2:00 AM EDT, Tue March 19, 2024
Pinstripe Alley

NYY News: DJ down; Snell to SF

Photo by Julio Aguilar/ LeMahieu might miss Opening Day; Snell agrees to deal with the Giants; Judge to return on Wednesday; Torre surprises Rodón and fans on Monday; three Yankees elected to the All-Spring Breakout first team MLB.com: While X-rays and CT scan showed that there is no break in DJ LeMahieu’s right foot after fouling off a ball in the area, the versatile veteran is in danger of missing Opening Day. Manager Aaron Boone said that LeMahieu sustained “a pretty significant bone bruise” in Saturday’s game. After being sent to a specialist on Monday, all...

DRaysBay

Stuart Sternberg on payroll: Rays will take “real losses” in 2024

Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg during the press conference to announce a tentative agreement with the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County for a new stadium. | Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports Threatens to “pull back” financing in 2025 if this year’s team doesn’t perform well. Marc Topkin’s Sunday Column featured the annual salary bemoaning we expect from the Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, but this time it came with a threat! After noting the Rays saved $33 million by trading Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot to the Dodgers, Topkin shared these...

DRaysBay

2024 DRaysBay Community Prospect List: Vote for No. 25

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Cole Wilcox lands at No. 24. Previous Winner Cole Wilcox, RHPAA | 5.23 ERA, 106.2 IP (25 GS) 21.8% K, 9.7% BB Wilcox’s first full season following Tommy John surgery in 2021 was muted, with his strikeouts lacking the expected mid-30’s rate. Perhaps that’s because his previous high-octane fastball that earned first round money from the Padres, before they sent him to the Rays in the Snell trade, barely scratches 94 these days. Good pitchers adjust, and the new version of Wilcox was working on a groundballer’s...

Pinstripe Alley

Yankees Making the Team Meter: Week Four

Injuries to Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge raise all sorts of questions. It’s a Monday in March, and you know what that means — it’s time for another edition of the Pinstripe Alley Making the Team Meter! As spring training goes, this week can be described as nothing short of a disaster for the Yankees: Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge, and DJ LeMahieu were all sent for tests, with Cole set to start the season on the injured list with an elbow injury and Judge not having played since last Sunday. These injuries complicate what had already been an intense battle for the final spots in...

Pinstripe Alley

Yankees 2024 Season Preview: Clayton Beeter

Photo by New York Yankees/ This live arm could soak up a lot of innings in the Bronx this season. Clayton Beeter’s story has remained largely the same throughout his baseball career — a ton of talent handled with extreme caution. Drafted by the Dodgers in the second competitive balance round of the shortened 2020 draft, Beeter entered the organization with outstanding results at Texas Tech but a loaded injury history, including Tommy John surgery back in 2017. Los Angeles handled him with utmost care, rarely ever letting him pitch past the fourth inning in his...

OC Register

Angels’ Taylor Ward is prepared for pitchers to work him up and in after last year’s incident

Ward , who was hit in the face by a pitch last season, suffering multiple facial fractures and requiring surgery, said he expects pitchers to take advantage of that with the way he's pitched this year.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

After slow start to spring, Twins reliever Josh Staumont seeing velocity tick up

The Twins, who are encouraging Josh Staumont to throw his slider more often, are hoping the surgery will help him look like he did earlier his career when he was one of the toughest relievers in the AL Central.

Bleed Cubbie Blue

Outside the Confines: Little bit o’ Seoul

Photo by Gene Wang/ The Dodgers and Padres arrive in Seoul. Teams are dealing with injuries. I believe it is the AP style guide that any story about Korea has to have some kind of Seoul/Soul pun in the headlines. Thomas Harrigan has what you need to know about the Seoul Series. Fabian Ardaya notes that the Dodgers got a rock star-like greeting from the fans when they arrived in Seoul. (The Athletic sub. req.) Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez will be calling the Seoul Series for ESPN. They spoke with Bob Nightengale about their memories of calling KBO games during the...

MASN: Steve Melewski

Cedric Mullins is motivated and confident he can have another big year

For a player who had a year where he dealt with multiple groin injuries and finished the year struggling so badly, O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins still had his moments in the 2023 season.He hit for the cycle May 12, had a five-hit game and also hit two grand slams. On Sept. 18 at Houston, he hit a 425-foot, go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning. And he became the first player to both rob and hit a home run in the ninth inning or later of the same game over the last 10 seasons on Aug. 13 at Seattle. That was according to ESPN Stats & Info and marked his first career go-ahead homer...

