The Cycle, Issue 80: Heard You Missed Us, We’re Baaack!
Give me something to write on, man. How about backyard grand slams, long-lasting batteries, Dipoto's extension, season-ending injuries, a recap of the weekend, a preview of the week, and much more!
In this issue of The Cycle . . .
What’d I Miss? Other than you
Did You See That? A Blue Jays comeback, Vogelbach’s backyard grand slam, thoughts on Kyle Seager, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, and more highlights
Series 45: The Dodgers and Giants’ play their final head-to-head series of the regular-season while things tightening up in the wild-card races, NL East and AL West
On Deck: a viewer’s guide to the week
Newswire: Oracle Park concessions workers vote to strike for safer conditions
Injured List: Rounding up season-ending injuries from the last few weeks as well as the weekend’s injured-list moves and the latest fallout from the Red Sox’s COVID outbreak
Transaction Reactions: Travis d’Arnaud’s extension plus some veteran faces in new (and old) places
Feedback
Closing Credits
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What’d I Miss?
My dear Cyclists, it is so good to be back in your eyes again. I want to thank you for patience and patronage and apologize for the fact that my absence was more extensive than intended. I had to skip two issues I had hoped to write as the timing of my editing project slipped slightly and proved more challenging to finish than anticipated. Fortunately, Substack enables its authors to paused subscriptions during such absences, so no one was paying for newsletters they didn’t receive.
I had fun catching up on some of the stuff I missed this weekend. Some of the things I surely would have covered had I been writing all along were Tyler Gilbert’s no-hitter, Miguel Cabrera’s 500th HR, the Dodgers’ City Connect uniforms, the Yankees’ 13-game winnings steak, the Orioles’ 19-game losing streak, and the tightening of the National League West and NL wild-card races. It’s less clear that I would have commented on the Mets’ extracurricular nonsense or the ongoing legal situation of the Dodgers’ pitcher I’d rather not name. Still, I hope to circle back to some of those topics as early as Wednesday’s issue.
For today, I decided the best plan was to (mostly) write as if I had last published on Friday. This is thus a fairly typical Monday issue (minus the Explanatory Wins standings, I have some time-consuming data crunching to catch up on those), though I do reach a bit further back to comment on some notable injuries and transactions that predate the just-completed weekend. With that said. Let’s get on with it . . .
Did You See That?
Friday, September 3
The Blue Jays entered the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night trailing the A’s 8–2. They then tied the game by scoring six runs with two outs, capped by a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. grand slam off Yusmeiro Petit, only for closer Jordan Romano to give up a two-out, two-run home run to Mark Canha in the top of the ninth. The A’s brought Sergio Romo on to close out the 10–8 win in the bottom of the ninth, but Breyvic Valera singled, George Springer doubled to put the tying runs in scoring position, and Marcus Semien proved that the batter’s box was scoring position by blasting a three-run walk-off home run to give the Blue Jays an 11–10 win. All of which seemed impressive until Sunday.
In the category of milestones you didn’t know were significant, on Friday night, Adam Wainwright started a game for the Cardinals with Yadier Molina behind the plate for the 300th time. The Cardinals’ duo already ranked fourth all-time on the list of starts by a given battery, having passed the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale and Johnny Roseboro (283) earlier this year, but they are now just the fourth battery to make 300 starts together. They trail only the Tigers’ Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan (324), the Braves’ Warren Spahn and Del Crandall (316), and the White Sox’s Red Faber and Ray Schalk (306).
There’s not enough season left for the duo to catch Faber and Schalk, but, a couple of weeks ago, the Cardinals inked Molina to a one-year, $10 million extension for next year in late August (a dubious decision given that Molina is now a 39-year-old catcher who has posted an 85 OPS+ over the last three seasons, but a beneficial one for our purposes here). Wainwright, is a year older than Molina and turned 40 on August 30, but he the right-hander has been excellent since the start of the abbreviated 2020 season (133 ERA+ in 37 starts, with that same ERA+ in 27 turns this year), and could very well return to join Molina in chasing down Lolich and Freehan in what Yadier has already said will be his final season.
One note here: I can’t seem to find any indication as to whether or not that total of 300 starts includes the postseason. My assumption is that it does not, but Wainwright has made “only” 15 postseason starts (he missed the 2011 championship season entirely due to Tommy John surgery and pitched in relief in the 2015 postseason following an Achilles injury), and Molina only caught 14 of those starts. So Lolich and Freehan, who started four postseason games together (all of which saw Lolich pitch a full nine innings), are the record-holders by either measure.
Saturday, September 4
Saturday was a relatively uneventful day in MLB, particularly for a day in which there were 16 games on the schedule (the Mets and Nats split a double-header in Washington). The performance of the day came from 28-year-old Brewers righty Adrian Houser, who shut the Cardinals out on exactly 100 pitches, allowing just three baserunners, all on singles, none of whom advanced past first base. Houser, who is enjoying his best big-league season thus far, faced the minimum through six innings and struck out seven for his first career shutout, just the 27th complete-game shutout in the majors season, and the first shutout by a Brewers pitcher since Craig Counsell took over as manager in early 2015. The last shutout by a Brewers starter prior to Saturday was Kyle Lohse’s gem in Cincinnati (two hits, no walks, 106 pitches) in his final start of the 2014 season.
On the other side of the ball, veteran Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager went 2-for-5 with a pair of three-run home runs, and thus 6 RBI, in an 8–5 Mariners win over the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, the second breaking a 5–5 tie in the sixth to set the final score. Those were Seager’s 32nd and 33rd round-trippers of the season. His previous career high was 30, set in 2016, and there are still four weeks left in this season. He’s just six RBI behind his career-best in that category, as well (99, also set in 2016), but his overall production has been undermined by his .214 batting average. That last has been an issue for Seager in recent years. He hit .266 through his age-28 season, but just .232 since, and his OPS+ has dropped from 119 in that first portion of his career to 104 in those last five seasons (it’s 107 this year). An increase in strikeouts and a drop in batting average on balls in play have contributed to that decline in performance. This is the final year of the seven-year extension Seager signed after the 2014 season, and he’ll turn 34 this November. The Mariners have a $15 million option on him for next year that they seem sure to decline, though that doesn’t rule out re-signing Seager at a lower salary. He didn’t blossom in to the star the Mariners expected when they gave him that extension, but he has remained a roughly league-average player and a team leader.
