation recently. “The way Tommy Edman’s playing, and we’re getting a lot of production out of our second basemen, (DeJong) is going to have to hit his way back,” Mozeliak said. “It’s really been a situation where he would go down, get himself right and then come back. In the meantime, there’s been a little bit of a Wally Pipp situation where the players who have taken over those positions have been thriving.” For those unfamiliar, Wally Pipp was a Yankees first baseman who was once replaced by Lou Gehrig, who then went on to play 2,130 consecutive games. Since then, Pipp’s name has become synonymous with a player’s job being stolen and never relinquished.
As Mozeliak mentioned, Edman is indeed playing well. The positional switch doesn’t seem to have slowed him down at all, as Statcast currently pegs him as having provided five Outs Above Average at both second base and shortstop, totaling ten on the season. DRS and UZR are similarly bullish on his glovework at both positions. At the plate, he’s hitting .274/.347/.407 for a wRC+ of 119. That’s just shy of the 124 from his rookie season and much better than the 91 he posted in each of the past two seasons.
As for the second basemen that were alluded to, since Edman moved to primary shortstop duty, the keystone has been manned by rookies Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman. Both of them are having great seasons at the plate, with Donovan hitting .311/.422/.416 for a wRC+ of 146 and Gorman slashing .255/.317/.455 for a wRC+ of 120. With the Cards getting that type of production from their middle infield, it’s understandable that they’re going to making DeJong show another gear before giving him another shot. DeJong is turning 29 in August and still under contract through 2023 at a $9MM salary. There are also club options for 2024 and 2025, at $12.5MM and $15MM, though those seem sure to be bought out, barring a major turnaround in the meantime.
Elsewhere on the roster, Mozeliak notes that Steven Matz has recuperated from his shoulder issues enough to throw a bullpen session and seems lined up to start a rehab assignment on Tuesday. Signed to a four-year, $44MM contract in the offseason, Matz has only been able to make nine starts so far, with diminished results. His 6.03 ERA is certainly unsightly, but there’s likely some misfortune in there. Matz actually improved his strikeout and walk rates compared to last year, but has a .350 BABIP, 67% strand rate and 21.1% HR/FB rate, all of those being worse than his career averages. As such, all of the advanced metrics believe him to be much better than that ERA, with xFIP going so far as to place him at 2.98. When Matz returns, he will likely join Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson in the rotation, leaving Andre Pallante as the odd man out. Pallante has a 2.03 ERA through 48 2/3 innings thanks to a healthy 62.7% ground ball rate. However, his 15% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate are both worse than league average, with a .282 BABIP and 91.3% strand rate helping him keep that ERA down.
One member of the team who doesn’t seem close to a return, however, is franchise catcher Yadier Molina. Hummel relays that he has returned to his home in Puerto Rico while rehabbing his knee, with no timetable for his return. Turning 40 in a just over two weeks, Molina has already declared that this will be his final season. However, knee soreness has limited his production to a line of .213/.225/.294 on the year for a 47 wRC+. Andrew Knizner has gotten the bulk of playing time in his absence, though he’s hitting just .185/.281/.244 on the season for a 60 wRC+. With just over a month to go until the trade deadline, the health of Molina’s knees and the status of Knizner’s bat could compel the team to consider outside options before the August 2 cutoff.Comment -
Ronald Acuna Jr. fouled a ball off his left foot during Saturday’s game, and the injury eventually forced the Braves star to leave the lineup. While x-rays were negative, Acuna told reporters (including ESPN’s Marly Rivera) today that a trip to the 10-day injured list is a possibility “because I can’t put any weight on my foot.” To this end, Acuna had to use a scooter to get around the clubhouse today, though he wasn’t wearing a protective boot.
The Braves don’t play on Monday, so the team might take an extra 48 hours to evaluate Acuna to see if an IL stint is indeed necessary. However, it is probably likely that the Braves play it safe and put Acuna on the injured list, given his health history and his import to Atlanta’s lineup.
It has been almost two full months since Acuna was activated from the injured list, after his right ACL tear prematurely ended his 2021 season last July. Acuna has hit .281/.372/.455 with seven home runs over 196 plate appearances in 2022 — well above-average numbers, though actually a step behind the MVP-level production Acuna generated in 2018-21. The Braves eased Acuna back into action with some DH days early in his return, though he has played his last 20 games in right field.
If Acuna does have to visit the IL, it will further hamper an Atlanta club that is already missing Ozzie Albies due to foot surgery. On the plus side, the Braves have been able to get by just fine without Albies, as they are baseball’s hottest team in June — Atlanta is 19-4 this month, heading into tonight’s game with the Dodgers. With Acuna out, the Braves could give Guillermo Heredia more playing time, or use Marcell Ozuna more as a corner outfielder than as a designated hitter.Comment -
Harper going down affects my fantasy team but hopefully he is able to recover and play again this season. If he has surgery though the prognosis for his timetable isn't as good so hopefully my team can stay in the playoff mix without his services for an extended period of time.Comment -
The Cardinals announced this afternoon that both Jack Flaherty and Harrison Bader are headed to the injured list. Flaherty, as a pitcher, lands on the 15-day IL with what the team is calling a right shoulder strain. The position player Bader heads to the 10-day IL as he battles plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
To replace the duo on the active roster, the Cards selected outfielder Conner Capel and reliever James Naile onto the big league club. St. Louis had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster after placing southpaws Génesis Cabrera and T.J. McFarland on the COVID-19 list in recent days. Each of Capel and Naile would be making their major league debuts if they get into a game.
Flaherty’s injury is the most notable development. The star right-hander has spent a good chunk of the last two years on the IL, most recently as he’s battled continued shoulder problems. He lost a month last season due to a shoulder strain (in addition to a longer stint with an oblique injury), then spent the first two-plus months of this year on the shelf with what the pitcher identified as bursitis in Spring Training. Flaherty was only just activated for his season debut a couple weeks ago, and he made three appearances before leaving yesterday’s start after the second inning.
It’s an alarming recent injury history, and it seems the 26-year-old is going to miss a notable chunk of time yet again. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat and Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) that Flaherty’s again dealing with bursitis. Mozeliak said the club was “pretty optimistic” Flaherty will be able to return at some point this season, but he didn’t provide more specifics on a timeline.
Flaherty joins Steven Matz on the injured list, leaving the club with a starting four of Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Andre Pallante at the moment. Top prospect Matthew Liberatore would seem the logical candidate for the fifth spot, but he has just four MLB appearances under his belt. The Cards sit a game back of the Brewers in the NL Central and seem likely to at least dabble in the trade market for starting pitching before the August 2 deadline, particularly if Flaherty’s indeed looking at another months-long recovery process.
In addition to losing arguably their best pitcher, St. Louis will be down their primary center fielder for at least a week and a half. Bader has started 65 of the team’s 75 games this season, hitting .256/.303/.370 with five home runs through 264 plate appearances. That’s a step back from his offensive production of 2020-21, but he’s swiped 15 bases and consistently rates as one of the game’s top defensive outfielders.
Bader’s absence leaves the club without a true center fielder, as right fielder Dylan Carlson looks likely to slide up the middle for now. That figures to be a notable defensive downgrade, although the Cards do have players like Lars Nootbaar and designated hitter/corner outfielder Juan Yepez capable of subbing in for Carlson in right.
Capel joins that mix, having spent much of his minor league career in right field. Originally selected by Cleveland in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, the Texas high school product was dealt to St. Louis in the Oscar Mercado trade in 2018. He’s spent the past few seasons slowly moving through the ranks in the upper minors, and he earns a big league call with a career-best 2022 showing for Triple-A Memphis.
Over 252 plate appearances this year, Capel is hitting .271/.361/.466. He’s popped nine homers, stolen 16 bags and drawn walks at an excellent 11.9% clip. The 25-year-old hasn’t appeared on an organizational prospects list at FanGraphs or Baseball America since 2019, and the Cards decided against adding him to the 40-man roster last winter — leaving him eligible for selection in a Rule 5 draft which never wound up transpiring. He’s elevated his stock enough in the past couple months to join the big league corner outfield rotation.
Naile, 29, is a seven-year minor league veteran. Originally a 20th-round selection of the A’s in 2015 out of UAB, he remained in the Oakland system through 2021. The right-hander never reached Oakland’s 40-man roster and hit minor league free agency at the end of last year. He signed a non-roster pact with St. Louis over the winter.
After working as a starter for much of his time in the A’s system, Naile has come out of the bullpen for 24 of his 27 outings with Memphis. He’s tossed 46 2/3 innings of 3.28 ERA ball in that new role, often working two innings at a time. Naile has a modest 21.1% strikeout rate, but he’s only walked 5.5% of batters faced. He’s also induced grounders on over 55% of batted balls, a trait the front office has prioritized given the club’s excellent infield defense. He’ll add a multi-inning arm to Marmol’s bullpen.Comment -
Machado might be back this week...that injury looked so bad, im shocked he is getting close.Comment -
Were the As supposed to be the worst team this year?Comment -
Blake Snell isn't anywhere near as good as he use to be.Comment -
Tampa Bay had some magic on Snell.Comment -
Man, what's up with Kershaw? Why is he losing against the Rockies?Comment -
Will Rockies sweep dodgers in the midweek?Comment -
Padres blow a 6-0 lead in the late innings.
Gutting loss, probably the worst one of the season.Comment -
JMobile must be down alot of money in the last 2 days.Comment -
3 bombs for Reynolds today.Comment
