Yet another player has been struck by the Tommy John epidemic. But, it is not a pitcher, it is a position player, a first for the season. For the 20th time in this calendar year, the epidemic has affected a major league player. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters is the victim, the team announced. He will undergo the procedure, performed by Dr. James Andrews, on Tuesday and will miss roughly nine months. The recovery time is faster because he isn't a pitcher, so Wieters should be ready to go for the Orioles in 2015. The 28-year-old has been out since May 10 with discomfort in his elbow, and was thought to just build up arm strength in order to return to action. Many figured he would be back in July. He visited Andrews over the weekend after making no progress in his throwing program and now is forced to miss the rest of the season with the Tommy John procedure. The Orioles will have to go with Caleb Joseph or recently acquired Nick Hundley behind the plate in Wieters' absence. Steve Clevinger is also a possibility, but he's is currently in Triple-A. Joseph has a .409 OPS and a 18 wRC+ at the plate, but is a very good defender. Hundley, on the other hand, has a .527 OPS and a 42 wRC+, but doesn't provide as good defense as Joseph. Wieters has been hitting .308/.339/.500 with five home runs and 13 RBI in 112 plate appearances. The Orioles will definitely miss their backstop, as he has already provided a 0.8 fWAR in 26 games and has a 15.1 fWAR over his career. This is definitely a tough hole to fill for the Orioles.
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Baseball has lost one of its best players, mentors, and one of its best all around people. He will always be remembered by many who love the game. Outfielder Tony Gwynn passed away today at age 54, losing his battle with cancer. Known as "Mr. Padre," the Padres legend and eight-time National League batting champion will always be remembered by anyone who has watched and loved the game of baseball. His son, Tony Gwynn Jr., was placed on the Phillies bereavement list in spite of the news. Gwynn means a lot to me for many reasons. First, my dad, who grew up in San Diego, loved Gwynn and watched him growing up. He and my grandpa loved his hustle, attitude, and were proud that a San Diego native had excelled to that level in sports, not to mention San Diego sports. My dad went to San Diego State University, where Gwynn had already became a notable alumni. "He was a true professional. He was loyal. He appreciated what he had in San Diego. He gave everything he had all the time," my dad said about Gwynn. Tony Gwynn was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the third round of the 1981 draft and never left the team. He spent 20 seasons with the Padres, coming up the next season in 1982 and retiring in 2001. He took the Padres to two National League Championships, while providing 15 All Star seasons and eight batting titles, while also leading the NL in hits seven times. Over his career, Gwynn hit for a .338/.388/.459 slash line, had 3141 hits (19th all-time), and homered 135 times. Besides going to 15 All-Star Games, Gwynn collected seven Silver Sluggers, and his underrated defense netted him five Gold Gloves. He truly was the all-around, five-tool baseball player. When he retired in 2001, Gwynn continued to be a part of baseball. He was the head baseball coach for San Diego State. In 2007, Gwynn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, getting 532 of 545 votes, or 97.6% of the vote. His 97.6% ranks seventh all time for players voted in by the BBWAA, behind only Tom Seaver (98.84%), Nolan Ryan (98.79%), Cal Ripken Jr. (98.53%), Ty Cobb (98.23%), George Brett (98.19%), and Hank Aaron (97.83%). I send my condolences to Gwynn's family and friends during this hard time. We will miss you, Tony Gwynn, and all you did for the game of baseball. We loved watching you, rooting for you, admiring you, and now, remembering you. You will be an everlasting part of the game. Gregory Polanco has been tearing up Triple-A. That's just putting it nicely. The 22-year-old outfielder has been giving pitchers headaches this season, posting a .347/.405/.540 triple-slash line with seven home runs and 49 runs batted in in 274 plate appearances. Even before this season, Polanco's talent was evident by many evaluators. He was ranked the 10th overall prospect by Baseball America, 13th by MLB.com, and 24th by Baseball Prospectus. Many think the only thing that kept Polanco in the minor leagues this long was his own parent team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. They believed that he was still in Triple-A to make sure he cannot obtain Super Two status, enraging many fans who wanted, obviously, to see the team put the best out there every single day. The Pirates have kept Polanco in the minors for payroll reasons that will occur in two years. A player who has at two years, but less than three, of service time is eligible to file for arbitration in the major leagues. He must have accumulated at least 86 days of service time in the previous season than his arbitration year, and rank in the top 17 percent player in service time. If he does, he can become a Super Two player, which means that he can negotiate his salary sooner than an average major leaguer. The Pirates, in order to save money, have kept Polanco in Triple-A in order to keep him from obtaining Super Two status. Although the exact cutoff date for Super Two players is unknown, the Pirates used their best judgement as to when it would be safe to bring up Polanco and keep him from gaining a larger compensation in two seasons. While this isn't exactly fair, the player has nothing he can do about it, except play well and wait. The Pirates haven't been having the best