Finally, the Saturday’s most exciting play came in the opener of the Mets-Nationals double-header. With the Mets already up 7–0 in the bottom of the third, one out, and Juan Soto on first, Josh Bell hit a would-be double-play to shortstop Francisco Lindor, who was playing on right side of the field in the shift against the switch-hitting Bell. Lindor flipped the ball to third baseman Jonathan Villar at second base, but Villar dropped the ball and lost track of it as it rolled toward second baseman Javier Báez. Soto slid past Villar, quickly assessed the situation and took off for the uncovered third base. Stroman seeing the same thing, broke from the mound to third, and Báez, who had begun chasing Soto on foot, fed the ball to Stroman, who made a diving tag that nabbed Soto on the left leg just before he reached the base. Explain to me again how banning the shift would make the game more exciting?
Sunday, September 5
Sunday was a much more exciting day of baseball than Saturday. Several players had four-hit games, including DJ Peters, who tallied 11 total bases (one more than in a cycle) as the Rangers’ designated hitter. Yankee catcher Gary Sánchez and Cubs infielder Matt Duffy both hit two home runs including a grand slam. Dansby Swanson sealed the Braves’ 9–2 win with this wild over-the-shoulder catch. Blue Jays centerfielder Randal Grichuk ranged far to this left for to rob Starling Marte, and Pittsburgh left fielder Ben Gamel made three impressive catches, but none as impressive as this one at the warning track to preserve an 8–7 lead in the seventh (though Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel would hit grand slam two batters later, and the Pirates would lose 11–8 ).
The play of the day, however, came in the bottom of the ninth inning in Milwaukee. The Brewers entered that inning trailing 5–1. Doubles by Jackie Bradley Jr. and Jace Peterson off Cardinals righty Giovanny Gallegos made it 5–2, and Gallegos walked Eduardo Escobar to load the bases with one out. That brought Daniel Vogelbach to the plate representing the winning run, and Cardinals closer Alex Reyes out of the bullpen to try to get the last two outs. Reyes’s first pitch to Vogelback was a sinker at the knees called a ball. The second was right down the middle and landed in the Cardinal bullpen beyond the right-field wall for a game-winning, walk-off grand slam.
A walk-off grand slam that yields a one-run win is sometimes known as an “ultimate grand slam.” I say “sometimes” because Vogelbach’s was just the 31st we know about. Also because Grant Brisbee correctly argued in 2014 that we should call them “backyard grand slams,” a more colorful name that evokes that imaginary scenario every kid plays out in their back yard (“bottom of the ninth, down by three, bases loaded . . .”).
The most recent backyard grand slam came on Sunday Night Baseball on August 12, 2018 when then-rookie David Bote took the Nationals Ryan Madson out to dead center for a 4–3 Cubs win. There were three in 2011, including one of just three ever hit in extra innings, that by the Diamondbacks’ Ryan Roberts in the 10th inning against the Dodgers on September 27. Adam Dunn hit one off Cleveland’s Bob Wickman in 2006. Jason Giambi famously hit one against the Twins during a driving rain in 14th inning on May 17 of his first season with the Yankees, a night I foolishly decided to go see Attack of the Clones, a irredeemable movie, in the theater rather than stay home and watch the Yankee game. Alan Trammell hit one off the Yankees’ Cecilio Guante on June 21, 1988 to cap a six-run ninth inning. That was a Tuesday. Billy Martin was fired for the last time as Yankee manager that Thursday. There were two in 1970, hit by unrelated players named Taylor (Tony of the Phillies and Carl of the Padres). Del Crandall, mentioned above for his long on-field relationship with Warren Spahn, hit one in 1955. Bobby Thompson hit one the June after the Shot Heard Around the World. Even after the arrival of the live ball, there was only one hit in the 1920s, one in the ’30s, one in the ’60s, one in the ’90s(!), and none in the ’40s.
The earliest backyard grand slam for which we have a digital box score was Babe Ruth’s against the White Sox on September 24, 1925. That game went into the tenth tied 2–2. The White Sox scored three in the top of the tenth against Yankee starter Ben Shields, still in the game. White Sox reliever Sarge Connally got the first out in the bottom of the tenth, but then walked Wally Pipp, who pinch-hit for Shields not quite four months removed from having been Wally Pipped by Lou Gehrig. Connally gave up singles to Earle Combs and Mark Koenig, and then the ultimate grand slam to Ruth to give Shields and the Yankees a 6–5 win.
You’ll see the total Vogelbach’s slam listed as the 28th “ultimate” grand slam on record, but The Baseball Almanac adds one by Troy Trojans Hall of Famer Roger Connor from September 1, 1881, as well as one by Eddie Joost on July 15, 1952, and an inside-the-parker by Roberto Clemente off Cubs reliever and future baseball diarist Jim Brosnan on July 25, 1956 (if only there were existing footage of Roberto Clemente legging out an inside-the-park backyard grand slam!). Those last two games get missed because Baseball-Reference lacks play-by-play data for them, but Retrosheet has the play-by-play for both. So that’s 31 in 142 years. Still an extremely rare feat, and a memorable one.
Series 45
The big series of the weekend was the final regular-season matchup of the Dodgers and Giants, who entered their three-game set in San Francisco tied for first place in the NL West. The series was a bit of a disappointment, however, in part because, between the two teams, there were three bullpen games, with the Dodgers using 11 pitchers on Friday and the Giants using eight on Saturday and nine on Sunday due as both teams are effectively playing with three starting pitchers right now due to a variety of injuries.
Friday’s game was the most compelling, a 3–2 Giants win on a walk-off throwing error in the bottom of the 11th by Dodgers second baseman Trea Turner for which Dodgers first baseman Will Smith, making his first professional appearance at the position, couldn’t compensate. That’s two players playing out of position in a game that saw both teams empty their benches and Sunday’s starter Walker Buehler used as a pinch runner.
