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The Rays ran away with the American League East title, the AL’s best record and the AL’s best team ERA last season. It’s shaping up to be an excellent club and pitching staff again in 2022, but they’ll now have to overcome the absence of a key rotation arm at the start of the campaign.
It was announced that Shane Baz underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow on Monday. He will be shut down from throwing for 2-3 weeks.
The injury popped up out of nowhere. Baz felt great during his first bullpen session of the spring last Tuesday, but after that his arm “kind of locked up on him” while he was stretching at his house, per manager Kevin Cash. An MRI showed the loose body in his elbow which needed to be taken out.
“They’re very, very happy with the way everything else looked. We’re fortunate,” Cash said. “I know he’s frustrated. I know he’s disappointed. Just because [of] what he accomplished last year and how he helped us at the end of the season, he was looking forward to the beginning [of this season], but he’s going to be just fine.”
The procedure Baz had was relatively minor, all things considered. However, he’ll have to start his throwing program over from scratch in mid-April, so it’s going to be a while before he’s ready to pitch in a game and even longer than that when he’s fully stretched out.
The Rays are generally pretty conservative with injuries – particularly when it comes to pitchers – and you can bet they’ll be extra cautious with their prized young right-hander. It seems possible, if not likely, that Baz won’t be a part of the big league rotation until well into May.
Baz has been selected around pick No. 125 in drafts to this point. Obviously, that number is going to get bigger. Ryan Yarbrough might have been on the outside looking in for a rotation spot with the Rays prior to Baz’s surgery, but the lefty seems likely to be one of the starting five now.
Rockies Lock up McMahon
The Rockies spent big on free agent Kris Bryant last week. This week they locked up one of their homegrown hitters.
On Monday, Ryan McMahon signed a six-year, $70 million contract extension. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, McMahon has the ability to opt out of the deal after the 2025 season with a top-five National League MVP finish in any year from 2022-24 or after 2026 season with a top-five NL MVP finish in 2025.
McMahon was already under club control through 2023, so the extension wasn’t an urgent matter. Still, the Rockies obviously view him as a player they want around for the long haul.
Since becoming a regular in 2019, McMahon has posted a .247/.325/.445 batting line with 56 home runs over 344 games covering the last three seasons. He put up a .254/.331/.449 line with 23 home runs, 86 RBI, 32 doubles and 80 runs scored in 2021.
McMahon has already turned into one of the best defensive third basemen in the game, finishing in the 97th percentile in Statcast’s Outs Above Average. The 27-year-old’s excellent defense at the hot corner means Bryant will be playing left field for the Rockies for at least 2022 and likely a lot longer.
McMahon has a career .655 OPS away from Coors Field. His career OPS+ is just 88 and it was just 98 in 2021 during his best offensive season. In other words, he’s not a great hitter but is a guy who is elevated (no pun intended) by his home confines. The fact that he now appears destined to remain in Colorado for a while is good news for his outlook in dynasty leagues.
Greene Impresses in Cactus Debut
The Reds don’t look to be serious contenders for 2022 following a bevy of cost-cutting moves. However, subtractions from the roster does create opportunity for those that are still around.
One of those guys is top prospect Hunter Greene, who was electric in his Cactus League debut on Monday against the Cubs.
Greene surrendered a bloop single to one of the four batters he faced, but he struck out two of the others and also induced a groundout back to the mound. The hard-throwing youngster’s fastball was clocked at 101 mph at one point.
“He looked like he belongs here,” manager David Bell said after the outing. “More importantly, he felt that. ... Having that confidence that you belong is really helpful.”
Back on March 12, general manager Nick Krall named Green and fellow top prospect Nick Lodolo as candidates for the fifth spot in the Reds’ rotation. That was before the club acquired Justin Dunn from the Mariners and Mike Minor from the Royals. Even if Cincinnati hangs on to Luis Castillo and/or Tyler Mahle, which is what Krall said would be the case, Greene was probably going to begin the season back in the minors due to service time considerations.
That said, Greene is definitely close and could make his major league debut fairly early on in the year. His presence on the 40-man roster helps him.
In 2021, between Double- and Triple-A, Greene posted a 3.30 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 139/39 K/BB ratio across 106 1/3 innings. Keep in mind, this is after Tommy John surgery and the absence of a minor league season in 2020 meant that the 22-year-old didn’t make an appearance for anyone for two and a half years.
The Reds could be bad and Great American Ball Park isn’t an easy place to pitch, but Greene has the talent to overcome that and be worth rostering in fantasy leagues in 2022.
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American League Quick Hits: Cavan Biggio suffered a sprain to his left (non-throwing) elbow over the offseason, which has sidelined him so far this spring. … Willie Calhoun went 4-for-4 with three RBI Monday during Cactus League action for the Rangers. … Shohei Ohtani allowed a run but fanned five of the 11 batters he faced on Monday versus the Royals. … Mike Rodriguez of Univision has reported that the Twins have agreed to terms with Johnny Cueto on a contract. … The Mariners signed Billy Hamilton to a minor league contract.
National League Quick Hits: Bruce Levine of 670 The Score has reported that the Padres and Yankees “checked in” on the availability of Willson Contreras in “recent weeks”. ... Luis Urias is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day after tests confirmed a strained left quad. … Max Scherzer limited the Marlins to one run across five innings on Monday in his spring debut. … Zac Gallen (shoulder) threw live batting practice Monday. … Adrian Houser whiffed five over three perfect innings in his Cactus League debut Monday. … Max Meyer recorded five strikeouts over four perfect innings in Grapefruit League play versus the Mets on Monday. … Yu Darvish struck out six across three scoreless frames Monday versus the Rockies in Cactus League play. … Oneil Cruz singled and popped his second home run of the spring during Grapefruit League play Monday. … Mike Moustakas singled and slugged a solo home run on Monday against the Cubs. … Brendan Rodgers was scratched from Monday’s lineup as a precaution with back tightness. … Daniel Alvarez-Montes of ElExtraBase has reported that the Marlins have signed Richard Bleier to a two-year, $6 million contract extension.