The Crawfish Boxes

Astros Crawfish Boil: March 18, 2024

Spencer Arrighetti | Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Spencer Arrighetti looked pretty good on Sunday. Houston Astros News Injuries & Moves: Urquidy (elbow) undergoes MRI in Houston This Astros prospect a wiz in kitchen ... and on diamond Astros 2024: This ain’t easy (chipalatta) Arrighetti shows off MLB-ready toolbox in Spring Breakout MLB Rumors: Astros ‘Balked’ at Blake Snell’s 2-Year, $60M Contract Asking Price (BR) Astros’ Framber Valdez has 200-inning goal this season (Houston Chronicle) AL West News A’s — Davis calls Giants release...

DodgerBlue.com

Dodgers Injury Update: Shohei Ohtani Starting Throwing Program After Seoul Series

Shohei Ohtani is not going to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2024 season, but the two-way...

Red Reporter

Red Reposter - Joey Votto Reposter

Dave Nelson-USA TODAY Sports Monday links! The number 37 is scratched across the back of the jersey of the guy on the right in the above photo, a guy coming off injury and in camp on a non-guaranteed contract. His previous team had the option to retain him and declined, and he waited into March before finally coming to terms with a new club. Said club - the Toronto Blue Jays - has a star 1B on its roster already, a guy who, in a non-Ohtani world, would have an American League MVP trophy in his cabinet alongside his Silver Slugger, 3x All Star Games, and All Star Game...

Over the Monster

Red Sox News & Links: Brayan Bello to Start Opening Day?

Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/ Plus, an injury to the bullpen Hey, everyone, it’s “this is a really fun group of guys, everyone gets along great” season! Spring Training provides few things that are more reliably fun than the stories about players bonding and coming together as a team. This is true even though these stories are written every year, even about clubhouses that end up proving as toxic as the mouth of the Mystic River. This year, we’ve got closest-to-the-pin outings, trips to TopGolf, and meals at Trevor Story’s house. (Peter Abraham, Boston...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Clear identity helps Josh Fleming have success against his former team

Pitching in Tampa helped Josh Fleming figure out his strengths. They were on display Sunday at LECOM Park against the Rays.

Pinstripe Alley

Strokes of luck the Yankees could use in 2024

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports On St. Patrick’s Day, let’s explore some things that could bounce right for the Yankees to help them this season. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. On this day of luck, let’s delve into a few things the Yankees hope to catch a break on in 2024. The luck of having good health is the most obvious one for any team. The Yankees avoided the worst-case scenario news with Gerrit Cole not needing Tommy John surgery, but they still need to hope everything goes right with his recovery, and that he returns to his normal form by the summer. While we...

Pinstripe Alley

NYY News: R&R is the plan for Cole’s right elbow

Photo by New York Yankees/ Cole will rest elbow for a few weeks; Gil looks great as the Yankees need rotation help; Jones continues to impress; Torre puts on pinstripes for the first time in a long while ESPN: Yankees Universe was on pins and needles all week, speculating about and terrified of news regarding the right elbow of ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole. As of now, it looks like he’ll escape surgery. The latest is that the ace will rest the elbow for three to four weeks. Cole, in less-than-surgical language summed up the state of his arm,...

Lookout Landing

Spring awakening: Brett de Geus has an opportunity in Seattle

Photo by John E. Moore III/ The latest stop in Brett de Geus’s baseball journey is Seattle, where he has a real shot at a bullpen spot With the exceptions of first rounders and top prospects, the journey to make MLB is rarely one that runs in a straight line, but few players have seen more twists and turns in their journey than new Mariners reliever Brett de Geus (pronunced “de gus”, if you were wondering). However, in a spring that’s been marked by unusual early injuries to the bullpen and, even more unusually, some shaky pitching performances, that winding...

Red Reporter

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Roster Prediction, Volume III

Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via After a series of big moves and injury updates, here’s our latest projection. As should always be expected in the third and fourth weeks of any camp in Spring Training, a whole hell of a lot of news has impacted our initial (and subsequent) roster projections. Noelvi Marte got smacked with an 80-game suspension for PEDS. Ouch! Jose Barrero got placed on waivers in early March, for whatever reason, a decision that might well have serious ramifications since TJ Friedl has been diagnosed with a sprained wrist. Who’s the CF for...

Twinkie Town

Everything you need to know about today’s “Spring Breakout” game

Brooks Lee, being asked if milk is delicious. | Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/ It’ll be the Twins’ top prospects vs. the Rays’, and they always have pretty good ones! Today is the Twins’ “Spring Breakout” game. It’s something new for 2024 that every team will be doing this weekend, where each team plays its top prospects against the other team’s top prospects. Should be fun! Let’s get to the info. What time is the game? About 3:05 Central. The first game will feature Twins’ veterans against Rays’ veterans, and the Spring Breakout game...

