Mining the News (9/21/24)

American League

Blue Jays

• Will Wagner will have his knee operated on, should be ready for Spring Training, and the team sees him as a second baseman.

Will Wagner will get his left knee scoped on Thursday after meeting with specialists in Cleveland, and while the procedure will come with some rehab time, the Blue Jays expect him to be ready for Spring Training next February without any issues.

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“I think he’s probably a little bit relieved that he’s getting this taken care of now,” John Schneider said Wednesday. “It’s also about him understanding from us and the organization how he’s viewed, the way he played and what we’re looking for from him heading into the offseason and next year. He’s shown really well. He’s a guy we’re confident in, and rightfully so.”
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Schneider wants to leave as many doors open as possible, but it’s clear that Wagner has impressed him enough to get a shot at playing second base on a near full-time basis.

“He can play first and we dabbled at third with him in Buffalo, but we like what we see at second,” Schneider said. “We think he’s got a really good game for that spot. There’s a fine line between the versatility aspect, which we do value, and keeping a guy regular at a certain spot. I can see him getting a lot of reps at second.”

Red Sox

• Rafael Devers has dealt with a sore shoulder since July 23rd.

Devers landed hard on his right shoulder on a diving attempt against the Rockies on July 23. He continued to play every day, aside from taking a three-day break from Aug. 27-29.

Instead of looking refreshed at the plate following the late-August respite, Devers looked like a shell of himself as Boston’s postseason hopes faded away.

In his last 20 games and 84 plate appearances dating back to Aug. 30, Devers has a slash line of .164/.262/.178 with one double, no homers and four RBIs. The 76-78 Red Sox are 7-13 in those games.

Yankees

• DJ LeMahieu’s hip has bothered him for a while hampering his ability to rotate.

The 36-year-old said he had a cortisone shot Thursday in his right hip, which had been suffering from an impingement and had been bothering him for a “couple of weeks” before the Yankees placed him on the 15-day IL on Sept. 9.
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LeMahieu said there hasn’t been any talk about potential surgery. “There’s some stuff going on in the hip there,” he said. “Just trying to clear it up, get that hip moving a little better.”

He said his hip had been impeding his ability to rotate at the plate. “It was some of those things where sometimes I was rotating, sometimes I wasn’t,” he said. “Working out in the weight room and with the trainers and with the training staff, it was there, it wasn’t there. It was there, it wasn’t there.”

National League

Cubs

• Seiya Suzuki transitioned into a full-time DH.

That led Counsell to lean on outfielder Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs’ regular DH dating back to Aug. 16. Since that point in the season, Suzuki has played in 30 games, appearing in the lineup as the DH 29 times and once in right field. Over the past month, Bellinger has garnered the bulk of the innings in right field, following a roughly two-week run as the DH due to a left hand injury.

The reasoning is not simply due to Bellinger’s preference to be in the field between plate appearances. Having Bellinger in right, rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Ian Happ in left also gives Chicago its optimal defensive alignment. Happ is a two-time Gold Glove winner, Crow-Armstrong likely has hardware in his future and Bellinger was a Gold Glove recipient as a right fielder in 2019 with the Dodgers.

Giants

• As far as Marco Luciano knows, he’ll be playing shortstop or second base next season, not in the outfield.

For now, Luciano plans to work at both middle infield positions this winter unless he hears differently. So if the Giants really are ready to move him to left field, they could at least do him the courtesy of telling him in two weeks instead of literally springing it on him in Scottsdale.

• Landen Roupp is working on a slider and four-seamer.

Roupp has the varied repertoire to start. He throws a sinking, two-seam fastball and he modified his changeup to emulate Logan Webb’s circle change version. Roupp also mentioned working on a slider and a four-seamer, which could be effective when used sparingly at the top of the zone. It’s a pitch that Webb has held onto and breaks out a half-dozen times a start, usually to good effect.

“I think it’s just showing other pitches,” Roupp said. “It’s a pretty good feeling. I came in yesterday on the off day and they told me I was starting. Couldn’t have a better birthday present.”

Marlins

• Eury Pérez added 15 pounds and should be healthy around the All-Star break.

… said Pérez, who has gained 15 pounds of muscle since the surgery with help from Alcantara’s high-intensity training.
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So when might we see Pérez return to the big league mound?

“I don’t have specifically a date I can tell you, but I will say, probably around the All-Star break, or after the All-Star break,” Pérez said. “For now, my focus is to continue getting stronger and follow my trainer, and all the things I have to do to get better.”

Mets

• Luisangel Acuña made two mechanical adjustments.

But first came mechanical improvements within his swing and pre-pitch bat positioning at the plate.

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Acuña’s stance and swing still evoke comparisons to his brother, but the new differences matter plenty. Acuña now holds his bat more horizontally, with his hands higher. The change allows Acuña to get his bat through the strike zone earlier, leading to a better quality of contact and an ability to lift the ball with power.

After fixing Acuña’s bat angle, Arencibia also helped address Acuña’s problem with overstriding. With mechanical issues addressed, the results started to improve. From April 23 to the end of June, Acuña slashed .286/.341/.399 with four home runs. After that period, however, Acuña again struggled, this time for different reasons.

Nationals

• The team expects prospects Brady House, Yohandy Morales, Jackson Rutledge, Cade Cavalli, and Jake Bennett to contribute next season.

MLB.com: Who do we expect to see in the big leagues next year and make an impact on the Nationals?

Rizzo: All the names that we know about. There is Brady House, Yohandy Morales and Jackson Rutledge. We’ll have Cade Cavalli. He will be pitching again after coming off Tommy John surgery. Jake Bennett will be pitching again after having Tommy John surgery. So we have a good stable of guys at the high Minor Leagues that are going to make an impact sometime in ‘25.

Pirates

• Mitch Keller’s fastball velocity dropped over 2 mph.

Perhaps most concerning is the drop in his velocity. His four-seam fastball averaged 92 mph Friday, 2.4 mph lower than his season average. While all of his offerings were at least one mph lower than their season average, the dip in the four-seamer was the most eye-opening, being his lowest average in a game since Sept. 21, 2021.