That gave the Giants a brief lead in the division, and the Dodgers tied it back up with a fairly one-sided 6–1 win on Saturday. That set up a potential classic on Sunday Night Baseball, but with the Giants throwing a bullpen game and Buehler not sharp, that decisive game sort of fizzled. The Giants built an early 6–1 lead. The Dodgers struggled to score, ultimately settling for a two-run Albert Pujols homer in the ninth to lose 6–4. The Giants thus end the season series with the Dodgers with a one-game lead in the NL West, a shocking result that should have been more entertaining than it was. Of course, there are still four weeks to play, so that race is far from over.
Similarly, the Padres took two of three from the Astros while the Reds dropped two of three at home against the upstart Tigers, allowing San Diego to slip back into a playoff spot with a half-game lead on Cincinnati for that second wild-card spot. The Padres have a brutal schedule down the stretch (after hosting the Angels for two this week they have seven against the Giants, six against the Dodgers, three against the Braves, and three against the Cardinals remaining), while the Reds have a soft one (16 games total against the Cubs, Pirates, and Nationals), so the odds are against San Diego, but they have the talent to pull it out, as they proved this weekend besting a superior opponent while the Reds fell to an inferior one.
In the NL East, the Mets took three of four from the Nationals while the Braves and Phillies both lost two of three, to the Rockies and Marlins, respectively, so things have tightened up there, with the Mets just 3 1/2 games behind Atlanta heading into the week.
In the AL, the big story was the Blue Jays sweeping their way into a tie with the A’s for fourth place in the wild-card race by scoring 29 runs in a three-game set at Rogers Centre. Both teams are now four games out of that second-wild card spot, but are heading in different directions. Meanwhile, the Mariners took advantage of both the A’s and Astros’ misfortune, sweeping the Diamondbacks to move into second place in the AL West (4 1/2 games out) and to within three games of the Red Sox for that second wild-card spot. Meanwhile, the Red Sox took two of three from Cleveland and the Yankees dropped two of three at home against the Orioles (woof) to tighten things between the two teams currently in the wild-card spots and keep Arizona in play for next year’s top draft pick (they’re only a game and a half better than Baltimore heading into the week).
On Deck
Series to Watch:
Mariners @ Astros: With their sweep of the Diamondbacks over the weekend and the Blue Jays’ concurrent sweep of Oakland, the Mariners moved past the A’s and into second place in the American League West for the first time since early May. Having taken two of three from the Astros in Seattle last week, the M’s are now just 4 1/2 games out of first place, the closest they’ve been to first since early June, and the arrive in Houston on Monday for a three-game set that could close that gap even further.
The catch is that the Mariners are just 2-5 in Houston this season, and they are also trying to hang tight in the wild-card race, where they rank third, just outside of the playoff picture, three games behind the Red Sox (and 3 1/2 behind the wild-card-leading Yankees). So, while the Mariners would like to gain ground on Houston, they can’t afford to lose ground against the Red Sox and Yankees.
Perhaps most significantly, this is the final season of the season for Seattle against any of the three teams they are chasing, making this their last chance to do direct damage against the teams they need to beat to snap their 19-year playoff drought.
The pitching matchups for this series aren’t elite, but they are compelling throughout. Yusei Kikuchi takes on Lance McCullers Jr. in Monday evening’s opener. Rookie Logan Gilbert takes on Jake Odorizzi in the middle game on Tuesday, and deadline addition Tyler Anderson faces José Urquidy in the finale on Wednesday afternoon. The M’s have won five in a row (albeit the last three against Arizona). The Astros have won just two of their last seven.
Blue Jays @ Yankees: The Blue Jays trailed the A’s by three games in the wild-card race entering this past weekend’s three game set in Toronto, then swept the A’s in those three games to pull even. Today, they travel to the Bronx to play four against the Yankees, whom they trail by 4 1/2 in the wild-card race, with the Red Sox just four games ahead and playing three against the first-place Rays. This is a big opportunity for Toronto to close the gap in the wild-card race.
The two teams have split their dozen games this season, with the Yankees leading in runs scored by just two, 44–42. Coming into this series, the A’s have won seven of their last eight and just scored 29 runs in three games against the A’s. The Yankees, meanwhile, have followed their 13-game winning streak by dropping six of eight.
Hyun Jin Ryu takes on Jameson Taillon on Monday afternoon, Steven Matz faces Gerrit Cole on Tuesday. Alek Manoah faces Nestor Cortes Jr. on Wednesday, and José Berrios and Jordan Montgomery finish things off Thursday night. These two teams have three games remaining against each other after this week, three games in Toronto during the season’s final week, but the Jays do not play the Red Sox again, so this is their best chance to put themselves on the cusp of a playoff position before that penultimate series.
Rays @ Red Sox: The Red Sox trail the Rays by eight games in the AL East, to this game doesn’t have as much relevance to the divisional race as it might seem at first glance (really, there isn’t much of a divisional race left in the AL East at this point). However, with the A’s and Blue Jays gaining ground in the wild-card race, the Red Sox, who lead the Mariners by three games and the Jays by four, can’t afford to slip up against the team with the team with the best record in the American League. The Rays lead the season series 9-7, but the Red Sox have out-scored the Rays in those games 85–82.
The Sox get off on the good foot with Chris Sale taking on Ryan Yarbrough on Monday afternoon. Eduardo Rodríguez faces Drew Rasmussen on Tuesday, and Nathan Eovaldi will face Shane McClanahan in Wednesday evening’s finale.
White Sox @ A’s: The A’s are 6-14 since mid-August and need to reverse that trend to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since 2017. That’s a tall order with the White Sox coming to town. The Chisox took three of four from the A’s on the Southside in mid-August. The good news for Oakland is that the White Sox have been softened up a bit by injuries. With Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito on the IL, the White Sox still haven’t announced their Game 1 starter for Tuesday, and Reynaldo López will start the finale on Thursday afternoon (Dallas Keuchel will pitch the middle game on Wednesday). The A’s, meanwhile, will send James Kaprielian, Frankie Montas, and Sean Manaea to the hill. The White Sox are also without Tim Anderson due to a hamstring strain. Of course, the A’s have their share of absences, as well, some of which I discuss below.
Monday, September 6
Monday is Labor Day, so nine of the 12 games are day games, and the three night games will all start in the early evening, local time.
Idle teams: A’s, Braves, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Padres, White Sox
Pitching Matchup and Game of the Day
Zack Wheeler vs. Brandon Woodruff, Phillies @ Brewers, 2:10 pm ET
This is the pitching matchup of the week, and it’s not close. Wheeler and Woodruff are both in the mix for the NL Cy Young award. In my mid-August rankings I listed them first and third, respectively. Wheeler struggled over the second half of August, however, posting a 6.41 ERA over his final four starts on the month (though he still averaged 6 2/3 innings per start and had a 4.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio). Woodruff finished the month stronger, allowing just one run in 12 innings while striking out 18 over his last two stars on the month.
In his only game against the Phillies this year, Woodruff struck out 11 while allowing just one run in 6 2/3 innings, but lost the game because the opposing starter threw a shutout. That starter? Zack Wheeler, of course. Wheeler allowed just three baserunners in that game, all on hits, didn’t allow a runner past second base, and faced the minimum through eight. That was way back on May 6 and it was also Wheeler’s only start against the Brewers this year.
Meanwhile, the Phillies enter this game having won seven of their last nine and trail the Braves by just two games in the NL East. The Brewers are the best team remaining on their schedule, and they next face the Braves in the penultimate series of the regular season.
Tuesday, September 7
Pitching Matchup and Game of the Day
Steven Matz vs. Gerrit Cole, Blue Jays @ Yankees, 7:05 pm ET
Matz has a 1.64 ERA over his last six starts and has allowed just one home run in 32 2/3 innings over that span. Cole has a 0.73 ERA in four starts since returning from a bout with COVID-19 having allowed just two runs in 24 2/3 innings. He also struck out 15 Angels without walking a batter his last time out. He has a 2.33 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays this season, the last of which saw him hold Toronto to two runs over eight innings. Long Island native Matz has faced the Yankees just once this season, but on that occasion he held them to one run over 6 2/3 innings, walked no one, and struck out 10.
Wednesday, September 8
Hall of Fame inductions
1:30 pm ET, MLB Network and MLB.com
There was no Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2020 due to the pandemic, and no one was elected to the Hall this year, so this year’s induction will honor last year’s honorees: Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, and, at absurdly long last, the late Marvin Miller (fittingly, just two days after Labor Day).
Here’s hoping they time the ceremony well enough that Rockies fans can watch both Walker’s speech and Wednesday afternoon’s Rockies game at 3:10 ET. Those intent on watching today’s Game of the Day will have to DVR one or the other, or watch the game on a streaming delay.
Game of the Day
Mariners @ Astros, Tyler Anderson vs. José Urquidy, 2:10 pm ET
This is the last game of the season between what are currently the top two teams in the closest division in the American League. This is just Urquidy’s second start since missing two months with a shoulder issue. He was good but not great in his return against the Padres on Friday, allowing two runs in 4 1/3 innings and throwing just 71 pitches. He likely won’t get much past 90 pitches in this game, even if he pitches well. Anderson, now with his fourth team in the last three years (Rockies, Giants, Pirates, and now Mariners), has pitched well for Seattle since his acquisition at the deadline, posting a 3.38 ERA in seven starts while walking just four men in 40 innings. Included in those seven starts was another game in Houston in which he held the Astros to two runs over 5 1/3 innings as the Mariners went on to win 6–3. Anderson hasn’t allowed more than three runs or thrown fewer than five innings in a start since mid-June, posting a 3.23 ERA and a 5.67 strikeout-to-walk ration over that span despite a below-average strikeout rate and an extreme flyball tendency.
Pitching Matchup of the Day
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Shane McClanahan, Rays @ Red Sox, 7:10 pm ET
Eovaldi hasn’t been officially announced for this game, but he’s on-turn for it. Eovaldi hit a rough patch as July turned to August, but he has a 2.35 ERA in five starts since with 39 strikeouts against just four walks in 30 2/3 innings. That includes a dominant outing against the Rays on August 11 (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 10 K in a game that somehow finished with a score of 20–8). Eovaldi was similarly dominant against the Rays back in early April (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K), but had a rough outing against them on July 31. This will be his fourth start against Tampa Bay this year.
The 24-year-old rookie lefty McClanahan has a 3.38 ERA over his last dozen starts. That stretch includes his first two career outings against the Red Sox. The first was good (6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K). The second wasn’t as good, but still saw him strike out eight against two walks and no home runs in five innings, though he also allowed four runs. That last was McClanahan’s last start prior to this game, which is the last of the regular season between these two teams.
Thursday, September 9
Idle teams: Angels, Astros, Brewers, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Giants, Mariners, Padres, Pirates, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Red Sox, Tigers
New Series: Rockies @ Phillies
Pitching Matchup and Game of the Day
José Berríos vs. Jordan Montgomery, Blue Jays @ Yankees, 7:05 pm ET
This is the finale of that crucial four-game set for the Blue Jays, and they have their big deadline addition on the mound to start it. Berríos has improved his peripherals since coming over to the Jays, posting a 5.38 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 3.22 FIP with Toronto, but he has been a bit unlucky on balls in play (.358 BABIP), thus his ERA with the Jays has been higher than it was with the Twins. Mix in some poor run support, and the Jays are just 3–4 in his starts thus far, but four of the seven starts have been very good, and two of those wins have come in his last two turns, in which he struck out 18 men against no walks and just one home run in 13 2/3 innings.
Bizarrely, Berríos has not faced the Yankees since April of 2018, so he could have the advantage of unfamiliarity in this game. Anthony Rizzo did face him last year, and Rougned Odor saw him with the Rangers earlier this year, but even Joey Gallo hasn’t faced Berríos since 2019, and those three are a combined 4-for-23 against him in their careers with just one extra-base hit (a Gallo homer, natch).
Montgomery hasn’t been announced for this start, but he’s on turn. The 28-year-old lefty has been very good in his first full season since returning from Tommy John surgery, posting a 121 ERA+ overall and a 1.50 ERA over his last seven starts (though he has been as hit-lucky as Berrios has been unlucky). The Jays have not treated him well in two starts this year, however, scoring eight runs, seven earned, in 10 innings and drawing six walks against just five strikeouts.
Personnel Department
Mariners extend GM Jerry Dipoto and MGR Scott Servais
The Mariners did not specify the length of these extensions, though the fact that they were announced together on Wednesday leads one to assume they are of identical length. What’s more, Dipoto and Servais have thus far both had a pair of three-year contracts with the team, so the likelihood is that they have been extended for another three years. Still, the only official word from the team is that they are “multi-year” extensions, and that Dipoto’s has come with a bit of title inflation, from “executive vice president and general manager” to “president of baseball operations.” Also unclear is if Dipoto will hire a new GM to serve under him, but Dipoto did tell The Seattle Times that “it probably changes very little in terms of my day to day,” so it seems Dipoto’s role will not change with his title. Dipoto and Servais were both in the final year of their current contracts.
I’d love to do a full breakdown of Dipoto’s tenure as Mariners GM here, but he’s simply been too active in his six years at the helm for me to undertake that on a day that I’m trying to catch up with several weeks of news. I can speak in broad terms, however. Hired near the end of the 2015 season, Dipoto inherited an unbalanced team from previous general manager Jack Zduriencik, who seemed fixated on three-true-outcome types on the left-side of the defensive spectrum almost to the exclusion of all others. Dipoto, through a dizzying flurry of activity which prompted me to call him “The Seattle Swapper” (sadly, that never caught on), brought balance to the roster and kept the Mariners competitive during his first three-year contract, with an 86-win, second-place finish in 2016, and an 89-win third-place finish in 2018. He was unable to snap the team’s playoff drought, however, and with the premature decline of ace Felix Hernandez, pitched ownership on a partial rebuild and undertook that during his second three-year contract.
The result of that retooling is that the Mariners now own the longest playoff drought in North American team sports (19 years, likely to become 20 this year despite their overachieving), but they also have the best farm system in MLB with several elite, near-ready prospects. When I did my survey of the top-100 prospects lists back in February, the Mariners had seven players who appeared on those lists (only the Rays and Cleveland had more with nine each), and four players who appeared on all four lists I surveyed (Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB Pipeline, and Keith Law), trailing only the Tigers for the most such players. Included among those players were Jarred Kelenic, the third-best prospect in the game according to that aggregation, Julio Rodríguez, the fifth-best, starting pitcher Logan Gilbert (31st), righty Emerson Hancock (41st). Kelenic and Gilbert are already on the major-league team, and the 20-year-old Rodríguez is raking in double-A, where he is teammates with Hancock, and could debut next year.
This new extension gives Dipoto a chance to complete the job he already started by converting this year’s fluky good Mariners team into a legitimately good one in the next three years. However, I suspect that, if the Mariners don’t break their drought by the end of this new deal, Dipoto won’t receive another one.
As for Servais, he was Dipoto’s hire prior to the 2016 season and shared in those respectable early showings. Those 89 wins in 2018 came despite a -34 run differential, and the Mariners’ success this season (they are on an 89-win pace again and just three games out of the second wild-card spot in the AL) has come depite a -46 run differential. What the 2018 team and this year’s squad have had in common is uncommon success in one-run games. That’s most likely fluky, but it also speaks to a manager who knows how to get the most out of his bullpen and avoids making the kind of mistakes that can cost a team close games. The Mariners also had an outstanding record in one-run games in 2017 and their record in one-run games surpassed their record overall in the last five of Servais’s six seasons at the helm. With that in mind, Servais’s extension seems merited.
Also:
Mets GM Zack Scott has been placed on administrative leave following a drunk-driving arrest. Team president Sandy Alderson has assumed GM duties.
Phillies executives Bryan Minniti and Scott Proefrock are no longer assistant GMs, but rather consultants to the team. Jorge Velandia has replaced Josh Bonifay as director of player development on an interim basis, and Bonifay has been offered a pro-scouting job for next season.
The Rangers have parted ways with assistant GM Shiraz Rehman
The Padres fired veteran pitching coach Larry Rothschild on August 23. Bullpen coach Ben Fritz will finish the season as the team’s pitching coach.
The Pirates fired hitting coach Rick Eckstein (older brother of former major-leaguer David) a week ago. Assistant hitting coach Christian Marrero remains with the team.
Giants third-base coach Ron Wotus, who has been on the Giants’ major-league coaching staff since 1998 and in the organization since the tail end of his minor-league career in 1988, announced he will retire after this season.
Newswire
Oracle Park concessions workers vote to strike
Citing the fact that at least 20 of their co-workers have tested positive for COVID-19 this season, the Bon Appetit concessions workers at San Francisco’s Oracle Park who are members of the Unite Here Local 2 union voted over the weekend to strike for safety, health care, and hazard pay. The workers remained on the job through the end of this weekend’s Dodgers series, but will not return to work unless they can come to an agreement with Bon Appetit and the Giants before the team returns from its ensuing road trip. The Giants’ next home game is scheduled for Monday, September 13, the start of a four-game set against the Padres and a seven-game homestand that also welcomes the NL East-leading Braves. Of the workers who voted, 96.7 percent were in favor of the strike. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Labor Day than for Bon Appetit and the Giants to satisfy these workers’ demands.
Injured List
Rather than drown you in the injury updates from the last two and a half weeks, I’m going to limit the Activated and Placed on IL lists to news from the last three days. Any other notable injury news from the last two and a half weeks is under Updates.
One thing to note here is that, because of the reduction of expanded rosters, teams are using the injured list in September this year much like they have throughout the season. Prior to 2020, the roster limit in September increased from 25 players to 40, and teams often wouldn’t bother placing injured players on the IL in the season’s final month as those injuries rarely created a roster crunch. This year, September rosters have expanded to only 28 (29 for double-headers), a change that was supposed to be implemented last year but was scratched when the season was abbreviated. Thus those roster spots matter, and IL activity remains frequent, which benefits those of us who use the IL as a shortcut for keeping tabs on injuries around the game.
Unrelated to the IL, but worth noting about the new expanded-roster rules: When the rosters expanded to 40, service time in September did not count against rookie eligibility. With the rosters now limited to 28, September service time does count against rookie eligibility.
Activated
Brewers 3B Eduardo Escobar, and RHPs Freddy Peralta and Jandel Gustave
Yankees SS Gleyber Torres
Giants 3B Evan Longoria
Mets C James McCann
Mariners RHP Diego Castillo and LHP Anthony Misiewicz
Cubs C Willson Contreras
Astros CF Chas McCormick
Reds RHP Brad Brach
Padres RHP Jake Arrieta
Twins RHP Luke Farrell
Rockies RHP Jordan Sheffield
Updates:
Twins RHP Kenta Maeda: Tommy John surgery
Maeda had Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. As part of the surgery, Maeda had an internal brace inserted in his elbow, which could potentially shorten his recovery time to nine to 12 months. That means that, rather than losing the entire 2022 season, he has some hope of returning mid-year (nine months would take him into early June). Maeda is under contract through 2023 and will turn 34 in April.
Reds RHP Tejay Antone: Tommy John surgery
Antone had Tommy John surgery on August 27. It was his second TJ, the first coming back in April 2017, when Antone was in high-A. I had hoped that the Reds would give the sophomore Antone a chance to stick in their starting rotation this year, but while Antone excelled in a multi-inning relief role, he didn’t make a single start. Now, he will likely miss the entire 2022 season and return in 2023 as a 29-year-old two-time Tommy John recipient, making him long shot to have any kind of career as a starting pitcher in the major leagues. Incidentally, Tejay is Antone’s given name. He might want to start going by his middle name. Anthony Antone (Tony Antone?) is a quality baseball name, after all.
Yankees LHP Zack Britton: season-ending elbow surgery
It seems a bone spur in Britton’s elbow broke off and is now a chip that needs removing. There maybe some collateral damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, but Britton told The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler that the UCL is “not the biggest issue here.” Either way, this is season-ending surgery for Britton, who posted a 5.89 ERA in just 22 games for the Yankees this year and will turn 34 in December. The Yankees picked up Britton’s $14 million option for next year last October.
Phillies 1B Rhys Hoskins: abdominal tear
Hoskins had apparently known about this injury and been playing through it for a while, but the pain finally got to be too much in late August. What he had hoped would be offseason surgery instead took place last Tuesday, ending his season. That’s a big loss for the Phillies, who continue to hang tight in the National League East race. Hoskins hit .247/.334/.530 (132 OPS+) with 27 home runs in 107 games this season, but missed most of August with a groin strain and is now out for the year. Brad Miller (.226/.320/.448, 108 OPS+) has taken over as the team’s primary first baseman.
A’s RHP Chris Bassitt: multiple facial fractures
The night before the last issue of The Cycle, A’s ace Chris Bassitt was hit in the right side of the face by a line drive and carted off the field. Bassitt never lost consciousness, but he did suffer a fractured cheekbone and maxilla along with other smaller fractures. He had successful surgery a week later, after the swelling subsided, but he is expected to need roughly six weeks to recover, which ends his regular season and likely rules him out for anything shy of a deep postseason run by the A’s, as well. As I wrote then, that’s a huge loss for the A’s, as only Matt Olson has been a more valuable member of the team this year. The A’s were a close second in the AL wild-card race prior to Bassitt’s injury. They have gone 6-12 since and fallen to fifth place in that race and third place in the AL West.
A’s RF Stephen Piscotty: season-ending wrist surgery
Piscotty had been playing with a sprained wrist this season and finally had surgery to fix the joint on August 27. That ended his season. He has hit just .223/.277/.355 (76 OPS+) in just 117 games over the last two seasons and has largely fallen out of favor as anything other than a short-side platoon player for the A’s. With Ramón Laureano out for the year following a performance-enhancing drug suspension, Chad Pinder is currently filling that short-side right-fielder role for Oakland.
Cleveland C Wilson Ramos: left knee torn ACL and sprained MCL
Veteran two-time All-Star Ramos was supposed to be a veteran caddy for the Tigers’ young pitchers this year, but he posted a .238 on-base percentage early on, struggled with some back issues, and earned his release by late June. He signed a minor-league deal with Cleveland in July, and returned to the majors in August, but he didn’t last a month as Roberto Pérez’s backup before blowing out his left knee while making a play on a swinging bunt last Sunday. Ramos has torn his right anterior cruciate ligament twice, but this is the first time the left one has gone. He turned 34 soon after debuting with Cleveland and, after hitting .222/.272/.392 (82 OPS+) in 318 plate appearances over the last two seasons and suffering a major injury to his “good” knee, his career as a major-league catcher appears to be in serious jeopardy.
Nationals RHP Joe Ross: partially torn UCL
Ross landed on the IL in mid-August with this injury. The update is that the doctors say Ross doesn’t need Tommy John surgery, but he does need to rest well into the offseason. The Nationals hope he will be ready for Spring Training. Ross, who set a career high with 108 innings this season after opting out of the 2020 season, will be 29 and in his walk year next summer.
Angels LHP Patrick Sandoval: lumbar spine stress reaction
That’s a season-ending stress fracture in Sandoval’s back. He hit the IL on August 18. Despite the early conclusion, 2021 was an encouraging season for the 24-year-old lefty, who was acquired from the Astros for Martín Maldonado at the 2018 deadline. In 14 starts and three relief appearances, Sandoval struck out 94 men in 87 innings with a 3.62 ERA (123 ERA+), and a 3.39 ERA in the 14 starts. His walk rate was problematic, but, assuming a full recovery from this back issue, the Angels will hope to have him in their Opening Day rotation next year.
Rays LHP Brendan McKay: left forearm flexor strain
The fourth-overall pick in 2017 and a top-100 prospect as recently as this winter, McKay, who made his major-league debut in 2019, has spent the season attempting to return from labrum surgery. This new injury appears likely to end that attempt. The Rays will now hope he can be fully healthy for Spring Training 2022.
Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Luis Severino, Clayton Kershaw, and Mike Trout
The updates on this quintet wouldn’t have triggered a mention if not for the names of the players involved. The best news here is that Kershaw is scheduled to throw three innings for triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday as the start of a rehab assignment. If that outing goes well, the Dodgers could activate Kershaw and have him build back up with the major-league team.
Elsewhere, Jacob deGrom is reportedly a little more than a week away from throwing a bullpen session. He’s not going to be able to help the Mets win the division, but if they somehow pull it out without him, there’s still some hope that he could contribute in the postseason, though even that may be in abbreviated outings. Syndergaard has been advised by doctors not to throw sliders for the remainder of the year and is attempting to return as a reliever, but he tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of August, further delaying a return which now seems to be on a comparable schedule to deGrom’s.
The mid-August MRI on Severino’s shoulder came back clean, but there has been no word since about his resuming a throwing program. His return is thus even less likely than the Mets’ duo.
Trout, who went down with a calf strain in mid-May, is still having discomfort in that leg and seems likely to be shut down for the season, though the Angels have still not made that decision and Trout continues to lobby for a chance to return.
Placed on IL:
Dodgers LF AJ Pollock: grade 2 right hamstring strain
Pollock hurt his leg on an awkward slide into third base in the first inning on Saturday. He is expected to miss at least two weeks, which presents the slumping Cody Bellinger both the opportunity and the obligation to get himself sorted out at the plate, as the Dodgers have no margin for error in their divisional race with the Giants, which was tied entering Sunday night’s series finale. Righty Mitch White takes Pollock’s roster spot.
Mets CF Brandon Nimmo: right hamstring strain
Nimmo pulled up lame while running the bases in the opening game of Saturday’s double-header. This is a big loss for a Mets team struggling to remain in the NL East race. Nimmo has hit .302/.420/.415 (134 OPS+) this year, primarily at the top of the order. Kevin Pillar, who will take over as the primary centerfielder, has hit .220/.259/.409 (82 OPS+) in 278 plate appearances this season and will bat near the bottom. Utilityman Travis Blankenhorn will replace Nimmo on the roster.
Yankees RHP Jonathan Loaisiga: right shoulder rotator cuff strain
Loaisiga will be shut down for the 10-day minimum of his IL stay, which likely means his total absence will be longer. That’s a big blow to a shaky Yankee bullpen that has already lost Zack Britton and Darren O’Day for the year. Loaisiga has easily been the Yankees’ best reliever this year (2.25 ERA, 2.59 FIP in 68 innings), and, right on cue, he Yankee ‘pen absent Loaisiga blew games against the Orioles on both Saturday and Sunday, with Albert Abreu, who replaces Loaisiga on the roster, contributing to Sunday’s meltdown.
Brewers SS Willy Adames: left quad strain
Brewers RHP Justin Topa: right elbow (60-day)
Adames has had issues with his quad for a while now. This move is to get him healthy for the postseason, as the Brewers still hold a double-digit lead in the NL Central. As for Topa, while the Brewers haven’t released a diagnosis, the move to put Topa on the 60-day ends the marginal right-hander’s season. Tim Lopes replaces Adames on the roster. Righty Miguel Sánchez replaces Topa.
White Sox RHP Lucas Giolito: left hamstring strain
The White Sox are in a similar position to the Brewers. With a double-digit lead in the Central, they just want to make sure everyone’s healthy going into the Division Series in October. Giolito joins Lance Lynn on the IL with a leg injury, in Lynn’s case it’s right knee inflammation. Both will get as much time as they need to get right. Righty Ryan Burr replaces Giolito on the roster.
Marlins 3B Brian Anderson: left shoulder subluxation
Anderson separated his left shoulder for the second time this season while diving for a ball last Tuesday, but wasn’t placed on the IL until Friday. This is likely season-ending. The Marlins have not said whether or not Anderson will have surgery to address this now recurrent problem. The Marlins have added Deven Marrero to the roster in Anderson’s place.
Giants LF Alex Dickerson: right hamstring strain
Giants OF Austin Slater: concussion (7-day)
Giants RHP Tyler Chatwood: undisclosed
Dickerson pulled up lame while running to first late in Friday night’s win over the Dodgers, but this one won’t hurt nearly as much as the Dodgers’ loss of Pollock. Dickerson has been a below-average bat this year (.235/.303/.426, 95 OPS+), Darin Ruf has posted a 145 OPS+ since returning from Korea, and with Evan Longoria’s return from the IL, Kris Bryant could see more time in the outfield corners down the stretch. Mauricio Dubón takes Dickerson’s spot on the roster. Steven Duggar replaces Slater in a move that is arguably an upgrade, as Dugger replaces Dickerson as a left-handed outfield foil to Ruf and has out-hit Slater on the season in comparable playing time. Slater suffered his concussion in a collision with the outfield wall in Saturday’s game.
Chatwood was designated for assignment in late August, but remains on the roster via this IL move. It’s unknown what his injury is, but a COVID-related issue (which is most often the answer when the reason for an IL move is undisclosed) would be a good reason not to have him join a new team right about now.
Red Sox OF Jarren Duran, UT Danny Santana, and RHP Nick Pivetta: COVID protocols
These three are the latest to land on the COVID IL as a result of the Red Sox’s outbreak. No word yet on if any of these three have tested positive. Outfielder/first baseman Franchy Cordero, utility man Taylor Motter, and righty Kutter Crawford have replaced them on the roster. I’d joke about “Kutter Crawford” just being a name the Red Sox made up, but the 25-year-old righty actually pitched quite well at double-A this year. He also started and lost Sunday’s series finale in Cleveland.
The Red Sox now have 11 players on the COVID IL, including seven who have tested positive (Kiké Hernández, Christian Arroyo, Matt Barnes, Martín Pérez, Hirokazu Sawamura, Xander Bogaerts, and Yairo Muñoz), the three above, and lefty reliever Josh Taylor. That’s their middle infielders (Bogearts and Hernández) and their primary backup at those positions (Arroyo), one of their starting pitchers (Pivetta) and a potential sixth starter (Pérez), their closer (Barnes) and a key setup man (Sawamura), plus three other bench players.