MASN: Steve Melewski

Will the Gerrit Cole injury change balance of power in AL East?

While the Orioles know they will begin their season without either right-hander Kyle Bradish or lefty John Means in their pitching rotation, they now also know that the New York Yankees will begin the year without 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole.Cole and the Yankees got some good news this week, in that his elbow ailment seems limited to inflammation and no surgery or procedures will be needed. But reports say he will miss one-to-two months or as one report put it, as many as 10-to-12 weeks.If it’s on the long side of things, he could be out until around mid-June give...

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Prospects lead Twins to 6-5 Grapefruit League victory over Rays

Jake Rucker, Misael Urbina, Keoni Cavaco and Brian O'Keefe each singled during a three-run eighth-inning rally

MASN: School of Roch

French recalls early days coaching Pérez

SARASOTA, Fla. – The reunion between Orioles reliever Cionel Pérez and pitching coach Drew French was much easier to arrange than their first meeting.The Astros signed Pérez, a native of Matanzas, Cuba, to a $5.15 million bonus in 2016 as an international free agent, but they voided the deal a month later due to an issue with his physical that led to concerns from the medical staff that he’d eventually need elbow surgery. The agreement was restructured in December at $2 million.Perez made his professional debut in 2017 with the Class A Quad Cities River Bandits, the eventual Midwest...

Amazin Avenue

David Peterson is a rotation question mark in 2024

Photo by Jim McIsaac/ An injury is robbing him of the first couple months of the season and a prime opportunity. A relatively quiet offseason has come and gone for the Mets, with a few pitching additions that on a good day should bump the Mets’ rotation depth to just that: depth. However, Kodai Senga’s injury and its unknown duration create an opening, with familiar names (Tylor Megill, José Butto) trying to claim the final open slot. One name that has spent the last few years lingering around that final rotation spot, though, is not even in the mix. Long before...

Pinstripe Alley

Yankees fans believe Snell should replace Cole in the rotation

Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/ In the most recent edition of our SB Nation Reacts survey, Yankees supporters were clear: they want to replace the best with the best available Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts. The 2024 MLB season is about to start, and the Yankees have lost their ace to injury. He will be back this season, but they are under pressure to bring in a replacement to cover...

sandiegouniontribune.com

Spring Breakout notes: Game rained out, Dylan Lesko eager to ramp up

2022 first-rounder Dylan Lesko eager for first full season back from Tommy John surgery; Bears fans Jakob Marsee and Dillon Head weigh in on Justin Fields vs. Caleb Williams

DRaysBay

2024 DRaysBay Community Prospect List: Vote for No. 24

Dru Baker lands at 23. Previous Winner Dru Baker, OFA+ | .307/.396/.491 (.887 OPS, 144 wRC+) 377 PA, 13 HR, 38 SBAA | .287/.346/.417 (.763 OPS, 105 wRC+) 127 PA, 1 HR, 11 SB Back to back seasons the Rays promoted 2021 4th rounder Baker mid-season after he dominated his level, and both times he turned in a league average performance at the next level. From a tools perspective, he’s a right handed Colton Ledbetter that trades exit velo for more stole bases. His defense has projection in center, but he needs to keep the strikeouts down as he continues to climb the ladder. His...

MASN: School of Roch

Checking on Kremer, O'Hearn and more in today's exhibition game against the Rays (O's lose 7-2)

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Dean Kremer jogged from the dugout to the mound today for the bottom of the fifth inning. He got another up. And he got the chance because he was cruising.Kremer retired nine batters in a row and he wasn’t done. With Albert Suárez ready in the bullpen, Kremer threw all three of his pitches for strikes and Francisco Mejía flied to center field.Now, he could sit down after registering his longest outing of the spring.Ten in a row were retired since Kremer hit his second batter of the day. He allowed one run and two hits in 4 1/3 innings, with one walk and three...

Lowe's home run lifts Rays to walk-off win | Red Sox-Rays Game Highlights 9/21/19

Condensed Game: Nate Lowe hit a walk-off two-run home run in the 11th inning, giving the Rays a 5-4 win over the Red Sox Don't forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/mlb Follow us elsewhere too: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB Instagram: https://

Adames' walk-off lifts Rays in 11 frames | Red Sox-Rays Game Highlights 9/20/19

Condensed Game: Willy Adames lined the walk-off single in the 11th to deliver the Rays a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox Don't forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/mlb Follow us elsewhere too: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB Instagram: https://www

Meadows' HR in 11th propels Rays | Rays-Dodgers Game Highlights 9/18/19

Condensed Game: Austin Meadows clubbed a go-ahead home run in the 11th inning to lead the Rays to a marathon win in extras Don't forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/mlb Follow us elsewhere too: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB Instagram: https: