Mining the News (1/22/25)

American League

Rangers

• Josh Jung, Evan Carter, and Corey Seager are healthy.

McFarland relays that third baseman Josh Jung, outfielder Evan Carter, and shortstop Corey Seager are all healthy and ready for Spring Training next month after undergoing surgeries in the fall. Seager underwent sports hernia surgery back in September but resumed baseball activities in November, while Jung and Carter are on a slightly more delayed timeline after undergoing wrist and back surgery respectively in October.

Red Sox

• Lucas Giolito started his offseason early and has been changing some pitch grips.

Giolito spent all of last season rehabbing in Boston and began throwing by September. The diligent work paid off. He’s already thrown four bullpens this winter and is prepared to be a “full-go” by the start of spring training in less than a month.

“The progression of my rehab at this point pretty much has me right in line with where I would be as a healthy player,” he said at Fenway Fest, noting in a normal offseason he’d have thrown about four bullpens by mid-January.
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Right before the elbow injury last year, Giolito had started tweaking some pitch usages and grips to avoid some of the bad results from the previous year. Whether that led to the injury is unknown, but he’s looking forward to implementing some of what he’d started to work on.

“We shifted the grip on my slider to get the shape and the profile in the right area and add more velocity,” he said. “We were working on the changeup and getting that back to the place it needs to be. As soon as I signed with the team, I was super excited to work with (pitching coach Andrew Bailey). And then, it kind of got put on hold for a year.”

• Patrick Sandoval plans to return this season.

Appearing on MassLive’s Fenway Rundown podcast Thursday, Sandoval — who clarified that he underwent an internal brace procedure, and not full Tommy John surgery, on his pitching elbow in early July — said he started his throwing program a couple weeks ago and is progressing well ahead of spring training, which begins in three-plus weeks.

“Starting to feel more and more like an athlete every day,” Sandoval said. “That’s kind of the biggest grind of it at the beginning, not being able to do much activity at all and then slowly ramping up. I’m in a good spot and I feel really good.

“To get back and be able to compete and help this team win games down the stretch, that’s my goal for this year,” he added. “To be able to work my way back and be able to compete in those games.”

Royals

• This is the first I’ve seen mention of Maikel Garcia possibly moving to the outfield.

It’s fair to consider Garcia the everyday third baseman right now, but his playing time decreased last year when he struggled. Garcia can also be considered the backup shortstop and second baseman (if India or Massey are playing elsewhere or unavailable). Kansas City also believes Garcia can play center field, and he’s gotten reps out there in previous springs. But it wouldn’t be shocking if the club asked him to increase his versatility this season.

National League

• Matthew Liberatore will stretch out as a starter.

#STLCards LHP Matthew Liberatore, who found his niche in 2024 as a dependable reliever, said he's working to be a starter in Spring Training and 2025. "It's easier to go from five innings to one than one to five," he said.

The key for Liberatore will be improving vs. righties.

— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) January 19, 2025

Cubs

• Seiya Suzuki will be the primary DH.

With three-time Gold Glove Award winner Ian Happ in left field and star Kyle Tucker acquired this offseason to patrol right, Seiya Suzuki stands to get the bulk of his playing time as the Cubs’ designated hitter this year. That was the message Counsell relayed to Suzuki in a chat last week.

“He understands. He’s on board,” Counsell said at Cubs Convention this weekend. “He wants to play the field, but he understands that right now, this is where the team sits. I know that he’s going to play a lot of outfield. You hope Kyle and Ian are healthy, obviously, and if they are, they’re going to play. But things will happen.”

• Nico Hoerner doesn’t have a solid return timeline.

Hoerner’s timeline is less certain. While the second baseman said he was “pumped” about how he felt, he has yet to resume hitting or begin a throwing progression. His potential availability for the start of the season (the Japan Series or the March 27 road opener against the D-backs) will become clearer as camp progresses.

“I’m happy with the progress that I’m making,” Hoerner said. “It’s hard not to, from Day 1, start projecting out. I think I do myself and the team a bit of a disservice if I rush this process in any way. I think it is in my nature to push towards that direction, but straight up reps and work ethic, effort, doesn’t really heal your tendons. Patience is a huge part of it, too.”

• The team thought Pete Crow-Armstrong was hesitant to steal at season’s end.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell is open minded about Pete Crow Armstrong becoming a leadoff man. He said probably not to begin the 2025 season. He also agreed PCA became a little hesitant to steal in September.

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 19, 2025

• The team is looking to add a “back-end closer”.

First and most notably, Rogers feels very confident that the Cubs will sign (more likely) or trade for (less likely) an established back-end reliever before Opening Day. “(I) truly believe they will sign a back-end closer. I guess there’s a chance at a trade. But one way or another, this team will have one of the back-end relievers on the market.”

His surrounding comments presented that as even more of a hard “report” than mere speculation. So that’s good to know.

Rogers continued on to say that “The Cubs have basically checked in on all of (the free agent relievers, including Tanner Scott).” And that he thinks “they’re saving whatever dollars they have left for a back-end guy, a closer.”

Diamondbacks

• Corbin Burnes has quit trying to strike everyone out.

“I’ve learned over the years, obviously off of 2021 with the Cy Young I had all the punch outs … but for me, I found more value in being able to go deep into games and throw more innings,” Burnes told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday. “It doesn’t matter, an out is an out. If I strike the guy out, if I get a ground ball at shortstop, it’s the same. So strikeouts are going to take at least three pitches where I know I can get a grand out on one pitch.

“So it’s just being smart, being efficient, having the situations where you know you can get the strikeout. Going out and striking out the side is beautiful and glamorous in the second inning of the baseball game, but you might throw 18 to 20 pitches. Or if I can go out and do it in six, it allows me to go that much deeper in the game and allow that bullpen to stay rested and just kind of puts the team in a better spot overall.”
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“The main goal this year was to fill up the strike zone more,” Burnes told MLB Network. “We thought we had a lot of room to grow with the first pitch strikes, strike percentage and just by doing that we got a lot of early contact, were able to pitch deeper into games, kept the pitch count down. So we made that adjustment in September of getting the swing and miss back, getting the strikeouts back. Knowing I can do both is great and I think will help me prolong my career.”

Pirates

• David Bednar is “trimmer”.

Bednar — who is noticeably trimmer — is aiming for a big bounceback.