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Noah Syndergaard dealing with arm fatigue: Time to worry?
Well, the bad news just keeps coming from the Mets, huh? On Friday, we learned that starter Matt Harvey had elected to have surgery on his right shoulder to address his thoracic outlet syndrome. I will not sit here and tell you that I know what thoracic outlet syndrome is, but it is not good news to hear that Harvey is having surgery on his right arm/shoulder for the second time in three years.
On Friday evening, Mets ace Noah Syndergaard left his start in the fifth inning due to “arm fatigue”, according to reports. The news on Syndergaard has gone from bad to worse over the last few months. He had an MRI on his right elbow at the beginning of May, then a few weeks ago, we learned he was dealing with bone spurs in the same elbow. Now arm fatigue.
Here is more from Anthony DiComo from MLB.com:
Rene Rivera has spent too much time behind the plate not to notice when a pitcher looks awry. The veteran catcher did not so much need to peek at the scoreboard when Noah Syndergaard's velocity began plummeting in the fifth inning Friday, hinting at the arm fatigue that knocked him out of the Mets' 3-1 loss to the Nationals.
"You can notice when you throw 99 and he's at 91," Rivera said. "You can tell right away."
It was a temporarily frightening scene for the Mets, who also learned Friday that Matt Harveywill undergo season-ending surgery, and who lost All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to a right quad injury earlier in the game. And it was at least a concerning moment for Syndergaard, who is pitching through a bone spur in his right elbow. But the Mets were convinced after the game that Syndergaard was suffering from nothing more than a tired arm -- he referenced it as "a little bit of shoulder fatigue" -- and may not miss significant time.
Oh. Just shoulder fatigue? What? That doesn’t sound great in my opinion.
Mets fans and his fantasy owners will have their fingers crossed that Syndergaard can get back to good health sometime after the All Star break. For some reason, I see surgery in his future.
Roto Roundup
We also learned on Friday night, that Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel was unavailable for Friday’s game as he is dealing with knee soreness. While we were sleeping, Red Sox GM apparently wasn’t sleeping, as he finalized a trade that sent two minor leaguers to the Diamondbacks for closer Brad Ziegler. Ziegler is a free agent at the end of the season, so his cost was not exorbitant. Kimbrel had an MRI on his knee on Friday night, and the results were not good. Here is more from Evan Drellich, Red Sox reporter from the Boston Herald:
Craig Kimbrel to have surgery to repair cartilage in left knee. Out 3-6 weeks
In his absence, Koji Uehara will close, but Ziegler will be in the mix for ninth inning duties as well. Uehara got the save on Saturday, giving up a hit and striking out two in the Red Sox 4-1 win over the Rays.
In Ziegler’s absence in the Diamondbacks bullpen, it appears Tyler Clippard will fill in as the closer. Daniel Hudson is the other name to know in the back of the Diamondbacks pen, but Clippard is the more dominant of the two, striking out more and walking fewer batters. Then again, he has given up 5 home runs in 32+ innings thus far this season. Clippard is the guy now, but with the Diamondbacks out of the race, they could decide to deal Clippard as well.
Matt Kalman from the Boston Herald wrote yesterday about the possibility that the Red Sox could call up top outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi this season. Benintendi is showing he is close to ready, as he is hitting .288-.347-.497 with 6 home runs, 28 runs scored, 28 RBI and 6 stolen bases in 196 plate appearances since his promotion to Double A. Here is more from Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski on Benintendi from Kalman’s piece:
“He’s played very well. But I wouldn’t get into individual cases,” Dombrowski said. “But I’ve never felt that Triple-A is really a necessity with good players. I’ve jumped many guys from Double-A in my career to the big leagues. Because usually if you do well at Double-A against that type of competition, you should perform. There’s some benefits to going to Triple-A. I don’t want to downplay it. But I’ve had a lot of success in my career with guys going from Double-A to the big leagues.”
In making their decision with the 22-year-old Benintendi, the Sox have to weigh how the prospect would handle potential failure in his first big league stint. Dombrowski said that in this type of a situation he wouldn’t want to generalize about how a setback would affect the player’s future.
“I’ve learned that with young players, each one is their own individual that you have to deal with all of their makeup things that they have,” Dombrowski said. “I’ve had some guys it makes no difference to. And other guys it can set them back because ... the point of being here and being overwhelmed at that time and then having a hard time catching up to it and everything steps up and making that adjustment. Usually your really good ones end up, if that happens, still doing fine. But I do think you have to be really aware of the makeup and individual personalities of players and how you think they’ll deal with it because everyone is different.”
If you need some help in the hitting categories, it appears Benintendi could see a call up this season, and he can fill up the box score, so grab him now if your league allows you to stash players.
After his performance in the 2015 playoffs, many Mets fans want the front office to re-sign infielder Daniel Murphy. Instead, they let him walk and sign with the Nationals, and Murphy has done his best to let Mets fans know that their front office made a mistake. On Saturday, Murphy went 3-4 with a double, home run and 4 RBI in the Nationals 6-1 win over the Mets. In 52 plate appearance vs the Mets this season, Murphy is hitting .438-.462-.875 with 6 home runs, 10 runs scored and 19 RBI, and on the season, he is hitting .349-.388-593 with 16 home runs, 52 runs scored and 64 RBI in 364 plate appearances. He is on pace to hit 29 home runs and drive in over 100 runs, the best year of his career.
The White Sox called up top hitting prospect Tim Anderson in early June, and it appears from his first month in the big leagues, that he was ready for the call up. On Saturday, Anderson went 2-4 with a run scored in the White Sox 5-4 win over the Braves. Anderson is now hitting .298-.303-.488 with 4 home runs, 19 runs scored, 10 RBI and 3 stolen bases in his first 122 plate appearances. On the negative side, he has walked just once, and has struck out 36 times already, so he is striking out way too much for a leadoff hitter. He will have to make more contact to stay in the lead off role, but his skills are showing up in his first month in the big leagues.
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez is fast becoming one of the better young starters in baseball. I am not sure where I would rank him right now, but it would probably be in the 15-20 range, off the top of my head. On Saturday, he dominated the Brewers, giving up a run on 4 hits, 4 walks and 11 strikeouts in 5 innings of work in the Cardinals 8-1 win. He needed 103 pitches to get 15 outs, but 19 of those pitches were swinging strikes. He is now 8-6 with a 2.85 ERA, 3.50 FIP, a 1.16 WHIP and a 91-36 strikeout to walk rate in 107.1 innings of work. His strikeout rate has dipped this season, yet his ground ball rate is approaching 60%, so he is still a very effective starter even with the drop in strikeouts. He will have to limit the free pass to enter the ace conversation, in my opining.
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