Also:
Rockies LHP Austin Gomber: season-ending pars defect (lower-spine stress fracture)
Rockies 1B/OF Connor Joe: right hamstring strain
Angels LF Justin Upton: right lumbar strain
Cardinals RHP Junior Fernandez: right shoulder strain
Pirates RHP JT Brubaker: right shoulder inflammation
Pirates RHP Duane Underwood Jr.: right shoulder inflammation
Cubs RHP Keegan Thompson: right shoulder inflammation
Nationals OF Gerardo Parra: right knee inflammation
Nationals RHP Kyle McGowin: UCL sprain in right elbow
Royals C Cam Gallager: left knee inflammation
Transaction Reactions:
Braves signed C Travis d’Arnaud to $16M/2yr extension with $8M club option
This might seem like an obvious move given d’Arnaud’s central role in the Braves’ deep postseason run last year, but d’Arnaud is frequently injured (he averaged 78 games per year in the six years prior to the pandemic and missed 86 with a thumb sprain earlier this year), only intermittently productive (he has a 74 OPS+ on the season in nearly as much time as his 139 OPS+ from last year, and his career mark is 98), and he’ll be a 34-year-old in the second guaranteed year of this deal and 35 in the option year. Still, given the relatively small price-tag in baseball terms (d’Arnaud has reportedly pledged one percent of his earnings to charity), and the dearth of quality catching around the league, this isn’t much of a gamble, but the lack of risk isn’t indicative of a high chance of reward.
Cardinals signed C Yadier Molina to $10M/1yr extension
There’s a similar calculous here in terms of a relatively low price point for a 10-time All-Star and relative lack of compelling alternatives. So, I’ll hold my fire. Molina, who will turn 40 next July, says 2022 will be his final season. For more on Molina’s seniority and return, see Did You See That? above.
Mets claimed RHP Brad Hand off waivers from Blue Jays
Hand hit rough patch just before the trading deadline, blowing three saves and taking three losses (two of those in the same game) in his final six appearances for the Nationals, walking six and allowing eight runs (seven earned) in 5 2/3 innings. He had a 2.43 ERA on the season going into that stretch, so the Blue Jays wrote it off and dealt young catcher Riley Adams for him. Hand was better with the Blue Jays, but not dramatically so. He took an extra-inning loss in his second appearance with the team. Then, after a brief uneventful stretch, gave up seven runs (six earned) in 3 1/3 innings over four appearances, taking a blown-save loss back in Washington and generally being unhelpful. By August 26, he had posted a 8.79 ERA over his last 17 appearances, including four blown saves and five losses (again, three of those overlapping). With no room for error, the Blue Jays put him on waivers, and the Mets snapped him up.
In between Hand’s last appearance for the Blue Jays and the claim by the Mets, Hand went on the bereavement list due to the death of his grandfather. What we don’t know was if Hand’s grandfather’s death was unexpected or if he had an illness that might have affected Hand’s focus the mound. The only thing that seems obvious about this situation at the moment is that the Blue Jays’ efforts to shore up their bullpen have thus far largely failed. Adam Cimber has been excellent, but Trevor Richards has been middling. Joakim Soria spent most of August on the IL (he’s back now but has allowed five runs across his last two outings), Jacob Barnes is off the 40-man roster, and Hand out of the organization entirely.
Mariners claimed LHP Sean Doolittle off waivers from Reds
Doolittle has had the kind of uninspiring year that allows one team in a wild-card spot to think “we have no use for this guy anymore” and another trying to climb into a wild-card spot to think “we could sure use that guy.” Righties have hit .289/.387/.500 against him on the season. Scott Servais, beware!
Reds claimed IF Asdrúbal Cabrera off waivers from the Diamondbacks and purchased CF Delino DeShields from the Red Sox
This is the fifth-time Cabrera has switched teams in July or August (though the first came when he was a minor league prospect with the Mariners). The Reds have settled into using Kyle Farmer as their everyday shortstop and Mike Moustakas and Eugenio Sánchez in a strict righty/lefty platoon at third, so Cabrera, a switch-hitting infielder, is mostly here as a pinch-hitter and late-inning depth. DeShields, who hit .252/.385/.366 in triple-A with the Rangers and Red Sox this season, is getting a chance as a short-side platoon partner for centerfielder Tyler Naquin.
Blue Jays claimed OF/3B/1B Jake Lamb off waivers from the White Sox
Lamb has hit .207/.311/.358 (79 OPS+) with 21 homers and 83 walks in 694 plate appearances since making his lone All-Star team in 2017. He was a replacement-level bench player with the White Sox, and is a poor solution for the Blue Jays’ hole at third base, if that is their intention here.
Giants claimed LHP José Quintana off waivers from the Angels
Injuries (thumb, lat) limited Quintana to just 10 innings last year, but he had a strong Spring Training this year only to faceplant after the season began. After nine starts for the Angels, Quintana hit the IL with a shoulder injury and a 7.22 ERA. He returned in late June as a reliever with a better results, but a spot start on August 19 was a disaster, prompting the Angels, who signed him to a one-year deal in January, to place him on waivers. The Giants claimed him at the very end of August with no intention to try him as a starter (as evidenced by their decision to go with two bullpen games against the Dodgers this weekend). His first outing as a Giant was his best of the season (3 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K), and he was used effectively against the Giants over the weekend.
Astros sign UT Marwin González to a minor-league contract
The Red Sox dropped González from the roster when they got Kyle Schwarber off the IL on August 13 and released González three days later. The Astros signed González to a minor-league deal on August 27 and called him up on Sunday, bouncing righty Josh James back to triple-A. Now 32, González has hit just .206/.284/.300 (59 OPS+) in 470 plate appearances over the last two years, but he can still play all over the diamond and he had a 111 OPS+ as a regular with Houston from 2014 to 2018.
A’s sign OF Khris Davis to minor-league contract
Sent from the A’s to the Rangers in February as part of five-player trade that sent Elvis Andrus to Oakland and catcher Jonah Heim to Texas, Davis pulled a quad in spring training, didn’t make his Rangers’ debut until May 8, played little, hit less, and was dropped from the roster in early June. Almost two months elapsed before the A’s signed him to a minor-league deal in early August, and nearly another month went by before they called him up on Wednesday. Davis has hit just .214/.292/.376 (81 OPS+) with 27 homers in 698 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season, but with Ramón Laureano and Stephen Piscotty out for the year and Mitch Moreland on the injured list with a wrist issue, the A’s needed a warm body, and it’s hard not to root for a dead-cat bounce from the 33-year-old Davis.
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Closing Credits
The Cycle will return on Wednesday to pick up a few more of the pieces I let fall in my absence (and perhaps share a word or two on the Hall of Fame inductees). In the meantime: