Mining the News (10/23/23)

American League

Blue Jays

• Alek Manoah has not requested a trade and will be fighting for a rotation spot next year.

The GM also said Manoah hasn’t requested a trade. Realistically, the Blue Jays might explore deals for the starter, but his trade value is at an all-time low, so the return may not be better than the upside of hoping he can rebound in 2024. Odds are, Manoah will be competing for a spot in Toronto’s rotation next spring.

Orioles

• Bruce Zimmermann had core surgery.

Per #orioles: Bruce Zimmermann had successful core muscle surgery today at Vincera Institute in Philadelphia. The surgery was performed by Dr. Alex Poor. Zimmermann is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) October 19, 2023

• Tyler Wells is expected to be in the next year’s rotation.

Yet in spite of his success out of the ’pen, the Orioles are expecting Wells to rejoin the starting rotation in 2024, according to Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com. In 20 starts last year, the 29-year-old pitched to a 3.98 ERA and a 4.28 SIERA. However, he looked much stronger over the first three months of the season before he ran out of gas in July. With another year of big league experience under his belt, the Orioles will hope he can stick around for a full season in the rotation.

Tigers

• Zach McKinstry is going to bulk up.

Zach McKinstry is planning “to live in the weight room” this offseason to improve his core strength, the Tigers utilityman tells Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. This represents a departure from last winter, when McKinstry was rehabbing from a torn groin suffered in August 2022, though he played through the injury without going on the IL. The interruption to his usual offseason routine may have been a reason behind McKinstry’s underwhelming .231/.302/.351 slash line over 518 PA last season, not to mention the increased workload as a whole. McKinstry had played in only 121 MLB games and received 364 PA from 2020-22 as a member of the Dodgers and Cubs before taking on a regular role with Detroit in a variety of different positions. Petzold notes that McKinstry is out of minor league options, so there’s less of a margin for error as the uilityman will try to retain his spot as a multi-positional option.

White Sox

• Tim Anderson played through an MCL injury and would be willing to move to second base.

“Obviously, injuries. I had an MCL injury,” Anderson said of a left knee sprain sustained during a defensive rundown in a game at Target Field on April 10. “My front leg, so that kind of messed with me hitting. I kind of was not really hitting up against anything on the front side.

“I’m really not trying to make that excuse. This year has been a lot of searching. The body is working a lot differently, especially coming off injury. I just could never grab hold to what I was searching for.
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Shortstop remains the preference for Anderson, but second base is not out of the question. Anderson simply wants an opportunity to prove this season as an outlier.

“Really, at this point, it doesn’t matter,” Anderson said. “I’m a shortstop/second baseman. It’s whatever to allow my career to keep going. I’m not going to wrestle with a team that I’m this or I’m that.

National League

Cardinals

• JoJo Romero is healing fine from his knee injury.

Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero is in a good place following his season-ending knee injury last month, per Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Guerrero notes that Romero made progress regarding the injury throughout the month, but did not return to the big league roster in hopes of ensuring the injury was fully healed and his mechanics wouldn’t be impacted headed into the offseason.

• Iván Herrera is out of options and has a good chance of being the backup catcher.

23-year-old catcher Iván Herrera also had a great Triple-A showing, hitting .297/.451/.500 with 10 longballs in 375 trips to the plate. It’s his second consecutive above-average performance at the top minor league level. He’ll be out of options next year and surely won’t be placed on waivers. Either the Cardinals keep Herrera in the majors or they trade him, but the signing of Contreras muddies Herrera’s path to a regular role.

Cubs

• Reading between the lines, it sounds like the team is planning on bringing back Kyle Hendricks.

Chicago Cubs officials always try to choose their words carefully. Both chairman Tom Ricketts and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer left almost no wiggle room in their end-of-season statements about Kyle Hendricks. The last player standing from the 2016 World Series team will be back for his 11th season at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs hold a $16.5 million option on Hendricks’ contract, which was a rare extension among that championship group of players.

…

Ricketts: “One of the great stories of the summer was his return to being as effective as — not quite 2016 Kyle Hendricks — but still a very effective starting pitcher. It’ll be Jed’s decision on what to do with Kyle’s contract. But at this point, I would see him coming back.”

Hoyer: “He’s been one of my favorite Cubs players to be around since we got here. It’s hard to imagine a better teammate. Someone who redefines ‘low maintenance.’ He does whatever the team needs. It’s just a joy to have him around. Certainly, we want to keep him as a Cub for next year and beyond.”

• After surgery, Michael Fulmer will miss all of 2024.

In releasing medical updates on several players, the Cubs announced that pitcher Michael Fulmer is expected to miss the 2024 season after undergoing UCL revision surgery on his right elbow Wednesday. Fulmer made 58 appearances for the Cubs while working on a one-year contract.

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) October 19, 2023

Mets

• After adding a splitter, Tylor Megill lost command of his fastball last year but he hopes to fix that problem this year.

While that kind of flexibility is great for a splitter, it caused some problems for Megill with his fastball this season. And following a solid finish to his year, that fastball will be the primary focus for him this winter.

Hefner said Megill’s large hands can make it difficult for him to use a consistent grip on his fastball, which cost him both velocity and rise on it this season. His fastball dropped about three-quarters of a mile per hour this season, and its vertical approach angle — a measure of its rise — went from solidly above average to well below.

Padres

• The team has talked about moving Xander Bogaerts to the right side of the infield.

“Is it five years down the road? It is 10 years down the road? Is it three years down the road?” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said in December. “It’s competition, and I think our guys understand that. We’ve got a lot of talented players, and I think we’ll do what’s best for our team and have the conversation with the players as we go through it, but he’ll start the year at shortstop.”
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But team officials have talked among themselves about the possibility of asking Bogaerts to move to the right side of the infield — an eventual scenario that was discussed as early as last offseason, when the Padres were still courting the four-time All-Star. His debut in San Diego included mixed metrics; Bogaerts tallied three outs above average but also minus-four defensive runs saved. Statcast rated his arm strength among shortstops in the bottom 24th percentile.

Reds

• Jake Fraley had surgery on his toe.

Reds OF Jake Fraley had surgery on Oct. 11 to repair the fracture on his left fourth toe. He is expected to be fully healed before Spring Training.

— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) October 18, 2023

• Graham Ashcraft also had surgery on his toe.

Right-hander Graham Ashcraft, who had surgery in September on his toe, was scheduled to begin physical therapy this week. The injury isn’t expected to delay his spring training. McLain (oblique) is already doing rehab work in Arizona and is expected to be ready for spring training, as is outfielder Jake Fraley, who had surgery on his toe last week.

• Some of the major league players will start next season in the minors.

Infielders include Jonathan India, Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, McLain, Steer, Encarnacion-Strand and possibly Votto. The rotation candidates are Greene, Lodolo, Abbott, Graham Ashcraft, Brandon Williamson and Phillips. If a starter is added from outside, that tightens the battle more.

“I think we’re going to have some tough decisions to make as we get into the end of camp,” Krall said. “This offseason, can we add some players to help upgrade our roster? And what does it look like at the end of camp?”

That leaves the door open for players who were in the big leagues this season beginning next season at Triple-A Louisville.

“That’s probably going to have to happen,” Krall said. “That’s going to be an option for some folks.”

While Steer could likely return to the outfield in 2024, Krall said there were no plans to move India or De La Cruz to outfield spots.