River Avenue Blues

DotF: Schmidt struggles in Tampa’s loss, Breaux returns in Charleston’s win

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If you’re still searching for a DotF replacement, check out The Bronx View and their daily minor league report. It is more than a straight box score/stats roundup.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (3-2 loss to Lehigh Valley)

  • CF Trey Amburgey: 2-5, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB — 12-for-29 (.414) in his first six Triple-A games
  • 1B Mike Ford: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI — 11-for-26 (.423) with a double and four home runs in six games so far … this is his third straight year at Triple-A, remember
  • SS Thairo Estrada: 0-5, 1 K
  • RF Ryan McBroom: 2-2, 2 BB
  • LHP Nestor Cortes: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 6/4 GB/FB — 50 of 79 pitches were strikes (63%), plus he picked two runners off first … this dude is going to keep getting jobs the next 12 years because he’s left-handed and dominates in Triple-A
  • RHP Jake Barrett: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 13 of 19 pitches were strikes (69%)

[Read more…]

Game 12: Escape from Houston

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(Presswire)

Two games against the Astros, two blown late-inning leads. The lead disappeared in the seventh and Houston took the lead in the eighth in both games. How annoying. Even more annoying is the way the Yankees screw up the most basic stuff each game. Every game there’s an dopey error or a bad baserunning decision. Every single game.

“It’s got to be better, especially when you’re playing a really good team, and you’re up against a really good pitcher. You’ve got to do the little things that allow you to win ballgames,” Aaron Boone said to Coley Harvey following last night’s loss. “The bottom line is, we’re really close to playing a good brand and a complete game.”

WELL ACTUALLY, the Yankees played their sloppiest game of the season last night, and all the mistakes contributed to the loss. If you have to keep saying you’re really close to doing something, you’re not actually close to doing it. The Yankees have to clean up the sloppy mistakes to beat teams like the Astros. It is imperative. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. DH Luke Voit
4. SS Gleyber Torres
5. 1B Greg Bird
6. 3B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Tyler Wade

LHP James Paxton

Houston Astros
1. RF George Springer
2. 2B Jose Altuve
3. LF Michael Brantley
4. SS Carlos Correa
5. 3B Yuli Gurriel
6. DH Tyler White
7. 1B Aledmys Diaz
8. C Max Stassi
9. CF Jake Marisnick

RHP Collin McHugh

Another warm and sunny day in Houston, and the Minute Maid Park roof is open. Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm ET and you can watch on the YES Network locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: CC Sabathia (knee, heart) will start Saturday’s game. That is the first day he is eligible to be activated off the injured list … Giancarlo Stanton (biceps) has started taking swings now that his ten-day shutdown period is over … Aaron Hicks (back) has started swinging a bat. He’s doing tee and soft toss work in addition to throwing and running … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) played catch today for the first time since being shut down. Here’s video. As you can see, it was not the most intense throwing session. Twenty-five throws at 60 feet. Andujar said he felt better than expected, and he is tentatively scheduled to throw again Friday. He might even swing a bat that day as well … Gary Sanchez is out of the lineup with calf tightness. He first felt it following Monday’s game and the Yankees put him through some tests, which came back fine. They’re giving him two straight days off (tomorrow’s an off-day) as a precaution. Sanchez is available tonight.

Roster Move: The Yankees optioned Jonathan Loaisiga to Triple-A Scranton following last night’s game and they called up right-hander Joe Harvey today, the team announced. It is Harvey’s first big league call-up. He is a short reliever, not someone who can soak up innings in long relief. I imagine Harvey is going back to Triple-A when Sabathia is activated Saturday.

The Yankees need to make a decision on Gio Gonzalez soon

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(Presswire)

Ten days remain until Gio Gonzalez can opt out of his contract with the Yankees. The veteran lefty was brought in as rotation insurance last month just in case things went awry for the recovering CC Sabathia and Luis Severino. Gonzalez wasn’t necessarily in the Yankees plans, hence the minor league deal he signed with the April 20th exit date. Oh, how things have changed.

Initially, both Severino and Sabathia were expected to return by the end of April. Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga were only going to be stopgaps for a few weeks. Unless the team was going to run with a six-man rotation at full strength, there was no place for Gonzalez. Now, Severino won’t return until this summer. The good news is that Sabathia will be back this weekend, but without its ace, the Yankees will tap into the reserves longer than anticipated. How they choose to do that remains to be seen, but we’ll know for sure whether it’s Gonzalez or not by next weekend.

It would be a tough break for German to lose his rotation spot if he continues to pitch well over the next week or so. Granted, his first two starts were against Detroit and Baltimore, but it’s fun to watch his power fastball and sharp curve. Nonetheless, the Yankees have some flexibility with German. He still has a minor league option, so he could remain extended as a starter in Triple-A. Or, he could transition to the bullpen where his stuff should play. Speaking of his arsenal, it’s certainly superior to what Gonzalez offers now. Yet, German is still a bit of an unknown. He’s a much more volatile option because he tends to not pitch past the fourth or fifth inning.

Gonzalez would be a safe choice for the fifth starter role going forward. His stuff is not what it once was, but he’s still an innings eater. Unlike German, I feel pretty confident in Gonzalez pitching into the fifth or sixth every turn. One issue, if it even is a true problem, is that Gonzalez has no use as a reliever. So, if the Yankees really wanted to keep German in the rotation, it wouldn’t make much sense to stash Gonzalez in the bullpen. That would mean cutting him loose and thereby weakening the team’s pitching depth.

After a crummy spring training and first outing in Scranton, Gonzalez finally put together a brilliant outing yesterday. Perhaps the late start to camp is the excuse for the initial poor performance, but Gonzalez wasn’t doing himself any favors by pitching poorly. He could get two more starts in Scranton before his opt out. How he pitches in those outings might not matter. Voluntarily losing depth in a young season when the team is dropping like flies doesn’t seem like a wise idea.

An external acquisition, namely Dallas Keuchel, is the most plausible reason the team to send Gonzalez packing. There haven’t been any rumblings about such a move just yet. But as Mike wrote this morning, the Yankees probably will exhaust their internal options before turning outside the organization.

As Gonzalez’s decision day nears, there’s an old adage to keep in mind: a team can never have enough starting pitching. Chances are that the rotation will suffer at least another injury or two over the course of the season. Had Severino’s prognosis not been so daunting, the risk of rolling the dice with German wouldn’t have been a terrible decision. Now, it’s hard to imagine the team letting go of a solid big league option in Gonzalez.

What if Manny Banuelos finally delivered and we weren’t watching?

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(Getty Images)

You can be forgiven for not watching the middle innings of Rays-White Sox on Tuesday afternoon.

I mean, it’s a Tuesday afternoon. Even if you’re an obsessed scoreboard watcher of AL East contenders such as myself, you’re more likely to focus on the Red Sox’s opener with Chris Sale on the hill. The Rays have been better, but it’s early April … and they’re playing the White Sox.

Furthermore, the game was already a blowout with Tampa Bay hitting three homers in the first three innings and knocking out Ervin Santana with seven runs in the first four frames. This, however, is all about what came next, the pitcher who came in after Santana: Manny Banuelos.

For 3 1/3 innings, Banuelos was everything we dreamed he would be. He struck out four, allowed three baserunners and held the Rays off the board, keeping the Sox in the game. Tampa couldn’t get the ball in the air outside of one pop out and Banuelos had them swinging and missing at his offspeed stuff. The southpaw was the only pitcher to retire Austin Meadows on the outfielder’s career day.

(MLB.TV)

Despite yesterday’s outing, Banuelos represents a story of promise and failure around these parts. In the next wave of prospects after the Big Three, Banuelos topped Yankees’ prospect lists at the same time as Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman. With Betances ticketed for relief and Brackman flaming out, Banuelos was the best hope for a homegrown ace.

Banuelos was poised to fulfill that potential despite a 5-foot-11 frame. He reached Triple-A at 20 years old in 2011. He was the No. 13 prospect before the 2012 season according to MLB.com and Baseball America ranked him No. 29, his second straight year in the top 50. Mariano Rivera called him the best pitching prospect he’d ever seen, forebodingly in the same article that he discussed Brien Taylor.

As with nearly every pitcher with a mid-90s fastball, Banuelos succumbed to injuries, though they came at the worst time for the lefty. He struggled with injuries in 2012 and eventually had to go under the knife for Tommy John surgery. The left-hander was never the same in the Yankees’ system and was traded to Atlanta for relievers before the 2015 season.

He had success in Atlanta, although briefly. His best career outing was his debut in 2015, where he threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out the NL MVP, Bryce Harper, all three times he faced him.

But then bone spurs came for Banuelos and he’s bounced between both Los Angeles teams and now to Chicago, still searching for his breakthrough at age 28.

And that brings up back to Tuesday. Banuelos looked like a version of his old self, the one we all heard about but never saw in pinstripes. The mid-90s heat is gone, but he’s making do with a low-90s sinker and still has the curve, slider and changeup. Look at this slider!

(MLB.TV)

To end his outing, he gave up his only hit, a seeing-eye single to Tommy Pham, but the southpaw picked off Pham a pitch later. After getting confirmation that the Rays wouldn’t challenge, Banuelos walked off the field, stretched his glove into the air and put it down to his lips while looking skyward, seemingly thanking the heavens as his day was done and perhaps with the relief of having a clean performance.

(MLB.TV)

Already on the wrong side of 25, Banuelos’ prospect shine is long gone. The idea of him headlining a rotation just isn’t in the cards. But that’s OK. Even if Banuelos hadn’t cracked the rebuilding Chicago roster this year, he’d have ended his career a Major Leaguer. There could be even brighter days ahead, and he even gets to finally pitch at Yankee Stadium this weekend, nearly a half-decade after he was unceremoniously traded.

As for us, the Yankee faithful, Banuelos is a permanent lesson of the tantalizing pitching prospect. He wasn’t flawless, particularly his height, but he was the no-doubt pitcher of the time. We’ve had to adjust our concept of pitching prospects and you’ll see that reflected on Baseball America and the like; Most evaluators have begun shying away from populating tops of lists with pitchers. No matter how good a 20-year-old pitcher looks, they’re one injury away from missing out or plateauing.

For one day though, in front of a sparse crowd of 10,799 fans, the promise of Manny Banuelos came through again . Too late for the Yankees? Surely. But it’s fulfilling nonetheless to see the prospect dreams of the last decade live, even if it’s just a random Tuesday in April.

Luis Severino’s injury and the Dallas Keuchel question

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(Elsa/Getty)

In a season full of injuries, the Yankees received some of their worst news yet yesterday afternoon. Luis Severino has been shut down six weeks with a Grade II lat strain. He was expected back from rotator cuff inflammation sometime next month. Now Severino is looking at a mid-to-late June return at the earliest. It is entirely possible the Yankees will be without their ace until the All-Star break.

“I don’t know if ‘relief’ is the right word, but a little bit like, ‘Okay, now we know what it is.’ A little relief that it’s not going to be a surgery thing,” Aaron Boone said to Cole Harvey following last night’s game. “Obviously it’s going to take a little more time now, but a little comfort in knowing this is what it is. It appears to be treatable. Just got to take some time and hopefully we’ll get a healthy, strong, and fresh Sevy back for a good portion of the season.”

The Yankees are getting CC Sabathia back this weekend, which will help. He’s not the workhorse he was in his prime, but the guy he’s replacing (Jonathan Loaisiga) has thrown seven innings in two starts, and that couldn’t continue. Domingo German will remain in the rotation for the time being and hopefully J.A. Happ turns things around soon. Clearly, the Yankees are missing Severino.

Given Severino’s injury, it’s only natural to wonder whether the Yankees will (or should) pursue the still unsigned Dallas Keuchel. He is the best (only, really) available starter on the free agent market and, when you lose an important player to injury, signing the best free agent is an easy solution. At least among fans. Teams tend to think a little differently. Let’s talk out the Yankees and Keuchel, shall we?

1. When will he even be ready? A good question. Ken Rosenthal says Keuchel is throwing 95-pitch simulated games every five days as he waits to sign, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s MLB ready. Gio Gonzalez was throwing on his own this spring, yet when he took the mound with the Yankees last month (and Triple-A Scranton last week), he was not sharp at all. Keuchel’s pitch count is built up. Being game ready is another matter.

It seems the best case scenario here is Keuchel joining the rotation after two minor league tune-up starts*. One to get out there and face hitters in a competitive environment, and another to fine tune things and fix whatever didn’t feel right the first time out. I guess that means Keuchel could join the Yankees at the end of the month? That’s pretty good. You don’t get him right away but you do get him soon enough and for most of the season.

* Keuchel has a minor league option remaining and can be sent down easily. Players at his service time level can reject a minor league assignment and usually do, but in this case he’d be signing with the knowledge that he needs some minor league starts to get up to speed. This is exactly what the Orioles and Alex Cobb did last year. He was optioned down after signing to make tune-up starts.

That all said, I’m only guesstimating with two tune-up starts. It could be one, it could be two, it could be four. Who knows? At this point whichever team signs Keuchel will sign him with the understanding he won’t jump into their rotation immediately. The goal is having him for most of the season. The more the better, but if he needs three tune-up starts instead of two, so be it. Eventually Keuchel will be game ready. Maybe sooner, maybe later.

2. How effective will Keuchel be going forward? Keuchel is now four years removed from his Cy Young season and, in three seasons and 518.1 innings since, he has a 3.77 ERA (106 ERA+) and a 3.78 FIP. Last year he had a 3.74 ERA (108 ERA+) and a 3.69 FIP in 204.2 innings. That’s good. It’s not great, but it’s good. At age 31, it seems Keuchel’s very best years are behind him, and he’s now more of a solid innings eater type than a true dominator.

The worry here is that several underlying numbers are trending in the wrong direction. Most notably, Keuchel’s ground ball rate dropped 13 percentage points last year, his chase rate dropped four percentage points, and his zone rate increased seven percentage points. At his peak, Keuchel got hitters to expand the zone and make weak contact. They didn’t expand as much last year, so he had to come in the zone more often, and the result was harder contact.

There seems to be the prevailing thought that command pitchers age better, which is one of those things that sounds like true, but do we have any evidence is it true? Guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Mike Mussina were Hall of Fame talents and we shouldn’t expect anyone to age like them. Andy Pettitte? He threw harder as a 41-year-old in 2013 (89.8 mph average fastball) than Keuchel did as a 30-year-old in 2018 (89.5 mph).

A once elite ground ball/good strikeout pitcher losing both ground balls and strikeouts is a red flag, especially since Keuchel’s stuff doesn’t give him much margin for error. He’s a five-pitch guy and wily, and he’s proven himself in big games, but at age 31 he pitches like a 36-year-old after he loses his stuff. The fact Keuchel remains unsigned leads me to believe at least a few teams are worried about his effectiveness long-term. There’s definite value in being a 180-inning league average starter. That might only be the ceiling here going forward though.

3. So what’s it going to cost? Beats me. This past weekend Ken Rosenthal reported Keuchel wants a one-year deal north of the $17.9M qualifying offer he rejected in November, or a multi-year deal at a lower annual salary. The problem is Rosenthal cited an executive “under the impression” those are Keuchel’s demands, which doesn’t sound too reliable. Clearly, Keuchel wants more than whatever teams are offering right now.

Two things to keep in mind here. One, the Yankees are already over the $226M second luxury tax tier. Cot’s has their luxury tax payroll at $226.7M right now. As a first time offender, their second tier luxury tax rate is 32%. Effectively, every $1 the Yankees give Keuchel will cost them $1.32 due to the luxury tax. It’s real money and it adds up quick. I couldn’t possibly care less about the Steinbrenners having to pay more to field a good team. They sure care though.

And two, Keuchel is attached to draft pick compensation, which is a cost that has to be considered. Because they neither paid luxury tax nor received revenue sharing last year, the Yankees have to surrender their second highest 2019 draft pick and $500,000 in 2019-20 international bonus money to sign a qualified free agent. Their second highest pick right now is the Competitive Balance Pick they received in the Sonny Gray trade. The 37th overall pick.

Giving up your second round pick when it’ll be the 60-something overall selection to sign a qualified free agent is no big deal. Do that every day of the week when you’re a win-now team. Giving up the 37th overall pick and roughly $2M in bonus pool money? Eh, that’s a tougher pill to swallow. The Yankees could wait until after the draft in June to sign Keuchel and keep the pick. The downside is he could sign elsewhere, and you’re not getting him until midseason and missing out on a bunch of starts between now and then.

I am generally a win-now guy, so if the Yankees believe Keuchel can be effective and will increase their chances of winning the AL East and the World Series, go for it. Give up the pick. The larger question is the contract. Does he take a one-year deal or does he insist on a multi-year contract? I’d be all for a one-year contract. Giving Keuchel multiple years doesn’t excite me at all though. There’s way more downside than upside at this point of his career.

* * *

Keuchel is the only viable starting pitcher sitting in free agency and I have no doubt he and agent Scott Boras are waiting for a contending team to suffer an injury and become desperate. That is pretty much where the Yankees are with Severino. He has a new injury and is at least two months away from returning. That’s bad news. Even with Sabathia coming back this weekend, one more rotation injury would leave the Yankees scrambling.

The Yankees had no interest in Keuchel over the winter — they were not connected him to him once, which was unusual because they’re usually connected to everyone — which I guess makes sense. They like their high spin bat-missers and that definitely does not describe Keuchel. Beggars can’t be choosers though, and right now Keuchel is easily the best freely available starting pitcher. Spend some cash (and give up a draft pick) and he’s yours, just like that.

My guess is the Yankees will stick with Domingo German for the time being, and see how Gio Gonzalez looks before his April 20th opt-out. He was excellent last night and there’s enough time for Gonzalez to make two more Triple-A starts before the opt-out date. These days the Yankees are all about finding internal solutions first, and if those don’t work, only then do they go outside the organization. I have no reason to believe that’ll change even with Severino’s new injury and Keuchel sitting out there.

Astros 6, Yankees 3: Another winnable game slips away

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The Yankees are doing a really great job beating themselves this series. They lost Tuesday’s mistake filled game 6-3 to the Astros. Back under .500 they go at 5-6.

(Presswire)

Three & Fly
I like Jonathan Loaisiga. I really do. I ranked him as the second best prospect in the system a few weeks ago. I’m just not sure how much longer the Yankees can stick with a starter who struggles to complete even four innings. Loaisiga needed 71 pitches to get through three innings Tuesday night, and the Astros had him on the ropes in both the second and third innings. It was a real grind.

To Loaisiga’s credit, he did not break in those second and third innings. The Astros put runners on first and third with one out in both frames, and he escaped both times with a strikeout and a fly out. The kid has some guts. Seven innings in two starts though? That’s a problem. Especially with Domingo German relatively unpredictable and J.A. Happ unable to get through five innings against the Orioles these days.

Loaisiga’s final line: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. He struck out the side in the first inning, then allowed six of the next dozen batters he faced to reach base. Ten of the 15 batters he faced saw at least five pitches in their at-bats. Loaisiga has tremendous stuff and the kid competes like hell. His inexperience is evident though. Given the current roster, I’m not sure letting him learn on the fly is the best idea, but what other option do the Yankees have?

(Update: The Yankees optioned Loaisiga to Triple-A Scranton following the game, the team announced. They’re calling up a fresh arm for Wednesday’s game (Jake Barrett? Joe Harvey?) and presumably that pitcher will be sent out when CC Sabathia joins the team this weekend.)

Three Token Runs
Six times in eleven games this season the Yankees have scored no more than three runs. Scoring three runs against Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole is pretty good though. Could’ve been worse. The Yankees scored their first run on Luke Voit’s first inning solo home run to center field — Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge both hit the ball earlier in the inning as well — before Cole settled down and retired 12 of the next 15 batters he faced.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Yankees broke through again. Gardner and Judge worked back-to-back leadoff walks and Gary Sanchez doubled to left field to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. It was more like a single to left before it hit the scoreboard in a weird spot and kicked away from Tony Kemp. Eleven of the final 12 Yankees to bat after Sanchez’s double made outs. Not much of a fight at the end.

Death By Bullpen (Again)
All things considering, Stephen Tarpley and Luis Cessa did an okay job getting the ball from Loaisiga to setup men Jonathan Holder and Chad Green, but, for the second straight night, a late-inning lead slipped away. Holder allowed back-to-back two-out doubles to Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley to tie the game in the seventh. Green made his own mess in the eighth with a leadoff single and back-to-back one-out walks. He put a fastball on a tee to George Springer, and that was that. Two-run double into the corner. Jose Altuve added a sac fly for good measure.

The bullpen in the series: 7 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 9 K. In both games the Yankees had a lead with seven outs to go. A small lead, sure, but a lead, and the entire point of building a super bullpen is to turn small leads in the late innings into wins, even against great teams. It hasn’t happened the last two nights. The relievers are working too much because the starters aren’t giving innings, and Dellin Betances’ absence has left the Yankees short a high-leverage reliever. Still, the guys out there are plenty good enough to close out games like this. Annoying.

Shut up and run, Brett. (Presswire)

Bad Fundies
How do the Yankees manage to screw up the most basic stuff game after game? It is getting ridiculous. Fairly or unfairly, it reflects poorly on Aaron Boone and the coaching staff, especially because this all started at the beginning of last year. Every single game the Yankees have to beat the other team and overcome their own mistakes. That is no way to contend. Here is a mostly complete list of Tuesday night’s obvious screw ups:

  • Brett Gardner did not run out a bunt because he thought it was foul, resulting in a double play.
  • Austin Romine had two pitches get by him that let runners advance.
  • Clint Frazier missed two dives that led to extra bases and contributed to runs.
  • Gleyber Torres didn’t throw right away when the runner tripped rounding third, and he was able to scamper back to the base safely.
  • Gardner bobbled a ball hit in front of him allowed the runner to take an extra base.
  • Whatever the hell this is.

Physical mistakes happen. The pitches that got by Romine? Fine, whatever. It happens. But Gardner not running out the bunt? Inexcusable. Also, why is he bunting anyway? Cole doesn’t need free outs. Frazier’s dives were unnecessary. Pull up and hold the hitter to a single, which, to his credit, he did in the eighth inning. Torres hesitating to throw home was bad and Romine dropped the throw anyway. Romine made no fewer than three mistakes in this game that would’ve gotten Gary Sanchez skewered.

Spring Training is over but you wouldn’t know it watching the Yankees on a daily basis. Their games are littered with unforced mistakes. Even if they don’t lead to extra runners or extra bases or extra runs, they lead to extra pitches, and the pitching staff is taxed enough as it is. The Yankees aren’t going anywhere as long they keep hurting themselves with mistakes day after day, especially with half the team on the injured list.

Leftovers
Judge, Voit, and Sanchez: 4-for-11 (.364) with a double, a homer, and a walk. The rest of the Yankees: 1-for-20 (.050) with two walks. Cole is really good, but like the Verlander game Monday, the Yankees had a lead after six innings. What more do you want against pitchers like that?

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
The box score and video highlights are at MLB.com. The updated standings are at ESPN. We have a Bullpen Workload page. Here’s the win probability graph:


Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The series finale and the road trip finale. James Paxton and Collin McHugh are Wednesday night’s scheduled starters. That is a 7:40pm ET start. Three games, three different start times all in the same range. It’s like they’re trying to confuse me as much as possible in the final days of RAB.

DotF: Gio Gonzalez strikes out ten in Scranton’s win

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I’ve had a number of folks ask where they can get their DotF fix once RAB shuts down. I recommend MLB.com’s Prospect Pipeline page. Scroll down, pick the Yankees, and they have the day’s box scores all on one page. There are no player comments like DotF, but all the stats are there. Some quick notes:

  • OF Matt Lipka was placed on Triple-A Scranton’s injured list with a hamstring issue, reports Conor Foley. No word on a timetable for his return. IF Billy Fleming, who I mistaken said had been released in last week’s chat, was called up from Extended Spring Training to fill the roster spot.
  • Dan Martin wrote about RHP Clarke Schmidt’s dominant season debut. “He was actually better than his line. He topped out at 95-96 with a great curve and changeup and threw a lot of strikes. He was as good as advertised,” said pitching coordinator Danny Borrell.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (5-1 win over Lehigh Valley)

  • LF Trey Amburgey: 1-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K — 10-for-24 (.417) in the early going … remember, he was supposed to start the season in Trenton … he’s only here because the RailRiders needed an outfielder to replace Clint Frazier when he was called up to the Bronx
  • DH Mike Ford: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
  • SS Thairo Estrada: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB — first hits of the season
  • C Kyle Higashioka: 1-5, 1 RBI, 2 K
  • LHP Gio Gonzalez: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 1 WP, 6/2 GB/FB — 56 of 89 pitches were strikes (63%) … much better than his first start last week … Conor Foley says Gonzalez threw junk all game, so breaking balls and changeups with only a few fastballs … he’s lost quite a bit of velocity in recent years and sat mostly 88-89 mph last season, so kitchen sink might be the way to go at this point of his career … with Luis Severino being shut down for six weeks, Gonzalez suddenly becomes pretty important … there is enough time for two more Triple-A starts before his April 20th opt-out
  • LHP Danny Coulombe: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 10 of 24 pitches were strikes (42%) … Conor Foley says Coulombe left the game with the trainer, so that’s not good

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