season, which is why many fans still are puzzled as to why they want to keep Polanco in the minors. He might be able to provide the spark needed to get back to the playoffs for the second consecutive year. And all the Pirates are doing is waiting to keep their payroll lower two years from now. Sometimes injuries can be a Triple-A player's greatest omen. Second baseman Neil Walker went down with an appendectomy yesterday and they placed him on the 15-day disabled list today. They called up the outfielder Polanco in his place. Now he is batting second, playing right field, versus the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field tonight. As a simple scouting report, Polanco is considered by many to be baseball's next five tool player. He is an above-average hitter for both contact and power, runs the bases very well, has a good arm, and covers good ground in the outfield. This is why so many Pirates fans are excited to see him debut and, hopefully, blossom into the star that many expect will come. But, as it always does, it comes down to the money. And that will never change. The wait is over. It started last October and comes to a close eight months later. You can wake up. The qualifying offer nightmare is done. It stifled Nelson Cruz's pay, forced Stephen Drew to wait, and now, forced Kendrys Morales to sign after the June Draft has come. Morales has agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $7.5 million ($12 million prorated) with the Minnesota Twins, according to CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports continued to report the deal, quoting a source that said Morales' one-year deal will be in the ballpark of Stephen Drew's contract (Drew signed a one-year, $10.17 million contract with the Red Sox), which is true. Morales, signed by the Angels as an amateur free agent in 2006, spent his 2013 season under a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners. Known as a power-hitting first baseman, Morales posted a .277/.336/.449 triple-slash line, hitting 23 homers and driving in 80 runs. He added a 2.8 bWAR to the Mariners, while also posting a 123 OPS+. It really shouldn't have taken Morales to wait until the June Draft to sign on with a team. He has a good track record; Morales posted an OPS+ over 100 (considered the average for a major leaguer) five times in his seven seasons. He's a good first baseman. Morales committed only 17 errors over his 2858.2 innings in the field. Besides, if an American League team signed Morales, the DH position has been his prime spot recently. The only issue, nonetheless, was the qualifying offer. Morales' agent, Scott Boras, has had a big voice in his views against the current qualifying offer system. How it works is that players who receive qualifying offers from their former teams (in Morales' case, the Mariners) would have to either accept the one-year, just over $14 million contract the club gave them, or they would be subject to draft pick compensation, which would net the former team a draft pick and force the new team to give up one if Morales signed anywhere besides the Mariners. The only way to remove the draft pick compensation weighing the player down would be to sign following the beginning of the June Draft, which Morales was forced to do. The Mariners will not get an extra pick in this draft, and the Twins will not have to give up one. But Morales was forced to wait out two months and seven days into the season before signing. This should really show the league what they have forced players into and lure them into making a change. The Twins, however, have scored big. They don't lose a draft pick and they get a mashing first baseman or designated hitter for a prorated price to help them into the pennant race. As of right now, the Twins sit at the bottom of the American League Central with a 28-31 record. Morales, minus the draft pick compensation, can and just might shoot them into October feeling good. But right now, the only person who feels good is Morales himself. The Houston Astros have extended slugging minor league first baseman Jon Singleton on a five-year, $10 million deal, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. The deal can be worth as much as $35 million, Passan went on to report. As if that wasn't enough, the Astros will be promoting Singleton to the majors tomorrow, the Houston Chronicle's Evan Drellich reported. The Astros have attempted to sign minor league players to long term deals in the past, such as George Springer, but have never succeeded. Obviously, they want to do this so that the player would be willing to take a lower contract offer so he feels more secure if he cannot make the major leagues. Singleton's deal is the first of it's kind - no player in the history of baseball has signed an extension like this with absolutely zero major league service time. Singleton, the Astros number six prospect by Baseball America, has spent this season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Since being drafted in the eighth round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Phillies, Singleton has had his ups and downs. He was suspended back in 2013 for his second violation of baseball's drug policy. However, over his professional career thus far, Singleton has hit .279/.388/.466 with 75 home runs and 318 runs batted in over 2260 plate appearances. Jon Singleton does a good job of using the whole field and has a chance to become a .280 hitter in the major leagues. He is prone to strikeouts and isn't fast, but does a good job of driving the ball, which could translate to 25 home runs in the big leagues. He's improved this season, posting a .267/.397/.544 line with 14 home runs and 37 RBI in 239 plate appearances. |
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